Chapter Five:
Insanity and Trapdoor Trouble
It felt great to be the Monopoly champion.
Bob lay amongst the pile of cash that he'd earned from Tari and SMG3, the latter of whom was chill with the ex-Garo's victory as he smiled with sunglasses on his face. Meggy blew the whistle, and she pumped her fist with glee. "As the victor of the game, Bob can now choose who gets to go to the basement with me." She said with a smirk.
"TaRi GoEs." The former rapper pointed to the blue haired gamer girl, whose eyes were widened with terror.
'Oh my gosh, I can't believe it.' Tari thought, feeling her body quaking with terror as she collapsed on her side. Meggy walked over, and took the cyborg gamer's hand before leading her towards the door where the storage and the basement trapdoor were all waiting on the other side.
"It'll be okay, Tari." Meggy assured her friend, "The spiders have already eaten today."
"SPIDERS?!" Tari shrieked, "NO, NO, NO!"
"Tarrrriiiiii..." The former Inkling said with annoyance, "Can you be brave for me again? You were brave during Splatfest a few years back, and you were brave when we were dealing with Oneshot Wren in the Western Spaghetti simulation. There's nothing scary about going into a basement to deal with a power outage, and we've been in dark places before."
"I know, I know." Tari whimpered, "But I don't agree with dark places."
Meggy led Tari through the door, and they entered the storage room, leaving a sad Mario on the floor while SMG3 and Bob stood close by. The latter two were waving gleefully to the girls, silently wishing them the best of luck.
"Mama mia." Mario sobbed, "Mario would do anything to have electricity again."
Bob, who overheard the fat Italian just as SMG3 did, turned to the meme guardian as dollar signs flashed in his eyes and the former rapper said, "ThReE, mY mAiN mAn! I'vE cOoKeD uP a SuReFiRe MoNeY-MaKiNg ScHeMe! LiGhTnInG iN a BoTtLe, YoU mIgHt sAy."
"Do tell, my homeless money-making friend." SMG3 put his arm around the cloaked hobo's shoulder, "I'm all for money during times like this."
Bob headed for the main door with SMG4's former nemesis following him. "SuPpLy aNd DeMaNd, My FrIeNd. ImAgInE wHaT wE cAn AcHiEvE..." Bob quipped.
"I sure can." SMG3 said as he and the former Garo rapper stepped outside.
SMG4 watched his former nemesis and their shady friend leave the room to do whatever they were planning to do, then he turned to his longtime friend and avatar while remarking, "Welp. Well, Mario. Looks like it's just you and me for... HUH? DAMN IT!"
Mario had just disappeared, likely to cry somewhere else. Unbeknownst to the meme man, the fat Italian had made his way to the gaming room and was sitting on the couch. He stared at the TV, waiting for the power to come back on, so he could finally watch something, ANYTHING. He even felt tempted to try and play a video game, especially at this time.
'I need electricity. Mario needs it. Mario needs TV.' The spaghetti-loving idiot hero thought, he was so eager to watch something, his mind was slipping away even further. His eyes dilated, and a few cracks were growing around his pupils, signifying Mario's looming insanity.
'I need it. I really need it, I need it. I definitely need it. Please come back on. Please return to life. I NEED IT! I NEED IT! MARIO ELECTRICITY! GIVE ME SWEET, SWEET ELECTRICITY!'
Common sense was fleeting. As if something else had taken over, Mario picked up a piece of chalk, and he flew from the couch. His arm was in motion, and the plumber was drawing across the wall, the same words over and over; 'No TV, no electricity, makes Mario coo-coo crazy.'
'No TV makes me coo-coo crazy. I can't handle it. Please end this madness. Please end this crisis so we can watch TV...' Mario's mind screamed, 'Restore power, let us watch TV and let us play games!'
In the storage room, Meggy approached the trap door, and looked around the area as she searched for the light switch. Despite the power outage, there still had to be some form of electricity that was still running in the castle. Tari, who was still warry about being in the darkened area, stood by the door.
After a moment, with her nervousness growing, the gamer girl finally spoke up. "Uh, y'know what?" She said, "I can wait here while you find the light switch."
The former Inkling walked over to Tari, and pulled her towards the trap door. "The switch is just down there." Meggy told the cyborg in a confident manner, "We'll be in and out in no time, just don't worry."
Meggy knelt down, and grabbed the latch on the trapdoor. The Inkling-turned human expected it to open like in the past, but when she pulled, the door didn't budge. Meggy frowned, and pulled as hard as she could until her fingers got a little tired. She retreated, surprised by how stubborn the door had become, and let her fingers rest a little.
"Funny. Maybe it's locked?" Tari suggested.
"There doesn't appear to be a lock." Meggy examined the trapdoor closely, "We just gotta keep trying until it opens. The door's probably stuck, but nothing we can't handle."
Meggy tried again. She pulled as hard as she could until she fell on her back, Tari helped her friend stand back up, then the beanie-sporting Splatfest champion started kicking the door while trying all sorts of tactics. Desperate, Meggy brought out a magic wand that she found the other day, and flicked it, only to accomplish nothing.
As all the commotion was ensuing, Tari felt her shoulder shudder, and she stifled a gasp as Clench, her cybernetic arm, woke up. The sentient cybernetic stood up and Tari gulped. Out of all the times for him to come to life, Clench had picked the worst time imaginable.
"Clench! Not now, please..." The cyborg gamer begged.
Meggy kept beating at the door, and Tari struggled to keep Clench from making himself known, but she could only control him for so long. Despite her best effort, Tari was unable to stop Clench from speaking loud enough for Meggy to hear.
"Ha-ha! Weakling!" The robotic arm taunted.
Meggy wheeled around, eyes wide, and her hand shaking with annoyance that was quickly morphing into anger. "Excuse me?" She growled, and Tari felt herself shivering with fear. Meggy hated being mocked, it angered her when Team Killer Ink spouted discriminatory remarks about her, and being called weak by Clench was just unthinkable...
