Chapter Twenty-One:

A Very Goopy Situation At The Castle

Not so far away, Mario was walking through the castle grounds with Luigi, Tari, Saiko, Bob and Boopkins, unaware of what was going on at that moment. It had been days since the debacle during Mar10 Day and Mario wanted to put SMG4 in a good mood again.

"Okay, guys. What's the plan to make SMG4 better?" The plumber asked his friends.

"I thought we were going to tell him that life's more important than work and that he has friends who love him." Boopkins remarked.

"WHAT IS THAT?" Luigi suddenly screamed.

The whole gang stopped and looked at what had made the green Italian freak out. Shock filled their minds as they looked upon what was becoming of Peach's Castle, seeing it covered in dark-red goop and frightening demonic eyes. Mario yelled in shock, unable to comprehend what was even going on this time.

Just then, Meggy and SMG3 came running by, their eyes wide.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Mario shouted.

"SMG4 has completely gone mad and corrupted the castle." SMG3 explained.

"Just another Tuesday..." Bob remarked.

"No..." Meggy interjected, "I don't think that was SMG4 in there, SMG4 would never do something like that."

Tari whimpered. "D-Do you think..." She stammered, "...it might be SMG0?"

The cyborg was referring to the renegade meme guardian known as Niles, who'd merged with the real SMG0, using the power of an eldritch artifact that a gang of lunatics known as the Box Club honored. It had almost been two years since the Glitchy gang first battled the virus during SMG4's 10th anniversary, which led to many more battles until Niles had been destroyed for good.

While the eldritch monster had been defeated, Niles/Zero's dark deeds had not been forgotten and his legacy was still felt throughout the world in many ways long after his final demise. And hearing about SMG4's corruption, Tari wasn't wrong to assume that the virus had somehow returned.

"No." SMG3 said, pointing to the goop, "That's not meme energy, this is something completely different."

"I KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Boopkins cried.

He ran towards the castle, even as Meggy protested, worried for his safety. The former Spike walked over the bridge, setting foot in the goop. It was so thick, he struggled his way towards the door.

"I'll just give him a hug and everything will be all better." Boopkins said with hope in his voice.

The aquatic anime-loving creature reached for the door, moving his limbs as best he could, despite the goop weighing him down. Boopkins fought hard to reach the castle's door, just then, a tentacle emerged and swatted him, sending Boopkins flying through the courtyard.

Boopkins' attempt to reach the door prompted the monstrous goop entity to attack, its eyes fixed on the gang, and tentacles emerged. Mario and his friends readied for battle, Saiko drew her hammer and smacked one of the tentacles. Bob pulled out some sushi and fed it to a tentacle, making it explode as his food was poorly served.

Tari tried to make peace with the corrupted castle, offering a rubber duck, only for the tentacles to tear it apart. Bob took action and cut down several tentacles with his sword, he sliced through the oncoming wave of monstrous tentacles. Boopkins ran in, attempting to make peace, only for the goop entity to swat him aside again and he tumbled across the ground.

Luigi side-stepped, avoiding tentacles as best he could, he punched a demonic tentacle and leaped into the air, kicking one aside before unleashing his super special spin attack. He unleashed a wave of energy, blasting several tentacles into the sky and taking out one of the demonic eyes.

Mario, Meggy and SMG3 ducked, avoiding tentacles that tried to grab them, they stood together on the bridge and fought side-by-side.

SMG3 pulled out an Egg Dog sword and dueled with one of the tentacles while Meggy kicked and stomped on a tentacle, letting that monster thing have everything that it had. Meanwhile, Mario went to town. He leaped into the air, spread out his arms, and twirled like a helicopter.

Tentacles came at him, but Mario repelled the attacks one-by-one and kicked a tentacle so hard, it split in half. Mario whipped out a hoverboard, activated flight mode, and flew around the vicinity, letting the demonic tentacles have it while doing several fancy flips and various other boarding tricks. He glided back to Meggy and SMG3's position while more tentacles fell.

"Wow, that was pretty cool, Red." Meggy remarked.

"I'm a king now." Mario quipped.

Just then, a massive tentacle grabbed Mario, Meggy and SMG3 and threw them towards the front door of the castle. The others watched as their three friends vanished inside and the castle's entrance became blocked by demonic goop, trapping Mario, SMG3 and Meggy inside...