On Today's Episode: The spies are in a race against time to not only defeat Coach and Ariel's secret weapon, but also to stop the hypnotic transmission satellite from launching. It's gonna be a stressful final showdown with only minutes to spare, but can the spies manage to eke out a buzzer beater victory of their own, or is this one time where overtime won't save them?
Act 3: Overtime Period
11:01 P.M. – Green Bay, Wisconsin
Coach and Ariel's Secret Lair
The spies high-tailed it after Ariel and the Coach through their lair.
"End of the road, you two clucks!" Sam proclaimed once they'd finally caught up.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, my dear..." Ariel sneered.
"You aren't going to raise the Sisterhood this way!" Sam warned.
"This is the only warning that you're getting!" Melissa exclaimed. "Either stop that satellite's launch, or we're gonna kick your faces in and make you. Your choice, really."
"Or, here's an idea..." Coach retorted. "How about we stomp you instead?!"
"That's rich..." Nick taunted.
That was when they disappeared.
"Um, what the heck did they just jump into?!" Blaine wondered.
"I don't really think I want to know," Alex told the others. "Let's just trash it like we do to all the rest!"
From out of the shadows came a large mechanical suit that Ariel and Coach were piloting that resembled a soccer goalie, with bulky football-esque shoulder pads lined with razor-sharp spikes, rocket jets for boots, and boxing gloves on its hands.
"You won't be singing your pathetic songs for much longer, spies!" Ariel sneered. "Do you really think you can stop us with enough time to stop the satellite from launching?!"
"We can and we will," Mat remarked.
"Hey, we usually work pretty damn good under pressure, so I wouldn't underestimate us just yet!" Haruka warned.
"Then have at us, and we'll see just how well you can work!" Coach dared them.
"You want another L on your mantle?" Bridget remarked. "You got it..."
"You guys should probably hurry, because you've only got twenty-four minutes left before the satellite launches!" RiCO called out from Nick's X-Powder.
"Hurrying is my specialty," Bridget giggled as she reached for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
After transforming, Bridget blitzed towards the Ghoulish Goalie and started punching it in multiple different spots with her Metal Masher Boxing Glove, keeping it stuck in its spot so that Nick could go on the offensive as well.
"Why don't you try and block this?!" Nick shouted as he fired a Final Shine Attack, only for the Ghoulish Goalie to raise its gloved hands and emit a strange sonic vibration that deflected the blast. "...well, crapbaskets."
"Gotta try something different, don't ya, boy?!" Coach taunted.
"How's this for you, then?!" Clover exclaimed as she and Britney both threw Platinum Credit Cards towards the Ghoulish Goalie, and this time, the vibration from the gloves couldn't stop it, and the cards slashed at its arms.
"Okay, so that means it can only deflect projectiles attacks from the front or sides," Melissa noted.
"Well, then, how about we try from the back?" Nick proclaimed, doing a backflip over the Ghoulish Goalie as it attempted to right hook him out of the air, before firing another Final Shine Attack into its back, and sure enough, that seemed to do some damage.
"All right, some of us are gonna have to make a break for the satellite and try to stop it from launching," Haruka stated.
"Oh, no, you're not going anywhere!" Ariel bellowed, the right glove of the Ghoulish Goalie unfurling to reveal another of Ariel's mesmerizing jewels, which emitted a bright flash across the room. Thankfully, most of the spies had been gathered in one place, so it was easy for Nick to yank everyone close and surround them with a psychic bubble so they wouldn't get mesmerized.
"We've got stuff to deal with, so how about you just shove off?!" Nozomi exclaimed.
"Sorry, but we're not letting you get anywhere near the launch site," Coach proclaimed. "You're all staying right here where we can pound you into potatoes!"
"Any ideas, guys?" Britney wondered. "If we can set up the Vortex Blaster, we should be able to get a shot off."
"But the problem is those sonic disruptors on the gloves," Sam noted. "Unless we take those things out, we can't hit it like that."
"Then Nick and I will take care of that," May quipped as she summoned her anchor to her hands. "You guys just get the Vortex Blaster set up, and we'll disable those disruptor things!"
Nick and May split off to deal with the Ghoulish Goalie while the others got the Vortex Blaster ready.
"Just you two?" Coach laughed.
"Um, excuse me, Nick and I are more than enough to take you lunkheads on," May chuckled as the Ghoulish Goalie attempted to punch her, only for May to bash the hand aside with an anchor swing.
The Ghoulish Goalie retreated slightly and waited for Nick to try something, only for him to fly forward, form a psychic energy blade on his right hand, and slash the right hand of the Ghoulish Goalie clean off, followed by the left one. May quickly moved in to smash the hands with her anchor to destroy the sonic disruptors.
"All right, that should be your cue, ladies!" Nick exclaimed.
"You heard my fiancée, let's put 'em together!" Alex proclaimed as Nick rejoined them.
Sam started first, producing an Electromagnetic Curling Iron and tossing it to Nick. Alex followed up with a Laser Lipstick and a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer. Nick connected the Laser Lipstick right above the barrel of the Electromagnetic Curling Iron, and the Cyclone Blast Hairdryer on top of the ECM, just behind the control panel. Clover finished by throwing Nick a Helicopter Hand Fan and a pair of wings from a spare Jetpack Backpack. Nick attached the Helicopter Hand Fan to the underside of the ECM's barrel, then placed the wings on either side of the ECM.
The combination weapon now complete, Sam, Alex, and Clover joined Nick to hold the weapon, Sam and Alex holding the jetpack wings, Clover grasping the side handle and Nick holding the main handle, his finger on the firing trigger.
May continued to swing her anchor at the Ghoulish Goalie to keep Coach and Ariel distracted.
"Let's end this, shall we, everyone?" Clover stated.
"FIRE!" the four of them shouted together as Nick pulled the firing trigger.
The blades of the Helicopter Hand Fan extended outward and started spinning rapidly. Nick pulled the trigger again, and the Electromagnetic Curling Iron, the Laser Lipstick, and the Cyclone Blast Hairdryer all fired their payload into the spinning blades. Two seconds later, the Vortex Blaster unleashed a massive four-way blast consisting of a large electromagnetic beam surrounded by a spiraling wind blast and a barrage of laser bolts.
The blast screamed through the air and struck the Ghoulish Goalie, the blast exploding outwards in glorious fashion and completely destroying the mech suit, forcing Coach and Ariel to eject before they got caught up in the blast. Nick quickly encased them both in a psychic bubble before they could even hit the ground.
"Look at that, you lost again," Nick taunted.
"Oh, did we?" Ariel chuckled. "You may have stopped us, but did you forget something while you were dealing with us?"
"Oh, jeez," Nick quipped, flipping open his X-Powder. "RiCO, how much time do we have to stop the launch of that satellite?"
"About ten minutes, give or take," RiCO answered.
"And I highly doubt that even your super-sophisticated cyber girl can actually crack our program in such a short time," Coach cackled.
"One, you grossly underestimate what I can do," RiCO chuckled.
"Second, she's got me to help her out, just in case," iCO responded.
Nick quickly ran in the opposite direction towards the room where the satellite was about to launch so that both RiCO and iCO could hack into its control programs and stop the launch.
And sure enough, after only three minutes of work, the rumblings stopped and the launch room went silent.
"You were saying, Coach?" RiCO chuckled.
"I guess we can call that a buzzer beater of our own," Nick proclaimed as he took a step back and unleashed a Shining Star Attack to destroy the satellite.
"And that should be case closed," Melissa quipped.
"Good riddance, says this observer," Dawn chuckled. "Let's all get the heck out of here."
"See what working with an 'inferior man' gets you, Ariel?" Sam taunted, relishing the incensed look on Ariel's face. "So much for your own principles."
Ariel could only grumble in defeat as Nick carried the bubbled villains out of the lair, the rest of the spies following.
12:32 A.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"As always, a magnificent performance, everyone," Jerry proclaimed once everyone was back at headquarters. Coach and Ariel had already been carted off to containment.
"It felt kinda clutch back there, like any good buzzer beater would be," Mat chuckled. "But in the end, we pulled it off like always."
"And on that note, I am sleepy," Clover yawned. "A girl does need her beauty sleep, after all..."
"No problem, Clover, I'll send you all back to Mali-U," RiCO quipped. "Go and get some Z's."
With that said, RiCO waved her hand to send the spies back to their penthouse.
11:02 A.M. – Malibu University
School Paper Newsroom
After a night's sleep, Nick and Mat were asked to come to the Mali-U Paper's Newsroom for a quick meeting.
"So, thanks for coming, everybody," Their Editor stated.
Nick and Mat listened in, and they found out the original writer for the first water polo game of the season had to bail due to a family emergency.
"I suppose I'll take it," Mat volunteered.
At the same time, Nick was assigned to a women's basketball game at 2:00, and that was almost immediately before the water polo game started at 4:00.
Before long, the meeting was over, and they were both heading back to the penthouse.
"Well, dude, I better get something to eat before game time," Nick remarked, deciding to make himself a meal before it was game time.
"Oh, you just missed Bridget, May, and Haruka," Melissa told them.
"I bet they left for water polo practice," Mat deduced.
"You'd be right," Clover remarked.
In the meantime, Nozomi, Britney, and Dawn were Smashing again while Sam, Clover, and Alex just watched, along with Blaine, who was having lunch of his own.
"The last game was May's last hurrah for the time being," Nozomi stated when she saw Nick and Mat return. "H-HEY, watch the side B!"
"You snooze, you lose, Nozomi!" Dawn laughed.
"Oh, but did you forget who I'm playing as?" Britney cackled as she went on the offensive, forcing both Nozomi and Dawn to flee.
"WHY IS SUPER SONIC SO BROKEN?!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Super glad we stopped Coach and Ariel from unleashing hell on earth," Sam told the boys.
"You got that right," Mat remarked. "As Nick said, we got a buzzer beater of our own."
"Totally," Alex stated.
A while later, Nick got set to leave for the women's basketball game, but as a bit of a surprise, Alex AND Nozomi went along with Nick.
"In case you're wondering, Nick, we're heading there with ya to support out buddies on the team," Nozomi quipped.
"I guess this means you're off then, Mat?" Britney wondered after the Smash game ended.
"Not necessarily," Mat answered. "One of the other writers had to back out, so I'm in charge of covering tonight's water polo game."
"I think it's unanimous we'll all be at the water polo game for them," Sam stated and looked at the other spies.
"Totally," Blaine replied.
1:54 P.M. – Malibu University
Basketball Court
Nick had made it to his designated seat with time to spare while Alex and Nozomi were in line getting food.
"Why am I not surprised you got a few hot dogs?" Nick chuckled.
"Hey, these ones are to die for," Nozomi giggled.
While Nick checked out some stuff during one of the timeouts, he found an article online saying the players in the brawls from buzzer beaters would only be suspended for five games after the players had showed no memory of what happened.
"At least they're not being punished too harshly, right?" Alex noted.
"After all, they weren't doing it of their own free will," Nick quipped.
Thankfully, the Mali-U women's team managed to win the game by a final score of 95-81.
After that, Nick attended the press conference and asked his questions when he found open windows.
3:59 P.M. – Malibu University
Aquatic Complex
"Well, are we ready to kick some serious butt?" Bridget asked May and Haruka after they all suited up.
"Hell freaking yeah, we are!" Haruka exclaimed.
"I'm not affected in any way from the mission," May told the others so the rest of the team would not hear that they are spies.
In the meantime, the rest of the spies had taken a seat in the grandstands while Mat went to where the media people were assigned to.
"Did you see a buzzer beater, Nick?" Melissa asked.
"Not so much on this one," Nick answered. "The women's b-ball team pretty much had this one in the bag."
"As they should!" Dawn laughed.
As for the water polo game, Bridget, Haruka, and May were all on the bench, which was becoming the norm for them.
After the first eight-minute quarter, Mali-U was down 3-0.
In the second quarter, Haruka got the home team on the board with the only goal scored by either team. At halftime, Mali-U trailed, 3-1.
"These guys are pretty good, honestly," Alex noted. "I hope we're not in trouble..."
"Hey you know they're not going down without a fight," Nick chuckled. "May, especially, would never just let the other guys run roughshod over them."
"Knowing those three, I'm pretty sure they have some kind of plan," Melissa quipped.
Before long, it was time for the third quarter; this time, Bridget got the okay to start.
Mali-U showed some light, and they took the lead, 4-3, at one point, but the opposing team scored two more goals to retake the lead, 5-4, to end the third quarter.
Bridget and May scored some goals along the way with Bridget getting her first goal in the third quarter, and May scoring in the fourth quarter.
With fifty-five seconds left, Mali-U was down, 8-7, but they had the possession.
"TO YOUR LEFT, BRIDGET!" May shouted.
Everyone on Mali-U tried to get open and possibly score, but Bridget still found an opening and scored to tie the score at 8.
With twenty-three seconds left, the opposing team had the last possible possession when the Mali-U coach called a timeout.
May and Haruka both glanced at each other, knowing that they both had an idea in mind. And thankfully, the coach still looked happy with the team's performance so far, and he just wanted to discuss a possible strategy.
Mat looked on intently with the hopes that Mali-U would pull off the win in regulation; that was when he noticed Bridget was subbed out. When play resumed, the opposing team held the ball and took their time. With time expiring, they took the shot, and made it... much to the dismay of the Mali-U water polo crowd. However, the referees checked the replay, and determined the rival opponent still had possession of the ball before the final horn, and the goal was not honored. That meant they were playing overtime!
In the first three-minute overtime period, both Mali-U and the opposing team each scored one goal; Haruka was that player for Mali-U. A second OT period was going to happen, even if Mali-U were ahead.
In that second and final OT period, neither team scored a goal; it was still tied at 9.
"Holy crapbaskets, this is intense!" Clover proclaimed.
"No kidding," Alex quipped.
"The ball's gonna fall one way or the other soon enough, though," Blaine stated. "It just depends which way it's gonna fall."
With only ten seconds left, there were no timeouts left on either team, and Mali-U had the possession. All the opposing team's players had crowded around the Mali-U players to extend the game a little longer.
"Somebody do something!" Britney shouted, but her statement was overrode due to the cheers of encouragement from the crowd.
With only two seconds left on the clock, May had only made it about three-fourths of the way down the pool and just threw the ball with as much power as possible in her good arm before any of the opponents could crowd her or try to foul her. The ball was already airborne as the buzzer sounded, and May's shot just barely landed in the goal! Mali-U had won that battle, 10-9!
The crowd went crazy, as did the team and coaching staff, and some of the media slightly did, too, including Mat.
5:12 P.M. – Malibu University
The Spies' Penthouse
"Oh my goodness, that was one hell of a winning throw!" Sam proclaimed as the spies were all having a bit of a party to celebrate that amazing win by the water polo team.
"The ol' anchor arm has never failed me before," May chuckled.
"You should have seen us, May, we were all right on the freakin' razor's edge of our seat in those last few seconds," Nozomi quipped.
"To be fair, I kinda realized that the only thing I could do was throw that ball as hard as I could," May admitted. "Guess I got lucky that I've got all that upper body strength from anchor usage."
"Tell me about it," Nick stated as he leaned over hug May and congratulate her for the game-winner. "And how fitting that you guys got a buzzer-beater win after everything we had to deal with on that mission, huh?"
"Really, it just feels like it was meant to be," Bridget teased.
"All right, enough talking about sports, how about we actually get this party started?!" Mat proclaimed.
"HELL YEAH!" was the unanimous exclamation.
6:46 A.M. – The Shatterverse
"You can't run and hide forever, you know!" Captain Dread exclaimed as she flew around the Shatterverse, still trying to find Alex, who had scurried off to hide somewhere. "Why don't you just show yourself so I can take care of you?"
Much to Captain Dread's surprise, Alex appeared right behind her without warning, as if she'd teleported. But she'd actually covered herself with a Bubble Blaster Invisibility Shield that allowed her to get right behind Captain Dread, as she knew the captain wasn't psychic like Nick was.
"Special delivery!" Alex shouted as she blasted Captain Dread away with a pulse from the Green Prism Shard.
"You know, the only reason you're still breathing after what you've been doing is because you have one of the Prism Shards," Captain Dread noted. "So just hand it over nice and easy, and just maybe I'll go a little easier on you."
"You really think I'm gonna fall for that?" Alex taunted. "You're the one who wants the shards for some devious purpose, aren't you?!"
"I thought I already told you that..." Captain Dread started.
"Oh, just freakin' can it with that sob story!" Alex shot back. "You probably just made up that story about losing someone to get us to play right into your hands! How can you possibly know that someone might have died to protect you, huh?!"
"Because I was there when it happened, you selfish little spy!" Captain Dread shouted back, her voice hoarse and tears starting to fall. "I was there. I saw him die right in front of me!"
Despite everything she'd done to repress those memories, they started coming back to Captain Dread like a rusty and broken record player. Her mind started to replay the events of the night she'd lost the boy she loved.
"Where did they go now?!" Alex exclaimed as the skies above Beverly Hills lit up with the flashes caused by the two espers clashing.
"Hard to miss, really," May chuckled as she casually twirled her anchor, knowing this case would probably be over soon, much like the others had been.
May readied her anchor as Nick knocked Psykos down to the ground, completely unaware of the dark turn that this battle was about to take.
"You're in trouble now, lady," Clover proclaimed as she, Sam and Alex all aimed their Wind Tunnel 9000s at Psykos. "I'd suggest you give it up right now."
"...give up?" Psykos laughed, her body beginning to glow a bright blue. "Just who do you think you're taking to?!"
Psykos let out a burst of power that sent Sam, Alex, Clover and May flying backwards before flying back into the sky at incredible speeds.
"Um... why does that light around her look incredibly ominous?!" Alex shouted.
"Simple, because you're all dead!" Psykos exclaimed as she channeled her power into her hands. "There's no way you can dodge this, especially considering I can teleport, and even if you do dodge, your precious city might just pay the price!"
"You're bluffing!" Clover shouted.
"...um, Clover, I don't think she's kidding," Sam admitted. "That blast looks like it's got enough juice to do some serious damage."
"I've allowed you to disrupt my plans for far too long!" Psykos proclaimed. "This is where I wash my hands of you!"
Nick knew that this was going to be clutch, as he barely had just enough time at this rate to charge up and fire a Final Shine Attack of his own so he could try and repel it...
...but then, right before Psykos fired, she teleported and reappeared...
...right in front of May.
Knowing he only had a few seconds to react, Nick charged forward as fast as he could.
"See you in hell, little girl!" Psykos cackled as she thrust her hands forward.
Just before Psykos' psychic blast erupted from her hands, Nick made it there and shoved May out of the blast's trajectory...
...but as May fell to the ground, everything moved in slow motion for her as she realized what was about to happen.
There was no way even Nick could escape in time now.
But Nick simply smiled at her as Psykos' blast enveloped him, causing a gigantic explosion of blue light.
When it finally cleared up, the spies all looked ahead, fearing what they'd see.
And much to their shock, Nick had taken the entirety of the blast, and had fallen face-first to the ground, all life having fled his body.
"...well, that wasn't what I intended, but I can work with this," Psykos chuckled.
In her arrogance, Psykos had left herself blind to May approaching her. The super-powered psychic only had time to turn around as May swung her anchor with a heartbroken scream of pure rage, the anchor clocking Psykos upside the head and sending her spinning through the air before falling back to the ground, completely unconscious.
But while the others moved to put Psykos in containment before she could escape again, May could only glance at the body of the boy she'd loved before she fell to her knees and started crying.
She'd never gotten the chance to tell him how she felt.
And now she never would.
"You couldn't possibly understand what I've been through," Captain Dread snarled as her own hands began to glow brightly. "I lost the boy I loved, I never got to tell him how I felt, and even worse, that nut loaf who killed him is probably already loose in my home dimension!"
Alex prepared herself, knowing that she might be in trouble.
"So don't you freakin' dare call my pain nothing more than a 'sob story'!" Captain Dread screamed as she lunged forward, a shockwave emanating from her position, as she flew forward to clash with Alex once again.
Totally Spies: Buzzer Beaters
~The End~
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Final Note from Mat49324: And that's a wrap for Buzzer Beaters! Hope you have seen your fair share of them yourselves? I know I have witnessed quite a bit, especially in the last two years with my local college basketball team, and a few of them with my local college softball team in the last year. Anyway, we hope you also stay tuned for our next project, which will be on The Blue Time Ranger's page. He's titled it Go Away Ghost Ship. Hope you will read that, too, and here's The Blue Time Ranger for his final thoughts.
Final Note from The Blue Time Ranger: And with that, we drop the curtain on another one! How fitting that we had multiple buzzer beaters during the battles, as fitting the theme of this story? Also, we get an extra long Shatterverse segment to reveal what exactly happened to the Nick of Captain Dread's home dimension. Trust me, things are only gonna get crazier as we approach the season finale, but no spoilers.
And now it's time to talk about what's coming up next time on Totally Spies: The New Adventures! We're heading back to the Moonflow Tides for another Pirate Nick and Patty adventure after giving them a break in season eight, and this mystery might turn into a bit of a supernatural one. Should we call Mystery Incorporated, or can the spies handle a ghost ship and a spirit from Patty's past? (It's not a crossover, so don't get no ideas.) Find out next time on Go Away Ghost Ship, which will be posted by me. So, until next time, have a fantastic day, don't listen to the screeching morons, enjoy the preview of Go Away Ghost Ship, and we'll see you next mission!
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"Ah, the wonders of the ocean," Haruka chuckled once everybody was onboard the Fiertia.
"Hey, is it me, or is there a certain... spooky kind of energy in the air right now?" Alex wondered, shuddering slightly at the thought.
"Wait, you mean like... ghosts, or other supernatural stuff?" Mat asked.
"That's actually why we brought you guys here," Pirate Nick proclaimed, checking his sea charts.
"For the past month now, the Fiertia's been being followed by a very strange ship," Patty explained. "At first, we thought it was just some dumb ol' rival pirates trying to get a leg up on us."
"But when we did a radar scan of that ship... there was nobody on board," Pirate Nick stated.
"Hold on, nobody was piloting it?" Clover gasped.
"Oh, no, we do have a ghost ship on our hands," Alex groaned.
"Whenever we tried to cut off that strange ghost ship so we could check it out, it simply vanished without a trace," Patty quipped. "Hubby and I have spent the past couple weeks trying to track it down so we can see just what the heck the deal is."
"And we figured we'd bring a little extra firepower to help us, so to speak," Pirate Nick chuckled.
"Yeah, fifteen is better than two," Melissa answered.
"Where was the last place you saw this strange ghost ship?" Dawn asked.
"Our last reading came from the Northwest Wave of the Moonflow Tides," Patty stated. "Hopefully it's still there so we can get a leg up on figuring out what's actually going on here."
"Well, then, let's not waste any time and set sail, shall we?" Nick proclaimed.
"I like the way you think," Pirate Nick laughed as he and Patty made a beeline for the main deck so they could start up the ship. "I guess you are me, in a sense."
After about ten seconds, the Fiertia rumbled to life and started sailing across the waves, towards the last known destination of this mysterious ghost ship.
To be continued in Totally Spies: Go Away Ghost Ship...