Gumball woke up refreshed and ready for another day. He sat up and stretched, yawning widely, and ran a hand through his hair. He shuffled himself into the bathroom, reaching for his toothbrush and toothpaste in a way born of routine. It took a few moments before he caught sight of himself in the mirror. At first he merely registered his reflection but then he did a double take. His beautiful pink hair and skin were all splotchy with green. He dropped his tooth brush and a high pitched screech bubbled up out of his throat.

Not too far away, Fionna and Marshall Lee were messing around. Sparring lightly to warm Fionna up for the day when they heard the screech. The girls body tensed as she ascertained where it came from.

"That sounded like Gumball!" She took off sprinting up the stairs of the palace, sword drawn, ready for action. She burst through his bedroom door, eyes quickly scanning for any immediate threat as the hysterical monarch flopped out of his bathroom, still screaming like a little girl.

"Gumball, Whats wrong?" She cried out rushing over to him, setting her sword down and trying to comfort the inconsolable ruler. He hid his face behind his hands.

"Don't look at me! I'm hideous!" He practically sobbed. It was then that her adrenaline subsided and Fionna noticed the green painting over normally pink features. She pressed her hand to her mouth trying to stifle the giggles. Marshall Lee chose that time to float in. He caught sight of the distressed monarch and began to laugh as well.

Gumball stood up and brushed himself off in embarrassment. "It's not polite to laugh at someone who is clearly suffering from The Rot." He sniffed and was greeted with laughter from both of his companions. He gaped at Fionna, who was usually so much more compassionate than that. She caught sight of his open mouthed stare and laughed harder, rolling around on the floor.

"Would one of you please tell me what is so funny?" He was beginning to get angry. "This is a very serious condition!"

"Oh calm your candy, bubble butt." Marshall snorted an evil smirk quirking his lips, "Its just your green apple punch mix, it should wash out in a week or so." Red was added to the pallet of colors upon the princes visage. He stood up, and angrily walked to his closet, Picked out an outfit, and closed himself into the bathroom. Fionna and Marshall just looked at each other and began to laugh again.

On the other side of the door, Gumball sighed. Another prank of his had failed. Spectacularly, it seemed. No matter what he did, the two of them would always prank him. Their relationship was actually what Gumball was jealous of, however. The way Fionna just relied on Marshall Lee with no questions asked. It seemed, sometimes, that all she relied on the prince for were his baking skills and to be kidnapped. He could be a confidant though, too, and he wanted to be.

The next morning the prince awoke bright and early and invited Fionna to a private brunch. His plan was to formulate a prank the two of them could pull together against Marshall Lee. He thought and thought and thought and thought but nothing was coming to him. Suddenly something popped into the prince's brain. He grinned wickedly and summoned Peppermint Maid, his brunch would have to be put on hold, he had to work on this brilliance right away. He sent the small candy to fetch Fionna and also a whole bunch of glitter.

Pulling on a lab coat and some safety goggles, he went down to his little used laboratory to begin the tedious calculations for a glitter bomb- non-lethal of course. He had used one to decorate for a ball once, the results were, ahem, a little more flamboyant than expected, but it would be just perfect for pranking the Vampire King. Being particularly consumed with the need to best that vulgar ruffian, the pink prince did not hear the door click shut, and was startled to feel the weight of a hand on his shoulder. He jumped in his seat and began to turn.

"Oh, Fionna, you gave me quite a fright!"

Fionna was walking down the hall, arms full with a giant bucket of glitter. Pink glitter. Peps Maid had shoved it into her arms asking her in her awkward spindly voice to take it to Gumball. Fionna had simply shrugged in acceptance and turned to go to the ballroom when the hard candy maid had directed her to the little used science wing. she made her way through the castle, clumsily spilling glitter and stumbling over carpet edges. when she finally came to the only lab PG has ever used (during that one year stretch of scientific enthusiasm) she found the door slightly ajar, which she thought was weird. But PG is weird when he gets into his science-y fits. She shouldered her way into the room, the giant bucket of glitter obscuring her vision.

"Hey Gumball, wanna help me with this?" she struggled over to the nearest workbench and dropped it unceremoniously onto the counter top where it wobbled dangerously before ultimately settling itself down, glitter having been spewed everywhere. Fionna huffed at the lack of response and attempted to brush the magenta glitter from her shirt. "Really PG? No response at all?" She turned around to level a glare at him for his uncharacteristic behavior and was met with an all too familiar scene that she'd oddly been missing as of late.

The floor was littered with stalagmites of ice (beginning to melt) and there was a large hole in the wall. Judging by the number of jagged spikes, PG had put up more of a fight than usual. Not that he was utterly incapable of putting up a fight, Fi was aware that the prince was strong in his own right, he just usually allowed himself to be captured more easily in order to not damage his castle. It was costly and ate up lots of candy resources. The girl cracked her knuckles and jumped out of the hole in the side wall, it was either time to drink cocoa or beat on some ice cougars, and she was all out of cocoa.

"Honestly, can we reschedule? This is very inconvenient for me." Gumball said to the crazy woman who had kidnapped him. He tested his ice shackles, his face drawn in a frown of annoyance. The Ice Queen tittered at him in her annoying, girlish laughter sort of way.

"Oh my dear Gumball, your smooth talking is really setting my heart a flutter!" She adjusted him in her arms so that she could look him in the face, smiling in what, he was sure, was supposed to be a kind way but was made frightening and sinister by the jagged teeth and eerie, cold blueness of her skin. The prince attempted a smile in return, but he was so distraught over the state of his castle, the ruining of his plans, and the utter creepiness the Ice Queen projects that it became more of a pained baring of his teeth.

"You have it wrong," He attempts again, "I am not your dear anything." He clears his throat, the mere thought of being even remotely close to this she-demon causing the bile to rise, "And I have very important matters to attend to today, so if you would kindly release me I would certainly appreciate it."

"Release you?" Her girlish titters become cackling laughter, "Oh dearest, surely you know I can't do that! You'd run away and then where would I be? I can't have my fiancé getting away from me! That would just be embarrassing." Gumball attempted to rub his palm down his face in exasperation but only succeeded in giving himself a blow to the face with his ice cuffs. He was in for a long, cold day.