Chapter One:

A Mostly Regular Day

Fishy Boopkins grunted as he reached, his fingers shaking, with the handle just an inch above him. Sweat poured off his forehead, and the anime weeb's hair quavered a little. Boopkins reached as high as possible, and grabbed the climbing handle, then he pulled himself up. The top of the wall was just a meter away, but it was real big.

"Ooooh, man. I dunno if I can make it." The weeb said in an uneasy manner.

"Yes, you can, Boopkins." Sports coach Meggy Spletzer called from below, "Just a tad further. You're doing just fine. Don't let the size intimidate you."

He listened to her voice, and stared up the wall again. Boopkins moved his other arm, reaching for the next handle. He pulled himself over the gap that existed between the ledges, and Boopkins leapfrogged to another handle above his head.

Climbing was one tricky task, but the top of the wall was just an inch closer for Boopkins. He pushed himself up, reached the green handle, and pulled himself onto the ledge. The former Spike wobbled as he pulled himself onto the top of the wall, then he lowered himself.

His foot touched the latest handle below, and Boopkins turned, seeing a handle that was easy to grab. He reached, even with his short stubby arm, and grasped the bar of the handle tight. His body briefly slipped, but the handle stopped him from falling off the wall. He heard Meggy from below again; "Nice work there, Boopkins!"

"Eh-heh, thanks." Boopkins remarked, and reached for another handle that was an inch below his spot.

"Boopkins, wait!" Meggy exclaimed, "I don't think that handle is stable!"

He gripped the bar, and just as he moved himself from the previous handle, the new handle wobbled and popped out of the wall. Boopkins yelped and fell towards the gym floor below, his eyes wide, and his fingers lost their grip upon the unstable handle as it landed on the ground.

PLOP!

The aquatic weeb blinked, finding himself in the arms of his old flame Saiko Bichitaru, the Mushroom Kingdom's resident anime girl, former dating sim character, and KS2 guitarist. His heart swam with relief, knowing his friend had been there to catch him, even though Bob had been close by.

"Thanks, Saiko..." Boopkins said happily.

"At least you made it over the wall." The pink-haired hammer girl remarked, "Can you at least try to watch where you're crawling and climbing?"

"LOL! Go EaSy On ThE sCrUb." Boopkins' hooded hobo friend Bob Bobowski stepped in, "AfTeR aLl, I'm ThE oNe WhO MaDe ThAt HaNdLe WeAk, AnD I jUsT wAnTeD tO hElP MeGgY mAkE iT cHaLlEnGiNg FoR BoOpKiNs BeCaUsE cOaChInG aNd ClImBInG aReN't ThAt EaSy."

Meggy shot the former Garo an irked look, unamused by his antics, and that was when SMG4, the famed YouTuber, kicked Bob in the groin and knocked him to the ground. A couple of kids in the gym, who'd been relaxing after a workout, started laughing at the comical display as Bob got back up.

"CoMe On, I kNeW hE wOuLd Be FiNe." Bob told the meme-loving Super Meme Guardian.

"It still wasn't nice, Bob." SMG4 replied to the hobo.

"That's enough for today." Meggy said, "You deserve a break, Boopkins. That was some pretty good climbing, probably just as good as Mario's climbing."

Over in the corner, the iconic Italian idiot of the Mushroom Kingdom, Super Mario, or just Mario, was eating a plate of spaghetti as usual, given how obsessed he was with that dish. He looked up as soon as the former Inkling mentioned his name, and the pudgy plumber looked at Boopkins and Meggy.

"Were you done with climbing already?" He asked in his usual dim-witted manner, "I'll let you know Mario is the top wall-climber of the Mushroom Kingdom, capable of making it to the top in three minutes."

Bob's eyes lit up with surprise, and he headed over to Mario, staring suspiciously at him. "ThErE iS nO wAy YoU cAn MaKe It To ThE tOp Of A BiG aSs WaLl In ThReE mInUtEs StRaIgHt, YoU fAtAsS." The hobo said to the dimwitted Avatar, "AnD BoOpKiNs ToOk FiVe MinUteS tO gEt To ThE ToP."

"Don't listen to Mario." SMG4 advised, "He's just exaggerating, like with his IQ, and making crap up as usual. Or maybe it actually happened, and we don't know it. Who knows what secrets he's been hiding from us..."

Everyone decided they wouldn't worry about it, and carried on with their day as if nothing else currently mattered. However, while it had long been accepted that Mario was an idiot, he deeply cared about his brother Luigi and their friends, and, on numerous occasions, Mario had shown moments of heroism in the midst of life-threatening perils.

Only a couple of days ago, the mysterious cybernetic TV entity known as Mr. Puzzles trapped and tormented the gang in order to make a five-star show, and nearly succeeded, had Mario not intervened at the 11th hour.

Mr. Puzzles was defeated, and his machinations were brought to an end. With another dime-a-dozen bad guy taken care of, SMG4 continued making memes, and Meggy focused on advancing her sports coach career while the rest of the gang did their own thing.

Boopkins left the gym after a while, and headed to his seaside residence, ready to relax with his little brother JubJub after all of that wall-climbing and coaching from everyone's favorite woomy girl. The weeb found his younger sibling at the nearby park, just relaxing on a bench, and JubJub warbled happily when he saw his big green brother coming.

"Boopkins. JubJub." The little duckling-like creature said happily, and threw himself into his big brother's arms.

"Hey, JubJub." The weeb greeted, "You want to go home and watch some anime?"

"JubJub. JubJub, JubJub."

"Yes, we'll watch Yu-Gi-Oh! tonight. That's what we've been watching for a while..."

Both Boopkins siblings headed off, eager to relax and enjoy an episode of Japanese animation without a worry in the world. On the other side of town, Karen the Cat was cooking patties for dinner as her three kittens Cory, Zack, and Katie sat back and watched a Looney Tunes rerun on TV.

A loud signal noise rang through the house, and Karen turned away from her cooking to see the television screen had turned to static. Cory and Katie covered their ears, and Zack looked at his mom with confusion. A dark shadow suddenly appeared on the TV, then the cartoon Karen's kids were watching reappeared, the signal restored, and the cats resumed their usual activities...