Title: The Lorax: Banana Season- Chapter 4
Characters: Once-Ler, Janna (OC), Melvin
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,516
Summary: AU (alternate universe). The Lorax decides he might not be able to convince the Once-Ler to stop cutting down the trees on his own so he leaves briefly to find another human willing to help. It sounded like a good plan.

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The bags I was carrying were quickly getting heavier and heavier as I went from store to store, buying the things that I needed for life in the Truffula forest. But with each store I felt happy that I was actually able to use my debit card in a strange world. Maybe the account existed somewhere, or maybe the information was so legit that it fooled banking computers. Whatever the reason, I was just happy I could actually pay for the things I wanted.

The town was beautiful and the people seemed nice; nicer than the city I lived in at least. There were people willing to give me directions to the stores I needed to go to, and some even asked if they could help carry my things. I politely declined them though.

I finally came out of the sportsman's warehouse store (no hunting apparel, which was weird – just camping gear and the like) dragging behind a box of a foldable cot with a thin mattress; military-style cot, you know. I had already bought myself a pillow and a sheets/comforter set, pajamas and some other clothes, a couple notebooks and some pens (for that 'paper' that I told Once-Ler that I was supposed to be writing), and groceries.

I got groceries because even though Once-Ler's pancakes were good, we couldn't just eat those all the time. The only other food in the house that I had found was marshmallows, and I decided that would not do for a couple kids like us living on our own; so I got us some other foods, like vegetables and eggs, which would actually be better for our diet. I knew some basics of cooking, not having a room-mate before coming to the Truffula Forest, so even if the Once-Ler didn't know what to do with the ingredients I could at least whip up something that was edible.

But anyway, remember how I said that the people seemed nice? Well… they apparently weren't.

Done with all my shopping I decided to go and find the Once-Ler so that we could go home; it was getting late in the afternoon and I wanted to be back at the house before nightfall. I found the tall, lanky man on the white pavilion at the center of town; right where he said he would be. There was a crowd of people gathered and I actually thought they were there for his corny song. But that idea was quickly smashed to pieces when I caught sight of the Once-Ler.

He stood in the pavilion with his guitar in hand and the Thneed still wrapped around his neck. I say "stood", but it was more like he was cowering behind his guitar. I could hear that he was still singing, but his voice sounded slightly shaky and he was quickly cut off when a red tomato was suddenly flung from the crowd, adding to the ones already dripping from his once-white shirt.

And Melvin, Once-Ler's mule, was standing to the side of the pavilion glaring at the crowd while this was all going on. His ears and head were down and I thought that he might've wanted to try and charge at the people lobbing tomatoes, had he not been tied up. I really couldn't blame him.

"Um… The Thneed is good… The Thneed is Great – oh gosh!" Once-Ler brought his arm up to cover his face just as another tomato came whizzing toward him, bursting on his pointy elbow like a water balloon.

I dragged my stuff along and set them down by Melvin, who perked his ears when I came near.

"Not doing well, is he?" I asked the mule, looking over to Once-Ler.

Melvin snorted and shook his head, also looking to his master. We watched as a little girl threw a tomato half the size of her head at the Once-Ler and I cringed along with him when the fruit exploded on his guitar, strings quickly tangled with red shredded skin that dripped wetly.

"I think it's time to go," I said to Melvin quietly, beginning to secure my newly-bought items to his back. The mule actually nodded in agreement and stood still while I worked, eyes trained on the Once-Ler who was now a red sopping mess.

It still astounded me that Melvin seemed to understand human speech and responded accordingly. A lot of the animals did, actually. I wondered a bit why that was, but I doubted that I would ever get an answer.

When I was done tying everything down on Melvin's back, wheezing a little bit, I gave the rig an experimental tug to assure that it was secured properly.

"Feel okay, Mel?" I asked.

Melvin whinnied and nodded softly. I smiled and patted his neck.

"I'll go and get Once and we can go," I told him. "Wait here."

I wormed my way through the crowd of people surrounding the pavilion and was shortly standing in the front in Once-Ler's line of sight. I noticed that I was breathing a little heavily, but I ignored it in favor of catching the Once-Ler's attention.

"Once!" I tried to call, but was cut off when the elbow of a man bumped me as he prepared to throw more fruit at my friend. I snarled at him and grabbed his wrist, quickly plucking the fruit from his hand and blindly tossing it behind me into the crowd of people. The man didn't say anything but gave me a strange look like I was crazy. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Once-Ler.

"Once!" I called, waving my arm over my head.

He saw me this time and blinked at me like a lost puppy. Even with all that tomato juice on his face, I thought that the expression was cute.

No, no, NO! Shut up, brain!

I pointed over the crowd toward Melvin. "Let's go," I told him, though I wasn't sure that he heard over the noise of the people around us. But he at least understood and nodded at me, telling me so.

The tall man focused on the multitude with an awkward half-grin.

"W-well, guys, I'm going home now!" he announced. There was a disappointed "Aw" sound coming from many of the people around me, causing a little fire of rage to flare in my stomach. "But seriously, you've been a great audience and I hope we can do this again sometime!"

I fought down the urge to put my palm to my face and instead tried to figure out the quickest way back to Melvin. I was glad that Once-Ler was walking down from the pavilion finally and when he was within reach I quickly grabbed one of his red – and now slightly sticky – hands and started to drag him away.

"Buy a Thneed!" he yelled out over the crowd. "It's only $3.95!"

I wanted to tell him that his pitch wasn't working – at least for today – but I stayed quiet and continued through the mass of people as hastily as possible, the Once-Ler in tow.

We quickly reached Melvin, which soon became easy as the crowd had already started to disperse, and I tried untying the mule's lead rope from a nearby post with one hand. Before long I realized that I needed two hands to do that. I also realized that I hadn't let go of the Once-Ler's hand, so I abruptly snapped my hand away and worked at Melvin's lead again, hoping that the tall man didn't notice.

I growled lowly in frustration, prying at the knot. "Why does Melvin need to be tied up?" I asked the Once-Ler, wheezing quietly. "He's smart and should know he needs to stay put."

"He gets bored," Once-Ler said simply. "He doesn't like standing in one spot and will wander off after a while of just standing around."

I looked and saw that the mule appeared to be glaring at his master, not liking the revelation of his fault apparently.

I coughed, but quickly recovered with a smirk. "I don't think it's simply being bored, Once," I told him. "I'll bet he actually gets bored of you. I mean, who wants to stand around listening to you murder your guitar?"

Now it was Once-Ler's turn to glare. "You said you liked my playing yesterday!" he said/whined loudly.

I laughed, rolling Melvin's rope up in one hand so there wasn't drag while I led him. "Once, I'm teasing you!" I told him. "You really are great at the guitar. You really need to –" I was cut off by the sudden urge to cough and I had no choice but to comply, coughing about a half-dozen times.

Once-Ler frowned. "Are you okay?" he asked me.

I pat my chest and nodded, getting my breath back. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said, a little too raspy for my taste. I cleared my throat. "Ahem! Come on, then! Let's get back to the house, okay?"

Once-Ler and Melvin both bobbed their heads in agreement. Once-Ler took the lead from my hands and we began the trek home.

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A/N:

I feel like I rushed in editing this one, so if you spot any typos don't hesitate to tell me.

I don't know when I'll have Chapter 5 ready. I've had a million other things going on and I might end up rewriting or completely scrapping what I have so far and starting again. Who knows.

Reviews are love for the Once-LER, and anyone who has seen the movie would know that this guy needs as much of it as he can get.

The Lorax (c) Dr. Seuss and Universal Studios
Cover art, writing, and any OCs (c) me - don't steal them please.

See with cover art at http:/ vampiricyoshi. deviantart. com/art/The-Lorax-Banana-Season-Chapter-4-304332653