Chapter 36: Prism Break

Simon…

Simon.

Simon!

Ice King's eyes flew open as he brought a hand to his chest and took a gasp for air. For a moment, he freaked out, remembering his final thoughts before losing consciousness earlier. The old man moved his fingers around his chest, searching for the multitude of puncture wounds that should've been on his skin. Remarkably, there were none whatsoever.

"Simon, get up!"

The ice wizard scanned the space in front of him. He was lying on his back so all that was visible was the sky, which contained a gentle snowfall, along with the face of an elderly looking man. Ice King suddenly sat up, panicking again at the unfamiliar surroundings. The world around him was covered in a majestic white blanket of frost, tranquil in appearance and producing just enough of a chill that a normal person would shiver slightly.

Being practically frozen himself however, IK felt right at home as he refocused his attention on the man before him. The stranger was wearing a badly degraded blue cloak, which covered all but his head, as the hood was down. His hair was a silvery white, which also produced a frosty mist from the sublimation it caused. The man's white eyes somehow looked friendly despite their emptiness.

The mysterious being gave a concerned smile and held out his hand, which seemed to be made of pure ice, yet at the same time perfectly flexible like average flesh. Ice King hesitated for a moment, but eventually took the offer and let the stranger help pull him to his feet. Once the old man was standing, he brushed off the snow sticking to his tunic and gazed with confusion at his unknown companion.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

The older man made a small bow then grinned to the wizard.

"My name is Gelum, the entity that resides in the crown."

IK's eyes grew wide as he stared in disbelief at the icy being.

"No way! That's nuts! Wait, if you're inside the crown then that means…"

Gelum nodded.

"You are also currently within the golden object, a realm created from the gem of power that is embedded within it. It is here that I reside, influencing the wearer to embrace the might of ice and snow."

The manipulator gave a solemn expression.

"However, Solara has brought me out of darkness; my heart had been thawed from the madness of my own power. I now seek to truly protect those around me, without the need to control and degrade minds."

He placed a hand on IK's shoulder.

"Simon, I am greatly ashamed for what I have done to you. Your life would've been filled with much more joy had I not corrupted your thoughts."

Ice King filtered the thought for a moment, thinking hard about the icy man's apology. Finally, he patted his companion's side, grinning warmly.

"It's alright man, we're cool. I mean, even if I could've done it differently check out where I am now. I've got two awesome bro-hams, other friends, and a bunch of peeps who want to hang out and ask for my help. As far as I see it, no harm done."

Gelum gazed at the old man's friendly face for a minute, his eyes studying the wizard's expression. After a long period of silence, he managed to smile back and held out his hand.

"That means more than you know, Simon."

Ice King frowned at the offered hand. He looked up to Gelum with a skeptical look.

"If there's anything Finn taught me, it's that there's a real way to do this kind of thing."

The spirit of the crown furrowed his brow in confusion as IK held out his arms.

"You've got to bring it in, bro."

At first, Gelum stared awkwardly at the ground, not exactly accustomed to the type of trust bond that originated on earth. Eventually though, he shrugged and took a step forward, allowing Ice King to give him the intended bro hug. The two icy beings gave pats on the back before moving away. After a quick fist bump, the wizard was satisfied and nodded to his new friend.

"So, how did I end up in here anyway?"

Gelum pointed behind the old man, who turned to see what he was indicating. The vision shocked Simon, who rubbed the back of his neck at the sight of the devastated landscape. There were dozens of massive ice stalagmites tearing through the gentle ground, creating deep cracks in the snowy floor of the realm. These chasms seemed to be whispering, since Ice King could clearly hear a shrill voice emanating from the depths.

"Yeesh, what happened to this place?"

Gelum took another step forward to stand by the wizard's side.

"A powerful force had used your fear to imprison you here within your own mind. The resulting event had obstructed this realm. Normally a simple physical slap to the face would wake you up from it, but I sense no one anywhere in your immediate vicinity. If you want to escape back to the real world, you'll have to repair the damage to this one."

IK pondered the explanation and then nodded.

"Alright, no prob; time to get to work."

The old man rubbed his hands together and thrust himself into the air. With some careful flying, he managed to come up to the first stalagmite. It was firmly sticking out of the ground, leaking a strange dark substance into the atmosphere. IK assumed it was the dark voices from earlier.

The ice wizard held up his hands, which produced a blue hue before firing off a blast of chilling energy at the chasm below. The whispers turned into screams as the void was progressively sealed off from the realm of the crown. As a seamless coat of ice now held the ground together, Ice King flew down to the base of the stalagmite and placed his palm against it.

A moment later, the chilling spire began to destabilize, growing more solvent by the second. Before long, the once towering pillar was reduced to a mere puddle, evaporated into the air as frosty mist. As the finishing touch, IK made some snow sprinkle over the glimmering ice patch, covering the repairs. Gelum came up next to him, admiring the work.

"Well, I suppose I should help out. It is my home after all."

The two cryomancers proceeded to coordinate their efforts to restore the realm, with Ice King sealing off the chasms while Gelum melted down the remaining stalagmites. Both of them used mental energy to keep a heavier snowfall going to cover up the ice patches dotting the ground. Within half an hour, the snowy landscape had been fully healed by their efforts, restoring the peaceful atmosphere of the icy spirit's domain.

Ice King examined their handiwork in midair, encountering only pure, gleaming white as far as the eye could see. He then flew down next to Gelum who nodded with thanks and gave his friend a handshake.

"Well done, Simon. I can send you on your way now."

IK looked hopefully at the frosty manipulator.

"Will we ever be able to hang again?"

Gelum chuckled a bit and laid a hand on the old man's shoulder.

"Of course, someday my friend."

Ice King gave a reassured smile and nodded. Gelum stood back and clapped his hands together, instantly causing a cyclonic blizzard that surrounded the ice wizard. Before visibility vanished, the spirit gave a thumbs up through the howling gale, along with a grin that was matched by his companion. With that, IK vanished from the elder's realm.

Simon awoke without any fidgeting, having removed the horrible coma his mind had been under. Looking around, he noticed he had been standing the whole time, alone, in an empty room. It was more of a cell really, with three blank, yellow walls and a side occupied by nothing more than a large glass panel, which reached from the floor to the ceiling. Ice King shook off the oddity of the situation and approached the glass.

Pressing his face up to get a better look, he saw that he was in a long hallway containing similar rooms, all with a glass front and three basic walls. Within each one however, was a person. IK noticed a couple of candy people, a goblin, several rock golems, even Breakfast Princess. They were all standing in the middle of their cells, eyes closed and completely motionless. The sight made the wizard shudder.

Creepy.

Having had enough of the wacky environment, the old man proceeded to form an ice sledge in his hands and swung it back, preparing to smash the glass wall and free himself. As the hammer rushed forward and made contact with the transparent slate, it shattered, not even making a dent in the material. Bewildered, Ice King created another sledge, this time opting for a downward swing. The same result occurred as the icy tool was blown to bits.

Frustrated, IK stood back and began firing ice lightning at the glass. Each shot either ricocheted off the wall or disintegrated entirely. After a few minutes of constant bombardment, the old man grew weary of the act and stopped, panting slightly.

"Dang it, what is up with this stuff?!"

He walked up to the wall and began trying different tactics to release himself. First, he just punched the glass with his fists, succeeding only in bruising several knuckles. Next, he banged his head on the transparent wall repeatedly, which caused the crown to suddenly drop its temperature to such a cold that it burned the wizard's head.

"Ouch! Ok, I'll stop!"

Next up, he tried saying 'open sesame.' Obviously, nothing happened. The following attempt consisted of backing up to the rear wall and rushing at the glass full speed, ramming into it with his shoulder. Again, no effect. Growing hopeless by the minute, Ice King eventually just sat on the ground exhausted, shouting insults at the indestructible wall. He then tired something different. After calming himself, he dove deep into his mind, contemplating an idea instead of just rushing in with brute force.

Come on man, think outside the box.

Simon opened his eyes, staring with revelation at the glass. He stood up and walked over, placing a hand gently on the transparent surface. As best he could tell, there was some fog leaking into the hallway of wherever he was at, suggesting that the structure was the source of the eerie mist from earlier in the candy palace. Growing a grin, the wizard took a step back and held up his hand, emitting a blue hue from it and aiming at the mist.

Slowly but surely, the fog became more and more condensed, generating a light frosty mass in the air, which continued to harden until finally, an ice ball was formed from the loose water vapor. Happy with the results, Ice King backed up to the side of his cell and turned away from the glass. Then, with one swift motion, he launched the ice ball straight at the stubborn wall, which instantly let out a shattering sound as the solid material hit the glass, proving that it was only indestructible on the inside.

As the numerous shards settled on the ground, Ice King carefully stepped over the mess and made his way out of the cell. Free of the cubic prison, the old man looked down both ends of the hallway he was in. The corners were within sight, indicating that the place was not infinitely wide. Turning back to the cells along the corridor, he planned the next move.

Gotta find Jake. Well…my Jake.

Surprisingly, the next room over contained exactly the person the king was looking for. The yellow dog stood silently like the others, eyes closed and motionless. It was still creepy but at least IK knew how to take care of that. With a single ice bolt, he broke the canine's glass wall to pieces, allowing him to step through and walk up to his friend. Simon proceeded to begin shaking the dog back and forth.

"Jake, Jake, wake up man, come on Jake!"

He stopped and remembered what Gelum had told him. Bringing his hand back, the wizard came back around and smacked Jake squarely in the cheek with his palm, instantly breaking the magical canine out of his trance.

"Who, what, where!"

After a moment to readjust, Jake saw Ice King in front of him.

"Dude! You're ok!"

The old man was confused.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

The dog examined his companion closely.

"I don't know man, you were like a zombie last time I saw you, and had this really creepy scare face that freaked me out."

Shrugging, IK gestured for his friend to walk out of the cell with him. Once the two were clear of the room, they both gazed down the halls. The strange fog was definitely not as prominent in the structure but it was present nonetheless, suggesting that they were high in the sky where heat would cause the internal weather. Jake suddenly remembered he never told Ice King about what he had figured out.

"Oh man! I found out what's going on in this messed up universe."

Simon turned to listen eagerly to his companion's explanation.

"This thing we're in is a giant prism floating in the air high above the clouds. Apparently Prismo was sent after us through the portal, likely to make sure we really do stay here. And now he's used his crazy powers to scare the pants off everybody and trap them in this huge mind jail."

Ice King almost couldn't take in the information, having to shake his head to throw off the dizziness of thinking. Finally though, he responded.

"How do you know it's him though? I mean sure it fits but it could be any number of other crazy deals."

Before Jake could reply, the two noticed something coming down the hall. Both gazed intently at the anomaly. It appeared to be a shadow, but there was no owner. What's more, it was in the shape of a large hand, which slowly crawled from the floor up onto a wall and slithered over to where the dog and wizard were standing. They looked in confusion as to the strange event.

The hand halted its movements as it reached the spot on the wall directly in front of the duo. Suddenly, a fiery source was ignited in the shadow's palm, aimed directly at Jake and Ice King. The magical canine's eyes grew wide as the fire began charging rapidly.

"Look out!"

He dove at IK, bringing them both to the ground as a flamethrower was unleashed from the shadow, frying the opposite wall and leaving it charred. The flames halted and the hand shade moved, now on the ground and directly beneath the lying pair. Jake acted fast again, snatching the old man in his arms and stretching his legs to quickly escape the pillar of fire that erupted from the hand.

Pumped with fright and adrenaline, the two escapees ran for it, with the shadow in hot pursuit. As they dashed towards the nearing corner, Ice King spoke through panting breaths.

"So…what's…the…plan?"

Jake looked back to see the hand catching up.

"First, we've got to ditch this shade. Freeze the floor man!"

IK nodded and quickly spun around, unleashing an icy blast at the yellow ground. The chilling substance quickly enveloped the hallway, seemingly making it impossible for the shade to follow. Astonishingly, the shadow slid right over the ice, using it as its plain of travel. The old man's eyes grew wide as the hand came underneath him and prepared another blast.

Luckily, Jake lassoed the wizard and pulled him forward before the poor man was fried to a crisp. They continued their escape, now nearing an opening in the distance. As the corridor ended, the duo gasped, marveling at the sheer size of the prism they were in. The opening led to an incredible view, displaying thousands of cells, all holding an Ooocian hostage in their own minds while their bodies remained unresponsive. With the hand closing in fast, Jake turned to his buddy.

"Get us in the air man!"

Nodding, IK took the dog under his arm and sprang into the opening, narrowly avoiding another stream of flames. As the two hovered several feet above the chasm of cells, they noticed the shadow stop, as if unsure of where they were. Jake breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess that without his head Prismo's senses are limited to the second dimension."

Thankful for the break in fleeing, the pair waited until the shade slithered away, off to scan another part of the prism for the escaped prisoners. Meanwhile, Jake looked around and tried to spy anyone familiar in the massive collection of people. He spotted LPS, HotDog Princess, a few marauders, a bunch of fire elementals, and even the alternate universe Ice King.

The foreign ice wizard turned away.

"Man that is creepy. And why are you just looking? Doesn't your nose work better?"

The magical dog felt embarrassed, and then proceeded to stick his sniffer in the air and weed out any familiar scents. Ice King then wondered something.

"Wait, who are we looking for anyway?"

The dog motioned for his friend to fly them to the right.

"We're gonna need some help getting out of here. Our best bet is PB. And probably Finn."

Simon nodded in understanding and continued following his friend's instructions to navigate the complex interior of the prism. Eventually, they reached another corridor. The ice wizard was careful to make sure that neither of them touched the floor as he floated them further down the hall.

A few minutes later, they came upon the correct cell, seeing the familiar human standing silently behind his glass wall. However, something wasn't quite right. He looked quite a bit shorter, less built, and all around younger. Jake smacked his head.

"Oh man, we were right on both guesses man. Both space and time are different!"

The pair let the info sink in before the dog stretched his fist huge and leveled the glass head on, reducing it to a multitude of shards in seconds. He then quickly reached in and grabbed Finn, bringing the boy close so as to not have him touching the floor. This was well thought, as the shadow of Prismo's hand arrived moments later in search of the disturbance. Luckily, they kept airborne, avoiding detection.

After Ice King flew them back to the large opening, Jake deemed it safe to wake up the younger version of his bro. With a short, firm slap, the human was startled awake and instantly shot his eyes in all directions.

"Huh! What! What's going on? Jake? What are you…who is this guy?"

The hero squinted a bit as he studied Simon carefully. Finally, his eyes grew even wider.

"Ice King? How the heck did you get so, well, not as gross?"

The old man frowned.

"Hey! I was awesome even before my crown shook off a thousand years. Not cool bro!"

Jake silenced both of them with a stretchy hand.

"Ok Finn, I'm going to explain very carefully exactly what's going on, understood?"

The human nodded behind his covered lips. Content with the response, the dog removed his paws and took a deep breath.

While Jake was filling in the alternate Finn on the basics, he was simultaneously directing Ice King toward the cell containing Princess Bubblegum. Unfortunately, the wizard was becoming more fatigued with each passing minute, unable to support the large weigh he was now carrying. To make it easier, Jake shrunk down to the size of a peanut and hopped on Finn's shoulder.

As the conversation with the boy drew to a close, all the hero could do was stare dumbfounded at his alternate brother. Eventually, he broke out of his shock and furrowed his brow.

"So…how do you expect to get out of this dimension?"

The dog shrugged.

"We were hoping PB could help. We're actually on our way to her right now. Say, how old are you?"

The human was taken aback by the question but remembered that this Jake had no idea of the current timeline.

"Fifteen."

The yellow canine nodded and turned to watch IK's progress as he flew them carefully down another corridor. After another minute, he signaled the old man to stop and they peered at a nearby cell. Sure enough, the pink princess stood peacefully in the room, not moving a muscle. Jake once again bashed the glass, then reached in and snatched the gummy lady. Prismo's security soon arrived once again, trying to search fruitlessly for the escapees. After it departed, the four Ooocians made their way once more back to the chasm, or rather Ice King did, who was by the way exhausted at this point from all the weight.

Hovering safely in the open air, Jake reached over and slapped Peebles across the face. Finn denounced the act but the dog told him to get over it unless he wanted to deal with a permanently comatose princess. As the candy monarch opened her eyes, her reaction was much like Finn's only they were able to calm her down quicker. Once she had settled down and listened to Jake's explanation, PB recovered her royal demeanor and inquired on the outsider's next move.

"Well for one, I don't think Ice King can support all of us for much longer, considering how much we're shaking."

The old man was visibly sweating from the effort to keep them all airborne. It was clear that something had to be done. Jake snapped his fingers.

"I've got it! We can go free Marceline, she's wicked strong."

The alternate Finn and Princess Bubblegum raised an eyebrow.

"Who?" they both said in unison.

The golden dog gaped at them.

"Marceline, the Vampire Queen? Marcy? Black hair, pale skin, plays a red ax bass?"

Both natives of the dimension continued their clueless stares, causing Jake to smack his face.

"Man, this dimension sucks."

After a long sigh, the tiny dog turned to his alternate bro.

"OK man, our other best option it to go free your girlfriend and she'll probably be able to carry you while Simon here takes Prubs."

The two natives just blankly stared at the shrunken canine.

"Simon?"

"Girlfriend?"

At this point, Jake's eye twitched and he let it all out, shouting out like a maniac to voice his frustration. The others covered their ears, except for IK, who had to suffer from the painful outburst. At last, the dog calmed down and took a deep breath. He turned back to the pair of alternates and calmly replied.

"Ok, Ice King's real name is Simon, got it?"

They slowly nodded, not quite sure how that was known.

"And Finn, did you already cause Flame Princess to burn down the Ice Kingdom?"

Both Finn and PB's expressions took the form of stunned glances, as if the canine had said the craziest thing they'd ever heard. The human spoke first.

"Flame Princess? Who the heck is that?"

Bubblegum followed up with her own inquiry.

"Are you saying in your universe she and Finn were dating!?"

Finn looked over with an accusatory gaze to the gummy monarch.

"Wait, you know who he's talking about?"

Peebles brushed him off.

"It's a long story Finn. But Jake, what happened? How far did their relationship go? Did her matrix destabilize?"

The woman was firing off questions so fast that Jake was forced to cover her mouth like he had with Finn and Ice King earlier. After momentarily rubbing the bridge of his nose, the canine removed his paw and took another deep breath.

"Ok look. The world is fine, sort of, FP is stable, and their relationship is great, in our timeline anyway."

Bubblegum dropped the subject, but now Finn was suddenly interested.

"What the junk are you talking about man? Are you saying I had a lady?"

Jake nodded.

"Yeah, just chill out bro. I know that me and IK here just pretty much jazzed up your whole life by giving all this future information but the multiverse is at stake so we've got to sacrifice."

PB nodded solemnly.

"Responsibility demands such."

The dog rolled his eyes, a little irritated that the princess still had that line in her head. He ignored it however and turned back to Ice King.

"Ok Simon, head over in that direction."

With a firm point, he directed the old man to fly toward another tight corridor. The wizard groaned sadly.

"Please tell me we're picking up someone who can take off some of this weight."

Jake was about to say yes but then suddenly thought of something.

"Oh crud! First we've got to go find Flambo!"

Ice King gave a pitiful groan of pain and lumbered off in a new direction that the magical dog indicated.

After what felt like forever, the assembled gang found and freed the little flambit from his prison, recruiting him for the escape effort. The fiery being was given the basic babble about where Jake and Ice King came from and soon accepted it without much objection. After all, it was already a crazy situation to begin with.

The tricky part was finding a safe place for Flambo to stand without burning anyone. Luckily, Peebles had a piece of tinfoil in her pocket, which she wrapped around her hand to hold the tiny fire creature. With that settled, the group headed off to find the princess of flames herself.

By this point, Simon was moving at an extremely slow rate, barely keeping his friends off the ground while they entered another corridor. As they finally closed in on Flame Princess's location, Ice King lost the rest of his energy, sinking and eventually falling flat on his face to the floor, groaning with exhaustion.

Jake panicked, thinking for a moment that Prismo's shadow would come hunting them down. He was right. Within moments, both of the corrupted wishmaster's hands were slithering toward them, trapping the group as they had nowhere else to go but the two ends of the hall. The magical dog closed his eyes tightly.

"This is gonna hurt."

The sound of shooting fire followed a moment later. However, none of it was roasting his buns. Slowly, Jake cracked open his eyes, peering around himself and his gang. The hands were directly beneath them, firing their scorching flames, but nothing was burning. Looking upon his skin; he noticed that it was bluish. Turning around, he saw Flambo looking up at him with a blank look. The dog scowled.

"Why didn't you just do that earlier?!"

The flambit shrugged.

"Guess it didn't come to mind."

After a quick groan, Jake looked down at Prismo's hand to see it stop firing its flames, clearly noticing they weren't affecting anything in the slightest. A grin grew in the magical canine's face as he pointed mockingly to the shadow.

"Haha! Whatcha gonna do now sucker?"

As if to answer bluntly, the shade lifted itself off the floor and punched Jake between his legs, instantly causing him to fall to the floor in pain while the hand proceeded to beat him up. The other hand was doing the same, but was at least being held back by Finn, who was practically wrestling with the massive appendage. The rest of the group tried their best to help out the others but Prismo's hands put up a better fight.

As the number of bruises began to accumulate, they all backed away as the hands closed in, prepared to pummel the escapees to pulp. Ice King was sadly too exhausted to even produce a snowflake. Just as two massive two-dimensional fists were about to slam the Ooocians flat, Jake's massively enlarged arms stretched forward and formed a barrier between his friends and the two hands, which began pounding at the dog's self-made wall. With one quick motion, the magical canine shoved his wall-like body parts outward, forming them to match the size and shape of the corridor in order to completely block them off from his injured gang.

As both ends of the hall were sealed off, Prismo's hands continued to slam their fists against the barrier, earning an occasional pained grunt from the dog. After a minute, everyone recovered and made sure there were no serious problems. Luckily, the group was basically fine and looked to Jake for instructions. Finn spoke first.

"Now what dude? You can't hold them back forever."

The struggling dog eyed his alternate bro with an irritated glare.

"What do you think dude!? Go free your girlfriend!"

The human scowled back as he turned to face the cell glass behind him.

"Shut it Jake, she's not my girlfri-"

The boy shut his mouth the moment his eyes fell upon the beautiful fire elemental standing quietly behind the glass. Her flaming hair was peacefully blazing as her cute face remained motionless. The human walked up to the glass and continued staring at the fiery being, feeling something he never had before. His fist acted on its own, smashing the transparent material instantly and allowing him to continue toward the princess.

He stopped a few feet away, caught in a trance by the girl's graceful appearance. From the hallway, Jake groaned as he received more punches from Prismo's fists.

"Dude, hurry up and slap her!"

Finn spun around and shot the dog a stunned look.

"Are you crazy!? I can't do that!"

Jake groaned again, this time from irritation.

"Of for Glob's sake! Flambo, get over there and smack her awake!"

The flambit frowned.

"But-"

"SOMEBODY WAKE THE FLAMING GIRL UP!"

A pink hand struck the fire elemental's cheek, instantly snapping her out of the coma and causing her to recoil. PB lowered her hand and waited for the girl to recover. Finn meanwhile, stood astonished at the action the monarch had just performed. After a few seconds, Flame Princess recovered from the smack, holding a hand to her face as her flames suddenly grew out. Her amber gaze shot up and zeroed in on Peebles, filled with rage.

"You'll burn for that you jerk!"

PB raised her hands defensively.

"Flame Princess, please! It was the only way to wake you up!"

The girl didn't listen and fired a stream of flames at the pink lady. Fortunately, the flame shield on her prevented any damage. Noticing this, the fiery princess growled and took a step forward.

"Ugh! You are so dea-"

FP stopped when her eyes managed to spot Finn, standing completely frozen a few feet away. The fire elemental seemed completely caught off guard by the human's presence, evidenced by her lowering flames and the magnetic gaze she shared with the boy. They remained like that for what seemed like several minutes before Finn finally managed to speak.

"Hi."

Flame Princess slowly took a step forward.

"Hi."

The human shakily held out his hand. The girl didn't stop her stare into Finn's blue eyes but did raise her own hand to shake his.

"I'm Finn, Finn the Human."

The fire elemental's fire grew a bit at the contact between their hands.

"I'm Flame Princess."

The pair kept up their unflinching gazes until a hand stretched forward and snapped its fingers. The two broke out of their trance and looked to the source of the appendage. Jake had grown a third arm to get their attention. The poor dog looked like he was about to pass out.

"You two can get all mushy later; right now we've got to go!"

The teens blushed brightly at the comment but nodded. Finn reached over and took hold of FP's hand again and pulled her with him to leave the cell. The girl felt a funny feeling in her stomach as he did so. The two, along with PB and the others, regrouped around Jake, who gradually retracted his two barriers to form a protective sphere of his stretchy flesh around the gang.

Prismo's hands bashed the orb repeatedly, only to have the round object start rolling forward. The hands tried their best to stop the momentum but their flat qualities prevented a very firm grip. Soon enough, the Ooocians were escaping down the corridor with the shadows in pursuit once again.

Inside the sphere, the gang was comfortably bunched together. Finn and Flame Princes happened to be squished very close together, causing their faces to uncontrollably flush. Jake meanwhile, struck up a conversation with Peebles while he rolled them away.

"PB, please tell me you've got an idea on how to get out of this situation."

The candy princess struggled to think as the shifting gravity around them caused heavy physical disorientation.

"Well, based on our travels throughout this 'prism', as you say it is, I've determined that the whole structure exists as many puzzle-like pieces held together by a pair of key joints that hold the place as a whole."

A slight bump knocked everyone around, and then PB continued.

"If we can destroy those joints then the entire facility should begin to fall apart. But judging by the scale of the area, we'll need an astronomical amount of energy and power to do so. We don't exactly have the luxury of such resources."

Jake frowned and entered his own thinking. As he continued to roll the gang down the halls, he looked over to Finn ad FP. The two teens hadn't noticed that they were still holding hands. Suddenly, the magical dog gave the two an enormous grin. The human and fire elemental caught this and gazed nervously back at him.

"Jake, why are you staring at us with that smile?"

Finn's inquiry counted for the flaming princess as well, who looked absolutely confused. The yellow canine just grinned wider and looked back at Bubblegum.

"I wouldn't quite say that PB, I think we have all the destructive power we need right here."

By this point, Flame Princess was actually getting creeped out, unconsciously leaning into Finn even more. The human's face just continued its reddening trend as the boy's alternate brother started to let out a slow and mischievous laugh.

Yay! 200k+ words! I'll go ahead and make another periodic thank you to all you guys who read and support this story. You're all awesome!

Hope you enjoyed and thank you for any comments/reviews!

next:Chapter 37: Platinum Reunion