So this next chapter took a while because for one, I was taking a short break to not burn myself out, and secondly, it was really hard to come up with this chapter, since I'm doing this while thinking at the same time. Thinking of the in between chapters can be tough, especially when you don't have a good idea of what to do. But here we are.
But anyway, let's get into the chapter, and it will hint at the first temple.
Chapter 7: A Cold Start
It was about a day or two since the guppies left the village of BlizzardTucky to get to the first temple in Windy Tundra. It was going to be a long walk, so they sometimes stopped to take a rest. However, things weren't going so well for them right now, and by that I mean they were arguing.
"Really Oona? Why do you keep talking about this?" Gil yelled
"Because you keep bringing it up!" Oona yelled back at him.
"Because you keep saying that we are equal in speed, which we aren't!" Gil said to her.
"You know Gil? Maybe you should learn to not see yourself always above others" Oona furiously said to him.
"Well maybe you should learn to accept that you can't always be nice to get away with stuff" Gil said.
"Man, they're really going at each other's throats now," Goby said.
"They aren't the only ones…" Molly said, pointing towards Deema and Nonny, who were arguing about who knows what.
"I just hope this doesn't happen the whole trip. I can't take much more of this arguing" Goby said, tired of all the fighting.
"Me too Goby" Molly said.
"Uh guys, we're coming up on a fork in the road" Zooli said. There was a 3 way path. The sign said that they all led to the same place. They were deciding which way they should go.
"So…which way do we go now?" Molly wondered.
"I don't know, why don't we ask the smart person over here?" Deema said.
"Can you guys stop fighting for 5 freaking minutes? It's starting to get annoying now!" Molly shouted.
"Yeah, get along already, we can't take it anymore" Goby said. Zooli just nodded her head.
"Why should we? None of us are agreeing with each other, so we're just trying to set things right" Deema replied.
"I'm not stopping until Oona agrees with me" Gil said.
"Well I'm not stopping until you stop this nonsense!" Oona yelled. They all started arguing again, making the three even more annoyed.
"(sigh) I wish there was a way to get them to stop" Molly said.
"Me too Molly, but how can we?" Goby pondered.
"Hey guys? What's this sign here?" Zooli asked, pointing at the sign. It had a picture of a creature the kids had never seen before, with a warning on it.
"Beware of the Glinchy's. Extremely dangerous and smart" Molly read out loud.
"What's a Glinchy?" Gil asked.
"Must be one of the wildlife out here" Nonny said.
Suddenly, a loud roar echoed across the land. The guppies huddled close to each other, looking around.
"What was that?" Deema asked scaredly.
"I don't know. Maybe it was an animal?" Molly said.
"I've read about animals, and I don't think any make that kind of roar" Zooli told her.
"Then what made that noise?" Oona said.
The roar got louder, like it was getting closer, and closer, and even more closer. Molly summoned her sword just in case something attacked them. The bushes started to rustle.
The others just got behind Molly as she got close to see what it was, when a little bunny came out, eating the leaves.
"It's just a bunny guys. No need to worry" Molly said.
"Aww so cute" Oona said when all of a sudden-
The bunny is chomped on by some creatures' jaws, and chewed and swallowed whole. The creature roared and looked at the guppies, slurping its tongue at them. Both Oona and Deema screamed so loud it made everyone, including the creature, cover their ears.
"Could you two pipe down?!" Goby shouted.
Suddenly two other creatures appeared, annoyed by the girls screaming.
"Great! Now there's three of whatever these things are now!" Gil yelled.
"Wait! These might be the Glinchy's! They look like this picture on the sign!" Zooli said, pointing towards the sign. The three Glinchy's were coming closer, forcing the guppies to get scared.
"We need a plan!" Goby said.
"Hey, the sign says the paths meet up at the same place!" Molly informed.
"So what's your plan Molly?" Gil asked.
"We split up and take the three paths. Gil and Oona will take the right, Deema, Nonny, and Zooli will take the left path, and Me and Goby will take the middle path. We escape the Glinchy's and meet up" Molly informed the group.
"What?! Why do we have to go with them?" Deema asked angrily.
"No time for that, run!" Molly shouted. The guppies split up down the three paths, with the three Glinchy's each following one group, each with only one goal: Kill and eat.
Gil and Oona were swimming as fast as they could to escape the Glinchy, which was starting to catch up to them, roaring loudly.
"It's gaining on us!" Gil shouted.
"What do we do? I don't see anywhere to hide!" Oona asked him. Gil was struggling to spot a place when he saw a cave entrance on the mountain side.
"Oona look! We can hide in there, it's too small for it to fit in!" Gil told her.
"Good idea! Let's go, it's gaining on us!" Oona shouted.
The two guppies swam faster towards the cave. The Glinchy was about to grab them, but they just made it in time. They backed up as the Glinchy struggled to get in, and it eventually gave up, walking away. They both sat down, exhausted from running away that fast.
"Well at least we escaped that thing. Thank goodness that's over" Gil said with relief.
"Yeah, now let's get out of here and-" Oona was saying before a door closed them in.
"Hey! Why'd the cave close? What even is this?!" Gil shouted.
"I-I think we're locked in Gil!" Oona said with concern.
"Well, let's find a way out then. Come on!" Gil said. Oona followed him.
They traveled down the cave more, seeing murals of people running and what looked like people competing with each other, or was it teamwork? It never said anything.
"These paintings are very weird looking. I wonder what they mean?" Oona asked herself.
"I don't know, they're very weird indeed" Gil replied.
They kept walking in the cave for a while, admiring the beautiful gemstones and scenery of the cave. They then came across a large lava pit with lots of platforms across it, with a wall between them. They stopped and looked down at it.
"Why would there be an obstacle course in the middle of a lava pit?" Gil asked.
"Gil look! There's a sign here!" Oona shouted. There was a sign by the pit. They stopped to look at it. It read:
"Test your speed and teamwork. Make it across first and wait for the other person to do their part to keep going! If you fail…...well have fun getting cooked! This is a test of how fast you can go and work".
"So this is a test? This is gonna be easy!" Gil said with confidence.
"But if we fail, we die Gil, please take this seriously" Oona said to him. Gil stopped to look at her.
"Oona, we're not gonna die, just relax" Gil said.
"(sigh) You're right. Now let's see if you can beat me!" she said to him.
"Pff, you know I'm faster. There's no competition!" Gil said back.
"Alright equal sir" Oona mockingly said.
"I already said, we're not equal in speed!" Gil yelled at her.
"Whatever, let's just go" Oona said.
They both started and ran across the platforms fast. They were excellent runners, so they jumped across the platforms easily. They had some troubles, but Gil made it first.
"Made it! Knew I was the fastest. Now let's get moving and-" Gil said as he tried to open the door, but failed.
"Hey, why isn't it working?" He wondered. He then saw a button on Oona's side.
"Oona! You have to press the button for us to continue!" He shouted through the glass window. She pressed the button, opening the door, which led to a long, narrow bridge. The lava was coming closer.
"Round two?" Oona challenged him.
"It's on" He said. Both of them wanted to beat the other. They swam as fast as they could. Lava started to block their path. Gil was startled, but Oona had no problem getting pass it, reaching the end first.
"Ha! Made it first slowpoke!" Oona mockingly said to him. Gil made it and pressed the button. The last room was a long track, filled with obstacles. This intimidated the two. Both guppies gulped. The wall was gone.
"This'll prove who's faster than the other" Gil said.
"Gil. This is the last time I'm going to say this. We're both equal in speed. Please, I don't want to do this" Oona said to him.
"Whatever, let's go!" Gil said as he started running. He made it pass almost everything with ease, dodging and jumping over obstacles and platforms. He was about to reach the end when-
"About to make it slow-" Gil stopped when he saw Oona standing there. She hasn't moved an inch.
"Oona why aren't you moving?" Gil asked her.
"Because I'm tired of this. I don't want to race anymore if you're just going to say you're faster. So I'll just say it. You're faster than me Gil, there you go" Oona said with sadness.
"OONA LOOK OUT!" Gil shouted from across the room. Oona looked behind her to see the lava coming, frightening her. She swam across the room as fast as she could, but she tripped and fell, gripping on to a platform.
"Oona!" Gil said and he swam towards her. She was hanging on for dear life, scared of what to do.
"Grab my hand Oona" Gil said, holding out his hand.
"Why should I? You'll just use it as an opportunity against me" Oona replied to him.
"Oh forget that now Oona! Just grab my hand!" Gil said. Oona still wasn't moving.
"I got something to say, but only if you grab my hand" Gil shouted at her. "I'm not letting my best friend go down now!" he said to her. Oona thought about it, and grabbed his hand. Gil pulled her up.
"Now come on! Let's finish this stupid course already!" Gil said. Oona nodded her head. They both got back to their sides, getting across the rest of the area and pushing the button, barely escaping. They both fell down, relieved and trying to catch their breath.
"Thank goodness that's all over, we almost died!" Oona said.
"Oona, can I tell you something?" Gil asked her.
"Yes?" she said with a certain look.
"I'm sorry for the way I acted. I don't know what got into me. I was just jealous of your skills that I wanted to be better, and look where that got us into. I'm sorry for being rude to you Oona, and I hope you can forgive me. You're right, we are equals, and always will be" Gil explained to her. Oona just hugged him.
"That's all I need to hear. Thank you Gil" Oona said with some tears. They both hugged it out, with some slight blushing, which they caught.
"OK, let's stop before Molly and Nonny find out" Gil said jokingly.
"Good point" Oona said. They both left the cave and saw the temple ahead of them.
"Hey look! There's the temple!" Oona said.
"Now we just have to wait for the others" Gil said.
Suddenly a roar echoed. The Glinchy was back, and more angry than ever.
"Not this guy again!" Gil said.
"Hey Gil, want to teach this guy a lesson?" Oona smirked.
"Oh you bet I do!" Gil replied.
They both charged at the Glinchy. It attacked, but missed due to their speed. They each landed hits on it, which resulted in it feeling pain from those areas. They then landed one last punch, making it run away from them.
"Woo! That felt good! Yeah!" Oona shouted.
"I know! But I wonder what the others are up too…" Gil asked himself.
Deema, Nonny and Zooli were trying to escape from the Glinchy, but didn't know where to go to.
"Where do we go? I don't see a cave or anything!" Deema asked.
"There! That bush. We can hide in there" Zooli said.
The three jumped in the bush and stayed as quiet as possible. The Glinchy smelled around the area to find them, but then eventually left, leaving the three in relief.
"Finally, it's gone. Now let's get out of here" Deema said.
"One problem Deema. Where even are we? Zooli said.
They looked to be in some kind of maze, with forks in the road at every angle. They couldn't see what was at the end of each path.
"Which way do we go?" Zooli asked
"I think we should go this way, the sign says so" Deema said.
"And how do you know that?" Zooli asked her.
"Excuse me, I'm just following what the sign says. Why don't you ask Nonny then?" Deema said, pointing to Nonny.
"Oh, well-I–um–I think we should go this way, since if it's telling us to go this way, then it's probably a trap" Nonny said.
"OK then, if you say so then" Deema shrugged. They started to go down the middle path, but as Zooli stepped on a spot, spikes raised up from the ground, startling her.
"That almost killed me!" Zooli shouted.
"Guess that's the wrong way then. Let's try Deema's idea" Nonny said.
"I'm telling you, I'm right. Now come on" Deema said. They went to the way the sign was pointing. When they stepped down, nothing rose from the ground or was set off. That was the right way.
"Guess it was the right way after all" Zooli said.
"It appears so" Nonny said too.
"You see? I told you I was right! Now let's move on!" Deema said confidently.
"(She seems too confident, and Nonny doesn't look happy. Maybe I should help)" Zooli thought to herself.
They made it to another fork in the road, with three more paths. They struggled to decide which to go down this time.
"Another split? How long is this maze?" Deema complained.
"Which way Deema?" Zooli asked.
"I'd say…..this way-" she was cut of by a flame pillar, almost getting her engulfed by the flames.
"Deema! Are you okay?!" Zooli asked her.
"No I am not! I almost just died right there!" She shouted.
"So I guess that's not the right way then" Zooli said.
"Ya don't say?" Deema sarcastically said. Nonny was looking down both of the paths.
"I'd say the middle one is the right way" he said. Nonny walked down the middle path, with no booby trap being set off, indicating that it was right.
"That's it then. How'd you know it was the right way Nonny?" Zooli asked.
"I just looked down as best as I could. I saw some more paths down the middle path, and not on the left path" Nonny explained.
"That's actually a good idea!" Zooli exclaimed. Deema just crossed her arms. The three walked down the path, and came to another split, this time three more paths that all lead to different paths.
"Now which way do we go?" Zooli asked them.
"I would say left" Nonny said.
"Nonny, let the smart person handle this. I would say right, since that's the only one that hasn't been right yet" Deema said.
"Deema, you almost got incinerated, I don't think that's right" Nonny said.
"And how do you know? Just because you're smart doesn't mean you're right" Deema said to him.
"When did I say that? Are you jealous or something?" Nonny confusingly asked her.
"Uck, jealous? Never! How could you say that?" Deema said, starting to get angry. The two of them started to argue again. Zooli walked down the middle path again, and saw that it was right. She then turned around to see them fighting again.
"Enough!" Zooli screamed, halting their argument.
"I am so tired of you guys fighting, it's driving me nuts! You're fighting over the pettiest things. Who cares if someone is smarter than the other? It doesn't matter. You know what? Figure this out yourself, I'm done" Zooli explained, furious about them. They both stopped.
"Nonny, I'm sorry for saying those things. You're right, I was jealous. It's just that I'm always seen as the dumb one, and you as the smart one. I wanted to prove that I could be smart like you, but I took it too far. I'm sorry Nonny, some friend I am" Deema explained to her friend, with tears starting to form. Nonny just stood there.
"Deema, why didn't you tell me that? You know I would've helped you. And to be honest, I don't like having to explain everything. I wish I could be like you, funny and goofy, but I never had the courage to ask you"
"Oh come on Nonner's, now you're making me feel guilty of that too!" Deema jokingly said. They both laughed and hugged each other.
"Wait, where's Zooli?" Deema asked.
"I'm over here guys! I found the right path!" Zooli shouted.
"It's actually really peaceful over here-" she was cut off by a loud roar. The Glinchy had come back, and grabbed her.
"Guys help me!" she yelled.
"Zooli!" they both yelled.
"I have an idea! See that tree over there?" Nonny asked Deema, pointing to a tree.
"Yeah?" she said.
"When I say so, I want you to use this to cut it to make it fall down" Nonny explained, handing her a knife.
"Got it!" she said, running to the tree. Nonny swam towards the Glinchy, which it tried to attack, but missed. Nonny then smacked it with his tail, setting Zooli free.
"Now Deema!" he shouted. Deema cut the tree with the knife, making it fall down on the Glinchy, trapping it under.
"Now let's get outta here!" Zooli shouted. They swam out of the forest. Exhausted and tired, they sat down.
"Thank goodness we got out of there" Zooli said.
"That was amazing Nonny! How'd you know for me to cut that particular tree?" Deema asked.
"I saw that it was starting to fall, and it just needed a bit of more force to fall over" he explained.
"Interesting" she said.
"I wonder how the others are doing" Zooli asked.
"I'm sure their fine" Deema told her.
Molly and Goby were not fine, as they were being chased by the largest Glinchy. They were going as fast as they could, but they were almost grabbable.
"It's starting to catch up!" Goby shouted. "What's the plan Molly?" he asked.
"I don't know! I've never seen one of these things!" Molly responded. "Just keep running!" she said.
They kept swimming away from the Glinchy, but it was starting to get closer and closer.
"Wait! I have an id-" Molly was cut off. They both fell into a hole that led to them falling down a slide and into a room with nothing but blue walls.
"When was that there?" Molly pondered.
"I think we should find out where we are first" Goby said. They both looked around to try to find a way out, but they couldn't seem to find anything. The room was entirely empty.
"Find anything?" Goby shouted to Molly.
"No, you?" she replied.
"I got nothing. Why is there nothing here?" Goby wondered.
"There has to be some way out of here" Molly said. Suddenly the ceiling started to shake, with a loud roar above them. It was the Glinchy.
"I think it's trying to break in!" Goby said. "We have to do something" he said before he saw Molly sitting down.
"Molly? Are you okay?" Goby asked her.
"No, I'm not. We're trapped here with no way out, and that Glinchy is going to kill us. There's no hope left for us" Molly said with sadness. She covered her face and turned around. Goby just stood there in silence, and then walked up to her.
"Molly, that's not true, and you know that. We'll find a way out. I'm not the one who usually says these things, but you can't always give up like that. Look at me. I always make a bad drawing sometimes, but then I find a way to be creative and make it better. You can't just give up. Be creative and find another way. You can do this, I promise" Goby explained to her. Molly stared at him with her teary eyes.
"Your right. We can do this. Let's keep looking!" Molly said with confidence. They kept looking around, meanwhile the Glinchy was still trying to break into the room. They were starting to get tired when Goby spotted something: A crack in the wall.
"Molly look! There's a crack in the wall!" Goby shouted to her, pointing at the crack.
"There is! Great spotting Goby!" she said. "Now we have to find a way to break it!"
"I have an idea, a creative idea" Goby said with a smirk.
"What is it?"
"Molly, use your ice shards and throw them at the crack. It will make it bigger. Then when I say so, use your sword to break open the wall" Goby explained.
"Got it!" she replied. Molly summoned ice shards and started aiming them at the crack. The shards entered the crack, slowly making it bigger, and bigger, and bigger until it was massive. The ceiling started to crack more too.
"It's almost in!" she shouted.
"Almost there…" Goby said. "Now!" he yelled. Molly pulled out her sword and threw it at the large crack, breaking the wall.
"It worked! Now let's go!" Molly said. They swam out the room and into the snow again.
"We made it out! I told you we'd find a way" Goby said to her.
"I gotta admit, that idea of yours was pretty creative. Nice idea Goby!" Molly complimented him. He blushed. Suddenly the Glinchy returned.
"Not this guy again!" Goby said with annoyance.
"I'll handle this, but I'll need a distraction. Goby, run towards the room ceiling" Molly explained to him. Goby swam towards the ceiling, dodging the Glinvhy's attacks. He was cornered by it.
"Now, jump!" she shouted. Goby rolled out of the way of the Glinchy, sending it into the room floor. Molly then covered it with snow, trapping it in.
Now let's get outta here!" she yelled as they fled.
Molly and Goby made it out of the forest, exhausted and tired.
"Boy am I glad that's all over" Molly said, tired.
"You said it, I'm exhausted" Goby said.
"Guys!" some voices said. They turned to see Oona and Gil.
"Gil, Oona!" they both shouted as they hugged each other.
"Where were you guys?" they asked.
"We had to escape a lava-filled obstacle course" Gil explained.
"And we also made up our differences, so we won't argue again" Oona said.
"Well that's nice, but where are the others?" Molly asked.
"Over here guys!" Deema shouted. Her, Nonny and Zooli came out of another part of the forest.
"We had to go through a maze with booby traps and other killing stuff" Deema said. Nonny nodded his head along with her.
"And they also stopped arguing too, so that's nice" Zooli added.
"I'm glad you guys are safe. We got trapped in a room with almost no way out. But Goby here helped us get out by breaking a small crack in the wall" Molly explained. Goby blushed in embarrassment.
"I knew you could be a good problem solver buddy!" Deema said to him.
"Hey guys look! The temple!" Oona said, pointing to the temple, which was not that far from them.
"Guess we're almost there. Let's get moving guys!" Molly said.
The guppies continued moving to the temple, not aware of what would be greeting them there. On top of the temple, a figure was watching them get closer to it. "It seems they're getting closer. Master Pyros will be most happy about this" the unknown figure said.
Author's Notes
Well this chapter took a long time to make due to me not knowing what to think of, also because I was procrastinating XD. But I finally finished it, and the first temple is coming up in the next chapter, and I would like you to see who Molly will be paired with! For now, I'll answer questions:
ReaderandWriter9000: The fight with Alana was tense. Seems the feeling of unexpected events came back at you lol. And as a fact, Pyro's team will be very tough, so Molly will need all the help that they can. I'm glad you liked it. And also, a big thank you for helping me with some parts of this story!
Abdiel123: Yes! The name of the last chapter was a reference to Pokemon Journey's! Big fan of the series, and that was the perfect opportunity to use that line.
PrimroseRaspberry: It was very lucky for them to have healed, as they probably would've been killed by Alana. I'm glad you liked the twist of Glacia and Snowa being twins, as it will be important later on in the story, specifically in the last temple. I'm also guessing you have a twin who constantly reminds you of the time gap, which in that case, lol.
Sorry this chapter took so long to make, I took a break for a few days and then forgot to do this. I promise the next chapter will be worth it, as it will be all action! Also no post chapter today as I don't feel like doing one now, so stay tuned for the next chapter!