Mario and Meggy's 2017 Splatfest Victory -SMG4: Alternate Destinies-
Time and space, it's all more than just a strict progression of cause and effect. There are other worlds beyond the world we know. Together, these worlds make up a vast reality known as the multiverse, a universe of infinite worlds and infinite possibilities. Today, we shall journey into this wild dimension of dimensions while pondering what would have been and see how things could've played out differently...
A long time ago, on the world of Dimension #8052011, a mentally-disabled Italian plumber was helping a princess and her butler paint the castle and, when he went to go fetch some paint for them, he freed an orange squid-like creature trapped in one of the cans. The plumber attempted to catch the squid and fell down a sewer, leading to a whole new land beyond the one he knew and called home.
The squid that he accidentally freed and chased was an Inkling, a member of a vast humanoid squid-like race, and this one was destined to be someone special. The Inkling's name was Meggy Spletzer, she had trouble trusting the Italian at first, but they eventually became good friends.
As they bonded, the plumber known as Mario learned of a tournament known as Splatfest and joined his new friend's sports team. They trained together and competed in the event, but despite all their hard training, they lost to the opposing team. As he watched his new friend start to wallow in sadness over her defeat, Mario comforted the Inkling and encouraged her to keep going.
Inspired by the Italian's words, Meggy resolved to train harder, her friendship with Mario solidifying over time, and vowed to never give up on her dream of becoming the best of the best. A few years passed after their first meeting and after enduring many hardships, two of which saw the death of a rival and her turning into a human, Meggy and her team finally emerged victorious in the Splatfest.
With her dream fulfilled along with her final promise to her fallen rival, the Octoling known as Desti, Meggy moved forward with her life as Splatfest ended and she embarked on new adventures with her friends, facing many perils and many more losses that were nothing compared to Desti's demise.
Now, we rewind the clock back to where it all began as we enter a new timeline, one where our heroes didn't lose the first time around...
July 2017, 7:35 P.M.
The glow of the setting sun cast a deep shade of orange across the darkening sky and illuminating the rooftops of the very lively town. In the broad daylight, Inkopolis was bright and lively. Now, in the dusk with the night air setting in, the streets were lighting up and the large billboard-like jumbotrons seemed like the only thing alive while many of the city's inhabitants went to bed.
Upon the roof of Koral Tower, Mario sat with Meggy, humming optimistically. After a whole afternoon of training, they were winded and ready for an evening of relaxation. Tonight felt so ideal enough to sit up here, wind down and take in the view.
"You were actually alright today, Red." The orange Inkling told the human plumber, "I'm beginning to think I was wrong when I said that you didn't have the skills."
"Thank you." Mario replied, "And I only lost a hundred brain cells during training."
"Well, tomorrow's the big day."
Mario nodded.
"Uh, Red?" Meggy turned to look at the fat Italian with near uncertainty, "Do you think we'll make it?"
"I have no idea." Mario remarked in a half-sarcastic tone.
Footsteps perked the duo's ears and they turned to find Kenji and Sam standing close by with confident smiles. "To be honest, I think we're gonna kick butt." Sam remarked.
"We trained harder than we ever have." Kenji added, "And we're gonna win the competition."
"Let's find out then." Meggy held her Splattershot with a determined look in her eyes, "Because tomorrow, there's no going back, I know we got this."
"Yahoo!" Mario whooped.
The next day, 10:30 A.M.
After another training session to see how their skills were, Mario headed down to Inkopolis Plaza with Meggy and the others. They passed by a massive holo-sign with a Turf War symbol and the following words that read: TURF WAR TOURNAMENT TODAAAAAAY!
Filled with confidence, the four entered the Turf War Lobby area beneath Inkopolis Tower.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait in the lobby for too long as Mario, Sam, Kenji and Meggy were standing upon Spawn Pads in the Walleye Warehouse, the chosen arena for the tournament. Anticipation was in the air and Meggy held her Splattershot confidently.
Mario took his time to see how huge the place was and noticed the crowds that had gathered, it felt like all of Inkopolis was here to see the exciting match they'd been waiting to see. Several Inklings were waving flags and chanting, "Turf War, Turf War, Turf War."
Mario waved to the crowd, hoping that he had fans somewhere in the audience, a few people only giggled when they saw the strange red man.
On the other side of the warehouse, so many feet away, a pair of blue Inklings materialized with their weapons in hand and the buzz seemed to intensify. Atop a platform, the white and gray-black cat thing Mario had seen sleeping in the plaza appeared with a pair of flags in hand.
From what Mario had heard during training, the cat's name was Judd. Judd was Inkopolis' mascot apparently, especially if he was going to signal the start of matches and determine the results...
Microphone feedback resonated across the arena as the Squid Sisters Callie and Marie stood on the announcer's podium overlooking the warehouse.
"Welcome, citizens of Inkopolis..." Marie spoke into the microphone, "Who's ready for a TURF WAAAAAAAR?!"
Hardly able to contain themselves, the crowd erupted in an excited frenzy, cheering like they never had in their lives.
"For this exciting match," Callie announced, "We have TEAM SPLATSQUAD..." Mario and Meggy waved with Kenji and Sam flashing grins as a jumbotron lit up, showcasing a dark-red Inkling symbol with Inkish words that read the team's name.
"And opposing them..." The Squid Sister continued, "...is THE INK BRIGADE!"
Now, Mario and the team knew who their blue-colored opponents were. Another jumbotron above the four blue Inklings lit up, displaying the Ink Brigade's symbol, showing a group of squids with rifles together. Meggy and Mario looked at each other with determined smiles, confident that they could handle this no problem.
"Now for the rules of this match!" Marie went on, "A timer will be set and whomever covers the most turf by the end wins! All right, everyone. LET'S GOOOOOOOOO!"
Judd raised the flags and a horn sounded while the crowd got even crazier, it was go time. Intense and energetic music fitting for the situation started blasting over the loudspeaker, setting the tone for the proceeding events. 'Splatattack', people seemed to like that song.
Mario, Meggy and their team raced off their Spawn Pads and into the surrounding area ahead, their Splatter-shots blazing with fingers rapidly pressing the trigger.
A confident Meggy leaped off the nearest ledge, firing orange shots left and right while leaping off another platform, inking up the vicinity around her and taking as much turf as possible. Mario fired his weapon in random directions indiscriminately, hollering "YOOLOOOOOOOOO" like a maniac.
Sam rolled out the Splat-roller, painting up the ground, while Kenji went to town with his Splattershot, splattering crates and walls.
Up ahead, the Ink Brigade was on the move, laying paint across their portion of the field as they approached the SplatSquad in eagerness for an epic battle. Blue and orange ink covered the floor, both sides battling for supremacy as paint went everywhere.
"The SplatSquad and Ink Brigade teams have gotten off to a head start!" Callie announced in an energetic manner, Marie, who was the opposite of her edgy cousin, observed calmly and silently.
Meggy turned to her two Inkling allies at a nearby corner. "Kenji, Sam, flank them from all sides!" She ordered.
"You got it, Meggy!" Sam saluted.
"You're our squad leader." Kenji nodded, he and his nearly-identical associate headed off in their separate directions to tackle the enemy.
Meggy turned to Mario. "Red, I want you to..." She stopped short when she saw the fat Italian charging through the arena, waving his gun like a madman while nailing certain floor sectors and any nearby crates.
"Yahooooooooo!" He yelled.
"Ugh…" Meggy groaned, "What an idiot."
Close by, a female Ink Brigade member was leaning against a crate casually when Mario came charging in. The Inkling raised her Splattershot, taking aim at the Italian and pulled the trigger.
But with lightning reflexes, Mario leaped aside, somersaulting out of the line of enemy fire, and then blasted the blue Inkling with a volley of orange ink shots while covering the vicinity around them in more paint.
"Did you see that?!" Marie exclaimed, "That guy's got some reflexes."
Mario whooped and rejoiced, letting his guard down long enough for a blue Inkling sniper to take aim at him. BLAM! Before Mario knew it, he was at Meggy's side, having been blasted away and managing to recover through the power of the Spawning Pad combined with his semi-immortality.
"Red, you idiot!" Meggy chided, "Follow my lead!"
"Looks like Mario needs to work on not lowering his guard!" Callie quipped in a sing-song voice.
Ignoring the Squid Sister's comment regarding her red Italian friend's stupidity, Meggy focused on inking up more territory and turned a corner, coming face to face with one of the Ink Brigade members wielding a Splat-Charger.
"G'day there." The blue Inkling quipped with a grin in a mock Australian accent.
Meggy sheathed her Splattershot with a grin and ran towards the wall. With every Inkling reflex ever imaginable, she ran up the edge as her opponent took aim and did a flip off the wall, soaring over the blue rival team member's head and landing right behind him.
"What the fi...?" The Charger Inkling was cut off mid-sentence when Meggy drew her Splattershot and blasted him away, resulting in the player dropping his weapon.
"OUTSTANDING! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Callie shrieked as the crowd erupted in a collective frenzy of excitement, "WHO OR WHAT COULD POSSIBLY TOP SOMETHING LIKE THAT ONE?"
'I could.' Mario thought, he was mind-blown by the orange Inkling's skills and several ideas popped into his mind with one of them being an attempt at a similar move to Meggy's.
Without wasting a second of the match, Mario leaped out from behind a corner in a previously defeated Brigader's line of sight. "Mario time..." The Italian said, he started running up the wall just as Meggy had done, "You're too slow."
But, due to his weight, Mario's efforts were short-lived as he fell to the ground. His opponent threw a Splat-bomb at him and the Italian's reflexes kicked back in, Mario rolled out of the way, narrowly evading getting hit by blue paint.
Another bomb came at him and the Italian leaped into the air to avoid the blast, only to be sent flying by the ensuing explosion.
He soared through the air, covered in paint and briefly alit in flames, and flew over the heads of Callie and Marie, who were stunned and amazed by this, with Callie looking on with utter disbelief.
When Mario landed back on the ground almost harmlessly, the green Squid Sister threw up a scoreboard in her hand that read 10/10. The audience seemed to be amazed and entertained by this as much as the hosts were, several Inkopolis citizens laughed and roared with humored applause.
And in the grandstands, amongst the stirring spectators, a pink-haired Octoling watched with a curious and humored smile as she regarded the man in red and blue.
So far, Desti found him to be quite interesting and the idea of having him on her team sprang to mind. But what else did that guy have up his sleeve that would spark her interest even more?
"Red, quit horsing around!" Meggy shouted, "We don't have much time left!"
A buzzer sounded and 'Splatattack' shifted into 'Now Or Never'. The timer showed that fifty-nine seconds remained. "Ooooooh…" Marie said, "We have one minute left!"
"Ok!" Mario snapped, having had just about enough, "It's time to do things THE MARIO WAY!"
He ran around the arena with his weapon, shooting orange ink all over the place. One of the Ink Brigade Inklings threw another bomb at Mario and the Italian drew a golf club, ready for his move. With enough timing, he swung the club and wacked the bomb back at the Ink Brigade member.
KA-POW! The bomb exploded in its owner's face, leaving him stunned long enough for Mario to splat him away with his gun. "FORE!" Callie called and added sarcastically, "Is this golf or Splatfest?"
Thirty seconds left. Mario leaped onto a platform, splatted himself orange and spun around in a massive arc with his Splattershot, covering the section of the arena in paint, while throwing paint bombs in all directions. One bomb struck two Ink Brigade members and blasted them away in a millisecond.
"WHOA!" Kenji ducked for cover with Sam missing the cue as the latter got splatted by Mario. Luckily, due to his orange-colored status, the blast did no further harm to him.
Twenty-two seconds remaining. Meggy threw a Splat Bomb into the air and fired a shot at it, sending the explosive flying over a platform until it hit the Ink Brigade leader while painting his area from blue to orange with very few blue spots left to see.
Eighteen seconds left. Mario ran into a Roller-wielding Inkling girl, one of the members who'd been blasted away earlier. The Inkling transformed into her squid form, taking the appearance of a large and intimidating squid with a roar and crackling energy around it.
Sixteen seconds left; Mario jumped on his opponent like he would with any of Bowser's minions.
POINK! The blue Inkling fell as the Italian expected, vanishing into thin air. Mario pulled his weapons back out, determined to finish this as best he could.
Fifteen seconds left.
The roar of the crowd got louder and louder, Judd reappeared on a platform and Marie leaned over her microphone with intense eagerness to see what was about to happen in the final seconds.
Thirteen seconds remaining.
The Ink Brigade re-spawned whenever they were taken out, charging in to take back their territory, only to be continuously blasted away by the other team.
"Ten seconds left!" Callie said, the timer was on the final countdown phase.
Now, the music quickly intensified, becoming more energetic. Meggy and her team raced around the arena, splatting as much of the warehouse as best they could while fending off the Ink Brigade as the blue Inklings attempted to overtake the group in any way possible.
Five seconds left, Mario went nuts, spamming paint bombs in all directions and rotating rapidly while repeatedly firing splat-shots everywhere, making a mess out of everything.
Three seconds remaining, two seconds, one second.
The music pitched and the intensity swelled.
Zero!
The beeper went off and the sounds of splat weapons winded down, the excited buzz of the crowd began to settle, at least for now.
"It's time for the results!" Marie declared.
Judd stepped forward, his yellow eyes observing the teams. The air was full of excitement, mixed with dread. Mario's eyes were wide, Meggy remained confident, Kenji and Sam looked around one another.
The Ink Brigade stood still, waiting patiently, regardless if the outcome was clear already. A full minute ticked by, a long suspenseful minute.
"And the winner iiiiiissss..." Callie began.
*Drumroll*
This was it, the moment of truth. Mario and the others were on the edge of suspense as much as the audience was, Judd's arm moved and the suspense peaked into a crescendo. This was going to be tight; hearts were pounding, fingers were crossed and...
Judd held up an orange flag!
"THE SPLATSQUAD!" Callie announced, pumping her fist.
Mario threw his arms in the air with a hearty 'wahoo', Kenji and Sam high-fived and confetti rained down while the Ink Brigade groaned with defeat. The crowd went wild, cheering for the orange team in one massive frenzy. Mario was beyond amazed, they'd done it.
He was just taking it all in when Meggy tackled him in a hug with an Inkish "squeeeeeee".
"We won, we won!" The Inkling exclaimed excitedly, "Mario, you were amazing! I'm sorry if I doubted you."
"Yeah, great job, dude." Kenji told the red Italian.
"Oh, yeah. You weren't too bad." Sam agreed.
Meggy was jumping up in the air with excitement as the crowd kept cheering and Mario danced happily. Amongst the cheering crowds, Desti smiled quietly and crossed her arms, impressed by what she'd seen. Perhaps there was potential in that guy after all, she couldn't wait to meet with him.
The four champions left the arena, ready to celebrate their victory. When they got to the plaza, they were greeted by a swarm of cheering Inklings.
Meggy was smiling with pride all throughout as her team took in the cheers and met with their new fans and Mario couldn't take her eye off that happy look on her face, their victory was a massive accomplishment, especially for the orange Inkling.
A quarter of an hour later, once all the buzz from the Splatsquad's victory had settled, the four were sitting on the rooftops of Moray Towers together and watching the view below them.
Kenji and Sam shared a couple laughs while Meggy sat next to Mario, feeling happy with herself. A shiny gold trophy depicting an Inkling in squid form sat by her side, given to the team by the Squid Sisters in the Plaza amidst all the excited buzz.
In fact, Meggy's hand was wrapped around her award and she couldn't even let go of it.
Mario saw that his friend and newly-declared Splatfest champion of Inkopolis wanted to hold it as close to her for as long as possible. Yesterday, she'd called herself an upcoming star. Now, after today's victory, the orange Inkling had the right to call herself a star, she was going to be famous.
However, fame and Splatfest weren't the only big things on Mario's mind right now. As usual, nothing could stop the silly plumber from thinking of his favorite food as well as going home.
In his mind, Mario hoped Peach and Toadsworth went easy on him after what happened yesterday. He just couldn't wait to tell SMG4, Luigi and the others about his Splatoon adventure.
The only other question was; Would there be more Splatoon-related adventures after the events of today and what did the future hold in store for Mario and Meggy if they had more adventures together...?
"What is it, Red? Is something up?" Meggy asked curiously, observing Mario's facial expression.
The fat Italian looked at his new friend, realizing how much of a terrible job he was doing in not letting Meggy read his mind. He had to be honest. "I can't-a stay here for long." Mario replied, "Peach and Toadsworth are-a worried and likely-a cross with me. Even my brother Luigi may be concerned..."
Meggy's smile faltered, becoming replaced with a look of sadness. "Th-that's all right..." She said, "We had a really great time together and... I'll miss you, Mario."
"It's ok, don't cry." Mario saw that a tear was rolling down the Inkling's cheek and he hugged her, "No matter how much you eat, there will always be leftovers. Mario had lotsa fun as much as you did, I'd be happy to have fun with-a you again."
"But will I see you again?"
"You could always come visit, maybe you could come over sometime and I could-a introduce you to Luigi."
Kenji raised a hand, having overheard Mario and Meggy's talk. "Yo, what about us, man? We're on the same team and you're a cool dude, don't leave the dudes outta this?"
Sam agreed, "Yeah, c'mon, don't ditch and diss us after what we did together."
Meggy nodded to her teammates and stood up with the trophy still in hand, followed by Mario and the two Inkling boys.
"It's unlikely you two are going anywhere or will be left behind." The orange female Inkling declared, "Team SplatSquad is inseparable and friends stick together no matter what. Mario's going home and he's offered us a chance to meet his friends sometime, so let's see him off."
The four headed down to the Plaza to the very spot where Mario first arrived with Meggy yesterday, the sewer was still open and not much had changed. A pair of Inkling girls waved at Mario from next to a bench, swooning at the sight of him and giggling excitedly.
"Bye, Mario." Meggy said, "Thanks for helping us win the Splatfest."
"Yeah, bye. See ya later." Kenji and Sam chimed in, "Come back anytime. Don't forget to write."
Mario waved back towards the three Inklings. "Bye-bye..." He said. And with that, he jumped down the sewer. 'That was sure fun.' He thought, 'I had a great time.'
The heroic Italian traveled his way through the sewers, back to the castle basement, back to where his journey began just a short day ago. In the aftermath of a great victory, a new friendship was forged and the door was open to more adventures and many battles ahead.
And this is where we come to the end of our story, thank you for joining us, I have been the all-knowing Multiversal Observer...
The End