-Secrets and Memories-
When he first awoke after the extremely painful blow to his cranium, Finn was a hundred percent sure he didn't even have a head and that his eyes simply floated over his neck. The numb, intangible feeling ringing all through his temple made it nearly impossible to think, save for the distance memory of his dream during the time he'd been out.
The Earth, struck by the same force. Everything dark, on fire, ruined and desolate.
What did it all mean? Why had these strange nightmares been circling his mind like a swarm of angry bees? Shaking his head, along with a groan, the human attempted to stand up. Luckily, his legs had minimal damage, consisting of only a few minor scrapes and cuts. Steadying his breathing, the hero tried focusing and looking around.
He was still in Red Rock Pass, surrounded by walls of crimson stone and boulders that could crush him. Looking back to the one he'd been lying against, Finn was stunned to see Fifth Arc, dozed off while leaning onto the giant rock. He cautiously approached the girl, not wanting to wake her up, at least for the moment. After kneeling down, he experimentally gave her shoulder a shake.
No response came at first, she just groaned softly and tried to roll over into a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, it only resulted in her falling the rest of the way to the dusty ground. Concerned, Finn quickly gathered the girl up and set her back in a sitting stance. He gave her another shake. This time, her eyes cracked open.
Instantly, Finn was on the ground himself, a hand squeezing his throat as he struggled to get up. It was no use however; Fifth Arc had much more leverage from her current positioning. She glared down at the hero.
"Why didn't you run?"
Finn glared back.
"Why would I do that?"
The girl growled and got off of him, pulling him up then shoving him away. The boy did his best to ready another fight, but found that Fifth Arc was just looking at him, with no sign of an offensive guard. Confused, Finn slowly lowered his fists, staring at her, waiting for a response. At last, she shook her head.
"To remain that cognitive after the hit you took? That's insane."
The hero frowned.
"Can't you do anything else besides move fast and make fun of me?"
Fifth Arc crossed her arms. She grunted a bit, which caused Finn to become curious all over again. He studied the way she was standing. There was a definite tilt to her posture, as if her leg didn't have full strength. He gazed at the human in the eyes.
"You're leg is busted, isn't it?"
Fifth Arc growled, upset that he'd figured her out.
"Yeah, so what? You gonna beat me up now since I can't move well?"
Finn recoiled, shocked.
"What? No way! That's messed up to attack a wounded foe."
The girl was now the one stunned.
"Are you serious?"
The hero took a determined step forward.
"Absolutely. Come on, I can get you back to your place."
He offered his hand, being only a few feet away from Fifth Arc at this point. She just kept staring at him. She'd caused him a lot of trouble, especially to his head, and here he was, giving his assistance with a humble smile. She didn't understand the boy at all, shaking her head.
"You're so dumb for helping the enemy."
She tried to walk, but immediately felt the pain and cried out from it. Luckily, Finn caught her before the support to stand was lost. He gathered her up in both limbs, carrying her bridal style. It took significant amounts of his own effort to not fall from the weight of both himself and the girl, but his endurance never left him, and so he pressed on.
Step by step, the boy carried Fifth Arc out of the Pass, climbing dangerous and unstable footing in order to make it out of the deep gorge that was the miniature canyon. Finn finally cleared the chasm, letting out a long breath upon setting the girl down on a nearby rock.
"Man, you're kinda heavy."
He immediately received a punch to his stomach, nearly making him hurl.
"…Sorry," he groaned.
Once that pain passed, he suddenly smacked his head.
"Aw, I totally forgot!"
He carefully removed his white bear hat, surprising Fifth Arc with the blonde mane hidden underneath. After digging around for a moment as if it were a sack, Finn reclaimed a small vial of clear liquid. Smiling with satisfaction, the hero stepped over and kneeled down to get closer to Fifth Arc's injured leg. She was unsure of what the substance he was about to pour was, but reminded herself that this was a hero, he would never actively harm or trick someone.
As the drop hit her twisted ankle, a brief second of numbness overtook the area. Then, a mere flash afterwards, she suddenly felt her newly repaired ligament. Shocked, the girl looked up to Finn, who had replaced his hat and held his now re-corked vial triumphantly.
"Emergency cyclops tears. Never leave home without them."
Admitting he was prepared, Fifth Arc was about to actually thank the boy, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, Finn appeared to become woozy and dropped to his bottom. Now fully mobile, the human female was at his side in a blur.
"You alright?"
The young hero did his best to grin while holding his aching head.
"Yeah, I'm good."
He then frowned.
"I'm not blaming you guys but, ever since you showed up, I've been having these crazy nightmares. They leave a really bad headache when I wake up."
Fifth Arc took a moment to register what he'd said, before her eyes grew wide.
"Nightmares?"
Finn nodded.
"Yep. Things like the planet burning and getting jacked up."
As the boy continued to try pressing his skull until it stopped hurting, Fifth Arc stared at him, appearing to be in deep thought. A minute later, Finn found her offering him a hand up. Smiling with appreciation, he accepted the offer and allowed the Arc to bring him to his feet.
"Than-"
Instantly, Finn was knocked out, struck in the head by Fifth Arc, who figured his previous injuries would allow her to successfully disable the poor guy. As dust shot up from where Finn's body fell, she took great effort in gathering him up and swinging him over her back.
"Pssh. And he called me heavy."
Once the boy was securely held, Fifth Arc turned towards her intended destination and was off, disappearing from Red Rock pass at the speed of a bullet.
Princess Bubblegum cracked her neck one last time. It had been well past the time frame for recovering her movements, but the sleep she'd gotten the night before still wasn't enough to relieve the effects completely. Sighing in shame at her pitiful loss to Second Arc, the candy monarch strolled out of her room and prepared to get ready for the day's work.
Jake and Susan had returned from their task and were now waiting patiently in the princess's study; the location they were all to meet in. Once PB managed to finish the morning's routine, she walked into the quiet room and approached the dog and woman. She smiled her best, which honestly wasn't that much considering how bad she felt.
"Morning, guys. How was the recon?"
Jake rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, um. We found Sixth Arc, but…"
Peebles refocused and narrowed her eyes.
"But…?"
The magical dog nervously tapped his fingers together.
"We sort of…let him go."
Bubblegum's eye twitched for a few seconds as she absorbed the information. Her two guests were a bit frightened.
"You did WHAT!"
She stamped over and smacked her hands down on the table in front of Jake's seat.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?"
The shivering canine shrunk down to the size of a pea, utterly terrified by the red-faced princess. As PB drew off aggressive breaths, Susan walked over and placed a hand on the monarch's shoulder.
"Bubblegum, not Jake's fault. Mine."
Peebles swung around to face the woman, looking deeply distressed.
"Susan, how could you? They're dangerous people!"
Jake suddenly found some guts.
"Hey, you can't talk to a human like that!"
PB snapped her head around to angrily glance at the dog, who shrunk down even further to the size of a grain of rice. However, the monarch's face suddenly dropped to one of shock. She gazed back at the person before her.
"Susan…you're…a human?"
The towering woman slowly reached up and pulled off her hat, once more allowing the blonde locks hidden underneath to frame her smooth, gill-less face. PB took a step back, stunned beyond measure.
"This is…this is…Finn! We have to find him! He'd want to know!"
Jake jumped off the table, returning to his normal size.
"And that's not even the craziest part."
Peebles looked to the dog, then back to Susan.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Susie closed her eyes and frowned.
"Man with six, he is brother."
Bubblegum froze, just staring at the human while she remained holding a solemn face.
"Sixth Arc. Your brother?"
Susan nodded.
"I let him go. He has good heart. Didn't fight us if we let him take green goop."
The princess sighed.
"Susan, he and his allies may be plotting something horrific. Do you really want to allow him to finish whatever they're planning?"
The human furrowed her brow.
"I trust my friends. We beat circle people before they hurt our home."
Her expression saddened.
"And maybe, get back family."
All was silent for a moment, as Peebles tried to think of what to say in response. Her morals remained hard on stopping the Arcs, but so far, the mysterious humans had proven as cryptic as their schemes. Some fought, some gathered, some planned, all apologized. They made little sense, which gave room for suspicion. Still, they were human, a race thought to have been snuffed out to near extinction.
Princess Bubblegum decided, letting a breath out of her nose.
"Alight, Susan. We'll find and stop them, that's how it will play out."
The woman stepped forward and caught the monarch in a quite painful hug, which she stated very clearly by the lack of ability to breath. Luckily, Jake was able to talk the human out of crushing the royalty. The moment PB brushed off the dirt she'd obtained from Susan, the ground shook as if hit by extreme force.
"What in Glob's name?"
The trio burst out of the study and down the halls, determined to find the nearest window and find out what was causing the tremor-like event. When an opening finally emerged, Jake went right ahead and punched the entire wall out so that Susan could fit through, telling an irritated Bubblegum that he'd fix it later. Once the group made it to the edge of the castle, what they saw astounded them.
A massive fiery vortex was drilling its way out of the ground, as countless citizens watched in bewilderment. The towering inferno suddenly buckled, shrinking down to a thin funnel of flames, revealing a good sized hole in the earth. At last, the phenomenon dissipated entirely, revealing the smirking figure of Flame Princess inside. The fire elemental quickly floated over to where the others were standing, stunned that it was her all along.
"FP, what's wrong with you? You can't just decide to build a subway around here!"
PB smacked Jake in the back of the head for the awful joke.
"Flame Princes, explain yourself this instant."
The fiery king set herself down gently on the floor, then gestured to the hole she'd carved.
"Just recuing some people. Nothing major."
All eyes returned to the pit, where three beings could be seen crawling out. One was a penguin, the other a goblin, and the third a pastry. The gang was in disbelief.
"Gunter! Cinnamon Bun! Gummy!"
Jake stretched the group down to the ground, where the mostly oriented trio had gotten to their feet.
"Are you all ok?" Peebles asked.
Gummy rubbed his head.
"Yes. I believe so."
Cinnamon Bun gave a thumbs up.
"I'm good too."
"Wenk."
Flame Princess joined the group a moment later, as Peebles went on.
"Where were you all?"
Gummy thought back.
"Well, I was just minding my own business when that meteor landed outside the kingdom, then, someone came up behind me and knocked me out. When I woke up, the place was on fire."
Everyone looked to FP.
"They were in some sort of stasis pods. I think it kept them alive without eating and everything."
Bubblegum folded her arms.
"Most ingenious. Wait, how did you find out about their location?"
The young ruler spent a good ten minutes explaining her encounter with the pacific Third Arc. Once the explanation was done, the others all looked much more nervous.
"This is bad," Jake began.
"We're letting them take everything they need. Who knows how close they are to their goal now."
PB nodded in agreement.
"Yes, we must find out more, but we're running out of time."
Flame Princess then reached into her pocket and retrieved the chip Third Arc had given her, tossing it to the candy monarch.
"Here, I managed to strike this in with the deal. It should be everything we need to know."
Peebles appeared worried, studying the item.
"That girl's teammates risked much by allowing her to participate, seeing as it seems difficult for her to be in conflict."
She turned towards the castle.
"Come on, let's see what's on here."
The rest nodded and followed her towards the building. FP glanced back at her loyal right-hand man.
"CB, head back to the Fire Kingdom, ok?"
He saluted.
"Got it."
And he was off. Gummy took his own initiative and made his way to the Goblin Kingdom. Gunter meanwhile, stood there, blinking a few times, then finally waddled away in the direction of the Ice Kingdom.
Princess Bubblegum pulled out her high-tech projector, dragging it to the center of her study so that everyone could get a good view. After wiping the sweat from her brow, the candy monarch took out the chip and tensely slid it into the slot to activate the projector. While a hologram began to emerge, Jake grabbed popcorn and politely asked Flame Princess to heat it up. Once the completely unnecessary snack was in the magical dog's hands, the image stabilized.
It depicted Ooo, in all its glory and detail. However, a blossom of five falling objects suddenly appeared from the top of the reconstruction.
"It's those 'meteors'," FP said, glaring at the virtual video.
The group of plummeting 'rocks' fell to just where they did in real life, outside or within the five kingdoms that had been infiltrated. The image zoomed in on one of them, showing a detailed schematic of what the objects really were. All were stunned.
"That level of technology; it's madness!"
Peebles studied the blueprint.
"Specially designed probes, which, upon impact, allow whoever was inside to quickly jump out and vacate the area. Then, the pod explodes, eliminating any evidence such as footprints while quietly disintegrating into the wind, never to reveal what actually landed."
Susan tilted her head.
"But where they come from?"
The hologram zoomed out, showing the flight route of the five probes. They all came from another continent on Earth.
"So, they've gathered themselves up, and Ooo is the final stop for their ultimate plan."
PB flicked through the data on the chip, looking for the answer to the Arc's goal. She stopped when she found the items the humans had collected so far.
"A large mass of toxic waste, raw metal scraps, a star chart, lightning power, and, from what Flame Princess told us, lava from the planet's core."
The four beings in the room all thought hard.
"What could it all mean?"
Jake grinned and pointed to the projector.
"Well, let's dig deeper."
Peebles nodded, then pressed the fast-forward button on the machine. Unfortunately, the hologram cut out as soon as she touched it.
"Aw man, you broke it, Prubs."
The princess glared at Jake.
"I did not!"
Before more argument could commence, the hologram reactivated. Only this time, it was in the form of a person. A woman, to be exact. No one except PB gave the figure anything more than a blank stare. Bubblegum narrowed her eyes.
"Second Arc."
The holographic human looked straight ahead.
"If you are seeing this information, it can only mean that Third Arc has reached her limit with keeping our operation a secret. I cannot blame her, it is only her nature. Following that, I can now reveal that the information on this data chip is incomplete, unlike what I told my dear friend. It was a lie, yes, but a necessary one."
The group groaned, thinking they'd gotten so close.
"You Ooocians can try all you want to stop us, but as I am sure you have seen, we are more than capable of dealing with any and all interference. For the sake of your own safely and that of your loved ones, I highly suggest you stay out of our way."
With those last words, the hologram was terminated. In addition, the chip fizzled, self-destructing by means of disintegration. Everyone gazed sadly at the ruined info drive.
"Now what?" Jake asked.
For a moment, all was silent. Then, Flame Princess stepped up.
"We don't listen to them."
The gang was rather shocked.
"They're not invincible. Every being has a weak point."
She tightened a fist.
"I say we go for it. We can be stronger, faster, and smarter than those bad examples to Finn's species. Who's with me?"
Jake had at first been skeptical, but gradually caught on to the girl's words and smiled.
"Yeah. I'm with you, FP."
"So is Susan."
"I as well."
The four came together, joining hands in the middle to signify their resolve. Sadly, the grand unification was halted by a thundering tremor that brought every picture frame in the room crashing to the ground. Everyone looked at FP. She held up her hands.
"Hey, wasn't me."
Another quake hit, knocking everyone to the floor.
"What is that!?" Jake shouted in slight fear.
The end to another nightmare brought consciousness back to Finn's head. He opened his eyes to see a damp and dark room, obviously constructed of stone based on what little he could make out from the light of the torches. He tried to get up, but found that his wrists were bound in metal cuffs, which in turn were connected to the wall with chains.
"Aw great, just what I needed."
A rumbling instantly echoed through the area, causing lines of dirt to trickle from the degraded surroundings. Finn spat out what material made it to his mouth, then watched as several small stones rained down as well. He looked up, hoping to see what was causing the quakes.
"Man, what the nuts is happening up there?"
Footsteps answered his question a second later. The hero watched carefully in the direction of the sound. Soon enough, the light reflected off of a white lab coat, worn by a woman with dark skin and neatly kept black hair.
"Who the heck are you?" the boy asked.
The lady came closer, then knelt down slightly to be eye level with him. Just from her face, Finn could tell she was highly intellectual. That cool, collected mannerism was something he'd encountered before; not to this degree of course.
"I am Second Arc, Finn."
The hero's eyes widened.
"You! What do you want with me?"
The woman softened her expression. Another tremor followed.
"Tell me what's happening up there, now!"
Finn rarely raised his voice, especially to demand something, but he was worried for his friends on the surface.
"We needed extra time to finish our plan, so in the meantime, Ooo will be dealing with a little something special."
She stood back up and took a step back.
"As for you, Finn, we need to figure out what is causing the connection between our arrival here, and your dreams."
She narrowed her eyes.
"I am not risking the chance that you may be a foreseer who can unveil our plans. The stakes are too high as it stands now."
The boy glared.
"Do your worst."
Second Arc pulled out a strange device from her coat, then planted it on Finn's forehead.
"I will not. I only do what is necessary."
A moment later, Finn screamed as the object's abilities dug into his thoughts.
A/N: It's good to be on time.
DJ Rodriguez: It's still a mystery, for now.
OMAC001: Don't you worry about updates. They're on a stable schedule.
I am The7: Heh heh, not just yet.