Chapter Seven: The City of Green
Kaiba knocked three times on the door of the bright green gate in front of the Emerald City, his companions waiting behind him eagerly.
A little trapdoor on the wide opened to reveal a muscular man with pointy blond hair, dressed all in green.
"Name's Raphael," he introduced himself indifferently, "Guardian of the Door to the Emerald City…state your business or go away, I have other things I'd much rather be doing."
Yami and Kaiba exchanged a look, before the lion replied meekly, "Uh…w-we want to see the Wizard of Oz."
"Don't we all, don't we all," said Raphael dully, "No really, what do you want?"
"We're serious!" Ryou glared, "We need to see the Wizard of Oz!"
Raphael laughed derisively. "Don't you idiots know? Nobody can see the Great Oz: nobody, nohow. Even I've never seen him!"
"Then how do you know there is one?" asked Jou curiously.
Raphael didn't have an answer for that, so he snorted, "You're wasting my time…" and started to close the trapdoor.
"No, wait, wait!" Mokuba pleaded, "Seto and I have to see the Wizard…the Good Witch of the North sent us!"
"Prove it," Raphael dared.
"Kaiba's wearing the silver shoes she gave him," Jou pointed out.
Raphael looked down at Kaiba's feet, which were still alight with star-like silver.
"Atlantis Almighty," he breathed, before adding in a more controlled fashion, "Why didn't you say so? That's a horse of a different color! C'mon in!"
The trapdoor closed, and the gate opened, to reveal the inner Emerald City, a beautiful cascade of lime, jade, olive, and every other shade of green imaginable.
And near the gate, there was a horse and buggy, all alight in green, where a wavy brown-haired and blue-eyed coachman dressed in green was seated.
"Heya, mates," he greeted in a Australian accent, "I'm Varon, and I shall be your primitive cab driver today! Need a lift somewhere?"
"Could you take us to see the Wizard?" asked Kaiba, stepping into the coach and helping Mokuba in.
"To the Wizard?" repeated Varon with wide eyes, "To the Wizard?" here he grinned, "Sure, mate, I'll take ya there! It'd take a good fifteen minutes on foot, but I'm sure my horse Sydney could make it in five! At the door, just tell the castle guard, Amelda, who ya are, and I'm sure he'll talk to the Wizard for ya."
"Thanks a lot," Ryou replied with a kind smile, climbing into the coach.
As the coach went through the city, Yami was first to notice that Varon's horse Sydney was indeed a "horse of a different color," as he kept changing colors.
People bustled around in the streets, laughing and chatting with each other and all dressed in identical shades of green. There were shops and parlors, as well as houses and office buildings. It was a city beyond hopes or dreams. It was so comfortable, yet so modern that it couldn't possibly be mimicked anywhere else.
Jou grinned at Kaiba. "Isn't this amazing?"
Kaiba nodded. "It is…nothing like Domino."
"What's Domino like?" asked Jou.
Kaiba frowned for a moment, wondering how to explain "normal" to a scarecrow from Oz.
"Nothing like here," he said at last.
Jou laughed, but his laugh was interrupted by a high-pitched scream.
An Emerald City civilian was pointing up at the sky, and as others looked up, they began screaming and pointing too.
"It's the Wicked Wiz," Kaiba realized.
So it was. Up in the sky was a blimp, and on a huge television screen, he could see the evil wizard's face.
"Surrender, Seto Kaiba," his voice boomed into the city below, "If you really thought that I was finished with you, you are dead wrong…I'm not finished with you until I get those silver shoes…and believe me, anyone who stands in my way again will be handled by me…personally…"
And with that, the blimp disappeared in a poof of black smoke.
"Kaiba? Who's Kaiba?" one woman asked.
"The Wizard will explain it!" another woman said.
"The Wizard!"
All the civilians' voices came together in a panic, running over to the large palace where Varon's carriage had just pulled up.
"We better hurry if we're going to see the Wizard," Jou jumped out of the carriage, "It looks like he suddenly got a long line of customers."
A struggling man at the entrance tried to calm the crowd down. He had bright red hair and light silver-blue eyes, and like everyone else, was dressed in green.
"That must be Amelda," Mokuba muttered, "The guy Varon mentioned!"
"Silence! Silence!" Amelda yelled over the crowd, "Everything is alright! The Great and Powerful Oz is looking into this as we speak! So go on home, there's nothing to worry about! Get out of here, move along…"
The crowd eventually dispersed, until Kaiba and the others came over to the guard.
"If you please," Ryou said politely, "We'd like to see the Wizard of Oz…all five of us."
"Nobody sees the Great Oz," Amelda snapped, "Nobody, nohow."
"But he's Seto Kaiba!" Jou gestured to the CEO.
Amelda's eyes widened. "The Wiz's Seto Kaiba?"
Kaiba nodded. Amelda thought this over.
"That does make a difference," he said at last, "Wait here…I'll announce you to Oz at once."
And the five of them sat down on the steps, new hope apparent in their eyes.
"In a few minutes, I'll have my brain!" Jou grinned.
"And I'll get my heart!" sighed Ryou.
"And I'll finally be King of the Forest!" Yami purred, as he lounged down on the steps next to Jou, "Oh…how long I've waited to be brave, and today is finally the day I will be!"
Mokuba nodded. "It's exciting, isn't it, Seto? Soon we'll be back home! I can't wait!"
Kaiba ruffled his little brother's hair a bit. "Indeed…I can't wait either, little bro."
But right then, the doors slammed back open, to reveal Amelda.
"The Wizard says go away!" the guard snapped, before going back inside and slamming the door.
There was a silence.
"Go away?" Ryou whispered in disbelief.
"Looks like we…came a long way…for nothing," Jou sounded like he had a bad head cold.
Mokuba began to cry. "I…I thought we were going home…"
Kaiba put his arms around his little brother. "Don't worry, Mokuba, we'll…we'll find a way…"
"Of course you will," Yami assured him, but it was obvious he didn't believe everything he was saying, "The Wizard…the Wizard can't be the only person to go to…"
"I just wanna go home!" Mokuba wailed, "I miss Domino, I miss Japan, I miss everything!"
Kaiba's grip tightened around his little brother. "I know, Moky…I know…"
It was then that Kaiba's ears picked up another source of crying.
"Please…don't cry anymore!"
The group turned to look at Amelda, who they could see was weeping, from a trapdoor in the castle entrance.
"Don't cry anymore…" he sobbed, "I'll…I'll get you into the Wizard somehow…I had a little brother myself once…"
And still sobbing, he closed the trapdoor, and a few seconds later, the door opened to admit the group into the Wizard's castle.
