A/N Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 10: The dead city

The group trekked through muggy swamp lands, perilous mountains, scorching deserts, and one very pleasant meadow. They were willing to go through all of it just to get to their final destination: The ancient city. Having just left the sandy dunes just on the outskirts of the city, they took this time to rest before heading in. They changed clothes, washed up, and beat the sand out of their shoes.

"Interesting thing; these old cities." Mike mentioned.

"Why do you say that?" Jake replied.

"Well, you can see it from here." Mike pointed at the ruins in the near distance. "Built such a long time ago yet still standing. Humans were the pillar of ingenuity."

"True, but that will also mean any denizens will have plenty of places to hide." FP said.

"So that means stay on your guard everyone. Stay close and don't wander off." Fin replied. The others nodded and stood once they were rested. "Ready?" He asked. The others nodded once more and off they went. It wasn't long before they abandoned the sandy desert and entered the proverbial concrete jungle. More jungle than concrete these days though. Massive floral overgrowths covered nearly every building that wasn't reduced to a pile of stone and metal over the years. The vines and other plant life was probably the reason most of these buildings were still standing: the plants acting like an eternal glue, keeping them together.

"Wow... It's been so long since I've been to a city. I'm guessing they all looked alike, or at least very similar." Marceline said.

"Correct. At least, in most parts of the old world. Building construction varied based on who and where they were built, but the principles were the same." Mike replied.

"Know-it-all." She retorted.

"I try." Marceline laughed a bit as they went deeper into the city. All was quiet for the most part, but nobody assumed that the silence meant they were safe. They stuck close to each other and didn't stray far from their goal. They looked for the tallest building, which wasn't hard considering a good chunk of buildings were either totally gone or half destroyed. However, the building they were looking for seemed the most intact, which was good. Mike told them since it was made of an old world metal, something called 'stainless steel' kept it standing tall and proud, even after all this time. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned fallen buildings, it would take some time to navigate their way to it. They figured it would take at least a day or two to get what they needed and return to the Earldom. They decided not to waste time. They inched their way ever closer to the medical building Doctor Princess mentioned by cutting through the larger chunks of debris and by going through the more stable ancient stores. There was a constant eerie feeling and a looming sense of dread hanging over them. However, this was not due to ancient bones and general sense of death; point of fact, there were no bodies anywhere, ancient or recent. This absence made them wonder: Where is everybody? Every creak and crack made them freeze and listen, only for them to rationalize that it was just the old buildings adjusting. The stress and overall tense feeling left them all very on edge and stressed and took frequent rests while they could.

"Can't believe adventurers would come here willingly..." Fin mumbled quietly.

"I'd be caught dead here alone, at least we're a group, right?" Everyone agreed, except Mike, who was staring at something. "Uh... Mike?" He poked Mike's shoulder, which got his attention.

"Huh? Oh, yea. I agree. Sorry, I was just looking at these old buildings and all the old signs. Like that one." He pointed to a sign that had withstood the test of time. It was a big metal sign that was bolted in with rivets to the side of what used to be some sort of store. The text on the sign read 'Aunty Dee's treats and nuts'. "Hmm... I get the feeling this store got made fun of a lot back then..."

"What makes you say-" All of a sudden, the ancient bolts pinning the sign to the building gave way at that very moment and smashed into the ground the sound of rusty metal on concrete sounded like a massive bomb to them. They all froze and assumed the worst. After a few minutes of nothing happening, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that could have gone worse-" Suddenly, the ground below them cracked as the impact of the sign finally revealed itself. The old concrete reduced to chunks of rock and dust under them and swallowed Mike, Jake, and FP into the ancient sewer system. However, Fin and Marceline were fortunate enough to get to stable ground in time.

"Oh my Glob! You guys! Are you ok?!" He yelled down at them, hoping to get an answer.

"Yea, we're good!" Jake said from below. Fin breathed a sigh of relief. "Mike broke our fall!" Fin then heard Mike groan a bit from the pit.

"Uh... Is he ok?"

"I'm good... I think." Fin heard Mike reply.

"Any way you guys can get up here?!" Fin heard Jake grunt and FP blast at the rubble, but it didn't budge.

"No dice man! But there looks like a map of the sewers down here with us! There's a path leading the the medical building! Meet us there!" Fin didn't like the idea of splitting up, but the noise probably woke up all the freaks that may or may not be in the city, and he wasn't about to take the chance.

"Ok! Be safe you guys!" He said.

"Always bro! And same to you and Marceline!" Jake shouted back. Fin sighed and stood up then looked at Marceline.

"They'll be ok man. You know Jake can take care of himself, same with FP. And Honestly... if something can take down the other guy, I'll eat my own guitar." She said with a smile. Fin chuckled.

"Yea... He's an intereting one." She nodded. As they left the scene of the incident, so too did the trio under the ground. Jake took the map off the wall and made their way through the dark sewers using FP as light.

"C'mon guys. Imagine the look on their faces when we beat them there!" Jake said to lighten the mood. FP and Mike smiled as they began to traverse the dark undergrounds.