Author Notes - Uh oh, a story completely got away from Superfloxes again! Don't fret. This is a perfectly normal situation. Do not panic. Believe me, this will only benefit my readers. Completely spur of the moment, I ended up taking this story down a totally radical path that even I wasn't expecting.

By the way, this 'Susan' character who makes a brief appearance in the beginning is the same character from 'New Student Zooli'. Whenever I need to represent the darker side of the fandom, I use her.

CHAPTER TWELVE - IS THIS TRULY THE END?

Not long after the video was posted, while the Guppies huddled together and tried to work through their complicated feelings, a teenaged snail found it. Susan, her name was, who was one of the first people to get mad at Zooli's inclusion. Seeing as she had such a negative reaction to that first bit of news, you can imagine that her response to this was not so good.

'THEY'RE QUITTING?!' She shouted, loud enough for the whole block to hear. 'HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?!'

It ended about as well as you think it did. There was a lot of outrage. A lot of tears. Even a petition or two. The Guppies stayed away from their website whenever possible, knowing that all they'd see was a bunch of arguments over something they could not help.

A few years had passed, because time does not slow down for anyone. The outrage and the panic and the fighting relaxed, but only because the fandom was seemingly growing smaller and smaller by the day. Nonny's visits began to slow down. He went from going every two weeks, to once a month, to a few times a year…

To almost never.

The emails never totally stopped, but they never peaked again. It was so rare to receive one now. At first, Deema was constantly sending him news about her twin siblings, Julia and Ben. Her last email to him, when he was eight and she was nine, was about how she got a 'killer acting gig' in Big Bubble City. Nonny could never tell if she had forgotten about him in the rush, or if she just didn't have time to talk to him anymore.

Molly continued to make more music on her own. Her vocal cords carried her quite far, but nothing carried her more than her previous stint as a Bubble Guppy. Every now and then, Nonny would hear her newest release on the radio. He hadn't heard a single song from Gil since he was five. Zooli wasn't even in the country half the time, taking various trips with her parents to go see more and more wild animals around the world.

Unsurprisingly, Oona was the most intent on staying in touch, followed closely by Goby. But, just like with Deema, contact seemed to stop after a while. Not that Nonny blamed either of them. Goby was getting deep into his geology interest, and that took up time. As for Oona, well…

One day, when he was seven years old, Nonny sat down at his computer and immediately saw an email alert. It was from Oona. It had a picture attached to it. She was in Mr Grouper's class, surrounded by young students. According to the words, she was training to be his assistant. Nonny found himself driven to tears at the sight. Tears of both happiness for his friend, and sadness for the days that were now years behind him.

It only took a few more years for the emails to stop completely. Truth be told, Nonny hardly even noticed. If it wasn't for that beautifully drawn poster or those signatures on the card, he may have forgotten about those years.

And even those beloved objects found themselves in storage sooner or later, where they would be safe and sound but unseen by anyone except a curious explorer.

It may seem as though the story ends here. But I assure you, dear readers, that there is still more to go. The story of the Bubble Guppies isn't quite over yet. It does, however, pause. It pauses for a long time. More than a decade, in fact. So allow me to skip a few years, and focus on our bespectacled hero once again…

Nonny swam out of his parents' house and sighed. He would've loved to admire the quiet and serene scenery of Fishington, but his focus was squarely on the car in the driveway. His car. For his eighteenth birthday, his parents bought him a brand new car for him to use his fancy driver's licence. His next-door neighbour, Abyssa, was visiting her cousins over in Shellyville. His parents were out for the day, taking advantage of the weekend to go on a date together. Nicholas had recently moved to the next town over, and Tonya was too busy studying for her final exams.

He was the only one here.

Taking a deep breath, he got into his car. It was a simple car, lacking some of the luxuries that many other modern cars had, which was just how he wanted it. He never felt quite right in the driver's seat, but he had the licence to prove that he could do it. Knowing any delays would just make him more nervous, he booted up the car and got on the road.

A conversation with Abyssa the day before had spurred inspiration within him.

'Hey, remember Bubbletucky? You know, that cool place you used to live in? It's been a while since you've been there. Maybe you should go, for old time's sake!'

Truth be told, Nonny barely even remembered the place anymore. It was to be expected, really. He had been about five years old when he moved to Fishington. Any memories he had were fleeting and vague. He could remember being in the band, all right, but only because people to this day would see him and ask 'hey, aren't you that kid from Bubble Guppies?'. Which Nonny found rather annoying. Apparently, his strides in palaeontology and archaeology weren't worth mentioning.

He was brought out of his thoughts when a familiar voice popped up on the radio.

'... because you've seized my heart. Without you, I fear I would fall apart.'

Molly… It was astounding to think that she was still singing, and had only gotten better as she got older. The topics and themes had changed - no more songs about dinosaurs or princesses, cos it was all love and sadness now - but the talent had not. The strangest thing, however, was that Nonny no longer thought of Molly as a friend. The friendship he had with her was hardly left in his memories anymore. Now, he could only think of her as a talented popstar.

He let the music play uninterrupted. It helped pass the time as he drove all the way to Bubbletucky. An hour's drive was quite long for him, and the occasional pitstop made it last even longer. He was just about getting sick and tired of driving all together when he finally saw a sign.

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING BUBBLETUCKY! In smaller, barely readable font, it read: Birthplace of the original Bubble Guppies!

Nonny chuckled to himself at the thought. They were still advertising that after all this time. As he drove into the town, however, he began to realise just how effective it had been. Though his memories of this town were fading, he could not recall there being this many buildings or streets. The population must've skyrocketed after the Guppies became famous.

He could only look at the sign for a few seconds before he had to focus on driving again. As he drove through the town, he was somewhat disappointed to find that nothing triggered any sort of nostalgia within him. He could see the big white hospital building, and he knew there were supposed to be memories attached to it, but he came up totally blank.

The supermarket didn't stir much of a memory either. All he could do was wonder who thought it would be a good idea to put a supermarket on top of a hill in the first place. Thinking about that brought up a faint memory of a shopping cart rolling down the hill and destroying… something. A house. A doghouse. For a dog that he was pretty sure belonged to someone in that class.

The train station evoked nothing. Along with most of the other 'landmarks' he passed. But one building did evoke something: the dinosaur museum. The moment Nonny saw it, he was flooded with a strange familiarity. There was no way he wasn't going to explore that, so he parked his car at the nearest spot he could.

The very moment he got out of the car…

'Hey, look! It's Nonny, from the Bubble Guppies!'

'He's finally back in his hometown!'

'Quick, get some photos!'

Nonny tried his best to ignore them. He was too caught up on the 'hometown' comment. About five years in Bubbletucky couldn't compete with about thirteen years in Fishington. If he had any 'hometown', it wasn't Bubbletucky. It was Fishington. He paid the passersby no mind and made his way into the museum. The odd familiarity grew within him, and he couldn't quite figure out why.

'Oh, Nonny!'

Yet another voice came to greet him, but it was just the lady he had to get his ticket from. That wasn't so bad, since he had to talk to her anyway. Across the years, talking to people he didn't know so well had gotten easier. Not exactly easy, but easier.

'Hello,' He greeted.

His voice became surprisingly deep once he got through puberty. The previously monotone and unemotional voice had evolved to be slightly more upbeat, with a few more varying tones and more obvious displays of emotion. Not by much, but there is still a noticeable change.

'I just want to visit this place,' He said. 'I'm interested in dinosaurs.'

'Oh, that doesn't surprise me one bit,' The lady said. 'Why, our completed triceratops fossil was all thanks to you!'

Nonny blinked several times, the closest he ever got to expressing surprise. There were vague memories of finding a fossil, but he couldn't recall how exactly. He paid the entrance fee (which happened to be discounted) and swam through the museum without a goal in mind. The dinosaur bones on display filled him with a childlike wonder so strong that he had to smile. As he examined a T-rex skull, a little ditty popped into his mind.

A la-la-la-long time ago…

Unfortunately, he couldn't quite remember how the rest of it went. Now, where was he getting that from anyway? An old commercial? Thinking about it, he realised it was probably one of the songs he recorded way back when. He wandered around the museum rather aimlessly for a few minutes, ignoring all the people who recognised him from the band, and then suddenly stopped. His eyes fell upon the most impressive part of the entire museum - an entire skeleton of a triceratops. He got closer to it, and stared up at it in awe.

This must've been the completed fossil the lady mentioned. There was nothing else it could be, unless there were two of these in the museum. Nonny read the plaque and found that he was credited for finding it, on a date marked about thirteen years ago. He looked back at the skeleton, focusing on the skull, and something came rushing back to him.

He could remember finding it in the middle of the desert. He could recall seeing the full skeleton embedded in the cliff. Buried in the dirt. Dirt… He gasped. That was how he found it! The dirt made him sneeze, thanks to his allergies, and that sneeze (somehow) managed to shake just enough dirt loose to reveal it! He chuckled thinking back on that. What a silly way to find something so amazing. There was certainly more to that memory, but he couldn't remember anything else.

That triceratops fossil kept his attention for a while, and he probably looked like a weirdo. Not that he cared. After a while, he forced himself to move on and look at everything else. The rest of the museum was good too, but nothing compared to the triceratops.

Nonny had no idea where to go after that. The dinosaur museum was the only thing that had really caught his attention. Most of the other landmarks did not leap out at him. Some offered a scrapping of a memory, but nothing more.

He could recall a celebration at the beach. A lady named Sandy had set up an entire juice shop on the beach, where she and her sisters worked together to serve drinks in coconut-shaped cups.

There was a shadow of a puddle-filled game at the baseball field. A young crab named Stella, who would've been about his age, was teaching the next generation of baseball players how to play.

He got a glimpse of a sleepover when he passed a certain house. A lobster approaching adulthood walked to the door, and kissed a snail about his age before taking him inside. Trip? Was that the name?

He parked his car by the farm and swam up to a fence. There was an old, but very happy cow, grazing in the field. A little lobster girl, no older than four, ran around it with glee.

'Come on, Pudding!' She said. 'Let's play.'

Pudding. Nonny had a connection to that name. If only he could recall exactly why. The farmer of these fields - a lobster man named Joe - emerged from the barn and waved at the little girl.

'Jasmine, sweetie!' He said. 'It's time for me ta teach ya how ta feed the chickens!'

'Coming, Daddy!'

And so she ran off into the barn, giving Pudding all the peace and quiet she needed. So many things seemed unfamiliar to Nonny, this included. The problem was that he couldn't remember if these things really were different when he was last here, or if these things were always there. The only thing he knew for certain was the farmer's daughter. For obvious reasons, she couldn't exactly have been there thirteen years ago.

There was one place that Nonny was sure would revive some memories. So, he drove all the way to the castle. It was still standing after all these years, mini-golf course included. Now that was striking up some memories. That mini-golf game and the resulting knighting was an easy thing to remember. He smiled thinking back on that day, and how he saved Sir Mulligan for no other reason than because it was the right thing to do.

He chuckled thinking about that old knight. Mulligan… How appropriate that the man named after a golfing term would challenge him to a game of it.

An entire crowd of people gathered around the tower as someone emerged onto the balcony. It was Princess Demanda, now a grown woman on her way to queenhood. There was another person there with her - a shark, who wore a little crown on his head just like her.

'It's finally happening, my royal subjects!' She declared. 'I'm going to get married to Brad!'

'Make that Prince Brad!' The upcoming prince said.

And the crowd cheered.

Nonny just drove around the town aimlessly for a while, indulging in all the ways it had seemingly changed as he tried to spark a few more memories. This random driving brought him to a strange looking building. One that looked like a pile of yellow bubbles. He parked his car on the side of the road and approached this strange building.

Now why did this place in particular drown him in nostalgia? He couldn't remember this place well at all, and yet he knew it was important somehow. Why else would it feel so familiar? Judging by the playground in the back, it was a school. Since it was a weekend, there wouldn't be any kids there and he wouldn't be able to get in. Still, he could look through the windows.

He had just about made it up the steps when he heard a voice.

'... Nonny?'

He turned around in an instant and found himself up against a stranger. A stranger who he recognised the very moment he saw her.

'... Oona?!'

Author Notes - Something I wish more shows would do is the 'distant finale' trope, especially in kids' shows. Where the finale to a show takes place a couple decades in the future, and all our favourite characters are now adults with their own lives and jobs. My Little Pony had a fantastic example, depicting Twilight and her friends as being at least 20-30 years older and even giving Pinkie Pie a kid. I can't help imaging how amazing it would've been if Bubble Guppies did something similar.

I don't know what it is, but there's something about a kids' show acknowledging that people age that hits me. Just imagine if the Bubble Guppies finale ended with us seeing Molly all grown up, now a successful singer and with kids of her own! It would've been cool is all I'm saying.