Grodus looked pleased as many X-Naut ships landed on the purple moon and joined some other X-Nauts working on the New X-Naut Fortress. Of course, he requested them to make the fortress bigger and stronger without the use of a machine like TEC-XX. Lord Crump, meanwhile, was elsewhere on the moon.
"Ah, excellent, X-Nauts. You are doing a fine job." Grodus complimented, seeing the work they were pulling off on the fortress. It appeared grayish, just like their other fortress, but it contained technology much more advanced than their previous one. "Chopper will not have any clue of our new fortress, and there's no way he will ever breach this place even if he does find this place out! The New X-Naut Fortress will be flawless!"
Just as he was about to cackle, he felt someone bump into him from behind. Turning around, he noticed a normal X-Naut give him an apologetic look. "Whoops! Sorry dude…er, sir! You uh, remember me, right? Johnson?"
"Oh, you… I remember you now. You're that X-Naut that managed to escape from the fortress before Chopper showed up, aren't you?"
"Why, that's me!" Johnson nodded. "Believe it not, I was able to find some good information while I was, well… Making my escape. It's kind of interesting…"
"What is it? Speak about it now!"
"Oh, let me think about it… Oh! I remember it now! I was doing a little research before Chopper invaded our fortress, and I found a location to another Crystal Star! No joke! I REALLY did!"
"Is that so? This is some interesting news..." Grodus pondered. "Speak now about this location! This is very important information, you know."
"Yes, sir," Johnson nodded. "You remember that one place called Fahr Outpost?"
"Yes, I think so... It's pretty far from the other areas around Rogueport, if I could recall. It's about northwest from Rogueport."
"Yeah, well... Beyond Fahr Outpost is this place called Snowy Mountain. I heard many interesting tales about that place, especially brave Bob-ombs who go out to fight off the cold."
"I see..." Grodus began to ponder for a moment. "Well, if we're to find out more about this star, then spying on Chopper is our only idea. Of course, we cannot let any of the troops be spotted by him, or else he and his friends will be on the alert of us. My suggestion is that the troops wear snowmen disguises to fit in with the snowy atmosphere. Most snowmen are not so suspicious to people, especially to a measly child."
"Hey, I like that idea!" Johnson agreed. "...Oh, yeah! The Crystal Star is apparently called the Winter Star. There's also some kind of temple where the Gods test your skills to prove if you're The Chosen One or something like that. I did a little research on this, and one thing said, 'Ye who art The Chosen One may enter thy temple to prove if thou art indeed The Chosen One. If thou dost succeed, thou wilt taketh the power to find the Winter Star.' Yeah, it says that. There's also the Winter God that holds the Crystal Star too."
"Winter God? This sounds interesting..."
"Yeah, I know! Funny thing, though... Something certainly is wrong with him. He's all...evil and stuff."
"Great... That's just what I needed." Grodus groaned. "I probably might need Lord Crump for something like this. His foolishness might get us somewhere. ...Come to think of it, where is he anyway?"
"Uh… I think I might know where he is at the moment." Johnson answered, leading Grodus behind the fortress. There, they heard the sound of laughter.
"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh huh! Now THIS is a masterpiece!" Lord Crump declared. "Yup! Magnus von Grapple 3.0 is ready for action!"
He raised his fists in the air and looked at his masterpiece. It was only a small cardboard box with hoses for arms and legs, and paint smeared on the box with a three on it.
"Oh... This looks like a piece of junk! I don't even have the right material to create another awesome robot! This stink!" Lord Crump angrily kicked the box, causing it to flatten on the floor.
"Lord Crump! What on earth are you doing?!"
Lord Crump jumped in surprised and turned to see Grodus glaring at him.
"Oh, uh, hey Grodus," Lord Crump said with a small wave. "I was just making Magnus von Grapple 3.0, that's all."
"Is that all you care about?" Grodus growled. "We have more important business to attend to than another one of your failed creations. I need you to go out with a couple of X-Nauts disguised as snowmen to go spy on Chopper. I believe you'd be quite useful for this plan."
"Oh, really? Nice! Don't worry, Grodus! I sure won't fail you!" Lord Crump assured, walking away to get ready. Grodus, meanwhile, slowly shook his head and followed.
"I sure hope he doesn't screw up with this plan," Grodus thought.
Palace of Shadow, throne room-
"Urgh… That was awful…" Bowser groaned, slowly standing up. He noticed he was still in the throne room where he battled Chopper and his friends. The only difference, however, was that the throne was knocked over. He looked beside him and noticed the unconscious Kammy Koopa. "Hey, Haggy! Get up already!"
"Blehh…" Kammy groaned as she got up as well and back onto her broomstick. She, too, scanned the whole room. "Your Chunkiness… Where is Princess Peach and Chopper?"
"Gwar! Don't tell me they're out of the castle! And if Peach was saved… NO!" Bowser angrily began to stomp his foot on the ground, causing the whole room to shake.
"Lord Bowser! Stop, please!" the Magikoopa begged, shaking from Bowser's stomping. "You must settle down and control your anger! This place could come down on us any minute!"
Bowser finally stopped stomping and grumbled at Kammy. "Gwargh... Fine. It'll only be more trouble for us anyway."
"To answer your question earlier, my guess is that Princess Peach has already been saved, while Chopper and his friends have left his place already."
"Urgh... Great. Now the princess is already saved! She has no right to be saved when I'm supposed to be the one kidnapping her!"
"So does this mean you plan on kidnapping her right now?"
"You bet I am! C'mon, Haggy! Let's get to her before someone else chooses to kidnap her again!" Bowser was about to leave, but Kammy quickly flew in front of him. "Hey! Move it, Kammy!"
"But Your Rudeness, what about the Crystal Stars? There are still plenty of them out there!"
"...Oh, you're right! I completely forgot about that! But I say we go kidnap the princess first before taking the stars for myself!"
"But with all the Crystal Stars in your hand, you can have anything you desire, Lord Bowser! Why, you could probably prevent Princess Peach from ever being rescued from your clutches with that power. Maybe we'd be able to defeat Mario as well!"
"Hmmmmmm... Yeah, I think you may be onto something, Haggy!" Bowser agreed. "With all the Crystal Stars, I could defeat anyone and get whatever I want! I think we'll hold off on Princess Peach for now. Our priority for now are those Crystal Stars. ...Speaking of Mario, I wonder what he's up to. I haven't run into him for a while."
"Mario? Hmmmm... Let me see..." Kammy twirled her wand and saw an image of Mario beside Chopper with the Sun Star. This, unfortunately, angered Bowser even more.
"GWWWAAAAAARGH! Mario's with that gumball?!" Bowser roared. "And they even got a Crystal Star?! That's it! We're going out to find a Crystal Star IMMEDIATELY! And if we run into that plumber and antennae freak, I'm gonna pummel 'em!"
With one last stomp, Bowser began to make his way out of the palace.
"But... Your Grouchiness..." Kammy trailed, turning to the hole in the ceiling. "Wouldn't it be easier to go through that hole?"
Unfortunately, her call was ignored when the door closed behind Bowser. Sighing, she followed Bowser out of the Palace of Shadow through the long way.
Castle Dedede-
King Dedede entered his room with a bowl of Max Tomatoes, chips and a couple of other unhealthy foods and sat down on his throne. Escargon followed him with a heavier bowl of food and appeared much more exhausted than the king. When he finally set the bowl down by King Dedede, the throne moved backward and activated a screen that appeared from the ceiling.
"Oh... This is such shell-breaking work." Escargon mumbled, picking up the bowl and carrying it to King Dedede. He grabbed the bowl rudely and began to shove some food into his mouth. "I sure wish he'd give me much more respect..."
When the screen turned on, King Dedede was met with a Tartara Soldier. "So now… How did that demon or whatever she is do against clobberin' Chopper?"
"Well, unfortunately… She was destroyed by Chopper." the Tartara answered honestly. "We were surprised about this outcome too, but it appears he was about to triumph over the cataclysm. We've also overheard him collecting the ninth Crystal Star, the Sun Star."
"WHAT?! Escargon! We need to think fast now! We gotta destroy Chopper with whatever's strong enough!" King Dedede exclaimed, pounding his fist onto Escargon's head, mistaking it for the arm of his throne.
Escargon was annoyed at first, but he rubbed his head and remained calm. "Now now, Your Majesty… Let's just take this a little slow. We can simply get a new Demon Beast. One that WON'T fail!"
"Right…" the king nodded and turned to the Tartara. "Now, Tartara! Got any other Demon Beasts that will fight against Chopper and clobber him?"
"Well, let's see… We got a few of them, actually! We have this one obese boy that's incredibly old and uses a Spider Mech to move around. Though, expect to hear him cough and wheeze often. He is, after all, very old. He'll take care of Chopper for you if you want."
A picture of the obese and old Porky was shown on the screen. King Dedede didn't appear to be pleased. "Nah... That's not going to work. He's too fat! ...And old!"
"You should go look at yourself in the mirror for once," Escargon muttered.
"What was that, Escargon?" the king asked, giving him a suspicious look.
The snail gave him a sheepish look. "Oh, nothing, Your Majesty! I just thought you'd really like to look at yourself in a mirror!"
"What about… A Snowman?" the Tartara suggested, showing an image of a demonic snowman with fangs.
"A snowman? Seriously? Is that the best you can come up with?!" King Dedede growled. "I thought you guys had better monsters than that?!"
"Hmmmmmm... Well, we certainly do have some disturbing monsters. We can always bring in an alien to do the job. Though, he'd only be useful when the Devil's Machine is off..."
The next image King Dedede was given made his jaw drop, along with Escargon's. On the screen was something they were unsure what it was. To them, it looked like a red, distorted, screaming face.
"Urgh… I...f...e...e...l...g...o...o...d..." the alien moaned.
"WHOA! Too freaky!" Escargon cried, covering his eyes until the image of the monster was gone. King Dedede, however, was not pleased.
"OK, I see a couple of problems with that monster," King Dedede started, holding his fingers up for each number. "One, that thing looks too freaky. Two, Chopper and Kirby would easily recognize it as some evil monster. Three, it has an annoying speech, and four, it's freaky! I need something that doesn't look too evil and capable of fooling those heroes based on its appearance. I think that would be successful!"
"Excellent idea, Your Majesty!" Escargon agreed. "I knew you would think of that! You ARE the greatest!"
"Hmmmmmm... I do believe I understand what you mean, Your Majesty." the Tartara stated. "Perhaps THIS will be appropriate to exterminate Chopper."
The two were given an image that not only surprised them, but pleased them as well. A large, scheming grin was plastered on King Dedede's face.
"Now THAT'S perfect! Heh heh heh…"
Little did they notice Fumu peek through the door in surprise at what she saw.
"This isn't good..." she trailed. "I think I have to warn the Mayor and Chopper about this right now!"
She silently closed the door and began to head out of the castle.
Sunset Beach-
Everyone exited the Sun Temple, satisfied with their accomplishment. Chopper carried the Sun Star, which slightly floated in his hands. Everyone gazed at it in awe as the sun shined down on it.
"Man, I'm glad we managed to get through that." Chopper smiled. "I'll admit, this area was pretty cool, wouldn't you guys agree?"
Mario: Oh, yes!
"The Crystal Star definitely looks pretty when the sun is shining down on it," Vivian commented.
"Maybe we can come back here when we have free time!" Scrub suggested. "If it's always like this, then I'm more than happy to be here!"
"Sailin' here by ship doesn't sound like a bad idea!" Bombette exclaimed. "But, enough of that! Mateys, we have some treasure huntin' to do, right?"
"Right you are, Bombette," Chopper agreed, whistling for his Warp Star. "It's time we made our exit off this place and return to Pop Star!"
"Poyo! (Yay! We're going back!)" Kirby cheered, whistling as well to summon his Warp Star. The two Warp Stars eventually came and scooped up the two. The rest of the group, with the exception of Mario, hitched a ride with either one of them.
Mario: Wait... What do I do?
"Poyo! (You join either one of us on the Warp Star!)" Kirby answered.
Mario: ?
"Oh, right... Mario can't understand Kirby." Shadower realized.
"Just get on one of the Warp Stars," Berry suggested. "It's the only way to get to Pop Star."
Mario pondered for a moment, wondering who he should join on the Warp Star. Kirby, getting impatient, pulled him onto his Warp Star.
"Yeah, good idea, Kirby!" Scrub grinned. "Let him join with all the men! He doesn't need to be around any girls!"
"Scrub, you realize that you and Kirby aren't necessarily 'men', right?" Shadower noted. "And the other Warp Star doesn't just have girls. Chopper's on there."
"...Oh. Right. I almost forgot about Contadre!"
"Poyo! (Hold on tight!)" Kirby called out as he and Chopper's Warp Star took off into space. Mario's eyes widened in shock at the speed of the Warp Star. He was also worried about falling off as well.
Mario: Mama mia!
"You'll get used to it," Chopper assured, his Warp Star flying besides Kirby's. "I mean, the first time I used this, it was kinda difficult, but I easily got used to it!"
"I'm only worried about fallin'," Bombette stated. "I lack arms, unlike ye all. I'm lucky Vivian's helpin' a pirate like meself."
Chopper would've pointed out that she wasn't really a pirate, but he saw Pop Star dead ahead.
Mario: Is that Pop Star?
"Poyo! (Only the finest!)" Kirby cheered as they got closer to its atmosphere.
Pop Star, Hatty Town-
When they landed by the Mayor's house, they happened to notice Fumu talking with the Mayor. Mario, however, was relieved to be on the ground, but he couldn't help but gawk at the Cappies and even both the Mayor and Fumu.
Mario: This place sure looks strange...
"Poyo, (That's because Pop Star is a lot different,)" Kirby replied.
"So you're telling me that King Dedede was talking to another corporation the other day?" the Mayor asked.
"I saw it with my own eyes!" Fumu answered. "I didn't manage to get a glance at the screen, but I do know that the voice doesn't sound pretty. Dedede's definitely planning something for sure!"
"What's going on here?" Chopper asked, approaching the two.
"Ah, Chopper! You've returned!" the Mayor said with a pleasing tone.
"We were just discussing about King Dedede and a new company he found," Fumu explained. "We don't know what it is, but the voice I heard from the screen didn't sound anything nice."
"What did it sound like?" Berry asked.
"Monstrous. Something not even Nightmare Enterprises sounded like."
"Hmmmmm? What's Nightmare Enterprises?"
"It was a corporation that sold Demon Beasts of King Dedede to stop Kirby. They were run by Nightmare, who was defeated by Kirby. Ever since then, we haven't heard anything from them, which is probably for the better."
"Well that's pretty cool! I'm sure I could've been there to whoop them with a good ol' hammer smack!"
"I don't mean to interrupt, but we also got this," Chopper announced, taking out the Sun Star.
"Ohhhhh… So beautiful…" the Mayor gazed at it for a moment before quickly shaking his look off. "Sorry about that… Chopper, I would advise you to go find the next Crystal Star at this moment."
"I'll try to see if I can get more information from this new company," Fumu declared. "The sound of a new corporation assisting Dedede in destroying you guys is not a good thing."
"All right, that sounds good," Chopper agreed, hopping on his Warp Star. "We'll just go to the Fountain of Dreams in a quicker fashion."
"You're not going to run there?" Scrub gawked.
"Why should I when I would have to basically wait for you guys? Let's just get going, OK?"
They all said their goodbyes to the Mayor and Fumu and got on the two Warp Stars to head to the Fountain of Dreams. While traveling, Mario began to look around at the beautiful grasslands in awe, and he was even more surprised when the sky changed space-like upon getting closer to the Fountain of Dreams.
Mario: This is amazing!
"Yeah, I agree," Shadower concurred. "It's amazing how one specific area can look like this."
When they had reached the fountain, the heroes got off the Warp Stars and stepped onto the shallow water in the fountain. Mario gazed at his own reflection and couldn't help but gape.
Mario: Wow...
"Poyo! (I'm glad someone likes my world!)" Kirby smiled.
"OK, Chopper, you do know what to do, right?" Vivian asked.
"Yup!" Chopper nodded, jumping onto the pedestal and holding up the Sun Star. Mario watched as the star disappeared and appeared with the other stars on the bright fountain. Bright magic began to surge into the Magical Map afterward, causing it to glow white while floating above Chopper.
Mario: This is just like the pedestal right by the Thousand-Year Door...
"Yeah, it's surprising how this fountain is almost like that..." Vivian agreed. "I was even surprised at first."
"Whoa… Guys, look at this!" Chopper showed everyone snowy mountains further away from Fahr Outpost on the map, along with a temple. A snow white Crystal Star was located there.
"Whoa... Check that out!" Scrub gasped. "We gotta see Professor Frankly about this! He'll probably see what we can do!"
Mario: Professor Frankly? Oh, I met you guys in front of his house!
"Uh huh! Let's go there right away!" Chopper suggested, summoning his Warp Star.
Frankly's house-
"Hrmmmm… Ah-HA! Now I see it! The next Crystal Star is in Snowy Mountains!" Frankly deduced. "It is a sacred place up on the cold mountains. The Winter Star must be located there!"
"Snowy Mountains?" Before anyone could question who that voice was, they heard the door open. Goombella came walking in.
"Ah, Goombella! It's great to see you again! I was just talking to these people about the next Crystal Star's location!"
"I was just doing some research on that place!" Goombella gaped. "You guys are, like, going there?"
Mario: Oh, yes!
"Wait... Mario, is that you? Wow! I'm surprised to see you here again! How's it been for you?"
Mario: Pretty fine, actually!
"Can we just get back on topic first?" Chopper suggested. "I mean, we DO need to know how to get there."
"It sounds pretty tough to get there," Berry commented.
"Oh, right," Goombella walked over to Frankly to face the heroes. "Believe it or not, it's a lot easier to get there than you think. You guys went to Fahr Outpost, right?"
Everyone gave her a nod.
"There's actually a secret pipe that the Bob-ombs are hiding there! They consider that area to be 'forbidden' by Bob-ombs. I'm sure if you convince the mayor to let you through, you'll get there. Then again, that mayor is a bit of a geezer, and we all know how difficult it is to convince them about some stuff."
"Well, we're heroes! After what we've done, I don't think it'll be hard!" Chopper assured. "Thanks for the help, Goombella!"
"Well I'm glad to help once and a while," Goombella replied.
"Yes. You folks will need to head to Fahr Outpost and speak to the mayor." Frankly restated. "Hopefully he'll listen to you guys..."
"Let's hope so... And hopefully I don't become frozen out there!" Chopper shuddered. "Anyway... We'll see you!"
Saying their goodbyes, the eight had left Frankly's house and made their way to the west of Rogueport. Or they would've had a familiar voice not interrupted them.
"Bro? Is that really you?"
The sound of that voice made Mario jump in surprise when he saw Luigi and his partners standing by the house. The two approached each other and gave each other a brotherly hug.
"Oh, Bro! You don't know how much I missed you!" Luigi cried.
"Wow, he's hugging his brother out in public," Blooey muttered.
When the two brothers had finally finished their hug, Mario began to explain what happened to him. Each time he finished an explanation, Luigi was nodding to him.
"Wow, bro! You certainly went through a lot! Much more than I did at the Waffle Kingdom! Wanna hear about it? It's kind of a long story…"
Mario looked back at his friends, who gave him a shrug before turning back to Luigi. Letting out a sigh mentally, he nodded to his younger brother.
"OK, then this is what happened. Like I said, it's long. Now…" Luigi took a deep breath and began to explain his story in the Waffle Kingdom. Most, if not all of them ended up falling asleep except for Luigi's partners. Some of them had been shaking their heads behind him when he explained a certain part of the story, and some even face palmed.
"…And that's how I did it!" Luigi finished off. "Let me tell you! It was one heck of an adventure!"
Chopper had immediately woken up and looked around for a moment before bringing his attention back to Luigi.
"Err... That was a great story and all... But we can't stay here any longer." Chopper stated. "We need to go out to Fahr Outpost!"
Mario: Yeah!
"Oh... Well, be careful out there, especially you, Bro!"
Mario: Don't worry, I'll be fine!
After the group waved goodbye to Luigi and his partners, they made their way to Fahr Outpost.
Fahr Outpost-
Nothing much had changed since they last came to Fahr Outpost. The only thing that bothered the heroes, however, was the temperature.
"Ugh... I hate this cold weather!" Scrub complained. "Now I'm missing Sunset Hill already!"
"Well, we gotta do what we gotta do. Hopefully this won't be too long." Chopper hoped, walking up to the mayor. "Hey there!"
"Da... It's you again. Do you have any business with us?" the Mayor asked.
"Yeah... We were wondering if we could go to Snowy Mountain."
"Snowy Mountain? ...No such thing is there."
"Well, my map says so," Chopper stated, showing the map to him. "See? You have to let us there! You can help us get there, right?"
"Cannon has overheated ever since you blast off toward moon," the Mayor explained. "There's no way to make it function again. You wait about three months until it work…"
"Arr! Listen here!" Bombette shouted, walking up to the Mayor. "We know about this place an' about the pipe located here! Ye can't keep it a secret from us!"
"Shush! Don't you know of the rule of not to mention secrets to non-Bob-ombs?! We have reasons for keeping secrets!"
"But we did save ye from the darkness from that evil witch! An' there is somethin' we need to collect in Snowy Mountain. Do ye want the world to end?"
"...No, the world ending is not something we want," the Mayor sighed. "Well, since you save us all from darkness, we might as well repay you for your heroic act. Da, I shall."
The Mayor went over to the cannon statue in the center of the area and pressed a hidden white button. This caused the statue to fall back like an open box and reveal a white pipe.
"You go in there, and you not mention this to anybody outside Fahr Outpost."
"You've got it!" Chopper nodded, thanking him before leaping into the pipe, with his partners soon following. The Mayor watched as all of them were no longer in his sight.
"Heroes, you be careful," the Mayor stated.
I know some people may not like the idea of having a snow world for Chapter 10 since there is Fahr Outpost, but most of the time you're not in Fahr Outpost in Chapter 7. In fact, you're going around looking for General White and are up on the moon in the X-Naut Fortress. So, I thought, why not put an entirely winter-themed chapter in this story? And that's what I did!
It's actually funny how we go to a summer-themed chapter and suddenly to a winter one. :P