It rested in a dim, musty and damp cave, thoughts occupied it's busy mind.

It took quite a bit of my energy to cross into this realm.

I must rest, I hope none of those infernal humans disturb me.

When I have awakened, I shall bear my surroundings then.

Just then, a burly man in a black yukata pushed the boulder blocking the entrance to the cave aside.

"Heard a bunch of rustlin' nearby here…" the man looked up to see it staring down at him with glossy purple eyes, "Woah! That's some youkai, an ugly one at that, wonder how much you'll pay for."

...I suppose it cannot be helped.

It telepathically closed the cave's entrance by moving a boulder to block it. The man looked back in awe.

"Woah, h-how'd you do that?"

No one will hear your screams.

"What? How… how did you… AH-AAAAAAGH!"

*WHACK!*

"Oi, wake up." Reimu Hakurei, the Shrine Maiden of Paradise said as she swatted her sleeping plumber roommate with a broom.

"Alright, alright… I'm up." Mario grunted as he got up from his futon and rubbed his eyes. He still found it hard to believe that this all wasn't a dream. No, the situation he was in was very real.

"I know last night's party was crazy," Reimu said as she gave Mario a custom made, red and blue yukata, "but I need you to go to the Human Village and pick up some groceries. Could you do that?"

"Mm-hmm. Also, what's this? Where are my overalls?" Mario questioned the shrine maiden.

"It's just something to make you fit in more. Plus your overalls were starting to get dirty, I'll wash them."

"Really? Gee… thanks."

"OH! If you see Marisa, tell her I sent you. She should be in the village today. Just bring her back when you can."

"Marisa… Marisa… who's that again?"

"The blonde witch girl. You can't miss her."

"Right, I'll keep an eye out for her," Mario replied as he grabbed his trademark cap from the floor, "see ya!"

Mario exited the shrine and looked right behind it to see a very old turtle, seemingly waiting for him. This turtle was one that wouldn't attack Mario on sight.

"Hey Genji! Can you-"

"Human Village was it now? Alright hop on, this old tortoise needs a workout anyway." Mario obliged as he mounted the turtle, crossed his legs, and off they went. Once they were high enough in the sky, Mario could see a bird's eye view of Gensokyo in the late morning. All of the little trees and small youkai playing looked like dots to the plumber.

"Heads up!" A newspaper was tossed Mario's way as he quickly caught it, he looked around to find that Gensokyo's 1# news reporter, Aya Shameimaru was behind the catch.

"Morning Mario! Don't forget to subscribe to the Bunbunmaru Newspaper!" Aya said as she flew off, and the plumber stuffed the newspaper under his arm as the turtle descended into the Human Village.

"Thanks Genji!"

"No problem kiddo." The turtle bid as he took off. Mario made his way to the local market which was past the horse stable, but not before an old lady tapped him gently on the shoulder.

"Excuse me young man," the lady called feebly, "could you perhaps get my cat from the nearby tree?"

"Of course!" Mario complied as he walked over to the tree the feline was in and using his natural jumping ability, he swiped the cat off the branch in no time. He made his way back to the lady.

"Here ya go!"

"Oh thank you very much!" The lady thanked Mario, and the plumber tipped his cap in response. The Italian was about to go on with his day when Mr. Yosuke and his famous apple cart passed Mario by and the plumber figured, why not help out?

"Here, I got that for ya." Mario offered as he took the apple cart and wheeled it to it's usual destination, with the help of Mr. Yosuke, of course.

"Thanks sonny. Figured I'd get up earlier so I could dodge that shinigami…" Mr. Yosuke said to himself, because Mario was already doing his next odd job.

Throughout the rest of the morning Mario would help with, haircuts, constructing houses, cooking, fishing, helping Nazrin find Shou's pagoda (which was funnily enough at the Myouren Temple still- well, it was funny for Mario, Nazrin wasn't laughing.), and helped restock books at Suzunaan, which Kosozu was very grateful for. He even saw Reisen in a human disguise selling medicine, but as soon as Mario tried to approach her the lunar rabbit gave Mario a glare that he would probably see in his nightmares, and took off.

"Huh. Wonder why she's acting like that. Hm?" Mario's ears picked up some rustling and then a loud thud. It seemed like it came from the direction of Suzunaan. So Mario rushed over to check it out, and scanned the sides of the building and surely enough, he saw it- a broken window.

"Robbery in broad daylight? Who would do that? Well, I guess we're gonna find out!" Mario said as he climbed through the broken window. The plumber had heard more loud rustling, so he followed the sound, until he was right outside the 'Foreign Books' room. Mario rushed into the room and tackled the intruder from behind, taking them by complete surprise.

The intruder had started cursing while kicking Mario in the stomach, and it hurt, the plumber persevered and eventually got the intruder in a Nelson-hold.

"O-ok! Let go! I give!" The intruder said, trying to squirm out of the hold, but Mario wasn't having it.

"Nuh-uh. Didn't your parents ever tell you that stealing is bad?"

"I wasn't stealing jack! I'm jus' borrowing these books!"

"Borrowing without consent?"

"Dammit just lemme go!" Mario rolled his eyes and let go, the intruder turned around and it was none other than the Ordinary Witch herself, Marisa Kirisame.

"Wait a second. You're Reimu's friend right? A blonde, black and white witch right?"

"Yeah, I'm Marisa, and I remember you, heh, who am I kidding? I could never forget that gut of yours."

"Very funny. But Reimu told me to bring you back to the shrine."

"Really? Eh, maybe it's some youkai business today. If that's the case, I'm game." Marisa said, making her way out of Suzunaan with Mario following close behind. But not before they ran into a very confused Kosuzu.

"Ummm… what happened to my library?" Kosuzu said looking at the broken window at the side.

"Mario did it." Marisa said as she summoned her broom and flew off in the direction of the Hakurei Shrine. Leaving the plumber in a stuttering mess.

"SorryKosuzuMarisawillfixthisuplaterokseeya!" Mario said as he dashed off, leaving Kosuzu even more perplexed than before.

Now, Mario considered himself to be quite fast, but it felt like Marisa was trying to lose him. As Mario ran on foot through the Forest of Magic, the only thing that was keeping him from getting lost was that he was following the airborne witch while dodging trees and the like.

Finally, the two had reached the Hakurei Shrine where Reimu was sweeping the entrance, and she was not happy to see the plumber, who was currently trying to catch his breath.

"Where the hell are my groceries Mario?"

"Groceries can wait, Reimu. We gotta youkai to bust, I assume?" Marisa interjected as she descended on the ground, Reimu only continued sweeping.

"That's right. Some lady asked if I could find her son a day ago. He told her that he was collecting wood near the Great Youkai Forest for some reason, and he hasn't come back since."

"Pfft. Must've been really confident in his abilities if he's jus' wandering around the Youkai Forest like that."

"He must've been. Only an idiot would try to challenge a youkai without being prepared," Reimu glanced at Mario, who looked completely lost, "Look Mario, all you need to know is that most normal humans can't even fight average youkai."

"She's right ya know, listen tubby, why don't you go back to the village and pick up my friend's groceries?" Marisa said, putting a 'friendly', yet condescending hand on Mario's shoulder, only for the plumber to shrug her off.

"No thanks, I wanna check it out with you guys." The plumber said, Reimu facepalmed.

"Did you not hear me? I said normal humans can't tussle with youkai!"

"That's great news then," Mario said, adjusting his cap, "because I'm not normal."

Marisa and Reimu looked at each other for a moment, and they both silently agreed on letting the plumber come. Reimu took off first, flying northwest toward the Youkai Forest. Mario called Genji and threw his newspaper on the shrine's porch.

"Hey." Mario turned to find him face to face with the stiff bristles of a witch broom.

"Just know, I'm ok with being 2nd to Reimu. But I ain't gonna be 3rd to you, da ze."

"Oh really? We'll… I'm looking forward to proving you wrong then." Mario said as he took a seat on Genji and flew off. Fuming, Marisa followed suit.

The afternoon sun pierced its way through the trees as the trio were deep into the forest, searching for that elusive youkai. They searched high and low, until they found themselves at the base of the Youkai Mountain, the same on Luigi had scaled recently.

"Where is this damn thing?! I swear we've been looking at the same trees and shrubs for minutes, and we haven't found anything!" Marisa complained, and as irritating as she was, Reimu had to agree.

"Maybe we should just head back for now, and regroup later-"

"Hey guys! Check this out!" Mario shouted to both of the girls, and they both came rushing over.

"What'd you find?" Reimu asked, Mario didn't respond, instead he just pointed at a boulder with a peculiar streak of red making its way outwards on the giant rock.

"That ain't what I think it is? Right?" Marisa asked Reimu and Mario. Both of them didn't respond. Instead, Mario gathered his strength, and pushed the boulder out of the way. Revealing an entrance to a dim, musty and damp cave. The trio made their way into the cave, the light from outside had revealed that blood had stained the cave's walls.

"Sheesh. Looks like someone made a mess in here." Marisa cracked, Reimu only sighed in response.

"...Sorry."

The three had reached a more spacious area in the cave that was covered in more blood. Then, they saw it resting. Mario's eye's almost popped out of his skull.

It opened it's eyes, and it's pupils narrowed at the sight of Mario.

"Mario. You know this thing?" Reimu said as she took out her ofuda.

Mario shook himself out of his shock, "Mewtwo… I really didn't think I'd see you here!"

Plumber… I didn't quite think I would see you again either.

"Hey ugly! You got three of us to worry about! Not just one!" Marisa said as she took out one of her spell cards.

Second Card "Asteroid Belt"

Rainbow colored danmaku filled the rather small cave, piercing holes in it. But Mewtwo had merely put up a barrier, rendering danmaku ineffective.

"Hey, woah, woah, woah! You can't do that! That's against the spellcard rules!" Marisa objected, Mewtwo gave her a confused look.

Spellcard...rules…? Mewtwo thought to himself as it held out an arm and just like that, Marisa couldn't move.

"Wh-what the hell?" The witch questioned, and before Mewtwo could crush her, Reimu delivered a swift kick to his head, knocking him toward the ground.

"Marisa! He's not gonna play by our rules! So we might as well go all out!" Reimu informed her friend, who only nodded in response.

On the ground, Mario and Mewtwo were scrapping, either one of them trying to find an opening. Until the Genetic Pokémon summoned a giant spoon out of nowhere taking Mario by surprise. Mario wouldn't be surprised for long however, as he got whacked and whacked with the giant silverware.

The Pokémon sensed a presence rapidly approaching him, and it was the Ordinary Witch. Who leapt off of her broom, took out two Mini-Hakkeros and activated their newly-implemented 'Blade' feature, and started swinging at Mewtwo along with a somewhat disoriented but functional Mario.

To compensate for this 2v1, Mewtwo summoned another massive spoon and it was successfully fending off the plumber and the witch while dual wielding silverware.

Meanwhile, Reimu had thrown four 'Bind' ofuda at Mewtwo, and the Pokémon didn't notice until it was too late, the ofuda had wrapped itself around Mewtwo's limbs, thus binding it.

Ungh...how dare you! Human!

"Well… that was easier than I thought," Reimu said walking over to the binded Pokémon and looking it in its eyes, dead serious, "I'm gonna exterminate you now. Stay still, alright?"

Mario breathed a sigh of relief, looks like that was that, he'd go back to the shrine, and maybe catch a nap. This would happen if it wasn't for one little thing.

*SHING!*

Confusion. Mewtwo's eyes flashed green then back to purple, and Reimu went limp for a moment.

"Shit! Reimu! You alright?!" Ignoring the possible dangers, Marisa rushed over to check on her friend, only for her friend to blast her with a Yin-Yang Orb.

"Wh-what? Reimu, why did you- UGH!" Marisa was interrupted by a giant metal spoon telepathically wrapping around her like a snake, restricting her movement. Mario punched himself mentally for forgetting about Confusion. How could he forget about that?

What a ridiculous girl. Her concerns for her friend is what is going to get her killed. Mewtwo looked over at Mario, Unless, you can stop her, plumber.

The now confused Reimu looked at Mario with swirly and perplexed eyes. Mario clenched his fist with determination.

"Alright! I'll stop both of you! Come on!" Mario declared as he lit his fist with a white-hot flame. Reimu ascended and prepared another spellcard attack.

Jewel Sign "Orbs of Light, Cast into Shade"

Reimu had summoned 3 big Yin-Yang orbs as they bounced around the cave, making it clear that Reimu just wanted to hit something. Marisa rolled out of the way as best she could, Mewtwo Teleported out of harm's way, but Mario had something different planned. As he wall jumped off of the cavern walls he swung his fiery fist downward onto Reimu's face, the impact was so great that the shrine maiden's face deformed, Mario's stomach sank, he didn't think he hit her that hard.

This was all a diversion, as the deformed Reimu's body turned into ofuda and the pieces of paper stuck itself to Mario, catching him by surprise, the REAL Reimu was on the ground.

"Detonate…!"

*BOOM!*

Mario collided with the wall at a high speed. The explosion caught him completely off guard and now he was cornered. Reimu walked over to the plumber. Ready to finish the job.

"C'mon Reimu! Snap out of it already!" Mario pleaded, but the girl only sneered at him.

"Shut up! I dunno what the hell is happening, but I'll turn you into paste!" Reimu snarled, charging a powerful blast through her Yin-Yang orbs. Mario closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

Spirit Sign "Fantasy Orb"

*BLAM!*

Reimu ended up blasting herself in her Confusion, sending her flying across the cave and into a wall, knocking her out instantly.

She knocked herself out later than I thought. Oh well, just two left, this should be easy.

Mewtwo threw a Psycho Cut at Mario, and the plumber barely dived out of the way in the nick of time. But Mewtwo was faster, he Teleported behind Mario and shot a Shadow Ball right into his back, sending him hurtling toward the immobile Marisa, who was currently hatching a plan.

"Psst! You alright Mario? Cuz I need you to distract that thing over there for a bit longer."

Mario only groaned in response.

"C'mon! You gotta get up! You just gotta keep him busy for a few minutes!" Marisa encouraged, and Mario responded by gathering his strength and trying to get off the ground, only for Mewtwo to put its foot on Mario's back, sending him down again.

Why do you insist? This battle is over, accept your defeat.

Mario refused however, as he reached his hands behind his back and placed them on Mewtwo's legs. The Pokémon felt a scorching sensation and its leg and it recoiled.

Ungh! How dare-

*WHAM!*

Mario slugged Mewtwo with a fiery fist and sent the Pokémon reeling, he wasn't done yet, as the plumber wailed on Mewtwo, before finally kicking him into a wall so hard that it made a small crater, temporarily immobilizing the Pokémon.

"Just a few minutes right? I'll keep him busy, but you need to be fast!" Mario said to the downed witch, who only smiled in response.

"Thanks Mario. I appreciate it da ze!"

Enough of this. Mewtwo Teleported behind Mario again, but the plumber was ready this time, as he turned around and kicked the Pokémon in the stomach, making him double over, then Mario gave it a clean uppercut to its jaw. This only seemed to infuriate Mewtwo even more however, as the Pokémon telepathically raised some the rocks from the small crater and hurled all of them at Mario, and the plumber could nothing but block them as best as he could. This was only a diversion, Mewtwo rushed over and started beating on the defending Mario.

Hang in there Mario! You're my last line of defense here! Marisa thought to herself as she shuffled over to her Mini-Hakkero, flipped herself facing upward and grabbed the device, finally, she turned herself in the direction of the brawling Mario and Mewtwo, and by the looks of it, Mario was losing.

With psychic energy imbued in its hand, Mewtwo swiped at the defending Mario, and while the Italian was barely avoiding the onslaught of attacks, Marisa was charging a Master Spark while laying on top of the Mini-Hakkero.

Mario managed to catch Mewtwo's arm and delivered a powerful headbutt, rattling the Pokémon.

"Hold him still Mario!" Marisa shouted, and Mario heeded. As Mewtwo tried to Teleport out of danger, Mario went behind the Pokémon and grabbed its tail and began swinging it around like he was doing a hammer throw, and using the very last of his strength, Mario threw Mewtwo toward the witch.

"Take this ugly! MASTER SPARK!" Marisa shouted as the blast from her Mini-Hakkero propelled her forward at break-neck speed, drop kicking the Pokémon so hard that it broke the cavern's walls and sent it and the witch flying out of the cave and back into the Youkai Forest.

"Did that work? Ugh, I'd be able to check if I was tied up by this STUPID spoon!" Marisa said to herself, but she got her answer as a heavily damaged Mewtwo Teleported right in front of the still immobilized witch, who smiled nervously.

Oh crap! I'm done for!

Just then, a black and yellow ball hit Mewtwo on the head, it turned around only for it to be sucked into the ball in a flash of red. The ball gyrated violently, but it lessened as seconds passed, and then-

*CLICK!*

"Gotcha." A familiar voice said as she picked up the ball, Marisa turned her head upward.

"What the- Yukari? Why are you here?"

"Good afternoon to you to Marisa. Lovely day for capturing… whatever these are, isn't it?" Yukari casually said. Marisa was ready to ask more questions but she felt her body being freed from her spoon shackles, by none other than Ran and Chen.

"Thanks, but… what the hell are you doing here?"

"Why, I'm just taking a stroll-"

"Not today Yukari! What just happened."

"Watch your tone Marisa." Ran interjected, glaring at the witch, and Chen mimicked her superior.

"Now now Ran, I suppose Marisa does have a right to know why I'm here," Yukari said, letting out a big, dramatic sigh, "If you must know, I noticed the boundaries between this world and another shifted, so I sent Ran to investigate, and she found a most peculiar creature."

"The creature seemed exhausted, but Master Yukari advised against interacting with it." Ran added.

"The next day, I had Chen lure an unsuspecting human near the cave the creature was resting in. The human was quite burly, but he didn't stand a chance against that creature," Yukari continued, "and I knew that this news would get out and reach the shrine maiden one way or another, and I'm happy to report that my theory was correct."

"W-w-w-what!? You knew that this would all go down?" Marisa yelled at the elderly youkai, who only smiled in response.

"Wellllll… I'd be lying if I said I didn't." Yukari confirmed to the dumbfounded Marisa, her confusion didn't last long as an injured Mario using a now conscious Reimu as a human crutch approached the witch from behind.

"Ugh, Yukari, don't tell me you had something to do with all of this." Reimu asked the smug youkai.

"Oh Reimu… so perceptive. But perhaps you worry less about me and more about your friend." Yukari pointed out.

"I'm fine," Mario assured, "but I want answers Yukari. Just what are we doing here?"

"You'll get your answers soon enough," the youkai replied, "until then, I hope you and your brother are enjoying your stay in Gensokyo."

And with that, the Yakumo trio all retreated into their respective gaps, Mario, Reimu and Marisa let out frustrated sighs.

"Why is she so mysterious all the time?" Mario asked.

"We've been asking the same question for years da ze," Marisa replied summoning her broom and mounting it, "you can hand Mario over Reimu, I can carry 'im."

"I was gonna do that regardless. I'll be right behind you guys." Reimu said as Mario got onto the levitating broom with the witch, weighing it down a little bit, but it still took off with no problem.

"This broom really is for one person isn't it?" Mario asked, Marisa only nodded silently in response.

A few more moments of silence.

"Eh… sorry for blaming you on breakin' that window."

"Yeah… and sorry for body tackling you."

"It's not a big deal. I just got… a little salty when I found out you were living with Reimu." Marisa said in a lower voice.

"What about Reimu?" The shrine maiden said, trying to eavesdrop, Marisa looked away and blushed.

"It's nothin'! Don't worry about what I said!"

"She said that she was salty about me living-"

"DAMMIT MARIO I WILL KICK YOU OFF OF THIS BROOM!"

"You can tell me later Mario," Reimu said, "we need to get you fixed up. Or to Eintei."

"Can you fix me up instead Reimu?" Mario asked, thinking back to the death stare Reisen gave him earlier.

"Fine, I'm no doctor though." Reimu said as she descended onto the shrine's grounds, and she was greeted with a snoring Suika and her drinking partner Yoshi, both of them were sprawled out on the shrine's porch.

"Freeloaders…" Reimu mumbled to herself as she picked up the newspaper Mario threw on the porch earlier. Reimu's eyes scanned the newspaper, and she was having a really hard time believing what she was reading.

"Random mounds of bananas appearing in various Gensokyo locations…? That's absurd, is Aya even trying anymore?" Reimu sighed as she crumpled the paper up.

"Are you implying that she was trying in the first place?" Marisa replied.

"Eh, that's true."

"Bananas? I know an ape with an entire pile of bananas, maybe Yukari teleported him here… or something." Mario said.

"Y'know the worst part is that Yukari would totally do something like that… you feel like investigating that tomorrow Reimu?" Marisa asked, the shrine maiden gave a 'why the hell not?' shrug.

"Alright, see y'all tomorrow then! And thanks for covering me back there Mario, I owe you one for that." Marisa said as she took off, leaving only Mario and Reimu, and the latter was already halfway inside the shrine.

"C'mon Mario. I'm gonna get you fixed up."

"Coming." The plumber responded, making his way inside the shrine. The sun had started to set, a mix of red and orange had painted the sky that evening, thus ending another day in Gensokyo.

*END*

Notes:

Hey there! Welcome to a new saga in Nintendo x Touhou. This one is gonna be a little different, as I'm taking a more slice of life/episodic approach to this series. I hope you guys understand.

Y'know this chapter was originally gonna be a two parter, but I figured, this is the first chapter in a saga, so why not make it longer than usual?

As always, if you have any comments or critiques, lemme know. I'd love to hear them.

*Epilogue*

Miles and miles below Gensokyo, in the Former Capital of Hell, Yuugi Hoshiguma had quickly recovered from being punched by a giant, humanlike hand. The oni smiled.

Finally. A challenge, maybe I'll exert myself… just this once!

"You're not bad, for a giant stinkin' ape!" Yuugi insulted, "but it's gonna take a little more than a love tap to take me out!"