Chapter Eleven:
Old Faces Not Forgotten
SMG4 sat near a rock in the desert, a notebook and pencil in hand. Meggy sat with him, the meme man was trying to keep them entertained with various story ideas, even though the orange-haired athlete didn't look too upbeat right now, given the current situation they were facing.
"Ok." SMG4 said, "So, how about 'SMG4: The Depression Arc...?"
Meggy sighed, "All of your arcs are depressing."
"Yeah, I know, fair enough." SMG4 set down the notebook solemnly.
"I mean, we had Waluigi turning into a vengeful deity of destruction, Bob pursuing his career as a rapper and dissing us..." Meggy recounted, "Then we had the anime war with anime getting banned, Francis kidnapping Inklings and the battle on Anime Island where we lost Desti…
"Then we dealt with SMG3 deleting us and taking over your channel. I could go on. And not-so recently, we dealt with an eldritch virus bent on destroying the universe and lost our friend Axol, then the virus came back and used the God Box. And now... we have this."
"It got better in the end every time..." SMG4 pat Meggy on the shoulder, "Waluigi chilled out and reconciled with Wario. We got Bob back. Anime was unbanned, we beat Francis, saved the Inklings and you whooped ass in Splatfest. SMG3 was sent to the Internet Graveyard and we saved the universe and Mario from Zero.
"Meggy, I'm sure things will get better in the end. We'll figure it out, something will come up. I haven't given up, we just got to be more confident and something will happen. But honestly, it's not like someone's gonna come walking up to talk to us and they have the means to assist us and... What the...?"
He and Meggy looked up, seeing a man in a blue suit approach them, looking down at them with a straightforward face.
One look at him and Meggy stood up, eyes wide with amazement.
"Oh my gosh!" She squealed, "It's the famous lawyer Phoenix Wright! Huge fan, you are such an inspiration to those aspiring to be lawyers, you're to lawyering as to what Oneshot Wren is to Splatfests. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, you both inspired me so much..."
She walked up with glee, holding a note pad and pencil. "Can I have your autograph?" She asked.
"Meggy, I think you need to calm down." SMG4 said.
Phoenix just smiled and signed Meggy's autograph, making her jump up with glee. Then he looked at the two of them firmly and said, "Mario tells me you two need help getting past the firewall, would you like me to help?"
"Dang!" Meggy cried, "You want to help? SMG4, Phoenix Wright is here to help!"
"Looks like we got a fightin' chance against Lawyer Kong after all." SMG4 chuckled with glee.
The attorney reached into his pocket and pulled out two pieces of parchment, handing them to Meggy.
"No way..." The former Inkling said as she looked at them, "That's a… That's a temporary I.P. change contract!"
"Oh, I know about those..." SMG4 commented, "Those contracts allow whomever signs them to change ownership of whatever I.P another company owns, even though it's for a short period of time. I think I can see where this is going."
"This will help you get past the firewall." Phoenix said, "Good luck."
He walked off, leaving SMG4 and Meggy be to themselves. The latter grabbed a pen and started signing the first contract. However, SMG4 was a little concerned.
"Uh, Meggy? Shouldn't we read it before we sign it?" The meme man asked.
"Phoenix Wright is one of the best lawyers in the world." Meggy said, "I trust him, he said he will help us and so, we should trust him."
She finished signing the paper and the parchment began to glow with a strange hue. SMG4 and Meggy looked at each other, almost confused. Was this normal for a contract to glow like that, was something supposed to happen?
A blinding light filled the area and Meggy was struck by a strange aura of energy, SMG4 shielded his eyes as he heard his best friend shriek. Seconds later, the dust settled and the meme man blinked, slowly uncovering his eyes to see the results in front of him. No way, this was too good to even be remotely true.
Right in front of him, wearing black shorts and Octoling combat boots, a white T-shirt with a purple arrow and black sleeves with headphones, goggles and a red beanie, looking at her hands with purple eyes was an orange Inkling girl everyone knew too well...
"I'm my Inkling self again." Meggy said. When she spoke, she spoke with the same warble and almost robotic tone that the Inklings had when she spoke.
"How does it feel?" SMG4 asked.
"I feel... I feel… AMAZING!" She squealed with happiness and ran around, morphing into her squid form randomly while firing off her Splattershot and spraying orange ink everywhere.
"I'M A SQUID AGAIN!" Meggy cried, "I'VE MISSED THIS SO MUCH! IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I WAS AN INKLING, I CAN TURN INTO A SQUID AND SWIM THROUGH INK NORMALLY! I'VE DREAMED OF THE DAY I WOULD GET THIS BACK!"
"Great." SMG4 gave a thumbs up, "Now you'll be considered a part of Nintendo and allowed through that giant firewall."
"Hell yeah!" Meggy exclaimed, "Now let's go save Mario!"
She looked at SMG4 with concern in her eyes, the renewed worry replacing her excitement in seconds, "But, you should change into your Nintendo I.P form first, SMG4."
"But what am I going to turn into?" SMG4 asked, "I don't have a Nintendo I.P. form."
Meggy handed him the other contract that hadn't been signed yet. SMG4 shrugged and grabbed a pencil, without another word, he began to write his name as the contract glowed it's magical color.
Once it was signed, the meme man was struck with the same transformation energy that had engulfed his friend just moments before, as the contract's power began to change SMG4's appearance...