On Today's Episode: Nick and Mumei keep jumping through more and more pockets, slowly but surely reuniting with Nick's friends and searching for clues to the true perpetrator behind Boogie Gus' scheme. But are they really any closer to finding answers, especially when they have to face off with another brainwashed Guardian? For that matter, who brainwashed the Guardians after the fracture? The mysteries keep piling up as the adventure continues...
Act 2: Nature's Wrath
3:42 P.M. – Tachikawa, Tokyo
Many Years Ago
"Man, just when you think our lives are getting back to normal, huh?" Melissa teased as the group, currently consisting of Nick, Melissa, Sam, Clover, Mat, Mumei and Baelz, exited the pocket and came out in what appeared to be Nick's former hometown of Tachikawa, Tokyo. Nick and Mumei had filled everyone in on what had been happening since Boogie Gus had used the Genesis Wave.
"I feel you on that one," Nick laughed. "I'm pretty sure our lives are never going to be normal again."
"So, does anyone know where we are now?" Mat asked as he looked around their surroundings.
"It looks like we're back in Japan again," Sam quipped. "But where, exactly?"
Mumei glanced around until she noticed someone standing on the nearby hill under the shade of a tree, watching what looked like her younger self and another boy talking at the nearby school.
"Is that one of your friends, Nick?" Mumei asked. Nick followed Mumei's gaze to the tree on the hill, and he couldn't help but smile.
"Yup, definitely," Nick replied. "Come on, let's go say hi."
May sat down as she observed her past self talking to Johnny just as she'd remembered doing so long ago. This particular day had practically burned into memory, the day when Johnny had started training her in martial arts so she could better protect her fellow Jellyfish Pirates.
Of course, May didn't want to mess anything up, so she simply stayed far away and watched.
"Hey, you," Nick quipped as he arrived on the scene. "You just enjoying the memories?"
"Yeah," May admitted as she leaned over to hug Nick. "It's probably the only chance I'll ever get to see him again, so I figured I'd just bask in the good times while I can."
Baelz just smiled at how lovey-dovey May was being, until she noticed a strange figure over by the school, stalking her way across the fields without being seen.
"Well, I think we may need to stop a stalker that's heading for the school," Baelz responded.
May glanced back towards the school to get a good look at whoever was approaching, and she immediately tensed up when she noticed that it was Millia, the assassin who had killed Johnny and her old friend Ami.
"Oh, lord, not her again," May groaned. "W-wait, wait, how is Millia even here?! Isn't this way before Ami died?!"
"We'll explain that once we stop her," Nick answered. "Come on, let's get down there before things get worse."
May nodded, only to notice Mumei and Baelz.
"Oh, that's Mumei and Baelz," Nick immediately told May.
"Good to meet you both," May quipped. "I'm called May Iwakura."
The group put the introductions on the backburner for a while as they returned to battle.
"Hold it right there!" Nick proclaimed.
Then Millia looked to see May there in the flesh.
"So, you did the cowardly thing of adding more to your team?" Millia laughed.
"Cowardly? Not the word I'd use," Mat quipped.
"You wanna deal with them, you deal with US!" May proclaimed.
Nick fired a psychic shot at Millia as a warning.
"Is that all you can do?" Millia taunted.
"You don't taunt your opponents at all," May warned. "Especially these guys here..."
"One of the classic rules for villains that we've known all too well," Nick laughed.
Sam reacted with a Net Throwing Extendable Rod Mascara and it unleashed into a net that ensnared Millia as if she were a group of fish being caught by people way back when.
"TAKE THAT!" Clover proclaimed.
Nick raised his hand to put Millia into a psychic hold so May could have things a little easier.
"'Preciate it, Nick," May responded with a kiss to Nick's cheek. "Now watch me unload."
May rushed forward, using her Emergency Gadget Transporter to summon her anchor to her hands (she wasn't sure how that worked, given the circumstances, but she'd worry about that later) and swung it straight for the prone Millia, knocking her flat on her back. May took this time to bring her anchor down on Millia's katana, snapping it in half and forcing Millia to retreat.
"Nice job, May!" Sam proclaimed.
"Yes, way to go!" Baelz remarked.
"Who was that group you were with?" Mumei wondered.
"That's my old group called the 'Jellyfish Pirates'," May explained. "Let's just say we're pirates in a good sense. If you're new and you want friends, you got 'em in us."
May went on about the past history of the Jellyfish Pirates, even with the disbandment because of other circumstances, the team getting back together, and what happened to Johnny and Ami."
"Oh goodness, I'm so sorry," Baelz remarked.
"Ditto," Mumei added. "But those girls are back together now, right?"
"Absolutely," May replied.
"I thought for sure we were dealing with Past May, but no," Mat remarked.
"Did you see where Boogie Gus sent the others off to?" Melissa wondered.
"No," May answered. "I didn't see any of our spy team until you came along."
"I guess we'll have to find out where in the timelines that Boogie Gus sent Britney and the others," Sam quipped.
"Britney's shouldn't be too hard," Clover stated, considering they'd only been on a handful of missions with her.
"That's true," Mat replied, even thinking back to when he and Britney had started seeing each other.
"So, how do we get to the next dimension?" Mat wondered.
"We'd most likely have to find another pocket," Baelz quipped.
"...um, a pocket of what?" May wondered. "I hate feeling like I skipped an important chapter."
"Okay, so, Reader's Digest version," Nick explained as the group went to search for another nearby pocket. "Boogie Gus used something called a Genesis Wave, a powerful spell that rewrote our entire multiverse to his whims, but he apparently used an incomplete version, otherwise we wouldn't have these 'pockets', basically fragments of different realities based on our old timeline. I thought you'd all been erased from existence, but it looks like you were just scattered to different pockets. I was saved by Mumei so we could search the pockets for everyone else."
"Nice to formally meet you, May," Mumei stated. "I am Nanashi Mumei, the Guardian of Civilization."
"And I'm Hakos Baelz, the Guardian of Chaos!" Baelz proclaimed. "Nice to meet ya!"
"Are there other Guardians out there, too?" May asked.
"Three more," Mumei replied. "But Bae had been mind-controlled when we found her, so we had to snap her out if it, and I'm sure it's going to be the same when we find the others."
"Man, we tend to get roped into these super-crazy capers a lot, don't we?" May giggled.
"It's a curse, I tells ya," Nick groaned.
"Hey, I think I see a pocket over there!" Baelz exclaimed, pointing to a very familiar tree in Tachikawa's park plaza, where another portal had just opened. "Shall we, everybody?"
The entire group jumped through the pocket, eventually coming out the other side in a rather similar location.
"Um, is it me, or did we not really go anywhere?" May wondered. "Because I'm pretty sure this is still Tachikawa."
"These pockets tend to have events play out differently than you're used to," Mumei answered.
"Have you and the other Guardians dealt with a Genesis Wave before?" Melissa asked.
"A few times," Baelz responded. "The only thing we're not sure of is who gave Boogie Gus the power to use a Genesis Wave..."
"Well, whoever it is, then that's who we need to stomp after we take down Boogie Gus," Mat proclaimed.
Nick looked down the nearby street, one that he actually recognized, and then he saw a particular couple walking down that street, holding hands and generally acting like any lovey-dovey couple would.
And when he recognized the couple, Nick smiled.
"I think I know why we're back in Tachikawa," Nick quipped. "Look who's over there."
The rest of the group followed Nick's gaze to see younger versions of Nick and Nozomi walking down the street, apparently on a date.
"So, what's the big surprise you wanted to tell me about this date, Nick?" Then Nozomi asked. "You've been pretty hush-hush about it..."
"Well, given you're not the best at keeping secrets," Then Nick laughed. "I wanted to keep it a surprise, but... you remember that new movie you've been dying to see lately?"
Then Nozomi gasped in surprise. "You're not pulling my pigtails, are you?!" Then Nozomi exclaimed.
Then Nick reached into his pocket to pull out the movie tickets that he'd bought for them. "I know you've been wanting to see it ever since it came out, but we've been busy with school and life stuff," Then Nick quipped. "I figured, now that we're not as busy with all that, we could go check it out."
"Seriously, Nick, you are the best boyfriend ever!" Then Nozomi proclaimed, leaping over to hug Then Nick tightly.
"Bringing back some memories, Nick?" May giggled.
"Definitely," Nick replied. "Those two versions of us look a bit older than I remember, so maybe this is a pocket where Nozomi never had to move away, so we got to stay together."
Suddenly, a pair of hands pulled themselves over Nick's eyes, but before he could attempt a possible counterattack, he sensed the thoughts of whoever had jumped him.
"Guess who, Nick?"
"Is it someone I technically just saw walking down that street?" Nick teased.
"Nailed it," Nozomi giggled as she let go of Nick's eyes, only to hug him from behind. "I'm just happy you're all right."
"Have you been here long, Nozomi?" May asked.
"It feels like it's only been a few hours, really," Nozomi answered. "But, onto business, is Boogie Gus responsible for all of this timeline tomfoolery?"
"Pretty much," Sam replied. "We'll give you the full rundown once we're out of this pocket."
"Sounds like we've got more problems than Boogie Gus, huh?" Nozomi quipped as Mumei walked over to a nearby statue and tapped it with one of the owl feathers clipped to her headband, thus opening another pocket to another shattered timeline.
"You don't know the half of it, girlfriend," Clover responded. "I just hope my Blaine-y's going to be all right..."
"Hey, we've already reunited half of our team, so it's only a matter of time before the squad is full again," Melissa stated. "You two will be whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears before you know it."
"Ooh, I hope so..." Clover swooned, only to be dragged towards the pocket by her shoulder courtesy of May.
"No swooning while existence is at stake, okay, Clover?" May quipped. "You can swoon all you want once Blaine's back in the party."
"Just a little, May?! He is my boyfriend, after all!" Clover exclaimed, to which everyone started laughing.
9:51 P.M. - Saskatchewan Forest
"Okay, so now we're in the forest of hissing trees?" Melissa quipped as the group exited the pocket.
"Oh, lordy, I remember this place," Clover groaned as she looked around. "I just had to be 'extreme' so I could impress David..."
"I wonder how he's doing nowadays?" Sam wondered. "It's been ages since we've seen him, really..."
"Wait, did you say something about 'hissing trees'?" Mat wondered. "Because those trees look like they're moving, and not because of the wind..."
At that line, most of the group knew what caper they'd jumped back to, and they all set out into the strange forest.
Sure enough, this pocket's versions of Sam, Alex and Clover were being strung up by large tree vines constricting around their bodies, while Lasputin Zero was going on a speech about the modifications he'd made to the trees in this forest.
"Oh, that's a blast from the past," Sam quipped.
Just as Then Sam shouted about what the forest was doing to the people that wandered into the forest, shocking Zero into silence, more vines started flooding in from around the area, forming a barrier around them.
"Okay, so, I don't remember that happening when we were strung up back then!" Clover exclaimed.
"Sounds like we've got trouble," Melissa proclaimed. "Let's go render our assistance!"
Nick encased the group in a psychic bubble so he could lift them all into the air and over the wall of vines before a ceiling of vines enclosed on them, effectively trapping everyone inside.
"Wait, wait, am I seeing double?" Then Sam asked. "I'm not going crazy, am I?"
"Well, if you are, then so am I," Then Clover admitted.
"Ooh, boy, how do we explain this?" May wondered.
Suddenly, the area began to rumble, and something started digging its way underground towards the group. Before anyone could react, the digger in question emerged dramatically, flying upwards for a few seconds before slowly floating back to the ground.
She was a young woman who appeared to be about Mumei's physical age, with long, light-green hair decorated with flowers, two small tree branches sticking out from her head, light yellow eyes, a very fashionable dark blue and white dress, and carrying a golden apple with vines wrapped around it in her hand.
"Who's the nature spirit?" Then Clover wondered.
"She's not too far off the mark," Mumei responded as she readied her feather swords for a fight. "That's one of our fellow Guardians. Ceres Fauna, the Guardian of Nature."
Baelz tried to talk to Fauna, but the Guardian of Nature simply raised her golden apple and caused sharp vines to sprout from the ground right under Baelz. The Guardian of Chaos only escaped by firing a blast of chaos energy straight downward to propel herself into the air, destroying a few of the vines in the process.
While Baelz leaped off the vine walls that were enclosing everything around them, Mumei charged forward, only for Fauna to surround herself with a barrier of vines. Thankfully, Mumei was able to easily cut through them with her feather swords.
"I'm sorry about your vines, Fauna, but this has to be done!" Mumei shouted, only to be pushed back by another vine, fall to the ground, and see yet another vine rapidly approaching her with every intent of skewering her.
May placed herself in front of Mumei and swung her anchor hard enough to bash the incoming vine off course.
"Sorry, Fauna, you're not impaling anyone today, brainwashed or not!" May exclaimed.
Fauna responded by waving her golden apple and causing some of the vines that made up the walls to twist around and start moving threateningly towards the rest of the group.
Nick fired a few psychic bolts to destroy the vines holding Then Sam, Then Alex, and Then Clover up so they could move to a (hopefully) safe distance, then flew back up into the sky so he could fire psychic bolts at the vines that Fauna was controlling, keeping them away from everyone else.
"I'm up here, Fauna!" Nick taunted. "Let's tangle, shall we?"
Fauna took that as a challenge, directing three different vines towards him, but Nick formed a psychic energy blade on his right hand and sliced the vines apart as they closed in on him, then lunged towards Fauna before she could get any more vines up. Nick quickly threw his hands out to unleash a psychic pulse that floored Fauna quickly, sending her crashing to the ground.
Once Fauna picked herself up, the vines surrounding the area all retreated into the ground, allowing the past versions of Sam, Alex and Clover to move in and arrest Zero.
"Fauna? Are you back to being you again?" Baelz asked.
"I... I think so," Fauna answered. "But why am I in a forest like this? I didn't expect to find myself here..."
"I could say the same about all of us, really," Mumei giggled as she moved close enough to hug Fauna.
"M-Mumei, you're here, too?" Fauna gasped. "What exactly is going on?"
"The Genesis Wave," Baelz responded, to which Fauna immediately tensed up. "Yep, we've got another wannabe time conqueror on our hands."
"Where is he, then?" Fauna asked. "He needs to be punished."
"That's what we're up to, basically," Nick stated. "We're trying to find both the rest of the Guardians and Boogie Gus so we can all give him the beatdown he deserves."
Mumei looked up, having felt a strange twitch in her mind. She usually knew what that meant.
"Hey, everyone, can we make a quick stop back in the Final World before we move on?" Mumei asked. "I just felt someone enter there."
"Isn't that normally supposed to be impossible for anyone but us Guardians?" Fauna wondered.
"With the multiverse as scattered and broken as it is, anything could be possible right now," Nick admitted. "Let's at least give it a look, just to make sure it's not anything suspicious."
Mumei nodded, turning around and reaching out to open a portal back to the Final World so that everyone could jump into it.
"...is anyone else really confused?" Then Clover asked.
"Okay, good, so it's not just me," Then Alex quipped.
5:16 P.M. – The Final World
"Whoa," Melissa gasped as the group entered the Final World. "This place looks amazing."
"That's exactly what I said when I found myself here," Nick responded.
Nick quickly noticed that there were two more large crystal pillars rising from the 'ground' nearby the one Mumei had opened a portal through earlier. Nick quickly deduced that these different pillars represented each of the Guardians and their domains in the Final World.
And Nick also noticed someone lying on their back near one of those pillars.
"I think we found our passenger," May stated.
"Wait, hold on, is that who I think it is?" Melissa gasped.
Nick took a few steps closer to get a good look and gasped in surprise, because he definitely recognized the girl in question now.
"Ugh, my head still hurts..." Klee groaned as she picked herself up. "What the heck was that light I saw?"
"You probably have a lot of questions, huh?" Nick quipped, catching the attention of his daughter from the future.
"PAPA!" Klee shouted as she dashed forward to hug Nick. "Holy crapbaskets, you're still alive!"
"Did the Genesis Wave affect your timeline, too, Klee?" Nick asked.
"The last thing I remember is getting ready for a mission, then I see a bright silver light engulfing everything, and then I woke up here, wherever here is," Klee explained. "How long was I out?"
"Long enough, I'm sure," Nick quipped. "We'll explain what's going on when we get to the next pocket, 'kay? We've kinda been on an adventure of our own."
"Right, let's go kick whoever did this where it hurts!" Klee proclaimed as Mumei opened another portal.
3:41 P.M. – Beverly Hills
W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
"Ah, home sweet home," Clover laughed once the group exited the pocket and came out in front of W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters. "I think."
"All right-y, then, what timeline did we find ourselves in now?" Sam asked nobody in particular.
That question was swiftly answered when the group heard someone crying nearby. Almost a few seconds later, this timeline's version of Alex ran past the group, crying her heart out.
"Ooh, boy, I think I remember this one," Sam quipped. "That was when Britney first showed up."
"What should we do, everyone?" Nick wondered.
Clover and Melissa saw Then Alex walking away. Then Alex didn't seem to notice Klee with them, maybe for the best.
"Papa, what's that about?" Klee wondered.
"That... was when Alex quit W.O.O.H.P. after Britney joined up for her first mission," Sam told Klee.
"She thought she was being replaced," Clover added.
"But you won and got her back, right?" Klee wondered.
"Yeah, she came back and saved our behinds," Sam answered.
"That certainly hurt me for sure," Nick commented.
"I sure hope you don't bring that up when we do find Alex," Mat told Klee.
"Of course not," Klee responded.
The spies looked to see the W.O.O.H.P. plane taking Then Sam, Then Clover, and Then Britney to Iceland while Then Alex went back to Beverly Hills High for her extra credit assignment to make a bar of soap float in a bucket of water.
"Oh, that brings back memories," Sam commented, fully remembering how that went down.
"I never knew Mama quit," Klee replied.
"But she came back," Nick pointed out.
4:00 P.M. – Beverly Hills High School
Everybody got to Beverly Hills High only to see Then Alex running out past Nick.
"Hey, looks like she's on her way back," Melissa quipped.
"It made me happy to see her get her confidence back, honestly," Nick quipped.
Sam and Clover knew how that played out after Alex came back to aid the spies from Willard.
"We got word there's another pocket inside," Baelz told the group.
"Really? Where?" Melissa wondered.
"Inside," Mumei answered, getting a reading herself.
They both darted into the school at the lockers.
"Over here," Baelz replied.
"Crapbaskets, OUR LOCKERS?!" Clover chastised.
"These are your lockers?!" Baelz remarked.
"My locker ended up on the opposite side of them," Mat replied.
Mumei saw that the lockers were secured.
"Allow us," Sam quipped as she and Clover unlocked the padlocks themselves.
They opened the lockers, and there was a pocket in Sam's locker.
"Well, it was either one," Melissa chuckled.
Nick used his psychic power when it appeared that the pocket was about to close. Everybody wasted no time and went through it.
"I wonder where we're heading to now," Clover stated.
"Looks like we'll be finding out soon enough," Sam quipped.
6:15 P.M. – Beverly Hills
The Spies' Beach House
"Hey, it's our beach house again," Clover laughed when the group exited the pocket and came out in front of their beach house.
"Yeah, but where or when is this one?" Sam asked.
"Any sign of trouble, Nick?" May asked.
Nick did a quick psychic radar sweep of the immediate area, only detecting the thoughts of this pocket's versions of Sam, Alex, Clover, and apparently himself having fun inside the beach house.
"Nope, just ourselves inside," Nick answered. "Looks like everything's peaceful for the moment."
Um, excuse me, but who are you? a voice resounded in Nick's mind.
Okay, here's my question: who said that? Nick replied mentally. Because you sound like me. Wait, wait, did you notice my psychic radar?
Hold on here, you have psychic powers just like me?
"Hey, Nick, what's going on?" Mat asked. "Is everything all right?"
"Apparently, the me in there has psychic powers like me," Nick answered. "He must have noticed my radar sweep, and..."
Sorry to cut you off there, other me, but do you hear a strange beeping?
Nick focused his senses for a split second, and he did hear a beeping noise. In fact, it seemed to be beeping faster and faster with each second that passed.
The realization hit Nick with all the force of a crashing airliner...
...just as the beach house was engulfed in an enormous explosion that shook the ground around them.
Fauna reacted without thinking, raising her golden apple and causing a barrage of vines to burst from the ground and wrap themselves around the group, thus preventing them from getting hit by the flying debris that was scattering all over the street.
"Is everyone all right?" Fauna asked.
"Thanks to your quick thinking, Fauna," May quipped.
"Wait, what happened to the other us'es?" Clover gasped. "They were in the center of that giant ka-boom!"
Nick did another psychic radar sweep, and thankfully, he could still read their thoughts. When the smoke cleared from the blast, Nick could see that Then Nick had created a psychic bubble to shield Then Sam, Then Alex, and Then Clover from the blast, and the bubble had thankfully held up.
"Thank god I learned how to this," Then Nick proclaimed. "Holy crapbaskets, that was a close call."
"Oh, you say that, too," Nick laughed.
"Whoa, I'm seeing double," Then Clover responded. "You don't think that Macker's at it again, do you?"
"They look younger than us, so I'm not so sure," Then Sam answered. "Are you all time-travelers, maybe?"
"Well, sort of," Klee chuckled. "It's a long story, to be fair."
"I guess we've got time, since, you know, our house got blown to smithereens," Then Alex sighed.
Before anyone could get that ball rolling, Nick's senses detected someone rather familiar approaching fast.
"What's up, Nick?" Nozomi asked.
"Trouble," Nick responded as he turned around to face the impending trouble.
After a few seconds, who else but this pocket's version of Tim Scam came rushing in, attacking with a Buzzsaw Wristwatch. Nick raised his hands and projected a psychic barrier in Then Scam's path that he couldn't react to in time and bounced off of.
"Well, I guess you're going to be a troublemaker no matter what pocket we find ourselves in, huh?" Nick proclaimed. "Are you the one who blew our house apart?"
"Who else would have the brains to actually do that?" Then Scam laughed.
"He's definitely got the arrogance down," Melissa quipped.
"I just hope this Scam doesn't have designs on me," Sam shuddered, to which Mat reached out and hugged her.
Before anyone could wring any other answers out of Then Scam, something odd happened.
Then Nick let out a bellow of what could only be described as pure, unyielding rage before charging to attack Then Scam with every intention of ripping him to pieces.
Even as Then Nick went on the offensive, Nick couldn't help but connect the dots, as that had been himself long ago.
"Maybe don't lose yourself to your rage, boy!" Then Scam laughed as he fired his laser pistol to send Then Nick crashing down to the ground, only to himself be floored by a Final Shine Attack courtesy of Nick.
"How about you keep an eye on the birdie, you creep?" Nick proclaimed before moving to help his other self back to his feet.
"I seriously have some bones to pick with you, Scam, especially after what you did to me!" Then Nick exclaimed.
"Let me guess, this Scam killed your parents?" Nick stated.
"W-wait, how did you know that?" Then Nick gasped, only to notice Nick's expression and connect the dots quickly. "...oh."
"No matter where we go, Tim Scam is a con man, a consummate liar, and a murderer," Nick proclaimed. "So, let's both of us give him the beatdown he deserves."
"Ooh, now you're talking my lingo," Then Nick responded, the two Nicks shifting into fighting stances. "Let's mess him up good."
"Bring it on, boys!" Then Scam laughed. "Double the spies means double the pain for you, and double the fun for me!"
"I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you," Mumei responded as she plucked two feathers from her headband and threw them towards Then Scam, the feathers enlarging and sweeping Then Scam off of his feet rather easily.
Baelz continued the attack by forming chaos energy bubbles on her hands and throwing them at Then Scam. Even though he tried to cover himself with an energy shield, the chaos energy broke through it easily and sent him bouncing down the street.
Fauna finished the 'battle' by raising her golden apple and causing a bunch of vines to sprout from the ground underneath Then Scam and wrap themselves around his limbs to keep him in place.
"Look at you, Scam," Nick quipped as he walked closer to the trapped Then Scam. "Beaten by a bunch of teenagers, again. You're never gonna beat us, you know. Never. It doesn't matter where in the multiverse you exist, that's always gonna be the truth."
Fauna snapped her fingers, dissolving the vines just long enough for Nick to raise his right hand and encase Then Scam inside of a psychic bubble.
"Now get in your cell and stay there," Nick proclaimed as he flicked his hand upward to send the bubbled Then Scam off to W.O.O.H.P.'s containment facility.
"Okay, that was... a thing," Then Sam stated.
"Our poor house, though," Then Alex sighed in defeat.
"We can arrange that for you, spies," Then Jerry proclaimed, speaking from Then Sam's X-Powder. "Just consider it a thank you for all of your hard work."
"Once again, Jerry, you rock!" Then Clover exclaimed.
"Come to my office and we'll discuss things, shall we?" Then Jerry responded.
Then Sam nodded before closing her X-Powder, then turning to the rest of the group.
"Are you all going to be all right here?" Then Sam asked. "Your being here isn't messing with the timeline, right?"
"In this case, no," Mumei answered. "We're probably gonna be on our way soon, anyway. Lots of things to do, after all."
That was good enough for Then Sam, who started running towards W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters in the distance with her friends following behind her.
"That was interesting," Melissa quipped. "I hope they can get their beach house back in one piece soon."
"Me, too," Clover replied.
"Holy crapbaskets, what the heck was that?!"
Nick spun around so hard he almost gave himself whiplash when he heard the familiar voice. It turned out to be Alex and Britney running down the street, no doubt having been drawn there by the sound of the explosion.
Naturally, Nick was over there like lightning to hug Alex tightly, while Britney did the same with Mat.
"Hey, you actually beat me to it," Alex giggled. "But, seriously, are you doing okay, Nick?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing, Alex," Nick responded. "I've been searching all over these different busted timelines for you after what Boogie Gus did."
"You know what, to heck with the reasons," Alex replied. "I'm just happy to see you, Nick."
With that, Nick and Alex leaned in for a kiss. Britney couldn't resist giving Mat a kiss as well, while they had the moment to.
"That never gets old," Klee giggled.
"Oh, my goodness, you're here, too, Klee?!" Alex gasped.
"Yup, I got dragged into this mess, too," Klee quipped.
"Now that you mention it, I seriously hope Kana's all right," Sam proclaimed. "I mean, if Klee got yoinked from her own timeline because of all this, then that can only mean Kana's out there somewhere, too."
"We'll just have to keep on the lookout while we explore the pockets," Mat replied.
"H-Hey, can anyone hear me?!"
When Nick realized that this voice was coming from his own X-Powder, he dug it out of his Jetpack Backpack and flipped it open, gasping in surprise when he saw RiCO on the screen.
"Oh, thank goodness I finally got a connection!" RiCO proclaimed.
"Wait, RiCO, I thought you got wiped when our timeline was shattered!" Alex realized.
"Well, when I saw everything disappearing, I remembered the last time Boogie Gus tried his time travel shtick, so I swiftly downloaded myself into Nick's X-Powder before it got me, too, but I must have been temporarily shut down by whatever happened," RiCO explained. "I just managed to reawaken and reestablish my connection to you guys."
"Wow, we're reuniting pretty quickly, aren't we?" Britney quipped. "Who do we still have left to find?"
"I think it's just Haruka, Bridget, Dawn, Blaine and Kana," Melissa stated.
"Well, shall we continue the adventure, then?" Baelz proclaimed.
Suddenly, a dark portal opened just behind the spies. Before anyone could react, they were suddenly pulled into the portal, being unceremoniously deposited into a strange dark void.
"Okay, who's the jerk-o responsible for this?!" Alex quipped.
"I'd stay on guard, everyone," Fauna proclaimed. "This place doesn't seem very savory at all."
"Yeah, it reeks of distorted time," Baelz stated. "It's one of those kind of pockets where time didn't exactly 'recover', so to speak."
"Kinda seems like it's the perfect place for an 80s-obsessed nutball to be hiding out," Clover responded.
Mumei stopped in her tracks when she saw something just up ahead. Sitting there, in a very 80s-inspired throne, was Boogie Gus himself. Floating just above the throne, trapped in a sphere of darkness, was Kana, Sam and Mat's future daughter.
"Welcome, you crazy cats," Boogie Gus proclaimed. "Welcome... TO MY LAIR!"
Sam immediately fired a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer shot for Boogie Gus, but to everyone's surprise, he blocked it by snapping his fingers to create a barrier of silver light in front of him.
"Now, my dear, why do you think that'll work?" Boogie Gus cackled. "I've got all new skills, and I intend to put them to good use."
"We're only gonna say this once, Boogie Gus," Mat growled. "Let Kana out of that dark bubble or else."
"Or else what, ya dumb Hawaiian dish?" Boogie Gus laughed. "I told y'all that you wouldn't be screwing my rhythm anymore, and I meant it. You're not gonna beat me as easily as ya did before."
"And I believe that's all the excuse we need to start wailing on you," Mumei proclaimed, summoning her feather blades to her hands. "You're going to learn a painful lesson about messing with the order of the world!"
"Oh, bring it on, owl girl!" Boogie Gus exclaimed, rising from his throne to battle the spies. "Bring it on, all of y'alls!"
Nick clenched his fists and let his psychic aura explode to life around him, Klee doing the same thing right beside him.
"Oh, we'd be more than happy to," Nick proclaimed.
"Let's get 'em, papa!" Klee exclaimed.
Nick and Klee charged forward in an attempt to harm Boogie Gus and hopefully save Kana. Both equipped their psychic powers in an attempt to thwart any possible attack Boogie Gus had for the spies.
"It's one thing to like the '80s, but I'll take flashbacks and memories over THIS!" Mat proclaimed as he got in the action, too.
"I'd ask what was big in the '80s for Motocross, Mat, but I'll save that for another time," Melissa stated.
"I could probably name about four or five things," Mat remarked.
Sam was immediately using her jet pack backpack to get to where Kana was being held prisoner.
"Mom!" Kana exclaimed.
"We'll get you out, sweetheart," Sam proclaimed. "Is there anything you know about dispersing this?"
"It looks like there's a gap in here somewhere," Kana quipped, pointing to a small gap in the sphere.
"I'll see what I can do," Sam remarked as she darted away from the sphere.
She got to Mat to work with her to free Kana.
"We need to hurry in case," Sam added.
Meanwhile, Melissa got in the mood with firing the Cyclone Blast Hairdryer at Boogie Gus after Nick read him like a book and fired a shot at Boogie Gus' hand to stop that barrier from coming back again. Melissa's shot was a direct hit.
"Appreciate it, bro," Melissa quipped.
"Hopefully it did something," Mat remarked, referring to the sphere Kana was trapped in.
He flew up to check, and there was no change in the sphere. Kana motioned to where a possible opening was.
"I'll try it," Mat told her.
He went back down to try out where Kana had motioned to, equipping a Metal Masher Boxing Glove and punching at the exposed spot in the sphere in hopes of breaking it, or at least making the gap wide enough for Kana to slip out.
Nick happened to have psychically read what Mat and Sam were trying to do because he aided them, too, flying upwards to fire a Final Shine Attack into the sphere, followed by a flurry of psychic bolts.
As for Clover, she was using the Cyberjacker Sunglasses to figure out any other weak points.
"I'm finally going to win this over you meddling chumps!" Boogie Gus taunted.
"Don't be sure about that, buddy boy," Sam quipped.
Clover used the Laser Lipstick to fire shots at Boogie Gus, and then threw the Dynamite on a Stick on the throne Boogie Gus occupied. It exploded, much to Boogie Gus' dismay.
"I think that did it," Sam quipped as she flew back up to Kana.
As was thought, the sphere was not as powerful as before.
"Back up a bit, Kana," Sam ordered as she used the Ice Queen Perfume to break the sphere's defense.
"Heads up, chumps and chumpettes!" Boogie Gus laughed as he flew upwards, his hands trailing silver light behind him before aiming them towards Nick, only for Klee to surround them both with a psychic bubble to deflect Boogie Gus' blast, then popping the bubble, the recoil sending Boogie Gus flying backwards.
"How about you first?" Klee responded, blasting Boogie Gus further backwards with a Final Shine Attack of her own.
"You know what? Y'all aren't worth the trouble right now," Boogie Gus proclaimed, snapping his fingers to open another portal before jumping it. "This ain't the last you'll be seein' of me, crazy cats!"
Sam brought Kana down to safety, and to say that Kana was relieved was an understatement.
"Well, now that Kana's been rescued, where do we go now to rescue the others?" Clover wondered.
"Look, there's another pocket where Clover threw the Dynamite on a Stick," Mumei pointed out.
Baelz checked it out and it was indeed another pocket.
"Well, wherever we go next remains up in the air," Mat stated.
With Kana now in tow, the group went through the pocket to who-knew-where.
3:47 P.M. – Beverly Hills High School
"And that's basically the whole story, Kana," Mumei stated as the spies once again arrived in Beverly Hills, still curious to see what about this pocket would be different.
"You all can never seem to stay out of trouble, can you?" Kana giggled.
"It's a curse," Nick quipped. "Every time."
"We're just glad you're all right, Kana," Sam stated as she moved to hug her future daughter. "That wacko didn't do anything to hurt you, did he?"
"Thankfully, no," Kana answered. "He was just trying to lure you in, apparently."
"Well, he saw how that ended," May responded. "We'll take him down soon enough, I'm sure."
"All right-y then, what's so special about this Beverly Hills?" Sam wondered.
Nick looked over towards the high school, since it was nearby, and he noticed a few familiar-looking people. Granted, he'd only really met them a few times, but it was because of them that he'd been able to reconnect with one of his childhood friends.
Nick's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, which usually meant trouble in these kind of situations.
And sure enough, what appeared to be this pocket's version of everyone's 'favorite' slow-but-not-really-slow baddie Willard lunged forward to jump on top of Britney, only for Nick to blast him backwards with a psychic pulse.
"Sorry, buddy, but you're not getting the drop on us with amateur tactics like that," Nick proclaimed. "I mean, come on, what part of 'I'm a freakin' psychic' isn't registering in your head?"
"Well, it's probably because I don't recognize most of you," Then Willard answered. "And you're not supposed to have those strange Jedi mind tricks unless you picked 'em up since the last time we fought... and, for that matter, where's your partner?!"
"Um, how about you start making sense, mister slow?! You're talking in ancient gibberish!" Clover shouted.
"I don't know what Jerry and his goonie squad is trying to pull, but you're not going to pull the cell bars over my head this time!" Then Willard exclaimed. "I can still take you down, with or without your stupid partner by your side!"
Just as Nick prepared himself for a fight, two distinct flashes of light erupted from far away, and then streaks of those two lights came rushing towards them before attacking Then Willard, zipping around like caffeinated lightning bolts and pinballing Then Willard around helplessly.
"Whoa, and suddenly the Flash is here?" Baelz quipped.
"Oh, I think I know who that is," Nick responded.
After a few more passes, the streaks made themselves visible by slowing themselves down just enough to double gut-punch Then Willard and send him crashing to the ground. The green streak then moved to handcuff Then Willard, and by now, the spies realized that the "streaks" were actually this pocket's versions of Nick and Bridget, but the spies were surprised to see that Then Nick was also wearing a Sonic Mode-like outfit much like Then Bridget.
"Seriously, Willard, did you not learn your lesson from the last time we scuttled your plans?" Then Bridget proclaimed.
"Oh, go and stuff it!" Then Willard shot back. "I'm sick of you two always ruining my plans!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't have started trying to make the world move in slow-motion," Then Nick taunted.
"Good to see that hasn't changed," Nick laughed.
It was at that point that Then Nick noticed his other self standing with the rest of the spies.
"Um... is it okay if I ask who you are, other me?" Then Nick quipped.
"Honestly, we've heard that question more than enough times on our little trip," Nick answered.
"We'll just say that we're from another timeline and we're trying to find the rest of our friends," Mumei proclaimed. "If we told you the whole story, we'd be here all day, and I'm sure you've got to get him to containment."
"Too true on that," Then Bridget giggled. "Honestly, I'm used to weird things like this by now. Comes with the territory of working for W.O.O.H.P., am I right?"
"Tell me about it!" Sam, Alex and Clover exclaimed, to which everyone started laughing.
With that much said, Then Nick and Then Bridget picked up the handcuffed Then Willard before zooming off at lightning speeds to return to W.O.O.H.P. with their captive in tow.
"Well, that was an interesting experience," Nozomi quipped.
"Honestly, I was hoping to not see Willard for a long time," Britney admitted. "You can probably tell that I'm still salty about what he put me through."
"Sorry to break up the memories, but I'm detecting another pocket nearby," Fauna stated, pointing her golden apple towards the direction of the pocket. "I wonder how many more fractured timeline we're going to have to go through in order to find who's responsible for all of this..."
"Hey, we'll jump through as many as we have to so we can find whoever did this and thump them, right?" Clover proclaimed. "We did it before, and we can definitely do it again!"
"That's the spirit, Clover!" Alex laughed.
"FOUND YOU!"
Nick quickly put himself on edge, only for Bridget to jump out of a nearby bush and lunge forward to tackle-hug Nick, sending both of them crashing to the ground.
"...why did I not see that coming?" Nick groaned.
"Because I'm too fast for ya, silly," Bridget giggled.
"Were you here the whole time, Bridget?" Melissa asked.
"I was hiding in the bushes until everything settled down," Bridget quipped. "Didn't wanna weird out the other us'es any more than was necessary."
Bridget looked at Mumei, Baelz, and Fauna before smiling. "Seems like we've got some new passengers for this ride through time, huh?" Bridget stated. "Well, let me suit up, then."
Bridget typed in a few commands on her X-Powder before holding it into the air, the casing glowing with an emerald green light.
"Sonic Mode, online!" Bridget proclaimed.
Green rings of light surrounded Bridget's body as her hair braids came undone, letting her hair flow down to about her waist. Bridget reached out to tap a new symbol that had appeared on her shirt, the symbol flashing brightly and changing her outfit into a more cyberpunk-esque version of her normal spy catsuit with glowing neon lines running in patterns all across the suit.
Her transformation complete, Bridget couldn't resist striking a pose at the end.
"There, much better," Bridget laughed. "Now let's go find Boogie Gus and kick him where it hurts."
But as the spies made their way towards the nearby pocket, they had no idea that they were being watched from another strange pocket.
"Ah, so they're the ones."
She adjusted her witch's hat as she watched the group progress.
"Nah, it wouldn't be fun to just wipe them out right away. Let them think there's hope. Then I'll crush it."
To be continued...
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Next time...
Mat: All right, so where are we now?
Bridget: It kinda looks like we're back in Tachikawa again. I keep forgetting that at least half of our entourage used to call that city home...
Alex: Wait, who's that nutball that the police are chasing?
Nick: Oh, crapbaskets, I recognize that guy. I was kinda hoping we'd never have to deal with him again.
May: I'm sure Haruka feels the same way, wherever she is. Come on, if that really is Nebula Grey, he's got an appointment with a keester-kicking.
Nick: Truer words, May. Let's go render our assistance, next time on Totally Spies the Movie: A Crack in Time, "Space Trip Steps"!
Alex: Is it wrong that I wanna start singing the song that the next act's named after?
May: It's a bop, for sure.