On Today's Episode: The journey continues as the spies search for their last remaining friends and the rest of Mumei's fellow Guardians. Many different alternate pockets await the team as they keep searching, but what else does this shattered reality have in store for them? Will Boogie Gus attempt to stand in their way again? And can the spies find whoever is responsible for all of this?
Act 3: Space Trip Steps
5:58 P.M. – Tachikawa, Tokyo
"All right, so where are we now?" Mat wondered.
"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..." Bridget answered.
Mat was helping Sam and Britney up in the meantime.
"I just hope we're not here under grim circumstances again," May remarked, having remembered the past two missions in Tachikawa with the Jellyfish Pirates.
"Wait, who's that nutball that the police are chasing?" Alex wondered, pointing at a shady character on the run.
"Oh, crapbaskets, I recognize that guy. I was kinda hoping we'd never have to deal with him again," Nick proclaimed.
"Nebula Grey, you think?" Sam wondered.
"That's right," Nick groaned.
"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," May proclaimed.
"The last thing we wanna do is disrupt any timeline activity," Clover pointed out.
"Yeah, but I'm sure we won't have to worry about something like that," Sam deduced.
"I'm ready to kick his keester," May remarked.
"Truer words, May. Let's go render our assistance and stop Nebula Grey again!" Nick exclaimed.
The crew ran up together to see whom that said person was, and if it really was Nebula Grey.
That better not be James again, Sam thought, knowing she wanted to settle down with Mat when the time came.
It took a few seconds for the spies to be sure, but all of their doubt was erased when they saw Nebula Grey himself running down the nearby street with about a dozen police officers chasing after him.
And, to the spies' surprise, so was this pocket's version of Haruka, also dressed in a police officer's uniform.
"Well, if that don't beat all," Nick quipped.
"Guess Haruka's a police officer in this pocket, huh?" Bridget replied.
"You must have some crazy adventures, don't you?" Fauna stated.
"Oh, this is only one of the many strange trips we've been on," Nozomi responded. "Trust me on that one, Fauna."
Nick took off into the sky after Nebula Grey with the other spies following closely behind, staying out of sight so they didn't confuse anyone nearby.
As they charged after their villain, Nick suddenly had a thought, flashing back to that one case when the spies had gone after Geraldine and her morale-dropping assassins, when he'd seen a few owl feathers that no one else but him had seen.
He hadn't had a chance to ask Mumei about it earlier, given the urgency of their quest, but he figured he could ask now while they had a little time.
"Say, Mumei?" Nick asked. "A little while ago, way before all of this madness, I saw a few of your feathers while we were in the middle of a case. Was that you watching over me?"
"That was around the first time I'd sensed a strange disturbance," Mumei explained. "Back then, I didn't know much about what was going to happen, since it was just a feeling. In my observations, I'd noticed you and your friends, and how you've gone to such great lengths to protect your world from the crazies and lunatics, so I used those feathers to keep tabs on you in case we ever needed your help. And it's actually how I managed to get to you before you could be erased by the Genesis Wave."
"Guess it's a good thing you did, huh?" Nick responded.
"Mumei's usually the one to do something like that, given that she's the Guardian of Civilization," Baelz replied. "We've helped a few people in this world before, mostly the last few times a Genesis Wave was used."
"W-wait, wait, this timeline nuttery has happened before?" Bridget gasped.
"Only about two or three times, but it's no less annoying all the same," Mumei answered.
"Has it been the same person behind it each time, or has it been different peeps?" May asked.
"Each time, it's been someone different," Fauna responded. "Which is most likely why we don't have many clues as to who could be behind it this time, other than the fact that Boogie Gus was the one who used the Genesis Wave..."
Nick touched down just out of sight, then ran out of the nearby alleyway in dramatic fashion just as Then Nebula Grey thought he had eluded his captors.
"Stick 'em up, jerk dip!" Nick shouted as Then Nebula Grey skidded to a stop in front of him.
"Oh, it doesn't matter how many officers you throw at me," Then Nebula Grey laughed. "You can't contain me."
"Hands where we can see 'em, Nebula Grey!" Then Haruka exclaimed as she arrived on the scene with the other officers. "You're not getting away with your crimes any longer, especially not with what you did to my parents."
"It's not like I killed them," Then Nebula Grey chuckled. "I may have shot them, but they'll live. Unless you'd rather I killed them..."
That was all Nick needed to hear, lunging forward and nailing Then Nebula Grey across the side of the head with a flying kick.
"Now you stepped in it," Nick growled as he rushed in to attack again.
Then Nebula Grey quickly recovered and rolled along the ground until he hopped back to his feet, brought out a bazooka from his heavy coat, and used it to fire a projectile towards Nick, who just smirked, having seen this trick before, and fired a psychic bolt from his hand to detonate the projectile.
This didn't seem to discourage Then Nebula Grey, though, as he continued to fire more of his gum-bombs towards the other spies, who all dove to the side to avoid getting trapped in the mess of sticky gum.
"I've had more than enough of that, thank you very much!" Clover exclaimed, unfolding an Extendable Mascara Brush to bat away any other gum-bombs that came flying her way.
In the middle of all of this hullabaloo, Then Haruka managed to sneak up behind Then Nebula Grey while he was distracted by firing gum-bombs at the spies, and swiftly knock him unconscious with a karate chop to the back of the neck.
"Finally got ya, you son of a bitch," Then Haruka proclaimed.
"Has he been giving you and your boys in blue trouble?" Alex asked.
"Oh, you have no idea," Then Haruka replied as she moved to handcuff Then Nebula Grey. "This little rat's been leading us on a wild goose chase for the past couple months. I'm just glad we've finally got him in custody. Thanks a lot for helping us out, everyone."
"It's just what we do!" Melissa laughed.
As Then Haruka dragged Then Nebula Grey into a nearby squad car, the spies all looked at each other with a sense of accomplishment.
"Nice to know it's still easy to put scumbags like him away, even in alternate realities," Bridget laughed.
"Aw, man, did I miss out on all the fun?"
No sooner had that been said then Haruka jumped down from the top of a nearby street light pole to rejoin the group.
"How long were you up there, Haruka?" Britney asked.
"Long enough to see my other self take down mister nebula," Haruka chuckled. "People, they don't look up."
"True on that," Mat laughed.
"And it seems like we have some new party members here," Haruka quipped, eyeing Mumei, Baelz, and Fauna. "Anyone care to give me the skinny?"
"We'll have to do it on the way," Baelz proclaimed, her gaze suddenly moving in a different direction. "I just picked up another pocket nearby."
"I'll fill her in," Mumei replied as the group headed for the next pocket to another fractured timeline.
9:27 P.M. – The White House
"All right, what are we doing at the White House?" Haruka asked once the group had exited the pocket and came upon the White House itself.
That question was swiftly answered by the ruckus at the front gates, in which two familiar figures were fighting their way through a group of Secret Service agents with something clutched in their hands.
"Good job, honey," the girl proclaimed. "Those idiots don't even know what hit them."
"Naturally," the boy laughed. "They're no match for us."
"Oh, I'm gonna be sick," Sam growled even as Mat moved closer to hold her tightly. Mat didn't even need to say anything.
"I guess there was bound to be a timeline where something like this happened," May stated. "Regardless, I think we need to get over there so I can introduce my anchor to his face."
"Way ahead of you on that one," Nick proclaimed, flying into the air.
"Well, sweetie, I think we need to disappear," Then James laughed, consuming some of his invisibility formula to vanish from sight.
Just as Then Sam was about to do the same, a blast of neon-green energy came streaking down from the sky and struck Then James in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Still feels good to keep knocking you on your ass," Nick proclaimed.
"H-How did you see me?!" Then James gasped. "I'm supposed to be invisible and undetectable!"
"Yeah, to normal people," Nick shot back as the rest of the spies arrived on the scene. "You might not know it in this pocket, but I'm a psychic. As in, I can still read your mind even if you turn invisible."
"Now stand still so we can administer the beatdown you deserve," May stated, summoning her anchor to her hands. "And trust me, you're in for a massive beating."
"Oh, what, you're another group of punks trying to separate me from my one true love?!" Then Sam exclaimed.
"Um, excuse me, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Alex shouted.
"And that's about all I need to hear," Nick proclaimed, letting his aura explode to life around him. "Prepare for the pain!"
"Um, honey, I'm not sure if we need to run, because I think I see a pirate ship floating above us," Then Sam stated.
Nick's eyes were the first to look into the sky upon hearing the words "floating pirate ship", and sure enough, he recognized the ship in question.
"AHOY, MATEYS!"
("Umi to Shinjuu" by JUNNA plays)
Then Sam only had time to look up as someone fell from the sky and pounced on her, driving her to the ground, before jumping back to where the rest of the spies were standing.
She was a girl with light skin, blue eyes, and blond hair braided into two ponytails tied with purple ribbons. Her pirate outfit (because she was clearly a pirate of sorts) consisted of a blue and yellow-lined pirate hat, a matching coat, and light brown boots, along with a pair of binoculars hanging from a strap around her neck.
"Sorry, but you're definitely not the Sam that I remember," Patty Fleur proclaimed, twirling her grandfather's pistol in her hands. "I've got a keen pirate eye, and it's clearly tellin' me that this guy's no good for her."
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Patty!" Sam exclaimed.
"Holy crapbaskets, you're here, too, Patty?" Alex gasped.
"My hubby and I were exploring the Hollow Current for this really cool treasure we'd heard rumors about, but just before we got there, everything got swallowed up by this big silver light," Patty explained. "And when I came to, I was all by myself on the Fiertia, and hubby was nowhere to be found. I've been trying to search everywhere that I could, but for some reason, the Rift Generator's not working right..."
"It probably has to do with what Boogie Gus did," Nick stated. "Long story short, Patty, time and the dimensions are all out of whack right now, so pirate me's probably stuck somewhere in one of these other pockets that we've been exploring to find a way to fix everything."
"Well, then, that settles it," Patty proclaimed. "I'm gonna stick with you guys until we find my hubby and fix all of this nonsense!"
"The more the merrier, Patty!" May giggled.
"STOP IGNORING ME, YOU PUNKS!" Then James bellowed as he charged towards Sam, only to be blocked by Mat, who punched Then James in the gut before leg-sweeping him off of his feet.
"Oh, that's it, now you're gonna get it!" Then Sam shouted as she moved in to attack as well, only to be stopped by Patty.
"No touchie," Patty stated. "You two scallywags ain't goin' anywhere."
"Damn right, Patty!" Nick proclaimed. "Let's show these punks that we mean business!"
Some of the other spies were surprised to see Patty in this pocket.
"Allow me to deal with him first," Sam proclaimed. "He and I have past history, but James is nothing compared to the kind of person Mat is."
Mat certainly liked hearing that.
Then Sam saw the real Sam and grinned, knowing it was a double-team.
"Wait, my dear, why are you...?" Then James asked Then Sam.
"Do you know the meaning of the word 'double-cross', James?" Then Sam laughed.
Then James could only gulp in suspense as both Sams rushed to attack him at the same time, landing at least four separate punches each before knocking him into the air with dual leg lifts, finishing by jumping after him and sending him crashing back to the ground with a boot to the stomach.
"Boom," Sam chuckled.
"I feel that," Then Sam quipped.
"Well, that was easy," Patty replied. "By the way, I sympathize you had to deal with somebody like James, Sam."
"Thank you," Sam replied as the then spy team celebrated the victory.
There was then another light Nick noticed coming from the fountain outside the White House.
"Could that be the next pocket?" Nick wondered as Mumei and Fauna looked forward.
"Pocket?" Patty asked.
"That's part of the debriefing we'll give you on the way," Sam clarified.
"By the way, Pirate Nick's not with you this time?" Mat asked. "That's a bit of a surprise."
"Yes, a bit of a surprise indeed," Clover quipped, knowing the two times the spy team had gone with them.
"Well, last I saw him, he was coming back to the Fiertia after we finished looting another Black Hope stronghold," Patty answered. "Before he could jump on board, that silver light thing happened and I found myself here."
In the meantime, everyone saw an opening while nobody was looking and checked out the fountain.
"Looks like it's the next pocket," Fauna deduced when they saw a glow in the fountain's water.
"Been a while since we've been in water other than our pool away from missions," Haruka commented.
"Yeah, true," May replied in agreement.
Sam and Clover nodded in agreement, too.
"I wonder where this is gonna take us to," Nozomi stated.
"I've got no guesses," Mat commented.
"I hope that next pocket has everybody else in it," Nick stated, thinking of the rest of the spy team.
Fortunately for him, Alex wasn't suspecting anything about after the mission.
May looked at Alex, keeping her mouth shut about Nick's plans afterwards.
"Well, it's now or never," Mumei stated.
Everybody wasted no time and made it in the pocket.
11:00 A.M. – Malibu University
The group realized they were back at Mali-U, but the particular memory became visible to Nick when he noticed Then Bridget under the influence of cookies.
"Oh, great," Nick groaned. "I remember this."
"Hey, yeah, this wasn't too long ago, was it?" Alex quipped. "When The Granny brainwashed Mali-U with her 'cookies'?"
"Yeah, that was very strange," Kana admitted.
"I guess that would explain why the Rift Generator wasn't working right, since these pockets technically aren't different dimensions," Patty quipped, before gasping in shock. "OH, CRAPBASKETS! I left the Fiertia back in that other pocket!"
"It's not a problem, Patty," Mumei responded, turning around to re-open the portal to the pocket the spies had just left. "I'll take it to The Final World until we need it. That sound good to you?"
"Please take good care of it, 'kay?" Patty replied. "The Fiertia is my hubby's greatest achievement."
"I'll handle it with care," Mumei answered as she raised her hands, concentrated, and aimed her palms towards the Fiertia, which was then surrounded by a whirlwind of owl feathers before vanishing.
"Any sign of things that might be different here?" May stated.
"I think I see something," Klee proclaimed, pointing to just ahead, where Then Bridget was walking down the hallways like a zombie. This time, this pocket's versions of Nozomi and Haruka were also following Then Bridget alongside a bunch of other students.
"Okay, that definitely didn't happen last time," Bridget quipped. "I think we need to go and investigate."
Before Nick could take a step forward to see what was going on, he was suddenly blasted backwards by a pulse wave of dark energy. He quickly cut a flip so he could recover without losing too much momentum, then landed on his feet and let his psychic aura explode to life around him.
"All right, who's the wise guy who wants to get punched?!" Nick shouted.
"Um, Nick? Is he supposed to be here?" May asked, pointing just ahead towards a very familiar figure in a multi-colored cloak.
"Well, well, how fortuitous that I'd run into all of you, even as shattered as everything seems to be," Corvus proclaimed.
"Hold on just a second, how exactly do you have your powers again, you nutball?!" Klee exclaimed, her own aura flaring to life around you. "And how do you know what's happened to the timeline?!"
"The wonders of dark magic," Corvus laughed. "My own dark powers protected my memories from being erased by the shattering of the timeline. How convenient for me."
"Yeah, well, I hope you're ready to get your face kicked in again!" Nick responded.
"Ah, as much fun as that would be, I believe we will have to conduct our business another time," Corvus proclaimed. "After all, I have business of my own to conduct. This won't be the end, spies."
With that said, Corvus waved his cloak and vanished in a burst of darkness.
"Okay, who was that jerk?!" Baelz exclaimed.
"Long story short, he's the reason I got flung backwards in time," Klee answered. "Corvus was a dark mage with heinous plans for the future that Kana and I come from, and he wanted me out of the way, but I eventually regained my memories and we all stomped him. I'm worried that he has his dark powers again, and I'm pretty sure that has something to do with the Genesis Wave..."
"Then I think we need to find Boogie Gus and make him fix everything he broke!" Nozomi exclaimed.
"Hey, hey, don't leave without us!"
The spies turned around just in time to see Dawn and Blaine running down the West Coast Hallway towards the group. Naturally, Clover flung herself at Blaine the instant he was close enough to her.
"We heard there was a commotion going down that we'd already been through, so we decided to take a look, and look at who we run into!" Dawn teased.
"And now the party is complete!" Alex proclaimed. "...right?"
"Well, almost," Nick responded. "We've still gotta find the pirate me and the last two Guardians. But our own spy team is fully assembled."
"Well, then, how about we get going on whatever our adventure is about?" Blaine quipped after sharing a kiss with Clover.
Just then, another pocket opened just behind the spy team and started sucking them into it.
"W-wait, are pockets supposed to do that?!" Clover shouted.
"Brace yourselves!" Nick exclaimed as the pocket pulled them inside of it...
4:29 P.M. – Fabutopia
Somewhere in Deep Space
...and unceremoniously deposited the entire group in a large pile on top of each other.
"Well, that was a trip," Britney admitted.
"Okay, so where are we now?" Nozomi wondered.
Sam looked around, gasping in surprise when she recognized the space station they were currently in.
"Alex? Clover? Do either of you remember Fabutopia?" Sam asked.
"Um, Sammy, I was trying to forget that nuthouse," Clover groaned.
"Ah, our very first bad guy," Alex giggled. "You never really forget your first, huh?"
"And if I remember this part of that mission correctly, we might need to get moving," Sam proclaimed.
That was all the spies needed to hear as they moved through the space station to find their earlier selves and hopefully help them out of their jam.
"Hey, how'd you get out of those rockets?!"
Sam skidded to a stop just as who else but Fabu made himself known a few feet ahead.
"And who the heck are these squares?!" Fabu proclaimed.
"Yeesh, talk about clashing fashion," May quipped as she summoned her anchor to her hands. "And I thought those Fashion Week disasters that Mandy used to gorge out were yikes-inducing enough..."
"You know what, it doesn't really matter, does it?" Fabu laughed as he brought out what appeared to be a compact, laser pistol-esque version of his Fabulizer machine. "My plan's almost complete, anyway. I hope you all enjoy being un-Fabulized again!"
"Listen, sicko, you even point that greasy nerd gun at my face again, and my foot's going straight for the lower deck!" Clover shouted. "And don't think I won't do it, too!"
"Calm down, Clover," Melissa responded. "He doesn't stand a chance against all of us. It's nineteen-to-one, after all."
"Yeah, let's dogpile, everybody!" Mat shouted.
Before the spies could do so, however, a strange force pulled Fabu away from them, eventually throwing him into a nearby locker.
The source of that strange attack came floating down from outside, seemingly phasing through the reinforced glass dome of the space station. She appeared to be slightly older than Mumei, with slightly tan skin, golden eyes, extremely long whitish-brown hair tied into two long ponytails decorated with what appeared to be small planets at the tips, a small metal mosquito coil-like piece attached to her head, and wearing a very fancy and sparkly white-and-blue ensemble.
"I'm going to guess that this is another one of the Guardians?" Nick quipped as he prepared himself for a fight.
"Yup, that's one of ours, alright," Baelz responded. "Tsukumo Sana, the Guardian of Space."
Sana floated down to the floor before immediately charging forward and throwing multi-colored energy spheres resembling planets towards the spies. Nick raised small psychic barriers to defend against the energy spheres until Sana reached them and lashed out with a flying kick that, much to Nick's shock, actually shattered his barrier.
Nick didn't even get the chance to shout the "oh, crapbaskets" he was thinking of as Sana whacked him with another flying kick that sent him cartwheeling backwards.
"Holy crapbaskets, did she actually shatter Nick's barrier just by kicking it?!" Mat gasped.
"Sana's the physically strongest of us Guardians," Fauna answered. "So basically, try not to let her kick you like she just did to Nick."
Thankfully, Nick was able to quickly recover, plant his feet on a nearby steel pillar, and use the momentum to launch himself back at Sana, the two of them clashing over and over again.
"Thank goodness Nick's tough," May quipped. "But let me give it a whack and see how Sana likes my anchor."
Nick ducked under another kick from Sana and dove to the right, giving May the chance to barrel forward and swing her anchor in Sana's direction, causing the Guardian of Space to stumble backwards. Nick took this opportunity to blast Sana with a Final Shine Attack, and then Melissa, Dawn, Haruka and Bridget all fired Cyclone Blast Hairdryers to keep Sana from attacking.
Eventually, Sana threw her hands out, creating a pressure wave that dispelled all of the wind blasts, then raised her hands before snapping them downwards. This motion surrounded most of the spies with a bubble of violet light that suddenly started dragging them downwards, causing most of them to fall to their knees from the gravitational pull alone.
Nick was barely able to escape and hit Sana with another Final Shine Attack, which caused the gravity bubble to vanish and allow the spies to stand up again.
"Come on, Sana, you've gotta snap out of it!" Baelz exclaimed as she jumped into the air and threw spheres of chaos energy towards Sana, who simply kicked them all away before jumping up to meet Baelz in the air.
Suddenly, Sana was dragged back down to the ground, courtesy of Fauna ensnaring Sana's legs with vines (the spies assumed Fauna could do that anywhere, even out here in space, due to her powers as the Guardian of Nature), which allowed Mumei to summon her feather swords and start attacking the trapped Sana.
Patty unsheathed her pistol and fired a few shots towards Sana. Though the Guardian of Space was able to avoid each shot, this gave Nick the opportunity to move in and throw his own hands out to unleash a psychic pulse all around him that sent Sana crashing to the floor.
It took a few seconds, but Sana eventually picked herself up, looking around Fabutopia in confusion.
"Um... I didn't create this, did I?" Sana asked, speaking with a slight Australian-sounding accent. "Because it looks very gaudy."
"That's pretty much what I said," Alex giggled.
"Welcome back, Sana," Mumei giggled.
"Did I go somewhere?" Sana wondered, only to notice another pocket opening nearby. "Wait, why is there a Genesis Portal here? Did someone use a Genesis Wave again?!"
"Long story short, Sana, yes, someone did use a Genesis Wave, and we're trying to find him so we can kick his face in," Nick answered. "We're searching all of these pockets, or Genesis Portals as you apparently call them..."
"Yeah, she named them," Mumei giggled.
"...to find our friends, find Boogie Gus, and hopefully find whoever gave him the power to use a Genesis Wave, since he could never do that before," Nick continued.
"We should probably get our butts into that pocket before it closes," Baelz quipped.
As the group headed for the Genesis Portal, Sana glanced over to the side and saw what appeared to be a large garden of berry bushes growing around the central pillar of this room.
Knowing she couldn't resist, San looked at Mumei and grinned. "Well, well, it looks like whoever made this space station likes berries," Sana giggled. "Did that seem like fun, Mumei?"
Mumei suddenly sputtered slightly before responding. "S-Sana, seriously?!" Mumei gasped. "Aren't you ever going to let that go?!"
"Oh, come on, it was funny, you've gotta admit that," Baelz laughed. "I was getting a kick of how Kronii was just gaping at that spot after she realized what you did."
"In my defense, I was sleepy!" Mumei exclaimed.
"Yes, but Kronii put a lot of work into that carrot farm, and you just waltzed in there in your sleep-induced walk cycle and planted all of those berries there," Fauna chuckled. "You're just lucky she likes you, Mumei."
"I swear, you do something silly once in a sleepwalk, and people will never let it go," Mumei groaned.
"Trust me, Mumei, I can relate," Nick quipped as he patted Mumei on the shoulder while shooting a glance at Haruka, silently telling her to not say a word.
12:54 P.M. – Secret Underground Laboratory
"Talk about a contrast from being in space to this," Melissa quipped. "We're back in another mad scientist's lunacy lair."
Almost immediately, both Nick and Haruka were on edge, considering how familiar this laboratory looked to them.
"Everything okay, you two?" Sana asked.
Before the rest of the spies could get their bearings, a large mutant creature lunged out of the shadows towards them. It appeared to resemble a dog, though with multiple different appendages that clearly didn't belong on a dog.
Haruka could only gasp the name "Biscuit" as Sana cast a gravity sphere on the mutated dog to keep it locked in place.
"What the heck is that all about?" May wondered.
"That used to be my family's old dog, Biscuit," Haruka answered, on the verge of tears. "But... but..."
"But sadly, Biscuit was one of the first victims of Professor Genesis," Nick growled, and Mumei could clearly catch the venom in Nick's voice at the mention of one of his major archenemies. "Which can only mean that this is his lair."
"Brace yourselves, everyone!" Sam shouted as the gravity sphere faded and the mutated Biscuit lunged for the spies again.
"I can't believe it's coming to this!" Alex chastised.
"I never owned a pet or anything, but this is never something to revisit," Mat stated.
"Totally," Sam quipped. "But this isn't as bad as Dr. Fox..."
"Not gonna argue with that," Nick replied.
"I can't believe I have to see this again," Haruka chastised.
"I'd ask about playfulness, but I'll save that for another time," Mat remarked.
"April's the animal lover of the Jellyfish Pirates," May stated. "If I've learned one thing, you DO NOT bring up an animal's death to her."
The spies continued to dodge the mutated Biscuit until Sam had an idea.
"Isn't there anything we can do to stop this dog?!" Clover chastised.
"I'm on it, Clover," Sam valiantly remarked as she rummaged through her backpack.
"I hope you can get it out quickly, Sammy," Alex chastised as Biscuit nearly bit Alex's leg.
"I feel like a dog's target again back home," Mat groaned as well.
"I can semi-relate," Melissa replied.
Sam was finally able to stop the mutated Biscuit by hitting it with a blast of Immobilizing Stun-Tan Lotion, freezing it in its place.
"That did it," Sam proclaimed.
"Phew, thanks, Sammy," Alex sighed in relief.
"Now we can breathe about something," Clover quipped.
Of course, the spies were ready once the Stun-Tan Lotion wore off and the mutant Biscuit charged for them again.
Though May readied her anchor just in case, the mutant Biscuit just rushed past her and pounced on Haruka.
Haruka attempted to force the mutant Biscuit off of her, only to find that it was sniffing her a few times, as if the dog had recognized a familiar scent.
Nick waved his hand to the others, silently telling them to see how this would play out.
After a few seconds, much to everyone's surprise, the mutant Biscuit actually started licking Haruka's face.
"Ack, easy, easy, boy!" Haruka laughed. "So, you actually remembered me in this pocket, huh?"
"I'm almost afraid to ask, but..." Britney asked.
"In our timeline... Biscuit didn't make it past that mission," Nick sighed. "He succumbed to whatever Professor Genesis put in him... oof, I don't think I've ever seen Haruka that angry before..."
"Can you actually understand me through all of this new stuff?" Haruka asked, to which Biscuit just gave a dog smile. "Good. There should be another of me somewhere in this place. Find her and help her take down whoever did this to you, okay?"
Biscuit actually nodded before turning around and dashing off in the other direction.
"Well, that did it," Nick proclaimed.
"I can sense the next pocket is deeper in," Mumei told the others.
"Is there anything we should know first?" Mat wondered.
"Like what?" Sana wondered.
"Settings for starters," Mat clarified. "Underwater? Above water? Jungle?"
"That's the one thing about these pockets, Mat," Baelz explained. "Because of that Boogie Gus character, they can be very unpredictable."
"Well, it's a valid point, I admit," Haruka replied.
"Here it is," Mumei proclaimed, stopping in front of what appeared to be the door to Professor Genesis' lair. A Genesis Portal was open right in front of the door.
"Well, another world, here we come," Klee replied.
Kana held on to Sam just in case.
"Can you not swim yet, Kana?" Sam asked out of curiosity.
"I'm learning, but it's still harder than it looks," Kana admitted.
"I feel you on that one, Kana," Nick quipped. "I used to not be able to swim for beans for most of my childhood. I'm sure Haruka could tell you all the stories about that..."
There was no other option as they all got in the pocket before it was too late.
As it turned out, they were deep underwater, which confirmed Mat's suspicions. Nobody was ready for this. Sam was quick to use her X-Powder to equip the UPWATI.
"That was close," Sam remarked as everybody did the same thing.
As for Klee and Kana, Klee used her own psychic power to create a bubble to keep her and Kana breathing.
Sam and Mat went over to see if Kana was okay, while Nick immediately could see where they were now when some familiar henchmen were nearby.
"The mission with Sunny Day," Alex immediately remarked.
"Now what?" Clover wondered. "And are there anymore guardians as well?"
"The only Guardian we haven't found yet is Ouro Kronii, the Guardian of Time," Mumei quipped. "I don't sense her anywhere nearby, so I don't think she's in this pocket."
"I'm sure we'll be running into her soon enough," Fauna responded.
"Oof, why is it so hot in this place?" Sana asked. "I mean, we're underwater, but it just feels like the ocean's getting hotter."
"Blame Sunny Day for that one," Clover quipped. "She's one of our rogues' gallery who used to be a model before she got fired for showing signs of aging."
"In response, she basically tried to destroy the ozone layer, just to force people to buy her ridiculous sunscreen," Alex stated.
"You've all faced a lot of rather ridiculous villains, haven't you?" Baelz chuckled.
"Oh, trust me, Bae, that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our rogues' gallery," May laughed.
Patty looked upwards, towards the surface of the ocean they were currently swimming in, and saw something very familiar up there. So, naturally, Patty started swimming upwards, leaving the other spies to wonder what she'd seen.
Nick, though, was pretty sure he knew already.
Once the spies had surfaced, they saw Patty rapidly swimming towards the person she'd seen, who appeared to resemble a slightly-older Nick wearing pirate clothes and an eyepatch over his right eye.
"Okay, seriously, this is bringing back bad memories," Pirate Nick proclaimed. "Why is everything getting so scorching out here?!"
"HUBBY!" Patty exclaimed as she launched forward to hug her husband.
"Why am I not surprised to find all of you here?" Pirate Nick chuckled as the spies all swam closer. "I'm guessing things are all out of whack again?"
"Just another day on the job for us, really," Nozomi giggled. "And yeah, this water's getting hotter by the second. I think we need to beat it out of here before we turn into boiled lobsters."
"No kidding," Clover proclaimed. "That would not be good for my skin, let me tell you."
"Is there another Genesis Portal around here somewhere?" Sam asked.
"I'm sensing one just a bit deeper under the water," Sana proclaimed. "Let's hurry, everyone!"
With that, the group dove back underwater to find the Genesis Portal that had opened, eventually finding it sitting just above a still-standing coral reef.
"Well, all in who's going in," Mumei quipped as the group all swam into the portal.
6:31 P.M. – Outer Space
Lady Luna's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park
Nick was the first to notice that they had come out of the Genesis Portal into outer space, seemingly without time to equip proper space gear.
Thankfully, Sana solved that problem by snapping her fingers and causing all of the spies to be surrounded by a light violet glow.
"...hey, I can breathe now," May quipped. "Thanks, Sana!"
"Being the Guardian of Space has its advantages," Baelz giggled. "Now what's going on here? Because I think I'm seeing an amusement park on the moon. And I'm willing to bet that's not supposed to be there."
"No kidding," Britney responded. "That's Lady Luna's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park!"
"And I'm seeing a lot of spaceships surrounding the park, too," Klee noted, gazing towards the large fleet of starships around the park, especially the much larger dark red ship that was no doubt the leader of the fleet.
Up in the control room of the lead starship, who else but Lady Luna watched the fleet approach the Earth with savage glee.
"Of course she's in command of this mess of space junk," Melissa sighed.
"How about we go say hello, papa?" Klee chuckled as she and Nick flew towards the fleet, with the four Guardians in pursuit.
Lady Luna let out a joyful evil laugh, but quickly stopped when she felt a rumble that permeated throughout the ship. After checking the power systems to make sure everything was nominal, she gazed outside and saw a large fire blazing at the front edge of the ship.
The bent and curved metal pieces indicated that something had attacked the ship, and platoons of Lady Luna's spherical robot soldiers were rambling about trying to contain the fire.
Nick and Klee landed on the deck amidst the chaos, gazing straight for Lady Luna's control tower. After a few seconds, more robots were brought up to the deck through the floors of the ship, and the cannons all aimed towards Nick and Klee.
Lady Luna, realizing who was about to go on the attack, raised her right hand to signal her troops, before giving the order to go on the offensive.
"ATTACK!" Lady Luna exclaimed. "Wipe those pests from existence!"
The cannons discharged, causing Nick and Klee to start flying forward, their psychic auras billowing around them as they darted and weaved back and forth to avoid the cannon fire.
Klee bounced into one robot after another, her aura sending them flying all over the place and opening up some room for her and Nick to work. When Nick landed, he lunged forward, sliding under the punch of a larger robot.
"Missed me," Nick taunted as he spun around the robot to send it off balance before disengaging and rushing towards the next wave of robots. Nick and Klee both fired Final Shine Attacks into the platoon of bots, causing them to be sent flying and explode when they came back to the ground.
"Incoming!" Mumei shouted as a much larger mech suit descend from the high-up control towers. Upon noticing Lady Luna was piloting it, Nick stepped up his charge even as Lady Luna directed her mech suit to fire a barrage of machine-gun bullets. Nick dodged and weaved through the heavy fire before leaping high into the air.
"Why, you little..." Lady Luna growled, raising her suit's hand to crush Nick as he sailed by, though he slid under the strike to avoid it. This didn't discourage Lady Luna, who waved her hand to signal the mech suit to fire a salvo of missiles from its rear neckline, only for Klee to snatch all the missiles in her psychic grip before redirecting them off into the void of space.
"Try again for a space nickel?" Klee giggled as she and Nick flew off down a nearby access tunnel.
"You're not getting away!" Lady Luna shouted, thrusting her hand forward and causing her mech suit to shoot its hand off from its joint to chase Nick.
After dodging a few more missiles, Nick looked back to make sure no more were following him, only to get snatched out of his run by the mech suit's hand.
The hand retracted back to the suit, and Lady Luna grinned wickedly at her captor.
"Not so high and mighty now, are you?" Lady Luna taunted.
Just before the mech's fingers could closed around Nick, Mumei fired off a salvo of razor feathers that effortlessly severed both arms of the mech suit clean off. Not giving Lady Luna a second's chance to counterattack, the boy reared back before letting out a loud battle cry and darting straight forward, surrounding himself with a psychic bubble that allowed him to punch a large hole straight through the body of the mech suit.
"Uh-oh... time to go!" Lady Luna shouted, ejecting her control pod from the mech suit as it collapsed into chunks of scrap metal and dashing away down a liftoff tunnel for her aerial fighters. Nick and Klee swiftly followed, leaving trails of light from their auras behind as they flew off in pursuit of their opponent.
Lady Luna continually pressed buttons on her control panel to close the heavy sheet metal doors of the tunnel so her pursuers couldn't get through, but they easily kept up with Lady Luna before each door could shut.
After a while, Nick and Klee fled the flagship as it began to explode, unable to handle the damage caused to it during the battle as it dropped from orbit and shattered into many pieces.
Nick, Klee, and the four Guardians followed Lady Luna as she retreated towards a rotating, UFO-like starship with a long tower extending from its underside, avoiding the heavy laser fire from the other starships as he did so.
Once inside, Lady Luna reached for a button on her pod's control panel, only for the pod to bump into the side of the tunnel and crash, knocking her out and causing her bounce unceremoniously to the floor in the main control room.
Just as she was able to pick herself up, Nick and Klee smashed through the floor and slowly floated to the ground, much to Lady Luna's shock.
"N-Nick?!" Lady Luna shouted, addressing the boy. "I-I'm sorry! R-really! Look, g-go easy on me!"
Lady Luna got on her hands and knees, pleading for mercy. "I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear! Just give me a chance!"
"Well, this is new. Showing remorse there, Lady Luna?" Nick taunted as he raised his right hand to encase Lady Luna in a psychic bubble. "If you would just play nice, I wouldn't have to break all your toys."
"Now just stay down for once," Klee responded. "Make it easy on yourself."
With that done, Nick and Klee retreated outside just as a large W.O.O.H.P. shuttle flew by them, headed for the starship they were just in.
"Wow, your boss is here already?" Baelz quipped.
"He's got perfect timing no matter what timeline or dimension we're in," Nick laughed.
Once they'd rejoined the rest of the group, they were clearly impressed by what they'd seen.
"Wow, that was something else," Britney giggled.
"Yeah, just watching you guys zip all over the place was pretty cool," Dawn laughed. "Now that's how you take down a starfleet."
Suddenly, before the spies could discuss their next move, a larger Genesis Portal opened right behind them and started violently pulling them into it.
"Aw, great, here we go again!" Alex shouted as the group was yanked into the portal.
To be continued...
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Next time...
Melissa: Ow, my head.
Britney: So much for hoping that wouldn't happen again.
Sam: Okay, so, who just yanked us into another Genesis Portal?
May: Take a wild guess.
Boogie Gus: It's been a while, hasn't it, you little nutmegs?
Klee: Not long enough, if you ask me. You wanna explain yourself before we come over there and stomp on you?
Boogie Gus: Sorry, but that ain't happenin' again, little girl!
Klee: Excuse me, but I'm seventeen, thank you very much!
Nick: Welp, it looks like we're heading into round two against Boogie Gus next time on Totally Spies the Movie: A Crack in Time, "The Conqueror of Time"!
May: Watch the special effects, mister camera dude! You didn't warn me about that!