(Omniscient)
Onett is a small neck-of-the-woods town west of the meadow below the castle: about 40 minutes by car. It's nestled in the valley below Cool Cool Mountain and can be accessed by a beautiful hillside road dotted by coniferous forest. In Spite of the location, it produces excellent electric power and Wi-Fi. Only a few houses surround the two floor exterior access motel and gas station on its main road. Next to the gas station. A computer repair and gaming corner store stands above the road like a crown jewel. Tari grew up in New Donk City with her family and moved here after high school, drawn in by its seclusion and quiet. She lives on the second floor of the corner store, working and paying rent for the owner. Across the street, a new pizzeria had opened and was enjoying a massive audience of motel-goers. A huge tarp hung over the sign above had just been taken down, revealing the name of the establishment: Peppino's Pizza in backlit lettering.
Tari and Mario arrived back in the mainland Mushroom kingdom 9 hours after they boarded the plane in Finland, and in Onett 50 minutes later. They stopped in the castle to pick up Fishy Boopkins, who had expressed interest in going with them. A red car pulled into the alleyway behind it and parked. No car accompanied it this time. Tari unlocked the backdoor and all of them ascended a narrow staircase in the back of the store. The owner was out that day on vacation, attending her son's wedding. The old boxy computers on display were cloaked by dusty frustums of late-day light from the windows; the only light that purged the dim room.
Tari walked into the apartment first, leaving her two friends at the door so she could at least tidy up the room before they came in. She didn't really have any plans to have them over; it wasn't even in the nature of an introvert like her. She only made up something to convince Mario to leave the rest of them to do their business. As Tari grabbed blankets and clothes off her floor, her mind wandered in Meggy and Saiko's direction. Tari found herself worried by what Meggy had said to her. She trusted them, at least. She didn't want to be deadweight if it really meant that lives were on the line. She didn't know what Meggy saw in the lab or what they were doing now, but it seemed serious. May be as serious as the arrival of Zero was. She hoped, nevertheless, the Melony was alright.
Having made her apartment look presentable, Tari reached for the front door. "Alright, you guys, I'm ready!" she called, "Sorry If it's messy, I don't usually have people over". They opened the door to a small 4-room apartment lit by a myriad of bright blue LED strips and small lamps. It was homey; Mario had expected some sci-fi chrome palace suspended on maglev bearings. In front of them was a fake-velvet couch covered head-to-toe in blankets, and stuffed pillows of ducks. The tiny kitchen across the room was nearly unused save for the microwave and sink. It looked like the most comfortable place any of them had ever seen, even more so than their own beds.
"We'll order pizza in like an hour, is that alright." Tari said, flipping her shoes off her feet. Mario's stomach growled, almost on command.
"Okay, 30 minutes?"
The growl came again, slightly louder.
"Fifteen?"
Mario's stomach let out a roar of disapproval.
"What if we got it right now?" Tari exclaimed finally.
The beast was dormant this time. Tari picked up the phone and asked each of them for their order.
"Hello, Peppino's Pizza, Peppino speaking." Boopkins went first.
"I'll have a small Hawaiian Pizza, please," he declared. Mario then proceeded to lob a pillow at him with the force of a cannon shot.
Mario went next, "I'm feeling like a large Anchovy and Mushroom pizza." Tari looked back at him with the most confused and slightly concerned expression.
"What?" Mario retorted, "Is a man not entitled to the pizza of his pie?" Boopkins looked slightly offended by the statement.
Tari ordered last: a small cheese pizza. When she told them her address, there was a pause on the other line as the caller went to the store window. "Would you like that delivered, ma'am?" they asked. Tari declined politely.
~
About 30 minutes later, the pizzas were brought to the house with a ring of the doorbell. Mario laid the three pies out on the small two person table in the corner of the living room. Tari tentatively pulled an anchovy off Mario's pizza, to his mortified shock. Tari eyed the small, smoky-brown fish fillet with morbid curiosity. She smelled it. Unsurprisingly, it smelled like smoked fish. She bit into the anchovy. It was saltier than she expected, but the taste grew on her. Mario went over and flopped onto the couch.
"Who's up for some Smash?" he proclaimed in between bites of pizza. The jury ruled overwhelmingly in favor. Tari scampered over to her Nintendo Switch and turned it on before tossing the rest of the party controllers.
"Alright," Tari said smugly, "How easy do you want me to go on you?"
"Actually, there won't be any need for a handicap, Tari-chan," Boopkins scoffed. Mario echoed his sudden confidence, bewildering Tari for a moment: "We've been practicing."
Tari raised the corner of her lip, "Alright, if the Training-Montage Company wants to do it the hard way, they'll get no argument from me." She braced her head with her mechanical hand, staring both of them down while smiling smugly. Mario suddenly felt the controller slip from his trembling hands.
"How about we do a 2v1?" she challenged.
~
[2 HOURS LATER]
Mario & Boopkins
Wins: 0
Losses: 23
Stocks Lost: 72
Current Percentage: M:78% B:144%
Tari
Wins: 23
Losses: 0
Stocks Lost: 0
Current Percentage: 1%
~
As the digital announcer called Game, the apartment erupted with laughter and yelling. Tari had doubled over off the couch, cackling at Mario's screaming. Boopkins had his head in his hands, sweating nervously.
"HOW DO YOU PARRY SO FAST?!" Mario shouted, "WHAT IS THAT ULTRA INSTINCT BULLSHIT YOU HAVE GOING ON?"
"So did you want that handicap or not?" Tari snickered.
"No, One more without it!" Mario cried, furiously, "I've seen a god bleed tonight, We have a chance!"
Boopkins whimpered, "I can't take much more of this, this is the most terrifying experience I've had in my life!"
"Good Luck, you guys!" Tari hollered cheerfully, spontaneously starting another match before they had time to read the screen, "Try and land a few hits on me, 'kay?"
"WAITHOLDON-"
~
After another solid half hour of Tari crushing Mario and Boopkin's dreams, the trio dozed off to sleep. Tari was able to, on the last of her waking consciousness, turn out the light and shamble into her bedroom through a door across from her kitchen. Before long, Tari was corkscrewed into some amalgamation of her own body and the thick blankets on her bed, fast asleep. She had forgotten to take off her Meta Arm before bed, but it didn't seem to impede her slumber. At some point in the night, she was woken up by Boopkins, who needed a glass of water, but was too short to reach the sink. Half asleep and disheaveled, Tari walked to the kitchen sink with him, gave him a paper cup from her small pantry, and lifted him up to the sink.
"Tari," Boopkins asked quietly, "Why did Melony leave home that day?" "Well," she hesitated, "I guess she just felt trapped in the castle."
It was a lie, and she knew it. She didn't want to tell Boopkins why Meggy shooed her away. She didn't have all the answers yet either.
"I mean...," Tari continued, "After Axol died, I guess she felt like she needed something to hold on to, some purpose. She couldn't seek revenge against Zero cuz... last I checked, he's dead too. She didn't have a big Splatfest to dedicate to Axol either. All she has is her own power, I guess."
"...and her friends, too!" Boopkins chimed optimistically.
"You're right!" Tari smiled. She set Boopkins back down after he drank his fill. He waddled over to the couch and pulled a duck patterned blanket over himself. Mario splayed across the floor in front of them, still very (and very loudly) asleep. Tari stood there; her bare feet spread across the border where the cold kitchen tile met the soft carpet. She sighed, worried.
"I just hope she realizes that too."
~
END OF INTERMISSION
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SMG4:// Apocrypha
Fanfiction10 years after SMG4 came to be, the Mushroom Kingdom was ravaged by war. Eventually, SMG4 and his friends claimed victory, but some bore the cost of that victory harder than others. For one poor soul, the memory of losing her love bore down so hard...
