Alright just as a head's up, the Thneed is *NOT* in this story, I've tried all I can to tie it in but sadly it just couldn't click. So I apologize to anyone who might not be happy about that.

The Lorax makes his appearance! Enjoy!

The Brave Lil' Barbaloot

Chapter 2: Warning

The Once-ler pounded down the last stake into the ground, his tent was now officially set up. He made sure him and Melvin were far away enough from the town where he wouldn't be noticed; despite these trees being 'free reign' he was pretty sure the townsfolk wouldn't be too happy for what he was planning to do.

He strutted over to the back of his wagon and pulled out a solid hatchet, he tested the sharpness with his thumb and gave it a practice swing. He smirked, "Yeah, you're going to chop nicely." He smiled over at Melvin who found a nice shady spot to graze, "This is our own personal gold mine Melvin, just think once we take off on this you'll never have to carry around heavy cargo ever again."

Melvin paid him little to no mind as he was more focused on the sweet green grass that carpeted the valley. The Once-ler heaved the handle of the axe on his shoulder and trotted over to the nearest tree, he gazed up at it and noticed there were a couple pieces of fruit hanging from a delicate vine. Intrigued, he heaveef the sharp end of the axe into the ground beside him with the handle sticking up, and began to shake the trunk of the tree with his hands. When the fruit fell down onto the ground with a thump he picked them up and observed them,

"These trees grow fruit?"

The fruit had a deep fuchsia color and were pear shaped but were they also poisonous, he couldn't say. Accepting the risk, he squeezed it to test their ripeness before he opened his mouth and took a bite to it; it was an explosion of flavor, very crispy yet really sweet.

"I could sell these!" he shouted excitedly, "These trees just keep getting better and better!"

He paused when he felt something tug at his pants, he looked down and saw what looked to be a baby bear looking up at him with big pleading eyes, he noticed a couple other bears tentatively walked up to him, all of them with the same eyes. It didn't take long for the Once-ler to put two and two together, he dangled the fruit high above them,

"Do you guys want one?"

The little bears nodded eagerly, all of them now standing on their hind legs and their little bushy tails wagging . He teased them a little bit more before he clutched onto the fruit tightly and took a big bite into it, "Well too bad, finders keepers."

Their round little ears folded down with defeat but he didn't care. The Once-ler shook the little cub away from his leg and walked passed them,

"Alright get out of my way, I've got work to do."

He ate the rest of the fruit and carelessly tossed the cores over his shoulder, landing a couple feet away from the bears who looked at them sadly.

The Once-ler pulled the axe out of the ground, "Alright, where was I?" He paused however, when he heard something from the very top of the tree. He took a step back and noticed there was a swan of some kind roosting in a nest, singing to the clear blue skies. He scowled and shouted up at the bird, "Hey! Go nest somewhere else! This is my tree!"

The swan merely craned its head and gazed blankly at him before it resumed its singing. The Once-ler growled, dropped his axe to the ground again and shook the tree violently, "Out of the tree! Out!"

The swan squawked in fright and it eventually flew away, just then a little baby swan peeked out of the nest, clearly being woken up by the commotion. The Once-ler slapped his face with the palm of his hand and groaned, "Great." He then decided to try a new strategy, he reached up as high as he could and tried with all his might to pull the trunk, the tree slowly began to bend downward. Once the tuft was in reach, he grabbed as much tuft as his hand could let him and he continued to pull the tree down using the tuft, he promptly scooped up the nest and set it down on the ground. He mentally counted to three and let go of the tuft, he took cover when the tree violently straightened back up, desperate to be relieved of the strain. He dusted his hands together and smiled,

"Look at that, easy."

Suddenly he felt something painfully pinch him on the arm, he cried out when the mother swan that had left a moment ago had returned and clearly not happy from having it's nest and young threatened. He stumbled backwards as he tried in vain to swat away the adult swamee swan, he then lost his balance and fell backwards though instead of the hard ground that he initially anticipated he was introduced by ice cold water. He quickly swam back up to catch his breath and he felt something in his shirt and on the top of his head; a fish squirmed out of his shirt and back into the water while the other that was resting on his head tried to flop back into the water, giving him a little slap on the face with its tail fin before doing so.

The Once-ler ran a hand over his face and spat out a bit of before he stepped out of the water. He took one good look at the animals that have slowly crowded around him the entire time and shouted angrily, "Alright that's it! All of you get lost or else I'm going to get my mallet and pound all of your little heads into the ground!"

The animals took a step back in fright but they didn't heed his warning, the Once-ler growled and approached them with stomped footfalls, with that all of them retreated into the bushes and behind the trees, even though they didn't officially leave at least they were out of his way. He let out a sigh to calm his temper and picked up his axe again,

"Stupid animals."

He walked over to the tree and heaved it back then the sharp end of it right into the bark, the animals jumped from the horrible sound and watched in horror as the scary human continued to pound his axe into the same spot over and over before the tree slowly leaned and fell hard onto the ground.

The Once-ler gazed at the stump in satisfaction, he then walked over to the fallen tree, picked it up and dragged it over near the entrance of his tent. He caressed his hand over the trunk and nodded,

"Yeah I can sell this for firewood also, this kind of wood would burn nicely."

But first things first, he wanted to gather up all the silky sweet tufts and get them all bundled up in a bag. He didn't even notice the dark clouds that began to gather up in the skies, it was when it suddenly became windy that he took notice. He looked up at the sky that was now crackling with lightning and rumbling with thunder, he took a step back in panic,

"Wh….what the heck is with this weather?"

He backed away until his back was against his tent, trying to take cover from lightning strikes that were shooting all over the place, the dark clouds eventually began to circulate above the fresh stump and through a hole in the center of the storm a beam of light shot down, hitting the stump dead on. The Once-ler quickly crouched down and shielded himself with his arms, the force from the beam of light was incredibly strong it almost knocked him right off his feet. Then in an instant everything stopped, the Once-ler peeked through his arms and saw that the skies were clear blue again and the wind had gone away. He looked over at the stump and noticed there was a creature standing on it now; he was short and had an orange, somewhat mossy fur. He stood with a puffed up chest as if he tried to act like someone important , his arms which were very long for his short frame were crossed and he glared at him with his bushy eyebrows and an incredibly huge bristled up mustache,

"Hey you! Mind tellin' me why you chopped down my tree?" it asked gruffly.

The Once-ler remained frozen on the spot, still trying to comprehend what had happened, "Uh…..I uh….."

The orange creature huffed and hopped off the stump, "I'm the Lorax, I speak for the trees and on behalf of the trees, get out!"

The Once-ler got back to his feet and stared down at him, "You?" He let out a short laugh, "This is the mystical guardian I've been hearing about? I've seen scarier stuffed animals at toy stores." He walked over to the Lorax, leaned down and tapped him lightly on the nose, "Aren't you just the cutest thing ever?"

The Lorax had to lean back in order to look up at the human's face, "How dare you!"

The Once-ler chuckled and tried to shoo the Lorax away, "Look mustache, why don't you be good little furry….whatever you are and go play with the other animals, I've got big important human things to do."

Though the Lorax grunted and resisted against the tall man's pushing, he noticed the animals were all hiding in fright behind trees and bushes, he glared back at him, "Did you scare these poor innocent creatures?"

"Well, if they just stayed out of my way I wouldn't have to scare them off."

The Lorax glared, "You have to be the most selfish human I've ever met, this is their home and you just chopped down on of their trees in which they need to live. You need to leave, now!"

The Once-ler laughed again with a soft glare, "News flash mustache, I'm not goin' anywhere!" He tapped him on the nose, "I finally found a chance to get rich and I'm not passing it up just because I hurt the animal's feelings, so they better get used to me!"

The Lorax squared his shoulders and kept his glare on the Once-ler as the animals tentatively gathered up behind him, "I'm giving you one warning kid, if you don't leave by the time the sun sets on this valley, all of the forces of nature will ascend upon you and curse you until the end of your days."

The Once-ler rolled his eyes, "Oh please, the forces of nature? What are you going to do? Blow that scary wind at me again? Let me tell you something, it's all about survival of the fittest and from what I can see, I'm the biggest and strongest in this valley. I'm going to chop down as many trees as I want and there's nothing you or any animal out here can do about it!"

To emphasize his point, the Once-ler lifted his axe up high and heaved it down, chopping off a piece of the trunk right in front of the Lorax. The Lorax merely shook his head at him and calmly urged the animals away, he gave a backward glance, "You have until sunset Beanpole," with that, he disappeared into the valley along with the animals.

Throughout the rest of the day, the Lorax kept himself hidden and watched as the human chopped down a few more of his trees; he plucked every piece of tuft, chopped up the trunk into firewood and selfishly gathered up the fruit that grew on them. When evening hit, the Once-ler was finally done for the day and once all the stuff was packed away, he retired into his tent. It was then that the Lorax emerged from the bushes and crossed his arms at the tent that was glowing with an indoor light; the human didn't heed his warning so now it was time to show him just what happens to those who upset the guardian of the forest.

"Looks like it's time for me to even out the playing field."

To Be Continued…