Chapter 6
The path to war

Finn and Jake sat nervously around the large table in the meeting room of the Candy Kingdom. Around them was the King of the Fire Kingdom from the East, The Queen of the Water Kingdom from the West, The Saar of the Desert Kingdom from the South, The King of the Warrior Kingdom from the North and Princess Bubblegum, the Candy Kingdom being in the Center of Ooo. They comprised the five kingdoms of Ooo, and their potential combined power made Finn's gut. Amongst the royalty, Marceline the Vampire Queen was hovering in the corner and the Rowdy men sat at the table, telling stories and laughing loudly. Suddenly Princess Bubblegum stood and spoke.
"Thank you all for coming here. I have something of great urgency and importance that you must all take part in."
"What's this all about bonnie?" Marceline said from the corner.
"Yeah Princess, what are we all here for?" Said the Water Queen.
"The worst has happened, the demon lord Juno has escaped from his bonds, and is now a threat to all of Ooo."
"Juno!" Marceline shouted in amazement.
Finn looked over at Marceline in confusion. Her reaction was surprising. He asked her "Marceline, you know Juno?"
"Yeah…but only from stories my dad used to tell me…" Marceline's response seemed suspicious, but Finn knew this was no time to press her on it, especially with her temper.
The whole room was thrown into an uproar of panic. It appeared that all of Ooo was aware of Jordan, or what they perceived him to be.
The Fire King rose to his feet shouting "What do you mean he has escaped! We thought you had this under control Princess!"
Princess Bubblegum raised her hands trying to calm the crowd "Please, everyone, if you'll remain calm, I'll explain! I have a plan," but the Princess' voice was lost in a sea of fearful shouts. Princess Bubblegum looked at Finn with worry as she was losing control of the meeting. Suddenly Finn jumped on the table shouting "Y'all need to calm down and listen to the Princess!"
Surprised by this sudden outburst by Ooo's greatest hero, they immediately stopped shouting and looked at Princess Bubblegum. She smiled and thanked Finn, then turned to her audience.
"I have called you all here today to discuss what we are going to do about this threat. While I have brought Finn the Human to aid me, his strength alone will not be enough. My fellow royalties, we need to prepare for war."
"War?" Exclaimed the Water Queen, "for a single foe? He cannot possibly be that powerful."
"Believe me Water Queen, Juno possesses the strength of 20 armies, and being locked away for so long has no doubt made him resentful. We must destroy him now, before he has a chance to move on the Land of Ooo and claim it for his own!" Princess Bubblegum said with a seriousness Finn had never seen. All the while, Finn and Jake kept looking at each other worriedly. They could almost read each other's thoughts.
"What should we do?" Jake thought.
"I don't know…we'll have to go along with it…until I can think of a plan" Finn thought.
Princess Bubblegum began to speak again "I will need all of you to begin rallying your finest warriors, meanwhile, I will think of a way to lure Juno to the Desolate Fields, where the battle will not harm any innocents. It will be monumental."
Finn and Jake sat through the hours of battle preparations in a trance. Their only thoughts were on how they were going to save Ninja-Jordan from all of this. Once the meeting was adjourned, the Princess turned to Finn with a plan.
"Now Finn, I have a special assignment for you. I know I said that you couldn't engage Juno before, but I think now that may have been wrong. I need you to find him and challenge him to battle. Tell him you'll only fight in the Desolate Fields. Once he follows you there, we'll be ready to ambush him."
"Umm…ok. But, you know Princess, I was thinking. What if Juno's not as bad as you think? What if he's just a really misunderstood dude?"
Princess Bubblegum looked at Finn weird "Are you alright Finn? This is no time to joke around. There's a serious task ahead of you. Are you up to it?"
"Yeah, I am" Finn said with unhappily.
"Great. I know it seems like a lot is being put on you, but you'll have the whole Land of Ooo backing you, so don't be afraid" the Princess said with an assuring smile and sent Finn and Jake off on their task; the second they were outside the Candy Kingdom Finn burst into a panic.
"Dude! We need to go tell Jordan about all of this right now!"
"I know!" Jake yelled equally filled with panic.
"There's no time to lose! Come on man!" And the two ran towards Ninja-Jordan's house afraid for their new friend and the fate that awaited him.