Chapter Sixteen:

I swear, if I survive this, I'm never going to play with fireworks again, Finn thought as he avoided a neon green burst of magic. Naturally, Magic Man's defense mechanisms were bursts of colorful magic blasts. If the blasts hit Finn, Jake or Marceline, not only would they grow weaker, but they would turn into random animals, objects, or simply become stunned and unable to move. Jake would know, he had already been turned into a cow, a carrot, a piece of bread, and a two headed duck.

However, the three knew that they had to defeat Magic Man to complete the final trial. But Finn knew that he had to be the one to do it. He had to defeat Magic Man, even if Marceline and Jake just simply helped. This was his trial after all. It wouldn't be right if he wasn't the one to do it. But this was Finn and Jake we're talking about… even if it was serious, they could still have fun right? That was what Finn desperately wanted; FUN.

"YEEEE-AAAA-HHHHH!" the twelve year old laughed as he flew through the air with immense speed. "Take this Magic Man!" he exclaimed. Marceline let go of his backpack, and she let him drop through the air. Finn flipped over and stabbed Magic Man with his sword.

"Foolish human! You really think that hurt me?" Magic Man taunted. He was the size of the Candy Kingdom after all; which was pretty flipping big. "That barely felt like a scratch!"

"Take this!" Jake then exclaimed. The dog body slammed against Magic Man, making him lose his balance and fall over. Because he was so large, a loud BOOM was made when he hit the floor. "Ha! Take that!" Jake laughed. He started dancing happily. Magic Man rolled his eyes at the magical dog's lack of focus in battle. He threw a red magic blast at him.

Poof!

"Ah man! You turned me into a hot dog!" Jake exclaimed.

"Whatever you do, don't eat yourself," Marceline said kiddingly. The vampire flew towards Magic Man, and started kicking and punching his throat area. He only laughed at her futile attempt, and she grimaced at herself. "I'm the freaking Vampire Queen! I've got to do better than this!" she hissed to herself. Her eyes widened with an idea.

Finn was busy dodging magic blasts, jumping right and left as fast as he could. "Jake! Marceline said not to eat yourself!" Finn cried.

"But Fiiiiiiin! I taste really good! And you know how much I love hot dogs!" Jake whined. A cloud of purple smoke then erupted around the dog, and suddenly Jake was back to his normal dog self, chewing his own arm. "Math, that was a good hot dog," he growled.

Finn looked up high to see Magic Man's attention was distracted by Marceline. This is our chance! "Dude, I've got an idea!" Finn exclaimed, "Come on, follow me, we don't have much time!" Quickly the two ran to Magic Man's feet, and Jake constricted himself around Magic Man's boots, as if two shoe laces were tied together. "Great! Stay like that!" Finn said.

"This is going to be good," Jake snickered to himself quietly. Magic Man didn't even notice him around his two legs.

"I hope this works," Finn mumbled to himself. He started running as fast as he could towards Magic Man, and then with a propel off a rock, sent himself flying through the air! He landed on Magic Man's stomach, but not with near enough force he wanted to. Unfortunately, his blow to the belly brought Magic Man's attention off of Marceline, and on to Finn.

~X~X~X~

More magic blasts began to erupt, and Finn found himself on the run again from those dangerous blasts! With a sigh, Marceline flew down to Finn, going right beside him. "Just what are you trying to do?" she demanded.

"See where Jake is? We need to push Magic Man over! I was trying to trip him!" Finn answered while he ran. Marceline looked over her shoulder and saw how Magic Man was oblivious to Jake tied around his two legs. She grinned.

"Leave that to me."

"How are you going to trip him?"

"Don't worry about that weenie." Marceline stopped flying next to Finn, and abruptly paused, turning around. Her eyes fluttered to the back of her head, her fangs jutted out even more, and her body began to get larger and larger. Before Finn's eyes she grew to her full size of a bat; she looked the same way she did when he first fought her, in the cave when he and Jake threw the house party.

Now in her bat form, Marceline was half the size of Magic Man. Half was all she needed. "Ha! You still think you have enough power to defeat me?" Magic Man asked.

Marceline laughed. "You know, you and I have a lot in common Magic Man. We both like to pick on weaker creatures, play pranks, and cause trouble. But you know the difference between you and me is?" She lunged forward, pushing Magic Man backwards! "I don't have a dog tied around my legs!"

Losing his balance, Magic Man tried swinging his arms quickly to catch himself, but he was caught off guard and he fell backwards.

BOOM!

This time was fatal. Slowly the magic-doer began to shrink down to his normal size. Jake unwrapped himself around him, and rejoined Finn and Marceline. "That was math!" he exclaimed.

Magic Man got smaller and smaller until he was his normal human size. "No! No!" he cried.

"Yes," Finn grinned. "Now you and I can fight; man to man."

There was an undeniable crazy rage inside Magic Man's eyes. "No," he chortled insanely, "Not man to man! Magic to human! And I think we all know who will win!" With snake like precision, Magic Man jumped out at Finn like a hunter to its prey. He was able to land a punch in the young hero's face before Finn took out his sword and counter attacked! There was something inside Magic Man that had snapped; Marceline could see it inside his eyes. The vampire then knew that something more had to be done. Something more needed to be done. She wasn't lying when she said her and Magic Man were the same; and she knew Magic Man would cheat. She needed to help Finn.

"Jake! Come with me!" the vampire ordered, grabbing the dog by the tail.

"Hey! Finn needs help!" Jake barked.

"We are going to help him. But you need to come with me!" Marceline ordered.

"No way!"

"Jake. Put your fear of me aside for a minute and help your best friend."

Jake stared into Marceline's eyes. She wasn't playing with him. She was serious. He was absolutely terrified of her but if it was to help Finn… "For my brother," Jake sighed dramatically.

"Good. Let's go!"

Marceline and Jake ran through the forest trees and bushes. "Where are we going?" Jake asked.

"To the graveyard," she answered.

"But we're in Magic Man's world. This place isn't real."

"That's what he wants you to think. He wants us to believe that where we are is an illusion, but we're really in the Forest of Ooo. And we need to hurry before that fight gets ugly," Marceline said. Within a few minutes the two reached the graveyard, with hundreds of tombstones surrounding them. "Stay behind me," Marceline said.

"Okay," Jake agreed, not wanting to argue with a vampire in a graveyard.

She nodded and lifted her hands above her head. "I address the dead who live in darkness and black, this is your Vampire Queen commanding you to come back! Raise yourself from your grave, and no longer will you be my slave! Return your debt to me, help me fight! And in return, you may rest for eternity's night!"

Jake began to shiver and shake when bony hands carrying long and sharp swords began to pop out of the ground! "What did you do?" he demanded.

"I got Finn and army," Marceline answered simply. A skeleton a few feet away popped from the ground. "Hey Phil. How's life?"

"How would I know, I'm not living it," the skeleton shrugged casually.

~X~X~X~

Finn dodged another rapid blow from Magic Man, and swung his sword to hit him! His sharp blade collided with his arm, and not a scratch was made on him! "That's impossible! You're not wearing armor!" Finn cried.

"Magic is my armor stupid human boy," Magic Man said. He kicked Finn in the gut, making the hero fall to his knees and drop his sword. Magic Man picked up Finn's sword, and broke it in half with a simple snap.

"Hey! That was a birthday present from B-MO!" Finn yelled.

Magic Man laughed. He lunged after Finn! Quickly Finn kicked him, sending him back, and the hero created distance between the two. "What's it going to take human?" Magic Man asked, closing in for a punch. He hit Finn in the jaw, and kicked him again.

Finn coughed, blood coming out of his mouth, but tripped Magic Man, making space between the two again. "What's what going to take?" he asked.

"What's it going to take to break you? To make you give up? I've tried hurting you, your friends, the ones you care for! When are you going to give up?"

"Give up what? What are you talking about?" Finn demanded. Another punch to his face, and the hero staggered back, falling over on his side. He stared up as Magic Man towered over him.

"Give up being a hero," Magic Man then said.

Finn angrily furrowed his brow. He stood up, facing Magic Man dead on. "Nothing will make me give up being a hero!" he yelled. "As long as there's evil, or danger, or anyone on Ooo in distress I will be there, and I will help them. And you Magic Man, you're evil! Because of that… I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

In a fit of maniacal laughter, Magic Man fell to his knees, unable to contain his insane laugh. "Not if I destroy you first."

And with that, he snapped his fingers, and hundreds of thousands of dummies appeared in a burst of smoke. They were human sized, with blank faces, arms and legs, and all determined to kill Finn.

Finn's jaw dropped. "Great, how am I going to win now?"

"Hey weenie! Behind you!" came a voice.

Finn turned around and saw Marceline and Jake, with skeletons behind them. "Holy schmaow! What did you two do?" Finn demanded.

"Raised an evil army of the undead. No big deal," Marceline answered.

Finn grinned and turned towards Magic Man. "BRING IT ON!"

Author's Note

Sorry for not updating for three weeks. Things got hectic and busy. But to make it up to you mathematical readers, I made this a long chapter. So please review and thank you for reading! I'm sorry again for the long wait.