Author's Note: I won't be able to update again for a little while-maybe a bit longer-due to the weekend being busy and daily life with work, studies and such. The good news is, either this is the last chapter of the Toy Story world or the next time I'll update will be.
We'll see what happens.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.
CH15: Mix-Up and Decision.
Back with Sora and the others...
The two groups had been travelling through out the entire night, fighting Heartless, being careful in not being seen, though there had been a few close calls where Sora was almost picked up by a toddler before a cat had startled her and cause the child to run off to her parents which gave Sora a chance to rejoin his friends. So now early the next morning, Sora, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Skuld, Mickey, Isa, Buzz, Lea, Roxas, Xion, Donald, Goofy, Jack, Hamm, Rex, Potato Head and Slinky were travelling through the bushes in front of a tall building, with Buzz hacking away the branches that got in the way with his karate-chop.
And by then, he was beginning to become the only one who wasn't even the slightest exhausted. Sora yawned while stretching his arms, and Kairi rubbed her eyes a little.
They had to have at least cleared seventeen blocks by now. Eighteen tops. It felt more like a thousand miles at this point.
"Hey, Buzz. Can we slow down a little?" Lea moaned, feeling as though he was about to drop and fall into a peaceful coma for at least two weeks. "Not all of us are super active and capable of staying awake for 24 hours."
"Not to mention that some of us are carrying over six dollars in change." Hamm added as he and the others slowed down and to their relief, Buzz paused again. By then, most of the group were so exhausted that almost everyone was ready to collaspe, some of them panting.
"Even a pirate has to sleep." Jack groaned, wanting nothing more than to either give himself a leg massage or float on at least a dingy on the ocean and fall asleep.
"Losing health units..." Rex panted and wheezed. "...Must rest."
"Oooooh." Donald moaned, collasping onto his stomach and struggled to stay awake due to exhaustion.
"Is everybody here and accounted for?" Terra asked, looking around and doing a mental count.
"Not quite everybody." Mr. Potato Head, leaning as he was tired, waved weakly.
"Who's behind?" Riku asked.
"Mine." Slinky answered, as his bottom, having trailed behind, finally caught up with everyone else before slumping to the ground.
"Yo, guys." Lea spoke up, having walked a bit ahead and was gazing out through a small clearing of the bushes, and had a smirk on his face. "Got a riddle for ya's; Why do toys cross the road?"
"Lea, not now." Isa said as he and everyone else, after a short rest, walked to catch up to the redhead.
"Oh, I love riddles." Rex said, before asking, "Why?"
"To get to Chicken Guy's place on the other side." Lea answered, smiling widening as he pointed in front of him at what he was looking at.
"You mean to the chicken's on the other side!" Hamm cheered as he was the first to notice and shared the young man's relief.
Sora and the others paused and looked and their eyes widened when on the other side of the road, was indeed Al's Toy Barn; looking like a barn with a large background of a countryside with fake cows that had voice recorders of real cows moo-ing. There was also a large Chicken statue holding a pitchfork. They made it!
"All right!" Sora cheered.
"Hot Dog!" Mickey cheered.
"We did it!" Kairi cried out, happily.
"Yippee! The chicken!" Rex cheered.
However, the cheer instantly died down when everyone saw yet another obstecle; Cars driving on the road that passed between them and Al's Toy Barn. One car drove onto an empty Soda Can, squashing it flat and knocked it to the group's side where it landed in front of them, causing them to stare in horror at how dangerous and deadly crossing was going to be. One false move...and they would be turned flat like pancakes.
"Gawrsh." Goofy mumbled, scaredly.
"Oh well. We tried." Rex said lamely and turned to head home, only for Buzz to grab hold of his tail to stop him will still having his eyes on Al's Toy Barn despite the dangers.
"Well...looks like we have to cross." Sora said, simply.
"What!?" Everyone else except for Kairi, Mickey and Buzz exclaimed, shocked at Sora's decision.
"Are you crazy?" Lea protested.
"That is more of a death sentence if we do that, and I've barely escaped with my life more than once this month!" Jack added.
"It's too dangerous. There's no way we can cross it without being run over." Aqua nodded in agreement.
"You're not turning me into a mashed Potato." Mr. Potato Head added.
"I may not be a smart dog, but I know what roadkill is." Slinky said, just as worried.
"Well, how else can we save Woody and Myde?" Kairi pointed out, and while she was twice as scared in crossing the giant road in front of her, the safety of Myde and the Cowboy doll won over her fear...but only half won.
"She's right. We just need to figure out how to cross without getting killed." Mickey agreed with the Princess of Heart.
"But how?" Donald shrugged.
"There must be a safe way." Buzz muttered, more to himself than anyone else. It was extremely dangerous, but he was still determined to rescue Woody, and he wanted to help Sora's group to find their friend since they were going out of their way to help him and other toys to find the kidnapped Cowboy doll.
As he glanced around to find the safest option, something came across his sight; about at least twenty orange cylinder like cones, having holes in the bottom as one was lying on it's side were lying just a few feet from where the worldly travellers and the toys were. That's when he knew that safest option came into mind.
"I have an idea. Follow me." Buzz spoke up, approaching the cones which got the attention of Sora and everyone else and that's when some of them knew what Buzz had in mind.
"What're they?" Sora asked, never having seen strange plastic objects that looked more like upside down Ice Cream Cones.
"Traffic Cones? How can we cross the road with Traffic Cones?" Mr. Potato Head asked as he and everyone else approached.
"It's simple. We place the Traffic Cones on top of us, and cross the road when there are no cars coming towards us. At my signal if there are cars coming, we drop and stop until it's safe to cross. We'll keep doing this until we reached the other side." Buzz explained.
Realising what Buzz meant, Sora nodded, understanding. "I get it!"
The others on the other hand, weren't as thrilled at this idea, even though they followed both Sora and Buzz's leads and placed the traffic cones over them and while they couldn't see much, they would have to do their best. Fortunately, all they had to do was just go forward and not make turns...easier said than done, though.
"This is just a recipe for disaster." Isa murmured in dismay.
"We're all gonna die." Hamm softly moaned.
Five minutes later...
Once Buzz was certain that the cars had passed by for now due to the red light stopping others for a short time, he signaled everyone to follow his lead and one by one(or two due to Slinky having two traffic cones for his front half and bottom half), crossed the road as quickly as possible, though most of them were extremely nervous.
However, not even halfway yet when the green light lit up and cars began to go again...coming straight towards the group.
Fortunately, Buzz sensed this.
"Drop!" He yelled.
Everyone dropped. Though while they had a close call, they were already making quite a mess with the traffic. Cars who saw the Traffic Cones on the road that appeared out of nowhere, had to sway and swerve before being forced to stop, though it was starting to cause a car crash.
"Go!" Buzz called as he sensed that it was safe again to cross.
Drop, go, drop, go. This is what the two groups did, and while they were still nervous, the more they walked and stopped, the more closer they got to their destination. The last time they had to drop, a massive truck carrying a concrete cylinder lost control and while the worldly travellers and the toys crossed again, the item the truck was carrying slid off and rolled onto the road with a thud, but thankfully missed everyone who reached the sidewalk of the other side and once they were in a safe place hiding behind a sign out of sight, the group flipped off the Traffic Cones and sighed in relief.
"Ah, that went well." Mr. Potato Head commented.
"But it's too bad we made a big traffic jam." Goofy pointed out as he gazed at the chaos that he and everyone else caused.
Cars were piled up nearly into each other and were stuck, unable to even drive pass Al's Toy Barn. The Cylinder rolled right into a street lamp, knocking it over where it crashed and the lightbulb shattered into pieces. Sora and his group winched at the damage before them and the toys. Even Rex winched at the crash.
"Oops." Xion cringed.
"Good thing no one will even know we're the ones who caused this in the first place." Lea tried to lighten the mood.
"It was Lightyear's rather stupid idea to cross the road like we did." Jack shook his head.
"Well, at least we made it in one piece." Sora pointed out.
"Good work, everyone. We're that much closer to Woody." Buzz praised, taking the lead once more, with the others following.
"And hopefully to Myde." Xion added.
"We'll find him." Roxas told his friend. "He may be lazy..."
"A whimp," Sora added.
"Good at running away," Lea added.
"Loud with that stupid Styer of his, not to mention his hand writting is sadly cringe worthy of that of a five year old..." Isa commented.
"Yeah, all of those things..." Roxas admitted, before saying, "But he's a good guy, though. Even I never had much of any problems with him with anything else. Like you and Axel, Demyx always treated me like a normal person."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, he is a casual kind of guy, isn't he?" Lea admitted, rubbing the back of his head...which in toy form was plastic and it annoyed him to no end. Despite this world being slightly fun, he couldn't wait to leave to turn back to normal once they board the Gummiship.
"Once you get to really know him, he really is a good person. I just hope he's okay." Sora agreed.
Though as the two groups headed towards the Toy Barn, if they had known that the real whereabouts of both Myde and Woody were actually in the very building they were just at minutes ago, they never would've crossed the road in the first place.
Having finding a couple of trollies to use to their advantage to sneak into the store, Sora and all of his friends hurried over towards the front door, which were glass slide auto-matic doors. However, to their dismay, there was a sign that made them stop and all groaned.
"Aw phooey." Donald groaned, "It's closed."
"We're not preschool toys, Donald. We can read." Mr. Potato Head sighed.
"Gawrsh, how can we get in now?" Goofy asked.
"Guess we'll just have to wait." Terra sighed.
They then noticed a guy, who was completely oblivious to all of them, apparently a worker of Al's Toy Barn, approaching the slide doors and the moment he stepped onto the mat, to everyone's surprise, the glass slide doors opened while another worker inside was critizing him for being late. Once the man was out of sight to somewhere else inside, that's when it was time to move.
"Come on, fellas. Let's go!" Mickey declared, hurrying over to the slide doors.
"But the sign says it's closed." Rex pointed out as he and everyone else followed the King.
"Doesn't matter since the doors are open." Skuld stated.
Once everyone got onto the mat, they realised they were too light to open the door with just one step. So the group tried to stomp or jump onto it to get the doors to open.
"Wait. We have to do it all together." Aqua informed the group.
Realising that she was right, all at once, the worldly travellers and the toys jumped at the same time and this time were successful. They then hurried inside before the doors closed and then slowed to a walk to venture inside the Toy Store. Rex, though, paused when something caught his eye. On a small counter, the T-Rex Toy saw a bunch of magazines of the Video Game franchise based on Buzz Lightyear about food.
To his surprise, he found a small logo that said, "Guide of how to defeat Emperor Zurg". As Rex had tried and failed so many times in defeating Zurg in the "Buzz Lightyear VS Emperor Zurg", he cheered in excitement before grabbing one of the books before opening it and began to read through the pages to find the guide while catching up to four of his old friends and fifteen of his new ones who all paused in front of the so many aisles of different kinds of toys that was so huge. There was like at least nineteen of the aisles, plus an office somewhere and ect.
"Whoa...!" Sora, Roxas and Ven gapped in awe. Their other companions were also equally stunned and amazed.
"Whoa. This is even larger than the regular store in Twilight Town." Lea whispered, placing his hands on his hips briefly.
"Whoa, Nelly." Slinky muttered, just as stunned. "How are we gonna find Woody in this place?"
"May I suggest we find the man who dresses like a Chicken?" Jack pipped up suggestively. "That would be the most logical place or person to find if we want to find Woody and possibly even Myde if he is here. Savvy?"
"Sounds like a plan." Riku agreed.
"Let's split up and look. It'll make the search faster and easier." Buzz informed, "Move out."
Everyone did as that, spliting up. Sora and Kairi were with Hamm and Slinky. Lea and Isa were with Roxas and Xion. Ven was with Skuld, Aqua and Terra. Mickey teamed up with Jack, and Riku. Donald and Goofy were with Rex and Mr. Potato Head. Buzz decided to search alone.
As such, each group fought against lingering Heartless that appeared in every second Aisle they checked until most of the groups met up and found something even easier to make the search even faster.
In one aisle nearly 15 minutes later, Rex was blabbering on about what he discovered in the book and only Goofy was sharing great interest in this due to him being, well, goofy.
"You know, they make it so you can't defeat Zurg unless you buy this book. It's extortion, that's what it is." Rex was saying.
"Gee, that kinda sounds really unfair to the players, if ya' ask me." Goofy thought as he listened, thoughtfully.
The two's conversation was only annoying both Donald and Mr. Potato Head who both wished Goofy and Rex would just shut up already. While Donald covered his ears with his hands, he noticed that, to his slight jealously, Mr. Potato Head pulled off his ears to mute the noise that was coming from Rex. One advantage of being a puzzle-toy.
"I wish I could do that sometimes." Donald said sadly.
"Hey, I always thought the golden sceptre was the only..." Rex said again as he noticed something else in the book.
"Incoming!" Sora's voice shouted behind the four of them, along with sounds of...a bunch of squeeling wheels?
Goofy, Rex and Donald turned to see what was going on and screamed in fright when they and Mr. Potato Head who also noticed braced themselves when five toy cars skid and came to a stop near them. One was pink, another was blue, another was red, another was dark blue, and another was yellow. The pink car had Slinky and Hamm who was at the steering wheel. The blue one admitted Ven, Aqua, Terra and Skuld with Terra at the wheel. The red car had, ironically, Lea at the wheel with Isa, Roxas and Xion as his passengers. Sora and Kairi were in the yellow car with Sora at the steering wheel, and finally, Mickey, Riku and Jack were in the dark-blue one, with Jack having held onto the sides for dear life since he had a bit of a scared expression on his face, and Mickey at the steering wheel.
"Ha-ha! Hi-ya, fellas!" Mickey waved, smiling. "Want a ride?"
"Thought we'd search with style." Lea smirked, placing one arm on the side of the car, before adding, "It was the Piggybank's idea."
"Great idea, Hamm. Hy-yhuck! This should make finding Woody and Myde faster." Goofy praised happily as he boarded in Sora and Kairi's cart, while Donald decided to join Mickey, Riku and Jack in their car, and Rex and Potato Head stepped inside the pink one.
"Nice going there, Hamm." Mr. Potato Head said, before shoving Hamm over to the side passenger's seat while taking over the steering wheel. "So how about letting a toy with fingers drive?"
"This is the fourth Aisle most of us checked so far, and I know where to go next. Follow my lead." Skuld instructed since she was the navigator at the moment, and t this, Terra drove while the car he, Skuld, Ven and Aqua were took the lead.
"You heard the lady. Let's get goin'." Lea told the group, having the car he and his group were in to follow the blue car. The car with Sora, Kairi and Goofy, and the car Mickey, Riku, Donald and Jack were in were half a second behind.
The toys' car made to follow, but Mr. Potato...well, he wasn't that good at first time driving. First he jerked the car forward, hitting one shelf, before reversing and hit another. Finally, while managing to get the hang of it, drove so fast and accidently knocked down boxes of toys that scattered onto the floor while following the others.
Though as they passed a couple of aisles after this, Heartless in Toy-Car forms appeared, which left the group having to either try to avoid or fight them. Fortunately, the worldly travellers were able to multi-task at this; Those who drove just continued to drive, while their passengers summoned their weapons and whacked and slashed and used magic at Heartless, knocking them away when they attempted to get to all five toy cars, and while they had a few close calls, they managed to get themselves and the toy-friends out of it okay before going into a Hot Wheels aisle.
"Say, you guys are pretty good in driving and getting rid of those guys." Hamm praised, quite surprised.
"Yeah, without you guys, we'd be done for." Slinky added.
"Oh, it was nothin'." Mickey replied. "Just making sure everybody and every place are safe and sound."
"Wish we could owe you guys for the score we owe you for helping us." Mr. Potato Head admitted.
Sora smiled, "Who says we're keeping score? We're all friends, right?" with all of his companions nodding in agreement.
"Wah!" Rex cried out, excitedly, "It says how you defeat Zurg! Look!" and inadvertedly blocked three of his friends view by shoving the book in front of them and causing Mr. Potato Head to unable to see where he is going.
"Hey! Rex!" Mr. Potato Head cried out.
"Get this outta here, "geekosaur."" Hamm yelled, shoving the book out if his and everyone else's faces while shoving back to Rex.
Just as another large Heartless appeared and Slinky quickly cried out, "Look out!", forcing everyone to skit to a sharp stop, accidently bumping into each other and also bump into the said Heartless who stumbled back into a containor of colourful balls which due to the force of the Heartless stumbling into it, accidently opened it while Aqua, Skuld, Mickey and Donald used their magic to quickly eliminate it. But they were in for another problem.
Soon hundreds of balls rained down onto everyone.
"Turn back!" Roxas cried out.
"Hang on!" Lea shouted, gearing up the car as did the others in their car, speeding off back into the direction they came from while the balls were following them, and soon all five toy cars were forced into spins that made some of them dizzy.
"Brace yourselves, guys!" Sora cried out as he tried to get the car he, Kairi and Goofy were in back in control. Lea, Terra, Mickey and Mr. Potato Head did the same.
Rex, while trying to hang on, felt his guidebook slip out of his claws, much to his horror. Without thinking, he jumped out of car he was in and tried to catch it but was too late.
"My source of power!" Rex cried out, and was further dismayed when the book was slid right under another shelf, far from his reach. "No! Come back! Daaaah!"
He then quickly realised that he was left behind and then ran to try and catch up to all of his friends who, having regaining control, were oblivious that Rex was left behind.
"Hey! Wait up! Hey! Come on! Slow down!" Rex cried out.
Finally, though in the back seat, Jack noticed to his disturbance in the side view-mirror of the car he, Mickey, Riku and Donald were in that Rex was indeed behind all of them, and from the mirror, the image seemed a bit large while Rex chased after all of them and the others.
"Dinosaur overboard!" Rex screamed out.
"Hey, stop! Oi! Stop!" Jack shouted to everyone else, "Dinosaur overboard!"
Hearing this and realising that it was why Rex was screaming randomly but none of them knew why until now, all skid to a stop at last, just as Rex told them to slow down once more, before he accidently tripped and landed into the yellow car face first, briefly stuck.
"Are you okay, Rex?" Kairi asked, worriedly.
"He wouldn't have gone overboard if he kept his cakehole shut." Jack stated, remembering how that mess started out in the first place.
"Welcome to my world." Mr. Potato Head rolled his eyes, before he, Sora, Mickey, Lea and Terra drove the cars into gear once more, continuing their search through each aisle, searching for both Woody and Myde, and randomly encountering the Heartless that kept on getting in the way.
"Nah, he's not that bad. I've met worse." Lea commented.
"Like who?" Mr. Potato Head asked with a quirked eye-brow.
"Somebody who would go on and on and on and on about the same thing 24/7. It would drive me to boredom, Isa almost going completely nuts in irrition and even Myde to fall asleep standing." Lea chuckled, referring to Xemnas's meetings about Kingdom Hearts constantly in the original Organization XIII.
Eventually everyone in all five toy cars found themselves in an aisle that was lit up blue and, to their amazement, were hundreds, if not thousands of replica figurines of Buzz Lightyear, all in identical space-ship like boxes which stunned the worldly travellers...though it made Xion a bit uncomfortable, but smiled when Roxas rubbed her right shoulder to comfort her.
"There's so many of Buzz." Mickey muttered, amazed.
"How can we tell which one is the Buzz we know?" Goofy asked, a bit stupidly.
"The one that isn't in a box." Jack rolled his eyes, while Donald face-palmed himself.
"Speaking of which." Terra spoke up, noticing someone familiar ahead of them, walking with their back turned towards them.
"Hey, Buzz!" Sora called out, as he, Lea, Terra, Mickey and Mr. Potato Head pulled to a stop.
However, unaware to all of them, this wasn't the Buzz they were friends with. While he was exactly the same, he was wearing a new amazingly belt around his waist, and also unaware to everyone, the Buzz they know had discovered his counterpart and to his dismay, had discovered how delusional he himself had been a year ago when he first met the other toys including Woody. After a brief fight of struggle, the new Buzz won and had trapped the old Buzz in the cardboard box and was placed onto the shelf, and he had seen his friends' arrival, but no one had noticed him.
"Halt! Who goes there?" The new Buzz demanded when he heard Sora's voice and whirled around, glaring at them as he didn't recongise them.
"Quit clowin' around and get in one of the cars." Mr. Potato Head told him, unaware that this wasn't their Buzz.
"Buzz! Buzz!" Rex popped up excitedly as he was still in the car with Sora, Kairi and Goofy. "I know how to defeat Zurg!" having memorized everything he read in the book that he lost.
Unaware that he was just a toy as were the other four toys, the new Buzz lit up with hope and instant trust to the 'green lizard' man. "You do?"
"Come on. I'll tell you on the way." Rex nodded.
As the new Buzz, coming to realise that all of these people meant no harm, decided to trust them and climbed into the car with Mickey, Riku and Jack, who, along with Aqua, Kairi, Terra, Isa and Skuld, all instantly felt that something was quite strange in 'Buzz's' behavior.
"No, no, guys!" The real Buzz cried out, trying to get his friends' attentions. "You've got the wrong Buzz! You've got the wrong Buzz!"
Unfortunately, his voice was muffled from his prison and thus none of his friends could hear him as the new Buzz climbed into one of the cars as all five cars drove off once more to continue their search.
"Hey, where'd you get the awesome lookin' belt, Buzz?" Lea asked, noticing the blue fancy belt that had a botton on it.
"Well, young man, they're standard issue." New Buzz replied.
Kairi on the other hand, glanced at Sora and muttered softly, "Hey, Sora. Don't you find Buzz acting a little...weird?"
"...Um, only a little. But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." Sora replied, shrugging.
As he watched helplessly that all of his friends took off without him and with the Buzz Lightyear that trapped him here, all the real Buzz could do was continue to struggle and scream, even though he still couldn't be heard by anyone, and if he didn't get out soon, he'll be resold to somewhere else and stuck in the similiar position Woody was right now.
"Nooooooooooo!"
Meanwhile, back at Al's apartment...
Myde had been waiting for a good nearly almost all day to come out of hiding from underneath the couch since this morning. The cleaner, who was an old geezer in his seventies or something, had arrived with a case that had all kinds of paint and cleaning small tools and needle and thread that got him to work on Woody.
Woody had been dusted off, had some paint replacement from the years of being Andy's toy, chipped paint covered with matching paint, his right arm sewed on perfectly in good strong stitching, his boots polished, and finally, the name Andy covered in paint before he was finally done and placed back into the glass case. The old guy claimed the toy to not be a toy at all, but rather just a display model. Well, that wouldn't stop Woody from heading home, though.
After that, when the Cleaner finally left, Al', who was astonishly pleased and claimed that Woody looked like a new toy, immediately got into action to what he attempted to do last night; photographing Woody and the Roundup gang in many poses until it reached nearly two in the afternoon and Al' had all the photos that he wanted, chuckling to himself.
"It's like printing my own money." Al' said to himself as he gazed at the photos he took. Then to his annoyance, the phone rang and he answered, "Yeah, what?"
When the caller answered, he quickly became polite and said, nervously while trying to keep calm, "Oh, Mr. Konishi. Yes, uh, I-I have the pictures right here."
As Al' then moved to the door knowing that he had to get to his office immediately, he then lied while doing so, "In fact, I'm in the car right now on my way to the office to fax them to you. I'm goin' through a tunnel! I'm breakin' up!"
Once Al' closed the door behind him and left the building, Myde sighed in relief before coming out of his hiding and approached the others who came to life once more, with Woody marveling on how he looks now.
Needless to say as Myde leaped onto the small table and rejoined the others, he lets out an impressed whistle at Woody. "Lookin' pretty good. I almost didn't recongise ya'."
"You're telling me. It's like I'm fresh out of the box!" Woody said happily, and was even happier to have his right arm back in the right place and able to use it again normally. "Look at this stitching. Andy's gonna have a hard time ripping this."
"Great." Jessie said, sourly, turning away. "Now you both can go."
She then jumped off the table and stormed off to the window, fuming.
"Well, that's a good idea." Myde replied, snootingly, with Woody nodding in agreement.
Even so, both slightly hesitated. As much as they'd been angry and annoyed with Jessie, the lingering guilt of the fate of the others sort of hanged in their chests.
"Boys, don't be mad at Jessie." Prospector muttered, as though reading their minds, in a father-like behavior. "She's been through more than you know. Why not make amends before you leave, huh? It's the least you can do."
Myde and Woody paused, before looking at Bullseye who looked sad and nodded, as though agreeing with the Prospector. The two finally sighed in defeat.
"All right, but I don't know if Myde and I can do good in it." Woody sighed, before leaping off the table and went to the window, with Myde following behind, before joining the miserable Jessie on the window sill, where she was gazing out the sky, knowing that this would be the last time she would ever see it again for eternity.
"Yo. Whatcha doin' up here?" Myde said, as friendly as possible.
"I thought I'd get one last look at the sun before I get packed away again." Jessie mumured, looking heart-broken and sad. This only made Myde and Woody feel worse, but there wasn't anything either of them could do.
"Look, I'm sorry for last night, but...I don't belong here. Never have." Myde spoke again, sighing. "Sora's...not just any normal kid...at least not anymore. You seriously have no idea what he and his buddies went through. If it weren't for him...I wouldn't even be alive right now."
Jessie didn't say anything to that.
Woody next spoke, sighing as he wanted Jessie to understand, "Look, Jessie, I know you hate me for leaving, but I have to go back. I'm still Andy's toy. Well, if you knew him, you'd understand. You see, Andy's a..."
"Let me guess." Jessie interrupted, finishing for Woody, "Andy and Sora are real special kids...and they both play with both of you, it's like...even though you're not moving, you feel like you're alive...because that's how they both see you."
"Huh?" Myde blinked, confused. While it still miffed him that everyone thought that Sora was his owner and that he himself was just a toy due to being in the form of one in this world, everything else that Jessie said did surprise him a little, as though she was speaking through experience.
It surprised Woody too. "How did you know that?" He asked.
"Because...Emily was just the same. She was my whole world." Jessie answered, going back into memories as well.
It then dawned quickly to both of them; Jessie once had an owner named Emily who was just like Andy.
"I was her favorite toy; her best friend." Jessie began, before explaining her life with her original owner many years before while reliving it at the same time.
(~Missing You-KH 2.5~)
FlashBacks-Jessie's memories.
Emily, a young five year old, would constantly dress up like a cowgirl and even had a red hat that was similiar to Jessie's as the doll was on her bed, sitting in front of the pillow like she always does. Emily used to play with her by having Jessie ride on a toy plastic but realistic horse, camp in the bedroom under the blanket, and go out to the park in the country which was always beautiful, especially in Fall. Emily played with Jessie on the swing before the two would happily fall into the pile of leaves that fell from trees.
But as years went by, Emily began to outgrow Jessie and had unknowingly had her fall under her bed while playing with a new friend and going into fashion and make up, soon placing all of her years of cow-girl theme under her bed as she reached pre-teen years, much to Jessie's sorrow. Still, the cowgirl doll waited for her owner to say she would always love her. But she was lonely and forgotten.
When Emily accidently dropped her make-up kit under her bed and searched for it, she then noticed and felt a familiar toy she hasn't played with in years and dragged her out and smiled.
At first, Jessie thought things would finally go back to normal.
But it wasn't meant to be. As Emily's mother pulled up to a small donation van, Emily gave up all of her childhood toys including Jessie into a box before heading back into the car. Jessie, in horror and heart-break, could only watch as the girl had loved her...had abandoned her and drove away, never to be seen again...
End of Flash-Backs.
(~End Missing You~)
When Jessie finished her story, Myde and Woody shocked at what they heard. No wonder she'd been bitter about the two of them having owners; she herself had been abandoned and stacked away when no one else would come and buy her, because no one was interested, until Al' and the Toy Museum came long. But the search for Woody was still along, and just when Jessie thought she'd finally have the chance to begin new life...Woody and Myde had crushed her hopes and made her relive the past of hurting over and over for the last nearly 24 hours.
"You never forget kids like Emily, or Andy, or Sora, but they forget you." Jessie concluded, her legs drawn up to her chest as she hugged her knees.
Sighing, Myde said, more softly even though he felt very terrible for her. "Jessie...for the last time, Sora's not my owner. I'm not even his friend."
"Jessie, I... I didn't know." Woody began.
"Just go, both of you." Jessie mumured, burying her face into her arms, unable to look at them anymore, and tried her best not to cry.
It ached Myde's heart, as memories of his childhood started to resurface and how many times he changed when it came to interests. Despite this probably being the only world that had living toys, he wondered how many times he hurt his own old childhood stuff's feelings. In the Organization, all Xemnas cared about was Kingdom Hearts. All Saix cared about was collecting Hearts. Myde when he was Demyx...had been weak, useless and the biggest slacker ever, and possibly selfish, and that hurt him even more.
Without saying another word, Myde and Woody, who was feeling even more guilty himself, finally and silently leaped off the window sill before approaching the heat duct, unscrewing the nut that was loose before pulling it out, and lifted the grate open, about to enter when another voice questioned both of them that made them pause, and while it didn't effect Myde but it made him feel twice as guilty, it affected Woody.
"How long will both of you last?" Prospector asked, as he'd been pushed to the floor with Bullseye to be closer to both Myde and Woody. "Do you both really think Andy and Sora are going to take you to college, or each of their honeymoons with their own wives? The boys are growing up, and there's nothing either of you can do about it."
'Sora's a lot older than you think, and unlike most kids...he isn't even in school. He's out there with his friends who are the same age as him or a bit older, fighting Heartless, beating up the bad guys, protecting as many worlds as he can from darkness...to protect everyone. Especially kids like Andy who can grow up and not end up losing his heart and end up dead forever.' Myde desperately wanted to say that. He really did. But he knew that he couldn't. It would make the others crazy and no one would believe him.
Not only that, but Prospector was wrong about one thing; Some kids who don't want to grow up end up in Neverland and stay there to be children forever. Myde hardly went there, but he heard a bit about it, about Peter Pan and those Lost Boys. Then again, grown ups like Captain Hook end up staying there and even they don't grow any older at all. But the former Nobody wasn't going to mention that, as much as he wanted to.
"It's your choice, Woody and Myde." Prospector said, making either of them choose. "You can go back, or you can stay with us and last forever. You'll be adored by children for generations."
Myde sighed, before saying apologetically, "Look...as much as the offer is kinda tempting...I'm gonna pass. I mean, sure I don't wanna die anytime soon but...to me, living forever takes the fun out of life. Besides...I don't think I'll fit in with you guys at all."
He made to leave, but paused when Woody stood, frozen.
Woody had listened in, and it dawned to him that the Prospector was right. Eventually like with Jessie, Woody himself would be discard and lost forever, thrown away and no longer played. Andy wouldn't be a child forever and then where would it leave Woody? As Bullseye sadly went up to him, that's when Woody made up his mind, which surprised Myde.
"Who am I...to break up the Roundup gang?" Woody answered.
"Wait. You're...you're staying?" Myde asked, stunned.
"Yep. I'm staying." Woody replied.
As much as Myde did want to leave and help out Woody, now that his friend had changed his mind and decided to live out in a Museum forever, it irked him a little more. What if the Heartless suddenly attacked if he himself just left on his own and worry about safety of Woody and the others?
Sighing, Myde said, "Well...I ain't going with to the Museum...but I'll stick around to see you guys off. It's the least I can do."
The Prospector smiled, with hope and relief.
Woody then slammed the duct heat shut once more, and as Jessie turned to look, expecting to see him not there, to her surprise, and growing hope and renewed happiness...he was still there with Myde, and the cowboy doll smiled up at her. It made her smile in return.
Woody was actually staying...and neither Jessie, Bullseye or the Prospector are going to be stacked away again after all!
Back with Sora's group...
When the group finally found Al's small office that was cramped and rather messy, they began searching for Myde and Woody...and were not having much luck at all.
"Myde? Are you here?" Sora asked as he and Riku looked into yet another box they and everyone else, except for Rex and New Buzz had been searching through, as the two were discussing the secret entrance of Zurg's hideout, even though while Rex was only referring to the video game, New Buzz, oblivious that he himself was only a toy, thought this was the way to the real place.
"Nah, another empty box." Riku sighed, disappointed.
"Hey, Woody? You in here?" Hamm asked as he and Lea opened up another cardboard box.
"Nah, this one's empty too." Lea shook his head with a sigh.
As everyone searched and called out to their two missing friends, Jack had managed to climb onto the desk, before noticing a small fighting boxing-ring toy with a blue plastic fighter and a red plastic fighter who were also living toys. Deciding to see if either of them knew the whereabouts of Woody and Myde, he approached them.
"Excuse me, gentlemen." Jack said, getting their attention. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a lad with a broken arm or another lad with a ridiculous...mullet-hair, would you?"
"Why, no. I haven't." The blue fighter said, surprisingly politely, which instantly changed when the red fighter protested.
"Hey, he was talkin' to me!" The red-fighter yelled.
"No, he was talkin' to me!" The blue fighter argued.
The two of them then began punching each other until the red-fighter's head cranked up and he froze, ending the really quick game. Jack by then, a bit traumated and winching at this, just silently backed away and avoided in being seen by them again. Those two were just as worse in their arguments than Pintel and Ragetti, and just as strangely discussed as those two Royal Navy trooper-idiots he met a year ago.
"You know, call me crazy, but I think we actually came to the wrong place." Ven spoke up, rubbing the back of his head after he and Terra came up empty handed at another empty box for the fifth time now.
"I think you're right, Ven." Terra replied. "Only problem is...where else could Al' have taken Woody? And where else could Myde be?"
"You mean we came all this way for nothing?" Mr. Potato Head asked, becoming irritated.
Before anyone could answer, everyone then heard a voice that sounded awfully familiar and footsteps approaching the door that was getting closer and closer. Immediately knowing that someone was coming, Sora, his companions and the toys quickly all hid behind the shelf close to the door, just in time as Al' came walking in, talking on his phone while dropping his leather large hand-bag, that would possibly fit all of them if they went inside, in front of them.
"No, it was a big pile-up, but I don't want to bore you with the details." Al' was saying to the person he was talking too, going over to the Fax machine, and completely unaware of the worldly travellers and the toys that were hiding behind him.
"It's him." Aqua whispered, eyes narrowing.
"The Chicken man." Goofy whispered as well.
"Geez, he's fatter than he is on TV." Lea cringed while keeping his voice down.
"The guy who kidnapped Woody." Sora murmured, glaring at Al's back.
"Oh, that's the kidnapper alright." Mickey added.
New Buzz, still oblivious to the actual truth, whispered more to himself than anyone else, "A kidnapper. An agent of Zurg if I ever saw one."
Al' in the meantime, was giving out the fax number before sliding one of the photos he took of Woody which copied it to somewhere else before the photo carelessly floated down towards in front of the group who most of their eyes widened as they saw it.
"And the pièce de résistance. I promise the collection will be the crown jewel of your museum." Al' was saying to obviously Konishi.
"It's Woody." Slinkly muttered, recongising the photo of the cowboy doll.
"Did he just say museum?" Donald whispered, having heard what Al' just said.
The group continued to listen as the reason behind Woody's kidnapping became more and more clear, "Now that I have your attention, imagine we added another zero to the price, huh?...What?"
What Konishi said next made Al' cheered in victory while holding the phone away briefly, "Yes! Ye-ee-ee-es!" before speaking to the other man once more, "You got a deal! I'll be on the next flight to Japan!"
"So that's what it's all about." Mickey realised, whispering.
"He stole Woody to sell him over to a Museum in another place...just for money." Isa muttered, his face turning to anger and disgust.
"That's disgusting." Lea grunted angrily.
"That low-life." Sora hissed softly, just as disgusted. Realising that Al' was about to leave and now knowing that if they went with him secretly, he could lead them to the real whereabouts of Woody. "Guys, let's sneak in here so he can take us to where Woody is."
Everyone, realising that Sora was right, didn't argue and even New Buzz, thinking that the speaker was Zurg, all stuffed themselves into Al's back as quickly as possible until they all managed to squeeze inside, though Rex's tail was sticking out slightly. Fortunately, Al' didn't even notice this or the fact that his bag felt a bit heavier, and instead, was cheering to himself before making his way out of the office to begin packing.
Unaware to all of them, the real Buzz, who had been continuing to fight his way to free himself from the box his counterpart had trapped him in and finally managed to kick himself out before un-wiring himself. He then heard a familiar voice and risked to peak. He saw Al' who was happily singing himself. But what Buzz saw made him gasp.
He saw Rex's tail sticking out slightly and made him fear that Al' had found his friends and were now stealing them. Seeing Al' walk off, Buzz hurried to follow but even as Buzz used his gymastic skills and flying toys to try and catch up to him, he'd been unable to and crashed into the slide doors that closed before sliding down to the ground. He tried to jump up and down, but since he was on his own, he was stuck and could only groan as he saw Al' get into his blue car and drive off.
To his surprise, though, it was a very short drive...right to the other side of the road where he and his friends had been earlier this morning and parked right outside of the tall building, which made Buzz want to kick himself; Having crossed the road, he lead the other toys and the worldly travellers to the wrong side of the road where they'd been standing in front of the right place all this time; that building was Woody's real whereabouts.
If only Buzz could get there...
Seeing several boxes next to him, he suddenly had an idea. He kicked at the bottom box before moving out of the way when all of the boxes, due to the lack of support, fell and landed right onto the mat. It was enough weight to get the slide doors to open and close repeatedly. Buzz used this to his advantage and ran out, hopping over another box and ran through the car park of Al's Toy Barn and towards the building.
Unaware to Buzz, however, the box he leaped over was purple...and had Emperor Zurg's name on it, and was repeatedly blocking the two slide doors from closing properly. Just then, through the red plastic see-through linging, a black fist punched through it, before it was joined by the rest of it's body; It was an action figure of a purple cloaked man or robot, with red laser-like eyes, a blast in the place of his right arm, yellow teeth, and he had an angry and evil look to him.
He was the toy version of Emperor Zurg, and much like the new Buzz, thought he was the real villian. And the moment Zurg saw Buzz running, it searched anger through him and black mists of darkness briefly covered his body.
"Ugh! Destroy Buzz Lightyear! Destroy Buzz Lightyear! Destroy Buzz Lightyear!" Zurg chanted as he, having wheels instead of legs, rolled to chase after Buzz...but was too slow. None the less, this would cause even more problems.
A/N: I know that I still suck at battles and ect. Sorry about that. I found it always funny when Rex tried to catch up to the car Jurassic Park style. Actually seen Toy Story 2 first before I even saw the first Jurassic Park film on DVD.
I won't be able to update again for a little while, but don't you worry, I will hopefully sometime next week for the final chapter of the Toy Story world before we move on to the next world. See you then!