Beneath a grey and cloudy sky and in front of a ruined supermarket where trash and empty shopping carts were littered around aplenty, a duo of young girls stood firmly staring at the sign which had fallen to the ground. "Alright, Marcy, remember what we talked about?" Asked the older blue skinned and white haired girl in a serious tone as she narrowed her eyes.
The younger girl with gray skin and black hair nodded calmly. "Stay close and be lookout for oozers while you look for stuff." She said with a serious expression.
Diligence nodded as she took a nearby shopping cart. "And be stealthy. Always check the road ahead BEFORE moving." She added before the half demon nodded prompting the duo to silently entered the supermarket hiding behind the cart. "Alright, first things first, let's find some canned veggies. With some luck, they wouldn't be spoiled." Whispered the ice elemental as she eyed the inside of the building for dangers with Marceline adorably mimicking her. "Coast is clear. Operation Beanstalk is in order."
The duo tip toed through the supermarket with absolute silence, until the ice elemental saw a certain item on display. Diligence gasped in excitement, causing Marceline to turn to her friend in a panic before seeing the ice elemental with mushrooms in her hands. Marceline tilted her head in confusion. "Mushrooms?" She asked curiously.
"Not just any mushrooms! Edible supermarket mushrooms!" Replied Diligence with a bright smile as she quickly took a plastic bag off the floor and started filling it with mushrooms. "They're easy and really fast to grow." She said as she pulled a mushroom from the bag and held it in front of Marceline's face. Marceline grabbed the mushroom before Diligence continued. "We just take it apart, put it in some dirt and spray it with some water. Then boom! Easy farm. Expert level street urchin trick right there." She said before frowning as she placed the bag inside the shopping cart and Marceline put the mushroom in her pocket. "Just never put them in a park or else they might get taken away." She said bitterly with a deep frown as she zoned out.
Marceline's eyes sparkled at the seemingly great piece of information. "Woah!" She exclaimed excitedly, bringing the ice elemental back to reality. "What else do you know?" She asked cheerfully, causing the ice elemental to flush blue with in embarrassment at the girl's admiration.
Diligence rubbed the back of her neck with a small smile before speaking. "Oh. Hehe." She muttered as a fuzzy feeling spread inside her body. "Well, I guess I could teach you some other stuff." She said before a big smile spread across her face. "Y-yeah! I'll teach you everything I know!" She said placing her hands on her hips proudly. Quickly, she noticed a box of chicken soup mixture next to her. "Did you know chicken soup helps with fevers?" She asked throwing the box in their cart.
"Cool!" Marceline stared at Diligence with starry eyes as she took in the information, causing the ice elemental to smile proudly before the she spoke once again. "How does it do it?" She asked cheerfully.
"I don't kn-" the ice elemental said before covering her mouth. Diligence froze with nervous widened eyes. "I DEFINITELY know this. It's uhhhh-" a sound of confusion left her mouth as a nervous bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. Her eyes darted around for any answer before her gaze fell onto her hand and her blue skin. "M-magic! It works with magic! Yeah!" She said, causing the younger girl to giggle cheerfully. Diligence laughed along before the duo started heading towards the canned veggies section with smiles on their faces. However, all of a sudden, an oozer stepped into their path. The two froze in their tracks and shut their mouths tight as they saw the oozer. They quickly hid behind the nearest shelf before Diligence started staring at the oozer intently.
"We should go around-" muttered the ice elemental as she stared at Marceline holding the hem of her skirt worriedly. She stared at Marcy intently for a few seconds before flashing a smug smile to the girl. She grabbed a nearby box of oat meal and spoke. "Hey, Marcy, check this out." Diligence quickly threw the box into a far away stack of cans of tomato soup, causing a loud sound that attracted the oozer before grabbing Marceline's hand quickly rushing past the distracted oozer with their shopping cart in tow. "What a dum dum. Am I right, Marcy?"
Marceline giggled at Diligence's words, causing the ice elemental to giggle along. "C'mon, let's go pack up these cans." Said the snow haired girl cheerfully as she took a can of beans off the shelf. The two started shoving canned veggies off the shelf aplenty until deemed enough. "Hmm. We could go back," she said before turning to the half demon girl. "or we could risk it for some canned meat."
Marceline went silent. "We should go back. What if those things find us?" She asked worriedly, causing Diligence to go silent. The ice elemental turned to their shopping cart which had enough food to last them quite a while before turning to Marceline. A thousand calculating thoughts swirled inside the ice elemental's head before suddenly being silenced.
"Psh! C'mon! We can take care of those bozos. Have you seen how dumb they are?" She asked with a confident smile before she ruffled the worried little girl's hair. "Relax. We'll be in and out in a minute." With their choice locked in place, the two girls headed towards the shelf with the cans of meat only to be met with multiple oozers blocking their path. Marceline gripped Diligence's dress in fear before the ice elemental flashed a smug smile. She quickly grabbed a nearby item, planning to do the same trick as before.
But as it flew in the air, an oozer stepped between her and the stack of items Diligence planned to hit. Both Marceline and the ice elemental's eyes widened and their jaws fell in shock as the item cleanly hit the monster in the side of the head. The oozer turned to their location with a deep growl. The duo quickly hid behind their cart, hoping to not get seen as they waited for the worst. But it never came. "Phew. Like I said: dum dums." Said Diligence before noticing an oozer staring right at them. "Marcy, run. Now!"
Without hesitation, Marceline started running as Diligence took the shopping cart and pulled it with her as she followed little Marcy. The two ran together towards the entrance as the oozers followed them with Diligence lagging behind as she dragged around the weight of their groceries. "Leave the cart!" Exclaimed Marceline worriedly.
"What!" Exclaimed Diligence with an angry expression and a deep frown as she continued to run with the cart. "No! Our food's in there!" She snapped as the oozers creeped up behind her as she ran. She quickly pointed her palm towards the oozers with a scowl and yelled. "Ice powers go!" Nothing happened, causing the ice elemental to frown harder. "Dang useless power!" She grumbled before she heard a scream ahead. Her head snapped to the source of the scream to see Marceline on the ground as an oozer loomed over her. "MARCY!" The ice elemental yelled in a panic before she turned to the shopping cart and quickly threw one of canned vegetables at the oozer threatening the little girl, hitting it in the head.
The attack only slowed the oozer for so long before it focused back on Marceline. Diligence looked around her for any answer before with widened eyes and grit teeth until she admitted what had to be done. The ice elemental quickly grabbed a vegetable can and a box of chicken soup mix from the cart before kicking it towards the oozers as hard as she could before dashing towards her little companion. Diligence raised the canned vegetables high in the air as she jumped towards the oozer before smacking the monster in the head as hard as she could with the can. "MARCY! RUN!" Yelled Diligence after the oozer fell to the ground from the attack before quickly trying to get up only for the ice elemental to smack it once again before running away and putting the chicken soup mix in her vest to keep it place as well as throwing the new deformed can of veggies at the swarm of oozers.
The two girls ran as fast as they could, panting for breath as the oozers relentlessly followed them to no end. However, the entrance was just in sight. It was a race between who'd reach their target first and the two girls seemed to be losing. Marceline glanced behind her and her eyes widened as fear overtook her little heart. She tried to run faster but her tiny body failed her. Diligence saw this and quickly aimed her palm behind her downwards. "C'mon. C'mon. Please! Snow! Snow! SNOW!" Without warning, a powerful burst of wind shot out of Diligence's palms sending her flying into Marceline and taking the two of them out of the supermarket. Without letting herself catch her breath, Diligence quickly grabbed a metal bar from nearby broken shopping cart and put it over the entrance handles, effectively locking the door.
Both girls quickly began to relax and started catching their breath. "Are...we safe?" Asked Marceline in between pants as the exhaustion caught up to her. Suddenly, loud knocking came from the entrance as dozens of oozers swarmed the transparent door vigorously trying to catch them. The two girl screamed for their lives at the top of their lungs before fleeing the terrifying scene with their exhausted bodies. Only once they were near a ruined doll shop away from the supermarket and any oozers did the two girls finally stop. Marceline let out a sigh of relief before she heard a quiet sob. She quickly turned to its source to see tears falling down Diligence's cheeks. "Hey, it's okay. We're safe now!" The half demon said trying to cheer her up.
"*hic* it's not that. I-...i messed up." Replied Diligence slamming her fists into the pavement. "*Sniff* We had enough food for weeks and I RUINED IT! *Sob* Now all we have is this stupid box of chicken soup!" She yelled tearfully as she pulled the box out of her vest before curling up into a ball on the cold pavement. "It felt nice to have someone who looks up to you. It made me feel important. I wanted you to think I was cool, but I flunked it like an idiot!"
Marceline approached the crying ice elemental silently before giving her a small nudge as she pulled something out of her pocket. "We still got this!" She said showing Diligence a single mushroom. "We can still make a farm just like you said." She continued cheerfully causing the ice elemental's tears to stop. Diligence sniffed as she stared at the mushroom before letting out a small smile. The ice elemental's eyes fell the nearby doll shop.
"Yeah." Diligence said wiping her tears away with her hands before gesturing towards the doll shop. "Hey. How about you go pick yourself something nice from over there? As a treat." Marceline's eyes sparkled before she headed towards the doll shop and started rummaging around. Meanwhile, Diligence stared at her hand that wasn't holding chicken soup mix and her lips quivered. Snapping her out of her trance was Marceline tapping her side.
"Dilly, Look!" She cheerfully said holding up a doll Diligence knew very well. "His name is Hambo!"
Diligence smiled softly. "Welcome to the squad, Hambone."
"No!" Exclaimed Marceline with a pout causing Diligence to raise a brow. "Not Hambone. Hambo!" The ice elemental smirked mischievously as she stared at the pouting little girl.
"Okay, Himbo."
"Hambo!"
"Sure thing, Bambo."
The angry yet adorable expression that adorned little Marcy's face sent Diligence into a fit of laughter that seemed to quell to fury of the half demon.
xxxxxxXxxxxxx
Later that night in an abandoned apartment littered with dust, Diligence sat on a red couch as Marceline slept next to her under a blue blanket with her new stuffed friend.
The elemental let out a dejected sigh before she stared at her hands. "All this power and no way to use it. They make it look so easy in the show." She muttered bitterly before her eyes widened as an idea flew into her head. The girl quickly got off the couch and rummaged around the apartment until she found a pencil and a piece of paper. On the piece of paper she used the pencil to draw a circle before splitting into 4 equal quarters. Diligence hurried back to the couch before she brought the drawing to her face stared at intently. Quickly, she began to feel sleepy. She closed her eyes, letting the sleepiness take her away.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in an empty void standing on a circular platform made of ice and in front of her was a being with large white owl like hair and a white bushy beard as well as a long nose and bird like legs. The being wore deep blue robes and was staring at Diligence with a deep frown.
Under the heavy pressure of the being's gaze, Diligence could only nervously say one thing. "Sir Urgence Evergreen, I need your help."
xxxxxxXxxxxxx
Hope this chap was good cause I was sick while making it.
Toodles.