SMG4 Apprenticeship AU Continued...

SMG4 Across the Second Dimension (Part 1)

"We actually get to train during our downtime!" SMG5 exclaimed, stretching as the group made their way towards the clubhouse.

SMG4 shook his head, smiling. "Yeah. Finally no threat looming over us all, huh?"

Luigi nodded. "You could say that again."

Mr. Puzzles shook his head, walking behind his friends as he watched them talk. "I don't understand why I'm tagging along?" He said. "Wouldn't you just need Mario and Luigi with the four of you for this?"

"But Mi Amore!" Mario shouted, grabbing his husband's arm. "We want you here!"

SMG3 shook his head. "We need someone else around to make sure no one does anything stupid," he said, glancing towards Mario.

"Ok," Puzzles laughed, "that makes sense."

"Yeah," SMG4 laughed. "We need someone to keep Mr. Puzzles in check."

"Mario has regrets-"

SMG5 and SMG6 laughed. "You mean Mr. Puzzles has regrets," 6 added.

"I hate all of you," Puzzles said with a sigh.

"Get a first name then," Luigi said, looking up at the cyborg.

"Too much work," Puzzles said. "Besides, I doubt I'll ever remember it. I don't remember my original name."

"That's a bit sad..." 5 added.

"On a lighter note," Mario shouted, running up to the clubhouse. "We're here!"

"So, what are we going to practice first?" 6 asked, smiling excitedly towards 4 and 3.

"Well," 4 said, tapping his chin. "I figured since you haven't tested out your powers after we defeated Exubus, why not try and test out the basics to see if everything is still the same? I'm curious if something happened to your code after what happened."

SMG3 nodded. "Yeah. Besides, best to get a warm-up in first, right?"

The two nodded before linking hands, looking towards Luigi.

Luigi took a deep breath, preparing for the worst, just in case.

The two focused on one of the local memes, converting it into meme energy and transferring it to Luigi.

Luigi grew in size, looking over himself and smiling. "Hey! It worked!"

The two young meme guardians let go of each other with bright smiles on their faces. Luigi shrunk back down in size, giving them a thumbs up.

"Hell yeah!" SMG6 exclaimed.

"Not bad," 4 said, smiling at the two. "Doesn't look like much has changed!"

"Ok," SMG3 said, "we'll practice a bit more, and then we should probably teach you guys how to make portals."

"With Meme Energy?" 6 asked.

3 nodded.

"Oh, I forgot we never taught you guys that," 4 laughed.

3 rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Something came up when we were thinking about teaching them."

"Right..." 4 mumbled.

They continued training, going over the things the younger guardians had learned previously. Thankfully, everything was the same as it was before they defeated Exubus when it comes to their abilities.

Finally, SMG4 and SMG3 decided they were ready to learn portals.

"Ok," SMG4 said, taking 3's hand into his own. "So, in order to open a portal, you first need to know where you're going. You need to be able to picture it and use your energy to create an opening to that place."