A/N: Yet another diversion from my main story... And from my Shorts but oh well... I've always wondered "What If Mario were in Link's place?" so here's my version of MARIO IN SPIRIT TRACKS! I also want to do a "What If Link were in Mario's place?" and I'm thinking of Super Mario Galaxy (the games I have are all on my author's profile, albeit slightly unreadable).

Anyway, here's Chapter 1... I hope to have another Chapter to my main story done by Easter Monday but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

DISCLAIMER: These characters are not owned by me!

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"This is a tale from long ago. It's the tale of the first settlers of this land.
In the beginning, the people followed the spirits of good and all was peaceful.

But that era of peace soon came to an end.
The evil Demon King rose to power, destroying everything in his path.

The spirits of good has no choice but to face him in battle.
The war that ensued seemed to last an eternity; and much blood was shed.
Finally the spirits subdued the Demon King, though they could not destroy him.
Their powers were greatly depleted.

With their remaining power, they buried the Demon King's spirit in the ground.
They built shackles to imprison him, and a tower that acted as a lock.
These shackles cover the land to this day.

With their power drained, the spirits of good returned to the heavens.
Suddenly bereft of both demons and spirits, this land was entrusted to us.

Well, what do you think?" asked Niko as he peered round his picture frame, having completed his story.

His roommate's only reply was a loud snore having fallen asleep.

"What?! You fell asleep?" yelled the old man.

Mario opened his eyes and, rubbing them, he sat up.

"Mario, you can't even listen to an old man's tale for 3 minutes, can you?"

Mario laughed nervously.

"This really isn't funny, you know. This masterpiece... This blasted masterpiece... This blaster-piece could be the only thing proving I ever existed!"

Mario bowed his head solemnly as the door opened behind him.

"Oh, hello Luigi," Niko greeted Mario's brother.

"What-a are you doing here-a, Mario? Have-a you forgotten what the big-a day is today?" Luigi asked his elder sibling.

Mario rubbed the back of his head with a confused look on his face, trying to remember.

"A-Mario, you're-a hopeless," Luigi facepalmed.

Mario scowled at his sibling as he stood up.

"Mario, today's-a the day you get your Engineer Certificate from the Princess herself!"

Mario's jaw dropped open, how could he forget?

"I'll-a see you at the Station. You have-a five minutes to get ready! See you later Niko," Luigi said as he turned to leave.

"Yep, see you Luigi," responded Niko as Luigi left. "Alright, come on Mario, get going! You remember where the Station is, right?"

Mario nodded whilst rolling his eyes.

"Alright, well go to the North of Outset Village, alright?"

Mario nodded again as he turned to leave.

"See you, Mario!"

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Mario walked along the path, scaring the birds who had come down to rest on the ground and causing them to fly away.

"Hey, Mario!"

Mario turned to see the small girl from next door stood next to her house and waving to him. Glancing at the Station, his destination, Mario instead dashed over to the girl.

"Mario, someone put rocks in front of the house and now I can't get in! Can you help me, please?"

Mario nodded and smiled, happy to help.

"Yay thanks! Just pick the rocks up one by one and throw them away to break them. Can you do that?"

Mario grinned as he approached a rock blocking the entrance to the girl's house and easily picked it up before hurling it at the grass behind him, careful not to hit the girl. The rock shattered and Mario quickly disposed of the other three rocks.

"Thanks Mario!" The girl applauded. "Here, have this Red Rupee!" she exclaimed as she passed Mario a red gem.

Mario raised the Rupee above his head, ecstatic to have a gift.

Mario then glanced upward to the Sun and was shocked to see how late it had gotten. He only had 2 minutes to get to the Station.

He dashed away immediately before he saw the girl's brother up ahead.

"Hey, Mario!" The kid greeted. "Want to learn how to roll?"

This intrigued Mario, the boy was well known for getting into mischief around the village and not for helping others.

Mario nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright, watch!" the boy grinned as he curled into a ball and rolled into a nearby rock.

He pulled out of the roll with a bounce and landed on his feet, eager to see Mario try.

"Do it on that tree, it's softer than a rock!" he instructed, pointing to the small tree nearby.

The boy had done it so easily, so Mario figured it was easy.

He curled into a ball, pushed himself forwards and bumped into the tree.

"BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..." came a nearby sound.

Bees dashed out of the tree and aimed straight for Mario.

"Ha! You fell for it! Quick, jump in the sea to get them off," the boy laughed.

Mario screamed as he ran towards the beach with the bees following him.

He jumped into the water and the bees left him alone, heading back to their tree.

Mario emerged from the water, panting, soaking and covered in bee stings.

He slowly staggered towards a nearby rock and threw it away, collecting the Heart when the rock broke.

Reinvigorated, Mario realised that he was late and immediately dashed towards the Station, only to be stopped by the same boy who had caused him to be late.

"Hey, Mario. Thanks for making my day! Here, have this," the kid said, still laughing as he held out what looked like a large brown chestnut.

Mario accepted the treasure and smiled to show that he forgave him.

"That's a Wood Heart, it's one of the many treasures you can find all over New Hyrule," the boy explained.

"MARIO!" shouted a voice from the Station.

"See you Mario!" said the boy as he ran back home.

Mario watched the boy leave before jumping up the steps to the Station.

The door flew open as a small wooden train came riding out with Luigi driving.

"You're-a late," scolded Luigi as he pulled to a stop next to Mario.

Mario grinned nervously as Luigi hopped down from the train and started opening the door to the passenger cart.

"Time for your-a Final Exam! You've-a got to drive us both to-a Castle Town in under 300 seconds. Remember, there'll-a be other trains on the tracks so be-a careful and don't-a hit them!" Luigi instructed before jumping into the Passenger Cart.

Mario nodded to his brother and climbed onto the driving seat Luigi had had installed.

The passenger door closed and Mario blew his whistle dramatically as he pulled out of Outset Station.

LOP: ST! LOP: ST! LOP: ST! LOP: ST! LOP: ST! LOP: ST! LOP: ST!

A/N: That was a lot different from the game, obviously but I wanted to tweak a few things... OK, a lot of things.

If you're wondering, the Mario characters we will see in this story will be:

- Mario

- Peach

- Luigi

- Rosalina

- Bowser

- King Boo

- Wario

- Toadsworth

No clues as to who they're going to be, although you already know two of them and one of them is quite obvious but you'll see for the others.

Also, I'm using the English (UK) (so for example, Aboda Village becomes Outset Village) versions of place and character names, as you've probably guessed. Although I'm using Realms as opposed to Lands (I just think "Realm" sounds better).

So, review and maybe I'll get a character to do the disclaimer next chapter...