Apprenticeship [An SMG4 Fanfic]

Chapter 17: The Calm Before the Storm

Saiko sighed, combing through SMG1 and SMG2's notes alongside Mr. Puzzles. "You didn't need to come and help me."

"Nonsense!" The cyborg scoffed. "They're important to my friends, so they're important to me."

She laughed. "Funny. I don't understand how you were evil before."

"Huh?"

"Well," she explained, "ever since you became a member of the group, I never really understood why you would brainwash our friends to use them in your shows. Especially since we were able to help you without being brainwashed."

"Well..." Mr. Puzzles sighed, putting down the papers he was looking through. "Let's just say, no one actually showed any care for me, my shows, or my well being before SMG5 and SMG6. Well... and Mario. But I think it's because he'll watch anything."

Mario burst out of a pile of papers in the corner of the room that he was "reading," really he was just looking at what could have been words to say that he was helping. "Not true!" He shouted. "Mario will never watch boring drama shows!"

Puzzles sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright. Fine. But still." He looked back at Saiko. "I... decided to turn over a new leaf, I guess."

"No leaves," Mario added, popping back into the pile of papers.

Saiko sighed. "Well, hey. We like having you around, so... glad you turned over that leaf."

Mr. Puzzles smiled, looking back at the notes. "Thank you. I like having you all around too. I... never had friends before, so let's just say it's a nice change of pace."

"I wonder why," Saiko asked.

"I wish I knew," Puzzles laughed. "I don't know. No one ever wanted to be around me as a child."

"They're stupid," Mario huffed angrily from under the papers. "Mario would have-a played with you as a kid!"

"Well, thank you Dear," he said, picking up a paper and smiling down at his boyfriend. "I appreciate the sentiment."

Mario jumped up, planting a kiss on his screen.

Saiko shook her head as Puzzles stood there dumbfounded by the sudden affection (and that he'd need his screen cleaned again), before turning her attention back to her stacks of papers. SMG1 and SMG2 kept their apartment relatively clean and organized thankfully. Made it easier to find where they had last gone to before they disappeared and wound up with Exubus.

"If you two lovebirds are done," she said, grabbing a specific paper, "I think I might have found something."

The two turned to her as she showed them the paper. "Seems SMG1 and SMG2 last went to this place called The Code Lake. It doesn't say why they went there specifically though."

Puzzles took the paper, looking it over. "Well... it's dated to a few days before that strange dream I had."

"Let's go save them then!" Bob shouted, bursting out of another pile of papers that the others had assumed Mario made.

"Bob?" Saiko asked harshly. "When did you get here?"

"I come here often," he explained.

"Why...?" Puzzles inquired as he leaned down to be eye level with the man.

"I'm invited," Bob said before hopping out of the pile. "SMG1 is hot and he invites me over sometimes. It's better than my place so why not?"

"I..." Puzzles sighed. He was dating Mario. He was in no position to judge anyone else's taste in men. "Ok then."

Saiko rolled her eyes. "Anyway... we need to think of how we'll go about this. We can't just rush in and expect things to turn out."

"Exactly," the TV said, nodding. "We need to be careful. Exubus is very... cunning. He may not have succeeded yet, but if he was able to capture 1 and 2, then I would say he knows what he's doing. He's playing the long game."