Chapter Twenty-Four:

Fishing for Help

Lake Boop was pretty quiet at this time, save for a bit of training noise. The brave fish grunted as he swung his sword sharply, hitting the cutout of a piranha on two legs, and kept at it with all of the determination that he had.

His father said to be brave. And so, Fishy Boopkins continued to train until he was combat ready, even with no enemies around to fight at this time.

"Take that, you unkind fish!" Boopkins exclaimed as he hit his training foe.

Boopkins grunted, and sweated, and jerked his muscles, pounding the light out of every dummy he could set up and attack with his somewhat mighty sword. He knew the virtue of bravery, and every fish had to face danger with bravery. The Boopkins family was meant to be fearless. The great Joe Boopkins was fearless, and so, his son would be fearless too.

She heard the faint rustling in the bushes well beyond the perimeter of the tower. Princess SMG3 hoped it was one of her well-trusted animal friends. Maybe it was a Shadow Monkey Wizard, or maybe a horse was coming. Moments later, she looked down to greet her rescuer as they came closer...

...and her heart fell.

Looking up at her, and standing a good many meters away from the tower, was Deer Mario himself. The half-Italian, half-deer stared up at the imprisoned, but fair princess, with a look that made it seem he was trying to figure out how to rescue SMG3.

But it wasn't that kind of look, one did not give off an annoyed facial expression when they were contemplating how they would save someone in need.

"You sound like a dying pig!" Mario called.

"Mario?!" SMG3 exclaimed, "Where are the other animals?!"

"They all left after you insulted the dress they made for you." The dim-witted deer man explained, "You weren't very grateful, and what you said really hurt their feelings."

"Well, they can get over themselves!" The princess shouted, "I'm stuck up here! JUST GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!"

"I dunno." Deer Mario quipped, "You also called Mario an ass earlier."

He turned to walk away, but SMG3 called him back, "No! LISTEN! If you get me down, I'll give you a dollar..." Mario studied him, "...and a block of cheese!"

"Damn good deal!" The mustached deer whooped with glee.

Without seconds to waste, Deer Mario raced off into the forest to look for help, leaving Princess SMG3 to sulk in the tower. She didn't know who the cheese-loving Italian deer was going to bring over, but it would be ages before someone got the princess out. Hopefully, that creepy witch wouldn't come and put a jinx on SMG3 before help arrived.

"Eee-hee-hee! Oh, so splendid, so fantastical and magical!"

Mr. Puzzles jumped up-and-down with glee while watching the fair "Princess" SMG3's current predicament while Deer Mario scoured the forest in search for an animal that was capable of rescuing the princess, and Puzzles enjoyed every moment of it.

"I'm a god of show-crafting!" Mr. Puzzles proclaimed, "I can already see ONCE UPON AN SMG4 getting five stars. It's perfect, it has to be perfect! The actors are following their lines incredibly well, with no distractions and no programming malfunctions. Now let's see where this will all lead to with the upcoming battle between witch and princess."

The deranged cybernetic entertainer sat down once more, and dipped some oil into his shoulder joint, then he picked up a cloth and wiped his screen before returning his full focus on the unfolding fairy tail show as the next scene approached.

Deer Mario poked around the bushes, and tapped the side of oak trees, looking up and down the lush forest. Someone helpful had to be here, and he wasn't going back to the tower until an animal stepped forward to help save the princess, and it felt like hours since he started at this point. Without a clock, time didn't seem to matter.

Heck, where was a clock when you needed to check the time, and what time was it, anyway?

The mentally-challenged Italian deer shuffled some leaves around, and stared up at the darkening sky above through the thicket of tree branches. He took another step forward, hoping a helpful critter was just around the corner.

And then, he looked down at his left hoof.

In a moment, the timestream began to freeze, and the sound of wildlife faded for a moment.

Deer Mario's heart thumped, and his movements slowed as he began to question his identity, and what he was meant to be. His mind was bubbling violently, and images flashed in his mind, memories of a different world, one where he was a blue dog.

No, not just a world where he was a dog, but a world where Mario was a human plumber who liked spaghetti, not cheese.

And he had so many adventures, he even had a brother, and so many friends.

And SMG3 wasn't female royalty.

She wasn't a princess.

She wasn't a "she".

The odd cloud that had lingered in his mind faded, and the peculiar veil from which he viewed the world shifted. For the first time in what felt like forever, Mario became terrified, and feelings of total panic set in. Everything in this fairy tale world wasn't real, except for the people Mario and the others knew.

It felt like another virtual reality nightmare, just like with the wild west town of Western Spaghetti, where the gang dealt with the once great Splatfest star Oneshot Wren.

However, there wasn't a game-hopping cyborg nearby who could help Mario or the others this time. Without Tari around, the others were helpless, and maybe it was best for the Italian idiot and the others to play along until they found a loophole.

Princess SMG3, he... SHE needed help, and it was all up to Deer Mario.

The mustached dummy decided the difference between what was real and what was fake wasn't relevant at this time. He kept moving, even with the sense of reality-awareness hanging over his head, and poked around until someone grunting perked his attention. Mario poked past the bushes, seeing a lake that was close by...

...and he saw the former Spike everyone knew and loved, anime fanboy Fishy Boopkins, training with a sword while wearing a helmet.

Many big brain ideas popped into Mario's little head, and one of them involved Fishy. He chuckled quietly, and stepped forward to speak with the little green fish. Hopefully, this version of Boopkins would agree to help the princess...