On Today's Episode: Tim Scam has been defeated at long last, and after some downtime in Mistralton to help Nick recharge, the spies head back home to Beverly Hills... only to find a ghastly sight. The city has been infested with overgrown plant life, the work of their enemy Lasputin Zero, who has been biding his time with the rogues' gallery's other schemes in order to complete his own masterpiece. Can the spies come together once again to topple this terrifying titan of nature, or is this the moment where nature finally wins?
Act 5: Always to New Horizons
9:31 A.M. – Mistralton, South Carolina
"Hey, I think he's waking up!"
"Ugh... no, mom, I only had soup, I don't see why we should split the bill evenly..." Nick grumbled in his sleep, only to finally open his eyes and notice the concerned faces of the others staring down at him.
"Hey, everyone," Nick quipped. "Did I miss anything?"
"I can't believe you can even joke right now," Bridget chuckled. "I knew that was going to happen, you doof..."
"Speaking of which, what exactly did you do, Nick?" Alex wondered. "We just saw you power up and freakin' annihilate Scam's robot thing."
"Oh, yeah, that," Nick replied as he sat back up. "That was what I like to call my 'super form', for lack of a better term. Basically, what I did was channel my remaining reserves of psychic power to supercharge me for a short time. As you might have noticed, though, I rarely use that nowadays because I kinda collapse from exertion after my boost ends, so I tend to save that as an absolute last resort option."
"And you're sure you're feeling okay?" Clover asked. "Jerry and RiCO checked you out while you were sleeping, and they pretty much gave you the all clear, but you've been asleep since seven-thirty last night."
"Yeah, that's another side effect, too," Nick quipped. "But really, I'm feeling a lot better now, more so since we finally put that son of a bitch in his place. Hey, speaking of which, what happened to Scam's big fortress thing?"
"RiCO managed to guide it away from the city, thankfully," Sam stated.
"Okay, that's good," Nick replied as he looked around, just now noticing that they were in a very familiar place, at least to him. "Hey, are we..." Nick wondered.
"Yeah, we're in the old bed and breakfast building," Bridget responded. "We decided to rest up here for the night so we could watch over you. Thank goodness it's the weekend so we don't have to worry about school for the moment."
Bridget leaned over to hug Nick tightly. "Don't you ever worry me like that again, okay, Nick?" Bridget stated. "But honestly, I'm just happy you're all right."
"So are we," Mat proclaimed. "And quite frankly, that was awesome, bro, watching you take that robot thing down."
"Now we can add 'destroying a giant robot' to our list of accomplishments, huh?" Alex giggled as she moved forward and kissed Nick on the cheek.
"So, since we've got some time to kill before we have to go back home, how about we show you guys around Mistralton?" May offered. "It's got quite a few sights to see, after all."
"I think we'll take you up on that offer," Sam chuckled. "After all, you three know this town the best."
"Well, then, let's get explorin'!" Bridget laughed.
"Mat, let's just say that we know Mistralton as well as you know wherever in Hawaii you live," Nick told Mat.
"I won't doubt that," Mat replied.
"We also got word from Jerry and RiCO that they're comping our room," Sam told Nick, May, and Bridget.
"Sounds like Jerry," May commented.
Despite losing his parents to someone like Tim Scam, Nick immediately knew he wasn't alone with the friends he'd already made, and his new girlfriend in Alex.
"Well, where should we go first?" Alex asked.
"I have it either between one of the malls or pools here," Clover told the others.
"Sounds like you, Clover," Sam chuckled.
"So, mall first, then one of the pools?" Alex asked for clarification.
"Works for me," Mat replied. "And maybe we could get lunch as well."
"Well, we know the nearest mall, which has plenty of eateries," Bridget quipped.
"I think defeating Tim Scam really left me with a big appetite," Nick commented.
"That doesn't surprise me," May laughed.
11:02 A.M. – Mistralton MultiMall
"Wowee!" Clover exclaimed at how big the mall is.
"This mall definitely gives Ala Moana a run for its money in Hawaii," Mat commented.
"You seem to know your malls, Mat," Bridget replied. "At least in Hawaii anyway."
"Yeah, I know my fair share," Mat laughed.
With that, everybody got some food and Clover began her usual "shop 'til you drop" routine.
"Of course they got a movie theater here," May told the girls.
"I think the new Supercross: The Movie is out in theaters, so maybe I can see it..." Mat stated. "And maybe check off the box of seeing a PG-13 movie..."
The spies were surprised at hearing that.
"What?! I don't watch movies!" Mat reasoned.
"Well, to each his own," Bridget remarked.
Clover returned with several bags already, which made Sam and Alex chuckle.
"You didn't waste any time, Clover," Sam laughed.
"No way, Sammy," Clover giggled.
After that, the spies caught a movie; Nick appeared interested in Supercross: The Movie like Mat was, especially considering Mat's background.
"You never saw Motocrossed on Disney Channel?" Bridget asked Mat.
"Honestly, no," Mat answered. "I don't think it really appealed to me, and I never really found it on TV at all."
After over an hour-and-a-half, the movie was done.
"Well, that was definitely an interesting one," Nick quipped. "Never thought I'd enjoy a movie like that."
"It seems like critics didn't like it, though," May noted.
"Oh, nuts to that!" Bridget proclaimed. "Not every movie's gonna be for everyone, right? I say watch it for yourself and form your own opinion!"
"You couldn't sit still, Mat," Sam chuckled.
"It was that exciting!" Mat exclaimed.
Alex seemed to like it, too since she had a sports bug in her, too.
Before long, after leaving the mall, the spies made a break for the nearest pool.
A few minutes after the spies had all jumped in, Nick could hear footsteps rapidly approaching them.
Knowing exactly what this meant, Nick motioned to Sam and Alex, who were both in the line of fire, to move away from each other for their own safety. And sure enough, May burst out of the changing room, dressed in a two-piece orange swimsuit, and charged for the pool, leaping through the air to do a powerful cannonball into the water. The shockwave from her cannonball actually drenched Sam, Alex and Clover at once.
"Holy crapbaskets, May," Mat chuckled.
"That's why I warned them to back up just a bit," Nick responded. "May likes to do random cannonballs into pools at times, and I'd rather she not land on top of any of you."
"Did that happen to you once, Nick?" Alex wondered. "Because it kinda sounds like it did."
"And that's why I have to give my friends warnings whenever May's part of a pool trip," Nick quipped.
"That's the fun part, Nick," May laughed as she resurfaced. "You're not supposed to know when they're coming. That's what random means, right?"
"Girl's got a point," Clover chuckled.
All in all, the seven spies had a very good time just hanging out in Mistralton, getting some much-needed unwinding time after all the stress of dealing with Tim Scam recently.
"Ah, that was so much fun," Alex laughed. "This really is quite the lively city."
"Tell me about it," Bridget quipped. "Nick and I know it the best. After all, we grew up here."
"And it didn't take me too long to see everything it had to offer, too," May admitted. "Mistralton's so different from New York, it was a little intimidating at first, but I was hooked soon enough."
The spies all walked towards their Skyskimmer, which was parked nearby the airport so they could all take off for Beverly Hills.
"Farewell, Mistralton," Bridget sighed dramatically as the Skyskimmer flew away from the city. "We shall return someday."
"And you made sure to get some treats from the café like you said you were gonna?" Nick asked.
"Oh, Nick, it was the first thing I did once you were up and about," Bridget chuckled.
"You really like those treats, huh?" Sam replied.
"You have no idea," Nick and Bridget proclaimed at the same time, to which everybody started laughing.
4:34 P.M. – The Skies Above Beverly Hills
"How about we all check in with Jerry, just so he knows that we're finally back home?" Sam asked.
"Good idea, Sammy," Clover stated, only to realize that something was wrong when she flipped open her X-Powder. "...huh. That's odd."
"What's wrong, Clover?" Mat wondered.
"I can't seem to get a call through," Clover replied. "There's way too much interference."
"Yeah, that's definitely weird," May noted. "Is something interfering with our call frequency?"
Nick glanced out the nearby window, only to see something that deeply disturbed him.
"...um, everyone, I think it might have something to do with that," Nick quipped, pointing out the window so that the others could see what he'd seen.
The city was almost completely infested with many different kinds of plant life that hadn't been there when they'd left for Mistralton, large and thick vines wrapping around many buildings, many citizens running for their lives in confusion and fear, and much of the plant life actually moving like it was alive.
"What in the hell?!" Bridget shouted. "What's been happening while we've been gone?! That stuff wasn't there when we left!"
"I'm pretty sure that our rogues' gallery is behind this somehow," Nick stated. "We'd better get to W.O.O.H.P. and figure out just what happened here."
The Skyskimmer flew towards W.O.O.H.P., which thankfully wasn't covered in plant life, only for one of the vines constricting a nearby skyscraper to unfurl and lash out with enough speed and force to slash the Skyskimmer completely in half. The spies were forced to bail from the destroyed Skyskimmer as its halves crashed down into the city.
"Yeah, I think this is gonna be a problem," Sam quipped. "Who's the whackjob who put this together?"
"You make it sound like my plans are the half-baked nonsense of other villains. No. This is perfection."
Nick's eyes were drawn to the roof of the skyscraper where that vine had come from, and he saw someone standing there with a smug grin on his face.
The spies all flew closer to the skyscraper in question so they could confront whoever this was.
"I'm assuming that, whoever you are, you're the one that turned Beverly Hills into a nature nightmare," Nick proclaimed, his psychic aura flaring to life around him. "And that means that you're in for a world of hurt."
"This is no nightmare, boy," the figure laughed. "This is simply your punishment for abusing mother nature."
"...wait," Alex gasped when she realized that she recognized this figure. "There's no freakin' way it's you."
"Lasputin Zero," Sam proclaimed. "What's the meaning of all of this?! I thought you didn't actually want to harm people with your living plants?!"
"Times change, my dear Samantha," Zero retorted. "I've seen your kind abuse the wonderful gifts that mother nature has granted you, and you don't even seem the least bit sorry about it. So, I decided that needed to change. I've been working behind the scenes, with my plants 'helping' other villains like me out while I fine-tuned my own plan."
"Wait, you're the reason we had to deal with all of these villains so rapidly?" May gasped.
"And let me guess, you're the one who told Tim Scam to murder my parents, right?" Nick growled.
"Actually, that one was all his idea," Zero chuckled. "I just told him to do as he pleased."
"Well, if you're gonna turn into another psychopath like all the rest, then we'll be happy to take you down like all the rest!" Alex proclaimed.
"I look forward to watching you fail," Zero laughed. "Don't think you're going to triumph as easily as you did against my other patsies. Because now you face the full wrath of mother nature. After all, in the end, nature always wins."
One of the vines wrapping around the building coiled slightly around Zero's waist and lifted him down to the ground, leaving the spies to ponder everything they'd just heard.
"So that's why our rogues' gallery kept popping up," Sam stated. "They were just stalling for time so Zero could complete his own project."
"Makes sense, especially considering everything we've been through lately," Mat noted.
"Okay, here's my question," Alex stated. "What are we going to do about all of this?!"
Just then, Nick's X-Powder began to beep, and he flipped it open to see the concerned faces of both Jerry and RiCO on the screen. "What's up, Jerry?" Nick asked.
"Oh, thank goodness we finally got a connection through!" RiCO exclaimed. "We tried to contact you on your way back to warn you, but these overgrown vines are messing with our equipment!"
"It turns out mister nature boy Lasputin Zero is behind this," Mat explained. "He let a bunch of our rogues' gallery loose to stall for time."
"I am just relieved to know that you are all right, spies," Jerry proclaimed. "I want you to head into the city and make sure everyone is all right. Lord only knows what else these malignant plants are trying to do to the people."
"That was always the plan, Jerry," Nick responded. "Keep us posted."
After Nick closed his X-Powder, he looked back down at the plantlife-infested Beverly Hills. "Well, ladies and gentleman, no rest for the wicked, huh?" Nick quipped.
"That just comes with the territory of being an agent of W.O.O.H.P.," Sam answered. "You always gotta be prepared for anything."
"Well, then, let's not waste any more time and get down into the city," Bridget proclaimed. "We've got a nature infestation to clean up."
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Bridget," May chuckled.
After double-checking the gadgets they currently had on hand, the spies all descended into the plant-infested Beverly Hills, hoping to find a way to stop Zero before his ambitions flattened the city they called home.
"Maybe we can split up and have an easier time finding whatever we need to stop these plants!" Mat exclaimed.
"My thoughts exactly," Sam quipped.
"RiCO to the rescue..." RiCO announced from Sam's X-Powder.
"You can help us, RiCO?" May asked.
"Only a bit, but I can pinpoint where that first weak point is," RiCO stated.
"Well, let's hear it," Sam remarked.
"Oh, we've got trouble, Sam," Mat stated. "Some of our rogues' gallery has found us!"
Sam, Bridget, and Mat could see Violet Vanderfleet, Vince King, and Macker the Safecracker.
"I can see our ringleader has got similar thinking to me," Violet happily (and evilly) stated.
"And I've assembled an army to have you meddlers be dealt with once and for all..." Vince King sneered as his army of gladiators came into view as well.
"Ooh, this is gonna get ugly soon," Bridget groaned.
"At least we got a little fun out of the way beforehand," Mat commented. "Maybe this'll work for us like 'taking a break' did for Jeremy McGrath."
"Valid point indeed," Sam commented.
Mat then used his Jet Pack Backpack to take to the sky. He got on his Game Boy Advance SP to give the others a call.
"Guys, we got a big problem on our end... how about you?" Mat wondered.
"Same with us," Clover replied over the line.
"Some more of our rogues' gallery has cornered us, too!" Nick added.
"I'm seeing a bunch of bad guys on our end, too!" Alex exclaimed.
"One guys looks like he's a paparazzi nut, and another's got a metal hand," May quipped. "And I thought the baddies we've faced were weird enough..."
"Sorry, guys, looks like we're held up as well," Clover replied as she was forced to hang up.
"Well, no matter..." Bridget quipped. "I've been wanting to try a new move myself..."
"You really think I'm gonna let you, little yo-yo girl?" King laughed as he barreled forward to attack Bridget.
"That's your mistake," Bridget chuckled as she switched over to her regular yo-yos and tossed both of them for King, hooking them around his ankles so she could pull and send him collapsing to the ground. Not satisfied with just that, Bridget began swinging King around with her yo-yos, eventually tossing him into both Violet and Macker to send all three villains crashing down.
"I call that one the 'Chode Toss'," Bridget giggled as she high-fived both Sam and Mat.
"Guess it's our turn for a team-up, Mat," Sam stated to Mat.
"I'm jumping on that bandwagon," Mat replied.
"I'm sorry, but who's the one who has better numbers in this?" Violet laughed as the three villains picked themselves up.
"And who's the one who whooped all of your keesters already?!" Mat shot back. "This won't be any different!"
Sam and Mat both charged towards Violet and ducked under one of her meager attempts to kick them, retaliating by decking her from both sides with elbow strikes. This dazed Violet long enough for Sam to duck down and leg sweep Violet off of her feet, followed by Mat shoulder-tackling her into King, who was trying to sneak up on Sam.
"Great move, guys!" Bridget proclaimed.
"And you wonder why I love this girl?" Mat humbly stated.
"Well, let's hope Nick and the others are doing okay on their end," Bridget quipped.
While all of this was happening, Nick, May, Alex and Clover were busy dealing with both Captain Hayes and Sebastian Saga.
"Sometimes I wonder how you deal with all of these nutballs in your rogues' gallery," May quipped.
"Very slowly and tediously," Clover sighed. "Sometimes it's the only way we can."
"While you're just sitting there yapping, I can still shred you kids to pieces with some power chords!" Sebastian laughed, playing a chord on his guitar to send some booming sound waves towards the spies.
Nick raised his hand to project a psychic barrier that dissipated the sound waves just in time.
"We really don't have time to deal with your sorry keesters right now," Nick taunted. "We're trying to find the big cheese and take care of him before this gets any worse, so if you don't mind..."
"Sorry, little boy, but you should know that nature always wins in the end," Hayes laughed.
"Zero hasn't won yet, you know!" Alex shouted. "We'll stop his nonsense like we always do!"
"And what, if any, hope do you really have?" Sebastian cackled.
"Okay, you know what? Screw this," Nick proclaimed, raising his hand again to encase both Sebastian and Hayes inside psychic bubbles before flicking his hand upwards to send both villains back to the containment facility, since W.O.O.H.P. itself appeared to be relatively untouched by all of this chaos.
"Yeah, good riddance to those blabbermouths," May stated. "Let's go check in with the others, shall we?"
Thankfully, by the time the seven spies had regrouped, they'd managed to corral all of the baddies that had been sprung by Zero, Nick encasing them in a large bubble and sending them on their way.
"Well, that was about five pains in my rear," Clover admitted.
"But I've got a sinking feeling that we're not done yet," Nick stated.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Zero's plan wasn't just to spring a bunch of villains from prison," Bridget quipped. "We've still got to figure out a way to get rid of all this overgrowth before something even worse happens."
All of a sudden, a massive shadow loomed over the group, and they looked up to see what exactly was casting it.
"...oh, me and my big mouth," Bridget groaned.
Descending from the sky was a gigantic humanoid robot 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.
"...what in the absolute hell am I looking at?!" Mat gasped.
"Wait, wait, hold on," May quipped. "I thought I heard something recently about a robotics expo in Japan. One of the machines they built was stolen from the expo center before it could get started, and they had to cancel the whole event because it was their star attraction."
"Okay, so, if that's what it is, what's it doing here?" Sam wondered. "I thought Zero was obsessed with nature."
"Oh, he had a little help."
The spies all glanced upwards towards the broad shoulders of the robot, where both Zero and Tim Scam could be seen standing on it, smug grins highlighting their faces.
"Of freakin' course you'd be back," Nick growled.
"If you're curious, I was the one who pilfered this magnificent machine to use as our ultimate weapon," Scam laughed.
"And when you add the power of nature to this wonder of science..." Zero chuckled. "...let's just say that you can kiss your precious city goodbye."
Zero and Scam jumped into the cockpit of the machine as some of the nearby vines infesting the city enclosed on the machine.
Before the spies could go on the offensive, the machine started vibrating in a very unsettling way, eventually sprouting five extra arms with clawed hands from the shell of its thrusters, all seven arms surrounded by vines.
"This machine didn't have a name before we stole it," Scam stated.
"But we've decided to give it a fitting one for its new purpose," Zero laughed. "Now, spies, you face... THE END."
THE END began slowly marching towards the spies, errantly crushing a few (thankfully abandoned) cars underneath its feet.
"Ooh, boy, this could be trouble," Alex groaned. "This thing's a lot bigger than the robot Scam used!"
"I'm scanning it for a weak point right now," RiCO proclaimed from Nick's X-Powder.
Nick glanced upwards as THE END approached them, and realized what he had to do.
Bridget seemed to notice Nick's expression, and quickly rushed to his side.
"Nick, I know what you're thinking," Bridget proclaimed. "Are you sure? You just used it last time, and you know what happened afterwards, right?"
"I know, Bridget, but this time, I think we have an advantage," Nick responded. "I've barely used any power in recapturing our baddies, so I think I'll be okay. Remember, the only reason I collapsed so quickly before was because I'd already used so much juice fighting Scam. Since I'm pretty fresh, I think I can go all-out and last longer."
Nick crossed his arms over his chest, his body beginning to glow brightly.
"Will you still watch my back, Bridget?" Nick asked.
"Of course," Bridget immediately replied. "I always have, and I always will."
As the other spies brandished their gadgets of choice, May and Bridget stood by Nick's side as he prepared himself.
After a few seconds, Nick threw his arms out and let out a loud battle cry, golden psychic energy exploding outwards from his body.
When the bright flash cleared, Nick was now surrounded by an utterly gigantic aura of pure golden 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 yellow light, and his eyes had changed from brown to a sharp golden yellow.
"I don't care how hard we have to fight," Nick proclaimed. "We're going to trash your machine just like we always do!"
"Please do try and entertain us!" Zero laughed.
Nick shot off like a lightning bolt into the sky, the spies following close behind as they all approached THE END to ascertain a strategy.
Alex started by firing an Electromagnetic Curling Iron at THE END's knees, noting that they didn't look as armored as the rest of the machine. Though THE END didn't appear to take any damage, it did stall it momentarily, allowing Bridget to slip in, equip her Super Elongated Titanium Yo-Yos, and start slashing at THE END's chest.
In retaliation, THE END bent downwards and launched a salvo of energy spheres from the cannon ports on its thruster shell. Two of the spheres came close to Sam, but she deflected them away by wrapping herself in a Cashmere Deflector Shield, while Nick projected a large psychic barrier to deflect the rest.
THE END jumped forward and swung all seven of its arms at once, actually managing to break Nick's psychic barrier in the process.
"...oh, that's not good," Nick quipped.
THE END began rapidly swiping at Nick with each of its arms, though with his heightened reflexes thanks to the power boost, he was able to just barely dodge each swipe before rocketing forward to kick THE END in the head.
As it moved back slightly, Nick flew forward and landed on THE END's arm, running up it towards the head even as THE END's other arms attempted to swat him off.
Nick simply jumped over each hand as it approached him, even jumping from one hand to the other before firing a much stronger Final Shine Attack into THE END's head.
"All right, everyone, pour it on!" Nick shouted to the other spies.
Sam, Alex and Clover all fired Laser Lipsticks into the spot on THE END's chest that Bridget had been attacking earlier, hoping to do some more damage and expose THE END's weak spot.
Suddenly, THE END jumped into the air, far more nimbly than something of its size probably should, and lashed out with a spinning kick that forced the three girls to scatter in different directions.
"Oof, that was way too close," Alex sighed in relief.
"If that thing can do nimble crap like that, then we need to take it down real quickly," May quipped. "I don't want to know what it'd do to Beverly Hills if this fight drags on."
Almost as if reacting to May's statement, THE END turned around and prepared to attack a nearby skyscraper.
"Oh, no you don't!" Nick shouted, rushing forward to blast THE END in the back and force it to turn around. "Eyes on me, kaiju boy."
THE END roared in challenge and reached out to grab Nick with all seven of its hands, then opening up its mouth to charge up energy.
"...oh, crapbaskets," Nick quipped as he let out an outward burst of power around him, just enough to break free of THE END's grip.
However, THE END released its gathered energy in the form of a massive mouth laser aimed directly at Nick.
Nick quickly raised his hands and projected a massive psychic barrier to hold back the blast as best he could, even when he noticed his psychic aura starting to flicker slightly.
"Oh, that's even less good," Nick stated. "Come on, Nick, you can do this..."
Bridget continued to slash at THE END's legs, hoping to do enough damage to stop the attack before it got Nick hurt or worse. May assisted by tossing a pair of Incendiary Earrings at THE END's chest.
After considerable effort, Nick managed to push back against the blast enough to fire a Final Shine Attack through the beam and dissolve it...
...but much to his surprise, THE END leaped forward to avoid the Final Shine Attack, landed in front of Nick, its feet leaving small craters in the ground, and swung all seven of its clawed hands towards Nick.
Nick barely had the time to raise his hands up in defense as THE END struck him with all seven claws, the sheer force of the attack sending him crashing back to the ground, bouncing rather harshly until he came to a stop on the street.
The remaining six spies all abandoned attacking THE END so they could check up on Nick and make sure he was all right.
To their relief, Nick was still standing when they found him, but his psychic aura was flickering and fading, and he looked like he could barely stand.
"Oh, jeez, is Nick okay?!" Alex gasped.
"I think he used his powers to cushion that blow," Bridget responded. "But still, if he looks like that after something like that..."
All of a sudden, Bridget's worst fears seemingly came true when Nick suddenly stiffened up in his spot, his aura instantly fading much like it had done before, and he fell flat on his face, completely out cold.
The other spies immediately rushed to his aid even as THE END advanced on them.
"Come on, Nick, wake up!" Sam shouted.
"You little fools don't get it, do you?" Scam laughed as THE END glanced down at them. "Even that boy, with his wicked powers, isn't surviving an attack like that."
When the implication sank in for the spies, looks of abstract horror glanced back, and Bridget was the first one to scream and start racing towards THE END even as Sam and Clover tried to hold her back so she wouldn't do something she regretted.
Back at W.O.O.H.P., both Jerry and RiCO were monitoring the situation, and needless to say, they were both extremely worried.
"Should we give the spies the order to retreat?" Jerry asked.
"I don't know, Jerry, I'm trying to figure out something," RiCO responded, running as many calculations through her mind as she possibly could.
Unbeknownst to them, the five Deep Power Stones, which were currently locked in a high-security case in the office after the spies' caper against Kandinsky, began to vibrate and shimmer. After a few seconds, a flash lit up the office and the stones had disappeared.
"...Jerry, you saw that, right?" RiCO asked, to which Jerry could only nod.
"Let go of me, Sam!" Bridget shouted. "I'm going to strangle those two, and not just with my yo-yos!"
"Seriously, Bridget, it's not safe for you!" Sam exclaimed.
"Yes, wallow in despair, all of you!" Zero laughed from the cockpit of THE END. "This is the price you pay for interfering with mother nature!"
The spies were focused either worrying about Nick or trying to keep Bridget from charging recklessly, and Scam and Zero were caught up in their gloating over their apparent victory.
Which meant that neither side noticed the five Deep Power Stones appearing around Nick and beginning to spin around him. After a few seconds, the stones began to levitate into the air, Nick floating along with them even though he still appeared to be either unconscious or...
"If you hurt Nick any further, I swear I'm going to..." Alex growled.
"What part of this isn't sinking in for you little brats?!" Scam countered. "I told you, there's no way even he could survive an attack like that."
Scam sneered evilly, just to rub it in. "He's dead."
The spies all took a step back in horror.
("I'm Here –Revisited-" by Kellin Quinn plays)
As the Deep Power Stones continued to spin faster and faster, Nick's fists clenched and he bowed his head, the Deep Power Stones absorbing themselves into his body.
As the power coursed through his body, Nick threw his arms out and a massive explosion of golden light erupted from his body, drawing the spies' attention as they turned around to see what had caused it.
"W-what?!" Zero gasped.
Golden light billowed outward from that spot for a few seconds before dissipating in an outward spiral of light, allowing the spies to see what was happening.
Nick was hanging there in the sky, his psychic aura now shimmering as brightly as the sun, four orbs of light spiraling around his body, and a secondary crimson-red aura overlapping his normal golden aura. Blue sparkles and red wisps were also emanating from Nick's body at intervals. Nick opened his eyes to reveal that his eyes had changed to a sharp shade of cyan blue.
"...whoa," Bridget gasped.
The spies could only look on in awe and honest confusion as Nick rocketed towards THE END, much faster than he had against the Scam Diablo.
"Oh, please, boy, like you actually think you can punch THE END out," Zero chuckled.
Zero would have to eat his own words when Nick reached THE END and lunged forward with a wicked uppercut to THE END's chin, actually sending the machine stumbling backwards from the force of the impact.
"Holy crapbaskets, did Nick actually just punch that thing's lights out?!" Sam gasped.
"How'd he get this powerup?" Alex gasped.
As THE END attempted to recover, Nick continued to attack it, driving it backwards with each hit and making sure to keep THE END away from any nearby buildings.
Eventually, Nick dipped back downwards and flew forward to slug THE END in the stomach, in the place where the other spies had attacked it before, actually causing THE END to keel over.
Scam and Zero looked out from the cockpit, where Nick could be seen giving the two villains the angriest glare he possibly could.
THE END recovered and jumped over him to start running towards the spies, shaking the ground with each step.
Nick quickly turned around and rocketed towards the spies as THE END attempted to swipe at Bridget.
"NOW YOU DIE!" Scam and Zero shouted.
Nick placed himself in front of Bridget and swatted THE END's claw away, a simple feat with his boosted powers.
"Now you're gonna get it," Nick growled as he rocketed back towards THE END and started punching its chest rapidly, intent on doing as much damage as he could to the machine.
"Wow, he's battering it!" Clover shouted.
"Seriously, does anyone know how he got so strong when he..." Mat gasped until it suddenly clicked into place.
"THE DEEP POWER STONES!" all six spies shouted.
"But how did they get here when Nick needed them the most?" Alex wondered.
"Hey, as long as it's helping Nick, I couldn't really care less!" Bridget laughed.
Nick continued to pummel THE END before rearing back and striking at its chest with a punch so powerful that it actually sent THE END sailing through the air and into the ocean just outside the city.
"All right, now we can really cut loose!" Alex exclaimed as the spies all followed Nick out to the sea just as THE END picked itself up.
"Don't think you've won yet, boy!" Zero bellowed.
"In case you missed the memo that's right in front of your faces, I'm literally punching out your stupid robot freak," Nick retorted, his aura flaring. "You really want to keep it up and see how well it'll end for you?!"
"Empty threats, little man!" Scam cackled as THE END swiped four of its arms towards Nick.
Nick's response was to form a large psychic energy blade on his hands and slash it outwards, severing those four arms from THE END.
"...you were saying?" Nick taunted as he flew down towards the spies.
"What's up, Nick?" Alex wondered.
"As fun as it is beating this thing down, I think we need to land a knockout blow and trash THE END before it can start wrecking our city again," Nick quipped. "And I think I've got an idea on how to do that."
Nick turned back to THE END, which was still reeling from Nick cutting most of its arms off. "Do you have any gadgets that could propel me towards it really quick-like?" Nick wondered.
"The only thing that comes to mind is our Wind Tunnel 9000s, but I'm not sure if that'd give you enough momentum," Sam noted.
"Then how about all of six of you fire at once and overclock them for maximum output?" Nick offered. "And don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"Sounds like a plan to me, bro," Mat quipped.
"There's a weak point on its chest, where you've all been battering it already," RiCO stated. "Its core is right there, so aim for that, and don't miss!"
"Wasn't planning to," Nick chuckled as he got into position.
"All right, everybody, maximum output!" Sam exclaimed as the six spies all brought out their Wind Tunnel 9000s and overclocked them to produce as much lift as they possibly could.
THE END recovered from its arms being severed and started marching towards the spies, its pilots obviously pissed beyond compare.
"This is it, you guys, it's now or never!" Nick shouted, charging himself up as well.
"It's all you, Nick!" Bridget exclaimed.
"FIRE!" Sam shouted, and all six spies fired their Wind Tunnel 9000s at the same time, propelling Nick towards THE END with a massive six-way gust of wind even as the Wind Tunnel 9000s fell apart soon after from overclocking them.
Nick unleashed the power he'd gathered as well, and he boosted even faster towards THE END, zig-zagging through the air and looking like a golden lightning bolt as he did so.
"GO, NICK!" the spies shouted.
"Do something, you fool!" Scam exclaimed as he attempted to maneuver THE END away in time.
"The controls won't respond!" Zero shouted. "THE END's too damaged from that last attack to maneuver in time!"
Finally, Nick burst through THE END's chest, shattering its already weakened chest plate and ripping straight through its core, eventually coming out the other side and flying out to a safe distance.
Scam and Zero started clambering out of the cockpit as fast as they could, trying to escape in time as THE END began to collapse from its damage.
After a few seconds more, THE END self-destructed in a glorious explosion of red and gold light, and when it cleared, there was absolutely nothing left of the machine.
"...wow," Alex gasped.
"Wait, where did Scam and Zero go?!" Sam wondered.
"Never fear, they're ready for transport," Nick quipped as he floated back to the spies, with Scam and Zero imprisoned in a psychic bubble right behind him. "Sorry, you two clucks, but this is one time where nature doesn't have anything on us. Now please stay in your cells for a long, long time."
Nick flicked his hand upwards to send the bubbled villains off to containment, now noticing that most of the rogue plantlife that had infested the city was starting to rot and wither away, no doubt having been tethered to something in THE END.
One less thing to worry about, I guess, Nick thought.
That was when Nick noticed the others staring in awe at his new form.
"Do I really look that cool?" Nick asked.
Bridget was the first to walk up to Nick and reach her hand out to very lightly slap Nick on the cheek in a teasing manner.
"What did I say about worrying me like that, Nick?" Bridget quipped, trying her hardest not to cry out of sheer relief.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Nick sighed just as the rest of the spies, Bridget included, threw themselves at Nick to make it a large group hug.
"So, you're all right?" Alex asked. "Because they were saying you'd died, so..."
"I wasn't actually dead, though, don't worry," Nick replied. "I just kinda got knocked out by taking that hit. I'm pretty sure they said that just to get in your heads."
As the others released Nick, he raised his hand, and the five Deep Power Stones separated from his body and flew into the air. Nick snapped his hands down, and all five stones flew off in different directions.
Without the stones, Nick's psychic aura faded away and his eyes returned to their normal brown shade.
"Hey, where'd you send them?" Mat asked.
"I scattered them across the world so it'd be harder for anyone to find them again," Nick quipped.
"All right-y, then, how about we check in with Jerry and finally put all of this madness behind us?" Alex proclaimed.
"Oh, tell me about it!" Nick chuckled, to which all of the spies started laughing.
7:29 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"Marvelous performance, everyone," Jerry proclaimed once all seven spies had reconvened in his office. "Especially at the end there."
"Yeah, I was on the edge of whatever constitutes as a 'seat' for A.I.," RiCO giggled. "All of the villains who were sprung by Zero are back in containment, and we're dispatching some agents to clean up whatever plants were left behind by those two."
"So, I guess that means we can officially consider this case closed, huh?" May quipped.
Alex suddenly thought of something she hadn't before, given everything that had been happening in the past couple weeks.
"Um, Jerry? About me and Nick..." Alex asked.
"You need not say anything, Alex," Jerry answered. "I will tell you the exact same thing I told Sam and Mat when they got together. When it comes to your relationships, you have my word that I will not get in the way of that."
Alex couldn't help but smile at that, glad that Jerry approved of her relationship with Nick.
"And with that, Jer, we'd kinda like to jet back home and relax after all of this craziness," Clover quipped.
"No worries, I'll do the honor and send you all home," RiCO stated, waving her hand to send all seven spies back to their beach house.
7:43 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
After everyone had some dinner, they all couldn't help but feel relieved that whole mission was now in their rear-view mirrors.
"We're totally psyched you found someone, too, Alex," Clover added once they were getting to the cleanup. "Now I just need my turn..."
"And how appropriate they don't live too far away from us," Mat added.
"Appropriate... convenient... whatever you wanna call it," Nick laughed.
While there was no daylight left for anything fun outside, the seven spies finished with the cleanup and were able to sneak in a small dip in the jacuzzi after that.
"So, I guess we'll catch you guys tomorrow then?" Sam presumed at Nick, May, and Bridget.
"Yeah, I suppose so," Bridget replied.
However, Nick didn't appear to want to go back.
"Nick, you okay?" May wondered.
"I don't think I really want to be at my house for a bit," Nick told the others.
"I can't imagine how painful something like that can be," Mat replied, completely sympathetic.
Sam, Clover, and Alex were also keen on the idea of letting Nick at least spend the night. Alex even offered Nick to sleep on the floor in her room.
9:28 A.M. – The Spies' Beach House
The Following Morning
"Dude, how're you feeling?" Mat asked after he had his breakfast.
"I'll survive," Nick sighed.
May and Bridget came downstairs as well since they chose to spend the night, too.
Alex didn't need to be told anything and came to Nick's side.
"Maybe we should give you two some extra private time," Mat suggested.
With that, the others elected to go to the backyard pool again.
"Hey," Alex stated. "Everything all right, Nick?"
"...well, about as all right as I probably could be, I guess," Nick admitted after thinking back on everything that had happened in the past week. "It's really just been a whirlwind of everything, and now that it's all settled down... I miss my parents, Alex. I know it's only been a week, but..."
"That's a kind of pain that takes a long time to heal, if it ever does," Alex responded as she leaned over to hug Nick. "But just know that I've always got your back, no matter what life decides to throw at you."
"Thanks, Alex," Nick quipped.
"Always happy to help," Alex giggled as she and Nick leaned in to kiss each other.
In the meantime, Sam and Mat were having a private moment underwater.
"Hopefully they come out soon," May told Bridget.
Sam, on the other hand, did feel like Mat was in a similar boat, except Mat had a family back in Hawaii to go home to, and one very wrong move could mean the end of their relationship.
"Mat, I hope that you don't go through what Nick did, but I'm glad you insisted to stay in Beverly Hills because of me," Sam told Mat.
"Not even our rogues' gallery can come between us," Mat told her.
Sam was happy to hear this and hugged him.
("Dream Away" by Sharyn Scott plays)
Eventually, Nick and Alex came out, and Nick was smiling, which meant that Alex had managed to cheer him up.
"There's the smile I know so well," Bridget giggled.
"So, you guys gonna join the pool party or what?" May wondered.
Nick and Alex both glanced at each other, grinned mischievously, and ran forward to cannonball directly into the pool before May could get clear in time, the wave from Nick and Alex's jump drenching May thoroughly.
"H-Hey!" May sputtered.
"That's for when you cannonballed on me last year," Nick teased. "You knew that was coming."
"...okay, point," May chuckled.
"Um, not to be a downer, but where exactly is Nick gonna go?" Clover asked. "After all, his house is kinda... well, not there anymore, and..."
"Actually, I had a thought about that," Alex responded. "Considering the circumstances... why doesn't he stay here with us?"
"You know, Alex, that's not a bad idea," Sam answered.
"I was kinda thinking that myself," Nick stated. "That's not gonna be a problem for Jerry, is it?"
"Actually, I've already taken care of that," RiCO stated from Nick's X-Powder, which was lying on a shelf just outside the pool area. "Alex floated the idea our way the day after that happened, and I've been working on that on the side while you all were fighting Scam and Zero. So, Nick, you don't have to worry about a thing."
Nick couldn't help but smile, even as he felt a tear falling, wondering what his parents would think of him now.
"Ah-ah, no tears today, mister," Bridget quipped as she floated closer to hug her best friend. "After all, this boat runs on happy faces!"
"I'll definitely never forget that," Nick stated.
"And hey, if you want my opinion, I know your mom and dad would be proud of you for everything you've been doing," May responded.
As the spies all swam closer to make it another big group hug, Nick glanced up to the early morning sky of Beverly Hills.
Mom? Dad? I think I'm gonna be okay. I've got a lot of wonderful friends by my side, and I know you're always watching over me. So, despite everything... I think I'm in good hands.
3:36 P.M. – Unknown Location
Some Time Later
"Okay, why exactly are we here?" Tim Scam wondered as he glanced around at the dark place he and a few fellow villains had been instructed to meet up at.
"That's the big question on my mind, too," Myrna Beesbottom stated. "But as long as it has something to do with crushing those accursed spies, I'm definitely not complaining."
"All y'all look like a bunch of clucks in those outfits," Boogie Gus chuckled.
"You're one to talk, you 80s-obsessed hipster!" Helga von Guggen retorted. "I mean, look at you!"
"That is enough, everyone."
The four villains all turned to the source of this new voice, knowing they were about to get some answers as to why they'd been called here.
"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why exactly you're all here today," the voice chuckled.
"Just tell us if it has something to do with those spies, and we'll be square," Scam proclaimed.
The owner of this new voice stepped out from the shadows, and all four baddies gasped in surprise when they realized who was addressing them.
It was Jerry's evil twin brother Terrence Lewis.
"Oh, it definitely has something to do with destroying those wretches."
Totally Spies the Movie: Another Side, Another Story
~The End~
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Final Note from Mat49324: Well, that's our 8th movie finished up! Personally, it's good we got this all taken care of early and glad I didn't leave The Blue Time Ranger hanging on doing some things too long. For now, we hope you enjoyed our 8th season overall, and that you'll stay tuned for our future fun. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Final Note from The Blue Time Ranger: And that's a wrap on movie number seven! Yeah, I couldn't resist getting it done early before I lost my muse, and I hate when that happens. We actually will be seeing further adventures in this version of events, especially given the "post-credits" scene. Because, by the time this movie is finally posted, Mat and I will probably be working on the season nine movie, and that means all of our future movies are going to take place in this particular 'verse. I figured, alongside a much more manageable team of seven spies (with occasional guest stars every now and then), this would allow us to try much different stories without always having to rely on going to different dimensions for the craziest adventures.
And now that we're done here, it's time to get rolling on season nine of Totally Spies: The New Adventures! I'm starting things out this time, and for our season premiere, let's just say I might have been inspired by a new Guilty Gear character that just made her way to Strive recently. We're gonna get lovey-dovey with the power of pop and... heavy metal? ...next time on the season nine premiere, Dreamy Revelator, which will be posted by me. So, until next time, have a fantastic day, don't listen to the screeching morons, enjoy this preview of Dreamy Revelator, and we'll see you next mission!
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"Wow, the Groove is as lively as ever," Alex chuckled as the spies all headed to The Groove for their typical weekly shopping trip, happy to get back to some semblance of normalcy after all of the craziness that had gone down at the Society.
"Hey, there's a band up there," Melissa stated. There appeared to be a concert venue set up outside the main lobby, and a band seemed to be playing a mixture of pop rock and heavy metal.
"You're the main music buff of all of us, May," Mat quipped. "Do you know who's playing up there?"
"It looks like they're called... the 'Valentine Sisters'," May replied, pulling out her phone to check the internet for details about the band. "According to this article, the Valentine Sisters are actual sisters, Elphelt and Ramlethal Valentine, whose greatest claim to fame in the music scene is creating songs that mix up both pop rock and heavy metal."
"That's a pretty interesting combination, if I may say so myself," Nick chuckled.
Once the current song was over, the Valentine sisters thanked the crowd and prepared for their next song.
As the spies moved closer to get a better look, though, something strange happened.
The younger sister, Elphelt, noticed Nick and jumped down from the stage. Elphelt appeared to be about nineteen years old, with light grey dyed hair, green eyes, and wearing a white sleeveless dress with a pink ruffled underskirt and black shorts, a pink leather jacket and thigh high boots, silver spikes on her boots, a pink spiked collar, wrist cuffs, and headband, with copper spikes down the center of her dress, black biker gloves and a clover zipper pull on her jacket.
Nick tensed up slightly, wondering why this was suddenly giving him strange vibes.
"Um... can I help you, miss?" Nick asked.
As swift as a lightning flash, Elphelt lunged forward to hug Nick tightly, and her next words shocked everybody, including the spies and the crowd that had come to see the concert.
"YAY! My future husband came to see me perform!"
To be continued in Totally Spies: Dreamy Revelator...