Chapter Nine:

No Way In Past The Checkpoint

Meggy and SMG4 threw everything they had at the firewall.

The former Inkling whipped out her Splattershot weapon and fired a stream of orange on the force-field, but to no avail. She tried again, launching into a flurry of punches and hit the firewall as hard as she could, the only thing she accomplished, unfortunately, was making her knuckles sore. At least she didn't break her hands.

Her next attempt involved her squid car, driving as fast as she can towards the seemingly impenetrable force-field. Meggy slammed her foot on the gas, driving at high-speeds all the way towards the firewall and wound up getting knocked out of the driver seat upon hitting the wall.

Whatever she did, nothing worked.

SMG4 threw a bomb at the field, which didn't accomplish anything other than the resulting explosion knocking him over and dazing him.

On the other side, Mario brought out a bazooka and attempted to fire off whatever explosive ammo was loaded in there, hoping to blow up the shield.

But no thanks to the firewall, the military-grade weapon morphed into a flower and the brainwashed/"normal" Luigi ran in, took the flower and hugged Mario in a brotherly way... much to the dim-witted Italian's dismay.

Meggy and SMG4 kept at it for however long it would take, trying to bring down the wall with all the strength they had. But no matter how hard they tried, nothing seemed to work. Their efforts were useless.

The meme man found himself gasping for breath after his latest failed attempt, even Meggy, who was very athletic, looked very exhausted.

"Sorry, Mario." SMG4 panted, "We... We'll try to find another way in, looks like you'll be trapped for a while."

Meggy looked to their left. "What about... through there?" She asked.

The beanie-wearing human pointed and the group looked. On the left side of the firewall, a checkpoint had been set up, guarded by a pair of Nintendo Ninjas and a Kremling in a suit, nearly reminding one of an immigration check-in.

A long line of people, either visitors or inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom, stood in front of the gate.

A brown-colored Octoling with black tentacles wearing a black crop-top jacket, headphones, a green skirt and black pants walked towards the gate.

"Name?" The Kremling asked.

"Marina Ida." Marina said.

Meggy gasped, she hadn't seen her in ages. She waved her arm and tried to shout "HI MARINA", only for SMG4 to put a hand on her shoulder, they didn't want to bother anybody right now.

"Ah, yes, the Off the Hook DJ singer in Inkopolis." The Kremling guard said, looking at the checklist in his hands, "Step through."

The Octoling blew him a kiss and walked through the gate, then a wooden humanoid in blue with gold-linings on his outfit stepped up. SMG4 and Meggy recognized Geno in a heartbeat, even before the Kremling asked his name.

"Name?"

"Geno." Geno replied.

"Yes, step through."

Geno walked through, entering the Mushroom Kingdom. Then a mustached man in a military suit walked up, one that everybody knew very well.

"Name?"

"Swagmaster69696969." Swag replied in his standard voice.

The guard looked at the list, then he glared up at Swag. "Sorry, sir." The Kremling told Swag, "It says you're not a Nintendo character, so I can't let you in."

"YOU WOT, M8?" Swag shouted, glaring at the guard with fury, "YOU DON'T EVEN RECOGNIZE ME! WHERE IS YOUR MANAGER? I WAS ONE OF THE ST. PETERSBERG GUARDS IN 007: GOLDENEYE FOR THE N64, THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE VIDEO GAME! SO, TECHNICALLY, I AM A NINTENDO CHARACTER!"

"Calm down, Mr. Swag." A Nintendo Ninja stepped forward, "We don't want any trouble and we don't mean you any harm."

"Hang on!" The Kremling looked over his list again, then he looked up at Swag, "Oh, yes, there you are, sir. St. Petersburg Guard. Step through."

"Damn straight." Swag grinned.

He walked through the gate, but no sooner than he'd made it through, a cage came down around him. Swag grasped the bars with shock and screamed, "OI! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! I THOUGHT WE WERE COOL, LET ME OUT THIS INSTANT, WHAT DID I DO TO GET THE CAGE DROPPED ON ME?! If this is a prank, it is not cool!"

A truck carrying more apparent detainees pulled up and the ninjas set up a ramp.

The Kremling guard picked up the cage and moved it near the back of the vehicle, a pair of guards then opened the cage and dumped Swag into the van while he screamed, "YOU'LL BE HEARING FROM MY LAWYERS, ALL OF THEM! YOU WAIT UNTIL TUBBY WONKA HEARS OF THIS; HE WON'T BE TOO HAPPY!"

"No..." SMG4 said, shocked by what he'd just seen.

"Don't worry." Meggy said confidently, "I'll beat up that guard and we'll rush in!"

She was just about to run towards the checkpoint and start pummeling the Kremling when SMG4 held her back and looked at the former Inkling in the eye. "No." He said, "We're in this mess because you pissed off Lawyer Kong."

Meggy looked hurt. "SMG4, I... I just wanted to help..."

"I know, Meggy, I know you do. It's just... I really don't want to piss off Nintendo anymore." SMG4 lowered his head, "If their producer signs a DMCA against my channel..."

He looked at the uncertain Mario and back at Meggy, "…then all of us will disappear, everything I worked hard on will be lost. Every adventure, our efforts in saving the world from threats like Zero, none of it will matter..."

"So, what do we do?" Meggy asked.

SMG4 sighed and walked off, "For now, we accept our new reality."

Meggy looked back at Mario, the plumber whom she owed for freeing her from the paint can and shared so many adventures with, the silly Italian who'd helped her overcome the odds and fulfill her dream of becoming Splatfest's greatest champion.

'I'm so sorry.'

Meggy lowered her head, even with memories of her first meeting with Mario flashing through her mind, followed by the memories of when she partook in his tower challenge, reenacted a Matrix scene, tried to cook during New Year's and going through Master Hand's Smash Bros trials, all followed by her training time with Mario and the battle with Zero.

She walked away, following SMG4. Until they figured out what to do, there was no other way around this one.

He watched her leave, then he turned to observe the checkpoint, watching a couple Inklings come through and head off to Inkopolis via a bus transit, then a pair of Toads entered. Mario began to think, an idea bubbling slowly bubbling into his mind despite his low intelligence...