It is the distant future. We don't know how distant it is, all we know is it's distant.

The land is bathed in shadows. The world has become a savage melting pot of twisted, burning wreckage, thievery, and lies. In this world, you trust noone. In this world, moving an inch the wrong way could get you eradicated.

In this world, there were no heroes.

There were only scavengers clinging to life.

But no. No, it couldn't be true. The world wasn't a corpse dangling from a noose. It couldn't possibly be. This world can't be devoid of heroes. If there are no heroes then... what are there?

Then, they came.

On the horizon, a silhouette... no, two silhouettes were cast against the fiery red sunset. One was warm, cozy, fatherly. The other... animalistic, instinctive. Something about these silhouettes filled the hearts of the world's people back up with a glimmering hope that the world wasn't dead, the world was going to be alright after all.

Their lights shone brighter than any other that day, because as they say, even the brightest light can't be seen without a little dar- the punchline is Mario and Sonic.