(Gathering the Heroes)
July 16th, 1906*
*Quadling Country*
*Glinda's Palace*
The early morning sun shone upon Glinda's beautiful red castle while Ozma entered the palace since she wanted to speak to Glinda, and this seemed to have caught her attention.
"Princess Ozma, I've seen everything. It seems Dion has made himself known to the citizens of Dorothy's world. I never expected him to do such a terrible thing." Glinda spoke to Ozma while the young girl nodded in agreement.
"Yes, and to make matters worse, he's killed people in Dorothy's world as well and now he wants to open up a tournament that's going to take place in Kansas." Ozma responded to Glinda in a formal yet serious voice.
The news made Glinda perplexed; however, she was aware of Dion's plan, it was rather his goals that confused her.
"I see. It seems Dion is a threat to Oz and Dorothy's world, but you know I can't help you and the others since I can't get involved unless it's absolutely necessary; however, I can send out Kiki to assist you and the others. She's quite powerful since she's my second in command." Glinda advised Ozma in a stern voice while looking over at Kiki, who was sitting next to her.
After hearing this, Ozma nodded understandably before smiling at her.
"No worries, I wasn't planning on having you join us, but rather have Kiki join us. We need plenty of heroes on our side if we want to win this, and we don't know what Dion might have in store for us." Ozma responded and this made Kiki smile as she looked up and waited to see Glinda's response.
"Please, Dorothy and Ozma are my friends, and I want to help them in any shape or form." Kiki pleaded with Glinda in hopes of her master accepting the offer.
Glinda thought for a moment before finally deciding on an answer.
"Sure, we need all the help we can get, so I'll allow you to enter the tournament. I wish you nothing but the best of fortune." Glinda responded in full acceptance which made Kiki smile warmly with joy as she jumped up and down from her seat.
"Thank you, and I'll be careful, your majesty." Kiki responded joyfully as she walked toward Ozma while Glinda watched everything.
Ozma smiled once more as she and Kiki prepared themselves to leave the palace while Glinda finally spoke again.
"You're welcome. I wish you all the best of luck, and I'll be watching from my Great Book of Records. Good Luck, brave warriors."Glinda responded to Ozma and Kiki for the final time while she waved goodbye to the girls, and they waved back.
"Goodbye Glinda, we won't fail you, I promise you that." Ozma responded to the good witch with a motivated smile.
After this, Ozma clicked her heels three times and began to call upon the silver shoes to take her and Kiki back to the Emerald City.
"Silver Shoes! Take me and Kiki back to Emerald City!" Ozma commanded the shoes as a brilliant flash of light consumed them before sending them toward their destination.
"At least Dion is a threat they could handle.." Glinda thought to herself while continuing to sit on her throne for the time being.
*Emerald Palace*
Ozma and Kiki arrived at the palace; however, she still had more errands to run.
"You'll wait here okay, I'm going to get Dorothy's friend and cousin, Betsy and Zeb, okay?" Ozma advised Kiki while the red-haired girl smiled before nodding understandably.
"Of course, take your time. We need all the help we can get for the tournament, so I wish you the best of luck during your travels." Kiki responded with a thumbs-up before she turned around to run inside the place while Ozma was on her own.
"Alright, Silver Shoes! Take me to Betsy Bobbin's home!" Ozma commanded the silver shoes once more while clicking her heels three times as a flash of light appeared once more to send the girl to her destination.
*Topeka, Kansas*
Ozma arrived at the entrance of a small home that wasn't that far from Dorothy's home.
"I hope she's home.." Ozma muttered to herself before knocking on the door, hoping that Betsy would answer.
After a few seconds of silence, the door finally opened and it was Betsy.
"O-Ozma?! What brings you here!! Does this have to do with Dion, I heard about it in the papers but please come in." Betsy greeted Ozma in a surprised voice while motioning her hand so Ozma could come in.
"Hello, Betsy. It's a long story so I'll summarize things for you, and thank you for allowing me to come in.." Ozma responded politely while entering the home, and there, she saw Betsy walking to the kitchen and pulling out a water pitcher.
"Would you care for some water? It's great seeing you again as well." Betsy offered her friend while Ozma accepted the offer as she nodded.
"I would love to, and thank you very much." Ozma responded with a smile as she accepted the glass of water.
"So, I heard about Dion and his tournament, things really seem bad right now, and I wonder where Dorothy is in all of this." Betsy spoke to Ozma once more while taking a seat at the kitchen table.
"Correct, and Dorothy is currently training to get stronger so her power would be a huge help for us." Ozma responded while sipping the water from the cup as Betsy nodded understandingly.
"I had a feeling Dorothy would end up in Oz again, but what do you plan on doing in the meantime since Dion is causing chaos in the world." Betsy curiously asked Ozma while she waited for an answer from her friend.
"Well, I plan on training as well. It seems even I have a ceiling to crack. My battle with Dion taught me that quite well. I may have inherited my mother, Lurine's power, but I'm nowhere near as powerful as she is." Ozma responded to Betsy once more while taking another sip of water from the glass.
"I see, and what's going to happen next due to everyone knowing about Oz? I'd imagine that people here might want to invade it for resources.." Betsy curiously asked her friend once more as Ozma quickly answered the question.
"I might have Glinda render it completely invisible so that nobody but Dorothy, you, Zeb, and Oscar could only get there, that's something I can do." Ozma responded once more in a serious voice while Betsy got up from her seat.
"Don't worry, we'll fix this situation, I'll even join and help. I may not be strong; however, I can lend my emotional support to my friends." Betsy reassured Ozma as this made her smile.
"I'm glad to hear that, and that's why I came here. We need as much help as we can get, even if it's emotional support." Ozma responded with a happy voice while she got up from the table to wash out her cup in the sink.
"Wonderful, and I never thought I'd end up in Oz again, but that's what being friends with Dorothy will land you." Betsy responded to Ozma once more as she chuckled at the thought of everything.
After this, Ozma placed the washed cup to the side and walked toward Betsy as the girls were ready to head to their next destination.
"Alright, we're going to see Zeb Hugsen next, and I believe he'll be happy to join us, how does that sound?" Ozma spoke to Betsy and this made her friend excited.
"Wonderful!" Betsy responded once more in a joyful manner as she was ready to depart with Ozma.
After their conversation, Ozma used her silver shoes to take her and Betsy to the Hudson ranch in San Francisco.
*Hugson Ranch, San Francisco*
Ozma and Betsy arrived at the ranch, and of course they found Zeb resting by a tree which amused Betsy.
"There goes Zeb, sleeping on the job. I've been told he has a rather bad habit of doing that." Betsy spoke to Ozma in a humorous tone of voice while Ozma chuckled at this.
"I've heard from Dorothy, let's hope Zeb isn't actually sleeping." Ozma responded once more.
The two girls began to walk toward the tree where Zeb was currently resting, and there, the boy slowly began to open his eyes to see Ozma and Betsy looking down at him.
"H-Huh?! It's you guys! What brings you two here? Is it about what I've been hearing on the papers?" Zeb asked his two friends with a tired yet surprised voice while he rubbed his eyes since he had just woken up.
"It's a long story, but please come with us, Dorothy needs all the support she can get." Ozma advised Zeb in a calm voice, and to her luck, Zeb agreed to join them.
"O-Of course, anything for my Cousin, and what's going on with her." Zeb responded while getting up to stretch while Betsy provided him with an answer.
"She's currently training right now, but she'll be okay. I know she's going to be happy when she sees us." Betsy responded while Zeb nodded understandably.
"I-I see. This whole ordeal must be more serious than, I hope Dorothy isn't killing herself with that hard work." Zeb responded with concern while he continued to stretch.
"Don't worry, Dorothy is a smart girl. She knows when and when not to push herself." Ozma reassured Zeb in a calm voice while the boy nodded.
"That's Dorothy for you." Zeb responded with a chuckle before eventually joining Ozma and Betsy.
*Munchkin Country*
Back in Oz, Azure continued to lay in the nursing bed while Ojo continued to take care of them, and it seems they've heard the news as well.
"I'm joining the tournament! I refuse to allow Dion to get away with this, and I also need to pay him back for what he did.." Azure spoke to Ojo with motivation in her voice before quickly wincing in pain due to his sudden movement while Ojo quickly placed a warm towel over his lower stomach area.
"You need to rest. If you want to get stronger or whatever, then you need to rest, okay? The tournament is in a few days, so you'll have plenty of time to train." Ojo advised Azure rather sternly while the man nodded as he laid back down.
"Y-You're right. I hope I'm able to prepare myself for the tournament, but resting should be my priority.." Azure responded with a smile before proceeding to close his eyes as he began to rest while Ojo was happy to see him corporate.
"Maybe I should participate, but I'm quite unlucky so I'll just embarrass myself." Ojo thought to herself before chuckling at what she considered to be an outrageous idea although the act was courageous.
*Topeka, Kansas*
Back in Kansas, Dion flew across the beautiful prairies, and this was the perfect spot to build his arena.
"Perfect! Thank god for Ozma's cells. I can easily construct something such as an area." Dion spoke to himself as he prepared himself to create the arena.
Soon after, Dion began to create the arena by creating tiles from thin air, and he placed them on the ground thus creating the arena, and he added some finishing touches such as adding poles at the corner of each side.
The arena was similar to that of a football arena; however, it was only 6,200 square feet.
"Wonderful, and now I shall wait.." Dion spoke proudly as he descended to the ground so he could begin his wait for the upcoming tournament.
*Emerald Palace*
A few hours passed, and it was officially the afternoon as everyone awaited Dorothy and Omby Amby's return.
"Alright, they should come out just about..now.." Scarecrow spoke to his friends as the doors of the time chamber finally opened thus revealing Dorothy and Omby Amby, and they were quite beaten up from their training.
"D-Dorothy, my dear! You've gotten taller!" Aunt Em spoke in surprise while the young girl smiled.
"A-Am I? Omby Amby has been telling me that, but I'm glad to see you and everyone else again." Dorothy responded before smiling warmly.
*Dorothy has finished her training; however, will it be enough to take down Dion?!*