Chapter Fourteen:
Plumbers and Memes: Sunken Memories
Mahi-Mahi Resort, an established vacation spot for those in Inkopolis who could swim, with waters of cold temperatures. Not only that, but it was also the perfect stage for a Turf War.
Orange ink splattered everywhere as Meggy ran past a palm tree, firing her Splattershot, with Stanley following behind her and Mario at their side. Opposing them was Team Metro Blue, a pair of Hawaiian outfit-wearing Inklings bearing Splat-Chargers and Splat-rollers.
They may not have been the Ink Brigade or Team Killer Ink, but these guys were formidable. The match had started less than a minute ago and Meggy's team had gotten off to a head start, so too had Metro Blue.
The Inkling-human team's path crossed with Metro Blue and the battle was on, Meggy splatted two of the opposing team's members before they could fire off their Splat-Chargers and Mario dodged an Inkling girl wielding a Splat-roller before splatting her in the back and knocking her out.
Ink flew everywhere, blue covered orange and orange covered blue. Whenever an Inkling got splatted, they would explode and their spirit would fly off to their spawning pad, a machine from which Inkling players would come back, leaving their clothes and gear behind.
Meggy fired her weapon like wild, covering as much of the resort in shades of orange as she could while avoiding blue ink fire, she splatted her attackers and focused on splatting up the area around one of the swimming pools as "Splatattack" played over the speakers.
But once the timer reached the remaining one minute mark, the music was replaced with "Now or Never". From the start of the game, Meggy made sure that she and her friends had their act together, they'd trained for this.
As she ran through the stage and inked up the turf, memories surfaced, recalling her first Splatfest with Mario where they lost to the Ink Brigade, then she recalled the last Splatfest, going up against those discriminatory jerks and showing them the folly of their discrimination.
She, Mario and Stanley focused on inking the resort and took out the Metro Blue squad members that tried to take their territory, laying more orange ink on the ground and defending their growing territory until the whistle sounded.
Judd entered the stage, meowing and looking around as he gathered the results, then he waved the orange flag and showed the results.
85.5% Orange to 25.5% Blue.
VICTORY!
Meggy squealed and pumped her fists, Stanley danced a little jig and then pumped his fist in the air. Mario, however, struck a dab, something that nobody expected. Meggy looked at him with shock, Stanley fell over, eyes wide with disbelief.
Even Judd and Metro Blue were confused. Meggy took note of this and agreed with herself on one thing; Idiot or not, Mario was still an oddball...
Moray Towers, located on the east side of Inkopolis away from the Plaza and the Square. It was occasionally used as a Turf War stage, but this was where some people lived.
Meggy sat on the roof of one building in particular, her old home, with Mario next to her. Stanley stood nearby, watching them and listening to every conversation.
"Red..." Meggy spoke, "Do you remember sitting on the rooftops together, sharing our dreams, all those years ago?"
Mario looked puzzled.
"I shared my dream of becoming Splatfest's champion..." The Inkling went on, "And your dream was, uh, something about spaghetti. You, rather, the other Mario was obsessed with that. You at one point were willing to share a plate with me, that day on the roof after training, when I was feeling down..."
Mario stood still, staring off at the horizon silently.
"Hey, Mario…" Stanley had come up, "You're not looking at us, is something wrong?"
Mario was scratching his head. "I'm-a seeing things..." He said, "In my head, these-a thoughts, these... visions of another life."
"What visions are you having?" Meggy asked with interested.
"They don't-a make sense, but... I'm seeing myself... sitting on a rooftop with an Inkling girl wearing a beanie, she says the next day is the big day and she asks if we're going to make it.
"I can see myself with a Splatling, inking turf... at Walleye Warehouse, we're up against a pair of blue Inklings... What are they called, the Ink Brigade? Mama mia..." Mario scratched his head, "And then, we... we lose. I comfort you, saying something about spaghetti...
"So many adventures afterward and then, there's some Octoling girl in a sweater with pink hair, you two fought... in-a the Deep Sea Metro with the Octoling wanting me to join her team. Desti? Is that her name? Desti? And... she-a died... impaled by… a Sepharoth?
" Then, we're in another tournament, facing-a cyan-blue Inklings and... they have-a no respect for-a humans... We beat them, unlike when we face those other blue Inklings, who are also in the tournament... Now, I'm-a seeing myself tied-a up... in front of DJ Octavio, who's-a mad at me?"
"His memories might be coming through..." Stanley remarked.
Mario stood up. "I don't know what's going on." He remarked, "Even I can't remember the last ten years of my life..."
"Whoa, what?" Meggy asked.
"What do you mean, Mario?" Stanley asked.
"The last thing I remember..." Mario rubbed his head, "...is-a approaching some giant USB. Then, I... was hit by lightning and everything went black, the last thing I remember after-a that is... waking up in some underground-a chamber with... Phoenix Wright.
"There's-a so much that doesn't make sense, what are those adventures I don't-a remember and... something about memes."
Meggy lit up and glanced at SMG4. "Wait, that's it!" She cried, "Quick! Show him some memes, SMG4!"
"Okie-dokie." SMG4 said, he was nearly surprised as Meggy was, but perhaps it would work.
Stanley began tapping on his phone and turned it around, letting Mario see the screen. And on the screen, to Mario's surprise, was a blue hedgehog running in place with a goofy facial expression and repeatedly saying, "You're too slow, you're too slow."
It lasted a while until the man in blue and white flipped the screen, showing Mario making odd noises, which baffled the real Mario.
Another screen flip and a fat man with a mustache appeared. "I'VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT..." He declared, the picture changed to showing a laser hitting the moon, "I'M PISSING ON THE MOON!"
The finger flipped the screen again, showing a guy playing a video game with Luigi next to him.
"Hah, what do you need Luigi for? He's crap!" The man laughed, Luigi turned to him and punched the man so hard, he fell out the window. Mario froze, completely surprised by what he was seeing, but now he was starting to get it. The memes, so that what those were and... wait...
His eyes widened and Stanley held the phone closer to him as if to let Mario have a closer look at what he was seeing, he flipped the screen again and a fat man in orange and yellow with a green hat appeared, making noises with his mouth, beat-boxing apparently. Wait, it WAS beat-boxing.
Mario's mind flipped and his eyes spun, within the space of seconds, memories were rushing back. One after another, he was remembering it all;
Going into the castle for cake, finding there wasn't any and throwing the princess into a wall, the day he met SMG4 for what seemed like the first time and helping him save his account and when SMG3 copied several of SMG4's videos for a scheme.
He recalled the first WoTFI he and SMG4 had ever done, the times that lunatic Enzo tried to hurt him, the spaghetti factory where he first met Swag and Chris. Getting chased by a Chain Chomp, winding up in that Grand Theft Auto world, dealing with the Team Fortress guys.
Oh man, that fateful cruise with X and FM where he and SMG4 met Boopkins for the first time, encountering Bob in that sewer, running around Hyrule, meeting Meggy and comforting her after her Splatfest loss, his wacky wild west outing and the encounter with Desti.
His mind was exploding with one memory after another; the T-Pose Virus, the Waluigi Apocalypse, defeating and calming Waluigi, the Purge, Bob's rapping career, the Chungus, landing in prison, the anime crisis, the battle on Anime Island, Desti's demise, meeting Greg, visiting that city of gold, when Tari was bullied, that creepy It.
One last rush of memories; The big Splatfest where Meggy finally fulfilled her dream , causing a ruckus in the Animal Crossing village, helping Meggy settle into the Mushroom Kingdom, SMG3's takeover, the Internet Graveyard, the corrupted Morshu, battling the virus Zero, encountering Kaizo and finding himself drunk and alone.
Mario, the dim-witted plumber that everyone loved and was annoyed with, took the phone just as a dancing triangle appeared, followed by the scene of a man saying one of Mario's lines. He swiped through many more memes, finding wacky Splatoon images and cursed Zelda pictures everywhere as a giggle left him.
And then, he threw his head to the sky and cried, "NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINTENDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MEMES!"
He looked at Meggy and... Stanley, a goofy smile on his face, and remarked, "Oh, hey, Meggy and SMG4. Look at these funny memes."
Meggy squealed with happiness and threw herself onto the plumber, hugging him with ecstasy. "Red! You're back!" She cried.
"What? Did-a Mario go somewhere?" Mario asked.
SMG4 stepped forward and pat the plumber on the shoulder. "Good to have you back, buddy." He said, "We..."
Just before he could finish his thought, the group heard motor engines and turned around just as a pair of helicopters flew into the area, piloted by blue-colored Inklings in police uniforms and baring the insignia of the Inkopolis Police Force on them.
The helicopters converged on the group's position, Splatlings baring underneath the choppers. Mario, SMG4 and Meggy looked to each other, wondering what they'd done to get the cops' attention, there was no way any of their activities had attracted the authorities during their time here in Inkopolis, so what gave?
A male Inkling officer poked out the side of one helicopter with a megaphone. "WARNING! THIS IS THE LOCAL INKLING POLICE DEPARTMENT!" The officer declared, "ILLEGAL MEMES HAVE BEEN DETECTED! SURRENDER NOW!"