Chapter Two:

Tending to the Insane

He sat back in the chair in his apartment, looking at the text screen on his phone. For the past few days, ShadowSquid9 had been trying to text SMG4 and had called him at one point. No answer. The Octoling was annoyed, he knew the meme man was likely making memes, but SMG4 could have at least answered back at some point.

Something was very wrong and he was more than annoyed, he was worried. ShadowSquid9 rolled his eyes and began texting; 'Hey, been days since we last spoke. Did you get sick?'

The Octoling tapped the 'send' button and waited several minutes. Still no response.

Groaning in frustration, ShadowSquid9 turned off his phone and walked to the window. He was in Inkopolis, where he'd been living for most of his life, in the vicinity of Moray Towers. The Octoling could hear Splat-bombs exploding and Splattershots firing as Inklings engaged in a Turf War match high above his room. Just another day in the city of color.

After cleaning up the walls, Mario carried SMG4 out of the basement and made sure he didn't wake up MIPs or Chicca on the way out. The meme man was limp, but the fat Italian could hear his breathing.

Darn, it was a relief he hadn't knocked him out too hard.

Mario walked through the door and up the stairs into the hallway, making sure that his friend was secure upon his shoulders. He carried him into the main foyer of the castle, then he headed up the stairs and went right to the Secret Slide Room where SMG4 resided. The plumber used the brain cells he had and grabbed a stretcher before setting it up in the middle of the room.

He placed his unconscious friend on the stretcher and then grabbed some rope, knowing SMG4 would soon be waking up. Mario worked fast, tying down the meme man as best he could to ensure that he didn't do something crazy when he opened his eyes.

The spaghetti-loving Italian finished binding up SMG4, just as he heard a snort. SMG4 finally opened his eyes to see himself tied up to a stretcher.

"You okay, SMG4?" Mario asked, "You were acting crazy!"

"CRAZY, I'M NOT CRAZY!" SMG4 cried, indicating he was still insane, "I'M JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON. AND I THINK ZERO'S NAME IS SMG..."

Mario quickly bonked SMG4 on the head again, silencing the meme man as he fell back into unconsciousness. With SMG4 still and silent, Mario thought about what to do. He had to get the meme man back to a reasonable mental state, but how?

The more he thought about it, an idea bubbled forth, and a memory flooded Mario's mind.

"Professor E. Gadd's dream device!" Mario exclaimed.

He remembered when he used it, entering the dreams of everyone he knew from Luigi to Steve to Toad to Peach to Bowser while causing all sorts of trouble. After he had his fun, it had taken a while to get out of the dream world when Toad and E. Gadd used the machine to put Mario through all sorts of trouble. Mario stole the device as revenge for what he'd been through.

It had been a few years since that misadventure and since Mario dealt with that device. Perhaps it was time to use it again. Hopefully, it still worked after all this time. Otherwise, it would take a while to get SMG4 to calm the heck down.

Mario went to the treasure box near SMG4's computer and opened it up slowly, then he began to sift through it, looking past various memes until he found a metal cap that he recognized quite well. He'd found the dream device. Mario then grabbed a can of dream mushroom powder, which he'd taken from E. Gadd's lab alongside the dream cap.

"Ooh, mama mia." Mario muttered, "This better work."

He moved to the side of the unconscious SMG4, placed the dream cap on his head, then he opened the can of powder and dumped a reasonable handful upon a plate. Mario moved down and sniffed the powder, placed his hand on SMG4's head, and then he turned on the dream cap.

To ensure that he entered the meme man's mind, Mario grabbed a plug, hooked it up to the cap and then placed the plug on SMG4's head.

And the next thing the fat Italian knew, his consciousness had left the castle and his own true body entirely as E. Gadd's dream machine worked its magic. Mario felt himself falling through the unknown abyss, falling through a void, as he entered the realm that was the mind of his good friend SMG4...