12:18 A.M. – Unknown Location
Knowing that he had to stay quiet, he continued to sneak through the empty halls of the theater, trying to find something that could help him.
He needed some kind of damning evidence that could expose what was really going on at this strange theater. That was the whole reason he was here, after all.
Hearing a noise from nearby, he ducked behind one of the nearby costume racks and stayed there until the source of the noise passed him by.
Honestly, he was surprised he hadn't been caught yet. Despite being a spy, he had never been that good at the whole "stealth" thing.
Then again, a lot of agents of W.O.O.H.P. were the same way, if what he'd heard from his boss was any indication.
Once he was absolutely sure that the coast was clear, he exited the costume rack, equipped an Ear Ring Communicator, and followed the sounds he was listening to in hopes of locating something of use.
However, he was so focused on listening to the sounds from the Ear Ring Communicator that he failed to notice three shadowy, masked figures creeping up behind him until it was too late and they had him in a stranglehold.
He repeatedly kicked and bashed at his captors, but they would not release their grip no matter how much he hit them. Guess that meant at least some of the rumors were true.
"L-Let me, go, you little punks!" he growled.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that."
He looked around for the source of this new voice, only to see nothing in particular.
A glint of light caught his eye, and he turned back, only seeing an elegant theater mask before he lost all consciousness.
"Should we get rid of this interloper, boss lady?"
"...no. He could be useful to us. Put him in the basement with the rest of them. You know what to do there."
"You got it, boss!"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies the Movie: The Greatest Showtime
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: September 21st, 2024
And Now, It's Totally the Cast!
Jennifer Hale as Sam and Mandy
Katie Griffin as Alex
Andrea Baker as Clover
Sam Riegel as Mat
Bryce Papenbrook as Nick
Eden Riegel as May
Kelly Ohanian as Bridget
Adrian Truss as Jerry Lewis
Lindsay Seidel as RiCO
Story Summary: The one-hundred and fifty-fifth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and the ninth feature film of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. Summer has begun at long last, but adventure just will not leave the spies alone. This time around, they're tasked with investigating the Sparkle Theater, an extravagant new theater that has set up shop just outside California and hosts many magnificent plays. Actors in the many plays hosted by the Sparkle Theater have been vanishing randomly over the course of the past couple months, and it's up to the spies to find the missing actors, shut down the schemes of a rowdy bunch that might be behind it, and even find a missing W.O.O.H.P. agent that got captured. Much to everyone's surprise, the remaining actors believe that Bridget is their best hope to finish the plays and find the missing actors. But what the spies don't know is that there's magic in the air, and it may be their only hope of successfully completing this mission. Can Bridget and her friends pull off the performance of their lifetime to save the Sparkle Theater from the mad grasp of Madame Grape and the Sour Bunch?
Author's Note from Mat49324: We got through season 9, and we're currently beginning season 10 of Totally Spies: The New Adventures on Fanfiction. We hope you enjoyed season 9 in its entirety, and also our last movie, New Cinema Labyrinth. The Blue Time Ranger and I had plenty of fun with that one, and we will have plenty of fun with this one. Expect this to be the new norm for us starting our movie fic this early into season 10 instead of waiting until the entire 10th season is over, and we'll be working on this for a good month or so with updates coming on any given day. Anyway, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Note from The Blue Time Ranger: Yup, we're at it again! This is the third movie in what I call the "Another Side" 'verse that started with Another Side, Another Story and continued with New Cinema Labyrinth, and this one specifically is a Bridget-focused adventure! I figured it was time to give this new version of Bridget a spotlight, and how fitting, considering the overall theme of today's movie adventure. Like always, this movie will probably be finished around the halfway point of season ten, but it won't be posted until the very end of season ten. With that said, get your movie snacks, silence your cell phones (unless you're watching this movie on your cell phone), and let's get to showtime! 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?
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Act 1: Take Your Seats
2:17 P.M. – Beverly Hills High School
The final bell at Beverly Hills High School was only minutes away from sounding, and the spies were eager to begin another summer vacation. They were all in their separate classes with end-of-school-year parties for the time being.
Yearbooks were already out, and everybody got signatures from one another. As soon as the clock hit 2:30, the final bell rang, and summer was officially under way.
"FINALLY!" Alex proclaimed as the spies descended the steps of the front of the school.
"Time for some MUCH-NEEDED R & R!" Sam added.
Clover merely gave a whoop while everybody made a break for their homes or anywhere else in mind.
"Beach house then?" Mat asked.
"You bet," Alex remarked.
With that, the spies all headed for their beach house. Nick, May, and Bridget were able to fit in the spies' car via the back seat with May on the bumper, and Alex took the wheel. There were some uneasy feelings since this spy team had jumped from three to seven with Mat staying to be with Sam, and Nick, May, and Bridget transferring to Beverly Hills where Nick found love in Alex himself.
"We totally need a bigger car since we have got seven with us now," Sam commented.
2:43 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
"Here we are!" Clover exclaimed.
"Summertime is now upon us!" May announced.
Everybody piled into the beach house and unpacked their belongings.
"And I can just worry about the Motocross season on TV," Mat replied.
"Sounds like it's something right up your alley," May chuckled, since Mat had made no secret of his love for Motocross over the time they'd known each other.
"To be honest," Alex remarked. "It works out for us since Mat doesn't watch much of other stuff, so occasionally he watches stuff with us."
"And the only other thing I've seen Mat watch that wasn't one of his races was Jeopardy," Clover added as she went away with Sam.
"Bro, my mom would've LOVED you!" Nick exclaimed.
"I still remember my own mom getting so shocked at that Ken Jennings guy's winning streak," Bridget chuckled. "I gotta say, that was something else."
"Yeah, I watched a lot of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune when I was a kid back in New York," May quipped. "I was pretty easy to entertain in my youth."
That was when Sam returned to the den in her green swimsuit. Clover was right behind her in her blue triangular bikini.
("California Gurls" by Katy Perry plays)
"Swimming pool, anybody?" Clover asked.
"My suggestion," Sam quipped.
"I'm in," Mat stated.
"Maybe squeeze in some beach time as well another day?" Nick suggested.
"Totally!" Alex exclaimed. "Why have one when we can have both?"
It was unanimous: pool for now, beach another day.
"Maybe three things..." Nick replied, which caught some of the main spies by surprise.
"Three?" Clover wondered.
"Let's just say... Bridget and I are major car wash geeks," Nick explained.
"You mean... you spend more time getting each other wet?" Mat wondered.
"I can't tell you how many times I saw them do just that," May laughed.
"That's honestly something I could see myself enjoying," Sam admitted.
"Yeah, gotta enjoy your teenage years while ya can, right?" Alex giggled.
"It does sound like fun when you think about it..." Mat admitted.
For the time being, everybody went to the pool after Alex, May, and Bridget changed clothes; Nick and Alex led the way with a jump in together.
Bridget surprised everybody by dashing into the pool area, dressed in a two-piece light blue swimsuit with yellow stripes, then doing a power bounce off of the diving board, cutting a couple flips, and flashing a stylish pose before she splashed into the pool, causing enough of a splash to get all six other spies wet.
"Dang, girl, that was something else," Clover laughed once Bridget had resurfaced. "You've got some moves."
"Hey, all that yo-yo slinging does a body good," Bridget giggled.
"Yeah, like how you tripped Mandy again after she just had to leave Caitlin's bad cooking in Clover's locker," Alex chuckled.
"She'll get hers one of these days," Bridget stated.
"Bridget's always been very intolerant of bullies for most of her life," Nick quipped.
"Oh, yeah, you two have known each other for a long time, right?" Mat asked.
"Yup, since we were basically infants," Bridget answered. "No matter what, Nick's stuck by my side through thick and thin and whatever comes inbetween those."
Before Nick could assist Bridget in regaling tales of their youth, he heard a strange noise coming from somewhere nearby, putting him on alert.
"...something wrong, Nick?" Sam asked.
Reacting quickly, Nick raised his hand to conjure a psychic bubble around all seven of them and lift them out of the pool just as it turned into a whipping whirlpool.
"Yikes, that was close," Nick sighed before noticing that Sam, Alex, Clover and Mat didn't look concerned.
"That's probably Jerry calling us," Clover quipped. "Trust me, it wouldn't be the weirdest way he's WOOHPed us."
"...dare I ask?" May wondered.
"Trust me, you're better off not knowing," Alex admitted as Nick dissipated the bubble so they could all jump into the whirlpool and take the express path to W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters.
Once all seven spies were inside Jerry's office, Jerry himself stepped up from his chair as the spies all suited up via their X-Powders (or GBA SP for Mat).
"I wanted to use the 'whirl' joke again, but RiCO insisted I not, so it wouldn't get stale," Jerry chuckled as RiCO materialized in the office in hologram form.
"Yeah, certain jokes can only be repeated so much before they lose their punch," RiCO quipped. "But anyways, let's get down to business, shall we?"
RiCO gestured towards the office viewscreen and waved her hands to change it to a video feed of what appeared to be a very extravagant-looking theater situated on an island just off the coast of California.
"Ooh, fancy," Alex giggled.
"Wait, wait, isn't that the Sparkle Theater?" Clover gasped, catching everyone's attention. "I've heard a lot about that place recently. The rumors all say that it's a very popular spot for plays and other kinds of theater shows. I've never actually been there myself, but I hear it's very posh and fancy."
"Yes, indeed, but dozens of actors that star in the plays they put on there have been going missing recently, and we figured it had grown into enough of a concern to get all of you on the case," Jerry explained.
"Any idea who's behind this one?" Sam asked.
"That's the thing," RiCO admitted. "This doesn't look like the handiwork of any of your current rogues' gallery, at least none that we have in our database."
"So this might be a new baddie for us to stomp," Nick quipped. "We haven't had that in a while."
"Regardless of who it might be, your mission today is to head to the Sparkle Theater, find the missing actors, and stop whoever is behind their disappearance," Jerry proclaimed.
"I've already got your gadgets loaded into your Jetpack Backpacks, so all you've gotta do is take the Skyskimmer over there," RiCO stated.
"Shall we, everyone?" Clover chuckled as the seven spies all grabbed their Jetpack Backpacks.
"Oh, one more thing, spies," Jerry called out. "We would also like you to search for one of our fellow agents as well."
"He went to investigate the Sparkle Theater himself about a week ago, and we haven't heard from him since," RiCO stated. "We have reason to believe he might be among the kidnapped actors."
"Got it, we'll keep our eyes out," Bridget responded as the spies headed out of the office towards the Skyskimmer that would take them to the Sparkle Theater.
4:07 P.M. – The Sparkle Theater
Just Off the Coast of California
"...oh, my gosh, Clover, you weren't kidding," Alex gasped once the spies had found their way into the Sparkle Theater. It had looked extravagant on the outside, but the inside was even more so, if that was possible. "This place is amazing."
"Told ya so," Clover chuckled.
"Everything here seems to be in one piece," Sam noted as she glanced around the main lobby of the first floor, searching for any sign of trouble. "We've got a lot of ground to cover if we hope to find those missing actors or that kidnapped agent."
"Oh, I hope he's cute," Clover giggled.
"Clover, is this really the time to be thinking about that?" Mat groaned.
"Hey, I'm the only one of us original three who's still single, so..." Clover quipped.
"...oy vey," May sighed.
The spies' musings were interrupted when a loud gasp of shock came from just outside the main lobby. The spies all headed in that direction, towards one of the theaters, just in time to see what appeared to be a Sparkle Theater actor being dragged away by a strange purple-suited figure wearing a golden masquerade mask.
"Guess that's suspicious enough," Bridget quipped as she unfurled her yo-yos and made her way towards the scene.
"H-Hey, I said let me go!" the actor shouted as he struggled to break free.
"Sorry, pal, but I'm just doing my job," the goon laughed as he prepared to cast his teleport spell and leave with his prize. He found himself unable to when a red yo-yo came flying out and whacked him across the face, forcing him to release the actor and face his attacker. "All right, who's got the kahones?!"
"That would be me," Bridget taunted, twirling her yo-yos around. "You know, kidnapping actors is kinda, you know, not cool."
"And what would you know?!" the goon retorted. "I've got a job to do, so I'll only give you this warning once. Don't mess with the Sour Bunch or you'll live to regret it!"
"...all right, I'll take that bet," Bridget chuckled as she rushed in to engage with the Sour Bunch goon, swinging her yo-yos in different directions to keep him guessing.
The Sour Bunch goon tried his best to dodge, but Bridget was too swift for him, clobbering him with multiple yo-yo swings before finishing with a walk-the-dog that dazed the goon long enough for Bridget to hook her yo-yos around his legs and use them to toss him halfway across the lobby.
"...curses, this wasn't in the plan," the Sour Bunch goon growled. "You haven't seen the last of us yet!"
With that, the Sour Bunch goon disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.
"Okay, so, that was... a thing that happened," May quipped.
"Hey, at least now we're pretty sure that this 'Sour Bunch' is behind all of the kidnappings," Sam noted. "It's something to go on, at least."
"You okay over there?" Bridget asked after helping the actor back to his feet.
"Thank you so much for your assistance, miss," the actor sighed in relief. "I thought I was going to be next..."
"Let's just say that my friends and I are here to solve the case of these mysterious disappearances," Bridget answered.
"Oh, what does it matter anyway?" the actor groaned, which caught Bridget by surprise. "Many of our main actors who play the starring roles in our plays have been taken, so we might not be able to put on our shows anymore..."
Before any of the spies could interject, the actor suddenly gasped in surprise as an idea formed in his head. "Actually, miss... I hate to ask you something like this after you just saved my butt, but..." the actor started. "If it's not too much trouble... could you maybe take the place of some of our stars and help us finish our upcoming plays?"
Naturally, Bridget was pretty flabbergasted that he was asking her this.
"Y-You... you want me to perform?" Bridget gasped. "I'm not sure if I'm that good of an actor..."
"Oh, but I can see in your eyes, the skill and the tenacity to pull it off, despite your relative inexperience," the actor responded. "I can think of nobody better for this role."
Bridget took a couple seconds to think this over. After all, despite her own skills, she had never been that good of an actor before. But seeing the pleading look in the actor's eyes, and the supportive smiles of her friends and fellow spies...
...well, who was she to refuse?
"All right, I'm in," Bridget answered. "On one condition. I want my friends to help out, too. If I'm gonna be the main actor, then they can help out with other behind-the-scenes stuff, you catch my drift?"
"Yes, yes, that sounds like a plan to me!" the actor exclaimed. "How about we head down to our first play of the night? We've got about an hour to finish getting ready for it."
The actor quickly dashed towards the elevator in the lobby that led to the second floor of the Sparkle Theater.
"Kinda got volunteered, huh?" Nick teased.
"Welp, couldn't hurt to finally brush up on my acting skills, huh?" Bridget giggled as the seven spies followed the actor into the elevator.
Nick and Mat had a couple of suspicions about this.
"By the way, before I forget, I didn't catch your name..." the actor told Bridget.
"It's Bridget," Bridget replied and ran through everyone else's names as well.
"Got it," the actor stated.
"So, what kind of play is this?" Mat wondered.
"Our first play that we're going to have your assistance with is Wild West themed," the actor responded. "Specifically, about a lone bounty hunter chasing a criminal that ruined their life through the frontier."
"Sounds pretty interesting," Bridget chuckled. "I get to be a cowboy!"
"I think it sounds theoretically safe," May commented.
"What about the rest of us behind the scenes?" Clover wondered.
"I'll explain more along the way," the actor remarked.
With that, the spies observed the second floor of the Sparkle Theater when the elevator stopped, and they had gotten off.
Though the second floor of the Sparkle Theater looked mostly similar to the first floor, it was slightly fancier and held five different theater areas instead of just three like the first floor had (to be fair, the first floor also held the main lobby and ticket booths and everything).
"Interesting," Mat commented.
"Same," Nick added.
Bridget was looking more excited that she accepted this role.
"All right, here's how the rest of you can help out," the actor stated. "Sam, I'd like you and Mat to do the narration for the play. Alex and Clover can help out with the lighting, and May can assist with making sure our sets are up to code."
"Sounds good to me," Alex stated.
"What about what I'm doing?" Bridget wondered.
"I was just getting to that," the actor replied. "Simply follow me backstage when we get there and I'll show you."
"Okay, I think I can handle it," Bridget remarked confidently.
"Go get 'em, Bridget!" Clover cheered from the sidelines.
"Oh, and one last thing," the actor noted. "I'd like all of you to stay vigilant and keep an eye out. Given all of the kidnappings recently, we have reason to believe that members of the Sour Bunch may have infiltrated the plays, no doubt attempting to kidnap more actors. If you run into any of them, even if it might disrupt the play, please do not hesitate to put a stop to them."
"That definitely won't be a problem," May chuckled. "It is why we're here, after all."
"I'll probably be on lookout duty, then," Nick answered. "Since I have psychic abilities and all that, it shouldn't be hard for me to weed out the Sour Bunch if they come a-knockin'."
As the audience started to file in, the spies all took their respective positions, and the lone actor led Bridget backstage.
"Ooh, pretty fancy," Bridget chuckled.
"Okay, then, stand right there on that podium and we'll get you fitted for your role," the actor proclaimed. "Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, but my name is Leon, and I'm one of the main directors of affairs here at the Sparkle Theater."
Leon ducked behind a nearby clothes rack and pulled out a long red ribbon that appeared to be glowing.
"Now, this is the one of the big trademarks of the Sparkle Theater, something that none of our plays would truly be possible without," Leon stated. "Please try to not be too surprised. I mean you no harm, truly, but I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea."
Before Bridget could ask what that meant, the ribbon flew out of Leon's hands and started swirling around her, faster and faster, until it wrapped itself around Bridget's waist and covered her in a small deluge of aquatic-blue light.
When the flash cleared, Bridget's outfit had been magically transformed. Now, she was wearing a white tank top with a blue heart in the center, pants with an American flag color scheme, and blue boots with a light blue heart on the front of each boot, along with big loose gloves, a blue bandana and a light pink cowboy hat worn on her back. Two yellow prop guns were also holstered on her waist.
"...whoa," Bridget gasped. "You guys are a magic theater."
"That is part of our appeal," Leon admitted. "We use some magic in our plays, but only to put on a good show for our audience and make them happy."
"That automatically makes you better magicians than some people I could think of," Bridget chuckled, remembering their last two major capers and how much they'd had to deal with the Great Kandinsky in both of them.
"You don't seem too shocked by this," Leon wondered.
"Trust me, when you've seen a lot of what my friends and I have seen, not much really strikes me as 'weird' anymore," Bridget admitted. "Should we head out? I'm ready to round up some ruffians, if you catch my drift."
"Very well, then, to the stage!" Leon proclaimed dramatically as he headed back out to the main stage, Bridget following right behind him.
"It was a quiet, lonely day in the town of Success," Sam narrated, reading from the script that Leon had provided her and Mat. "Not unlike most days in this corner of the west."
"But, as always, there are bad guys ever prepared to ruin the tranquility of this little town," Mat narrated.
As a small group of actors hustled onto the stage to play their roles, Nick continued to use his psychic radar to sweep the area for any sign of the Sour Bunch. Thankfully, these actors weren't part of them.
"Ah, you fiends!" one of the lady actors shrieked as a male actor, dressed up like the major villain of this piece, approached her. "Why are you ransacking our precious town?!"
"Sorry, babe, but this is just business for us," the villain actor chuckled. "We've got loot to steal, so if you'd kindly get out of our way..."
"That guy's a total ham," Clover chuckled.
"At least he's having fun," Alex giggled.
"Stop right there, pardner."
When that familiar voice rang out, a spotlight shined down onto the stage towards a rock formation, and Bridget stepped out from it, dressed up in her cowboy outfit. Music started playing from the upper ceiling loudspeakers, a cowboy-sounding tune that fit the situation quite well.
"Ah, if it isn't the infamous Dead-Eye," the villain actor cackled. "I was wonderin' when you'd show up."
"Well, when it comes to you and your gang, I figured you'd be makin' your way here eventually," Bridget responded, even putting on a cowboy accent for the heck of it. "Now how do you suppose we settle this?"
"Hey, even I know not to monkey around with you," the villain actor quipped as he moved to retreat, only for Bridget to quickly throw out one of her yo-yos, hook it around the villain's ankle, and yank it back to send him flipping through the air, much to the delight of the audience.
"Oh, no, no, no, I've been chasing you halfway across this wasteland after what you did to that one town," Bridget retorted. "That was my hometown, you monster, so don't think you're moseyin' off on me today."
Despite not expecting that, the villain actor decided to roll with it.
"Ah, so you've got some new toys to play around with," the villain actor laughed.
"Yeah, well, I've kinda taken a liking to these little 'toys'," Bridget quipped. "They've been very helpful."
"Well, I don't think that even mad yo-yo skills can save you from a bullet between the eyes!" the villain actor cackled as he aimed his gun for Bridget. Obviously, it was just a prop gun, much like Bridget's, but the audience gasped all the same.
"...you'd be surprised," Bridget retorted, swinging out one of her yo-yos to knock the gun out of the villain actor's hand. "You learn a lot of things in these untamed frontiers."
"Y-You haven't beat us yet!" the villain actor bellowed as he ran off stage, with Bridget giving chase.
"The brave cowboy Dead-Eye continued to chase after the ruffians' leader, fully intent on bringing them to justice for what they did to their hometown," Sam narrated.
"But little did Dead-Eye know that this vicious vandal had a trick up his sleeve," Mat narrated.
After a quick scene change, Bridget skidded to a stop, looking around for the villain actor as the scene called for.
"All right, you, show your face so I can rearrange it a few times," Bridget proclaimed.
The villain actor stepped out from the opposite end of the stage to 'confront' Bridget...
...but she quickly noticed that something was off.
The actor was slowly swaying from side to side, and his outfit even looked slightly different. But what clinched it was that Bridget could now see a golden masquerade mask on his face, much like that Sour Bunch goon from earlier had been wearing.
Not good, Bridget thought. That probably means that this guy's part of the Sour Bunch. Nick, did you hear that?
Yeah, I already figured it out, Nick thought back from his perch in the rafters. Keep him from getting loose, okay, Bridget?
You got it.
"This is where your six-shooter days end, miss Dead-Eye!" the villain actor laughed in a slightly different voice before unfurling what looked like a real gun and charging towards Bridget.
Thinking fast, Bridget ducked under the actor and swung her yo-yo upwards to make him stumble before switching to her Super-Elongated Titanium Yo-Yos and slashing outwards to cut the gun into pieces.
Not giving the actor a chance to retaliate, Bridget shoulder-charged him into the nearby 'rock', dazing him just long enough for her to use her regular yo-yos and trip him up before kicking him behind a rock in the center of the stage, giving pursuit quickly.
"All right, you," Bridget growled in her normal voice, since nobody could see them back here behind the rock props. "What did you do with the villain actor guy?!"
"You'll have to find him yourself," the Sour Bunch goon laughed. "You should never have interfered!"
"Oh, just go and stuff a cork in it!" Bridget retorted, using her yo-yos to swing the Sour Bunch goon back onto the stage, readopting her "cowboy persona" to keep the immersion for the audience. "You've got some nerve givin' me all that lip, ya know."
"You honestly think you're a match for me?!" the Sour Bunch goon exclaimed.
"Um, in case you missed it, I've been cleanin' up your whole gang ever since I got here," Bridget chuckled. "This won't end well if you keep this up."
Knowing she had to get this over with quickly, Bridget swung her yo-yos out again to capture the Sour Bunch goon before knocking him out cold with a chop to the back of the neck.
"And with that, the ruffians' leader had been taken care of handily," Sam narrated. "But the rest of the gang was still ransacking the town, and they needed to be stopped."
After the director called for the intermission, the spies all gathered backstage to discuss what had gone down during that play.
"I should have figured the Sour Bunch is already up to no good," Sam groaned.
"At least I think we know how to identify them," Bridget quipped in her normal voice. "They seem to all be wearing those golden masquerade masks no matter what play they've infiltrated."
"But that means another actor's been taken, right?" Alex wondered. "How are we going to deal with that?"
"You all stay here and keep doing the play," Nick answered. "I'm gonna search around the theater and try to find any trace of that missing actor. If I can find at least one of them, it may lead us to the rest of them."
"All right, then, let us know if you find anything interesting," Mat quipped.
With that, the rest of the spies headed back to the stage to prepare for the next act of the play, while Nick set off to search for the missing actor.
"How in the world did the Sour Bunch goons find us here?" Nick wondered as he scoured the area for any clues possibly left behind.
After a bit, Nick decided to try and use his psychic radar to pinpoint any possible disturbances. It took about ten seconds of searching, but he did pick up something interesting nearby.
Nick followed the 'trail' of thoughts back down to the first floor, towards what appeared to be the basement of the Sparkle Theater. After descending those stairs, he found a very peculiar sight, namely that of six large doorways that definitely didn't look like they belonged here.
"...what in the world?" Nick wondered as he stepped closer to the door with a cowboy hat embroidered on it, thinking that it was connected somehow.
"Well, the good news is that Nick's not needed for this particular segment of the film," Leon told the remaining spies.
"What about the missing actor?" Bridget asked.
"He's in the next scene," Leon sighed, now realizing the magnitude of the situation.
"Oh, that's never a good feeling," Mat remarked.
"I don't suppose that..." Leon started to ask Mat.
"I'm afraid I'll have to pass," Mat stated. "I honestly don't like playing the villain roles on a personal note."
"Fair enough," Leon commented.
"I guess with the intermission, we should split up and look for ourselves," Sam told the others.
"I know this studio like the back of my hand, so I can lead things," Leon remarked.
"That'll help," Clover stated.
With that, the remaining spies set out to look for the villain actor themselves.
"I don't see anything yet..." Mat told the spies, thinking this could be a bust.
Everyone kept their hopes up.
"Look for the golden mask," Bridget reminded.
"Or better yet... maybe other attributes like glasses or birthmarks or something," Mat pointed out.
Sam, Clover, and Alex nodded, knowing Mat was right in that department.
"Eighteen years in this line of work, and you know to pick up on things like that," Leon quipped. "Good call, Mat..."
"So, you recall something, Leon?" May wondered.
"Our actor who played Massimo, the villain of our current Wild West play, as you probably saw, had some muscle to him, but in reality, he's a bit of a softie," Leon quipped.
"Ah, the whole 'mean character, nice actor' thing," Clover chuckled.
"He must have gotten nabbed while we were switching scenes, because I remember him talking to me right before we got started," Bridget noted. "The Sour Bunch must have taken advantage of that in order to grab the guy."
"That'll help," Alex quipped.
The spies kept looking, but they didn't have any luck yet.
"I guess that guy's not here," Sam admitted until she heard a thud from a nearby locker.
"Careful, Sam," Clover replied. "That might be a trap."
Mat came to her in case. Sam opened the locker to see what caused that thud.
"It's him!" Leon exclaimed at seeing the villain actor all tied up.
The spies then heard another noise, and they saw another of the Sour Bunch members cornering them all.
"Uh oh..." Alex chastised as that Sour Bunch member sealed the entrance shut with an ice power.
"Wait, wait, these guys have actual magic?!" May gasped. "Ooh, I really hope this isn't Kandinsky's doing after all..."
"Nope, he's still in containment, thankfully," RiCO answered from Bridget's X-Powder, even showing off a video feed of Kandinsky in his containment cell.
"They're making a mockery of our stage magic," Leon growled.
"Then allow me to mock these guys right back," Bridget laughed as she swung her yo-yos out to strike at the Sour Bunch goon and keep him from getting closer.
"You'll have to do better than that, little yo-yo girl!" the Sour Bunch goon cackled as he used his ice powers to create an iceberg in front of him.
"Oh, I don't think so, buddy," Clover quipped as she and May both threw Incendiary Earrings that melted the iceberg and shattered its remains, allowing Bridget to go back on the offensive.
The Sour Bunch goon tried to leap over the spies and flash-freeze them from the air, but Bridget simply hooked her yo-yos around his leg and yanked him right back to the ground.
Sam quickly used her Expandable Cable Bungee Belt to hook the Sour Bunch goon and restrain him.
"Now you're going to tell us what you did with those missing actors," Sam proclaimed.
"Oh, like we'd really listen to a bunch of nuts like you," the Sour Bunch goon taunted.
Bridget simply spun her yo-yos around her, then did a walk-the-dog move in the goon's face to intimidate him.
"Sing, you spring chicken," Bridget growled.
"We'll see about that," the Sour Bunch goon laughed. As May knocked him out with a karate chop to the neck, all of a sudden, a dark purple door opened right behind Bridget and sucked her into it, much to everyone's confusion.
Meanwhile, while all of this was happening, Nick had entered the cowboy door in the basement, only to find a very strange place on the other side of the door. This particular room almost resembled a castle hallway with random buildings from a Wild West town, along with dozens of disco balls adorning the "ceiling".
"This is... definitely not right," Nick quipped. "But if this is where that missing villain actor is being kept, I guess I don't have a choice."
Nick took slow, cautious steps forward, ready for anything that could spring out at him. And it turned out that he was right to be cautious, as more Sour Bunch goons leapt out from the doors of the saloon and right towards him.
"Back, you savages!" Nick shouted, blasting the goons back into the saloon with a Final Shine Attack.
After making his way through the "town", Nick eventually hopped onto a train that started moving across a narrow canyon.
"Man, this is just like every cheesy western out there," Nick chuckled. "But what does this train lead to?"
Nick began to run along the roof of the train as it moved, fending off any Sour Bunch goons that tried to get in his way. It seemed like the goons were getting more and more aggressive the further into this strange room that he went. And that could only mean he was getting close to something.
When the train finally reached its destination, Nick jumped off and jogged towards the cave in the distance. Nick had figured that there was some kind of magic in the air, as he had been listening in to the other spies with an Ear Ring Communicator to stay updated on the situation over there, and apparently, the others had fought a Sour Bunch goon that had ice powers.
Nick was just glad that it wasn't Kandinsky, as he'd had enough of that guy to last a while.
After a short jog through a mostly dark cave, Nick eventually reached a small indent in the wall that housed another large door much like the one he'd entered this place through.
"Well, here goes... something, I guess," Nick quipped as he pushed the door open so he could enter.
Inside this door was a circular stage with a gigantic disco ball hanging from the ceiling in the center. And on the podium under that disco ball was the actor who played Massimo, the villain in the Wild West play, restrained by what looked like magical ribbons.
Nick attempted to run over and free him, but the disco ball suddenly wrenched itself free from the ceiling, sprouting a bird face, wings, and clawed feet.
"Okay, what in the hell?!" Nick shouted.
"Who are you?!" Disco Wing shrieked. "How did you get through the Dark Door?!"
"Beats me, but I'm here to rescue the actor that you freaks kidnapped," Nick retorted. "So either get out of my way, or I'm taking you down."
"You really think I am intimidated?" Disco Wing cackled. "We're rewriting the stories of this place alongside our great leader Madame Grape. And that means if you and your friends are here to stop us, then we're going to have to punish you with the dark power we wield!"
Nick took a step back, making Disco Wing think he was going to retreat, only to clench his fists and let his psychic aura explode to life around him.
"...all right, then don't say I didn't warn you," Nick proclaimed.
Just then, another dark purple door appeared in the room and opened to spit Bridget out of it, Bridget going into a roll to minimize the impact.
"...Nick? Where the heck did that goon send me?" Bridget wondered, just then noticing Disco Wing floating above them. "And what the heck is that?!"
"Not entirely sure, but this thing apparently captured our missing villain actor," Nick responded. "And I'm willing to bet we've gotta trash this thing if we're gonna save him."
"Then let's get to the trashing, shall we?" Bridget giggled, just now noticing that her yo-yos were glowing a bright blue, like the ribbon Leon had given her that magically changed her outfit.
Disco Wing started flying in circles around the arena, dropping smaller disco balls that landed on the floor. Bridget noticed the similarities and waited for Disco Wing to fly right above one of them before swinging her yo-yos out to send the disco ball flying back up into Disco Wing, causing its disco ball shell to crack.
After doing this again, Disco Wing suddenly disintegrated and left a large dark purple sphere of energy on the floor. Bridget swung her glowing yo-yos at the sphere, which seemed to cause some damage and made Disco Wing reform.
Disco Wing flew higher into the air and started dropping large blocks with disco ball textures onto the arena.
"I'm beginning to notice a pattern here," Bridget chuckled.
Nick decided to help out, using his psychic powers to levitate one of the blocks and yank it upwards, smashing right into Disco Wing as it flew by and forcing it to discombobulate again so that Bridget could attack the dark sphere.
Once Disco Wing reformed itself again, it landed on the ground, tucked inside its disco ball shell and started rolling around the arena like an armadillo, forcing Nick and Bridget to get footsy to avoid getting run over.
After a few passes, Disco Wing attempted to crush Bridget with another roll, only to miss and charge headlong into the entrance door of this room, breaking it apart and leaving the dark sphere, which Bridget slashed at one last time with her yo-yos to finally destroy the sphere, which exploded in an extravagant flash of light.
When the area was calm again, Bridget ran over and slashed her yo-yos out again to sever the magical ribbons that were binding the villain actor.
"There you go, you're safe now," Bridget stated.
"Y-You... you use our Sparkle Power, too?" the actor gasped.
"Wait, 'Sparkle Power'?" Bridget wondered, glancing at her now-glowing yo-yos. "Guess that's just part of the magic that Leon was talking about."
"Yes, Sparkle Power is the magic we wield here at the Sparkle Theater," the actor explained. "Our audience's belief in us gives us the power to put on an amazing show for them. But... the power that bird wielded... looked very similar to Sparkle Power, only... corrupted..."
"And with that, I think I'm starting to see the Sour Bunch's game," Bridget quipped. "Apparently, they're kidnapping all of you actors and trying to corrupt the Sparkle Power you all use here for their own nefarious gains."
"From what bird boy said before we stomped him, the Sour Bunch are seemingly taking orders from a 'Madame Grape', who I'm pretty sure is their leader," Nick responded. "We'd better get back topside and let everyone else know what happened down here."
Nick and Bridget, followed by the villain actor, left the stage room and back out into the Sparkle Theater basement, where the cowboy door shined with a bright blue light and disappeared, leaving the other five doors that were already there.
Bridget made a mental note that there didn't seem to be any other way to access any of the other five doors at the moment. She wondered if it had something to do with the missing actors, given how they'd found one of them inside that first door.
More mysteries were piling up by the second, but it seemed like they were getting just that much closer to finding the rest of the actors and stopping Madame Grape and the Sour Bunch.
To be continued...
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Next time...
Bridget: Hey, everybody, we're back!
Mat: Oh, thank goodness you're all right, Bridget.
Alex: Yeah, what exactly happened? We had that goon guy cornered and then he just sucks you into a strange door!
Nick: There's a bunch of doors like that down in the basement, apparently. I headed down there to investigate, since I caught a strange set of thoughts. I found those doors in the basement, and I entered the one with a cowboy hat on it, and then I apparently went through a cheesy western movie until I found the villain actor and a monster that belonged to the Sour Bunch. Bridget wasted it pretty quickly, though.
Bridget: Yeah, I've apparently learned some magic, too.
Sam: So this Madame Grape is the leader of the Sour Bunch, then? It sounds like we're finally getting somewhere with all of this...
Clover: And I'm willing to bet that missing W.O.O.H.P. agent we're looking for is probably one of the ones who got nabbed by the Sour Bunch.
May: We probably won't get many more answers until we can enter another one of those basement doors.
Leon: For now, let's all get back to the stage so we can finish up the play. The intermission is almost over, after all.
Perry: Yeah, I'm ready to put on a show again.
Bridget: Well, readers, like they always say, the show must go on, next time on Totally Spies the Movie: The Greatest Showtime, "Puppets on Expensive Strings"!
May: Wow, they're making a lot of outfits for you back there, Bridget.
Bridget: There's at least six different plays I'm gonna be part of. Gotta look the part, right?