The Fire Giant hummed loudly as it awoke from its long slumber. Streams of smoke could be seen shooting out of its joints and sockets in a collective hiss, and the ground trembled as it began to stand upright. The lights that outlined its face and overall body slowly intensified until it glowed brightly into a blue color. In the time that transpired, Phoebe's body had disappeared by itself towards the guardian's chest line at the center. While the last ultimate weapon appeared to be operational, no one was sure if the fiery monarch had complete control or if she was simply assimilated like the previous test subjects.
After a long minute, the giant moved on its own again. It began looking sideways from left to right to gain a sense of its surroundings before looking down to examine its arms and hands. The elementals below immediately cleared a path so they wouldn't be trampled and they continued to wait until the guardian gathered its bearings. Flame King was the first person to realize the giant was acting strangely after a while as it hesitantly took a few steps forward. When he regained his composure upon realization, he quickly faced one of the scientists next to one of the nearby terminals and ordered, "See if you can establish contact!"
"Hold on," the scientist frowned in concentration. "System diagnostics are running..."
"Sir," a military official advised to FK as he waited. "Reports from the front indicate the men are taking heavy casualties. Morale has been lost and several units have already deserted.. or at least attempted to. If we're going to change things around in our favor, it has to be done now."
Suddenly, another official joined the conversation and grimly announced, "Communications are down from the front lines. I can't reach anyone anymore."
"What?" A third officer questioned in disbelief. "We couldn't have! There's no way Bubblegum could have wiped out the whole army so quickly, even with her air support! Maybe she's running a jammer or something."
"Whether or not your statistics are true is irrelevant," FK stated arguably. He then looked back at the first officer asking, "What is the estimated time till arrival?"
"Fifteen or twenty minutes if we're lucky," he replied nervously. "A city-wide evac is already underway."
"It won't even matter!" FK looked down disapprovingly pinching the bridge of his nose with an ironic chuckle. When he brought his head back up, he looked back at the scientist operating the terminal asking, "Well, do you have anything?!"
"Energy core and weapons are running a hundred percent," he replied. "Audio and visual seems to be fine too."
"Phoebe can you hear me?" FK called out waving his arms at the giant. His expression brightened a little when he saw the mech cast its gaze on him.
"Dad?" Phoebe asked in the guardian's voice.
"You have no idea how much it is a relief to hear your voice again," FK admitted while disregarding the men eyeing him with shocked expressions from seeing him acting sincere. "Tell me, are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine I guess," Phoebe answered as she examined herself. "What happened?"
"Your matrix went past it limits," her father explained. "Your body was on the verge of being lost from over exertion that you went into coma. The only way we could bring you back was to either give you the rest you needed or have the Sleeping Fire God accelerate your recovery."
From that moment, Phoebe widened her eyes in realization. The recent experience regarding the mock battle came rushing back to her memory along with the Cosmic Owl's warning. She took on an urgent demeanor and said, "Bonnibel's still out there! I have to go now!"
"We're going to be looking at a lot of collateral damage real soon if we can't get her to the field right away. Any ideas?" An officer asked.
FK looked at the elemental, "General, do we still have power for the volcanic canon?"
"Only enough for one more shot," he answered like it was the easiest thing in the world. "But what good will that do?"
"I think I have just found the answer to our problems," FK stated comfortably as he glanced at the giant.
"Sir," the general protested. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not? The volcanic cannon's shot out massive payloads before. The exiting portal's wide enough and we can angle the cannon for Phoebe to literally jump straight into the action. And if that's not convenient enough, she can simply walk over to the bottom of the central core right now, which just so happens to be nearby. Otherwise, she'll have to trample through our city streets and reach Bubblegum at a much later time." FK stepped forward in his face and asked, "Any more questions?"
"No.. sir." The subordinate withheld a sigh.
Bubblegum gave out a tired yawn as she decimated the Fire Army at the Grasslands. The opening hours of the fight were intense and action-packed, but now everything seemed to become mundane for the Candy princess. The enemy had made valiant attempts to stop the gumball guardian with its sheer numbers and firepower, only to find itself beaten into submission. The battlefield shook constantly from all the ordinance deployed by the drone fleet accompanying Bubblegum that it seemed the elemental troops decided to offer no more resistance. If there was anyone else making the effort to resist despite the harrowing circumstances, their lives would be lost quickly to the sounds of chaos.
After a few minutes, Bubblegum decided to stop her giant as her drones continued the fighting. She looked at her HUD which indicated that she had fought for two hours and then made a brief diagnostic of the giant's status. Her overall health was currently running at ninety percent, only to slowly reach a hundred as it self-repaired.
"I suppose I could be doing this all day," PB thought as she rubbed her eyes from looking at the screen. "I have thoroughly lashed out with all the hatred I could muster and I have gained my satisfaction. That being said," she reached over to type a few buttons on the console, "It's time to move on to bigger and better things."
A waypoint was set on the screen moments later that lead to the heart of the Fire Kingdom. Once Bubblegum nodded in confirmation, she looked over to her inventory list on screen and studied an icon of a nuclear symbol. Only one was in stock unlike her other weapons, and Bubblegum placed a hand on the image tenderly in deep thought.
"It's necessary," PB affirmed to herself. "This is to let the world know that I will do everything in my power to protect my people. Humanity may have squandered away its WMD's for a fruitless conquest, but my cause is fair and just."
As she began to venture towards the borderlands of the Fire Kingdom, an alarm blared out on screen prompting her to halt. To her surprise, the candy monarch discovered the volcanic cannon was priming itself for another shot at her location.
"Computer," PB ordered. "Divert full power to frontal shields!"
A few drones were lost right away as chunks of molten lava were catapulted in Bubblegum's direction. While the overall fighting stopped momentarily from the volcanic eruption, the candy monarch moved her giant into a defensive stance. She would step to side occasionally whenever she faced a large projectile, but overall most would simply bounce off her guardian.
One long minute later, Bubblegum expressed a look of shock. The HUD indicated a larger volcanic eruption was imminent and that it advised her to backtrack at a minimal safe distance. Not willing to take her chances, PB made her giant turn around at a full 180 degree angle and walked briskly in the Grassland's direction. Sweat was running down her face as the alarms blared obnoxiously. Before she knew it, a massive shadow loomed over her form from behind and sent a thundering implosion upon landing. PB's giant stumbled and dropped to knee as the ground was shaken, but it was ultimately unharmed as the unidentified object landed approximately ten paces apart. For a long while the drones circled around on standby as they studied the massive volcanic chunk. It was completely drenched in lava, but as time passed the chunk became more distinguished. PB discovered overtime that a bulky, metallic humanoid was underneath the obscurity and her head nodded in realization.
"So," PB thought in relief. "They've finally used it!"
The Fire Giant stood upright a few seconds later after its arrival and then glowed from its light blue markings. It then stepped forward away from its crater before it made a pointing gesture. "Bonnibel," Phoebe boomed. "This is the end of the line!"
"Princess Phoebe," the candy monarch greeted mockingly. "You survived!" She finished with her teeth gritting.
"Just so we're clear," Phoebe stated coldly. "There's only going to be one person who will walk away from this."
"You're not going to spare me anymore?" PB asked as she feigned shock.
"Not after everything you did," the elemental retorted. "I should have known you would have never backed down in the first place."
"Pfft, took you long enough," PB rolled her eyes.
"Enough words!" Phoebe shouted throwing her arms to the sides. "Let us end this!"
"You are eager for blood, Phoebe," PB nodded in acknowledgment. "As am I. I guess we'll finally settle this matter with just the two of us!"
Before Phoebe could charge and lash out with her giant, PB ordered all her drones to swarm in at the last possible second.
