Secrets of Memories Chapter 33: How to Interrupt a Rescue Mission
" I don't think I understand any of this anymore," Sora said quietly as the gummi ship gunned away from Ancient Greece and out into space, in the universe. "All this about doors of darkness and the first recorded Keyblade Masters with the funny names of Dragon and Phoenix. And how does Aozora get mixed up in this big mess? I mean, really mixed up. He's messed up, screwed for sure."
" We'll find out later on, I'm think," Goofy said while keeping an eye on Donald's steering the gummi ship. All three of them had extremely unique piloting skills; Sora's wild, childish antics often bring them close to death while Goofy, the most consistent, allowed everyone to relax. With Donald, it was Goofy who kept a close eye on the court wizard and he was the one who yelped when Donald pulled a move on them, jerking the gummi ship violently to the side to avoid crashing into an asteroid.
" And where were we headed again?" Sora asked as he leaned against the side of the gummi ship and tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling of the gummi ship.
" I...let me check," Donald said as Goofy pressed a button and a hologram appeared.
" It's a world with two names," Goofy announced to the weary Keyblade Master. "It's split into two, with one part being a part of the other part yet separate, entirely its own. Andy's Room within City Point, Sora; looks like we're headed for a world populated by humans and technology like Twilight Town-Sora?"
Goofy turned around and saw Sora sleeping, his head leaning back against the wall, his arms limp at this side and his legs stretched out; it was obvious that he fell asleep while standing up and had slid down onto the floor. Apparently, Sora was so exhausted he could not help but get knocked out in the most unlikely position possible.
Goofy searched for a thin blanket to cover Sora before returning to the bridge and joining Donald. He carefully draped the light blanket over Sora, looking at the teenager's tired, tragic face. Sora was still not used to the rigors of leading the life as a warrior, as the hero, the one everyone looked up to. Goofy wondered if Sora would ever get used to it.
" And where do we land?" Donald and Goofy wondered as they saw a dot in the distance, a dot they knew had to be Andy's Room/ City Point or just plain City Point.
" I have a feeling we should try Andy's Room first," Goofy told Donald, intuition running through his spine. "Maybe there we can find out what the problem is at City Point."
" Good idea," Donald agreed and gunned the gummi ship for Andy's Room.
" The story of Lenne and Shuyin is long, their arc of glory and notoriety across the sky brief and ending in a tragedy," Aozora said quietly as the gummi ship approached a very blue world. "Lenne was a summoner/ songstress and a great one at that. Her duty was to her people and long ago in those Machina Wars, summoners and summoner/ songstresses were sent to the front lines. They were powerful, strong enough to take down machinas and enemy soldiers. As one of them, Lenne had an obligation to her people, to defend them at all costs, even death. Then enters Shuyin her lover. Shuyin's a local townsman but he and Lenne fell in love. And he did not want to lose her to the Machina Wars. So a twisted, very twisted plan began to form into his mind. He decided to wipe out Spira so that there would be no more wars, in the present and future."
" So that's when Vegnagun comes in," Paine realized while Yuna and Rikku silently listened.
" Exactly," Aozora answered. "He came to believe Vegnagun was the only way to save Lenne and to end all wars. It was his one hope, that terrible machina. One night he infiltrated Bevelle, the headquarters of Yu Yevon, so that he can obtain Vegnagun and use it to wipe out Spira."
" And in that sphere we found, he activated Vegnagun," Yuna interrupted and continued, sadness covering her eyes. "He was preparing it so he can wipe out Spira. But Lenne came...she came and stopped him."
" And then the Yu Yevon guards came," Rikku added. "And they didn't allow for any explanation whatsoever or anything. They got shot down; they died."
" Yet they still live," Yuna whispered, touching the place above her heart. "They still live and we have to stop Shuyin. Lenne...and I, we have to stop Shuyin."
" Or else Spira will fall to Darkness," Aozora said firmly, coldly. "Shuyin doesn't think he is, but he is a host of Darkness, a pawn. Yuna, you were destined from the very beginning to be a warrior of the light and that light must never go out. Yuna, you must defeat Shuyin at all costs. Destroy Vegnagun, destroy that dark machina before it falls into the wrong hands. Vegnagun and Shuyin must be stopped at all costs."
The three women sat stone cold in their seats; Aozora sounded so different, so cold and dominating. He sounded like a stonehearted king who was willing to risk the lives of his country if only to defeat the enemy.
" It will be at Spira, no doubt about it," Aozora said quietly, calmly. "He will be at Spira and it will be Spira where he will remain. The other one, he will come back; mentor has already told me. Warriors of the light will always live on, no matter what. Death does not stop them and death never will. I wonder...are there other warriors of light out there, in Spira? Well, I guess I'll have to see, before I go after that blasted Sora."
Paine gave him the eye. Aozora was most certainly acting strange.
" He sounds like he's on intoxicants or something," Rikku hissed to the others. "One minute, he sounds like the evilest fiend ever, the next minute he's talking to himself. You think something's wrong with him?"
" I'm kind of worried for him," Yuna admitted, looking over her shoulder to him. "In fact, I'm very worried for him. My heart's telling me he's reaching the brink, the brink of...something. And if something real big happens, I'm afraid he's going to break down. I think we should keep an eye out for him; he seems to have been through tougher times than I have."
" Than you?" Paine asked skeptically. "Why do I have a hard time believing that?"
" I believe it," Yuna said softly, looking to the blond teenager. "I'm afraid he's in more danger that he suspects. And I think something's going to happen in the future. The near future, I can feel it. And I don't think anybody's going to like it, especially him. And I'm afraid that something is going to break him, maybe for good."
" I can't find it!" a huge, plastic green dinosaur shrieked as he pressed rapidly on the remote control that sat in front of the television. "It doesn't seem to be on any of these stations."
" Keep looking," a tough-looking, astronaut-looking toy said sternly, his eyes never leaving the television screen.
" You're going too slow," a huge bulky piggy bank shoved the dinosaur aside and put his hoof on the remote, "Let me take the wheel."
He pressed on the button rapidly and the screen flashed just as fast. Different images appeared and disappeared.
" It's too fast," the dinosaur, Rex, complained. "How can you even tell what's on?"
" I can tell," Hamm, the bank pig, said airily.
So the gathered crowd around the space ranger, the dinosaur, and the pig watched intently as multiple images flashed. They kept a sharp eye out – or tried to – for an advertisement which involved a portly man in a chicken costume.
" Stop! Back, back, back!" all the toys shouted as they caught the image of a man in a white chicken suit.
" Too late, I'm in the forties," Hamm replied as he continued to press the button like mad. "Gotta go around the horn, its faster."
Everyone glared at Hamm but he continued to press the button. Presently the image of the chicken-man came around again and everyone yelled, " Back, back! Stop!"
They stopped on a commercial of a man dressed as a chicken in front of a barn-like building who was saying, "And look for the giant chicken!"
" Now Etch!" Buzz Lightyear turned to the Etch-N-Sketch next to him. It quickly sketched out the map of a place called Al's Toy Barn. "That's where I need to go."
" You can't go, Buzz," Rex begged to differ. "You'll never make it there."
" Woody once risked his life to save me," Buzz countered staunchly. "I couldn't call myself his friend if I weren't willing to do the same. So who's with me?"
" I'm packing you an extra pair of shoes and your angry eyes, just in case," Mrs. Potato Head told Mr. Potato Head as she stuffed the items into the his back and closed the hatch.
Bo Peep, the beautiful shepherdess, gave Buzz a long kiss on the cheek. "This is for Woody when you find him."
Buzz turned all embarrassed and replied, "All right, but I don't think it'll mean the same coming from me."
Then they looked down from the table as Wheezy, the squeaky penguin whose squeaker was broken, was gently escorted to the bottom of the table. "Mr. Buzz Lightyear, you just gotta save my pal Woody."
" I'll do my best, son," Buzz answered confidently as the others joining the mission trooped out of the window and onto a 'branch' of the roof. Slinky, the dog whose body was made up of a spring, went first, to be ready to make himself useful on the way down.
" Okay, fellas," Mr. Potato Head called as he grabbed the bottom end of Slinky. "Let's roll. Geronimo!"
With that, he jumped off, reaching the ground safely and releasing the bottom end for the next person. Hamm followed safely and it was Rex's turn.
" You'd think, with all my video game experience, I'd be feeling more prepared," Rex said nervously as he grabbed the end and jumped off.
" The idea is the let go," Slinky said calmly while Rex screamed his head off and refused to let go at the same time.
" We'll be back before Andy gets home" Buzz said as he pushed the button on him and the helmet popped up over his head.
" Don't talk to any toy you don't know!" Mrs. Potato Head called out as Buzz grabbed the leg of the bottom of Slinky.
" To Al's Toy Barn and beyond!" Buzz yelled as he jumped off. Slinky grinned as his bottom went flying back up and he grabbed it, dropping out of sight.
" Oh I hope they make it back in time," Bo Peep murmured worriedly to herself while the others retreated inside the room. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Oh Woody, why'd it have to be you? You're the one we have to keep safe, or else we'll lose everything..."
"...Museum?" Woody shrieked, whirling on Prospector while Jessie and Bullseye picked themselves up after Woody threw all three of them off the record player they were running around on. "What museum?"
" The museum," Prospector replied calmly. "We're being sold to the Konishi Toy Museum in Tokyo."
" That's in Japan," Jessie added excitedly.
" Japan?" Woody's jaw dropped. " No, no, no, no, no. I can't go to Japan."
" What do you mean?" Jessie asked, a frown replacing the smile on her face.
" I got to get back home to my owner, Andy," Woody explained while picking up his boot and showing them the bottom of it. "Hey, look, look, see?"
There it was, the name 'Andy' scribbled on the bottom of his boot in permanent ink.
" He still has an owner!" Jessie gasped.
" Oh, my goodness," Prospector shuddered in his container.
" No," Jessie backed away from Woody and the edge of the table at the same time. "Can't go. I can't do storage again. I just can't!"
" Jessie, Jessie," Prospector said soothingly, in a fatherly manner.
" I won't go back in the dark!" Jessie yelled stubbornly.
" What's the matter?" Woody asked, befuddled by her attitude. "What's wrong with her?"
" Well, we've been in storage for a long time, waiting for you," Prospector explained calmly.
" Why me?" Woody asked, shocked by this.
" The museum's only interested in the collection if you're in it, Woody," Prospector explained with patience. "Without you, we go back into storage. It's that simple."
" It's not fair!" Jessie yelled. " How can you do this to me?"
" Hey, look, I'm sorry, but this is all a big mistake," Woody replied, backing away with his hands out in front of him, as if to ward off her anger. "You see, I was in this yard sale-"
" Yard sale?" Prospector was intrigued. "Why were you in a yard sale if you have an owner?"
" Well, I wasn't supposed to be there," Woody explained. "I was trying to save another toy when-"
" Was it because you're damaged? Hmm?" Prospector interrupted, not paying attention to how Woody was trying to save Wheezy from the yard sale. "Did this Andy break you?"
" Yeah, but – no, no, no, no, no!" Woody yelped, realizing what direction this conversation was taking. "It was – it was an accident. I mean -"
" Sounds like he really loves you," Jessie pouted.
" It's not like t hat, okay?" Woody shouted back at her, getting angry. "And I'm not going to any museum!"
" Well, I'm not going back into storage!" Jessie yelled back, stomping up and glaring at him in the face.
Then they heard the door opening. Al was coming.
" Al's coming!" Prospector exclaimed, then turned on Jessie, who was looking at the storage box filled with Styrofoam pieces in fear. "Go! Go on, Jessie. Jessie, look at me."
" Oh, oh, oh," Jessie backed away from the edge of the table.
" I promise you'll come out of the box," Prospector assured gently. "Now go! Go!"
Jessie took one last look around her, jumped, curled herself up into a ball, and dove into the box. Bullseye and Prospector followed and Woody ran to his display case and shut the glass door just as Al barged in with the look of a man who was given a million dollars right off the bat.
Woody then spotted glowing yellow eyes in the shadows. He blinked and looked again. They were gone.
" That there's the biggest barn I've ever seen!" Goofy yelped, pointing excitedly at the huge building that sat by itself to one end of a huge block of black stone.
" What's a barn?" Sora asked curiously. Donald and Goofy stared at him, before they shook their heads as if with hopelessness.
" Just man the gummi ship, Sora," Donald said and Sora nodded, just as hopelessly.
Amazing Sora still had to learn, despite his travels for one year all over the universe.
" Never heard of a barn before," Donald muttered as he stomped off to prepare for landing. " Seriously."
" Hey, look at that there orange triangles," Goofy yelped, his eyes never ceasing to miss anything. He pointed madly down at the long thick black line crammed with strange moving metal objects.
" What?" Sora leaned over the control board to see what Goofy was pointing at.
He spotted a group of six cones inching across the huge black line. Every few seconds the cones would freeze and the moving metal objects would screech and come to a halt. Some of the metal objects would ram into each other and chaos seemed to ensue.
" This is interesting," Sora mused and brought the gummi ship down closer. The ship shook violently as they rammed into atmosphere and Donald came screaming out madly.
" It's just atmosphere, Donald," Sora called back calmly. "Relax."
" What are you planning to do, Sora?" Donald demanded suspiciously.
" Just seeing what the cones are for," Sora answered as the gummi ship stopped vibrating violently.
" Cones?" Donald sauntered over to the front.
The cones, by then, had inched over to the huge black block of stone and tipped over. Sora spotted five suspicious-looking objects running to a metal cart.
" This is strange," Sora said and brought the gummi ship even closer.
" Watch where you're taking the ship, doofus!" Donald yelled as the ship swerved. They were obviously hitting air turbulence.
" Just trying to see what those funny things are down there," Sora said calmly, then yelled as the ship dipped and swerved, bringing them head-on towards the huge barn building.
" Sora!" Donald and Goofy yelled and grabbed at the chair as Sora fought the controls and the wind.
" I got it all under control!" Sora protested vehemently and the gummi ship tumbled in the air, sending everyone tumbling to one side. "I was just kidding."
" Sora!" Donald jumped at Sora, with the look of bloody murder written over all his face.
" The ship!" Goofy yelled and they all looked up and at the glass window.
A huge glass wall loomed before them. It was beyond huge; it was titanic.
" Incoming!" Sora screamed and ducked.
" But the sign says it's closed," Rex complained as they stood before the double glass doors, with a sign that clearly said "Closed".
They paid no heed to him, hopping on the black mat before the doors furiously. If the employee could walk right into Al's Toy Barn while the sign says "Closed", then surely they could.
" No, no, no, no," Buzz stopped them. "All together. Now!"
They all hopped on the black mat and the glass doors slid open. They rushed inside, not noticing a suspicious-looking object fly over their heads.
" Whoa, Nelly!" Slinky yelped as they stared at the stacks of toys all around them. "How are we going to find Woody in this place?"
" Look for all," Buzz instructed as they ran past the cash registers. "We find Al, we find Woody. Now move out!"
Everyone split, except for Rex, who was busily flipping through a strategy guide.
" Woody!" Hamm yelled.
" Woody!" Mr. Potato Head followed the bank pig down one aisle. Buzz went down another aisle and Slinky followed Hamm and Mr. Potato Head. Rex, his head stuck in the strategy guide, managed not to run into anything while following wherever his huge plastic feet took him.
Buzz found himself in a huge aisle of Buzz Lightyear toys, the ones with special utility belts. Buzz walked up to one and poke at the plastic. "Wow, I could use one of those."
" You know," Rex said as he managed to follow Mr. Potato Head down an aisle. "They make it so you can't defeat Zurg unless you buy this book. It's extortion. That's what it is. Hey, I always thought the golden sector was the only-"
A toy car screeched and whirled past them, coming to a sudden stop. Hamm sat in the driver's seat.
" I thought we could search in style," Hamm said as Mr. Potato Head and Rex joined him.
" Nice going there, Hamm," Mr. Potato Head complimented as he pushed the bank pig aside. "So how about letting a toy with fingers drive?"
He took over and did his best to keep them from crashing into the aisles. Then there was a rumbling sound and toys started falling all around them.
" Yaahhh!" they screamed and Mr. Potato Head drove the car away.
They failed to see what caused the toys to fall however; they had rushed away into the aisle of Barbies.
" This is a great way to land on this sort of world," Donald growled as they picked their way out of the avalanche of toys. "Now, where are we?"
" The sign on this here barn said ' Al's Toy Barn'," Goofy commented. "These are all toys."
" Toys?" Sora asked, looking around them. "What are toys?"
Donald and Goofy looked at each other and sighed hopelessly. Sora was a nutcase for sure.
"...you're breaking ranks, ranger," a voice ordered. "Buzz Lightyear to Star Command. I've got an AWOL space ranger."
" Tell me I wasn't this deluded," another voice, nearly identical, moaned.
" This way," Sora motioned to the others and ran across the smooth tile flooring. They ran around the aisle wall and saw two odd-looking plastic figures yelling at each other.
" Those are toys," Goofy whispered to Donald. "They're not supposed to talk."
" And we're supposed to be bigger than them," Donald hissed back. "This is one strange world."
" I don't have time for this," one of the toys was saying and started to walk away.
" Halt! I order you to halt!" the other hollered at him. The first toy didn't stop so the other jumped off the ledge they were standing on and charged him.
" What are they doing to each other?" Sora gasped in astonishment as the toys pummeled each other.
" And toys definitely aren't supposed to fight," Donald concluded.
" Ow! Listen to me, listen to me," the first toy yelled as he was being tied to cardboard. "You're not really a space ranger. You're a toy. We're all toys. Do you here me?"
" Well, that should hold you until the court marshal," the other toy simply answered as he shoved the first toy, now strapped onto the cardboard piece, into a cardboard container shaped something similar to a gummi ship and propped it up against the other ships.
" Let me go!" the first toy railed at him. "You don't realize what you're doing!"
" We should help him," Sora said and strode forward, just as a toy car swerved into the aisle from the other side. Donald and Goofy quickly pulled him back while a voice said with kind authority, "And this is the Buzz Lightyear aisle. Back in 1995, shortsighted retailers did not order enough dolls to make demand."
" Hey, Buzz!" another voice yelled as the toy car seemed to come to a screeching halt.
" Buzz, eh?" Sora muttered at this.
" Quit clowning around and get in the car!" yet another voice snapped.
" Buzz, Buzz, I know how to defeat Zurg!" a happy-go-lucky voice yelled excitedly.
" You do?" the other toy sounded incredulous.
" Come on, I'll tell you on the way," the voice replied happily and the toy car seemed to screech away.
" No, no guys!" the first toy yelled, his voice muffled by the plastic. "You've got the wrong Buzz! You've got the wrong Buzz!"
Sora didn't wait any longer; he rushed out to the aisle and froze, stunned by the number of plastic and cardboard containers filled with the same plastic figurines as the two he saw fighting each other. He searched out one that was wobbling and ran to it.
" What the!" the trapped toy exclaimed while Sora grabbed at the container's cardboard wing and pulled it out onto the floor.
" Guys, help me!" the boy before his eyes yelled.
" Why are kids shrinking?" the toy known as Buzz murmured as Donald and Goofy emerged to help Sora pull out the trapped toy. "And what are they?!"
" Are you alright?" Sora asked as they slid out the cardboard piece Buzz was tied to.
" Yes, yes, I'm fine, thank you," Buzz answered as calmly as possible, his mind racing with worry for Woody. "Do you know where I can find Al?"
" Who?" Sora asked.
" Never mind," Buzz brushed that aside, the look on Sora's face explaining everything. "The name's Buzz, Buzz Lightyear."
" I'm Sora," Sora jabbed his thumb at himself, then pointed to Donald and Goofy. "The white duck's Donald and the one next to him's Goofy."
" Hello, Buzz!" Goofy stepped forward and shook Buzz's right hand vigorously. "How d'you do ?"
" Uh...fine, I suppose," Buzz pondered. "No, wait, actually I need help. See, my friend Woody – he's a sheriff – he's been kidnapped by a man named Al and we're trying to find him. Me and my friends, that is. So far we've reached Al's Toy Barn but we can't find him. Then that lunatic of a Space Ranger ties me in and goes off with my friends! You know how frustrating that is?"
" We've seen the whole thing," Donald replied. "That's is? That's all there's to it?"
" Der...Meg said this place was in trouble," Goofy offered. "Maybe this is the trouble. Maybe we have to rescue this here Buzz's friend."
" But what does Woody have to do with anything?" Sora demanded. "A sheriff, of all things-what's a sheriff?"
" What's a sheriff?" Buzz turned on him. "What does that mean?"
" Don't mind him," Donald answered brusquely. "He doesn't know what a barn or toy is. He's led a very sheltered life."
The last sentence he whispered but Sora heard every word. "Hey! I heard that!"
" You poor child," Buzz tsked. " Where are you from?"
" Destiny Island and I aim to go back there, thank you very much," Sora growled back. "Now, all we need to do is find this Woody, right? Find him and try and figure out why we're here in the first place."
" The only thing that gets to me is...well," Goofy looked around them nervously. "Er...well, this is probably a good thing but I don't see any Heartless or Nobodies anywhere."
Heavy silence fell upon this mismatched group.
" Good point, Goofy," Sora agreed with a nod. "Where are they?"
" Who are they?" Buzz asked.
" The Heartless and the Nobodies are real nasty enemies of ours," Donald answered. "We're out to find them, fight them, and do whatever we can to stop them."
" Which includes finding a Keyhole or performing an act of sacrifice," Sora finished off. "Now, where do we begin?"
" We find Al," Buzz replied striding boldly past them and to the right. "We find Al, we find Woody. Simple as that. And I'm going to show that Buzz Lightyear a thing or two."
" Uh...right," Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other and ran after him.
They searched through every aisle they passed but so far there was nothing, nothing other than them.
" Yes! Yes!" a voice boomed not far from where they were. "You got a deal! I'll be on the next flight to Japan!"
" That's Al!" Buzz shouted and ran for the voice.
" I've just got one question," Sora mentioned as they ran after the Space Ranger. "Why are we small and everything else big?"
" This way!" Buzz yelled as he turned into an aisle far ahead of them. "Huh? What the-yaaahhhh!"
" Buzz!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran to the aisle he ran down-and was confronted by a beautiful horde of Heartless.
" Buzz, my friend," Sora said calmly as he picked his way through a jungle of rubber balls, the Kingdom Key materializing in his hand in a golden light, "those are Heartless. Fight them, or die by them. It's that simple."
" This is getting way outta hand!" Buzz stammered. "We have to follow Al!"
" What choice do we have?" Sora yelled at him. "I'm sorry we totally screwed up your rescue mission but we're on one ourselves! And that includes saving your world! Now help us fight with whatever you've got or we're never going to be able to track down Al and we'll never see your friend Woody ever again!"