When Marceline woke up, she found herself in a dark room. Her eyes were tired, but with a little straining she locked onto the soft glow of a lamp. Her head ached from her crash into the palace grounds, and cuts littered the underside of her arms and stomach. She winced as she pulled herself up.
"Marceline! I told them you'd be all right." Princess Bubblegum's voice called from the doorway. She entered, a stained lab coat slipping from her shoulders, its tail dragging across the floor. She pulled the lab goggles from her eyes and grimaced as they snapped back onto her forehead. "Are you feeling alright?" Marceline resisted the urge to levitate. It wasn't good to expend energy after such a fall. "I brought you this." The princess held out an apple. "Thought you'd need it." She perched herself on the arm of the sofa as Marceline took the color from the fruit.
"Now I'm better," the vampire said, moving her arms around to test them. "Let's roll. What're those results you got?" The princess picked up a clipboard on the side table and handed it over.
"They're searching everyone's personality for a specific component. I haven't been able to deduce exactly what they're looking for, but it's whatever it is, they haven't found it yet."
"And everyone's coming back without their memories." The vampire nodded. "Would be cool if we knew what they were thinkin' when they got pulled apart." She put her feet up, unconsciously levitating. "We're gonna need some info from the inside. I'll go. Ya dig?" Marceline wasn't really in shape for another expedition, but, heck, she was the one for the job. She always was.
"No. I've…already prepared everything." Marceline crashed to the couch.
"You're leaving without me?"
"You just broke a teleport. You need to rest."
"And you aren't as old as me." It was an old response, but Marceline couldn't just let the princess wander into danger like that.
"Marce, that doesn't matter." She gave the other girl a tentative smile. "I know what I'm looking for. Just think of it as fieldwork."
"What if you don't come back?"
"It's for the kingdom."
"What if they're looking for you?" Marceline reached for the princess's hand, but she stepped out of reach, still keeping the fake smile on her lips. Her hands shaking, she revealed a remote control in her lab coat pocket.
"Goodbye, Marcline."
"PB!" The vampire screamed, but the light was too fast for her. The princess was gone. She wasn't even sure she'd heard her goodbye.
Marceline got up, her converse solidly placed on the floor. I'll find you, princess. Marceline vowed. No way am I just waiting around.
"Hyaa! Take that, big clunky metal thing!" Finn jump-kicked the Dalek before Rose could stop him. Its exterior crumbled, and Finn stood back in triumph.
Alright, cartoon world, different rules, Rose reminded herself. As long as the Daleks had more weaknesses, she wasn't going to be the one complaining. Even The Doctor could take them on, she thought to herself. Her scruffy, light-weight Doctor kicking Daleks right where it hurt.
"Only one thing to do now!" Finn rearranged his stance and prepared to jump.
"What're you doing? We need to find The Doctor."
"Nah, this is how things work around here. You kick stuff, and portals open up. See?" He pointed at the remains of the Dalek. Rose looked inside. There were several outlined compartments within the shell, but only one was filled. A burnt orange fluid glowed inside the Dalek. Rose raised an eyebrow.
"You want me to jump in that."
"It's a hidden portal." He grabbed a stick by his foot and poked at it. Sure enough, the stick disappeared. He let go of it. Both of them leaned in to hear the dull thud of the branch at the bottom of the portal. Rose shrugged. She sighed.
"Alright, let's…jump." He hopped into the Dalek, screaming about adventure as he went down. Rose took a look at the entrance again. "Trademark three—jumping?"
And with that, she was gone.