(Blah blah blah I don't own Adventure time, alright on with the show!)

Chapter 1

"Jack, come on we haven't got all day" called Lewis from over his shoulder. Jack gave an acknowledgeable bark and scampered up the trail "Come on boy I can't have you running off like that, I might never find you again." Jack looked up at him and wagged his tail. Lewis just shook his head in exasperation at the dog. Lewis and Jack had been hiking since 8:00 that morning and Lewis was hoping to make it to the camp site before lunch. Lewis was 17 and thrilled to be out hiking for the first time with just him and Jack. The excitement was attributed to the fact that Lewis' mother was against the idea of him out in the woods by himself. "But mmoomm come on, I'll be extra careful and jack will be with me", complained Lewis the previous day. "I still don't know Lewis, what if you fall down and get hurt out there and can't get back. What are you going to do then" said Lewis' mother. "I'll send Jack to go find someone to rescue me" said Lewis, with a big smile on his face. After about five minutes of what if scenarios back and forth Lewis' father finally intervened. "Carol, Lewis is a 17 year old boy who can take care of himself, let the boy go." "FINE but don't expect me to pay for your hospital bill when you're layed up in the emergency room" said Carol.

Lewis stopped to take a sip out of his water bottle and check the map. "Well Jack, it doesn't look like we're going to make it to the camp ground before lunch. Let's just eat here." And so, after giving Jack his bag of dog food, Lewis sat down on a rock to munch on the sandwich his mom had packed him. As he unwrapped the sandwich from its plastic prison, a small slip of paper fell out. Scribbled on it in his mom's characteristic handwriting was "remember to drink lots of water and wear your sunscreen." Lewis rolled his eyes just like mom, he thought, always worrying. After he had finished his sandwich and chips he stood up and knocked the crumbs off his hands. Where's Jack, he wondered. He cupped his hands together around his mouth and yelled "JACK, JACK COME HERE BOY!" After yelling and whistling a few times he shrugged and decided to climb onto a nearby boulder to see if he could get a better view. Sure enough, once on top, he saw Jack Happily chasing a squirrel through the underbrush alongside the trail. He smiled as he watched Jack and then proceeded to survey the landscape. He saw the climb that he had expected after surveying the map and also the numerous piles of boulders surrounding, and sometimes in the middle of, the trail. As he scanned, one in particular caught his eye, be still my heart a CAVE just aching to be explored.

He slid down of the back of the boulder and shouldered on his pack. Then jack bounded up to him, his tail wagging like mad. "Come on boy lets go find that cave" he said, Jack wagged in apparent understanding and bounded off ahead of Lewis. After about 10 minutes of walking from boulder pile to boulder pile Lewis was about to give up until he saw jack bolt off ahead of him. Oh great just what I need, to get out here and lose my idiot dog. "JACK", he shouted, and ran after the rapidly disappearing dog's tail. He chased him for about 20 feet until he rounded a boulder and was lost from view. SHIT, Lewis skidded around the boulder and glimpsed jack disappear into the cave he had viewed earlier. Well at least we found it, he thought as he gazed upon the 8 foot high mouth of the cave, which had seemed smaller when viewed from a distance. As he approached the mouth of the cave he heard jack's claws clacking on the damp granite and felt the cold, damp air coming from the cave, almost as if it was a mouth ready to sallow him. As he stepped inside he was awed by the size of the cavern as it extended deeper into the mountain. He also felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise and a slight knot form in his stomach as he stared into what had seconds before been a welcome adventure, but now held sway over him with what seemed to be dreadful fascination. The floor of the cave sloped down at a somewhat steep angle until it was lost form view in the dim light. Lewis fished into his back pack and pulled out a small aluminum flashlight to light up the cave with, and dispel the rapidly growing knot in his stomach. The light did not reveal much more than he had expected, a damp stone floor, a few small stalactites, and BATS, SHHIITTT! Lewis hit the floor of the cave about a millisecond before a cloud of bats exited the cave, obviously displeased with Louis for ruining their afternoon nap. Jack barked loudly at the bats as they left, his voice reverberating through the cave. "Now THAT was awesome" Lewis commented aloud, as he felt the knot of worry in his stomach unravel.

After picking himself, and his pride, up off the floor Lewis descended deeper into the cave, with jack at his side, until about 25 feet in when he slipped on a particularly slimy spot on the floor and dropped his flashlight NO and proceeded to slide down into a smaller separate side cavern where he smacked his head into the wall with enough force to bring tears and stars into his eyes. After assuring himself that he hadn't given himself a concussion he got on his hands and knees and proceeded to search, somewhat in vain, for his missing flashlight. He could hear Jack whining at him about 10 feet above where he was laying. After about 30 seconds of searching, and several curses, his fingers brushed up against cold metal. "AHA, found you, you little bastard" he exclaimed and flicked on the light. Pointing the beam around his small section of the cave he could see that he had slid down a formidably sized section of stone about 15 feet long and at a 70 degree angle. As the beam of light played along the walls of the cave he noticed what looked like graffiti at first, but as he approached closer he saw that they were in fact authentic cave drawings made by some of the first peoples. The drawings depicted crude stick people hunting, gathering, and apparently worshiping, a large round orb with an aurora surrounding it, Must be the sun. Well at least no one's tried to draw over them; he thought as he wondered why the guide book had not said anything about the cave or its paintings, which would have been a definite attraction for history freaks, like mom, thought Lewis. Next he saw that he was not the first visitor to this particular spot, a few pieces of trash were lying scattered around the floor of the cave. A crumpled up napkin, a few beer bottles, burnt out cigarette butts, food wrappers and most curious of all a small paddle ball. He gazed at the toy, mesmerized. Again he felt the hair rise on the back of his neck and he had a strong desire to reach out and touch the small wooden paddle.

His vision remained fixed on the toy as a voice seemed to whisper an unknown language. As he reached for it he mentally screamed at himself to stop, to turn away, but it was useless against the power of the object before him. Upon picking up the toy he found it was just that, a toy, nothing dangerous or scary about it. Although it was noticeably heavier than any paddle ball he had held before. It was made from what appeared to be a single piece of cherry colored wood. When his fingers touched the wood the whispers abruptly stopped. As he examined it further, holding it close to his face with the flashlight's beam directed at it, he noticed something that seemed to set off a warning bell in his head. Carved into the outer edge of the paddle were strange runes, the likes of which he had never seen. As he gazed they seemed to whisper to him again in an unknown language and draw him deeper into their power. Lewis quickly shook his head to clear his mind of the fog that had begun to settle around his brain. Come on man, get a grip, it's just a TOY for Christ's sake. It can't hurt you. So he tossed the small ball into the air and attempted to bat it off the board a few times to dispel his unwarranted fear. As he struck the ball for the third time in a row he felt an unpleasant shift, as if a mirror had suddenly fractured. It couldn't be described as anything the senses could pick up, but it caused a distinct feeling only ones subconscience could detect. The voices that had seemed to whisper to him from before returned at an even louder pitch as the runes surrounding the paddle glowed with a supernatural light. They seemed to be chanting something in an ancient language which Lewis could not understand. As the light grew brighter the temperature of the paddle seemed to increase until it was burning his hand and he flung it away, with a gasp of pain, against the wall of the cave. Now the light had become blinding and the voices were reverberating eerily around the cave as Lewis screwed his eyes up against the light while he cast his arm up to stop his eyes from being burned asunder. WHAT DID I DO, Lewis screamed in his mind as he backed away from the rapidly strengthening power of the object. As the paddle ball's power seemed to peak Lewis finally broke out of his stupor and managed to yank his eyes away from the light. He turned and began to run for the slope leading back to the mouth of the cave. As he neared the slope a portal, wreathed with crackling energy and a stunningly red supernatural light, blossomed over the upright facing toy. As the portal expanded to a full diameter of 10 feet a strong wind blasted into the cave and flowed into the portal. Lewis was knocked backward off his feet and dragged towards the portal. He attempted to slow his backwards progress by digging his finger nails into the stone floor, but was only rewarded with bloodied fingertips. As he neared the mouth of the portal he rolled over onto his back pack and gazed at the full force of the supernatural doorway. Although the light was blinding, he saw a swirling mass of red and gold that seemed to transcend space and time. So lost was he in the majesty of colors he forgot, for a moment, his fear of this supernatural gateway and gazed with fascination at the depth and complexity of the swirling, shifting patterns that played within the center of the orb. Then he was swallowed whole and time and space lost all meaning. As the boy disappeared through the orb the runes around the paddle began to fade until the orb, and its unnatural lights and whispering voices, were gone. It faded until all was still and quiet again in the cave, Jack having long since run for the safety of the outside world.

(Onto chapter 2! Please R&R if you feel inclined to.)