Here's chapter nineteen, and the moment that the heroes knows the Wizard's identity.
REMINDER: I DO NOT OWN THE ROAD TO EL DORADO OR THE WIZARD OF OZ OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS.
The heroes entered the chamber. They looked around to find the Wizard.
"Uh, Mr. Wizard? I know you're resting, but we've brought you the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West." Dorothy called out.
"Dorothy melted her." Miguel called out, but there was no answer.
Toto looked at the curtain, so he walked to it. The group looked around, the Wizard wasn't here.
"Where the heck is he?" Lion wondered.
Toto barked at the group, telling them that he thinks he founded the Wizard. Dorothy, Miguel and their friends followed Toto though the curtain.
To the surprise of Dorothy, Miguel and their friend, they say the head of the Wizard, only it was some kind of prop.
"Hey." Dorothy was surprised. "Look at this."
Scarecrow saw the Wizard's queen form, and it was just a puppet.
"Does this look familiar?" Scarecrow asked surprised.
Tinman saw the spider/snake hybrid as a puppet. "These are fake."
"We've been had." Miguel said.
"Where is this 'Wizard' now?" Lion wondered.
Dorothy and Miguel saw something. A fancy bed, and someone was sleeping. The Kansas duo figured it might be the 'Wizard' taking a nap. They walked to the bed, and when Miguel pulled the blanket, it was revealed to be a woman with red hair and a long nose. And an Afghan dog was sleeping with her.
"He's a she!" Miguel was surprised.
Miguel's surprised yell woke the woman and her dog up. She was shocked to see Dorothy, Miguel and their friends here, and with the burnt broomstick.
Dorothy was crying. "You… You're nothing but a phony!"
"He's out!" the woman said, falling down from her bed. "The Wizard's out! He's not here! He's out!"
"LIES!" Dorothy shouted out.
The woman was holding a mask of the 'Wizard' that they saw, but she hid it behind her back.
"No more lies!" Dorothy said crying.
"You charlatan. I've seen men shot for less." Tinman said angrily.
"You're a terrible woman!" Scarecrow yelled.
"I'm not, I…" the woman tried to explain.
Lion growled at the woman who was scared, hugging her dog. "Shall I finish her here?"
The woman was scared. "I'M SORRY!"
"Sorry?!" Lion asked angrily.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Miguel asked bitterly.
"Everything you've said is true. I'm a phony. l got no powers. I'm not a wizard, I'm not even a man! l got no right to be pretending to be a wizard. I've got nothing."
The woman tried to make magic. "Hocus-pocus." But she was not magic. "Nothing."
"We'd thought so." Lion said.
"This is my baby, Contessa Noblessa." the woman introduced her dog. "And I'm just plain old Judith Ozlynn Ardmore from Bevery Hills."
Then, Dorothy and Miguel got astonished about where Ardmore came from.
"Beverly Hills?" Dorothy asked.
"You mean you're from California?" Miguel asked before Ardmore nodded.
"I'm just a second-rate politician, that's all." Ardmore said before Noblessa barked.
"I never thought I'd seen it, but never have I seen a humbug like you." Scarecrow said bitterly.
Judith laughed nervously. "A humbug. A humbug, I am. That's me. I'm a humbug. So much so, l could never get elected to public office. Not because I didn't try. l tried everything."
Noblessa walked to some posters saying, 'Vote for Ardmore for Mayor.', and gave them to Ardmore.
"Look, look. l ran for any and everything. Alderwoman, councilwoman, assembly leader. l became a laughingstock. l couldn't even get on the ticket. Finally, in desperation, I ran for mayor."
"Right." Scarecrow scoffed.
"l was at the end of my rope. l plunged myself and my Noblessa into the campaign. One desperate grandstand play. You know what I did?"
Ardmore pointed at a vehicle. "l rented a hot-air balloon."
"Hot air. That's a perfect vehicle for you." Tinman said sarcastically.
"No, no, no. No. It was a beautiful Fourth of July day. l planned to fly over the boardwalk and the beach, and throw leaflets to the astonished crowds below. My motto was, 'Vote for Ardmore for Mayor.'" Ardmore said.
"And what happened?" Miguel asked.
"Just when I and Noblessa got up in the balloon, a terrible storm came up and blew us into the clouds. We got lost." Judith said before Noblessa barked. "We were scared."
"And?" Lion asked.
"We landed here in Oz. They'd never seen a hot-air balloon like mine before. When we arrived, they thought I was a great wizard because I share the name of the land. Ozlynn, 'Oz', get it?"
The group looked at the fake Wizard, disappointed.
"I know I should have told them the truth, but they proclaimed me the Wizard, and… I needed a job." Ardmore said guilty.
"And you mean to say… You sent us to kill the Wicked Witch, knowing we might never come back?" Dorothy asked tearfully.
"She was crazy. She would've killed me." Ardmore said. "She would've found out I had no power, and she'd have took over Oz. I was scared of her and her sister."
"That's no excuse." Miguel said. "Come on."
The group were about to leave, but Judith stopped them.
"Wait, wait. Let me make it up to you." she begged. "I'm not a terrible woman, I'm a good woman. But to be honest, I was a very terrible Wizard."
"You'll make it up for us?" Scarecrow asked disbelief. "What about the courage you promised Lion, and the heart you promised Tinman?"
"And Scarecrow's brain?" Tinman and Lion asked together.
"Why, everyone could have a brain." Ardmore said. "If you would believe you do."
Noblessa was holding a big pincushion and Judith grabbed it, and petted her dog.
"Thank you, my wittle Noblessa. This would be enough." she said. "Now, I'll have to take your head off, Scarecrow."
Scarecrow was nervous, but she let the 'Wizard' take her head off. She removed the straws from the head, and put the pincushion in, and the straws back into the head. And she placed the head back to Scarecrow's body.
"How do you feel now?" Ardmore asked.
"I feel something." Scarecrow said, beginning to feel smart.
"Now, what's the square root of two million, six hundred and two?" Ardmore asked.
"That's a hard one." Lion said.
"Four thousand, four hundred and fourteen, and four hundred and twenty-six."
Scarecrow was surprised in joy since she had answered that question.
"The sum of the square roots of two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to square root of the remaining side."
Scarecrow laughed happily since her wish came true. Her friends were glad that she had gotten a brain.
"I-I've got a brain!" Scarecrow said before she hugged Judith. "How can I ever thank you enough, Miss Ardmore?"
"Please, call me Judith." Judith said with a warm smile.
The Wizard walked to Tinman.
"As for you, Tinman, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable."
"But I still want one." Tinman said.
"Back where I come from, there are people who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phila… Er… Good-deed-doers. And their hearts are no bigger than yours. But they have one thing you haven't got. A testimonial."
Judith picked up a heart-shaped watch.
"Therefore, in consideration of your kindness, I take pleasure at this time in presenting you with a small token of our esteem and affection."
Just as Judith opened Tinman's chest, she placed the watch inside it.
"And remember, my sentimental friend that a heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others." she said.
Tinman smiled at Judith, and his heart began to tick. "It ticks! Can you hear it? It ticks!"
Tinman's friends smiled that Tinman had got his heart. Judith walked to Lion.
"As for you, Lion, you're a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger you have no courage. You're confusing courage with wisdom."
Noblessa was holding a bottle, and Judith grabbed it.
"This elixir is very strong." Judith said. "Open wide."
Lion opened his mouth, and when Judith pours the elixir into his mouth, he drank it all.
"How do you feel now?" Judith asked.
Then, Lion roared loudly in the chamber, causing Judith to fly backwards.
"Does this answer your question?" Lion asked.
"What a roar." Judith was proud.
The group gathered around Lion who was not a coward anymore. He was brave thanks to the Wizard.
"Look out, hyenas! This lion is the king of the forest!" Lion said in pride. "Long live the king!"
The group laughed in joy as they got their wishes. But Scarecrow missed something.
"Hey, what about Dorothy, Toto and Miguel?" she asked.
"How would they get back home to Kansas?" Tinman asked.
"Yeah, how?" Lion asked.
"Oh, uh…" Judith had not thought about that.
"I don't think you can send us back there." Dorothy said sadly.
"Yeah. You're not magic." Miguel said.
Judith and Noblessa felt guilty for the Kansas farmers, but Judith had an idea.
"Unless I take you both there!" Judith said.
The group were surprised to hear that idea.
"Today, we fly to the sky!"
Next chapter will come soon.