A/N: I'm just not gonna talk about it. Roll out the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Mario and Sonic belong to Nintendo and SEGA, respectively.

Chapter 56: Clouded with Uncertainty

~The Overthere

Not even the blissful, wondrous skies of blue could deter the awkward silence that traveled along with the heroes. As they were transported from one half of the afterlife to the other, Mario, Sonic, and the rest of their friends followed Luvbi as they stepped foot onto the pillowy clouds. Even at this moment, the red plumber and the stubborn Nimbi had chosen not to disclose the awful news they heard. Even when Sonic rushed up to him to figure out what was wrong, Mario didn't budge once. Alternatively, the blue hedgehog did his best to mollify his current mood, yet nothing worked. Sonic was more frustrated that he couldn't help more than not knowing anything about what the two discussed earlier. Whatever occurred had rattled Mario to the core.

He couldn't be more agitated than ever, aside from Luigi's passing.

It also didn't help that the others strolling behind him, especially Peach, were worried about the situation. The pink princess didn't remove her gaze from her special one, cautiously scrutinizing his body language as she perceived many physical clues that delineated his inner feelings. His fists being clenched as tight as a knot, his head lowered to avoid eye contact, his shoes stomping roughly through the clouds despite not making any noise... Just like Sonic, Peach tried to get him to open up. Every time Mario ignored her, she felt ashamed and hopeless.

"So, um..." Knuckles spoke up to break the tranquility. "This must be The Overthere that Queen Jaydes talked about, I guess?"

"Indeed," Luvbi answered. "As thou likely knoweth by now, mine father, Grambi, is the one who looks after the Nimbis after they migrated from The Underwhere."

"How often do the Nimbis move here?" asked Cream.

"That, I doeth not hast a definite answer for such a vague question," Luvbi replied with a jaded expression.

"Would you happen to know anything about the Chaos Emeralds at least?" Silver questioned.

"Yeah. Do you know where the last one is, by chance?" Daisy added.

"Pfft!" the young angel scoffed as she narrowed her eyes. "Doeth thou verily think I would knoweth the answer to that either?"

"Hey, we were only curious. Sheesh."

"Don't worry about her, Daisy. She tends to act like that," Peach whispered next to her.

"Still, she didn't have to retort back like a jerk," Daisy crossed her arms, giving the Nimbi a stink eye.

"Whether or not the Chaos Emerald is here in The Overthere, I shouldn't be surprised how we got deceived," Shadow huffed.

"What do you mean?" Rouge glanced at him.

"Isn't it obvious? That over-exaggerating magician or whatever literally told us it would be found in The Underwhere. We practically searched every nook and cranny, every cave and pipe in that dark, infested wasteland full of dead spirits. And what did we come out with? Nothing! Nothing but a waste of our time!"

"Shadow, we get that you're mad. Trust me, I'm a little flustered, too. But maybe we'll find a new lead to bring us to the final Chaos Emerald," Blaze tried to remain optimistic.

"At this rate, I'll do anything just so we can go home," Vector moped. "Even if we have to climb stairs made out of clouds, it's for the best."

"I presume it can't get any worse than this, right?" Espio asked rhetorically.

If Mario opened his mouth, he was about to crush everyone's hopes and dreams. Yet he remained infamously silent, not speaking a single word or phrase as he kept his thoughts to himself. The dreadful part was letting the cat out of the bag. He knew sooner or later it was going to hit the others really hard, including Sonic.

Then, Mario realized it wasn't exactly fair to the Blue Blur. After all, he had gone far and wide through many locations of the Mushroom Kingdom with the speedy hedgehog as they rummaged for the Chaos Emeralds. Throughout their entire journey, both of them were the only people who knew about Luigi and Tails after their deaths. Aside from Colombo at this point, the two of them stuck together with their younger brothers, the latter pair protecting them at all costs while remaining secluded from the public. Now that the green plumber and the yellow fox have been caught and apparently seized per Luvbi's sudden warning, there was already trouble abound.

He couldn't believe he let his brother down – all because he got salty over the concepts of life and death. He had no choice but to save him. Even if he endangered their reputation and his trust with everyone else, Mario was willing to go down.

But for now, they were going upwards on the Overthere Stair.

"By climbing these stairs, we wilt reach the main region of The Overthere in nay timeth. Once we doeth get thither, we must head towards Father's shrine where the peril lies," elucidated Luvbi.

"I know this seems a bit personal, but what exactly did you tell Mario that led us here?" inquired Amy.

The Nimbi hesitated a bit as she barely gazed into the plumber's eyes. He was also full of apprehension. "I wilt art honest, it is not mine word to divulge this situation, yet-"

She was quickly interrupted when the pink hedgehog dashed over to the angel with her famous weapon gripped in her hands. "Let me rephrase that question. What exactly did you tell Mario that you refuse to explain to us?"

Although Luvbi appeared frightened at first, she shook it off and gave Amy a dull look. "What kind of manners doeth thou hast? Is that what thy parent taught thee, to art an uptight sissy around others just to bully them?"

"Now you listen to me, you heart-winged bat brain!"

"Um, excuse me," Rouge responded with offense.

"Sorry. As I was saying, we're Mario's friends, and he trusts us more than you! We deserve to know what's the gist if some random stranger comes bustling out of nowhere to tell him something important – if it's even important in the first place!"

"At least I understand what it's liketh to respect a person's privacy," Luvbi closed her eyes, scoffing at Amy as she unintentionally spat on her face.

"Ugh! For someone talking about manners, you hardly have any!" Amy wrestled her hammer with the urge to smash Luvbi who was fluttering away.

"Amy, take it easy, will you?!" Peach grasped the upper part of the handle, preventing her from making a drastic impact. "We shouldn't resort to violence at this point. Besides, Luvbi shouldn't be the one we should be fighting against."

"Then who? Who is involved, and what is going on? I just want some clear, concise answers!"

Mario sighed. He turned to everyone and swallowed a gulp. "So, the least I can say is that Luvbi resides here in this peaceful environment with her father, Grambi, and the rest of the Nimbis. Unfortunately, the place is under attack by some evil forces."

"You don't mean the Skellobits and Bonechill have returned?" Peach widened her eyes.

"The Skelly-what's-it-called?" Charmy was instantly confused.

"Bonechill? Who's that?" Silver added.

"Long story short, Bonechill was a volatile dragon who escaped from The Underwhere in search of a Pure Heart to gain massive power of the two afterlife dimensions. We had to battle him when he invaded Grambi's home with his Skellobit army attacking the Nimbis," Mario explicated.

"He sounds scary!" Cream hugged Cheese tightly for comfort.

"Chao Chao..." the Chao quietly chirped.

"I highly doubt he has been revived to get his vengeance, but whoever is currently assailing them as we speak, we need to stop them so we can defend the angels."

Shadow was about to harshly retort at the plumber to complain about the damn seventh Chaos Emerald. However, he quickly realized that he couldn't allow the innocent folk to have their lives at risk, especially after they already lost a life.

"How far is the shrine from here?" he asked subtly without a trace of anger.

"If I recall, it was a long stair climb to reach the outer limits of The Overthere. But I do remember a small shortcut with a warp pipe about halfway through. Either way, it's still a fairly long climb," Mario replied.

"Then we better not dawdle around if there are tons of lives at stake," Espio concluded.

"Arf! Arf!" Colombo concurred as he was the first to rush up the fluffy, elevated clouds.

Everyone else went ahead at their own pace. The only ones who trailed behind were Mario, Luvbi, and Sonic.

"Hey, dude," the hedgehog tugged on Mario's red sleeve. "Is it okay now to tell me what's wrong?"

"Thou might as well tell him the truth now," advised Luvbi.

Mario had bottled up his emotions for so long since he argued with Luigi and threw his Brotherhood Bracelet away. He knew it was his fault that he got their brothers into the line of fire. He had been fighting salty tears again, especially when he didn't want to break down in front of all of their companions. Biting his lip, he felt a stray tear escape his left eye.

Sonic couldn't help but notice as he stared in awe. "Mario?"

"This is all my fault..."

"What? No, it's not. Whatever you did, I'm sure it has nothing to do with-"

"It does have something to do with it," he mumbled, shaking his fists in self-reproach. "I threw away my bracelet, and that was the reason why everyone's in jeopardy. Including Luigi and Tails."

Quirking a concerned eyebrow, Sonic leaned forward at him. "What?"

Mario lifted his head up, revealing his face that was smothered in guilt and anger. "The Nimbis aren't the only angels who need to be saved."

The message sounded cryptic initially, but the realization slowly dawned on him. Sonic went from bemused to aghast in the same time it took for him to travel nearly a thousand feet.

"You don't mean..."

Mario squeezed his eyes shut, lowering his head to hide his face in shame. Luvbi picked up where the conversation left.

"The intruders of The Overthere art the same people who found out about the Guardian Angels. They abducted them hither, using them as leverage to acquire a Chaos Emerald. Father saw everything from his magical goblet, and by the timeth he was about to send help, they teleported to our world and began to imprison the Nimbis."

"Don't tell me Eggman and Bowser managed to find out," Sonic whispered with dismay in his tone.

"I can't tell for sure, Sonic," Mario muttered. "But do you remember when Kamek told the Elite Trio that he needed to snatch a hair from me?"

"Yeah?"

"Apparently, after what I saw in Bowser's Castle, I think I know why he plucked one from my head. Eggman made a robotic clone of me."

By then, Sonic's heart burned hotter than the lava in Mt. Yuruvius. His lifelong nemesis was desperate to form Metal Sonic for the sole purpose of having him outrun and outsmart the original. Eggman developing a new version of the robot plus a duplicate of Tails was already a major tipping point that irked him during their adventure. But to hear how low the doctor stooped to construct a paradigm of his other friend, who had no relationship with Eggman whatsoever? This was borderline insulting. Yet that's not the worst part.

"But guess what else I saw?"

The fastest thing alive was unsure and distraught to even form an idea. Whatever it was, he knew the answer was going to be just as terrible.

However, Sonic did notice a strange pattern. If Eggman managed to replicate souped-up versions of himself, Tails, and Mario, then the evil scientist was likely building another robot to serve as a new member of the Bowser/Eggman alliance. Considering how the three of them were targeted, it only made sense that a fourth one could be...

"A Metal Luigi?"

Mario could only nod in silence.

"Those wacky nutjobs! They aren't going to get away with this!" Sonic punched his right fist into his left hand.

"I'm sorry, Sonic. I-"

"Hey, hey, save for the formalities later! We got some brothers to save, am I right?"

Mario wanted to profusely apologize, but he knew it was unwise to stand there and mope. He needed to redeem himself, and the only way to do that is to protect his sibling after what he's done in the past.

"I can't let Luigi down. I can't let him or Tails down. In fact, I can't let everyone fall after what I caused. You're right, Sonic. We're going to get them back, no matter what."

The blue hedgehog nodded as his frown quickly changed to a smug smirk in a trice. Extending a fist at the plumber, he said, "I'm right with you, brother."

That alone gave Mario some needed encouragement. As a smile perked underneath his mustache, he returned the gesture, completing the fist bump. "Let's-a-go!"

The last thing Luigi remembered was hearing his name being called out. Everything else was mostly a blur, but whenever he tried to think about it, his head developed a migraine. It wasn't like the feeling he suffered when he was lying helpless on the floor in Bowser's throne room. As far as the plumber angel could tell, he didn't lose another life.

Slowly but surely, Luigi was able to wake up from his current position, only to realize he was awkwardly laying on his stomach. He was about to rub his eyes, but when he tried to move his hands, he felt them being restrained for some odd reason. Luigi barely glanced over his shoulder and discovered his wrists and shins were all bound up in rope. Not only that, he was about to cry for help until the words came out muffled. A piece of duct tape was besmeared underneath his mustache. As Luigi struggled to move, he got a bearing of his surroundings. The first thing he heard was a muted noise, several feet to his right.

"Mmm! Mmmph!"

Luigi's eyes bulged as he spotted Tails being tethered, too. Likewise, tape covered his muzzle to prevent him from talking coherently while tight knots restricted his movements. Even worse, his namesakes were tangled up, so he couldn't use them to escape or free himself from the trap.

He didn't think it would come to this, but he made the mistake of returning to the Mushroom Kingdom. Although it wasn't exactly his fault, he pinned the blame on himself again. He unknowingly spilled the beans about him and Tails, and now Eggman's robots had taken advantage of their recent brawl. It was likely they were held hostage in Bowser's Castle, somewhere in the dark, cold dungeons as they were about to meet the Koopa King and the mad scientist for the first time since their deaths. However, the longer Luigi scrutinized the room he and the fox were in, the realization hit him like a baseball being crushed out of the park.

They were back in The Overthere. More specifically, they were within King Grambi's private quarters. However, they were not alone for long.

By then, the doors slammed open, catching Luigi and Tails' attention. Both were shocked to see Metal Mario and Metal Luigi arrive with another new captive. The king of the heavenly realm, also pinioned with rope around his body, was forcefully brought in by the Italian counterparts.

"Ah, so you're finally awake," Metal Mario monotonously grumbled at the Guardian Angels. "I want to take this opportunity to happily show my gratitude for your overseer. By which I mean, it was convenient how your special bracelets brought us here to your luxurious, cloudy paradise."

Grambi was then tossed in between Tails and Luigi as he hit the ground very hard. The young fox expressed concern, praying the Nimbi wasn't injured. The plumber, however, became irate, glaring at his doppelganger and the fake brother.

"What's the matter, pretty angel?" Metal Luigi teased as he leaned forward, mere inches from his nose. "Cat got your tongue?"

Luigi grunted harshly through his taped-up mouth.

"Hmm? What did you say? You're gonna have to speak up louder."

"GRAGH! Mmm-Ffffmmm-Mmm!"

"Sorry, but I don't speak neither gibberish nor idiot."

"Mmmffff! Hmm-mmm-Fmm!" Tails joined in yet hardly helped his friend's case.

"Alright, I've had enough of this game," ML lost his patience, ripping the tape off Luigi's face.

"GAH! FUCK!" Luigi lost it, not even caring that he swore aloud.

Metal Mario went over to the two-tailed kitsune and proceeded to copy the same thing. A shrilling shriek shattered the robots' eardrums.

"Owwww! That really hurts!" Tails complained, his eyes beginning to water.

"You think we should unmask the bearded one?" ML asked.

"What? You already ripped the tape off the green dingus," MM replied.

"You idiot! He doesn't have a beard! I'm talking about the wrinkled, old angel!

"Hey, show some respect to your elders!" Tails seethed.

"The only 'elders' we'll give our allegiance to are Dr. Eggman and Bowser!" Metal Mario remonstrated.

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Luigi mumbled, half-angry and half-ashamed after hearing the news.

"Metal Tails had an inkling you truly weren't dead after all, Green Man," his duplicate reproached, circling around the plumber like a shark in the ocean. "He was able to pluck a nice lock of your hair back in the Forest of Illusion."

Luigi remained speechless. Yet in his mind, he thought, "So that moment when I felt soreness near the back of my head... It was technically from the fight, but it wasn't because I got punched there or anything..."

"That hair of yours was a perfect piece of DNA to construct me. Plus, Kamek was able to snatch your brother's hair to complete Eggman's successful operations."

"But why would Eggman stoop this low to recreate the Mario Bros.?" Tails inquired.

Metal Mario pressed a metal boot on Tails' backside, nearly scrunching his twin appendages as he screamed in pain. "Obviously, Eggman was competent to recreate Sonic and you based on his past inventions. But given how difficult it was to develop clones of humans, more specifically people from another world whom he hardly knew, it was vital to start with a basic article. From there, all he had to do was put the pieces together and enhance the abilities to generate an enhanced form who can outsmart and outduel the original. Hence, we were born."

"More importantly, he made all four of us for the purpose of not only having extra allies on their side but to also torment them – feeding off as a constant reminder of how they failed to save both of you," Metal Luigi censured.

Gritting his teeth, the man in green hissed as his doppelganger. "For your information, Mario did not fail to save me. I sacrificed my life to prevent him from falling."

"How touching. If only I had the heart or capacity to even care."

Frankly, it was quite unnerving for Luigi to hear his robot speak in a drab yet similar voice. Even Metal Mario sounded close to his own blood sibling. He loathed the idea to give Eggman some brownie points for coming up with such a wicked task. But he was willing to provide a little credit to him for creeping the living daylights out of him.

"I should also mention, Sonic was not a failure either. Likewise with my angelic friend, we both gave our brothers a fighting chance to stop their archenemies. We didn't want to die, but it felt like we had no choice in the heat of the moment. How would you feel if someone took the blow for you?" interrogated Tails.

Metal Mario glared with his glowing, fiery pupils, scorning the amber-furred Guardian. "You know, they say if push comes to shove, you must've been bold to give up your lives that easily. At the end of the day, you both died, yet you're somehow still living. It makes absolutely no sense."

"However, we won't let you get away with this. Besides, while you were both conked out for a while, we've done a little... exploring," ML sinisterly added.

Both the angels didn't like the tone they heard. Grambi, who remained silent this whole time, hid his eyes from his bushy brows. Well, technically, it's because his mouth was taped up. Even if it wasn't, the Nimbi king was completely distraught to speak.

"Overall, Bowser and Dr. Eggman have sent their gang of hooligans to track down the Chaos Emeralds. Yet every time, they come up short," MM summarized as he sauntered in front of Tails. "Even Metal Sonic and Metal Tails were close to bringing back an Emerald to the lair if it wasn't for you invisible demons."

"In lieu of keeping yourself hidden, that was how MT was capable of tracking you down," Metal Luigi gloated, setting his gaze back at the hatted angel.

"There were also the instances where you stole two Chaos Emeralds from the castle; one from the first escape scheme with those pretty, little girls and that weird-looking alien, and the second from the most recent jailbreak where your friends rescued the other furry cretins."

Tails knew Double-M was talking about his pals from Mobius. Shortly before witnessing Mario's outburst, he was informed by Sonic that they encountered everyone in Bowser's Castle. Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, Silver, and the rest of the gang he knew and grew up with... It was bittersweet to him as he was happy to hear that Sonic reunited with them, yet he was unable to stay in close contact with them. At this point, he expected the entire party to hunt for the final Chaos Emerald since Tails knew they had six out of seven. Just when things were looking bright as the future, reality crumbled apart like the destruction of a torn-down building.

"Those annoying, pesky animals have gotten on Eggman's last nerve. Bowser is also growing tiresome when he and his Koopas are being tossed around like a Cobb salad. If it wasn't for their lifelong enemies being a bunch of growing pains in the tail, they would've regathered all seven Chaos Emeralds by now."

"The only pain in the tail I know is when you shoved your rock-metal boot onto a place that should be off-limits!" Tails growled. "Seriously, how heavy are you?"

"Less heavy than the doctor to not have any fat jokes directed at me."

"Oh, right. By the way, tell him that he should take it easy on the sandwiches. No need to chomp down so fast with his gluttonous mouth."

"Tails, you're not making this any better," Luigi mussitated.

"You do realize that no matter what happens, we will return to home base and expose both of you for your outright, elusive ways of cheating death. Additionally, we'll be making sure we take back all of the Emeralds you've pilfered. Once we're done, we'll complete the entire collection," Metal Luigi snickered.

"But that would mean you-" Tails paused as his eyes widened. He and Luigi took a quick glance at each other, dreading the thought already. The Mario clone reached down and dragged the duct tape off the ruler's face. Grambi still didn't open his mouth, nor did he yell in pain, lest he caused the predicament to become worse.

Speaking of which...

"I must say, red is a fascinating color," Metal Mario boasted, not referring to his core design. He opened up a secret chest compartment, unveiling a vital object from within.

"No..." Tails and Luigi whispered in fear.

"Oh, yes..." Double-M chortled evilly. "ML, leave them be. We got some more angels to seize."

"Yes. Let's," Metal Luigi responded with a firm nod.

Finally, King Grambi boomed. "Thou shall NOT layeth a metal hand, let alone any of thy cold fingers on the Nimbis! Thou hast done so much to destroy our private, peaceful home, and now thou want to resume thy act of terrorism?! Preposterous!"

"I'll tell you what's truly preposterous," MM fired back. "Letting these wimps be revitalized in the first place."

Grambi bit his tongue, suddenly unable to form words in his mouth again as he stared at the cold, red eyes of Metal Mario and Metal Luigi. Soon, he, Luigi, and Tails watched the robots slam the door, locking them up as they set off from the shrine. Not even a minute later, the Guardian Angels heard the elder choke back tears.

"Luigi, Tails," he somberly whimpered.

"King Grambi, don't even say it. This is all my fault," Luigi dropped his chin to the floor. "I was the one who made Bowser and Eggman's subordinates find out about the truth. If I would've stayed hidden, or rather if I didn't agree to become a Guardian-"

"Luigi."

The plumber stopped as he reluctantly peered up. Again, it was difficult to see the facial expressions of the wise, old king. Yet it was simple to discern how miserable and awful he felt for putting Mario and Sonic's younger brothers in a perilous state. From there on, neither one of them continued the conversation. Not even Tails interrupted the silence. All three of them sat there on the bedroom floor, unsure of what the future held.

Although the majority of the heroes were far ahead on the Overthere Stair, they didn't have much experience climbing platforms like these. There was a multitude of clouds that were very high up for the group to jump on. Although some people like Charmy, Cream, and Cheese can fly to the heavens, it wasn't particularly easy for the rest of them. If only they had Luigi's special jump technique...

Mario, Sonic, and Luvbi caught up to the group as they slowly ascended from one level to the next. They had to avoid some annoying creatures such as flying Parabuzzies, Ice Cherbils, and Beepboxers who normally roamed the cloudy fields as distractors. Silver and Shadow were somewhat unfortunate to be frozen in ice by the Cherbil, but Blaze's pyrokinesis was a blessing for them to be freed quickly. No signs of hypothermia, thankfully. On the other hand, Vector, Espio, and Knuckles all got stunned by the Beepboxer's aggravating sound waves. Worse than an off-tune clarinet, the vibrating resonances paralyzed them momentarily until they regained their bearings. Daisy and Peach offered to jump ahead with their orange and pink umbrellas, defending the Mobians as the sound waves bounced off the canopies. Other than that, everybody took their time despite Luvbi forcing them to rush, much to the annoyance of a few members.

By the time they reached the fourth stair, Peach was experiencing a flashback moment. "Oh, yes. I do remember this location."

"Really? This looks like any other flight of stairs we've climbed on," Knuckles placed a hand on his hip.

"Well, I only remember this specifically because I fell into a deep slumber here."

"Why did you go to sleep? Were you very tired?" Cream wondered.

Peach slightly giggled. "No, not exactly."

"Then what happened?" Amy's curiosity piqued.

"It's honestly kind of ridiculous when I put it this way, but I was enchanted by a golden apple."

"Enchanted?" reiterated Blaze.

"You mean you literally took a nap from a piece of fruit?" Vector thought the princess was joking.

"I'm sorry, but I was dazed and confused after I was sent here from an impromptu explosion! When I woke up, I felt lost with nowhere to go. The next thing I knew, my stomach was growling, and I needed to suppress my appetite. The first thing I came across was a tree that bore some golden fruit. I took a bite, and I felt like I was taking a drug that made me drowsy. By then, I quickly fell asleep."

"Indeed. Had Mario and his party failed to waketh up the princess, she would've slept for nay less than a century," Luvbi emphasized.

"A hundred years?!" Silver gasped. "I'm pretty sure from where my timeline takes place, the difference between the present and future probably isn't as large as that!"

"I still find that hard to believe," Shadow doubted, shaking his head.

"Hmph, well if the one that looks liketh a disheveled coat rack doth not believe in the truth, perhaps thou should'st eat the forbidden fruit for thyself and hope thy companions hast the heart to break your arduous, sleeping spell," Luvbi scoffed.

Sonic lost control as he sputtered out a loud raspberry followed by an exuberant laugh that reverberated throughout The Overthere. "Ha! A disheveled coat rack?! That's probably the first time I've ever heard such a silly thing!"

"Will you zip it, Faker?!" Shadow hissed at him, but he only became more irritated as the Blue Blur couldn't stop tearing up out of pure exhilaration.

While he was watching his best friend let it all out, Mario remained serious and hushed, not joining in on the fun. Although he had a boost of determination earlier, the plumber couldn't help but imagine how Tails and Luigi were faring. His instinct was drawn to the metal clones Eggman constructed, and his mind remained baffled that the evil, ovoid doctor would come up with something so hazardous yet also stupid – especially the latter in his opinion. They hardly knew each other, yet the enemy was pressed to create identical copies of himself and his younger brother all for the sake of trauma. If that didn't resemble any legitimate proof, the Metal Sonic and Metal Tails robots were convincing enough. Otherwise known as MS and MT, even though those are... never mind.

Mario carefully climbed up the next set of clouds which led to a floating, yellow platform that rose up to the next fluffy stair. From there, a green warp pipe stood in place beside a red door, the same location where he found Peach from her aforementioned snooze fest. Luckily, the pipe was an advanced shortcut that skipped through a solid portion of the Overthere Stair, leading the heroes to a higher and deeper section of the heavenly world. From there, they met a giant, sentient cloud named Cyrrus, who became humongous and acted as the biggest trampoline in the entire universe. By bouncing on him, Mario and the gang flew hundreds and thousands of feet into the sky, nearly reaching the outer limits of space before descending back down to The Overthere. After a face full of clouds, everyone got up from their fall and proceeded to the next area. Finally, they had reached the main precinct where the sacred Nimbis lived.

"Are we there yet?" Charmy wheezed as his wings were getting tired.

"You're really lucky you don't have to travel by foot," moped Knuckles.

"Hey, flying isn't as effortless as you think," Rouge placed her hands on her hips as her wings flapped in the air. "We use up a lot of energy just to maintain our strength. Our feet may not be as pooped as yours, but we occasionally walk and become twice as tired as you guys."

"Not to be rude, but I highly doubt that," Daisy commented.

"I mean, to be fair, Tails flies with his tails very frequently. He can only hover for a solid period before he has to take things slow on his feet, especially if he's carrying me," Sonic reminisced. "Ah, feels like it was just yesterday. In fact, I was just-"

"Sonic!" Mario barely hushed him.

Everyone suddenly paused when the conversation abruptly stopped. The second Mario shushed the hedgehog mid-sentence, the gang was mystified by the connotation. What exactly was Sonic about to share, and why did Mario instinctively react in such a strange manner?

The only one who even comprehended the awkward scenario was Colombo. But he played innocent in front of the Mobians and the princesses, tilting his head to the side like he was puzzled to follow an owner's command.

"Arf?"

"Um, is there something we're missing here?" Amy wondered.

"No!" Mario instantly yelled, raising a few eyebrows from the others. "I-I mean, no. I'm just... Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Mario," Peach kindly told him.

"Hey, princess. Let him spill the juicy details. I wanna know what's going on," Rouge sneered.

"Don't instigate this! If he's not comfortable saying his thoughts out loud, then you shouldn't force him to let it out!" Knuckles raised a fist, shaking it in front of the bat's face in a threatening way.

"You're not scaring me, Knuckie-poo."

"Grr! Stop calling me that, you batty, little bit-"

Simultaneously, Amy ran to cover Cream's ears while Sonic rushed over to the echidna and slapped a hand over his lips.

"Anyhoo, let's keep moving! We can't let those Nimbis be in danger of the intruders!"

"Bah!" Knuckles pushed Sonic off of him. "Get your hands away from me, darn it!"

Luvbi fluttered near Mario, whispering to him, "These Mobians... I hast ne'r seen such weird creatures act liketh this before. And I did not expect to seeth them hairier than thee."

All Mario could do was frown and shake his head. "I'm moving on from this."

"I really hope Father and the others are okay."

A clenched fist shook by his right hip. "You don't know how desperate I am for it to be true."

END OF CHAPTER

I had a new job, went through a couple of breakdowns, and wanted to finish Hotel Horror and update My Own Worst Enemy... So, that resulted in a four-month hiatus for this crossover. Shoot.

Once again, this is my bad for not being good with these updates. I definitely feel like I'm not on pace to eclipse last year's total of chapters, but I'm trying my best whenever I have the time and motivation to sit down and write. Trust me, I want to finish this crossover so badly so I can put it to rest. After all, five years (and counting) is a long time.

Regardless, thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting this story throughout this journey. While I'm still not close to the conclusion, it's still my goal to end it the way I envisioned it. On the other hand, as time passed by, there are some ideas I had years ago that I'm scrapping since they would not flow well with the outline I currently have. Since that doesn't matter, all I can say is I appreciate your patience and support. What will happen to Luigi, Tails, and Grambi? How close are Mario, Sonic, and the heroes to preventing more chaos in the heavenly afterlife? And will Metal Mario and Metal Luigi spoil the surprise? I hope to see you soon for Ch. 57 as we continue The Overthere arc. This is TGN, signing off.