Paper Mario - Folded Chaos

| Chapter 1 • A Mystery|

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It was quite early in the morning when the Mario and Luigi left their small cabin in the Mushroom Kingdom woods to make their way to Toad Town. It was just before sunrise when they left due to it being quite the drive to Toad Town as, despite the bro's closeness to the Princess of said kingdom, they still lived a distance away. But today, they weren't driving to the distant town for the reasons they normally would such as chatting with their friends and shopping at the local vendors. No, they were going there today for a festival that the lovely Princess Peach had invited them to, more specifically, an Origami Festival. While neither bro knew exactly what an 'Origami Festival' entailed, they were both excited nonetheless. Even if the festival itself was a bore, they'd at least get to chat with the Princess and the locals, which was always a joy.

Dirt flew up in the air behind Luigi's go-kart as the bros drove quickly on the dirt road through the many trees. In the distant horizon, Luigi could see the tops of the many houses in Toad Town. Excited to finally see their destination in his field of vision, Luigi piped up. "Look bro! You can see Toad Town from here! We're getting close!" Mario adjusted himself slightly to be able to see over Luigi's shoulder and nodded. A smile spread across the younger but taller brother's face as he thought of all the fun they were going to have today. Due to the Princess's constant kidnappings', the two brothers rarely got to just hang out together and today was finally a day they'd get to do just that. "Oh this is so exciting bro! Back on the road for the first time in forever and heading to a festival!" Luigi squealed. They'd also get to finally see the Princess again, who'd they hadn't seen in quite some time. "Been awhile since we've seen Princess Peach, ey bro? It will be nice to see her again!" said Luigi, turning his head slightly in Mario's direction while also keeping his eyes on the road. Mario nodded, preferring not to speak.

Luigi really didn't mind his older brothers silence. While Mario did have the ability to speak, he preferred to make his message known through his actions rather than words and Luigi thought that that amount of self control was pretty admirable of him. While not all around him viewed his silence as highly as Luigi, it really didn't bother those who were close to him and that's all that really mattered. He accepted them and their ways so they accepted him. Well, he was also saving them constantly, so it was the least they could do as well.

Finally, seeing the gate to Toad Town in the distance, Luigi started to slow his kart, excited to finally be there. Unbeknownst to either brother, however, this day was about to get a whole lot crazier.

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Rolling up slowly and coming to a halt in the center of town, Luigi looked around and saw-nothing? "Where-where is everyone?" Asked Luigi, confused. He looked to Mario for answers. Mario quickly hopped out of the kart and looked around. He saw festival decorations and supplies strewn about. But no signs of the local inhabitants, or life in general, around at all. Luigi, who was slightly spooked by the silence spoke up " Bro! Read that invitation again! Check the date to make sure we didn't miss it! " Mario, despite knowing that this wasn't simply a case of them misreading the date on the letter, pulled it out and handed it to Luigi. Luigi glanced at the letter." Well it's the right date." He glanced up from the letter "So where is everyone?"

            Mario, after looking around a bit and still finding no one, returned to Luigi and shrugged. " Eh? Still no luck in finding anyone? " Mario shook his head. Luigi continued " Well uh, maybe everyone is in the castle. Yeah! That's where they probably all are!" Luigi nervously laughed and motioned towards the back seat. "Hop on bro! Let's head to Peach's castle!" Mario, knowing that heading to the castle would be the proper next step to solving this strange mystery, folded the letter back into his pocket and jumped onto the back of Luigi's kart. "And off we go bro!" Luigi exclaimed, trying to sound confident.

              Driving across the bridge to the front of the large castle, Luigi came to a stop. Mario quickly hopped out. " I'm going to go park the kart, ok?" And then, thinking for a bit, added with a slight chuckle " I don't want to tip the valet." Mario nodded with a slight smile as Luigi drove off. He then looked the castle over. Polished white stone made up the main exterior of the large castle. On top of the white exterior was cherry red roofing with sky blue flags. It was quite the sight to behold for sure.

          "Ok I'm back bro!" Exclaimed Luigi, startling Mario slightly. "Let's head into the castle!" Staying close to each other, the two brother made their way into the castle.

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           The large door loudly creaked as the entered. Looking in, they still saw no sign of life at all. " Huh, still not even a single toad. Where is everyone?"Mario once again shrugged. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Luigi shouted. No response. "I-I don't like this one bit bro." Said Luigi, backing towards the door "Maybe we should head back—" but before he could even reach the door, it slammed shut. Luigi pulled hard on the handles. No luck. "The door is locked!" Luigi started panicking "Oh no oh no oh no what are we going to do?" Mario, noticing his brother's panic, put his hand on the taller's shoulder. Luigi looked down at him and almost immediately calmed down. "Alright bro. I'm going to calm down and find the key to the door. That's what you'd do in this situation, right?" Mario nodded. "Alrighty then! You go look around for the Princess and I'll find the key! See you later!" And off Luigi went.

After looking around a bit at the entrance, Mario decided to make his way to the center room of the castle. Stepping on the sundial on the floor in the middle of the room, he heard a noise. Then an eerie voice rang out through the room "Mario...?" the voice asked "Is that you?" Startled, Mario looked around the room to find the source of the voice. Then he heard something. Click. Click. Click. Creak. In front of him stood "Peach?" He muttered under his breath.

"It's so nice to see you." She stared down at him. "Answer me this, shouldn't the Mushroom Kingdom...unfold and be refolded unto glory?" Mario quickly shook his head. "Interesting...next question. What do you think of those...toads? Shouldn't they be silenced for all eternity?" Mario stared at her and then quickly shook his head. "Finale question." She paused "Will you fold yourself and be reborn....like me?" Mario took a fighting pose and stared at her. "Hmph, don't want to cooperate? Wrong answer, right answer. It doesn't matter. All of your replies have fallen flat" She looked directly at him.

"GoOdByE..."

And the floor collapsed under him.

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