Chapter Text
Rain poured down as shouting from a certain household was heard. Cries of pain, sobbing, and outright pleading was heard before the door was flung open and the 11-year old girl was thrown out into the cold.
Bleeding and bruised, she looked up at the two foreboding figures glaring at her with the hatred of a thousand suns.
“You’re lucky we’re sparing your life. Go now, before you stain our reputation.”
A croak emitted from the girl before she was silenced with the harsh feel of a kick. “B-but-”
“But nothing. You are not part of this family. You never were.” Her father growled. Her mother said nothing, simply staring at her coldly.
With that, the door slammed shut.
The girl immediately lunged forward and grasped the knob, the pain being overtaken by the sheer terror she was feeling. Small sobs, begs, PLEADS to be let back in, were heard from her. They were all she could muster through the pain.
They fell on deaf ears.
Clearly this was her punishment. Left to die at the hands of the cruel town.
Were they cruel though? If she wasn’t as bad as they said she was, why did she use her magic to…turn her teacher into a spoon?
She hadn’t meant to, but she had. All because she couldn’t control herself. All because she couldn’t be a normal girl no matter how hard she tried.
Maybe they were right. Maybe this was what she deserved.
But she couldn’t take this.
She sat down in front of the door, attempting to force it open. But it wouldn’t, it couldn’t.
They’d locked it. Of course.
This is what she deserved. She made her mistake. No amount of tears or words would fix this. Nothing she could do would make her a normal girl. She’d tried and failed.
The only people in the world that she could trust had thrown her out. The only home she had…wasn’t a home anymore.
She’d always be a disgusting witch that no one would love.
Tears overflowing, Ashley the Disgusting Witch walked out into the cold night, ready to make peace with her death.
…
“Ashley? Ashley?”
The young witch in training slowly opened her eyes and got up out of bed, her white nightgown reflecting the sun outside. Her sleep had been subpar…as usual. With an irritated sigh, she turned, noticing a small imp with a trident. “What is it, Red?”
“You wanna get out of bed? It’s nearly 11 in the morning.”
“No.”
“But you can’t stay in bed all day!”
“See if I don’t.” Ashley laid back down and covered her head with her blanket.
“...Please?”
No, Ashley. Don’t look at him. Don’t look towards him, don’t acknowledge him, just ignore him-
Ashley looked into his pleading puppy dog eyes.
Dammit.
“Fine.”
Ashley slowly stretched, beginning to walk out into the hallways of her mansion.
The two made their way to a giant library, where hundreds of books stood upon shelves. But these were no ordinary books.
These were magic books.
Books that would one day help Ashley become the greatest witch in the world.
You’d think she’d be excited at that, but you’d be lucky if you got a ‘meh’ out of her.
In any case, she looked up noticing a giant spellbook floating down towards her.
“Ah, Ms. Ashley, good morning!’
“Morning, Mr. Spellbook. What’s for breakfast?”
“Ah, I have used the last of the stuff in the refrigerator to make beans and eggs. Does that sound alright?”
“Sounds good to me!” Red chirped.
Ashley made an attempt to hide her smile.
…
After breakfast, Ashley changed into a red dress, put on her orange crown and began work on a new potion. One that she had been trying to work out for the past week.
One that she’d been failing at for the past week.
Everytime she’d tried to perfect the potion, it hadn’t worked, usually resulting in an explosion that usually blew a hole through their roof that she’d inevitably have to fix.
Today was no different.
Honestly, she shouldn’t even bother, considering she was a waste.
The only reason she did was because Red seemed to encourage her to do it, praise her for doing it.
If she succeeded, she was praised, if she failed, she was praised.
She’d been with him and Mr. Spellbook for the past year and a half and she still couldn’t figure out why he’d still care for her.
To say nothing of how she felt when he told her she was doing a good job. The feeling of getting congratulated or praised.
She hated it.
She craved it.
She hated herself for craving it.
Not a day went by when she didn’t want something more than what she currently had.
Someone she could confidently say cared other than Red, or Mr. Spellbook (And even then, it was only because she lived in their home).
“Ashley? Are you ok?”
Ashley blinked. “I’m fine, Red.” She said, harsher than she meant to. Noticing Red flinch, she repeated herself a bit softer. “I’m fine.
She looked out the window, desperate to get her self-loathing out of her mind.
It was nighttime.
Had she really been at it for this long?
She shook her head and began putting her ingredients into the pot together.
Molted lizard skin.
Mandrake root.
Fresh Apple.
And finally…a candy eye.
The sweet was just a substitute. After all, there wasn’t really anywhere she would be able to get matter such as alien eyes.
Besides, it shouldn’t make that much of a differe-
The pot shook before a giant cloud flew out of it, causing Red to leap back.
Ashley stared, a dark look crossing her face. Then, something dropped from her eyes. “I ruined it…again.”
“H-hey, we’ll get it next time.”
“I keep failing at it. Nothing I do is working. Why am I so stupid? Why am I so useless?”
“You’re not useless. Maybe you just need a break to figure out what’s wrong.” Red looked around, noticing they’d used the last of the ingredients. “...You wanna…head to the store with me? Maybe we can find the ingredients you need?”
“To the store? In the city?” She never went there. Cities meant people. People meant tormentors.
She couldn’t go. Not near them again.
But if she’s with Red…
“I guess so.” Ashley wiped away her tears.
“Great. Maybe we can get some food along the way.”
Ashley had to cover her face so Red wouldn’t see her smile.
…
The doors of the mansion opened and both Ashley and Red walked out into the night. Ashley was already brooding over her latest failure of a potion.
Red was picking up on this.
“Don’t worry, Ashley. When we get back, maybe we can try making it again.” Red suggested.
“Assuming it doesn’t blow up again.” Ashley muttered gloomily.
“Maybe the store has it! It has a lot of weird items! I’m sure you’ll nail it next time for sure!”
Ashley smiled a little. Maybe today wasn’t so bad after-
WHAM!
Somebody smacked into her, knocking her into the sidewalk.
It wasn’t hard, but it was hard enough for her to fall and land on her back. Her dollstuffed bunny flew out of her hand.
Physically, it didn’t hurt much. Maybe a bruise or two when she landed, but nothing really severe.
But mentally it triggered something in her. Brought her back to a time where she felt powerless and vulnerable.
And she HATED being vulnerable.
She could hear their voices now-
“Why can’t you just be a normal girl?!”
“A stain on our family!”
“You’re a monster!"
Her hair turned white and her eyes turned bright red, her thoughts blurring her vision. Immediately, Red ran in front of her.
“Woah, chill out, Ashley!”
Ashley quickly noticed Red and began to calm down, immediately noticing the person who bumped into wasn’t a person.
It was shaped like a bowling pin and wore sunglasses with a black cape and cleats, barely coming up to her waist.
It was an alien.
An alien that was already beginning to grow…blue in terror.
“P-pardon me, earth-folk! My f-fault entirely! Sorry for the miscommunication, but I…have to run!” With that, a dust cloud formed where the alien was before.
The gears slowly began turning in Ashley’s head.
“That alien…he’s the missing ingredient!” She immediately covered her mouth too late as she realized she was speaking out loud.
Red glanced at Ashley…then at the alien…then back again. He immediately put on a brave face. “Don’t worry, I’ll catch him for you!”
Before Ashley could object, Red was running down the street. “Hey, alien dude! Wait up!”
“AHHH!!! WHY IS THE LITTLE MAN CHASING ME??? I MEAN YOU NO HARM! AAAHHHH-”
Ashley stared for a minute before running after them.
…
Red eventually tuckered himself out while the alien managed to escape, screaming bloody murder as he ran down the street.
“I’m sorry, Ashley. I-I couldn’t keep up.”
Ashley just stared blankly at the alien now running down the street. She knew it had been running because of the fact that Red had been chasing it.
But it still reminded her of the reason she was alone.
As if she needed another reminder.
Ashley sighed. “It’s okay, Red.”
She grabbed his hand as they continued walking.
“I’ve got it figured out. I can just use you instead.”
“Oh…WAIT, WHAT?!” The young imp’s face turned to horror upon hearing those words.
“Joking. I’m joking, Red.”
“Oh. That’s really funny, Ashley.”
God, she really was the worst. “...Sorry, that was mean.”
Red smiled. “It’s fine.”
“It really isn’t. Why do you stay with me?”
“...Because you’re my friend.” Red looked around. “You sure you want to still head to the store? We can always go tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
Both began walking back to their mansion as Ashley contemplated the conversation they just had.
Obviously she had Red, and Mr. Spellbook to an extent, but outside of them, when was the last time someone actually liked having her around?
When was the last time someone cared about her?
When was the last time she had someone she could call…a friend?
It’s been years since she…left her hometown. But she still remembered. She wanted someone else, anyone else to see her for something other than a monster.
But she knew it was futile.
At least she’d have something to cry herself to sleep to tonight.
…
Meanwhile, over at a little company called WarioWare Inc….
“C’mon, Mona! Hurry up so we can leave already!”
“Calm down, Wario! Would it kill you to have a little patience!”
“Yeah, man, chill out. Just relax!”
The doors of the pink building opened as a young college student, a disco dancer with a blue afro and musical note mustache and a fat Mario-knockoff-
“HEY!!!”
I mean, a fat treasure hunter in a biker outfit with a mustache which was totally unlike Mario-
“That’s better!”
Walked out of the building. Wario, the largest of the three, immediately locked up the building before turning towards Mona. “What was taking you so long?!”
“Finishing up my microgames. Making these with no knowledge on the game system is really difficult. Where did you even get this?”
“Oh, I…borrowed it from some guy in a sewer.”
Mona and the dancer, Jimmy T, shared a look.
“Hey, don’t act like you wouldn’t have done it! You once shot at a hoard of police cars!”
“My pet elephant once shot at police officers.”
“Same differe-” Wario was suddenly tackled to the ground by the white alien.
“WARIOOOOOOOOO!!! IAMINGRAVEDANGER!!!IHAVEREASONTOBELIEVETHATAREDDEMONANDAWITCHAREPLANNINGONTERMINATINGMEFORCOLLIDINGWITHTHEM!!!”
“...Wah?” was all that came out of Wario’s mouth.
Jimmy diffused the situation. “Chill out, Orbulon! Slow down and tell us what you’re trying to say.”
“A girl and a demon are trying to destroy me for bumping into them!”
“A girl?!”
“WAH!” Wario promptly jumped before seeing two girls wearing Ninja outfits. The meeker one with orange pigtails gulped at Wario being scared of her pink haired comrade’s sudden appearance.
“Sorry for scaring you, Mr Wario.”
“Wah?! I wasn’t scared! Anyway, what’s this about a girl, Kat?”
“There’s rumors about a girl who lives in a Haunted Mansion in Agate Forest! I’ve heard she’s evil and is plotting to put a curse on the city.”
“So she lives on the edge of town, no one knows her, and she’s tried to destroy anyone who meets her. Sounds like my kinda person! One who doesn’t need to be paid that much!” Mona rolled her eyes as Wario got up. “Care to show dear old Wario where she is?”
Kat’s twin, aptly named Ana, promptly squeaked. “We can’t go there! She grants kids to…” she looked around before whispering, “H-E-L-L.”
Wario ignored her attempt to avoid swearing. “So what? I’ve fought pirates, gemstones, Toad AND MARIO! What’s one little girl gonna do to me?!”
“But I don’t wanna be caught by the girl…”
“C’mon, Ana! We’re ninjas! Ninjas aren’t scared of anything.”
“But I don’t wanna goooo!” Ana was on the verge of tears.
Wario was the first to notice, despite his crude and uncaring exterior.
“HeyHeyHey, don’t start crying, kid! If it makes you feel better, I can go with Waluigi.”
“Isn’t he asleep?” Jimmy asked
“He doesn’t need that much sleep.” Wario got on his motorcycle. “You guys got your games?”
“Yeah?”
“Good. Because I’m not opening up the building again. Orbulon, you go with Mona to your spaceship in case this girl tries to get you again. ”
Orbulon squirmed slightly. “Well, as fact matter, I lost the spaceship-”
“Like I said, you go with Mona to her mansion.”
“Wait, what, I never agreed to-”
“Great, thanks Mona, byeeeee!” With that, Wario zoomed off.
“Oh, come on!” Mona turned to Orbulon. “Well, it’s a good thing my parents aren’t there for once. C’mon, let’s go.”
“I thank you for your graciousness!”
As the crew went their separate ways, Wario headed for Agate Forest.
…
Ashley was asleep in her bed in her white pajamas, Red curled up beside her.
That being said, she was tossing and turning in her sleep.
Memories, ones she would rather forget, kept appearing in her dreams.
Nothing she did kept the voices, the screams, out of her head
“Why would you do that?!”
“P-Please, I-I changed her back-”
“You are going to get it now. You’ve doomed our entire family!”
“I never meant to-”
“We tried so hard…”
“They were the ones who-”
“Just shut up you disgusting inhuman-”
“Oh, hello! Uh, I mean uhhhhhh Who dares enter the library of Mr. Spell book!?
“Waaaaahhhh!!!”
Ashley woke up with a start at the sound of yelling.
For a moment, Ashley’s hearing faded as she became aware she’d been having a nightmare.
She looked down at her hands. They was shaking badly. She took a deep breath and the shaking was barely noticeable.
She looked to her right. Red was still asleep. And if Mr. Spellbook was downstairs then…who was with him?
Ashley crept out of her bed and walked down towards the library. She saw Mr. Spellbook levitating a fat treasure hunter in a plumber suit…wait a minute.
The spellbook was the first to notice.“Oh, sorry to wake you, Miss Ashley. I was in the middle of getting rid of this intruder.” A portal opened up underneath the guy in the plumber suit, alarmin.
“You’ll never silence me! I’ll turn you into shredded paper.”
“Famous last words.” The spellbook pulled him up, preparing to throw him through the portal.
Ashley had been weighing her options. Potentially let the intruder go through the portal to God knows where…or spare him.
For some unknown reason, she decided to show mercy. “Wait! …Let him go.”
“Let him go?”
“Yes.”
So the spellbook did. Wario promptly fell to the floor causing the room to shake a little. Ashley quickly observed him.
“Who are you?”
“Who am I? I’m Wario!”
“I’ve heard of you. You’re that owner of the microgame company.”
“They’re called Microga- Oh, you actually called them by the correct name. You a fan?”
The witch scoffed, blushing a little. “Hardly. What do you want?”
“Listen, one of my employees came screaming about how a witch and demon attempted to kill him over something.” Though Ashley’s expression barely changed, she cringed internally. “So I decided to come over here and ask you a few things. I’ll start with the first one. What exactly were you chasing him for?”
“I happened to need alien matter for a potion I was making. We were walking down the street when he knocked me to the ground. I…scared him and he ran away. I realized he fit the description for my missing ingrediant and my fri-” Ashley had to stop herself before continuing. “My assistant ran after him to get it.
“Yeah, that makes se- wait, potion?” Wario stared as if he was connecting the dots. Oh, boy. “You do magic?”
Ashley sighed again, growing irritated. It was two in the morning and this guy’s loudmouth energy was getting on her nerves. “Magic, Witchcraft, Sorcery. Whatever you like to believe. I specialize in the occult.”
“Yeah, I figured. I’ve worked with witches before.” The pot-bellied man picked his nose for a bit and flicked the gold away.
Then the lightbulb inside his head flickered on. “Wait, so what can you do with this magic of yours?”
“Anything really. I can summon monsters, fly on a broom, transform pe-” Ashley stopped herself (For the second time, Wario noted) before continuing. “...Transform things into different objects, and lift things with my mind. Part of the reason your alien was scared was because he saw my hair turn white. It happens when I…have strong reactions.”
Wario hummed for a bit. “Okay. You need alien gunk, huh? Well,how about a deal? See, a few of my employees have been preoccupied with their other jobs so I’m behind on a few microgames for this new release. I need a new set of games. You need some alien stuff for your potion. I can get you your alien matter if you can’t find it. In exchange, you help make some games for a new Warioware release. There’s a new console and I’m hoping to cash in on it.”
Ashley paused for a second. On one hand, she didn't exactly like trust this person she'donly just met. After all, this could just be some sort of trick to humiliate her.
On the other hand, she did need the matter to complete the potion and move on to the next level...
“...Alright, fine.”
“Great! Come by the building to drop the games off when you’re done!” Wario opened the door and began walking down to the street towards his bike where a tall man in a purple suit was waiting in the sidecar.
“What took you so long?”
“I just got us some help for the microgames! Now…do you know where to find alien gunk?”
“Why are you asking me? Ask the two guys that go into space every day!”
“Well, I was…” The two continued arguing as Ashley headed back to her room.
Evidently, she hadn’t been quiet enough because Red had woken up.
“Ashley?” Red yawned before speaking again. “What was all that noise?”
“Just a visitor. Go back to sleep, Red.”
“...Okay.”
Red fell asleep while Ashley stayed up for a bit, wondering what the next day would bring.
…
The young witch stared at the blank game kits that had appeared on her doorstep. Some memory chips were packaged inside Warioware Inc boxes. That alongside some cartridges, a console and a booklet. She picked it up.
Nintendo DS game creation kit.
Okay, let’s see…ROMS…RAMS..Here we go, transferring game data.
No doubt that this was what Wario wanted her to put her games on. Luckily, she had played Wario’s previous game releases (Red had gotten them as a gift) and gotten a good idea on what microgame ideas hadn’t been covered by his employees.
Not that she was a fan or anything!
She sighed internally. Well, time to finally put her magic to…well not good use persay. Making games feels like a waste of her time, but if she was getting the alien matter, she might as well try.
She’d seen a potion on how to make stuff appear on electronics, but she hadn’t had much of a use for it considering the entire mansion simply ran on the energy of the spirits
Maybe she’d make something to keep for herself alongside it…
“Red!”
Immediately the imp flew into the library. “What do ya need, Ashley?”
“A wand.”
“Great!” Red immediately turned into a wooden stick clutching a red orb. “Ready, Ashley?”
“Ready…”
“Great! You got this!”
Ashley focused.
Her hair glowed white.
And she fired.
She stared. The gamecards hadn’t changed visually, but a lot of energy had gone into them. She saw it, she knew it had to.
She’d made the games.
She wasn’t done yet though. She focused on the other cartridge, and fired at that.
There we go. Something to remember herself…remember why she was alone.
She fought hard to keep herself from smiling as Red turned back into his regular form. “So what do we do now?”
“Now we just need to give the games to Wario…I think. I’m…uncertain on how this works.”
“We can just head to the company and give these to him! C’mon!” Red transformed again, this time into a broom.
“Right…the game company…” Ashley sighed, knowing full well who she’d meet there.
Well, no use in prolonging this punishment…
…
The flight to Warioware was brief, nowhere near long enough for Ashley.
She landed at the door and Red transformed from back up into his ‘normal’ form.
“Well, we’re here.”
Red didn’t respond as he was still trying to catch his breath.
Ashley walked up and knocked on the door.
Immediately the tall purple guy from the night before opened up, his face sour as a lemon. Don’t look at me like that, it’s true! “Oh, hey! You’re here with those games Wario wanted you to make, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. You’re his brother, Waluigi? I didn’t know you worked here.”
Waluigi blinked, the bags under his eyes becoming more apparent. “Well, someone has to pay the taxes around here…other than Crygor, but still-
“I didn’t come here to listen to you complaining.” Ashley gritted her teeth. “Can I just give the games to Wario?”
Waluigi sighed. “Well, he ain’t here right now. He’s still getting your alien stuff. Since you’re here, you wanna explore and meet the crew?”
This was the last thing she needed. Ashley was about to decline and head back home when Red spoke for her. “Sure! That sounds great!”
If looks could kill, Red would be long dead.
Ashley turned back towards the purple guy. “Fine, but make it quick.”
“Fantastic!”
“Don’t push it.”
“Yeesh. Is she always like this?” Waluigi asked Red, who promptly waved his hand like a seesaw.
The three entered the building. Immediately Ashley noticed what seemed to be a lounge. A girl in a rock outfit and a man with a blue afro were in the middle of dancing to a boombox. She briefly covered her ears.
“Hey Jimmy! Mona! Remember when I said Wario got new hires to fill in for the taxi drivers? Well here they are!” Waluigi gestured to the witch and imp outside.
“Oh, hey! Who are you guys?” Mona stuck out her hand.
Ashley hesitated…before reciprocating with a handshake.
“Ashley…”
“And I’m Red!” The imp chirped.
“Well, great to meet you, Ashley! I’m Mona and this is Jimmy T!”
“New blood, huh? I dig it!” Jimmy quickly pulled her into a side hug…
Which Ashley was quick to squirm out of. “Ooh, sorry! Not one for hugs?”
“No.” Ashley said it harsher than she meant to. Great. First day here, and you’re already driving everyone away.
Oddly enough, Jimmy just laughed it off. “Nah, I get it. Not everyone likes hugs.”
Mona headed for the door. “You wanna meet the others?”
The witch cringed. “I may have already met one of them…for better or worse.”
“Huh?”Mona squinted. “Did you happen to chase after an alien last night?”
Waluigi sighed. “Yes, she’s the one who tried boiling Orbulon. Wario said something about getting alien matter from somewhere. In exchange, she made the games, which we can shove into Jimmy’s siblings’ remixes.”
“Ah. Well, I’m sure Orbulon will understand if you apologize.”
Fat chance that an apology would do any good. They never did.
But if she was going to be working here…
She might as well try.
No matter how badly it failed.
…
Mona opened a door to another area of the building. Immediately, Ashley noticed several people in the room.
There was a kid in a red shirt and a giant man in a green jumpsuit playing some sort of go-kart game on a tv set while an bald old man in a yellow suit and metal on the side of his head was working with a boom-box and a bunch of tools.
“Alright! Here’s our game testing room. This is Doctor Crygor, resident scientist and inventor!” The scientist didn’t notice them,being too entranced at getting his machine working. “ And the two boys over there are-.”
It was then the kid leapt up, startling Ashley. “Yeah! We won! ”
“Awesome! Up top!” The adult put his hand out, giving the kid a high five before noticing Mona and Ashley. “Oh, hey Mona!”
“Hey guys! Playing Double Dash?”
“Yeah! We played as Wario and Waluigi!”
“Finally, people with taste!” Waluigi said as he walked to his office.
Jimmy walked in, and quickly noticed Crygor fiddling with the boombox. “Yo, doc! Liking the old boombox I gave you?”
“Ah, Jimmy! Just who I wanted to see. First of all, thank you for giving me Club Sugar’s old boombox machine…”
“Thank Sugar! He was throwing it out a while ago ‘cause it broke!”
“...And second, I am using this new piece of technology to build…a karaoke robot!”
“A karaoke robot? What use could you have that for?” Mona asked.
“Well, I happen to have a lot of mess around my lab,(Made all the more apparent when my granddaughter came to visit) and I decided to fix that by building a karaoke robot to clean my home while I’m away!”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to build a cleaning robot?” Quizzed Ashley.
“Who’s she?” Asked 9-Volt.
“Oh! This is Ashley and Red. Warioware’s newest employees.”
9-Volt smiled and opened his hand for a high-five. “Great to meet you! I’m 9-Volt and this is 18-Volt.”
“Hey” 18-Volt, the man, gave a wave.
“Nice to meet you, I guess.” Ashley avoided eye contact, instead choosing to look at the ground.
These people were a bit…odd. But they weren’t nearly as bad as-
Ashley shut that thought out immediately and began focusing on the present. Maybe this whole thing wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe they’d be-
At this exact moment, Orbulon walked in. “Miss Mona, I request access to the backrooms to put away my-”
It was here he took notice of Ashley and promptly began sweating.
Alright, maybe now is a good time to apologize. “...Hi? Listen, sorry for-”
“AAAHHHHH-”
Immediately, two kids dressed in Ninja garb ran in, one orange, one pink. “Hey, Orbulon, what’s-” The orange-haired one turned before gasping. “Look out! It’s the witch!”
Ashley stared as Mona groaned. Suddenly Jimmy stepped forward. “Woah, chill out kiddo! We were just showing Ashley around.”
“Why’re you guys upset?” 9-Volt’s head tilted slightly, unaware of Red sweating next to him. “What’s your beef with her?”
“Last night, she tried to destroy Orbulon just for bumping into her!” The pink-haired one snarled angrily.
“I wasn’t trying to destroy him. I just…needed some alien matter for a potion and-”
“You were going to make him into a potion?!” Kat’s teeth were already clashing.
“Yes, I did…sort of. I realized he fit the bill for a potion and my assistant here heard me and chased after him” Ashley’s voice had an edge to it, which didn’t exactly make Kat any less hostile. “I know that sounds bad, but-”
“Get out!”
“What?”
“Leave now before I make you leave! You won’t be sending anyone here to Hell!”
Ashley’s eyes widened. Her eyes went dark for a minute, remembering the last time that word had been spoken.
Mona’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. ’“Kat! She’s not here to hurt anyone! Wario brought her here to make games!”
“What?! We can’t work with her! She’s probably planning on turning us all into toads! Or brainwashing us to take over the world! We can’t trust her! She tried to make Orbulon into a potion!”
“Look, let’s take a step back and-”
“No, she needs to go! She’s going to hurt us!”
Ashley growled angrily. Of course nothing good came from coming here. “Fine. I can tell when I’m not wanted.”
“Nononono, we can-” Mona’s attempts to salvage the situation were fruitless as Ashley handed her the games and began making for the door.
“Just tell Wario to give the matter to my mansion after he converts my games…I guess…C’mon, Red.”
Red looked back for a second before following her out.
Mona looked on as the two left before glaring at Kat.
“...What?”
…
Ashley was in a sulk as she walked into her mansion, followed by Red. Mr. Spellbook quickly appeared at the door.
“Oh, hello, Miss Ashley? Did the drop-off go well?”
“Yes.”
“...Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine.” Ashley took a heavy breath before walking upstairs. “I’d just…like to be alone for a bit.”
“Alright, I’ll start making dinner.”
Ashley walked into her room and shut the door behind her.
She barely made it to her bed before collapsing, and sobbing violently into her bed.
Stupid, that’s what she was. She couldn’t even get an apology out without messing up. She’d burnt up all the bridges before she knew they existed. No one wanted her there now.
Of course, that’s what a disgusting witch like her would do.
For the next few hours, Ashley stayed in her room, silently crying into her pillow.
…
“WAHAHA! Guess who’s back, chump?!” Wario burst through the company doors with a bag in his hand. Following him were a tiny yellow cat and a giant bulldog, both in mechanic-style jumpsuits.
“Oh hey, you’re back.” Mona replied, looking at the strange sack Wario was carrying. “What exactly is in those boxes?”
“Oh, just a little bit of alien rocks that I stole.”
“I thought you were getting alien matter?”
“Yeah, that’s what these guys are for!” Wario said, pointing to the larger of the taxi drivers, who was struggling to carry an extremely heavy box.
“C’mon, Dribble, you can do it! Put your back into it!”
“Hey, I don’t see you helpin’, Spitz!”
“So did a witch named Ashley happen to stop by here?”
Mona froze. “Well…she did…but then something happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“She came to drop off her games, and I thought I’d show her around. But then Orbulon saw her, and Kat and Ana started yelling, and I think she got scared off. She left us the games and said that you could go to her mansion afterwards.” Mona opened her hand, revealing the microchips Ashley had left her.
“Oh well, I’ll just give this to her after I put her games into the release itself.”
“You mean she’s not coming back?” 9-Volt asked.
“Kat basically called her an evil witch hellbent on destroying us. I don’t think she wants to be anywhere near them at least.” Mona frowned. “It’s such a shame…I really thought we had something there.”
“Pff! Her loss!” Wario promptly took the games from Mona’s hand and headed over to his office.
Upon opening the door, he saw Waluigi holding a DS. “What’re you doing here?”
Waluigi crossed his arms. “Waiting for you to show up! C’mon, put the chip on the game and let’s get going! I wanna see what games we have this time!”
“Alright, alright! No one has any patience for Wario! Just gotta connect these cables here…soldier a few wires there…add something over here…eat a clove of garlic for good measure-”
“Would you just boot up the game already?!”
“Okay okay!” Wario finally put it into the DS. “There! That takes care of that! Now…let’s see what’s on here…”
“Let me guess, you’re going first?”
“Hey, you snooze you lose!” Seeing the names of the minigames, Wario noticed a minigame folder called “Secret Minigames”. “Great! She made some games for the players to waste more of their time on!...I’ll just bypass these.”
“Heh. Yeah.”
“Ooo, one of these is called praise! This can stay! I mean, when else do I get the opportunity to have my ego flaunted!”
Neither of them had any idea what was inside those files…
Five minutes later.
Wario opened the doors, a blank look on his face.
“Hey, uh, I’m heading over to give Ashley her alien matter. Mona, you’re in charge.”
“Um, okay. What’s up with you?”
“I think there might’ve been a mixup with the games. I’m just gonna leave it at that.”
With that, Wario walked out. Mona looked back at Waluigi, who had a similar stare. “You gonna tell me what exactly was on those games?”
“I think it’s better for everyone if I don’t.”
Kat crossed her arms. “I told you she was-”
“It wasn’t anything evil, Kat. Though that might actually have been better.”
“What do you mean?” 9-Volt asked.
“I just told you I wasn’t telling.” Waluigi headed back to his office.
Leaving the other employees to ponder what he meant.
…
Red slowly opened the door, taking note of Ashley lying on her side. “Ashley? You doing good? I brought some food.” He set down a plate of bread and soup.
Ashley began eating as Red began talking to her. “So why exactly did you make a second gamecard? I thought Wario only needed one.”
Ashley didn’t answer at first.“…honestly, I just made it to vent about…my parents.
“Oh.” A short silence occurred. Ashley took the DS that came with the game kit and opened a drawer next to her bed.
“It should be right here.”
She pulled out the gamecard and looked for the gameslot on the DS.
According to the instructions, it should be over…Found it!
She booted up the game.
Something similar to her mansion’s doors appeared on the screen.
Microgame 1: Don’t blow it. Light candles with a match.
Microgame 2: Sneeze please, tickle until the nose sneezes.
Microgame 3: Farm fresh. Chuck the…what
She looked at the screen. Instead of the ‘praise’ microgame she was expecting, there were farm animals on the screen, waiting to be chucked into a pen.
Her eyes widened in realization.. “This is the copy that I made for Wario…
Red’s eyes matched his friend’s.“B-but if it was here, then…
What did you give Mona?”
Both of them knew the answer, even though neither of them wanted to admit it.
The silence was quickly interrupted by a knock on the door.
I’ll get it.” Red walked down before calling upstairs. “It’s for you, Ashley!”
Ashley felt like crying all over again. What cruel god wanted to toy with her?
Walking down to the door, she was faced with none other than Wario looking…not angry?
Crud. He knew, didn’t he? He knew how disgusting she was. “Listen, if this is about the games, I can explain-”
“Eyeyey, I’m not angry. Just…was this the one you were sending me or was there another copy?”
“I have the one you need right here.” She shoved it into his hands before attempting to shut the door.
Unfortunately, he was as strong as he was irritating and forced it open.“Alright…look, uh, I heard you had a little altercation with Kat and Orbulon.”
“I don’t need your pity!”
“Good, because I don’t intend to give it, I’m not a gift giver. But I do make good on deals…at least some of them.” He handed her a sack. “Here ya go! This thing was seriously hard to get.”
Ashley opened up the bag. Her eyes lit up. “Are these…?”
“Yep! They were selling this bag of alien matter on Planet…uhhhh, Planet…Bah wahtever! It’s not like I’ll need anything from there.”
That is unless the author of this fanfic decides to-
“I SAID ‘IT’S NOT LIKE I’LL NEED ANYTHING FROM THERE! END. OF. STORY!”
Alright alright, sheesh, I’ll leave you alone.
“Who’re you talking to?” Ashley asked.
“Nothing! Listen, I don’t do this often, so don’t get used to it! Thanks for helping. Like I said, between two of my employees working other jobs and one being halfway across the galaxy doing who knows what, I’ve needed all the help I can get. I’m not gonna get all mushy on ya, but ya really did help me outta a jam here. I could use a kid like you.”
“...Even if I wanted to, I’ve already screwed up. No one wants me there. They all hate me now.”
“Oh, brother! So you met two haters, BIG WHOOP! I’ve had at least…five people who hate my guts, but I’m still alive! Word of advice: Don’t care about what others think. Only care about what you think.”
Without leaving room for a thanks, Wario waddled down the street and into the night.
Ashley stared, momentarily contemplating what Wario said.
Maybe she should-
A crash from inside the mansion drew her attention back. She sighed and walked back inside, shutting the door behind her.
…
…
About a week later…
Ashley had gotten back into the swing of things. With the missing ingredient, she had actually made the potion…made progress.
She hadn’t been to the company since she’d been driven out by Kat. Wario’s conversation had given her some tim to think about it, but she wasn’t really keen on going there.
Aside from failing to apologize to Orbulon, she didn’t feel incredibly welcome there, not least because of Kat’s incessant glowering demeanor.
She couldn’t really tell if they really cared about her…or if they were playing the long game.
She didn’t care about that, she didn’t want to focus on that right now. She couldn’t put her heart out to people who were destined to bring her down. She had a potion she really wanted to test out and she’d rather not-
“ASHLEY!”
Nevermind.
She turned as she saw Red run in with an envelope in his hand. “What is it, Red?”
“We got invited to a party!”
“...what.”
Red handed her the envelope and Ashley looked at the insignia.
Warioware Incorporated! Best Microgames South of the mushroom kingdom!
Cautiously, she opened the letter and began reading it.
To whoever reads this letter,
Congratulations! You’ve been invited to Warioware’s end of release party! This invite is only sent to people who have helped make me money!…or been invited by my friend Mona’s good will. In any case, bring some stuff for the potluck. Party’s happening at the Hawt House at 5:00! Be there or be prepared to lose your money!
Sincerely, Wario!
They…were inviting her to something?
Ashley pondered briefly. They couldn’t all hate her if she was being invited to a party.
Maybe… they actually did care? After she’d ruined her chance at happiness?
She looked up at Red, who was looking so happy. “So, are we going?”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “Fine.” Whatever. She’d go.
…
It was quite a walk to the Hawt House. Ashley didn’t mind. It gave her a chance to think over how she’d approach the others. “You think they’ll actually hear me out?”
“Yeah, they’ve got no reason not to!” Red replied, perched atop her head.
“Even after I drove them away?”
“I mean, Mona didn’t seem too upset. You didn’t drive her away.”
As Ashley pondered Red’s words, she stared at the container of spare Mandrakes she’d gotten.
It’s not much but it’s something.
Ashley looked up, Wario, Jimmy, and a woman in a red hoodie.
Jimmy was first to notice her. “Yo, kiddo!”
Ashley gave a small wave. “Hey. Jimmy. Wario. Miss.”
“Wah! Hey kiddo. Knew you couldn’t resist my party.” Wario swiped the food in the container. “I’ll just put this with the garbage Waluigi brought.”
The woman quickly turned around, noticing Ashley and Red behind Wario. “Oh! You must be Ashley! 9’s told me about you!”
“He…has?”
“Yep! He told me that you were another kid that came to the building.” The woman, evidently 9 Volt’s mom based on the similar mouth, gave Ashley a warm smile.
Such a smile invoked a warm feeling that Ashley never knew…or rather should have known. She immediately attempted to push it down. “Yeah, I just started working here…Miss…
“Oh, just call me 5-Volt. I look forward to getting to know you!”
Ashley paused momentarily. “...What exactly has your son said about me?” Couldn’t be anything big, considering she hadn’t talked to him the last time around. And Orbulon probably told him everything. His mom probably wouldn’t-
“Oh, just some stuff about you and your friend. He did say that you guys were cool looking.”
Ah. Ashley stared for a minute, “ …Did he say anything about me and Orbulon.”
5-Volt’s look softened. “Mona already explained everything, honey. You don’t need to worry about anything.”
“They’re inside with the others, if you want to go see them.” Jimmy added
“T-thanks.” With that, Ashley entered, Red following close behind.
Ashley slipped into the building, noticing 9-Volt and 18-Volt along with a giant dog and tiny cat in mechanic outfits,putting up speakers. 9-Volt was in the middle of talking with 18-Volt when he saw Ashley stride in.
“Ashley, hey! Didja get the invitation?”
“Yeah, I guess. There wasn’t really much that I wanted to do today.
“Cool!” 9-Volt turned towards the dog and cat. “This is who I was talking about earlier! The people who were filling in for you guys!"
“Huh. Didn’t think Wario was going to hire more kids.” The dog commented.
“Probably thinks he can pay kids less.” The smaller cat went up and stuck his hand out. “Pleasure to meet ya! I’m Spitz and this is my partner Dribble!”
“Uh, heya.” The big dog awkwardly waved his hand.
“Ashley. This is Red.” The imp awkwardly waved his hand at the small cat.
“Pleasure to see ya! Hope you enjoy the party!”
Ashley had a feeling she wouldn’t.
“Ashley!”
The witch turned noticing Mona walking toward her. “You got the invite!”
“Yeah. Any reason you sent me this?”
“Well, we thought you deserved it! After all, you put just as much effort in as everyone else AND helped us a lot in making the game! Especially with these two off giving rides to aliens.” She smirked at Dribble, who quickly grew angry.
“Hey, don’t blame us! Blame our boss! Ever since Crygor’s time disaster, we’ve been under pressure! Making up all the money the company lost ain't easy!”
“To be fair, it was ya fault for bragging about it to him.”
“Spitz!!! I need you on my side here!”
“Did someone mention my name?” As if on cue, Crygor entered with a strange robot, if Ashley could call it that. “Oh! Pleasure to see you again, young Ashley.”
“Mhm.”
Mona was a bit more vibrant. “Crygor, you brought Mike!!”
“HE DID NOT BRING ME. I CAME HERE OF MY OWN VOLITION.”
“Only after I showed you there was karaoke.” Crygor contradicted.
The robot, Mike, growled moodily.
“Oh, by the way, Mike, meet Ashley! She’s one of the new hires I told you about!”
Mike made a face that could be mistaken for a dog eating a lemon. “SHE DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A WITCH.”
“Ashley, you already met Mike, he was the machine Crygor was building when you first met us!”
“The one that he was building instead of a cleaning robot?”
Crygor grew flustered. “Look, there’s nothing wrong with using a karaoke robot to clean your lab! Machines can have multiple purposes!”
“INCORRECT!”
“Now see here, Mike-!”
What followed was a short argument as Ashley turned around…
Only to come face to face with Orbulon and Waluigi approaching, Kat and Ana walking behind.
Orbulon was practically shaking while Waluigi was keeping him from running in the opposite direction by carrying the alien over his shoulder.
“Look, Orbulon, just have one conversation with her. She doesn’t want to kill you- look there she is! Just talk to her!” Waluigi placed Orbulon down in front of the witch before storming off.
The alien turned around and his shaking intensified. “G-g-greetings, d-d-dear c-c-colleague.”
Kat glared furiously behind him while her twin was cowering behind her.
Well, it’s now or never.
“Hello. I…wanted to apologize for…trying to make you into a potion.”
The alien stopped shaking before becoming confused. “You wish to apologize?”
“Yeah. That’s basically why I came here.” Ashley seemed quiet, moreso than usual. “I’m not expecting forgiveness. No one else is either, but-”
“No more words, earthling. My forgiveness is granted!”
“...Seriously? You’re forgiving me that easily?” This had to be a joke.
Orbulon seemed…genuine. “Of course! The bad was mine for bumping into you! I was…in a rush. I am more than happy to have a case of amnesia!”
Ashley blinked momentarily, not able to feel astonished at the poor grammar or the fact that Orbulon accepted her apology that easily.
“Now, I really must dash, Earthling!” Immediately Orbulon waddled off.
Both of the ninjas that had been standing beside Orbulon stared in surprise. At first they didn’t say anything.
Then Kat pointed two fingers at her eyes before flipping them to Ashley’s and then walking away. Ana followed after her.
Ashley paused momentarily. She would’ve thought being forgiven would’ve lifted the weight off her shoulders.
Instead, the weight just..shifted. It wasn’t a feeling she was familiar with. Not sadness, not anger, not even depression. She knew all of those by heart.
This was more…melancholic.
She saw Mona getting on the stage with an imp similar to Red, a yellow bear and a green haired woman with a handful of instruments.
Maybe…she’d stay. She had nothing else to lose. At least now, she could enjoy the party.
…
Five minutes later…
Loud, irritating music filled the entire club.
Ashley loathed it. She didn’t care for music in general, but the amount of noise coming from the stage was
In addition to that, the crowded area of the room was making her claustrophobic.
She tried covering her ears to block out the sounds…but she kicked the idea when she realized that would mean holding her ears to her head the entire time.
She didn’t know anyone there so she elected to just stand in the corner while everyone basically partied.
She briefly looked down at her cup of fruit punch, and took a sip. No one bothered talking to her.
Not like she wasn’t expecting it. She basically was only there to apologize. After this, she probably would be forgotten by everyone.
Left alone for the rest of her life.
She was somewhat comforted. Better than being harassed on a daily basis. And it meant that she would be serving her punishment without hurting anyone.
She wondered if they secretly still hated her. “Probably.”
“Probably what?”
Ashley jumped, noticing a girl with giant glasses and orange hair bundled up in a pink labcoat seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
“Aw, geez, sorry about scaring you!”
“I wasn’t-” Ashley took a deep breath. You already dug a hole getting mad once, don’t do it again. “Whatever. It’s fine.”
“What were you mumbling about?”
Ashley gritted her teeth. “Nothing.”
The girl frowned for a minute before giving a smile. Did everyone in this damn city have a smile plastered on their face? “...Well, if you don’t wanna tell me, you don’t have to!” The amount of energy from this girl was so irritating, but her energy seemed infectious. “My name’s Penny Crygor!”
“Crygor… you wouldn’t happen to be related to him,” Ashley pointed towards Crygor, who was busy attempting to dance. Keyword: attempting. “Would you?”
“Yeah, he’s my grandpa! I sometimes help him with making microgames!”
“You help make the microgames.”
“Yeah, I happen to know a lot of code. It’s one of the things I want to use to become the world’s best scientist-slash-pop star. I- Oh crud, I forgot to ask you your name! Stupid stupid stupid!” Penny began kicking herself for her screw up just before Ashley responded.
“It’s…Ashley.”
Penny stopped and looked surprise for a second.“...That’s a really nice name! So what brings you here?”
Ashley looked away from Penny for a second. “Oh…I started working at Warioware to find some…ingredients for a potion of mine. I’m sure you’ve heard.”
“Heard what?”
God, was she going to make Ashley say it? “Heard that I basically tried to turn Orbulon as a potion? That I’m a monster for doing that?”
“...huh?”
Ashley turned back towards Penny. She actually seemed genuinely confused. “You really didn’t hear that.”
“Well, I don’t exactly come to the company that much. I actually only know a few people through my grandpa.” The scientist rubbed her head nervously. “Though I think I heard Mona mention you once.”
And just like that, Ashley had ruined another friendship before it could even begin. “Oh…Sorry.”
“Oh nonono, it’s fine! You don’t seem like a monster though! I mean you got invited, so I’m assuming you apologized.”
“When I got here, yeah. The only other person I know is Red.”
“Red?”
“The imp over there.” Ashley pointed towards Red who was dancing near the stage. “He’s my fri- assistant. Pretty much the only person I talk to on a basis.”
“Huh.” Penny paused for a brief moment. “You said you make potions.”
“Pretty much. I specialize in magic.”
“Cool!”
Ashley stared. “Cool?”
“Yeah! You’re the first person I’ve met that does magic! I’d love to collaborate!”
Ashley paused for a quick second as the effects of the conversation hit her. She was talking to someone. She was enjoying the company of someone who wasn’t Red, a monster or a magic being.
And someone was enjoying talking to her.
A faint smile crept up across her face as she continued talking with this strange girl.
It felt…nice knowing that someone was interested in what she did and wasn't chastising her for it.
For the rest of the evening, Ashley talked to this girl.
…
Eventually the party ended and everyone began leaving. Ashley didn’t realize until Mike eventually broke up their conversation.
“PENNY, WE’RE LEAVING.”
Penny perked up. “Oh, right! I’ll be right out, Mike!” She turned back towards Ashley. “Well, it was great meeting you! I can’t wait to get to know you!”
Ashley waved as Penny left the building, hoping her blush wasn’t seen.
Guess this party wasn’t all bad. Now where do I find-
“Hey, Ashley!”
Ashley jumped about five feet before turning around and looking down, spotting 9-Volt.
“Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you!”
Ashley sighed. “It’s…fine. I thought you left.” Even if she hadn’t, it was still strange he’d come to her. Didn’t he have his…friends to keep him occupied?
“I am, but I wanted to see ya!”
“What for?”
“I was gonna ask if you wanted to come play video games at the company tomorrow.”
“...What.”
“Yeah, I don’t have school tomorrow so I was wondering if you wanted to come!”
Ashley did respond immediately. “...Sure.”
“Really! Awesome! Can’t wait to see you!”
“9-Volt!” Both saw 5-Volt by the entrance. “C’mon! We’re leaving!”
“Okay, Mom! I’ll be right out. Bye, Ashley! Can’t wait to see you!” 9-Volt ran off as Ashley pondered.
“Ashley! There you are!” Red waddled up, evidently having searched for her. “I think the party’s over now. Ya wanna head home?”
“…yeah. Yeah, I think so.”
Red paused for a second, looking at Ashley’s face. “Are you alright?”
Ashley looked at him, trying and failing to hide her smile. “Yeah. Just…made some new friends.”
Red seemingly understood as not another word was spoken on the way back to the mansion.
…
So Ashley did head back next morning. For better or worse. Red elected to stay home this time around, though.
It actually went a bit better this time around.
As she entered, she didn’t notice anyone inside, which was odd considering that 9-Volt invited her.
As she opened the door to the lounge, she noticed Mona.
“Hey Mona.”
Mona swung round. “Ashley? I didn’t know you were coming! Could’ve given me a heads up!”
“Yeah….Sorry for coming without asking.” Though her expression appeared blank and unenthusiastic, Mona noticed she seemed a bit somber and regretful.
“No worries, it’s cool. I’m just happy you still want to be here, ya know considering Kat and everything.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Ashley!” Both turned and noticed 9-Volt carrying a gamecard.“Hey! You came!”
“Yeah. Where exactly is everyone else?”
“Wario called in sick, so everyone else left. You wanna play Mario Kart?” 9-Volt asked.
“Mario Kart?”
“Yeah!”
Ashley paused. “I guess. Never played it though.”
9-Volt gasped. “Really? So this is your first time!”
“Pretty much.”
“Awesome! I can teach you all the tricks! The only other person I get to teach is 18-Volt. We’re playing the 64 version though.”
Ashley looked around. Aside from Crygor, the only thing missing was 18-Volt. “So your dad didn’t come in today?”
“My dad?” 9-Volt raised an eyebrow…before realizing who Ashley was talking about…before laughing. “He’s not my dad! He’s my classmate.”
Ashley blinked. “Huh?!”
“Yeah, he’s got this condition where his bones grow extra long and he has this really deep voice and looks grown up, but he’s only half a year older than me!”
Ashley’s jaw dropped, even if only slightly.
Mona chuckled. “Yeah. We had that reaction too. He doesn’t work here, but he does come in occasionally. So do 9-Volt’s parents actually! You might see them from time to time!”
“Huh.”
Ashley decided to put this incredible realization out of her mind and turned her attention to the TV. The screen turned on to the game screen. After selecting a 3-player battle , Ashley saw some sort of Character selection screen. It was filled with people, including toads and koopas. She didn’t recognize most of them, only Wario who was wearing a different outfit.
She picked the giant koopa (who 9-Volt called Bowser), 9-Volt picked the red guy and Mona picked the pink princess.
In the end, she wound up in 5th place. Her disappointment was immeasurable, her darkened face saying as much.
“Hey? You doing good?” Ashley turned towards Mona.
“I lost.”
“So what? It’s your first time! Even if it wasn’t, it’s supposed to be fun! In a way, I’d say you won.”
“Really?”
“For sure!”
“C’mon, let’s go again! Pleasepleaseplease!” The pair turned to 9-Volt who was practically begging to play again, stars in his eyes.
“Alright, alright. Ashley, you ready?”
“…sure. Not like I have anything better to do.”
9-Volt began setting up the next course. “Okay! Three, Two-”
“Crygor, what the hell did you do?!”
The three turned towards the window as they heard yelling from down the street.
“...What was that?”
“Oh, that sounded like the fire chief…did I hear him say Crygor?”
Mona put down her controller. “C’mon, let’s see what’s going on.”
…
Making their way down the street, the three saw Crygor and Waluigi standing with a hoard of firemen next to a damaged fire station. Crygor looked extremely flustered while all other parties looked on a scale of irritated to furious.
One particularly agitated fireman was on the verge of breaking the scale altogether.
“I am telling you that I was under the impression that Wario could not transform any more!”
“Well, there isn’t anything else that could turn him into Wario-Man! You created this mess, I demand you to fix it!”
“Look, let’s just calm down for a second.” One of the firemen said, having positioned himself between Crygor and the firemen in order to keep the argument from becoming worse. He had a beard, bushy eyebrows similar to 9-Volt and wore a large red jacket “What we need to focus on is finding him before he does anymore damage!”
“Like he did with the station?” Another fireman quipped. The glare he got from the fireman trying to keep things calm made him shut his trap.
“Why is Crygor with a bunch of firemen?” Ashley whispered.
“This kinda stuff tends to happen with him. The only question is what.” Mona looked towards the fire station. “Whatever happened this time definitely did a lot of damage.”
“C’mon then! Let’s see what’s going on!” 9-Volt wa “Dad! Waluigi! What’s going on here?”
The bearded fireman turned around. “Oh, 9! Not much, there’s-”
“Not much!” The angry fireman furiously shoved him to one side. “Wario punched a hole through the firestation, stole all of the valuables in our lockers , and then escaped into the city!”
Mona was surprised. “What?! Why would- no wait that does sound like something he’d do.”
“Yeah, and he was wearing some costume while calling himself Wario-Man.”
“What?!” 9-Volt and Mona yelled simultaneously.
“Crygor, I thought you said that Wario couldn’t transform with the gravinator destroyed!” Mona cried as Ashley looked at her in confusion.
Gravinator???
“Look, I don’t know how he transformed! The only explanation is that he found something similar to the Gravinator’s energy signature, but I can’t think of anything in the world that does. Waluigi, what exactly happened before Wario turned.”
“Uh,well, Wario had a cold…”
“Right, right.”
“5-Volt was there with some soup.”
“Keep going.”
“Wario said the soup needed some garlic so he got some from the party to add to the soup.”
“What? We had garlic?”
“Yeah, he said someone brought it in a container. He took a bite outta it, then he transformed and ran into the city! Smashed through the dojo, Crygor’s lab and…well, you know the rest.”
9-Volt’s dad looked confused. “How could garlic cause this?! That incident was months ago and he’s had garlic multiple times since then without issue! Are we sure that nothing from Crygor entered Wario’s house?”
“HEY!!!”
“No. Maybe it’s because the garlic was bad? I heard 5-Volt yelling about how it was brown but I didn’t see it before Wario ate it.”
Ashley’s eyes widened. Brown garlic could only mean… “W-what color was the container?”
“Wah? Oh, Ashley, it’s you.” Waluigi seemed to lighten up a bit, but now was not the time to focus on that.
She was frantic.“What color was the container, Waluigi?!”
“Oh, the container… it was clear with a green lid.”
The young witch froze.
Idiot.
Idiot, you idiot. As soon as you solve one fucking problem, you cause another and ruin everything.
All you do is hurt everyone around you, you-
She broke out of her spiraling berating when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Ashley?”
Ashley looked at Mona. The older teen quickly took note of the panic in her eyes.
“It’s okay. We won’t be angry at you.”
“Speak for yourself.” 9-Volt’s dad shot a look into the hoard, silencing them for good.
“…I think I caused this. Wario didn’t eat garlic. He ate Mandrakes.” Ashley flinched slightly as the fireman turned away from Crygor, turning redder than ever. “I didn’t think I’d turn Wario into a madman! I just…thought I could bring it to the party! Honest!”
“See! What did I te-”
“Not now, Crygor!” Yelled everyone.
Crygor subsided as the angry fireman groaned. “You have got to be kidding me!” Ashley tensed up as he began walking up to her, panic setting in again. “I’ve half a mind -”
“Jeff, calm down. She admitted it was an accident. We can deal with the aftermath later.”
“4, I can’t believe this! You defending her??? After what she-”
“Jeff, it’s not up to you to decide whether or not a person should be arrested.”
“But she-”
“Would you prefer to talk to the chief about this?”
“…”
“That’s what I thought.” 9-Volt’s dad turned towards Ashley. “Sorry about that. Jeff’s usually like this.”
“It’s…fine. Nothing I’m not used to.”
The burly man frowned at this. “Still shouldn’t be happening. Anyways, thanks for telling us. You guys can head back now. I’m sure we can find Wario before-”
“No.”
“No?”
“I caused this. The least I can do is help fix this.”
“There’s really no need-”
“With all due respect, Mr….” She trailed off.
“Oh, 4-Volt. And you’re Ashley, right?”
“You’ve…heard of me?”
“My wife and son mentioned meeting you.”
“Right…Mr. Volt, I gave him the mandrakes. It’s my responsibility.”
“See, she admits it!” Jeff promptly got his head shoved into his helmet by Waluigi.
“There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”
“No.”
4-Volt sighed. “Alright, but you really shouldn’t burden yourself with this.” The fireman began walking into the city. “C’mon, we might be able to find him if we travel on foot.”
“Yeah!!! Let’s go!” 9-Volt ran past Ashley, and towards his dad. The local firemen stood behind, whispering about the girl in the red dress that had apparently poisoned Wario.
Ashley attempted to push the thoughts to the back of her mind.
…
The search through the city was uneventful (aside from having to pry 9-Volt away from a video game commercial) and eventually they came across 5-Volt, Jimmy T, Kat and Ana surrounding something.
“Fives!”
“4 hun? What’re you doing here?”
“Wario smashed through the fire station and stole our valuables.”
For a second, Ashley could’ve sworn she saw 5-Volt’s eyes glow yellow. “Really…”
“Yeah, Jeff’s furious, but we can easily get the money out of him. Which brings me to my next question: Have you found him yet?”
“Well, yeah. Sort of.”
“Good, finally.” Waluigi pushed 4-Volt to the side. Let’s-Oh. Wow, you really are in a pi-heh-ckle.” He attempted to hold back a snicker.
“Shut up!”
Ashley’s heart raced upon noticing Wario.
There stood Wario, or more accurately there lay Wario turned into a pancake. He was wearing what looked to be pyjamas while Jimmy was stretching him back to normal.
Mona quickly attempted to talk to him, and by talk, I mean scream. “WARIO?! ARE YOU OKAY?!”
“Well, I happen to have a lot of bruises, I lost my superpowers and I’m currently squashed like a lemon. So you know, JUST PEACHY!”
“Wario, the only reason you got beaten up was because you stole your DS from the sewer guru and tried to fight a literal train!” 5-Volt snapped.
“Well, where’d you get yours from?!”
“The store? Like everyone else???”
“Yeah, for about 100 coins! Not gonna spend my hard earned cash on that!”
“Dude, you don’t work?”
“HEY! I MAKE TWO SETS OF MICROGAMES! THAT’S TWICE WHAT YOU MAKE, JIMMY!”
Ashley looked at the entire scene unfolding. “...Is he…alright?”
“Who, Me! I’m fine! Just lost a fight to a stupid locomotive and got whacked by a bald man in a dress!” At this, Jimmy gave him a funny look. “Not what I mean!”
“He’ll be…fine.” 5-Volt quickly answered. “So I’m assuming you all heard that Wario turned into Wario-Man…again.
“Yep.”
“Pretty much.”
“What do you mean again?” Ashley asked.
“Long story. I’m assuming that Wario crashed through the company building?”
“No, he-”
“What’re you doing here?” Everyone turned towards Kat, who was staring daggers at Ashley.
“...I wanted to help stop Wario?”
“Liar! I bet you had something to do with this! The only reason you came was to see your evil plan unfold!”
“Uh, Kat-”
“Quiet, Ana.”
“I-”
“Just admit it!”
“KAT!” Mona was practically screaming back at the kid. “I told you before! Back off!”
Kat didn’t listen, starting to march closer to Ashley. “What did you do?!”
(Crygor opened his mouth to speak, only to shut it when 4-Volt glared back at him.)
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Stop lying! You probably cast a spell to turn Wario into Wario-Man!”
“Kat, that’s not what happened! Wario took a bite out of rotten garlic. It wasn’t…” 5-Volt trailed off, noticing that almost everyone looked extremely uncomfortable. As if they knew something she didn’t. “What?”
“…The garlic Wario ate wasn’t normal garlic. It was…something different. It’s something I tend to use in potions.” Ashley admitted.
“That was what reignited Wario-Man.” Crygor affirmed.
Kat stared furiously…before pulling out a sword.
“Kat. Put the sword back.”
“No! She wants to turn us all into her evil minions, she has to fight me!”
“Ok, kid. Calm down and think about-“
“No!”
Ashley began to panic. She didn’t have Red with her, so she could fight back or protect herself.
She didn’t have time to think before Kat lunged at her-
Only to be grabbed by a half-reinflated Wario as he grabbed her sword. “And that’s enough of that!”
“Mr. Wario?! Let me go!” Kat struggled to get her sword out of Wario’s hand.
“Lemme think about it. Nope!”
“But she turned you into a supervillain!”
“Yeah? And I loved it!”
“HUH?!?!” Kat promptly loosed her grip on her sword enough for Wario to swipe it.
“Yeah! I was getting richer and richer! And I was punching through walls nonstop! What a rush!” He swung the sword up for emphasis.
“You can do that in your regular form though.”
‘NOT NOW, CRYGOR.”
Crygor subsided as Kat tried to stammer out an argument. “But Mr.Wario-!”
“Look, I had that funky garlic, so if you’re gonna fight anyone, it’s-a me, Wario!”
“No, No one is fighting.” 5-Volt pulled the sword away from Kat. “Kat, stop hounding Ashley.”
“But she’s evil!”
“No, she isn’t. Just…stop being mean or else I'll talk to your parents, got it?”
Kat’s eyes widened briefly before she growled angrily under her breath.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“…Got it”
“Great! Glad we understand each other!” 5-Volt turned back towards Ashley. “Sorry about her. I honestly don’t know why she’s acting this way.”
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t, but she really didn’t expect anything else. “Sorry. For Wario’s rampage, I mean.”
“Oh, this? Don’t worry about it! This is an average Tuesday for us, after all!”
“Huh?!”
“Yeah! Pretty much every week, Wario does something like this!” Jimmy added.
“...You're kidding.”
“Nope, they aren’t.” Mona confirmed. “He may not go smashing through buildings on a regular basis, but scamming people and causing havoc are usually on his to-do list! No offense, Wario.”
“Meh. Some taken.”
“Heck! This is rather tame to the stuff he’s done!”
Ashley began processing this. “...This happens every day.”
“Well, almost every day something happens. It’s not even just Wario! Crygor once tried taking us on a trip to outer space, and we ended up traveling three weeks into the future.”
“It was an accident! How was I supposed to know it wasn’t a space ship?”
Ashley stayed silent for a minute, trying to process everything.
4-Volt walked up towards Wario. “Alright. Where’s the money you took?”
“C’mon! Can’t I keep it?”
“No.”
“Fine.” Wario promptly gave 4-Volt a handful of wallets, cash and earrings.
“See, was that so hard?”
“Shut up!”
4-Volt chuckled before walking up to his wife and giving her a kiss on the cheek, to which his son gave a look of irritation. “I’ll see you when my shift ends, Fives.”
“See you, honey.”
“Bye Dad!” 9-Volt said, his irritation turning to his regular cheerfulness as 4 gave him a headpat on his helmet, which looked like an older version of the fireman’s cap he currently had on him.
“See ya, kiddo.”
As 4-Volt walked away to help return all of the items Wario stole, Waluigi picked up Wario. “I’ll take it from here, Jim.”
“Alright, bro! Keep rocking that suit!”
“Don’t need to tell me twice!” With that, Waluigi began walking off with Flat Wario.
Ashley watched as Wario and Waluigi took their leave. Suddenly, she felt a tug at her arm. She looked down, noticing 9-Volt looking at her. “So are we gonna keep playing?”
“...huh.”
“Mario Kart, are we gonna keep playing?”
“Yeah, are we?” Asked Mona. She seemed genuine.
Ashley pondered for a second. After everything that had happened, surely this group didn’t actually care?
Not after you screwed up enough to destroy several buildings and harmed several members outside of WarioWare. What reason would they think you were worth being around them?
Ashley suddenly muted out her thoughts as she began to remember what else she had heard and seen.
About how this happened normally for them.
This group…was practically used to Wario’s shenanigans. Most of them seemed to have quirks
of their own.
They didn’t care about their differences, or that she had done something bad, no matter how major.
They had no reason to want to get rid of her.
They had no reason to hate her.
Orbulon forgave her without hesitation. It hadn’t been like…then.
It wasn’t bad, SHE wasn’t bad.
Maybe…they might actually…care?
“...Fine.”
“Really! Awesome! C’mon, let’s go!” 9-Volt grabbed Ashley’s hand and quickly began dragging her down the street, already spewing out what stuff they hadn’t used yet.
As Mona followed them, Ashley looked back, noticing Jimmy had decided to enter a nearby club. Kat and Ana were already heading up towards…somewhere. 5-Volt was waving her goodbye.
She hesitated…and then used her one free hand to wave back.
Then she turned her attention back to the others as they walked with her.
Maybe…maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
…
Waluigi finished up using a helium pump to inflate Wario. “So, dude, how do you feel?”
“Like I had the whole world at my hands…and lost it.” Wario’s anger tripled upon realizing that his voice was now at an embarrassingly high pitc.
“Yeah, I thought as much. If only you’d used that trick on Mario last time we went golfing! That would’ve led to a lot less damage in the city…and a lot less money we have to pay!”
“Yeah, well, there’s always next time! ‘sides, there’s one good thing that came outta this!”
“Like what?”
“My cold is gone! I feel positively rott-Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!” Wario promptly began sneezing violently. When he stopped, he stared at the floor for a minute before this sunk in. “...oh, COME ON!!!”
Waluigi rolled his eyes. “At least now you have a plan for a final boss theme." He paused briefly. "So…are you gonna tell her?”
“Tell who what?”
“Tell Ashley you had Mona send her the invitation.”
The treasure hunter stared for a second. “...Nah. If I tell her, she’ll probably expect me to be NICE all the time.” He shuddered before promptly lying back down on the couch. “‘Sides, it was part of our unspoken deal! I didn’t tell anyone about what was in the game, so I didn't tell her that I invited her!”
Waluigi rolled his eyes and walked towards the bowl of soup 5-Volt had left. “Yeah, sure it was.”
Wario laid on the couch for the rest of the day, not even lifting a muscle while Waluigi fed him.
Deep down, Waluigi knew that it wasn’t a one time thing. There was a reason he, and to be honest everyone else, stuck with Wario all this time.
Little did either of them know, Wario had accidentally saved the kid.
But they’d know.
Eventually.
…
As the trio made their way into the company building, they suddenly noticed a pink shape at the hallway.
“Oh, hey Penny!”
Penny promptly noticed the trio approaching. “Oh hey guys! I saw Wario-Man around, so I thought I’d warn you! But then you guys were gone.”
“Yeah, we heard yelling from the fire station. Wario managed to punch a hole into it.”
“Oh, wow. Did Grandpa rebuild the Gravinator?”
“Nope! It was…” Mona noticed Ashley flinch slightly and promptly rewound what she was going to say. “Some rotten garlic he ate. Apparently he cooked it into a meal and it gave him a burst of energy. Guess being shoved back into the Gravinator didn’t get rid of Wario-Man.” Ashley stared at Mona for a second. The teen have her a reassuring smile.
“Oh. Wow. I guess Mr.Wario got lucky.”
“Yep. He sure did!”
Ashley turned, noticing 9-Volt booting up the tv again. She decided to take a seat and pick a controller up in the center of the couch. “So, you wanna play Mario Kart 64 with us?”
“You’re playing Mario Kart?!” The amount of energy in her voice sparked a feeling in Ashley. She couldn’t explain what this feeling was though.
“...Yeah.”
“Awesome!” Penny zipped across the room, landing right next to Ashley. The witch blushed momentarily before relaxing.
“Okay so what level are we playing now?”
“Kalamari Desert!” 9-Volt replied, having already selected the level.
As the three began playing, Ashley began feeling something. Something that she only experienced whenever she mastered a spell or summoned a monster.
It was happiness.
She looked between Penny, 9-Volt and Mona.
These were people who cared for her.
She was cared for.
She felt like she belonged.
She felt loved.
…
The rest of the day flew by too quickly for Ashley…but most things do.
9-Volt had left with his game when his mom picked him up and Mona was locking up. “Welp, I’ll see you guys on Monday…or Ashley at least!”
“Bye, Mona!!!”
“Bye.”
Mona hopped on her red motorcycle and drove off.
Penny promptly looked at her watch. Her eyes widened. “Aw, geez! I had no idea what time it was! My parents are probably worried sick! I really should get going now! It was fun hanging out with you, Ashley!”
“…same.” Ashley cracked a small smile as Penny promptly began running down the street.
Ashley realized that she was quite a distance from her mansion. Without Red, she couldn’t exactly fly.
“Well, guess I’m walking. Great.”
Honk!
Ashley turned to see a yellow taxi driving down the street before stopping next to her, halting just at the curb. Ashley noticed it before looking around and walking straight up to it. She knocked on the door.
The window rolled down. She looked up as Spitz poked his head out of the window. “See, I told ya they’d be here!”
“Spitz?”
“Heya, Ashley! I heard you and the others were here, so we figured we’d come give you guys a ride! They still inside?”
“No, they just left.”
Spitz groaned as a voice came from the driver’s side. “Well, I hate to say I told say so, but-”
“Dribble. Not the time.” Spitz turned back towards Ashley. “Any chance you need a ride back home, kid?”
“…Yes.”
“Great! Hop in! We’ll give ya a lift!”
Ashley would’ve questioned why they were so willing to help her despite barely knowing her, but she was slowly becoming more tired now and she really needed to get home. She opened the door to the rear seats, noticing the leather woven into it. Taking a seat, she buckled herself in.
“So, where to?” Dribble asked.
“Agate Forest.”
“10-4!” Immediately, Dribble hit the gas and the taxi tore down the road.
“So, how’s it been settling in here?” Spitz asked.
“In the company?”
“In Diamond City!”
Ashley raised an eyebrow. “I’ve…been here for a while.”
“Oh. Well, I’ve never seen you before.”
Makes sense. I never met anyone from the city until I almost boiled Orbulon. “I usually don’t go into the city unless I have to. Most of the time, my fr-um,assistant comes into town to get stuff for me.”
“Must get lonely out there, in the forest.”
“I know I’d get lonely.” Dribble piped up.
Ashley looked out the window, pondering her words for a second. “...I suppose it could be seen as lonely. But it’s safe.”
“Safe from what?”
Ashley was about to say ‘from other people’, but she caught herself. “...I’d rather not talk about it…please.” She quickly added.
Silence enveloped the taxi for a minute. “Alright.”
Ashley noticed a batch of yellow dolls hanging from the rearview mirror. “What’re those?”
“Mm?”
“Those…stuffed animals?”
“Oh, these? These are some dolls Dribble made!”
At this, the bulldog’s eye shrank to the size of peas. “Spitz! Don’t go shoutin’ this to every stranger we meet!”
“What? Is it that bad to tell coworkers about what my husband’s interested in?”
“I…It’s…Just don’t tell EVERYONE!”
“Why not?”
As the two kept arguing, Ashley noticed they were near to where her mansion was. “Um, we’re nearing my stop.”
The two broke out of their bickering as they realized where they were. “Oh, right!”
Dribble slammed on the brakes and Ashley felt herself being restrained by the seat belts.
“Okay! Great! This is it.”
Ashley unbuckled herself and opened the door. She didn’t get out immediately. “...Thanks.”
Dribble and Spitz looked at each other. “For what?”
“For bringing me home.”
Spitz gave a smile. “Don’t mention it, kiddo! Hey, see ya ‘round!” Immediately the taxi drove off, leaving Ashley alone again.
She looked towards the mansion…before giving a small smile and walking in.
…
Ashley laid in her bed, having finished reading a spell she was hoping to master, and put the book away in her drawer.
She looked to the side of her bed. Red was already asleep, curled up at a ball. She sighed and laid her head on her pillow while petting his head as he purred.
Today had been…weird. No one had held any resentment towards her. No one hated her.
She stared at the ceiling. Nothing could reasonably explain this. She’d never felt this way around other people before.
But she didn’t exactly hate it either. She’d craved connection for years. And now…it was within her reach.
She didn’t know why she felt this way. They were just coworkers! Acquaintances! The only reason they cared was because she either worked with them or worked with someone they knew!
And yet…they did their best to make her feel included.
For the first time past the beatings, for the first time since the spoon, for the first time since the abandonment, the starvation and the taste of blood in her mouth…
Ashley was happy.
She sighed as she closed her eyes and let slumber take hold.
And for the first time in her life…
She had a wonderful sleep.
No nightmares.
No screams.
No fire.
Just a peaceful, wonderful sleep.
…
Ashley slowly got used to the craziness of the company. Just a few days after she’d first come back to the building, the coffee machine exploded and took out a large chunk of the building.
Apparently this happened at least once a month for them.
It wasn’t normal, but…she liked it.
She’d never say it aloud, but she felt…happy.
She’d never felt this before. Not since her so-called parents had given up on her.
What she didn’t know was that this was only the beginning.
And they’d slowly learn of the horrors the poor girl had gone through.
But for now
They simply knew her
As Ashley, the girl who lived in the haunted mansion.