AN: A bit short.
Miles and miles they walked deeper and deeper into the woods. The charming woodsy feeling had fallen out a while ago. The trees and vegetation got thicker and denser to the point where the canopy blocked out the sun entirely. Mushrooms and mold took over trees that became gnarled and snarly. Some plants along the side of the road snapped at their heels with odd flower-heads or tripped the trio intentionally. Max tried retaliating by stomping on the tendrils, but after several instances of it happening and with no end in sight, he had to give up and just avoid them.
Space Kid shivered silently in his spacesuit, "T-this place s-sure is creepy, huh?"
"Y-yeah. Hey Max?" Neil ventured, "D-do ya think we could backtrack and try something like, I dunno, the Yellow Monorail or the Yellow Taxi Service to Chartreuse City?"
"And walk all that way again?!" Max shot back, "F*ck that noise! Besides, I didn't see anything in all the time we were there. Where would we find a f*cking Taxi Service unless we went all the way back to those Dolph-people."
"Lilliputs." Neil emphasized.
"Whatever! Still not happening." Max stomped forward, determination set in stone on his face.
The trees echoed ominously as the chittering of monkeys and jungle birds rang throughout. Vines and bark snapping from unseen creatures. In the distance, a loud roar was faintly heard.
"W-what kind of things do you think live here?" Space Kid said nervously. "Like… like… lions?"
"Or tigers." Neil whimpered, panic overcoming logic.
"Or bears!"
"OH. MY. F*CKING. GOD!" Max shouted, red-faced, "Calm your f*cking tits already! We're in a jungle on the edge of a f*cking woodlands fairy tale! Not Africa! There are no Lions! There are no Tigers! And I doubt we'd ever see a-"
"A BEAR!" Space Kid shouted, pointing behind Max.
The human whirled around and saw a black shape lumbering towards them on all fours. It snarled angrily as it got closer and closer and closer and-
"Hi."
"AIEEEE" Neil and Space Kid clung to each other, screaming.
"Hey, 'sup?" Max greeted.
"Where are you guys headed?" the creature asked casually sniffing them, "Most people don't come down this way. They just take the bus."
"There's a f*cking bus?!"
The creature got up close and Max could see it better in the dim lighting. It had the stripes of a tiger; the furry, brown body of a bear; the fluffed tail of a lion; the tusks of a warthog; the teeth, eyes, and paws of a puma; and the snout of a wolf. In essence, it was a mess of a chimera.
But it still had a familiar floof of seagreen hair.
"Nikki?!"
"Hiya stranger!" Nikki-beast waved happily. "I had no idea my name traveled around so much! So, where are you going?! Ooh, oohh! Can I come too?! It'd be an adventure!" She bounded up a tree, swung on the vine and landed with a backflip in her original position.
"We're going to the Wizard-" Max started.
"The Wizard?! Oh, take me with, pleeeease?" Nikki begged, her wolf-ears flattened against her head and eyes wide and kitten-like.
"Ugh! Fine!" Max groaned, not willing to even start arguing with these tagalongs latching onto him like lampreys.
Nikki hopped in place and bounced in place. "Oh, my, GOD this is happening?!" She squealed (literally, as the Warthog part of her surfaced). "I can finally wish for it!
"I'm gonna be as cool as Erid!" She pointed to the side and revealed a taller puma-lioness mix was leaning against a tree looking chill as f*ck. She noticed the attention and waved with a simple "'Sup?"
Nikki had stars in her eyes, "Oooooh, if only I could be as cool as her; she's like freeze-your-socks-off cool! She's like liquid-nitrogen cool! She's like get-outside-in-winter-and-prep-a-big-loogie-and-shoot-it-out-your-nose-only-for-it-to-freeze-into-a-nose-cicle COOL!"
She turned to the group, "And soon, I'll be just as cool."
Max groaned as music started up around them, "No, no, why?!"
"Welllll, if I met the wizard~
Oh, what I would saaaay~."
"NO!"
The group looked at the tiny figure of a fuming Max, "No! No, f*cking No! No more singing!" He pointed at Nikki-clone, "You! What do you want?!"
"To be cool, I guess." She shrugged.
"Then haul ass and follow us!" He marched passed her and stomped along the yellow mulch closer to the Chartreuse City.
The rest shrugged and ran to catch up to the retreating figure with visions of their wishes being fulfilled dancing in their heads.
Erid watched them all leave with a cool and aloof expression on her face.
"Meredith? Are you here?" A voice called out.
"Daaaad, I told you; call me Erid." She groaned. The bushes opened up and revealed her two, buff, gay wolf dads standing side-by-side.
The underbrush parted and revealed a new creature that fit perfectly in the forest of mismatched chimeras.
Her dads flinched back, positioning themselves slightly between her and the new creature. It's soulless eyes surveyed the family, hissing angrily with its forepaws raised.
Then, a banana fell from a tree above, landing in front of the creature. It scooped it in its large bill-mouth and fell lazily on its stomach.
"Mwak."
…
"Cool."
AN: Yep, that's the end of the singing.
Thank God.