The moment of truth was at hand. Flame Princess and Bubblegum's armies gathered near the edge of the battlefield side by side. Although it was only morning, the desolation that Flame King and his men wrought upon the Breakfast Kingdom had blocked out the sun which made the sky overall dark and gloomy. Ashes and embers drifted in the wind as a constant omen of the Phoenix Brigade's ruthlessness towards its enemies.
Flame Princess was mounted on Jake 2 and delivered a war speech to her people, "My fellow soldiers, today is the day we stand together as united kingdoms. We are here to cast aside our differences and fight for one common goal: to put an end to Flame King's belligerent nature!"
The crowd cheered with their weapons raised.
"Our enemies await us at the gates of the Breakfast Kingdom. They are ready for us, fortified in their defenses, and are well-armed. But our sheer will and tenacity to overcome them is far greater!"
The crowd cheered again.
"I know what I ask of you will not be easy to accomplish. But know this, the men standing beside you will always watch your back. Trust in each other and work together. Fight to protect your families and our way of life so that we may live in peace."
The crowd cheered one last time.
"Now, ready your weapons!" Flame Princess ordered.
"Ready your weapons," several officers repeated.
The infantry drew their weapons in a single fashion.
FP motioned her catapult units to deploy smoke.
"Deploying smoke," they said.
The rocks traveled into the air and landed directly into the middle of the battlefield and smoke dispersed seconds after impact.
FP and the others felt like they waited for an eternity as the smoke gradually covered the kingdom's view. Finally, the wait was over and FP materialized a flame sword, swung it forward, and shouted, "Charge!"
Hundreds upon thousands of liberators gave out a huge battle cry as they dashed towards the smokescreen. As they approached the kingdom grounds, they were greeted with enemy catapults, arrows, and bursts of flames. Bodies flew in the air and dozens were killed from the bunkers that shot blindly in their direction.
"Keep moving forward," one knight shouted.
When the attackers reached close to some of the bunkers, the men instinctively raised their shields to protect themselves from incoming fire. However, they needed to act fast because the smoke was dissipating and soon the defending catapult units would zero in on their location.
Meanwhile, back at the Slime Kingdom, the fight also started. The liberation forces were led by Muscle Princess, Wildberry Princess, Hot dog Princess, and Emerald Princess. Also joining them in the fight were Jake and Marceline. The magical canine was previously over at the Grocery Kingdom gathering some ingredients for his lobster soul sandwich. Once he heard of the news, he stopped his shopping and ran over to the nearest kingdom from his location. As for Marcy, she was flying around and about and heard some rumors regarding several of Ooo's forces gathering at the Slime Kingdom. Intrigued by this information, the vampire decided to investigate for herself only to find it was true and encounter Jake.
"Whoo, I haven't had this kind of action in a long time," Marceline exclaimed while slaying her enemies with her ax bass.
"Yeah, Finn would have loved to see this. I just wish he was here though. I've been trying to contact him with my phone, but I can't reach him for some reason," Jake said as he pummeled several enemy knights with his giant fists.
"Oh I'm sure he's fighting out there too, probably with his flaming girlfriend. He'll be fine," she smirked.
Jake couldn't help but smile to himself, "Perhaps you're right, Marceline. I'm glad for my bro that he's happy again. I really am." As Jake finished his sentence, he formed one of his fists into a giant mallet and swung at a dozen of Phoenix knights, knocking them into the air.
The two dropped their conversation as they focused more on their fight. After 15 minutes, Marceline began to grow impatient, "Ugh, this fight's going to be a drag if it keeps going on like this." She transformed into her giant bat form, "That's better, now we're getting somewhere."
The enemy knights near her location were immediately terrified and began to retreat further into the Slime Palace.
"FALL BACK! I REPEAT FALL BACK!" One knight screamed.
Muscle Princess raised her fist in the air, "They are weakening! Crush those fools with all your might!" She led the way as the others followed.
As the liberators advanced closer to the palace Jake and Marceline destroyed any fortifications that were in their way. Archer towers were quickly knocked over, ground catapult units were smashed, and outposts were demolished. Enemy infantry scrambled over each other as they attempted to regroup back towards the castle.
Finally, Marceline and Jake approached near the palace followed by their comrades. But as she flew closer to the palace wall, the unexpected happened.
"Ready... alright do it now!," ordered a Phoenix knight.
Moments later, several spotlights were lit at the Vampire Queen. She screamed in agony and quickly reverted back to her normal form. Then, she began to fall as the pain disrupted her control of flight.
"Marcy!" Jake shouted. Quickly he caught the disabled vampire in his hands and carried her to safety behind cover whilst dodging enemy fire, "You'll be ok, Marcy. You're gonna be ok."
She winced in pain, "Y-yeah... I'll live... I just need to sit this one out for a while... I'll get back into the fight soon."
Jake gave her a soft smile, "I know you will, Marcy. Just take it easy. You've done a lot to help us make it this far."
She nodded and then slowly closed her eyes to rest.
Back at the Breakfast Kingdom, banana and fire troops were still pinned down from the Phoenix's ground defenses. The smoke screen was already long gone from this point and the enemy began using their catapults with more precision. Fortunately, some of the liberation troops took down a few bunkers that they could use for cover while others would use the nearby trenches with small shelters.
"Stay down, men," ordered a fire captain. "Use the bunkers or foxholes as cover. It's not much, but it'll sure keep you from getting your head blown off!"
The ground shook as each blazing stone made its impact. Some of the attackers died from the blast radius while others were still shot from ricocheting arrows and fire blasts.
"Captain, what do we do," asked a fire knight.
"Hold this position, we need to wait for the rest of our reinforcements before we can advance."
"Yes sir," the knight nodded.
As the captain and his company hid behind cover, he noticed from a distance that there were some stray troops boldly charging towards the city wall. Some of them were hopelessly shooting crossbows and a few others were advancing with nothing but a flag of the either the Fire Kingdom or Candy Kingdom. "Gotta give those men some credit," he muttered to himself.
They continued to wait for a few minutes until one of the men announced, "Sir, command's said they can't send anymore backup! We're on our own!"
"Darn it," he looked away. Then he observed the rest of the defenses overhead, "Alright, form up. Here's what we're going to do: there are several ballista emplacements reinforced with archer nests. We take them out, our fire support can move forward. We'll focus on one at a time so I'm going to need one half to lay suppressing fire and the other half to flank them. Everyone understand?"
The men nodded collectively.
"Good, we'll move on my signal. Hold... Ok GO!"
They left the trenches and made a daring offensive as soon as the enemy barrage ceased momentarily to reload. Some men were lost, but overall they were successful in completing their objective. They were coordinated and worked well under pressure as they destroyed each of the Phoenix's defenses systematically.
"Good work, men. Friendly catapult units are inbound," the fire captain said.
The attackers have now gained an advantage. With the aid of their artillery, it would only take a matter of hours for the outer wall to be demolished. Fortunately, that wouldn't be the case since Flame Princess and her task force have just breached into the perimeter and disabled the remaining wall's defenses.
"Command, this is Flame Princess. Alpha squad has disabled the rest of the wall's defenses. You are clear to fire, over."
"Copy that, firing trebuchets."
Banana and fire troops pulled back as the bombardment commenced. A few minutes later, the wall surrounding the kingdom was completely destroyed. Everyone cheered as the enemy abandoned their posts and retreated further into the city.
Flame Princess radioed all units, "Everyone, you have all done a tremendous job. You have my appreciation and eternal gratitude for your efforts. We are almost there. For now, I want everyone to rest and set up defensive positions for a possible counterattack. Flame Princess out." She looked over to her friends who were battered with cuts and bruises, "Well, it took longer than expected but at least we did it."
"Yeah," Finn panted. "I can fight long as much as the next guy, but man that was exhausting!"
"I agree," Betty added. "The longest fight I ever had was when Finn and I freed Simon from the ice crown. This battle however, makes mine look like it was nothing!"
"Even with my ice powers, I was a bit surprised that those guys still put up a fight. You would think that using the opposite element would pose a significant advantage, but I guess the crown has its limits too," said Simon.
Bubblegum reached into one of her pouches from her battle suit, "I've synthesized some supplements back at the lab to restore our endurance. They taste sweet like candy, but just don't eat too much. Only take one every 6 hours for continual use."
Finn grabbed the first one, "Oh thanks, PB."
The others also grabbed one and thanked her altogether.
"Hey, it works! I feel like I can run to the palace and back if wanted too," Finn said.
Bubblegum chuckled, "That's great and all, but don't waste your energy. Remember, we need you and everyone else ready to fight in case they come back."
Finn nodded, "Of course, PB."
Jake dispatched the remaining Phoenix guards defending the Slime Palace wall. Once all the spotlights were destroyed, he and the others focused their attack by pummeling one section of the inner wall. When they finally stormed into the palace, the remaining Phoenix knights dropped their weapons and surrendered. The battle for the Slime Kingdom was drawing to a close and the princess of the said kingdom was freed from the dungeon.
Before they celebrated, they began to run a thorough inspection of the throne room. Unfortunately, there were no signs of Flame King's presence nor any of his council members.
"All clear!" One emerald knight shouted.
Everyone began to cheer and celebrate their victory. But they were quickly interrupted when Flame King appeared on a giant monitor screen, "Fools, I had no use for that poor excuse of a land you call a kingdom anyway. My forces merely captured it to instill fear and intimidation upon your hearts! Savor your victory now because it's the only one you'll ever get. I've got plans to shape Ooo in my image and you will all bear witness before my glory. And then when it is over, we can 'negotiate' for peace. Bwahahaha!"
The transmission ended in static as the signal disconnected. Jake and all the royals stared at the screen for a few moments to register everything in their minds.
"I've got to find Finn and the others," Jake said as began to leave.
"Not without me you're not," Marceline said as she suddenly appeared behind Jake. Usually in most instances Jake would have been terrified from her jump scare, but this time he flinched a little without screaming.
"Alright, Marcy." Then, he looked over at the princesses, "Any ideas where Finn and the others might be?"
"Princess Bubblegum and Flame Princess were leading a joint offensive over at the Breakfast Kingdom. That's probably your best bet," Emerald Princess answered. "Unfortunately, we cannot accompany you at this time. We have to stay and assist with the relief effort, not to mention that this kingdom must be protected temporarily in case the Phoenix Brigade shows up again. Chances are they won't, but you can't be too sure."
Jake nodded in acknowledgement, "I understand, we'll let Bubblegum know about this as soon as we get there. Later everyone."
They waved goodbye as the magical canine and Vampire Queen rushed towards the Breakfast Kingdom.