Once they all came out of the pipe into a small room with a pink door that's locked, two X-Nauts quickly ambushed them. At least Chopper's stomp was able to deal some damage. Kirby finished off the first X-Naut with his Cartwheel attack, making the other X-Naut use a Kung Fu attack…only to have Chopper Superguard it.
The X-Naut got finished off by Chopper's stomp and once they beat them, they proceeded through the door to a room they were in previously. It was the room with the narrow pathway above.
"All right, we can make it back to the exit fast! We just can't stop to go to the bathroom or anything." Chopper said as he noticed Scrub was over at a bush going to the bathroom. He just finished.
"What? I just finished!" Scrub said, looking back at everybody. They all simply began to head back to the entrance of the Great Tree before the bomb exploded. Luckily, they had enough time to make it back, and they happened to catch up to Lord Crump when the Puni Elder was blocking his way.
"You won't be going any farther this-a-way!" the Puni Elder said, which made Lord Crump laugh.
"What? Are you nuts? Move it, you old geezer!" Lord Crump scoffed.
"WHAT?" the loudness in the Puni Elder's voice made her bigger, and it also made Lord Crump shrink.
"Did you just call me an 'old geezer'? Where do you get off, talking like that?"
Lord Crump shrunk once again, becoming smaller than the elder.
"You got no respect, brat! Don't think my age has a thing to do with my might!"
Lord Crump shrunk even smaller.
"Even if it kills me, I won't let you through! I'm ready! ELDER POWER ACTIVATE!"
Lord Crump turned back to normal size and stepped back from her. "Whoa. What's your problem, Gramma? You got an ear hair tickling your brain, or what? Just get outta the way already!"
The Puni Elder began to feel some pain in her, moaning, "Oh! Ooh! What the...OUCH! ...Can't...take...another...step... Oooooooog..." as she cracked her back, which made her a little weak and tired.
"...Urk! What a time for my stupid back to start acting up!"
"You hotheaded old coot! You dare defy me? I could shine my boots with you!" Lord Crump raised his foot in an attempt to stomp on her until a voice stopped him.
"Ahem! I don't think so, Crump!" he turned around to see Chopper, Vivian, Scrub, and Kirby in their fighting stances, ready to take him on.
"There's no way we're going to let you get away with that Crystal Star!" Vivian cried.
"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! You guys are nuts, you know that?" Lord Crump cackled stupidly. "Oh, well. I guess I'd better shut off this timer. I don't know... Blowing you up doesn't feel so...accomplishing in my eyes."
He took out the remote and pressed the red button to make the bomb stop at 74 seconds.
"Poyo, (Well, at least the tree won't blow up,)" Kirby sighed.
"Yeah," Chopper agreed.
"Don't be relieved just yet! I got a better treat in store for you, Chopper! And don't think I forgot about you too, Vivian! I'm taking you both down…with extra fists! Metal fists, that is!"
Lord Crump pressed the red button again, and this time the ground began to shake. "Awake, Magnus von Grapple! Time for a technological thrashing! Enjoy!"
A robot with a hot pink body with a white X on its body landed on the ground, with the cockpit being made of glass. Lord Crump jumped into it and the robot stomped over to Chopper and his friends, who were ready to take it on.
"Are you crying yet? Yeah? Sorry, but this thing isn't armed with tissues." Lord Crump grinned. "Well, Magnus von Grapple has that effect on people. Total, weeping terror. And you ain't seen nothing yet! Check out the power on this bad boy! It's even been improved for destruction! Oh, now you're going to be feeling some pain!"
"Honestly… What the heck IS this robot? It doesn't look so cool, honestly." Chopper frowned.
Tattle: That's Magnus Von Grapple. It's a giant robot built by the X-Nauts. Lord Crump drives it. Max HP is 50, Attack is 4, and Defense is 1. Its most effective attack is one that takes advantage of its size: a smothering stomp. It can also shoot out its fists, which do these super-gnarly rocket punches. Its fists have Max HP of 2, an Attack of 6, and Defense of 0. Its fists are super-powerful, so it's best to knock them down fast. The thing about this robot is I can't tell if it looks cool, or really, REALLY stupid...
Chopper knew that using his hammer wouldn't be such a bad idea against the boss, so he whacked at Magnus to deal about 3 damage.
"Poyo... (50 HP and 1 Defense? Hmmm… That's not really good. I don't think Scrub can hurt it at all...)" Kirby noted as he used a Cartwheel on Magnus to deal 3 damage.
"Here it comes, suckers! Magnus von PUNISH!" Magnus walked over to Chopper, but then it decided to stomp on Kirby to deal 4 damage. He was flat like a pancake, so Chopper helped him up and unflattened the pink puffball somehow.
"OK, I'll try something else. Maybe my Spin Jump!" Chopper jumped up on Magnus and used a Spin Jump, and this time it did 4 damage. "OK, it's not great, but it's better than a normal jump."
"My Shade Fist could do something. Let me make a flaming punch on him first." Vivian sank into the shadows and rose up in front of Magnus to use her Shade Fist, leaving the robot with a nasty burn, which infuriated Lord Crump.
"Gah! I never knew a Shadow Siren could pack a punch? Oh, yeah? Well take this!" Lord Crump pressed a button, and Magnus stomped on Vivian when it walked over to her, but she was able to guard the attack to take less damage. The burn left on Magnus also harmed it.
Chopper went off with his Power Bounce and stomped on Magnus six times to leave it off with 30 HP.
"Poyo! (Great! He only has 30 HP left!)" Kirby cheered as he attacked with his Cartwheel, knocking Magnus back a bit. Lord Crump noticed the damage dealt to the machine and looked somewhat worried.
"Crud… They're good…" he mumbled as he sweat dropped. "Oh, it ain't over yet, folks! This is so awesome. Check out what else this bad boy can do. You're gonna love it! This might not work out too well for you!"
Magnus von Grapple fired its two fists that detached from its arms and let them float in front of it.
"…Those fists are floating? Those look rather dangerous." Chopper gulped. "Goombella said they can do 6 damage to us, so we gotta take them out first."
"I can do that!" Vivian raised a finger and used her Fiery Jinx to scorch the fists, destroy them, and leave another burn on Magnus after it took 4 damage. After that, Chopper used his tornado attack and hit the cockpit where Lord Crump was, making him fuming with rage
"DANG IT! WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!" Lord Crump roared. "…I mean, you're pretty tough! I'll admit that, but this is where things are getting started, Chopper! Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! Just because you beat a fat penguin doesn't mean you're gonna beat me!"
"Well you're smaller than that penguin anyway!" Chopper shot back. "You're just using a robot because you're too much of a coward to face us!"
"Grrrr... Well, let's see how you like this!" Magnus began to make an earthquake and it hit all four heroes, knocking them over. Luckily the burn Vivian left had effect on the robot, which took 1 damage from it.
"All right, let's see what my Tornado Power attack can do," Chopper began to spin around like crazy and hit Magnus in a tornado, leaving it with only 10 HP.
"Poyo! (Awesome job, Chopper! Only 10 more HP to go!)" Kirby cheered while he used his Cartwheel and got Lord Crump's robot down to 7 HP. At this point, the fight was almost over.
"Come back here, fists!" Lord Crump demanded as Magnus's fists reattached themselves. The robot then brought its foot down on Chopper to deal 4 damage, while the burn status did some damage to the robot, but then it wore off.
"Poyo! (We got this in the bag!)" Kirby used his Cartwheel and made sparks fly everywhere around Magnus von Grapple.
"What? GAH! No!" Lord Crump exclaimed while Chopper smirked and began to spin around again. He struck Lord Crump instantly and it looked like the robot was about to explode. At least they got 29 Star Points afterward.
"Bleeeeee-harrrrgh... This could be the end..." Lord Crump gulped, a bright light now enveloping in Magnus von Grapple and causing it to explode. Lord Crump came toppling over on the ground and hit a bush nearby, dropping the Crystal Star.
Buh! Bu-AAAAAARGH! No! Magnus von Grapple! How could we lose?" the X-Naut commander got up and began to pant as he looked up at Chopper and his friends. "Hurff... Hurfff... Hurffff... I'll remember this, losers!"
Lord Crump quickly fled like a little girl afterward.
"Lord Crump summons us!"
They all saw the X-Nauts running out of the tree as well, with Johnson being the first to escape the tree while the other X-Nauts followed.
"Retreat!"
"Run away!"
"Wait up!"
One X-Naut tripped, but he was able to get back up and flee. Chopper removed his ability and looked satisfied.
"There we go! Your X-Naut invasion has finally ended!" Chopper smiled.
"They're gone! This place can go back to being the peaceful place I remember!" the Puni Elder sighed as she looked over at Chopper. "All right, there, Chortle. You can have the Emerald Star...the Crystal Star that resided in this tree!"
"Sure! ...And it's Chopper."
"Yeah, sure thing, Chortle."
Chopper face palmed before he walked over to the Emerald Star. It circled around him once he touched it, and once it was floating above him, he held it up. His friends smiled as they finally acquired the third Crystal Star.
You got a Crystal Star! And you learned the special move, Clock Out!
END OF CHAPTER
And so, after pummeling Lord Crump, Chopper obtained the third Crystal Star... 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 hero hears from the vile X-Nauts. They will surely continue to stand in Chopper's way and try to put a stop to his efforts...
Pfffffffft! Yes, Lord Crump got ticked off there. I don't know about you guys, but I like him. Why? Well he's got some funny stuff to say and all that. I like Grodus better anyway. Though, the fight against him in Paper Mario 2 was probably my least favorite in the game...
Interludes start tomorrow! ...And we might just have a new one in there too. There's another character that gets his interlude too, you know.