CHAPTER ONE: The Shadow in the picture

"Finn, Finn. Hey Finn!', yelled Jake.

They were at Candy Kingdom enjoying some free food from a popular restaurant after they saved the owner from certain doom by the hands of a pancake monster. The owner was so thankful, he gave them coupons for a free four course meal for a romantic date for two at night. But the coupons expired today. Finn came back to reality after Jake yelled at him.

"Wha, sorry Jake. Was I thinking too hard again?"

Jake shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat the sandwich of awesome.

"You were dude. The waiter spilled your soup on your shorts and you didn't do jack."

Finn looked down at his shorts and found it to be damp and had noodles and veggie stains on it. He grabbed his napkin and furiously tried to wipe it off, only to make the problem worse. His expression became a sad one as he realized defeat. Jake stretched his hand to give Finn a pat on the back for trying.

"Come on, Finn. It's just a soup stain. It ain't nothing major like-."

He was interrupted by a banana guard, panting from exhaustion.

"Finn! Jake! I gotta show you something!"

Finn and Jake sprung from their chairs and followed the banana guard back to the castle. They arrived at the castle with Manfred the Pianta yelling at them to go to the royal Surveillance room. The guard lead them deeper and deeper into the castle's bowels as Jake grabbed some signs and markers from Finn's backpack. He gave Finn some signs as he wrote down his thoughts.

'How much do U wanna bet that Ice King took Princess Bubblegum?'

Finn thought for a moment as he wrote down his answer. Jake stretched his shoulder over to see what Finn wrote down. Finn punched his nose as he noticed Jake was trying to see what he was writing. Jake recoiled and rubbed his nose, trying to numb the pain. Finn tapped his shoulder to show him his thoughts.

'20 bucks that he didn't.'

Jake grabbed a previously written sign. He flashed it to Finn as his response.

'UR on!'

Jake shook Finn's hand in agreement as the two gambled twenty dollars to see if the Ice King took Bubblegum. Again. They arrived at the surveillance room, said pink princess sitting on her comfy chair. Jake held his breath, hoping he didn't have to sacrifice his twenty dollars. She turned around and it was indeed Bubblegum. Finn fist pumped while Jake got a twenty from his wallet in his skin-flap pocket. Finn took the twenty as he had plastered a large grin on his face. Jake muttered under his breath.

"(Cough) Butt-Face (Cough, cough)."

Finn didn't noticed as he crammed the twenty into his backpack. Bubblegum looked at both of them, waiting for both of them to stop talking. She motioned them to look at the monitor.

"Okay guys, I need Jake for this one."

She brought up several videos as she as she continued to speak.

"Awhile back, we lost several objects of cray cray value that appear to be stolen by some dark entity, like a tiger or something. Anyway, I need you, Jake, to patrol the Royal Candy Rooms to ensure that nothing gets jacked by this shadow or broken by Cinnamon Bun."

Jake shook his head as he ran to the the Royal Rooms. Finn was about to go when PB grabbed his shoulder. He looked up at her as she told him his assignment.

"Finn, I need you to guard the kitchens. Someone has been stealing my sodas and I can never seem to find the culprit. I already have banana guards posted there, but you know how incompetent they really are."

"Okay, do we know what it looks like?"

PB picked up a piece of paper from a desk and handed it to Finn. Finn looked at the figure as he had a difficult time deciding what the identity of this crazed soda thief was.

"I have an idea, guys. Jake can stand guard tonight and see if he can catch it."

Finn shook his head as he walked out of the room, walking slowly towards the kitchen. He saw the two banana guards that were stationed there. One was taking a nap as the other one was playing Solitaire. The one that was playing got up and shook the other one awake.

"Hey, I had a good dream. Me and LSP were on a date and it was awesome."

His friend looked at him with disgust as he said his statement.

"Dude, LSP is like the most disgusting, heartless, and selfish person alive. How do you have the hots for that abomination of life and all that is cool."

The sleepy Banana Guard looked at him and replied with.

"I don't know, I just like her that's all."

The banana guard looked at him with disgust and turned his attention towards Finn.

"Hey Finn. You here to take over for us right?"

Finn shook his head in reply, which made the guards smile.

"Cool, we are going to leave now. Laters!"

The guards ran towards the exit of the castle, as Finn took a chair and sat on it. He had his vigilance face plastered on and watched the door that lead to PB's sodas. An hour in his face was starting to droop. Three hours in, his eyes had bags, were becoming incredibly heavy and were extremely hard to keep open and alert to any mysterious shadows. Another hour later, his fatigue won, he fell on his face and slept on it. He dreamed of Marceline, Bubblegum and Flame Princess. The dream quickly turned into a nightmare as LSP interrupted his dream time. He woke up with a cold sweat as he heard a loud racket.

The source came from inside the kitchen door. He unsheathed his grass blade as he kicked the door down in one swift and decisive motion. The fridge door quickly closed as a hooded figure had a twelve ounce bottle of Bubblegum's soda. The figure waved his left hand as if it had unimaginable power. The next thing Finn knew, he was slammed on to the kitchen wall. He groaned as he tried to get up from the painful experience that just occurred. He looked at his target, who was laying down on the floor exhausted. The figure was clutching its stomach, as if it were starving. Finn gripped his sword tighter as he got closer to the powerful person. The figure, now on its knees and groaning loudly, fell flat onto the floor, unconscious.

"Guards! I found who's been stealing PB's soda!"

2 banana guards, along with PB wearing her pajamas, ran down to the kitchen. They found Finn, half awake, pointing at the ground. The figure was lying on the floor face down, clutching a bottle of soda. In its other hand, it had random pieces of food. Finn flipped the figure over to examine it. It was wearing a type of reflective headgear, as if to hide its face. It wore all black clothing, black shirt, black pants, black shoes. The only thing it wore that wasn't black was a long chain with thorns on it on the figures arm. It gleamed in the moonlight. It also had a small flail on it that had a mysterious red glow. The figure looked big, bigger than Finn and looked stronger than him, but when Finn lifted it up, he said the figure was actually not very heavy at all.

"What is it?" Finn asked.

"I don't know" PB replied. "But whatever it is, we should inspect it a bit more. Bring it to my lab so I can have a better look at it."

Finn lifted it up and hauled it upstairs, without breaking a sweat due to its incredibly low weight, to Bubblegum's lab. He set it down on the metal table in the center of the room. PB flicked the light switch on. The figure groaned and moved its arm slightly.

"Finn, put the restraints on it," PB whispered, afraid to wake the figure up.

Finn snuck up to it and restrained its arms and legs using the leather bands in the table. The figure finally woke up. It looked at Finn, then at Bubblegum, then at Finn again. It didn't struggle in the slightest. Finn walked up to it and tried to remove the headgear. He got electrocuted for his troubles. The figure said nothing. It simply stared at him.

"Who are you," Bubblegum asked.

The figure heard her voice and moved its head to look at her. It glared back at her. The figure moved its arm around in the restraints and pointed at the restraint holding it back. Then, it shaped its hand into a peace sign. PB believed that it was saying it wanted to be released and that it wouldn't hurt anyone.

"I'm not doing that. How do I know you won't try to escape," PB asked.

Finn watched this in confusion. Why won't it talk? he thought. Is it evil? Or is it good? The figure pointed at a keyboard. PB looked at it and handed it to him. She turned on the computer it was plugged into.

"I mean no harm. I am just very hungry and weary. I will answer all of your questions. But please, release me. I will not harm you or the boy. I've just come a long way and all I request is something to eat and to drink," the figure typed.

"Are you good or evil," Finn asked.

"I cannot say I am good, but I can't say i'm bad. I would have to say neutral, to be honest with with you, stranger." the figure typed. When it finished, it coughed.

"Where did you come from," Bubblegum asked.

"Personally, I can't remember." the figure typed.

"What's your name then," Finn asked.

"I don't have one," the figure typed. It added a sad face next to the text it wrote.

"What are you," PB questioned.

"I am a boy. What kind of creature I am should best remain a secret," the figure typed.

"Psst. Princess," Finn whispered.

PB walked over to him and leaned close to him.

"This guy sounds like just someone trying to get by. I think we should let him go," Finn said.

"Why? So he can go for my soda again? I won't let him out unless somebody is with him."

"I can watch him. If he tries to run away, I can take him down."

"Hmm… Alright Finn."

Bubblegum walked over to the intercom and told Jake to come up to the lab as Finn released the restraints from the stranger. The figure stood up and looked down at Finn. He scratched his arm. He looked to his right and saw some food next to him. He pointed at it.

"Oh yeah. You haven't eaten in a while, haven't you," Finn asked.

The figure shook his head and picked it up. He looked at Finn and pointed at him and PB, then pointed at the door. He made an eating motion with his hands.

"I can't let you out of my sight. Sorry man," Finn replied.

The stranger pointed at Finn and PB then made a twirling motion.

"You want us to turn around?"

He shook his head in agreement.

Finn stood in front of the window, with his back to the stranger. PB turned around to face the wall. They both heard noises. First, the headgear was removed, followed by a scratching noise. Then, some munching noises. Finally, the helmet being put back on again. The stranger snapped his fingers. Finn and Bubblegum turned around again. The food was gone. Jake walked into the room at that point.

"Finn, look out," Jake yelled. He threw a punch at the stranger.

The stranger, with incredible speed, grabbed both PB and Finn and put them behind him. He then pulled out his chain and spun it in the air, with his arm covering Finn and Bubblegum. He blocked the punch and even sent it back at him. Jake yelped in pain.

"Stop! That's Jake. He's nice," Finn screamed.

The stranger stared at Jake for a moment then twirled the chain back onto his arm. He sunk his head in shame. Finn patted his back then ran over to Jake.

"Jake. You OK, buddy," he asked.

"Ow! No! That puke just made me punch myself in the face! Who is that?", Jake said.

"He's uh… hmm… I don't know. He said he didn't have a name. What do we call him then," Finn said. He looked at the stranger. The stranger shrugged. Jake then looked at the stranger with dislike as he casually suggested.

"How about dirt bag?"

Finn glared at his dog brother. The stranger sunk his head lower. Finn patted his back to show that he was accepted here, even though some people were cranky jerks. Jake looked at both of them and sighed. The stranger looked up and began moving his hands.

"I'm sorry Finn. It's just I lost the guy that's been stealing the stuff last night and I'm just mad at myself and really tried. I'm just mad at myself that's all."

Finn looked at Jake and smiled.

"It's fine Jake. Just jam on your Voila or something to get rid of your blues and vent out your anger."

The dog wagged his little tail as he got his prized instrument from Finn's pack. He started to play one of Mozart's classics as the Stranger looked at the instrument that was creating the sound. He pointed at it and typed out a new sentence.

"That was Glob awful. If you really want to hear something better, give me the Viola and I will show all of you how to play this instrument."

The dog frowned as he looked at the stranger then at his beloved item. His eyes then wandered to the stranger's hand. He defensively held on to his wonderful sound maker.

"Ain't no way I'm going to give this to anyone that I just met!"

The stranger then shrugged and made the motions of someone playing a Viola. Finn looked at him like he was nuts, PB was trying to figure out what this person could possibly try to accomplish and Jake growled at him. Then the particles of light from the light bulb started to move and float freely around the room. Everyone except the The New Guy stood there in awe. The beams of light then floated closer and closer to the stranger as he played the air Viola. The glowing balls started to take shape as the light bulb short circuited and exploded. The only available light from the room was the illuminating spheres that were now in the stranger's hands. The spheres then shaped themselves into a viola. He began to play the same classic that Jake had done, but it sounded more complicated and it sounded much better. It filled the room with beautiful music. When he finished, he took a bow and moved his hands to the light bulb. The light turned back into spheres and flew into the glass bulb. Everyone began to clap. The stranger took a bow.

"Wow, you're really good, whats-his-face," Finn said.

The stranger typed a smiley on the keyboard.

"Hey, how about we go to sleep and when we wake up, we can show the new guy around Ooo?"

The stranger made the smiley on the monitor has a big grin.

END OF CHAPTER 1