It goes without saying, of course, that Prince Gumball was a genius scientist that wished only the best for his friends and subjects, and always tried all he could to that end - which was usually quite a lot. He was not perfect, and had made his share of mistakes, but when Fionna and Flame Prince wanted to be able to smooch without causing serious burn injuries or the end of the world itself, the first person they came to would be no other than the good Prince Gumball.

"Turn Flame Prince into a human?", he asked

"Yeah." Fionna nodded.

"Well," he begun to explain. He always liked to explain matters in a long detail, just to make sure everyone got it all. "I cannot actually change his shape, as that is a far higher science than anything available to me: at most I could do it to candy people. But what I can do is to connect his mind into another body, made out of flesh and blood. This still has its share of complications, however: human tissue is a different matter from my usual area of expertise (candy), and I would have to do something to your original body," he pointed at Flame Prince, "store it in a special location where it could not harm the planet even when you use your projected body to be intimate with Fionna. I think the best solution would be a machine made out of extremely durable steel, a power plant that could use the flames to generate energy and heat for the entire kingdom! Of course, this is all quite difficult to do, and will probably take at least five to eight months to build."

"Oh." Her disappointed frown melted his heart. He may not have always showed himself to be a too good of a friend to her, what with his responsibilities getting ahead of that: he wanted to make up for it. "I see... so, I guess we'll ask you again in half a year?"

"Oh, no need for that." He smiles. "I started to work on it right after the first time you nearly destroyed Aaa. It's pretty much ready: I was just about to call you in, in fact."

"Oh, okay." Both seemed rather more cheered-up by this revelation.

They went to the basements, and the power room, where he showed them the machine. It was truly a magnificent piece of art: a vast contraption of black steel, wires, and pipes, connected to the rest of the castle and through it, to the rest of the Candy Kingdom. One of the highest pieces of technology he had ever built: now all he needed was something to power it with.

"So, I guess this could be a good apology for, uhh, having your mother lock you to a lamp for most of your life?", he asked Flame Prince sheepishly.

"Well, it looks like you'll get something out of this deal too." He shrugged. "But sure. Apology accepted."

"Marvelous!", Gumball smiled. "All right, then, now if you'd just step in here..."

[What follows is more technobabble for several pages, which is not replicated here in written form because the audience has all fallen asleep.]

"...now KISS!"

[The audience wakes up. Welcome back.]

So. The Flame Prince was in the machine, visible through the glass door, and the entire thing just needed its first power-up. The human Flame Prince, a youth with a dark-brown skin and nearly black hair, was in the room with Fionna, looking at each other tenderly, about to... "Gumball, are you ever going to look away?", Fionna asked, exasperated.

"Oh, oh! I apologise... sorry, sorry... I'll just turn around and look at the readings..." He coughed and turned around, looking at the display monitor on the machine, which was another intricate and technologically advanced piece that- oh all right, fine. I will not bore you with the details.

Anyway, the readings soon leapt high, the lights around the machinery flared up, and it suddenly got warmer inside the room. Through the glass, he could see the Flame Prince's original body heat up and paint the entire interior orange of fire. Everything seemed to work well.

"Good job guys! Uh. Can I turn back around now?"

"Okay."

He turned around, and found the two in each other's arms, looking like they were stuck. They were not kissing anymore, at least. "We... usually have to use tin foil," Fionna explained.

"She feels so squishy and huggable."

"Right. Well... everything here is working okay. So you guys can go and look for some privacy if you like?"

"Okay!" And they left. It was easier said than done, because both absolutely refused to take either hand from each other's waist. So they just sort of inched upstairs sideways like a crab.


Meanwhile, as the now human Flame Prince and his girlfriend headed out to find a place where they can cuddle and make out in peace, their alternate versions, both sets utterly unaware that another one even exists, had made a good way into the Ice Kingdom and the fabled second dungeon.

There were not many people, or anything at all of interest on the way. Mostly because the Ice Kingdom was really cold and mountainous: about the only thing they saw was penguins and the occasional polar bear.

"Getting too cold for you?", Fionna asked, concerned. Flame Prince had spent some time now shivering and looking rather uncomfortable.

"Yeah, a little... I'll be fine, though."

"We can turn back if you want to. I really don't want to hurt you or anything: this whole thing isn't that important."

"Thanks. But I think I'd like to see this to the end, just what the entire fuss is about."

"Well, okay." She smiled in a concerned manner. "But let me know as soon as it's getting too far, okay?"

"Got it."

The cave they were looking for turned out to be a crack between icebergs. Beyond it, a small temple, nowhere near as big as the dungeon they had crawled through just a little while ago. It had its share of monsters: more keymasters, though they did not carry any keys, just tried to stop the two with their usual ineffective methods. Careful of not melting and collapsing the entire place, Flame Prince torched them down. "Good job." "Thanks."

There were no traps, though. Fionna thought this was boring.

Anyway, pretty soon they made it to the main chamber, which was this large room with a mysterious wall at the end. It was made out of pure ice, so much so that it reflected them like a mirror, although the reflections were... blurry, and kind of weird. Fionna's was shorter, for instance, and of a bit different shape with bear ears in her hat instead of a rabbit's.

There were three keyholes: one white, one orange, and one light blue. It was pretty easy for them to figure out what to do.

"Hmm. So, should I give mine a try?" Fionna gestured toward the white keyhole with her key.

"I'm just a bit bothered by those reflections... that one doesn't really look that much like me at all. What do you think?"

"Well, it's probably the ice blurring and distorting them." She shrugged.

"I guess."

"Also, I really hope we won't need that last key. Maybe all three open a treasure of their own?"

"Kind of makes you wonder what's in that blue keyhole, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. At least the other two we can actually find out."

There seemed to be nothing else to say, so she placed her key to its hole. "Here goes nothing!", she exclaimed excitedly, and turned it.

Reality blurred.

To Flame Prince, it felt as if the entire world was disintegrated and rewritten again. It was like the universe around him was a piece of paper, and now someone had set the paper on fire. Briefly, it felt like he could see everything at once. And several other vague illustrations of just how bloody weird it was what just happened.

In the end, as he came to, he stood up and watched with blurry eyes to something with a blue shirt, a white hat, and a sword.

"Fionna...?"

"Flame Princess?"

Finn and Flame Prince stared at each other for a few seconds. Then they screamed.