Chapter 7, People! The time has arrived for Finn and Alex. Freeing all of the prisoners out of Maja's twisted dimension is now their top priority. Failure is not an option here. Now then...

Finn's POV

If my heart was beating any harder, my chest probably would've have exploded. Launching an escape of this magnitude was going to be an uphill battle of sorts. It's put up or shut up time, Finn. These people are counting on you. With that in mind, I slowly started to turn around to the guards, as did Alex. "This is your last warning, Prisoners", the guards said to us. "Return to you cell, or we will use force!" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a sweat drop on Alex's cheek, despite how calm he was. One of the guards approached Alex and tried to shock him with an electrified spear, only to have the spear quickly kicked out of his hands and into the air. Alex, who didn't waste any time at all, sent a ridiculously fast spinning heel kick right to the skull of the guard, actually separating his head from the rest of his body. The guard's skull bounced off the prison doors a good 5 or 6 times before it hit the hallway floor and broke. The rest of the guard's body disintegrated afterwards. The remaining guards and I watched in awe as Alex turned around and caught the spear that was still airborne and spun it around like someone who knew Kung Fu. "Baaanzaaaiiiiii!" With that battle cry, he proceeded to charge the guards like a madman. As a result the prison was lit up with cheers and yells from the prisoners. The guards were exchanging hits between Alex, who was now armed and blocking every hit with his spear. He kicked one of the guards back towards me and I grabbed his arm and flipped him on his back, actually breaking the skeleton to pieces upon hitting the ground. Despite being enchanted, they were still quite fragile. "Ooohhh!" Was all that could be heard from the prisoners before the cheering resumed. "Riot! Riot! Riot! Riot!" The cheering and chants were almost deafening.

"Hey kid, look out!" Alex yelled out at me. I turned around and narrowly missed being stabbed in the neck by a guard's halberd. I punched his head off and the skeleton's body turned to dust. His halberd clattered on the floor, and I picked it up. "I really think that headshotting every one of these guys is overkill, don't you?" I said to Alex, who had four skeletons around him. "Don't get soft now, Kid. These are undead entities, so the only way to eliminate them is with headshots only." He replied. A skeleton swung a battle axe at Alex, who ducked and did a fast 540 spin while holding his spear. The spin cleanly sliced through the necks of all four skeletons and their skulls fell onto their respective bodies, breaking right through their anatomies as they fell. "And besides, skeletons don't bleed so it's not as violent as one would imagine." I looked at him with a expression that said "Seriously, dude". "Yet breaking bones doesn't qualify as violent… Yep, seems legit." He looked at me with a smirk. "You know what, screw you." With that, we continued to fight off the remaining guards.

Maja's POV

"Hm, hmm, hmm, hm, hm hmm…" After Death left my abode, I hummed to myself as I floated around my bedroom. So many souls to play with; so little time. I was brandishing a keen knife in my hand as I floated down the hallway outside. I had recently learned that Death was willing to trade the souls of my prisoners for a longer formative live. He did need time to come up with the spell to do so. "When Death's spell is complete, i'll be able to stay young for as long as I want. This will ensure that my powers will never go away." I said to myself, as I entered my spell room. On the side of the room, I had a dart board mounted on the wall, but instead of point values, there were pictures. Pictures of every single person I loathed or didn't like. On the "20" position, there was a picture of the same demon who terrorized me all those years before. Just the sight of him was sickening. "Just you wait, jerk. If you thought what I did to you before was bad, you won't fathom what I have in store for you!" Those memories came back in such a daunting manner. Here comes empress blemish! Hey Madame zitty, ever heard of pimple cream? Hahahahahahaha! "Grrr... SHUT UP!" I yelled out and threw the dagger that I had right between that jerk's eyes. "Hah... Hah... Soon, you all will pay..." After I regained my composure, I flew over to the large glass window beside the board. The pink sky outside only somewhat made me feel better. "(sigh) Well, at least it wasn't all bad." Reaching under my shirt, I pulled out a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it, revealing a picture of Alex and I when we were teens. "(Sigh) You're the only person who understands me..." I was caressing the photo as if he were actually in the room. "Alex..."

In my moment of randomness, I started thinking back on a day when Alex and I were adventuring together. Hey Alex? Yeah, Maja? Why are you such a nice person? Um, well... Being nice should be common, shouldn't it? You can make friends so easily, Alex. I really wish I had your life... Au contraire, kid. I make enemies faster than anyone. The difference between you and me is that people have this similarity complex where if you're not like them, then they're above you. The two of us were walking through a tulip-filled meadow, and he was holding my hand. Funny thing, the microscope effect just does not work with me. I don't give a rat's tail about whatever rationalization a person may give themselves. I make sure to make my presence known to the world. If your gonna mess with someone, be prepared to atone for that mistake. Alex had such a kind side to him, despite his reputation. What i'm saying is, don't let them beat you down. Let them know that you mean business and that you wont be intimidated by anyone. I assure you, people will learn to like you. Really? What makes you so sure of that, Alex? Well, you managed to make a friend out of me, didn't you? At this point, I was hugging the piece of paper tightly, and I was blushing furiously. "I don't need anyone else... You're the only person I need, Alex. I wont let you go... Ever..."

"Mistress!" All of a sudden, there was a loud yell which made me snap out of my daydream. Looking at my cauldron, there was a guard who was sending a magically transmitted message from the prison dimension. "Peon! How dare you interrupt me in the midst of my moment!" "Forgive me, Mistress! There is a prison riot in progress involving two prisoners!" He said. "Pardon...?" I replied "The human and the rogue are single-handedly eliminating our forces wave by wave! Please, we need reinf-" He doesn't get to complete his distress message. (Shink!) In that instant, his head just flies off his body, which turned to dust shortly after. The cauldron faded out after that. Alex... What are you up to down there...? I thought to myself as I headed for the dungeon.

Alex's POV

Honestly, I wasn't sure what was weirder: The fact that these guys were asininely weak, or that Maja didn't hear any of what was going on. "Come on, woman! We literally don't have all day!" I said to myself as the onslaught continued. As I destroyed another guard who was moping the floor with the guards around him. He was spinning and swinging the halberd he picked up at the guards. His attacks were fast, but his movements were practically like water, and disturbingly accurate. Dang, who taught this kid how to fight like this? I need to find out... I thought to myself. "This is playing out way too effortlessly" Finn said to me. I was about to reply when seven guards in a straight line rushed in from the prison entrance. "Get down, kid!" Finn immediately got down on all-fours and I turned and chucked the spear like a javelin directly at the first skeleton's head. The result was that I managed to spike all seven of the skeletons' skulls onto the spear which got stuck just inches from the side of the exit. Their headless bodies dissipated as a result of the attack, and the crowd was silent for a moment... "Shish-kabob!" ...until I said that, causing the crowd to break out in laughter. Even Finn was trying not to laugh at my joke. "Dude... (snicker) ...that's just disrespectful." "My friends call it Breakin' the fourth wall. You should try it sometime."

At this point, there was only one guard left in that entire prison. Finn and I slowly approached him. "Not bad, not bad at all..." That was his only response. The prisoners chants got louder as we got closer to the guard. "Let's end this!" With that statement, we were about to attack when- (Bang!) The prison door suddenly opened, revealing my still-yet-somewhat friend/enemy, Maja. "You are one determined rogue, aren't you?" She said, slowly approaching our position. I gulped a little as she came closer. "Well... What can I say? I'm uncouth." I replied, and she let out a short giggle."You do know that I cannot allow such actions to go unpunished. You and your cellmate will suffer for disobedience." The prisoners were dead silent at this point. Looking out of the left corner of my eye, I could see that our cell was still open. This is it... Don't mess up... Both Finn and I took two steps back while Maja closed the gap in distance between us. She was right in front of our cell, which was just what I was waiting for. "Do you have anything to say, boys", Maja asked us. Finn and I looked at each other for a split second, and then I turned back to face Maja. "(Sigh) Just two words..." I said. "Think Fast!" As soon as i said that, the last guard, who was actually my teammate, Abel quickly shoved Maja into the cell, and both Finn and I swiftly reentered into the cell, and quickly jumped back out before the cell could lock us in.

"Aah, What the-?!" Maja spun around to see us, outside of the cell. "How did..." I had a small smirk on my face. "No prison can hold me, old friend" I high-fived finn as I said this, but then- "No! I won't let you leave!" She stuck her hand out at us, which was glowing red. Finn gasped and was wide-eyed, meanwhile I had my eyes closed bracing for whatever torture was about to be inflicted... and then... I opened my eyes. Nothing happened. I looked over at Finn, who was standing just fine. Maja still had her powers, but because she was in the cell, she couldn't affect us. Holy cow, that worked! I can't believe that worked! Maja's was in shock by the whole thing. I couldn't tell if she was outraged or impressed by those events, but I was not waiting to find out. I turned towards the direction of the exit and said two words... "Guys, Run..." That was the last thing I said in that prison before the three of us made a beeline dash straight for the exit. Among all of the cheering, a ear-splitting scream could be heard from the far end of the hallway just as we got outside of the prison and back into Maja's house.Ohhh, Man she is mad!

Jake's POV

It took us half an hour to neutralize those freaking flytraps By the time we were done, we had them tied together in a knot. "You guys are so lucky I didn't bring a flamethrower with me!" It seemed PB was still ticked off about the whole "insufficient clearance" crack they made. "Dude, let it go already" I said to her as she got back on me. We continued through the woods for a while until we hit a fork in the road. "Something's not right..." PB said, looking down the two paths. There was a sign between the two paths which read a disturbing message: Before you lies a path double, one leads to progress, the other leads to trouble. Only fools continue so be aware that a incorrect guess will lead to despair... I gulped hard when I read this message. "Bro, that is dark..." I said. PB was even more on edge."This... This wasn't here before. There should have been just a road lined with sharp vines." Her voice was a little shaky when she said that. "Whoa... You okay there, Bubblegum?" "I'm fine, Jake. However, we should be very cautious of the path we take. Looking back at the two paths, I wasn't sure which was the right path. After a minute of quiet debate, PB decided. "I think... The left path is the safe route." Given that I had never been down here, I didn't argue with her decision. We continued down the path for about 20 seconds until.. (Gasp) I quickly stopped myself. In front of us was a giant divide which appeared to be endless. A few rocks fell as I stepped back, and sure enough, that pit was endless, as evidenced by the silence. "Whew!" I said. "It's a good thing I saw that trap, Right Bubblegum?" But just then...

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" I suddenly turned around and looked up. A couple of vines were wrapped around PB's waist, and they were bringing her over the pit. "Jake, Help!" She screamed. "Hang on!" Just as I was about to grab her, I was knocked backwards into a nearby tree. "Augh!" I was a little stunned by the impact, but I got over it quick as the vines had her directly over the death trap. "Oh glob, oh glob, oh, glob!" Suddenly the vines released her. "AAAAAAAAHHHH-" Extending my arm, I managed to catch her before she plummeted to her doom. She had fallen about 15 feet before I caught her. When I pulled her up, I immediately ran the opposite way, only to get smacked from behind by another set of vines. Luckily, the hit sent us back to the fork we came to earlier. "(panting) I.. hate this... forest!" I yellef out. I looked over at PB, who was shaking a little, but was otherwise fine. "When were done... I am going to wring the neck of whoever made that trap!" I was stunned. This was the most scared that I'd ever seen PB. "Well... maybe we should rest a minute before we continue..." I said, but PB thought otherwise. "I'm fine, Jake. I just needed a scond to compose myself. I couldn't blame her. She came very close to falling to her demise. After a few seconds, she got back on top of me and we started down the other path. "Thanks for the save, Jake", PB said, petting my head. "Don't mention it", I replied as we continued moving through the woods. Perhaps now we can find this stupid house...

Finn's POV

I couldn't believe it... We had actually gotten out of Maja's prison in one piece. The entrance brought us to the basement of Maja's house. There was a hallway with five doors on each side and at the end of the hall was a staircase leading to the main floor of the house. "Yes, We made it! Now we just have to free those people" I said to Alex and Abel. "Quickly, which room has the controls for the prison", Alex asked Abel, who brought up a holographic map. "It's the second to last door on the left", Said Abel. We quickly ran for the fourth door on the left side of the hallway. "Guys, Cover me!" Alex said that to us and quickly ran in, but then... "Aahaahhh!" There was a girlish shriek and Alex ran back out, but not before being hit in the head by a shower brush. "You pervert!" "Sorry! Sorry!" He apologized to whoever was in there and shut the door. "What the heck, Man?! Alex yelled at Abel with a red face. "Hehe... Sorry. I meant the door on the right", Abel said to him with a sheepish chuckle. All three of us approached the right door, then Alex turned to me. "Ok, you go first kid." , He said while patting my back. He must have seen something that was pretty unsettling. With that, I slowly turned the knob and opened the door. "Hello..."

Opening the door revealed a sky blue room with surveillance screens for just about every room in the house. "Well jeez" I said to myself. "There must be at least 200 screens here..." I ran down the room, searching for the prison camera. "Yes, this is it!" I stopped about halfway through the room. There were two screens displaying the two equal lines of cells from the prison dimension. Below them, there were two touch-screened control panels with exactly 50 squares on each screen, each containing a checkbox in the right corner. "Really? They can make an entire dimension but they couldn't install a check all command for this thing?!" I said, quickly trying to check all of the cell checkboxes. After about 90 seconds, every box except the box for the cell that Maja was in was checked. "Good, now to free the prisoners." I looked around and saw a panel with four buttons labeled, Release, Secure, Uncheck all, and unbelievably... Check All. Are you freaking kidding me?! It took me that long to see that?! You wouldn't believe whow livid I was. "Hey kid", Alex yelled from outside. "Could you go any slower, bro?!" I rolled my eyes and looked at the button that said Release. Oh, please be the right button... I thought to myself. Crossing my fingers, I pushed the Release button, and the 99 checked cells each suddenly opened. With that, I grabbed a microphone that was linked to the control panel. "Attention, Prisoners! The area is clear, ESCAPE NOW!" Sure enough, all of the prisoners flooded the prison hallway and ran straight for the exit. Not wasting any more time I ran back outside and slammed the door shut. "If you don't want to become a welcome mat, then you better start running!" I said to Alex and Abel, who shook their heads. All of us ran up the stairs into the ground floor of the house. We could hear loud footsteps as we ran to the exit. As Alex opened the door leading to freedom, the mass of prisoners entered the main floor of the house. "Wait!" Alex yelled out quickly, stopping them. "Listen carefully! Outside, you will see a fairly-sized puddle which will take you back into our dimension! Jump carefully, because if you miss, you're on your own!" He warned them all, and they nodded in agreement. "Now, Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" With that yell, the prisoners wasted no time jumping for sanctuary. After about a minute, we were down to the last few prisoners. Surprisingly, the necromancer that Alex had saved earlier and his daughter were the last two prisoners to reach the exit. The little girl stopped and hugged both me and Finn while her father shook hands with Abel. "Words cannot express how grateful I am to you for your help. Should we meet again, You all will be rewarded immensely for your trouble." All three of us smiled at the two of them. "No problem, good sir." Alex said. Seeing that smile on his face was heartwarming. "Now hurry!" And with that the two joined hands and jumped straight for the portal.

"Is that everyone?" Alex said, looking around the house. "Yep, that's it!" I replied. With a sigh of relief, Alex turned and faced the pink sky outside. "You guys ready to bounce?" He said to us. "Yeah, Man!" I said, giving him a thumbs up. We were about to jump until Alex suddenly stopped. "Whoa, dude!" I said. "What's the hold up?" Alex turned and looked up at the upper floor of the house. "I can't go just yet." He said, and he started running up the stairs. "Um... Shouldn't we be going as far away from this house as possible, bro?" Abel said to him. "I know", Alex said, stopping halfway up the stairs. "But Maja took something very important from me when she caught me before." He said back to us. "I can't go without it. You guys earned your freedom. Don't worry about me." Returning a genuine smile, he started back up the stairs. "Dude, but..." I started to say, but then Abel started after him. "Seriously, you too?" Abel looked at be with a serious glare. "Alex has been a friend of mine for years, Finn." He answered back. "I wont escape until he's ready to." With that, he followed Alex up the stairs. "Wha- but... the- Ugh!" Defeated, I reluctantly followed them up to the top floor. This guy, I swear...

If you thought we weren't pressing our luck enough already, then you'd be right. Because during that whole endeavor, i overlooked one important factor in our escape. In my rush, I forgot to reclose the cells in the prison. As a result, a fail-safe was triggered, opening any other closed cells for 15 seconds before all 100 would close. This was to give the prisonets a fair amount of breathing time in case there was a malfunction with the controls. Unfortunately, the three of us were about to realize just how bad an oversight that was..

"Ready or not, here I come..."

To be continued... Please Review!