Fourteen years ago, a Yoshi was born. But this was no ordinary Yoshi. This Yoshi had been blessed with the powers of darkness. However, this Yoshi had made some terrible mistakes. Mistakes that cost the Yoshi her friends, her family, and her life...
***
"Pura! Get in here!"
The Yoshi, having lost everything near and dear to her, had now joined the darkside, still at the tender age of fourteen.
"I said to get in here, now!"
A door opened and a purple Yoshi came in. Behind her were two X-Naut PhDs. "You summoned me, Sir Grodus?" the Yoshi asked, kneeling before him.
The Yoshi wore a purple cloak with a cape. Around her neck was a light blue pendant that gleamed in the light. She was a powerful and wise Yoshi. And even though she never thought much of it, she was also very beautiful. Her name was Pura, and now she was under the command of an evil tyrant, one who went by the name of Grodus. He was the leader of the X-Nauts, an intelligent but evil alien race that lived on the moon. Their plan: taking over the world.
"Yes, I have," Grodus replied. "It appears we have found another Crystal Star in the Great Tree of Boggly Woods."
Indeed. It appeared Grodus was trying to collect the Crystal Stars once again. Despite his run-ins with Mario and the horrible demise he nearly met at the hands of the Shadow Queen, Grodus was as confident as ever about using the Crystal Stars to rule the world. But now he had a second reason. Not long ago, Bowser had taken over the world himself. He had finally defeated Mario in a legendary battle and now he had a stranglehold over the Mushroom Kingdom that even the X-Nauts wanted to put an end to. Grodus knew the Shadow Queen was the only one who could stop Bowser.
"That's nice." Pura said, not caring.
"I'm not in the mood for your sarcasm!" Grodus yelled. "We already lost the Gold and Ruby Stars! We will not lose another!"
"I apologize, Sir."
"Now, as I was saying," Grodus began, "I've sent the Yux squad to retrieve the star, but they are having little luck. It appears the Punies that live there refuse to tell them the location of the Emerald Star. It also appears they are getting outside help."
"Outside help? From who? Pura asked, a bit concerned. "Mario and his allies have been defeated by Bowser."
"We're not sure. The Yux have been unable to contact us."
"What do you suggest we do about that?" Pura asked.
"I'm sending Lord Crump and a squadron of X-Nauts to invade the Great Tree."
"What does this have to do with me?"
"You will accompany him. Crump isn't exactly the most reliable of men," Grodus said, remembering the multiple times Lord Crump was defeated by Mario. "You leave immediately. Understand?"
"Yes, Sir Grodus." And with that, Pura and the X-Nauts left.
Grodus grinned upon their departure. "Yes. Obtaining this Crystal Star will not be a problem at all. Crump!"
Lord Crump dashed into the room. "Buh huh huh huh. Yes, Grodus?" he asked. With the voice he had, along with the fact that he wasn't too bright, it was rare if he has ever taken seriously. But he was still quite powerful, and he was Grodus's most trusted X-Naut.
"I've decided that Pura shall join you in obtaining the Emerald Star."
Lord Crump almost fell upon hearing this. "Buh, what?! Why her?"
"Because I know she can get the job done."
"But can we trust her?" Crump asked, sounding alarmed. "I mean, you know how unpredictable Yoshis are..." Crump trailed off.
Grodus almost laughed. "No, I don't know how unpredictable Yoshis are. Tell me."
Crump said nothing. Grodus was beginning to become annoyed. "May I also mention that she has killed thousands in order to prove her loyalty to me?"
"But what if she-"
"Silence, fool!" Grodus shouted. "Not only will she accompany you, but now you are under her command. You will do exactly what she tells you to do. You got that?'
"Yes," Lord Crump said reluctantly.
"Good. You leave at once. Be sure to have Magnus Von Grapple 3.0 ready. I have a feeling things could get rough."
***
Meanwhile, in an area quite far away, there was a blue-shelled Lakitu inside a cave known only as Pirate's Grotto.
"Lesee... Now where can I find this treasure?" the Lakitu wondered, floating past several partially sunken ships. "According to this map, it's cursed by some dead pirate guy named Cortez. Sounds like a total wussie to me," the Lakitu stated. "He'll be no match for me, Thumbs, the guy who is able to watch Dark Koopa's Interviews without becoming dead inside!"
Thumbs eventually came across a ghost ship. "Ooo, ghost pirates. Or are they pirate ghosts? Aww, who cares?" Thumbs said to himself as he entered the ship.
Suddenly, there was a loud roar, and the ship began to shake. Thumbs took out a gold Spiny, preparing himself for battle. There was a large puff of smoke, and when it cleared, a huge skeleton with a pirate's hat, along with several pirate weapons, appeared. "WHO DARES ATTEMPT TO STEAL MY TREASURE?!"
"Um, me," Thumbs said quietly.
"Well, go ahead and take something. I'm sick of guarding this stuff, especially after I got attacked by some fat Italian plumber," Cortez said, sounding much friendlier than when he first made his appearance.
"Sweet!" Thumbs looked around and quickly came across a blue star. "Ooo, blue's my favorite color. Can I have this?"
"Sure," Cortez said. "Ironically enough, that's what that plumber took."
"Awesome." Thumbs went over to the Sapphire Star and put it in his cloud. "Well, thanks, homicidal skeleton dude." And with that, Thumbs was off.
"Oh, one more thing..." Cortez started.
Thumbs stopped. "Yes?"
"IF YOU EVER TRY TO STEAL MY TREASURE AGAIN, I WILL SUCK OUT YOUR SOUL THROUGH A BENDY STRAW!!!" Cortez shouted.
"Eep!" Thumbs yelped as flew off as fast as he could.
***
Back to our heroes, or villians, well, let's call them plot creators.
"What's the matter, Crump? Putting on wieght?" Pura taunted.
"Leave me alone!" Crump shouted. "These sewers are really gross!"
Pura, Lord Crump, and a group of X-Nauts were now in Rogueport Sewers. They had used the teleporter from the X-Naut Fortress to teleport from the moon to a secret room under Rogueport. They were now heading towards the warp pipe that connected to Boggly Woods.
"Fine, I'll wait up..." Pura said, now walking slowly.
"You know, you're lucky to be a Yoshi," Crump began. "They have more stamina than they know what to do with."
"Maybe you're just overweight," Pura said quietly so Lord Crump wouldn't hear.
The X-Nauts behind them were all carrying supplies, most of which were pieces of Magnus Von Grapple.
"Come on. Pick up the pace," Pura said, sounding a bit annoyed. "I want to get this over with as soon as possible. Grodus hates a job done slowly more than he hates failure."
Pura went back into the group of the X-Nauts to give them some encouragement to speed up. And by encouragement, I mean giving them beatings. One of X-Nauts carrying an X Punch stumbled and tripped, losing his grip over the X Punch. It hit Pura in the side of the head, knocking her unconcscious.
"Lady Pura!" the X-Naut exclaimed.
"Doctor, check her out," Lord Crump told an X-Naut PhD.
While unconscious, Pura had a vision. In it, she just barely could see the shape of a winged blue cat standing in front of her, as if trying to protect her. Not too far away from the cat was a Duplighost wearing a bowtie and a birthday hat. He looked like he was attempting to fire some sort of beam at Pura and the blue cat. Before anything else could happen, Pura regained consciousness.
"Are you okay, Lady Pura?" the X-Naut who was checking her out asked.
Pura quickly pushed the X-Naut PhD away from her. "Don't touch me." She was trying to figure out what the vision had meant. But after a few minutes, she decided just to forget about it. "Let's just keep going," she said to the X-Nauts.
***
Meanwhile, an evil Koopa tyrant sat on his throne in Dark Land, bored. "Beating those Mario Brothers and taking over the Mushroom Kingdom was a snap," Bowser said to himself, proud of what he had done. "I'm suprised it took me this long. It's a shame no one tries to resist me anymore. It was fun watching them fail."
Suddenly, two young Koopas entered the room. One rode a ball and had rainbow hair. His name was Lemmy. The other wore glasses and also had rainbow hair like the first. This Koopa's name was Iggy.
"King Dad! King Dad! Look what we found!" they yelled.
Bowser really wasn't interested in what they had found, but he was very bored. "Okay, what did you find?"
"This," Iggy said, holding up a red star to his father.
"It's a Crystal Star." Lemmy said, "Remember when you tried to find these to take over the world?"
"Yes, I do," Bowser remembered. "But I hardly think I need them now."
"Aww..." Iggy whined.
"Then what should we do with it?" Lemmy asked.
"Keep it as a momento or something. I don't care."
"Yay!" Lemmy and Iggy cheered as they left the room.
Bowser yawned. "Ludwig! Get in here!"
"Yes, King Dad?" Another young Koopa entered the room. He had long blue hair, which was apparently very badly combed.
"Is there any sign of resistance down there?" Bowser asked, pointing towards Peach's Castle.
"No, King Pop," Ludwig replied. "There hasn't been any fighting back ever since you defeated Mario and Luigi."
"Very well. You may go now."
Bowser sighed as Ludwig left the room. "I'm so bored. I wish someone, anyone, would try to dethrone me. I need some more thrills in my life..."
A new Koopaling entered the room. This one had a blue mohawk, and he appeared to be rather young. "King Dad?" he asked.
"Yes Larry? What is it?"
"I was hoping you could give me my allowance," Larry began. "You see, Roy stole all my coins again and-"
Bowser stopped him. "I have a better idea."
Larry waited patiently for his father to continue.
Bowser got up and began to pace back and forth in front of Larry. "As you know, I'm beginning to become quite old. And there will be a new king."
"Wouldn't that be Ludwig?" Larry asked.
"Yes," Bowser answered. "But I'm giving you an oppurtunity to be the new king instead."
Larry eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Really?!"
"Yes, my son. All you have to is find me the rest of the Crystal Stars. Lemmy and Iggy have already found one. You just have to find the other six."
"But how am I supposed to find them?" Larry wondered.
"I never said becoming king was going to be easy," Bowser said with a grin. "I suggest you get started immediately."
"Yes, King Dad!" Larry quickly ran out of the room.
"Ah, youth. Watching him try to collect those things should be the thrill I was looking for," Bowser said, sitting back in his throne.
***
"So this is the Great Tree, huh?" Pura asked herself. "Heh, taking this place over won't be any problem."
Pura and the X-Nauts had finally reached the Great Tree with little problems. Lord Crump quickly pulled out a remote control and pressed a button, causing the door in front of them to slide open. The doors the X-Nauts installed the last time they invaded the tree were still intact.
"Bah heh hah heh hah heh," Crump laughed.
Everything was quiet as they entered the tree. There didn't seem to be a Puni in sight. Some of the X-Nauts stayed back. They were rebuilding Magnus Von Grapple.
"Perhaps they knew we were coming and ran scared. Bah hah heh," Crump said, laughing again.
Pura ignored him and headed towards the next door. Just as she was about to tell Crump to open it, a red beam wizzed past her head. She was able to avoid it, but a nearby X-Naut wasn't as lucky, and was vaporized from the blast. Suddenly, several Punies came out from hiding, all firing those red beams. Around their heads were strange-looking headbands, which were apparently creating the beams they were firing.
"X-Nauts, attack!" Lord Crump ordered.
The X-Nauts began to charge the Punies, and the battle ensued. Lord Crump gave a signal, and an X-Naut PhD threw a potion. It created a fog that created temporary blindness for the Punies. Pura and Crump were able to escape through a warp pipe before the Punies regained their vision. It led them to one of the upper levels of the Great Tree.
"How did the Punies obtain such technology?" Pura asked Crump.
"I don't know," Crump replied, "They certainly weren't that strong the last time we came. Someone must've given them that stuff."
"Yes, but who?" Pura wondered.
"That's not important right now," Crump decided. "I think we should just find that Crystal Star."
"Right," Pura said, beginning to walk towards the nearest door.
As Pura approached the entryway, Crump pulled out his remote to open it. As it opened, a red beam came out of it and hit Crump dead on. He was strong enough to survive the blast, but it sent him flying out of a nearby window. Pura looked through the door to see who shot the blast. It was a large Puni with a green antenna.
"So this is the Puni leader, I presume?" Pura asked the Puni.
Outside, Lord Crump began to get up after being ejected out of the window. Fortunately for him, he had landed on some X-Nauts.
"Those blasted Punies..." Crump moaned. "Is Magnus Von Grapple 3.0 ready?"
"Yes, My Lord," an Elite X-Naut answered.
"Excellent."
Crump got into the latest version of the Magnus Von Grapple set. It was a large orange robot suit with drills for arms and extendable legs. This one could also fire rockets.
"Those Punies will rue the day they messed with Lord Crump! Buh huh huh huh!" Lord Crump laughed, knocking down the entrance to the Great Tree. Inside, the Punies and X-Nauts were still battling on the main floor. As soon as Crump entered, everyone scattered, the Punies hiding.
"Looks like it's hide-and-go-seek," Crump said to himself, "and I'm it." He began seaching for the Punies, squashing any that he happened to find.
Upstairs, Pura and Punio were still staring each other down, each waiting for the other to attack.
"Leave our tree at once, you wretched creature!" Punio shouted.
"I will leave, as soon as you hand over the Crystal Star," Pura said.
"Never! I remember you X-Nauts wanting to use them for evil!"
"I'm not an X-Naut, and we're not using them for evil," Pura assured. "We are trying to dethrone an evil king."
"You're lying!" Punio shouted, firing a beam at Pura, who dodged it.
"So you want to play that way, huh? Well, try this!"
Pura threw a shadow ball at Punio, but he dodged it. It appeared that he had not only gotten bigger, but faster as well. He fired another beam at Pura, who was able to block with an energy shield. Punio fired some more beams. Pura's energy shield blocked those as well, but it appeared to be weakening.
"Leave at once!" Punio shouted. "I know your shield won't be able to deflect this." Punio began charging a beam as his headband began to glow.
Downstairs, Lord Crump continued to annihilate the remaining Punies inside Magnus Von Grapple. He was about to squash another one when he was stopped by a voice.
"Leave those poor, precious Punies alone!" the voice said.
"Who dares try command me?!" Lord Crump demanded. "And what's with the alliteration?" he quickly added.
Crump fired a rocket in the area the voice had come from, but it just turned around and exploded, hitting Crump.
"ARRRGGGHH!" Crump shouted, "Who in the world is this?" When no response came, Crump began to get impatient. "X-Nauts! Attack!" he ordered.
Some X-Nauts charged towards the area of the voice, but they were all blown away and out of the tree.
"Errrrr... I dunno who are you, but when I get my hands on you, you're dead!" Crump yelled, forcing Magnus to fly towards the voice.
Right when he was about to strike the source of the voice, it jumped over Magnus, in a blurish fashion, but now out in the open. Crump could easily identify who it was.
"Madame Flurrie, is it?" Crump laughed. "I'm amazed you're even still alive considering how old you are.
"You will not harm these Punies anymore, Crump!" Flurrie yelled.
"We'll see about that."
Crump charged at Flurrie inside Magnus, but Flurrie was able to dodge yet again. She then took a deep breath and began blowing a very powerful gust of wind that felt like a hurricane to Crump. It blew him right into a nearby wall, destroying it.
Upstairs, Punio was about to deal the final blow to Pura's shield.
"This is your last chance!" Punio shouted. "Leave this tree at once or I will be forced to destroy you!"
The only response Punio received was a short laugh. "Do you really think that little beam of yours can destroy me?" Pura asked, dropping her energy shield. "If you think it can, by all means, go for it. Fire the beam."
"Fine!" Punio shouted. "I will!" He quickly fired the beam. Pura snatched it out of the air before it reached her.
"My my, what impressive energy you have here," Pura observed, juggling the energy in her hands a bit. "Now where did you get such a dangerous toy?"
Punio was in utter disbelief that Pura simply caught his beam. "Wha...?"
"You fool. Don't you see it yet? I've been toying with you all along! You see, I'm much stronger than the X-Nauts. Stronger than Crump. Maybe even stronger than Grodus..."
Punio was silent from disbelief.
"Well, I've grown bored of you, so it's time for you to die." Pura quickly hit Punio with a shadow ball, knocking him out. He was too shocked to dodge in time.
"Perfect," Pura said to herself. "Now it's time to finish the job."
Pura began to prepare another shadow ball. It began to grow as it ominously loomed over the unconscious Punio.
"Stop! Please!"
Pura quickly turned around to see who it was.
"Please don't hurt my brother!"
Downstairs, Crump was beginning to recover from his unwanted visit with the wall.
"Oooog, why does everyone I face have to be so strong?" he moaned, beginning to rise Magnus to its feet. "No matter, because Magnus can take much more punishment than that."
Crump quickly detached the arms to Magnus, creating two X Punches. He ordered them to go after Flurrie. Flurrie easily dodged them, but they turned around, chasing her.
"Buh huh huh huh huh huh," Crump laughed. "How do you like my homing X Punches?"
Flurrie said nothing. She calmly turned around and blew a gust of wind, causing one X Punch to hit the other, making them both fall to the ground.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" Crump screamed. He had Magnus stomp its legs as if it was having a temper tantrum. "PURA! GET DOWN HERE AND ELIMINATE THIS WINDY JERK!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
But Pura was a bit busy upstairs.
"Now why wouldn't I want to hurt him?" Pura asked. "After all, he tried to hurt me."
"He was only protecting our home!" Petuni shouted, before running over to the unconscious Punio.
"He picked the wrong perosn to protect it from," Pura said with a sinister grin. She still had the shadow ball in her hand. "I advise you move before you perish as well."
"If you kill him, you'll have to kill me too!" Petuni yelled.
"As you wish!" Pura had the shadow ball ready. She was about to throw it, but then she heard Crump yelling and she stopped.
"Ah, it appears Crump can't even handle a task as simple as this on his own," Pura said to herself, amused. She then looked back at Punio and Petuni. "I shall spare you for now, but don't you worry, I shall return to dispense with you shortly." With that, Pura jumped down into the warp pipe that led her downstairs, where she could see Crump having his temper tantrum.
"Why won't you just die?!" Crump whined.
Pura sighed. "Just let me handle it from here."
Crump smiled upon seeing Pura. "I think I'll give my comrade a chance to beat on you now," he said to Flurrie.
Pura wasted little time. She quickly threw a shadow ball at Flurrie, who blew it right back. With little difficulty, Pura caught her shadow ball and faded it into her hand.
"Ah, so my weakest attack has no effect on you?" Pura asked, "Well, try this!"
Pura opened her mouth. Within a few seconds, a purple beam of pure darkness came out of her mouth and went straight towards Flurrie. It knocked her out. She had no time to counter or dodge.
"The dark beam never fails," Pura said to herself proudly, "Was that so hard, Crump?"
"I softened her up for you," Lord Crump mumbled.
"Sure you did," Pura sarcastically said. "Now, I believe we have a Crystal Star to find."
"Right," Crump agreed, jumping out of Magnus Von Grapple. "X-Nauts, status report!"
"We believe it's exactly where we found it last time," an X-Naut PhD responded.
"Excellent."
With very few problems, Lord Crump and Pura, along with a few X-Nauts, reached the area where Mario had found the Emerald Star when he was there.
"Where is it?" Pura asked impatiently.
"I don't quite remember how that Mario guy got it," Crump admitted.
"Then we'll just tear down the place until we find it."
Pura began throwing purple-colored flames all around the room, burning most of the pedestools, but not setting the Great Tree on fire.
"There it is!" Lord Crump exclaimed, grabbing the Crystal Star.
"I told you this would be simple," Pura said, grabbing it from Crump.
"Hey!"
"I did all the work. I'm gonna be the one who hands this to Sir Grodus," Pura said proudly.
Crump began grumbling as he and the other X-Nauts began to head towards the exit of the Great Tree. Pura soon followed, Emerald Star in hand.