Chapter 10
Freezing Cold Splashing

All those looking out the window was in awe at the sight of the ice and snow outside, when they previously been flying across a fiery, volcanic area.

"Wow! It's so beautiful out there! I would love to go out there and play in the snow!" commented Mica.

"Me too!" said Kirby happily while jumping up and down nonstop.

"Too bad that's nor for us to decide," said Anis. "I don't think the king or Magolor would want to stop for something as insignificant as having fun. They're probably more into getting the to the treasure as soon as possible."

Just then, Dedede's voice was heard coming from speakers. "Attention, everyone! It is decided that we're going to make a landing in this place temporarily. My queen has expressed interest in admiring the beauty of this place up close, and as her loving husband, I will grant her that wish!"

Everyone looked at the speakers as Dedede was saying this, and Liter said to a happy Mica, "Guess you got your wish granted..."

"Hooray!" said Mica and Kirby happily while throwing their arms into the air.

Anis looked out the window and said, "At least no snowstorm is brewing..."

The Lor Starcutter made a landing next to a large body of water resembling a beach, except with snow instead of sand. After getting off the spaceship, everyone stood at the shore, watching in awe and also confusion at the sight before them.

"This is a beach, right…?" asked Anis.

"I thought we were flying through an arctic region…?" asked Liter.

"I mean… even freezing places have shores too, right?" said Blanc. "This shouldn't be too weird."

"It is when you consider a palm tree of all things being there!" said Anis, pointing to palm trees with blue and possibly frozen leaves seen around the place.

"I guess the temperature here used to be normal, but then it dropped," theorized Meta Knight.

"Those are not important. Seeing how the weather here is surprisingly warm, and things look peaceful, let us enjoy the best we can before moving on!" Dedede told everyone. "Go and relax, everyone! Create happy memories of this place!"

The Dream Landers cheered happily as they ran forward with beach equipment to began having fun. "Hooray! Water!" said Kirby excitedly as he ran and tossed himself into shallow water.

"Woohoo! Time to hit the sea!" exclaimed Mast as she ran towards the water wearing a pink bikini. She was even carrying an oxygen tank on her back and a breathing mask.

"You even brought your swimsuit…" Anis said to her.

Hearing this, Mask turned around and said to her, "More like I've been wearing it underneath my clothes the whole time. A water-based Nikke like me should be ready to take a dip any time and anywhere, which is why I have my swimsuit with me at all times!" She then turned to the water and continued running to it.

"Must be lucky being able to swim…" grumbled Anis.

"You cannot swim?" Meta Knight asked her.

"Mast and her squad are the only Nikke capable of swimming and floating in water, while all other Nikke can't," explained Anis. "Our weights will make us sink like rocks, and being able to hold our breaths longer than humans isn't much use if you can't get out…"

"Quite the inconvenience, isn't it?" commented Meta Knight.

"Well, there's only one Rapture as far as we know that operates in water, so there is really no point in giving the ability to swim to so many Nikke, so this reasoning is justified," said Anis while thinking of Kraken.

Mica stood in shallow water and splashed it around, saying, "The water isn't very cold, but not really what you consider warm either. It feels nice regardless!" Kirby splashed water at her from nearby, and Mica laughed as she splashed water back to him in response.

Dedede and Ludmilla were holding hands next to the shore, looking at the horizon and talking with each other happily about wonderful things they have been through in their lives. "Remember when we went whaling?" Ludmilla asked him.

"Yes. How can I ever forget the your remarkable aim with the harpoon, striking Fatty Whale in his vital spot!" replied Dedede.

"But you're the one who finished him off with a powerful strike from your hammer to his forehead. You contributed the most!" Ludmilla reminded him.

"No, no… If you never caught him with the harpoon, I would never have been able to get close to him, so your contribution mattered more!" Dedede told her.

Behind them, Chef Kawasaki was seen setting up a barbecue grill, while a Poppy Bros. Jr. and the Sir Kibble pushed a crate containing raw food over to him. Anis saw this and went over with interest. "Doing barbecue? Nice!" she said.

"Barbecues and beaches go hand in hand with each other!" replied Chef Kawasaki as he continued setting up the grill.

"I can't agree any more than that!" said Anis with a nod and smile. "I'm also a pro with barbecuing, so mind if I lend a hand?"

"As long as you have the skills, sure!" Chef Kawasaki told her with a nod.

Mast swam around underwater and marveled at the various creatures in the sea. She saw round fish known as Blippers and white squids known as Squishies swimming around. She also saw green sea anemones with eyes known as Glunks latched onto rocks, looking around with bored expressions.

"Anchor would love see all these bizarre sea creatures!" she thought. She looked at the seafloor and saw some clams lying around with their shells wide open, revealing pearls inside them, but when she swam close to them, they all closed up. She picked up one of the clams and tapped it, wondering if she should take some of them out of the sea to harvest for their pearls.

Unknown to her, a large fish was seen swimming some distance away behind her.

Kirby swam up to her and looked at the clams. He tapped her shoulder as if trying to tell her something. After that, he spit out a strong burst of air at the clams, knocking them off the seafloor and causing them all to open up their shells. In doing so, their pearls flew out and scattered all over the place.

Mast was surprised by what Kirby did and then gave him a thumbs up for his job well done. The two swam to the pearls and began picking them up, unaware that the aforementioned large fish was approaching them from behind.

Mast picked up as many pearls as she could carry in her hands. She smiled happily underneath her breathing mask as she turned around just in time to see a large mouth opening up in front of her.

Back on the shore, the folks were either playing in shallow water or building snowmen and snow castles. Some like Blanc and Bandanna Waddle Dee, the latter of whom was wearing sunglasses, had beach chairs laid out and were resting on them. Chef Kawasaki and Anis were cooking barbecue together and serving them to the others.

Kirby suddenly popped out of the water and began swimming towards the shore as fast as he could. "Everyone!" he shouted with a look of shock.

However, Meta Knight assumed something else. "Look at him swim! He must have smelled the barbecue and is rushing over!"

"Shaaaaaaaark!" shouted Kirby.

BGM: Boss (Kirby and the Amazing Mirror)

A shark with an inner tube around his body and a propeller for a tail leaped out of the water behind Kirby, and sticking out of his clamped mouth was the lower torso of Mast. Her muffled screams could be heard coming from within the shark's mouth as she kicked her legs wildly all over the place.

"Shark?! Where?!" said Bandanna Waddle Dee in shock as he sat up while lifting up his sunglasses.

The shark—Gobbler—fell back into the water and swam close to the surface, enough for a half of his body to be seen. Mast was still screaming in muffled terror while kicking her legs and even shaking her butt nonstop, but the shark kept her held tightly in his mouth while swimming around seemingly aimlessly.

"Is that Mast in its mouth?!" asked Liter in shock, while Volt barked angrily.

"We have to save her!" cried Mica in horror.

"On it!" shouted Blanc as she fired from her assault rifle at Gobbler, but the shark swam around at a fast speed, so the bullets were always to late to catch up with him. "Ngh! Stand still, will ya?!"

While everyone was watching in horror and wondering how they could rescue Mast while Gobbler was still in a close vicinity, Dedede stepped into the water with a large hammer carried over his shoulder. "It looks like we will be having shark fin soup tonight!" he said with a serious and angry expression on his face.

Seeing him, Anis asked, "Is he going to go after the shark by himself… and with a hammer?!"

"Yes! The king is going to show how strong he is!" said Bandanna Waddle Dee in excitement. "You should be honored to see his power!"

Without saying anything else, Dedede leaped into the water and swam at an unexpectedly fast speed towards Gobbler, who was still swimming in circles a bit of distance away. "Wow! Look at him go! I didn't know Dedede can swim that fast!" commented Kirby.

"Well, he looks like a penguin, and penguins are good swimmers, I think…" said Liter.

Gobbler went underwater and shook his head while biting down hard on Mast's body, as if trying to tear her apart, but thanks to Nikke having hard steel-like bodies, he was unable to do so, yet he still held Mast partially inside his mouth.

He was too busy doing this that he failed to notice Dedede swimming towards him. With a swing of his hammer, Dedede struck Gobbler in the side of the head hard, making him cough out Mast. She was dazed from this horrific experience and also likely in a weakened state that she did not immediately swim for the surface but instead sank to the bottom.

Dedede swam over to her and wrapped one arm around her waist before heading for the surface. Gobbler, who recovered from the attack, angrily charged at Dedede from behind to bite him. Looking back, Dedede swung his hammer at him using one hand, but the shark pulled back to avoid the blow. Gobbler darted forward again, biting Dedede in the arm holding the hammer.

Dedede grunted in pain but endured it. He tried to shake off the shark but was unable to do so. He flung Mast out of water using only one hand as hard as he could and then used the now free hand to punch Gobbler in the nose multiple times until he let go of him. His hammer-wielding hand now free, Dedede swung it against his head hard and sent him spinning away.

Dedede swam to the water surface and looked around for Mast, and he noticed Meta Knight carrying her by her arms in the air. "I got her!" he told the king.

"Good! Take her back to the shore first!" Dedede told him. "I've got unfinished business to deal with!"

Dedede dived back underwater and saw Gobbler coming for him at a faster speed than before. He readied to swing his hammer at the incoming shark, but Gobbler steered to the side unexpectedly and got behind Dedede to bite him. However, the king did not fall for this trick, and in the last moment, he spun around and slammed the hammer into Gobbler, knocking him away again.

Not stopping there, Dedede swam towards the dazed Gobbler. The back part of his hammer opened up, revealing a rocket engine. Powered by the engine, Dedede delivered a powerful swing into Gobbler.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

BGM Ends

The shark was knocked straight out of water and flew so far and high that he seemingly disappeared over the horizon.

The others witnessed what happened from the shore and were in awe. "Wow! He defeated the shark all by himself!" said Mica in disbelief.

"Looks like this Dedede is just as strong as the one I know!" commented Kirby.

Dedede stepped back onto the shore, and Ludmilla and some of his servants gathered around him in concern. Looking at his injured arms, Ludmilla asked him in a worried tone, "Are you all right?"

"Nothing a bit of ointment can't heal. I'm just sorry that we won't be having shark fin soup anymore…" said Dedede in a joking manner.

"Your life is worth more than any shark fin soup!" Ludmilla told him.

"Yes, nothing is more important life, as well as the lives of other people," said Dedede. He then looked at Mast, who was lying on the beach and surrounded by people. She was mumbling nonstop about how terrifying the sea and sharks are. He walked up to her and said, "She should be treated at once!"

Two Waddle Dees came over with a stretcher and loaded her onto it with great difficulty due to her weight. They tried to pick up the stretcher, but was having a hard time for the same reason. "Put some strength into it! Is she that heavy?" a Waddle Doo asked them.

"Why of course… She's a Nikke, so she's definitely heavy…" Anis said in her head.

Some other Dream Landers helped with carrying Mast into the spaceship, and they all commented on her weight as well. Liter then said to her fellow Nikke, "They're going to find out about what she is, you know that…?"

Anis, Blanc, and Mica widened their eyes upon hearing this, realizing that Liter was right. "Uh oh… We haven't thought of it…!" said Blanc. "What if they find out about what we are?"

"What are you talking about?" the Capsule J2 asked them. The others heard the Nikke's conversation as well and were all looking at them curiously, wondering what they meant by finding out what Mast is.

The Nikke looked at them nervously, knowing that they could no longer keep hiding things. Anis then said, "I'm sure the doctors will be calling us all inside shortly about their discovery…"

Several minutes later, all the Nikke, Kirby, and Meta Knight were inside the medical bay. Dedede was there as well, alongside a Chemitory, a being resembling a pill-shaped robot with disembodied hands. Mast herself was lying on a medical bed nearby, while the others stood in one side of the room, looking at an image of Mast's x-ray. Rather than showing an ordinary-looking skeleton, she had instead a metallic skeleton that was accompanied by other mechanical components such as wires, tubes, engine-like parts, and more.

The Chemitory pointed at the image and said, "Since you're her friends, I assume you have an explanation for her anatomy?"

All eyes turned to the nervous Nikke, who were wondering what they should say. Liter let out a sigh and then said, "Fine… Simply put, we're cyborgs… You probably learned from your scan that her brain is the only organic part of her body."

The Chemitory nodded in response. "Yes, that's the only part I discovered to be made of flesh, while everything else is synthetic."

"Right, because were former humans who had our brains removed from our bodies and placed into synthetic human-like bodies," explained Liter. "This give us capabilities that normal humans don't have, such as enhanced strength, durability, speed, and such."

"And as for why something like us exist in the first place…" said Anis, sounding nervous. "Well… I think you're going to have a harder time believing this…"

"Believable or not, I am curious about who you people are more than ever," Dedede told them. "Fear not; I won't condemn you for anything you say if you do not have any evil intentions."

For the next several minutes, Anis explained to everyone about how they got here, and she added one thing she previously kept from her allies as well: Gatekeeper.

She explained to them what Gatekeeper is and its abilities, also about how it brought people from different worlds to their own before. "I believe Gatekeeper is the reason we are all here," said Anis, finishing her story.

"Wow…! I never knew that such a Rapture exists!" said Blanc in disbelief.

"Sounds like a very dangerous and troublesome one if it has the ability to travel to different worlds and bring people to wherever it wants…" said Liter, sounding worried.

"I wonder if it's as strong as the foes I've faced before though," wondered Kirby.

Dedede listened to everything with interest. Rubbing his chin, he said, "You have quite a story there, and it's almost unbelievable… However, seeing how your friend here is a cyborg, I think that is enough evidence to back up what you said." He then turned to Kirby and Meta Knight. "So you come from a different version of Dream Land where we know each other, right? No wonder you acted like you're familiar with me during our first meeting!"

"Yeah, we've known each other for a long time in my world," Kirby said to him with a nod. "Sometimes we're friends, but sometimes we're enemies."

"Hmph! I can't imagine myself being antagonistic towards someone like you! You have shown me that you are a decent person," said Dedede. "That version of me should learn to be a better person himself!"

"So if we want to go back to our own world, we just have to find this Gatekeeper?" Mica asked Anis.

"That seems like the most plausible way, but who knows where he is finding? He can be anywhere…" replied Anis.

"Then that basically adds one extra treasure to look for!" said Mast, sitting up from her bed. "After we find the treasure of Another Dimension, let us go on a quest to look for Gatekeeper!"

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you…?" Liter asked her.

"Of course! Being a pirate is all about going on adventures! I won't be satisfied until I see more of what Dream Land has to offer!" said Mast.

"I can assure you that you won't be disappointed with the wonderful locations of Dream Land! Dyeheheh!" Dedede said to her with a laugh. "And in regards to Gatekeeper, I will see if I can do anything about that and help you all return to your own world after we are done with Another Dimension."

"You're a lot more generous and helpful compared to our Dedede," Kirby said to him. "Ours is quite stingy at times, but he can be a nice guy if he has to."

The Chemitory went up to Mast and observed the bite marks on her waist and said, "You feeling any pain here?"

"Nikke are more tolerant towards pain than humans, and pains disappear faster for us as well," Mast told him. "I'm feeling fine now, though these scars won't go away… Back in our world, we have technology to fix our bodies of small injuries, but in the case of a heavily damaged bodies that are beyond repair, we'll have to transfer our heads or brains to different bodies."

"I'm sure there are technological geniuses who can get that fixed. Magolor himself is an expert in technology, so he should be able to help," suggested Dedede. "You seem to be in a good condition though. You sure you can go on without a problem?"

"As healthy as I can be!" replied Mast smugly while flexing an arm. "This small injury is nothing to me, and it's proof of the hardships I've been through in this adventure! I don't even mind getting a badass scar on my face!"

After their time on the beach was over, the crew of the Lor Starcutter took off into the sky and continued its journey to find the hidden treasure. The flight was a smooth one, and eventually, it arrived in a new location that has a purple sky and a large amount of castle-like ruins all over the place.

Looking out the cockpit, Magolor said, "According to info we have on Another Dimension, the treasure we are looking for should be located in this area."

"Then we are closing in on our destination at last!" said Dedede with enthusiasm. "Be on a lookout for anything that could be the hiding place of the treasure."

"Sir, there are multiple entities showing up on the radar," a Blade Knight said to Magolor.

Everyone looked around the window saw spherical winged creatures known as Sphere Doomers flying in their direction. "What are those?!" asked Ludmilla in surprise.

"Whatever they are, they're not friendly for sure," said Magolor. "Activate the force shield and protect us from them!"

Lor became protected by its usual force shield, and the Sphere Doomers collided against them and were zapped. Some other Sphere Doomers fired energy projectiles of different types of elements at the shield, but it continued to hold on as the Lor continued flying through the air.

Inside, the passengers watched from windows as the Sphere Doomers attacked the spaceship. Some of the passengers were concerned about being attacked, while some were confident they would be all right because of the shield.

"What are those things?" asked Blanc.

"Those are Sphere Doomers," said Kirby. "Pretty nasty monsters that lurk Another Dimension…"

"Are they dangerous?" Mica asked him.

"I managed to beat up every one I came across, so I couldn't really tell…" replied Kirby.

The Lor continued to press forward, despite the Sphere Doomers bombarding it with their attacks against its force shield. The spaceship eventually fought back, firing energy balls at them, blasting them out of the sky.

Magolor then spoke to everyone through the ship's speakers. "Everyone, please remain calm. The force shield will protect us from these creatures. Their attacks are not as powerful as Kracko's, so you can sure the force shield will hold against their attacks."

"I've been through enough experiences on the battlefield to know that force shields never last forever…" said Anis.

"There is nothing we can do at the moment," said Liter. "Let's just hope everything goes smoothly and that the shield does hold up until they're all gone."

"But if we have to go out and fight, we will," said Meta Knight.

"Easy for you to say since you can fly…" Anis said to him.

Later, Anis and Liter were in the same room with Hammering and Drilley, who were asking them about something. "So how are the versions of us you know like?" Hammering asked Anis.

"In all honestly, not really any different," Anis told her. "You're a pretty upbeat and cheerful person, while Drilley is a bit on the angrier side and is good friends with you. Yeah, pretty much the same…"

"Do I sound like I'm angry?!" said Drilley, sounding offended.

"Yep, just like the Drilley I know…" said Anis, staring at her.

"So the versions of us you know about aren't humans?" Hammering asked Anis and Liter.

"Yeah," replied Anis with a nod. "And come to think of it… What makes you so sure you are human? For all we know, you may be Nikke as well, but never realized it."

Looks of nervousness appeared on Hammering and Drilley's faces. "Now that you said it… We don't remember performing any kind of body checkup whatsoever…" said Hammering.

"I can't even remember if we ever got injured…" said Drilley.

"Or rather, you are incapable of being injured," pointed out Liter. "Nikke skins are much more durable than humans, so they're not going to get cuts and scraps so easily. In fact, some Nikke are capable of resisting gun shots without any injuries. Perhaps it's because you have very tough skins like Nikke that you never got injured."

Hammering and Drilley were a little nervous as they tried to recall the times they were supposed to be injured. "Well yeah… Stuff like getting hit by rocks and whatnot while working did happen, and I don't remember what happened as a result…" said Hammering, thinking with her arms crossed.

"You know, it would be easier if we get ourselves x-rays now to get the answer right away," suggested Drilley.

"That sounds like a good idea, but… I don't really want you to rush things and freak yourselves out…" Anis told them. "You may undergo mind switch if the shock is too big for you. Mind switch is something that happens to Nikke when they are traumatized too much, resulting in them undergoing huge personality change, usually for the worst…"

"Still, it's something we want to get out of our minds as soon as possible. As long as we're ready for the answer, I think it should be fine," said Hammering.

The Lor Starcutter continued flying through the air, and by now, there were barely any Sphere Doomers attacking it, either because they were taken out by the Lor or fled after seeing that they couldn't do anything to it. The few that remained didn't seem to attack the spaceship but simply flew close to it.

Looking into the distance, Magolor saw a temple located on top of a tall staircase. "That should be the place where the treasure we are seeking is," said Magolor.

Dedede leaned forward on his throne and said with interest, "Then let's head over there! Everything about that temple screams the location for hidden treasure!"

Magolor announced this discovery to the rest of the crew, and they were all excited to hear about this. "All right! We're finally getting to the treasure!" said Mast happily while punching the air.

"I'm always quite excited and curious to see what the treasure is too!" said Blanc.

"It's obvious what it will be! Mountains of gold, jewelry, and other kinds of valuables!" said Mast. "If there is a sea of gold coins, I'm going to dive into it and swim around in it!"

"You can't swim around in gold coins. Trying to jump into a sea of gold coins is the same thing as falling onto hard floor!" Liter told her.

The Lor landed on an empty spot located in front of the temple. Most of the crew came out of the spaceship and stood before the tall staircase leading up to the aforementioned building. Looking up at the temple, Magolor said, "I can feel great power coming from within… It's as if the treasure is calling out to us…"

"Me too!" said Mast with a nod. "The treasure is calling out to all those who seek it, promising great things to those who get their hands on it, and that's going to be me!"

"As the king who started this expedition, it is I who decides how the treasure should be shared," said Dedede. "Worry not, for I will make share everyone gets a fair share!"

Anis looked up into the air and sky and noticed some Sphere Doomers flying around in circles, almost like vultures circling its prey. "Are those guys going to be a problem? They're not leaving us alone…" she said in a worried tone.

Meta Knight looked up and said, "Sphere Doomers are indeed aggressive beings, but it seems that they are refraining from attacking because we have the number advantage. I feel things will become dangerous if more of them show up…"

Dedede looked up at the Sphere Doomers and said, "You're right… It's possible more will eventually show up to attack us, so we cannot stay here for too long… I say that some of us go into the temple, while some of us stay behind in the ship to keep watch of it. We need the Lor to get back to our world, so we cannot leave it alone."

Immediately after he said that, there was the sound of thunder. It was so loud that everyone jumped slightly in shock, while the Sphere Doomers in the sky scattered in various directions, flying farther and farther away from the temple area until they could no longer be seen.

"Whoa… That made me jump…!" commented Hammering.

Anis looked up and said, "At least those things are gone… Wait a minute…" She noticed some things approaching in the distance, and as they got closer, Anis could see that they resemble pieces of metal. "What are those?"

Everyone looked up and saw pieces of metal flying in their direction. When those metal pieces came close to each other, they emitted electricity that pulled each other together and began merging. Everyone watched with widened eyes in surprise and confusion as the metal pieces merged together more and more until it gradually took the shape of a…

...large mechanical bird-like robot.

The bird robot screeched loudly as it flapped its metallic wings, all the while emitting purple electricity from all over its body.

The sight of this mechanical monstrosity shocked everyone. "What… What is that?!" asked Drilley.

"This is new…" said Meta Knight while readying his sword.

"That thing doesn't look friendly either…" said Kirby.

"Wait a minute… That thing looks familiar… I think… it's the Tyrant-class Rapture Storm Bringer!" pointed out Anis in shock.

"Storm Bringer? Isn't that the Tyrant Rapture leading an army of Raptures that almost broke into the Ark, but was stopped by Matis?" asked Liter in surprise.

"What is a Tyrant-class Rapture doing here?!" asked Mica in shock.

Storm Bringer fired purple laser beams at them, causing them to scatter in different directions for safety. Dedede then said loudly, "Everyone! Get into position and fend off this monster!" He then turned to Magolor and said to him, "Magolor, you head into the temple with some others! Get the treasure first!"

"What about you?" Magolor asked him.

"I will be staying out here to fend off this monster!" Dedede told him. "I trust that you can get to the treasure first!"

Magolor nodded. "All right! You can trust me on that!" He then looked at some nearby people and motioned for them to come with him. "Come with me into the temple!"

"All right! Treasure! Here I come!" said Mast with excitement as she went with Magolor.

Anis, Kirby, Hammering, and Drilley happened to see Magolor motioning for them, so they decided to go with him instead of staying out here. The group traveled together up the staircase, and when they reached the top, they were panting heavily, except for Magolor, who moved by floating.

"Why would anyone build staircases this tall…?" said Anis in between heavy panting. She then looked back at the people down below fighting Storm Bringer.

"Will they be all right?" asked a concerned Drilley.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," said Kirby. "We'll just come and help them after we find the treasure."

"Right, so let us hurry!" said Magolor.

The group traveled into the temple. Inside, they were greeted with a long and wide hallway that appears to have something at the back. They moved with caution, wary of setting off traps. However, nothing happened at all as they progressed through the hallway. "I don't like this eerie quietness and lack of… anything…" said Anis.

"Right… I've seen enough treasure hunting movies to know that places like these are usually rigged with deadly traps, so it's weird there's nothing like that here at all…" said Mast.

"That's for the best. I'd rather there be nothing getting in our way or killing us," said Drilley.

Eventually, they made it to the end of the hallway, and looking at the front, they saw a small staircase leading to a podium that had a golden crown on it. Behind the crown is crystal apple wrapped in golden branches planted firmly onto the floor.

Hammering's eyes widened in surprise. "So that is the treasure we're looking for?"

"A crown and a red crystal? That's all? I mean… those look valuable and all, but I was expecting more…" said Anis, sounding a bit disappointed.

Kirby, however, had his eyes widened to a comical degree as he looked at the crown. "Wait… I know that thing… That's… That's the…"

A crown began giving off a golden glow.

"So beautiful…" said Magolor and Mast simultaneously, interrupting Kirby. They were staring at the crown in such a way they look like they were possessed, and as if that wasn't enough, their eyes were glowing with golden light as they did so. They began moving towards the staircase and up the stairs to get to the glowing crown.

"Oh no! We have to stop them!" gasped Kirby as he ran to Magolor to grab him, but the latter smacked him away with a hand full of psychic energy. "Ow!"

The others ran up to Kirby, and Anis asked, "What? What is it?"

"That's the Master Crown! It's an evil sentient crown that possesses anyone who wears it, granting them great powers but also turns them evil!" explained Kirby. "The Magolor from my world once tricked me and my friends into getting it for him, and then he tried to take over the world with the crown in his possession! The same thing is going to happen again if we do not stop him or your friend!"

The girls looked at Mast and Magolor in shock, and then they ran up the staircase and after them.

Anis and Drilley grabbed Mast from behind. "Mast! You heard Kirby, didn't you?! Don't go any farther!" Anis said to him. However, Morgan, who was on Mast's shoulder the whole time, began pecking and flapping his wings against Anis and Drilley to get them off his master. Anis took note of his eyes and saw that they were glowing too. "Not you too, Morgan?!"

"Get off me! The treasure is calling out to me! I must get it!" cried Mast fiercely as she tried to break free from the girls' grasps, but they refused to let go, even with Morgan attacking them.

Hammering didn't have much trying to stop Magolor. When she grabbed him, he angrily shouted for her to let go before releasing a burst of psychic energy from all over his body that repelled her and sent her back down the stairs. With Mast being held back by the girls, Magolor made his way to the Master Crown first and grabbed it.

"Oh no!" gasped Kirby as he hurriedly ran towards Magolor.

"At last! The treasure that I seek!" said Magolor as he turned around with the Master Crown in his hands. "I finally got it, and I can feel power within it!"

Kirby tossed himself at Magolor, but a golden force field appeared around him, blocking the former from touching him and also bouncing him back.

"That's mine! Give it to me!" Mast angrily shouted at Magolor while still struggling against Anis and Drilley.

Kirby looked in horror at Magolor placing the crown onto his head. "Nooo! Don't!"

Magolor placed the crown onto his head, and then bright light came out from the crown, engulfing the place and rendering everyone unable to see for a few seconds. When the light died down, Mast's eyes returned to normal. "Whoa… What the…? I feel like I was possessed just now…" she said.

"You're back to normal, right?" Anis asked her.

"Look!" said Hammering in shock while pointing at the top of the staircase.

Everyone looked and saw what Magolor had become. He was no longer a small spherical being, but rather, a taller robed humanoid with horns on his head, and the Master Crown was seen on his head.

With widened eyes of horror, Kirby said, "It's… It's just like last time!"

"Power! I feel tremendous power within me!" said Magolor in an echoing voice. "This is what I have been searching for, and I love it!"

"This… is a bad thing… right?" asked Drilley.

"Yes…" replied Kirby with a nod.

Magolor covered his hands in psychic energy as he floated higher into the air. "With this newfound power, I will make everyone kneel before me! I am your new overlord! I will become the ruler of the universe!"

TO BE CONTINUED

Everything happened just like in Return to Dream Land… Magolor obtains the Master Crown and gets corrupted by it, attacking everyone else. As if that isn't enough, Storm Bringer shows up to cause havoc! Let's see how the good guys get out of this situation!

I know Aegis squad learned about Gatekeeper in the Dave the Dive crossover minigame, but as this story was made before that minigame came out and I obviously wouldn't have known this would happen, I'm maintaining consistency from the first chapter by not having Mast know about Gatekeeper. I did say this story won't follow Nikke's storyline completely.