The tall man cracked a smile while looking down on the girl standing in the doorway. He opened his arms and pulled his sister into a tight embrace, "Good to see you Jessica!" He lifted her off of the ground and spun around. When he set her down, he saw the five guests in the living room, which elicited a raised eyebrow, "You didn't tell me we were having guests over! I would have prepared a fantastic dinner for all to enjoy!"
Finn was surprised by the man's attitude. The person he saw standing in the apartment hallway looked like an extreme warrior. He stood well over six feet, had a close-cut buzz hairstyle, and a thick orange beard, as well as a kanji branded into right side of his face, which translated to 'Ghost.' Despite his appearance, he seemed to be very easy going.
Everyone else in the room had differing opinions from Finn. Jake was intimidated, Marceline was surprised, and Jake Jr. and Xoana were amazed. There was an awkward silence in the room for a moment, but it subsided when Jerry decided to speak up once again.
"Are any of you hungry at all?" He asked with a wide smile on his face. The man ducked his head under the entrance so he wouldn't hit it and entered the apartment. His sister shut the door behind him, "I'm considered the best chef in all of the Royal Guard!"
Marceline shrugged her shoulders and floated over toward the tall man, "I'll try one of your meals on for size, big guy."
Jake raised his hand, volunteering his stomach to digest whatever the man made.
Jake Jr. nodded her head, "Yeah, we could all use a bite to eat."
The man clapped his hands and cheered. He would begin walking into the kitchen, "I'll make some of the best sandwiches you've ever tasted! They'll be stacked with some of the best ingredients this magnificent kingdom has to offer!" As he walked toward the refrigerator, he caught on to the nervous aura in the room. He opened the door to the fridge and looked over the items still there, "Jessica . . ."
Sweat rolled down the side of her face once she heard her named called. Her back was against the door, "Yes, brother?" She pushed off of the door and started walking into the kitchen to see what the problem was. The woman could only hope that she could diffuse it.
He turned his head to look at his younger sister. His eye was twitching, and everyone in the room could feel the temperature rising. The man's head burst into flames and he got all in his little sister's face, "WHERE IS THE CHEESE!?" His voice had gotten considerably deeper and demonic in a sense.
The younger sibling furrowed her brow and pushed her brother away from the refrigerator angrily. She groaned heavily after moving a couple of items out of the way, only to reveal the cheese that her brother created a ruckus about. The woman held it in front of his face and waved it back and forth, "Did you even look for it?" She would only worry about her brother's attitude if something was actually gone, for she knew that it was mostly for show. "You always overreact!"
He grinned sheepishly and took the cheese out of his sister's hand and placed it on the table. The man turned to look at the guests, who all looked worried, and sort of fearful. He cracked the same awkward smile in their direction, "My bad. I just like things to be arranged the same way, every time I come home." Jerry closed the fridge and started working on the sandwiches he promised.
Jake let loose a sigh of relief, wiping a nervous bead of sweat from the side of his head. He nudged Finn, who was standing next to him, "I told you we had nothing to worry about," The dog laughed quietly and folded his arms over one another. "But Jerry, bro, seriously. You need to learn to chill out every once and while. Blowing up like that is mad impolite."
Jerry's eyes darted in Jake's direction instantly. The man's once light-hearted aura was replaced with an ominous one, which was focused completely on Jake the Dog. He heard a nervous gulp, but before he could even say a word, his sister intervened and changed the topic immediately.
"How was work, Jerry?"
Finn turned his head to look at Jake and give him a hard glare. He mouthed the words, 'Bro, what the junk!?'
'Sorry bro, I'm just trying to seem natural,' The dog mouthed back.
The two brother's attention was brought back to the kitchen where they heard hard chopping. The fire elemental was angrily cutting the vegetables he intended in putting on the sandwich, "It was nothing new, honestly." He gave one last veggie an overly hard cut in half, promptly spinning around the knife in his hand, "The King told us to stay on our toes though, intruders or something."
Jessica smiled and nodded, "Intruders, you say?" She waited until the man wasn't looking and shot a glance over to Finn. She quickly gestured toward the door, "Who would be dumb enough to invade the kingdom with the Flame King already being on edge?"
Finn pushed Jake forward, "Jake and I are going to go for a walk really quick," The two heroes were walking toward the door, "We'll be back in an hour or so. Hold our sandwiches for us."
"I don't know what to tell you, but the King went and retrieved the Flame Princess not too long ago. According to him, she was considered a resident of the Candy Kingdom, so it's probably the gum, peppermint, and their knights," Jerry went silent for the next couple of seconds. When he heard the door close he looked over to where Jake and Finn once were, "Speaking of which, where are you guys from?"
Xoana and Jake Jr. both chirped simultaneously, "Grasslands."
Marceline simply shrugged, "I've been alive for so long, I can't even remember, but it's long gone now."
"Wait a GROD DAMN MINUTE!"
. . .
(Fire Kingdom Castle - Main Chamber/Throne Room)
Everyone in the castle had retired for the night. The King left to attend to personal business, knights were roaming around the castle, and nobles had gone home to their families. All there was left was the abandoned Princess, who was currently lying on the ground panting heavily.
The ground was littered with broken glass, ice shards, and magma, coming from the Princess slipping from consciousness on the castle floor. The girl pushed herself up with her forearm, trying to avoid the shards from the mess she had created in her escape from her prison, "Grod, that hurts," The girl mumbled to herself.
She heard the people in the castle now stirring trying to figure out where the loud sound of breaking glass was coming from. Slowly but surely, Flame Princess got up off of the ground and started walking. It caused her great pain to perform the simple task, but she forced herself to do so. Before she made her get away, she picked up what remained from her escape, which was an stalactite made out of ice.
The stalactite didn't melt to her body due to her body temperature being so low now. It actually made her colder rather than her heating it up and melting it, "Ok," The girl now made her break for the closest exit. She heard people closing in on her holding chamber, so she knew she had to get away.
She figured the adrenaline from the escape would be enough for her to at least make it away from the castle and into the surrounding city. There wasn't enough pumping through her body though, so her escape from the castle was slower than a normal one would be. She traced her hand along the wall of the hall, helping her keep her balancing as she navigated through the large castle.
The princess hadn't made it that far from the chamber, so she could now hear the rumbling and astonishment coming from there. The girl cursed under her breath and relatively quickly slipped into one of the bedrooms inside of the castle. She shut the door behind her and pressed her back against it.
While she hadn't done much, she had exerted a lot of energy. She heard the knights running through the castle now, looking for her. The girl sighed quietly and look around the dark bedroom, walking over to a dresser and opening it. She knew she had to change, so she could at least be unrecognizable. The Princess scanned it over, only finding undergarments to cover her damaged body.
Considering how it was a life or death situation, she didn't really have time to be picky. She set down her ice 'weapon' and searched for adequate clothes. The girl took the dingy t-shirt she found and the boxer briefs and started changing right there. The girl attempted to stay as quiet as possible. She folded the dress she was once wearing and stuffed it in the dresser.
She picked the stalactite up and held it backwards, readying herself for possible battle despite her condition. The Princess slowly walked over to the bathroom of the small room inside of the castle, deciding to see what sort of first-aid they had, and move on to the next safepoint.
All the rooms within the castle were connected. They belonged to the royal guard, so she would tread lightly and try not to make such a mess, so she wouldn't set her self off that bad.
The girl first checked in the medicine cabinet for some sort of pain killer, but she found nothing, so she checked under the sink. She was hoping find a first-aid kit with bandages and cotton balls, or something. Luckily, she found just that.
It was a small brown kit that she cracked opened instantly with her stalactite. She set the weapon down on the floor and pulled out the bandage wrap and set it on the ground. There was nothing to pad it, so she had to steal from the tenant's personal collection of toilet paper and use that to absorb the gushing magma coming from her multiple cut wounds.
The first layer was the tissue, and the second was the bandage wrap she had found. She connected it and held it together with the metal clips attached to it. She wasn't that knowledgeable in what to do in this sort of situation, so she did the best she could. The girl returned everything to how it once was inside of the bathroom after she was done, and finally picked up her 'weapon.'
As she prepared to leave, she heard someone enter the room she had just used to clean herself up. The girl's heart started beating rapidly and she quickly exited, going on into the next room. She shut the door as quietly as possible, and for now, went unnoticed.
The girl had her back to the door now, listening to what was going on in there. The room she was in now was set up exactly the same, so she was currently standing in someone's unlit bathroom. There was sigh of relief released from her, but she knew she was far from okay.
From the room she had just left, she heard a loud screech, which made her continue moving like she had been doing before. She slowly opened the door to the room, her heart still beating at an accelerated pace. The girl peeked her head into the bedroom, which was just as dark as the bathroom. She still saw what was going on in there, which was just a man fast asleep in his bed.
The girl creeped in the bedroom, and shuffled quietly. She stayed as close as possible to the wall, inching closer to the door. The Princess slowly placed her hand on the doorknob and twisted it, cracking it open. The light from outside of the room started to poke inside.
She took a deep breath and charged into the hall, going straight for the room across from it. She opened the door fast and took another deep breath once she made it inside. However, when she looked up, her jaw dropped. The girl pressed her body against the door, "B-B-B-Brother."
. . .
(Downtown, Jessica's Apartment Complex)
Finn and Jake were now full out sprinting toward the end of the hall, trying to get as far as possible from the Fire Kingdom Royal Guard. The duo had heard the man flip his lid almost instantly after they left, so they knew what to do.
As the two darted down the hall, the hinges on the door of Jessica's apartment were knocked completely off, and the actual door had been burned to ashes. It was blown away by a large blast of fire, which would soon to be revealed as Jerry.
The man propelled himself out of the door and down the hall with fire, engulfing the whole place in flames as he trailed after the two heros.
Jake looked over his shoulder only to see the man hot on their trail, so he enlarged his fist and punched through the wall of the apartment complex. He quickly grabbed Finn and jumped out of the building and landed in the now busy streets of the Fire Kingdom city, "Dude we are in deep turds right now!"
Finn was released by his brother's grip, "I know man, I know!" He looked around frantically and pointed down the street, "Run!" The boy took off immediately after, because the person they were trying to get away from jumped right out of the building with them, and was close to tackling them to the ground.
The magical dog saw it coming as well and ran right after his brother with his jaw dropping further every second, "Oh glob, oh glob!" The dog stretched his arm out forward and ripped a lamp-post right out of the ground and swung it the fiery man, who was now right behind him. It connected with his cranium, causing him to recoil a bit, but only for a second.
The minute Jake chose to engage him, the true battle had begun.
"THAT DIDN'T KNOCK HIM OUT?" Finn didn't believe what was going on, "That was a point-blank hit!" He yelled as he drew his sword from his pack and got into a fighting position.
Jake backpedaled with a large step and landed next to Finn, "You go in first, and I'll give you support, bro."
Finn nodded his head and charged forward and rose his blade over his head, preparing to strike down on the man, but he was met with the same force. Jerry launched himself forward and parried the strike with his forearm, afterward pushing the hero off with a lot force, causing him to stumble backward.
He followed his counter with a powerful, fiery fist into Finn's gut that nearly made the boy buckle over. The moment he thought he had gotten Finn into a good position to end him, an oversized fist sent him flying down the city street and smashing into a lamp-post.
Jake ran over and helped his partner up off of the ground, "Are you alright, bro? It looked like he tried to punch your lunch out dude!"
Finn nodded as took a deep breath, "He just caught me off guard. I won't be so stupid next time."
The man slowly walked back down the street, with magma dripping from his nose. He was definitely angry now, if he hadn't been before. "You caught me that time, kid, dog. I'll have to keep in mind that there are two of you runts coming at me!"
The human braced himself for whatever might be coming next, raising his demon-blood sword to protect his body. He looked at Jake, "You know, we really gotta start coming up with some battle formations."
"We did, remember the woopty woop?"
"Oh yeah."
The dog opened his palm and enlarged nearly five times it's usual size. He grabbed Finn and cocked his arm back, sending it far down the street, and the moment their opponent looked ready to charge; he sling shotted it forward.
It sent the human flying at nearly the same speed the fire elemental was moving. The human wore a grin across his face, "WOOOOOOPTY WOOOOOOOOP!" He was ready to swing his sword at the perfect time, but when Finn got within striking distance of Jerry; he flew right through the man's body.
The fire elemental was now flying at full speed toward the magic dog aiding the human in battle. He balled up his fist and gathered flames around it, ready to punch a flaming hole in the stomach of Jake.
"You know," The dog mumbled to himself, "I can do that too!" The magic mutt stretched out in the shape of a donut hole, making the man fly right through him with his attack. The hero then placed his enlarged hands on top of each other and placed them on the ground.
The other hero of Ooo had regained his composure and charged forward. He ran right on the dog's palms, and as planned, was shot forward once more into the air. The dog ended up with his hands over his mouth.
The member of the royal guard flew higher and waited to meet the oncoming human with an attack of his own. He held his hands above his head and crafted a fireball the size of a basketball, "Come and get it, kid, I dare ya."
Jerry threw the fireball at Finn, and the boy had no other choice but to take the brunt of the attack and get sent flying back to the ground. Luckily he had a magic dog waiting for him at the bottom in the form of a comfortable landing pad.
Due to the flame shield, Finn's clothes only had a few scratches on them, "Wow this thing really does work. That means I can take it up a notch, right!?"
From the hole in the side of the apartment building, stood Jake Jr. with her hands cupped around her mouth, "No you idiot! Get as far away as possible from here!" The woman turned to look behind her, seeing the remainder of the crew finally get to the end of the hall. "Xoana, go sub in for Finn and Marcy, go grab Finn so we can hurry to the next lo-"
The fire elemental floating in the sky frowned and launched a blast of fire in Jake Jr.'s direction, "No, me and the boy will fight. My orders are to kill all intruders!"
Xoana grabbed Jake Jr. from behind and jumped out of the hole in the apartment, while Marceline mimicked her behavior and got Jessica out of harm's way. For Xoana and Jake Jr., it wasn't a smooth landing, both of them getting a small bruise to remember their short trip to the ground.
Finn jumped out of Jake's body and the aforementioned dog immediately rushed to his daughter's side.
While everyone was sort of distracted, Jerry swooped down like an eagle and grabbed Finn by the arm. He instantly started flying away from the crowd, so he could handle the most wanted intruder one-on-one. The boy, of course, put up a fight; attempting to slash at the man who tried to hold him hostage.
While he struggled to get free, Finn didn't notice how fast the man was truly moving. The downtown area they were once in looked long gone to him, and they were now flying above a residential area. "Let me go jerk!" He yelled as he spit some of his saliva onto the man's face, promptly getting him to drop him down the ground.
It wasn't exactly a short fall either, they were well above everything else. The boy fell from so high, his body tore right through the weakened molten rock roof of a home. He landed on someone's dinner table, smashing everything under his body, "Owww!" The human screamed out and rolled off of the table, quickly jumping back up.
The family who was eating could only stare at the human, "Mommy!" A kid yelled out, "Is it an angel!?"
"No, hone-"
Their banter was cut short by another man dropping through the newly created hole in their roof. He pointed his finger at Finn, "You little fu-"
"Watch your mouth, bro, what the junk?" Finn retorted and leaped forward, slashing his sword across the man's torso, but he felt no reaction.
Jerry grabbed the boy's sword and tossed it to the side, making it stab into the wall. He himself jumped at Finn and threw a quick punch, which connected and nearly broke the boy's nose. Finn recoiled, but not for long, ducking the follow up punch that surely would've broken one of his favorite body parts.
Finn tackled the man to the ground, and this time he didn't phase through. At this point the family accepted that their dinner table was no more and evacuated the house. Finn, who was now on top of the fire elemental tried to take the opportunity to choke the man, but once he placed his hands around his neck; Jerry smiled.
"You're toast, human!"
Jerry's whole body set itself ablaze, as he attempted to set the boy on fire. However, the strength of his flame shield was being shown off, as the only thing that came from Finn being set on fire was an aggravated grunt. He used his now flaming hands to punch his enemy directly in the face, which made the man push him off with his hands.
Both men rolled over and jumped up. Jerry saw that the only way to harm him was a true fight, and maybe some magic. The fiery being kneeled down quickly and used the now broken table leg as a weapon, swing it at Finn, which the boy blocked with his forearm.
The human used his free hand to punch the fire elemental in the chest, making him stumble backward. The boy ran forward and followed up with a barrage of punches to the man's face. He was sending the enemy backward and finally, he stopped his assault to tackle the man into the wall.
Jerry groaned as he was slammed into the unknown family's wall, the boy cocked his head back and slammed it into Jerry's forehead, or at least tried to. Like other times he tried to really injure Jerry, his head phased through man's and smashed into the wall.
Finn moved backwards and held his head, which was now stinging with pain. He was surprised he was even still conscious, because he was definitely trying to put his enemy to sleep. "How do you keep doing that?"
"It's a secret," The man smirked as he grabbed the hilt of the blood demon sword and pulled it out of the wall. He sprung toward Finn and swung the sword at him, but the boy swiftly dodged it and retreated into another room in the house.
The human shut the door behind him, but he knew that it wouldn't do much. He quickly scanned over the room, "Ok, lead me to the good stuff."
. . .
(Fire Kingdom Castle - With FP and her older brother.)
The stare-down the Flame Princess was receiving from her brother made her heart race, "I wasn't expecting to see you here," She nervously mumbled out as she stayed pressed against the door. "I thought you were on vacation or something . . ?"
The man had yet to respond to his little sister, he could only breathe heavily and try to control his anger. She had put him in an interesting predicament, "Flame Princess . . ." He tried to correctly word his thoughts and not give off her cover by yelling extremely loud. "I love you . . . I swear I do, but . . ." The man balled up his fist and stood there quietly for a whole minute while he continued to process what was going on.
"But what, brother?"
"I am a soldier of this kingdom," His normally stoic expression was nearly broken when he saw sadness wash over his sister's face. He managed to keep his composure, "I'm also your older brother." He lowered his head and massaged his temple with his fingers, letting out a loud sigh, and starting to pace back and forth. "I'll help you, but I won't."
The girl raised a confused brow, "What do you mean by that, brother?"
"I'm going to show you how to get out of here, but I won't be assisting you in any of it," The man stopped his pacing around the room, "How did you plan on getting out of here in the first place?"
Flame Princess didn't know what to say. The girl looked around for a moment, "I-I don't know, the kitchen, the trash room, something!" She continued looking around, trying to avoid eye contact with her brother, who was currently staring right at her.
The man grit his teeth and start walking over to his sister, "You know, you're a horrible liar, Flame Princess," He informed the girl as he gently slapped the girl's cheek, "I know you know."
"Know about what?"
Her brother could only sigh as he walked away from her and over to his dresser. He opened a drawer and pulled out a black box that had a key lock on it, "Remember, you were going through my room while you thought I was away around six or seven years ago?" The girl in question nodded, and he pulled a key out from his pocket. He used it to open the black box, "Do you remember what you were searching for?"
The princess seemed hesitant, but she finally came out with it, "Yes, the entrance to the Underground Labyrinth that has been apart of this castle for centuries."
When she admitted what she knew, a rolled up piece of paper was thrown to her. She caught it and unrolled it. It was revealed to be a map, one that she hadn't seen before. The structure was set up similar to a maze, but there had been a path highlighted in red. The princess' jaw dropped as she looked up at her brother, "This is . ."
"It's exactly what you think it is," The man went over to his bed and lifted it up off of the ground. By design, once he pushed against the wall, it stayed put and didn't fall back down. What was sitting under his bed was a cellar door, "This is the most I can do to help you. I'd already be in trouble for simply not returning you the moment I saw you, so I'll simply turn my head."
The teenage princess was filled with joy, so she quickly ran over and hugged her brother. "Thank you so much!" Tears made from magma dripped down her face as she buried it in her brother's chest. "I promise I won't get your cover blown."
"You need to get out of here fast, I've been talking to you for too long as it is," The man shooed her away with his hands. "I won't be doing anything to help you from here on out."
The girl pulled open the cellar door with her free hand, which immediately revealed a ladder that would take her down, "I'll hope to see you again, brother."
There was no response from the man, as the last thing she saw of him was him shutting the door. It was now completely dark while she climbed down the ladder.
Once she reached the ground, there was a single hall that led to a set of double doors. The place was now dimly lit by lanterns hanging across the wall. The weakened princess went and grabbed one so she would have a way to see and navigate through the labyrinth.
Her ice stalactite was still in her other hand, and the map given to her was stuffed in her pocket. She advanced forward to the double doors, and her heart was beating at an extremely high rate. She didn't know what to expect on the other side.
The girl stopped in front of the large doors and examined them. There were many designs etched into the door, with the words 'enter if you dare' written across them both in an old Fire Kingdom language. She was currently anxious, but she decided to remove all of her nerves and encounter her new fears head on.
The girl set the weapon down on the ground and placed her free hand on one of the doors. She took a deep breath and mustered all of the energy she could to push open the door. The princess had her eyes closed, not ready to see what might be on the other side yet. The girl was encountered by a blast of heat that would've made any normal being burn. She was now lacking in confidence since her power had been sapped away by her father.
When she opened them, all she saw was more darkness. Except now she heard things, and what she was hearing was unknown beings roaming in the darkness. The girl turned back around to grab her weapon, but she saw that it had been melted by the heatwave. The princess turned one last time and faced the darkness before her.
It took a very deep breath and every fiber of her being for her to step forward. If anyone were watching her, all they would be able to see was a small flame entering the darkness and never returning. The princess would become but a spec in the vast amount of darkness, and the flame meant to light her path was close to useless.
It was going to be a long trip.
I've got a weird obsession with underground systems, so the next few chapters are going to be fun to write. Who knows what sort of things Flame Princess will encounter in the labyrinth? I also hope those who read enjoy how the story's advancing. I'm trying to gradually improve how I do these. Btw, feel free to leave suggestions, questions, and critic in the review box, or my PM. One last thing, if anyone knows/owns a community; I'm trying to add my story into some.
