Chapter Four:

Chase Across The Rooftops

He lay low while the gunshots went off and moved just in case a bullet came through the wall and hit him. After seeing Saiko head for the fire escape and after seeing Meggy climb to the roof, Mario got to his feet and ran in the same direction the anime girl guitarist had taken.

Both Meggy and Saiko were his friends, the former, of course, was his best friend and she had been his lawyer in the past. Mario ran up the stairs and burst through the door, stepping onto the rooftops. He looked around and spotted the girls on the roof of another building across the street from the hotel.

"Mama mia!" Mario exclaimed, he saw the mysterious figure, the assassin, making their escape.

The fat Italian dusted his gloves and clenched his fists, slowly taking a step back. "Nobody attacks-a Mario's friends and-a tries to get away with it." The dim-witted plumber quipped, "It's-a time for an ass-whooping, Mario-style."

With all of his skill and prowess, Mario made a running start. He ran towards the edge of the hotel and leaped high, launching into a long-jump. He threw his hat like a boomerang, watched it spin, jumped off it and picked it up swiftly in mid-air before landing on the other rooftop. He heard Inkling chatter from below, a real good indicator that everyone had just seen him.

Now was not the time to take in the crowd, it was time for some justice. Mario saw Saiko and Meggy running and leaping across the roof, the assassin was on the run as well.

He pulled out a Splattershot, stroked his mustache and grinned. It was time to smash!

Not just smash, it was time for platforming, and Mario was the king of the platformers. Plop him in a random platformer game and he would breeze through it like it was nothing, the rooftops of Inkopolis may as well be another platforming section in Mario's latest Splatoon adventure.

"Let's-a go!" He said eagerly and urgently.

The overall-clad plumber dashed across the roof, with the Splattershot in hand, and he ran as fast as he could. Mario leaped over the edge and landed on the roof of a colorful building complex. He ran past a vent, ducked under an antenna, and leaped over the edge to another roof. Mario ran so fast, he caught up to Meggy and Saiko.

"Well, look who came to join us." Meggy remarked.

"Ready for some ass-whoopin'?" Saiko asked with glee.

"Mario's going to kill some b****es!" The plumber replied.

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!

The trio ducked and took cover as the assassin turned and fired at them. Mario, Meggy and Saiko got back up and continued chasing the attacker, they leaped to the next roof and lunged for the mysterious assailant, who rolled out of the way and morphed into a cyan-blue squid. The Inkling assassin launched into the air, soaring to the next rooftop.

Determined not to let 'em escape, Mario raised his weapon and fired a stream of red ink. However, the rogue Inkling dodged the shots and landed safely. Meggy grabbed her Splattershot and Saiko prepped her hammer, the girls continued their pursuit and the plucky Mario continued on with them.

Goodness, this felt like a random action movie set-piece; running across the rooftops and jumping from building-to-building after a bad guy. Mario's life was never short of action, neither was Meggy's. Even though life wasn't a movie or TV, they both still wound up battling bad guys now and then.

Heck, rooftop chase segments weren't out of place in video games either, especially as there were plenty of action-platformers with segments that involved rooftop action.

Both Mario, Saiko and Meggy leaped to the next rooftop, maneuvered their way around an air vent, and ran towards the edge with their eyes on the fleeing squid. They spotted them climbing up a ladder on the side of a building to another roof. Mario jumped on top of a steaming pipe nearby, then he leaped over the building's edge to the next building and began scaling the ladder.

BLAM-BLAM! The attacker fired at the plumber, trying to nail him and wipe him out, but Mario dodged with his wit and skill. He climbed the ladder, chasing the assassin relentlessly. The rogue Inkling climbed towards the edge and Mario leaped up the ladder, making it to the top just after the assassin.

Meggy fired her Splattershot, forming a trail of ink on the side of the building next to the ladder, and leaped over the edge with her Ink Boi in hand. Saiko followed and Meggy hopped onto her board with the anime girl joining her. Meggy kicked the ledge and the Ink Boi streaked up the building, racing to the roof, where they caught up to Mario and the mysterious assassin.

They stared down their opponent, who stared at them intensely with a hand gripping the trigger hard, then the mysterious squid ran for the edge. Meggy and Mario fired their Splattershots, trying to incapacitate them, but the assassin dove off the edge.

Seconds later, an armored helicopter made its appearance, bearing an ominous symbol that resembled the Octarian Army's insignia. The helicopter flew near the roof, the side door open, and the trio saw the assassin inside the chopper. Mario flipped the bird with fury and Meggy fired several shots, only to miss both the assassin and the helicopter despite her years of training.

Gunshots rang out and the trio ducked, leaping off the roof and making their way back down to a lower roof. They looked up, watching as the helicopter flew away with the mysterious Inkling assassin. The helicopter's whirling engines became faint, then it was gone, and the only sounds heard in Inkopolis were Inkling chatter, car engines and cameras clicking.

"Damn it! They got away!" Saiko yelled, she stamped her foot angrily.

"I don't know who you are..." Mario growled, "...But when I find you, Mario's going to do something very illegal."

"Whomever they were, this isn't the last time we'll be seeing them." Meggy remarked, "But they were clearly out to get us. We better head back to the hotel, make sure our belongings our safe, then I gotta make a call. After that's taken care of, we'll go down to the Plaza and do a Turf War to get our minds off that."

"Oh, boy." Mario quipped in a happy demeanor, "Mario looks forward to playing Splatoon again."

The trio nodded, then they began their journey back to the hotel, even with the debacle still fresh in their minds. Saiko was looking forward to this weekend's concert, but after what had just happened, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone had a target on her back.