Chapter Seventeen:
Your I.P. Ownership Change Contract Has Expired
The planet's gravitational pull caught hold of the trio as they drifted closer. Luckily, they were protected from the likelihood of burning up on reentry, but the fall wasn't avoidable.
Once Mario, SMG4 and Meggy were closer towards the planet, they were falling through the clouds very quickly. Before long, they were in sky fall as if they'd just jumped out of a high-altitude airplane.
Up above, the shards of Mr. Grizz's rocket encircled the planet before a couple pieces came falling like meteors, surrounded by a ball of fire. At least nobody had to worry about the Fuzzy Ooze with its creator defeated, even though a small ball of it could be seen drifting through the stars for a time.
Mario looked down, seeing that he and his friends were above Inkopolis, above Shifty Station, where they'd first encountered that big bear earlier.
He acted quickly, the plumber reached into his inventory and pulled out a parachute, then he gave SMG4 and Meggy some spares. The fall picked up, the surface was getting closer by the minute.
Seconds ticked by, there wasn't much time to think. Mario pulled the cord and the parachute opened, Meggy and SMG4 did the same and they slowly descended... onto the roof of an apartment building.
But before anybody could breathe, Meggy and SMG4 froze, looking paralyzed as lights gleamed around them.
"Uh, guys, you ok?" Mario asked.
A light flashed around Meggy and SMG4, obscuring them for a while. When it cleared up, where an Inkling and a youthful man in blue-white overalls stood, an orange-haired female human with a beanie and a man in blue-white overalls resembling Mario's appearance looked at themselves with shock.
"Oh no, looks like the contracts' effects wore off." SMG4 said nervously.
"That's alright." Meggy said, her voice clear and fully human again, "We gotta get out of here."
In a heartbeat, police helicopters made their appearance and surrounded the group as an alarm began to blare.
"ILLEGAL IP DETECTED!" A cop shouted.
"Oh man, this isn't good!" SMG4 cried.
She, Mario and Meggy leaped off the roof just before the helicopters opened fire and opened their parachutes again, landing on the ground safely and narrowly avoiding Cap'n Cuttlefish as he was staring up at the sky.
The trio waved to him casually, then they took off running through the Shifty Station as fast as they could and ran to the streets of Inkopolis with the cops on their tail.
Mario and his friends didn't look back, nor did they stop to breathe, knowing the cops would catch them as they heard the sound of helicopter engines roaring with the choppers close behind them. Sirens wailed in the distance, more cops were on their way.
The message was clear, they had to escape.
Inklings in Inkopolis Plaza were minding their own business and enjoying life when they heard the wail of sirens and the sounds of yelping. All eyes turned, watching as Mario, SMG4 and Meggy Spletzer ran by, screaming as an Inkopolis Police Department helicopter pursued them with many others following suit.
In Inkopolis Square, Luigi was watering flowers in a plant holder that contained a sign that read: 'Luigi's Splatoon Garden', making it obvious that, with a Mario x Splatoon crossover game in production and given the success of Luigi's gardening game, a spin-off involving Luigi gardening in Inkopolis was being made right now.
"Yes!" The director exclaimed, "Garden, GARDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"
"Yahoo!" Luigi flashed a thumbs up and continued watering the flowers. However, the mood was ruined when Mario came running by and grabbed Luigi with Meggy and SMG4 in tow.
"WHAT?" The director exclaimed, "CUT, CUT, CUT! YOU RUINED THE SHOOT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH OUR STAR! YOU CAN'T DO THIS, BRING HIM BACK, WE'RE NOT DONE YET! WE GOT PLANTS TO FLOWER! SOMEONE STOP THEM, STOP THEM!"
"Mario, what are you doing?!" Luigi demanded.
"We're headed to a place far away, Luigi!" Mario said.
"QUICK, GET IN THAT RV!" SMG4 yelled.
The meme man pointed to a van that was parked by Deca Tower, sitting idly. An Inkling and an Octoling were close by, taking pictures of their surroundings with the Octoling taking a photograph of the Off The Hook studio at one point.
Mario, SMG4 and Meggy pushed the group aside and ran inside the RV, closing and locking the door shut, much to the dismay of the two humanoid cephalopods. SMG4 scrambled to the driver's seat, made sure the engines were running and slammed his foot on the gas pedal before turning the wheel like mad.
The RV rotated like a dial and everyone braced themselves, but one obstacle remained; the police helicopters chasing them. One chopper flew in closer and fired up its weapons, only for the ink to do nothing other than cover the windows.
SMG4 revved the engines and activated the windshield wipers, wiping away the ink. Then he slammed on the gas and drove off, smashing into the chopper in front of it and causing it to crash into one of the other helicopters.
The other choppers swooped in, ready to attack, but SMG4 avoided them all. The police went into retreat, even as the sirens continued to wail somewhere not too far off.
Finally safe and sound, Mario and Meggy high-fived excitedly.
"YAY, WE DID IT!" Meggy cried.
"YAHOO! WE'RE THE BEST!" Mario whooped.
However, one person who wasn't in the mood to rejoice was SMG4, who was focused on driving but looked very tense. "Guys...? You… you don't understand what we've just done…" The meme man said.
Meggy looked at him with a sense of confusion, wondering what her friend was on about. She looked out the back window and her heart began to pound with dread. Standing by the Turf War lobby, briefcase in hand, and watching them from a distance with a serious and sinister grin hiding a look of fury, was Lawyer Kong...