4:34 P.M. – The Skies Above California
Approaching Beverly Hills
"Man, am I glad that nonsense is finally over," Haruka sighed in relief as their Skyskimmer approached the city of Beverly Hills. They had just finished up another incident with James, who was currently corralled inside of a psychic bubble in the back of the Skyskimmer.
"Yet another example of baddies who are too stubborn to listen to reason," Nozomi quipped as she cuddled with Nick.
"Yeah, after everything that just happened with Scam last week, you'd think we'd get a more 'normal' member of our rogues' gallery to deal with, huh?" Alex teased as she looked out the nearby window, towards the vistas below them. It was always such a cool sight to see.
"Honestly, for me at least, it's kinda fun to fight the more stubborn ones, if only for how satisfying it is to put them in their place," Nick admitted.
"Nick's got a point there," May chuckled.
"It looks like we're coming up on Beverly Hills in about two minutes," Sam stated after checking their positioning on her X-Powder. "Then we can drop this guy off at containment and get back to relaxing."
"I'll call Jerry and RiCO and let 'em know we're almost home," Melissa stated, flipping open her X-Powder and calling Jerry, only to get nothing but static. "...huh. That's weird."
"What's up, Melissa?" Mat asked.
"I can't seem to get a connection through," Melissa replied.
"That's weird," Britney quipped. "You think something's messing with cell service?"
"Oh, wonderful, another communication blackout," Clover groaned. "I hated the last one we had to suffer through. My poor phone just sat there, unusable..."
Nick glanced out the window as the Skyskimmer finally made it to Beverly Hills.
And he immediately saw the likely problem.
(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 New Adventures
Episode 113: From the Top
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: August 12th, 2024
Story Summary: The one-hundred and fifty-first co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode one hundred and thirteen of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. After returning from a successful mission, the spies are shocked to see that Beverly Hills has been infested with familiar crystal formations and other-worldly anomalies. It appears that the increasingly-unstable Shatterverse is starting to leak into other dimensions, and that means the spies will have to hightail it in order to fix things before this situation potentially becomes irreversible. The problem? Captain Dread is back on the warpath, now wielding four of the five shards of the Paradox Prism, and she's naturally coming for the remaining shard the spies have in their possession. Can the spies beat back Captain Dread, reclaim the Paradox Prism, and fix the Shatterverse before it becomes a problem that's too big to be fixed?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, we've made it... the season nine finale, but #10 will be around the corner after our movie has been posted on Fanfiction. We started out with a fiancée Nick didn't remember having at all, granted Elphelt Valentine was brainwashed, then we got to Haruka having feelings for Nick following an epidemic, then Mat got his heart ripped out again with the start of 2010 Supercross, and we're ending with the last of the Shatterverse. What will happen in S10? Who knows. What I do know is that The Blue Time Ranger has a few things of his own he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: We've made it to the season nine finale at last! We've had quite the rollercoaster of adventures this season, with a brainwashed lovey-dovey singer, Haruka finally revealing her feelings for Nick, and multiple intense other-dimensional shenanigans. But, we're saying goodbye to the Shatterverse today, with a lot of crazy happenings as befitting a season finale. Also, this story will be my 100th story on my Blue Time Ranger account! Only took me ten years, lololol... But let's not waste any more of your time and close out season nine with a big ol' bang! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters or locations created by us truly for the story. Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
Act 1: That Missing Piece
4:45 P.M. – Beverly Hills
Once the Skyskimmer managed to find a safe location to park itself that wasn't broken or covered in strange material, and after Nick sent James on his way to containment, the spies beheld what had happened to Beverly Hills since they'd been gone.
Practically the entire city was infested with light violet crystal formations growing every which way like weeds, some of them actually piercing through buildings and warping the structures. In addition to this, some of those crystal formations were sprouting incredibly odd-looking anomalies, almost as if they were statues of things that didn't belong in this world. Even the sky above them was turning an eerie shade of dark purple.
"What in the hell happened while we were away?!" Clover gasped. "We weren't gone that long, were we?"
"Wait just a minute, everyone," Mat proclaimed. "Do these crystal walls look familiar to any of you?"
Upon a closer inspection of one of the nearest crystal formations, Nick gasped in shock when he pieced it together.
"This could be very bad," Nick stated. "This stuff is apparently from the Shatterverse."
"Hold on just a minute, are you implying that the Shatterverse is starting to leak into our dimension?!" Blaine wondered.
"Remember, that place is no doubt very unstable due to what happened with the Paradox Prism," Sam responded. "I wouldn't be surprised if it's starting to affect other dimensions now."
"If that's the case, I only hope that other me found the rest of the Prism Shards," Nick stated. "We have to get to the Shatterverse and fix it before this problem gets even worse."
Suddenly, a crackle of static came from Nick's X-Powder, and he flipped it open to see both Jerry and RiCO on the screen.
"Oh, thank goodness we finally got a connection through," Jerry proclaimed. "Are you all right, everyone?"
"We're fine, Jerry," Alex answered. "I wish I could say the same for the city. We just got back and... well, this happened."
"You all might want to get to headquarters on the double," RiCO responded. "I think one of your old 'friends' is trying to make a house call."
Nick looked up towards W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters, which looked to be mostly intact, only to see the faint outline of a Quantum Rift opening up just above the rooftop.
"Oh, this can't be good," Nick growled.
"What's the matter, Nick?" May asked.
"Captain Dread just showed up at headquarters," Nick answered. "No doubt she's going to try and break in to steal the shard we pilfered from her back in Tachikawa."
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Nozomi shouted. "Let's get our butts up there with all the speed!"
Nothing more needed to be said as the thirteen spies all flew towards W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters and landed on the rooftop...
...only to find nobody there.
Before Nick could do a psychic radar scan to find their target, a gigantic purple wave of light all smashed down onto them from above, briefly forcing them to their knees before a blast of electricity sent them all flying backwards.
"All right, who's the wise-ass?!" May exclaimed.
"Take a wild guess, you little punks."
The spies all looked up to see Captain Dread floating down from the sky to greet them. The problem, though? Captain Dread was currently wielding the Red, Green, Yellow and Purple Prism Shards, the shards floating around her.
"It's been far too long, hasn't it?" Captain Dread chuckled. "I've been meaning to pay you back for that loss I suffered the last time. And look at that, I clearly have the advantage."
"W-Where did you get those?!" Haruka gasped.
"Oh, that other Nick managed to do the dirty work of finding the remaining four shards for me," Captain Dread quipped. "I simply took them back when he returned. And now, I'm here for the one you took from me."
"Fat chance of that!" Nick exclaimed, his psychic aura exploding to life around him. "If you want to throw down, then by all means!"
"We should probably still be careful, Nick," Sam stated. "If she's got four Prism Shards, she's probably that much more dangerous, and she was already a toughie with just one."
"That will be your last mistake," Captain Dread retorted as she charged into battle.
"I was hoping to unwind at the Mali-U beach after this..." Clover sighed.
"Unfortunately, that's going to have to wait, Clover," May replied, completely sympathetic. "I wanted to have a Smash game myself for the record..."
"You have five seconds to tell us where Jerry is RIGHT NOW!" Nick proclaimed.
"You need not worry about your boss..." Captain Dread sneered. "If you're going to stop me, you'll have to do it without his help... as well as your little joke of an A.I. girl!"
"Oh, mark our words, RiCO will not let that go unnoticed!" Bridget exclaimed.
"Not to be an ass, but that's a risk I'm willing to take..." Captain Dread scoffed.
With that, a battle ensued.
"Don't say we didn't warn you about RiCO," Alex remarked at Captain Dread before firing her Cyclone Blast Hairdryer.
"...oh, I'm sorry, is this what you were trying to do?" Captain Dread chuckled as she raised the Green Prism Shard to absorb the wind blast before firing it back stronger. Alex didn't even have time to gasp, but Nick thankfully covered her in a psychic bubble to protect her.
"That was a big mistake, lady," Nick growled.
"Like that bothers me anymore," Captain Dread quipped as she forced the spies to scatter by using the Yellow Prism Shard to drop bolts of lightning on them.
After going every which way, May found an opportunity after zigzagging behind Captain Dread. Without thinking, she hurled her anchor at the unsuspecting Captain Dread. May's anchor was a direct hit and sent Captain Dread flat on her stomach.
"That's for ruining our detox time!" May proclaimed.
"I hope that's a weakness," Mat quietly told Sam, Britney, and Melissa.
"What May said!" Nozomi remarked. "We ALL wanted to detox before you had to extend our mission this way..."
Captain Dread didn't like hearing this and tried to get up.
"Now, we're giving you a last chance to tell us where the hell Jerry is!" Bridget proclaimed.
"I don't answer to the likes of you..." Captain Dread retorted. "But since I'm feeling generous, I'll go ahead and say that he's still in this building..."
"You want to narrow that down a bit since this building's big?" Blaine shot back.
"Sorry, pal," Captain Dread sneered. "But that's where I'm leaving it..."
"No worries," Nick proclaimed. "My radar won't fail me."
"You sure about that?" Captain Dread taunted. "Because I came prepared..."
Nick tried using his psychic radar, but all he got was a bunch of static.
"That was fun for me to see," Captain Dread sneered.
Alex and Clover went for Captain Dread, but she easily pushed them back.
"Have fun playing your guessing game..." Captain Dread remarked and vanished for the time being.
"Damn it!" Nick swore. "We better find out what's messing with my psychic radar and quickly!"
"More importantly, where could Jerry be if RiCO can't help us out?" Britney added.
"Well, here goes nothing..." Blaine groaned.
"We're probably gonna have to wing it, then," Melissa quipped.
"Hopefully we can figure out what exactly is messing with Nick's psychic radar," Dawn answered.
"I'm willing to take a guess that it has something to do with the Prism Shards," Nick responded. "Captain Dread's probably using at least one of them to create some kind of field that's messing with my radar."
"Then I guess we really are doing this the old-fashioned way," Sam admitted. "But let's not waste our time. Let's get inside W.O.O.H.P. and find Jerry and RiCO fast."
Nothing more needed to be said as the spies all descended into the building. But when they made it inside, they could all see the crystal pillars growing out of the walls.
"...oh, this definitely isn't good," Mat noted. "Those crystal things even got into W.O.O.H.P.?!"
"We need to motor," Blaine stated. "I don't like the looks of this."
The spies all started moving around the building, dodging through the crystal formations whenever they could, searching high and low for any sign of Jerry.
Thankfully, nothing else seemed to be wrong with the building, but the urgency still didn't fade.
"Jerry?!" Alex called out. "Are you anywhere near us?!"
"It doesn't seem like he's here, sadly," Sam sighed. "I just hope he's okay..."
"HEY!"
Clover glanced towards the crossroads ahead of them just in time to see Sortiliena running through them, noticing the spies, and rushing towards them.
"Oh, thank goodness you're all here," Sortiliena stated.
"Have you seen Jerry anywhere?" May asked. "I'm worried he might have gotten into a scrap with my other self..."
"The last time I saw Jerry before all of this nonsense, he was in the drive core room, trying to figure out a way to unlock the Datascape," Sortiliena explained. "All of a sudden, everything in the building just shut down and RiCO seemingly disappeared, right before all these wacky crystals started spawning in here. There wasn't even a warning of a possible virus attack, so..."
"I'm willing to bet that Captain Dread had something to do with that," Nozomi answered. "Let's head to the drive core room and see if Jerry might still be there."
With Sortiliena in tow, the spies headed for the nearest elevator so they could descend to the floor that housed the drive core, a sort of supercomputer that powered quite a few of W.O.O.H.P.'s much more advanced creations, including the servers that housed the Datascape.
But when they got closer to the drive core room, they found that the door inside was completely covered by more crystal walls.
"Well, that's just peachy," Haruka groaned. "Can you blast the wall down, Nick?"
Nick was just preparing himself to try that before he stopped and gasped in shock, just now realizing something he hadn't even thought of earlier.
"...we might be in deep trouble," Nick quipped.
"Wait, what do you mean, Nick? Did something happen to the drive core?" Alex asked.
"Worse," Nick answered. "What if Captain Dread's taking advantage of our little runaround to go after the Prism Shard we've got locked up here?!"
"Oh, that's definitely not any sort of good," May proclaimed. "Do you know where it is, Nick?!"
"Thankfully, if I remember correctly, it shouldn't be far from here," Nick responded. "Let's move!"
It only took a few minutes to cross through the hallways and reach the room where the Blue Prism Shard was being kept under lock and key.
Only problem? It was no longer in its case.
"Oh, look at that. A valiant effort, but you're too late."
The spies all looked upwards to see Captain Dread floating there, still surrounded by her four Prism Shards, but now holding the Blue Prism Shard in her hands.
"You shouldn't have wasted your time looking for your boss, because you played right into my hands," Captain Dread laughed. "And now... I wash my hands of you."
All five Prism Shards began circling around Captain Dread as she channeled their power together, eventually bringing the shards together and reforming the full Paradox Prism, which when put back together was shaped like a jagged star, with each shard making up one of its five points.
"Oh, we're in trouble," Alex groaned.
"Damn right you are," Captain Dread cackled as she placed her hand on the Paradox Prism. "Say goodbye!"
The spies all prepared themselves for the inevitable.
About ten seconds passed, but nothing happened.
"...we're still here?" Bridget gasped.
Captain Dread glared at the Paradox Prism when she realized that nothing had changed.
"Wait, this can't be right," Captain Dread wondered. "I recompleted the Paradox Prism! I'm supposed to have the power to rewrite reality itself, but nothing's changed! What am I missing?!"
Captain Dread looked over the Paradox Prism, wondering what exactly the problem was, but when she realized what it might have been, she growled in frustration before raising her hand to open a Quantum Rift that seemingly led back to the Shatterverse before flying into it, the rift closing a split-second later.
"...okay, is anyone else extremely confused?" Melissa wondered. "I thought we were as good as boned when she put the Paradox Prism back together, but apparently there's one thing she's still missing?"
"Whatever it was, I think we need to follow her to the Shatterverse before she gets any wicked ideas, or worse, she finds that 'missing piece'," Sam responded.
"I just hope Jerry and RiCO are going to be all right," Britney admitted. "I feel bad for having to leave them behind, but..."
"I think they'd rather we do that for the moment," Nick proclaimed. "Finding Captain Dread and stopping her is top priority right now."
With that in mind, the spies all went back up a floor and headed for the room housing the Rift Generator. Though the walls were covered in crystals, the Rift Generator itself was thankfully still intact.
"Okay, so... does anybody know the coordinates of the Shatterverse?" Bridget asked. "We've only been there once, after all..."
"Luckily, I saved the coordinate codes to my X-Powder while we were there just in case we ever had to go back," Sam responded, typing in the aforementioned coordinate code onto the keypad before pressing the big blue button on the control panel.
Just like that, a Quantum Rift burst to life that led to the Shatterverse.
"That's my fiancée for you, always prepared," Mat proclaimed as he and Sam shared a kiss.
"Let's hustle, everyone," Sortiliena quipped as all fourteen spies headed into the rift.
9:23 A.M. – The Shatterverse
"Should we be worried about this place?" Alex asked once everyone was safely in the Shatterverse. Unlike their last trip, though, most of the crystal formations that dotted the void had vanished, and the five colored gateways had disappeared completely. "Because it looks like it's seen better days."
"I'm starting to think that this is related to why the Shatterverse is starting to leak into other dimensions," Sam noted. "This place is obviously unstable due to what initially happened with the Paradox Prism, and I've got a feeling we need to find a way to fix it before this whole dimension falls apart."
Before anyone else could chime in, Sortiliena looked down and saw what appeared to be the Alex that was native to this dimension, lying unconscious on a crystal pillar.
The spies all flew towards that pillar to make sure she was okay, and thankfully, she woke up just as the spies reached the pillar.
"Wh-wha... you're all here?" Other Alex gasped.
"We'll just cut to the chase, since we're running out of time," Haruka quipped. "What exactly happened here?"
"Nick... my Nick came back from those gateways with four of the Prism Shards, and Captain Dread ambushed him," Other Alex explained. "She swiped the four shards and tossed my Nick into that void below us. I tried to go after him, but Captain Dread knocked me out, and now I can't get a signal on Nick's X-Powder, so I have no idea if he's even still alive..."
Nick extended his psychic radar as far as he could, hoping to find something that would lead them to the other Nick, because he had a pretty good feeling about what Captain Dread was looking for now.
"...it's very faint, mostly static, but I can sense his thoughts at the very razor's edge of my radar's range," Nick stated. "Whatever happened, he's still alive down there."
"Then I think we've gotta head into that void and find that Nick lickety-split," Sortiliena proclaimed. "I'm worried about what Captain Dread might be doing looking for him..."
The spies, Other Alex included, all huddled up close to Nick so he could project a large psychic bubble around them. Nick then guided the bubble off of the crystal pillar and descended slowly but surely into the void below the Shatterverse.
As they passed through the edge of the void and continued to descend, everything around them turned momentarily completely black for a few moments before lightening back up again.
"Jeez, does this place even have an end?" Haruka wondered.
"Wait, I think I see ground just down there," Dawn answered.
Once they could indeed see solid ground, Nick guided their bubble transport down to said ground before disengaging the bubble to let everyone land.
What they saw ahead of them, though, stole their breath away.
There was actually a path through this area, but it was decorated with all manner of strange structures dotted with more of those strange crystals.
"...hold on," Other Alex gasped. "I think... I think I recognize some of those buildings. It's almost like... these are random pieces of my world."
"With everything here as whacked out as it is, I wouldn't be surprised," Sortiliena quipped.
"We should get moving, everyone," Nick proclaimed. "We've gotta find other me quickly."
The spies all nodded in agreement as they began to follow the path through this strange area.
"Let's just hope worst case scenario hasn't happened yet," Alex stated.
When the spies got a look at their surroundings, it appeared they were back in an early '90s version of Beverly Hills.
"Holy crapbaskets," Clover remarked. "I'm getting flashbacks here."
"Totally," Sam added.
Alex was no different.
"The Beverly Hills Mall was still around," Clover told the other spies. "And we were just going to start our days at Bev High..."
"And we still lived in our own homes," Alex added.
"Isn't there a Other Sam or Other Clover, too?" Mat asked Other Alex. "What happened to them?"
"In my dimension, our spy team was just myself, Sammy, Clover, Mat and Nick," Other Alex answered. "I haven't seen anybody else during my time in this place, so I can only assume they might not have survived the dimension going kaboom..."
"Well, no matter what, we'll be able to bring them back once we get the Paradox Prism away from Captain Dread," Nick stated. "So don't you worry."
Despite what Other Alex had said, the spies still continued on until Haruka looked in an alley. She then heard a rumble of trash.
"Guys, I think we might have found him," Haruka told the others.
"Hey, careful, Haruka!" May exclaimed.
"I can ascertain if it's just a stray cat," Nick told the others as he used his psychic radar and accompanied Haruka at the same time.
The rest of the spies followed to see for themselves.
"I think Haruka's right," Nick stated.
He used his psychic powers to lift up the rubble, and they did find Other Nick after all.
"Damn!" Nick swore as he checked him out.
"Well?" Sortiliena wondered.
"He's still breathing," Nick told them alarmed.
Other Alex was taken aback, but she still called for help.
"I'll bet Captain Dread is fully responsible for this..." Alex groaned.
"There's no doubt she is," Other Alex remarked. "I saw it happen, after all..."
"Any idea where that cheap knock-off of me is?" May wondered.
"Unfortunately, Captain Dread is going to have to wait," Blaine remarked.
Despite being severely hurt, Other Nick was able to point where to go for either help or where Captain Dread was. Sam and Bridget went to see where he was pointing at.
"It looks like... another portal that leads to the high school," Bridget quipped.
"Well, the clock's ticking for this guy," Nozomi remarked. "Let's get him help!"
Before they could do so, though, Other Nick's eyes flashed open and he quickly jumped to his feet, though he immediately stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face again.
"Easy, dude," Nick quipped as he helped Other Nick steady himself. "You're not exactly in good shape right now, you know."
"...I'm fine," Other Nick groaned. "I've been through worse, trust me. I won't let this stop me..."
"Did Captain Dread do... this... to you?" Haruka wondered.
"Yeah," Other Nick answered. "When I came back from that one gateway with the purple shard, she ambushed me and swiped all of the four Prism Shards I'd collected. Wait, she didn't..."
"Yeah, she paid a visit to our dimension and re-swiped the blue one," Sam sighed. "But for some reason, when she reassembled the Paradox Prism and tried to use it, nothing happened."
"...I think I might know why," Other Nick replied.
"Hey, guys, that portal's closing!" Bridget exclaimed, pointing to the portal ahead, which was getting smaller and smaller rapidly.
Other Nick simply raised his hand and unleashed an eerie pulse of silver light from his palm that struck the portal and reopened it.
"Okay, that was cool," Nick chuckled. "I definitely can't do that."
"It's because that's not my psychic powers," Other Nick responded. "I have some of the energy of the Paradox Prism coursing through my body."
"...is that why the Paradox Prism wouldn't work for Captain Dread?" May gasped. "Because it's not technically complete yet? How'd you even do that?"
"The only thing that I can think of is that I absorbed some of that energy when I initially shattered the Paradox Prism," Other Nick admitted.
"Which would also explain why Captain Dread just left after she swiped the blue shard," Sortiliena noted. "She's trying to find you."
"By the way, are you one of your dimension's spies, too?" Other Alex asked. "I didn't see you the last time you all crossed over to here..."
"Technically, I'm the combat instructor for my W.O.O.H.P., but I help the spies out whenever they need it, usually if it has something to do with the L.A.M.O.S.," Sortiliena chuckled. "W.O.O.H.P. Combat Instructor First-Class, Sortiliena Serlut, at your service!"
"If all of that is true, then we absolutely cannot let Captain Dread get his hands on other me," Nick proclaimed. "If she takes that energy back, we're finished."
"Should we keep moving through... whatever this is?" Dawn asked. "If we've gotta stay one step ahead of Captain Dread, we need to keep moving through this wacky place."
"Then let's get going," Alex stated as everybody ran through the portal, coming out on what appeared to be a large bridge that led out of the city, though this bridge actually led to the old Beverly Hills High School, which looked different from the one the main spies knew.
Much to their surprise, though, everything here was devoid of color beyond various shades of grey.
"This is... so not right," Clover noted. "Where's the color in everything here?"
"Hey, someone's over there," Haruka replied, pointing to just ahead, down the nearby hallway.
At the edge of said hallway, what appeared to be the Clover and Mandy of the dimension the Shatterverse had been were arguing with each other.
"Ah, memories," Alex chuckled.
"You seriously think you're gonna get him?!" Other Clover shouted.
"Please, I've already got a better chance than you," Other Mandy laughed.
However, Other Mandy and Other Clover simply repeated these same lines over and over again non-stop, seemingly oblivious to everything around them.
Other Nick walked up to them and tried to place his hand on Other Clover's shoulder, only for his hand to pass right through.
"These are just phantoms," Other Nick sighed. "They're all that's left of our world."
"That makes sense, if they just keep repeating the same lines," Other Alex quipped. "I can see Mandy saying that on repeat all day."
"How can you be so calm about this, Alex?!" Other Nick shouted, surprising the others. "If I remember correctly, you wanted me dead when this first happened!"
"Well, maybe, but..." Other Alex started.
"Don't you get it?!" Other Nick exclaimed. " I did this! All of this is my fault! I'm the one who broke the Paradox Prism and destroyed our world! How can you be so forgiving towards what I did?!"
"For starters, I don't think anybody knew that this was going to happen," Sam responded. "Also, I'm sure you'd rather it be broken than be in Tim Scam's hands. That's not a mental image I want to picture..."
"And the most important part," Other Alex answered as she put her hands on Other Nick's shoulders. "My stupid self let my anger over everything get the better of me. And besides, I know everyone will be fine and dandy once we get the Paradox Prism back and teach Captain Dread a lesson."
"...what did I do to deserve someone like you, Alex?" Other Nick sighed in relief as Other Alex hugged him.
"Must have been something pretty cool," Other Alex giggled.
"All right, let's keep moving, then," Sortiliena stated. "We need to stay on our guard."
With that in mind, the spies all continued to make their way through this phantom Beverly Hills High School, hoping to stay one step ahead of Captain Dread.
"OMG, our lockers!" Clover exclaimed while on the way.
"One of our real haunts here at Bev High," Alex commented.
"We were totally just beginning our high school careers," Sam remarked after finding the science lab and other haunts.
The spies opted to start with the science lab, but nobody was inside.
"It's empty," Blaine stated. "Let's look some more around here."
"Not yet," Sam told the others. "Something's telling me there's a clue in here somewhere..."
"I believe the lady," Mat quipped. "Not just because she's my soon-to-be wife."
Nick did a psychic reading to see if Sam was right after all.
"Welp, Sam's intuition is spot-on as always," Nick quipped as he gestured towards the lockers.
Sam still looked around, feeling like her hunch was still right.
"Are you sure that something's in here, Sammy?" Alex wondered.
"I'm certain," Sam insisted.
They kept looking around until Sam got to the teacher's area and checked there. After checking the drawers, Sam grinned.
"Bingo!" Sam exclaimed as she pulled out what appeared to be a piece of a ring.
"It looks like it belongs on a ring of some kind," Bridget observed.
"I'll be damned," Nozomi remarked.
"Hopefully the X-Powder will determine what that is," Sam quipped, getting out her X-Powder.
It took a little longer than normal, since they didn't have RiCO with them to help analyze it, but after a bit, the analysis flashed onto the X-Powder screen.
"...hold on, I recognize that now," Other Alex gasped. "That's a piece of Clover's mood ring. Mandy swiped it last week, right before everything with the Paradox Prism, and poor Clover just went ape-shucks on Mandy trying to get it back."
"Am I glad that our Mandy buried the hatchet with us, huh?" Alex chuckled.
"I found something, too," May replied right over by the classroom skeleton model.
The spies came to see what May had found; it turned out to be a brown chocolate-y oil.
"Oh, we have to find Jerry," Bridget remembered.
May used her X-Powder to examine that substance.
"Okay, according to this, it's some kind of machine oil mixed with chocolate," May stated. "I'm not sure I want to know..."
"Probably from The Granny," Other Nick answered. "We were facing off with her about a day before Scam made his move on the Paradox Prism, and she had... a unique idea for her cookies, to put it mildly."
"Unfortunately, this doesn't get us closer to finding what we need," Britney chastised.
"Then we need to explore the campus much more," Nick pointed out.
Despite checking out every room, and all the flashbacks that were screaming back at them, the spies didn't find anything else.
"Maybe the football field will give us some answers," Dawn replied.
"Here's hoping," Melissa added. "Captain Dread did a helluva job not leaving much behind for us to find..."
"This place is so odd to me," Clover admitted. "There's so many things I remember about our old high school, but there's also a lot of things that don't look familiar. I guess I should have expected it thanks to all the dimensional traveling we've done, but still..."
"I'm wondering if there's some kind of connection between these clues," Haruka noted. "Both of them so far have been related to stuff that's happened in this dimension."
"You think something's trying to guide us?" Nozomi wondered.
"Whatever it is, I just hope it's something good," Blaine sighed.
"...hey, what's that over there?" Dawn quipped, pointing towards the southwest.
The spies followed that path, opening a large double door that should have led to the cafeteria, but actually seemingly led to the roof. After crossing over that rooftop and opening another door, then they were in the cafeteria.
"Man, this is tripping me out," May admitted. "Everything's all screwed up and distorted here. You think one place will lead somewhere, but then it's different, and only then is it actually the place you're looking for..."
"I wouldn't be too surprised, given how unstable everything is here," Nick responded. "And that means we need to take back the Paradox Prism real soon, before all of this becomes too broken to fix."
"The problem with that, is that we'll have to fight Captain Dread at some point," Bridget noted. "And we can't let her get her greasy pirate claws on the other you, Nick."
"I've got something stored away that might help us even the odds if it comes down to that," Nick quipped. "Let's just hope it doesn't."
Sam's eyes were drawn to what appeared to be phantoms of both her and Mat, no doubt the ones from this dimension, both of them seemingly ordering lunch from the lunch lady who wasn't actually there.
"Aw, aren't you sweet," Other Sam giggled on repeat.
"Anything for you, my dear," Other Mat responded on repeat.
Other Nick couldn't help but feel that familiar guilt creeping up on him again, knowing that, regardless of what anyone said to him, he was responsible for all of this.
"Hey, everything okay?" Haruka asked, noticing that Other Nick was looking kind of sad.
"Oh, he's probably just feeling guilty that he destroyed his own world."
Before the spies could get their bearings, a massive wave of violet light crashed down on them, forcing the spies to their knees and distorting the landscape around them even further.
Nick managed to look up just in time to see Captain Dread floating down to greet them, now wearing the Paradox Prism on her back like an accessory. Before the spies could pick themselves up, Captain Dread waved her hand to entrap Other Nick in chains of light.
"...oh, crapbaskets," Mat groaned.
"You may not be the same Nick that I know," Captain Dread chuckled as she floated down to glance at Other Nick. "But I think I finally understand you. You're so willing to save everyone, even if it's none of your business. You claim that it's because 'you're a hero, and that's what heroes do', but, deep down... after what you did? Destroying your own home?"
Captain Dread savored the defeated look on Other Nick at that. "It's the only way you can ever live with yourself," Captain Dread continued. "Even if that means you won't live at all."
"...with what you're trying to do, there's a good chance that neither one of us is going to walk away from this," Other Nick retorted.
"Oh, I'm well aware of the risks," Captain Dread quipped. "I'm feeling generous right now, so I'll make a deal. If you come with me and let me take that power, I'll spare your friends."
Other Nick grimaced, knowing Captain Dread wasn't going to give him any other choice. Either he gave up that power, or his friends would all most likely die.
"...if I don't make it, and you do... how do I know you'll keep your promise?" Other Nick stated rather clearly.
Captain Dread hesitated slightly before recomposing herself.
"I learned from someone very special to me that promises are meant to be kept," Captain Dread admitted before waving her right hand to teleport herself and Other Nick away.
The rest of the spies could only stare in stunned silence at what had just happened.
To be continued...
Next time...
Other Alex: Oh, tell me that did not just happen.
Haruka: We'd better go after them, right now.
Mat: Wait, didn't Captain Dread make a promise to spare us?
May: Yeah, with that look in her eyes, I highly doubt she's actually going to honor that promise.
Britney: That leaves one problem, though. Where did they go?!
Sortiliena: That's gonna be hard.
Sam: Wait a minute, I think I have an idea. Maybe I can track Captain Dread by tracking the energy signature of the Paradox Prism!
Nick: Once again with the brilliant mind, Sammy, and just in time, because I think we need to scoot our collective asses towards that energy signature before Captain Dread gets her hands on that power.
Bridget: All right, then, as the speedster, allow me to lead the way, next time on Totally Spies: From the Top, "Avoid the Void"!
Alex: I really gotta give it to our set department again, they really pulled off a masterpiece with this Shatterverse set.
May: Yeah, I think the only digital enhancements are the weird purple sky and the ghostly shimmer. These guys are cooking.