Blood Ties: Chapter 6

The two adventurers continue to follow the rough path. As they walk along it, their surroundings slowly become greener. Finn; however, doesn't notice. He continues thinking about Marceline and wonders how she's doing. He then begins wondering what his life would be like if he had never met Marceline that stormy night. Who would've helped him try to get Princess Bubblegum to go to the movies with him? Who would've helped him, Jake, and Bubblegum unlock the Door of the Door Lords? Who would've helped her reconcile with her father? Who would've rescued her from Ash? Who would've saved her from the Night o'sphere Amulet's control?

Finn realizes that if he had never met Marceline, his life wouldn't be as enjoyable as it is with her in his life. He realizes that if they can't get the Blood Rose back to her in time, his life will be less enjoyable without her around. If she was gone, he'd lose the will to go adventuring. He and Jake have to make it to the Medic Kingdom. He and Jake have to get the blood rose. He and Jake have to take it back to the Candy Kingdom and save Marceline. He hangs his head, thinking what would happen if they don't save her in time. A tear runs down his cheeks.

Jake turns around and notices the tear. "Dude, you okay?" he asks with concern.

Finn jolts his head him, wiping the tear away. Yeah, I'm fine, just… dust got in my eye," he lies.

"Oh… all right. Shouldn't be much longer until we get to the Water Kingdom," he says as they continue on the path. They begin walking up a big hill. Finn looks at the surroundings.

"Man, this place sure is a lot greener now," he comments.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't notice sooner."

"Well, I kinda zoned out."

"Speaking of that, you've been zoning out a lot lately. Everything okay?"

Finn feels a lump in his throat. He can't tell Jake what he's been thinking about, or he'll never heard the end of it. "Uh… well…" stutters Finn as he tries thinking of what to tell Jake. They reach the top of the hill. Finn looks passed Jake and sees something just as the base of the hill. "Whoa, Jake, look!" he cries, pointing at what he sees.

The magical dog turns around and looks where he's pointing. "Dude, do you know what that is?"

"No, what?"

"That's the wizard market! It's one of the best markets in all of Ooo! Dude, we totally have to stop and look around!" Jake cries.

Finn looks at him with a 'not so sure about that' look. "But… what about getting to the Medic Kingdom?"

Jake looks up at the sky and sees the sun slowly setting. "It's getting dark soon. How about this: we stop by the wizard market and look around, and then we set up camp for the night."

Finn thinks about it. They can't really keep going all night. What if they run into monsters, or Leon? They'll be too tired to fend off anything. Finn gives a sigh and nods. "All right, we'll go with your plan."

In an instant, Jake grabs Finn and puts him on his back as he charges down the hill on all fours toward the wizard market.

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Wizards of all kinds are seen roaming the market. Many magical shacks stood, and many wizards are seen in front of each shack, looking to buy something… magical. Even Choose Goose is seen with a shack filled with many magical items. Jake charges right into the wizard market, sliding to a stop before he causes any damage. He shrinks down and Finn gets off his back.

"So this is the wizard market?" Finn asks.

"Yeah, it's so awesome!" Jake cries, trying to contain his excitement as he looks around.

"Why are you so excited to be here anyway?" Finn asks, crossing his arms.

"It's almost mine and Lady's one year anniversary since we started dating, and I've heard there's some cool stuff here that's perfect for rainicorns. Come on, let's look around!" Jake cries as he drags Finn to a nearby shack. Jake begins looking at what the wizard has as Finn just sighs, wishing they could go a little further before they set up camp. Finn would've said no, but he knew how Jake was, and he wouldn't have given up so easily.

As Jake continues looking, a robed wizard bumps into Finn. "Pardon me," the wizard says in a rough voice as it walks off. Finn turns around to get a good look at the wizard, his heart nearly skipping a beat. Finn watches as a wizard with no hands and is dressed in rags walks off. The hero looks back at Jake and sees that he is too preoccupied with looking for a present for Lady Rainicorn. Finn looks back toward the wizard and begins to silently follow him.

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The rag wizard looks around the wizard market, ignoring every shake that notices him and tries to give him a good deal. He walks right passed them. He is on a mission; a mission that will fix all his problems. The rag wizard sighs as continues on, not having much luck with his mission. Then, he sees it: a shack run by a witch. However, it's not the magical items the witch has to offer he is looking for. Behind the old witch, sitting on a high shelf is an old teddy bear with lank arms and legs. It is seen with many patches and buttons for eyes. The rage wizard slowly approaches the witch's shack. The witch spots him coming and grins.

"Ah, a customer," she says in high pitched voice. "Perhaps you would be interested in this magical helmet. Wear it and you'll be infused with all magical knowledge. Or perhaps you'd be interested in this magical potion. Drink it and you'll have the ability to see through solid objects."

The rag wizard shakes his head. "That won't be necessary, for I am only interested in that," he says, using his foot to point at the teddy bear.

The witch turns around and sees the bear. "That old thing? What possible reason could you have for it?" the witch asks, grabbing the bear.

The rag wizard chuckles. "Let's just say… it's something I should've got a long time ago."

"All right… what do you got?" she asks.

The rag wizard uses his foot and grabs a sack from his belt. "Will this cover it?" he asks, dropping the sack in front of the witch. It opens of dozens of gold coins are seen inside.

"Excellent," she says, taking the sack, and handing him the teddy bear. He grabs it with his foot and puts it in his robe. The rag wizard walks off as the witch laughs with glee because of all the gold coins he gave her.

As the rag wizard walks off, Finn pokes his head out from behind a nearby shack. He watches as the rag wizard makes his way to the exit of the wizard market. When he's a good distance away, Finn rushes after him. He spots him sitting on a rock a little ways away from the wizard market. He watches as brings out arms and pulls out the teddy bear from his robe. "If this doesn't fix things, then nothing will," he says.

Finn approaches him from behind, drawing his demon sword. "That's a nice teddy bear you've got there," he says.

The rag wizard slightly jumps at the sound of Finn's voice. "I know that voice all too well," he mutters, stashing the bear away. "Yes, thank you for noticing, human boy," the rag wizard says. "Well, I must be on my way," he says, getting up.

Finn then jumps at him and talks him to the ground. "Cut the act, Ash, I know it's you!" he cries.

The rag wizard pounds the ground and manages to kick Finn off. He gets up and removes the rags. Standing before Finn is Ash, Marceline's ex-boyfriend. "I thought I'd never see you again, chump," he says, brushing himself off.

Finn jumps up and turns to him. "She's not gonna take you back, Ash, not even if you give her Hambo back."

"Oh yes she will, she'll realize that I do care for her and she'll take me back in a heartbeat!"

"Not in her current condition," says Finn.

Ash raises a brow. "What do you mean?"

"She's come down with the vampire flu, and Jake and I are on a quest to get the cure for her."

"My little Mar-Mar is sick? Hmm, maybe both Hambo and the cure are my ticket to getting back together with her."

Finn feels his skin crawl when he says the nickname he gave Marceline. Just thinking about the two of them together causes something to burst inside of him. He rushes toward Ash and goes to swing his sword, but Ash jumps back. "She'll never get back together with you! And if you even THINK about going near her, I'll go all ba-nay-nay on yo' buns, glimp globit!" Finn cries.

Ash looks at Finn with a shocked look. That shocked looks turns into a grin. "Aww, would you look at that? This little chump has a crush on my Mar-Mar."

Finn clutches the hilt of his demon sword tightly and lunges at him. Ash manages to avoid getting stabbed by Finn, but he slices one of Ash's pant legs. The wizard glares at Finn and pulls out his cherry blossom wand. He fires white lightning from it and it zaps Finn. He kneels to the ground as Ash laughs and approaches him.

"Face it, kid, I've got the upper hand. And unlucky for you, I happen to know the cure to the vampire flu. I'll send you a pic of us on our next date," Ash says as he walks off. Finn then finds the strength to slowly get up, and rush after Ash. When Ash has talked about him and Marceline dating again, Finn found the strength to continue fighting. Was this new strength… love?

As he rushes toward Ash, he jumps into the air, letting out a battle cry as he comes down toward him. Ash puts up a magical shield, but Finn breaks through it, causing the two of them to get launched in opposite directions. But as Ash hits the ground, Hambo is launched out of his robe and lands before Finn. The hero rubs his head in pain and looks down at the teddy bear. He goes to grab it, but Ash fires a spell, putting a magical shield around Hambo. Finn looks up and sees Ash with his cherry blossom wand. "Not on my watch!" he cries. He then fires another spell, binding Finn to the ground. He tries to escape, but can't. Ash points his wand at Finn, getting ready to fire a powerful blast of magic. "This ends here," he says. Ash goes to fire the blast, but another battle cry can be heard.

From behind, a stretched out Jake rushes at them. He jumps up and tackles Ash to the ground. "Don't hurt my bro!" he cries as he disarms Ash. The magical binds on Finn break once Ash is disarmed, and the magical shield around Hambo breaks as well. While no one is looking, Finn grabs Hambo and puts him in his pack. He grabs his demon sword and rushes toward the fight going on between Jake and Ash.

Jake wraps Ash up and holds him high in the air. "This is what happens when you mess with my bro!" Jake cries, launching Ash into the sky like an arrow. Jake turns back to Finn. "Dude, why did you run off like that? You're lucky I saved you."

"Sorry man, but when I saw Ash, I knew he was up to no good, so I wanted to stop him," says Finn.

"But you could've been killed!" Jake cries.

Finn sighs. "You're right, I'm sorry, man. It's just…"

Jake sighs. "I know; it's your code of honor to stop evil. Let's just pretend it never happened," says Jake, patting Finn on the back.

Finn looks at him, smiling. "Thanks Jake. So did you manage to find something for Rainicorn?"

"Yeah, look at this!" he cries. He pulls out a jewelry box and inside is a rainbow pendent. "This pendent will allow Lady to speak English, and it'll make her sound like she does when speaking Korean. She'll love it!"

"Nice man, so, shall we set up camp?"

"Yeah, let's find a good place to set up camp," says Jake, stashing the box away. The two adventurers head forward, the night sky appear above them.

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As Ash continues flying through the sky, he sees something up ahead of him. The object gets closer to him and they collide, causing them to fall to the ground. Ash rubs his head in pain and looks over at what he hit. He sees Leon, the chameleon assassin.

Leon rubs his back in pain. "Finally I'm on the ground again." He looks over at Ash. "I guess I should be thanking you."

"Yeah, me too," says Ash. He thinks for a moments and grins evilly. "Maybe you can help me with something."

"I can't, I've got my own problems. I'm trying to assassinate a boy and his dog."

Ash gasps in shock. "What a coincidence. I'm now trying to get revenge of a boy and his dog."

"Hmm, it looks like we will be helping each other after all," says Leon, getting up. Ash gets up as well and they both laugh evilly.