Paper Mario - Folded Chaos

| Chapter 9 - The Search |

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After searching through multiple vacant toad homes, destroying a few more paper mache goombas, and following a few false leads, the duo decided to take a brief rest in one of the houses. After all, it was starting to get dark, so finding their mystery shy guy would be even more difficult and Mario doubted that the toad who owned the home would mind. After all, to all the toads, Mario was an absolute blessing and would open up their homes anytime he came to town, so he doubted that they would mind them taking a quick rest. Getting into the house, Mario fell backwards on a blue bed located in the corner of the single room home while Olivia just sat on one of the chairs nearby.
"Oh Mario, I hope we can find that guy tomorrow. I'm just so worried about your green family." She paused to yawn before continuing, "By the way, just because I'm curious, what is your brothers name again? Sorry I'm horrible at names, heh." Mario pushed himself up a bit off the bed and glanced up at her before responding tiredly "Luigi". He then proceeded to fall back onto the bed with a quiet plop.
"Ooo! What's Luigi like? Is he anything like you?" Mario, despite being tired, decided to humor the origami girl and her questions. Laying back on the bed, he started to ramble on about his precious younger brother. How he was a bit of a scaredy-cat and how he somehow always found himself in trouble. How he almost caused the end of the world at one point. Mario rambled on for longer than he planned on, only stopping when he finally noticed the young girl draped over her chair asleep. Mario slightly smiled before quietly mumbling a "goodnight" under his breath. He then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

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            Tick...tock...tick...tock...Olivia stared at the clock on the wall. The sun hadn't even started peaking over the tall mountains that surrounded the small town, yet the origami girl was wide awake. She knew Mario wouldn't be awake for another hour or two, so she was left alone in the small dark room with only her thoughts and the ticking of the clock.
            Taking her eyes off the clock, she directed her gaze at the sleeping figure in the bed. She wondered why Mario was seemingly so cold to her sometimes. Was it something she said? Something she did? She thought back to her brothers words of warning before they had left their old home.

           "Those people out in this world don't respect our kind. They believe that we are equal to them. But those are falsehoods! Lies! We shall show them our superiority!"

              His cold, stern words echoed through her mind. Was he right? Did Mario's people really hate them? Was she doing the wrong thing? She didn't even have to think before coming up with her answer.
"No" She whispered quietly under her breath. She knew he was wrong. That he is wrong about everything. And she was going to show him the truth. She was going to show them all that they could put aside their differences and get along, no matter the cost. After finally sorting through her thoughts, she dozed off once again.

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'Tweet tweet' the morning songbirds sang. Olivia, slightly startled, glanced up from the floor and looked out the window. Daybreak was finally peering over the mountains. Mario was still sound asleep. Yesterday, they hadn't really looked around the small home they were staying at and her curiosity was starting to get the best of her. Finally giving in to her curiosity, she pushed herself up from her chair and walked quietly over to the window that faced the backyard.
Colorful flowers were spread all about, almost creating a mini rainbow effect. Butterflies and buzzing bees flew about from flower to flower while brightly colored birds flew high in the sky in search of breakfast. Olivia marveled at the scene. All the small creatures out in the world were blissfully ignorant to the chaos that was unfolding around them. Olivia wished she was like that. She would be graceful and pretty and she wouldn't have any worries. She could be free from all this madness.
Olivia quickly shook her head at that thought, pushing it to the back of her mind. That was selfish of her to even think like that. She needed to help Mario anyway she could. She needed to stop her brother. She couldn't let her curiosity and dreams come in the way of that. She didn't need any distractions.