Chapter 11: Freedom

I stared at the gemstone the elder gave me while the punis followed us. "With this stone and the punis, we'll get the second star without much of a problem." I smiled. "Those X-nauts will be down 2-zip."

"So tell me, what is so special about these crystal stars?" Punio asked.

"Well for one they are keys to a thousand-year door, which could hold anything." Goombella spoke.

"Plus the professor mentioned these stars hold divine energy." I added. "We only had the Diamond star for a few days, barely even knowing what it does." I pulled out said star. "So far its done nothing but look pretty."

"Well, do you know any who would know more about this star?" Flurrie asked.

"Well, I know Koops dad doesnt know, considering he's only held on to it for years." I spoke. "...but maybe Hooktail might know."

"But last time she went running off to who knows where." Maria replied. "And its unlikely we'd run into her out of the blue."

"Maybe, maybe not." I shrugged as I put the star away. "Well, let's focus right now on freeing the Punis first before we go further into the Crystal Stars." We moved to another room which was some kind of fountain releasing a bubbly liquid. "What's this place?"

"Oh this is the bubble room." Punio beamed. "We punies come here a lot. We get into the liquid and were surrounded in bubbles to fly around."

"We are gonna need to get across." Koops spoke as there was a platform dividing the room.

"Well, we can handle that no problem." Punio spoke. "Only problem is we need guidance since we get distracted easily."

"That's why the elder gave us the orb." I mused, pulling out the gemstone. I jumped from the platform to the other side.

"The orb alone will not be enough!" Punio called out. "To fully use its power, you need to insert it to a pedestal!"

I looked around before noticing one. I approached it. "This is what he means?" I humme before I set the orb into the slot. It glows brightly before the pedestal itself radiates orange energy. "Whoa…" I saw the puni immediately jump into the bubble liquid before they started floating upwards and coming over to my location. Once they were over I pulled it out as the others came across as well. "That was easy." We saw a pipe ahead before taking it.

We entered the next room which was a strip shot to another pipe ahead. The punis immediatly swarmed up my clothes, causing me to burst out in laughter. "Hey Haha what the hell guys?!" each one got into a place in my clothes before they were trembling. "Whats the matter?"

Punio poked his head out from my shirt collar. "T-T-That." He jerked ahead. Crawling around the wall was a large black and gray colored spider with fangs as it gently hissed.

"Holy crap thats a Pider?" Koops gawked.

Goombella cringed. "Yeah, ew, I hate Spiders."

"Yes indeed. Those ruffians have no respect for the adoring punis." Flurrie scoffed. "Allow me." She floated ahead. The Pider noticed her before it hissed and lunged at her. She took a dep breath before blasting wind out with a deep exhale. The spider was flown back and smashed into the wall with a deep dent, pining it as its eyes swirled. "And there we go, one less Pider to worry about."

"Whew." Punio sighed in relief. "Okay guys its gone." They all crawled out of my clothes as I laughed. "Those things are scary."

"Next time, warn me before you crawl up my clothes please." I spoke while brushing my jacket. "Almost made me jump."

"Sorry about that." Punio spoke sheepishly. "You do have lots of pockets and we moved by instinct."

"That better not happen when we get all the others out because my clothes might end up getting overcrowded." I replied as we walked across the strip. My body felt a bit iffy as if something was about to happen.

"Something doesn't feel right…." I spoke.

"What do you mean?" Maria asked.

"I don't know, a gut feeling, I mean have you seen any X-nauts up to this point?" I questioned. "This might be a tra-WAHHHHHHHH!" Something snagged my legs as I was pulled out the edge and hung upside down. "What the hell!?" moving up to my face was some kind of plant creature with a faceless head but had large plump lips. "Uh what am I looking at here?"

"Momma Mia." Maria sighed. "Piranha Plants…"

"Huh?" I blinked. "What are those? some kind of venus flytrap?"

"Yeah." she nodded before the Plant creature threw me up as I yelled out. I was caught rightside up in my wrists.

"Ugh…what the hell is it doing?" I shook my head at the sudden actions. The Piranha Plan grinned with a lick of its lips. "...its gonna eat me."

"If it would eat you it would have done so." Maria spoke. "But it didn't. That means…Oh boy, its a female."

"Huh? What the hell does that mean?" I questioned nervously. Vines coiled my waist before it yanked down my pants, exposing myself to it. "H-hey!"

"Uh…I should probably not see this." Koops flushed before diving in his shell.

"Oh my." Flurrie breathed while covering her mouth.

"Here we go." Maria sighed.

"Hey! Put him down you dumb plant!" Goombella snapped. The plant feature turned to her before blowing a raspberry at her. "Oh why you little weed!" That was when multiple other Piranha Plants emerged around me in a circle. "There's more of them!"

(Lemon Scene, go to Lemon End to Skip)

"Guys little help!" I yelled before they fully surrounded me in a circle. "H-hey can't we talk about this?" they smirked before one of them lowered to my crotch, seeing my testicles and penis. "H-Hey, stay away from there!" I tried to pull my limbs free from the vines but they were too strong. The plant creature licked her lips before sliding that tongue around my cock. "Ahhhh!~"

Holy shit! What the hell!? I'm getting pleasured by a plant!? Why the hell is this happening and why aren't they helping me!? My dick kept getting assaulted as it throbbed and got hard. I was a good size, about 11 inches long, 2 inches thick and balls as big as walnuts. "O-Ok, you had your fun, now please stop." Hey I have never been with a girl thanks to my family so I have no idea how to handle this situation!

The plant smirked before opening its mouth before swallowing my cock. I gasped as I threw my head back. "Oh shit!~~~~" It started to bob its head while sucking me like a popsicle. "Nnnnnnngh, fuck, this is too mu-mph!~~~~" I was cut off when another plant kissed me on the li[s. My eyes rolled back a bit while the others liked their lips and swarmed me.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" I heard Flurrie ask.

"The last thing you wanna do is piss off a female Piranha plant. Trust me I have seen this before. You interrupt their play time, they will kill its chosen prey." I heard Maria answer. "It's best if we let them have their fun and let Ace go under their terms." shit, I have to do this with them all?

I felt the plant creature pull away from my cock, giving it a chance to breathe. Oh man it felt like I was stuck in a vacuum of full power. I managed to look down before my eyes widened, seeing many others surrounding my dick. Before I could react they swarmed it, sucking both it and my balls as others kissed and licked what was exposed. I was in high pleasure mode, gaining my first taste of the experience with a woman. Even if it's a bunch of female plant creatures that could kill me at any point they get mad.

I better at least cooperate. It's my life on the line. I started kissing back the Piranha plant lip locking with me while thrusting my hips. They seemed to like this as the one kissing me deepened it the others sucked on me harder.

"Mmmmmmmm.~~~~" I moaned out before the one kissing me pulled back with a smirk while others came up to me. Oh boy, I was bombarded with deep kisses from the as the ones that were waiting kissed my face.

Two of them were kissing my cheeks. They pecked upwards to my nose before they pecked each other out of accident. The pair reared back a bit in surprise. They licked their lips before slowly leaning forward and gave a quick peck again. They repeated it as they started to enjoy it before it evolved into a full blown make out session.

The sight alone was honestly rousing, knowing well they were females. My cock throbbed madly at the plant girl sucking my cock. This made her suck on my harder as her tongue was swirling around it. The others smirked and gathered around their friend eager for my load. Just I felt something coming out the one sucking me pulled back as I blasted like a geyser. They had their mouths open as it splattered on their tongues and lips. They all hummed in delight as my first climax ended.

The others making out with me pulled back with a smack before they smirked at the others and moved down to them. They paired up and started making out with each other. They swapped spit and tasted my cum.

When they had their fill, each of them planted a kiss on my cheeks and lips before slipping my pants back up. They lowered me back to the others and slipped into the ground, vanishing without a trace.

(Lemon End)

"...That happened…" I breathed not sure what to say about it.

"Piranha Plant females tend to be like that a lot around attractive males." Maria explained while helping me up. "Wasn't expecting any to live in this tree."

"Neither was I." I replied. "Least I don't have to worry about it anymore."

"I wouldn't hold your breath." She mentioned. "Piranha Plants are all connected. The females in the world know about you now."

"Great so he's got a freaking swarm of plant chicks gunning for him." Goombella grumbled.

"It's better than getting eaten alive." Punio spoke up.

"Little guys got a point." I agreed.

*WHAM!*

"Owowowow!" I yelled while holding my head where Goombella hit me AGAIN as she stormed off with a huff. "She's gonna give me brain damage if she keeps hitting me in the head." the more she hits me, the more it is drawing back to my bad experiences with the beatings I got from my father. Though with them it was for stupid reasons but with Goombella there is a reason just don't know what. I'll ask her after we get the second crystal star.

Taking another pipe, we went deeper into the tree. Coming out, something moved. It looked to be some kind of big gray mosquito. It jumped in alarm and flew off into a room. "What the hell was that big bug?" I asked.

"Jabbi, us Puni's mortal enemy and they are helping the intruders to take over our tree." Punio answered. "Everytime our tribes meet we fight, alot."

"Why do you guys hate each other so much?" Koops asked.

"Honestly, I don't know." The puni replied. "All I know is some kind of war broke out between us hundreds of years ago, and it neve stopped."

"Do you know if your two tribes used to be friends?" I questioned.

Punio looked around. "Well…honestly there is one Jabbi I used to be friends with. His name is Jabble. I even wonder if he is my enemy now."

"We should follow that Jabbi my dears." Flurrie suggested.

"Maybe it might lead to a hive." I nodded. We followed the room the Jabbi flew into. It was a vast open room. At the far end of it was a large wasp hive. "I assume that's a Jabbi hive?"

"Yup." Punio replied before an alarm went off before ten jabbies came out. "It's a 10 jabbi squadron! Let's get them!" immediately the two sides rushed at one another before they collided and bashed against one another.

"Damn, for little creatures they got some spunk." I blinked.

"Should we help them?" Koops asked.

"I think it's best if we let them handle this. This is their fight." I answered. We watched the puni battle the jabbi as one by one the jabbi fell.

Punio clobbered the last one as he beamed. "We did it! We defeated every Jabbi!" Kudos to them. Wow. "Okay guys let's destroy the hive!" With that they rushed into the hive, after a bit we heard rumbling before the whole hive exploded into pieces revealing a passage as they came back to us.

"Nice job you guys." I mused. "You're a lot tougher than I thought."

"Ah, this is nothing really." A puni spoke sheepishly. We headed into the room which housed a pipe too high for us to go in. at the bottom of the room was a plank with a chest next to it and four columns showing a puni, star, moon and sun symbol in that order.

"That chest must have the key we need." Maria pointed out. We came down to the chest and opened it. Sure enough, a blue colored key was housed inside. "Bingo." She beamed while picking it up.

"Come on, let's hurry and rescue my sister and the others." Punio stated. We quickly left the room to hetea back to the cell room at the top of the tree. I got a feeling we'll be back here soon.

We came out of the room and was about to head up the pipe. I stopped before noticing a passage at the bottom. "Hey Punio, whats over there?"

"Huh?" He turned to the passage. "Oh, that's where we have our shop in case we get visitors. We do tend to get some travelers passing by when they need to trade or buy things."

"I do come here every now and again to check what they have." Flurrie added.

I hummed. "Maria, what does our supply stash look like?"

The brunette took out her sack and looked into it. "Hmmmm…a few mushrooms are left. I think we should re-supply."

"That's a good idea, who knows what we might run into." Koops added. Heading down to the bottom, we entered the shop. There were a few things displayed on stock.

"Ah, welcome to my shop." A puni with a blue fluff antenna greeted us. "Please buy what you need at the best prices."

"Thank you sir." I nodded. We started examining what we could get. But, something moved from the corner of my eye at the far end of the room. "Hm?" I blinked before approaching two logs. I kneeled to them before peering through. Hiding behind said logs was a juvenile Jabbi. "A Jabbi?" It looked up at me and shrunk a bit. "Hey little guy, I'm not gonna hurt you."

I held my hand out before it. "Come on, it's okay." it looked at my hand for a moment before slowly flying to me and jumped into my palm. I slowly lifted it up to eye level. "There you go."

"Ace, you find something?" I heard Maria.

I turned to the others approaching as I turned to them with the Jabbi in hand. "I found this little juvenile Jabbi hiding."

Punio perked up. "Hey that's Jabble, why are you hiding back hear?"

"A Jabbi?" The store owner blinked. "Oh not good. That little guy might get mixed up in my stock." He took a good look at Jabble shrinking a bit before his face softened. "...but I suppose I can't discipline him. He's still just a kid."

"Oh what a Precious little thing!" Flurrie gushed. "He hasn't done anything wrong. We simply must go easy on the poor dear."

"I agree." I nodded while rubbing Jabbles head with a finger. "Even as a Jabbi, I can sense he's a good one."

"He probably hid back there to get away from the fighting." Koops added.

Flurrie floated closer to Jabble with a sweet smile. "What Ails you, my little pudding pie? Are you all alone?" Jabble looked down as if shy and bashful. "Oh, he looks like I do when I first stepped into the spotlight and then forgot my very first line." She saw something in his eye as she perked up. "Oh? I think he wants to join us. Isn't that right sweetie?" Jabble looked up, giving an affirmative nod.

I smiled. "Well, who are we to reject an old friend of Punio?"

"Yeah, glad you're not with your kind Jabble." Punio replied. "Okay, lets finish up the shopping and get back to my sister." We quickly got a few more mushrooms and some honey syrups before paying them off. After getting those, we headed back out.

It was a pretty long travel back from the bottom of the tree back to the top, but thankfully we got back. Once we did Punio ran to the cell. "Petuni! We're back and we have the key!" We followed him before pulling out the said key. We unlock the cell. Immediately the punis flowed out ad swarrmed into a pile.

"Big brother!" Petuni called in the swarm.

The swarm then formed a circle revealing the pair. "Little Petuni! Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"

"Nope, i'm alright." His sister spoke happily.

Punio sighed in relief. "Thank Heavens."

"Hey big brother, I have something for you." She said as she pulled out a dried up looking mushroom. "I meant to give you this sooner but, Mushroom's are your favorite right big brother? But Well this one kinda got dried out."

Punio approached the mushroom before he started eating it. I can even smell the oder it gave off. It didn't smell that good. "Ew nasty…" Punio muttered and forced the res of the mushroom down his gullet.

"Big brother, It was icky wasn't it, I'm sorry." Petuni spoke a bit sadly.

"No no! Not at all." Punio spoke as he gagged. "Delicious…urp! Very..gag…yummy."

Petuni arched a brow. "Punio? Are you okay?"

"Give me a hug Petuni!" The brother puni beamed and jumped on his sister.

"Hey quit it, Punio! Come on! Don't get all mushy! Everyone is staring." His sister giggled.

"Ah, it's just a sweet gesture, that's all." he chuckled as they pulled back.

Petuni giggled bashfully. "Aw it was nothing."

"Okay everyone! Let's work together a take out our enemies and help our friends!" The young leader to be rallied. The other punis cheered out as we basically had an army now.

"Okay Punio, what's next?" I asked.

"Well, if we're gonna head deeper, we'll need to head back where the Jabbi hives are." he answered. "We have to take them down so no more jabbis can get in our way."

"Well, with an army, how can we lose?" Goombella grinned.

"Don't underestimate the Jabbis in a large group, we lost a few times to them for it." Puniper classifieds. "And no doubt the next hive will have way more than the last one."

"Would you guys like our help for this?" I asked.

"Thanks, but this is between us and the Jabbis." Punio assured. "We have to do it our way."

"That's fair, we can respect that." Maria smiled.

"Thanks." They nodded. We headed out and were heading back to the previous lower level of the tree. We are getting closer to the Crystal Star now, but the dangers were far from over.