James Birdsong

It'll get better, later on, I promise you.

LiamTheYoshi

I only did the character development in response to the reviews, which made me upset. Plus, I published my stories out of order timeline-wise.

mariobroultimate

If only there was a giant Jabbie leader that actually resembled Jabba the Hutt.

Nataly Guardado

We'll see right now.

Stat Booster

Thank you for the motivation! I'm glad you're willing to help me out.

…

Chapter 18: Lord Crump is Back!

"Buh! Buh! Buhhuhhuh!" a familiar voice shouted.

"Not him…" Mario murmured. "Please…"

Lord Crump and two X-Nauts dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of the cage.

"Damn, you guys are just so dense!" Lord Crump stated. "Brilliant little trap, huh? And boy, did youbite on it!"

"Yes, yes. Real original," Luigi said with sarcasm.

"I saw you sticking that silly stone on the pedestals, so I made a fake one… Awesome. I mean, I knew it was great, but seeing you fall for it really gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling."

"Can you let us out?" Punio requested.

"Buh! Buh! Buhhuhhuh! No way, José!" Lord Crump replied. "With you fools out of the picture, I can take my time hunting the Crystal Star. Buh! Buh! Buhhuhhuh!"

"Enough with your laugh, Lord Crump!" Mario shouted, having been annoyed by Lord Crump's laugh.

But Lord Crump didn't hear Mario as he and his X-Naut minions ran through a doorway on the left side.

Mario proceeded to try and push the cage's left bars outward to let everyone out, but the bars stayed still, unable to bend.

"Come on…!" Mario grunted, pushing harder. Eventually, he wore himself out and bent down, panting heavily.

"Okay. So, bending those bars won't do any good," Luigi said. "I guess Lord Crump made sure to use very tough metal this time."

"What's Plan B?" Flurrie asked.

Luigi glanced at Mario's hammer and came up with another idea. "Stand back, guys."

Luigi took Mario's hammer, prompting the Punies and Flurrie to back up against the cage's right side. Mario saw Luigi take his hammer and backed up too.

With a few mighty swings, Luigi dented the bars to the point where the tops broke off and fell on the ground.

"You did it, Luigi!" Punio exclaimed as the Punies cheered with joy. "Now we can get out of here and chase the X-Nauts!"

"Come on, guys," Luigi told everyone before they went into the next room. Inside was an elevated tree trunk with a Puni Orb pedestal in the middle. There was also a Warp Pipe at the top left corner leading to the fifth level.

"We have to find a way to get on the trunk, Mario," Punio pointed out. "Us Punies can't jump like you and Luigi can."

Upon reaching the fifth level, the group saw another Puni Orb pedestal in front. Mario activated it using the Puni Orb, and a small hole opened to the left of the pedestal. All the Punies dropped down to the trunk first, then the Mario Bros and Flurrie followed suit.

Again, Mario placed the Puni Orb in the trunk's pedestal, gathering all the Punies together. Suddenly, the ground shook violently, worrying everyone.

"Uh... What's... Oh no! What's happening?!" Punio cried.

Before Mario or Luigi could answer, a hidden platform inside the trunk lowered, taking everyone down below the ground level.

…

Inside a large arena, Lord Crump walked all around, trying to find the Crystal Star.

"Hmm... Lemme see... That thing's gotta be around here somewhere..."

Just then, he heard a loud rumbling coming from the ceiling.

"Buh…huh? Sounds like a mob! Better clear out!" Lord Crump ran away again out of sight.

The trunk platform lowered into the arena, which contained six vases and a giant Puni statue between the third and fourth vases. The Puni Orb was still inside its pedestal.

"So that's what happens, huh?" Punio wondered. "The trunk turned into an elevator?"

"Yeah. Weird," Flurrie remarked. Mario proceeded to take the Puni Orb out of the pedestal.

"All right-y. What's next?" Mario asked. "There's nothing in here."

"Mario! Look!" Luigi exclaimed, pointing to the statue. Sticking just above the head was a green object that slowly rose up. It turned out to be the next Crystal Star. Mario gasped upon seeing the Crystal Star.

"Oh, dear me! That must be the Crystal Star!" Flurrie said.

Before anybody could approach the statue, it shattered into a thousand bits, making the Crystal Star fall to the ground. At the same time, Lord Crump ran into the arena again and grabbed the Crystal Star.

"Hey! That's not yours!" Mario yelled. "Drop it now!"

"Buh! Buh! Buhhuhhuh! Man, am I lucky or what? Or am I just goooooood?" Lord Crump boasted. "'Oh, you say you need a Crystal Star, Lord Crump?' BOOM! Falls right into my lap! Still, this is humiliating! You shouldn't have been able to escape that cell. So, for insulting my awesome trap, I'm gonna repay you with a little present. Know what it is?"

"I don't want to know. Just drop the Crystal Star and things will be over," Mario protested calmly.

Lord Crump took out a white remote with a red button. "See this little remote? It's just a reminder that you have a few minutes left in this dank, old tree."

"What do you mean, 'a few more minutes'?" Luigi asked.

Lord Crump slammed his left fist on the red button, making a loud alarm go off.

"I mean 'a few more minutes'!" Lord Crump replied. "Sooner or later, you'll be buried with those squirmy Punies in rubble! Good luck escaping!" Again, he escaped through the way the group came from.

"DID HE JUST SET OFF A BOMB?!" Punio cried amongst the screaming of all the Punies. "WE BETTER GET OUTTA HERE NOW!"

Punio started scurrying back to the trunk elevator with everyone else following him. After they got on the elevator, Mario placed the Puni Orb in the pedestal, making the elevator rise quicker than when it lowered earlier.

"WHERE TO?!" Mario shouted.

"TO THE FOYER!" Punio replied.

After jumping to the ground, the Mario Bros, Flurrie, and the Punies made a beeline to the foyer as quickly as they could. Within two minutes, they ran into the foyer and spotted the Puni elder confronting Lord Crump.

"You won't be going any further this-a-way!" the elder stated.

"Oh, yes I will! Move it, old geezer!" Lord Crump retorted.

"WHAT?!" the elder shouted, growing big for a short second. "Did you just call me an 'old geezer'? Where do you get off, talking like that? Especially to a fragile man like me! Don't think my age has a thing to do with my might! Even if it kills me, I won't let you through!"

Suddenly, the elder bent over, wincing in pain.

"Whoa. What's your problem, Grandpa? You got an ear hair tickling your brain, or what?" Lord Crump taunted the elder.

"Oh…! Ouch…! What a time for my stupid back to start acting up…!" the elder groaned.

"You hotheaded old coot! You dare defy me? I could shine my boots with you!"

"No, you won't!" Mario shouted from behind Lord Crump, who turned to face him.

"Honestly, did you really think we'd let a wretch like you escape?" Flurrie asked, approaching Mario's side. "I do believe you'll be handing over that Crystal Star and promptly exiting this tree!"

"Buh! Buh! Buhhuhhuh! You guys are nuts, you know that? Oh, well. Guess I'd better shut off this timer."

Lord Crump took out his remote and pressed the red button to turn the alarm off.

"You know, fun fact: There was never a bomb in here, to begin with. I was just trying to get a head start and leave your scared asses in place. But now that you've come face to face with me, I'll just give you the pummeling of your life…with extra metal fists, that is!"

Lord Crump let out a whistle, prompting a giant robot with pink arms, gray legs, red shoes, and a glass dome to drop from the ceiling. He quickly boarded the robot and sealed its dome.

"Oh yeah!" Lord Crump announced through the robot's speaker. "Time for a technological thrashing, courtesy of Magnus von Grapple!"

"Holy crap! That robot is gigantic!" Luigi remarked.

All the Punies stood back so as to not get killed by Magnus von Grapple.

"I know! And there's something rather odd about it..." Flurrie said. "Let's just keep our eyes peeled! Don't be careless!"

The battle commenced with Magnus von Grapple attempting to stomp on Mario and Luigi. As they dodged out of the way, the robot's foot caused a mini earthquake upon hitting the ground. The Punies screamed with fear as the earthquake hit them.

"Don't worry, Punies! It'll be okay!" Flurrie reassured the Punies. Magnus von Grapple tried stomping on Mario and Luigi two more times to no avail.

"Are you aware that most robots aren't fast enough to crush their enemies?" Mario quipped. "Whoever designed your girly machine didn't-"

Suddenly, Lord Crump fired one of the robot's fists at Mario, catapulting him to the back end of the foyer.

"MARIO!" Flurrie cried, seeing Mario fly backward.

"Buh-huh? Did you just call my bad boy 'girly'?" Lord Crump questioned. "Men wear pink too!"

No offense, bro, but that was hypocritical, Luigi said to himself, referring to his pink and red outfit he wore before.

Again, Magnus von Grapple raised its foot to stomp on Luigi. But Luigi decided to retaliate with the Earth Tremor attack.

"TREMORUS TERRA!" Luigi slammed both fists on the ground at the same time the robot created its own earthquake. Both shockwaves hit each other and dissolved immediately.

"Oh, you got an earthquake attack yourself?" Lord Crump teased. "Who can rip the ground apart better? Magnus von Grapple! That's who!"

While Lord Crump taunted Luigi, the latter heard a whoosh from behind and noticed Mario's hammer hurtling toward him. As soon as Luigi caught the hammer, Mario lunged forward.

Just as Mario flew by Luigi's right side, Luigi swung the hammer like a golf club and hit Mario directly into the robot's dome. The dome cracked all around but didn't shatter.

"Oh! What a direct hit!" Lord Crump said with sarcasm.

"How about that Knockback Bros. attack?" Mario asked. "You want to see that again?"

"Oh, thank heavens you're okay!" Flurrie sighed with relief before turning to Magnus von Grapple. "You're going to pay for hurting my friend!"

"Actually, Mario, I want to see you as flat as a crepe," Lord Crump said. Magnus von Grapple pointed both its fists at Mario and Luigi, ready to blast them away. But milliseconds before the fists fired, the Mario Bros jumped onto the fists and lunged at the dome with their fists forward.

At the same time, Flurrie hurtled herself at the robot, arms outstretched. In simultaneous fashion, Mario and Luigi shattered the robot's dome and Flurrie rammed into its chest, knocking it on its back.

"Urrrrrrgh... Not good..." Lord Crump groaned. "This could be the end…"

With all his Star Power charged to the max, Luigi got ready to do the Earth Tremor attack again with Mario joining in too. Upon shouting the spell, their combined earthquake blew up the robot, launching Lord Crump out of the tree into oblivion.

"Lord Crump summons us!" three voices called out from the back end of the foyer. Those voices came from three X-Nauts who overheard Magnus von Grapple's defeat and decided to flee the tree by leaping out the hole created by Lord Crump.

"A rousing success, everyone!" Flurrie announced, prompting all the Punies to cheer with excitement. "Very delightful!"

"Great work, bro," Mario told Luigi, shaking hands with him.

"Thank you," Luigi replied.

"Finally! Those X-Nauts are gone!" the Puni elder said as he approached the Mario Bros. "This place can go back to being the peaceful place I remember!"

"Well, we have to fix the hole above the door first," Mario pointed out.

"I'll do it later, Mario. But for now, you can have the Emerald Star: the Crystal Star that resided in this tree!"

Right on cue, a bright green light flashed from the ceiling, spawning the Emerald Star. It floated into Mario's hands and released giant sparks that exploded outward, engulfing him and Luigi briefly. Then, a faint red dot appeared below the red orange dot on their right arms.

"Well, that's how that's done," Luigi remarked after looking at his Star Power.

"Uh... Thank you, Mario and Luigi, for everything you've done. We can go back to our peaceful way of life now," Punio said.

"You know, sons, now that we get right down to it, I'm kind of sad to see you go," the elder added in. "I do love pontificating, so come on by whenever you want to sit and chat awhile."

"Yes, please come back and visit! We'll watch for you!" Petuni squealed.

"Maybe sometime soon, but we can't promise anything," Mario replied.

"That's okay. But we'll work together from now on to prevent anything like that from happening again," Punio said. "Thanks for showing us how to stick together, and good luck with however many Crystal Stars there are out there."

"Oh, this shan't be our last visit. Certainly not!" Flurrie exclaimed. "I guarantee you I'll be back before you know it!"

"Good on you, Flurrie! Until next time, guys, bye-bye!"

The Mario Bros and Flurrie left the tree with all the Punies saying goodbye in unison.