The scene opened up to show TME and Atomsk while TME was grinning at Atomsk.
"Hey thanks for letting me keep the cash for this one, you get next chapter or the next request for yourself." TME said while he grins at Atomsk more.
Atomsk chuckles.
"No problem here my good man. I'm very interested in the story we're about to do."
"Hehe, nice, anyway I'll keep the requester an anon but for now…" TME said before he looks at the readers.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Fiery Circle, a paid request that we are starting and the main man here is Finn and the leading ladies are Phoebe, Huntress, a Flame Guard who aids Phoebe… and Phoebe's own mother thanks to time Travel." TME said with a twisted grin on his face at that surprise.
Atomsk chuckled.
"Talk about a first time we did an AT time travel story." He said while grinning.
"What about Crono Time?" TME points out.
"Oh right… Considering it's been a while." Atomsk said with a shrug.
"True… anyway we should get into the story so…" TME said while he rubbed the back of his head for a moment.
"Yup. Unless you have anything else to say, it's chapter time." Atomsk said.
"Right… this starts out with Finn reading a certain book…" TME said as the scene went to Finn in his Treefort...
Ooo/ Treefort #2/ Finn's bedroom/ Finn
Currently, Finn, who at this point in time was at the end of the Canon series, he had his mechanical arm, demonic sword thanks to Pep, and thanks to Huntress Wizard, Finn was in a new, if smaller Treefort that was made for Finn alone for now, Jake moved in with Lady so he and Jake had to meet up for adventures and stuff.
Right now Finn was humming as he reads from the Enchiridion… but wait wasn't this book destroyed when Finn smashed it?... well dear readers this book is not from THIS world… but from Farmworld… long story short Finn held onto this book and though it didn't have the same… things as the original did infowise being a different book entirely, most of the info in the Farmworld Enchiridion was pretty interesting since many things in the book did help Finn out of a tight spot since the Enchiridion was technicaly from an alternate timeline, not a full on separate Dimension so at some point in time, the info started to look familiar to Finn with the older sections… and there were plenty of blank pages so Finn over time filled it in with his own thoughts on certain beings and events while calling the empty pages the Ooo world section instead of the Farmworld section… complicated I know… but our hero would find a certain page that would change his life forever…
"Whoa… what is this?" Finn said when he looked at this certain page and there was a picture of some big rocks before the human read the name on the page.
"Stone… henge?" He said.
This got Finn curious since a place like that was hard to figure out… to him it looked like a bunch of rocks stacked against one another in an odd formation… now one may wonder why Finn would be thinking of that place… well not only would there be a reason why this was in the Enchiridion, but Finn's senses were telling him something special could happen in a place like that… that made him grin as he moved to get to his feet and he pockets the Farmworld Enchiridion after placing it in his backpack.
Finn then went out of his home and while his home was up a flight of stairs now, he walked out to see a massive village around his home and many Minerva bots and humans with the occasional humanoid were walking around… seems over time a human settlement was made and Finn's home was smack dab in the middle of it all and one of the Minerva Bot's noticed Finn.
"Hi Sweety, going out?" Minerva said while she smiles at her son… she maybe a robot but still didn't change the fact she was Finn's mother.
"Yeah mom. Saw something interesting in the Enchiridion so I thought to check it out." Finn said.
"Really?, mind if I see?" Minerva said when she sounded curious… hmmm… Minerva lived for awhile and had many things on humans… maybe she would know about Stonehenge.
"Sure." Finn said before grabbing the book and opens it before showing Minerva the marked page.
"It's called Stonehenge. Not sure if you're familiar with it." He said.
"Stonehenge?... Hmm…" Minerva said while she looked thoughtful.
"Actually I do Finn, not in person maybe but I know that the stones were from the Premushroom war era… however I also heard that they were destroyed in the Premushroom war… maybe someone made a duplicate elsewhere?, geolocations would indicate that Stonehendge would be on a new landmass altogether if it was still around… if you want I can help search for it with some Minerva bots and some humans who are training to be rangers and adventurers like yourself… hehe, the little ones are playing Finn the hero believe it or not." Minerva said while a few kids were running by with toy swords and shouting out stuff like you will die evil monster or the iconic Adventure time call when two kids bumped fists… seems Finn and Jake were huge influences here.
Finn chuckled.
"Aww, that's cute." He said when he remembered the good old days.
"Hehe, yeah, anyway if you are heading to Jake's, mind at least taking someone with you to help you?... I have a recommendation if you will hear it, you see there is this couple I know and they had a son who is a little older than you but he is a highly trained human given his Father's history on the island, before seekers were sent off island, they needed to be trained first so we sent many people to a man called Nocturn, he and his wife run a combat school for the young and while he can be a bit intense, Nocturn is a nice man, and his son is as sweet as you are being well mannered and what not like his mother… if you are interested please head down the road and take a left at the plaza, you'll see the school on the right near the wall protecting the village." Minerva said while she points the way for Finn.
Finn was thoughtful after hearing his mom say that.
"Hmmm, okay. I might as well check out that school." He said.
"Nice, I'll see you later Sweety." Minerva said before she kissed Finn on the forehead and waved him goodbye as he walked from her.
Finn lightly blushes before heading to the direction that his mom said before taking a left to the plaza.
He then walked down a long path and greeted many humans and non-humans who were getting along well with one another which made Finn smile… Finn heard from Marceline about how humans had trouble surviving Ooo in the past… Two Bread Tom would be proud if he could see things now.
'Would've been nice to meet the dude in person from what Marceline had told me about. Still can't believe that without Marcy's help, my people wouldn't have made it.' Finn thought before realizing that he may have to owe Marceline a big one.
Though as that happened, Finn heard something from the building in question that he needed to approach, turns out a man with blackish purple hair was sword fighting with a man who wore some light clothing and many kids were watching… seems to be a demonstration of sorts with swordplay it seems.
"Hmmm, this looks interesting." Finn said as he went to go see the demonstration.
Turns out the two men were pretty good sword fighters though the younger of the two seemed to have some trouble keeping up with the older looking man when he used one arm to keep his opponent at bay, the man with blackish purple hair wore a simple outfit of a T-shirt and jeans with some boots and one would think he was way to unarmored for this kind of thing but Finn knew that this man was a pro and was keeping himself as light as possible so he could move between the stronger more telegraphed strikes from the younger man with brown hair, the younger man used a bigger greatsword like sword though it wasn't too big, just required two hands to wield and while he wasn't bad… well… he got shoulder checked by the older man and had a sword pointed at his throat in no time which kept him from getting up.
"... As you can see children, while greatswords or things near that size are good for powerful attacks, a expert can use the wind up and missed strikes to make counters of their own… however tell me the disadvantages I have against this kind of weapon right now… bonus points for details…" The elder man said while one kid raised his hand and the man looks at the kid.
"Speak." The man said while the kid nods.
"One good hit on a limb or anywhere would be hard to recover from… risk VS reward for this kind of weapon style Master Nocturn." The kid said while the man, known as Nocturn nods his head.
"Good, simple but good, yes an unarmored opponent like myself would be seeing Death before I know it if I took a good enough hit and even if it was just a glancing blow, if my opponent here used the momentum to follow up that attack before I could react, I would be saying hello to Death before I knew what hit me… anyone else on what the advantages of a Greatsword are?" Nocturn said while he helped the brown haired man to his feet and the brown haired man surprisingly just sheathed the sword on his back one handed… was he holding back to help with the demonstration?
Finn was a bit surprised when he saw the brown haired man do that but was trying to think of the answer as was everyone else.
Though the same kid from earlier raised his hand again before Finn could make an answer.
"Yes?" Nocturn said while the kid looks at the brown haired man.
"He could use the Greatsword as a shield or use it in a more aggressive style while using the defensive style which would protect his body, however a style like that would leave him open if one of those kind of attacks miss." The kid said while Nocturn nods his head.
"Indeed, we call that the defensive Berserker style, contradictory I know but tell me, if a Berserker went in unarmored, what can they rely on more than anything if they are on their own?" Nocturn said like it was a riddle.
Finn was thoughtful again before he raised his hand.
"The weapon they rely on the most."
"Indeed, the weapon is the most important thing… for beginners, your first… wait…" Nocturn said before he looked back to see Finn nearby which got everyone to look at Finn when they didn't expect him to drop in on the lesson.
Finn chuckled nervously.
"Sorry. Thought I took a look at the demonstration that was happening earlier."
"I… see… well let me explain the answer you just gave before we talk more… anyway class, the weapon is the most important thing for a beginner because unlike more experienced fighters, who either branch out into different weapons or train bare handed, you won't have that luxury for quite awhile, practice is the key so pick your practice weapon wisely and train well with it, depending on how everyone does at the end of the semester, I'll reward the top student here their first weapon personally customized to your liking… within budget of course… anyway the reason for the starting weapon is simple… you'll be getting used to the weapons strengths and weaknesses… again a simple sword is good for an all around type of combat, power, speed, range depending on various factors like if you can take the high ground for a good jump attack, the sword is all around good for beginners…. For more advanced or physically strong like my son here, he went with the greatsword so why not explain the strengths and weaknesses of this weapon you specilize in while I speak with Finn here." Nocturn said while his son nods at Nocturn and moved to get the classes attention while Nocturn walked to Finn to see what he needed.
"So… need something Finn?, kind of surprised a hero would come to this place… need refreshers on how to fight or train from the basics?, can't complain if so, even masters need to train the basics every now and then to keep their skills sharp." Nocturn said while he had his hands on his hips while he grins at Finn.
"Well my mom recommended your school and she also said I needed help since I'm heading to Jake's house and see if he wants to find Stonehenge… or a replica of it." Finn said.
"I see… well I'm not sure why you came here, only experienced fighter here aside from myself are the teachers, myself, and my son, and while I would let you take a student or two… well they are still learning the weapon types." Nocturn said while he points a thumb at Nocturn's son who was describing the strengths and weaknesses of the Greatsword.
"Alright, listen up, the Greatsword can be your best friend and also your worst enemy, not only does it have the greatest destructive power next to the war hammer but it can also be used as a shield like this one kid said however your overall speed, agility, and various factors like stealth, unless you know how to adapt to make up for them, can get thrown right out the window and even though I use a greatsword, I carry a smaller weapon like a basic sword or dagger with me in case of what kind of situation…" the man said while another kid raised his hand.
"W-Well you could not be able to use the greatsword in tight dungeon halls or places were you can't cause much damage in." The kid said while the brown haired man nods his head.
"Indeed, unless you have an enchanted Greatsword that can either change modes to a sword mode or just vanish until you summon it again, its always a good idea to carry a Dagger or a Sword at your side for just in case… not as a main weapon but as a weapon you can fall back on for situations that are not favorable for a greatsword, you could say this is the only exception to the one weapon rule since you need skills in both your main and sub weapon to make this kind of combo work out and if you have the greatsword enchanted to either be light as a feather for yourself or make it so that you can have super strength, you maybe able to dual wield both a sword and greatsword, think of a sword and shield style but in this case the shield would be the greatsword mainly so that is a good workaround for the hallway issue, you can use the greatsword as a barrier while you fight with the sword… that is if you can even hold them… for now just work on one weapon for now kids and if you want to work on dual wielding, then talk to the teacher in charge of that style to see if its a good match… try and not spread yourselves to thin, while being a jack of all trades can be good, mastering not even one weapon could be the death of you if you find a situation where said master level skill is needed." The brown haired man explained while he crossed his arms while he looks at the kids to see if they had questions for him.
As the kids raised their hands, Finn looks at Nocturn.
"Well my mom said that your son could be of good help to me."
"My son?... well ironic given he is giving the lessons on greatswords right now, want to wait till Emerald is done talking so you two can talk after I take over?, can't get in the way of the little ones lessons to survive in Ooo after all." Nocturn said when he looks at the kids who looked excited on how to fight in the future.
"Oh yeah sure. I can wait." Finn said.
"Great, want to join in on the lesson then?, you could either help out or listen as we talk more about what kind of blacksmiths to watch out for so you don't get scammed… been on Ooo for almost a year now and already know who to watch out for… I mean there is this rhyming goose who won't speak normally and you have to humor him to get anywhere… serious Ooo is strange sometimes." Nocturn said while he shakes his head a bit.
Finn blinked a bit after hearing that.
"Oh, you met Choose Goose."
"Yeah… though I call him Rhyming Ass since the last time I went to him, I found this ghost who wanted to play some kind of ball game… said something about wanting to get his mothers armor back after coming back from the afterlife… zel… something I think…" Nocturn said while he rubbed his chin in thought.
"You mean the Zelderon armor?" Finn said.
"Yeah… how do you know?... that ghost haunted me for a week because of that armor." Nocturn said while he slowly and dramatically leaned in towards Finn with narrowed eyes.
Finn rubbed the back of his head before telling Noctorn how he and Jake searched for that very which included some embarrassing moments.
"I see… I see…" Nocturn said before he hits Finn upside the head and glared at him.
"Consider us even because that ghost haunted me until I beat it fare and square at that game it wanted to play… for a week straight I played until I mastered that game inside and out." Nocturn said while he looked like he would burn Finn from his gaze alone while Finn nursed his aching head.
Finn groans.
"Hey it's not my fault. How was I supposed to know you were gonna meet that ghost?"
"I see… so you are saying you had no hand at all in that ghost vanishing?... reappearing because of the missing armor… and you didn't seal up that tomb why?" Nocturn said while he gave Finn a half lidded look.
Finn sweatdrops.
"I'm just saying, I didn't think that the ghost would still be there after all this time."
"Yeah… still needed to vent a bit… sorry kid… though now I have a Goose to cook since I realize now he sent me on a wild… Goose chase… with faulty info." Nocturn said before he glances at Finn with the puns he used.
Finn couldn't help but snicker at the puns.
"S-Sorry. Could be worse."
"Yeah well still going to give that Goose a serious ass kicking when I see him next time." Nocturn said before he walked away from Finn which left him alone for now.
'Sorry Choose Goose. Not sure if I can help you.' Finn thought before looking at Nocturn's son's lectures.
He went on a but more about various weapons and what kind of armor to wear or not depending on the build they have and what kind of warrior they wanted to be.
After the lesson was over, Emerald moved away from the kids as Nocturn took over for Emerald after Emerald heard Nocturn speaking to him and he then walked to Finn.
"So… my dad says you need to talk with me?" Emerald said while he looks down on Finn, he was a bit older and while not very threatening looking, he was a bit on the tall side so he could look Finn in the eyes… though at a slight angle.
Finn blinked a bit at the look before clearing his throat.
"Yeah, but first, name's Finn and second, my mom recommended you to help me since I'm heading to my brother's house to see if he wants to come and look for something."
"Minerva?, well if she needs me to help you with something its probably important, whats the request Finn?" Emerald asked since Finn gets into pretty interesting adventures.
"I found something in the Enchiridion the will lead me to a location of some big boulders called Stonehenge but mom said it could be a replica of the ones from the PreMushroom area but I want to check it out anyway." Finn said.
"I see… well I don't mind helping, but there has to be something worth while for me, I'm a merc here more or less and can't make an exception just because you are Minerva's kid." Emerald said while he gave Finn a serious business like look.
"Okay. What would you want?" Finn said.
"Hmmm… depends… if I go with you on this mission… I get half of the treasure if we find some kind of dungeon there and if there are any nice ladies, I get to try and wow them first if they are nice enough to talk with." Emerald said with a grin on his face.
Finn sweatdrops.
"Don't know about any nice ladies, but I'll agree to splitting the loot."
"Nice, we have a deal and in the case of neither… you get to be my training partner for some lessons when I have to teach some classes." Emerald said like it was a matter of fact.
"Seriously?" Finn said with a surprised look.
"What?, afraid of getting your but kicked in front of kids?" Emerald teased with a grin on his face.
Finn frowns.
"No way. I never backed down from a challenge."
"Good…" Emerald said as he placed a hand on Finn's shoulders and gave him a scary grin.
"Welcome to the Nightosphere called the classroom." Emerald said before he pats Finn's shoulder again and walked away while many kids from other classes laugh, giggle… and caused havoc when one tried to tackle their way out of the classroom and failed.
'Oh boy…' Was the only thing Finn thought.
Emerald then met with Finn a few hours later at the gate of the human village and aside from his Greatsword and a sword and dagger, he was oddly casually dressed.
"Alright, we going to Jake first right?" Emerald said when he wondered where they are going to next, normally when adventures happen, Jake is normally alongside Finn.
"Uh, yeah." Finn said as he had his favorite backpack and sword on him.
"Right, lets get going while there is still daylight left." Emerald said while he gestured for Finn to lead the way.
"Right. Follow me." Finn said as he starts leading Emerald to where Jake was living.
Emerald followed after making sure his weapons were sheathed, and a few hours later, Finn and Emerald got to Jake's place while and Finn saw that the place looked peaceful, the house looked a bit bigger, courtesy of Minerva and Bubblegum working together to get the house refurbished after the Gum war.
"Nice place." Emerald said when he saw that the front yard had a garden, a Well for clean water, and various other things that had helped improve the house.
"Yeah, mom and PB really went out on this place." Finn said before heading to the front door.
When Finn knocked on the front door, Finn saw the door opening and Finn saw Jake at the door and Jake smiles when he saw Finn.
"Finn!, nice to see you bro, whats up for the surprise visit?, and who's your weapon wielding friend, a fellow appreciator of fine weaponry?" Jake said with a grin on his face while Emerald grins at the weapon appreciation thing.
Finn lightly sweatdrops as he chuckles.
"This is Emerald. And the reason why we're here is because I found something interesting in the Enchiridion and was hoping if you want to join us."
"Huh?... something in the Enchiridion?, didn't that get destroyed when we dealt with the Lich in Billy's body?" Jake said when he forgot about the Farmworld version.
"Yes but I took a different one from that Farmworld version. It's pretty much the same thing." Finn said.
"Ah… well I hate to break it to you bro but… I'm retiring from the adventuring biz." Jake said while he rubbed his head.
Finn was surprised.
"Wait… seriously?!" He said while hoping Jake was joking with him like usual.
"Fraid not bro, maybe for emergencies I can do something but I'm not a young strapping shapeshifting dog anymore, not only that I'm worried Lady may put her hoof down if I come back badly injured again… remember that Marshmallow avalanche and I had to eat our way out and I had to get my stomach pumped?" Jake said while he raised an eyebrow at Finn while Emerald stayed quiet though he did look at Finn… Marshmallow Avalanche?
Finn rubs the back of his head.
"Oh right…" He said.
"Yeah… but hey, play your cards right and you could have a lot of friends help you, you got this Emerald guy here to help you, and I'll always be here to help you if you really need it, homies help homies always… though if you want other help, why not our other friends like PB, Marcy, or maybe Phoebe?" Jake said while he looks curious at Finn.
Finn sighs.
"I could but… PB and Marcy are busy with their own stuff and plus with their relationship going on, I didn't want to come between. As for Phoebe… she hasn't been speaking to me for a long time."
"Really?, didn't you send her a number of letters even before I moved here?" Jake asked with a curious look in his eyes while he wondered why Phoebe never sent him a letter in return yet.
"Yeah and I haven't got not one reply from her." Finn said before sighing.
"Maybe she's just busy or… she probably met someone." He said.
"I see… well hey bro, its not the end of the world, maybe all those notes just burned up or something before they could get to Phoebe, spells can only last so long so maybe she never got a letter and is just waiting for you to visit her in person?" Jake said to try and cheer Finn up a bit.
Finn was thoughtful.
"I guess you have a point." He said though he didn't know if Phoebe wanted to see him.
"Hey you never know if you don't try, besides whats the worst that could-!" Jake tried to say before Emerald covered Jake's mouth.
"Dude, I know we just met but never say that line of words… bad things seem to happen when people finish that sentence… you trying to Jinx Finn or something?" Emerald said while giving Jake a comical glare.
"It's cool, Emerald. Jake is trying to look out for me that's all." Finn said as Jake was able to uncover his mouth.
"Yeah man. He's my bro. I mean do you have brothers?" Jake said.
"Yeah, got a older brother, who we don't get along well with just from clashing personalities alone, and a younger one who I do get a long with… not saying anything about relations though… just… never say that combo of words around me because SOMETHING bad always happens when that set of words is completed." Emerald said while he crossed his arms.
Jake sweatdrops.
"Okay." He said.
Finn looks at Jake.
"So you sure you don't want to go for one last adventure man?"
Jake nods his head.
"Yeah man. I hope you understand."
Finn was quiet for a bit before sighing.
"I do man. Always knew someday that it'll happen."
"Hey if it's any consolation, you'll know where I'll always be, at Lady's side… besides if you find a lady of your own you may want to settle down after getting a ton of loot so you can live in easy street when you retire… can't be an adventurer forever unless you find a way to be immortal… though those things come with costs of some kind." Jake said while shrugging… being immortal WAS possible… just had to go through hoops to do it and the immortality itself could have side effects down the line to worry about later.
"Yeah I guess you're right… though my track record on girls is not great." Finn said as he remembered his past relationships… or relationship with one girl, that ended badly, since the rest were crushes and nothing seemed to progress.
"Well you know what they say… life is like flavors of ice cream, some are bland, some are eh… and some are really sweet, maybe you just need to look around you more for that sweet ice cream… I know I did when I found Lady… hmmm she was my Sweet ice cream." Jake said with a happy look on his face not only with the Ice cream analogy… which he loved… but he also loved Lady as well… combine the two and you get a pleased magical shapeshifting dog.
"Well… don't know about the ice cream bit but I get where you're getting at. Maybe after I look at that Stonehenge business, maybe it'll be time that I start meeting someone." Finn said.
"Hehe, great, if you need help with romance, you can call on me anytime and don't worry bro, if you are in trouble, you know I'll come running, besides if you stick with this Emerald guy he may help you from now on since you two are adventurers." Jake said while Emerald raised his hand.
"Merc…. I'm a Mercenary." Emerald said to point out the difference.
"Eh… Tomato, tomahto. You still go on an adventure." Jake said.
"He's got you there." Finn said.
"True but unlike adventurers I work for the almighty gold coin or the ladies, you have a dungeon and willing to give me a cut, I'll clear the place for you no question… if there are ladies, well hehehe." Emerald said with a grin on his face after.
Finn and Jake sweatdrop after hearing that.
"Right… Since you two just got here, want to have a snack or something?" Jake said.
"Eh, I could use a bite to eat after the class I just helped teach, what about you Finn?, can't adventure on an empty stomach." Emerald said while he shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, I could eat." Finn said making Jake smile.
"Then come on in you two." He said as he made space for the duo to enter.
Once the duo entered, Finn and Emerald saw that Jake was making another perfect sandwich and he smiles at the duo.
"Well better sit down, got enough ingredients for all of us to have a perfect sandwich each, got the extra for Lady and myself but she is with PB having a tea party and told me she won't want anything to eat later so you'll be helping me not waste food." Jake said while he smiles at the duo as Emerald looked confused.
"Perfect sandwich?... isn't that impossible?, I mean the beauty of imperfection is that it can be improved upon… if its perfect then it would have no room to grow right?" Emerald asked when he sounded a bit philosophical for a moment.
Finn chuckled.
"Never underestimate Jake and his cooking. I mean, he can instantly make us an everything burrito."
Emerald just shakes his head as he sat in a chair.
"I'll believe that when I see it… bring on this perfect sandwich and I'll see if its as good as you claim… maybe I'll try that everything Burrito at a later date but one thing at a time for now." Emerald said while he made sure his weapons didn't break anything on the way in.
"Okay. Three perfect sandwiches coming up. One for each of us." Jake said before heading to the kitchen.
Meanwhile in the Fire Kingdom as the trio enjoyed a good meal thanks to the perfect chef known as Jake…
A guard was carrying a letter that was sent a while ago to the Flame Kingdom and it was addressed to Phoebe the Flame Queen… however thanks to various things set up, the guard took the letter to Cinnamon Bun to look at first thanks to who the sender was.
"Lord Cinnamon Bun, a letter from Finn the Human for our Queen again." The guard said as he passed a letter to Cinnamon bun.
Cinnamon Bun lightly sighs.
"Thanks. I'll handle this." He said.
"Very well, I'll head back to my post, tell Milady I wish her well." The guard said while he salutes before he left CB with the letter in his hand.
"Will do." CB said and waited till he was alone before frowning as he looks at the letter.
"Finn you fool. There's no way I'm letting my Queen read your letters. Not now or ever." He said before he starts retreating to his room.
Though as he walked to his room, a fully armored female guard named Daylene which hid her figure and details for now, noticed CB holding a letter and frowned… she knew CB hid these letters in his room under his bed thanks to her watching him do this for the past three years with these certain letter... but from the look of things never opened them in front of others… she always wondered why and after CB left his room to do whatever, Daylene entered the room… she technically wasn't breaking rules, CB was when he hid things despite the honesty policy in place and she wanted to find out what was going on… thanks to special enchantments on the letters, they were more or less fireproof so when Daylene got the letters, she found the one that was just put into the box and opened it to see why CB would hide all of them and to her shock… they were from Finn to Phoebe the Flame Queen and read this one.
"I need to take these to the Queen right now." Daylene said before she takes the box and exits out the room.
As she walked from the room, she made sure to be not spotted by anyone, most importantly CB while she worked to get to Phoebe's room, she was relaxing right now and a knocking on her door got her attention.
Phoebe blinked a bit before looking at her door.
"Who is it?"
"It's Daylene Milady… I have something to show you and that CB is breaking your honesty Policy… I have physical proof if you doubt me." Daylene said from behind Phoebe's door and waits for the signal to enter or not.
Phoebe blinks a bit in surprise after hearing that before narrowing her eyes a bit.
"You may enter." She said.
Daylene entered while she had the box in one hand.
"Thank you, I'll get to the point, Lord Cinnimon Bun is hiding letters from you from Finn the human… here is the proof and the earliest one is when he shortly left the Flame Kingdom a bit after you took your throne back from your father and Don John, not sure if this was a common thing but…" Daylene said when she passed Phoebe the box of letters that Finn sent her but Phoebe never got… this was an insane stack of letters… nearly filled the box entirely and the dates later and later got further and further apart to show Finn's lack of writing when he never got replies.
Phoebe was shocked as she looks at each date on the letter.
"I-I don't believe this. Why would Cinnamon Bun do this?" She said as she couldn't believe her own knight would keep this secret from her.
"I'm not sure Milady, maybe Cinnamon bun is trying to protect you or he could have different more… evil reasons… if you want my honest opinion I don't trust him, until he was fully baked he was pretty loyal, but now that he is fully baked who knows what he is thinking, I don't say this without proof and this is one of the big ones Milady, I'm not saying he is doing anything wrong but this clearly goes against your honesty policy so I suggest we detain Lord Cinnamon Bun and get a confession for his reason for doing so, or will you ignore this?" Daylene said while she had a serious look in her eyes, Phoebe knew she can be a bit… intense but she would never accuse someone without proof and unless these letters were forged… well…
Phoebe looks at these letters for a moment before looking at Daylene.
"No… Go make sure that Cinnamon Bun is detained once you find him." She said with a serious look.
"Very well, don't worry Milady I won't harm CB and will make sure the Guards won't harm him either, for now if you will excuse me you may want to ready those letter, if they are real then Finn the human seems to have been sending them for years and he never got a reply… I looked at the last one to make sure it was legitimate since I saw him writing a letter once away from the kingdom during my breaktime… I was visiting the human village that was made near Finn's new home so I know his writing style… so my apologies Milady but… you may want to read it… its important." Daylene said before she got the latest letter out of the box which was the only opened one and passed it to Phoebe before Daylene left the room with heavy armored footsteps.
Phoebe blinked a bit before she looks at the letter and starts reading it.
"Phoebe, I'm sorry if my past letters were either too strong or annoying you and you just got rid of them… hopefully if you read this letter you will be happy to know that I'm fine with just being friends from now on… I won't try anything romantic with you even if years pass… I realized it when we talked and hung out… though I won't lie I did make some mushy early letters to you beforehand so… ignored those if you want… I can see now that you are not interested in being more than friends and I'm not trying to sound like an ass when I write this… its just hard to write what I want to say in a letter… point is I hope we can stay friends but I'm going to be trying to move on with my life… good luck to you and your kingdom, may the Fire Kingdom forever prosper and if you find a romantic partner I hope they treat you well."
"Your's truely,
Finn Campbell the Hero of Ooo."
"P.S…. going to visit a place called… Stonehenge soon with a guy called Emerald who will tag along, hopefully if Jake comes with we can be a trio like party and have a lot of fun on this newest adventure, again I wish you the best of luck, Sincerely Finn."
That was all the letter read before it cut off.
After reading the letter a few times, Phoebe starts to let out a few tears.
"Oh Finn… If I knew sooner." She said before she looked at the other letters.
Like Finn's latest letter said, the early ones were pretty mushy, going into detail about how beautiful she was back then or how Finn would do better if she gave him a second chance… though as the letters grew less and less mushy, they grew more and more distant in dates until Phoebe got to the letter she just read to show that after Finn's maturity… well aside from lingering feelings that he kept bottled up… he just flat out decided to end things romantically to stay friends… given how many letters he sent and Phoebe never made a reply… it was amazing how stubborn Finn was in him sending letters to pretty much no one at this point.
"Oh Glob Finn… Why didn't you come to me?" Phoebe said.
Though in hindsight… given that the letters never made it to her… maybe the letters were to see if visiting was even safe… after all if Finn thought the worst and thought Phoebe wanted nothing to do with him… well… coming in person could get Finn roasted if he acted way too nervous for the guards liking… they did have a habit of attacking first at the first sign of trouble nowadays.
"Damn… I need to find him fast." Phoebe said before she remembered the last letter that Finn wrote.
"Gotta find this Stonehenge place. Maybe I can meet Finn and this Emerald person there."
Though one thing at a time first… she had to speak with CB on why he kept this from her…
Phoebe narrows her eyes.
"You better give me some answers Cinnamon Bun because I'm now mad." She said.
A few minutes later, an oddly calm CB was sitting in his office thanks to him being forced to stay there by some guards… Daylene was the one to give him the order and all he got when he asked why was that CB broke the Honesty Policy and Daylene found many letters in a box under his bed… this caught CB off guard but he expected this when he worked on paperwork and Phoebe walked into the office while CB looks at her.
"Oh hey your highness… give me a moment to finish this and I'll be right with you just need to sign a few signatures and… done." CB said while he finished signing something and sets it aside while Phoebe took a seat before him.
"I'm gonna get straight to the point Cinnamon Bun. Why did you break my Honest Policy and why did you keep all these letters that Finn sent to me?" Phoebe said.
CB just relaxed in his chair while he looked Phoebe in the eyes.
"Alright… 100% honesty then…. given that you and him don't seem to mix very well aside from small visits, I didn't think it would be good for you to get them, I didn't read them but I knew at the times they were sent that many would more or less be romantic gestures… am I right?, at least before you two became friends?" CB said when he remembered how frustrated Phoebe was with Finn and his romantic gestures of the past after she and Finn broke up.
Phoebe narrows her eyes.
"Still it didn't give you the right to keep something that was meant for me. Yes some of the letters were too mushy but as I got further, each one showed how much Finn matured before getting to the last letter. But now thanks to the fact that he thinks I'm ignoring him, he's gonna try and move on."
"Well isn't that a good thing?, true what I did was underhanded but I never did break your policy persay… there are loopholes and while I can take blame for keeping them from you, I never broke the policy entirely, I only do things for your Benefit and health, make no mistake on that before you accuse me of breaking your policy… the guard gave me the letter yes but never did he ask me to give it to you now, I could have handed them to you at anytime like when I got them or years from now… granted that would still be low but you can't say that was breaking the policy… let me ask you… do you even feel romantic feelings for Finn or just consider him a friend?... I ask because even if you are angry with me or not, I see you as a daughter and from what I saw, Finn barely matured enough to get back into your good graces as a friend and he never did visit much after the Gum war… if he really wanted to be friends or more, shouldn't he have visited in person at least once when the letters never got to you?" CB explained while he had a calm look on his pastry face.
Phoebe crossed her arms.
"I don't know CB… did you secretly had the guards keep Finn from visiting me? And just to let you know, I fully forgave Finn when he finally realized the wrongful thing he did to me in the past."
"All I had the guards do was pass me letters from Finn and nothing more, they had no idea I was doing this and are you sure?, because this is a two way street your highness… let me ask, when you had a lack of contact with Finn… why not send a messenger or go visit him yourself?, true you are the Queen here but the Kingdom won't fall to pieces in a few days… if you really think that then why not visit Finn back when he himself came by in the past?" CB asked in a thoughtful manner.
Phoebe wanted to retort but… she couldn't think of answer when she realized that CB was right since she received the letters that CB hid, she didn't think to actually visit Finn even after the Gum War.
CB saw the thoughtful look and nods his head.
"Alright, lets say I'm really in trouble for this, however I have no regrets your highness… I consider you like a daughter to me since I'm two to three times your age… I only did this to protect you however since you most likely know this I can't say its fully my fault in the lack of contact, you had ways of contacting Finn other then letters so why did you not get in touch with him much sooner?" CB asked when he somehow turned the tables and Phoebe was in the hotseat now with CB's line of questions.
Phoebe couldn't believe how awkward the conversation was.
"I-I don't know. Half the times I was busy and I guess I… hoped that he would visit someday."
"Hope he would visit as friends or…." CB said while he trailed off as he looks Phoebe in the eyes.
Phoebe blushes a bit.
"At first friends but maybe… I would actually like to give him a chance to see how mature he's gotten."
"I see… I see…. And if he matured enough what then?... he would still be burned by your touch so how would things work out romantically if things go that way?, I believe I lost my right to object to this but it is a thought to consider if you ever plan to try and romance Finn if you can get his attention." CB said while he held his hands together while he keeps looking Phoebe in the eyes.
Phoebe narrows her eyes.
"Well I'm sure that if me and Finn started things again, we would take it slow and maybe, I might find something to make him permanently fireproof like a spell or an enchanted item."
"I see, and what if he gets an idea like the Ice Kingdom melting again?... you can't ignore that, whether Finn realized it or not back then, which he did, he knew that what he did was horrible not just for the Ice King but for the residence there as well… and if you think that is bad, many will voice complaints if you just welcome Finn back with open arms… I maybe in trouble but it came with good intentions for you… if you want to end my life because of that though I won't resist, I meant what I said abou being like a father to you and sometimes fathers get hated by their daughters because of some of their actions… I could have handled that better but by the time I did realize Finn was slowly growing… most of that box was already filled… do I regret my actions?... no… I did it to protect you… however I did this the wrong way when I wanted to protect you… maybe my brain isn't as fully baked as I thought." CB said while he did look regretful…. But also ironclad in thinking he did the right thing since he did do it for Phoebe's well being… he won't like about that.
Phoebe was silent for a bit before sighing.
"Even if you say you have good intentions, it was still wrong of you to do this. Though I'm not gonna kill you but you will be punished later. Right now I need to patch things up with Finn." She said before she gets up and starts leaving.
"May I suggest something then Milady?, try and have a Wizard aid you since Bubblegum is not to be trusted normally… in small matters yes but you of all people and I know that if you want to get her aid, you'll need to either have some kind of ace up your sleeve or make sure she has no way of trying to experiment on you… while its true some Wizards are mad, some are not and are rather sociable like Huntress Wizard… I won't stop you anymore from getting in contact with Finn again but remember your actions impact more than just yourself since you are Queen and I doubt many will accept Finn as the new Flame King if you two try and romance one another again… if not and just stay friends then I doubt anyone would complain… just saying before I'm thrown in the dungeon or locked in here… might as well handle the paperwork that I need to do before I get punished." CB said to give some last minute advice.
Though he did start to work on other paperwork at the moment while he waits to hear what Phoebe would say now after hearing that.
Phoebe was quiet after hearing that but didn't look at the pastry knight.
"I'll consider it." She said before she leaves the room and looks at Daylene who was listening.
"If he's done, make sure he's back in his room and he stays there. But no harm must happen to him and make sure he gets his meals." Phoebe said
"Very well your Highness, I'll have some of the Royal guard keep an eye on him when he is in his room, do you want me to escort you to where you need to be?, it would be bad if anything were to happen to you and no one was around to aid you, I can even get Blaze if you need your Advisor and magical expert since I heard a little of what was said and maybe she can lend some aid in this matter." Daylene said while she sounded concerned for Phoebe.
Phoebe was quiet for a bit before looking at Daylene.
"Alright. You can come with me and… I guess you can summon Blaze as well."
"Very well, I will get Milady Blaze, will you need anyone else or will it be just the three of us?, I can get Bruno in case we need power in emergencies." Daylene said while she thought of who could compliment the group, Phoebe was raw firepower, Blaze was smarts, and while Daylene was tough, she was more allaround, Bruno, though silent was the physically strongest Flame person in the kingdom, possibly second best to the former Flame King but they never fought before so it was hard to tell… some even wondered if he was descended from flame Giants given his bulky frame and silent nature.
Phoebe was thoughtful when she thought of Bruno for a second.
"Alright. You can summon Bruno too."
"It shall be done, I'll leave you to get ready Milady so better armor up, who knows what can happen out there." Daylene said before she bowed to Phoebe and moved to get Bruno and Blaze while Phoebe was left alone while generic flame guards well… guard CB to make sure he doesn't do anything funny.
Phoebe had a slightly bummed look as she couldn't believe what was happening today before she starts heading to her room.
'Good intentions or not… can I still trust CB after this even though he claims to not break any laws. I'll worry about it later. Right now I just need to find Finn and set things right with him.' She thought.
Meanwhile a few hours later with Emerald and Finn… they were walking to the location of Stonehenge after they got some info from Minerva when one of her bots told them that the location of the replica was more or less near Huntress's Forest by a big treeline which would hide it from sight unless one knew where to look.
When they entered the forest, they actually found everything pretty easily, in fact aside from the rocks being where they are which was strange in of itself while Emerald whistles for a moment while he looks at the rocks.
"Wow, not bad, doesn't look like there is a dungeon or treasure here or even ladies so why come here in the first place again?" Emerald said with a curious look on his face while he circled the stone formation as Finn starts walking towards the center.
"I don't know… persey but I feel like there's something magical in this place." Finn said as he looks around.
"Maybe something in that Enchiridion could tell us?, maybe there is a hidden dungeon and we just need to find a way inside." Emerald said while he tapped the rocks around a few times and on closer inspection there were many magical runes here or there that seemed… old yet new like old runes were replicated onto these rocks… either that or a restoration spell was used to fix Stonehenge if it was brought here.
"Maybe… need to double check something." Finn said before he takes out the Enchiridion and checks the page to see if there was any info he missed.
Turns out he did skim over something but it was more or less gibberish to give given the fact that the words were in another language.
"Man… maybe we need to talk to PB about this like Jake said… can't read a word." Finn muttered before he and Emerald heard a voice.
"Maybe I can help since you are trespassing in a place you two shouldn't be in." The voice said which made Emerald and Finn scream like girls in stereo and when they looked over, they saw a slightly amused Huntress nearby.
"Wow, didn't know you came screaming in stereo Finn." Huntress teased when she approached the duo as Finn starts to exit the circle while Emerald blushed not only from being near a nice looking wood Nymph like Huntress but from well… screaming like a girl.
"H-Hey Huntress. How's it going?" Finn said after getting over his embarrassment.
"Well I was meditating nearby and I heard you two approaching, figured I should find out why you two are here since this is supposed to be sacred ground that would repel most intruders." Huntress said with an impressed tone to her voice like this was actually a rare thing to happen.
Finn blinked a bit.
"Oh Glob. I'm so sorry Huntress I had no idea. I was just following some clues from the Enchiridion."
"Interesting, mind telling me about this in detail or do I have to do some kind of Interrogation to get the info out of you." Huntress said while Emerald grins as he approaches Huntress.
"Well milady, I don't mind telling my side of the story though I do have to ask, how do you know Finn here?, he normally has lady troubles from what I heard so unless you Finn well, I would question if you have a thing for Finn or not since you didn't attack us yet on this Sacred ground." Emerald said while Huntress rolled her eyes and just backhands Emerald in the face comically which made him grunt in pain as he held his face while Huntress gives him a half lidded look.
"I was messing with Finn, and I know him because he helped me alot and is a real beast of sorts, that's all you need to know Mr. Flirt but I heard much better from Trents." Huntress said before she rolls her eyes and she looks at Finn.
"Anyway as for why I didn't attack, if this place let you in, you have no ill will for the forest or the place here, its a special ground that repels intruders and what not, and thats not even scratching the surface of what this place can do given the right conditions… not even I or the inhabitants of the Forest know everything… well maybe Grandfather Oak but he is sleeping right now so I can't ask him for details." Huntress said while Emerald comically fell on his back in a daze when Huntress's hit packed a wallop.
Finn was surprised for a bit before letting out a snicker before looking at HW.
"Again sorry for the intrusion Huntress. I was just curious about the place."
"Well no worries, like I said if this place didn't repel you, two are welcome here, anyway about this Enchiridion thing…" Huntress said before she trailed off so Finn could explain things.
"Well I was just looking through some pages in the Enchiridion till I found one that told me about this place. Mom said that these stones could've been a replica from the ones in the premushroom war era. But I still wanted to see it since I thought this place had a magical meaning to it." FInn said before showing Huntress a page about Stonehenge.
"I see… hmm… well maybe we can talk with Grandfather Oak about this in a few days, he has been around after the Mushroom war ended, he was the progenitor of all beings like myself that are forest or plant based and his roots can gather information from around the world." Huntress said while she looks thoughtful when she looks at the runes.
"Though… while I can't decipher the runes entirely… some of this looks like a time travel spell mixed with some kind of cloning spell… not sure what it means though, the rest is garbled to me like the info was hidden by adding words to confuse the readers." Huntress said while she rubbed her chin in thought. (Cue drum noise for the reader pun)
Finn was shocked at the info.
"Seriously?! This place can not only make a clone but travel in time?" He said.
"Maybe, but we would have to ask Grandfather Oak about this later, for now follow me, we can rest up at my place or head to your human village and wait a few days… once Grandfather Oak sleeps it takes him awhile to wake, he's not dying but… well he is just a slow sleeper more or less." Huntress said while Emerald got to his feet and rubbed his face.
"Right… I vote for heading back home since I don't want to be backhanded again anytime soon." Emerald said while he rubbed his aching face.
Finn sweatdrops a bit.
"Well you can go ahead Emerald. I'll stay with Huntress." He said.
"Eh I don't mind heading to your place, I want to see how the new treefort is coming along anyway, made it a bit more… treehouse then an actual home so I'm wondering if you need improvements or changes made." Huntress said while she cracked her neck a few times.
Finn was thoughtful for a bit.
"Hmm not sure but if you want to see it you. Which by the way, thanks again making it Huntress." He said before he actually kissed Huntress on the cheek.
Huntress blinks at that before raising an eyebrow at him while Emerald looked surprised.
"You know if you want to do anything romantic, you'll need to do it elsewhere… beasts like us don't need it… though… there is a different way to do things later… how old are you again now?" Huntress said when she looks at Finn… last time she saw him he was 17ish around the gum war and could be 18 now that many months passed while Emerald facepalms… he tried to make small talk and got backhanded, Finn gives a kiss out of the blue and now he gets offered tier 15 if he was 18 already.
Finn blushes brightly.
"S-Sorry Huntress. I was just showing some appreciation for what you did for me. Plus I turned 18 a few days ago." He said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"I see… well unless you don't want a willing woman to help you become an adult offically, might as well just say that I'm doing tune up on your home then." Huntress said before she starts walking away as Emerald comically moved next to Finn and slapped him on the back of the head and followed her after saying this.
"Dude… if you don't have fun with her, you lose respect points since you can get a Wood Nymph in an instant… you know how hard that is!?, they are normally not this forward!" Emerald said as he walked away and complained about no treasure or ladies for himself while mutterng cartoonish curses that would make Yosemite Sam proud.
Finn groans from the hit.
"Geeze… looks like I'm not the only one that needs a girl. Since I finally know the tiers thanks to Jake and… mom, maybe I can give Huntress what she wants. That'll shut Emerald up." He said before going after the duo.
The scene then fades to black while Finn, Emerald, and Huntress were unaware that in the next few days… many things would change… for good or bad no one knew, but one thing was clear… this was a new ADVENTURE TIME for many… tune in next time to Fiery Circle.
(End of Chapter 1)