Finn and Huntress walks towards the vines with trepidation, weapons at the ready. Huntress uses her magic to light their home torches, then parts the vines, revealing that the figure was floating, and who just welcome themselves inside, into the orange torch light. The light reveals two immediate features: grey, dead skin and a smiling mouth with two giant fangs. Marshall Lee. He floats on in and looks the duo over, staring at Finn longer and grins at him. "Nice little shack you got here. If you like dirt and nothing of comfort." Finn frowns, 'He's here for trouble.' Huntress floats an arrow in front of his face, not that he stops grinning.
"Who are you?" He simply swats her arrow away, but all it does is make it do an orbit around his head. He floats up to her upside down, and puts his hand on her cheek.
"I'm Marshall Lee. The Vampire King!" He transforms his face into that of a hideous abomination and hisses in Huntress's face, yet she doesn't even flinch, and after a second an arrow flies between them, severing his hand off her face and off his arm. "Oh no! My hand!" He says floating backwards looking at his missing hand in shock.
"Shut up, you just said your a vampire, it will just regenerate." He just looks at her blankly. Then grins as sure enough, his hand returns before their very eyes. Giving his fingers a wiggle he then swoops Huntress up bridal style, lifting her into the air.
"I do like your attitude, it is very rare to see a girl say no to my advances." That just earns an arrow to the face, causing him to drop her, though she lands on her feet and back flips away. The vampire yanks the protrusion from his face, 'Right, so I can't get her to leave him to emotionally hurt him.' Marshall thinks as he looks at the very annoyed scowl the human was giving him. "It's shameful that this is the most you can provide a woman." He mocks as he gestures their home. 'Then lets provoke, no way my Fi is living here, or have him leach on her!' If he really was a normal human, then he should be able to run circles around the guy. Before beating him down and telling him that Fionna was his.
"So far he has been a better at swooning and being a gentleman than you have been so far." Huntress says floating three arrows above her head. Finn however has yet to do anything other than stand defensively the whole time. He can't help it, when he sees Marshall, he sees Marceline. He sees her old self, depressed and alone, playing pranks on everyone and not caring if she goes too far as nothing matters to her, all of it would fade in time. He does, however, know that this isn't Marshall playing a prank. He can tell he was trying to agitate him. Why? He has no idea.
"Are you sure? He has yet to do anything to help you, or stop me. I don't think he cares for you." 'Definitely trying to provoke me.' Finn takes a deep breath, doing his best to remain calm.
"What do you want here?" He asks, still glaring at the smirking vampire.
"Oh, nothing, nothing." He now floats towards Finn, and starts circling him, examining his body, 'Looks weak, no noticeable muscles...' He looks up to Huntress who still had arrows floating above her 'She does all the fighting.'
"Are you going to leave?"
"Who knows! Maybe I'll crash here, might stay the night, I might even kick you out. I mean, what are you going to do to stop me? Fight?"
"Yes. That is if you don't leave right now." Huntress replies, positioning her body to be ready to evade any attack if Marshall lunges at her. The vampire however, just chuckles, before then laughing.
"Alright then. Attack me." Neither move, "Alright, your scared, that's alright I'll make the first mo-" He gets cut off by Finn punching, he was too busy focusing on Huntress, presuming her to be the only threat, and was caught completely off guard. Only for a moment, as he then grabs his arm. "Nice surprise-" Finn surprises him again, Marshall Lee mistook him as having no muscles, and therefore applied the right force to counter it. Finn proves his estimations wrong as he spins the undead and lobs him out of the house door.
"We're doing this outside!" He shouts, Huntress leaping out after the vampire. As Marshall spins while hovering to stop his momentum, an angry Huntress drop kicks him in the face, and slams him into the ground. Not that it injures him, he just uses some weak vampire strength and shoves Huntress into the air, a few metres past the tree tops. However, she just lands gracefully and silently, in a position to evade another attack.
"You got some skills." Marshall remarks before shooting torwards her, which she counters with a sideway punch, dodging left as her punch to Marshall's face pushes him right, allowing only his claws to slightly rakes her across her shoulders. Breathing calmly she acts as if she didn't even notice, while secretly doing a quick check for damage. Marshall rolls as he hits the floor again.
He actually growls a bit in frustration, he was after that guy with that ridiculous bear hat, not her! He flies to a tree and grabs he axe guitar, the red instrument of death, laying there as Marshall believed he would not need it, but had brought it for safety. Turning around to face Huntress all he sees are vines heading for him, wrapping around his face. He simply brings his hands up and rips them off, his claws shredding them in the process. He glares at Huntress's form again.
Then the red axe in her hands.
The vine to the face was a distraction, for when one's face is grabbed, they often drop whatever they are holding to protect their head. It was instinctual. Something Huntress knew all too well, and exploited to grab his weapon. Expecting her to attack with his own weapon, he got into a defensive posture. What he didn't expect was her to run into the trees, with his axe guitar. After a second to process that, he gave chase, sprinting into the trees after the woman and his axe.
He follows for a minute straight, his vampire enhanced senses easily able to track her. Usually his speed was second to none, however, the tree were easier to dodge than to go through, and they were slowing him down, unlike his prey who was well beyond use to navigating them. He then spots his axe, carelessly dropped on the forest floor, after a gasp of shock/anger he picks it up and inspects it for damages, what, to his relief, was spared from.
So focused on the axe he failed to notice the tree behind him turn into nature's frightening defender, and she quickly used her arrows to hit his limbs, pinning him to the floor. And another through the axe. And just as quickly she runs back home, speed as a priority. Marshall just growls and, despite their toughness that reflects their owner, easily snaps the arrows holding him down, and his wounds regenerate in a second.
He looks at his destroyed axe, the arrow having snapped the neck of the axe guitar, and with blind rage in his eyes, he wishes to snap the neck of the woman. He grabs the damaged axe before flying after the girl, no longer caring for the trees as he rams through them.
The unstopping charge pays off as he quickly catches up to the woman at the edge of the trees, and tackles her outside her house. She is slammed into the ground, though she only cringes at the pain of the grab, not releasing a cry of pain like he had hoped. Before he could do anything however, a blunt end of a sword sends him flying off her. Finn has finally joined the fight. "Took your time." Huntress says, glad to see him between her and the angry king.
"Heroes always arrive late, you should know that by now." She flips herself onto her feet and goes for an arrow in her quiver when she realises she has used them all up pinning Marshall. Said person reaches to his back and pulls the broken axe guitar off his back and points a finger at it,
"You're going to pay for that." And lunges towards Finn. Huntress leaps away while Finn stands his ground, and at the last second ducks while swinging his sword down with him, severing Marshall's outstretched arm mid swing for Finns throat. The limb flies off and lands elsewhere, not that anyone notice. Marshall stares at the stub, then in rage hisses at Finn, who just stands defensively waiting for the next attack.
The attack was halted however as Huntress stabs him using her knife, right in the back of his neck before leaping away. The neck damage severs his nerves and makes him collapse to the floor. His regeneration however, allows him to rise a second later, pissed off as mud and dirt falls off his face. It is then he notices a charging Finn, and has not time to move before he boots him in the face, sending him flying backwards.
"Dude! Just leave already." Finn shouts throwing his arms up, causing Marshall Lee to growl, 'He's getting frustrated? I'm the one who is getting his ass handed!' He looks don at his arm that is 3/4 of the way healed.
"No." What earns him an arrow from Huntress, who took the moment of Marshall focusing on Finn to create a new one, what she quickly pulls away using magic before he could snap it again. And that was how the next few minutes of fighting went, Finn giving heavy blows to counter any attack that the king could throw, with Huntress exploiting the openings with a flurry of attacks.
The Vampire King's anger grows with every blow he suffers, and eventually figures out what they are doing. They know he can't die the conventional methods, not that they want to kill him, but that doesn't mean he can't feel the attacks. They were hoping to drive him away using pain, or just by being more effort than it was worth. But all their attacks do is anger the king of vampires.
"Enough!" He shouts, his body growing fur and in size, and releases a roar of anger heard all the way at Fionna's tree house, making her wake, before shrugging and falling back asleep. Marshall turns towards Finn and pounces at him, his larger form being faster and harder to dodge leaves Finn no escape as he braces. Giant clawed hands slam into him and smash him into the floor, pinning him to the ground. Huntress moves to assist him but the angry vampire lunges at her with his other hand, grabbing her as well, and instead of keeping her near Finn for them to help each other, he lobs her away, sending her high, high above the trees, to the point where they can't even see her anymore.
"Huntress Wizard!" Finn shouts in terror, eyes wide in fear for her safety.
"Ha! Scared?!" He says making Finn grit his teeth.
"For Huntress, not because of you. I doubt anything cares for you." Finn says unnaturally bitterly, his usual kindness gone at the thought that Huntress might me hurt or... worse.
Said wizard was still flying through the air, she even saw the candy king with a birds eye view as she flew far above it. But she does notice she is now slowly descending. She had to find a way out of this free fall and fast, she could become a bird but it would take too long for her wings to stop her fall.
Then she remembers Finn. How he was carried by her arrows. And how much force is behind them. Thinking fast she summons an arrow above her head and grips it with both hands, then focuses all her magic on it to slow her fall slowly so as not to lose her grip or suffering the fatal effects of a sudden stop. She slows to a halt mid-air, the moon silhouetting her form, what a lonely fox woman sees from her home. Then she speeds forward, letting her arrow carry her towards her goal, her Finn.
She flies back over the forest, and eventually spots the hulking form of the son of the night-o-sphere. She pushes her magic to the limit to propel her forward as she prepares for a challenge. She had to carry herself to Marshall at high speed while remaining silent, to launch this arrow into his spine through his thick skin and fur to ruin his cognitive abilities to turn him back to normal. Then she must turn into a bird with whatever little magic she has leftover from carrying herself at high speed to avoid splattering into the ground. No normal person could accomplish this.
Huntress, however, was no normal person. She slam-launches the arrow, causing it to propel forward, she then shape shifts into a bird and flaps her wings. The arrow then pierces the king's neck as her feather covered body barley glides over his head. All of this happens under two seconds. Marshall Lee releases a grunt of pain as his eyes go wide, his body shrinks back to his normal self and lands on top of Finn, who is watching Huntress flops through the air. She too shifts back to her normal self, and falls from the air with a gasp, and harshly rolls across the floor, completely and utterly drained.
"Huntress Wizard!" Finn shouts, but gets no reply. He does however see her chest rising and falling, alerting him that she was at least still alive, just out of the fight. He releases a sigh of relief, before a growl of annoyance and anger on top of him reminds him of the danger he they were currently in. He snaps back to Marshall Lee who's regeneration had popped the arrow out, cluttering to the floor next to them. Marshall Lee grabs Finn's shoulders and pins him down again, as Finn struggles to find a way out without hurting him. Then an idea hit him.
"You going to kill me, even after all the effort and sacrifice it took for you to save humanity from the vampires?" Marshall freezes. He then looks down at his position and realises it was the same position that the Vampire Queen had him in when she bit him, all that was missing was a stake to his heart. Then there was a poke to his chest. With wide eyes he snaps down and sure enough, a wooden stake was posed at his heart. "It was why I took so long to get out here, I had to make one just encase." Finn says with no happiness in his voice, not proud to have even having the thought, but he knows he physical can't kill Marshall, it was impossible for him to, Marshall Lee was Marceline.
Luckily the undead didn't test Finn's nerve, the memories being too much for him as he flies off Finn, and just stares at him wide eyed at the realisation of who he had just acted like. "... Go home Marshall." Finn says tiredly sitting up, lacking any other emotion, staring at the Vampire King. Marshall just stares for a second before grabbing his broken guitar axe and flying off into the night.
After a second of recovering Finn rises the rest of the way, then walks towards Huntress. "Diana are you alright?" He kneels before her. She just looks at Finn, and after a silent second responds,
"Just dandy... though I could use a hero to sweep me up and take me to bed." Finn just nods with a small blush, not entirely innocent to the innuendo. He puts his arms under her and lifts her up bridal style, then carries her through the door of their home, the vine door sealing shut behind him. He carries Huntress to her bed and gently sets her down on top of it, then rushes off to grab the Cyclops's tears, and starts applying them to her wounds.
"Finn... I don't need that, I can use magic to heal myself tomorrow, all I need right now is rest." Finn hesitates, before continuing to apply more, causing her to sigh as the painful cuts and torn muscles heal.
"How could you ask me, a hero, to leave someone in pain?" He chuckles, checking for any missed cuts already as years of experience of applying the stuff made him expertly quick.
"... Thanks." She says quietly, glad the pain was gone. Nodding, Finn starts fidgeting beside her, and after watching him for a few confusing seconds realises that he was laying down next to her. "You're sleeping next to me?"
"Yeah, thought it would be right. Too quick?" Huntress actually remains silent for a second as she decides if she is comfortable with this.
"... Nah, you can stay." Causing Finn to do a noise of celebration in his head.
"Night Diana." He says kissing her on the lips that Huntress slightly leans into, however both were too tired to do anything else, and simply collapse next to each other, letting themselves drift off into sleep.
The couple awoke the next day with Finn regretting not putting any of the Cyclops's tears on himself, and groans as he stretches, before looking Huntress over who was still asleep, and strangely not a log. 'Must of been truly out of magic...' He thinks as he goes outside to grab an apple for himself and Huntress 'Does Huntress even like apples? Does she see them as being a cannibal? Or is it like me eating bird meat, both flesh but different species, both plants but different types?'
He eventually just shrugs and picks an apple before surveying the damage the battle last night had done. He blinks in shock. He can see loads of trees smashed in a line where Marshall Lee rammed through them all, and the land and trees near the front of the house were all gone, ripped up and flipped to some other place. Shaking his head, he goes to walk back indoors, however, notices Huntress's two arrows on the floor, abandoned in their hunt for some sleep.
He moves and grabs the green arrows before continuing his journey indoors and sits next to Huntress who was still recovering from last nights magic drain, and was about to wake her up by shaking her shoulder when her eyes shoot open and immediately lock onto Finn's. "Hi." She says, not used to waking up with someone by her side.
"Morning." He says and places the apple on her chest, what she looks at for a second before grabbing it and rising. With her own groan, still worn out from the night before she goes to take a bite out of it but instead releases a yawn. "Are you better?"
"I'm still tired but I'm in better shape than last night." She finally starts eating the apple as Finn joins her. After their ritual to keep the doctor away, they rise and immediately go to clean themselves off, the dirt from fighting still clinging to their bodies. After a slow walk down to the freezing river Huntress turns her clothes into leaves and drops them by the river, Finn however takes longer as he fiddles with his new top, what Huntress watches with a smile and continues watching even as Finn strips himself of everything.
Not like it matters, she's already seen him nude anyway. Turning her head away as Finn spins around, he joins her into the water and the couple slowly clean themselves, the dirt truly stuck on after being on them so long. After a while Finn leaves the water and once again struggles to put the top on, causing Huntress to silently rise from the water and was about to help him, however remembers he minds the natural body, or at least respects hers. She quickly magic her leaves back into clothes and onto her body before approaching and assisting Finn.
"So what's today's agenda?" She asks, knowing Finn is better at keeping track of things than her, he never seems to forget to help anyone.
"First I got to train with Fionna, then we can teach me how to use the bow, and then collect the furniture. If you want, we can go to Gumball's science fair and whatever he has planned for us." He shrugs as she finishes sorting his top out.
"I'll most probably have to fix the forest first, so go train with Fionna without me, I'll meet you when I'm done here." Finn nods and the couple rushes home, Finn to collect his sword and Huntress to repair the forest as soon as possible. Finn sets out with sword in hand as Huntress absorbs some plant leaves to heal and gain some power.
Finn crosses the grass hills that Fionna's, and Finn's, old home sits upon, the peaceful, bright area being a direct contrast to last night. He probably should ask Fionna if she knew what was up with the Vampire King, and he most probably should start planning on how to actually teach Fionna, for he has absolutely no idea how. Maybe he can try to copy Rattleball's method, it worked on him. As he loses himself in thought at how to be a teacher the house comes into view on the horizon and as he comes closer he releases a sigh in preparation for the pain that is to come.
Walking up to the door he gives three quick knocks, and a moment layer it is angrily thrown open by Cake, "For Glob sake Gumball! We!-" She stops her rant when she sees a startled Finn standing at the door instead of the candy monarch. "Oh. Sorry Finn."
"It's alright, Gumball causing trouble?"
"He keeps on insisting that we, or at least Fionna, come to the science fair he's got going on, saying he reserved a seat next to him for us."
"Fionna bringing anything?" Finn asks cautiously, remembering the candy kingdom spit bubble model he made, that now he thinks about it is pretty disgusting, and it getting destroyed by Bubblegum's sneeze. At least she didn't realise, and liked the tray it was on.
"She was, but then cancelled to train with you." Finn nods, unsure how he feels about changing things already.
"And I'll be right there Finn! Just give me a sec!" He hears the girl of their conversation shouting from upstairs. A few seconds later she drops down the wooden ladder sword in hand. "So what cool sword tricks are we going to learn!?" She says excitedly, almost bouncing on the spot.
"Counter attack for someone charging, nothing too intense today, I'm sore." He says rubbing his shoulder.
"Oh..." She says, slouching in disappointment that it wasn't some sort of cool attack, but quickly rises again, "So what are we waiting for?" 'Maybe he is giving me something simple to test if I'm worthy, I'll show him my skills and dedication!'
"For us to walk outside." He says pointing to some flattish open grassland just outside the house, and starts walking towards it with Fionna following behind him, Cake deciding to watch from the side-lines. Once there, he signals her to stop what she does mechanically, while Finn continues to walk forward and stops a few meters away.
"Alright, what I want you to do-... actually should've thought about that first." He turns from Fionna who was staring with confusion and towards Cake who was still sitting by the tree, "Cake! Would you mind getting two sword size sticks?" Cake just nods and stretches into the tree, the branches waving as she bends and breaks branches as Fionna understands now. A second later, the cat comes over with two large sticks and hands them to Finn, who immediately cuts them down to size, even going as far to make the handles. Inspecting his work, he nods, and hands the wooden training sword to Fionna who grips it and gives a few experimental swings, before nodding in acceptance. "Alright, charge at me."
"What?!" Fionna asks, not sure how this will train her, only leading to her butt being kicked again. She doesn't want her butt being kicked again.
"If you charge me, I'll show you how to counter, then let you figure it out."
"What do you mean figure it out."
"If I only showed you moves, you won't figure it out yourself, and can't make up your own to fit a situation. Now charge me!" He orders, and after a second she charges in blindly sword held up above her head. As she closes in she swings diagonally down and into her body. Finn suddenly side steps away from her attack, standing next to her sword arm and lifts his blade up into her arm, a move that would cut her arm off if the swords are real. "That's how you literally disarm someone. It removes their sword arm and any harm it can present. It's usually a death sentence for anyone in a fight, while keeping you safe." He says backing away from a wide eyed Fionna.
"Mathematical!" She says, rising as Finn gets ready to charge at her. Realising what's about to happen she position herself nearly exactly as Finn was. However, Finn sees that inexperience making her body a bit too stiff to dodge, a loose pose important for flexibility. He charges forward sword held like she had, and just like her swings directly at the head. Her reaction speed was slower than Finn's, and her unrelaxed body was slow and stiff in dodging, equalling her to get a stick around the side of her head.
She releases a ow at the pain, surprise of failing and momentum of the stick sword making her flop face first into the ground. Finn grimaces before extending a hand of help to the fallen girl, who after rubbing her head looks up with embarrassment before helping herself up, making Finn retract his arm.
"Your body was too stiff, relax, it makes it easier to dodge." Fionna looks surprised, before getting into position once more, "Looser." She takes a few deep breaths, calming her body and relaxing it. Finn smiles, backs away, and charges forward, sword held high. At last the second he swings. Fionna dodges barley, her stick swings up and connects with Finn's arm.
"I did it!" She celebrates, making Fnn smile.
"Yep, congrats. Though it was still close, so let's do it a few more times, just to make sure you got it." What causes her to run back into position as Finn gets ready to charge.
At that moment a phones recording stops. LSP had saw Fionna's new boyfriend walking towards the treehouse when he was scavenging for food, and immediately knew who he was going to see. After seeing them stand outside as Finn made the training swords, he whipped out his phone and started recording them. He immediately sent the recording out with a message: 'OMG Fionna's boyfriend training with her! He's like really good with a sword too! They're like perfect for each other! He knows what she likes!' And sends the message out, trusting his followers being able to spread the message even further.
The humans were none the wiser to the coming mess as they train, Fionna slowly improving each time. "So you're sore? What did you do?"
"Got in a fight last night, too tired to apply cyclops's tears." He shrugs before charging again.
"So what idiot did you fight?"
"Marshall Lee." That made her freeze before standing up straight, causing Finn to halt training for a second.
"Seriously!?"
"Yeah. Actually the move we're doing now I used in our fight."
"Huh. Let me guess, got too close to home with a joke or prank?" She says monotone, use to the annoyances against her.
"No. I'm you remember? I've dealt with his counterpart, I know their jokes 'n stuff. That wasn't there last night. He came to me looking for a fight... You got any idea why?" He asks, wondering if something happened that he was not aware of. Did Gumball annoy him? It was easy to forget that they hated each other in his younger years, and was he just releasing steam? Fionna however grabs her arm worriedly,
"No, I have no idea... I'll ask him tonight if I see him. Glob he can be such a butt at times." She then goes back into position, causing the training to continue.
Eventually she was doing the counter nearly flawlessly. So Finn decides to surprise her to help train her against them. That and his arm was getting sore. The next charge was exactly the same, blade raised up, straight forward run towards his 'foe', and Fionna moves to dodge. And gets a shoe to the chest. Immediately she flies back, not expecting it and therefore did not brace against it, and sprawls onto her back with a surprised grunt of pain. She shoots her head up and glares angrily at Finn. "What was that?!"
"Remember what I said? You need to learn to adapt your moves and attacks to a situation, it'll help when things get crazy. That also shows off another trick: distraction. You were focused completely on my blade, so I moved it far away from my leg, making my next attack harder to see. You should try it." Fionna just grumbles and rises from the dirt and gets her sword ready for whatever move Finn made next.
"Fionna! We should get going!" Cake shouts. Fionna sighs, disappointed that she can't continue training that was fun to instead go to some nerdy science fair, but still, she does start moving when the thought enters her mind: 'At least Gumball will be there.'
"Tomorrow we'll do parries!" Finn shouts as she walks away, causing her to spin and nod happily, before she and her sister start marching towards the candy capital. After watching them walk away for a minute, Finn turns to head home, keen on seeing Huntress and her progress, only to spot the wizard staring at him in the forest, her glowing eyes acting like beacons in the leaves. Finn releases a high-pitched scream in surprise before immediately calming down, "Hey Diana."
"Nice scream Finn." She teases him as she exits the forest, causing Finn to blush with embarrassment and leaving him unsure how to reply,
"... How's the forest!? All healed up?" He asks quickly, trying to change the topic.
"Yeah, tree's are back to their normal spots, broken wood were healed, twigs set right. The usual Forest watcher business." She then looks out to the small dots that were the heroes of AAA. "You care for her, don't you?" What causes Finn to turn and look at the sisters as well.
"I... Yeah, I do. I didn't really have anyone to show me what to do when I was her age, and it led to me having to figure it out on my own. And that led to me making lots of stupid mistakes that cost people things, and that always made me feel terrible. I... just want to help her, because sometimes even a hero needs help." He says looking off at the sister's general direction while lost in thought. After a moment of silence a bow came into his view, snapping him out of memory lane. He sees a smiling Huntress holding his bow,
"Then let me help you hero by teaching you how to use this thing." What causes Finn to smile as she mentally celebrates her smoothness. Walking over to the edge of the forest they quickly find a nice, straight-ish tree that was to Huntress's acceptance that they could launch arrows into. "Right, now lets go over there." She points and Finn looks at some flat grass a few meters away.
With a calm pace they stroll over and Finn just stands there, "Well? What you waiting for? I want to see an arrow fly!" Finn scrambles and loads an arrow into his bow before pulling the string back and tightly holds the bow. He releases a breath and remember what he can from the hunt. One finger on string, the rest of the fingers off, thumb behind the arrow, arms stretched straight. He releases the arrow… And it flies off into the forest, or it would if Huntress didn't catch it with magic.
"I see what you did wrong." She floats it back to him and grabs his bow hand, "You left or right handed?"
"Both." It's true, he has written in both hands and it helps in sword combat.
"Then it doesn't matter too much what hand you hold it in, but still, what arm is stronger?"
"My right."
"Then hold the bow in your left." He quickly swaps the bow into his other hand, earning a nod.
"Next don't hold the bow." What just earns a look of puzzlement from the boy.
"Err... Diana, you do remember I can't use magic right?"
"I remember. What you did wrong is your grip, you did what is called a 'Death grip', you held the bow too tightly. When you clench your hand it twitches and shakes, so holding the bow tightly will shake your aim. Just put the bow between your thumb and finger, and pull the arrow back, it'll pull the bow back into your hand and hold it there. Just don't forget to catch the bow when you shoot." After a second of processing, he nods, and attempts it. Pulling the string back with his right hand, it was a little easier, and the bow doesn't drop to the floor despite not gripping it. "Good! Now when releasing, breathe out. He remembers the other things he has to do and move his fingers into position and stretches his arm straight. Releasing his breath, he unleashes the arrow. It sails through the air and pierces the tree. Sure, to the side of the tree, but still in the tree. Huntress Wizard nods at him, causing Finn to celebrate his improvement.
"Let me guess, again?"
"Yep, just a sec." She touches the tree and using magic, makes it start shedding bark in a pattern, creating a target for Finn to shoot at. "And I forgot to give you these." She walks up to him and hands him a pair of archers gloves.
"Thank you Diana." He kisses her, causing her to blush, and puts the gloves on, flexing his hand to get a feel for them before nodding.
Getting back into position he releases arrow after arrow, his aim slowly becoming more centre as he starts to get the hang of it. Huntress just smiles, repeatedly floating the arrow back to him and giving him tips on how to improve, only stopping it once so Finn can drink while she repairs the arrow. It was as Finn unloads another arrow after an hour does he start getting bored, his improvements and successes no longer pleasing him. It was approaching mid-day, and they still need to collect the furniture. He lowers his bow and grabs the arrow Huntress passes to him on autopilot before she snaps out of it. "Why did you stop?"
"Getting tired, and we still need to collect the furniture, I don't want to be too worn out to do that, so I want a break to recover, you know?"
"Yeah I understand... Well we got, I don't know, an hour?" She says as the couple move to sit on a nearby log and have another drink of water.
"Sounds about right, it will only take half that to walk to the candy kingdom. What to do for half an hour?" The couple look around for anything to do, even if it's just to make a topic to talk about. Eventually Finn eyes land on Huntress Wizard and a thought comes to his mind, "So Diana, got any cool stories?" What makes her just stare at him.
"Not really, not compared to yours anyway, I mean you have some pretty cool adventures."
"Seriously, people tell hero stories of me?" She simply nods, "Huh. Anyway that raises the point, everyone knows who I am and what I've done, but I don't know any of your work, I would like to hear some." She remains silent and looks at the sky, rubbing her hands together in thought.
"Alright I got one for you, It happened eleven years ago, back when I was seven..."
A young Huntress Wizard walks across the forest with bow in hand and a quiver too large on her back, the same one she has on her older self. She silently peeks around trees, hunting for something, and soon she sees it. A deer, silently grazing on some berries. Releasing a soft gasp she lifts her tiny child bow and struggles to pull an enormous steel arrow from the equally enormous quiver on her back, clearly not made for someone of her size.
The weight of the quiver makes her stumble, and snap multiple twigs but she continues to draw back the arrow back. It only goes half it length before reaching the tiny bows max draw, even with the deer looking directly at her, in fact it only makes her draw even faster. The deer doesn't waste a second and bolts it, running away from the young Huntress as she releases the arrow. It flies off into the trees, missing the deer completely and quickly flops on the floor, the tiny bow and child muscle not being able to carry it far.
She huffs and runs after it, her quiver dragging on the floor behind as she watches the deer escapes her vision. Until an arrow flies over her head and, after traveling for a second, pierces the fleeing animal square in the head, making it drop to the floor dead. Instead of celebrating or turning to see who helped her, she instead flinches and looks at the ground.
"Diana." Gulping she slowly turns to the male voice behind her and looks up to see him in the face. To see her father's face. "What are you doing out here?" He says, the tall wood nymph putting his hand on his hips, causing his daughter to wrap one leg around the other and look away,
"... Hunting."
"Did I say you could?"
"... No."
"What did I say you should be doing?"
"Play with the other seedlings." Only now does she look back at his face, "But I don't want to!" Even at a young age Huntress was not very social, preferring to join her dad in hunting the forest animals to sell back at their village.
"Sometimes we have to do things we don't like Huntress... also when did you sneak away my quiver?" He asking pinching the strap that she quickly shreds and hands to him,
"When you were talking to Leon's mum I snuck home and grabbed it."
"Ah yes, Leon's mum, she is very chatty. Your Mum loves her stews." What makes the young Huntress release a 'bluegh' in disgust at the memory of her trying said stew, making her farther chuckle. He equips his quiver and picks up Huntress, placing her on his shoulder as she grabs his branch antlers for support. He starts walking over to the deer, "Speaking of her, she was very worried when she realised you were gone." He says, continuing his plan into guilting her into not running off again, causing Huntress to look down at the ground with dejection.
He then crouches to look at the body, "But I must say, you got quite the eye. This is a really good catch. Just a little suggestion: When holding a bow don't hold the bow so tightly or it'll throw off you aim, it's why your arrow missed earlier." He says, causing Huntress to look at the bow in her hand. Eventually he grabs the body in his hand, causing Huntress to smile and jump off his shoulder to allow the deer to take her place. Grunting her Dad rises, "C'mon little Huntress, lets go and sell this," He then stops to think, "And I'll give you a cut, you spotted it after all." That got her bounding for home running full sprint, causing her dad to chuckle and slowly carry the carcass home.
Huntress bobs and weaves through the trees, a huge smile plastered on her mask-less face, glad to help her Dad bring back a prize hunt. That is until a big metal-on-metal bang catches her attention. Slowing to a stop she looks into the forest, trying to spot the cause of the unusual noise through the trees to no success. Eventually her child curiosity gets the better of her own judgement, and she cautiously starts searching the forest, peeking around trees and through bushes, every trick her Dad taught her to remain hidden from any creatures eye. Rounding another tree she sees unnatural shapes in the gaps between them. Gasping she slowly sneaks closer for a better look.
Hiding in a bush she spies on the sight before her. Cold steel cages surrounded unconscious creatures of the forest, as ten men and women surrounds them carry blowguns, taking pot-shots at the wildlife and taking their unconscious bodies. She looks at the cruel cages they were placed in, void of anything but sadness, and eventually whining and howling animals as the effects of the darts wear off allowing them to wake. And immediately her innocent child personality immediately wants her to help them, without a single thought of danger or consequences.
Slowly she crawls along the dirty forest floor, hiding in bushes and behind trees to avoid being spotted. Eventually she approaches the metal cages and immediately starts trying to open a cage with a wolf inside, with little success as her child muscles struggles to pry apart metal bars designed to hold rampaging beast back. After struggling for a bit she looks around the cage and spots a mechanism on one of the sides. Face scrunching in thought, she fiddles with it, and immediately the cages gate swing open. And the wolf comes bounding out.
"What the-!?" One of the animal slavers says hearing a gate open she turns around to investigate, only to get a drugged out wolf tearing into her jugular. She barley releases a scream before gurgling on her blood, but it is enough to alert the others as they too whip around and sprint to investigate and save their already dead friend. Huntress just continues opening cage after cage, releasing nature's wrath upon the slavers.
"Someone stop that brat!" One of them yells, punching a wolf in the face as one of his friends run at Huntress, causing her to freeze up for a second realising that she was in danger. A moment later she was running around the cages, weaving between any out of the pile, dodging the furious man chasing her. After nearly thirty seconds of chasing her the man gets tackled by a wolf who had a blood covered jaw from killing one of his partners. Looking back she realises that is how she'll win, 'With the wolves!'
Turning to the cages once more she starts opening more, releasing more wolves, releasing more chaos. That is until someone slams her head against one of the cages. Falling to the ground she sees the blurry image of one of the slavers. The last slaver. And he too notices that, stopping him from doing anything against Huntress. After a quick look at the remaining wolves he decides it is better to run, and lobs Huntress into the pack of wolves. Who start to growl. She may of saved them and be part-plant, but they were in a blood lust.
Then they suddenly all stop in synch, freezing while looking at her. Then in silent teamwork two wolves gently grabs her by the arms and drag her on top of another wolf, then all of the wolves leap into the forest, running to some unknown destination as Huntress struggles to remain conscious. Eventually, they arrive at a clearing within the trees, Huntress slides and falls of the wolf, her consciousness not being improved by the bumpy ride. Looking up she sees a strange figure before her.
The best description being a three green blobs sitting atop each other, shrinking in size as they go up, the mouth located on it middle sphere along with its arms, while its eyes, giant nose and plant head band sit on the top blob that sprout brown, long hair that reaches the start of the thing's leg. They themselves were attached to the bottom blob that unlike the others was made of zigzags that went darker shades near the bottom. "Hello." It simply said to the girl barely holding conscious as she realises her head being banged against the metal cage caused some blood to trickle down her face, 'Blood loss? So that means what is in front of me is a-' "Your not hallucinating." What causes her eyes to widen in surprise.
"Who are you?" She mumbles out.
"I'm the spirit of the forest." He says walking up to her.
"Really?" She asks in semi child wonder.
"Yes." He simply reaches down to the wood nymph and touches her head wound, and it immediately started to mend itself, and energy shoots through her body. Huntress only gasp, and a second later jumps back from the spirit, back to her normal, natural self. "I saw what you did back there, with the cages and wolves."
"I-" He raises his hand to stop her from talking.
"Most people would not put themselves in danger to help some dumb beasts. While you are also not afraid to hunt those beasts." As Huntress's remembers hunting some wolves that got too close to the village. Only few weeks ago.
"How long have you been watching me?"
"I've been here since the forest existed, so a few hundred years, I've been observing you, your species and your ancestors the entire time as an invisible observer. To most." He squints at the end.
"What you mean to 'most'?" She asks, scared by this immortal powerful being in front of her.
"Only some can see me, those who are worthy as watcher of the forest."
"Watcher of the forest?" She asks, having absolutely no idea what that was.
"Yes, watcher of the forest, ones whose duty is to protect the forest. It can't be anyone, those who help all animals out of kind heart alone can not slay those who threaten the natural way of the forest, and those who lose themselves in the blood lust can not show compassion to the creatures and plants who need it." He then rises and walks towards Huntress, who when trying to back away gets halted by the wolves, making a wall around her. "You've shown both the compassion to help and to kill. You are well diverse in the way of animals thanks to your father, and plants thanks to your alchemist mother. I think you've got what it takes to be the watcher of the forest. So do you, little Huntress?"
"I do!" She says in kid enthusiasm, not putting any thought into the responsibilities or consequences of her choice.
"Then here." He holds out a black mask.
"... Why do I need that?"
"That animal slaver is still alive, and he knows what you look like. In a group of other seedlings you will be harder to spot. The forest watcher is also the face of the forest, not yourself, it is a tradition for them to hide their faces." She looks at the mask in his hand, then reaches for it and puts it on, then after fiddling to tie it for a minute that the spirit eventually helps her with, she looks up at the spirit through the mask's holes.
"... And that was when I first met the forest spirit and donned this mask." She says pointing at the black object covering her face.
"Whoa. And here I thought you wore it to look cool."
"Oh I definitely think it looks good, especially when I first got it. My mum had to wrestle it off me to wash it." She giggles at the memory as Finn smiles.
"And that quiver, it's-"
"My fathers, yes." She pulls the quiver of her back, despite its age it still looks new, only suffering small damages from age and worn damage. "I never replaced it, only did repairs using magic. It's the last thing of him that I own." She looks down at the quiver and runs a hand down it, before putting it back on. Finn quickly thinks of changing the topic off the depressive current theme.
"... I know you said you wear it to represent the forest, but can I see you without the mask on?" She looks away sheepishly.
"I don't know, Glob knows when I last took this off... Ah fine then!" She reaches back into her leaf hairs and starts fiddling the tie that kept it to her face. Only fair, she's seen his hair, something that he does not take lightly.
"I won't judge you for your serious tan line then."
"I'm part plant, I don't think I can get a tan... Let's find out, shall we?" The masks falls and sure enough, no tan line. And of course the most beautiful blushing face that Finn has ever seen, preserved from any damage by the now missing mask. He just stares, what eventually makes Huntress embarrassed and quickly puts it back on, what snaps Finn out of his stare.
"Well... at least you don't need to worry about anyone's opinion if it falls off." What just makes her blush as Finn tries to say 'You're beautiful' without sounding brain dead.
"... Thanks." She then releases a sigh, and looks up at the sky in thought, before staring back at Finn. "I also said I wore it to hide from an animal slaver. Hard meat don't get eat remember? Yet, why should I be scared? Especially if I got someone who has killed the Lich multiple times by my side... Only when its only you by my side." Finn chuckles.
"So your saying that you'll take it off when we're alone together?" What causes her to nod. "Thanks, I'll cherish those moments then." He pulls up her mask a little bit to kiss her on the cheek that gains an even deeper blush at the action. Pulling back he smiles before looking at the sky. "We should probably get going." Nodding, Huntress rises of the log as the couple walk towards the Candy Kingdom.
Outside the great, pink candy walls that anyone can easily start eating was a giant rock person, resting against it. And next to him a giant wagon with loads of furniture piled up with the power of Tetris, strapped down with ropes to prevent them from falling. Huntress just approaches with surprise on her face, "When I heard you got a good deal, I didn't realise you got that much."
"Like I said, I got a good deal." What triggers Vock to speak up to the duo.
"I actually knocked a few pieces of gold off. Couldn't help myself, always had trouble, especially with younger house owners." Rock says standing to meet the duo, "Who's the girl?" He says in a teasing tone, wiggling his rock eyebrows as Huntress
"I'm Huntress Wizard." She extends a hand to greet him which he eagerly grabs and shakes, almost crushing her hand.
"I'm Vock, pleasure to meet you." After she stumbles back from the handshake she just silently stares at him, not that he minds as he then turns his attention to Finn. "Right, now lead me to your home."
"What?!" Finn asks in startled confusion, trying to figure out why he should lead a stranger to his home.
"You saw how I smashed my chair accidentally back in my shop. Most people do not want a rock person handling furniture, until..." He turns around and grabs two metal bars that stuck out the wagon, easily moving it and all the furniture inside. "... Furniture needs to be carried, what is a service that I happen to provide." After a second Finn smiles,
"Thanks, just a warning it's in a forest." He says pointing in the direction of the apple forest, barely visible on the horizon.
"Absolutely no problem." He says properly gripping the wagon's handles and starts walking towards where Finn pointed. The walk was quick, Vock never slowing down despite everything he carried. The entire walk was filled with talk between the three about meaningless things really, Vock appearing to be a genuine hold-no-grudges, make-no-judges friendly guy, "... And that is how I defeated the ancient being Orgalorg." Finn says, not mentioning the moments that came after the purple catalyst comet and his father's ascension into the fourth dimension.
"Wow man got to say that's pretty impressive, I mean compared to me anyway, I'm sure you got some other story that is even more dramatic."
"... Well there was a time I got eaten by a chaos God."
"Alright now you're just pulling my leg."
"He's not lying, he just didn't mention how it took a lot of people to help get him back out." She says and stares at him, causing Finn to rub his neck in embarrassment as a blush covers his face as he finds an escape,
"We're here!" He says, extending his arms to present their house to Vock, who gives it a look over and a nod,
"Oh this is a nice little cosy place." He says pulling the wagon next to the entrance.
"Thanks, its magic so we can expand and shrink it with some effort." Huntress says,
"Now that's a handy feature, eh?" He says staring at the house before turning around and start undoing the straps holding everything down. Huntress touches their home and focuses on the entrance, expanding it, then the three of them set out moving furniture in, with Huntress adding new rooms for kitchen and storage. It was when she made an extension for a bedroom did they meet a problem.
"There's only one bed." Finn states matter-of-factly, peering into the wagon. It wasn't even a large bed, just a single bed for a single person.
"There's was meant to be another? I thought that it was only you?" Vock asks in confusion, before looking at Huntress, "Oh that's why you're getting a new home..." he quietly whispers, "Now that I think about it, multiple people in the 'new home deal' was not discussed was it? I'll take a note of that." He says going into the cart to pull out a scrap of paper and a tiny pencil that somehow does not break in his fingers and scribbles some words down. Before the boys look at the wagon, as if another bed will just magically appear before them, causing Huntress to step up to them.
"We can share a bed." What immediately causes Finn to spin and give her a look of surprise accompanied by a blush, after all she was the one who wanted to keep the relationship a secret.
"Oh can you now? I'll be back tomorrow with a larger bed then." He says what causes Finn's blush to deepen,
"Oh right... sure we can do that." Finn says, putting the matter to rest as they finish moving furniture in, and Huntress to shrink the entrance once more as Finn shakes hands with Vock, "Thanks for the help Vock."
"No problem mate, pleasure doing business with you. Get ready for a bigger bed tomorrow noon." He says turning and leaving the couple behind him as slowly walks home. Huntress Wizard walks up beside Finn silently as they watch him leave.
"Nice Guy."
"Yeah. C'mon let's check this furniture out now that it's all there." Finn says walking indoors as Huntress follows him inside. The wooden furniture really fits in with the wood of the house, not being a random bright colour causing itself to be an eyesore while the straight surfaces and polished shine makes sure it does not blend in with the rest of the house. They were even able to score a sofa that originated from Raggedy Kingdom that, unlike the rest of the kingdom, was made of one consistent fabric, and was the type that anyone could collapse into after a long day.
Moving onward he looks back into the kitchen, what is best described as more of a food storage than a place to cook food, for it only had two cooking hobs. Most other pre-mushroom war tech like functioning ovens is usually for the rich and lucky scavengers as not many have survived this long. Not that they mind, the couple having built a slight bond to the campfire style they were using, but if they ever need an oven, then they could buy or repair one at an electronics store, after getting more gold to do so of course. The wooden kitchen's cupboard that were against the walls are ready to be stuffed with normal non-chill food, and a very large freezer already filled with hunted meat that is kept cold via an enchanted pole that constantly radiated freezing cold air.
Moving on again they enter their shared bedroom and bed. The bed was indeed small due to it only meant to be a one person bed, so that just means they are going to have to cuddle up real tight for the night then, and was positioned in the middle of the room in line with the door. A small table rest next to the bed on the left of the room but nothing sits atop it, a fact that Huntress has an idea on how to change. On the other side a normal wardrobe sits, however seeing as how they only have one, instant washing clothes thanks to Huntress and her magic, then it probably won't see much more use other than to hold Finn's old clothes. Drawers were also present near the door. Nothing else resides in the room, mementos and trinkets supposed to fill the gaps. Huntress did however add an open window to the left side of the room, with the plan they can get some glass and make it into a open/closable window.
The storage room was mainly meant for their gold, making it more of a large empty room other than a one stuffed with furniture, it did however have a jewelry box and a single cupboard for storing of more precious belongings. As of right now only a small amount of gold sat inside, most of it used up in buying all the furniture, and reminds Finn to clear some more dungeons.
The rest of the house was just filled with miscellaneous furniture like tables that they'll eat on, chairs to rest on, a coffee table, and shelves to put things on. After the brief sightseeing of their home Finn nods,
"Yeah I think that looks good. What you think Huntress?"
"Looks good, we just need to fill the stuff, get some food for the kitchen etc." Finn nods, and after a few seconds of silence decides on what they could do.
"Do you want to go to that science fair later?"
"You mean the one where Gumball has some sort of plan for us?" She asks, making sure that he remembers that going might not be in their best interest.
"Yeah, that one. I doubt he could do anything too serious against us, I mean it us, we can handle whatever he throws. Or we could watch from afar?"
"... We'll watch from afar, I may be calming down the whole 'hard meat' non-social persona I was, but I'm still not an idiot, I won't recklessly test fate."
"Right. So what to do..." He starts to think however immediately Huntress interrupt his plans,
"You can continue training with the bow. Teacher's orders." After a second he grabs his bow and walks outside as the air starts filling with the sound of *Twings* as the bow string constantly gets used. Nodding in the house, Huntress moves to a log of wood as her plan to get Finn to leave worked, as to be honest, she was slightly embarrassed by it, and starts her carving. Of her and Finn.
Next chapter will release the answer to lemons.
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