All characters from Dorothy of Oz are owned by Son Hee-Joon
Any other characters mentioned belong to their respective owner(s).
Canterbury: the final location of many a pilgrimage. You may know of the tales of most
of those heading to the martyr's shrine, but let us take a look at the little known tale of a
forgotten group of travelers. They were an interesting bunch, to say the least, and their
adventures has taken them to many worlds. A loud, redhead, feminine looking young man in
black shorts and a yellow tank top was wolfing down food faster than a black hole sucks up
matter. The thing that set him apart from normal people were the set of cat ears of his head and
lion tail, which was the basis of his name, Tail. He was a chimera that escaped from Oz's
Northern laboratory. Next to him was yet another odd looking young man. He wore a white
jacket with a black shirt underneath. The end of the jacket's sleeves had thick metal cuffs that
looked like they opened up in one area. He had metal hands and a slab of metal with a
percentage sign (%) engraved in it wrapped around the sides of his head and covered his
forehead and his black hair was in a weird somewhat boxy style. He was a cyborg created by
the Southern laboratory of Oz, codenamed Tin Woodsman, though after losing a piece of his
memory he now goes by the name, Namu, which comes from the Korean word for tree, or
wood (as in tin woodsman). Across from Namu was a normal looking teenaged boy with blond
in white pants and a white shirt with a green vest. He had amnesia, so he didn't know many
modern sayings and got confused. This, combined with a speech impediment caused a little
confusion. He was one of thousands of clones made in Oz's Western laboratories, codenamed
Scarecrow, though he now goes by the name, Abee (short for Heosuabee, which is Korean for
scarecrow). Leaning into his shoulder, sound asleep, was the leader of this odd group, Mara
Shin. She had short, dark green hair and wore the standard Asian schoolgirl skirt and a white,
short sleeved shirt with a blue, sleeveless shirt with yellow trip over it, and a glove on her right
hand with what could either be an 'N' or a 'Z' on it. There is a legend in Oz; they say that the
one can see the yellow brick road will make their dreams come true. Mara is the person in that
can see the road, and so she follows it with Abee, Tail, and Namu by her side. Inside the bag
she carried with her was her little dog, Toto. Toto has a brave little puppy, almost to the point of
sheer stupidity, as he even barked like mad a a nine-story tall fox with an attitude problem that
caused even the local military to soil themselves in terror.
They were almost at their destination-only about ten minutes away. Abee figured that it
would take Mara a while to fully wake up, so he gently nudged her awake so that when they
arrived she would be fully awake. As Mara reluctantly pried her eyes open, a few of the other
travelers around them snickered at the closeness the two seemed to have for each other. It made
sense, Abee was a little over protective of her, and Mara showed signs of some romantic feels
towards him (even though she was drunk she was still voicing her true thoughts). As the behind
the scenes gossip commenced, Tail was suppressing the urge to laugh while literally licking his
plate clean and Namu was just sitting there with a neutral expression, as always. A few minutes
later, there was an announcement that they had arrived in Canterbury and a waitress approached
the four of them. "Um, excuse me, but you went over our free-food limit." she stated. "We have
a limit as to how much food you are allowed without being charged. You have breached this
limit by very much." she continued. Abee, Mara, and Namu gave Tail a massive death glare.
"What, why're you lookin' at me like that?" he asked, oblivious to their annoyance. "You ate so
much free food that we have to pay!" Mara yelled."Oh! Oops, my bad" Tail said sheepishly.
"We'd like to pay," Mara started, "but we have no money." "Well, I didn't eat anything." stated
Namu. "Me neither." Mara added. "Same here." Abee interjected. "Woof!" "And the food
sucked anyway." Tail retorted, ironically still licking his plate clean. "I guess we have to plan B
then." Mara said dejectedly. "LEG IT!!! RUN, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, YOU CAN'T
CATCH US, WE'RE PARODYING THE GINGER BREAD MAN!!! HAHAHA!" Tail sang
has the foursome sprang up from their seats and made a mad dash for the exit, leaving the
shocked waitress behind them.
Several minutes later, the group trudged along the road in complete silence, ignoring
stares from the locals, who had never seen such a strangle group before. The silence that
accompanied the group didn't last all that long, however. "I'm hungry!" Mara's eyebrow
twitched. "Starving!" Twitch. "Feed me!" Twitch. "Hey, Mara, can you hear me?" "SHUT UP
TAIL!" Mara snapped at the attention starved chimera. "You just eat not even ten minutes ago!"
"This is the millionth time we had this conversation, isn't it?" Abee asked. "Actually it's the
eleven thousand, seven hundred, sixty fifth time we've had this conversation." Namu corrected.
"We should put a little less focus on these minor furnaces and focus on following the yellow
brick road." Abee suggested. "Skirmishes, not furnaces." Mara corrected him. "Oh, thank you."
"Speaking of which, which way goes to road go, Mara?" Namu inquired. "Um, let's see. It's
that way, towards that tall, abandoned looking building over there." "I was afraid of that."
"Shut up Tail!"
"WOW! This place seems even larger up close!" "Considering the way that the human
eye functions, I assume that is how it would appear." "GRRRR!" " Huh, what's wrong, Toto?"
Mara asked the now on guard puppy. Toto kept barking at a large opening in the grounds about
twenty five meters in front of him. "Mwahaha!" A loud, booming voice penetrated the air. The
ground began to shake as the large form of a muscular human male torso, head, arm, and chest
rose from the depths of the opening Toto was barking at moments ago. The figure sported a pair
of bat like wings and looked strangely familiar. "So we meet again, brats!" The figure
boomed. "Again? Where did we ever meet this guy?" Abee pondered. "Wait a minute!" Tail
exclaimed. "Wasn't his name Fill-it-in, or something?"
"That's Pillanin, Alley Cat!" Pillanin bellowed. "Now I remember you, bring it on, Chrome
Dome!" Tail countered. "Now I can extract my revenge on the four of you for humiliating
me!" Pillanin yelled. "Excuse me!" Abee interrupted. "Your words compared to the actual
events you mention constipate each other." "Uh, Abee, you mean contradict." "Thank you,
Mara. Anyway, it wasn't use you should be mad at. Shine was the one who took you down like
you were noting, not us." "Silence!" roaredPillanin, slamming Abee into a wall, knocking him
out. Tail and Namu charged from both sides, hoping to catch Pillanin off guard. Their old foe
took them out with a powerful gust of wind from his flapping wings. "Well well well. Only the
little wench remains. Now what do do with you." Pillanin gloated, licking his lips at Mara,
a lecherous look in his eyes. "YOU PERVERT!" yelled a highly disgusted (and somewhat
scared) Mara, stomping her heels on the ground. Her clothes changed, becoming a cross
between a witch and a pinup girl, she grew taller, older, uh, 'fuller.' He hair extended and turned
blonde, he glove changing into a long, powerful staff. " You want something to drool over!?"
she taunted, noticing the drool and nosebleed Pillanin had. "Well drool over THIS!" with a
wave of her staff, a soft green glow surrounded her comrades, awakening them from their KO'd
state. "Tail, Abee, Namu, let's finish this with one hit." Mara ordered. "Understood." "Got it."
"Roger. Mission is as follows: defeat the enemy." "You fools! Do you really think that you
can defeat me?" Pillanin asked, only to find that he couldn't move. "What? Why can't I
move? Oh no! Don't tell me that Scarecrow----" Abee had him pinned with his telekinesis.
Sensing an opportunity, Tail delivered a powerful punch to Pillanin's gut while Namu smashed
a metal fist into the giant's skull. "Alright! Time for the strongest spell I've learned:
ULTIMA!!!" A deadly looking green jet of light erupted from Mara's staff, racing towards its
target at incredible speeds. "AAAAGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Pillanin screamed in pain as the spell
slammed into his chest, causing the whole area to shake. "The structure of this place is
becoming increasingly unstable. It would be best to leave now while we still can!" Namu
exclaimed as the old building began to collapse. "OK! Let's blow this taco stand!" Tailed said
as they ran out of the building. Looking back after they got a safe distance away, they noticed
that the building turned battleground had collapsed. "Good thing we got out of there when we
did." "Yeah, but I can't help wonder about Pillanin." "He may have survived, by it just as likely
that he did not." "Now's not the time for this, we need to think about where to go next." "It
doesn't really matter, we'll follow you to the ends of the Earth, Mara." "Thanks guys. I don't
think that any of us know when this journey will end, but I do know this; as longs as we stick
together we'll make it. Someday, we'll see what lies beyond the yellow brick road."