"FLAME PRINCE!"
His name is said so abruptly and loudly that he snaps out of his meditation, falls forward and ends up smacking his forehead against the glass. If he could withstand a headbutt he could withstand the unexpected pain ringing through his skull. With an annoyed look, he stands up while rubbing his head and turns to look at his mother. Around her stood three girls: one bulky, the other covered from head to toe with armor holding two big swords in each hand and a timid-looking one. They all stared up at him.
"..." he didn't know what to say.
"These are who are going to fight to be your bride," explains Flame Queen. "Meet Vesta," she motions at the bulky girl, "She may be quite large for your taste, but I assure you she is nearly as strong as you."
Flame Prince stares at her seeing that her arms are larger than his and she seems to have more abs than him. He will avoid imagining her carrying him down the aisle. She winks at him and he flinches.
"Next, Aden. I assure you her defense is perfect for battling and leading an army," says Flame Queen. The armored girl squeaks in her metal armor as she shows off her swords to Flame Prince. He gives no interest. "Finally, Idris. She sort of reminds me of you," she smiles, "Whenever you get her mad her flames can take down a whole entire kingdom."
Idris meets eyes with Flame Prince and quickly looks away with a blushing face. Flame Prince just thought of how Fi is like that, turning her face when she is embarrassed. Glob, he missed her. "Oh, do you have an attraction to Idris?" asks Flame Queen after catching a glimpse of his red cheeks.
"No."
Idris sniffles, whimpers and then starts to shiver. He began to get curious when her shivering increases, but then senses the danger of her anger. She bursts into intense flames and grew two times her size. Her flames stretching out to half of Flame Queen's size, bigger than the other two girls with fearful demonic eyes. However, a hiccup, and its all gone. She is back to her small state.
Everyone stood in silence and Idris runs out the door from embarrassment.
"Uhm...yeah," says Flame Queen and clears her throat. "I hope you will be looking forward to the battle Flame Prince and ladies," she faces them, "Show...no...mercy."
Flame Prince cringes and pushes away the thought of his beloved being trampled, kicked and burnt. He wants to protect her. He doesn't want to sit back and watch her fight alone. He doesn't doubt her strength, but he is fearful of the outcome. Her scars. It angers him.
Flame Queen is puts her hand in the air to dismiss Sera and Vesta, but pauses when she hears a dull sound behind her. She twists to see her son trying to break out of his glass chamber. He lashes out, throwing his two fists against the glass, feeling the pain on his knuckles, gritting his teeth and increasing the speed of the hits. The glass is thick. He never noticed that until now.
Desperate.
He smashes his head full force against the glass, enough to make a skull split.
He doesn't know what happened after that. Only that for a second he was standing there, wavering, looking at his mother's surprised face. Next, he lies on his back, facing the ceiling, pain everywhere, mostly his head. He turns to the side and with blurry vision he can see the shards of glass falling around him. Finally, he shuts his eyes and invites pitch darkness.
...
"You sure I should eat this much Cake?" asks Fi as Cake kept piling bacon or sausage on top of another.
"Heck yeah! Meat will build up strength girl!" she continues to pile the meat into a tower. "COOK MORE BMO!"
"Cake I can't make my stomach thinner like you," says Fi, but still munches on a piece of bacon. "Mmm...bacon."
"I wish I can taste it..." sadly mutters BMO at the stove.
Cake piles meat on her own plate, steals half of Fionna's and stuffs them in her mouth, "Sho," she says with her mouth full while chewing, "Whatsh shyour shecret shtraghedy?"
"What?"
"Shtra-" she gulps down the food with a content sigh, "Strategy."
"I don't know, I never met them. I'll just create one like I always do," Fi takes a bite out of her bacon.
"Like with Flame Prince?" asks BMO and Fi chokes and Cake laughs.
"Fi so hot she don't need strategy to pick up men," replies Cake.
"Oh, shut up," blushes the adventuress and looks in her bag one more time. All she had inside is her retractable sword.
It's all she needs.
She hopes.
"Mind if I join in?" asks a chilly voice. Everyone gasps when Ice Queen floats down on a chair next to Cake, "Hello."
"Ice Queen, what the doops?!" yells Fionna reaching for her sword.
"Whoa whoa, cool down," she grabs a sausage and bacon, "I'm just getting free food." She looks around the room ignoring glares being thrown at her from her "frenemies." She swallows,"So, where's your hot boyfriend?"
"Is that why you came?" Fi puts her sword against her chair and eats slowly. "He's back in the Fire Kingdom."
"Why don't you visit him?" growls Cake hoping Ice Queen would buzz off from her meal.
Ice Queen coughs and grabs Fi's glass of water, with a sigh she says, "Well, thanks for the meal ladies it was all right."
"What the bunk Ice Queen?!"
"What? I can't cook...plus all Gunter brings is fish and that's going to ruin my awesome bod," she floats away and BMO throws down his/her hat.
"All right? ALL RIGHT?!" the little computer shakes her hands in the air and then marches to the bathroom grumbling.
"Why's BMO going to the bathroom?" asks Fionna.
"Remember, BMO likes to pretend to be some real human or something?" replies Cake and sips her tea.
"Oh yeah...hey Cake, what d'ya think the other girls will be like?"
"All I can say is evil," Cake licks her plate and starts taking Fionna's food bit by bit. "Why don't we check 'em out early?"
"Huh?"
"She only said to not see Flame Prince, she didn't say anything about the ladies," Cake stands, getting ready to bounce out the window. "Let's go check out the butts you are about to kick!"
"Okay, let me pack some snacks," Fi opens a cabinet and finds two bags of marshmallows. "Mm, good old fluffy goodness," she inserts the candy in her backpack, sneaks a look at Cake and starts running towards the window. Before putting a foot on the edge Cake clasps on her back, lets hers thin and stretch out to form a parachute for the wind to blow them over the forest. "WHOO!"
...
Groggy. Everything is groggy.
His head, sight and sound around him. Unclear.
When the overlapping voices did become clear he dared not to open his eyes. He did not want make any interactions with the ones surrounding his bed side in the medical room. Vesta and Aden stood at different sides of the room, refusing to make contact with each other, only two of them are sharing their thoughts of each other. Vesta, the bulky girl had a low, yet still feminine voice and Sera's echoed through her helmet. Idris' exact location of where she stood is a mystery for Flame Prince. She is silent.
Vesta cracks her knuckles, and says in a cocky voice, "Well, I guess we all know who will win the Prince." She made no effort in being polite as she continued to crack other parts of her body. The sound of her bones cracking made it hard for Flame Prince to keep a still, emotionless face.
She is the closest to his head.
Aden huffed, "You lack armor, therefore my metal swords will easily pierce through you."
She stood at his right side.
"The Prince did not even wear armor while battling men, so this means I have a chance of taking advantage of you," replies Vesta haughtily.
A small voice makes out the biggest insults thrown to both, "You imbeciles are wrong..." Flame Prince can feel tension grow in the air as he feels the chill of Idris' cold voice. "Strength can mean nothing if you act out stupidly in battle as if you have no brains, and wearing armor just shows how weak and cowardly you are to actually face your enemies."
"Then what exactly do you need?" asks Vesta with gritted teeth.
"Pure evil to power yourself," Flame Prince feels her eyes on him. "That's why...we make the best pair."
Flame Prince wanted to sit up and take her head on this instant. However, he contains himself when Aden changes the subject, "What about that Fionna girl?" She seems to be the one who wants as little conflict between the three girls as possible before the real battle.
"Who?" growls Vesta, still angered by the negative comments.
"The girl Flame Prince claimed to be his bride," explains Idris.
"Wasn't asking you," huffs Vesta.
"She is right," says Aden.
"'Kay."
"Let's make a plan."
Flame Prince feels his heart jump when he feels a hand laid on his head. Why does it seem so cold?
"Take down Fionna first, and then settle the real battle between us," proposes Idris.
Who would know this was the girl who ran out crying earlier?!
...
"You guys are going to get my butt in water!" harshly whispers Flare while leading Fionna and Cake to where Flame Prince laid.
Cake and Fi wore masks again after making another stop at the drama room. "Oh, just a peek at who Fi will be challenging ain't gonna lead us in trouble," says Cake as she adjusts the mask.
"Yeah, and...why is Flame Prince in the infirmary again?" asks Fionna in a worried voice.
"Oh, something about him having a breakdown or something. Whatever he did it sure upset Flame Queen," replies Flare as the trio start walking up a spiral of stairs.
"Breakdown?! Is he all right?"
"Oh yeah, probably just hit his head really hard. I mean really hard; that glass would have hurt!" she looks up at Fi's face cringing. "I mean...he's fine!"
Flare nudges against the door at the far end of the hallway. Fi and Cake exchange looks and run up to slowly open the door just a crack and peek inside. They see a girl with a small figure in body and height with flames burning softly as she stroked Flame Prince's forehead.
"What is she doing?!" Fi growls while clenching her teeth. Cake wraps her arms around her waist.
"You're on your own," says the figure in armor at the way end of the room.
"If she's out, then I'm out," a gruff voice is heard near the door.
"Fine, I'll take down Fionna myself," says the girl who is still petting Flame Prince.
"What?!" exclaims Fi under her breath.
"I wonder...if he had his first kiss yet," the girl talked to herself.
Fionna fumed.
"I would like to...steal one," she whispers and starts to lean down.
Immediately, Fi reacted so fast that Cake wasn't able to hold her down. The young heroine couldn't take it anymore and burst through the door wielding her pink sword and yells, "BACK AWAY FROM HIM!"
"Fionna?" Flame Prince quickly sits up accidentally smashing his forehead against Idris. He didn't take notice for he felt no pain, but she sure did and held her head while growling at Fionna. "Fio-!"
He pauses when the fuming girl grabs his collar and pulls him into a quick and very passionate kiss. He feels the heat of her anger, but isn't too stunned to not respond. However, she pulls away and gets back in her place, pointing her sword at Idris. "He had his first kiss, with me," she says proudly. "And now, I definitely won't lose," she takes a deep breath to calm herself down, "I won't let someone like you have Flame Prince!"
Idris scowls at her and in a flash, jumps over the table to throw a fiery punch on Fionna's cheek. Flame Prince covers Fi and, for his surprise, Aden runs right in front of Idris. The small girl smashes against her armor and falls on the ground, "Save it for the battle..." she looks back at Flame Prince and Fionna, "...I guess it should start now."
...
"I can't wait for the result of the battle," says Flame Queen as she walked side by side with her son. The arena is filled and girls screamed for Flame Prince to turn their way.
He didn't.
They start climbing up steps to their higher view of the arena. It looks like the stage-box they have in the theater. Than again, now that he thinks about this arena is just another theater to her. This is just another way to amuse herself. His mother sat on her seat where she has watched countless people battle to their death. He didn't have a seat. When he came to watch with her he became excited in seeing who would win or if there would be a winner at all. Instead, he used to stand at the edge of the balcony, studying their techniques in handling fire, weaponry and defense. He would learn from the mistakes of the unlucky and how others would triumph victoriously. Now, he feels disgusted he ever felt anticipation for watching people putting themselves in their death beds.
He goes to the edge and can see Aden with her two swords out, Vesta with a huge club on her shoulders, Idris being the only one unarmed and Fionna with one hand gripping on a strap of her bag and another on her sword handle. Cake pops right next to him with Flare on her head, "This will be an easy battle right?"
Flame Prince looks at her and is unable to keep a straight face, "I...I don't know." His worry shows, "If she is able to penetrate Aden's armor I'm sure she'll win, she can probably outsmart Vesta, but Idris..."
"What about that skunk?!" exclaims Cake. "All I know is that she tried to kiss you!"
"She's powerful, but the lucky thing is she can't control her power," explains Flame Prince.
Cake smiles and puts an arm around him, "I'm sure she'll win. She'll do anything for you pretty boy."
"Cake...I don't know if we should con-"
"DON'T say it!" Cake unleashes him, "She did all this for you! She trained her butt off for you! I do not want to hear anything about you breaking things off with her! Understando Flamo Princo?!"
"Cake...I wasn't going to say that," he stares blankly at her.
"Oh...what were you gonna say?"
He answers in a low voice, "We shouldn't continue making relations with my mother, or the kingdom. I don't want Fionna to become my bride...here. I don't want her to be stuck down here for the rest of her li-"
"LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE!" yells Flame Queen in a booming voice. "I only want one winner," she says loud enough for the competitors to hear.
"OH GLOB!" screams Fi as she jumps out of the way as Vesta's spiked club digs into the ground of where she stood. A cloud of dust surrounds her giving a chance to charge at her opponents hidden. However, someone else already thought of that already.
Aden thrusts her the back of her sword handle to jab Fionna's spine, but she heard her and moved to the left. Her right side takes the hit, and boy did it hurt. She retracts her sword with her right hand and wildly slashes against Aden's armor with no success of getting through the metal. She jumps back and finds herself against Vesta's abs. Masculine arms wrapped around her chest and lifted her up a few feet in the air, squeezing the life out of her. Fi thrashes around in her arms and then knocks her head up against Vesta's chin. She watches her fall to the ground and right when she hit the dirt a sword a centimeter away from her cheek appears to her left. She grips her pink sword tightly and turns.
Swords clash against each other with both girls trying to keep their feet lodged in the ground. Fi's luck did not go well. The hit she took earlier made her slant her sword to the left letting Aden get the opportunity to knock it out of her sweaty palms. Her sword flew to the way back of the stadium. The crowd start whooping for the armored warrior.
Fi stumbles back, reaches in her bag and grabs one bag of marshmallow. They have melted into this huge white sticky wad to make one jumbo marshmallow. She hears Aden making a warrior cry and sprinting towards her. Fi rips the bag open and throws the wad right smack onto Aden's helmet. She drops her sword and reaches to take off the marshmallow making her hands get stuck in the mess. She can't see nor move. She is defenseless. Fi watches her struggle and smiles gleefully when Aden finally takes off her helmet with her hands still stuck on it. The heroine runs, jumps and headbutts Aden with all her might. The warrior falls and the crowd's cheering switched sides.
"WHOO!" cheered Cake loudly. She became so excited and happy that she didn't notice she is shaking Flare so intensely.
Flame Prince shoots a proud, cocky grin to his mother who does not respond to him. "SILENCE!" she yells and the crowd falls silent. "It is NOT over yet!"
Idris has been standing outside of the fight. It is obvious she wanted to take on Fionna on girl to girl. She smiles, "I think we both know who will win Flame Prince."
Fi clutches on to her bag strap, "Even if you do win, he won't love you."
The small flame which flickered on Idris' head as well as her body grew three times bigger than her actual size. Fi felt like she is staring at one huge campfire. Her sword is in the way back and all she had are melted marshmallows. What in the world is she to do?!
She can't think.
Fireballs are being thrown in every direction with no precision and accuracy. Idris wants her enemy defeated as quickly as possible. In Fi's luck she stood absolutely still, letting the fireballs hit around her. None of them directly being hurled towards her. Flame Prince grimaces with how bad Idris' fire skill is.
"WHAT THE-?!" Fi finds herself getting sucked up and sees that Idris is spinning so fast that she has turned herself into a twister. Fi clings onto the ground, digging her nails in the dirt, but her legs are already in the air. She sees her sword start being pulled in from the air and into her reach. She lets go of the ground and grabs the handle with her right hand. Now, she has to think fast for she is only a few meters away from Idris' evil clutch.
The marshmallow bag.
It just flew out of her bag and smack into Idris' face. She shrank into normal state to try and yank the wad off her face. Fi lands on the ground with a big "OOF!" and watches her enemy struggle. Idris then tries to burn the marshmallows off, only making the outer layer crisp black, but the inside stickier. Her muffled screams are all Fi and the crowd heard.
"What is this?!" exclaims Flame Queen. "Two of the girls have been defeated with this taffy?!"
"She won," says Flame Prince with a wide smile. Looks like he had nothing to worry about after all.
"So..." Cake begins to walk away, "We'll just be on our wa-"
"NO!" Flame Queen gives a cold stare in Fionna's eyes. "This battle is not over until..." she jabs her finger, "You slaughter your defeated opponents."
"WHAT?!"
[Not the best. Sorry it took long. Wish I can think of things faster^^]