1:31 P.M. – The Moonflow Tides
Southeast Wave
("Dreamin' On" by Da-iCE plays)
"Oh, no, not this again!" Ashley shouted as she fell out of a Quantum Rift and right towards the ocean. She'd had enough of getting dumped into the water on her inter-dimensional trip.
Thankfully, this time she was ready, equipping her O2 Mask before she hit the water so she could breathe and activating her Hydropack, a jetpack-like device that allowed her to swiftly swim around.
After all, she wasn't much of a swimmer, and she had a sinking feeling that Nick had been the same way in his own youth.
When Ashley resurfaced, she began glancing around in hopes of finding something interesting about this particular dimension. As far as she could tell, it appeared to be ocean as far as the eye could see, but with multiple pirate ships floating around the waters.
"Ooh, Captain Quantum would love this place," Ashley giggled.
"Ahoy there, lassie!"
Ashley glanced to her left as a pirate ship approached her position, its two occupants waving to her.
And one of them looked a lot like a slightly older Nick.
Oh, wait, that's probably another dimensional counterpart of his, then, Ashley thought.
"We saw you just fall out of a Quantum Rift, and we just wanted to see if you were okay," Pirate Nick stated.
"W-wait, you two know about Quantum Rifts?" Ashley gasped.
"Yup! We're kinda dimensional travelers ourselves," Patty chuckled.
At the mention of the word 'dimensional', Ashley realized something.
Maybe these two can help me.
(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 New Adventures
Episode 82: Quartz Quest
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: May 31st, 2023
Story Summary: The one-hundred and thirteenth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode eighty-two of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. When Ashley finds herself in the Moonflow Tides, Pirate Nick and Patty decide to help her search for phase quartz, a rare mineral material that Ashley will need if she ever hopes to rebuild the Dimensionator. Naturally, Patty brings Nick over to assist in the search, but before the other spies can cross dimensions as well, they have other troubles on their plate, namely the return of Sagan Hawking, who is abducting students from Mali-U and trying to turn them into strange alien life-forms. And given that she's also gotten her hands on both Sam and Blaine, both Mat and Clover are on the warpath. Can the spies scuttle Sagan's plans before the students of Mali-U get turned into the third kind, and can Ashley find what she's looking for and get one step closer to rebuilding the Dimensionator?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: It's now time for #113 overall, and #82 of our projects regarding The New Adventures. We hope you enjoyed Volleyball Vandals, and that you'll enjoy this one. Going back to the Moonflow Tides is going to be interesting and fun at the same time. It's going to be another good one, and it's going to include a bit of everything if my intuition is correct. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: We've hit the halfway point of season seven of The New Adventures, and we've got a bit of a double feature in this one, with Nick helping Ashley find something in the Moonflow Tides and the rest of the spies dealing with little miss alien nutball. Things are gonna get interesting in this one, so let's get the double trouble underway and 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?
EDIT 6/9/23: Edited the act 2 preview because I did an oof and forgot to read my own summary.
Act 1: Jewel of My Eye
1:56 P.M. – The Moonflow Tides
Southeast Wave
"Man, that's quite a story," Pirate Nick admitted after they'd brought Ashley on board the Fiertia and she'd explained what had been happening. "And I get the vibe that you feel responsible for all of this."
As Pirate Nick gestured to the sky and the randomly opening and closing Quantum Rifts, Ashley sighed in resignation.
"I just wanted to stop Emperor Terrence, but in doing so, I fear I might have made things worse," Ashley stated. "But on to why I'm actually here. I'm looking for a certain mineral that I need to build another Dimensionator, and..."
"Oh, you mean phase quartz?" Patty quipped, quickly catching Ashley's attention.
"W-Wait, you know what phase quartz is?!" Ashley gasped.
"Well, obviously!" Patty proclaimed. "How else do you think hubby and I got our own Rift Generator working?"
"Phase quartz is just one of only three known materials that allows for dimensional travel," Pirate Nick responded. "I assume you need to find some?"
"Yeah, it's a key component of the Dimensionator," Ashley answered.
"Then let's set sail, shall we?" Pirate Nick proclaimed before glancing over at Patty. "Patty, dearie, can you go activate the Rift Generator? I think I know who would be perfect to help us out on this one."
"Ooh, I know exactly who you're thinking of," Patty giggled as she dashed towards the lower deck where the Rift Generator awaited.
2:12 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
It was another gorgeous summer day for the spies, and they were definitely enjoying it in their own ways.
In fact, Nick and May were just finishing up another practice session in Smash Bros., as they were planning on attending the tournament at Mali-U this fall.
"Well, I think I've practiced enough for one day," May chuckled. "What do you say, Nick, wanna hit the pool?"
"When did you become a mind reader, silly?" Nick teased.
"Hey, being your girlfriend does come with some neato perks," May giggled.
But just as Nick and May exited the game room, a small purple light appeared in the hallway before expanding into a Quantum Rift that swiftly opened.
Nick could see the Fiertia on the other side of the rift just before Patty jumped forward to greet him.
"Hey there, me heartie!" Patty proclaimed.
"Is... everything okay over there, Patty?" Nick wondered.
"Yup! Well, mostly," Patty replied. "We ran into someone you know, and we decided to help her out."
"Hey, there," Ashley chuckled.
"And, well, we figured we'd see if you could help us search for something," Pirate Nick stated. "If it's not too much trouble?"
"Sure, I can spare some time," Nick quipped. "It's been about a week or so since our last mission, and things are kinda quiet around here villain-wise. May, can you let the others know I'll be gone for a little while?"
"You can count on me," May proclaimed, leaning over to kiss Nick on the cheek. "There. For good luck."
Nick flashed a thumbs up as he crossed through the Quantum Rift, said rift closed up quickly, leaving May to head downstairs to inform the other spies.
"Hey, you're just in time for some pool fun, May!" Bridget laughed as she dodged a splash from Haruka.
"Is Nick not with you?" Nozomi asked.
"Actually, he wanted me to let you know that he's gonna be in the Moonflow Tides for a while," May explained. "Ashley found her way there, and Patty and Pirate Nick wanted our Nick's assistance with something that Ashley's looking for."
"That does sound like something Nick would do," Alex giggled.
Before May could hop into the pool with the rest of the spies, however, the pool itself suddenly started sucking them all towards the drain.
"And there's Jerry with the timing as always!" Sam exclaimed as the twelve spies were sucked into the tube and transported to W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters.
2:17 P.M. – The Moonflow Tides
Southeast Wave
"All right-y, then, now that I'm here, could someone maybe fill me in on what Ashley's looking for?" Nick wondered once he was standing onboard the Fiertia.
"To make a long story short, I'm looking for phase quartz," Ashley answered. "I'm trying to rebuild the Dimensionator, and phase quartz is the material that powers it."
"Basically, phase quartz is a material that allows for dimensional travel," Patty stated. "It's how our own Rift Generator works, after all."
"And that must mean that Professor Paradox had some phase quartz when we built our own Rift Generator," Nick realized. "Okay, so, one more question, pirate me. Do you know where phase quartz might be around here? There's a lot of ocean in this world, after all."
"It's gonna be a bit of a trip, but we know where to look," Pirate Nick replied. "Shall we set sail, then?"
"Full speed ahead, me hearties!" Patty exclaimed as Pirate Nick spun the main wheel, causing the Fiertia to rumble to life and start sailing across the waters towards their destination.
"By the way, we do want to say thanks for coming to help on almost no notice," Patty told Nick. "Especially since it seems like you will likely have another WOOHP mission."
"Not a problem," Nick quipped.
"Hopefully this'll blow over and you'll rejoin your own crew," Ashley remarked.
"Yes, indeed," Pirate Nick added.
2:20 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"What have we got, Jer?" Sam wondered after everyone changed to their spy unis.
Everybody was already informed by May about Nick not joining this mission.
"It appears Sagan Hawking is running loose again," Jerry told the spy team.
"Miss Alien can't get enough of that stuff, can she?" Clover commented.
"Apparently not," RiCO answered, materializing in Jerry's office. "The W.O.O.H.P. satellite has picked up her reading at the Mali-U campus."
Jerry then got the viewscreen going of some students around campus just up and disappearing with no explanation to why. There was even a student who left a college counselor's office who disappeared, but fortunately, the college counselor did not see it due to a phone call and checking an email.
"We have reason to believe these kidnapped students are being used for alien-related purposes," Jerry told the others.
"I guess we have to head back to school again to find out then," Haruka commented.
"I was hoping not until the Fall..." Mat groaned a bit.
"I think we're all in the same boat, Mat," Melissa quipped.
"And let's hope Nick's circumstances will not take very long either," Haruka added.
"Well, it's back to school again," Alex remarked.
"Good luck, spies," Jerry stated.
"You bet, Jer!" Mat exclaimed as they high-tailed it out of Jerry's office.
3:03 P.M. – Malibu University
"So, what're we looking for exactly?" Alex wondered.
"Just keep your eyes open," Sam told Alex.
Everyone looked around in every direction.
"I see something near the beach area," Britney told the others.
The spies had turned to just barely see a flashing light just disappear.
"I'll bet that's got Sagan Hawking all over it..." Bridget replied. "Let's get there... Sonic Mode, online!"
The spies managed to catch Sagan Hawking in the act just before she could even think about high-tailing it to who-knew-where.
"Hold it right there, Sagan!" May proclaimed as she hurled her anchor directly at Sagan Hawking herself.
The anchor managed to hit Sagan in the back of the leg, which caused her to fall flat on her stomach.
"Good move, May!" Sam exclaimed.
"I should've known you'd be here," Sagan sighed in disgust.
"Better believe it," Nozomi proclaimed.
"Now, whatever the heck your M.O. is... you may as well call it off before you get owned again!" Mat demanded.
"HA! I'll do NO SUCH THING!" Sagan sneered.
"We'll see about that, won't we?" Melissa taunted as she did a roll to avoid a shot from Sagan's laser pistol before retaliating with a blast from her Cyclone Blast Hairdryer that sent Sagan sprawling.
Sam and Mat continued the attack by rushing to both sides of Sagan and slamming their elbows into her from either side, dazing Sagan long enough for Sam and Mat to start striking at her, landing five punches and kicks in perfect sync with each other before sending Sagan into the air with a dual upwards snap kick, then jumping after her to land the final blow by way of a double-fisted overhead slam that sent Sagan crashing back into the sand.
"Hope that tasted like defeat," Mat taunted.
"Oh, but my dear spies, I haven't even begun to fight," Sagan laughed as she picked herself and activated a device mounted on her wrist, covering her in a bright blue light. When the light cleared, Sagan was decked out in futuristic-looking battle armor.
"Oh, you're doing this again, huh?" Dawn quipped.
"Hey, sometimes simple is effective," Sagan admitted. "And I just noticed that you're down a meddler."
"Nick's off doing his own thing, but we still have more than enough girl power to take you down a few pegs!" Alex shot back, flinging a Platinum Credit Card at Sagan, only for it to bounce off of her armor and not do any visible damage. "...well, that's not fun."
"I made sure to make my armor much sturdier than the last time we fought," Sagan proclaimed. "So you'd probably need something that can carve through solid steel to break my armor, and it doesn't look like you do without your little psychic helper. So, I hope you're ready to..."
Sagan's gloating was interrupted when she heard the footsteps of someone landing behind her. Before Sagan could turn around to face this new threat, however, the figure in question lunged forward and slashed wildly.
Much to Sagan's shock, her armor fell to pieces, leaving her in her normal clothes.
"Wait, who just..." Sam wondered.
"Oh, I think I know who that is," May giggled.
Just to make sure, Sagan glanced behind her as well.
"Surprise," Momo taunted as she lashed out with a flying kick to send Sagan tumbling towards the spies.
"This is more than I want to deal with right now, so I'm going to get back to my other plans," Sagan stated. "This won't be our last meeting, though."
Sagan activated her wrist device and teleported away in a dull flash of blue, leaving the spies to run up to Momo.
"You literally could not have come in at a better time, Momo," Sam stated.
"Glad I could help out, really," Momo giggled. Momo, her birth name being Zethinia, was an alien from the planet Zorth who had fled to Earth after a heated argument with her father about him trying to make Momo into something she had never wanted to be. Eventually, Zeruk and his forces had attempted an invasion of Earth, only to be handily defeated by the spies.
"I didn't know you were still in town, Momo," Dawn quipped.
"Well, I was just looking for something to do when I saw these weird-looking beams of light coming from the sky," Momo explained. "It looked very 'out-of-this-world', if you catch my drift, so I figured I'd check it out. I guess I should have figured that Sagan would be behind this one."
Momo glanced around, easily noticing that someone was missing from the group. "Nick's not here?" Momo asked.
"Basically, he's in another dimension, helping two of his dimensional counterparts out," May answered. "If I explained the whole story, we'd be here all day, and I think we need to go after Sagan before she abducts anybody else."
"So, then, wanna tag in for Nick while he's gone, Momo?" Melissa asked.
"Yeah, I think I'll take that offer," Momo responded. "If Sagan's up to no good, then I've got a stake in this, too. I fully intend to pay her back tenfold for sucker-punching me last time."
"Then let's head on out!" Sam proclaimed. "RiCO?"
"Already on it, Sam," RiCO responded from Sam's X-Powder. "Sagan appears to be heading towards the Sunset Strip."
"Then that's where we're off to!" Blaine exclaimed as the twelve spies took off towards the Sunset Strip, Momo following them closely.
3:21 P.M. – The Moonflow Tides
Northwest Wave
"Man, it really does look like this world is nothing but ocean as far as the eye can see," Ashley noted as the Fiertia continued on its charted course.
"It kind of is," Nick responded. "According to pirate me, this Earth was devastated by a catastrophic flood over a hundred years ago that drowned and buried most of the world. The survivors eventually revived the concept of pirates to sail this vast ocean and unearth whatever is left of the old world."
"You should see some of the places I've been to on my own trips," Ashley quipped.
As they talked, the weather seemed to start getting progressively rougher, which could only mean that they were approaching the Hollow Current.
"And it had to be here," Nick quipped.
"Yeah, I still remember the day we started searching for phase quartz ourselves," Patty chuckled. "The Black Hope were giving us absolute hell that day, weren't they, hubby?"
"Tell me about it," Pirate Nick responded. "After that mess, I'm just glad they're not really much of a threat any longer."
Patty glanced at the radar on the Fiertia's main control console, which was starting to beep louder and louder the further into the Hollow Current they traveled.
"Sounds like we're getting closer to the treasure, hubby!" Patty proclaimed.
Pirate Nick continued to steer the Fiertia in the direction the signal was strongest until they eventually stopped as what appeared to be a deserted island.
"Hope I'm not being a little too cautious, but there doesn't appear to be anything here," Ashley stated.
"It's underwater," Pirate Nick answered. "I still remember our last trip here like the back of my hand. There's basically a mine underneath this island that was just a regular ol' mine before the Great Flood."
"Well, guess it's time to go diving," Nick quipped.
After parking the Fiertia just outside the island, Nick, Pirate Nick, Patty and Ashley all jumped off the deck and dove into the water, Ashley equipping her O2 Mask and Hydropack so she could keep up.
After swimming downwards for a short while, the quartet eventually found themselves inside the cave system of the mine.
"Well, then, shall we start the treasure hunt?" Patty proclaimed.
"Lead the way, Patty," Nick responded as the four of them began to explore the mine.
Patty did so as the four of them moved forward to find whatever they were looking for.
"This is going to be a while," Nick commented.
"We should be careful, too," Pirate Nick added. "Don't rule out any booby traps or anything like that."
"Yeah, the same thing happened the last time we were here," Patty replied.
"Oh?" Nick wondered.
"Whoever built these mines built 'em with protecting this rare material in mind," Pirate Nick answered. "Given that phase quartz can allow for dimensional travel, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
"Ooh, man, I still remember that jumping pendulum death course," Patty giggled.
"You make it sound like it was a walk in the park," Ashley sighed.
"Well, we have quite a lot of experience in the whole 'dodging traps' field, given our profession," Pirate Nick chuckled.
"Well, we can find that treasure no problem," Ashley emphasized. "With Nick's psychic radar, we can sniff it out like a smelly dog."
"No doubt about it," Pirate Nick replied.
"I'm seeing a lot of other jewels around here, too," Nick quipped as he noticed other different types of gemstones embedded in the walls of the cave.
"We've got plenty of those," Patty noted.
"Our target should look like this," Ashley quipped, using her wrist device to show a holographic image of phase quartz, a hexagonal jewel colored the same deep purple as a Quantum Rift.
"And according to the radar, there should be some about five clicks that-a-way," Pirate Nick stated. "Let's keep moving."
3:58 P.M. – Sunset Strip
"Sagan couldn't have gotten far," Sam stated in her leader tone.
The spies looked around, but Sagan was not seen anywhere.
"Talk about up and disappearing," May commented.
"But she did leave something behind," Haruka spoke up.
"What'd you find?" Bridget wondered.
"I don't know, but there's a pretty distinct smell," Haruka answered.
It was a blackish sludge almost like car oil.
"Hold on, let me..." Sam quipped as she grabbed a stick nearby to get a sample.
"Careful, Sam," Clover replied.
"Advice for heroes, number thirty-two," Melissa pointed out. "Safety first."
"Ooh, good one," Nozomi giggled.
"If Sagan's spaceship is leaking anything, this has to be a tell-tale sign it's around here somewhere," Mat deduced.
"Should we say 'lucky us' then?" Alex wondered.
"That's a bit mixed," Britney commented.
"Maybe Jerry and RiCO can fill in the blanks on this substance," Sam told the others as she scanned the substance.
"And I see Sagan Hawking at ten o'clock!" Dawn exclaimed, which got everyone's attention.
("Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins plays)
After looking in the ten o'clock direction, Sagan Hawking was indeed there in the flesh.
"Okay, Sagan, the jig is up!" Blaine remarked.
But strangely, there were several henchmen that looked like aliens that were with her, too.
"What in the world?!" Haruka chastised.
"Just in time to witness your doom, spies," Sagan sneered.
Something seemed off to Momo when she saw those henchmen.
"Guys, I think these aliens are people from your school," Momo told them.
"How can you tell?" Mat wondered.
"I've seen something similar in my youth, about a certain serum that can transform people into alien races," Momo explained. "And yes, my father and his loonies did do something like that before we ended him."
"Do you think Sagan somehow found out about that stuff?" Melissa asked. "I mean, she has worked with the Zorth before."
"Oh, right, that," Sagan cackled. "You see, I did collude with those lovely warriors from your home planet to try that transformation serum out, but unfortunately, you lot stopped me last time we met before I could try it out. This time, however? ...hehehe, you do the math."
"And what, pray tell, is your reasoning for turning innocent people into aliens?!" May shouted, hefting her anchor and aiming it for Sagan. "Let's hear your trashy excuse, why don't we?"
"Think about it, spies," Sagan laughed. "You've seen the evidence. Aliens are clearly the superior life form, what with their much more advanced technology and advanced intelligence. Why do you think I'm such a proprietor of alien technology? This way, I could turn humanity into the ultimate master race that we were always meant to be."
"Um, you're forgetting one simple thing here, you looney toon," Alex retorted. "Most people here on Earth don't even know that aliens are a thing, much less want to become them! Think about the families you're destroying by doing this crap!"
"Um, Alex, I think it's already been established that Sagan doesn't give a hoot about anyone but herself," Mat noted.
"Now, my lovelies, get them," Sagan laughed as she retreated, leaving the alien-ized henchmen to slowly shamble towards the spies.
"Ooh, boy, this could be trouble," Nozomi quipped. "What do we do, you guys?"
"There's still people under all of this blagh, so let's try to take it a bit easy, 'kay?" Sam stated. "Stick to takedown strats until we can get them to W.O.O.H.P. for some analysis."
One of the henchmen lashed out with spaghetti-noodle-like arms and snatched up Haruka by the wrists, but she retaliated by pulling the henchman closer and judo-flipping them onto the ground.
"Nice try, but I learned that one from Nick," Haruka chuckled.
Two henchmen approached Melissa and Dawn, but they both brought out a Helicopter Hand Fan and a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer before taking to the air and flying around to blast down the henchmen before they could attack them.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long to take down all six alien hybrids.
"Now, then, how do you propose we get them back to W.O.O.H.P.?" Blaine asked. "Usually we'd have Nick just bubble them up and send them off, but since he's not here..."
"Don't worry, Blaine, I thought ahead," RiCO proclaimed. "I sent a chopper your way so you can bring them back to headquarters."
"Once again, you rock, RiCO," Clover proclaimed.
"But now the question becomes this: how do we turn them back to normal if this was caused by alien gunk?" Alex wondered.
"I might have something," Momo quipped, reaching for a cell phone-like device strapped to her wrist. "After all, if this alien transformation stuff is Zorth technology, maybe someone from Zorth can help us."
Momo typed in a set of coordinates on her device before hitting the call button, and a few seconds later, a holographic image of Momo's mother Zerina and her brother Zolon appeared in front of her.
"Hey, sis, what's up?" Zolon quipped. "Not sure if this is just a house call or not, but..."
"I'm just gonna cut right to the chase, since we're kinda in a pickle here," Momo stated. "How fast can you and mom make it here to Earth?"
"What seems to be the problem, dear?" Zerina wondered.
"Sagan Hawking's back in town, and she's using some kind of serum that can turn human beings into aliens," Momo proclaimed. "Sound familiar?"
"...your father's work, I presume," Zerina responded. "I should have figured that remnants of his plots were still out there. Thankfully, we do have the antidote for this transformation serum."
"We'll be there just as soon as we can, Momo," Zolon replied. "Just try not to cause too much trouble before we get there, all right?"
"Same to you, mister roller," Momo giggled.
"H-Hey, that hedgehog rolled over me first!" Zolon stuttered before the transmission cut out.
"All right, mom and my brother should be on their way to Earth soon," Momo stated to the spies. "For now, though, let's keep after Sagan before she can transform any more people."
"Yeah, that weirdo's really crossed the line this time," Britney quipped.
4:45 P.M. – The Moonflow Tides
Phase Quartz Mines
"Man, it's like things get creepier and creepier the further into these places you go," Nick quipped as he glanced around, making sure that nothing was trying to ambush them.
"That's pretty much what I said the first time we were here," Patty admitted. "Any sign of our target, hubby?"
"Not yet, but the signal's getting stronger the further that way we move," Pirate Nick responded, double-checking their treasure radar. "It shouldn't be too much longer until we find what we're looking for."
"I hope we find it soon, because I am not digging the spooky atmosphere here," Ashley noted, keeping a tight grip on her Shard Reaper.
A light suddenly shined on the quartet, causing an alarm to sound and three bulky security robots to emerge from hidden panels in the walls and start marching towards them.
"And lo, the security bots show up!" Patty proclaimed. "All right, hubby, let's trash 'em!"
One of the security robots swung its bladed arm towards Patty, but she avoided the swing by leaping into the air, reaching into her pocket to pull out a set of nethicite-infused knives.
"Hail, falling stardust!" Patty shouted. "Glittery Rain!"
Patty threw the knives around the robot, forming an octagon-shaped magical glyph underneath the robot, before raising her grandfather's pistol and firing a shot into the air that eventually came back down as a small barrage of star-shaped projectiles that fell downwards and crushed the robot underneath them.
Pirate Nick backflipped away from another robot before slashing at its joints with his scimitar, cleanly severing the limbs from the robot.
Nick blasted the third robot into the opposite wall with a Final Shine Attack, and Ashley finished the job by jamming the Shard Reaper into the robot's chest plate and firing, utterly eviscerating the bot in the process.
"That should be it for these ones," Pirate Nick stated. "But I'm sure there's going to be others, so stay on your toes, everyone."
"Ah, this feels like the good ol' days of exploring the seas, eh, hubby?" Patty giggled. "Searching ominous caves for untold booty, racing rival pirates to get to the treasure first..."
"No kidding, dear," Pirate Nick chuckled.
"You two must really love each other," Ashley noted.
"Yeah, Patty's the love of my life," Pirate Nick proclaimed, leaning over to kiss Patty. "Our relationship blossomed while we were working on our Rift Generator, and it's been one wild ride after another."
"And I wouldn't trade those adventures for anything in this whole, wide multiverse!" Patty exclaimed.
"You know something, Nick? I was surprised to learn that you and your friends knew about the multiverse," Ashley admitted.
"Well, to be fair, we kinda first got a taste when my friends and I got summoned to another dimension to take down an evil version of me," Nick answered. "But it was really pirate me and his wife here that introduced us to the wonders of the multiverse."
Pirate Nick looked at his treasure radar when he noticed that the signal he was getting was actually moving now.
"Huh, that's weird," Pirate Nick quipped. "Why is the signal moving?"
"I sincerely hope no one found it before we did," Ashley groaned.
"There's lots of phase quartz in here, so I don't think we'll miss our chance to find some," Pirate Nick noted.
"And I have a sinking feeling that the Black Hope might be behind that," Nick quipped. "I just picked up some rather nasty thoughts coming from the direction of the signal."
"Well, then, let's go kick some pirate booty!" Patty proclaimed.
"Hey, Nick, your psychic ability would work wonders for us in our future voyages," Pirate Nick commented.
"Yes, it would," Patty agreed.
"Well, as much as I'd like to say 'yes' to that, I unfortunately can't," Nick replied, obviously humbled. "I do have my fiancée to return to, not to mention Nozomi and May, and the rest of my buddies."
"Wait a minute... you're engaged AND you have two other girlfriends?!" Ashley gasped in total shock. "I didn't think that was even possible... let alone LEGAL!"
"I know some people might find it unusual, but it's the reality," Nick stated. "Mat's in the same boat as me because he also has a fiancée and two extra girlfriends, including my sister Melissa."
That was when Nick began explaining what happened between him and May on the flop getaway mission, and he and Nozomi reconciling after being forced to break up due to circumstances on Nozomi's end.
He went on with Mat and Britney after what Eugene Snit did before, and with Melissa, even if it wasn't part of a mission.
"I can understand why you're feeling that way," Nick told Ashley. "People find it weird, but 'normal' is outdated with all of us."
"...I don't know whether to call you lucky or blessed or anything else," Ashley remarked.
"As long as it's nothing negative, we'll take it in stride," Nick commented.
"Of course," Patty quipped. "We weren't going to insist or ask you to join us officially anyway, but still, congrats to you and Mat on your engagements!"
"Thank you," Nick replied.
He knew that even if it were for a good cause, sailing the high seas wasn't for everyone; Nick also knew there were a million other things he'd rather do than journey on the Fiertia traveling to who-knew-where, even if he did enjoy these adventures.
He'd miss the numerous pool days, car wash "battles," days at the Groove, along with pizza nights, parties, and Mat's Supercross and Motocross series that he was beginning to like as well. On top of that, he wasn't going to abandon his college journey at Mali-U with everyone else either.
"We must be close," Patty told the others. "At least I hope so."
Nick snapped back to reality just in time to hear Patty's sentence as he used his psychic radar.
"Any sign of those Black Hope scallywags?" Patty wondered.
The sound of footsteps caught Nick's attention, and he pointed to just up ahead of them, where a trio of Black Hope pirates emerged from a nearby cavern path, holding a bunch of gemstones in their hands. Thankfully, none of it appeared to be phase quartz.
"Well, well, look at what the pirates dragged in," one Black Hope pirate cackled.
"We found these gems fair and square, Patty darlin', so don't think you can just go swipin' em," a second Black Hope pirate laughed.
"That's not exactly what I'm concerned about," Patty quipped.
"You Black Hope scumbags are never up to anything good," Nick proclaimed. "Care to explain what exactly you're doing down here?"
"Oh, just general pirate things," the third Black Hope pirate replied. "Like, say, cuttin' down little punks who think they can get the drop on us."
"Okay, I guess we're doing this the hard way, then," Ashley taunted, switching over to her Mag-Net Launcher.
"Just the way I like it with these punks," Pirate Nick laughed as he drew his scimitar, Patty following suit. "Let's school these punks!"
5:09 P.M. – Beverly Hills
Sunset Strip
The spies were awaiting something from the W.O.O.H.P. Satellite scanning all throughout Beverly Hills and the state of California for that matter to locate where Sagan Hawking retreated to.
"You think we should check in with Nick to see how he's coming?" Mat wondered.
"Nah, he'll join whenever he can," Melissa replied.
"It must've been pretty serious if he comes back and we're all finished," Blaine commented.
"True," May stated.
"Could Sagan have gone back to Mali-U to try to kidnap more students?" Haruka wondered.
"No way, that'd be too predictable," Alex deduced.
"Unless that's what she wants us to do," Sam replied in thought.
"More importantly, WHY is she choosing students at Mali-U?" Clover wondered. "We never got a direct answer from her."
"It's not like she was going to spill her guts right away on her M.O.," Bridget replied.
"We need to find a way to get a step ahead of her... and quickly," Nozomi emphasized.
"But how?" Britney asked.
That was interrupted by Sam's X-Powder chirping.
"Sam here..."
"Hello, spies," Jerry greeted as his visage appeared.
"What've you got, Jer?" Mat wondered.
"RiCO and I have just finished analyzing that oil substance you found," Jerry replied.
"By the way, the W.O.O.H.P. satellite picked up Sagan Hawking heading back to the Mali-U campus after all," RiCO added. "Seems she wants more student alien life-forms as part of her 'army' for her master plan."
"What about that black stuff, Jer?" Dawn asked.
"It's... very strange, honestly," Jerry admitted. "This substance is like nothing I've ever seen on this planet."
"Hmmm... could I take a look, Jerry?" Momo asked.
Sam's X-Powder screen shifted to a picture of the analysis results, and sure enough, Momo immediately recognized the material in question.
"Yeah, that's definitely a major ingredient of the serum that she's using," Momo answered. "The serum itself is some kind of Zorth bioweapon that's intended to transform other races into alien beings, something my dad intended to do to 'create the perfect army of worthy soldiers'."
The spies all noted the obvious disgust in Momo's voice when it came to the atrocities her father had tried to pull.
"And apparently, Sagan borrowed some of that serum the last time we fought her and she was working with a bunch of Zorth, but she didn't get to use it due to us wiping the floor with her," Melissa stated.
"Is there an antidote to it?" RiCO asked.
"Yeah, my mom and my brother are on their way to Earth to bring us the antidote so we can change the students who already got hit with it back to normal," Momo replied. "In the meantime, we should probably keep tracking down Sagan so she can't transform any more people."
"Hey, it seems like her signal is moving away from Mali-U," RiCO noted. "And it's moving fast, too."
"That can only mean one thing," May quipped. "Sagan's on her ship."
"Well, then, let's go and find it before she can escape!" Clover proclaimed as the twelve spies set off to follow Sagan's signal to her alien spacecraft, Momo following closely behind.
You're not gonna get away with this, Sagan, Momo thought. I've had enough of my father's shadow hanging over me for most of my life, and you are not dragging me back into it.
To be continued...
Next time...
Alex: Okay, yeah, this ship is definitely up there in the creep factor.
Mat: To be fair, Alex, when it comes to someone like Sagan, that's to be expected.
Nozomi: Um, guys, baddie at seven o'clock!
May: Nice to see you, too, Sagan.
Sagan: I shouldn't really be surprised that you lot followed me onto my ship, should I?
Britney: You should be used to it by now.
Sagan: Then how about you get used to this?!
Clover: ...um, where did Sam and Blaine go?
May: You know, you're about to be in a world of trouble, lady.
Sagan: Should I be scared?
Momo: Oh, you have no idea the kind of hurt you're in for, next time on Totally Spies: Quartz Quest, "Diamond in the Rough"!
Sagan: Even I'm impressed by how spiffy this looks. Technology really has evolved since the original show, hasn't it?
May: Oh, just wait until you see what they're doing for the movie this season. It's gonna blow your mind.