The moment has come! The team will face Crump!
With only one minute left, the team crossed along with Spain, Romano and the army of punies watched Crump being stalled by the elder. "This is as far as you go!" the elder said, "Out of the way old geezer!" mocked Crump in response, this made the elder to grow in size "WHAT?! You sir have no respect for the elders!" yelled the leader of the tribe.
"Whoa. What's your problem? In any case, I'll be exiting this tree right now" talked back Crump. "AS IF!" a shout was heard, Crump turned around and looked how the others caught up with him.
"Did you REALLY think we'd let you escape?" questioned Flurrie, "It's best for you to hand over the Crystal Star and leave this place at once" demanded France. Crump just sighed and stopped the bomb countdown, which was only at twenty seconds left.
Crump then pressed a button and out of the blue, a giant mech suit appeared as the villain hopped in "One pummeling coming up for all of you!" mocked the fool.
The team got into fighting stances "Antonio, Lovino, protect the elder" requested Mario. Romano agreed but Spain protested "I can also fight!" he cried but Romano put his hand on one of the Spanish's shoulders "I can't protect her alone idiot, so you better help me!" spitted the Italian. Spain blushed and nodded as they stood in front of the elder as a barricade for her.
The curtain fell and took them to the theater for battle. Japan, Goombella, France and Mario entered the battle while the rest along with Spain, Romano and the elder watched everything from the sidelines.
As usual, Goombella took the lead turn to analyze their foe, she discovered that the mech was named Magnus Von Grapple, it had 30 HP, 2 Attack and 1 Defense.
France decided to switch with Italy, the brunet tagged in and used his Smacking Frenzy and dealt 5 of damage. Mario took the third turn and tried his Spin Jump, which dealt 3 of damage. Japan took the final turn and used his new Spin Kick, it also dealt 3 of damage and all the attacks left the foe's HP in 19 and the team's FP in 13.
Crump got his turn and detached the mech suit's arms into missiles, waiting for the next turn to attack.
"Woo! That's how you get things done!" exclaimed the elder from the sidelines, "Dios mio! I knew that all our country friends are strong but this Mario and his friends' moves pack a lot of fuerza too!" thought to himself the Spaniard. "Even Veneciano can fight! This is the potato bastard's fault! I'll teach him if he shows his face!" growled Romano.
At the next turn, Goombella switched with Flurrie and the latter used her Body Slam on Magnus Von Grapple, dealing 1 of damage, Italy decided to tag out so America can join the battle. The blond used his Sonic Shout, taking both arms out and dealing 3 of damage to the mech suit. Japan took the third turn and used his Power Slice, dealing 3 of damage. Mario used the final turn to use his Power Smash, also dealing 3 of damage.
The foe's HP fell to 12 while the team's FP went down to 9.
Crump then got his turn and stomped on Flurrie and America, dropping the blonde's HP to 18 and Flurrie's HP to 13.
Mario took the lead turn and used his Spin Jump, dealing 3 of damage once more. Italy decided to switch with France and the pervert used his Pierre Dive, dealing 1 of damage. Flurrie switched with Koops who used his Shell Toss, dealing 2 of damage to the foe.
"You won't get any more Crystal Stars after I beat you and take the one you all hold!" growled Crump. That made Japan's face to light with an idea, remembering he and Mario had access to the Special Move "If you want our Star, you better watch what it is capable of!" He used the last turn and closed his eyes. The Asian noted that two Special Moves were available, Sweet Treat, which restores a small amount of HP and FP to the current team members and the other move was Earth Tremor, an automatic attack that deals 6 of damage with piercing effect.
Noting that the foe's HP was only 3, he decided to win the fight by using Earth Tremor. The Diamond Star appeared as Japan and Koops hopped on the left while Mario and France hopped on the right, the star then grew gigantic and started to jump on the floor, sending shockwaves to the enemy also depleting two Special Points of the three the duo had. The attack dealt 6 of damage, depleting all of Magnus Von Grapple's HP.
The mech suit began to malfunction "No! How could this happened!?" lamented Crump as the foe dropped thirty SP, making the count fall to twenty six. Japan and Mario leveled up to level five. The two decided to upgrade their HP from 15 to 20. All the team and surprisingly, even Romano and Spain were covered in a glow, restoring their energy while the rest got their stats restored.
The curtain took everyone back to the tree, where the mech suit exploded, sending Crump to a nearby wall. He dropped the Crystal Star, which was caught by Romano "I'll remember this losers! X-Nauts, retreat!" he yelled as he fled the tree, followed by all the grunts of the organization.
"All right! We won guys!" yelled America in joy as he high-fived with Koops, Goombella and France winked at each other as form of victory. Italy jumped of pure joy while Flurrie gave him a little of wind in order to make him flutter.
"Thank you very much for all you've done! You're truly amazing!" Punio exclaimed his admiration for the team "You too Antonio and Lovino, you were good fighters too!" the puni added, the former two smiled at the comment.
"Well done young ones, you can keep the Crystal Star" concluded the elder.
Mario and Japan fist bumped as the Crystal Star floated first over Romano and Spain and then it hovered over the team as it finally landed on one of Mario and Japan's hands. The duo also learned they got a new special move called Clock Out but decided to learn more at a later time.
And so, after pummeling Lord Crump, Mario, Japan and the team obtained the second Crystal Star and found Spain and Romano, who along with Prussia, were searching for them... With the X-Nauts gone, peace once again prevailed throughout the Great Tree. The Boggly Woods echoed with the Puni songs of joy. But... this may not be the last our heroes hear from the vile X-Nauts. They will surely continue to stand in team's way and try to put a stop to their efforts.
Also, none of the other nations' whereabouts could be known, now with Prussia adding to the list of missing countries, who knows if anyone at the nation's dimension noted their disappearance...
The second Crystal Star is now in the team's hands! And now the gang along with Romano and Spain will part ways from the punies! Next chapter will be a second intermission. Have a nice week :)