Life was pretty simple, at least for the centuries-old being known as Marceline the Vampire Queen. For today, she had her plan all set out. Jam up a new song, play with Schwabi, and best of all, finally pick all the stuff in her belly button… Yea, she was pretty bored. That was, until as she watched the peaceful land from inside her cave, something abnormal happened. In Ooo abnormal was as common as grass, so for this to gain her attention meant it was specifically off to her. From the perch she sat at, nearly out of her advanced vision, she spotted a vast circular cloud forming right over the Candy Kingdom.
It was almost familiar to her, but she had seen hundreds of clouds before so that was to be expected. Instead, what stuck out to her was the fact it hovered over where it had formed. Marceline knew Bonnibel, and what she could make from her little experiments, but this was not from her. The cloud gave off a host of bad juju, and while Bonnie was a big butt and in her opinion, didn't care about others, she couldn't imagine the princess making something like this. And if it was something dangerous, then the ruler could be in a spot of trouble.
"Eh, who cares." And the vampire turned to head back into her home. After all, why would she worry about an old flame she didn't care about any longer, at least that is what she told herself. Minutes later however, she would let that hidden worry and outward curiosity suit up in her heaviest coat, and pull out the emergency umbrella.
Meanwhile
With a tune in his head, the icy elemental felt it. Focus, for the first time in hundreds of years, he felt as if the pieces had come together. So many thoughts scattered, but with the help of those musical tones and the tablet buried in his jacket, he had managed to pull them back together. But not everything was right, for some of the pieces were tainted, corrupting his worldview, and giving the wearer of the crown a picture out of touch with reality. He was a madman lost in the dark depths of the past who focused on his internal fear, and that was a dangerous combination for anyone in his sights. "Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got!" A sudden blow of snow from one hand filled the alleyway with a cold white mist that froze the banana guards who were all lined up like bowling pins.
The second hand began to form a massive snowball. Gathering the water from the air, cooling it, and packing it into a boulder-sized bowling ball. "Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot!" The master of snow threw his hand forward sending his new Snowling Ball rolling along the ground until it impacted the now panicky guards. The helpless Banana Guards either careening into the air or burying them in its dense depths. A strike for the winter warrior flying above the fray.
"Wouldn't it be nice to get away! Where everybody knows your name!" The crescendo built on itself as the man fully gave into those feelings of terror. His rageful gaze peering over the candy citizens who to him, were all monsters that needed to be frozen. To be buried beneath the wonderous power of ice for eternity!
But before he could unleash such a frosty demise on them, a snowball hit him directly from behind. At first, he thought one of those monsters had snuck past him, but instead, one look told him it had actually been Finn who hit him. Instantly, all that tension deflated as confusion replaced it. Pausing in the air frozen like a broken computer, he failed to process what was going on. "Dude, what the bjork?! You can't just freeze candy people!" In most cases, it would be comical to see a 10-year-old reprimanding one over 1000 years old. But the situation slightly dampened the potential levity.
"Ca-ca-candy people? Finn buddy, what are ya talkin' about?" The arguably senile oldman questioned, looking back in the direction he'd just been facing. And as the feelings of fear died down, replaced by a sense of dread at Finn's assertion, the ice wizard could see reality once again. No longer were the monsters spewing green goo present, what he actually saw was just as Finn stated. Banana Guards encased in ice or squished into paste. Their peels had popped like an abused balloon from the Snowling Ball. "Wait, huh?" But the gears began to turn, and slowly, the bearer of the crown realized that he had made a terrible mistake. The magical user floated forward past the epicenter of his destruction. Hovering out of the alley to see snow covering the ground for miles across mile, many of the Candy Kingdom's people shivering like leaves. The snow layering over the area like a deathly cold blank, alongside the gentle snowfall that continued to occur right above him.
Reaching out, the one responsible for this mess let a singular piece of snowfall into his hand. The groans of the candy citizens were like a bad tune to his ears. "I didn't mean to do this." For a moment, he was reminded of his once all consuming obsession, to turn everything into ice and snow. That part of him reveled in this change in scenery, yet that was only a fragment compared to the sheer regret he felt.
"I swear it wasn't me, it was the crown."
But it wasn't. The crown wasn't responsible for this. He had caused this destruction all on his own. "Oh, breadballs." The centuries-old man brought both his hands to his hair, tugging on it as the results truly sunk in. He had to go and leave this place while he could, yet a part of him wanted to stay and try to fix this mistake, but what could he do? He controlled ice, not fire! Though it would be nice to have fire powers, making his favorite TV dinners was always a hassle. Maybe if he got a better oven, but oh wizard city always overpriced applianc-
"Think dummy think!"
That voice the one that sounded so much like him, castigated the man in the middle of his tangent. "Shut up! What do you know?! Not like I can wave my hands and summon some fire!" The madman raged at the voice in his head, raising his fist to the sky where the clouds hung over the Candy Kingdom. Raging with energy and electricity, and then it hit him! "Eureka!" What it meant he had no idea, but it sounded right to go with his excellent new idea. He'd experimented with this technique before, but now was the time to put it into action!
WENK WENK!
And then he heard the sound of his little guntie, followed by the angry tone of the shopkeeper from earlier. "And stay out!" The wizard looked to see his penguin carrying an array of bottles as broken glass followed his every step.
One of the bottles he noticed, was a decent sized candle. "Gunther you genius!" The father of the bird cried. But that wouldn't be enough, he needed something to burn. Thankfully at that point he spotted Finn coming out of the alleyway, and although a little nervous, yelled out to his friend. "Finn! I need some chocolate! Big bars of gooey delicious chocolate!" The ice wizard raved, which only made him look even more mad to the 10-year-old. "You gotta trust me! It's just what we need to bring back some heat to this place!" He pleaded.
And although Finn felt a natural form of skepticism at this strange request, especially after the sudden frenzy he'd been dragged into. The boy couldn't think of any other options, so he figured it was at least worth a shot to hear the blue skinned man out. Pulling out his blade the boy got to hacking, chopping down a chocolate tree like a good ole lumberjack.
Meanwhile
While all of this was going on, Princess Bubblegum had been busy in her laboratory, working on new potential creations. The being of gum who was as smart as a tack and twice as dangerous. "Hmm… so add a little extra starch and Valhalla! Startchy, the gravedigger." Oh, she was cooking up a new functional member of her society. Recently the sheer amount of graves they kept digging had become an issue, so they needed a specialized digger and general groundskeeper.
But just as she started to put the finishing touches on her new creation, a familiar voice came running into her lab. "Princess, Princess!" The peppermint, perhaps her finest citizen and most trusted aide, aptly named Peppermint Butler, came running in. Frantic and silly all at the same time. Then, all at once he calmed down, returning to his gentlemanly ways. "Princess, we're under attack. It's the Ice King again."
Bubblegum's head did shoot up from the news, but at first she seemed unperturbed. "The banana guards know how to handle him. Just have him tossed out." After all, besides his ability to fly, so far he'd been a non-issue. Stopping by once or twice and booted out easily.
But the little candy man seemed to disagree. "You might want to take a look before confirming that." And with a wave forward, prompted his master to follow. Bubblegum, reluctant to walk away from her work, but she trusted her number two's judgment. After all, he was the only candy person with a tangible amount of common sense and likely will continue to be that for the oncoming centuries. Taking to the stairs step by step, the princess registered it was getting cool, and then cold. Each step led to a decrease in temperature, which was odd since usually that was the opposite with the sun out and about.
Her confusion would be blown away, literally in this case upon reaching her balcony powerful gusts of cold air almost blew her away. In an instant, she registered the snowfall, heavy clouds above the sky blocking the sun, and streets covered in white. "What the heck?!" Her hands went up as frustration reared its ugly head. She hadn't counted on this from that bumbling wizard not by a long shot. This was entirely out of her expected parameters. And when things fell out of her calculations, it meant they were an unknown, a wild card, and to a ruler who prided herself on control and order, she was a worst-case scenario. "Inakzeptabel! Pep Butt, fetch me my binoculars." And a moment later, she scoured her village to survey the damage. It wasn't pretty, to say the least, stores covered in snow, candy citizens shivering, and… was that a penguin smashing bottles?!
Not only was this a full-fledged attack on her nation, but vandalism too?! Now that tears it! But if that wasn't enough, a moment later, she even spotted that butt Ice King tearing down her chocolate trees. "I just made those!" Teeth grinding at the sight, and conveniently, she had missed Finn in all the chaos. His white hat and snow-covered tunic obscured her ability to recognize him. "That's it! Summon the Gumball Guardians!" And it would be done. The only silver lining to all this was at least she'd be able to remove this threat before it could get any worse.
Back To The Action
You know this situation wasn't all bad for the young boy. Yes, the Candy Kingdom was now cold, way too cold, but on the bright side, he'd always wondered what it would be like to become a Lumberjack. Dropping one final log of chocolate onto the pile, to Finn it seemed they had enough. "What now?!" He shouted up to his… well he wasn't sure if the man was a good or bad guy. So he'll just say gad guy companion until that question has been sorted out.
As for the wizard himself, he'd spent these precious few minutes shifting the clouds. At first, the forgetful wizard contemplated letting them pass and bringing the sun out, but that was too slow. They needed something else first to heat things back up. His knowledge of weather was a little rusty, but he'd read somewhere, had he? No wait, he did, that and lots of bird books! Oh maybe he should read a cookbook later and experiment on some new recipes he had in mi- STOP IT! He needed to focus, a cumulonimbus cloud was just the perfect one for what he needed.
Sparks buzzed above them, and the master of ice was ready for his plan once Gunther broke the bottled candles around the solid chocolate. Bringing his hands to the air "I call upon the power of the ice element, come forth Ice Lightning!" And with a show of power, pulled them back down.
ZAP!
This time, from the sky, a flash of electricity made of ice came swooping down, the energy from within delivering more than enough to light the many candles. Their magical flames poofed into existence, rising high into the clouds and delivering a plethora of heat to the nearby area with the sudden burst of humidity. In mere minutes, the solid pillars of chocolate began to melt, turning into warm gooey liquid, its delicious scent attracting many of the cold residents who were all too happy to jump into the growing pool of sweet goodness. The snow itself little by little covered over by the warmth, and the people slowly began to unfreeze. Even Finn was enjoying himself, dipping his sword into the melted goo and coming out with his brand-new Chocolate Sword. "Yum." The boy with a sizable sweet tooth licked his weapon.
Seeing this, seeing his magic had done good. It felt good, right. The aged human could not recall the last time he had done something in the service of others. Except… except…
"I… I have to protect yo-"
"Look out!" Finn's cry broke through his thoughts, but it was no use. Before he could react, a laser beam crashed into the old wizard. Their body hurtling down to the ground, and if not for the chocolate-covered snow, it may have even broken his back. Instead, only a small crater formed, and the wizard felt himself go loopy at the sudden attack. "Wha… what hit me?
STOMP STOMP STOMP
The sounds of giant footsteps greeted his ears, and fighting through pained vision, peered up to see what the often-stoic guardians of the Candy Kingdom. Coming in fast towards him with dangerous looks. "JERK ALERT! JERK ALERT!" Their voices nearly blew out his ears. But he had no time to rest, for already another beam was charging up. All the man could do was summon his power of levitation and soar up out of the way, avoiding a grizzly end, at least for now.
From this height, he could discern three Gumball Guardians coming towards him, all intent on seeing their enemy utterly annihilated. "Oh, breadballs."
Little did anyone know a new figure was coming over the horizon. And despite her distance, Marceline's impressive vision even from miles away, could catch the familiar aura that had given her so many happy and sad memories. And alongside that, she could certainly see what he was up against with the powerhouses of Bonnie's army surrounding him. "Simon!" A part of Marceline, a darker part, reminded her that she shouldn't care. He wasn't Simon anymore, just a mad king. But a much larger section, the inner child, fought back on that idea. Even if he was the Ice King, she couldn't just let him get creamed! And so, transforming into her Demon Bat form, Marceline the Vampire Queen, rushed to join the battle before it was too late.