On Today's Episode: The journey continues to the kingdom of Wesdarath, where the spies hope to claim more Soul Dew Fragments and turn the tides against the Dark Territory. But their leader is very persistent, especially when it comes to sending his monsters to attack Wesdarath. But thankfully, this kingdom is protected by another friend of Princess Sortiliena. Did the spies have the wrong idea about the Integrity Knights after all?
Author's Note from The Blue Time Ranger, 3/1/23: Hey, guys, sorry this took so long to arrive. I was in the hospital for a few days, so I couldn't really do anything about that.
Act 3: Memory of Light and Waves
"Man, Nick, you have some odd dreams, don't you?" May remarked once Nick had explained everything he'd seen in his dream.
"I'm used to it, really," Nick admitted.
"I guess it's a wonder why I never remember my own," Mat chuckled.
"So, basically, we're stuck here until we can defeat this Rukkhadevata person?" Britney wondered.
"Now, that's something you don't hear every day," Blaine commented.
"Glad our dreams don't play on our love lives, personally," Clover added.
"Anyway, where do we start?" Melissa wondered.
Everybody was stumped, and nobody had a direct answer.
"Just when we thought our quest was getting easier, huh?" Alex groaned.
"I'm used to that, too," Nick replied.
"And let's not have our dreams mess with our futures or our current love lives, like you said, Clover," Mat added.
"I'm kinda curious as to who we'll see in Wesdarath," Sam told the group. "After all, if the world around us is tapping into our memories because of the Soul Dew Fragments, then I wouldn't be surprised to see someone else we know here."
"Like that, maybe?" Nozomi wondered.
Everybody else looked forward.
"...wait a minute, is that...?" Sam stuttered.
It was likely either James or Tim Scam in question. Regardless, Mat came forward to gently grab Sam.
The figure in question slowly moved forward and removed their hood to reveal that, sure enough, it was Tim Scam, or at least this world's version of him, wearing a dark purple wizard's robe.
"...well, that fits," Nozomi quipped.
"Hello there, warriors from another world," Scam cackled. "I was wondering when you'd show up in my neck of the woods."
"And how, exactly, is this your 'neck of the woods', Scam?" Mat growled.
"Simple enough, my little dish," Scam quipped. "My wizard powers control this area in the name of the Dark Territory, and any interlopers or off-worlders who try to enter Wesdarath will not be doing so. At least, unless you're either dead or in a body cast."
Scam raised his hands, which were now glowing with dark magic.
"So, I'd surrender while you still can," Scam laughed. "Unless, of course, we can come to some kind of... agreement."
And the way Scam started staring at Sam caused Mat to immediately place himself in front of her.
"You touch even a hair on my fiancée's head, and you're dead meat," Mat growled. "I don't give a crap if you're not exactly the Scam we're more familiar with!"
"Oh, but that's the fun part, boy," Scam laughed. "I'm not giving you any choice in the matter."
Scam rushed forward, dark energy trailing behind him, as he attempted to snatch up Sam. Nick raised his Soul Dew Fragment and aimed it for Scam, and it emitted a bright silver light that drove Scam backwards, causing him to scream in pain.
"If you're part of the Dark Territory, then that means that the light of the Soul Dew hurts like a bitch to you," Nick taunted. "So, I'd back off right this second if I were you."
"That means I just have to stay away from you!" Scam laughed as he fired a blast of dark magic into the ground to propel himself over Nick and towards Sam.
May was already over there, swinging her anchor to intercept Scam and send him tumbling backwards.
"Even in a fantasy-style alternate world, the almighty anchor still owns you all," May taunted.
"We'll see about that, you wench," Scam cackled, only to be blasted further back by a Final Shine Attack courtesy of Nick.
"All right, now you've really crossed a line," Nick growled.
Just as Nick was about to go back on the offensive, however, Scam was suddenly surrounded by a bubble of bright pink light. Scam attempted to use his dark powers to break out, only to find that he couldn't.
"Who dares?!" Scam shouted.
The spies looked just ahead to see who had captured Scam, and much to their surprise, it was Mandy, or at least this world's version of her. She was wearing a very fancy violet dress along with a crown adorned with multiple jewels, clearly marking her as royalty.
Mandy snapped her staff down in response. "That would be me, you freak," Princess Mandy proclaimed. "Did you clearly forget that I can conjure anti-magic fields with my staff?"
"Curse you, princess, always butting in on my fun!" Scam cursed even as Princess Mandy waved her staff upwards to send Scam away in a swift flash of pink light.
"Yeah, well, I'm not really interested in your brand of 'fun'," Princess Mandy sighed before noticing the spies standing there. "I suppose you all have some questions."
"That's becoming the norm while we're here, methinks," Melissa chuckled.
"Well, then how about we get to the castle?" Princess Mandy stated.
5:31 A.M. – Wesdarath
Princess Mandy's Castle
"To start off, I wanted to thank you for allowing me to apprehend that dastardly wizard," Princess Mandy proclaimed once the spies were gathered in her castle. "He has been quite the pain in our rumps, as I'm sure you know."
"Yeah, he's just as bad as the Scam from our world," Sam quipped.
"Which brings me to my next point," Princess Mandy stated. "Yes, I am well aware that you are all from a vastly different world, so I thankfully won't have to explain that part again. I'm sure you've heard it a lot already."
"Then that means you should also know that we're searching for the fragments of the Soul Dew so we can actually get back home," Clover answered. "We were told that the crown royalty of all four kingdoms has a fragment."
"That's right again," Princess Mandy quipped, walking behind her throne and retrieving the mentioned fragment so she could hand it off to the spies.
"That should be six fragments now," Sam noted as the spies compared the fragments they'd found so far on this quest. "Hopefully we won't have to find too many more."
All of a sudden, someone burst into the room, and the spies were quickly on edge, given that this woman was wearing armor similar to what Fanatio had worn, clearly marking her as an Integrity Knight, though hers was bright red instead of purple.
This knight was a pretty, slender girl with long, red hair and darker red eyes.
"Is... is everything okay, Tiese?" Princess Mandy asked.
"I'd just heard that the dark wizard you've been seeking was spotted near the kingdom," Tiese proclaimed. "Is he...?"
"He's in custody now, thanks to these travelers from another world," Princess Mandy responded, gesturing to the spies.
"So you're the ones that Sortiliena told me about," Tiese quipped as she relaxed her stance. "My name is Tiese Shtolienen, and I am a newly-recruited Integrity Knight serving under Princess Sortiliena. I've been traveling the kingdoms of Aeos, rounding up any servants of the Dark Territory that try to invade these lands."
"So, you're not going to attack us like Fanatio did before she realized who we are?" Melissa asked.
"And I must apologize for Fanatio's rash behavior," Tiese responded. "A lot of us are kinda on edge lately, given how persistent the Dark Territory has been as of late."
"Do you have anything else to report, Tiese?" Princess Mandy asked.
"Well, aside from mister wizard that you already took care of, I did see what appeared to be a strange portal somewhere outside the castle," Tiese proclaimed.
"It's gotta be another Anomaly, then," Bridget quipped. "How about you show us the way, Tiese? We know what to do with them."
"Be glad to," Tiese replied.
With that, she led them to the portal outside the castle. After Nick used his Soul Dew Fragment to open the portal, everybody then went through it.
5:48 A.M. – Somewhere Inside the Anomaly
"Where the heck are we now?" Nozomi wondered.
"Regardless, I'm getting readings of another fragment here," Nick told the others.
"Man, you weren't kidding when you said these places are trippy, Nick," Melissa quipped as the group continued to explore the Anomaly. "I mean, just look at the sky. That's all kinds of strange."
"I noticed the same thing," Haruka stated.
During the search, a lot of the scenery started striking Bridget little by little.
"I'm not getting much other than earlier," Clover told the others.
"Seems like clues are scarce here," Blaine added.
"Sounds like it," Mat replied.
"I think my memories are being tapped into," Bridget told everyone.
"How can you tell?" Haruka wondered.
"Because now I recognize this place," Bridget answered. "It's my school where I was on the track team."
"It is?" Sam asked.
"No doubt," Bridget stated. "I do have some good and bad memories of the track team here."
"Any moments you feel like sharing?" Mat wondered.
"One thing I'm proud of during my time on the old high school track team was that we finally led Bev High to a win against those uptown snobs from Los Angeles' track team," Bridget quipped. "On the other hand, there was that time where I sprained my ankle thanks to chasing Willard and I had to sit out during the most important time of the season."
Bridget couldn't help but crack a smile when she remembered that the Bev High team had still defeated the SoCal team despite her absence.
"At least the memories remain," Nick commented.
"Then that would mean that there must be something on the track field," Sam deduced.
"My thoughts exactly," Bridget quipped.
They then set out for the track field.
"Well, old facility, we meet again," Bridget stated.
"I'll say," Melissa commented.
Bridget took the lead here since she was the one who knew the track stuff all too well.
"I'm getting a reading on one of the hurdles," Nick told the others.
"I hope it isn't booby-trapped," Dawn commented.
"I hear ya," Alex replied.
"Uh oh," Bridget stated when she got close. "It looks like a motion-sensor bomb."
"Only on this hurdle?" Britney wondered.
"Careful, Brit," Sam quipped. "A bomb like that could explode this whole place..."
"Guys, I'm picking up more of these bombs here," Nick replied, using his psychic radar.
"Wait, why are there bombs, modern-day bombs, in a place like this?!" Clover shouted.
"Remember, everyone, this Anomaly tapped into my memories," Bridget responded. "Not only is the landscape around us resembling my old track hangout, it's probably recreating something else. Remember when Mat went motocross riding in Glendale, the same day I officially joined the team?"
"Oh, yeah, that was when Scam tried to blow up the stadium with his stupid bombs," Mat proclaimed. "That must be why there's bombs out here."
"I think it's time to turn on the velocity," Bridget proclaimed, reaching for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Emerald electricity lanced around Bridget's body, transforming her into her Sonic Mode outfit. Once she'd transformed, Bridget sped off around the area, disarming each bomb as she passed by, since she was running too fast for the motion sensors to pick up on.
As Bridget continued to disarm the bombs, Nick gathered them all in one place so he could surround them all in a psychic bubble, just in case.
After about a minute, all of the bombs in the 'facility' were disabled and corralled, allowing Nick to psychically toss the bombs high into the air, dispel the bubble, and fire a Final Shine Attack to destroy the bombs so that they exploded far away from anything else.
"Just like old times," Bridget giggled as she high-fived Nick before reverting to normal.
Just as Bridget did so, a brief burst of light happened to reveal another Soul Dew Fragment that floated down into Bridget's hands.
"And that makes lucky number seven," Bridget quipped.
Once Bridget had claimed the fragment, another portal opened to allow the spies to exit the anomaly and return to the fields just outside Wesdarath Castle.
"Well, that was a trip as always," Alex stated. "I wonder how many more fragments we're gonna need to complete the Soul Dew?"
"Here's hoping it's not too many more," Blaine responded.
"You truly are exceptional," Tiese admitted. "Do you all do this sort of thing often where you come from?"
"Well, the 'busting bad guys' thing, definitely," Nozomi admitted. "The 'fantasy quest to find a bunch of magical macguffins and defeat a nasty evil' thing, only occasionally."
"I guess we have to get going, then," Sam stated. "Our quest isn't over yet, after all."
"Hey, you guys, I was wondering something," May quipped. "Princess Sortiliena said that each of the five kingdoms' royalty is holding a Soul Dew Fragment. We didn't get one from Norlangarth, did we?"
"I don't think so," Mat replied. "We just found the one from the first anomaly."
"Should we head back that way before we continue our journey?" Melissa wondered.
Almost as if something had been waiting for someone to say that, a small sphere of transparent light appeared right in front of Tiese. Inside the sphere appeared to be Ronye, and she looked like she was in a panic.
"Tiese, can you hear me?!" Ronye shouted.
"Whoa, whoa, Ronye, what's the problem?" Tiese asked.
"And what the heck is that behind you, Ronye?" Alex wondered when she saw something gigantic stomping through Norlangarth.
"That's the problem I'm calling about!" Ronye shouted. "Norlangarth is under attack by another Titan!"
"Wait, wait, what's a 'Titan' in this case?" Haruka quipped. "And is it related to that Wyvern thing Nick fought earlier?"
"The Titans are the trump cards of the Dark Territory and their leader, Darkness God Vecta," Princess Mandy proclaimed, having just heard of the situation. "Gigantic monsters all created for the sole purpose of ravaging this world."
"Then, yeah, we'd better scoot our butts back to Norlangarth on the double!" Sam shouted.
"But how do we get there on time?" Britney asked. "Even if Nick could fly us all there, it'd still probably take some time, time that we probably don't have!"
Bridget looked down at the Soul Dew Fragment in her hand. "I wonder... can we use these to warp back there?" Bridget quipped. "You know, like a fast travel system to places we've been to before?"
"Just like so many RPGs I've played!" May laughed. "Sounds like a plan to me!"
Nick raised his own Soul Dew Fragment and concentrated on trying to get it to teleport them to Norlangarth. One bright flash of silver light later, they were all gone, while Princess Mandy moved back towards her castle to prepare her own troops just in case things went south.
6:31 A.M. – Norlangarth
When the spies could see again, the first thing they noticed was the citizens of the nearby town fleeing in terror from whatever gigantic horror was stomping through the town and approaching the Norlangarth castle.
Said gigantic terror appeared to be a gigantic humanoid monster made primarily of brushed white metal, with a broad, stripe-covered torso. Attached to its shoulders were a series of massive cylindrical turbines, branching downwards across its back. Its wrists and hands were pitch black, with three fingers ending in pointed red claws.
Red holes, similar in appearance to eyes, were freckled across the side of its body, its head resting on a long, drawn out lowered neck, with a red, helmet-like shell that made up the upper half of its face and connected to a spinal cord that coursed down the center of its neck, said shell having several lines and red lights that seemed analogous to simple eyes. The lower half of its face had four, dark grey protrusions, with the two outer ones being considerably longer than the inner pair, with three pairs of outer protrusions curving around from the back side of its head and pointing downwards in front of its face, and the upper pair curving upwards into horns.
"Yikes, that thing looks uber-scary," Nozomi admitted.
"That's Supreme, supposedly the strongest of the Titans," Ronye stated when she'd reached the spies.
"Sounds like the Dark Territory's had about enough of our nonsense, huh?" Alex quipped.
"Regardless, we need to stop that thing before it reaches the castle!" Tiese shouted. "I will head that way and distract it!"
"Tiese, are you nuts?!" Ronye exclaimed. "You just became an Integrity Knight, and you know for a fact that not even Integrity Knights are powerful enough to stop a Titan! Remember what happened to Eugeo?!"
"...I was trying to forget that, Ronye," Tiese sighed, still upset about that. "But even if I'm no match, I can still save the people of Norlangarth. I think that's what Eugeo would have wanted."
Nick reached out to gently pull Tiese back. "Nobody's sacrificing their life on my watch," Nick proclaimed. "I don't know if you've heard through the grapevine, but we all fought a Titan back in Eastabarieth, and thanks to the Soul Dew's power, I kinda trashed it. Now that we have more fragments, I think I can handle this one, too."
Nick walked forward a few steps as everyone handed him their Soul Dew Fragments, the seven fragments floating around Nick.
"Hopefully this won't take long," Nick quipped.
"Hey, Nick!" May shouted as she ran up to Nick. "I'm helping you out on this one."
"You sure, May?" Nick asked.
"Can't let you hog the spotlight all the time," May giggled. "Besides, Alex already got a taste of the 'super-power form' thanks to the Time Stones. I think it's my turn now. Only fair, right?"
"Good point," Nick chuckled. "Let's go waste that thing, then."
The Soul Dew Fragments began spinning faster around Nick and May before lifting them high into the air.
Supreme slowly turned around when it noticed them, summoning what appeared to be a futuristic-looking sniper rifle to its hands and aiming for Nick and May before firing a laser blast at them.
Nick and May quickly absorbed the fragments into themselves, causing a massive silver flash to erupt from them that repelled the laser.
("I'm Here" by Merry Kirk-Holmes plays)
When the flash cleared, Nick was surrounded by an utterly gigantic aura of pure silver light, almost like a stage curtain of energy instead of the simple body-glow it normally was. Nick's hands were surrounded by spheres of silver light, and his eye color had changed from brown to a neon green.
May had undergone a similar transformation, surrounded by a massive aura of silver light, her orange clothes turning silver and green in color, her anchor gleaming with magical energy, and her eyes were also now a neon-green similar to Nick's.
"Oh, this is gonna be awesome," Alex laughed.
Supreme swung its sniper rifle like a club towards its opponents, but Nick and May had already taken off, silver light trailing behind them as they flew forward. May swung her empowered anchor to bash the rifle aside so Nick could charge in and land a wicked haymaker against Supreme's face, sending it stumbling backwards.
"Bullseye!" Mat shouted.
"Go kick its ass, you two!" Haruka exclaimed.
Supreme raised its free hand and summoned six yellow diamond-shaped sentries to surround it and keep Nick and May from getting closer.
"Okay, that's not funny at all," May quipped.
"Let's find a way to get through them, then," Nick stated, dashing towards Supreme only to be stopped by two of the sentries. Nick smashed them together with his psychic powers, which were once again boosted immensely thanks to the power of the Soul Dew Fragments, then fired a super-powerful Final Shine Attack to destroy them.
However, Supreme simply summoned two more sentries to replace the ones that Nick had just destroyed.
"All right, time to see what I can do with this power," May stated, flying forward and swinging her anchor at two nearby sentries. To her surprise, she had destroyed them with one hit each, but Supreme still created more sentries. May flew forward, smashing sentries with her anchor until she managed to reach Supreme's head faster than it could create more.
"Have a taste of the almighty anchor, you kaiju bastard!" May shouted, swinging her anchor over and over again, striking Supreme in the face over and over. Each strike forced Supreme to take a step backwards.
Nick flew closer and saw that there was a thankfully empty mountain range just outside of Norlangarth, using his boosted psychic radar to make sure nobody was in the mountains.
"May, we have to get Supreme into that mountain range and away from the kingdom!" Nick exclaimed. "Then we can really cut loose on this thing!"
"Understood!" May responded.
Supreme continued to fire laser blasts from its rifle in hopes of shooting Nick and May down, but they were too fast for it in their powered-up states, flying towards it in erratic patterns to make it miss its shots before May moved in to start attacking, wailing on Supreme's chest with her anchor and pushing it backwards with each hit.
May then flew slightly backwards, channeling the Soul Dew power coursing through her body into her anchor before swinging it vertically, sending a massive wave of light into Supreme and causing it to stumble.
This gave Nick the chance to fly in and land a strong uppercut to Supreme's chin (heavily resisting the inappropriate urge to shout "SHORYUKEN" as he did so), and this did the trick, sending Supreme sailing a short distance through the air, out of Eastabarieth territory, and crashing into the empty mountain valley.
However, as Supreme picked itself up, the turbines on its back activated, lifting it into the air as dark energy wings sprouted from its back.
"Oh, now you bust out the wings, you cheap-o!" May shouted.
"At least this way we can keep it from going back to the kingdom," Nick replied. "We just have to keep its attention on us."
"Should be easy enough," May giggled.
Supreme tossed its sniper rifle into the air and it split into four large, silver diamond-shaped sentries that started spraying those yellow diamonds towards Nick and May rapid-fire.
May ducked and weaved through the diamonds while Nick threw out psychic pulses every now and then to clear a path through the flurry of diamonds and open some room for them to work.
Occasionally, Supreme would swipe at Nick and May with its claws when they got too close, knocking them backwards but thankfully not damaging them thanks to the Soul Dew power, but this did mean they had to weave through the diamonds again.
"Oh, now I see its game," May proclaimed. "It's playing chicken with us."
"Then let's rip off its wings, shall we?" Nick quipped.
May nodded before flying upwards while Nick descended, both intending to attack Supreme from different angles.
As Supreme attempted to swat May out of the sky, she ducked under another claw swipe, swung her anchor to knock away the other claw, then charged forward to stab her anchor into Supreme's chest, finally causing the barrage of yellow diamonds to stop and giving Nick his opportunity.
While Supreme was recovering, Nick flew around to behind Supreme and used his psychic hold to rip off the turbines that it was using to stay aloft and tossing them right back into Supreme, dazing it long enough for Nick to fly back towards May.
"All right-y, then, let's end this hoopla!" May exclaimed.
"Took the words right out of my mouth, May," Nick quipped.
Nick and May reached out to hold hands as they charged, flying through the sky like lightning bolts towards the prone Supreme. With a shared loud battle cry, Nick and May finally reached Supreme and boosted directly through the Titan's chest, easily ripping through it before coming out the other side.
Supreme bent backwards in an unnatural position as its helmet shattered and the dark wings dissipated, its body slowly falling to the ground before exploding in grand fashion, its remains dissolving swiftly.
"And down goes the big boy!" May laughed as she hugged Nick tightly. "We are unstoppable!"
"So you think."
Nick looked upwards towards where that voice had come from, and saw a man surrounded by dark energy and wearing a very 'dark emperor'-themed cloak.
"I'm gonna assume that you're Vecta, the leader of the Dark Territory?" May quipped.
"And of course he looks like James," Nick groaned. Indeed, Darkness God Vecta bore an uncanny resemblance to James.
"You may have vanquished Supreme, but rest assured that when the time comes, I won't be so nice," Vecta laughed before vanishing in a plume of darkness.
"Yeah, you do that," May taunted as she and Nick flew back to Norlangarth, specifically towards the castle.
When they landed on the observation deck, they relinquished the Soul Dew Fragments from their bodies and returned to their normal selves.
That was when Nick noticed someone who could only be the prince of Norlangarth standing in front of them, having been using the observation deck of the castle to watch their fight with Supreme.
"...oh my holy crapbaskets," May quipped when she realized who the prince resembled.
It was David.
"Very well done, you two," Prince David chuckled as he handed Nick another Soul Dew Fragment. "I believe you've more than earned this for defending our kingdom from that monstrosity."
"Hey, all in a day's work for us," Nick quipped as the other spies reached the observation deck as well, with Ronye and Tiese following close behind them. "Hey, ladies, look who it is."
To say that Sam, Clover, and Alex were astounded at seeing David, of all people, as this kingdom's prince was an understatement. Every one of their squabbles over who was entitled to David when they were all at Beverly High came screaming back at them like a ton of bricks.
"David?!" Alex proclaimed.
Sam and Clover were still too shocked to say anything. Sam appeared to have been over David for a while until she'd met Mat; Alex felt the same way until she met Nick, while Clover still swooned over David and tried going after him by doubling in the same things David did, and even tried to be an art subject for David once before.
"Is there something I'm missing here?" Blaine wondered.
"Well..." Sam stuttered.
She and Alex then told Blaine about how many times they'd gone head-over-heels for David at Beverly High, and even to a point where Clover and Mandy butted heads occasionally.
"So, you three were ALL crazy for him?" Blaine stuttered, completely shocked.
"Yes, but as you can plainly tell, it didn't work out for either one of us," Alex stated. "Especially Clover."
"I suppose we didn't think something like this was going to happen," Clover added.
That's when something else hit Sam.
"Uh, girls, I think one of us might be the next one whose memories are being tapped into," Sam warned Alex and Clover.
After thinking back to seeing Mandy as Princess Mandy, and David now as Prince of this kingdom, Alex and Clover couldn't help but agree with Sam.
"What do we do now, Sammy?" Alex wondered.
"Keep moving forward, that's what," Sam quipped.
"If you're looking for strange red portals, I did notice one open near the outskirts of the city before the Titan showed up," Prince David stated. "That's probably why Vecta sent the Titan here."
"Sounds like we've got a game plan," Nick stated. "Thanks, Your Majesty."
Knowing now was not the time to catch up with David, Sam, Clover, and Alex left him and continued on.
"And, girls, don't even think about squabbling at a time like this..." Nick stated in an attempt to get them to avoid a pointless argument.
"Yes, especially since two of you are engaged after all..." Mat added, his attention centering to Sam.
("I'll Remember" by Madonna plays)
"Believe me, it won't," Sam assured Mat.
Nick raised his Soul Dew Fragment to open up the Anomaly so everyone could head inside and investigate.
"Now, where are we this time?" Haruka wondered.
"I don't know," Bridget stated.
"I think we wound up back at Bev High," Alex replied, looking around.
"No doubt about it," Sam deduced, knowing they were clearly in the hallway.
"I don't need three guesses to figure out these were our lockers..." Clover added.
After walking to the cafeteria, the spies got a dead giveaway at the next thing they heard.
Vote Clover for Queen – I swear I won't be mean!
"Oh... gosh!" Clover groaned.
"Not hard to figure out now..." Sam sighed.
"Ah, Homecoming," May chuckled. "Every high school student's big chance to shine."
"Yeah, I remember that particular mess," Clover responded. "I still can't believe I had to get Arnold to help me with that because we were stuck in Lyrobia, and after that..."
"Just be glad it was only for a day, Clover," Alex giggled.
"I guess so..." Clover sighed.
"All right, let's start searching for the fragment," Nick stated. "It shouldn't take too long, given we know this place up and down and all around now."
"Hey, is it me, or is the sky around here... really wacky?" Britney noted as they passed by the crowd at the homecoming meeting, with the Clover of that time still speech-ing. "Is that supposed to be like that?"
"I think that's just an after-effect of the Anomaly," Nick replied, holding up his Soul Dew Fragment to guide them to the one that awaited in this Anomaly.
"I wonder if it's weird that we're actually in the places that the Anomalies are drawing from our memories now," Mat quipped. "When I went into an Anomaly, everything resembled the towns and villages of this world, just arranged in a way that mimicked Hawaii."
"Maybe it's because the Anomaly has more people to draw memories from, so it's actually re-creating these scenes now," Nozomi stated. "That's about the only logical thing I can think of."
"Hey, we're in a medieval fantasy world inside of a storybook," May chuckled. "Not everything's going to make complete sense."
After crossing through the hallways and into the principal's office, though there was no principal there (probably due to keeping an eye on the homecoming stuff), floating just above the desk was another Soul Dew Fragment.
"Target acquired," Sam proclaimed. "I think that's nine fragments now."
After Alex walked up to collect the Soul Dew Fragment, the spies all compared the fragments they'd collected so far, just to guess how much further they had left to go before the Soul Dew was complete.
And when comparing their fragments, it seemed like there was only one piece missing from the completed Soul Dew.
"So, only one more to go, right?" Bridget quipped.
"And I'm pretty sure that last piece is waiting for us in the only other kingdom on Aeos we haven't explored yet," Haruka answered. "Let's get out of this Anomaly and keep on movin'."
The spies re-traced their steps to exit the Anomaly and return to the Norlangarth Castle.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Prince David asked.
"Just one more left to find," Mat stated. "Do you know which way is the fastest to the southern kingdom? We're pretty sure whoever's in charge there is holding the last fragment."
"That would be the kingdom of Southacroith, to the south," Prince David answered. "The fastest way to get there from here would be to cross back through Centorea and just keep heading south from there."
"Then that's what we'll do," Sam proclaimed. "Let's get moving, everyone."
As Prince David and Princess Mandy waved to them, the spies set out from Norlangarth and through the crossroads that would take them back to Centorea and eventually to Southacroith.
"Hey, if we're gonna be crossing through Centorea, maybe we should check in with Princess Sortiliena," May quipped.
"Hey, yeah, I think that's a good idea," Blaine replied. "She's probably pretty interested in everything we've been up to since we got yanked to this world."
11:34 A.M. – Centorea
Princess Sortiliena's Castle
"So it seems that I was right," Princess Sortiliena stated once the spies had explained everything that had happened during their adventure so far. "The Dark Territory knows that you are collecting the pieces of the Soul Dew. Why else would they send their Titans to attack the kingdoms?"
"Well, that, and the fact that this Darkness God Vecta character resembles someone that we unfortunately know from our world," Sam replied, shuddering at the very thought of James standing in for Vecta.
"Is he that bad in your world?" Princess Sortiliena asked.
"He's actually worse when you get to know him," Nick teased. "Let's just say that James is a real scallywag, to substitute for a word that I probably shouldn't say in front of a princess. And if he's Darkness God Vecta in this world, then that might mean a lot of trouble when we find him."
"Have you experienced any memories of our world, princess?" May asked. "Both Ronye and even Nahida herself told us that the Soul Dew Fragments may be reacting to our presence and changing things up in this world. Which would explain why the Anomalies all resemble places from our world..."
"I did get a few flashes recently, around the time you all defeated the Wyvern," Princess Sortiliena admitted. "Apparently, I'm your temporary leader in your world."
"That's quite a story, honestly," Alex quipped. "If we stuck around to tell it, we'd be here all day."
"I think there's only one more Soul Dew Fragment to find, and we were told that it's in Southacroith," Bridget stated.
"You're right on the money," Princess Sortiliena replied. "Just head through the south crossroads, and you can't miss it."
As the spies all left for Southacroith, Princess Sortiliena looked out at the beautiful afternoon sky.
"It sounds like the Day of Darkness may be arriving soon," Princess Sortiliena stated to nobody in particular. "I hope they can defeat Vecta and avert it like the prophecies have told us."
"Well, just one left... thankfully, in a way," Mat commented once the spies were on their way.
"Yeah, I'm going to agree there," Blaine added.
"If there's one thing I'm admitting, these Anomaly names are REALLY wacky!" Clover exclaimed.
Alex nodded at that. "They're even harder to pronounce than the Hawaiian words Mat knows..."
"Regardless, it'll get us one step closer to saving this world and getting back to OUR own world, it's what we have to do," Sam emphasized.
"I'm with Sam on that one," Nick replied. "We have a summer to enjoy after all!"
"Don't forget finishing up college at Mali-U," Haruka added.
"That, too," Britney stated.
"We totally will get through this," Melissa remarked.
With that, the spies kept going in whatever direction the fragments vibrated in that led them to Southacroith.
12:49 P.M. – Southacroith
"I think we made it," Britney told the others.
"I kinda like the more rustic look of this place," Nozomi replied when they got a good look at the area around the kingdom.
"Yeah, it's got that home-grown feeling that really feels like home," Dawn quipped.
"I hope there's a booth for some food after all this Anomaly traveling we've been going through," Alex told the others.
"Yeah, we haven't eaten for a while, now that you mention it," May commented.
With that, the spies enjoyed a quick lunch before anybody could complain of hunger pains.
"What do you suppose is going to happen when we find the last fragment?" Bridget wondered.
"It'll get us home, I hope," Mat guessed.
"One can hope," Sam quipped.
"I guess a perfect summer off was too good to be true," Dawn sighed.
"Yes, but we're Super Spies," Sam quipped. "Although our lives are less than perfect, we can handle whatever villain comes our way."
"Besides, we have lives that we can't complain over," Alex replied, referring to her engagement with Nick, and Mat's engagement with Sam.
Sam and Clover nodded in full agreement, despite Clover was the only one of the main spy trio who wasn't engaged yet.
"And we have plenty of car wash battles to look forward to," Britney giggled.
"And, for your sake, Mat, a better Motocross season," Nozomi replied. "I know this year had to be really aggravating, huh?"
"No doubt," Mat sighed.
With that, once everyone was done, they set out on foot to find that last fragment.
"I hope we're close," Blaine stated.
"We should be," Nick replied.
After a while, the surroundings appeared to become familiar to Nozomi when she noticed a karate mat and a group of other karate people nearby.
"Where've you been?" One of them asked Nozomi.
"Uh oh," Nozomi groaned. "This must have been one tournament in my life that I just barely made it in time for..."
It didn't take the spies three guesses to figure out that Nozomi's memories were being tapped into now, as the area around them, despite still resembling the city around Southacroith, now resembled Nozomi's old middle school, Umi no Hoshi.
"Yeah, yeah, I definitely remember this one now," Nozomi quipped as she looked around while someone walked up to the mat. "And I'm willing to bet that I've gotta beat at least a few of these guys to get that last fragment."
"Well, you're the karate expert here, Nozomi, so go ahead and work your magic," Melissa stated.
Nozomi nodded and walked up to the mat just as one of the karate students did the same. They both did the traditional thing and bowed to each other before rushing each other.
The student tried to feint Nozomi to the right, but she'd seen that trick many times before and simply blocked as the student threw a punch at her shoulder.
After a couple more blocks, the student tried a low spin kick, but Nozomi parried that and leg swept the student down to the mat. Though he jumped back up, Nozomi was already on him, grabbing him by the waist and chucking him forward so she could pounce on him and chop at his neck, simulating the final blow.
The student bowed, then retreated so another female student could take the mat. They bowed to each other before attacking.
This female student seemed faster on her feet than the first student was, but Nozomi was still privy to her movements, watching the student juke about before barging forward with a shoulder tackle, knocking the student off-balance.
The student quickly recovered, then struck with a forward uppercut punch that Nozomi dodged to the left before retaliating with a rising chop that sent the student stumbling enough for Nozomi to leg sweep her down to the mat.
That seemed to be enough, as the student picked herself up and bowed before retreating.
"How many more of them does Nozomi have to defeat?" Clover wondered.
"Seems like only one more," Sam stated. "...wait, is that...?"
Sure enough, the last student to walk up to the mat was a copy of Nick back in his middle school days.
"Of course," Nozomi chuckled. "Welp, this one should be easy. After all, Nick's never beaten me in karate."
"You always were the better karate kid," Nick admitted.
Nozomi walked back to the mat as Copy Nick did so as well, the two of them bowing to each other before going on the offensive.
Nozomi actually jumped over Copy Nick's first attack, a forward thrust kick, so she could come back down and grab him by the leg, tossing him aside.
Copy Nick got back to his feet and charged towards Nozomi in an attempt to trip her up.
"Nice try," Nozomi taunted, spinning around the snap kick and retaliating with a double side kick.
Copy Nick tried to punch Nozomi in the shoulder, but she turned to parry with her other shoulder, then did a windmill kick that sent Copy Nick tumbling backwards.
After recovering, Copy Nick jumped forward with a downward thrusting punch that Nozomi rolled away from, then sprung back to her feet with a flying double kick.
Copy Nick protected himself as Nozomi charged in to attack, only for Nozomi to suddenly stop in front of him, lean forward, and kiss him on the cheek.
Copy Nick stopped in his tracks, and that gave Nozomi the perfect vantage point to grab him by the arm and judo-flip him backwards so that he landed right on his back.
"...is it weird to say that I kinda saw that coming?" Melissa giggled.
"Ah, that old trick," Nick chuckled.
"Hey, it worked on you back then, right?" Nozomi responded as Copy Nick picked himself back up, bowed to Nozomi, and dissipated into light, leaving behind another Soul Dew Fragment.
"And that should be the last one," May quipped as Nozomi claimed the fragment so the spies could all exit the Anomaly.
The spies all brought out their collected Soul Dew Fragments, ten in total, and raised their hands to send the fragments towards each other. The ten fragments eventually coalesced together into a large, silver jewel shaped like a heart dotted with five "spikes" and a small flower shape behind it.
"This is it, huh?" Alex gasped. "The Soul Dew, complete at last."
"Here's my question, now," Blaine wondered. "Where, exactly, are we supposed to take it?"
"I'm willing to guess that we have to head off to the Dark Territory," Nick quipped. "Remember, everyone, Nahida told us that half of her power currently resides in the Soul Dew, and Rukkhadevata is holding the other half. So, what that basically means is that if we're ever going to get home, Rukkhadevata and Vecta both need to be curb-stomped."
"So, then let's go already!" May exclaimed. "We've got two nutballs that need to be knocked around a bit!"
Nick raised the Soul Dew above his head, covering the entire team in a protective bubble of light so they could ascend into the air and fly out of Southacroith, and even out of Aeos itself, towards the Dark Territory.
Princess Sortiliena watched from the highest tower of her castle as that silver streak of light flew through the sky towards the Dark Territory.
"Good luck, brave warriors," Princess Sortiliena proclaimed before heading back to her throne room to coordinate her kingdom's Integrity Knights in case anything went south.
To be continued...
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Next time...
Clover: Ooh, yikes, this place looks even freakier when you see it up close.
Blaine: These places are usually like that.
Sam: So, does anyone have a general idea of where we're supposed to go?
Bridget: I guess all we can do is what we've been doing, follow the light of the Soul Dew.
Haruka: Hey, yeah, If Rukkhadevata still has the other half of Nahida's power, then the Soul Dew should lead us right to her, right?
Britney: Looks like we've got another long trip ahead of us. This place looks insane.
Nick: Well, then let's get going, next time on Totally Spies the Movie: Once Upon a Time, "Night in the Dark Dream"!
May: I'm just hoping none of these places here in the Dark Territory reference a certain place from Final Fantasy III... UGH
Nick: Not a fan of the Crystal Tower, either, huh?