Chapter Fifteen:

Finding Meatballs in the War Zone

Smoke and explosions filled the field as a floating portrait flashed, then a blue dog with the head of a man sporting a mustache and a red cap emerged, accompanied by a taller, somewhat fat man wearing white-blue overalls, and a blue hat. The man frowned, and looked at himself, then he remarked in an Australian accent, "I'm looking thicker for some reason."

A cameraman and a pair of kids came through the odd portrait moments later, and they along with Mario heard someone groaning. The dog and SMG4 looked down, seeing a man in ragged clothes, laying on the ground and groaning in agony as red liquid oozed from a wound in his shoulder.

"Wait, that's not sauce, it's blood!" SMG4 exclaimed, "Mario, we're in the middle of a war zone!"

Sure enough, solders raced by, shouting orders before one of them was gunned down, and a trace of blood tainted the surface. A tank rolled past SMG4 and Mario's current position, firing it's rounds, and artillery fire rang out.

Regardless of the chaos happening, a clue had to be found and a mystery was going to be solved. "The third meatball is around here somewhere..." SMG4 said, "So let's find it!"

He slapped on some sunglasses, which he had in his overalls' pocket for some reason, and began strolling casually through the battlefield with Mario by his side, and their guests followed along, including the cameraman. They walked past the ruins of a building, stepping around corpses, and broken guns, looking around for clues and keeping alert for danger.

The guns were so loud, SMG4 thought his ears were ringing. An explosion went off nearby, and debris flew everywhere. Mario and SMG4 were just walking past a rusted, broken pole, when someone shouted, "HEY! Watch it!"

"Who said that?" SMG4 put down his glasses, and he looked towards the camera and one of the guests, "Was it... you?"

"Down here!"

He and Mario listened with their ears properly this time, and they looked down. Right in front of them, laying on the ground with her head exposed, was an orange-haired girl wearing a beanie, headphones, and goggles whose body was a landmine. SMG4 kneeled down to inspect, and he recognized the individual in a second.

"Oh, look, it's our friend, Meggy the Landmine." SMG4 quipped casually, "Sorry, we almost stepped on you. We're looking for a Mystery Meatball."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" Meggy smiled, she turned her head, "It's in that tower over there, on that sniper's head."

SMG4 and Mario looked up, spotting a lookout tower in the midst of the war zone, and they spotted a humanoid mushroom with a red-colored head holding a sniper rifle with his eyes trained on the battlefield.

"Thanks, Meggy." SMG4 walked towards the tower, but Meggy stopped him.

"Wait, you might need this." The landmine told the mystery solver, she coughed, and a rocket launcher flew out of her mouth into SMG4's hands.

"We got a rocket launcher!" SMG4 looked to the camera again, "You know what that means, it's time to sing the rocket song..." He held up the rocket launcher and headed right for the tower with Mario, the kids, and the camera as SMG4 launched into the rocket song in a heartbeat;

"We're gonna shoot this rock-et!

"We're gonna shoot this rock-et! And we're gonna take out this tower!"

PYEW! SMG4's finger slammed on the launcher's trigger, and a rocket streaked towards the tower. An explosion tore away at the foundation, and the sniper screamed as his perch was taken out. The tower collapsed, and Shroomy the Mushroom fell out, with his gun collapsing to the ground. Shroomy moved no more, and SMG4 found a meatball atop his head.

"There it is, the final mystery meatball." The host cried with glee, SMG4 didn't hesitate to grab it, "Now, it's time to drawn in our handy-dandy..."

"INCOMING!"

"What do you mean 'incoming'?" SMG4 asked, and Mario started shrieking.

The blue-clad human looked up, and screamed when he saw a missile heading right for them. The cameraman made a mad break for the portrait with the kids, and SMG4 was running too.

Mario the Dog took off running as fast as his little legs could carry him, SMG4 made it to the portrait and leaped through with the cameraman and the kids, heading back to the house.

Mario panted as he dashed past Meggy the Landmine, passed a bleeding corpse, and jumped into the painting portal right as the missile landed, and an explosion shook the already war torn battlefield while shaking Mario to the skull...

-Level Cleared-

-You Got The Last Mystery Meatball-