Tell me if things get too farfetched or cliche! All reviews welcome! I own nothing! Enjoy!
Eight-Plans
Princess Bubblegum gave a soft, tired growl as she took a seat behind her desk in her study, she slowly rubbed her temples. She looked up and gave a sigh as she watched Huntress Wizard sit in a chair in front of the desk in a VERY unladylike fashion-she too gave a tired sigh as she dropped her on to the chair-and Marceline floated about the room.
The trio had just returned from the Infirmary, Beth had gone totally postal at the mention of her brothers going with Flame Princess all alone. Even more so when it was explained that in following the laws and agreements between the leaders of Ooo, none of them could interfere; since Bubblegum, Marceline –and yes even Ice King- were leaders of their own respective Kingdoms-never mind Marceline's was a tad more underground than most- they could not interfere or it would seem as if they were invading or meddling.
Since Beth was family to Finn and Jake –two neutral beings that were really only sided with justice and peace-she could do something but she had only just woken from a coma and her body was fresh with stitches and the like. It would be ill advised for her to move about the infirmary, let alone go after her family. Especially since it was a dispute within the royalty of the Fire Kingdom that was happening; any movement on the leaders' part would speak of undo allegiance and that could lead to some pretty bad stuff and Beth would be on a suicide mission to go into dangerous territory in her state.
When the human turned to Huntress the sorceress haltingly explained that she would have no part of it either, she admitted to liking Finn and Jake but that was not enough for her to risk herself or Beth for that matter.
Huntress was a wanderer, a wizard out for her own just like any other, especially now since she was wanted by her own kind; no way was she going to interfere with two Fire Elementals about to "throw blows" as she put it. Her frown had been deep and hurt when her companion had heatedly called them all cowards, it only deepened when she tried to leave her bed to get to her brothers.
Immediately they had tried to stop her, Marceline and Nurse Poundcake doing their best to hold the injured but still strong woman down, Huntress trying to reason with her all the while. But she didn't listen, pleading with them all to help her family; tears began to leave her eyes even as her anger rose and she tried harder to leave the bed.
But suddenly her struggles stopped and she went limp like a doll, slumping forward on the bed. PB had hit her with a syringe of sedative, after tucking the human back in bed the sugary monarch had ordered Ice King to watch her and directed the Vampire Queen and Huntress Wizard to "kindly" follow her to her study to discuss a course of action. Now here they all sat, the few capable minds in the know all huddled together waiting to discuss everything.
Well, almost everyone.
Peppermint Butler walked into room with glasses of water and orange slices, "Here we are; refreshments for all."
He said in a tired but pleasant voice before he sat down, now they were all here. Well, in PB's mind everyone was here.
"I think Ice King should be a part of this talk too, he's crazy but he's dealt with Flame Princess before-"
Marceline was interrupted by a sigh from Bubblegum, "No, his brain is too far gone to be of any real help right now Marceline. I'm not willing to deal with him right now so he's going to stay downstairs and watch Beth."
Her tone spoke of finality, Huntress looked over at the Vampire Queen and although she looked like she wished to say more she didn't and the matter was dropped.
Everything was quiet until Huntress cleared her throat and said, "So what do we do? We have a little while before the fire princess does her campaign on her uncle and everything starts to get toasty."
"We do nothing really, there is nothing to do except plan evacuations of the areas around the Fire Kingdom and the Desert Lands and inform the other Kingdoms of the power shift. Since this will be a Royal Duel it will be an impressive but controlled event, at least I hope it will be." She had heard many reports of Flame Princess' inferno of rage and how devastating yet concentrated it was, she hoped the same would occur.
Suddenly a phone could be heard ringing; blinking in surprise Princess Bubblegum opened a drawer in her desk and picked up the receiver of her special, private phone line.
"Hello?"
Everyone watched as PB gave a sigh as she listened to the other person on the line. "Lady calm down, you know Finn and Jake can handle…"
She trailed off; increasingly rapid words could be heard coming from the receiver.
"Lady you know I can do nothing I-"
She was cut off again and said, "Beth is uh…resting in the infirmary, she won't be getting up or doing anything for a while."
She paused again, "Well that sounds like a very interesting dream but there's no way he could have talked to you lady he-" She was interrupted again and then looked at the phone in shock when it suddenly hung up.
As she put the phone away Princess Bubblegum brought two fingers to her temple and began to rub, casting a look to her curious audience she said, "That was Lady Rainicorn; it seems Finn, Flame Princess and Jake made a quick stop at the tree house before going to Flame Princess' home to hole up for the night so she can make her challenge with the rising sun as is Fire Kingdom custom.
He gave her a call several hours ago from his cellphone so as not to worry her, obviously it didn't work. Not too long ago she had woken from a nap and had this odd dream concerning Jake and Finn's father Joshua telling her she must help Beth get to the Fire Kingdom."
Several eyebrows raised at that, "So what do you want to do about it?" asked Huntress Wizard.
PB shook her head, "Nothing, it was just a dream and even if it wasn't there is still nothing we can do."
"But Princess-"
Peppermint Butler was cut off as PB slammed her fists on the desk, "I said NO! Pep you should know more than anyone how my hands are tied on this, as much as I'd like to do something else I cannot. Finn and Jake are capable adventurers and know how to handle themselves-something they have proven time and again. Beth's body is too weak to handle anything above minimal medical attention at this point, after everything I had to do during her procedure. If I were to try to do anything to speed up her healing process her very tissues might give out and although I have made many achievements in the field of body animation and reconstruction I can do nothing if a body has no more juice to give. Lady's dream may or may not have significance but at this point it is her problem.
Our problem is to organize how to get word out as quickly and efficiently as possible and prepare for either eventuality of the fight between Flame Princess and the current Flame King. Does everyone understand?!" She was breathing heavily now, red in the face.
Marceline floated behind the flustered monarch and started to rub her shoulders, "Calm down Bonnie."
She said soothingly, when PB had finally sat back down in her chair she turned to Huntress and Pep, "She's right guys, there's really nothing we can do at this point. Pep go and get the phones, we're going to have make a few calls."
As the candy man grudgingly got up to do as he was bid the Vampire Queen turned to Huntress Wizard, "Can you help and spread word to the Wizards? Maybe they can, like, help get people out of the way or whatever."
The sorceress sighed and took off her hood, revealing her full head of leafy, emerald green hair, "I might have a few contacts that will listen to what I have to say, with something this serious I think they will have to."
And with that they set to work, spreading word of the coming confrontation and making agreements for residents to be evacuated to safer lands. The only worry left was the possible damage to surrounding forests and the like, a worry that was quickly put to rest when Huntress disclosed her connection to the Troll King Cedric.
Princess Bubblegum had to give her props to the wizard for that, trolls had quite the connection to the forest and although a friendly enough bunch didn't really let one into their fold unless they had won their respect or were of the forest or nature. None of the monarchs of Ooo that were not connected to water or the land could really get Cedric to open up to them.
They were just beginning to finish up their calls when a breathless Ice King barged into the door, Marceline noticed he had a black eye.
"Beth is gone, I couldn't stop her." He said, very visibly distressed.
Bubblegum just stared at him, her left eye beginning to twitch. They all turned to the window behind Princess Bubblegum when a shout was heard, "ADVENTURE TIME!"
All eye widened at the scene of Beth riding on Lady Rainicorn's back, the setting sun casting their long shadows upon the ground as they flew over the town.
Huntress' eyes widened, "Beth! No, how could she leave without me? Flopping DONK!"
All turned to the suddenly fuming sorceress and watched as she quickly donned her cloak-she had taken it off over the course of the afternoon.
"I'm out!"
She then uttered a quick phrase and was gone with a clap of her hands and a flash of indigo magic. PB turned back to the window and watched as Lady Rainicorn faded into the distance,
"Oh Glob geben mir Kraft." She intoned softly.
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Beth opened her eyes and growled, she knew she was asleep this time and as a result the landscape around her was empty for the most part. Just blue sky and grassy fields as far as the eye could see. No sun though, just light from above.
She couldn't believe they had sedated her, like she was some kind of mental patient.
She fumed; here she was stuck in her damn stupid dream land while her brothers went to support the "New Fire Queen", or how FP would be addressed if she succeeded in overthrowing her father-uncle. Dammit, she didn't like being stuck on the sidelines. She ran a hand through her loose hair and started walking, no destination in mind. The skirt of the basic, white dress she wore flapped in the breeze.
Suddenly she saw a table up ahead; as she kept walking she saw there were two chairs and a tea set on the table. In one of the chairs was a vaguely familiar figure wearing a fedora, "Jake?"
The figure laughed, "Oh no, I'm Joshua. I'm Jake and Finn's Poppa, please have a seat my dear. We have some things to talk about."
She blinked in surprise as she took a seat; she looked at her companion as he set out tea for the both of them in a gentlemanly manner. She noted that although the dog before her resembled Jake greatly he was a bit more fit looking than Jake was and was of a somewhat duller color. He looked just like the pictures Finn and Jake had shown her.
"Now then, it seems my boys have gotten themselves into a pickle with the Flame Princess and her Evil Uncle. My dear you have to go and help with the effort."
Beth gave a huff, "I tried, but in case you haven't noticed they tranquilized me and locked me in dream land. How do you even know this? I mean no offense, but dude your DEAD! Finn and Jake told me you already ascended or whatever to the 50th dead world. How do I know this isn't just some weird dream?"
The dog gave a laugh," I am and I did! That doesn't mean I don't try to keep an eye on my boys from time to time or that this isn't real. But I will admit it is a bit hard to help but you my dear have quite the bit of magic mojo going on, especially when you dream."
She blinked, "What?"
"Oh yes, but that's something you have to figure out for yourself later, now then I've already managed to get you a ride with Jake's lady friend. She will take you straight to the Fire Kingdom, when you're there you must sneak in and release Flame Princess' brothers Furnius and Torcho from the dungeon, thankfully the Flame King hasn't gotten around to extinguishing them yet. When she wins the duel she will need their support, with all of the rightful and good aligned royalty of the house of Sula back in power it should realign the rest of the kingdom to how they were before the current Flame King came to power. Not to mention, if they're with you then the old match stick can't use them against her or kill them off."
Beth blinked in disbelief, "Um...how am I supposed to do that? I don't know where the dungeons are, I've never been to the Fire Kingdom…and what do you mean realign the rest of the kingdom?"
Her eyes narrowed in her confusion.
Joshua laughed a bit, "Yes, well, you see elementals such as the citizens of the Fire Kingdom are connected to their leaders. If their King or Queen is good the lot of them are good-although degrees shall vary because they still are individuals, if the King or Queen are evil the citizens will likewise be so. Only those of royalty can have their own individual alignments and the like."
Beth stared, "That sucks." Joshua laughed again and agreed.
"Why are you telling me this? Why not Jake or Finn or even one of their other allies?"
"Because they have their own parts to play, also they're not asleep. But most importantly: because you're the most capable for the job. You're a hero just as much as Finn is so I know you can do it. Finn's going to need you at the end of all this."
Beth gave a sigh but nodded her head, "Alright. But how do I wake up?"
Joshua grinned, "I'll handle that, good luck and goodbye my dear. It was very nice to talk to you. I'm glad you and Finn found one another." Beth blinked.
She stared at the ceiling, she was awake.
"It was nice to meet you too." She said softly.
She looked around and saw that the light outside had dimmed; turning to the sound of soft snoring on her left she saw that Ice King was sitting in her little curtained area, he and his penguin were asleep. She tried to get up but she realized she really couldn't move. Looking down she saw that her hands were tied down to the railings of the bed, she frowned as she moved about and saw that her hands were bound by thick manacles that were connected to each railing.
Honestly, it really was like she was a fragging mental patient.
With a bit of maneuvering-and some luck due to the chains being a bit long- she brought one manacle to her face and discovered it smelled of sugar, taking a tentative lick she found they were made of some rock candy. She stared and thanked her good fortune, making a quick decision she went about licking through the chains instead of the manacles themselves to save time. After what felt like an eternity she managed to free herself from the bed, she then made quick and quiet work of taking out her IV-the bag was empty again anyway-and dressed. It was a tad painful to move-and the manacles still on her wrists made putting her jacket and her gauntlets on no easier-but she would live as long as she didn't strain herself too much.
Just as she was leaving the curtained room she heard something that made her freeze.
"Wenk."
She turned to see Ice King's little penguin glaring at her, "Uh no sweetie…uh Gunther right? How about you go back to sleep, okay?"
The penguin immediately waved its arms and started making more "wenking" noises which woke up Ice King.
'Damn, shouldn't have pushed the stupid thing to the floor like that.'
"W-what? Hey, you're not supposed to be –wah!"
Making another quick decision Beth gave a quick punch to the old man's face-effectively knocking him over- and ran to the window of the infirmary. To her utter luck she could see Jake's multicolored lady flying toward the castle on her side of the palace, she quickly waved her hands and managed to get her attention. She climbed on the window sill and turned back to Ice King who was now sitting up on the floor and rubbing at a new black eye, "Sorry Ice King, but I have to help my brother's wage some war."
With that she gave a jump out the window and landed on Lady's back. Despite everything, she couldn't help but give a whoop as she felt the exhilaration of flying. As Lady went around the castle in the direction of the Flame Kingdom she let out a yell of "ADVENTURE TIME" and enjoyed the feeling of the wind whipping her loose hair around.
Her bit of adventure fancy ended when she felt a weight suddenly settle behind her and a pair of arms wrap around her hips. She turned back to see a not too amused Huntress Wizard behind her.
"괜찮아 다인가? 거기에 지금은 내 뒤쪽에 다른 사람."
Said Lady in worried tone. Beth quickly turned back to her and said, "E-everything is fine, it's just Huntress hitching a ride, she's cool."
She really couldn't understand the language Lady spoke but she could sense what she was asking. The rainicorn nodded her head and changed their direction just a bit. Beth turned her head and said just a bit bitterly, "I thought you weren't going to get yourself 'mixed up' in all of this?"
Huntress huffed and said, "True, but like heck I was going to let you go all alone and get killed. I don't appreciate being left behind."
Her grip on Beth's hips tightened as she spoke and Beth felt a chill go down her spine at her friend's tone, "Okay, okay. Sorry, I was in a hurry; but you're here now so that's what matters."
Huntress gave a huff but agreed, but while her aura relaxed her grip on Beth didn't. The young woman couldn't really complain though.
Huntress smirked, "I can see you didn't have a lot of time, you still have the candy shackles on your wrists, gives you a cool look."
Beth looked down at her gauntleted hands, the manacles still had a bit of chain hanging from them and they dangled out of the metal "gloves".
She scoffed, "I think I look more like some kind of criminal or something that "cool"." This got a laugh from the woman behind her.
"So what's the plan?"
"We're going to sneak into the Fire Kingdom and break Flame Princess' brothers Furnius and Torcho out of the dungeons. Flame Princess is going to need them for when she takes over the kingdom."
Beth couldn't help but wince as the grip on her hips tightened a bit more, "You want to go right into the Flame Kingdom?! This is a terrible plan."
"Don't look at me, Jake's dad came up with it!"
"그는 일을 매우 확실 듯하고 화염 공주 이길 것입니다." Intoned Lady; a bit off put herself.
Huntress gave a huff, "Let me guess, he talked to you in a dream?"
Beth blinked, "Yeah actually, he said he could because I had dream magic or something."
"그리고 내 존재는 많은 파장 평면에 존재합니다." Put Lady helpfully.
Huntress furrowed her brows for a moment and then sighed, "Okay whatever. Let's just try not to get killed, and we'll talk later about that dream magic stuff."
"Sounds good to me." Said Beth.
The two women settled and the trio flew off into the early evening.
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The moon was high in the sky as the trio neared the lands of the Fire Kingdom.
"Okay, just like we planned Lady, jumble the light waves to give us some invisibility. Huntress, get out the heat shield amulets from my bag." Both females did as bid and Beth couldn't help but stare as it suddenly looked like she was going through the air herself, instead of riding on Lady's back.
'Good thing I'm not afraid of heights.' She thought as she slipped an amulet over Lady Rainicorn's head. They coasted over the fiery lands and Beth felt her heart start to thud in her chest-a little painfully-in her excitement.
She gazed down at the various seas of lava and fields of fire and molten rock and prayed her brothers would be safe through this venture. As they neared the Fire Palace Huntress took a look around and pointed to an out cropping near the castle.
"Over there, land there and while she hides we can go and sneak into the palace."
Lady landed and the two humanoids slid off her back. "Okay, Lady just keep an eye out, if we're not caught we'll signal you when we escape with the princes. Then we can meet up with the guys."
With a salute Lady said, "내가 필요 할 때까지 위치를 개최한다."
Beth nodded her head, "I didn't get any of that but okay. Let's go Huntress."
Beth and Huntress made their way slowly toward the fiery fortress. They stared at the guards and Beth rubbed her head in thought over how to get past them, Huntress tried not to face palm. The two watched as the bored guards idly chatted for a while and then their eyes widened as they started walking toward them, both got ready for a hopefully quiet smack down when the guards walked past their hiding spot and preceded to go take a piss behind some rocks instead. Steam could be heard coming from them and both women made faces when they realized they were taking a leak.
Seeing their opportunity Beth and Huntress rushed to door the guards had been guarding, they slipped silently in and pressed themselves to the wall. Seeing the coast was clear they picked a direction and they sneaked down the hall.
'Into the belly of the beast', thought Beth grimly.