The first thing he saw was the full moon in the sky. It took a few moments to truly think about where he was.
Twilight Trail.
The words stuck in his mind. At least he could remember that much.
But what else could he remember?
Getting up from the ground the creature tried to wipe off the dark purple dirt from his body.
Wait... purple dirt?
That was him.
This surprised the creature. Why was he so purple? Why did this surprise him?
Who was he? The question burned through his other thoughts. Why could't he remember who, or what he was?
Calming himself down, the shadow gathered what he knew about himself.
Well, he knew he was a he. Being a she seemed strange and wrong. So did being purple. Well, not purple now that the creature thought about it. He was more of a shadow, yes a shadow!
At least he knew that much.
"I know about... things," thought the shadow. "The power-ups, the coin system. I know about places like Cheep Cheep Beach, and Yoshi's Island, and Toad Town. And I am on Twilight Trail, near Twilight Town. In the country of... hmmm drawing a blank there. But I know the main area of this country was Rougeport. I know of other places such as the Mushroom Kingdom (which I appear to know the most about), the Beanbean Kingdom, Sarasaland, and Subcon. I can remember seeing some of these places, but only vaguely, and I don't remember ever visiting them.
"Or being with someone."
The shadow tried to recall as much as he could about his past, but it seemed as if that was completely gone.
No family. No friends. No past.
And so our unnamed hero set forth from the bleak Twilight Trail in order to find his place. This is his story.
Prologue: In the Dark
Venturing into the bleak town, the shadow recalled where he was now.
Twilight Town.
The town was rather easy to describe if anyone asked. Bleak. Dark. Mysterious.
The buildings themselves would seem normal if there were a sun shining down upon them. But in the dark twilight they came off ancient, and gothic. The residents fit the atmosphere in appearance and the shadow couldn't see anyone who didn't have their eyes in the dark.
Cautiously, the shadow approached a townsperson who, in turn, seemed equally cautious of the shadow.
"H-Hello," said the shadow.
And he heard his own voice for the first time.
It seemed... normal enough. Nothing unusual. It was at a little high for his taste but a good voice none the less. Still, he didn't feel he had to use it very often.
Turning his concentration back to the villager, the shadow began his questioning.
"What's going on out here?" asked the shadow. "You don't know?" the villager responded in shock. " The hero Mario has saved our town from a evil cur- you really don't know?" "Everything's very-eh, fuzzy. I don't remember much." "Oh," the townsperson replied, in a suspiciously relieved tone. "I'm sorry, pal. I assumed you were some sort of dark beast from the woods or something. Name's Greg. Why don't ya let me explain some things for you." Greg put his arm around the shadow and pointed him towards the forest. "Look over yonder forest, can you see the castle?"
Yonder?
Pushing thoughts of Greg's unnecessary theatrics out of his mind, the shadow leaned forward and, if he squinted, he could see a castle over the "yonder" forest.
"That was the home of a demon who (out of boredom no less!) placed a curse over our town that turned one person into a pig every time the bell on the tower rang."
"Pigs? As in... the animal?" the shadow asked. "Yep. Most folks can't seem to remember what it was like," Greg continued. "My guess? You were hit with the curse pretty early and never learned the truth." A bell rang off in the distance and the villager shook in fear. Sighing in relief when the chimes stopped, Greg turned to the shadow. "Sorry about that, pal. Nerves are still a little wound." Suddenly, Greg did a face palm. "In all the excitement, I forgot to find my wife!" Greg turned to run into a nearby house and said "Nice meeting you... guy! Call over anytime! And ignore the attitude you're gonna get, people are still a little wound."
"Attitude?" thought the shadow as he watched Greg run off into the twilight.
The shadow did not have to wait long before he knew what Greg meant.
"Hey! Demon! Get out of our town!"
The shadow turned to see a small group of middle-aged Twilighters and froze in fear. Standing in front of him stood a group of people who could make the devil go into hiding. The group was widespread and struck fear into the hearts of the most courageous of men.
It was the Twilight Town PTA.
"Didn't you hear us, you demon!" "Our kids could be corrupted by you!" "We'll have a bake sale to make sure you get kicked out of town!" "Yeah! Wait... we need that sale to pay for the upcoming trip to Petal Meadows."
The group paused before they could begin to chase the shadow. "EMERGENCY MEETING", one began to call. "EMERGENCY PTA MEETING ON THE BAKE SALE BUDGET!"
The shadow breathed heavily in relief. But as he looked around he could still see suspicion in those dark eyes of the Twilighters. He was a shadow and shadows are always treated with suspicion.
As the shadow moved on he could since the hatred from the villagers as he walked through town.
Had his life always been like this? "I can't imagine I turned out well if my life is always like this," thought the shadow.
The shadow paused as that last thought flicked a switch in his brain.
"What am I like? Am I heroic, evil, or good?"
Another thought came to realization.
"What if I'm the demon that cursed everyone!"
The shadow tried to push the idea away but, like a flame, it burned the rest of his thoughts into smithereens.
It actually made sense. This hero, eh... Mark or something was the name, defeated him, maybe gave him a bonk on the head, and POOF! memories gone.
But why would he do such a horrible deed? Greg had told him that the demon was bored. Was he really such a horrible person?
Questions, questions, questions... they would drive him insane! With no answers, how much could he do? His life, well, it seemed that his life was a miserable one filled with hatred towards others. He had been a sociopath all of his life! What was he to-
A sob filled the air.
Looking up from the ground, the shadow spotted a dark spirit floating above the ground. The female spirit had long pink hair that covered most of her face. She had a large purple hat that sat upon her head. She appeared to be desperately looking for something and was quite distressed.
The shadow looked upon her in pity and while he would like to help, he had his own things to worry about. And the shadow moved forward.
And stopped around the corner.
Is that what he was like? Dismissing other people's problems as unimportant? Who could say what her problem was but she was clearly in need of assistance. No one else in the town would help her. She was a shadow. But so was he, and he was not going to leave her there in misery.
"What's wrong?"
The spirit was startled by the shadow's voice and her head jerked up suddenly. She was surprised that there was another shadow in town, but it was not unusual. This was Twilight Town.
"Oh... I-It's nothing," she said, wiping her tears. "It's just my si- I mean I," her voice turning bitter. "I lost something... important. It's none of your business."
"Are you su-"
"Leave me alone".
And with that she returned to her search.
Determined to help, the shadow went off to a separate patch of grass. Looking through the tall fields, the shadow wondered how grass COULD grow with the minimal light. Well, it did look kind of green in a sickly way.
Except for the one patch... That's it!
The shadow quickly looked through the grass and found the...
BOMB?
A million thoughts flashed through the shadows head: terrorists, evil-doers, Smithy Gang, X-Nauts, Koopa Troo-
A wave of dizziness fell over the shadow. What were those lasts thoughts?... evil-doers or something.
Getting his senses together, the shadow turned to confront the spirit.
And watched as another sob came out from her delicate lips.
What was wrong with him? She wasn't evil, she was afraid. Scared. If she did work for some dastardly group, she was being forced, or being tortured.
She needed kindness.
"Excuse me, miss," the shadow said to the spirit. Annoyed again the spirit quickly hid her tears and turned to flash an ugly look at the shadow. "I said leave me alone. What don't you get?" Clearing his throat the shadow presented the bomb to her.
"Is this the item you seek?"
The spirit gasped and was turned speechless. "Th-That's it!" A look of relief passed over her face. But then she stopped.
"I mean I-"
"Don't," the shadow interjected. "What you plan with this bomb is none of my business."
And the shadow placed the bomb in her hands.
Once again the spirit was speechless. Then, quite suddenly, she burst into tears.
"Th-Th-Th-Thank You!" she cried as she hugged the shadow.
Surprised by the hug, the shadow simply held her tight, allowing all the tears come out.
Realizing this, the spirit's tears greatened, as she had never experienced such... kindness before.
A few minutes passed before the spirit calmed down. When she had, she took her head off of the kind shadow's shoulder and stepped back a little ways. "I don't know how to repay you," she said. "Oh! I know!" The spirit leaned forward and kissed the shadow on the cheek.
Smiling brightly at the shadow's surprise. She held out her hand. "I'm Vivian! What's your name?"
The shadow paused before deciding to tell her the truth. "I don't know."
Vivian tilted her head in confusion. "You don't know?"
The shadow explained to her his situation. She was amazed by the shadow's story. "But that's terrible! You don't remember ANYTHING!"
The shadow sighed heavily and shook his head.
A fire lit up in Vivian's eyes that had never been seen by anyone before. A determination swept over her as she made her declaration. "Well, I suppose I'm to have to help you then aren't I."
The shadow stared stared at Vivian in shock. "But you have you're own life to get to!" he cried.
"I don't care! I'm going to help you get you're memory back! Because you helped me when I was in need, and I'll help you!"
Seeing Vivian's determination, the shadow smiled and said "Very well then, Ms. Vivian, where shall we begin?"
And leaving the bomb behind them in the dust, the two shadows began a new adventure. What awaited them on their quest? Would their discover the shadows past? And will they like what they find? To be continued...
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Hi everybody! Thank you for reading my very first story on . And so what the first thing I did? I tossed my hat into the circle of infinite Paper Mario fanfiction. And I bet you guys enjoyed it, right!
*silence*
*cough*
...Anyway, I was originally going to have a serious scene where Mario- I mean "The Shadow" realized he was hated.
But instead I made a joke at the PTA's expense.
HA HA HA! ...the PTA *snicker*
So, this was my first story and chapter on the site. Hope you enjoyed it!
Nerdman...*dramatic pause*... AWAAAAAAAAY!