Chapter 4

The King and the Jester

Bowser stumbled though the chakroad badly bruised and beaten from the fight he had had to retreat from moments ago. His troops and personal consort rushed towards him, worried about their great king's injuries.

Kamek and Kammy, his most trusted advisors, worked though the crowd toward him, disbelief and worry clear on their faces. Kammy immediately began treating his wounds. Bowser tried to hold his anger in check until Kamek finally asked, "My lord, Mario again?"

Bowser could feel his rage grow in reaction to that comment, slowly forming into a firestorm within his mind, each part of his body screaming for bloody retribution against the puppet master of the entire ordeal. Mustering up what control he had Bowser answered, "Mr. Green and that damn flower princess."

"…And Mario," He added hesitantly.

"My lord, what possible reason could you have for going to the face those three alon…"

"WE HAD A PLAN!" Bowser roared, unable to keep his anger in check, while leaping to his feet and grabbing Kamek by his collar. "NOW WHERE IS THAT DAMNED JESTER?"

"The Arcane Sanctum my lord Bowser sir…" Kamek whimpered as his king released him.

Bowser stormed off in the direction of the sanctum, with both Kamek and Kammy taking off after him.

"THAT JESTER HAS A LOT TO ANSWER FOR!"

Dimentio replayed Bowser's clash with the Mario Brothers smiling with glee as the chaos aura formed around Luigi. "…Perfect, you're still there L, even after all this time," Dimentio laughed as he watched Luigi bring down Bowser and then subsequently be brought down by him. "My my, if only my little puppet lasted a little bit longer you would have been all mine."

Dimentio rewound and paused, focusing in on Daisy. "But protecting another now… you're not in control yet are you?" Dimentio frowned at the sight of his light green eyes. "That cowardly fool still has control and you don't have access to your full power either," the jester leaned back in his seat. "Ah well, we'll fix that soon enough."

Bowser punched the Sanctum door open forcing Dimentio to snap the recording off.

"DIMENTIO!" Bowser roared as the jester lept to his feet.

Dimentio smiled as he took a courteous bow at his raging king. "My lord, is there a prob-" he started sarcastically before Bowser grabbed him and locked him a vice-like grip.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" Bowser growled, fire on his breath as he tightened his grip on the jester.

Dimentio smiled despite the grip Bowser held on him and answered, "Just helping you acquire our prize; it didn't work as well as I had planned however."

Bowser opened up one of his hands and drew his razor sharp claws, placing them directly over Dimentio's forehead.

"You won't, you still need me for the heart… remember?"

Bowser glared furiously at Dimentio before releasing him.

"You try that again and I will send you back to the Underwhere in pieces."

Dimentio smiled and dusted off his clothing as Bowser turned to his advisers who were standing in the hall.

"Kammy, Kamek, I want every spell and incantation he casts checked out by one of our own."

Kamek and Kammy looked at each other before answering, "Yes my lord, gladly."

Bowser took another look at Dimentio before turning to leave.

"My lord, don't try to abduct L again, it's pointless."

Bowser paused and turned to face the jester again.

"What do you mean by that?" Bowser asked, glaring at him.

"The light-side still has control over him, and even if he didn't, the heart's power has been sealed."

"So this was all pointless then," Bowser drew his claws again. "You have ten seconds to convince me not to hack you to pieces."

"Actually, it was far from pointless, it was quite enlightening. It will take longer than I expected and we we'll need a few things from my old tribe, but rest assured my lord, we can rewrite the universe once I have them."

"You will explain yourself at the war meeting because right now I don't have time for this," Bowser answered, taking a glance back before leaving Dimentio to his brooding.

"My lord, why don't we just deal with him now; he clearly has no loyalty to the throne," Kamek asked as he chased after Bowser.

"As much as I want to, we need him for the Chaos Heart. So tell me how far have the both of you gotten with the Dark Prognosticus."

"We've barely begun deciphering it; we are waiting on translations and information from both the Shy Guy Nations and the Boos. Currently we don't have the scripture to translate half of it, much less figure out how to manipulate the Chaos Heart."

"So be it, what about arms production?"

Kammy cleared her throat and answered, "Smithy reports that production is though the roof. He's built enough weapons and munitions to rearm several of our fleets. He also reports that your special projects are nearly complete."

"Good, call him and a war council; we have much to discuss…" Bowser clutched his side in response to his renewed pain, "After I've had rest and treatment."

"Yes, my lord," Kamek and Kammy answered running off to their new duty.

"My greatest plan begins to unfold."