Family

Chapter 488 Future Training

By: Major144

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.

In the months that followed, Bubblegum went through some serious planning, building, and training. Bubblegum spent time with Chicle, Lolly, G2, Neddy, and Peridot fine tuning and modifying her Battle Ready Armor as well as constructing a vehicle to take them across Ooo to the free and independent territories to speak to the leaders and ask for help. The vehicle had to be strong and durable as well as light and quick. It would be equipped with stealth technology and defensive and offensive mechanisms. Bubblegum enjoyed spending time with her son and was very surprised and pleased that he was very skilled with tech.

Bubblegum spent time training and improving her Elemental powers with Serenity, O, and X. Serenity created several ice sculptures of Gumbald and a few of his underlings and they had Bubblegum fire various candied at them in a attempt to destroy them. Bubblegum first fired jellybean, rock candy, and then jawbreakers at the sculptures, they struck the sculptures, but they hardly scratched or cracked them.

"That was pretty pathetic. You're very weak for someone who is a Elemental." Said X.

"I...just haven't used my powers very often. I just need to use my brain and change tactics." Said Bubblegum before she fired a mix of soda and mints at the sculptures.

The sugary concoction struck the sculptures and they exploded. Bubblegum smirked at her work. X just scowled.

"Let's up the challenge. The enemies in the field aren't just going to stand around and let you blast them. Now let's see how you handle something that moves and fights back a bit." Said X nodding to Serenity.

Serenity created some more sculptures and instead of standing still like the previous one they moved. Bubblegum faced the new challenge and began to fire a mix of soda, mints, and hard candies at the moving targets. She destroyed a couple with the mixture of soda and mints and caused another one to slip and fall to the ground, but the others managed to avoid her attacks and shove to the ground and hold her down. X looked down at Bubblegum.

"And you're dead. Let's try again and this time do better." Said X.

The ice sculptures let Bubblegum go and walked away from he, before stopping at the other side of the training room. Serenity created a couple more ice sculptures and then she sent them after Bubblegum again. Bubblegum decided to try some different candy this time. She fired wads of gum and pointy candy canes at the ice sculptures and managed to get a few of their feet stuck to the ground and make some cracks in them with the candy canes, before she destroyed them with a mix of soda and mints. Bubblegum did well, but the ice sculptures that remained quickly rushed her and held her down agin. X just shook his head and had the exercise repeated agin. Bubblegum tried changing tactics by moving around more, but again she was brought down by the ice sculptures. The exercise was repeated agin and again and each time Bubblegum failed.

Bubblegum was getting very annoyed by the constant failure and by the way X kept pushing and looking at her. After another fail Bubblegum let out a frustrated yell.

"Looks like the queen is mad." Said X with a slight smirk.

"What is your problem?!" Yelled Bubblegum with annoyance.

"My problem is with how weak you are. You're a Elemental, but you've barely scratched the surface of what you are capable of or shown any signs of understanding your powers or potential. It's very frustrating and insulting to the rest of us here. Sure you're able to fire different types of candy and soda, but the amounts you've been firing are just low compared to what you should be able to do." Said X.

"How do you know that?" Asked Bubblegum.

"My past lives have shown me their memories of your past lives and they were some serious powerhouses compared to you. I saw them unleash waves of soda, giant size candies, huge wads of candy, and they were able to shape the candies into different shapes. The power you've displayed here today is like a child with a lighter next to a volcano." Said X.

Bubblegum didn't know what to say to that.

"Why don't we try a different exercise." Said O.

"I think that's a wonderful idea. Let's do a little ball exercise." Said Serenity.

"What's that?" Asked Bubblegum.

"I'll demonstrate." Said Serenity as she held her hands about a foot apart from each other and her fingers began to spark with magic.

Bubblegum watched in awe as a perfect sphere of ice formed between Serenity's hands and hovered in the air. X and O held their own hands apart and they created a sphere of fire and slime that floated in the air.

"Just focus on your power and shape it into a sphere." Instructed Serenity.

Bubblegum held her hands apart from each other as she began to try and focus her power to form a sphere. She first tried using soda because she believed it would be easier to shape, but despite her best efforts the soda formed a wobbly shape and then it exploded splashing soda onto Bubblegum. X snickered a little as Bubblegum cleaned herself with a towel and then she tried the exercise again using gum, but no matter what Bubblegum tried she just couldn't form a sphere like the others and the gum just formed a lump and dropped to the floor. Serenity, X, and O made their spheres vanish and faced Bubblegum.

"It...was ok for a first try." Said Serenity trying to be nice and supportive.

"Ok, that was absolutely pathetic. Neddy and his kids did way better their first time, when they tried the sphere exercise." Said X.

"It's not easy for everyone. Bubblegum just needs to practice more." Said O.

"Fine. Let's go onto the next exercise." Said X.

"What's the next exercise?" Asked Bubblegum.

"Your goal is to stop me from getting close and touching you. If you can push me back or force me to get serious, you pass. I'll only use my power for defense not offense for this exercise." Said X as he walked to the far side of the training room.

Bubblegum prepared herself as X began to walk towards her casually. She fired a stream of soda at him, but he countered with a blast of fire and the two attacks cancelled each other out. X continued forward as Bubblegum fired a mix of soda and mints at X, but he dodged them and avoided the explosion. Bubblegum fired wads of gum at X, but he dodged those as well and hovered above the ground to avoid getting his feet stuck. X was only a few yards away as Bubblegum began to fire a barrage of candy at him, but he simply swatted the attacks away with a flaming hand and reached Bubblegum. Bubblegum tried to jump back or dodge, but X's arm just shot up and pocked her hard in the chest.

"You're dead. You failed the exercise." Said X.

"Darn it!" Yelled Bubblegum in frustration.

"Hey it's ok. You'll do better next time." Said Serenity.

"Yeah don't expect to win on your first try." Said O.

"I have to ask you a personal question." Said X.

"What's that?" Asked Bubblegum.

"Do you really love your husband, son, and your people?" Asked X.

"Of course I do! What kind of question is that?!" Said Bubblegum getting angry.

"Because you weren't fighting like someone who did. You failed the training exercises today and if you can't handle the training here, you won't last a day outside of Sanctuary against all the crazies out there who will do everything in their power to end you. You need to be strong enough to survive them so you can meet face-to-face with the leaders of the free territories and convince them to unite with us to stand against the armies of Gumbaldia. If you can do that you might actually stand a chance against Gumbald and be able to return to your time and save the people you care about and the rest of Ooo." Said X with a glare.

Bubblegum wanted to argue, but she saw where X was getting at. At her current level, Bubblegum didn't stand a chance against her uncle or his forces. Bubblegum needed to succeed if she wanted to save Ooo and the people she cared about.

"I will become strong and pass this training! And I will survive whatever my uncle throws my way, because I do care about my family and Ooo!" Declared Bubblegum.

X studied Bubblegum and there was a small nod of approval and respect.

"Good. Finally got a fire in you. Now channel those emotions and use them to become stronger. Dismiss." Said X before turning and leaving.

Bubblegum felt a little empowered.

Up next was physical training and hand-to-hand combat with Mara. The training area was a big gym-like room. Mara was wearing green shorts and a sleeveless top as she was tapping what appeared a crudely drawn picture of Gumbald with devil horns, fangs, and a forked tongue to a punching bag. Bubblegum looked at the picture and then at Mara.

"I thought this would be a good target for you to punch and kick. Now put on some gloves and let's see what you got." Said Mara indicating some boxing gloves.

Bubblegum put on the gloves and remembered what X about focusing her emotions. She glared at the picture of Gumbald. This was the person responsible for a lot of her suffering as well as the suffering of her family and friends. Bubblegum raised her fist and punched the punching bag as hard as she could. There was a loud smack as the punching bag rocked back a little. Bubblegum felt a thrill of excitement go through her as she delivered one punch after another to the punching bag. After a dozen punches Bubblegum began to tire out and Mara decided to stop it.

"Alright, not bad. That's good for today. We will practice some hand-to-hand combat tomorrow." Said Mara.

Bubblegum returned to the Ice Kingdom palace exhausted, as Neddy and Simon were there to greet her.

"So I take it training was tough, but mostly successful." Said Neddy.

"I did ok with the Elemental training, but according to X, I'm weak and I have a long way to go till I'm ready to tackle the outside world. I'm able to shoot candy and soda, but not in large amounts and I really can't shape the candy very well." Said Bubblegum.

"Power like that takes time to train and understand. You'll get the hang of it after some more training." Said Neddy.

"It took me a good deal of time to learn how to control the power of my crown as well as learn other forms of magic." Said Simon.

"At least both X and Mara were somewhat nice to me. Neither one of them tried to hurt me and they were somewhat polite to me." Said Bubblegum.

"They just needed time to cool off a little and once it was explained that if they helped you they could help save Ooo, they would put aside their grievances and work to help you." Said Simon.

"I think they just tolerate me right now.

"Don't worry. I have someone helping keep a good eye on them to make sure they don't get too rough or pull any stunts." Said Neddy before Gee suddenly appeared and jumped onto his right shoulder.

"I remember you." Said Bubblegum smiling at the cat that was a part of Neddy's psychic powers.

"Hello mother." Said Gee telepathically.

"I guess we should go have dinner and call it a night." Said Simon.

"Sounds good with me." Said Bubblegum.

They all headed to the dinning room had dinner with the rest of the family and called it a night.

The next few days of training were rough. The Elemental training for Bubblegum was rough and though her skills did gradually improve it was still something she had a hard time mastering. The physical training with Mara was also becoming tougher. The physical training consisted of basic exercise and weight training followed by sparring with Mara, which had Bubblegum get knocked onto her back or flipped onto the ground by Mara, but little by little Bubblegum improved with each day.

After a few weeks of training, Serenity and O decided to try something new with Bubblegum's Elemental training. They brought in a statue of Sugarey the Goddess of Candy, which one of their previous reincarnations had raided from a temple in Gumbaldia. Apparently Bebe had attempted to use it to try to amplify and increase her own powers, but had not been able to.

"So what do I do with it?" Asked Bubblegum.

"Trying meditating and form a connection with the goddess." Said Serenity.

Bubblegum sat and got into a meditation pose as she focused hard on the statue and kept trying to form a connection with it. She then closed her eyes and went into a trance. The next thing Bubblegum knew, she found herself in a different place made out of decorative candy and she was looking at a gigantic candy throne with a enormous pink skinned woman with dark pink hair wearing a elaborate pink dress decorate with multiple colorful pieces of candy. The giant looked down at Bubblegum with happiness and compassion on her face.

"Sugarey?" Asked Bubblegum in awe.

"You finally made it daughter!" Said Sugarey with joy as she got off her throne and then she shrunk down, until she was Bubblegum's size.

Sugarey approached Bubblegum and embraced her. Bubblegum returned the embrace.

"You really are the Goddess of Candy?" Asked Bubblegum.

"I am, but you can call me mom. I've been waiting a long time to finally meet and talk to you." Said Sugarey.

"I've been...gone a long time." Said Bubblegum.

"I know. I sensed your return once you returned from your little time travel adventure. I've also been a close eye on Earth and had witnessed all that has transpired over the years. You have a rough journey ahead of you." Said Sugarey.

"I know. Anything you can do to help me?" Asked Bubblegum.

"Well I can give you a better connection to your powers now so you'll stand a good chance against off facing the challenges ahead. Now this won't make you immediately ultra powerful, but it will make you stronger. Are you ready?" Said Sugarey.

"I'm ready. Do what you have to do." Said Bubblegum.

"Very well. I wish you the best of luck daughter and may you succeed on your journey." Said Sugarey as she placed a finger on Bubblegum's forehead.

There was a flash of pink light and Bubblegum found herself back in the training room and back before the statue of Sugarey. Bubblegum stood up, gave a bow to the statue, and headed out of the room to train and see what Sugarey had gifted her with. She had Serenity create some more ice sculptures to practice with. The ice sculptures charged at Bubblegum and she pointed her hands at them and fired out large amounts of candy at incredible speeds that struck and destroyed the ice sculptures. Bubblegum looked at her hands in amazement her powers had indeed increased. She was producing larger amounts of stronger candy and soda at more powerful speeds. The other Elementals were impressed.

"Well. Well. Looks like someone is really cooking with fire. You might just have what it takes to survive and return to your own time after all." Said X.

Bubblegum felt a surge of excitement go through her. Her powers had increased and now she was a step closer to returning to her proper time and fixing Ooo.

To be continued.