Hello everyone! I have a nice new story for everyone, hopefully you will all enjoy it as much as my first story.

This is a Norma-ler, I wanted to experiment with the pairing for awhile now and I finally found a cute idea to go with it, it's a K+ rating so nothing graphic in it at all.

o~~~~~o

Disclaimer: This film adaption of this story is copyrighted to Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment. And of course the amazing original story belongs to the genius himself, Dr. Seuss

The Brave Lil' Barbaloot

Chapter 1: Folktale

The Once-ler hated his job so much.

He slouched back as much as he could in the small seat of his moving wagon, his legs were stretched out and his hat tilted to the side away from his portable radio phone that he held up to his ear.

"You're twelve hours past the deadline! What the heck is taking you so long!?"

He had a very deflated yet irritable expression on his face as he listened to his boss on the other end, "The bad weather was slowing us down, there was no way Melvin could travel in it so we took an extra night at the inn last town over."

"If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times! Get rid of that stupid mule!"

Now irked, the Once-ler abruptly sat up, "And I told YOU a thousand times that Melvin is not stupid! He's better than any standard horse out there O'Hare."

"That's Mr. O'Hare to you boy, you better watch that tongue! Get that delivery done pronto or you're fired!"

The Once-ler didn't even bother to properly hang up the phone, instead he just chucked it behind him with the other contents in his wagon. He resumed his slouched position and blew a strand of his hair out of his face, "Ignore him Melvin, he's just an idiot; a short stubby idiot."

Melvin briefly turned at him and snorted in agreement. The Once-ler leaned his head back, his neck rested against the railing of his chair, he hated being caught in a rut and barely making ends meet working for a stupid jerk.

"I guarantee you if I had my own business I would succeed circles around him," the Once-ler spoke, "I just need some kind of breakthrough; something that people would be willing to buy, if he could make his own fortune he would rub it into O'Hare's big fat nose. Over the tall hill he spotted many sets of houses, "I guess that's the town up ahead."

o~~~~~~~~~o

"Mornin'!"

"A lovely morning isn't it?"

"Good morning!"

The Once-ler tentatively waved and attempted to smile in response to all the townsfolk in the town of Terraville, he was thankful that he was almost done dumping off all the goods to the merchants . When the last merchant signed off the paperwork, he jumped when a person greeted him loudly from behind,

"Ah you must be Mr. Once-ler, it's good to see you came in safely." The mayor said.

"W-what?"

The mayor kept his smile pasted on his face, "Well the windy rainstorms of course, we get them pretty strong around these parts and last night was no exception."

The Once-ler stared at him uneasily, "Wait, so….you're not mad that I'm late?"

The mayor laughed, "Nothing can be helped if the weather slows us down, we're just thankful you came in safe and sound."

He wasn't sure whether to be grateful or uncomfortable, any person would normally yell at him for being late regardless, this town was way too cheery for him. "Whatever." He rubbed the back of his head, "So, I'm just going to come right up and ask, what in the world are these things?" He pointed up at a nearby tree, "I've never seen anything like these before."

"Ah, I see you've taken notice on the Truffula trees that grow around here."

"The Tru…what now?"

The mayor laughed, "Truffula trees! They're quite beautiful, especially this time of year when their tufts are at their fullest."

"Wait,wait, wait," the Once-ler waved his palms up in the air, as if trying to keep control of his sanity, "I'm sorry but there is no way these are trees, I've traveled to many places and never seen trees such as these."

The mayor gazed up at the soft orange tuft flowing in the wind, "Yes they are quite unique; sort of a….magical aspect to them."

'Magical?' "So are they rare or something?"

The mayor laughed, "Oh no no no! These are just a few strays that the people here have planted, there's a whole valley of them not too far down the road." The mayor turned when a woman from the doorway of his manor, most likely his wife yell and wave at him to get his attention, "Well it seems I am needed by my wife, please enjoy your time here in Terraville."

The Once-ler hardly acknowledged him as he walked away, he was too focused on the orange Truffula tree that loomed above him; the tufts were so soft that they seem to ripple in the fresh morning breeze and there was this sweet fragrance in the air around it. He carefully looked around to make sure no one was looking before he ventured out to the outer part of town where a couple more Truffula trees were rooted. He was just tall enough to reach the top of a juvenile tree and caressed the red tuft, he couldn't believe it; the stuff had to be softer than silk itself! He wrapped his fingers around a hand full of tuft and with a swift strong tug, he ripped the piece off the tree.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

The Once-ler jumped and turned around to see a girl with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot while she glared at him. Instinctively he hid the handful of tuft behind him but it was already too late,

"Don't think I didn't see you do that!"

The Once-ler let out a nervous laugh, bringing the handful of tuft in front of him, "Oh come on, it's just a little bit of tuft, no harm done." He frowned, "Why? Are these trees protected or something?"

The girl walked up to him with crossed arms, "Of course they are, the Lorax doesn't take too kindly to those who hurt his trees."

"The who?"

"You know the Lorax; the mystical guardian of the forest, the speaker of the trees."

The Once-ler stared at the girl with the curled chestnut brown hair before he burst out into laughter. He laughed for a good minute before he opened his eyes and observed the hardened glare from the girl, "Oh…..you're serious."

The girl scoffed, "You're obviously not from around here, aside from the fact you don't know about the Lorax you're also a complete jerk."

The Once-ler smirked, for some reason he was always amused of women with an attitude, "Look, don't you have somebody else to bother? Who are you anyway?"

"If you must know, my name is Norma, you had a conversation with my father earlier."

The Once-ler was taken aback for a moment, "You're the mayor's daughter?"

Norma smirked and snatched the hand full of tuft from his hands, "That's right, my family has been running this town for generations, I remember my father always telling me stories of how my ancestor met the Lorax in person when he founded this town; of how he let us establish here on the condition that we don't harm any of his trees or his valley." She smiled meekly, "I would love to meet him someday."

The Once-ler laughed again, "Listen, that's a cute little fairy tale and all and I hate to burst the bubble that is your childhood innocence, but that's all it is…just a fairy tale."

Norma scowled, "Shows how much you know, anybody who's wandered into the valley looking for trouble has never been seen again."

The tall man placed his hands on his hips and glared down at the shorter girl, "Listen sweetheart if you're trying to scare me then you're going to have to do better than that, I've heard a lot worse." He straightened up, "In fact I plan to head out in the valley to check it out."

"Oh please by all means, have a ball! I hope you get lost in there or the Lorax gets you!"

The Once-ler chuckled as he walked past her, purposely bumping into her shoulder, "Oh don't worry I'll make sure I put on my anti-mystical creature underwear before I leave."

Norma growled at his retreating figure, extremely tempted to pick up a rock and chuck it at his head, 'What a jerk!'

o~~~~~~~~~~o

"The Lorax…what a joke."

The Once-ler muttered with an amused smile as he and his mule Melvin trotted down the small dirt path which was very poorly done, they really should've done a proper paving on it or maybe the stupid townsfolk were too scared that the Lorax was going to use his powers or something.

When his wagon reached the top of a hill, he had to admit even he was flabbergasted at the sight before him and what a sight indeed! There was nothing but tall hills for miles and every single hill was practically painted with several colors of the Truffula trees, my word there were a lot! There had to be millions of them if not more.

And none of these precious trees were protected by law or anything, only by a stupid myth. This was way too easy.

The Once-ler, who at first seemed awe stricken by the natural beauty of the valley, his expression suddenly darkened and a mischievous grin tugged at his lips,

"Our path to fortune begins here Melvin."

To Be Continued…