The two of you continued along the grassy purple path deeper into the field. Along the way, you even found out that some of the trees here can grow mushrooms! You found this out when you stumbled upon a tree that wasn't folded up like the rest. It was still unnaturally colored compared to the normal green and brown, but the mushrooms that grew on the branches looked absolutely amazing.
After collecting a few of these mushrooms for later, you and Tippi were back to following Mr.L's tracks - almost literally because of the deep of bootprints you found in the dirt. You noticed that Olivia didn't seem all too excited to speed ahead of you and Tippi when you passed by the origami princess. It seems that Mr.L might've scared the little girl into submission already without even finishing a fight. As you and Tippi followed Mr.L's trail, you came across the first destroyed landmark on this blazed path.
While it wasn't anything overly spectacular like a shattered statue or a burning house, it was still a chaotic mess.
It was a table. On the table, there was a magnificent and overly intricate cake that looked like it had a giant scoop taken out of it.
Also, it was somehow smoking...
"Is... Is that cake on fire?" Tippi whispered, sounding completely dumbfounded.
Looking beside the table, you noticed a Toadstool. Or, at least, you thought they were a Toad... While they shared the standard Toad "physique", their color scheme was unnatural compared to the Toads you were used to.
This Toadstool, for starters, was yellow from top to bottom. Also, they were shaped like a top. From the little chef hat atop the mushroom dome on the Toad's head to the apron and shiny shoes, they were all yellow. Even the skin color of the Toadstool was an unnatural yellow as if they had jaundice! However, they didn't exactly seem sick, per se...
This Toadstool in particular seemed to be panicking about the smouldering cake beside them.
"Oh my..! Oh dear..! I'm Tayce T. I really love to cook! ♡" The Toadstool exclaimed as you and Tippi approached. "I've spent this entire morning trying to recreate this Cake! This Cake is the very cake that won my late darling's heart... ♡"
You and Tippi couldn't help but cringe in second-hand regret as you cast a glance toward the mangled Cake.
"I swore I would never make it again, but it was the only thing I could remember of him... Just one bite will make anybody go ga-ga! ♡" Tayce T. declared. "I laid down to rest, my energy spent... Only to wake up to a scary noise!"
You and Tippi both nervously gulped simultaneously.
"A demon was hunched over the Cake! My precious Cake! ♡" Tayce T. cried. "I shooed it off by throwing a pebble at it, and it hissed at me before running off! Oh... But my precious Cake... ♡"
Seems like Mr.L has quite the appetite, or at least a sweet tooth.
"That sounds like Mr.L to me! Hehe!" Tippi giggled. "We're on the right track!"
Tippi was then interrupted by Tayce T. bawling her eyes out. The princess couldn't help but frown empathetically as she walked over to the Toadstool and gently pet her mushroom dome.
"Maybe we should work to keep Mr.L out of trouble in the near future..." Tippi whispered sheepishly.
You nodded in response while biting your bottom lip, feeling a bit guilty as the Toad in front of you sobbed uncontrollably.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Tayce T. cried.
As Tippi attempted to calm and quiet Tayce T, you made your way over to the table to inspect the remains. While all of the untouched pieces of the Cake was perfectly pristine and intact, the part that Mr.L got to was damaged beyond repair. In all honesty, it still looked quite delicious... assuming you cut out the, y'know, smoldering parts.
"Go ahead, take a piece of it! Its perfection was not long for these worlds! ♡" Tayce T. exclaimed with a sob.
Giving the Toad a sympathetic frown, you took a chunk of the Cake and placed it into your pocket space.
The Broken Cake was placed in your Key Items.
You looked back at Tippi, who was still trying to console the troubled Toadstool. After motioning Tippi along a few times, she seemed to get the hint that you were ready to go. With a sigh, Tippi gave Tayce T. one last pat on the head before going back to following your lead. Tayce T. waved goodbye to the two of you, requesting that you "look after the remains of her Cake" on your journey as you left.
"Mmmm... I may have to give Mr.L a lecture about stealing people's food," Tippi murmured with a small huff.
You nodded in agreement, dreading what the man in green would possibly take a bite out of next with his now-sharp shark-like teeth.
With Tippi back behind you and Broken Cake in your pocket along with some abnormal-colored mushrooms, you were off. There was still a lot of the field to go, and you two haven't covered much ground yet.
Passing through, you and Tippi encountered (and spared) a few more folded origami troops. This time, you even found a new type of enemy - An origami Koopa Trooper, to be exact! These turtles looked like they were not only more of a green skin color with a white shell, but they had hearts drawn on them too! You and Tippi spared these enemies, found some more of those mushrooms, and even solved a puzzle that involved a clock!
After the puzzle was cracked, you found yourself in an area of the field with a lot more signs than before... It seems that Olivia might've slipped by.
Nearby a sign that seemed to have been placed somewhat recently, you saw a Save Star. You decided that now would be a good time to Save and reached out to it...
With Mr.L running around, you are overcome with a sense of impending chaos.
The power of hand-made signs shines within you.
Maze of Death - Saved!
With a place labeled as "Maze of Death" by the anonymous narrator, you began to ponder whether or not this should be taken literally, or ironically.
"Oh, Mario! Look! Olivia made more signs!" Tippi pointed out.
Tippi chuckled with a smile and clapped excitedly as she made her way over to the sign next to you. She crouched down and hummed a little under her breath, readjusting her glasses while reading.
"Behold, the Maze of DEATH! Prepare to GET LOST, old guys!!! Signed, Olivia," Tippi read.
As Tippi finished reading the sign, you looked ahead to try and scope out the horizon. While the area did seem to originally be intended to be dangerous, and even deadly, it didn't look so scary anymore... After all, all of the enemies were defeated and knocked to the ground.
Unlike all of the origami troopers before, these guys were all still just flat-paper. THESE enemies were Bob-ombs, and all of them seemed to have little beenie helicopter hats covering up where their fuses should be... You labeled this as "should've" because with all of them knocked to the ground and flattened, you could tell that none of them actually had fuses.
"Hmmm... Why are all of these Bob-ombs fuseless?" Tippi wondered out loud. "Also... I think Mr.L may or may not have been here..."
You nodded in agreement as she smiled sheepishly. All of these knocked-out bombs looked to have been hit with Mr.L's new axe, so Tippi's guess wasn't far off. After gently moving a Bob-omb aside, Tippi uncovered another one of Olivia's signs.
"Are ya lost yet?! I bet you are! You can't help but get lost! There's no escape!!! Hee hee hee! Signed, Olivia," Tippi read.
Tippi let out a sigh with a soft chuckle. You could tell that she was a little bit exhausted from the excess signs, but still amused nonetheless. With that out of the way, and also concluding that the Bob-omb wasn't going to move any time soon from the beatdown, you both continued deeper into the "Maze of Death".
In all honesty, it probably would've been a much harder maze to navigate if there were enemies chasing after you and trying to attack you. However, considering that the only enemies in sight were Bob-ombs knocked silly, this most likely wouldn't be much of a challenge. You couldn't help but wonder if Mr.L even had a second thought before mowing over all of these guys...
"Oh, there's another sign! But... it's not following the exit path," Tippi pointed out.
Tippi redirected your attention away from Mr.L's tracks, pointing towards a sign, a few knocked-out Bob-ombs, and a small red-colored treasure chest. You both walked over, you to the chest and Tippi to the sign.
"AHH! Wait, where am I?!? Help! Help me! I got lost!!! Signed, Olivia..." Tippi trailed off. "Hm... Seems that Olivia had a bit of trouble."
You nodded in agreement as you stooped over the chest. It didn't seem to be locked or anything, so it was worth at least checking out.
You open the treasure chest.
Inside, you find a White Bow.
Tippi gasped, making you flinch and almost drop the item you found.
"Mario, that's ARMOR!" Tippi exclaimed. "It can increase defense!"
You arched an eyebrow as you looked over the small fabric bowtie. It was almost hard to believe that this small article of clothing could protect you from much.
"Go ahead and equip it, Mario! I think it'll look nice on you," Tippi stated with a smile.
Looking back down at the bow in your hands, you let out a small hum in thought. You cast a glance over at Tippi, who was motioning you to keep going, and then back down to the bow.
You reach out and replace the bow on Tippi's hat.
Tippi stared at you in shock and slowly reached up to touch the new bow on her hat. You handed her back her old bow, a small blush appearing from under her hat's shade.
"F-for me..?" Tippi asked. "Th-thanks!"
She giggled as she put away her butterfly-styled bow, a wide smile on her face. You smiled back in response, glad to make her happy. With the mystery of the chest out of the way, you began to lead Tippi back on track. After all, Mr.L's tracks were beginning to go cold.
With Tippi right behind you and with her new bow, you both continued deeper into the Maze of Death. You had a sense that you were getting closer to the exit when not only did you see another sign by Olivia... and also Olivia. As you approached the origami princess from behind, Tippi peered over at the last sign.
"Oh, here's the exit. Signed Olivia," Tippi read. "Huh."
You only had to take a few steps before you caught Olivia's attention.
"Hee hee hee! I see that you've somehow survived the maze!" Olivia exclaimed.
"Actually, it wasn't very hard after Mr.L did all the work..." Tippi admitted with a sheepish chuckle.
Olivia hummed in response with a mischievous grin, tapping her finger(hand?) tips together as she did.
"Well... Don't count your Cheep-Cheeps before they hatch!" Olivia declared. "Let's see how you fair against THESE baddies!"
The spade princess cackled as three origami Koopas sprang out from their hiding places, advancing quickly. All three brandished staffs, ready to wield them in battle.
Three Koopas block the path!
MARIO ᴴᵖ 90/90 [🔪FIGHT] [🎉ACT] [💰ITEM] [❌SPARE] [🛡DEFEND]
TIPPI ᴴᵖ 70/70 [🔪FIGHT] [🎉ACT] [💰ITEM] [❌SPARE] [🛡DEFEND]
Almost instinctively by now, you chose to [🎉ACT], giving you three enemies to choose from.
💚 Koopa Troopa ←
💚 Koopa Troopa
💚 Koopa Troopa
* Check
* Flatter
* 🦋 X - Flatter
You didn't have any saved-up energy for this fight just yet, so you simply used * Flatter. In the meantime, you had Tippi [🛡DEFEND], just in case Olivia had something nasty prepared with these three soldiers.
You told the Koopa Troopa that it has a shiny shell.
It seemed to ponder on this...
While one of the origami turtles seemed flattered, the other two were ready to attack.
"Attack!!!" Olivia cried.
The Koopas did as they were told and your SOUL was brought out into the open. However, when the Koopas launched their attacks, all the heart-shaped projectiles did was circle around your SOUL, keeping it in place.
"Wha-? Hey! Why aren't you guys getting beat up?!" Olivia exclaimed, running back onto the scene. "You're super outnumbered!"
Tippi cleared her throat, earning everyone's attention as she averted her gaze to the floor.
"Um, Olivia? All you used were SUPPORT enemies... As in, they're supposed to boost troopers that have a different bullet pattern. It doesn't really work when there's only backup..." Tippi explained. "I-it's like just having three glasses of apple juice instead of a whole meal!"
Olivia blinked in response, giving her a blank look.
"...and that's... NOT a normal thing?" Olivia asked.
Tippi let out a sigh as Olivia scratched the back of her head, trying to comprehend it all. The cloaked princess folded her hands together and took a deep breath before addressing the origami girl.
"Why don't we talk about this after we fight, okay?" Tippi requested.
Olivia let out a harrumph and folded her arms with a pout. She sank to the floor until she was no longer levitating, sitting herself down on the sidelines to watch.
The Koopas stand their ground.
MARIO ᴴᵖ 90/90 [🔪FIGHT] [🎉ACT] [💰ITEM] [❌SPARE] [🛡DEFEND]
TIPPI ᴴᵖ 70/70 [🔪FIGHT] [🎉ACT] [💰ITEM] [❌SPARE] [🛡DEFEND]
You now had some energy saved, so it was time to utilize it to perform an even better [🎉ACT]!
💚 Koopa Troopa
💚 Koopa Troopa ←
💚 Koopa Troopa
* Check
* Flatter
* 🦋 X - Flatter
Time to see what * 🦋 X - Flatter would do.
You command Tippi to flatter all the enemies.
"We didn't come here for a fight, honest! Just having fun and being together in one place is reward enough for us!" Tippi exclaimed.
All of the Koopas now seemed to be flattered by Tippi's praise - a lot more flattered than your praise, in all honesty. It only took two turns, but you and Tippi were able to Spare all of the enemies and escape unscathed in the end.
"Great job, Mario!" Tippi congratulated. "We earned 0 EXP and 92 Dark Coins!"
Olivia gasped and shot up from where she was sitting, floating up to Tippi. If it wasn't for the fact that she was floating, Olivia would've probably been bouncing up and down in excitement.
"OOH! OOH! What do I win?!" Olivia asked.
Tippi sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, taking a step back from the overly enthused origami princess.
"Uh... You kind of... lost," Tippi told her. "As in... you didn't win anything."
Olivia's smile immediately dropped into a pout, her crown drooping as she began to sulk.
"Oh," Olivia simply replied.
The origami princess floated there for a moment, not saying or doing anything. After a brief minute, Olivia looked back up at you and Tippi with big puppy eyes.
"Can I have some of yours?" Olivia sweetly asked.
Tippi bit her lip as she strained to look away from her puppy eyes, but ultimately failed.
"Um....." Tippi sucked in a deep breath, furrowing her brows. "No."
Olivia harrumphed in response, her puppy eyes gone in an instant. She cast up her head and gave you both a sinister smirk instead.
"Fine! See you later, oldies!" Olivia exclaimed.
With that, Olivia zoomed off, cackling to herself as she did. You and Tippi couldn't help but let out a sigh and smile at the little girl. While she may be a bit annoying in terms of hindering your journey, she was still so gosh-darn cute.
With Olivia away from the battle, the fight was declared over. Now you and Tippi were back to the search! It couldn't be much longer now - The bootprints were becoming fresh.