(Don't have much to say here, but I just wanna say this is my favorite chapter so far. This or chapter 13. Enjoy!)

This or Bryson had no idea where he was going. All he was doing was just walking. And walking. Almost like he was a machine programmed to do so. He was tired of all the walking. He just wanted to rest. In a bed. Yeah, a bed would be nice. And not the cold, hard ground.

If you even make it that far..

A voice taunted in his mind, causing him to shake his head and sigh.

He was about to take a break and sit down for a bit, but then he realized the scenery was familar. He could make out a large mountain in the distance. He remembered seeing it when he first arrived. He smiled as he realized that had to mean Munchkin Land was somewhere too, right?

Then he thought of something.

What if Rabadan has destroyed this place?

He shook his head and took off running, hoping to God or anything that it hadn't been destroyed, because then? He would feel even more alone than before.

He reared around the corner and stopped running when he realized that he could make out Munchkin Land, in all it's glorly, in tact. He grinned and started to speedwalk, when a familar, grumpy, voice caused him to come to a halt.

"Well look who it is, if it isn't Sir Stutters A Lot!"

Bryson looked around. He knew what it was. The post. He smirked, glad to have company. Even if it was grumpy company..

"I'M OVER HERE! You hobbledehoy.."

Bryson looked around before finding the post in its spot he had found it in before. The fact a post was talking to him wasn't as shocking as before, with all he had went through. "Boy, am I glad to see you... did you just call me a... hobbledehoy?"

"Boy am I NOT glad to see you! Adjectives to describe how much I DON'T want to see you have not yet been invented! Do you understand how many puppies I'd rather be throwing into woodchippers? YOU. HAVE. NO. IDEA. KID."

Bryson grinned. He wasn't even offended, he was just grateful to see SOME kind of familar face.

"WHY ARE YOU SMILING? I JUST INSULTED YOU."

Bryson grinned more.

"ARE YOU AWARE OF WHAT AN INSULT IS? IT IS A DISRESPECTFUL OR SCORNFULLY ABUSIVE REMARK OR ACTION! And you know what?! MOST PEOPLE DON'T SMILE AT IT! You are.. you are.. SO WEIRD. You.. you.. you.. SEE?! YOUR CONSTANT STUTTERING IS CONTAIGUS."

Bryson chuckled, causing the post to just give an angry and slightly confused look. Bryson gathered himself. He needed a good laugh after all that. "Okay, okay, okay, look." He started, throwing his hands up. "I have a question. Are the Munchkins here?"

"No. They're busy grooming flying monkeys and teaching them tricks and preparing them for their own cute little monkey sho-YES THEY ARE HERE."

Bryson smirked. He was glad to know they were okay. "Good."

Bryson looked over at Munchkin Land and looked at the black gate he had entered through before. "That gate. Is it locked?"

"Yes, and sadly, you're not locked in it instead of conversing with me." The post angrily replied.

"Any way I can get it open?" Bryson inquired.

"They usually have a guard there. They've all been hiding in their houses since these attacks. They've barley been out. They've been worried about Rabadan. That's why they put the gate in there." The post replied.

Bryson gave a sad look. This was all so depressing. Rabadan had brought the whole land down to its knees. He had crushed everyone's spirt. What once was a happy world was now one of paranoia and fear.

The post noticed Bryson's reaction. "Wow, you actually gave a proper reaction to something I said, bravo."

Bryson looked at the post. "Yup. And you got through a sentence without insulting me. We're really going through some big milestones in this relationship today, I think."

The post scoffed. "JUST GET OUT OF MY SIGHT."

"Yes, dear." Bryson snarkily replied.

The post groaned.

"Oh come on, we've got some great banter going on here!" Bryson smirked and began to walk to the gate.

"PUPPY. WOOD CHIPPERS. THEY DO NOT MIX WELL TOGETHER! THEY ARE CUTE PUPPIES, TOO!" The post yelled.

Bryson shook his head as he made it to the gate. He tapped on the gate. "Hi.. anyone there?" He called out.

Suddenly, a tiny, female voice called back. "Who goes there?!"

Bryson remembered that voice. It sounded like the munchkin he had met when he arrived in Oz! Oh.. what was her name? Debbie? No.. it started with a D... Donna!

"Hey, uh, umm.. Donna! Yeah, Donna.. it's me, Bryson. Do you remember me?"

"Oh, yes! Bryson! You need to get in here!"

Suddenly, bushes began to rumble and Donna came out. Bryson couldn't believe she had to resort to hiding in there, to guard this thing, hiding from one man.

Donna had a key in her hand, she quickly stuck it in the keyhole and opened the door, practically dragging him in, showing how frantic and paranoid she had become.

"Where is Dorothy and Finley?" she asked.

"You didn't hear?" Bryson asked.

She shook her head. "No! What happened?!" She asked worriedly.

Bryson sighed, not wanting to tell her. "Well... Dorothy, Finley, Scarecrow, Tin Man.. and Glinda... Rabadan.. he... he took them all."

Her eyes widened and she gasped. "What do you mean he took them?! What did he do? Where are they?!"

He sighed again. "I don't know, I mean.. Rabadan used that.. scepeter thing and they just dissappeared. But, I luckily, I came across someone who gave me some pretty valuable.. information. Rabadan has this castle, and he's been keeping them."

She gasped and put her hands to her mouth, tearing up.

"You need to get in here before Rabadan comes here..." she managed to say as she grabbed him.

She led him to one of the munchkin houses and quickly yanked the door open, causing several munchkins to gasp and widen their eyes, but calmed when they saw it was just Donna and Bryson, sighing deeply in relief. A few "phew's" were heard.

"How long have they been hiding here?" Bryson asked softly.

"A.. a while." Donna replied.

This deeply depressed Bryson. How could this happen? This once bright and cheerful land had been brought down to its knees by one man. He had won, at this rate. He had broken everyone's spirits. The only one who still seemed to have hope was Dorothy. She kept on trying to cheer everyone up and kept promising everyone that they COULD do it. Every single time she was in the room, everyone got a bit happier. It was one of the many reasons he had admired her. If she were her, he was sure everyone would be more cheerful. She woud say something motivational and everything felt like it could be okay.

He wished he could do that.

Wait.. maybe... maybe I can..

Yeah. Maybe he could.. Dorothy inspired him in a lot of ways. And you know what? He was gonna put that inspiration to use.

"Donna.." he started, leaning his hand down to grab her arm. "I wanna talk to you outside for a minute."

"About what?" she asked softly.

"Just.. come with me."

She nodded and excused herself from the munchkins, and the two walked out the door.

"What is it?" she asked, looking up from him, tears were visible.

"Listen. We can't just hide away in fear anymore. We HAVE to save all of those people. We HAVE to save Oz. We can't just hide here. If we don't do something, Oz is gonna burn to the ground. Those munchkins... they can do a lot of things, can't they? We could build an army. I know the odds are against us... but..." he sighed. "Look. I want you get out all of the munchkins. I want to tell them something. To.. help them. To.. to motivate them." He explained.

"I don't know.. I mean, you're right, you are very right.. but.. we could get killed..." she said.

"Just. Please. Bring them out here."

She slowly nodded and with hesitance, she went from door to door, collecting all of the munchkins to come outside.

They coughed. Looked miserable and depressed. Some sickly, even. Bryson didn't think he could do it.. bring their spirits up... but.. that was it. He was sick of doubting himself. He searched for words as they all looked at him confused.

"Uh... hello, everyone.." he started awkwardly.

He cleared his throat. "Okay.. I, uh..." He sighed. "I brought you all out here for a reason. A good one. A very good one."

Some of them lifted their heads up.

He gave a sigh of relief. He was getting somewhere at least.

"All of you have been living in fear, paranoia, and basically.. torture for the last few... weeks, I presume. Maybe longer. But.. I think... I think it's time that comes to an end. This man, this.. this Rabadan man... he thinks he can just come here and say he's just the most powerful thing in the land. But guess what, everyone? It's an illusion. Kind of like.. kind of like the wizard. Remember? He's not anything. He's set himself up to be this.. big, scary, monster. But guess what? He's just a man. A man that bleeds. And just because he's got his own little toy doesn't mean anything. Take that.. that toy away from him, he's just.. he's a master mainuplator and he's based all of this on lies. All this fear.. it's nothing. In actuality.. you are all scared over nothing. If all of us worked together... I whole heartedly believe that we could take this man down. Sure.. that scepeter thing, or whatever.. maybe it can do a lot. Sure. The odds are against us. But one thing I've learned.. right when I first got here.. NOTHING is impossible. We can formulate a plan, I know it. Some of you are really smart. Some of you are really strong. Some of you can build things. And with all that put together, we can take him down. And guess what? Dorothy.. the savior, you know? The odds were against her. She was just a 'farm girl' and she beat a powerful witch. And if she bit a witch that was terroizing people and built up to be the worst possible thing to exist, and she beat him. And history will repeat itself this time. I really believe that."

Everyone's head was lifted up. Their eyes were now more glimmered with hope.

"I'm gonna every single one of you a question." He began to pace around.

"Do you think we can beat him?"

They all looked at each other.

"I said... do you think we can beat him?!" He asked again.

"Yeah..." a few munchkins said.

"I want more of you. And don't say it so softly.. I want you to yell it. And don't just say it. Believe it. Can we take this man down?"

"Yeah!" More munchkins yelled.

"I said.. do you think we can take him down?!"

"Yeah!"

"Do you? Do you really?"

"YEAH!"

He grinned. It worked. His speech ACTUALLY worked.

"This is the land of Oz! This is a place of happiness. Where no one is judged. A beautiful place. So. CAN WE DO IT?!" he yelled.

"YEAH!" every munchkin said.

"Okay! Then let's all get rid of those faces and let's all GET TO WORK. Get to work to take this MAN. Not a monster.. a MAN.. down? Are we gonna win?"

"YEAH!"

He grinned wider.

"WE CAN DO IT!"

And with that, hats were thrown up, everyone cheered, and everyone clapped.

He couldn't believe it was HIS words that made everyone believe in themselves.

For once, he felt proud of himself.

He could do it.

They could all do it.

He looked at them all. "THEN OKAY!"

He kept his grin and what he said reeked of the most confidence he had ever had in his entire life.

"Alright. Let's get to work."