The Wizard of Oz
Retold by Mutitoon
Chapter Fifteen
Dorothy entered the throne room as she did before when she made her request, but this time she was not alone with Toto. The throne room was still dim and frightening, but having seen this room before and having her friends with her, the girl from Kansas was not scared.
Tenchi was amazed at the throne room like he was in his first visit, saying, "Wow! I was expecting something else in here!"
"What a scary place!" Pallas announced as she and her sisters entered the room.
"Yeah!" Cerberus meekly agreed the the Ball Balancer.
Then, the gruff voice that Dorothy heard on her first time to see thw Wizard of Oz announced to the group, "I am the Wizard of Oz." Then, a gigantic face appeared over the throne, scaring the sisters to hide behind the four friends.
"Your Grace," Tenchi spoke out as he kneeled before the huge face, "we have returned with the items that you requested us to retrieve for you."
Then, the males showed the items they were to give to the Wizard.
"I see." The face of the Wizard of Oz mused at the sight of the group, "I was expecting your return to be much later."
"Sorry about that." Jigen grinned.
"It's all right." The Wizard said, "I must, however, ask that you leave and come back tomorrow."
"What?" Dorothy gasped at the words.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to grant your requests yet." The Wizard admitted, "Please understand."
"I understand, all right!" The winged lion roared, "You just don't want to!"
"Hey!" The face yelled, "I'm telling the truth!"
"You've had enough time to keep your promises!" Vesta yelled. Pallas agreed as she said, "Yeah!"
"SILENCE!" The Wizard of Oz roared at the group, who retreated to the room's only means of in and out of the room, "I AM THE WIZARD OF OZ, AND I SAY COME BACK TOMORROW!"
"If you were great and powerful, you'd keep your promises!" Ceres protested to the Wizard of Oz, and Juno agreed, "She's right."
"HOW DARE YOU!" The face reddened with fury, "YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT I'M TELLING YOU TO COME BACK TOMORROW AND NOT TWENTY YEARS!"
Dorothy was quivering with fright, when she noticed Toto sniffing around a green curtain that the girl did not notice before. She quietly and quickly creeped away from the group and went to Toto and the curtain as the Wizard of Oz ranted the group. At the curtain, Dorothy heard a voice from behind the curtain, and the voice was saying the same thing as the face that called itself the Wizard of Oz.
"That's strange." Dorothy thought out quietly, "Why would anyone be talkin' the same thing as the Wizard of Oz? Unless..."
The girl recalled that actors' voices can be converted into a different tone and pitch by a someone using a machine, but Dorothy cannot recall the terms.
"HEY!" The voices yelled at the girl from Kansas, "GET AWAY FROM THERE!"
"Dorothy!" Jigen's voice rang out, "Get back here!"
Dorothy stood her ground as she turned to her allies, but she had a trick left.
"Toto, get 'im!"
The small dog obeyed and dashed into the curtain. Dorothy took a few steps away from the curtain as the Wizard's image started to become fuzzy and faded.
"Stop it!" The face's voice rang out, "Get away from me!"
Then, the face disappeared, confusing the group.
"What's going on?" Juno asked, not knowing that her question was about to be answered by action.
Then, a person with dark pink-red hair ran out from the curtains as that person was being chased by Toto, who barking in the pursuit.
"Get this dog away from me!" Cried the fleeing being.
Dorothy smiled and called out to the little dog.
"Toto! Come here, boy!"
The dog heard his master and went to her. Once in Dorothy's arms, Toto licked the girl's face, while hearing Dorothy's praises.
"Good boy, Toto!"
The person heard the praises and stopped running. The still form of the pink-hair person allowed the group to see that the person was a girl of the age of twelve years old. The girl's bright red hair was in a fluffly ponytail, held by a purple sash. Her clothes were omposed together by a black-gray overshirt, a white shirt with black helms on the sleeves and the collar, white shorts, pale yellow leggings, and black slippers.
"Who's this?" Pallas asked Jigen, who did not the answer himself.
"Is this the true form of the Wizard of Oz?" Vesta quired, while Juno said, "No way!"
"Another form then?" Ceres guessed.
The girl from the green curtains heard the sisters' questions and stood up, introducing herself.
"My name is Washu Hakubi the second, but everyone in Oz, who has seen this form, knows me as the Wizard of Oz."
"What!" Dorothy's friends exclaimed in shock.
Dorothy recalled hearing about a Washu Hakubi, a famous scientist from Japan.
Tenchi recovered from his shock and yelled, "You're a humbug!"
"Not really." Dorothy spoke in defense of Washu Hakubi, "She is a wizard."
"What are you talking about?" Jigen asked, glaring at the 'wizard'.
"She's a technical wizard." The girl from Kansas explained, "Her magic is done with machines."
"Really?" Tenchi asked, curious at Dorothy's words.
"Yeah." Dorothy confirmed.
"What about our requests?" Cerberus demanded the she-wizard.
"Well," Washu mused for a moment, "I have three out of four requests prepared."
"Which ones?" The scarecrow asked the 'wizard'.
"Yours for one thing," Washu grinned, "but I'm amazed by your intelligence."
"My intelligence?" Tenchi asked, rubbing his head.
"Yeah!" The 'wizard' grinned kindly as she took the Crown of Hope from the scarecrow, "You think, you talk, you understand, and more than you have notcied. You have a mind."
The scarecrow thought for a moment. Then, he realized that Washu was right.
"Now that you understand yourself a little better," announced the small girl, "I present you with this."
Washu showed Tenchi a diploma, which Tenchi took.
"Thanks." The scarecrow smiled gratefully as he looked at the scroll. Seeing this, Washu giggled before she turned to Cerberus.
"Your Royal Highness, you seek courage, right?"
"That's right. Beryl cursed me to live life as a coward." The winged prince admitted in shame.
"Well, I have some good news for you." Washu announced, grabbing the Umbrella of Darkness, "There's no curse of cowardness."
"What!" The lion exclaimed as his wings expanded in pure shock.
"That's right." The girl wizard said, "I've seen your bravery, which you've failed to see."
The small girl showed a metal to the lion. The metal was gold and purple, had a purple sash, and it had the word 'COURAGE' on it in the color purple.
"For your courage, I, Washu Hakubi, present the metal of coruage." The girl with the red-pink hair announced as she placed the decoration around the lion's neck.
"Thank you." Cerberus said with tears in his eyes.
Washu smiled before turning to Jigen, the tin man.
"I know you desire a heart," The girl recalled verbally, "but not just any heart, a beating heart."
"That's right." Jigen confirmed, "Unlike Cerberus, I truly am under a spell."
"I know," Washu nodded, taking the Glass Eye, "but you do remember having a heart, am I right?"
"Yeah." The metal man sighed in a sad tone, as Washu spoke.
"Me? I rather not have a heart."
Jigen huffed at the girl and replied, "For a 'wizard', you're rather foolish."
"Maybe." Washu nodded her head, "I see that statement is from your point of view, because you lack a heart. You do recall the emotions that you had before Beryl cursed you."
"Yeah." The metal man agreed, "Now, may I have the heart that I was promised?"
"All right," The pink-red haired girl said, "wait here for a minute."
The tin man, as well as the others, were confused as Washu went back to the curtains and came out with a green box, which she held to the metal man.
"What is that?" Pallas asked after what she believe is a long silence.
Washu ignored the Ball Balancer and opened the box. In the box, there was a heart-shaped watch, which was ticking like the beating of a heart.
"This is a heart." Washu said, "Just take it and put it to your chest."
"Okay." Jigen nodded his head in understanding. He took the heart out from the box and held the clock to his chest. A strange glow came from the metal man, and it become so bright that it was blinding. Every arm covered eyes to shield off the harsh light, until the light dimmed down.
"Man!" Jigen's voice exclaimed, "That was bright!"
Dorothy removed her arms from her eyes and saw Jigen as a man. The ex-tin man was dressed in a blue jacket and pants that matched as well as a white shirt and black shoes. His hair and beard was dark, and his skin was slightly tanned. There was a six-barrel gun in each hand. Dorothy noticed the only things stayed the same physically was the ferdora and his brown eyes, which she knew that Jigen had allowed for a few moments before he pulled his hat over his eyes once again.
"Jigen." The Kansas child smiled, "You're human again!"
"Gee, ya don't say." Jigen said with sarcasm in his voice and a proudful grin on his face as the guns disappeared from his hands.
"It's Daisuke!" Ceres, Juno, and Vesta shouted at the sight of the ex-tin man, while Pallas was bragging to her sisters, saying, "Told ya so!"
Dorothy giggled at the sight of Pallas beaming with self-importance as she bragged on how she was right about Jigen's true self.
"Pallas was right on that one." Cerberus grinned at the sight of the girl.
"But how did she guess?" Tenchi asked with a hand on his chin.
Washu spoke up, saying, "It is believed that children are not as easily fooled as adults."
"You can say that again." Dorothy agreed.
Then, all four of the sisters went to Jigen and knocked him to the ground by the force of their attempt to embrace their elder brother. Dorothy giggled at the sight, but she quickly realized that all of the requests that were fulfilled were given. She almost started crying, when a warm, grandmother-like voice rang throughout the room.
"Looks like you're having some trouble."
"Zeniba?" Dorothy asked, looking for the good witch in the room.
Then, the familiar appeance of a small tornado announced the arrival of the Grandmother-Witch of the North.
"Hello." Zeniba greeted to everyone.
Washu bowed to the good witch, and Tenchi, as well as Cerberus followed the 'wizard' in example. The sisters responded as well, but how they greeted Zeniba surprised Dorothy.
"Mother!" The sisters shouted in unison as they left their brother and went to the witch and hugged her. Feeling the embraces from the girls, Zeniba saw them and exclaimed in pure joy, "My darlings! I've thought I've lost you forever!"
"I'm sorry, Mother!" Pallas annouced to her mother with tears in her eyes.
"I'm just so happy to see you alive and well!" The witch said as tears appeared in her eyes.
Dorothy saw the reunion and realized something.
"If the sisters are Zeniba's daughters, as well as Jigen's sisters, doesn't make Jigen Zeniba's son?"
"Yep." Jigen spoke out, grabbing Dorothy's attention.
The witch's son smiled, which was destoryed by the sound of Zeniba's voice.
"Daisuke, you're flesh and blood again!"
"Good grief." Jigen grumbled as his mother apporched him.
"Daisuke, now that you're human again, it's about time you got a girlfriend."
"Oh, brother!" Jigen exclaimed under his breath.
"Don't worry." Dorothy whispered to Jigen, "My Aunt Em is the same way when it come to me."
"Then, I'm in good company." The ex-metal man smiled.
"Ohhh!" Squealed the sisters after seeing the friendly conversation between their brother and their rescuer.
"This looks interesting." Zeniba mused to herself before she started talking to Dorothy, but a new voice stopped her.
"Lady Zeniba, you know that it is impolite to allow oneself into the affairs of another, even if it is your ownchild."
"Who was that?" Dorothy asked.
Only one person answered: Jigen.
"Kakyuu."