Here we are, peeps! All caught up with the chapters I posted for the earlier draft and ready for you to enjoy! Thank you for your patience, and I'll post another chapter, in the near future!

Chapter 4: The Mission

In no time flat, Gunmor flew over Lake Twiligtening and finally reached his island home of Transylsvasmia. However, like the other Kingdoms, Transylsvasmia was in ruins. The many manors that dotted the landscape were crumbled, the red flower farmlands all dead and decaying, and the once beautiful red flags and tapestries were all tattered and torn. And worse still, not a single Vampire or slave was to be seen. Gunmor felt a twinge of fear, pain and sadness. He must have truly been gone for a long time if things looked as bad as they did. Even so, Gunmor looked around the ruins of Transylsvasmia, hoping that he would find at least one Vampire who survived the attack.

"Hello! Is anybody out there?!" he shouted. "It is I! Gunmor! Your king! I have returned! "Vlad?! Mina?! Walter?! Barry?! Varney?! Carmilla?! Can anyone hear me?!" He listened for any answers, but he was only greeted with silence. He looked into every building he came across, calling out to any possible survivors. But, again, there was no sound. Gunmor flew to the capital city, Darclua, which was surrounded by gigantic, sandstone walls and centered around a giant castle atop a hill. They too were worn down. Still, Gunmor continued his search in the many fancy mansions, but still to no avail.

It was not long before Gunmor was at his breaking point. He stood in the middle of the town square, took another moment to soak in his now grey and decayed world, and then began to tear up.

"That's it then," he said to himself. "My people are all dead. And I was powerless to save them." Gunmor sat on a nearby bench, and hung his head in grief. But how? He thought. Everything was going so perfectly. Almost every kingdom in Bulgeria was at my mercy. And now this? Who could have done this?

But, really, what did it matter? His people were long gone. That much was clear. And now, he was alone. He was unsure of what to do, now. He slid down the bench until he was on the ground. The only thing he could feel were tears running down his face as he closed his eyes. It's over. All over.

Then, Gunmor caught a whiff of several familiar smells that made the memory bits of his nostrils twitch. "Wait a minute…" He sniffed the air, making sure his mind didn't play any tricks on him. "…roses." sniff. "…and dryer lint!" Gunmor smiled at that last word. He remembered the simple, yet wonderful aroma of freshly dried clothing. Then, as soon as his smile appeared, it was just as quickly consumed by a scowl of repulsion at a smell so vile, it made his memory bits want to retreat back to a time when he was a baby and could only smell dumb baby things. "Ack! It smells like butt!" sniff. "And onions!" He continued to sniff the air, and turned his head to a path leading up the hill where the great fortress Castlesvasmia sat stalwartly. Though it, like the rest of Bulgeria, seemed to have been overtaken by time and carelessness, Gunmor's heart still warmed at the thought of those days long ago when he held court in the impenetrable walls of Castlesvasmia.

Gunmor reached the doors to the castle in only a few seconds, and used his vampiric strength to pry them open. He immediately flew into the entrance, the scents getting even stronger. He made his way across the main hall and into the throne room. He stopped for a moment to take a glimpse of the once beautiful place where he held court with his people. It looked dingy and rundown like everything else, but in his mind's eye, he could see the red carpet and tapestry, the many tables in which his guests would eat and gossip, the floors in which his slaves would entertain him and the dual thrones that sat in the far corner. Gunmor gave a weak smile. Good memories here, he thought. But, as he looked at the throne even harder, he could see a flicker of a young and beautiful female Vampire, laughing. Gunmor grimaced. I remember you, too. She looked like she was having fun, talking with what looked like an apparition of himself, who laughed heartily in return. But, his chest was beginning to hurt, again. "Aaaarrrgh! Again?! What is happening to me?!" Then, for a brief glimpse, he saw the young Vampire impale his spectral self in the chest with a stake. The memory of that agony came flooding back to him, and he doubled over in pain.

"Aaaaarrrgh! What happened here?! Why am I seeing this?!" He fell to the floor, his eyes shut tight in agony. "This needs to stop! Please make it stop!" But, when he took a whiff of the familiar scents once more, his pain subsided and the apparitions were now gone. He looked in confusion. "What in the name of Grund happened here?" He took another moment to look at his throne room, now polluted by those vague and ancient memories of anguish, before finally continuing his search.

He followed his nose to a hallway, his Vampire eyes piercing the darkness and showing him the many doors which outlined the corridor. Instead of looking through the many doorways one at a time, Gunmor's nose guided him to the door farthest from him on the right side of the hall. He gave a hearty smile of anticipation. Finally! We're getting somewhere! he thought and, wasting no time, he punched the door off its hinges. Much to his surprise (and, also, kind of humorously), the door traveled only a short distance before bouncing painfully off of some anonymous slab of person, who yelped pitifully at the impact. Gunmor smiled with satisfaction, and called out to this anonymous voice. "Hello?! Is someone there?!" shouted Gunmor.

"Um…No! Most certainly not!" said a deep, masculine voice, with a guttural Transylsvasmian accent even more pronounced than Gunmor's. "There is nobody here! Go on about your business!"

Gunmor raised an eyebrow at the nonsensical answer. "Um…Yes. I can definitely hear you," he answered. He sniffed the air, and gagged at the now almost overpowering scent of the butt and onions. "Phew! and smell you, too."

"Hey! I do not smell!" The figure protested. "Erm…I mean nobody's home! Be on your way, now!"

"Vlad! You idiot! It's Gunmor!" said another voice, this one a female, also with an accent.

"Vlad?" Asked Gunmor in surprise.

"Gunmor? No. It couldn't be. He died, remember?" said Vlad.

"Well, he's standing right next us, see?" the female voice said.

There was moment of pause before Vlad spoke again. "It…it can't be. It is Gunmor!"

Finally, the pair showed themselves, revealing, to Gunmor's great relief, two of his most trusted former subjects. Vlad was a hunched-over figure in a dour, black suit and high-collared cape. His hair was short and slick back, his eyes comically large and bulging, and his nose long and crooked. The woman was incredibly beautiful, with a curvaceous figure in a long, black skirt with high-heeled, elven shoes. An expertly-woven crown of roses adorned her head, and she wore a string of rare red pearls on her wrists, a watch around her neck, and a lovely white corset that showed off her amazing… "lady tades" (Hur hur. Euphemisms). But, of course, Gunmor did not need to see her to know her. He had known, from the first whiff of roses and dryer lint, who he was tracking.

"Mina! Vlad!" Gunmor shouted happily, flying to them and giving them a great big hug. "You're alive!"

"Y-y-yes!" Mina said, breathily, the force of the hug constricting her. "It is…good to see you, too…Gunmor!"

"Y-yes!" Vlad said, equally crushed by his kings immense strength. "We are…very glad…that you are unharmed! Now…Can you let us go?! You're… cracking my spine!"

"Oh!" Gunmor exclaimed. "Sorry! I've forgotten how strong I was!" He let the two catch their breath before embracing them again (this time with a concerted effort to avoid crushing anyone's spine).

"Vlad!" He said, happily! "Good ol' buddy! How are you? Still rocking the retro-look, I see?"

Vlad rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Um…Well, yes. You know me. I like the classics. It makes me look scary. Hehehe." He wiggled his fingers and gave a halfhearted "bleggh" sound before chuckling in a desperate effort to cover his own lifelong fear of absolutely everything (including eggs).

Gunmor, well aware of Vlad's historically high levels of unscariness, coughed weakly. "Um…yes. Good on you." He then turned his eye to Mina, giving her a charming smile and looking her up and down with quintessential creepiness. "Hello, Mina. You're looking as beautiful as I remember." He gave a wink.

Mina gave a weak smile. "Hello, Gunmor. Yes. I try to look my best, even in…less than desirable times."

"Yes, I can see that." Gunmor placed a hand on her back and another on her chin. "I've bet you've been feeling pretty lonely without me, hmm?" Vlad grunted in protest, but, was too scared to say or do anything about it.

"Ugh!" Mina protested. "Gunmor, please! You just got back here, and…" She gave a sniff. "Phew! And you smell like moldy bread."

"What?" Gunmor questioned. He then looked down at his custom-made outfit from a few hours ago, noticing that it was becoming soggy and smelly. "Ick!" he sputtered as his body wiggled with a pungent case of the willies. "Oh yeah. Um…about that. Can you remind me where I keep my kingly clothes?"

Mina pointed out the door. "First door on the left." Gunmor gave a nod and took off like a bolt of lightning with a stalwart adherence to the principles of imperialism.

Vlad folded his arms in disgust. "That's Gunmor, alright. Always making passes at you when he knows you don't like it." Vlad sniffed his pits. "And I don't smell!"

Mina turned to him with a frown. "Vlad! First off; yes. You do kind of smell." Vlad blushed then held his head down. "Second. Aren't you the least bit curious about how Gunmor is still alive?"

Vlad pondered that for moment. "Yes. It is very strange. But, I'm not sure what to make of it." What he meant, of course, was I don't really know if I like it, but he didn't dare say it anywhere near Gunmor himself.

"Neither do I" replied Mina, unconfidently. "But, he is our king and our friend. So, let's just be happy that there's still another Vampire in the world right now, ok?"

Vlad took a moment to think over, but he eventually gave a smile, always finding comfort in Mina's reassurances. "Ok. I'll be happy." He was, of course, not especially happy (Can you say "love triangle" in the near future?), but he was content to try.

As they finished, they saw Gunmor re-enter the room, and the two straightened themselves up and gave their best smiles.

"I'm back! How do I look?" Gunmor was gaudily riveted into his classic, overly bulky suit of armor, accentuating his unnecessarily manly poses. A cape made of live Bats hung from his shoulders in incredibly synergy (though one could, occasionally, hear one or two of the Bats sigh heavily in either existential dread or just thorough lack of appreciation for Gunmor's masculinity). "I forgot how amazing this outfit feels on me." After a solid minute of manly muscle-stuffery, he turned to speak to his compatriots in earnest. "Now, please tell me, my friends. What has happened, in my absence?"

Both Vlad and Mina looked very distraught at the question. Neither really wanted to answer, as it was painful for both of them. But, after a moment of silence, Mina decided to speak up, as she was much better with her words than Vlad was.

"Well," Mina started. "It's a very long story. You see...you...you've actually been gone for almost five hundred years."

"What?" Gunmor said in disbelief. He had a feeling it had been a long time, but, not that long. "Really?"

"Yes. Give or take a few years." Mina checked the clock hung around her neck. Actually, to be precise, he had been gone for four hundred and ninety-four years, three months, twenty days, two hours, forty-three minutes and twenty two seconds, but Vampires are notoriously unimpressed by the technicalities of things like time, physics, and meat-based mousses. So, she just kept it to herself.

Gunmor mulled this fact over in his head, still not believing that so much time had passed. But, he would attend to that in due time. "What about other the Vampires? Did any of them make it? Why is Transylsvasmia a smoking ruin?" He vaguely remembered a battle, but he could not exactly remember the details, and knew, with hazy assurance, that this was due to his being largely absent from whatever had occurred. He remembered being in Castlesvasmia when the "enemy" attacked, and remembered, briefly but fully, that agonizing pain in his chest.

Mina looked very saddened by this question, and she hung her head in despair. "I'm…I'm sorry, Gunmor. All the Vampires in Transyslvasmia are…dead. They were destroyed in the war against the Knights of Nordsgath. We're all that's left." She started tearing up. Vlad put a smelly, knowing arm around her shoulder in solidarity.

So, that was it. Gunmor was really was one of the last Vampires in existence. He hung his head in sorrow and stood there for a few moments, soaking in the horrible truth. Somehow, he had failed his people and there was nothing he could do to fix it, even if he could remember what he had done. But soon, his sadness was replaced with a burning anger and confusion and a new thought arose. How had anyone taken on Transylsvasmia, a nation of the most powerful creatures in the land, and won?

"How is this possible?" he demanded. "How could anyone have bested us? Who could have had the stones to attack Transylsvasmia?!" Vlad and Mina were too saddened and embarrassed by the past events and both were too afraid to answer. Disgusted, he turned away from them as a new thought occurred to him. The Blue Wizard shields. "And how did they manage to get past the Wizard Shields?!" he railed, his beard beginning to twitch into life as his anger grew. "They were impenetrable!" His eyes appeared to be on fire at this point.

"I-I don't know!" Vlad blurted out in fear. "I-I-I went into hiding, when everything went south!"

"What?! You hid?!" Gunmor shouted, turning his attention to Vlad. "Why would you hide when your people were in danger?! When your king was in danger! I thought you were loyal to me, Vlad! I thought you had a spine!" Gunmor was looming over Vlad now, growing in size. Simultaneously, Vlad was shrinking in size, until he was nothing more than a Bat.

"I don't know! I'm sorry! Fear got the better of me!" Vlad flew behind Mina, as he was sure that she would come up with a way to calm Gunmor down. However, Mina was just as afraid as Vlad was, and she was still trying to come up with a way to explain exactly what happened. Gunmor did not cease his terrifying form and still he billowed with rage.

"And what about you, Mina?!" Gunmor shouted. "Did you also hide as your people and your king were slaughtered!?

"No, my lord!" Mina shouted, genuinely hurt by the accusation. "I was out fighting with the others! I fought with all I had, but the knights were too skilled and too numerous!" But, Gunmor was hardly satisfied with Mina's sincerity and still he grew in size and rage, appearing now as a grotesque man/bat hybrid. Mina was scared, and her mind was clouded by five centuries of isolation and regret. But she stood her ground, trying to remember what, exactly, had , it hit her. Marceline. She had arrived back in Transylsvasmia not long before the attack, and Mina saw her enter Castlesvasmia. "It was Marceline, my lord!" she shouted, halting Gunmor's transformation. Mina continued "She betrayed us! She gave the Nordsgathians an Orange Wizard pendant to get through the shields and destroy us! She must have!"

"Marceline?" At the sound of her name, the pain in Gunmor's chest came back, worse than ever, like a thousand daggers stabbing across his entire body, and he doubled over in agony.

"Gunmor!" Mina shouted. She flew to his side, too afraid to touch him, but looking in concern. "Are you alright!" Vlad remained behind her, too afraid of what would happen next.

"Aaargh! The pain! But…Marceline…why?!" As he clenched his eyes shut, his memories started slipping back to that night that Marceline had stabbed him right in the heart and he remembered the dumb idiot smirk on the dumb idiot face of the man who had replaced him in Marceline's heart. "Richard the Handsome," they called him (though Gunmor knew him better as "Richard the Dumb Idiot who is, Admittedly, Kinda Handsome, I Guess"). Gunmor could now see clearly the memory of treachery, and his pain exploded into full-blown rage. He rose from the ground, teeth sharp and eyes ablaze. All he felt now was utter hatred for Marceline, his ex-wife, his former queen, his dearly beloved and the thought of her alongside his arch nemesis: The Great Dumb Idiot, leader of the Nordsgathian Vampire hunters.

"Marceline!" Gunmor said, furiously. "She betrayed us! She betrayed me! She fell in love with that boob of a man, Richard, and they worked together to kill me! To kill all of us! Just so she could get back at me for one little argument!" Mina looked in confusion, not knowing exactly what he was talking about, but was too afraid to say anything. Vlad peaked his little bat head from behind her, equally as curious and afraid of his king. Gunmor clenched his fists, raised them in the air, and began to shout even louder. "I swear to Grund that, when I get my hands on them, I will rip their hearts from their chest and chew them up!" He finally turned back his cohorts, which made Vlad go back to his hiding place. "Where are they?! I'm going to kill them myself!" Mina was stunned with fear for a moment, but, she knew she could not lie to her lord.

"Richard is dead, my lord," Mina said, quietly.

"What? Dead?" he asked.

"Yes, my lord. He died over a four hundred years ago, and his order and kingdom, as far as I know, disbanded not too long after."

Gunmor began to grumble to himself, embarrassed. Of course Richard must be dead. He was merely a Nordsgathian, after all, and time was never kind to their ilk "Dangsk! I wanted to have my revenge on him!" He shouted some more, kicking and punching the air, before taking several deep, contemplative breaths. "What about Marceline? Is she still alive?"

Again, the details of everything after that night were hazy, for Mina. But, even after Transyslvasmia's defeat, she had had to continue to be resourceful and keep her ear to the ground. Though she would not freely admit it, she had formulated her own plots to take revenge on the former queen, but her opportunity had never arisen. In time, she recalled, she had last track of Marceline after the traitor had left the protection of Nordsgath and into the strange, distant lands of candy and foolishness beyond the boundaries of Bulgeria.

"I cannot say, for certain, my lord," Mina answered him. "But, if she is, I suggest that we begin our search for her in the land of Ooo."

Gunmor raised his eyebrow at the stupid sounding name as it dragged forth more memories from his past. "Ooo?" he asked, puzzled by the strange name. And then, it hit him. "Oh!That's right! That colorful land I sent her to get a couple of creatures for my death traps? Yes! That was its name! Oh, what a doofy idea THAT is!" He smiled, evilly, and pumped his fist in excitement. "Let's go kill her now!

Mina looked at him in surprised. "Now? Like… right now?"

Gunmor nodded, excitedly. "Of course! Why not? With the Nordsgathians out of the way, we can finally make our march into Ooo, conquer its people for new slave labor and STAKE Marceline right in her filthy heart! How hard could it be?"

"Well, my lord," she fumbled, "it's just that Marceline is, you know, the daughter of a Demon lord, and is, therefore, much more powerful than all three of us combined."

Of course, Mina was right. Marceline's Demon blood gave her much more power than any Vampire he had ever seen before, including himself. Not to mention, she had the temperament of a small child (or, more specifically, a small, demonic, angry, emotionally unstable, and angst-ridden teenage child). Had he not used his powers of seduction to calm her down, she may have easily killed him long ago (or, more specifically, longer ago than she actually had killed him). Gunmor's hatred still burned, but he was slowly coming to terms with how it blinded him to all manner of strategy and deliberation.

Vlad finally came out of his hiding spot, returning to his normal form. "And also, my lord," he said, nervously. "There are only three of us and the entire land of Ooo is covered in kingdoms! What if they're full of citizens who are willing to defend their country!? What if they already know about our whereabouts!? What if they plan on coming down here, now!? He gasped in fear. What if they have a taste for Vampire meat!?" He began shrinking a little again at the thought.

Gunmor looked at Vlad with disbelief and disgust. "If they have a taste for Vampire meat, Vlad, I suspect they would prefer the meat of the spine." Vlad began to hang his head down in shame and embarrassment. "But, I supposed you still have a point," Gunmor sighed. "We have no choice but to assume that everyone we come across could be an enemy, and we don't know much about that enemy."

"No! But, I do, best buddy!" Said an all too familiar and dreadful voice.

The three gasped. Vlad immediately jumped behind Mina, once more, while she and Gunmor turned to see the horror that was Cinnamon Bun. He was still smiling his dumb smile, unafraid of the three Vampires floating in front of him. Gunmor backed away, slowly. "How…how did you get here?!" Gunmor questioned. "Why are you still following me?!"

"Ha ha ha ha! I followed the trail of our friendship!" He began to lick the cinnamon trail he followed off his lips. "And cuz' you're my best friend!" He jumped on to Gunmor, giving him a big hug. Repulsed, Gunmor tried desperately to pry the disgusting lump of saccharine garbage away from him, but the creature was deceptively strong. It took him time to pry the thing off and fling him to the ground.

Mina chuckled, confused, but entertained. "A friend of yours, Gunmor?" She asked.

Gunmor turned to her in frustration. "No! He is not! I mean… he brought me back from the dead! I think. Whatever! We have no other affiliation beyond that. I just…" He paused to stare at Cinnamon Bun's disgusting visage, constantly dripping with awful old dough and sugary syrup. "I hate him so much."

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You always play hard to get, best buddy!" Cinnamon Bun said, still lying on his back from the struggle before.

Gunmor's face shifted into its monstrous form out of anger. "Shut your pie hole!" Gunmor shouted.

"Hey! That's offensive!" Cinnamon Bun said in resentment. "I'm only half pie! Huh huh huh! Or, at least my dad said I was!" Cinnamon Bun pensively stroked the lumpy flab that passed for his chin. "Hmm. Do I even have a dad?

"I don't care!" Gunmor shouted. "I'm going to kill you, right now!" Gunmor turned his hand into a giant set of claws, and begun to bring them down. However, Mina put a hand to his shoulder to stop him.

"Wait, my lord!" she exclaimed. "He said he knows something about Ooo!"

Gunmor froze in place, angered at the fact that she was, actually, correct about the filthy beast. He rose his hands in defeat. "Ugh! Fine!" Gunmor turned back to Cinnamon Bun. "What was it you wanted to tell us, sugar creature?"

Cinnamon Bun doubled over laughing at the new title his best friend had declared for him. He assumed his friend must have forgotten a great deal in his absence. "My name's Cinnamon Bun!" he corrected.

Gunmor was beginning to lose his patience, but he kept cool. "Fine. Whatever. Tell us your thing." Gunmor demanded.

Cinnamon thought for a moment. "Uuuuh…Oh yeah! You can't go taking over Ooo!" He said, happily.

"Yes, I know, fool," Gunmor huffed. "Kingdoms and warriors and there are only three of us."

"No! Not just that! It's cuz if you just go in there like a big jerk, Finn and Jake are gonna beat the snot out of ya!"

Gunmor raised his hands and gasped mockingly. "Oh no. What will I do, now? If I try to take over Ooo, I'll have to face the wrath of Finn and Jake. I'm so terrified." Gunmor laughed, with Cinnamon Bun laughing with him, for no reason. Then, of course, it occurred to him that he had no idea what Cinnamon Bun was talking about. "Uh…who are Finn and Jake?"

Cinnamon Bun was still laughing in idiotic glee, having not yet caught up to Gunmor's point in the conversation. The Vampire trio awkwardly stared at him, waiting for him to stop. "That is pretty funny!" he cackled. Sighing away tears of laughter, he stood there smiling silently for far too long, and then continued. "Naw, but seriously. Finn and Jake are like the greatest heroes in all of Ooo!" He pretended to hold a sword, jabbing it in Gunmor and Mina's direction. "Finn is a Human who's good with swords, and likes stabbin' things! Especially evil things!"

Gunmor widen his eyes in disbelief. "Really? A Human? I thought they all died out, centuries ago." He mulled over that little fact, but quickly dismissed it. "Whatever. They're pretty weak, little creatures."

"Yeah, but then there's Jake, who's a Dog! And he's all stretchy and stuff!" Cinnamon wiggled his arms in demonstration.

Gunmor rubbed his eyes in impatience. "Again, why should I be afraid?" Gunmor began to suspect that the creature was stalling for some reason.

"Uuuuuh…Oh yeah! And they're both friends with Marceline!" Cinnamon Bun finished.

At this, Gunmor's ears pricked up visibly. "Really now?" Gunmor asked. He leaned into Cinnamon Bun, wanting to hear more. "Go on."

"Uuuuuh…Yeah!" Cinnamon Bun continued. "So, if you were to, ya know, hurt 'em real good, she might get really mad!" He paused to think it over. "But I dunno if you could hurt 'em. I saw Finn do like a bunch of push-ups, one time. And Jake drinks like… a lot of coffee. That's tough. I hate coffee. It tastes like butt."

Gunmor hastily interrupted. "Cinnamon Bun! Stay with me… uh… buddy." He mulled the idea over in his head "Tell me, Cinnamon Bun," he continued, "What if we didn't fight the Human and the dog? What if we captured them, instead? Then Marceline wouldn't be so mad, if she knew her… uh… friends weren't hurt too badly. Right?"

"Uuuuuh! No! Those guys are way too smart to get kidnapped! They'll see you comin'…Uuuuh…" Cinnamon Bun looked at his hands, and stretched them out to emphasize his point, "This far away!"

Gunmor wasn't sure how much he could trust Cinnamon Bun, but, he seemed to know enough about Marceline, so he was willing to listen. He began to ponder what he could possibly do to get an advantage over his enemies. If this Human and Dog were, indeed, as powerful as Cinnamon Bun said they were and, if they actually knew Marceline, then the odds were ever against them. He would need to both defeat the Human and the Dog, but would also need to ensure that they were left in good enough shape to give him time to regain his influence over Marceline. He couldn't risk inciting her rage. He mulled over his ideas, rubbed his temples deliberately, and snapped his fingers as a strategy broke through his death-addled subconscious.

"Vlad!" he demanded, pointing at his subject (and causing him to whimper briefly like a small, stupid baby). "The Blue Wizard pendants! Are there any left over from the war with Nordsgath?"

Vlad composed himself and pondered the question "Now that you mention it, my lord, the emergency stash might still be in the cellar, assuming the Nordsgathians didn't break the seal of invisibility surrounding it."

"Retrieve them at once and prepare them to fortify the walls of the castle!" Gunmor commanded. "And be quick about it!"

Vlad bowed his head, hoping to appease him. "Y-yes, milord!" and he was on his way out the room.

The plan was coming together, and Gunmor rubbed his hands together in sly satisfaction. Now, it was time to set up "The Trials." He pointed to Mina. "Mina. Go into the forest and set up the overly-intricate puzzles and traps!"

Cinnamon Bun guffawed at this. "Yeah! Puzzles and traps! Finn and Jake won't be able to resist those!"

Gunmor blinked silently and attempted to regain his conversational momentum. "Um… yes…" he said. "Exactly. And then…"

"And then even if they do get past the traps," Cinnamon Bun interrupted again, "They'll still get stuck at the Blue Wizard barrier and then you can capture 'em there!"

Gunmor and Mina stared blankly at the creature in perplexed agreement. "Well… yes. That," Gunmor stammered. "Mina! Get on it!"

Mina bowed her head. "Yes, milord!" And she flew off.

Of course, there was still the matter of Marceline's Orange Wizard pendant. If she still had that, it would be too easy for any and all of them to get through the traps and the barrier. Gunmor needed two final things: an army and leverage to keep the heroes playing by their rules, and he knew exactly how to get them. He floated towards Cinnamon Bun, and leaned forward to get his attention. "Now listen carefully, 'my best friend in the whole world'. I have a very important task for you."

Not gonna lie, this is my favorite chapter I've written thus far. It's so full of drama, humor, and personality. Anyways, peeps, I think we're in a good place, now, and I can't wait to get back with you guys! So long, peeps! I'll see you, as soon as possible. ;)