(A/N: I'll bet you weren't expecting Wario to actually help Princess Peach. Looks like that greedy guy has some good in him, after all! Perhaps we should continue the story and see if Mario comes back!)
Peach was glad to see that Bowser finally got what was coming to him, and she curtsied before Wario as she said, "I never thought I'd hear myself say these words, but... thank you, Wario. I'm glad you were here to stop Bowser."
"I'm-a number one!" Wario declared.
"I don't know about number one, but you're close enough!" Tiara cheered.
"Who said that?" Wario asked, not recognizing the voice.
"That was Tiara." Peach automatically replied.
"Tiara?" Wario asked, unfamiliar with the name.
"I'll explain her to you soon, but first... can you please take me to Mario?" Peach asked Wario.
"I'm not sure, but I can try. I saw where he was going." Wario said. He motioned for the princess to follow him.
"Peach, how do you know this Wario guy?" Tiara whispered to Peach from her place on her head.
"Wario has joined us for many of our sporting events, kart races, and parties. He's not the nicest guy on the planet, but it seems he has redeemed himself today." Peach explained.
"Okay. But if he's not nice, why did you ask him to marry you?" Tiara asked.
"Because I really don't want to be married to a tyrant like Bowser. I'd much rather be married to a human being who can and is willing to protect me from him." Peach said.
"Well, that's understandable; Bowser doesn't really deserve you for a wife, seeing how he treated you until Wario saved us. But... do you even love Wario?" Tiara asked.
"No. I could never love any man like I do Mario. And I believe he understood, since he was willing to tell me that Mario is still alive." Peach replied.
"I see. Are you going to properly thank him for saving our lives?" Tiara asked.
"I will. After we're reunited with Mario." Peach said.
But they found that they hit a dead end, and they couldn't go any further.
"Oh no. Now what am I going to do?" Peach asked.
"Don't panic. I think maybe he'll come back this way." said Wario.
That was when Peach noticed that the volcano had erupted while they were dealing with Bowser, and the bird that had been flying around the stew pot seemed rather angry. In fact, it looked like it was fighting with someone. But who? It couldn't be Bowser.
Peach, Tiara, and Wario watched the bird fight someone they couldn't see for about a minute, and then Peach decided that she might as well let Wario know everything that happened to her up until the moment he'd stopped Bowser and saved her life. She introduced Wario and Tiara to each other, and she told Wario why she was wearing the wedding dress now.
"Yeah, I was wondering about that. The dress makes you look beautiful, like an angel, but..." Wario said.
"I didn't put this dress on by choice, and it wasn't for sale. Bowser stole it for the wedding and forced me to change into it right away, or else. The way he said 'or else' sounded... menacing. I had to change into it or pay the price. So I had no choice." Peach told him.
"Well, don't worry, Peach. I made sure that you're not getting married to the shelled moron today, or any other day, for that matter. Mario should be coming back this way. I know that I saw him around here; I'd know his outfit and mustache anywhere." said Wario.
"I believe you, Wario. And what brought you here?" Peach asked.
"When I heard about a Cooking Carnival going on here, I thought that maybe they'll have some steaks, or perhaps even something with garlic in it. The thought made me salivate, so I came here in hopes that I could eat some good food." said Wario. Then he added, "Speaking of food, I haven't tried anything here yet, and I'm just about starved. What do you say we grab something to eat while we wait for Mario to show himself?"
Peach hated to admit that her stomach had growled like an angry bear when she smelled the Stupendous Stew that the Broodals had stolen, but it was for the wedding, and she really didn't want to eat it with Bowser. She was still hungry, but there was one small problem.
"You can eat something if it'll help you feel better, but I know I won't have much of an appetite until I see Mario again." Peach replied.
"You really do love him, don't you?" Wario asked.
"She does. The things she told me about Mario make him sound like a good guy." Tiara replied. Then she added, "But I'm glad you showed us that you're a good guy. You just saved our lives!"
"Well, Peach didn't really deserve a creep like Bowser as her husband. He needs to try and go after someone more his type." Wario said, wondering what would happen if Bowser ever tried to pursue someone like Captain Syrup. Now that might be fun to imagine.
Then they saw that the giant bird had enough, and it fell into the big stew pot.
"Oh yeah! Now that stew has an extra ingredient to it: poultry! That's gonna be worth trying!" Wario exclaimed.
"It should be." said Peach.
Mario and Cappy returned to the Cooking Carnival, and now things seemed to be going well over here. It pleased Mario to see that everyone was a lot happier, and the food smelled amazing!
"We still need at least one more Power Moon before we can move on." said Cappy, after looking over the amount of Power Moons that he and Mario had gathered so far.
"I know. And I have all the regional coins I can get here, so it's-a time for me to go shopping at the Crazy Cap. I'll get our Power Moon from there." Mario said as Cappy took his place on his head, acting as the plumber's trademark cap.
They wove their way through the crowd to reach the store, but then Cappy noticed something, and he asked, "What's that?"
"What's what?" Mario asked.
"Over there." Cappy said, assuming his Bonneter form and pointing to two people sitting near the edge of the plaza, just over some pink lava. One of them looked like a short, fat yet muscular man dressed in yellow and purple.
"Mama-mia! Wario is here!" Mario exclaimed, getting Wario's attention and causing him to stand up, turn around, and look at him.
"Hey, it's about time! We've been waiting for you, Mario! Come over here!" Wario exclaimed at Mario, motioning for him to come to where he was.
"Should we go over there? He implied that he's not alone, and whoever is with him must want to see you." Cappy said, before turning back into Mario's cap and landing on the plumber's head.
"I suppose we could do that." Mario said uneasily. He couldn't recall a time when Wario was eager to see him. And he was certain that the person with Wario was his partner, Waluigi.
(A/N: Contrary to popular belief, Wario and Waluigi are NOT related.)
But when Mario got closer, he saw that the person next to Wario stood up and turned around to look at him, and it was not Waluigi. The person was tall and slim, but it was a blonde-haired female in a gorgeous white dress, and was she surprised to see him! Mario recognized the woman next to Wario right away.
"Oh my goodness! PEACH!" Mario exclaimed in joy as he ran to the pair and quickly swept the princess into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss that both of them needed.
"Mario! I... I can't believe I'm seeing you alive and well! Oh, sweetie, I was so afraid that Bowser had actually done you in! I didn't want to imagine living the rest of my life without you!" Peach exclaimed when they broke off the kiss.
"I was so worried about you, too, Peach! I'm just glad that you're safe!" Mario told her, before giving her another kiss.
"Hey, Mario! In case you were wondering what Peach is doing with me and not Bowser, you can thank me for that! I saved her life!" Wario said.
"...What did you say?" Mario asked, abruptly breaking off the kiss.
"I saved your girlfriend!" Wario said.
"You saved her?" Mario asked him.
"Yeah!" Wario exclaimed. Then he said, "Tell him what I did, Peach!"
"Oh, right..." Peach said, looking a little sheepish. Then she and Tiara told Mario and Cappy how they spotted Wario while Bowser was looking at desserts to eat at the wedding. They explained how Wario told them that he was alive, and how he stopped Bowser from reclaiming Peach.
"Wario... that was really big of you! Grazie! Thank you!" Mario said, impressed.
"Well, when I heard the way Bowser was yelling at her when he found us talking, I knew that she deserved better than him." Wario replied.
"Where is Bowser now? Did any of you see where he landed?" Mario asked.
"Yes. He finally came to rest on an island of salt over there. The one that's a good distance from the little islands around there." said Peach, pointing at a small, salt-covered island in the distance.
"Let's-a see for ourselves, shall we?" said Mario to Cappy. He threw Cappy at a Lava Bubble that jumped up. Cappy landed on the Lava Bubble, and Mario took control of the enemy as it dove back into the pink lava.
"Mario!" Peach screamed, horrified.
"No, he'll be okay, Peach! He's got Cappy with him!" Tiara began.
"Who's Cappy?" asked Wario.
"Cappy's my big brother, and he has this special ability that allows his wearer to 'capture' things." Tiara started.
"'Capture'?" Peach and Wario asked, unfamiliar with the term.
"It's like this: if Cappy's wearer throws him at something, they might be able to take control of it; that's what it means to 'capture'. For example, let's say Mario throws Cappy at a frog. Cappy lands on the frog's head, and Mario becomes the frog. He can do what he wants as a frog." Tiara explained.
"Your brother sounds like a pretty interesting character." Wario said. He wished he had someone like that to help him mess with his own enemies. That would be a lot of fun.
"And I'm glad he has a friend in Mario." Tiara said.
"Me too." said Peach.
A minute or so later, Mario returned to the trio, looking unscathed as the capture ended. He smiled and said, "I found Bowser, and he looks to be in pretty bad shape. But he also looked like he was about to come around, so I jumped on his skull a few times and put him out. Now he's in even worse shape, so he'll have no choice but to forget about the wedding."
"You're so wonderful! You have no idea how happy I am to see you again!" Peach said, giving him another hug, and a kiss on the cheek, which had him blushing like a madman.
"Oh, I have a pretty good idea that you're over the moon, like I am. But I can't take all the credit for putting Bowser out of commission, Peach. His body and tuxedo are burned from being in the pink lava." Mario said.
"Yeah, I sent him flying into that stuff, via the Wild Swing-Ding, one of my own moves." said Wario.
"That's very interesting. And I want you to know that I can't thank you enough for saving Peach from having to marry that murderous creep known as Bowser." Mario said.
"I knew that you came here for a reason, but I didn't know what it was until Peach came running up to me, asking me to marry her." Wario said.
Mario's eyes widened when he heard this, and he started to ask Peach, "You asked him to-?!"
"Mario, listen to me. I didn't know that you were still alive when I asked Wario the question. I didn't see you until after the big bird near the stew pot was dealt with. Even though I asked Wario, I was still in love with you. That's one thing that will never change." Peach explained.
"Oh. So, you aren't going to marry Wario?" Mario asked.
"No. She really thought you were dead, and she would rather marry someone who wasn't Bowser. I also knew that even if I did agree to marry her, she could never love me the way she does you. I decided to do the right thing and told her that you were alive. Then I stopped Bowser so he couldn't ruin her life anymore." Wario replied.
Mario couldn't believe his ears! He knew that Wario had a big crush on Princess Peach, and would probably jump at the chance to marry a princess, but today, he'd proved that it was only a simple crush and nothing more. He said, "Wario, I think I owe you big for this."
"So do I. What you did for us makes up for a few of the bad things you've done in the past." said Peach.
"Does this mean you're going to invite me to your birthday parties again?" Wario asked.
"I said I can forgive you for a few things, but I didn't say that I was forgiving you for every bad thing you did. You'll have to let me think about that one for a while." Peach replied.
"You're lucky that I still allow you to join us for sports, kart races, and my parties." Mario told him.
"Oh." said Wario. Then he thought for a minute and said, "I know! Maybe you can owe me one by inviting me to your wedding!"
Mario and Peach blushed heavily when Wario said that. It was no secret that Mario and Peach were very much in love with each other, and they actually were contemplating marrying each other. But after everything Bowser had put them through, Peach knew that she needed a break from marriage, and Mario was willing to wait until she recovered before asking her to be his wife.
"We'll see what happens." Mario said.
"All right, then. You lovebirds can go do what you need to. I'll stay here and see if I can't convince the people here to add some garlic to that stew you just added poultry to." Wario suggested.
"We do need to return the wedding supplies, including this dress." Peach said.
"You're right. Let's-a find Bowser's ship and do that." Mario said. Then he said, "But there are some things I need to get from the Crazy Cap first."
"All right. I'll let you do your shopping first. Then I'll show you where Bowser parked his ship so we can start returning everything." Peach replied.
Mario kissed Peach on the cheek, and then he went into the store to do some shopping. He bought some new clothes and souvenirs, spending every regional coin he found in this kingdom. And he got the last Power Moon he needed in order to power up the Odyssey.
When Mario came out of the store, Peach took his hand and led him to Bowser's airship. It wasn't hard to find; most of the wedding supplies were sitting on the deck. However, the pot of Stupendous Stew was so heavy that they had to get Wario's help moving it. He helped them deliver it to the Cooking Carnival, and everyone decided to have a bowl of it, even though the stew that had been stolen was without meat.
But Mario and his friends learned that the stew's name was well-earned because it was very delicious, with or without meat. Wario even added garlic to his bowl of stew, and the Volbonans found that the garlic gave the stew some more flavor. They agreed to add some to the batch on the volcano.
"Wah ha ha ha!" Wario laughed, glad that he did more good.
"All right. We'll be off now!" Mario said. He and Peach were towing Bowser's airship behind the Odyssey, and they went back to the kingdoms that Bowser and the Broodals stole from and returned what had been stolen from them. And the people in the kingdoms were so grateful that they felt they owed Mario for being so kind as to return what had been taken.
The Bubblainians allowed Mario and Peach to sample the Sparkle Water, and it helped them to love each other even more. The Steam Gardeners allowed him and the princess to have some flowers, which Peach turned into a small crown for Mario to wear (and he did). The Lochladies offered to make Peach a dress like the Lochlady Dress to wear when she and Mario got married (they could tell that the two had a thing for each other).
As for Bowser, he had to have the Broodals help him when he came to. They were shocked to see what happened to him and his tuxedo, and he told them that due to what happened to him, courtesy of Wario, the wedding was cancelled.
"You're gonna cancel the wedding after all that work we did?! You've got to be kidding us! We stole all those wedding supplies just for you, so you could have the wedding of your dreams!" said Hariet.
"We can't go and take 'em all back now!" said Topper.
"Oh, yes you can! Look at me! I can't get married looking like this!" Bowser told them.
"He's right, you know." Rango said to his siblings as he looked at Bowser. He really looked bad.
"Can't believe all that work we did was for nothing." Spewart unhappily muttered. It was bad enough that Mario had beaten them every time they met up with him, but now this... it was just too much!
But they could not find Bowser's airship. They had no idea where it went, until they saw that the stew they had stolen was at the Cooking Carnival, and Wario was there, eating garlic and talking with the Volbonans. Bowser warned the Broodals to stay away from Wario. He didn't want them to suffer the same fate that he had.
"I hate to say it, Boss, but I think da bride is taking your ship back to all da places we stole from." said Topper.
"I hate to think you're right. We might as well check." said Bowser.
So they went back to all the kingdoms Bowser had stolen from, and they learned that the people in them had already gotten their stolen items back from Mario and Peach. The Shiverians had their Frost-Frosted Cake back, the Lochladies got their dress back, etc.
(A/N: I know the Frost-Frosted Cake was not really returned, but this is my fanfic, so let's leave it at that.)
"But where the heck did my airship go?!" Bowser screamed in anger. He had gone back to almost every kingdom they'd stolen from, and he did not see his ship anywhere. He was in the Sand Kingdom right now, and he wasn't surprised that the place was back to normal. Last he saw, the kingdom was frozen after he got the Binding Band.
"Well, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I'm sure I saw that ship heading east after it was done here." said a Tostarenan who overheard Bowser's scream of anger.
So Bowser and the Broodals were returning to Bowser's Kingdom to see if maybe Mario took it back there when they got word from Kamek that his ship had been brought back to his kingdom by some odd, hat-shaped airship.
"You're telling me that Mario brought my airship back home after he and Peach returned all of the wedding supplies?!" Bowser asked.
"Mario was in that airship with Peach? I didn't see either of them; I was too far away. Anyway, if they really were in the odd-looking ship, they left your airship floating over the castle, so I brought it in for a landing and gave it some more fuel." said Kamek.
Later...
It was shortly after the events of the post-game had come to a close. Wario returned to his own castle, and Parakarry showed up with a package for him. Wario was surprised when he saw that the package was from Mario and Peach. He took the package inside, then opened it. Was he surprised to find that the box contained two big bags of roasted garlic beef jerky!
There were also a couple of letters from Mario and Peach inside the package, so Wario sat down to read them while he opened a bag of jerky and began to eat it.
The first letter explained that the beef jerky was Mario's way of saying 'thank you', and Peach decided that saving her life and stopping Bowser made up for the times he ruined her birthday, and the opening of "Mario Land". She decided that he would be invited to her next birthday party, but if he planned to show up for it, then he was advised to be on his absolute best behavior.
"I can do that." Wario said aloud, before letting out a loud belch. He remembered what Peach asked of him in the letter and pretended she was here as he added, "Excuse me."
The other letter looked like an invitation of some sort. Wario at first thought it was for Peach's birthday party, but then again, her birthday happened not long before Bowser kidnapped her, and the date on it wasn't the same as Peach's birthday. He read the invitation, and it was for... Mario and Peach's wedding! They were gonna get married after all, thanks to him!
And at the wedding, Wario behaved himself perfectly. When he congratulated Mario and Peach, Mario reminded him that he and Peach probably wouldn't have gotten to this day without his help.
The End
Well, that's the end of that story. I hope you guys were okay with this story about Wario saving Princess Peach from Bowser and reunite with her true love, Mario!