Chapter 5: Crystals

"Sweet babies!" The feline's amber eyes dilated, drinking in the sight in front of her. "Gotta say, this room is waaaaaaaay likable than that glob-forsaken path we took earlier."

It took for the golden-haired to have her eyes adjust to the well-lighted cavern (compared to that corridor and that dark passageway they went, that is); she had her eyes squinted, trying to make sense of her newfound surroundings.

And when they did, Fionna can't help but to produce a small gasp of her own.

Uneven, jagged rocks seemed to embed every surface of the room like an annoying zit. Yet the fascinating part about this room is that, glowing crystals in different colours literally grew out from those boulders like a tree. The aforementioned cavern was a little stuffy compared to that wide room that held the three doors of decision-making (maybe it's because of those crystals growing?), but this one's more eye-catching and friendlier than that room.

Oddly enough, those rough boulders seemed to blend in to the crystals' smooth surface. The human just realized that this room wasn't that bright at all, it's just the collected faint radiance emitting from those huge minerals. Only the center of this space left unoccupied—with a few tiny green crystals sprouting at its middle.

Unsurprisingly, Marshall—whose skin looks really weird against that colourful luminosity emitting from those crystals—remained unimpressed. "This looks like a place where the Lumpy Space Prince is going to throw a party next. Do you think we should drop him a call about this place?"

Chuckling, the blonde replied, "Sure, but I don't think he'll like exterior design, you know."

"Or the traps. Oh no, those things are downright nasty, girl." The feline supplied, nodding as she emphasized the 'nasty' part by attempting to make a scary face.

Hunching as if to imitate the aforesaid prince, Fionna copied the voice of the prince and waved her hand dismissively. "Traps are so last month. Waterslides are the next big thing you know?"

The vampire's lips twitched in amusement, though he refused to let go of that raised brow that either shows his internal (non-existent) judgement or just plain unimpressive. "Er, I think you should leave the mocking stuff to me, Fi. You and I both know I'm slamacowtastic at imitating people."

"I'm not mocking LSP!" The adventuress defiantly replied while using the prince's nickname, lips pouting slightly at his accusation. Weeeell, maybe just a little bit on the mocking part. The female thought guiltily, shaking her head internally.

The male, too, shook his head incredulously. "And waterslides? Where did that came from?"

Blood rose to the human's cheeks, "I-It just came around randomly in my head." She mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "I'm not that updated on what's in or what's not. I'm too busy adventuring for that stuff!"

Sadly, it was the truth. Cake reckons that it's her way of coping up and moving on with none other but the Flame Prince itself, but Fionna refused to acknowledge or confirm her sister's assumptions. Probably it's because of her stubborn nature—and that very nature of hers itself makes Cake annoyed as hell for she cannot seem to spill the beans about her adoptive sister's love life. How can she even help her sister-slash-best friend in her love life with her suave tips in dating? Wasn't it a big sister's duty to guide her young siblings on that path to being not single?

A faint quaver from the ground was felt by the ladies. "Whoa," Wide shades of blue met the feline's amber ones. "Did you feel that?"

Nodding, she answered with a small yes.

"...Are you sure that this is the right place where that crystal of yours will appear?" A thick dark brow from the vampire was raised, appraising the two. "I mean this place looks like it has a lot of rooms. What if, I don't know, that crystal is in the other room?"

A smug chuckle escaped the cat's mouth (he couldn't exactly say lips, you know), "Puh-weez! Do ya really think we're goin' to a place that we haven't gone in to unprepared?"

"Considering the fact that I found you and Fionna wandering pointlessly in the woods, I think you know my answer."

Once again, the naiveté (or ignorance; it depends on your perspective, really) of the human was raw on her face. "What is your answer?"

Marshall resisted the urge to slap his palm against his forehead. "My answer is yes, Fionna."

"Oh."

"Psh," Cake waved her fluffy paw dismissively, "You just have no faith in us."

"Yes, I don't. Especially in your navigational skills." He answered truthfully. In his defense, he already saw enough evidence from that earlier. "But how can you be so sure that this is the place?"

"Easy peasy!" Rummaging through her sister's backpack (which earned her a surprise "HEY!" from Fionna), she pulled out a small (small enough to fit her tiny beanlike paws) glassy sphere that was already glowing an annoying shade of pink. "Gumball gave this to me before we get out of his castle. He says that it glows brighter when we are near to its appearing place. I think he said more scientific explanation for that but I don't really get his explanation so...yeah."

"Ohhh, so that's the weird thing I saw earlier." Realizing this tiny tidbit, something sinks in. "Wait, Gumball gave you something that can actually help us to get here?" She felt betrayed—how can she not tell her about this.

As the feline opened her mouth to respond, another tremor was felt—only this time it was stronger and longer by a notch. The trio fell silent once more, waiting for it to pass. A few earthy dusts from the ceiling fell, covering their heads with it.

"O...kay." Narrowed were his eyes towards the chamber they were in as he shook his raven-like hair to get those dusts off. "Do minor earthquakes happen when this crystal appears?"

It seems to be an impeccable timing (and it does) when a pink blinking something went on 'beep-beep-beep' near the female's collarbone. A pair of fumbling hands caught the blinking crystal, tapping it right so she can see the hologram from of the Candy Prince.

"Oh, hello Fionna." His voice never changed even if they were not talking in flesh—gentle and melodious. She used to think that his voice will be fitting for a lullaby or a poetic reading (which is true), but now's not the time to think about that—more important things matter than Gumball's voice. "I believe that within two minutes or less the Equinox Crystal will appear at the Mystery Temple. I assume you and Cake have found the place inside the temple where it will appear?"

"Yes!" If there was anything she prided over, it's her success in her adventures. Technically, this quest will end by the time they get the crystal and get out of their alive.

"Excellent! My calculations are right, then." The prince nodded, obviously pleased. "Looks like my variables was equated correctly, such correlation, indeed! Now, if I just get a hold of that crystal, my experiment will be ready for testing. I wonder if the magical force from that object will affect the projectile angle of—"

"Glob, Gumwad, can you please keep the nerdy stuff to yourself? It's not like everyone can speak science like you do." The king interrupted, rolling his dark eyes towards the hologram. He wasn't that sure if he just wants to annoy the prince or he was annoyed at the prince. Probably a mixture of both, maybe.

A scowl, with a hint of chagrin, washed the excited grin off his face. "What are you doing here?"

"You know, doing some manly things that men do." A taunting smirk was back on his face. Ah, yes. Another bickering round with Gumball. "You should try that sometimes, it really gets your sweet pink skin more buff and tough enough to fend off the Ice Queen."

"You dare—"

Whatever insults the Candy Prince was going to retort, it was interrupted by another quiver of the ground—stronger than ever.

Funny how Gumball's expression can morph from highly annoyed to concerned. "What's going on, Fionna?"

"I was actually about to ask that question, you know." The female grumbled, disliking the fact that the two are bickering again. "Does that Equinox Crystal of yours can cause, um, earthquakes?"

"Earthquakes?" The hologram echoed, shocked. "No, of course not, Fionna. It just appears without any natural disturbances. It appears...now."

As if right on cue, a stronger glow of yellow-green covered the area. Squinting at the sudden flash of light, the trio (especially Marshall) averted their eyes until the luminosity of the said crystal becomes a tame shade of lime. Gumball requested Fionna to make him see the crystal that caused the female unlacing its rope from her neck and twisted their communicator.

On the middle of the room floats a pillow-sized chunk of glowing oval crystal, whose shade of green can't be classified enough to be an emerald for it was so pale. It was beautiful, without a doubt. But the adventuress can't help to wonder how that will fit in Gumball's experiment.

And yet, another earthquake was felt—strong enough to make them sway. Her eyes were just focused on one goal: to retrieve the crystal. If this earthquake escalated real quickly she has to prevent that crystal from falling to oblivion.

Cracks started forming on the wall and on the floor alike. Screaming to the vampire, she pointed at the gem. "Marshall! Get the crystal, quick!"

Luckily, the Vampire King swooped down to grab the crystal swiftly. Cake and Fionna steadied themselves against a rock, wishing for the quakes to cease.

But it didn't; and the cracks just went wider.

A shriek of fear escaped the female's lips as the surface she was standing on crumbled into bits, sending her down to the pit of blackness. Two arms caught her: one from Marshall Lee's free hand and one from Cake's stretched arm.

And another peculiar thing after that: why are they being blown sideward all of a sudden? Where was this wind-thingy coming from?

Whatever what was sucking them from their holding blew the adventuress' bunny hat away, sending those golden curls free from their confines. Her hair was no help, for it has done more damage than good. The Vampire King, who was already struggling to find his equilibrium with the weight he was getting from the crystal and the human girl, was knocked off balance as the wild wind sent Fionna's golden strands to hit his eyes. His name was called unbidden from the human's lips, trying to reach out for him even though he's way far from help itself.

"We have to help him!" Fionna yelled towards her sister as she watched Marshall Lee being sucked by that unknown vortex.

"Are you crazy? You'll get us both killed!" Her sister yelled back, though she seemed to be afraid of the blonde's decision.

Palms that clung to the cat's paw were slick with sweat, "Then I'll try dying while saving a friend."

It took three agonizing seconds before she replied: "On the count of three."

"One..."

"...Two..."

"...Three!"

Acting as a shock absorber for the female, the feline morphed and covered her sister, letting themselves carried and be sucked by an unknown vacuum—which was already closing when they dived in.

The shrieking winds have stopped—only to be replaced by an eerie silence and a cracking voice because of a disturbed signal.

"Fionna?" The static voice of Gumball echoed through the silence as the necklace lay on the rough rocks. "Cake? Marshall?"

He waited for a minute for a reply that will never come; after a few more seconds, he spoke with intense anxiousness colouring his tone.

"Oh, glob. This is so not good."

A/N:

Dun dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuun~~~~~ Uh-oh, now they're in serious trouble. Whew! Longest chapter I have written so far! Thank you so so so sooooo much for the reviews guys! It really helps!

So what do you think of this chapter? Leave a review about it! :D

See you next time!

—A