The TARDIS Book: THE TIME IS NOW (Part 6)

Book Three: TO ABDICATE THE KING

Chapter 9: Criss-Cross Lattice Apple Pie-Sauce

Finn was speechless. The demon chick seemed to know so much about the Princess. Even her first name.

"I thought your name was 'Jane'. You lied to me, which shouldn't surprise me anymore because you've always been lying to me," Finn accused her, charging up to the Princess and putting his hand on her shoulder.

As she turned around to look at him, her face grew stern."I'm sorry, but I don't go by that name anymore. Marceline knew a different person. However, my candy-given title has always been 'the Princess', and it always will be. As for what just happened, I only changed my mind because he didn't actually kill Jake. But if he ever dares to lay another hand on him or you, I WILL take the necessary actions to destroy him. Now, help me lift Jake into my spaceship so we can defrost him safely." Finn knew that Jake was top priority so he held his tongue. He walked with her and lifted the immense block of ice that Jake was encased in. Finn pulled the ice to lean into his torso while the Princess pushed behind it. The block made a screeching noise as they dragged it across the icy floor.

As they lifted Jake into the wardrobe, the Princess said, "Don't worry about there not being enough room, my TARDIS is infinite. Just don't panic when you see the inside." They continued to move Jake until Finn looked behind him. He made a full-stop.

"HOLD UP. WHERE ARE WE?" Finn shouted. They balanced Jake's now melting ice block at the door way as Finn tried to process everything.

"This is called the 'console room'," grinned the Princess. "SYSTEM: CRANE: LIFT." After she yelled that command, a crane appeared and lifted the ice block. "SYSTEM: MOVE TO SCIENCE-Y DEFROSTING TUBE ROOM. That way he won't wake up with hypothermia," she told him. "What do you think?"

"It's... so big on the inside. Are we still in a wardrobe?"

"Check for yourself, silly boy." He ran outside the door, hoping he wasn't going to wake up from a dream. He ran out and looked at the wardrobe. He touched the door. He slowly walked toward the inside, facing straight ahead into the interior. It didn't go away. He was touching the outside. The inside was still there even though he was standing on the outside. Unbelievable but it had to be believed!

"Holy grail. It's real. You're the real deal. I'm not in a slumber state, am I?" Finn asked.

"No, sir. Which reminds me, I haven't officially knighted you yet. Bring me your sword, Finn." She ordered. Finn ran outside, feeling like he didn't have time for anything else. Except when he came out, he knew he was wrong. Fore he saw what a true friend looked like. The demon-no, the girl- Marceline was holding Ice King's limp body, waiting for him to wake up. That's what Finn should have been doing. And here he was, running around like Jake didn't even exist. He grabbed his sword; it was lying on the icy floor. He passed them again, shuffling into the TARDIS.

"I have my sword, but I will not allow you to knight me. If I were a real knight, I would be at Jake's side, not running for the glory of being knighted. I'm so ashamed. I'm no knight, I'm just a pauper with a golden sword." Finn couldn't even bear to make eye contact with the Princess as he asked, "Where's the science-y defrosting tube room?"

"I'll take you. Follow me," she said, leading him. When she showed him the tube that Jake was floating in, he sat on the ground, criss-cross lattice apple pie-sauce, and waited for him to wake up.

Marceline carried Ice King into the TARDIS. "You've got to do something, Princess. You've got to help him." She said desperately. It wasn't good that he wasn't waking up. And Bubblegum had medical training, so she was the closest thing to a doctor.

"Calm down, I'll take you to a room." Marceline followed Bubblegum as she took her to the nearest room. It was a hospital room.

"Why are we in a hospital room?" Marceline almost panicked, knowing that his condition must have been serious. A hospital room was closer to a morgue than a bedroom was.

"I'm going to inject an infusion of liquid into his body," said Bubblegum.

"WHAT ARE YOU-"

"Relax, I swear it's for hydration. He is made of ice, you know," she explained.

"Ugh, I don't need your condescension right now, I just need you to fix this mess that you've made!" She shouted.

In silence, Bubblegum opened a drawer and pulled out a bag of squishy clear liquid in it. She walked over to a pole and hooked it up. She stuck a needle at the end and proceeded to examine Simon's arm.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for a vein. I don't have much experience with blue-skinned creatures."

"Hold up," Marceline said as she grabbed the arm out of Bubblegum's hands. She had to squint, but she found it, and traced her finger on it to show Bubblegum.

"There it is."

"Wow, how did you find it so easily? I can't see it at all," Bubblegum said as she put the needle in his cold yet sweaty elbow pit.

"As a vampire, I drink things that are blood-colored, or in any shade of red, basically. So my eyes are naturally attuned to that, even if something has more of a purple or orange tint."

"Oh," she replied, as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Don't think so highly of yourself, Princess. You're not my type of food," she assured her.

"Well, if you need me, I'll be in the console room." Bubblegum left. Marceline took a seat at the bedside and waited for Ice King to wake up.

When Ice King woke up, he felt different. Almost uncomfortable, like he was missing something, but he didn't know what. He didn't really remember much. He realized someone was there, but he wasn't sure if he was just making up another friend.

"Gunter, are you playing a trick on me?"

"No, it's me, Marceline," she said.

"Oh." He laid there, not knowing what to do, not caring to do anything.

"Are you ok? Do you need help getting up?"

"I don't know."

"Try," she coaxed him. She got up and extended her arms. He pushed himself up with his arms, and sat up. Then he rotated his legs in Marceline's direction. He put his feet on the floor and pushed himself off the bed, with little effort. The only issue was that he felt a yank in his elbow pit. He looked down to see what it was. There was a needle inside of him.

"What's this for?"

"It's supposed to hydrate you. You're probably drained from what happened back there."

"What happened?"

"You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Look, it doesn't really matter. The fact is that you survived."

"I have a feeling... like I'm different or something. Maybe it has to do with what you're talking about?"

"What feeling?"

"I'm not sure, it's almost like... nothing... but not nothing. Like there was something big there and now there isn't."

"O...kay. You should probably get some rest."

"No, I'm not tired anymore."

"Well... I'm gonna to go talk to the Princess, and I need to keep an eye on you anyways so you might as well come with me."

"Who's that?"

"The Princess? Oh right, I guess I'll introduce you now. Come on." She put her hand on the small of his back and led him.

As Marceline and the Princess stood awkwardly, watching Ice King stare apathetically into the distance, Bubblegum asked, "Not to be rude, Marceline, but your skin is looking rather grayish these days." Always critical.

"Well before when I was half-human, I was more fleshy. Now that I'm half-vampire, I'm full-on undead, you know." It kind of sounded funny to her, being half some things but also being full of one thing.

"Who was he?" asked the Princess. It caught her off guard but she should have known she would have stuck her nose into Marceline's private business.

"Huh?"

"You told me you knew someone, earlier before. I suppose he converted you?"

"Woah, I do NOT want to talk to you about this. He seemed cool at the time, and he's, like, a powerful wizard, okay?" Marceline explained out of embarrassment. Converting was a girl's own person business. If she weren't undead, she'd be blushing.

"Okay, we don't have to talk about him..." After another awkward silence, she asked, "Where did you meet him?"

"Bonnibel!"

"Sorry, okay," she giggled, "Let's talk about something else. How's your father?"

"Ugh," Marceline rolled her eyes as she scoffed, "He's alright, I guess. I don't really talk to him much."

"Why is that?"

"Because he really ticks me off. He NEVER gives me space when I'm around and he has no respect for boundaries. Leave it to the ruler of the Nightosphere to be a total scumbag."

"Come now, I'm sure he's not so bad, I mean, what's the worse thing that he's done?"

"It's so terrible, that it makes me so mad just to think about it."

"At least give me a plausible reason, Marceline. If not, then why don't we just stop by to take a smidgen of our time to have a chat with him?"

"WHAT? Why would we do that?"

"Because he's your father, Marceline! If I could still talk to my father, you bet I would in a heartbeat. You only get one, and you won't know what you've taken for granted until he's gone."

"Well unlike your dad, mine is immortal, so he'll never be gone," she rolled her eyes again.

"So it's settled, " Bonnibel said smugly.

"Ugh, whatever," replied Marceline. As Bubblegum started to leave, she asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check on Finn and Jake."

"Oh."

Finn went back to sitting outside of Jake's tube, waiting for him to wake up. He yawned as he curled up on the floor, exhausted from the unprecedented events that took place today.

He woke up as soon as he heard, "SYSTEM: DRAIN OXY-QUID: RELEASE SUBJECT." As the Princess shouted the command, the tube drained the liquid, and the cylinder glass case opened.

He rushed up to the tube and extended his arms to hug Jake.

"Oh I'm so glad you're alright!" Finn exclaimed as he squeezed his best friend in his embrace.

"Finn, you're you again! What happened when I was out?" asked Jake.

"It was the Princess! She used the power of the TARDIS to strengthened my heart's insides!" Jake's mood soured quickly when he mentioned the Princess. He forgot that Jake vehemently hated her.

"What did she do to you this time?"

"Look, it was just a small kiss and some weird magic. She meant no harm, right Princess?" He turned as he referenced her.

"Yes, it was the opposite of harm. I was strengthening the interior of his heart. Though 'twas not through the myth of magic; 'twas the strength of science."

"I don't care, come on Finn. Let's just get out of here and we can forget about this freak."

"Umm... Jake, I don't think it's safe. I think we need to stick with the Princess."

"Umm, you're wrong and we should stay as far away from her as possible."

"Dude, she's the one that saved us. She helped me knock out Ice King when he froze your head over. We took him to the Martian Transporter and now he's unconscious, and it's all thanks to the Princess," Finn rambled, hoping he could persuade Jake to forgive her. Even though the Princess was dangerous, she had the power to protect him and Jake from any other monster who was out to get them.

"Oh really, and how exactly are we safe?"

"Look, I know this is completely unfamiliar, but trust me when I trust her. She is our only hope for being safe. She knows her way around the universe. She makes her own poison..." Finn knew he had gone too far when he uttered the word "poison" out loud.

"AGAIN, HOW IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MAKE ME SAFE?" Jake shouted.

"She saved my life! Twice! She JUST. SAVED. YOU. She didn't have to do that. She didn't have to do any of this. We're the ones on her spaceship!"

"Hey, I didn't ask to be here! You two thought it would be ok to bring me on a spaceship!"

"It also time travels. It has a lot of space-"

"-Infinite space," the Princess interjected.

"Please, please Jake. I almost lost you and I refuse to let that happen again. Now that the Princess has saved you, I know that she's not perfect, but she delivers. Please, we need her protection."

"WE GOT ALONG JUST FINE WITHOUT HER!" Shouted Jake.

"I NEED HER!" Finn shouted back. He immediately regretted it as Jake fainted.

"Oh grod, what happened?" Finn panicked.

"Finn, take him and follow me," the Princess said.

"But tell me what's wrong-"

"NOW, FINN," she ordered. He complied and followed her. She took them to a bedroom. "He's perfectly healthy. He's probably stressed from being in a new environment, but he'll adjust eventually. The Princess put her hand on his shoulder as she said,"You can stay here, Finn, if you prefer. Marceline and I will be in the console room. Don't worry that Ice King is there with us as well. He's harmless now."

"I think I'll join you."

"As you please," she said. He followed her to the console room where Marceline and Ice King were. Something was incredibly different from before, he sensed that it had to do with the way the Martian Transporter affected the Ice King. Finn watched as Ice King shuffled aimlessly around the room. It was insane that he survived, let alone was walking right after being on the Martian Transporter. Finn wondered if he was weak. His white eyes seemed more empty than before. At first they were burning white. Now, they only reflect what happens outside of him, nothing more. Finn was probably seeing what Jake had seen the moment after he woke up from the transporter-induced coma.

"Why did he survive?" Finn asked, leaving the question open to anyone in the room. "How is he still awake? So the animals turn to ash, I end up in a coma, and he gets up without a scratch on him?"

Ice King didn't reply. He just blinked with his empty eyes. Marceline looked irritated and opened her mouth. But before she could get a word out, the Princess replied, "Well according to Marceline's story, Ice King used to be a human like you. But as his prolonged exposure to the icy biocrystals increased, they manipulated the structure of his DNA, mutating every ounce of him. It strengthen his body more and more as his mind deteriorated. My concocted narkozic attacks the mind, not the body, so it affected him in a vulnerable spot-his psyche. The transporter, on the other hand, was affecting his strongest attribute-his physical being. So I'm sure the electrical currents that ran through his body burned through the narkozic, canceling it out and only attacked his body. Since he is physically invincible, he is completely able and mobile. The fact that he is rather zombie-like, must be the fact that the feels have been drained from his soul-core. Now, his heart is much stronger than yours, Finn, so he does not need the help of the TARDIS. The only real effect is that he is less prone to psychosis and bipolar episodes, so he seems to be reacting in an absolutely different way from you because he is practically a different species, and has different personality traits."

"I'm going to start the TARDIS now and we'll be on our way to the Nightosphere. Hold on tight!" Finn felt the room move as he watched the Princess frantically pull levers and press buttons. She turned knobs and pulled dingus after dongus and kept a stoic expression on her face. However stoic her face, he could still feel the excitement her vibe gave off. She traveled, without a care. As if no one had died, as if they didn't exist. He held on to a pillar, as Marceline floated and Ice King wandered off to who knows where. The machine made a whirring noise that was completely alien to him. When the room stopped moving, he asked, "What just happened? Where did we just move?"

The Princess walked past him and pushed open the door of the TARDIS. She turned back to them and threw her arms in the air as she exclaimed, "Here we are, ladies and gentlecreatures! I present to you, the Nightosphere!"