Okay, readers! This is the nineteenth chapter of this story!
Anyway, this is the climax of Chapter 2, and it is the last part of Chapter 2 before we move on to the interludes with Peach and Bowser again.
Now, for this chapter, Andrew and his three partners take on Lord Crump in his fighting mecha robot called Magnus Von Grapple, Andrew makes use of his shuriken to put dents into the machine to slow it down, and he makes full use of Flurrie's ability to soar through the air, and some other stuff will occur. How will this go for Andrew and his three partners? Read and find out now!
NEAR THE ENTRANCE OF THE GREAT TREE:
It didn't take long for Andrew to get through the unlocked electronic door, being followed by Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, the 101 Punies, and Jabble, as they were close to the entrance of the tree. Andrew had hoped that they could catch Lord Crump before he could escape from the tree.
To his complete relief, he saw Lord Crump near the way out, with the Puni Elder standing in the way, forbidding him from leaving the tree with the Crystal Star in his possession. Andrew was grateful about this, as were his three partners, as he overheard everything that was exchanged between the two.
"You won't be going any further 'this-a-way'!" The Puni Elder told him sharply, refusing to budge even an inch.
"What?! Are you nuts?" Lord Crump snorted, obviously not in the mood to deal with whom he saw as a crusty old hag of a Puni. "Move it, you old geezer!"
This didn't sit well with the Puni Elder at all, as she needed to put Lord Crump in his place.
"WHAT?!" The Puni Elder bellowed, growing to the size of a bulldog for a second before shrinking back down again. She then proceeded to chew out Crump for his horrible behavior. "Did you just call me an old geezer? Where do you get off, talking like that? You got no respect, brat! Don't think my age has a thing to do with my might! Even if it kills me, I won't let you through! ELDER POWER ACTIVATE!"
As Andrew was watching this take place, he couldn't help but notice Crump shrinking down to the size of a Puni. Just the sight of seeing this got him to chuckle at his predicament. Too bad it wasn't meant to last as Crump was back to normal size when he then spat.
"Whoa. What's your problem, Gramma?" Lord Crump snorted. "You got an ear hair tickling your brain, or what?"
"Oh! Ooh! What the...OUCH!" The Puni Elder tried to fight off Lord Crump, but sadly, her old age was becoming a factor in preventing her from doing so. "...Can't...take...another...step... Ooooooooog..."
It was then the Puni Elder took out her back and was unable to do anything but keep him from leaving.
"What a time for my stupid back to start acting up!" The Puni Elder had to gripe about her back pain kicking in.
"You hotheaded old coot! You dare defy me?!" Lord Crump started raising his voice before threatening her. "I could shine my boots with you!"
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Lord Crump heard Andrew bellow rather angrily from behind him, as he turned around to see for himself.
Standing right there was Andrew, Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie, as the other Punies and Jabble stood to the side to watch. All four of them were glaring furiously at Crump, and that means that they meant business.
"You aren't going anywhere, Mr. Stinker!" Goombella had to snarl at him.
"Yeah!" Koops agreed, trying to sound as courageous as possible as he sneered at him. "We aren't going to let you leave, you...you big bully!"
"Now, I do believe you'll be handing over that Crystal Star, cutting that time bomb, and promptly exiting this tree!" Flurrie told him in a proper but still quite angry tone.
"Yeah, get out!" Koops shouted, showcasing the amount of courage that was in his voice right about now.
"And if you REFUSE to cooperate, then we're gonna have to pummel it out of you," Andrew warned him, as he had taken out his baseball bat and was patting the head of it in the palm of his left hand. This was a sign that Andrew was more than willing to bash Crump's head in multiple times if he had to.
Lord Crump couldn't help but grimace at this when he realized something. These guys were completely serious right now. Still, Lord Crump wasn't going to give up that easily. He wasn't going down without a fight. It was time for him to activate Plan B of his scheme.
"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! You guys are nuts, you know that?" Lord Crump laughed it off before telling them. "Oh, well. Guess I'd better shut off this timer."
It was then Crump turned off the time bomb, as only 123 seconds were remaining before it went off. Andrew was pretty relieved by that, as were his three partners. He was then in for another surprise when Crump pulled out another remote.
"OK, you pests!" Lord Crump suddenly declared. "One pummeling, coming up...with extra fists! Metal fists, that is!"
With that, Lord Crump pressed the button which caused something to descend downward. Andrew and his three partners stared at it in confusion as it was a circular cockpit with a red-colored bottom.
Once it was floating in midair, Lord Crump walked over to it and jumped up into it. Now Lord Crump was in the cockpit while handling some controls to activate something. As soon as he pressed some buttons, four metal ends came out as they were all colored pink.
It looked like for a second that Lord Crump was controlling a pinwheel with rectangular-shaped mills attached to it. Andrew could only raise an eyebrow at this.
"Huh? What the...?" Andrew was unable to say much more as his three partners were just as confused by it.
"Awake, Magnus von Grapple!" Lord Crump announced. "Time for a technological thrashing! Enjoy!"
It was then the four metal ends ended up joining together to form what looked like either a tissue box or a Chinese takeout box. It then spun around for the shoulder parts of it to open up with metal arms coming out of both sides, and a pair of metal legs came out from underneath too.
The arms had pink-colored hands with gray rounded fists, while the feet on the bottom were dark red and rectangular shaped. To complete this mecha robot was a white X that appeared right on the chest of the robot. Lord Crump piloted Magnus Von Grapple as he stomped over to where Andrew and his three partners were standing.
"Omigosh...Is...Is that a...?" Goombella was unable to finish his sentence.
"Yes, Goombella," Andrew had to confirm for her. "Lord Crump is now piloting a giant mecha robot that he's gonna use to take us down."
"That's right punks! You're now staring up at your downfall known as Magnus von Grapple!" Crump yelled through the speaker. "Are you crying yet?"
"Are you serious right now?" Andrew deadpanned as he wasn't even close to crying, and neither were his partners.
"Well too bad!" Crump continued. "Sorry, but this thing isn't armed with tissues."
Andrew then had to give him a confused look before he decided to ask. "Huh? Was that supposed to be a brick joke about the comment Koops made earlier about X-Nauts being tissues to the extreme? Because if so, that was terrible."
"Buh huh? What are you saying?" Crump asked before he decided to brush it off. "Oh wait, I don't care!"
"Well, ummm..." Koops tried saying something about it. "It did look like a tissue box for a second there."
"No doubt about that," Andrew sighed and shook his head.
"Well, this ain't a tissue box! It's a fine piece of machinery piloted by yours truly!" Lord Crump had to announce. "Besides, Magnus von Grapple has that effect on people. Total, weeping terror."
Crump then had to leer at Andrew before showing off Magnus' raw power. "And you ain't seen nothing yet! Check out the power on this bad boy!"
"Oh boy! I can hardly wait to see it for myself," Andrew rolled his eyes at this as he got into battle position. "We might as well get this done and over with."
"Whoa!" Goombella had to gasp at the size of it. "He IS powerful!"
"I can't argue with that," Andrew told her, as Koops and Flurrie agreed with this.
"...But I can't shake the feeling that there's something just not right about him..." Koops had to admit.
"You mean the fact that it looked like a takeout box for a second there?" Andrew had to point out.
"Well, whatever the reason for its oddity, let's just keep our eyes peeled!" Flurrie had to declare. "Don't be careless!"
"Yeah. Let's remain on guard with this mecha robot," Andrew nodded before looking towards Goombella. "But first off, Goombella? Do you have the information on this piece of work?"
"I'm already on it," Goombella had her Tattle Log out and was already skimming through the pages before finding it. "AHA! Here it is!"
"Well, let's hear what it says," Andrew encouraged as Koops and Flurrie were also curious.
"You got it," Goombella smirked as she read off from the book. "That's Magnus Von Grapple. It's a giant robot built by the X-Nauts. Lord Crump drives it."
"As if it wasn't obvious already," Andrew had to retort, resulting in a brief snicker from Goombella.
"Anyway, its most effective attack is one that takes advantage of its size: a smothering stomp," Goombella pointed out. "It can also shoot out its fists, which do these super-gnarly rocket punches."
"You don't say," Andrew raised an eyebrow at this.
"Yeah! Its fists are super-powerful, so it's best to knock them down fast," Goombella advised him. "No seriously! The fists 'totally' pack a punch, if ya know what I mean."
"I do, and that was a great use of a pun, Goombella," Andrew nodded as he complimented her on that.
"Thank you," Goombella then decided to give her opinion on Magnus von Grapple. "The thing about this robot is I can't tell if it looks cool, or 'really', 'REALLY' stupid..."
"Likely both, though mostly stupid," Andrew shrugged as he readied his bat in his hand. "Anyway, we have to take down this bucket of bolts. You guys ready?"
"You betcha!" Goombella beamed in agreement.
"Umm...I'm ready too," Koops commented.
"Certainly darling," Flurrie nodded. "I'm more than willing to take down this cad."
And with that, Andrew charged first as he landed a Power Swing attack with his bat to the right leg, which made a slight dent. Goombella followed suit by using her Headbonk on the chest of Magnus von Grapple, and Koops slammed into its other leg using Shell Toss.
"OK, you four punks! You asked for it. Time to show you what this thing is made of," Lord Crump declared to them after shaking off those attacks. "Here it comes, suckers! Magnus von PUNISH!"
He then stomped it over, lifted its right foot, and tried choosing who to stomp on. Then as if it was unpredictable, the foot slammed right on top of Andrew, which made direct contact as Andrew was stuck under the foot.
Andrew was groaning to get out as Goombella stomped behind Magnus and performed a Headbonk to the back, getting it to move backward and lift its foot off of Andrew.
"Andrew? You OK, hon?" Flurrie floated over to him and helped him get back up.
"Uhhh...sorta. Man, that thing is powerful though," Andrew had to shake his head. "Those feet are 'definitely' not made out of cardboard. They're 'actually' made of metal."
"I'll gladly take your word for it," Flurrie nodded as she then performed a Body Slam on the chest of Magnus, making a dent in it.
Koops then went into his shell and rammed into it with his Shell Toss. Crump then decided to perform another Magnus von Punish stomp attack on Koops this time. But Koops was one step ahead of him and managed to break dance inside of his shell to get out of the way in time.
Crump then saw that Goombella wasn't doing anything yet, as he piloted Magnus over to do another Magnus von Punish stomp attack on her. Andrew was able to take notice of this and he then called out.
"Goombella! Look out behind you!" Andrew called out to her.
It was then Goombella looked up and yelped as Andrew moved in and pushed himself towards Goombella and got her out of the way in time before she become a flattened Goomba.
"Phew. That was close," Andrew had to sigh before looking at his Goomba partner. "Are you OK, Goombella?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Goombella had to smile at him. "I'm never gonna get sick of you saving my butt like that."
"I know," Andrew placed her down before getting up on his feet. "Let's see if Crump will like a taste of THIS!"
With that, Andrew sprinted for Magnus and jumped into the air as he was prepared to perform a Spin Jump attack on the robot. Then just as he expected, he made more dents from the impact he put into it ala Spin Jump. Once he was done, he somersaulted through the air and landed back on the ground, feet first.
"Wow Andrew," Koops had to say to him. "That was pretty cool."
"Thanks, Koops. I didn't think I had it in me," Andrew told him.
Now Lord Crump was getting irritated. How dare these fools try to turn the tables on his beloved Magnus von Grapple like this? Of course, he still had a trick up his sleeve, and it involved the fists on Magnus's arms.
"Oh, it ain't over yet!" Lord Crump told them. "This is so awesome. Check out what else this guy can do. You're gonna love it! This might not work out too well for you!"
Then at that moment, Crump shot the fists out of Magnus as they were floating in the air with a rocket booster behind them.
"Those are the fists you were speaking of, Goombella," Andrew had to look at his Goomba partner to confirm this.
"That's right," Goombella nodded before noticing one of the fists heading for him. "Andrew! Get out of the way!"
"Huh?" Andrew turned around to see one of the fists heading for him.
Fortunately, thanks to his jumping instincts kicking in, he was able to jump out of the way in the nick of time. The other one launched itself at Koops, which he caught notice of and retreated into his shell to avoid being creamed by it, popping out of his shell once he went by him.
"Y'know, this could be easier for us if those fists could be blown away or something," Goombella had to comment.
"Blown away? That's a good idea," Andrew said before looking at Flurrie. "Flurrie, would you mind blowing those fists away for us."
"I'll be glad to, sweetums!" Flurrie then took a deep breath and unleashed her Gale Force move on the fists.
In a matter of seconds, the fists were blown away and exploded once they crashed into the wall behind them. Andrew then took the opportunity to perform a Power Jump on the chest of Magnus, leaving more dents in its wake.
"OK, punks! No more messing around!" Lord Crump boomed. "Have a taste of THIS, suckers!"
It was then Magnus jumped up and stomped the ground rapidly. It was performing an Earthquake attack with its brutal footweight.
Andrew, Goombella, and Koops felt the impact of the Earthquake quite clearly, and it was strong; the latter of which ended up falling onto his back, rendering him helpless. Just like all Koopas, Koops was vulnerable to falling onto his back whenever an earthquake attack struck him. Flurrie was the only one that was unaffected, since she was floating and all.
"Koops," Andrew had to rush over to his Koopa friend as he helped him up. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah. I'm fine," Koops shook his head. "Golly. I didn't think he could do anything as strong as that."
"Tell me about it," Goombella had to comment. "This piece of work is strong with its Earthquake attack."
"Are you dearies quite all right," Flurrie wondered. "I daresay that we'll need some sort of a plan to outdo this piece of metal colossus."
"You're right, Flurrie," Andrew had to think as he dodged more Magnus von Punish attacks from Magnus itself. "But how?"
Andrew rolled over to the side as he saw his three partners stand a chance against the mecha robot. He witnessed that Crump was having a hard time attacking all four of them at once, and it was difficult to concentrate when four people were attacking his handy work.
The muscular man started thinking some more, as he realized that even with that in place, there was so much ground to cover on Magnus von Grapple. But then he looked up and remembered that the Great Tree was humongous on the inside. It was tall enough to dish out some aerial attacks. And if someone were to soar around and attack from above...
WAIT! That's it! I think this might work! Andrew thought as he snapped his fingers. I just hope that my partners will be on board with me to make this work...
Rushing back over towards his three partners, who had just avoided another Magnus von Punish attack from the mecha robot itself, Andrew decided to get their attention as he started to share.
"Guys, listen. I have an idea!" Andrew informed them.
"You do? What is it?" Goombella had to ask him.
"Goombella, I'm gonna need you and Koops to keep Crump and his Magnus distracted by continuing to attack him from the ground," Andrew informed her. "Do you think you can do that?"
"You can bet on it, Andrew," Goombella smirked as she decided to make him proud before she faced Koops. "Hey Koops, d'you think you can help me with keeping ol' Magnus nutbolts here busy on the ground?"
"Sure. I guess so," Koops shrugged. "If Andrew says it's a good idea, then I'm all for it, as long as it works."
"It'll work. Trust me," Andrew then told them. "Now get to it."
"You got it," Goombella obliged as she motioned Koops to follow her and keep Crump focused on them with their usual attacks.
"All right," Andrew then had to turn to his Wind Spirit partner before he asked. "Flurrie? This might be a big task for you, but do you think you can carry me on your back?"
"Why sure, dearie. But why ever do you ask?" Flurrie queried.
"I think I can get a better aim of Magnus if I can land some aerial attacks," Andrew explained to her. "And I have just the thing to put this mecha machine out of commission. So, do you think you can do it?"
"My, my, how marvelous," Flurrie seemed rather fascinated by that. "Of 'course' I'll carry you on my back, darling."
Andrew nodded with a smile as he jumped onto Flurrie's back, hoping she was strong enough to carry him. To his absolute surprise, she was as she was now soaring through the air with the muscular man on her back. He felt his hands gripping Flurrie's shoulders as he saw Magnus down below dealing with Goombella and Koops.
Wow. Now I know why those Lakitus love to ride on clouds so much. Andrew thought in an amused manner. They get a better aim by doing aerial attacks this way. And that's just what I got to do too.
"Hey Andrew? As much as I love airlifting you like this," Flurrie decided to ask her. "What do you have planned with dealing with this cad?"
"I'm glad you asked," Andrew then took out some shurikens. "I'll use these on him."
"Goodness gracious Andrew," Flurrie gasped. "You aren't planning to kill him, are you?"
"No, I don't. Since he's protected by this armor, I think I can use these to put more dents in his machinery," Andrew explained to her. "And that'll give Lord Crump a problem with controlling Magnus, and put us at an advantage."
"Why, that's a smashing idea, darling," Flurrie nodded. "I'll be willing to carry you however long you'd love to."
"Thanks Flurrie. This helps a lot. Really," Andrew got ready to throw a couple of shurikens at Magnus's back while Goombella delivered a Multibonk on the chest. "Now watch as I do this."
In a flash, Andrew threw three shurikens into Magnus's back, before Flurrie flew him around Magnus's chest for Andrew to throw four more to the armored chest. Crump could feel the impact his machine was enduring thanks to the shurikens, while Goombella was surprised to see that he had so many.
"Jeepers Andrew! How many shurikens do you have?" Goombella asked him. "Don'tcha ever run out?"
"The answer to that question is the same one you'd get about how Hammer Bros have an unlimited amount of hammers on them," Andrew explained. "And how Lakitu can carry so many Spiny Eggs with them."
"I see," Goombella just blinked at that. "I guess I'm not gonna get an answer to that, aren't I?"
"I'm afraid not," Andrew told her.
"Fair point," Goombella sighed as she Headbonk the lower half of Magnus, getting it to move back another foot before Andrew threw another shuriken into its back.
"Grrrrr... You're asking for it now, you muscular jerk," Lord Crump then summoned two more fists to replace the two that were blown up. "Time to blast that muscular man and his Wind Spirit out of the sky."
With the press of a button, he blasted both of his fists off of Magnus's hands, and were launched to head straight for Andrew and Flurrie.
"Oh my! Mercy me, darling, we're gonna get hit!" Flurrie gasped in slight fright.
"Not if I can help it," Andrew grinned as he threw a shuriken at one of the fists, causing it to explode once it made contact.
Flurrie was able to duck under the other fist before Andrew advised her.
"Flurrie, think you can blow that other fist away from us?" He wondered.
"I'll be willing to do so," Flurrie then unleashed her Gale Force move with Andrew clinging onto her back as she did so.
The other fist got blown into the wall, where it exploded on impact. Crump was focused on controlling Magnus to pummel Goombella and Koops on the ground as it stomped its foot close to them, getting them to quake and pant. They were running out of energy. And Andrew took notice of this as he took out two Mushrooms from his backpack.
"Hey Goombella! Koops!" Andrew hollered before throwing the Mushrooms towards them. "Catch!"
Once he threw it, Goombella wasted no time in making a spinning leap, where she successfully caught her Mushroom, while Koops got into his shell and launched himself to catch the other Mushroom before it hit the ground.
"Thanks, Andrew! This is just the pick-me-up we were looking for," Goombella ate her Mushroom, feeling slightly replenished from the treat.
"Yeah. Thanks," Koops called out before eating his Mushroom, feeling the same way that Goombella was feeling.
"Also you two," Andrew took out his Power Punch and tossed it at them. "Be sure to split that in half! I dunno what it does, but I think it does something useful for us!"
"OK! C'mon Koops! Let's share this Power Punch," Goombella split the Power Punch she caught with the shy Koopa.
"Right," Koops nodded before they consumed it together.
As soon as they finished it, they felt something weird flowing through their bodies. In a matter of seconds, they became large, as they were now strong enough to deal more damage to Magnus.
"Omigosh! This is so 'totally' awesome!" Goombella beamed in a low-pitched tone. "Now we can 'totally' wreck this bucket of bolts for sure."
"Ummm...Wow! I'm huge," Koops said in a low pitch tone. "OK! We can do this!"
Both Goombella and Koops landed a Headbonk and Shell Toss attack, respectively, on Magnus. Crump felt that blow as he started feeling something short-circuiting in Magnus.
"Gurk! Urrrrrrgh..." Lord Crump grunted as he tried enduring the pain. "Not good... Can't last..."
"Looks like we got him numbered, guys," Andrew told his partners.
"Good to know, Andrew! I was getting tired of fighting this trashbin anyway," Goombella told him as she delivered a powerful Multibonk, landing 9 hits in a row.
By now, Magnus looked like it was trying to swat Andrew and Flurrie out of the sky like how a human tried to swat away a housefly that evades it. All while having to endure all the attacks that a giant Goombella and giant Koops were dishing out on it.
"I'm gonna have to try one of those Power Punches next time," Andrew mused as he watched his partners take Magnus down as giants. "It looks incredible."
"It most certainly does, doesn't it darling?" Flurrie had to agree while soaring through the air to evade Magnus's hand. "So Mr. Hunky Muscles, what do you have planned now, hmm?"
"Well Flurrie, I'd like you to give this bolthead a Body Slam to the cockpit," Andrew informed her.
"Why certainly," Flurrie nodded as she soared right for the cockpit where she then Body Slammed right on the glass, getting Crump to flinch and back up upon seeing her massive buxom crack the glass the way she did.
"Now, I've been saving one of these for a rainy day," Andrew took out a Thunder Rage and activated it.
In a matter of seconds, a Thunderbolt struck Magnus, and Crump could feel the electrocution that Magnus was being put through.
"Now I guess that we should put this mecha on ice," Andrew took out an Ice Storm item and activated it. Once it was activated, a chilly blizzard-like wind was blown right onto the front of Magnus, creating some blocks of ice on the front, which were broken by an impact from a giant Koops and his Power Shell.
By this point, there was smoke coming out of one of the dented holes in Magnus. That wasn't a good thing for Crump.
"Uh oh..." Lord Crump uttered as he then paled and gulped.
"Okay. I think I should finish this off," Andrew then stood up onto Flurrie's back with his bat out as he was going to deliver the final blow. "Flurrie, fly me closer to Magnus, so I can finish this bucket of bolts off for good."
"'Absolutely', darling," Flurrie winked at him before flying him within range of Magnus as he jumped down with his bat over his head.
Once he made contact with Magnus, he dished out a Power Swing with his bat, before flipping up and then came down with his right foot aimed at the cockpit. He then landed one last Power Jump to finish off Magnus once and for all.
As soon as he made contact, Andrew did a backflip through the air as he ricocheted himself from Magnus when Flurrie flew over for him to land back onto her back. Andrew and Flurrie then saw that Magnus was starting to malfunction and short circuit.
By now, Goombella and Koops were shrunk down back to normal, with the effects of Power Punch wearing off in the nick of time.
Lord Crump could feel his baby Magnus malfunction like this, as he knew that Magnus was about to explode from all the damage that it got put through. Feeling the mecha robot shaking like crazy, he could only cry out in pain.
"Bleeeeee-harrrrgh..." Lord Crump howled. "This could be the end..."
"Goombella, Koops, hit the deck! We better take cover!" Andrew proclaimed as Flurrie flew him over to cover.
Goombella and Koops knew what he meant as they rushed over to join Andrew and Flurrie to duck and cover from the explosion that was about to take place.
As Magnus von Grapple was starting to explode, all 98 regular Punies were lined up to the side, watching this unfold along with Punio, Puniper, Petuni, the Puni Elder, and Jabble.
It was then that several explosions were shown happening to Magnus before it finally got blown up into a bazillion pieces, with the debris flying all over the place, which everyone else was able to duck down and avoid getting struck by it.
Meanwhile, Crump was then sent flying upon Magnus blowing up.
"Buh! Bu-AAAAAARGH! No! Magnus von Grapple!" Lord Crump cried as he landed on the ground face first, dropping the Crystal Star he stole a few feet behind him. "How could we lose?!"
It was then Lord Crump slowly got up and saw that he dropped the Emerald Star. Seeing that Andrew would bash him with his bat if he tried to steal it right on the spot, Lord Crump had no choice but to retreat and evacuate from the Great Tree empty-handed.
"Hurff... Hurfff... Hurffff..." Lord Crump caught himself before glaring at Andrew and his three partners who came out of hiding. "I'll remember this, losers!"
And with that, POW! Lord Crump stormed out of the tree, but not before shouting through his walkie-talkie to his X-Nauts. "X-NAUTS! RETREAT!"
"Lord Crump summons us!" Andrew heard several X-Naut shout in fright.
Before long, they saw every X-Naut that Andrew took down in the Great Tree run off and hurried after Lord Crump (except for that one X-Naut who got blown out of the tree), saying things like 'retreat' and other similar phrases. Andrew then saw the last X-Naut in the tree trip over a root on the ground, getting him to stumble onto his face for a second before that X-Naut got back up and followed the others.
"I gotta report this failure to the base, effective immediately!" That X-Naut yelled as he took off after the others. "Oh, man! Sir Grodus is gonna kill us when he finds out about this!"
And that was the last thing that Andrew heard from the X-Nauts in earshot. After that happened, the X-Nauts were gone. They did it. They successfully drove away the X-Nauts and allowed the Punies to claim back their home. This wasn't a harrowing moment for Andrew and his three partners, but it was a harrowing moment for the X-Nauts.
"Well, we did it," Andrew said calmly as he dusted himself off.
"We did it, Andrew!" Goombella cheered in a preppy manner. "Yes! Was that great, or what?"
"We pulled it off, Andrew!" Koops admitted. "I can't believe it! Wow!"
"A rousing success, Andrew!" Flurrie told him. "How delightful!"
"They're gone!" The Puni Elder declared proudly. "This place can go back to being the peaceful place I remember!"
"Hooray!" All of the Punies cheered in unison while Jabble jumped up and down in excitement, showing that he was also proud that the X-Nauts had fled.
"We were honored to help, ma'am," Andrew spoke for himself and his three partners. "Really. It was our pleasure."
"All right, there, Andi-roo," the Puni Elder directed his attention towards the Emerald Star. "You can have the Emerald Star...the Crystal Star that resided in this tree!"
"You got it," Andrew had to say proudly. "Thanks, ma'am."
Andrew then walked over to the Emerald Star, where he then claimed it.
"All right, Goombella," Andrew held the second Crystal Star over his head, having made his second achievement. "Looks like I got the Emerald Star."
"Yeah! You got a Crystal Star!" Goombella beamed as she walked right over to Andrew's side before adding. "And now you've learned a new special move thanks to the Emerald Star. It's called Clock Out!"
"Clock Out, huh," Andrew mused while holding the Crystal Star over his head. "Sounds pretty cool."
It was then Koops walked over to Andrew and decided to comment on this. "Way to go, Andrew. Looks like that's our second Crystal Star."
"Yeah, Koops, it sure is," it was then Andrew felt himself being hoisted up above ground along with Goombella and Koops.
As it turns out the 98 regular Punies pooled in all their strength combine to hold the three of them over their heads.
"Hooray!" The Punies cheered. "Andrew and his friends saved our tree. They're the heroes!"
"Come on now, that's not true. I'm not a hero," Andrew told them humbly. "I just helped you guys out and did the right thing by doing so."
"Ah c'mon, Andrew! You don't have to be so modest," Goombella tried encouraging her. "It's OK to feel proud for helping these Punies by saving their home."
"I guess your right," Andrew sighed before smiling at the Punies. "We were glad to help."
"Yeah..." Koops nodded in agreement. "We were."
Flurrie was floating in midair, so the Punies couldn't hoist her up with their combined strength. Nonetheless, she floated over towards Andrew and congratulated him on getting the Crystal Star.
"That was 'absolutely' marvelous, Andrew," Flurrie told him. "I'm delighted to see that you got the Crystal Star."
"I know Flurrie," Andrew said as Punio watched this take place along with Petuni and Puniper.
"I knew you could do it, Andrew! I just knew it," Punio had to exclaimed before facing Puniper. "Well now Puniper, the X-Nauts are gone. You gotta stop doubting me in these desperate times."
"All right, Punio. I'll admit, I was wrong about you," Puniper told him before adding. "...This time, at least."
"Right," Punio rolled his eyes at that before he faced Petuni. "Isn't this wonderful Petuni? We got our tree back and the X-Nauts fled. All thanks to Andrew and his three friends; Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie."
"Yeah. I 'really' am happy that everything turned out all right for all of us in the end," Petuni beamed as she watched Andrew.
Punio nodded as he watched Andrew being held by those Punies while keeping the Emerald Star floating over his head.
Andrew, for his part, felt accomplished with getting the second Crystal Star, as he had just finished the second chapter of his adventure.
"And so, after pummeling Lord Crump, Andrew obtained the second 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 newly formed hero hears from the vile X-Nauts. They will surely continue to stand in Andrew's way and try to put a stop to his efforts..."
Once that was said, Andrew decided to put the Emerald Star into his backpack until he could make the trip to the Thousand-Year Door in Rogueport Sewers.
"Hey Andrew," one of the Punies offered. "Now that you've saved our tree, we would love to invite you and your friends to have some dinner in our tree!"
"Yeah," Punio thought that was a good idea. "Andrew, we would love to have you eat some of the best Mushrooms that we Punies have been known for collecting."
"Oh, you don't have to go through all that trouble for me," Andrew said, but as soon as he spoke, he heard his stomach rumbling.
Who would've thought that driving out an entire band of renegade villains such as the X-Nauts would work up quite the appetite? 'Apparently', it was possible in this tree.
"On second thought, I could use some food right about now, after having driven the X-Nauts away," Andrew admitted. "We would love to have dinner in the Great Tree. Right, Goombella? Koops? Flurrie?"
"That's a 'totally' good idea Andrew," Goombella beamed. "We'd be happy to have some of your mushrooms in the Great Tree."
"Ummm... Yeah," Koops nodded as he realized he was hungry too. "I could use some Mushrooms too. Thank you."
"We'd be delighted to have whatever Mushroom meals you may have for us, you adorable-looking Punies," Flurrie had to say to them.
"Well, it's settled," Andrew smiled lightly. "Looks like we're having dinner here."
The Punies cheered in unison as they escorted Andrew, Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie to the area of the Great Tree where all their meals are served, with Punio, Petuni, Puniper, Jabble, and the Puni Elder following right behind them.
Before he was brought there, Andrew couldn't help but think about the X-Nauts. If they're after the Crystal Stars, there is no doubt that he'll run into them again and would have to put a stop to their plans. And he'd have to fight Crump again for trying to steal his Crystal Stars.
The same went for the Shadow Sirens since they were 'apparently' working for the X-Nauts and were attempting to steal his map. He'd have to remain on guard when exploring the future locations of the remaining Crystal Stars.
But he decided to put that on hold. For now, he was going to enjoy a nice Mushroom dinner in the Great Tree. And he was going to be sent on his way with a satisfied stomach, along with that of his partners; Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie. That much was a given...
END OF CHAPTER 19...
Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoyed the battle that I wrote out for Andrew with his three partners, against Magnus von Grapple.
So I guess this is it for Chapter 2, as we can move on to the intermissions with Peach and Bowser next. Trust me, I look forward to beginning to write out Chapter 3.
Anyway, the next chapter is going to focus on Peach again, as Grodus learns about what happened in the Great Tree and that Andrew claimed the Emerald Star. Additionally, Peach muses about dancing at the Mushroom Ball again, TEC overhears her when she muses and suddenly gains the desire to dance with her. And some other stuff might occur too. How will this go? Find out next time, readers!
For now, only if you feel up to it, you can leave a review and tell me what you thought about this chapter. I hope it was a decent close for Chapter 2.
Aside from that, there's nothing else that I have to say. So until next time, I do hope you'll take care of yourselves. And on that note, thanks once again for reading, everyone!