Author Note: Thank you dear readers for being awesome guys and gals, it means a lot. I will try to update regularly, but longer chapters take me a bit longer. Enjoy the story and feel free to review and share your thoughts on it.
Finn was contemplating the information Princess Bubblegum had just told him until she spoke once more, snapping Finn out of his deep train of thought. "Finn I know this was out of the blue, but I wanted to tell you this before it was too late. Truthfully I can't find any reason as to why this anomaly has occurred, and it scares me. I have lived for centuries and possibly am the smartest person in Ooo, and I can't seem to figure out the cause or what this anomaly could do if it begins to tear into our world!" Bubblegum exclaimed as she pinched the bridge of her small pink nose in frustration.
Finn looked at her, a look of surprise on his face. He couldn't believe PB had no idea about the anomaly she told him about especially since she knew almost everything. Finn quickly recovered from the shock and put his hand on Princess Bubblegum's shoulder to get her attention. It had succeeded, Princess Bubblegum looked up into Finn's eyes, fear filled her eyes even though she tried to hide it from Finn. Finn gave her a caring smile and spoke in a soft tone, trying his best to calm his friend. "Bonnie listen to me alright? Everything will be fine, we have faced so many adversities before, the Lich, Orgalorg, and now we will succeed over this new threat. Obviously this anomaly you speak of is not of any concern now or else worse things would be occurring correct? So we have to stay calm and not panic." Bubblegum just nodded, she was surprised how easily Finn had calmed her down and it brought the smile back to her face. "Yes, your right Finn, I will look into this issue more, but if I panic now I will only cause trouble for others and it won't do anyone any good. I have to be strong as the ruler of the Candy Kingdom." Bubblegum said in her usual cheerful yet serious tone as a new sense of hope and bravery filled her chest. "Thank you Finn, you have proved yourself again of having the qualities of a perfect Hero… As well as being an amazing friend." Bubblegum smiled at the last compliment, she meant it with all her heart.
Finn had helped PB with many of her problems when he was seventeen, from killing evil monsters like usual, to helping with Bubblegum's complex experiments. He even acted as a shoulder to cry on and vent her stress. He somehow always cheered her up in the end and he was glad he could help out his old friend in any way he could. Finn let out a small chuckle at the sweat memory, causing Bubblegum to raise an eyebrow at the hero. She shrugged it off as Finn being his usual childish self and told Finn she had more work to attend to and waved goodbye to him. She screeched into the air, causing a large Falcon with a circlet on its head that was identical to Bubblegum's circlet to fly into view from the direction of the Candy Kingdom, it traveled at high speeds, breaking the sound barrier as it flew faster towards the Princess. Finn wasn't concerned though since he remembered the falcon well, it was one of Bubblegum's fastest means of transportation, the Morrow. It landed in front of the Princess well Finn locked the door to the tree fort behind him. The Princess was soon gone and Finn let out a soft sigh as the sound of blowing wind and waving grass was all that could be heard besides the occasional call of animals.
"I guess I have a new problem to worry about now." Finn said out load to his own reflection in the pond near the tree fort. He had been waiting for fifteen minutes since PB left, the time was now 7:15 AM. Boredom quickly set in as it left Finn with his own thoughts. Suddenly Finn was pulled into the air by an unknown source, feeling something tugging under his armpits and pulling him higher into the air. Finn's surprise at the event quickly turned to joy before he started to notice he was plummeting to the ground at high speeds. Terror soon overtook him as the ground drew closer without him stopping, causing Finn to let out a girly scream as he closed his eyes tight in fear of his life, until suddenly he felt the familiar tugging on the back of his shirt a minute later. He opened his eyes to see his face was inches from the grassy earth below, he gulped and let out an embarrassed laugh from both the adrenaline in his body and for screaming. "You still scream like a girl Finn." A voice said in a mocking, but friendly tone. The voice sounded mature, and feminine, yet had a cool and youthful atmosphere to it. Finn grinned up at a female figure that seemed to appear out of thin air, her left hand gripping his shirt and supporting his full weight with little trouble.
She had an large sunhat that provided shade over her entire feminine hourglass figure and ample bosom. She also had light yellow gloves covering the length of her arms, ending at the parts of her arms that were constantly in the shade. She wore a red tank top that was stuffed into tight blue jeans. She was also wearing brown leather high heeled boots that went up to her knees over her jeans. Her skin was pale gray in color and she had straight Raven black hair that reached down to her legs, due to its length it was slightly unkept. Finn thought it looked very beautiful either way. she had green colored eyes that seemed to glow slightly to Finn. Her most prominent feature was her large sharp canines and two bite marks on the side of her neck proving even more that she was a vampire. A teasing smile crossing her face as she eyed Finn.
Finn laughed again and spoke back to the woman "Oh ya? Well you're just a radical dame that likes to play games Marceline!" Marceline stuck her forked tongue out at Finn and dropped him suddenly, causing him tumble onto the ground below face first. He responded plainly, his voice muffled by the dirt and grass. "Ouch."
Marceline broke out in laughter from the events, well Finn sat up and brushed the dirt and grass off of his face. Finn stood up silently and looked at Marceline who was still laughing, Finn rolled his eyes well he walked over over and picked up his Soul Sword from the bench next to the pond. He slid the sword into a sheath strap on the surface of his pack that was pressing against his back, letting the Vampire Queen laugh more at his suffering from earlier as he got ready to leave. Finn spoke up over Marceline's laughing to get her attention. "Hey Marcy you said you had something cool to show me that's adventure related right?" Marceline slowly stopped laughing, wiping away a tear made from laughing so hard and she spoke "Yes and no to your question. I did find something cool, but it's not much of an adventure since the dungeon I found was completely empty, no monsters, traps, not even a dumb riddle." Finn's hopes died a bit at the sound of no danger or challenge, he was even looking forward to having an adventure with Marcy. When he dwelt on it, the Vampire Queen rarely went on adventures with Finn, but he did spend a good portion of his time at jam sessions with his old vampire friend. The curiosity of what could be in the empty dungeon that made Marceline want to show him still lingered in Finn's mind like a raging fire.
Finn and Marceline had left the tree fort an hour ago, sweat dripping down his face as the heat rose due to them being on the border of the Fire Kingdom on a hot day. "Marceline why do we have to be so close to the Fire Kingdom, do you want me to stink so bad that any enemies run away in fear thinking im diseased?" Finn asked in an uncomfortable voice as sweat continued to flood out of his body. Marceline just answered back to Finn without looking back to him as she continued to float east of the Fire Kingdom. "Why yes Finn, but I want you stinky more for the reason of throwing you to the fire wolves if we run into any trouble." Marceline had a sarcastic tone, but before Finn could retort back she told him the real reason they had to be so close. "The entrance to the dungeon is hidden in the middle of a crater that can only be entered from this route." Finn smiled softly thinking on how Marceline really did enjoy messing with him, but was serious when it counted. "Thanks for telling me the truth Marcy, and I would gladly protect you from any dangers milady." Marceline looked back at him in surprise and quickly spoke well looking away. "I can handle myself you dork… But thanks Finn." Finn let out a cheerful laughed, but didn't notice his vampire companion in front of him was blushing lightly.
After another hour of traveling the two old friends were resting in the shade of a boulder that was two stories high providing a good amount of shade for the two. An exhausted Finn was catching his breath, he had to admit he was not expecting the terrain to be this rugged, the earth was literally cracked and sticking up in sharp angles or having deep fissures in the earth that most likely lead to a tragic end. Finn looked over to the large body of water they were close too, but it was not the water that got his attention, it was the land across the water that was literally filled with lava and smoke, the Fire Kingdom. Finn dwelt on the thought of his past love Flame Princess. Finn was eighteen, but he still felt horrible for what he did when they were dating. She may have forgiven Finn and was still a dear friend, but Finn noticed how she would avoid hanging out with him too much. Finn rationalized it was only because of her new responsibilities as ruler of the Fire Kingdom, but Finn got depressed and thought she actually was avoiding him on purpose. He did cause her emotional turmoil after all so he could understand why.
Marceline was looking at a map of Ooo to make sure they were in the right location even though she recognized the terrain. She was about to show the map off to Finn until she noticed him with a depressed look on his face as his gaze was towards the Fire Kingdom. Marceline felt her face get hot in anger that Finn was dwelling on his ex from three years ago. It was more accurate to say she was jealous that Flame Princess was still on the kind hearted hero's mind even when she obviously avoided him. Marceline mentally slapped herself for thinking like a child, she had started to notice Finn a lot more as he became an adult and outgrew his childish nature, now taking on a more serious attitude well still being the fun loving human she remembered so well. She shook her head and blushed "I can't start daydreaming like Finn is right now. I have to be there as his friend." Marceline thought, scolding herself mentally before she floated slowly over to Finn and rolled up the map in her hand.
Finn was still lost in thought when something smacked against the top of his head. He was brought back to the real world quickly when he looked up to see Marceline with a raised eyebrow, a worried expression on her face well she had a rolled up map in her hands. Finn's face went red in embarrassment after realizing how long he had been daydreaming about Flame Princess for when the thought of an adventure with Marceline should have been more important than a heart break that happened years ago. "Im sorry Marcy, thanks for bringing me back to my senses." Finn said, being completely honest.
He got up from the ground and stretched for a few Minutes before Marceline spoke again. "Its fine Finn, but you seriously need to get over that hot head Finn, it's not healthy. Look at that psycho Ash as an example." Finn scowled in disgust at the mention of the overly obsessed wizard, quickly realizing what Marceline was implying. "Ok, I get it, thanks for laying that out for me Marcy, I defiantly don't want to end up like that jerk. Well let's get back to the adventure at hand, how far is the crater you talked about?" Finn said as he walked over to Marceline who now had the map open again. "It's close by actually, see this small mountain on the map? Well it's actually the crater itself, it only looks like a mountain because of how the earth around it formed after the impact of a meteor." Marceline spoke proudly at this find, adding it to her list of amazing things she had done in Ooo well she pointed her index finger at a mountain symbol on the map. It was south of their current location, separating the Dessert Lands and the territory of the Fire Kingdom. As if guided by fate, Finn looked up at a massive mountain in the distance south of the hero and vampire. Finn couldn't explain why, but he felt anxious when looking at the mountain in the distance. He did know why he felt anguish though. "Its still so far and I have to walk on this terrain. Im gonna have blisters all over my feet by the end of this." Finn thought as he began to walk beside the floating Marcy as they resumed their journey.
