Chapter 1 Static life
AU Created by @b-r-i-n-g-x and @shygirl4991
All art belongs to the rightful artist do not repost
Artist for chapter @b-r-i-n-g-x @merp0515
Shout out to @lizaluvsthis and @anartisticalniche our other assistants!
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Liko Studies Page 1
Summary: A year has passed since PuzzleVision, a year since the crew took back their lives. Anger grew as he recovered and watched the crew move on with their lives, while he lost everything. Weak he explores the remains of Peach’s castle to get an idea, anything that can help him with his plans of revenge. That's when he found it, two locks of hair from the very guardians that defeated him. A new plan was born that day and its name is Shadow Vision.
Tags: Fluff, angst, humor, found family, falling in love, love confessions, slow burn, blood, injury,
SMG4 stretches as he looks up at the sky, humming to himself as he decides to walk over to Three’s coffee n bombs. As he enters the cafe he frowns seeing no one there, he peeks in the back room feeling anxiety grow. Taking out the book, he takes the elevator that leads to SMG3 room. He looks around and frowns noticing even Eggdog wasn't around, panic was growing not seeing his friend around.
A year ago they encountered a villain that was the master of television. He remembers the day they defeated him well, how they had to make their own show to best him. The anger he felt that day as he grabbed mallet Luigi and smashed the television in, while the crew celebrated and after months of therapy from SMG3 things went back to normal. Except it didn't fully, deep down Four had a fear. A fear that the smash didn't truly kill Mr. Puzzles and that he is still around ready to take control of them again.
He gets back in the elevator then dash out the cafe, closing his eyes he focuses on their cosmic link. Feeling the pull he runs through the woods “Please be okay Three,” he stops running when it clicks where he was. He looks down letting out a shaky breath as he walks near the hole in the ground “Three?!”
A tentacle comes out of the hole reaching for him, SMG4 screams dodging the grab. Thats when he heard an explosion “THATS WHAT YOU FUCKING GET FOR TOUCHING EGGDOG!”
Three blinks as he notices SMG4, glaring at the monster he picks up Eggdog, then runs to pick up Four “The hell are you doing here?” Four gives him a sheepish smile “Looking for you.” Avoiding another hit the pair escape running back to the cafe, missing a glimpse of an old enemy.
Once safe SMG3 checks Eggdog before turning his attention to Four, gently grabbing Fours face to check on him “Hey you okay? That was a close call.” Four nods getting closer to Three “I’m fine, I'm more worried as to why you were over there!” Mario arrives in time to see the pair an inch apart from kissing, his eyes light up from the sight “HEY, ARE YOU TWO FINALLY KISSING?!”
The guardians look at each other and blushes, in a panic they smack each other making sure there is plenty of space between them. “No you ass! We were attacked by those things near Peach’s castle!” Three crosses his arms annoyed by the avatar, Four sighs repeating himself “Why were you over there?” Three pets Eggdog with a loving smile before facing Four “Eggdog was freaking out, it wasn't like him so i went to investigate. Found nothing but those tentacles out which makes me wonder..if someone fell in there.”
They stay silent for a moment lost in thought, Mario seeing his friends sad does what he does best. He wraps his arms around his guardians and smiles at them “Mario is hungry!” the pair roll their eyes letting out soft giggles. With Mario’s push they end up at the castle making spaghetti, dropping the topic all together.
In the woods Mr. Puzzle hums watching them from afar “Now how did you reach the castle so fast?”
Ever since his defeat he spent time recovering and plotting his next grand show, his acquaintance Liko helped nurse him during this time. She was a strange creature, a rare fable that lives in the mushroom kingdom. A few months ago he started to spy on the crew again, with the help of Liko they watched and studied hoping to find any kind of weakness. Once the coast was clear he started to wander around the woods, there his screen flickered showing off a wide smile. There stood an open guardian portal, testing the waters, he removed his head placing it on the floor. Then his body walks in, after a few moments the body returns in perfect condition. Putting his head back on he goes through, where he is greeted with the pit he and SMG4 created two years ago.
He walks close to it and lets out a chuckle “My SMG4, ever the villain keeping an eye on your masterpiece.”
He snaps his fingers getting a tentacle's attention, using it as a lift he gets on it letting it bring him down. He walks through the path that leads to the castle, there he notices something. With a gasp he walks up to a pile of slime pulling out what looked like locks of hair “Hello gorgeous, you look fresh!” quickly he takes out his phone. After a few rings he heard a woman's voice on the other line “No time for chatting, remember how you mention you would love to know how meme guardians work?” he hears a sigh from the woman along with her dropping something in the background. “Alright Mr. Puzzle, what do you have?”
“Meme guardian hair, fresh. You know what this means don't you? We can make our own guardians!” he smiles at the hair in his hand. The time for revenge has finally presented itself, Mr puzzles was excited to do what no network has ever done before. He snaps his fingers to escape the castle, once away from the pit he heads off to his lair, an abandoned studio lot.
Liko puts on her coat to get the machines ready “Okay i need to get things ready, shit! We need pods, the meme guardians have USB so what can I use to replace that.” She searches her lab to find an old portable television. She chuckles opening the device and fixing it up, meme guardians pods were related to the internet. If they wanted to make their own they need to think outside of the box, given she will need her partners TV powers she knew turning this portable television would be the best bet. She lets out a wide smile seeing the TV working again, Mr. Puzzles enters the room at that moment watching the scientist “Brought you a gift!”
Liko takes the locks of hair from him, she puts it through a scanner and laughs “It's hair from both guardians! This is perfect, we can have two guardians if this works!” hearing those words excited the TV man. Not only will he get revenge he will also have his own actor,one he can command and they will follow his every word. Liko separated the hair locking SMG3 hair away, humming as she studied the hair. “We are lucky guardians work differently from us, this hair sample should be enough to make something!”
She places SMG4 lock of hair on the table, then walks up to a tank “Been saving these bad boys for months!’
Removing the cover on it, Mr. Puzzles walked up to the tank excitedly. Staring at the white orbs he looks down at Liko “This is meme energy, it wasn't easy to learn how to extract it but with this i think we can pull this off!” She takes a step back to give the man room, understanding what she meant he points his finger to the tank. Shooting it with his power the orbs start to bounce around the tank, the TV man steps back then pulls Liko with him as they watch the tank shake.
The orbs start to change becoming filled with static, Liko screams in joy running to the tank “IT’S WORKING!” She runs to the computer to scan the orbs. What was once filled with pure meme energy was changing into something else, the meme power slowly changing into television energy. Mr Puzzle claps his hands to get the woman's attention, she turns looking up at him in excitement “It's working! Now to place the needed items to make a body…this is the part that can fail. Be ready for disappointment.”
She goes to a secret room taking out a strange jar, she drops some of its contents on the portable TV then the lock of hair. Putting it away she hits the button removing one of the static orbs “We don't know how stable this is so i recommend you get in your head!” She runs for cover as Mr. Puzzles stands there watching. The room is then swallowed by a bright light, Liko peeks out of her hiding spot to see Mr . Puzzles staring at the portable TV in shock. She walks up to up “It…changed? It sorta resembles a portable gaming console, but no mistake it's a portable television.”
The pod starts to grow causing Liko to panic “SHIT GET IT OUT OF THE LAB ITS GROWING!”
Mr. Puzzles picks up the TV and throws it out, they watch as it keeps growing. “Uh, now that I think about it we never took into account how big we were making him, did we?” Liko lets out with a sigh, then the pod stops growing as it opens up. They watch as a man comes out all dressed in yellow, his eyes show static until he rubs them. He looks around his dark yellow eyes meeting Mr. Puzzle, he slowly walks up to the man “You're my star! We did it!” the man rolls his eyes looking around again “Where the fuck am i and why is there a talking box here?”
Mr. Puzzle frowns “Now that kind of language won't work with what we plan on doing, i'm your manager slash director!” he spins giving jazz hands to the man “MR. PUZZLE!” Now that Mr. Puzzle was closer to the man he noticed while the guardian was made from SMG4 DNA, the appearance didn't fully show it. His eyes lay on the sharp teeth he had sticking out of his mouth, he also noticed the pointy ears making the man look more of a fable creature than a full human. “My…pod it said my name is SV4, so call me that.”
Mr.Puzzle watches as the man shrinks his pod, he blinks seeing the portable TV now pocket sized. Interested as to why the portable TV took the form of a portable console he decided to poke more at the guardian “SV4 huh? Do tell me your pod reminds me of something, are you perhaps interested in a different kind of medium that isn't television?”
SV4 rolls his eyes putting his pod in his pocket “I like video games, which mind you helps shape a lot of media in television.” that's when he notice someone hiding in a bush “Who the fuck is that? Is this some kind of trap,” he glares at Mr.Puzzle. Liko lifted her hand giving a nervous giggle “No trap, im Liko the uh co-director just here to see the star of our shows arrive!” She was thankful that all the years of hearing Mr. Puzzle talk came in handy for once. SV4 gives them both a look before walking away, seeing that the pair walk with him. Mr.Puzzle screen flashes a smile “Do you even know where our home is?” SV4 stops walking, frustrated he turns to the pair. He didn't want to trust him but something in him told him this was right, along with feeling something was missing.
Liko notices the look that SV4 had “Mr. Puzzle we should start working on SV3, after all meme guardians come in two for a reason.” Mr puzzle lets out a small chuckle “He is the star for this upcoming project, he doesn't need to share the spotlight!” with that he puts his arm around the guardian and walks off to their home. Liko frowns watching them walk away, she walks back to her lab to do more research on meme guardians. She was glad that SMG1 and 2 made a book explaining the basics, with this it could help them figure out how to care for SV4.
They arrive at the location, Mr. Puzzles walks in front of SV4 giving him jazz hands as he shows the man an abandoned movie set. SV4 eyes go wide as he looks around, then he sees an action set and runs to it “MINE!” Mr. Puzzles watches SV4 running around the action set amused. Compared to SMG4 this guardian certainly did take the excitable trait from his counterpart, SV4 pauses opening the dressing room “Fuck man this place is empty, hey box head where is our shit?” Mr. Puzzle sighs. Their huge difference is the fact SV4 swears like a sailor, not to mention the attitude he has on him.
He walks and looks in the room “Hm we are going to need a little help if we are to get what we need, i have an idea SV4 lets call it your first acting job!”
Liko opens the door to her lab, to her surprise SV4 was standing there he smirks at her “Now Mr. Puzzles hate to do this but I find it funny!” Liko confused steps out of her lab. Mr. Puzzle flashes her a smile “Given i dont have my powers anymore, i need money to get what we need for the show!” Liko shakes her head. SV4 watching the pair lets out a chuckle “Come on Liko, as the co director dont you wanna help your favorite guardian out?” Liko looks at the pair still refusing to help them, Mr Puzzles gives SV4 a look.
Seeing the look SV4 knew what they had to do, he steps in front of Liko next to Mr. Puzzle. Liko starts to glare at the pair, Mr. Puzzles then displays footage of a dog giving puppy eyes while SV4 was giving her puppy eyes. Unable to ignore the looks she gives in "FINE I WILL BUY THE STUFF FOR YOUTUBE!"
Mr. Puzzle smiles as SV4 cheers, with a sigh she gets her wallet. She walks out giving them a small smile “So what's the channel going to be called?” the pair stare at her with a blank expression, Liko eyes go wide “Wait you ask me to buy you things and you still haven't set up the youtube?!” SV4 scoffs walking into her lab. Concerned with having the man in her lab she runs in, the man gets on the computer and starts making the account. He smirks as he types away, then he turns the monitor “There problem solved!”
Liko and Mr. Puzzle look at the account “SV4…perfect! We just have to hope our viewers won't think we are copying anyone.” the man rolls his eyes “From our walk you told me about SMG4, if he can use his name as the channel name who the fuck says i can't!” Mr. Puzzle frowns his screen changing into an expression of annoyance “Language!”
Liko giggles “Let him be, plus if he swears in his videos when it comes to editing he can just remove it!” SV4 gives a smug look causing the TV man to sigh walking away “Let's just get what we need, it's showtime!” with a nod they get together and start walking into the kingdom. Mr. Puzzle wears a cloak to cover himself, not everyday you see a walking talking television. While he doesnt care if the SMG4 crew learn of his return, he preferred to keep the mystery going on longer just to mess with the meme guardians. As they go shopping for the items needed, Liko can only watch in horror as she sees the prices of all the items.
They return home setting everything up, SV4 jumps around lovingly hugging his gaming setup “Daddy is here shhh we will have an all night Spyro marathon don't you worry!” Mr. Puzzles gives a concerned look towards the guardian “While i would love to…um give you alone time. We need to release our first video soon, otherwise this whole thing would be a waste of time!” SV4 rolls his eyes letting go of the system. He picks up a game and controller, pointing it at Mr. Puzzle “Listen up box head! Gaming is an art and if we are going to have me as the face of the channel we do it my way!” He then sits down hitting records and starts playing games.
After a few hours SV4 tosses a USB toward Mr. Puzzles“There, my footage and commentary on Spyro: Enter the dragonfly. Now if you don't mind, the crash series calls to me!” Mr. Puzzles catches the USB confused, he gets up lifting up SV4 by his overalls. He gives the smaller man a stern look “You mean you didn't edit the video!?” SV4 blinks at him before chuckling “Me? Edit? You're funny, there isn't time for me to edit when I'm behind on the rich history of gaming!” his eyes sparkle as he looks back at his gaming setup. It was a dangerous sparkle that stirred strange emotions from the Television man, he drops SV4 confused by the emotions. Now free SV4 runs to his room to keep playing, with an annoyed sigh Mr. Puzzle goes off to edit the video himself.
With a sigh he hits upload, it took hours for him to put together given how much the man recorded. With a hum he stares at the video “Please let this work,” he refreshes the page and jumps up in surprise “650 VIEWS!?”
He couldn't believe that in a blink everyone was watching, he chuckles darkly as he sees the likes going up. He did it, he made the perfect star that will get him back on the air in no time. He texted the link to Liko and in a moment she called “That’s impossible, how can a video get so popular fast…unless,” he hears typing on the other line for a few moments before silence.
Liko’s eyes go wide seeing the video now hitting five thousand views and counting, looking around her desk she finds what she is looking for. She sits at her desk taking out a lock of hair she took from SV4, there was no way she would miss a chance to study her creation and now was the perfect time. “Mr. Puzzles using the lock of hair I took when SV4 was shopping for games, I might be able to figure this out!” scanning the hair she gasps seeing the readings going wild.
“Puzzles, we need to make him a SMG3. The readings are unstable, without something to keep him balanced we don't know what could happen. He could blow up, or just die!” Mr. Puzzle chuckles as he watches the numbers go up. He looks into SV4 room seeing the man playing games “He is the star Liko, he doesn't need to share the stage after all if his power makes this happen! Well…i'm not losing this.” he hangs up the phone without a second thought.
Days passed, while Mr. Puzzle enjoyed seeing the numbers fly; he ended up getting blinded to see SV4 was using gaming as an escape. He was feeling weak, empty, unsure if doing youtube was worth anything. That's when the content stopped, noticing that he storms into the dinner area as gasp. SV4 was sitting there zoned out playing on a PS Vita, feeling annoyed he takes the system “SV4, it's almost the due date super star. Where is the video?” SV4 looks up at him, his eyes devoid of life. Seeing his face trigger a small memory of him watching TV, ignoring everything as he enjoys the next episode of scooby doo.
“Oh yeah i didnt..i should,” the world started to spin for man as he passed out. Mr. Puzzle acts fast catching him before he hits the floor. “The world…is lonely,” hearing his weak words made Mr.Puzzle feel guilty, he let out a soft chuckle looking at the passed out man “Why do you remind me of someone?”
He walks to SV4 room and tucks him into bed, taking out his phone he slowly calls Liko “Let's make the gay sidekick.”
Hearing this she excitedly grabs her fiancée hand “He is finally doing what i said, im both excited and worried on what made that man change his mind. SV4 must be getting worse.” She goes to the computer while her fiancée gets the items together, this was going to be easy just do the same steps as last time. She is thankful she saved the second portable Television after everything with SV4, once everything is set up she goes to pull the lever.
“Flordeliza, you keep an eye on the meter as I watch over the pod.” She walks up excited to meet their new friend. Only for alarms to burst, Flordeliza runs up holding on to Liko “What?! Not enough energy, but this is how SV4 was made.” She runs to the back with her partner, together they carry a huge jar of unknown substance. Exchanging looks they dump it, Liko dashes and pulls the lever. The machine lets out a loud sound before blasting the table, Liko runs looking for her partner. She lets out the breath she was holding seeing Flordeliza holding the pod “Ah you rock Flor! Now take the pod out and let's see if we save it…for SV4.”
They walk outside watching the pod grow, Liko takes out a clipboard watching and waiting for results. Just then Mr. Puzzles shows his screen flicking to a smile “Ah! The gay sidekick is made!” noticing Flor he stays a few steps away from her. They all watch as the pod screen goes static, that's when a person climbs out of it confused. Liko’s eyes go wide “oh no the malfunction messed up one of your eyes.”
The new guardian smiles touching his left eye “Oh don't worry i can see fine! Hello, I'm SV3. It's nice to meet everyone!” Mr. Puzzles nod, grabbing the man's arm “Three grab your pod we need to hurry home.” with a nod he shrinks his pod and pockets it before leaving. Liko smiles brightly at her partner “ WE DID IT!”
SV4 wakes up, looking around he sees he is in his room “Huh? Did he put me here…wonder if he is around.” As he leaves his room a strange feeling hits him. His eyes go static, he sees the front of the abandoned movie set and next to the person was Mr.puzzle. Surprised he runs to the front of the building, there his eyes go wide as Mr puzzle shows off a new person “INTRODUCING YOUR NEW CO STAR SV3!” They smile shyly and wave at SV4. The moment their eyes met he felt the emptiness leave, he walked up staring at the man “You play games?” SV3 hums “Not really but if you got fun party games i'm in!”
SV3 giggles making SV4 roll his eyes doing his best to hide the small smile growing on his face “Lets go to my room, i'm sure i got something.” Mr. Puzzle watches the pair walk off together, the screen changed showing how drained he was. Never did he think creating TV guardians would be this messy, smacking his head he let out a smile “This is fine, these two will bring me closer to stardom!”