Well, it's time now. As of when I'm typing this, it is New Year's Eve, so happy New Year everyone! I'm excited for what 2023 brings us, for both this and other people's stories! 2022 has been a great year for us, as we've gotten great stories besides this one, like BGTY, In Your Shadow, New Student Zooli (Even though it was posted in 2021, it was finished in 2022 so it kinda counts lol), Molly's Dia de los Muertos, and so many other great stories came in 2022, so here's to more great ones in 2023!
As for this chapter, and story, thank you all so much for reading these chapters, as it means a lot to me that people love this story, and I hope you enjoy what comes later. For now, this will be the final chapter for 2022, and after that, I'm going to take a short break from working on this, and this will give our guppies enough time to recover from what is about to happen, as this will be their most brutal temple yet. I hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you at the end.
Warning: Might get graphic near the end.
Chapter 18: The Fourth Temple
Molly and Nonny were on the boat to the fourth temple. They were looking out from the front of the boat, and saw the temple on a single island. The sun was setting right above it, like a compass leading to someone's destination. Molly gave a confident smile, but saw Nonny wasn't looking too happy.
"Everything alright Nonny?" Molly asked him.
"Oh, I'm fine. It's just that I'm nervous something bad might happen while we're in there, or we'll fail it," Nonny told his friend.
"Don't worry Nonny, we'll be fine, I promise you," Molly comforted him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Nonny gave a small smile at her. Soon, the boat stopped, and lowered the anchor.
"Last stop for the Breezy Bay temple! Last stop for the Breezy Bay temple!" the captain shouted.
"This is our stop! Come on Nonny," Molly exclaimed. They both headed off the boat with everyone else, and looked at the temple.
"It's certainly bigger than the others," Molly said.
"Maybe that means the trials will be harder or different than the others," Nonny suggested.
"Could be, but no matter what they throw at us, I know we can beat them," Molly said. "We better get going before it gets dark enough for the boat to leave us," she said.
They walked up the stairs to the temple, and Molly touched the door. It opened up, allowing them in. They walked in, when Nonny stopped for a moment.
"Hey Molly?" Nonny said.
"What's up Nonny?" Molly responded.
"I have this weird feeling that we're being watched by someone," he told her.
"I'm sure it's just your imagination. Now let's get this temple done so we can move on," Molly told him. They then entered the temple, and the doors behind them closed. Little did they know, Nonny's hunch would be right.
As they entered, they saw statues of people wearing robes, and others wearing glasses. Both guppies were intrigued by these statues, mostly Nonny.
"What do you think these statues are?" Molly asked him. Nonny analyzed the statues, looking at their features and accessories.
"They seem to be some kind of scientists or researchers. What kind of researcher I'm not sure exactly," Nonny told her.
"Well whatever kind they were, they seemed to be very important in the past. Maybe they were the ones that made the temples?" Molly said.
"Could be, or maybe they insisted on the construction of the temples," Nonny added. They soon came up to a large wall, with no door or special way to open it that they could see.
"Judging by past experience, I think we have to do something to get the door open," Molly said to Nonny.
"But Molly, I don't see anything that could open this door, if it even is a door. It looks like a simple wall to me," Nonny told her.
"Hmm, I think you might be right. So how do we open it?" Molly said. Suddenly, the temple started to shake everywhere. Before they could ask anything about what was happening, a blue, holographic screen appeared in front of them, with an old guppy soon appearing on it.
"Who are you?" Molly asked him. The old man opened his eyes and looked down.
"Hello, if you are seeing this, then you are attempting to access the scroll of this temple. To do that, you must pass three tests, which are based on intelligence. If you fail any tests, you will be forced to restart the whole thing all over again," he explained.
"Why didn't he ask us who we were?" Molly wondered.
"It must be some kind of AI," Nonny said.
"An AI?" Molly confusingly said.
"An artificial intelligence, which is sorta like putting a person inside a computer. It's used to run programs and code in electronics," Nonny explained.
"You are Molly Gentilella, the future Ice Princess, and the leader of the Bubble Guppies. You have a brother, sister, and two parents, and your favorite food is a turkey sandwich with a tangerine," the AI said.
"That's….oddly specific," Molly said.
"And you are Nonny Pirruccello, and smartest of the Bubble Guppies. You recently gained a little sister named Nelly, and you have done many impressive things in your time here," the AI added. Nonny blushed slightly at that.
"So what do we have to do first?" Molly asked.
"For your first test, you must solve this riddle. You have only 4 guesses to answer it. You may say when you are ready to begin," the AI explained to them.
"A riddle huh? This shouldn't be so hard, I love riddles!" Molly said.
"I guess that's not that hard," Nonny agreed.
"Okay, we're ready!" Molly said.
"After you go through a fall I will take over. All life will stall, or at least grow slower. What am I?" the AI asked them. They thought of what it could be.
"What do you think it could be?" Molly asked Nonny.
"I'm not sure. It could mean a lot of things here," Nonny replied. Molly thought hard about the answer. They waited several minutes before coming up with an answer.
"Okay, is the answer cells?" Molly said.
"That is incorrect. Three answers left," it said.
"Guess that wasn't right," Nonny said. "Maybe we should think about this one more."
"Guess so. This might take a while," Molly said. They got back to thinking about the answer. They spent a while thinking about the riddle, even asking each other questions. Finally, they both came up with their own answers.
"Ok, so we both have different answers?" Molly asked.
"It appears so," Nonny answered.
"You go first, as yours is probably the right answer. I'll go next if it isn't right," Molly told Nonny. "(We spent 13 minutes with these answers. They better be right, or I got nothing else,)" She thought to herself.
"Excuse me, but is the answer snow?" Nonny asked it.
"That is incorrect. Two answers left," it replied.
"How about sleep?" Molly said.
"That is also wrong, one answer left," the AI said.
"But we spent so long coming up with those answers, and now I can't come up with anything else. Can you Nonny?" Molly asked Nonny.
"I'm not sure. I'm trying to think of something," he said.
"Let's face it. This riddle is too hard, even for us. I guess we failed the first try again," Molly said.
"Molly, you can't give up so easily everytime, that's not the point here. I think we're not thinking the right way here," Nonny told her.
"What do you mean?" she wondered.
"Do you remember Halloween when we did detectives?" Nonny asked her.
"Yes of course. That was when me and Gilly were detectives solving a mystery," Molly said. Her and Gil tried to solve the case of the werewolf, where they used clues to solve the mystery. "What's your point here?" She asked him.
"We sang that song about using clues and context to help us, so maybe we should that apply here," Nonny explained to her.
"I guess that could work, but what would we use?" Molly asked him.
"Let's see. I think "fall" isn't talking about falling down, but the season, and life stopping and growing slowly could mean about animals and plants going to sleep for a while," Nonny explained.
"So it's like hibernation, and it comes after fall," Molly said, understanding slightly.
"Now, what season comes after fall Molly?" Nonny asked her. Molly thought about it before finally realizing.
"Oh, I got it! Is the answer winter?" Molly asked the AI.
"That is…the correct answer! You may move on to the second trial," it told them.
"Good thinking Nonny!" Molly said, high-fiving him.
"Thanks. Sometimes you just have to think about what they're asking you, and have to take it apart to figure those out," Nonny said.
"I guess that could be helpful. Anyway, we have two more to go, so let's keep moving on!" Molly said.
They kept swimming through the long hallway, where they were looking around the temple more. They saw not only statues, but also things like symbols, broken structures, and pictures depicting some sort of event that happened long ago.
"These temples have a lot of things in them. I'm surprised I never noticed this earlier," Molly said.
"They do seem very mysterious indeed. It's like they put these here for someone to record for future events," Nonny said.
"Say, that one has someone that looks like Pyros," Molly said, pointing to a particular painting. It showed someone with fire powers being defeated by a young girl with ice powers. She seemed to be fully covered in light blue energy, with snow-like particles surrounding her.
"That sort of looks like someone defeating Pyros," Nonny said.
"I think you might be right, but what's up with the girl? What's she covered in?" Molly wondered.
"To me, it looks like some kind of magical ice energy. It looks like it powered her up enough to be Pyros, but it seems to be some kind of mystical event," Nonny suggested.
"Do you think that'll…happen to me one day?" Molly asked.
"I don't know honestly, probably. If I were you, I would take a picture of it with your phone," Nonny told Molly.
"Good idea," she replied. Molly pulled out her phone, and took a picture of the paintings on the wall, making sure to save it for future needs. "Alright, I got them, now let's keep moving…Nonny?" Molly said. Nonny was looking around.
"Hey, you alright?" Molly worriedly asked him.
"I'm fine, I just still have this weird feeling someone's watching us right now. I think I also heard plane engines earlier," Nonny said.
"You're probably hearing things. Just try to think about something else, as that's what I do when something bad is in my head," Molly told him. She kept moving.
"I think something bad is going to happen," Nonny said to himself.
Once they got to the end, they found themselves at another wall, but this time there was something different about it. It had bowl-like things poking out of it, like it was letting something in it slide down.
"Ok, now we have to do something to open this door," Molly said.
"It seems we have to throw something in there, but there's nothing to throw around here," Nonny said. Then, the AI screen popped up again, startling them again.
"You again?" Molly startled, said.
"You have made it to your second trial, where you will have a harder time with," the computer said.
"So what do we have to do exactly here?" Molly asked.
"You must throw these shards and balls in the hoops, but it must be in a specific order, or the door will not open. You have as much time as you need to get it done," the AI said before disappearing.
"Wait, how are we supposed to know what order to throw them in? Molly wondered.
"I'm not sure. I don't see anything around us or above that could give us a hint," Nonny said
"Well let's just try and throw them in and see if we can get it right," Molly said.
First they tried a few combinations they could think of, before switching to other methods, but none of those had seemed to work. Molly tried to keep going, as she wasn't giving up to where she got to now. Nonny had stopped, as he'd noticed something near the ceiling. It was a line of text of letters that I would type here if I could make my own. He then remembered something Lady Snowa and Glacia showed him.
Flashback
"You asked to see me, Lady Snowa?" Nonny said, entering the room.
"Nonny, hello. Please, have a seat here," Lady Snowa said. Nonny sat down in a chair across from the two sisters.
"We have something we'd like to show you, something that will help you kids on your journey," Glacia said. She placed a paper on the table. It had some letters that translated to the alphabet.
"What is this supposed to be?" Nonny asked.
"It's an ancient piece of the alphabet. Our ancestors used it a long time ago before switching to the alphabet we use today. We believe that the temples use these letters in their trials," Snowa explained.
"Since you're the smart one, we thought we could give this to you to study, and hope that one day you could use this to your advantage," Glacia added.
"Thank you, I'll make sure to use this when necessary," Nonny said.
Back to Present
"That's it!" Nonny shouted. Molly stopped what she was doing.
"What's it? Did you figure something out?" Molly asked, confused.
"Molly, look up there," Nonny told her, pointing to the words he saw.
"Hey there's some words up there! But I don't think that's even a language I know," Molly said.
"I think I know what it means," Nonny said.
"You do? How though?" Molly wondered.
"Lady Snowa and Glacia taught me about this, and I've been interested in it ever since. I just hope I've been reading it enough," Nonny said. He read through the lines out loud.
"Well what does it say?" Molly asks him.
"It says "The symbols will guide you through, and play for you, a familiar tune"," he read out loud.
"The symbols will guide you? What symbols?" Molly pondered.
"I think I see some on those hoops where we're supposed to throw," Nonny pointed out. He looked at them, then looked at the shards and balls.
"OK. I got a plan," Nonny said.
"You do?"
"Molly, you're going to throw yours in the first, second, fifth, and seventh ones, while I throw mine in the third, fourth, sixth and eighth," Nonny explained.
"Alright, whatever you say," Molly told him in a snappy-like tone. Nonny looked at her, but didn't seem to care much.
"Ok, go!" he shouted.
Molly threw her two shards first, followed by Nonny throwing two, and then they switched until they finished. They found out that it was a secret piano, and the tune it played for them was one that they could instantly.
"Wait…I recognize that tune," Molly said. "Do you recognize it too?" she asked Nonny.
"Yes I do," he replied.
"I can't believe they knew how our theme song sounded. But, how did they know how it went? There's no way they could've done it before we got here," Molly said, confused. The screen soon appeared again.
"You have passed the second trial! You may have recognized this tune as something of your own, but perhaps you wouldn't have guessed that it wasn't originally yours," the AI told them.
"What do you mean it wasn't ours before? I came up with it on the first day of school that we all met," Molly said.
"This tune has been passed down through countless generations in the past. However, it is said that it only comes to specific families with extraordinary abilities, and the one who finishes it properly will save the world from impending doom and fires," it revealed.
"Wait, so I might be one of those specific people?!" Molly said. "But I just made it up by humming it because it just….popped…in..my head one day," Molly said, stopping briefly. "Oh my cod," she said in shock.
"Everything alright Molly?" Nonny asked the pink-haired girl.
"Nonny, do you know what this means?" Molly said.
"Uhh no?" he said.
"It means that I must be one of the special people!" Molly said.
"If that is the case, then if you finish the song, you might unlock something hidden," Nonny said.
"You may move on to the final trial, where your intelligence will be tested!" the AI said. The wall opened, and the two moved on, with Nonny looking behind him briefly, but then moving on with Molly.
On their way down the final hallway, Nonny felt the need to ask Molly something.
"Hey Molly, I need to ask you a question," he said.
"Okay…what is it?" Molly said, confused.
"Back there when I told you the plan for the second trial, you replied with a rather snappy tone to me. Are you sure you're okay?" Nonny asked her. Molly looked away briefly.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want Molly," Nonny said.
"I'm fine Nonny, I was just getting…annoyed at the puzzle," she answered.
"We all can get upset, and I understand this means a lot to you, but you didn't have to talk to me like that," Nonny explained to her.
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry Nonny," Molly apologized.
They walked down the hallway for a while before making it to one final wall. The screen appeared one more time, and with a serious face.
"You have made it to the final trial, and this one is the hardest out of them all, almost no one has solved it in over 50 years!" The AI said.
"Well they haven't met us yet! What do we have to do?" Molly asked.
"The trial…is a math problem," it said.
"Huh?!" Both guppies said.
"A math problem? Why would math be here?" Molly wondered.
"This can't be so hard," Nonny said.
"Yeah for you…," Molly quietly said.
"Did you say something?" Nonny asked.
"Nope, what's the question?" Molly replied.
"The question is simple. -7x +5y = -7x 4^3 + 1 + √225. What is y?" The computer asked.
Molly just stood there confused, as she didn't understand a single thing from that.
"What does that even mean? How am I supposed to solve that?" she exclaimed.
"I can help you if you want Molly. I'm good at mathematics," Nonny suggested to her.
"I can do this Nonny, just give me some time. (sigh) I wish I payed just a tiny bit more attention in Ms. Smith's class," Molly said.
Some time went by, and they were still at the door trying to solve the problem. Molly was thinking harder now, while Nonny was staying by her.
"Ugh! I can't figure out how to get rid of that square root or the x's! I can't!" Molly shouted in anger.
"I can help Molly, please, you're getting upset," Nonny proposed.
"I don't need help, Nonny!" she shouted at him. "Let's see, if I add the -7 to the other side, that cancels out the x, but I can't get rid of y unless I figure out the square root! Why must math be so hard?!" Molly yelled, getting on the floor.
"Molly, please, you're going to exhaust yourself. I'm good at math, so let me help please," Nonny tried again one more time.
"Well if you're so smart, then why don't YOU SOLVE IT YOURSELF BRAINEY!" Molly yelled at him, making the boy flinch and fall down. Molly snapped back and saw what she had done.
"No…no…NOT AGAIN!" she screamed. She encased herself in a dome of ice.
"Molly!" Nonny said, rushing over to her.
"Molly, are you in there?" he asked.
"Go away," she said, but it was muffled, but he could still hear her.
"Are you okay? Please answer me," Nonny asked her.
"I said go away," she repeated herself.
"I'm not leaving without you Molly. We entered here together, and we're leaving together," Nonny said.
"I don't want to be here anymore. I'll end up hurting someone again, and besides, you know way more than me, so you solve it," Molly said.
"Is this what this is all about? You think you're dumb?" Nonny asked. No answer came.
"Molly, open up, I need to tell you something," Nonny said.
"Just tell me it now," she said from inside.
"It's better if I tell you face to face," Nonny responded back. Molly opened the dome. She was crying heavy tears, which took Nonny off guard, but still kept his posture.
"I've seen that sometimes you go into things without thinking first. You have to think first before you act. That helps you from making decisions you'll regret later on, or worse, you could hurt yourself or others," Nonny explained to her.
"But I can't think some things through because I don't know them," Molly told him.
"That doesn't mean you can't be helpful," Nonny said.
"What do you mean?" Molly asked.
"Just because you're not as smart as someone, doesn't mean you're not useful. I smarter, and yet you and the others taught me to come out of my comfort zone, and be someone I never thought I would be, and besides, intelligence isn't how much you know, but how much you can apply, like how much you can use to help yourself," Nonny explained to her. Molly wiped her tears and hugged him.
"Thank you Nonny. And yes, I really could use some help," Molly said.
"Ok, well, first we'll start with the square root. Now, I have an idea," Nonny said.
"What's that?"
"Can you tell me what the square root of 25 is?" He asked her.
"5?" she answered.
"That's right, and what's 2 divided by 2?" he asked her again.
"1? Molly said.
"Very good. Put them together to get the square root of 225," Nonny told her.
"Let's see…15?" Molly answered.
"That's right! Now you can already get rid of the x's by adding the left -7 to the other, which cancels them out, but can you tell me what 4^3 is?" Nonny asked her.
"I believe it's 64, right?" Molly answered.
"Correct, and adding 1 is 65. Now, what's that plus 15?" Nonny asked her.
"Hmm…80?"
"That's correct!" Nonny said.
"And that divided by 5 gives you…" Molly said before gasping and turning to the screen.
"Is the answer 16?" she asked.
"That is…correct! You have passed all three trials, and may claim the scroll now," the AI said before disappearing. Molly hugged Nonny.
"Thank you Nonny, I really appreciate it," Molly said in a soft voice. Nonny smiled.
"No problem Molly, I'm here to help…you guys," Nonny told his friend.
"Everything okay?" Molly asked him.
"Yeah, I'm good, let's go get the scroll," he replied.
They made their way towards the scroll, before Molly stopped.
"Wait, something usually happens before we get the scroll, so be on the lookout for anything suspicious," Molly explained. They each looked around the area, and Molly gave a thumbs up, but Nonny looked up to see something above them.
"Hey Molly, do you see that up there?" Nonny pointed above them. Molly looked up.
"Yeah, what is that up there?" she wondered.
"It looks to be some kind of cage-like orb, maybe we should get a closer look," Nonny said.
"Good idea. Get by me," Molly replied. She lifted them up with ice pillar. What they saw shocked them. They saw Goby, Deema, Bubble Puppy, and Nelly all tied up.
"Guys?!" Molly exclaimed.
"Nelly!" Nonny shouted.
"Mhm-Mhm!" Nelly muffled, tried to speak.
"Hold on! I'm getting you guys out of there!" Molly shouted, pulling out her sword. Suddenly, the pillar started to shake and fall.
"Hang on Nonny!" Molly shouted. She grabbed Nonny and jumped off, but she uses her icy wind to carry them down safely.
"Good thinking Molly," Nonny said.
"Thanks, but what are they doing up there?" Molly wondered.
"I think you'll understand soon, little girl," someone said. They turned to see Leon by where the scroll was.
"Mr. Leonard? What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Molly, look at his shirt!" Nonny whispered to her. Molly looked at his outfit and noticed the logo on it.
"Great, how many dramatic reveals are we going to get today?" Molly mockingly said.
"Seems you figured me out, not that I was surprised. However, there is one more thing I'd like to reveal," Leon said.
"Oh yeah, and what would that be?" Molly shouted.
"Come on out, Kirā!" Leon shouted with an evil smile. A girl jumped on the ground, making cracks in the floor.
"What is that thing?" Nonny asked.
"I'm surprised you didn't recognize it instantly Nonny. And here I thought you knew her well," Leon told him with a disappointed tone.
"No…it can't be…" Nonny said, realizing who it was.
"What's wrong Nonny?" Molly worriedly asked.
"I know what, or who that thing is," Nonny said.
"Who?" Molly said. The girl lifted her head up, revealing Oona.
"Oona!" Nonny shouted. Molly gasped in shock.
"What did you do to her?!" Molly yelled at Leon, who laughed evilly.
"I simply attached a chip to her that allows me to control her via the robotic tail on her. After all, I was the one who told Eliza to cut it off, and to tell Sally to put that metal piece there, knowing very well you guppies would fall for it," Leon explained to them.
"Give us back all of them now!" Molly shouted.
"You can try, but I'm in control of the girl now, and you'll have to beat me to get her back," Leon said, readying himself. Oona drawed out her sword.
"Nonny, you take Leon. "I'll handle Oona," Molly said.
"What? I can't handle him!" Nonny whispered to her.
"Just try and distract him, and wait for an opening to attack, we don't have much time!" Molly told him. Nonny nodded his head.
"Attack!" Leon shouted.
Oona charged first, giving Molly a chance to sword duel her. Both girls were skilled in sword training, though Oona's was slightly higher, but that doesn't mean Molly wasn't a match. She used her ice powers to make weapons like shields to block, laser to try and stop her, and machine weapons to try and knock her back, but Oona parried them all with her sword.
"Man she's good. I'll have to try harder if I want to beat-AHH" Molly was interrupted by a punch from Oona, but she retaliated with a tail slap.
"Me and you boy," Leon said. Nonny gulped, but wasn't scared.
Leon launched a punch, but Nonny dodged it. He started throwing fireballs at him, but to his surprise, Nonny was more speedy than he thought he would be. Nonny eventually made it slip, leaving him open to a nun-chunk smack. Nonny tried to evade more, but he was getting overwhelmed.
"What's the matter boy? Can't handle this?" Leon mocked him.
Molly and Oona were still sword dueling, and Molly was getting tired. They clashed multiple times for practice, but now this is real.
"Come on Oona, snap out of it!" Molly shouted to her.
"Oona isn't here now. I've taken over now!" Oona said.
"Then who are you?" Molly asked.
"The AI Pyro's used a long time ago for mind control. We chose her because of her skills," she said.
"Well good luck, because you'll never beat us-AGHH" Molly said before being hit by Nonny, who was knocked back along with Nonny.
"Too easy, like always," Leon said.
"Come on Nonny, get up!" Molly said.
"I can't Molly, I'm useless," Nonny said. Molly summoned another dome, and used an orb to keep it up.
"Nonny, you're not useless at all. You're actually one of the most useful members of our team," Molly comforted him.
"Huh?" Nonny said, confused.
"You're the one that helps Mr. Grouper with teaching us new things and lessons. Without you, I don't think we would be where we are now. If I'm being completely honest, I'm actually jealous of your intelligence," Molly explained.
"Y-You are?" Nonny said.
"Yeah, you're so smart, that even I don't think that I could surpass you, but you taught me that being smart or not doesn't make you useless, and that it's how you use it that makes you smart," She added. "So please, don't ever call yourself useless ever again," Molly told him.
"Listen up you two!" Leon shouted. "I have a deal for you!". The two listen to him.
"Can he see us?" Nonny asked Molly.
"No, but I can make it so that we can see them," she replied. She closed her fist, which made the dome transparent from the inside, so that they could see them, but they still couldn't see them.
"We're listening," Molly said.
"I'll give you your friends, including the girl here, in exchange for the scroll. Do we have a deal?" Leon explained, holding the chip in his hand.
"We have to do it Nonny, we have no choice," Molly said, preparing to let the ice dome down.
"Hold on Molly, I know what's going on here," Nonny said, stopping her.
"You do?" Molly confusingly said.
"Yes, and I have a plan," Nonny said. He whispered to Molly something. Soon, she let the dome down, with Nonny holding the scroll.
"You have a deal! Now give us that chip!" Molly shouted.
"A deal is a deal. But first, Kirā, get the scroll for me," Leon said. Oona went and snatched it right out of Nonny's hands, but stopped for a second after looking him in the eyes. Leon then threw the chip to Nonny, while he got the scroll.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Leon said with a malicious smile.
"Oh Leon, you'd think I'd fall for something like that?" Nonny said with a confident tone.
"Huh?"
"They call me "The Cautious Boy" for a reason," Nonny told him. He then threw the chip at Oona, which exploded into a smoke ball.
"What?! How did you-" Leon said before the scroll exploded into a smoke ball too, stopping him briefly.
"Now Molly!" Nonny shouted. Molly yelled and charged at Oona, going behind her and grabbing her arms and neck. "Now's your chance Nonny!" Molly shouted. Nonny then pulled out a taser, and used it to shock Oona on the chip on her neck, making her scream in pain, knocking Molly back. The chip exploded, sending all knocked back. This also made the straps covering everyone's faces and the cage disappear, but luckily Molly saved them with her wind.
"Guys! You're okay!" Molly shouted, rushing to help them. "Is everyone okay?" she asked them.
"Yeah, we're fine, just a bit tired," Goby said.
"MOLLY I'M SO GLAD TO SEE YOU BWAHHH!" Deema dramatically said, hugging Molly.
"I missed you too Deema," she replied.
"Miss Molly, where's Nonny?" Nelly asked her.
"Yeah, where is Nonny?" Molly said.
"Over here," Nonny called out. He was carrying an unconscious Oona.
"Put her over here!" Molly shouted. Nonny put Oona on the ground around everyone.
"Is she dead?" Deema asked.
"No, her heart is still beating, she's just unconscious. I don't know how long it'll take for her to wake up," Nonny told them. Bubble Puppy went and licked Oona's face rapidly, which caused her to cough for air and wake up.
"cough cough…Ugh…what happened? My head hurts like crazy," Oona said, groaning in pain.
"Oona!" The guppies shouted, hugging her together.
"What? G-Guys? What are you all doing here?" Oona asked everyone.
"Oh man, you would not believe what just happened!" Goby said.
"Girl, you were being mind controlled by Mr. Leon as some kind of assassin of some kind, but Molly and Nonny rescued you!" Deema explained. Molly and Nonny waved to her.
"Thank you guys, I felt like I was in some kind of prison inside of me," Oona said, but was confused when everyone started staring at her with surprise. "Did I say something bad? Sorry," Oona apologized.
"No, not that Oona. You're walking!" Molly told her. Oona was indeed walking with her new robot tail. She gasped in excitement, and began swimming around the area. "I can walk! I can swim again!" Oona shouted.
"It seems the electrical shock caused her body to adapt to the mechanical parts of the tail, which caused a chain reaction that gave her the ability to-" Nonny said.
"English please," Deema interrupted.
"The shock made her able to swim with the robot part," Nonny summarized. Oona hugged him hard.
"Thank you Nonny," Oona said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, making him blush. Suddenly, Oona layed eyes on Leon, who was getting up. With a rage, Oona, grabbed out her sword.
"Uh Oona, what are you doing?" Goby worriedly asked the pig-tailed girl.
"Something I need to do," Oona said with a dark tone. Molly thought to herself of what she could be planning, when it clicked.
"Wait, Oona! Are you sure that's the way to handle this?" Molly shouted to her.
"Now what are you kids planning?" Leon said.
"Enough! You took my body, my friends, and used me to even kill my own best friends! You even planned for me to get my own goddamn tail cut off, just so you could control me as your puppet!" Oona yelled at him.
"You got guts little girl. You yell at him, and are attempting to sword duel me? Very well then. I suppose I have no cho-" Leon said before he was cut off with sharp pain. The others gasped in horror at what they saw. Oona had stabbed Leon right in the chest, and pushed it through him. Leon fell down, and Oona pulled the sword out.
"How's it feel to see yourself fall at the hands of a child?" Oona angrily asked him.
"(cough) Perfect…(cough cough)...you'll soon…ack…become…what you..fear most (cough)..." Leon said as he slowly closed his eyes.
"Oona…?" Deema said. Oona snapped back to herself, realizing what she had done. She dropped her sword and covered her mouth.
"Oona…did you just…?" Goby said.
"I…I….I..killed him," Oona slowly said with tears forming.
"Oh dear…" Deema said. Bubble Puppy got by Molly, who held him in her arms.
"Let's go guys, I think it's time we get out of here," Molly said.
When they all got outside, they all were swimming towards the boat. Molly had Bubble Puppy on her shoulders, Nonny was with Nelly, and Goby and Deema were comforting Oona, who was still scared of what she did.
"Hey, it's alright Oona. You don't have to be like that. Just try to forget about it, OK?" Deema told her.
"I can't, guys! I just straight up killed someone, how do you think I feel about murdering a person?" Oona told them. Goby and Deema looked away briefly.
"Maybe I just need to spend some time alone. Maybe that'll help me," Oona said.
"No Oona, that's the worst thing to do! You need to spend time with people close to you so they can help you, like us!" Deema said.
"I guess I can try that," she replied, giving a small smile.
"Uh guys? There's no boat here," Molly said. The boat had already left because it was too dark. Then, a small light showed up in the distance.
"What is that?" Nelly wondered. It was another boat, and there were four people on it.
"Hey guys!" Gil shouted.
"Gilly!" Molly happily exclaimed. Everyone ran towards the dock to the boat. Molly and Gil hugged.
"How did you find us?" she asked.
"I saw someone take Nelly and Bubble Puppy, so I told Zooli and Cryo, and we all got on this boat to come get you all.
"Did you get the scroll?" Cryo asked them. Nonny held the scroll up.
"Wow! That's four already, we're making progress!" Zooli said.
"Snowy! You're okay!" Nelly happily exclaimed. She hugged her pet hard.
"Uh what is that thing?" Deema confusingly asked them.
"I think it's best we explain once we get back to BlizzardTucky," Nonny said.
"I agree, I'm tired, and all this thinking and fighting makes me want to take a long nap," Molly added.
They all hopped on the boat to go home, but not while explaining some things to them. Cryo told everyone about him and Alana, while Oona said what she had done in the temple, but, to her surprise, everyone comforted her, and helped her feel better about herself. She looked at Deema, who winked and gave her a thumbs up, which made Oona smile. Having the fourth temple complete, the first half of their journey, was complete, but now, bigger problems will arise soon.
Author's Notes
Well, as I'm finishing this, it is now 2023, so Happy New Year everyone! Hope to see exciting stories in the future. As for this story, how many of you expected that plot twist? I guess that's the first kill for our guppies, and the fact that it's Oona is going to be big. This also marks the end of the 4th temple arc, and the guppies will have to go somewhere they'd never thought they'd see again for the 5th temple. Now, let's answer the reviews:
PrimroseRaspberry: Hello again. I'm glad you liked the mystery part of the chapter, as it gave suspense of what was going to happen (Even though we all knew who it was). Oona is a very dangerous threat, and I'm happy you did research on the nickname Leon gave her, as it symbolizes her skills giving her the ability to kill if she wants, and she does exactly that.
ReaderandWriter9000: Hello there again! It was a very dark and violent chapter, which was to show how much of a threat Oona can really be if she decided to go insane. Leon got what he got coming to him for using Oona, but not in the way you might've expected it to be. I hope you're excited for the future, as I hope to make things more darker later on!
That's all for now. I will be taking a short break from this story because school is starting up for me again. But before I leave, here is one last post chapter for this arc.
Post Chapter
We come to Pyro's castle, where things were still on fire and destroyed. Pyros was sitting in his chair, reading a book because even conquerors like him need a chance to read every once in a while, when someone showed up.
"Father, it's me," Alana said.
"Hello daughter, what do you want?" Pyros asked her.
"I've just received news from our troops at the Breezy Bay temple. It appears Leon has been killed," Alana told her.
"What?! By who?" Pyros asked in a furious state.
"The wound appears to be by a sword, so it could've been caused by Molly, or that pig-tailed girl," Alana says to him. Pyros gets up from his seat, and sighs.
"I know it couldn't be Molly, as she wouldn't have the heart to kill someone even if they asked her too," Pyros said.
"But that Oona girl is more kind than anything else in the world. How could she have done it?" Alana asked her father.
"Leon told me he managed to mind control the girl. She must've broken free, and killed him in revenge," Pyros explained.
"So what will you do now father?" she asked him.
"It appears I have no choice now. They've taken out one of our members, I have to send out something I was saving for the end, but now, I need to show them the consequences," Pyros told her. He pulled out a watch, and called for someone.
"Bombel, can you hear me?" he asked.
"Loud and clear sir! What do you need?" Bombel asked him.
"I need you to send it out now to BlizzardTucky," Pyros told him.
"Send what out? The Fire Demon? No…you don't mean?"
"Yes, send Project Style out to BlizzardTucky now. It's time we show them what we're really made of. Tell it to do one simple thing: Kill Molly," Pyros explained to him.
"As you wish sir," Bombel said as he disconnected.
"As for you my dear, you will stay here and train with me. It's time I teach you how to really fight, so you can properly take the rest of them down," Pyros said to Alana.
"Yes father," Alana responded.
In the basement, Bombel pressed a button, which turned the cyborg on.
"Alright Cystyle, you have to kill Molly Gentilella. Show her no mercy, and don't come back until you've done it!" he told it.
"Yes sir," the cyborg said. It had a feminine voice. It blasted off into the air, heading right for BlizzardTucky. As it flew towards the mountain, a young girl guppy was climbing the mountain, wearing white clothes to hide herself.
"I sure hope you're okay…sister," she said.