Ward continued to work on short animations for Frederator's "Random! Cartoons", which aired on the Nicktoons Network. There he worked with several people who would later join him on the "Adventure Time" series, including composer Casey James Basichis, Adam Muto and Niki Yang, many of whom had attended the California Institute of the Arts alongside Pen. His two shorts were "The Bravest Warriors" and the "Adventure Time" animated short. The "Adventure Time" short was made in 2006 and went on to become an internet phenomenon in 2007, with over a million views by November of that year. Ward initially pitched "Adventure Time" to Nickelodeon, but was rejected. It also took some time before Cartoon Network decided to pick it up.