Chapter Nine:
Author's Note:
Well my readers, I am truly sorry for not updating when I said I would. Sometimes things happen that keep a writer from writing, and I know my absence has been over a month, and for that I am sorry. I hope you're all not upset, really I have no excuse but simply I was busy with things and couldn't find the time. But for this, I have extended the length of this chapter, and because it is split into parts, the next update won't take nearly as long :D
~X~X~X~
"Oh my lumps! PB! You've got to come see Hot Dog Princess's pictures when she visited the Night O' Sphere!" Lumpy Space Princess exclaimed. LSP floated throughout Princess Bubblegum's bedroom, her phone in her hand and the other on her lumpy hip. "PB?"
"In here Lumpy Space Princess," came a delicate voice, which LSP followed. There sitting on a chair made of licorice, sat Princess Bubblegum, with her Peppermint Butler carrying a tray of candy and chocolate milk. "Do have a seat," the princess smiled sweetly.
"Right, yeah, thanks." LSP sat down. "Hey Peppermint, you doing anything later?"
The Peppermint Butler flashed his majesty a desperate look. "Yes, you may leave," Bubblegum smiled. The tiny butler scampered out of the room. "Really LSP, it's been five months you really should get over Brad by now."
"I am trying to get over Brad! I just asked your lumpin' butler out!" LSP cried.
"Yes, but that's the fifth time today. And you've also harassed three of my candy chefs and four of my other butlers. Are you sure you're not acting desperate because you desperately want to forget Brad?"
"To the lumps with Brad. He even dumped Melissa. Now he's going out with Shantay! Do you know how lumpin' evil Shantay is? LUMPIN EVIL!"
Bubblegum popped a jaw breaker in her mouth daintily. "Just please stop scaring Peppermint Butler. He really is a good worker, you know?"
"Whatever," LSP growled. "Do you want to see Hot Dog Princess's pictures or not?"
"Oh alright, but only because she bought me that exquisite dress from the last Mallow Tea Party Ceremony I hosted."
"Uh huh, sure."
The two Princesses scanned through LSP's phone, giggling and making comments about each picture. They happened to be so involved with what they were doing, they did not notice the sly figure that slipped through Bubblegum's open window, and started to slink closer to them. However, one individual did notice, and his name was Manfred the talking Piñata. "Who goes there?" he asked the masked stranger.
Without bothering to look up, the figure merely chuckled, and continued on its way.
"Don't ignore me!" Manfred cried, "Where are you going?"
"Hush horsey," the figure ordered.
"I'm a piñata," Manfred corrected.
"And do you know what this is?" the figure asked, holding up a baseball bat.
"Uh, I need to get my glasses, hold on."
The figure sighed in frustration. "It's a bat."
"You wanted to show me a ba- oh wait- AH NO! DON'T WHACK AT ME! MY NIGHTMARES WILL RETURN!"
"Then SHUSH!" the figure ordered. Manfred stayed quiet. If it was anyone in Ooo who had a fear of being repeatedly whacked by a stick, it was Manfred. Poor Manfred.
"And this is my profile page. I have 792 friends, almost as much as Melissa," LSP said, scrolling through her phone.
"You know what we should do?" Bubblegum asked, "We should write silly things on other people's walls."
CRASH!
"What the lumps was that?" LSP asked.
"I'm not sure," Bubblegum replied. "Yoo hoo, who goes there?" she asked, standing up and walking towards the noise. "OH MY GOODNESS, LSP COME HERE!" she shrieked.
LSP went where Bubblegum was. "OH-EHM-GEE!" LSP cried. She took a few snapshots with her phone.
"What are you doing?" Bubblegum asked.
"This will make a great story to tell on the web," LSP answered.
Bubblegum rolled her eyes. She bent down to the figure in front of her that was sprawled out on the floor. "Excuse me sir, are you alright?" Bubblegum asked, daintily poking the figure's black cloak.
And that was when Bubblegum and LSP screamed in fright, and disappeared from the Candy Kingdom- the figure taking them away…
~X~X~X~
"One more trial dude. One more trial. Then everything will be over. We can go home and play video games, stuff our mouths with ice cream, and go on life threatening adventures like normal. You can do this," Jake told his best bud encouragingly.
"I'm just tired," Finn said, "But yeah, I do have one more trial left."
"And you better not mess up weenie," Marceline said.
"Show some faith in my bro! He's gotten this far, hasn't he?" Jake barked.
The stubborn vampire queen softened. "You're right dog. Finn, you better not mess up, but I know you won't because you're you."
"Thanks," Finn smiled.
"Well actually, wait, you will mess up, because it's pretty much like you to do, but you won't mess up so badly that you'll fail, you'll probably mess up enough to fix your own mistakes and complete the challenge."
"Uh… what?"
"Forget it," Marceline growled.
Finn smiled. "How about you just wish me luck another way?"
"What other way?" If you studied Marceline's pale face very closely, you'd see the slightest tint of rose in her white cheeks, as Finn embraced her in a tight hug. She didn't expect Finn to hug her. "Weenie, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Hugging you. That's assuring enough," Finn answered.
"But you hugged me."
"You can still hug me back."
"Please, I'm not a wuss."
"Hugging doesn't make me wussy. I'm still as awesome as ever."
Marceline rolled her eyes and reluctantly, but eventually, put her icy arms around Finn, and hugged him back. She was starting to enjoy the feeling of hugging Finn, when she saw Jake inch closer to the two. "Come any closer and you'll be my mid afternoon snack," Marceline threatened, popping her fangs out.
"NO!" Jake cowered.
Finn let go of Marceline, and took in a new breath. "You know, I actually feel ready for whatever Magic Man throws at me."
"Excellent to know," said a voice, "Because I intend to throw everything I've got."
The three heroes turned to see Magic Man. "Can you throw me some dinner. I'm STARVING!" Jake exclaimed.
"No dinner until Finn completes his trial," Magic Man answered.
"Jake, you've gone all day without food. Just eat the veggies in my backpack," Finn said to his best friend.
"Never," Jake swore.
"Let's just hurry up and get this trial over with!" Marceline yelled.
"Touchy, touchy," Jake murmured under his breath, low enough that the vampire queen didn't hear. "Alright Magic Man, what do you have for my bro?"
"I have stolen five people that you know young human, and for your final trial you and Jake must venture out and rescue them. I have set up a building, and on each level of the building your five friends are trapped."
"So we have to go through each level of the building and save them one by one?" Finn asked.
"Yes young hero," Magic Man smiled, "That is exactly what I had in mind."
"Who are the five?" Jake asked suspiciously.
"It's a surprise," Magic Man winked, "You two will find out as you go along." He tossed Finn his sword. "You'll need that. This is your final trial after all, surely you didn't think you could just waltz in and save your friends without being challenged, did you?"
"Psh no way!" Finn cried. Dang it he thought.
"Finn, there's something I need to tell you before we start this trial," Marceline said, turning the twelve year old to face her. "Actually it's something I've known all along, and I've decided I should just out right tell you."
"What?" Finn asked. "Something wrong?"
"Well it's not that something is wrong, it's just that you should know that I-"
"Ah, ah, ah!" Magic Man hissed. "You promised little vampire!" He snapped his fingers, and before Finn and Jake's eyes Marceline disappeared.
"Hey!" Finn cried, "Bring her back!"
"She's not coming back," Magic Man smiled, "Unless you can rescue her of course."
"Wha- you- YOU'RE GOING TO PAY MAGIC MAN! I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Finn yelled, trying his hardest to attack him, if Jake hadn't held him back.
"Yes Finn the human! Use your pent up rage! You're magnificent pent up rage!"
"Ugh! You're such a jerk!"
Magic Man winked. "I believe I already taught you that lesson Finn." He then snapped his fingers again, and a bright light flashed, consuming Finn and Jake whole!
~X~X~X~
When Finn opened his eyes, he realized two things. One: he was inside a dark cave-like room, that had poor a ventilation system, and he guessed it was the first level of the building Magic Man put him and Jake in. The second thing he noticed, was that his sword was slung around his waist, and he was lying on it awkwardly. "Jake?" Finn asked.
"Hey dude," Jake answered, "Good, you're awake."
"So is this our first level?" Finn asked, standing up and stretching his back.
"Yup," Jake answered. "Ready to get rocking?"
"I was born rocking."
Only five minutes had passed, and in that five minutes, Finn and Jake were exploring the random level they were in. The place reminded them of a castle-cave, the walls and floors were dark blue and glittery, and the occasional drip drop sound would echo off in the distance. "What do you think happened to Marceline?" Finn asked his best friend.
"Man, I have no idea. This has all been a wild trip," Jake answered. "But hey, I'm sure Marceline is fine. She's a vampire dude, and you know how powerful vampires are and stuff. So powerful, that they give me the creeps."
"Yeah," Finn agreed. "Who do you think we're saving first?"
"MY GIRLFRIEND!"
"Who?"
"LADY!"
"Lady who?"
"LADY RAINICORN FINN, LOOK!" Jake cried. He pointed with his paw, and off in the distance the two heroes saw Jake's girlfriend tied up in ropes against the cave wall. He started running towards her, "I'm coming for you baby! Don't think this is some kind of messed up thing I set up, this is totally coincidental!"
"Jakey! It's a trap!" Lady Rainicorn cried. Just as she said that, Jake stepped on a rope and was up in a net. "Oh Jakey, no!"
"It's okay Lady! I'm magical, remember?" Jake asked. He tried enlarging himself, but it didn't matter how big he made himself he couldn't get out of the net. "Finn! Help!"
"That must be a magic blocking net or something," Finn said. "Maybe I can cut you down with my sword!"
"It won't work Finn, you've got to pull that lever. If you don't I'll be stuck in these magic blocking and Jake will be stuck in that magic blocking net," Lady Rainicorn instructed.
"What lever?" Finn asked. He turned around and beyond an obstacle of thorn bushes, acid flooring, and machines throwing knives back and forth to each other, was a lever that could be switched off. "Oh. That lever," Finn sighed. "Jake, how am I going to get through this?"
Jake didn't hear him though, because he and Lady Rainicorn had started to fight. "What do you mean you don't know where our anniversary is?" Lady Rainicorn cried.
"I mean, I forgot baby!" Jake replied.
"I wrote it down on your calendar! How could you forget?"
"I'm a dog! I've been busy!"
"Oh never mind," Finn sighed. He then got a bright idea, and walked around all of the obstacle courses, pulling the switch to off. "That was conveniently easy," Finn smiled. Jake and Rainicorn were set free.
"Awesome dude!" Jake cheered.
"Four more levels to go," Finn said.
"Don't worry Finn, I'll accompany you," Lady Rainicorn smiled.
"Mathematical! LET'S GO!" Finn cried. The three started running up the old flight of stairs, entering the next level, unaware of the next captive they'd have to save.
Author's Note:
Once again, I'm really sorry for not updating. Okay, I think I've apologized enough. Please review, because with reviews I feel more inspired to update :D Then again, that's with every story and author, isn't it XD Thank you for reading :D