Alex chopped down a Mole Beast with a measured swipe from his blade, severing the ugly head from its mount. The corpse tumbled to the ground as Alex moved on to another target. He cut it down as well. He turned around just in time to see one of the creatures lunge at him. It was thrown aside by a pair of well placed arrows. He nodded at Nika, who was also about to be attacked in the same manner. She ducked and Alex tossed a bolt of lightning at the Mole Beast, sending it crashing into the wall.

"Why are we here again?" Sarah yelled, kicking one of the creatures off of her.

"The Princess told us to retrieve the hilt of some sword." Alex replied, his voice nearly drowned out by the noise of a dozen hungry beasts.

Sarah jumped high and embedded her boot in the face of her opponent, using it as a springboard for an attack at the Mother beast. The massive creature roared as it saw her in the air and raised a hand to swat her away. Alex would have none of that. A burst of flame leapt from Alex's hands and burned the Mother's face. Sarah embedded her daggers in its back as she fell, using them to slow her momentum. The creature roared in pain, shaking the cavern as it collapsed.

The patter of clawed feet on tiles echoed into the atrium as the Mother whimpered in pain. It tried to drag itself to safety as Alex walked towards it. He rubbed its head gently. He raised a dagger and plunged it into the base of it's head, neatly severing the spinal column.

"Well, that's done." Sarah cleaned her daggers with a cloth rag and slid them into their sheaths, "Light please?"

"Gimme a sec." Alex cast magelight, illuminating the area.

"Woah..." Nika looked around in awe, "This is just..."

"Indeed."

The atrium was a massive circular chamber. Wrecked machinery and clusters of wire dangled from the ceiling. Yet more wreckage was piled in the center.

"Deja vu much?" Sarah kicked one some of the machinery, "This looks a lot like GLADOS."

"Hell yeah!" Nika ran towards her, "This looks like one of her cores!"

"Uncanny similiarity is uncanny." Alex observed, "Anyway, where to now?"

"There I guess." Sarah pointed into a tunnel, holding up Princess Bubblegum's GPS pendant.

"Alright."

The three resumed their trek into the heart of the dungeon.

Finn charged at the troll in front of him, holding his sword at the ready. The massive beast roared as it saw him. He jumped, swinging his weapon. The sharp blade dug into its flesh with ease, severing an arm in a spray of blood. Jake kicked the thing as Finn landed, his gigantic foot propelling the troll into the wall.

"Yeah!" Finn screamed, feeling the thrill of combat once more.

"C'mon buddy," Jake urged him on, "Let's go kill some more trolls!"

"Don't we have to find that piece of Gerond's sword?"

"Yeah. So? We can kill trolls while we're looking for it!"

"Oh, right! C'mon, let's go!"

They continued deeper into the ruined fortress, slaying monsters and stuffing loot into their bags of holding. Finn's chest smarted sometimes, but he could handle it. Nothing like a little pain to keep one alert. A tangle of bodies followed them wherever they went, making a clear indication of their progress. Several hours later, they came upon a sealed chamber. The circular door stood several meters above them and was engraved with several glyphic symbols. Neither of them could make heads nor tails of the language.

Beemo popped out of the backpack and glanced at the symbols.

"Oh." She said brightly, "I know that language. Let me translate it for you."

She took a moment to process the input and said, "To open this door, you must say the password."

"What password?" Finn complained, "PB didn't say anything about a password!"

"Hmm." Beemo said, "Perhaps I can figure out the password."

She spoke in a strange language and the cavern began to shake. Jake opened his mouth to say something and then closed it as the door slowly began to rise, the sound of stone grating on stone filling the cavern. Finn's jaw hung slack in awe as a blinding light slowly began to fill the entryway. The door rose higher and it revealed the source of the light: the broken tip of the Sword of Gerond the Tall.

He took a step towards it, half holding his hands towards the blade, half blocking his eyes. Jake got under him and stretched upwards. Finn carefully wrapped his hand around the broken weapon and pulled it free. The glow diminished until it was it was just bright enough to see by. Finn could clearly see his face in the reflective surface. He gaped at it in wonder, turning the shard of metal over in his hands until his thumb ran over the edge. He hadn't applied any force to it, but it had already drawn blood.

"Woah."

Alex wiped his mouth with the back of his leather gauntlet, sheathing his blade with a single motion. Nika hung her bow on her back and Sarah hid her daggers. They were wearing finely tooled leather and chain mail armor, which funnily enough, had been produced by automated fabricators. Such was the state of science and technology in Ooo. Science and Magic, lasers and swords, golems and robots, they all co-existed with each other. Their gear right now was just one of the many results of blending Magic with Science.

Alex's sword was incredibly sharp and very light. It was made out of a single continuous strand of carbon fiber, reinforced by a tungsten core. Sarah's daggers and Nika's bow were made out of the same materials. 'Schizo tech' were the words. He wondered why they hadn't just equipped them with power armor and laser guns instead. He then realized that nobody was around to teach them how to use them.

Alex couldn't shake the feeling that he was wearing Depleted Uranium chain mail.

Nika snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Yo, 'sup dude?"

"Nothing."

"Well, c'mon then. We still have to get this door open."

"Right, the door."

Princess Bubblegum gently placed the three pieces of Gerond's sword inside a stasis chamber. They floated and spun inside the glowing field at the center until they were stabilized. Satisfied, she closed the chamber and turned towards the heroes and heroines.

"So far, we have retrieved three of the four pieces of Gerond's sword." She said matter-of-factly, "The Vampire Kingdom has one more, and I know where the last can be found."

"Where is it?" Finn asked excitedly, "I wanna see the whole thing!"

"Patience, Finn." Princess Bubblegum urged in a soft voice, "The dungeon it is interred in is very dangerous, even for you and Jake. We will have to send everyone in."

"We're the best, Preebos!" Finn protested, "We can do it alone."

"Yo man," Jake said, "PB is right about this. I've seen that dungeon before, and I barely made it out of the first level. We hav'ta work as a team."

Finn's face sank, "Okay." He slowly nodded.

Princess Bubblegum placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, Finn."

The seven of them were pressed into a tight circle as monsters and beasts enveloped them from all sides. They were snarling, hungry, and very pissed off. Jake and Cake mashed two of them inside massive fists, while Finn and Fionna slashed and hacked away with their swords. Nika put arrow after arrow into the larger ones at the back, keeping them pinned under a hail of projectiles. Sarah's daggers blurred and flashed, hacking off limbs or splitting eyeballs open. Streams of fire and lightning leapt from Alex's hands, incinerating the beasts in a shocking manner.

They had been in the same predicament for some minutes, and the pressure was beginning to take its toll on them. Alex's magic was the first to gutter out, and he was forced to resort to his arming sword. Even then, keeping up spells for several minutes highly taxing. His arms burned as he plunged the tip of his sword into a gap in the plate armor worn by a Skeleton Warrior. The unholy light in the empty eye sockets guttered and faded. The magic holding its bones together failed and the thing simply fell apart.

"We've got a break!" Sarah called out as the shapeshifting animals collapsed a section of the ceiling down on the horde.

They scrambled on top of the solid blocks, finally gaining the higher ground. Alex gulped down a bottle of energy drink and felt the tightness in his muscles loosen. He chopped off the head of a... thing and helped Nika up. She fired off another arrow, which embedded itself in the face of an ogre and exploded.

"Bubblegum special," Nika explained.

"Nice, nice."

From his vantage point, Alex could see the horde beginning to thin.

"Everyone get down!" He commanded.

Everyone complied. Alex let lose with a fireball, which sailed into the middle of the horde and detonated. The explosion was enough to rock the cavern and send the survivors of the blast tumbling to the floor. They made a run for it even as their ears rang. Finally, they were safe as Jake and Cake collapsed the chamber door behind them. Sarah was the first to regain her breath.

"Wait... how do we get out?"

Heads turned towards her.

"It looks like we have to press on, then." Alex gasped, "Maybe there's an exit at the other side."

"I guess so." Fionna agreed, "C'mon guys!"

They made their way forward.

"Wait up guys!" Jake called from the back, dragging his hands out behind him as he lurched forward.

"Slowpoke!" Cake teased as she bounded past.

"Hey!"

They continued deeper into the dungeon for what seemed like hours. All sorts of obstacles impeded them at every step, ranging from riddle masters to massive troll lords, and occasionally Jake or Cake being distracted by a shiny trinket or inconsequential piece of loot. The fact that they had explored hundreds of rooms filled with all sorts of things made the search even harder.

Every broken blade was looked over and compared with the photocopies of the images of what was supposed to be a completed Sword of Gerond the Tall. None of them could match the beauty of the broken blade. Alex recalled the massive ruby held by a golden dragon's claw that served as the pommel, and the impressive micro-engravings on the piece that the two adventuring pairs had recovered.

Princess Bubblegum said that the crossguard was being shipped in by heavily armed and escorted courier from the Vampire Kingdom, and would be arriving in a week. The piece, she said, contained most of the sword's power, and could be used to forge the blade anew. Just how, escaped Alex.

The sound of their boots clicking on bare stone echoed into the corridor. They stood in front of a metal hatch that towered over them and into the darkness. Beside the hatch was a tiny keypad.

"Not again!" Finn spoke up, "And we don't have Beemo with us!"

"Not really." Sarah plucked a piece of paper out of keypad, "Password is...password. Seriously."

She cleared the dust away from the keypad and pressed a green button beside the screen. LEDs flared to life, flashing a welcome message then asking for a password. The keys beeped as her fingers flew over the keypad. Everything was silent for a moment after she typed in the password, and then a bank of lights blazed on. Alex squinted as the hatch began to screech and groan. Machinery which had laid unused in centuries came back to life, slowly prying the half-rusted slab of metal away.

The hatch opened slowly and came to a grinding halt just a quarter of a way open. It was big enough for them to enter and so they did.

Inside was the final piece of Gerond's sword. They could see why he was called Gerond the Tall. The blade would be as long as Alex was tall, and he was the tallest in the party.

"Crap." Alex said, "How is anyone supposed to wield that?"

"Beats me." Jake stood beside him, "Me and Cake could probably, but we couldn't swing a sword if our lives depended on it."

"Well the legend says that the sword molds itself to the person whom it chooses." Fionna said, sounding very much like Princess Bubblegum.

"Whatever!" Finn exclaimed, "Let's just go and get it!"

"Yeah, lets."

The two shapeshifters brought the blade down and were beginning to wrap it for transport when the massive statues that flanked it creaked. Slowly, they came to life. The Colossi flexed their steel hands and arms. Alex was strongly reminded of the Cylons and was about to point out the similarity when a massive fist slammed into the concrete in front of him.

"Jake! Go Jakesuit!"

"Righto!"

Jake wrapped himself around Finn, serving as a sort of powered armor for the young boy. Jake grew until he was as large as the Colossi and the two of them worked to grapple the nearest threat. Fionna and Cake had the same idea. Pretty soon, they were locked in combat as the three humans without animal companions were left to huddle behind cover.

Finn unleashed a flurry of punches at the metal golem in front of him, denting its chestplate. The animated statue continued to work however, the single red eye fixed unceasingly on them. Claws swiped over their heads as Jake ducked. He extended his leg, hoping to trip the golem, and it worked. The thing crashed to the floor. It got up again, ready for more abuse.

One blow sent the Jakesuit reeling, a swipe of the claws drew blood. The pair smashed the golem against a wall and the red eye flickered for a moment. Finn and Jake wrapped a hand around the thing's head and started smashing it into the concrete as it struggled to get them off. The casing began to crumple, and that was when a metal knee slammed into Jake's crotch. They backed away. The golem's 'face' was hanging off by a few rivets, exposing intricate machinery and electronics to the world. It clanked forward, raising a claw to slice off their heads.

They looked up in horror as the claw swung. A ball of fire collided with the machinery, blasting it apart in a shower of sparks and debris. The claw froze and the machine toppled over. The other one was much easier to deal with because there were now two suits working to destroy it. Metal limbs and plating flew off in impressive amounts, and the battle ended when the Cakesuit put an arm straight through the chest, ripping out an impressive amount of internals.

The golem crashed to the floor and the chamber was filled with excitement.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?"

"You were like: wham! Wham! Woosh! And then holy stuff! And then there was a kaboom! And then crash!"

"Heck yeah!"

"That was totally awesome dudes!"