Super Mario and Characters ©︎ Nintendo. Only the Original Characters are my own.

Chapter 8

Lydia sat at the edge of a table inside a restaurant. She was just there for no reason what so ever. Ever since the incident with Yosuru back at Merlee's Mansion, she's been more worried than usual. The fact that if Dimentio does manage to get all the pages, he'll need to extract the text she has which would deal lots of pain. She, Mario and Debrie separated after they got done talking with Merlon awhile ago.

Merlon has stored the pages that were given to him somewhere within the confines of his dwelling. Says that he'll also attempt to reach out to the three if he finds any more information regarding the whereabouts of the other pages.

The woman sighs as she puts her hands in her pockets and looks out the window of the restaurant.

The restaurant has 'WANTED' papers posted all around. Lately there's been some... incidents. A total of about eleven people have been killed since last week. Reports say that they only have a few eye witnesses who actually saw how the perpetrators look like.

"Not like that's going to matter anyways. Those people would probably change the way they look. In the end, those posters were just a waste of paper."

Lydia says to herself. Someone stood at the edge of the table as she opens one of her eyes and looks to the side. The figure then sat down on the opposite part of the table, she can't mistake that hair however.

"What are you doing here, Nico?"

Nico, who was now Lydia's son, decided to order something for both himself and his mother.

"I needed a break, Mom. I'm just so worn out. What's wrong with that?"

"I see. What'd you get involved with that got you so worn out?"

"Well, I helped out Luigi, Aihara and a guy named Haruko, take down the Extraction Project before it even began. You do not want to know what it was all about. That and we had to fight the director head on as well as some dude named... Uh... Meh, he's not important, but I managed to get to Rank 4!"

After she heard the last words, she smiled.

"Rank 4 huh? Congratulations then, Sweetheart. But... Still... Be careful on what you involve yourself with. Yeah, I've heard of that project. After all, it recently entered the news after the authorities captured the ones behind it all."

The waitress comes and sets the drinks that were ordered onto the table as Nico starts taking sips from his beverage.

"Also be more careful out there. Remember, there've been those recent killings. Probably assassins. Be on guard."

"What? You don't think I know that already? I'll be fine, Mom. Besides, we have Luigi and a Rank 7 inducer on our side."

Lydia sighs at her son's cocky attitude before taking a sip from her own drink.

"What have you been up to?"

Nico asks the woman in front of him.

"It's a long story. It'll take awhile to tell you all of it. I also don't want to confuse you, dear."

"If you say so."

Lydia thinks deeply about a previous statement. Now she has to worry about her son's safety now to, due to the fact that her having Dark Prognosticus abilities might get him into danger as well.

As they two finish their drinks, they leave the money and the restaurant. Lydia should be on break, after all, Merlon hasn't contacted her and the others about a new location.

It was time for some Mother-Son bonding. She knows she said it was a long story, but... In order to keep him safe, she'll tell him.

"Hey... Sweetheart?"

"Hm?"

"... Truth is... You see, I have text of the Dark Prognosticus embedded in me... The same book that was used to almost end all worlds many years back... I was used as a damn toy by Dimentio. Told me I needed to find all the pages for him just so he can do what he did many years back again."

"... So... That's what that was? That's what you used back when you saved people from the bomb explosions?"

He questioned after remembering what happened back then.

"Yeah. It took over my body which caused me to kill everybody in a whole town. Even a friend's father..."

Nico didn't want to question her anymore as he felt like it would hurt her more.

"But, I've learned to control it now."

"Hmm... That's good at least!", Nico replies happily as the two continue walking down the sidewalk.

"I'm helping out a few friends find the pages so Dimentio doesn't take them for himself. I'd like for you to not get involved with our situation, Nico. I'm not trying to be rude here alright? It's just that the things we might face will be too difficult for someone like you."

"Huh? But... How difficult could it be?"

"Recently, we fought Yosuru... An Inducer with both the same ability as mine, turns out that Dimentio chose him as my replacement and embedded more text into him than me. Not only that, but he also has his own ability, Capacity Revolver. We weren't able to fully take him out though..."

"... Wait are you'd serious?! You actually fought someone like him?! To be perfectly honest, I didn't think you'd survive..."

Lydia shot a glare at her son's remark.

"Uhh I-I mean...!"

Lydia then chuckles and rubs his head. It is sorta true that she probably wouldn't have survived. If it weren't for those convenient speed beans, both her and Mario would've gained extreme injuries. Guess that's what happens when you fight someone on his caliber. Come to think of it… He never told them his Inducer rank…

"Oh come on, I'm joking! It's okay to think that, Kojo. I'm not going to actually get angry at you because of that."

Nico nervously laughs. Not sure if what she said was sarcastic or not. That's when Nico was reminded of something they received at school. He takes out a piece of a paper and gave it to Lydia.

"What's this?"

"It's a notice from the school. Says that they're holding their fifth annual festival soon. School's-"

"Are pitted together in different competitions in order to win a trophy. It's kind of expected."

Lydia interrupted and finished what Nico was pretty much going to say.

"Uh.. Yeah... That... Ahaha..."

"What about it?"

"Um... Is it alright if you can come? It's fine if you don't have the time though!"

The woman looks at the paper before smiling and rubbing the boy's head.

"We will see if I have time, Kojo."

"Really?"

"Really. When does it start?"

"Let's see... All we're doing is preparing... So I guess it'll be in a couple of days."

"That so? Hm... Duly noted, Nico."

She says smiling. At that moment, Nico receives a message from Aihara. He opens it up. Lydia looks over his shoulder.

"Your girlfriend again?"

She teases him before he quickly shook his head.

"Mom, it's not like that!"

"That's what they all say, dear, hmhm"

"Right. Well, I have to go. She needs me for something!"

"Just be careful alright?"

Nico starts running off, but not until replying.

"Sure will!"

Lydia stood still and watches her son run off to whatever business he plans on doing. She looks down at the paper he gave her before folding it and storing it in her pocket.

She looks up towards the sky, still clear blue as ever and still worried about future events that might occur.

"So... Dimentio chose him huh... Though... I'm surprised that guy even agreed to help him... and why? That's the real question here..."

Inside a certain building... In a certain room that almost, if not exactly, looked like an arena. Parts that looked like they were taken off of metallic bodies scattered.

A large hole was created on one side of the room, the light shining into the inside. The voices of multiple men were heard around a certain females vicinity as she ran through the thick forest.

"Where is she?!"

"I think I saw her over there!"

These were some of the dialogue the unknown female heard before she continued running through the area. Stepping on branches, cracking them in two, also rustling through bushes in the process.

The female had some scratches over her body. She had silver colored hair and blue eyes. She closed her eyes, almost on the verge of tears.

"I don't want to do that ever again...!"

She tripped which caused a bit of noise, but she quickly got up and continued running until she finally made it into the large urban area of Mushroom City. It seems as if they stopped following her for now…

She sighs before running some more just to be more cautious. She makes it to the small alley way between apartments allowing her some room to breathe. However, upon finally getting some strength back, a loud, yet silent, noise echoed throughout the area as she quickly jumped a few feet forward and turned around only to see three men with special suits, most likely part of the foundation she came from, in front of her. One of them holding a specialized type of gun he was told to use if she went berserk.

The gun was shot and extreme pain flowed through the right side of her body as she placed her left hand over her right shoulder.

"What? Surprised? We were one step ahead of you... Unit-304."

"..."

"Why don't you come back with us? Don't worry, you just needed a few more tests you know? Or maybe we should just obliterate you and create a new one!"

He shot at the female once again, this time on her other shoulder.

"AGH!"

She screamed in pain as she fell forward, one of the men ran to her and kicked the side of her face. She was now laying on her side, shot on both shoulders, sparks flying out of the injuries. The assumed leader went up to her, crouched and picked up her head so she could meet him at eye level.

"Right from the beginning I knew I was right in not creating you. Or rather, maybe we should've deleted the emotions of fear and sadness from you... Now... You're just a worthless piece of trash!"

He then grabbed her ponytail as she shrieked. However, even those noises of wanting help didn't bother him. He readied his special weapon and pressed it against her forehead with a large grin across his face.

As soon as he was about to pull the trigger, the sound of something similar to a sword striking the air got closer to him. It was revealed to be a hammer with a silver metallic cylinder connected to a strong wooden handle, that stroked him on the face which caused him to fall backwards. His partners stood confused before becoming scared once a certain person in red revealed themselves.

"It's not nice to hit-a lady you know?"

They had an Italian accent, making it clear as day to whom it was. The men who were still standing were afraid that they couldn't do anything. One of them finally took out their weapon, the plumber in red was quicker to respond as he formed two fireballs with his firebrand ability and threw them straight at his weak adversaries.

They both dodged the attack, but while doing so, they dropped their guns. Mario went over to pick up the one who got hit by his hammer earlier.

"Here, catch-a."

He throws the unconscious enemy at his partners as they caught him.

"You wouldn't-a want to fight someone like me I can tell you that-a much."

The plumber picked up his hammer and stored it in his infinite sized pocket. He looked at the injured female, slowly picked her up and ran as fast as he could to a hospital.

Although... While running, he took notice of the sparks coming from her shoulders and the fact that her body didn't feel like she was actual flesh and blood. Yeah, Hospitals wouldn't be able to help her. However, a good professor he knows is an expert in machinery, he could help.

Mario runs past the clinic and made his way through a forest that connected Mushroom City to Evershade Valley, the female slowly opening her eyes and looking up at the one who saved her before closing them again.

Mario knocked on the professor's shack's door repeatedly until the elder with the lab coat finally opened it.

"Oh, Mario! What seems to be the problem-"

"You're an expert in machinery right?"

"Huh? Well yeah-"

"Can you try I fix her?"

He tells the professor as he looked at the female Mario was carrying. Sparks still flying out as E. Gadd fixed his glasses.

"W-Well... I can try... But I might need to also create a completely different new machine to help her..."

"Anything helps, Professor-a. I just want to see her get through this-a."

He says as he looked at the injured unit. E. Gadd sighs as he lead the way to a different room.

"Just lay her down on that table. I'll see what I can do, for now, why don't you go rest in the other room?"

"No can do, I'm going to stay here and make sure nothing-a goes wrong."

The professor looked at the plumber who was now sitting down at the opposite side of the room. Mario had a serious expression as E. Gadd had no other choice, but to let him stay.

After what seemed like days, when it only felt like hours, the female slowly woke up with the light hitting her face before blocking it with her hands.

She sat up straight on the table, taking notice of her now fixed shoulders. She didn't feel any pain whatsoever, probably because she was dead asleep.

"You awake now-a?"

He looked like he just woke up. The female looked down before slowly nodding.

"Don't-a worry about the Professor-a. He just went to go get some things-a at the store."

The plumber stood up and then walked towards her.

"I'm-"

"No need for your introduction-a. I'm Mario by the way, I already know who you are actually."

The female had formed a surprised expression. He took a sip of his coffee the professor generously gave him earlier.

"The world's-a first robot to have perfect human emotions-a and thought process-a... Or something like that-a... It was on the news a few days ago I think-a..."

"They give you a name?"

"... U-... Unit-304..."

The plumber in red raised an eyebrow before setting his cup of coffee down.

"U-Unit-304? That doesn't-a sound very memorable to me... Tell you what-a, as soon as the Professor comes back and upgrades you with some things–"

("which he hasn't told me yet because he says it's-a secret..."), He mumbles to himself before continuing.

"–I'll give you a full tour around these areas-a! What do you say... Shigura?"

Once she heard the very last part of his sentence, she turned to him.

"Sh...Shigura?"

Mario didn't respond. All he did was give off a smile. The one that didn't have a name before, felt the common expression of happiness. She place her hand on her chest and repeated what he said to herself.

"Shigura... Shigura... Shigura..."

She had a name now... She was now no longer 'Unit-304' like before. She had an actual name given to her by someone not from the place she was created in.

"... That sounds like a wonderful idea... Mario."

The plumber gave off got a smile that became burned into her memory. She returned the favor with her own.