SMG4: The Good, the Bad and the Crazy

Learn and Adapt

Aeris walked down the street, his backpack strung onto his back. It was a Saturday, and since he had the day off that day, he thought it would be best if he'd "get some help".

"First a crazy guy with a sword waltzes in, then an army of Final Fantasy characters just appears, then an all out apocalypse almost happens!" he grumbled to himself as made his way down the road.

"What's next? Pigs can fly now?"

He suddenly heard grunting from above. Looking up, he saw a large sow, soaring through the air above him.

"You've got to be kidding me...

Looking away from the flying hog, he pulled out the business card Speckler had given him. On it was written his address, contact information as well as a motto on the bottom stating: "Crazy enough to take any job."

As he glanced around, he suddenly came upon a rather peculiar looking hill by the side of the road. Upon further inspection, he realized that there seemed to be a house dug into it. He could see that it had two floors, some windows and a dark, wooden door. The address number on it was the same one as on the card.

"This must be it." he thought.

He grabbed the knocker and struck the door three times. After a short moment, Speckler's muffled voice was heard on the other side.

"Who is it?"

"Uh, Aeris Takoyaki, sir. I took your job a few weeks ago, remember?" the inkling called out.

The mail slot opened up, as a pair of badger eyes peeked through them quickly. Spotting Aeris standing in front of the doorway, the little hatch quickly closed as the door opened.

"Come on in." Speckler told him.

"Oh, thank you." Aeris replied, as he did what the badger said. Once he was inside, Speckler quickly shut the door with his one hand, revealing to the inkling the double barreled shotgun he was holding in the other.

"That gun was unloaded, right?"

The old badger glanced at Aeris, then at the weapon.

"Why would I unload this one?" he asked.

"Uh... Wait, what do you mean by this one?

Speckler gave no answer as he laid the gun against the wall, before turning to Aeris.

"Come on, follow me."

He led his replacement into his dining room. Looking around, it seemed quite cozy for a home dug out of a hill. The windows let sunlight flood into the rooms of the burrow. On the wall hung several photos. One of which was of SMG4 taking a selfie with Speckler while they were at a pub, while another was of the badger standing alongside a group of men, all of them in overcoats and fedoras. The latter picture seemed rather old, as the badger was a lot younger in that picture.

"Huh..."

Speckler pulled a chair out from under the table.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable." he said, offering the inkling a seat.

"Huh? Oh, thank you."

Aeris accepted the offer, sitting down at the table. Speckler sat on the opposite side in front of him.

"I can already see you're acclimating yourself to this place." he said snarkily, as he put down a newspaper on the table. The headlining article read: 'Local idiots raid GameStop. Owner devastated by loss of rare Gex cartridge.'

"Oh no..." Aeris said, as he read through the article.

"So, why have you come over and interrupted my afternoon smoke?" Speckler asked.