("Katachi" by Riko Azuna plays)
Listen well, young up-and-coming storytellers, for I shall tell you a tale like none you have ever heard.
Have you, pray tell, heard of the continent of Aeos?
It is home to many great kingdoms, all dedicated to protecting and maintaining the sanctity of life in its many forms.
But none are more important than the Crown Kingdom of Centorea.
Situated in the very center of Aeos, the kingdom of Centorea is ruled by a wonderful princess, loved by all, soon ready to take the mantle of queen, and life in the kingdom is prosperous.
But there is a prophecy spoken of by the oracles of Centorea.
A prophecy fittingly named "The Day of Darkness".
It states that when dark clouds blot out the sky from the southwest, the Dark Territory, a hotbed of monsters, evil, and darkness aplenty, will finally launch its invasion and swallow Centorea in eternal darkness.
"And when Centorea falls, so shall Aeos in turn, and eventually, the world."
"Do you always have to sound so grim when you say that?"
Princess Sortiliena looked over at her apprentice Royal Knight, her childhood friend Ronye Arabel, who was currently reciting the same story about Centorea and the prophecy of the Day of Darkness.
"Well, we do have to prepare for that day, whenever it happens," Ronye answered.
"It's not going to happen," Princess Sortiliena responded. "That's the promise I made my parents. For too long, Centorea's been at the whims of these deluded 'prophecies', tales of how the kingdom is destined to fall at the hands of the Dark Territory. Well, screw that noise! I never believed in prophecies, anyways."
Princess Sortiliena gestured to her magical staff, both a conduit for her magical powers and the symbol that marked her as the current reigning crown royalty of Centorea. "We make our own destiny, after all," Princess Sortiliena proclaimed. "Let the Dark Territory do their worst. We've never been beaten by them, and I'm not about to let that streak be broken because of a bunch of crackpots who claim they can see the future."
As she glanced out the nearby window towards the rising sun that shone brightly upon their kingdom, Princess Sortiliena recited the motto that so many members of the Centorea Royal Family knew by heart.
"Fate only binds you if you let it. Do what is necessary. Not because it is written."
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(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies the Movie: Once Upon a Time
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: January 27th, 2023
Story Summary: The one-hundred and fourth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger and the fifth feature film of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. A normal summer day for the spies goes south really quickly when they're ambushed by a strange attacker who used what appears to be magic to trap the spies inside of her storybook. In the storybook world, the spies find themselves in the kingdom of Centorea, ruled by a princess who looks a lot like Sortiliena. Centorea has been under constant attack by the Dark Territory, a region full of monsters of all shapes and sizes, and believing that the spies can help them avert the prophesized "Day of Darkness", Princess Sortiliena asks the spies to help her find a spirit known as Nahida to drive back the Dark Territory and maybe even get them back home...
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, we've made it through our 6th season since we got back in contact in late summer 2019. We hope you enjoyed the S6 finale, Starfall, and that it certainly filled in the holes about the Momo OC The Blue Time Ranger introduced. On a side note: that was actually what my late grandpa called me as a kid growing up until he passed in 2015. Anyway, it's now time for movie #5 of our series, which is titled Once Upon a Time, and means this will be more than 3 acts. Summer's officially under way here for the spy team, and that means tons of fun at the beach house for the next 2-3 months. Here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: With season six in the books, it's once again time for our between-seasons movie! This one's gonna be kinda different than the past couple had, given that the previous three all involved traveling between dimensions in some fashion. But, as always, if I blab too much here, it'll spoil what we've got in store for this one, so I'll stop that here. So, as always, grab whatever movie snacks you prefer, silence your cell phones, and let's get to the action! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters or locations created by us truly for the story. Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
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Act 1: Prelude to Discovery
1:07 P.M. – Beverly Hills
The Spies' Neighborhood
Mat sat in the back seat of a taxi. He'd returned back to Beverly Hills after spending a week back home in Hawaii and telling his folks the good news that he and Sam were officially engaged. He didn't announce any wedding plans yet since the spies were much far away from that. His visit home had some of everything, including discussing the end of the 2009 Supercross season. He had a nice talk with the taxi driver, too, on random stuff.
It was another seven more minutes until Mat found the beach house that belonged to Sam, Clover, and Alex.
"Thanks," Mat told the taxi driver and paid the fare.
In the meantime, things were happening at the beach house... quite a bit of things. May, Dawn, and Alex were in the middle of another Smash game.
"Nice try, Dawn! Get that weak sauce outta here!" May laughed. She wasn't using Meta Knight this time, thankfully, but she was still dominating with Nick's main, Sonic.
"Curse your multiple air dodges!" Dawn shouted as she dashed back to the stage with Ike.
"I learned that the hard way, too," Alex giggled. "That's something they should probably fix by the next Smash game."
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"Ooh, I bet that's Mat," Alex replied after hearing the doorbell.
Dawn put the Smash game on pause while Alex answered the door. Meanwhile, Sam heard the doorbell, too as she was making some lunch for herself.
"I was right," Alex giggled as she answered the door. "Welcome back, Mat."
"Thank you," Mat replied. "I have to say, I needed that trip back home."
Sam immediately ran to the den to greet her fiancée. They shared a hug and a kiss, but Mat also had a couple of things.
"Alex, don't go anywhere yet," Mat replied as he pulled out two lei. "A couple of gifts from my mom back home. I told her about you and Nick being engaged."
"Wow! Thanks!" Alex exclaimed as Mat put it around Alex's neck; that even included a kiss on the cheek.
Some of the girls were taken by surprise.
"Don't act surprised," Mat replied, not even flinching. "Hawaiian custom."
"I keep forgetting that," May chuckled.
"Yeah, it's always fun to learn new things," Dawn replied.
Mat was already putting the second lei around Sam and kissing her on the cheek, too.
"Smells great," Alex commented.
"I was just going to say that," Sam laughed.
"Mat, you're not tired after your long plane ride?" May wondered.
"Not really," Mat answered. "I slept most of the flight, so I'm okay."
Clover, Blaine, Bridget, and Haruka came downstairs after hearing Mat's last statement. They exchanged hellos with Mat as well.
"What were you guys up to?" Mat wondered.
"Not hard to guess with me and Blainey," Clover giggled.
"I think that's self-explanatory," Bridget commented.
"I was just making lunch," Sam replied.
"Smash for us," Alex added as May and Dawn raised their hands, too.
"We were actually going to have lunch ourselves," Bridget laughed, as did Haruka.
"Well, where're the others?" Mat wondered.
"Probably outside," Dawn answered. "I know I saw Nick head there."
That's exactly where they were. Britney and Nozomi were relaxing in the jacuzzi while Melissa and Nick were wrapping up a quick pool cleaning. Britney even came out of the hot tub upon seeing Mat.
"I think we got everything," Nick told Melissa.
"Great!" Melissa exclaimed.
Before Nick could even say anything else, Melissa, bikini on and all, went ahead and jumped in the pool, and Nick had just looked and saw her jump.
"Melissa..." Nick groaned after Melissa resurfaced.
"What?" Melissa giggled.
"We just CLEANED this sucker!" Nick chastised.
"So what!" Melissa laughed and splashed some water at him.
"Oh, you are a goofball!" Nick remarked.
Unknown to Nick and Melissa, the rest of their friends had seen everything.
"Well, 'when in Rome', after all," Nick quipped as he followed Melissa's example and jumped into the pool.
"Look at those two go," May chuckled.
"You can definitely tell they're brother and sister," Britney quipped.
Of course, Nick and Melissa were both having the time of their lives getting into what appeared to be an underwater wrestling match, but Melissa, with her superior swimming skills, clearly had the upper hand.
"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, which got Nick and Melissa's attention.
Nick and Melissa surfaced to see all of the spies staring intently at them. They looked at them, then back at each other, before bursting out into laughter than the rest of the spies swiftly joined in with.
"We really are a bunch of cards, aren't we?" Melissa giggled.
"Tell me about it," Nick laughed. Just then, he heard rapid footsteps, and he knew what that meant, so he quickly moved Melissa out of the line of the fire.
"PIRATE DIVE!" May shouted, now wearing an orange two-piece swimsuit, as she cannonballed herself into the pool, thankfully not on top of anyone this time around.
"You're getting too predictable, May," Nick quipped.
3:14 P.M. – Downtown Beverly Hills
After having some fun in the pool, the spies were now off to The Groove.
"Ah, it's a gorgeous day out," May laughed. "I'm just glad summer is cooperating with us."
"Has it ever not around here?" Alex quipped.
"You wouldn't believe the times that summer started out on the wrong foot back in Tachikawa when we were kids," May responded. "Right, Nick?"
"Oh, don't remind me of the time it rained for two days straight and then it hailed," Nick groaned. "That's a memory I'd rather not relive."
As the spies walked through the city and towards The Groove, they passed by a strange purple-haired woman covered by a dark red cloak. Initially, they paid it no mind.
But when Nick picked up some slightly off-kilter thoughts, he stopped in his tracks and turned towards the cloaked figure.
"Um... can I help you?" Nick wondered.
"...maybe," the girl answered before yanking off her cloak and tossing it aside to reveal herself. She appeared to be about the spies' age, if one or two years younger, with pale pink, bob-styled short hair and reddish-pink eyes, wearing a white, button-up shirt, purple ribbon, dark purple jacket with pink trim and a black lining, a charcoal gray skirt, light gray leggings, and black shoes. She was also wearing pink glasses with a cracked right lens.
"All right, not what I was expecting," Dawn admitted.
"I'm getting some weird vibes here, so how about we just get to the stomping before anything strange happens?" Clover stated.
In retrospect, Clover should have chosen her words more carefully, because the girl reached behind her, procured what looked to be a spellbook of sorts, and opening it before flipping to the page she'd been instructed to read.
"Ifalas zaras I e zaraq, Ifalas zaras I e zaraq," the girl chanted, her spellbook glowing a vibrant red as a massive vortex of red light opened in front of her.
Despite the spies' best efforts, including Nick projecting a psychic bubble around them, they were all pulled into the vortex, which closed up almost as quickly as it had appeared.
Her work for now finished, the girl closed her spellbook and reached up to tap something on her ear.
"I got them," the girl proclaimed. "What should I do next?"
She listened for a few seconds before scoffing.
"Stop calling me 'The Storyteller'," the girl groaned. "You know I don't like those cheesy names. Just call me Akane, like everyone else does."
A few more seconds.
"Understood," Akane answered. "Just keep me informed, got it?"
After getting an affirmative, Akane tapped her ear communicator to stop the transmission.
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Princess Sortiliena looked around as she felt the strange vibrations from her staff. There wasn't anyone here in the throne room with her, and she'd be able to tell if the Dark Territory was attempting an attack.
So what was this?
Her curiosity now adequately piqued, Princess Sortiliena reached out to grab her staff and head out of the throne room, following the pinging of her the magic jewel in her staff to figure out where this oddity was coming from.
Her travels took her out of Centorea Castle and deep into the fields that acted as a border between the castle and the city outside the castle walls.
She even waved to the citizens who saw her, who knew that she often traveled out this way. After all, she was a more proactive princess who could often be found cavorting around with the non-royals, even if it flustered Tiese sometimes.
Princess Sortiliena had always wanted to be more proactive than the previous royalty of the kingdom, of course. The leaders of the kingdom were supposed to put more effort into watching over their land, not just sitting in their throne rooms and watching from afar, only to come out of the castle for scheduled events or emergencies.
Eventually, Princess Sortiliena exited the town and into the vast field that connected this part of the kingdom to the roads that led elsewhere, still following the pinging of her staff until she reached a crossroads and found something very strange.
A swirling vortex of red light was hanging in the air near the crossroads intersection, pulsing ominously.
Glancing back at her staff, Princess Sortiliena raised it to prepare a spell that would close the portal. After all, she had learned to never trust strange portals like this.
Before she could cast a spell, however, the portal shined brightly before depositing thirteen people onto the ground rather roughly, then closing itself up as if the portal had never been there to begin with.
"Ow, my head..." Alex groaned.
"Try all of our heads, Alex," Sam quipped.
"Could somebody tell me what the heck just happened?" Nozomi quipped as the spies all picked themselves up. "Who was that chick that magic'd us..."
Nozomi trailed off when she got a good look at her surroundings. "...wherever the heck we are," Nozomi finished.
"You think we're in another dimension?" Mat wondered.
"I don't think so," Nick replied. "Whatever that portal was definitely wasn't a Quantum Rift. Regardless, we're not in Beverly Hills anymore."
Nick glanced over at Princess Sortiliena, who was still very confused. "And I guess we probably have some explaining to do," Nick quipped.
"I'm surprised you haven't attacked us with that," May stated, gesturing to Princess Sortiliena's magic staff. "I mean, we did just pop out from out of nowhere."
"Well, I'm not the kind to just blindly assail people who don't appear hostile," Princess Sortiliena answered. "Oh, right, I should probably introduce myself. Then we should be able to get a conversation going."
Princess Sortiliena bowed to the spies before introducing herself. "I am Princess Sortiliena Serlut, Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Centorea. And you are?"
"Welp, there's a lot of us, so how about we get back to your kingdom and we'll give you the rundown on the way?" Nick offered.
With that, Princess Sortiliena led the spies back the way she'd came, through the city and to the castle at the center. On the way there, the spies all introduced themselves and explained what had happened that had brought them here.
"Do you think that this miscreant knows some form of magic, then?" Princess Sortiliena wondered. "Because the way you described her chanting and the portal that sent you here, it does sound like some form of dark magic."
"She kinda just ambushed us before we even had a chance to retaliate," Sam quipped.
"I really hate it when bad guys do that," Alex stated.
"Wait a minute, does our Sortiliena even know we disappeared?" Blaine asked.
Nick flipped open his brand new X-Powder, only to get nothing but static when he tried to make a call. "No dice," Nick answered. "Wherever we are is clearly out of W.O.O.H.P.'s coverage zone. And considering this is apparently a more medieval kingdom where our technology doesn't exist yet, I highly doubt we're gonna get through to them until we get out of here."
As the group all reached Princess Sortiliena's throne room, the princess had a bit of an idea.
"If I might make a suggestion?" Princess Sortiliena proclaimed. "You say that magic was what brought you here, right? If so, then I have a proposal for you."
"We're listening," Bridget replied.
"There is a spirit guardian known as Nahida," Princess Sortiliena explained. "She is the goddess who watches over Aeos, and she has blessed us much over these long years. However, the Dark Territory, a band of monsters and lowlifes who encircle the continent of Aeos, have been attacking our kingdoms in hopes of 'slaying the goddess and returning everything to chaos', their words."
"Sounds like they're gonna be a problem," Haruka quipped.
"Thankfully, they do not know where Nahida resides," Princess Sortiliena responded. "Her domain is somewhere outside the continent of Aeos, veiled by her own magic so nobody can enter unless they possess a fragment of her power somehow."
"And you have such a fragment, I suppose?" Sam stated.
"Yup," Princess Sortiliena quipped, reaching into her pocket to pull out a small jewel, shaped like a neon-green heart with five petals sprouting around it. "Passed down through the royal family. As long as you have this gemstone, it will lead you to where Nahida resides. I figure, with the power she has, she will no doubt be able to send you all back home."
"And for that, you want us to..." Nick wondered.
"Nothing much," Princess Sortiliena responded, reaching behind her throne to pull out a letter. "The kingdom of Norlangarth is on your way to where you should go. A friend of mine resides there, and... I'd like you to deliver this letter to her. It's been a while since I've seen her, and I really miss her."
"It probably isn't easy for you two to meet up as much as you'd like, given you're in neighboring kingdoms, huh?" Melissa stated.
"She normally resides here in Centorea, but she's been on a mission to Norlangarth for a while," Princess Sortiliena replied.
"You can count on us, Your Majesty," Sam proclaimed, the spies all bowing respectfully.
"Hey, before we go, how about we change into something more appropriate?" May quipped. "After all, in a world like this, we probably stick out like a sore thumb with our more modern-day fashion."
Sam tried it first, just to make sure that function still worked in this world. Thankfully, that went off without a hitch, rings of light surrounding her body before changing her outfit into a more fantasy-appropriate dress.
Once they saw Sam was able to do so, the rest of the spies followed suit, using their X-Powders (DS in Mat's case) to change their clothes into something more appropriate for the setting.
After giving their thanks to Princess Sortiliena, with the princess assuring them that they'd see each other again, the spies left the castle and eventually the kingdom of Centorea itself, ready to begin their journey.
"Man, this really does feel like a fantasy novel," Alex quipped. "The party of heroes going on a grand adventure across the lands, fighting evil wherever it may go?"
"Just like many a Final Fantasy game," May giggled. "All right, Nick, show us the way."
Nick raised the jewel he'd been given, and it began glowing with a faint light, a light that got slightly brighter when he pointed it to the west of their current location.
And so, the spies set off in that direction, hoping they could eventually find answers about where they were, and hopefully a way home.
"What a way for me to come back to Beverly Hills," Mat commented.
That's when it hit Melissa like a ton of bricks, and she moved closer to Mat so she could give him a 'welcome back' kiss.
"Sorry I forgot earlier," Melissa admitted.
"It's okay, Melissa," Mat replied as he hugged Melissa.
"I probably would have done that earlier if we didn't get yanked into this place," Melissa quipped. "Like you said, what a way to come back to Beverly Hills."
"Once again, I swear we're just cursed," Nick sighed.
Britney realized it, too and shared a couple of kisses with Mat.
"Well, now that that's over," Sam quipped, turning to their current surroundings. "What in the world is going on here?"
"I was going to ask that, too," Haruka commented. "Hopefully this Nahida person Princess Sortiliena spoke of is as nice as she is."
"I feel like we're having a déjà vu moment going back to these getups," Clover commented, reminiscing back to their mission in the Middle Ages.
("Material Girl" by Madonna plays)
"They call some Supercross nights 'Throwback Night' like last year at Anaheim 2," Mat added.
"First of all, I hope we got sent to the right place," Blaine commented.
"Knowing that Princess Sortiliena, she certainly did," Nick deduced.
"I sure hope we know where this friend of hers is," Bridget added.
"Not to go off on a tangent, but this place looks amazing," May proclaimed as the spies all looked around the forest they were currently traversing, filled with many different kinds of plant life, each sporting multiple vibrant colors.
"You're telling me," Nick replied.
"Almost makes me wish we had beautiful sights like this back home," Bridget admitted.
Nick still held the jewel and went in whatever direction that it glowed best.
"At least this place isn't the desert like before with Queen Tassara," Clover replied.
"Exactly," Alex quipped.
"We must be getting close," Nick told the others as he shielded his eyes once or twice. "The jewel's getting brighter and brighter."
"Great for us," Haruka replied.
"Especially since we have a summer to enjoy," May added.
"I wouldn't worry about that, May," Sam quipped.
The spies continued on their quest, eventually reaching the outskirts of the kingdom of Norlangarth, according to the information Princess Sortiliena had given them.
"Hopefully we're close," Britney stated.
"Maybe this big house might give us some directions," Alex suggested.
Nick looked on at the "house" Alex saw.
"I think we found where that friend of Princess Sortiliena lives actually..." Nick told the others. Before they could investigate, however, Nick's senses picked up the telltale ring of hostile thoughts approaching them quickly.
"What's wrong, Nick? Trouble?" Alex asked.
Nick spun around just as something came bursting through the nearby bushes and towards the house. Nick raised his hand to create a psychic barrier that the figure crashed into, and this allowed the spies to get a good look at their attacker.
To their surprise, it appeared to be a demonic-looking wolf about three times the size a wolf would normally would be. It snarled at the spies before lunging forward to attack them.
"Bad Fido! We're not your post-lunch snack!" Nick shouted, blasting the demon wolf back with a Final Shine Attack.
"Um, you guys, I just realized something," Clover stated. "We really don't have any gadgets to work with here, do we?"
"...oh, crapbaskets, you're right," Mat gasped. "Remember, we were just going to The Groove when that lady ambushed us and sent us here."
"That means this could be trouble," May quipped. "Oh, man, I could really use my anchor right now..."
Almost as if something had been listening, the jewel in Nick's free hand began shining slightly brighter before spitting out a ball of light that flew into May's hands and formed into an anchor like the one she usually wielded.
"...okay, I don't know how the heck that worked, but I'm definitely not complaining," May stated as she ran forward to bean the demon wolf with her new anchor and keep it away from the house.
"Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the jewel Princess Sortiliena gave us is literally magical," Sam replied. "It is supposed to hold a fraction of Nahida's power, after all."
"I still have my transformation brooch," Bridget quipped, reaching into her pocket to fish out said brooch. "Please work, though... Sonic Mode, online!"
Thankfully, it did seem to work, as emerald electricity lanced around Bridget's body before forming into her Sonic Mode suit. As the demon wolf moved in to attack, Bridget started running around the demon wolf over and over again, generating a small tornado along with more of that emerald electricity.
As the demon wolf found itself lifted into the air by the electric whirlwind, Bridget skidded to a stop and snapped her fingers, and this caused all of her gathered kinetic energy to explode outward in an electric shockwave, causing big damage to the demon wolf.
"Oh, thank goodness I've still got the moves," Bridget giggled.
As the demon wolf jumped through the air and attempted to pounce on Sam, it was suddenly struck in mid-air by a bolt of holy-looking lightning, causing it to seize up and dissolve into particles of dark energy that quickly vanished.
"...that wasn't me," Nick quipped.
A young woman stepped out from behind the house holding a magic staff much like Princess Sortiliena's. She was a petite girl about Nick's age with short brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing a stormy grey-colored dress.
Everyone quickly recognized her as Ronye Arabel, the star student of their Sortiliena's combat classes, but they knew that since this world, whatever kind of world it is, was very different from theirs, they decided to keep that fact to themselves.
"Accursed monsters," Ronye sighed before finally noticing the spies. "...and you might be?"
"We're just travelers from a far-off land, searching for a way home," May responded. "Princess Sortiliena from Centorea actually sent us on a quest to..."
"W-wait, you know Princess Sortiliena?" Ronye gasped. "How has she been?"
"I'm guessing that means you're probably the friend she wanted us to deliver this letter to," Sam replied, handing off said letter to Ronye.
"Yes, she does worry about me a lot," Ronye giggled. "Oh, please let me introduce myself. I am Ronye Arabel, apprentice Royal Knight of the Crown Kingdom of Centorea. What kind of quest did the princess send you on?"
Ronye escorted the spies into Norlangarth as they told their story.
"I have heard many tales of other-worldly travelers, but never one quite like this," Ronye admitted.
"You'd think we'd be used to it by now, given all of the world traveling we've done back in our world," Britney quipped.
"So, in essence, you are searching for Nahida so she can return you to your own world?" Ronye asked.
"That's the plot synopsis, yup," Haruka answered.
"No one in the five kingdoms has seen Nahida for quite some time," Ronye stated. "Though she watches over the lands, she has done so in seclusion for the past few hundred years, no doubt due to the enemies and monsters that also seek her power for... less-than-valiant means."
"That's a given, really," Nozomi quipped.
"That jewel fragment you possess no doubt contains a fragment of Nahida's great power, but you must be careful on your quest," Ronye proclaimed. "Though it will lead you to Nahida, the monsters of the Dark Territory are also attracted to such power."
"So, as long as we're searching for Nahida, things like that demon wolf are gonna be coming after us, basically," Nick sighed. "I guess I saw it coming, but... what about the kingdoms? Aren't they in danger from the Dark Territory?"
"You needn't worry about that," Ronye responded. "The kingdoms and all major cities of this land are protected by magical blastia barriers that allow us in and out, but keeps the monsters from entering. As long as the blastia holds, we are safe."
Ronye gestured to the mountains just to the north of the city they were in. "I would suggest checking out the mountains that-a-way," Ronye stated. "Strange activity, no doubt of the magical variety, has been recorded there lately. Maybe there you will find a clue to the path you seek."
"It's the only real lead that we have at the moment, so why not?" Alex responded. "Let's go check it out, shall we?"
Nick raised the jewel so the spies could follow its glow up to the mountains just outside the city and hopefully find some information that would lead them closer to their goal.
"I wonder what activity Ronye was talking about," Mat stated.
"I'll bet that 'activity' is why she's been watching over the lands in seclusion," Bridget quipped.
"I wonder how she has those eyes in the sky then," Blaine replied.
"I guess we'll ask Nahida when we find her," Nick quipped.
"Hopefully it's not because of medical problems," Mat commented.
"I hear ya," Melissa chuckled.
"Totally," Alex replied.
Nick moved the stone in all directions in front of him and got the brightest shine when he pointed it to the left.
"How accurate is that jewel?" Clover wondered.
"It must be 100% accurate," Sam deduced. "Otherwise, I don't think Sortiliena would have given it to us..."
"Yeah, but we also have to remember about the demon wolf and other things, too," Nick pointed out.
"All the unnatural phenomena, basically," Dawn quipped.
"No doubt," Bridget replied.
"Well, we won't let any hazards get past us," Blaine remarked.
Nick still led the way while everybody looked in all directions for any sneak attacks.
"Still safe for now," Haruka replied.
"By the way, I have to mention something..." Mat told the spy team. "Jerry copped for my flight to and from home – he called and told me."
"He did?" Melissa gasped.
"Wow, I had no idea," Alex quipped.
"Seems like he's serious about making up for his behavior, huh?" Dawn wondered.
"Remember, he did say that he knew it would take a while," May stated. "I think this is a pretty good first step."
"Hope that's a sign that Jerry's going to be back soon," Sam quipped.
"As far as regaining trust, I think he filled the void in my book," Mat commented. "At least with me anyway."
"Bro, considering everything you went through this past month, I'd say that's a damn good start," Nick stated.
"Absolutely!" Melissa exclaimed.
After the search continued, the spies were met with their first sneak attack. Fortunately, Nick, Sam, and Alex were ready, Sam and Alex kicking their attackers away and Nick blasting a bigger one back with a Final Shine Attack.
It turned out to be a close call.
"And the stalls have arrived..." Britney remarked.
"Time to go to battle, guys," Nozomi stated.
With the sneak attack foiled, the spies were able to get a good look at their attackers, surprised to see a trio of orc-like figures standing in their way.
"Oh, and who might you be?" the first orc quipped. "We've never seen the likes of you before."
"They look tasty enough," the second orc proclaimed.
"Um, you wanna run that by me again?!" Alex shouted.
"Might wanna tell us quickly, before we get nasty," the lead orc laughed. "We don't take kindly to humans intruding in the mountains."
"Oh, hello there pot, name's kettle, have we met?" Mat taunted. "We can clearly tell you're from the Dark Territory, you know."
"How astute that you can tell just by looking at us," the lead orc replied, raising his club. "Just for that, boy, you get to die first!"
"How about hell to the no?!" May shouted as she rushed forward and smacked two of the orcs away with a swing each from her anchor. The lead orc was distracted enough by this for Nick to send him flying into the opposite cliff wall with a Final Shine Attack.
"You're gonna pay for that," the lead orc growled as he peeled himself out of the wall and bum-rushed the spies.
Nick raised the jewel instinctively, and it shined with a bright light that actually drove the orcs back, one of their arms even dissolving in its light.
"Agh, you have a fragment of the Soul Dew?!" the lead orc shouted. "Where did you find it?!"
"None of your damn business," Nick taunted. "And considering that your arm is starting to peel like Mindy's sunburn because of it, you might want to skedaddle before you fall apart."
That was enough for the three orcs to retreat.
"Wow, that actually worked," Nick quipped.
"To be fair, that fragment does have a piece of Nahida's power," Melissa replied. "Maybe that light's like poison to monsters around here."
"Ah, a classic fantasy trope," May giggled. "But back to business, those orcs looked like they were guarding something up here. Maybe it's the source of those strange disturbances Ronye told us about?"
"I guess there's only one way to find out," Sam stated.
Thankfully, no more orcs jumped out to surprise them, allowing the spies to search the area for anything suspicious.
Their attention was eventually caught by a mysterious red glow coming from a nearby cave. The spies all entered the cave, and...
"...you're all seeing this, right?" Mat quipped.
"Okay, good, so it's not just me," Britney responded.
Floating just at the other end of the cave was a swirling pinkish-red vortex of energy, similar to the one that the spies had been yanked into this world through, only this portal was also tinted with glass-like flashes of silver light.
"Is that what those orcs were trying to investigate?" Alex asked.
"Where do you think it leads?" Nozomi wondered.
"I'm wondering if we can even touch that thing," Blaine quipped, pointing to something on the ground near the portal. It appeared to be an arm from one of the orcs, having been severed by something. "The orc arm here clearly says 'do not touch'."
A flash of light caught Nick's attention, and he fished out the Soul Dew Fragment, which seemed to be reacting to the portal. He raised the fragment closer to the portal, and it pulsed slightly before expanding.
"I think that might have done it," Nick quipped.
"Why's it reacting to the Soul Dew Fragment?" May wondered.
"I'm not sure," Nick stated, stepping closer to the portal, only for it to flash ominously and suck him inside of it before the spies could do anything about it.
When Nick could see again, he was falling out of a similar portal high in the sky, eventually landing in what appeared to be another village on the outskirts of Norlangarth.
However, something seemed very familiar about this village. Though the buildings were clearly medieval-style houses, they were all arranged in a manner that almost exactly resembled his old neighborhood in Tachikawa, Tokyo, where'd he'd spent most of his childhood before moving to Beverly Hills.
Nick chanced a glance up at the sky of this strange area and saw that many other such building parts were floating in the air in random, abstract patterns.
"Okay, I've seen some strange things lately, but I think this is a serious contender for the cake," Nick quipped. "Where the hell am I?!"
Nick looked down at the Soul Dew Fragment in his hands, which was once again glowing.
"Maybe you'll lead the way like you have so far," Nick stated, holding up the fragment as he began running through the village.
No matter which way he turned, all of the buildings in this village were arranged in a way that exactly mimicked Tachikawa.
Eventually, Nick turned a corner and found himself in front of a tall observation tower built in the middle of this village that was clearly a stand-in for the Skywhirl Tower.
And the Soul Dew Fragment was glowing brighter the closer he got to the tower.
With that, Nick began climbing the ladder to the top of the observation tower until he reached the lookout deck. Floating there was what appeared to be another Soul Dew Fragment, much like the one currently in his hands.
Slowly and carefully, Nick reached out to claim the second Soul Dew Fragment, but the instant he did, the observation tower collapsed, forcing Nick to jump off and fly into another portal that had appeared when he claimed the fragment.
Nick fell out of the portal back in the same cave he'd entered that strange area from, and the portal swiftly closed itself up, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.
"Whoa, Nick, are you okay?" Alex asked. "You just kinda... up and vanished for a couple minutes."
"Did you find anything interesting in that portal?" Melissa wondered.
Nick held up the second Soul Dew Fragment that he'd found. "Yeah, another one of these," Nick stated. "That's probably why the one I had reacted to the portal."
"Okay, so, let's review what we know," Sam proclaimed. "The goddess Nahida who watches over this land apparently placed pieces of her power into these Soul Dew things, right? And we just found another one inside a strange portal..."
"I'm wondering if the Soul Dew itself, the complete Soul Dew, is what Nahida channeled her powers into, and then she split it into fragments and chucked them into these portals so that only someone who already had a fragment could access them and find the others," Mat stated.
"And I'm willing to bet that the only real way we're going to find Nahida is if we find the remaining fragments of the Soul Dew," Bridget responded. "After all, Ronye said she's been secluding herself so the Dark Territory or anything worse can't find her."
"Here's the really strange part," Nick quipped. "The village I found myself in was basically a medieval dead-ringer for Tachikawa, building placement and everything."
"Wow, that is strange," Nozomi replied.
"The only thing that I can think of is that the landscape within that portal was reacting to some of my memories and shaped itself around those memories," Nick stated.
"That's another one for the fantasy checklist," May chuckled. "Come on, let's zoom back to Norlangarth and tell Ronye what we found."
5:00 P.M. – Norlangarth
"And that's basically everything that went down," Sam concluded to Ronye.
"Very interesting," Ronye commented. "I don't think I need to say much more about the dangers you've faced so far?"
"Yeah, we've been ambushed by some unnatural phenomena," Haruka answered.
"Plus, that Soul Dew Fragment I found took me to a setting that mimicked Tachikawa, Tokyo, my former hometown and where the Jellyfish Pirates are," Nick added.
"Wait, WHAT?!" May proclaimed. "It did THAT?!"
"Yes it did," Nick answered. "Like it KNEW that I am originally from Tachikawa!"
"From what I know," Ronye told them. "The Soul Dew Fragment immediately taps into the background of whoever is holding it."
"That might explain things a bit," Mat commented. "If I get taken back to Hawaii settings, I'm REALLY going to get an urge to go back home again..."
"I think I almost got one myself," Nick admitted.
"Well, don't think it won't happen to you, Mat," Ronye replied as a fair warning.
"Oh, I won't," Mat stated.
"How does it tap into Nick's background then?" Alex wondered.
"That's just what it does," Ronye answered. "I can't explain how."
"Not every day you see something like that," Mat commented.
Blaine nodded in agreement there.
"So, what's the game plan now?" Bridget wondered.
"It seems like there might be a Soul Dew Fragment in each of the four kingdoms that surround Centorea," Ronye replied. "I would advise heading to the kingdom of Eastabarieth, as it is the closest."
"Then I guess that's our next order of business," Sam quipped.
"Make that second," Clover pointed out. "I found this during the battle..."
"What is it?" Melissa wondered.
"I think it's... a diary page," Clover quipped. "You think those orcs were carrying it?"
"I don't think so," Nick replied. "That handwriting looks too neat and tidy to be orc writing."
"Here's the other problem," Sam stated. "This writing's in some kind of language I can't read. And I can read a lot of languages."
Nick looked down at the Soul Drew Fragment in his hands, which was glowing again. Out of curiosity, Nick held the fragment towards the page, and sure enough, the page reacted to the fragment and its writing turned into regular words.
"Hey, that worked!" Alex gasped.
"Always trust your instincts," Nick quipped as he read the page.
The Dark Territory is growing bolder and bolder by the day.
They seem to think that they can find me by simple searching.
I think it was a good idea to make the only way of finding me to use the fragments of my Soul Dew. After all, the monsters of the Dark Territory, as steeped as they are in darkness, cannot so much as touch a fragment of my power without risking themselves.
I hope I will never have to leave this sanctuary, though if I must, I will do my best to protect this land as I always have.
And she will not stop me.
"I'm willing to bet that Nahida wrote this, given how she mentioned the Soul Dew Fragments and basically confirmed Mat's theory," Nick quipped. "These must be pages from her diary."
"I wonder why the pages of her diary are scattered all over the place?" Melissa asked.
"Maybe they'll be another clue to helping us find her," May quipped. "Trust me, I've played enough RPGs to recognize these kinds of clues."
"Guess all we can do for now is head to Eastabarieth and see if we can find that next Soul Dew Fragment," Mat stated.
"I wish you good luck on your travels, brave warriors from another world," Ronye proclaimed. "Oh, and if you should return to Centorea... tell the princess that I miss her."
"Will do, Ronye," Bridget responded as the spies all regrouped and left Norlangarth, making their way down the crossroads that would take them towards Eastabarieth.
Meanwhile, far away in the Dark Territory, a shadowed figure can be seen gazing into their crystal ball, watching recent events unfold.
"Hmmmm... it seems that the princess of Centorea has gotten herself a bunch of new allies to aid in her quest," the figure proclaimed. "No doubt they seek the goddess Nahida, same as we do."
"What should we do about them, Your Majesty?" one of the nearby soldiers asked. "Should we send a force to dispatch them?"
"Actually, no," the figure on the throne proclaimed. "Leave them be for now. Given they seek the other fragments of the Soul Dew, why waste our own time when we can have them collect our prize for us?"
"Your brilliance knows no bounds, my lord," another soldier proclaimed.
"Naturally," the figure chuckled. "Make no mistake, we will deal with them when the time comes. I will personally see to it myself."
To be continued...
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Next time...
Clover: Man, these roads are long. I really wish we had our Jetpack Backpacks, then we could just fly there and cut down on all of this traveling time...
Alex: Yeah, and I'm pretty sure Nick can't carry all of us with his powers for that long, right?
Nick: Nailed it in one, Alex. Carrying all of you at once would be pretty tricky, and I'd rather have my power reserves as close to full as I can at all times.
May: True that. We have no idea what... you know what, I'm gonna shut my mouth before I jinx myself.
Melissa: Wise choice, May.
Blaine: Here's my question. Are we getting any closer to Eastabarieth? Because it's getting pretty late, and I do not want to know what prowls these woods at night.
Haruka: I wouldn't be too worried. Ronye told us that there aren't any nocturnal predators out here on the crossroads, and we'd definitely know if someone from the Dark Territory was approaching us thanks to Nick.
Bridget: Hopefully that means it's smooth sailing to Eastabarieth next time on Totally Spies the Movie: Once Upon a Time, "The World All Around Us"!
May: Holy crapbaskets, you weren't joking, Nick, the set department went all-out for this movie. Look at that castle!
Nick: I told ya, they know their stuff.