Chapter 9: 9 . Market Place and Searching for a certain crazy goose
POV: FINN THE HUMAN
Finn thought when Jake had agreed they would go on an adventure, he thought it would be a blood-pumping, soul-scaring, breathtaking adventure never seen before.
Then, why was Jake holding a noticeable weave basket he always had when shopping?
It did not take a master to know Finn had been tricked and lied to by his brother.
Why were his limbs secured by Jake's stretchy body as he now rested on the huge body of the dog? Why had his expectations been raised high only to not be met?
His day was ruined and his disappointment was immeasurable.
But there was also a silver lining to all of this. He had at least now known how the tree fort looked from up here where he was sited.
Finn was able to take a look at the yard of their home where he was able to see a pond which he knew a group of water nymphs were shown to be there at some points.
Unluckily, they were not there at the moment. Maybe they were asleep or something. He could also remember there were sorts of hidden grotto systems in that pond
There was also a well which Finn was aware led to the Beneathaverse. An underground area that if he remembered correctly held a race of people known as the gnome who had managed to kidnap the original Finn from the show when he was asleep to get him to power some sort of machine.
And now that Finn thought about it, he felt the gnomes had chosen him to do such a thing due to his status as a catalyst comet from one of his past life. His theory was that they were somehow trying to harness his essence as a past comet
Finn had to check them out. If they managed to kidnap a version of him, they were likely very dangerous and that machine they wanted to power up could pose its own set of dangers. Especially when the tree fort was right above it.
And also maybe he could make them his followers. He would consider that as payback for what they had done to that version of Finn.
And finally, the yard had something that looked like a generator. He was not sure. That was just how it looked like.
" So . . . are we going to the Farmer's Market? " Finn asked
It was more of a statement than an actual question and he believed Jake could also hear the bland tone he spoke with. No, Finn made sure he would hear.
" Yup. " Jake replied, his tone also lacking any hint of shame for the lie he had been told.
In fact, why did he sound smug while answering Finn? OR! Was Finn being pranked this whole time? Finn could remember many times Jake had done so. Had Jake led him on to believe they were going on an adventure while they were going to the Market?
He felt a slight annoyance grow in him. This was Jake's plan to get him back for what he had done earlier with that scare tactic and that realization did not feel good to Finn.
Finn was not amused. Jake had even been the one to bring him his sword, Scarlet. What deep planning!
He gazed on at the grasslands in contemplation and he recalled that out there was a dungeon which held the demon blood sword. A sword Joshua had placed for Finn and mostly the main reason he wished to go on an adventure near their home.
But could they find it? If he remembered correctly, they had found the dungeon after finding the map left behind by Joshua. And Finn was sure that map was at . . . He could not remember where the map was!
How could that be possible?
Neither by using his future knowledge nor by his current one. It was like he had forgotten. But how could that be? Leo was sure he could not forget something so important. So this could only be something mystical involved.
Was this a way of the universe telling him it was still not time to go to that dungeon? In any other universe, Finn would have said that line of thinking was idiotic but in this one, it made sense. He would just have to work with Scarlet for now. She was a good sword anyway.
" So . . . I carried my sword for nothing. " Finn said once again.
Picking up the conversation with Jake once more. His excitement had lessened after knowing he could potentially not find the blood demon sword but he still felt a little unwilling to be tricked.
" Hehehe. Stop being a baby about it " Jake said laughing as smugly as always. A good prank deserved a good laugh.
Jake was happy about the slight trick he had managed to pull on Finn.
Would he be dumb enough to let his baby brother do something dangerous after getting hurt on their last adventure? Of course not, he was more responsible than that . . . Most of the time. And he was able to get back at Finn for scaring him with that whole being a possessed thing
Jake felt the calmed down Finn on his back and wondered how different he was since the bump on his head. He had noticed, Finn was calmer, and that was a good thing!
Jake wondered if he should be happy about Finn getting knocked on the noggin.
Finn stretched his hand out to the sky, experiencing the gentle breeze on his hand, the clear blue sky, the slightly warm sun rays on his skin, and the flatter of the green grass every time a slight breeze swept by. It was a great sight to see. Especially for someone like him who had spent most of their time in a lab. It was refreshing.
' Maybe this isn't so bad ' Finn thought.
And seeing how fast they moved away from the tree fort to what he expected to be the farmer's marker which if Finn still recalled was quite a distance away from the tree house but still located in the Grasslands.
Now that Finn thought about it, he needed a map of the land of Ooo. This place was too confusing to not have a map.
Even with his foreknowledge, he was very sure he did not know of most of the places well enough. The areas he was aware of were at best their old home which was now owned by Jermaine and part of the Grasslands. That was why he would take this opportunity to look for a map.
Jake's stretching ability still impressed the new him by the sheer absurdness it represented. It was like a clear confirmation that he was here, in this dangerous but amazing world that had mysteries and opportunities all around.
And he was happy with that fact. The fact that the Goddess had not lied to him. The fact that he had a second chance at life. The fact that he could once again experience the world as a different him. It was truly amazing!
He thought about the reason he so easily accepted the fact that he was here, reincarnated as this new human. And one theory came to mind.
What if he was one of the past incarnations of the present him? What if Finn was just the present him and Leo was the past him? Didn't it make sense? The moment his memories had come to him he felt like he just belonged.
Like this was him, just different. And he guessed that was why the memory joining was so seamless. And the goddess did say this was supposed to be a reincarnation.
That generally meant that he would start as a baby, maybe she saw mercy upon him and chose to at least make him 10 years old. what a merciful goddess !!
With the memories Leo had regained from Finn even those from childhood, he felt he would have died of shame if he was the one experiencing those things. A genius such as himself shitting his diaper !!
He felt his cheeks redden once again as he remembered his reason for his helping philosophy.
Like which dumb idiot decides to help everyone who requires it just because they, unfortunately, shit themselves and they fell on a leaf while as a baby and no one helped them, oh wait, that dumb idiot was him. How embarrassing.
Finn remembered how he revealed his dirty laundry to the mountain marauders and his shame increased.
' That is going into the vault! ' He thought Jokingly
Finn was aware of the existence of the vault within him. A place in his mind where he stored or suppressed all the messed up things that had ever happened to him and which he could not handle and preferred not to deal with.
Leo thought that he could improve upon it to make a sort of mind fortress or library. And he also needed to know what was kept in that vault. The past him might have placed something interesting in there
" Finn, we're here! " Jake said making the distracted Finn look around at the market stalls in contemplation.
There were stalls selling ice cream, pillows, and others selling fruits and vegetables. But those stalls were of no concern to Finn. There was something else he was looking for.
One particular stall with a very noticeable goose who probably lacked limbs in their body and unfortunately, he did not see the mentioned person. Was it too early? Was Choose Goose not here yet?
How disappointing!
But finding choose goose was only one of the things he planned on doing in the farmer's market.
For starters, a map was required. And he could also use the opportunity to look around for that mad goose. The things he sold were too useful to be left to any random person to have.
Luckily his stall could be located elsewhere, someplace not at the entrance of the market. Also, he needed to find that suspicious grass wizard who sold that cursed grass sword, could he also be here? Probably not. But Finn thought it would not hurt to look for him.
" Jake, I want to buy a map. " He said stepping off from where he was resting as Jake's body shrunk to his normal size
" A map huh? That could be useful. Okay, take this. It should be enough to buy a map. " Jake said rubbing his chin in contemplation,
Jake agreed and handed Finn some gold coins.
Finn was amazed at how easily gold was used as a currency in this post-apocalyptic world. The fact that any normal Joe could have a load of gold by just clearing a dungeon felt even more unbelievable to him.
" Thanks, Jake ." Finn was ready to rush off, his eyes shining with the spirit of freedom and why not, he was a child. And his childish urges were very curious as he was quickly learning.
" HEY, what Ice cream flavor do you want? " Jake shouted to the leaving Finn who had traveled quite a distance.
" STRAW BERRY! BYE! " He also shouted back at the yellow dog as he quickly left. This might not have been the blood-pumping adventure he wanted but it was a start.
Wasn't it also an opportunity to explore this new world of his? With its strangely new types of talking animals and variety of species that strangely looked like different colored humans.
For some reason, a reason he could not understand, Leo felt oddly at peace with this slow start. He did not know why.
"Strawberry. . . that kid must be crazy. " Jake thought.
To think that someone would prefer strawberry over his favorite ice cream flavor Chocolate !!
What heresy!
. . . .
A/N
To make things clear, this book will have an element of slice of life and will be slow-paced
I will also be interchanging the names from Finn to Leo when Finn thinks for instance when he is in smart mode I will be referring to Leo and when he is in adventurous crazy mode this will be Finn.
Thank you for reading and if you're willing, please donate to my ko-fi
ko-fi.com/prof_nuclear .
The first chapter to be prof read by A.I