Heartless Imperfection

Chapter XXII

Buzz moved fast, the trio almost had trouble keeping up with the tireless stranger. "It's good you three arrived so quickly, I was beginning to think I'd be the only one stopping Zurg." They moved over street by street, paved smooth with tar, littered with glass shards and traveled on by cars and trucks. It was an overall nice neighborhood, trees blocking out the sun, houses clean and kempt. Before they realized it, Buzz jumped into a bush. The others gave pursuit, before he put a hand up, amidst the leaves. "The convoy moves slowly, but there are many enemies guarding the enslaved aliens. Look," He pointed.

Sora got closer to the shrub's edge, and watched as numerous toys were being herded away, by Heartless Shadows. At that moment, one of the toys began to shake. Heartless were jumping on it, it had six metal legs and two claws attached to a platform with the head of a doll attached to its head. One of the eyes were missing, the other was colored sky blue. Sora had to look away from the creature; its hair was completely shaved, leaving the small bristles dotting the hollow skull.

"They're all toys!" Donald watched on. He turned his gaze to Buzz, "Are you a toy, too?"

Buzz stood at attention, "No sir, I'm the one and only Buzz Lightyear from Star Command."

Just then, the spider-like toy stopped shaking, and the Heartless backed away. It lifted its gaze to the other toys, and turned its head toward the bush. The fake eye popped out and onto the street, allowing view to the back of its head in two sockets. Sora froze in panic, "Does it see us?"

The creature turned away, and began herding the other toys in the same way as the Heartless, while growing larger. "They got Baby Head!" A blue-suited figurine half-attached to a skateboard cried, lifting his helmet-clad head, being forced along by Heartless. Another toy turned around, bouncing on a single spring beneath a muscled torso, which was attached to the head of a toy duck. It began to quack until the Heartless prodded it along. A set of legs without a torso, but a fishing pole protruding from the waist area, was with the group, also, along with a slinky with two halves of a dog on either side, followed by a female doll in a pink dress with a Shepard's cane.

"We have to free the convoy of Zurg's forces! Move out!" Buzz Lightyear jumped from the shrubbery.

Sora put out a hand, "Wait! Let me… explain…"

Donald and Goofy shook their heads, "Whoever he is, let's help. He probably can't do anything to the Heartless."

Goofy nodded, "He could use our help," And bound out of the hiding spot, taking long strides after the toy, followed by his comrades against the Heartless.

Buzz called out to the Heartless, "Over here, Zurg vermin!"

The Shadows turned their scrawny little heads, antennae twitching. They began to move toward Buzz.

"No, Buzz, they'll mind control you!" The only female in the group of captives screamed.

The spaceman went into a fighting pose, and began to bat the Heartless away with his hands and arms. A flurry of kicks and combination of punches sent quite a few of the Heartless sprawling into a nearby sewer. He began to jump into another group, but was smacked to the street by a huge claw. A white heart outlined in black appeared on Baby Head's forehead, and dark mists, fading away as they fled into the air from the shell's eye sockets, formed its eyes. Buzz was sent sprawling until he regained control of himself and halted, standing on two feet again. Baby Head grew twice its original size, towering over Buzz. A metallic leg sprang from underneath it and collided with Buzz's helmet. The plastic shattered, and the spaceman was sent backward, into a curb. He shook his head, "You'll pay for that!" He got up, despite the huge crevice in his helmet, and aimed his LASER arm. "Let's see how you do against this!" Buzz slapped the red button on his arm, and a red light started to blink on the edge of his wrist. "What… The LASER should work, it's certified by Star Command! It must be defective! The alien vapors must have fried its systems!" The space man shook his head in disbelief, his expression: disappointment. Before long, Baby Head crushed Buzz with two feet, grinding him against the street.

Sora lunged toward the Heartless, keyblade swinging. Donald and Goofy took the brunt of the Heartless defense, freeing the group of toys being walked to their demise. Goofy guffawed and sent Heartless flying, where they proceeded to meet a skillfully pointed lightning spell by Donald, and afterward disappeared for good. Sora carved his way through a Heartless line, and witnessed Buzz under the wrath of Baby Head. The boy leapt, before a Heartless attempted to claw at him, and landed on the Baby Head's metallic platform. The head turned around, the dark mist erupted, and encased Sora in shadow. Buzz took his chance, and forced the metallic legs to buckle with his weight.

Sora fell, stunned, caught by Goofy. "Wake up, Sora!"

The boy blinked, and stumbled out of Goofy's grasp. "Sorry, watch out!" He tossed the keyblade into an oncoming Heartless. Goofy smiled, "Hey, thanks, Sora!" And ran away to smack some Heartless with his shield.

Sora smiled, but turned to Baby Head. "Buzz, keep it busy, I'll get it this time!"

"Easier said than done!" The spaceman was rolling and dodging the many spider-like legs from above. Sora awaited his chance, keeping an eye on the Baby Head while cutting down Heartless with his keyblade. As soon as the Baby Head was completely attentive toward Buzz, Sora hopped away from the Heartless and proceeded to climb up the legs of the metallic walker. Well-placed footing and his lithe body enabled Sora to reach the top, and he subsequently brought his keyblade to the nearly bald skull. The creature shrieked in horror and angst, and began to fissure in half. The shell fell away, and a Perfect Heart left with the change of winds. The whole thing collapsed, and Sora jumped off, landing on his feet.

"We did it!" Goofy jumped for joy. Sora watched as Buzz stepped over, "Good job, Star Command will be proud. Where did you get a weapon like that?"

Sora shook his head, "We aren't from Star Command, Buzz. I tried to tell you that, but my friends and I played along, until now. We're really sorry."

Buzz looked at them, seriously, "If Star Command knew about this… well, they won't, because I wouldn't have finished this battle alone." He pointed to his damaged visor. "Thank you all the same. What are your names?"

Sora spoke for the trio, "I'm Sora, this is Donald," He pointed to a duck clad in a blue hat and long-sleeved shirt, "And this is Goofy," He motioned to the tallest one of the group.

"Nice to meet'cha, a-hyuck!" Goofy laughed.

Sora nodded, smiling, and turning his gaze toward the toys waiting nearby. A blond female in a bonnet stepped forward, "Thank you, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Buzz. We would have been hauled off somewhere if not for you all. My name is Bo Peep." Three sheep appeared from behind the billowing pink dress. "Baah."

Sora scratched his head; a crooked smile appeared on his face, "It's nothing, just what we do."

"You do that for a living?" She gasped and turned to the other two, "You let a little boy risk his life?"

Goofy and Donald frowned sheepishly, "He's the chosen of the keyblade," Goofy reasoned, "He has to fight, or we wouldn't have been able to stop the Heartless…"

Bo Peep sighed and knelt to reach eye-level with Sora, "Well, what you're doing is very brave. Just watch it, someone might miss you if you never return home."

Sora smiled and crossed his arms behind his bandaged head. "I fight for her," He admitted.

The woman smiled pleasantly and turned to Buzz. "There was another group, Woody was with them, a few blocks ahead of us. You can probably catch up to them. Bring my Woody home, Buzz."

The Slinky Dog stepped up, "Yeah, we can't lose him! What'll Andy think?"

Buzz looked at them, "Andy?"

The Slinky Dog tapped Buzz's shoe. "Andy puts his name on all his toys."

Buzz arches his eyebrow and sits down in the middle of the street. He lifts his foot up and examines it. It read a crude set of letters spelling "ANDY".

"A toy…?" Buzz looked at them in disbelief.

The toy dog lifted his own foot up, and the same name was carved onto it.

Buzz shook his head, "But…"

Bo Peep knelt at Buzz's side. "Talk about it later, the others are in trouble! Go get 'em, space ranger."

Buzz looked up, and nodded. "I'll think about it later. Let's move!" The spaceman heaved himself from the ground, "Which way?"

Bo Peep smiled again, "The way we were headed, they might have turned by now, though. Good luck." She began to round up the other toys. The man attached to the skateboard rolled over to the heroes. He used his hands only to drag the skateboard behind him.

"The name's Roller Bob, you can use me to catch up with them. They gotta' pay for what they did to Baby Head." He looked at the toy that was previously controlled by the Heartless.

Buzz smiled, "That'd help. Let's go!"

The other three jumped onto Roller Bob. "That way, Bob! We'll get 'em!"

The skateboard moved faster than the group could have traveled on foot, and they raced through the streets. A few intersections had passed by the time they caught sight of the other group of captives.

"There's Woody! Stop! We need to take them by surprise." Buzz was pointing to a taller toy with a cowboy hat on, brown hair, a cow skin vest and a yellow shirt striped in brown underneath. A sheriff badge pinned to the vest, he walked in long strides with simple blue pants with ends disappearing into his cowboy boots clapping against the sidewalk they tread upon. He was followed, being at the head of the group, by a large green dinosaur, an etch-a-sketch, a potato head, and a smaller group of small green army men with loud voices. Roller Bob came to a halt, scratching his hands up, but giving a thumbs up sign. Sora looked at the Heartless, "Is it just me, or will this battle be a little tougher?"

Bigger Heartless seemed to be wary of anyone, looking this way and that. Sora grimaced, "Can you guys handle the pot-bellies while I cut off the Soldiers?"

The others nodded, though Buzz really didn't know how to accomplish any of this.

As soon as they were about to rush into battle, a dark portal formed in front of Woody. The Heartless prodded him along, and the toy walked into the darkness. Buzz screamed, "No!" He began to run, but Woody was already through the strange gateway to another world. The Heartless turned; Sora, Donald and Goofy were following Buzz. Soldiers herded more of the toys into the portal. "Why are Heartless taking them away? I've never seen them act this way!" Sora breathed, running to catch up with Buzz.

It was too late, because the last of the Heartless stepped through the inter-dimensional door and disappeared. Buzz punched the ground with his fist. "Why couldn't I save them?"

The other three stepped up to him. "There wasn't anything you could do…" Donald attempted to help.

"Of course there was. He was too slow." Riku stepped forward, from behind a nearby tree. The sterling-haired boy shook his head and crossed his arms, his brilliant gaze blinking.

Sora's heart pounded, "Riku…"

He lifted his gaze from the sorry toy to meet Sora's gaze. "Hey, Sora. You missed out on a great battle. Jenova's still around, you know? Sephiroth, too. Why don't you come with me, and we'll stop them together? You don't need those two, they're dead-weight."

Sora had begun to think about it until hearing Riku's final statement. He frowned upon him, "They're not dead-weight! They're my friends! We've been through this already, I can't leave them." The boy gestured to Donald, Goofy, and Buzz.

Riku looked at each of them firmly, "Have it your way. I'll just beat Jenova on my own, and get back to Kairi."

Sora's heart thudded, feeling nearly out of his chest. "You… you saw her already?"

Riku nodded simply and stared Sora down.

"Well? How is she?"

Riku began to chuckle, "You should find that out for yourself. I can get you home faster, if you just ditch them." He pointed.

Donald was infuriated, "If you think Sora would leave us now, after all we've been through, you've got another thing comin'!"

"Yeah," Goofy said, in support, though still quiet within radius of Riku.

Sora nodded, "I'll find my own way back to Kairi. Nobody will stop me, either. What do you want, Riku?"

"I was just going to extend invitation, but that doesn't seem to work. Well, I won't fight you, but I know someone who will," He said, leaving from whence he came.