Meanwhile in Sparkle-land
It wasn't fair! He was Mr. Sparkles! Host of Maximum Insane Obstacle Challenge! His Sparkleheads were legion! He had his own Cereal! Two cereals technically! Mr. Sparkles' Sparkles were selling even better now that Arizona had started up their corn industry!
This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be happening! He was a Star! Not this... hack!
He couldn't lose! He was incredible! Amazing! His Maximum Insane Obstacle Challenge was beloved by millions!
How could he fall to 21st on the Meowtube most watched list!?
It wouldn't have been an issue if it were just one video. Videos faded and got stale. As long as the new content hit number one in its place everything was fine. But that wasn't what was happening!
He hadn't hit higher than #5 in the past month! And now? Twenty one!?
It was all his fault. Doofenshmirtz. He was trying to ruin him!
First, he released that stupid Carpe Diem platform back in August. Oh, it seemed so perfect at the time but Mr. Sparkles knew his game now! It was all a ploy! A Plan to ruin his competition! To get the most savvy of his enemies to adopt his platform early, to transfer their accounts and all their subscribers from Meowtube to Carpe Diem and then!
Mr. Sparkles took a deep breath, and then another. He was hyperventilating, but he couldn't stop. His rage was all consuming, the blackness of his heart was creeping into his vision until-
The clock showed an hour later when Mr. Sparkles came to. "Doofenshmirtz!" He called out enraged. Even in his own home he couldn't escape the man's clutches!
He shouldn't have thought about Carpe Diem. Even thinking about the way that... the way that- The Way that he had lost every single one of his subscribers when Doofenshmirtz sprung his insidious trap on him!
He needed to sit down.
It didn't bear worth thinking about. The past was the past. He'd risen once, he could rise again!
At least, he could if Doofenshmirtz would stop sabotaging him!
At every turn, the Doof was there! Mocking him with his malicious eyes!
he'd release a new video and suddenly, there in first place? A prank video of him being punked by a teenaged girl! It wasn't even real! A staged video with fake humiliation just to mock him! this was a CEO of a national conglomerate, and he expected people to believe that he not only hired teenaged girls, but also let them prank him? With no retribution for it!? It was lunacy!
Week after week of staged prank videos by his minions flooded Meowtube. Not just Janna The Teenaged Girl, but Kitsune (a stage name if he had ever heard one), and Goofy! A shining star of the golden age of physical comedy and they were to believe that Doofenshmirtz had hired him as a janitor!?!?!? It strained credulity!
Twenty First place. Twenty First Place!
Videos got old, they got stale, he could recover... but for one fact.
The top 20 videos on Meowtube were all from DEI!
Every Single one of them! Each one Completely staged mass market garbage!
They weren't true art! They didn't have the soul of Maximum Insane Obstacle Challenge!
And now! And now this latest video!
The rage frothed inside Mr. Sparkles' breast as he stared at the thumbnail. it was Doofenshmirtz. Doofenshmirtz wearing a pair of underwear, roller skates, and a purple towel as a cape! He was younger, his hair set in a ridiculous curve as he posed with his hands out as if trying to fly.
The rage he felt inside throttled any mirth before he could feel it, but even in the depths of his fury Mr. Sparkle could tell that this was a carefully planned and choreographed attempt to stay in first place for months! Every aspect of the costume perfectly tailored to appeal to the fickle masses of sheep that followed the soulless CEO!
He clicked the video.
"I am a Super Star!"
It started up.
It was only 10 seconds long, but every single second was perfect. It was a masterpiece of pre-planned schlock!
The screen of his phone cracked in Mr. Sparkles clenched fist as he considered the video. It had everything he used to make Maximum Insane Obstacle Challenge a hit. Strange Costumes, bizarre humiliations, the powerful getting their comeuppance... And insult added to injury!
There was no beating this. Doofenshmirtz had locked in his place at the top for months! And there was no sign that he would ever stop...
He needed to die. Him, and ever single one of his employees.
He needed to die, publicly, so everyone could see it. Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated... Mr. Sparkles would show Doofenshmirtz what evil really meant!
His hands trembled with rage. He'd show him! He'd show them all!
But first, he had to plan. Doofenshmirtz would die and then, everyone would be laughing with him instead of that Evil Mastermind!
"I'll get you Doofenshmirtz..." Mr. Sparkles muttered to himself with murder in his eyes. "Soon. Very, very, soon."