Chapter Two:

Hobo-Prophets of the Apocalypse

"The day of reckoning is coming! Believe in the number four, he is our only hope, the one who will save us from destruction! Has anyone seen our lord and savior? Can you hear us?"

RING-RING-RING!"

"We are not joking; this matter is serious. Judgement Day is coming and the only one who can save you all from the end of your universe is the mighty Number Four! We are number one and number two, we are here to help save our world!

"Uh, I think they're ignoring us, One!"

In the streets of Mushroom City, two squat beings stood on the sidewalk; One was a blue-colored cube-looking humanoid with a flat head wearing a red bandana and a hat which had the number one on it. The other had a round head, a green body, a red bandana and a hat with the number two upon it.

The duo was holding up various signs as people passed by, one sign read 'Our Lord and Savior Four'. The other sign read, 'Beware the Evil Zero, the apocalypse is nigh'.

Hobo 1 and Hobo 2 were not from around these parts, they were from out of town. You might say, they were out of this world, originating from a civilization that was destroyed in a great disaster caused by a great evil. They'd been here for some time and had been on the search for someone of importance; someone associated with the number four.

And their hope was that this person would help them save this world from oblivion.

"We should try again!" Hobo 1 said, he spoke in a rough British accent, "Maybe the park!"

"Good idea, Two!" Hobo 2 had a squeaky voice, "What about while crossing the street?"

"What? NO!"

Too late, as Hobos 1 & 2 crossed the street towards the park, Hobo 2 brought out a megaphone and began shouting, "HEAR OUR PLEA! WE SEEK THE NUMBER FOUR; THE APOCALYPSE IS COMING AND YOU ARE ABOUT TO FACE THE END OF THE UNIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT! BEWARE, THE APOCALYPSE IS NEAR! THE END TIMES ARE COMING!"

A baker stomped outside the diner and shook his fist. "CUT OUT THAT RACKET, YOU CRAZY HOBOS!" He yelled.

Hobo 1 and 2 crossed the street and entered the park as people looked at them, a Toad brought out his phone and snapped a picture, giggling as he prepared to show it to his buddies on social media. While this was nothing new, strange homeless people in the street blabbing about the end of the world, this scenario was almost different.

'Only Number Four could stop the apocalypse,' what were people going to think of next?

Hobo 1 and 2 looked around themselves, aware of the attention they'd just brought to themselves. They'd been at this for months now, for days, it had been years since they first arrived in this world and their quest was too important for them to give up.

Just before anybody could do something, Hobo 2 raised his megaphone and Hobo 1 started ringing the bell again. "HEAR US, HEAR US!" SMG2 cried, "THE END OF THE WORLD APPROACHES, BEWARE ZERO! FOUR WILL SAVE US ALL, HAVE YOU SEEN OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, THE NUMBER FOUR, ANYWHERE? YOU GOTTA BELIEVE US, JUST BELIEVE!"

"The end times are nigh!" Hobo 1 proclaimed, "No one is safe, nowhere is safe! Believe now before it's too late, we speak the truth, Zero is out there and ready to attack! YOUR WORLD IS COMING TO AN END SOON AND WE CAN STOP IT WITH FOUR'S HELP, THE AVATAR IS THE KEY, THE AVATAR IS AMONG YOU!"

The duo kept ringing the bell and making proclamations before someone threw a rock at them, yelling at the Hobos to shut up! The observing crowd wandered off, minding their own business and leaving Hobo 1 and 2 to themselves with nothing but a bell and megaphone as well as a pair of signs.

Hobo 1 groaned in frustration, hardly any progress made and nobody knew what was going on, all those people saw were a pair of crazy homeless hobos causing a ruckus.

"Every day that passes, the end gets closer and we haven't found him yet, One!" Hobo 2 groaned, "And, wherever he is, he's growing stronger and he could be closing in on him."

"We can't give up easily, Two!" Hobo 1 told 2, "We will search everywhere and anywhere, Four is around here somewhere and there are people who know him. We will find him, no matter the odds, and we will find the Avatar."

"Oh, Four and Avatar, where are you?"

"Don't despair, we will not fail like last time, we will succeed in the end. All we need is Four, the Avatar and the Guardian Pod. Come along, Two. We may find a lead hidden in plain sight; we may find someone connected to Four. Perhaps we'll find Three as well."

The two mysterious hobos wandered through the park, passing by the Old Man Hobo as he sat on a rock, reading the Daily Globe and humming to himself. The old man looked up from his newspaper, silently observing the passing duo before he went back to reading his article without a thought about the two fellas.

An Inkling girl in a white dress sat on a bench, feeding bread to a pair of birds while petting a Sea Snail that sat next to her. The Inkling waved to Hobo 1 and 2, giggling at them as she took in how short and funny looking they appeared to be.

Hobo 2 and Hobo 1 whistled amongst themselves and walked along, whistling a hopeful little ditty to lift their uncertain and troubled spirits.

Four squirrels emerged from the bushes, picking up acorns laying under a tree, then they raced back into their nests to store their newly-obtained food. The world felt at peace, in harmony as it was meant to be. However, the two hobos knew what they had to do to ensure that peace and harmony remained in order.

Both beings soon bumped into an Octoling boy clad in black leather, almost tripping him. ShadowSquid9 yelped in shock as his legs gave out. Luckily, he regained his footing at the last minute and managed to keep his balance.

"Sorry there, I didn't see you two." He said.

"No, no, no. We didn't see you." Hobo 1 quipped, "So we're sorry."

"It's quite alright, we have our mess-ups now and again." ShadowSquid held up his hand.

"Excuse me, sir." Hobo 2 said, "Have you seen our lord and savior, the number four?"

ShadowSquid batted an eye, "Uh, not that I know of, why do you need four?"

"The end of the universe is coming and something sinister is at the heart of it."

"His name's Zero, he's a virus that destroys universes and drains life from others."

ShadowSquid took a step back, his eyes filled with shocked. "Are you talking about that thing in the Dark Web, the one that's drained the life from the Mario Recolors including GreenStacheBoi?"

Hobo 2 gasped, "HE'S HERE? IN THE DARK WEB?" "And you say he's captured recolors of the Avatar?" Hobo 1 asked.

"Yeah. I saw a massive arm thing in a cathedral, it took GreenStacheBoi like it apparently took the other Mario recolors. I barely got out of there, it... it let me go. But still, it explains the disappearances of the Mario Recolors over the last few years, the rumors about the shadow in the Dark Web."

"He's on the hunt!" Hobo 1 cried.

"I-I had my suspicions when we heard about some of the disappearances, those whispers... we-we didn't know this." Hobo 2 was terrified, "At this rate, we don't have much time, he must be closing in on Four and the Avatar!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down, you silly apocalypse hobo prophet bros!" ShadowSquid laughed nervously, "You seem to know so much about the situation, perhaps I could help? First thing's first... Who's this Four you seek?"

Hobo 1 and Hobo 2 looked at each other, wondering if this was a good idea to speak of such information to a being like him. After a minute of considerable silence, the decision was made and Hobo 2 looked at ShadowSquid9 in the eye. "The one we seek..." He said, "Our savior we've been trying to find for a long time... is the one you call 'SMG4'."