The heroes had followed the four stars into the center of the planets with their Warp Stars. However, when they had reached the stars, they noticed that their own Warp Stars had flown over there, leaving them floating in front of the six wish stars.
"What the… Our Warp Stars!" Chopper cried.
Before they could try to grab the two Warp Stars, all six stars had formed together. A large, yellow circular clockwork comet made of pieces of debris and machinery appeared before them. Items such as a weather vane, a telescope, a wind-up key, a drafting compass, a globe, two atomic tubes, a pendulum, a twisted pocket watch, a triangular ruler, several piano keys, a compass, and a light bulb were such examples. Its mouth resembled a cat's as well.
"READY."
"Wait... Ready?" Scrub gawked. "Ready for what?"
"I don't know... Well, I suppose I should talk to it..." Chopper attempted to space swim up to Nova so it could looked down at him with its blue eyes. "So... You're Nova, right?"
"CORRECT. I AM GALACTIC NOVA. WERE YOU THE ONE THAT SUMMONED ME?" Nova asked.
"Yeah. We collected some wish stars in order to summon you."
"I SEE. SO YOU ARE THE ONE THAT SUMMONED ME. VERY WELL, AS I PROMISE TO ALL THAT SUMMON ME, I WILL GRANT YOU ONE WISH."
"One wish? Yes! This might be the perfect chance of finding that purple moon!" Bombette cheered.
Chopper raised a finger in order to make his wish, but he soon felt someone push him aside to take his place instead.
"Ow! Who the heck was that?!" Chopper cried.
"I'm sorry! I just needed to make a little wish of my own!" Marx grinned, turning to Nova. "Well... I'd like to finally restore the power that I lost!"
"Wait, Marx?!" Chopper gasped. "What're you doing here?!"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to get back what was taken from me! Now! Nova! Grant me my wish, and then you may destroy these fools!"
"OK. 3... 2... 1... GO!" Nova exclaimed, his eyes glowing yellow and granting Marx's very wish. His ghostly form has disappeared, and life had finally been restored to Marx.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha! I can't believe I did it!" Marx cackled. "Thanks to you, everything went according to plan! All of those wish stars that were on those planets. I set them there! You all fell right into my trap!"
"Wh-What?" Vivian gasped.
"And now... My transformation can finally begin!" Golden yellow wings with two claws and bright red hearts on each side developed on Marx. Fangs had also developed on Marx's mouth, and he himself had grown a bit bigger in size. Many hexagons of many colors were under his wings too. "I thank you all for your help! You've all made this a VERY special day for me! Now I can go find that Crystal Star myself, since I know where to go! Hee hee hee hee hee hee!"
With that, Marx flew off, leaving the rest to float into space.
"That jerk! He was just using us this whole time?!" Tamber shouted. "C'mon, you stinky gumball! There's no way we're going to let him get away!"
"WHY did I listen to that little jester?" Chopper face palmed. "He had us ALL fooled! And I even listened to him! Stupid stupid stupid!"
Vivian brought her ghostly tail onto Nova and extended herself over to Chopper in an attempt to comfort him. However, when Chopper unveiled his eyes, he saw Meta Knight instead of Vivian. A disappointed look had appeared on his face.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Chopper," the illusion scolded. "You've brought an evil jester back to life. You should know better than this after the help I've given you."
"It's not my fault, Meta Knight! I just... I didn't suspect him to be evil! I'm really sorry for letting you down." Chopper replied, only for the illusion to fade away.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Chopper," Vivian suggested, now getting his attention. "We were all fooled by him... Maybe we can still stop him..."
"Well… Maybe you're right, Vivian. Maybe we do have an idea... I think I might know of one." Chopper summoned a brand new Warp Star and grabbed onto it. "I hope it works, though."
Kirby summoned his Warp Star and everyone else got on that one. With that, Chopper's Warp Star flew straight toward Nova. They noticed an entrance leading inside of the comet.
"What kind of idea are you thinking of?" Flyer asked, only to quickly figure it out. "...Oh, I see! You're trying to see if there's anything that Nova has that can grant a wish, right?"
"Ummmm... I guess so?" Chopper shrugged.
When they entered, they found the inside of the comet to be more mechanical, which wasn't too surprising with the amount of machinery outside. But nevertheless, they flew through the comet without any problems and got to the purple diamond-shaped core. Right near the core was a computer, which caught the Wingel's attention.
"Are my eyes deceiving me or is that a computer?" Flyer noticed, feeling determined to use it. "Chopper! Bring me down there and maybe I can hack into its system! ...Maybe I can use it to follow Marx or look up anything related to this purple moon."
"Hey, that sounds like a good idea!" Chopper agreed, watching Flyer get off the Warp Star and fly over to the terminal. He turned the computer on and started to get to work.
"Got it! Now… Location… Let's see if purple moon works." Flyer typed up the words "purple moon", and he got one result: the purple moon known as…Nautina? "Uh… Guys? You might want to look at this." Stepping aside, everyone got a glimpse of the image, and boy were they surprised.
Mario: Interesting…
"OK, I think that's what the moon is, I mean there's a base on there for crying out loud!" Chopper exclaimed. "Think you can get Nova to take us there, Flyer?"
"I'm on it," Flyer pressed the button, causing the comet to start moving. However, this had caused the interior to shake and leave everyone off balance.
"I hope we didn't do anything bad, because if we did… I don't know WHAT to say…" Bombette gulped.
"It's nothing, really. The comet is just moving. You can even see through this computer." Shadower pointed to the computer, which showed them passing through the stars. "It's actually incredible to see how fast this thing can move."
"Yeah. I'd say this thing might rival my speed, or it might even be faster!" Sonic remarked.
So they had waited inside Nova for quite a while, but they had gotten a chance to get a glimpse of all the stars they passed by. Many of them commented on how beautiful it was.
"Poyo... (I feel like at peace with these stars around...)" Kirby sighed.
"Yeah. I always liked stars." Chopper smiled.
After five minutes had passed, Nova started to slow down, allowing the eleven to let go of whatever they held on to. Up at the distance, they caught a glimpse of a purple moon.
"Is that the moon?" Scrub asked.
"I can see a base on there, that's for sure," Sonic noticed as Nova got even closer.
"Yeah, that looks just like Nautina," Flyer confirmed. "I don't know if Marx has reached here yet, so maybe we don't have to deal with him!"
With that, the heroes began to wait for Nova to come to a halt.
Nautina-
"So… How have things been with you, dude?" an X-Naut Scout asked, turning to his comrade.
"Meh, the usual," the second replied with a shrug. "Grodus yelled at Lord Crump for not cooperating with him, and he's also told us to look out for anyone. Though, I feel that Grodus has become pretty serious with Chopper coming here. He must REALLY want to stop that kid."
"Definitely. I mean after what he's done to him in the Palace of Shadow, I can definitely agree that Grodus wants to get back at him. If that kid gets that Moon Star, he only needs five more!"
"Five more?! Are you serious? That's not good for Sir Grodus! ...Well, at least those Phis don't have any Crystal Stars. It's one for us X-Nauts and zero for the Phis! We're the winners here!"
"Yeah, we sure are!" the first X-Naut Scout looked up at the sky and gawked at something approaching. "…Say, do you see a shooting star coming over here?"
"Yes. Yes I do." the other agreed calmly. "I suggest we GET OUTTA HERE!"
The two X-Naut Scouts fled for their lives as Nova came in close. Thankfully, they managed to escape and return to the base just before they could get sent flying from Nova's impact.
Chopper and Kirby came flying out of Nova with their Warp Stars, and they landed on the moon. They didn't see anything around except for some big stones and some smaller rocks with some cracks in them. The smaller rocks looked like they could be blown up, while the big stones looked like they could be smashed.
The others had jumped out of Nova and slowly descended due to the gravity. When Tamber had landed, he sensed something underneath him.
"Hold on… I sense something underneath us. Excuse me for a minute…" Tamber began to dig underground, and when he rose from the surface, he found a red drink underneath. "This looks like a refreshing drink! Don't mind if I do!"
He was about to drink from it, but Chopper swiped the drink away and put it in his inventory along with his other items. "Don't Tamber! This thing is a Sweet Punch, and it can recover 100 FP. I think we should save this when my FP is low!"
"Say, Contadre..." Scrub started. "Combining an Ultra Shroom and Jammin' Jelly makes a Jelly Ultra. What about an Ultimate Shroom and a Sweet Punch?"
"You would get an Ultimate Punch, and MAN, those things are TASTY! I really like 'em!" Chopper answered, remembering the awesome taste of an Ultimate Punch. "But we shouldn't be talking about food at this time. We need to find the X-Naut base before Marx shows up!"
Everyone agreed and they took a look around the moon. Aside from the rocks and stones, there wasn't anything too special. There were only Nautina Clefts and blue X-like enemies resembling Yuxes called B-Yuxes. They were a pretty tough, having 34 HP, an Attack of 12 and a Defense of 1. Like all Yuxes, they could make Mini-Yuxes to protect themselves. Only these were blue Mini-B-Yuxes.
"Hey, Bombette… Let's see what's around here." Chopper suggested, picking up the pink Bob-omb. Bombette didn't seem to mind, and he threw her at one of the small rocks. There wasn't much except for a Thwomp item, which would allow someone to summon a big Thwomp to crush an enemy. "Well, this really isn't much. How about that big stone? Tamber, why don't you smash that thing, would you?"
"That, I can do," Tamber grinned as he walked over to the stone and smashed the block. However, punching and moving for him was starting to irritate him, due to the gravity. "Ack! I hate being on this moon! I can barely do anything on it!"
"Hey, you know, since we're on a moon, I bet I can do the Moon Walk! Too bad I don't got any Moon Shoes, because I could do it easily!" Chopper started to move backwards. Many looked confused, but it didn't seem to bother him.
"I wish I had a pair of hands so I can face palm…" Bombette trailed.
"Well... You can always face foot! Anyway, let's just see which way we're supposed to go." Chopper took out the Magical Map and looked at which direction they needed to go. "It says we need to move east. So… Let's head east!"
They all began to head east by simply moon jumping. After all, it was much faster than simply walking. Only Vivian and Shadower struggled to moon jump due to the lack of having feet.
"Well, now I know how it feels like to have the gravity change on the moon," Sonic remarked, a bit disappointed in not being able to run as much. "But, jumping isn't that bad, right?"
"This place is NOTHING compared to being underwater! Swimming is much more difficult for me. I mean, water feels so much slower when you're in it, and it can be very bor-" Unfortunately, Chopper had not noticed Nautina Cleft, and he had ended up landing on the spikes on its head, causing him to yelp and hold his foot in pain. "OWWIE! THAT HURTS!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Tamber laughed, now falling on his back. Many were sick of his laughter, so Berry had given him a kick to make him stop. "OW! Don't kick me!"
"Then stop laughing! Pain isn't something you should laugh at!" Berry scolded.
"Well it wasn't me, so I can laugh at it," Tamber replied as he got up. Just then, the Nautina Cleft had charged at him and sent him flying back. "HEY!"
"Now is it funny?"
"NO IT ISN'T! JUST SHUT UP!"
Most of the group tried attacking it, but with its Defense of 8, they couldn't do much. Flyer didn't even try to hit it with his Flying Attack, knowing that he'd get hurt from its spike. It wasn't until Bombette stepped in to take action.
"Ugh… I'll take care of this thing." Bombette groaned, walking over to the Nautina Cleft and, with one explosion, she flipped the Cleft over, which allowed Chopper to stomp on its bottom.
"Are we technically hitting its butt?" Scrub asked. Chopper shrugged and looked at the Cleft.
"Ummmm... Probably not." Chopper stepped out of the way and let Scrub finish off the Nautina Cleft.
Mario: This definitely reminds me of being on the moon where the old X-Naut Fortress was.
"Yeah, it does kinda remind me of the moon on the X-Naut Fortress," Chopper agreed. "Kinda strange, isn't it? I just hope we don't run into any more trouble on this moon…"
Unfortunately, he jinxed it when a B-Yux shot a pink ring of energy in their direction..
"You just HAAAAAD to jinx it, Gumball! Nice going!" Tamber groaned. Chopper glared at him and moon jumped over to the B-Yux and landed a first strike. He brought his hammer down on it afterward. Sonic tried to attack with a Spin Dash, but due to the gravity, he was struggling. Mario decided to attack instead and stomped on the B-Yux to finish it off and give them Star Points.
Afterward, they decided to break some rocks on the ground using Bombette's ability. There wasn't much except for an Ultra Shroom, along with a Sweet Punch that Tamber found underground.
"Man, this place is so BOOOOOOORING..." Scrub complained. "We haven't found a single thing!"
Indeed they hadn't. They had been moon jumping for twenty minutes, and still they had not come across much. Sure, they ran into the usual Nautina Cleft and B-Yux, but they had gotten so used to their attacks that they were hardly a threat. It was even worse when Tamber was constantly complaining.
"You just HAD to have us land further from the fortress, Gumball. You just HAD to!" Tamber huffed. "I suppose that we've all learned a lesson from this?"
"Poyo? (What lesson?)" Kirby wondered.
"That gumballs are bad with coordina-" Tamber stopped for a moment and remained in place. Everyone noticed him not moving and turned to him with confused looks.
"What's the matter, Tamber?" Shadower asked.
"I sense something underground..." Tamber pondered. "But it doesn't feel like some sort of item. It feels like something...big."
"Can you check it out?" Chopper asked.
"Yeah yeah..." the furry tulip had dug underground, and when he emerged, he held up a blue diamond. "Hey! Look what I found! I bet it'll make me some money!""Money? Doesn't it have any other purpose?"
"That diamond is an important piece in entering the fortress!" came a voice above them. Everyone looked up and gasped at the figure slowly descending in front of them.
"It's Marx!" Vivian exclaimed.
"Yes… Marx!" Marx grinned, though his expression had quickly turned to one of disdain. "I don't know how you managed to get here before me, but I guess it gives me the opportunity to destroy you! Heh heh heh! Then the universe will be mine!"
"Universe? But... Couldn't you have just wished to rule it instead?" Chopper gawked.
"Restoring my life was the first step. Now all that's needed is the Crystal Star in that fortress! With that, I shall become unstoppable!"
"Yeah... Tell that to the others who wanted a Crystal Star."
"Let's just fight this thing already," Tamber demanded.
"Heh heh! Very well! Let us have some fun!" Marx cackled, swooping down for an attack.
"Everyone duck!" Shadower shouted.
When everyone avoided the jester, he quickly came to a halt and turned back to face the hero.
"This should definitely be a treat..." Marx remarked, getting ready for battle just like the others.
Tattle: That's Marx. He's some kind of crazy jester…bat…whatever the heck he is. He really DOES scare me a little bit. Just look at him! He's more threatening than a Goomba! Max HP is 220, Attack is 13, and Defense is 1. He'll attack with many moves such as swooping down at you and also spitting out an ice bomb. He can also summon a portal that will suck you in if you're not careful. The attack that's his most dangerous is when he shoots out a huge laser. He'll prepare himself for it, but when he does, use Vivian to hide in the shadows. To me, this is someone you REALLY want to be careful of. He may look a bit cute, but he looks a bit creepy too! I mean, look at those wings and those fangs… Ugh…
"Go on, Chopper! Try to fight me! None of your silly ground attacks can reach me!" Marx cackled. Chopper realized that was true upon noticing him hovering off the ground. However, that didn't stop him from firing an electric ball at him.
Marx felt himself chattering his teeth from the electricity, but things got a little worse for him when Kirby floated up and turned into a stone, crushing him and leaving him on the ground.
"Eat this!" Marx fired three silver cutters out from his wings, and Chopper was struck by all four, making him lose 13 HP in the process. Thankfully, he was able to to hold his own and bring his hammer down on the jester bat...whatever he is.
"Finally! He's on the ground!" Berry took her hammer out and smashed Marx's head. In anger, Marx flew up and dropped a couple of seeds on the ground. They suddenly grew into thorny vines, and Chopper and Berry were both struck by the attack.
"Whoa! That was shocking!" Chopper gaped. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy with Marx's attack, so he hit him with an ice ball. Mario had landed a Super Jump afterward, bringing him down to 174 HP.
"Heh heh heh heh! Take this!" Marx swooped down and knocked Chopper back towards Mario, which made both of them fall over and take 13 damage. "I'm already beating to down to a pulp! You simply cannot beat me! I'm INVIIIIINCIBLE!"
"Well, I heard a supposedly 'Koopa King' say that to me two years ago, and was he invincible? NO! I can beat you down! Just watch!" Chopper took out his Thwomp item, and a giant Thwomp fell on Marx.
"Ouch…" Marx had already suffered 12 damage from the attack. Now that he was on the ground still, Tamber walked over to him and delivered a Combo Punch and took away 10 from him. Marx managed to get the Thwomp off of his and fired spears of energy at everyone in a rapid pace. It was fortunate that everyone Superguarded this attack, due to its high attack power.
"Whoa… I can't believe we Superguarded that. That was a close one…" Shadower huffed. He went next and threw in a Shadow Punch on Marx, which slightly knocked him back a little.
"Thanks, Shadower!" Chopper leaped up and attacked Marx With his Power Bounce. Luckily, he stomped on Marx about thirteen times, which was able to bring him down to 126 HP.
"Urgh…" Marx grit his teeth and quickly disappeared. Everyone gawked and looked all over the place for him. Vivian was unfortunate to not notice a shadow underneath her. Marx had rose up from it and knocked her down.
"That Marx is starting to get on my nerves," Vivian remarked, sinking into the shadows and rising up in front of Marx. With a fiery fist, she landed a Shade Fist on Marx and left him with a burn.
"Arrrgh! You pest! You'll be going down after I'm done with Chopper! No… Maybe after I'm done with Kirby…" Marx began to think for a moment, but he was interrupted when Chopper delivered a Jump attack.
Marx swooped down to attack, but everyone was able to Superguard it and deal 1 damage to the jester. Along with that, he took damage from the burn received from Vivian. Chopper prepared another electric ball and fired it at Marx, and then Flyer successfully took 9 HP out of him with his Flying Attack. Now he was down to 94 HP.
"Got him!" Flyer shouted after flying back. Unfortunately, he got struck by one of Marx's silver cutters. Speaking of cutters, Chopper had decided to put on his Cutter ability.
"So, if you think you can use cutter attacks, then I might as well do the same thing!" Chopper threw his cutter blade at Marx and took 7 HP out of him. Since he was now on the ground, Sonic followed up with his Spin Dash and brought Marx down to 79 HP.
"Poyo... (He's almost down...)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo... (But he's a little far from defeat too...)"
"Argh! You may have brought me down this far, but that's not going to stop me from finishing you! HYYAAAGH!" Marx coughed up a bomb and dropped it on Chopper. He was able to bring his arms up and guard the cold attack before he could freeze.
"Whew! Maybe I should use bombs too!" Chopper switched to his Bomb ability and threw a bomb at Marx to deal 7 damage. Bombette helped him with a Bomb attack.
"You're pushing me pretty far, you know! Perhaps it's time you witnessed one of my deadliest attacks! Hee hee hee hee!" Marx's cheeks began to puff up as began to charge his laser.
"If he hits us with that laser, he might beat us pretty quickly," Flyer noted.
"Ummmm... Uh... Food time!" Chopper exclaimed nervously, taking out a Jelly Ultra and stuffing it into his mouth to recover 50 HP and FP.
"You really need to settle down on those Jelly Ultras, Chopper..." Vivian suggested.
"I would, but I can't when Marx is going to destroy us with a huge attack!" Chopper replied. "We might be in some serio- Wait, you can hide us, Vivian!"
"I was planning on doing that, actually," Vivian smiled, grabbing Chopper and pulling him down into the shadows. She had also helped the others hide in the shadows as well.
Marx opened his mouth and fired a large laser. However, due to everyone hiding, he had missed, giving everyone a chance to emerge from the floor. Marx, looking angry, swooped down at them and dealt 13 damage to them all. However, that didn't stop Chopper from throwing a bomb at him.
"Little bomb attacks aren't going to help you! You should've realized that…" Marx grinned evilly.
Mario: Well how about this?
Mario performed a Super Jump attack on Marx, bringing him down to 47 HP. Marx coughed, but he didn't make too much of a fuss and disappeared, making a portal appear. Chopper tried his best not to get sucked in, with the help of the others, particularly Vivian. When the black hole was gone, Marx had returned and received a Hammer Throw to the face from Chopper, and a Shade Fist from Vivian.
"You know, he really isn't that freaky when we're beating him," Berry remarked.
"Oh, really?" Marx flew above her and spat a bomb on her, leaving her frozen.
"Oh, come on! That's not fair!" Chopper complained.
"She was asking for it! So, I decided to give her a cold fate! Heh heh heh heAAACKPTH!" Marx coughed from the burn attack, allowing Chopper to land a jump on him and Kirby to attack with a Cartwheel.
"See how you handle this!" Marx exclaimed, firing a bunch of spears at everyone and doing 15 damage to them. Thankfully, Vivian was able to help thaw Berry out, while Chopper prepared to charge up an electric ball. With Marx only at 18 HP, Tamber decided to store power in his fist for an attack.
"All right, Gumball! I'll hit him, and you finish the job!" Tamber declared as he charged at Marx and delivered a Power Punch, leaving him dangerously low on HP.
"Argh... Look, Chopper… I'm a bit weak, and I don't think I can do much else..." Marx panted. "Can't we talk about this?"
"Well, it would've been BETTER if we settled this peacefully, but, being a greedy jester who just wanted power, you kinda missed your chance," Chopper remarked. "I, Chopper of Clara, will finally-"
"Oh, just get on with it already, Gumball!" Tamber face palmed.
"Fine..." Chopper tossed the electric ball at Marx, which was enough to send him flying back. He had been sent directly at Nova, and upon making impact, both Marx and Nova had exploded. From the result, Chopper had managed to get 50 Star Points from the battle.
"Whew! I can't believe we got through that one… I feel relieved!" Chopper sighed, removing his Bomb ability. "I mean... We defeated Marx!"
"He was admittedly a challenge..." Shadower commented.
"I concur," Flyer nodded. "I mean, with those deadly attacks, we could've been history."
"Well, I was pretty tough," Tamber reminded. The sound of chirping crickets were heard when the others didn't respond, making him scowl. "Oh, whatever. Let's just find that stupid base."
Thankfully, their travel through the rest of Nautina was not as long as the previous, since they started to hear the sound of technology five minutes later.
"The Magical Map is detecting the Crystal Star a bit closer now," Chopper noted, getting a look at the map. "That means we're already...here."
When he lowered the map, he gaped at the size of the huge forest that was before them. Unlike the previous fortress, this one looked possibly more futuristic. There was such transportation such as clear pipes that a few X-Nauts were traveling through and even some beautiful glass windows. Despite the huge size, they could also see the top of the fortress, which was made of indestructible glass. Something appeared to sparkle up there.
"The top of the fortress... That must be where the Crystal Star is!" Vivian deduced.
Most of the group was too distracted by the fortress. Flyer, in particular, was gawking at the transportation pipes. He saw some X-Nauts in purple armor called X-Naut Hunters traveling through them as well.
"This place… It's AMAZING! I've never seen anything like this before! I don't think I've seen any phenomenon like this before! It's so cool!"
"Yeah, you're right, man! This place really IS cool!" Tamber agreed. "So, puf- I mean Chopper… This is the place where those wussy X-Nauts are, right?"
"Yeah, this is the place," Chopper confirmed. "I'm sure they're all prepared to take us down, though. I'd be careful if I were you…"
Though there was a large, blue barrier covering the base, the entrance itself was not blocked. It had an opening on it shaped like a diamond. Remembering the diamond he had gotten, Tamber placed it on the door, allowing them to enter the fortress. There, they found a pipe leading into a little kart going straight to the interior.
Everyone got on the hovering kart, and once Chopper pressed the green button, they were heading right into the New X-Naut Fortress.
I'd put a little more in the Nautina area, but... It's a moon. There's not much you can put in a barren landscape. Well, at least we had a fight against Marx. But for now, we're going into the New X-Naut Fortress! Totally original, right, guys? :P