Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Three

Once the bubble landed on the ground, it popped, allowing Vicki to move around freely. The yellow brick road that she was on caused Vicki to mentally note about how the natives of the Land of Oz was fortunate enough to have such a brightly colored road that could be easily seen most of the time.

"Halt and don't move." A voice rang out, causing Vicki to face the owner of the voice.

Seeing a group of small people with the weapons and the clothes of guards being led by a man that was completely made of some kind of metal, wearing a heart-shaped clock and wielding an axe was not a normal sight, even for a witch like Vicki with her experiences and all of the people in her life. She also saw that they were up in arms, causing her to guess that Mombi's escape and the revival of the Wicked Witch of the West had a very strong part in the need of the defences.

"Hold on!" Vicki held up her hands to show that she was not here to harm anyone, "Glinda sent me to stop the witches."

"As happy as it makes me gald to hear that," the metal man replied in a sadden voice, "but during times like these, I can't afford to make exceptions until strong evidence suggests it."

"Understood." The witch felt understanding and yet annoyed at the same time as she saw a person running towards her and the guards.

The person was wearing overalls that covered most of their body, a green shirt that had stains and a pair of boots that were caked in what Vicki hoped was mud. However, the thing that surprised Vicki the most was the person was being followed by a cute little dog with black fur and a collar with a green stone dog tag.

"Tin Man," the person's voice managed to reach the metal man's ears, "what's goin' on?"

"Dorothy!" The Tin Man was shocked about the young woman's sudden appearance, "Get back into the palace! You know that Princess Ozma doesn't want you out here, where the Flying Monkeys or the Wheelers could get at you!"

"I know, but I can't just sit around while the rest of Oz is endurin' the Witches' nastiness!" The girl known as Dorothy replied, showing that she wasn't going to back down from the Tin Man.

As the Tin Man and Dorothy argued with each other, the little dog managed to dash passed them and the guards and went straight to Vicki, who noticed this before the guards. When the guards noticed this, they started to panic about the little dog's willingness to approach Vicki.

"Oh, no!" The guards shouted in unision, getting the Tin Man's and Dorothy's attentions.

Vicki was a little surprised at the guards' reaction to the brave dog's dash towards her than of the little dog's actions. Once the dog reached Vicki's feet, he stood on his hind legs and wimpered at the witch, who was more than willing to put up the small creature.

"Aw, you're so cute!" Vicki picked up the dog, who started to lick his current holder's face, earning the surprise and shocked expressions of the Tin Man and guards and Dorothy's giggles.

"Looks like that Toto trusts her." Dorothy managed to speak through her giggling, "After all, a dog would never go near a wicked witch."

The Tin Man looked defeated as he spoke to Dorothy, "This witch will be allowed to enter the Emerald City, but I'm going to make sure that she doesn't cause trouble."

"Understood, Tin Man." Dorothy nodded to the metal man before she made her way to Vicki and spoke to her as she gained the little dog's attention by taking him into her own arms.

"Sorry about Toto, he's always findin' some way to get attention or food."

On the mention of food, Vicki's stomach growled, telling Dorothy that the witch was hungry.

"Looks like he's not the only one that's hungry here." The farmer-like girl giggled before her own stomach mimicked Vicki's, who laughed a little before she introduced herself.

"I'm Victoria Payne, but my friends call me 'Vicki.'"

"I'm Dorothy Gale of Kansas, and I see Toto introduced himself to ya already."

Vicki smiled as she petted the dog, whose tail wagged, and she said, "Well, at least, he thinks I'm a nice witch." Then, she spoke to Toto in a tone that one would speak to a infant, "Ain't that right?"

The little dog replied with a yelp and a jump from Dorothy's arms and into Vicki's.

"Hey!" Dorothy was a little annoyed with the dog's actions, but she managed to push that aside in her mind as she noticed the Tin Man and the guards approaching them.

"Come on, you two." The metal man directed towards the Emerald City, "It's not safe out here."

"He's right." A sincere-sounding Dorothy nodded in agreement with the Tin Man's words, "As long as those two witches are out there, there's barely a place in the Land of Oz that's gonna be safe."

"Right!" Vicki nodded as well, sensing that the witches wanted Dorothy to be harmed.

Without wasting any more time, Vicki, Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man and the guards entered the safety of the Emerald City. Once inside the city's walls, Vicki looked around at the city and saw that it was a beautiful city, give or take some damage on some of the buildings, and she also realized a few things about Dorothy that reminded her of her cousin, DG, at the Outer Zone.

Then, the ground shifted, causing the buildings to shake and the people to panic, and the guards were no exception to the chaos that was happening.

"Oh, no!" The guards ran around the area, not knowing what to do.

"Does this happen often?" Vicki asked, and Dorothy replied to the question as the earthquake subsided, "The earthquakes or the panicking munchkins?"

Before Vicki could give her answer, she heard the unmistakable sound of a child crying. The witch looked around and found the Munchkin child on the ground with tears in their eyes, and that caused her to forget her question and to go to the rescue.

"Hold on, kiddo." Vicki shouted as she focused her powers towards the fallen child.

The child, who had fallen to the ground and had little time to escape the crumbling building, was covered in tiny orbs of light. The lights took the child out of the way of the falling debris and straight to Vicki's arms. The lights vanished as quickly as they came.

"What was that? Dorothy asked as she tightly held Toto in her arms.

"It's called orbing." Vicki answered after allowing the child to leave her arms, "It's a way for some witches get from place to place."

"Wow!" Dorothy was sincerely amazed at Vicki's powers, "It's almost like Glinda's powers."

"Dorothy," The Tin Man spoke to the girls after calming the guards, "we need to be at the palace; Princess Ozma is expecting you, and now she may want to see this girl too."

"Right." The farm girl nodded to the metal man before the group resumed their trek to the palace.

The group reached the palace, where more of the munchkin guards were waiting for them. One of them stepped forward, and he bowed while saying, "Welcome back, Princess Dorothy."

"'Princess?'" Vicki was surprised about hearing about her new friend's title, and Dorothy was quick to explain herself.

"It happened after the death of the Gnome King and the return of all of the emeralds of the Emerald City. Everyone wanted me to be the next ruler of Oz, but I was distressed by that. I made a wish that someone else would take over the role, and thankfully I was wearin' the Ruby Slippers, and my wish brought Princess Ozma out of the mirrors that Mombi had imprisoned her in. Although, I managed to avoid becomin' queen, but Ozma made me into a princess, which I was not happy about."

"You didn't want to be a princess?" Vicki was perplexed about Dorothy's unwillingness to accept the title, "Why?"

"I'm happy with the life I have with my friends and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry." Dorothy stated, but a yelp from the little dog caused Dorothy to said, "And Toto too."

The correction rewarded Dorothy a lick from Toto.

"I, for one, believe that Dorothy would have be a great queen." The Tin Man beamed a confident smile at the farm girl, who replied to that statement.

"Not at the age of seven."

Vicki smiled at the two as she saw the friendship between them; she could tell that they were very close.

"Princess Dorothy," the guard that addressed the farm girl spoke out, "maybe you should return to your chambers and change out of your Kansas clothes."

"All right, I'll be goin' up now." Dorothy smiled as she nodded at the guard, and then she turned to Vicki and gave Toto to her. With a smile, the farm girl spoke to the dog, saying, "Remember, Toto: Behave for Vicki."

Then, the farm girl turned to the Tin Man and told him, "Please take Vicki to the throne room, and please tell Ozma that I'll be there as some as I can."

"Of course, Dorothy." The metallic man nodded to the girl before she went off to her chambers.

"There's one thing for sure," Vicki stated, getting the Tin Man's attention, and the metal man asked, "What's that?"

"You were sure are about Dorothy being a good queen." Vicki smiled as Toto seemingly barked in agreement with her.

"That really makes me feel so good that I might cry." The Tin Man smiled as tears started to fall from his eyes.

"Uh, oh..." The guards became concerned, and one of them shouted out, "The Tin Man's crying again! Get the oil can!"

Almost as the order was given, a munchkin girl ran up to the group with an oil can, and she asked Vicki, "Can you please help us?"

"Sure," Vicki nodded while confused about the situation involving the metal man, "but what's wrong with him; you guys are acting like he's gonna rust."

"That's because he IS gonna rust!" One of the guards stated sharply at the young witch.

The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head before she turned to Vicki and spoke to her with a calmer voice as she gave the witch the oil can.

"It's a normal thing that happens whenever the Tin Woodsman becomes emotional, despite the fact that he no longer has a real heart."

"Wow!" Vicki was surprised upon hearing those words, although it did not stop her from helping the Tin Man, "Glinda's never told me about that, or that tin from the Land of Oz could rust."

"THE Glinda sent you?!" The girl munchkin exclaimed in sincere shock.

"The one and only!" Vicki smiled as she started to oil the Tin Man's mouth.

"Anybody could say that!" One of the munchkin guards huffed at the idea that Glinda would send an outsider to help them and not herself.

"Hey!" The Tin Man regained his ability to talk, "It also can be true."

"But weren't you the one that stated that she was have been a liar when she came to the Emerald City?" Another of the guards asked, and the metal man was able to answer.

"I'd be lying if I'd said otherwise, but in my heart, I know that she can be a good witch."

At that point, Vicki was confused and getting annoyed; Vicki was not one to tolerate liars especially when they were right in front of her, but she calmed herself down enough to see if the Tin Man was really being honest.

"Did the Tin Man rust himself crying again?" A new voice rang out to the area, causing Vicki's attention to be pulled to the direction of the door.

The owner of the voice was a walking, talking scarecrow, and he was rushing towards the group while trying to the straw from falling out of his body.

"'Fraid so, Scarecrow." The Tin Man sheepishly replied as the man-like being approached the group.

"I think that this is the fourth time today that you've rusted yourself, Tin Man." The Scarecrow shook his head at his friend before turning his attention to Vicki, who had finished oiling the Tin Man's joints.

"Sorry, I'm Vicki." The young witch introduced herself to the Scarecrow, who returned the greeting with one of his own.

"I'm Scarecrow, one of the Royal Advisors to Princess Ozma and Princess Dorothy and one of the most brilliant minds of the Land of Oz."

"Nice to meet you." The witch was trying to make friends, when the Tin Man said, "This girl says that Glinda sent her."

"Is that so?" The Scarecrow thoughtfully asked before stating, "We better get to the throne room and quick; Princess Ozma's expecting us to be there."

"Right." The metal man nodded in agreement as soon as he was able to move once again.

"Vicki," the man made of cloth and straw directed his attention to the witch, "let's go."

With a nod, Vicki complied and allowed herself to be led to the throne room with the company of the guards, the munchkin girl, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.


Meanwhile, Tech was in a dark place in a castle in the Dark Forest, which was in the western land of the Land of Oz. Upon his arrival to the castle, the coyote was forced to wear a control collar was made to work on a machine that would pull all of the darkness in the hearts of the citizens of the land and casing that darkness over the entire Land of Oz. At first, Tech refused to do such a thing, and his captors used their collar to zap him. The superhero was angered about this and tried to retaliate, only to discover that his powers were restrained. The cackling hags mocked him and used their magic to make him go to work on the machine.

The black and green canine was wondering how he could do to delay the progress of the machine just long enough to allow a rescue team to arrive to stop the witches and their dark scheme. Escaping was not an option, due to the magical shock collar, and his movements were limited to working on the machine and a few basic needs, thanks to the same object.

Feeling nearly-powerless in his situation, Tech knew that had to do something to stall the witches and their plan to darken the world. The question was how and with what.

Then, he heard the door to the dungeon opened, and he saw a winged monkey entered the area, carrying a food tray with nearly-inedible food. Recalling that those monkeys had a bad temper, especially after seeing a fight over a piece of fruit, Tech took a gamble and called out to the monkey after the food was placed at a table near the coyote and the blue-grey creature started to exit the area.

"Thanks for the food, ya smelly dodo."

The winged monkey heard it, but it chose to ignore the comment, since it believed that the coyote was thinking out loud. Seeing that his trick did not work the first time, Tech tried again.

"Seems that you're deaf and dumb too."

That comment caused the monkey to grab a nearby tool and flung it at the coyote, who dodged it.

"And a lousy thrower to boot too." The green and black canine smugly mocked the monkey, who was becoming angrier by each word.

Without a moment of hesitation, the winged monkey grabbed another tool and threw that one at Tech. The coyote blew a raspberry at the creature, who started to howl with fury and continue to pelt the coyote with everything it could get with his paws.

Tech dodged each projectile and made his way to the machine, hoping that one of the items would hit the machine, farther delaying the completion and the plan. He hoped that he could reach it before either, if not both, the witches heard the commotion from that room.

"Come on! Hit me with your best shot!"

The monkey grabbed a wrench and threw it. Tech ducked, and the flying wrench hit the machine. The monkey, realizing what it had done, tried to flee the room in fear when the witches found out what had happened to their machine.

"What's going on down there!?" The voice of one of the witches screeched in the area, startling Tech and terrifying the flying monkey.

The feathered and furred creature scrambled to escape before the owner of the voice entered the room. Sadly for the flying monkey, it did not even make it to the door, which flew open.

The witch that opened the door was cladded in black with a pointy hat, had green skin and expressed her fury about the disturbance in her house. When she saw the damage that was inflicted on the machine, her fury blazed hotter than the flying monkey's and her magic matched her anger.

"YOU FOOL!" She shrieked in fury as she looked at the monkey first, "YOU BETTER NOT HAVE DAMAGED THE MACHINE, OR YOU'LL BE STUFFED WITH SAWDUST!"

The poor creature was in such a panic that it flew to the window, but the green-skinned hag managed to zap the primate on its backside, making it look more like a baboon's hindquarters. The monkey was forced out of the window, busting the shutters on the way out of the room.

"As for YOU!" The witch turned her attention to Tech, who was feeling like he had been found out about his attempts of delaying the plan, and snapped her fingers, making the collar to electrocute the coyote.

"Ugh!" Tech fell to his knees from the pain.

"The next time you decide to cause trouble, remember that I can cause you far more trouble than you can even invent in your mind!" The witch warned Tech, who managed to get back to his feet.

"Fair enough." Tech rubbed his neck as the witch added one more part to her statement.

"Lucky for you, your abilities are the only thing allowing you to stay alive for now. However, once your part is done, you'll be killed off, so no one would be able to use your mind for their own machines."

With that said, the wooden door slammed after the witch left the room, leaving Tech with one verbal thought.

"Yeesh, thanks for the warning."

The green-skinned witch climbed the dark stairs, which were lit with torches, until she reached the main hall. Making her way to another wooden door, the witch reached her conference room, where her ally was waiting for her.

"Mombi, did you managed to get the Power Emeralds from the Emerald City?"

"No." Mombi growled through her teeth as she clutched the Power Emerald that she had as a necklace, "That brat's preventing me from getting the other Emeralds!"

"Which one?" The Wicked Witch of the West was wondering which princess of Oz the other witch was complaining about, but she had a feeling about who her ally was complaining about.

"Princess Ozma." Mombi answered the question while her voice in burning with anger, "How can I get passed her without killing her?"

"Without killing her?" The Wicked Witch was shocked about her ally's words, "What's wrong with killing that brat?"

"The fact that I'm still under the spell that the Gnome King had placed onto me to make sure that would not betray him." Mombi explained her situation to her ally, "If she dies, I die."

The western witch realized that was a problem, if Mombi's life was truly tied to the ruler of the Emerald City. Then, a dark smile formed as an equally dark thought formed in her mind.

"What if she was put to sleep?"

"What do you mean?" Mombi was sincerely curious about the Wicked Witch's plans for the Princess of Oz.

"I'll show you." The Wicked Witch of the West motioned her fellow magic-user to the giant crystal ball that was sitting in the middle of the room.

Mombi obeyed, knowing the green-skinned witch was able to do something about Princess Ozma, who had managed to gain much power over the years. However, she was concerned about the others, including the possible witches and wizards that Glinda has made over the years.

The Wicked Witch of the West went to the crystal ball first and waved her hands around the sphere without touching it as she spoke to it.

"Show me the face of the one that prevents Mombi from taking the rest of the Power Emeralds from the Emerald City."

The orb obeyed the witch and showed the image of a young girl in her teens with light-blond hair and sparkling eyes that matched the sparkling jewels that decorated the silver tiara on her head.

"I've got just the spell for 'her Highness.'" The witch sneered at the teenaged ruler of the Land of Oz, "A special spell for a child of the royal family."

"Of course." Mombi had an evil smile as she watched the fate of Princess Ozma.