SMG4: The Power Crystal (Episode)

Prologue (Chapter 1) - Introduction

   Bushes swiveled in the dusk of night.
Out popped a male in white overalls and a blue hat.
  He looked around. There was nothing around him but the endless paths of trees and stones.
The boy grimaced by the sight.
   "Gang, I think we're lost."
  When he spoke, a female with ginger hair popped out. "Lost?! We can't be lost! We're not even that far from the Showgrounds!"
   "See, this is why I never like going on 'adventures' with this bum!" On his other side, another male popped out. One that looked very similar to him in appearance, but this one wore a purple shirt and overalls, and had a distinctive beard. "Try taking my advice from now on!"
  Behind the man, a very tall woman with pink pigtails slapped him from behind the head. "Their's no time for us to listen to your bickering and complaining. We need to figure out how to get home."
  The man whirled his glare up at her. "Well whose fault is that?"
   "Guys, guys, no fighting!" A small creature stumbled out of the bush to face the two quarrelers. "I hate seeing you guys fight!"
   "Well maybe if somebody planned before time..." The man in purple shot a glare at the blue.
He scoffed. "Well I'm sorry if I just wanted us to get out and touch grass for a while!"
   "In the middle of the night?!" The man in purple reciprocated the scoff. "Well this kinda overdoes it, don't you think?"
   "Ugh." Finally stepping out of the bush, others began to reveal themselves.
There was a total of ten people when everybody finally revealed themselves in the twilight.
   "So what do we do now...?" A male in a green cap spoke as he blinked slowly.
  Beside him, a girl with blue hair looked around hysterically. "Yeah... it's getting dark... and this place is scary...!"
  Soothing the two anxious friends, the boy in blue and white spoke. "We'll find a way out of here! Don't worry."
   "And what if we don't?" The girl in pink stepped forward to stand beside the blue female. Hearing this made her squeal and hug her pink friend tightly.
   "Well like Meggy said," He addressed the ginger female with his thumb. "We're not that far from the Showgrounds. I'm sure we'll find our way back."
   "Or we'll listen and take advice from an idiot, take a wrong direction again and get ourselves even more lost!"
  After he had said that, everybody in the group winced and grimaced uncomfortably.
   "Dude, what the hell! Don't you have even a speck of hope left in your body?"
   "My hope died years ago," He crossed his arms. "After becoming friends with you and making my life hell!"
  The boy growled but he didn't reply.
   "SMG3, that wasn't necessary!" Meggy snapped.
   "Isn't it?" He snapped back.
  Crossing their arms, both parties avoided gazes.
   "Look, everybody's had a long day," The boy in green stepped forward to push the two away from each other to break off the tension. "I bet we'll feel much better tomorrow."
   "If there is a tomorrow!" SMG3 barked, whirling a glare back at his look alike. This time the blue boy felt too ashamed to meet his eyes.
   "Stop it, Three," Meggy hissed. "SMG4's having just as much of a bad day as you are! This is nobody's fault!"
   "He's the one who led us into this god damn hell hole! What do you mean it isn't his fault?"
   "It's. Nobody's. Fault." Meggy pierced a hard glare at SMG3 that made him take a step back.
   "Well if we don't manage to find the Showgrounds tonight, we'll always be able to find it in the morning. Right?" A new voice spoke up. It was a watermelon looking female this time.
  Beside her, a mysterious ragged-shaped man spoke after. "Yeah. And plus I'm used to sleeping outside. I only got attacked by a bear three times!"
   "See? At least Melony and Bob of all people still have a positive attitude about this!"
   "Yeah, well everybody here is dumb, so."
  Whirling another glare at SMG3, he immediately shut his lips again.
  As the tension between the two grew, it was suddenly broken when they heard a loud and obnoxious caterwaul behind them. "Fourrr! Mario's hungry!"
  SMG4 blinked and turned to look over at Mario with a sigh. "Sorry Mario. But we're gonna have to wait until the morning."
  Mario pouted. "What?! No way! Mario's isn't waiting that long! Mario's hungry now!"
  Meggy stepped forward. "Red, it's getting late. And everybody here is tired." She walked towards him and knelt down, placing a hand on his shoulder as a kind gesture. "We'll all go get something to eat tomorrow. How does that sound?"
  Mario stomped his foot. "NO! MARIO WANTS TO EAT NOW!"
   "Mario—" Before Meggy could convince him, Mario fled off and out into the forest.
Everybody gasped and turned to watch him run.
   "MARIO!" SMG4 instantly ran after him.
   "Where the hell does he think he's going?!" The girl in pink scowled.
   "Saiko!" Meggy addressed. "Go and run after them. You're the tallest of us all." Meggy ordered. "We'll be right behind you."
  Saiko was a bit reluctant, but she nodded and took off.
   "The rest of us will follow behind," Meggy explained. "Bob. Carry Boopkins."
  Bob threw his sword-shaped arms in the air in dismay. "What? Why?"
   "Because he's small, and he wont be able to keep up with us."
  Boopkins gasped offendedly. "What? Of course I could! I may be small and weak, but that doesn't make me useless!"
  Meggy knelt down. "Boopkins, I appreciate your enthusiasm, I really do... but the last thing we need is for anybody to split up from the group." She placed her hand on his small body. "So please... just do as I say."
  Boopkins expression darkened, but he nodded sadly. "Yes Meggy..." Hopping onto his friend's shoulder, Boopkins turned away.
  Meggy sat up and turned towards the others. "Tari and Luigi, you guys stick close to me." She ordered. "We don't need anybody getting hurt either."
  The blue girl and the green boy exchanged a glance at each other and nodded.
   "The rest of you just follow along!"
  Everybody else nodded by her order, expect SMG3, who just snorted.
Meggy turned back to face the forest, ignoring the man's insulting noise. "Now lets go find Mario. Before he does something stupid."