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The blade of Fionna's sword tore through the air as she whirled it around in a wide arc.

Click. Click. Click. "Lookin' good, girl!"

She thrust it to one side, then the other, and then fell to one knee and held it straight up.

Click. Click. "That's the stuff! Just try to put a little more action into it!"

"More...action?" Fionna panted. She'd been swinging the sword around for almost half an hour-the numerous deep gashes and divots cut into the lawn around their tree were testament to how long and how hard she'd been "fighting". She was starting to feel just a little worn out.

"Little more," Cake clarified, stretching up and down as she looked through the camera, trying to find best angle. "Try to visualize the Ice Queen smooching your honey, and pretend you're swingin' the sword right in her face!"

"But I don't want to kill her," Fionna protested.

"Oh, pretend you're using the flat end, then. And give me a nice battle cry, 'kay?"

"But the camera won't record a battle cry-not that kind of camera anyway-"

"Fionna!" Cake snapped. "That's two buts I've heard now, and the only two buts I want to hear are your butt kicking the Ice Queen's butt!" She smoothed back her raised fur and said calmly, "It makes it look more realistic that way."

"Fine, fine." Fionna picked up the sword again. "Rrrrrrr!"

"Good energy!"

"Ice Queeeeeeeen! Get your claws off of Prince Gumball, you frozen hag!" She swung the sword with all her might, taking a sizable chunk out of the stump she was pretending was the Ice Queen's face.

"Yikes!" Cake said, stretching herself out of the way of the backswing. "What happened to using the flat side?"

"Oh." Fionna blushed. "Sorry. I guess I got caught up in the moment."

"Don't apologize! That's what we were trying for!" Cake said, shaking the photo a few times. "Look at that! It came out great!"

"It does look pretty cool! We should use this one!"

"Naah," Cake said. "The balance is wrong. You can't use that pose for the statue in front of the palace! How's Prince Gumball gonna appreciate your fine rock candy bod if it falls over on him and skwushes him into a wad?"

"Uhmm..."

"It's really a keeper, though! I'm gonna stick this one in the scrapbook!" Cake stretched one paw up to the top window of the tree and retrieved a thick book bound in monster leather. A few loose photographs fluttered down like autumn leaves.

"Oops. We'd better make a trip to the Glue Kingdom next chance we get, so we don't lose these precious memories," Cake said, wriggling like a whip as she snatched up every last photo and stuffed them back into place.

"So, look, why don't I just raise my sword over my head or something? That's pretty heroic looking, right?"

"Heroic looking? Who's the photography expert here, me or you?"

"Uh... neither of us really knows anything about-"

"Who dug up all the cameras?"

Fionna sighed. "You."

"That's right! Now, do the same thing again, but this time try to stick your butt out a little more on the downswing. That'll counterbalance the sword."

"Cake!" Fionna protested. "Prince Gumball's going to be able to see this from his window! I don't want him staring at my butt every day!"

"When you've got it, girl, it doesn't hurt to advertise," Cake muttered.

"Hmmph. Okay, we'll try it your way." Fionna raised the sword again. "How dare you touch Prince Gumball, you evil-ack!"

She ended up face-first in the grass.

"Don't stick it out that far!" Cake started, but she was drowned out by a burst of laughter from above. Fionna rolled over in time to see a dark figure materializing against the deep and luscious greens of the canopy.

"Marshall Lee!" Cake hissed. "You get out of here! This is a private photography session!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean for you to hear me. I just couldn't help myself, you know?" He hopped off the branch and towards the ground. "Hey, Fionna."

She ignored the hand he was offering and pointedly jumped to her feet on her own. "Hello, Marshall Lee."

"What is all this biz anyway?"

"Oh, uh, it's really not that big a deal. I rescued some candy people from the stomach of an evil cloud turtle, and they sort of...want to build a statue of me, now."

"It's not just for that!" Cake said. "It's to commemorate your one thousandth heroic act."

"But that's what adventurers do!" Fionna protested. "True adventurers aren't supposed to get things for helping people."

"What about when we saved Tree Trunks from that genie skeleton and he made us that pot of his famous five-alarm chili?"

"He would have made it anyway! And we would have eaten it anyway! So that doesn't count!"

"Hey, if Prince Stickybutt wants a chunk of candy to look at, let him," Marshall Lee said with a half-smirk. "I'd rather scope the real thing."

Fionna was suddenly aware of how close he'd drifted to her. She could see one of his little fangs exposed, the tip pushing into the dark grey of his lips, and she could smell the musky vampire scent. It wasn't disgusting or rotten; it was mild and earthy, like a hint of cool, rich soil after a rain.

She really hoped her breath didn't still smell like chili.

"Mmm," Marshall said, putting his lips to her cheek. She could feel her face getting hot.

"M-marshall, hey," she laughed nervously, "what are you-"

Then she felt the blush fading. Marshall stepped back, licking his lips. "Mmm-mmm. I should embarrass you more often."

Suddenly a yellow-and-white net exploded around him and the Vampire King was tangled up on the ground. A particularly thick strand of netting with angrily at him.

"What's the big idea, Marshall Lee? If you turn her grey, you're gonna end up black and blue!"

"Relax," Marshall laughed, turning into a bat for just long enough to slip through the fleshy strands. "I've only been doing this for a thousand years. I think I know what I'm doing. Hey, what's this?"

He picked up the dropped scrapbook and flipped through the pages. "You've already got a zillion photos here. Why not use one of them?"

"They're not that great," Fionna said.

"Oh, there have to be some good pics in here." He pulled out a picture. "How about this one?"

Fionna looked at it. It was one of the earliest pictures in the album, and depicted a baby girl in a bunny hood running through the grass with no diaper on.

"Ha, ha, yeah, right, Marshall. I think they want one where I'm a little bigger than that."

"Bigger, huh?" Marshall flipped through the pages. "Whoa. Speaking of. So this is what you look like when you let it all hang out."

He flipped over the picure to reveal a shot of a distinctly chubby-looking Fionna asleep on the couch, a half-empty ice-cream carton resting on her pot belly.

"Wh-no!" Fionna said. "That's not me! I mean... it is me, but it's just because we found these businesswomen frozen in some ice and we got a little lazy! I don't look like that anymore!"

"Yeah, 'cause you're sucking it in."

"I am not!" Fionna said hotly. "I'm in totally exponential shape!"

"Come on," Marshall said, poking her middle. "Let go. Embrace your inner butterball."

"Hey! Hands off my gut-meats, mister!"

"Okay, okay. Well, let's see, there's this picture...

-Fionna, after she shaved her head to make a beard for that evil tree wizard-

"Or this one, maybe..."

-that time she got all her clothes stolen in the middle of the City of Thieves--

"Or maybe this..."

-the time the Magic Woman turned her into a giant foot!-

"Cake, why did you take all these pictures, anyway?" Fionna muttered sourly.

"They'll make magical memories someday," the cat said. "If that nasty boy doesn't shmurtz them all up with his vampire claws!"

"I'm not going to hurt your pics," Marshall said, twirling the book lazily on one finger. "In fact, I'm going to help. I'll pick out the very best photo and deliver it to the royal sculptor myself."

"That's okay. Really." Fionna reached for the album, but Marshall was already drifting towards the edge of the shadow and unfolding his umbrella.

"Oh, it's no trouble. Besides, there's things in here that ol' Pinky just has to see. And your face does turn the tastiest shade of red."

"Marshall!-" she began, but he was already lifting off into the sky, fading away as he did so. Cake's arms shot out after him, but it was too late. He was already gone.

"You don't think he'd really..." Fionna said nervously.

"Oh, Fionna." Cake frowned. "Of course he would! That jealous jerk is gonna try to ruin your reputation with Prince Gumball! You gotta go stop him!" She spread her body out as tall and wide as a sail. "I'm gonna try and catch him in the air! You make for the palace, and you better run like your pride depends on it!"