I can't help but imagine our Oncie growing inside the rabbit's house. It's always my favorite part. This is also dedicated to Bonka-chan on deviantart! I don't own any of the following characters. Enjoy!
A ray of the morning sun shined right on Once-ler's face. Stirring from his sleep, he rose from his side, yawned, and stretched the drowsiness off of him, for it was another day to try and sell his invention: the thneed. Once fully awake, he noticed something peculiar. The surroundings were completely different from his cottage. In fact, he wasn't even in his cottage, let alone the Truffula Forest. He was lying on the grass. It was some sort of meadow, on account of the trees that were nothing like the truffula trees.
"Wh-where am I?" he asked rubbing his eyes. "And wasn't I in my pjs last night?" Somehow he was in his original gray clothing and fedora. A thought came to him: the Lorax. Recalling the incident with his bed in the river, he rubbed the middle of his nose, annoyed. "This definitely involves that furry meatloaf again."
Observing the background, he noticed a pink and white house with strong straws for a roof, way in the distance. "Maybe someone there can tell me where I am."
He got up and walked towards the path to the house. The house was surrounded by brick wall with a little pink gate. Before he could open it, he jumped at a loud voice coming for the top window. "Victor! Darn that boy. Where did he put them?" The top window was opened, revealing a white rabbit in a red shirt under a white ruff with a heart on it and small glasses. "Victor!" he shouted again.
It was odd for Once-ler to see a rabbit in clothing, although it didn't surprise him to see it talk since he seemed similar to his guardian friend. "Is that rabbit wearing some sort of ruff?" he asked himself as he entered the gate.
"Victor!" he yelled once more before closing the window. His voice was coming downstairs. "No use, can't wait, I'm awfully late, oh me oh my oh me oh my!" As soon as Once-ler was about to open the door, the rabbit already opened and ran right past him. The beanpole called from afar. "I know you're in a rush, but do you know where..." His sentence was cut off when the rabbit stopped and walked right back to him.
"Why, Victor! What are you doing out here?" he asked, adjusting his glasses.
Wait. What did he just call him? "Victor?"
This white rabbit was (literally) hopping mad. "Don't just do something stand there! Uh... no no! Go go!" He quickly raised his pocket watch. "Go get my gloves! I'm late!"
"What are you talking about?" replied Once-ler. "I'm not..."
"My gloves!" He almost shoved him in the door by blowing a horn straight at him in the house. The sound made the man hit his head on door frame. "At once! Do you hear?!" Conflicted and agitated, rubbing his head from the bump, he had no choice but to run his errand, irritated at the rabbit's behavior. "Jeez, he's worse than mustache." He walked up the stairs, kneeling down due to the ceiling shorter than his height, and into the bedroom.
In the bedroom, he searched in and out of his drawers. "Where would a rabbit keep his gloves, anyways?" Done with the drawers, he opened a jar and it contained cookies. The odd thing about it was they had words on them, written in frosting; Eat Me, Try One, Take One and Try Me. Tempting, much? "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I have one." He picked up a pink one and ate half of it. A little hard, but it was still good. Stuffing it in his front pocket, he searched in the chest full of clothes.
While looking for the gloves, he was unaware of his 'side effect.' Out of the blue, he felt another light hit on the head, knocking his fedora off. He looked and noticed it was the ceiling! "What's going on?" he cried out. Maybe the house was shrinking, but no. It was him! He was growing! Reaching from six foot to seven and going up!
Outside, the white rabbit's patience was getting slim. He checked his pocket watch again. "Oh! Victor!" He jumped and ran back in the house.
Inside, Once-ler was still growing. He had to shove his arms out of both side windows. He was getting so big, he had to bend his back forward to make room, but he was still getting very cramped! He could only watch in discomfort as the now tiny furniture was on top of one of his legs, getting ready to burst through the door, if it could. When it hit the door, the tip of his boot was wedged at the top of the door frame. The rabbit ran up the stairs and opened. "Now you see here, Victor...HELP!" Before he could run, completely spooked, the giant foot popped out, pushing the rabbit down the stairs, out the house, and into the yard, breaking the fence! Furniture was scattered all over the ground, shattered. He looked at his house and screamed! One huge, long leg was sticking out the door and the other out the bottom window. Two long arms were out the side windows. He could wear a window frame as bracelets. The rabbit fled away from the house, blowing his horn. "Help! Monster! Help, Assistance!"
The young beanpole (beanstalk in this case) tried to pull the top of the house off him a few times. However, neither he nor the house moved. He tried to stand up, but he wouldn't budge. With the house paved into the ground, he wasn't going anywhere. He was stuck tight. He scratched his head - well the straw roof to be precise- in shock and confusion. "Just grea-what just happened?" Inside, he could hear the rabbit's voice heading to his house as he leaned his ear to the wall. "A monster! A monster, Dodo! In my house, Dodo!" Apparently he brought someone else. "Who's Dodo?" he asked himself.
The rabbit came back with a big white bird wring a purple, carrying a cane, a black Victorian hat with a pipe in his mouth. "Steady, old chap. Can't be as bad as all that you know." He appeared calm and collected, unlike the rabbit. "Oh my poor roof and rafters. All my walls." He hopped and pointed at the house. "There it is!" His pipe almost fell of his mouth and his hat nearly fell off at the sight of the giant! "By Jove! Jolly well, it is. Isn't it?" The man opened the windows, exposing his big blue. He knew this bird must be this Dodo.
The rabbit shoved him towards the house. "Well, do something, Dodo!" After that, Dodo walked towards the enormous leg. "Yes, indeed," he said, tapping the boot with his leg. Luckily, it didn't tickle him. "I have a very simple solution," he replied. Once-ler smiled. "That's good to hear." Now the rabbit was very impatient. "Well, what is it?!" Dodo made an unexpected suggestion. "Simply pull it out of the chimney." He can't be serious! "Pull me out? Uh, in case you don't see, I'm way too big to move," he said with a hint of sass in his voice. Are they even listening to me?, he thought.
Dodo was being pushed by the frantic rabbit. "Well, go on! Pull it out!" "Who, me?" Dodo gestured."Don't be ridiculous." Guess not Once thought shaking his head in disbelief. "What we need is a...," Dodo thank.
Suddenly, they heard whistling. It was a green lizard in chimney sweep outfit, carrying a ladder. "A lizard with a ladder!" Dodo finished. "Oh, Bill, Bill!' the white rabbit called out, which made Bill wave his hat. He shoved the lizard into the gate. "We need a lazzerd with a lizar-a liz wit- can you help up?" he stuttered. "At your service, governor," the lizard greeted with a thick accent. "Have you ever been down a chimney?" Dodo asked as they walked to the house. "Why, governor," Bill boasted. "I've been down more chimney-" but he was cut off as Dodo shoved him up the ladder. "Excellent, me lad. You just pop down the chimney, and haul that monster out of there."
Hearing that request, Once-ler checked for the fireplace, which was next to his side. Bill was already climbing up the ladder. "Righto, governor!" That it until he saw the giant's face. "Monster?!" He screamed and ran down. The rabbit and Dodo steered him back to the ladder. He was about to run back up, but Dodo carried him back up, which seemed to calm him down.
"Bill, lad, you're passing up a golden opportunity." It kind of convinced the lizard. "I am?"
"You could be famous!" exclaimed the bird. Now Bill was convinced. "I can?" he smiled. "Of course," agreed Dodo.
Once-ler could hear them on the roof. Whatever they're up probably won't work. Up on the roof, Dodo kept pushing Bill down the chimney, despite the fight he was putting up. "Simply tie you tail around the monster's neck and drag it out."
"Bu-bu-but governor..." Bill was about to protest, but Dodo just shook his hand. "Good luck, Bill." Instantly, he shoved the lizard right down.
"Oh, like that's gonna-" Before he could finish, that shove cause all the soot in the chimney to fog up the entire room. The salesman couldn't see the room. He coughed a bit and his nose began to itch. He tried to twitch it to get rid of the itching, but the irritating feeling wouldn't go away. He was gearing up to sneeze. "Ah-eh-ehh-" Hearing what's about to happen, Dodo jumped off the ladder and the white rabbit hid behind his boot. The poor man couldn't hold his sneeze back any longer! He needed air fast! His itch felt stuck as it kept gearing up and gearing up until..."HiiTTTSHHHOOO!"
That loud sneeze shot poor Bill clean out of the chimney like a missile. The white Rabbit and Dodo only watch as the lizard disappeared into the sky.
"Well," Dodo said looking up the sky, breaking the silence. "There goes Bill."
Once-ler looked at the sky as best as he could. It was true. There was no trace of Bill. "I hope he gets a soft landing somewhere."
Dodo was taking out his pipe to think. "Perhaps we should try a more energetic remedy."
"Yes, anything, but hurry!" the rabbit shouted pulling out his watch.
The bird lit a match. "Well, I propose that we, uh..." He was thinking it over, not noticing the match going down.
"Yes, yes, come on." stammered the rabbit.
"I propose that we, uh...DOW!" The match burned his finger. An idea struck. "By Jove! That's it!" He turned to the rabbit. "We'll burn the house down."
"Yes," the rabbit chuckled but then realized what he said. "Burn the house...WHAT?!"
Once-ler knew it was crazy too! "Are you nuts?! I'm still in here!"
The Dodo still wasn't listening. In fact he was already gathering all of the furniture. Plus, he was singing to himself! The rabbit help him gather the wood, still knowing his house will be destroyed. Once-ler could see smoke rising and knew the bird lit the match. He needed to think fast or he'll get barbecued. "How can I get out of here if I can't even move?" At that moment, he saw a vegetable garden. "Wait. If the cookie mad me big," he mention as he reached his hand on a carrot patch. "Something here would make me small again." The rabbit tried to stop him, but he already plucked a carrot, carrying the rabbit with it.
"No! Let go! Help!" screamed the rabbit as he was dangling on the small carrot, face to face with the giant. Once-ler tried to reason with him. "Sorry, but how else will I get small again? I gotta eat something."
He wasn't buying it. "Not me, you - you -y-barbarian!" he yelled pointing the carrot at him, but the beanpole bit it in one bite. The rabbit yelled as he was dropped out of the giant's fingers. Just as he thought, Once began shrinking. His arms were back in the house again. His legs were sliding back inside, nearly hitting the rabbit running out. Once shrank back to his original size, but it didn't stop! He shrank smaller and smaller until he was the size of a pencil. Reaching that point of size, he was already buried in the rabbit's drawer. Trying to climb out seemed impossible due to his small stature. "Hey! Someone get me out of here! Anyone! Get me out!" It was just complete darkness.
In the dark he could hear a voice calling and something shaking him. "Beanpole! Beanpole! Kid, wake up!" Opening his eyes, he could see the forest guardian again. Sitting up, he could also see a few bar-ba-loots next to him in his bed. Inside his own pjs and cottage at that. Best of all, he was his original right size again! It was still the middle of the night, though. "You were talking in your sleep," informed the Lorax. "You were also yelling and squirming at some point, so we wanted to check what was happening."
"You won't believe the dream I had," the salesman yawned. "There was some white rabbit, a bird, and a lizard all in clothing, and a cookie did something to me and..." He sighed rubbing his head. "Do you think I'll become a giant in someone's house?"
The guardian snickered. "Too late." The bar-ba-loots giggled with him.
"Ha. Funny," he replied with a dean-pan voice. "Thanks, anyway," he smiled.
"Sure thing, beanpole," Lorax smiled back He and the bar-ba-loots hopped off his bed and walked out. "And good night," he softly remarked before closing the door.
"Good night, mustache" Once-ler called back. He pulled the covers back and went back to sleep