Family
Chapter 493 Jungle Rumble
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.
Bubblegum, X, and Marceline faced the group of eleven hunters advancing towards them. X decided to take action and used his powers to create a wall of flames that advanced towards the hunters forcing them to back away to avoid getting burned and to avoid having all the ammo and explosives the Eggspendables were carrying go off. With some space between them and the hunters Marceline grabbed Bubblegum and began to pull her away from the scene as X slowly followed them keeping the fire wall up to prevent the hunters from pursuing them. Bubblegum was a bit hesitant about retreating.
"Wait. Let me try to talk to them and their leaders. I'm sure whatever the issue is, it's all a big understanding or some lies Gumbald told them. I need to know what the issue is." Said Bubblegum.
"Yeah no. It's nice you want to talk to these guys and resolve whatever the issue is, but I don't think these guys are into diplomacy or talking. They're a hit squad and the people who sent them want you dead." Said Marceline.
"Our best bet is to put some distance between us and them and head back to the palace." Said X.
"You can't take these guys?" Asked Bubblegum.
"Oh we could probably take them, but there's no guarantee that we could fight them all off and defend you at the same time." Said Marceline.
"Our main objective is to keep you alive and safe. You can't return to your time if you die in the future." Said X.
"Guess you're right. Still would have liked to hear what their issue with me was." Said Bubblegum.
"Question for another day." Said Marceline.
The trio had put a few hundred yards between themselves and the hunters and were fixing to race into the jungle, when Toronto and the Minions of Set stepped out and confronted them.
"Well. Well. Looks like we finally caught up to Bubblegum. Been a long time girl." Said Toronto.
"Toronto?" Asked Bubblegum.
"Good you remember me. Now why don't you be a good little girl and surrender to me and my pack, or else things are really going to get nasty for you and your friends." Said Toronto as the Minions of Set growled and took up fighting stances.
"Your pack might be intimidating and dangerous, but you're not." Said Bubblegum.
Toronto just laughed as he used the Amulet of Anubis to transform himself into a hulking brown jackal beast that stood as tall as the Minions of Set.
"Am I dangerous now?" Asked Toronto in a booming voice with a cruel chuckle.
"Me and my big mouth." Mumbled Bubblegum.
Toronto and the Minions of Set advanced towards Bubblegum and her protectors, when six ninja stars suddenly flew out of the nearby jungle and landed in the the ground between Toronto's group and Bubblegum's team. The two groups turned to see Chung Pow Kitties step out of the jungle with their weapons raised. The Eggspendibles and the rest of the hunting team then arrived on the scene surrounding Bubblegum, X, and Marceline. It was a intense and silent standoff that went on for a dozen seconds, until Head Egg spoke up.
"We are on a mission from the Breakfast Kingdom, Lizard Kingdom, and Farmer Village. Our mission is to hunt down Queen Bubblegum and kill her for our masters. We have no interest in the bounty that Gumbald has placed on Bubblegum's head. You can claim it for yourselves after we have killed Bubblegum."
"That's fine and all, but Gumbald as said he we only give the reward to the person who actually killed Bubblegum and that's going to be me. You can have the corpse after I'm done presenting it to Gumbald and let your masters desecrate it or whatever." Said Toronto.
"Meow!" Said Ashley.
"I have no intentions of sharing the reward with anyone, especially a group of dirty stinking cats!" Sneered Toronto.
"Our masters would be willing to pay you, if you aided us in killing Bubblegum." Said Head Egg.
"No deal. The people you work for may be rich, but Gumbald is super rich and can pay me way more then your bosses could." Said Toronto.
"Then we will count you as an enemy." Said Head Egg pointing his gun at Toronto.
The rest of the Eggspendables pointed their guns at the Minions of Set and the rest of the hunting team got ready to fight as well.
"Wait! Surly we can come up with a reasonable solution to this, where we can all walk away happy and unharmed." Said Bubblegum.
"What do you have in mind?" Asked Head Egg.
"I'm on a mission to return to the past. If you all aid me or simply let me go, I will find you in the past and give all of you a huge mound of treasure. I'll also fix whatever issues and problems the Breakfast Kingdom, Lizard Kingdom, and Farmer Village have with me, once you tell me what they are. How's that sound?" Said Bubblegum.
Everyone was silent for a few seconds and then Head Egg spoke.
"No deal. We are honor bound and have a contract to kill you for our masters. There will be no deal to let you go."
"Yeah, why should we believe, you'll honor any of your promises? Most of us are already your enemies in the past, so why should we expect you to pay us. Better just to kill you and collect the reward from Gumbald." Said Toronto.
"Meow." Said Ashley in agreement.
"So much for that idea." Said X.
The three enemy parties began to close in and the Chung Pow Kitties decided to activate their Heart Stones and show their real power. Ashley's Heart Stone glowed and produced a large crystal-like aura in the shape of a giant pink jellyfish around Ashley, Kitty's Heart Stone glowed and produced a large crystal-like aura in the shape of a giant blue cobra, and Bella's Heart Stone glowed and produced a crystal-like aura in the shape of a giant green cerberus. The three crystal beasts towered a bit over everyone else and they all looked fierce.
"Well things just got more complicated." Said Marceline.
"You can still take them, right?" Asked Bubblegum.
"Yeah, but we're going to need some kind of smokescreen or something to confuse them a bit, so we can fight them and protect you." Said X.
Bubblegum thought for a few moments and had an idea. It was a bit crazy and she had never tried something like this, but it might work. Bubblegum took a deep breath as all the killers charged forward and she unleashed a blinding fog storm of powdered sugar that covered the whole area blinding and confusing everyone.
"This'll work." Said X.
"Just stay close Bubblegum and we'll deal with these guys." Said Marceline.
"Ok." Said Bubblegum.
The air was filled with screams, yells, punches, guns being fired, and blades hitting each other. Bubblegum tried to remain close to Marceline and X, but it was a bit difficult due to their speed and the thickness of the sugar fog. At one point the Hooded Heifer suddenly came charging at Bubblegum with his horns down intending to impale her, when Kitty's snake tail suddenly came swinging in from the side and swatted him away. Kitty turned her attention to Bubblegum and was about to attack her, when Toronto and one of the Minions of Set leaped onto the large cobra construct and knocked her to the ground. Another Minion of Set suddenly appeared in front of Bubblegum ready to hit her with ax, when X appeared and blasted the beast back with a blast of flames. Chickenstein came charging in, only to get sent flying to the side by a dropkick from Marceline.
"This is getting crazy!" Said Bubblegum, right before a jellyfish tentacle to suddenly wrap around her legs and yank her several yards across the ground.
Bubblegum soon found herself hanging upside down alongside Rick and Craig in front of Ashley who had a cruel smile on her face. A jolt of electricity went through the tentacles shocking Bubblegum and the two eggs making them shout in pain. A rocket then slammed into the back of the jellyfish causing it to fall to the ground and release the three captives. Bubblegum groaned as she looked up to see Head Egg, Egghead, E2, and E4 pointing guns at her prepared to fire, but Bella's cerberus came leaping in and snagged Egghead, E2, and E4 with it's three heads and shook them around before tossing them away. Head Egg roared in anger as he fired his gun at Bella and Bubblegum took off running.
Bubblegum stumbled through the fog of sugar and suddenly came face-to-face with Khamai who tried to shoot her, but Bubblegum hit him in the head with a large jawbreaker blast knocking him to the ground dazed. She ran some more and came across one of the Minions of Set, the one armed with the large sword fighting both Kask and Sauro. The Minion of Set knocked the two lizards away as he say Bubblegum and began to run at her, when the Hooded Heifer came charging in from the side and stabbed the Minion of Set in the gut with his horns! The beast screamed in pain and rage as he grabbed the Hooded Heifer and began to pull his horns out of himself!
Bubblegum quickly took off running, only for a large hand to suddenly shoot out of the fog and grabbed her by the throat. The hand lifted her up and revealed the owner to be Toronto who was a bit battered and bruised, but had a nasty look on his face as he held Bubblegum up.
"I got you now!" Said Toronto as he prepared to crush Bubblegum's throat.
Chickenstein suddenly came leaping out of the fog and jumped onto Toronto's back, wrapping his arms around his throat. Toronto yelled in surprise as he let go of Bubblegum and wrestled with Chickenstein. Bubblegum fired a laser blast into Toronto's chest knocking him and Chickenstein to the ground before she took off running again.
Bubblegum needed to find Marceline and X, escape the fog, and head back to the palace. She ran, until she found herself facing Ashley, Kitty, and Bella facing her. The Chung Pow Kitties closed in on Bubblegum ready to end her, when the air was filled with a mighty roar. A large shape flew in from the side and slammed into the Chung Pow Kitties knocking them to the ground! It was a large blue and white dragon that looked like it was made out of flames! The dragon roared as Kitty recovered first and tried to strike the dragon with her cobra. The fiery beast dodged the attack and grabbed the cobra with it's jaws and swung it into Ashley's jellyfish as it was getting up knocking it to the ground. Bella's Cerberus got to it's feet and charged at the dragon. The two beasts met each other and began to rip and tear at each other with their fangs. The two monsters seemed evenly matched, until Marceline flew in from above and slammed her ax incredibly hard into the back of the Cerberus!
Crack!
There was a loud cracking sound as cracks appeared on the Cerberus's body and then it shattered to bits leaving Bella groaning on the ground. The dragon then turned towards Bubblegum's direction and unleashed a blast of white flames!
"Aaaaaa!" Cried Bubblegum as she turned and ducked expecting to feel a hit death, but she didn't.
Instead the dragon had been aiming at something that had been leaping at Bubblegum from above her. Bubblegum looked on in shock and awe as she saw the flames hit the Minion of Set the one with the big sword. The Minion of Set had leaped into the air at Bubblegum, but the dragon had blasted it. The evil creature screamed as it's body was burned away to nothing.
"What destructive power!" Thought Bubblegum.
The dragon let out one final roar and then it began to shrink and change into X.
"X?!" Said Bubblegum in shock.
"Surprise." Said X with a bit of a tired smile.
"Quick, while the getting is good. Let's fly out of here." Said Marceline.
The three of them took flight and flew out of the sugar fog. Head Egg saw this and fired a rocket at the trio. Marceline heard the rocket and the strange black cloud substance began to emerge from her right arm and cover it. The vampire grabbed the rocket with her right arm, stopping it, before she hurled it back at the area where Head Egg had fired from. The rocket hit the ground and exploded blowing the fog away and knocking all the hunters to the ground. Marceline's arm returned to normal as she, Bubblegum, and X continued flying back to the palace.
The Eggspendables, Hooded Heifer, Chickenstein, and the lizards groaned as they got to their feet and regrouped, Toronto and his two remaining Minions of Set regrouped, and the Chung Pow Kitties regrouped. The three hunting parties gave each other death glares, before they all began to walk away and went their separate ways to tend to their wounds and hunt another day.
Bubblegum, X, and Marceline reached the palace, where they were greeted by their friends and Jungle Warfare Princess and her forces.
"Mission accomplished. The Demon Tree is no more." Said Bubblegum.
"Excellent. For this service you will have the full support of my kingdom. Now why don't you rest here for the night. You can speak with my seer tomorrow and continue on with your journey." Said Jungle Warfare Princess.
"Thank you." Said Bubblegum.
Another kingdom had joined the alliance to fight Gumbald.
To be continued.