HEY! I'm just wondering, has anyone actually read the google docs that I make for the next chapter as I write them? Or should I just remove them and keep them private?
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The ice dragon roars as it approaches its home, its passengers still held tightly in its grasp as it swoops towards the tall mountain, heading straight towards a flat wall of ice. Gumball's eyes widen, then slam shut as he prepares himself for impact, yet as the great beast approaches it, a hidden door suddenly snaps open. It glides through with a whomp of air, ending straight up in its chamber as it lets go of its cargo, before skidding to a halt.
As Gumball and Butterscotch roll with their momentum, the dragon swiftly moves to its door to the next room, and pushes it open with one of its claws, then flicks its attention to the duo as they get up. The candy prince glances about as he brushes himself off, "I know you're just an overgrown lizard and didn't know better, but be careful with me next time! I have grenades I don't exactly want going off." He makes sure his maid is alright as she shrugs off the harsh landing like it was nothing, then glances at the guardian, "Where's Fionna?"
It merely grunts and gestures its head towards the door, before spinning around and walking behind them to lay down, while Butterscotch tugs her royal towards the door, "My prince, it was obvious what direction we need to go." She smugly snips at him as he blushes slightly.
A few minutes later of the duo gawking as they stare at the security work of Ice Queen, they were strolling past the casual three guard bosses and heading into the magic elevator. A second later, they descend, and the prince immediately starts scanning the kingdom through the thin ice that makes the wall of the elevator. The security he saw was promising, but he has to find his knight.
Butterscotch glances at him, "Sir, I'm just wondering, but where did that metal version of you come from? I was never aware of you making one… or anyone with the brains to make a copy of you." She inquires as they land at the bottom, the duo swiftly moving out as the locals stare at them with confusion.
Gumball sighs, "That's because I did make him must in secret, but I obviously did a miscalculation somewhere because he's turned into an egoistic ruthless dictator!" Butterscotch says nothing. "I had made him to cover ruling and science for me while I went on dates with Fionna, but that's gone all bongaloins, and so has my date with my knight." He sighs, "I'm going to enjoy crushing him like I did with the Rattleballs."
He strolls up to Ice Queen's mansion doors, or what remains of them, for there were now a massive hole in them, causing the prince to raise an eyebrow, "Cake?"
His maid shrugs as they enter, "Probably, she's the most capable of destruction deliberately, while Fionna somehow breaks everything accidentl-"
"Gumball!?" Fionna's voice suddenly shouts down from their right, causing them both to jump and snap to the heroine as she rushes towards him. She tackles into him, wrapping him in a firm hug as he stumbles back slightly, before leaning into the hug, grinning as he holds the smaller woman firmly against him.
However, not a second later Cake suddenly stretches at them, "Gumball!" She tackles them both to the ground with a massive grin, with Butterscotch rolling her eyes beside them as she waits patiently. The feline wraps an arm around Fionna, prying her off the prince as she raises an eyebrow at him, "So, what are you doing here? And not at Candy Kingdom?"
Fionna smirks as she rises up a little, staring down hopefully into his eyes a little, "Was it because you missed me?" She inquires, extending a hand to the man as he grabs it and allow her to tug him onto his feet.
He brushes himself off, "If only so. I've got very unfortunate news Fionna: the candy kingdom has been taken over."
The heroine stares at him, standing stumped for a second before suddenly screaming as she grabs his arms, "What! How!?"
He sighs, "I made a mistake, and am now paying the price for it. You see, I made a machine version of me to cover for me, when ever it may be it be that we're on a date or I'm handling some other important meeting, I wanted someone to look after my incompetent people." He shakes his head, "However, that's unfortunately all gone up in smoke. He's gone rogue. He's in a mech suit and has an army of robots at his side, and that's not including the Bubblegum Guardians."
Fionna goes wide eyed, "Wait what!? He rebuilt them!? How?"
Gumball shakes his head, "No idea. Worse, when I killed him the first time, he simply hopped to my computer, then was in a new body a while later driving the said mech. He has a factory somewhere, yet we have no clue where it could be located!" He grasps the heroine by her shirt tightly, staring into her eyes with a gaze filled with the pure essence of pleading, "Please! Will you help me reclaim my kingdom!? Will you protect me as I find and shut down his war machines!?"
She nods eagerly, "Of course I'll help beat his evil plans! His butt is going down!... Though, if you want…" She turns her gaze away as she blushes lightly, "We can just let him rule, and go on dates together and marry in the treehouse…" She mumbles the last bit as Gumball stares in slight shock, before then violently shaking his head.
He holds her even tighter as he stares deeply into her eyes, "No! Relationship later! Mission first! We've got to save my people from his lust for power! He may say he's doing it for the candy people, to create them a better future, but at the cost of everyone else! Usually I'm fine with that if my people were safer, but not this time! I don't know what that lunatic could do to them if he went even more crazy!"
Cake raises an eyebrow besides him, "Erm, what about other people of AAA? And the princes still currently frozen in the Candy Kingdom? Do they not mat-"
"Later!" He yells at her, standing tall and proud as he moves deeper into the mansion, humming curiously as everyone follows him, "Interesting… yeah this place can likely hold out in a battle. Alright, this is temporarily our base of operations!" He spins to them, "Alright, how's security? What weaknesses are there? What was it like when you came through it?"
The sisters stand stumped in surprise for a second, before Fionna hurriedly moves in to please the prince, "It was alright! I mean, we beat it, but I think it may be stronger this time, if that giant first boss skeleton is anything to go by after the arena." She goes silent for a second, before shaking her head, "But we came through the massive hole at the mountain base!"
Gumball stops mid step, spinning around to face her, "What did you just say?" He clicks his tongue, "That's not good. At all! That's a massive security breach! Why does she even have it!?" He rants, while Fionna however wonders off down the hall quietly with a grin.
Butterscotch sighs, "For her people." The prince glares at her, yet she just raises an eyebrow at him, "Remember? At the meeting, she said all she had was wood to sale. Her people had to bring in the wood somehow, that massive hole would likely be it, seeing how it isn't at the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, that means the place we have to secure is that hole. That's where we'll have to make the stand…" She glances at Cake, "What are the people like?"
She shrugs, "Welcoming? We just said Ice Queen froze some royals before going on an adventure and they simply sighed. They haven't stopped us yet, and they didn't bother you two… so I'm guessing-" Suddenly heavy footsteps come pattering from down the corridor Fionna had disappeared into, shaking the area a little.
They snap their heads to her, then to her new giant companion who was making all the racket, Gumball taking a step back at the sight of him. Stephen just stares inquisitively at him from over a grinning Fionna's head, the girl gesturing to the giant with both arms, "Gumball! Meet Stephen! Another human! He can help, right? He's super strong!"
The prince blinks at her excited introduction of her new friend, then immediately snaps back to life as his science side takes over, strolling up to the nervous man before he inquisitively starts poking him, "A human male? Big, lots of muscles, fascinating… after we save my kingdom, would you mind if I get a blood sample at some point, I would like to compare your DNA to Fionna's?"
The humongous man stands completely still, stumped as he nervously flicks his gaze to the brave woman for help, "Erh… food?"
Gumball jolts his head back a little, before Cake swiftly taps him on the shoulder, "He's stupid. No Brains, just brawns… lots of brawn."
The feline drools slightly as she stares at Stephen's muscles as Gumball sighs, "Right… well maybe he can help us Fionna. How well does he follow orders?"
She raises an eyebrow, "Like a person would, he's kinda like 'point me in a direction!' sorta guy." She adds a shrug, not really sure how to answer her boyfriend's question as she watches the massive man glance about nervously.
As he calms him down a little, Gumball hums in thought, then suddenly smirks, "You know… I didn't know about him, despite having cameras in your hom- erh, about! Which means, if I don't know about him…" He walks up to the humans, grinning at Stephen, "... Then fake me won't either. He's our ace up our sleeves, a last resort if need be, because the moment we show him, boom! The surprise is gone and he will probably start building a counter to him."
He glances at his brave knights, "Go see if you can find a way to unfreeze the princes, and what supplies we have here. Butterscotch and I shall check out the guards above, see if we can move them down here to defend the massive door. We shall rest later, this is a priority as fake me can attack at any second, we need defences up now!"
With that the sisters nod, and tug Stephen with them as they rush deeper into the mansion, while Gumball sighs and walks out with his maid, his gaze turning to the security rooms above, 'You better be strong enough to fight an army.'
Meanwhile, within the citadel the group just start to wake up, yawning as they stretch within their small hole in a sea of ice. Finn glances about, putting a hand on Huntress's hand as she taps their blue walls, the hero finally sighing "... No ice shattered, nor any noise of mining. They haven't got to us, and have likely given up." He judges as he stands up tall, before helping Huntress and his queen to their feet with a grin as well.
Huntress brushes herself free of any frost or ice that had attached itself to her in their sleep, "Then that likely means they're waiting for us just outside." She flicks her gaze to the blue royal, "Ice armour." The queen sighs as she swiftly equips herself again, the armour of smooth, detailed spiky armour forming atop her dress as the wood nymph gently grabs Finn by his hand, "We need to find a way out, as the moment this ice drops bet they're going to light us up."
Finn shrugs as he grabs his equipment, raising an eyebrow as he spots an orange leaf on his stuff, "Ice Queen can probably shatter it all into boulders and launch it in a circle around us. Anyone near us will all get knocked out, or at least stunned for a second."
Ice Queen sighs, "I can, but it will be way more effective to just make it all icicles and impale everyone my knight."
Huntress raises an eyebrow, "You're back to being peaceful? I thought you learnt to let it go a little back in the night-o-sphere?"
He gives her dead eyes, "They were heartless demons, not people. Besides, if you remember the second I realised my sword powers I was instantly using it. These guys aren't tortured souls serving their punishment, they're peopl-"
"I doubt these guys are people either Finn." The nymph cuts him off, "They're covered in metal and have grey skin and eyes. If I had to make a guess, they're dead bodies reanimated. It would explain why they just charge at us when the guys before them got slaughtered, or why they can just be stored in the walls." She explains as Ice Queen quickly grimaces.
Finn shakes his head, "Yeah no, I doubt that. Even then-"
Ice Queen swiftly grabs his hands, "And you need to remember what I said yesterday. We've got to fight, there's no other choice here, and like it or not, they're trying to kill us. Do it for us." She reminds him as Huntress watches on with curiosity.
Finn sighs, "... Fine. I'll fight again if need be. I refuse to seek out a fight… and... you can do the icicles as well I suppose... we need to move fast, we can't slow down." He gives permission, trying to persuade himself.
Huntress swiftly kisses him on the lips, her tongue poking inside for just a second before she pulls away, "You're learning. Don't worry Finn, you'll eventually get the hang of choosing when to use the sword or the pen. And thank you." She glances down at her newly acquired shotgun, bending down and picking it up with a nod, "Now be our sword and get us through to your dad. We'll cover you every step of the way."
Ice Queen grins at the duo, her hands at the walls around them as they itch to remove their cover and slaughter their foes, "You two got everything?"
Finn shrugs, "Other than breakfast, yes."
Ice Queen blinks. "Oh… and we should probably look at the map again." The group stare at one another, then awkwardly start dropping their equipment back down as Finn unslings his bag. A few minutes later of snacking on some dried meat and staring at the hologram, they awkwardly get back up and grab their things again. Ice Queen clicks her tongue, "So… now are we ready?"
Finn glances about, "... Yeah, I would say so."
Immediately the ice all around them shatters into a million shards, before exploding out in a deadly blast. The ice shatters the control room's glass, and sure enough the men with jet packs waiting on the other side are minced. Right at the entrance they need to go to go deeper into the citadel three men are wasted by the queen's might.
Right above them in the air vents above several soldiers are slaughtered, shredded alive in the barrage of ice. As the split seconds scream leave all their bodies and the ice settles in their violently impaling positions in the walls and floors, Finn glances about at all the death.
"Oh… that's a lot."
Ice Queen shrugs as she summons a massive swarm of icicles back to her, ripping them free of the environment as they hover behind her, "Well like I said: they want us dead. You should just get ready for the bedding ceremony, that'll be some fun for you if you find people watching us sleeping weird."
They rush forward into the tunnels, Ice Queen raising her hands that glow with magic, ready for any surprise they may encounter. They turn a corner, and three soldiers with shotguns greet them. The royal replies with an air wave of freezing ice, then guards instantly becoming statues of ice as it slams into them.
They rush past their bodies as they fall to the floor and shatter, rushing down the winding tunnels as clunks echo all around them. Reinforcements were coming. They spot an intersection of paths ahead, and rush forward as Finn and Huntress prepare themselves. They hit the intersection as Finn arms his tech shield, covering the right path while Huntress shot her arrows down the left.
Her arrows slaughter three guards, piercing into their soft necks with a spurt of blood, while Finn's shield stops a blast of attacks. They continue to sprint on ahead, even after Finn's soldiers chase from behind them, the nymph's returning arrows making short work of them.
They shoot through their arm joints as they drop their weapons in pain, the weapons returning to Huntress's quiver as she glances at Finn. She grabs his arm, 'Remember! Be our sword! Don't hold back!' He grumbles in slight annoyance, but nods as he throws his blade like a javelin as a door in the corridor opens in front of them.
A soldier with some assault rifle gets impaled by the blade, going straight through its gut as it looks down in shock. Finn grasps his blade and rushes forward with his victim still impaled, charging down the long corridor as more reinforcements come.
He suddenly halts, the body flying from his blade and into the group of five soldiers as he stumbles them all. He leaps at his foes, a single swift slash of his blade ending the lives of three as their heads come flying off in a shower of gore. He then kicks the knees from out underneath another as he falls to the floor, while throwing a fist at the other.
He strikes it hard in the head, sending it tumbling backwards before the hero grasps his head again and yanks it into his sword. He then brings his blade upwards, ripping it up and free of the soldier's now split head, spinning his weapon in his hands above his head. He angles the blade downwards as he spins to his last downed foe, and slams it down through its heart.
The other two naturally rush by him as he snuffs those lives, and he spins around to follow them before he can think about what he's done. He swiftly ends up by their side again as he pops up his arm, the saved map projecting out as he quickly glances at their path, "... Go left!"
They waste no time, heading down some smaller, more narrow metal corridor as the lights somehow dim even more. Huntress leads the charge with her agility, her huntress vision allowing her to see in the low lit path. And allow her to see her prey. Two heavies sit with their miniguns spinning, and she lunges at them with a scream, her arrows flying.
Two strike into each of their faces with a flash of sparks, yet these ones don't even flinch as they let their plasma bullets rip with a roar of their gun. "Ice shield!" Finn suddenly yells, seeing the large foes when her arrows created the flash, the light blue orb shooting out of his hand.
It strikes the nymph just as the attacks pepper her, protecting her as her momentum carries her forwards. Her ice cocoon slams into one of them, sending it tumbling to the floor as Finn lunges at the other with blade swinging. He slashes at his taller opponent's wrists, disarming the giant with ease as his hands come flying off. Then he gets booted back the behemoth, skidding on his feet as he glares at his handless foe.
Ice Queen meanwhile rushes at Huntress, swiftly tapping her cocoon to undo it as a massive icicle is launched from her hand. It slams into the downed heavy gunner's left shoulder, obliterating it completely yet it simply swings its right arm at her. It smacks into her, sending her flying into a wall as her armour protects her from the majority of the blow. And its spikes destroy the gunner's hand.
It jolts its hand to its chest in instinct as Huntress summons her arrows back, then launches them into the shoulder wound the royal made. It jolts in pain on the floor as she swiftly climbs atop it and swiftly stabs its neck with her knife. It just barely gets through as it gargles in its own blood, its massive hand gripping her tightly, then limply as it falls off dead.
Finn meanwhile was still dealing with his, glancing at Ice Queen as she seals the path up behind them, halting any reinforcements. Shame he can barely see anything in the dark. Still he lunges at the rough shape of the heavy unit, sword spearing his charge as it connects with its armoured gut. The angle deflects the blade with a shower of spark, yet the hero uses the momentum to shoulder charge the giant.
It stumbles backwards just as Huntress leaps at its head, grabbing it by the jaw and yanking it upwards, exposing its neck. With the gap between him and his foe, Finn arcs his weapon at its vulnerable neck, and with a clean slice cuts it. Its hands dart to its throat instinctively as blood squirts everywhere, covering Finn as he wastes no time and activates the map.
He uses the light of the hologram to light up their room as the gunner's body flops to the floor with a heavy thump, its corpse resting in the pool of its own blood. Finn glances to his right, and spots what they were here for: A ladder to the upper levels. It was mainly used for engineers, a corridor of pure pipes and vents, which was exactly what they were looking for as Finn hurriedly climbed up it.
Not a second later, loud pounds echo off the ice the royal had put down to block the path behind them, the royal growling as she strolls up to it. She rests her hand against it, then her limb glows as the wall suddenly gains spikes, and she screams as she launches it down their old path.
It impales unit after unit before slamming into the wall with a bloody squelch, clearing the group of trouble as Ice Queen seals the corridor again. Huntress wastes no time and swiftly flips up the ladder, joining the hero in the engineering tunnels. Finally, Ice Queen flies up herself, and the group carefully makes their way through the cramped area, bright lights clicking on at their presence. They were in a white corridor made completely of pipes and wires, and was incredibly narrow, barely enough room for them to fight in, maybe two people wide max.
Not a minute later, they spot what they were looking for: the large, bright yellow pipe filled with flammable gas. They glance around the massive tube, before rushing to a control panel on its side, glancing at all the buttons, before just smashing the big red one.
A loud hiss fills the air as the flammable air is swiftly sucked away, and with a press of a second button, a circle side door opens up. Huntress moves to climb inside, but Finn suddenly stops her, spinning her to face him and hurriedly pressing his lips against her as her eyes widen. She freezes up, bit then leans into it as she moans slightly, before they part as Finn stares her deeply in the eyes, "Be careful in there."
She smirks at him, "I'll be fine, I'm too tough to die in there. You just worry about yourself, and clearing a way for me."
With that she glances at the royal, the duo giving one another a nod and a grin, before the nymph strolls up to the entrance. It was a large circle at waist height, and she wastes no time in crawling into the tight hole with a silent grunt, making her way inside the massive tube before crawling along a little.
Then she blinks as she unexpectedly reaches a dead end. "Hey guys! You there!?"
The couple outside tap against the vent, Ice Queen preparing a spell as Finn worriedly yelled, "Yeah we're here! What's wrong!?"
"I met a dead end… actually, I see a button!" She notes as she stares at the bright red circle sitting by the sealed up path, a blockage made of interlocked metal. She presses her ears against the blockage that seals her off from the next piece of the vent, and her eyes widen as she hears muffled hissing. "The next pipe still has gas in it! There must be another control panel to vent that one!"
Finn snaps his head to the right, and stares down the hall of wires and metal pipes, and sure enough far down the line was the panel. He rushes down, sprinting for a solid minute before reaching it and hitting the button, the gas being vented immediately with a loud hiss. He swiftly bangs his metal arm against the massive chrome tube, the noise easily echoing down as Ice Queen yells at Huntress, "That's your cue! You're good to go!"
Huntress within the tight tunnel slaps the button in her vent, and sure enough the divider opens up, allowing her to crawl through unbothered. She yells back out, "Thanks! I'm guessing when you do that it means I can proceed?"
Ice Queen hums, then yells back to make sure Finn heard as well, "If we do it multiple times, yeah! Otherwise that was something else just hitting it." The royal rushes along to Finn as he waits for her, the couple glancing ahead at more vents, "This is going to take a while."
Finn nods somberly, "Yeah, and I don't think they'll just let us through no problem… a lot of people are going to die here." He says nothing else as he strolls forward, heading towards the next vent panel as Ice Queen sighs behind him.
She glances down at her hands, then at the tight environment they were in that was filled with wires probably carrying enough voltage to kill anyone. She grimaces, 'I can't really use my magic…' She glances behind her as she strolls along cautiously, sticking very closely to her knight and his expertise in the up close and personal combat range.
They take a calm walk to the next vent system, recovering their breath and energy a little from that mad rush they had just done, plus they were in no rush with how slow a crawl is, even if it was from the agile Huntress. However, Ice Queen wraps an arm around Finn, and gives him a quick kiss, "One second, I just want to be safe rather than sorry."
She turns around with her hands glowing, and blasts out a beam of ice magic at the tunnel they had come down in, causing an explosion of ice that becomes a wall. Then rapid footsteps and clunks fill the air. The duo immediately prepare themselves as Finn glares in anger, "They're heading straight for us? How would they know we're here?" He questions, thinking about what they possibly just did. Then stares at the wall behind them that the royal just made. "Magic! Or noise! They can hear or detect us when you use magic! You got to try to not use it!"
Ice Queen blinks, then stares at her hands. She had used her magic her entire life, and that's how she just slaughtered the security back in the factory. "... I… fighting without magic? That's... Err!"
Finn ignores her as what appears to be a snake appears before him, sliding out of the walls as his eyes widen. He slashes at it before anything could happen, the head coming flying off as it flops to the floor dead. It was red, and covered in spikes, the head being an ending made of four jaws combined together, the creature lacking any eyes or nose.
More swarm in as Finn snaps to Ice Queen, "They already know we're here! You can use your magic!" He yells, raising his metal arm as they lunge for him, creating the energy shield as their jaws slam into it. The royal snaps out of her stupor and snaps up her arms as she unleashes her magic unto her foes.
A stream of ice shoots out, covering everything in a thin layer of her magic as the snake-like creatures slip and squirm, unable to get traction. Finn drops his shield as he slashes at the ones before him, gutting them as he hears buzzing ahead.
With a growl he rushes forward onto the ice, stomping his feet down on the wriggling creatures head's to crush them beneath him. The moment the last one dies, a swarm of drones fly in, their spinning blades buzzing as Ice Queen takes aim. Her icicles make short work of them, impaling them to the walls of wires and pipes.
Unsurprisingly, they burst as liquids and electricity mixing into a deadly pool before them, Ice Queen quickly blasting out more ice at the damages. As she does so, Finn grabs more of the creatures crawling out of the walls with his metal hand to prevent their spikes injuring him. Then he starts lobbing them into the electric puddle, frying them as their bodies crack and burn as lightning arcs off them.
Then the march of soldiers fill the tunnels as they come rushing from in front of them, then from behind them as well. Ice Queen hurried seals up the leak and damaged wires, before spinning around as the ice behind them explodes in a storm of shrapnel. She grunts as they harmlessly hit her armour, staring at the bulky guards with explosives strapped to their side.
Finn meanwhile raises his shield as the soldiers before him appear from the floor, bursting up from below the pipes with weapons blasting. Finn charges forward as they crawl, dropping the shield as he reaches the first soldier and booting its small gun just as it fires.
The plasma discharges straight into its face, killing it instantly as Finn swiftly slices at another still climbing up. He cuts its weapon arm clean off, before raising his sword and plunging it downwards into it. It goes straight through its body and into the next one's head, killing them both before Finn stomps his foot down. It boots the corpses off his blade and tumble into the others, creating a domino effect as the soldiers swiftly come crumbling down.
Ice Queen meanwhile creates her ice claws and lunges at the bulky guards as they reach for their swords. She lands on one of their chests and plunges her blades into its guts at the bending joint, then rips them free at an angle. Its guts spill out at the wound, yet the royal is forced to leap backwards as its comrade lunges with its short blade at her.
She scowls at it, then simply raises a hand and blasts the guard in a burst of ice magic, freezing it solid with a smirk. She walks up to the completely black armoured being with its entrails free and rips the explosives free from its waist, before slicing it neck with her claws. Then she turns to her knight, "Hey Finn!"
He spins around from more of the foes climbing up just as she lobs the explosive device at him, the hero catching it. After a moment of staring, he twists the grey egg shaped device, arming it with a beep as he drops it down the hole. He props up his shield, and not a moment later the hole explodes in fiery hell and shrapnel, some of it bouncing about.
A few ping into him, cutting and burning his skin yet he doesn't flinch, simply getting up and leaping over the smoking hole before more could come. He doesn't want to know what pipes he's just damaged.
He rushes along the path and reaches the console, and swiftly taps the button as it vents the pipe with a hiss. He then taps rhythmically three times against it as he hears the rapid footsteps of more trouble inbound.
Huntress meanwhile sighs inside the pipe, having become worried the moment the sound of fighting had started. She hits her button, the vent opening up and revealing the next pipe as she slides inside, only for the echoes of more fighting to fill her ears. She grimaces, 'You two better make it out alive!'
Ice Queen meanwhile lobs a ball of ice at some shotgunners flanking behind them, letting it explode in a sea of shrapnel. She erects a wall between her and them just as the fragments ping into it, the royal spinning to unleash a stream of ice. It shoots over Finn as he stabs some more worms, the blast striking a skinny cat-like beast and freezing it solid.
It tumbles over mid charge, shattering as the blocks hit an uncaring Finn, who rushes forward as more footsteps come from below. Once again, the floor blows open as more soldiers leap out, yet a swift slash of Finn's nightsword bisects them all. Their bodies slip back down the hole as Finn grabs another by the shoulder just as it climbs up. He rams his weapon through its gut as its flat mask catches all the blood, before booting it off and into another climbing up.
It becomes stunned, then loses its grip as it falls back down the hole, banging its head against the floor as Finn leaps over. Ice Queen peeks over the edge and drops an ice boulder to crush its head like a watermelon. Finn meanwhile slowly and unrelentingly makes his way to the next console, slicing and dicing his foes whenever they appear.
A soldier appears far ahead, crouching as he pulls the trigger on its gun as plasma rains down the hall. Finn raises his tech shield, and the bullets harmless pound into it, yet more banging comes from behind him. More soldiers rush in, they themselves aim their weapons as Ice Queen lunges for Finn. She wraps her firm grasp around him before yanking him to the side, diving them both into a side tunnel.
The soldiers' bullets rip one another apart as they fail to stop firing in time, the duo poking their heads out. Then behind them again came the rapid taps of someone climbing up a ladder, Ice growling as she twists around. She lunges with her ice claws just as they poke their heads up, the royal colliding with her foe.
Her claws fail to puncture the soldier's armoured head, but Ice Queen simply makes her ice claws slide off her hands and cover the soldier's helmet. It flails for a second before its head is completely frozen, becoming an ice cube as its corpse flops back down the ladder. Finn meanwhile pokes his head back outside, only to curse as more plasma burns the area all around him.
They were on both ends and were waiting for them. His queen however takes the charge in the tight tunnels, blasting a beam either side of their T shaped exit. They had cover for a second, both exploiting it as they rushed to their own wall of ice and pressing themselves against it.
Not a moment later the soldiers decide to light the ice up, the super heated plasma melting and shattering the walls. Ice Queen creates another before her, and continually regenerates it as she marches down the tunnel. Finn meanwhile books it, rushing his one foe as he holds his blade defensively, swinging and angling it to block plasma bullet after bullet.
He descends upon his enemy as it mounts a bayonet to its weapon, and stabs at him with its weapon. He simply slides underneath while swinging an arc with his blade at its gut. Unfortunately without a proper stance it fails to have the strength to cut through the armour, but does slam it against the wall.
The hero rises and swiftly grabs the soldier by the head, then throws him to the floor with all his might, making it bounce a little from the impact. Then he swoops his sword over his head, yet it hits the roof in the small tunnels, causing the soldier to dart its hand to its hip. And whip out a small pistol. Finn deliberately falls over backwards as the gun fires at him, missing him as he hits the floor.
Then he flips over and scrambles at the guard as it attempts to crawl away, aiming its weapon at the hero once more. Another blasts of plasma singes the air as it skims by Finn's face, scorching it slightly as he hisses in pain. Good thing he dated Flame Princess. His hand grabs his foes and forces the weapon to aim down at the floor while rearing back his metal arm.
"Drill!" His hand shifts and spins as he brings it down, slamming it onto the skull of the down struggling person. Sparks fly as it drills its way through its metal helmet with a painful metal screech, until finally it tastes flesh as blood flies. Finn pushes his hand inwards until the soldiers stops struggling, going limb beneath him as the hero pants. He rises up, and watches as Ice Queen slowly closes in on her own foes, before he snaps around and rushes towards the panel.
The royal meanwhile smirks as her wall of regenerating ice protects her from harm as she approaches her foes. She could hear the three of them probably call for help as more steps come rushing from down the corridor. With a roll of her neck, her ice shield transforms, growing six large blue tendrils that snap out to her foes. The three guards scream as they are wrapped up, then harshly yanked towards the shield, getting slammed into it hard.
The tendrils hold them tight, pinning them against the wall no matter how hard they struggle. Then massive spikes pierce through them, growing from the shield as they easily penetrate through their armour. They died instantly, before the royal launched the icicles off her shield, carrying the corpses with them as they flew down the hall and into the reinforcements.
As their help dies, she melts the shield with a nod of approval, before hearing a hiss as the venting of gas proceeds. She taps the tube three times, and Huntress crawls forward within, the blue woman sighing as she faces her knight.
And is shocked to see his small wound. She immediately rushes towards him, hopping over the corpses to check on the lightly burned face he has, the hero flinching at her touch, "I'm fine! But they're learning. My one had a bayonet and another smaller gun for close combat."
She grimaces, "They adapt fast then… we've got to keep combat to a minimum." As she utters these words, another one of the worms crawls from the walls and lunges at her. Finn cuts it in half in a blink of an eye, the dissected body slapping against the royal's armour as she flinches a little. "... Thank you, my bear."
More footsteps echo out as the duo grimace, and spin around to face their incoming challenge. Finn charges forward, determined to close the distance in the long line of wires and pipes. He's gaze flicks to every side path and corner that branches off the main one they were on as he sprints by them, then his eyes suddenly widen.
They somehow squeezed one of the heavy gunners into the cramped tunnels. It chuckles as its barrels spin and unleashes its burning hot load at the hero as he swiftly projects his tech shield. The attacks pound into the barrier, unrelentingly barraging as Finn glares and prepares to leap at his foe.
But then his tech shield beeps.
His eyes widen and he immediately yells, "Ice shield!" The spell activates, and he is encased in his blue cocoon as the heavy gunner still pounds the protective bubble. The human glances at his equipment, and sure enough the tech shield shatters, collapsing back in on itself as it beeps and flashes red. Steam pours off it, before the beeping finally stops and the red light fades as the hiss of the machine cooling down fills his bubble. He frowns, 'This has a limit to how much it can take.'
He hears a small bang of objects colliding outside, then a massive thump, causing him to raise an eyebrow and exit his cocoon. Only for Ice Queen to immediately snatch him up and hurriedly check over his body, causing him to push her off, yet she only comes back.
He sighs, "I'm fine! Just found out the barrier needs to recharge between blows." He stares at her, and he can see the worry in her eyes, that glow lightly of magic madness.
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, tapping her tiara lightly, "Right, yes, you can handle yourself." More taps and bangs comes from ahead as her eyes, which have lost their light glow, snap back open. She grimaces as she flexes her fingers, "I used my magic again, and they detected it… I've got to keep it to a minimum."
She reaches down and snatches up Finn's blade, giving him an unrelenting stare, "Stay behind me though, that was way too close."
He snaps to his feet, "Nope-"
She snaps around and glares at him with glowing eyes, the temperature dropping, "YES!" He freezes up, eyes wide as she swiftly spins back around and rushes at the next group without him, her eyes keeping their glow.
The hero eventually snaps out of it, and charges after her, "Weed whacker." He mutters quietly as his arm transforms and starts spinning, watching as she swipes with no finesse with his weapon. He shakes his head and swiftly reinforces her.
He discovers her currently locked with a soldier's bayonet, growling as she and it struggle to push the other back. However, another sneaks up from behind her by silently crawling out of a hole in the floor, raising its gun at her back.
Finn grabs its head and yanks it backwards as he drags his buzzing fingers across its necks, the spinning digits shredding it soft flesh. Ice Queen snaps her head backwards at the noise, her concentration going as the soldier shoves her back.
She stumbles as it aims its rifles at her chest, yet Finn darts around her form and lunges at the armed guard. He slaps the rifle's aim off as he shoulder charges the armoured soldier, the heavy guard swiftly losing balance and dropping like a pile of bricks. Finn swiftly raises his foot, and with all his might slams it down on its head, cracking it with a gruesome crunch.
The man who flips massive monsters like they were nothing takes a step back, and glances at his queen. She immediately wraps him in a hug and spins them around, placing him behind her and letting go before continuing to walk ahead.
The hero blinks, before scowling slightly and storming forward, tapping his queen on her back. She spins around with eyes glowing, "WHAT!?" He gives her a quick kiss on the lips. She stumbles back in slight shock, the hero exploiting it and sliding past her.
She stands stunned, and growls as she twists around to watch him hit the next valve button, the hero bringing his annoyed gaze at her, "Alright, what's got into you?"
She huffs in anger as she overtakes him again, tapping the pipe to signal Huntress, "You're going to get yourself killed." She growls out between grit teeth. "That burn mark on your face and your shield failing in front of a minigun proves it! That dream was telling the truth! You're sticking behind me."
Finn hears her orders, yet does not comply as he grabs her shoulder, "No, I'm not going to die here. I know that dream has you scared, but you've got to realise-" Another worm creature suddenly lunges from the walls, pouncing at him as his hand snaps out and catches it, his weed whacker swiftly killing it, "- I'm more than able to defend myself."
She stops, spins around, and taps his light blue clothes, "You wear those clothes for a reason. You're my knight, you follow my orders… you're my boyfriend, my worries should worry you too." She tells him weakly, then spinning around and listening to the taps of approaching reinforcements with a grimace, her grip on Finn's sword tightening.
The hero himself meanwhile softens his expression, "And I do worry, I do worry that I one day won't be back for you guys. But as you said, I'm your knight: I'm meant to fight for you. So let me do my duty, give me my sword, and let me take the charge."
"No." She growls, and raises his weapon as she charges forward again, watching her foes appear from ahead out of some side path. Four soldiers snap to her, and immediately take aim as she squints at them, rapidly crossing the distance before they could do anything.
She screams as she slashes with his blade, the weapon digging into one of the guards neck before getting stuck. The other's swiftly move to light her up, their guns snapping to her head as her eyes go wide. Luckily Finn rushes to the rescue, shoving her aside as he leaps at the people with his entire body with a yell. He crashes into them, their guns discharging randomly as they all full to the ground, Finn immediately raising a metal hand, "Drill!"
He plunges it into one of the soldier's gut just as the others shove the hero off them, reaching for the weapons. Ice Queen wastes no time and rips her blade free with a deranged grunt of effort, and starts slashing it at them on the floor. They abandon attacking Finn to backpedal away from her, ripping their side arms off their hips and blasting at her.
They hit her dead in the gut as she goes flying back with a scream of pain.
Finn's eyes widen, and he yells a war cry as he snaps to his feet and descends upon the guards, both his hands snapping to their necks. He rips them into the air before slamming them into the environment, smashing their heads into metal again and again.
Finally, he throws the one in his robot arm onto the ground and stomps his foot on its neck to hold it down. Then he pulls his robot arm back, glaring at his other foe. "Drill." He rams his arm into the second soldier's head in his other hand, piercing and shredding the inside of its skull.
He then harshly throws its corpse away, before giving a yell of rage and slamming the deadly arm into the face of the one pinned under him. It writhes in pain as it dies, gruesome squelches and crunches of ripping flesh filling the hero's ear, before the guard goes still.
Finn pants, then immediately rips his arm free and snaps to Ice Queen laying on the ground, three burn marks in her armour. They had gone through, and her burnt flesh was hissing as it was melted by superheated plasma, the hero going wide eyes as tears sat in his eyes.
He rips his bag off and rushes to grab the cyclops tears. They can't heal anything major, or otherwise he would have used them on his missing arm. 'But this wasn't a major injury! She's going to be fine! I just have to apply the tears and she'll be perfectly alright!' His shaky hands pours an ocean of healing liquids onto her wounds as she groans and shakes in pain.
The wounds weakly heal, the burnt holes in her simply becoming scars as his eyes remain wide. He shakes with the bottle in his hand, before snapping it to her still breathing mouth, lifting her head up gently. He pours it inside, letting her swallow the cyclops tears to let it do its magic on any inside wounds she may have.
Eventually, she pushes him away, taking a deep gasp of breath before coughing violently, the hero hearing more footsteps coming. "Ice shield." The blue cocoon forms over them both, he has no time to deal with them as he holds the steady royal in his arms, the woman groaning as she rests in his arms.
Her hands cautiously poke at her healed wounds, "G-Glob that hurt…" Her eyes open, and she stares at the terrified expression of her knight, "I'm fine… I'm fine-" She gasps in pain as her chest flexes with an intake of breath, "Gah!... I think I'm fine… am-... am I fine?"
She asks in worry, making Finn nod desperately, "Yeah yeah! You're fine! I applied tears and everything! You'll be fine! You'll be fine! You'll be fine!..." The cocoon they were in suddenly echoes with heavy thumps as more bullets light them up, the ice barrier doing its job in protecting them.
Ice Queen groans, "Shoot… Huntress. She's still in the tunnel. We still need to help her." She worries, attempting to lift herself up with a grimace, one hand on her healed wounds as she grimaces, "Ow, yep, some muscles are definitely gone… at least they missed my tits." She jokes, a weak smile on her face as she struggles to sit herself up.
Finn shakes his head, "I told you! I told you to leave me to do the charge!" He grasps his blade, clenching tightly around the handle, "You!- you just lay down. I'll leave this bubble, then immediately seal you back up. You're on time out, you just sit here and heal, and you'll be alright." He rises in the cocoon with a grimace. The soldiers were still attacking them.
He can't drop the ice bubble around them, so with a worried expression gasps his queen tightly, and pulls her firmly against his chest. Then with a grunt he throws himself to the side just as he drops the ice cocoon, the barrier disappearing as he throws himself down the side path. He spins to make sure he hits the ground first, keeping his precious queen safe atop him, before gently yet swiftly putting her on the floor.
Then he stands and waits at the edge of the tunnel, his hate filled gaze waiting for his prey to step into view. Sure enough, they brainlessly chase after them, the first of what appears to be six men turning the corner and running into their tunnel. They were met with an enraged Finn. He starts swinging before they could even start shooting, butchering them mercilessly as limbs, blood, and screams fill the air.
In less than a few seconds, their minced bodies lay bleeding on the floor as Finn pants slightly, and spins around to attend to his girlfriend. He discovers her standing up with a slight grimace, leaning on the wall as she swiftly raises an arm at him in a halting motion, "Stop! I'm fine! Don't. Put. Me. In. A bubble." She says sternly, before wobbling her way over to him, "I… I am not sitting here and doing nothing. Let's move to the next panel, we've done all we've can for now, there's nothing more can be done for me."
Finn shakes his head, "There is though, I can put you in the cocoo-" She shoots the very spell at him, the ice bubble freezing around him as she smirks slightly, listening to his muffled complaints. She waddles past him, and hits the button on the panel, venting the tunnel of gas before banging the gas pipe.
She then turns back to her knight, and frees him from his cage, the extremely annoyed man being revealed. She chuckles lightly, "I can handle myself… these injuries are bad, but they've been healed for now, I'm not dying… just crippled. We're going to need stronger magic to heal me though. I'm going to have to be more defensive and hang back, but I won't be gone completely." She suddenly uses one hand to grab his shoulder and practically snarls in his face, "If you promise that you yourself will stay safe as well!"
He doesn't flinch, "You're worrying too much about your dream," He says bluntly. "And not enough about yourself."
"I could say the exact same thing about you!" She snaps back.
Finn sighs, "Look, you're injured… just stay hidden, and defend yourself if you must, don't go seeking a fight."
She scowls weakly, raising an eyebrow cheekily a moment later, "You know if I descend into magic madness I could just level this place, right? How about I just do that and we all go home, then we can attend to our wounds?" She suggests, her hand gently stroking his slight burn as he flinches at the pain.
He shakes his head, "Yeah, and probably destroy whatever it is that's creating our air, kill Martin, put massive stress on your injured body, and likely piss off that Hekate woman." He pushes her into sitting on the floor, "You just stay here and fight if anyone gets close… actually… where are they?" He suddenly questions, his head rising as he glances around. There was no one else around.
Ice Queen moans in pain, "They're likely preparing a trap for you. Don't go." She pleads, gripping his shoulders tightly.
Finn merely leans forward and plants a kiss onto her lips, "I promise to you, I'll stay safe, I'll come back." He rises up, standing tall as he faces down the hall, discovering very little remains as it paths off around a corner, "But I have to get Huntress through this as well." He gives her one last longing glance, "I love you." With that, the royal's dashing hero rushes away to do his duty and face whatever this prison has planned for him with an unbreakable will.
Ice Queen groans as she watches him leave, then takes in a massive deep breath, "I love you too!"
Finn meanwhile keeps his eyes ahead as he turns the corner, and rushes down the final stretch, the hero seeing a drop ahead. And muck. He has no idea what the disgusting stuff is, or what he's about to get into, but those four words from his love spurs him onwards.
He taps the gas pipe Huntress was in once, "Hey honey! You still in there!? Can you hear me!?"
He gets a bang back, "Yes! What's wrong!"
He sighs, "Ice Queen… Sarah took a hit, she's fine but is hanging back. When I hit the final valve, I've got to rush back for her."
"Who did it? I'm going to mount their heads."
He shakes his head, "I've already killed them, but they seem to be able to track magic, or maybe the amount of noise we make. It's why she got hit, she was trying to keep her spells down to a minimum and tried fighting with my sword." He glances at the path again, "But what I'm really here to say is that it looks like we're about to go down a drop, I think we're nearly there."
"That's good to hear, I'm too slow in here… and I'll keep my spells to a minimum then, you still got you bow?"
"I do… but there's this muck out here, like a dark red. It's just appeared out of nowhere and seems to be coming from the hole I'm about to go down… it honestly looks like the snake-worm guys I fought out here." He informs her, prodding the stuff coating the walls and floors with his blade. "Not to mention that security has suddenly stopped coming."
Huntress remains silent. "Finn, I think you might be about to step into a hive of some infestation." She informs him with worry, tapping the side of her pipe as if she was seeking a way out to him.
Finn simply stands there. "Oh crud." He stands up tall, and glances about, "Well… here's to hoping I can get out of it quickly." He says as he struts forward, 'I'm not even going to risk anything getting near Sarah… I'm going to need to clear this place out.'
He drops down the hole, which he swiftly realises was actually meant to be floor but something had eaten away at it, and stares down the long tunnel covered in who knows what. He takes a step forward into the dark red goop, and grimaces slightly at the squelch it made, yet keeps marching on as he wields his blade close to his chest. Something had to stop those reinforcement from arriving.
Sure enough, just ahead on the floor was a plasma shotgun, pristine and new, calmly laying on the ground as he cautiously pokes it, watching it spin uncaringly on the floor. 'Well, I know what happened to the next batch of guards… yet with how heavily coated this place is, I don't think they came from the walls in here…' He grimaces, 'Something dragged them in.'
He snaps his gaze about, yet finds nothing hidden in the shadows so far. He cautiously moves forward all on his own, his eyes drifting up to his left, still able to see the pipe Huntress was in thanks to simply how far the tunnel has excavated. Something he was actually kind of grateful for, seeing how he now had room to dodge and swing his sword about. But that also means whatever made this tunnel was big.
He slowly crawls deeper, eyes darting to the slight shifting the constant goo was doing, as if the place itself was alive and breathing. He hairs stand on end, his senses screaming at him to retreat to safety, yet onwards he pushes on, twisting around smooth corners long since grinded down by whatever lived here. Then he spots something resting on the floor again, and carefully makes his way over to it, gripping his sword tightly to his chest.
It was a husk of some maggot, though the size of his hand. He trudges on cautiously, 'Likely from these worm snake things… which mean I'm in their kids area, so… where's mama?'
Suddenly the walls shift around him, and more of the serpent creatures come slithering out of the walls. Their four jaws part filled with razor sharp teeth parting to hiss demonically at him, then their spiky body shooting towards the hero. He wastes no time and swings an arc in front of him as he butchers two of them in one swing. Following his momentum he carries the attack on, swiping behind him to cut one down. Then he leaps forward to create space between him and them.
Spinning around, he watches as six more come shooting towards them, and waits. They lunge for him, and he swiftly darts to the side as they fly past him, all the while swinging his blade upwards. Three of them get hit as their spiky forms are split in two, while the other trio hit the floor. Following up his attack, he brings his sword back down in a slam, guillotining them all into little pieces.
He hurriedly stands up and scans his eyes around for more of the little pests, but it seems no more were resting nearby. He sighs, and grimaces, 'I'm at the entrance still, which means the majority will be in the heart of this place.' He trudges forward with his sword raised, sitting in the perfect defensive position, 'Here's to hoping I don't have to go too deep.'
Huntress bangs on her pipe, making him jump and look up at her tube sitting high above him. She calls out, "I'm at my end! Have you vented the gas yet!?" He blinks, and looks around again.
There's no working consoles, whatever made this massive tunnel shattered the machine as the broken control panel hanged from the ceiling in a web of wires. "... Not yet, and I don't know if I can. Just give me a minute." With that, Huntress remains silent, letting the hero do his work. She trusts him.
He meanwhile stands below the panel, then starts jumping with his hands raised, grunting as he attempts to at least touch the machine. After failing miserably for twenty seconds, he finally glances at his environment for a solution, and stares at the wall just below where the panel would usually be attached to. Pulling his sword back, he rams it into the wall, the blade sinking into the goop covered metal and becoming stuck. He swiftly darts back in case he hits some wire or gas pipe, but after nothing happens he swiftly hops onto his makeshift platform.
He reaches up again, and pulls the panel towards him. A skeleton covered in goop falls from the ceiling. Finn freezes and stares at it, then at the hole in which the panel used to sit, the hole where it came from.
A massive worm suddenly shoots out as Finn falls off his sword in surprise, a yelp escaping him. He hits the goo covered floor, and discovers simply how sticky it was as it attempts to hold him down.
Still, he has enough might to rip himself up, just not fast enough as the massive spiky creature the size of him lunges at its new prey. Its tooth filled maw spreads open wide as Finn snaps his metal arm at it, "Drill!" He gives an impromptu dentist appointment as his metal hand shreds its maw, causing it to jolt back in pain.
He gets up fully, and grabbing it by one of its spikes, starts plunging his metal arm into its skull as it struggles in pain. The hero is forced to constantly shift and twist as its spiky body tries wrapping around him, until it finally goes limp.
He pants, then lets go of the creature, staring at it with a grimace, "They get bigger." He notes before shaking his head and focusing back on the nymph trapped in the gas pipe, hoping back on his sword and grabbing the hanging panel again. A moment later of hitting the red button, and the gas getting vented, he taps the metal to signal Huntress before moving on.
He rips his sword free of the wall, then starts to march further down the tunnel, 'There's only two left, and Huntress in on the other side. She can blast the wall, I can grab polar, and then we can move on.' He plans, twisting to take one last glance at the big worm creature he killed. '... How big do they get?'
Meanwhile, with Ice Queen, she huffs as she rests against the pipes and wires that make the walls around her, clutching her injured chest. 'Be safe you two… there's got to be a way to heal this wound, I mean, the pain is fading! I can protect them again soon! That dream won't come true!' She thinks hopefully, grunting to lift herself up to a stand, only to groan in pain again as her gut spasms in agony and she flops back down. She huffs in annoyance, but she suddenly hears a noise.
She snaps her head around, her hands raising to unleash her magic. Then the spiky worm creatures wrap around her, pin her limbs that were protected by her armour, and drag her deeper into the citadel before she could even scream.
Chapter end
So, our trio is split, Finn descends into a hive alone, Huntress is in a pipe, and Ice Queen is wounded… and now taken.
I would say Ice Queen would be a damsel in distress that our dashing hero needs to save… but let's be honest here, she can handle her own, even if she is wounded.
Now, originally, I was going to have IQ shot in the leg, but after my latest health developments, I know what injury to the gut feels like, thus, I'm putting it into this with personal experience on what it feels like. Always find the good and advantages in the negative and difficultly!
I actually planned for the pipe thing to be finished this chapter, but I realised that I am going to need a whole chapter for the next one, so sorry if it got repetitive in this one. And man am I apparently gotten rusty at writing fight scenes, especially when there isn't really much that can be done with guns… I guess I've got to spice them up a little ;)
Review response:
The Book of Eli, on FF, chapter 49:
Yeah, I hope I'm healing as well XD. The trio's situation I think has just become a tad worse as well, but yeah they're in for some action. Yeah, I nice little crazy mix of foes for them to face, it's definitely going to put them on edge as they battle them all. Finn beating and Hekate simply because he's swift on his feet? Who knows, might work, might be torn apart by the strongest powers in the universe. But yeah, if he were to fight her, he would do something that Ice Queen didn't. AAA will likely have fun with their own chaos storm indeed, but I'm not really sure how to show these fights at the same time, do I split a chapter to show both or do I do one arc then a flash back and write the other? I shall wait serious impatience for the pm!
prager152, on FF, chapter a fuckton:
So many I've sent pms and I don't want to double the size of this chapter just posting them.
FinalKingdomHearts, on FF, chapter 49:
Already writing it!