The group of Bryson, Tommy, Charlotte, Kyle, Thersea, and Colton continued to walk. Bryson was still holding Dorothy.
Now that Bryson's wounds were no longer a threat to him, they were prepared to get back inside the Dragon Machine.. away to Quadling Country where they could find where Scarecrow and Tin Man were located. Where they could work to rid of the Oz-hauler watch. And make sure Zavick couldn't use a single element to enact his plan.
Dorothy woke up as they walked to the flying Dragon Machine. She seemed confused at first, then blushed when she seemed to remember their earlier memory in the bed - checking to make sure her clothes were back on. She smiled when she noticed he had re-adjusted them back onto her body, giving him a knowing look.
As they walked, Theresa and Colton were just stunned at what they saw. Colton, however, was the most awstruck, as he couldn't get over how beautiful the area was. And was also the youngest, with no experience in Oz.
Bryson felt guilty knowing the young boy had to experience it in such harsh conditions.
His guilt was replaced with fear, however.
The gang could hear the sounds of quick rustling along the ground, bushes shaking.
Then, they could hear growling and howling.
Soon enough, a whole pack of wolves had jumped out at them.
They all gasped and pulled back in response.
The wolves sniffed and inspected the gang, and soon enough one of them spoke.
"Well, well, well...we weren't expecting guests. Would you all like to...stay for dinner?" said a male wolf in a mocking tone.
"Yeah! Stay for dinner. 'Cause you all look like snacks." A second wolf continued.
"Way to ruin our grand entrance." The other wolf scoffed.
Another wolf then grumbled lowly. "Now, this is a meal I've waited my whole life for! It'll be immensely satisfying to gobble up the Gale girl who escaped us.. all those years ago. And all her little friends.." The wolf purred.
Bryson clutched Dorothy tighter, holding her close and protectively.
"Your little Tin friend did a good job of chopping some of our friends up. Payback sounds nice. Especially for a disgusting group of outsiders like you all!" One wolf sneered.
Bryson realized these were the same wolves that the Witch of the West had sent in the original book. It seemed that the same thing must've happened to his version of Dorothy.
Did that mean Theodora had sent them? He shuddered at the thought. It would certanly explain how they seemed to know so much.
"The Gale girl? As in you know who that wore the you know what's?" Asked a younger wolf. "Oh, we do have a real meal on our hands."
"Dorothy may not wear the Ruby Slippers anymore. But to eat her and friends is a real treat, to say the least." A female wolf hissed.
"Oh, I don't need a pair of silly slippers to show the bunch of you a thing or two! Bryson, let me go." She huffed. Bryson just shook his head, not wanting to let her be any closer to the wolves.
"Pft! You guys can't hurt us! We have the Child of O-" Kyle began to gloat, but Tommy put his hand over his mouth. "Shush! I don't have.. my powers anymore." Tommy mouthed.
"An outsider child with a smart mouth. Times have changed in the outside worlds. I wonder...how that smartness will taste." A wolf before sneered the pack began closing in for the kill. The leader of pack had her eyes fixated on Colton, who whimpered and hid behind Theresa.
A red male parrot then landed in front of the lead wolf. "You are making a terrible mistake! I don't know who sent you bozos, but the King of the Jungle is not gonna like this! This is one of the only peaceful places in all of Oz right now! We don't need to contribute to this war."
"Oz is not a civilized place. These foolish outsiders just tend to romanticize it. I say we oughta teach 'em the true nature of Oz." A wolf salivated.
The parrot suddenly flapped out its wings in front of the wolf to distract her. "Run!" The parrot squwaked out.
The gang began to sprint as quickly as they could, Bryson clutching Dorothy tightly.
"Don't let them get away!" The female wolf instructed, swiping at the parrot that quickly flew away in fear.
The wolves then sprinted after Bryson and the gang through the jungle. They were right where the flying Dragon Machine was parked.
But the pack of wolves were too quick for the gang, pouncing in front of the flying machine.
"Ah, great. I can't believe you survived a fight with your future self, but now we're gonna get eaten by wolves with you." Charlotte scoffed.
Kyle began to scream at the top of his lungs in a last ditch effort to scare off the wolves, but they all laughed at him. Minus the leader, who remained calm and cold.
"Do it again! I wanna hear your fear!" A wolf commanded in a sadistic manner.
But instead of Kyle screaming again, a loud.. booming.. thunder-like ROAR was heard.
Bryson and the gang turned to see a huge, looming Lion.
"Leave 'em alone or I'll turn ya all into my appetizer for the night!" Lion growled, then scared them off finally with another booming roar.
The scary wolves were suddenly rendered defenseless puppies.
The parrot returned to land by the Lion's side. "Thanks for the help!"
The Lion kindly dismissed him and the parrot flew off again. "I'm glad he got to me first. Otherwise.. ya could've been their lunch. Are you all okay?"
"Lion!" Dorothy beamed. Bryson let her go and she ran up to hug him. It was nice to see the Cowardly Lion again.
"Dorothy! I've been hearin' you were back. Nice to finally see ya." Lion purred and nuzzled on her.
Colton had been sniffling and hiding in Thersea's shoulder before peaking out when he had noticed the Lion was friendly.
"Anyway, I've been lookin' for ya all." Lion said. "Follow me. I need to show ya all somethin'."
...
The gang followed Lion closely and soon enough, he stopped after a few minutes of walking around the jungles.
He put his large paws up on a tall, thick tree. It seemed to block the pathway, like a dead end.
This seemed to activate something. The tree's bark suddenly split as if it were a door and they could see the other side of the jungles.
"Alright. Follow me." Lion instructed.
They could see a bright shining light through the split in the tree. As they walked through it, they were stunned.
Once they reached the other side, they were met with bright lush greens. This area of the forest seemed tropical, and the sun shined right on the scattered leaves.
Perhaps most curious of all.. was who inhabited it all.
Bryson eventually noticed that every single good-hearted outsider he had come in contact with during his adventures in Oz was around the area.
He looked over at Lion, seemingly dumbfounded.
"Come with me. I'll explain." Lion said. "That means you too, Dorothy."
Dorothy was distracted by the beautiful sight until she skipped off to Lion and Bryson.
...
The rest of the gang had been chatting with other outsiders.
Lion had led Bryson and Dorothy behind another tree.
"I don't get it. I've seen some of those outsiders at Emerald City. And.. last time. I saw them. And magic turned them back into children and sent them home. Yet they're here." Bryson said, confused.
"Ozma managed to take every single outsider and bring them back here. Some of them were staying at Emerald City and fled after the war broke out. I took them back here.. for refuge. And some of them had escaped and were never found to be brought back to Emerald City. Nevertheless, ever single outsider has been accounted for now." Lion explained. "This is the Outsider Sanctuary. Where they are hidden from any violent anti-outsiders."
"Yeah, Tommy told me about Ozma bringing every outsider bac here. It's insane." Bryson sighed as he looked around.
"Zavick told me about it, too. He was the one who captured me in the first place. He tried to get to me before my sickness started and I was transported to Oz." Dorothy explained.
"He did?" Bryson said in shock.
"I should've known. He had the same outfit.. the same mask." Dorothy confirmed with a nod. "He was trying to prevent my death by taking me for himself. Putting me in a safe place."
"I still don't understand. How did he even get here? And time travel?" Bryson squinted, rubbing his forehead in confusion.
".. I know." Lion said lowly. "One of the things I wanted to discuss with you." The animal said as he paced back and forth slowly.
"In Oz.." Lion began. "People from different universes cross. Like you two. Bryson, you're from a year distant from Dorothy's time. But it's also a whole different world. You both live on Earth, but they are simply different dimensions." He explained.
Bryson just listened closely, soaking it all up.
"This.. future version of you. He is simply from an alternate universe. You two are very similar, but different. And he knows this. He is no time traveler. He just jumped universes." Lion explained. "I don't know how, but he had the technology to jump universes. I suppose in his future, Oz developed enough for that to happen. He spent a few years.. depressed and searching for some sort of answer in every world he could find. Eventually, he discovered that these worlds colliding are larger than it seems... "
Bryson nodded anxiously. "How so?"
"There are different versions of Oz in each universe. In his universe, his own world and his Oz were very similar. So, yes. People from different worlds come to Oz. But these worlds and our Oz.. are one universe." Lion explained.
Lion continued. "He found your universe. Noticed how similar it was. Hired people to help him with his plan.. desperate for money to hire a lawyer in some custody battle."
Bryson gasped. "That's how Ethan is connected to this.. he and the people trying to take Colton away from Thersea are connected." He scoffed.
Bryson then squinted. "This.. sounds confusing. But I kinda get what you're saying." Bryson scratched his head. "It's like different subsections." Bryson squinted. "How do you know all of this?"
"I had a run-in with Theodora. Didn't get to ask her how she knew. But I managed to trap her and pounce on her. Claw her. We were near a river and I said I'd toss her into it and melt her if she didn't answer me. Somehow, she knows about this Zavick stuff. That's what she told me before her sister came by and tried to zap me. I had to run away before they ganged up on me." Lion said.
Bryson rubbed his own face in a stressful manner and Dorothy rubbed his shoulders in a comforting manner to ease his worries.
"How much do you know about the war?" Bryson asked, wanting more questions answered.
"Two sides. Pro-outsiders.. who now reject you as the Wizard. Despite the fact you freed outsiders, your recent rules and restrictions have rendered their ideals for freedom has something you oppose. Along with the fact you imprisoned a few after freeing them." Lion explained.
"So the anti-outsiders support me?" Bryson quizzed.
"Correct. They support the restrictions because they feel it prevents outsiders from messin' up stuff in Oz. Or from being here at all. They support you as Wizard whole heartedly and believe you can do no wrong. They think what you are doing is needed to prevent more disasters in Oz." Lion explained.
Bryson shook his head. "Ugh, the Ozians who support me.. support me for doing something terrible. God, I really messed up." He sighed. "I need to make Oz perfect. Like it was. And these stupid restrictions were such a terrible idea."
"Your heart was in the right place." Dorothy reasoned, always seeing the brighter side to the situation as she rubbed his back.
"The most important thing I wanted to tell you was what I was told by Scarecrow and Tin Man. They're currently at Quadling Country. They need to destroy what they called an Oz-hauler.. says it unlocks certain powers." Lion huffed. "And that they need Bryson to give it to them."
Bryson nodded. "Yeah. We need to go ahead and do that now, actually." He sighed. "I think you should leave the kids and Thersea here, though. And Doro-..." he trailed off and Dorothy gave a grumpy look.
"Bryson, no. Last time you went alone, you were almost killed." She sighed.
"Yeah, he's got bruises all over his face!" Lion exclaimed, causing Bryson to touch the bruises in question.
"If anyone's going with you, it's me. You know I can use Zavick's love for me as a weakness. And I know more about Oz than any of the other outsiders. Out of all of them, I've been here the most." She reasoned.
"But you're also a huge target for the evil witches." Bryson sighed.
"Oh, the one that gets killed by water? Oh, I'm just trembling." Dorothy blew hair out of her face and put her hand on her hips, not having any of it.
"She's too tough and stubborn, isn't she?" Lion sighed. "I trust ya, Dorothy. Even though I wish you'd stay behind and let me look after ya with the others."
Dorothy smiled and rubbed Lion's fur, petting him. "I know, Lion. But.. Oz all together has a better chance of survival if I do this." She kissed his fur. "I love you and you're the best lion a girl could ask for." She snickered.
Lion purred, nuzzling on her. "And don't ya forget it. 'Cause I could never forget you, Dorothy. No matter what."
Dorothy kissed Lion's mane. "I'll see you soon, I promise."
She walked over to Bryson. "Let's go destroy this watch. Together this time."
They told Lion to inform Tommy, Kyle, Charlotte, Thersea, and Colton of their plans and hastily left. They needed to destroy this watch quickly.
Because the stakes had never been higher. All because of Bryson's future, alternate self.
The thought made him shudder.
Nevertheless, Dorothy took Bryson's hand and sweetly gestured him to leave the area.
Soon enough, they had made their way into the Dragon Machine. The pair flew off to Quadling Country to destroy the Oz-hauler watch.
...
Will Bryson and Dorothy manage to find Tin Man and Scarecrow? And will they be able to destroy the Oz-hauler watch before Zavick destroys the world and Oz as we know it?
Stay tuned. All reviews and support appreciated. Hope you enjoyed and have a nice day. x