Veggie Investigations

XX

Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum stumbled out of the tree house as they began their journey to the Candy Kingdom. Finn brought along a backpack filled with snagglepuffs to eat as snacks. He had his trusty sword in hand, but a pair of nunchucks were stuffed into his backpack as well. You never knew when a pair of nunchucks might come in handy.

Making their way across the hilly plains around their tree house, the group ran into Corn Princess again. She floated aimlessly over the grass and turned with a beaming smile at the sound of their approach.

"Why hello boys! And Princess Bubblegum too, what a pleasant surprise!" Corn Princess tipped the top of her husk downwards, which was probably the corn equivalent of a bow. "Or should I say, Queen Bubblegum."

"No, I'm afraid not," sighed Princess Bubblegum. "I've been deposed!"

"What? Oh no!"

"A radical group of vegetable citizens removed me from the throne."

"That's horrible!"

Corn Princess began to shake violently. Finn and Jake began to back away when Corn Princess's kernels began to explode from her body in the form of popcorn. Finn held up his arms as he was pelted by the popcorn.

"Aaaah! The kernels, they burn!"

"I'm so sorry boys. When I get in a tizzy, I turn into Popcorn Princess," popped Popcorn Princess.

"Don't worry," sad Jake. "No need to be upset. Me and Finn here are gonna go to the Candy Kingdom and show these vegetable usurpers what's what! Right Finn?"

"You got it, Jake!"

Having recovered from his popcorn burns, Finn picked up a piece and tasted it gingerly. He eagerly stuffed the rest of the giant popcorn puff into his mouth. "Hey Popcorn Princess, you taste awesome!"

"That's mighty kind of you to say, Finn."

Finn stuffed several more pieces of popcorn into his backpack as they took their leave of Popcorn Princess. As they left, it looked like she was turning back into Corn Princess since yellow kernels were reappearing all over her body. Whatever the Princess was called, her popcorn droppings would be a tasty snack to eat along with the snagglepuffs.

"We're off to the Candy Kingdom, Princess. See you!"

"Good luck, boys."

XX

With Jake's ability to expand in size and take massive strides across the landscape, journeying to the Candy Kingdom took about half an hour. Finn was a little annoyed that he hadn't had time to enjoy his snacks. They had tried walking at a normal pace for a while in order to enjoy their surroundings and get some exercise, but Princess Bubblegum had complained about her feet hurting after ten minutes of walking. Now, Finn and Princess Bubblegum were perched on Jake's back. Finn saw the familiar towers of the Bubblegum Palace rising up ahead of them.

"We're here," announced Princess Bubblegum as Jake shrank back down to a normal size and let his two passengers off his back.

As they entered the gates of the Candy Kingdom, Princess Bubblegum stopped. "Finn, Jake, I don't think we should go into the palace quite yet," she said. "Perhaps it would be best to talk to some citizens of the Candy Kingdom first, so you hear what happened for yourself!"

Princess Bubblegum led her two fellow adventurers through various streets and houses that surrounded the Bubblegum Palace. Most of the citizens of the Candy Kingdom lived within the Kingdom's walls, or close by in the cotton candy forest that surrounded the Kingdom. Finn and Jake followed Princess Bubblegum along an unpaved dirt alley that snaked between the houses. Or perhaps it was a chocolate alley. Finn couldn't tell

Before long, they happened upon a small square surrounded by several houses. In the center of the square, a number of people were dancing merrily to the tune of a Candy Kingdom folk song. Finn recognized Chocoberry and Mr. Cupcake amongst the revelers.

"Why look, eet iz Finn and Jake, along with ze Bubblegum Princess!" said Chocoberry.

"Join in the fun, why don't you," said Mr. Cupcake.

Finn looked like he was about to leap into their midst and start dancing himself when Princess Bubblegum stopped him. "One minute," she said. "Chocoberry, Mr. Cupcake, could you guys explain to Finn and Jake why I was deposed?"

"Why, of course." Chocoberry pursed her strawberry lips together. "Eet is like zis – certain citizens of ze Candy Kingdom were not pleased with Princess Bubblegum's rule, and zey created a party to remove her from power. Le Pea Party! Eet is named like so because eet is mostly vegetable citizens who wanted Princess Bubblegum out of power. Zey used special vegetable magics to send ze Gumball Guardians away, and now zey are in charge of zee Candy Kingdom!"

"But why would anyone have a problem with Princess Bubblegum?" asked Finn. "She's totally mathematical!"

"Seriously, she's like a scientist," added Jake. "They use math."

"You two are too kind," laughed Princess Bubblegum. She leaned over to give Finn a peck on the cheek, and his face blushed rosy red as a result.

"It is true, Princess Bubblegum is a good ruler of the Candy Kingdom," said Mr. Cupcake, "but many people were swayed by a popular Candy Kingdom newspaper." Mr. Cupcake held out a copy of a newspaper to Jake and Finn. Finn grabbed it and looked over the front page.

"Squash News? The headline says 'Princess Bubblegum: Pushing a Sugarist Agenda?' Interesting." Finn passed the newspaper to Jake, who shook his head as he read it.

"Many citizens of the Candy Kingdom read that paper," said Mr. Cupcake. "Vegetable citizens, mostly, but some candy citizens as well!"

"It's not my fault that sugar is such an important part of running a Candy Kingdom," said Princess Bubblegum indignantly.

"Don't worry Princess," said Finn. He and Jake turned to each other and punched their fists together. "We're gonna take this Pea Party out of power and get your throne back!"

Before Princess Bubblegum could respond, Finn and Jake ran off through the houses and towards the Candy Palace. Princess Bubblegum was forced to run as fast as she could to keep up, trailing behind them as they reached the palace doors. Finn leaped at the doors and knocked them down with a single kick.

"It's vegetable fighting time!" he screamed.

The Candy Foyer was empty, save for three vegetables who sat around a table at the other end of the room. One of them was a radish, one was a parsnip, and one was a stalk of broccoli. The vegetables looked up at the sound of the commotion, staring at the palace intruders.

"Who are you two?"

"I'm Finn. This is my friend Jake."

Finn motioned to his friend, and then pulled the pair of nunchucks from his backpack. He also had his sword with him, but Finn thought this felt like an occasion for nunchucks. "Can we fight now?"

"Please, let's just talk!" said the vegetables. "Come in and sit beside us."

The three vegetables motioned for Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum, who had just arrived behind them, to enter the Palace. They walked across the Foyer and joined the vegetables at the table.

"Nice to meet you," said the broccoli stalk. "I'm Glenn Broccoli." He shook Finn's hand with his own cold broccoli hand.

"And I'm Ayn Radish," said the radish.

The parsnip gave a curtsy to the new arrivals. "Well I'm Sarah Parsnip, by golly!"

Finn and Jake sat down after shaking the vegetable's hands, while Princess Bubblegum let out an indignant hmph! and folded her arms, standing away from the table.

"So why did you guys kick Princess Bubblegum out of the palace?" said Finn. "She seems like a pretty cool ruler to me, bros!"

Ayn Radish shook her head. "She preaches a philosophy of Sugarism." Princess Bubblegum rolled her eyes at Ayn's comment. "Under Princess Bubblegum, the Candy Kingdom government is just too restrictive. It's up to all of us to make our own way in life using a doctrine of enlightened self-interest!"

Finn scratched his head. "I dunno what that means, but whatever."

"Princess Bubblegum just doesn't care about the Candy Kingdom," said Glenn Broccoli. "It just breaks my heart to see what she's doing to it!" Glenn Broccoli began to cry, wiping tears from his eyes with a broccoli hand-stalk. "Our beautiful Kingdom is torn apart by the way she's trying to control everyone with her radical Sugarist policies!"

"Dude," said Finn, staring at Glenn Broccoli with distaste, "Are you crying? Seriously, I'm twelve and even I don't cry that easily. Don't you think you're being a little too theatrical? Besides, I don't think Princess Bubblegum wants to control anybody, she just cares about her candy citi-"

"I can see the Ice King's palace from my house!" interrupted Sarah Parsnip.

The rest of the group stared at her, but she did not continue.

"Um... and?" asked Finn.

Sarah Parsnip did not seem to have planned her comment very well. "And? Wait... oh yeah, if Princess Bubblegum becomes Queen, it'd be worse than being ruled by the Ice King! All we want is to live our own lives, I tell you what. We don't need big government. And by big government, I mean those Gumball Guardians we sent away. Those things were huge!"

"I think we've given enough of an explanation to these people," said Glenn Broccoli. "Sorry, but it's time for you all to leave!"

Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum felt themselves sail through the air before they knew what hit them. A strange force jerked them out of the palace doors and all the way outside the gates of the Candy Kingdom, where they landed in a heap.

"What was that?" said Jake.

Princess Bubblegum got up and dusted off her royal dress. "Vegetable magic."

Finn narrowed his eyes and growled at the Kingdom's gates. "Nobody's beating me and Jake with some stupid food magic! Let's go back in and punch some vegetable lights out!"

"No, Finn," said the Princess. "I'm tired, and I don't want to fight anybody. Can't we just go back to the tree house?"

Before Finn could argue with Princess Bubblegum, her eyes expanded to almost twice their normal size, glistening with emotion as she implored him to reconsider. Finn sighed and nodded, turning away from the Kingdom's gates. The trio began to trudge down the path away from the Candy Kingdom, making their way back home.

Finn was surprised that Princess Bubblegum and Jake would give up so easily. He was fine with going home and taking a little break, but Finn knew one thing for sure. He wasn't going to get beaten by vegetables that easily!