Author Notes - I'm several chapters into this story already 'behind the scenes', and this is probably gonna be one of the longest chapters. Which makes sense, cos there's a lot to set up before Molly sets off down that yellow brick road.

Also EEEEE got around to reading the original book online. It is shocking how accurate the movie is, and it is absolutely worth a read. It's in the public domain, so you can read it for free on the internet. Because of that, I may be taking inspiration from some of the scenes that didn't make it in. My favourite was probably the scene where the Tin Woodsman accidentally kills a beetle, and feels so awful about it that he cries his jaw shut. That is adorable and hilariously tragic. I'd give a link to the story, but fanfiction will purge it.

When I say 'take inspiration', I mean 'add to the chapters I've already written when I go through and proofread'. Like I said, I'm already up to chapter seven 'The Sparkling Emerald Sydney' as I type this.

CHAPTER TWO – VE-HOUSE-CULAR WITCHSLAUGHTER

Molly's eyes slowly opened. Her head hurt like crazy, especially the back of it. She groaned as she sat up and coughed from the dust. The sound of howling wind hit her ears.

She gasped. 'Oh my cods!'

Everything came back to her. Bubble Puppy, the whirlpool, the whack to her head… she sprung to her tail and saw the remains of the shattered window on the floor. It was quite the miracle that she hadn't been cut by the scattered shards of glass.

'Bubble Puppy!' She called, her voice almost getting lost in the wind. 'BUBBLE PUPPY!'

The little doggy stuck his head out from under the bed and whimpered.

'You got the right idea!'

She ducked under the bed alongside him, watching everything not nailed down in the cabin flying out the window and landing who knew where.

'We just gotta wait this out!'

Suddenly, as if the whirlpool itself had heard her, the wind just stopped rather abruptly. Everything stopped flying around, and the gusts stopped nipping at her face. To say the least, Molly was quite surprised, and it took her a second of seconds to properly react.

'Oh.' She said. 'Alll-righty then. I guess we made it!'

With a smile on her face, she approached the calm window. Well, what was left of it at least. Outside that hole in the wall, Molly could see clean blue skies as far as her eyes could manage. Skies, skies, skies… and not much else. In fact, nothing else. Seemingly the only thing that surrounded her was a blue sky with very few clouds.

'Wait, what?'

Where were the trees? Or the ground for that matter? She looked all the way down…

'AAAAAHHHHHHHH!'

So that's where the ground was: thousands of feet below her! And it was approaching fast! Faster than the whirlpool did, it seemed.

'BUBBLE PUPPY?!' She screamed. 'HOW LONG WAS I OUT FOR?!'

The puppy could only shrug. He jumped into Molly's arms again, as the pink-haired girl's mind worked overtime to think of a solution. All she could think to do was grab onto a broken grandfather clock for dear life and pray. While screaming.

'WAAAAHHHHHH!'

Falling…

Falling…

FALLING!

*CRAA-AAA-AAA-AASH!*

'WAAAAAAA…aaaah?'

Molly looked around the room. Well, that was rather anticlimactic. One second the cabin was plummeting out of the sky at what felt like the speed of light, and the next everything had come to a rest. Molly and Bubble Puppy exchanged incredulous expressions.

'Are you complaining that the landing was easy?' She asked.

Bubble Puppy shook his head.

'Good. Because I'm certainly not. But the real question is… where did we land, exactly?'

He whimpered.

'Hey, don't fret. I'm sure – uh, hope – we haven't landed on the edge of a cliff…'

With another quick gulp, and with Bubble Puppy still in her arms, she approached the door. When she reached out to it, however, it popped right off its hinges and fell away from her.

'Oh, that's helpful I guess.'

Taking in a deep breath, she swam out the door… and gasped. Whatever she was expecting, this was not it. In the slightest. It was like a little town in the middle of a big yet contained forest, filled with houses even smaller than her makeshift shelter. A little river travelled through the town, bridged by the most adorable, well, bridge she had ever seen. In the middle of this quaint little town was a brick floor depicting a yellow and red swirling pattern.

'Uh, Bubble Puppy…' Molly said, her expression getting increasingly uneasy with each passing second. 'I have a feeling we're not in Bubbletucky anymore.' She blinked a couple times. 'What do I mean, have a feeling? Of course we're not in Bubbletucky anymore!'

Bubble Puppy escaped from her arms and sniffed around the base of the cabin, now that it had smacked directly into a grassy field. He picked up a horrible scent, and ran back to Molly's side with a yelp.

'You okay, Bubble Puppy?' She asked. 'I know this is really scary, but… OH MY COD!'

It was then that Molly realised her landing was relatively smooth for a reason. A pair of arms stuck out from under that cabin, lifelessly flat against the ground. It almost made the Guppy throw up in her mouth, and the sight of having obviously killed someone shocked her so much-

'THAT CABIN JUST KILLED SOMEONE!'

-that she didn't notice something special about those arms. They were donning shiny red gloves that appeared to be made from rubies. How could anyone pay that any attention, however, when they were dealing with the fact that they JUST KILLED SOMEONE?

Molly's breath got heavy and harsh as she looked around for anyone, not just for help but possibly for any witnesses too. Did anyone see her crushing this person by accident? Would anyone even care? AND WHERE THE HECK WAS SHE?! None of these questions were answered – and, if anything, even more were raised – when Molly saw a pink bubble far off in the distance. It was far away at first, but she realised that it was quickly getting closer and closer to her.

'Oh dear…' She murmured. 'I really hope that isn't the police of Wherever-The-Heck-I-Am.'

She wanted to scream as the bubble got even closer to her, and it became clearer that it was even bigger than she was. Bubble Puppy hid behind her, whimpering and whining while she felt like an idiot for being scared of a bubble. It only stopped when it floated right in front of her. She braced herself for anything and everything to pop out of it and hurt her.

*pop!*

The bubble popped, like she expected. The being inside the bubble, however, was just about the last thing she could've possibly expected.

'OONA?!'

Indeed, the being inside that magic pink bubble was none other than Oona. At least, it seemed that way. Some time between Molly running after Bubble Puppy and now, Oona must've gotten a magnificent fairy outfit from the costume box. A big pink dress wider at the sides than the front or back covered with glittery silver stars, lovely woven wings, a giant crown decorated with pearls, a long magic wand with a star on its tip… Molly did not recognise this costume at all. Despite the obvious absurdity of the situation, Oona just smiled.

'What are YOU doing here?!' Molly exclaimed, her mouth agape.

Oona giggled. 'Why, I live here!'

That statement jammed itself into Molly's mind and stopped her brain from working for a moment. The way she said it was so nonchalantly, like she wasn't even acting. The look on Molly's face was a mix of confusion, despair, and debating-the-meaning-of-life.

'E-Excuse me?' She stammered.

'I am Oona, the Good Witch of the North!' Oona announced, spreading her arms out.

'Good witch of the what now?'

The good witch giggled. 'I take it you're not from around here, are you?'

Molly only had it in her to shake her head. Bubble Puppy took the time to sniff Oona's dress. It was quite the bizarre scent, smelling almost identical to Oona but not quite, and it resulted in something quite uncanny.

'In that case,' Oona said, spreading her arms out. 'Welcome to the wonderful land of Bubbledom!'

Molly rubbed her forehead to sooth the oncoming headache. 'Bubbledom? Not Bubbletucky?'

The good witch cocked an eyebrow. 'Can't say I've heard of that place. But...' She grinned. 'I have heard rumours that you killed the Mean Witch of the East!'

Molly's eyes widened. 'The WHO?!'

Oona didn't answer, and simply pointed her wand at the lifeless arms under the cabin. She did so with a soft little smile, which only made Molly even more uncomfortable.

'L-Listen... it was an accident. I-I was caught up in a whirlpool, a-and then-'

Oona held out her hand for her to stop. 'Don't fret, my sweetie! Believe me, you just did the Land of Bubbledom a huge favour.'

'Wait, I DID?'

As if to answer her question, someone else approached the body. With his short indigo hair and purple-blue striped tail, Molly identified him in seconds.

'Goby?!' She looked him up and down. 'Wow. You look really good in a pink shirt.'

Goby, donned in both that pink shirt and a short hat befitting a mayor, just gave her a weird look. Most likely because he always wore that pink shirt, so he wasn't certain why she made that remark. After he was done giving her a look, he returned his attention to the arms under the cabin.

'Oh my!' He said. 'Is she really…?'

He looked back to the village and clapped twice. From somewhere – one of the flowers as far as Molly was aware – a Little Fish in a red shirt and small white wig swam up to him holding a scroll. It was far bigger than her entire body, but she carried it like it was just a feather. Goby grabbed it from her fins and unravelled it, and gasped once he saw the contents. Still holding that unrolled scroll, he swam into the middle of that swirly brick pattern with the Little Fish following him.

'Uh, who is he?' Molly asked. 'The Good Witch of the South or something?'

Oona giggled. 'Don't be silly! Boys can't be witches. He's the Mayor of Fishkin Land!'

'Excuse me, the what?'

Once Goby, a.k.a. The Mayor of 'Fishkin Land', reached the middle of the town, he cleared his throat. 'I, the Mayor of Fishkin Land, pronounce the Mean Witch of the East really, certainly, absolutely, most definitely DEAD!'

Then, all at once, the doors of every single little house slammed open. Inside each house was several little fish, or Fishkins, wearing shirts of various colours and wigs. They all gasped simultaneously, and after they let the good news sink in, they all smiled and cheered.

'THE WITCH IS DEAD! THE WITCH IS DEAD!'

Every single one of them, ranging from the tiniest baby to the most wrinkled of elderly, dashed out of their house and danced around. They cheered, they jested, they even drank liquids that can't be described in fear of upping the age rating of this story. The tiny guys made a massive cloud of colours as they swam about, cheering on for the one who slayed the witch. All the while, they sang a little song that only Molly found at all disturbing or creepy.

'Ding dong, the witch is dead! The wicked witch, that mean old witch. Ding dong, that mean old witch is deaaad!'

Molly's jaw dropped as far as it could go. 'W… why are they so happy that I just killed someone?'

Goby rolled up the scroll and handed it to the Little Fish from before, and with a small tip of his hat he swam back over to Molly and the good witch. He bowed before the pink-haired Guppy as though she was a queen.

'Because Dear, uh…' His smile dropped. 'I don't think I caught your name.'

Oona frowned. 'Neither did I. What is your name, sweetie?'

'Uh…' Her mind searched for a name. 'Dee- no, Z- NO, Molly. MOLLY! My name is Molly.'

Goby smiled once again. 'Because Molly, you and your little puppy have vanquished one of the greatest evils of this land. That Meanest witch has tormented the Fishkins for generations before you showed up and finally put an end to her mean ways.' He chuckled. 'And by dropping a house on her too! I never would've thought to do that.'

Molly still had plenty of questions, one of which was why Goby was the mayor to a town of Little Fishes. If this was one whole 'Once Upon a Time' thing, she didn't remember it starting, and it was far too elaborate just to be a joke. Bubble Puppy, on the other hand, seemed to have accepted the facts of the situation and even did a little dance himself.

'This is awesome!' Goby announced. 'My people can finally live in peace.'

Oona nodded. 'Yep! In fact, there's only one problem now.'

Though she said this in a chipper tone, Goby's smile suddenly faded. That was enough to fill Molly with dread.

'Wait,' She said. 'What's the problem?'

RIGHT on cue, once again as if responding directly to her, there was a sudden explosion of green and black smoke in the very middle the town. Molly screamed alongside the Fishkins as the little guys dashed back into their houses and locked their doors all at once. Bubble Puppy yelped and jumped back into her arms with a whimper. Goby gulped, but Oona kept smiling.

'Um… who is that?' Molly asked.

The smoke faded away, and in its place stood… the witch from the fairytale?! She had to have been her. Green tail, long nose, messily-braided brown hair… it was her all right. She held a broomstick in one arm, and had a look of fury on her face.

Oona pointed her wand at the Witch. 'Her? She's the Mean Witch of the West!'

Molly's eyes widened. 'Of the WEST?!'

'Yep! She's the Mean Witch of the East's sister!'

'I KILLED HER SISTER?!'

Molly's hands shot to her mouth, but it was far too late. The Witch heard her declaration of guilt, and her head snapped to her direction. She swam over to the guilty party with a look that, oddly enough, could be best described as annoyance at worse. Bubble Puppy growled at her, but was silenced when she gave him a quick glare.

'YOU!' The witch yelled, pointing her broomstick at Molly.

The young Guppy held up both her arms like that broomstick was a gun, and gulped.

'Get out of my way so I can claim what's mine!'

Molly nodded, and gladly swam to the side to let the Witch go through. The Witch gave her one last glance of irritation before she reached out for the red gloves on the lifeless arms. Before she could even touch them, however, they disappeared in a cloud of sparkles. The arms themselves faded away, but the Witch didn't care about that.

'WHAT?!' She shrieked. 'Where did the Ruby Gloves go?!'

'AAHHH!'

Molly screamed as, all of a sudden, those Ruby Gloves reappeared on her own arms! She grabbed the end of one of them and tried to yank it off, but it remained on her hand like it had been superglued on. She yelped and tried using her teeth instead, but of course trying to bite a gemstone only made her teeth hurt.

'OW!'

Now, she had even more questions. This time, they were about how she could still easily wear these gloves like ordinary gloves, yet they felt hard as a real gemstone when she tried to bite it.

'ARRRGH!' The Witch cried out. 'Are you serious? Of all people, the Ruby Gloves chose you?!'

'I-I didn't mean it!' Molly yelled. 'T-They just appeared like that!'

Oona giggled as she got between Molly and the Witch. 'Sorry, Mean Witch of the West, but the Ruby Gloves say they want to be with Molly now, not you.'

Goby couldn't help but to chuckle, at the Witch's expense of course. Molly closed her eyes and embraced for anything to happen. Considering how the original fairytale went, she could already hear herself croaking like a frog. Instead, the Witch just glared at her and hopped on her broomstick.

'Alright, Molly.' She said, still sounding more annoyed than anything. 'If the Ruby Gloves have chosen you instead of me, I'll find a way to get them off you. I don't know who you are, or why you're even here. But if you don't get out of here right now, I'll get ya my pretty! And your little puppy too!'

She cackled as she grabbed onto her broomstick and flew away on it, leaving a trail of smoke behind her. The Fishkins remained inside their tiny houses, just in case she came back. Goby adjusted his hat and cleared his throat.

'Molly,' He said. 'I, as the mayor of Fishkin Land, pronounce you… quite frankly doomed.'

Molly gasped. 'I-Is that witch gonna kill me, Oona?'

Oona shrugged. 'If she had to kill you to get those gloves, then yes. We do call her the Mean Witch for a reason you know. Though, she might just settle with turning you into a frog if that works too.'

Molly grabbed onto strands of her hair and pulled on them tight enough to cause her pain, which was the only way for her to not faint out of horror at that very moment.

'I need to get home!' She yelled. 'NOW!'

'Well, where do you live?' Goby asked.

'Bubbletucky. Do you know where it is? Cos the Good Witch here doesn't.'

Goby thought about it for a moment, but simply shrugged. 'Can't say I've heard of Bubbletucky. Wherever it is, I'd say it's far, far away. Or perhaps not even in the same world as this one!'

Molly buried her face in her hands and whimpered just like Bubble Puppy. At that moment, she would've preferred the whirlpool. Her chances of survival seemed far higher back then than they did now. Bubble Puppy hung his head and whined, longing to see his beloved owner again.

'But I know someone who would know!' Goby said.

Oona snapped her fingers. 'Of course! The Wizard of Bubbledom!'

Molly lifted her face out of her hands. 'I'm sorry, the who? You need to explain these things to me.'

'Oh. Right.' She giggled. 'The wonderful Wizard of Bubbledom knows all, and he's a very wise but kinda shrewd man. If you go to him, he'll certainly find you a way home.'

Molly sighed in relief. For the first time since she witnessed the whirlpool, it seemed like her day was finally getting good again. Her already-small smile faded when yet another question dawned on her.

'Wait, where is this wizard?' She asked.

Goby cleared his throat once again. 'The Wizard of Bubbledom lives all the way in the Emerald Sydney, a city that's green from top to bottom.'

Molly rolled her eyes. The 'Emerald Sydney' was very familiar to her, thanks to that play she partook in down in Australia. She certainly felt like she was playing 'Dorothy' once again, this time without a script or any idea what the heck could possibly happen to her.

'How do I get there?'

Oona grabbed her by the wrist and gently brought her into the middle of the swirly pattern. She waved her wand about, and the yellow bricks making up the pattern sparkled like glitter. This invited some of the Fishkins to emerge from their hiding spots.

'The way to the great and powerful wizard is simple, dear.' Oona said. 'All you have to do, is follow the yellow brick road!'

'Follow the yellow brick road?' Molly echoed.

'That's right. Follow the yellow brick road!'

Bubble Puppy followed the swirling path around until it finally went straight. It extended far into the distance, over the rolling green hills decorated by fresh grass and beautiful flowers. At the very end, from what he could see, was a field of corn.

'Wow…' Molly said, before she looked down at the pattern beneath her. 'Seems like a bit of a waste of yellow bricks just to make this swirly pattern.'

'We had some bricks leftover.' Oona explained. 'Now start your journey to the wonderful Wizard of Bubbledom. That mean witch may be out to get you, but I promise that I will be there for you no matter what.'

That managed to get a smile out of Molly. 'Gee, thanks! That's really…'

Except, when she looked up from the bricks again, she witnessed the Good Witch creating a giant pink bubble around her, which she used to disappear into the hills without saying another word. Some of the Fishkins followed her until they reached the end of their town, cheering for her as she left.

Molly slumped her shoulders. 'Right. She'll be with me in spirit. Of course. Dang, I wish I had one of those magic bubble things…'

'Yip yip!'

Bubble Puppy's excited barking reminded her of the task at hand. She figured that, no matter what this 'Land of Bubbledom' threw at her, she was better off not questioning it and just listening to what that Good Witch of the North said. She did look and act a lot like Oona, after all, and Oona would never give her friends horrible advice.

'Alright… follow the yellow brick road.'

She swam around in that spiral pattern, following the sparkling path to a T as Bubble Puppy waited for her. She must've been taking too long, because a Fishkin swam up to her.

'Follow the yellow brick road!' He said.

Molly nodded. 'I understand. Thanks.'

Just a few seconds later, a second Fishkin showed up.

'Follow the yellow brick road!' She said, perfectly echoing the last one.

'Yep.' Molly said, quickly getting annoyed. 'I heard the first guy. I am on the yellow brick road. Right now. I think I get it.'

Apparently, the Fishkins didn't think she got it as, a mere second later, a third fish showed up to give her pointless directions.

'Follow the yellow bri-!'

'I GET IT!' Molly yelled, causing all the Fishkins to flinch. 'I am ON the yellow brick road! I am FOLLOWING the yellow brick road RIGHT NOW! I think I GET IT!'

That must've done it, as every single Fishkin still outside dashed back inside their houses and left her the heck alone. With a sigh, Molly continued to follow the yellow brick road without anyone telling her to do something that she was already doing. Goby, despite her frustrated yell, still watched her following the… okay, you get the point. As she joined up with Bubble Puppy and travelled down the road with the puppy by her side, Goby saluted her.

'I know you can do, Miss Molly.' He said. 'The Good Witch of the North is never wrong.'

Author Notes - 'The Wizard of Bubbleland' missed a really good opportunity for the Witch from 'Fin-tastic Fairytale Adventure' to be the Wicked Witch of the West. And yes, I checked both the dates of that episode and that fanfic. The episode had already aired, so I don't know why the original didn't just use her instead of making one up.

Oona being the Good Witch of the North should be a pretty obvious connection, that I don't really need to explain. Meanwhile, Goby may seem like he's gotten a really minor role but I PROMISE you that he will be coming back.

I had to replace the Ruby Slippers with Ruby Gloves because Molly ain't got no feet. Maybe I could just slap a singular shoe on her tail, but then she couldn't 'click them together' at the end, and gloves seemed like the closest equivalent. To those who haven't watched or remember 'The Wizard of Oz-Tralia', they renamed the Emerald City to the 'Emerald Sydney', and considering that the climax to that episode was one big homage to the Wizard of Oz I HAD to take some inspiration from it.