Bwaaaaak-buck-buck-buck-buck-buck-awwwwk!
That was the first thing Fluey heard as he regained consciousness. It had stopped storming, thank goodness, and Fluey could feel the warm sunlight on his face.
"Mmmph . . . . ." he groaned, as he started to sit up, and he continued to hear the clucking. "What the heck is that?"
"Me trying to lay an egg, that's all," a voice said.
"Huh?" Fluey sat up and looked around, toward the clucking. Sitting at the bottom of that chicken coop he had climbed into was, of course, a chicken. It was that little red hen he saw while passing that farm on the way to the clinic.
"What the . . . . ." he said, a little dumbfounded. "A chicken?"
"Well, what'd you expect to find in a chicken coop?" the hen asked, flapping her wings a little. "Oooh. Never been so wet in my life. Now I know where that expression madder than a wet hen came from!"
"Holy Mesopotamia, a talking chicken!" Fluey shouted. "I must be cracking up!"
"So how big is this pond, anyway?" the chicken asked.
"I don't think it's a pond," Fluey said. "I think . . . . . I think I'm really losing it!"
Fluey stood up, and looked around, as he saw the flood waters recede rapidly. Too rapidly. Soon it all dried up into a desert. Just at the edge of the desert was a green forest.
"Where are we, anyway?" the chicken asked.
Fluey was about to respond, when he saw a lizard come out of the forest, and into the desert. The minute it stepped onto the sand, it turned into sand. Fluey gasped.
"Did you see that?" he asked.
"I did," the hen said. "Better watch your step around here."
"Ooohhhh . . . . ." Fluey moaned, and he sat back down. "Suddenly, I don't feel so well . . . . ."
"Well, I hope you don't think of having some chicken soup!" the hen shouted. "How are we going to get out of here without turning to sand ourselves, Fluey?"
"I don't know, but . . . . ." Fluey started, and then he realized something. "Wait a minute. How'd you know my name? And how can you talk, anyway?"
"Trade secret, kiddo," the hen said.
"You know if we were in Paws, a talking chicken wouldn't be so out of the ordinary, would it?"
"No, it wouldn't. So how are we getting out of here?"
"Beats me, chicken."
"Call me Henrietta."
"Yeah, that figures. If only I had my transformer. Then we'd be able to get over to the forest without having to worry about touching the sand."
Fluey sighed, and dug his hands into his pockets. Then a confused look crossed his face, as he removed his hands from his pockets, and unearthed his transformer.
"What the . . . . ." he started. "How'd I get my transformer back? Well, who cares how I got it back! Time to fly the coop!"
"Is that a chicken joke?" Henrietta asked.
Fluey ignored Henrietta, and pushed the green button on his transformer. In a swirl of green and blue, he transformed over to his superhero form, grabbed the chicken, and flew out of the chicken coop in a partial liquid conversion.
"Rally ho ho!" he shouted.
As Fluey made his way over the desert, he was unaware he was being watched. An eye from one of the rocks in the desert seemed to open, and he watched the teen hero and the little red hen fly over to the grass at the edge of the desert, separating it with the forest. Once he reached the grass, he converted back to solid.
"There we go," he said. "You know something, Henrietta? I think we might be in the land of Paws after all. How else can you explain a forest right at the edge of a desert? Come on. Let's head for the Amethyst City."
As Fluey and Henrietta walked toward the forest, the eyes from the rocks in the desert appeared in the rocks in the forest. Neither of them noticed. They also didn't notice when the eyes in the rock slid underground and appeared again in a stone wall.
"Your majesty!" the creature called out to an unknown person (or thing). "Your majesty, he has returned to Paws!"
"Good," a deep, ominous voice echoed through the underground caves. "Keep an eye on him."
The rock creature in the wall didn't go right away. It seemed hesitant about something.
"What is it?" the deep voice asked. "What's the matter?"
"He has a . . . . . chicken with him," the creature in the wall said.
"A CHICKEN!" the deep voice bellowed, causing the creature in the wall to shake a little.
Meanwhile, Fluey and Henrietta walked through the forest, until they reached what looked like the wreckage of a boat.
"What the . . . ." Fluey started. "That's the SS Jelly Roger . . . . Yogi's treasure hunting ship! It got swept up in a tornado, and landed here in Paws!"
"Looks like it was a rough trip," Henrietta clucked.
Fluey continued looking around the area, wondering how the ship got into this empty forest. When he arrived in Paws the first time, he crash landed right in the middle of Munchkin land.
"I don't think anybody could've moved this ship," Fluey said. "This has to be Munchkin land. But . . . . but how could it? Where are all the Munchkins? And where's . . . . ."
Fluey stopped in mid-sentence as he looked around. Then he gasped when he saw hundreds of yellow bricks scattered every which way.
"Holy Mesopotamia!" he yelled. He picked up one of the bricks, and held it, slightly slack-jawed. "It can't be! It just can't be!"
"What's the matter?" Henrietta asked. "It's just a yellow brick."
"No . . . . ." Fluey said. "No, Henrietta, it's not just a yellow brick. This was the Yellow Brick Road! It leads to the Amethyst City, and . . . . . I gotta find out what happened!"
With that, Fluey went into a partial conversion, and flew off down the path of yellow bricks. Henrietta raced after him, clucking frantically. All the while, they were being watched by that rock creature that had spotted them before. As Fluey streamed down the path, he began looking around. Nothing looked familiar to him. He wasn't even sure if he was on the right path at all, and he was growing more and more nervous by the minute. Finally, Fluey reached a field, filled with dead and dried up flowers, and was able to see the gates to the Amethyst City, except instead of a castle made of shining purple gems, he saw a city in ruins.
"Oh no . . . . . ." he said, as he stopped and converted back to solid.
"About time you stopped," Henrietta said, trying to catch her breath. Then she looked up at Fluey and noticed he appeared to be frozen in shock.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"The Amethyst City," Fluey said. "It looks like it's in ruins."
Fluey then picked up Henrietta and ventured into the city. It looked like it was deserted, except for several stone statues. Fluey recognized some of them as the citizens of the Amethyst City, when he had encountered them the first time. Then he saw something written on a wall, in what appeared to be red spray paint.
"Beware the Wheelers," he said. "Wheelers? What's a Wheeler? I don't remember them!"
Fluey put his chicken companion down, and continued searching the city. They came to a circle of statues, but they were all missing their heads.
"Boy, I've heard of losing your head, but this is ridiculous!" Fluey shouted.
"Just plain carelessness if you ask me," Henrietta said.
"I don't think we're going to get any information from the people here, Henrietta," Fluey sighed.
Suddenly, Fluey heard Henrietta cackling in a panic. He went into a conversion, and streamed over to see what the matter was. He immediately saw the trouble, and his jaw nearly hit the ground. There was a stone statue of a dog wearing a funnel on his head and holding up an axe.
"Hollerin' hi-fi's!" he shouted. "The Tin Hound Dog!"
Fluey looked around a little more, and saw a statue of a mountain lion, standing upright, with his fists held out as if he were about to partake in a boxing match. Fluey recognized him, too.
"The Cowardly Lion!" he shouted. "What happened to you guys? What happened to everybody? What's going on?"
Suddenly, Fluey began to hear squeaking wheels, much like the gurneys in the clinic. Then, a strange creature appeared. It was like nothing Fluey had ever seen before. It looked like it was part human, but it had wheels instead of hands and feet. Several of these things gathered around and were laughing like lunatics.
"I think these things must be Wheelers," Henrietta said.
They were surrounded. With one shriek, the Wheelers charged from all directions. Fluey wasted no time.
"Rally ho ho!" he shouted, picking up Henrietta, and then converting to liquid, shooting upward. This caused the all the Wheelers to crash into each other, but several more squawked and shrieked, and began chasing after our hero.
"I can't fight them by myself!" he shouted. "There are too many for me to handle alone!"
"So what do we do?" Henrietta asked.
"Heeeeere chicken, chicken, chicken!" one of the Wheelers called out.
Fluey went into a partial conversion again, hoping he could at least out run these things until he managed to find help. Superhero or not, he knew he was outnumbered.
"Uh oh . . . . ." Fluey said nervously, when he realized he had just flown himself and Henrietta into a dead end.
"Gotcha now!" one of the Wheelers said, as he screeched into view.
Fluey began looking around nervously. He had run into a covered area, so he couldn't escape by converting and flying upward, and the Wheelers were blocking the only exit, and closing in fast. Finally, he saw what looked like a keyhole.
"Yeah, man!" he shouted.
"That may work for you, Fluey, but I can't fit through that hole!" Henrietta shouted.
"Wait a minute!" Fluey shouted, pulling the brass key he had found out. "The key! Let's go, Henrietta!"
Immediately, Fluey stuck the key into the keyhole, and turned it. A door in the wall opened up, and immediately, our heroes dashed inside, closing it behind them, causing the Wheelers to crash into it. Then, they began screaming and squawking, making a terrible racket.
"Man, where's a set of earplugs when you need them?" Fluey shouted, plugging his ears with his fingers.
"You gotta come out of there some time, Water Boy!" the lead Wheeler yelled. "And when you do, we'll slice you to teeny, tiny, little pieces and throw you in the desert!"
"Hey man, I haven't even done anything!" Fluey shouted. "What gives, anyway?"
"You've got a chicken in there don't you?" the Wheeler shouted. "The Nome King doesn't allow chickens in Paws!"
"The Nome King?" Fluey repeated. "Who's the Nome King?"
"Who's the Nome King?" the Wheeler said, and then, he and the others began laughing hysterically, mocking Fluey's question, as they wheeled away. Fluey heaved a sigh of relief once they were gone.
"Sheesh!" he shouted. "Paws sure isn't how I remembered it!"
Fluey turned around, and stopped in his tracks. He saw a statue or something, made out of purple metal and bronze. It appeared to be in the shape of a hippopotamus. As a matter of fact, he looked a great deal like Peter Potamus.
"What the heck?" Fluey asked. "What do you think it is, Henrietta?"
"Beats me," Henrietta said. "Why don't you go find out?"
Slowly, Fluey walked over toward the strange, metal hippo, and wiped some of the dust and cobwebs off with his hand. He spotted a badge or something on his chest, and bent over to read it.
"The Royal Army of Paws," he said.
"Heh," Henrietta cackled. "Some army!"
"Hey, here's some directions," Fluey said. "Let's see what makes this fella tick. Patented Clockwork Mechanical Hippo. Does everything but live. For thinking, wind key number one under left arm. For speaking, wind key number two under right arm. For walking and action, wind key number three in the back. Hmm. Sounds interesting. What's say we wind him up and see what happens?"
Fluey then wound all three of the keys on the Clockwork Hippo, and it seemed to come to life with a loud yawn.
"Hey, what do you know, it worked!" Fluey shouted.
"Huh?" the hippo asked, looking around. "Hey, who are you?"
"I'm Fluey, and she's Henrietta," Fluey said.
"Fluey . . . . ." the hippo said. "Hey! You're the kid I've been waiting for!"
"Waiting for?" Fluey asked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, the Scarecrow, the Tin Hound, and the Cowardly Lion sent you the key to open this place," the hippo said. "The Scarecrow locked me in here and told me to wait for you."
"Where is the Scarecrow, anyway?" Fluey asked. "And what happened to the Amethyst City?"
"I don't know where the Scarecrow is," the hippo said. "He just disappeared, and everything living turned to stone."
"How come you didn't turn to stone?" Henrietta asked.
"Because I'm a mechanical hippo," the hippo said. "I don't live."
"This is Paws, Henrietta," Fluey said, shrugging. "It doesn't always have to make sense here. Anyway, we've got to figure out a way to escape those rolling hyenas."
"The Wheelers," Henrietta said. "They're gonna throw us in the desert!"
"I may have super powers, but I can't take them all at once," Fluey said. "There are too many."
"Don't worry about a thing, Fluey," the hippo said. "I know exactly what will take care of them. Let's go."
The threesome then opened the door slightly, and Fluey looked around.
"All's clear," he said. "Let's go."
The group then made their way down the alley where the Wheelers had cornered them, and continued looking around. It was too quiet for the hippo's liking.
"Those Wheelers can be pretty tough customers," he said.
"Yeah, man," Fluey agreed. "Better keep your eyes open."
Suddenly, the sound of squeaky wheels filled the air, and a group of Wheelers came charging toward them.
"Uh oh . . . ." Fluey said.
"I'll take care of this," the hippo said. "Stand back. This calls for my secret weapon. The Hippo Hurricane Holler."
The clockwork hippo then took a deep breath, and faced the oncoming Wheelers.
"YeeeeeeeaAAAAAAAOOOOOOWWWWW!"
That did it. The Wheelers were literally blown away. Probably into the next county. Except for one, and he was about to charge again.
"Leave this one to me," Fluey said, putting Henrietta down for a moment. Then he went into a partial conversion with his fist outstretched.
"Rally ho ho!" he yelled, as he shot forward, and gave the lone Wheeler a good hard punch in the nose. Then Fluey grabbed him by the lapels.
"Okay, buster, we want some answers here!" he shouted.
"You'll be sorry for treating me like this!" the Wheeler shouted, writhing around trying to get out of the dark-haired Impossible's grip. "I'm a terrible fierce person!"
"Give it a rest, you laughing hyena!" Fluey shouted. "I'm not afraid of you! Where's the Scarecrow, and what happened to the Amethyst City?"
"The Nome King conquered the Amethyst City," the Wheeler said. "And he took all the amethysts, and he turned everyone to stone!"
"Yeah, we know that part," Fluey said. "But where's the Scarecrow?"
The Wheeler began laughing like a lunatic just then. Fluey groaned.
"Okay, Laughing Boy, if that's how ya wanna play it," he said. "Hey, Hippo, know where I can get a screwdriver? I want to see how far this Wheeler can get once we take off his wheels!"
"Eeeeep!" the Wheeler squeaked. "Uhhh . . . . uhhh, there's only one person who knows where the Scarecrow is. And that's . . . . Princess M-m-m-mombi!"
"I don't remember her," Fluey shrugged.
"Okay, fella," the Hippo said. "You take us to this Princess Mombi."
"Oh no . . . . noooooo . . . . . . noooooo!" the Wheeler shrieked. But he didn't have a choice. Fluey, the Hippo, and Henrietta soon arrived at the castle of this Princess Mombi person. The Hippo was holding onto the Wheeler by the coat tails who was whining and carrying on.
"Let me go, let me go!" he wailed. "Pleeease . . . . pleeeeeease!"
"Okay, Hippo, you might as well let him go," Fluey said.
"All right," the Hippo said, and he let go of the Wheeler. "But you'd better behave yourself, buster!"
"I'll behave," the Wheeler said, and the Hippo let go of him. Then he took off like a shot, laughing like crazy. Fluey just watched him go, and shook his head.
"Sheesh, I wonder what he's been smoking!" he shouted. Then he grabbed one of the door knockers and banged it against the door.
"Hello!" he called. "Anybody home!"
"I don't think so," Henrietta said.
"Well . . . . the door's unlocked," Fluey said, as he pushed open the door. "Come on, Hippo. Let's check this out."
And with that, Fluey, the Hippo, and Henrietta made their way into the castle.
