Dreamy Somnom Woods will lose its peace now! The heroes have arrived!

Chapter 23: Forest of Dreams, take down the Zeekeeper!

The six take a moment to finally admire the serenity of Dreamy Somnom Woods after reuniting with the dream heroes. Despite already exploring it when saving the other Pi'illos, the team never took a moment to look with detail at the surroundings.

"Wow, this place could really inspire relaxation when you come without mission motives" Kiyotaka muses. "You can say that again" Luigi chuckles as the the make it to a giant tree's base.

There, Bedsmith appeared and looked around him. "Gaze upon Dreamy Somnom Woods! The most sacred region of the Dream World… Yes. Only those who sleep on the Ultibed can breach its border!

And that is for a good reason… For the Zeekeeper is atop this tree!" Bedsmith exclaimed as he pointed upwards. "Do you know how we can get there?" Mario asks. "Well… Not even I can answer that question" Bedsmith sighed.

"How about we just climb the tree?" Makoto wondered. "Hmm… The tree is quite tall, climbing it would be a trial… Yet a worthy one! For you would meet the Zeekeeper! I must caution however. It's easy to lose one's way here. Know that dead ends may not be ends, and hidden paths abound…

With this thought on their minds, the nine begin their exploration.

40 minutes later

Tons of enemies were defeated with the aid of Goombella's Headbonk, Celestia's Mach Tornado and Makoto's Spin Attack, which net the team with 2000 coins.

It was tough, but the team finally makes it to the tree's halfway point. There, Kiyotaka finds a "!" block near and strikes it, making a sturdy branch to appear and granting them a shortcut to the base.

As if on cue, Bedsmiths appears before them; "Well done! You really get things done!" Bedsmith praises them. "It's only part of our hard work and diligence!" Taka smiles.

"That… makes… me want to… NAP ON YOU GUYS!" Bedsmith yells, leaving the team in utter confusion and cringe.

"Too weird?" the artist asks, the team nods. "Heh! Never been napped on? It's just a Pi'illo expression! This is as far as I can go. There's still much to climb and once you reach the top, you may not be able to come back until you have reached to the Zeekeeper…

And so, I shall aid you with... this!" Bedsmith conjured two magic balls and infused them into Dreamy Luigi and Dreamy Mondo, granting them a new Luginary and Mondonary Attack:

Luiginary and Mondonary Typhoon.

"I wish you the best and may the Zeekeeper and Star Sprites guide you…" Bedsmith said and left.

"That almost sounded ominous..." Goombella said, "Let's not think too much of that. Come on! We're halfway there! Let's-a get going!" Mario chirps.

The nine proceed with their climbing.

3 hours later

If they thought the base was hard, after the nine reached the top, they decide to take a breather. The road to the top was an intense climbing that required Kyoko and Goomebellas' wits to tackle the puzzles they came across.

"He wasn't kidding when he said the climbing would be hard as hell" Dreamy Mondo said as he stretched his arms. "Not even in the Honeyhive Galaxy was this intense, considering the honey across it" Mario adds.

After five more minutes, the team is good to go and finally reaches the treetop, where an egg lies above the leaves. "Should we…?" Makoto asked as he pulled out his hammer. "It's the only option" Celestia said.

The six hammer-wielders pulled out the weapons and slammed them against the egg. The shell cracks and shatters as light showers the entire forest.

From nowhere, a giant bird-like creature appeared. He had a long beak, three eyes, skinny legs., an egg-shaped body adorned with rows of colorful feathers, which change colors as they go down his body - pink at his head, blue near his middle, and green at the base. He also has a small plume of yellow-pink feathers on his head, above his oval white eyes.

"Who disturbs my rest?" the Zeekeeper asks with frustration.

"I am the legendary Zeekeeper… The guardian of the Pi'illo Kingdom… Those who hinder me will become one with the light" he glared menacingly at the nine and flapped its wings.

The team struggles to keep their ground a the bird continuously flaps.

At the Real World

Luigi and Mondo start making face of distress. "Luigi! Mondo! C'mon! You done yet?" Starlow asks.

"Not knowing what's going on freaks me out… I need to help somehow! They need me!" the sprite notices the glow on Luigi's cap and Mondo's pecs, to which she knows what to do and touches them.

At the Dream World

Several Luiginoids and Mondonoids begin to back up the heroes but the Zeekeep closes his wings. "IRRITATING… SCRAW!" he yelled and opened his wings, dispersing the clones.

But the dream heroes' will is stronger and they manage to assemble once more.

The Zeekeeper floats before the rest of the fighters. "You are brave, little ones" He says before trying to ram them, but they managed to dodge the attack.

"And nimble. But your luck shall not last. Abandon all Hope" the bird says. In a display of cunning, Dreamy Luigi and Dreamy Mondo fall from the sky and stomp on the Zeekeeper.

"You will have to beat me if you want my bro and my friends" Dreamy Luigi glared, "No one messes with my pals with getting their assess kicked!" Dreamy Mondo cracks his knuckles.

"That's my bro!" Mario smiles, "We will never give up our Hope, Zeekeeper!" Makoto yells, "My, your feathers would make a nice collection of clothes" Celestia giggled and they were picked up by Dreamy Luigi.

"Let us teach the Zeekeeper a lesson!" Kiyotaka shouts, "Goombella, can you help me with this?" Kyoko asks, "No problem Kyoko! Leave the analysis to me this time!" Goombella grins and they are picked up by Dreamy Mondo.

"You would fight me? Very well, then… Marshal your power and… TRY TO STOP ME" The Zeekeeper challenges them and flies away.

Dreambert got in front of the heroes, "Stop the Zeekeeper!"

They nod and begin to chase the creature.

The Zeekeeper tries to ram into the titans, but it's dodged and stomped on again. Once again, he tries to escape but the duo grab his legs and pull him down to the ground. After losing all his momentum, the Zeekeeper is slammed to the ground, leaving him stunned.

"Drill Stomp him!" Mario yells. The team proceeds to do a Team Attack on the Zeekeeper, dealing devastating damage. Watching how the Zeekeeper was still stunned, Dreamy Luigi and Dreamy Mondo continued with a Hammer Uppercut and a Hammer Chop.

The Zeekeeper rescovers and flies again, "It seems I have underestimated you… But neither have I unveiled my true strength!"

A portal opens and the Zeekeeper flies into it, with the team on hot pursuit. Once they cross the barrier, the nine find themselves flying over a city, but it looked destroyed and in flames with a blood-red sky.

"Where are we?!" Goombella asked with nervousness. "Ask that later! That thing is coming to us!" Celestia points out.

The Zeekeeper spins rapidly and dashes towards the hero, while Mondo dodged it, Luigi was hit and stunned for a while as the tiny heroes on him tried to keep their grasp and not fall into the city below.

The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader seized this and countered by curling into a ball and ramming the Zeekeeper. Luigi recovered from the hit and struck the bird as well.

The bird soared to the ground in an attempt to make the team crash into the buildings and leave them there, but it only got a chunk of debris thrown at him, courtesy of Luigi. The Zeekeeper groans and opens a portal back to Dreamy Somnom Woods.

As the arrived, the bird conjures a giant ball of energy and taunted the titans by inviting them to destroy it. Dreamy Luigi and Dreamy Mondo look at each other before tossing several tree stumps at the ball, obliterating it. And if that wasn't enough humiliation for the bird, the dream fighters threw a lot of tree stumps at him.

With a bit of dizziness, the Zeekeeper flies away, seemingly fleeing. Goombella used this pause to analyze her tattle with Kyoko and widens her eyes as she discovered something. "The Zeekeeper can lay several eggs and will try to open dimensional rifts everytime he can!" the goomba yelled, "Whatever you do, don't reflect those eggs, as the magic properties on it will heal the Zeekeeper!" Kyoko exclaimed.

The titans nod when the Zeekeeper comes back again and fires several eggs, "Bro! Luigi! Evade them!" Taka cries. The duo jump over the eggs, which go by and explode seconds after.

"How…? Well, it doesn't matter, I'm still going to destroy you!" the Zeekeeper yells. And flies again, But this proved to be a fatal mistake on his part as Dreamy Luigi and Dreamy Mondo grabbed him by the legs again and slammed him brutally to the ground.

With their opponent dizzy again, Dreamy Luigi stomps him again while Dreamy Mondo delivers an axe kick to the beak.

The Zeekeeper stayed this time, "I sense he's ripe for defeat! Finish him!

Dreamy Luigi! Dreamy Mondo!" Dreambert roars. The eight nod and the titans jump to space once more. They grab a giant star and the rest hop into it.

Mario and Kiyotaka guide the star through the Zeekeerper's eyes as he is sent flying with a burst of stars and 2900 coins are dropped.

The team celebrates as Dreamy Luigi and Dreamy Mondo return to normal. In a twist of events, the heroes' celebration is cut short when the Zeekeeper flies back to them.

"You fought well!" he praised them. "I am the Zeekeeper… The bird of Legend… Protector of Pi'illo Island…

You have come far to rouse me from sleep… Do event go ill in the Real World?" the bird asks. "Zeekeeper! Pi'illo Island is in danger once again!" Dreambert shouts. The guardian widens his eyes and grins. "Dreambert! My man! What is UP! It's been forever!

Why didn't you speak up?! Totally didn't notice you!"

"Why is the Zeekeeper speaking so casually?" Goombella wonders. "This is what the Zeekeeper REALLY is like…" the prince awkwardly said.

"Anyways, why came here?" The Zeekeeper asks. The team begins to tell him everything.

1 hour later

"Antasma again? UGH! There's something so wrong with him. And that Junko girl seriously needs to see a doctor! Seriously, never heard such thing as a killing game" the bird groans. "It's more than just the island… They aim to plunge the whole world into Despair!" the prince adds.

"No kidding? For real, weak. So weak" The Zeekeeper says. "Could you please help us in destroying the barrier of Hope's Peak Academy?" Mario requested.

"Such is the reason we came here. We need your help, Zeekeeper" Dreambert says. "Ah. Did you? Look, Prince… Not gonna happen, bro" the bird rejects them.

"What the shit?! We didn't bust out asses over exploring this forest and fighting you, just so you can tell us to go fuck ourselves!" Dreamy Mondo yells.

"Such sweet words you say. Look, I'm RETIRED. I'm old and worn out. Even if you tell me the sweetest things, I ain't budging. Unless… I got a bit of THAT. You know what I mean"" The Zeekeeper says while he rest on his left side.

Makoto spots a coin near the Zeekeeper and took a guess, "You mean coins?". "SHUSH! Not so loud! But yeah, how much are you gonna pay?" the bird asks.

"How about this? If we can get the island back to normal, my friends here: Mario, Kiyotaka, Luigi, Mondo, Makoto, Kyoko, Celestia and Goombella…

Will give you every single coin they have!" Dreambert confidently said. The moment he turned to the heroes, Celestia is already pointing her sword at him while the rest had a dumbfounded look.

"Just bear with me…" he whispers, "You better, I'm not giving that giant chicken all the coins I won fair and square" Celestia growled.

"Whoa! For real? If you ask it that NICELY… Then I'll do it! Let's just go over it again…

Antasma's back. Working with that Junko girl. They have this Bowser gus is missing, probably under their control. Weird flying academy… Check. Barrier to be smashed… Check.

That alone carries serious labor costs! Gonne a travel budget… Hotel Bill… Complimentary robe… High-end meals… In flight snacks… Stipend for massages and leisure… And! Gonna get insurance. That's gonna be pricey. Also I'm gonna need…" The Zeekeeper kept adding fees to the list.

At the Real World

Both dream heroes showed a look of annoyance in their faces, much to Starlow's confusion.

At the Dream World

"Done! It's rough, but I think I've got a working estimate! I'll just roundup for convenience… It'll be only 80,000,000 coins! When all is said and done, the bill comes due" the Zeekeeper chirps. "That's gonna work for you? It's some serious dough" he adds.

"These are Mario and Kiyotaka over here! It'll be a piece of cake!" the prince smiles. "DIDN'T ASK YOU, DREAMBERT.

Mario… Kiyotaka… Little guys… Well? Can you pay?" the Zeekeeper asks. The two heroes look at each other with shocked looks, Taka actually lost his speech at that moment.

The plumber put a straight face and approached the Zeekeeper, "It's-a fine! We'll do it!" he smiles.

"Sweet! No backsies! You promised!" the Zeekeeper smirks and begins to fly.

"Let's imprison Antasma again, subdue Junko and bring Hope and peace to Pi'illo Island!" the guardian declares and lowers himself.

"OK then, little ones! Hop onto my back! I'll waive the fee for this ride" he says. The team sans the dream heroes jump in and the Zeekeeper takes off while Dreamy Luigi and Dreamy Mondo bid them farewell.

At the Real World

The Zeekeeper comes out of the portal, team on back. "The guardian you know and love is back!" the bird chirps as he lands and the team gets off.

"Is this the Zeekeeper?!" Starlow asks at the same time Luigi and Mondo wake up.

"The stench of pure evil and Despair. It's like a stinky fog on the whole island! Let's destroy that barrier! But I do believe a reconnaissance comes first. I'm gonna go and check this academy real quick!" the Zeekeeper says.

"All right, meanwhile we can leave Somnom Woods" Makoto adds. "What? No! You guys are coming with me! We'll check that Hope's Peak Academy and then we smash that barrier!" the guardian objects.

The ten nod and hop onto the bird's back. "Buckle up, little ones. This will be a crazy ride!" the Zeekeeper grins and takes off. Meanwhile, the Ultimate Soldier watched surprised from her hideout and decided to leave the forest as well via the pipe.

Now that the Zeekeeper is back, the time to smash the barrier is now!

Chapter 23: END

Current Party: Mario, Kiyotaka, Luigi, Mondo, Makoto, Kyoko, Starlow, Dreambert, Celestia, Goombella

Let's reply the recent review.

Megan Romero: Celestia thought of it but decided not to since she didn't want to compromise her earnings.

That was quite an intense battle! And the heroes have left the forest and took to the skies! Next chapter we'll see how they destroy the barrier.