Chapter 11
Return To Echo Creek Part 1
After Molly and Libby saved the Kingdom of Corona from Zhan Tiri, they guided Mollibby to the next part of their adventure. As Molly piloted the gummiship, she briefly looked behind her to see Libby and Chirithy writing down various ingredients as they started creating potions.
"Hey, what are you two working on?" Molly asked, curious.
Libby looked up and replied, "Oh, do you remember when Varian gave us that list of ingredients for that healing potion? Well, Chirithy and I thought we should try to create different kinds of potions."
"Creating more powerful potions can really help out if we ever encounter a tough Heartless." Chirithy explained.
Truthfully, Molly liked the sound of that idea. She and Libby still had a long journey ahead of them, so they could really use all of the help they could get.
"That sounds like a great idea! Have you created any other potions?" Molly asked.
"Kind of. We were able to create an ether, a potion that can restore our magic. Unfortunately, it is just by a tiny bit." Libby admitted with an awkward smile.
"It is still a good start! At this rate, we can handle any Heartless we encounter!"
As if she just jinxed herself, Molly was taken by surprise when a Heartless suddenly appeared in front of the gummiship. This Heartless had a magician's hat on it's head, along with a red cape wrapped around its neck. Just looking at the Heartless caused Molly to glare at it in anger.
"Okay, I don't know what this Heartless is supposed to be, but did it really have to dress up as a magician of all things?!" Molly yelled, letting her hatred of closeup magic get the better of her.
"Never mind that, Molly! The Heartless is getting ready to attack! Watch out!" Libby yelled as the Heartless fired a laser.
Thinking fast, Molly swerved the gummiship out of the way with the laser barely missing them by an inch. Molly soon got ready to fight back by activating the lasers of the gummiship. This time the Heartless dodged the lasers by creating a portal and temporarily taking shelter in it. Before long a portal to a fire dimension opened up, allowing the Heartless to summon fireballs at the gummiship.
Once again, Molly tried to dodge out of the way, but it didn't do much good since the gummiship took a direct hit from the fireballs. Everyone started to scream as the gummiship started to shake and lose energy.
"Molly, I don't know how much longer Mollibby can last! We need to defeat the Heartless before we take more damage!" Libby yelled.
"I know! I know!" Molly yelled, frantically pressing random buttons in a panic. "There has to be something here that would help!"
After searching the ship for a good weapon, Molly pressed a button that activated a large laser. As the laser was charging, the Heartless got ready to hit the ship with a powerful magic spell. That was when Molly and Libby realized that they only had one shot, so they should really make it count.
Once the laser was fully charged, Molly slammed her hand on the button before the gummiship fired. The laser ended up blasting the Heartless, singeing its cape. Weakened from the blast, the Heartless slowly fell down, but not before taking Molly and Libby with it with a powerful spell. The spell hit the ship with a blast so powerful it sent the gummiship plummeting out of the sky.
Desperate, Molly tried to regain control of the gummiship, but it didn't do any good since it was now out of energy. All Molly and Libby could do was scream in terror as they crash landed into the next world.
After a few moments, Molly and Libby recovered from the crash before carefully stepping out of the ship. Here, they found the Heartless weak, but still alive. Before Molly or Libby could make a move, the Heartless summoned a portal and escaped into another dimension.
"Aw, I can't believe we let the Heartless get away." Molly sighed.
"It's okay, Molly! I'm sure we'll catch it next time! For now, let's find out where we are." Libby suggested.
As the two girlfriends looked around, they noticed that they crash-landed outside of a latino household with a tower of a castle sticking out the side.
"Hey, isn't this Marco's house?" Molly recognized where she was.
"It is! We must be back in Echo Creek!" Libby realized. "I wonder how Star and Marco are doing."
"It seems that you two can find out for yourselves. Those two are Star and Marco, right?" Chirithy pointed behind Molly and Libby.
The girls turned around to see that Chirithy was right. Both, Star and Marco walked home from school, unaware that Molly and Libby were back. Excited to see their friends once more, Molly and Libby ran down the road to meet up with them.
"Star! Marco!" Molly and Libby waved to get their friends' attention.
Upon noticing their friends, Star and Marco gazed at them in surprise before rushing over to greet them as well. "Molly! Libby!"
Once they met up, the group of friends hugged one another, happy to see each other again.
"It's so good to see you two again!" Star exclaimed.
"Yeah! Star and I missed you! How have you been?" Marco asked. "Fighting Heartless and saving worlds as usual?"
"You know it! Libby and I had a pretty tough journey since we last saw each other! When it was all over, Libby and I returned home where we finally had out date together!" Molly explained.
"Aww! That's so romantic!" Star said with a squeal.
Libby nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately, the Heartless are back and one of them just escaped into another dimension."
Star waved a dismissive hand in response. "Oh, that's not a problem! You're talking to someone who owns a pair of dimensional scissors! We'll just find the dimension that Heartless is in and kick its butt! You in, Marco?"
"Well, I was going to stay inside and have some nachos, but why not?" Marco agreed to come along. "Thanks to my karate, that Heartless won't know what hit it!"
Ready to go on another adventure together, the four friends made their way to Marco's house to retrieve the dimensional scissors. However, they only took a few steps before a portal suddenly appeared in front of them. Stepping out of the portal was a giant frog who Molly and the others recognized.
"Buff Frog?" Star and Marco said in unison.
"Yvgeny?" Molly and Libby said, referring to Buff Frog by his real name.
They never guessed that they would see their former enemy again. The last time they saw Buff Frog, he helped them fight the Heartless back at Ludo's castle. If it hadn't been for Buff Frog, Molly and the others probably wouldn't have saved Marco in the first place.
"Friends. I have come in need of your help." Buff Frog explained before revealing a stroller of his tadpole children.
Upon seeing the tadpoles, Molly and Star squealed in joy from how adorable they looked.
"Buff babies!" Star exclaimed as she and Molly ran to them in joy.
"They are so adorable!" Molly smiled, happy to see Buff Frog's children again. "Hi, did you miss your Auntie Molly?"
Confused, Marco asked, "Buff Frog, what's going on?"
"I have favor to ask of Karate Boy and friends. I have to attend to very important monster matters. Please watch over frog babies while I'm gone."
"Of course!" Star replied without a second thought. "We can handle it!"
"Uh, Star." Marco tried to get Star's attention, but she simply ignored him.
"Are you sure?" Buff Frog asked.
Molly nodded in agreement. "Of course! After all, you really helped us out back at Ludo's castle! It's only right that we help you out too!"
"Molly! The Heartless!" Libby whispered to Molly in a forced frustrated grin.
Buff Frog didn't hear what Libby said as he gave his friends a grateful smile, "Thank you! I shall never forget this! Here, take this book of instructions for how to care for frog babies!" Buff Frog handed Star a book before leaving through a portal while giving one last look to his children. "Okay! Daddy will come get you after work! Be good and listen to babysitters."
The moment Buff Frog left through the portal, Libby and Marco sent annoyed looks to their best friends. They were supposed to go after the Heartless, but now they were stuck babysitting.
"Sorry! Star and I were too caught up in the idea of taking care of the cute frog babies." Molly said with an awkward smile.
Annoyed, Libby placed a hand over her face in a face palm. "Ugh. Star, can Molly and I borrow your dimensional scissors while you and Marco watch over Yvgeny's children?"
"Sure! You can find them in my room! Come on, Marco! Let's go watch over these adorable little creatures!" Star smiled as she gently pat one of the tadpoles.
"Star and I have things covered. Good luck with the Heartless." Marco waved goodbye.
With that, Molly and Libby entered Marco's house to retrieve the scissors. They briefly came across Rafael and Angie, who were relaxing on the couch together.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz!" Molly and Libby briefly acknowledged Marco's parents as they ran up the stairs, leaving them both silently wondering when Molly and Libby came back.
Once they made their way up to Star's room, Molly and Libby opened the door to be greeted with all kinds of Star's magical belongings. They rummaged through all of Star's belongings before finding her dimensional scissors in a drawer. Curious, Libby took the scissors in her hands, silently wondering how they work.
"So, how does Star use these scissors again?" Libby asked.
"Let's see. I think Star creates a portal by cutting into the air. Let me give it try."
At that moment, Libby handed Molly the scissors before she cut through the air, creating a portal. As the portal swirled in front of them, Molly and Libby summoned their keyblades, ready to chase after the Heartless. There was no telling what dimension they would end up in, so they would have to be ready for anything.
After stepping through the portal, the girls found themselves in a pitch-black cave. It was so dark, neither of them could see even a few inches in front of their faces. To fix that, they summoned a tiny bit of fire from their keyblades, using them as candles. As they explored the cave, Libby suddenly held her hand out in front of Molly.
"Molly, look! It's the Heartless." Libby pointed towards the Heartless, who was asleep in a corner. "This is our chance to defeat it, but we have to be quiet."
"Right! Quiet! I can do that!" Molly whispered back.
With that, the girls slowly approached the Heartless to get the drop on it. However, Molly was so focused on the Heartless, she didn't notice the various rocks scattered at her feet. This caused her to trip, and Libby in turn to trip over Molly as they both screamed in surprise.
Upon hearing the girls, the Heartless woke up before it started to panic. It immediately used its fire magic to light up the entire cave before escaping into another portal. The light illuminated by the fire revealed a swarm of giant bats hanging from the ceiling. One by one, they all woke up before noticing Molly and Libby and letting out high pitched shrieks. In response, Molly and Libby screamed before Molly fumbled for the dimensional scissors.
"Hurry! Cut another portal! Cut another portal!" Libby yelled.
In a panic, Molly frantically cut another portal in the air. Wasting no time, Molly and Libby jumped through the portal before the bats could eat them.
The moment Molly and Libby entered the next dimension, they were both blinded by the light of the sun. After the terror they faced in the dark cave, it took awhile for their eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. Once they were finally able to see, they were both surprised to see that they were in an all too familiar place.
"W-We're back in Brighton?" Molly asked in disbelief.
It appeared that Molly and Libby were in Molly's backyard. Neither of them could believe what they were seeing. As happy as they were to be back home, they didn't understand why their home was free of the darkness already.
"But how is this possible? We saw Brighton get consumed by the darkness." Libby explained.
"I don't know what is going on, and I don't care! I have to see if Scratch, Darryl, Mom, and Dad are okay!"
Molly was about to run into the house before Chirithy appeared in front of her. "Molly, wait. While it is true that we are in Brighton, it appears that we are not in your Brighton."
Confused, Molly and Libby were about to ask Chirithy what they meant by that, only to take notice of something they never thought they would have seen. They were both shocked to see different versions of themselves sitting down on the grass together. The alternate version of Molly had a green bracelet on her wrist, while the alternate version of Libby had a purple bracelet.
"Just remember that no matter what happens in our future, I promise to always be there for you whenever you need me!" said the alternate version of Molly.
In response, the alternate version of Libby said, "I love you, Molly!"
"I love you too, Libby!"
The alternate versions of Molly and Libby soon kissed each other on the lips. They continued to make out until an alternate version of Scratch called out for them.
"Hey, if you two are done making out, your family wants you to come inside so we can eat! No one is more hungry than I am!"
"Coming, Scratch!" The alternate Molly called out before she and Libby stood up.
As they followed Scratch inside Scratch commented, "I'll be honest, I know that you two have been friends since 1st grade, but I never would have guess that you would end up being each others girlfriend as well."
Once everyone went inside, Libby was left speechless by what she saw. "Wow! I never would have thought I would see an alternate version of myself. That's pretty interesting, isn't it, Molly?"
Instead of responding, Molly stared at Scratch through the window in tears. Even though this isn't her Scratch, she wanted nothing more than to run inside and hug Scratch in tears.
"Molly, what's wrong?" Libby asked.
"Oh, Libby! I miss Scratch so much!" Molly hugged Libby in tears.
Truthfully, Libby didn't blame Molly for feeling this way. After the long journey they have been on, Libby started to miss her mom as well.
"Hey, it's going to be okay!" Libby comforted her girlfriend. "I know that this has been a long journey for us, but we'll see our friends and family again! Once we stop the darkness and defeat Maleficent, we'll be able to go back home to our Brighton!"
Hearing Libby's comforting words helped Molly feel better. She sniffed before giving Libby a grateful smile.
"You're right! Thank you, Libby! You always know what to say to make me feel better! Come on! Let's continue to look for the Heartless." Molly took out the dimensional scissors before opening another portal.
As Molly and Libby stepped through the portal, they noticed that they were still in Brighton. The main difference was that they were in the middle of town and it was now nighttime. This confused them as they started to believe that they hadn't left the previous dimension.
"That's weird. Are the dimensional scissors not working?" Libby wondered.
"Maybe this is just another universe where we are girlfriends." Molly guessed.
"I wouldn't count on it. Just look over there." Chirithy pointed behind Molly and Libby.
They both turned around to see another alternate version of Molly, who was standing right next to a boy with a blue jacket over his white shirt and a pair of grey jeans.
"Ollie, I really like you and I want to officially be boyfriend and girlfriend." Alternate Molly said to the boy. "Uh, you know. That is, if you want to."
"I definitely do! I wanted to ask you, but I wasn't sure how." the boy named, Ollie replied. "You deserve such a big grand gesture like-"
"Gourdon did for Chanelle in Country Pumpkin 4 Harvest of the Heart." Alternate Molly and Ollie said in unison.
With a couple of smiles, Alternate Molly and Ollie held each others hands. This caused electric static to discharge from them, to which Molly and Libby silently wondered where that came from.
"Ha ha! Yes! Yes!" Molly and Libby looked up to see an alternate version of Libby, along with an alternate version of Scratch watching the scene from the rooftops. "Mollie lives!" Alternate Libby cheered.
This was something that Libby never thought she would see. Since she is Molly's girlfriend, she couldn't help but feel a little weirded out seeing an alternate version of herself shipping Molly with some random boy.
"What the? Who the heck is that guy?" Molly raised at confused eyebrow at Ollie.
"I think his name is Ollie." Libby guessed before turning to Chirithy. "So Molly and I aren't girlfriends in this alternate universe?"
"I suppose not. It appears that Alternate Molly is in love with this Ollie guy instead." Chirithy noticed.
After getting over her surprise, Molly gave a smile as she replied, "Well, I'm happy that alternate me got to find love as well! Anyway, we should probably move on to the next dimension. Something tells me that we are getting close to the Heartless." Molly took out Star's dimensional scissors once more.
Both, Libby and Chirithy nodded in agreement before following Molly through the portal. As they entered the next dimension, Molly and Libby noticed that they ended up in the middle of an endless abyss. There was nothing here, apart from the swirling colors surrounding them. It wasn't long before they took notice of the Heartless in the middle of the abyss. Once it noticed Molly and Libby, the Heartless started to get frustrated, so it decided to stop running away and fight. It slowly floated towards Molly and Libby as the two of them raised their keyblades.
"Careful, you two! You've seen how powerful it can be." Chirithy warned.
"We will, Chirithy!" Molly promised. "Are you ready, Libby?"
Libby nodded. "Yes. Let's finally defeat the Heartless!"
At that moment, Molly and Libby were ready to defeat the Heartless that gave them both so much trouble. They started off by casting their most powerful magic spells, only for the Heartless to cast a reflect spell on itself to knock the spells right back at Molly and Libby.
Even though they couldn't see the Heartless's expression, Molly and Libby could tell that the Heartless was amused at the sight of the two of them getting knocked over by their own spells. Not ready to give up just yet, Molly and Libby ran towards it and jumped in an effort to slash it with their keyblades. The Heartless expected this and flew into another portal it created before appearing right behind Molly and Libby from another portal as it attacked them with its laser spell.
It was at this point when the girls started to get exhausted. No matter what they did, the Heartless would just avoid their attacks by hiding in a portal. Not even their stop or slow down spells were fast enough to reach it.
"This isn't good, Molly! We can't beat the Heartless like this!" Libby panted.
"You're right. I think we might need a little help." Molly explained before taking out the summon gems Mickey gave her earlier.
Both, Molly and Libby took a gem before raising them up in the air. This caused them to be surrounded by light as two old men were summoned.
"Ugh! My head!" The tough looking twin rubbed his head before looking around. "I think I might have just lost my mind. Where the heck am I?"
"Stan! Ford!" Molly and Libby exclaimed, happy to see their friends from Gravity Falls.
The other twin with the 6 fingered hand named Ford stood up from the ground before staring at Molly and Libby in shock. "Molly? Libby? Is that you? Where are we?"
"It's kind of a long story. Molly and I were kind of hoping you and Stan can help us fight this Heartless." Libby pointed to the Heartless.
Stan took one look at the Heartless before giving an annoyed sigh. "Oh, great! Just when I thought I was rid of those Heartless creatures for good."
"How fascinating!" Ford gazed at the Heartless in awe as it teleported from portal to portal. "It appears that the Heartless is able to teleport wherever it wants and bend reality to its will. I have to find out how its abilities work."
"Hey, less talking and more fighting, Poindexter!" Stan told his brother before raising his fists.
As he observed the Heartless' teleportation pattern, Ford came up with an idea. He tinkered with the settings of his blaster before firing a laser at the Heartless. Despite the Heartless's best efforts to dodge it, the laser was too fast as it froze the Heartless in time.
Seeing their chance, Molly and Libby teamed up with the Pines brothers to finally defeat the Heartless. While Ford continued to blast the Heartless with his laser, Molly and Libby slashed at the Heartless with their keyblades while Stan attacked it with a barrage of punches.
Weakened from the attacks, the Heartless tried attacking everyone with a powerful lightning spell, but Molly and Libby stepped forward and casted reflect spells on each other, sending the spell flying right back at it. The impact of the spell ended up destroying the Heartless before a giant heart floated up in the sky.
"Whew! We did it!" Molly breathed a sigh of relief, happy that the Heartless that gave her and Libby so much trouble was finally gone. "Thank you, Stan and Ford! We couldn't have done it without you!"
"Yeah, sure! Don't mention it, kid! So, how do Ford and I get back home, anyway?" Stan asked.
Once they were asked that question, Molly and Libby stared at one another in awkward silence. Neither of them knew how to tell Stan and Ford that Gravity Falls just fell to the darkness.
"About that, you can't go back to Gravity Falls just yet." Libby explained. "Molly and I are going to need your help if we can bring you back home."
"I see." Ford understood that this situation was a lot more serious than he thought. "I might not understand why the Heartless are back, but Stanley and I will help you and Molly in anyway we can."
"Thanks, you two! Libby and I appreciate your help" Molly smiled before Stan and Ford returned to their summon gems. "So, do you think we should head back to Echo Creek, Libby?"
Libby nodded. "Of course! I wonder how Star and Marco are doing with taking care of Yvgeny's kids."
Once they were ready to leave, Molly took out Star's dimensional scissors one more time before creating a portal. After the insane dimensional adventure they went through, Molly and Libby were ready to spend time with Star and Marco as they both stepped through what was hopefully the right portal back to Echo Creek.
AN: Well, that's the end of this new chapter! I thought I'd have a little fun with this chapter by making it so that Molly and Libby encountered different versions of themselves, including my versions of Molly and Libby from my fanfic, More Than Just Friends, and Molly and Libby's canonical counterparts! I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and I hope to write the next chapter soon.