Into the Unknown

## **Plot**

Mario finds himself in the middle of space. Flustered and confused, he begins to swim around frantically while keeping his oxygen supply in his tank in check. He wonders out loud how he will be able to save Luigi. Suddenly, a rock storm hurdles towards him and one manages to hit him in the head, causing him to go unconscious and wake up on a strange planetoid orbiting Neptune. He looks to see how much oxygen he has left and is relieved to see he still has much to spare. He looks around to see there is nothing around him, just empty space and enough silence to fill his mind with his own thoughts. Before he could look around more, a large boom occurs on the opposite side of the planetoid, knocking it away from the Macroverse opening. Mario sees the Observatory but is unable to yell for Rosalina as sound cannot travel through space. He floats endlessly in space, thinking of nothing, unable to speak anything on his mind, only talking through his mind. Suddenly, something appears in his mind, something that he can't shake off while thinking.

*Somewhere off the coast of Iceland*

A small wooden boat washes up on a sandy beach. A young girl is seen running on the beach away from something off screen. She trips after not seeing a branch on the ground and is pursued by a band of men on horses hot on her tail. She continues her attempt of running until she realizes that she can't outrun the men, deciding to turn herself in to them. They capture her and take her to their leader, General Lancing. The raiders call themselves the, "Noxus". Lancing orders that they continue raiding her hometown for goods but decides to let her go, saying they do not have any need for her. The men let her go and she wanders off. We learn that her name is Maria and her hometown was attacked by raiders in search of better goods in a depressing economy showing no signs of recovery. She heads towards the small town of Reykjavik and overtime learns to not trust anybody as any one of them can turn her in to the Noxus for raiding. Maria comes to know another boy by the name of Clyde, who offers her hospitality from the great winter on the way. She is given food and shelter by him. Clyde explains that his family is out of town for the time being but will be returning in a month and as a result, Maria must leave before they come back. The two begin to bond and become great friends over the course of the month until one day where Clyde realizes that Maria is actually related to the richest family on the island; The Segales. Maria tells him that she wants nothing to do with the surname or with the fact that the richness runs in her blood, saying she is more than likely the reason her home was attacked. Clyde assures her that isn't the reason, saying the Noxus are just bad people who are desperate for something so many others are for as well. Maria thanks him, Clyde then tells Maria that he knows something that will cheer her up, saying he knows a place where they could be alone. But first, he tells her he must do something, saying he will be back.

Later that night, he tells her to close her eyes and he walks her over to a cliffside and tells her to open her eyes. She does so and remarks at how beautiful the view is, the ocean being illuminated by the moonlight. Suddenly she turns around to see that the Noxus surround Clyde who says that is his surprise. Maria is confused and he explains that after learning that she was related to the bloodline of the wealthiest family on Iceland, he knew he had to report her to the Noxus, who agree that it was a good idea since they thrive off scavenging the most utilization of goods. Maria is appalled, asking Clyde how he could do such a thing after everything he did. He barks back saying she is the reason her home was attacked since her family was full of rich scumbags who taxed the poor to the point of becoming homeless and lacked sympathy for anyone. This includes Clyde's family, who reveals that his family was killed by the Noxus due to the taxes being so high and they were unable to pay them. As a result, they were publicly executed, except for Clyde who was fortunate enough to be hiding in the attic during the raid. Maria begins to feel guilt as she drops to her knees and begins to sob, saying how sorry she is. Clyde accepts her apology but quickly goes on with his plan to kill her by ordering the Noxus to do so. However, the Noxus guards say that they do not take orders under him and that he was only seen as a tool for them, used to getting a "prize". Clyde immediately becomes outraged and demands they kill her but they turn the tides very quickly and shoot Clyde, fatelly wounding him. Maria takes this as the chance to run away once more but has an epiphany on the matter, saying in her mind how tired she is of running away. She decides to face her fears and turns back, charging towards the guards and in a stunning twist, fireballs both of them in the face, brutally burning them up in the process. She sees a dying Clyde on the ground, who asks confusingly that she has firepowers. Maria takes one of the guard's guns and fires it up using her power and replies that she indeed does, before shooting him in the head.

Mario wakes up and becomes extremely surprised by the vision he just saw. He questions if that truly was his mother, as she was the only other person who possesses the power to fireball someone other than Luigi. He is unable to process anything he just witnessed however, as the Macroverse opening is straight ahead, he dives towards it, hoping to find his brother in one piece.