Chapter 14: The Beginning

Prince Gumball was in the hospital just beside Finn's bed with Jake nearby as well. "So the ice prince did this? ...how odd," he claimed in irritation with a sigh of annoyance. Jake nodded in agreement. "He cut my bro wide open… I'll kill him!" he exclaimed while looking at his younger brother's endangered state while he was lying in the hospital bed.

In the Ice Kingdom, the Ice Queen and Ice King were trying to repair what they could in their icy fortress with their weakened magic from their jewels being stolen. They started to notice something outside. Icicles were shooting up from the ground around the ice fortress. "I was unaware of your new defenses…" the Ice Queen claimed thinking it was something the Ice King did. He raised an eyebrow and came over to her. "Huh? That's not my doing! …wait a second…" he said. He started to put two and two together before he heard a loud shattering noise.

The door was kicked in and Pagos was standing there with a grin across his face. "There can be only one true ruler of this land…" he said. Before they could react, the ice duo found themselves frozen in ice by Pagos' powers, his maniacal laugh then echoing throughout the icy kingdom. Each kingdom was finding its princes and princesses frozen solid with snow raining all across the land. "I'll execute you later, but now I have a few more fools to get," Pagos told them before he dove out the tall window. He held his hand out while he fell, a huge icicle shooting up from the snowy ground toward him. He landed on it and used it to slide down, heading towards the Candy Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Fionna and Cake were talking with Prince Gumball and Jake about what they had seen along the way here, including all of the ice the snow, and they claimed that they even saw Lumpy Space Princess frozen alive and how they just kept running out of fear. Fionna was terrified to see Finn in that state, but she was glad to see him fine, but they saw Gumball leave.

"Where are you going? It's not safe!" Fionna claimed but Gumball sighed. "Fionna, I know that you're the heroine of the kingdom, but… this is my kingdom, and I know Bubblegum will be gone trying to figure out what's going on, and if the castle gets attacked, I'm going to try and fight in place of you and Finn," he exclaimed. The Candy Kingdom was his responsibility, and it was about time he defended the kingdom on his shoulders, the duty he had left for Fionna and Cake to handle for the past years. He left the room as they were all still wondering what Bubblegum had left to do.

"Fionna, he'll be fine," Cake tried to reassure her younger sister, but Fionna just looked at Finn, emotions of grief already invading her heart. "Everyone around me… they just keep getting hurt…" she claimed remembering Flame Prince's injury. "It wasn't your fault that Finn was hurt," Jake claimed not liking to see his friends upset, even if he knew the grim situation as of now.

"…if the ice prince comes here, I want Gumball to at least have some help. …I have an idea," she said with a mischievous grin. Jake and Cake nodded and listened to Fionna plan on how to attack the ice prince since it seemed inevitable to see him come and attack the Candy Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Princess Bubblegum was wandering around the Night-o-Sphere in her pink pants and light pink sweater. "Hey, Bonnibel!" She looked around and saw Marceline nearby strumming her guitar. Bonnibel was Bubblegum's first name, which Marceline liked to use to tease her. "What brings you here?" Marceline asked in a blunt tone noticing how panicked she looked. "I need to warn you. Someone has been running around trapping all of the princes and princesses," Princess Bubblegum explained what little she knew about the devious ice prince.

"Ugh… I remember someone like that… dad had him working to the bone for a long time. I figured he just died from being overworked though," Marceline responded and sighed remembering Pagos, but she was saddened to hear about her friend being near death. "He won't come here. If he tries anything with me, my dad won't be happy. I don't like hiding behind him, but from the sounds of it I don't really have much choice," she said with a light chuckle. She wasn't able to leave the Night-o-Sphere until everything was sorted out.

Pagos was walking through the candy forest. The Candy Kingdom was just in his view. His sword was dragging the ground, leaving a frozen trail behind him. He just was feeling rushed with adrenaline, having never thought to have felt this way again, but when Pagos arrived to the front gate of an entrance to the Candy Kingdom, he just snickered. "Pathetic. I killed the hero, and the sidekicks never let up," he told himself making odd jokes. His hand began glowing with ice magic. He aimed it at the gate, making a large icy hand appear and start forcing the gate open.

While the giant hand was prying the gate, he suddenly heard a voice. "I believe you're intruding in the wrong kingdom," Pagos looked up to see Prince Gumball standing on top of the gate. He jumped over the side and landed in front of him. He pulled out a candy rapier from his side, taking up a fencing position on him. Pagos couldn't help but hold his head and begin to laugh. "You want a slow and painful death? Fine by me! Your loyalty to your land shall be your downfall," the ice prince proclaimed while Prince Gumball just focused onto Pagos, looking at his rapier with a sigh.

"I haven't ruled this kingdom so well to begin with. I let others carry my problems for far too long, and now the kingdom is on the verge of its downfall," Prince Gumball said while looking at his own reflection in his blade before getting an angered expression, glaring at the ice prince's cold soulless eyes. "But now… I'm going to prove myself, that I can defend the kingdom too! Have at you!" he shouted while they pointed their swords towards each other.

End of Chapter 14