The large brick house began to come into view, after about running at least half a mile. Peach slowed herself to a stop at the chain link fence surrounding the house. She walked over to where the gate was supposed to open, only to find a variety of padlocks connected to a chain, which was wrapped around two poles in order to keep intruders out.
Peach grumbled to herself, and paced in front of the gate. She looked up and noticed that it was only about six or seven feet tall, so she backed away, got a running start and climbed over the fence. The door was only just a few feet away, but there was something inside of her that made her want to turn around and go back to the castle.
Ignoring the feeling, Peach stomped fearlessly to the door. She knocked as hard as she could, and seconds later a large man dressed in yellow appeared in the doorway.
"Peach?" Wario inquired, "What do you want?"
"I've come to ask you for your help." She said, placing her hands on her hips.
Wario laughed a low, booming laugh. "As if I would help anyone! Especially someone like… you."
"Bowser has returned, and has taken Luigi and Daisy captive!" She said, trying to sound mighty, "And Mario is unable to help at the present time."
Wario leaned casually against the doorframe. "You really expect me to believe that Bowser has beaten my ignorant, brother, the hero of the land?" He said sarcastically.
"Quite so…" Peach started, looking away.
Wario furrowed his eyebrows, and sighed. "I guess I could help you." He said, feeling defeated.
Peach shook his hand violently, "Um… I might need a bit more help." She confessed.
"You don't mean…" He started, receiving a nod from Peach. Wario sighed again, "My brother can be extremely stubborn."
"I realize that, but we need him to help save the Mushroom Kingdom." She said stepping towards the padlocked gate. "You gonna unlock those?"
Wario chuckled as he simply shook the gate open. "They're not real locks, they are just there so people will leave me alone."
"A little anti-social, are we?" She said giggling.
Wario followed her slowly back up the dirt road. When they finally arrived at the fork, they took the road that was directly straight from the castle bridge. A large, dark building, surrounded by trees was what they found at the end of the road. Peach shivered, however Wario showed no sign of fear. He trudged to the front door, which to Peach's surprise wasn't guarded at all.
Spontaneous lightning struck as they followed the stepping stones to the front door. "9, 10, 11, 12…" Peach counted the stones in her mind. Once she had reached twenty-one, they stood in front of a large, medieval-looking door. Wario pounded on it, which ended up in more spontaneous lightning.
Not much after Wario knocked a tall, lean man stood in the doorway. Dressed completely in purple, with pointed boots. He folded his arms at the sight of the Princess, and snickered at the sight of his brother.
Peach was the first to speak. "Waluigi, we've come to ask for you're help."
He scoffed as he stepped onto the porch and shut the large stone door behind him. "Please," She pleaded, "The Mushroom Kingdom depends on you! Um… kind of."
Waluigi just scoffed again, never saying a word. Wario turned red with immediate anger, and grabbed Waluigi by the neck of his shirt.
"Now you listen here," He said darkly, "You'd better agree to come with us… Or else." This just earned Wario a high-pitched cackle.
Waluigi had crossed the line. Wario picked him up and shoved him harshly against the wall. "You're gonna be sorry that I have to repeat myself," Wario said angrily, "Now, you're gonna clean up your act, and come with us to save your arch nemesis and 'is girlfriend." He set Waluigi back on his feet and waited for him to say something.
"What happened to Luigi?" He asked
"Bowser…" Peach growled.
He laughed, earning a glare from Wario. "Well, this is a twist! Mortal enemies saving the heroes!"
"So you'll help us?" Peach asked brightly.
"Yeah, I got nothin' better to do." He said, acting like he was important.
"Great!" Peach said glancing quickly at Wario. "We'd better head off then."
Peach led the way back to the castle. Wario and Waluigi never fought, surprisingly, and that made the walk back to the castle seem much shorter than it actually was.
When they were back at the castle, they all sat in the foyer and tried to figure out some sort of a plan. Peach decided to leave the planning to the criminal masterminds, since she had never done anything like this before. They agreed, which made Peach feel incredibly left out. She longed to go back to talk with Mario, but Toad and the nurses regrettably forbid it.
"I'm sorry Princess." Toad had said to her, "But Mario needs all the sleep he can get."
"I understand Toad, thank you for taking care of him." Peach replied.
"There is no thanks necessary!" He explained, "We owe Mario our lives."
Peach gratefully nodded and walked away. Wario and Waluigi sat on the floor, conversing and looking at a map of Toad Town. She sighed and ran up to her room. She rummaged through her closet once again, and found her pink jumpsuit. It looked like sweats and a pink jacket, which was pretty much exactly what it was. She threw it on, redid her hair and rushed back down the stairs. It surprised her when Wario and his brother were no longer going over their plan.
She found them waiting by the entrance, and walked over to them. "So, how'd it go?"
"Pretty good" Waluigi confessed, "I think we'll be able to get near the mansion in less than a few hours."
"That's great!" Peach said, "So, what about Bowser?"
"What about him?" Wario said, "He's just a giant koopa, how hard could it possibly be to beat the crap out of him?"
"Judging by Mario's recent appearance," She said, "I'd say, pretty hard."
"Don't worry sweetheart!" Waluigi said, "We'll get the big bad guy and save your little friends!"
"Okay, there's two things I think you should know." Peach said putting her hands on her hips. "One, never call me sweetheart."
Wario chuckled, and Waluigi shrugged. "Two," She said glancing at Wario, "I hope you realize that I don't plan to sit in the corner and watch while you try to, as you so lightly put it, 'beat the crap out of Bowser' got it?"
"Okay, okay." The two said together. "We get it."
"Good, now lets start going." She said grinning sweetly, "We'll want to get as far as we can before nightfall."
So, the temporary trio left the safety of the castle. Peach tried to keep her senses sharp, and she tried to be as acutely aware of her surroundings as possible. Waluigi and Wario did the same. However, there was one thing that they weren't aware of. As the sun began to fall over the horizon, the trio never noticed the cloaked figure that continually followed them on their journey. . .