Hello everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I can't believe that it is 2012 already! The year has gone so quickly... it feels like it was January 2011 yesterday.

Anyway, a new year marks a new chapter. This took quite a while, even though half of it is already written. It is just hard for me to write beginnings...and I had writers block, school production (which sadly wasn't Seussical. It was an originally written production, by the name of Transported), exams and daily dramas of teenage life.

Before I begin to talk about the chapter, I would like to thank wouldsomebody and NightShade9802 for reviewing. You don't know how much it helps me with this story, without reviewers, I find it really hard to write, so please keep the comments coming!

Okay, you want to know what is this chapter about, don't you? Well, that portal that sucked up Kirsty, it sent her straight into Nool! But it isn't that easy for her there, as you will find out, and problems and mysteries come to her from the minute she lands in that world, trust me!

Disclaimer: I don't own Seussical, any of the songs or characters. That belongs to Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Dr Seuss Enterprise. I only own Kirsty, her orphanage and- Let's just get on with the chapter, shall we?

Hope you have a great year ahead!

Sophie :D

Chapter 3: A Person's a Person, No Matter How Strange

In a place far from her orphanage, another red and white portal opened and dropped Kirsty into a mass of fruit trees, sending a few of them at her head. She landed on the ground quite hard, which brought her back into consciousness. When she had picked herself up, she suddenly had the strong feeling that she had forgotten something, something important. As she tried to remember what had happened to her in the last few hours, something came to her mind.

Where in the world was she?

Looking around at her surroundings, she assumed that she was right in the middle of a strange jungle, filled with unusual species of trees and plants, their main shade either blue or red. The undergrowth wasn't the only thing that worried Kirsty, however. Just the whole feel of the place seemed different to what she was used to, that made her feel incredibly out of place. Suddenly, a small bug flew in front of her face, which later she saw looked to be a fish like creature with wings like a bird.

"What is this place? How on earth did I get here?" she asked herself, a bewildered look on her face. "Before I was sitting on my bed at my orphanage, and now I'm stuck in a jungle?"

Shaking and shivering with cold, Kirsty also discovered that her clothes were different. She was dressed in a red, white and black outfit, which she never had expected herself to ever wear. Also, she noticed that her face was cleaner and her hair wasn't tangled, now pin straight. When she moved a few steps backwards, she tripped over something, which she found to be a small black bag, with a red and white striped hat embroidered on it. Picking it up, it felt light and empty, even though she could see it bulging, and when she put her hand inside it, she could never touch the bottom of the bag.

What is with me today? Why doesn't anything make sense anymore? This can't really be happening, I must just be hallucinating!

Unexpectedly, the noises came to a halt and the sun slowly disappeared behind black clouds, creating a haunting mood. Starting to become scared, Kirsty's muscles tensed and she started to breathe in quickly. Suddenly, she felt hot breath of her neck and something on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw an enormous figure right in front of her. Scared beyond belief, she screamed in terror. Trying to run away from the monster, she tripped over a tree root, twisting her ankle. Fearing for her life, she curled herself up into a ball on the ground and tried her best to reason with the creature.

"Please! I mean you no harm!" she pleaded to it, shutting her eyes up tight. "Please, don't eat me!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down! It's okay," the creature told her, his voice gentler than she expected. "I'm not going to eat you."

"What-" Kirsty began, as she looked up. She gasped, as she saw the creature standing in front of her. It was an elephant, who looked much more exciting than the elephants she had seen in books. "You can talk?" Kirsty asked, still fearful of this talking animal.

The elephant raised an eyebrow. "Of course I can," he replied. "Every animal can talk in Nool."

"Nool?" she repeated, puzzled.

An intrigued look on his face, the elephant started to study her. "By the looks of you, you must be new here! I am so sorry for scaring you. It's just that we haven't had any newcomers in a long time," he apologised to her. "Welcome to the Jungle of Nool, right next to the River Walloo. I'm Horton, Horton T. Elephant. You'll fit in quite nicely here, I'm positive."

"I don't mean to be rude, but do you know how I can get out of here?"

Shaking his head, Horton answered her. "That I don't know, I'm afraid. If you head westward, you hit the Desert of Dreze. Over to the south, are the Bad Lands. It's called that for a reason, I'll have you know. And right before the horizon is Mount Nool, with its great cliffs and high altitude climbs. The reason we have had no newcomers, is because no one has found anything past these places. We're the start and end of the road." Seeing the girl sad face, he put his trunk out to her. "Hey, how about you stay with me for the time being? It's not safe for someone like you to be out all alone. I'll help you, if you will let me?"

After hesitating, she carefully grabbed his trunk and he pulled her up, taking her out of the dark corner of the jungle and leading her through the foliage. "So, do you have a name?" Horton asked her.

"Kirsty. Just Kirsty," she told him, giving a little smile.

"Kirsty? What a lovely name!" he said, returning the smile.

While Horton took her through the jungle, she started to notice music softly playing, like bongo drums, mixed in with the occasional growl or tweet. Her guide noticed this as well, and explained it to her." You're probably wondering what that noise is. It's just the usual jungle beat. It comes around now and again, but it's nothing to worry about." Horton told her, as he went into a large bush. "Come on, I want to show you something..."

Following him, Kirsty gasped in amazement at the sight she saw. She had been brought into a massive clearing, the light and colour of the jungle almost blinding her. Everywhere she looked, she was amazed. It was as if she had stepped right into the most bright, crazy and utterly impossible painting, the atmosphere so breathtaking. "This…this is incredible…" she managed to say, still in complete awe.

Horton nodded, taking in the bright sun. "Things always look better in the sunlight, don't they?" He moved over to the small pool of water in the middle of the clearing, resting himself in the cool water. "Wow, it's getting hot today!" He sucked up a load of water in his trunk and sprayed it over himself, cooling his upper half. Noticing Kirsty was still standing over by the bushes, he sucked up another load of water and sprayed her. She spluttered, her daydream interrupted. "Come on, you're not still scared of me, are you? Trust me, I wouldn't hurt a fly. Just relax, have fun!"

"Have fun?" Kirsty echoed, the words tasting a bit strange in her mouth. As if on cue, a drum began and a group of three flamboyant young girl birds appeared, and various jungle animals came into view, singing a catchy backing tune. Kirsty noticed this and watched on, bemused.

Why did they just start singing at random? This world is crazier than I thought…

Shortly after they entered, Horton began to sing with them. "On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool. He was splashing." he showered Kirsty with yet another wave.

"Splash!" the jungle animals exclaimed.

What's with all the random sound effects? And why is everyone suddenly speaking in rhyme!? Oh my, what have I landed myself into…?

"Enjoying the jungle's great joys, when Horton the elephant," Horton continued, looking to the teenager, who had the sudden urge to continue on from where he had left off.

"Horton the elephant," she attempted to sing in tune. Horton smile at her, which made Kirsty blushed. Did he think she was okay? She had never sung in front of people before, only singing softly in her room when no one was around. But, for some reason, she felt a lot more comfortable than she had expected to be.

The three girl birds stepped forward, repeating Kirsty's line. "Horton the elephant."

"Heard a small noise," Horton and Kirsty sang together, both confused slightly by the line which they had just said.

"Help! Help!" a small voice called out, desperately, which Kirsty had somehow heard.

She turned to the elephant, which hadn't seemed to have noticed the cry for help from the mysterious creature. "Horton?" she whispered to him. "Am I going mad or did I just here a person calling for help just now?"

At first, Horton couldn't hear it, but after listening a bit harder, he could also hear it. "I can hear it too!" he said to her, just before the music continued on, and the blue feathered girl bird, began to sing.

"So Horton stopped splashing, he looked toward the sound," she narrated, however, Kirsty could plainly see she was confused, as if she hadn't heard the voice which they had both heard.

"Why can't they hear it?" she whispered to herself aloud, just before Horton started to sing again.

"That's funny," he thought to himself, aloud.

"Thought Horton-" the group of girl birds added.

"There's no one around," he continued on, for some reason oblivious to the fact that a crowd had gathered around them both.

The yellow feathered girl bird stepped forward, looking a little less confident than the other bird before her. "Then they heard it again," she sang, as confused as the others.

"Just a very faint yelp," the green feathered girl bird added, also confused.

"As if some tiny person were calling for help," Kirsty sang, as she heard the voice again.

"Help! Help!" the voice yelled out again, even more determined than before, even though it barely could be heard.

Horton exited the pool with Kirsty right behind him, desperate to find out where the voice had come from. "I'll help you," he sang.

"Said Horton," the girl birds chimed in.

"But who are you, and where?" Horton said, as he and Kirsty began to look around the jungle.

The three girl birds looked the two strangely, before saying their line. "They looked and they looked. They could see nothing there!" Horton and the Bird Girls sang. It was at that moment, that Kirsty spotted something, blowing in the distance. It was a small speak of dust, which could hardly be seen with the naked eye. For some reason, she knew that was where the voice was coming from.

"But a small speck of dust blowing past..." she sang, which gained Horton's attention to it.

"Through the air," they both sang. The jungle animals and the three girl birds look on confused, not even noticing the dust speck.

Horton kept his eyes on the speck of dust, saying the next line with much amazement. "I say! How confusing! I've never heard tell of a small speck of dust that is able to yell, so you know what I think?" he told Kirsty, who was also watching the speck. "Why I think that there must be someone on top of that small speck of dust."

"Some poor little person who's shaking with fear."

"That he'll blow in the pool! He has no way to steer!"

"He's alone in the universe…" Kirsty said sadly, remembering her wish she had made a few hours ago. Coincidently, the music softened and everyone grew silent, including Horton.

"We'll just have to save him because after all, a person's a person, no matter how small," Horton sang, quite beautifully and heartfelt, as if he was reading Kirsty mind. He smiled at Kirsty, as they both began to sing together again.

"A person's a person no matter how-," they sang, as the jungle came back to life from the silence. "Small..." the two sang, while the jungle animals did a beat.

Meanwhile, the girl birds went to their positions, carrying on their job as narrators. "So, gently, and using the greatest of care, the elephant stretched his great trunk through the air," the three sang, as Horton and Kirsty got their rescue plan into action. Horton followed the speck, the dust landing softly on his trunk, while Kirsty found something to protect it. "And he lifted the dust speck and carried it over and placed it down," As they finished their line, Kirsty got onto Horton's with a fluffy pink clover and the dust slowly floated onto it.

"Safe!" they both said, sighed, as the music died down.

"On a very soft clover," the girl birds finished. When the music finally stopped, Horton clutched the clover in his trunk, gripping it tightly.

He looked to Kirsty, who was standing a few steps away from him now. "Thank you for helping me there. You have a lovely, sweet voice, you know," he commented, which made Kirsty slightly blush.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I don't have that great a voice. You, however, are a brilliant singer. Do those random musical numbers happen often around here?"

"No actually. This is the first time I've even seen something like this happen and I've been here for quite a long time."

"So, are you sure that there is a person on this speck of dust?"

Horton was just about to answer the teenager, before a dark purple kangaroo entered from the foliage. She had a wicked look on her face, which made Kirsty feel incredibly uncomfortable. "I don't know, but it's too late to back down now," he answered her, as the kangaroo eyed the clover.

Whoever she was, something about her made Kirsty sure that her new life in the jungle was going to get off to a sour start.

Oh dear! She lost her memory of her meeting with the Cat, including the incredible musical number! Why can't she remember it? And how come Horton and all the jungle animals didn't recognise her from the previous musical number? That will be revealed in a later chapter, my dear readers…

The next chapter (Chapter 4: Whos and Kangaroos Don't Mix )will hopefully be released before the end of February.

Please Read and Review and I will mention you in the next chapter, that's a promise!

(EDIT: This chapter was redone on the 13/07/2013. I have fixed up many of the spelling and grammar mistakes and edited the structure slightly. If you have the time, could you please comment on this edited version?)