(A/N: Let it be known that I started writing this story BEFORE King Of Ooo took over the Candy Kingdom. So, yeah. I took way too long to write this)
"Chet! No, no, put the bowl of dip down!" Princess Bubblegum instructed in a motherly tone. "We just have to wait for the guests of honor to arrive, and then we can begin celebrating!"
Two figures stepped through the open doors.
"Guests of honor? Is that us?"
"DIE!" Princess Bubblegum suddenly turned and charged at the door, wielding an axe she just so happened to be carrying.
"Whoa, whoa! PB, it's me!"
"Oh," PB stopped short. "Everyone, Finn and Jake are here!"
"You like my King Of Ooo costume?" Finn gestured toward the impressive outfit. "I figured I should go all out, y'know."
"Uh-huh, it's great! You even got his gross mole right," PB complimented.
"Hehe!" giggled Finn. "GROSS."
"Hey, is that facial hair real?"
"Yeah!" Finn tugged at the mustache. "It took longer to grow this fluffy goat mustache than it did to do my hair like this! Why didn't you dress up, Peebles?"
She looked down at her plain pink dress. "Hmph, all the hustle of party planning left me too busy. And I still have organization stuff to do...I don't mind, though; everyone else looks amazing."
"Yea, Finn's costume is pretty cool, but I like mine better," Jake said. He had shapeshifted to look like the King Of Ooo's loyal dog attorney, Toronto. "Look. Spot-on. I can even do his voice."
Finn and PB laughed, then got down to the other party guests.
"Okay, Finn. We're gonna start the party games, and while that's going on, we're going to have you judge the costume contest."
"So what do we do?"
"Just...judge, and see who has the best costume. As judges, your vote for the winner counts as two votes instead of one! That makes you twice as important as anyone else."
"Man, I don't like to judge peeps," Jake admitted.
"Yeah, I don't want to hurt any feelings," agreed Finn. "Candy people are pretty dang sensitive..."
"JUST DO IT!" Crunchy, dressed as Dracula called out. "I want my twenty bucks!"
"Just what are you supposed to be? Tommy Wiseau?" asked Starchy.
Crunchy flushed and turned in his cape. "I'm Count Dracula! Murderer of children and drinker of women's blood! Blehhh!"
"Awww!" cooed the party guests.
"Ughh," groaned Crunchy. "What are YOU?"
"I'm Starchy the grave digger!" Starchy replied simply.
"That's...not how this works."
"But did you notice?" Starchy smiled cheekily. "I've got a slightly different hat on; it's a shade darker than my usual one. Now that's a costume!"
Crunchy rolled his eyes. "Oi."
"Let's get the festivities started!" PB announced. "Manfried, if you would!"
"This is my least favorite part!" moaned Manfried. Glistening with glittery paper for the occasion, Manfried swung a baseball bat into his own gut, and the candy came spewing out onto the party guests, signaling the start of the party.
Finn and Jake reluctantly took their places at the judging table and observed the candy people stepping up in front of them.
"Man," Finn rested his cheek in his palm. "How'd we end up stuck doing this?"
"I dunno, that Bubblegum's pretty persuasive! 'specially when it comes to you," Jake remarked, giving Finn a tiny hug in the side. "But don't worry, we'll find some way out of it."
"How so?"
Jake suddenly had his back turned. "Hold on...I'm makin' fake uses to put in our place."
"Hm..." Finn glanced back at the contestants. "Are you sure it wouldn't be better to honor this obligation we've made? I'd kinda feel bad about bailing now."
"Well, if that's what you want. Just a fake me, then..." Jake had molded a big mass of his flash into a near-perfect replica of him in his Toronto form. He then removed his "KOO" shirt, put it on the replica, and shapeshifted back to normal, making sure to keep himself connected to the dummy Jake by his tail.
"Hehehehe," he chuckled, then strolled away, with his tail, attached to the Jake replica, getting longer & thinner. "See ya, bro!"
"Bye," Finn called, slightly disheartened. But he turned back to his judging duties, with the fake Jake in the chair beside him.
"Yo, Finn, my costume's the best, right?" Crunchy asked, showing off his cape.
Finn couldn't help but think Crunchy looked the cutest. "Sure, Crunchy. You're gonna win! What do you think, 'Jake'?"
Of course, the fake Jake said nothing.
"Aww, thanks, you guys!" Crunchy said blushingly.
Meanwhile, Jake was enjoying all the stuff the party had to offer. Food, games, food, the whole shebang.
"Wow! Great Jake costume!" a little gumdrop girl said to him.
"Huh? ...oh. I mean, thanks!"
The other guests began to take notice of who they thought was just a candy person in a Jake costume and it was only a matter of time until the voting for the costume contest began, and everyone was still buzzing about him.
"Hey, man," Peppermint Butler came up behind Jake in the line in his cute little Ice King costume. "Who you gonna vote for?"
"Oh. Is that what this line is for?"
"Yep! And also, secret?" Pep But whispered in his ear mischievously. "I'm voting for you. Hehehehe!"
It was then that Jake realized how many people around the castle had complimented him while he had been stuffing his face for the past twenty minutes. Warily, he stretched his eyes up into stalks resembling those of a snail, then stretched those up behind the ballot box. He saw that most, if not all of the papers going in had the words "the guy in the Jake costume" written on them. Jake pulled his eyes back into place.
"You're gonna win for sure!" Peppermint Butler said encouragingly.
"UHHH, yeah?" Jake agreed nervously. "But, I've got something to- -"
"Excuse me, everyone!" Finn spoke into the microphone on the stage.
Beside him, Princess Bubblegum leaned into the mic. "The votes have all been counted, and the winner of the costume contest has been decided."
"Wow, that was almost impossibly quick," remarked Jake.
"And the winner is..." Finn opened the envelope and his eyes grew to twice their normal size. "...um...'the guy in the Jake costume'...?"
"Whoo!" The princess clapped and cheered. "Come on up and claim your prize!"
Stiffly, Jake sidestepped up onto the stage, and over to the fake Jake, who was holding the $20 grand prize.
Jake gave Finn an utterly confused look.
"I carried it up," Finn explained, whispering. He tried to discreetly hold flesh Jake beside him.
Luckliy, nobody heard the exchange. Jake took the cash prize from his fake self.
Then Princess Bubblegum noticed Chocoberry trip in the middle of the crowd. It appeared that what caused the fall was...an orange wire? Her eyes followed the wire until they led to the apparent contest winner.
"Heyyy...that costume is TOO good..." Bubblegum turned to what appeared to be a motionless Jake in his Toronto costume. While everyone was distracted by cheering for the winner, she began pinching it.
"Ow! YOW!" Jake yelped, and he retracted the fake Jake aaaaall the way back up his tail until only the KOO t-shirt fell at his side.
The candy people all gasped in astonishment.
"Busted," Finn said matter-of-factly.
"JAKE!" the Princess cried out. "You tricked us! You cheated your way into the contest so you could win!"
"Not intentionally!" defended Jake.
"Then WHY?"
"Because I didn't wanna judge," Jake replied simply. "But I got too distracted, and I lost sight of who I was. Literally."
He picked up his t-shirt, put it back on, and morphed back into his Toronto form.
"I shall right my wrong by giving the prize to who rightfully deserves it! And also by invalidating everyone else's votes to make room for my own! The new winner is...Starchy the grave digger!" Jake pointed him out in the crowd.
Finn and PB looked at each other, then shrugged and applauded.
"ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME?!" Crunchy exclaimed as Starchy ran up to collect his $20.
The candy people went on cheering for Starchy, who began thanking the academy and all that.
"I'm sorry for bein' a little weasel, PB," Jake said sincerely. "You still love me?"
"Jake, you know I hate being tricked!" Princess Bubblegum said sternly. Then she calmed herself. "But seeing as you didn't do this on purpose, I forgive you, my friend."
"Thanks!"
"Let's go get burgers," Finn suggested.
So the three of them went off and did that.
THE END
(A/N: ...I feel like I lost sight of what this story was supposed to be halfway through...I WANTED TO POST IT ON HALLOWEEN, OKAY
And please inform me of any mistakes! Also review, fave, and check out my profile for more! Bye, and happy Halloween!)
