Family
Chapter 523 Unleashed
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.
800 years in the future.
Bubblegum and her team returned to Sanctuary, their spirits a bit down due to the death of Lance. Marceline remained silent and stoic during the whole trip back and although Marceline's face remained calm, Bubblegum could just tell tell the vampire was hurting greatly inside after losing her husband. Bubblegum could understand Marceline's pain due to losing Braco, the only difference was Marceline got to say goodbye to Lance. The candy woman thought about saying something to Marceline, but before she could attempt anything, Lucinda put a hand on Bubblegum's shoulder and simply shook her head.
"Give her some space." Said Lucinda.
Bubblegum just nodded and they continued on. Eventually they reached Sanctuary where they were greeted by Simon, Betty, Lolly, Neddy, Eria, Nora, Ezra, X, Mara, O, Serenity, Django, Mavis, Marcus, Noah, and Lilly.
"Welcome back. I see your mission was a success." Said Simon.
"It...was but it came at a price." Said Bubblegum.
Betty was the first to notice that there was someone missing from the factory mission party.
"Where's Lance?"
Marceline responded by walking over to Mavis and Marcus and brought them into a hug.
"Mom...where's dad?" Asked Mavis.
"He's...just injured or something...and he'll show up in a few minutes right?" Asked Marcus, but the guy already knew what the answer was.
"Kids...dad isn't coming home. He got seriously injured during the mission and he stayed behind...to help us escape and takedown as many...bots as he could before the explosives went off. Your...dad died a hero and gave us a chance to save the world...and the future." Said Marceline as tears fell from her eyes.
Tears began to fall from Mavis and Marcus's eyes as they hugged their mom. Everyone else looked at the scene sadly. Eventually the family stopped hugging and they headed back into the palace.
Bubblegum retreated to her section of the lab to have a little alone time and to dive into something else to get her mind off of Lance's death. She tried to work on some blueprints for some new gear, but really couldn't focus, so she pulled out the Blurpleberry Supreme and decided to study it. The gemstone felt like a normal gemstone, though it did give off a sweet scent and when Bubblegum dabbed it with a wet towel and put a tiny bit of the damp towel in her mouth she got a sweet taste from it. Bubblegum then held the Blurpleberry Supreme and pressed it to her forehead to see if it would trigger any memories of her past life as King Two-Tons-of-Candy.
The room vanished and Bubblegum found herself in some kind of Egyptian palace. She found herself walking down a hallway, but when she glanced down at herself she found she was no longer in her own body, but the body of a pink man dressed as a pharaoh. Bubblegum was now in King Two-Tons-of-Candy's memories. King Two-Tons-of-Candy walked down a hallway and went outside where a large stone and wood machine was smashing blueberries and grinding up sugar that was being loaded into a funnel. A servant walked over to King Two-Tons-of-Candy and handed him a light-blue gemstone that appeared to be the gem that would be the Blurpleberry Supreme. The gem was placed into the funnel and King Two-Tons-of-Candy began to wave his hands as they glowed with blue and pink energy and chant in a strange language that Bubblegum understood and it appeared to be a prayer to Sugarey to help him create the magic item. There was a flash of light and the Blurpleberry Supreme now fully formed dropped to the ground at the bottom of the funnel.
King Two-Tons-of-Candy picked up the gemstone to marvel at it before placing it into his headpiece. He then raised his hands up and he began to create a massive tornado of powder sugar. King Two-Tons-of-Candy stopped the tornado and then he created some clouds of cotton candy that made it rain soda. The king had created a powerful magic item that greatly increased his power.
The flashback then ended.
Bubblegum found herself back in the lab with G2 standing in front of her watching her.
"Um...hi." Said Bubblegum a bit startled by the AI.
"Find out anything interesting?" Asked G2.
Bubblegum filled G2 on what she had seen in the flashback and she made a mental note to find the Blurpleberry Supreme and King Two-Tons-of-Candy's crown in the present to prevent it from falling in the wrong hands.
"Sounds very interesting, but I feel like you're using this as a distraction to avoid dealing with how you feel about what happened to Lance." Said G2.
"What...do you mean?" Asked Bubblegum.
"I mean you feel guilty about what happened and its eating you up inside. The same thing happened to my brother Finn, after he killed the original me. What happened wasn't Finn's fault, yet he blamed himself for what happened. Finn was never truly the same after that and it really did a number on him." Said G2.
"But...Lance's death was my fault." Said Bubblegum.
"No it wasn't. Gumbald is the one to blame for all the bad things that have happened over the years. Lance knew what he was getting into and he made his choice. Now the best thing you can do is stop being mad and feeling sorry for yourself and make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain. You have a chance to go back in time and change everyone's fate as well as change their lives for the better." Said G2.
"I...guess you're right. Everyone has been helping to give me the opportunity to go back to my time and change all of this. I'll do everything I can to stop my uncle and save Lance and everyone else." Said Bubblegum filling determined.
"Good." Said G2.
Chicle and Peridot entered the lab.
"What's up?" Asked Bubblegum.
"While we were setting up the bombs, we did some hacking into Gumbald's systems." Said Peridot.
"I managed to get some blueprints about the Timenado." Said Chicle as he went over to the computer and put a flash drive in.
A image appeared on the screen. It appeared to be a large black tornado with flashes of green lightning. Around the center of the tornado was a large metal ring with some small wings on the sides, rockets on the back, and a square bit that appeared to be some kind of cockpit. Gumbald had been very busy constructing a ship and station around the Timenado.
"This is the outer structure of the Timenado and what I have gathered from the blueprints, we need to make it to the core if we wish to return you to your time." Said Chicle before pulling up another image.
A new image appeared on the screen showing what appeared to be the center of the Timenado. There was a giant neon green crystal floating in the center that Bubblegum recognized as the same crystal Gumbald had taken from R.E.C.R. the military robot. Around the crystal were some energy shields, some platforms, walkways, and a couple of computers.
"To access the core, we need to take the shields down. The switches for the shield are scattered around the ring." Said Chicle as the computer showed the outside of the Timenado and showed a couple of red darts marking the areas of the ring where the switches were at.
"Ok. So we need to get to the Timenado, shutdown the shields around the core, and then we can send me back." Said Bubblegum.
"Correct." Said Chicle.
"Gumbald will most likely have his best people guarding the switches." Said Bubblegum.
"Most likely." Said Chicle.
"Just another hurdle to deal with." Said Bubblegum.
"Should I show her what I found?" Asked Peridot.
"What did you find?" Asked Bubblegum.
"Gumbald has live video feed of what's going on in the Space Angel Kingdom." Said Peridot.
"Really? We'll show it to me, I need to know what's going on there so I can better deal with it in the past, when I return to my time." Said Bubblegum.
"Very...well, but be warned. What you're about to see is very disturbing." Said Peridot going over to the computer and pressing a few keys.
The image of the Timenado vanished and was replaced by a new image. It was some kind of lab that had multiple cages in it. Inside the cages were some kind of treadmills with Space Angels and a few other local races of Ooo on them wearing Virtual Reality headsets. The people in the cages ran on the treadmills as they screamed and shouted. One unlucky Space Angel fell and was sent crashing into the back of his cell.
"Prisoner number 747, looks like you failed in your digital quest and need to be made an example of." Said a being who was sitting on a throne with cables.
"That's Malware. He's a Galvanic Mechamorp." Explained Peridot.
Malware had a black body with red circuitry running all around it. He had a bulky animalistic build, with a slightly hunched posture and spikes on his back. Malware's head resembled a dinosaur's head with a mouth that resembled a four-pointed star.
Malware stood up from his throne marched over to the cell with the fallen Space Angel. He opened the cell and pulled the Space Angel out removing his headset. The Space Angel looked at Malware fearfully as he was dragged to a large torture rack and cuffed to it with, his back facing Malware. Malware's hand shifted and turned into a whip and then he proceeded to whip the Space Angel! The poor prisoner screamed in agony as the whip struck him again and again. Bubblegum, Chicle, and Peridot winced at the sight and sound of the whipping.
Peridot hit a few keys and the image on the screen changed. Now the screen showed a group of Space Angels flying fearfully through the sky and trying to reach the boarder of the Space Angel Kingdom. They were almost to the boarder when a large shape came rushing in from above and sliced two of the Space Angels to bits and forced the other to fly back in horror. Before them hovered Ridley, but he had drastically changed. The majority of Ridley's body appeared to have been replaced with machinery and cybernetics, his wings were now yellow and glowing, what little flesh that was visible was now pale.
"Looks like this is the end of the line for you. Too bad, you almost made it." Said Ridley before he opened his mouth up and unleashed a powerful blast of plasma out of it.
The blast struck the Space Angels killing them instantly and reduced them to ashes in seconds! Ridley let out a cruel chuckle before flying off.
Peridot hit a few keys and the image changed again to show a arena with a pit around it that was filled with blue leach-like creatures. Two female Space Angels stood in the center of the arena holding spears, with their wings chained together to prevent them from flying. Overlooking the area was a balcony with a throne. Sitting on the throne was Space Angel Princess. The ruler of the Space Angel Kingdom looked like she had in the past, but Bubblegum saw that Space Angel Princess now had glowing purple eyes and a look of pure cruelty on her face.
"Fight!" Ordered Space Angel Princess in a voice that sounded like her's mixed with some else's voice.
The two Space Angels charged at each other with the spears and began to fight each other. They fought, until one Space Angel managed to shove the other towards the edge of the arena. The unlucky Space Angel lost their balance and fell into the pit of leaches screaming.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Screamed the Space Angel in fear and agony as she struck the pit and the leaches began to bite at her dragging her under.
"That's Lazarus-92, a hive mind of leaches." Said Peridot with a shudder.
"And the one on the throne is Ghostfreak, he's a alien called a Ectonurite and he has many powers. Ghostfreak is possessing Space Angel Princess and has been using her as a host for hundreds of years, using his powers to keep her young and alive." Said Chicle.
Bubblegum watched as the leaches began to form a large shape and rise up to the arena, but Ghostfreak stopped the creature with a wave of his hands making it return to the pit. Ghostfreak flew over to the arena and approached the victor.
"Nicely done warrior. You will receive a great honor." Said Ghostfreak.
"You'll let me go?" Asked the Space Angel.
"No. You will be blessed by my power and join my ranks." Said Ghostfreak as they slammed a palm into the Space Angel's chest.
The Space Angel screamed as her body began to change becoming a white and grey ghost-like creature with a single purple eye. The only detail of her previous identity was a small pair of wings on her back. The Space Angel had become a Ectonurite!
"I live to serve." Said the newly transformed Space Angel.
"Good. Now go join your brothers and sisters." Said Ghostfreak.
The new Ectonurite flew off. The screen went dark.
"That's all the current video footage we have." Said Peridot.
"That...was horrible! We have to stop those monsters!" Said Bubblegum.
"And we will. When you return to your time, you can prevent the Space Angel Kingdom from ever falling." Said Chicle.
"I will. This cannot be allowed to happen. The Space Angel Kingdom doesn't deserve that." Said Bubblegum.
"There are two ways this can be prevented from happening in the past. The first would be to either capture or kill Ridley to prevent him from ever finding the prison ship containing the prisoners and freeing them. The other option is to either destroy the prison ship or prevent Ridley from ever getting his hands on it." Said G2.
"Both sound like good options. I'll have to explain things to the Peace Protectors of my time and run the options by them." Said Bubblegum.
It soon became late and everyone decided it was time to retire for the night.
Over at Gumbaldia, Gumbald was in his throne room and had received the total report of the destruction of the bot factory and weapons inside of it as well as Bebe telling him about Bubblegum stealing the Blurpleberry Supreme. Gumbald was furious about all these things and mentally cursed himself for not having some of his elite warriors provide extra security for the factory. All the years of success had made Gumbald blind and prideful, so he had never considered his enemies to go after his factory or possibly destroy it. It would take months to clean the wreckage of the factory, salvage any useful materials, and then begin building a new factory.
Then there was the matter of the loss of the Blurpleberry Supreme. For years Gumbald had been trying to turn Bebe into a true Candy Elemental, with only a small degree of success through tests and experimentation. Bebe had powers, but they paled in comparison compared to a true Candy Elemental. The Blurpleberry Supreme would have helped closed that gap and made Bebe into a useful and powerful weapon, but then Bebe failed and allowed the gem to be taken by Bubblegum.
Bebe kneeled before the throne looking down. Gumbald stood up and looked down at his daughter.
"You really disappointed me today, Bebe." Said Gumbald.
"I...apologize father. The fault was mine. I swear I won't fail you again." Said Bebe looking up at Gumbald.
"You know I could just reduce you to a pile of candy dust with just a mere blast of my gauntlets. Then I could take your remains and create a new children, that would hopefully serve me better." Said Gumbald as his gauntlets crackled with energy.
"Please I beg you for forgiveness father! I will get the Blurpleberry Supreme back and help destroy our enemies!" Said Bebe with fear in her eyes.
"Very well. I'm feeling merciful. You will be given another chance to prove yourself, but fail me again and I will end you without a second thought." Said Gumbald as the gauntlets stopped crackling.
"Thank you father. I will not fail you." Said Bebe as she bowed her head to the ground.
"Oh I just love these moments between a tyrant and their child." Said a new voice.
Gumbald and Bebe turned to see Black Hat entering the throne room.
"Black Hat." Said Gumbald.
"Emperor Gumbald, I heard you had some real trouble and lost your factory." Said Black Hat.
"A setback and mistake on my part. The factory was destroyed by my niece and a group of rebels from Sanctuary. They will pay dearly for what they did." Said Gumbald.
"And that's why I'm here. I got just the plans to really wreck havoc on Sanctuary and get that niece of yours." Said Black Hat.
"What exactly do you have in mind?" Asked Bebe.
"My science division having been working on a way to take the dome surrounding Space Angel Kingdom. They managed to create a remote that can open holes up in the dome and I've made contact with a couple of the special residents there and got them to agree to work with us. In exchange they will get their own territory to run." Said Black Hat.
"It wasn't Ghostfreak you made contact with?" Asked Bebe.
"No, he's too destructive and he strikes me as a backstabber. The residents I contacted are mostly reasonable and trustworthy." Said Black Hat.
"And you believe they can destroy Bubblegum and her allies?" Asked Gumbald.
"No, but they'll do a number on them and their main purpose is to get their attention and help with a distraction, while I set my real plan into motion and with some assistance from you, we will have something that will force Bubblegum hand herself over and surrender to you." Said Black Hat.
"I like the sound of that." Said Gumbald with a smile.
"Soon the real fun and games will begin." Said Black Hat with a smile.
Back at Sanctuary, Bubblegum was sleeping, when she received a couple of visitors in her dreams. The first being Braco and the second was Lance. Bubblegum was very surprised by the two visitors and felt a surge of guilt go through at the sight of Lance.
"Lance! I'm so sorry about what happened to you! If I had been just a little more quicker and careful, you wouldn't have received that horrible injury and still be alive!" Said Bubblegum with tears in her eyes as she bowed her head to Lance.
"Hey relax, my death wasn't your fault and you did very well on the mission. It wasn't my first time sacrificing myself and getting hurt or injured for someone else. I'm a hero and that risk comes with the job. My luck just ran out that time. So don't blame yourself for what happened to me. I'd gladly do it again to save you and help return you to your time to change and create a better future." Said Lance.
"Ok...is there anything I can do for you?" Asked Bubblegum feeling better.
"You can beat that creep uncle of yours and win." Said Lance.
"I'll do it!" Said Bubblegum.
"That's the spirit! Now if you excuse me, I have to see someone special. You two love birds go enjoy yourselves." Said Lance before he vanished from the dream world.
Lance's spirit traveled to the room he had shared with Marceline and entered Marceline's dreams. He found himself sitting under a tree with Marceline leaning against him.
"Hey. You're finally here." Said Marceline with a smile.
"Yeah, sorry I kept you waiting. Had to see Bubblegum and tell her not to blame herself for what happened." Said Lance.
"Figured she would have some baggage that needed help being dealt with." Said Marceline.
"I think she has it handled. Still has a few challenges to deal with, but I think Bubblegum will succeed in returning to her time especially with your help." Said Lance.
"Yeah. Got my work cutout, but I like a good challenge." Said Marceline.
The two looked into each other's eyes and then they kissed and for a few moments the recent tragedy of Lance's death and the challenges and threats that awaited in the future just vanished and were forgotten about. It was a very pleasant dream and experience for Marceline and Lance.
Three days later a small funeral service was held for Lance. A stone carving of Lance was placed on a tome stone along with the other fallen heroes who had died over the years. The event was tended by Marceline, Mavis, Marcus, Simon, Betty, Bubblegum, Neddy, Eria, Nora, Ezra, Lucinda, Henry, Noah, Lilly, Chicle, Lolly, BMO, Lapis, Peridot, Django, X, Mara, O, and Serenity. Simon gave a little eulogy.
"We're here today to remember our friend and ally Lance. He was a good man, who became a good husband, father, and hero. Lance fought alongside us to protect others and try to make our world a better place. He was a honorable man, with a great deal of courage. I was honored to know him and proud to call him a member of my family. May his spirit find peace as we strive to make this world a better place."
The others said a few words about Lance as they put flowers on the grave. Bubblegum put some flowers on the grave and prayed that no one else had to die to help return her to her time, but a small part of her felt that there were going to be more deaths in the future, when she and her allies go to war with Gumbaldia.
Several miles away at the Space Angel Kingdom, Black Hat stood before the dome with a remote in his hands. Black Hat waited for a few minutes, before he saw the arrival of Malware and Ridley. He made sure no one else was around before he pressed a button on the remote and a hole opened up in the dome to allow Malware and Ridley to step through. Black Hat pushed the button and closed the hole.
"Finally free!" Said Ridley stretching his wings.
"So what exactly do you want us to attack? It better be a good place we can rule over." Said Malware.
"Oh I have the perfect place for you to go." Said Black Hat.
"What is it?" Asked Malware.
"It's called Zimtopia." Said Black Hat.
Malware and Ridley listened as Black Hat gave them details of Zimtopia and where to find it. The two criminals then headed off to cause chaos.
"All according to plan." Chuckled Black Hat.
To be continued.