The Wizard of Oz
Retold by Mutitoon
Chapter Six
Hours after having Cerberus joining her group, Dorothy was telling the lion about how Elda, the Vampire-Witch of the West, was after her and Toto because of the silver slippers.
"I'm starting to think that I've joined the wrong group." Lion announced in a whimpering voice.
"Don't worry!" Tenchi exclaimed, "As long as Dorothy's hair is still in that style, we're all safe!"
"What do ya mean?" Jigen asked, curious about Dorothy's hair.
Tenchi turned to Dorothy and asked, "Dorothy, can you show them what I'm talking about?"
"Okay." Dorothy replied. She grabbed her braid and showed the tip with the enchanted hair-tie. Jigen was the first one to take notice of the hair tie's color.
"Dorothy, who gave you that?" The tin man asked the girl.
"No one, but Zeniba put a spell on my hair-tie, sayin' that it would protect me." Dorothy answered.
"Really?" Jigen thought out loud.
"Yeah," Tenchi announced, "if it aren't for that hair-tie, I would be ashes right now."
"And my sister wouldn't need to be in a bathtub filled with ice-water." A new voice announced itself, causing Toto to start barking.
"Who's there?" Cerberus demanded, trying to sound frightening, but it failed as the voice said, "Save it for someone who is dumb enough to believe you."
Then, a young girl with red eyes and tanned skin appeared in front of the group, which Toto retreated to the safety of Dorothy's legs.
The girl had red hair, which was tied in a high ponytail with five, golden hair-ties. The hair-tie that was sitting on the head had red spheres on it, and the last one had a black cloth-like tube that caused a small ball of hair at the end of the ponytail. The top part of the outfit had a red and black top that covered her breasts and was attached to the black choker and white shoulder pads with spikes. The bottom part was red and black with a pink tutu-like skirt and red-orange leggings. The red sandals went above the ankles, gold earrings with red spheres, and black and red bracelets. The black sphere on her forehead told Dorothy and Tenchi that she could be working under Elda.
"I'm VesVes, the beast tamer of the Vampire-Witch of the West," The girl announced to the group, "and I'm the sister of JunJun, the acrobat."
The shock about the relationship of the beast tamer and the acrobat was in the faces of Dorothy and Tenchi. Cerberus saw Jigen's face, and there was a look of concern on the metal man's face.
"What are you going to do?" Dorothy asked.
"JunJun tried to use magic on you, so I'm going to use force!" The red girl announced.
Then, a strange, yet terror-filling, roar rang out in the dark forest.
"What was that?" A scared Dorothy asked her friends, but VesVes answered.
"Those were the kalidahs."
"Kalidahs?" Dorothy asked, and Cerberus answered.
"Kalidahs are frightening creatures that live in the forest."
"I don't like the sound of that or of them." Dorothy announced.
"And I don't like looks of them." Tenchi announced, pointing at what was coming into the opening: four creatures with the head of a tiger and the body of a bear.
"Those are kalidahs!" The lion roared out of fright.
"RUN!" Jigen yelled as he started off into the forest with the others following right behind him.
VesVes grinned evilly as a red sphere appeared in her hand and turned into a whip. With a crack of the whip, the red girl shouted to the kalidahs.
"DINNER TIME!"
The hybrid-like monsters heard this and started after the group.
The group of five ran as fast as they could with Cerberus in front with Toto, Jigen and Tenchi right behind the animals, and Dorothy closing in behind. The girl tripped on a tree root and fell to the ground.
"Ow..." The girl moaned in pain, when the roars of the kalidahs rang to the girl's ears.
Dorothy screamed as the hungry beasts pounced on her. The girl would have been killed, but luck was on Dorothy's side, because she had the hair-tie that Zeniba enchanted earlier in her hair. The purple hair-tie glowed, summoning the shield that protected Dorothy and Tenchi from JunJun's green fireballs and blocked and rebuffed the monsters' attack. The kalidahs landed on the ground, dazed to the point of being unable to walk.
"Dorothy!" Cerberus yelled out to the girl, who turned to the winged lion, as she got to her feet.
"Cerberus! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Dorothy announced.
"We don't have time!" The lion roared, "Get on my back, if you don't want to become kalidah fodder."
Dorothy obeyed and climbed onto the lion's back. Once the girl was on, Cerberus started running in a high speed. The kalidahs, recovered from their daze, saw their meal running from them and got to their feet and ran after the two friends.
"The kalidahs are comin'!" Dorothy yelled at the lion as a warning.
Cerberus grinned as the red spheres on his headdress and earring started to glow. Then, the lion opened his wings and took flight.
"Wow!" The girl exclaimed in amazement.
"Hold on, Dorothy!" Cerberus announced as he flew out of the forest.
Dorothy saw that they were flying above a chasm, which was connected by a fallen log. Cerberus reached the other side and landed.
"Thank goodness." Dorothy breathed a sigh of relief as she climbed off the lion.
"Dorothy!" Jigen's voice rang out.
The girl turned and saw Jigen, Tenchi, and Toto running to her and Cerberus.
"Dorothy, you're all right!" The scarecrow yelled in joy.
"Of course, I am." Dorothy laughed as she picked up Toto.
Then, the roar of the kalidahs was heard, causing the friends to turn their attention to the other side of the chasm to see the kalidahs.
"Not them!" The girl exclaimed.
"Don't worry." Tenchi grinned at the girl, "They can't reach us."
Then, the monsters started climbing on the log. Tenchi and Jigen went to the end of the log and started taunting the creatures.
"Na-nah!" The scarecrow said, annoying the beasts, while the tin man said, "Your mothers never hunted for their meals."
"What are you two doin'?" Dorothy exclaimed in shock.
"Don't worry," said Cerberus, "they know what they're doing."
The kalidahs were furious at the men and let out an awful roar before going after the group. That action was the last thing they did, because the log was not stable enough to hold the weight of the four creatures. The log snapped into two pieces, sending the four kalidahs to their deaths.
"If there's one thing that I like about the kalidahs, it's the fact that they're dumb." Cerberus announced to the girl next to him.
"That's not right!" VesVes cried out from across the chasm.
The group looked at the red girl and heard her words.
"Don't think this is over! I'll get you guys!"
Then, the girl turned into a red ball and flew away.
"Talk about your tempers." Dorothy spoke out.
"Yeah." Cerberus agreed.
Tenchi looked at Jigen and saw the metal man's face, which was twisted in confusion.
"What's wrong, Jigen?" The scarecrow asked his ally.
"Nothing!" The tin man backed at scarecrow.
"Jigen," mewed Dorothy, "Tenchi just asked a question. It didn't warrant you to bite at him!"
Jigen huffed loudly and started walking down the pathway.
"We better follow him." Dorothy said.
"Yeah." Tenchi agreed.
"Then, let's go!" Cerberus announced.
The three and Toto went after the tin man, who turned around and saw the others.
"You guys are coming, after all." Jigen grinned.
"Yeah." Cerberus said, "We want to see the Wizard of Oz."
"Hey, there's the yellow brick road!" Tenchi announced to the group, pointing to the road.
"Good eyes." Cerberus cheered the scarecrow.
Then, the friends went to the yellow route and continued their journey.