10:43 A.M. – Just Outside Beverly Hills
Sixteen-year-old Nick Kelly stood there, overlooking the vistas of Beverly Hills, California. It was finally time for a new start here after so long living in Mistralton, South Carolina.
Despite saying he was nervous to his parents (as were most teenagers when they moved from one big city to another), he was actually excited for some new opportunities in a new city with new people.
"Are you thinking things out loud again, Nick?"
Nick looked to his left at his childhood friend May, a sixteen-year-old girl with brown eyes and waist-length brown hair, wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt and black lycra shorts, and a beige backpack slung to her back.
"I guess I'm just so used to you doing that that it shouldn't surprise me anymore," May chuckled.
"I thought it was funny."
Nick glared in dramatic disbelief the girl to his right, his other childhood friend Bridget, a sixteen-year-old girl with long blonde hair and wide emerald green eyes, wearing a roll-neck black shirt, below a basmati white long top with a black shawl collar and Empire-line ribbon, along with a dark gray pleated skirt, and a large light-blue hoodie on top of it all with puffy white sleeves.
"Oh, come on, Bridget, you too?!" Nick gasped overdramatically.
"Hey, you've gotta admit, it is kinda funny hearing you vocalize your thoughts," Bridget chuckled.
"Well, I do kinda want to be a writer in the future," Nick admitted. "Sometimes you've gotta say your thoughts out loud so you can get them down before you lose them."
"Oof, I know that feeling," May groaned, knowing exactly what Nick was talking about.
"Well, ladies, this is a fresh start for all of us," Nick proclaimed. "Let's make it a good one."
"HELL YEAH!" May and Bridget shouted enthusiastically.
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(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies the Movie: Another Side, Another Story
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: October 6th, 2023
And Now, It's Totally the Cast!
Jennifer Hale as Sam and Mandy
Katie Griffin as Alex
Andrea Baker as Clover
Sam Riegel as Mat
Bryce Papenbrook as Nick
Eden Riegel as May
Kelly Ohanian as Bridget
Adrian Truss as Jerry Lewis
Lindsay Seidel as RiCO
Story Summary: The one-hundred and twenty-fourth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and the seventh feature film of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. In another time and another place, we'll start our story anew. Nick, May and Bridget have just moved to Beverly Hills, California, ready for a fresh start in a new town. One day, they meet a quartet of friends at the high school, only to get caught up in their secret lives as spies. Thankfully, these three are part of their own W.O.O.H.P. team, so the two teams will band together as friends and comrades to bust bad guys and solve capers, all the while discovering a strange connection between recent plots. Could one of the spies' rogues' gallery be hatching a much more sinister scheme using other baddies as cover? And can they manage to stop this menacing plan before it's lights out for the city of Beverly Hills?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Time now for our seventh feature movie. We've titled it Another Side, Another Story. What's really making this feel different is that we're starting it this early (after completing just two projects of season 8) thanks to inspirations from The Blue Time Ranger, and I made a personal note to myself to not put this on the backburner too much before his inspirations fade away. As a guarantee, we'll have S8 officially completed before this movie fic is even posted. We hope you enjoy our seventh movie fic, Another Side, Another Story. What else is different here is the timeline – it's between S3 and S4 of the TV series, which (for extra authenticity) is between 2005 and 2006 (I'm pretty sure). Here's The Blue Time Ranger for his explanation, clarification, and anything else he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: That start date up there's probably got you guys thinking something along the lines of "you guys just finished one movie and you're already doing another one when you're barely into season eight?!" Simply put, I got inspiration for something, and you know I had to pounce on it before it left me. Now, as you can probably tell from the opening and the summary, this particular movie is going to be very different. It essentially takes place in an alternate dimension, but the TNA!spies aren't going to make an appearance. This is strictly about this world's version of the spies, as you noticed by this Bridget being an entirely different character. Now, Mat and I have agreed that this movie won't actually be posted on the site until season eight of The New Adventures is done, but I just wanted to get the jump on this movie now while the muse is still here. So, as always, grab your preferred movie snacks, silence your cell phones, and let the main event begin! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters or locations created by us truly for the story. Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
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Act 1: Leave the Life You Knew Before
1:27 P.M. – The Spies' Neighborhood
A seemingly "normal" school day had come to a close for Sam, Clover, Alex, and Mat. Sam was driving everyone back from Beverly Hills High to their beach house.
"Ah, another day in the books," Clover sighed when Sam came to a stop in the garage. "Time to give the mind a break..."
The four of them began to file into their beach house.
What the four spies didn't know was that three others happened to be in the same neighborhood... one of them in particular with feelings he didn't think he'd ever have.
"Tell me again why we're going this route, Nick?" May wondered.
"Uh-huh," Bridget added. "Maybe you should wait until tomorrow at school... there'll be other chances."
"No way!" Nick emphasized. "I don't live too far away from them, but if you want something bad enough, you can get it."
"While I agree with that," May started. "I don't know if this is really the best idea..."
Meanwhile, in the spies' beach house, Sam, Clover, Alex, and Mat had just set their belongings down after Mat had locked the front door.
"At least it cooled off a bit from this morning," Mat told the others.
"Totally," Alex stated from the kitchen, busy looking for something to drink.
Meanwhile, Nick, May, and Bridget were still outside on the sidewalk near the spies' beach house. They were on Nick's stoop, his house fortunately not too far away from the spies' house. Nick had just returned with something to drink for them all.
"Okay, genius," Bridget stated in her joking tone to Nick. "What's your 'big plan' now?"
"If I remember earlier this afternoon correctly, May, you were the one who told me 'hey, why don't you at least introduce yourself and go from there'," Nick quipped. "Yeah, that's gonna go down well."
"Hey, it's not my fault you're the one with the crush on her," May giggled. This was too much fun.
"Honestly, Nick, this is the fastest I think I've ever seen you start crushing on someone," Bridget chuckled. "And I've known you for pretty much our whole lives, so that's a first."
"That's what's making this so freakin' difficult," Nick sighed.
Meanwhile, in the beach house, Alex had drunk half of a bottle of water and put it away.
"Wonder what happened to Sam," Clover stated.
"Right here..." Sam answered as she'd returned in her green bathing suit.
Alex, Mat, and Clover saw her and agreed on what to do now.
"Hot tub or pool?" Alex asked.
"Pool," Sam answered.
The rest of the spies changed clothes, too.
In the meantime, Nick, May, and Bridget were just finishing their refreshments when they looked up to see Clover leading a charge to the beach house pool to cool down. Nick knew that was his chance.
"Come on, buddy, go for it," May stated.
"We're right behind ya," Bridget replied. "We'll introduce ourselves, too, just to make things easier on you."
Despite their teasing earlier, Nick couldn't help but smile at that. May had proven herself as a valuable friend since he'd met her as an exchange student from New York four years ago, and Bridget had known him for practically their entire lives while growing up in Mistralton, South Carolina.
That thought more than any other gave Nick a much-needed confidence boost as he walked up to the door of the spies' beach house and knocked three times.
It took about ten seconds, but someone eventually did answer the door, and as Nick probably expected, it was the girl he'd been crushing on since this morning at Beverly Hills High School.
But he obviously wasn't going to tell her that right away. That was for another time.
"Um, hey there," Nick proclaimed. "We're new to this neighborhood, and I think I actually saw you at school today, I just didn't get a chance to say something. My name's Nick, and these are my friends May and Bridget."
"We just moved to Beverly Hills a couple days ago from all the way in South Carolina," Bridget answered.
"And we kinda noticed that you have a really nice place," May quipped. "Nick doesn't live too far away from here, actually."
"Yeah, my friends and I are actually sharing this place while our moms are in Europe on business," Alex replied. "Oh, if only you'd seen the looks on our faces when we saw it for the first time..."
Clover walked by and noticed Alex talking to Nick, and couldn't help but smile.
"Ooh, sounds like somebody's hitting it off," Clover teased.
"Seriously, Clover?! Is now really the time?!" Alex sputtered as Clover walked off chuckling to herself.
"...does she do that a lot?" Nick wondered.
"Clover's usually the more boy-crazy of us three girls," Alex answered. "And sometimes, as you noticed, it can get a bit... let's call it 'tiresome'."
"Oof, I know how that feels," Bridget laughed. "There was this one girl in my old science class that was the same way."
"Anyways, I just wanted to say hello, so now that we've accomplished that, I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow?" Nick stated.
"Just hope you don't get stuck in biology class," Alex responded, shuddering slightly at that particular memory.
Once that was all over, Nick, May and Bridget had reconvened back at Nick's house, all three of them sitting on the front steps.
"See, now was that so hard?" May quipped.
"Yeah, actually introducing myself was the easy part," Nick admitted.
"But at least you've laid the groundwork for everything that comes next," Bridget proclaimed. "The rest will come as it does."
In response, Nick just smiled. "Where would I be without you two?" Nick chuckled as both May and Bridget hugged their friend.
"Probably a question that's better left unanswered," Bridget giggled.
Just then, a beeping noise sounded behind them. Figuring that was his mother texting him, Nick walked back into the house, May and Bridget close behind.
Back at the beach house, the four spies were already having some fun in the pool.
"Ack, really necessary, Alex?!" Clover sputtered as Alex splashed her.
"That's what you get for teasing me earlier, you goof!" Alex laughed.
"By the way, what was that all about?" Mat wondered even as he scooted closer to Sam.
"Long story short, we apparently have some new neighbors," Alex explained. "One of them was a guy, and Clover saw him, so..."
"Oof, say no more," Sam chuckled, quite used to Clover's antics by this point of their lives.
"Hey, you know I couldn't resist," Clover replied. "You gotta tell me if he was cute, though."
"Honestly? ...yeah, he kinda was," Alex admitted. "But we just met, Clover, I don't think it's gonna go that fast."
"Need I remind you of 'speed dating'?" Clover countered.
"Yeah, but that was you," Mat teased.
Suddenly, the pool suddenly became a whirlpool, sucking all four of the spies into it. After falling through a long metal tunnel, they crash-landed in a pile (thankfully on the cushion of the big O) in the main office of W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters. Their boss, Jerry, was standing at his desk smiling like always.
"Hello, spies," Jerry proclaimed. "I hope you liked taking that for a 'whirl'."
"...I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Alex sighed as they all flipped open their X-Powders (or a modified Game Boy Advance SP in Mat's case) to change into their spy suits in a flash of blue light.
"Getting down to business, who do we have to shake down, knock out, or dope slap today, Jer?" Sam asked.
"One of your more heinous foes, I'm afraid," Jerry admitted as he pressed a button on his desk to change the office viewscreen to a mugshot of, indeed, one of W.O.O.H.P.'s most heinous foes, one Tim Scam.
"Ugh, not this creep again," Mat groaned. "I thought we'd seen the last of him after we scuffed up his dumb Terminator ripoff stuff."
"Oh, please don't remind me of that nonsense," Clover responded. "My hair's still frizzy from that."
"Let's just get out there and figure out what he's planning so we can kick him back to containment and get back to our pool day," Sam stated as the spies moved to retrieve their gadgets for the mission, not noticing that a certain something wasn't trying to give them lip as it always did.
The four spies decided to check out Beverly Hills first, as the signal trackers had determined he was somewhere in the city.
"Now, if I was a revenge-obsessed nutball, where would I be?" Alex quipped.
"Maybe don't say things like that, Alex?" Mat replied. "Because that usually tends to..."
Mat's words would quickly be proven right when a small drone-like device flew over the spies and projected a bright green light to surround them, trapping all four of them inside an emerald-green bubble of light.
"...jinx us," Mat groaned.
"All right, who's the wise guy who wants to get their keester kicked?!" Clover shouted.
"Take a wild guess," Sam retorted, pointing to just up ahead, where who else but Tim Scam could be seen standing there, an extremely smug grin on his face.
"How long I've been waiting to do that," Scam laughed.
"You'd better let us out, buddy, before we get primal on your bony butt!" Alex shouted.
"Sorry, my lady, but that's not going to happen any time soon," Scam cackled. "You'd have to destroy the drone to shut off the force field, and it looks like none of you are in any position to do that right now."
"You wanna explain what your game is like a good baddie, or is that just not happening?" Sam growled.
"All in good time, Samantha," Scam chuckled. "But first, I think it's high time I got rid of you lot. After all, you've been a thorn in my side for far too long."
Just as Scam began to advance on the trapped spies, he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder from behind.
"Really?" Scam quipped. "You seriously think I'm going to fall for that?"
"Okay, then," the owner of that voice responded.
Before Scam could actually turn around, Nick did the honors and clocked Scam with a wicked right hook punch to the face, sending Scam careening to the ground.
May reached into her Jetpack Backpack and threw a Boomerang Buzzsaw Barrette to slice apart the drone keeping the other four spies trapped.
"And now there was you," May taunted as Scam picked himself up.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Scam taunted, clearly never having seen them before.
"Oh, wouldn't you like to know," Nick retorted. "Bridget, you wanna do the 'thing'?"
"Ooh, I'd be delighted," Bridget laughed, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a pair of bright red, disc-shaped yo-yos. Much to Sam, Alex, Clover and Mat's surprise, she started performing various spinning tricks with her yo-yos for a couple seconds.
"Impressive yo-yo tricks, but nothing more," Scam quipped as he turned around.
"Keep your eye on the magic string, then," Bridget chuckled as she spun her yo-yos around herself before throwing the left yo-yo forward on its string, which extended out far enough to actually hit Scam in the face. Bridget continued to perform yo-yo tricks to attack Scam until she decided to finish with an outward X-strike with both yo-yos that sent Scam crashing back to the ground.
It was at this point that Alex gasped in surprise when she recognized Nick as the boy she'd met earlier that day.
"W-Wait, Nick?" Alex gasped.
Nick suddenly froze in his spot when Alex called his name. Naturally, Scam took this opportunity to attack, but Nick quickly shook off his confusion and raised his right hand towards Scam.
To the other spies' surprise (that was three times in one day already, probably a new record), Nick's hand began glowing a bright golden yellow as Scam's body was enveloped in that same glow that stopped him from moving.
"Don't you know it's bad manners to attack someone like that when they're in the middle of a thought, Scam?" Nick taunted, raising his hand and telekinetically levitating Scam into the air. "Oh, wait, I forgot, psychopaths like you don't actually care about manners."
Nick clenched his fist, and the glow surrounding Scam expanded into a psychic bubble around him that Scam repeatedly tried to beat down to no avail.
"Now how about you actually stay in containment this time? Just once?" Nick quipped as he flicked his right hand upward, sending the bubbled Scam off to the containment facility.
"Okay, that's gotta be a record for fastest completion time," May chuckled.
"I don't really think it's a competition, May," Bridget quipped.
"Tell that to the guy in R&D who keeps getting on my butt about it," May groaned.
"And now, as for that elephant in the room," Nick sighed, wondering how he was going to explain this to Alex and the others.
"You're all spies, too, right?" Alex answered simply, which caught Nick off-guard.
"Wait, you're spies?" Nick gasped.
"How about we talk about all of this back at headquarters?" Sam offered. "I think it'll be easier that way."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Bridget replied.
So, with that, all seven spies regrouped back at W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters to discuss everything that needed to be discussed.
"Gotta say, I definitely wasn't expecting to run into another team of spies out here in Beverly Hills," Sam admitted.
"To be fair, we've only been working for W.O.O.H.P. for about six months now," Nick answered. "And we just moved to Beverly Hills a couple days ago."
"Oh, can I ask how you did that cool glowy trick with your hands?" Alex asked. "Because that was really cool."
"I guess it kinda is," Nick chuckled. "To make a long story short, I've got psychic powers. During a caper a while back, Bridget and I were chasing a nutball who claimed he was a psychic and used that knowledge to steal precious gemstones, but when we caught him in the act, the gems he stole actually did have powers, and when we swiped the gems from him, they gave me my powers."
"Um, not to go off-topic, but Jer, I just now noticed that GLADIS isn't trying to cut in like she did last time," Clover noted.
"Yes, about that," Jerry stated. "I actually had enough of GLADIS' attitude, so she has been sent on a permanent vacation to the scrap heap. And on that note..."
"Is that my cue, Jerry?"
A small device above the office viewscreen, resembling a video camera, aimed downward and unleashed a cone of blue light, projecting a holographic image of someone in the room. She appeared to be about the spies' age, with blue eyes and aqua blue hair tied into a side tail, a mainly white and blue uniform with yellow and orange details, and holding a tablet of sorts in her hands, her youthful looks giving her a jovial and upbeat aspect.
"It's nice to meet you, everyone! My name is RiCO, and I'll be your new artificial intelligence assistant from this day forward," RiCO proclaimed.
"Ooh, I like her already," Alex giggled.
"Yeah, both Jerry and I agreed that GLADIS was kinda getting a little too obnoxious, so we decided to, well, start fresh," RiCO explained. "From now on, I'll be assisting Jerry and you guys with gadget distribution, mission information, and really whatever needs to be done around here to make things go smoothly."
"And on that note, spies, we'll send you back to your beach house for the time being," Jerry stated.
"Yeah, go and have some fun with your new friends, 'kay?" RiCO giggled, waving her hand to send all seven spies back to the beach house.
2:41 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
The four spies were poolside again – well, Mat was just coming outside with a bottle of water in both hands.
"Thanks, Mat," Alex stated when Mat handed her bottle of water from earlier.
"Where'd the others get to?" Sam wondered after Mat took another vacant lawn chair.
Clover was the only one in the pool, granted, she was on an inflatable pool raft.
"I think they had to get their swimwear, too," Mat replied.
Currently, Sam, Mat, and Alex were tanning while Alex and Mat enjoyed their bottled waters.
"We're back," Nick announced.
As expected, Nick, May, and Bridget had their swimsuits on with Nick having a tanktop on at the same time.
"So, you want to tell us about yourselves?" Alex asked as Bridget wasted no time going straight into the pool.
"I did mention that all three of us used to live in Mistralton, South Carolina," Nick quipped. "That, and I've known Bridget for pretty much my entire life."
"I actually used to live in New York, and then my family and I transferred to Mistralton for work about four years ago," May explained. "Nick and I just kinda hit it off from there."
"You just had that whole 'stranger in a familiar land' kinda vibe, and trust me, I know how that feels sometimes," Nick replied.
"So, how'd you and Sam end up as an item?" May asked Mat.
"Well, I had transferred here from Hawaii, and the only seat left was next to her. I guess she saw something in me, intellectual-wise, after a few assignments, and..." Mat started before the spies heard a yelp from Clover.
Her raft had been overturned, and none other than Bridget emerged with some laughs. Clover was soon after.
"That's Bridget for you," Nick groaned. "Away from missions, anyway... but she doesn't do it all the time!"
"Really?" Clover chastised when she heard that from Nick.
"Yes, indeed," Nick replied. "But when it comes down to seriousness, Bridget's the one you want to have your back."
"Well, that's great to know, then," Mat stated.
"Anyway, Mat, you were saying...?" Nick then replied, getting back to the topic at hand.
"Well, I suppose Sam was surprised at how I knew certain things, I can credit Jeopardy for that, and I guess we really liked each other," Mat then stated. "So much so that I wanted to stay here after my parents went back home. I also made a personal note to not come between them either, too."
"You left a state like Hawaii for a girl?" May remarked, completely shocked.
"I know, I left a lot behind..." Mat stated. "But if Sam and I make it work, and I do think we will, I'll be okay with visits home."
"...wow," Nick replied, pretty stunned Mat left his whole life in Hawaii behind.
"But I do admit one thing..." Mat told the others. "I am a little attracted to Sam's bathing suit, though."
"Of course! What guy is NOT attracted to a girl in a bathing suit?" May chuckled.
"Girl's got a good point," Nick chuckled. "Like this girl in my old middle school swim class. She loved to tease me all the time like that!"
"I kinda had to step in at a few points just to make sure she didn't get herself in trouble," Bridget laughed. "I think she was flustering the teacher with how much she did that."
After spending a few hours bonding with the other four spies, Nick, May and Bridget returned home later that evening, first stopping outside Nick's house.
"So, I think that went pretty well," May quipped.
"They seem like such a tightly-knit group," Bridget stated.
"Well, the way I see it, if you're gonna work in a team when it comes to being an agent of W.O.O.H.P., you've really gotta know your partners inside and out," Nick responded. "Kinda like how well I know you two."
"Aw, stop," Bridget chuckled.
"So... have you decided when you're going to ask Alex out?" May wondered.
"S-Seriously, May?! I just met her today, like, literally today!" Nick sputtered.
"Yeah, but it's clearly obvious how badly you're crushing on her, too," May answered. "I'm honestly surprised that Alex hasn't caught on by now."
"May, I swear, if you tell her before I can..." Nick retorted.
"Relax, buddy, we would never do that to you," Bridget responded. "You know May just likes teasing you. But you know it's gonna come out eventually, right?"
"I just want to find the right time to ask her without it seeming like I'm asking too soon," Nick sighed. "I've already made that mistake before, after all."
Both May and Bridget glanced at each other, knowing exactly what Nick was talking about, as they'd both been there to witness it.
"Yeah, and that's why I'm only teasing you about it like I usually do," May admitted as she scooted closer to Nick. "I can tell how much you want it to work out this time."
"Honestly, if that hussy was here in Beverly Hills, I'd probably wanna smack her with my yo-yos for saying those nasty things about you," Bridget quipped.
"...you kinda already did that, Bridget," Nick chuckled, remembering that incident quite well.
"My point still stands," Bridget replied. "What we're trying to say is, just figure out when you think the best time to ask her out would be."
"Sometimes, you just gotta go with the flow and let things happen, you know?" May responded. "Kinda the philosophy I've lived my whole life by."
"You know, I know I say this a lot, but I'm really lucky to have friends like you in my life," Nick chuckled.
"Hey, that's what friends are supposed to do, right?" Bridget quipped as she leaned over to hug Nick.
The next couple days passed by mostly without incident, allowing Nick, May and Bridget to get accustomed to Beverly Hills High School, as it was quite different from Mistralton High School in many different ways.
As Nick turned the hallway corner to meet up with both May and Bridget, he suddenly heard shouting coming from the other end of said hallway.
"W-what the heck was that?!" May gasped.
"Sounds like someone's arguing about... 'old boyfriend hair' and 'stinky wool outfits'?" Bridget quipped, going by what she could make out from the shouting.
"Ooh, boy, we'd better go and check this out before it gets nasty," Nick stated as the three of them rushed down the hallway to see what was happening.
When they arrived, they saw Sam and Alex desperately trying to hold back a rather pissed-off Clover, who was trying to scratch and claw at a girl about their age with long black hair and violet eyes. Mat was standing to the side near a row of lockers, apparently used to these kinds of antics.
"WHY YOU LITTLE" Clover growled, still struggling to break out of Sam and Alex's grasp.
"Clover, just let it go! She's not worth it!" Alex shouted.
"...dare I ask what exactly is going on here?" Nick wondered.
Mandy glanced over at Nick before adopting another smug expression and sauntering her way over to them. "Well, well, it looks like the brat patrol's got another new boy toy to play around with," Mandy laughed in a very nasally voice that didn't take long to start grating on both May and Bridget's nerves. "Kinda figured that Clover would go that far."
"Excuse me?" Bridget stuttered, clearly very confused at what was happening.
"Oh, wow, nice hoodie you've got," Mandy quipped very sarcastically. "Does it come in girl's style or did you weave it together from whatever Clover's outfits left behind in the trash bin?"
Is this chick for real? Nick thought.
"I'll have you know that my mother spent quite a bit to get this for me," Bridget retorted.
"Still doesn't look like enough, if you want my opinion," Mandy laughed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Clover to irritate."
As Mandy turned around to resume her merciless taunting of Clover, she didn't notice Bridget stealthily bring out one of her yo-yos and throw it forward to hook it around Mandy's ankle, pulling back to make Mandy stumble and fall to the ground.
Before Mandy could pick herself up, Bridget retracted and pocketed her yo-yo, trying (and failing) to hide her amused grin.
"And what was that for?!" Mandy shouted.
"Oh, I don't know what you're talking about," Bridget giggled.
"Maybe you're just jealous that Clover's fashion sense is about five light years ahead of yours," May taunted. "Seriously, I've seen dress-and-blouse combos that look like they belong in a bargain bin at TJ Omega's that look better than yours."
Mandy clearly had no idea how to respond to that, unused to one of "Clover's lackeys" actually firing back like that. It frustrated her enough to make her turn on her heel and march down the opposite end of the hallway, muttering to herself in the process.
Clover could only stare on, still in disbelief.
"Hey, we've dealt with her kind before," Bridget chuckled. "Wasn't exactly hard to figure her out."
"Okay, seriously, that was amazing," Alex laughed. "We've been having so much trouble with Mandy lately, and Clover was just about to go critical mass from that 'old boyfriend hair' crack."
"And when that happens, we usually have to listen to Clover's rambling for, like, two straight days," Sam quipped.
"I don't rant that long, do I?" Clover wondered.
"Just a bit," Mat teased.
"So, I heard through the grapevine that you guys are having an ice-cream movie night thing next weekend," May quipped. "Could the three of us, by any chance, join that thing?"
"Of course!" Clover proclaimed. "And I'll foot the bill for the ice cream this time, as thanks for making the stupid Mandy go away."
"Sweet!" Bridget exclaimed. "Make sure mine's double chocolate, and we're square."
"I just hope we can find some this time," Alex quipped. "You know that everyone's going to be buying whatever they can from the mall before it shuts down and The Groove opens up."
"All the more imperative that we find and secure that chocolate ice cream on the double!" Bridget proclaimed dramatically, causing all seven of them to laugh.
Before any of them could discuss their plans for said movie night, one of the nearby lockers suddenly opened all by itself.
Before Nick could make a comment on that, seven large mechanical hands on extendable arms reached out from the open locker to grab all seven spies and pull them into it before the locker door closed.
2:11 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"Ow, my head," May groaned once the spies had picked themselves up from the summons. "What the heck just happened?!"
"You just got WOOHPed for the first time, I take it?" Clover chuckled as she picked herself up. "Yeah, that happens all the time with us."
"I'm just glad I didn't accidentally conk myself with my yo-yos on the way down," Bridget admitted.
"All right-y then, who's being a ne'er-do-well today, Jerry?" Nick asked once all seven of them were in their spy suits. Nick's suit was colored dark purple, May's was orange, and Bridget's was a bright blue that matched her hoodie color.
Jerry gestured to the office viewscreen just as it changed to a mugshot of someone that Sam definitely wasn't happy to see.
"...oh, lord, not James again," Sam groaned in disgust.
"You know this nutball, Sammy?" May asked.
"Long story short, James tried to make Sammy fall for him so she'd do his bidding, and it turned out he was trying to steal an invisibility serum to kidnap the president," Alex explained. "So, yeah, he's kinda a massive jerk."
"Oh, jeez, and he probably doesn't even know that you have a boyfriend now, Sam," Clover stated.
"Oh, just let him try to be a sleaze," Bridget chuckled. "He tries, he's gonna get the business end of my yo-yos."
"Wait, where is he?" Nick wondered. "I highly doubt he's gonna be just randomly roaming around Beverly Hills like Scam was."
To answer that question, RiCO materialized in the office before gesturing to the viewscreen, which was now displaying a map of Washington, D.C. on it.
"Our trackers are showing him somewhere near the White House," RiCO explained. "Kinda looks like he didn't learn from his last defeat."
"That seems to be a common thing with your rogues' gallery, apparently," May noted with a knowing smile on her face.
"Oh, you have no idea," Mat chuckled as the spies moved to retrieve their gadgets.
3:07 P.M. – Washington, D.C.
The White House
"I just realized a big problem about this whole thing," Sam realized once they were all in position around James' last known location.
"And that would be...?" Bridget wondered.
"If he's using his invisibility serum again, how are we supposed to find him before he gets where he's going?" Sam responded. "I don't know if our Heat Sensor 6000s can detect him when he goes invisible..."
"Hmmmm... let me try something," Nick answered, taking a few steps forward and closing his eyes before focusing on his psychic senses. Nick began psychically scanning the nearby area, searching for any traces of out-of-place or suspicious thoughts.
Eventually, Nick caught something suspicious near one of the pillars around the front entryway. Nick gestured to the spies, motioning to hold on while he did something devious.
James, still invisible, slinked around the pillar towards his target, infinitely glad he'd managed to escape that dreadful containment facility. He'd have to thank ol' whats-his-name for that later.
Suddenly, James found himself being levitated into the air, his body surrounded by a golden glow.
"H-Hey, man, what gives?!" James shouted. "Nobody should be able to see me!"
"Yeah, well, I can still read your thoughts, invisible or not," Nick taunted as James became visible again. "Being a psychic has its advantages, you know."
Not waiting for any kind of lame retort, Nick threw James back down to the ground so the rest of the spies could surround him.
"Well, well, if it isn't the woman of my dreams again," James cackled when he laid eyes on Sam. "How appropriate you'd come running back to me."
When James looked at Mat and saw how close he was to Sam, he started to approach, only for Bridget to whip her yo-yos out at him.
"Don't take another step, mister sleaze, unless you want a yo-yo to your face," Bridget taunted.
"All right, everyone, let's dogpile on him!" May shouted as the seven spies advanced on James.
"No matter," James replied. "I'll get what I want anyway..."
"You won't..." Bridget told him. "But good luck trying..."
James did not let things faze him upon seeing Sam and Mat as close as they were.
"I can see you still haven't learned your lesson, you..." James growled at Mat.
"You're one to talk about learning lessons, bud," Mat retorted.
As James tried to reach for Sam, Mat was quick to react with a kick to James' wrist.
"Don't even THINK you're going to be in my life, James!" Sam emphasized as she put her foot on his chest. "You had no problem spilling your guts to me with stealing the Invisibility Formula after all, and that's a black mark against you that won't ever go away!"
"We've heard everything, too," Nick added. "You want to come between Sam and Mat, you're going through us first!"
"Don't forget coming between Sam, Clover, and me," Alex chimed in.
"I know for a fact that Nick's NOTHING like that!" May exclaimed.
Alex heard that loud and clear, and she kept a mental note to herself.
"And I've already gotten a very good idea Mat's nothing like you, either!" Sam added to James.
"You won't stop me!" James shouted. "It's in my nature, and nature always wins!"
After everybody did the dogpile on James, Nick put him in a psychic bubble and whisked him away to the WOOHP jet that happened to be flying by at the same time.
"He's REALLY GOOD with the timing," May commented.
"One of the many great qualities about Jerry, despite the questionable stuff he does," Sam quipped.
Jerry was already on it and summoned the spies to the jet.
"Another job well done in record time, spies," Jerry commended.
"Thanks, Jer," Clover quipped. "Maybe we ought to have these three join us if we're completing missions this quickly."
"Not going to argue there," Alex added.
"I'm making it unanimous," Sam quipped.
"Add me to the fold," Mat stated.
With that, Jerry transported the spies back to their beach house.
4:48 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
"Well, two missions, two quick finishes," Clover happily stated as she applied some lipstick.
"No doubt about it," Alex remarked. "Shorter-than-normal missions means more down time for us."
"Where did they get to anyway?" Sam wondered.
"I think they wanted to know more about Mat," Clover replied.
It was true after all, as Nick, May, and Bridget were all checking out what Mat's life revolved around, the sport of Motocross; Mat had been following the sport since 1997, and they were surprised to hear he rides, too.
"I'm hoping to head to some races," Mat told them. "But most importantly, I'm looking for my guy Chad Reed to come out swinging in Supercross 2006."
"It's nice to see you've got a sport that you're so passionate about," May quipped.
"Yeah, I kinda used to be a bit of a football nut myself, considering my cousin Jeremy plays for the Mistralton Mashers, our old high school football team," Bridget responded.
"You've really just gotta find that one that clicks with you and go with the flow," Nick stated.
"But that's not all my life revolves around," Mat told them.
They all sort of knew about Mat and Jeopardy partly thanks to Sam mentioning that.
"Hey..." Sam called out to the others. "Alex wants to swim again, you in?"
Bridget and May rather quickly changed into their swimsuits (they were glad their X-Powders had that function) and charged right into the pool area before diving head-first in.
"Does that answer your question, Sam?" Nick chuckled as he followed suit and headed for the pool.
All of a sudden, Alex quickly got splashed by something. When she turned around to try and figure out who had done so, May was the only one who looked kinda sheepish.
"Um... Bridget did it?" May quipped, hoping to deflect.
"Why are you always throwing me under the bus, you traitor?!" Bridget shouted.
Alex simply grinned in response before, drawing from her soccer experience, did a little twirl before lashing out with an upwards kick that drenched both May and Bridget with a large wave.
"That's why I usually try to stay away from that," Nick chuckled.
Nick would quickly have to eat his own words when he felt something grab his ankles and yank him underwater. When he saw Clover's grinning face, Nick simply waved his finger like a certain famous hedgehog before swimming away from Clover.
Eventually, Nick was able to resurface right behind Bridget, while Clover was having a bit of trouble believing that Nick had been able to evade her for so long.
"Man, you're actually a really good swimmer, you know that?" Clover chuckled.
"Would you believe me if I said that I couldn't swim for beans in my youth?" Nick admitted. "I guess I have both Bridget and an actually decent swim coach in middle school to thank for finally getting past that obstacle."
"Yeah, the Mistralton Middle School swim instructor kinda, well, wanged chung at actually teaching people how to swim," Bridget laughed. "So, I figured I'd help my buddy out when he needed it."
"I think even the school realized that 'hey, this coach isn't really working out right', because in my second year, they actually got a coach who knew what she was doing," Nick quipped. "So yeah, that was fun."
One more night later, back at Nick's house, Nick, May and Bridget, who were having their once-a-week weekend sleepover as dictated by all of their parents, were animatedly discussing the week's events.
"So, I'd say that week went pretty well, huh?" Bridget quipped.
"Tell me about it," May replied. "We make some new friends, meet another fellow team of spies, and get to bust two baddies in possibly record time. I'd say that's a win on all fronts."
May then glanced at Nick, who appeared to be lost in thought again. "Speaking of wins, Nick..." May started.
"I know what you're thinking, May, and the answer is 'I'm still thinking'," Nick responded. "I know it's been about a week now, but I'm worried that might still be too soon..."
"Take it from me, Nick, you might want to make a decision soon before someone else swoops in and ruins your big chance," Bridget stated. "I don't think I need to remind you of what happened with that one boy in middle school..."
"Oof, tell me about it," Nick quipped, knowing exactly what Bridget was talking about. "That poor boy..."
"Just remember, Nick, we've got your back," May proclaimed. "Always have, always will."
"Thanks, May," Nick answered. "I definitely needed that."
As his two friends fell asleep, Nick stayed up for just a bit longer, trying to decide when he should make his move.
I'll give it a couple more days, Nick thought. I really, REALLY want it to work this time.
Before Nick fell into slumber himself, his mind flashed back to something that James had said before Nick had captured him.
"It's in my nature, and nature always wins!"
That didn't seem like something that James would normally say, when he put together everything that the spies had told them about James and his... "James-ness", as May had put it.
Figuring that they'd figure that little tidbit out sooner or later, Nick allowed sleep to claim him for the night, a smile popping up on his face as he thought on how the week had gone.
Maybe things will be better this time.
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: It's... it's magnificent.
Bridget: It certainly exceeds expectations. I mean, look at this freakin' crowd!
Clover: They're all as excited as we are, Bridget!
May: You're probably the most excited of all of us, Clover.
Nick: Hey, if you think this place is grand, you should have seen the mall we used to have back in Mistralton before the owners got caught up in some skeevy stuff. If it were still around, that old mall could probably eat this one up and still have room for dessert.
Alex: Hey, I think the doors are finally opening up!"
Sam: Well, then, ladies and gentlemen, let's get in there and do what we came here to do.
Clover: Oh, my god, is that a new shoe store?!"
Bridget: Down, Clover. You can look at the shoe store all you want later. Remember, we've got an objective to complete first, next time on Totally Spies the Movie: Another Side, Another Story, "See A New World Worth Fighting For"!
Nick: I gotta hand it to the special effects department, they certainly know their stuff.
Bridget: I think you can attribute this one to the props department. They were clearly working overtime to build this magnificent set!