Chapter 52: Normalized

The gang was understandably distressed upon hearing Solara's statement. The angelic precursor had by now recovered from her struggle between maintaining a link to her cosmic child and containing the core of the Fire Kingdom. Now she only had to deal with one, but on the flip side, that one was no longer possible. The arrow portion of the woman's insignia refused to even blink its crimson glow, worrying not only her but all the others.

"So, is that it? We failed?"

Finn's inquiry was likely what everyone else was wondering. For them, it indeed seemed quite hopeless. Now that Astrum possessed such power, what could they possibly do to stop his deranged goal of multiversal apocalypse? However, instead of sadly nodded her head, Solara straightened up and gazed with determination at her friends.

"No, it's not over until existence is gone. As long as our bodies and hearts hold together, we can always find a way to end this madness."

Ferrum frowned, unconvinced.

"But how? There's nothing that can match Eternity except Infinity. And that's all the way on the other end of the multiverse. We'd never make it in time."

Solara shook her head.

"Wrong."

Everyone looked at the precursor with curiosity.

"Astrum took Eternity by force. There is no chance it would grant him full access to its power, not without a fight. In his present level of control, Astrum is highly unlikely to be able to travel all the way back to Ooo fast enough to stop us from journeying to the opposite end of the multiverse and retrieving Infinity."

PB was among those still skeptical.

"But how can we even start? The only portal to the Citadel is buried in the remains of the Fire Kingdom and our insignias are still short-circuited."

She and the others attempted to activate the runes upon their skin, which let out sparks to prove the monarch's point. Solara sighed and gazed with minor disappointment at the group.

"Have you all learned nothing from the power of your bonds?"

The Ooocians stared at her with newfound confusion. To further her point, the Ancestral Flame held up a hand to her collar, where the closed loop portion of her rune suddenly illuminated itself with a blue light.

"Astrum's negation is nothing more than twisted up negative energy within your bodies. If we all join together, a single combined heart sync should shatter the interference."

As a follow-up to the precursor's encouraging words, everyone else's infinity symbol glowed vibrantly, as if the cosmic lock was pushing them to chin up and realize they were far from powerless. Pleasantly enough, it worked. The others' frowns turned to expressions of hope, followed shortly by determination, and then a grin to top it all off. The gang nodded to Solara, who smiled happily and motioned for everyone to come in close.

Flambo and Flara stayed behind, watching in curiosity as the companions grouped into a circle and joined hands. All took a deep breath, preparing to reach out and grasp the energy that bonded them together. Infinity's light grew stronger on all of them as focus was hardened and power began circulating between the contacts they had with each other.

"You chumps playing 'ring around the rosie' or something?"

The sync broke apart instantly, due to the surprise at the new voice that had entered the area. Also because one member of the group recognized the voice quicker than the others, effectively filling her with anger and making synchronization impossible. All heads turned to the source of the comment, which brought glares and bared teeth to their faces as well.

"Ash," Marceline growled.

A short distance from the assembled friends, the punk wizard known as Marcy's ex-boyfriend stood with a wicked smirk across his face, amused by the formation they were in. Everyone immediately took an offensive stance, prepared to beat the living snot out of the immortal jerk. However, Ash remained cool and calm, simply holding up his hands casually.

"Whoa, whoa, come on. No need to get all riled up. I'm just here cuz I owe you something."

Marceline brandished her ax bass and took a few steps toward the gray humanoid.

"If it's an apology then you're a few decades too late. Now get out of here before I slice your dumb head off."

Ash responded by intensifying his smirk and slightly shaking his head in amusement.

"Ah, Mar-Mar, you always did prefer to fight."

The vampire's grip on her weapon tightened at the sound of the pet name.

"You're pushing your luck; you've got about five seconds to turn and run."

The immortal wizard then sighed and shrugged.

"Oh well. I tried being the nice guy, guess I'll have to do this the hard way."

He reached behind his back, causing everyone to tense up in preparation for whatever was about to be revealed. Ash grinned with a good hint of malice as he drew back and exposed the item he had been digging for. Upon sight, all faces grew confusion and skepticism.

"It's…a lantern?"

Truly, the light producing object Ash was holding didn't look that threatening. It appeared to be made of a simple metal framing, with yellow-tinted panels to expose the candle within, which was currently unlit. The immortal just continued grinning.

"It looks that way, doesn't it? But trust me, you're all about to be on your knees, as powerless as this human loser."

Finn narrowed his eyes further and raised his sword.

"You want to come over here and say that to my face?"

Ash smirked again.

"Na, I think I'll just start my revenge now."

Upon cue, the candle inside the lantern ignited, instantly blasting yellow light out of the object and emitting it in all directions. Ash held his item higher and stared with a great deal of satisfaction at his enemies.

"Say cheese, suckers."

With that, the lantern's projected light was suddenly refocused, shining the illumination exclusively on the others. They held up their hands to block the intense glare, wondering what the punk was aiming for. Fortunately, or rather not, this was answered moments later. Each and every one of them began feeling weakened, as if something were draining them of their strength.

The majority of the gang fell to their knees, finding themselves unable to stay on their feet. Finn managed to strike his weapon into the ground for support, continuing to stand. He watched his friends groaning in some form of pain as the yellow light seemed to suffocate them. Tragically, he was unable to move either, therefore useless in trying to help them.

Before he knew it, the hero witnessed a blue glow being generated from his chest. His eyes widened as this source of light expanded, before finally producing a thin strand of cobalt-toned material from his body. Finn attempted to grab the object, but found that it was intangible. The blue stream snaked its way into the air, at last being fully extracted from the human and slithering through the sky and straight into Ash's lantern.

Taking another look around, Finn was horrified to see similar anomalies from his companions. A yellow stream was being torn out of Ferrum, Jake, and Peebles, a blue one from Ice King just like his own, and a red one from Flame Princess and Marceline. Luckily, Flara and Flambo were far enough from the others that they weren't caught in the light, but instead gazed frozen in shock and fear at the process that was assaulting their dear friends.

Finn noticed other changes occurring. FP and Ferrum were losing their fiery qualities, turning a dull shade of maroon and relinquished of their vibrant glows. The veins of magma present on Ferrum's body seemed to darken, as if all heat was being siphoned away. Flame Princess's blazing hair slowly fell to her shoulders. Even Ice King went through a slight shift in appearance, as his bluish skin was now dyed a shade of tan.

At long last, Ash cancelled the light source, commanding the candle to disengage the beam and go dark once more. The gang was all struggling to get back up and face the wizard, unaware of what had happened. While the punkish immortal kept on grinning, Finn was able to stand up and face his friends.

"You guys alright?"

It took a minute of slight groans and gestures of dizziness, but eventually the group also regained their posture and nodded to the hero.

"Yeah, I think so," Jake stated with a bit of uncertainty.

Meanwhile, Marceline looked back at Ash and raised her ax again.

"What did you do, you psycho?!"

The white-haired wizard just laughed.

"Why don't you come over here and find out, babe."

Enraged, Marcy jumped into the air, preparing to cut down the arrogant slime and teach him a lesson. Astonishingly though, the vampire immediately felt the tug of gravity and landed flat on her face. The others gasped in shock. Marcy grunted as she got herself back up.

"What the- what's going on?"

Not willing to let the chance go because of a distraction, Flame Princess held out her hand and tired firing a stream of fire at Ash, only to receive no result whatsoever. It was then that she noticed her dimmed appearance, stunned as she examined her arms. Ferrum achieved the same thing and grew a bit frustrated.

The alchemist switched tactics and placed his hand to the ground, ready to sent Ash flying with a transmutation. Unluckily for him, the ground gave him nothing, no matter how hard he tried.

"Even alchemy? What is happening?"

The immortal punk was doing his best not to fall on the ground laughing as the gang tired again and again to unleash some sort of attack on him. Jake's limbs refused to grow, stretch, or change shape, frustrating him. Finn was the first to figure it out.

"He stole all your guys' powers…and our energy flows!"

The group was stunned by this revelation, appearing to be in a significant amount of despair at the idea of being stripped of all supernatural abilities. Ash, meanwhile, wiped away a tear due to the intensity of his cackling.

"Oh boy, you chumps should see your faces, haha."

He smirked again.

"Now you're all at the level you belong: mere mortals."

He pointed tauntingly at Marceline.

"Even you, Mar-Mar."

The vampire first gasped, but quickly changed it to a look of hate and rage. She began taking more steps toward the jerk wizard.

"You're even dumber than I thought if you think I need powers to beat the crud out of you."

Before Marcy could get any close though, a hand caught her shoulder, stopping her. Everyone gasped at seeing Solara, shining as angelic as ever and seemingly not affected by the lantern's effect.

"Solara! How come you're not-"

The precursor turned to the others, revealing a dire look upon her face, causing Ferrum to cut off his sentence.

"Where do you think he got that power?"

It was a rhetorical question, which the gang understood. Ash, meanwhile, was in disbelief and shock.

"What the heck? Why aren't you dim and powerless?"

It was a demanding inquiry, laced with confusion and a fair bit of fear. Solara gazed hard at the wizard and her infinity symbol glowed brightly.

"There is but one force that cannot be overcome by Eternity, and it just so happens to share a special bond with me. You're crude lamp won't be able to steal even a scrap of my powers."

The precursor's words filled her friends with a certain amount of hope, bringing a grin of satisfaction as Ash took a fearful step back. However this was short lived, as he then rubbed his chin in thought for a second then shrugged.

"Fine."

He smirked viciously.

"Then I'll just take your whole bod."

As Solara's determined expression fell to one of astonishment, Ash held his lantern up towards her and released the concentrated light upon the woman. Instead of attempting to drain her though, the bright projection caused her form to being dissipating, much to her and everyone else's horror. She didn't even get the chance to let out a cry for help before the lantern's light consumed and captured her, retracting its malefic beam back into the candle, sealing the precursor inside.

"Heh heh, I'm a genius," Ash gloated to himself.

"SOLARA!" the gang shouted in unison.

Finn immediately found the rest of his strength and swung his sword at the immortal wizard. To his shock, nothing happened. As he stood dumbfounded, Ash chuckled.

"You didn't really think I forgot about that fancy sword did you? My lantern took every unnatural power, even those from inanimate objects."

The human growled and proceeded to charge at his foe, dead set on smashing the lamp to pieces and showing the punk a thing or two about messing with his friends. Unfortunately, he failed to remember the kind of power he was dealing with. Ash simply snapped his fingers and a thin crimson barrier appeared between him and the hero. Upon trying to slice past the obstacle, he didn't even succeed in scratching it.

While Finn growled in frustration, the gray-skinned jerk resumed his laughing.

"Don't waste your breath, loser. Anyway, I think I've done enough damage and accomplished what I wanted. I'll let the others finish the job."

As he was about to walk away, a sudden burst of flames slammed into him from the side, tossing the wizard towards the ground and causing him to slide a good distance. After a bit of groaning and getting back to his feet, the now partially burned immortal gazed at the source of the blast.

There stood Flara, angrily glaring at him and holding out her hand.

"You're not getting away, you arrogant trash."

Ash was admittedly surprised that Flara had avoided his lantern's effects, but quickly shook it off and glared back at her.

"Dang, you fire elementals are starting to get on my nerves."

Flambo appeared next to the fiery girl's leg, holding up his stubby fists.

"We's gonna beat the nuts out of yous; just give up, wise guy."

Ash scoffed, insulted by the flambit's threat.

"As if; I'll just gank your powers too."

He raised the lamp again and prepared to activate it, setting the two elementals on edge. Incredibly though, the candle let out only a spark before remaining dark. Ash frowned, then tapped the glass of his magical item.

"Hey, what gives?"

From her position, Princess Bubblegum smirked, having figured out the problem, and pointed at the immortal's tool.

"Thanks to Solara, you're stupid lantern can't hold any more power. You're finished, ya butt."

Ash was taken aback by the explanation, once more displaying a flash of fear, especially after Flara cracked her knuckled and ignited two fireballs on her hands. Stuttering nervously, the wizard took several steps back and looked around at his foes.

"Uh…I'm out!"

He twirled around and held up his arms halfway, causing a red double-headed arrow to appear on his back, stunning the others. A second later, his body began to disappear in a crimson haze. His final expression before vanishing completely was, of course, another smirk.

"If you want your precious lady back, come get her. I'll be waiting in Wizard City. Later, chumps."

In a final burst of light, he was gone, leaving the devastated Ooocians to stare upon the space where he previously stood. Eventually, they all gathered up and remained in quiet solace. After a few minutes though, Finn tightened his fists and looked hard at his companions.

"Let's go, we've got a friend to save."

Jake's eyes went wide.

"Dude, are you nuts? You saw his back. We can't take on Eternity without any powers. We can't do anything without our powers. We're just normal, useless people."

It took a bit of time, but the yellow dog noticed his bro wasn't responding. Upon meeting the human's eyes, he immediately understood what he'd done. Finn had a hurt expression on his face, staring sadly at Jake for another moment before turning away and beginning to walk slowly in the general direction of Wizard City.

As the canine watched his bro walk off, Peebles smacked him upside the head. He yelped and rubbed the injury, swinging his head to witness the candy princess glaring at him. The others were either doing the same or staring sadly at the departing Finn. Flame Princess was the first to react, sprinting away to catch up to her man. The others followed suite, strolling forward while Jake stayed behind for a minute.

Eventually, the dog joined in and caught up to the others, not saying a word and hanging his head.

"I…I didn't mean it that way."

Ferrum sighed but didn't look back as he replied.

"Then why are you still back here with us? Get over there and apologize."

Marceline gave Jake a shove, urging him to hurry up. He didn't object and jogged over to catch up to Finn, who had FP by his side, trying to comfort him. Upon nearing the two, he drew their attention.

"Finn! Wait!"

They heard him and decided to stop, turning to face the running dog, who was already out of breath. Regardless, he made it to his little bro and shone an ashamed expression.

"Finn, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have just blurted out something so messed up."

The human sighed a little.

"But it's your true thoughts, right?"

Regrettably, Jake nodded.

"Yeah. Listen, it's just that we don't know what it's like to be, well, human. I mean, look at you, dude, you've kicked all kinds of supernatural butt over the years and almost never lost. Those guys all had crazy sizes, extra arms, other junk, and each one got his rear end handed to him."

Finn had brightened a bit at the praise. Meanwhile, the others had caught up to the three. Jake resumed his speech.

"I'm just an ignorant old dog. You on the other hand, have all this math experience with realizing your weaknesses and turning them into strengths."

He smiled hopefully at his brother.

"Bro, please, if we're gonna go save Solara and beat up that jerk, we need that experience. Teach us how to fight like a human."

The rest of the hero's friends grinned with determination as he looked on in astonishment.

"Yeah, come on Finn, show us how it's done," Marcy chimed in.

"Show us how to ignore the fear of actual death and focus on punching lights out," PB added.

"Show us how big of a mistake it is to underestimate you," Ferrum piled on.

Finn was still gazing in awe at his supportive comrades, all eager to learn the techniques with which he had combatted evil all these years. At last, the surprised face melted away, revealing a grateful smile that radiated all over.

"Thanks, guys. You're the best."

Flame Princess took hold of his hand, gripping it tightly while smiling at her hero. Finn smiled back and kissed her cheek, thankful for having her and the rest of his friends by his side. Suddenly, he noticed something far off in the distance.

"Hey, what's that over there?"

The gang all turned to where their friend was looking, eyeing an odd glow along the horizon. Finn took out his binoculars and held them up, getting a better view of the phenomenon. His eyes grew wide after lowering the instrument.

"They're fire elementals, just walking around."

With closer examination, the group found that the human was correct. Lines of vibrant fire were coasting along the hills of the grasslands, representing the entirety of the Fire Kingdom's population, wandering the lands in search of a refuge. The elementals in the group were particularly upset by the sight, frowning sadly as they watched their people aimlessly walking toward who knows where.

Flara turned to face Ferrum, giving him a solemn look.

"I'm going."

The alchemist was quite surprised by the notion.

"You're what? Why?"

The man's lady hardened her expression.

"Just look, they have nowhere to go. Our home is gone and until we deal with Astrum there has to be a place where they can stay. I'm going to help them; I am somewhat of a nurse after all. And, I want to make sure my mom is alright."

Ferrum was about to argue further, but quickly shook it off and finally nodded.

"I understand."

Flara smiled and brought the alchemist in for a hug, which he happily accepted. Once separating, she gazed at the others with a bit of regret.

"I hate leaving you all without any fire support."

Flambo cleared his throat from below, standing next to Jake's leg.

"No problemo. I've got these guys covered."

Everyone smile at the flambit and Finn patted his head.

"Thanks a bunch, buddy."

The little elemental chuckled.

"Of course, can't let yous guys have all the fun."

A short bout of laughter was let out from the gang, before Flara bid a final goodbye and ran off to join the other fire elementals. Once she was but a speck on the horizon, the group huddled in to make a plan.

"So what's the best way to get to Wizard City?"

Ice King obviously spoke first.

"You just walk up to a wall of rock and give the password. Don't you guys remember?"

PB shook her head.

"That's too direct. Ash was encouraging us to follow him there, meaning he probably has something prepared in the event that we just walk in the front door."

Everyone was in deep thought for a minute, until IK snapped his fingers.

"Ooo! I know! We'll take the back way."

A couple people raised an eyebrow.

"Back way?" Peebles inquired.

The ice wizard nodded.

"Yeah. Back about a year ago when I was banished for a few months I found a way in without having to get past the magic-"

"Scientific!"

"-uh, whatever, the barrier."

The group was pleased to hear of an alternative.

"So how do we get in?" Finn asked.

Ice King scratched his head, trying to remember all the details.

"Oh right! You take an underground path through the flooded caves."

Finn took a moment to recall the location.

"Awesome, the entrance is near the Candy Kingdom, which isn't that far."

He looked over to see the shape of PB's castle, only to frown as he witnessed the gaping chunk missing from the building.

"Oh. Yeah."

Bubblegum was sadly eyeing her ruined home, making Finn regret bringing it up.

"Someday, we'll fix it all, Prubs."

The candy monarch nodded slowly and took her eyes off the distant building.

"I know, Finn."

Shaking off the grief that came with the destroyed kingdom, the gang proceeded to begin the journey by foot to the cotton candy forest. Daylight was fading fast, leaving a brilliant orange sunset to keep the friends company while making their way to the fluffy trees in the distance.


Crickets could be heard chirping from the sugary plants surrounding the gang, who had reached their destination and were now pushing through the cottony trees to reach the open space that held the hatch leading underground. Luckily, Flambo provided an excellent light source so as to not get them lost. After parting past a few more rows of the pink plants, they finally emerged into the spacious plain where additional trees once stood, now only hiding an occasional stump.

"Alright, it should be around here somewhere."

Since Flambo's fire was the only thing allowing the group to see, they were limited to scouring the area one section at a time. After a good hour or two of tripping, double-checking, and frustrating backtracking, their target was finally found, jutting out of the ground with no earthly business being there. Finn used his sword to pry the hatch open, seeing as it was partially rusted from years of rain and exposure.

Just as the human was about to unjam the darn thing, what seemed to be a tree him in the stomach, instantly throwing him back to the ground with a groan. His friends immediately gathered to make sure he was alright. He insisted he was and urged the group to look around for whatever hit him.

"Who's out there?" PB demanded.

It was quiet for a moment, until the distinct sounds of feet stepping through grass came up. Flambo picked up on the direction and hopped over to see if he could illuminate whatever it was. In response, a tree came flying at him.

"Whoa!"

His agile body allowed the flambit to dodge the object, avoiding a quite painful result. The others braced themselves for a fight and formed up in a circle, a strategy Finn had provided that covers up a group's weaknesses in the event of being surrounded.

"Come on out, sissy!" Jake ordered.

In reply, a deep manly chuckle filled the air, unnerving several of the gang. The steps returned, approaching from where the tree directed at Flambo had come from.

"Well, well, well, it seems I have at last encountered my prize; the beautiful Princess Bubblegum."

PB furrowed her brow, then balled her fists and glared into the darkness, where a figure finally emerged. He was incredibly humanoid, with overdeveloped muscles on all limbs and chest. All he wore were pants, apparently the type of guy who enjoyed showing off to the ladies. However, Peebles wasn't the type to be impressed by one's pectorals.

"Ricardio."

The man's face was indeed the infamous former heart of the Ice King, equipped with a powerful new body of which PB had already speculated the origin of. Ricardio was smiling devilishly from his chiseled face, which was present on a head full of fancy styled black hair. He stopped a few feet away from the gang, who reorganized their formation in preparation to take down a single large enemy. The cardiac being held up a hand.

"Oh please. No need to get violent. Especially in front of royalty."

Bubblegum grinded her teeth.

"You've got to be kidding me. Although, I'm not surprised you sold yourself to Eternity."

Ricardio gave a pleased smile while continuing his relaxed and charismatic demeanor.

"Intelligent as always, princess."

The now humanoid organ turned himself halfway, just enough for the others to see his back, which promptly flashed the crimson arrow they all knew. Facing the comrades once again, Ricardio flexed his massive arms.

"Now, I believe I solved the issue from last time about leaving my heart exposed; as well as the problem with the weak connections to my core."

He gleefully bent forward and grinned at PB, who was looking back with an expression of disgust.

"What will you do now, princess? I've heard that you and your friends have lost your powers; that makes quite a disadvantageous position for you."

He stood back up and offered out his hand.

"How about a fair offer? You agree to come with me, or, I can pummel you and your beloved friends into the ground. Your choice, my dear."

Ice King stepped forward, glaring at the obstructive being.

"You keep your hands off of her, you over-stuffed blood pump!"

Ricardio broke character, growling at the wizard and pulling back a fist to fire it at the old man, who frightfully covered his face.

"Oh beans!"

As the upgraded organ brought his intended punch forward, he was caught off guard when IK formed a tiny smirk from his uncovered mouth. Before Ricardio could react, Ice King let himself drop to the ground, making the large humanoid miss his strike and struggle a bit to keep his balance. Once on the right footing, he looked around to find the wizard.

"Where did you go, Simon? Face me, you coward!"

Flambo had retreated further from Ricardio, making it difficult for the organ being to see anything within five feet of him.

"Hee hee, if you say so."

A strong hit in Ricardio's nether regions sent him into an awkward state of pain, wincing as he brought his thighs together and covered the spot with his hands. Ice King emerged behind him, then quickly jumped up and placed his arms around the humanoid's neck. The heart man redirected his hands to grab the old man and throw him off.

Upon ridding himself of IK, Ricardio next had to deal with Marcy and Jake, who were holding down his legs in an attempt to bring him down. He simply kicked them off, laughing.

"Honestly, such simple-minded tactics will do nothing to me."

Finn frowned and looked over to Flambo.

"Flambo, distraction!"

The little elemental saluted, then proceeded to dash over to Ricardio and begin running all around him, heightening his flames. The heat was occasionally causing the heart man to yelp but was more effective at making him angry.

"Hold still, you little matchstick."

While the humanoid was busy trying to stomp out the flambit, everyone else met in the safety of darkness, recalculating their plan.

"You guys are doing ok, but there's room for improvement."

Finn looked back at Ricardio momentarily.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do."

Flambo was actually enjoying himself by now, dodging the irritated stamps of the organ being above him. This changed, however, when the man decided to pick up a nearby tree and begin swatting at the flambit, causing some decent ground vibrations with each hit. Flambo was eventually nicked by the object, tossing him to the ground, disoriented. Ricardio let out a sinister chuckle as he prepared to crush the pest with his makeshift weapon.

As the heart man raised the trunk, his fiery target squeezed his eyes shut. At the last moment before swinging the wooden mass back over his head, Ricardio felt that something had hooked on, preventing him from moving the tree at all.

"What!?"

He looked behind him, still struggling with the tree, only to see Ice King, Ferrum, Marcy, FP, and Jake all clinging to the branches of his primitive club. They were currently using the extensive added weight to drag him down. Before long, the five friends pulled with all their might, using Ricardio's reduced footing against him to stretch him out a bit, throwing off his balance and causing him to nervously look about.

The next instant, Finn and PB appeared at his legs, each holding a large branch torn from one of the nearby trees. The candy princess smirked as Ricardio stared at her with a pathetic expression. She pointed to below him, which now housed a very pointed, small boulder.

Peebles and Finn drew back their sticks, aiming for the reflexive spot on Ricardio's knees.

"You seem to get dumber every time we run into you," the princess stated.

"Astrum only gave you a limited amount of power from Eternity, and you used all of it to enhance your physical appearance and strength. Then, you didn't even give yourself enough time to adjust to your new form. You should've dumped more of it into your brain, ding-dong."

Ricardio gulped.

"Because even Finn here knows, the bigger they are…"

The human finished for her.

"…the harder they fall."

Both of them struck the humanoid's knees, causing them to buckle and remove the last support keeping Ricardio up. He fell to the ground, sharply hitting the back of his head on the boulder, instantly knocking him out. His body went limp and his eyes wobbled around for a second, before he finally passed out entirely.

The gang regrouped and sent around high-fives and fist-bumps, celebrating their first successful teamwork as 'humans'. After settling down and making sure Flambo was alright, Finn walked up to Ricardio's unmoving form and flipped him over, with some obvious difficulty. Eternity's symbol glowed brightly on his back, stating that it still remained.

PB joined him, carefully studying the crimson rune.

"We can't leave him with this much power. If it weren't for it being nighttime, we probably would've lost that fight."

Finn agreed with a nod, but was uncertain how they could deal with it.

Man, if only Solara were here. She'd know what to do.

As if reacting to the mention of its mother, Infinity's symbol flashed under the young man's shoulder. Finn curiously placed his hand on the blue light, wondering what it wanted him to do. Peebles noticed the glow and her eyes widened.

"That's it! The only thing that can neutralize Eternity's influence is its twin."

Finn took a moment to process the information then came up with an idea. He cautiously placed his hand against Ricardio's back, right on top of the red rune. Infinity grew brighter and soon began emanating a strange energy from Finn's palm, causing Eternity's mark to destabilize. Soon enough, the double-headed arrow dispersed, momentarily leaving a trail of red particles in the air, which spread out and vanished.

Ricardio's body jerked a bit, forcing the human and PB to back off. His form was illuminated by a bright light, causing temporary blindness until a sudden cut off returned the darkness of night. Upon reexamining the spot where the vile heart was laying, the gang saw that he had reverted back to his original two-foot tall shape, still unconscious. Finn smiled thoughtfully.

"Huh, cool."

The others were impressed by the human's resourcefulness, offering kudos. Deciding that Ricardio wasn't really that threatening in his current form, they simply left him lying on the ground while proceeding to open the hatch to the underground and climb into the ominous interior.


300k words...I'm just gonna sit on that while you guys process your experience from this chapter.

Lionheart: Yeah, I kinda guessed some people would be laughing.

Riset36: Nope. No new OC's until the final arc.

PhantomHermit: Again, thank you for the explanation.

I am The7: All will be revealed, eventually.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!

next: Chapter 53: Quite Possibly Tragic