Vivian has joined your party!
Vivian's Abilities: A Primer
Like all shadows, Vivian has the ability to pull herself into the shadows. This allows quick and easy transportation. If she has to pull someone into the shadows, she can not move far without tiring herself out.
In battle, Vivian can set enemies on fire using Shade Fist or she can hide in the shadows to avoid damage using Veil.
Vivian also holds a keen knowledge of the shadow clan and their branches. Vivian can tell the shadow about Chaotic Good, Neutral, and Evil people as well as Lawful Evil. She can even help the shadow understand his powers and abilities!
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"So, where to first?" the shadow asked Vivian.
Looking around Vivian spotted a couple of crows sitting in a tree. "That's IT! We'll hide in the shadows and listen in on the crows. They pretend to be plain old birds but they are actually really smart."
The shadow doubted Vivian's claim, but decided to humor her. "So how exactly do we 'hide in the shadows' " asked the shadow. Vivian looked in confusion at the shadow before remembering his current lack of memory. "Oh, well, it's simple! You see you-" Vivian paused "You have to-" Vivian stopped again. How exactly do you explain the secret of the shadow people?
Thinking hard, Vivian carefully began to explain. "Okay, so you concentrate on the shadows," Vivian began. "Then you imagine a thick cloak covering your body. Once you see your body covered in your mind's eye, imagine the cloak disappearing and becoming darkness."
The shadow closed his eyes and imagined the cloak and him disappearing. When he opened his eyes he saw a mysterious thing, the world around him had become less clear as if a thin sheet of purple veil had been placed over his head. He could easily walk around and when he neared a villager, it was clear the villager could not see him.
Turning back to Vivian, he discovered that he could see her perfectly clear. Seeing his confusion, Vivian said "You can see because I am also in the dark. We are in the shadows."
The shadow, understanding now what he could do, thanked Vivian for her assistance in discovering his powers. Blushing slightly, Vivian thanked him. "Now back to the quest!"
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Nearing the crows, the two shadows quitted down considerably.
"…and I said 'Maybe the salad is raw!' "
The crows burst out laughing. The other crow wiped his eyes. "Oh Jake, you are too much."
"Hey, I try."
"And you succeed. Thank goodness THAT wasn't wiped."
"I know. Jeez that monster must be CRAZY PREPARED if he tried to wipe our minds of that… thing that happened."
"That guy, it's almost scary how much effort he's putting into this plan."
The shadow turned to Vivian with a quizzical look. Vivian shrugged her shoulders as if to say "I don't what they're talking about."
"Wiping specific memories in CROWS to make sure he gets to keep his new b- … I had it it for a moment."
Jake turned to his crow buddy. "Had what John?" "For a split second, I remembered what the monster stole from… that guy."
John sighed in defeat. "Jake, I really feel bad for the guy who had his whole life stolen because of that monster."
Jake patted his buddy on the back and said, "I know what you mean John. I know what you mean."
"I almost wish I could help that guy. Whoever he his. I would try the most I could but there's not much I could do."
"At least we know Mario's involved."
"The hero of the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"Yes. He defeated the monster, I hope before it committed whatever the monster had planned."
"Well, let's be optimistic about it then. Oh, how is Junior doing?"
"Oh, he's doing great! He just got nice job for an environmental law firm. His future is looking quite bright."
"Glad to hear it."
"So how is your mother doing?"
"Pulling through actually. The doctor's say she be off the couch in no time!"
The shadow pulled away from the conversation at this point.
This, Mario as they called him, defeated the monster? He thought he heard that somewhere, but had forgotten. Breathing a sigh of relief, the shadow concluded that he couldn't be the monster if Mario had defeated it.
But what was he then?
"Well, I guess you know what this means then." Vivian said, interrupting the shadow's thoughts. Looking up at her, the shadow waited to hear her logic.
"We have to find Mario! I can't help but feel that the name sounds familiar…"
"Of course!" shouted the shadow, startling a old Twilighter out of his wits. "Surely, a famous hero will no what to do!" He turned quickly to Vivian. "Ready?"
Vivian smiled brightly at him. "Ready!" And they rushed off to the Inn.
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Sneaking slowly through the doors of the Inn, the two shadows walked over to the Inn information desk. Waiting until the attendant was busy, the two quickly looked through the list of guests.
"Let's see… there's someone here under Traveling Sisters…" Vivian said as she skimmed through the list. "Ah ha! Mario and friends…"
Rushing to the room, the shadow hastily knocked on the door. What would lie behind it? Would he find the answers he was looking for?
The door opened and a koopa opened the door. He appeared to be in his older teen years ands wearing a blue sweatshirt and blue shorts underneath his turtle shell.
And he appeared to be very frightened.
Staring at the shadow in shock, the koopa yelled back into the room, "H-He's BACK! M-M-Mario!"
At that moment, a small crowd of people came rushing out of the room the koopa had come from and a room across the hall. Most of them were all ready in their pajamas, but upon seeing the shadow, they got into battle positions.
Among the party was a small baby Yoshi, a college aged Goomba, some sort of… wind spirit… thing, and a human.
The human seemed very shocked that the shadow was here, but he quickly got into a battle stance. "So you came back for another round? Well, you can't defeat ME, Super Mario!" shouted the human. The shadow was partly shocked that a renowned hero such Mario, had such an attitude and was so self-centered. But dismissing this, the shadow returned to the important topic.
"Sorry for bothering you Mr. Mario, but I was wondering if you could help me with-"
"Look Mario!" interrupted the goomba. "He couldn't defeat us, so he brought along a shadow siren.
Vivian silently stared at Mario in shock. "You… you're Mario! Why didn't I remember that that you… you.." Vivian turned her head to the ground and seemed quite distressed.
"Hmm. Nice try, demon. But you can't defeat me!" And Mario began his attack.
The shadow had no idea what was going on. How did they know him? It didn't make sense…
…OW!
A rushing pain filled the shadow's head. He looked up just to see Mario drop down from his attack.
"He jumped on ME!" thought the shadow.
Suddenly, he was hit in the stomach as the koopa tossed himself at the shadow.
The goomba head-bonked him, the wind spirit body slammed him. And the yoshi swallowed him whole.
They knew him… they were attacking him… what was going on?
The yoshi spit out the shadow. His back hit the walls, and an intense pain went up his spine. Dazed and confused, the shadow looked up to see Mario jumping through the air ready for another attack.
Time froze. Mario was slowly coming closer to the shadow. The shadow slowly got up and looked at Vivian. She had been injured. By what, the shadow didn't know. And he didn't care. Vivian had been hurt.
A fire took over him. A deep rage pushed through him as he brought a hammer down upon Mario. Where it came from he didn't care. All he knew was that this madness had to end.
Mario fell to the ground, greatly injured by the shadow. He glared up at him and stated, you cheater. It was my turn to attack."
"Shut up" said the shadow, surprising himself with the rage. "You never even let me attack. Also,I didn't even threaten you. I just wanted some answers, and instead I'm attacked. Why? Is it because I'm a shadow? Is that why your hurting Vivian? Just tell me what's going ON!"
The shadow smashed his hammer in the ground and turned to the hero's partners. "Give me some answers."
"You attacked GONZALES!" shouted the Yoshi "We're not telling you a thing!"
The rage completely overtook the shadow "I haven't done anything WRONG!" he shouted. "I thought you could help me, but you just attacked me and MY FRIEND! I attacked Mario once and I"M the BAD GUY!"
The Goomba shouted back "I'm pretty sure turning people into pigs counts as evil, you CREEP!"
The shadow paused and stared directly at the goomba. "Wh-What did you say?"
All members of the party seemed surprised by the change in tone. "You're the evil demon. You changed the townspeople into pigs and then tried to end Mario's game."
It was like having your worst fears confirmed to you by your enemy. Murmuring a thanks, the shadow walked away in silence, failing to act like nothing was wrong. "Yeah, run away from SUPER MARIO, coward!" shouted Mario after him. There was a smugness, and relief, in the hero's voice. But the shadow did not care. He continued to walk away from the Inn, away from the town, away from everything. No doubt Vivian, where ever she was, wouldn't want to be near him now. No one wants to be near anyone that was as evil as him.
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Vivian stared at her friend as he walked away from Mario. She could've help him. She could have at least defended the shadow in his time of need.
But she didn't.
"Yeah, run away from SUPER MARIO, coward!" shouted Mario after the shadow. Then he turned toward Vivian and said "Why don't you help your boyfriend?"
And with that he left the hallway, the koopa and yoshi following after.
The goomba stared at Vivian for a moment, as if she wanted to say something. Then, she blushed and ran back to the room.
The wind spirit stared at Vivian for a while before sitting down next to her.
"You want to tell me what's going on?" the spirit asked.
Vivian shook her head silently. A single tear dropped down from her face.
The spirit, sensing Vivian's distress, comforted the child.
"There, there darling. It's all right. Everything is going to be okay."
The door from across the hall opened, and the koopa stepped out. He stopped upon seeing the two spirits. Choosing not interrupt, he carefully walked over to the other room and stepped inside.
The wind spirit let go of Vivian, and let her final sobs dry out.
"Is there anything you want to talk about?"
Vivian shook her head, but hugged the wind spirit tight and whispered "Thank you."
The wind spirit smiled and said "If you need comfort, remember Madame Flurrie is always on hand."
And she left Vivian in the hall.
"That necklace looked really familiar," thought Vivian.
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"So what is this about?"asked the Goomba. "We need to discuss Mario. He's acting suspicious," replied the koopa.
"What do you mean suspicious?"
"Mario's been acting different since we returned from the castle. You've noticed."
"I-I don't no what you are talking about."
"Goombella, don't give me that. When we were talking to the mayor, you were staring at Mario strangely. Mario tries to get money from the town, and he never takes anything from others. Ever."
"Not to mention Mario's attitude toward the girl," said a third voice. Flurrie glided toward the other two with a mysterious look on her face. "I was just comforting her in the hall. She was quite upset."
"She's a shadow spirit! She can't be trusted." Goombella said, clearly trying to rationalize.
"Darling," Flurrie began. "I am a wind spirit. I can sense a person's inner winds. The girl's winds are pure, but very afraid. She has gone through a trauma that may never be undone. And" her voice turning angry, "a found a bruise on the back of her head that suggests physical harm. It was not caused by Koops's Power Shell attack."
Goombella paused as what Flurrie said hit her. "You mean that demon…"
Flurrie shook her head. "The shadow being showed true concern toward the shadow siren when she was harmed. My guess…" Flurrie turned away from the two. "Her sisters are responsible."
Koops slammed his fist on the table. "Those.. Those… AGH!" Goombella sat down on her bed in shock. Then she looked up at Flurrie. "What do you know about her?"
"I sensed from her that the shadow being had assisted her, and earned her trust. Now the shadow being himself…" Flurrie said, returning her gaze to Goombella and Koops. "He is scared. Confused. Something about him feels weird. This is not the man we fought in that castle."
"So what do we do?" Koops asked.
"We wait. We observe Mario and see if he continues to act strangely. If he does…" she turned away again. "We will be forced to act."
"What do we tell our yoshi buddy?"
"Nothing. He is a newborn child, and looks up to Mario too much. He can be easily swayed back to Mario's side if things spiral out of control. If we can prove something is wrong…" Flurrie glared "He will be forced to experience all of our wrath."
And she left them to ponder those words.
He was the demon. He deserved to live out the remainder of his days in solitude. Looking upward, the shadow realized he was in front of a castle.
Creepy Steeple.
His home.
Walking up the broken path, the shadow entered the home of evil. And he explored through the place. It was dark, depressing, and infested with Boos.
Perfect for a shadow.
He found some things lying about and mindlessly picked them up into his pack. A cookbook, an ultra mushroom, some other stuff. He didn't care.
He found himself in a ghastly room with view over the forest. Above him was a huge bell and beside him was a television that had been left on.
Looking around the shadow spotted a mirror in front of him. Stepping up to it, he remembered that the de- that he had shape shifted the Twilighters into pigs.
Did that mean… The shadow closed his eyes and imagined a koopa standing in front of the mirror.
He opened his eyes and a koopa looked back.
He looked at his hands and body and concluded that he had turned into a koopa.
He could shape shift.
The shadow returned to his other form. And began to exit the room.
And he found Vivian around the corner.
Shocked at the sight of the other, the shadows were silent for a few minutes.
"I KNOW YOU'RE GOOD!" Vivian shouted suddenly, startling the shadow. Embarrassed, Vivian continued what she was saying in a softer tone. "I- I don't think you're evil. A-and I don't think you transformed all those people. And I know you think you did but I don't and I want to help you find you're memories."
"But Mario said-" the shadow began.
"Who cares? Mario's a jerk! You're a good person and I'm going to prove it! With or without you!"
The shadow stared at Vivian for a moment in shock. She still trusted him? But he-
He helped her. He cared for Vivian and didn't want her to venture on her own.
"Well, then" the shadow said, changing his demeanor. "Let's go find my memories then!"
He smiled at Vivian's look of shock. And Vivian smiled upon seeing her friend's joy.
And they both went out on their adventure. But this is was only just beginning…
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Alright! Now that I've finished this chapter what should I do first… Oh right, author's notes.
By this point you may have noticed how this story is not like the actual game storyline.
…Duh. It's fanfiction. I had ideas, I wrote it, you read it. End of story.
Oh and you review too! Speaking of reviews, I am planning to give "The Shadow" a actual name soon. So give me suggestions! Please! I need it by the next story!
As I was typing this episode, I realized something
I hate Flurrie.
I don't know why. Maybe it's because she has no actual species in the game, maybe it's her "acting" thing, or maybe it's the fact that she's naked except for her necklace. I just don't know.
Before you badger me about how Vivian is a different species, the writers made sure her species was defined as "servants of the Shadow Queen" or something. They even made up new species for the Twilighters. Flurrie? Nope. No species for you.
So in order to continue, I needed to make Flurrie someone I could enjoy writing.
And now she is a wind spirit who can sense the good and evil in people's hearts, make awesome statements that leave people in shock, and she knows something is up with "Mario." Just by using what she's learned about him over the span of a few days.
You're welcome.
This chapter came out pretty dark. I'm not a dark person, but this story overall has a nice edgy feel abbot it. I like it.
From this point I will be forced to go through the Paper Mario game in order to make sure I am accurate with the story.
Poor me. =D
So remember: review the story, give me ideas for "The Shadow's" name and tell me what you think!
Nerdman Away!