So the plot thickens, viewers. Bubblegum and Jake are venturing to rescue Finn, while at the same time, Alex is launching an escape plan himself. How will it play out?

Bubblegum's POV, Outer Jade Forest

After about 20 minutes of hiking, we eventually made it to the northern edge of the Jade Forest. It had just turned noon, and Jake, as it seemed, was already tired. "(yawn) Dude, how long are we gonna have to walk out here?" I simply shook my head at him. "Seriously, it has only half an hour at best." He looked at me with a drowsy expression. "Pardon me, Princess. I seem to recall us both being up since midnight planning to rescue Finn." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Us both? If my memory serves me, I made the plan whereas you were sitting aound eating the nougat chairs in the lab, which you will replace!" "Hey! In my defense, it wouldn't hurt to invest in some metal chairs. It is a laboratory, you know." As random as that rebuttal was, he did have a point. You're not supposed to have anything edible in a science lab anyway. "Well, perhaps you're right, but I still think you- Oh! This is it!" Jake stopped when I said this. We made it to a huge wall of trees and other foliage reaching high up in the air. The way it was fixed almost made it look like a castle. "Holy stuff… Has this thing always been out here?" "Yes, Jake. For quite some time now." I replied. "This is what's known as a Gate Bramble. They're designed to filter out anything that is deemed tainted or unnecessary. Most are enchanted by witches or other magical beings to protect their homes." I jumped off Jake, walked up to the Bramble and examined the lower levels. Brushing my hand across it, a red essence appeared, and then promptly disappeared. It appears to be sleeping. Good, getting through here shouldn't be too much trouble.

I turned and faced Jake, who was approaching me. "Man, this thing looks impossible to get over…" He said looking up at the height of the wall. "It does, however we may not have to go over it, Jake." I said, reassuring him. "The Gate Bramble is asleep, so all we have to do is just take the route with the least amount of resistance." He looked confused when I said this. "Wait a minute, this thing can sleep?" I facepalmed at Jake. "Of course it can, dummy. Plants are living things too, you know." "Oh…" With that, Jake tried to run through the wall, only to be stopped by a wall of thorn-covered vines. "Ouch!" Jake said, rubbing his head. I was trying my hardest to not laugh at what happened. "Jake, you can't just rush this wall all willy-nilly. You have to be one with it." With that, I let my back rest against the wall, and I started to pass through. "Just relax, and you'll get through without trouble." Jake took a deep breath and did exactly as I did. He was phasing through the wall with ease. After a few seconds, we were on the other side of the Bramble, with nothing but the dark Bramble Woods awaiting us. Hang on, Finn. We're coming…

Maja's Dungeon, Finn's POV

"Hey Alex?" "Jeez, you do not let up, do you?" "I'm sorry, but I've got to know something… is there any more of us out there?" "Well Finn…" "Finn… FINN!" It took me a second to snap out of it. Alex was standing beside me. "You dozed off there, kid." I was sitting on the floor with my back against the wall. I had no idea how long I was out. "Listen up, this is important." Almost immediately, a buzzer went off, allowing the prisoners a few minutes to enter the square before curfew. "So what's up?" I said to him. "Come with me, we need to sort this out." I followed him to the window that we were at last time. As we walked, he motioned for a few of the other prisoners to come with him as well. Among those prisoners was the necromancer that Alex saved earlier, along with his daughter. When we made it to the window, we could see nothing but black sky outside, when it should usually be pink. Clouds were still visible, but those that were out there were slowly fading. "Dang, is there a bad storm coming?" I said. "You don't know the half of it, bro" Alex said in a serious tone. "As of this second, Death himself is now in the vicinity. Why he is here, i'm still not sure. I thought Maja was just playing around, but now I don't know." All of us looked at Alex, who was worried. "Dude, you look scared..." "Scared? Try pensive, Finn." He was hiding it, but he was obviously a little bit concerned with what was going on. "Listen up, guys. I've got my friend keeping me informed on the situation. When he returns, I'll fill you guys in on the plan." Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long. About 30 seconds after he said that, several skeleton guards entered the prison. The undercover skeleton who was among the first few to re-enter the prison, motioned for Alex to come to him. Alex went and leaned against his cell. His friend was a few feet away from him, among a few other guards who didn't appear to notice, and they were looking at each other. They weren't talking, but they were exchanging facial expressions. After a minute, Alex gave a small smile and then walked back towards us. His smile faded and he came back to us with a serious face and sighed. "Houston, we have a problem..."

Bramble Woods, Jake's POV

Once PB and I got past the wall of trees and shrubbery, I couldn't help but be astonished by what I saw. Unlike the Jade Forest, which had small streaks of sunlight in spots, these woods lacked it. Instead, fireflies and small lanterns illuminated the area. To put it short, there was an entire forest within a forest, in a manner of speaking. As many times as Finn and I explored this forest, how did we not find this place...? That was all I could think of as we walked through the woods. The area consisted of multiple paths, slopes, and caves which made the environment seem unsettling, yet calming at the same time. "These woods form a large labyrinth, each leading to two possible outcomes: Progress or trouble", PB said to me. "It would be in our best interest to not get lost." She certainly sounded serious when she said that. "Hey, Peebs", I said to her. "How is it that you know so much about this area?" "Well, Jake", she said to me. "I've had to come here countless times, for personal and for royalty reasons. In fact, I even went to Maja's dimension with Marcy once." "Really?" I couldn't help but be curious about her statement. "May I ask why, Princess?" "Maybe later", she replied. "Jake, be on guard. There may be hostile forces lurking about here." I assure you, I was not worried about having to fight. "Let 'em come," I said to her. "No one is gonna stop me from getting my bro back!" In that instant, the Universe pretty much said "Challenge Accepted" in the form of a 5 unusually large Venus' Flytraps."Unfamiliar bodies detected" One of the Flytraps said. "Identify Yourselves", said another.

"Oh glob! They must serve as guardians to the woods", Bubblegum said. "Dang It", I said in reply. I just HAD to say something stupid, didn't I?! The Flytraps were approaching us, and their "teeth" grew longer. "Trespassers with malicious intent will not be taken lightly", they all said in unison. "Hold on!", PB yelled out, and they stopped momentarily. "We mean no harm, Guardians. I am Princess Bubblegum, ruler of the candy kingdom, and this is my- er... companion, Jake!" They didn't move but they still made an effort to speak. "Princess Bubblegum, ruler of the Candy Kingdom, and companion Jake..." The middle Flytrap said to us. "Yes. We have no intention of wrongdoing. We only came here to help our friend." She replied, hoping for them to nicely step aside. "You do not have sufficient clearance to traverse here." They all said, moving closer to us. "LEAVE NOW!" With that response, I grew larger and PB pulled out her arsenal bag. "Seriously?! As many times as i've had to come to this stupid forest, they have the gall to tell me that I don't have enough clearance?!" She yelled out at them. "Well, so much for trying to be civil", I said to her. "Looks like were in for a fight", said PB. one way or another, these guys were not stopping me. No way, No how.

Maja's Dungeon, Alex's POV

Well this is just great... Those words ran through my head as I made it back to the group. "Well guys, I have good news and bad news." They all looked at looked at me with worried expressions. "On the upside, Our plan to escape is still on ." The prisoners became a bit more relieved when I said that. "The catch is... We only have 24 hours to do so..." They were silent for a few seconds until Finn broke it. "A-And what happens after that...?" He mustered those words out quietly. "Unfortunately... Some prisoners wont be prisoners anymore, at least not here." I forced those words out."Wh... What does that mean..." The necromancer's daughter was trembling as she said that. "Well from what I understand, Maja appears to be trading some of the prisoners in exchange for extended youth. My guess is... The youngest tributes prove to be the most valuable." I said to them. As a result of the news, the little girl started to whimper and sniffle and her father tried to calm her down. Then, Finn put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you." He said, reassuringly. "They'd have to go through all of us to do so." I said to her. The little girl wiped her face and smiled at us. "Whoa, check it out!" One of the prisoners was looking out the window. Looking outside, we could see that the sky was slowly returning to it's normal pink hue. So Death is returning to his domain, I thought as I looked out the window. Still, if Maja plans on sacrificing any of these prisoners, wating any longer would be pointless. I have to get these people out of here...

"Finn, come here", I said to him. "What's up, bro?" "I know this is sudden, but I don't think waiting till tonight is an option." "Dude, are you saying..." "Yes, if we're going to escape, we have to do it while Death isn't here", I said. Finn looked at me as if he thought I was insane. "Are you on something, bro?!" He said, trying not to yell. "Shh! Not too loud!" A few of the guards were looking at us. "Listen, innocent lives my be at risk now. I can't chance anyone staying here any longer." Finn's expression still didn't change. "You have so much compassion for these guys, but do they think the same?" This made me think for a second, but I quickly responded. "Frankly, I could care less about their sympathy towards me, kid. However, I do care about their well-being. Just look around you, you've got cells packed full of different species of people. The worst part of it os that the majority are children and the elderly." With that I pointed to a nearby cell. There were at least 8 guys huddled up in that one space. One of them was a very ill wizard who was cramped in a corner and wheezing next to a newborn was at a loss for words "Alex... I-" "And the bad news keeps on coming", I said, cutting him off. I pointed to a cell that was two cells to the left of the previous one. This cell was also packed to the ceiling, but not because of prisoner capacity (as there were only five beings in that cell), but due to a practical mountain of... ahem, excrement... Finn, upon seeing this, started to cringe. His fists were balled up and he was fuming. He felt like he wanted to nuke Maja's house if given the chance. "Do you see what I mean, Finn", I continued. "All of them are here for absolutely no reason besides to be oppressed. No one deserves treatment this bad. Please Finn, help me free them", I sincerely spoke to him. Finn sighed and spoke to me, "Anyone who has that much compassion for his fellow man is worth fighting with, but what happens if I do help you? After all, this is a life-or-death scenario." "You want to know more about me, right?" He shook his head. "Help me, and I wont leave a single question unanswered. You have my word." With that, both of us shook hands. "You've got a deal."

Just then, a buzzer went off and the remaining prisoners made their way back to their cells except those from the group I was with. "Now, guys. I'm gonna have to tweak my plan a little, so act natural. Finn, you and I need to create enough bedlam to cause Maja to come down into the prison", I said quietly. "And what about us", said the necromancer. "I need the rest of you to go back to your cells. If this plays the way i'm hoping it will, we can free everyone once we get outside of the prison dimension." "How so?" Finn said. "A good buddy of mine told me where the controls for the prison were" I said, giving a small smile to Abel, who gave a thumbs up be hind his back. "How do you guys communicate like that?" Finn said to me. "Telepathy, dude. You've gotta love it!" Finn nodded at this. "So what happens when Maja comes in?" "Well, we know she can only alter a dimension if she's actually in it. If i'm right, each individual cell serves as a separate dimension, and I don't think they apply to Maja's power exemption effect", i said. "So, if we can lock her in our cell, we should be able to get everyone out before she finfs a way to escape." Finn was in awe of my theory. "Dude, you think well under pressure" Finn said. Thinking...? More like improvising. If my theory is wrong, this whole plan will go up in smoke. I hope I don't mess this up... "So does everyone understand?"They all shook their heads in agreement, and we proceeded to walk back to our cells. Everyone else reentered their cells which closed behind them, except Finn and I. We were facing our cell, but we stayed outside of it in an attempt to draw the attention of the guards. "Hey, you two", sure enough, several skeleton guards approached us from behind. "Get back in your cell!" One of them said, holding a spear. The prisoners around us were very curious to know just what we were doing.

"Finn", I whispered to him. "How good are you in hand-to-hand combat?" "Not too shabby", Finn whispered back. I certainly hope so... I thought, as the guards slowly got closer. "We wont warn you again! Return to your cell, immediately!' It was now or never. We each took a deep breath with a lot at , the two us started to turn around towards the guards.

Well... Here goes nothing...

This is it, people! In a moment of rushed judgement, Finn and Alex are ready to launch their escape. Will PB and Jake be able to reunite with their hero/brother, and can Alex indeed succeed in freeing all of Maja's captives? Find out in Chapter 7! Please Review!