Chapter 22


A blur of color flew high over the moon lit sky of Ooo. Jake, Lady Rainicorn, BMO, Peace Master, and Huntress Wizard had been following the trail of the machine for days. The trail still showed clearly through Peace Master's Wizard's eye charm that it was still traveling within a parallel realm to their own.

"The tracks are still moving north east!" Peace Master announced as he peered through his Wizard's eye charm. "It shows no deviation from its course!"

"But do you think we are getting closer?" Lady asked as she looked over her shoulder. "We have been going in a straight line for days and have seen nothing!"

Peace Master rolled his eyes as he kept looking through his charm.

"My charm only shows the tracks that the machine has left; it can't see what it still too far away!" he shouted up to Lady.

"The hunt continues then." Huntress Wizard spoke, as she flew parallel to Lady in her hawk form. "Though I admit that I am growing uneasy."

"I think we all are." Jake responded as he thought back to what they had found at their last puzzle piece left by the kidnappers. Their friends were hurt, that much they knew, but they might still be able to save them. They just had to find them in time.

Jake looked out over the night sky, looking for a sign of…anything. Anything that might show if they were getting closer to their friends. Jake's ear twitched as he heard something over the sound the wind. It was subtle, like a small rumble of thunder.

"You heard it too, didn't you?" Huntress Wizard asked Jake as she flew closer to him.

Jake grew and morphed his ear out to hear better. The sounds were distant, but steady, almost rhythmic. He couldn't place the sounds though. It didn't sound like anything he had heard before.

"What do you hear?" BMO asked as they peered over Lady's head, looking out over the horizon.

"I don't know." Jake answered as he tried to listen more. "Thunder maybe, or rain?"

"Thunder, rain?" Peace Master repeated with a scowl. "There isn't a cloud for miles."

Jake's face suddenly contorted in anguish as the subtle sounds suddenly became ear splittingly loud. Huntress Wizard also hissed as her ears rang too. She was forced to changed back into her true form as the sound rattled her in brain violently. Peace Master lunged and grabbed the falling Huntress and pulled her back up onto Lady's back.

"What form of wickedness is this?!" he shouted as he peered through his charm.

"Everyone, look!" Lady shouted as she pointed towards the horizon. "I think I see lightning!"

Jake shook the ringing out of his head before morphing his eyes into a pair of binoculars. He looked further ahead and saw something that made no sense to him. Far out on the horizon was a what looked like a cloud of orange and red sparks, snapping and dancing in a cloud of black smoke. Suddenly the sparks began to surge and arch violently out in every direction. The orange lightning was branching out from a rapidly growing center of orange and red energy.

"Have you guys ever seen a storm that looks like that?!" he shouted over the wind that was suddenly starting to pick up speed.

"No storm I've ever seen in my travels has ever appeared from nowhere!" Peace Master shouted as he clung to Lady and his hat as the wind began to howl.

"Nor on any of my hunts!" Huntress shouted as the shock from the sound wore off. "But this storm can't be natural!"

"I think we should get lower to the ground!" BMO advised as the orange bolts of lightning began to arch across the darkening sky. "Lightning is bad for me!"

"And me!" Lady shouted as she began to spiral down from the sky.

"Curses, we are so close!" Peace Master shouted as he clung to Lady's back. "Are they are trying to shake us off?!"

Jake stretched his eyes out further as he tried to get a closer look at the epicenter of the storm. It was growing, and growing fast. Thick black clouds rolled out and the lightning strikes grew more numerous. Suddenly, the center of the storm began to brighten, and shrink in size, growing brighter as it did.

"It's…shrinking?" Jake asked as he looked closer. "That math don't add up."

He looked again, and sure enough, the center of the storm was shrinking. At least, that's how it appeared. But after looking at it more, Jake realized that it wasn't getting smaller, it was condensing, growing stronger. Huntress's hunter senses began to scream at her. It felt like something was locking its teeth around her neck!

"To the ground!" she shouted at Lady as she yanked Jake back down. "Now, before it's too late!"

"Before what is too late?!" Peace Master shouted as he clung for dear life at Lady's sudden plunge.

There was a bright flash of light. All sound seemed to silence for just a fleeting moment. The silence was shattered by a massive wall of black smoke clouds that rolled over the horizon like a great terrible monster. Lady hit the ground and coiled around everyone just as the wall of smoke rolled over them with the force of a hurricane. Her mane blew violently in the wind as she tried her hardest to stay on the ground. But she began to feel her body slip. Jake morphed through her coils and enveloped them all with his body, shielding them from the storm. He yelped as orange lightning struck and tore up the ground around him as the storm raged.

"Hang on everybody!" he shouted as debris began to tumble and break against his body.

Lady coiled tighter around her friends as Jake fought against the storm. The thunder was deafening and the wind was vicious. Huntress Wizard covered her ears as the sound from before tore into her head again, this time even stronger.

"It hurts!" she shouted as she pressed her hands even harder against her ears, practically smashing them against her palms.

BMO cowered and hid their face against Lady's body while Peace Master tried to keep on a brave face.

"What do you hear, wizard?" he asked over the roar of the wind. "What are hearing that we can't?"

Huntress ground her teeth as she tried to focus on the source of the ear ripping sound. But it was all too overwhelming for her.

"Metal!" she shouted as she pressed her head against Lady's body. "It sounds like grinding metal!"

"Then the machine is close!" Peace Master shouted as he clung to his bag of charms. "We must pursue them before they slip away again!"

"That's a no-go PM!" Jake shouted over the howling wind. "The storm is too strong to fly through!"

Huntress let out a pained shriek as her ears were assaulted by new sounds. It was like someone was drilling into her eardrums. No, not drilling, sawing.

"Something is cutting into our world!" she shouted as she pulled her hat over her ears as tight as she could. Anything to block out the horrible sounds. Her blood ran cold as something else rose over the cacophony. Screaming, so, so much screaming.

Jake strained his eyes as he tried to look through the raging storm. Through the wind and the rain, he could see the clouds begin to move away from them, but not how a storm should move naturally. It looked as if something was dragging the storm clouds with it as it moved. The rain and wind relented as the storm began to move further away. Jake morphed back to his normal size as he hopped to the ground.

"I think we are good for now." He stated as the others crawled out from under Lady's coils.

Huntress groaned as she stood up uneasily, her head still pounding.

"Our prey is close." She said as she held her head, still dazed. "We must pursue them."

"The storm will hinder our efforts, but I agree." Peace Master stated as he tightened his eye bandages. "We may not get another chance as like this."

"We can still fly; we will just need to stay close to the ground." Lady spoke up as she stretched over next to Jake. "There is still too much lightning to fly higher up."

"Come on! We have to save our friends!" BMO exclaimed as they climbed onto Lady's back. "There is no time to lose!"

Jake nodded his head as he stretched over and held onto Lady's back.

"Alright, let's go find our peeps!" he shouted as Lady coiled back and sprang through the air.

The ground passed by in a blur as Lady flew low to the ground, still cautious of the lightning that still danced in the sky. Huntress narrowed her eyes as she enhanced her vision. She could see the angry spiral of clouds as it rolled over the horizon. And in its wake, thick one-hundred-foot-wide gashes split the ground.

"The tracks are visible again!" she shouted as she pointed them out to the others. "It is in our realm again!"

"Hang on guys, we're coming for ya!" Jake shouted as he clung to Lady as she flew faster.

Lady twisted and coiled through the air as fast as she could. Only slowing down for the occasional bolt of lightning or chunk of debris that was thrown from the still distant storm. The wall of black clouds seemed so close, yet still so far out of reach.

"Look out!" Huntress shouted as she pulled on Lady's mane. Lady twisted to the left just as a giant industrial blade flew from the spiral of clouds and tore into the ground.

"Oh, Flip!" Jake exclaimed as he looked back towards the storm as more debris hurtled through the air. Lady bobbed and weaved as she avoided the deadly rain of nails, axe blades, pitch forks, and knives. This wasn't just the random junk a storm picks up on its own, someone or something was seeding the storm with this debris.

"They are trying to shake us off!" Huntress shouted as she ran over Lady's back and leaped into the air, transformed into a giant hawk.
She dove towards the ground as she avoided more debris that smashed into the ground, sending chunks of concrete flying around them. Peace Master rummaged through his charm sack before pulling out a small charm that looked like a turtle shell. He held it up to his forehead and muttered an incantation. The charm glimmered green before a large turtle shell materialized above them.

"Stay under the shell!" he shouted as a chunk of concrete shattered against the shell. BMO and Jake huddled under the shell as more debris rained from the sky. Peace Master flinched as a ball of tangled razor wire smashed against the shell.

Huntress Wizard dodged and wove as more rusty saw blades zipped through the air. Her ears twitched as she heard something fast approaching from the cloud. It sounded like…screams. She looked up and saw a playground carousel hurtling through the air like a frisbee, with people chained to it.

"Jake, catch them!" she shouted as the carousel quickly closed the distance.

"Oh flip!" Jake exclaimed as he stretched his body to form a huge cushion.

The carousel slammed into Jake's body, stretching it as the force of the collision was absorbed as best as he could. Lady, not expecting the sudden added weight crashed to the ground, sending everyone flying off of her. Huntress dove to the ground and changed back to her human form. Peace Master hit the ground with his charm shield taking most of the impact, shattering it in the process. Lady managed to grab BMO and shield them from the worst of the impact. Jake let out a loud, pained groan as the carousel slammed and pinned him to the ground.

"Ow, my guts." He moaned as he morphed out from underneath it.

Jake gasped as he finally got to see who was chained to the carousel. Peppermint Butler, Lollipop girl, and Cherry Cream Soda. Chained up along side them were the dead bodies of Dr. Dextrose, one of Princess Bubblegum's lab assistants, a banana guard, and the old captain of the Banana Guards.

"Oh, my Glob!" Jake shouted in horror as his eyes fell upon the mangled bodies of the three candy people. "Their freaking dead!"

Lady gasped in horror and quickly covered BMO's eyes. Peace Master grimaced and held his hat over his chest in respect. Huntress Wizard stared angrily at the scene before her. This was not an honorable end to suffer. The ones they were pursuing were no hunters, they were killers, without honor.

Peppermint Butler coughed as air filled their lungs again, startling the group. Lollipop girl gagged as she threw up while Cherry Cream Soda let out a terrified squeal.

"No more! No more!" she screamed as she tugged against her chains.

Lollipop girl screamed as she too began to struggle against her chains.

"I don't want to die!" she screamed. "I don't want to die!"

Peppermint Butler coughed again as their eyes flickered open.

"Sir Jake!" he exclaimed happily. "It is so very good to see you!"

"Hold on guys, I'll get you outta there!" Jake shouted as he morphed his hands around the chains. With a loud snap, the chains were broken and the captives were free. Lollipop girl and Cherry Cream huddled together as they babbled and sobbed words of praise and thanks.

"Well, we have found one of our missing people." Peace Master spoke as he examined the dead bodies. "But we were not told that others had been kidnapped."

"Ah, greetings Peace Master." Peppermint Butler spoke. "And to you as well, Lady Rainicorn and Huntress Wizard."

Peace Master scowled and pulled his hat back over his head, staring daggers at Peppermint Butler. He had not forgotten, nor forgiven what he had done to his children. Huntress picked up Peppermint Butler and held them up to her face.

"Where is Finn?" she asked firmly. "Have you seen him?"

Peppermint sighed sadly and shook his head.

"No, but her majesty Princess Bubblegum is still being held prisoner." He answered as he pointed towards the storm that was slipping away over the horizon. "Please, you must hurry. Who knows what her captors are doing to her!"

Huntress scowled and dropped Peppermint on the ground. Peace Master was right, their prey was trying to throw them off, and it had worked. Her keen eyes saw something glimmer inside the mangled torso of the banana guard. With a scowl, she dug her hands into the pulped torso and pulled out another cassette tape.

"Another tape." She stated as she wiped the candy gore off of it and tossed it to BMO.

The little robot caught the tape and gave it a hesitant look.

"Play it!" Huntress ordered. "We are running out of time."

BMO hesitated, but then found the courage they needed and placed the tape in the tape player slot. Just as before, their screen flickered white as a loud crackle of static burst from their speakers. The static snapped to the image of the white-faced dummy. Just as before, its head slowly turned towards the camera.

"Congratulations. You have found the last piece of your puzzle and are now one final step towards finding your friends.
Though, do know that there has been a set back on their path towards redemption."

The screen cut to a clip of the group's fail escape plan, then cut to a collection of pictures of all four of them. Princess Bubblegum aiming a shotgun at Marceline, and Finn and Flame Princess laying bleeding out on the floor. The screen cut back to the dummy, its eyes glowing ominously.

"Their attempts at breaking the rules of the game have led them to their current state. They have proven to be very resistant to the healing process, and as a result have been set to take place in their final game. Their last game we determine if they have the final piece to their own puzzles. The clock is ticking for them. You still cannot save them, you never could. They can only save themselves. Will you continue your pursuit, or will you trust that my methods will work? The choice is yours."

BMO's speakers crackled as smoke puffed out from their plastic insides as ribbons of cassette tape spilled out from their player slot.

A heavy sense of dread ran through the group's veins. They knew that their friends were still alive, but they didn't know for how much longer. Time was running out for them.

Huntress Wizard leaped into the air and turned herself into her hawk form.

"We must hurry!" she shouted as she flew after the now distant storm. "Time is not on our side!"

Jake grabbed BMO and jumped onto Lady's back.

"Hey, what about you guys?" he asked as he looked back over towards Peppermint Butler, Lollipop girl, and Cherry Cream Soda.

Peppermint waved at them we an urgent look in his eyes.

"I will get them home; you go and save Finn and the others!" he shouted as he waved them off.

Peace Master scowled as he hopped onto Lady's back.

"Make hast then!" he shouted as he clung to his hat firmly. "And let us hope that we have not wasted too much time!"

Lady coiled back like a spring and bolted through the air with a loud sonic boom. Peppermint watched as the group quickly vanished over the horizon.

"Please, do hurry." He stated grimly as he looked over at the bodies of his fellow subjects.

Dread clung to his heart as his mind raced at all the horrible possibilities of what was in store for the princess. If what he experienced was anything to go by, then things would only be worse for her and her friends.

"You need to win your game, Princess." He muttered to himself. "No matter the cost."


One Final Game Remains.

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