On Today's Episode: After getting yanked through another Genesis Portal, the spies have their second faceoff with Boogie Gus, hoping to pick his brain for answers about who gave him the power to use the Genesis Wave, alongside exploring more pockets in hopes of rescuing the last remaining Guardian. But has the true villain behind the shattering of time and space been watching, biding their time, just waiting for their opportunity to strike?
Act 4: The Conqueror of Time
"Ow, my head," Melissa groaned as the spies all fell into a dogpile after falling out of the Genesis Portal.
"So much for hoping that wouldn't happen again," Britney quipped.
"Is everyone all right?" Mumei asked as the spies all picked themselves up.
"Everything appears to still be attached," Clover proclaimed. "But this place is starting to look familiar."
Indeed, the spies all found themselves inside a strange dark void, reminiscent of the last time they'd faced off with a certain bad guy.
"Okay, so, who just yanked us into another Genesis Portal?" Sam asked.
May spun around, having noticed something odd nearby, and used her EGT to summon her anchor to her hands. "Take a wild guess," May proclaimed.
Sure enough, standing in front of another throne just up ahead was Boogie Gus, his hands still glowing a bright silver.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, you little nutmegs?" Boogie Gus cackled.
"Not long enough, if you ask me," Klee shot back, her aura flaring to life around her. "You wanna explain yourself before we come over there and stomp on you?"
"Sorry, but that ain't happenin' again, little girl!" Boogie Gus laughed. Naturally, Klee took some offense to that.
"Excuse me, but I'm seventeen, thank you very much!" Klee shouted, firing a Final Shine Attack towards Boogie Gus, only for him to raise a glowing hand and deflect the blast. This did give Nick the chance to fire a Final Shine Attack of his own while Boogie Gus was distracted, sending the man sprawling to whatever the ground was in this strange place.
"Guess we're doing this thang after all," Boogie Gus proclaimed after picking himself up.
"I oughta stomp you one just for using that outdated lingo," Nick retorted. "But you've got much bigger sins to answer for than just refusing to let the past go. All right, everyone, let's get 'em!"
"All over that!" Alex exclaimed.
"You crazy chumps bit off more than you could chew again," Boogie Gus sneered.
"On the contrary, Boogie Gus, YOU bit off more than you could chew!" Nick proclaimed.
"And believe me, if I ever want to think about the '80s, I'll stick to the Bailey/Johnson Anaheim Supercross battle from 1986 and that's as far back as my memory goes," Mat added.
"I'm almost scared to ask if that's truly as far back as Mat's memory goes for his Supercross," Alex groaned.
"We'll worry about that later," Klee quipped as she fired a psychic shot at Boogie Gus.
"Hopefully this guy can shed some light on where Kronii might be," Nick remarked.
"Fat chance I'll ever tell," Boogie Gus taunted.
"Then we'll be happy to make you sing like a canary if that's what it takes," Mat proclaimed.
"And we'll be happy to draw first blood, too," May emphasized and hurled her anchor at Boogie Gus himself.
"And believe us when we say 'GET UP TO DATE!' too!" Clover proclaimed as she hurled a Boomerang Buzz Saw Barrette at Boogie Gus.
"That's an understatement," Haruka groaned.
Boogie Gus didn't get a chance to respond because May's anchor immediately struck him, knocking him to the ground, and Clover's BBSB slashed at his shoulder, which certainly freaked Boogie Gus out.
"Scared now?!" Klee proclaimed as she fired a Final Shine Attack at Boogie Gus as a "coup de grace."
Unfortunately, Boogie Gus recovered in time to block Klee's attack.
"Okay, THAT'S getting old!" Klee chastised as she flew upwards to distract Boogie Gus while Nick rushed in and kicked him across the head.
In response, Boogie Gus clapped his hands together and shot a wave of silver light towards Klee while she was recovering. Thankfully, Alex was already over there, shielding both of them with an All-Weather Umbrella.
"Thanks, mama," Klee quipped.
"Y'all really doin' this in the middle of a fight?" Boogie Gus cackled, only to be knocked down to the 'ground' courtesy of Kana running up and slapping him hard across the face, followed by Mat using his Expandable Cable Bungee Belt to pull Kana back before Boogie Gus could retaliate.
"That's for kidnapping me earlier, you jerk-face!" Kana shouted.
"We'll have to schedule a 'round three' with you crazy cats," Boogie Gus sneered and managed to retreat through another Genesis Portal he'd created on his own. Sadly, it closed before anybody could try anything to keep it open.
"Son of a bitch!" Nick swore as Boogie Gus got away.
"Do they always do that?" Baelz asked.
"Rules for villains, number twenty-one," Haruka answered.
"...there are rules for villains?" Sana wondered.
"Oh-ho, do we have something to share with you when this is all over," May giggled.
In the meantime, Sam was checking her X-Powder for where Boogie Gus may have gotten to in terms of the next pocket. Clover and Mat were looking over her shoulders.
As it turned out, Sam didn't get a reading at all.
"Damn!" Sam swore.
"I guess we're gonna have to find the next pocket then," Clover remarked.
"I sure hope that's the LAST pocket we have to find," Mat commented.
"My readings tell me there's two more," Mumei told the spy team. "Hopefully we can find Kronii in the next one..."
"Here's hoping," Alex groaned.
"Hey, there it is!" Blaine exclaimed, pointing just ahead towards another Genesis Portal.
"Welp, let's do the time warp again, shall we?" Melissa quipped as the entire group jumped into the portal in hopes of catching up to Boogie Gus.
2:24 P.M. – Medieval Castle
Year 1136
"And already I'm getting déjà vu," Clover stated as the group came out of the Genesis Portal in front of the moat that led to a medieval-looking castle.
"Avast, I'm getting the feeling, too," Patty admitted, remembering their first adventure with the spies, where one of the dimensions they'd encountered was a medieval world where a version of Clover ruled as its queen. "This ain't Princess Clover's castle, though..."
"Wait, wait, I remember this castle now!" Alex gasped. "Wasn't this the one where the Black Knight was just a teen dude from Malibu who wanted to change history by overthrowing this kingdom's king?"
"Oof, that was a long time ago, now that you mention it," Sam quipped.
"On that note, if this is that particular kingdom, then mister Black Knight should be showing up any minute now with his lasers," Clover responded.
Sure enough, the Black Knight appeared over the horizon, using his E.N.D. (Electronic Nullification Device) device to fire bright red laser beams towards the nearby palace.
"Did I call it, or did I freakin' call it?!" Clover shouted.
"Ah, if it isn't my dearest Clover," the Black Knight laughed, his horse coming to a stop just in front of the group. "I was wondering if I would ever see you again."
"Yeah, well, all this time wasn't long enough, creep," Clover retorted.
"You seem to have acquired a lot of new pals since our last meeting," the Black Knight proclaimed. "But it doesn't really matter, does it? I don't honestly know why I'm back in this time after being stuck in confinement for so long, but you can be damn sure that I'm not going to waste this second chance to leave my mark on history!"
The Black Knight and his horse advanced threateningly on the spies. "And, my dear Clover, that means you're going to be my queen, whether you like it or not."
Nick had finally had enough, raising his hand to fire a Final Shine Attack that blasted the Black Knight off of his horse.
"I'm gonna have to stop you and your casual sexism right here," Nick proclaimed. "Furthermore, you're not screwing with time anymore! History's already fudged up enough as it is now!"
"If you honestly think we're just going to let you futz around with time, then you've clearly got brain rot from having that helmet on for so long!" Britney shouted.
"Oh, is that a challenge I hear?!" the Black Knight cackled as he picked himself up and drew his sword for battle. "Then let's get it on, you Californian clucks!"
"Ooh, now he's just asking for it," May stated, summoning her anchor to her hands. "Let's see how your armor likes my anchor!"
May rushed for the Black Knight just as he swung his sword at her, fully intending to leave a nasty gash across her body.
What actually happened was May swinging her anchor to break the Black Knight's sword before swinging again to knock him back, followed by a home-run swing to send the Black Knight flying into a nearby tree with cracks in his armor.
"And he's outta here!" Dawn shouted.
"I will not be beaten by a bunch of teenagers," the Black Knight growled.
"Um, buddy, we beat you before and we'll beat you again!" Alex retorted.
Before the Black Knight could resume his attack, however, someone flew down from the sky, grabbed the Black Knight by the neck, and tossed him into another Genesis Portal before turning back to face the spies.
She appeared to be about Sana's age, with light blue eyes, dark blue hair tied up in the back with a large white ribbon, a fancy blue outfit tied up in the front with a ribbon adorned with a heart-shaped jewel, and carrying two swords that resembled clock hands.
"I'm glad she took him out for us, but I don't like that look on her face," Haruka quipped. "She's coming for us next, isn't she?"
"You're right on the nose, Haruka," Sana responded. "That's Ouro Kronii, the Guardian of Time."
"Sana may be the physically strongest of us, but Kronii's the strongest period," Baelz quipped. "Little wonder she's our leader. So, basically, we need to wake her up quickly before she wastes us all."
Now that all eyes were on her, Kronii wasted no time in going on the offensive, swinging her clock blades in multiple different directions and forcing the spies to start dodging away.
"This is getting pretty old by now, Kronii," Baelz quipped, throwing spheres of chaos energy towards Kronii, only for the Guardian of Time to raise her hand and surround the chaos spheres with a clock that moved in reverse. This caused the chaos spheres to be flung right back at Baelz.
Fauna quickly raised a trio of vines to take the blast as Mumei charged in and swung her feather swords. After being pushed back slightly, Kronii moved back in to duel with Mumei, their weapons clashing multiple times.
While all of this was happening, Alex snuck up behind Kronii, who was busy clashing with Mumei, and activated a Sonic Disintegrator Boombox that sent Kronii stumbling, allowing Mumei to summon a bunch of large owl feathers and make them surround Kronii while Sana cast a gravity spell to bring Kronii to her knees. Fauna also chipped in by raising a bunch of vines to surround Kronii.
However, much to everyone's surprise, Kronii simply slashed both of her clock blades in a spinning motion that easily destroyed her 'cages' so she could go back on the attack.
Kronii jumped into the air and cast a time magic spell on Melissa, freezing her in place so Kronii could rush towards her, but Nick was having none of that, dashing in front of Melissa and bouncing Kronii backwards with a psychic barrier.
"Don't you dare," Nick growled as he flew up to blast Kronii back to the ground with a Final Shine Attack. While Kronii was stumbling, Nick flew back down to the ground and threw his arms out to unleash a psychic pulse that sent Kronii crashing to the ground.
Everyone waited a few seconds to see if that did the trick until Kronii stood back up, shaking her head and looking around, quite clearly confused.
"Um... why are we in the middle ages?" Kronii asked. "Did I go time-walking in my sleep again?"
"Several questions," May quipped.
"Long, long story, Kronii," Mumei laughed as she ran over to hug Kronii.
"Oh, Mumei, you're all here?" Kronii asked. "What's the big occasion?"
Before Kronii could get any more explanations out of the other Guardians, she noticed another Genesis Portal opening up by the castle, and now she was very clearly on edge.
"Wait, wait, who's been opening up Genesis Portals?" Kronii proclaimed. "What's been happening while I've been out of sorts?"
"We'll give you the cliff's notes on the way," Nick responded as the whole twenty-two person group headed for the Genesis Portal. "We've got a nutball who needs to be pounded."
"Multiple times, even!" Nozomi exclaimed.
6:15 P.M. – Beverly Hills?
W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Once the party came out of the Genesis Portal onto the roof of what appeared to be W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters, Kronii was undoubtedly displeased with what Boogie Gus had done to the timeline, as Mumei and the other Guardians had filled her in on everything that had been happening.
"Ooh, where is that 80s-obsessed fruitcake?" Kronii proclaimed. "He needs to be punished for what he's done."
"You'll probably have to get in line, Kronii, because all of us have beef with Boogie Gus for what he did," Nick responded. "Problem is, we still have no idea who gave Boogie Gus the power to use the Genesis Wave, and that could be a problem..."
"By the way, um... Kronii?" Alex asked. "You're the Guardian of Time, right? Since we didn't get to ask earlier, I had no idea if our time traveling might have upset you in any way?"
"From what Mumei's told me, you all only time travel when you need to fix the problems that characters like Boogie Gus cause," Kronii answered. "And that's perfectly fine with me."
"And when it comes to me, I got yoinked to the past because of that Corvus character," Klee stated.
"Did you call for us, ya crazy cats?!"
A double burst of silver and black energy rocketed down from the sky, though Kronii raised a temporal barrier to easily defend against the attack.
Just as who else but Pam, Alice and Crimson (Sam, Alex and Clover's predecessors at W.O.O.H.P.) ran out from the nearby stairway to arrive at the scene, both Boogie Gus and Corvus descended from the sky.
"Oh, that's twenty different kinds of nope," Britney proclaimed.
"You've got some nerve showing your face around here, Corvus!" Klee exclaimed.
"Yeah, didn't you learn from the last time we kicked your butt?!" Kana shouted.
"Yes, well, a proper villain learns from their mistakes," Corvus laughed as dark energy began to swirl around his body.
"Now that I got this funkalicious Jedi master by my side, y'all is doomed with a capital dead!" Boogie Gus laughed.
"Seriously, who even talks like that anymore?" Patty groaned. "Get a new lingo, why don't'cha?"
"Is he the one?" Kronii asked.
"That's him," Sam responded.
"All right-y then," Kronii stated before raising her hands and blasting both Boogie Gus and Corvus out of the sky by swinging her clock blades and launching midnight-blue energy blades from them. The instant they hit the ground, Sana cast a gravity sphere on the two villains to keep them in place.
"Now, I hope you two are ready to be punished," Kronii proclaimed. "As the Guardian of Time, there's no way I can overlook your transgressions against the timeline."
"Not to mention everything else you broke with your meddling!" Baelz exclaimed.
"Um, girls, are those our 'predecessors' that are watching us right now?" Alex asked when she noticed Pam, Alice, and Crimson staring at them, unsure of what to do. "I thought they weren't on active duty after what happened with Edison?"
"Maybe this is a pocket where they didn't retire, or they were never messed with by Edison," Bridget quipped.
Before Boogie Gus or Corvus could attempt to break out of Sana's gravity sphere, however...
"Oh, seriously, must I do everything myself these days?"
Suddenly, Sana's gravity sphere was dispelled by an invisible force, but Boogie Gus was now focused on the owner of this new voice, and he looked a little nervous.
"Come on, little missy, ya don't need to concern yourself with these little pests," Boogie Gus stated. "After all, I've got 'em right in the palm of my funky little hands."
"And yet you've been forced to flee from them twice already. Does that sound like someone who really wants these interlopers out of the picture?"
"B-But I have 'em all on the ropes! Just let me wipe my hands of them and we can rule all of the timelines together!" Boogie Gus responded.
A few seconds of incredibly ominous silence followed that statement, and despite still not being able to see who was addressing Boogie Gus, the spies all knew that he had just said something he probably shouldn't have.
"And who, pray tell, said that you could presume to give me orders? I thought I was quite clear about that when we made our contract. But, it looks like you let all that power I gave you go to your head."
"I-I-I d-didn't mean it l-like th-that!" Boogie Gus sputtered, knowing he was probably in a lot of trouble.
But he had no idea just how much trouble he was in.
"Sorry, but your lame excuses don't fool me. I warned you when we made our deal, and it looks like you forgot all about that."
Before Boogie Gus could barter any further, a large beam of golden and silver light thundered down from the sky and completely enveloped him for a few seconds.
And when the blast dissipated, absolutely nothing was left of Boogie Gus.
Corvus immediately jumped to his feet to defend himself, but another golden-silver blast came down and swallowed him up as well. Though he lasted longer, once the blast cleared, Corvus was gone as well.
"...okay, I have several questions," Melissa proclaimed.
"Well, then allow me to answer them for you."
A figure descended from the sky and landed on the rooftop. Though she appeared young, she carried herself with the air of someone who'd been around for much, much longer. She had long, platinum-blonde hair, piercing violet eyes, and was wearing a silver and grey witch outfit with an ominous-looking red eye imprinted on both her witch hat and the weapon she was carrying in her hands, a cross between a witch's staff and a futuristic railgun.
"All right, definitely not what I was expecting," May quipped.
"W-What are you doing out of your seal?!" Sana gasped. "I thought that..."
"Yes, I was sealed away, no thanks to you Guardians," the witch chuckled. "But over the time of my banishment in that accursed void, I'd regained enough of my power to do something about it. Oop, I almost forgot to introduce myself."
The witch bowed to the spies. "I am Eitri, the Witch of Ages."
"You said something about the Guardians banishing you," Nick proclaimed. "Are you the one who gave Boogie Gus that power?!"
"It's nice to see you've got more brain cells than that wannabe hipster," Eitri laughed. "Yes, it was I that bestowed the power of the Genesis Wave on him. You see, I am what people call a 'temporal mage', someone who only wishes to study the effects of... let's call it 'discourse' with the timelines."
"Oh, come off it," Baelz shot back. "You know exactly what you did last time we sealed you away!"
"Anyways, where was I?" Eitri giggled, choosing to ignore Baelz. "Oh, yes, the hipster. Despite being sealed away, I managed to regain enough of my power, and though I still couldn't leave the void, I bestowed that power to the hipster so he could use the Genesis Wave and fracture my seal so I could escape and begin my latest plan."
"Do you have any idea how much damage you've been doing to the timelines because of your nuttery?!" Patty shouted, unsheathing her scimitar. "And what exactly did you do to those two?!"
"Oh, I simply erased them from existence for thinking they could order me around," Eitri responded, much to everyone else's shock. "They were surprisingly insubordinate despite the gifts I gave them."
"That doesn't excuse you simply wiping them out because you felt like it!" Britney exclaimed.
"Oh, please, you have to admit, your timeline would be better off without him anyway," Eitri proclaimed. "And, really, that's the whole reason I'm doing this. I've been observing as many different timelines as I could ever since the Genesis Wave, and I've realized that time as we currently know it is unsalvageable. So, I plan to gather enough temporal power in order to perform what I've truly been gunning for since the olden days: the Super Genesis Wave."
Mumei just stood there in shock. "You're out of your mind," Mumei growled. Nick was surprised, as he'd never heard Mumei get angry before. "Do you have any idea what that would do?!"
"Um, pardon me for cutting in, but what's the difference between a vanilla Genesis Wave and a Super Genesis Wave?" Mat wondered.
"I mentioned this to Nick back when I met him, but the Genesis Wave that Boogie Gus used was an incomplete version, since it left all of these different pockets behind," Mumei explained. "The Super Genesis Wave would be strong enough to completely rewrite reality as we know it, and it would theoretically be irreversible."
"Bravo, Mumei," Eitri responded. "But... there's still one problem I have to deal with before I can perfect the Super Genesis Wave."
Eitri aimed her railgun for the spies, her expression becoming very psychotic. "And that's you."
"Oh, is that a fact?!" Nick shouted, his psychic aura exploding to life around him. Klee did the same and ran over by her father.
"You're not getting away with what you've done, you crazy witch!" Klee proclaimed.
"But I already have," Eitri laughed.
"You most certainly... WILL NOT!" Bridget proclaimed as she used Sonic Mode to dash forward to land a hit on Eitri.
"Consider that your only gimme," Eitri sneered.
Nick and Klee took that as their green light for a tag-team attack.
"You wanna bet, you stuck-up little brat?!" Nick shouted as he and Klee flew towards Eitri together. Eitri simply aimed her railgun for them, only for it to be knocked away by Mumei tossing a few razor feathers towards her. This left Eitri wide open so that Nick and Klee could blast her from both sides with a Final Shine Attack, knocking Eitri out of the air.
"I have an idea," Clover quipped.
She activated her Jet Pack Backpack, but motioned to Nozomi and Haruka to keep quiet about things.
"She won't suspect a thing," Clover told herself, getting out the Dynamite on a Stick.
Nick looked upwards and saw what Clover was planning to do in an attempt to help her plan work.
I'll distract her, 'kay, Clover? Nick thought.
Much appreciated, Nick! Clover thought.
Eitri recovered quickly and flew straight towards Nozomi, but Nick was over there in a flash to project a psychic barrier that Eitri bounced off of.
"Focus on me, lady," Nick taunted.
"Ooh, you're gonna get it for mocking me!" Eitri exclaimed as she fired blood-red energy blasts from her railgun at Nick, eventually shattering his barrier but giving Clover her opportunity.
Clover took that as a green light and dropped the DoaS over Eitri's head. It turned out to be a direct hit and it exploded around her.
"Nice move, Clover!" Klee commended.
Clover had a slight celebration, but Eitri managed to get to her feet rather easily.
"That was nothing!" Eitri sneered. "In fact, that tickled me!"
"You gotta be kidding!" Haruka chastised.
"My Sonic Mode did something," Bridget remarked.
"Hardly, girlie," Eitri sneered again.
Klee fired a psychic shot at Eitri again and managed to knock her on her back.
"Trying to dock our confidence that way isn't gonna work with you," Klee proclaimed.
"You haven't dealt with us all at all," Dawn pointed out as she and Melissa stepped forward.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Eitri chuckled.
"Maybe not, but this might!" Melissa exclaimed as she and Dawn flew into the air courtesy of Melissa's Helicopter Hand Fan. Eitri attempted to shoot them down, but Melissa was faster on the draw, easily dodging each shot while Dawn pelted Eitri back with shots from her Cyclone Burst Hairdryer.
"Kana, now would be a good time to show your parents what you can do," Klee remarked.
"Okay, I will," Kana quipped. "Mom, Dad, I could use your help..."
Sam and Mat seemed to be surprised, and a little excited inside as well.
"We'll be happy to help," Mat quipped as Sam nodded in agreement.
"I'll keep Eitri occupied myself," May remarked as she took her anchor.
Nick, Bridget, and Haruka opted to help, too.
"Believe us when we say your goose is cooked," Haruka proclaimed.
"Don't leave me out of this either," Nozomi quipped.
Clover and Blaine worked together to surround Eitri, too.
"Okay, let's do this," Kana proclaimed as Sam and Mat stood behind her.
"So, the runt is going to try something, is she?" Eitri laughed as she turned around, only to find herself getting knocked backwards when Kana sprung forward to literally gut-check Eitri. This allowed Sam and Mat to fly forward and knock Eitri around with an Accel Dance, though this time, Kana performed the finishing blow by smashing Eitri into the ground with an overhead snap kick.
"I may only be twelve, but I've got amazing parents to learn my skills from," Kana giggled.
"Still such a sweetheart, eh, Kana?" Sam laughed as she and Mat hugged their future daughter.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Eitri bellowed, rising into the air. "I'm officially through playing around with you wretches."
Eitri raised her right hand, which was glowing with a bright silver light. "I think it's high time I showed you exactly why I'm known as The Witch of Ages!" Eitri exclaimed, clenching her fist and causing a wave of silver light to spread out across the rooftop and freeze time for everything in the nearby area except for herself.
"Obstinate little brats," Eitri taunted as she floated toward the time-frozen spies. "I warned you about underestimating me."
Suddenly, the silver light dissipated, causing time to start moving normally again. Eitri only had time to turn around as Kronii jumped in and slashed at Eitri with her clock blades, quickly flooring the Witch of Ages.
"Did you forget I was here?" Kronii laughed as she began wildly swinging her clock blades, sending blades of midnight-blue energy at Eitri with each swing. "You can't just pull a time freezing fast one on the Guardian of Time, after all."
Sana moved in to cast a gravity spell around Eitri to keep her from moving while Baelz threw multiple spheres of chaos energy at the Witch of Ages. While this was occurring, Fauna raised her golden apple to cause a bunch of vines to sprout and wrap themselves around Eitri's limbs, and Mumei tossed a bunch of feathers that all converged on Eitri and sent her crashing back to the ground.
"You underestimated us, Eitri," Mumei proclaimed as the five Guardians all regrouped. "You're conveniently forgetting the beatdown we all laid on you last time before we sealed you away."
"Yeah, I figured someone who reveres time like you would have a better memory," Baelz cackled.
"And that's another reason I wish to rewrite this reality," Eitri proclaimed. "You Guardians sicken me with your hypocrisy. After all, you're supposed to be the protectors of this reality, and all you do is just sit around and watch?!"
"Oh, don't you even play that card," Sana shot back. "We're supposed to watch over reality. That's our job."
"We appear when we're needed," Fauna responded. "We're not tyrants or rulers, we're protectors. Humankind can take care of themselves, after all."
"Oh, right," Eitri sneered. "And what about all of the villains and bad guy types that wreak havoc across the Earth?"
"That's what we're here for," Alex proclaimed. "As agents of W.O.O.H.P., we're here to preserve the peace and keep everyone safe!"
Eitri simply scoffed before raising her hand and covering Alex in a strange distortion before lifting her into the air.
"You're just a symptom of how utterly unsaveable this reality truly is," Eitri growled, aiming her railgun for Alex's chest. "And that means, in order to truly ensure my new reality is perfect... you must be eliminated from it."
Before Eitri could pull the trigger, though, Nick fired a Final Shine Attack to destroy Eitri's railgun, then another to blast Eitri into a nearby wall.
"Hands off my girlfriend, you Blair Witch reject," Nick snarled.
"Resorted to name-calling, have we?" Eitri chuckled as she attempted to peel herself out of the wall, only to be smashed back into it courtesy of Nick punching her in the stomach.
"There, that better for you?" Nick laughed as he jumped away before Eitri could retaliate.
Despite her irritated expression, Eitri simply brushed herself off before floating back into the air.
"As much as I would love to continue listening to all of you bluster at me until the heat death of the universe, I really do have a million better things to do right now," Eitri proclaimed. "So, I will take my leave for now. But I warn you right now: cross me again, and you will receive no mercy the next time we meet."
Before anyone could make a move to stop her, Eitri waved her hand and created another Genesis Portal before floating into it.
"Okay, now that we have a moment to breathe..." Patty quipped. "Who was that little upstart?!"
"Eitri has been a real pain in our rumps over the time that we've been the Guardians of this reality," Baelz answered. "She's the one who used a Genesis Wave the time before this, so we were forced to seal her away."
"But it looks like she's been spending these last ten thousand years cooking up her own schemes," Kronii stated, much to the shock of the spies.
"Wait, wait, she's been alive for over ten thousand years?!" Alex shouted. "She barely looks like she's past fifteen!"
"Advantages of her experiments with temporal energy," Mumei quipped. "It distorted her body and effectively made her ageless."
"She held a nasty grudge against the previous generation of Guardians, and I guess that grudge never went away even when the five of us stepped up to that role," Sana stated. "You'd think she would have realized that we weren't the ones who sealed her away the very first time..."
"So, Eitri's been trying to meddle with time for that long, huh?" Klee asked.
"Pretty much," Kronii proclaimed. "We were forced to seal her away again before her experiments got too out of hand. We'd hoped that the time she spent in her seal would teach her a lesson..."
"But I guess ten thousand years is too long, huh?" Britney joked.
"And on that note, I think we need to go after Eitri before that Genesis Portal closes," Mumei quipped. "Because I'm not detecting any others nearby, at least none that we haven't already been to."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Mat stated as the entire group rushed towards the Genesis Portal so they could jump into it and continue their pursuit of Eitri.
Naturally, Pam, Alice, and Crimson were very confused.
4:38 P.M. – Somewhere in Beverly Hills
"HOLY CRAPBASKETS, IT'S FREAKIN' COLD AS HELL HERE!" Clover shouted when the group came out of the pocket and into what appeared to be Beverly Hills, if the city had been wrecked by an apocalyptic blizzard.
"No kidding," Melissa quipped. "Just what the heck happened in this pocket?"
"I'm willing to guess that it's the work of a certain doctor," Nick responded. "This just screams Gelee."
"Is there anyone else left in the city?" Mat asked.
Nick spread his psychic radar out as far as it could go, only to shake his head. "I don't sense the thoughts of anyone but us," Nick answered. "All life has fled from this place that was once called Beverly Hills."
"I sincerely hope we can find the Gelee of this pocket and tear him apart for this," Clover growled.
"Well, we should probably get moving, then," Patty proclaimed. "Before we all freeze to death in a rather undignified manner."
The spies all set out into the blizzard-wrecked Beverly Hills in hopes of finding Gelee and hopefully Eitri as well.
"I often wonder what would happen if our baddies actually succeeded in their plots," May quipped. "It gives me more motivation to make sure it doesn't happen."
"No kidding on that one, May," Alex shivered. "And seeing this just... oof, it curdles my cheese like you wouldn't believe."
"That's... an image," Dawn laughed.
"Who dares disturb my icy dominion?!"
Everyone's attention went to the sky, where they could now see who else but Doctor Gelee piloting what appeared to be a much larger and more elaborate version of the Winterizer robot he'd used the last time the spies had faced him in their own timeline.
"Sounds like someone didn't learn from the last time," Clover taunted.
"Well, well, look who's come back from the dead," Then Gelee laughed. "I thought being drowned in that arctic lake was enough to put you down for good, but hey, even I can be wrong sometimes."
The Omega Winterizer floated downwards to land on the ground and advance threateningly on the spies.
"How fortuitous that fate has given me an opportunity to execute you all again," Then Gelee proclaimed. "I hope you're all prepared to face a blistering cold death yet again!"
Nick and Klee flew into the air and started firing psychic bolts at the Omega Winterizer to draw its attention away from the spies, thus allowing Fauna to move in and pull a very sneaky trick.
While Then Gelee was occupied with trying to hit the rest of the spies with its giant freeze ray cannon, Fauna actually dove into the snow drifts around the area and moved underneath them until she was right underneath the Omega Winterizer.
Before Then Gelee could do anything about it, Fauna clenched on her golden apple and caused multiple vines to burst from the ground and wrap themselves around the Omega Winterizer, entangling the machine and keeping it from moving.
"My turn!" Baelz laughed. "Can't let you have all the fun, Fauna."
Baelz jumped into the air, created a large sphere of chaos energy above her, and then moved to above the sphere so she could soccer kick it straight into the Omega Winterizer, the sphere exploding into a well of chaos energy on contact that completely destroyed the giant machine and forced Then Gelee to eject from the cockpit before he went up with it.
When the large swell of chaos energy dissipated, all that remained of the Omega Winterizer was a mangled husk of parts.
"Had enough, frostbite freak?!" Clover exclaimed.
"Even if you beat me today, I have already won," Then Gelee cackled. "This entire world is nothing more than a frozen, barren land now. I accomplished my goal, and you failed to stop me. I don't know where you all came from, but you can simply wallow in your failures."
Melissa shut Then Gelee up with a karate chop to his neck that knocked him unconscious. "Oh, go eat some snow, you nutball," Melissa taunted.
"All right-y then, now that that's been settled, where do we go from here?" Nick asked. "Do you sense any more Genesis Portals, Mumei?"
Mumei glanced around in search of a portal they could use, only to find nothing. "Nope, nothing," Mumei answered. "And that's the weird part..."
"Well, here's hoping another one opens up soon, so we can get out of this frozen hellscape," Clover quipped as she huddled with Blaine for warmth. Naturally, Sam and Mat were doing the same, as were Nick and Alex. "This biting cold is bad for my complexion, you know!"
"No kidding," May responded. "Now I'm glad I started wearing this outfit more regularly."
"I wouldn't be worried about your complexion right now, little missy."
Nick immediately put himself on edge as Eitri floated down from the sky, still looking as smug as she had earlier.
"You know, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you all followed me to this pocket," Eitri chuckled. "You're just like the Guardians in that respect, that you're unbearably stubborn."
"Yeah, we're stubborn," Alex laughed. "What of it?"
"Didn't I warn you that if you kept following me, I'd stop showing you mercy?" Eitri taunted.
"And what, you expect us to just let you keep fudging with reality?!" Haruka exclaimed. "Fat chance of that!"
"You wanna try us again?" Bridget quipped as she transformed into Sonic Mode and equipped a Metal Masher Boxing Glove. "Because I'm just about ready to introduce this to your face. And trust me, agelessness or not, that's going to hurt."
Eitri looked over the twenty-two different opponents that she now faced before laughing softly to herself.
"And just what's so funny, you pathetic excuse for a witch?!" Blaine shouted.
"Oh, nothing, nothing. I'm just laughing over a certain little fact that you overlooked," Eitri proclaimed.
"And what, pray tell, would that be?" Sam wondered.
Eitri gestured to the unconscious Then Gelee, still out cold next to the remains of his machine.
"Tell me, why do you think I would make my way into another random pocket instead of going back to my own domain?" Eitri asked.
For one single, horrifying moment, Nick's thoughts were still.
Then, the truth crashed into him with all the force of a runaway airliner.
"It seems like your little boy toy caught on far quicker than I expected," Eitri giggled. "That's right. I merely made you chase down mister Snow Miser over here just to stall you out."
"W-wait, does that mean...?!" Patty gasped once she'd made the connection as well.
"That's right, little pirate girl," Eitri cackled, her hands glowing with a mixture of black and white light. "It means that you're too late."
Eitri raised her hands as she was surrounded by spiraling black and white lightning bolts that began to tear up the very landscape around her.
"Your little playdate with Gelee gave me just the time I needed," Eitri proclaimed, the lights around her hands glowing brighter with each passing second. "At long last, after ten thousand years, I have perfected the Super Genesis Wave! The power to bend reality itself to my will is in my hands!"
"Well, so sorry, but we're not giving you that chance!" Nick exclaimed as he fired a Final Shine Attack at Eitri, only for the blast to instantly dissolve against the lightning surrounding her. "...oh, crapbaskets."
"You're damn right, boy!" Eitri laughed. "With the Super Genesis Wave, not even your precious Guardians can save you! I believe this is where you're supposed to 'say your prayers', but spoiler alert, I won't be listening!"
"Kronii, can't you stop time or something?!" Britney shouted.
"Whatever energy she's channeling is interfering with my own powers!" Kronii exclaimed. "Damn it all, she played us for fools!"
"This is the moment I've been waiting more than ten thousand years for!" Eitri bellowed, beams of light flowing into her hands as she prepared herself. "This is the moment where reality becomes mine to do with as I please! This is where I officially and permanently wash my hands of every last one of you!"
A massive vortex of black and white light erupted from Eitri's hands and expanded quickly to cover the entire landscape around them, blanketing everything in blinding, searing light.
The spies all attempted to push back against the wave as best they could, but it was in vain. One by one, each of the spies vanished in the overwhelming light of the Super Genesis Wave.
Just as Nick found himself getting erased as well, the last thing he thought was that he hadn't been able to say those four magic words to Alex.
Before his vision closed down completely, Nick could only reach out to where Alex had once been, only to just barely see someone placing something in his outstretched hand. He even saw someone moving towards Eitri before blacking out completely.
...
...
...
...hope...
...genesis...
Those two words ran through his mind as he slowly regained consciousness, shaking his head to try and clear out what felt like the mother of all headaches.
"I'm definitely starting to sense a pattern now," Nick groaned as he stood up on shaky legs, wondering what had happened to him last night. "Ugh, why do I feel like I have the mother of all hangovers when I've never touched a drop of that stuff in... my... life?"
When Nick's vision finally re-focused enough for him to see clearly, he realized that he was back in The Final World once again, though all of the pillars that he'd seen earlier, the ones that represented each of the five Guardians, were currently nowhere to be seen. All Nick could see was that endless expanse of sea and sky.
"Wait just a minute, what am I doing back in The Final World?" Nick asked as he tried to look around for anything that could help him. Spreading his psychic radar out as far as he could, Nick attempted to search for his fellow spies or the Guardians...
...and then, he remembered what Eitri had done.
Nick now realized that he was probably here because, thanks to Eitri and the Super Genesis Wave, their reality was most likely no more.
But, then... if their reality was gone... why was he here? Had he somehow survived the destruction?
As Nick continued to rake his gaze around The Final World for something, anything, that could help him out, he felt drawn to something in his Jetpack Backpack that had thankfully survived with him.
It turned out to be the diamond engagement ring he'd bought for Alex. Even now, he still felt a pull that reminded him of the woman he loved so dearly.
"That must be it," Nick stated. "Whatever this new reality is like, the bonds I share with my friends must have been what kept me around! Now I just have to find them again. Hopefully that won't take too much longer..."
Just then, Nick felt another strange pull, finally realizing that he was holding something in his right hand. When he got a good look, it appeared to be one of Mumei's decorative owl feathers.
Nick tapped it out of curiosity, but then the feather started glowing and emitted a bright flash, and when it cleared, Mumei herself was floating in front of him.
"Nick! Oh, thank god you're okay!" Mumei exclaimed as she threw herself forward to hug Nick.
"Mumei, what just happened?" Nick asked. "The last thing I remember is Eitri using the Super Genesis Wave, and then I'm back here in The Final World..."
"I managed to put my essence in that feather and give it to you before everything went pear-shaped," Mumei explained. "That way, when you found it, I could come back through it. I'm a goddess, remember?"
"So... what do we do now?" Nick sighed. "Everyone else is gone..."
To Nick's surprise, Mumei just smiled and shook her head.
"There's still hope, Nick," Mumei answered. "I can detect everyone in this new reality that Eitri created, so we can still save them. We're just going to have to dive in and find them."
Mumei turned around and raised her hand, causing two owl feathers to spawn and fly forward, creating a portal on the "floor" of The Final World.
"But what happened to our old reality, our old multiverse?" Nick wondered. "Are they gone, too?"
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," Mumei admitted. "We'd most likely have to force the answers out of Eitri if and when we find her."
"Ooh, she's dead meat the moment I find her," Nick growled.
"Come on, let's not waste any time," Mumei proclaimed as she and Nick jumped into the portal.
As they both fell through the tunnel of darkness towards the light ahead, Mumei noticed how focused and determined Nick was, and reached out to hold his hand.
"Don't worry, Nick," Mumei proclaimed. "You'll be able to say those magic words to her soon enough."
Nick couldn't help but smile as they fell into the portal that would lead them to the new reality, and hopefully his friends.
To be concluded...
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Next time...
Nick: All right-y then, where exactly do we start in this new reality? I have no idea what's different here.
Mumei: I guess we're going to have to play it by ear until we find something that'll help us.
Nick: Man, I'm gonna tear Eitri apart when I get my hands on her...
Mumei: You'll probably have to get in line on that one.
Nick: Well, readers, this is about all that I dare spoil, because the final showdown is approaching fast, and it's going to be quite the spectacle! So tune in and don't miss any of the fun, next time on the final act of Totally Spies the Movie: A Crack in Time, "Genesis of Existence"!
Mumei: Hopefully the pun-happy scriptwriters will hold off when you guys get to season five.
Nick: I hope so. The season four guy said he wouldn't be doing that, and look at how that ended...