My name is Meggy Spletzer.

A long time ago, there was a very special person I looked up to. His name was Oneshot Wren and he was a legend, a Splatfest champion.

I remember the day we met, Wren was an inspiration and helped shape me into who I am now. He gave me his beanie and said that I had the makings of a champion. His words were inspirational and thus, I began my journey, to become just like him, to rise to the top as a Splatfest champion among champions.

It took many years and a lot of training. And during my journey, my life changed forever when I met Mario and the others. We fought, shared adventures and hardship, and dealt with grief along the way. But I never gave up my dream, nor did I forget Wren's words.

After becoming a new person and after so much hardship, such as losing my one rival, I finally rose to the top and became the Splatfest champion and went on to become a sports coach as I figured out what to do with my life...

...and then, that fateful day came, the day I met Oneshot Wren again. But this time, he wasn't who I thought he was, he wasn't the same Inkling who'd inspired me all those years ago.

He lost his title, he lost his fame, and his friends. I didn't want to believe he'd fallen off, I learned he was alive, and thought he was in the wild west. But it was all a virtual simulation, made possible when Wren got his hands on a letter from an anonymous entity with a TV symbol and sought to reclaim all of it.

Me, Mario, Tari, and the others were all trapped within his simulation. But in the end, we fought back and escaped. Everyone lived. Except for Wren, who tried to keep us in the dream world, but his own power brought everything down around him.

Discovering what Wren had become, who he was, it reminded me of the saying "never meet your heroes".

But even after what he did to us, I can still remember the Wren who gave me his beanie and the words that inspired me, back when I was a little Inkling and when I looked up to him. Did it really matter if Oneshot Wren had become a corrupt egotistical, glory-seeking monster who put us through heck in the end?

Like I said, never meet your heroes. But he was still an inspiration in my life, I still wear his beanie, and still came out on top in the last Splatfest as a champion. After what happened in Western Spaghetti, I'll still remember the old Oneshot Wren, just as I will never forget Desti despite the trouble she gave me as a rival before the events on Anime Island.

It's been a few days since our battle with Wren and if there is anything I'm thankful for today, it's that everyone lived to tell the tale. I lived, Mario and Luigi lived, SMG4 lived, Tari lived, and everyone lived.

Today was a clear and sunny afternoon, and I was walking towards the celebrity museum, but not on my own. Tari and Mario were there, and I was holding a pair of flowers in my hands.

"Meggy?" Tari asked, "Do you find it strange we're bringing flowers to a museum?"

"Don't worry, Tari." I replied, "I know what we're doing."

We walked through the front door and into the main hall of the museum, seeing the many visitors observe the statues of famous celebrities. Often times, I would wonder when I would have a statue here. Back in my old home of Inkopolis, after the big Splatfest, I was given a section in the Hall of Fame.

It was said being famous didn't make you happy or a good person. But having friends, and being known, feeling important, it made me feel happy. And I did have a good heart, having stood by Mario and helped so many people in my life.

Captain Cuttlefish, who often volunteered at the museum, was sweeping the floor upstairs. I removed my beanie, showing respect to the old Great Turf War veteran and the grandpa of the Squid Sisters.

"Oh, its you..." He said, "What's with the flowers?"

"Is the statue cleaned up?" I asked.

"Yeah, again. It'll be time before it gets vandalized again, but you can see his statue without the mess tainting it."

Captain Cuttlefish led the way through the museum's halls, holding his broom gently. Mario hummed a little ditty along the way, until the captain told him to shush. Mario just chuckled and flashed a little innocent look upon his mustached face. Tari held back the urge to laugh, that Italian plumber was so goofy.

"You ever wonder if Axol has a statue dedicated to him here somewhere?" Mario asked.

'Probably.' Memories of the simulation bled into my mind, remembering my encounter with Desti and Axol in that bar. That sure had been weird, it was as if Wren had created a world where they were still alive.

We never forgot Axol, even after when he'd been possessed by an eldritch virus and forced to do terrible things. He changed our lives, including mine, just as Wren had changed my life all those years ago.

Cuttlefish led us up the stairs, to the very spot where the Oneshot Wren statue stood, devoid of ink and all the graffiti. Thank goodness no troublemakers came by. During the last visit here, it had been to deal with those Inkling bullies who'd taken the beanie.

Now, it was to pay respects.

Nobody else needed to know what had become of Wren, perhaps, all they needed to know, was that the former king of Splatfest was no longer with us on this mortal plane. At some point, perhaps a proper memorial could be built. In regards to funeral arrangements, that would have been hard, but it was easier to remember the old Wren.

The captain stepped aside, allowing me, Mario and Tari to approach the statue of Oneshot Wren holding his Splat-charger. My mind began to replay the memory of when he gifted me his beanie and said those very words.

It was perhaps for the best to recall that version of him, the only version of Wren that still mattered, the positive often outweighed the negative.

I looked up to the statue, symbolizing days long gone, and laid down the roses by the pedestal upon which Wren's statue stood. A tear rolled down my cheek and Mario blew his nose, much to Cuttlefish's annoyance.

We looked at Wren's statue one more time, and then, we walked away, ready to move forward with our lives. Even after what we'd went through, the spirit of Splatfest Champion Oneshot Wren would live on in my heart and I would never forget, as the legacy of the old Wren lived on and that was the version of the man I chose to remember.

The End

(In Memory of Oneshot Wren, a fallen Splatfest Champion)