Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

"Yeesh… talk about inviting." Erik said, staring at the haunted mansion in front of them.

"Meh, my castle's scarier." Bowser said and then he opened up the door. "Hey! Blue haired girl! Are you in here?"

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" A voice asked as they turned to see Ashley working on a spell. "I can see why Wario speaks poorly of you."

"Yeah well, I think poorly of him. It's a mutual thing." Bowser said with a "hmph".'

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What is it that you want?"

"We're looking for a blue haired girl. 5-Volt was saying that she came to your mansion earlier." Erik explained.

"Ah, Mia. Yeah, she helps out every now and then. Very nice too." Ashley added and then lightly chuckled. "It's honestly hilarious how she's stealing from right under Wario's nose and he has no idea what's going on."

"Yeah, that's her alright." Erik nodded. "She's my sister."

"Oh, is that right? Well, I can definitely see the resemblance."

"Do you know where the brat is at?" Bowser asked.

"She said something about visiting the Crygors next."

"Great! …I have NO idea where they live."

"Well, you came just in time. I'm working on a spell that helps with someone's sense of direction. Perhaps it'll be useful for tracking down the Crygors. I just need a few more ingredients…"

"Like what?" Erik asked as Ashley walked over to Erik, pulled up a stool and climbed up, then pulled a hair out of his head. "Ow!"

"A little tuft of blue hair…" She said and then dunked it into the cauldron. "It needs a little bit of salt too. Sit tight, it'll be a while."

"Ugh… great." Bowser mumbled.

"Might as well make ourselves comfortable."

Back at the Shake Dimension…

"Don't expect mouth to mouth!"

"Is she going to be okay?!"

"I don't know, she got hit pretty hard… especially when he broke her aura just like that."

"Quick, put her in the infirmary!"

Nyx was laid down on a bed. "I'll keep a close eye on her." Chloe said. "You guys go ahead and collect all the treasure you can and find the big bad of that continent. Someone needs to make sure Nyx heals up properly."

"Right…" Jade nodded, looking at Nyx worriedly.

"Hey, she'll be alright." Iris said, putting her hand on Jade's shoulder. "She's a tough one, she'll pull through."

"Yeah." She then turned to the Wario Bros. "Thank you for saving her. I'm still surprised you would go out of your way to do it."

"It was the right thing to do." Wario said. "Like we said, we may be rotten but we're not downright villainous. We do good deeds from time to time. We're not that cruel."

"Yeah, what he said!" Waluigi nodded.

"Yeah, I mean… when Nyx had told me about you two boneheads, I was assuming you were nothing but scumbags. Now that we got to know ya, you're slightly less scummy than I thought you were. Heheh." Sarge chuckled.

"They're not that bad." Xena agreed. "Ornery, yes… but not horrible."

"Exactly! Now let's-a go and get more treasure!" Wario said. "Your friend needs some rest!" He said as they walked off, leaving Nyx along with Chloe.

"Oh Nyx… if only you can let go of your anger…" Chloe whispered, applying a wash cloth on her forehead.

Later…

"Here we are, the Rocking Range." Syrup said as they docked.

"Alright, let's go. We're down two people, one of them being our medic so we oughta be careful." Jen said, glancing at Mona. "Right?"

"Hey, I can be careful!" Mona said, folding her arms while puffing her cheek a bit.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you." Zoey said with a cheerful smile as they walked off the ship.

"…Hey, where's Anthony?" Umber asked.

"He said he had to take care of something. He'll catch up with us soon." Jen informed as they walked through… and then they heard a train whistle as a train rushed past them.

"You think that's our ride?" Jade asked.

"I'm pretty sure!" Xena said. "Alright, hang on!" She said, clapping her hands and teleporting them all into the train.

World 3-1 - Wreck Train - All Aboard!

BGM: Wreck Train (Wario Land: Shake It!)

The group teleported inside of the train, and right next to a treasure chest as well! "And here we are!" Xena smiled.

"Fancy!" Mona said, and then noticed the treasure chest. "Ooooh! We teleported right next to a chest!"

"We did? Huh, how lucky!" Xena smiled.

"Well, that's quite fortunate. What's inside?"

Mona happily opened it up… and revealed a pair of gag glasses. "Oooh, one of those clown glasses…" She then giggled. "Maybe give this to Nora? She's a goofball, after all!"

"Nah… I don't think she'd wear something like that." Jade said.

"Oh well…" Mona shrugged, tossing it behind her.

Perfect Disguise - No one will ever know it's you!

"Well, we might as well see what makes this train tick." Zoey said with a nod from everyone as they walked through the train cars while taking out any Bandinero in the way.

"…Hey, where are the Wario Bros? Weren't they with us?" Jen asked.

"I could've sworn they were with us… where are they?" Iris wondered.

A few cars down…

"Alright, this is a stick up! Nobody move!" Wario said.

"Anyone who doesn't give us their cash will pay the price!" Waluigi said.

"Y-you'll do what…? Shoot us?" A Bandernino whimpered.

"Wahahahaha! No, we won't use guns on you!" Waluigi smirked. "However, we've got something else." He said, glancing over at Wario who casually pulled out some garlic.

"I can get quite gassy… and you wouldn't want to be in here if I were to… let it rip." Wario smirked, causing all the Banderninos to pale."

A few minutes later…

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Wario Bros laughed as soon as they left with a big sack of cash.

"I can't believe they fell for it!" Wario laughed.

"Right? Garlic doesn't make you gassy at all! Wahahaha!"

"…I don't even want to know." Iris said with the others agreeing.

"Ooooh, come to mama!" Mona grinned, pulling out a treasure chest as she opened it up. "Hot sauce! Oooh, sounds good!"

"Mmm, hot sauce… works great on my recipes." Umber said as Mona let one drop land on her finger as she happily licked it… and her face immediately went red.

"YAAAAAAAAAGH!" She yelled, immediately breathing fire that managed to burn up the Wario Bros' sack of cash.

"AAAAH!" Both of them yelped.

"Hah… hah… oooooow!" Mona groaned. "That's hot!"

"Oh come on, it's not that bad." Camrin said, as he decided to have a taste. "Hmm… habanero? …Oh no… that's Carolina Reaper territory… ack! How can it get hotter than that?"

"Oh give me a break. You're being dramatic." Umber said, having a taste himself. "See? It's not that hot." He said while turning red, sweating like crazy and smoke coming out of his ears. "I've tasted hotter from Gloria's experimental curry."

"Umber, you're sweating buckets." Sarge pointed out.

"And smoke is coming out of your ears!" Xena added.

"What? This is how we Alolans sweat." He lied.

Hotter Sauce: Hotter than any normal hot sauce. No, hotter than that. Hotter. Keep going...

"Come on, let's go." Jade said as they walked away, while Mona took the Hotter Sauce and tossed it behind her.

"Blegh…" She grumbled as they walked through, finding themselves in an area filled with fire jets, but Xena was able to manipulate them around with her telekinesis as they worked their way around safely… although Wario crawled underneath a platform and opened up a treasure chest, to reveal a diamond.

"Ooooh!" He grinned… and then he pulled it out. "Oh…" He said, taking a good look at it.

Diamond Lightbulb - A lightbulb carved from a huge diamond. You'll be sad when it burns out, though.

"Maybe I can give this to Mona. Lightbulbs aren't my thing." Wario said as he regrouped with the others where they would meet up at the locomotive, where they would free the Merfle and Xena teleported him away.

"Uh… nobody's piloting this thing?" Xena asked.

"Must be on auto-pilot." Camrin said.

"Do we even know where it's going?" Jade asked.

"No, but we can definitely stop this!" Mona said, pulling a lever… but instead of applying the brake, it just sped the train up. "Waaaah!"

"That's the opposite of stopping!" Zoey said with a sweatdrop.

"I know, I know!" Mona got back up and tried to push the lever forward… and snapped it right off. "…Oh…"

"Great! Now it's a runaway train." Iris sighed. "…And on top of that, we're about to hit a curve at blinding speeds." She said, and right on cue, the Wreck Train jumped the tracks.

"Welp, fellas… it's been an honor being with ya." Sarge said.

"Everyone, form up next to us!" Xena ordered as they did so as she clapped her hands and slammed them into the ground to form a force field right when the train crashed into a rock wall that ejected everyone into the rock wall… and found themselves in a cave.

End BGM

World 3-2 - Stonetooth Cave - Well, That's One Way to Enter a Cave…

Wario brushed himself off. "Where'd you get your train license, a cereal box?"

Mona pried her head out of a boulder. "Alright, you try piloting one!"

"Uuugh… all in favor of not having Mona control a train?" Jade rubbed her head as almost everyone raised their hands, including Mona. The one who didn't raise their hand was Xena who was currently knocked out.

"Xena? Xena!" Umber was by her side, as was Jade and Iris. "Come on, wake up!" He quietly said, and then they saw her switching forms as Dark Xena sat up. "Hey, is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. The ejection just knocked the wind out of her. She should be back to normal soon." Dark Xena said as she sprang up, stretching. "Alright… time to stretch my legs for a change." She said and turned to her team. "Alright, you ready to find a way out of here?"

"Yup!" Jade nodded.

"Yeah, considering the entrance is a bit… clogged." Iris sweatdropped.

"We'll just have to get creative!" Sarge said. "Let's move!"

BGM: Stonetooth Cave (Wario Land: Shake It!)

The group walked ahead through the cave, all of them noticing the many fossils inside the cave… and then to their surprise, they would see conveyor belts all around the area. "Huh… technology meets prehistoric times." Sarge said. "Neat!"

Wario hit a switch underneath a conveyor belt… and saw a bag of cash. "Oooh! Mine mine mine mine mine!" He said, rushing toward it and picking it up… and a metal box slammed on top of him.

"Ooooh!" Everyone but Waluigi winced.

"Ah, he's fine." Waluigi waved it off as Wario removed the box and sprang back up like nothing happened.

"That's what you get for being greedy." Camrin chuckled.

"Eh, happens all the time." Wario waved it off as they walked into the next area where they would see more conveyor belts as they hopped along while trying not to fall off, though Dark Xena would catch them in case if they'd fall, then they would spot a small crawl space.

Dark Xena telekinetically picked up a Bandernino and threw it into a switch, then Iris crawled underneath and opened up a treasure chest. "Oh score!" She exclaimed, causing Dark Xena to raise an eyebrow and teleport to the other side.

"What's up?"

"It's meat! Glorious meat!" Iris's eyes sparkled. "A big drumstick!"

"Honestly, we think this is a case of "eyes bigger than your stomach" situation."

"Oh come off it, Dark. What's the worse that can happen?" Iris asked as she took a bite of the drumstick… and it was like biting into a rock. Anime tears ran down her cheeks. "No fair…"

"Called it."

Fossilized Drumstick: You know what was tasty? Dinosaur meat. It's really hard to find fresh these days.

"Dark, would you be a dear and fry this up for me?" Iris asked with pleading eyes.

"Honey, that's rock solid. Find a better drumstick." Dark Xena said, telekinetically taking it off her hands and tossing it to the side and teleporting away with Iris.

"Nooooo!" She pouted.

"What the devil is this?" Mona wondered as they continued on.

"It looks like a fire block." Jade said and then took a step back. "Stand back!" She said as she aimed her Poltergust and shot fire, but it didn't do anything. "…Huh, okay?"

"Hey bro, does that look familiar to you?" Waluigi asked as Wario took a closer look at it, and then remembered the times where he was lit on fire to destroy those blocks.

"Bonfire blocks?!" Wario yelped. "Oh, mama mia… here we go again." He mumbled.

"You'll be fine."

"I know, but I don't like the idea of being burnt alive." Wario said, seeing a Flimflam dropping from the ceiling and with a deep breath, he walked over to it.

"You guys might wanna clear the area!" Waluigi warned as they turned to them as a Flimflam dropped down from the ground and lit up on Wario's butt.

"YAAAAAAAAAAH!" Wario yelled, running around in flames as he bumped into a wall which caused him to burn even further… but he would jump and ignite Waluigi.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHY MEEEEE?!"

"If I'm going up in flames, so are you!" Wario yelled as they kept running around in a fiery inferno until their entire bodies were covered in flames where the Bonfire Block was destroyed… and the fires extinguished, leaving the two covered in soot.

"Waaah…" Waluigi groaned as they shook it off.

"Now you know what it's like." Wario said, causing them to sweatdrop.

"How are these two not dead?" Camrin asked.

"…I'm gonna go with "because they don't feel like it"." Sarge guessed.

"Honestly, we'll take that." Dark Xena said with the others nodding as they hopped into a warp pipe and found themselves underneath a conveyor belt and a metal wall as Zoey hit the switch… where a bomb would fall off the conveyor belt, but Dark Xena caught it, then she grinned and snapped her fingers as the fuse on the bomb lit up, exploding and taking out the metal wall as they walked in and discovered two treasures chests.

"Oooh, two for the price of one, grandma!" Mona's eyes sparkled.

"Where'd the "grandma" come from?" Iris wondered as they approached the treasure chests and opened them up.

"Huh?" Camrin wondered, pulling out a stapler that had lips on it. "Uh… practicing your kissing…?"

"A kiss so romantic, you'll be stapled together in harmony." Dark Xena snarked, causing Umber and her team to snicker.

Kissing Stapler - The first in a line of office supplies for lonely workers.

"What's in the second one?" Mona asked as Jen pulled out a bucket.

"This… is a bucket."

"Dear god…" Mona said in awe.

"There's more."

"No!"

"Oh yes. The handle… is covered in gold!" Jen said, revealing the handle was made with solid gold.

"Oooh mama!" Mona grinned, greedily taking it.

Gold-Handled Bucket - How can you improve on the utilitarian design of a bucket? With a big ol' hunk of gold!

"Just the handle? Why not go all out and deck the whole thing in gold?" Dark Xena asked.

"Then it'd look like an eyesore." Iris responded.

"You kiddin'? It's already an eyesore with the handle being made out of gold."

"Fair enough."

"Ah, just take the gold off of the bucket and you're golden." Wario said.

"Then how are you gonna carry a heavy bucket with water in it?" Umber asked.

"Duh, with your muscles!"

Umber sweatdropped. "I shouldn't have asked…" He said as they walked through the rest of the cave while getting their exercise in with conveyor belts until they found the caged Merfle where Dark Xena teleported it out and teleported him to the Sweet Stuff, then they found a Warp Pipe and hopped on in.

End BGM

World 3-3 - It's-All Mine - Still Stuck In a Cave

BGM: It's All Mine (Wario Land: Shake It!)

"Are we… deeper in the cave or…?" Mona wondered.

"I'm gonna go with yes." Camrin said.

"We'll find a way out… I'm sure of it." Jen nodded as they walked through the mine, finding a few Pitchforks as Wario picked one up and threw him into a wall where he, Iris and Dark Xena would use him as a platform and they hopped into a warp pipe, where they hopped out and landed next to a chest where Wario would open it up.

"Wah? What the heck is this?" Wario asked, pulling out some stew.

Iris's eyes sparkled. "That's some good looking food!" She said.

"There's a Pterodactyl wing in that stew… at least, we think it is…" Dark Xena said.

Pterodactyl Stew - Make your dinosaur meat go farther with this rich and hearty stew.

Iris took a bite, and her eyes sparkled. "It's chewable unlike the other! …Needs to be warmed up though." She said and turned to Dark Xena.

"Look, I'm not like Xena. I'm not gonna fall for your puppy dog eyes." Dark Xena said, her arms folding while Iris continued to look at her. "It's not working… I'm not as easy as my lighter self. Drop it."

"In three-" Wario started counting where Dark Xena was getting annoyed. "Two-" Dark Xena closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as a tic mark appeared on her forehead. "One."

"Alright, ALRIGHT!" She said, warming it up with her pyrokinesis. "Sheesh…"

"Heh, I knew you'd crack!" Iris smiled, happily helping herself.

Ugh, Xena, you owe me… Dark Xena thought to herself as they went back into the Warp Pipe.

"…Does anyone smell stew?" Umber asked as they turned to see Iris happily walking while eating, then they turned to an annoyed Dark Xena. "…Let me guess, you tried to resist but you got annoyed?"

"I don't know how she does it…"

Umber patted her on the shoulder. "There there, it'll be alright." He smiled.

"Yeah… you're right…" Dark Xena said, giving him a soft smile and causing both of them to blush as they walked off together with the others, then Iris finished her stew and tossed the bowl behind her as they pressed on, but then Jade would spot another Warp Pipe as she hopped in.

Once Jade came out, she would see a bouncy ball and a stone block, so she sucked up the ball and shot it at the block to destroy it. "Huh, balls beats rock, who knew?" Jade chuckled as she crawled through and found the second chest as she opened it up to discover golden press-on nails. "…Okay, ew."

Gold Press-On Nails: Solid-gold fake nails with an adorable kitty design. Rich people loooove kitties!

"If I wanted decorated nails, I'd be doing my own and not applying fake stuff… no thank you!" She said, tossing them behind her as she went off to catch up with the others… while up ahead, Wario was lit ablaze a few times from a Flimflam, destroying a few Bonfire Blocks.

"Ugh… all of this for a diamond…" Wario mumbled as they continued on where they would see a Max Fastosity Dasherator where Camrin hopped inside and ran along the trail, sliding through some Bomb Blocks and a metal block, landing on the ground next to the last treasure chest and pulled out an apple.

"Huh… well, what do you know…" Camrin said, before having an idea and slicing the apple in two.

Really Tempting Apple: A really tasty-looking apple. One bite and you'll never want to eat anything else.

"Hey Mona!" Camrin tossed half of the apple to her.

"Oooh, thank you!" Mona smiled as the two ate their halves while making their way through the mine… and then once they found the caged Merfle and Dark Xena teleported him away, they would hop into the Warp Pipe… and found themselves outside.

"Yeah! There we go!" Sarge cheered where they would notice they were at a train station.

"Huh… apparently we're just a few miles away from Glittertown." Jen said, and then a train came by and slowed to a stop.

"Come on, let's go in! There's probably treasure in there!" Mona said as she ran in, as did the others… but JIX would notice something on the side of a train car.

"…Does that say "Derailed Express"?" Jade asked.

"It does." Iris nodded, and then all three of them paled.

"Ah shit, here we go again…" Dark Xena sighed as they walked inside where the train took off.

End BGM

Meanwhile, back at Diamond City…

"Alright, it's ready!" Ashley said, applying the potion into her wand.

"Yes! Now we're talking!" Bowser exclaimed.

"It's not fully tested yet… I do need a test subject." Ashley said before looking at Bowser. "Ah, you'll do nicely."

"Wha?!"

"Pantelones-"

"Wait wait wait wait!"

"-Directionicus!" She finished chanting, firing her wand at Bowser as he let out a loud roar… before shrinking down to the size of a coin. "Oh no, not again!" She groaned.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!" Bowser yelled as Erik picked him up and placed him on the shoulder.

"I've always wanted a partner Koopa." He teased.

"Hey! This isn't funny!"

"That should wear off in a few minutes." Ashley said.

"In the meantime, you could've used this!" Red spoke up, giving Erik a map to the Crygor's residence.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Bowser roared.

"Come on, let's go… little guy." Erik teased as he walked off.

"Don't make me roast you when I get bigger again!" Bowser threatened as they walked out of the mansion.

"In hindsight… I should've given them the map." Ashley said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

With Nyx…

"Uuungh…" Nyx groaned, slowly coming around as she sat up, only to feel a stinging pain in her gut. "Nnngh!" She winced.

"Easy there. You're just starting to recover from a magical punch." A voice said as Nyx turned her head to the source of the voice as Anthony emerged from the shadows.

"Oh… hey Anthony…" Nyx mumbled, rubbing her head. "How did I get back on here? The last thing I remember was… being in the water."

"Would you believe me if I said that the Wario Bros saved you from drowning?"

"They what?!" Nyx said in shock.

"Indeed. I was going to get you out, but Chloe stopped me when she saw the Wario Bros doing it instead."

"Oh… I… but… those two are… the most rotten people I know."

"If they were truly rotten, would they have gone out of their way to save you from drowning?"

"I… I suppose not…" Nyx sighed, looking conflicted as she heard a yawn as she turned her head to see her black Yoshi cuddling up next to her.

"I know what you're going through. I was in the same boat as you were with Jacques Schnee."

BGM: Scent of Silence (KIngdom Hearts: Chain of Memories)

"Yeah… I remember you telling me how you were so hell bent on tearing down Jacques. Telling all of us that when we met you in the sewers…"

"Indeed. You want to know what made me so hellbent on wanting to destroy Jacques in the first place?"

"Go ahead…"

"It was during a small heist of my own… I went into my home, ready to give money to my mother… and that's when I saw the grisly scene that I can never forget. My mother was being tortured by these jerkwads, demanding answers to where I was. I rushed to defend her and beat them up… while at the same time, I lost my eye to an ice pick. I did chase them off… and I held my mother in my arms."

Anthony closed his eye. "She was only tortured to death by those lowlifes because of Jacques' manipulations. She died in my arms… and to this day… sometimes I can still hear her screams."

"Holy shit…" Nyx's eyes widened hearing that.

"I had every right to murder Jacques right then and there the moment I had the chance when we "attempted" to secure the hostage, only for said hostage to extract herself." He let out a chuckle. "I had every right to kill him… but I didn't. Life isn't something a thief should be going around stealing. It's invaluable."

He then looked at Nyx. "It's why I'm called the Gentleman Thief for a reason. I can maim someone but I can't bring myself to end one's life. That's not who I am… besides, remember the day when we met in the sewers? It was you who suggested that I get my life back on track."

"Right… our first mission." Nyx nodded, flashing back to the day they met.

"When you first caught wind of this mission that you're on, you called the Brooks residence and filled Zoey in, who in turn told the siblings… and Camrin told me. Why do you think I rallied all of MAJC to be here? Because I know what you're going through… revenge is a dark path. I know… because I've been down that road. Once you step on that path, it'll be nearly impossible to get out of it."

"Right… it's… a hell of a poison."

"Exactly. You have every right to be angry at the Wario Bros… I'd be angry too, but I don't want you to go down this same similar path as I took. I couldn't just stand by and watch you give into the darkness that is revenge. You can get your house back, but as for me… I can't bring my mother or get my eye back."

"I'm not sure if it's possible… the deed is probably burnt up from those explosions we heard."

"Hmph, assumption is another slippery path. They may be stupid, but I doubt they were stupid enough to leave the deed in the blaze." Anthony took Nyx's hand. "Nyx… please… do me a favor, and get out of this grudge you have against the Wario Bros. They saved your life… and I think it'd be best if you were to express your gratitude for it, not hatred."

Tears swelled in Nyx's eyes. "What… what have I done…" She whispered. "I've been so caught up that… I've been pushing everyone away in my own vengeance…" She said, closing her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks.

Anthony gave her a soft smile. "Just let it out…" He said, hugging her gently while Nyx cried softly into his shoulder, all the while Chloe listened to all of this with a smile on her face.

"I knew you'd get her to see reason." She said with a smile.

Revenge is a very slippery slope...