Author Notes - Seeing as Scarecrow is too busy being dead to be a part of the climax, the reason that Dorothy throws the bucket of water is quite different in the book. She just wanted to throw something at the Witch as she was frustrated with her, and the nearest object just so happened to be the bucket of water.

While the book does a better job at foreshadowing both the water weakness and the bucket itself, I do think the movie provides a much better reason as to why she threw specifically water in the first place.

CHAPTER ELEVEN - A HOPPY ENDING FOR THE WITCH

'WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!'

There she was, the Mean Witch of the West. She had arrived into the room through the window on her broomstick, and was more than a little shocked to find that there was a big hole in the door.

Deema flashed a nervous smile. 'Hiya!'

She ducked through the door, ditching her disguise as it no longer had a point. Molly and Bubble Puppy thought she had the right idea and jumped right out after her.

'Thanks for chopping the door down, Nonny.' Molly said. 'BUT WE GOTTA RUN!'

Everyone – including Zooli – dropped the cumbersome disguises, meaning the guard's swirly pink tail could finally be seen after so many years. Gil snarled at the Witch, but Molly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along before he could get himself killed. Deema no longer cared about the flaming torches as they all ran back down the hallway.

'SEIZE THEM!' The Witch bellowed. 'SEIZE THEM ALL AT ONCE!'

'We have to hurry!' Zooli said, taking the lead. 'I know my fellow guards are just as sick of the Witch as I am, but they are too scared to rebel against her like me. So we gotta run to the exit before they get here!'

Gil had finally realised that charging the Witch head-on would just get him killed, so he joined in on the running away. He carried Nonny around in his arm, making sure the poor stiff Guppy wouldn't find himself being left behind.

'Uh, guys.' The Tin Guppy said. 'The guards are after us.'

'NOT THE TIME, NONNY!' Deema yelled.

Thanks to his position, Nonny could easily see the guards in uniforms chasing after him and his friends, but there was not a single thing he could do about it. The occasional screams from Deema thanks to all the fire didn't help at all.

'WE MADE IT!' Zooli declared.

The group, now consisting of six members, arrived at the big steel doors that led to the way out. Except, when Zooli tried to open them, they didn't budge.

'Oh no…' She muttered. 'The door's locked!'

'You serious?!' Gil exclaimed.

Nonny tried to jab his axe deep into this door like before, but the blade just bounced off the hard steel without leaving even a single dent. The gang turned around, and saw a big group of armed guards right behind them, aiming their spears directly at them. The Witch hovered above them while flying on her broomstick.

'End of the line for you, Molly!' She yelled. 'Surrender now and you will just be turned into a frog. But if you don't, you will DIE!'

Molly glared at her. 'No way!'

'Are you gonna make me the bad guy? You killed my sister, and those gloves are rightfully mine!'

That had done it for Nonny. Though his face was not very expressive, the anger was obvious on his face. Not fearing those sharp spears, he walked forwards and moved his entire body to look directly at the Mean Witch of the West. His neck is still rusted, remember.

'Don't act like your sister was so innocent.' He said. 'She had tormented the Fishkins for generations and generations, and I could never forgive her for what she did to me. She was the reason I'm made of tin!'

Everyone else in his group gasped.

'Wait, excuse me?' Molly questioned.

'I was just an ordinary Guppy boy,' He explained. 'Made of flesh just like Molly or Gil. Then, one day centuries ago, your evil sister cursed my axe to hack off each of my body parts.'

'WHAT?!'

'Indeed, Molly. I had to replace every bit of my body with tin if I had any hope to survive, and she is why I don't have a heart anymore!'

The Witch just cackled. 'And my sister and I still think it's funny!'

While Nonny and the Witch had this little discussion, Deema's attention fell upon the chandelier up above her. Though the fire on the candles made her shudder, she couldn't hope but notice that the chandelier was directly above that mass of guards. Her eyes followed the rope holding it up, until she saw the hook it was attached to right beside her straw-filled hair.

'Don't worry, my boy of tin!' The Witch yelled. 'I've got a bucket of water with your name on it!'

'Speaking of the tin guy, HELLO!' Deema cried before she grabbed Nonny by his axe.

Before Nonny could ask what the heck was she doing, Deema swung the axe into the rope with all of her might. Which, as we've established about fifty times by now, wasn't much, but it was just enough for the job. The axe's sharp blade pierced the rope completely, and with no more rope to suspend it that chandelier fell right onto the guards and crushed them beneath it. They were still alive, mind you, but unable to move.

'GAH!' The Witch exclaimed.

Zooli wiped her brow. 'Okay, that buys us some time.'

'AFTER THEM!'

The chase was not over yet for, as Zooli just said, all Deema did was buy them some more time. She led the travellers down another path, one dotted with more flaming torches than Deema could really handle. Still, everyone charged down it without delay.

'Where are you taking us?' Deema asked, as one of the only people there who could run without needing to catch her breath.

'There's… another exit… down here!' Zooli answered.

She opened another door by charging her spear directly into it, and they charged down another hall before they could be sandwiched between two groups of guards coming from both sides. They ran and ran and ran. Molly was about ready to pass out and try riding Gil instead when…

'Dead end, guys!' Zooli yelled.

She did not stop the team because she had taken them down the wrong path and thus to a dead end. What do you take her for? The other half of the guards blocked them off, leaving them trapped between a rock and a hard place. Except that rock and that hard place had spears pointed right at them and surrounded on every side. Bubble Puppy stayed by Molly's side and growled at the guards, and didn't let up when some of the crabs aimed their spears directly at him. The pink-haired Guppy could only sigh; it seemed as if she would never get home now.

Gil glared at Zooli. 'Good one.'

'Okay, yeah, this was kinda my fault.' She admitted. 'Probably should've taken this into account.'

'It isn't anyone's fault.' Nonny said. 'But the Witch's.'

Speak of the devil, the Mean Witch of the West flew over her own guards with her broom, and landed on the floor between them and the 'visitors'. Now, our team of heroes truly had nowhere else to go.

'Well, well, well!' The Witch said with a cackle. 'Look at what we have here! A bunch of intruders and a traitor trapped like rats.'

Zooli dropped her spear. 'I am quite proud to be a traitor, thank you very much.'

'Don't worry, sweetie. I'll take care of you last. I have four other intruders to deal with first.'

As the Witch approached them, they realised that there was nothing more they could do. With Oona and Goby unable to help, they could only wait until either a chance arose or until their end. A lobster soldier stepped to the front and dropped the bucket of soapy water onto the floor next to him, making the water splash everywhere. It had Nonny's name crudely painted on it, and it made the titular Tin Guppy shudder.

'Now watch as I take you out one by one!' The Witch declared. 'In fact, the last to go will have to see the first three go before her!'

Molly gulped, Gil buried his head in his arms, Nonny grasped onto his axe, Bubble Puppy whimpered, but Deema cocked an eyebrow. She, apparently, was the only one not immediately frightened by her words.

'Wait, before her?' She asked. 'Do you mean me or Molly?'

The Witch rolled her eyes. 'Molly, obviously! Why would I leave you for last?'

'Oh, that's a good point.'

The brief moment of levity came to an end when the Witch's mouth turned up to an evil smirk. She fluttered her fingers about, and they began to glow orange.

'In fact,' She said. 'I think you and your annoying attitude will be the first to go!'

Deema shot her hands up. 'Uh, can't we talk about this first?'

'How about a little FIRE, Scarecrow?!'

The very mention of fire made Deema yelp, and the Witch gave her and no one else any time to react. She launched a little fireball towards that silly scarecrow, and Deema only had enough time to get her head out of the way.

The fireball struck her right in the arm, and in seconds her entire arm was engulfed by the flames!

'AHHHH!' She screamed. 'FIRE! FIIIIIRRREEE!'

Everyone else gasped, at first unable to do anything but stare in shock. Deema stared deep into the flames as it began to burn her clothes. Those old fabrics were the only thing stopped her entire body from going aflame that very moment, but they would certainly not last long.

'Deema, NO!' Molly cried.

Yes, it wasn't the same Deema she knew and loved, but from her point-of-view it truly seemed like Deema herself was about to burn alive. Even then, she felt a certain bond with that scarecrow, most likely because she was the one she had met first. And now, she was watching that all go up in flames…

'HELP!'

'Put her out this instant!' Zooli demanded.

The Witch cackled. 'Where's the fun in that?'

Molly gasped – of course, that bucket of water! It was meant for the Tin Guppy, but surely Deema could really use it right now. While everyone was distracted by Deema being on fire, Molly rushed over to that bucket of water and lifted it up.

'I COULD USE A LITTLE HELP! SCARECROW ON FIRE OVER HERE! THIS COULD LITERALLY KILL ME!'

'Nonny, look out!' Molly said.

Nonny saw exactly what she was going to do, and got out of the way. Once he was outside of the splash zone, Molly chucked that bucket of water like the real Deema's life depended on it. The water landed on that flame alright, and doused it in moments. Just as Deema was taking a sigh of relief, the rest of the water hit the Witch in the face.

'AH! Sorry!' Molly said. 'I-I didn't mean to hit you! It's just that Deema was on fire, and…'

The Witch glared at her for splashing her with the bucket and… nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. The Witch just stared at the lot of them with annoyance painted all over her face. What? Did you really think that a Witch who lives underwater could be stopped with a bucket of water?

'Oh.' Deema said, having gotten over her near-death experience. 'I thought that would've done… something.'

'WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN?!' The Witch screamed. 'That I would MELT or something?!'

'Uh, something like that?' Molly said.

In an instant, all of the guards dropped their spears and ran away like screaming chickens. If Zooli wasn't sticking out for her new friends, she would've done the same thing.

'RUN!' She screamed to her new friends before she dashed down another hallway. 'Follow me!'

The others had no idea why she had given them this order, but after Deema's near-death experience they weren't ones to ignore it. They ran after her, right as the Witch fired a bolt of green magic towards Gil. It whisked right past his head, just barely missing his mane, as he chased after his friends.

'What's the witch doing?!' Molly demanded.

'You've really peeved her off now!' Zooli answered.

From down the hall, they could hear the Witch screaming.

'GET BACK HERE! I NEED FIVE MORE FROGS IN MY ARMY, AND YOU'RE THE PERFECT ONES FOR IT!'

Deema gasped. 'I don't want to be a frog!' She paused. 'Wait, do frogs come with brains?'

'DEEMA, CONCENTRATE!' Molly yelled.

Gil looked behind him for just a moment, and screamed when he saw the Witch glaring right at him and his friends. She fired another bolt of lightning at him, which he avoided by getting down onto his arms and running like that instead. She fired another shot, this time aiming at Molly, but the Guppy avoided it with a shriek. As everyone ran down the crowded hallways, the Witch fired at almost everyone but fortunately missed each time.

Almost everyone. See, Nonny was never as fast as the others, and he lagged behind by at least a hallway. He was dead in the Witch's sight, and he knew that, but she never even tried to fire a frog spell his way.

'GET OUT OF THE WAY!' She yelled.

'I-I'm trying!' He stammered back.

Though the situation may have been scary for him, it gave the others a little more leeway. Thanks to him slowing the Witch down a little, they were far away enough from her that they could stop and actually think about what to do for a moment.

'You better… be taking us… to the exit!' Molly yelled.

Zooli wiped her brow again. 'Honestly, I have no idea where we're going right now. I just needed us as far away from that Witch as possible.'

Gil gasped. 'Wait, where's Nonny? He hasn't been caught by the Witch, has he?'

'I doubt it.' Zooli said. 'If she got him, she would've announced it to the entire castle. All I hear from her are screams of frustration.'

Sure enough, they could hear Nonny's screams from down the hall – soon followed up by the Witch's – getting closer and closer.

'Why would she fire at Nonny?' Molly asked. 'When she tried to get him with that spell back in the forest, it just bounced right off him.'

She gasped, and smiled. An idea came to her head.

'Hey, you know how you made a house fall on the Witch of the East before?' Zooli asked. 'Can you do that again?'

'We don't need to do that!' Molly said. 'I think I've got an idea! We just need to-'

'AAHHHH!'

Well, that was the sound of Nonny screaming. They could see him down the long hallway, with the Witch right behind him. Time was running out, fast.

'That idea, Molly?!' Gil demanded.

'If Nonny can deflect the Witch's frog spell with just his skin,' Molly explained. 'I bet we could bounce that spell off him and hit the Witch with it!'

Zooli grinned. 'That's a brilliant idea!'

'Yeah, one problem.' Gil said. 'She's got him in her sights right now, and she's not even trying to hit him with the spell. I think she knows that it'll just deflect off him.'

Molly snapped her fingers. 'Dang it, I knew there was a catch!'

'AAAHHHHH!'

Nonny's scream reminded them of the danger at hand. With the Witch not too far behind him, everyone got together again and continued running down the hallway while dodging the green lightning bolts. Thank goodness the castle was filled with endless hallways, so it could allow for all this running.

'Not helping!' Molly yelled.

Hey, I'm just the narrator. I'm just telling this story; I don't have a hand in what happens. Anyway, though Molly's idea came to a dead end, it inspired another, even better idea from Deema. The apparently brainless scarecrow hatched what must've been her best idea yet, and even running for her life lest she get turned into a slave frog – or cod forbid set on fire again – she was in the mood to tell everyone.

'I just thought of something!' She announced. 'If we can't get her to hit Nonny directly, we can trick her into doing that instead!'

'Now we're getting somewhere!' Zooli said as she jumped over another bolt. 'How do we do that?'

'Simple. We just get someone to taunt the Witch into firing bolts at them while Nonny hides behind them, and then – WHOA NELLY! – when they jump out the way, she'll hit him instead. It reflects back at her, bing bada boom, WE WIN!'

Gil smirked, and skidded to a stop. 'Nonny, get behind me! Everyone else, find a place to hide. I got this.'

While no one was certain if Gil truly had the situation under control, they obeyed the lion and hid around the corner while Nonny stood right behind him. The Tin Guppy shivered and held onto his axe, seconds away from crying himself to rust once again.

'G-Gil? Are you sure you've got this?' He asked. 'I'll surely cry and rust if you are turned into a frog.'

'I got this!'

The Witch finally caught up, and apparently saw nothing suspicious about there being nothing but the lion standing in the hallway. He stood up on his tail, just to hide the fact that Nonny stood just a few feet behind him.

'Oh, I see how it is!' The Witch said with a grin. 'The cowardly lionfish wants to prove something by standing up to me all by himself! Oh, how quaint.'

He beckoned for an attack with both his hands. 'Well, come on. Surely a winged frog who used to be a lion would be the perfect addition to your guards. Come and get me!'

'WITH PLEASURE!'

She fired off yet another green bolt of magic lightning, this time aiming directly for his face.

'PSYCHE!'

He got down onto 'all-fours', causing the bolt to sail directly over his head. Instead, it kept going until it hit Nonny in the face. It bounced right off his tin skin without even making him flinch.

'Wait, NO!' The Witch cried.

And crying out was the only thing that this Witch could do before her own spell bounced right back at her and hit her in the face instead. In an instant, the hat and cloak fell away as the only thing left of the Mean Witch of the West was a little frog.

'Ribbit? RIBBIT!' It croaked at them, angrily.

Everyone came out from hiding, and surrounded the mean old amphibian. It croaked curses at them, now unable to do any of its spells since it had no fingers to flutter. It took many, many seconds for the situation to sink in for anyone.

'We did it…' Deema said. 'WE DID IT!' She danced about in her usual clumsy manner. 'THE MEAN WITCH OF THE WEST HAS BEEN DEFEATED!'

Her happy cheer reached every corner of the castle, and Molly's thoughts were almost drowned out by the resulting cheering and celebration. Gil gave Nonny a high-five, and Zooli grinned at our heroes.

'You should feel very proud of yourselves.' She said, picking her spear back up again. 'You have not only freed my people but the entirety of Bubbledom too.'

Molly smiled. 'Yeah, we did it! We all worked together and now the Witch has lost all her power. Now that she's a frog, I doubt she'll be hurting anyone anytime s-'

In the middle of her 'she is now powerless' speech, Gil picked up the frog witch in his mouth and swallowed her in one bite.

'Hm… tastes like chicken!'

Molly's jaw dropped as far as it could possibly go as she tried to comprehend the fact that she just witnessed that. 'Gil… what?'

'Hey, I'm a lion, and lions need prey. I haven't eaten in days, ya know!'

While Deema was dancing about in celebration – and falling onto her face about thirty times – Molly approached the Witch's broomstick and picked it up. It reminded her of the Great and Powerful Grouper's promise to her and her friends.

'AND WE GOT THE BROOMSTICK!' Deema cheered. 'Brains, here I come!'

Zooli cocked an eyebrow. 'Uh, brains?'

'Now that we've got the broomstick, the Wizard's gonna give us what he wants!'

The former guard's eyes widened. 'Wait, the Wizard? The Great and Powerful Grouper himself?! Can… can I come with you?'

Molly shrugged. 'I don't see why not. You're not working for the Witch anymore, and even if you wanted to she's been… eaten now. I'm sure you'll be welcomed into the Emerald Sydney!'

So, the group with its newest sixth member returned to Goby waiting for them by the Spooky Woods, now with the Witch's broomstick in their possession. With the thoughts of their brain, their heart, their courage, and their home, they returned to the Emerald Sydney with smiles on their faces.

Even if Molly had to deal with the fact that she had witnessed Gil eating a frog.

Author Notes - I wanted the Witch to be defeated in a similar way that she was in the actual episode. Originally, she was going to survive, but I thought it was a little unfair for the East witch to be killed while this one goes relatively free, so she gets eaten!

The idea of Nonny being able to reflect the spell with just his skin alone was an idea I had for a while, but it turns out I'm not the first one to think of it. Both Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz and the 1990 DIC Entertainment cartoon, if memory serves me correct, have a scene where Tin Man uses his axe to reflect a spell like a baseball bat.