Chapter Twenty:

The Madness of SMG4

Many days passed following the events of Mar10 Day and nobody heard anything else from SMG4. The live-stream ran for hours, gaining just as many viewers as SMG3's fire live-stream had, with many of the meme man's followers and subscribers watching curiously as to what SMG4 was making.

After that, once the stream was over, it was radio silence on SMG4's end; no videos, no more live-streams, and certainly no Twitter posts.

Thankfully, nobody assumed that something bad happened to the YouTuber.

Mario and the others knew that SMG4 was still alive, locked in his own room, working on his "perfect video". In the past, he hadn't been too worried about the quality or views of the content he made. But now, seeing him so bent on making a perfect video and working on it extensively to a point where he was pushing away his friends, that was very concerning.

Over a week after Mario's party, SMG3 was in the Internet Graveyard, tending to the memes, when his meme guardian senses tingled as the thought of SMG4 came to mind. At this point, enough was enough; this matter needed to be resolved.

SMG3 left the Graveyard and met up with Meggy at her place, catching her in the middle of studying for her sports coach exams. He hadn't forgotten that she was attending Omnia Academy, training hard as she could to become a sports coach. When he saw her studying, SMG3 became a little concerned Meggy would prioritize her studies over her friends, just as SMG4 had with his project.

School was important, but friends were important too, and there was more to life than just education and making videos.

"How's it going?" SMG3 asked calmly.

"Oh, everything's just fine." Meggy replied.

"You got time today? Do you, uh, want to go see SMG4 and... try and talk to him again?"

Meggy faltered.

"Even though he's probably still... slightly insane, I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to him." She remarked, "I just hope he's willing to listen to us this time. Not to mention I got some studying to do before my graduation comes up in a few months..."

"When's your next exam?"

"In a few weeks."

"Okay, we'll take care of SMG4, then you can take care of studying. Does that sound good?"

The former Inkling nodded and put aside her college-level books and papers. She put her beanie on, pet her cat Loaf, and then, she headed out the door with the former villain. Meggy and SMG3 found a Warp Pipe and leaped through it, heading to Peach's Castle. They emerged into the courtyard on the other side of the pipe and walked towards the tall castle up ahead.

It was a cloudy day and the weather was a little chilly, but it was still warm enough to walk around outside. SMG3 walked towards the front door with Meggy behind him, they walked inside, walking through the foyer to the stairs.

"This has gone on long enough, SMG4!" SMG3 called, "Nothing is worth hurting yourself over a dumb video! I'm gonna smack that boy back into reality!"

Meggy stopped at the foot of the stairs leading to the upper floor. "SMG3." She said, "While I'm all for physical intervention, but maybe we should wait until he's not so upset?"

"Why doesn't anyone care if I'M upset?!" SMG3 retorted, "I'm sick and tired of this crap!"

He proceeded towards the door to the Secret Slide Room with Meggy reluctantly following him. The ex-villain knocked on the door in a hard and aggressive manner. "Dude!" He shouted, "Enough with your psychotic episode! We got stuff to do!"

SMG3 tried the knob and the door opened. He and Meggy stepped over the threshold and entered the short hall leading into the Secret Slide Room. What awaited them was a shock; they could see the words "It's gotta be perfect" written all over the walls in many areas. They noticed the mess on the floor, from trash bags to empty bottles.

After being in here for so long and being so busy making a big video, it seemed SMG4 had forgotten how to take out the trash. SMG3 and Meggy slowly approached, hearing the meme man typing away at the computer while clicking the mouse every couple of seconds. SMG4's hair was a bit of a mess, as if he had not combed it in days.

"Maybe we should leave him alone." Meggy suggested.

SMG3 approached his ex-rival/fellow meme guardian, unwilling to let the nonsense continue any longer than it already had.

"SMG4, snap out of it!" SMG3 demanded.

He reached out to grab his friend, trying to pull him away from the computer. Just then, without warning, SMG4 turned sharply and SMG3 jumped back in shock, seeing that his ex-nemesis had seen better days. His bloodshot eyes were blank with no pupils and they could see strange-looking demonic veins upon his face.

The keyboard on his desk glowed and darkness began to fill the room, a strange dark goopy essence seeped out of SMG4's being and the computer, full of ominous eye symbols. Meggy and SMG3 yelped and jumped back, watching as the dark goop began to fill the entire room.

Both former Inkling and former villain caught a glimpse of the keyboard on SMG4's desk, wondering why it now had a demonic look to it; Something was very, very wrong with SMG4.

Meggy and SMG3 whimpered and gasped, trying to watch where they stepped. One wrong move and that strange goop would take them. SMG4 stared at them coldly, giving them an eerie chill, especially with those eyes that no longer seemed to be human. At this point, the old SMG4 may as well be gone, replaced by something else.

"It's gotta be perfect!" SMG4 said in a creepy monotone, "It's gotta be perfect! IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT!"

"Bro, what?" SMG3 breathed, completely shocked by the matter, "What happened to you?"

SMG4 began laughing maniacally. "The perfect video requires sacrifice!" He declared.

"SACRIFICES?!" The meme man's former enemy cried, "Dude! Ever since I helped you out with your channel, you've done nothing but have a massive obsession for making this video! Why don't you just go and touch some grass?!"

"NO! YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND!" SMG4 howled.

Demonic tentacles rose from the goop and surrounded SMG3 in a threatening manner, the ex-villain cried out as those frightening things began to entangle him. Luckily, Meggy was there to help. She kicked the tentacles off SMG3 and made a dive for SMG4, knocking him away from his own computer.

SMG4 shot back to his feet and roared with fury. But his roar wasn't human and Meggy knew, right now, this was not SMG4. The real SMG4 would never utilize demonic powers like that, not while he was making a video or while in battle with a dangerous enemy. He didn't do anything like that on Anime Island and he certainly did not do that during the battle with Zero.

More tentacles emerged from the goop and came for Meggy and SMG3. They moved quickly and dove for the window. Meggy smashed through the glass and landed in the side courtyard of the castle, followed by SMG3, who landed on his face.

The Inkling-turned human Splatfest champion stood up and looked over the Internet Graveyard's guardian, checking to see if he was hurt, and hoping he was fine.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I think so." SMG3 replied, standing back up.

"Oh my gosh..." The former Inkling-turned human then gasped.

Meggy and SMG3 looked up, watching with shock as dark-red goop with hideous eyes and tentacles slowly emerged from within the castle walls. It was beyond horrifying in every sense of the word. SMG3 yelped and ran for it with Meggy running too, they needed to get help and fast. Man, the princess was not going to like this...