Memories are who you are. Chapter 8
Super sized pizza was on the menu for dinner, and it was not met with any complaints or protests at all when Jake finished the long cooking session. "FOODS READY!" the dog called to the other two residents of the tree house. Finn as in the treasure room sorting out the new items he had brought back, while Josh was out on the rope bridge looking into the distance thinking to himself. His thoughts preoccupied with what he felt he still had to do, as well as a feeling for self enlightenment. "I need to find out what happened, to my squad... no, my friends, and that creature we fought had a point. Did I become a soldier to grant freedom? Or was it a means to an end for revenge?" Musing to himself he almost didn't hear Jake call for dinner, almost, but it brought up thoughts of Finn. "Finn, it amazing to see a human that doesn't show many of the negative attributes of humanity. Don't turn into me please." Joshua said to himself with a sigh as he headed in.
Finn was the first to the table, having rushed up the ladder in a hurry to eat only to have his stomach protest loudly at not having anything in it yet. "C'mon Jake let eat already!" Finn complained as his brother took his time walking over to the table with the over sized dish above his head. "Calm down man, wait for Josh to get here." Shortly after the older human joined them after catching a glimpse of the last rays of sunlight. "Alright I'm here, lets eat." Josh said as he sat down across from Finn. "Huzzah!" the brothers cheered as they all reached for whatever slices tickled their fancy.
-PB's Lab
Gingerly holding a glass beaker over another and gently tilting it so that only a drop of the liquid inside would come out Princess Bubblegum did not notice Peppermint Butler come in through the open lab door. "This should do it if my calculations are correct. No more need to worry about frostbite for the candy people." PB said to herself as the liquids combined and changed colors. "Princess?" Startled by the suddenness of Pep But's voice, Bubblegum jumped and accidentally poured more liquid into the base beaker, ruining the reaction.
"Ugh! Now I have to remix the whole serum...Well anyway what is it Peppermint?" the pink princess asked turning away from her work. "We just received a message from the slime kingdom saying that they found something unusual while expanding their tunnel networks. They were not very specific about what it was they found however. Something cryptic about it being something you should look at for yourself."
"Hmm, well in that case please go prepare my things for departure. I need to finish this before I leave." Bubblegum requested turning back to the lab bench. "Of course Your Majesty" the butler said with a bow before turning to leave.
"What could they have found? Could it be another time capsule like the one Patterson was in?" Princess Bubblegum thought to her self as she searched around for her notes on the current project she was working on. "WHERE DID I PUT THAT PAPER?!" Which prompted Science to jump up and down and point in the direction of the papers.
-Tree house
"Alright you two, since you're all done eating I need to talk to you while your stomachs settle." Joshua Patterson began while reaching out to poke Jake's bloated belly for emphasis. "Hey! Okay than spill the beans, you said something similar after we left the dungeon. What's eating you?" Jake asked and he rolled himself into a more comfortable position.
Sighing Josh began, "Well to start off with you both have been very helpful in my learning this new world I find myself in. But two things have been brought to my attention as we went through that dungeon. First was that I have been living with you both for close to three weeks now and that dungeon showed me there is still a lot to learn. But I think I should go on my own for a while."
"Whoa! What? You're gonna leave so soon? Why?" Finn interrupted, giving voice to Jake shocked expression.
"Unfortunately yes, and it isn't about you either. That brings up my second point for going. That demon thing we met at the end of the dungeon made a few good points to me, even if the reason it said them wasn't benevolent. I believe, upon reflection, I need some time to myself to figure things out. I was never really alone before me and my squad went into those capsules, so I never looked at my past alot. It was always on to the next mission, with the occasional party in between." The soldier continued looking out the window to see a few stars shining through.
"Now I still plan on going with you guys to see Choose Goose in the morning, he seems like an interesting character to meet. Although afterwards I will probably take off in the direction of that library Princess Bubblegum told me about to see if I can find any info from the war. After that I should be exploring the land, and the other kingdoms that you guys talk about so often. But I think I should go alone, having you guys with me would give me a reputation of being friends with you."
"But you are friends with us! Aren't you?" Jake asked wringing his paws together nervously. Something causing his fur to stand on end.
"Yes! I didn't mean it like that Jake. What I mean is that I need to build my own reputation and not piggyback on your's. I think word has probably spread around by now that the "Capsule Human" is staying with you both, so I already have that as a plus. Also the primary reason for my going by myself, is that while traveling I plan on trying to find out what happened to the other capsules. And with me searching by myself, that frees both of you up from babysitting me to go do your Hero thing." Josh tried to explain, be felt like he was just making things awkward.
"Oh okay dude. We will miss you." Finn said with a slightly glum expression, since he was trying not to be too sad about his new friend leaving.
"Hey relax Finn, I'm not gone yet and it's not like I'm dieing. At least I don't think I am, hehe. And who knows, we might see each other again during my travels while you are out saving someone from some beasty. And if you really need me, which I doubt you will, I am pretty sure the Princess can find someway to track me down." The older human suggested trying to keep the attitude positive.
-Marceline's PoV a few hours prior
I had planned on seeing what the dweebs were up to with the new guy, but arrived at the tree house to find it empty. So I planned on just waiting it out till they got back, they never miss dinner and it was about that time. Entertaining myself by looking around the tree house to keep from the boredom that comes so easily to a millennium old vampire, I waited.
Once the trio returned I stayed invisible waiting to see what they were doing next, and planning how I would prank them. There was always the classic pranks to rely on, especially around Jake. He got spooked by nearly everything, he made it just too easy. Finn stayed down in the treasure room sorting through whatever he had, while Jake and Joshua went upstairs. As the canine chef began preparing for dinner the other human kept climbing up the tree. Messing with Jake a bit as he would place ingredients out and turn to grab another, I would take it behind him and put it back. The confusion on his face was priceless when he found them back in the cupboard.
Still invisible I went upstairs to look for the true source of my curiosity. Finding him outside on the rope bridge, leaning on the edge I could not help myself from thinking 'What is he thinking about?' Not knowing why I suddenly found myself curious about this person more so than anyone else in my past, besides for Simon anyway, sent a chill up my spine. Being particularly careful not to go out into the sun that was still up, I stayed and observed the being standing there as if he was a statue. The only thing that moved was his eyes and the occasional shift of weight from one foot to the other and the bridge rocked back and forth.
"Finn, it's amazing to see a human that doesn't show many of the negative attributes of humanity. Don't turn into me please." As I watched him go back inside after hearing Jake call that the food was done I couldn't help but have yet another question added to the many I had about this guy. Following him back inside I listened in on the table chat as they ate.
-Present time
"Or you know, I could always just sniff you out." Marceline said as she appeared from behind Jake causing him to yelp in fright. "JEEZ! Marcy, don't do that please. I do not wanna see Death again sooner than I have too." Jake said holding a hand to his chest as if it would slow his sky rocketed pulse. "Hello again, what brings you here?" Joshua asked. " Yeah Marcy, what's up?" Finn responded in kind.
"Well I was wondering what you guys were up too, so I came over to see. But no one was home, so I just waited a bit. Jake has a surprise waiting for him in bed though." The vampire finished with a smirk as she watched the dog run off to comb over his bed to find what she meant. Leaning in conspiratorially "There's nothing there, he will be looking for hours. So anyway when were you guys gonna come over for a jam night? It's been a while-"
"Sorry Marceline but I'm going to cut you off there. Since you can turn invisible and you said you waited for us, I am fairly certain you heard what I just told these two about my plans so far. If you, Finn, and Jake want to do that to pass the time while I'm gone than have at it. I won't slow you down, even if I will miss the epic balloon music Finn promised to show me. When I get back from this trip however, I fully intend on rocking out an evening with all of you." Joshua said trying to keep himself from seeming like an ass. After all he would consider them all friends now, and he just told them he was blowing them off for personal biz.
The ruckus upstairs cause from Jake rustling around trying to find whatever it was Marceline did, or didn't, do to it stopped suddenly. The silence was followed shortly by his head poking out from the entryway to the upstairs looking rather perturbed. "Not cool Marcy, not cool at all."
"Well you found out alot faster than I thought you would. Congratulations!" Marcy said waving her hands in mock celebration.
"Hey Jake now that your back, mind if I ask what this pizza is? Its got an odd flavor that isn't too bad." Josh asked as he took another slice the the remaining pie. "Well, there bacon bits, some sausage, 4 cheeses, the special sauce, and some other fruit topping a friend of mine recommended I try. It's the crispy red, and curved slices there. Yeah those." Now that it was brought to attention, all of them reached to pluck some of the unnamed plant from the top of the pizza. "It's sweet, but kinda salty too." Finn said and he nibbled at it before sticking the whole thing in his mouth.
"You're right, don't remember what its called though." Jake said scratching his chin thoughtfully. Even Marceline had taken a bit of it to try. "Hey Marcy, don't you just eat red?" Finn wondered aloud as he reached for another slice. "Red is normally what I eat to survive, yes. But that doesn't stop me from using my taste buds too." Marcy retorted as she took another just to suck the red from it.
Shortly after BMO's alarm for Finn's bed time went off, much to the youths embarrassment, and the entertainment of the older beings present. As Finn went to get ready, Jake turned to leave. But not before turning to give Marceline the evil eye. "I'm going upstairs now, don't do anything funny Marcy..." This caused her to put on a mock pout, "You're no fun.."
"Be nice to the poor old dog, he's got it rough enough looking out for Finn." Josh said with a smirk of his own, but was also followed closely by a yawn. "Oh geez, must be more tired than I thought. I'm gonna go pass out myself, unless there was something you needed me specifically for Marcy?" At his questioning look she seemed to want to say somethign more, but didn't. Instead she faked a yawn of her own and excused herself. And since his brain was already in shut off mode, Joshua didn't question it.
Shortly after Joshua was passed out on the couch, Finn and Jake came back down to check stuff before headed to bed themselves. Although in Jake's case, it was to steal a small snack and check if Marcy was still around or not. Marceline was also on her way back home, confused as to why she was feeling tired. She was a vampire, the night was her day. Not to mention she had only woke up a few hours ago. As soon as she got home however she passed out floating above her bed as usual.
Dreamscape, it's a bizarre place to be when it isn't controlled by the subconscious. Full of swirling colors, random items that have no relation to one another, and a multitude of crazy looking creatures. Finn, Jake, and Marceline all found themselves standing next to each other on seemingly nothing once they had all fallen asleep. "The is one whacky dream man." Finn commented as he looked around as a building floated past before breaking into pieces after striking a butterfly.
"This reminds me of the last time I went tripping on anise oil." Jake said reaching out to grab a red ribbon floating past his face and watched it change to green before letting it go. "So anise oil is the thing huh? Good to know in the future. I really need to watch what I eat though, tomatoes give me the weirdest dreams." Marceline said observing her two counterparts in the dreamscape. "Oh Glob it! I hope this stays a dream... I don't want Marceline to know about the oil." Jake complained.
In front of the trio appeared a square block of stone. Then another materialized next to the previous one. This repeated continuously in a line to create a path. "Um, I don't think this is a dream you guys." Finn said as he stepped onto the block infront of him. "I think this is a path showing us to something though."
"Well of course it's a path to something Finn! Whether or not it's friendly is another story though!." Jake said with wariness in his voice. Marceline also floated up next to Finn before continuing forward. "Well come on you weenies. Let's see what this place wants us to see. And I'm pretty sure this is a dream, but isn't at the same time."
"You mean like that time We went into your memories Marcy? Finn asked as he reached out to poke a flounder swimming in midair.
"Sorta, but this feels different. Not to mention looks different." the vampire responded as she floated ahead.
Continuing down the path presenting itself in front of them, the group wondered at the oddness around them. To where though, they had no idea. As they walked, or floated, they noticed the majority of the stuff floating around was from before the Mushroom War. Offices, computers, vehicles, animals, and many more random things appeared as they headed onward.
"Hey you guys?" Jake said as he looked at a large cat resting in a burning tree. "I just realized something, Joshua isn't here."
"Should he be?" Finn asked without looking back, instead he kept waiting for the next block to show up before him, but it never came.
"This might be nuts, but I think he is here." Marcy said as she pointed at a picture frame moving to the edge of the platform they stood on. Upon closer inspection they all noticed the same thing.
"That picture is moving" they all said in unison. "Well the path seems done, so this is it?" Finn said reaching out a hand for the picture. The image was of a group of people on their knees surrounded by another group standing around them looking menacing.
"This might be a memory, like when we were in Marcy's" Jake said peeking over Finn's shoulder.
"Yeah..." Finn mumbled to himself as he reached out to the picture. The moment his hand touched the image the world spiraled outwards and into a wormhole, sucking the trio inside. After some momentary disorientation the group was deposited on their rear ends in the same room as depicted in the picture.
-Memory 1
"We want the funds transferred to this account, and for the cabinet to step down. We also want a chopper to fly us out. If you do not meet these demands in the next 24 hours, we start killing hostages."
Looking past the man yelling orders out the front door the trio from Ooo saw many more humans in uniforms and a multitude of flashing red and blue light. The amount of humans Finn was looking at was astounding to the young man. After being the only one for his whole life then suddenly seeing them in a thriving situation, or at least thriving to him, was mind boggling.
"Mom what's going on?" a boy around Finn's age asked. "It's fine dear, just stay still. These guys are engaging in aggressive negotiations." The short cut, black haired woman next to him answered.
"Hey you! Quiet over there!" One of the take over guards shouted. Leaning in, a man who looked remarkably similar to Joshua Patterson whispered to the woman. " Honey, Josh is old enough to understand. And this isn't the time to be making jokes." "You know jokes are how I cope..."
"So the kid there is Josh, so that means that the other two next to him are his parents." Jake observed before everything seemed to fast forward.
"Alright then 'Law Enforcement' your 24 hours are up. My man on the computer hasn't seen the funds transferred yet and I have not seen anything on the news about the cabinet retiring. So to me, it looks like I have to start giving you more incentive. Bring me two hostages!" The two unlucky victims happened to be the closest ones to the doors, Joshua' parents.
They fought back as much as they could, but it didn't amount to much as they got dragged out the open door. Before the door closed time seemed to slow down as the father turned to face Josh. "Stay strong Bud." Those three words were filling with peace, but also a great amount of sorrow from the knowledge of having to say them in the first place. After those words of encouragement were said time resumed normally again. "This is the first set until out demands are met! You are 6 hours!" Bang,... Bang!
The leader and the guards came back in through the door, but not Joshua's parents. "No. Nonono. Nono no no nononononono...AAAHHRRGGGG!" The young boy's mind snapped. Charging at the leader of the take over group, Josh sought vengeance. But it wasn't just him, Finn was right along side him charging in recklessly as well. Finn swung his sword and Josh threw a punch, but only one connected. The sword just phased right through leaving no impact, throwing Finn off balance and tumbling away.
"Finn! It's a memory. You can't do anything. All we can do is watch." Marceline said as she and Jake helped pull him back to his feet as the rest of the memory faded away. "Yeah, but that's gronked up."Finn replied with a sigh. "I know bro, it IS gronked up. But it's no use trying to change the past." Jake said as they appeared back on the block path from before. This time from the swirling colors of Dreamscape came bubbles filled with memories. After Jake popped one they all got sucked in again.
-Memory 2
"Hey Simon c'mon! Its almost time" a voice came in from another room.
"I told you, Josh, I'm not that interested in karate." Simon called back as he remained seated reading an Indiana Jones book. (I don't own that by the way. No infringement intentional.)
"Alright fine. I'll just have to keep bailing you out from the bullies at school huh?" Josh said as he walked into the room carrying his dufflebag.
"Ha ha...good to know I have a personal bodyguard,"Simon responded rolling his eyes. But he was silently grateful at the same time.
"So... you still planning on being the next Indiana Jones then? How do you plan on fighting off all the other treasure hunters if I'm the only one who knows how to fight?" Joshua said pointedly poking Simon's shoulder.
"First off, Indy isn't a treasure hunter, he's an archeologist. Second, I guess you have a point. And third, I get the drum set when we get back!" Simon said quickly before running to grab his own dufflebag.
-memory time jump-
"Alright dude, time for me to go." Josh said to his companion with mixed emotions. Sad that he would be leaving his friend and companion for the last few years, but also happy for the opportunity before him and everything it represented.
"You know Josh, you don't have to do this. I know we don't talk about it for a few reasons, but what happened to your parents, this isn't going to bring them back." Simon said looking at his friend with a worry for his well being.
"This isn't about bringing them back man, this is about keeping it from happening to anyone else. I want to be part of that. I'll stay as safe as I can, and I hope you do the same after you get that degree in studying old stuff. We can still keep in touch though." Josh said as he finished gathering his things before heading out the door for the bus.
"Yeah definitely." Simon sighed to himself as the door closed, Joshua not having waited for a response. "I know what you say man, but I think your motives are different than what you let on."
As the group watched Simon turn away from the door the world faded away around them, once more landing them back in the trippy realm of dreams. "Was that...? No it couldn't be." Marceline mumbled to herself after the image of Simon faded. This time the path started to build upon itself again, sending the group into a large circle. As the last block appeared in it's place water seeped out from each block into the middle creating a pool. Filling up rapidly images started to surface in the moving water before behind pushed under again. The group caught snippets of themselves among the many that showed up.
Nearing the completion of the pool the water slowed down, as did the images, leaving a smooth as glass surface. Under the surface another memory was growing in size, until the whole of the pool was filled with the image. Contrary to the other times this memory did not immerse the group in it, but rather played itself out as a movie on a big screen.
"Corporal Patterson, the general wants you in his office. On the double." A man in his mid forties called out as he drove up in a Humvee. "Yes, sir!" Joshua immediately got into the vehicle and headed towards the main building of the compound. Jogging at a brisk pace through the building he passed a variety of other people going about their business, whether it was paper work or discussing the current conflict. Finding himself at the set of double doors Patterson prepared himself to enter, straightening his clothes and his hair or otherwise making himself presentable.
Entering the room the sight of a large desk covered in papers and folders, with the white haired and grisled general sat behind it with his hands clasped on his lap. But the commanding officer was not the only other one in the room, there was four others there as well. "Good you're here. I would like you to meet your new squad. This group is under my command directly, and will not be issued orders from the general channels. Patterson, you are in command of the squad. Thus you are promoted to Seargant." The general had started talking by looking at each of the individuals separately before standing up."You have each been selected for a reason, those reasons I will leave up to you to discuss with each other. I have reason to believe that no mission you will get sent on will come back with failure. Don't prove me wrong, you are dismissed to get to know one another." Waving his hand dismissively the general turned to the window behind him.
As the newly formed squad headed downstairs to the mess area they began taking measure of each other. The first of the group that caught Patterson's attention was the mountain of a man to his immediate left. The black man was as wide as he was tall, and all of it muscle, his nearly 7' height dwarfing the rest. His name tag said Samuel M. Richardson. To the right was the next to pull at his curiosity, only a few inches shorter than Joshua himself the man had a bookish look to him seeming very out of place in the Marine fatigues. His name tag read Jason R. Strous. On the far side of Jason walked another person of similar stature, but was far more imposing. Name tag read Bradey L. McCormick. And the last of the group was walking just behind Joshua. This guy gave off the impression that he would win the muscle man of the year award just by flexing his eyebrow. Being the shortest of the group, Samual J. Angermann had more than enough brawn to share, even his muscles had muscles.
Finding an open table that they could sit at they all got comfortable as they each prepared themselves for the introductions."Alright let's get this AA meeting underway. Hi, I'm Joshua Patterson." He said testing the waters. "Hi Joshua!" The other four responded in concert. "Yeah, I think we will get along wonderfully." As they all smirked at each other. "Now getting down to business, the General wanted us to let each other know what got us picked for this little team, so I'll start. My speciality is CQC, although I'm not half bad with vehicles either. (CQC is short term for Close Quarters Combat.) Mission was snatch and grab, in and out, bail if discovered. We got discovered, rest of squad bailed but I stayed grabbed the package and evac'ed at a differant location. Evac site was compramised and I made it, squad didn't."
"John Angermann's the name, explosives are my game. My last squad was hit on a transit's known path. I had set up charges for the ambush prior to serve two purposes. First was to stall out the lead vehicles, second was to blind as disorient the guards that got out to check the damage. I had also prepped some explosive mortar rounds just in case to make sure target was eliminated. As the caravan passed first set of charges, they blew doing their intended purpose and halting the traffic. But what we didn't expect was that no one got out to inspect what was going on, they instead backtracked and went around. My squad, seeing as the objective was going sour quickly, decided to move in before they got to far. They didn't make it very far before the caravan's truck dropped the back hatch revieling the tanks they had stashed there. Seeing as it was a now or never moment, I used every last mortar round I had left. Target and escorts were eliminated, but so was my squad, as the tanks took them out before I could."
"Samual Richardson at your service. Field Medic is my specialty. I don't have a 'I finished the job' story, but I got my squad back safely. We were trenched up, besieging the revolutionist holdout in the mountains. Turned into a battle of attrition, I just did my best to patch everyone back up as they got hit."
"Bradey McCormick, rifleman, only squad member left still able to fight. Specialized in urban combat. Squad was sent after an activist group that had revealed none to friendly intentions. IEDs, booby traps, and ambushes were set up around the holdout. I managed to make it through nearly unscathed. As the remainder of my squad moved to secure the leaders we found out the hard way that they had bomb vests on just in case. What kind of moron would walk about with a bomb strapped to them 24/7 is beyond my understanding. Eight months laters here I am."
"Jason Strous, nice to meet all of you. My specialty is long range rifles and carbines, although I'm partial to bolt action snipers. Also fairly handy at working around coding, although I'm no world class hacker, I should be able to handle most door pass-codes. I wasn't part of a squad before hand really, was more along the lines of. "Here is the target these units are the diversion. Your drop is here. Evac is here." Then went about the hits. First time I've officially been attached to a group."
"Well, now that everyone's introduced all we have to do is wait for the government super soldier testing where the rogue team gets picked to be guinea pigs. And on that note drinks are on me tonight!" Joshua concluded as a conclusive cheer went up from the group that would become his closest companions for the next years.
Sorry I've been away so long. I could say it was a great many things, but it doesn't matter. I made readers wait, and being a reader myself I know how much that sucks. But w/e here you go and please, PLEASE I do wanna hear comments, even the negative, although I would prefer the constructive negativity.
