Finn enters the ring of Flame People that were surrounding them. Finn gripped his sword, unsure of what is going to happen. A Fire Person stood in between them, "Ok, before this duel begins. Let me introduce myself. My name is Flambo. On the left, we have Finn Mertens from the Candy Empire. On the right, the daughter of our beloved king, Flame Princess!"
Finn observed Flame Princess' actions, she looked bored and sighed multiple times. "Ok, to win the duel. One must either kill or pin the opponent for three seconds. Understood? Let's begin." Flambo declared and left the ring that the Fire People had formed. The two closed in, Finn grabbed his sword, and swung it clumsily, as he had no experience in sword fighting. Flame Princess stood at her position, firing fireballs at Finn. Finn used Scarlet, sometimes letting the sword absorbing the blow or absorbing the blow himself. It did not hurt much, since he had flame shield. Finn lunged at Flame Princess, determined to end this duel as quickly as possible, but Flame Princess sidestepped him.
"Hey Finn, want to end this fight quickly? This is so boring." Flame Princess whispered as Finn swiped Scarlet clumsily close to her.
"Yeah, but how?" Finn asked, thrusting his sword at Flame Princess' stomach. She jumped, and stepped onto the sword, backflipped and kicked Finn in the back before landing onto the ground.
"Let's entertain them for a while." Flame Princess replied. Shooting multiple fireballs at Finn.
Finn dodged the fireballs, feeling that he and Flame Princess were doing some kind of dance even though it was a duel. Finn felt an ancient memory embedded deep into him, and leaped side to side, according to the beat of the duel. Flame Princess concentrated her fireball in one spot and fired a massive fireball at Finn. Finn gathered up his courage, reminding himself," It's all in my head." He ran through the scary fireball, suffering no wounds. He leaped, doing a risky manoeuvre, if it worked, it could do massive damage to his opponent. He brings Scarlet down onto Flame Princess, but she just stepped to one side, grabbing Scarlet and tossing it to the side. Finn stumbled onto the ground, picking himself up while suffering a few blows to his side from some kicks from Flame Princess.
"It's a workout for me. I had not done this for a long time now, sorry if it hurts Finn." Flame Princess apologised, continuously physically hurting Finn. Finn finally picked himself up, disarmed by Flame Princess. He had no choice but had to fight with his fists, he grabbed one of the kicks aimed at him and twisted it, bring Flame Princess to the ground. He quickly pinned her, he felt the solidness of her body, one of the rare Fire People that had a physical form instead of just flames. He felt no difference in temperature, pinning Flame Princess to the ground with all his ground and hoping that the fight would just end.
"Three! Two!" Flambo shouted, slamming his fist onto the ground, but Flame Princess counterattacked, hoisting Finn's weight off her and pinning him instead.
"Sorry Finn, but if anyone has to win. It has to be me, I have a reputation, and I'm the princess of the flames, while you're nobody." Flame Princess malevolently remarked. Finn felt a sudden pain in his heart, feeling the black stains of betrayal, poisoning his normally good-natured heart. He felt an ancient anger that he kept under wraps, he lost it. Losing one's temper is known as uncouth, but in a fight, who cares? Finn bellowed, kicking off Flame Princess off forcefully. He punched, fist filled with anger, blow after blow to Flame Princess' face. He finally did an uppercut which took Flame Princess out of the fight. Flame Princess lay on the ground, knocked out from Finn's blows. Finn huffed and puffed, calming his beating heart, letting it slow down. He finally cooled down, the sense of betrayal still felt, but he logically processed everything that happened. He won. He won!
"By the rules, Finn Mertens wins with a knockout blow to Flame Princess!" Flambo proclaims. Flambo grabbed Finn's hand and raised it high in the air. Finn guiltily sneaked one more kick to Flame Princess unconscious body. Candy Empire delegates and diplomats were filming the footage and sending it back to Queen Bubblegum, who observed with grave concern.
"He lost his temper, in that, brings back his fighting ability from his ancestors who always were in combat. The human race never lived peacefully, always fighting with one another. Even the extinction of their own race was caused by themselves." Queen Bubblegum thought vehemently, sipping on her coffee.
"Humans destroy one another. Good thing his father, Martin isn't a human, if not they would tear themselves apart. Martin is a cosmic entity, he does not require oxygen to live, he can travel to space and he could live normally, without oxygen." Queen Bubblegum thought, analysing everything and extracting conclusions from there.
Finn walked out of the ring of Fire People, who made a path for him and the guards bringing Flame Princess to the infirmary. Finn turned and looked at Flame King, expecting his response. "Well done Finn Mertens. For that amazing duel, I shall spare you, but please do not intrude in my residence." Flame King acknowledged and the Fire People clapped for Finn. Finn bowed, being polite, and went to his seat prepared for him for the Candy Empire visitors. There were papers on his chair. Finn picked it up and read," Finn Mertens. For one week, you shall work at the customs, allowing visitors in and out. More will be explained, enjoy your dinner." Dinner was served. Flame Servants held trays of food and served them to the guests. Finn tucked into his meal, a spicy chicken wing.
"Hey, can I meet her?" Finn asked.
"Sure, good duel by the way. Ask for permission first." The guard who arrested him just now stepped aside. "Taken an interest in our princess eh?" The guard remarked.
"I'm human. She's a fire person, it will never work out." Finn replied sternly to the guard's teasing. He stepped inside, and sees the fully recovered Flame Princess, standing in her lamp, idling about. "Good duel there." Finn remarked, smirking.
"Yeah…" Flame Princess rolled her eyes. "What do you want to do here anyway, what you did to me hurt!" Flame Princess shouted, knowing that she had been bested.
"Since I will be here for a while, I need some friends. You're one of the first person I met, plus we interacted a bit. Call ourselves friends?" Finn offered.
"Yeah… if friends mean that I can kill you one day, then yes." Flame Princess laughed dryly.
"Don't even try to act evil, you're not even evil." Finn laughed, realising the truth from Flame Princess' tone.
"What! I'm evil! I'm as evil that I can ever be!" Flame Princess shouted, keeping up with the pretence.
"Sure… continue to deny it. I can get you free."
"And?"
"And what?"
"The catch." Flame Princess demanded.
"Well, you got me. Let's become friends."
"Why would you want to be friends with me? Why should I be friends with you? You're a filthy peasant." Flame Princess justified.
"I'm the last human left. I might as well be the King of Humans, I'm no peasant."
"You're still a minion of the Candy Empire."
"Temporarily." Finn replied, loving how heated the negotiation had become.
"Fine, deal, what's your plan?"
"Still haven't thought of one."
"Seriously? Thanks for the false hope ass!"
"Don't worry, I shall read heavily on your laws. I shall even get the assistance of Queen Bubblegum. The might of the Candy Empire is nothing compared to the Fire Kingdom." Finn remarked.
"Sure, whatever." Flame Princess replied, doubting Finn's words. Finn turned around and left the room. He went to the throne room, and sees his fellow companions on the trip were being escorted to their rooms. One of the escorts came running to him.
"Mr Mertens. I'm here to escort you to your room." The escort bowed, before explaining.
"Lead the way." Finn replied, cheerfully, thinking that the trip to the Fire Kingdom would not be so boring after all. He had a new friend, if could even be considered a friend, Flame Princess. He won the respect of most of the officials in the Fire Court.
Finn was led to one of the many rooms in the palace, and he demanded that the escort to leave. He closed the door, locking it immediately. He scanned the room, seeing a king-sized bed, television, an adequately stocked bathroom and a desk with a computer for research. Finn walks to his balcony, opening the sliding door, and he observes the burning inferno occurring throughout the Fire Kingdom. It looks beautiful, destructive, but beautiful. He admires the sight, the fire making him feel warm in the bright night, since the fires emit so much light that it was always daytime in the fire kingdom. He close the curtains, and went to his desk. He quickly turned on the computer, he customized it, installing numerous applications and logging into some websites that required some things he required for work. He decided to read up on Fire Kingdom law, scrolling especially to royalty.
"A member of royalty is given freedom at the age of twenty one, but Flame Princess is twenty one!" Finn thought, reading it more in detail.
"For the females, a suitor must be found for the female before she can be , she must listen to whatever her suitor says" Finn read, thinking," What kind of sexist shit is this! We have fucking technology and yet you follow tradition. Females are taking a more domineering role in society, but yet Fire Kingdom still stays in their ancient ways. Heresy!" He removed that option from his head, having no romantic interest in Flame Princess.
He decided to Skype Princess Bubblegum, see whether she can offer any suggestions. She waited a few moments for his call to get through all the anti-virus and anti-spam software, finally reaching the laptop of Queen Bubblegum. "Good day Finn! What assistance do you require?" Queen Bubblegum straightaway asked.
Finn noticed Marceline in the background, but never paid too much attention to her. "Nothing, just wanted to socialise with you my dear queen. I have to ask, why diplomat Marceline is in your private residence my majesty."
"We… uh… are discussing matters of utmost importance. The Nightosphere is a powerful foe to reckon with." Queen Bubblegum lied.
"Yes…" Finn raised his eyebrow and delved into his question, ignoring Marceline's existence. "See your majesty, I want to free Flame Princess from her cage of tradition under Flame King's regime. Any suggestions?" Finn asked.
"Well, Finn. If you actually wanted to use my influence to do it, then I cannot help you. I have no interest in Flame Princess, she can rot in her little lamp." Queen Bubblegum replied.
"Oh, ok goodbye." Finn replied, ending the call.
"Close one." Marceline remarked.
"Yeah, shall we get back to where we left off?" Queen Bubblegum seducely remarked.
"You naughty girl." They both tumbled into bed.
