Chapter 2

Pain shot through Wario's ears as his office began to ring. The world was a blur as he swiveled his head all around, until finally the clock on the wall came clearly into view. 4:00.

Sighing, Wario reached underneath his desk and pulled out the Com-Mic, wincing as a sharp pain shot up his neck. He had to come up with a better way of sleeping in his office. Propping his head up with his gloved hand, he pressed the big red button on the base of the microphone.

"Work day's over! Everybody go home!"

Wario leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms behind his head. Pain that was somehow pleasant this time shot from his neck all the way down his back, and he let out another sigh. Outside the window, it was just starting to get dark, and snowflakes were still drifting lazily down from those stupid clouds coming from Dr. Crygor's stupid machine. Wario grimaced. It was going to be another long cold walk through the—wait a minute. No, it wasn't.

Wario pushed his chair back and turned towards the sled that was waiting for him beside his desk. An image of the kid he had stolen it from screaming flashed into his mind, and Wario smirked. Served him right...served him right...

Hoisting the sled over his shoulder, Wario trudged to the window and placed a hand on the cold glass to steady himself. Down on the street below, Mona's red scooter went zipping off into the distance; how was she able to control that thing on the ice? 9-Volt was running after her...wait, no, he wasn't. 18-Volt appeared, and the two high-fived each other before they started doing some weird dance walk down the street. Penny and Dr. Crygor had their arms wrapped around each other as they headed for home. Wario mentally smacked himself on the forehead. He had forgotten to have that little talk with Dr. Crygor about the Winter Weather Machine. Eh, well.

Wario watched until the last employee was safely out of sight, then he got on his private elevator and rode down to the first floor. As the elevator dinged open, Wario winced. It was like Christmas threw up all over his precious company. His employees hadn't even been considerate enough to take down their stupid decorations! Well, first thing tomorrow, one of them was going to! Wario would make sure of that!

Reaching the front door, Wario took a deep breath and braced himself. Once again, icy cold wind pierced him like a sword as he stepped out into the snow. He hurried down the steps and positioned his sled, taking another run and go before jumping on and whizzing down the street like a speeding Bullet Bill.

Only a few pedestrians had to jump out of his way this time, but little golden glints on the ice kept catching Wario's attention. Wait a minute...those were COINS!

Throwing back his head and laughing, Wario steered the sled towards the dropped money and collected as much of it as he could all the way home. He even managed to snag a diamond or two!

As the sled slid to a stop in front of his house, Wario carefully stored all his new treasure in his pockets before hoisting the sled one more time up to his front door. He pulled his house key out of his pocket, and let out a huff as it slipped out of his icy fingers and landed on the front stoop. Grumbling, he bent over and picked it up, the sled's runners digging into his shoulder blades. He straightened up, and some hook-nosed creature with lanky arms and legs towered over him in the doorway.

Wario and the thing screamed at the same time, and the next thing he knew he had flipped backwards over the sled and was laying flat on his back on the stoop. That thing was Waluigi, that skinny walking beanpole!

"WALUIGI?!"

"Yeah!" Waluigi raised his eyebrows and curled his lip as Wario got to his feet. "Who did you think it was; the Abominable Snowman?!"

"SHUT UP!" Wario shoved past Waluigi and stepped inside. Who did that idiot think he was, trying to scare Wario like that?!

"YOU SHUT UP!" Waluigi slammed the door shut as Wario dumped his new sled by his favorite armchair and headed for the kitchen.

"YOU'RE INVITED TO A CHRISTMAS PARTY!" Wario took the unopened envelope out of his pocket and thrust it at Mr. Beanpole.

"WHAT CHRISTMAS PARTY?!"

Wario's stomach sank to his feet as Waluigi took the envelope and opened it. Why did he do that?! If he had kept his big mouth shut, he could have gone to the party by himself and stolen all the presents without having to worry about sharing with an accomplice! Then again, it would be nice to have a scapegoat if things didn't work out according to plan, and who said he had to share, anyway?

"Princess Peach's castle?" Waluigi looked up from the invitation and raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah." Wario got his favorite snack bowl out of the cupboard and began to fill it with all sorts of sweet-smelling cakes and doughnuts and whatever else he could find to eat.

"Did you get invited, too?" There was a smirk in Waluigi's voice, and Wario rolled his eyes as he headed for his armchair. Like Waluigi would get an invitation somewhere and Wario WOULDN'T get one!

"Of course I did, stupid!" Wario heaved a huge sigh as he settled into his chair and turned the TV on. Ah, yes! The Three Goombas were on!

As Gary, George, and Gurgly beat each other up on-screen, Waluigi shot Wario a dirty look as he went to hunker down in his pathetic little armchair.

"So, are we going?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Wario stuffed a doughnut into his mouth, savoring it's sweet, sticky, chewy goodness. "I'M going to steal all those PRESENTS!"

"PRESENTS?!" Waluigi's eyes bugged out of his head so much, Wario half-expected them to fall out on the floor. He smirked as the image of Waluigi crawling around on the floor looking for his eyeballs came into his mind. "You didn't tell me there were going to be PRESENTS!"

"There has to be! It's a Christmas party!" Wario could almost see himself sitting on top of a mountain of presents; all different shapes and sizes, and each one worth more than the last! "And I'm going to get them all!"

"Hey! What about me?!" A familiar frown crossed Waluigi's face. Oh, no. Not another one of these rants!

"Yeah, yeah! Sure! Whatever!" Wario waved him off, and Waluigi thankfully sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. Just as long as he wasn't going ON and ON about how everybody got presents but him, blah, blah, blah...

A few hours went by, and after The Three Goombas went off for the night, it was time to turn to the Business and Finance Channel before bed.

"Well," Waluigi stood up and stretched, "I'm going to bed." He smirked as he turned to Wario. "Have a rotten night!"

Waluigi cackled as Wario glared at him. Oh, he thought he was so funny, stealing Wario's catchphrase!

"You, too!" Wario blew the biggest raspberry he could in Waluigi's direction as Mr. Beanpole went to his makeshift room in the garage.

Come to think of it, getting ready for bed didn't seem like such a bad idea. The smooth softness of Wario's yellow and purple striped pajamas would be nice right about now.

Wario picked up his empty snack bowl and as he put it in the dishwasher so he wouldn't have to deal with cleaning it himself, he caught a bright flash of gold out of the corner of his eyes. His hands went to his pockets as he turned back toward the living room. Had he dropped some of his new treasure?

He carefully counted the precious coins, turning each one over in his hands and allowing himself to indulge in the warm sense of safety they provided. They were all there, every last one—the diamonds, too. Maybe he was just seeing things...

Wario shook his head and continued to his room, where he carefully put his new treasure away with the rest of the treasure he had accumulated over the years. He counted it all multiple times before, satisfied, he went to change into his pajamas.

There was a strange rattling noise coming from the living room. It was probably just the wind or something, and Wario tried to ignore it, but the more he heard it, the more it sounded like a doorknob rattling. When he finally stepped out of his room, his stomach turned to ice. The front doorknob WAS turning—somebody was trying to get in! SOMEBODY THAT WAS TRYING TO STEAL WARIO'S TREASURE, TOO, NO DOUBT!

Wario clenched his jaw and raised his fists in a fighting stance. HOW DARE THEY?! HE WOULD SHOW THEM WHO WAS BOSS!

The doorknob clicked, and the door slowly creaked open to reveal what looked like a glowing ball of gold with a very feminine face. It, or she, whatever she was, had a star shining right above her head. Wario lowered his fists as she opened her beady eyes and stared at him.

"HELLO YELLO!"

Wario didn't know what he was expecting, but it sure wasn't the high-pitched, squeaky, slightly raspy voice that came out of the weird little creature.

"Man, it's hard to open a door without hands..."

She must have opened the door with her feet, which were covered with shiny brown shoes like a Goomba's. Wario's stomach tightened as she flew further into the room, the little star floating above her head flashing orange and yellow as her beady black eyes surveyed Wario's house as though she was thinking about buying it.

"WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

The creature jumped and blinked at Wario, her little mouth forming an 'o'.

"Who am I?" She tilted herself to one side and frowned. Then her eyes flashed with realization. "Oh, silly me! I forgot to introduce myself!"

She gave a sweet, toothy smile. "I'm Starlow, Representative of the Star Spirits! Usually I act as a guide for heroes on their quests, but tonight I'm acting as a messenger!"

Her face suddenly grew serious—well, as serious as a cutesy ball of gold's face could be, anyway.

"You will be visited by three ghosts, Wario!"

"WHAT?!" Wario's stomach dropped to his feet, and his face began to flame. "WHY?!"

"WHY?!" Wario flinched as the little thing's voice cut into his ears. How was she able to yell that loud?! "BECAUSE YOU'RE A JERK, THAT'S WHY!"

She cleared her throat, and her expression relaxed.

"I mean, SERIOUSLY! Stealing a little kid's sled, calling everybody stupid, NOT letting your employees have a Christmas party...WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?!"

Wario opened his mouth to tell this little gold-ball that there was NOTHING wrong with him, but she cut him off.

"Well, whatever." She curled her lip as she stared at Wario like he was last week's moldy doughnut. "I've done what I came here to do, so I guess I'll be on my way."

"HEY, WAIT!" Wario's yelling fell on deaf ears as the little thing flew to the door.

"Expect the first ghost tomorrow when the clock strikes one." She turned, her expression the same as Wario's anger grew hotter and hotter. He didn't want any ghosts to come and visit him!

"BUT—"

"Expect the second one the next night at the same hour."

What if they tried to take the presents he planned on stealing?!

"I SAID—"

"The third one will come the next night after the last stroke of twelve." The little thing turned away towards the outside world of cold and snow. "Goodbye, Wario."

Before he had a chance to yell at her any more, she was gone in a flash of gold and white.

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Author's Note: Phew! This chapter was hard to write! Wario's such a hot-headed character, isn't he? D: Thanks for the follow and the review, guys! I'm trying to keep everyone as in-character as possible, and keep all the situations as feasible in the Mario universe as I can, because I want this story to feel like something Nintendo would actually do, whether it be in a game, a cutscene, or even a full-fledged cartoon! I've still got a lot of work to do; this next chapter is going to be very interesting. ;)