There's No Place like Lyoko
Note: Inspired by "The Wizard of Oz", Sissi finds herself in an alternate version of Lyoko known as Lyoko-Oz after she conks her head accidentally after losing her feet on a slippery floor. When she awakens, she finds the whole experience was nothing more than reverie.
Chapter 1—Yearning for a Better Place
Sissi could praise her lucky stars that her life had few rocky patches, but only recently a new neighbor by the name of Stephanie Stenson had begun to give her problems. The young woman was a short-haired brunette with a tawny, lean figure. From the first moment she had moved in from the United States, everything was to her liking, except for her next door neighbor as well as her little whippet, Kumquat. Stephanie couldn't stand the racket that Kumquat made, particularly when the postman was about making his rounds. She didn't understand that this was the nature of a dog and the dog was simply protecting his mistress. Stephanie had finally had enough of it one day, and decided to settle it for herself.
"What do you think you are doing, Ms. Stenson ?", Sissi said, after seeing her neighbor pick up Kumquat, who had been gnawing at Stephanie's hand to get away.
"I'm ow…taking your dog…ow…someplace else where it can't bother the rest of the neighborhood. OW ! Other people have been complaining ow…about the noise it makes ! Ow, you little rotten scamp !", Stephanie said as Kumquat continued biting at her. She bopped the dog on the nose, which made her stop instantly.
"Leave her alone !", Sissi said, her eyes watering.
"Make me. My daddy agrees with me. I'm taking your dog to the humane society. If you try and stop me, my daddy will have you arrested.", Stephanie said, her ice-blue eyes boring into her angrily. Sissi had never felt fear except when she had been threatened by an Umbra-possessed XANA. She yearned for a better place, where she and her dog could live in harmony. Realistically, she knew with a neighbor like Stephanie, this was impossible. She didn't know who else to talk to, and her heart was so hurt it was painful to breathe. Since she had no one else to turn to and her parents were away for the day on a business trip, she knew only one family that could help her now…The Moraleses.
Chapter 2—An Unexpected Trip
Sissi rode her bicycle to school as fast as she could peddle. She had to keep herself from crying. She was still upset over losing her precious dog to the stuck-up Ms. Stenson. She never knew what she did to cause Stephanie to hate her so much, but Stephanie didn't seem to like many other people other than herself. She was simply a rude, spiteful little wench, but Sissi never had the gall to stand up to her in spite of all of that.
"Hey, Sissi…Why the long face ?", Jim said, who had been in the middle of a Pencak session. Emily was practicing with her friends, and Suzanne was watching her daughter intently.
"Remember that neighbor I told you about ?", Sissi said, lower lip beginning to quiver.
"Oh, that little brat ? What about her ?", Jim said, becoming concerned.
"She took Kumquat to the Humane Society. Kumquat's a good girl. Granted, she did bite her, but Kumquat felt threatened !", Sissi said, the tears flowing down her face.
"Suzanne and I will take care of it, say no more. Oh, before you go, be careful…the floors have just been waxed.", Jim said, but before Sissi knew it, her feet had fallen out in front of her and she went down before she could be caught.
"Good heavens. That was quite a fall, I'm sorry about that. I must've worried you.", Sissi said, but as she looked around, she clearly wasn't in Kadic anymore, let alone France. She was in Lyoko, but it was much different than the Lyoko she knew. It was full of colors, vibrant colors that inundated the scenery to the point that it was almost too much for the eyes to process. She had fallen upon a wicked witch, who had folded underneath her and left her with some dazzling red shoes. It occurred to her then; she was clearly in an alternate version of The Wizard of Oz Rubbing her eyes momentarily and regaining her equilibrium, she continued along the yellow brick road, until a rather familiar face met her. This wasn't Glenda the Good, but rather, Aelita the Good, come to greet her.
Chapter 3—Ruby Red Shoes 101
"Hello, my dear.", Aelita said. "Hello to you too. I thought you knew me, Aelita. Don't tell me you haven't forgotten me already.", Sissi said, becoming befuddled.
"You must have me confused with someone else.
"No, but I must ask you if you are a good witch or a bad witch ?", Aelita said, noticing that the Wicked Witch of the East was now nothing more than dust beneath her feet.
"Why I am not a witch at all. But I do know about the ruby slippers, if you must ask.", Sissi said, having seen The Wizard of Oz multiple times and having knowledge of where the plot was heading.
"Ah. Well, I hope you don't mind, but I will give you a quick review. When you wish to return home, just click your heels thrice and say these words: "There's no place like Kadic.", Aelita stated, delightfully.
"That's fairly easy. But should I run into any trouble, like perhaps a Wicked Witch, I just need water, right ? What about the Wizard ?", Sissi questioned, inquisitively.
"Yes to the former question, and to the latter, he is in Crystal Lyoko. All you have to do is follow the road to get there. He's the wisest man in Oz, so I think any further questions you have he can answer. Oh, and one more thing, good luck !", Aelita said, before departing in a pink shield. The pink shield popped, and she was gone from sight. At first, she tried tapping the shoes and repeating the incantation, but that didn't work.
"Just as I thought. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.", she thought to herself in a bit of a huff. She regained her courage and continued forward to find the wizard and have everything explained to her. Unfortunately, she didn't know that every question would result in more and more questions and no answers to be found.
Chapter 4—Scarecrow Suzanne
Along the yellow brick road, Sissi started to feel slightly peckish. She noticed there was a picnic basket with her, which, how it appeared or how it came to arrive with her to Lyoko-Oz. None of that mattered right now, or how everyone resembled someone she knew from home. Some of the Munchkins looked like Tammy and Millie as well as other grade school-age children and kindergarteners from Kadic. Some of this was too much for her to process, but as arduous as the journey had been thus far, she was determined to continue.
After having a nibble of some snacks in her picnic basket, she walked along until she saw a recognizable face. At first, she thought that the scarecrow wasn't real, but upon further investigation, it seemed to possess a pulse. Not much surprise there. Still the question remained of why she resembled Suzanne. She shrugged at the notion, but kindly introduced herself anyway.
"Oh me ! Oh my ! I've lost my brain ! I cannot function without it ! I don't know where I could've left it, but I'm a walking disaster without it !", the scarecrow said, looking disdained.
"Don't lose heart, Suzanne. I'll help you look for it.", Sissi said, enthusiastically. With that said, Suzanne's blue exterior transformed into a joyful one. Sissi had a feeling that "brain" wasn't literal, but meant something else. It could've been any number of items, but which one was still unknown at this time, and it could be anywhere within Lyoko-Oz.
Chapter 5—Tin Man Jim
As they continued walking into the forest, it was darker and scarier than the road before, but despite the ominous outlook, they forged onward, hands clasped one over the other. Sissi heard the sound of a weak voice asking for 'voltage' and wondered what that could mean. As she came closer she saw a robotic looking fellow who looked exactly like her surrogate father, Jim. This trip kept becoming weirder and weirder.
Both of them oiled up the rusty tin man, and he thanked them profusely.
"It's such a bother having to be oiled all the time. I rarely find people so willing to help me, but you two were kind enough to assist me.", Jim said, graciously. He too, needed help, but he required a heart to function. Sissi knew she couldn't decline, so decided to help Jim as well. As they continued their journey, she noticed the Scarecrow found the Tin Man handsome and had begun showing interest in him. Thus far, he hadn't really returned the favor, but he wasn't dumb. He knew that the Scarecrow liked him, and flirted a little in response. Sissi wondered if it could be love, but it was often challenging to discern love from lust at times.
Chapter 6—The Cowardly Tiger
Further along their route, they were frightened by a mewling tiger.
"You're supposed to be one of the rulers of the jungle…Odd ?", Sissi said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, that's my name. How do you know my name, miss ?", the shy Tiger questioned.
"Never mind that. Let me guess, you're looking for courage.", Sissi said. The Scarecrow and Tin man looked at each other, aghast at the girl's 'psychic' ability.
"Y-yes. You must be quite powerful to be able to see so much into the future. Does your head ever ache from all that information, constantly pouring into it ?", Odd asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Look, I like you, but you're starting to become annoying. Unless you want to live for the rest of our journey and find your courage, I suggest you be quiet.", Sissi said, with a slight bit of anger to her voice. Whimpering a little, the tiger kept to the back of the group while they made their way into a field of glorious poppies.
Chapter 7—Intercepted
The Wicked Witch, who had been watching them the whole time, had grown irritated that they had experienced no adversity thus far. They were so close to Crystal Lyoko city that they had nearly reached their goal.
"This simply cannot do. I know !", she said, slyly as she said an incantation to cause the poppies to release their opiates and deliver the foursome into a dreamy slumber. At least for the moment, they would be unable to make the rest of their journey. Instead of killing them, as she had planned, the foursome awakened later, and nearly made it to the front door of the Emerald Palace.
"That's enough of that ! I'm sending my minions to take care of the cause of this problem. If I have her, none of them will ever receive their rewards !", the Wicked Witch of the West cackled as she sent her flying monkeys to deliver Sissi into her clutches. Once the ruby slippers were hers', she could become the rightful ruler of Lyoko Oz, and all would bow before her, no questions asked .
No one could save Sissi from the monkeys, since they exploited the weaknesses of the friends she had made. Scarecrow was afraid of fire, Tin man of water, and the Tiger, well he was afraid of everything, so he wasn't a challenge. Before they knew it, they had huddled together and wondered where Sissi had gone to.
"I think the Witch has her now.", the Tiger said, tearfully.
"Don't you start crying, or I will too, then I'll rust !", Jim admitted, keeping his tears from flowing. Scarecrow comforted him and patted him on the back.
"Please don't fret. She'll come back. If I know her as well as I think I do, I believe she'll return to us…and lead us to the Wizard.", Suzanne said, as she held her friends close and sang gently to them. Suddenly now, all seemed right in the world even when matters were horribly wrong.
Chapter 8—End of the Witch
It seemed as if Sissi had been unconscious for hours, until she finally awoke in a darkened castle. Like the rest of the film she saw, this location seemed all too familiar. All too soon, she was being met by a witch who resembled her enemy, Stephanie. Eerily, she even sounded like her, but the woman was far uglier than the fair Stephanie could ever be. As the crooked handed, cackling woman approached her, she tried to remove Sissi's shoes but could not remove them.
"I'll just have to kill you myself if I want those damned slippers !", The Wicked Witch howled as she grabbed a convienent piece of sharpened emerald and proceeded to stab Sissi, that is, if she would stop moving around so much.
Adrenaline rushing through her veins, Sissi was lucky enough to find a pail of water that oddly, had been capturing water from a leak above left behind from weeks before. In one quick motion she dumped the water over the head of the witch and she screamed, evaporating into thin air. She wailed.
"I'm melting ! MELTING ! Oh, what a world…what a WORLD ! Do you realize how much this HURTS ? Damn youuuuuuuu !", The Witch bellowed as she disappeared into dust. As if she had been teleported, she had been returned to her friends and they had resumed their journey to the Emerald Palace.
Chapter 9—The Power Was With You All Along
As soon as the friends saw who the Wizard truly was, he had lost some credibility, but at least they knew he was down to Earth. Sissi thought it was amusing the Wizard resembled her best friend Herve. Her friends thanked her but wondered how Sissi was going to return home to France.
"Why, the power was with you all along. You just didn't have what you needed to believe you had it to begin with.", Herve stated, profoundly. Sissi smiled, realizing the Wizard was right. She thanked her new friends for their hospitality, as they did her. She sadly said her goodbyes, clicked her heals together thrice and repeated the incantation as she had been told. In a wisp of ruby red smoke she had disappeared and Lyoko-Oz had become nothing more than a thought she had left behind before she awakened.
Epilogue
When Sissi awoke, her head didn't hurt like she thought it would. Suzanne had given her an ice-pack to reduce the swelling from the fall.
"Oh thank heavens you're awake again. You were unconscious for over and hour and we were starting to get worried.", Suzanne said, giving her a homemade fruit smoothie, crafted out of the finest fruits France had to offer from the marketplace. She then heard the welcome yipping of her whippet, Kumquat.
"It's a long story of how I was able to get him back, but I don't think you'll have to worry about your little 'friend' again.", Jim said, chortling as the little dog lapped his face affectionately. Sissi raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of the smoothie Suzanne had made for her. She wondered what Jim could've meant by what he had just said.
As soon as Sissi was able to tell the others about her experience, they had been glad that she hadn't harmed herself and that she was feeling much better.
"They really need to be more careful about how much wax they use on that floor. You could've hurt yourself really badly.", Odd said, kissing what was left of the bump on the back of Sissi's head. This caused her to blush quite floridly, but the outward display of affection made her heart swell.
Still wondering what Jim had meant by what he said earlier, Sissi pedaled her bicycle home and saw moving vans at Stephanie's house. Stephanie was sulking in a limousine, waiting for the movers to finish their work. Kumquat, who had been enjoying the sensation of wind through her fur in the basket of the bike, jumped out and barked at the car.
"Imagine that. I see what Jim was trying to tell me now. ", she thought to herself. Kumquat jumped into Sissi's arms and she ran to the door, welcomed happily by her mom, dad and Lionel the butler. Lyoko-Oz had only been a passing reverie but she would never forget the lesson she had learned there. Even though the situation seems hopeless, there's always a light at the end at the tunnel and a solution to nearly any problem so long as one remains courageous, intelligent, resolute and optimistic, never faltering, never failing and always reaching toward the goal. With that in mind, she hugged her family again, kissed Kumquat upon the head before letting her go and spent the rest of the day soaking up the grandeur of a spectacular early-spring sunset until it was time to sleep for the night.
The End