Definitely Not In Kansas Anymore
Disclaimer: Don't own The Wizard of Oz, just this version. And the character names. And Katara's clothes.
Katara wandered down the yellow brick road with Ayden by her side, offering a questioning glance in every direction. Before long, they passed by a crow-infested corn field. Katara raised an eyebrow, noticing that the poorly-hung scarecrow wasn't living up to its name. She walked up to it to get a closer look, noting that it- or he, rather- looked very perturbed and uncomfortable.
"What were they thinking, just tossing him over the post like this? There's no way he can scare off crows that way. He's barely even attached!" Katara criticized, failing to realize that the scarecrow was listening to her every word.
"I'm glad you agree, missy. I hate being up here. I don't suppose you wanna try and get me down, do ya?" the stuffed being replied. Katara jumped back a bit, startled, to say the least.
"It talks!" she cried.
"I am a he, not an it. Now answer me. Will you get me down?" the scarecrow asked.
"I guess so." Katara mumbled, making her way towards the post that the scarecrow had been so carelessly hung on. She lifted the back of his shirt, pulling it off of the nail on the post. The scarecrow fell forward, doing a double somersault and landing face-first on the road.
"Thanks, missy. By the way, what are you doing out here? Not many people walk through here anymore." the scarecrow said, raising an eyebrow at Katara.
"I woke up in that colorful village back there, and some fairy lady- Gwenda, I think- told me to follow this road if I wanted to get home." Katara explained.
"Ah, Gwenda. She's a nice lady. Think I could tag along with you? She probably wants you to go see the Wizard, and I got a favor to ask of him."
"What wizard? The fairy didn't mention any wizards."
"The Wizard of the Rain. He's kinda like the leader of the land here. No, he doesn't control the weather. But we're known for our annoyingly large amount of rainfall, so they call him the Wizard of the Rain." the scarecrow explained.
"If you're known for rain, why is it so sunny?" Katara inquired.
"Gwenda's been practicing her witchy powers to outsmart her step-sister, the Wicked Witch of the Northwest."
"But I killed her."
"…You did what?"
"I killed the Wicked Witch. Gwenda said so herself. I somehow killed her when I crash landed across the road from the village."
"And she didn't tell you about the Wicked Warlock of the Northwest?"
"No, she didn't say anything about that. Care to elaborate?"
The scarecrow sighed. "There's Gwenda, the Good Witch of the Northwest. There's Spryte, the Wicked Witch of the Northwest. There's Vallen, the Wicked Warlock of the Northwest. And there's Oniix, the Wizard of the Rain. Want the details?"
"Might as well give me the full story. I don't like learning along the way." Katara decided.
"Here's the deal. Gwenda is everything good in this land. She helps everyone, she acts as a mother to the villagers, she tries to keep peace throughout the region, et cetera and so forth. Vallen and Spryte were best friends as kids and grew up to be partners in crime. Until Vallen fell in love with Gwenda. Spryte when on a jealous rampage and became Gwenda's sworn enemy. And apparently you killed her. So, go you! Anyway, Vallen tried to give up his evil ways, but he couldn't. So he was banished to the super rainy part of the land, the part we're most known for. He lives there, brooding over his life, causing trouble with Spryte, until you killed her. Again, go you! Oniix is pretty much neutral, but he tries to good things. He's kinda odd at first, but he's a fairly good guy. I think that's all you really need to know. Oh, and on your way to see Oniix, Vallen will probably be popping in and out to mess you up." The scarecrow nodded as he finished explaining.
"Interesting. This village sure is weird. So what's your story, scarecrow?" Katara asked.
"My name is Saslor." the scarecrow replied.
"Saslor? Okay then. So, what's your story?"
"As you can see, we have a serious crow problem. Oniix and Gwenda decided they needed a scarecrow, so they had Vallen create me. They could have easily done it but they were trying to punish him for the crap he's done. But Vallen is an evil little bastard and didn't give me a brain. At least, not a very good one. So now I wanna go talk to Oniix about getting me one."
"For someone without a brain, you know a lot."
"Believe it or not, it's a pretty small area around here. News travels fast, and everyone hears about everything. I have nothing better to do than remember it." Saslor shrugged.
"So Vallen created you, huh? That explains why you were so horribly hung on that post. Looked like some slacker just tossed you up there." Katara remarked. Saslor chuckled.
"That's pretty much what happened. So, shall we be off? It'll take quite some time to reach Oniix's castle."
"I guess so." Katara looked around for Ayden, catching him napping in the shade beneath an apple tree. "Come on, Ayden."
The wolf's ears twitched and his eyes slowly fluttered open. He gave a large yawn and an equally large stretch before sauntering over to his master and her new friend.
"Off to the Wizard we go." Saslor announced, linking his arm with Katara's before marching off and clumsily falling down. Katara rolled her eyes and yanked her arm up, pulling the brainless scarecrow up with her. The three wandered down the yellow brick road in search of the Wizard's castle.