An: Hooray for...things!
Well, SCIK reviewed my story, which pretty much doubled my average readers. Her word is apparently magical, or something less stupid. Either way, glad to have more people reading ^.^
As for other things, i keep putting off making a short story version of Beast of burden to send in. Might get some cash, which i need because no one wants to hire a able bodied 18 year old when there is a bunch of 30 year old able bodied folk who still don't have a sodding job since the economic collapse. So, I'm screwed like a lightbulb. I know no one cares, but it's annoying having your parents bitch at you to get a job, when you've been trying for two years and the best you have got was three interviews. Worst is when they do the "back in my day" bullshit, claiming how they found a job in a month. If my eyes could roll any harder they would be rolling along the ground.
On less bitchy notes, the next two tales will be done side by side, but probably not two chapters a day. That would probably destroy my fingers. I'll give up the info when this one is at it's conclusion.
Now, dear readers, onto the tale!
Chapter 10: Loss of a Piece
As we join our heroes, we find them covered in the magical shields that the former Simon provided, making them look like some form of snow people. As they walked off the last bit of horrible rocky ground, they reached the start of the horrible sandy part; The Burning Badlands. The area was infamous for it's danger, with Sinkholes, magma vents that would suddenly rocket from literally anywhere, spraying the area with tiny glass bullets formed from the blast, and the wildlife, a mix of massive scorpions, poisonous snakes, and the strangest creature, the Screaming Cactus. These oddities would give out a loud scream if you got too close to them, which was obviously a bad thing. They didn't seem to have any other semblance of difference from your average cactus, except for the obvious slit of a mouth where it would give out a scream. As such, they avoided them carefully, deeming them a bad thing if they didn't want to fight a angry colossus scorpion.
As the edged their way around another of the howling plants, they came across a odd sight; a oasis of some sorts. They believed it a mirage, until they realized that they couldn't be having one, they weren't overheated, and everyone was looking directly at it. As such, they high tailed towards it, deeming this a chance to cool off (except for the always fiery princess, who just was glad to see Finn smiling, his face had been in some form of frown unless she could do something of it.)
As they approached the small pond, the Smithy and Marceline both began to get a bad feeling, which might have explained why the Ice King had tackled Finn and the flaming princess to the side, narrowly avoiding a large bony spike that burst from the ground.
Using all of his available strength, he carried the two back towards what he presumed safety, which was a large flat rock. Landing, he put down both of them, and looked at his now painfully burning skin in surprise. "Oh dear! Hot hot hot hot hot!" he cried, freezing the left half of his body with ice before shaking it off. "Oh thats so much better...whew...you guys okay?" he said, looking at the two surprised teenagers.
"Man, how did you know that was coming?" Finn said, watching the Ice King peer towards the trapped oasis.
"Hm? Oh, i could feel it in my bones." he said simply, watching Marceline lift Smithy (with great effort) over to the rock, a few spikes attempting to find them and turn them into fleshy marshmallows on a stick. Landing hard, Smithy grunted from the landing, and glared at the vampire, who stuck her tongue out at him. "Your fat!" she cried, rubbing her sore arms.
He suddenly frowned, and pulled her beneath him. "What the-get off me you perv!" she cried, smacking him roughly in the chest.
"Your friggin rune is about to give out, you fool!" he said, pointing to the symbol which flashed green for a moment before turning back the etched black.
"...oh." she said, a little embarrassed.
Glaring at her again, he motioned to Finn. "Give her that silly hat." he said, watching him pull it from the green rucksack, unfolding as he pulled.
Slipping it on, she kept herself in the available shade, pouting a little. "Your fault, undead. You pushed that rune was too much yesterday, and now your paying for it." Turning, he looked out to the sand, watching the oasis. "Now what the fuck is that thing? Anyone know?"
Everyone shook their heads, excluding the ice king who just kept staring.
"Hm...Reminds me of something i ran into a few hundred years ago..." he said, stroking his beard in deep thought.
"And whats that?" The flaming princess asked, still feeling very much in his debt for the save.
"it was this wierd plant covered creature. It attempted to attack the Kingdoms, and destroyed a few i think. It's a shame, i really liked some of those Kingdoms... Ended up attacking me, and I am pretty sure I froze it in a block of ice..." frowning, he slips a cell phone from underneath his robe, and dials something.
"Gunter? Hm? Gunther? No, put on Gunter...Ah Gunter! Do me a favour, sweetums, go check to see if the big monster daddy froze is gone." he waited a few minutes. "It is? Eh? Theres a bunch of rotting plant stuff everywhere? Oh my. Thanks Gunter." he turned it off, sliding back under his rob.e "Yup, its that thing" he confirmed.
"Well, how did you beat it?" Marceline asked, hating the sun again for not letting her outside of the shade.
"Hm? It attacked underground, sending big thorny things everywhere. I guess it was just covered with plants...Anyway, it tried to smash my Kingdom, so i froze each of it's thorn things in place, and it emerged from the ground fully, so i turned it into one of my mountains." he explained with a laugh, remembering how surprised one of his penguins looked when the earth had rattled like that.
"Then can you do that again, Simon? I don't think i can time it right to get a rune on them." Smithy spoke up, watching him shake his head.
"Way too hot, smithy my boy, it would just melt and do nothing to assist us." Frowning, he looked out over the sand, watching the lava burst from a dune on the horizon, spraying sand everywhere. "Heeeeyyyyy...what about your little honey, Finn, my boy? She could just glassify the area and catch it!" He said, smiling at his brilliance.
Finn frowned a little, not liking the sound of F.P fighting whatever that thing was. "Do we have any other options?" he asked meekly, trying not to look at the glaring girl, who was obviously not happy in the slightest.
"I know some Fire magic, but not enough to do that. Hm...I could buy her time, though." he said, biting his thumb.
Slipping it down his left arm, he rubbed against several runes, before slapping the sand with his palm. He grinned, watching the sand harden, turning to rock, and then exploding, revealing three rock golems, one of his prized abilites. Each stood as tall as a tree, and the solid brown rock made them as tough as sin to destroy. Grinning, he pointed to the girl. "Her Dainty little feet won't be heard if i send my boys here out to stomp about, and she can get the buggers stuck in place. Simple, and you don't have to worry, me boy." he patted Finn on the shoulder, and nodded to the golems.
They saluted, and ran off through the dunes, the sound of them crashing about stirring the creature, which attempted to destroy them. Taking her chance, she fled onto the sand, stepping as quickly as she could, and realized how terrible a dress is for running. She watched one of the bony spikes pierce up at a golem, which grabbed onto it and attempted to keep it up as long as possible. She mentally thanked the golem, and summoned the dangerous power which made her so dangerous. Lobbing balls of flame at the sand, she watched it glass up around the bone thorn, the golem letting go and backing away. The thorn attempted to pull away, and she heard a queer scream from under the ground, before a loud snap rang out. Looking through the glassified area, she saw that the spike had broken against the magma glass, which had apparently cut into the bone and left a jagged edge on the remains of the spike. She giggled, and ran off to glass another one.
Watching from the stone, Finn became increasingly worried about the events, this having been occuring for so long that the sun had began to set. Watching her run about glassing each thorn, each one breaking after the struggle, he began to become slightly twitchy in his seat. His anxious feeling didn't die down when a golem was destroyed by a thorn, shattering the magical creature into bits of rock. The thing reformed itself, but now stood much smaller. However, it still drew the attack, and moved even quicker then before, dodging them with surprising grace. He felt himself twitch to go to the girl, wanting to help in some form, but felt his shoulder restrained by Smithy. "She'll be fine boy, she has more power then a dragon within her."
Giggling, she watched the three golems charge about aimlessly, dodging the various spikes. She could tell only three of them remained, her attacks having apparently worked. Aiming to hit another, she felt herself tossed to the side by the shaking, the ground beginning to part to reveal something large and white. She felt the smaller golem scoop her up, backing away with her in arm, and looked out too see the head of a monstrosity. It was nearly impossible to describe, a massive creature covered in rotting blue flesh, having no eyes, just a mouth made of four massive lips, each lined with jagged rows of teeth. It looked almost like a snake, but from various sections of it, she spotted the remains of the thorn things from it's body, held to it by decaying flesh, apparently stretching to snap through the ground. The thing hissed and screamed at her, and she found the golem charging away, the other two charging at it, grabbing onto it and attempted to slow it down. They were promptly crushed, however, and it began charging towards her and the helpful golem, sliding across the sand with its massive jaws open.
Finn had began to charge out, but watched Marceline beat him to it, speeding through the air on magic alone. Reaching the two, she fled past them and began to morph, taking one of the unspeakable evils forms she had learned over the years. She flet her limbs become tentacles, her body becoming a mass, forming into a form she really quite hated. Gripping the creature, she attempted to use the limbs to restrain it long enough to get everyone to safety, but found the Ice King floating above her, whipping long icicles at the creature, leaving nasty gashes in it's side. The thing screamed and attempted to bite at the floating monarch, but found it's throat full of ice. It hissed through the ice, breaking it was jaw power alone.
Marceline found herself regretting the choice of form when it turned and drove it's massive jaws into her, biting a large section out of her, which would have made her scream if she had lips. This led to the once called Simon to summon a icicle as thick as a tree, magically tossing it with all of his might. It crashed into it's side, sending it off the vampiric mass of tentacles, onto the ground. Using the opportunity, the Ice King let loose a flurry of icicles, turning the beast into a fleshy piece of swiss cheese. It stopped wriggling, laying dead once more, and the Ice King huffed loudly, his body burning from the use of magic. He looked down, watching the girl shrink down, laying in the sand. Worry washed over him, and he dove down with surprising speed, landing next to her to check her pulse. Realizing how stupid that was, he lifted her up, and gently shook her. "Marceline, you okay? Marcy?" he said, softly, carrying her towards the group.
They watched him bring the limp undead to them, and Smithy took her gently after some gentle words to the king of ice and snow, laying her down. He took the stick from his pocket and slit his wrist, cutting across several runes, destroying them. Leaving it over her face, he watched quietly. Her hand twitched, and she latched onto the wound, Sucking the blood from it mercilessly. He frowned, allowing her, and if his shirt had been removed, two runes on his back, the symbols for "regain" and "blood" glowing profusely. After ages, she stopped, laying back and gasping. "What...the...hell...happened." she said, looking up, not even sure of what she was just doing. Opening her eyes, she looked to see a very tired Smithy sitting back, now missing a large quantitity of blood and magic. Frowning, she looked to see Finn with a worried look. "You were injured, and smithy let you drink some of his blood."
"...How long was i drinking?"
"...about ten minutes."
Her eyes shot fully open, looking towards the smithy, who should have been a husk at this point. "Don't worry, i am fine. More or less. But you shouldn't be fighting anymore." whistling to his remaining golem, it picked her up and charged away, ignoring her cries of refusal. Sighing, he laid down on the rock, and pounded the earth with his fist, the egg like barrier encapsulating the large flat rock they sat on. He drifted off, ignoring the words that the others spoke, deciding he was being much more of a hero then usual.