Mario is on his way to the Thousand-Year Door, but Professor Frankly tried to beat him to it, though he was stopped by a strange looking anthropomorphic red echidna while on his way to the door, Mario finally caught up to him, only to encounter the same echidna.

FRANKLY: Waaaaaaaaaah! Who the heck are you!?

KNUCKLES: It is I, Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the floating island, and protector of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and I figured you must be Mario, correct?

MARIO: Yep, that's-a me, Super Mario! And this is Professor Frankly.

FRANKLY: Hi there, red thingy!

MARIO: We'd love to stay and chat with you, but we got problems of our own. You see, there's this legendary door where if you collect all seven Crystal Stars then this door opens, but last time I got there, it suddenly opened without them.

KNUCKLES: I hate to tell you both, but this so called "legendary door" and the seven "Crystal Stars" are fake.

MARIO: I knew it!

FRANKLY: But the book says…

KNUCKLES: Hush hush, the books that you possess are all a lie.

MARIO: So much for a professor! What the heck has gotten into you, buddy!?

FRANKLY: Man, I am so sorry, man.

KNUCKLES: And, since you both got there, I need you to do me a favor, Mario.

MARIO: And what's the favor?

KNUCKLES: My great-grandfather told me you're the only one who can save the Chaos Emeralds from Sir Grodus, I thought Sonic was gonna do it, but it turns out that Athair told me it is going to be you.

MARIO: Hmm, at least I don't have to save the Princess from Bowser this time, when will he ever give up?

Knuckles hands Mario a gadget that locates the hidden Chaos Emeralds.

KNUCKLES: Here, I'm giving this gadget to you, it's called the Emerald Finder 1000.

MARIO: Okie dokie!

He turns the thing on.

MARIO: Whoa! Look at this, Professor Frankly!

FRANKLY: Whoa!

MARIO: Look at those locations! One of them is in a fighting arena! Oh, and there's another at the legendary Cortez's secret cave, and another at a pig slaughterhouse!

FRANKLY: You can say that again.

MARIO: We're not done yet, there's one at Queen Aleena's palace.

KNUCKLES: She's Sonic's mother, by the way.

MARIO: Cool, and there's one lying somewhere in Petal Meadows!

FRANKLY: Yes!

MARIO: And last, but not least, we have one, in a giant tree.

FRANKLY: Let's go to Petal Meadows first! Maybe that Emerald is super easy to find!

MARIO: Well, if it's super easy and simple to find and obtain, we're going for it before anyone else, not even Lord Elmo. Hey, thanks for the gadget, sir, we'll be on our way right now!

KNUCKLES: Good luck, Mario.

Meanwhile, with Goombella and her friends, they were walking to their dorms.

GOOMBRIEL: Man, Goombella, you're so brave.

ELIZAGOOM: Yeah, you the tough lady, trying to stand up to a gang.

GOOMBELLA: Yeah, they totally scared me to death, I thought I was a goner for sure!

GOOMBRIEL: At least security came to your rescue.

GOOMBELLA: Yeah, I was just thinking about these Crystal Stars and the Thousand-Year Door Professor Frankly was boasting about, what's gotten into him lately?

GOOMBRIEL: I have no clue, but I heard a rumor that Professor Frankly is stupid! A lot more stupid then our geometry teacher, Mr. Bobbery!

ELIZAGOOM: Shh, not in front of him! If he hears you, you won't be seeing the light of the day again!

GOOMBELLA: C'mon, ladies, give him a break.

GOOMBRIEL: Really? Should WE give him a break? I mean, I also heard he has a crush on you!

GOOMBELLA: I don't think he does?

GOOMBRIEL: Whoa, look at that!

Goombriel shows Goombella and Elizagoom the broken fence.

ELIZAGOOM: Uh oh, the fence is broken.

GOOMBELLA: Hang on, I'll go get Professor Frankly!

She then rushes to the professor's office and knocks on the door with her feet since she doesn't have any hands

GOOMBELLA: Professor Frankly! Your fence is broken!

There was no response.

GOOMBELLA: Professor Frankly!

She then got out of the building.

GOOMBELLA: Well, Professor Frankly's not there, maybe he went for a stroll.

GOOMBRIEL: Maybe he went down that pipe and is doing stupid things!

ELIZAGOOM: C'mon Goombella, let's go down there and find him!

GOOMBELLA: I don't know, he told us not to go down that secret pipe!

ELIZAGOOM: Maybe we won't get spotted by him, c'mon, please!

GOOMBELLA: Well… okay, I do wanna see what's down there anyway.

GOOMBRIEL: And it's not like Professor Frankly is gonna find us anyway either!

And so, the three goomba girls went down the secret pipe Professor Frankly told them not to.

To Be Continued