It was time. The Once-ler was completely and in all aspects unsure of why he had even began to trust his dim-witted brother with such a hefty secret, but at the same time the outcome had not been so bad.
His mother, surprisingly, was letting him go.
The sun was shining; it was warm, pleasant. The grass swayed delicately with only small whispers of wind. Not a cloud was in the sky - not a single fluffy puff. For the first time the air had tasted flavorful instead of vapid and negative.
The path was a lot different than he remembered. After his family saw him off he had started down the road which he used to travel frequently upon - now it was much more lush with plant and wildlife. This seemed to add to his uncanny optimism. In fact, it brought that positive attitude to levels he would beforehand have deemed impossible. It was just him and Melvin, a pair unwilling to give up hopes and dreams so easily, travelling for what seemed like forever. The would oftentimes have to make stops in the towns they passed through for supplies or shelter, but Once-ler did not mind. Every night as he rested his head he felt accomplished of something new - be it distance or whatever else. Progress, though it was slow, was being made nonetheless and that was something he appreciated more than anything.
Weeks had passed before he found it. This place was beautiful. Everything about it had been breathtaking. He recognized it, in a way. It was a landscape he had once seen in a dream, or perhaps multiple times. The way the sun hit the valley nearly made his heart stop. The grass was plush beneath his feet; the air was pleasant smelling; the sky was bluer than he had ever witnessed, or perhaps than he had ever allowed himself to witness. The creatures were even more fascinating than the land. They sang - or at least the fish did. The birds were elegant. Small bear-like creatures huddled around his feet and smiled at him with their lips and eyes. He had to smile back, it was not something he could resist at all.
All things seemed to be spiraling out of control sooner than he had expected. All he did was unpack his things, and the creatures seemed to be livid with him. One minute they were singing with him and the next he was being prowled by each species. He was puzzled more than scared, or at least until one of the small brown creatures made a move to attack him. He held up a couple of jumbo bags of marshmallows to try and shield himself, only noticing a moment after how ridiculous it seemed. A scream of his ripped through the air and he prepared for an attack, but it had not happened. By a quick glance he realized that the woodland animals were snacking on the fluffy white delicacies which had spilled from a tear in the bag. He admired the magical scene with his hands on his hips and a smile.
This scene only lasted a short while. He had work to do. With his hand on his axe, he strolled up to a bubblegum pink hued tree and sized up his swing. It only took a few strikes for the thin trunk to give in, and it fell to the ground. Ignoring the fact that the animals had scampered and scattered away from him, he dragged the fallen tree to a small pop-up home he had constructed and began to pull the tufts out and dispatch them in to a burlap sack.
That was when the Lorax appeared. He was a small creature, just a little higher than the bear-like animals, and was of a vibrant orange shade minus his yellow brows and mustache. At first the Once-ler had been confused of the fluent guardian's intentions, or at least questioned his sanity a bit, but when the scampering animal attempted to tear down his temporary home he automatically grew a sort of resentment for the thing.
The Lorax's threats were short-lived, or at least the Once-ler assumed. He saw the creature off after some tangent about nature's influence and how his words were a strict warning and then kept to himself for the rest of the night. It was his opportunity to make his first fully-functional Thneed; the tufts from the trees were exactly the material he had been looking for. Each piece was softer than that of silk, and smelled pleasantly floral. He knitted up his prototype with ease; each delicate tuft morphed in to its adjacent as naturally as droplets of water. This thing was perfect in all ways, there was no denying it. He had found the material of all materials.
He, the Once-ler, was an official businessman. He could not contain his grin at all, even as he lay down with his usual quilt on yet another too-small bed and wound down for the night in his favorite pajamas.
Tomorrow, he would sell his Thneed. He was confident in this, and there was no taking that away.
Mother hit him.