A few hours ago at the Emerald Kingdom, when the summit meeting ended, a lone security guard exited the conference room and began dialing his cell phone. It rang for several minutes until his contact finally answered, "Yes?"
"What took you so long?" The caller scowled.
"Hey, man! I'm sorry I couldn't answer right away. This place is loud enough already that I can barely hear myself."
"(sigh) Just set your phone to vibrate as well next time. Anyway, meet me outside near the main gate. We need to head back to the house and fast."
"Will do, I'll see you in five."
As the caller hung up, he noticed from the distance that a small crowd of reporters surrounded an irate fire elemental who was making a swift exit. He paused for a moment to look at her briefly, then turned away. For some reason, he thought he if stared longer she would notice, even though he was far away mingling with the crowd.
"Another time, perhaps," he softly thought to himself.
Right now, he had a priority to leave the Emerald Kingdom and return to his home. He proceeded to exit the lobby and sprint towards the main gate to prepare for the imminent conflict.
Meanwhile at the Candy Kingdom, thousands of citizens began packing their personal belongings. Hundreds of houses and apartments were stripped clean of all essentials which mainly included food and clothing. All that remained for the most part was usually furniture and large household appliances such as the stoves, ovens, and refrigerators. Since the summit meeting was widely broadcasted across Ooo, it didn't take long for the streets to become crowded as people scrambled over each other to reach the city limits.
Although the majority of the candy citizens wasted no time evacuating their homeland, some of them persisted to stay. They reasoned that their ruler's technology would be advanced enough to provide them ample protection. Others on the hand, recalled their old history with the Fire Kingdom and decided to leave regardless, even if it meant leaving friends or family members behind who were too stubborn to listen.
Hundreds of the kingdom's local guard established security checkpoints throughout downtown as the general population made a hasty departure. Although they were outraged from their ruler's decisions, they chose to flee for their own safety rather than to organize a massive riot.
Anywhere in the kingdom that involved public transportation was busy as expected. Transit buses were packed with passengers that were shoulder to shoulder. Eventually, some of the guards stationed there were forced to pull a few of them away from the vehicles.
One guard shouted, "There's no more room! Get back in line and wait for the next one!"
Even though the authorities kept the lines in check, the buses that were supposed to leave couldn't go anywhere as the main streets were jammed with heavy traffic. Dozens of horns were blaring pointlessly as they covered little to no ground. As a result, some of the drivers became impatient enough to leave their cars and head towards the outskirts on foot.
While most of the population marched their way towards the outskirts, some of them sought to evacuate using air transportation. The local airports for instance were crowded with thousands of people as they went through lengthy security checkups.
"How long until the next flight," one person anxiously asked as he looked at the flight chart.
"About 15 minutes," replied another.
"We can't leave any faster?" His voice expressed a sense of urgency.
The other guy noticed this and comforted him saying, "Take it easy, man. It's not that long of a wait. The kingdom's force field will give us plenty of time to make a clean getaway."
"Do you know how long exactly?" He arched an eyebrow.
The other shrugged casually, "Just enough for us to make it into the air long beforehand."
"T-that's good. Now if you'll excuse me." He quickly parted and headed for the nearest restroom.
The other guy shook his head, "(sigh) I'm sure we'll be out of here just fine! Nothin' to worry about."
"Alright, we made it. Get your necessities and leave the rest because there won't be enough time to get them."
"Aw, man! Really? We have so much stuff though."
"I know, but these things can be easily replaced with some dungeon crawling. Besides, your life is more important, and remember, you have your wife and kids to look after."
"Ok, ok."
After a few moments, the two packed their belongings with pairs of suitcases and met at the living room.
"Well, we got everything we could carry," Jake the dog said.
Finn nodded as he looked at the clock, "Now, this next part is very important: take BMO and Neptr with you and head over to Lady's place. You guys should be safe over there."
Jake was befuddled, "Uh, Finn? What are you saying?"
The human took a deep breath, "I'm heading over to the Candy Kingdom to save as many lives as I can."
"Finn, that's crazy! Are you out of your mind?!" The canine brother couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Don't do this if you think getting involved will solve your personal biz!"
He sighed in frustration, "I know, bro! I'm not doing this for my own gain. I'm doing this because there are people over there who will be caught in the crossfire when the going gets rough. It's my job as a hero to protect the innocent. It's what Billy would do, our parents would do, and what I would do."
Jake looked away from his brother's gaze in defiance. He took a brief moment before considering, "I'll go with you too then."
Finn shook his head, "No, Jake. You need to get our friends out of here and keep them safe."
The canine knew that his brother wouldn't listen if he tried to argue and reluctantly nodded, "Fine, just don't stay there longer than need be. This isn't your war to fight."
"I know, I know. Now go! We can't throw this debate all day!"
Jake nodded as he left the treefort and shapeshifted into a giant to cover more ground. Finn on the other hand, took one last look around the house to make sure nothing important was left behind. Considering that his home was directly between both warring kingdoms, he had a strong feeling his house would be used as fuel to supply the Fire Kingdom Army.
"I'm sure going to miss this place," he thought to himself. "But you know what they say: home is where the heart is." He grabbed a set of keys from the table on the way out and went inside a red pickup truck he salvaged from one of his adventures.
Princess Bubblegum was in her palace as she looked at a set of maps with Peppermint Butler and Colonel Candy Corn.
"What's the situation so far," PB asked.
The colonel cleared his throat before speaking in a gruff voice, "Our scouts report heavy enemy movement approaching from the east. Judging from the terrain and the equipment they're hauling, I'd say we have at least 4-5 hours until contact."
This made PB distressed, "We need more time. Send out a battalion towards the Grasslands to set up trench emplacements."
"Are you nuts?! They're not going to live long enough to give a real fight!"
"I know what I'm sending them into," PB snapped. "The harsh reality is that more citizens will perish if we just let the fire troops waltz into our doorstep on the way here."
He grumbled, "Yes, your majesty." Moments later, he bowed and left the war room.
Peppermint looked at the princess, "Do you think this will work?"
She nodded, "I've done the calculations. I'm sure I know what to expect."
Meanwhile, as Finn was speeding towards the Candy Kingdom, he noticed a large military convoy was approaching his general direction. It didn't take much effort for the human to consider where they were going.
"It seems like Bubblegum's already making her move," Finn thought to himself. "I better hurry." He floored the gas pedal as he drove on the grassy plains. When he finally approached the outskirts, he stopped instantly as he observed the massive crowd of refugees obstructing his path.
He sighed as he switched off the ignition, "Guess I'll have to leg it from here." He got outside moments later and began jogging towards the oncoming crowd.
