I would appreciate it if people say in their reviews what they think of the actual chapters. It seems that some people are more interested in predicting what worlds there will be and what direction this story will take instead. While I am not against such a thing, seeing you comment on the chapters themselves will show that you have actually read thing, and I would love to hear your thoughts on what you've think.

So PLEASE comment the plots of the chapters and not just make predictions. It starts to get rather unexciting if that is all you do.

Thank you!

Chapter 6
Stage Clear

The cleanup crew, the army, and anyone who had time to spare were cleaning up Delfino Plaza, as the whole place was a mess after what the Water Vellumental did. The harbor was also being cleaned up after the battle with Kraken, who had wrecked the place.

Rapi was help cleaning the harbor. Her strength as a Nikke proved to be useful in doing heavy lifting. After helping with lifting vehicles back upright and receiving thanks and praise from soldiers, who were in awe at her strength, Rapi turned to Sugar, who was doing check up on her motorcycle. She walked up to Sugar and asked her, "You're Sugar, right?"

Sugar looked up at her and replied with a nod, "Yes. May I help you?"

"Um… Well… That weapon of yours… It was really powerful," Rapi told her, sounding a bit unsure on what to say.

"Yeah, that's the power of the Super Star for you," Sugar told her. "It's not easy trying to come by one, and it's not often you see it being used in such a way. I wanted to be able to fight while on my motorcycle, but it's not easy fighting and driving at the same time. I thought things would be easier if I could take out my enemies instantly. I had to convince my superiors quite a bit to accept this concept, before they finally gave in. Too bad I never got the chance to properly use it because Isle Delfino is too peaceful… Frankly speaking, I'm glad this happened."

"You really love riding motorcycles, don't you?" Rapi asked her.

Sugar nodded again. "Yeah, it makes me feel empowered and free. Nothing beats being able to move like the wind wherever you go. It helps clear my mind and cheers me up."

"Just like the Sugar I know…" Rapi said in her head. She then said to Sugar, "Either way, it was thanks to your weapon that we managed to win this fight. Things could've gotten worse had you not showed up with this…"

"You folks helped a lot too," Sugar told her. "I probably wouldn't be able to get a second shot had you not keep that thing distracted. Speaking of which, I saw your performance, and you're quite strong yourself. Being able to tear off those tentacles with your bare hands is nothing to scoff at. Are you really that strong?"

"Well… I do admit that I can be pretty strong," replied Rapi. "Still, you gave Kraken the finishing blow. It was mostly thanks to you."

"I feel like we can get along quite well. Anyway, you want coffee after this?" Sugar asked her. "I'm good at making coffee, so I'll make you as many cups as you want."

Rapi smiled a bit and nodded, saying yes to her. She also said in her head, "She really is like the Sugar I know..."

Somewhere in Delfino Plaza, the police were busy dragging Waluigi as well as the Kremlings away. K. Rool, Kamek, Bowser Jr., and several other member of the Koopa-Kremlings were being led through the crowd by the police. Reporters were flocking in from all over the place, trying to get close to the captives to ask them questions.

"Why did you frame Luigi?"

"How long have you been planning all this?"

"Don't you feel any guilt for doing this?"

"Have you violated Princess Peach yet?"

"How much is your golden belly armor worth?"

Waluigi was also bombarded with questions by reporters, and the police were trying to get the reporters to back away. Waluigi shouted out loud all of a sudden, "IF IT WEREN'T FOR THOSE MEDDLESOME FOOLS, I WOULD'VE GOTTEN AWAY WITH EVERYTHING! CURSE THEM ALLLLLLL! WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

In another location of the plaza, Crygor was being surrounded by reporters as well. They were asking him questions regarding Cyber Ware's involvement in this incident.

"Your secretary turned against you and used your inventions to commit crimes. Is that true?"

"What do you plan to do here on out?"

"Will what happened affect your way of doing business?"

Crygor tried his best to answer the reporters one by one, but the situation was so tense that he had a hard time trying to understand what people were trying to say as well as coming up with good answers.

Wario suddenly pressed his way through the crowd and got in front of Crygor. "EVERYONE SHUT UP!" he screamed at the top of his voice. Sure enough, everyone closed his or her mouths, frightened by Wario's loud voice. Wario then cleared his throat and say, "You folks better stop harassing Crygor, or else I'll see to it that you all have a rotten day! His stupid secretary Waluigi may have messed with this place, but that doesn't mean Crygor himself is involved in any way!

"Who says the boss must take responsibility just because his lackey did something wrong? Everyone should take responsibility for his own mistake! Waluigi is the one at fault, so he's the one who should fix everything! Now that he has been taken by the police, you should just stop harassing Crygor! He's a great guy, I tell ya! This guy's a genius who made lots of great things that made people's lives more fun and easier! You can't find a better inventor than him! You better treat him with respect, considering the great things he contributed to society!

"If you think he should take responsibility for everything or even his life getting ruined because of what that idiot Waluigi did, then you all are an ungrateful bunch, biting the hand of the person who fed you! The problem has been resolved now thanks to me, so instead of pointing fingers, how about you praise and thank me instead for saving your butts? This place probably wouldn't exist any longer had I not intervene!"

Suddenly, Drake butted into the scene and said loudly in a proud tone, "Everyone! It is I, the great villain who saved you all! My pal Wario and I did something as evil as beating up the people who were tormenting you! Those sad excuse for villains are nothing compared to the real villains that are us!"

She then went to Crygor and patted him in the shoulder. "You should do as Mister Wario said and stop pointing fingers at Mister Crygor here. He did nothing wrong. He was betrayed by his dastardly secretary and used by him, so he should be innocent. If a villain like me is willing to overlook this, then you upstanding civilians should also overlook this and see Mister Crygor as a good man who was used against his will! What say you all be good friends and continue to be nice with each other? Think of all the times his company provided you good stuff!"

As Drake was talking to the crowd, Syuen, Luigi, and Mario were standing not too far away at a place that didn't have a lot of people. "She's good-a with words!" commented Mario.

"Well of course, she's one of my best Nikke after all, so it's obvious she would take after me!" said Syuen smugly.

"I hope everything will turn out-a fine for Crygor though…" said Luigi in a nervous tone.

As Wario and Drake fought for the right to speak to the crowd, there were voices saying that Peach was approaching. Everyone moved out of the way as Peach arrived at the scene with her servants. She made her way to the front of the place where Crygor, Wario, and Drake were and then faced the crowd to began speaking to them.

"Everyone, I know that what happened today has been a shocking event," Peach said to them. "But thankfully, the crisis has been averted thanks to the courage and strength of heroes who risked their lives for everyone!" As she said this, she pointed her hand at Wario and Drake. The former laughed proudly, while the latter looked annoyed and insisted that she was a villain.

Peach continued her speech. "I believe we should forgive Mister Crygor. He himself is unaware of what his secretary had been planning behind his back, so he is just as shocked as everyone, even having his life in danger! His inventions were never meant for harm, but his secretary twisted them in ways that harmed people. The true masterminds of this incident, Waluigi and the Koopa-Kremlings, have been brought to justice, and they shall be punished accordingly. I plead with you all to not blame Crygor for what happened. I will also be providing support in rebuilding Delfino Plaza and as well as welfare to all those who have been affected by this negatively."

Peach lowered her head, begging the people, a sight that surprised everyone due to her being a royalty who is bowing down to commoners. Toadsworth begged her to raise her head and not diminish her image like this. The crowd began saying things like agreeing with her and that they would not blame Crygor for this. They also said positive things to Crygor and showed him support.

After hearing all this, Crygor cried tears of happiness and said, "Thank you, everyone! I'm so glad you are willing to still think positively of me! I will definitely do my best to compensate for everything that happened! Thank you very much!"

Mario smiled as he watched the scene and said, "And everything ended happily!"

On the night of the same day, Cyrgor's room had quite a number of people in it. Other than the inventor himself, the Nikke, Mario and his group, and Luigi were all there, gathered together for a reason.

"So what is that you people want to tell me?" Crygor asked everyone.

Noir looked at Rapi and asked her, "Are you really sure we should be telling him? What if he doesn't believe us…?"

"I feel like that if there's anyone who can help us now, it's him," replied Rapi with confidence.

"You can rely on Crygor! Same Crygor I know or not, I'm sure this guy can whip up something that can help us all get back home!" said Wario in agreement.

"Yeah, the Peach here is nice and all, but I can't wait to see the real Peach back in my own world!" said Bowser.

"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Crygor.

Rapi turned to him and said, "This may be very hard to believe. What you are about to hear now may sound very unrealistic and out of this world… quite literally…"

Rapi then proceeded to explain to Crygor about how they got here, with the others help backing up her claims. After hearing several minutes of explanation, Crygor nodded, "So you people come from another universe… You girls come from an entirely different one than this, while Mario and the others come from a version of this world that is similar yet also different, and for some reason, it has people from your world but with different memories… That is indeed hard to believe, but then, theories about the multiverse is something that some people actually believe in after all, so who's to say it's not true? I guess that does confirm this theory is true!"

"I'm glad-a that you believe us!" Mario said to him.

Crygor turned to Rapi asked her, "You said this mechanical life form called Gatekeeper is responsible for what happened and that it previously did similar things in your world by bringing people from other universes over, right? How did you manage to send them back?"

"We had to track down Gatekeeper, but it is always hiding somewhere and keeping its presence hidden," replied Rapi. "However, it emits an energy called D-Wave that can be used to track it down, but sometimes, it is sneaky and transfers its D-Wave into different object instead so that it will not reveal itself until you find said objects."

"I see… So basically, you need to find Gatekeeper by tracking down this energy called D-Wave," said Crygor with interest. "In that case, my scientists and I will see if we can come up with some kind of tracking device to find out where Gatekeeper is and send you all back home."

"That would be very appreciated," said Rapi, sounding glad. The others were happy to hear this as well.

"You did so much to help us, so it's only fair that we help you back. Consider this your reward for saving Isle Delfino!" said Crygor.

After the discussion was over, everyone begin returning to his or her rooms. While on her way back, Rapi was wondering about several things in her head. "Is this really an alternate universe, one where the people from Mario's world and our world coexist…? Or are these people actually the same ones from our worlds, but with their memories altered? Is anything here even real? What if all these are just creations of Gatekeeper…? Am I even real…? Commander… Where are you…?"

Suddenly, the smartphone vibrated and made a sound, signifying that someone was calling her. She picked it up and looked at Blabla to see a message sent from an unknown person. It writes: You are real.

Rapi wondered her eyes in surprise as well as confusion. "What…? Who sent this?" She immediately tried to start a conversation with the mysterious sender, hoping to hear more from him, but that person never responded. This made Rapi even more confused. "What is happening…?"

What exactly is the truth behind all this? Why did the Nikke find themselves in a brand new world? Though this may look like their own world at first, Mario and his crew were surprised to find a number of things different. Have they all been truly transported a different world, or are things not that simple? Perhaps something more complicated actually happened…

And what of everyone else from their worlds? Are they all in the same place? Or are they in different worlds? Wherever they are, one can only hope that they are safe and sound and will be able to find ways out of whatever situations they are in…

"You know… I've been wondering about something ever since we got here…" Noir asked Rapi all of a sudden.

Rapi looked away from her smartphone and at her. "What is it?"

"How come… everyone in this world is speaking the same language as us? I find it strange that a strange and surrealistic world would speak the same language as our world..." asked Noir.

Rapi thought about what she said and realized that she was right. "You… have a point..."

In an unknown location that was for the most part dark, several screens could be seen on what appears to be some kind of machine that was partly mechanical and partly geological. On each of the screens, different scenarios including Nikke were being played.

In one screen, Elegg, Neon, and a person in red and orange armor were seen around running in a mechanical base, firing at flying creatures resembling jellyfish, but with fangs instead of tentacles.

In another screen, Snow White was participating in a large-scaled war against robots, some of which look like egg-shaped humanoids and some resembling green humanoids armed with shields and arm cannons. Occasionally, a blue blur could be seen running around in the background at an incredibly fast speed, plowing through any robot in the way.

In the third screen, Crown was seen riding Trombe through a battlefield filled with various kinds of monsters, most of them resembling brown-skinned imps. Not far from her, a silver-haired girl was seen fighting monsters using a chainsaw-like sword.

In the fourth screen, Tove was looking scared as she tried to wake up Frima, who was asleep on a bed. The former was pointing outside a window, where a green-skinned humanoid could be seen trying to break in. Noteworthy is that everything in the cabin is cube or rectangle-shaped, including that green humanoid.

In the fifth screen, Leona was seen giving out commands to a brown lion with red and yellow mane, and standing across them was a girl with purplish-pink hair wearing similarly-colored clothes, giving commands to a mole with drill arms.

In yet another screen, D was seen wearing a sleeveless dress, locking arms with a middle-aged man with brown facial hair dressed in a fancy suit. They were walking around like a married couple inside a luxurious room filled with rich people.

There are several other screen showing different situations, but those are just some of the few examples for now.

"Is there no easier way to reach out to them?" asked a masculine voice.

"This system is highly advanced, more than anything I have ever seen," said a somewhat computerized feminine voice. "I will need more time studying this new technology before I can use it to the fullest extent."

"I know Rapi, Anis, and Neon may be able to understand what's going on, but the others…" said the masculine voice in a worried tone. "At least they're not in completely hostile territory, and there are people around them who are just as confused as them, so they're working together to figure out the mystery. Still, here's hoping that we can get in contact with them completely and tell them what is happening…"

"I cannot guarantee an estimated time on when we can establish full contact with them," said the feminine voice.

"I have no choice but to rely on you now…" said the masculine voice.

"Are you forgetting someone else?" a third voice asked him. This voice sounds masculine as well and also seemed to echo throughout the place.

"You claim to be an expert in the multiverse, yet you can't seem to do anything about this either!" said the first voice.

"You can thank that Gatekeeper friend of yours for starting all this mess in the first place! I didn't even know something like that can even exist!" said the third voice. "The source of this problem started from your world!"

"I don't think it's fair to say that our world is responsible for this, since Gatekeeper crossed into some place it shouldn't have gone too, thus resulting in all this!" the first voice told him in a rather angry tone.

"Had you guys done your job properly and gotten rid of that guy when you had the chance, this wouldn't have happened!" the third voice told him, also sounding a bit angry.

"It would be advisable to not increase your tempers any more than this," said the female voice. "I may be an artificial intelligence, but I have studied human interactions well enough to know that in dire situations like this, it is important that we do not blame each other but instead help each other if we want to resolve things."

"Sigh… You're right… We really shouldn't be fighting at a time like this…" said the first voice, sounding more relieved.

"Yeah, we should be concentrating on trying to help your allies… I'm worried the most about my younger brother," said the third voice. "Not necessarily because he's my younger brother though, but because of the danger he may possess if left unchecked…"

"You did say your younger brother is pretty wild… How dangerous is he?" asked the first voice.

"I don't think it should be that big of a problem. As long as… Hmmmm… On second thought, I think it may be a big problem…" said the third voice in a worried tone.

Anis opened her eyes and sat up. Looking around, she a seemingly endless span of grass, with occasional trees, all around herself. "What is this place?" she wondered.

"Um… Whoever you are… Can you please get off me?" said a child-like voice.

Anis looked around for the source of the voice and then realized that it was coming from below her. Looking down, she saw herself sitting on top of a soft, pink object. "Oops… Sorry!" She hurriedly got up and took a better look at the thing she sat on while continuing to apologize to him.

The pink, round creature that she sat on rubbed his head with his stubby arm and said to her, "It's all right. I'm very soft, so it's normal to feel comfortable sitting on me and not want to get off!"

Anis stared at the weird round creature in silence with a rather freaked out expression. "What… are you…?"

The pink creature smiled and then replied, "Kirby!"

TO BE CONTINUED

Please tell me what you think of the Mario arc and also the story so far.

With the Mario world complete, we are heading off to the next world, and you can tell already by the last part, it's going to be the Kirby world next! Which other Nikke other than Anis will be having an adventure in Popstar? Look forward to it soon!

And I hope you're happy with the short "previews" of what upcoming worlds there may be. But keep in mind that those aren't all the worlds. I don't want to reveal everything at once, so I only showed you a few, but I'm sure that they will still excite you! Please look forward to them!