(I am so sorry for the hiatus between this and the last chapter; I was focusing on school at the time with finals literally around the corner. The next chapter will be the final for this arc, (which I really enjoyed writing). Expect more to come in the future and I will be able to upload more frequently over the summer.)
"We need to get into the castle in order to know what's really going on." Marceline states, "My invisibility should be back now."
"Even if we are invisible, we can't rush in there without a plan." Tom responds. The group begins thinking to themselves; Skips snaps his fingers as he comes up with an idea. "I think I have plan."
"Let's hear it." Lapis says to the yeti. "Lemongrab said he had a 'giant chessboard' where he must obviously place his prisoners. If I had to take a guess, Marcelines friend; Princess Bubblegum, might be there, if we can get that wand, we can turn her and the prisoners back to normal and the people will follow their Princess against him."
"But how do we get said wand?" Marceline asks. "I thought you might say that, while we're invisible, once we sneak into the castle, all of us except you, will return visible, we'll search the castle, while a still invisible Marceline tails Lemongrab; once you get the opportunity, grab the wand and we'll find a way to meet up with each other."
Tom is about to open his mouth to question Skips, but is cut off by the yeti who states, "Before you say anything, I know how we'll be able to find each other." Skips takes out four small devices from his back pocket. "Stanford gave me these, he called them transmitters; I didn't think we would need them, but they might come in handy."
"Like from one of those spy movies, Steven introduced me and Peri to." Lapis says to herself taking one of the transmitters and placing it in her ear. Everyone else places the small device in each of their ears, "Ford, said to place your finger on it, in order to listen to and talk to each other," Skips tests out the device, "can you guys hear me through the transmitters?" The three others nod in approval. "Alright let's do this." Everyone grabs onto Marceline's arm and begins to transfer her invisibility to them.
The invisible team carefully follows behind the knights to the castle; they stop by the front gates, where two guards are inspecting the cage. "Alright you're clear, head on in." The candy guards instruct, the gate opens and the four of them quickly make their way inside the castle. They find a place inside the castle to hide before Marceline makes them all visible again. "Alright we're in, so where should we start?" Tom asks. "Well from what I can tell, this castle still looks very much like the one back home." Marceline states, "and if that's the case, then I should know where all the rooms and hall ways lead."
"Alright, gives us some directions." Lapis says quickly. Marceline looks around each of the halls. "If memory serves, this hall leads to the dungeon," pointing at an opening left of her, "this one leads to the armory," pointing to an opening right, "and this one to the throne room," the vampire states, pointing to an opening right behind Skips. "If I were a betting girl, I would say the wand would probably be in the throne room. Lemongrab is someone who would keep that kind of power close to him." Marceline states, "and knowing the kind of person he is, something tells me that he would have his 'giant chessboard' in the dungeon."
"Here is the plan." Marceline says to the others. "My invisibility lasts longer and is less stressful if I just use it on myself, so I will sneak into the throne room while invisible and grab the wand. Lapis and Tom, you two will search the dungeon, if you find Bonnie down there let me know."
"Got it," Tom says while Lapis gives thumbs up in agreement. "Skips, you deal with the armory, we'll need to take care of the weapons, so the guards can't use them if something goes wrong, and we might be able to use them as well if the worst were to happen." Skips nods in agreement. "Alright then, I'll see you guys soon." Marceline quickly says before turning herself invisible again.
Skips makes his way down the hall to the armory, carefully avoiding the guards. A small patrol passes by, but he quickly hides behind some barrels and they do not notice the yeti. Once they passed, he makes his way further to the armory; he turns his head behind the corner and notices two guards by the door. Skips finds an empty suit of armor standing next to him, he takes the helmet and throws it, catching the guards attention. "What was that?" One of the guards asks. "Let check it out." The guards march to where the sound came from, where a patiently waiting Skips knocks them out with strong hits to their heads. He hides the unconscious guards behind some nearby barrels and makes his way into the armory. Inside the armory, Skips finds an abundance of weapons and armor, from classic swords and shields, to more advanced energy based weapons. The yeti bars the door behind him and searches for anything he can use.
Down in the dungeon, Lapis and Tom, who is using a small bit of his flame powers to light up room, sneak around to look for Marceline's friend. The two of them pass multiple cells, some contained stone-incased prisoners, and others contain what appear to be skeletons. "I've seen plenty of creepy stuff." Tom says, "But so far, this takes the cake."
"Preaching to choir" Lapis responds in agreement. The two of them travel further into the dungeon and eventually find what they were looking for. "That is one big chessboard." The blue gem says in surprise. The two of them head to the giant chessboard and looks at all of the "pawns" in place, hundreds of candy-people turned to stone by a tyrant. "I stand corrected. This takes the cake." Tom states, the young demon gulps, slightly unnerved by all of this. The two of them quickly begin searching for Princess Bubblegum, hoping to find her and leave the dungeon as soon as possible.
An invisible Marceline quickly makes her way to the royal chambers, trying not to draw too much attention. Marceline then spots Lemongrab opening the door to the royal chambers, and he has the wand on him. The candy-person opens the door to the room and Marceline quickly rushes in before he closes it. The corrupt ruler sets his wand down on a red pillow sitting on a dresser next to his bed, before he falls asleep in it. Marceline quickly makes her way to the dresser and carefully reaches for the wand, not trying to disturb Lemongrab. "Hello…" Marceline freezes believing he has discovered her. The vampire turns and sees Lemongrab talking in his sleep; however, what he was saying slightly worried her.
"It is I… yes… yes... I am in your debt… you did put me into power after all… I'll still honor out agreement… yes… my kingdom will fight for you… thank you… yes… thank you again… farewell… bye."
Marceline quickly grabs the wand and opens door to leave, but as soon as she leaves, Lemongrab wakes up and he immediately notices his wand is gone. "Someone has stolen my wand!" Lemongrab screeches. "Not good." Marceline says to herself avoiding the rushing group of guards. Marceline presses the com device in her ear, to try to contact the others. "Guys, I got the wand, but stirred up the castle in the process. Where are you?"
"I'm in the armory." Skips responds through the device. "I have it barricaded, so not many of the guards have weapons on hand."
"Tom and I are in the dungeon." Lapis informs, "We're still searching for your friend, but we have some guards coming down to investigate."
"Go get them Marceline; I've got the armory covered." Skips orders the vampire, who responds in agreement. Marceline makes her way to the dungeon to aid Tom and Lapis, hoping to find Bonnie with them as well.
Down in the dungeon, Lapis and Tom are hiding from several on the prowl guards. The two of them hide behind the statues waiting for the guards to leave. One of the guards searches the behind a row of stone prisoners, and finds Lapis behind one of them. "What the…" Before the guard could respond, the blue Gem shapeshifts her water wings into a giant water fist and uppercuts the guard, but reveals her to others. "Seize her!" One of the guards orders as the others charge at her, but before they could get close enough, the guards blasted back by a ball of fire. Tom steps out of his hiding place preparing to fight alongside Lapis. "Let's get this party started."
"Get them." The guards charge at the two of them, Lapis takes to the air, grabbing guards, one at a time and dropping them on the ground, immobilizing them. "Have a nice flight, and see you next fall."
"Puns, really," Tom asks the blue gem. "Oh don't pretend they weren't funny." Lapis responds disposing of another guard. Tom uses his fire to keep the guards at a distance, and uses his demonic strength to knock the guards out. However, there are still too many guards for them to handle. A guard charges at Tom with two swords in each hand, but then collapses. Marceline reveals herself from her invisibility and knocks out three more guards with her axe that tried attacking her from behind. "You two okay?" Marceline asks her two comrades. "Glad you can make it." Tom states. Marceline stands next to Tom and Lapis ready to take on the rest of the guards, but stop upon hearing an electric like sound. "What's that?" Marceline asks. Suddenly all the remaining guards fall unconscious from an energy blast, standing behind them is Skips wearing some plate armor, armed with an energy rifle and two swords at his side, with a bag containing more weapons slung over his shoulder.
"Skips!" The three of them all say in unison. "Sorry I'm late, wasn't sure if this thing would work." The yeti apologizes. "Glad you're here man, I got the wand from Lemongrab," Marceline states. "Now we need to figure out how it wor…" Marceline is cutoff by a giant fist that punches through the dungeon, startling everyone. "Uh oh," Marceline gulps. "What was that?" Lapis asks in shock. Two massive hand enter the recently made hole and makes it larger revealing a building sized gumball machine. "Lemongrab activated the Guardian! Is he nuts?" Marceline turns to Skips and gives him, "Find out how it works, I'll deal with the Guardian."
"How, that thing is huge!" Tom shouts. "I've got another trick up my sleeve." Marceline responds flying through the hole to confront the Guardian; the vampire curls herself into a ball and surrounds herself in a black mist, transforming into a giant bat-like monster roughly the Guardians size, surprising everyone except Skips, who has seen this kind of thing before.