Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   Mr. Puzzles and Meggy had walked towards the show grounds (which was rather far. Farther than Meggy had anticipated.)

   “Uhh, Meggy, rather than walk all the way to the show grounds, maybe a taxi would be better. To get us there faster.”

   “I agree. You’re kind of lagging behind there Mr. Puzzles.” Said Meggy. Mr. Puzzles, who had fallen ten paces behind looked insulted.

    “Excuse me young lady, but I am not lagging behind! I walk fine! Just not…a day worth a walk.” Said Mr. Puzzles, somewhat admitting defeat.

   “C’mon. It will be much faster this way. Besides, we’ll need our strength for the first part of your training.” Said Meggy, as if the whole taxi thing was her idea.

   “Taxi!” She called and a taxi immediately popped over. She opened the door and stood aside for Mr. Puzzles.

   “After you sir.” Meggy said. Mr. Puzzles hesitated just for a second, before getting in the car. Meggy got in on the other side and the cab driver (who was currently wearing a pointy hat and a trench coat to disguise themselves) turned to Mr. Puzzles and Meggy.

   “Where to?” They asked in an oddly high pitched and scratchy voice.

   “To SMG4’s grounds please.” Meggy said as if the driver would know what she was talking about. The driver gave a confused noise.

   “Er, she means 5117789221 street, just by the abandoned schoolhouse.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Err, right.” Said Meggy sheepishly.

    The driver soon tore off and sped down the road. Mr. Puzzles managed to put on his seatbelt, while Meggy struggled with getting hers on.

   “Here.” Mr. Puzzles helped her with the buckle and the two held on for dear life as the driver ran through every red light, rammed every driver, sending them flying off the road, and nearly ran over every pedestrian in place.

   “Slow down! You’re going to kill us!” Shouted Mr. Puzzles. The driver said nothing as they continued driving in silence.

    Pretty quickly, they arrived at the fairgrounds, and as soon as the duo stepped out, the taxi sped off.

   “Odd. He didn’t even ask for payment.” Said Mr. Puzzles, a little skeptical about the taxi driver.

   “Who cares? This stuff happens to us all the time!” Said Meggy.

   “You mean, the taxi drivers never ask for money?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “Nah. But as long as the ride is free, and gets us to our destination, it’s all good.” Said Meggy. Then her grin turned wicked.

   “Now, time for your first training session Mr. Puzzles! Are you ready?”

   “I was born ready!” Said Mr. Puzzles excitedly.

   A few minutes later, Mr. Puzzles was hanging on for dear life on the highest of monkey bars. He was sweating nervously as he held on to the middle rung, afraid to drop. He also was afraid that if he didn’t move, that his sweat would jam his circuits and he’d fall to his death anyways.

   “Come on Mr. Puzzles! You’re almost halfway! You got this!” Said Meggy.

    “What part of this training involves me becoming a better director?!” Said Mr. Puzzles.

    “Come on! Every good director needs to know how to swing the monkey bars! It’s what gets you hyped for the competition!”

   “WHAT COMPETITION?!” Mr. Puzzles shouted, completely panicking now. He could feel his fingers slipping off the bar.

   “Come on Mr. Puzzles! Keep swinging! You got this!” Said Meggy.

    “Okay. Come on Mr. Puzzles.” Said Mr. Puzzles to himself. “Focus and keep swinging. It’s just a little farther. Almost there.”

   Mr. Puzzles released one of his hands and he dangled there for a few seconds, before swinging to the next monkey bar. Then the next and the next and the next.

   Mr. Puzzles was nearing the other side, feeling excited as he reached for that last monkey bar and…

   “Hey Meggy, what are you doing?” Said a familiar Italian voice. Mr. Puzzles slipped and ended up falling. He closed his eyes tightly for his untimely demise…only to land on the trampoline just a few feet below him. He bounced up a little, before stopping. He breathed a sigh of relief, and felt a little embarrassed that he had forgotten that he wasn’t that high off the ground to begin with.

   “Mario, can’t you see I’m busy?” Asked Meggy.

   Mario turned to look at Mr. Puzzles. Mr. Puzzles looked at him, trying not to get angry at the sight of the Italian man (or scared that he might smash his t.v face in again). Mario seemed a little confused.

   “Uhh, hello Mario. It’s me.”

   Mario was confused still.

   “Mario, you remember Mr. Puzzles, don’t you?” Asked Meggy. The fat Italian plumber still seemed confused, before something suddenly clicked in his brain and his normally stupid face transformed into that of horror once he recognized the t.v faced man.

    Mario began to back away, and ran off.

   “Mario, wait! It’s alright! He’s with…and he’s gone.”

   “Err, I’m not in danger here, am I?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

    “Well…you did trap me and my friends inside your shows and put us in danger multiple times…oh shit. Maybe I need to tell the others that you’re here and sort this out.” Meggy said.

   “Are you sure that’s wise? They might have the same reaction as Mario and…”

   “MR. PUZZLES!”

   Both Mr. Puzzles and Meggy froze upon seeing SMG4 and the others standing there.

   “Guys, let me explain, Mr. Puzzles is…”

    “Capture him! He’s trying to take over the fairgrounds and make us part of his tv show!” Shouted SMG4. The others charged at Mr. Puzzles who tried to scramble away on the trampoline.

   Meggy, having come prepared, grabbed her blaster and stood in front of the mob.

    “He’s not here to take over the fairgrounds, or make us part of his tv shows! He knows we’d just escape again! I brought him here! To help him with his filming career!” Said Meggy.

   “That’s right! Meggy is going to help me with…”

   “Quiet you!” Said SMG4.

   Mr. Puzzles immediately changed his screen to show his lips zipped and his voice muted.

    “He’s not here to hurt anyone! I promise!” Said Meggy.

   Tari looked uncertainly at her.

    “We can’t trust him! For all we know, he’s here to bribe us into becoming part of his stupid YouTube channel! He’s the worst type of villain! Does he have no sense of creativity, or vision?” Asked SMG3.

    Mr. Puzzles looked away, a little stung.

    “He told me why that happened. He was down on his luck and desperate. He just needs a little help right now, is all.” Meggy said.

   SMG4 looked at Mr. Puzzles skeptically, who nodded, refusing to unmute his voice, until the others left.

   “Well, if you say so. But if anything goes wrong and he tries something funny, we’re going to take him to prison!” Said SMG4.

   “Yeah! No one messes with Mario’s t.v and gets away with it!” Said Mario.

   “And we’ll make sure he lives to regret what he’s done!” SMG3 said.

   “You’d better sleep with one eye open if you know what’s good for you!” Said Bob.

   “Yeah, you big mean t.v screen man!” Said Boopkins.

   Tari said nothing. She looked at Meggy, concern in her eyes, before turning away. They all turned and left back to the castle. Meggy breathed a sigh of relief.

   “That could have gone worse…” She noticed Mr. Puzzles not looking at her. He was currently looking down at the trampoline under his knees, looking miserable.

   Meggy walked up to him and offered him her hand.

    “Hey. Mr. Puzzles?”

    He slowly looked up at her, seeing her outstretched arm. He gently took it and she helped him up.

    “Are you still good to go? I have this one other technique we could try that would really help…”

   Mr. Puzzles unmuted himself.

    “Why?” He asked.

    “Pardon?” Asked Meggy.

   “Why are you helping me? You said it yourself, I did terrible things to you and your friends. If you hadn’t come and got me when you did…I would have resorted to some petty revenge.” Mr. Puzzles said.

    “Well, it’s because you look like you could use it. And you did agree to let me help you, so it would be rude to turn you away.” Said Meggy.

    “That’s true. But what about the others? Suppose I rub them the wrong way, or they decide to cast me out, just because they don’t trust me?” Mr. Puzzles looked passed Meggy. He saw Mario looking at him through the window, before noticing Mr. Puzzles looking at him and pretended to be busy with something else.

    “Don’t worry. If they give us any trouble, I’ll deal with them myself.” Said Meggy.

    Mr. Puzzles took a deep breath.

   “Alright. Okay Meggy! Let’s continue on with this training!” Said Mr. Puzzles.

    “That’s the spirit! Come on! You’re going to love this next part!”

    Mr. Puzzles was even more confused as he was balancing on a high tight rope, over a large pool with sharks inside.

   “Why didn’t I think to put one of those in my lair during my own t.v adventure?” Mr. Puzzles snapped himself out of his thoughts and looked at Meggy.

   “M-Meggy, dear, I’m not sure I like this part of the training. A-and it…whoo!” Mr. Puzzles nearly lost his balance, before he managed to straighten himself out.

    “Come on! If you want to be the best director out there, you’ve got to face your fears! You need to show your rivals that you’re ready for this and will show them that you can—no, you WILL beat them in the tournament and win the championship!” Said Meggy. Mr. Puzzles was even more confused.

   “It’s all part of the training.” He said nervously. “Once I get through this, I’ll be the best director anyone’s ever seen. They’ll see. They’ll all see.”

   Taking a couple deep breaths, Mr. Puzzles carefully walked across the tight rope and held the stick in his hands.

   “Almost there Mr. Puzzles. Just don’t look down, just don’t look down.” He muttered to himself.

   Mr. Puzzles kept walking, and was in the middle of the tightrope, just as one of the sharks leapt up and tried to bite Mr. Puzzles. He managed to dodge the shark, but ended up slipping and falling into the pool below and the sharks mauled him.

   “Meggy! Help me!” He cried out.

    Meggy blew her whistle. She hurried into the pool and fought off the sharks and pulled out a soaking Mr. Puzzles and dragged him to the ground, where his circuits sizzled and sparked.

   “Alright, that one was a bust. But this next round is sure to get you into shape.” Meggy said. Mr. Puzzles said nothing as he continued to spark.

   “Alright! This one is important! Learning to dodge!” Said Meggy. SMG3 was standing beside her, a menacing grin on his face.

   “Meggy! I don’t think this is…” Mr. Puzzles started.

    Meggy blew her whistle.

   “No time for talking! You need to stay on your toes during the tournament! You need to keep your eyes on the prize and be alert! Otherwise your foes will get the jump on you!” Meggy blew her whistle.

   “GO!”

   Mr. Puzzles ran as fast as he could, while Smg3 threw a number of bombs at him, all exploding around Mr. Puzzles.

    Smg3 threw a bomb and Mr. Puzzles managed to jump and roll away before it hit him and he kept running.

    “Go Mr. Puzzles! Go!” Meggy cheered, jumping up and down.

    Smg3 seemed to remember who he was aiming at and a devious smirk crossed his face.

   “How would you like a taste of this Mr. Puzzles?” He said menacingly and pulled out a pie and stuck a stick of dynamite inside and threw it at Mr. Puzzles.

    Mr. Puzzles tried to get away, but the pie hit him and upon impact, the dynamite exploded and Mr. Puzzles was sent flying across the grounds and skidded face first into the dirt, getting some inside his head.

    “Smg3!” Meggy said, scowling at the man.

   “What? It’s all part of the training you said!”

   “You told me you’d be nice!” Meggy growled.

   “And you told me you’d pay me one hundred dollars!” SMG3 said, sticking out his hand.

    Rolling her eyes, Meggy pulled out a wad of cash and gave it to Smg3.

   “Pleasure doing business with you. Later guys.” Said Smg3, heading over to his cafe.

    Meggy looked over at Mr. Puzzles, frowning. She walked up to him and gently placed a hand on his back.

   “Please! Don’t hurt me!” He whimpered.

   “Mr. Puzzles. I’m sorry. That might have been a bit too extreme on you.” Meggy said.

   “Oh, it’s just you Meggy.” Said Mr. Puzzles, calming down a little.

    “Are you still good to keep going?” Meggy asked.

    Mr. Puzzles nodded.

    “Yeah. I can keep going.”

    “Good!” Meggy blew her whistle and Mr. Puzzles jumped.

   “On your feet twinkle toes, we’ve got more training!”

   However, the training only seemed to get more outlandish and bizarre as Mr. Puzzles was shooting at a bunch of random targets with different faces of old enemies and squid people plastered on them. One of them even had his face.

   Mr. Puzzles turned to Meggy, a little stung by what he saw.

   “Oh! There must be some m-mistake. I didn’t put that there.” Meggy said nervously. “Let me just…”

    She ripped off the face and tossed it in the nearby garbage can.

    Mr. Puzzles shrugged and went back to aiming, only for Mario to appear again.

   “Ooh! This is going to be fun! So, you think you’re the best shooter in the west? Well, I’m here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. But I’m all out of gum.”

   “Mario, stop! No!” Meggy started, but it was too late. Mario shot Mr. Puzzles with his blaster and the man went down.

    Meggy whistled again.

   “Time out! Penalty for you Mario! Go back inside and let me handle this!”

   “Aww, okie dokie.” Said Mario sadly as sad violin music began playing as he left.

    Meggy rolled her eyes and turned to the downed Mr. Puzzles.

    “Err, best two out of five?” She asked.

    Mr. Puzzles groaned from the ground.

    The next part of the “director’s” training involved Mr. Puzzles ducking and weaving passed large swinging objects across another pool, this time with electric eels. He almost got to the end when a bee came and hovered around Mr. Puzzles screen face and he fell down and got electrocuted. Meggy blew her whistle.

   “Fail! Next!”

   The next part of the training involved hopping from platform to platform over a giant pit of lava.

  “Meggy, this seems rather…”

    Meggy blew her whistle.

    “Come on Mr. Puzzles! You can’t quit now! You’re almost there!” Said Meggy.

   Mr. Puzzles gulped and hopped onto the first platform. Then the next. And the next. It seemed all was well, until he slipped on a banana peel on the last one and he fell into the lava…only to find it was actually just fruit juice.

    “Waluigi suggested that one.” Said Meggy, a bit proud of her obstacle.

    “Err, I see.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

     “Next!”

    “This one is the easiest! Swing across the ropes and try not to fall into the pit of snakes!” Said Meggy.

   “Err, fake rubber snakes, right?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “Nope! Real ones!”

    Mr. Puzzles’ screen changed into that of a horrified expression and he looked down and saw real live moving snakes of all kinds, including boa constrictors.

   “Alright! The first one is easy! It’s closer than the other ones.” Said Meggy.

   She was right. The first one was closer than the other ropes. Gulping, Mr. Puzzles grabbed the end and swung across and grabbed the next rope, and the next and the next. All seemed to be going well, until he grabbed the next rope. It was slippery and it was only when Mr. Puzzles looked up he saw it was a snake, hissing at him. He immediately let go…and realized his mistake upon doing so. He fell into the pit of snakes and most of them wrapped around him, while the others just lurked menacingly around.

   “Eww! G-get off!” Mr. Puzzles said, trying to get out of his imprisonment.

   Meggy sighed and blew her whistle.

   “Next!”

    Mr. Puzzles was now standing in a room full of zombies slowly approaching him.

   “You’ve gotta fight them off Mr. Puzzles! C’mon! Imagine them as your rivals from the other team! You can’t let them see you afraid!” Said Meggy.

   “Meggy, none of what you said has anything to do with being a director!” Said Mr. Puzzles.

    “It has everything to do with being a director! If you’re going to win, you have to be ready to lead your team!” Said Meggy.

   Mr. Puzzles looked around for any kind of weapon. He found a stick nearby and wielded it as he was backed against the wall.

    “Stay back you ruffians! I’m not someone to be trifled with!” He said. He swung at a zombie, but the stick broke upon impact and Mr. Puzzles was defenceless against the swarm of zombies steadily approaching him. He shielded his eyes.

   Only to feel one of the zombies playing with one of his knobs, changing his screen face to different tv channels. Mr. Puzzles swatted the zombie away.

   “Don’t touch my knobs with those filthy hands of yours!” He snapped. The zombie who got hurt, growled and the others grew angry as well.

   “Uh oh.”

   They all grabbed sticks and bats and went to smash his t.v in.

   “N-no! Stop! I’m sorry, I…”

    Meggy blew her whistle and fought off the zombie hoard herself. She sighed.

   “Next!”

   All the training was getting more and more outlandish and Mr. Puzzles continued to fail one after the other. He got shocked, beat up, rolled over, bowled over by a bowling ball, plain bowled over, got bucked off by a mechanical Bull and trampled on and blasted into the sky.

   “Alright! Last one, then we can take a break!” Megfy said.

   “Last one? Break? There’s more after this?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

    “Relax. This one is really simple. I promise. All you have to do is steal a plate of spaghetti from Mario.” Said Meggy.

    Mr. Puzzles looked across the field at the far Italian man, who was held by a long leash, tied to a post near a dog house and was barking wildly.

   “Meggy, I don’t think this is…”

    But Meggy blew her whistle and Mr. Puzzles was left to face with the dangerous Italian man. The same one who broke his t.v screen and had caused him so much pain. Mr. Puzzles felt like he was in more danger than before, even with Meggy around in his corner.

     “Go on Mr. Puzzles! You can do it!” Cheered Meggy.

    “Meggy, dear, listen, I don’t think this…”

    “No more whining! You’ve got to do this! For the splat fest!”

    Mr. Puzzles was confused.

   “Splat fest? Meggy, directing doesn’t involve…”

   “Go!” Meggy blew her whistle again.

    Mr. Puzzles knew when he’d been beat. He sighed and carefully approached the plate of spaghetti being guarded by Mario who growled and snarled as he approached.

    Mr. Puzzles looked at Mario, before an idea came to mind. He tucked himself in (a painful task) and transformed into a regular t.v and his screen changed to a silly cartoon playing. Mario stopped growling and was now fixated on the bright colours of the t.v.

    Internally grinning, Mr. Puzzles reached out a hand and grabbed the plate of spaghetti and carefully pulled it away. He carefully unfolded his body back out and backed away slowly, still facing Mario with the screen. Before turning away and running.

   Mr. Puzzles laughed triumphantly.

   “Yes! I got it! I got Mario’s spaghetti, I…”

   A low growl was heard from behind and Mario was there, having pulled the peg out of the ground.

    “No one messes with Mario’s t.v time!” Mario growled.

   Mr. Puzzles had forgotten the consequences of what had happened when he tried to hunt down Mario for his show.

    “Right, let me just change the channel and…”

   However, Mr. Puzzles had changed it to a nature documentary, one of the most boring channels and Mario attacked him.

   “Get him off! Get him off! Get him off!” Mr. Puzzles squealed as he shielded his face, while Mario bit him on the arm, Mr. Puzzles trying to shake him off.

    Meggy sprayed Mario with a spray bottle and Mario leapt away from Mr. Puzzles, whining.

   “No! Bad Mario! No attacking the t.v man!” Said Meggy. Mario growled, but Meggy brought out a plate of broccoli.

   “Don’t make me do this!” She threatened.

    Mario whined and ran off.

    “Broccoli! It burns!”

    Meggy sighed.

    “Is…is it over?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

    “For now. We can take a break. You did really well in that last part. But we still need to…”

   “MEGGY STOP!” Mr. Puzzles growled.

   “What?” Meggy asked.

   “This is not what makes me a t.v director! I thought that with you, I’d get some real help in achieving my goal, but I’ve gotten beaten, bitten, blasted and…”

   Mr. Puzzles stopped when he saw Meggy’s terrified face.

    “I-I’m so sorry. I just did what you asked, I…”

  She sighed and sat down.

    “I…I don’t know anything about being a movie director. I’ve never done it, so I wouldn’t know. The only thing I know is how to train others into overcoming their fears, or training them for splatfest. I…I’m not a trainer for movie directing.”

    “Meggy.” Mr. Puzzles felt bad. And he was scared he’d lose the only friend he ever had. Well…acquaintance, because even though he and Meggy had been through a few adventures together, Meggy was still his nemesis, because of what he had done.

   “No. I’m the one who should be sorry. You’re right. I did ask you to help me, and you’ve been trying to. But, this is not the help I’m looking for.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

    “Then, what do I do? How do I help you become better at movie directing?” Asked Meggy.

    “I…I don’t know. I thought I knew everything there was to know about movie directing, but it’s clear I know nothing. Not without manipulating people and forcing them into becoming part of my shows.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

    Meggy looked at him and sighed.

    “Come on. Let’s go inside and take a break. I think I could use one myself.” She said. Mr. Puzzles nodded. Meggy got up and started to walk away, but Mr. Puzzles gently grabbed her hand.

  “Hey.”

   Meggy turned to him.

   “We’ll figure something out. I’m sure of it.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “What? Really?” Asked Meggy.

   “Guarantee it. You’re Meggy Spletzer after all. You may not know about movie directing right now, but you are a really good trainer and I can think of no one more qualified than you to help me out.”

   “That’s nice of you Mr. Puzzles. You’re right. We’ll figure this out, no problem.” Meggy said.

   “That’s the spirit!” Said Mr. Puzzles, smiling at her. Meggy looked up at him. She was quite surprised at the man she was staring at. This wasn’t the same man who had threatened her friends and forced them all to do his shows. Somehow, in some way, he had grown in the small amount of time she had got to really know the real Mr. Puzzles. The one who was more human and didn’t treat everyone like his pawns.

    Meggy smiled and hugged him. Mr. Puzzles was taken aback.

   “What…is this?” He asked.

   “A hug. Have you never had one before?” She asked, pulling away a little.

  “No. Not for a while, at least. The last hug I had gotten was from my mother.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

    “Do you…like it?” Meggy asked hopefully.

   “No. I don’t like it.”

   “Oh! I’m so sorry, I…”

   “I love it!” Said Mr. Puzzles, hugging Meggy back. She smiled and continued to hug him.

    “Now come on. Let’s go inside. I have a few things we can do on our break.” Said Meggy.

    “Alright. So long as I don’t get hurt.”

    “Trust me. This is the easiest part.” Said Meggy.

   “You’ve said that a hundred times I believe.” Mr. Puzzles replied with a soft smile.

   Meggy laughed and gently punched him in the arm.

   The two sat in the gaming room and were playing Super Smash Bros.

     Meggy won most of their battles and actually allowed Mr. Puzzles to win a few.

    They were laughing and talking and telling each other jokes and stories of the times before they met.

   Outside the room, however, trouble was stirring among the others. Mario was with them, having forgotten about his old plate of spaghetti, in favour of a new one.

    “Guys, this is serious. I think Mr. Puzzles is up to something.” Said Smg4, as the group huddled together so Meggy and Mr. Puzzles couldn’t hear.

    “I agree. I’m afraid he’s going to trick Meggy into joining his side, if we don’t do something.” Said Luigi.

    “Yeah. We need to get rid of him before he tries anything funny!” Said Smg3.

   “I say we smash his t.v head in like before!” Said Saiko.

    “He’ll just come back. That’s what he always does after all.” Smg4 pointed out.

    “He stole Mario’s plate of spaghetti!” Said Mario.

   “But didn’t you say that you agreed to help him in the training?” Asked Smg4.

   “Yeah. Because I was promised a plate of spaghetti! I didn’t realize Meggy was going to use Mr. Puzzles to steal it from me!” Said Mario.

    “Okay, moving on from that. Tari, what do you suggest we do to stop him? You did it once before.” Asked Smg4.

   Tari thought about it.

   “Maybe we could…umm…” Tari started.

   “Could what? Out with it girl!” Said Smg3.

   “We could set him on fire!” Bob suggested.

    “Bob, quiet! Tari is speaking! Besides, no arson!” Said Smg4.

    “Right. I was thinking…we could…have him shut down. And then have him arrested and placed in a titanium holding cell. He’s too dangerous to be allowed to wander around anymore.” Said Tari.

   “Good suggestion Tari, but I think we should try something else.” Smg4 said.

   “No! Wait! That’s perfect!” Said Smg3.

   “How so?” Asked Smg4.

   “Think about it! We have the tools to get him shut down for good! All it takes is for his t.v head to go haywire and shut down for maintenance! Then once he’s out, we cage his head and take him to the authorities! Greg and Swagmaster are always trying to apprehend some dangerous criminal! And they’re usually good at their job. It’s perfect!” Said Smg3.

   “Great. But how are we going to get him to shut off and keep him like that?” Asked Smg4.

   “I…I have some…duct tape. We could use that.” Tari said, her tone uncertain. Something inside her told her this just wasn’t right. But…if it was to protect her friends, including Meggy, then she was all for it. But still…

  “Good. Tari, you go get the duct tape. And I have a plan to get the t.v man to shut off.” Said Smg3.

   “Good. Everyone, move out.” Said smg4.

   Everyone moved out, including Tari. She tried to ignore this horrible feeling inside her, but she knew she was doing the right thing.

   Then she heard a noise. She turned towards it, but saw no one.

   “Smg4? Is that you?” She asked. But no one answered and no one was around. Shaking it off, Tari hurried to go fetch the tape.

   Meggy and Mr. Puzzles had finished another round, Meggy winning again.

   “Alright, you win. What other games should we play?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

    “Oh, that’s it for our break. Now time to get back to training. But…” Meggy trailed off, frowning.

   “I don’t really have anything that would help you to be a better movie director…oh! Maybe smg4 would let us borrow his computer! He’s always making videos! Maybe he has some ideas!” Said Meggy.

    “Sounds like a plan. Are you sure he’d let us do that though? Considering he and the others don’t like me?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

    “Once he knows that it’s for a good cause, I’m sure he’d be more than willing to let us use the computer.” Said Meggy.

   “Well…alright. If you say so.” Said Mr. Puzzles, a little doubtful in Meggy’s idea.

   The two left the gaming room and walked over to Smg4’s office, only to see no one there.

   “That’s weird. Usually he’s right here working on some silly video, or watching silly videos himself.” Said Meggy.

    Mr. Puzzles didn’t like how empty the room felt. He felt something fishy was going on and he didn’t like it one bit.

   “I guess we could go back to our regular training. As long as you don’t have me do anything too extreme, we can manage and I can work with what I’ve got.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “No. My training is not going to help you. I know that now.” Meggy gave it some more thought.

   “Maybe he and the others are somewhere on the grounds. Ooh! Maybe they’re at Smg3’s café. Come on!”

   Meggy and Mr. Puzzles went outside and walked to the café.

   Mr. Puzzles was following behind, when he heard a noise. He looked and saw Mario, and Luigi, talking. Mario looked over at Mr. Puzzles and waved him over, smiling.

   The t.v man, curious, decided to see what Mario wanted.

   “What on earth do you want me for, you brain dead…”

   Mario suddenly glared and Mr. Puzzles froze.

   “GET HIM!” Mario shouted.

   “W-wait, what are you…”

   Mr. Puzzles had no time to finish his sentence as he was suddenly tied up by his wrists and was forced onto the ground by something…smelly and gross and had a blade pointed at his throat.

   “Get your grubby…knives…off of me!” Mr. Puzzles shouted.

    “This is what you get for messing with me and not letting me star in a booby channel! Oh and hurting my friends too, I guess!” Said Bob.

   Mario stood in front of Mr. Puzzles.

   “So, that’s it? You’re going to smash my t.v face in, is that all? I’ll still come back! And I’ll tell Meggy what you did and she won’t be happy!” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Oh. No. We have something else in mind.” Said Smg4, stepping from behind Mario.

   “Oh, like what? Cancelling me on Twitter? Exposing my secrets on the internet? Ooh, I’m so scared!” Mr. Puzzles said sarcastically.

   “No. The others and I have decided that you’re far too dangerous to have roaming around. For all we know, you’re planning to use Meggy in her schemes.” Smg4 said.

   “No! Not at all! I mean…if she hadn’t come when she did and left me alone like the rest of you, maybe I would have done something cruel and unforgivable, but I’d never do something like that now! Honest!” Said Mr. Puzzles. Then he had caught on to what he had said.

   “Huh. Maybe Meggy’s bizarre training had done something for me after all.” He said.

   “I’m sorry. But we can’t take any chances. Not after all you’ve done.” Smg4 said.

   “Oh please, I’m not scared of…” Mr. Puzzles trailed off, when Smg4 and Mario stepped aside and Tari slowly approached with duct tape in her hands.

   “W…what…IS THAT DUCT TAPE?!” Shouted Mr. Puzzles.

   “Yes. We figured how to stop you once and for all Mr. Puzzles.” Said Smg4.

    “Wait! But…Meggy didn’t agree to this! It’s not unanimous! B-besides, she and I are friends now! She’d never agree to something so cruel!” Mr. Puzzles protested.

   Tari looked away, ashamed to look at Mr. Puzzles in the face. This was wrong. She knew this, she should…

    “Meggy will understand why we did this. Besides, you hurt her the most. Remember in Spaghetti Western?” Asked Smg4.

   Mr. Puzzles did remember. He had forgotten how much he had hurt Meggy during that time.

    “Guys, he’s right. Maybe we should…”

    “Come on Tari. Let’s get this over with.” Said Smg4.

   Tari looked down and slowly approached the frightened (and somewhat heartbroken) Mr. Puzzles.

   “Meggy. If you never hear from me again, I want you to know, I’m…”

   “Mr. Puzzles! I didn’t find Smg4, but I did buy us some coffee and some treats that I think you’ll really…”

   Meggy dropped hers and Mr. Puzzles food and looked at the others in horror.

   “WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?!” She shouted.

   “Meggy! You have to understand! Mr. Puzzles is dangerous! He’s a criminal!” Smg4 said.

    Meggy couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

   She lowered her head, hiding her face.

   “Release him.”

   “Meggy! No! We can’t let him roam free, he’s probably tricking you to…”

   “I said….”

   Meggy pulled out her blaster and aimed at the others.

    “RELEASE HIM!”

    Tari walked over to Mr. Puzzles.

   “Meggy!” Mr. Puzzles attempted to speak to her, despite being afraid.  “I think this is our last adventure together! But…though you’ll never hear from me again, I want you to know…you’re the bestest friend I could’ve ever…”

    The tape was dropped in front of him and Mr. Puzzles was confused. He looked up at Tari as she was backing away.

    “W…”

   “Tari! What are you doing?!” Smg4 shouted.

   “You….if you guys want to do this, you can. But…I want no part of this. This feels wrong.” Tari said.

   “Tari, wait, we need to…”

    But she walked off, holding her arm guiltily.

    Smg4 and the others looked at each other, before looking down at the surprised and frightened Mr. Puzzles.

   Meggy had gotten closer and had punched Bob off of Mr. Puzzles and he stumbled back and the others all backed off. Meggy aimed her weapon at the group. The people she had called her friends.

     Smg4 looked at the tape, then at Mr. Puzzles, then at Meggy. He realized the mistake he had made and backed away.

   “I…I’m so sorry. I…we went too far.” Smg4 backed away. Same with smg3 and everyone else.

    Even though neither of them trusted Mr. Puzzles, they saw that they were no better than he was.

    They all left.

   Mr. Puzzles stood up. He looked at them and at Meggy who still had her blaster pointed at them then back at them again. A series of flashbacks went through him of what he had done to them and what he had done to Meggy. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t risk taking Meggy away from them. From her friends just to make him a star. Somewhere in his journey with Meggy and during his training, he had figured that out on his own.

    “Come on Mr. Puzzles. Let’s go to my house. We can figure something out from there:”

   Meggy began walking, but Mr. Puzzles stopped her.

   “No.”

   “What?” Meggy looked at him. He looked at her. What she saw on his screen face, was beyond surprising. It was a teary face and a smile, that seemed to glow brighter than the screen it was on.

   “Meggy. These guys…these are your friends. These are the people I hurt. Though you’ve helped me, despite me hurting you as well, we can’t ignore the wrongs I’ve done.”

    “Mr. Puzzles, w-what are you saying?!” Shouted Meggy.

   “I’m saying…this is goodbye my friend. We had a good run, you and I. And I had fun. I hope you’ll remember me, even when I’ve become a washed up nobody.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   “D-don’t say that! We can…you and I can work together still! I can help you! Or, you can help me, that way I can better help you with training in your goal to become a movie director! It’s not too late! Please, I can…”

   “Meggy. You have to continue your own journey without me. I’m afraid my time with you has ended. I want you to be happy. To continue to live your best life.”

   Meggy began to tear up.

   “Mr. Puzzles….”

    “Hey. It’ll be alright. Who knows? Maybe we might bump into each other again. Just not with me trying to take you and your friends in another one of my shows.”

    Meggy said nothing. She hugged Mr. Puzzles. He hugged her back.

   “There, there. I’ll be alright. I promise. I have to go now.”

   Mr. Puzzles looked at SmG4 and the others.

   “Take care of her, will you? She’s a really good person. I see that now. She’s a star, this one.”

   Mr. Puzzles slowly released Meggy. She let go as well, even though she didn’t want to.

   “Farewell everyone. I’m sorry to have caused you so much trouble.”

   He began to walk away, but Smg4 stopped him.

   “Wait! Mr. Puzzles!”

   “Mm?” Mr. Puzzles looked at SMG4.

    Smg4 hesitated, before taking a deep breath.

    “If…if you need training in movie directing…I may know how to help you.”

   “R-really?”

   “But! You have to promise me one thing! You never force us to do any of your shows and you do not pull any tricks, whatever they may be! Otherwise we will have you arrested!”  Smg4 said.

   “Deal!” Mr. Puzzles agreed. He went to hug Smg4, but the Asian man backed away.

   “Err, sorry.”

   Mr. Puzzles went to shake SMG4’s hand and smg4 nodded his approval.

    “Alright. It’s gotten pretty late, but we’ll start with training tomorrow. Do you…have somewhere to stay?” Smg4 asked.

   “Yes. My house is all the way across town, so I can come by tomorrow and meet you all here.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Good. See you then Mr. Puzzles.” Smg4 said.

   As the others all dispersed and Mr. Puzzles and Meggy left together, relieved to remain friends, a shadow appeared from the bushes.

   “So, he’s managed to find someone to help him after all. Didn’t think he had it in him, the prideful fool.”

The shadow grinned.

   “That was a close one, I thought for sure he was going to be arrested for good. Which wouldn’t have been good for me. I could use some fresh new meat like him to help me with my own goals. After all…no one can say no to the happiest place on earth.”

   The shadow laughed maniacally, before running away.

   “Oh, hey. Before I forget, I have something for you.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   “For me? But I never gave you anything, I…”

   Mr. Puzzles pulled out a star shaped sticker with Meggy on it. Well…Leggy, actually.

   “I meant to give it to you during one of our adventures, but I had forgotten about it until now.” He said. Meggy gently took it and smiled at the star, with her on it. It even had words over her head. They spelled out: “Number one Assistant. You are a Superstar.”

   Meggy put the star on her shirt and hugged Mr. Puzzles again. He hugged her back. The two soon got a taxi and rode all the way home.

Chapter Text

   The sun shone over head as another day began in the Mushroom Kingdom.

   Mr. Puzzles was in his bed in his house, and his screen turned on as he slowly began to wake up, blinking his eyes open. He jolted out of bed and looked out the window.

   “Phew. It wasn’t a dream, Meggy really did come for me. She…helped me…and now…” Mr. Puzzles’ face fell as he realized that now he had a new trainer to help him with directing. The last person in the world he wanted to be trained by. Fate could be really cruel most of the time. Specifically towards Mr. Puzzles. The universe seemed to hate his guts.

   “Well, better get started then. But first, I need to have breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all.” Mr. Puzzles said brightly.

   He got up from his bed, got dressed and walked down the stairs to his kitchen, to go pour himself a bowl of cereal. His favourite brand made by that whacky Pizzeria in the city. Psychic friend Fredbear Cereal. (He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere…)

   He was reaching for a bowl, when a knock came on his door.

   “Is that him already? But it’s still early in the morning.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Mr. Puzzles! It’s Meggy again!” Said Meggy’s voice cheerily.

   Relief washed through him, and he opened the door for her, and she was beaming.

   “Ready to start your training?”

   “Well…yes. After breakfast, but Meggy, I thought Smg4 was training me?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “He is! But…he was afraid to come get you himself, in case you had sprung a trap for him.” Meggy said.

   “What?!” Mr. Puzzles looked over his head at the bucket of water hanging by a thread, as well as the bear traps he had set nearby.

   “Oh! Of course not…just give me a few moments and we can get ready…”

   Mr. Puzzles closed the door and hurriedly took down the traps, and deactivated his laser, currently pointed at Meggy, who either hadn’t noticed it, or wasn’t phased by the fact that Mr. Puzzles had a giant death laser on hand.

   Everything was put away and Mr. Puzzles returned to the door.

   “So…how about some lemonade?” He offered.

   “What?” Asked Meggy.

   “Well, I haven’t had breakfast yet and I need to keep myself in shape, so…”

   “Oh, that can happen at the show grounds! We need to hurry! Smg4 does not like to be kept waiting. He can be a nightmare when it comes to that sort of thing.” Said Meggy. She grabbed Mr. Puzzles and hurried out the door. She called a cab and she practically shoved Mr. Puzzles inside and hopped in next to him.

   “You’re more excited for this than I am.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Well, it’s your second day of training. I may not be your trainer anymore, but we need to be punctual. That, and it would be really cool to see how Smg4 trains someone. He’s never taken anyone under his wing before in movie training, so it would be fun to see how he does it! It might give me some ideas for my own training to work with.” Said Meggy.

   “I suppose that is cool…” Mr. Puzzles said, his voice less enthusiastic.

   “What’s the matter? Don’t you think it’s cool to have a professional trainer to actually help you?” Asked Meggy.

   “Well, I’m glad to get some help, but it’s…well, you do know that Smg4 and I are still not on good terms, after what I did, right? After what I did to him, Mario…and to you Meggy? I just don’t think Smg4 wants this as much as I do.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   “Don’t worry. He promised he’d do it. Smg4 is very good at keeping promises. I don’t think he’ll be as bad as you’re thinking.” Meggy said.

   Mr. Puzzles was still uncertain, though Meggy’s encouragement did help, even if only a little.

   “Well…we’ll see soon enough, won’t we?”

  The two were dropped off at the grounds and the cab sped away again. Mr. Puzzles was finding the cab driver to be more and more unsettling.

   And the way he kept glaring at me specifically at every intersection.

   “Alright, we’re very early. Smg4 said training won’t start ‘til later. So, let’s head to Smg3’s café. He always starts bright and early. Said it’s good for business and it rakes in the money faster.” Meggy said.

    “Alright. As long as nothing like yesterday happens again.”

   “Welcome to Smg3’s Bomb Café! Where you can order a cup of coffee, or something from the illegal menu! Pick your…ah. Right. I forgot you were coming today.” Smg3 scowled at Mr. Puzzles.

   “Err…do you have any breakfast bagels as well?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “I suppose we do. Not like I’d actually tell you, you…”

  Meggy punched Smg3 hard.

   “Okay, fine!” Smg3 took a deep breath. “What would you two like to order?”

   “I’ll have…one chocolate chip bagel as well as a double espresso. And Meggy, what would you…”

   “I can handle it from here Mr. Puzzles but thank you.” Said Meggy, giving him a gentle smile.

    “I’ll have a chocolate chip muffin, with a banana, some banana bread and two cinnamon buns. Oh! And one Explosive latte please.” Said Meggy.

   “Coming right up! That’ll be sixty nine dollars and ninety nine cents.” Smg3 said.

   “Mr. Puzzles, can you pick out a seat for us, while I grab our orders? I...don’t think you’re quite ready for what this particular café serves.” Meggy said.

    “Right, because the word “bombs” in the title wasn’t a dead giveaway.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   “Hmph. You would know, wouldn’t you?” Smg3 muttered. Meggy glared at him.

   “Just go. Please. And…please try not to make a scene.” She was looking at Smg3 when she said that, though it was also directed to Mr. Puzzles.

    “Sure thing Meggy.” Mr. Puzzles walked away from her and looked around for a decent seat. All the other tables had been taken, save for a few. Mr. Puzzles spotted a booth across the room and walked over to it. However, the walk was not as peaceful as he’d hoped. He heard whispers and felt nasty glares on him. As a movie and tv show producer, he normally ignored negative comments. They were what he was used to after all (sort of). But these particular comments were…a bit harder to ignore.

   “Is that the guy the others talk about? Mr. Puzzles?” Asked a Monty Mole.

   “Isn’t he supposed to be like…super bad?” Asked a Koopa.

   “I heard he killed One shot Wren. All for a weird Spaghetti Western.” Said an inkling.

   “They said he had forced Smg4 and his crew to be part of his shows. And tried to kill them when things didn’t go his way.”

    “That’s the guy my son talks about! Puzzlebox!”

   “Whoa! That’s the t.v guy!”

   Mr. Puzzles continued to focus on the table ahead, despite his urge to turn and yell at the other customers. Meggy told him not to make a scene, so that’s what he would do.

   He felt a particularly nasty glare. Despite trying very hard not to, he looked over and saw a couple familiar faces. The giant turtle with his spiked shell and the brat that had caused all that humiliation in the first place. He never learned their names. Couldn’t be bothered. But he’ll never forget the face that had caused his near demise. Even Mario was a better person than the little shit that stared back at him with the most hateful eyes.

   “Oh, look! It’s the total washout! Dad! Look, it’s that freak!” Said the kid. The father shook his head and looked away.

   “Pay no attention to him son. We don’t speak to his kind.”

    Mr. Puzzles was livid. He absolutely wanted nothing more than to destroy that turtle and his despicable wretch of a son! He had half a mind to march over there and demand some decent behaviour from the two. But as soon as he took a step forward, a memory came up.

   “Mr. Puzzles Nice! I like Mr. Puzzles!”

   Just remembering Meggy in her goomba form caused him to stop and remembering how she agreed to help him yesterday and all the training they had gone through together just for him alone was what stopped Mr. Puzzles. He looked at the person in question, who was receiving their orders from Smg3. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let his pride get the better of him, just to prove a point. Even though Mr. Puzzles was angry and hurting, he knew he had to keep doing his best. For his only friend. He sighed and turned away, focusing on all the good times he had with Meggy.

   “Mr. Puzzles is awesome!” Said a voice. Mr. Puzzles turned around, but saw nothing but glares, and heard the continuous harsh whispers.

   He looked at Meggy, but she was talking to Smg3 about something. That voice didn’t belong to her anyway. It couldn’t. He was sure of it anyway.

   Sighing, Mr. Puzzles had made it to the table and scooted as close to the window seat as possible. He secretly wished to mute the others...wait, why couldn’t he? He may not be allowed to control them, but he could bend some of the rules to get some peace and quiet.

   Just as he was about to do so, Meggy suddenly appeared and placed his drink and food down in front him.

   “Hey! Sorry I took so long! But the coffee takes a bit longer, and I asked Smg3 if he could toast your bagel, to make it taste better. Melted chocolate chip tastes better than regular in my opinion.”

   Meggy was right, the bagel HAD been toasted. Forgetting about his plans to mute the others, he took a bite of his bagel. It tasted warm and pretty good.

   “Err, is there butter to go with this as well?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “Certainly. Here.” Meggy gave Mr. Puzzles some butter.

   Mr. Puzzles accepted the butter. That was when he noticed a bomb with eyes, sitting near him. Screaming, Mr. Puzzles smacked the bomb away and it blew up the table with the Monty Mole. Everyone stared in shock and surprise.

   “Oh no. Meggy, I’m so sorry, I didn’t…”

   Mr. Puzzles froze when he heard cheering and whistling. He looked over and saw everyone clapping and cheering at the sight of the explosion.

   “What is this about?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “Whoo! Good job Mr. Puzzles! That was awesome!” Meggy cheered.

   “But…I did a bad thing. I blew up the table.”

   “Oh, that normally happens around here! It’s kind of a tradition to blow things up. Smg3 said that in his time as a villain, he blew up tons of stuff. Even had things blow up on him. Since learning about being a guardian, and everyone accepting him as part of the group, he managed to find a place among us. He had helped us in lots of battles and fights. He can be a jerk sometimes, but he genuinely has a good heart, even if not a lot of people can see it.” Meggy said.

   “I suppose that’s a good thing.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   Meggy began eating her food and Mr. Puzzles joined in as well. Though some people still shot him nasty glares occasionally, the whispering had died down a little bit and Mr. Puzzles could eat in peace.

   The two walked over to the castle and walked inside and smg4 was in his room, working on a video.

   “Mario, how many times have I told you, kn—oh! Meggy! And…right. Hello Mr. Puzzles.” Said Smg4, trying his best not to look nervous, or disappointed at the sight of the man before him.

   “Hey Smg4.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   It was silent, before Meggy urged him on. Mr. Puzzles took a deep breath.

   “Hey Smg4, good to see ya! Are you ready for some epic non-stop training?” Mr. Puzzles asked, trying to imitate Meggy.

   “Uhh…” Meggy started.

   Smg4 was just as confused.

   “What are you doing?”

   “Uhh, we are training today, are we not?”

   “Yes. But are you feeling alright?” Smg4 asked.

   “Y-yeah. Sorry, just, thought I’d psyche you up for our…training. Err, forget what I just said.” Mr. Puzzles said,

   “Alright. Then Mr. Puzzles…are you ready for our super awesome movie director training?” Smg4 asked, smiling.

   “Yeah. I suppose so.” Mr. Puzzles answered.

   “Good. Because this is going to be tough. So you had better be prepared.” Said Smg4.

   Mr. Puzzles gulped.

   Mr. Puzzles was confused when he was sitting on the sofa beside Meggy, who had a notebook ready.

   Smg4 was standing in front of them, wearing a military uniform, and a helmet.

   “Now, we all know why we’re here?”

   “To get training in becoming a better movie director?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “WRONG! To…oh wait, never mind. Normally Mario answers with a stupid question and I have to say that all of the time. You are in fact, correct Mr. Puzzles. HOWEVER! Do you know why we’re doing this training?”

   “Because…” Mr. Puzzles trailed off. He never imagined WHY he was doing this training. Obviously, it was to become a better movie director, but it was Meggy who offered to help him, and he just went along with it, because…

   Because why?

   Smg4 blew a loud whistle.

   “Took too long to answer! You’ll be getting ten demerits from me!” Smg4 said.

   “Sorry, I…”

   Smg4 blew his whistle again.

   “Enough talk! Let’s train!”

   Smg4 began to pace around, looking at both Mr. Puzzles and Meggy while he did so.

   “In order to make a good video, movie or show, you need to have the most important thing.”

   “Creative vision?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “Yes! Also, you need good ideas. Fresh brand-new content that will draw in the crowd! Mr. Puzzles. When we…” Smg4 coughed a little. “Performed” in your shows (against our will), what was the main thing you did?”

   “I used totally brand-new ideas and content that would surely win the hearts of…”

   Smg4 blew his whistle.

   “WRONG! I’ll tell you several mistakes you made. Biggest one: Your ideas weren’t really that original.”

   Mr. Puzzles stood up from the couch, outraged.

   “WHAT?! MY IDEAS WERE TOTALLY ORIGINAL, I…”

   Smg4 blew his whistle.

   “PIPE DOWN ROOKIE! SHOW SOME RESPECT!”

  “Y-yes sir.” Mr. Puzzles replied nervously, immediately sitting down on the couch, and holding a pillow in front of his face, just in case.

    “I’m afraid your ideas were not all that original. Anyone can make a parody of previous t.v shows like Blues Clues and Scooby-Doo and fairy tales.” Smg4 said.

   “W-well, I suppose, but they were…”

    “QUIET! I’LL DO THE TALKING AROUND HERE!” Smg4 blew his whistle again.

   Mr. Puzzles wasn’t quite sure this training was going to go so well either.

    “Now, in order to be a good movie director, you need creative vision, an original plot and…” Smg4 rose his whistle to his lips. “A good main character. MARIO! FRONT AND CENTER!” He blew his whistle and immediately, Mario crashed through the roof, onto his face.

   “Is it Spaghetti time already?”

   “Relax Mario. Spaghetti comes after. I have an important job for you. Are you ready?”

   Smg4 was sitting in a movie director seat in front of the Italian and had a large camera in front.

  “Mr. Puzzles, since you are our other subject in this, I would like you to join us in this skit.” Smg4 said.

   Surprised, Mr. Puzzles sat up and walked in front of Mario.

   “Okay, you two are spending time in the castle, and you are trying to figure out what to have for lunch. Mr. Puzzles, to make it easier, you are going to suggest a cheeseburger. ACTION!”

   “Mario, I think we should have…”

   “CUT!”

   “What, but…”

   “Mr. Puzzles, try to ask Mario what you should have for lunch, before you suggest cheeseburgers. Trust me, it will prepare you for the pain later,”

   “WHAT PAIN?!” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “ACTION!”

   Mr. Puzzles was nervous. He looked at Meggy for advice and she gave him two thumbs up. That didn’t ease his nerves, but he figured he had no choice. He had to do this.

   Taking a deep breath, Mr. Puzzles stepped towards Mario and said, “Mario, I am feeling very hungry, what should we…”

   “CUT!”

   “Oh come on! I did as you asked!”

   “You’re not into it! You have to show more emotion than that Mr. Puzzles!”

   “I am!”

   “But you don’t look like you’re into it! You have to sell it! As an actor, you need to embrace the plot you’re in and give it your all!” Smg4 said, pinching his two fingers and thumb together.

   “I…never thought of it that way.”

   “It pays to have a guide and not watch TV all day. ACTION!”

   “Alright.” Mr. Puzzles turned to Mario. “Mario, I am feeling quite hungry. What should we do for lunch?”

   “Spaghetti!” Mario said.

   “Err, I suppose we could…”

   “CUT!”

1. Puzzles looked at Smg4, quite annoyed.

   “Come on Mr. Puzzles! Say your line.” Smg4 encouraged.

   “Right. That suggestion is…alright. But may I suggest we have cheeseburgers instead, how does that sound?” Mr. Puzzles asked, adding a little emphasis to his question.

   Mario glared at Mr. Puzzles.

   “Umm. Mario, are you feeling alright?”

    “Spaghetti.”

   “Right. But y’know you can always have spaghetti later. I was thinking we would change things up a bit. You’ve probably had lots of spaghetti earlier today. I believe cheeseburgers sounds a bit nicer, don’t you?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “Mario wants spaghetti!” Mario said, starting to glow.

   Frightened, Mr. Puzzles backed away.

   “Mario, take it easy! You’ll get your spaghetti later, like Smg4 said! But…I believe cheeseburgers would be best! We can reach a compromise, can’t we?” Mr. Puzzles said, looking for anything to defend himself.

   “Uhh, Smg4…” Meggy said nervously, looking at the Asian sitting on his chair. He looked a little too absorbed in the scene happening before him.

   “It’s alright Meggy. If Mario gets out of hand, we know what to do, remember?” Smg4 said.

   “MARIO. WANTS. SPA-GHET-TI!” Mario transformed and had yellow hair on top of his head and a glowing aura all around him and charged at Mr. Puzzles, who screamed indignantly and ran.

   “Keep it up guys! You’re doing great!” Smg4 said.

    “I don’t think this is how this should…”

   Mario almost punched Mr. Puzzles when he slipped on a banana peel, before Meggy got involved.

   “MARIO, STOP! HERE!”

   Meggy pulled out a can of spaghetti and tossed it through the castle wall, breaking it. Barking, Mario hurried out the hole and retrieved his food.

   Meggy, worried, looked at Mr. Puzzles.

   “Are you alright?” She asked.

  “Umm…no. Honestly, I’m not fine. I think I should just…take a break.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   He left before Meggy could say anything more. She whipped around and glared at Smg4.

   “What the hell was that?! You told me you’d help me and get along with Mr. Puzzles and help him train!”

   Smg4 was looking at Meggy, before his face fell.

   “Oh, I’m..I’m sorry Meggy. I…guess I got carried away. I forgot for an instant why he was here in the first place. We should try again. I don’t want him to go home. I’d hate to think of what would happen.” Smg4 said.

   “Y-yeah. You come up with something new, I’ll go…” Meggy sniffed. “I’ll go track him down.”

   Smg4’s face fell.

   “Meggy, is this about Mr. Puzzles training with me going wrong, or…”

   “No! It’s…it’s nothing, I’m fine! I swear!”

   Smg4 rose an eyebrow.

   Meggy sighed.

   “Okay, if you really must know. After yesterday went wrong, I…feel like a total screwup. I’ve never trained Mr. Puzzles before, and I thought my training would be what he needed. But…after everything went wrong and I got carried away, I just…I kind of feel useless. I don’t have the experience required to help Mr. Puzzles to become the movie director he wants to be.”

   “It’s tough. But it’s not your fault. You tried to help him and that’s all that matters. You’re right. You don’t have any experience when it comes to movie directing. But the fact that you tried to help him at all was a good thing. It gave you the opportunity to give him to someone who…should have not tried to get payback. I’m sorry Meggy.” Smg4 said.

  “It’s alright. But I need to go grab him before he does anything reckless. He’s kind of like you in that regard.”

   Smg4 blushed.

   “Well, alright. You go get him. And Meggy.”

   Meggy looked at Smg4, just before she headed out the castle.

   “Maybe we’ll try and figure out what to do to help you as well, just so you can also help Mr. Puzzles, if you would like.”

   “Thanks, Smg4. I appreciate that.” Meggy said. She hurried out the door and Smg4 sighed.  

   “Welp, back to the drawing board. I’ve really got my work cut out for me with this one. Mr. Puzzles is harder to train than even Mario.”

    At the mention of his name, Mario peeked through the hole.

   “What is it Smg4?” He asked.

   “Mario. I need your help with something. Do you think you can do that for me?” Asked Smg4.

   “Sure. What is it?”

   Outside, Mr. Puzzles was grumpy. Not as bitter as he thought he’d be after what happened. He was just lucky his TV head hadn’t got smashed by the same stupid fat Italian like before.

   But he still wasn’t happy that his trainer Smg4 was willing to let that happen. Mr. Puzzles figured that’s what he meant by saying that acting out the earlier scene would prepare him for the pain.

   He was having a pizza at Mario’s Pizza Stand, as it was, indeed lunch, when two familiar faces saw him.

   “Dad, it’s that stupid puzzle box guy again!” Bowser jr. had said.

   Bowser scowled at the TV-headed man.

   “And I told you, you little brat, that I’m done! I will not make lo-brow garbage like that again! If you want to see any more retarded shows, go to watch some other idiot on YouTube, I’m not humouring you and your stupid gang of bumbling toddlers anymore.”

   “You’d better show some respect to my son if you want to live for the rest of your life!” Bowser said.

   “And what are you going to do?! Blast me with fire? Toss me into lava? Very original! Listen here, sir. I don’t know who you or your son think you are, but I am NOT going to sit here and listen to your insults! If your son had any respect, he would not treat others the way he does! You’re clearly a bad parent by letting your son behave that way! When I was a kid, my mother would have spanked me for that kind of behaviour!”

   Bowser jr. began to cry.

   “Dad! The bad TV man is scaring me! I wanna go home and watch digital circus content farms!” He bawled.

    “It’s okay son, Daddy’s here. I will handle this.”

   Bowser loomed over Mr. Puzzles, who suddenly felt very afraid.

   Where was that bravery I had earlier?

    Bowser grabbed Mr. Puzzles in a crunching grip and held him tightly.

   “C-can’t breathe!”

   “You’d better say your last words now, because you won’t be around when I’m done with you.”

   “No. No! p…ple…”

   “BOWSER! STOP!”

   Meggy was there, kicking Bowser in the face and he went down and glared at Meggy.

   “What do you think you’re doing?! We haven’t seen you since the castle sank underground and now you’re harassing showgrounds customers?!” She shouted.

   “I’d watch your little associate’s back if I were you. He is nothing but a troublemaker. He was mocking my son and being very rude.”

   “Even if I DID believe that Bowser, you were going to kill a customer on the showgrounds! If you want to keep coming back, you’d better learn to back off or you’ll face more than the end of my boot!” Meggy threatened.

   Bowser glared and was about to breathe fire, but noticed something out of eyesight, hidden somewhere on the showgrounds and he backed down. Mr. Puzzles tried to look as well, but there was no one standing there. A chill ran down his spine.

   “Fine. But don’t think I’ll forget this day. You and the others’ days are limited Meggy Spletzer. Let’s go son.” Bowser said and he and Bowser jr. Turned away. But Bowser jr., being the little shit bastard he was, decided to take things one step further and threw a middle finger and said a particularly nasty slur that cannot be repeated.

    Mr. Puzzles was appalled. Never in his life, not even with Mario and the others, had he encountered so much utter disrespect. He worried for the new generation of kids. Was that how the world was going to be in the future? He prayed to whatever god that watched over the world that wouldn’t come to pass.  

   “I’m so sorry about that Mr. Puzzles. I was on my way to get you back for your next recording and I saw them picking on you.” Said Meggy.

   Mr. Puzzles said nothing.

   “Mr. Puzzles? Are you okay? Look, if those guys hurt you, we can…”

   “No. No, they didn’t hurt me. Not physically anyway, but…after that whole Puzzlebox disaster, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to get back on top now.”

   “Hey, come on, you’re a…pretty good movie director.”

   “I am?”

   “Yeah. I mean, you do have some things to work through, and forcing people to be part of your shows isn’t nice. At all. You need to show others compassion and respect. It’s how people know you can be trusted.” Meggy said.

   “All I’ve ever received ever since becoming a movie director was ridicule and backlash.”

   “Smg4 can help with that. Come on. He said he was sorry and still wants to train with you.”

   “Really? Even after that disaster?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

    “Like you, Smg4 doesn’t like to give up. Even after he gets knocked down, he picks himself back up and keeps at it, no matter what. Sometimes with help from his friends. Come on. It’ll be tons of fun! Don’t you think?” Asked Meggy, offering her hand to him. Mr. Puzzles smiled and accepted her hand.

   “I suppose one more try won’t hurt. It won’t hurt this time, will it?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “It shouldn’t. Don’t worry, I think things are going to go better this time. You’ll see.” Said Meggy. Mr. Puzzles nodded. He still had his doubts about Smg4 still wanting to help him, but if Meggy was here, everything would be fine.

   “Mr. Puzzles! Thank God you’re still here!” Smg4 said.

   “Yes. But if I am to be trained by you Smg4, I have some ground rules I need to establish. Number one: DON’T LET MARIO ATTACK ME! Getting TV repairs constantly isn’t cheap y’know? And my TV head is so rare, that most repair shops don’t have the required materials on hand.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “I understand. Mario and I have reached an agreement. And if he gets out of line, I always carry multiple spray bottles around. This sort of thing is expected in my line of work, but don’t worry Mr. Puzzles. You’re in good hands!” Said Smg4.

   “If you say so.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “I know so! Now come on! We need to get rolling!”

   Smg4 was back in his chair and had already yelled “ACTION”, and Mr. Puzzles turned to face Mario.

   “Hey there Mario, I’m feeling quite hungry. What should we have for lunch?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “Spaghetti!” Said Mario.

   Concerned, Mr. Puzzles looked back at Smg4. He gave a thumbs up.

   “You’re doing good! Just keep going!” Said Smg4.

   Mr. Puzzles nodded.

   “That sounds alright Mario. But maybe we can have cheeseburgers instead?”

   “But Mario wants spaghetti!” Said Mario.

   “We can have Spaghetti later Mario. But I think we should change it up and have cheeseburgers instead.”

   “No! Mario wants spaghetti!”

   Mr. Puzzles looked at Meggy.

   “Suggest a restaurant with both.” She whispered.

   He nodded and looked at Mario.

   “Oh dear. We seem to disagree on what to have for lunch! I don’t know how we’ll figure this out.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Uhh...” Smg4 trailed off.

   “Just go with it Smg4. It’s his first time too, don’t forget.”

   “Right. Oh! I have an idea!”

   Smg4 left and went to go get Bob and Boopkins from the TV room and placed them in front of Mario and Mr. Puzzles.

   “Holy Crap! It’s the TV guy wit the boob channels!”

   Bob reached for Mr. Puzzles, who nervously backed away, before Smg4 blew his whistle.

   “Guys, you need to agree on what to have for lunch! For my video! Please, suggest a restaurant!” Smg4 said.

   “Oh! How about we go to a sushi place!” Said Boopkins!

   “No way! Waluigi’s taco stand sounds better!” Said Bob.

   “Guys! You have to suggest a restaurant with all sorts of food! Not just one!” Said Smg4.

   “Oh! Well, there’s that new Mickey’s Magical Restaurant that’s been around for a while. It just showed up out of nowhere. They have one of everything, why don’t we try there?” Asked Boopkins.

   “Uhh, I believe that sounds delightful. Mario, they might have a plate of spaghetti there. Would you like to go?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “Yeah! Let’s-a go!” Mario ran out the door.

   “Alright, let’s go! I bet they have a good garbage can I can rummage around in! Boopkins, are you buying?” Bob asked.

   “Of course, Bob! Let’s go!” Said Boopkins and the two left, along with Mr. Puzzles.

   “And cut!” Smg4 called.

   Everyone stopped and looked at him.

   “That was awesome guys! You did everything perfectly!”

   “Are you sure? We hardly had a script to work with.” Mr. Puzzles pointed out.

   “Yeah. That normally happens too. Mario hardly follows a script anyway, so we just let him do whatever, unless there’s a scene that absolutely requires his lines.” Smg4 said.

   “Besides, part of being creative also requires you to improvise. So, if you get stuck, you should rely on your creative skills to help you out.” Said Smg4.

   “So that was teaching me how to be creative?” Asked Mr. Puzzles. Smg4 nodded.

   “And how to be a good actor. A lot of movie directors start from the bottom before they work their way to the top. So we’ll have a lot of work ahead of us before you’re ready to be a true movie director. One that uses his powers for good and not evil. Something we will also work on while you’re here.” Smg4 said.

   “Alright.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   “Well Mario is going to that restaurant! Anyone with me?” Asked the Italian.

   “I’m in! I really want to see that new restaurant!” Said Boopkins.

   “Count me in as well! I’m not missing out on this!” Bob said.

  “I’m out. I need to head home anyways. I need to rest, since I have some new inklings who need training tomorrow.” Meggy said.

    “I’m good as well. I had pizza earlier.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Same. I’m working on another video of mine and I need to look at what we just did and see if we should add anything else.” Smg4 said.

    “Well, friend. Should we head home together again?” Asked Meggy.

   “Actually, Smg4, I know we just did some training, but I would like to continue for a little bit. Can we add Meggy this time?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “Oh, that’s okay, I don’t need to…”

   “Excellent idea Mr. Puzzles! We’ll add Meggy! But we’re going to do something new this time! Now, are you ready?” Asked Smg4.

   “Ready!” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “Ready!” Said Meggy.

Chapter Text

Mr. Puzzles was in bed, having a good dream. Or what had started as a good dream.

He was back in his studio, before everything went south, and smg4 and his crew were there. Everyone was really happy, including Mr. Puzzles. Everyone was doing a re-edited version of The Wizard of Oz (retitled to the Wizard of Puzzles) and Meggy was playing Dorothy, as Mario played Toto. Everyone was doing their roles really well, and even Mario was following his lines perfectly.

   But that all changed when the studio began to shake and the roof was ripped off and a giant version of Mr. Puzzles’ father was standing there, glaring down at Mr. Puzzles.

   “Father?!” He shouted.

    “I told you, son, you would never be a movie director! You don’t have the creative vision, or talent! You’re such a disappointment of a son! I wish I never had you! Such wasted potential! Give up now, because this whole thing is a waste!” Father Puzzles said. He then grabbed Mario and dropped the screaming Italian in his mouth.

   “Father! Stop it! I do have creative vision! I’m training with Smg4 to better my skills! Please! Stop eating my actors!” Mr. Puzzles begged and tried to grab the rest of his actors, but they were all scooped up and dropped into Father Puzzles’ mouth. Mr. Puzzles then saw his father’s foot come crashing down and smash the stage into pieces, as well as the props. Then a hand reached for Mr. Puzzles, and he screamed and ran. He tried to get to the doors, but the floor was suddenly like a slip ‘n slide and he slipped and was sent back to the stage, where a large hand reached for Mr. Puzzles and grabbed him.

   A knocking sound suddenly came.

   “Mr. Puzzles!” Called a familiar voice.

   Confused, Mr. Puzzles looked up and screamed when he saw his father’s face replaced with Smg4’s.

   “Mr. puzzles, are you awake? It’s time for your training!”

    Mr. Puzzles screamed and fell out of bed. Another knock came on the door.

   Mr. Puzzles opened his front door to see Smg4 standing there.

   “Oh, good! You’re home. Are you ready for your training?” Smg4 asked.

   “Oh. Yeah, sure.” Mr. Puzzles answered.

   “You don’t sound too thrilled. Come on, I thought you’d be excited! I have a whole day of training planned!” Smg4 said.

   “I am. Really. Err, where’s Meggy by the way?” Asked MR. Puzzles looking around for her.

   “She’s waiting for us at the grounds. Since she wants to help you out as well, I figured she could join me in training you as well.” Smg4 said.

   “Oh. Okay, should we get going then?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “Yep. Come on.” Smg4 said. He walked in a particular direction. One that had a trap made specifically for the blue man.

   “Wait! Smg4, don’t…”

   But it was too late. Smg4 stepped on a button and a bomb came out of the ground and blasted him away.

    “Sorry. Security measures and all. I’ll have those deactivated, I swear.” Mr. Puzzles said.

    Smg4 nodded, a little dazed. He shook himself and walked straight along the sidewalk. Mr. Puzzles deactivated all his traps, before any more could go off and followed Smg4.

   They approached a forklift.

    “Hop on the back, and we’ll get going. Don’t worry, it’s a lot safer than it looks and I’m a very good driver.” Smg4 said.

   “We’re not taking the cab this time?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “No need. I’m forklift certified and this is much quicker than waiting on a cab.” Smg4 said.

   Reluctantly, Mr. Puzzles climbed onto the back and Smg4 hopped into the vehicle and started it and soon they were off.

   The ride was surprisingly pleasant, despite MR. Puzzles sitting on the back and Smg4 was going a lot more smoothly, than the taxi that had previously chauffeured him and MEggy. Mr. Puzzles was grateful that he wasn’t covered in scars and bruises.

   The duo soon made it to the castle and hopped off.

   They entered the building and Mr. Puzzles noticed that no equipment was set up.

   “Where’s all the movie directing stuff?” He asked.

   “We won’t be doing any movie directing today. Instead, I’m going to teach you about being kind and treating your actors with respect in the movie industry. So, I revised an old script of mine. You’ll be watching me, and I will ask you questions, and directing the others.” Smg4 said.  

    “Okay, I get it. I shouldn’t have forced you and the others to be part of my movies without asking. I’m sorry, okay? Is that what you want me to say?” Mr. Puzzles said.

    “Being a true movie director is about more than just a simple apology. You need to relearn a few of the basics. Like treating others with respect and being kind to your actors and not using mind control to get your way.” Smg4 replied.

    “You said Meggy was going to join us. Where…?”

     The doors suddenly burst open and Meggy was there, along with Mario and Luigi.

     “Sorry I’m late. I had to get these two first.” Meggy said.

    She, Luigi and Mario stepped in front of the couch that Smg4 and Mr. Puzzles were seated on and one looked ready and eager to do the script, one kept glancing nervously at the former t.v villain, and one looked excited…and hungry.

    “Okay, you all remember what to do?” Smg4 asked.

   Meggy and Luigi nodded. Mario kept looking straight ahead.

   Meggy slapped Mario on the back, and something seemed to click in his head.

   “Oh yeah!” He said, nodding as well.

   “Good. Now, ACTION!” Smg4 shouted through a megaphone.

    Mario suddenly turned to Meggy and fell to his knees and grabbed her shirt.

    “Ohh, Meggy! It’s horrible! It’s just plain awful! It’s the most horriblest awfulest wrost thing to happen to Mario!” Mario said.

   “Oh no! Did Luigi fall into the well again? Did Princess…Daisy get kidnapped?”

   “Princess Daisy?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

    “We…would have used Peach, but, after what happened to her castle, we asked Luigi and he said it was okay if we at least mentioned Daisy instead.” Smg4 said.

   Mr. Puzzles vaguely remembered something like that happening. He wondered if Smg4 and the others figured out that he was the one to start that mess. He rubbed his arm guiltily.

   “Mr. Puzzles? Is…everything okay?” Smg4 asked.

    “Huh? Oh. No—I MEAN…Yes, I’m fine. Just continue please.” Mr. Puzzles said.

    Everyone exchanged a nervous glance, but continued on anyways.

   “No!” Mario said, resuming the script. “It’s worse!”

    A fridge prop with nothing but Jam, Milk, butter and a dead bee dropped from the roof.

    “We’re out of spaghetti!” Mario said.

     “Oh no. It seems Mario is upset about us running out of spaghetti and it seems to be a big problem. What should I, as a loving caring friend, do in this situation?” Asked Meggy.

    “Mr. Puzzles?” Smg4 turned to the man in question.

    “Hm? What?” He asked.

    “Meggy just asked me, well us, a question. As a director, what do you think I should do?” Smg4 asked.

   “Uhhh…” Mr. Puzzles thought. “Tell him to stop whining and ruining the plot?”

    “This is the plot. What should I tell Meggy to do?” asked Smg4.

    “Mind control them, and make them perform in your shows, to make your show absolutely flawless?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “Nope. Look at the script I gave you.”

    “Uhh…oh. Meggy, it says here…”

    “Just tell her to go ahead and punch Mario.” Smg4 whispered so the Italian couldn’t hear them.

   “Oh. Umm, Meggy, dear, please go ahead and punch Mario for me.” Me. Puzzles said.

    Meggy scowled at Mario, who looked confused as to why she was angry. She drew back a fist and hit Mario. Hard.

   Mario flew towards the far end of the foyer, and bounced off the walls. He crashed onto the floor, a little dazed.

    “How was that?” Asked Meggy.

    “Good. Although maybe you could have taken it a little easier.” Mr. Puzzles answered.

   “Don’t worry. Mario will recover. He does things like this all of the time.” Smg4 told him.

   “Right, I suppose so.” Mr. Puzzles replied.

   “Alright, continue on guys.” Smg4 said.

    Mario stood up, looking like he was about to cry.

   “Ohh. How will Mario survive without any spaghetti?” He asked.

   “I’m…sure it’s a…tragedy…we could all live with.” Meggy said, reading her lines.

    “Meggy, you’re not supposed to read from the script!” Smg4 said.

    “Well, I’m sorry, I just got it and besides, I thought this was just a lesson in teaching Mr. Puzzles to be kind, when it comes to directing.” Meggy said.

     “It is. Keep going.” Smg4 said.

    “Excuse me…” Mr. Puzzles started.

    “Hold on. Wait until we’re done this to ask questions.” Smg4 said. “ACTION!” He yelled through the megaphone.

    “Please Meggy! Mario doesn’t know what he’ll do without his favourite meal! I’ll probably wither and fade away! Luigi will be left on his lonesome, trying to fend for himself! He’ll be living on the streets, scraping for money! He won’t have his brother to cook for him, or help him when he’s getting in way over his head!” Mario said, grabbing her leg.

   “I’m…” Meggy kept inching away as Mario looked pleadingly up at her. “Sure that you’ll survive somehow.”

   At that, Luigi came in from behind a door and walked up to them.

    “Hey! I have an idea. Why don’t we go to the grocery store? I’m sure they’ll have tons of spaghetti!” Luigi said, looking at Mr. Puzzles and Smg4.

     “Why is he looking at us? Is there something on my face? Oh no! I knew I missed a spot on my screen! Don’t look at me! I’m hideous!” Mr. Puzzles said, covering his face.

   “I can vouch for that!” Smg3 said, sticking his head through the castle entrance.

   “No! Get back outside, wait for your turn!” Smg4 shouted at Smg3.

    “Tch! Just saying. Anyway, later noobs.” Smg3 said, going back outside.

    “Mr. Puzzles, you’re fine. Luigi was just directing the audience.” Smg4 said.

    “He was?” Asked Mr. Puzzles lowering his hands from his face.

   “Yes. Now…”

    “Oh! I forgot to mention…” Smg3 said.

    “No! Get back outside! Wait for your part!” Smg4 said.

    “That’s what I’m here to complain about! Why do I have so little lines? I’m a professional, shouldn’t I have more lines?” Smg3 asked.

    “Maybe we could buff up the script a little…” Mr. Puzzles suggested.

    “No! Smg3, it’s not about you! It’s about helping Mr. Puzzles with kindness, now get back outside and wait you’re turn!” Smg4 glanced at Mr. Puzzles. “Please. I’ll talk to you about it later.” He added.

   “Ugh! This script is boring!” Smg3 said.

    “Oh! Maybe I can…” Mr. Puzzles stood up, but Smg4 quickly brought him back down.

    “Err, we’ll look at the script after we’re done. Right now, we need to focus on the lesson.”

   Smg4 cleared his throat and yelled, “ACTION!”

   Mr. Puzzles was confused, but continued to watch on, a little bored himself.

   “Hey! Great idea Luigi! Why don’t we all go to the grocery store and pick up some spaghetti?” Meggy suggested.

   “Yippee! Let’s-a-go!” Mario said, feeling happy again.

    “Alright, let’s go outside everyone.” Smg4 said and he lead the others outside. As Mr. Puzzles was following, a memory came up.

   Little Puzzles was in the schoolyard at recess, in front of a few kids. They weren’t his friends, but they agreed to help him with his script.

   “Okay, does everyone have their script?” Little Puzzles asked.

   “Yes.” All the kids answered.

    “Perfect! Noah, go ahead.” Said Little Puzzles.

    “Oh boy! I sure can’t wait for the picnic! What should we all bring?” Asked Noah, a stout child with mousy brown hair.

   “Ooh! Let’s bring strawberry jam sandwiches!” Said Anna.

   “Yeah! And we can bring Turkey sandwiches as well!” Said Ryan, a tall boy wearing a muscle shirt, who was a grade above the others.

   Little Puzzles was beaming proudly.

   “Excellent, good…”

    “Nah! Let’s bring Tuna Sandwiches!” Said a boy named Billy.

   Little Puzzles was confused.

   “Billy, that’s not your line. Besides, it’s not your turn yet.” Little Puzzles told him.

   “Forget that trash! I say we have a picnic of tuna sandwiches and ketchup chips, soda and cheese pizza!” Billy said.

   “Eww!” Anna said, disgusted. “No way! I hate tuna sandwiches!”

   “Guys! Stop!” Little Puzzles begged.

   “Ummm, I can’t have cheese, it makes me gassy.” Admitted Noah.

   “Come on guys! Do you really wanna do this stupid script thing? It’s boring and this little twerp is hardly a movie director! You think Didney would ever hire you?! Or Dreamworld? Keep dreaming, you’ll never be like them! You’re just a puny guy. A wimp, who has no real creativity! And that’s all you’ll ever be!”

   Billy then pushed Little Puzzles down the hill. He rolled and tumbled, before bowling into other kids and crashing into a trash can, which toppled over on top of Little Puzzles. He tried to stand up, but he stepped on a banana peel and slipped and fell into a hole that a kid named Lancer dug out.

   All the other kids, except for Billy, looked down the hill, a little concerned.

   “Come on guys, leave the weirdo to his dumb scripts and let’s go do something actually fun!” Billy said.

   Little Puzzles whimpered, laying in the hole.

“Mr. Puzzles?”

   Mr. Puzzles returned to the present and saw the other faces looking at him with concern.

   “Is everything okay?” Smg4 asked.

   “Umm….y-yeah. Come on, let’s keep going.” Mr. Puzzles answered.

    They all turned and went outside the castle.

   They came upon a fake grocery store, with real sliding doors and a register, with Bob running the till.

   They went inside and Bob saw them.

   “Smg4, you told me there was going to be money in thus! Well, I’ve been opening this stupid machine, and I don’t see the dough!” Bob said in his Ikana accent.

   “I told you, I’d give you money AFTER the script!” Said Smg4.

   “Well, whatever! Would any of you like to buy some fine merch? We’ve got some good stuff, from Bob’s Totally legit Hair Spray to this totally safe and healthy facial cream, guaranteed to erase your ugliness and make you eighty percent more handsome.” Bob said.

   “Umm, no thanks, we’re just…” Mr. Puzzles started, but Bob began rubbing the cream on his screen.

   “I insist! This is the finest cream in the mushroom kingdom! All my Garo buddies back in Ikana loved it too! Before they weirdly disappeared on me.” Bob said.

   The cream was made of some weird white paste, mixed with gravel, grass and acid. It began to burn, and Mr. Puzzles screamed and flailed around, covering his face with hia hands, his screen going haywire.

   “Oh no!” Smg4 said and hurried and grabbed a wet cloth and wiped the man’s screen.

   Mr. Puzzles felt a little relieved, even if the stinging pain was lingering.

   “No thank you Bob. We’re not really here to shop, remember? This is just part of the script we’re doing. Y’know, to teach Mr. Puzzles how to be kind?” Smg4 asked.

   “Oh.” Bob said. He reached under the counter and began to read a magazine. 

   “Yeah. Whatever. Just remember to pay me.” Bob said.

   Smg4 sighed.

   He and the others walked around the aisles, before they stopped at one, with one single pasta box on the shelf.

   “Oh dear! It seems I have forgotten my lines. What should I do Smg4?” Asked Meggy.

    “Oh no. Mr. Puzzles, what should I do to help Meggy?” Asked Smg4.

   “Maybe…I don’t know.” Mr. Puzzles said.

    “Well, I should tell her to…

    “Oh come on! Just move it along already! I’ve got things to do too, y’know.” Said Smg3.

    “Pipe down! Get back in the freezer!” Smg4 said.

    “Hmph. Whatever.” Smg3 said, closing himself off in the cold freezer.

    “Ugh. Anyway, I should tell Meggy her line. Most important thing of being a director is helping your actors to remind them of their roles and lines, and give guidance. Not to forcibly make them do what I want.” Smg4 said.

   “You’re not going to stop nagging me about that, are you? You sound like my math teacher. I remember he used to chase me around the halls with a wooden ruler and I had to gather notebooks for him for some reason, before the bell rang for recess. He was weird.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   “Nope. I’m going to keep bugging you, until you know what you did wrong.” Smg4 said.

1. Puzzles rolled his eyes.

    He continued watching, as Meggy said her lines.

   “Oh look Mario! There’s one last box of spaghetti! We can definitely buy that and go home to make some.” Meggy said.

   “Yippee!” Mario said. He ran over and grabbed the box of the shelf.

    “Mario’s got it! Marios’s got the last spaghetti! Nyah-nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!” Mario said.

    “Whoops! Seems Mario slipped up. Mario, you’re not supposed to have the spaghetti box yet.” Smg4 said.

   Mario nearly fell over.

    “Whuh—what do you mean Smg4?” He asked.

   “You’re supposed to make a grab for it, then Smg3 is supposed to grab the box. Now please put it back.” Smg4 said.

   Mario looked at the shelf, then back at Smg4.

   “Oh! Look, is that a big meme over there?” Mario asked.

    “Whu--?!” Smg4 turned around and saw nothing outside. Which was all Mario needed to quickly run past him and Mr. Puzzles and run out the front door.

    “Mario, no! We’re supposed to stick to the script! There’s Spaghetti back at the castle, remember?” Meggy shouted.

   “No Mario, come back! Don’t run into traffic again!” Shouted Luigi.

    “Ugh! I should have known he would have done this! Come back here!” Smg4 ran after the others.

   “Wait, I…” Mr. Puzzles started, then a snowman wearing Smg3’s hat broke out of the freezer.

    “Ugh! It’s taking too long! Hey! Come back here with that box, you’re ruining my scene!” Smg3 shook himself out of the snow and followed the others. Mr. Puzzles ran after him.

   “Oh no! Are the cops here?! And I still want my money Smg4!” Bob said and hurried after the others.

   Mario almost was at the castle doors, when a bob-omb appeared and exploded in front of Mario, sending him backwards.

   Meggy tackled him and grabbed the spaghetti box.

    “Yes! I did it, I…”

   Mario got up and charged towards Meggy.

   “Ah! Luigi, go long!” She shouted and tossed the box far away and Luigi ran to catch it, only to run into Smg4 and the box fell.

   Smg3 was about to grab it, when Mario appeared and snatched it up instead and tried to run away again, when Smg4 tripped him and ran off with the spaghetti, only to get blocked by Bob.

   “You’re not trying to get out of paying me, are you? That’s low, even for you Smg4!” He jumped at the Asian man, and Smg4 tossed the box away. It ended up falling into Mr. Puzzles hands and everyone looked at him.

   “Oh no…” He said, realising, that he knew, he fucked up.

   Everyone jumped on top of him and they all got into a wrestling match.

   “Ow!” Mr. Puzzles shouted.

    “Watch it!” Shouted another person.

    “Hey! That’s my…”

    “Quit shoving!”

   “Mario! Just stick to the script!”

    Mr. Puzzles managed to crawl away and look at the brawl before him. Smg4 also got knocked away, a little dazed.

   Mr. Puzzles looked on, and getting frustrated, he shouted and cast a spell on the others, stopping them.

   Mario was biting his own leg, while Smg3 and Meggy were at each other’s throats, Luigi was cowering underneath Bob, who was aiming his swords at Smg3.

   Mr. Puzzles was huffing and gasping. When he saw what he had done, he released the others in shame.

  “Mr. Puzzles are you okay?” Asked Smg4.

   “No!” Mr. Puzzles whirled on him, his screen contorted with rage.

   “I am NOT okay! I thought you were supposed to be teaching me about how to be a better director, but all your actors seem to wanna do is complain and fight! This is why I use my powers, because no one cares about what I want, or my dreams, so it’s just easier if I…force them! I…think I’m just gonna go home.” Mr. Puzzles said, crying.

   “Mr. Puzzles!” Smg4 called out to him, but the man hardly heard him.

   Everyone looked at each other feeling bad.

   Smg4 reeled on them.

    “Look what you guys did! I asked you all to help! You agreed, but then you…you went and botched it.” Smg4 said.

   “I’m sorry. I forgot why we were doing this.” Smg3 said.

   “Maybe it’s best Mr. Puzzles goes.” Said Luigi.

    “Why?” Asked Smg4.

    “Well, he did control us for a while. I’m not sure I’m ready to help someone like him.” Luigi admitted.

    “I…I guess I can wait for the money Smg4. I…I’ll do the script. I don’t mind Mr. Puzzles.” Bob said.

    “Yeah, I…he stinks as a villain, when it comes to me, but…I don’t want to find out what will happen to him, if we don’t help him.” Smg3 said.

   “We have to go after him! We need to do this and do this right! That means, no selling weird crap at the till…” Meggy said, pointing at Bob, who looked at the ground, nodding. “No demands for a bigger part, or interrupting others.” She pointed at Smg3. “And no going off script!” She pointed to Mario, who nodded, looking like a child who lost his toy.

    “Alright. Mario, you come with us. The rest of you, wait at the castle until we can come back with Mr. Puzzles.” Smg4 said.

   Everyone agreed and all left.

   “Alright. My student’s missing and I need to find him. Come on everyone, let’s go!” Smg4 said and they all hopped onto his forklift and sped off.

   However, none of them noticed three shadows having been watching them and Mr. Puzzles, before running towards the city.

   “My father was right. I’ll never be a movie director. It was just a silly dream after all. I guess that makes sense. I am silly after all. Silly, silly puzzles.” Mr. Puzzles laughed a little, before staring down forlornly at the sidewalk below. “Silly, silly puzzles.”

   He turned down a street corner, to hopefully catch the bus back home, but three people appeared before him. They were wearing cloaks, even though it was broad daylight and had masks on, sp Mr. Puzzles couldn’t see their faces properly.

   “Who…who are you?” Mr. Puzzles asked nervously.

    “No one of your concern. Now, that’s a rather fine t.v head you have there.” Said the middle man, who sounded gruff.

   “Why, thank you. I polish and wax it every…”

    “I wonder how many of the fellas back home would pay to have just that head for their tv stands.” The first man said, grabbing a baseball bat, while the other two behind him wielded a mace and a large pair of scissors.

    Mr. Puzzles yelped and ran the other way, as the street thugs gave chase.

    “Please! My tv head isn’t for sale! It’s attached! It doesn’t come off!” Mr. Puzzles said.

    “I’m sure we could figure out a way!” Said the leader.

    Mr. Puzzles kept running, before he saw an alleyway and turned down it. He ran through the alleyway, turning different corners. He knew this alleyway well, and he knew where the exit was.

   Only for him to run into a brick wall, that looked like it had been recently built as the paint was still drying. He turned away, only to run into a tall fence, with no way up.

   Mr. Puzzles turned and backed against the wall as the three thugs approached.

    “Please! Please don’t hurt me! I don’t know what will happen if my head is removed.” Mr. Puzzles said. Even though, he knew the most likely answer. He’d die, since his entire head would be removed from his body. He thought that when Smg4 and the others defeated him, he’d died, until he found he was fine, even if he couldn’t move from the trash can he ended up in, before Mario had found him.  

   “I’m sure everything will turn out fine. Now just stand still like a good tv man, and let us take you apart.”

   The three goons began to approach and Mr. Puzzles frantically looked for an escape, but the alleyway was completely blocked, and there was no way over the big wall behind Mr. Puzzles. He aqueezed his eyes shut, embracing for the pain that would come once his head was torn off his body.

    However, no such pain came when Mr. Puzzles heard a shout and what sounded like someone getting hit and falling down.

   Mr. Puzzles glanced over at the leader thug who was now face down on the ground, looking dazed.

    Mr. Puzzles looked and saw three hooded figures there, behind the street thugs.

    The second goon got kicked by a webbed foot, and the third got whacked by a club of some kind.

   Soon the three thugs were down, thanks to the newcomers standing before Mr. Puzzles.

   “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Mr. Puzzles said. “You saved my precious tv head, and therefore, me, from being robbed by those ruffians!”

   The leader chuckled. It was a weird, high pitched chuckle. Mr. Puzzles thought he had heard it somewhere before, but couldn’t remember where.

   The figure removed their hood and revealed a familiar bipedal mouse underneath. The other two followed along, and a duck, and some sort of weird dog-looking thing stood next to the first person.

   “Oh my stars! You’re Mickey Mouse!” Mr. Puzzles said in awe.

    “The one and only!” Said Mickey Mouse. “and if there are others, well…they’re just imposters and are dealt with swiftly!”

    “But…hold on. What are you doing here? How’d you know I was in trouble?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “We normally roam the city, in search of those in need of our help. We own half of it after all, thanks to Princess Peach’s disappearance. We thought about buying more, but we deemed it better if we just owned half of it, since we’re generous like that.” Said Mickey.

   “That, and you were screaming rather loudly.” He added, to which Mr. Puzzles blushed and looked down.

   “Well, thank you. I appreciate your help. But I best get going. I was actually just going home to..” Mr. Puzzles began to walk away, but Donald blocked him, scowling at Mr. Puzzles.

   “Whoa there pal, hold your horses. Why the rush?” Asked Mickey.

    “Umm, well it is getting a bit late and…”

    “I understand. I will make this quick, but I would like a moment of your time.” Mickey said.

   “Err, I suppose.” Mr. Puzzles said, turning to face the mouse.

   “We know of you Mr. Puzzles. We’ve been looking for you for a long time now.” Said Mickey.

   “You…you have?” Asked Mr. Puzzles.

   “Of course! You’re quite the talk among folks, aren’t you?”

   Mr. Puzzles screen changed into one of shock and shame and he looked down.

    “Not…quite. At least not in the way I would have preferred.” Said Mr. Puzzles.

   “So, since you’re so familiar with movies and directing, we’d like to make a deal with you.” Mickey said.

   “A…deal? With…with me?” Mr. Puzzles couldn’t believe his ears. Was this a dream? Was this all some sort of prank? It all seemed to good to be true.

   “Yes. We would like you to come work for us, in helping to expand our empire, making movies and helping us stay on top.” Mickey said.

   “So, you want me to come with you, just so I can help you make your low-budget, cheap cash grab live action remakes? Thanks, but no thanks. I won’t stoop to making low-bro content just for money.” Mr. Puzzles said.

   Mickey chuckled. Mr. Puzzles couldn’t place it, but it sounded different from earlier. Not as cheery or welcoming. But he figured he heard wrong.

   “Now, now Mr. Puzzles. I don’t think you’re one to talk. After all, you’re no stranger to making low quality content. Goofy. Example.” Mickey said and Goofy hit a remote and a flat screen tv came down and showed one of Mr. Puzzles videos from his old YouTube channel.

   “You’ve been making quite the content on your own. While it is shoddy at best, I believe we can work through that. We could use talent like yours, especially with your power of manipulation and control. We could use it to improve our set and bring smiles to others. Sounds like a deal, wouldn’t you say?” Asked Mickey.

   Mr. Puzzles thought about it. It seemed like the best choice. Smg4, at least his crew didn’t seem to care about helping him with his dilemma, Meggy aside. It would be so easy, so simple. However, Mr. Puzzles hesitated. He didn’t want the easy way to stardom (even though, that was practically what he did).And yet, he was out of options, since he didn’t think he’d be going back to training with Smg4 soon. Maybe this was…

   Before Mr. Puzzles could give his answer, he heard his name being called.

    “Mr. Puzzles!” Shouted Smg4.

    “Mr. Puzzles! We’re sorry! We still want to help you!” Called Meggy.

   “Mr. Tv man! Mario is sorry! Mario will share at least some of his spaghetti with you!” Mario called out.

   Mr. Puzzles stood there, stunned. He thought after his outburst, and that horrible training disaster, he was certain they wouldn’t bother. He was certain they would be glad and return to their normal lives, especially after what he did to them.

   However, Mickey and his two followers weren’t so happy about the intrusion.

    “We’ll be back Mr. Puzzles. In the meantime, I hope you consider our offer. And don’t fret. Sooner or later, they’ll ditch you and we’ll come running.” Mickey said.

    “Wait, what was…”    

   Mickey, Donald and Goofy disappeared in a magic smoke explosion and Mr. Puzzles was alone.

   “Mr. Puzzles! Please tell me you’re out here!” Called Meggy.

   “Meggy! I’m here! In the alleyway!” Mr. Puzzles called.

   Soon Meggy, Smg4 and Mario hurried around the corner and ran up to the man.

   “Mr. Puzzles, I’m so sorry! I should have been training you, but instead, me and the others got carried away!” Smg4 said.

    “Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?|’ Meggy said.

   Mario checked Mr. Puzzles, seeing if there were any damages. Mr. Puzzles pushed him away, a little annoyed (and embarrassed) by the plumber.

   “Mr. Puzzles. Is everything alright?” Smg4 asked.

    “Yeah, I…ran into some thugs trying to steal my tv head, but…it’s fine, I…managed to escape from them and hid in this alleyway.” Mr. Puzzles fibbed. He wasn’t sure if he should tell Smg4 and the others about Mickey and his deal just yet.

   “Oh thank goodness.” Meggy sighed. She ran over to Mr. Puzzles and hugged him.

   “Meggy? Dear? Are you alright?” Mr. Puzzles asked.

   “I was scared! When you left, I was worried you’d go back to your evil ways, or you’d get hurt, or…or…” Meggy said.

   “She’s right. We were…well, most of us, were really worried about you. We didn’t want you to leave without finishing your training after all.” Smg4 said.

   Mr. Puzzles looked at the others in surprise.

   “You…you still want to train me? Even after that disaster?” He asked.

   “Of course! Look, we’re not exactly perfect, and there are going to be hiccups and mistakes along the way. But if you’re still up for it, I am still your trainer and I will train you, no matter what. What do you say, student Puzzles?” Smg4 stuck out his hand.

   Mr. Puzzles looked at him. He felt a little choked up and he smiled, and gently took Smg4’s hand and shook it.

    “Yes. Teacher. Deal.” He said.

   “Yippee!” Mario jumped onto Mr. Puzzles back and gave his head a noogie.

   “Welcome back to the Smg4 team! Mario will have celebratory spaghetti!” Mario said.

   Meggy also hugged Mr. Puzzles, relieved. MR. Puzzles returned the hug.

   Smg4 was about to join in, thought better of it and patted Mr. Puzzles on the shoulder.

   “Come on. Everyone else was looking for you too. Let’s hurry and tell them you’re coming back.” Smg4 said.

   Mr. Puzzles nodded.

   Everyone lead him out of the alleyway, not noticing the Disney trio watching them.

   “What should we do Mick? Seems he’s chosen them.” Goofy said.

   “Relax there Doofus. We still have time. Besides, he hasn’t said no yet. We will keep watch, and make the deal with him again soon. And if he doesn’t take the deal, we have other ways.” Mickey said.

   “There you are! Geez, you had us looking all over the city for you! When we get back to the castle, you’d better be on your best behaviour and quit running off!” Smg3 lectured.

   “It’s okay Three. He’s agreed to come back with us and train more with Smg4…and us.” Meggy said.

    “Well, let’s get going! We still have this script to do…as long as Smg4 can revise it a little better, and we’d better hurry, I’m gonna miss my show with Boopkins.” Bob said. Everyone agreed. Even Luigi, though he was more hesitant about it.

   Back at the grounds, Smg4 yelled “ACTION!”

   “OOOHHHH NOOOOO!” Mario shouted. He ran across the castle main room to Meggy, shouting “help now!”

   “Mario, what is it?” Asked Meggy, worried.

   “It’s horrible! It’s awful! It’s the most terrible thing to happen to Mario!” Mario shouted.

   “What?! Is there a meteor headed towards us? Is Bowser going to take over the world? Did Luigi fall in the well again?” Asked Meggy.

   “Worse! WE’re…out of spaghetti!” Mario said, pointing to the fridge.

    “Oh no, it seems Mario is in trouble. What should I do as a caring loyal friend?” Meggy asked, looking at Mr. Puzzles.

   Mr. Puzzles looked at his script and back to Meggy.

   “Meggy, I believe your cue now is to punch Mario across the room. Let him have it!” Mr. Puzzles said.

   Meggy scowled at Mario, annoyed.

   “M-Meggy?” Asked Mario. He was hit clear across the room, bouncing off the floor, then the roof, then all around the far end of the room, before collapsing to the floor.

    “Good show Meggy! Better than last time!” Mr. Puzzles said, clapping his hands jovially.

    “See? It’s much better when you can sit back and help from the sidelines, rather than forcing others to do what you want.” Smg4 said.

   “I suppose you do have a point. I prefer to have my shows flawless, but sometimes, you can’t always have that.” Mr. Puzzles smiled at Smg4.

    “Yeah. And as long as we keep doing this, you will not only improve as a director, but improve yourself as well.” Smg4 said.

   Mr. Puzzles never thought of it that way. He always had thought there was something wrong with the world, not him. But what Smg4 said made sense. He never had any friends before, and his shows never really got him that, and people always harshly critiqued his shows, even if there was nothing particularly wrong with them (his time with the Smg4 excluded).

   The two continued to watch and help the actors with their lines and roles (Mario being the one who needed help most, and Mr. Puzzles scolded him, after nearly getting his hand bitten off, when he kept Mario from the prop box of Spaghetti, to which the others either laughed, or groaned in annoyance).