Part 5: The Great Clash of Memories

Of course, in the Yreoka tongue, "DIE!" meant "May the Demigod of Sharpening, Liwo, minister his blessings upon the spear of my fathers, and infuse his sky-dark blood into the pointy blade of this vaunted stabbing implement so that I might smite the infidel enemies of my primordial tribe, whose legitimacy to this land cannot be questioned by dint of divine providence." But this was not what Jake was concerned with.

How best to minimize a tremendous explosion without any time to think? It was simple, with the power of imagination: just recall the same moment over and over again. In other words—Finn flossing his teeth, times 51.

51 flossing shadow Finns popped into existence, only to be blown to smithereens a millisecond later, serving as a buffer against the lethal heatwave. However, since neither of them had to time to react, the BOOOM caused them both temporary deafness.

Despite the shock of seeing 51 clones of himself obliterated, Finn couldn't afford to drop his guard; Quasipan had, of course, teleported away from the blast radius, and, if Finn wasn't mistaken, there was no reason Quasipan couldn't pull the same stunt again.

Finn glanced at Jake's eyes, careful not to step on them as he shifted his stance atop Jake's gigantiform body and scanned the blank white sky of his mindspace. Without being able to hear each other speak for the moment, they'd have to show the cat just how strongly their brotherly bond truly resonated. No audio cues—only trust.

Jake racked his already exhausted brain for something to summon from their past that would neutralize any bombs or explosions. An ocean? No, that wouldn't cut it, and besides, Finn was deathly phobic of the ocean. What else could contain a BOOM…? Oh! Oh! What they needed now was a distraction.

MEMORY OF…. BOOM BOOM MOUNTAIN!

Jake's mind conjured up the image of baby Finn, crying and wallowing in his own boom boom.

"JAAAAKE!" Finn shouted, soundlessly. But he understood Jake's plan when Quasipan couldn't help but reveal his location by rolling on the floor—the midair floor, as it were—wallowing in his own tears of laughter. Apparently, when Quasipan was roaming the halls of Finn's memories, he hadn't reached that far back yet before Finn came to. Thank the lucky heavens for that.

Finn exercised his own will and, steeling his resolve against evil, a Never Ending Pie Throwing Robot came into being, attached to the top of his head and grasping onto his flowing locks as he dodged a volley of knives (Jake countered with another flotilla of flossing Finns).

Square in the face with a dozen pies! Who's laughing now, huh, Quasipan?

Jake used this opportunity to really think up what could save them from an explosion, and finally arrived at the answer: The more embarrassing the memory, the more it would throw Quasipan off.

SUMMON: THE MAGICAL ARMOR OF ZELDERON!

Finn's Ice King robe finally dissipated, the fabric transmuting into indestructible steel. And… a sizable bust cavity.

Quasipan spewed what pie he'd swallowed down. The perfect chance to strike!

Jake created a hovering platform—Quasipan's own personal UFO seat!—and Finn kicked it off to fly up and deliver the deciding blow.

But a chill overcame the entire battlefield, and a scabby hand blocked Finn's swipe.

The Never Ending Pie Throwing Robot's pies rotted and fell away mid-trajectory, and the contraption atop Finn's head fell into a deep funk at the sight of the, the

THE LICH KING!

Finn's blade left him as the Lich King ate it. Finn's big chance fell away, gravity reasserting its harsh ubiquity.

SUMMON: ANCIENT PSYCHIC TANDEM WAR ELEPHANT!

Jake called upon the war elephant to occupy the Lich King indefinitely. The two cosmic-level beings took to the apex and locked themselves in mortal combat. Jake wiped the sweat from his brow—who knew how long he could keep this up? He was running out of mental energy, and it was tough to keep his body giant when his mind was focused on countering Quasipan's attacks.

Then, an idea: Hey! Why not just use the Glasses of Nerdicon to make himself omniscient? Well, they were too small for him now, so he'd settle for placing them on Finn.

The Glasses of Nerdicon appeared over Finn's eyes, but they had no effect. The things they were summoning were just figments of the imagination; they didn't actually have the properties of their real life counterparts. Fiddleflicks!

Banking on Jake's mental exhaustion, Quasipan capitalized on Jake's flub and psyched himself up, marshalling his remaining mental energies to summon yet another copy of the Lich King—how lucky, to have the memories of a brash adventurer to draw from!

However, an even scarier aberration appeared at Finn's side—one that put the Lich King to shame! The dread beast was a grotesquery none of them had ever seen, all mouths and eyes and evil organs without names.

Finn looked down and into Jake's eyes; Jake simply shrugged. He hadn't summoned it.

Quasipan's idea of how the Lich King would react was the same as he himself would react, and that idea took effect—the figment of the Lich King wrapped itself into a fetal position at the sight of something he couldn't understand.

That's when shade-Susan Strong bounced up off Jake's titanic tubby belly and, flying up over the frightened cat, bonked Quasipan on the head with a karate chop, before Jake could even go "Ooof!"

The grotesquery at their side transformed back into shade-Marceline. "Now's your chance!"

Her words came through loud and clear despite Jake's deafness—through his mind's ear. However, shade-Marceline didn't know this, and she started stamping on Jake's forehead, since that's how Jake thought the real Marceline would behave. "C'mon, shrink down and I'll fly you up!"

Jake understood innately and shrunk down into shade-Marceline's arms. Finn held onto her other arm, and along with Never Ending Pie Throwing Robot they shot up to Quasipan's level—Finn, of course, making sure to aim the pies right into Quasipan's face once again.

Quasipan began to steam with pure rage, but it was too late. Jake and Finn's fists had already clobbered him on each of his eyes—Jake's fist, maybe a little bigger than necessary to enact his plan.

Now Finn understood Jake's cunning ploy: the eyes were the windows to the soul!

All the figments and mind-ink stayed behind inside Finn's head as he and Jake invaded Quasipan's inner world through his eyes. It was time to take back the mind-scenery Quasipan robbed from Finn, and end this once and for all!