The End (of the castle) Part III
"Dorothy? Dorothy, wake up!"
Dorothy awoke to find that she was being licked on the face by--
"TOTO!" Dorothy cried, scooping up the long-lost puppy in her arms. "This time it really is you!" "Yes! 'Tis!" Toto gasped, squirming free from Dorothy's death grip. "Where'd you come from?" "I dunno. Guess what? I can talk and I'm the right-paw-man to the Great Paws! Isn't this amazing?" "Yes! Yes! Wait. Where's the huge crow-witch-thing? I tried killing her with water, but..." "Oh, she's right there," Toto said, pointing to a huge cage Dorothy hadn't seen hanging from the ceiling. The raven was locked inside, spewing a long stream of curses. "How'd you do that?" Dorothy asked. "Simple. Some crazy Scottish Terrier came from the ceiling, with a tribe of Chihuahua Indians following him. It was amazing!" "Good to hear Loco lived," Dorothy muttered. "Oh? That's his name?" Toto asked. "Yep. Where'd they go?" "If you speak of Loco and his band of merry men, they turned into ninjas and ran away under cover of smoke bombs. If you speak of those other three Scottish Terriers who were fighting in that room back there, then the silver one detonated the whole place." "Oh, s-- they're dead?!" Dorothy leaped to her feet, stumbling backwards. "No, no, you see--" "Come on, Toto!" Dorothy snapped her fingers and ran into the other room.
Indeed, something had detonated. There were bits of plaster and stones. The chandelier had crashed onto the ground, leaving bits of glass everywhere. "Destiny? Checkers? Werren?" Dorothy called out. "Here," said a tiny voice. Dorothy whirled around and saw that Werren was climbing out of a Werren-shaped hole in the wall. That had to hurt. Checkers ran into the room. "I ran off when Destiny started summoning fireballs. What happened? And where's Destiny?" "DESTINY!" Shouted Toto. "Marco! Marco! Marco!" Cried Checkers, frantic. Werren heard a barely audible whimper. "It came from the rubble!" He shouted, pointing to a pile of rocks. The group ran to where Destiny lay. She had been struck by a rock, but thankfully was laying beside the rubble, not in it. "Hey, Dorothy," Destiny said, coughing. "Looks like I do have a superpower. A pyroknenetic Scottish Terrier. Funny, huh?" "Are you okay?" Said Werren. Destiny coughed again. "I dunno," she said after a pause. "I might be crippled. Doubt I'm gonna die, though. Hey, who's the extra dog?" "This is Toto, who ran off at the beginning of this quest-thing and only recently came back," explained Dorothy, patting Toto on the head. "Let's get you to a vet," Checkers said. "I'll get the League of Ordinary Gentle Dogs." And he ran off to get the group. Together, they managed to carry Destiny out of the castle. The Tiddlywinks, seeing that people were leaving of their own free will, followed the group out of the castle. "Hey! I have an idea!" Piped up Ralphie. "Let's burn down the castle!" "How? There still might be Tiddlywinks inside!" Said one of the Tiddlywinks. Werren, in an afterthought, ran into the castle again and began barking. "Nope! Nobody!" He confirmed. "Then let's burn the place to the ground!" Cheered the Tiddlywinks. With multitudes of sticks, tar, and the assistance of Dorothy's opposable thumbs, soon the castle was ablaze!
And nobody noticed a little cat with stars in its fur run into the woods...
A week later, Destiny was lying in the veterinarian's office in The Emerald City, while Dorothy was arranging for Destiny's doghouse to be returned. Apparently, it was taken to be used for firewood, because Destiny had been gone for such a long time, and this was the policy in the Emerald City, albeit a very crummy one. Werren and Toto were playing checkers, using Checkers as the board and Velcro checker pieces to play. Checkers was flopped in front of the veterinarian's office, rather bored. All of the Tiddlywinks had returned to their hometowns or had moved into The Emerald City, so the bustling city was now even more noisy. Toto, in his sparetime, had begun selling earplugs. The League of Ordinary Gentle Dogs held meetings in a room built for this purpose; the League now totaled 40 main members, with 1,000 supporters and at least 90 minor members. Things were running smoothly, now that The Witch was destroyed.
Chapter 22
A Quest, Again
"Hey, everyone!" Shouted Emmet. "The Witch isn't dead! She was last seen wandering around at the train station. Will anybody volunteer to go and destroy her once-and-for-all?" The crowd was very puzzled. "That's suicidal!" "Where did you hear this?" "We have a train station?" "What's a train?" "Where's Paws when you need him?" "Okay...In cases like this one, we always take the last poor saps--ack! Brave heroes, I mean to say--who last quested and make them do it," said Emmet, scratching his ears nervously. "But since Destiny is unable to go, we shall have Toto go in her place. Sorry, Destiny!"
And so, Dorothy, Checkers, Toto, and Werren all ventured out to the Furry Fast ("horrible pun, there," remarked Werren) Train Station to find the Witch. And they hadn't even spoken to Paws yet, either.
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