Heroes easily killed monsters and destroyed bosses, but elusive trolls were the hardest to kill. If someone suggested that the best way to improve one's own skill was by killing trolls, the first thing that needed to be asked was whether the person giving the advice really killed a troll (for real) or just claimed that it happened.

Trolls are mischievous creatures. Killing a nimble troll was different from fighting a giant, fire-breathing dragon, but Fionna would say it had the same level of difficulty. It wasn't surprising that she was out of breath as she chased it.

Her frustration grew as the troll ran past the Banana Guards who were patrolling the streets in search of trouble, with the sack holding the Candy Kids slung over his shoulder, and it quickly started climbing over sugar-coated houses, and slid down shingles made of gingerbread to reach the entrance.

The troll was fast, too fast for her to chase after, and the adventuress realized, with the Candy kids inside the bag, that she had to take care of the pest quickly, or it would escape with them.

Fionna, looking around for the troll that disappeared, heard an old gingerbread man calling for her, and then the little hairy troll that hopped onto a roof stuck its tongue at the human girl and shouted, "Catch me if you can, stupid!"

She began running down the street toward the troll jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She was taunted by the troll's laughter.

The gap between the two colorful candy houses was too large for the troll to jump over. Rather it leapt off the roof as Fionna came racing around the corner and landed with a thump on the ground.

The troll was still laughing, but Fionna had her secret weapon, her long, well-crafted sword. Thinking she was going to slash it, the hairy troll took off in the direction in front of it, not knowing that the Candy kids were streaming out of the hole in its bag.

The troll ran down the paved street, and then sensed an emptiness inside the bag.

The troll dropped it on the ground, looked inside the bag, and did not see anything there, throwing a hissy fit from being beaten by a human girl.

Poof, poof!

The troll disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving behind an empty brown bag and a feeling of triumph for the blonde girl who started taking the Candy kids back to their homes.

The Candy kids loved the human girl, and begged her to play with them after they were just rescued.

Fionna was more than happy to play with the children, but the ruler of the Candy Kingdom waited inside the castle for her. She had to report back, and tell him the troll was gone. She smiled apologetically, promising that she would play games with the Candy kids later. The kids were all frowning and whining.

A little gumdrop girl tugged at her white stockings, whining that she wanted to play a game with her now.

When the kids' parents told them all to go inside, Fionna put away her sword and walked up the street to the castle.

Her heart raced with each step, her cheeks flushing not from the heat of the hot summer day but from the thought of being alone with Prince Gumball. She wanted the prince of the Candy Kingdom to notice her. Her wish presented itself when she was fourteen, however, with him being much older than her back then, her wish felt like a dream that could never come true.

When she turned eighteen though, her wish of eventually being noticed by the prince was restored and in those years she managed to receive a fair amount of attention from the caring folks who told the young girl she had matured into a fine young woman.

She always had a nice time with the prince, loving his company and hearing about his interests.

He was a smart and sweet prince, and she felt fortunate to have a guy like him in her life. Wishing to get out of the friendzone is much simpler than actually doing it, she thought as she climbed up the steps of the castle, walking past Banana Guards.

She walked into the castle and took her time to make sure she could tell him how she felt. Breathing in and out was definitely doing the trick. Her older sister Cake taught her breathing exercises, and assured her that doing so would keep her anxiety down. She was about to open the door to the lab when she heard an explosion.

She quickly opened the door, prepared to jump into danger this morning for the second time, only there was no danger, just Gumball wearing his lab coat covered in sticky purple slime!

Once again, an experiment went wrong!

Fionna hurried to his side and asked what was going on.

"Don't worry about me, I'm all right, Fionna," he said to her. "My slime experiment didn't produce the results I was expecting."

"What are you trying to do, Gumball?" she asked as she touched his shoulder, the purple slime sticking to her hand.

She stared at Gumball with a curious expression, hoping he would explain what he was doing with slime from the Slime Kingdom and how it turned purple.

Gumball took off his goggles and exposed his stunning lilac eyes.

Fionna looked away in embarrassment, blushing slightly.

"Oh, it doesn't matter now, my experiment failed, but I've collected some useful data," said the 22-year-old Prince Gumball. "The second attempt may prove useful."

Fionna was playing with the loose strands around her face. Her hair was pulled back into a voluminous, wavy, high ponytail, and she switched her rabbit-themed hat about two years ago for a fashionable rabbit ear headband. Her white blouse and blue skirt were covered in dirt.

She stood there watching Gumball continue to work on his experiment, skimming through papers and research notes that he found more interesting than the blonde who wanted his attention.

Fionna sighed. It's not like he was interested in me back then, why would things be different now? She was thinking, turning her baby blues over to the window, showing her the blue sky.

"Oh, Fionna, did you have any trouble with that troll?" she heard Gumball say, looking up from the papers he was reading.

"He was a fast little guy, but he wasn't really a problem for me." Fionna leaned on the desk, crossing her arms as she went on, "I chased him across the kingdom and got close enough to save the children he had taken. I wish Cake had been there to help me out, but... she's busy these days. She says that being a mom is a full-time job, and she has less free time than I do. It's fun to babysit her kids. They're adorable, but some of them like to pull pranks." Fionna started to laugh, recalling the pranks her nieces and nephews pulled on her last week when she watched them.

"Oh, yes, that's nice," Gumball muttered, tuning out the conversation. Fionna bit her lip, looking at Gumball, who didn't pay attention to her. "Aha! So this is..."

"Listen, Gumball, I'm going to come back later if you're busy," Fionna said, and then she started walking out.

"Hold on a moment, Fionna," said the prince, turning to face her before she left. "Tomorrow night, I'm having a party. Are you going with anyone?"

Tension rising in her lungs, Fionna felt her heart racing. Without sounding too eager, she replied as best she could, "No, I'm not going with anybody."

Gumball seemed pleased with her reply. At this moment, Fionna braced herself, staring at his dazzling jewels. The pink-haired prince paused for a moment. But then he dropped the bomb, his words piercing her like a dagger through the heart. "Let's go out as friends."

Nothing hurt her more than hearing the prince say such heartbreaking words. Her lips were trembling as she said, "I was starting to think that we could be... something else."

Gumball looked confused. "You thought we might be..."

"I thought..." as she looked at the ground, Fionna felt tears welling in her eyes, "we could be more than just friends. You always saw me as a friend, right? You never saw me as someone you could fall in love with? If that's the case, then am I not good enough?"

Gumball's eyes widened as he watched her pour out her heart to him, her voice sounding broken and hopeless. The prince pinched the bridge of his nose as the 18-year-old girl cried, trying to keep himself composed. She was acting like a little girl who had lost her way, with her face buried in her hands.

"Fionna, please, please, compose yourself. We've discussed this in the past, and you haven't moved away from it yet. I'm sorry, but I don't think about you that way. Getting over me is the best thing, please take your time with this. Excuse me, there's a lot to be done before the day is over, and again, I'm sorry."

Gumball returned to work, taking a deep breath to rest his nerves as he heard the door slamming shut.

...

Keeping her promise to the Candy kids seemed to be a good way to get her mind off the rejection. The kids were all excited to see her walking up the street to the house, running up to her and hugging her tightly.

The Candy boys and girls were all looking forward to playing with Aaa's heroine who had expertise in fighting trolls.

The marshmallow boy wearing a baseball cap looked like he was about to start the game as he stood on an empty box of produce. He took charge of the game, and told some of them to act like trolls, and some to be kids.

The marshmallow boy looked at Fionna and said, "You're going to be the hero today, right?"

Fionna nodded.

"You're not going to take the kids from us, trolls!" she said to the "trolls", pretending to hold a sword in front of them.

The children were all growling like real trolls, while the heroine approached them. The young leader of the trolls ordered his troll army to attack her and keep her away from the captive kids. The little trolls were running around her, blocking her path. Fionna pretended to fight them with her sword, but her efforts were futile since she was surrounded by them.

"Get away, you annoying little trolls!" she shouted, laughing, as some trolls grabbed her legs from behind and stopped her from moving forward.

The kids enjoyed themselves, while Fionna felt the weight of three kids holding her back.

She got up quickly and started to run back towards the kids being held back by the trolls. She ran past every kid that came in her way, until she reached the captives. Then they all yelled at her to look behind her. Fionna turned around and saw the leader running up to her while he was waving his fist in the air. With a quick jump, she quickly dodged his strike, and he stumbled and fell.

Fionna grinned, victorious, looking at the fallen leader of the trolls and his army. Then she freed the kids from their imprisonment by picking up the sticks that were used as barricades, and threw them away. The blonde girl smiled, feeling a lot happier than she had been before, but her thoughts slowly began to shift. She shook her head, focusing on the kids who asked her to play a chase game with them, which she accepted.

She never thought that the Candy kids could be so quick. The last kid she tried to catch ran faster than a rabbit, laughing as she chased him.

"Come back here, you!" cried Fionna, finally catching the candy boy and he laughed.

Her smile soon turned a little sour, though. Playing with the Candy kids had been keeping her mind off things for a while, but a quarter past noon the blonde girl had begun to think about the rejection again. She was left alone as the Candy kids walked into their homes for lunch, and she chose to go home since it was a lot better than staying in the Candy Kingdom at the moment. It wasn't good to be stay, and she needed time alone. Her heart was in shambles and she was emotionally drained, but she could handle the loneliness of the Tree House better than the heartbreak.