I'm getting this one out quicker because I want to get to the good part of the story, so I'm doing this one now instead of waiting a few weeks. I am feeling much better now, and now I can start working on this chapter, which will focus on the two other guppies who fled to the mountains.

Oh yeah before we start, I want to say I will try to get this arc and some after quickly, because I'm going on vacation in October, but knowing me I probably won't lol, but anyway, let's get started!

Chapter 24: The Truth (Part 3)

Molly has been known as the natural-born leader, always being there for her friends and helping anyone in need no matter who, from the tiniest spider, to a famous pop star. While she's always had this title, things have changed, and not for the better. We see Molly walking up a long path in the mountains, while looking down at a strange map.

"This place better exist. I don't want to waste my time anymore," Molly said, annoyed. She was clearly upset about what had happened. She still remembers what Zooli told her about her personality.

"Why? Why did I take this job? I should've just let Pyros kill me!" Molly shouted out loud. The ground shook slightly as snow fell from the trees, and the mountaintop rumbled. The pink-haired girl was shocked and concerned about her power's strength now.

"Great, now my emotions are making my powers worse. How can this day get any worse?" Molly said. "Oh wait, it already has," she added in annoyance.

As she kept swimming through the thick snow as she followed the map's directions. As she stared at it, she remembered how and what she did to get the map.

Flashback to moments after the incident…

As the snow storm covered the town, we come to an antique shop, where people were hiding from the storm formed by Molly. In the shop, there were many items, such as photos, swords, pottery, and a map that was on its own. Everyone was discussing about what caused the blizzard.

"What do you think caused this?" One lobster asked.

"Maybe it was some machinery that exploded," a male crab suggested.

"Maybe we angered some snow goddess, and now she's inflicting her wrath on us!" a snail woman said. As the clerk was cleaning the shop, the back wall burst open, sending debris flying and startling everyone.

"What happened?"

"What's going on?" People clammered about what was happening. A figure wearing a light blue hoodie with a yellow diamond walked through the hole, looking around. Everyone backed up into a corner.

"W-W-What do you want with us?" The clerk asked them. The mysterious figure stared at him with a sinister glare before spotting the map. Without a second thought, they grabbed the map and fled through the hole quickly, and the storm ended.

Everyone gathered outside again, confused about what had happened.

"I told you! We must've angered the snow goddess!" the snail woman exclaimed.

On the path to the mountain, the figure was walking up a path. They looked behind them and took their hoodie off, revealing it to be Molly. She stared at the map and sighed.

"Goodbye everyone, I'm sorry I failed you," she said as she swam into the mountain.

Back to the Present

Molly finished walking through a cave of ice crystals, wiping her hair and clothes off, annoyed by the amount of stuff in the cave.

"Man, that cave was not easy to get through," she said in disbelief. "But according to this map, it should be just around this corner." Molly swam across the snow. She jumped and created an ice rail for herself to ride on to get there faster. As she rode across it, she looked at the scenery across from the mountain, from the bluish and white lakes, to the beautiful green forests.

"You know, this place doesn't seem too bad. I might live here one day," Molly said to herself. Once she reached the end, she jumped off and landed superhero style.

"This must be the place," she said. It was a cave with a pond inside of it. There was a log and crystals of all colors all around the wall and ceiling. Molly walked up to the entrance to the cave, where there was a sign that read, "Crystal Cavern, home to the Blizzard Pond".

"Perfect," Molly said with a smile. She walked in the cave, and was immediately captivated by the shining crystals that filled the cave.

"Wow…this place is beautiful, I should take Gilly here-" Molly stopped herself after she said Gil's name, giving her flashbacks to when she hurt him. She was in distress and upset, but she shook it off and took a deep breath.

"Let's hope the legends are true," Molly said to herself. She undressed herself until she was just in her sports bra and tail suit. She walked to the water, looking at her reflection for a while until she saw that evil Molly in it, startling her. Molly glared at it before diving in the water, swimming down multiple feet until she felt she was at an appropriate spot.

"(Alright, let's do this)," Molly said in her head. Even though she was underwater, she got herself in a meditating pose, and focused. After about thirty seconds, a ball of ice formed around her as she began sending energy out. However, this also caused a great blizzard to form around the cave, and two glowing yellow eyes appeared from the snow.

Molly woke up in a fiery wasteland, buildings destroyed and on fire, and bodies and skeletons all around. She was nervous and walked around the area, even though she was still in her sports bra. Everywhere she went, there was fire and destruction, with flags of Pyros hanging from destroyed buildings.

Eventually, she made her way to her old preschool, where she saw several graves. When she got close, she was horrified to see the graves were for her friends and family.

"W-What is this place?!" Molly asked herself, when a familiar voice called out to her.

"You should know, this is our home," the voice said from behind her. Molly turned around, but there was no one there.

"I thought you were better than this, but boy was I wrong," They said, laughing. Molly kept looking around her, but saw no one.

"Sh-Show yourself! I know you're here, and I'm here to settle things!" Molly called out to whoever was speaking, her hands glowing light blue. When she turned around, however, the Molly she saw in her dream was standing right in front of her.

"Hello again Molly," the evil Molly said.

"Ahh!" Molly shouted, launching an ice beam in shock, but the evil one just tilted her head to dodge it.

"Same old me eh? You never learn, don't you?" She said, disappointed by Molly, like she was expecting something from her. Molly just stood there, shocked at how she dodged with little effort. She tried punching her, but the evil Molly grabbed her fist, which burned her. "Ahh!" Molly shouted in pain as she cooled her hand off.

"Is this really the best you got? I guess I better do what I'm here for," the evil Molly said. She shot a powerful flame at Molly, but she blocked it with an ice shield, and summoned ice spikes from the ground, which the other Molly dodged by using flame beams as a kind of jet booster, allowing her to achieve some form of flight, which surprised Molly.

"How are you-" Molly was cut off by a flame pillar, knocking her back. The other Molly started launching fireballs and flame bursts at her, Molly not being able to keep up. She kept getting hit with every attack until she let out a pulse of ice, knocking the other Molly down. Seeing this chance, Molly tried to finish things by throwing an ice spear, but was caught off guard by the evil Molly catching, turning it into a firey spear, and throwing it back at her, to which she narrowly avoided, but started getting hit with punches and kicks.

"Is this the best you've got? You think you can save everyone with this strength?! You can't even keep up with yourself!" The evil Molly scorned her as she beat her senseless. She then sent her flying with a flame powered punch to the stomach, landing against a rock. Molly was beat up, burns and blood all over her.

"I'm...not gonna…give up yet….," Molly weakly said before falling down.

"(I can't beat her..I can't beat me…yet why do I feel…so scared of her?)" Molly thought to herself. Suddenly, she was chained up by the same chains as last time, the flames burning her tail and arms as she yelled in pain.

"Well look at this, back where we started?" The evil Molly said with a deep smile. Molly couldn't do a single thing as the chains burned her skin.

"Why are you this strong? Why can't I do anything?" Molly yelled out in pain.

"Because you're scared girl, you can't fight me," she replied.

"N-No! You're not me! If you're me, then why am I so scared of you?" Molly asked herself.

"Because Molly Gentiella, I am your greatest fear manifested into a reality," the evil Molly revealed to her.

Meanwhile, Gil was on the same path as Molly, trying to find her after she ran away. He had Bubble Puppy with him thanks to his nose, which the dog was able to use even in the intense blizzard, which hadn't formed until recently.

"You sure this is where she is?" Gil asked Bubble Puppy, who barked in response. Gil managed to see a light coming from a cave. It was faint because of the storm, but it was also bright enough for him to see.

"Molly's got to be in that cave. Come on boy!" Gil said. As the duo got closer, and a large figure landed right in front of them, stopping them in their paths. It was some kind of ice golem, which roared at them, scaring them both.

"What the heck is that?!" Gil said in shock. The giant golem stood there, growling at the two. Gil backed up, wondering what to do against that thing. He noticed it was standing in front of the cave.

"Molly's got to be in there, but first I have to get past…whatever this thing is," Gil said. He pulled out a familiar sword with a switch on it, and set it to ice mode. That's right, he had Molly's sword she got from Zooli (see what I did there?).

"It's a good thing Molly dropped this," Gil said with relief. The ice golem saw the sword in Gil's hand, and bellowed a loud roar in challenge.

"Okay boy, try to sneak around to get inside the cave to see if you can find Molly," Gil told Bubble Puppy. "I'll deal with this golem," Gil readied himself. Bubble Puppy barked, and Gil ran towards the giant, but when he attacked, it barely made a scratch in its body.

"What the-" Gil said before getting kicked but the golem's foot, sending him into the wall. The golem roared and punched the ground, summoning large icicles from the ground towards, Gil, but he managed to jump out of the way.

"That was close!" Gil said. The golem began shooting ice shards at Gil, so he hid behind a rock to avoid taking damage.

"Man, this thing's tough, and the sword didn't even seem to hurt it at all," Gil said, surprised by the golems' power. "It's also been using some of Molly's attacks for some reason, wonder why," Gil thought, but was caught off guard by the golem lifting the rock he was hiding behind.

"Ahh!" he yelled, jumping out of the way before the golem slammed the rock in an attempt to crush him. Gil saw an opening, and switched the sword to flame mode, stabbing it in the golem's leg, making it roar out in pain.

"Seem's fire is its main weakness-" Gil was grabbed by the tail and thrown into a wall, rendering him temporarily unconscious.

Bubble Puppy managed to sneak around the golem to go inside the cave. The puppy was amazed by the colorful crystals, but smelled something familiar. He followed the scent until he came across a pile of clothes, particularly a jacket and pants. Bubble Puppy sniffed the clothes, and recognized it as Molly's scent, barking excitedly. Bubble Puppy also smelled Molly's scent from under the lake, and began barking loudly to get her attention. However, it also alerted the golem that he was in the cave. It roared as it walked towards the cave entrance. Gil began to wake up.

"Ugh my head…what happened?" Gil wondered what happened as he got up. He noticed the golem walking towards the entrance, hearing loud barking too. He realized Bubble Puppy had been caught.

"It knows you're in there Bubble Puppy! Get out of there!" Gil shouted loudly, grabbing the dog's attention. Bubble Puppy saw the golem approaching the cave, and quickly ran out of there, but was grabbed by the golem. The trapped dog began crying out for help.

"HEY YOU!" Gil yelled, making the ice golem turn around.

"Keep your icy hands off my dog!" Gil shouted, running towards the golem with the flame sword as he jumped up and slashed one of its arms off. The golem roared in pain and dropped Bubble Puppy, but Gil managed to catch him. Bubble Puppy licked his owner excitedly. He chuckled.

"Are you alright boy?" He asked the dog, who barked in response.

"I think I get what that golem thing is now," Gil said. Bubble Puppy turned his head in confusion.

"I think that it was created by Molly herself in an attempt to prevent anyone from reaching her. I figured she was upset, but now I see it's worse than I thought," Gil explained. Bubble Puppy whimpered. The golem got back up and roared in anger at the duo.

"But I'm not gonna let some golem prevent me from helping my best friend! I love Molly, and I won't stop until I get to her, no matter how beat I get!" Gil shouted, yelling as he ran towards the golem for one last confrontation, the golem following suit.

Meanwhile, Molly was still chained up by her evil self, which revealed herself to be a manifestation of her greatest fear: herself.

"N-No…you can't be my greatest fear…I don't fear myself," Molly tried to hide the facts.

'Oh but you are. You fear that you might snap, that you might make a mistake, that you might kill someone…someone close to you," the evil Molly explained. "You're scared of yourself, and you want to make sure you don't make a mistake and hurt the ones you love."

Molly began breathing heavily. She wanted to hide it, but she knew that it was the truth. She was scared of herself, and that she might hurt the people she loves, or even kill them. Tears began to fall from her eyes and she began to cry.

"N-No! I just want to keep everyone safe! (sniff) I didn't mean to hurt Gil, I didn't mean to yell at everyone, I didn't mean to act like a jerk! I just (sniff) wanted to prevent everyone from getting hurt!" Molly shouted in distress, upset by everything she's done.

"Well now you can watch as I take your actions, and make them into my reality. You thought you've cared about your friends, but you didn't," Evil Molly told her. "They care about you, even loved you, but now you've torn that rope apart, all because you wanted to keep them "safe" from harm." The chains began to get tighter around Molly's limbs as the fires increased.

"AHHH!" Molly screamed in pain. "P-P-Please, stop t-this! I'm s-sorry!" Molly begged with tears, but the evil Molly touched her chin, drying the tears.

"No, you're not. You've never loved them, and now you'll get to watch them die," the evil Molly said in a cold tone. Suddenly, it finally clicked in Molly's head.

"L-Love…love…," Molly said, confusing the evil Molly.

"Yes, the thing you've always forgotten," she tried to add more regret to her.

"No…you're wrong," Molly said.

"Excuse me?"

"I finally realize what I've forgotten this whole time: My love for my friends. They've always been there for me, and I've always been there for them. I do love them, I love my family, and I love Gil," Molly admitted, not realizing that last part. Her eyes turned from brown to a light-blue color as the chain's flame extinguished.

"W-What the…how are you?" the evil Molly said, shocked and confused about how Molly was doing this.

"Because I've finally come to peace with myself, that even if I do somehow hurt them, our love and friendship with each other will always overpower those negative feelings, including fear. While it's true, I can't go back yet, I am not going to let some stupid fears ruin my friendship!" Molly shouted loudly, letting out a large pulse of energy, completely obliterating the mindscape and evil Molly.

She woke up, still in the ice ball, which broke. She was about to question things, but started to lose her breath, so she swam up to the surface of the Blizzard Pond, coughing as she caught her breath.

"Man, I'm glad that's over, I guess I really did forget how much I love them…but I still can't go back," Molly said. She then spotted a hair cutter in her pile of clothes, and looked at her reflection in the water, still wearing her sports bra. She got an idea, and went to grab the hair cutter, and looked at her long hair in the reflection one last time.

"Maybe…it's time to change," Molly told herself. She put the object along her hair and began to cut it.

Gil was still fighting the golem, dodging attacks and inflicting his own, but it still wasn't enough to take it down, and he was starting to get tired.

"Argh…this isn't working," Gil said, tired. "I need a plan." He noticed a shining spot on the golems head, and got an idea. He ran towards the golem, which prepared to stomp on him, but Gil threw the sword in the air, distracting it as it looked up. Gil used this moment to slide under it and climb up to its head. The golem tried to shake and grab Gil off, but he was able to hang on. The sword began falling down, and Gil caught it.

"Take this!" he shouted, stabbing it right in the ice golem's head. It roared loudly before falling down and collapsing into a pile of snow.

"I…I did it…I did it!" Gil shouted in excitement and relief as he fell down, Bubble Puppy coming to his side and licking his face repeatedly. Gil laughed and giggled.

"I'm okay boy, just go check the cave again, I'll be up in a bit," Gil told Bubble Puppy. He barked in agreement, and swam towards the cave entrance.

In the cave, there was a pile of pink hair strands on the ground, as well as some clothes too. Molly finished changing, and looked at herself in the water. Her hair was much, much shorter now. Before, it reached down to her chest, but now it barely makes it to her neck. She also changed her clothes, now wearing a light-blue tank top with a snowflake on it. She had white short gloves with a black dash on them, and her jacket was wrapped around her shorts and waist. Her eyes also remained the light-bluish color, and her skin had burn marks and scars all over her arms and face.

"Yeah, I think this fits…I like this…," Molly said smiling at her new look, when something jumped on her and knocked her down.

"Ack! Who the-" Molly was interrupted by a barrage of licks. It was Bubble Puppy, who was excited and happy to see her as he barked and licked Molly.

"B-Bubble Puppy?" Molly said, getting up. Bubble Puppy turned his head in confusion.

"If you're here, then…then that means…," Molly said before she heard a voice she'd miss.

"...M-Molly?"

"G-Gilly?

What'd you think of those reveals? I wanted this chapter to be a way to set up the next chapter with Molly and Gil, showing that both reveal the things they hide, Gil's love for Molly, and Molly's fear of herself. Next chapter will focus on their relationship more, but now, I'll just answer reviews :).

ReaderandWriter9000: Hi there again, I'm glad you enjoyed that scene, as even I admit I was blushing while typing that scene. While Molly is still a problem for them, what she went with here should help things be easier. Many things are to be revealed in this arc.

PrimroseRaspberry: Thank you for the wishes, and that they came true. Alana is still a mysterious person in this story, and she'll be revealed more and more, especially soon hehe. Thank you for the note, I wanted the scene with Zooli and Cryo to be special, even if it was in a ghost town. Oh, and thank you for the love of the cover, I spent a while trying to get it right, and I'm happy with what it came out to.

Oh yeah, Molly's new look will be on Deviantart, so go look for that too! That's all for n-zz-ow and..Oh no is it happening again? Serious-bbbzzzzttash—-

[Reality 82020 Found. Dimensional Ray Gun charging power…]