SMG4:// Apocrypha

Part 3: Anabasis

Ch 1: Anticure (Omniscient)

"MEGGY!" Saiko yelled from outside the door, startling Luigi, who was reading in the main hall of the castle. She continued pounding on the door. Luigi could hear the girl inside the room scrambling around.
She opened the door, confused: "What do you want? Its 6 in the morning." Saiko tightened her clenched fist, fighting the urge to hurt Meggy.
"4 months? 4 MONTHS? You make us wait 4 months before we even hear anything about her, and now we find out that she might be in Finland. FUCKING Finland!"
"Hold On!," Meggy retorted, confused, "Mr. Monitor said that there were things happening there that she 'might' be connected to. But he never said that she was there!"

"Why are you so hesitant to do anything about her?" Saiko shouted, suddenly emotionally, "You were the last person to see her before she left. More than that-"
"I let her go because it seemed right. Melony has to figure this out for herself, just like I did with Splat-"
"I can't believe you!" Saiko raised her voice further, "All you want to talk about is Splatfest, even when one of our best friends is... you didn't even so much as look at her at the funeral!"
Luigi dashed in between the two, "Both of you calm down! We're all shocked by what SMG4 told us, but let's solve this together... as friends."
Tari appeared at the top of the stairs, her eyes fiery, "I agree, I saw what his death did to her. You shouldn't have just let her leave on her own, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything now."
Saiko took a breath, straightening up, "My thoughts exactly. We'll go to Finland and find her. If anyone is going with us, it's you, Meggy. You've dealt with the same thing she has. On top of that, aren't you the hotshot tomboy who leads everybody around all the time...."
Saiko turned to Meggy, who was silent.
"... or are you just gonna stay here with your massive head up your own ass?"
Meggy slumped her shoulders and walked out of her room, past Saiko. "Fine," muttered Meggy, pivoting and speaking to no one in particular, "if anyone else wants to come with us, speak now, or forever shut the hell up."
"That's what I thought," Saiko declared, smugly. Meggy turned and glared at her.
"Did somebody say something about an adventure?" Mario quipped, sliding into the castle atrium, "you bet your ass I'm coming too!"

Meggy lazily raised her hand and made a "forward" motion with her arm. Everyone was standing in the atrium now as Meggy, Saiko, Tari, and Mario all gathered what they could carry and headed out the door. The 4 SMGs watched them leave. SMG3 reached into his pocket and pulled out a melon hairpin. He found it on the road just outside the castle not long after Melony left, weathered and washed out. She must have taken it off as she left. He fiddled with it. The pin was a simple metal wire bent and painted dark green with a large plastic piece on the top shaped like a watermelon half. He had kept it since then, just so he could return it to Melony if she came back. SMG1 saw the pin and an expression of worry filled his face as the castle doors closed.
"Grief with power like that is a terrible thing, isn't it?" he spoke, eyes narrowing.
~

Ch 2: Sound Loud, Golden Word! (Omniscient)

Even through the sun had risen completely in the mushroom kingdom, in Finland it was bowing out off its stage to the applause of wind, birds, and the like. One especially loud audience member was a jetplane zooming by, about to land. To the four of them on the plane, the brilliant blaze that the sun gave on its way out was inspiring. Although, up this far north, they were so far away from the equator that the sun never really set. It's light would burn, even dimly, throughout the night. During the summer, this midnight sun would peak its head over the mountains for months on end.
The plane landed and the four exited through the skybridge into Helsinki. They quickly ventured to buy lunch, speaking what little Finnish they learned on the flight. They were all jet lagged and underpacked and, above all, hungry. Many of the other people in the airport were wondering why there were these

four people had come here severely underdressed, especially during the polar nights in Finland during the Winter. Everyone seemed to blame Meggy for not planning this excursion better so that they might have had a place to sleep once they landed, but Meggy (noting Saiko's smug glances her way) insisted that they had to hurry to find Melony.
They were heading to the baggage retrieval area when they saw a familiar face. To their surprise, Swag and Chris were all waiting for them, holding up a disproportionately huge sign with "Meggy" written on it. Apparently, the two lost their jobs (again) after attempting and failing to destroy the USB and now they work for the Finnish police force.
The two guards led them to their ride. A police van with tinted windows that looked oddly low-key for what it was. The driver window lowered to reveal Fuego, the driver. Mario wondered exactly how his huge plastic body was able to fit in the seat, but he seemed to be able to operate the van without issue. All six of them entered the vehicle. At that point, Swag had taken handcuffs out of his pocket and, with surprising slight-of-hand, bound Meggy and the rest of them inside of the car before they could resist. Fuego pulled out a taser from the cupholder in the front and made his commands:
"Under order of the Chief of Police of Helsinki, Finland, we are to escort you to Headquarters. If you resist, we will not hesitate to use lethal force."
With no word except a notable look of pity on Chris' face, the two guards pointed their own tasers at Mario and Saiko. Against the better judgement of three of the four of them, the officers met no resistance.
~