(As Long as We're Together) Everything's Gonna Be Okay

Worlds Are Colliding, But That's Not a Good Thing

"Wario." Mario says, startling the other man as he hands him the papers. "Here. Sorry I'm making you do it, but I don't have time to go run them over to the princess myself."

"Is that all you need from me?" Wario asks hopefully.

"Wario, I said no." Mario rolls his eyes.

"Don't put words in my mouth. I was talking about anything else finance related."

"Nope, that's it." Mario confirms.

"Better rush these over to the princess then. Pardon me." As he leaves, Wario not so subtly bumps Mario out of the way.

"Wait, your phone--"

Wario immediately spins back around, eyes wide, but it's too late.

"Explain yourself."

"Hello, Bowser." Nastasia confronts Bowser in the Dark Lands. "You've been quite busy since the world almost ended, haven't you?"

"You." Bowser sneers. "You brainwashed my minions!"

"Hey, try to stay focused, kay?" Nastasia says calmly. "What're you doing with Wario?"

"Look, whatever you think, it's--"

"Is this from one of your microgames?" Mario holds up the phone, showing off his screensaver.

Wario laughs in relief, "Yeah, it is. I'm proud of my work. I know, dumb."

"Are you kidding? I may be gifted at a lot of things, but coding is not one of them. The graphics on this one screengrab is just...wow."

"Thanks?"

"No, I mean it. If you ask me, your talents are better suited to something down at the Star Carnival. People would go crazy for anything you'd come up with."

"Oh trust me, I know." Wario nods. "But they're not ready to go digital yet. I think Diamond City is the only hot spot for microgames."

"What is that attitude?" Mario crosses his arms. "Someone is gonna see the money to be made off of this, just like me, and the Mushroom Kingdom will be nothing but a distant memory. Just wait and see."

"Thanks for that." Wario replies. "Not a lot of people see the appeal in microgames. You should come see them in action, they're loads of fun."

"Ah ah." Mario shakes his head. "I work for the princess first, and so do you. No more slacking off to have fun."

"Fine, fine." Wario holds up the papers. "Princess, ho!", then starts to leave.

"Wait!"

Wario stops as Mario offers,

"I bet someone has a console with your microgames on it. Let's see if we can't find one on our break. What we do on break is our time, there's no money being shifted around for that."

"You sold me at 'wait'. Let's do it." Now Wario actually leaves, with Mario unable to shake the uneasy feeling in his gut.

"So how did your talk with the Princess go?" Mimi asks Mr. L.

"Not as bad as you thought." Mr. L tells her.

"Did she say she'd vouch for you?"

"Yes, she did. Which surprised me, cause Mario made it sound like she was swamped."

"So once you've drawn up schematics and the karts are built, the Princess is gonna use her resources to get your name out there? I know what I said, but still, that's quite the honor!"