AN: Sorry guys for such a long delay. I know some of you have already seen Twister already, but I hope this one still meets some of your needs. Again, we own nothing!
Yellow Brick Road
As the gang began their walk back towards Emerald City, they were engaged in a very friendly, albeit teasing, conversation.
"Wow Lion," Tin Man began, "who knew you actually had it in you to trap those two monkeys like that. Not to mention going around a wicked witch's penthouse afterwards when there could have been traps anywhere?"
The Lion blush as he shrugged, "Well you guys were in trouble and I had to do something right? I couldn't have just let you guys suffer like that."
"That was very brave of you," Bailey said as she smiled at the Lion, which he shyly returned.
"I just can't believe you got Agnes to fall for the lie of me turning around my feelings about her. I mean, she couldn't have been that obsessed, could she?" Scarecrow wondered.
"Trust me bro, she is that insane and that negligee…" Tin Man said with a shudder.
"So a girl dressed like a little slut around you and you were actually turned off? Maybe you do have a heart," Bailey remarked.
"More like I have eyes," Tin Man retorted.
"Yeah, and I wonder where they directly connect to," Scarecrow said with a smirk.
"Hey that was…actually pretty zinger there bro," Tin Man said as he put an arm around his brother, "you make me so proud that I almost rust my face from tears."
Before the Tin Man could respond, he suddenly got knocked down, as he didn't realize they were at the walls of the Emerald City. The commotion made by the fall didn't go unnoticed as Kirbina once again charged out of his office, spear in hand.
"Alright! Who is trying to break in here?" Kirbina asked as he tried to look menacingly towards the group.
"Relax Kirbina," Bailey said as she tried to calm the guard down, "It's just us and we got the Wizard his emerald pocket hanky back."
"You mean you guys went into Brenda's penthouse and didn't come out dressed in the latest fashions and succeeded in defeating her? HOW?"
"Surprisingly, all we had to do was throw hideous clothes on her and she'll melt," the Lion replied, which brought upon a booming voice.
"YOU DID WHAT?" came the loud booming voice of the Wizard from inside the castle.
"Uh-oh," Kirbina began, "you four really did it this time."
All of a sudden, a short, black man dressed in an emerald green suit came outside and started to ramble towards his guests.
"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU MELTED HER! ALL I ASKED WAS THAT YOU GET THE POCKET HANKY AWAY FROM HER, NOT KILL HER! OH NO…OH NO NO NO…I GUESS I CAN KISS THAT CUSHY PENSION GOODBYE!"
All four, along with Porkers, looked at the raving mad man with a questionable glare, wondering why the dwarf of a man was so worried about the demise of the wicked witch.
"Umm…excuse me," Bailey spoke up first, "I take a wild guess here and say you are the Wizard, right?"
The little man stopped his ranting and looked at the farm girl suspiciously, "Who wants to know?"
"The five brave adventurers that went and got back your pocket hanky that's who," Tin Man stated, starting to be slightly annoyed with the Wizard.
"Alright, so I am the Wizard. Let's go back inside first before I explain it to you all," the Wizard said as the group began to walk inside to castle. As Bailey walked in, she looked down and Porkers and stated, "At first I thought he would have been the Munchkin Mayor, but this works too."
Porkers oinked in agreement and followed his mistress into the castle.
Emerald City Castle
As the four travelers and Porkers stood before the Wizard, waiting for him to acknowledge their presence while trying hard not to be curious as to why the Wizard was so distressed over current events. After a few more minutes of pacing around, the Wizard finally broke out of his pacing and stared at Bailey, and then her ruby boots.
"Of course!" The Wizard exclaimed, "You my dear, can use the power of the ruby boots and wish Brenda to be alive again."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"If you value my life and want me to grant the request of you and your friends, I would do as you were just asked."
"Why does Brenda living or dying mean so much to you anyways?" Scarecrow asked.
The Wizard and Kirbina exchange glances before the Wizard gave up and said, "Oh fine! I'll tell you the story, but you have to promise this doesn't leave these castle walls."
The four nodded as the Wizard began his tale.
"You see, Brenda is actually the daughter and sole heir of the Land of Oz. When I first came to this strange land, her father, Mr. Oz, put me in charge of Brenda to make sure she grew up to be a good witch. Sadly, without her father being a stable influence on her, Brenda grew up to be spoiled and mean, causing Mr. Oz to do the one thing he never wanted, which was to banish her powers to only within her penthouse. That is why Brenda's magic never works in any other part of Oz. Along with keeping an eye on Brenda, I've been charged with making sure all of Oz runs smoothly as well. Sadly, Brenda always rebelled against us, thinking we were just stifling her. The truth was, if she just be the good person I know she can be, Mr. Oz would be so much more understanding."
"So wait, all of Oz has been in a state of suspense chaos for the past twenty some odd years due to a spoiled little girl who can't understand the concept of punishment?" Scarecrow asked.
"Sounds like someone I know, but even she would have gotten the lesson already," Bailey mumbled.
"So if Brenda was the cause of all of this, wouldn't her being gone be a good thing for Oz?" Tin Man wondered.
"You would think so," the Wizard began, "but her father still loves her and the last thing Oz or anyone needs is a pissed off ruler."
"He's got a point there," Bailey admitted, "Alright, I'll help you bring Brenda back, but under one condition. You help my friends with their situations and provide me a way back home first."
"Fine! Let's start with the coward first," the Wizard said.
"Hurtful…" the Lion began before earning a well-deserved glare from the Wizard.
"Okay, so you want some courage, am I correct?"
"Yeah, I'm scared of everything, even that pig scared me!"
"Well Lion, I'm afraid your problem isn't that you don't have courage, but that you have no self-confidence in yourself. Now tell me, when was the last time you had any amount of courage?"
"It was when I needed to help out the others in terms of escaping Brenda's penthouse."
"What were you thinking at that time?"
"That my friends are in trouble, but they've been in trouble before and I never felt like that I did at that time."
"What else were you thinking about?"
"Well…also that I wanted to see the Munchkin Mayor and tell her how much I cared about her."
"Wait a minute Lion," Scarecrow interrupted, "didn't you say that the only time you have self-confidence in yourself is when you talk to her on that online world?"
"You're right," Lion said beaming, "In fact, when I'm with her, that's when I have the most self-confidence."
"I had a feeling it would be something like that," the Wizard said with some thought, "Being with the Munchkin Mayor gives you the confidence you need to do anything you put your mind to it."
"Alright, so we figured out the cause, but it's not like she would go for a guy like me anyways."
"And what makes you believe that for one second?" another voice could be heard, one that Lion recognizes.
"Alli?" Lion questioned before being tackled into a hug by the Munchkin Mayor.
"You finally got the courage to admit that I mean something to you huh?" Alli asked.
"Wait a minute," Lion began to stammer, "You knew?"
"Of course I did," Alli began, "All I did was ask Glinda to magically show who Matthew Timmons was and I knew it was you from the beginning. Lion, I like you for who you are, not for what any one else thinks. I just wish you had more courage to tell me that."
Instead of saying anything, Lion took Alli in his arms and dipped her before laying a long, lingering kiss on her lips.
"How's that for courage?" Lion asked as they finished and he pulled Alli back up.
"I think you should be more courageous from now on," Alli answered with a smile before looking at Tin Man, "By the way, Glinda is here as well."
"Oh, thanks for the heads up," Tin Man said nervously, which Bailey caught instantly.
Noticing their friend's confusion, Scarecrow said to her, "Glinda was the first girl Tin Man ever had a major crush on. The problem was that Glinda never gave him a chance because of his player ways. That lead my brother to really believe he doesn't have a heart because if he did, Glinda would have felt differently about him."
"And the truth is, I always did," Glinda said coming from behind the two, "I was always just afraid that he would do something to break my heart. Yet, seeing how courageous Lion was just now, how can I not take a chance?"
Scarecrow look at the good witch with sympathy, "Glinda, you don't have to be with him if your heart tells you not to. I understand why you rejected my brother's advances and I would not fault you if you continued to do so. I will say though, I have never seen him look at any other girl the way he looked at you."
"I know," Glinda said, "That's why I'm willing to do this."
With those words said, Glinda walked over to Tin Man, whispered something into his ear, and gave him a peck on the cheek. With those simple gestures of affection, a red glow started to form from Tin Man's chest. It wasn't long before a shape of a heart began to glow within him and a warm sensation started to flow throughout his body that Tin Man knew he had a heart all along.
The Wizard smiled at the development and then looked at Scarecrow, "Now young man, I believe you are the only one left. Your brother has his heart, your friend has courage, what do you seek?"
"I guess wisdom and a brain. I always felt that I'm very stupid, especially about certain aspects in my life."
"Would that happen to be in terms of women and love?" Bailey asked.
"How did you know?" Scarecrow asked, scared and confused.
Bailey laughed as she shook her head, "Like I said when we first met, you remind me a lot of Cody and you still do. You're a very smart person Scarecrow and I think that if you just had the self-confidence in yourself to be exactly who you should be, you'll find wisdom in the end."
"And how are we going to test that theory?" Scarecrow asked.
"I thought you never asked," said another voice, this one causing Scarecrow to look very nervously as he slowly turned around to come face to face with a scarecrow who looked a lot like Bailey. The Bailey scarecrow walked towards him and looked at him in the eyes.
"WOW! She looks just like me," Bailey wondered.
"Did you really think you would get away from having make up done to you for hours?" SprouseGoose asked.
"Okay, can we stop the fourth wall breaking here and get back to the story? I mean…CRAP! Continuing on…" Man of Faith interjected as we tried to move away from the two writers and back to scene.
"I heard about everything you did, especially with helping to give this girl here one more chance at love. Your compassion and wisdom really shined at that moment."
"All I did was take a chance at believing in love," Scarecrow replied.
"That's all one needs some times. You were never the dumb one Scarecrow. We both messed up. That doesn't mean that we're stupid, it just means we still have a lot to learn. I want to continue that path with you, if you want it as well."
"Debby…I…" Scarecrow, with nothing else to say, pulled Debby in for a long kiss. As they separated, Scarecrow could see Bailey smiling behind Debby, with tears in her eyes.
"No more six month plan?" Bailey asked.
"Nope. I figured I take a page from a friend and let my actions speak for me instead. This little scene gives you any ideas?"
"Yeah, I just hope he will be there to forgive me."
Debby turned around and looked at Bailey, "If he and Scarecrow are truly alike, then he does love you. Trust me."
Bailey nodded, "I think it's time for me to go home and trust in love again."
"Good," The Wizard began, "Now, first tap the boots together three times and say, 'I wish Brenda was alive' three times as well."
Bailey did as she instructed and Brenda suddenly popped up right besides Bailey, with a look of anger towards the country girl.
"WHY YOU NO GOOD…"
"BRENDA OZ! YOU STOP THIS INSTANCE YOUNG LADY AND NO VIOLENCE WITHIN MY CITY!"
Brenda suddenly turned into a meek little girl as she looked upon her guardian, "Yes Wizard."
"You know your father is very angry with you, especially your treatment towards Madeline."
"I know, it was just that Maddie didn't want to…"
"I know what she didn't want to do and she was right to stand up to you about it. Now, when our guests leave, I want you to go back to your penthouse and fix your mess."
"Yes, Wizard," Brenda said dejectedly.
"Okay, now that Brenda is free, how do I get home? Do I start saying, 'There's no place like home?'"
"No silly," Brenda said as she walks up to Bailey, "I just have to do this."
Brenda grabs Bailey's nose and began to shake her head left and right, ignoring Bailey's cries of hurt. As it continued on, the world of Oz began to fade as the dream came to an end.