The Genius of Oz.
Chapter 5: The Cowardly Lion
As our heroes walked through the woods, it became darker as the trees became larger and were closer together. Eventually, they became a bit scared because they heard the various calls of wild creatures. "What kind of animals live on this planet?" asked Lilo. "All sorts of animals actually," said the Tin Woodbot, "most of them are practically the same as Earth animals. We might meet some in this forest." "Animals that eat straw?" asked the Scarecrow nervously. "Some, but most likely lions and tigers and bears." This unnerved our heroes quite a bit and they were unintentionally started going faster as they keep thinking, "Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my. Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS!"
Suddenly a loud roar brought them out of the thoughts. They looked around and saw a mustard-yellow lion leap out of the woods. He was about the same size of Stitch and his ferocity was slightly marred by the two buckteeth at either end of his mouth.
Nevertheless, our heroes were unnerved enough to be jarred by the surprise. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodbot fell to either side of the Sandy Brick Road. The Lion stood on his hind legs and said, "Put 'em up, put 'em up. I'll take on any one of ya. I'll fight you both together. I'll fight you on one foot, I'll fight you with my hands behind my back, I'll fight you with my eyes closed." Then the Lion took a closer look at the Scarecrow and the Woodbot and said, "Say, neither of you made of meat. You're just grass and scrap-metal. What kind of lousy wimps are you?" "Now that's getting personal, Lion," said the Tin Bot. "Yeah," said the Scarecrow, "why don't you give him a lesson?" "Why me?" "Well I have as much density as a quilt," said the Scarecrow. "You have a better chance against him." "But I wasn't built for lion taming," said the Tin Woodbot.
Stitch stood in front of Lilo and growled. "I'll get you first, blueberry," said the Lion. They both got into a big fight that raised a lot of dust. Stitch looked like he was holding his own, but the Lion was getting the upper hand. So when Lilo saw her chance, she whapped the Lion on the nose. The Lion stopped, sat on the ground, and started crying. As the others got themselves up, Lilo scolded the Lion, "Shame on you for picking on people as weak as the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodbot." "Yeah," said the offended parties and then, "Hey!" "And you should have left Stitch alone too. He didn't do anything to you." She then noticed that the Lion hasn't stopped crying and said, "I didn't slap you that hard, it was just a sharp tap. You're such a coward for crying like that." "You're right," said the Lion, "I am a coward. I don't have any courage at all. I can't even go to sleep at night." "Why don't you try counting sheep?" asked the Tin Woodbot. "Sheep! Where?" cried the Lion as he jumped into the Scarecrow's arms, which collapsed under the Lion's unusual weight. As the Scarecrow re-padded his arms, Lilo said, "Why don't you come with us to see the Genius? I bet he could give some courage." "Wouldn't you be ashamed be seen with a Cowardly Lion," asked the Lion, "I would and so would all the other animals in the forest." The others shook their heads and then Lilo said, "Come on everybody; to the Coral City!" Now with the Cowardly Lion in their company, our heroes continued down the Sandy Brick Road out the forest without any further trouble. Except for the brief giraffe attack.
Here's another chapter. Now all five of the main characters are introduced and you can continue to guess the other roles without more provocation. Keep an eye out for the next chapter. Please review.