4:34 A.M. – The Spies' Beach House

There it was again.

That strange noise he'd been hearing so many times in the past few days.

Nick quickly jumped out of bed, making sure not to disturb either Alex or May, and headed downstairs, his psychic senses guiding him towards where he'd heard the sound coming from.

He was ready for this one to be a dud like the others had been, as every time in the last few days he'd tried to follow the source of the strange anomaly, he found nothing there when he reached where it should have been.

It almost sounded like... like someone was calling for him.

At first, he'd initially dismissed it as picking up someone else's thoughts by accident. After all, since he could read minds, it was a given.

But this voice...

...there was no way.

Nick moved into the kitchen, then the living room, then the pool area, and even the new game room that May had helped set up, still hearing that faint voice calling out for him.

But when he moved back into the living room to retrace his steps...

...he saw her.

Sitting on the couch was a six-year-old girl with fair skin and large, oval-shaped green eyes with prominent eyelashes, shoulder-length light pink hair that curled inwards with a fringe that reached just above her eyes, and was wearing a simple black dress with a white ribbon at the front.

Nick couldn't believe his eyes, especially considering what had...

Still unsure if this was real, Nick stepped forward, whispering a name.

"Anya..."

But when Nick got closer, Anya had vanished. Now appropriately frustrated, Nick went back upstairs to find her.

But as Nick passed by his room, he was so wrapped up in his search that he didn't notice a wide-awake May staring his way, concern obvious in her eyes.

"It's happening again..." May sighed.


(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: Forgo Dreams
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: August 25th, 2023

Story Summary: The one-hundred and twenty-first co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and the sixth feature film of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. Nick has been seeing strange visions of Anya, the girl who basically became his surrogate daughter in the Forgotten Land. But how? It turns out that Fecto Forgo, the invasive alien life form from that dimension, isn't quite gone, and has been biding its time in order to possess Nick and take his body for itself. If the rest of the spies want to save their friend, they'll have to follow him back to the Forgotten Land, but that'll be easier said than done, as the Forgotten Land has changed drastically since their first adventure there, and they'll have to deal with phantoms and illusions of foes both old and new as they attempt to save Nick from Fecto Forgo's diabolical clutches. Nick has always been a unique ally thanks to his psychic powers, but this time around, the spies will have to make do without him...

Author's Notes from Mat49324: We've made it to movie #6 in our series! It's hard to believe it at times when we've done 121 projects together going back to 2005, then came a nine-year absence where we fell out of touch due to life, and me finding interests in writing fics for other shows I liked. Our seventh season started out with a snow trip involving Dr. Gelee, then came the return of Jerry, Mat's spirits being lifted, and ended with the unraveling of the mysterious Ashley OC that Nick introduced. S7 may be over, but the fun is not. We are very likely to have an 8th season lined up after this movie fic. For now, we hope you enjoy this next movie fic, and here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.

Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: I've gotta be honest with all of you, I feel like I really could have done a lot better than I did with the previous movie. Once Upon a Time started out so promising, but then I think some things got rushed, and I had to drop a few plotlines I'd wanted to explore, so, despite overall having fun writing Once Upon a Time, I think I missed the mark on a few things. Of course, I know the most likely reason. At the end of February, I had to have my gallbladder removed, so I was in the hospital for about five days, and that meant I kinda lost my writing groove, which is probably why I kinda rushed the ending of Once Upon a Time. But not here! I'm back in it, and I'm fired up after all my zone-hitting in Dimensional Cataclysm, so once again, it's movie time! Grab your snacks, silence your cell phones, and let's get to the main event! 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?


Act 1: A Pain My Heart Knows Well

2:16 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House

Despite worrying about what might be happening to Nick, May knew better than to say anything suspicious in front of him, so she decided to wait until she knew Nick wasn't around.

As she watched Nick leave the beach house again, no doubt following what he thought he'd seen, May quickly stood up and motioned for the other spies to join her in the living room.

And from the looks on their faces, they knew what May wanted to tell them.

"I'm willing to guess this is about Nick?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah, it's starting to get out of hand, if you couldn't tell," May quipped. "It's been like this for a whole week now."

"It kind of looks like he's searching for something," Britney noted.

"Or someone," Alex stated. "In those brief moments I managed to catch a glimpse of him, he keeps muttering someone's name..."

"You don't think he'd..." Blaine wondered, though most of the spies quickly cut off Blaine's train of thought.

"He wouldn't dare, Blaine," Alex countered. "I know Nick well enough to know that he'd never cheat on us."

"But who is he looking for, then?" Nozomi replied. "Is it anyone we know?"

Initially unsure if she should say this next part, May decided to play that card.

"I think I know who he's looking for," May muttered, catching the spies' attention.

"Well, May? If you know, tell us!" Haruka answered.

May sighed before revealing that secret.

"I think he's looking for Anya."

Naturally, that surprised the rest of the spies.

"Wait, by Anya, you mean that girl from the Forgotten Land, who basically became Nick's surrogate daughter?" Mat gasped. "I thought she was gone after what happened with Fecto Elfilis!"

"And that's the part that worries me," May responded. "The last time I saw Nick, he kept muttering Anya's name, only to start looking somewhere else. And note that I've never seen Anya any of those times."

"You think Nick's the only one who can see her?" Dawn wondered. "That can't be right, though. You think someone's messing with Nick's head?"

The conversation was interrupted when a metal tube descended from the ceiling and sucked all twelve spies into it.

Despite the surprise (since Nick wasn't there to defend against the suction), the spies were all ready for action, having changed into their spy suits on the way down before landing perfectly on their feet in Jerry's office.

"You're getting better at that, I see," Jerry teased.

"Well, when it's happened as much as it has, you kinda get used to it," Alex chuckled.

"All right, Jerry, who's up for getting their butt kicked today?" Sam proclaimed.

"Probably someone you're really not in any mood to deal with right now, especially given recent events," RiCO stated as she materialized in the office and waved her hands to change the office viewscreen to a mugshot of the one and only Tim Scam.

"Ugh, not him again," Sam groaned.

"Yeah, I've kinda had enough of his face," Mat responded.

"Regardless, duty calls, so let's get out there and do what we do best, so we can get back to the real problem," Haruka quipped as the spies moved to retrieve their gadgets.

"Speaking of which, any updates on that, RiCO?" May asked.

"Sorry, May, but every villain who matches those parameters is still locked up in the containment facility," RiCO answered. "But I'll keep scanning just in case something happens."

May nodded as she followed the rest of the spies out of W.O.O.H.P. and into Beverly Hills so they could search for Scam.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long to find him thanks to the signal from RiCO's superdrone.

"End of the line, Scam!" Sam threatened as she aimed her Cyclone Blast Hairdryer for Scam, the rest of the spies following suit.

"Well, well, that was fast, wasn't it?" Scam chuckled. "That's fine by me, though. It means that we can get down to business much quicker."

"Sonic Mode, online!" Bridget shouted, transforming into Sonic Mode and blitzing forward to knock Scam right back on his keester. "How about you flake off, buddy?! You're the last person we need to deal with right now!"

"Oh, what, are you missing one of your star players right now?" Scam cackled. "Well, isn't that just too bad for you."

"All right, you, unless you want me, of all people, to send you back to containment in a body cast, you'd better sing right now," Alex growled. This surprised the other spies, since normally Sam would be the one telling Scam off. "What, exactly, did you do to Nick?!"

"Please, you really think I did something to him?" Scam retorted. "I don't have the patience to deal with trying to control that overbearing mindjacker's brain. Leave that to some other villain."

"You know what? I'm really not in any mood for this runaround," May responded, activating her Emergency Gadget Transporter to summon her trusty anchor to her hands. "Let's just beat him back to containment so we can focus on the real problem here."

"Now you're talking my lingo, May," Sam quipped as the spies advanced on Scam.

For once, Sam appeared to be relieved that Tim Scam did not appear to be interested in snagging her from Mat for the time being.

"You should think about avoiding criminal records yourselves," Scam sneered as if to trip them up.

"You're one to talk about criminal records, buddy boy," May remarked.

"And what you did to Nick's parents makes you THE BIGGEST hypocrite of all time!" Haruka shot back.

"Spare me YOUR hypocrisy," Scam sneered again, knowing Nick wasn't here to hear this.

"Well, know that you're not getting a free pass here..." Mat added.

He then used his Laser Chapstick to make Scam "dance" for a bit, and Alex had used her Laser Lipstick to aim directly at Tim Scam himself to send him flat on his back again.

"Consider that just a preview," Alex emphasized.

"And you're going through all of us if you want some more," Clover added.

"You'll be sorry..." Scam warned as he advanced on the spies.

"Um, yeah, how about no?" May taunted as she charged in to attack Scam, swinging her anchor and forcing Scam to back away with each swing.

May eventually forced Scam right into Sam's crosshairs, allowing her to nail Scam in the back with a flying double kick that sent him tumbling.

Finally, Scam could see that he was getting ambushed and decided to do a tactical retreat for the time being.

"If numbers don't scare you in this case, you must be nuts," Bridget remarked.

"That's an understatement," Melissa quipped.

May, feeling concerned for Nick, decided to give him a ring on the X-Powder.

"Nick, how're you coming?" May asked after Nick's visage showed.

"No luck yet," Nick answered. "How come you're calling?"

"Just to let you know that we dealt with Tim Scam and keep an eye out in case he could be coming for you," May told him.

"Ok, appreciate the heads-up," Nick remarked and hung up right away without even letting anybody else get a question in.

"So much for confirming," Sam groaned.

"Sam, I'd leave that be for now," May replied. "If it's near and dear to Nick, it's only fair we just leave it at that in this case..."

"True there," Britney stated.

"My circumstances don't even compare to Nick's right now," Mat replied, referencing what happened during 2009 Supercross.

"Anyway, we certainly hope that your presumption relating to Anya's right, May," Haruka stated.

Dawn and Melissa knew Nick the best, and anything related to Anya was very much a likely possibility.

The spies didn't need to lollygag anymore, and they set out to find out where Scam had retreated to.

Thankfully, it didn't take them too long to find them, and when they did, they saw that Nick was already engaging in battle with him.

"Well, that worked out for everybody," Melissa chuckled.

"Yeah, everyone except Scam," Mat quipped.

"You've really got a lot of nerve, you know," Scam taunted as Nick continued to go on the offensive. "I'm just out here, minding my own business, and you and your friends simply accost me without rhyme or reason?"

"Yeah, well, you're never up to anything good, Scam," Nick retorted. "And I've got more pressing matters to attend to right now, so if you'd kindly flake off and go back to containment..."

"Sorry, but that's not happening," Scam quipped, activating a device on his wrist and using it to imprison Nick inside a neon-green bubble.

Mat quickly retaliated, firing an Electromagnetic Curling Iron to shatter the shield bubble trapping Nick.

"Thanks, bro," Nick quipped. "Now watch me go ape-shucks on this little pest."

Scam attempted to bring out something else to retaliate with, only to get blasted backwards across the street courtesy of a Final Shine Attack from Nick. Before Scam could pick himself up again, Nick raised his hand and imprisoned Scam inside a psychic bubble.

"Now please stay inside your cell, just for once?" Nick taunted as he flicked his hand upwards to send the bubbled Scam off to the containment facility.

"That's definitely gotta be a new record for fastest capture," Clover chuckled.

"Wanna compare times with me?" Bridget teased.

"Now, to the actual matter at hand," Alex quipped, catching everyone's attention. "Is... is everything okay, Nick?"

"...I guess I can't really get anything past all of you, huh?" Nick sighed. "...I've been seeing Anya all over the place lately, and it's driving me up the wall, not knowing if she's actually there, or if someone's playing tricks on my mind..."

"And usually, you're the one playing mind tricks on others," May teased before softening her expression. "Where was the last place you saw her, Nick? Maybe we'll have better luck unraveling this if we do it together."

"I just barely sensed her somewhere downtown," Nick answered. "I was actually on my way there before Scam tried to ambush me."

"Well, then, let's get moving!" Dawn proclaimed.

The thirteen spies all set out into downtown Beverly Hills to join Nick in searching for Anya, both to see if she was actually popping up and, if not, to pound whoever was playing tricks on Nick into mashed potatoes.

As they continued their search, however, the spies were starting to grow concerned for Nick, as he kept stopping in different places and searching around frantically, though everyone else didn't see any sign of Anya.

"That settles it," Sam proclaimed as Nick dashed off to investigate an area of the city park. "Somebody's messing with Nick's mind."

"But who?" Nozomi wondered. "Who do we know that's powerful enough to mindjack Nick, of all people?"

"The only suspect that comes to mind is Psykos, but remember, Nick took her powers away when we defeated her," Mat stated.

"Well, this is a pickle," Haruka sighed.

Nick ran back to the spies, clearly frantic and confused.

"I just saw her fly off towards the entertainment district!" Nick shouted. "Come on, we've gotta hurry!"

But before Nick could tear off and leave the spies to follow him, a sharp pain lanced through Nick's mind, and he dropped to his knees, clutching the sides of his head in obvious agony.

"Oh, this can't be good," Melissa groaned.

May slowly approached Nick, wishing there was something she could do to ease his pain.

Slowly but surely, though, Nick's pained gasps stopped and he managed to stand up again.

"...Nick?" May asked.

Nobody expected what happened next.

Quick as a flash, Nick spun around, floated a few feet off the ground, then charged forward, snatching May by the shirt collar before flying towards the park, slamming her straight into the flat surface of a nearby statue.

"H-Hey, man, what gives?!" Blaine shouted.

May immediately moved her hands to grab Nick by the wrist so he couldn't start trying to choke her, but her grip faltered when Nick looked up at her.

"The boy is unavailable at this moment," Nick proclaimed in a mixture of his own voice and something else's voice.

May gasped in shock when she realized who that other voice belonged to, and her suspicions were only confirmed when Nick opened his eyes, revealing not the caring shade of brown she loved, but an oppressive purple with blue irises.

And May knew exactly where she'd seen those eyes before.

"You are instead speaking to my new vessel," Nick laughed as he effortlessly tossed May aside, though she quickly regained her balance, re-summoned her anchor, and charged in to attack.

Naturally, the spies were extremely confused.

"And now May's attacking him?!" Bridget gasped. "Just what the heck is going on today?!"

Nick easily dodged each swing of May's anchor, but she still persisted, not stopping for anything.

"You wanna explain yourself, you alien freak show?!" May shouted. "Just how the hell are you still alive after Nick freakin' Falcon Punched you into pulp?!"

"I thought it was obvious," Nick laughed as he used a psychic pulse to push May backwards. "It was the girl."

May didn't need to guesses to know who Nick was referring to.

"After all, Anya was created from a piece of me," Nick explained. "And when she absorbed herself into Nick to give him the power to destroy me, I placed the last fragment of myself into him as well and bided my time, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to claim his body for my own."

"Well, aren't we the clever one," May taunted before lunging forward to thrust her anchor forward like a spear.

Nick caught it handily and tossed it aside before raising his hands, then snapping them down to psychically drive all of the spies to their knees.

"As much as I would like to continue this entertaining scuffle, I do have other matters to attend to," Nick chuckled before taking off into the sky.

Much to the spies' surprise, Nick waved his right hand and a Quantum Rift opened right in front of him, Nick flying into it before the rift closed up right behind him.

"Okay, now that things have settled down for the moment..." Alex stated. "WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!"

"Yeah, just when it looked like we got through to Nick, he starts getting more frantic, then he flat-out attacks you, May, and now he can suddenly open Quantum Rifts?!" Clover exclaimed.

"If you know anything, May, please tell us," Mat responded.

May looked up to the sky where Nick had disappeared before answering.

"Nick's been possessed by Fecto Forgo."

Needless to say, the spies were hoping to never hear that name again. Fecto Forgo had been an alien life form from another dimension, having attempted to invade the Earth, only to be captured by the scientists of that world, its genetics used to develop planetary warp technology so humanity could fly to the stars and colonize other worlds, leaving the Earth abandoned. That dimension's Professor Genesis had attempted to unseal Fecto Forgo, using its power to pull Nick into that alternate dimension, which the spies had dubbed "The Forgotten Land". After many adventures through the Forgotten Land, the spies had confronted both the Genesis of that world and the Genesis of theirs, only for Fecto Forgo to break free, assimilate both Genesis'es, and recombine with its missing piece, a psychic little girl named Anya who had split off from Fecto Forgo after the initial experiments, and reach its complete form, Fecto Elfilis. After a fierce battle, Anya had given up her existence to combine her powers with Nick's, allowing him to destroy Fecto Elfilis seemingly for good.

"Wait, wait, hold on, how is that thing still around?!" Haruka gasped.

"Apparently, it put a piece of itself inside Nick before he blew it to kingdom come," May answered, remembering what Nick had said to her. "It's been biding its time ever since, and I guess now it's trying to take over Nick's body."

"That would explain how he can open Quantum Rifts now," Melissa noted. "Since Fecto Forgo could. But here's my question: where exactly did Nick skedaddle off to?"

"I think he went back to the Forgotten Land," May responded. "I recognized some of those locations when he opened that rift. Which means we'd better get to W.O.O.H.P. on the freakin' double."

The spies didn't need to be told twice as they all beat feet for W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters.

3:46 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office

"And that's basically the situation, Jerry," Sam stated once the spies had explained what had happened downtown. "We need to head back to the Forgotten Land and save Nick's bacon real quick-like."

"Never fear, Sam, the Rift Generator's already primed and ready to go," RiCO stated, her image displayed on the office viewscreen. "I'm coming with you this time, just in case you need my expertise. iCO, can you manage the Datascape while I'm gone?"

"Consider it done," iCO responded. "You all just go and rescue Nick."

May looked down at her X-Powder to see that RiCO had downloaded herself into it.

"Follow me, everyone," RiCO stated as she guided the spies to the room where their Rift Generator was housed. They'd thankfully managed to fix the whole "random dimensions" problem thanks to Patty when she'd last been in this dimension, having built a Rift Generator of her own.

Sam typed in a set of coordinates on the main console before pressing the big red button and opening a Quantum Rift the room, one that led back to the Forgotten Land.

"All right, let's go save Nick," Alex proclaimed. "He's saved our butts so many times, so I think it's high time we returned the favor."

"Damn straight," May responded.

The twelve spies crossed through the rift into the Forgotten Land, hoping they could find a way to save Nick before it was too late.

10:16 A.M. – The Forgotten Land
Natural Plains

"All right, looks like we made it," Britney stated once the spies had exited the Quantum Rift and found themselves in a sprawling city highly resembling Beverly Hills if it was overgrown by nature. This was the first area of the Forgotten Land that Nick and Anya had explored. "Now, where exactly do we go?"

"Yeah, without Nick here to search for threats, and no real way of knowing what exactly we're supposed to be searching for, we might be flying blind here," Blaine noted.

Before the spies could discuss their plan of attack, May's eyes were drawn to a curious light she saw atop a nearby skyscraper.

"Hmmm... maybe we should start there?" May quipped.

"Good eyes, May," Sam replied. "Let's go check it out."

The spies all flew up to the top of the skyscraper, glad they'd all brought extra fuel canisters for their Jetpack Backpacks. They knew they'd probably need the refills during this caper.

When they reached the top of the skyscraper, they noticed a strange, star-shaped portal floating there.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say that's where we need to go," Clover quipped.

"Welp, all in who's going in," Nozomi responded, jumping head-first into the portal, the rest of the spies following suit.

When they could see again, the spies all found themselves in what could only be described as a mysterious altar hanging out in the middle of a dimensional void. There were five paths extending outwards from the altar itself, though four of those paths were locked by magical, glowing locks.

"Well, I guess we've only got one option at this point, huh?" Bridget stated.

"Let's make it snappy, then," May responded. "I don't want to leave the boy I love in the clutches of that monster any longer than I have to."

"Well said, May," Nozomi stated as the spies started following the only path available to them at the moment.

"Besides, we don't want to go through the Psykos ringer again," Alex added, vividly remembering how she'd threatened to leave Nick.

"Absolutely," May stated in agreement.

"We're gonna have to work fast to get the old Nick back for sure," Haruka emphasized.

After going through the path, the spies realized that path turned out to be this version of memory lane. They saw they'd gone back to Beverly Hills High, and Mandy was back to her conniving and witchy attitude.

"What in the world?" Clover wondered.

"Reliving high school..." Alex started.

Things seemed to be getting out of whack when the spies saw their own versions of themselves in the hallway, but they did not see them.

"Fashion flashback much..." Clover commented, seeing the crop tops she wore with the ties around her stomach.

The spies got out of sight in case there may have been some comments about seeing doubles.

"What's the game plan now, Sammy?" Alex wondered. "We won't get anything done hiding here..."

"No, we won't," Sam freely admitted. "So, we'll just have to sneak out and look for anything out of the ordinary."

They were able to sneak out successfully without arousing suspicion; they then found themselves at the old Beverly Hills Mall and seeing their versions again being cornered by mall security.

"Oh, gosh... when Mandy was the stupid, conniving old sap we hated so much..." Sam groaned, remembering that particular moment. (A/N: Think S1's Man or Machine.)

"Are we going to..." May started before everything went to black.

A new location came up, and it was Santa Monica Beach.

Clover reacted at seeing this version of David throwing his canvas down and destroying it. (A/N: Think S2's Here Comes the Sun.)

"Are we going to keep being sent down memory lane or what?" Clover groaned.

"We DID go through the only path that was accessible," Haruka deduced. "So we didn't take a wrong turn..."

"Whoever this villain is, they're trying to trip us up in a new way," Mat told the others.

"The question is... WHERE are all these scenery changes coming from?" Blaine wondered.

Britney was already using her X-Powder to try and track where these scenery changes were coming from.

"Any luck, Brit?" Bridget asked.

"No readings," Britney answered, shaking her head.

"You mean we have to just keep moving forward?" Melissa asked.

"I guess that's our only option," Sam quipped.

"Hopefully it isn't Nick controlling everything," May commented.

"We'll find him... somehow," Dawn assured.

"Wait, why would you think Nick's the one controlling everything here?" Nozomi asked.

"Think about it, you guys," May quipped. "Fecto Forgo had incredible psychic powers as well. It showed us as much while we were fighting it before. If it combined Nick's powers with its own when it possessed him..."

"...we might be in trouble," Clover groaned.

"We'll just have to press on and hope we can find a way to break Nick free," Britney stated. "Let's keep sifting through memory lane until we can figure something out."

So the spies did so, moving through the area and revisiting old memories until the school area faded away into a small platform out in the void. At the center of the platform, a bubble of translucent blue light was surrounding something that the spies couldn't see.

"Oh, who thinks this is a good sign?" Haruka quipped.

"Stay on guard, everyone," Bridget replied.

Just as the spies prepared themselves, multiple star-shaped portals, similar to the one they'd entered this realm through, opened up around them, spitting out strange creatures that resembled spherical winged birds with odd faces.

"Okay, that's new!" Alex exclaimed as the Doomers all rushed the spies at once.

"They're probably trying to keep us from getting whatever's in that bubble," Sam stated as she blasted one of the Doomers with her Laser Lipstick.

"Then let's take 'em down!" May shouted, beaning a Doomer in the face with her anchor and sending it flying into another one, taking out both of them.

Two Doomers flew towards Mat and attempted to chow down on him, but he sprayed Ice King Cologne on them, freezing both Doomers so Sam could blast them with a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer.

Once all of the Doomers had been fended off, the bubble of light shattered to reveal what appeared to be a large crystal shaped like a giant apple slice with blue-green skin, its upper half adorned with two thin golden filaments.

May walked over to grab the Fruit Fragment, thinking they'd probably need it somehow, but the instant she touched it, the Fruit Fragment floated into the air and moved back the way they'd come from.

"Did I... do something wrong?" May wondered.

"I think it went back towards the altar," Bridget quipped. "Let's go check it out."

Thankfully, the scenery hadn't changed on the return trip, so it was easy enough for the spies to retrace their steps and return to the Ethereal Altar, where the Fruit Fragment they'd found was now resting on one of five pedestals surrounding the altar, now glowing with a soft teal light.

The Fruit Fragment then fired a beam of teal light into the first of the four locked doors around the altar, causing the door to open and reveal a path forward.

"Well, I think we've figured out how to open up the other paths, huh?" Melissa quipped.

"Since we opened the first door, I say we head through said door and see if we can find another one of those crystal things," Blaine noted.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Alex proclaimed.

Before the spies could enter the green door, however, they heard footsteps from somewhere near the altar.

Alex quickly brought out her Cyclone Blast Hairdryer, unsure if this was an ambush or not.

But then, someone walked out from behind the altar, and the look of shock on everyone's faces was palpable.

It was a six-year-old girl with fair skin and large, oval-shaped green eyes with prominent eyelashes, shoulder-length light pink hair that curled inwards with a fringe that reached just above her eyes, and was wearing a simple black dress with a white ribbon at the front.

"...am I seeing this right?" Dawn asked.

"I am if you are," Mat answered.

"Is... is that really you, Anya?" Alex wondered.

Anya glanced around at her surroundings before looking towards the spies. "I... I think so," Anya responded. "The last thing I remember was... hearing Nick's voice. It sounded like he needed help. When I woke up, I was here."

Anya looked over to the door that the spies had been about to head through. "Is Nick in trouble?" Anya asked.

"He's in a lot of trouble," May quipped. "Long story short, Anya, that alien life form thing from last time apparently wasn't completely gone, and it took control of Nick and escaped to somewhere in this strange world. I've got a feeling this Fruit Fragment we found might be the key to getting him back."

"Then let me help," Anya proclaimed. "Nick did so much for me, so I wanna do something for him."

"That's why we're here in the first place, Anya," Alex stated proudly. "Now let's get moving, shall we?"

The twelve spies, now with Anya by their side, crossed through the opened doorway and into a strange area where everything was tinted a shade of neon-green.

"Okay, are these places getting trippier?" Bridget quipped.

"They're probably gonna get even tripper than this by the time we're done here," Nozomi stated. "Let's focus on the here and now, 'kay?"

Alex glanced at the neon-green sky of this area, noting that she saw more of those Doomer creatures from earlier flying through more star-shaped portals, though they didn't notice the spies.

She figured that'd change soon enough, however.

As the spies expected, the landscape around them suddenly warped into Beverly Hills High School as a caricature of one of the spies' many high school escapades when the team had just been Sam, Alex, and Clover.

"Ah, memories," Alex chuckled.

"Wait, Clover, why are you wearing a business suit?" Blaine wondered.

"Oof, that was when I tried to impress that Rick guy," Clover responded. "Not my finest moment, I'll admit."

"I think I can also see... wait, are Clover and I fighting?" Sam quipped.

"Oof, that was when Sammy got picked for the Les Misérables play," Alex replied. "That was fun, trying to keep you two from wringing each others' necks."

Eventually, the spies seemed to reach a dead end in the pathway, and considering they wanted to conserve as much Jetpack Backpack fuel as possible, they decided to look for another way to open the path ahead.

It only took a few seconds of searching for Sam to notice what appeared to be a door handle at the opposite end of the bridge connecting the pathways, no doubt what was keeping the bridge up, but the handle was surrounded by a barrier.

Just then, a Doomer appeared and flew towards the spies, but Anya saw an opportunity and raised her hand to catch the Doomer in her psychic hold, the Doomer surrounded by a neon-pink glow. Remembering what Nick had taught her, Anya flicked her hand outwards to send the Doomer flying into the barrier surrounding the door handle, destroying both the barrier and the Doomer and allowing Sam to shoot the handle and drop the bridge so they could cross to the next area.

"Nice thinking, Anya!" Melissa laughed.

"I just remembered some of the things Nick taught me," Anya admitted.

After about another minute of walking, the spies found themselves in a recreation of the high school's pool area, with everything still tinted a bright green and another strange barrier in the center of the room above the pool.

"What do you think's in there?" Alex asked.

"I don't think it's another one of those Fruit Fragments, since I'm getting a feeling the other fragments are gonna be more well guarded," May stated. "But whatever is in there is probably going to be important."

Almost as if on cue, more star-shaped portals opened up around the pool area, allowing another flock of Doomers to exit and swarm the spies.

"Of course!" May shouted, readying her anchor.

"Hey, we beat these things before, we can do it however many times it takes!" Nozomi exclaimed as the spies prepared to attack the Doomers.

Mat seemed to be the only one of the spies who hoped the battle wouldn't take place in the pool area.

"There's a lot of 'em," Mat remarked. "But nothing we can't handle."

Sam was the first of the spies to draw first blood to begin this next battle.

She used some similar moves that she remembered from the first alien mission involving Sagan Hawking, which put Clover, who had seen those moves, down memory lane.

"Hadn't seen those in forever," Clover commented.

Alex decided to use some of her Jet Pack Backpack fuel across the flock of Doomers.

"It's time for you all to have your baths!" Alex exclaimed.

She then used the Tornado in a Can of Hair Spray to create something.

"What's your game plan, Alex?" Haruka wondered when she saw what was going on.

Alex didn't have a chance to answer as everyone had to jump out of the way to avoid the tornado that had formed.

All the Doomers were screeching until the tornado had dissipated, and they were all sizzling from the contact with the pool water.

"That was my plan," Alex finally answered Haruka.

"Are they all robots or something?" May wondered when they saw what happened to the mooks.

"I never thought Fecto Forgo was the kind of person to use robots in this case," Clover replied.

"Well, great thinking, Alex," Britney quipped.

"Unfortunately, defeating all these mooks didn't do much in terms of trying to get Nick back," Mat groaned.

"Maybe not," Blaine stated, spotting something.

"What do you see..." Sam wondered before Blaine went in the pool.

"I saw something, too," Haruka added as she went in the pool after Blaine.

Moments later, Blaine and Haruka got out to show what they spotted.

Sam was already set to use her X-Powder on what Haruka and Blaine found.

"If they're robots, how come their eyes are opals?" Sam asked everyone, showing the objects.

"Eugene Snit couldn't be involved here..." Clover deduced.

Sam immediately checked in with Jerry and RiCO to see if it was true.

"Snit is thankfully still locked up in the W.O.O.H.P. Containment facility," RiCO told Sam.

"Guess that's out the window," Clover remarked.

"But Blaine and Haruka found these opals that served as the mooks' eyes," Sam told Jerry and RiCO.

"What the..." Nozomi reacted. "It changed colors!"

She noticed that just as Sam put one of the opals on her X-Powder to scan to Jerry and RiCO.

Sam looked and didn't see anything for a bit, but she saw that same opal changed colors again. "Anything, Jerry?" she asked.

"I'm still studying the flying bird things," RiCO quipped. "If they're native to this dimension, it would explain why it's harder to figure them out."

Suddenly, much to the spies' surprise, the few remaining Doomers all retreated into more star-shaped portals...

...only for a larger star-shaped portal to open in front of the spies and someone very familiar to step out of it.

"...wait, it was Snit all along?!" Alex shouted.

"Wait a minute, something's not right here," Haruka responded. "Do his eyes look different?"

Indeed, this Snit's eyes were purple with blue irises, much like Fecto Forgo's were.

"...I think I get it," May stated, catching everyone's attention. "See his eyes? This isn't the real Snit, just a phantom that Fecto Forgo conjured to get in our way. Remember, if this realm is being shaped by Nick's memories, then Fecto Forgo might have taken advantage of that."

"Well, then, let's stomp this illusory sleazeball, shall we?" May proclaimed, hefting her anchor towards the phantom.

Phantom Snit just smirked, a disguise device flashing onto his wrist as he activated it to transform into a hulking, muscular man, almost as if he'd eaten one of Ulrich Wernerstein's Bulky Bars.

The spies readied themselves as Phantom Snit charged towards them, jumping into the air and coming down with a double-handed overhead fist slam, his extra muscle-y arms cracking the ground around them.

"Okay, that could be a problem," Dawn quipped.

"Hey, he may be super-strong, but if you've watched your Dragon Ball Z, you should know that all the strength in the multiverse doesn't mean bunk if you can't hit your opponent," Bridget proclaimed, reaching for her brooch. "Case in point... Sonic Mode, online!"

Just as Phantom Snit lunged for Bridget, she reacted faster, blitzing by Phantom Snit and sending him tumbling, only to come back for another strike again and again.

Eventually, Phantom Snit broke out of the attack and transformed into a winged, pterodactyl-like beast and flew into the air.

Nozomi leapfrogged off of Sam's shoulders to get enough height to land on Phantom Snit's back, only for him to spin around in mid-air to shake her off.

But as Phantom Snit attempted to divebomb the spies, he found himself blasted backwards by a burst of neon-pink energy to his face. The cause was revealed to be Anya, who had used her own version of Nick's Final Shine Attack.

This left Phantom Snit wide open for Bridget to start running circles around him to build up kinetic energy, eventually skidding to a stop and snapping her fingers to release that gathered energy as a shockwave of emerald lightning that vaporized Phantom Snit rather handily.

"And that's how that cookie crumbles," Bridget teased.

The bubble in the center of the pool area shattered once Phantom Snit had been defeated to reveal what appeared to be a key-shaped crystal that flew into a door that had just appeared at the opposite end of the pool, revealing the way onward.

"Nice shot, Anya," Mat complimented.

Anya just smiled as the spies all crossed through the doorway and into...

"Wait, are we back in Alivel Mall again?" Alex wondered. Indeed, the spies were seemingly back in Alivel Mall, a major shopping center that had been popular in the Forgotten Land before this Earth had been abandoned.

Anya, however, gasped loudly when she recognized this particular part of the mall. After all, this was where she and Nick had encountered one of this dimension's Professor Genesis' mutant generals during their initial adventure.

With that in mind, Anya led the spies through the lobby area, up the escalator, past a large stash of bananas (which, much to Anya's amusement, were somehow still fresh), by a series of shutter-blocked stores, and out into the nearby parking lot area.

When they all found themselves in the parking lot, a bright blue sphere of light floated down from the ceiling before transforming into a massive ape with gray skin and black fur, broad arms and short, stubby legs, small, white eyes with black pupils and a large, fuzzy snout, a white mohawk and a black ring piercing on his right nostril, giving him a punk-like appearance, three red stripes on his shoulders and red paint streaks on both of his cheeks.

"Hey, Anya, you said that you and Nick fought a big ape thing in this mall, right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, that's the one," Anya answered. "But why is it back if I..."

The answer to that particular question came when the Gorimondo look-alike suddenly transformed slightly, now sporting bright cyan and magenta fur with cyan teeth and the same creepy eyes that Fecto Forgo had sported in its giant nightmare blob form.

"Okay, what in the hell?!" Melissa shouted.

"Oh, lordy, it's really creepy with those eyes..." Alex shuddered.

Anya glanced up to the ceiling and saw another Fruit Fragment being held in a spherical bubble on top of the ceiling. She also noticed that there was no giant archway in this version of the area, which was the trick she'd used to defeat the original Gorimondo, which meant that this phantom version wouldn't be defeated the same way.

"I think it's not going to let us take that Fruit Fragment without a fight," Mat stated as Phantom Gorimondo started advancing towards them.

"I don't care how many freakin' phantoms and illusions Fecto Forgo puts in our way," May growled, spinning her anchor in her hands. "If you want some, monkey boy, then by all means, come and get some!"

Phantom Gorimondo beat on its chest and roared loudly before charging to attack the spies.

To be continued...


Next time...

Blaine: Man, this thing's fast for his size!

Nozomi: Tell me something I don't know, Blaine!

Haruka: Does anyone have any idea how to take him down?

Sam: I'm thinking of something...

Clover: Well, please hurry, Sammy, because I don't think this thing is going to just let us scheme!

Alex: INCOMING!

Britney: Whew, that was close.

Melissa: I think you spoke too soon, Brit.

Sam: Hey, monkey man, you get your grubby claws off of my man!

Alex: Uh-oh, I think ape-boy made Sam mad. And that's not what you want to do.

May: Then let's take advantage of that and stomp this thing, next time on Totally Spies the Movie: Forgo Dreams, "Phantoms and Illusions"!

Anya: Wow, the lighting is really cool over here.

Melissa: Yeah, the effects department usually saves their best for the movies.