'The land of Ooo. Formerly known as earth, after the Great Mushroom War, humanity came to near extinction. With the human race all but gone and the radiation and mystical components released to the world from the nuclear bombs' explosions, a new world rose from the ashes of the old one, a land where everything was possible except for logic, a land of magic, chaos and color. In this rainbow-flavored land, peace survived for a little more than a millennium, but the fragments and shadows of the forgotten world came back to haunt us all.
'First, it was Betty. A human woman that traveled in time to the future in an attempt to reunite with her lover Simon, only to lose him briefly after that when she saved him at the cost of bringing back his alter ego, known as the Ice King. She later went all over the land, trying to find a cure for Simon, only to stumble across Magic Man; A crazy, dangerous man with even crazier, dangerous magic powers. By absorbing his powers, she became one of the most powerful beings in the world, but power comes with a prize- She became insane and took over wizard kingdom, enslaving the wizards and turning them into her own personal horsemen of the apocalypse, bringing chaos and destruction wherever they go.
'Then, there was Finn Mertens. A young man who was previously thought to be the last human on earth, until the discovery of his father, Simon, Zein and the arrival of Betty. This human boy was ironically known before as the hero of Ooo, saving the world, universe AND multiverse many times from destruction. He was the champion of everyone, a truly respectable man who had a great life and even found love in the arms of a princess. That was, until tragedy stroke… It all began way back, when he was still 16; his girlfriend, Flame Princess (now known as Flame Queen) broke up with him, the rise of new heroes left him in the dark as everyone moved to cheer them up and forgot about him, his father turned out to be a disgusting excuse of a living being who abandoned him at any chance he had and the more he grew, the more he realized the pain of not having a true family. But the toughest strike to him was to his heart as his wife was killed by Betty during a mission. Mad with rage, Finn used the power of the grass sword imprinted into his being, as well as his inner power and the demonic blood of the deceased Hunson Abadeer to rise in power and build himself an army of human/plant hybrids to conquer Ooo', now going by the name of 'The Blood King'.
'And last, but not least, there is Zane. A monster hunter well known in the lower part of the globe. His achievements were high and there was no one who could pose a challenge to him, his battle prowess and his telekinetic powers, as well as his brutal fighting style. Slowly people amassed under him and he became even more powerful after absorbing a celestial crystal gem. He too built himself an army and began to go crazy everywhere, until he stumbled upon Finn and Betty, the only two people strong enough to actually defeat him.
'The three immediately became mortal enemies, and the war between their three kingdoms turned this colorful world into a sad, dark place with no hope in the line of sight. But hope hasn't been lost yet, for there is one person still capable of defeating these three titans. A heroine with unimaginable power, for she is-
"Dad, what are you doing?" Asked a girl as she stepped inside an old tree house and found someone who looked like a yellow dog with a beard and fedora and was staring deeply into a dusty book "Oh, nothing. So, how was your day, Rose?" asked the dog, better known as Jake, to his daughter "Well, I found a wild Pork-Berus, so I would say it went pretty well". Rose was a teenage girl with pale blue skin and mid-back length hair, red like… Well, roses. Her eyes were blue like the sky. She wore an unzipped pink hoodie with folded sleeves over a white T-shirt, red pants and black military boots. On her back was a blue backpack, a weird boar with three heads tied to it and a weird shaped white sword with a blue gem on it. "But seriously now, what were you doing?" asked Rose as she pointed to the book, "Oh, you know, reminiscing on old memories and stuff" he said as he closed the book with a thud and stretched over to a dust-filled bookshelf to place it amongst other books "Seriously now, you're getting old" teased him Rose "Well, I'm still as elastic as back in the day and- Ouch!" said Jake, stretching his hand in all directions before his muscles twitched. "Anyway, did you stumble into any soldiers or bandits on your way?" he asked with a worried look "Yeah, but I kicked their butts!" said Rose triumphantly before getting hit on the back of her head by a big yellow hand.
"You have to be careful! If anyone of those three crazy humans caught you…" said Jake with pain from the image formed in his head "Relax! You're worrying too much. I can handle my own and I'm also very sneaky, like a ninja" said Rose posing like a ninja "Ugh, fine, but remember! If you see one of the three kings or their generals…"
"-Turns back and run as fast as I can, I know, you told me like a thousand times already" said Rose in a mocking tone "*sigh*, just… Be careful next time, okay?"
"Fine…"
"Good. Now let's see what you brought, cuz' I'm starving!" after a satisfying meal of cooked Pork-berus, Jake and Rose went to sleep… Well, Jake went to sleep. Rose sat on top of the huge, old tree house, staring into the horizon. Wrecks as far as the eye can see, a melting ice monument that seemed like a castle and the smoking ruins of a kingdom Rose still couldn't believe was once a beautiful kingdom made of candy.
"You look troubled" said the voice of a young boy behind her. As she turned around she saw a teenage boy around her age, wearing rags to cover his body and face "Oh, hey Jack" she said as the boy proceeded to sit next to her. Despite always seeing her father Jake carrying the sword like the most precious thing to him in the world (You know, except for her), he gave it to Rose for her 10th birthday. Ever since she was 13, Rose's sword always came to life and spoke with her when she was alone. According to Jake, the sword was something he found in an ancient temple, but looking at his face, she knew he was lying. The first time she nearly fainted by this, but now it was a normal thing for her, although she still questioned her own sanity. Since the sword wouldn't tell her his name, she called him Jack "Thinking about your parents?" he asked her. "Yeah… I'm no dumb girl; it's obvious that I'm not his daughter, so why hide it? I'm 16, he should've told me something by now, right?"
"Believe it or not, I've known Jake for quite a while now, just not this Jake" said Jack the sword "What do you mean?" asked him Rose "… That doesn't matter. I'm sure he has a reason not to tell you this stuff. Why don't you ask him?"
"I tried, but every time I mentioned family in front of him, he paled and looked like he was going to die on the spot and knowing my late step brothers, I couldn't do that to him, so I changed the subject every time. I'm pathetic, am I?" Jack then placed his hands on the back of his head and put his left leg on his right knee as he laid down on the floor "You're not pathetic; you just care for that person as if he was your real father" He then whispered under his breath "(…And sometimes, a fake father is better than the real one…)" and with that, he turned into mist, which then shaped back into his sword form. Rose lifted the sword and looked into the blue gem on its hilt "Thank you" she said with a smile. No response came back, but she had a feeling her words reached Jack loud and clear.
The morning after that, Rose and Jake were eating cereal and milk. It was rather silent and peaceful in the middle of the war-torn land. Rose didn't want to break this precious moment of peace, but she owed it to herself to confront Jake about her parents "Dad?" she eventually asked "Yes, sweetie?" replied Jake "… Who were my real parents?" Jake spitted out milk and cereal in a huge stream and began choking down as Rose went over to him and helped him relieve "Wha-What do you mean? I'M your dad!" he said. "Dad, don't play jokes with me. You're a DOG, I'm some sort of humanoid life form, there is literally nothing similar between us"
"So? There are many parents and sons who don't come out similar at all. It's genetics and junk" Said Jake, sweating. "Why won't you tell me who my parents are!?" yelled Rose "like I said, I'm your dad" said Jake, his head heating up by the moment and slowly breaking by the pressure and nerves "Just tell me already!" yelled Rose "I TOLD YOU I'M YOUR DAD, YOU IDIOT!" snapped Jake, his hand stretching as he smashed the food table down. Rose couldn't take this and ran out of the house, crying "Rose, wait!" yelled Jake, trying to stop her but then collapsing to the ground and spitting blood "Ugh… Not n-" was all he could say before his vision blackened and he fainted.
Rose wandered and wandered, until she reached the ruins of the Candy Kingdom. Walking across the broken pavement, she looked in pain at the homeless and rotting candy people on the streets. She then felt something grab her hoodie. As she turned around, she saw a peppermint orphan girl with tired eyes pointing towards her mouth, desperate for food. Rose kneeled next to her and gave her apple slices, patting on her head before sending her off to the other orphans with a forced smile. 'That could've been you, you know?' echoed Jack's voice in her head.
"Shut up"
Suddenly, Rose heard a scream. As she ran in the direction of the scream, she saw a bunch of plant/human soldiers surrounding an old cupcake citizen. Rose hid behind a demolished wall and listened to the occurring "So you thought you could escape labor camp, huh Mr. Cupcake?" said one of the soldiers towards Mr. Cupcake "Please, I beg you to spare me… I have a wife and four muffin children, please let me go!" begged Mr. Cupcake as he planted his teary face on the ground "Silence!" said one of the soldiers as he kicked Mr. Cupcake in the head, knocking him over. Mr. Cupcake wept as he held his head in pain "Under direct order of Baron Chloro von Phil, every subject trying to escape their duty will be executed immediately". Rose couldn't take any more of this cruelty at this point. Taking out her sword, she rushed in and punched the soldier, sending him flying and crashing into a tooth-breaking candy house. She felt incredible as the sword somehow doubled all of her physical and neurological attributes "A rebel! Take her out!" yelled one of the soldiers and they all charged in her direction in what seemed to her like the slowest attack ever. Avoiding their wooden spears and leaf blades with ease, Rose slashed the chest of one of the soldiers, broke the ribcage of another with a lethal knee and decapitated another one. Frightened, the last soldier standing ran away.
"Are you okay?" asked Rose as she helped Mr. Cupcake up "Glob bless you, young girl. How can I ever repay you for saving this poor life of mine?" he asked "You can start by visiting your family and helping them. Not many get to see their parents, you know?" Nodding in agreement, Mr. Cupcake ran off into the streets and Rose did the same as the sounds of rushing footsteps and a war horn were held. As the soldier that survived came back with backup, Rose already disappeared into a dark alley. "Hah, suckers" she said, sheathing her sword with relief, only for a potato sack to be put on her and she got kidnapped. After a couple of minutes of struggling in the dark, the sack was eventually lifted from her face and she found herself inside what seemed like some sort of military headquarters. She was standing in the middle of a mixed crowd of candy people, wizards, demons, elementals and pretty much every other race she knew about and some she didn't in the land of Ooo. They all had a grey bandana with a golden Celtic Trinity Knot imprinted on it, wrapped somewhere around their bodies "Wha… Where am I? What is this place?" asked Rose.
"Welcome to the resistance" said a tall and buff man as he approached her. He looked almost human, except for the two bumps in his head that resembled horns. He had chocolate brown hair and light skin. He wore military clothes combined with pieces of old armor with the Celtic Trinity Knot burned into the skin of his exposed left arm. He had a pistol on his belt, held a machine gun and had a sword the size of Rose chained to its black sheath with red chains "Who are you, and why am I here? Depending on your answer, I won't show you mercy!" said Rose reaching to her sword, only to have a bunch of resistance members to point their weapons at her. The tall man, which seemed to be the leader of the resistance, signaled them to lower their weapons "My name doesn't matter now; you can just call me chief"
"He's just embarrassed because his name is Sweet Pig Tru-" began to say a resistance member before he got literally planted into the ground by his stereo-sized fist. "As I was saying, you can call me chief"
"Uh… Sure..!.. Chief"
"The reason we called you here, is because we saw how you defended old Mr. Cupcake back there and defeated a troop of blood soldiers with seemingly no effort whatsoever. Your appearance is like a signal to us and, well… On the bottom line, we want you to join us"
"Uh…" said Rose, trying to swallow and process the way-too-quick turn of events that just unfolded in front of her.
And that's it. Been a while since I wrote an AT fanfic… If you have any thoughts or questions write them down below and I'll do my best to answer them in the next chapter, which hopefully I will finish next week.