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A Game2002 Production

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The atmosphere of the night and the forest was creepy as Junko and Yuugiri made their way through the latter. Both zombies were currently dressed in their casual clothing that they usually wore when practicing indoors.

Looking around in fright as she held close to Yuugiri, who didn't seem faze by the setting at all, Junko said over and over, "Please don't let anything scary show up... Please don't let anything scary show up...!"

"Relax, Lady Junko," Yuugiri told her. "I'm sure if something does show up, it probably wouldn't have any interest in attacking corpses like us."

"I'm not sure if they'll even see us as corpses, considering that we are walking and all..." replied Junko. "We still don't know where we are yet... or where the others are..."

It was then they both noticed light coming from the distance. Intrigued, they decided to head over there, hoping that whatever it was, it would be of help to them.

Arriving at the source of the light, they saw that it was a small shack that had light coming from the window. "A house?" said Yuugiri curiously.

"I wonder who lives there," wondered Junko.

The two zombies approached the house carefully in order to not disturb whoever was in there, lest they get freaked out by their presence, and looked into the window. While they didn't see anyone, they saw various complicated machinery and a couple of computers.

"What are those contraptions?" wondered Yuugiri.

"I don't know... Other than those computers, I've never seen anything like those in my life... New inventions that appeared after my death?" wondered Junko.

Just as they were wondering who would live in a place like this, a flashlight was suddenly shined onto them from behind, shocking them and making them turn around. They saw standing before them a bespectacled, elderly man wearing a lab coat. "Why hello there, ladies!" he said to them in a friendly tone. "I didn't expect to see anyone else out here!"

"Oh no... Oh no...! He saw us...! What are we going to do...?!" Junko said in her head while trembling in fright nonstop.

Yuugiri was worried as well that someone saw them without their makeups, but she kept a calm composure, trying her best not to show any form of fear. In fact, she was ready to use violence if she had to.

The old man adjusted his glasses as he leaned forward to get a better look at the two zombies, which only made them more nervous. "No offense, but you both look like you could use a bit of cleaning," he said to them. "I assume you got yourself dirty while out here?"

Junko and Yuugiri looked at each other, somewhat relieved that this person didn't seem to realize they were zombies. However, what he asked them next made them worried again. "Those are quite some stitches you have on your bodies!" he said while noting Junko's stitches that kept her patched up body together and also the one that went around Yuugiri's neck. "Did you get into serious injuries?"

Junko slowly nodded her head while continuing to tremble in fear. "Ye... Yes... We got into... serious injuries... but we're much better now...!" She was hoping that she could continue to fool this person.

"Well, at least you look alive and well," said the old man, and then he took out a square-shaped device that had a radar on it. "For some reason, my radar isn't picking you up... at least as living beings."

Junko gasped upon hearing this, while Yuugiri had a confused look, as she didn't know what a radar was.

"This ghost radar is used for detecting ghosts and any creature that are not considered living things, though that doesn't necessary mean they're non-living objects, just beings that are considered undeads," explained the man while looking at the radar. "Because you know, ghosts are undeads. Funny how it's registering you two as ghosts, or undead beings..."

"Oh no...! We're done for!" Junko said with even more fear as she grabbed onto Yuugiri, who told her to keep calm and that everything would be all right.

Just as the old man was wondering about this, there was suddenly a sound coming from inside the shack. He immediately rushed inside it and headed for one of the computers.

Seeing that he was gone for the meantime, Junko and Yuugiri thought about leaving. They looked into the window first and saw the old man speaking to someone through the computer, and they could hear whoever was in the computer spouting about how things were more dangerous than he thought.

Thinking that this didn't have anything to do with them, the zombies decided to bail before the old man returned to them, but what they heard next made them stop in their tracks. The person in the computer talked about being accompanied by a mummy girl and a crazy woman with pale skin who looks like a zombie.

Hearing this, Junko and Yuugiri were surprised. While they didn't know who the mummy girl was, hearing about a crazy woman who looks like a zombie was more than enough to tell them who it was. "Tae?!" said Junko loudly.

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ZOMBIE LAND SAGA

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MARIO

ZOMBIES' SUPERSTAR SAGA

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Chapter 1
A Haunted Start

Several hours earlier...

Like when they always had a meeting, Franchouchou were all seated on their chairs located in their mansion's "dungeon," and Kotaro was standing before them, in front of a blackboard. With his hands on his hips, he said to them, "Special announcement, zombies, so get your ears up and listening! A few weeks from now, there will be an idol event in Tokyo, and I'm trying to get you lot into it!"

The idols were surprised to hear this. "Tokyo? Why there all of a sudden?" asked Ai.

"Because we need to do more than just attracting the attention of people in Saga," replied Kotaro. "We also need to attract the attention of the rest of the country as well, and what better place to go to than the capital of Japan?"

"Sounds like a good idea!" agreed Sakura with a nod.

"However, registration requires someone to be there in person," continued Kotaro. "Therefore, I will be going there to reserve a spot for you lot!"

"So we're going to Tokyo?" asked Lily.

"Nope, I'm going alone for now!" Kotaro said to him. "There's no reason for you bunch to tag along at the moment. You will only be going there once I've managed to earn you a spot!"

"Why aren't you taking us along?" asked Junko.

Looking at her, he replied, "Think of the fee! Getting there by plane and back ain't cheap! I can't even be sure if I can reserve a spot for you zombies yet, so in order to save up on money, I'll be going there alone and back, and when it's decided that you will perform in Tokyo, I will take you along! Therefore, in the meantime, you bunch get to practice with your latest dance moves! In case we can't perform in Tokyo, we will at least perform here in Saga, so get working, ya rotten bunch!"

"Yeah, yeah... You didn't have to throw in rotten at the end, did you?" said Saki, not looking too pleased.

"I'll be gone for a few days, and even after I'm done with my business there, I will take some time to go on a tour in Tokyo, something you lot don't have the privilege of doing!" said Kotaro in a mocking manner. He then went up to an annoyed Saki and poked his face close to hers. "Feels bad, eh? You zombies are cooped up here I enjoy my time out there! If I'm feeling generous, I might be some cheap souvenirs for you! Though I can't decide what sort of souvenir is fitting for a bunch of rotten corpse like you! Hohoho!"

Frustrated, Saki punched the producer hard in the guts, causing him to fall back and curl up in pain with his hands on the spot that was hit. Standing up, Saki shouted at him, "You deserve that for constantly badmouthing us!"

"Perhaps..." said the producer in pain.

"Not perhaps! You definitely do!" said Saki angrily. Ai and Yuugiri both nodded in agreement.

"In any case..." said Kotaro as he stood back up after getting over the pain. "While I'm gone, make sure you don't leave the mansion, but if you do have to leave for whatever reason, even though I can't think of any, then make sure to apply your makeups first. You don't want people seeing you as zombies and blowing you to bits, don't you?"

"So... when are you leaving?" Sakura asked him while raising her arm.

Kotaro looked at his watch and then said, "Today and now! All right! I'm packing my bags and heading for the airport! Good luck to me, ya rotten bunch!" He then zoomed out of the room at a fast speed.

The zombies stared at the door for a few seconds, and then Saki asked, "Anyone still can't get used to his shenanigans?" All the others raised their hands, except for the ever mindless Tae, but when she saw them doing this, she raised her hand as well, though simply because to mimic them.

That night, the zombies, while dressed in their indoor casual clothing, were practicing their dance moves to the new song they came up with.

After almost an hour of practicing, they came to a stop to catch their breaths. "All right, I think that's enough for today," said Ai while breathing heavily. "I think we did a great job! Don't you think so?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah! I can't to perform it in the public!"

"Let's hope Kotaro is able to reserve us a spot in the concert in Tokyo, then!" said Junko.

"Or we can just perform here in Saga if he can't," said Saki. "Not like there's anything wrong with that!"

Ai then went over to the laptop that played the song they were dancing to and saved the music file into a USB drive before removing the latter and putting it away in her pocket.

As they were leaving the room, Saki said, "I'm thinking... Since shades is gone, why don't we use this opportunity to... use the bath?"

The other zombies perked up their heads when they heard this. "But Tatsumi told us not to use the bathroom...!" Junko reminded her.

"He's not home, so who's gonna stop us?" said Saki. "Don't you want to be able to take a proper bath for once? Don't tell me you enjoy dowsing yourself out in the yard with a hose instead!"

Ai sniffed herself and then said, "So long as we don't leave behind evidences, I'm sure it's all right."

"Wouldn't he notice the quantity of the soaps decreasing?" asked a worried Sakura.

"So what if he gets mad at us? What's the worse he can do to us? I'd like to see him try his worst!" said Saki, not looking scared at all.

"Well, he did suggest cutting our hairs at one point, and that's probably because our hair won't grow back due to us being dead..." said Sakura.

Hearing this, Lily became shocked and placed his hands over his head. "Lily doesn't want to lose her cute hairstyle!"

"Don't worry, shrimpy! He's not touching any of our hairs!" Saki said to him with confidence. "All right! Let's charge for the bathroom and clean ourselves properly for the first time!"

As they were heading down the hall, they noticed Romera barking at a drawer. Curious, the zombies went up to him, and Sakura asked the zombie dog, "Romero, what's wrong?"

The dog kept on barking at the drawer. To be precise, underneath the drawer. Thinking that there was something underneath it, Sakura ducked down to look inside. All of sudden, a mouse charged out from underneath the drawer and latched onto her face. She screamed as she shot back up and knocked the mouse off her face, and the mouse flew onto Junko's leg and began clawing her.

Junko shrieked loudly as she kicked her leg against the air fast, causing the mouse to fly away and falling back onto the floor. Seeing the mouth, Tae began barking like a dog as she chased after it, and Romero did the same. The two zombies knocked down several things as they chased the mouse all over the place, while the others panicked and wondered what to do.

"Quick! Open the door and let the mouse out!" suggested Ai.

Acting fast, Saki ran to the front door and swung it open before telling those two to chase the mouse outside. When the mouse saw that there was a way out, it ran for the exit. Tae and Romero followed the mouse all the way out of the house. The mouse slipped through the gate, and both Tae and Romero performed an amazing leap over the gate to continue chasing the mouse down the path.

The zombies ran up to the front door, and Saki shouted, "Yeah, that's it, Tae! Go get that mouse!"

"Wow! They really chased that mouse out of the house and even followed it all the way!" said Lily.

"Yeah! They sure are dedicated, right?" said Sakura with a smile.

A few seconds later, their smiles disappeared, and after a couple more seconds, looks of shock appeared on their faces. "TAE! ROMERO!" they shouted. Without a second thought, all six zombies rushed out of the gate and ran in the direction Tae and Romero headed.

"We have to get them back before anyone sees them!" said Ai in panic.

"We didn't put on our makeups!" Sakura brought up.

"We don't have time for that!" Saki told her. "Plus, it's nighttime, so there shouldn't be anyone..." All of sudden, light was shined onto them.

They looked and saw that it was the policeman who kept on running into them in the past. Looks of shock appeared on their faces as the policeman cried, "Zombies again! And there's six of them!"

Before he could do anything else, Saki rushed up to him and kneed him in the guts before karate chopping him in the back of his neck to knock him out. The other zombies were shocked by her actions, and Sakura asked, "What are you doing, Saki?!"

"You should be thanking me!" Saki said to her. "Anyway, let's go!" The zombies then continued going after Tae and Romero. Junko said sorry to the unconscious policeman as she ran past him.

The group of six followed the sound of barking down the path until they came to manhole with its lid open. Listening closely, they could hear sound coming from down below. "Did they... go down there...?" asked Sakura.

"Sounds like it," said Saki. "C'mon! Let's go!"

"Ugh... Lily doesn't want to go into the sewer..." said Lily.

Looking at him, Saki asked, "Would you rather stay here and got spotted by passersby? What choice do we have?"

"Some of us can always go back to the mansion first," replied Lily.

"Is someone there?" asked a voice. Hearing this, the zombies hurriedly jumped down the manhole without a second thought. Another police officer showed up shortly afterwards and shined his flashlight at the manhole. "Who didn't cover this up? It's dangerous!"

Down in the sewer, the zombies watched as the policeman covered up the manhole with its lid, which was placed at the side. "Well, let's move forward," suggested Saki as she took the lead.

Fortunately for them, there wasn't much water down below, so they were mostly walking on dry ground. This didn't make the place any cleaner, though. "Ugh... I can't believe we're down in a place like this..." said Ai in disgust while pinching her nose shut.

"Let's find Lady Tae and Romero as soon as possible and then get out of here," said Yuugiri. "I have admit that this is not an ideal place for me to be..."

Sakura called out loud, "Tae! Romero! Where are you? Please respond!" Not too long after she called out, they all heard Tae's voice crying from the distance and echoing.

"They must be over there!" said Saki, pointing up ahead. The zombies headed straight ahead and turned around a corner. After a bit more running, they finally found Tae and Romero at a dead end.

"Tae! Romero!" Sakura called out to them in concern as she ran up to them. "Found you at last! How can you run out of the house like this? Bad girl! Bad dog!"

Romero had a guilty look on his face as he whimpered, though Tae simply stared at her and made no noise.

"Good thing nothing turned out bad," said Ai. "C'mon, let's get out of here now. I can't stand being in this sewer any longer..."

As they were getting ready to leave, Lily noticed something and told the others about it. They looked at what he was pointing at: several wooden boards blocking an entrance into a passage, and there was light coming out from behind them.

"Huh? Why is there light coming from in there?" wondered Junko.

"Is this not normal?" asked Yuugiri. The others shook their heads.

"Want to see what's in there?" suggested Saki. Without waiting for replies, she went up to the wooden boards and began yanking them off. After becoming a zombie, she realized that her strength was slightly stronger than when she was human. While not strong enough to, like, lift a car, she could at least lift things that usually requires two or three people to lift.

After removing all the wooden boards, the zombies were greeted with the sight of a golden pipe sticking out of the wall in there, and rainbow-colored light was pouring out of its entrance, which was big enough to fit a person.

"What... What is that?" asked Sakura in surprise.

"It's so beautiful!" commented Junko as she looked at the multicolored light.

"Whoa... Never seen anything like this before!" said Saki. She began inching towards the pipe, while the others told her to be careful. She slowly reached her hand into the pipe. "I wonder what's in there?"

"Be careful... It may be dangerous..." Ai warned her.

Despite Ai's warning, Saki continued to move closer to the pipe until she was standing within it. Turning to the others, she said with a smile, "See? Nothing at all! C'mon! Let's go in there and see what's on the other side!"

"Are you sure it's safe...?" asked a worried Sakura.

"What's the worst that can happen? Don't be such a chicken!" Saki told her, and then she turned to go deeper into the pipe. The others looked at each other and shrugged before joining her in the pipe.

When they were inside the pipe, they were greeted with the extraordinary sight of a scenery made of colorful light. It was completely out of this world. They didn't look like they were inside a pipe any longer, though their surroundings were still narrow, and they were moving in a single line due to the lack of space. "Wow! It's so beautiful!" commented Lily.

"Just what is this place?!" asked a surprised Ai.

"I don't know, but I'm liking what I saw!" said Saki. "Can't wait to see what's on the... WAAAA!" Saki suddenly stepped on a slippery slope and slid down at a fast speed.

"SAKI!" gasped Sakura as she leaned down the slope.

"What happened?!" Ai asked her.

"Saki slid down!" replied Sakura. Without a second thought, the red-haired zombie tossed herself forward, sliding down the slope, screaming as she did.

The other zombies were shocked by her action. Not knowing what else to do, they all decided to follow suit and thus went down the slope one by one.

The zombies screamed loudly as they found themselves sliding down the one-way path at a fast speed. They encountered several turns slopes that didn't slow them down one bit. All the while, the rainbow scenery around them didn't change.

Sakura could see Saki a bit of a distance before her, and she tried to move forward and reach out to her. Behind Sakura, Ai could see the red-haired zombie and struggle to catch up with her. Sakura suddenly made a turn to the side, while Ai found herself moving straight ahead as if there was a fork in the road and they went different directions.

Each of the zombies screamed as they began to move in separate directions in pairs. Sakura and Saki went down one path, Junko and Yuugiri traveled down another, Ai and Tae went together, while Lily and Romero traveled together. The zombies kept on screaming as they traveled down their respective pathways at a fast speed, never once slowing down.

"WHEN IS THIS GOING TO STOP?!" screamed Ai. Behind her, Tae was sliding on her front while making her usual zombie-like cry.

Ai continued to scream as she traveled at a fast speed. Suddenly, she found herself being shot upwards, and before she knew it, the scenery around her was no longer rainbow-colored, but the night sky. She could even see the moon in the distance.

Both Ai and Tae found themselves up in the air and then falling back down, and they hit solid ground, with the former landing on the latter. "Phew... Finally..." said Ai as she stood up from Tae. Due to being zombies, they didn't feel pain at all from the fall. "What in the world was that...?"

She looked around to find herself standing in what appeared to be a yard, as there was a large mansion before her. At first, she thought it was their mansion, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't the same one. She noticed that there were lots of trees around them, thus making it look like they were in a forest.

"What is this place...?" she wondered. She also looked for the pipe they came out from, but for some reason, it was nowhere to be seen. "Where's that pipe...? Oh no... This better not mean we can't go back... At least I should find out what this place is first... and also where the others went..."

She looked at the mansion and decided to check it out first. She told Tae to tag along and not walk off on her own, and the mindless zombie followed her as the latter went inside the mansion through its backdoor.

The door was unlocked, and when Ai looked inside, there was no light at all. In fact, the interior was dirty and broken, as if there was nobody living here. She thought that this was for the best, as she didn't want anyone to see a pair of zombies showing up in their house uninvited. Just in case, she motioned for Tae to be quiet, even though she wasn't sure if the latter would obey her.

The two quietly made their way through the dark interior of the mansion, all the while being aware of their surroundings. "What is this place...?" Ai wondered as she looked around. The mansion, while old, appeared to be a rich and luxurious one if the place was clean. Broken pieces of furniture were all over the place, and there were also portraits depicting people she was unfamiliar with. She was sure that some of the people don't actually look like humans.

When those two stepped out into a hallway, they noticed yellow light coming from the corner on the far end of the place. Curious but also cautious, Ai got closer to the light, while Tae followed her. The source of the light then appeared from around the corner, revealing itself to be a...

"Ghost?!" said Ai in shock upon seeing that a golden ghost with large yellow eyes had showed up. Tae simply stared at said ghost with a mindless expression.

Her legs wobbling in terror, Ai took steps back slowly as the ghost slowly floated in her direction while constantly staring at her with a large smile on its face, and a mischievous one at that. As Ai continued to glue her eyes to the ghost in shock, she felt Tae shaking her by the shoulder as if trying to tell her something. Ai looked at Tae and noticed her looking in the other direction, and when the former looked there, she was horrified to see a second ghost there.

The second ghost suddenly lunged forward and yelled into both their faces. Ai screamed in terror before grabbing Tae by the collar and rushing past the first ghost encountered at a fast speed. Both the ghosts laughed hysterically at her shocked response before deciding to go after her.

Ai ran for her life, not bothering to look back at all. She kept on running until she entered another room and shut the door tightly. She even grabbed a nearby table and placed it in front of the door before moving all the way to the back of the room with Tae, who wasn't conveying any form of expression at all, like always. "Were... Were those ghosts...?!" the bandaged zombie asked no one in particular. "How...? How is that possible?! They shouldn't exist!" Somehow, this was an ironic question to ask considering what she is...

Just when Ai thought she was safe, she freaked out again when both those ghosts phased right through the door to enter the room. The ghosts laughed mischievously as they floated closer and closer to the two zombies. "No! Stay back! Stay back!" Ai pleaded them while pushing herself against the wall behind herself as much as possible. However, the ghosts only came closer and closer.

When Tae noticed how horrified Ai was and even on the verge of tears, her instinct of protecting someone close to her kicked in. A look of anger appeared on the zombie's face as she growled like a beast at the ghosts, though they didn't show signs of fear at all and simply laughed at her.

Suddenly, the door flung open, pushing away the table that was blocking it, and everyone turned to look there to see a man carrying something on his back standing there. Due to the lack of light, Ai couldn't make out what he looks like. The two ghosts turned to the newcomer and decided to go after him instead.

Out of nowhere, the man released bright light that stunned both the ghosts, and then he used what appeared to be a vacuum cleaner to began sucking in one of the ghosts.

The ghost cried in terror as he tried to escape the sucking force, but it was ultimately no match for the vacuum cleaner and thus got sucked into it.

The other ghost was horrified at what happened to his companion, so he bailed. The man chased him, and right before the ghost could phase out of the room, he managed to catch him by his "tail" with the vacuum cleaner's suction power. The ghost cried in terror as he struggled to escape, only to get sucked inside it like his companion in the end.

Ai was breathing heavily as she tried to comprehend what on earth happened just now. "Who... Who is that guy...?" she wondered.

The man then turned to face her and Tae before turning on a flashlight to shine onto them. "You're safe now!" he said to them.

Ai was relieved to be saved by this man at first, only to immediately remember that she was a zombie and would most definitely terrify whoever this person was. When the flashlight was shined onto her shocked expression, she could see that the person standing before her was a male adult with a moustache, and his attire consisted of green and blue overalls and a green hat with a capital L printed on it.

Judging from the man's expression, Ai could tell that he was stunned by her and Tae's unnatural skin colors. Both sides stared at each other in silence for several seconds, and then Tae broke the silence by suddenly lunging at the man and grabbing onto his shoulders to "roar" into his face. "AAAAAAHHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU?!" he cried in terror.

"TAE! DON'T ATTACK HIM!" Ai cried out to the mindless zombie as she hurriedly grabbed her from behind in an attempt to pull her away. The man continued to scream as he struggled to push Tae away. They were all interrupted when something in the room moved and made a loud thud. Everyone turned to the source of the sound and saw a piano that was in the room all along, except it was closer to them than before.

The top of the piano suddenly opened, revealing a sharp set of teeth, and let out a cry that sounded like someone pounded all its keys at once. Both Ai and the man in green screamed at the top of their voices. The bizarre piano lunged forward in attempt to bite them with its teeth, but they avoided it and rushed out of the room. Using its wooden legs, the piano gave chase out of the room and ran after them at a relatively fast speed, though they were faster.

"HOW IS THAT PIANO ALIVE?!" asked Ai as she ran for her life next to the man, all the while with one arm wrapped around Tae's body to carry her along.

"IT'S DEFINITELY DA WORK OF A POSSESSA!" replied the man.

"A what?!"

"Possessa! Ghosts that-a possess various objects to give life to them!" explained the man.

"How can something like that even exist?!" asked Ai.

"You've seen eet with your own eyes now, didn't you?!" the man said to her.

The group of three ran through the place with the monstrous piano chasing them nonstop. They eventually ran up a staircase, hoping that the piano wouldn't be able to climb it. However, when they looked down, they were shocked to see that it could climb the stairs with no issues, so they ran again.

After rushing down another hallway, they entered one of the doors there and hid behind a sofa in there. They were thinking that due to the small size of the door and the large size of the piano, the latter shouldn't be able to come in.

"We should be safe here..." said Ai.

"I hope..." said the man. He and Ai then looked at each other, and then Tae joined in staring at him afterwards. Moving back from them in fright, the man asked them while pointing his vacuum cleaner at them, "Who are you two?! What-a even are you two?! Whose side are you on?!"

"I can at least tell you I'm not on the same side as whatever the creeps are that live here!" Ai told him.

"Will you harm me?" asked the man.

Ai thought for a while and then said, "I won't... and I'll make sure she won't as well..." She pointed at Tae when she said the last part.

"Just don't-a make things any harda for me! Eet wuz bad-a enough E. Gadd dragged me into theez just to find his lost assistants!" said the man before whipping out a foldable handheld device with two screens. "Speaking of which, I betta contact him about-a theez!

After inputting certain commands onto the device, a picture of a bespectacled old man appeared on the top screen. "Luigi!" the old man said to him. "How's it going over there?"

"Professa! I ran into a Possessa, and eet seems to be more dangerous than ones I've encountered before!" the man referred to as Luigi told him. "It possessed a piano and somehow made eet grow teeth and eez now coming after me! To make things even complicated, there's theez weird bandaged girl and a crazy woman with odd skin color who looks almost like a zombie here with me! Da latter even attacked me at first!"

"Huh? What did you say about the latter?" asked the old man.

"I said a mummy girl and a zombie-like lady are with me!" repeated Luigi.

"Mummy?" said Ai curiously. She then looked at her bandaged arms and thought about what he said for a few seconds before finally understanding what he meant. "Huh, never thought of myself as one before..."

Suddenly, Junko and Yuugi appeared on the screen next to the old man. "Tae? Is that you over there?" asked Junko. Luigi was, needless to say, surprised by the appearance of two girls with pale skin showing up.

Hearing that voice and recognizing it, Ai rushed over to Luigi to look at the device. "Junko! Yuugiri!" she said in surprise.

"Ai! It's you! I'm so glad you're all right!" said Junko happily.

"Tae is with me and fine as well," Ai told her.

"Whoa there, girls! You know each other?" the old man asked the two zombies with him.

Suddenly, their reunion was interrupted by the wall being crashed through. The three present in the room looked up to see that the living piano had crashed right through the wall. "IT'S HERE!" screamed Luigi.

"Calm down, Luigi! Concentrate on finding a way to hurt it, and the Possessor will come out, then you suck it in with your Poltergust 5000!" the old man told him. "You've done something like this before! I know you can do it again!"

"Easier said than done!" said Luigi while looking around in panic for anything he could use against the piano.

Knowing that they were behind the sofa, the piano lunged in that direction and destroyed it with its weight, but all three of them got out of the way in time. Luigi and Ai backed up against a wall in fright, but Tae was down on all fours while growling at the piano. "What's your friend-a doing?!" Luigi asked Ai.

Before Ai could give him a reply, Tae let out cry as she pounced at the piano. Jumping into its "mouth," she began ripping out the strings in there and flinging them all over the place. The piano evidently felt pain from this, as it thrashed around in an attempt to shake her off, and it also slammed down its lid onto her over and over. Luigi and Ai were in awe at what was happening.

Tae then grabbed the lid when it came down again and then, with all her strength, ripped it off from the rest of the body. She then flung it in Ai and Luigi's direction without thinking much. Ai screamed as she hurriedly got out of the way, but Luigi didn't run and ended up getting smacked in the entire body by the lid and got pressed against the wall. The lid fell over, revealing a knocked out Luigi.

With the piano badly ruined, a white ghost with a grumpy face, the Possessor, emerged from its wreckage and let out a cry of frustration as it glared at Tae, who glared back. Tae let out an angry cry as she leaped at the ghost, swinging her hand at it. However, her hand passed through the Possessor as if the latter was thin air, and he laughed in response.

The ghost then got onto Tae's back and grabbed her hair, pulling them hard. The zombie cried in anger while thrashing around to get him off, but when her hands kept on passing through the ghost, even though the latter could touch her.

Ai continued to sit against the wall, watching the two duel in shock. Realizing that she had to help Tae, since the latter was clearly helpless against the Possessor, Ai turned to the unconscious Luigi and tried to wake him up. Luigi didn't get up, and when Ai looked at the vacuum cleaner he was carrying and remembered what it did, she picked him up his arm and carried him closer to Tae and the ghost.

Using her other arm, Ai pointed the vacuum cleaner at the ghost and shouted at it, "Hey you! Eat this!" She then turned on the vacuum cleaner, and the Possessor cried in terror as he began getting sucked in. The ghost tried his best to escape, but Ai turned the suction power to the max while closing in on him. Eventually, the ghost was sucked into the vacuum cleaner, and then she turned it off and sighed in relief.

"Phew... That should do the trick..." she said. She then looked at Tae, who was scratching her head while looking around in confusion as if searching for the ghost. "I've dealt with it, Tae. It's all right now."

It was then Luigi woke up, and after removing himself from Ai, he looked around and asked, "Where's da ghost?"

"I took care of it using your... vacuum cleaner," Ai told him.

"Oh, you did?" said Luigi as he looked at the device he was carrying. "Thanks! Would be troublesome eef that-a ghost ran off..."

Just then, they heard the sound of something creaking and were surprised. Turning to the side, they saw a wardrobe door slowly opening, and behind it were two midgets wearing hats that resembled mushroom caps. They had looks of fear on their faces. "Oh, there you are!" Luigi said to them. "I was looking for you!"

"Thanks for the coming for us, Luigi..." said one of the midgets. "We were so terrified by the ghosts here that we kept on hiding here and hoped that someone would come rescue us..."

"Or we find the chance to escape when there is one..." said the other midget. "We thought that would never come..."

The two midgets stepped out of the wardrobe and approached those three. Looking at Ai and Tae, one of them said to them, "We saw what you did just now. Don't know who you are, but thanks!"

"Uh... You're welcome..." said Ai, looking somewhat nervous and unsure.

Tae, on the other hand, kept on staring at the two midgets, or to be precise, their mushroom "hats." Suddenly, the zombie opened her mouth and lunged at one of them.

BGM: Professor E. Gadd (Luigi's Mansion)

Ai and Tae were finally reunited with Junko and Yuugiri. The four zombies were currently inside the shack belonging to the old man, whose name they learned was E. Gadd.

Luigi and the two Toad assistants rescued from the mansion had widened eyes as they looked at the four zombie girls standing before them, while E. Gadd had a look of interest.

Ai and Junko both looked nervous and even scared, while Yuugiri had a calm and collected look. Tae was being herself, like always.

The zombies had just explained to the four standing before them what they, and there was quite a bit of silence as both sides stared at each other. Luigi eventually broke the silence. Pointing at them, he asked, "So... you girls are zombies?" The three "intelligent" zombies nodded in response.

E. Gadd rubbed his hands and said in delight, "Hoohoo! What a discovery! I came here looking for ghosts, but I found reanimated corpses instead! I've heard about zombies many times before, but never came across one! I can't believe I'm finally looking at them! What a great day for a scientist like me!"

"Aren't... Aren't you scared of us...?" Junko asked him nervously.

"Well, you aren't attacking us," replied E. Gadd. "I see no reason to be scared if you are showing no signs of danger."

"She attacked us back there!" one of the Toads angrily said while pointing at Tae. When she turned to look at him, he freaked out and hid behind the other Toad, who looked equally scared.

"Sorry about Tae..." Ai apologized to him. "She's the only one among us who is mindless... She probably thought you look like a mushroom and so tried to eat you..."

"That's even scarier!" cried the Toad.

"Mindless?" said E. Gadd curiously.

Ai nodded. "The person who brought us back to life as zombies said that we were originally mindless, wandering around aimlessly and attacking anyone on sight. We eventually regained our consciousness and memories of when we were alive, except for Tae... She never woke up..."

The four "living" folks turned to look at Tae, who was looking all over the place with a tired-looking face while making groaning sounds.

"So... how did this person bring you back to life?" E. Gadd then asked the girls.

Ai shrugged. "No idea... He never told us how he did it... In fact, we know pretty much nothing about him other than his name... He doesn't share any of his personal info with us at all..."

"He's a pretty eccentric fellow if you ask me," said Yuugiri.

"Okay, putting aside that for now... You haven't introduced yourselves to us yet," E. Gadd said to them. "The four of us introduced ourselves to you earlier, so I guess it's only fair you do the same."

The zombies looked at each other and wondered if they should tell them their names. Ai then said to E. Gadd, "Before that, we would like to know where we are."

"You're in Gloomy Woods," E. Gadd told them.

Ai raised her eyebrows in response. "Gloomy Woods? Never heard of it... Which part of Japan is it in?"

Now it was those four's turns to raise their eyebrows. "Japan?" asked Luigi.

"Um... That's the country we're in... You seriously don't know...?" asked Ai.

"We're in the Mushroom Kingdom," one of the Toads told her.

Ai, Junko, and Yuugiri looked at each other in confusion. They had never heard of any place called Mushroom Kingdom, as if those four not hearing of Japan wasn't weird enough. Turning to them, Junko said, "We... We don't know any place called Mushroom Kingdom..."

"And we don't-a know any place called Japan..." said Luigi.

"Then... do you know America, China, England, or... Korea?" Ai asked them, only for them to shake their heads. "Seriously?! You don't know any of those countries?"

"How about this? You ever heard of Sarasaland, Luncheon Kingdom, Dinosaur Land, or Vibe Island?" one of the Toads asked her.

Those three zombies shook their heads in response. They were even more confused than before now. "If I may ask," said Yuugiri. "If you do not know Japan and claim that we are not in it at the moment, then how is it you are speaking Japanese?"

"Japanese? What we're speaking eez da universal language of da world," Luigi told her. "I don't-a think there's a specific term for eet..." What he said only boggled the minds of the zombies even more.

Frustrated by all these weird things she was hearing, Ai said with a raised volume, "Seriously! Stop messing around! You're talking like we're no longer on Earth but instead some alien planet!"

"We are on Earth," E. Gadd told her.

"Then why is it you don't know any of the countries I said and kept on bringing up locations we've never heard of?!" Ai said to him.

"That's what we would like to know!" one of the Toads said to him. "You're not making any sense in anything you're saying!"

E. Gadd raised his hands to silence them. "All right! Don't get into a fight now! Let's talk about this peacefully! First off, girls, how did you end up at this place?"

"We were going after our companion here after she ran out of our mansion," replied Yuugiri while pointing at Tae with her thumb. "We tracked her down into the sewer, and it was there we discovered a pipe with light shining out of it. We were curious about it, so we went inside. We ended up getting separated, and then we ended up in this location."

Now this sounded like something familiar to those four. "That-a sounds a lot like a warp pipe you went through," said Luigi.

"Warp pipe?" said Junko curiously.

"Warp pipes are common methods of transportation here," explained E. Gadd. "We use it to travel from place to place in a short amount of time."

"If you used a warp pipe to come here, then you shouldn't live that far," said one of the Toads. "Warp pipes don't take you to that great of a distance. At most just across an entire area."

"No, there are actually rumors of a special kind of warp pipe that is capable of sending people to completely different realities," said E. Gadd, which raised the interest of the others. "No one has actually seen it before or at least provide solid evidence, but if what you girls said is true, then I believe we may just have proven the existence of this special warp pipe! Can you girls lead the way back to where the pipe originally was?"

"Um... About that... The pipe disappeared after we came out of it..." Junko told him.

"Warp pipes may sometimes sink underground afta someone used eet," said Luigi. Everyone looked at him in response, which made him confused. "What?"

BGM Ends

No sooner after what Junko said, the entire group headed over to where she and Yuugiri first showed up after emerging from the warp pipe. It was an empty clearing somewhere in the woods, and the two Toads were currently digging the ground, while the others watched them.

After digging for about two meters, they both stopped, and one of them looked up and said, "There's nothing at all! Are we going to keep on digging?"

"I think that's enough," E. Gadd told them. "Considering that this is a warp pipe that connects between realms, I doubt you can simply find it by digging. For all we know, it may no longer exists in this reality."

"Does that mean we can't go back to our own world?!" Junko said in shock.

"That sounds like a problem..." said Yuugiri.

"Don't worry; I'll look into this special warp pipe and find a solution to things!" E. Gadd told her. "There's got to be more info on this warp pipe somewhere!"

"If we can't get back before Kotaro returns, he's going to throw a fit..." said Ai in a worried voice. "I'm still having a hard time buying this different world thing..."

While Luigi helped the Toad back onto the surface, E. Gadd said to the girls, "There are many mysteries to the world. You'll never know what is going to happen or what you will discover. You can't limit your beliefs to only what people say. That is why I became a scientist to learn about the mysteries and wonders of the world! Though admittedly, I'm more interested in subjects related to the paranormal, but anything unknown to me is still interesting and worth looking into!"

"I'm just reminded that-a you haven't told uz your names yet," Luigi said to them zombies after helping the Toads back to the surface.

"Right..." said Ai. "The reason I wanted to clarify where we are first is because... we keep our names a secret in order to avoid people finding out who we are when we were alive..."

"Why's that?" asked E. Gadd.

Ai then explained to them about how Kotaro brought them back to life as zombies in order to form an idol group in hopes of revitalizing people's interest in the Saga prefecture of Japan. She also told them that he disguises them as humans using makeups, as there were fear that people would persecute them if they found out they were zombies.

"The both of us were famous celebrities when we were alive," explained Ai while pointing at herself and Junko. "Therefore, we have the highest chance of being found out, that is why we avoid using our real names and only referred to ourselves using our stage names when out in the public. Anyway, my name's Ai Mizuno."

"I'm Junko Konno," said Junko. "Nice... Nice to meet you all..."

"My name is Yuugiri," said Yuugiri, and then she pointed at Tae with her hand. "And this here is Tae Yamada."

"Well, it's nice to know you girls!" E. Gadd said to them. "Interesting story you have as well!"

"No offense, but what you told us about being idols consisting of zombies... I think it's ridiculous..." said one of the Toads.

"I thought the same at first..." said Ai. "But in the end, things ended up very well. We actually succeeded in becoming popular and getting a large amount of fans."

"I also didn't like this idea at first, but I have to admit... I'm glad about the popularity that we received in the end!" said Junko.

"Even so, we still have to keep our identities as zombies a secret," said Yuugiri.

"So long as nothing goes wrong, that's good for you girls!" said E. Gadd. "By the way, are there any more of you?"

Ai nodded. "There's seven of us, and also a zombie dog. We all got separated after going into the pipe."

"It will definitely be a problem with they run into other people," said Yuugiri.

"Considering that this a warp pipe that we know almost nothing about, I can't say where they are currently," said E. Gadd, rubbing his chin. "We can only hope they're not too far from where we are..."

"I'm sure there will be reports of zombies popping out sooner or later," said one of the Toads. "I can already imagine the headlines and the panic it may cause..." Hearing this didn't make the zombies feel any better.

"What are we going to do in the meantime?" asked a worried Junko.

"I'll definitely look up more on this warp and try to get you all back home," E. Gadd assured her. "In the meantime, I'm afraid you are stuck here. Don't worry; the folks here are friendly and should help you! Assuming you find the right people... Maybe you can go to Mario or even find Princess Peach!"

"Princess?" asked Ai, sounding interested.

"She's da ruler of Mushroom Kingdom," Luigi told her. "Me and my older brother Mario are good friends with her."

"Won't they be scared to see us...?" asked Junko.

"Peach may probably freak outta bit, but I'm sure Mario will be able to handle eet," said Luigi. "Not many things surprise him, and he'z very open to anything new. He'z a friendly fellow, so I'm sure he will definitely help-a you girls, even if you are zombies!"

"Then it's decided!" said E. Gadd. "Luigi will take you to his house and meet Mario tomorrow morning! It's not safe to travel out in the woods late this night, so stay at my shack until it's daytime."

The zombies looked at each other, unsure about the situation they were in. They were still having a hard time accepting that they came into an entirely different world, one they have never heard of, and their method for returning was currently unavailable as well.

They were glad that the first people they met weren't scared of or hostile towards them just because they were zombies. For now, they agreed to accept the help of these people. Being in an entirely alien world, there was nothing they could rely on other than those they had become acquainted with, so there was no other option.

Their biggest worries now were that Sakura, Saki, Lily, and Romero were missing. Wherever they were, the zombies hoped they were all right and that whoever they ran into would be as nice as the folks they encountered.

TO BE CONTINUED

In Mario's words, let's-a go!

And here we have it, my next big story! A crossover between my absolute favorite anime series at the moment, Zombie Land Saga, and the acclaimed Mario series! This is the next big thing I couldn't wait to get out while I was working on The Song of Light! Now that the latter is finished, I can work on this!

It's true ZLS isn't action-oriented series, but I think I managed to find a way to get it to work. I hope you look forward to how I pull things off!

And I know the zombies are supposed to have a "moe filter" when viewed by the audiences so that they look attractive, but from the POV of other characters in the series, they look creepier and more disturbing. I'm going to ignore that in this story, however, and pretend that girls, even without their makeups, look cute and attractive at all times, as if the moe filter is permanently on.

By the way, despite the title, this story IS NOT an adaptation of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. I used "Superstar Saga" in the title because of the word Saga alone, as both titles have that word in it, so I thought this is a good opportunity to have fun with said word.

What do you think of the first chapter? I'll do my best to make this story as entertaining as possible!

Please stay tuned for more goodness!