Return to Oz
Told by Mutitoon90
Chapter Six
Sometime after sunset, Kiyone and Muta were still waiting outside. Kiyone used the time to poilsh her gun and making sure it was ready to be used, while Muta took several naps to "conserve his energy." The waiting ended, when Muta woke up and looked at the tower.
"It's time..." The skinny feline announced, which caused Kiyone to check her weapon and said, "Let's go then."
The small team of two went to the door of the tower and carefully opened it, trying not to wake up the witch that was in the tower. As they made their way in the darken hall, Muta used his natural night vision to help Kiyone to get through the long hall.
"Hey," Muta said in a hush tone, "I think I'm seeing Nightingale."
"How are you sure?" The blind Kiyone asked the cat, who answered with a warning hiss and said, "I've got night vision, Chicky, and I can tell if it's that robot or not."
Kiyone was not very sure, but she had to trust him; he was her only eyes in the darkness, and Muta was only helping due to the fact that he could get a free meal.
"Is Nightingale moving?" The deputy asked the lean feline.
"No, just a metal statue."
"Do you see Dorothy?"
"Not a sign."
"Damn!" The law enforcer hissed under her breath, feeling like a failure for not being able to find her best friend.
Then, the mirror-door, which the motionless Nightingale was standing in front of, opened, causing Kiyone to pull out her weapon, which was aimed at the door and Muta to hide behind the gun-wielding female.
"Kiyone?" A familiar voice rang out to the duo, "Muta?"
"Dorothy?" The two allies asked as the farm girl appeared before them.
Muta was wary for a moment, but he was the first to greet the girl, saying, "Good to see ya, Chicky."
"Same to you two." Dorothy smiled in a relief that was evident on her face.
"What happened to you?" Kiyone asked her long-time friend, who was quick to say, "I'll tell you later. Now, we have bigger problems than we thought."
"What are you talking about?" The stray cat asked the brunette, who also was quick in winding up Nightingale's gears.
"Well, we need to get out of here and soon." Mihoshi replied as the gourd-headed being poked her head out of the door, startling the deputy sheriff from Kansas and the mostly white stray cat.
"Whoa!"
"Shh!" Dorothy hushed the spooked duo before she introduced the composed being to her friends.
"Guys, this is Mihoshi, a prisoner of Nehelenia, although Nehelenia never knew exactly. Mihoshi, these are my friends, Kiyone and Muta, and the woman, whose gears I'm turnin' right now, is Nightingale."
"Nice to meet you." Mihoshi smiled at the still-spooked duo, who nervously responded back, "Hi."
"What has happened?" Nightingale's voice echoed into the ears of the group, who turned to the robotic woman, as she added, "Where is the woman that was here earlier, and all of those copies that belonged to her?"
This greatly confused the deputy and the cat, who was the first to ask, "You're talking about the witch, right?"
"Yep." Dorothy answered bluntly, before she spoke again, "You guys follow Mihoshi up the stairs, and I'll catch up with you later."
With that said, the farm girl from Kansas dashed off through the mirror-door, went to the other side of the room of mirror and opened at mirror, which also was a door.
"What was that all about?" Muta asked the pumpkin-headed "woman," who said, "She going to get Nelhelenia's wand, in hopes of reviving another prisoner."
"That girl's nuts!" The stray cat announced to the other females, who could not help themselves from agreeing with him.
As the foursome went to the part of the tower that Dorothy, Mihoshi and the still-pertified Helios was held at, Dorothy took on the brave task of retrieving Helios's severed horn, which Nelhelenia kept under a locked mirror-like cabinet, and the key to that lock was tied to the dark-haired witch's wrist, whenever she went to bed for the night.
As Dorothy found herself in Nelhelenia's bed chamber, she saw the resting witch in a regal-looking nightdress of red and gold, which was complete with a scarf that wrapped up her long dark blue hair. On the left wrist of the witch's left hand, there was a piece of string that was long enough to fit her hand and hold on to the ruby key that was held on by a knot.
Upon seeing the knot on the red key, Dorothy knew that trying to remove the knot from the key was not an option, since removing the key from the string would awaken the witch from her slumber. So, Dorothy started to think of another plan on how to obtain the ruby key from Nelhelenia without waking her up.
Then, Dorothy noticed something about the string itself; it was knotted to the ruby-red key in a very complexed knot, but the knot that kept it on the witch's wrist was very simple. This realization gave Dorothy what she needed, and she also needed to be extremely careful, if she needed to be successful in getting the ruby key.
As quietly and cautiously as she could, Dorothy crept up to the green-claded bed and went to the left side of the bed. The farmgirl saw that the simple knot was facing towards the pillow; a good sign to Dorothy, as she started untying the knot.
Sensing something on her wrist, Nehelenia stirred in her sleep, causing Dorothy to duck down, which the witch turned to her right side. The witch had failed to realize that the string and the key was no longer on her wrist, but Dorothy did, as she peered over the bed and saw the key that was still attached to the string by a knot was on the left side of the bed.
Quickly, the brunette farm girl grabbed the ruby key, crept away from the bed and out of the chamber and started off to her next location: the mirror-cabinet that held Helios's golden horn. Besides, she was not planning to see how angry Nelhelenia can get.
Soon, Dorothy found herself in the hall of mirrors that Mihoshi had told her about before their escape, which included that all of the mirrors were cabinets and one of then was one the that Helios's horn was in, but the constructed being was not sure which cabinet was the one that held the horn of Helios. The brunette, however, was not discouraged as she would search for the horn, even if she had to open every cabinet in the hall of mirrors.
As she reached the first mirrior-cabinet, Dorothy felt a hand on her shoulder, which caused her to turn around, but she saw no one behind her. This confused the farm girl greatly, when she felt a hand on each of her shoulders, which felt like they were grabbing her, and the invisible hands forced her to turn around to face the mirrior again, but this time, Dorothy saw that there was someone else in the mirror, standing by her reflection. Dorothy looked at where the person would be standing at, but there was no one there.
"Okay..." Dorothy said in her confusion as she turned back to the mirror, "What's goin' on around here?"
Then, she saw the girl in the mirror. The girl had teal hair that was a few tints from Kiyone's green-blue hair color, which was in pig-tails that was meant for a young child, pink-red eyes that reminded the farm girl of a rabbit that she had as a pet a few years ago and some freckles on her face, which was had some dirt and grime on it. Also, the brown dress the girl in the mirror was wearing was worn, tattered and dirty from years of use, and it was very short and had patches and stitches that showed that that dress was the only thing that the teal-haired female had to wear ever since she was young.
"I am Sasami," the young woman in the mirror replied to Dorothy's question, "a servant of Nelhelenia, or I was her servant until I tried to escape her by taking her ruby key in an attempt to steal her wand. However, I've made the mistake of failing to realize that she caused a spell on the hall of mirrors and the wand, which prevented her from being imprisoned in a mirror if she used the key on the cabinet that held Helios's horn."
"And what happened to you is the result of gettin' the wrong one?" Dorothy asked the ex-servant of Nelhelenia, who said, "Yes, which lead to my other mistake of failing to see which cabinet the horn was held in."
"That's gotta be worse than a bank fakin' a foreclosure on your farm." The farm girl said as she scratched the back of her head.
"I don't know about that." Sasami responded to the analogy, before saying, "However, I do know where the horn is hidden in."
"Then, led the way." Dorothy said with a smile.
Then, the girl from Kansas felt a pull on her left wrist, dragging her as the farm girl tried to stay on her feet.
Sasami was pulling Dorothy's reflection, guilding, if not dragging, her to the location of the golden wand. Soon, the servant girl stopped, sending Dorothy to the floor.
"Ow!" The farm girl rubbed her sore nose, since she fell on it.
"Are you all right?" The trapped female asked the rising girl, who said, "After a few minutes."
Then, Dorothy looked at the mirror she was standing in front of, and she saw that Sasami was looking at the end of the hall where Dorothy had entered earlier.
"What's wrong, Sasami?" The bruette asked the teal-haired servant girl, who turned to her with a worried look on her face and answered.
"I am concerned about Nelhelenia coming here to find us."
"Don't worry about it." Dorothy said, expressing a lack of concern about the witch, "Witches, like her, tend to scream when they find out when they were robbed."
"I hope that's true." Sasami said, still unsure about Dorothy's words of dismissal. Then, she added, "This cabinet has Helios's golden horn.
Dorothy used the ruby key to unlock the mirror-cabinet, and upon opening it, the brunette from Kansas saw many things in it, including the detached horn of Helios, and grabbed the horn. As she closed the door to the cabinet, she relocked it and looked at Sasami.
"Thanks for leadin' me to Helios's horn." Dorothy smiled at Sasami, who was still worried about Nehelenia, but she was thankful that she could be of assistance to the farm girl.
"My pleasure, but can you do me a favor now?"
"Does it involved Mihoshi?" Dorothy asked in response to the question.
"How did you know?" The female in the mirror gasped.
"I met her after Nelhelenia captured me." Dororthy explained to the trapped servant, "She told me about your plan to escape and how you hadn't return."
"Thank goodness." The servant sighed in relief, "Please tell her that I'm all right, and please take her away from here as quickly as you can."
"I will." The farm girl nodded to the "mother" of Mihoshi, "However, I can't make any promises that she won't try to come back for you."
"Understood." The turquoise-haired girl smiled before said in a rushing tone, "Now, hurry! It won't be long before she finds out that you've stolen her ruby key!"
"Right!" The farm girl said before she ran off, "Thanks again, Sasami!"
"You too, my friend." Sasami said before she added, "And please, do be careful."
As Dorothy made her way back to her friends and her former prison, she quietly passed the opening to Nelhelenia's bed chamber and saw that the magical being was still asleep in the position that the farm girl have left her before she obtained the horn. Seeing that it was safe, Dorothy quickened her pace to reach her friend faster.
Unknown to the farm girl, Nelhelenia stirred in her sleep once again; this time she turned onto her back, and her left hand was on her face. As if on instinct, her yellow eyes with the blue cat-like slits opened and saw that the ruby key and the string was gone!
"It can't be!" The beautiful witch hissed as she sat up, got out of the bed and dashed out the room to see if she was right.
Nelhelenia rushed to the hall of mirror-cabinets and found the ruby key on the floor, which Dorothy unknowingly dropped on her way out. Fearing the worse for her, the witch went to the mirror-cabinet that she knew that she had placed her wand, unlocked it and opened it. Upon looking in there, she screamed out the name of the only person that she believed would be so bold, especially since she was named the witch killer from Kansas.
"DOROTHY GALE!"
The roar-like yell echoed throughout the tower and even reached the name's owner, who was at the top of the tower's staircase, which led to the room where she and Mihoshi met.
"Now, that's not good." The farm girl meeked out as she realized that she and her friends had very little time to act left to execute their plan of escape.
"Dorothy!" Mihoshi's voice rang out to the brunette, who looked at the opened door with the pumpkin-headed being in front of it as Mihoshi shouted, "Get in quick!"
"No need to tell me twice!" Dorothy ran into the room.
Once in the room, Nightingale and Mihoshi shut the door behind the farm girl, who saw that the make-shift sled was ready as a sled made of two couches tied together witth some rope can ever be.
"Do you have the horn, Dorothy?" The scarecrow-like female asked the important question, which was answered by Dorothy showing the horn to Mihoshi and the others.
"What's that?" Muta grumpily asked the farm girl, who said, "Our ticket out of here."
The brunette hurried to the stone statue and placed the gold horn onto the stump that was protuding from the being's head. Taking a step back, Dorothy watched as the stone figure came to life and change from stone to flesh and cloth.
The being rose up and saw Dorothy with a pair of golden irises, which were filled with happiness and relief. With a graceful bow, the being said, "I owe you my graditude; I am Helios, a guardian of the Emerald City."
"Where were you when the city needed ya?" Muta asked with a slight snicker in his voice, but the smug grin that curved with the question faded when Helios answered calmly, "In this very tower as Nelhelena's prime prisoner and source of her stronger magic."
"Now's not the time for games, Muta!" Kiyone shouted at the stray cat with a roar of fury, causing the cat to retreat to sled.
Dorothy's attention was not on her angry friend or the fleeing feline, but it was on Helios as she asked, "Do you know a spell to make this sled to fly, because if you don't, then we're in big trouble."
"Of course," Helios smiled gracefully, "just give me a few seconds."
Then, the horned male stood still for a second, when a white glow appeared around his body, and an invisible wind started to whirl and twist his priest-like clothes. Then, the bright glow became bright enough to temporary blind the members of the group.
"I can't see!" Kiyone, Dorothy and Muta shouted as they attempted to shield their eyes from the harsh light.
Once the light dimmed to a simple glow once again, Dorothy was the first to see Helios in another form: a winged unicorn.
"Helios, is that you?" Dorothy asked as she approached the horse with the golden horn, who nodded and said, "Yes."
The response caused Dorothy and Kiyone to jump back; after all, they were expecting the answer to be verbally.
Then, black reins appeared around Helios's body and attached themselves to the ropes on the sleigh. This was a surpise to the group, but when they heard another roar of fury from the door, the group asked no questions and climbed onto the quickly-made sleigh, and Dorothy grabbed the reins that held onto Helios.
"Are you sure this is safe?!" Muta expressed his doubt to everyone that could hear him.
"We've got an old sayin' back in Kansas," Dorothy announced to the feline, "and it's, 'Don't look a gifted horse in the mouth.'"
Then, the farm girl turned to Helios and shouted out, "Let's get goin'!"
"Right!" The guardian of the capital of Oz agreed as she flapped his wings.
As the wings beated, the sleigh started to have a white and gold glow. The winged unicorn started to run and pulled the sleigh made of couches with great ease, which was a surprise to the relieved group.
"We have take-off!" Kiyone laughed as the sleigh flew off with the winged unicorn, who smiled upon hearing the comment.
"DOROTHY GALE!" Nelhelenia's roar with to the ears of the group, who looked back and saw the royal-red and gold form of Nelhelenia. The witch, who was on the balcony of the tower, swore revenge against the teenaged heroine, and she broke the ruby key in her own fury.
As the group flew over the ruins of the capital of Oz, Dorothy saw the still forms of Jigen and Cerberus and could not help herself from sheding a tear as the flying sleigh exited the skies of the Emerald City. Kiyone noticed this of her friend and went to her side.
"It's okay." The deputy said to her friend in an attempt to comfort her, "They know that you'll save the city and them."
"But I've got to find Tenchi first." Dorothy argued back, showing her concern and some of her self-doubt.
"Dorothy," Helios called out to the farm girl, "who is this Tenchi that you are talking about?"
"He's one of my dearest friends." Dorothy answered the horned horse's question, "He was the first real friend that I've made in Oz."
"Is he important to the Emerald City?"
"Well, he was made the king after Washu gave up the crown to him to search for the rightful hier to the throne."
"Was he given a crown?"
The farm girl closed her eyes and recalled her vision before Kiyone came to her house the day before. Remembering this, Dorothy opened her eyes and said, "Yes, a silver one with green jewels on it."
"Did it fit his head?" The winged unicorn asked, continuing his investigation.
"No, it was loose, and it looked silly on him." Dorothy giggled at the thought.
"Good to hear." Helios said in a graceful tone, "That means that we can find him."
"What are you talking about?" Kiyone interjected herself into the conversation, wanting to know what was going on.
"Well," the horse-like being said as he contined to pull the sleigh, "I am a guardian of the Emerald City, which includes the royal emeralds of the Emerald City. I can track down the emeralds that is in the crown as well as the one that guarded the city."
"Which means we're gonna find Tenchi!" Dorothy shouted joyfully at the news.
"As well as find whomever took him with the emeralds." Kiyone pulled out her gun and checked the chamber for bullets.
"So what do we do?" Mihoshi asked the group.
"I say run for the hills." Muta voiced in his cowardness strongly.
"We must rescue King Tenchi." Nightingale voiced her emotionless resolve to the cat, who sensed that the group had a death wish.
"How about a vote?" Kiyone proposed to the group.
"Good idea." The stray cat agreed, hoping that more members of the group would agree with him, since he knew that more people would prefer to live over getting killed.
"Well, I'm goin' to get Tenchi outta there!" Dorothy announced to the group, whom each of them had their own response to the statement.
"And I was ordered to follow Dorothy and to provide her with my assistance." Nightingale announced as well.
"Dorothy's always had a bad problem of keeping trouble away." Kiyone said with a straight face, "I'm going with you, Dorothy."
"And it looks like I will not be retrieving the royal emeralds alone." Helios stated to the group as he continued to pull the group's lone form of transportation.
"I wanna help you guys out!" A completely obvious Mihoshi announced, earning the annoyance of Muta, who yelled at the pumpkin-headed being.
"Do you have a death wish!?"
"What's that?" Mihoshi asked, not knowing better about what the stray feline was talking about to her.
"Looks like Muta's the loser in this vote." Kiyone joked, earning a death glare from the skinny cat, who cursed out under his breath.
"All right then!" Dorothy turned to Helios and said, "Next stop: to Tenchi and the emeralds!"