When Mario and Sonic exited the portal, the place looked awfully familiar.
"Wait, Hyrule? Well, been there, done that. Come on, Mario, let's get out of here," Sonic shrugged.
"Ok.... wait. This thing has a ten minute cool down. I forgot about that," Mario said.
"Well, what do we do? We can't just be stuck here!"
"Hold on, Sonic. Look around. Doesn't Hyrule look... different?" Mario asked.
"Well, now that you say something, I don't see people panicking for their lives," Sonic replied.
"Well, let's go take a look around. Maybe we can find something that can help Shadow," Mario suggested. As the two walked through Hyrule, they noticed the people were no longer panicking. They also looked strangely at Mario and Sonic as they walked by.
"If I get another strange look, I'm going to home attack all of them," Sonic said.
"Well, we don't exactly fit in."
"Of course we don't fit. It's a plumber and a hedgehog among a bunch of fairy people."
"Um, I think they're elves."
"Whatever," Sonic shrugged. The two approached the castle, they noticed that the bridge was up. And it looked like it hadn't been broken into.
"Well, should we try to get in?" Sonic asked.
"Why wouldn't we?" Mario asked, pulling out a cape feather.
"Well, assuming we're back where we were originally at, there's nothing to look for," Sonic said.
"A look around won't hurt. Grab on," Mario said, turning to Cape Mario. Sonic grabbed to Mario's hands, and the two flew into one of the open window.
"Well, where should we look first?" Sonic asked.
"The throne room would be my first shot," Mario answered. The two turned around and headed toward their location.
"My, my, you two are persistent, aren't you?" A smug voice said. Mario and Sonic whirled around to see the intruder.
"... Wolf... I should've known Waluigi would have hired you," Mario said coldly.
"Nice to see you again... Super Mario...," Wolf sneered back. He looked much more vicious than the last time Mario remembered. His eyes were now an evil red. He was was wearing purple and black. And he had an eyepatch over his right eye.
"What do you want?" Mario asked, he knew that whatever was about to happen, it wouldn't be peaceful, that's for sure.
"Not a lot actually. But I got a lot of money on you and your pet's heads," Wolf said smugly, reaching for the blaster in his holster.
"What's with people today!? I'M NOT HIS PET!" Sonic yelled angrily.
"Stand back, Sonic. I'll take care of this," Mario said, stepping in front of the Blue Blur.
"I'm interested in seeing what you got. We're gonna have fun with this thing!" Wolf laughed. He took out his blaster and fire it multiple times. Mario was able to quick dodge the blasts before getting close to wolf to attack. Mario's hand-to-hand combat far exceeded Wolf's, so he had no problem taking care of him. Using his hammer, he managed to send Wolf back.
"Hey! Tag me in!" Sonic called back.
"I've got this under control."
"If I can't stick to Waluigi for the pet jab, then I can get this guy! Come on!" Sonic insisted.
"Fine. Be careful. He's as wily as he is unpredictable," Mario warned, stepping back. Sonic ran up to Wolf, but as he did Wolf looked up with confidence.
"Gotcha!" Wolf said, throwing something to the ground. Whatever was in his hand hit the ground creating a giant circular energy field, leaving only Sonic and Wolf inside. Mario gasped.
"Hey!" Mario said. He pulled out his hammer and began to swing at the energy field but to no avail.
"Wha-?" Sonic said in surprise.
"It's just you and me, now," Wolf sneered. Sonic turned around to face Wolf. He had a smile in his face.
"Fine by me," Sonic said. He dashed at Wolf. Using his speed he was able to consecutively hit Wolf. Using the walls of the energy field, he was able to consecutively hit the leader of Star Wolf with consecutive attacks.
"Let's end this!" Sonic said. As he ran off the wall of the energy field. He turned into a ball and revved up a spin dash. He spin dashed into Wolf, slamming into the opposite wall. That did the trick. Wolf hit the floor in a thump. Sonic jumped back.
"You talk a big game. But that's no good if you can't back it up," Sonic said.
"Argh.... heh heh heh! That's what you think. I've been holding back this entire time. Now I've got you...," Wolf sneered, suddenly pushing the button on a remote control, now in his possession.
"What!?... Hey!" Sonic cried in shock. The remote control had summoned robots, who grabbed Sonic and had now held him with the grip of an anaconda. Mario, upon seeing this, started to swing a little harder.
"Well done, boys! Our work here is done. Let's go," Wolf said. As the robots(with the apprehended Sonic) and Wolf walked through the portal, the energy field shut off. Mario tried to dash to try and stop the Wolf, but the portal closed.
"No! Sonic!" Mario cried. He stood where the portal was and fell to his knees.
"I knew something was going to happen... why didn't I finish the job when I had the chance," Mario muttered to himself. What would he do? How would he explain this to Shadow and the others?
"Excuse me, are you lost? How did you get here?" A gentle voice asked from behind. Mario turned around to see a young girl standing there. She wore a white and pink dress, with long blonde hair.
"Oh, sorry miss, I didn't mean to startle you," Mario said, rising to his feet. His mind began spinning.
"Who is that? Did they replace Zelda that fast?" Mario thought to himself.
"Oh, it's fine. I just heard some commotion, that's all," the girl replied gently. Mario couldn't help but notice a resemblance to Zelda.
"My name is Mario. May I know what yours is?" Mario asked. He felt extremely awkward.
"My name is Zelda. Princess of Hyrule. It is a pleasure to meet you... Mario," the girl said. Mario felt as if he'd been hit by a brick.
"Z-Zelda? What happened to you? You were back in Altea when I left!" Mario blurted in disbelief.
"Altea?" "Zelda" asked. "I've been here the whole time. Oh, have I been gaining weight? Oh dear!" The girl gasped, her face turning beet red. Mario felt his face reddening with embarrassment as well.
"What...? No no no, princess you're fine. But something isn't right here...," Mario said. He stopped to think.
"Is something the matter? Can I help in anyway?" "Zelda" asked. Mario tried to process everything that had happened in the past 10 minutes. Sonic has been kidnapped by Wolf. Mario had met this new girl, who was calling herself Zelda.
"Princess, did a man in purple attack your kingdom a few days ago? What happened to Link?" Mario began to question.
"No. Why, Hyrule hasn't been attacked in quite awhile. As for Link...," "Zelda" got quiet. Mario could see tears starting to well up in her eyes. She spoke again,"He died fighting the evil Ganondorf. He killed Ganondorf, but he had to sacrifice his life."
"I'm... so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Mario said quietly. He now felt terrible. But now he was certain that something wasn't quite right.
"No, it's fine... I just...," "Zelda's" voice trailed off, and she began to cry. Mario bit his bottom lip. He wasn't sure what to think. One thing was certain; he needed to figure what was going on. "Zelda" needed to come along. Mario knew that bringing her into this was a terrible idea, as it was obvious this wasn't her battle to fight, but this was the only way to figure out what was going on. Eventually, "Zelda" stopped crying.
"Princess, can you do something for me? If it's not to much?" Mario asked.
".........."
"If you don't want to, I understand."
"No, it's okay. What do you need?" "Zelda" asked.
"I need you to come with me. Something strange is going on, and I think you can help me figure it out," Mario explained. "Zelda" thought about it for a minute.
"Okay, I'll come with you. But where are you going?" "Zelda" asked.
"Altea, hopefully," Mario explained. He pulled out the device, which, thankfully had reset and was now reading normally. After setting the device to Altea, Mario and his new friend headed into the portal. Mario wondered when this would end.