8:49 A.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Containment Facility
Boogie Gus had a problem. Well, more of a conundrum, really.
Simply put? He was bored.
Like the rest of the L.A.M.O.S., he was currently stuck here in W.O.O.H.P.'s new containment facility after their latest scheme had been derailed.
And he knew that the only reason he wouldn't be escaping anytime soon was because the one who'd freed them was also behind bars.
And that really got to him, because he'd had quite an interesting scheme worked up for the next time he busted out of this wretched place.
Well, it seemed like that wouldn't be happening for a long time now.
At least they let him listen to his music in his cell, especially after he'd repeatedly tried to convince the guards that his music wouldn't hypnotize anybody. He wasn't like Phil Jenkins, after all.
As it was pretty early in the morning, most of the other baddies currently in the facility were still asleep or were keeping to themselves to plot their next move.
That left Boogie Gus to just jam to his music.
"Do you seek vengeance?"
Boogie Gus looked around for whoever had said that. "Um, is there some crazy cat trying to mind-read me?" Boogie Gus wondered. "Or am I finally turning into a crazy cat for hearing voices in my head?"
After looking around a few times, Boogie Gus looked up, drawn to the strange light emanating through his cell.
"Do you wish to recreate this world to your liking?"
Trying to make sure that he wasn't seeing things, Boogie Gus blinked a few times.
"Because I can make your dreams come true."
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(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies the Movie: A Crack in Time
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: January 12th, 2022
Story Summary: The seventieth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and the third feature film of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. One seemingly normal day, Boogie Gus is out of containment and on the warpath, once again intent on messing with the timeline. But this time, he seemingly succeeds and the spies are all apparently wiped from history... all except for Nick, who was saved at the last possible second by a mysterious guardian who watches over the aspects of the world. With this guardian's aid, Nick must travel through different timelines, all shattered in some way by whatever Boogie Gus did, in order to find his friends, reawaken their memories, and take down Boogie Gus before he can cause any more damage. But was Boogie Gus truly working alone here, or did someone give him the ability to shatter timelines?
Author's Note from Mat49324: Well, we've made it to movie project #3 of Totally Spies: The New Adventures. The Blue Time Ranger already had this figured out for weeks on end. Consider this a preview for our FIFTH season – yes, FIFTH season of The New Adventures. For now, we definitely hope you enjoy our third movie, which is titled A Crack in Time. By the way, we also hope you noted that our regular projects are normally 3 chapters, and this is our third movie... which means this'll be 5 chapters this time. That's right – FIVE! For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Note from The Blue Time Ranger: Once again, it's movie time! And boy, do we once again have a doozy for all of you. All I'm going to say is that things are about to get crazy, as they tend to do with our movies. So, grab some popcorn or whatever movie snacks you prefer, silence your cell phones, and get ready for an adventure, because it's time for the main event to begin! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters created by us truly for the story (in this case, Nick, Haruka, Bridget, May, Nozomi, Dawn, and Melissa on my side, and Mathew on his side). Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
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Act 1: Civilization's Call
1:29 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
It was another usual summer afternoon for the spies at their beach house. It had been a couple of weeks since Mat had returned from a week home in Hawaii. Currently, Sam and Britney were handling the next car wash and water hose war. As was semi-expected, both girls had two-pieces on. Britney wore a light blue bikini and Sam her red and white tie-on bikini.
"STOP THAT!" Sam screamed as Britney sprayed her.
"NEVER!" Britney yelled.
It then turned into a playful tussle with Britney and Sam being sprayed at.
"I can still catch you, you know," Britney laughed.
"Oh, we'll see about that!" Sam proclaimed as she rolled away from another hose blast, only to find herself falling on her butt when Britney retaliated faster than she could react to with a spray to the face.
"What was that you said?" Britney chuckled.
"Oh, it is on now!" Sam exclaimed as she picked herself up and started chasing Britney down.
"Oh, was this planned after I came home?" Mat asked, which caught Britney and Sam's attention.
"...probably," Sam giggled as she and Britney got up, soaking wet.
"Well, I won't stop ya," Mat laughed and took the hose from Britney. "But first..."
Both Sam and Britney yelped as Mat completely sprayed and soaked his two girlfriends down like a rainstorm on plants.
"GAAHH! MERCY!" Britney screamed.
It was over five whole minutes before Mat finally did stop.
"NOW my girls are looking perfect," Mat laughed.
"And cooled off," Sam laughed as well.
Britney couldn't help but blush at Mat saying she "looked perfect".
Out in the backyard, Nick and Haruka were cleaning the pool together. Bridget and Alex were also on their way outside; fortunately, Nick and Haruka were nearly done.
Haruka, who was in a two-piece herself, started teasing Nick again.
"Now, you stop that!" Nick exclaimed.
"There's no rule saying I can't have a little fun," Haruka giggled.
She again tried to tease Nick with a funny pose, and while Nick attempted to switch to the other side of the pool, knowing what Haruka was trying to do, he just missed a slightly wet part of the outer edge, thus slipping on it and tumbling head-first into the pool.
"YES!" Haruka exclaimed. "I finally got him!"
Suddenly, Haruka found herself floating in the air, covered by a soft yellow glow. A second later, she was being tossed into the pool herself.
Alex and Bridget had come outside, Alex in a yellow two-piece and Bridget in a onesie, just in time to see Haruka being shoved in the pool by Nick himself.
"Holy crapbaskets," Bridget giggled. "I think we came out at the right time..."
"Seems like it," Alex laughed as Nick turned to see them both.
"My moment of triumph was fleeting," Haruka giggled.
Clover and Nozomi came out in bikinis of their own to hear everything that was going on; Blaine was also with Clover in board shorts of his own.
"And what happened here?" Nozomi asked, almost snickering, thinking that Haruka wound up in the pool courtesy of Nick.
"Haruka was doing her usual thing and somehow got me to slip into the pool, so naturally I took my revengeance," Nick stated.
"I finally got him to fall in with my dashing good looks," Haruka chuckled. "But I probably should have seen his retaliation coming, eh?"
Next came Mat and Melissa, followed by an already-soaking-wet Sam and Britney; Melissa also had a two-piece on herself.
"Sammy? Britney? What the heck happened with you two?!" Clover remarked with a laugh.
"Two words, Clover," Britney laughed. "Car... wash..."
"And Mat got us washed, too," Sam remarked as well, not seeming to mind it.
"I guess you got what you wanted," May stated as she appeared, too with Dawn in tow, both also in onesies.
"I call the next one," Melissa announced, then eyed Nick. "With you, big bro..."
"You are on," Nick responded.
After that, the rest of the spies came in one at a time for another pool day... only to have that short-lived via a W.O.O.H.P. summoning from Jerry and RiCO.
The spies all fell into Jerry's office, followed by some of the water from the beach house pool that completely drenched the group.
"Yep... we got it in the end," Mat chastised.
"Jerry, next time you W.O.O.H.P. us, don't do it from the pool!" Clover chastised. "It totally doesn't do well for my 'do."
Everybody sighed out of that comment.
"I already feel like water down a drain," Alex cringed.
"Point taken," Jerry replied as several agents came with towels for the spy team.
"So, what have we got?" Nick wondered when everybody had towels over their necks.
RiCO waved her hands to change the office viewscreen to show a picture of Boogie Gus, and now the spies were pretty surprised.
"Wait, wait, didn't we just put him away a few weeks ago?!" Clover gasped. "How the heck did he bust out again?!"
"That's the strangest part, Clover," RiCO answered. "We're still trying to figure that out ourselves, because I double and triple checked all of the security measures, and everything I checked says that nothing was tampered with. No cyber-attacks, no one trying to brute force the doors down, no nothing."
"That is weird," May quipped. "It's like he just teleported out of there. And last I checked, he can't do that."
"Guess we're going to have to find him quickly, before he can start wreaking his usual havoc and madness," Mat proclaimed.
"I've got your gadgets ready for you, so go out there and sock him one, 'kay?" RiCO stated.
"That's always in the cards, RiCO," Blaine replied. "It's what we do, right?"
2:27 P.M. – Beverly Hills
After leaving W.O.O.H.P., the spies had all agreed to split up and search the city for Boogie Gus in hopes that he hadn't gotten far since his escape.
"All right, you, where are you hiding, mister 80s man?" May quipped as she searched through the shopping district. "You stick out like a sore freakin' thumb, it shouldn't be that hard..."
Something caught her eye, and May looked in that direction, only to see Nick making his way out of a nearby jewelry shop, hoping he was discreet enough.
So, naturally, May moved in to surprise him.
"Hey, buddy!" May laughed. "Looks like you had the same idea of checking the shopping district, huh?"
"Yeah, more people for him to go after if he's trying his usual thing," Nick quipped. "But... well, considering that I'm probably busted on this... can you keep a secret, May?"
"Always," May immediately responded.
After a few seconds to prepare himself, Nick reached into his Jetpack Backpack to retrieve the item he'd just purchased from the jewelry shop so he could show it to May.
It was a diamond ring.
"Ooh, pretty," May giggled. "It looks expensive, too."
"Well, it kinda was," Nick responded.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think you were..." May started, only to trail off, then gasp in shock when she finally made the connection. "Y-You... you're going to propose to Alex?"
"Nailed it in one, May," Nick replied. "I'm gonna pop the question after this mission is over. I've been thinking about it for a while, especially considering how some of our more recent missions have gone, and... well, I feel like I'm ready to take that plunge once we've got Boogie Gus back behind bars. So, May, can you please keep this a secret until I'm ready?"
"Nick, we've known each other for how long?" May answered as she walked up and hugged Nick tightly. "Trust me, your secret is safe with me."
"Thanks, May," Nick responded.
"Hey, what are girlfriends for?" May giggled as she kissed Nick on the cheek. "And take it from me, she's going to love it. You two are perfect for each other."
"Am I breakin' somethin' up, you crazy cats?!"
A dark red laser came screaming through the air towards Nick and May, but Nick raised a psychic barrier to block the blast just as Boogie Gus appeared on the scene.
"Maybe don't start butting into private moments, jerk-face?" May proclaimed as she activated her Emergency Gadget Transporter, summoning her anchor to her hands. "That's low, even for you."
"It won't even matter in a few seconds," Boogie Gus cackled. "Because you funky flowers ain't gonna be messing with my rhythm any longer!"
"Oh, sure, that's what they all say," Nick taunted before flipping open his X-Powder. "Sammy, we've found Boogie Gus! He's hanging around the shopping district! May and I are engaging now!"
"Keep him busy until we get there, Nick, we're on our way!" Sam responded.
"Hear that, you nut?" May proclaimed. "The others are on their way, so I'd just surrender while you still can!"
Boogie Gus simply charged in to attack, unsheathing his 80fier and firing rapidly. May spun her anchor around to deflect a few shots while Nick took to the sky and started firing psychic bolts from above.
It wasn't much longer before the rest of the spies made it to the battle so they could all surround Boogie Gus.
"We've got you boxed in, so do us all a favor and give it up," Mat proclaimed. "Otherwise, you know how this is going to end."
Boogie Gus, to everyone's surprise, simply grinned wickedly.
"You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you, ya dullards?" Boogie Gus laughed, his hands suddenly beginning to glow a bright silver. "Well, here's the ace up my sleeve. I said you wouldn't be messin' with my rhythm any longer, and I meant every single word!"
"Um, what's he up to now?" Alex wondered.
"I'm not sticking around to find out!" Nick exclaimed, raising his right hand to seal Boogie Gus inside a psychic bubble.
However, Boogie Gus simply raised his glowing hands, causing a gigantic wave of silver light to spread out from his hands and rapidly expand outwards until it seemingly engulfed the entire city.
Blinded by the searing light as he was, Nick could just barely see his fellow spies all vanishing, dissolving into light before his eyes.
And as the light overwhelmed him as well, the last thing he saw before his senses shut down...
...was a feather.
"I hope I wasn't too late."
Nick slowly opened his eyes, wondering why exactly his body was so stiff when it was just fine this morning. After slowly but surely picking himself up, he glanced around, expecting to find himself in his bedroom, possibly with either May or Alex.
Instead, all Nick could see in every direction was an expansive sea and sky that seemed to stretch out into infinity. Out of curiosity, Nick looked down, and though he didn't appear to be standing on anything, ripples spread out from everywhere he took a step, like he was walking on the top of an invisible lake.
"Okay, I'm beginning to sense a pattern here," Nick quipped. "But now comes the twenty million dollar question: where exactly is here, and how exactly did I get here?"
Just then, everything came rushing back to Nick.
They'd been fighting Boogie Gus, but when Nick had tried to seal him in a bubble, Boogie Gus had done something that had seemingly swallowed the city completely.
And then he'd woken up here, wherever or whatever "here" was.
Nick began walking through the strange place, hoping to find some answers eventually. As far as he walked, there didn't seem to be any clear path in this expanse.
"Well, this is a pickle," Nick groaned. "I'm not getting anywhere in this strange world, and it doesn't look like there's anything but this sky. I'm seriously confused here, and now I'm even more worried about everyone else. Is there any way I can get them back, especially considering that I have no freakin' idea WHERE THE HELL I AM?!"
Nick's voice echoed across the strange expanse, confirming to Nick that he was all alone in this mysterious world.
"...nuts."
Just as Nick was about to start thinking of possible ways to get out of this place, he suddenly noticed something odd just ahead of him.
A feather.
Now Nick was curious, as that resembled the same feather he'd seen before blacking out, and he was now attributing these feathers to whoever or whatever had saved him.
Deciding that it was better than wandering aimlessly in this infinite endlessness, Nick decided to follow the trail of feathers in hopes that it would lead him to answers or a way out of this place.
As he continued to follow the feathers, Nick had no idea that someone was following him, focused as he was. After all, he didn't just read people's thoughts all willy-nilly.
Nick stopped to think about something, and that someone accidentally bumped into him, causing Nick to turn around and let his psychic aura burst to life in response.
"Who's there?!" Nick shouted.
"Eek, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Though he was still very confused, Nick took a good look at the girl who had bumped into him. She appeared to be about his age, with golden-brown eyes and long, brown hair with a pair of feathers atop her head, and wearing a brown cape secured with a white ribbon.
That was when Nick recognized the feathers on this girl's head as the same kind he'd been following, and thus the same kind of feather he'd seen before blacking out.
And now that he had time to think of it, those were the same feathers he'd seen during their caper against Geraldine Husk and the Great Kandinsky.
Which could only mean...
"...it's you," Nick gasped. "You're the one who saved me."
"Yeah, I'm sorry if I startled you," the girl answered, quickly composing herself. "I almost thought you'd already sensed my approach. I mean, you are a psychic, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm not always reading... wait, how did you know that?" Nick asked.
"Welp, I guess I've got some explaining to do, huh?" the girl laughed. "But I'll have to make it quick. We may not have much time."
The girl stood proud as she introduced herself. "I am Nanashi Mumei, the Guardian of Civilization. I watch over the aspect of civilization in this multiverse."
"I would assume there are other Guardians, too?" Nick asked.
"Pretty much," Mumei admitted. "Which brings me to why you're here. This is a place that only myself and my fellow Guardians can enter by normal means. The Final World is what you could call our domain, where we watch over our given aspects of the world."
"And I'm willing to bet that time is all out of whack again, given whatever Boogie Gus did?" Nick responded. "This wouldn't be the first time he's tried to monkey with the timeline."
"Precisely," Mumei proclaimed. "My fellow Guardians also vanished before I brought you here. When I realized what was happening, and that the others were gone, I went to the source of the disturbance, but you were the only one left, so I snatched you up as fast as I could and brought you here so you wouldn't get erased as well."
"So, I'm willing to bet Boogie Gus actually did screw up the timeline this time around, huh?" Nick quipped. "Because I had just caught him, but then he used this big ol' silver bubble thing that swallowed up our city, and then I found myself here."
Just then, Mumei gasped in absolute shock. "Did... did you say a large bubble of silver light?" Mumei wondered.
"Do you know what he did, Mumei?" Nick asked. "Because I'm pretty sure he hasn't been able to do that the last few times my friends and I have faced him."
"He used a Genesis Wave," Mumei responded. "It's one of the most heinous spells ever conceived, and it may be the reason why the other Guardians vanished, too. The Genesis Wave has the ability to rearrange the space and time of a dimension, allowing its user to create a new timeline, reshape the physical universe, rewrite memories, and even alter the structure of universes adjacent to it."
"So, in short, he basically rewrote an entire multiverse?!" Nick exclaimed. "How's that possible?!"
"That's what I'm trying to think of," Mumei admitted.
"...is there any way I can get my friends back?" Nick wondered. "I love them all very much, Mumei, and I don't want to lose them."
"It's kinda complicated, but there is a way," Mumei replied. "Follow me and I'll tell you on the way."
Mumei started walking towards a crystal pillar that had suddenly appeared in the distance, and Nick followed her, hoping that he'd be able to rescue his friends sooner or later.
When they reached the crystal pillar, Mumei touched it with her palm, and a portal opened in front of it, leading to what appeared to be the Beverly Hills of the not-too-distant past.
"Hey, isn't that when Sam, Alex and Clover first came to Beverly Hills?" Nick wondered.
"I can still sense pockets of your old multiverse out there," Mumei replied. "Apparently, Boogie Gus used an incomplete Genesis Wave, otherwise these pockets wouldn't exist. We'll have to find as many of these pockets as we can and find the specific versions of your friends that got yanked into these pockets. That way, we can find a way to reawaken their memories."
"At this point, I'll take what I can get," Nick quipped. "Let's go, Mumei."
"Roger that!" Mumei proclaimed as the two of them hopped into the portal and came out in the Beverly Hills of the not-too-distant past.
"Now, if I remember correctly, the girls are about to deal with that giant sushi roll," Nick stated. "We'd better make sure that nothing or no one tries to interfere with that."
"Where should we start?" Mumei asked.
Nick immediately started pondering what TO do.
"Oh, I should start since I didn't get your name," Mumei stated, suddenly remembering.
"It's Nick Kelly," Nick answered.
"Nick, got it," Mumei replied.
Nick looked on to see that giant sushi roll coming after the spies.
"Seriously, who thinks it's a bright idea for a giant sushi roll to go after certain girls?!" Mumei chastised.
"My thoughts exactly," Nick cringed.
Past Alex could see a small piglet in her path and managed to save it; Nick used that as a golden opportunity to stop that giant sushi roll himself.
"What the heck happened?" Then Sam asked, realizing that the sushi roll had stopped.
Nick and Mumei knew that was their cue to escape without arousing suspicion, but Then Alex got a look at Nick, whom had looked back at her.
"HEY, WAIT!" Then Alex called out.
Mumei and Nick came back, knowing they were spotted.
I hope she knows about me down the line, Nick thought as he followed Mumei.
"Did you stop that giant sushi roll thing from hitting us?" Then Alex wondered.
"I wasn't just going to let it squash you girls," Nick answered. "That's not how I roll. ...oof, I realized that pun too late..."
"I know that feeling," Then Clover giggled.
"And on that note, we need to get going," Mumei quipped. "Sorry if we worried you!"
As Nick and Mumei officially took off, Nick was having flashbacks himself of knowing how far he and Alex came in their relationship, especially with earning May as a second girlfriend, and reconciling with Nozomi.
"Hel-lo? Alex?" Then Clover retorted on Then Alex.
"Whoop, sorry," Then Alex remarked as she went with the three spies on their merry way with the small pig in tow that Alex later named Oinky.
"So, those were your friends?" Mumei wondered.
"Uh-huh," Nick answered. "And Alex and I grew... pretty close later on."
"Boyfriend and girlfriend, you mean?" Mumei asked.
"Yes, that's right," Nick answered. "But it may not be for long..." he continued, deciding to tell Mumei the news.
"Oh, wow!" Mumei exclaimed at Nick planning to pop the question to Alex. "If you want me to not tell her, I'm a pro at keeping secrets."
"Yes, please," Nick emphasized, since he'd already told May earlier.
They then went through another pocket to see a family at L-A-X Airport. Nick then got a look at that family of four and could see a younger version of Mat, who didn't seem very approving of this move; he also heard someone in that family say "Mathew" as well.
"Holy crapbaskets," Nick laughed a bit. "I almost didn't think that was really Mat."
"Care to explain him?" Mumei wondered.
"Uh-huh," Nick answered. "That's Mathew, but we've been calling him 'Mat.' He's someone from Hawaii who wound up moving here with his family, but after his family went back, he stayed in Beverly Hills after he met Sam. One thing about him is that he's a die-hard fan of dirt bikes."
Nick certainly got flashbacks of the 2006 Las Vegas Supercross finale that broke Mat's heart for sure. He went on telling Mumei about how Sam wanted to support Mat after finding out how serious he was about something like that.
"Seems like a nice guy," Mumei commented.
"Nice...? Try 'total sweetheart' as Sam puts it," Nick chuckled. "Those two are totally nuts over each other..."
"You sound like you're all quite close," Mumei noted.
"We're practically like family to each other by this point in our lives," Nick admitted. "After everything we've been through..."
Nick looked back towards the younger Mat, only to notice something odd in the sky above the L-A-X Airport.
Someone appeared to be falling down from the sky towards Mat and his family, and Nick tensed up when he recognized the person in question.
Deciding that now wasn't the time for subtlety, Nick took off into the sky with Mumei following close behind him (she could actually fly without assistance; Nick chalked that up to the powers she had as a Guardian), so he could intercept the skydiver before he could attack.
"Surprise, boy!" Tim Scam shouted as he prepared to strike at Then Mat, only for Nick to collide with him in mid-air and drag him away from the airport.
When they were safely away from the airport, Nick descended and slammed Scam into the nearby ground before jumping backwards.
"That was rude, little man," Scam growled.
"Yeah, well, when it comes to dealing with the likes of you, 'nice' ain't gonna cut it," Nick shot back. "Now out with it. What the hell are you doing here?!"
"You honestly expect me to listen to the words of a snot-nosed brat who thinks he's better than I am?" Scam chuckled. "I don't know who you are, boy, but you're already proving to be a pain in my rear."
"...wait, how do you not know who I am?" Nick gasped. "Are you trying to play mind games with me, Scam? Because, as a psychic, that's my job."
"Events might be different in this pocket," Mumei answered. "When the Genesis Wave splintered the multiverse, it may have altered events in each pocket that remains. It would explain why he doesn't know you."
"Especially considering that Scam's one of our most heinous foes," Nick replied. "And considering that you're not the Tim Scam I know..."
Nick clenched his fists and let his psychic aura burst to life around him. "...that means I don't have to hold back."
Before Scam had time to question what was going on, Nick charged forward and blew Scam backwards with a psychic pulse before picking him up in his psychic hold and slamming him into the ground a couple times before tossing him to the side.
As Scam tumbled, a portal opened behind him that he quickly tumbled into.
"Come on, Mumei, let's get him!" Nick exclaimed, to which Mumei nodded as they followed Scam through the pocket, coming out on the other side into what appeared to be W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters.
"Wait, we're back in W.O.O.H.P.?" Nick wondered.
"What's a whoop?" Mumei asked, to which Nick chuckled.
"It's the organization my friends and I work for, basically," Nick replied. "I'll give you the full notes after we catch this charlatan."
If he remembered W.O.O.H.P.'s layout correctly, then Nick knew that Scam was most likely heading towards the containment facility. Realizing that this pocket was from well in the past, before RiCO and the better facility existed (if they did at all in this pocket), Nick hastened his steps to catch up with Scam.
"We can't let him get to the containment facility, Mumei, otherwise we're going to have a real problem on our hands!" Nick exclaimed.
"Allow me to cage him in," Mumei giggled as she spawned a pair of feathers in her hand that quickly grew much larger. Mumei spun around before tossing the giant owl feathers forward, where they flew ahead of Scam and completely blocked the doorway to the containment facility.
"You two are already starting to grate on my nerves," Scam growled as he turned around to lunge towards Mumei. "Let's see if you can fight, little owl girl!"
In response, Mumei simply lashed out with a right hook kick that sent Scam stumbling backwards, followed by leaping after him and tripping him up with a leg sweep.
"You're taunting the Guardian of Civilization," Mumei proclaimed. "Maybe not the brightest idea in the rulebook?"
Just as a small squadron of W.O.O.H.P. agents arrived on the scene, Nick raised his hand to encase Scam in a psychic bubble, and Mumei retrieved the feathers she'd used to block the doorway.
"He's all ready for containment, everyone," Nick stated to the agents.
Despite their confusion, two of the agents moved to roll the bubbled Scam towards an unoccupied cell.
"Now, if you two could come with us?" another agent asked. Nick and Mumei nodded before following the agents down the hallway, eventually finding themselves in Jerry's office, where this pocket's versions of Sam, Alex and Clover were watching the office viewscreen in surprise, no doubt having witnessed Nick and Mumei's battle with Scam.
Nick noticed that there was no GLADIS in this office, nor any sign of the holographic projectors that RiCO used to appear in the office. Which means they either don't exist in this pocket, or they just haven't been thought of yet, Nick thought.
"Now that we have your attention," Then Jerry proclaimed as he stepped into the office. "The two of you, we have some questions for you."
"I figured as much," Nick chuckled.
"Are we in trouble?" Mumei asked.
"Not at the moment," Then Jerry replied. "After all, you did capture Tim Scam for us. We were just wondering where you came from, since you did just randomly appear inside the building."
"Yeah, and how did you do that thing with the feathers?" Then Alex gasped. "That was awesome!"
"That's... a bit of a story," Nick admitted. "Mumei, are we allowed to tell them what we're doing here? I don't know if that would disrupt the timelines..."
Mumei thought for a few seconds, going over what she knew of the situation. "I don't think it would do any harm," Mumei answered. "Each of these pockets exists in their own separate 'reality', so to speak. Considering that your current timeline is gone, it wouldn't do any harm to your own timeline."
Before Mumei could start explaining what was going on, a loud rumble from nearby shook the entire office.
"Um, what the heck was that?" Then Clover wondered. "Did Scam already break out?!"
The rumbling continued, getting progressively louder with each one.
"I don't know," Nick quipped. "It sounds like something's getting closer..."
Sure enough, now that they were closer, the rumblings sounded more like something was smashing through walls.
And then the wall of the office was smashed down, causing everyone within to either jump back or prepare for a fight in Nick and Mumei's case.
When the smoke and dust from the debris of the smashed wall cleared up, Nick noticed a lone figure standing there. She appeared to be a girl about Mumei's physical age with long, bright red hair (with two front strands dyed white and the tips fading to black) tied into two long, multi-segmented ponytails with the left ponytail longer than the right, aqua-blue eyes, what appeared to be large mouse ears on top of her head, and a spiky collar around her neck. She was wearing a white t-shirt with the word "RAT" printed on it in red letters, and a varying outfit of red, blue and yellow that seemed very asymmetrical in design.
"Oooookay, who let the rat out of the lab?" Then Sam wondered.
Mumei, however, was evidently very shocked to see this new arrival.
"Someone you know, Mumei?" Nick asked.
"T-that... that's one of my fellow Guardians," Mumei answered. "Hakos Baelz, the Guardian of Chaos."
Baelz didn't give Mumei any chance to react further, lunging forward and swiping at her a few times.
"And why is she attacking us?!" Nick shouted.
"I have no idea! She's not usually like this!" Mumei exclaimed.
Baelz flipped backwards before gathering chaos energy into her hands, creating two large spheres of energy that she threw towards Mumei. Thankfully, Nick was able to raise a psychic barrier to block the spheres before they could do any damage.
"All right, then, if that's the way we're going to play," Nick proclaimed as he drew his hand back, neon-green light surrounding it.
Baelz leaped off of both nearby walls before using the momentum to fling herself towards Nick.
"Time to snap out of it, chaos rat!" Nick exclaimed. "FINAL SHINE ATTACK!"
Just as Baelz got close enough, Nick thrust his hand forward and unleashed a bright burst of neon-green energy that struck Baelz in the chest and sent her flying back into the opposite wall.
However, Baelz quickly peeled herself out of the wall before jumping back in, channeling more chaos energy and forming it into gauntlets on her hands. Baelz began slamming her chaos gauntlets into the ground, creating shockwaves that Nick and Mumei had to jump over.
While this was happening, Baelz jumped through the air and aimed for Then Alex.
"Oh, no you don't!" Nick shouted, snatching Baelz in his psychic hold and tossing her back into the opposite wall while Then Sam, Then Alex, and Then Clover looked on in awe at the powers Nick was displaying.
Having had enough, Mumei summoned two owl feathers to her hands that transformed into elongated swords shaped like owl feathers.
"Come on, snap out of it!" Mumei exclaimed as Baelz charged her, punching at Mumei with her chaos gauntlets. Mumei easily countered each punch with a slash from her feather swords.
While this strange melee continued, Nick used his psychic radar to read Baelz's mind, and sure enough, her lack of major thoughts at the moment was a sure sign that she was being mind-controlled by something.
And Nick knew how to deal with that.
While Mumei and Baelz continued their battle, Nick snuck up behind them.
"Mumei, duck!" Nick shouted. Mumei did so just as Nick threw his hands out to unleash a psychic pulse all around him that knocked Baelz flat on her behind.
After a few seconds, Baelz picked herself up, looking around in confusion.
"Um... where the heck am I?" Baelz asked. "This definitely doesn't look my domain..."
"BAE!" Mumei exclaimed, jumping over to hug Baelz.
"W-wait, wait, Mumei, what are you doing here?" Baelz gasped. "Weren't you in the Final World last time I saw you?"
"That's... why I'm here, actually," Mumei admitted just as another portal opened up in the office.
"Hold on, hold on, is that a timeline pocket?" Baelz exclaimed. "Mumei, did somebody use a Genesis Wave? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!"
"We'd better head in and investigate," Nick proclaimed. "We'll give you the 'copied homework' on the way there."
Baelz raised her hands and channeled chaos energy that spread out across the office and completely repaired all the damage that had been done during the scuffle.
"Hey, wait!" Then Alex exclaimed. "Are we... ever going to see you again?"
Nick looked back and smiled, even if he knew this wasn't the Alex he knew.
"You just may, Alex," Nick answered. "You just may."
With that, Nick hopped into the portal, with Mumei and Baelz following behind.
Eventually, the trio came out of the pocket in front of what appeared to be a hydroelectric plant.
"Oh, this looks familiar," Nick quipped while Mumei filled Baelz in on what was happening.
"Ooh, I oughta whup that Boogie Gus guy in the face with my tail for using a freakin' Genesis Wave!" Baelz exclaimed.
"You'll have to get in line on that one, because I fully intend on kicking his ass when we find him," Nick responded.
"Oh, sorry, where are my manners?" Baelz quipped, turning around to finally properly greet Nick. "Nice to meet ya, Nick! Hakos Baelz, the Guardian of Chaos, at your service! My fellow Guardians usually call me Bae."
"Nice to be met, Bae," Nick responded. "And on that note, I think we'd better head inside, because if I remember this place correctly, trouble might be going down very soon."
And so Nick headed into the plant, Mumei and Baelz following right behind him.
"Nick, I heard you have people to rescue yourselves?" Baelz wondered.
"That's right," Nick answered. "My spy team and second family after my own family was taken away from me..."
"I've already met four of them," Mumei told Baelz. "And I found out he's seeing one of the spy friends, too."
"That's Mathew," Nick specified. "Though we've been calling him Mat – and he's seeing Sam."
Baelz was impressed.
"I do have to admit one thing though," Nick added. "Alex isn't my only girlfriend – both Mat and I have two additional girlfriends."
"Oh?" Mumei wondered.
"You see," Nick replied. "I am not saying this to brag or anything, but my ex-girlfriend Nozomi and I reconciled recently – she was before I met Alex – and my other girlfriend, May, fell in love with me after she lost her former crush on one of our past missions."
"Very interesting circumstances," Mumei quipped.
"Kinda reminds me of some of those novels that Kronii always likes to read when she thinks we're not looking," Baelz chuckled.
"Uh-huh," Nick remarked. "And Mat's also got two girlfriends in Britney – she's the spy trio's 4th member – and my sister Melissa."
"Well, I'll bet those girls had their good reasons," Mumei commented.
"I'll say," Baelz added.
The three of them continued on.
"Hopefully we can smoke out Boogie Gus somewhere and get my friends back," Nick remarked.
Baelz seemed to not know much about this and asked about whom Boogie Bus was.
"Let's just say this guy is an '80s freak trying to bring back zoot suits and whatnot," Nick explained.
"Believe us when we say that we'll smack him one when we find this character," Mumei told Baelz.
"He sounds like a loser in his own right," Baelz commented.
Meanwhile...
Unknown Time – Unknown Location
("Come Out Swinging" by The Offspring plays)
Sam, Mat, and Clover all came to after what Boogie Gus happened to do to them.
"What the heck happened?" Mat wondered as they got their bearings back.
"I remember Boogie Gus did all this," Sam stated.
"But more importantly, where in the hell are we?!" Clover chastised. "And WHERE are the others?! Including Blaine-y?!"
"That's what I'd like to know, too," Sam remarked.
"At least our memories are intact, right?" Mat wondered, mentally going through his memory bank.
"Yeah, I remember everything leading up to this," Sam answered.
Clover was no different.
"What's the last thing you remember, Mat?" Sam asked.
"Trying to stop Boogie Gus before he did what he did in terms of the mission," Mat answered. "In terms of AWAY from missions... James Stewart winning his 7th straight overall at Budds Creek with another 1-1 in the 450cc class, and Ryan Villopoto winning the 250cc class with his 6th straight sweep in the 250cc class... and Unadilla is next."
"He's all there, no question about it," Clover groaned a bit.
Sam could only chuckle since Mat took his Motocross series religiously.
"Well, now that our memories haven't been messed with, now what do we do?" Mat wondered. "And more importantly... where do we go?!"
"I figure we should start by finding out where the heck we are," Sam quipped.
"Or when, considering it's Boogie Gus we're dealing with," Clover replied.
"Either way, I think we'd better stay on our toes," Mat replied. "Who knows what Boogie Gus might have up his sleeves after that..."
With that, Sam, Mat and Clover began exploring the strange place they'd found themselves in, hoping to find a way out along with the rest of their friends.
After getting outside, Mat noticed a scuffle happening nearby.
"Um, should we investigate?" Mat wondered.
"Wait a minute," Sam proclaimed, studying the people involved in the scuffle carefully. "Is that...?!"
Indeed, the trio of people appeared to be a much younger Nick and Melissa, only about five or six years old, along with a slightly older boy trying to defend them from a hooligan-looking older person.
"Holy crapbaskets, that's Kevin, isn't it? Nick and Melissa's brother who died when they were kids?" Clover gasped when she recognized the boy.
"Hold on a second here," Mat stated as he realized what was most likely about to happen. "If Nick and Melissa are younger, then..."
"We're in the past," Sam and Clover gasped at the same time.
Sure enough, the hooligan in question rushed straight for Then Kevin while he spread his arms out to protect Then Nick and Then Melissa. However, in a subversion of what the trio expected to happen, the hooligan rushed the two boys first, slamming them together to knock them both unconscious before charging in and stabbing Then Melissa directly in the chest.
It took Mat a few seconds to find feeling in his legs after what he just saw, but he quickly charged in to lunge at the hooligan and punch him in the face, sending him crashing to the ground, while Sam and Clover moved to check on Then Melissa, hoping they weren't too late to save her.
Sadly, Sam shook her head after observing Then Melissa, silently admitting that she was gone.
"Oh, what, you wanna be next?" the hooligan laughed.
Clover immediately whipped out a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer and blasted the hooligan with it, sending him hurtling to the ground.
"You're lucky that's all I did, you jerkoff," Clover growled.
The hooligan quickly picked himself up and brandished his now blood-stained knife towards Sam. Naturally, Mat placed himself in front of her.
"You even point that at my honey-bunches, the next kick I give you will be coming for your head," Mat proclaimed.
The hooligan simply scoffed before running towards Sam and Mat, who both responded by jumping to kick the hooligan in the head as they'd promised, knocking him out as well. The trio decided to beat it as the police arrived on the scene, not wanting to arouse any further suspicion.
Of course, Mat was still pretty shaken at seeing the younger Melissa die right in front of him, but Sam was immediately near him to hug and comfort him.
"I know it's hard seeing people you love die, honey," Sam stated.
"I just wish we weren't all stunned by what we'd seen, then maybe we could have acted sooner and stopped that from happening..." Mat admitted.
"Stopped... what from happening, exactly?"
The trio turned around at the sound of that voice, only to gasp in shock when they saw the Melissa they knew standing right behind them, a look of confusion on her face.
"Did I... skip a chapter or something?" Melissa asked.
"Holy crapbaskets, Melissa, you're okay!" Mat exclaimed as he jumped over to hug Melissa tightly.
"I didn't know that I was in any trouble," Melissa teased as she hugged Mat back. "I'm just glad you're all okay."
"I almost thought you were a goner after what happened," Clover stated. "We just saw your younger self get stabbed instead of Kevin when you were young."
"Oof, I actually died here?" Melissa gasped. "I wonder why I didn't get poofed out of existence if we're really time-traveling..."
Before Sam could ponder any theories about that, a glowing portal opened up right behind them, putting them all on edge.
"That was pretty trippy, wasn't it?" Baelz chuckled as she, Nick, and Mumei jumped through the pocket to arrive at their next destination. "Never would have thought you had to fight an eco-terrorist."
"Trust me, our rogues' gallery is very strange," Nick laughed. "Would you believe me if I said that somewhere else in the multiverse, Edison did that crap in the polar ice caps and caused a flood that almost destroyed their world?"
"Knowing what we do, I'd believe that," Mumei giggled.
"Nick, is that really you?" Melissa gasped as she ran over to hug her brother.
"In the flesh, pretty much," Nick responded.
"Um, just to ask, Nick," Clover wondered. "Who are these two girls?"
"That's a bit of a story," Nick admitted as another pocket opened up just ahead of the group. "Let's jump into that pocket, and we'll explain everything on the way."
Despite their confusion, the spies nodded and followed Nick into the nearby pocket. As they crossed through the glowing tunnel of light that led to their next destination, Nick couldn't help but think about Boogie Gus, wherever in this twisted amalgamation of different realities he might be hiding.
What, exactly, did he have to gain from all of this?
And, the more important question on Nick's mind: who or what had given Boogie Gus the power to use a Genesis Wave and scramble reality?
He supposed he'd find those answers sooner or later.
To be continued...
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Next time...
Melissa: Just when you think our lives are getting back to normal, huh?
Nick: I feel you on that one.
Mat: So, does anyone know where we are now?
Sam: It looks like we're back in Japan again, but where, exactly?
Mumei: Is that one of your friends, Nick?
Nick: Yup, definitely. Come on, let's go say hi, next time on Totally Spies the Movie: A Crack in Time, "Nature's Wrath"!
Baelz: Ooh, boy, is that act title spoiling who we'll be facing next?
Nick: Yeah, sometimes the titles aren't as subtle as they think. Probably because of our new scriptwriter.