Chapter Nine:

Trying to Open The Elevator

Meggy looked at her phone after eating the bag-full of fries, then she checked the time, and glanced at the elevator. "For the love of Judd, where is SMG4 and SMG3? They should be done by now." The squid-turned human girl commented, she was annoyed that she was stuck babysitting the crazy Mario, who was acting greedy for more of those "spinning chips".

The former Inkling had restrained the fat Italian as best she could, having somewhat tied him up, and Mario was jerking violently as he tried to break out of his binds, screaming that he wanted more chips.

"I'm going to check on them." Meggy walked over to the control panel near the elevator door, and tapped the red button, trying to call the two meme guardians to see what they'd gotten into now. However, right after she'd pressed the button, a screen lit up wit a message saying; 'Access Denied.'

'Oh no.' Meggy thought, she tried again, only to get the same message every time. During her umpteenth attempt, the screen flashed a troll-face, and a dancing fat guy that was cringeworthy to see.

"ACK!" The seasoned Turf player/ex-SplatSquad leader exclaimed in a panic, something wasn't right, and that really worried her.

"Need any help?" Mario offered.

"Uh, n-n-no?" Meggy stammered, "I think I can manage." She made another attempt, but nothing seemed to work. A frustrated Meggy moved towards her spaghetti-loving friend, deciding she did need his assistance, and untied Mario, "Ok, fine, I do need your help, Mario."

Mario shot to his feet, and walked by the elevator, then he turned sharply and faced the control panel. He suddenly swapped out his cap for a cowboy hat, split his legs a little, and adopted a sort of western showdown stance. Mario prepared to take on the enemy, his eyes narrowed, and he thought of what he was going to say.

Meggy stood back, watching her friend going full cowboy mode. She noticed the star on the top of the hat which had the words 'OPTIMUS PRIME 3000' etched onto it, reminding the former squid girl of the first Wild West adventure that she and Mario had all those years ago.

The dim-witted Italian Mario became more intense by the second, which somewhat alarmed the beanie-sporting sports coach. And then, he took a step towards the panel and the fat Italian said, "Lasangias."

"A man of culture, I see." A message box said as it popped up on the panel with a checkmark. The elevator doors slid open, and Meggy lightly elbowed her pudgy partner with a smile.

"Nice, dude." She said, "Now, let's go find SMG4 and SMG3!"

With the doors taken care of, Mario put away his cowboy hat, and made his way towards the elevator with Meggy. They stopped at the edge, and gazed upward, staring into the ascending shaft and seeing the elevator way above them.

"SMG4! SMG3! ARE YOU GUYS OKAY UP THERE?!" Meggy called.

Up in the elevator, SMG4 and SMG3 were fighting the urge to start smacking one another when they heard the former Inkling's faint voice. SMG4 knelt down and pressed his ear to the floor, hearing Meggy call for him and his fellow meme guardian, who was also kneeling down and had pressed his ear to the floor.

"WE'RE HERE!" SMG4 called.

"THE ELEVATOR'S BROKEN!" SMG3 yelled.

Mario went into goofball mode, and let out a shout that echoed it's way up the shaft. As he listened to his own echo, the overweight spaghetti-loving Italian laughed until Meggy shot him a glare.

"Don't worry!" The ex-Inkling shouted, "We're coming up right now! Just hang in there!"

Meggy leaped onto the elevator pole, and turned to her goofy friend. "Come on, Mario. Help me climb up there and save them?" She said urgently.

"Wouldn't it be easier to take the stairs?" Mario suggested.

Meggy hopped off the pole. "Uh, yeah. That would work." She said, "HOLD ON, GUYS! WE'RE GOING TO THE ROOF TO FIX THE ELEVATOR! WE'LL SEE YOU SOON!"

She stepped out of the elevator shaft, then the Splatfest champion and Mario made a break for a door on the other side of the lobby that had a stairs symbol on it. A security guard tried to block their path, telling them it was for maintenance crews only, but Meggy and Mario brushed him off, and threw open the door.

"HEY! YOU CAN'T USE THE STAIRS!" The guard protested.

"Screw you!" Meggy retorted, "We need to help our friends, they're stuck in the elevator!"

"Yeah, let us be heroes, you big monkey!" Mario gave the guard the middle finger.

Even as the guard was protesting, the two fire-forged friends rushed up the twisting flight of stairs as fast as they could, and they never once stopped for a break. They reached the top, and pushed open the emergency door, and headed onto the rooftops. Mario frowned with confusion when he saw a camping tent close by, surrounded by lots of junk.

The tent was open, and they saw someone's shadow inside, while the sound of snoring reached the group's ears. Meggy ignored the tent, and looked to the left, seeing the elevator lift's system outlet along with a series of gears that were being jammed by a piece of furniture.

"That's what's jamming the elevator." Meggy commented.

"Hey, some hobo's been living up here?" Mario pointed out.

"We gotta save our friends."

"Okie dokie." Mario ran for the jammed elevator gears, and grabbed the cabinet that was wedged inside. While it somewhat budged, it was very stuck, but the fat Italian wasn't giving up. However, the pudgy hero's efforts were disrupted when dinosaur cries filled his ears, and someone threw a piece of trash in his face.

"Mama mia..." Mario gasped.

"What the...?!" Meggy exclaimed.

The tent rustled, and the occupant, a tall bipedal dinosaur emerged with a cackle. The dinosaur stepped towards them, and stared at the duo with disdain in her eyes. Meggy was just as wide-eyed as Mario, they knew who that dinosaur was all too well, and they didn't think they'd be dealing with HER again.

'No way.' Meggy thought, taking a moment to process it all, it WAS her, and it was near-bewildering to see her on the roof of YouTube HQ since she'd stepped down several months ago, and no one ever expected to see Suzan, the ex-YouTube CEO, still sticking around...