Something More
is an Adventure Time fanfic where baby Finn and Martin got washed back to shore on the islands instead of being swept out to sea like in canon's timeline, letting him grow up under his mother's watchful robotic eyes. But fate is not so easily deterred...
This fanfic has examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Context Change: Finn enters a relationship with Flame Princess and ends getting dumped by her here like in canon, but while in the show it was due to Finn manipulating FP into fighting Ice King to satisfy a strange dream he had here she breaks up with him due to FP realizing that her feelings for Finn drive her to irrational anger after she came to believe that Finn thought she'd been the one to hire Scorcher to kill PB.
- Adaptational Heroism: The Ice King stopped being a villain as early as Season 3 but in this fic he stops being one as soon as he shows up and Finn meets him, since the latter feels sympathy for him and helps him move on from his princess-kidnapping ways much earlier.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Slight case with Jake who was willing to take a snack break and ignore the threat of the Lich when the entity first broke out.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Since Finn has significantly matured compared to his canon self by the time he arrives on Ooo he's much more thoughtful and kinder to others, starting by befriending the Ice King as soon as he sees that he really just wants friends and even isn't the one to cause his' and Phoebe's breakup this time, directly that is.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- In canon Finn and Marceline stayed entirely as friends and never really developed feelings for one another. Here Marceline becomes Finn's First Love though they end up breaking up.
- Finn at first hated the Ice King for kidnapping princesses and threatening him and Jake in his attempts to befriend them and it took finding out his past as Simon Petrikov for the two to become friends, here Finn initially goes to stop the Ice King but upon seeing how miserable he is begins to take pity on him earlier on and the Ice King becomes one of his earliest friends.
- Martin in canon was a caring father once to Finn but later on became a neglectful deadbeat, implied to be a result of a head injury affecting him with him leaving the series by Ascending to a Higher Plane of Existence while never really mending his relationship with Finn, here the two still see each other but their relationship is simply strained because of Martin's recklessness and manipulative behavior.
- Adaptational Upbringing Change: Finn was raised by Minerva on Founders Island here, since he and Martin wound up washing back onto Founders Island during the day where Martin tried to escape his enemies with him. Martin also forms a part of his life, though much more strained with Finn than Minerva.
- Adapted Out:
- Because he died here at the hands of the Lich long before Finn came to Ooo, the events of "His Hero" don't take place as Billy never encountered his successor and Finn only learns of the late hero's existence and deeds once he arrives in Ooo.
- The original Enchiridion plotline has been completely eschewed thanks to the events' divergence, primarily because of Finn only arriving at Ooo much later.
- Per statements from the author, Patience St. Pim will be completely absent from the story.
- Amicable Exes: Finn ends up like this with both of his first girlfriends Marceline and Flame Princess, a notable case with FP as unlike his initially frosty relationship post-breakup with the latter in canon the two split over much less harsh terms.
- Ascended Extra:
- Shoko in the show only appeared twice besides cameos or pictures. Here, Finn accesses her memories and discovers her past much earlier and she acts as a ghostly companion to Finn and is one of the fic's major characters even getting to take part in the action.
- NEPTR was constantly absent in the series and his frequent absence was made fun of throughout the series, here he is a much more recurring character and even joins Finn's group in his expedition back to Founders Island.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Shoko developed feelings for Bonnibel because she was the first person to ever be nice to her.
- Chick Magnet: Finn is this, both in the Founders Island and in Ooo, among the girls that have been attracted to him he's had are his childhood friend Sarah, various other human girls, various princesses, Lumpy Space Princess, Marceline, Flame Princess and as of late, Huntress Wizard.
- Famed In-Story: Marceline has become a legend among the descendants of the humans she saved, even if the details of her one-woman crusade against the vampires have become muddled due to the passing of time.
- Greater-Scope Villain:
- The Lich might be frozen and trapped in the Ice Kingdom rendering him unable to cause ruin and death as he wishes, but he isn't truly dealt with yet and still plans on achieving his goals any way he can, primarily by attempting to manipulate Finn and then Gunter/Orgalorg to join his side. Only in the very final arc does he finally break out.
- On a more humorous note, the one who hired Scorcher to assassinate Princess Bubblegum is none other than Lemongrab, who like Ice King had no idea of what a hitman actually was about. They only show up near the end as a closing joke.
- Identical Stranger: Sarah, Finn's human childhood friend, is a borderline dead ringer for a younger version of Betty; being a red-headed girs with glasses who dresses in a green shirt, but they aren't related. Finn and Ice King even denote their similarities.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Dr. Gross meets her end by being impaled by Finn's sword.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- A number of things end up happening more or less the same way as in canon despite Finn arriving in OOO close to two decades late. Not limited but including the plague on Hub Island, the Lich's escape, Flame Princess becoming the Queen of the Fire Kingdom and Cinnamon Bun becoming her knight, etc.
- Even though PB develops feelings for Finn here as an adult, rather than a temporary infatuation during her stint as a de-aged child she still never develops a relationship with him, primarily due to Finn going out first with Marceline and after their break-up Marceline and PB rekindle their own feelings all the while Finn dates Flame Princess.
- It's Not You, It's Me: This is the reason Phoebe breaks up with Finn, she feels that as long as her emotions are thrown out of wack by her feelings for Finn she will be a danger to everyone and even her boyfriend, so she ends things for both their safeties after the rather recent incident of thinking Finn didn't trust her about her innocence in Scorcher's attempted assassination of PB.
- Living Is More than Surviving: After listening to his recountings of his life on Founders Island LSP mentions to Finn that it seems like the humans of the islands have been doing a lot of surviving but not much living, and Finn comes to agree. This helps set Finn down his decision to stay in Ooo.
- Mythology Gag:
- When Jake invites Finn over to eat, he references the Rainicorns' eating of humans and how they now only eat soy with human-like flavor while also mentioning Lady Rainicorn's parents.
- The Ice King scolds Gunter for trying to reach down to the dungeon where he's keeping the Lich prisoner and soaks him with a spray bottle when he won't listen to him like he did in "Reign of Gunters". Likewise, the Lich is stated by Ice King to be trying to melt his prison just like he did in canon on the Citadel but is kept at bay by magic crystals continuously freezing him.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, the Ice King once hired Scorcher to "hit" Jake for whatever reason, unlike in canon where he had to fool Scorcher by freezing the intended target the latter relented from his hit due to the payment Ice King was going to give him not going through.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Lich's escape in this timeline happened somewhat differently with Princess Bubblegum having to get Billy out of retirement and later enlisting Marceline, the Ice King, Jake and Flame Princess to aid her cause, it ended with Billy's death and ultimately the Ice King managed to seal the Lich away by freezing him and keeping the frozen Lich hidden in his Kingdom with help from the City of Wizards.
- Older and Wiser: One of the main plot points for the fic's alternate canon is how Finn arrives on Ooo when he's already an older teenager/young adult and has had a normal upbringing in the Founders Island thus, he is able to avoid various pratfalls his canon self had.
- Past-Life Memories: Finn still has instinctive fighting skills despite having grown up on a peaceful island in this timeline, which turn out to be from his past life as Shoko. Later, he views her memories consciously.
- Properly Paranoid: In Chapter 35, LSP asks Finn and Jake to come to Lumpy Space with her to help protect her parents from an assassin. She turns out to be right to be worried, as Me-Mow is trying to kill them.
- Point of Divergence: The main divergence between this timeline and the canon one is that Finn and Marten washed back up on the shores of the island rather than being swept out to sea and ending up in OOO. This is even acknowledged in-universe by Prismo and the Cosmic Owl who groan that the current timeline is not the one that was "supposed" to happen and it's much harder now to handle.
- Posthumous Character: Billy has long since died at the hands of the Lich by the start of the fic so he never meets Finn in the flesh.
- Running Gag: People keep telling Finn he is a necrophiliac for having sex with Marceline.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Lich broke out of his old amber prison but without Finn around the Ice King had to save the day by freezing him and sealing his prison in the depths of the Ice Kingdom, regardless the Lich is still able to try and reach out to Finn and later Gunter who eventually helps him.
- Skewed Priorities: When the Lich broke out, Jake was among the many allies Princess Bubblegum recruited but he failed to be of help because he decided to take a snack break amidst the chaos, driving the Princess and Peppermint Butler to not trust him much.
- Story Arc: The fic is divided into different plotlines per the chapters, each concerning a different overarching narrative:
- The Evolutionary Arc: Dr. Gross makes her move and attacks Ooo with the intent of expanding the human territory there, forcing Finn and his allies to stop her.
- The Island Arc: An alternate version of the Islands miniseries serving as the final arc; Finn goes back home to talk down his mother from her increasingly destructive actions to see him again. However, while Finn is away the Lich begins to break out at last with help from Gunter.
- Tempting Fate: In the penultimate chapter, Finn muses that Ooo should be doing fine in his absence right as the Lich finally breaks out of his prison with help from Gunter.
- We Can Rule Together: The Lich begins temping Gunter (AKA Orgalorg) to aid him. Later on, Gunter starts to free him from his prison, albeit starts to regret this choice once the Lich actually starts to break free.
