VERY IMPORTANT

Please Read

NOW!

I'M SERIOUS!

I uploaded this the same day as the final "real" chapter. If you are one of my fans and you skipped to the end to see what the newest chapter is, GO BACK TO "Downfall."

Since it is against the rules to post a chapter that is purely an Author's Note...

Epilogue

Jake the dog floated through the candy kingdom. Waves of color blurred miraculously around him as he flew through the valley. How on earth did he abruptly learn to fly? Who knows, and who the flump cares?

He sighed in relaxation, closing his eyes. Drifting off. Letting the warm sun and the colorful aromas overwhelm him.

A sweet note pierced through the air. Jake opened his eyes and looked to his right.

It was his girlfriend, Lady Rainicorn.

She was playing a symphonic melody on her viola.

Jake smiled, "Hey honey!"

She waved, "헤이 성 머핀"

Jake chuckled and blushed at her somewhat smutty comments.

He pulled out his own viola. His bow riddled its way across the strings. His playing was so pure, so refined. It seemed to be his greatest performance. An upbeat tempo and quick chords erupted over the valley.

He closed his eyes, savoring every second of this moment.

Jake opened his eyes.

Why, he was now standing on a large stage. The whole candy kingdom was in attendance. They roared and they cheered, they danced and they were merry. Oh the whole celebration filled with excitement. Uplifting. Up-roaring. Absolutely wonderful.

It was the party to end all parties. There was not a single soul who was not having the time or their lives.

That is, except for one individual who seemed confused by the whole ordeal.

He stood out in the large crowd.

He twisted and turned, as if stumbling into some foreign world.

Jake floated down to this figure, still playing his viola.

The stranger looked oddly at him. Jake spoke, "What's wrong with you?"

Rigby the raccoon replied, "I-I don't know... I usually don't dream like this." He stood aback, confused by the whole affair.

Jake realized where he was. A dream! Of course! The dog shrugged his shoulders, "So what? You're here now anyway. Life's a party, man!"

Rigby brightened up, "Yeah... Yeah! Heh, uh, thanks uh... what's your name?"

"Oh, it's Jake. Jake the-..."

He stopped playing.

The background noise from the roaring crowd was cut immediately, as if sound disappeared entirely.

Rigby shook his head ominously, "Oh no... no..."

Jake asked, "What is it?"

"This is like one of my dreams..."

"Huh? Wha-"

Jake looked around.

Every candy citizen lay dead on the ground. Most were torn to bits.

"I-it-I-No-IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

Rigby hyperventilated. He held up his hands. They were coated in thick, red blood.

Jake grew terrified.

"Uh... dude...?" Jake reached out towards Rigby.

The candy kingdom disappeared. Only an innate blackness surrounded them. The Abyss...

Jake stumbled. He looked down then leaped back. Sweat brimmed from his forehead.

He stood upon three bodies: a blue jay in a suit with a hole through his chest, the burnt body of a much larger raccoon, and a young mole girl who, worst of all, stared right back at Jake. Her dead eyes transfixed through her glasses.

Rigby was still hysterical.

"Jake. Jake, it wasn't me! It wasn't my fault!"

Jake took more steps back.

Rigby, in frustrated anger, began to pound at the sides of his head with his fists. "GET OUT!" he screamed. Tears poured down his face.

The raccoon screamed in agony.

Green flames surrounded them.

They stretched for miles.

Jake welled with fear.

Rigby's own body began to steam. His screaming intensified.

But then...

Jake looked through the fire behind Rigby. He peered into the void of Rigby's deep shadow.

A demonic face glared back at him.

The crown, the horns, the cloak, the grisly mangled face...

It... it couldn't be...

A roaring caw sounded from above.

Jake peered upwards.

His eyes widened and his body grew weak.

The golden cosmic owl circled overhead...

Darkness.

Nothing existed.

No Jake.

No Rigby.

A sudden sound echoed through. It was indescribable. The ground vibrated fiercely.

A green fire ripped through the void in the distance.

A pale, demonic monster, with toxic green sludge oozing from his pores.

Then another monster came through the flame.

Then more! And more!

They cascaded through the abyss!

Thousands descended!

Closer and closer they came!

The death and destruction lay imminent.

He laughed. They both did.

You can't escape...

You can never escape...

"AGGHHH!"

Rigby shot up, tears pouring down his cheeks. He shook violently.

He screamed again.

Rigby's arms clutched around his body. The night terror shook every ounce of his being.

"agghh, sniffle, uhhhh"

Rigby slowly calmed himself down.

Eventually, he lay back down in the ruble, tail curled around him.

He did not sleep for the rest of the night.

"AGGHH!" Jake shot up in his drawer bed.

Beemo also screamed, "AGHH HI JAKE!"

"AGHHH!"

"AGGGGGHHHHWHY ARE WE SCREAMING?!" the little robot yelled.

"UDDADU CONCERT ANDDDUDD LADY RAINICORN! MOSTERS! FREAKY RACCOON PEOPLE! COSMIC OWL! LICH! AGGH-"

He was cut short by a massive slap in the face from Beemo.

"Aghh.. wooh! Woohoo! Yeah... That really wakes you up in the morning.." Jake played off, breathing heavily and rubbing his cheek.

He looked over.

Finn wasn't in his bed. He probably is still out looking for Glob knows what.

Jake began to ponder what just happened.

The cosmic owl, he only shows up in dreams that tell you how you will die...

They only happen right before you will die...

Something in Jake's stomach told him to make an emergency sandwich, but his gut told him something else was up...

Something terrible...

Author's Note TIME! YEAYUH! Take a minute to calm down from those night terrors. That was my practice of writing horror. It was flashy and hardly subtle, which is not what I am shooting for. I will need to work on it before my story can continue in the long run.

Well, Chronicles of the Enchiridion Part 2: No Hope is finally over. It has been 11 months. That, to me, is appalling. It should not have taken me anywhere near as long! I've only just begun to get a spring in my step.

With school out and my Eagle Scout Project nearing completion, I will update Part 3 as quickly as possible over the summer. I can assure you, it will be much more awesome, dramatic, action packed, and intense than Part 2 as a whole.

Before I get into the whole explanation of the Mushroom War, I'd like to point out my song selection, "Us and Them" as the main theme. This may seem like an odd song, but the only justification I have is from a perfect review from Ben10Extreme:

"I don't even know if there is a true bad guy anymore..."

This captures my point perfectly. There is a lot of themes, morals, and symbolism in my story as a whole (Good vs. Evil, the Devil, themes of guilt, symbols of character struggles, etc). But I think the main point here (and especially for Part 3) is that it is just one tragic story. The only real "bad guys" can be pointed to the Lich and Gene.

Other than that, what else was there? Jeremy was justified, his friend got shot. Mordecai was succumbing to the Crown. Benson just tried to hold onto his family. Even Rigby just wanted to right what he thought as wrong.

Even further, my character arch for Rigby was based off my favorite episode, "Meat your Maker." What I mean is: Here's a character who has had everything practically handed to him whenever he's in trouble. He ALWAYS causes the problems in the show. And, lo and behold, Mordecai, Skips, or the others ALWAYS bail him out and save his life. He says he's sorry and he's learned a lesson and won't do it again, yet he causes the problems of the very next episode.

There is no moral of self-responsibility. There is nothing to be lost or gained, since everyone will always bail you out. He has no guilt. To me, the sudden realization of Rigby's guilt and the desperate attempts to "fix it" make "Meat your Maker" my favorite episode.

So for this series, I figured: what happens when someone who has no guilt or real conscious does something so unspeakable that it can't be fixed? On top of that, there is no one to help him. What happens to this character who never held any guilt? That is what I love about Rigby in my series. The constant break-downs and desperate attempts to rid himself of the guilt are my favorite things to write. I bring this all up because I've repeated everything so much (example: "I'm gonna fix it!"). I simply tried too hard to make it known.

With the micro theme of "Who is truly a villain?" and guilt, not just in Rigby but in some other characters, there's a lot to keep an eye out for in Part 3...

NOW! On to the important stuff!

Why was this AN created?

In this Author's Note, I wanted to explain why my Mushroom War is taking so damn long. Those of you who know Adventure Time's history are aware of the Lich being created by "the Lich bomb." With jets flying everywhere and a duel to the death, it would have seemed the best place to put it. So this ending must have surprised you. It surprised me too.

So then, when will the bomb drop?

Be patient. I have planned this out using the best academic analysis of the war presented in Adventure Time. We only get glimpses in "I Remember you" and "Simon and Marcy" (and unofficially in "Finn the Human": the alternate universe is ESSENTIAL to this theory) but those are enough to tell me exactly what happened.

I've decided that there are, in fact, THREE stages of the Mushroom War itself. This would make sense for my planning: There are four Regular Show Parts. The first is a setup and the rest are a part of the war itself.

Let's break this down.

For the sake of clarity, the war is literally called the "Mushroom War" and there is radiation everywhere outside of the candy kingdom. We can confirm Nuclear Weapons were in fact used.

Also, the Lich bomb is an obvious, so that is one confirmed scenario: The nukes fell with the Lich bomb so everything was one single event.

But then holes start to pop up...

If you notice in "Simon and Marcy," the city looks relatively intact! The stores are all standing and they actually have stuff inside of them. If a nuclear bomb was dropped on the city Marceline is in, then almost every building would be ash and nothing would be standing. The skyscrapers are slightly fallen, but structurally sound. Flammable objects such as the teddy bear are also untouched.

So what happened? The only answer I could think of was conventional! Conventional warfare is someone physically going in with planes and carpet bombing the city. This makes sense: we saw glimpses of bomber planes in the flashback in "Finn the Human." This way, the city can still be ruined but not flattened but in a cataclysmic explosion.

Case closed, there were two parts. But when does everyone meet? How exactly do the events play out? I'm confused, can I skip this?

Let's pretend the first time Simon and Marcy met was when he gave her the Teddy Bear (spoilers...I guess?). The city was already destroyed. So it had to be either after the Lich dropped the bomb or beforehand with the conventional warfare.

For those that don't know, "Finn the human" was an episode where Finn wished the Lich never existed. Ergo, the war still happened but no magic or Lich. BUT, an elderly Marceline states Simon was her best friend and that he died stopping the Lich bomb. She was so loyal as to guard his grave for a thousand years. (In the end, Jake simply re-wishes the Lich's wish in Prizmo's time room. Go look it up online if you are lost).

She said she was Simon's best friend before the Lich even showed up... and the city was destroyed before they met. This would mean a period of time would have to take place between the bombings and Lich Bomb in order for Marceline and Simon to be that close (Part 3 ;D ).

Okay, so we have two concrete, official sections: Conventional bombing with planes and jets where Marceline and Simon meet for a period of time, then The Lich bomb. Is that all?

Don't worry, we are in the home stretch.

Nuclear bombs were used and they did destroy most of the world. Why, then, was the city untouched? Why did the planes have to go to the city anyway?

To answer the survival question, in one instance of the "Finn the Human" flashback, Simon stops a bomb using ice powers. Since the warhead was dropped from a plane, it was much less time before it hit the ground as opposed to a nuke from orbit. So what if Mordecai used the ice powers on the nukes? That's why I came up with Chapter 6: Rigby and Mordecai save the city from destruction. (I've had these things planned out since before my account was even created.) They can stop the bombs effectively and Mordecai wouldn't be crushed to death like Simon was in the alternate universe flashback.

In addition, it would take time before the Russians attacked. This would give a period of time (Part 2) where the town is isolated.

The war aspect of my story gained lots of influence from the book, Alas Babylon. It's a fifties post-nuclear war book where the town survives. For instance, the scene in the Pentagon in Chapter 5 was from the book, in a way. The same with the radio pick-up of the planes. That is about all I really took from that source, which isn't really much.

As for the Russians bombing the town, I needed a reason. We've seen the airport in Regular Show several times. Why not just use that? Most military bases would be wiped out anyway. This was my reason: the Air Force being stationed outside of the city.

I added my own tweaks here and there to accommodate what I wanted for the drama, such as the period where the town is "safe" for two weeks, allowing for a pivotal Gene take-over (that will still be important much later on).

This all looks like one jumbled mess. It may have been difficult to read. I just wanted you all to know that I am at least putting serious thought into this. I am trying my best to make this as canon as possible. I did not want to give the impression that every moment was made up because I felt like destroying canon.

In conclusion: there are three solid, confirmed, undeniable parts to the War:

A time where the nukes have fallen and the town has to survive on its own.

The Russian jets bomb the hell out of it and we get an interim period where nothing but wreckage lays around.

Finally, after some time (not very long): The Lich bomb is delivered and we get the darkest part yet.

I will say this much: Part 4 will be the greatest writing endeavor I will have ever accomplished. It will be the darkest part ever and it is very close to being so violent that it will have to be taken off the site if so much as a single paragraph is added. It will be so dark yet so metaphorically and dramatically deep; Part 4 will be better than Parts 1-3 combined. It will have so much depth and symbolism. I hope I am not bragging or exaggerating.

We still have Part three to get through first though, which is still really good in its own right.

I will be seeing you all again on June 1st. ;D

Until then, I will work on "You and Me", my story with RegularShowFan1592, and start a mystery-comedy for Chowder. I will also rewrite my early sloppy chapters when I have nothing to do.

Thank you to every single one of my fans up to this point. It would be impossible to continue without your help and support. This is a shout out to all you beautiful people out there who have read my story, even once: You rock!

Final Author's note for now:

I am so deeply sorry, but I will not be canon with Adventure Time.

It is going by way too quickly for me. I would have to rewrite everything in my head.

I had ideas about Flame Princess still, Finn's family, the Demon Blood sword, the Lich, and so much more.

So, I will just cut it short: Everything passing and including "Blades of Grass" will not be included in my story. I know this is confusing, but I can't keep up anymore.

So Flame Princess x Cinnamon Bun won't be included, Billy's girlfriend won't be mentioned, Lemongrab is still a tyrant, and we won't meet Finn's parents the way the show designs.

This may be a turn-off, but that is just the way it has to be. I'm sorry. I promise, though, that Parts 5-8 will be awesome in their own right, even without a lot of the Adventure Time stuff that is recent.

I am excited for what I have planned ahead. Again, thank you to all for reading and being a part of this experience.

I'll see you all on June 1st!