The Human and The Shadow Chapter 43
The End of The Night Of Horror
A/N: The finale of the second trial is here. The group reunite to finish the last of the evil relics.
Marceline and Lumen
The two appeared in front of the doors to the Candy Kingdom. The moon light beamed down onto the castle and the kingdom itself. All that could be heard was the wind and the crush of leaves. They turned to see Phoebe and Jake walk over to them. The four turned to see the gates open and Fionna and Grim smiled at them.
"Whats the plan hero?" Lumen asked Fionna as they started to head towards the castle.
"Well Marshall and Finn are on patrol seeing if they can take the fight to the last 2 relics. Me and Grim here have been trying to find a way into the castle but have had no luck. Whatever Bonnie and Bubba are doing in the castle it's working to keep everything out. We waited here for you guys since if you lot can't get it then we can assume neither can the relics." She explained clearly, the group could tell she was frustrated.
"Sweet so we just need to make sure this place is Relic proof then deal with the other 2 and we will have cleared this trial." Jake summed up confidently.
"And then we get to tell the two about their daughter.." Marceline whispered.
"Yeah... but we will get revenge for it.. and everything else this darkness has taken from us!" Phoebe declared. They all stared at her, since everything happened from the appearance of Lumen till now they had watched her turn from a princess waiting for her prince to a leader who wouldn't hesitate in the face of danger. They all agreed before reaching the outer walls of the castle.
Lumen tried to shadow morph, light morph and portal into the castle but each time was thrown out and landed painfully on the ground.
Marceline tried to break in with force and was shocked... literally. Electric flooded the walls sending her flying having to be caught by Fionna who admitted to experiencing a similar reaction.
Phoebe fired blazing heat and plasma hoping to melt the walls to get in but suddenly hoses appeared from the nearby buildings putting her flames out and almost soaking her. Grim quickly threw his cloak over her to shield her from the water and the group was shocked to see him wearing pretty normal clothes underneith to the point it embarrassed them for thinking he was naked.
The whole time this was going on Jake watched as the group used brute force and fire power and suddenly came up with a great idea.
"Everyone stop I know how to get it but I think it'll only really work for me" Everyone looked at him. He shrunk down to the size of a mouse and walked up to the bushes beside the castle before knocking on the wall. Everyone was confused by his actions when a Candy Corn rat suddenly opened a hatch and greeted the miniture dog.
"SCIENCE!" Fionna yelled. It was Fionna's turn to be looked at with confused glances.
"Science, it's the name of Bubba's and I guess Bonnie's smart pet Rat. It was thanks to this little beauty that we survived a candy zombie apocalpse! It's a genius and oh my glob Jake what a great idea! But why can't Marcy and Phoebe shrink down and come with you?"
"This is kinda a secret entrance for animal kind only, not being rude but i gotta respect the rules it's the only reason I'm allowed to use this entrance." He shrugged as he turned big again to talk properly to the group.
"You guys stay here and keep guard, I'll follow Science and find the Candy Royals. Once I've got them we'll finish this."
"Okay Jake, Good Luck buddy, hope to see you soon." Lumen beamed at him.
"Thanks dude." And with that Jake turned small again and began to follow Science leaving the others outside.
The walls of the Candy Kingdom was built with all sorts of mechanical and sugary wonders but a small tunnel had been built all the way through to all Science and the other Candy Corn Rats to move around freely. Bonnie had wondered if she could use them as a messaging system around the castle before realising that using a phone or projection was much more efficient. She'd decided to keep the tunnels for Science's sake and had honestly forgot they existed.
Jake appeared in the main court room of the Candy Castle and turned to face Science. The rat made some signals with it's paws before bowing and running back to the tunnel. Jake had a suspicion that like Bonnie had led her people to shelter so had Science. He ran through the halls of the Castle searching for the royals. He searched the bedrooms, the labs, the cupboards, the kitchens and even the bathrooms. He was running out of places to look when he remembered that Bonnie was a creepy scientist. He ran to a seemingly dead end and pulled on a light which revealed a hidden stairwell. He flew down the stairs when halfway he began to smell smoke. He rushed further down to find the room below on fire. He quickly expanded his body till it filled the stairwell and used his breath to blow out all the smoke and flames. He began to search the rubble. It was clear that some sort of explosion had happened down here.
He found the remains of the phone in pieces explaining why no one could contact the pair and kept searching. He found some unburnt notes written in a hurry.
"If we mix the compound to the right concentration the fuel we create could power it enough that we would have a stronger weapon on our hands"
"I'm not sure this is the right Idea. Although we may be at peace now to combine such unstable and unknown technology with ours to create that may be too much for Ooo to bear."
"It doesn't matter. I will do what I need to.. for Belle and for Bonnie!" Jake finished reading the notes when he spotted a seam in the wall. He ran his finger against it and felt a draft. He used his powers to stretch into the seam and wrench the door open. He looked down to see Bonnie and Bubba huddled together unconscious. Both had serious burns all over them and were in pain. He ran them up to one of Bonnie labs where they developed the Holy Cyclops tears and put the two in a chamber full of it. Their wounds instantly disappeared and healed. He then moved them to Bonnie's bed. Bubba began to wake and faced the worried face of Jake the Dog.
"What in glob happened Bubba!"
"We.. we.. we were experimenting with the cores Bonnie "found" in the Sleeping Fire Giants. We were trying to mix them with the technology from the Gumball Guardians and Lumen's flame. To create a self powering artificial life force to power the remaining fire giant. If successful we would have an extremely powerful weapon to use against the darkness. We were in the final stages of the experiment before we left to meet at the tree house. We were going to finish it and then meet with you guys but something happened. We don't know what. But afterwards we got a distress signal from Rattleballs and Science activated a special protocol to lock the Candy Kingdom down in the case that Bonnie or I was in danger. We decided to proceed with the experiment but.."
"It failed and blew up it your faces?" Jake suggested.
"No.. it succeeded and then blew up in our faces. But back in that lab is the completed core.. we decided to name it the Blazing Candy Core."
"What do you mean?"
"It means we are ready to awaken the Sleeping Fire Giant and fight back against this evil!" Bubba finished stating as Bonnie began to awaken.
Finn and Marshall
Finn rushed forward following the footprints as the lead to an abandoned sugar mine near the kingdom. He and Marshall rushed deep into the mine avoiding the danger from the deterioration. Finn had constantly reminded Bonnie to clean up after her experiments but she often forgot to creating new and danger areas in Ooo. Finn knew this place though. He had come here to train alone and knew why the Relics were here. The depths of this mine are close to the location of the underground area in the Candy Kingdom. If one knew where to dig and had enough power they could break straight into the Candy Kingdoms sewer system and then straight into the Castle. This is clearly what the relics had in mind.
"Finn slow down." Marshall said trying to keep up to him without injuring himself. Finn couldn't hear him and only had revenge on his mind.
"FINN!" Marshall yelled louder. Finn suddenly span round and held his hand over Marshall's mouth. He put his finger to his mouth to signal for his to be silent. He led Marshall down a final cavern and into a clearing. The end of the room had clear signs of someone being here recently. There was a lit torch and more footprints as well as the brand new tunnel. The two could tell from the smell where it led.
"So they're in the Candy Kingdom?" Marshall asked concerned.
"Yeah, they could be anywhere inside the kingdom now. I don't know whats up with Bonnie and Bubba but if they haven't been watching their systems then they are probably in the kingdom without being detected. Which is not good for us."
"What are we going to do? We need to get them before they get the others. Fionna and Grim might still be alone up there?"
"I know Marshall I know... but we have to be careful.. if we don't we will be the ones in trouble."
"How's about I go right and you go left?"
"Marshall! Splitting up isn't going to help us here! Where would you get a dumb idea like that. I'm not going to leave you to fight alone against them just to protect someone else." Finn was sort of disgusted with the idea. He didn't like the thought of putting one friends life over another.
"Lumen would."
"What?"
"Lumen would agree to do this."
"No he wouldn't and what does it matter if he does?"
"You never really heard what happened in the first trial did you?"
"Yeah.. Lumen got hurt and Fionna got you to give him the tears. She died but he revived her dying in the process. Doing the CP-thing you brought him back. What more is there to know?"
"When the going was getting tough and we found a way to save the girls from bleeding out to death. We needed to hold them back. I found a way of stopping the music box that was holding them prisoner. Only problem was that there was no way them two like that were going to let me stop it. So Lumen told me to go alone and he'd hold them back. He got hurt trying to hold back Fionna and Marceline alone while already being injured. They tore him to pieces and beat him till he was black and blue. I left him there to save them. We were both okay with it because it was the right thing to do."
"I would never have done that... we would have found a way."
"Yeah you probably could but you weren't there. He was and I'm glad he was. Now He's not here and you are but i need you to make the right choice."
"I'm not going to leave you. What if something happens to you?"
"I'd much prefer that than something happening to Bonnie, Bubba or Fionna. Now listen here Finn. We have left two people who in crisis would rather use brains than their fists and my pregnant fiance now I am going right and you are going left. I don't need Finn The Hero I need Finn the Human.. who is willing to let me go and face danger to protect people we love."
"...Then why bring up Lumen?"
"Because you are worried about losing him. You've already almost lost him multiple times... because he is an idiot and will keep getting in that sort of danger. Now we can split up, speed this up and protect him and everyone else or we can stay here arguing and let him catch up and probably die again. Now i personally don't now how many 1UP's he saved up but I'm sure his luck is gonna run out eventually so what do you say?"
Finn stared at the vampire silently. His blue eyes crossing his red. He thought about everything he said and realised that Marshall had a point.
"Just to clarify.. If it was you or Phoebe I would rush to save Phoebe and come back and save you to."
"Good I'd leave you to save Fionna in a heartbeat (which i don't have) and then she'd force me to come back and save you to". The two chuckled before silently splitting up into the stink ridden sewers of the Candy Kingdom.
Lock and Specs
"What is wrong wth you? This is the 6th time we've had to stop since we entered this place." Lock hissed at the spectacle wearing relic who was panting heavily against the wall.
"I don't know... I'm just in so much pain. I feel like my head is breaking into two and I can barely breath. I'm not sure what's happening."
"Well hurry up! I want to kill these fools so I can hurry and take my revenge on the demon."
"Fine lets go." Specs regained his composure before the two carried on down the dark tunnel. They had heard someone yelling before and realised that someone was following them. Hoping it was one of the Champions they pushed on. If they managed to kill the Candy Royals and then the follower they would be greatly rewarded. The pains had started a little after they had found the sewer and were getting worse. It felt like something was digging out from inside him and he couldn't help but think it had something to do with the demon and the voice.
The two pushed forward until they came to a ladder leading out into the Candy Kingdom and decided to climb up. They reached the top and realised they were in the gardens of the Castle. They had turned to go back down the tunnel to gain entrance to the Castle but were greeted by Marshall-Lee.
"Sup dudes. Fancy meeting you here" The vampire smiled with a fang filled grin. Lock immediately rushed at him using the fencing sword trying to stab him. Marshall dodged easily thanks to his new reflexes. He snapped a branch off of a nearby tree and began to fence the relic. Lock disappeared into the shadows and tried to get the drop on Marshall but was surprised when the Vampire kicked him from behind sending him flying to the floor.
"How! How are you keeping up with me! I should be invisible to you!" Snarled the enraged Lock.
"Best thank the light bulb for that. Didn't really appreciate him keep dropping in on me so learnt to find him even in the shadows. Neat huh?" Marshall laughed back relishing in the feeling of playing with the relic. In his trial he hadn't had the chance to fight anything and the fight against Link was short lived. He wanted something to punch. Something to take out all of his frustrations of watching the people he loved be hurt and now he had that person he was going to enjoy it.
Specs lay unseen by both in agony as his head began to ache again. He clawed at the floor in pain trying to fight the pain exploding in his mind.
"I will kill you vermin. For me. For my darling and For the Darkness."
"Good Luck Trying" and with that Marshall disappeared turning invisible. Lock couldn't see him or find him so began swinging at the air. He was about to be taken out by Marshall when his phone rang alerting Lock of his location. He turned visible and began to parry against him while answering the phone.
"Waoh sup Fi how you doing?" He spoke, ducking from the swing of Lock's sword.
"Marshall where are you? I've been trying to call you for ages now! Jake got into the castle and found Bonnie and Bubba. They are okay so don't worry. Marcy, Lumen and Phoebe are here with me."
"Cool cool, I'm in the garden with the relics, Finn and me split up so it's just me and ahh thats good" Marshall smiled before landing a kick to the relics gut. He returned the hit by shadow morphing his fist onto a tree and punching Marshall in the face.
"WHAT!" was all that came through the phone before it disconnected. The two gained some distance and stared down each other.
"FIGHT ME SERIOUSLY VAMPIRE!" The relic demanded.
"I will dude but you gotta start doing some actual serious fighting on your own. The others were not as weak as this." Marshall joked winking at him. Rage began to consume the relic as his body was surrounded by black lightning. He began to slam his head against the ground till a pool of black blood formed. His arms began to turn into blades as he dropped Rattleballs' sword. He had turned berserk. He rushed at Marshall cutting his cheek in the process. So fast that Marshall could barley keep up.
"I KILL. I KILL. I KILL. YOU. YOU. YOU. YOU. YOU. I KILL. I KILL. I KILL. THE DEMON!" Lock repeated again and again as he slashed at Marshall. He managed to hold him back using his Electric Axe but the relic was gaining on him. He thought he might have met his match when his axe was sent out of his hands and Lock rushed at him.
"You owe me again Marshy". Marshall looked down between him and the blades to see his fiancee blocking the hit.
"I guess I do my little bunny" Fionna threw the relic back before throwing Marshall's Axe to him. The two turned to face the two relics.
"I KILL. I KILL." Lock continued to chant.
"Is that all it knows what to say?" Fionna asked Marshall still preparing to fight.
"Yeah... kinda taunted it and pissed it off... my bad" She gave him a glare that said I told you so.
"You two." The two looked over to Specs to see he had stood up again and picked up Rattleballs' sword.
"You two are the parents of the demon."
"You mean Hunter?"
"Yes the demon. the 'Hunter'. He chased me for ages. Him and the Voice. Hunting me through the forest after killing Lace. He captured and tortured me." Specs glared at them emotionlessly.
"That's my little boy, Where is he?" Fionna asked with a smile.
"Gone."
"Gone?"
"He had me but now he is gone, the hunter is no more!" Specs laughed. In all the pain and madness he had convinced himself that Hunter was dead. It was the only way he could have escaped the Demon. He laughed harder and harder.
Marshall and Fionna both rushed at him and were met with by Lock. The mad relic slashed at them forcing them back again.
"Whoa are you dudes okay?" Lumen and Marceline came running up to help them followed by Grim.
"Yeah what's up with just running and leaving us behind Fionna. We could have helped?"
"STAY OUT OF THIS" Spat both Marshall and Fionna leaving all the other 3 to freeze in their spot.
"They did something to Hunter."
"And they will pay for it."
"We will make them." The two never let the relics leave their vision. They were in it for the kill and the others understood. Marceline smiled at them both.
"Then let us prepare the best battle music we can while you kick these pathetic relic's butts." She nodded at Lumen before summoning her Bass and beginning to strum. Lumen materialised a microphone and the two began to sing.
"I was born in that summer when the sun didn't shine,
I was given a name that doesn't feel like it's mine,
Lived my life as the good boy I was told I should be,
Prayed every night to a religion that was chosen for me
Sold my soul, broke my bones,
Tell me, what did I get?
Did my time, toed the line,
Ain't seen anything yet"
Marshall was the first to move. He threw his Axe at the relics before transforming into a wolf and running at them. Lock put his blade arms up to block the axe and wasn't able to see Marshall running at him. He leapt at him and bit into his neck. Fionna rushed at Specs dodging his first swing and punching him square in the jaw. She slashed her sword down onto him but he dodged by rolling away.
"Strike me down to the ground,
You know I've seen it before,
Make it hurt, I'll eat the dirt,
I just don't care anymore,
How could you break my heart?
Already played my part
I kept my promise man,
Show me the promiseland
Don't occupy my throne,
Give me the crown I own,
Lived like you told me how,
Look at me now
I've got no money in my pocket,
And the whole world's bringing me down,
And the whole world's bringing me down."
Lock threw Marshall off of him watching as the Vampire changed from a wolf into a bat. Flying up and turning into a large bat monster. Lock followed suit and grew large too. He rushed at Marshall pushing him to the ground but Marshall used his tail to trip up the relic and began punching him repeatedly. Specs threw dust up into Fionna's eyes and tried to stab her with the rapier but she evaded it. He tried again and again but couldn't hit. He looked up at her eyes and noticed they were closed. She didn't need to see to fight him.
"One person's life's just another man's truth,
We got done running from the devil, but the devil was you,
Every time I see the light, I'm falling deeper in debt,
If I've never seen the good, how can it come to an end?
Sold my soul, broke my bones,
Tell me, what did I get?
Did my time, toed the line,
Ain't seen anything yet,
Strike me down to the ground,
You know I've seen it before,
Make it hurt, I'll eat the dirt,
I just don't care anymore,
How could you break my heart?
Already played my part,
I kept my promise man,
Show me the promiseland,"
Lock managed to free himself of Marshall's barrage of oversized fists and turned his arms back into blades beginning to slash at the vampire. His blood fell to the ground as he recoiled from the damaged. He picked back his axe and started to clash with the relic. Specs was growing desperate against the experience adventuress and had began to fight even sloppier. It worked in his experience as due to how unco-ordinated his attacks were he began to throw of Fionna's timing and was able to trip her up. Unable to move or see she was in a difficult spot. Grim rushed to help by Lumen held his hand up to stop him. This wasn't their fight.
Don't occupy my throne,
Give me the crown I own,
Lived like you told me how,
Look at me now,
I've got no money in my pocket,
And the whole world's bringing me down,
And the whole world's bringing me down.
And the whole world's bring me down,
How could you break my heart?
Already played my part,
I kept my promise man,
Show me the promiseland
Don't occupy my throne,
Give me the crown I own,
Lived like you told me how,
Look at me now."
Marshall threw Lock off balance and managed to grab the relic. He flung him over his arms sending him crashing into the walls of the Candy Castle where he met a familiar fate as jolts of electricity exploded into his body where he fell to the floor looking up at the vampire who smiled before bringing his axe down onto his throat and sending his head flying before it turned into dust.
Marshall turned victoriously to see Specs about to deliver a final blow to Fionna when a hand came out of his stomach and grabbed the blade. Everyone stopped to look at the hand as it grew larger till finally Hunter appeared from inside Specs disarming him and kicking him away.
"That's my Mum you freak. You leave her alone" Hunter spat at the confused relic.
"Well hows that for timing. I thought we'd never get out" Jade added in his mind.
"How did you get lost anyway? It was meant to be straight out but instead we had to pour through all those weird memories." He questioned.
"Oh yeah thats right blame me. Who went right when i clearly said left? hmm?"
"...fine"
"DEMON. DEMON AND THE VOICE." Hunter turned to see Specs staring at him in rage.
"Oh hey Specs, how you doing?"
"You know my name? How? I only just remembered it. What were you doing inside me?"
"Well we decided to take a tour of your weird mind... seriously messed up man-"
"Like super seriously. You have no idea how much effort we had to put to navigating that trash heap of a brain..."
"...like she said. It was hard. But we found your secret. Your memories and we fixed them. Now think hard little relic and remember your precious Angel"
"What?" Specs stared at them and began to think when the pain returned. He dropped to his knees as his memories came flooding back. Blood poured from his nose as he struggled to cope. All the evil done in the darkness' name... a name that tarnished the honour of his true master. All the time he sought rewards and appreciation from the one who murdered his master. It was too much for him.
He began to smash his head on the ground again and again like Lock had down only this time more violently and with more blood. His form began to alter with his shades shifting. He was unstable and starting to pulse light.
"HE'S GOING TO BLOW" Lumen yelled before grabbing Marceline and hitting the floor. Everyone followed suit as the light grew and grew beginning to blind even Lumen.
Just when they all thought it was gonna blow the light vanished leaving the relic standing with Finn's sword in his chest. He winked at the others before drawing out his sword and slicing the relic in two ending the second trial once and for all.
Like that the second trial was over and everyone turned to see the sun start to rise. They had survived the darkness' second coming. The trial of Loss was over and although they had lost Belle and Rattleballs they had gained so much. From power to allies to hope. The battle was won but the war was yet to fight.
The second Trial is over but it is time for the champions to ponder what they have lost. How will Bubba and Bonnie react to news of Belle's Death. Is it the end of Rattleballs. What does the Blazing Candy Core mean for the Hero's. :) Hope you enjoy.