Chapter 55: Purr and Burn
With a few hard knocks, the sewer lid currently imbedded in the cobblestone ground burst open, flying a good ten feet in the air before clanging loudly to the floor, spinning around, and finally falling flat with a echoing ring. It was odd that no one noticed, which unnerved those who emerged from the underground pipelines.
With some help from her friends, Susan was squeezed through the narrow exit to the sewers and got to her feet to pull up the others. Here strength made it quite simple, like fishing out of a pond. Once the gang had reached topside, they all groaned as they cracked their joints and backs. Marceline rung out her hair with disgust, seeing how much filthy water had clung to it.
"I can't believe I was reduced to crawling through people's waste disposal." She complained.
Nearby, Princess Bubblegum scowled at her.
"Well what did you expect us to do? March to the canyon wall, say 'wizards rule', and get instantly captured, or killed?"
Flame Princess's expression briefly flashed to disbelief, then calmed as she gripped the platinum chain around her neck. PB quickly regretted her choice of words and frowned.
"FP, I…"
Marcy scoffed.
"Too soon, Bonnie."
Embarrassed, the candy princess sighed and comfortingly squeezed the fiery girl's shoulder.
"It'll be alright. Finn's a survivor; no matter where he may end up."
Attention was gathered when Jake spoke up.
"Uh, guys?"
Everyone turned to face the yellow dog.
"What is it, Jake?" Ferrum inquired.
The previously stretchy canine pointed to the streets around them, a grim look upon his face. The others followed his example as they studied the cobblestone surroundings.
"Oh my Glob," Ice King stated, covering his mouth with his hands.
The ground was littered with…sticks.
Finn didn't know where M pulled an ice pack out of, but was glad she did. His head still throbbed pretty badly from the bump on it. As the two of them walked through an altogether different dead world, the human gazed in awe at the varying landscape. He could see tons of unbound spirits have a merry old time just whizzing around in the air, thinking they were free from their secluded realms.
"So, how did you learn to fight like that? I mean, I think you broke one of my ribs."
The hero held his other hand to his side, feeling for an obstruction to the normal arrangement of his guts. He found none, figuring that perhaps one's soul didn't stay damaged too long from physical harm. M didn't look back as she answered.
"None of your business."
Finn frowned, still not understanding where all this attitude was coming from.
"You know, we'd get along a lot better if you were a bit more open."
M stopped midstride, slightly offsetting Finn, who thought perhaps he'd receive another beating. Instead however, the hooded girl sighed.
"Look, Finn. I understand it's hard, trusting someone you just met, but I need you to believe me when I say every piece of information has a correct time to be said."
She turned to look the human in the eyes. All Finn could make out was her frown.
"I'm…I'm really sorry for beating out up. It's just, ugh!"
M walked to the side of their path and kicked a nearby rock, sending it hurling into an open void and disappearing.
"Grod damn it. I can't even explain that."
She turned back to Finn.
"Can you take the promise that I'll tell you what you want when I'm ready?"
The young man thought for a moment, trying to peer into the girl's eyes from beneath her hood, but still unable to tell what color they were. At last, he nodded.
"I can."
M's barely visible mouth smiled.
"Thanks, Finn. You're the best."
Her companion grinned.
"I try."
They both stood there for a moment before returning to the path. It was a levitating section of road, apparently floating in an endless vortex of ghostly energy. All around, the rampant souls occasionally stuck their tongues out at the pair, mocking them for their inability to fly. Finn and M rightfully ignored them, knowing there was no point in dealing with phantasmal jerks at the moment. Eventually, after a few more minutes of walking, the two came to a large green overhead sign titled 'Exit 51'.
"This is it. Jump off."
Finn was stunned by the order, then groaned.
"Oh great. What am I jumping into this time? A volcano? A trash compactor? Somebody's dirty laundry?"
By that point, M simply kicked him in the butt, sending the surprised human falling off the edge of the road and into a swirling white whirlpool far below. Finn shouted in fear the whole way, followed close behind by his companion, who rolled her eyes.
Jake tapped one of the sticks on his palm, not seeing anything particularly amazing about it. Although he knew perfectly well it couldn't reply in its current form, he whispered to it.
"Hey, buddy? You still alive?"
Marceline came over and smacked the object out of his hands, scowling at him.
"Jake, these dorks can't talk while transformed."
The dog rubbed his injured hand and frowned at the vampire.
"I was just checking. Jeez."
Marcy and he returned to where the others were, scouting out the area in search of anyone who had escaped their fate of becoming a wooden pole. It was to no avail. Disheartened, the group huddled back up and tried to put a plan together.
"Ok, so where would Ash probably be?" PB asked, looking inconspicuously at Marceline.
"The jerk's probably at the Grand Master Wizard's place, lying around and being his lazy, inconsiderate, loser self."
Peebles acknowledged her vampire friend's two-cents and gazed at the others.
"Any better ideas?"
They all shook their heads.
"Ok. Let's get over there. But be careful. We've got no powers, no way to heart sync, and…no Finn."
The gang hung their heads, once again recalling their lost companion. They then began slowly strolling through the city, gazing around at the outdated architecture and carefully scanning the rooftops for any potential ambushes. After a minute or two, Marcy held back to get next to Ice King, having become quite nervous about the dozens of wooden staffs lying all over the place.
"Simon, do you know why the wizard police would do this?"
The old man shook his head.
"Nope. They've never just gone all nuts and punished the whole town. That would be bad for business anyway."
The vampire narrowed her eyes as she contemplated the situation.
"Then, maybe they're not doing it on their own accord."
The thought sent chills down everyone's spine, imagining if perhaps Ash, or another villain, could have the entire law enforcement of the city at their command. They shook it off and continued down the cobblestone street, intent on reaching the immortal punk's likely hideout.
It had been a silent ten or so minutes before Jake's ears suddenly twitched and he stopped walking.
"Whoa, whoa, everybody stop!"
The others did so and alarmingly looked to the dog.
"What is it, Jake?" FP inquired.
The yellow canine was darting his eyes all over, but remained as quiet as possible while doing so. He turned around, scanning the rooftops like they had all been doing earlier. His vision narrowed, focusing on one spot in particular. The gang readied whatever weapons they had and stood absolutely still.
"There's someone. Not very big, or noticeable, but they're close."
The information only made the group tighten up, preparing for a surprise attack. All was still as the entire assembly were practically holding their breath.
Suddenly, a blast rang out, causing Jake's eyes to widen and his body to jump to the ground.
"Get out of the way!"
Just in time, everyone dodged out of their current positions and fell to the floor, avoiding a monstrous lob of flames that detonated in the ground where they were standing. The heat from the shot was intense, even for the fire elementals present. As the group slowly got to their feet and shook their heads, a second blast headed right for them.
Adrenaline pumping, they all proceeded to jump up and tumble out of the danger zone. The following explosion pushed them even further from each other. Groans filled the air as the Ooocians struggled to their feet and instinctively hid behind the nearest cover. Hearts pumped erratically as eyes flew all over the area, searching for an attack source.
"Anyone see where that came from?" Peebles shouted.
"Nope."
"Not a clue."
"It was too fast."
Additional responses replied more or less the same. The gang silenced themselves again, hoping to hear an approaching enemy. Instead, they received a childish, but devious, laugh.
"So, you guys made it to the city. I'm surprised. That demon cat should've had the complete advantage down in those catacombs. What a failure."
Jake was the first to realize who it was and stepped out of his cover, knowing exactly where the voice's owner was standing.
"Me-Mow!"
The dog glared at the tiny cat, who was casually sitting on the edge of the roof, staring amusedly down at the hiding friends. Her appearance had changed, as her previously light colored bandages were now a dark grey. She chuckled a bit.
"That's right, Jake. Did you forget about me?"
The canine glared at the pint-sized assassin.
"Uh, yeah. I thought you fell off a cliff."
Me-mow smiled viciously.
"Well you thought wrong. And now, I'm back for my revenge. Although…"
Her pink eyes studied the surroundings below.
"Well, well, well, it looks like that beast wasn't a total waste. Seems the human oaf has been dealt with, hahaha!"
Flame Princess tightened her fists, almost bursting from her spot to try and fry the little cat with her flames, but cursed when she remembered she could do no such thing. Instead, the fire elemental opted for a threat.
"Don't you ever talk about Finn, you arrogant squirt!"
Me-Mow stopped laughing; now staring with a blank look upon her face.
"Careful, princess, I might just decide to take you out first."
PB suddenly realized something.
"Hey! How can you see us? At this angle there's no way you could."
Me-Mow grinned maliciously.
"Have you ever heard how cats have good eyes, Bubblegum? Well, mine happen to be so good, that I can see through walls!"
Her tiny laughter filled the air as the gang all felt their heart skip a beat.
"What? How?" Peebles demanded, now stepping out of her cover as well.
The others followed suite, glaring up at the cat assassin as she continued lounging on a roof edge. To answer, Me-Mow slowly got up, then turned her back to the group and raised her arms halfway. Within seconds, the crimson arrow that the group now dreaded appeared upon her bandaged fur.
"Of course," Marceline sighed.
Me-Mow turned back to face her opposition and gazed at Jake.
"What do you say, Jake? Shall I finish off the beloved brothers?"
The dog growled, anger boiling at how the assassin was taunting them of Finn's absence.
"Like a pip-squeak like you could take on all of us. You're just a wannabe second-class!"
Me-Mow began uncontrollably laughing, strolling slowly along the gutters of the roof.
"You fool! You think I still need the Guild of Assassins?"
She stopped her walk and gave the yellow canine a death glare.
"I wiped out the guild!"
At this, the gang froze, disbelieving that the foe they now faced had eliminated the infamous GOA. Meanwhile, the cat crossed her arms and stared down at her enemies.
"Even though the lot of you would be just as easy to kill, I can't really fight effectively now that my cover's blown."
Ferrum furrowed his brow.
"But, you're the one who blew it!"
Me-Mow smiled once more.
"True. But, that was on purpose."
She hopped up to the peak of the slanted roof, now balancing on its central beam.
"I wanted to make this a perfect revenge. So, I asked for some backup to make sure all goes well."
In an instant, a powerful wave of flames appeared next to the little cat, quickly materializing an incredibly tall and skinny being, wrapped in loose bandages that matched hers. The newcomer's concealed face revealed only a set of beady red eyes. These gazed carefully at the Ooocians below, stopping at Ice King, causing their color to deepen further. The old wizard was shaking in fear.
"Oh beans."
Me-Mow gave an agile flip and landed on Scorcher's shoulder, grinning venomously at her targets.
"I hope you enjoyed your lives, because they'll surly be over in the next few minutes."
Although the hitman was facing them, the gang could clearly see a red light being produced from his back, indicating he too received an upgrade from Eternity's power. They began nervously shifting their positions, preparing to flee from whatever abilities the assassin may hold.
Reacting to the sight, Scorcher quickly held out his hand and fired a stream of flames at them. Oddly enough, they were incredibly transparent and incredibly quiet. The impact however, shattered the stones covering the street where everyone used to be standing. By now, they had taken cover again, hoping to avoid the deadly shots.
Me-Mow narrowed her eyes and peered at the building behind which Jake was hiding. The tiny cat pointed to it.
"There!"
Scorcher responded by showering the dog's seemingly safe location with his ominous colored fire. Jake instantly yelped and dove out of the way when he felt the heat of the combustion pass within inches of his fur. The flames had phased right through the building, solely focused on striking their intended target.
"Oh man!" Marceline shouted in worry.
"He's using ghost fire!"
After a bit of groaning and lifting his face off of the floor, Finn shook his head and steadied his eyes to examine his surroundings. The hero was shocked to see that the entire area was white, with no features whatsoever. Panicking, the human jumped up and stared all around.
"What the junk! Where am I!?"
Before an answer came, Finn's darting eyes fell upon M, who was patiently standing behind him, arms crossed.
"You done freaking out?" she asked with little interest.
The young man settled down and let out a breath.
"Yeah. Ok, so what's this place?"
M held her hand out to the air, as if introducing the location.
"This is Limbo, the only section of the afterlife that isn't in total disorder at the moment."
Finn was curious.
"Why?"
The hooded girl smacked her face.
"Are you serious? Do you see anything, anything at all, that would make someone want to stay here for more than a couple of seconds?"
Turning red from the obvious fail, Finn turned away from M and looked around the blank realm.
"So why here?"
The girl stepped forward, pointing towards a distance object that Finn had only now noticed. It was but a spec on the horizon, but from what the hero could tell, it was short, yellow, and there seemed to be two of them. Naturally, his eyes widened.
"Is…is that, who I think it is?"
M nodded.
"Yes. Go. I cannot interfere here."
Finn was still confused as to why his companion had to exclude herself, but chose not to argue and began walking towards the forms far away. His pace was gradually increasing, since he began to distinguish more and more features of the two shapes. It was only when he was in a full on sprint that he finally made out the hats these beings were wearing.
"Mom! Dad!"
Surly enough, the two yellow dogs who had been Finn's parents turned to face him, growing smiles on their faces as their adopted son made a mad dash for their waiting arms. As Finn flung his own limbs around the couple's backs, tears flew down his eyes. Joshua laughed.
"Hey there, Finn. I see you still practice being a crybaby."
The human was too happy to care about the teasing, instead pulling back to get a good look at the pair.
"I-I never thought…this is so…I love you guys so much."
He held the dogs in another embrace, this time making Margaret chuckle.
"Oh Finn, always the emotional one you were. Jake and Jermaine were always so rowdy and taunted you. You're a good egg for putting up with them."
Joshua grinned.
"Actually, I set all that in motion, just to toughen him up. I see it worked."
At long last, Finn released his hold on the pair and smiled widely at them while wiping away his wet cheeks.
"It's so good to see you two. I wish you could see me and Jake now."
Joshua chuckled.
"Well of course we've seen you! You can see whatever you want in Glob World."
The manly father placed his hands on his hips, studying Finn proudly.
"I'd say you've done well so far. You know, except for dying, and abandoning your little lady."
Finn frowned immediately as he heard the statement.
"I know. And I even promised her…"
Margaret placed a hand on her son's shoulder.
"Finn, we can't control everything. That would be too easy. But you're only down; you're not out, right?"
The human managed to break through a smile.
"Definitely. But, how can I get back up? Isn't this the end of the road?"
He motioned to the surrounding space. Joshua grinned.
"Oh, that's nothing. I should tell you about the time I-"
He was nudged in the ribs by his wife.
"Not now, Joshua. He needs to talk with his parents."
Finn was confused.
"What do you mean? My parents are right here, standing in front of me."
The two dogs smiled warmly.
"We mean the non-fur covered ones, kiddo."
The hero's eyes began to widen. This was followed by the sudden sound of approaching footsteps. Slightly stiffened by disbelief, Finn took his time rotating his head to look behind him. When his sight finally set upon another duo, his mouth had a hard time staying closed. As Joshua and Margaret watched with a fair amount of amusement, Finn progressively stood up from his kneeling position and didn't dare take his eyes off of the new company.
A man and a woman, side by side. They stopped their approach a small distance from the dogs and hero. The woman crossed her arms, grinning and displaying the collection of attractive freckles on her cheeks. Her green eyes peered as if magnetized to Finn, while her crimson hair hung down in a large braid at her back.
The lady's companion was a fair bit taller than her, with a cloak around his shoulders, which hung open, revealing two crisscrossed belts of varying hunting weapons and portable supplies. On his back rested an enormous claymore sword, giving him an intimidating demeanor. However this was quickly cancelled out by his warm smile. His golden hair was the last piece of evidence to both his and his partner's identity.
Finn couldn't move. His eyes frankly wouldn't believe what he was seeing. Sure, he'd seen them before, but not with the option of interaction. He finally attempted to speak, but only managed to stutter. Trying again, he gulped and took a step forward, not even blinking, mind you.
"I…"
Still not finding the words, he took another step forward.
"I can't…"
Getting better, but not there yet. Another step.
"You're…"
One last step. Now, Finn was standing a mere few feet from the couple, whose smiles seemed to be swinging towards an expression of amusement. This time, instead of trying to speak again, Finn found full acceptance, letting himself fall right into his mother. The woman held her grin as her arms wrapped around the hero's back. The man beside her moved in, also placing his large arm span around the younger human and his wife. A few seconds later, Finn was trying to control his quiet sobbing, noticing that he couldn't stop his body from jerking with each breath.
A calming 'ssshh' was heard from the red-haired young woman, as she began stroking Finn's head while his tears began running down her shoulder. The couple briefly looked at each other, smiling. Then, they both leaned their heads together to touch their son's, wanting to show him how close they truly were.
It took an unknown amount of time, but Finn was able to release his weak yet strong grip on his parents and took a short step back, wiping away, for the second time, his salt encrusted face. The young man gazed at his human caregivers, blue eyes studying every detail as if he were about to play a memory game.
"I…I never thought-"
A sniffle.
"That I would get the chance…to thank you two."
The hero's parents just smiled brighter. His father placed a heavy hand on his boy's shoulder.
"I think that by now, we should be thanking you."
Finn tried to understand what he meant, but was interrupted by his mother, who wrapped an arm around both his shoulders.
"You know, it's the biggest coincidence in the world."
The hero was confused.
"What do you mean?"
The redhead giggled and looked past them, over at the waiting Joshua and Margaret. Upon being noticed, the two dogs strolled over and joined the family. They seemed to be amused. Finn had actually gotten pretty upset as to what was so funny all the time.
"Ok, seriously, what's the joke? You've all been having that look that I've embarrassed myself or something."
The four parents burst out laughing, patting Finn's sides and back multiple times. After settling down, the boy's human mother eyed him softly.
"No joke, not really, at least. It's just…we actually named you Fin, although only with one 'n', if I heard correctly."
She looked over at Margaret, who nodded.
Finn himself was feeling overwhelmed by all this. His adoptive parents, his human parents, the fact that their parental sense had managed to find him nearly the same name both times. By that point, all he could do, was smile. Smile, and try to get all four of them in his arms for one big hug.
Once the hero had run out of energy in his muscles, his arms fell back, and the assembled family simply grinned from one to the other. Having adjusted to the situation enough, Finn was able to start speaking normally.
"I don't get it. How do you guys know each other?"
Joshua and Finn's dad fist bumped.
"You kidding? This fellow's a riot!" the dog said.
The men laughed while joking socking each other. The woman shook their heads and sighed, but still held their smiles.
"And me and Margaret here have had a lot to talk about. How you've grown, your heroic acts, your 'lady'."
She emphasized the last word, and nearly began chuckling again as Finn's face reddened.
"Well, uh, you see, that's um, stuff, that, uh…"
The quartet of parents just watched as their son babbled on. Soon enough though, he was able to laugh at himself and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Heh, yeah, ok. I'm hitched."
The following consisted of hugs, congratulations, and the usual irritating parent ideas for a wedding. Regardless, Finn loved it all. He could care less what the topic was. For the moment, he was enjoying the full effect of a family with which he had had so little time to spend with.
Susan grabbed Jake in her arms and swiftly rolled to the side, avoiding another wave of flames that would've singed the dog. He thanked the woman and they both resumed running around. Sadly, there wasn't much else they could do. Without any form of powers or abilities, it was a one-sided fight.
As the gang was boxed closer together by Scorcher's flames, PB glared at the duo of assassins enjoying their prey's struggle.
"It's no use. As long as Me-Mow is around, we can't deal with Scorcher. And as long as Scorcher is around, we can't get to Me-Mow. We're stuck."
The others dived out of the way of another shot. After recovering, FP spotted Flambo, who was hiding underneath a broken barrel. She scowled.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
The flambit shrugged.
"What do yous expect little old me to do?"
Flame Princess groaned at the response, but suddenly, an idea hit her. She grinned.
"Actually, Flambo. I think you're the only one who can help us."
The fiery sprite didn't necessarily like the sound of that.
Meanwhile, the rest of the gang was trying their best to get closer to the little cat up on the roof. Unfortunately, this was in vain. Scorcher was just too dangerous to approach. They would have to fight him indirectly, which was currently impossible. Backing off, they witnessed FP come back over and Flambo dashing up a nearby drainage pipe.
"Where's he going?" Jake asked.
The fiery ruler smirked.
"You'll see. Just keep them busy."
The group put their faith in the fire elemental and resumed their dodging. However, Scorcher's aim was improving and the courtyard in which they were boxed into offered little chance of escape unless the flaming hitman was distracted.
Up on the roof, Me-Mow was chuckling to herself with satisfaction, knowing that her foes would tire themselves out eventually. Then, she and her partner could easy go down and perform an assassin-style finisher. On the downside, the tiny cat's focus on the people below drew attention away from her rear.
"AAAHH!"
Me-Mow was startled and swung around, only to be tackled by Flambo, who had used his small stature to sneak around. The two pint-sized beings tumbled down the roof, before sliding into a drainage pipe and painfully falling down the metal casing. Shouts of "ow" and "oof" could be heard echoing within. Eventually, both of them were spat out of the end and rolled around on the ground.
When their motion finally stopped, Flambo was victorious in holding down the cat assassin under him. He actually felt pretty good about FP's plan now.
"Ha! I got yous! What have you got to say now, you…"
The flambit's eyes and mouth suddenly froze; he was staring at his captive in a very strange way as she was doing her best to escape his grip. However, Flambo was almost twice as big as Me-Mow, which made it unlikely the cat could do anything about her situation.
"Let me go, you dumb fire beast!"
Flambo wouldn't answer; he just kept looking at the assassin's angry pink eyes. In the meantime, Scorcher had realized he lost his aiming support, and so decided to engage the gang in close-combat. For the moment, FP and Ferrum were keeping him at bay, since his attacks would do the least damage to them. The others were watching apprehensively, worried for their friends.
Jake and PB managed to tear attention away long enough to eye Flambo. The candy princess furrowed her brow.
"Flambo, what are you doing? Knock her out, or something!"
The flambit didn't respond. Jake tilted his head, trying to get a better look at the little guy's face. Next, his dropped to one of disbelief, followed by a groan and a slap on the forehead.
"Oh man, really, Flambo? Now?"
Peebles was confused.
"What! What's going on?"
Jake sighed and shook his head.
"Our little buddy has gone and been love-struck."
Those who weren't fighting the fiery hitman turned at these words, not sure that they heard the dog correctly.
"What!?" they shouted.
Jake nodded solemnly.
"Yep. Nothing we can do now."
The group stared with shock as Flambo's facial features finally changed. He put on somewhat of an embarrassed grin. Me-Mow on the other hand, stopped her fidgeting for a moment and glared at her captor.
"What are you looking at, you scum! Release me!"
The flambit chuckled, bewildering the cat.
"I, uh…just noticing how nice your eyes look."
Me-Mow's 'nice eyes' grew wide as she was stunned.
"What!? You're crazy! Get away from me!"
She resumed struggling, now using her claws to scratch at Flambo's arms. Being made of fire however, it didn't do a thing to him. In fact, he just laughed and held a beaming smile to his friends.
"Isn't she cute when she's trying to kill you?"
Several of the group face-palmed, but the fiery sprite ignored it.
"I swear, when I get the right weapon, you're death won't be a fast one!"
Me-Mow was starting to run out of threats, not because she wasn't chalk-full of them, but because she was realizing there was no way to escape the flambit. Plus, the little cat soon let her arms fall to the ground, exhausted. PB began frantically waving her arms.
"Darn it, Flambo, just knock her out, tie her up, anything!"
The fiery being began to nervously look back and forth between the still fighting Ferrum and FP and the assassin still glaring at him. Honestly, he reallydidn't want to hurt her, or even make her uncomfortable. Feeling the pressure, he did the first thing that popped into his mind.
With one quick motion, Flambo took hold of Me-Mow in his hand, opened his mouth, and tossed her in. All sound stopped. Even Scorcher's eyes flew open.
The silence lasted only momentarily. As the cat hit the bottom of the flambit's stomach, she instantly began freaking out.
"Oh my Grob! Are you completely insane! You ate me! AHHH! Take it back! Take back this power! Take it so I can just burn up and be done with this psycho!"
As the assassin shouted desperately from Flambo's guts, he just giggled.
"Sooooo cute."
He wrapped his arms around himself and began mildly swinging side to side. The others were still shocked, some of them twitching their eye. Eventually though, Jake snapped out of it and looked around.
"Uh, ok. This still works, I guess. Move on to part 2!"
The gang also recovered and nodded, quickly vacating the area after FP gave Scorcher a nice kick in the boing-loins. They made a dash for a nearby collection of houses, which were obviously all abandoned. As they ran, they could hear the pyro hitman gaining on them.
"Ice King, which one is it!?" Jake huffed as they all ran.
The old man pointed to a nearby entrance as he too struggled to keep his breath.
"There!"
Jake turned to look at Marcy.
"Is he still right behind us?"
The vampire nodded.
"Yeah."
The dog acknowledged and the gang barreled right through the door of the place, disappearing as it swung back. The moment they did so, Scorcher took the opportunity and bathed the building in ghost fire, which was sure to hit his targets now that they had drastically reduced mobility. They must have been fools to forget that his new powers would phase right through anything that he wasn't trying to kill.
After letting out a sufficient amount of flames, the hitman floated over and landed right outside the door. He could hear nothing on the inside, and the door was slightly ajar. Narrowing his eyes out of caution, the assassin carefully took hold of the door handle, bent down, and swiftly stepped inside.
Instantly, a full bucket of water dropped on top of his head, startling the bounty hunter and causing him to immediately fall flat on his chest to the floor, unconscious and releasing a painful sounding hiss from the metal container on his noggin.
After a few moments, a door in the floor was thrown open, and the face of Jake slowly peeked over the top. He scanned the area by the front, seeing that Scorcher was passed out. A big smile grew across his face and he let out a chuckle.
"Heh heh, classic."
He hopped out, followed by the rest of the gang as they climbed out of the hidden bunker beneath the ground. As Ice King was popping his back due to how cramped it was, Marcy walked over to him.
"How did you know about the cellar?"
The icy wizard laughed mischievously.
"This place belonged to a buddy of mine. We didn't exactly make, uh, legal, stuff in here, so if the cops ever pulled up we hid down here."
The vampire shook her head in disappointment at how low Simon had sunk. On the other hand, it had saved their butts. As everyone was getting their joints and necks back into place, FP walked over and placed her hand against Scorcher's back. Eternity's symbol revealed itself, as did Infinity's on the princess's arm. Soon, the crimson rune lifted itself off of the hitman and dissipated with the same red sparkles as the others.
With that settled, the group moved back outside, eyeing the Grand Master's palace in the distance.
Joshua was repeatedly poking through the hole in Finn's chest as he tried to figure out a course of action for the human.
"Hm, this is really a pickle here."
The hero was just staring with unpleasantness at his adoptive father.
"Uh, dad, can you please stop doing that. It freaks me out."
Joshua stopped but then grinned at Finn.
"Don't be such a baby."
His teasing had long since faded from affecting the young man, much to the dog's disappointment. It was rather fun while it lasted. Finn stood fully upright as Joshua rubbed his chin.
"The only thing I can think of is Death's substitute souls."
The human raised an eyebrow.
"His what?"
Before the wise dog could explain, another voice interrupted.
"Substitute souls. They're emergency items for when the boss needs to kick someone back to life. Obviously, he rarely uses them."
The assembled family turned to see a familiar face, so to speak. M stood fairly close to them, hood still up, but with a noticeable oddly in her slightly visible mouth. She seemed to be torn between actions, for reasons that Finn couldn't guess at the moment.
"M! You came! But wait, I thought you said-"
The girl held up her hand.
"I know, I know. But, I just couldn't help it. I…I had to see you, all of you, together."
Finn looked over first at his dog parents. They were smiling. Then at his human parents. They too were smiling.
"Um, the soul-torn human is lost here."
The adults laughed at that comment. Even M giggled a bit. She then took a few steps forward, bringing her right next to the group. She nervously rubbed her arm.
"Look, Finn. I never really explained. You see, monitors aren't chosen by random. They are picked by Death because they were never given the chance to live."
Finn's eyes widened in shock.
"You mean, you-"
"Died at birth, yes."
It was a sorrowful revelation. The hero felt really awful for his new companion. Aside from that, he was now a little confused.
"But, why are you telling me this? And why now?"
M shuffled her feet anxiously.
"Because…"
She was having trouble saying it, and decided to move things along. Slowly, the girl took hold of her hood and pulled it back to fall on her shoulders. Finn's eyes refused to even budge as he reexamined M's appearance. Her hair was indeed red, her eyes, green, and her skin, quite fair but with a thin veil of freckles that weren't that prominent, but enough to improve her charming looks.
"I'm your twin sister, Melinda."
Ironically, the thing that distracted me from writing was reading. I'm so excited as to the sheer amount of new fics popping up. It's so awesome!
Evilmath: where you right?
dontmesswithflameprincess: Haha, yeah, I thought it would be hilarious.
Star: well, that question was clearly answered, lol
Phantomhermit: man, I really buzzed your guys' minds with this one.
Iam The7: questioned answered. success.
CreepyMan10: hm, it's rare for me to be able to make a cry chapter. glad to know how I'm doing.
TheMentalAdventurer: half answered. As for the other one, you'll have to wiat and see.
Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!
next: Chapter 56: A Sour Situation
