The Wizard of Oz
Retold by Mutitoon
Chapter Nine
Dorothy and her friends were led to the Wizard's palace by Amy Rose, a pink, human-like hedgehog wearing a red and white dress with matching boots, white gloves, a red headband, and golden bracelets.
"Here it is." Amy Rose announced to the group.
The friends saw the entrance to the Wizard's palace. It was a large, emerald door, and it was guarded by a red echidna wearing bronze armor with gauntlets with two spikes on each one and two axe-like swords.
"Who goes there?" The guard demanded the group.
"Knuckles!" Amy Rose yelled at the echidna, "It's me, Amy Rose!"
"I know you, Amy." The guard, known as Knuckles, announced, "I was talking to them."
"We're here to see the Wizard." Dorothy announced to the guard.
Knuckles looked at Dorothy's feet, which had the silver slippers.
"Oh! You're Dorothy." The guard said out of shock. Then, the echidna recovered from the surprise and said, "The Wizard of Oz is expecting you and your companions."
"All right!" The girl exclaimed in excitement, "Let's go, guys!"
Dorothy started up to the door, when Knuckles stepped in her way.
"What's the big idea?" The girl exclaimed at the guard.
"I'm sorry," said Knuckles with his arms crossed over his chest, "but I was told that only one person at a time to see the Wizard of Oz, and he requested that you, Dorothy, be the last one to see him."
"What?" Dorothy was in shock by the news.
"Then, who's going first?" Tenchi asked the guard.
"The Wizard of Oz requested that you are first." Knuckles announced to the group, "I will say who is next, when the scarecrow exits the palace."
"All right." Dorothy said, shrugging her shoulders, "Tenchi goes."
"Okay." The scarecrow stepped forward.
"I'll open the gate." Knuckles said to Tenchi.
The echidna turned to the gate and yelled at it.
"OPEN!"
Then, the gate glowed and moved up, revealing a passage into the palace.
"Wow!" Dorothy exclaimed in awe.
"Man, that's new." Jigen announced meekly, due to the shock.
"Yeah." Cerberus barely said in surprise.
Tenchi turned to the group and said, "See ya guys soon." Then, the scarecrow entered the palace, and the group sat down quietly, waiting for Tenchi's retuned, but Knuckles was standing.
"Boy, it's sure dark." Tenchi announced as he started to walk down the dark passageway, until he saw green light at the end of the passage. Tenchi assumed that the Wizard of Oz might be where the light was at and followed it until he entered a throne room, which was dark, yet lit by a green light.
"I'm here, but where's the Wizard of Oz?" Tenchi asked out loud.
"I am here." A woman's voice rang out from the darkness of the room.
Tenchi looked around in the room, when the spoke again.
"I'm sorry. I forgot to show myself."
"Huh?" The scarecrow asked, as a beautiful woman appeared, sitting on the throne with her legs crossed.
The woman has light blue hair and yellow eyes. She was wearing a blue dress with wide, yellow stripes on the sleeves and the skirt of the dress, a red sash around her waist, and brown, pointed shoes. The woman also had a tail, which looked like a cat's tail, but Tenchi did not know if the tail's real or not.
"Who are you?" The scarecrow nervously asked the mysterious woman, who smiled as she replied.
"I'm the Wizard of Oz."
"What!" Tenchi replied in surprise, "I thought you were a man."
"Don't worry about it." The woman-like wizard smiled, "It's just a converted form."
"Converted?" The straw-filled scarecrow asked, "Don't you mean 'changed'?"
"They mean the same thing." The Wizard announced, " But now back to business."
"Uh...right." Tenchi nodded his head in agreement.
"Now, you want a brain, am I right?" The wizard asked with a simple smile.
Tenchi tried to answer, but he was still confused by the Wizard's gender.
"Yeah, ma'am! No, I mean 'sir'! I mean 'ma'am! Oh!"
Seeing the scarecrow in his state of confusion, the Wizard of Oz said, "Calm down, 'Your Grace' will do just fine."
"Oh!" Sighed the scarecrow, "Thanks."
The Wizard laughed a little before she spoke again.
"I can grant your request."
"Really?" Tenchi asked with a hopeful smile.
"Yes," the wizard answered, "but there's a catch."
"A catch?" Tenchi asked, now concerned. He shrugged his shoulders and asked, "What is it that you what me to do?"
The Wizard was shocked at the scarecrow's forward attitude, but the wizard's woman-like grinned showed off a smile as she spoke.
"Well, I need a certain item. It is called the Golden Crown of Hope. The item's appearance is self-explaining, but its function is...deceptive. The owner of the crown must be wearing the crown and convice others by 'promising' them their hopes under an agreement. The hopeful people foolishly agree, and their hopes are granted but not without a price."
"They lose their free will." Tenchi guessed.
"That's right." The Wizard of Oz confirmed, "You must get it from the Elda, the Vampire-Witch of the West."
"What?" Tenchi exclaimed, "I can't! One of her servants almost turned me into a pile of ashes!"
"Don't worry." The cyan-haired wizard said, "It's not just you going to Elda's castle."
"You mean my friends?" The scarecrow asked.
"That's right." The wizard said, "Speaking of which, your friend, Jigen, is next."
"So, should I leave?" Tenchi asked the wizard, who nodded at him. Seeing this, the scarecrow smiled and said, "Thank you!"
The wizard waved at Tenchi as the scarecrow ran off of the room.
"Nice guy!" The woman-like wizard said to himself before disappearing, "He's just a little slow."
Tenchi ran out of the palace, and he met up with his friends.
"So, how was it?" Dorothy asked the scarecrow, who answered quickly.
"The throne room was strange, and the Wizard of Oz was even stranger!"
"What do you mean?" Cerberus asked.
"The Wizard of Oz chose to talk to me in the form of a woman." The scarecrow announced.
"A woman?" Jigen asked in what looked like disgust.
"What's wrong with a woman?" Dorothy glared at the tin man as her dog started growling.
"Yeah?" Amy Rose agreed
Jigen took one look at the females and instantly knew that he had said the wrong thing in fornt of them.
"The Wizard of Oz changes his form everytime he receives a visitor." Knuckles intervened, rescuing Jigen from the fury of the females, "He rarely changes into a woman."
Jigen asked, "So, when I go in there...?"
"Yes, the Wizard will be in a different form." The guardian finished for the tin man.
"I better go next." The metal man announced, which Tenchi said out loud, "Yeah! The Wizard's told me that you're next!"
"Thanks!" Jigen said to the scarecrow as he ran to the opened gate and away from the upset women.
Jigen entered the same room as Tenchi did before him, and he also saw no one, at first.
"Talk about your no-shows." The tin man spoke out.
"Don't assume so quickly." A young boy's voice rang out.
"You're the wizard?" Jigen asked the voice.
"Yes." The voice replied.
Then, a long, slender, pearl-white dragon with teal hair-like scales on the head and elbows appeared around the throne.
Jigen was stunned about seeing the dragon that he had one thing to say.
"Whoa!'
"I'm the Wizard of Oz," the boy's voice came out of the dragon's mouth, "and I believe that you seek a beating heart."
Recovered from the sudden shock, Jigen replied, "Yeah."
"I'll grant you wish." The dragon answered with a sly smile.
"Okay," announced the tin man, seeing the grin, "what's the catch?"
"You're quick." The wizard said, "There is one thing I need from you."
"And that would be?" Jigen asked.
"I need you to get me the Glass Eye." The Wizard of Oz announced. Then, he asked, "Do you know about the item?"
"I do." The tin man confirmed, "The Glass Eye allows anyone, who sees through it, to see anything you want to see."
"That's right, and the only one in Oz is in the possesion of the Elda." The dragon added.
"Dammit!" Jigen cursed out.
"Calm yourself." The Wizard of Oz said, "You can leave now, and tell the lion that he is allowed to see me."
Jigen left the room, cursing and muttering under his breath.
"Oh, brother!" The dragon said as he rolled his eyes, before disappearing.
Jigen exited the passageway to meet up with his group, Knuckles, and Amy Rose.
"What form did the Wizard of Oz take this time?" Amy Rose asked the tin man.
"He looked like a river dragon." Jigen muttered in annoyance.
"Wow!" Dorothy exclaimed in awe.
"It's my turn, isn't it?" Cerberus asked the metal man, who said, "Yep."
The winged lion wimpered as he slowly walked to the entrance.
"Cerberus?" Knuckles said.
"Yes?" The lion answered as he turned to the echidna and saw the guard charging at him. Cerberus was so scared that he did not hear what happened to Knuckles.
"What a coward!" The guard laughed out at the winged lion.
"Why, you...!" Dorothy growled at the echidna as she rolled up her shelves and started marching towards the laughing guard, ready to fight.
"Wait!" Amy Rose said, grabbing Dorothy's waist.
"What?" The human demanded the pink hedgehog.
"You're forgeting something." Amy Rose announced.
"What am I forgettin'?" Dorothy asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Amy Rose showed a handle of a hammer and gave it to Dorothy.
"What is it?" The girl asked as she pressed a button, which caused a hammer to appear on the top of the handle.
"Wow!" Tenchi exclaimed upon seeing the hammer, which is large.
"Uh, oh." Jigen announced, seeing a mischievious grin of Dorothy's face.
Cerberus ran into the throne room in fright from the guard, when he skidded to a stop.
"I think I got away from that guard." The lion panted out.
"Don't worry about Knuckles." A voice that sounded like many voices talking in unison rang out.
"Who's there?" Cerberus wimpered.
Then, the lion saw a giant, blue fireball. Alarmed at the sight, the large feline let out a high scream, which would be mistaken for a young girl's scream of fright.
"Ow!" The fireball exclaimed in pain, "I'm not here to harm you."
"Huh?" Cerberus asked, still recovering from the scare.
"I'm the Wizard of Oz." The fireball announced.
"You're the Wizard?" The lion asked, still scared.
"Of course." The fireball said.
"So, you're going to give me some courage?" The winged lion asked, now hopeful.
"I will." The Wizard of Oz replied.
"Really?"
"But I need something in return."
"Oh, great." Cerberus groaned loud out.
"I know." The Wizard announced.
With a deep sigh, Cerberus asked, "What is this 'something' you need?"
"It is the Umbrella of Portals." The Wizard explained, "Also, known as the Umbrella of Darkness, it's a lace umbrella that can create portals that can transport anyone to almost anywhere."
"And where do I get it?" The lion asked, hoping for a good place to find the Umbrella of Portals.
"It's in the possesion of the Vampire-Witch of the West." The fireball answered.
"What?" Cerberus roared in shock, "She'll kill me."
"You can leave now." The wizard announced.
"And if I don't wanna?" The lion asked.
The blue fireball changed to a lava-red fireball and yelled in a loud, commanding voice, "GO!"
Frightened, Cerberus ran out of the room in a hurry.
"I don't normally scare people like that, but if they're gonna be stubborn, they deserve it." The Wizard of Oz said to himself before disappearing.
Cerberus ran out of the passageway and into Knuckles, who was lecturing Dorothy for hitting him on the head with Amy Rose's Piko Piko Hammer. The lion and the echidna rolled to Tenchi and Jigen, whom did get away in time, and Amy Rose ran out of the way with Toto. Dorothy managed to avoid getting herself involved with the 'crash'.
"That was close." Dorothy announced.
"I'll say." Amy Rose agreed as Toto ran to his owner.
"Come on, Toto." The human said to the dog.
"Good luck!" The pink hedgehog waved at the girl as Dorothy and Toto entered the entrance of the Wizard of Oz's palace.