[CG]

It was made of tin, that was the first thing you noticed. The next was just how weird it was. It had the small body of a plane, but human like legs. The head was similar to a palm tree you see on the shores of Los Angles. A crooked beak sprouted from the palm tree face which ended with an axe at the tip, the eyes were set with a determined took, and palm trees (tin as well) sprouted from the top of it's head. Given the eyelashes, the boys had to venture it was female. Given the position of her legs, it seemed she had been holding onto something.

"Look what I found!" the Scarecrow sang as he set her down. Mac and Bloo cautiously approached, since the creature DID have an axe for a beak tip. The four of them stood, watching the creature for a while until they heard the most faintest of sounds. It was like something rusty creaking open and shut but with a lot of effort.

"Did it... just say something?" Mac asked, eyeing the odd creature.

It made the noise again.

"Sounds like... something." Bloo said, listening harder. Finally he heard it too, but the dialect was lost on him.

"She said oil can." the Scarecrow replied, as if he was echoing someone speaking English.

"Oil can?" Mac asked,

"Oil can what?" the Scarecrow asked, thinking it to be a joke.

"Oil can..." Mac echoed, this leaving the Scarecrow looking incredibly confused. What kind of joke was that? Mac continued looking around, then he spotted it. An oil can, laying lazily on its side. He picked it up, before walking back to the creature and doing what came naturally when you have an oil can and something rusty. He began oiling her mouth. After a few seconds the beak finally snapped open,

"COCO!" it declared, "Co coco coco co cococoo cococooco cococo co co!" it was a definate she since the tremor of the voice was quite feminine.

"Aw shucks don't worry about it," the Scarecrow replied as he took the oil can from Mac to oil her legs and neck. "So how'd you end up like this?"

Bloo could only watch in confusion as the bizzare creature began prattling on in a long line of 'Coco's, and Scarecrow relaying back what she was saying. Aparantly she had been gathering wood for winter, she climbs the trees and pecks away at them like a woodpecker. Unfortunately it had suddenly rained, and she had rusted solid. And that was a good few years ago, by her count. Only just now did she finally fall free of the tree, and scare Bloo. Good timing, I say. Finally she was well oiled up, and walking as a metal creature would. She coco'd words of thanks to them all.

"Uh... you're welcome. At least you're fully working now!" Mac offered some words of encouragement.

The creature sighed. "Coco... cococococococ co co cocooo..." she said sadly. The Scarecrow gasped in shock,

"No heart?" he asked.

"No what?" Mac asked,

"No heart!" the Scarecrow said back, "The tin smith forgot to give her a heart! Oh that is so sad!" he looked as sad as a Scarecrow could, without crying.

"What is this, no brains, no hearts... what's next, no stomachs?"

"I don't have one of those either." the Scarecrow offered.

"Look, uh... Tin Bird, I dunno how someone could forget to give someone a heart when they make them - sure making someone doesn't happen like this where I come from - but you deserve one." Mac said,

"Mac..." Bloo started, already seeing where Mac was going with this.

"We're on our way to see the Wizard of Oz, to get us home, and get Scarecrow here some brains." he smiled up at the Scarecrow, who aved to the Tin Bird. "I reckon, if we're already doing this we might as well let you come along to get a heart!"

"Mac! Stop picking up ever Tom, Dick and Harriet we meet!" Bloo whined,

"My name's not Tom." the Scarecrow reminded him.

"I know I'm just saying!"

"Aw c'mon Bloo, if you had been rusted solid for a few years I think you'd want to get yourself something to feel better. And what else can make someone feel better but a heart?" Mac asked.

Bloo thought long and hard over that. "...a paddleball?"

"No." Mac replied sourly.

So after further conversation, and translation by the Scarecrow who was right chuffed at realising he knew another language, once again the group began to make their way through the woods. They hadn't gotten far, when things began to grow dark. A familiar kind of dark, and the wind began to growl. Both Mac and Bloo knew what this meant, and very slightly they drew closer to the other so not to be found out and be called a sissy for being afraid. But it was over in an instant when another flash of lightning filled the sky, and the wind growled and there she was, right in front of them. The Wicked Witch of the West. The Scarecrow fell over out of shock and the Tin Bird laid a ticking egg in shock.

"Well well." she started, staring at the two boys. "You are thinking you have made good time, my little vermin? Hardly! Why you have just begun!" she turned her icy stare at the Scarecrow and Tin Bird, who as helping the Scarecrow to his feet with a nudge of her head. "Helping the little boys along are we?"

"Co co!" the Tin Bird snapped back, growling viciously.