>picrel
>Shadow and Maria
It's extremely OOC, but when you look at their movie depiction and Shadow's most recent marketing depictions (Hangyodon and others), it makes sense that Shadow is archetypically a lonely ghost in a haunted house, and Maria is the girl who just happens to walk inside the house and find him, and they bond.
Minus Casper's brothers and other antics, Shadow deep down would be a lot like Amy if she were instead super shy around Sonic.