Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Saving SMG4

In the upper floors of the castle, as the tentacles continued to drag the trio down into the darkness, Mario, Meggy and SMG3 did all they could to save themselves and reach out to SMG4. By this point, the meme man didn't seem to hear his own friends. But deep down in his heart, past the corruption and determination, he still cared for them.

And within his mind, the real SMG4 was in battle with the entity corrupting him and taking advantage of his insanity.

'You don't need your friends.' The goop said to him.

'NO!' SMG4 wailed, 'I'm not sure what we're doing anymore, DON'T HURT MY FRIENDS!'

'Do they truly care about you? They've distracted you from your work for years and you've pushed them away as you started to work harder, are you going to let them distract you again?'

'We don't need to do that, let them live and give them a chance to speak!'

'You're becoming distracted again. You cannot falter! IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT!'

'I... I can accept that nothing is ever truly perfect, even if it turns out good. The effort is all that matters, even if the project may come out flawless. I don't know if I care about perfection anymore. I BEG YOU! LET MY FRIENDS LIVE! DON'T HURT MARIO, HE'S THE AVATAR, AND DON'T HURT MEGGY OR THREE!'

'Finish your work! It is nearly complete and you have eradicated all flaws, but there is one more obstacle AND YOU WILL OVERCOME IT!'

In the physical plane, as he slowly sank into the darkness with the others, SMG3 looked at the corrupted SMG4. If this was the end, then he better get out some last words, tell the meme man that he understood what was going on.

And on top of that, the Internet Graveyard needed its number one celebrity.

"Hey, dude, listen..." He said solemnly, "I used to think you had it all. Friends, fame, views..." SMG3 chuckled, "You just had to be the happiest person in the world. But I understand now. You're really scared, aren't you?

"You're scared that you'll lose it all at any time. Because you only think you're only worth as much as the stuff you make. But I've met your friends, man, and we all care about you very much. No matter what you make, no matter how your videos and memes come out, they... we will always be here to have fun and laugh together."

"That's right!" Meggy exclaimed, "You'll always have us, SMG4!"

"Yeah." Mario nodded in his cheeky manner, "Mario's gonna laugh forever!"

Hearing those words, SMG4's face twitched and the strange tendrils on his body began to crack. SMG3, Mario and Meggy slowly sank into the darkness as they all accepted their fate. Just then, with a crack, SMG4 broke free from his chair and grabbed both Meggy and SMG3, pulling them out of the murk.

"No way..." SMG3 breathed, "SMG4, BRO! You're back!"

"Yeah..." SMG4 said with a shaky voice and tears in his eyes, "I really needed to hear that."

"WAIT A SEC, WE FORGOT MARIO!" Meggy shrieked.

"Oh yeah." SMG4 said with worry in his eyes.

He dove into the darkness and grabbed Mario, pulling him out of the shadows. The plumber breathed and screamed out loud as SMG4, Meggy and SMG3 plugged their ears. Slowly, the strange dark matter with the eye symbols vanished and the Tick Tock Clock room slowly reappeared in its current state.

Meggy hugged her best friend and fellow Splatfest champion, filled with relief. "I though I lost you, man." She said, holding back tears in her eyes.

Mario threw himself onto SMG4 and hugged him tight. "PLEASE DON'T GO CUCKOO CRAZY LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Mario wailed, "SEEING YOU GO CUCKOO CRAZY OVER THE MYSTERY OF THE GUARDIAN PODS AND THE SMGS WAS ENOUGH!"

"Yeah, I-I'm so sorry, guys." SMG4 said with regret, "And thanks, SMG3. I didn't you really felt that way."

"WHAT?!" SMG3 shouted, "No! I only said that so I wouldn't die in the eldritch goo!"

SMG4 chuckled, "Some things never change. Whatever you say, man. Now let's get the heck out of here!"

Mario, Meggy, SMG3 and SMG4 ran across the room to the nearest window, which wasn't blocked by goop. They ran as fast as they could and Mario smashed the window, he and Meggy jumped through and onto the castle roof. However, just before SMG3 and SMG4 could make it to the window, demonic tentacles grabbed the latter and pulled him back to the computer.

"Oh crap!" SMG3 exclaimed. He ran to SMG4, determined to save him from the monster.

'No, no...' SMG4 thought, 'Leave me alone...'

'SMG4…' The eerie voice of the demonic keyboard said, 'Why leave, especially when you're 90% finished with your work. Never leave your work unfinished, when you start a project, you finish it no matter what. You let your friends distract you, don't you want to make something perfect that your fans can enjoy?'

'Please stop. I want nothing to do with this anymore.'

'You won't be allowed to leave until you finish the video, SMG4.' Tentacles emerged from the goop, surrounding SMG4 and tying him down to the chair in front of the computer desk. SMG4 grunted, trying to break free, and more tentacles grabbed his arms, setting them at the keyboard.

'Its time to finish the job.'

'It doesn't matter if it's perfect!' SMG4 fought, 'LET IT BE! LET ME BE WITH MY FRIENDS!'

But the entity was right and SMG4 knew it. If he was going to leave alive, then he had to finish his video. Another tentacle grabbed SMG3 and knocked him over, keeping him from getting closer to his fellow meme guardian. SMG3 fought, kicking one of the tentacles, and headed towards SMG4 to rescue his former enemy one more time...