A/N: Okay, I decided to make this story rated T after writing the "That's what he said" joke into the story. I was considering leaving it at K plus after I did that, but I decided to bring the rating to T just in case. So here's the next chapter of the story for ya! Hope you enjoy!
After being brought to a strange forest with colorful trees, Lisa couldn't believe her eyes. The place was totally beautiful, and she noticed the familiar trees due to their tufts.
Wow... She thought, taking in the scenery. "It's gorgeous!" She then said aloud.
Homer, who had skipped over to one of the trees, called while pretending to chop the tree with an invisible axe, "Hey look at me! I'm cutting down a tree!"
Little did he know, he was being watched by a creature who didn't really find his joke too funny.
"Hey I speak for those you know!" A voice - which sounded oddly familiar to Homer - said, causing Homer to look around for the source.
"Herb?" He asked, trying to find who he thought was his half-brother, "Is that you? If so you can come out now!"
Suddenly he felt a slight tug on his pantleg before looking down and letting out a scream, looking down at a fuzzy orange creature that had a yellow mustache.
"Wait, you're not Herb!" Homer yelled after realizing it wasn't his brother, "What are you?!"
The creature sighed as it closed its eyes and rubbed its temple, "You mean you've never heard of me?"
"Well I knew of the book, and..." Homer trailed off as it suddenly hit him. "Wait, you're the Lorax from the storybook!"
"Yes, and I don't know who this Herb guy is that you're mistaking me for." The Lorax said, crossing his arms before a look of realization came upon his face, "And you said there was a storybook?"
Before Homer could say anything, someone else came by.
"Hey Mustache, I heard a scream and I was wondering-" Suddenly the tall man stopped talking as he noticed the Lorax was not alone and was talking to someone with yellow skin who he didn't recognize. "Who's your friend?"
Homer looked at the man, who seemed to be in his 20s wearing a white shirt underneath a gray vest, and his shirt was tucked into his gray pants which seemed to have slightly darker gray stripes on them, giving the pants more of a striped pattern.
He also wore a gray fedora that had a thin black line circling around it just above the rim of the hat. He also wore black shoes.
"Who's the lumberjack?" Homer asked, pointing to the man with his thumb.
"Once-ler, this is, uh..." The Lorax began as he looked up at Homer. "What's your name?" He then asked.
"Homer Simpson." Homer replied.
"Okay, Beanpole, this is Homer." The Lorax began, looking at Once as he pointed to Homer. "Homer, Once-ler." He finished, looking at Homer now and pointing to the Once-ler.
"Nice to meet you Homer." Once-ler told the other man with a smile.
Homer wasn't paying attention. He was busy looking at the Once-ler's features.
"You're much younger than I imagined." Homer said in awe, "I thought you'd be much older because your face is never shown in the book."
"Book?" Once-ler questioned, "What book?"
"You have to excuse my husband." Marge said as she came up behind Homer, placing her hands on his shoulders as she looked at the two standing before her and Homer, "You see, we're from an entirely different world from yours. And there are books from an author that writes them. And apparently there is a book titled The Lorax that he wrote. And well, there is a forest that looks like this one in the books."
"Ohh, I get it now!" Once-ler said as everything now started making sense.
"Awww, he's so cute!" They heard a little girl's voice say as they all turned their heads to see Lisa running up to the Lorax, "He's even cuter than in the book!"
"Oh boy..." The Lorax muttered as he rolled his eyes, "Here we go."
As Lisa was about to hug him, Homer gently pulled her away.
"Now Lisa, I don't think he would like being hugged."
"The fat one's right." The Lorax said as Homer slightly glared at him, "I don't really like being hugged! ...Well, not that much, anyway."
"Oh sorry." Lisa apologized as she walked up next to her parents.
"It's okay." The Lorax said, "It happens all the time."
"And when he says 'all the time' he means 'never'." Once said with a playful roll of his eyes.
"Wait, if you're the real Lorax, why don't you show us your powers?" Bart asked as he crossed his arms, skeptical about the whole 'Lorax' thing.
"Trust me, I've tried that before." Once told him with a roll of his eyes, "But he only says that that's not how it works."
"Yeah I only use them when no one's looking." The Lorax stated, "That's when the magic happens."
"That's what he said." Homer whispered to Marge jokingly.
"Homer!" Marge scolded in a whisper.
"What?" Homer asked with a shrug, "I was just saying that it's what he said!"
Marge just rolled her eyes.
Yeah right... She thought, That was not what you were saying... At all.
"Well the rating of this story was probably going to change, anyway!" Homer said with a shrug, "So so what if I made a mistake?"
The Once-ler rolled his eyes as the Lorax sighed before facepalming.
"Okay, I admit my mistake..." Homer said calmly as if trying to reason with everyone, "But I made a mistake and that's fine! Everyone makes them!"
"Well you tend to make most of the mistakes!" Marge said, looking at him.
"Well I forgot to ask, but what brought you here?" The Lorax then asked the family.
"Well we ate a strange fruit and it tasted like cotton candy but with a little bit of a pear flavor..." Marge explained as Homer looked guilty over his mistake from earlier, "The thing is, we come from a town called Springfield."
"Springfield, Oregon?" The Lorax asked, tilting his head, half being confusion and half being curiosity, "Because I know there are lots of Springfields because I've had to go to tons of them to protect the trees."
"Well...we live in Springfield-" Suddenly Marge was cut off by Lisa, who finally decided to ask the Lorax something.
"Wait... You protect the trees, too?" She asked, her eyes wide in awe.
"Why, yes." The Lorax replied, "I see you have an interest in protecting nature."
"That's our Lisa!" Homer said with a smile as he ruffled Lisa's blond hair, "Quite the environmentalist!"
"Dad, stop it!" Lisa complained, pushing Homer's hand away, "You're embarrassing me!"
"Sorry sweetie." Homer said, his hands now hidden behind his back.
"Well we need more people out here to keep this guy" – the Lorax nodded towards the Once-ler – "from chopping down the trees!" Lisa couldn't help but gasp loudly as she looked at the Once-ler, eyes wide-open.
"You mean...he cuts the..." She trailed off, too shocked to finish, but the Lorax nods, knowing what Lisa was trying to ask.
"Uh oh..." Homer muttered, looking nervously at the Once-ler, who saw the nervous look and winced slightly.
"YOU MONSTER!!!" Lisa shouted, angry with Once-ler about the trees.
"Now there's no need to get upset sweetie." Marge said, placing her hands on Lisa's shoulders in attempt to calm her, "He's probably only cut one tree down before the Lorax stopped him from doing the deed."
Both the Once-ler and the Lorax's eyes widened, Marge's guess being ironically correct.
"H-How did you know?" Once-ler asked, unsure about whether he should be creeped out or surprised. Honestly, he was both.
"Lucky guess?" Marge guessed with a shrug, "I dunno."
"Well either way I hope you don't plan on chopping down any trees as long as you're here." The Lorax said.
"We won't." Lisa said with a smile before glaring at the Once-ler and saying between clenched teeth, "I promise." Once-ler just gulped in response.
