A new place awaits for the team! What kind of place will it be?

Backat Petalburg

"Koops, my lad... Are you telling that you're going with your friends?" asked Koopley, "Um, yes... I'm going to keep traveling with my friends. And... then I'm going to come back as a strong koopa like you, Dad!" replied his son.

"Koops, my sweet... I'll be right here waiting... for you to prove yourself" said Koopie Koo. "Don't forget that this village is your home" added the mayor, Koops smiled "Thank you everyone. Well, I'm off!" he exclaimed and with that he went with the other five.

"Sorry to keep you waiting" apologized the koopa, "Man, took you long enough" shrugged America, "I think we should get back to Rogueport" suggest Goombella "The bearer of the magical map shall unfurl it before the Thousand-Year Door. And each Crystal Star shall point to the next" she added.

"So by deducing from the books and by the legend..." Goombella reflected "If we take Crystal Star we found back to the Thousand-Year Door..." added Japan "The location of the next Crystal Star will appear on the map" concluded Mario.

Italy was still trying to understand the plan when America stepped in "Enough chit-chat guys, let's go the Thousand-Year Door!" shouted America, the five just sighed and agreed as they took off.

As they were getting out of town, Mario's pocket began to rumble, causing everyone to stop, the plumber took out his e-mail device and found that Peach sent him a message, he began to read it

"Dear Mario

I sent you this message to acknowledge you of the situation at hand. I am being held against my will in some strange place. Those who have captured me seem to be after the map I sent you earlier.

I don't know what are they up to, but I have the feeling it is no good. They found out you have the map so please be careful.

Mario. Please collect the Crystal Stars before they do. You must!

And please... don't worry about me.

Princess Peach

PS: I hope you and your friends are safe."

Mario stood speechless as the rest approached him "Was that, Princess Peach? Whoa, at least she's safe" said Goombella "Hmm, it looks like the ones who kidnaped her are also after the Crystal Stars" added Japan "A beautiful lady shouldn't be in this dangerous situation" complained Italy, "That's pretty deep, we have to stay on our guards now!" noted Koops "Don't worry, the hero will stop all the bad guys, HAHAHA" laughed America with his noisy tone.

The six then decided to get to the mythical place sooner.

30 minutes later at the Thousand-Year Door

The moment Italy and Koops saw the giant door, their jaws dropped to the floor "Man, I heard legends of this thing but it's so big!" exclaimed Koops completely surprised, "Ve~ it's big and scary, but somehow beautiful, just like..." the brunet-haired man came back to his senses when he saw his friends heading to the pedestal "Hey! Wait for me!" yelled Italy as he caught up with his team.

Mario and Japan stood in the pedestal and the map floated up as it bathed the six in light. Then, from the map popped out a gigantic tree and a green-colored star appeared as it descended back to the two, "Hey what's with that place?" asked America, "Maybe Professor Frankly knows something about this" replied Goombella.

The gang decided to go back to Professor Frankly for more information about the new place.

At Professor Frankly's

After introducing Italy and Koops to the professor, the goomba started to analyze the map "Hmm, I see. The second Crystal Star is in the Boggly Woods, the star is inside a great tree. And adding something about the woods I think some odd creatures known as the punies live there" the professor said as he pulled out a sketch of a small gray creature "If my memory's correct, there's a pipe below that leads to the woods" concluded Frankly.

"By the way Professor. About Princess Peach... not long ago Mario received an e-mail from her. In it she said the people who kidnapped her are also looking for the Crystal Stars" explained the female goomba.

"Uh-oh. If Princess Peach's kidnappers are also looking for the Crystal Stars... who knows what can they achieve, you can't let that happen. Unfortunately, the only lead we have now is the map and the stars. Mario, Kiku, Goombella, Alfred, Koops and Feliciano, don't let them get the stars first!" requested the researcher.

"Then we'll head for Boggly Woods to find the next Crystal Star! Let's do it!" exclaimed the blond. With that, the six left the house, when they were heading towards the pipe, Mario noticed his brother Luigi in the house next to the professor's.

The team approached the younger brother "Hey Bro! Fancy meeting you here, what are you doing?" asked Luigi. After explaining everything and introducing to his friends, Mario asked his brother why he was here. "Well... it's a pretty long story, but I'll tell you. It all began with..."

10 minutes later

"And that's why I came here to Rogueport, to recharge myself before going back to the Waffle Kingdom" finished Luigi, he was too excited telling his story that he didn't noticed Mario and his friends sleeping. Soon they woke up and pretended to have listened.

Luigi then bid them goodbye and parted to the town square. Before the six could resume their tracks, a voice from the house behind them was heard "Before you continue with the journey, you must get stronger" asked the voice. The team none the wiser entered the house to investigate and were greeted by a man in a blue cloak with white mustache "Hello young ones, my name is Merlon. I foresaw your arrival. By getting stronger I meant that all the ones that are considered "allies" will get more moves and other things" said the wizard.

That made America to jump with joy as he picked up Goombella, Koops and Italy as he put them in front the table "Man, this is gonna be so cool! The hero and his friends will get even stronger!" cheered the man. "Before I can power you up, you must give 1 shine sprite each so the ritual can work" noted the wizard.

Japan and Mario remembered the twenty-eight sprites Goombella and America found in the castle and told them to pull them out, the former two did that and four shine sprites got into the crystal ball. Suddenly, the ball bathed the four in a gold light while Mario and Japan stood surprised to this.

After the glow wore off, America closed his eyes and noted that his HP went up to 20 "YES! My HP went up!" he shouted with joy. Goombella, Italy and Koops also noted that their HP rose to 20, which made them smile. "One more thing, you also gained a new move each one of you, try it out when you get the chance" concluded Merlon.

Mario, Goombella and Koops left the house, with the Japan, America and Italy following them, but just as they were crossing the door, Merlon spoke "You three... are not only humans" the three nations froze in shock as they turned around. "You're the personifications of great lands from another dimension. How do I know this? Simple, I can perceive the aura of the ones in front of me. If you want to get home, you must come clear with the other three. Mario and his allies deserve to know the truth, otherwise, your soul will be trapped in this dimension and won't allow you to come back home.

Italy, Japan and America looked at each other and began to think. They concluded to tell them the truth, but only after reuniting with the rest of the nations.

After getting out of the pipe, the team was greeted by a man who looked like a harlequin "Hello there, my name is Dazzle, would you be interested in a badge? It is the rarest of all, but I only accept star pieces as payment" said the guy.

Japan got curious about this and approached him "The rarest badge? What effect has?" he asked to the harlequin "It is called quick change, it allows any of you to switch between allies without using a turn" that made Mario to also got interested while the rest of the crew watched the "leaders" pay him all the star pieces for it. The two decided to use their 9 BP left as the badge costed 8 BP to wear it, with that done, the team resumed their track.

15 minutes later

The team emerged from the pipe to the room next to the Thousand-Year Door, then they saw a creature watching at them and fled to a small crack when they approached to it.

"Ve~ that looked like a puni, it is adorable" said Italy, the gang then noted a gate behind iron bars that leads to the other side of the crack. Everyone looked at America as he effortlessly bended the bars so they can get through.

The six entered the next room and talked to the puni, who just freaked out "Eek! Please don't hurt me!" begged the puni. "Why would we hurt you?" asked Koops. "Excuse me, you're one of the creatures from the Boggly Woods right?" asked Japan.

"What?! Why do you know about me? Oh no! You guys... are working for the X-Nauts! You chased me here! This is the end!" cried the little creature. "Whoa hold up little dude, X-Nauts?" questioned the blond.

"Yes, this group of bad guys who call themselves the X-Nauts came to the place where I live. They came inside the Great Tree and starting tearing it apart and causing trouble. They captured all of my friends and my little sister, that's why I came all the way here for help" explained the puni.

"Guys! That sounds like those guys who attacked us in the docks! If they're the same guys, then they are definitely after the Crystal Star" exclaimed Goombella. "Please, help me chase off the intruders. If you do it, then we'll give you, what was it? The Crystal Star? We'll make the elder give you that" begged the puni.

"DUDES! We have to help them! As heroes, we should never ignore a call for help!" yelled America, the other five agreed and asked the puni to take them there. "Thank you very much! My name's Punio, pleased to meet you!" said Punio.

After the team introduced themselves, the puni headed to the room's crack and went through it. Then a small rumble felt as a passage to the wall opened "Aha! I knew the elder said something about the secret entrance to the woods" chuckled Punio.

The team saw a horizontal pipe made of wood "This way, come on!" exclaimed Punio as he went through it, Mario, Japan, Goombella, Italy and Koops sighed and closed their eyes, expecting to be picked up but they got surprised when they heard America's shout from the pipe "Let's move team! We've got work to do!" he yelled. The rest recovered from their surprise, nodded and entered the pipe as it took them to the woods...

At the Boggly Woods

A peaceful and serene forest with gust of wind was interrupted when a certain man with glasses jumped out of a pipe and landed with a heroic pose. Punio, who already was there, sighed and saw the other coming out of the pipe.

"So these are the Boggly Woods, they look very peaceful" commented Japan. "Just a little more guys, and we shall be able to see the great tree. The elder, my sister and my friends are waiting for us, let's go!" exclaimed the little one.

America followed the puni while the rest was trying to catch up, soon they came across a trio of purple looking ghosts.

"Time to work, lovelies!" said Beldam, "So A) Find that Mario guy and his friends and B) steal the map from them" chuckled Vivian. "Correct Vivian, if my information's correct, Mario and his friends will be coming around here quite soon" added the eldest one.

"Huh? What's this now Vivian! What's that you're fawning over there?" asked Beldam when she noted a glitter in the youngest sister's neck. "Oh you mean this necklace? I found near a tree when we arrived here" replied Vivian.

"Well, it doesn't matter for now. Let's focus on the mission, Vivian, hand me the Mario sketch Grodus gave us so we can identify these dorks" ordered Beldam. The youngest sister paled at the request as she didn't have the map, which made Beldam twitch in anger "Don't tell that you lost the map! It's the key to recognize these losers and recover the map!" she yelled.

"But Beldam, you told that the map was too important for letting me taking care of it! So you kept it" defended Vivian. "Nonsense!" the blue siren shouted back. Meanwhile, the team was trying to pass the whole scene unnoticed when the middle sister, Marilyn spotted them.

She tried to alert her sisters but Beldam ignored her as she proceeded to take away the necklace from Vivian as punishment for losing the map.

The crew felt incredibly awkward from the scene and decided to continue their tracks.

20 minutes later

After crossing a big part of the forest and raising their SP to sixty four by taking out enemies, the gang made it into an enormous tree. "Whoa, it is huge!" shouted Koops, "Man and I thought Bowser's Castle was big" added Mario, "Wow, so big and ancient" remarked Goombella, "Ve~ looks like a perfect place to nap all day" said Italy.

"Everyone, let's stick to the mission" noted Japan, "Come on guys, we have ourselves a tree to save!" America yelled. Punio, who already made it there waited for the team to catch up and showed them a metallic door in the base of the tree.

"Huh? Hey! This door wasn't here before, those jerk must've installed it!" exclaimed the little one. "This could be bad, what are going to do now?" wondered Japan.

"What are we gonna do now? We SMASH that door!" shouted America as he punched the door, only cry in pain as he almost broke his fingers "Not even Alfred's strength can take down the door" remarked Mario. "I'd say we put a white flag and surrender to the bad guys!" suggested Italy, this made the other to look at him unamused.

"Wait, now I remember, the elder told me about a secrete entrance, it should be up here" theorized the puni.

He then went upwards in the branches and discovered that the secret entrance was there but covered with a hoax. "What can we do? The secret entrance is covered... wait, I got it! Madame Flurrie, her powers can help us!" concluded Punio.

The six were left wondering about that "Lil dude, who are you talking about?" America asked him. "Madame Flurrie is a wind spirit with powers over the air, with her help we may be able to use the secret entrance. Flurrie lives in the deepest part of the forest, so let's go!" said Punio.

The team nodded and followed the puni as he backtracked to the pipe and followed him as they explored the rest of the forest. After a long walk, taking out more enemies and raising their SP to eighty five, the team finally saw a fancy house over the horizon...

Meanwhile at that mansion

"What a lovely day! Moving here was definitely the best decision I've made" said a female voice. "I'm almost ready to take a stroll through the serene woods, makeup? Check. Hair? Check, now only my... NOOOOOO! Somebody help me! It's gone. It's gone! My... my..."

Back with the team

The team discovered the pipe that Punio told them it will take them to Flurrie's house. When they were approaching the pipe... "Noooo! Somebody help me!" they heard a distressed voice from the house. "Oh no! That's Madame Flurrie! And it looks like she's in trouble!" Punio said to the six.

"Let's-a-go!" shouted Mario, "It's time to be heroes!" shouted America. The other four looked at each other and nodded as they entered the pipe...

Meanwhile near Flurrie's house

"This forest is beautiful, just like me, so peaceful. And adding to that, none of the usual chaos I have to deal with is here" said a man while resting on a tree. The man was about to fall asleep when... "No! Somebody help me!" he heard a female voice not so far from where he was.

"Qu'est-ce que c'est? A mademoiselle in trouble! I better help her! Oui!" concluded the man as he got up and rushed to where the voice came from, unaware that this will change all of his relaxation plans soon...

Don't worry! The help is coming! And who's that mysterious man? Stay tuned for chapter seven! See you :)