(This is the first half of the next chapter; I will upload the other half as soon as possible. I want to apologize for the long hiatus; I was busy with school at the time. I will try to upload more frequently, but for now, here is the next chapter.)
Two days have passed since the events that happened in universe SU93897, the ship has been traveling through dimensional tunnels to their next destination, coordinated by Stanford, using the map to the multiverse given to him by the Traveler, but one thing continues the bother the six of them, what was powerful enough to do what had happened to Malachite.
Marceline walks down the hall of the ships east wing to the dining room where she sees Peridot, Lapis and Tom sitting at the table, with the small green gem studying a holopad. "Hey guys." Marceline says causing Lapis to look up. "Oh, hey Marceline," Lapis answers seeing the vampire enter the room; Peridot turns her head and finally notices her. "Hey," Peridot responds before returning to her work. Marceline looks over Peridots shoulder observing her work. "What're you doing?" Marceline asks. Peridot turns to the vampire and explains. "The six-fingered human, Stanford, and I found out that the ship has a small, yet at the same time vast library containing records of events that have happened throughout the multiverse, so I uploaded as many as I could into this holopad and searching to see if there has been anything similar to what happened to…" Peridot pauses and looks at Lapis unsure whether or not to say Malachite's name, Lapis looks up to the green gem. "It's okay to say her name." Lapis reassures. "It's not going to bother me."
"Okay then." Peridot sighs in relief. "As I was saying, I was trying to find out what happened to Malachite, but according to what I found, this is the first time something like this has happened anywhere in the multiverse."
"I take it, that's not a good sign then?" Marceline asks, with Peridot responding. "No, it means we don't know what were up against." Marceline pats the small gem on her head. "Well, try not to worry about it too much." Marceline reassures. "We'll figure out what's going on." Peridot gives the vampire a small smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have some breakfast." Marceline says opening up the fridge and taking out a small box of strawberries, she opens the box taking out one of the berries and sucks the red from it leaving it colorless, which both fascinated and disturbed Peridot.
In the ships main control room, Stanford is monitoring the ships status and observing the map, trying to decide their next location, while Skips reads a book about the different universes they may encounter. "Everything appears to be going smooth;" Ford states. "Engines are still working since I last checked them, hull is intact, all exterior repairs are holding, the only thing left is to decide is our next stop in vast multiverse." Stanford turns to Skips and asks the yeti. "How's your research going?"
"Going well," Skips answers. "I've studied eighteen universes so far and still haven't found anything of use, even from the older texts, I've found six different universes that have similar language to the one we heard Malachite shout, but I still can't find anything on the warning we received, 'Beware the Red Demon of Light.'" Before Ford could respond, a large boom erupts beneath their feet. "What the…" Skips shouts in surprise. Ford runs to the control panel bringing up the ships status, finding that their recently repaired engine has malfunctioned. "Oh no," Ford activates the ships communication channel. "Attention everyone, one of the ships engines are down, we have to make an emergency landing, hold on to something!" Ford quickly searches through the multiverse map searching for a landing area, discovering one nearby. Ford runs to the ships controls and trying to keep the ship steady, carefully getting past the multiverse tunnel and entering the new universe with a crash.
Back in the dining room, Peridot gets up from the ground, shaking her head. "Well, at least it wasn't as bad as last time." Peridot says climbing to her feet, "everyone alright?" Peridot asks checking on everyone. Marceline and Lapis slowly stand up from their chairs feeling woozy, despite holding on to the table, and Tom gets up off the floor rubbing his head. "I think we're good." The demon says looking at everyone. "You guys good right?"
"Yeah, we're fine." Marceline answers, stretching her arms. The vampire presses a coms device by the wall, contacting Ford and Skips. "Ford, what the heck happened?" Marceline asks, with Ford responding, "One of the engines malfunctioned, I must've pushed the ship too hard, would you mind sending Peridot down to the engine room with me to observe the damage."
"Tell him I'm on my way." Peridot replies quickly leaving the room. "She's on her way." Marceline replies to Ford. "Thank you, now while me and Peridot are working on the ship, we should get a good idea of where landed." Ford states. "I have Skips by the exit, I would like you and the others to accompany him, might find a nearby town for parts."
"Well better than sitting around doing nothing, I guess." Tom says. Marceline takes out a fresh bottle of sunscreen and applies it to her light grey skin as she and the others head to the exit.
Skips opens the ship exit letting a bright sunlight causing the four of them to cover their eyes. After their vision adjust to the bright light, their eyes widen in amazement as they see a lush green field in front of them. "Woah," Lapis states surprised by the beauty of the surrounding land, the four of them exit the ship and explore the area with Marceline having the weirdest sense of déjà vu. "Is everything alright?" Tom asks Marceline, the vampire turns around and responds. "This place feels very familiar, like I've been here." Marceline thinks to herself and flies upwards to get a better view of their surroundings, when she sees a kingdom off in the distance. "Oh My Gob, We're in Ooo!" Marceline shouts to others. "We're where?" Lapis asks from below. "Ooo, my homeland," Marceline shouts, "or a version of it at least."
"So you know area around here?" Skips asks the vampire. "Yeah, the Candy Kingdom is just over the hill!" Marceline replies. Lapis, Tom and Skips look at each other confused. "Did you say Candy Kingdom?" Tom asks the vampire, who responds with "Yep."
"Well it's not the most asinine thing I've ever heard." Skips says jokingly. "The Candy Kingdom has some of the most advanced technology in the land; maybe we could find something to repair the ship."
"Could be worth a look," Skips says to the others, before taking out a portable coms device. "Ford you their?" Skips asks into the small device. "I hear you Skips, what's going on out there," Ford replies. "Everything is fine so far," Skips answers, "we think we found a place to help fix up the ship, how are the repairs going."
"They're going well, for the most part, the engines are in worse shape than I thought, and smoke keeps coming out of one of the stabilizers no matter how much we repair…" Ford is cut off by a small boom, "And another one blew." Ford continues with Peridot now coughing in the background. "I inhaled some smoke," Peridot cries, "I can't get the taste out of my mouth!"
"Any assistance would be great Skips." Ford states before ending the call. "Alright, looks like we're heading to the candy kingdom."