"The Ice Vellumental..."
Mario had to traverse a freezing cold mountain in order to reach the sacred resting place of the Bibliofold. The place was infested with Folded Soldiers from Sidesteppers to Ice Bros to Snow Spikes, but they had finally made it to the peak of the mountain. Stephen went from being bedeviled to being dumbfounded. He was face-to-face with an actual deity, and Mario was about to beat it to death.
If he didn't fall first, anyhow.
"Th-the Vellumentals! They are-they are...!" He let out an excited scream, unable to hide the jubilance he had kept silent for so long.
"Olly folded this one too!"
The towering polar bear stomped over to the trio, letting out a deep roar in their faces. Olivia and Stephen held onto their hats, while Mario's floated away from the bear's cold breath.
"NO MORTALS ARE ALLOWED HERE! LEAVE THIS PLACE OR FEEL MY PUNISHMENT!"
"Wow, he really is angry...I'm not sure if that's because Olly folded it or he's just mad at life..."
"LEAVE! MORTALS ARE NOTHING BUT UNTRUSTWORTHY FOOLS! THE OTHER THREE WERE JUST AS IDIOTIC AS THEM FOR THINKING THEY COULD TRUST THEM!"
"Aww...he must be talking about Olly." She held out a hand to the Vellumental. "Calm down, Kōri. I saved your siblings. Can't you sense them?"
"YOU ARE FOOLS TO THINK I WILL FALL FOR SUCH AN EASY TRICK! FOR THAT, YOU MUST DIE!"
"Looks like there's no way to talk Kōri out of this one..."
"We'll have to-a fight then!" Mario excitedly pulled his hammer from his pocket.
The Ice Vellumental covered itself in a block of ice, and hitting it with a hammer did nothing.
"Huh. That was-a very uneventful."
"No wait, it's ice!" Stephen reminded them. "So you have to use fire!"
"Oh! But where are we going to find Seraphina's Magic Circle all the way out here?"
"I sketched a copy, will it work?"
Mario was rammed into by the Ice Vellumental inside of its ice shield, which he had formed to be a spiked ball instead. The ice melted back into a block.
"It might...but it doesn't have any energy I can borrow from it."
Mario was rammed by Kōri again. He used a mushroom to heal the injuries and blocked off the next one with his hammer. Ice began traveling down his hammer, inching ever closer to his hands.
"Everything that can use magic has energy, right?"
Olivia nodded. "Yes but, where are we goin to find energy right now? We can't go back to the desert."
"I'm sorry, my archeologists' find. You must be sacrificed for the sake of the world!" He pulled out the book, tearing half of the pages free. He crumpled them and put the paper with the Magic Circle draw onto it onto the frozen ground. "Ooh, please work. I can't have sacrificed this book for nothing."
"M-m-mamma m-m-mia...!" Mario shuddered as the ice traveled up his arms. "Oliv-v-via!"
"Mario!" She called. "We need to hurry!"
He placed the crumpled pages onto the Magic Circle. They began glowing faintly and melted into the Magic Circle.
"It's not enough! We need the rest of the book! Mario's going to freeze!"
Stephen gave the book a sad expression. The first big find he discovered that may be important for learning more about the Origami Twins, and he has to destroy the entire thing.
"Stephen!"
He sighed, gave the book an embrace, and dropped the rest onto Seraphina's Magic Circle. They too melted into the Magic Circle, and the light traveled from the center to the circles around the edge. Mario now had the ice covering most of his body and almost the entirety of his face. He called for help, only the smoke from his warm breath escaping his frozen lips.
"MARIO!" Olivia screeched, now as the Fire Vellumental. "Hang on, I'll save you!"
She shot fire at Mario, freeing him from an icy demise. She turned towards the Ice Vellumental and melted the ice he was using to protect himself. She transformed back, falling back onto the Magic Circle.
"Olivia, are you alright?" Stephen helped her off the ground.
"Thank you, Stephen. I know how much that book meant to you, and I appreciate the fact you were willing to destroy it for Mario and I."
"Olivia, that book means nothing if the world ends! I did it not just for you two, but for everyone."
"If you aren't known for your finds, at least you'll be known as a hero to me."
Stephen beamed. "You're right! I cannot just stand here helpless while Mario fights off an all-powerful deity!" He raised his shovel over his head. "For the Mushroom Kingdom!"
He rushed Kōri, slamming his shovel against the Vellumental's knee. The bear growed, bearing his sharp fangs. Mario took advantage of the distraction and use a Magic Circle he had found buried under a small bit of snow.
"Wahoo!" He punched the Ice Vellumental in the side of the head, sending the bear tumbling.
He flipped to his feet, fangs still shown, and started towards Mario instead.
"Eat shovel!" Stephen repeatedly slammed the shovel against the Vellumental as it turned towards him after the first attack. "Oh great crater of the Mushroom Kingdom!" He tried to run, only to be grabbed by Kōri's powerful claws. "Help me, Mario!"
Mario punched Kōri in the head again, and again, and until he turned. He bore his fangs to Mario. Mario punched him in the face, a small stream of blood coming from its nose.
"Oh-a no!"
"YOU THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH?! YOU'LL PAY! PAY!" He tossed Stephen to the ground and charged Mario.
"Oh, valley folds!" Olivia stood in front of Mario, arms out as far as she could have them. "Stop! Don't hurt him!"
The Vellumental skid to a stop in front of the princess, staring at her with his cold eyes. He exhaled harshly through his nose, the cold air sending a shiver through Olivia's folds.
"Mario didn't do anything wrong, Kōri! If you want to punish a mortal, punish me. It was my brother that made you like this, and I guess I'll be the one to take the blame for it."
"Your brother...? Mani, you have a brother?"
"I'm Olivia, actually. That's three..."
"Brother...Sandi? Sandi is male now? I suppose what makes her happy."
"Um, my brother's named Olly."
"The twin name thing, I see."
"Kōri, look. I don't know why my brother's acting so crazy, but please don't hurt Mario! He wants to stop Olly from folding the world."
The Vellumental closed his eyes and gently placed his forehead onto Olivia's. Her eyes glew yellow faintly, and faded when he moved away.
"I see it now. You really do care for him, and another as well. The Bob-om."
Olivia touched a hand onto her chest, fighting back her tears. "Bobby..."
"You wish me no harm. You were only fighting me because I attacked first. I lost myself again; I'm so sorry, Mani. I'm the reason that happened."
Olivia frowned. Kōri sounded so sad and heartbroken; and whatever it was he did to ruin things for Mani, he felt bad about it now. Olivia gently embraced the folded deity.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Mani forgives you, Kōri."
"The forgiving process is a hard one, but worth it in the end. I can achieve peace, at last..."
Kōri closed his eyes and faded away in small orbs of light blue light. Olivia's arms closed on the air as they floated up, and back down towards the ground. Mario had already returned to normal, and Kōri's Magic Circle appeared beneath his feet. The Bibliofold floated over to Olivia.
"Thank you," spoke the voice of the Ice Vellumental as the book landed into her hands. Those were its final words, and the Ice Vellumental could now lie in a peaceful rest.
"Well, that was sad!" She flipped open the book. "I wonder why he thanked me..." Her eyes shot open. "Wow, and I thought Seraphina's folds were hard!"
"Seraphina...?" Stephen asked, using his shovel to lift himself from the ground.
"That's the-a Fire vellumental," Mario responded.
"They have names I was not aware of?!"
"You get to learn things when you're not stuck in a cactus," Olivia joked as the book energized Kōri's Magic Circle. "He was so nice, too bad he had to die." She went to the fully-charged Magic Circle. "Alright Mario, let's-a go!"
Her paper unfolded, and Stephen watched in shock as she copied the look of the Ice Vellumental, her golden crown still adorned on her head. She let out a roar-just for the fun of it-and sent Mario a smile.
"So, you know how cold it is in here?"
"Yes," the plumber answered. Stephen replied back with a loud gasp.
"I was expecting it to be warmer in here." She began shivering once more. "B-b-but I'm even m-m-more c-colder than bef-f-fore! It's in my th-th-throat this t-t-time, but it's-s-s still not-t-t-t any b-better!"
"Shoot it!" Mario cheered, knowing full well where this was going.
"G-g-good idea! That'll w-w-warm m-m-me up s-s-some!"
She let out a roar, firing a beam of ice from her open mouth. She froze the water around them, granting them the ability to leave. She returned to normal, shaking her head as Kōri occasionally did.
"Yeah, that's a bit better! It's still freezing though, should we leave?"
"You folded into the Vellumentals! That's the most powerful witchcraft I have ever seen!"
"It's not witchcraft! It's called Origami Magic, and you should try it sometime."
Leaving the mountain was far easier than scaling it, mostly because it was all downhill. The mountain stood towering high above three color-coded buildings, one red, one blue, and one green. Mario was told by the angelic Toad statue in the center of the island that he would earn an orb from the three trials...of power, wisdom, and courage.
Mario thought that seemed weirdly familiar.
The trail of power, the red building, was how fast he could break a bunch of brick blocks in a small time limit. The trail of wisdom, the blue building, was a true-or-false style quiz about his adventure so far. The trail of courage, the green building, was if he was brave enough to let a heavy pan-that was later replaced with a thwomp-fall beneath a line above his head.
"You got the orbs!" Olivia cheered. "The um...the Tri-orb-force!"
"The Triorbs," Stephen suggested. "What do we need these for?"
"Triforbs!" Olivia did a little dance. "Yeah, I wonder if they'll help with the streamer in some way..."
Olivia was, in fact, correct about the assumption. The Sea Tower that nobody dared to enter was the direction the streamer spiraled, and they needed the orbs to open the door; the mechanism acting similarly to the door to Chikyū's shrine. The orb of power went on top, courage on the right under power, and wisdom matching courage but on the opposing side.
"This is the Triforb of Courage, and the evil King Squareser has the Triforb of Power. Only you, the Champion of the Mushroom Kingdom can stop him. Hurry, Mario! The fate of the Kingdom lies in your hands!" Olivia narrated as Mario inserted the orb of courage.
"I'd watch that," Stephen admitted, "as long as Mario can use a sword!"
"Weegee's more likely to have the Triforb of Courage," Mario explained. "He's-a been through a lot. Plus, he's wearing green, it matches the-a orb!"
"Yeah, green's a nice color for a sword-wielding hero," Olivia agreed.
The door slid open, and they entered. Stephen examined the patterns on the walls as Mario and Olivia resumed on ahead.
"Ah, what's this?"
They turned to find Stephen examining a statue of Chikyū. Olivia joined him.
"Oh! It's Chikyū! I wasn't expecting to see a statue of him all the way out here."
"There are more..." Mario brushed dust off of the Lemon statue's face. "It's the-a rest of them."
"Is this some sort of shrine for the Vellumentals?" Olivia poked Seraphina's frozen expression. "If so, why all the way out in the ocean?"
"This is so interesting!" Stephen began scribbling down notes and sketches. "I'm so glad I came with you two!"
"I'm glad you came too! You're good company, Stephen."
Stephen pocketed his journal. "Anyhow, we should continue. My quest for knowledge mustn't get in the way of the world!"
"I want to see the rest of the tower, Mario. Better get walking!"
Mario sighed and left through the door on the other side of the statues. Olivia stopped upon exit, took one last look at the Vellumentals, and followed Mario deeper into Sea Tower.