Lord Crump taunted them, "Well, enjoy your last few minutes inside this dank old tree! And with that...pow! I'm gone!"

That's when he pressed a button to activate the timer. He stomped on the ground, making a pipe appear. He went up the pipe as he escaped.

Violet complained, "He's such a coward!"

Luigi pointed out, "E - Either way, we still have to get out of here."

Koops stated, "Yeah, we should just take the warp pipe out of here and take the Punies too."

Flurrie replied, "You three head up with the Punies. Mario, Goombella, and I will make sure they are following."

The three of them nodded. Mario felt worried.

Goombella reassured, "Everything will be okay."

Mario told her, "Hope you are right."

With that, they followed the Punies from the rear.

...

When they got to where the Elder was, she was cornered by Lord Crump.

She told him fiercely, "You won't be going any farther this-a-way!"

Lord Crump huffed, "What?! Are you nuts? Move it, you old geezer!"

Elder got big, "What?!" She got small again, "Did you just call me 'old geezer'? Where do you get off, talking to 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! I'm ready! Elder power activate!"

Lord Crump replied, "Whoa. What's your problem, Gramma? You got an ear hair tickling your brain, or what?

Elder groaned, "Oh! Oh! What the...ouch! ...can't take another step... Oooggg..." She muttered, "What a time for my stupid back to start acting up!"

Lord Crump threatened, "You hotheaded old coot! You dare defy me? I could shine my boots with you!"

"Leave her alone!"

Lord Crump turned around and saw the heroes there. Mario had activated his Firebrand, Luigi had (shaking) activated his Thunderhand, and Violet had activated her Aurora Nine. Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie were ready to fight as well.

Mario threatened, "We won't take anymore of your cowardice! You will be stopped here!"

Lord Crump laughed evilly at him and replied, "You guys are nuts, you know that? Oh, well, I guess I'd better shut off this timer." He took the remote from his pocket and shut off the timer. He added, "Okay you pests! One pummeling, coming up...with extra fists! Metal fists, that is!" He brought out the remote again and pressed the button. That's when a metal ball came down and he got in it. The metal ball then made an X. He added, "Awake, Magnus von Grapple! Time for a technical thrashing! Enjoy!"

That's when the metal x turned itself into a robot.

Koops breathed, "A robot?"

The robot attacked them and they all started to fight.

Lord Crump laughed evilly, "Are you crying yet? Yeah? Sorry, but this thing isn't armed with tissues! Well, Magnus von Grapple has that effect on people. Total, weeping terror. And you ain't seen nothing yet! Check out the power on this bad boy!"

Goombella rolled her eyes, "We're are not scared of your so-called robot but I can't help shake this feeling there's something just not right about him."

Mario and Luigi did a power bounce together, making the robot weaker.

Lord Crump chuckled, "Here it comes, you fools! Magnus von Punish!"

The robot went over to the heroes, lifting up its foot. It was about to crush Madame Flurrie until she used her wind powers to blow him away. He screamed in fear as the robot was pushed back.

Violet was impressed, "Nice work! Mind helping me with my ice freeze movie?"

Flurrie bowed to her, "But of course!"

Violet spun around, making her ice a big snowstorm. Flurrie blew the tornado towards the robot, causing more damage.

Goombella cheered, "Oh wow, that's so cool!"

Lord Crump told them, "Oh it ain't over yet! 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!"

The robot fired its hands towards the heroes. Mario and Luigi nodded to each other. They started to spin together with their powers to blow back the hands and the robot.

Violet breathed, "I've never seen them do that before..."

Koops confirmed, "Oh yeah that's something that they did the last time too."

The robot bent a knee as Lord Crump was groaned, "Not good... Can't last..." Mario and Luigi did the last hit as the robot started to spark. He added, "This could be the end..." That's when the robot started to explode. Luigi saw this and made a quick Thunderhand shield for Mario and him. They were still a bit close to the robot. The robot exploded. It knocked Lord Crump out of it and the Crystal Star out of his pocket. He groaned, "No! Magnus von Grapple! How could we lose?!"

He got to his feet, seeing that Violet had taken Mario and Luigi's spot, her Aurora Nine still active. The brothers were still down for the count.

Violet threatened, "You want to challenge them right now, you'll have to get through me first!"

Lord Crump huffed at her, "I'll remember this, losers!"

That's when he finally retreated. Violet breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to the brothers. They were still down but at least they were out of danger. The X-Nauts that were still there has retreated too.

Puniper cheered, "We did it, Mario! Yes! Was that great, or what?"

Punio added, "They've gone! This place can go back to being the peaceful place I remember!"

Koops said, "Glad we could help."

Mario and Luigi got up and to their feet.

Goombella asked, "Are you two okay now?"

Luigi answered, "Yeah that attack makes us really dizzy."

Elder stated, "Alright then Marty-o. You can have the Emerald Star...the Crystal Star that resided in this tree!"

Mario took up the Emerald Star and told them, "We finally have the next Crystal Star. And two new heroes."

Violet replied, "Glad to be back Mario."

Flurrie said, "And we are more than happy to help!"

...

Wishmaker1028: With that, chapter 26 is done! Now I know I did say on Twitter and my FB account that there might not be any updates for the weekend due to some family medical issues within TimPrime1's family. However, that being said, we are planning to go and see them Saturday. That's why I wanted to go ahead and update real quickly so I don't forget to do it on Saturday. So that's why I'm doing the early updates. As of right now, both this fic and A Friend's Return are on a small hiatus. Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!