Touou: Journey to the Smashing Beyond

[game2011]

I'm not sure if I want to post every single chapter in this place.  It's possible that some of you might have seen this story, but I thought I might try posting it here as well.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

What you are reading now is going to be my largest project currently, though I'm unsure if it will be as big as Rise of the Negativities.

This story is inspired by Specter24's One Piece: A Smash Adventure. In fact, I talked with him about this a lot through MSN and got his approval, though it's not like he's going to turn it down in the first place even if I don't talk with him about it.

Originally this story was supposed to be a Negima crossover. Those who read Adventure in Gillax Island should have come across sneak previews of the story and there was talk about a young boy. That boy is supposed to be Negi, but now that the idea has been revamped, those previews no longer hold true.

The reason for this sudden change is because Negima characters are lacking decent amount of capable fighters. Combined with my declining interest in the series (not because it's getting worse, mind you), I ultimately switched it for the next best thing?Touhou Project.

Since this story is inspired by Specter24's, there will be several plot elements that are very similar to his. However, there will still be new twists not to mention all new elements that you will surely enjoy, so please refrain from jumping to conclusion that this story is a bland rip-off of One Piece: A Smash Adventure. Please stay with this story until the end and you will realize that there are enough differences to make you entertained.

Also, while I may not expect you all to be familiar with the Touhou series, it is still best that you try to attain a certain amount of knowledge regarding it. I can't spoon-feed everyone all the time, so it would be nice for you to find out some things yourself first. There is a Touhou Wiki site where you can get such information, so you might want to check it out. Just type 'Touhou Wiki' on Google and then it's in front of your eyes!

This story may or may not reach the same success as One Piece: A Smash Adventure, but I still hope that it will be a story that you will enjoy.

Without further delay, let us begin the story then!

Gensokyo

A world that had been hidden from civilization for about a hundred years?

A world where time did not keep up with technology?

A world where mystical beings exist in harmony with humans? most of the time?

It was a bright and sunny day when the most unexpected events in the life of our heroines begun?

Shrine maiden Reimu had no time to rest. She had to get busy and prepare for the upcoming festival that was to be held at her shrine.

It was a festival held a few times each year to celebrate? Actually, there wasn't much reason for this festival other than to gather together the inhabitants of Gensokyo and have fun.

Nevertheless, it was a festival that people looked forward too. Reimu was especially looking forward to this, because this was one of those rare instances where she will get many people at her shrine to offer donations. Just thinking about her donation box being filled up with money was making her happy already.

"Reimu!" A tap came to the shrine maiden's shoulder and Reimu turned to see her friend Marisa. "Daydreaming, are you-ze?"

"Marisa?" she said. She continued to mopping the floor while talking with her. "Are you here to help?"

"I'll see what I can do-ze," Marisa replied. "You're the only one here currently, so I might as well drop in and give my friend some hand!"

"Thanks," Reimu said. "Suika just has to run off to have fun of all times? She just doesn't understand the importance of this festival!"

"I know, it's important because?" Marisa looked back and glanced at the donation box just outside of the entrance, "you're begging to get richer?"

"Don't just stand there," Reimu said to her. "Hurry up and do something useful, like moving the things for me or something."

"Okay, okay," Marisa said with a chuckle. "Let me see what you have in there that needs a hand-ze." She walked across the floor and into the next room, leaving behind shoeprints as she did.

Reimu looked at the shoeprints with an annoyed face and then looked up at Marisa, but let out a grumble before wiping away those newly-made shoeprints.

After some time, work was done and Reimu sat down in front of the table in the living room to take a break. "Phew? It's all done?" she said while pouring herself some tea. "All that's left is to wait for the others to come and set up there own stands for doing business. Hope the festival goes smoothly today.

Marisa, who was sitting on the other side of the table with her chin resting on it, said in a casual manner, "Oh, don't worry-ze. It's not like Tenshi is gonna whip up an earthquake or Utusho making a nuclear explosion all of sudden. Worst case scenario, a storm ruins it."

Reimu let out a yawn and stretched up both her arms. Suddenly there was a flash of light and the sound of snapping and they both turned to look at the door leading to the backyard and saw Aya standing there with a camera in front of her face. "Perfect shot!" she said as she lowered her camera and gave thumb up.

"What are you doing?" Reimu said with a slightly blushing face.

"Don't be mad," Aya said with a soft chuckle. "I'm just teasing you a bit. Don't worry; I have no intentions of posting your sexy armpits onto the newspaper."

"Like we can trust a single word that you say," Marisa said under her breath.

"What are you doing here?" Reimu asked Aya. "It's not even time for the festival yet."

"A reporter has to be on time always," Aya told her. "And it can't be helped that I'm the fastest in Gensokyo, so I always reach places a long time before certain events should happen. So how's everything? All set up and ready to begin anytime?"

"About ready," Reimu replied. "All that's left is to let the others come and start their own business, and then the festival can start around evening."

"I bet you can't wait for your donation box to be full, right?" Aya asked as she came in and sat down onto the tatami. "I wouldn't be betting on it if I were you. You didn't earn more than 50 yen in the last festival."

"It's better than none. Think like an optimist and things will surely look bright."

"That's the spirit-ze!" Marisa commented. She reached her hand forward to grab one of the oranges on the plate. Suddenly, a mechanical arm extended forward and snatched away the orange that she wanted, much to her surprise. "Eh?" They all turned to the door and saw Nitori standing there with the mechanical arm coming out from her back.

"Hey everyone!" she greeted cheerfully. "Neat, eh?" She turned around to show them that the mechanical arm was coming out from the side of her green backpack. "With this, you can grab whatever you want from a long distance!"

"You and your strange inventions?" Reimu grumbled.

"Hey, science isn't strange! It's really fascinating once you go deeper into it! Speaking of which, I just set up my stand at the front door selling all sorts of neat little gadgets that I invented." Placing a finger underneath her chin, Nitori started naming the things that she could think of. "Let's see? There's the extending boxing glove for punching someone from long range, a rocket-powered pogo stick, a propeller cap?"

"If you mean the one where the buckle on your chin will come loose midflight, then I suggest that it is best you take that off the shelf-ze?" Marisa said, not wanting to remember a certain accident that happened before. And I won't be telling about that either.

"Don't worry; it's fixed already. At least I'm sure it won't happen again? Mind if I come in and take a seat before the festival begins?"

"Suit yourself," Reimu said to her while taking a sip of tea from her cup.

Shortly afterwards, the sliding door slid open and Sanae was seen standing behind it with her arm behind her. "Hello!" she greeted with a friendly smile.

Reimu lowered her cup and said to her, "What are you doing here? And coming in from the front door, nonetheless?"

"Sorry if I came in without asking or knocking," Sanae apologized. "We just wanted to tell you that we set up our stand at the front gate already."

Suwako's face suddenly popped out from behind Sanae's back and said, "We're holding a tadpole catching game! You catch them, you get to keep it!"

"Yeah, though Kanako insisted snakes originally until I told her that more people are scared of snakes than adoring them."

"Of course! Frogs may not be as strong as snakes," Suwako added, "but they're definitely more adorable and popular!" Suddenly, something struck her mind and a panicked look appeared on her face. "Speaking of frogs? I better make sure that ice fairy doesn't show up?" She hopped off from Sanae's back and rushed down the hall, heading for the front door..

"I thought Cirno only freezes frogs, not tadpoles," Marisa thought.

"Well, there was one instance where she froze a pond full of tadpoles?" Sanae explained to her. "You can imagine how unhappy Suwako was to see the frogs dying at such a young age?"

"Um? Excuse me?" said a new voice. Everyone turned to the backyard and saw Reisen standing there with a basket strapped onto her back. Holding up a package of medicine, she said, "This is the latest medicine that my mistress, Eirin, created? The effects of this are?" And she proceeded to explain using long scientific terms that nobody could possibly understand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah? In short, it makes you feel like you're on drugs," Reimu said, cutting her explanation short. "No thanks. Your master always makes the most unpredictable drugs and I don't want to be her white lab rat."

Reisen let out a sigh and said, "I understand what you're trying to say?" She then shifted her eyes left to right while sweating nervously, hoping that Eirin isn't around here in fear that she hears this and brings down punishment onto her.

Suddenly, Alice appeared from the hallway with Shanghai following her in the air. Marisa waved to her and said, "Alice! Nice to see you!"

"I've got my stand set up," she said.

"Good to hear! What are you doing?"

"A shooting game," she replied. "And in response to adding more originality, the targets, which are all dolls that I've made, will shoot back and knock you out if you can't dodge them."

"Targets that shoot back? I've never heard of that kind of shooting game?" Reisen commented.

"There's a kind of game in the outside world," Alice explained, "where targets do shoot back, albeit not physically. I think it is called video game or something. Anyway, think of this as a realistic version where you will get hit. Don't worry; you won't die. At most you'll only get a bleeding forehead."

"That's just as bad?"

"It's not like we can't move around to dodge them," Marisa reminded Reisen. "You shouldn't be worrying about that of all people. Shooting and sniping is your specialty after all! But then, it's our specialties as well."

"Well, what do we have here?" said another new voice. This time Remilia came in from the backyard with her servant Sakuya in tow.

"Geez? Why is almost everyone coming in from the backyard??" Reimu grumbled.

"Oh, is that something wrong? I can come in and out from wherever I want," Remilia said. "You do come to my mansion whenever you want to also, don't you?"

"Marisa does that more often, so blame her."

"So what's up? Shouldn't you be able busy getting ready for the festival?"

"It's all ready already. I'm only in charge of preparing the place for all of you. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Nothing much, but I just want to drop by to say hello and hide from the sun. You know it's not very good for my health."

"So do you have anything in specific in the festival?" Marisa asked Remilia.

"At first I didn't have any plan for that, but then I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to earn a bit of income for our household," Remilia replied. "So I've decided to put some of our more expensive household products on display." She turned to Sakuya and said to her, "Show them the silverwares used by the royalties of the 16th century, Sakuya."

"As you wish, master," Sakuya said, but then she realized that something was wrong. "Uh?"

"What is it?"

"Um? Mistress Remilia? It appears that? I forgot to bring it?" the maid replied nervously.

"What? Didn't you carry it with you the whole time?"

Sakuya started to think back of what happened to the briefcase that she was originally carrying. "Let's see? I had it in my hand when we left the mansion? And then?" Then she hit her palm. "That's it! I must've left it in the garden when I went to check on the jasmines I've planted some days ago!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and go back to get it!" Remilia told her.

"Sorry for disappointing you, master. I'll go and claim it at once," Sakuya told her. Immediately, she turned to leave and took off into the air.

Remilia let out a sigh and said, "Sigh? She normally never forgets things."

"Oh, come on," Marisa told her. "She's human after all. Every human being makes the same mistakes!"

Suddenly, a hand poked through the paper material of the sliding door, and then a blue eye looked through it from behind. Reimu slammed her hand against the table and stood up shouting, "Hey! Who's there?"

Cirno popped out from behind the door and said, "Hi! Surprised?"

"What's the big idea going around poking holes in someone else's paper door?"

"Oh, it's just a little joke," Cirno told her cheerfully. "You don't have to be so mad!"

"Do you like it if I go to your house and do the same thing for the heck of it?"

"I don't have a house, so there are no paper doors for you to poke holes on. Haha!"

"Mistress Remilia!" shouted yet another voice. Remilia turned to the backyard and saw the gatekeeper of Scarlet Devil Mansion, Meiling, flying down from the air and landing onto the backyard. She walked into the shrine and handed her a briefcase. "Mistress Remilia, you forgot this at the mansion's garden, so I brought it here for you."

Remilia took the briefcase from her and look inside and saw several valuable silverwares. "This is the one that Sakuya was supposed to bring! Did you meet her on the way here?"

Meiling shook her head. "No, I didn't meet her at all on the way here."

"And I sent her back to get it? Oh well, she'll probably come back soon after learning about this. Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome, master!" Meiling said while bowing down politely.

"All right, get back to your post."

As Meiling was going to leave, Youmu suddenly showed up at the backyard and asked the people in there, "Excuse me, but have any of you seen Master Yuyuko?"

"She isn't with you?" Reimu said.

"Well? We were on our way here when she suddenly smelled a pleasant odor, and thus she rushed in this direction before me. I figured it must be either Mystia or someone else setting up a food stand and she smelled it."

"Oh boy? Imagine the hilarity that ensues afterwards-ze," Marisa joked.

"She's probably at the front area," Reimu said, pointing in that general direction.

"Thanks," Youmu replied. "I'll go and find her now." As she turned to leave, bright light suddenly shined down from above, nearly blinding her. "What the?" She placed one arm over her eyes and looked up to see the source.

Suddenly, the entire place started to rumble and this made all eleven of them stand up onto their feet in surprise. "What's happening?" Sanae said in shock.

Outside the front of the shrine, the people who were busy setting up their stands over there also witnessed this strange phenomenon. From their point of view, a large vortex glowing with bright white light was above the shrine and it was shining down the massive column of beam that engulfed the shrine entirely.

"What is happening to the shrine?"

"Where'd that beam of light come from?"

"Alien abduction?"

"Is that so?"

The beam of light became thicker and thicker until one could not see through it. Such is the case with the inside as well. The ones who were inside the shrine could no longer see the scenery on the other side of the wall of light, and then the entire place started rumbling.

"What is happening?" Aya cried.

"I don't know! Something like this has never happened before!" Reimu said.

The whole place then tilted and tumbled around slightly, making them fall over onto the tatami and rolling across the place along with the furniture. During the midst of the chaos, Reimu slowly crawled up to the porch to take a better look outside, but she could not see anything through the wall of light. When she looked down, she saw that the shrine had been taken off of the ground and was slowly ascending into the air. "The shrine is rising?"

Eventually, the ground was no longer visible and the wall of light started to swirl around them as if they were inside a tornado. The shrine also stopped tilting and tumbling, but instead seemed to bobble up and down as if there was no gravity.

Back outside, the viewers continued to watch the beam of light that was shining down on the now invisible shrine. Eventually, the light thinned down until it disappeared, as well as the vortex that was originally in the air. As for the shrine itself, there was no more sight of it. Only the storage house was left in its place.

The onlookers were all dumbfounded at what they saw just now as well as the disappearance of the shrine. "The shrine? It disappeared?" Yuyuko said in awe.

"What happened?" Sakuya said as she rushed into the scene, and she asked Suwako who was standing next to her. "What happened? The shrine was here just now, wasn't it?"

"It just disappeared?" Suwako replied. "A beam of light came down on it, and then it was gone? Sanae is still inside the shrine too?"

"That means?" Sakuya turned to look at the shrine. "Mistress Remilia! Mistress Remilia! Where are you?"

Everyone ran to the imprint on the ground which was where the shrine originally stood, but no one could interpret what they saw just now.

The Hakurei Shrine, as well as eleven people who were inside, all disappeared without a trace that day?

A Game2002 Production

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TOUHOU PROJECT

JOURNEY TO THE SMASHING BEYOND

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Their journey begins next chapter?

Perhaps this prologue seems a bit rush in the way the eleven starring Touhou characters get gathered together, but then this is a prologue and it is supposed to get things ready for the actual story, so things shouldn't be dragged out.

[game2011]

Please note that unless one reads it on FF.net, it is hard to tell when there is a change in the scene and location.

And the real story starts now?

Chapter 1
Fantasy Land of Mushrooms

All was peaceful and normal at Toad Town. The Toads were walking around doing their stuff and usual business as well as chatting and playing with each other.

In summary, it was a nice and peaceful day.

The Shine-Rank Tailor Store was doing business like always. "Get out of here! We don't allow poor people like you to come in and shop here!" the fat shopkeeper said to the commonly-dressed Toad.

"So mean? I'm gonna report this to the court!" the Toad cried as he ran away.

"Nya, nya! Come back when you're a little richer!" the shopkeeper said while sticking out his tongue.

CRASH!

"What was that?"

Several Toads were shocked by the sudden sound of crashing. They all gathered that store and looked up at the roof just as the shopkeeper came out. "What's the ruckus here?"

"Look! There's a house on top of the store!" one of the Toads pointed out.

"What are you talking about?" The shopkeeper looked up at his store and to his surprise, saw that the Shine model which was on top the roof had been indeed crushed by a house. "What the heck?"

Reimu got up and rubbed her eyes and shook her head to get back to her senses. She looked around and saw her guests laying all over the tatami, but they were getting up one by one. "Whoa? What a ride?" Marisa said. "I wonder what that was all about-ze??"

"Is it over?" Reisen asked.

"Seems to be the case?" Reimu said. "Let's go outside first and see if anything else happened." Ignoring the door that normally led to the backyard, she went into the hallway and headed for the front door.

"Hey, where are all the trees?" Cirno brought up as she looked out the backyard door.

Reimu walked out from the front door and the first thing she saw was the sky. A question mark appeared over her head as she witnessed this strange sight. She was expecting to see stands being set up and several inhabitants of Gensokyo moving around being busy, but what she saw instead were clouds and not to mention mushroom-shaped buildings in the distance. She walked up to the front porch where the donation box is and then looked down from there, and gradually, her eyes widened more and more until she yelled out loud, "WHAT IN THE WORLD?"

"Reimu!" shouted the voice of Marisa. She rushed over to Reimu along with the others and the witch tapped her in the shoulder. "Reimu! You won't believe it! It seems that your shrine is currently on top of something!"

"I found out about that just now!" Reimu told her. "Look!" She pointed down and the others all looked down to see several Toads down there looking back at them.

"Mushroom? people??" Alice said with an odd expression.

"Um? I don't think this is anywhere near Hakurei Shrine?" Sanae pointed out.

"I don't even think this is Genoskyo anymore?" Remilia added.

"Wow! I've never seen living creatures like these!" Aya said excitedly while snapping shots from her camera at the Toads. "This is such a great scoop!"

The shopkeeper moved back until he could see the people up there and shouted as loud as he could, "Hey you! What are you doing up there with your house? Get off of my store at once!"

"Your store?" Reimu said curiously. "Um? Look, we have no idea how we ended up here in the first place! We are totally lost and confused about our surroundings too!"

"I don't care! This is my store and you've just damaged the mascot up there!"

"Shines didn't originate as mascots for you!" a random Toad told him.

As the shopkeeper continued shouting at them, Reimu turned to her friends and asked, "Um? What do we do??"

Marisa simply shrugged as she had no idea what to do also. "Maybe we should go down there and talk with them in a better way?" Youmu suggested. "It's not easy if we talk from here."

"Yeah, let's just get down there first," Reisen agreed. "We need to find out what this place is. It can't be possible that we just end up in a foreign place all of a sudden."

"Oh well? No other method then?" Reimu sighed. She then jumped off the front porch hoping to float down slowly, but instead, she dropped straight down and fell into a bush which soften her landing and prevented any fatalities. "OW!"

"Whoa! You sure are daring to jump down from there just like that!" a random Toad commented.

Reimu got up and dusted the leaves off her clothe and said, "What? I was supposed to fly down slowly! But?"

"YAAA!" Marisa suddenly crashed down with her broom next to Reimu. She wasn't as lucky as she hit the road instead. She got up again seemingly unharmed and rubbed her butt saying, "Ow! How come I didn't fly?"

As Reimu was wondering how they weren't able to fly like they normally could, the shopkeeper walked up in front of her and said loudly, "Listen, young lady! You get that house of yours out of my store's rooftop at once!"

"I told you already that I have no idea what happened!" Reimu explained to him nervously. "Just a few seconds ago my shrine was built on grass, but it suddenly popped up here after a column of light shined down!"

"I don't care what story you have to tell me!" the shopkeeper shouted back. "And look at the clothes you're wearing! How very old fashion and unstylish! You people have no sense for fashion at all, don't you?" He pulled up a part of his clothing and boasted, "You see the fine texture and fabric of my clothes? Only sophisticated people like me are suited to wear something like this! I bet you don't even have the money to afford a good pair of socks! Haha!" Suddenly, Remilia, with her parasol held over her head using one hand, dropped down in front of him and lifted him up by the collar. "Hey!"

"You better watch your mouth, fatso!" she said in an annoyed voice. "A boastful bastard like you doesn't fit with those so-called fine clothes that you are wearing!"

"Let go of me? Or else I'll call the cops?"

Reimu grabbed Remilia's hands and forced her to let go of the shopkeeper who quickly backed away in fear. "We better not cause a ruckus," Reimu said to her. "We don't know where we are and it can be troublesome if we get into trouble with the law here."

"I never liked rude and boastful people like him, hmph!" Remilia said.

"Says the person who boasts about her strength and wealth?" Marisa said under her breath.

"By the way, Reimu, how come didn't slowly float down earlier?" Remilia asked the shrine maiden.

"I said earlier that I wasn't able to fly," Reimu told her. "Even Marisa couldn't fly with her broom!"

"Is that the case? Yet I can," Remilia said. She flapped her wings and hovered above the ground slightly, much to the amazement of the bystanders.

"Look! She's floating above the ground!"

"She has wings!"

"Perhaps it's because we rely on our wings to fly rather than your own method flying," Aya said as she lowered onto the ground with Cirno accompanying her.

"Having wings makes you the strongest!" Cirno claimed.

Just then, Toads dressed as police officers made their way over to the place and the bystanders quickly made way for them. "Excuse me," one of the police officers said. "We would like to ask you a few questions regarding? your sudden appearance?"

Reimu let out a sigh and thought that this was going to be a long day.

As the crowd gathered in front of the tailor store, a certain person appeared and asked the Toad at the back of the crowd. "Excuse me, but what is going on here?"

The Toad turned around and was surprised to see the person, and immediately bowed down. "Princess Peach!"

Upon hearing this, all the Toads immediately moved asides and all bowed down in presence of the blond princess dressed in pink?Princess Peach Toadstool.

"You can all stand up now," Peach said to them kindly, and they all did.

After standing back up, the same Toad said to her, "Some strange people popped up with their house on top of the tailor store. The police are interviewing about this matter."

"I see? That's something I've never heard of before?" Peach thought. "Maybe I should go see these people myself."

Her chancellor Toadsworth said to her, "Be careful, princess. Those people may be foul characters."

"Don't worry; things won't be as bad as you say," Peach told him before advancing through the path in between the crowd.

The police officers saw the princess coming, so they made way for her as well. Peach walked up to Reimu and the others and waved and smiled kindly to them. "Hello! Welcome to Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Mushroom Kingom?" Reimu said curiously. "Is that what this place is called?"

"Very fitting if you ask me-ze," Marisa commented as she looked left to right at all the mushroom people and architecture.

"I am Princess Peach, the ruler of this place," Peach explained to them. "I'm sorry if the citizens frightened you somewhat. It would appear that you not from around here."

"Truer words cannot be said?" Reimu said with a sigh. "We have no idea how we ended up here in the first place. It all happened so suddenly?"

"That's quite surprising to hear. How about you and your friends come over to my castle and then I will treat you? We can talk more about this over there."

"But princess!" Toadsworth protested. "What if they??"

Peach didn't give him the chance to finish speaking however. "Don't worry, Toadsworth. I'm sure they are nice people. They're simply lost lambs that got separated from the place they come from. It's obvious they would be scared and confused out here, so we must treat them with kindness and make them feel welcomed." She looked at the shrine and said, "As for their house, we'll have the crane come and bring it down."

Reimu looked at the friends and said, "Well? What do you think?"

"No other idea," Remilia said with a shrug. "Might as well take advantage of everything we have at the moment."

The situation was soon settled. The crane was eventually summoned to remove the shrine to an empty field just so that the shopkeeper can stop bickering. As for Reimu and the others, they were following Princess Peach and Toadsworth down the path leading to the castle. This also gave them the perfect opportunity to get a better look at the scenery around them, and they are without doubt very amazed at what they were seeing.

"Ooooh! Everything indeed is mushroom-related here-ze!" Marisa commented when she saw all the Toads, mushroom-shaped buildings, and Goombas.

Alice looked around and saw Bob-ombs walking casually on the grass. "Are those automated toys or what?" she wondered.

Nitori looked and saw Cheep-cheeps on sitting on the grass chatting with random Toads. "Wow! A talking fish that can breathe on land!"

Reisen noticed a Toad walking towards a pipe that was sticking out of the ground. The Toad jumped into the pipe but never came back out. "Okay?" she murmured to herself. "My eyes aren't going crazy on me, aren't they??"

Sanae looked up and noticed that the clouds had eyes and she could've sworn that they were looking back at her and even blinking. "And I thought Gensokyo was strange when I first moved there?" she said. "This place is even stranger?"

Aya took a lot of photos nonstop as she followed her companions. "When I get back, I'm going to make on heck of a news article! Hoohoo! I can't wait!" She noticed a Paratroopa. "Hey, a flying turtle!"

"Not surprising since Genji can fly too," Reimu reminded her, "and without wings."

After a bit of walking, the group eventually arrived at the main gate and then went through it, heading for the castle itself.

A pair of guards was standing in front of the gate and one of them had a frog next to him. The guard on the right looked at the frog and said to his partner, "Nice pet!"

"Thanks!" that guard said. "His name is Wart! I've been looking after him since he was a tadpole and he's grown attached to me! He's the best friend I've ever had and is even more faithful than a dog!"

The guards noticed the princess and thus opened the door to let her and the guests in. They entered one by one, but Cirno, who was last in line, stopped in front of the door and looked at the frog. "What's the matter, little girl?" the left guard asked her. "Go on in!"

"Frog!" Cirno suddenly exclaimed. She placed a finger near the frog, and in a flash of whitish-blue light, the frog was encased in a block of ice, and then she went into the castle.

Both the guards were surprised to see this, especially the frog's owner. That guard fell to his knees and picked up the frozen frog and started crying. "WART! WHAT HAS SHE DONE TO YOU! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!"

BGM: Peach's Castle (Super Mario 64)

The inhabitants of Gensokyo looked with awe at the beautiful interior of the castle. It was without doubt one of the grandest sight that have ever seen.

"Wow! This place is beautiful!" Sanae exclaimed.

"It's even nicer looking than Scarlet Devil Mansion!" Marisa commented.

"I admit," Remilia said, "it does look grander than my mansion."

"Come on in!" Peach said to them. "If you feel like eating anything, then let us go to the dining room and have a meal!"

The princess led down through the corridors and the servants Toads were all standing at both sides, bowing down to pay respect to Peach and the guests. "Heh! Makes me feel that I'm an important guest!" Marisa thought happily.

As they went down the corridor, they had the chance to glance at the paintings on the walls that depicted famous figures in the history of Mushroom Kingdom (including Mario himself but not Luigi) as well as the garden which was visible through the window.

Peach eventually led them to the dining room that consisted of a large rectangular table with several chairs set at the side, and the butlers and maids were all in their positions ready to serve the guests. "Have a seat!" Peach said to them. "I'm sure you will enjoy your meal!"

"Hooray!" Cirno said happily. She immediately rushed on ahead and took a seat for herself.

"Hey! Don't act like this is your own house!" Reimu said to her. "Sorry, princess? She tends to be very immature."

"Oh, that's not a problem!" Peach told her. "Little kids like her tend to be energetic. It's nice to see someone cheerful like her!"

Soon afterwards, the inhabitants of Gensokyo were enjoying their meal and were almost done with it. "This is the most delicious meal I've ever had!" Marisa said in between mouthfuls.

"I'm sure Mistress Yuyuko would like these!" Youmu said. "But then? Maybe it's a good thing that she's not here?" She visualized the thought of her mistress inhaling everything into her mouth like a vacuum cleaner.

Reisen picked up a mushroom with her fork and stared at it for a while, and then spoke to a chef who was standing at the side. "Excuse me, but does your kind also eat mushrooms?"

"Of course," the chef replied. "They're the greatest delicacies you can find around these places! Why do you ask?"

"Um? Nothing?" Reisen resumed with her meal, but thought of something in her head. "Mushrooms eating mushrooms?? I can't imagine this?"

"I don't believe I've gotten to know your names yet," Peach asked, trying to start a conversation. "This would be a perfect opportunity for us to get to know each other."

Reimu wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, "Yeah, we haven't yet. Anyway, I'm Reimu Hakurei, and I'm the shrine maiden of the shrine that showed up in your world all of a sudden."

Marisa raised an arm and said cheerfully, "I'm Marisa Kirisame, and I'm just an ordinary witch-ze!"

"Remilia Scarlet," Remilia said while drinking from her glass of water. "And I'm a vampire, enough said." Pointing to Meiling who was sitting next to her, "And she's the gatekeeper of the mansion that I live in."

Meiling stood up and bowed down saying, "Nice to meet you! I'm Hong Meiling at your service! And if my name is too hard for you to memorize, just call me China!"

"Nice nickname!" Peach commented, and then she looked at Remilia. "You're a vampire?"

"What? Never seen one before?" Remilia asked her.

"Um? Yeah? I've heard rumors of them existing? But then, the world is such a large one, so you'll never know."

Youmu then stood up next and introduced herself, "I'm Youmu Konpaku. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Peach said. "And what's that white thing flying around next to you?"

Youmu looked at her phantom half and said, "This is my phantom. You see, I'm half-human half-phantom, so I exist in two different forms, but despite this, we both act as one person and share together what we experience."

Hearing this, Peach became curious and somewhat confused. "Half-human half-phantom?"

"Her species is one of the mysteries of our world," Reimu told her. "So don't question about it too much."

"Right?"

Cirno stood up on her chair and said out loud, "I'm Cirno the ice fairy, and I'm the strongest from our world!"

"Yeah right?" Marisa said under her breath.

"I'm Reisen Udongein Inaba," Reisen said next. "Just call me Reisen!"

"Nice rabbits ears!" Peach commented.

"These are my ears."

"Real ears?"

"Yes, I'm a lunar rabbit."

"Oh my! I didn't know there are rabbits living on the moon too!"

"I am Alice Margatroid," Alice simply said. "I'm a magician and my hobby is making dolls. And this is Shanghai, a doll that I made and animated using magic." The little doll lowered her head to give Peach a greeting.

"It's so cute!" Peach said with a slight giggle. "So you work as a magician and doll maker?"

"No, I'm only a doll maker," Alice explained. "Magician refers to a race of demons specializing in magic."

"Oh? So you're not human?" Peach asked, and Alice nodded in response.

Sanae was the next to introduce herself, "I'm Sanae Kochiya! It's a pleasure to be? invited by a royalty like you!"

"I'm Aya Shameimaru, the tengu news reporter!" Aya said cheerfully. Holding up her camera, she asked Peach, "Mind if I take more pictures of you? It's rare opportunity to meet royalties like you!"

"I'd love to!" Peach said. "Maybe I should make-up a bit more?"

"Ignore her?" Reimu told her. "You don't want to know what she might do with those pictures afterwards?"

Lastly, Nitori introduced herself. "I'm Nitori Kawashiro, a kappa! And by the way, the cucumber dishes are really delicious!"

"I'm glad you like it! They're made by our best chefs and also imported from Beanbean Kingdom. Their vegetables, especially beans, are one of the highest qualities in the world!"

"So?" Peach then asked, "What brings you here to Mushroom Kingdom?"

Reimu answered, "Like we said earlier, we have no idea at all. We were in the shrine chatting when suddenly a beam of light came down and transported us to this place. And by the way, have you heard of the place called Gensokyo?"

Peach shook her head. "I'm afraid that I've never heard such a term."

"I figured as much?"

"Looks like we're really not in Gensokyo anymore," Aya told Reimu. "But that doesn't sound so bad if you think of it. We get the rare opportunity to tour around other places!"

"And what if we cannot go back to our world?" Reimu reminded her.

"I'm sorry for the problems that you've encounter, but I'm afraid I'm not help myself either," Peach said. "But perhaps there is?"

"Hey! If you're a princess," Cirno interrupted. "Then you must get kidnapped by evil warlocks often, right? That happens in fairy tale books often!"

"It's not nice to interrupt," Nitori told her.

"That's all right," Peach said. "But it's true though. I do get kidnapped constantly by a villain named Bowser who lives in an area not too far from here. But luckily, our national hero Mario is always ready to rescue me when that happens!"

"He must be your prince on a white horse," Marisa said. "Ooooh, how romantic!" She imagined Mario to look like a typical handsome prince riding on a majestic white horse.

"You can say that, heehee! He's really a great person! I can't imagine how our kingdom will be like without him! There is peace all around here thanks to his heroic efforts! Now getting back to the previous topic? I was saying that there might be someone who can help you on this matter."

"Who?" Reimu asked.

"Merlon the wizard," Peach replied. "He's one of the wisest people around here and knows pretty much everything that is happening. I'm sure he will be able to explain some things to you."

TO BE CONTINUED

I think this is quite a bit for the first chapter. I'm really excited about this story that I started it before my planned break was over, which lasts at least up to February. But it's not bad start this story early either, right?

Yes, this arc so far is following the same formula as One Piece: A Smash Adventure, but believe me when I say that it will also be quite different at the same time. I hope you have the patience to stay around until new elements show up!

Next chapter: Words of the Wizard

Trivia:
1. The frog named Wart is an obvious reference to Wart from the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2.

2. There was a debate among fans on whether Meiling should be called by her Chinese name or her Japanese name, Kurenai Misuzu, and one user from the website 2ch suggested that she be called China, and that nickname became popular. ZUN confirmed in an interview that "Hong Meiling" is the correct pronunciation, but the nickname "China" still remains popular.

3. In some official material, Alice's dolls appear to be able to act and talk independently, but according to her in the information book Perfect Memento, she has yet succeeded in creating an independent doll, and was suggested that Alice just controls the dolls and pretends they are alive for her own amusement and for showing off.

Well, what do you think?  Should I continue posting each of the chapters here?  The story currently has 83 chapters, not counting the prologue.

[CrowCakes]

Oh hey, I've read this. Sure, go for it!

[game2011]

Chapter 2
Words of the Wizard

A group of six consisting of Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Reisen, Youmu, and Aya traveled down the path that led from the castle back to Toad Town. Reimu held up a map in her hand that had the location of Merlon's house shown. "According to the princess," she said, "he lives very near the castle. In fact, it's just next to the main path that led to the castle."

"Then that makes the map rather pointless, don't you think?" Reisen said to her.

It didn't take too long for them to arrive back in Toad Town and find Merlon's house, however, they found that the door was locked and there was no response even after knocking it. There was a note on the door too.

Reimu took down the note and read from it, "I am currently visiting my friend Chakron in Plack Beach. If you need to meet me urgently, then please find me in Plack Beach."

"Okay? Looks like he's not home?" Marisa said. "What do we do-ze?"

"We'll just go to Plack Beach then," Reimu said, sticking the note back onto the door.

"Why don't we just wait for him to come back?" Sanae asked.

Shortly after she said this, a Toad passed by and said to them, "If you're looking for Merlon, he went to visit Chakron at Plack Beach. If I remember correctly, he's been gone for almost the whole day already. Plack Beach is down the southern exit of Toad Town and is about a twenty minutes walk from here."

"Thanks for the info!" Aya said to him, and then she faced her friends. "Well? Want to go?"

"Let's just go and get over with this in a hurry," Reimu suggested.

While the six of them went to find Merlon, the other five inhabitants of Gensokyo chose to stay in the castle instead.

A Toad butler led Remilia and Meiling into a well-decorated guest room and said to them, "You can use this room to rest if you want to."

Remilia stepped inside and looked around. "Not bad; I like it."

"Please press the pink button over there if you need any help," the butler told her while pointing to the obvious pink button next to the bed, and then he took his leave.

Remilia walked up to the bed and sat onto it. She stretched her arms into the air and said, "It's time for my siesta. Go and do whatever you want, Meiling."

"Like what?" Meiling asked her.

"Just take your free time or stand at the door if you want to. I don't care. This isn't Scarlet Devil Mansion, so you're free to do as you wish."

"Thanks, mistress!" Meiling said happily before leaving the room. She closed the door and stood in front of it. "Hmmm? So what do I do? I think I'll just stand here and keep the mistress safe." And stood firmly with crossed arms in front of the door she did.

Meanwhile, Cirno and Nitori were walking out in the castle garden, sightseeing the beautiful scenery.

"Hooray!" Like a little kid, Cirno ran through the flower field with her arms high in the air, scaring the butterflies from the flowers

Nitori bent down next to a lake and looked at the fish swimming around. A mechanical arm came out from the right side of her backpack and reached into the water, picking up a fish. They both stared into each other's face for a while and then the fish said, "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing? Just curious?" Nitori said before putting the fish back into the water. "Fish really can talk in this world! Hmmm? Maybe I should invent something that can make animals talk after we go back."

She got up and walked around the place and then noticed a stone statue of a star. She walked up to it and tried to read the inscription on the base of the statue, but the words were blurry for some reason, so she couldn't make out what it says. She turned to call Cirno over and pointed at the inscriptions. "What do you think this says?"

Cirno narrowed her eyes at the words and then said, "It reads 'L is Real 2401'."

"Really?" Nitori looked harder at the words, but came up with a different conclusion. "I think it writes 'Eternal Star'."

"No, I'm sure it writes 'L is Real 2401' on there."

"I could swear that I see 'Eternal Star' instead, and it makes more sense considering that it's a statue of star."

"Sorry, but as the strongest in Gensokyo, I say that it writes 'L is Real 2401'."

"Oh really? What do you think it means then?"

"It means that there are 2,401 real L's in this world. Simple as that!"

"?"

As for Alice, she is quietly reading books in the bookroom. Another one of her hobbies is reading.

The other six girls finally arrived at Plack Beach after about twenty minutes of walk from Toad Town. First thing that they saw when they arrived at the beach were large tooth-like structures embedded all over the sand. "Funny place?" Marisa commented.

"This whole world really is a strange one?" Reisen thought.

"Okay?" Reimu said, looking left to right. "According from what we've learned, this guy named Chakron lives on the highest rock of Plack Beach, and the only high rock I see is?" She looked to the left and noticed a towering rock that reached way up into the sky, almost reaching the clouds. "There?"

Marisa looked up and shielded her eyes with her hand to avoid taking in direct sunlight. "Woo! It's a tall one-ze!"

"I can easily fly up there in an instant!" Aya said.

"But please keep in mind that the other five of us here lost the ability to fly," Reimu reminded her. "So you better not rush headfirst into things by yourself all the time."

"All right; I'll accompany you as you go step by step up the rock."

The six of them made their way to the bottom of the towering rock, and there they saw several steps and cliffs that led to the top. "Do we have to climb up from here?" Sanae asked.

Reisen walked up to the wall, and she lowered her legs a bit before pushing off into the air and landing onto the top of a cliff with no problem. "Rabbit are natural born jumpers, so this isn't an issue for me," she said.

Reimu and Youmu both jumped up onto the same cliff as her as well. "And not a problem for us too since we train our bodies regularly," Reimu said. She watched as Aya flew up to their spot. "And her?" The four then looked down the cliff and saw Marisa and Sanae having a hard time trying to get onto the lowest cliff.

Marisa stood on top of Sanae's shoulders and tried to climb up onto the cliff while Sanae gave her best push from below, but ultimately, Marisa failed and fell down on top of her instead. "Ow!"

"Um? A little help here-ze?" Marisa asked.

"Get off me?" Sanae cried.

"Looks like this won't be easy?" Youmu thought.

Luigi was humming the Mario series main theme to himself as he walked down the path leading to Peach's Castle. He eventually arrived at the front door of the castle and both the guards greeted him. "Hello, Mr. Luigi!" they said.

Luigi waved at them and said, "Hello! Eez da princess inside?"

"She is," the right guard said. "You can go on in and see her if you want to."

"Thank you!" Luigi then noticed the frog, which had defrosted some time ago, next to the left guard and said, "Nice frog-a!"

"He's my pet, Wart!" the guards said happily, but then his attitude slowly changed. "Just a moment ago, I thought I was going to lose him forever. If he was gone, then my purpose for living would be gone as well? My entire life has been devoted to the wellbeing of Wart, and imagine how my life would be devastated if he was gone? I was filled with fear when he was in crisis earlier, and I could almost see him struggling against the grim reaper for a moment? I prayed for his safety and couldn't stop crying the whole time? It was without doubt the darkest time of my life? Imagine your friend struggling against life and death just before your eyes! How would you feel when you see something horrible like this? You cannot possibly imagine how I was feeling during that time! My heart was filled with fear, sadness, and nervousness? I thought I was going to lose my best friend forever? I was about to lose all hope to live until the guard on the right told me to use warm water. Thankfully, Wart managed to live through in the end, and I was filled with joy again. It was as if I emerged from the cocoon like a butterfly and took off happily into the air. The happiest moment of my life has returned again and I cannot be any happier than this. Wart is back with me once again and I have not lost my reason to live! But?"

He suddenly started jumping up and down, throwing tantrum. "I HATE LITTLE GIRLS! ESPECIALLY ONES WITH BLUE HAIR AND DRESSED IN BLUE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHH!"

His loud voice frightened the frog and it quickly hopped away. Seeing this, the guard went after it. "Wart! Don't run from me! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!"

Luigi and the other guard watched with odd expressions as those two left. "Um? What's-a with him??" Luigi asked.

"Nah, it's nothing big," the guard replied. "The princess invited some guests to her castle, and supposedly they are from another country or something like that. Or so I heard?"

"Really? I'll go in and see them then," Luigi said before entering the castle.

He marched down the castle and greeted the Toads one by one. As he walked down the corridor that contained portraits of famous historical figures on the wall, he noticed the lack of his portrait. "Well? Go figure? They respect-a Mario more than me anyway?"

He went up a flight of stairs and continued down the hall that would eventually lead to Peach's room, but then came across Meiling who was still standing in front of the door with her arms crossed.

Luigi walked up to her and noticed that she had fallen asleep in a standing position. "Never seen her before," he thought as he continued on his way. "Must-a be a new person that-a they hired."

"Look out!" shouted a voice suddenly. Before Luigi could react however, a trolley that had Nitori and Cirno riding behind and on top of it respectively crashed into him from behind and Luigi was forcefully pushed down the hall at high speed.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed at the top of voice.

Cirno stood up tall despite the high speed traveling and punched the air saying, "Faster! Faster! This is fun!"

"I think we better stop now! It's going too fast!" Nitori said. She reached for a lever that was behind the trolley and pulled it, but nothing happened. "Um? I think the brake isn't working? Should've double-checked it?"

"SOMEBODY STOP-A THEEZ THING!" Luigi screamed. The trolley went down the hall at high speed and all the Toads quickly jumped out of the way. Unable to stop, the trolley came closer and closer to the door at the end of the hall, and then it crashed into the room.

CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Alice was still reading book when this happened, but luckily she wasn't in the way of the trolley. The modified trolley crashed into the table and pushed it all the way to the wall before the both of them finally stopped. Poor Luigi was pressed by the nuts painfully against the table but Cirno went flying out of the window instead. "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

CRASH!

"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW!" That was some random cat crying after the crash was heard.

Nitori fell back from the trolley and sighed with relief. "Good? It stopped? Better put more effort into it next time?" She went up to Luigi who had passed out face first on the table and tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Please refrain from making loud noises when I am reading," said a voice that sent chills down her spine. Nitori turned around to see a pissed off Alice staring at her and all around her were dolls floating in air and armed with sharp weapons and guns.

"Um? Sorry?" Nitori said nervously.

Peach then showed up into the room. "What was that noise just now?"

Meanwhile, Reimu and the others were halfway up the rock, but due to excessive climbing, they were starting to feel tired, except for Aya who flew.

Reimu jumped up another cliff and bent down and panted heavily. "Boy? That was tiring?" She looked up and tried to look for the top of the rock, but had a hard time trying to see it. "And the top is still invisible to us?"

Aya landed next to her and said, "Perhaps I can carry you all up there and make things easier?"

Marisa struggled to climb up onto the cliff and said, "You should've? thought of this? earlier-ze?"

"Yeah, why didn't you bring this up earlier?" Reimu said to the tengu. "With your strength, you shouldn't have problem carrying the five of us at once!"

"Heheh? Sorry for not thinking of this earlier?" Aya said. "All right, I'll see what I can do."

Having decided on this, Reimu and Marisa each grabbed Aya's hands while she was staying airborne, and then the other three grabbed onto her legs as tightly as they could. "Can you do it?" Sanae asked.

Aya flapped her wings as hard as she could and managed to move upwards despite carrying five people at once. "Ugh? It's a bit heavier than I thought?" she said. "How much do you weigh?"

"Wrong question!" Marisa protested.

"Just kidding? It's not really that heavy for me. All right; we're going up there with a blast, so hold still!" Aya said. Immediately after she said this, Aya shot up into the air at a fast speed.

It took only a few seconds for Aya to make it to the top of the rock, and as her speed was too fast, her five comrades lost their grip and fell off, landing onto the surface roughly. Reisen got up and rubbed her head saying, "Ow! You didn't have to go that fast!"

Aya landed and said, "We're up here now! You should be thankful! With the fastest person like me around, you're bound to get to anywhere in a blink of an eye!"

"And that's exactly what makes you an annoying person?" Reimu grumbled while dusting her clothes.

Youmu walked up to the edge of looked down, and the sheer height between the bottom and the top made her tremble a bit. "Whoa? It's quite a drop from here? We better be careful?"

"Well, now that we are here-ze," Marisa said. "We should be looking for that guy named Merlon. Where is he?"

"Maybe over there?" Sanae said, pointing to two people who were visible across the place. They fixed their eyes on those two people and walked up to them. When they got closer, they saw that there were a hooded man with a moustache and a purple octopus-like creature standing upside-down on his hands.

"What brings you here?" the octopus creature said. "It is rare that I ever get visitors here, and I must applaud you for your stamina and determination to climb all the way up here instead of using the warp pipe."

"Warp pipe?" Reimu said curiously.

"Most people would simply use the warp pipe to get up here," the hooded man said, pointing to a pipe to the side. The girls looked at the pipe and saw that it led all the way to the bottom.

"Um? How come we never noticed that??" Reisen asked.

"Yeah, imagine how much time and energy it would save us if we had spotted that earlier?" Youmu said.

"But still, it is quite amazing to see youngster like you having the patience to climb up with your own strength," the hooded man said. "My name is Merlon, and this is a good friend of mine, Chakron."

"So you're the person we're looking for," Reimu said.

"Yes, and I assume that you have a lot to ask from me, right?" Merlon said, "such as how you ended up in this world."

"How do you know that?" Aya asked.

"The stars hide nothing from me," Chakron replied. "It is my duty to be aware of most things that happen in the world. For hundred of years I have remained in this place and lived with the stars."

"Wow? You don't get bored in a place like this-ze?" Marisa asked.

"Boredom only applies to people who lust for the earthly treasures," Chakron told her.

"Okay?"

"So anyway?" Reimu said. "Since you know what we are here for, would you mind telling us the answers to everything?"

"You need not to ask anymore, young maiden," Merlon replied. "I have the answers to the mysterious occurrence that befell you and your friends. Please take a seat and listen to what I have to say to you. Now tell me: Did you arrive here from a vortex that shined down a beam of light?"

"Exactly," Reimu nodded. "And then the next thing we knew, the entire shrine was on top of a building in this world."

"Ah, I figured as much, except for the building part..." Merlon said. "The thing that brought here is in fact the World Light."

"World Light?" they all said curiously.

"It is a very special kind of transportation method used by Master Hand," Merlon continued explaining.

"Master Hand?" they all said again.

"Guess I should explain to you this first?" Merlon cleared his throat before continuing with his explanation. "There exists a world somewhere in the universe called the Smash World, and that is where Master Hand and his kind reside."

"Oooh? I better jot this down!" Aya said with interest while filling up her notebook.

"Master Hand? That's some name," Youmu thought.

"Of course, it's a very fitting name for him," Merlon told her. "He's a giant white hand after all."

"A giant white hand?" Reisen said. "That's all? Strange?"

"So you're saying the light that brought us here is Master Hand's doing?" Reimu asked.

"Yes," Merlon nodded. "You see, Master Hand held a tournament before where he gathered several capable fighters from all over the universe. These participants were brought together to engage in friendly battles in order to strengthen relationship between worlds."

"Sounds interesting-ze!" Marisa said.

"People who entered the tournament have become well known figures ever since. The fact that the light came down on you must mean that Master Hand acknowledges your capabilities and wishes for you to join the tournament. One of the representatives from our world is Mario."

"Mario? I think the princess mentioned about him being the national hero."

"Yes, even Princess Peach herself participated in the tournament."

"Really? She doesn't look like a fighter at all, what with claiming that she gets kidnapped by some guy named Bowyer, I think he's called, all the time."

"She may not look like it, but if need be, she packs quite a punch in combat too! However? one should be instantly be transported to Smash World itself afterwards and not here after riding the World Light?"

"What does that mean?" Reimu asked.

Merlon pondered for a while and then said, "Maybe something isn't right with the World Light? That's the first time this happened though. Tell me, was there anything else that you witnessed during the transportation process?"

"Asides from a bit of tilt and tumbling, nothing else."

"Tilting and tumbling? Now that's strange. According to firsthand experience, the transportation process goes smoothly as if you're riding an elevator."

"What's an elevator?" Youmu asked.

"A kind of transportation device that the outside world use when traveling between floors of tall buildings," Sanae explained to her.

"Even if it is a large object being transported, there should not be any shaking," Merlon continued. "It would appear that something really is not right with the World Light?"

"Great? We get caught in some strange light that was supposed to bring us to this Smash World, but we ended up in the wrong place instead and most of us even lost the ability to fly?" Reisen grumbled.

"You lost the ability to fly?" Merlon said curiously.

"Yes, all of us here has the ability to fly back in our world," Reimu explained. "But we were unable to do so after arriving here. Only the ones that have wings can still fly, like her." She pointed to Aya as an example.

"I think I can conclude that the World Light is indeed broken," Merlon concluded, "because the powers of the person should be brought over entirely as well. I have heard that the transportation process can be dangerous in the way that if it is not done properly, one may lose something precious such as his or her memories and emotions."

"Whoa? Scary?" Marisa commented.

"So what do we do?" Reimu asked. "We're trapped in this world with nowhere to go?"

"Fear not, I believe there is a way to fix this," Merlon said, "but I will have to look deeper into it first."

Things had settled down back in Peach's Castle. Luigi, Peach, Alice, Nitori, and Cirno were all sat down at the bookroom talking with each other.

"So a beam of light-a suddenly came down onto your shrine and all of you were transporta over to theez place?" Luigi asked, and they nodded as response. "Wow, then you really must-a be caught-a by surprise."

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem so bad," Nitori said, looking around the place. "It's nice to get to see other places. Back in our place, we always stayed in our own world and never went outside in fear that the people outside not taking us lightly."

"Then I hope-a you enjoy your stay here! Maybe I should-a take-a you to see Mario sometime."

"You said earlier that you are his younger brother, right?" Alice asked.

"Yes, and he eez da most well known people here," Luigi told her. "He eez a great-a hero who saved Mushroom Kingdom as well as otha places all da time! Too bad I'm not-a as brave as him?"

"That's not exactly true," Peach told him. "Remember the times where Mario was in trouble and you took the responsibility of rescuing him? You did a great job during times like that!"

"Yeah, that's-a true. But-a still, I'm nothing compared to my brother?"

Back at the front door, both the guards were still doing their duty. As for the frog, it's placed in a fish tank to keep it from running anyway.

The guard on the right side yawned and said, "Gee, it sure is boring around here..."

"Mah friend," the left guard said, "This peace is what all true gatekeepers strive for!"

"I wish something would happen now."

Moments after he said this, a large shadow loomed over them. Both the guards looked up and to their surprise, saw a massive ship with propellers, engines, and sails flying in their direction.

They were struck with shock as they recognized very well what that thing was. "That's? that's?" the left guard cried, "That's Bowser's airship!"

TO BE CONTINUED

Readers of Specter24's story can see the obvious changes here, and you can tell that things are starting to heat up in the next chapter! There will also be appearance of certain characters that will alter this arc even more than the original, so look forward to it!

You might be wondering why Luigi speaks with Italian accent here and never did in my mainstream SSB stories. I want the portrayal of the characters here to be as close as possible to their origins, hence the reason for that here. I didn't give Luigi the accent in the mainstream series because I originally forgot to give him one in my first story, so in order to keep things constant, it became stuck that way.

Next chapter: Attack of the Turtles

[game2011]

Seeing how there is only one response so far, I think I'll stop updating this thread.  If you want to read the story, just head over to FF.net.