Author's Note: All right! We've got another chapter! But wait! There's actually two! That's right, we've got another double upload!
Thank you to everyone who read, followed, and reviewed on the last chapter! This time, we've got Yoshi and Wario!
Yoshi peered over the edge of a wheelbarrow as he pushed it down the halls of Smash Mansion. It was a brand-new wheelbarrow, thankfully, he would otherwise have had to arrange for other means of transporting it to its destination. He slowly trundled down the halls at an even pace. Inside the wheelbarrow, various tools that he'd bought clanked together.
As he pushed the wheelbarrow down the hallway, Yoshi turned to see if the wheel was leaving a trail. Thankfully, all he could see was a single depressed line where the wheel had rolled with no stains on the carpet.
He looked down into the wheelbarrow. Two trowels, work gloves, pruning shears and a few large buckets jingled together as he rolled down the hallway.
Suddenly, he bumped into something large. His wheelbarrow fell to the ground, and Yoshi jumped back in surprise.
"Gah! Watch where you're going!" said a heavy voice.
"Wario! I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" exclaimed Yoshi.
"Wah, I'm fine. Where are you going with a wheelbarrow inside? Don't tell me we're gonna have to pay to get the carpets cleaned!" said Wario as he pulled himself to his feet.
"Oh no! This is a new wheelbarrel!" said Yoshi. "The tire is clean! I just had to get this wheelbarrow down to the basement garden somehow!" said Yoshi. He wheeled his wheelbarrow around Wario.
"What? Garden basement? What are you talking about?" asked Wario, walking in pace with Yoshi to keep up.
Yoshi pulled a Dash Pepper out of his pocket as he walked.
"Where do you think I get these from?"
"Wah! Don't those things grow on alien planets? How'd you get some here? Those things could sell for big money!"
"The garden basement. The underground greenhouse? You know, the one in the third basement?
"Really? I didn't know we had that!" said Wario.
"It helps to pay attention you know. Everybody got the tour of the mansion. You must have seen it at least once," said Yoshi.
"Yeah, maybe?" said Wario. "It's-a been a while since I got the tour. Remind me again?"
Yoshi sighed. "It's the basement floor with contained environment pods designed to mimic the home planets of various plants so we can grow them. Think of the powerup plants that I use, like the Blimp Fruit and Bulb Fruit. It helps to be able to grow your own."
"Huh, really?" said Wario, rubbing his chin. "You think I can reserve some space to grow some of my garlic? Since I use that to go into Wario Man mode?"
"I don't see why not," shrugged Yoshi. "There are a few open pods next to Mario and Luigi's mushroom and flower pods. Just make sure not to enter Olimar's Pikmen plots, he's really sensitive about keeping them safe."
"Huh. Gotcha. Who do I ask? How much does it cost?" asked Wario.
Yoshi gave him a sideways look. "It's a feature of Smash Mansion. It doesn't cost anything. And you ask Fox. He's in charge of it."
"McCloud? Since when did he get a green thumb?"
Yoshi chuckled, "He never had one. He volunteered to be in charge when Master Hand finished the Mansion. He wanted to grow fresh coffee beans."
"Sounds like him. Does he have a lot of plots to himself?"
"No, he's just got one that he got a few months ago. Though he's been maintaining them since it was built since he's good with the machinery."
"Eh? Why not?"
Yoshi grinned as he continued to walk.
"So, Fox wanted to be able to grow his own coffee beans, right? But nobody believed that he could take care of anything green. So, Peach decides to make him pass a test to prove that he could take care of plants. She got him a cactus and said that if he could keep it alive for 3 months, she would let him have a pod to grow coffee beans."
"3 months? How'd that go?" asked Wario. "How come I don't remember this?"
"It happened just after the Ganondorf incident. Just before you joined us," said Yoshi.
"Ah, right. So, what happened?" asked Wario.
"The cactus died because Fox only ever watered it with coffee. Something about cacti liking acidic soil, and coffee being acidic, so it would like coffee as much as he does or something."
Wario burst out laughing. "Wahahahahaaaaa… that's great! I'm gonna have to rub it in his face when I see him next….."
"Yeah. Anyway, he runs the environment pods, but it was only the mechanical end of things for the longest time. Since he's good with that kinda stuff. We gave him a plot after he finished a gardening course Peach made for him."
"Really?" asked Wario. "Am I going to need to take this gardening course too?"
"Probably not. Peach only made it because Fox was so bad at gardening."
"So Peach is pretty good?"
"She's really good. She makes cakes with the strawberries that she grows down here!"
"Oh really?" asked Wario.
"Yeah, that's why they taste so fresh," said Yoshi. "This isn't just for powerups and stuff. I mean, that's what it is supposed to be here for, but it's totally fine to just grow just about anything down here. The Pokemon Trainers grow berries down here for their Pokemon. All free."
"Wah, that's pretty great! Free is the best price there is, you know! Can you take me down there so I can pick out a spot? I'll have garlic forever!" said Wario excitedly.
Yoshi smiled. "Sure! No problem!"
Sure, Wario wasn't the nicest person to be around, and many of the Smashers were less than thrilled about his presence. But Yoshi believed in treating everybody well, even if they didn't deserve it. It was a strategy that often required more effort from him overall, but it had yet to fail him. And anyway, Wario being in a good mood was a blessing to be sure. Things tended to get ugly when he was in a bad mood.
Yoshi stopped in front of a large elevator in the middle of one of the hallways and slapped the button to open the door. The doors slid open and he maneuvered his wheelbarrow in, as Wario followed. Yoshi punched the third basement floor button and waited for the doors to close.
Wario glanced into the wheelbarrow that Yoshi had, and inspected the tools that were in it.
"What's up with the tools being so small? Don't you need a bigger shovel then that?"
"Uh? Oh, my trowel and hand shears will be big enough. We grow things in boxes. So, we put dirt in the box or the pot and grow it in conditions that match it's home."
Wario gave him a confused look.
"You know what, I'll just show you when we get down there. A picture is worth a thousand words."
The two stood in silence for a minute as the elevator began travelling downwards.
"So, uh, how's your island been doing?" said Wario.
That was strange. Wario wasn't known for small talk. Nevertheless, Yoshi chose to oblige him.
"Oh, it's been going well! I've planted several new rows of fruit trees in my yard. They won't produce any fruit for a few years, but they'll pay off in the long run," said Yoshi.
"Fruit trees? That's good! Very good!" said Wario. "Wario Ware has also been doing pretty good! Sales have been up by 12%!"
Yoshi nodded amicably. "That's fantastic!"
The two fell into an awkward silence.
Thankfully, a few moments later, the elevator's doors opened, revealing a large, dimly lit hallway. On the right was a solid wall with several doors. Each had a label. One was for ammo storage, one was for sword maintenance supplies, while a third was storage for surplus gym equipment. On the left was a long piece of glass, looking into a similarly dimly lit room. Yoshi walked up to the door, punched in the pass code, and walked in, with Wario in tow.
In the room were brightly lit pods, sectioned off with glass with various plants growing in them. Each room had a computer interface and a locker next to the door. Yoshi parked his wheelbarrow near one as Wario inspected his surroundings.
"Huh, quiet place."
"Yeah, you don't tend to get too many smashers down here," said Yoshi.
He pointed to one of the pods. It had a multitude of Pikmen sprouts growing in several pots, boxes, and containers of several different descriptions. Several of the containers were large wooden boxes, all filled with soil. Others were ceramic jars with a smattering of large plastic containers arranged around them. All were filled soil and had various Pikmen sprouts growing in them.
"That one is Olimar's. He grows his Pikmen in there under particular conditions, so they grow faster."
"Huh, neat!" said Wario, walking up to the glass and observing the inside. "Oh, I see whatcha meant by growing stuff in boxes. Pretty nifty. I take its cheaper than having a regular farm?"
"Yeah. This style allows us to save space since we don't have to have to set aside large amounts of land to grow stuff. Especially since we are growing for individual needs not on an industrial level."
"Huh. That's pretty useful then!" said Wario.
"And this one's mine!" said Yoshi, standing in front of the pod where he'd parked his wheelbarrow. Inside were a number of plants arranged in three rows. In front of each row was a sign with a picture of the powerup fruit being grown in that row of plants. "I grow my powerups here. Since they're from alien planets, I adjust the atmosphere and gravity to suit their needs as best as I can. That row is for Dash Peppers, that one's for Blimp Fruit and that one's for Bulb Fruit."
"Wah! That's pretty nifty!" said Wario in surprise.
"It most certainly is," said Yoshi, pointing to a control panel on the side. "Fox will show you the ins and outs of the control panel, but it lets you control temperature, atmosphere, humidity, gravity and more!"
"Really now?" said Wario, rubbing his hands. "How much does it speed up the growth time?"
"I know that Red has tripled the speed that he can grow berries," grinned Yoshi. "He's got it down to the point where he can harvest berries year-round. And I've managed to halve the time it takes my powerups to grow. You just need to do a little research and mess around with the settings a bit."
"Really now?" said Wario, grinning and rubbing his hands together. "Imagine that! Fresh garlic, all year round!"
"But there's more!" said Yoshi, grinning back.
"There's more?" asked Wario.
"Follow me," said Yoshi.
Yoshi sauntered up to one of the walls. It had a mixing device mounted to it, with a chute going in and a chute coming out. It stood next to a door that was closed. Yoshi walked up to the door and opened it. Inside were several composters.
"Wah! That stinks!" said Wario.
"That's because it's our composter room. It's where we get our soil." Closing the door, Yoshi turned to the machine.
"This is the soil mixer. You can add custom things to your soil if it requires it. For instance, I had to add some sand to the soil of my Dash Peppers to get them to grow better, since it grows in sandy soil on its home planet."
"Wahahaha! This is gonna be great," said Wario with delight. He paused. "Wait, I gotta bring my own tools though, right?"
"Yeah," said Yoshi. "That's the one thing. You noticed the lockers next to the environment pods? That's where you keep your tools."
"Ah. They get you eventually. Small price to pay for endless garlic, though," said Wario, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Good investment, I'd say."
"You bet it's a good investment," said Yoshi with a smile.
"Well, this is a great find!" said Wario. "Thanks, buddy!"
Yoshi nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise. What was going on? Wario was never this nice to anyone!
"Buddy?"
"Yeah! You're one of the ones who doesn't treat Waluigi and me like crap! That counts for something, pal!" said Wario with a grin.
Yoshi was stunned for a second. It was well known that most people didn't treat Wario and Waluigi particularly well. While some of the Smashers were friendly enough, most just avoided them.
But Wario…considered him a friend? Yoshi just tried to treat everybody nicely. Everybody deserved to be treated well! But was Wario being friendly just because he had saved him money? Wario's greed was legendary after all. Eh, it was just easier to roll with it.
He straightened his back and smiled. "No problem!"
"Hey, before I go, it's McCloud I talk to, right?" said Wario.
"Yeah, you talk to Fox."
"Well, I'm off to find him then! See you around, Yoshi!"
Wario quickly turned and shuffled off towards the elevator.
Yoshi waved. That had been a bit strange. But there was something to be said for having more friends. Even if a few of them were as unreliable as Wario tended to be.
And you know what? He'd take it.
I was kinda glad to be able to tie this in with a location in Smash Mansion, as my version of Smash Mansion is a bit different from the traditional idea of Smash Mansion and this allows me to start fleshing out the building. There's going to be more interesting things in the other basement levels and odd corners of Smash Mansion that will appear in the future, so you can look forward to that!
Don't forget to read the next chapter of the double upload!