Chapter Three:

Fight or Flight, Run or Make a Stand

On the second floor of the castle, three of Mario and Luigi's friends were in the middle of playing a card game as they hung out, it was sort of anime-related as it was Yu-Gi-Oh, and it certainly was anime-related given how that genre was right up the alley of one Fishy Boopkins, an "ambiguous creature of the sea" whom Mario met on an adventure with SMG4, X and FM.

The robed fellow was Bob, Bob Bobowski. Bob was some sort of Garo, a spirit ninja usually found in Ikana Valley. While Bob was friendly, he was shady and tended to do all sorts of questionable things, but he and Fishy Boopkins were close buddies... sort of.

And then, there was the orange Inkling girl wearing a red beanie, headphones and goggles upon her head. Inklings came from Inkopolis and weren't native to the Mushroom Kingdom, but since this was a world where the Merc of Team Fortress could interact with Mario amongst other oddities, seeing an Inkling alongside a human wasn't too out of the question.

Her name was Meggy, Meggy Spletzer. She had been friends with Mario for a while, they'd first met by accident when the plumber had gone to the basement to get some orange paint and ended up freeing the little squid girl.

Regarding how she got stuck inside, that was an interesting question for another day. It wasn't like she was leaping around ink puddles in squid form, just hopped into a pain can, and then someone picked up the can and took it to the castle while nobody noticed there was a shape-shifting female squid hiding inside that canister of orange paint.

Meggy's weapon of choice was a Splattershot and she loved a challenge, especially in sports. In Inkopolis, Inklings competed in Turf Wars, where you had to ink as much of the turf as you could.

Both Bob, Boopkins, and Meggy were focused on their card game, unaware of the events that were transpiring that the trio would soon be wrapped up in. And they didn't know that the transpiring events were happening in this very castle right now, just downstairs.

"It looks like you just activated my trump card, Meggy!" Boopkins cried as Meggy brought out a card, the little green Spike flipped over a card, revealing a sorcerer.

"Uh, go fish?" Meggy asked. When she spoke, she had a slight reverb in her voice, almost sounding like she was talking underwater. And since Inklings had, somehow, evolved from squids, an aquatic species, it somewhat made sense for Meggy and others in her race to have a strange reverb effect in their voices.

"I thought we were playing poker." Bob commented, "I don't have any twos, Meggy."

Meggy shrugged, "I think we're playing the Pokémon card game."

"No, no, guys!" Boopkins said, "We're playing Yu-Gi-Oh, remember? Yu-Gi-Oh!"

Just then, the door burst open and the Mario Brothers came running in, wide-eyed and screaming.

"Oh. Hey, guys." Meggy waved, "You wanna play with me?"

"RUN!" Mario wailed.

The two fat Italians made a break for the nearby stairs leading to the Tick-Tock Clock room, running as fast as they could. Both Boopkins, Meggy and Bob wondered what the matter was when, just then, SMG4, Toad and Shroomy appeared, T-Posing and gliding through the hall in the trio's direction, slowly and ominously.

"What's going on?" Bob asked with surprise.

"Hey there, guys!" Boopkins greeted SMG4 and the others happily, "Would you like to see my Yu-Gi-Oh collection?"

"Boopkins, be careful!" Meggy warned, she was having a bad feeling about what was going on.

Despite the Inkling girl's warning, the unsuspecting Fishy Boopkins began to show off his Yu-Gi-Oh collection to SMG4, Shroomy and Toad. However, his enthusiasm didn't last as the meme man and the two mushrooms swarmed the Spike and nabbed him to Meggy's horror. As SMG4, Toad and Shroomy bore down on Boopkins, cracking and smacking could be heard.

Meggy watched with stunned terror as Bob brought out a camera and started to film the scene. The beating noises stopped and the T-Posing SMG4, Shroomy and Toad moved aside, revealing Boopkins, who was now in a T-Posing state with blank eyes just like the others.

"I'm outta here!" Bob exclaimed, putting the camera away, "See you, losers!"

The Garo made a run for the stairs, heading right to the Tick-Tock Clock room where Mario and Luigi had gone, leaving Meggy alone with the T-posing SMG4, Boopkins, Shroomy and Toad. The worry on her face melted, becoming replaced with a scowl as her eyes narrowed. The T-pose zombies approached ominously; their eyes fixed on the beanie-wearing squid girl.

No way she was going to let them do what they'd just done to Boopkins. If it was a fight they wanted, then she was going to give it to them. Closer and closer, the T-Pose Zombies came.

There was no avoiding it. As a certain other orange-colored creature would say, "Its clobbering time."

And it was clobbering time!

SMG4 came towards Meggy, who threw a right hook at him in defense. The meme man ducked to the side and continued his advance, but Meggy fought back harder. She threw another punch and then delivered a twirling kick, knocking the Mario-looking YouTuber down and out. Shroomy advanced along with Toad, getting closer to Meggy by the second.

'One against two.' The Inkling thought, 'I can handle this.'

Shroomy twirled like helicopter blades and Meggy ducked, bending over backwards, Matrix-style, then she performed a kick and knocked the mushroom scout aside. She then delivered a punch and Shroomy fell over.

And then, there was Toad. Meggy didn't hesitate, she kicked the little fungus as hard as she could, keeping him away from her. Boopkins flew towards Meggy, eyes locked on her. She saw him coming and grabbed the Spike before he could touch her. The Inkling twirled around and let go, letting Boopkins fly, and watched as he crashed into SMG4, Toad and Shroomy.

Meggy pumped her fist, watching the four of them fall. It felt great to come out on top, succeeding in something. A lot of Inklings loved being the best and Meggy was one of them.

Just then, she heard a noise and her confident smile became replaced with worry. The aspiring Splatfest champion looked up, watching as SMG4, Boopkins, Shroomy and Toad got back up just as she saw Donkey Kong appear along with Shrek, a Koopa and Bowser, all T-posing with blank eyes just like the others.

'Oh boy, this is where it gets complicated.' Meggy thought nervously as Boopkins, Shroomy, SMG4 and Toad glided towards her. She had this, she could take them again, she could take the T-posing Bowser and, maybe, the T-posing Donkey Kong.

Hey, she'd taken on Donkey Kong before, in the Wild West when he was working with the Wah Gang.

Man, who could forget that day? That wild west adventure was so fun, maybe they could do another one day. Meggy would be thrilled to go on another western adventure with Mario, if she and the fat Italian got the cards right and, hopefully, if there weren't any super crazy surprises waiting for them in whatever western setting they traveled to.

The T-posers came closer and closer, bearing down on Meggy, ready for a rematch and to make the Inkling one of them. No, she was not going to go down like that. Meggy braced herself and fought back, punching and kicking at the group, utilizing all of her combat skills she had up her sleeve.

And she didn't break an ink sweat. She kicked at Boopkins, pushing him back, punched SMG4 across the nose, and judo-chopped Shroomy. She twirled around, kicking every single one of her friends in the head. Meggy dropped down and kicked her leg outward, conducting a sweeping kick move as she aimed for the T-posing zombies' legs.

Down they went, but seconds later, they got back up. Meggy kept fighting, defending herself as hard as she could. She punched and kicked, brought out her Splattershot and fired several rounds of ink at them all.

Her efforts were valiant, but it was no use, no good. They kept coming, surrounding Meggy until she was against a wall. Her heart pounded intensely, her ink ran cold, and every breath became heavier. Meggy punched again, striking SMG4 across the face like before, but by then, Meggy was cornered and out of options.

'Ugh, there has to be a way out.' She thought, 'Quick, squid form, take squid form!'

Meggy dropped down and shape-shifted into a squid, which resembled a Blooper. She leaped high, trying to escape, only for something to catch her. Meggy reverted back into her humanoid form in time to see SMG4 grabbing her leg. And then, she saw Shroomy grab her. They pulled her down and they all ganged up on her, their eyes staring into her soul.

'No, what... Stop!' Meggy thought, she knew what was next, it was going to be how they turned Boopkins into one of them.

Not only could she see SMG4, Shroomy, Boopkins and Toad bearing down on her, but Donkey Kong and Bowser were coming onto her as well. Meggy whimpered with inky tears rolling down her cheeks. They had struck now, the T-Posing Zombies were beating her and stretching her. Meggy tried to fight, but she couldn't, she was trapped.

She screamed, but then it stopped. She could feel her mind fading, not knowing what else was going to happen now. They swarmed her and Meggy heard slight snapping noises, she tried to move her mouth, but couldn't, she was no longer able to think freely. All she could do was watch and slip away...