After saving Lemongrab's kingdom from itself and discovering that the reassembled Lemongrab was still alive, Lemonhope decided to check on him in the infirmary ward of Princess Bubblegum's candy castle.
"Lemongrab? Hello? Are you awake?" Lemonhope asked.
"HUHHHH? WHOOO'S THERE?" Lemongrab replied.
"Hi, it's me, Lemonhope." Lemonhope explained.
"OHHH, YOOOU AGAIN..." Lemongrab said in a snarky tone, his smile fading into a frown. "WHYYY HAVE YOU DONNNE THIS TO MEEEE?" Lemongrab asked with a hint of anger.
"Lemongrab, you were being a corrupt, obese, power-hungry, heartless, evil, dictating, cannibalistic, monster! I was saving you from YOURSELF!" Lemonhope burst into tears.
"YOOOU DARRRE CALL MEEE BY THESE INSULLLTS?! UNACCEPTABLLLE!" Lemongrab yelled, nearly grabbing Lemonhope by the neck.
"But father, it's true!" Lemonhope argued.
"FIIINE! WHAAAT DO YOOOU WANT FROM MEEE!?" Lemonhope asked impatiently.
"I would like to attend your military school." Lemonhope answered.
"VERRRY WELL THENNN!" Lemongrab answered. "DO YOOOU CONSIDER YOURSELLLF WORTHYYY!?"
"Yes, father." Lemonhope answered.
ONE WEEK LATER...
"III HAVE RECOVERRRED!" Lemongrab yelled in his usual high-strung manner. "HAVE YOU PREPARED THE LEMON HORSEEES!?"
"Yes, Father! Come on, quit worrying so much. You're going to make yourself explode again." Lemonhope replied.
Lemonhope and Lemongrab said their goodbyes to the Princess.
"I AM LEAVING AND RETURNING TO MY KINGDOMMM!" Lemongrab explained.
"Very well then." Princess Bubblegum answered. "Just remember..." Princess Bubblegum whispered into Lemongrab's ear (apparently Lemongrab has ears).
"I MADE YOU."
Those words set a strange set of gears turning inside Lemongrab's tortured and insane mind, and he suddenly started running through an open field just outside the kingdom.
"YOU MADE ME!" Lemongrab screamed, tearing his shirt off.
"YOU'RE MY GLOB!" he yelled, ripping his pants off.
"YOU'RE MY MOTHERRR!" Lemongrab yelled, tearing his underwear off; luckily, boys and girls, his lemon-parts were censored.
"OH MY FREAKING GLOB! FINN, GET ME SOME WATER, I CANNOT FREAKING STOP LAUGHING!" Jake begged through tears of laughter, observing Lemongrab's antics through a telescope at Finn's treehouse.
"GIMME THAT!" Finn snapped, snatching the telescope away from Jake.
"You're such a perv, Jake." Finn scolded.
"Oh, come on, that thing Lemongrab just did was freaking priceless!" Jake argued.
"What we're supposed to be looking out for is Lemongrab's social ideals, Jake!" Finn explained. "Like, what if he's planning to be a total jerk again?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, dude. Hey, let's get some lunch! I'm hungry!" Jake replied.
"JAKE! That's a great idea! Let's make some tasty sandwiches! This is going be the most awesome lunch ever!" Finn answered with delight.
LUNCH TIME!
AFTER LUNCH...
"Ohh, that was so good." Jake said.
"Okay, forget about the sandwiches we just ate...even though I love pepperoni." Finn suggested. "Have you wondered what Lemonhope is up to?"
"Oh, no, man, I totally forgot all about that!" Jake replied. "I hope Lemongrab isn't being mean to him."
"Umm...he probably is, dude." Finn replied.
MEANWHILE, AT LEMONGRAB'S TRAINING SCHOOL...
"GENTLEMENNN!" Lemongrab addressed his students. "ARE YOU READY FOR SOME SERIOUS TRAININNNG!?"
"SIR YES SIR!" the students replied.
"GOOD!" Lemongrab confirmed. "AH, MY SON, LEMONHOPE! WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS HEEERE!?"
"Father, I told you I had signed up for your military school!" Lemonhope explained.
"HAH! TEACHER'S PETTT!" Lemongrab laughed. "EVERYONE LAUGH AT HIMMM!"
After a year of lifting weights and doing exercises, being abused and constantly yelled at, and generally being tortured at Lemongrab's military academy...Lemonhope came back to Princess Bubblegum's kingdom.
"GOOD RIDDANNNCE!" Lemongrab yelled at Lemonhope. "YOU COULDN'T BENCH PRESS TO SAVE YOUR LIIIFE! NOW GO ROT IN HELL WITH ALL THE OTHHHER GOODY GOODIEEES!"
Lemonhope felt like crying thanks to the sheer cruelty and incompetence of his father. However, he gathered himself and returned to the candy kingdom, feeling much stronger and more mature than before. He had the strength, willpower and confidence to take on nearly anything that Lemongrab could throw at him. Yet at the same time, he worried about whatever Lemongrab was doing at the moment.
MEANWHILE, AT CASTLE LEMONGRAB...
Lemongrab was busy playing a board game called "Lemonopoly" with his twin brother.
"HAH! I beat you!" Lemongrab's brother gloated.
"WHAAAT?! UNACCEPTABLLLE! YOU CANNOT BEAT THE GREAT AND ALMIGHTY LEMONGRAAAB! THAT IS AGAINST THE RULLLES! GET IN MY BELLYYY!" Lemongrab screamed.
"NO!" Lemongrab's brother screamed desparately as Lemongrab ate him alive, actually chewing him to death this time.
"OH NOOO!" Lemongrab yelled. "I HAVE BECOME FAT AGAINNN!"
MEANWHILE, AT PRINCESS BUBBLEGUM'S CANDY CASTLE...
"Finn and Jake, I'd like you to comfort our new guest." Princess Bubblegum suggested.
"Um, PB, we've had Lemonhope at your castle before." Finn pointed out.
"Yeah, but when was the last time? I forget." Jake absentmindedly replied.
"I think it was like a year ago or something." Finn answered. "He really spent a lot of time at Lemongrab's military school, didn't he?"
"Yeah..." Jake sighed. "I just hope he's turned out normal and not CUCKOO...speaking of cuckoo, I wonder what Ice King's up to?"
TWO SECONDS LATER...
"Hey, look at what's coming toward this window!" Finn yelled.
"Is that a bird?" Jake wondered.
"Oh, boy..." PB groaned.
The unidentified flying object turned out to be none other than...
"ICE KING!" Finn, Jake and PB yelled in unison. "What on Earth are you doing here? We don't have time for your craziness right now!"
"Um, hello guys. I've got some, uh, some candy for ya! Heh-heh...want some? I've been keeping it in my beard..." Ice King rambled.
"Eew, no!" Finn said. "Oh my glob, dude, do you have any idea how to act around people?"
"Seriously, do you want some candy or not?" Ice King demanded. "Let's see...I've got red and green peppermints. Still in their wrappers. Minty fresh! Hee hee!"
"Ice King, for the love of Glob, will you please quit making up stupid pranks to try and get our attention?" Finn demanded.
"Yeah, it's getting really old, dude. I mean, it was funny like, the first time you pulled this junk on us...or the second time...or maybe the third time...wait, was it the second time or the third time? I forget." Jake rambled.
"Ice King, I'm giving you five minutes maximum." PB bitterly stated. "At the count of five, your butt is flying back out of that window from whence you came. Understood?"
"Heh-heh...oh my!" Ice King nervously stammered, drumming his hands together.
"Ice King, spit it out! What do you want to tell us so badly?" Finn demanded.
"Lemongrab stole my favorite little penguin, Gunther!" Ice King explained.
"And should we care about your stupid penguin?" PB asked.
"PB, show a little respect! For crying out loud. Lemongrab left a note saying that he plans to eat Gunther alive!" Ice King explained.
"Whoa, that is NOT cool!" Jake realized.
"Dude, that is messed up!" Finn said with a feeling of intense disgust. "I mean, who would do such a thing to something SO ADORABLE? Coochie coochie coo..."
"Finn, snap out of it!" Jake reminded Finn.
"Guys, I think that Lemongrab is on the road to becoming the most heartless dictator our world has ever seen." Ice King explained.
"You mean even more so than Princess Bubblegum?" Ice King muttered to himself.
"HEY! I heard that!" PB yelled.
"Anyway, guys...will you answer to my plea?" Ice King asked. "Can I be your ally as you two fight to save the land of Ooo from Lemongrab's tyranny?"
"Only if you prove to us that you're actually trustworthy!" Finn replied.
"Okay, Princess Bubblegum, I'm outta here! WHEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE!" Ice King concluded, flying back out through the window.
"Wow, Ice King could probably stuff a girly magazine or two into that beard of his...wait, do they still make those?" Jake thought out loud.
"Jake, snap out of it!" Finn angrily yelled. Jake used his skin-stretch power to form a zipper over his mouth, then zipped it shut.
"Anyway", Finn continued, "what really matters is what Ice King told us about Lemongrab! What if he really has slipped off the deep end and made himself pure evil? You never know, right?!"
"Yes", Lemonhope said while walking into the room. "Yes, you are correct. Lemongrab has reverted back to his old evil self, and he is progressively making his kingdom worse with each passing week! I will lead you there on camelback and show you what he has done, if you dare to come with me..."
"We'll totally accept the dare any day!" Finn and Jake excitedly claimed in unison. "Guess what time it is?"
"Let me guess...Adventure Time?" Lemonhope muttered.
ADVENTURE TIME!
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
"Okay, I'm trying to piece together a game plan here. Our job is to infiltrate Castle Lemongrab and defeat Lemongrab. Now it's up to me to figure out how we're going to do this!" Lemonhope explained.
"Boy, this is getting exciting already!" Finn said.
"This is boring. Why don't we just go over there right now and kick his butt again?" Jake requested with a hint of impatience.
"You fool!" Lemonhope snapped. "This is not going to be that simple! Haven't you heard about Lemongrab's fortified defenses?"
"What does fortified mean?" Jake lazily asked.
"Look!" Lemonhope pointed at the markerboard, making sure that Finn and Jake saw what he was pointing to. "This propaganda poster, which shows us sour lemons crushing the sweet candy people underneath our boots, has great significance!"
"Why?" Jake asked. "WHY DO YOU THINK?" Finn snapped. "Oh, I don't know...maybe some kind of like, evil army or something?" Jake wondered.
"EXACTLY! THE LEMZI ARMY!" Lemonhope yelled, recentering their attention back to him. "You see, Lemongrab has found a cloning device that allows him to quickly multiply the population of his lemon race. He plans to expand his kingdom into an empire. Although Lemongrab's Lemzi army is only made up of about 100 lemon people, I don't expect the candy people to stand a chance against them. The Gumball Guardians of the candy kingdom have the power to cause large-scale explosions with a single laser blast, but I wouldn't imagine Princess Bubblegum wanting to bring that level of firepower into a skirmish. It wouldn't solve everything."
"Why not?" Finn asked.
"Well, you see, Lemongrab has built a nearly unbreakable, blast-proof mirror dome around his castle. Also, the Gumball Guardians' laser attacks take over an hour to charge." Lemonhope explained.
"Couldn't one of the Gumball Guardians just, you know, punch right through it or something?" Jake pointed out.
"Good point." Lemonhope replied. "However, the mirror dome is made of nearly unbreakable glass. Also, Gumball Guardians never even think to use their physical strength as a weapon. They are very watchful and peaceful beings."
"Well, that stinks." Jake sighed. "Couldn't I go over there and punch through it?"
"Maybe." Lemonhope answered. "However, our goal here is to save the kingdom, not to destroy it. Also, the castle walls are heavily reinforced with diamond."
"Oh, yeah." Jake answered. "Sorry, I forgot."
"So, who's supposed to like, join our resistance?" Finn asked.
"I think we can easily outsmart Lemongrab using strategy." Lemonhope answered. "I wouldn't suggest bringing all of your friends, but I would definitely ask Simon and Marceline to join us if I were you."
"Wait, who's Simon?" Finn and Jake asked.
"The Ice King! Don't you two remember?" Lemonhope snapped.
"Oh, yeah..." Finn and Jake replied. "Hey, wait a minute, ICE KING!? What has he ever done for us?"
"You might not know him well, but he's definitely not as evil as you might think." Lemonhope explained.
"Yeah, he's just a hermit who's jealous that he never got to have a sexy girlfriend..." Jake thought out loud.
"JAKE!" Finn yelled at him.
"Yes, he may be obsessed with princesses, but he also loves penguins." Lemonhope explained. "I imagine he'd be willing to fight for our cause if only to rescue Gunther."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Finn sighed. "I just hope we can convince the Ice King to use his powers for good."
"Marceline will be your backup vampire." Lemonhope explained.
"Yep, I can definitely slither like a snake. HISS!" Marceline said out of nowhere, her vampiric eyes pointing toward Finn & Jake.
"HUH? Where'd you come from?" Finn and Jake asked, bewildered.
"HA! Same window that that dumb old dork Simon stumbled through." Marceline answered. "And you didn't even notice me!"
"I did!" Ice King said, flying back in through the window.
"ICE KING!" Finn and Jake whispered. "Keep quiet! We don't want PB hearing you!"
AFTER A LONG DISCUSSION...
"Okay, I think we have an idea for our plan." Finn explained. "First, Ice King and Marceline will carry us over to the back door of Lemongrab's mirror dome. Then, Jake will morph himself into a key to unlock the hatch to the secret underground entrance."
"Then what?" Jake asked.
"We sneak in there! What do you expect?" Finn answered.
"Why don't we just go in through the front door?" Jake asked.
"Jake, THINK!" Finn yelled. "We're trying to SNEAK into the castle."
"One thing you need to be aware of is that there is deadly electricity covering the floor of that lower-e-shaped secret passage; Jake will stretch all the way to the end of the passage and flip the switch to turn it off." Lemonhope pointed out. "After going all the way around the circle, you will reach a hallway that leads to Lemongrab's wine cellar; Marceline, drink some of the red from the wine. From there, you four will quietly travel up the stairs. Ice King will freeze Lemongrab's bodyguards, and Finn will use Jake as a key again to unlock Lemongrab's door."
"Then what will we do?" Ice King asked.
"When Lemongrab hears the door unlocking and walks out to see who's there, Ice King will freeze him." Lemonhope continued. "All four of you will team up to push him out of the way. You will then find where Gunther is being kept, and you will grab him and rescue him from the castle. Sadly, I'm afraid you will have to backtrack through the secret passage in order to escape."
"What else do we need to do?" Marceline asked.
"Finn, use your sword to cut through the ice and behead Lemongrab." Lemonhope answered.
"NO WAY!" Finn replied.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we must kill the bastard." Lemonhope explained. "He'll never learn."
"But he's your FATHER!" everyone said in unison.
"I'm sorry, but it'll have to be done. I'm sending you on your way. Ciao!"
AFTER THE PLAN IS CARRIED OUT...
"Okay, now where's Gunther?" Ice King whispered.
"There he is!" Jake unlocked the cage where Gunther was being held, and Jake took Gunther in his arms. Finn regretfully used his blade to slice Lemongrab's head off. From miles away, Lemonhope was playing a cursed song on his flute.
"Good-bye, father." Lemonhope whispered as Lemongrab's soul was banished to Hell.
TEN YEARS LATER...
Lemonhope had overthrown Lemongrab, becoming ruler of what was previously Lemongrab's kingdom. However, he still felt that something was missing. He thought deeply to himself. "My father...was this really worth it?"
Overall, even though Lemonhope had traveled back in time and attempted to fix things, the future refused to change. The world was still in a state of apocalypse, and Lemonhope felt like something had shriveled up and died inside him. Like there was hardly anything left.
"Is this acceptable?" Lemonhope thought for a few minutes before taking a knife and stabbing himself.
No one knew...or at least, there was no one left who was sane enough to know.
Simon thought about humanity's fate.
Princess Bubblegum thought about cupcakes.