The Genius of Oz.
Chapter 7
Part I: The Coral City
Soon our heroes have left the deadly poinsettia field. They entered the Coral City through the main gate to find the dazzling place within. Every sparkled with the blue-green reflections off the coral. After a bit of sprucing-up, our heroes were ready to meet the Genius. But as they were heading over to the palace, they heard a whooshing high up in the air. They looked up to see the Wicked Witch of the West creating skywriting with black smoke. Eventually the Wicked Witch spelled out her message, "SURRENDER LILO". All of the citizens of the city were asking, "Who's Lilo?" Then someone said, "The Genius will know!" Suddenly everyone was rushing towards the Genius's palace. "We better get there quickly or the Genius will have more people than he can handle," said Lilo. Thus said, the group quickly moved towards the palace along with the rest of the crowd.
When they arrived at the palace, which was more magnificent than all of the other buildings, they found the crowd had stopped short in front of the palace doors. In front of the palace doors was a single Soldier. He paced about on his three legs and said, "Hold it, hold everything! The Genius is extremely busy right now and does not need your intervention. He will take care of everything so you can all go home now. Go on, go home!" The crowd reluctantly went away but our heroes remained. They approached the Soldier who said; "Didn't you hear me? Go home!" "We want to see the Genius," said Lilo. The Soldier gasped and said, "The Genius? No one can see the Genius, no nobody, not no how." "But she's Lilo," said the Cowardly Lion. The Soldier stared at Lilo with his one eye and said, "The Witch's Lilo?" "That's right," said the Scarecrow. "Very well," said the Soldier, "I'll alert the Genius at once." He turned around and marched through the palace doors.
The group was excited about the Genius seeing them. "Soon me and Stitch will be back home," said Lilo. "And I'll be the smartest guy in the whole sugarcane field," said the Scarecrow. "I'll carve lovely wooden statues with my new found emotions," said the Tin Woodbot. "And when I get back to the forest," said the Cowardly Lion, "nobody's gonna push me around. I'll alley up on the alligators. I'll ring around the rhinoceroses. I'll level those elephants. And most of all, I'll never be scared again!" Suddenly the palace doors slammed open and the Cowardly Lion yelped and hid behind Stitch. The Soldier stepped out and said, "The Genius can't see you. He says to go away." Then the Soldier turned around and walked back in.
Everyone looked at each other and said, "Go away?" "We can't leave now," said the Scarecrow. "We've come such a long way," said the Tin Woodbot. "And we've got nowhere to go back to," said the Cowardly Lion. "And Nani's waiting for me," said Lilo. "She's always been so nice to me. She can be a big pain in the butt for an older sister, but she's always looked out for me. Whenever I'm sick, or sad, or upset, Nani tries to make me feel better. And now I can't get back to her and she's going to so worried about." As Lilo started to sniffle, she heard loud bawling behind her. The Soldier had been listening to their conversation through a window and now a torrent of tears was coming out of his eye. "Stop crying," wailed the Soldier, "I'll get you to see the Genius. I had an older sister myself." As the doors opened, Stitch said, "That worked."
The group proceeded down the long hall towards the Genius's throne room. As they were approaching the final set of doors, the Cowardly Lion said, "On second thought, I think I can get along fine without courage. Why don't I wait for you at the gates?" "Come on," said the Scarecrow, "where's your sense of adventure?" "Back at the gates," said the Cowardly Lion. Then the doors opened wide and our heroes stepped into the Genius's throne room.
The Genius wasn't sitting on a grand throne. Instead, he was an enormous head floating among several metal pipes like an organ's. Green-blue flames surrounded the head, so it was impossible to see what the face looked like. "I AM THE GENIUS OF OZ," bellowed the head, "THE BRILLIANT AND POWERFUL! WHO ARE YOU, LITTLE GIRL?" Lilo timidly stepped forward and said, "I'm Lilo, the small and quirky. Me and Stitch have come to ask you," "SILENCE!" commanded the Genius, "THE GREAT GENIUS KNOWS WHY WHO HAVE COME HERE. YOU NEED NOT SAY MORE. WHAT IS IT YOU ARE WANTING, SCARECROW?" The Scarecrow also stepped forward and said, "Well, if you please, Mr. Genius sir, I was hoping you could give me a brain." "AND WHY SHOULD I BE DOING THAT, YOU CLUMSY BAG OF HORSE FEED?" "Well," said the Scarecrow, "you're the only one who could do it." "THAT WAS RETORICAL QUESTION! NOT TO BE ANSWERING! COME FORTH, TIN BOT." The Tin Woodbot stepped forward, rattling like a maraca. "Please your smartness," said the Tin Woodbot, "if you could just give me a heart, I'll be just," "ENOUGH!" The Tin Woodbot quickly returned to his place with the others. "AND YOU, LION." The others had to force the Lion to step forward. "WELL?" said the Genius. The Lion sputtered and then fainted over backwards. The others quickly ran to his side and tried to wake him up. "You should be ashamed of yourself," said Lilo, momentarily forgetting her fear, "He just wanted your help." "SILENCE!" bellowed the Genius, "I HAVE BEEN AWARE OF YOUR REQUESTS FOR SOMETIME NOW. AND I HAVE DECIDED TO GRANT THEM IN EXCHANGE FOR ONE FAVOR." The Cowardly Lion woke up and said, "What'd he say? What'd he say?" "IN ORDER FOR ME TO GIVE YOU WHAT YOU ARE WANTING, YOU MUST FIRST BRING ME BROOMSTICK OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST." "But she'd kill us before she'll let us have it," said Lilo. "THEN KILL HER! I AM NOT CARING HOW YOU DO IT! NOW GO!" The Cowardly Lion was so scared, he ran down the hall, and jumped out of the first window he saw.
Part 2: The Jitterbug
Our heroes left the Coral City and headed west towards the Wicked Witch's castle. They soon entered the spooky woods surrounding the castle. They came upon some signs that said, "Wicked Witch's castle dead ahead. I'd turn back if I were you." "Are you sure we should go through here?" asked the Cowardly Lion, who was carrying lots of 'weapons' like a butterfly net and a bug sprayer. "Pah," said the Tin Woodbot, "just some intimidating propaganda." "Don't you believe in spooks?" asked the Scarecrow. "Spooks?" said the Tin Woodbot, "don't be silly. Everyone knows there a bunch of superstition-" The Tin Bot was cut off when his body was suddenly lifted into the air by invisible forces, shaken about, and dropped. Maniacal laughter was heard in the tree branches. As the others checked to see if the Tin Bot was all right, the Lion was saying to himself, "I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks. I do, I do, I do, I do. I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks. I do, I do, I do, I do."
The Wicked Witch was watching all of this in her crystal hologram projector with glee. "You'll be believing in a lot more when I'm through," said the Witch, "the Genius is smart, but he was a fool for letting them play into my hands." She would have normally sent her troops to go out and capture them, but she knew they were capable of putting up quite a fight. "I need something to take the fight right out of them," said the Wicked Witch, "but what?" She pondered and then said, "A-ha! I know just the thing!" She went over to her cabinet and pulled out various witchcraft things. Then she found what she wanted. A small jar with holes in the lid containing an unusual-looking beetle. It wore a top hat and its hind legs had tap shoes on them. As the Witch looked at the gilded pinchers and the piano-like marking on the shell, she said, "I knew buying this off of E-Brew was a good idea. But I never thought I'd ever get to use this." She took the jar over to the window and opened it. As the insect flew out, its wings creating a jazzy tune, the Wicked Witch told it, "Go find that weird girl and her friend. I want you to make them squirm around until they can't lift a finger." The insect buzzed in response and flew off.
After the Tin Woodbot straightened himself out, our heroes continued towards the Wicked Witch's castle. Suddenly they heard a jazzy tune coming through the trees. "What's that?" asked Lilo. "I don't know," said Stitch, "but it has a funky beat." Then one by one, they felt something pinch them on the leg. "What was that?" asked the Cowardly Lion. "That would be me," said a tiny voice. They looked around and saw the insect that the Witch released sitting on a branch. "What was that for?" asked the Scarecrow. "Oh, so you could appreciate some quality music," said the beetle with a slightly Southern accent and it started creating more music. "Hey," said Lilo, "that is pretty good." Suddenly they felt a quiver in their legs and they started dancing uncontrollably. "What's going on?" asked the Tin Woodbot as he was doing a tarantella. "Wait," said the Scarecrow who was doing a square dance, "I heard the crows back at the sugarcane field talk about something like this. It's a Jitterbug!" "What's a Jitterbug?" asked Lilo who was doing the hula with Stitch then switched to a tango. "It infects people with its rhythm venom and forces them to dance until they drop." "Ah," said the Jitterbug, "you people don't appreciate good music." It speeded up its tempo and the group was dancing even more wildly. "I can't take this boogie-woogie any more," said the Cowardly Lion as he limboed under the branch the Jitterbug was on. Fortunately, the Lion's tummy stuck out so much, it bumped the branch and caused the Jitterbug to fall off onto its back. "Oh scat," moaned the Jitterbug.
Now the Jitterbug had stopped, everyone could stop dancing. As they panted for breath, Lilo said, "Why were you doing that? I hadn't danced that much since that hula competition last New Year's Eve." "Not my fault, man," said the Jitterbug, "I was sold to the Wicked Witch and she threatened to pull my wings off if I didn't play for her. Then she kept me in that jar for several seasons and it's mighty uncomfortable in there. I never wanted to work for her in the first place." "Why didn't you just quit?" asked the Scarecrow. "What other work is there for a Jitterbug?" "You could be a DJ," said Lilo. The Jitterbug slapped its forehead, or whatever place that was supposed to be, and said, "Why didn't I think of that? Later brothers." The Jitterbug flew off to find new employment.
The Wicked Witch was watching all of this and said, "I should have let myself get outbid on that one. No matter, their too weak to fend off my Winged Hamsters now." She turned to the leader of the Winged Hamster and told him, "Go rally the troops. Do what you want with the others, but bring that weird girl and her disconfigured dog here." The Hamster saluted and flapped out the window.
Here's another chapter for you. Well, two technically. Anyway, the good stuff is coming up. Stick around for it. Please review.