Chapter Three:

Into the Mind of Meme Men

Mario wondered how long and how far he would fall. He fell for endless seconds, then, he felt an unknown force catching him. He expected to be on solid ground, but he then found himself floating. Mario opened his eyes, finding himself floating in a white sky.

"Is this the inside of SMG4's mind?" The fat Italian pondered.

SMG4's mind was so different from the last time Mario was here; it was usually full of colorful memes and other interesting things. But, unlike last time, the plumber was here on a mission to restore his friend's sanity. However, the job would be a lot harder, since he couldn't find anything else around here.

Mario looked around, trying to find something. "It's empty..." He remarked, "No wonder he's so stupid. What the heck is Mario supposed to do now?"

Just then, he heard a noise; it sounded like... music.

The sound got louder and Mario turned around, seeing Thomas the Tank Engine with Robotnik's head coming his way. He could hear the Thomas & Friends theme song, but mixed in with altering PINGAS sound effects, and that train was giving him a very sinister look.

Mario tried to flee, only for the train to hit him. Luckily, since this realm was some kind of spiritual and mental plane more so than a physical realm, Mario didn't get badly hurt. The train carried him along until it landed on solid green ground, Mario fell off and watched as the train then flew back up into the sky and vanished from view.

And now, he could recognize this place. He could see walls with green-colored blocky textures and a pair of men in afros in uniforms, standing at attention like soldiers. They were lifeless, so they didn't come after the fat Italian in any way, shape or form. This meant Mario was safe.

Recognizing the familiar territory he was in, Mario looked around and looked ahead, locating the building that represented SMG4's inner mind. He could see multiple versions of himself giving goofy faces, a few Teletubbies floating around, and a Robotnik head close by. Mario chuckled, knowing he was about to start somewhere important.

"Whatever is making SMG4 go crazy, it has to be in there." Mario remarked, "Okay, Mario, let's get to work. No distractions and no tasty spaghetti."

He ran inside the building, passed through the lobby, where nobody greeted him, and ran down the hallway. The first area Mario passed was the brain room, where a version of SMG4 was asking how breathing worked. The next place he passed was the Meme Education Room, a mini-meme school where another SMG4 was teaching other SMG4s how memes worked.

Mario passed the meme idea room, catching a glimpse of a couple SMG4s trying to think with one remarking, "Oh, man."

To judge by their behavior, it seemed as if they were having trouble formulating a meme-related idea. And there was no doubt that this was due to SMG4's current mental state, once Mario cured his sanity, the meme man would be able to come up with ideas again and the meme idea room would be fully functional once more.

The plumber made it to the end of the hall, where he found a sign with the words 'To the Meme Lounge' on it. He followed an arrow and found a very colorful lounge area, full of various memes having fun. He could see Steve riding a chicken, Kermit going crazy and someone sniffing a food box.

"Whoa, what's-a going on here?" Mario asked the meme sniffing a box.

The man put down the box and revealed his face, which was the head of a rock, Mario then noticed the hat and the outfit and realized this was a version of the Rock Wizard. The Rock Wizard looked at him and said, "We're partying hard, buddy, come and join us!"

"Count me in!" Mario grinned, 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to have some downtime before finding the source of SMG4's insanity. Heck, perhaps it can lead Mario to a clue...'

Without any time to lose, Mario took to the party floor and danced with the Rock Wizard while a Tellytubby played music, then he rode after a Toad on a version of Baldi, and had a chat with Eggman and one of the frog memes. As he kicked back and enjoyed the lounge, Mario put aside his worries about SMG4 for now, things didn't seem to be too crazy so far.

Just then, he spotted a dog holding a coin. The plumber's attention shifted from partying and he hopped off the couch, he walked towards the dog and tapped the coin. The dog barked in protest and the fat Italian gave him a pat on the head, then he took the dog's golden coin.

Mario heard a helicopter sound and looked up, spotting a Tellytubby spinning around. Time to party a little more! He jumped up, let himself float in the air, and began to spin around with the Tellytubby with a "wheeeeeeee".

Oh man, all the fun he could have in SMG4's mind, if he wasn't so worried about his friend's insanity.

Just then, a green light flashed and the Tellytubby vanished. Mario dropped down, watching as the other memes began vanishing in flashes of green light until the room was empty. And the next thing he knew, SMG4's voice was echoing through the lounge, asking the very questions that were driving him insane in the first place.

"What does this all mean?" SMG4's voice asked, "What does it all mean? WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN? WHAT IS AN AVATAR? WHAT ARE GUARDIAN PODS?!"

'Oh no.' Mario thought.

A shadow loomed over him and he turned around, seeing the dog meme, whom he'd taken the coin from, had taken on a muscular form. The dog held out a hand and Mario instantly realized that the meme was asking for his item back. Not wanting any trouble, Mario gave him the coin back and flashed the dog an innocent look.

However, the dog picked up Mario, making him worry that he was going to be ripped in half, until he reminded himself that he was in a type of spiritual world and no real harm could be done to him. The dog flicked its arm and Mario found himself being thrown through the ceiling.

Party time was over, he had to get back to his mission...