Chapter 20: You are a Toy

Sora and the gang hid under the desk in Sid's room for what felt like hours, watching the young boy torture a number of different toys. Buzz kept looking down at the fake communicator on his arm, trying to get in touch with Star Command. Finally, he left the room when his mom called him down for breakfast. He left the door wide open, something Woody noticed immediately.

"The door! It's open we're free!" the cowboy exclaimed as he happily ran towards their only means of escape.

"But, Woody we don't know what's out there!" Sora said as he and the group ran after the cowboy. Suddenly, all of Sid's damaged toys came out of the shadows and surrounded the group, and blocking their way to the door. Woody screamed in fear and hid behind Sora and Buzz.

"They're gonna eat us!" Woody screamed, "Buzz! Sora! Do something quick!"

"Shield your eyes!" Buzz ordered and most of the group complied. Then, he pressed a button on his arm and the same red light flashed in front of the damaged toys, who looked at each other in confusion, "It's not working, I recharged it before I left..."

"Idiot! You're a toy!" Woody shouted as soon as Buzz started rambling. And then he started pressing a large purple button on Buzz's back and his arm started moving up and down. "Use your karate chop action!" Woody then started pushing Buzz in front of the toys, making his arm chop in their faces at the same time. The world travellers followed the two toys cautiously and eyed Sid's toys with nervousness.

"Don't mind us," Donald quacked nervously, "Just passing through,"

"Yeah," West nodded while she stood close to Riku, "We really don't taste that good," Woody kept dragging Buzz, ignoring the space ranger's annoyed protests until the group reached the open door.

"Sorry guys but dinner's cancelled!" Woody snapped as he let go of Buzz and ran for his life into the hallway. But, no sooner had the cowboy reached the head of the staircase was he instantly stopped by a large mean-looking white dog with brown spots and wearing a spiky collar. This was Sid's dog; Scud and he growled with its teeth barred. The dog was about to attack Woody, but was blocked by Lea's flying weapons. The World-travellers plus Buzz stepped protectively in front of Woody and raised their weapons.

"Stay back everyone, I'll teach this mutt a lesson!" Buzz ordered as he raised his arm. But, before the space ranger could do anything, Scud hit Buzz with his paw and sent him flying into the wall, causing Buzz to fall unconscious.

"Gawrsh, that is one big dog," Goofy said nervously. Scud must have understood what Goofy had said because he was the first one the dog attacked. Goofy raised his shield in front of him protectively, and managed to reduce damage to himself done by Scud's claws. Max rode around on his skateboard between Scud's legs which seemed to confuse the dog long enough for Goofy and Lea to land in a few attacks to his snout. Scud growled in irritation at the two who were currently attacking him, but didn't notice Sora and Kairi jump on his back and send multiple blows to the back of his head. As soon as Scud became aware of what Sora and Kairi were doing, he started trying to shake them off by shaking, biting and kicking. As a desperate attempt to hang on, Sora grabbed Scud's collar and Kairi grabbed hold of Sora's waist. Donald waved his staff, firing a ball of fire at Scud's tail. While West jumped up to Scud's snout and gave him a deep cut directly across the nose. Riku stayed at a safe distance and fired small orbs of dark firaga at Scud's snout, followed by Mickey firing orbs of light. Now, it was becoming harder for Sora and Kairi to hang on, as the princess let out a terrified shriek and increased her grip around Sora's waist. Woody knew that Sora and Kairi weren't going to be able to hold on for much longer, so he ran right in front of Scud, pulled his pull string and began waving it around like a lasso.

"Yee-haw! Howdy partner!" Woody shouted as the pull string wrapped itself around Scud's snout. Scud struggled, but it distracted him long enough for Sora and Kairi to jump off of the dog's back. The pull string was strong enough to hold Scud still while Woody took off his hat and threw it at the dog's snout, causing Scud major damage. Woody then released the pull string, but Scud was in too much pain to do anything. Then, the cowboy attacked Scud multiple times with his pull string, it behaving like a whip. Woody then tipped his hat to his opponent and jumped right in front of Scud's weak spot and attacked Scud with rapid movements from his pull string, "Play nice!" then, as a final blow, Woody kicked Scud with the sharp end of his cowboy boot, causing the dog to fall to the ground. (1) Just then, Buzz woke from his unconscious state as Kairi helped him up to his feet.

"Take it easy, Buzz," Kairi told him, "He hit you really hard," Sora and Woody stood over Scud's limp body and stared at him.

"Did we finish him?" Woody asked the Keyblade master.

"I think we just knocked him out," Sora replied as he carefully stepped back, "We should go before he wakes up."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Lea nodded in agreement. The group walked carefully and quietly past the unconscious dog one by one. When Woody's turn came, the cowboy was shaking with nerves. But, when Woody just went past Scud, his pull string got caught on to the metal balcony, causing his voice box to be activated.

"Yee-haw!" a loud voice came from Woody, "Howdy partner! We've got to get this train a-movin'!" the noise from Woody's voice box caused Scud to instantly wake up and growl at the group of eleven.

"Split up!" Buzz commanded and the rest of the group complied. Sora, West, Donald and Mickey followed Woody into a nearby closet quickly shutting the door behind them. While Riku, Kairi, Lea, Goofy and Max followed Buzz. They ran behind a door leading to another room, and then the group tried desperately to close the door while Scud tried to get in. They finally succeeded and were allowed a few moments rest.

"Okay, that has to be the scariest dog, I've ever seen!" Riku panted in exhaustion.

"Same here, man," Lea agreed. The room they were in now appeared to be some kind of TV room with garbage littering the floor and a large sofa with a man sitting in it. The TV continued to play, even though the man appeared to be asleep. Max stepped over to make sure the man couldn't see them, but then stepped in a puddle of soda, that seemed to have been there for a long time. Kairi cringed in disgust.

"Someone needs to teach this family some manners," She grumbled as Max nodded in agreement and whipped his shoes on the carpet, trying to get them clean.

"Calling Buzz Lightyear! Come in Buzz Lightyear!" a voice from the TV called, "This is Star Command!" Buzz's head instantly perked up in excitement.

"Star Command!" Buzz smiled as he opened the communicator on his arm, but stopped when the voice on the TV changed to a kid's voice.

"Buzz Lightyear responding! Read you loud and clear!" the group gazed at the TV and saw the image shift to a kid holding another Buzz in a space ship-shaped box. It was then the world-travellers realized that this was a commercial for Buzz's toy. The party watched the commercial play, and Buzz's face fall at the same time. By the time the commercial was over, the truth had finally hit Buzz; he wasn't a real space ranger, he was a toy. Goofy turned to Max,

"Remind me to get three a those for Hewy, Dewy and Louie's birthday," he said to his son as Max nodded. Kairi rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Buzz, you never told us you could do all that stuff," Riku chuckled, and turned around to find that the space ranger was walking out of the room, a sad look in his eyes. The rest of the group ran after the toy and saw him standing in front of the balcony where they fought Scud.

"Buzz," Max asked as he walked towards him, "Are you okay?"

"...Everything I knew was a lie," Buzz said sadly, "I'm just a toy, not a space ranger."

"I know how you feel," Lea told him as Buzz looked at him with interest, "There was a time when I couldn't separate what was real and what wasn't. But, do you know what I learned? It's that it doesn't matter what people say you are; it's what you choose to be," Buzz looked at Lea in astonishment, and then looked up at a window across from the top of the balcony. Then, Buzz gained a new look of determination.

"You're absolutely right, fire-man," Buzz said as he started to climb the metal balcony, "I am going to choose what I am; I am a space ranger and I can fly!" the world-travellers watched Buzz climb up, all of them looking worried.

"Uhh... Buzz, that's not exactly what I meant!" Lea stammered.

"Lousy advice there, Lea," Kairi smirked.

"Not now, princess," Lea muttered as he followed Buzz up the balcony. As soon as Buzz reached the top of the balcony, he pressed a red button on his chest and two purple plastic wings came out of his back. Buzz's look of determination grew as he pointed his arms out in front of him and boldly said,

"To infinity and beyond!" then, Buzz jumped off the balcony, hoping to fly out of the window. However, instead he roughly fell to the hard ground, causing one of his arms to come off. The space ranger lay there, thinking that all he ever knew was wrong. The world travellers looked down at him from their position at the top of the stairs then looked at each other.

"Just to clarify, what just happened was not my fault!" Lea suddenly blurted out. Riku rolled his eyes.

"You keep telling yourself that, big guy," Riku sighed. Just then, a little girl with dark hair and dressed in pink was seen walking near where Buzz was laying. The group assumed that she was Sid's little sister by the small similarities in appearance. Soon, she noticed Buzz lying on the floor and picked him up. Then she took Buzz up to her bedroom. The group was unsure of what to do from here.

"I say we hide," Max suggested. The rest of the group nodded in agreement, and then quietly snuck into the girl's room and hid under her bed.

(1): Woody's limit; Woody's Roundup.