Chapter Twenty-One:

Meggy Gets the News

When she got the news, Meggy had been looking at a photograph of herself with Mario after exercising at the gym. The former Inkling felt the buzz in her pocket, and picked up her squid phone, seeing the text from SMG4 on screen;

'Mario's gone rogue. He stole SMG3's Notebook.'

Naturally, Mario going rogue or playing the villain role wasn't anything new to Meggy.

She'd seen him ascend to a dictator in the Mushroom Kingdom, threaten to tax the poor after being elected the student president of Omnia Academy, turn his friends into NFTs, kidnap people to partake in the Meme Games, and he'd torn down trees to build his pizza shop.

And amongst all of it, the former Inkling had even witnessed Mario stealing the world's spaghetti after E. Gadd had blasted him with a machine that made him smart. However, it was debatable if something like fishing up all of the fish with Bob counted as villainous.

But, to take someone's personal notebook, that really crossed the line. Meggy looked at the photo depicting her with the fat Italian once more, then she put it aside before looking at a photo of SMG3 with her, Melony, and SMG4 at Omnia Academy that had been taken not long after Niles' final decisive defeat.

Out of everything he had to endure, such as losing Terrance, his notebook being stolen sounded rough. For a moment, Meggy was reminded of how Wren, her fallen, corrupted Splatfest idol, had stolen her beanie after her graduation.

Many hours passed, and Meggy dwelled on the news while she often exercised, and went over her sports coaching schedule. And then, she turned on the TV in the living room, seeing the latest news report by Kermit the Frog, which ended up making the former Inkling's concerns for SMG3's slightly increase higher.

"The Mushroom Kingdom police force is doubling up on their efforts to find Mario and the notebook he stole from SMG3..." Kermit reported, "The manhunt is intensifying across the land, and cops are barging into people's homes, determined to find any trace of Mario and the notebook's whereabouts. Hal Monitor has commented on the situation..."

Hal Monitor cropped up on screen with that menacing, nightmare-invoking angry face on his monitor, sending a chill down Meggy's back.

"That overweight Italian has done some questionable, and very illegal things in the past, and him taking Mr. SMG3's notebook is something that is beyond unacceptable." Mr. Monitor intoned, "We will search everywhere, and we won't stop until this case has been settled."

BANG-BANG-BANG!

"FBI! OPEN UP!"

Meggy muted the news, and went to answer the door. In a moment, Toads, humans, and Koopas dressed in black uniforms were flooding her house with guns trained. The Inkling-turned human was baffled, having to watch the FBI agents and the police officers search every room in her house, hoping to see if Mario had hidden the notebook here.

"Ms. Spletzer, you are an associate of Mario, correct?" A Toad cop questioned.

"We've known each other for the last half-a-decade." Meggy replied, "And if Mario was here this week, he wouldn't be trying to hide a stolen notebook."

"Do you know where Mario is?" A cop demanded in a somewhat aggressive tone.

"No, he hasn't texted or phoned. I-I don't have a clue. I haven't seen him in the last few days or in the past hour, but the situation is very concerning. I mean, what would he want from SMG3's notebook, an... HEY! THAT FURNITURE IS EXPENSIVE!"

Meggy hoped the cops didn't rip apart her home just to find Mario and one notebook. And yet, it was hard to do anything, especially with law enforcement doing their job. At that moment, the squid-turned human girl received a sort of joint text message from SMG4 and SMG3 on her phone;

'Meet us at the Showgrounds.'

Down in Inkopolis Square, Pearl and Marina were in the midst of their latest Inkopolis News Report, even with the prying eyes of Inklings, Octolings, and Jellyfish watching through the nearby window, ignoring the broadcast unfolding on the Deca Tower jumbotron.

"Expect tonight and nearly every night to be chilly as we approach Winter, week by week." Pearl said, she and her Octoling associate were conducting the weather segment of their latest news broadcast, "At least we don't have to deal with boiling hot weather today, now that the intensity of the Summer has passed us by."

Marina nodded to the camera. "That will be all for today's weather report." She declared, "Next up; Who is the TV Adware?"

The image of a TV icon with a smiley face cropped up on the studio screen. However, Pearl held up her hand. "Wait a second, 'Rina." She interjected, "We should address the latest news to come out of the Mushroom Kingdom news feeds."

"Oh, what is that, Pearlie?" The attractive Octoling DJ asked, "And I can see people freaking out right now over something."

"SMG3's Sussy Notebook was stolen!" Pearl tapped a button, and the image of the TV Adware was replaced by the image of SMG3 with a purple notebook next to him, "We usually don't talk about stuff like notebook thefts, but this one is a massive deal, because the culprit is well-known at this point."

"Oh, yes." Marina shivered, "Just recently, we received word that Super Meme Guardian Three, also known as Super Mario Glitchy Three, former antagonist to SMG4, had his personal notebook stolen. And, according to reports, and comments by SMG4 himself, the thief is none other than our universe's Avatar and SplatSquad member; Mario-Mario."

An image of Mario, pulled from Super Mario 64, made its onscreen appearance, with Pearl flashing an irked look as she glared at Mario's still face.

"Yo, that is just whacked as fish!" The pop star exclaimed, "What gives a fat, dimwitted tire-fire like Mario the right to just take SMG3's notebook? And, as if he can't cause more trouble than he already has over the years. I still can't get over how he kicked me into a Salmon-infested sewer."

"We will cover this store when more details come to light." Marina told the viewers as someone passed her some paper, "Now, we have reports of a rumor that suggests Mario took the notebook to a place called Casino Paisano, that sounds like an Italian hotel up his alley."

Pearl pressed a button that made the image of the TV Adware reappear. "Yo, you think this fella might be involved?" She inquired, "He is somewhat responsible for Peach's Castle goin' bye-bye, who's to say he influenced Mario into taking the notebook? We were going to talk about him, then we end up talking about the theft. This can't be a coincidence!"

The Inkling and Marina looked towards the camera, showing an ominous look on their face...