I am smg5

One moment, SMG4 and his friends were messing around in the Mushroom Kingdom. The next, a weird glitch hit the screen — lights flickered, the ground shook, and suddenly everything went blurry.
When the world cleared, SMG4 blinked and looked around. “Wait… this isn’t the game anymore!”
They were standing in the middle of a busy city street. People rushed by, cars honked, and giant buildings towered over them.
Suddenly, a guy nearby gave a thumbs-up and grinned. “Nice costumes!”
Meggy looked down at her hands, confused. “Where… are we?”
SMG4 scratched his head. “Costumes? We’re real—well, as real as we can be. This isn’t some cosplay event!”
Meggy narrowed her eyes. “Maybe this guy is from the game? Or… maybe he’s messing with us?”
Tari laughed nervously. “Or maybe he just thinks we’re in a comic con?”
Luigi peeked around a corner nervously. “Uh, should we trust him?”
SMG4 took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Hey, you said ‘nice costumes’… do you know who we really are?”
Cole grinned wider, crossing his arms. “Oh yeah, I know exactly who you are. You’re those characters from that wild YouTube series, right? SMG4, Meggy, Tari… the gang?”
Meggy raised an eyebrow. “Wait… you know about us? How?”
Cole shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m a fan. Plus, I have my ways of staying in the loop.”
Tari smiled nervously. “So… you’re not going to call the cops or anything?”
Cole laughed. “Relax! I’m not here to bust you. Actually, I think this is awesome.”
SMG4 looked at Cole, curiosity mixed with caution. “So… what’s this ‘real world’ like? Should we be worried?”
Cole grinned and leaned in like he was about to spill a secret. “Well, it’s pretty wild. People rush everywhere, screens everywhere you look, and yeah, it’s kind of messy. But hey, there’s pizza, memes, and some epic stuff too.”
Meggy rolled her eyes. “Sounds like chaos.”
Cole nodded. “You got that right. And sometimes, weird stuff just happens—like you guys showing up out of nowhere.”
Tari glanced around nervously. “So… we’re definitely not in some safe game bubble anymore?”
Cole shook his head. “Nope. This is the big leagues now. But don’t worry — I’ll help you figure it out.”
Cole grinned wide. “Alright, team — first mission: real-world pizza. Trust me, it’s nothing like the pixelated stuff you get in-game.”
SMG4’s eyes lit up. “Food that’s actually real? Count me in!”
Meggy smirked. “I guess if we’re stuck here, might as well enjoy the perks.”

Tari nodded enthusiastically. “Pizza sounds like the perfect distraction.”
With Cole leading the way, the gang set off down the busy street, weaving through crowds and neon signs, hunting the legendary slice of real-world pizza.
The gang rushed into a busy pizza joint, the smell of melted cheese filling the air.
SMG4 stepped up to the counter, eyes wide. “Okay, let’s order something… simple.”
But when the cashier asked what they wanted, Meggy jumped in. “I want a mega pepperoni with extra cheese!”
Tari nervously tried to figure out the menu, but the choices were overwhelming — “gluten-free, vegan, extra spicy, stuffed crust?”
Luigi accidentally pressed a bunch of buttons on the ordering screen and caused the machine to beep wildly.
Cole laughed. “Looks like you guys don’t know how to handle the real-world tech yet!”
Suddenly, the whole place buzzed — orders got mixed up, the oven timer went off prematurely, and the delivery driver looked completely confused by the chaos.
Seeing the pizza joint spiraling into chaos, SMG4 snapped his fingers. “Alright, time to show these real-world gadgets how we do things back home!”
Meggy concentrated, and suddenly the ordering screen glowed with pixelated magic, correcting the jumbled buttons.
Tari focused her energy, speeding up the oven so it bakes the pizzas perfectly in seconds.
Luigi waved his hands, making the delivery driver suddenly understand exactly where to go—even without a GPS.
Cole watched in awe, “Whoa! You guys really are something else.”
The customers cheered as the chaos settled, and soon delicious slices of pizza were being handed out all around.
With slices of steaming pizza in hand, SMG4 looked at Cole seriously. “Alright, you said you can help us… but how? Do you know why we ended up here? Or how to get us back?”
Cole took a bite, then wiped his hands. “Honestly, it’s kinda complicated. I think your glitch wasn’t just a random bug — something or someone might have pulled you into this world on purpose.”
Meggy frowned. “Who would want that? And why?”
Cole shrugged. “Could be anyone. Maybe a rival gamer messing with you, or some bigger force tied to this ‘real world’ and your game world.”
Tari nodded slowly. “So… we’re stuck between two worlds, and someone’s playing with the strings.”
SMG4 grinned. “Well, then. Looks like our adventure’s just getting started.”
The gang found a quiet corner near the pizza place, munching on their slices and catching their breath.

SMG4 pulled out a small notebook. “Alright, before we chase ghosts or rival gamers, we need supplies. Phones, maps, snacks… and maybe some gadgets to help us blend in.”
Meggy nodded. “We can’t exactly run around yelling ‘We’re from a video game!’ all the time.”
Cole chuckled. “Trust me, blending in is the way to survive here.”
Tari pulled out her phone and started searching for local stores and tech shops.
Luigi, eyes sparkling, whispered, “And maybe some energy drinks for those late-night missions.”
As they planned their shopping list, a strange shadow flickered across the street outside…
SMG4 narrowed his eyes. “Cole, you’ve been around here longer than us. Have you noticed anything… strange? Like that shadow we just saw?”
Cole’s smile faded a bit. “Yeah, actually. There’s been some odd stuff lately—glitches in the city’s tech, weird power surges, and strange figures showing up at night. Some people call it a ‘shadow glitch.’”
Meggy crossed her arms. “Shadow glitch? Sounds like something connected to us.”
Tari’s phone buzzed with a news alert about unexplained blackouts in nearby areas.
Cole nodded. “Exactly. If this shadow’s linked to those glitches, it might be why you ended up here.”
Luigi gulped. “So… we’re dealing with more than just a simple portal problem?”
SMG4 grinned. “Looks like it. Time to step up.”
Cole glanced around cautiously. “Alright, if we’re serious about this shadow glitch, you’ll want to see my place. It’s where I keep all my gear — and, well… it’s kind of a fortress.”
The gang followed Cole through winding alleys and side streets until they reached an unassuming door covered in graffiti.
Cole tapped a secret pattern on the wall, and the door slid open with a hiss.
Inside, the room was packed with monitors, gadgets, and glowing screens showing maps, codes, and streams of strange data.
SMG4 whistled. “Okay, this is way cooler than any game hub I’ve seen.”
Meggy grinned. “This is where the real investigation begins.”
Cole smiled. “Welcome to HQ. Let’s see what we can find out about that shadow glitch.”
As Cole flipped through the monitors, one screen suddenly started playing an old SMG4 video — their own digital selves, glitching and laughing in pixelated glory.
Meggy stared, voice soft. “That… that’s us. But we’re there — not here.”
Tari’s smile faded. “Are we… just copies? Pixels trapped in some kind of loop?”
SMG4 rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. “If that’s us, then what are we now? Are we real? Or just echoes of a game?”

Luigi shivered. “I’m not sure I want to think about that…”
Cole broke the silence, his grin turning serious. “Maybe this glitch pulled you here because you need to find your own path — not just replay old scripts.”
Meggy nodded slowly. “Then this isn’t just about getting back. It’s about who we want to be.”
The room grew quiet as the gang settled into comfy chairs, the glow of the monitors casting soft light on their faces.
Meggy sighed. “So… what does it even mean to be ‘real’? If we came from a game but now we’re here, where do we belong?”
Tari looked down, fiddling with her fingers. “Maybe it’s not about where we came from, but what we do with the time we have now.”
SMG4 nodded slowly. “Yeah. Maybe being real isn’t about pixels or code, but about choices and feelings.”
Luigi smiled weakly. “I think… I’m starting to understand.”
Cole leaned back, quiet for once. “You guys are more than just characters. You’re people. And that’s something no glitch can take away.”
A peaceful silence settled over the group, giving them strength for whatever comes next.
As the gang sat in quiet reflection, Meggy suddenly frowned. “Wait… where’s Mario?”
SMG4’s eyes widened. “Mario? He was with us when we got here, right?”
Tari checked the room. “He’s not in the hideout.”
Cole stood up, alert. “He was here earlier, wasn’t he?”
Suddenly the reality hit them like a lightning bolt — Mario was gone.
Meggy’s voice dropped. “If something happened to him… then maybe this shadow glitch is worse than we thought.”
SMG4 clenched his fists. “We have to find him. No matter what.”
The gang spilled out onto the bustling city streets, calling Mario’s name as they searched.
Cole scratched his head, suddenly pausing. “Wait… there’s something you guys need to know. This town has the best spaghetti factory in the world.”
Meggy blinked. “Spaghetti factory?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah, it’s huge — and super famous. Mario’s gotta be there. It’s like his thing.”
Tari smiled wryly. “Of course he’d be at the spaghetti factory. Classic Mario.”
SMG4 grinned. “Alright, team — to the spaghetti factory!”
The gang slipped through the massive doors of the spaghetti factory, the smell of tomato sauce and fresh pasta filling the air.
Up ahead, under a flickering light, they spotted him — Mario, sitting at a long table, happily slurping noodles and grinning like nothing’s wrong.
“Mario!” SMG4 called out, relief flooding his voice.

Mario looked up, mouth full of spaghetti, and gave a big thumbs-up. “Mamma mia! I was starving!”
Meggy laughed. “We were worried about you!”
Mario wiped his mouth and chuckled. “Eh, sometimes you gotta enjoy the little things, no matter where you are.”
Cole smirked. “Looks like you found the perfect hiding spot.”
Tari smiled. “Now that you’re back, let’s figure out how to fix this shadow glitch for good.”
As Mario wiped spaghetti sauce from his face with a giant napkin, Meggy leaned forward. “Mario, before you disappeared… did you see anything weird? Like, glitchy? Shadowy?”
Mario scratched his head. “Hmm… well… I did see a spooky floaty thingy near the pizza place. Looked like a big blob of code with red eyes.”
SMG4’s eyes widened. “Red eyes? That sounds exactly like the shadow glitch Cole was talking about.”
Mario nodded. “Yeah! It made a bzzzt sound and then I felt kinda dizzy… next thing I know, I woke up here… with spaghetti.”
Tari’s eyes narrowed. “So the glitch didn’t just transport us — it targeted Mario.”
Cole looked serious. “If that thing can isolate and mess with individuals, we need to move fast. It’s hunting.”
Meggy stood up. “Then we’re not just trying to get home anymore — we’re at war with a glitch.”
Back at Cole’s hideout, the team moved with urgency. Monitors lit up with maps, energy readings, and shadow glitch sightings.
Cole typed furiously. “I’ve tracked that glitch to an abandoned data center on the edge of town. Massive energy spikes. That’s probably its base.”
SMG4 adjusted his cap. “Then that’s where we’re going. But this time, we’re ready.”
Meggy grabbed a pair of gloves charged with glitch-resistant tech. “Let’s gear up. No more surprises.”
Tari installed a custom glitch-scanning system into a drone. “If it tries to hide in code, we’ll find it.”
Luigi quietly handed out flashlights. “In case it… gets dark.”
Mario finished the last of a spaghetti ration and belched heroically. “Let’s-a go.”
As everyone geared up, Meggy noticed something off. Cole was just standing there, hands in his pockets, staring at the glowing monitors.
“Hey…” she walked up to him. “You’re not suiting up.”
Cole didn’t look at her. “Because I’m not coming.”
The room went quiet.
SMG4 turned. “What? Why not? You’ve been with us since the start.”
Cole let out a quiet breath. “Yeah, I helped… I wanted to help. But the truth is…” He looked down at his hands. “I’ve never really felt like I belonged here. Not in the real world. Not even in my own skin.”

Tari’s voice was soft. “Cole…”
He looked at them, eyes honest. “You all came from somewhere. You know who you are, even if you’re figuring out what that means here. But me? I’ve always felt like I’m just… between things. Like a placeholder. A background character in my own life.”
Meggy stepped closer. “You helped us when we were lost. You gave us shelter, gear, hope. That’s not background character energy.”
SMG4 grinned. “You belong with us more than half the NPCs I’ve met.”
Cole cracked a smile, eyes shining. “Thanks. But this fight… it’s your story. I’ll stay here and guide you from HQ. It’s where I’m meant to be.”
Cole stood by the glowing monitor wall as the gang finished prepping. He handed SMG4 a headset linked directly to HQ.
“This’ll keep us connected,” Cole said. “I’ll guide you through whatever’s waiting inside that data center.”
Meggy gave him a firm nod. “We’ll see you on the other side.”
Tari squeezed his arm gently. “You’re part of this, even if you’re not with us in the field.”
Luigi gave a half-wobbly salute. “Don’t let anything weird happen to the pizza while we’re gone.”
Mario gave Cole a thumbs-up. “Stay safe, spaghetti brother.”
The group turned, stepping out into the dark city streets. The clouds hung low, and the air crackled with the strange tension of glitch energy.
As they approached the abandoned data center, it loomed like a decaying tower of forgotten code — wires tangled like vines, lights blinking erratically.
Inside, the shadows moved.
And something was waiting.
The team crouched outside the broken entrance of the data center, its metal doors twisted and half-melted by something unnatural.
Tari pulled out her custom drone, sleek and glowing with glitch-resistant shielding. “Alright, little guy… time to earn your upgrades.”
She launched it into the air with a smooth flick of her wrist. The drone zipped inside, its cameras feeding live video back to their handheld monitors.
They watched in silence as the drone glided through flickering corridors lined with decaying servers and broken screens. The air shimmered unnaturally, and the walls seemed to breathe.
“Energy levels are unstable,” Cole’s voice came through the headset. “Something is pulsing in the core chamber.”
Suddenly, the drone feed flickered.
On screen, something shifted in the darkness. A ripple. Then… two glowing red eyes blinked into view.
The screen filled with static.
Tari gasped. “It saw the drone.”
Cole’s voice cut in. “It knows you’re here.”

SMG4 tightened his grip on his weapon. “Then we don’t wait.”
With the drone lost and no time to waste, SMG4 gave the nod. “We go in. Now.”
The team burst through the ruined doors of the data center. Inside, the air was thick with static, every step echoing like it was being swallowed by the building itself.
They made it halfway through a long corridor when the lights went out.
Completely.
Then the walls shimmered — and closed in.
Glitch tendrils erupted from the floor and ceiling, crackling with corrupted code. One by one, the team was lifted off their feet, frozen in place.
Tari tried to hack her way free, but her device fizzled. Meggy punched at the glitch energy with her gauntlets, but her arms were locked mid-swing. Luigi screamed as a shadow wrapped around his legs. Even Mario couldn’t spaghetti his way out of this one.
A voice echoed all around them, distorted and hollow:
“YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST HERE.”
The shadow glitch materialized — not fully formed, more like a humanoid shape made of fractured data and rage. Its red eyes glowed brighter than ever.
“YOU ARE CORRUPTION.”

Meanwhile, back at HQ:
Cole stared in horror as the drone feed cut to black and every monitor lit up with a warning:
"ALL CONNECTIONS LOST — SUBJECTS CAPTURED."
He clenched his fists.
“No,” he muttered. “Not like this.”
Alarms blared through the hideout. Monitors flashed red. All comms — dead.
Cole stood frozen in front of the screens, the last image of the gang — trapped, suspended in glitch tendrils — burned into his brain.
He whispered to himself, “I said this wasn’t my story…”
He turned to the shelf where his old gear sat. Dusty gloves. A jacket with worn patches. A visor with a cracked lens. Stuff from a life he tried to leave behind.
“…but maybe it always was.”
He suited up.
Plugged in.
Grabbed his portable glitch stabilizer.
And stepped out into the night.
The data center loomed ahead, pulsing like a dying heart. As Cole approached, the corrupted code shimmered in the air like static rain.
He took a deep breath. “You mess with my friends… you mess with me.”
With one final tap on his wrist console, he walked straight into the glitchstorm.
The shadow sensed him immediately. A voice roared through the chamber:
“YOU… ARE NOTHING.”
Cole narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah? Then how come you’re afraid of me?”
The chamber around him twisted and flickered, reality bending as the shadow glitch towered overhead — tendrils pulsing, eyes burning like red-hot code.

Cole stood firm, raising the glitch stabilizer — a handheld device cobbled together from years of scavenged tech, half-game, half-real, 100% unstable.
The glitch hissed:
“YOU CANNOT PURGE THE CORE.”
Cole smirked. “Maybe not. But I can overload it.”
He slammed the stabilizer into the ground.
A surge of blue light exploded outward — pure stabilizing energy. For a brief second, the corrupted data in the chamber froze.
The glitch shrieked, body glitching violently as cracks ran through its digital frame.
Tendrils holding the others flickered.
Meggy dropped to the ground first, then Tari, then Luigi, Mario, and finally SMG4.
SMG4 blinked. “Cole?!”
Cole, panting, held the stabilizer steady. “I bought you a window. You better use it.”
With the glitch staggering from Cole’s stabilizer blast, the team snapped into action like muscle memory.
Meggy cracked her knuckles. “Alright, glitch freak. Time to go boom.”
Mario pulled out a meatball and yelled, “For spaghetti!!”
Tari tapped into her handheld, rerouting the stabilizer’s feedback. “If I sync its signal to the glitch’s core pattern, I can trap it in a loop. But I’ll need a few seconds.”
SMG4 grinned. “Then let’s give her the opening.”
The team charged.
Meggy led the assault, flipping over a collapsing catwalk and smashing a glitch-tendril with her powered gauntlets. Luigi followed, dodging in his panicked-yet-effective style, distracting the creature with wild swings and cartoonish screams.
Cole moved beside Tari, protecting her as she connected wires, coded in midair, and patched reality like it was an old game cartridge.
The glitch roared:
“YOU... CANNOT ERASE WHAT YOU ARE.”
Tari’s eyes flared. “I’m not erasing you.”
“I’m debugging you.”
With one final keystroke, she executed the loop.
The glitch froze mid-lunge. Its form fractured, pixel by pixel, caught in a recursive trap that fed on its own corruption.
Cole looked up at the group, breathing hard. “Now, Meggy!”
Meggy launched off SMG4’s back in a flying punch, cracking the glitch’s core wide open with a boom that echoed like the final boss going down.
A wave of stabilizing energy rippled outward — the glitch exploded into sparks and vanished into static.
Silence.
Then…
The building stopped flickering.
The walls stopped breathing.
And everything — for the first time since they’d arrived — felt real.
Outside, dawn was breaking.
The gang stood, tired, a little crispy, and victorious.
Mario gave Cole a meatball. “You did good.”

Cole just smiled. For once, not doubting it.
As the sunrise spilled across the cracked pavement, painting the city in warm gold, the team exhaled for the first time in what felt like forever.
Tari high-fived Meggy. Luigi collapsed on the ground dramatically. SMG4 leaned against Mario, both of them grinning like goofballs.
But then…
A faint humming sound filled the air.
Everyone turned.
Cole stood still, a soft white-blue glow rising from his chest, then spreading outward like glitch residue in reverse — controlled, clean, radiant.
His hoodie shimmered, pixelating away, revealing a sleek blue jacket with digital trim, glowing circuit-lines pulsing like veins. His visor repaired itself, flickering once, then locking in perfectly over his eyes.
Above him, in floating pixels, a title slowly resolved:
SMG5
The team stared, stunned.
SMG4 blinked. “Wait… you’re one of us?!”
Cole — no, SMG5 — smiled quietly. “I didn’t know… not until now. I wasn’t just watching the glitch. I was made to stop it. That’s why I always felt between worlds. I was the anchor."
Tari stepped forward, eyes wide. “The glitch… it was trying to erase you first.”
SMG5 nodded. “Because I’m the bridge. Between game and reality. And now that I’ve awakened…”
He looked around at the group — his team.
“…we’ve only just begun.”
SMG5 raised his hand, and the glow around him intensified, swirling like a digital vortex. The ground beneath them shimmered and cracked open, revealing a swirling portal of vibrant pixels and light.
“This is it,” SMG5 said, voice steady and confident. “The way back to where it all started.”
The team exchanged looks — a mix of excitement and nostalgia.
Mario grinned. “Let’s-a go home!”
Tari adjusted her gear. “Ready for whatever comes next.”
Meggy tightened her gloves. “Together.”
One by one, they stepped forward, the portal’s light wrapping around them like a warm embrace.
Cole — no, SMG5 — was last, casting one final glance at the city skyline fading behind them.
“As long as we stick together,” he said, “we can face anything.”
With that, they vanished into the glowing portal, the world shifting around them.
They land back inside the SMG4 universe, but something feels different — a new energy, a fresh challenge waiting just beyond the horizon.
The portal closed behind them with a soft pop, leaving the familiar pixelated world of SMG4 humming beneath their feet.
The sun rose over the showgrounds, brighter than ever.

SMG4 looked around, grinning ear to ear. “We’re back! And… it feels like we just leveled up.”
Mario struck a heroic pose, twirling his cap. “Let’s-a show everyone what we’ve learned!”
Meggy smiled, eyes sparkling with determination. “Whatever comes next, we’re ready.”
Tari gave a thumbs-up. “Stronger. Together.”
And SMG5 — once just Cole — looked at his friends, no longer the background character.
He was part of this world now. And it was theirs to protect.

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