This is the second part of the Boggly Woods chapter. Enjoy.
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The Ghostly Boggly Tree II: Into the Tree
When they entered the tree, Danny and Vlad lost their powers, but also it seemed like nobody was there, not even X-Nauts.
"Okay we're inside. Do you see the water going up the walls, I think those are the roots," said Goombella.
"Yes, fine, we know something about this tree, but where is everyone?" asked Vlad.
"Elder! Petuni! Puniper! Anyone!" shouted Punio.
"Punio, quiet. What if those X-Nauts hear you," said Danny.
"Hey, I heard something," said a voice.
"Then let's check it out," said another voice.
Two X-Nauts walked up to where they were.
"Hey, those are some of the creeps who attacked me at the docks," said Goombella.
"Whoa, it's Mario, Danny Phantom, and their crew," said X-Naut One.
"We'd better tell Crump," said X-Naut Two.
"No, we'll get a better reward if we bring them to him personally," said X-Naut One.
"Right. I like your thinking," said X-Naut Two. So they charged the group.
"Time to test this thing," said Danny. He pointed his wand a one of the X-Nauts and shouted, "Ice!" This froze it. Vlad followed up by pointing his wand at that X-Naut and shouting, "Fire!" That melted the ice and caused it to faint. Mario and the others took care of the other X-Naut.
"Uh, maybe we should tell Crump," said X-Naut One.
"Let's leave out the beating we got," said X-Naut Two. They ran to warn Crump of Danny, Mario, and the others.
Suddenly Punio heard a noise and said, "I know you're there, it's safe to come out! These guys won't hurt you!"
A small group of Punis poked their heads out from behind a statue and started mumbling.
"They're huge!"
"Did you see them go?"
"Nice mustache."
"Don't freeze me!"
"Get that pyromaniac out of here!"
"Punio you dork!"
"Hey guys, come on out," said Punio.
Ten Punis moved out from behind the statue. One that was larger than the others with an orange bulb confronted Punio and said, "Punio, you dork!"
"Puniper…" said Punio.
Puniper hit Punio and Punio said, "What was that for?"
"For abandoning us in the middle of a fight," said Puniper, "When those X-Nauts invade our tree you just get up and go!"
"I went to get help! And I got it," said Punio.
"What, these six giants? How do you know they're not with them?" questioned Puniper.
"Uh, we just beat them up," said Danny.
"How do I know that wasn't just a ruse?" asked Puniper.
"Please, no self respecting evil doer would weaken his own army to gain the enemy's trust," said Vlad.
"I still don't trust you," said Puniper, "Punio, you don't know how bad it was after you and the younger ones left."
"Well what happened? And why are there so few of you?" asked Punio.
"Those X-Nauts kidnapped over one hundred of us including the Elder and your sister!" said Puniper.
"Petuni! No!" said Punio.
"Petuni yes. I won't trust any of you until you get back everyone who was captured. They were brought higher up in the tree," said Puniper.
"Danny! Mario! We have to save them!" said Punio as he ran to a pipe that went up. Mario and the others followed.
Soon they got to where a red cage and a blue cage were.
"Elder!" shouted Punio as he ran to the red cage.
"Ey?" said an older Puni with a purple bulb.
"Elder! It's me! Punio!" shouted Punio.
"Punio? So you finally came back. Do you know what happened while you were gone? Well it all started with…"
Two hours later…
"And back in '42 I met a young Puni named Puno. I remember when we went to the top of this tree and… Well that might be too much for you young ones." She stopped and noticed everyone except Punio was asleep.
"Wake up!" shouted the Elder.
They woke up and listened to the Elder.
"Punio?" said a voice.
"Petuni?" asked Punio. He left unnoticed, leaving Mario, Danny, and the others to listen to the elder.
"Petuni! It's you!" said Punio as he reached the larger, blue cage. A young Puni with a pink bulb had addressed Punio.
"Petuni! I was worried. I have to get you out of this cage!" said Punio as he tired to ran the cage, but only managed to knock himself out.
"Brother! Are you ok? Brother?" said Petuni.
"What? I'm fine," said Punio, "Now to get you out of this cage!"
He tried ramming it again, but Petuni stopped him by saying, "No, brother, it's too hard for you. The only way to save me is to find the key those X-Nauts had."
"Right! I will find that key! Mario! Danny!" shouted Punio.
"Yes?" asked Danny.
"According to Petuni we have to find a key those X-Nauts had," said Punio.
"We learned the same thing from the Elder," said Vlad, "That old hag is even more long-winded than Technus."
"We'd better find those keys," said Mario.
"We should probably check that room over there first," said Goombella.
They all ran to the next room and saw something weird.
"Hey, it's that weird mouse," said Koops.
"My, what did she do to that X-Naut?" asked Flurrie.
Ms. Mows was holding a badge while standing next to an X-Naut she knocked out.
"We'll if it isn't the Koopa, the boy, and the man I saw earlier," said Ms. Mows, "You seem to have more friends now."
"Very nice friends," said Ms Mows as she kissed Mario.
"Mario, dear. Who is this?" asked Flurry.
"Yeah! What's with this hussy!" shouted Goombella.
"Now, is that really nice?" questioned Ms. Mows, "I was going to tell you something about that Crystal Star you're looking for, but maybe not now…"
"Please! You have to tell us!" said Danny.
"Hmmm… Okay, but I'm only going to tell the cheese-hunk here," said Ms. Mows as she whispered something to Mario, and snuck in another kiss.
"I saw that!" said Goombella.
"Well, I must be off now!" said Ms. Mows as she jumped out the tree.
"Uhg, I hate her already!" said Goombella.
"I know what you mean," said Flurrie.
"Hey Mario, what did she tell you?" asked Danny.
"She said that the Crystal Star is somewhere at the bottom of this tree, underground," said Mario.
"Hey? What happened?" asked the X-Naut. He noticed the group and said, "So, you attacked me when I had my back turned? That is dirty, rotten, horrible…"
"Ice!" shouted Danny as he froze the X-Naut, Vlad followed up with fire and they defeated the X-Naut who ran away.
"You're the horrible one," said Danny.
"Daniel, look, he dropped a key," said Vlad.
Mario went over a picked up the red key.
"That must go to the cage the Elder is in," said Punio.
They went there and Mario unlocked the cage.
"Elder! You're free!" said Punio.
"Silence! Punio did you forget about everyone else? And another thing…" said the Elder.
Two hours later…
"That's when I opened up my dream job. Ice cream store owner. I remember the old place, and little stand on the corner of White Avenue and Black Street," said the Elder. She stopped and noticed everyone except Punio was asleep.
"Wake up!" shouted the Elder, startling everyone awake, "Now where was I? Oh yeah. Punio, how dare you forget about your sister and all the others!"
"Elder, I was going to say that we're going to save everyone, but we started with you first because that was the first key we found," said Punio.
"Well why didn't you say so! This muggy, damp cage is no place for an Elder," said the Elder as she left.
Punio went over to the blue cage and said, "Petuni, don't worry, I'll be back to save you."
"I know you will," said Petuni as Punio and the others left.
When they reached the entrance they were greeted with, "I knew you couldn't do it!"
"What are you talking about Puniper? We saved the Elder," said Punio.
"But where are the others? You failed! I'll never help you!" said Puniper.
"Worthless Puni!" shouted the Elder, "All you can talk about is saving the others and beating the X-Nauts and Jabbies, but you refuse to do any of that! I order all of you the help in saving our tree!"
"Yes… Elder…" said Puniper.
All the Punis except the Elder joined the group, giving them eleven Punis.
"Now, take this," said the Elder as she handed out a yellow orb, "That's the Puni Emblem. If you put it in a pedestal the Punis will stand there and stare at it. That's how they're trained."
Danny picked up the emblem and said, "Thanks."
"Now go and save the others!" shouted the Elder, making everyone run off.
They had to go a long way around in the tree and eventually found a hive with a red light attached to it.
"Alert! Alert! Phantom and Mario subjects are in vicinity! All Jabbies attack!" wailed the siren.
Ten small, crazy-looking, winged creatures emerged from the hive to attack.
"It's the Jabbies!" shouted Puniper.
"Who?" asked Danny.
"Our most hated enemies. They want nothing more than to take over the tree," said Punio.
"They must be working with the X-Nauts," said Vlad, pointing out the advanced security system.
"Let's get them!" shouted Mario.
It wasn't long before all the Jabbies were defeated. The Punis went into the hive and blew it up, revealing a passage to another room.
"You know," said Punio as the others entered, "I used to have a Jabbie friend. I wonder if he's my enemy now with the X-Nauts and all."
"I'm certain he's still your friend, no matter what the X-Nauts may force him to do," said Danny.
"Really?" asked Punio.
"I'm sure of it," said Danny.
"Guys! Look at this!" said Goombella as she held a blue key on her head.
Mario picked it up and said, "This must go to the other cage. Let's save them."
They quickly ran to the blue cage and Mario unlocked it.
"Petuni!" shouted Punio.
"Brother Punio!" shouted Petuni as she made her way to him. The rest of the Punis formed a circle of space for them.
"Petuni…" said Punio, "Gimme a hug!" He quickly hugged his little sister.
"Punio, stop. It's embarrassing. People are watching," said Petuni.
"I'm just so happy to see you safe," said Punio, who broke the hug.
"But our tree isn't, is it. We have to beat those X-Nauts," said Petuni.
"Yes…" said Punio, not wanting Petuni to feel scared.
"We'll let's do it!" said a determined Petuni.
"We can't let those X-Nauts win!" said Danny.
"Let's-a go!" said Mario.
They fought their way to another Jabbie hive and beat the Jabbies in it. Eventually they reached a pedestal that they could put the Puni Emblem. Danny placed it in.
"Well…" said Vlad.
Suddenly a cage fell from the ceiling, the shockwave breaking a box that cloaked a warp pipe.
"Buh huh huh huh huh!" laughed a familiar voice.
"Crump," said Danny angrily as Crump entered the room.
"I saw you sticking that thing in pedestals and decided to make a fake one to trap you," explained Crump, "Now I can find the Crystal Star without you messing with me." He left Danny and the others stuck in the cage.
"Punio! I blame you for this!" shouted Puniper.
"Oh yeah, cause the guy who trapped us in this had nothing to do with it!" shouted Punio.
"Exactly! Every bad thing that ever happens to us is your fault!" shouted Puniper.
"Puniper, that's not fair!" shouted Petuni.
"Neither is how your stupid brother left us all alone when the X-Nauts attacked to goof off!" shouted Punio.
"I said I went to get help! You know, Mario, Danny!" shouted Punio.
"That's it!" shouted Danny as he froze Puniper, Punio, and Petuni up to their heads.
"All this arguing won't stop Crump, or save your tree. Now we'll go find someway to help," said Danny. He turned paper and squeezed through the bars with Mario and the others and went down the pipe.
"Hey, Danny, a little help…" said the half-frozen Punio.
In the room below there were some statues and a switch.
"Hey guys, look at these statues," said Goombella.
"Sun, moon, Puni, star," said Danny as he looked at the pictures.
"My, what does it mean?" asked Flurrie.
"Hey, I remember seeing statues like these back where we found the blue key," said Koops, "Only those looked like you could change the image."
"How do we do that?" asked Vlad.
"Maybe, this switch has something to do with it," said Mario as he activated the switch.
The whole tree shook as if designating something.
"What happened?" asked Mario.
Everyone looked around the room and Danny said, "Nothing."
"Maybe we should check out the blue key area," said Koops.
They agreed and went back up the pipe.
"Good, Danny could you help us…" said Punio, but they didn't hear him and ran straight through the room.
"Let's start defrosting them," said a Puni as the Punis bulbs grew warm and slowly melted the ice.
Eventually the group made their way back to the blue key area where there were now four switches.
"We must have to use those to switch the images," said Danny.
Mario, Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie each took a switch and used them the change the images on the statues to sun, moon, Puni, star. The statues crumbled, revealing a passage. They went through it and saw a large brown chest.
"What's this?" asked Mario as he opened it.
Suddenly Mario was teleported to a white area with pink dots. A toad girl with pink, braided hair, a pink cap with white spots, an orange dress, and red vest approached Mario with a pair of blue boots.
"Hey Mario! It's me, Toadette," said Toadette.
"Oh, how are you," said Mario, "Wait, aren't you supposed to be watching the castle with Toad?"
"Uh… um…" said Toadette. She quickly threw the boots to Mario and said, "Congratulations on finding the Super Boots. These allow you to jump with twice the speed and power than normal. They give you the right height in your jumps to do a Super Jump. That's where you flip and slam the ground at the peak of your jump. Why don't you try it out?"
Mario changed his boots and tried it successfully.
"You did it!" said Toadette excitedly.
"That's nice, but what about the castle?" asked Mario.
"Uh… With your Super Jump you can break wooden barriers on the ground. Bye!" said Toadette quickly as she ran away and sent Mario back.
"Mario! What happened?" asked Danny.
"I ran into an old friend who gave me something that I think can help us save the Punis," said Mario, pointing to his new boots.
They went back to the cage where Punio and the others were just finished being defrosted.
"You know, it wasn't very nice of you to freeze us," said Puniper.
"I did that?" asked Danny. The Punis nodded and Danny said, "Sorry…"
"I forgive you," said Petuni.
"Me too," said Punio.
"Only if you save us," said Puniper.
"Mario?" said Danny, motioning to a wooden barrier in the cage floor. Mario quickly broke it and the Punis jumped in and up the pipe.
"Now let's go get the Crystal Star and save the tree!" said Danny.
There was a cheer among the Punis and they all ran out of the room.
Down deeper in the tree there was a robotic ghost who had flaming green hair, a green flame beard and green eyes.
"Now, where's that Emerald Star thing Crump told me about?" wondered Skulker. He heard a loud noise and said, "What could possibly be coming here? I'd better hide until I find out." He hid behind some large bushes as Danny, Vlad, Mario, Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, and the Punis entered.
"This is where the Crystal Star is," said Punio.
"Okay," said Danny as he placed the Puni Emblem on a pedestal in the middle of the room. The Punis gathered around it, activating a device. The Emerald Crystal Star shot out of a large statue and landed in front of them. Mario was about to grab it, but Skulker beat him to it.
"I got it!" said Skulker.
"Skulker! What are you doing here?" asked Danny.
"I just saw your friend playing a video game and then I saw you in it and decided to join you," said Skulker.
"Skulker! Hurry up! I've got the explosives set!" said Crump, who had entered through a pipe on the other side of the room.
"Good bye ghost child!" said Skulker as he flew up the pipe.
"Good bye forever Mario!" said Crump as he activated the detonator.
"He's going to blow up the tree!" shouted Punio.
"We have to stop them!" said Danny.
They all ran back to the entrance of the tree where they found Crump and Skulker arguing with there Elder, who had put up a force shield in front of herself, blocking the path.
"Out of the way hag!" ordered Crump.
"Hag! How dare you! Why I'll- ow my back…" said the Elder, she dropped her shield in pain.
"Now we can escape!" said Skulker.
"Not so fast!" shouted Danny.
"You caught up? Not possible!" said Crump.
"Not probable," corrected Vlad.
"Fine, if you want to fight, we'll fight!" said Crump as he turned off the detonator. He went over to a glass orb, which two X-Nauts brought out, and jumped in. The orb lifted off the ground and a steel, pink, box like robot with a white x on its torso formed around it. Skulker flew beside it and prepared his guns.
"Let's try something guys!" said Mario as he held out the Diamond Crystal Star and used it.
It grew large enough for the whole group to stand on it.
"Let's put all our energy into this," said Mario.
In perfect succession Mario did a thumbs up, Danny pumped his fist into the air, Vlad folded his arms, Goombella jumped up, Koops rubbed the back of his head, and Flurrie blew a kiss. They followed this pattern until they had filled enough energy into the star and it dropped. This caused an earthquake that damaged only Skulker and the Magnus von Grapple. Skulker's jetpack was broken, grounding him.
The rest of the battle had Danny and Vlad taking care of Skulker. Mario and the others battled with the Magnus von Grapple. Eventually both robot suits were destroyed.
"Good bye Skulker," said Danny as he got out one of his Fenton Thermoses.
"You will all pay for this!" shouted Skulker as he was sucked in.
"Uhg…" said Crump, "X-Nauts! Retreat!" He ran away with his army, dropping the Crystal Star.
"Mario!" shouted Danny.
"I got it!" said Mario. He picked up the star and put it in the sack, thus returning Danny and Vlad's powers.
"We did it! We beat the X-Nauts and saved the tree!" said Goombella.
"But our adventure still continues, there are more Crystal Stars out there," said Danny.
"And we'll get them all before the X-Nauts do," said Mario.
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Well Danny and the others protected the Great Tree from the X-Nauts and got the star. But there are still more stars and challenges out there. Will Danny and the others make it?
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