It was a beautiful day out in the truffula valley.

The Lorax, along with pipsqueak, Kimmer, her friend Jeremy, and Chip the chipper squirrel were playing a game of poker... well mainly Lorax and Jeremy who were very good at the game. Lorax put down two aces. He grinned and chuckled.

"Take that, Buckeye!"

Lorax snickered and winked. Jeremy, though, had a trick up his sleeve. He smiled slyly.

"Oh, Yeah? Well, take this!"

he slammed down a royal flush, automatically defeating the Lorax a second time.

Lorax groaned loudly in frustration and defeated.

"Ughh! How do you keep beating me, Kid?! I'm supposed to be the master here!"

"I don't know, maybe because I'm the master at this!" With that he shrugged but with a big sense of pride. Chip rolled his eyes at this, as he thinks that his boasting is annoying. Kimmer laughed at the scene, while Pipsqueak patted Lorax's shoulder assuringly, which made Lorax smile at the little barbaloot.

Kimmer turned and saw her brother Onceler, along his mule Melvin, coming back from Greenville trying to sell his thneed. But Kimmer saw that he had tomatoes splattered all over him, and he especially looked crushed. Onceler is have is hard time selling his thneed, and it wasn't easy at all, because the people in town jeered and made fun of him, just because they thought that he and his invention was ridiculous.

Onceler was sulking when he heard a girl's voice call out,

"Oncie! You're back!"

Onceler looked up to see his sister Kimmer bounding towards him, with Pipsqueak trailing along behind her. He brightened up at the sight and rushed over to greet them.

"Cricket! Pipsqueak! How are my two favorites?"

Onceler nuzzled the top of Kimmer's head, and Pipsqueak, too, which made him giggled.

Kimmer groaned, but laughed at the same time.

"Come on, you're messing my hair up. Cut it out."

"Nope on a rope, Cricket! So, what were you all doing, playing a game of poker with mustache and Jeremy?"

"yeah, the both of them are being competitive as usual. Jeremy won again though, and Lorax was pretty annoyed at that."

Onceler laughed at this.

"Well, Mustache sure take Poker seriously like a hot head, if you know what I mean."

"I guess. So, is your thneed sells getting any better?"

Onceler's smile faded as Kimmer brought up the thneed.

"Well, to be honest. It's still not going well. People are still making fun of me, plus I got tomatoes thrown at me".

He gestured at the globs of tomato on his vest and fedora hat and sighed sadly.

Kimmer instantly felt horrible for Onceler. It was mean the way those people treated him, and she couldn't stand it. It only she was there to stand up for him.

"Aww Oncie..."

Kimmer reached up and wiped off the globs with her sleeve gently.

"It's no fair that they treat you like this. They should Learn to like and respect you for your thneed."

"It's easier said than done. They probably think the thneed's garbage."

Onceler frowned deeply at his own comment.

Kimmer then grew stern and looked her brother in the eye.

"Oncie, no. You take that back right now. Your thneed's not garbage. It's a genius and cool idea that people should love. You should never give up just because of what others think. You can and will amount to anything. I'm totally possible about that, right, Pipsqueak."

Pipsqueak looked up at Onceler with bright eyes and nodded in agreement.

Onceler looked down at that bright, confident and sweet face of his sister's, her blue eyes shined with pride for her brother.

Instantly, the mental crush from today evaporated, and a warm feeling spread in his body from head to toe. A big, tender smile grew across Onceler's face. Kimmer was the only one in his family, and basically ever, that believed he would amount to anything (except for Norma. She believed in him, too, which he appreciated greatly). That meant a lot to him more than he could ever know. Onceler was very lucky to have Kimmer as his sister.

"Kimmer, I just needed that encouragement from you. I promise you that I willkeep trying to sell my thneed, no matter what others think. You're the bestest friend that I could ever ask for."

Onceler lifted his sister into a big bear hug. Pipsqueak tugged on his pants leg, begging to be picked up. Onceler noticed and laughed.

"Hey, you too, Pip. You're my best friend, too."

He bent down and scooped up the little barbaloot, who beamed with delight.

Lorax , Jeremy and Chip went over to see Onceler.

"Hey, Beanpole", Lorax greeted Onceler.

"Did you sell that mess of thneed yet?"

"No, not yet, but I'll still keep trying at it thanks to Cricket here."

"'course you will, with your stubborn self", Lorax mumbled to himself, then said to Onceler,

"well, keep trying. I'm sure you'll be successful".

"not", Lorax thought to himself with a eye roll

"Onceler called out, "who wants pancake?" The animals immediately ran over at the sound of those words, and Kimmer laughed.

"Looks like I'm not the only one that love Oncie's pancakes, right Pipsqueak?"

Pipsqueak nodded with a big grin on his furry face. Jeremy and Chip rushed over as well.

"Hey Onceler, can we joined you?" Jeremy called out.

"Kimmer told me that your pancakes were the best and Chip and I want to try them out." Chip chittered in agreement.

"Sure, why not. You are my sister's friend after all. You too, Chip."

"Cool!"

Jeremy and Chip headed over. Onceler turned to Lorax smiling.

"Ya coming', mustache? You know you can't resist my pancakes!"

Lorax rolled his eyes but grinned at the mentioning of pancakes.

"Alright, heading over, Beanpole."

and so everyone headed inside the Onceler's tent for some delicious pancakes