Chapter Fourteen:

YouTube Royale: Gnomes and Minecraftians

On the wall high above, the jumbotron flashed again, showing a roster all of the contestants that had been eliminated thus far in the style of a video game boss selection screen. Then Mario's image came up, followed by the versus sign and an image of the Italian's next opponent...

Keemstar, YouTube's one and only Gnome.

A spotlight shone down from the ceiling and Mario watched as he appeared, Keemstar stared at Mario silently through his gnome-y eyes. He looked so small, exactly around JubJub's size.

He didn't look so tough. Keemstar pulled out a blade and ran at Mario on his squat little legs, hollering a tiny-pitch battle cry. Mario just laughed; this guy was a joke. Keemstar ran closer and closer, closing the distance fast. Mario didn't wait that long; he ran in to intercept him and kicked Keemstar as hard as he could.

"KICK THE TINY!" He cried.

Keemstar shrieked as he flew through the air and slammed into the force-field. The gnome Tuber shrieked as the field's energy currents ripped through him and he exploded, shattering to tiny pieces. So much for being a beloved YouTuber, unless he had a spare gnome body to inhabit somewhere.

K.O!

"Eh, that could have been better..." The YouTube CEO remarked in a deadpan attitude, "I guess this is what you get when you have a gnome compete in a tournament without toughening up, nobody ever expects a curb-stomp battle anyway. Bring in the next one..."

"We're in the endgame now." SMG4 said nervously, seeing Mario's latest victory.

"No kidding!" Bob quipped, "The last stretch is going to be a whole shitload tougher than the last several fights combined, you can be sure of that."

"C'mon, guys. Mario's got this!" Boopkins remarked happily, "He's handled the previous six YouTubers despite them being tough costumers, we know he's not gonna lose. Nobody can beat Super Mario, not even Bowser can, even if he tried."

"Mario, Mario, Mario!" The Inklings watching the event chanted.

Inside the arena, Mario turned as the lights flashed, he spotted a green-colored being made from cubes with a smiley face drawing taped to his front.

Mario knew he had to be from Minecraft, just like Steve and most of the other creatures who came from there. However, this was no ordinary Minecraft resident, Mario had seen this guy somewhere before.

Heck, he had seen him on YouTube before, this guy was a Minecraft YouTube star. And everyone knew him by only one simple name:

Dream.

Creative, passionate and full of Minecraft-y ideas, Dream ranked high on the list of Minecraft YouTubers everywhere and was beloved by so many people in the Minecraft community.

Even Steve seemed to like this guy, especially since Mario had seen him comment on his streams a few times, not to mention that he'd found a few of his "hi guys" comments in the comments sections of Dream's videos.

The Minecraft-Tuber eyed Mario with a blank and intense expression in his eyes, Mario eyed him cautiously. Then Dream emitted an aura around him and floated into the air, blocky arms spread wide as he basked in the light of his power.

Minecraft Content Creator:

-Dream-

Dream reached behind his back and held up his hand to reveal a TNT device in his palm. The fuse lit automatically and the Minecraftian threw it, the explosive hurling towards Mario as the fuse glowed in a fiery hue.

The fat Italian hero yelped and dove for cover as the dynamite exploded on the floor. Dream flew in, his arms outstretched as he spun like a propeller, heading in Mario's direction.

Mario turned around and saw his foe coming, he bent over and ducked backwards limbo-style out of Dream's striking distance as the YouTuber flew over his nose and missed him by inches. Dream turned back around and came for the plumber again.

The heroic goofball made a leap into the air as Dream dove for his feet, Mario looked down to see his blocky opponent pass under him.

He landed on the ground and made a nab for Dream before he could turn around and make another pass, Mario grabbed the Minecraft YouTuber's legs and lifted him as high as he could, then he slammed him into the ground.

He released his grip and Dream lay still for a second, then the blocky content creator got back up and grabbed Mario, much to the plumber's shock.

Dream glared at him with an expressionless stare, then he chucked him into the air. Mario flailed his limbs as he soared towards the ceiling and noticed his trajectory.

Chances were, he would be crashing into the force field on the way down. He summoned his strength and flipped himself around, Mario twirled his body and let gravity take him.

The plumber dropped to the arena floor, landing safely on his feet. Dream soared his way once more and Mario side-stepped the attack, he grabbed Dream by the torso and tore the smiley face drawing clean off of him.

In an instant, he punched Dream in the face and sent him flying. Dream landed near the force field and got back up just as Mario charged at him, the plumber threw his fist and aimed for his foe's face. However, the Minecraft YouTube Creator hovered into the air and out of the way of this attack.

"Wha...!" Mario exclaimed.

He looked down at the shadows on the ground and yelped, ducking right in the nick of time as Dream made a landing, slamming his feet hard into the arena floor. Mario stood up, facing his opponent fiercely.

He was not about to let this guy get in a victory; he knew what to do. Dream charged and threw a punch at Mario's face, but the intrepid Italian ducked behind him and saw a switch on his back.

Just before Dream could turn around, Mario grabbed the switch, seeing it was set to 'ON', and flipped it to the 'OFF' position. Dream froze, unable to move another inch.

Motionlessly, he collapsed to the ground, defeated like the rest.

"Oh yeah! Mario time!" Mario whooped, "Let's-a go. Take-a that, Minecraftian."

The gong began to ring and red lights flashed as the jumbotron flashed intensely up above. Outside, the crowd clamored and roared with excitement, having seen Mario make it through every YouTuber imaginable. By this point, there weren't that many opponents left.

'He's got this.' Luigi thought with a near confident smile.

"Oh yeah, let's go, Mario!" Bob whooped.

"YEAH, MARIO!" Boopkins cried excitedly.

In the arena, Mario looked up to face The YouTube CEO. The CEO glared down at him, giving Mario a slight smirk. The lights continued to flash and the ringing of the gong continued, sounding throughout the room.

The floor began to rumble and Mario nearly fell over, gasping with surprise. Whatever was going on, the game wasn't over yet.

On the Jumbotron, Mario's image appeared, followed by the versus sign, and the image of a new player appeared on the other side, the image of a famous YouTuber whom the plumber had seen once before.

No, he'd appeared many times prior to then, Mario had seen his videos.

The arena shook again and a hole opened in the middle of the floor. Mario walked away from the spot where he'd defeated Dream and stood on the left side of the arena, machinery whirred and he watched as a massive platform rose up from the ground.

And standing in the middle of the platform, sporting a beard and wearing a sweater and jeans, was Mario's final opponent:

PewDiePie.