Don't own either games. Enjoy.
"Your Highness. It's a little girl!" Mario gasped, happy and proud tears filling his eyes. Beside him, Toadsworth was chuckling, happy that his 'little girl' was okay with the birth. The toad smiled at the king, "You can go see her now."
Mario nodded happily, then slowly entered his wife's room. Peach's face was sweaty and her long, blonde hair stuck to her face. But her blue eyes smiled at him along with her mouth, and Mario thought she never looked more beautiful.
"Mario…look at our little girl." Mario slowly walked toward his two favorite girls. The baby's eyes slowly opened, and Mario's heart stopped. Blue sapphires met her dad's eyes, and Mario instantly melted. He gently held out his gloved finger, and the baby caught it in a tight grip. Swallowing, in order to keep from crying, he turned to his wife.
"We never really decided what we should pick for her name." Peach looked down, smiled, then turned to Mario.
"How about…Maria?"
"Maria…I love it." Mario looked down at the baby girl, wrapping his arms around his wife.
"Our little Maria."
…..
5 years later…
"Maria! Slow down, child!" The giggling girl looked back toward Toadsworth, who was panting from the heat. "Sorry Grandfather…but I can't help it. I love outdoors."
Toadsworth sighed, "You'll get your overall dress dirty." Maria was wearing a long-sleeve pink shirt, an overall dress (with prints of cherries on the bottom right-side corner), white tights, and pink topless shoes with straps. A pink cap with a pink 'M' was on her head.
Toadsworth stroked the girl's shoulder length brown hair. "Besides you shouldn't wander too far anyway. You could get hurt or lost." The girl sighed softly, "Yes sir."
"Now come. The park can't wait forever." Maria kept her face down the whole way.
When they arrived, she spotted her cousin, Lara. Lara had curly, red hair and cobalt blue eyes. She was wearing a yellow long-sleeve shirt, an overall dress (with prints of flying birds on the bottom right-side corner), white tights, and yellow topless shoes with straps. A yellow cap with a yellow 'L' was on her head.
"Maria!" "Lara!" The two girls ran toward each other and hugged. "How's Uncle Luigi and Aunt Daisy?" "Mom and Dad are having lunch with Grandma, but we wanted to come by and see you first." Maria smiled, "Glad you did."
Lara giggled, "You're it!" "Hey, no fair!" The two girls laughed wildly as they ran through the trees.
While running toward the fountain, Maria saw something twinkling out of the corner of her eye.
"Eh..?" The girl walked toward the flash and opened her eyes wide.
A sparkling red gem the shape of a crystal was buried in the dirt. It looked very pretty, like the rubies on her mother's crown. Slowly, the young girl picked up the gem with two hands, and gazed at it softly. "Maybe I can keep it. No one is here. Finders Keepers." Maria giggled…
…then abruptly stopped as the gem began glowing brighter and brighter.
"GRANDPA HELP!"
When the flash ended, the young princess was gone from the Mushroom Kingdom.
…
Maria opened her eyes slowly, feeling dizzy. "Grandpa..?" Maria let out a short scream as she took in her surroundings.
She was in the middle of a forest, all by herself…without her family. There was a stone structure with a huge green stone in the middle. Something about it…kind of creeped her out. Maria took out the red gem that had somehow fallen into her pocket and continued to gaze at it. The red gem flew out of the girl's hands and flew at one of the pillars.
"Ohhh…" Maria stared at the red gem stood atop of the pillar as it continued to glow. Suddenly, a red streak of light flew from the gem, and the beam hit Maria!
"Ah! Uh! Ah…" Maria opened one shut eye, then the other. Warmth, not pain, coursed through her. This felt nice…
After a few more minutes, the beam disappeared, and the red gem just sat still on the pillar. Maria blinked a few times, then turned to look at the strange forest.
"Where am I?" Nobody answered her. "Hello! Anybody here?" Silence met her question.
Maria sniffled, tears filling her eyes. She didn't want to be by herself. She could get hurt! Worse of all, her mommy and daddy were nowhere near her.
Maria slid down the cliff wall, sitting onto the grass. She drew her knees into her chest, and sobbed. It could have been minutes or hours. The poor girl didn't know. All she knew was that she was alone.
A gust of wind flew past the girl, and she lifted her face from her knees in curiosity. The gust seemed to stop immediately, then blew into the direction of the young girl. Maria gasped, and covered her eyes with a pink sleeve.
"Hey, are you okay?" Maria looked up to see a black hedgehog with white stripes on his quills, arms, and legs. He had red brackets and yellow rings on his wrists and ankles. Shoes with red and silver streaks were on his feet, hovers built on the soles. A tuft of white fur was on his chest, and his red eyes gazed at her curiously.
Maria nodded, tears still falling down her cheeks. The hedgehog sat down in front of her. "If you're okay, then why are you crying?" Maria sniffled, "I-I miss m-my mommy." The hedgehog saw that the girl was frightened, "You'll see her soon. My name's Shade. Who are you?"
"I'm M-M-Maria." The hedgehog's eyes widened, "Do you know my father? He talks about a girl named Maria to my mom all the time. He said they were good friends." Maria shook her head, "Sorry."
Shade shrugged, "Must be another girl. How old are you? I'm eight." Maria held out her hand, "I'm five." "Do you want to be my friend?" Maria smiled, her blue eyes sparkling, "Okay." Shade smiled widely. He scooped Maria up bridal-style, causing the young girl to blush slightly. "Hang onto your cap, Maria." Maria smiled, nodded, and pressed her hand flat against the top of her cap.
The forest turned into a green blur.
….
Shadow turned to Rouge slightly, hearing her sigh. "Sweetie, Shade is okay. He has your abilities, he's Ultimate Lifeform Junior." Shadow sighed, knowing full well that his wife was right. It's just…his last family, his friend, had something bad happen to them. Maria…
He wasn't going to let anything happened to his family. A white and black dash appeared in the front yard. Shadow sighed in relief, but curiosity and confusion showed on his face when he saw his son holding a human girl in his arms. Shade placed the laughing girl down, and looked up at Shade bashfully. Shadow heard their voices through the window.
"That was fun, Shade! Can we do that again?" Shade laughed, red eyes smiling at the girl.
"Sure we can, Maria." Shadow gasped, and felt his eyes fill with tears at the painful reminder of his friend when the young girl's name was mentioned.
….
"You want to see my parents? I want to tell them I made a new friend." Maria clapped her hands, "Okay." Shade held Maria's hand as the two kids walked toward the house.
"Mom? Dad! I'm home!" A white bat greeted them at the front of the door. "Hello sweetie. Oh!" The bat noticed Maria, who was looking at her hands shyly.
"Mom, this is Maria. She's my new friend." The bat smiled motherly at the young girl, "Hello honey. My name is Rouge. I'm so happy Shade has a new friend." Maria smiled at the bat, "Thank you, Miss. Rouge. Shade is a really good friend."
"Won't you come in?" Maria curtsied, "Thank you, ma'am." Rouge smiled, then turned to the hall, "Shadow, come meet Shade's new friend." Turning to Maria, she smiled, "My husband. He grows to like children." Maria looked confused by that statement. Did she mean that Mr. Shadow might not like her?
A hedgehog that looked like Shade, except the red replaced the white, appeared from the hall. He had a haunted look on his face, and Rouge's face grew nervous as she watched her husband look at the young human.
Maria smiled and curtsied, "Hello Mr. Shadow." Shadow couldn't answer her at first as he looked into her eyes.
Hauntingly familiar sapphire orbs looked at him from the young girl. He saw the brown hair turned to blonde. Her pink cap turned to a blue headband and her pink shirt and overall dress turn into a blue dress the color of the sky.
"Shadow, sweetie?" The vision disappeared, and all he saw was the young, brown hair, blue eyed girl that continued to smile at him.
"My apologies. Hello…Maria." Maria smiled at the hedgehog, then turned to Shade. "Can we play hide and seek?" "Okay!"
Both girl and hedgehog ran out into the front door, but Maria immediately ran back in, curtsied, said "Thank you", and ran back outside.
Rouge smiled, "Things are going to get pretty interesting around here." Shadow nodded absently, watching the girl and his son play.
Who is that girl? And where did she come from?
To be continued…