When they went back to the Boggly Woods, Chopper inhaled a Dark Puff and ended up getting a gold crown with a green diamond in the middle of it on his head with a tornado on top. He could now spin in a tornado with his new Tornado ability, but this time he could use wind powers to blow things away.
"Well, this should surely be useful, right?" Chopper smiled.
"Poyo, (It's pretty important that we keep that ability with us,)" Kirby suggested.
After their long travel, they made it back to the Great Tree, where they all walked up the trunk that Punio said there was an entrance to. Kirby began to take a look at it and was confused.
"Poyo? (I don't know what this is. What do you want me to do? Eat this tree? …OK?)" Kirby used his Inhale ability and a piece of paper from the tree came off, allowing him to swallow it. A small Puni entrance labeled "Secret Entrance" appeared now that it was revealed.
"Hey! There we go! That's the secret entrance I was telling you about!" Punio cheered. "…But I guess it is labeled 'Secret Entrance.' Huh… I think I forgot about that. But that's not important. We can finally get inside! So, here I goooooooo!"
Punio jumped into the hole, which left Chopper, Vivian, Scrub and Kirby to talk to each other. Chopper already introduced Vivian and Scrub to Kirby while they were going to upgrade him to Super-Rank before returning. Apparently Punio was still busy.
"Poyo? (So these friends of yours are Vivian and Scrub?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo! (Cool! So you got Scrub from an egg and you were nice to Vivian that made her join you?)"
"Uh huh," Chopper nodded.
"Poyo! (Cool! I hope they're really helpful!)"
"I have NO idea what you're saying, Kirby," Scrub mentioned.
"I wonder what's taking Punio so long…" Vivian wondered until the red light on the door changed green.
"Chopper! Can you hear me? I got the door open!" the door opened up and Punio came out.
"Hmmmmm... How'd he do that without arms?" Scrub questioned.
"He's got legs to help him..." Chopper trailed.
"It's a good thing I was able to open this from the inside. Let's go!" Punio declared.
Chopper nodded and did a flip as he jumped down to the door. They all headed inside the tree and saw white bushes, some strange, water-like veins on the walls and also black and white statues in the middle of the area. There were also some small streams too, with a small waterfall coming down.
"Uh... Hmmm? Weird... Usually everyone's here, but it doesn't look like it now... What the hey?" Punio gawked. "Hey! Elder! Everybody! Come out! HELLOOOOOOOOOO?"
"Looks like nobody's home..." Chopper trailed.
"I hope we're not too late," Vivian said worriedly.
"Ehhh... I wouldn't worry about it!" Scrub assured. "I mean, how can it get any worse?"
A pink door to the right with a red light turned green when two X-Nauts came out and noticed Chopper and his friends.
"Poyo... (Good one...)" Kirby groaned.
"Hey! Not my fault!"
"What the heck? Who are you guys? How'd you get in here?" the first X-Naut asked as both walked over to the group. "I thought we locked the doors tight?"
"Wait a minute… That's the Chopper kid who's looking for the Crystal Stars!" the second X-Naut realized. "Yeah! I remember those antennae of his! …And why is Beldam's sister with him anyway?"
"WHAAAAT?! He IS? Oh, boy! Good thing we came here just in time! Let's get him and that traitor!" This made Chopper and his friends get in their fighting stances, with Scrub growling at them.
"So they know about us? I guess they were expecting us to show up." Vivian frowned. "…It also feels like I'm a target too, I believe…"
"But, dude, we can't do that!" the second X-Naut recalled. "Lord Crump told us to tell him IMMEDIATELY if we found him. Don't you remember?"
"Dude, you're not thinking right!" the first X-Naut said as he smacked his buddy. "Don't you know what happens if one of the minions capture the hero? If we do just that, we'll get all of the credit, AND we'll get promoted, just like we wanted to."
"Oh, yeah… Right on! Let's rock this little punk!"
"One, two, three…BREAK!" the two X-Nauts got in kung fu stances and charged at Chopper, only to have one of them get knocked back by a tornado attack that took away 4 HP from one. They had 6 HP from what they could see.
"Poyo, (All right, I'll finish the X-Naut guy,)" Kirby declared as he performed a Cartwheel and knocked the X-Naut with 2 HP left down, defeating him. The X-Naut standing charged at Kirby and knocked him back with a body slam.
"Whoa, that wasn't pleasant," Chopper noticed before he spun around like a tornado and ended up hitting the X-Naut with his fists.
Kirby slowly got back up after taking 3 damage. "Poyo! (Hey! Let me finish him off!)" he inhaled the X-Naut and spat him out at the other, making them dizzy and helping Chopper receive 6 Star Points with ease.
"C-Crud! That stung, man! I don't know about you, but he's good…" the second X-Naut cringed.
"I guess reporting to Lord Crump isn't such a bad idea after all! We better run for it!" the two X-Nauts ran from the five and locked the pink door to the right that was near a Save Block, a Heart Block and a gray pipe going up.
"Pretty slick work, handling those guys, Chopper. Seriously, way to go!" Punio complimented.
"Ahem... What about us?" Scrub spoke up. "We did some of the work too!"
"Poyo, (Chopper and I only fought them,)" Kirby mentioned.
"But the question remains... Where did everybody go? What could possibly have made them leave this place?" Punio began to ponder for a moment until another strange gray creature with a yellow bulb on its antenna walked behind a statue.
"Hey, was that one of them?" Chopper asked as he decided to remove his Tornado ability for now. Punio also noticed the Puni walk behind the statue and look at Chopper.
"Finally, SOMEBODY shows up!" Punio sighed as he walked over to the Puni behind the statue. "What are you doing hiding back there? Come out, for Pete's sake! You can't stay behind there forever, especially now that we've got these new allies!"
Punio brought the Puni over to Chopper and his friends and gaped at them. "Whoa! They're… They're huge! Not as huge as the plumber, but still pretty big!"
"Am I being called fat?" Chopper frowned.
"No, they just think we're bigger than them," Vivian answered.
"Oh..."
"Uh... Are you sure your huge antennae boy won't try to eat us?" asked another Puni that popped out from behind the statue. "He looks pretty hungry..."
Chopper gave them a frown. "Why would I want to eat you guys? You're definitely not something I would eat..."
"Hey, hold on a second..." Punio paused. "Who else is behind there?"
A couple of more Punies showed their faces from behind the statue and commented at the new allies Punio brought. Most of their comments seemed to be directed at Chopper.
"Oh, man… He wiped the floor with those guys."
"Why is he green and round?"
"Who are those other people that are with him?"
"He looks scary!"
"He'll crush us!"
"I don't like him!"
"Wow, he's got two antennae? Nice…"
"Now, don't worry, everyone. This is Chopper, and he's our friend." Punio assured. "He's here to help along with his friends! All those bad guys? Chopper'll stomp every one of them, just like those last goons."
Nine Punies that looked the same as the other Puni Punio found walked over to Chopper. "Huh? This is it? Wow, there are so few here… Well, it's better than nothing, so we'll have to make do! Let me formally introduce… Chopper…"
"WAIT!" a fat Puni with an orange bulb showed himself. "How do we know this kid is our ally? He's not from here, and chances are he could be one of them in disguise!"
"Wait, what?!" Chopper gaped.
"Who's the fatty here? Contadre!" Scrub gawked as the fat Puni walked over to Chopper. "Don't let him try to stop you!"
"Puniper! What're you saying? He's not one of them!" Punio defended. "Listen, we can all fight alongside Chopper and chase those goons out of here! We can take back our tree. We can take back our homes! I mean, we tried last time with Mario, and we succeeded! We know what those goons want anyway!"
"Hah! Punio... Seriously, you need to listen to yourself!" Puniper scoffed as he walked over to Chopper. "Trying to sound like you're so important! You have no idea what kind of trouble we've gone through when you went out! And that was Mario! We don't even know this kid! We can't always trust everyone we see!"
"But Kirby trusts them... You guys trust him, right?"
The Punies thought for a moment, and afterward, they agreed by giving a nod.
"Well, yeah, we trust him... But we still don't trust these other three!" Puniper stated. "Besides, they wouldn't be enough to help anyway at this point. Those goons ended up capturing the others, including your sister, Punio!"
"WHAT?! PETUNI?! Tell me that isn't so!" Punio gaped.
"Oh, it's so, all right! She was taken off somewhere with the rest of them! They said it was because we wouldn't tell them where to find that Crystal Star that came back here. We told them we'd never heard of it to make sure they wouldn't find it."
"Well those X-Nauts are no fools..." Vivian trailed.
"They looked kinda idiotic to me," Scrub scoffed.
"Oh, poor Petuni..." Punio trailed. "Well, that absolutely tears it! We've all got to go look for them right away! Right this second!"
"What are you saying, Punio? We can't do anything to those giant goons alone!" Puniper exclaimed. "The Jabbi tribe got back in league with them, so there's no way we stand a chance. They want revenge after what we did to them, and they're hoping to make this tree their own once we've all been driven out. This is it for us. The end!"
"How can you say that? You can't know that! We HAVE to try, don't you see? Think about it! If we all get together we can take care of any stupid Jabbies! So, who's with me, huh? Come on, everyone! Let's pool our strength!"
"Hah! Oh, Punio... Always thinking so unrealistically... Well I'm not in on this! You'll have to prove that this plan'll work, because I think you're nuts with it! We only have four people that can fight, while there are over a HUNDRED of those goons here!"
"A HUNDRED? Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Tell you what: you and the antennaed kid there can get the revolution started!" Puniper decided. "If you can free our friends who got locked up somewhere in the tree...then perhaps I'll be convinced that you are indeed here to help. Hah! Like that'll ever happen! Please! It's impossible to defeat an army of goons!"
"Fine! We'll show you!" Punio declared. "Right, Chopper? Right? C'mon, follow me to glory! Let's go help them!"
"OK... But..." Chopper began, looking down at Puniper. "If we prove you wrong, you should roll on the ground."
"...Why?" Puniper questioned.
"Ummmmm... Because it's funny!"
"Psh! Like that's going to happen!" Puniper shot back as Chopper and Co. walked over to the pipe by the door to head higher up in the tree.
Upper level-
Once they all came out of the pipe, they looked a little messed up, with Chopper's antennae looking messy, as well as Vivian's hair.
"Man, that pipe ride here was a little crazy," Vivian sighed as she got off the pipe while fixing her hair. "My hair's a mess right now. I should fix it a little. Could you all just turn back for a minute? Usually I wouldn't want people to see my eyes."
"Poyo? (Why? There's nothing wrong with showing your own eyes.)" Kirby noted. "Poyo? (Is that the reason why you wear that hat, Vivian? Uh… Chopper, maybe you can tell her what I just said, OK?)"
"He said something about your eyes. He was asking what's wrong with us not seeing them." Chopper explained.
"It's...a little complicated," Vivian stated.
"Poyo? (Complicated?)"
"Oh, whatever. I say we see what's around here." Scrub decided as he ran over to the pipe ahead, but he tripped and fell on a black and white X right by the pedestal. "What the… Hey, Contadre! Take a look at this!"
Chopper, Kirby, and Punio walked over to the pedestal while Vivian turned around and removed her hat to fix her hair, since some girls don't like to have messy hair.
"Oh! I think this is something the elder's been telling us about!" Punio recalled. "If a stone is placed there, we Punies would immediately walk over to it because it's shiny and beautiful."
"Wait, you go to things that are shiny and beautiful?" Chopper gawked. "So, if you saw outer space, you would GO there?"
"Well... I'm not so sure on that..."
"OK, I'm done," Vivian mentioned as she put her hat back on and followed the others up the pipe to a upper level of the tree. Once they came out, they were in a larger area with about two X-Nauts.
"OK… You got any fives?"
"Go fish."
Apparently they were playing Go Fish, but they were interrupted when they saw Chopper whacked them away with his hammer, and then Kirby knocked one away with a Cartwheel attack.
"Poyo! (It feels GOOD to be fighting again! Oh boy! Love it love it LOVE IT!)" Kirby cheered after spinning around. Everyone else looked at each other, confused, but they all got him back up and went into the pipe to go to the upper level of the room.
There, they saw a Yux, an X-shaped enemy that was a lime color. To them, they looked pretty weird, but after taking it down with a jump and a Cartwheel, it was defeated (they've got 4 HP, just to let you know) and went into the pipe ahead.
Meanwhile-
An X-Naut was standing in a storage area, where there were a couple of chests and some crates. He looked at his wrist as if there was a watch (which there wasn't) and looked bored.
"Man... This is brutal." the X-Naut sighed. "How much longer 'til we find that stupid Crystal Star? Not even those puny Punies we captured know about it. I mean, they should've known already by now! After all this pointless searching, I'm thinking we're looking in the wrong place... Or ARE we?"
Just then, a mysterious figure jumped down and knocked the X-Naut out cold.
"Um… Ouch?"
Previous room-
Chopper and Co. came out of the pipe to find two cells. One was a red color, while the other was blue. The red cage has some weird-looking Puni hunched back a little, with a purple bulb.
"Elder!" Punio cried out as he quickly walked over to the red cage to the Puni elder. They noticed how bored she looked as she noticed them walk over to the cell.
"Punio! Is that you? You're looking well." the Puni Elder said calmly.
"Why are you so calm, Elder? You're trapped! And this is a daring rescue of you!"
"Maybe the X-Nauts injected her with some kind of medicine to keep her calm," Chopper pondered. "Or maybe… She's a robot!"
"…No, not likely," Vivian replied.
"Yeah, you're right."
"Oh, a rescuing, is it?" the Puni Elder gawked shortly. "Well, thanks, I suppose. Those are quite exciting. But...I think you ought to help the other Punies before you rescue me."
"Uh… You got any idea on where the other Punies are, Puni…elder…whatever the heck you are?" Chopper asked.
"…Big brother? Is that really you, Punio? Is that you too, Mister Pink?"
Kirby and Punio heard the voice, which made them stop as the Puni Elder began to ramble on.
"Hrmmmmmmm... Let me think... Where was I? Ah. Yes. Right. Your question. The rest of the Punies... Unfortunately are locked up…"
They ignored the elder as they saw a Puni a little smaller than Punio with two small gray spots on her and a pink bulb on her antenna.
"Petuni! Thank heavens! You're here! You're safe!" Punio cried.
"I knew you'd come for me, Punio! I just KNEW it!" Petuni smiled.
"Of course I would, dear sister! And I've brought us a mighty ally! Look at him! We're going to get you out of there right away, I swear. You just hold tight a second."
"OK!" Punio turned back over to Chopper.
"Chopper! Listen... We've got to find the cell key or we're going nowhere!"
"Of course," Chopper nodded and walked over to the pathway to the left with his friends, only to find a knocked out X-Naut and a familiar-looking mouse.
"Oh, well, isn't this a nice treat!" Ms. Mowz exclaimed as she noticed the group. "We must stop meeting at such places like this, don't you think?"
"Hey… It's you again!" Chopper gaped. "Why do we always see you all the time? Really… I don't understand why we keep seeing you."
"Poyo? (Do you know her, Chopper?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo. (It sounds like you do.)"
"Yeah, I saw her twice."
"Well, anyway, I heard there were nice badges to be found here, so I came looking..." Ms. Mowz trailed. "Only problem is, I've been running into more trouble than I expected. How's your little Crystal Star hunt?"
"Eh… It's going fine. We got two so far, and now we're looking for the third one in here. So far, we're not having any luck in finding it."
"Oh, I see. Well things like that happen all the time. You and your friends will hopefully find that star anyway. Mmm hmm hmm hmm! But enough about that. LOVELY to see you all again."
Ms. Mowz jumped up to an exit, which showed a small light. "The precious Crystal Star you're looking for is most likely near the bottom of this tree. Trust me, I actually explored that place. Good luck finding it before the others! Mmm hmm hmm! Take care, little antennae boy! Perhaps we may see each other soon! …Perhaps."
And with that, she left the tree, only to have the X-Naut knocked out wake up. He slowly got back up and looked around, only to notice Chopper.
"Urgh, my aching... Hey! You! You're the dirtbag who hit me from behind, aren't you?"
"What? We didn't do such a thing!" Scrub objected. "You were knocked out when he first saw you!"
"Oh, yeah, real fair, you scum! You fight dirty, you get dirty! And I'll be doing the dirting! Let's fight!" the X-Naut got in his kung fu stance and charged at them…only to be taken down by Chopper and Kirby.
"That was the easiest fight EVER!" Chopper declared as he walked over to a chest to the left that wasn't open and found an Ultra Shroom. The X-Naut had a Red Key that Kirby took, so they brought it back to the red cell and opened it.
"Elder! We're back! we're here to rescue you!" Punio cried as they all walked into the open cell, where the elder was silent.
"Is she OK?" Vivian asked.
"FOOLISH CHILD!" the Puni Elder exclaimed as she grew to a bigger size, knocking Chopper, Vivian, Scrub and Kirby back. "Punio! Sit down this instant and keep your mouth shut!"
"Oh great… She's a lecturer." Scrub groaned.
"Huh? What? Why? What did I do?" Punio gaped. "Uh... Listen, Elder, I don't know why you're mad, but we came here to help you..."
"Stop your mumbling, you!" the Puni Elder snapped. "And mind your elders! You whelp! How could you abandon your sister and run off like that... Absolutely shameful!"
"But... But, Elder... I just went to find help... To help rescue you..."
"Oh, stop with that whining! You never interrupt an elder mid-lecture! NEVER!"
"You're free, you know..." Chopper chirped.
"You stay out of this! I'm only speaking to Punio here! Now then... You wonder why the other Punies call you a 'doofus' sometimes? That's why. And your time to be a doofus is over, because you're going to end up leading our Puni tribe one day! That day is not far off! ...And THAT is why you need to listen! Now, first of all..."
Several hours of hag lecturing later-
Unfortunately, because of how long the lecture was, everyone but Punio and the Puni Elder fell asleep.
"...or else!" the Puni Elder finished. "You got that? From now on, you've got to get your act together, Punio!"
"...Yes, Elder. Yes, I understand." Punio slowly nodded.
"Bah! Only answer ONCE! ...But say, by the way, why are you here, anyway?"
"Uh, I was just telling you... We came here to rescue everyone. We started with you, Elder."
"Oh! Is that so? Well good!" the Puni Elder grinned. "In that case, get me out of here already! Criminy! This cell is cold, which isn't good for the old back, and there's this damp stench..."
The Puni Elder left the cell while Chopper and his friends woke up. "Uh... Well, there she goes. Enough standing around!"
Punio went over to the blue cell along with Chopper and his friends. "Just you wait, Petuni! I'll be right back for you!"
"OK, big brother! I'll be waiting." Petuni nodded.
"C'mon, Chopper! I'll meet you down at the entrance!" Punio said as he began to head on down to the entrance where the Puni Elder was, as well as Scrub. Kirby looked over at the blue cell with a frown on his face.
"Poyo… (Don't worry, Petuni… We'll get you out of here. I can promise you that.)" Kirby assured as Chopper told her what he said.
"I understand, Kirby. I hope you come back safe and sound!" Petuni hoped as Kirby walked over to Chopper.
"How do you know her?" Chopper wondered.
"Poyo, (She was the first one to find me,)" Kirby explained. "Poyo. (She's the reason why the Punies get along quite well with me too.)"
"Oh, really? That's interesting..."
Now that they were done here, they made their back at the entrance of the Great Tree. There, the five had met with the other Punies that were waiting there.
"Well, if it isn't Punio..." Puniper trailed as he walked over to Punio. "Hmph! You heard me! Hmph! I can't say I expected you to manage to save the elder."
"I told you I could do it!" Punio smirked.
"Well, looks like you gotta go roll over now," Chopper smirked. "Yup! I rescued your elder, and now you gotta do it!"
"You just saved the elder, not all the Punies!" Puniper turned back over to Punio after glaring at Chopper. "And you... Don't get a swelled head! This doesn't mean I'll fully accept you as our leader... And it definitely doesn't mean I completely trust that pale green antennae kid, either. For starters, you still haven't rescued the other Punies yet. I'm not lifting an antenna to help until you do."
"You stubborn MULE!" the Puni Elder snapped as Chopper and his friends' eyes widened. "Deplorable! How DARE you talk like that, knowing what we're up against? We must stand together now! We must take back our tree! Don't you understand that?"
"But... But, Elder..."
"Shut your trap, Puniper! And mind me, you hear? You'll help Green Antennae here... What'd you say your name was again? It was, er... It was Chort, wasn't it?
"It's 'Chopper'!" Chopper corrected.
"He's Chopper! I mean, sheesh! His name's been all over this chapter!" Punio groaned.
"Yes, yes, simmer down, you," the Puni Elder said. "And everyone else, help Chortle clear out the tree!"
"Oh geez..." Chopper face palmed. "She pronounced my name wrong..."
"Oh, all right, Elder... Whatever you say." Puniper sighed. "I'm not heartless or anything. To tell you the truth, I'm worried about Petuni, too. And you're right, we have no choice. We must fight! Right, everybody?"
All of the Punies jumped in response, making the Puni Elder grin.
"There you go, my Punies! That's the spirit."
10 Punies joined your party!
"Thanks, you guys…" Punio smiled.
"Umm… Could I ask you something?" Chopper asked as he walked over to the Puni Elder. "We're looking for a green gem called a Crystal Star… Would you happen to know where it is?"
"The Crystal Star, eh? Hrrrrrmmmmmmm... Yes, perhaps..." the Puni Elder nodded. "Hidden down, down, down, at the bottom of this tree is a funny-colored stone. But what do we do with it? Oh, right: "Guard it from evil and give it to a pure heart..." That's what generations of elders have been taught. Might be the Crystal Star... Chorty! Or...Chortle! I'm thinking you better get it before those goons do. I don't quite see how just yet, but I bet it's connected to us getting our tree back. You got all that, Chortle? Crystal Star. Bottom part of the tree. Go to it."
"Thank you!" Chopper smiled.
"Oh! Hold your horses! I forgot something! Before you can get the Crystal Star, you must save all of the captured Punies. Yup, you'll never get to that gem without the help of the Punies. Not a chance. So here, you'd better take this."
The Puni Elder took out an orb that looked like the sun. "It's the Puni Orb. It's the symbol of our leader. If you place this in the pedestals you see around the tree, the Punies will gather. Just remember to take the orb with you when you're done using it. Because, well, if you don't, everyone'll just kind of hang out and stare at the orb."
"Well, I guess it shows that they like things that are shiny," Chopper replied as he took the orb.
"All right, guys! Let's go rescue everybody!" Punio declared as all the Punies jumped up and were right behind Chopper.
"Er… I don't feel comfortable being surrounded by Punies…" Scrub trailed. "...Actually, not really. Let's just go."
"Oh, and one more thing…"
Chopper toppled over before he could get too far and turned to the Puni Elder after getting up.
"So sorry! So sorry! I've been awfully forgetful as of late. Now then, where was I? Oh, right! On your way to the Crystal Star... If you lose any of the Punies and have a hard time finding them, just come see me. What I'll do is, I'll give a whistle to call 'em back here. You got all that?"
"Yeah, I got it. I think we should head over to that pedestal we saw earlier." Chopper suggested.
"Yeah, let's do that," Scrub agreed as they led the Punies up the pipe to the pedestal, where Chopper put the Puni Orb in. This made the Punies go over to it and stare at it. This made a pipe appear near the other one.
"Poyo! (Oh! Look at that!)" Kirby cried.
"A pipe! Now we can go to the lower part of the tree!" Vivian squealed.
Chopper nodded and jumped onto the pipe and headed deeper into the Great Tree.