[Suggested music - Wario Land 4 - Hurry Up!!!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ONBYne4qw ]

It took a second for them to notice, but the numerous new additions to the potion had begun to take effect, shooting through their veins and across the fabrics of their outfits. Both Wario's diminished form and Ashley's petite body absorbed the liquid, while they searched the pot for the treasure.

A pot that, to both microgame-makers, felt smaller each second. They blinked to each other in knowing shock, before realizing: they were growing, at a proportional rate!

"If you hadn't tossed my stuff in..." The girl growled, splashing out another wave of the ruined potion. Its force dented the mansion wall. She blinked at the strength in her arm, before returning to her search.

"If you hadn't grabbed me..." He'd grown enough to resist the waves, and exit the bowl; but why would he leave if he didn't have the jewel he came for?

The immense, smooth legs could no longer fit in that bowl; she stepped out, footprints etched permanently in the ground. Knocking out the remaining shelves with her shoulders and hips, the conjurer spotted a faint glimmer in the shadow of her own pigtails. It was right between the cauldron and the wall! She reached for it, pushing the pot aside... Only for the thief to rush in the finger gaps and snatch it up.

Before rushing out, the still-tiny Wario stuck his tongue up to the towering girl. "Nyeh, mine now! See you, loser!"

The ceiling snapped against her whitened pigtails. Her ascent showed no sign of ending.

Ashley, throughout the night, hadn't raised her voice very high. She saw no reason to share many of her thoughts. And when she did, she knew that the house's occupant heard her normal, flat tone just fine. But as she looked at the flash of blue and yellow exiting the door mismatched gewgaws dissolving into HER creation along with the carefully-selected ingredients, her efforts wasted, her hands stretching out...

"Aurgh! You... YOU RUINED IT! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"

Her voice made the mansion nearly collapse in its blistering rage. It extinguished the candles, and broke the wall into a series of cracks. Her rising body heat spread out; her mere pulse rocked floorboards apart. Now, she had her neck stuck a floor above, still tearing it away as she grew and grew. the push of her still-expanding legs chased Wario out past halls and doorways, giving out to flashes of black leggings, crimson dress, or powerful clenched fists.

He paced forward, feeling flakes from the ceiling descend. Even if the walls were closer to normal-height, they wobbled like jello around him. "Come on, there's gotta be an exit!" He clenched at a locked window, shoulder-checking it. Seeing Ashley's sole flying towards him, he dodged, watching it break the wall apart.

She winced, sputtering, as each of her gigantic limbs grew through a different room.

The small - but growing - thief heard the voice everywhere. It echoed, shaking the crumbling halls and into the sky. "Loneliness? That's why she's making all this fuss - OOF!" He slammed nose-first into the library door. Immediately, it broke open. Any space that wasn't occupied by fluttering sheets and toppled bookshelves filled with Ashley's growing hand, as it burst out towards him.

She said: "Stealing money, that's one thing..." Her nails easily sliced the foundation as Wario rushed out, weaving in and out of couches and tables that the hand behind him simply crushed.

"Stealing treasure," she continued, "that's something..." Though he outpaced the hand, another form crashed after him, tearing apart the kitchen. Darn, he forgot she had TWO hands. On either end, one wall of flesh endeavored to close the thief in. And both still grew taller...

"But stealing... ruining potions?" The witch's growth continued to bring the house's rattling wood and floors tumbling to the ground. "How do you profit from that?"

Her limbs enclosed the only escape routes. Both of Ashley's hands pushed into him, squeezing his whole body between the palms. She kneaded him rougher than dough at a bakery. The immense index fingers curled around his neck, strangling him.

He groaned "Sick... getting airless... Just wanna... Go home..."

Intense panting sounded in his ears. The skin pushed further and further out still, its grip firmer...

...Until the ceiling above caved into her screams, cracking apart. The roof erupted over the fully-grown sorceress' head - leaving her to release the thief. He caught his breath, before sprinting to an exit made by her leg.

Looking behind, the girl had outgrown her mansion; hands, feet, and raven hair peeking out. "Y-you... You won't!" She leaned
in for the Crescent Moon Shard, but the remains of her home weighed her down. "Please...."

The girl reached out, visage slowly fading and tilting to the grass.

"Almost there! Almost there!" Wario, restored to his original height, dashed into the darkness, satisfied with his earnings...

...Until something was in in way.

[Suggested music - WarioWare: Smooth Moves - Tomorrow Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTjltCVOMXA ]

"Ashley, I found more!... What?"

The witch's assistant, who came in laughing and beaming, stared at the scene before him. His mistress many times her normal size, struggling to break from the bits of the mansion that still covered her. She averted her gaze, as old bits of wood crumbled around her elbows. His old boss from WarioWare, dashing ahead in a frenzy. He scratched his head. "Uh, sh-should I come back later?"

*BUMP*

In the darkness - and staring behind him at the girl's growth reaching its climax - Wario didn't notice Red, fluttering close to the ground. He crashed into the imp, releasing the Crescent Moon Shard.

"Wah!" He got to his muscular legs. "Go away, I'm making a daring getaway!" The thief reached to the ground to grab his dropped treasure...

Only to find multiple Crescent Moon Shards. A whole pile of them! They each glistened in the moonlight, all just as brilliant as the stolen one. His jaw dropped. His eggshell eyes scanned the pile top to bottom... And pointed to Red, who smiled sheepishly. "Buh... Wah..."

Ashley rose up, and trod towards her returned servant. Her simple boost tore the gigantic mansion from the ground, and brought it with her, hanging around her waist as if it were part of her dress. The fall of her legs made floorboards fall to the ground. "More crescents? Where... did you find these?" Her face lit up, only slightly moistened from her panic before.

Attempting to keep his dignity, Wario added a "Yeah, tell us!" as he dusted himself off.

Under both their stares, Red laughed, sweat dripping down his forehead. "Uh, first, mind tellin' me why Wario's here, and why Ashley's so... big-boned?"

He grumbled: "Because that shard's worth big money!"

She whispered: "That shard holds mysterious magic..."

He blinked, before shaking his head. "That shard is fool's gold!"

Both WarioWare employees froze. They looked at one another, desperate for some sense of sanity.

The imp pointed to the pile of glimmering crescents, prodding it with his pitchfork. "The villagers just import bananas from Kongo Bongo and paint them sparkly. The potion recipes using them were scams to drive their price up!" He seemed a little TOO happy with himself saying this.

"What." Ashley's eyes flashed crimson. Without moving a muscle, the entire manor crumbled into a million pieces from the sheer force of her rage and surprise. "So my potion... Was never... Going to work?" In the middle of every sentence fragment, she inhaled deeply, pulling clouds out of the sky.

"Ashley..." He flew up, way up past her fluttering dress, to pat her head. "I'm really, really sorry about that."

Wario chuckled, scooping as many of the glimmering shards. "Well, plenty o' dumb witches to sell these to! Where'd you pick them up?"

Red lit up. "A nice reporter gave them to me. Or was that a photographer... Pop star... Mona! All three of those. She used them in an investigative report on the scam." He shrugged. "That's how I learned about them. Now the news is out, they're a dime a dozen."

"WHAAAA?" The knees buckled behind pink trousers. Slowly, he bowed to the grassy ground. The man curled into a ball, cradling himself. He'd faced paralyzing fear, crushing pressure, near-death situations... But this struck him right in his heart, the very basest of his fears. He couldn't make money off these! made him feel weak and small and insignificant.

And when he was much taller than Red, no less!

The night was old, nearing its end. In the far East, sun began to rise, brightening the cheeks of large and small alike. The group squinted at the newly-birthed light. An unfamiliar warmth lit them up, drying their tears.

"Hah..."

A muted hint of what might be halfway towards a chuckle. It trembled through the air and ground, shaking both guys. Even the gigantic witch looked surprised. When Wario raised his head to look up, something was fundamentally twisted and wrong about the girl. What happened to her clammy, cold skin? Where had the dust across her neckerchief floated off to? Where was she hiding that distant, scornful gaze?

Only the hint of a smile remained there. "You still look pathetic."

He dusted himself off, gritting his teeth. "Makes two of us. What was the potion for, anyway?"

She looked to the clouds, lips pressed shut. "I don't... remember."

Her demonic helper chirped up in her place: "It was to cure your loneliness, wasn't it?" He yelped as Ashley stared him down.

Wario shrugged. "Bah, why don'tcha join a tennis or golf club? Bet I could squeeze you into a roster when Mario isn't looking!"

Her eyes glowed in the sun for a moment, before they turned away. "Whatever. If I find any ingredients there, I keep them."

His grimace slowly showed the hint of a grin. "Wahah, I've looked everywhere for treasure at the courses already. Steal whatever you want."

Red joined the smiles, looking out. "Gosh, that's pretty..."

With care - holding him between fingers, putting the right amount of support on his back - Ashley picked her former boss up. She placed him carefully by her shoulder, as he tucked himself into her neckerchief's folds. For just a moment, from common pain, the world wasn't as dark.

Waves in the west crashed gently, painted in purple. The raised position gave a glorious view of Diamond City, lights from the homes just turning on. Everything they knew was in this small, precious diorama of life before them.

Ashley stepped towards the sun, slow and deliberate. The smile still hadn't faded from her lips.

"...So, Red. This way to Crescent Moon Village?"

Red nodded. "Huh? You want to go there?"

Wario grinned knowingly. "Yeah, you're heading the right way. You gonna crush all those losers who cheated us?"

Ashley shook her head, nearly tossing Red off. "Not all. You can kill some of them yourself if you want." She tapped her dark hair, stroking the demon into it. "Red, what are some potions I can make with Crescent Moon Villagers?"

Red broke out in a cold sweat. "C-come on, a whole village just for some swindlers?"

Wario jumped up and down. "Hey! That's Hotel Future! I stayed there when I was renovating my mansion into my house!" He gazed happily. "They charged me a fortune. Stomp it down."

The imp froze. "Wh-what?"

*BOOOM*

Ashley smiled. "I'm sure a spell can fix that later."

Wario guffawed. "Wahahah, it's so good being on the other end of it! Hey, do 1 Chance Mansion next!"

Red screeched futilely, as they stomped into the distance, laughing together. "Wario... Ashley... Oh, maaan, you guys are horrible..."

[Suggested music - Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - Ashley's Theme Ver. 2 (JP): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGB53AaJ7e8 ]