Joker's Running Wild (Deltarune, Super Paper Mario, Kirby Super Star)

Chapter 3

Present

Word traveled fast throughout all the lands. 

Luigi sat alone in his simple home in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario was out on another adventure. Luigi sat on his bed, looking out the window, wishing he could be out in the world by Mario's side, when a toad burst through the door.

"Mario?? Is Mario here??" The toad asked frantically. Luigi, surprised by the sudden visit, quickly got up and ran to see who it was. "Oh, it's just you. What are you doing here?"

The toad quickly grabbed Luigi's collar and brought him down to his level, clearly panicked. "Luigi! Where's your brother?! This is an emergency!" 

"M-my brother left to save the princess, remember? He's not here right now." The toad began to freak out even more. "Oh, no no no. That's not good. They need him!" Luigi began to feel a feeling of worry. "What? Why?? What's wrong??"

"You didn't hear the news? Dimentio is back, and he's taking over Flipside."

Luigi froze. He felt like his heart stopped.

"N-no. That can't be. I remember, he was defeated." Luigi began to feel incredibly worried. He was afraid of a lot of things, but Dimentio was probably at the top of his list. He would never forget being sprouted and forced to fight his brother and his friends. "H-how? That's impossible." 

The toad continued to panic. "I don't know how, but we need your brother. He's the only person who can help." Luigi stepped back, slightly shaking. "A-alright. I'll call him."

He pulled out his phone and dialed Mario's number. "Mario?? Mario, please pick up, this is an emergency," Luigi told himself, as he waited for Mario to pick up.

He heard his brother answer the phone. It seemed rather static. "He...o?" He heard Mario ask. His voice kept cutting out. "Mario! We have a situation. We really need you to come back. Flipside is in trouble!" "Lu...gi? Wh..t's ...rong?" Luigi continued to frantically speak into the phone. "Apparently Dimentio has returned, a-and he's taking over Flipside. We need you."

Luigi waited for a response, but Mario kept cutting out. "L...gi? L...gi? Y...re br....king ..p." Suddenly, the call was lost. Luigi frantically tried dialing the numbers again. "No, Mario, wait!

No one picked up. It looked like they wouldn't be able to reach Mario. The toad continued to freak out. "Oh no no no, what are we going to do??" Luigi sighed and looked down.

Dimentio terrified him. He didn't even want to think about going back, but Mario was busy, and someone needed to step up. He took out a return pipe. "I-I'll go." The toad looked up at him. "Really? You? But what about everything that happened?" Pretty much everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom knew how the story went down with him and Super Dimentio. Luigi let out a shaky breath. "D-don't worry. I'll be fine." 

On the other end of the line, Mario could barely make out what Luigi was saying. He appeared to be in a jungle. He was trailing behind Bowser, in an attempt to get Peach back yet again, when he got the call. Luigi seemed very worried on the other end of the line. This was concerning. "Luigi? What's wrong?" He asked. He heard some static. "Ap......tly .....men..io has re.....ed. ...d t....ing o..r f.....de. W.. need y..." 

What? The phone kept cutting out. Nothing was making sense. "Luigi? Luigi? You're breaking up." Mario took a breath. "Listen, whatever's going on, just stay safe. Don't do anything stupid. I should be back soon." He said that all, not realizing the phone had already cut him off. He lowered the phone and looked forward, before continuing his adventure, trying to go faster. The sooner he fought Bowser and got the princess back, the sooner he could get home and see what that phone call was about.

In the Past

"Seam! Seam! Seam! Seam! Seam! Seam!" Jevil quickly bounded towards his friend. "Whoa, what's got you all riled up Jevil?" Seam asked his friend. Jevil smiled. "You should have seen, I met a strange someone. They were jesters, just like me! And one of them was also a Magician, just like you! I don't know about the other one, I didn't really get to spend much time with them. They were really really weird!" 

Seam just laughed. "Aw, Jevil. Looks like you were daydreaming again. You know you're the only jester here, and I'm the only magician." Jevil smiled. "No no, these guys were real! I saw them! They spoke to me!" Seam laughed, and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Come on, Jevil. We should get back to work."

"But, they were real. I saw them." Jevil whispered, as his friend walked forward. "You don't believe me?" Jevil quietly asked. Seam didn't hear, and continued walking forward. 

Jevil shook his head and smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right now that I think about it. Let's get back to work."

"You sure you want to waste time on this guy? Seriously, you already have me," Marx asked Dimentio, as they watched from afar. Dimentio made sure neither of them could be seen, turning them both invisible. "Trust me. I can tell he's strong. We just need him to snap. Plus, I'm not wasting time. He could be a valuable team member. We just have to find a way to bring those feelings tucked inside of him to the surface." 

"How? How can you tell? We just met this guy. It took you a few months to finally take me in. Why are you just suddenly accepting this guy? What can he offer that I can't?" Marx asked. 

Dimentio smiled, then pulled out a deck of cards. 

He picked up one, and turned it around so the card's face was facing Marx. "Look familiar?"

On the card, was a picture of Jevil. Written on it, "Joker." 

Marx's eyes went wide. "That's him!" Dimentio smiled and nodded.

"Four kings, A jester, this whole world is card based! And our new friend Jevil, is the Joker. The wild card. And I'm willing to bet his friend, the Magician, is the other Joker, since there's always two Jokers in a deck. Now, Joker cards are left out of most games, meaning he isn't very important to this world. He's not a necessary character. I believe if we get him to realize this, we could use him to our advantage. He could join us and be of great use. We could have that wild card to play."

Jevil continued life as normal. For a few days the world continued as usual. He guessed he really did imagine those people. He went back to normal, almost forgetting about the whole thing. He performed for the kings and the wealthy. It was a little sad when he thought about it, how the powerful Kings sit around, watching him and Seam entertain them while people outside were struggling to get by, but that was how life worked down here.

"Hey Jevil."

Jevil quickly jumped around, to see a tiny Jester standing on a beach ball. "Whoa! Marx! Y-you're here! You're real!" Marx sighed, and rolled forward. Jevil smiled. "I thought you guys were leaving. I knew it! I knew you were real!" Marx smiled. Now for the show to begin. "Of course I'm real. Did you think you made me up" 

Jevil let out a small nervous laugh. "Well, kinda. But look! Here you are! Where's the other guy. Dimentio, right?" Marx smiled. "Oh, he's not far."

Jevil smiled. "Oh, alright. Well, what are you doing here?" Marx rocked back and forth. "Oh, nothing. I was just sitting here, thinking about how unimportant I am..."

Jevil's smile faded. "W-what? You're not unimportant. What makes you say that?" Marx turned around and smiled, before turning back to face Jevil. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that, my role in the world is very minimal and unimportant. There are so many people who are actually important. Kings and powerful people, but here I am. Just a simple jester....no one would even know if I were to disappear"

Jevil looked down, thinking about what Marx said. He couldn't see the smile forming on Marx's face. For Marx, this seemed to be going perfectly according to plan. Step one, make the new guy start to slip.

"Ah, but don't let me bring you down. I'm sure you're important. You wouldn't know what I'm talking about." Marx beamed. Jevil looked over at the little guy, with a slightly sad expression. He sat down.

"I haven't thought of this stuff much...." Jevil said, looking away.

Dimentio watched from above, floating and keeping himself invisible. Marx was doing great He felt a little bad for Jevil, but he was doing this to help him. Jevil could be so much more. He just needed a little push.