Chapter Sixteen
Victory and Depression
SMG4 was at a near loss for words as he saw the jumbotron, seeing that PewDiePie's channel had been deleted. The crowd was buzzing with amazement, Boopkins was jumping up and down, Luigi pumped his fist.
Inside the building, the arena returned to normal and the force-field deactivated. The YouTube CEO approached Mario and gave him a smile of approval, they departed the room and walked through the hall. Doc Luis had gone outside at one point and Mario found him outside with the others, all watching him with astonishment.
"The winner, by some miracle..." The YouTube CEO declared, "...is Mario!"
The crowd went wild, cheering for Mario on his victory. SMG4 and the others ran forward excitedly and lifted him into the air with SMG4 being the happiest out of all the others, his channel was safe and it was all thanks to the plumber himself.
"I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!" Saiko yelled excitedly.
"Alright, Mario!" Bob said, "You got 'em!"
Everyone chanted Mario's name, roaring their amazement for the fat Italian's victory. Even Meggy was amazed by her friend's victory, especially as he had just ensured that his title as champion was solidified.
She looked on silently, her face letting off a small smile, even as she thought of the fact that Mario didn't let her train him.
The CEO then turned around and held up the YouTube Remote, "As for the losers..."
Jacksepticeye, Markipiller, the Game Grumps, the Nostalgia Critic, a reactivated Dream and the real Keemstar stood outside, all looking into the YouTube CEO's eyes with fear. The Nostalgia Critic was whimpering and hugging the Game Grumps, who were crying too as the CEO surveyed them all, then she set down the remote.
"I'll just give you copyright strikes." She said, "You can keep your channels."
Both YouTubers cried out with happiness, knowing they would be keeping their channels on YouTube and would continue to produce videos. A revived JonTron emerged with his arms in the air and proclaimed, "Halleluiah, HALLELUIAH!"
"We can make Let's Plays again!" Grump cried.
"I can't wait to shit on Sonic games like the old days!" Not-So Grump said.
"Think we can do fanfic reads again too?"
"Oh, you bet, once we find the perfect fanfic to read during an LP."
"Party at SMG4's!" Bob cried, "Where are the chicks at?"
"Oh, golly gee, let's go." Shroomy said.
"Yahoo!" Mario whooped, "It's-a Mario party time!"
"Good work, Mac." Doc Luis complimented Mario, patting him on the shoulder, "Ya showed them who's boss and how hard you trained for this, I'm real proud of you and I want you to never forget that fact."
The Glitchy Gang waltzed off down the streets with Mario lifted high over their shoulders while the crowd chanted the fat Italian's name, several Inklings blew party streamers and warbled in Inkish while throwing confetti everywhere as a pair of Toads blew trumpets in a unanimous fanfare.
Meggy stood with the rest of the spectators, her smile becoming a frown. She didn't join the others, she didn't offer her compliments to Mario. All she felt was slight disappointment. Once again, things had not gone well as expected.
Without a word, Meggy hopped into her Inkling car and drove off through the streets of Mushroom City, driving home through the crowded streets of amazed citizens. She drove past Mario and the others while they rejoiced, neither of them paying her attention as they headed through Toad Town towards Peach's Castle.
Meggy slowed at a red light and stopped long enough to grab a napkin and blow her noise, then she wiped away a tear in her eyes. She looked up at the traffic light, watching it silently. Then it turned green and she drove on, narrowly missing a truck as it's horn honked loudly.
The Inkling-turned human drove her way into the suburbs away from all of the crowded city streets. She drove past Toads playing in the streets, a pair of Inklings from Inkopolis playing basketball with a couple humans near a two-story house.
Meggy drove on until she parked at her house, she guided her car into the empty driveway, letting the engine idle until she cut it off. Without a word, she stepped out of the car and walked up the front porch into her house. The place was a mess, baked bean cans lay in the sink and eaten pizza boxes lay across the floor.
A few cobwebs were strewn upon the wall, Meggy stomped on a spider and absent-mindedly brushed it aside with her boot. She walked past a banana peel on the floor, stepping on a fallen juice box, approaching the chalkboard where she'd been writing down what jobs she'd been trying.
Grabbing a white mark, she crossed off 'boxing coach', marking another career on the failed jobs list. Meggy had already tried to be a professional cook, but given how bad of a cook she was, that was a no go.
She remembered that day she tried to cook with Mario during New Year's, back when she was an Inkling. That didn't go well then, neither did it go well when she tried to cook a turkey at Bob's mansion. Bowser's cooking show was a whole other story entirely, that was shit.
Firefighting, another crossed-off job, one that fell flat as Meggy and Saiko had stolen a fire-truck from Swagmaster and Chris, then her group's name "Fire Woomy Brigade" had been stolen by the former during the time Mario was befriending that weird siren-headed monster.
She then remembered pursuing a lawyer degree, it had been a dream for her then, back during the days when she yearned to come out on top in Splatfest and become it's champion.
She'd defended Mario in law class, graduated with a lawyer degree and been Mario's lawyer for a time and still kept it after she turned human...
And yet, it ended up falling flat weeks ago when Melony took Axol to a food court for what he'd apparently done to Watermelon-Kun and had Meggy do her lawyer thing.
It wasn't even real lawyering. At that point, it just... didn't speak to her anymore the way it used to.
Perhaps one day, if something came up and her lawyer skills were needed, Meggy would take up the call and would fill the lawyer role once again.
She still had the skills and, if any of her friends such as Mario wound up running into some serious legal trouble if a situation came to pass, Lawyer Meggy would make her return and come to her friend's defense. For now, those days were over.
Meggy glanced over at 'babysitting', memories of looking after JubJub for Boopkins that one day coming to the surface. It was a failure, especially with Shroomy's demon-hunting self coming for JubJub and then that demon eye thing came and asked Meggy to look after it's baby.
Her eyes then shifted to "police officer", her mind recalling her time in the police force, working with Hal Monitor.
She'd sent her application to the Mushroom Kingdom police force shortly after her Splatfest victory and received it weeks later before she moved out of the city, she remembered the day she became Hal Monitor's police partner after she'd settled into the Mushroom Kingdom.
And getting to know him, especially after their rocky first meeting when Mario was trying to start a school club, it was quite... special.
They'd worked well together and it was thanks to Meggy that they managed to bust that Shy Guy crime gang, it took days for Meggy to get the hang of police work and, after SMG3 had been dealt with, things seemed to be working fine... until that fateful late Autumn day.
Meggy recalled the day she and Hal Monitor responded to a call for action, a pair of hit-men had taken a bank hostage and almost everyone on the police force had been called in.
The situation had been extremely intense, especially when it soon escalated into a shootout that saw several cops losing their lives. Meggy had taken down several of the criminals, protected as many people as she could...
But her skills weren't enough to keep her from taking the bullet as she was hit in the shoulder and the left side of her abdomen, Meggy tried to stand, but she was badly hurt.
She clutched her shoulder, remembering the injury. She remembered fainting, waking up in a hospital bed, the doctor reported that she was in stable condition. It took her days to heal, days to get back on her feet, it was nothing compared to when she emerged from the Ink Zuccer as a full human.
Hal Monitor reminded her that police work was dangerous, Meggy remembered that she'd been injured in the line of duty before, chasing down a criminal sometime before SMG3 acquired the YouTube Remote.
But now, the former Inkling decided that being a police officer didn't work anymore. She resigned after leaving the hospital, Hal Monitor understood then and told her to take care of herself.
Plus, it didn't seem to speak to her that much anyway.
Sighing with defeat, Meggy sat down on her couch and turned on the TV, hoping to watch something that would lift her spirits. But she just had to pick the news channel of all outlets.
"This is Kermit the Frog here..." Kermit reported, "And this is just in, people say that your life is meaningless and here is why..."
*Click*
Meggy turned the TV off, not wanting to hear any more of it already. She looked at her table, noticing a very particular object close by.
She picked it up, holding it as she looked in it's reflection; The Golden Squid; Meggy's hard-earned Splatfest trophy, the award that Callie and Marie had given to her in Inkopolis Plaza on the day she emerged triumphant in the Splatfest tournament.
She remembered holding it for the first time, standing in the Plaza, a Splatfest champion, surrounded by her friends. It had been so perfect, everything she'd dreamed of, since before she met Mario and since the day she turned human.
Then she remembered one of the last words that Desti's ghost had said to her on Moray Towers; "As much fun as it's been to see you cry because of me, you have to move on with your life."
And since her victory, despite trying hard to move forward, Meggy felt directionless. She stared at her award, thinking about it all, where to go from here.
She couldn't just go back to Inkopolis, just compete in Turf Wars daily or volunteer for Salmon Run shifts or work in any of the shops there. No, it wouldn't work, it wouldn't be meaningful and fulfilling.
'I promised to move on...' Meggy thought, 'But where do I go from here...' She set down her award and sat back on the couch in a depressed and slumped state, 'What is there that's left to do in life...'
And unbeknownst to her, a shadowy figure was watching from the corner of the room as it slowly materialized into existence. She never saw it, but it had been there, it's roots tracing back to when she first became human and had slowly been forming in the shadows ever since as it waited for the time to strike.
She didn't notice, but in the nights since the island, she'd felt a cold presence. It was there, lurking in the darkness, preying on her emotions and growing stronger with each passing day.
No matter how many times you ignored it, no matter where you went, the darkness waited. Turn on the light, the shadow would be there. The stronger the light, the stronger the shadow.
Just as there was good in the hearts of everyone in the world, there was evil, represented by a dark shadow lurking beneath the surface as it feasted on despair.
But when there was despair, there was always hope.
It watched Meggy, preying on her emotions, feeding off of her depression. Then, the door burst open unexpectedly. The shadow vanished and, to Meggy's surprise, Bob came in with the rest of the gang. The Garo blew a party kazoo and proclaimed, "Afterparty at Meggy's!"
Meggy groaned as party music began blaring from the radios and Mario started dancing on the sofa next to her, the former Inkling screamed with frustration. All she wanted was to be alone in peace, with what she was going through right now, the former Inkling was in no mood to party with the people she called her friends.
And in the shadows, the darkness skulked away, feeding off her bottled up despair and continuing to grow in strength...
