All was quiet in the Land of Ooo. The evil influence of the Lich had seemingly been banished forever by Finn and Jake's exploits in the Time Room. The many kingdoms were flourishing, although not without occasional mishaps and minor disasters which were, of course, quickly fixed by our heroes.

But during these peaceful days, Finn still felt troubled for no easily explained reason. Something was different than it used to be, but what? The Ice King was still princess-napping every young girl with a crown he could find, Marceline was still jamming nightly all across Ooo, and Princess Bubblegum was still tinkering and toiling away in her lab day and night in the name of science. What was different?

It was this line of thought that led him to ask Jake a particular question on a particular lazy day being spent in the Tree Fort; a day which lacked danger or adventure. As Finn would describe it: a bad day.

"Hey man, why don't big things happen anymore?"

Jake stretched one eye to look at Finn while the other remained fixated on the game displayed on BMO's face. "What do you mean, bro?"

Shifting from an upside down slouch on the couch Finn thought hard about what he meant, because he honestly wasn't sure.

"Well, I guess it's just that the adventures we've had lately have been kind of… small. Ya know?"

"Small? You think dragons snacking on candy people, crazy tree animals snatching up throwing discs, and finding Xergiok living with birds in the desert are small?" the yellow dog chuckled to himself, "You're nuts man."

"I mean, those adventures were pretty cool and all, but they were over so fast. We've had lots of little adventures, but no big ones. Nothing like fighting the Lich." Finn shivered a bit at the thought of that dark entity that had once haunted Ooo with its wrong-teous intentions.

Jake paused his game, prompting the return of BMO's regular face to the screen. After a few quick belly scratches Jake replied, "Hmm, I think I know what you mean actually. Those adventures were like mini-games and not full length, multi-level, crazy action, suspenseful, real games."

BMO giggled. "You never finish the long games, Jake!"

"Long games are hard, man; I need nappy breaks and all that junk. Speaking of which, where's the rest of that sandwich I made this morning?" Jake began to stretch around the room, moving things around in search of his lunch.

Finn frowned at his friends, "Come on guys, I was being real and you got distracted! Things seem too quiet around here since the Lich is gone. If he's gone I mean. We don't even know what happened to him, do we?"

Jake returned to his normal shape and landed in Finn's lap. "It's not like he could ever come back, right? I wished to change his wish in the Time Room so he must've gotten sucked into some kind of non-existing void or some biz. Why worry?"

"Maybe I'm just ready for the next big adventure, man." Finn placed Jake on the couch and stood up. "I'm ready to go out there and see the real deal again, with the fighting and the mysteries and the constant threat of a horrible death! My hero's soul hungers for an epic adventure that'll change everything!"

With a nonchalant sigh Jake returned to his game. "It's not like that kind of adventure just shoots out of a wormhole into the side of your house, man."

But oddly enough, that's exactly what happened next.

The wall right behind Finn exploded into splinters as something hit it at a very high speed. Finn, Jake, BMO, and what was left of Jake's sandwich flew in different directions as each of them (the sandwich excluded that is) attempted to make sense of the situation. Finn's hero reflexes kicked in and he landed on his feet with sword drawn. Jake and BMO landed less gracefully, and the sandwich stuck to the ceiling rather than landing at all.

"What the math just jacked up my house? Fight me now!" Finn yelled at the pile of planks on the far side of the room.

A split second later a figure emerged from the debris, weapon at the ready. Finn lunged at the mysterious entity with his demon blood sword but his blow was knocked away by a tiny shield on his opponent's arm. As Finn recovered and dodged the enemy's blade swipe he got a better look at his attacker. It was a boy, roughly the same age as Finn but maybe older with orange hair and solid blue eyes. His blade strokes were fluid, each leading into the next in a mesmerizing and mystical pattern.

After a few more exchanges which proved futile for both boys, the stranger held out his shield hand and shot out a pulse of light which Finn barely blocked with his enchanted sword.

"Glob, dude!" screamed Jake as he finally regained his wits and tried to restrain the strange boy with one of his stretchy arms. As the coiled arm closed around him the boy jumped, leaving Jake holding nothing but air.

"Shmow man, he's fast," said Finn.

"But where'd he go?" Jake called back, frantically searching for their visitor.

A voice called down from above, "Am I too quick for you?"

By the time Finn and Jake could find the source of the voice it had moved, leaving them confused once more.

"Over here!" Finn turned in time to see the boy charging toward him, sword ready. But before he could even react the stranger tripped over his own feet and lay sprawled on the living room floor in front of our heroes.

With a groan the embarrassed enemy said, "That could have gone better."

Jake quickly caged the boy while Finn snatched away his sword. The weapon did not suit Finn at all. It was curved rather than straight and had an odd, blue tint. The grip, complete with guard, was a golden color and was obviously well cared for as it shone brightly in the sunlight.

"What's the deal with you smashing up our tree house?" shouted Finn. "Answer me, fiend!"

Jake whispered in Finn's ear, "Calm down, Finny, we don't know who this kid is or anything."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Who the math are you, man?!"

The boy sat up and replied, "I mean you no harm, strangers."

"Mean us no harm? You attacked us with your sword and magic light thingy!"

The boy smiled sheepishly, "You drew on me first, it wasn't the best greeting I've ever gotten you know. Not the worst either though, there was that nasty meeting I had with the crystal witches and fire serpents. Oddly enough I tripped during that fight too… Oh sorry, I'm rambling."

Finn and Jake exchanged a glance that said, "This guy is weird but he doesn't seem like he really means any harm so we might as well let him go before we ask him anything else". It was a complicated glance obviously.

Jake retracted his cage-arm before repeating Finn's question about the boy's identity.

"My name is Bryce, son of Glyn. Hero of Asal, though I suspect I'm far from my land at the moment." This last statement brought a dark and somber expression to the stranger's face.

Finn put his sword away. The boy, Bryce, did have an outlandish look to him. His clothes were unlike anything Finn had ever seen. The outfit was mostly blue, a color similar to his eyes, but with several black stripes and swatches. Clasped around his neck was a short cape which made the boy look almost surreal, like one of the many statues Finn had seen in dungeons rather than a living thing.

"Aw, c'mon man no need to look so glum. Tell us how you got here and maybe we can help you find your way back."

Bryce looked up at Finn. "That's just the thing, I have no idea. One moment I was exploring a dungeon in search of treasure, picked up this thing, and bam. Straight through that wall. Sorry about that by the way, I will help you fix it or something." The item he was referring to looked somewhat like an average dinner plate, but with multiple indentations along the edges which looked like they had once been settings for jewels of some sort.

"Whoa, that thing opened the wormhole that jacked up our house?" Jake inquired with wide eyes.

Bryce nodded and rose to his feet. "But the item has changed since then. The gems around the outside disappeared when the portal opened, and now it seems kind of useless. Unless you wanna put a sandwich on it or something."

"Don't even think about it, Jake," Finn said as he saw a smile begin to creep across his brother's face. "That plate-thing must be really important and powerful if it brought this dude here from another world!"

"Yes, I agree!" Bryce exclaimed, obviously sharing Finn's excitement. "But the journey itself was not entirely pleasant. I glimpsed other worlds as I traveled to yours, worlds much darker and filled with monstrous creatures. I think something bigger than any of us is at work here. Something really big that's bound to lead to a crazy, awesome adventure."

"Dude." Finn began to breathe heavily. "This is exactly what I've been waiting for!"

Bryce's eyes lit up. "So you'll help me then, um… What are your names?"

"I'm Finn, and this is my best friend Jake, we're the heroes around these parts!"

"Yeah!" Jake agreed, "We find the bad guys and kick 'em in the boingloings!"

"We'll totally help you, bro!" cried Finn as he returned Bryce's sword.

Bryce placed the sword in a leather sheath which hung from his belt. "Fantastic, I can't thank you enough! But where do we start?"

"Easy, we go to the Candy Kingdom and ask Princess Bubblegum about that magical dinner plate thing. She's super smart and junk, she'll probably be able to help us somehow."

"Candy Kingdom?" Bryce asked, "what kind of strange world have a fallen into?"

"Haha, come check it out man!" said Jake as he hoisted both boys onto his now quite large back.

Finn laughed, "You know what time it is, Jake?"

"Aaaaaaadventure Time?"

"Yeah!" replied Finn as Jake took the first steps of their new journey.