Fionna—is a 13-year-old adventurer and Cake's adoptive sister. While usually appearing as black dots, her eyes are seen as blue when enlarged. She wears a rabbit-themed hat (similar to Finn's bear-themed hat) with exposed locks of blonde hair. Unlike Finn, her neck is shown. Her outfit includes a teal blue shirt with elbow-length sleeves, a dark blue skirt, and knee-high socks with two thin horizontal stripes at the top. Fionna is heavier set than. She has a green backpack (similar to Finn's) and Mary Jane shoes. Her name was officially changed from "Fiona" to "Fionna," presumably to make it more similar to Finn's name. The pronunciation, however, has remained unchanged. Like Finn and his crush on Princess Bubblegum, it is revealed in many portraits posted that Fionna has a crush on Prince Gumball. Fionna has buck teeth like a rabbit. Fionna, like Finn, is Cake's adoptive sister.

Prince Gumball: A now 14-year-old gum/human hybrid and Fionna's crush. He is the prince of the Candy Kingdom. Prince Gumball has the same color scheme as his female counterpart. He has pink skin and his hair is somewhat in a quiff. His head is adorned with a small golden crown with a blue jewel. He wears a hot pink shirt with orange-pink puffed sleeves with magenta stripes and under-sleeves (accompanied by dark-pink sleeve cuffs), a large matching collar with a small blue jewel inside a gold crest on it. He has a belt with another gold crest and a small blue jewel design on the buckle, purple striped dark-pink trousers, and dark-purple shoes. Unlike his female counterpart, he also has visible pink eyebrows. Also, when his eyes, enlarge, they are purple. Kind of like how when Fionna's eyes enlarge they look exactly the same, only hers are blue. He also has ears, unlike his female counterpart. His loyal companion is Lord Monochromicorn.

Countess of Lemongrab-A high-strung, over-zealous, obnoxious and stubborn heir to the Candy Kingdom. She is one of Prince Gumball's experiments and the first one to go wrong. She was able to usurp the throne of the Candy Kingdom on the technicality of Gumball's de-aging. She is one of the few overtly humanoid candy people. She has yellow, lemon-textured skin, a bulbous, lemon-shaped head and a long, pointed nose. In addition, she has a long, snake-like tongue and oval eyes with black irises. Her teeth can change from normally stubbed to razor sharp. Her face is almost identical to her male counterpart's, but with eyelahes on her eyes. Like many Adventure Time characters, she has long, noodly limbs and a lean torso. Limesnatch wears Victorian-styled clothing. She wears a ruffled white blouse with three gold medals on the front, a puffy gray skirt that reaches her knees, and a black-and green belt. Her hands are covered in elbow-length gray gloves and she wears thigh-high black boots. For bed she wears a knee-length, white cotton nightgown.

Peppermint Maid-Prince Gumball's loyal maid as well as a Candy Kingdom inhabitant. As a royal helper, Peppermint Dress is a well-dressed candy person. She wears a traditional black dress with white lace, with a headpiece and black flats. As opposed to Peppermint Butler, she has black eyes.

Too Young

Title Card

Fionna smiles as she and Prince Gumball smile pleasantly at each other. Slowly, very slowly, they begin to lean into each other.

The Candy Castle was having a party,

Of sorts. There was no real theme. It wasn't someone's birthday, nor was it a holiday. It was just a random party that Prince Gumball decided to allow. Five coolers were stacked in the middle of the entrance hall, overflowing with icy sodas, waters, and sport drinks. A table of snacks was set up a few feet from the aisle carpet, completely covered in snacks brought by the party-goers. Bags of chips, bowls of dip, and saucers of fruits and veggies. Someone had set up a colorful boom-box that was currently blasting out cheerful tunes. An LED dance-floor had been rolled in, and now a few Candy people were 'getting down' atop of it. Someone had set up their own pool-park of sorts. Wooden boards had been nailed to one of the sugar-malt pillars, forming a ladder that led up to a wooden landing. A licorice rope was ready for the next Candy person, who took the rope and swung out ten feet before letting go. When they did so, they landed into an already-made pool of crystal-clear water. Whoever wasn't taking part in these activities was chatting and socializing.

"Fionna!"

Prince Gumball's bright purple eyes scanned the area around him through the plastic goggles screening them. Instead of joining in the activities in the entrance hall, he was a room away, in his own scientific world. A table had been set up behind him, absolutely covered in glass vials filled with brightly colored liquids and powders. Papers scrawled in formulas were scattered about the floor. The young fourteen-year-old prince was on his knees on the floor, crouched over his latest experiment. But this experiment needed help. "Fionna, where are you?"

Fionna was hiding behind one of the suger-malt pillars, that's where. Her back was pressed to the pillar, her knees buckled and her fingers trembling uncontrollably. She had been nervous ever since yesterday's afternoon, when Prince Gumball had asked her to assist him on his new experiment. If he had asked her before she'd have just thought (and known) that it was an ask for help and nothing more. But now, with Prince Gumball her age, maybe it meant something more? Cake sure thought so. All morning she had given her tips and tricks for her new 'date.' Fionna had forgotten every single one of them.

"I need you to try this!" Prince Gumball called.

"Be there in a sec!" called Fionna. She struggled to reach into her backpack and pull out her cellphone. She tried to call Cake's number, but had to restart three times before it finally started ringing.

Back at the Treehouse, Cake was enjoying herself in a game of Kingdom's Key on Beema's screen. Her cellphone was already nestled in the space between her neck and shoulder, so when it began to rang, she carefully punched the answer button with her cheek. "What's the status?"

"Good, girl. I think I'm making some serious brownie points."

"Nice," Cake complimented her sister. "Seal the deal."

On the other end, Fionna gave a goofy, almost hysterical, laugh. "Yeah, OK. Whateves, lol."

"YOU CAN DO IT!" Cake shouted to snap Fionna out of her phase. She already knew that it was a semi-habit for Fionna to text-talk when she was Gumball-nervous. She actually heard Fionna jump on the other end. "YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! Now I'm playing Beema, call me later."

Cake hung up before Fionna could retort. She returned to her game, still struggling to open the chest in the secret dungeon. "How's Fionna's date?" Beema asked fromm its speakers.

"I think it's going pretty good," replied Cake. The feline's forehead furrowed in annoyance when THE CHEST IS LOCKED flashed on the screen for the seventh time.

The computer chuckled. "Unlike your game."

Cake growled. "Tell me where the key is, Beema! TELL ME!" When the little game console only crossed its little arms over its speakers, Cake bent her head back in a scream of frustration. "AAAAAAARGH!"

Fionna stuffed the phone back into her backpack and took a deep breath of air. Her fists raised to her chest, she spoke to herself. "I'm a cool gal. Guys know I'm math. Totally true." With one last breath, she spun on her heel and made a beeline for Prince Gumball's makeshift lab. "Woop-woop! I'm back!"

Fionna knelt down next to her appropriate-aged crush to get a closer look at the newest experiment. A round-based vial lay before them. It was about as tall as Fionna's fingertip-elbow length, filled with a sparkling cyan liquid that looked thinner than water. "What's that?" asked Fionna. She thought about it for a moment, and her face fell. "You're not trying to make yourself young again, are you?"

"Nah," answered Prince Gumball. Fionna let out a sigh of relief as her crush leaned down to inspect the liquid closer. "This is a derma-treatment tonic. It cleans your skin of any bacteria."

"I don't bathe," Fionna chuckled. She picked up the vial, surprised by its lightness. "I'll try it."

Fionna took a deep swig of the tonic. At first, she thought it tasted nice. Kind of fruity and sweet. It was also very cool and she wondered if Prince Gumball put any ice in it. Then it got cooler. And...cooler. Cold, cold, COLD! FREEZING COLD! Fionna screamed when her entire body freezed over, inside and out. Her skin, her intestines, her very brain felt trapped in blocks of ice. She tried to speak, but her rock-solid tongue almost didn't allow it. "Fweesy! Fweesy cawld!"

Prince Gumball was almost dying of laughter. He tried his best to stifle them, but they kept coming in exploding waves. He stumbled over to Fionna and fell next to her. Between his giggles, he teased, "You're fweesy cawld."

"Bwah-bwah-bwah~!"

Prince Gumball's laughter ceased as he and Fionna looked up to Mandy the pinata, who had just giving her own trumpet song. Mandy continued as soon as she saw that all attention was on her. "Announcing the arrival of the Countess of Lemongrab!"

Murmurs of confusion quickly turned to gasps of shock when the Countess herself walked in. It was no wonder why her title was Lemongrab. She looked like a walking lemon. Her skin was a bright-yellow colored, its texture not unlike her named fruit. Ironically, her expression was a sour one. Her black, lightly-lashed oval eyes were permanently narrowed and her leathery lips were set in a distasteful frown. A long, pointed nose jutted out from her lemon-shaped, completely bald head. She was tall and somewhat twiggy, with thin limbs and a flat torso. She wore a white blouse with a frilly neckline. Three golden medals shown on the front. A belt of green-and-black circles wrapped around her waist, attached to a somewhat puffy gray skirt that went down to her knees. Black leather boots climbed up to her thighs, and her hands were covered with elbow-length gray globes. She was riding a sort of camel-horse creature that almost looked to be from the same race as her. The creature had the same leathery yellow skin and black eyes, but its body was long and it walked on all four legs.

Lemongrab observed her surroundings with distaste. She sneered at a pillow-fighting couple. She scoffed at a cannon-balling lollipop. And when Cinnamon Bun fell from the wooden landing to right in front of the camel-horse creature, her sugary icing splattering everywhere, she looked like she was about to vomit.

"This castle is in unacceptable condition," she said quietly. Then, in a high-pithced, ear-splitting, somewhat thin voice, she shrieked, "UNACCEPTABLE!"

The Candy people surrounded the Countess with loud whispers of worry and confusion. Lemongrab swatted them away with long, leathery fingers. "One month in the dungeon!" she yelled.

CB looked up at her with big, confused eyes. "For who?"

"EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM!" screeched Lemongrab. The Candy people jumped in fright.

"Wait!"

Fionna and Prince Gumball stumbled over their feet as they ran up to Lemongrab. Once reaching her, Prince Gumball tried to stand tall and stern, but his newly-short stature failed it. "You can't give orders like that!" he exclaimed. He jabbed his thumb at himself. "I'm in charge here, Lemongrab!'

"TOO YOUNG!" Lemongrab shrieked, causing Prince Gumball to recoil. The Countess pointed a long, gloved finger at the young prince with her eyes ablaze. "TOO YOUNG TO RULE THE KINGDOM!"

A wave of annoyance crashed down on Fionna. She jumped between Prince Gumball and Lemongrab, smacking the Countess's offending hand out of her crush's face. She made sure to puff out her chest as she looked up at Lemongrab. "Watch your manners with the prince!"

Lemongrab let out a breathy shriek of anger.

Fionna's confidence crumbled to confusion. "What the what?"

Lemongrab gave an odd scoff and turned in the direction of the frightened Candy people. She narrowed her eyes as she spoke. "I am next in line for the throne. So I will be in charge until Prince Gumball is eighteen again!"

The Candy people gasped in fear. They would never survive four years with this psychopath! Let alone one day! They turned to Fionna and their prince with wide, pleading eyes.

"That's bunk!" Fionna shook an angry fist at the rude. She glanced at her crush out of the corner of her eye. "Right, Preegubs?"

Prince Gumball let out a heavy sigh that made Fionna's stomach clench. His eyes closed, Prince Gumball said, "No. She's right. She's rightful ruler under kingdom law. It's complicated..."

I wanted to create an aunt for myself...

Moonlight streamed through the window of Prince Gumball's lab. The eighteen-year-old royal was working on his latest experiment: a new aunt. He was dressed in his usual snowy lab-coat and plastic goggles. The middle of the lab had been cleared out to give his new creation room. Now there was just a small wooden table holding a large beaker of a thick red liquid and a larger, metallic table. On this table was the body of the soon-to-be aunt. Her body was completely bare and faceless, just a mound of limbs, a head, and a torso made of leathery flesh. Prince Gumball walked away for a moment to grab the long, pointed stick of flesh that would be his aunt's nose. He carefully placed the nose in the middle of her face.

But she didn't turn out as I planned...

Prince Gumball finally grabbed the liquid-filled beaker. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and stiffly leaned over the lifeless body. He lowered the beaker just enough for three drops of the blood-like liquid to drop onto his aunt's face. There was a rubbery sound as two eye slits and a mouth appeared with the nose. The eye slits opened just enough so that the black orbs inside could be seen. She stared at Prince Gumball for a long time...

...and suddenly began shrieking. Prince Gumball leaped back as Lemongrab sat straight up, her arms flailing around madly. Her shrieks grew louder and louder and Prince Gumball gasped as her black irises rolled to the back of her head.

"...So now that I'm younger than her, she has the right to the throne," concluded the heavy-hearted prince. Fionna didn't know whether to comfort him or to plead with him to do something.

"Anyone who disagrees or disobeys..." Lemongrab paused for dramatic affect as she glared at the Candy people. "...Will be thrown in the dungeon."

A small gumdrop girl waddled up to Lemongrab. Looking up at the Countess with big, sparkling eyes, she squeaked, "The Royal Dungeon?"

"32 DAYS IN THE DUNGEON FOR YOU!"

Fionna and Prince Gumball gasped in shock, their jaws nearly hitting the floor. The gumdrop girl looked like she was about to cry as her eyes grew wider, sparkling with oncoming tears. "B-b-but..."

Lemongrab glared down at her icily. "Dungeon."

The gumdrop gave Lemongrab one last tear-filled look before she turned on her heel and headed for the exit. "Goodbye, everyone," she whispered as silent tears fell down her face.

Lemongrab stood straighter, placing her hands on her hips. "I require at least one full REM cycle a day." She turned to the others. "So don't bother me. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my bedroom." Lemongrab waved a long yellow hand to Cinnamon Bun's splattered icing mess. "Clean this up or dungeon. Three hours dungeon."

Starchie looked around her friends in confusion. "Who are you talking to?"

Lemongrab pointed a finger at the malt ball. "Three. Hours. Dungeon."

"OH, GLOB!" Starchie fell to her knees and shook her fists in the air. Candy people clustered around her worriedly. "NOOOOOOOO!"

Fionna and Prince Gumball approached the forlorn Starchie, their arms outstretched in comfort. Fionna knelt down next to her friend to reach eye level. "We'll see you in a few hours, Starchie."

"Yeah right," huffed Starchie. She mumbled under her breath as she sulked away. "If Starchie can survive that long."

Prince Gumball span to face the human heroine. "Fionna, this is dirt balls!" he yelled angrily. "We've got to do something to make him leave!"

"Yeah! Like pranking her up her face!"

Prince Gumball smiled at that. A perfect, toothy smile that made Fionna go as pink as a rose. "Hey, yeah! I have the perfect prank!" Prince Gumball took Fionna's hand. Instantly, the human girl's arm went limp. "Follow me!" And they ran out of the Entrance Hall, the two of them unable to contain their giggles and blushes.

Ten minutes later saw the two silently pushing open the hard candy door of Lemongrab's new room. The thin shaft of light that spread through the small opening shined just enough to allow them to see their surroundings. It seemed to be one of the few rooms in the castle to not have anything made of candy in it. The floor was made of solid cement, the hard stone walls bare except for the one concealed window. A few cardboard boxes were stacked in the corners, their written items of UTENSIIIILS! and CLOTHES! spilling out onto the floor. Prince Gumball pushed the door open just enough so that he and Fionna could crawl inside as quietly as possible. They split up so that both could go to either side of the brass-frame bed against the far wall. The lump that was Lemongrab lay nestled under the covers, her usually scary black eyes concealed by a black satin mask. Fionna dug into her pocket and took out the small rubber plug inside. Prince Gumball did the same and, together, they stuck the plugs onto the small indentations on the side of Lemongrab's head that served as her ears.

They went to work immediately. For the next hour, their hands were busy screwing rusty pipes, tightly knotting strings, filling bottles, fitting gloves and spinning tops. Finally, when all was done and ready, the two teens silently crept back into the hall, knowing that this was the calm before the storm.

The digital clock next to Lemongrab's bed switched from 7:59 to 8:00. The alarm blared loudly, but it had no affect on the sleeping Countess due to the plugs still stuck in her ears. However, the gummy fish in the glass bowl next to the alarm clock did get quite a shock. The frightened creature swerved into the glass so hard the bowl fell to the floor. The bowl fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces as the fish freely flopped away.

The shattering glass echoed throughout the room. A small worm sitting in the corner jumped up from its curled position, which made the small marble nestled in its form spring into the air.

The marble fell right into a plastic funnel suspended on the wall. The marble fell through the funnel onto the plastic track attached to it. It rolled down the track quickly until it ended and the marble fell through the air into a small plastic cup below.

The cup was attached to a pair of scissors, and the force made the blades clamp down on one another. The blades cut the thin string between them.

The balloon belonging to the string lifted up into the air as a result. It hit a small paddle above.

The paddle made the the string attached to it lower to a few inches above a small platter. A tiny sprite noticed it, and dropped the small metal ball in its tiny hands to try and grab for it.

The small metal ball fell into a plastic tube below. The ball swirled down the tube before it landed right in the hold of a large magnet attached to a stick.

The heaviness of the magnet made the other end of the stick fly into the air. The other end held a small match that slid across a small sheet of sandpaper that forced the match to be lit ablaze. The match touched an unsuspecting string above. The string snapped when it caught fire.

The string dropped a heavy boot to a mustard bottle down on the floor. The mustard bottle splattered onto an already-annoyed pixie. She stormed off of her platter in anger.

The weight that left platter made it drop the metal block on the other end. The block, connected to hole-punched car by a string, pulled down the card. A small marble sped through the small hole and hit Lemongrab's forehead. The string connected to the card also lifted up a (rather rude) paper-printed message.

Lemongrab blinked awake when the small marble hit her head. She saw the paper in front of her face, but without her contacts, she couldn't see anything. She reached over to her bed-stand and grabbed her wire glasses. She read the message to herself slowly.

"You...really...smell...like...cat butts..."

Lemongrab shrieked in anger.

Ten minutes later saw all of the castle staff standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the entrance hall. They watched Lemongrab pace back and forth with wide, confused eyes filled with worry. Peppermint Maid stood a few feet away from the line of staff, waiting for orders. Fionna and Prince Gumball were hidden behind one of the sugar malt pillars. Their faces were fixed in excited smiles.

"Well, well, well," Lemongrab stopped pacing to cross her gloved arms over her chest. "This is everyone, then?"

Peppermint Maid nodded obediently. "Yes, this is all the castle staff."

"Alright." Lemongrab gave all of the staff a sour glare that made their skins crawl. "Who did it? Who did the thing?"

The staff answered with silence for a long moment. The cook cleared her throat meekly. "The...thing?"

Lemongrab's upper teeth bit down on her lower lip as she breathed out, making a continuous fffffff sound. Her trembling fists raised to her chest and the staff feared that she was about to strike someone. In the end, Lemongrab just frowned heavily as she jammed her hand into the belt at her waist. She took out the rude sheet of paper and unfolded it for all to see. "THE THING-THING!"

"Hey."

The still-seething Lemongrab looked down to see what was tugging at the fabric of her leg. Peppermint Maid looked up at Lemongrab with calm eyes as her tiny, minty fingers continued to grip the cotton of the Countess's bodysuit. "Hey, girl. Calm down. It's just a prank. For laughs." Peppermint Maid paused as she let go of Lemongrab's leg. "If you can't take a joke, maybe you should go. Back home, to Lemongrab."

Lemongrab gave the royal assistant a confused glare. "'Prank'? For laughs?" Lemongrab's face softened and she looked at the paper with a rare calmness. "Yes, of course. No need to go. Just a harmless prank. For laughs."

Lemongrab took a deep breath, and everyone in the entrance hall prepared for an explosion of sound. Instead, the Countess laughed. A really awkward, monotonous laugh that made her fruit-shaped head bob up and down on her head crazily. Peppermint Maid gave a quiet, nervous chuckle.

Lemongrab's laugh ended abruptly. "Twelve years dungeon. All of you. No trials."

Fionna heard Prince Gumball sigh over the murmurs of the upset castle staff. The heroine's crush turned to her with a somber expression. "I don't think that turned out too math, Fionna."

"What? No, no," Fionna quickly reassured the royal. She offered a smile. "We just need more prankin' to get the job done. Let's try it my way this time."

Prince Gumball gave her a smile that made her blush a dark pink color. Then-to Fionna's pleasant surprise-he took her hand in his. Fionna smiled at him, despite the fact that all the blood in her face was making her dizzy.

"Thanks, Fionna."

A few minutes later, Fionna and Prince Gumball were standing in one of the many guest bedrooms in the castle. Fionna stood in the doorway to watch for anyone coming, namely Lemongrab. She would hoot like an owl if she saw anyone. Prince Gumball, meanwhile, was taking off the snowy white sheets of the bed, cutting two holes in each. When he was finished he handed one to Fionna. The two teens covered themselves in the sheets and ran into the entrance hall.

Lemongrab was standing in the entrance hall, staring at the wall across the floor. There was an unsightly crack in it that she desperately wanted to imprison someone for but couldn't find out how.

"Bluh-bluh-bluh!"

Lemongrab turned around at the sounds heading for her. Before she could do anything, two figures in snowy cotton sheets ran right at her, tackling her to the floor. One foot pounded into her stomach, the other into her shoulder. One made sure that their foot hit her jaw as she fled.

Lemongrab lay crumpled on the floor for a long moment, pained tears dripping down her leathery cheeks as she coughed away the pain in her stomach. She laughed then. It was like the laugh she did earlier, in the same pitch and rhythm, but it was more pained and her head didn't bob. "Nice one!" she called down the hall. "But I'm not goin' anywhere!" Lemongrab lifted herself from the floor and began to limp towards the castle kitchen. "Man, I need some ricecakes..."

Prince Gumball and Fionna observed this from behind the corner. Prince Gumball rolled his lips in a sigh. "I don't think that worked either."

"Here, follow me," Fionna took off their sheets and quickly stuffed them into a nearby ceramic vase. She and her crush joined hands and ran down the hall together.

A few minutes later, the two were sitting on one of the tower roofs. Instantly, they were hit with the almost staggering smell of sugar over the kingdom. They sat down on the sloped graham shingles and took in the view. You could see everything. Not just the kingdom, but the jungle beyond its barriers. After that was the bright green field that almost seemed endless. You could just see Fionna and Cake's Treehouse in the distance.

"We'll ice-bomb her non-stop till her butt falls off," Fionna told the prince. She was almost trembling with excitement. "We need to use that tonic of yours. The one that was 'fweesy cawld.' How's that sound?"

Prince Gumball laughed merrily. "Yeah, let's do it."

And then-to Fionna's shock-Prince Gumball wrapped his arm around her shoulder. The one harmless movement made her shiver uncontrollably for a long moment before she finally stilled, still blushing.

"Thank you for releasing me from the dungeon early Mistress Lemongrab," Peppermint Maid said as she walked through the door of Lemongrab's private dining room, a silver platter in her hands. The room itself was only slightly bigger than the Countess's bedroom, with no furniture whatsoever except for the one mahogany table and single oak chair that stood at the end of it. Lemongrab sat in the one chair and gave a light scoff at her maid's gratitude.

"I determine what is early and what is late, Miss Peppermint," she replied curtly.

Peppermint Maid bit her lip and set the platter on the table before her new mistress. "Yes, your highness."

"Also, I don't know where food comes from."

Peppermint paused at that but replied, "My lady, food comes from-"

"NO!" Lemongrab screeched before she could finish. Peppermint Maid's mouth clamped shut instantly. "That's why I am 'royal' and you are 'serval.'"

Prince Gumball and Fionna observed all of this from inside the ceiling, a panel moved so that they could look down from above. Prince Gumball held the beaker filled with the cyan derma-tonic in his left hand. Fionna turned to him uncertainly. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I made it super cold this time," replied Prince Gumball.

Fionna nodded. "Wait until she opens the lid."

"Behold," Peppermint Maid announced. The two teens looked down below as the edible maid lifted up the silver lid of the platter, revealing a large mound of some kind of yellow-white mush. "Mashed turnips! Carefully soaked in water to eliminate all excess flavo-AAAAAHHHH!"

Prince Gumball and Fionna flinch-jumped when the drop of the derma-tonic fell right into Peppermint Maid's eye. The poor maid continued to screech in pain as her organ laced over in frost. Her scleras went from white to icy blue in a second. Lemongrab just gawked in confusion. It was as Peppermint Maid's spilling eyes went flying around the room that she spotted her true master and his friend above in the ceiling. Fionna immediately pressed her index finger to her lips. Although Peppermint Maid said nothing, her frozen eye and her normal eye were both filled with understanding.

"STOP SCREAMING!" Lemongrab screamed above Peppermint Maid's cries of pain. "WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING?"

"AAAAAAAI'M JUST SO EXCITED FOR THIS MEAL I MADE!" Peppermint Maid screamed back. Prine Gumball took this moment to spill several droplets of the tonic into the mashed turnips. The lump of mush absorbed it immediately.

Lemongrab gave Peppermint Maid a long, suspicious look before responding, "Me too. I'm excited too." She grabbed her silver fork and picked up a large glob of the poisoned mush. And then she ate it.

The reaction was instant. Lemongrab spat out the mush right into Peppermint Maid's face. Her leathery yellow skin took on a bluish tint and her eye sockets laced over in frost. She banshee-screeched in absolute agony and terror. She stood pin-straight from her chair, sending it to the floor. She ran about in crazed circles around the room for a minute before she jumped out of the window. Prince Gumball and Fionna gasped.

Thirty feet below, Lemongrab crashed head-first into the earth. Confused and shocked Candy people jumped out of their skins and stared. Lemongrab's head was completely buried in the dirt.

"Holy yoga!" cried Fionna. She, Prince Gumball, and the now-silent Peppermint Maid were at the window and were observing the scene.

They watched as Lemongrab shoved several sun-baked stones into her mouth. The heat of them warmed up her frozen body immediately, and she sighed in content.

"She's eating the stones!" yelled Peppermint Maid. "FREEZE THEM NOW!"

Prince Gumball poured several drops of tonic onto the stones in Lemongrab's hands just before the three of them dashed down the staircase. The Countess shoved them into her mouth, unaware at their poisoned state. When the stones hit her tongue her body was engulfed in another wave of frozen pain. She withered on the ground for a long time, screeching and screaming in terror. Finally, she jumped onto her feet and took off in the opposite direction. Fionna, Cake, and Peppermint Maid dashed after her. "She's headed for the orchard!" Peppermint Maid exclaimed.

Sure enough, five minutes later saw the four of them running through the Candy Kingdom Orchard. Tall trees dashed by them, lush with lump oranges, bright apples, and juicy peaches. Peppermint Maid, Prince Gumball, and Fionna secretly ran past Lemongrab and quickly climbed a particularly tall, branchy tree. The tired but still-frozen Lemongrab finally fell to her knees in exhaustion. She looked up and saw a particular peach standing in a hot beam of sunlight, belonging to the very tree that the trio was hiding in. She reached and clawed for it, but it was far out of her reach. Finally, her long fingers clamped down on the fruit, but its grip was tight on the branch. Lemongrab was left dangling from it. She bounced up and down on the branch. Unfortunately, the jerky movements made Peppermint Maid stumble forward into view. Lemongrab just had time to yelp in confusion before the peach gave away and she fell to the earth.

The release of the weight made Peppermint Maid fly off of the branch. Right into Lemongrab's mouth. The Countess tried to yell out in confusion, but ultimately decided not to. The warm mintiness of Peppermint Maid's round body made the iciness of her own body vanished. She gave a sigh of content and sat up, greedily sucking on Peppermint Maid's head. The poor maid whimpered uncomfortably. Lemongrab's teeth, usually somewhat stubbed, somehow had grown razor-sharp and were taking off chips of her body.

It was as Lemongrab was engulfing Peppermint Maid that she saw Fionna and Prince Gumball in the tree. She glared at them in suspicious, angry confusion for a long moment.

Fionna chuckled nervously.

"ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON!"

And now they were in the dungeon cell.

Fionna sighed as she leaned against the hard, peppermint bars of her prison. Luckily, the dungeon wasn't as dirty as a normal dungeon would be. The floor, though made of stones, didn't reek of mildew and dirt. The walls were also made of stones but they had barred windows here and there to let in fresh air. It smelled sweet and it wasn't too hot or too cold. But it was so crowded. It wasn't just Fionna, Prince Gumball, and Peppermint Maid. It was also all of the castle staff from earlier, all huddled together in the same cell as them. And it was also the thirty-something Candy people that Lemongrab had imprisoned on her castle rounds. The dungeon wasn't meant to hold so many prisoners. Some of the smaller citizens were forced to dangle from bird cages hanging from the ceiling. They were particularly miserable.

But not as miserable as their prince. Fionna had never seen Prince Gumball so sad, and it nearly broke her heart. As he observed his own people in their cells, sad and miserable, he couldn't help but be miserable too. This was all his fault. If he had just done something to stay as ruler, Lemongrab would be long gone. But doing something to stay ruler at 14 would break the royal rules, and that could be punishable by execution. Prince Gumball turned to Fionna with a sigh. "I think we blew it with the pranks."

"Nah, it's cool," said Fionna. She gave him a pat on the back. "Cupcake'll come looking for me in a day or two."

"Yeah, but Lemongrab will still rule the kingdom."

"Maybe we can...set his but on fire?"

"No, Fionna..." Prince Gumball muttered softly. "There's only one way. I just didn't want to have to do it." He continued after a glance at Fionna's confused face. "If I change myself back to my real age...I could reclaim the throne."

Fionna jumped to her feet at that. No, not now! Now when she was so close! "No!" she exclaimed. The other Candy prisoners gave her odd but knowing looks. Fionna blushed and sat back down. "I mean...You can do that?"

Prince Gumball nodded slowly.

Fionna slumped at that. Then she perked up. "Then why did you wait so long?"

"Because...being fourteen again is..." Prince Gumball cut off in a chuckle. He looked up at Fionna with bright purple eyes, filled with a sort of sad joy. "Boombadobie!"

Even though Fionna would usually know the meaning of this neologism, her crushed mood was messing with her brain too much to comprehend it. She gave Prince Gumball another confused look. "What?"

"Being eighteen is all flopfluck and wagglesags. I never really get to be a kid."

Fionna hadn't considered that ever before. She thought that that was just how Prince Gumball was. Responsible, leader, always in charge. But he never seemed to be having fun. He was always having to take care of something. His people, his castle, maintaining the royal rules. She never thought he was miserable. Now she felt guilty to never see it before. "Oh..."

"But it's OK," Prince Gumball smiled at her. A sad smile that made Fionna's heart clench. "My people need me. And they always come first."

"Yeah," Fionna nodded, but her green-blue eyes darted to the window. Anything to avoid the pleading gaze that her crush was pointing at her.

Prince Gumball stood to his feet and brushed off the thick dust that had formed on his hot pink shirt. He turned to face Fionna and the other Candy prisoners. "The first thing we need is more candy-flesh to increase my biomass." Prince Gumball's face paused in deep thought for a moment. He let out a long groan and slapped his forehead. "But I need my lab equipment to engineer it!"

"Not necessary, milord."

Prince Gumball looked down in question. Peppermint Maid now stood before him, smiling up at him sweetly. Seeing that she had his attention, she brought her two hands to the top of her head/body and began to pull. With a crack, she pulled off a large chunk of her peppermint body. A V-shaped crevice was left embedded in her body.

One by one, all of the candy prisoners pulled off their own flesh in offering. Most were cautious, making sure to just tear off anything unimportant. Others sacrificed eyes, mouths, and limbs. They approached their prince (the ones in the other cells had to press their bodies against the bars) and held out their offerings.

Prince Gumball gasped. He never thought his people would do such a sacrifice for him! Despite the fact that he was still in great shock, he managed to give them all a large, sincere smile. "Thank you! Thank you all! OK, now we need a bonding agent."

"Princess."

Prince Gumball turned to Fionna. She wasn't smiling or frowning sadly, but her face was one of soft determination. "I think I can help.

Slurp slurp slurp slurp

Fionna wiped her mouth of the stickiness that came from the large chunk of lollipop in her hands and attached it to the mass. A small malt girl handed her her chunk of chocolate flesh, and Fionna went to work on it instantly.

Slurp slurp slurp slurp

She attached it to the mass and turned to accept the last piece. A small gumdrop handed her its arm.

Slurp slurp slurp

She stuck it onto the biomass and stood up, wiping whatever sugar-stickiness was left on her mouth. "Yep. This looks about right."

The candy-flesh biomass was attached to Prince Gumball. A mountain of sticky candy towered above his head. Due to the lack of space, two limbs of candy flesh jutted out from the mass around his shoulders. It looked like he was wearing a rainbow-colored turban or something. Fionna giggled when she saw it, but turned around to call, "Someone get the Countess down here!"

"Wait Fionna."

Prince Gumball blushed when Fionna turned to look at him with those big, sparkling, blue-green eyes of hers. Geez, he looked ridiculous. Her mirth-filled gaze said so. "There's one last thing we need." He took a deep breath and said, still blushing, "Only the heat from a whopping love-hug can catalyze the reagifying process."

Fionna didn't giggle. She didn't blush or faint. Instead, she just stared and smiled at the prince like an absolute idiot. She wrung the hem of her shirt in her hands.

Then she took a step forward. She reached out and took her crush's hands in hers. They stared into each others' eyes for a long time. Blue on purple. Green on pink. Their pink blushes were identical. Fionna took a deep breath. "Are you ready, prince?"

"Yeah, Fionna," answered the prince. But he spoke up when Fionna leaned in. "Wait. I just...want you to know how much fun I've had hanging out with you."

"Me too!" Fionna exclaimed a bit too quickly. Her blush deepened.

Prince Gumball took this chance to continue. "And I...I wish I could stay like this-with you. But..."

Fionna frowned sadly. "I know, prince."

And then they hugged. Fionna's arms went around the prince's shoulders. The prince's arms went around Fionna's waist. They stayed like that for a long moment. The air was sparkling. Literally. Tiny silver orbs fluttered into the air, dazzling and sparkling like snowflakes. More and more appeared by the second. The air around them was warm and loving.

Finally, Fionna and the prince pulled back, their noses brushing against each other, very slowly. But without opening their eyes, their faces leaned into each other.

And they kissed.

Fionna wasn't even aware that the tiny orbs burst into a flash of white and disappeared. Wasn't aware that Prince Gumball shot a half-foot into the air. Wasn't even aware that her face was buried into the someone's shirt.

"'Scuse me, Fionna."

Fionna stepped back. Prince Gumball was eighteen again. He was taller than her again. His hair was back in its quiff. His eyes had gone from big and round to ever-so-slightly almond shaped. Even his clothes had somehow gone back to their usual royal appearance. He was Prince Gumball, Fionna's crush that would always be out of her reach.

Prince Gumball walked to the round barred window of the cell. He pressed his cheeks against the peppermint bars and called, "YO LEMONGRAB!"

"What?!" yelled the scratchy, high-pitched voice of the Countess.

"YOU'RE FIRED, YA BUTT! PACK YER JUNK!"

Lemongrab replied with an scream.

She was still grumbling as she trotted away on her horse-camel. The sun was setting now, casting the sugary kingdom in a beautiful golden glow. All was silent now in the kingdom. Everyone was hiding from the zealous Countess in their homes, leaving the streets and road empty. Fionna and Prince Gumball sat at the top of the castle steps, side-by-side. They watched the Countess ride away until she was out of sight.

Prince Gumball turned to Fionna with a relieved sigh with a smile. "I'm so glad everything's back to normal. Thank you, Fionna."

"Oh, yeah," Fionna responded. She brought a hand to the back of her neck and rubbed there awkwardly. "But..."

The prince smiled kindly. "What is it, Fionna?"

"Uh...do you wanna..." Fionna's hand slide from her neck to across her jawline before it fell limp in her lap. "...Hug some more?"

"What? Fionna, you silly," the prince chuckled a bit as he stood to his feet. Fionna frowned in disappointment. "That was like, four years ago. You really gotta move on."

"Oh...yeah. Sorry."

The prince chuckled more. He strode through the doors of the entrance hall, whispering, "Silly girl." And then he disappeared from sight.

Fionna stared at the closed door for a long moment. Then her gaze turned to the golden sunset before her. In a way, it reminded her of the prince. Influential and bright. Always glowing. Intriguing her with its abilities. And no matter how far she reached, or how fast she ran, she would never be able to catch it.

She sighed heavily and put her head in her hands.

A loud, ringing tune made her jump up. She dug her hand into her backpack and pulled out her ringing cellphone. She clicked the round green button and asked, "Hello?"

"Hey girl, what's the status?" asked Cake. Back at the Treehouse, she hadn't gotten up from her chair all day, except for food and necessities. Now, three empty soda cans were at her feet and her fur was sprinkles with potato chip crumbles. She was so close to the ending of Kingdom's Key now. Her heroine was now running from the last batch of cursed trolls in the castle corridors.

"Bad news, girl-I...I got dumped."

"Aw, I'm sorry, girl," Cake said sincerely. But she was left to wonder whether Prince Gumball had actually dumped her or if he had somehow turned eighteen again. She also wanted to know why Fionna hadn't answered her last thirteen calls, but she knew now wasn't the time to ask. "But...I want you to listen. Let me share with you a little secret on how to win the heart of a prince. It's not easy, but you gotta be persistent. You might have to keep defeating a monster empress and warp through several different dimensions."

On the screen, her character took out the final key and stuck it into the lock of the final room. "But once you do, you walk up the hexed stairs and produce the magic key you got in the fire dimension. And then you unlock the chamber door." Her character entered the door's room.

"And then you walk straight to the prince."

In the room, Cake's character approached the dimension prince. He smiled at the sight of her, and the two embraced in a sparkling hug.

"And give 'im a smooch."

The character and the prince pulled apart. Their small, 8-Bit heads leaned in for a romantic kiss. YOU WIN glowed on the screen as the credits began to roll.

Cake cheered in victory, then stopped when she realized Fionna could still hear her. She cleared her throat and asked, "Does that make sense?"

There were a few beats of silence before Fionna answered. "Yeah. I see what you're saying. Thanks, Cupcake."

"Sure thing."

Fionna ended the call with a single click. As she stuffed her cellphone into her backpack, she looked over her shoulder. At the top of the tallest tower of the castle, she could see the pink form of the prince watching the golden sunset. She forced herself to stand, and slowly began to trek up the steps. "Walk up the hexed stairs..."

TRIVIA

Prince Gumball does not require a specific type of candy flesh to revert to his real age, as he uses pieces from all different types of Candy People.

Originally, the Countess of Lemongrab was going to be my own character, the Countess of Limesnatch. However, I encountered 2 problems:

1: There was already a female counterpart of the Earl of Lemongrab, the one used above.

2: 'Limesnatch' is a name for Lemongrab's weird counterpart in Issue 5 of the AT comics.

CULTURAL REFERENCES

The prank machine is a form of Rube Goldberg machine; an overly-complex apparatus that performs a simple task.

This episode is the continuation of "Lethal Vice," thus completing the series' first 3-part story arc.

STORYLINE ANALYSIS

Actual age seems to not play a part in deciding who the rightful ruler of Candy Kingdom is. Lemongrab could not be over eighteen herself (since Prince Gumball created him), and she must be younger than him, even as his thirteen-year-old self, or he would have been five when he created her.

This episode shows that Prince Gumball's age is based on his mass, not the length of his life. If he was originally eighteen, changing what age he appeared to be wouldn't actually change the fact that he's eighteen. If age is based on mass in either all candy people or even in just the prince, it is possible that Lemongrab did become older than Prince Gumball.