Secrets of Memories Chapter 34: A Friend in Need
" Aah!" Rex screamed as he tumbled out of the black bag. "He didn't take the bag!"
" No time to lose!" Ultimate Buzz said as they all climbed out of the black bag after Rex. "He's ascending the vertical transporter."
They watched Al go up the elevator.
" All right, everyone," Ultimate Buzz looked up at the open sunroof. "Hang on. We're gonna blast through the roof."
He grabbed at each toy and looked up, opening his plastic wings.
" Uh, Buzz?" Rex asked hesitantly.
" To infinity," Ultimate Buzz said, " and beyond!"
" What are you, insane?" Mr. Potato Head yelled at him and yanked away. "We're wasting time. Stand still, Godzilla."
He climbed up Rex and attempted to undo the lock on the car door.
" I don't understand. Somehow, my fuel cells have gone dry," Ultimate Buzz mused and backed into the door handle just as Mr. Potato Head undid the lock on the car door.
They were all leaning against the car door when it swung open and they tumbled to the asphalt and concrete ground. They looked up just in time to see the elevator had reached level twenty-three.
" Blast," Ultimate Buzz swore. " He's on level twenty three."
" How are we gonna get up there?" Slinky asked, looking up at the red building that loomed before them.
" Maybe if we find some balloons, we could fly to the top," Rex suggested eagerly.
" Are you kidding?" Mr. Potato Head looked at Rex skeptically. "I say we stake ourselves up, push the intercom, and pretend we're delivering a pizza."
" How about a ham sandwich?" Hamm proposed. "With fries and a hot dog?"
He looked pointedly at Slinky and Mr. Potato Head.
" What about me?" Rex whined.
" You could be the toy that comes with the meal," Hamm struggled to find a place to put Rex.
Ultimate Buzz, who was scouring the area in front of the apartment complex, spotted an air duct and yanked off the grate. "Troops! Over here! Just like you said, lizard man, 'in the shadows to the left'. Okay, let's move!"
They climbed in one after another and followed Ultimate Buzz deep into the apartment complex.
" Mission log," Ultimate Buzz hissed into his left arm. "Have infiltrated enemy territory without detection and are making our way through the bowels of Zurg's fortress."
" You know," Hamm hissed to the others, "I think that Buzz aisle went to his head."
They then ran into a major problem. The air duct branched off three different ways.
" Oh no," Slinky moaned. "Which way do we go?"
" This way!" Ultimate Buzz announced and marched off to the left.
" What makes you so sure?" Mr. Potato Head demanded suspiciously, skeptical of the Space Ranger's arrogant assurance.
" I'm Buzz Lightyear, I'm always sure!" Ultimate Buzz argued his case, then froze as the air duct rumbled and shook. "We've been detected. The walls! They're closing in! Quick! Help me prop up vegetable man or we're done for."
He grabbed Mr. Potato Head and shoved him up at the corner of the wall and the ceiling of the air duct.
" Hey!" Mr. Potato Head yelled, outraged. "Put me down, you moron!"
" Ah! We're being followed!" Rex shrieked as he looked at what was behind them.
" Where? Where?" Ultimate Buzz went down on one knee and pointed out his laser.
" I saw shadows! Moving shadows!" Rex wailed. "And with glowing yellow eyes!"
" I don't see anything," Slinky spoke, looking behind them.
" But I-I saw something!" Rex said in defense.
" Hey, wait a minute," Hamm said. " That shaking, it's the elevator!"
" Come on," Ultimate Buzz said, dropping Mr. Potato Head. "We've got no time to lose."
He ran down the air duct until they came to emptiness. A huge open space and an elevator down there somewhere.
" Everyone, grab hold," Ultimate Buzz ordered and handed them a long string attached to his back.
" What?" Hamm demanded in confusion.
" Huh?" Slinky stared at the string, then looked up to see that Ultimate Buzz had put sticking pads on his hands and started climbing up the side of the huge tunnel.
" Uh, Buzz," Hamm said rather nervously, "why not just take the elevator?"
" They'll be expecting that," Ultimate Buzz replied and continued to climb up.
" Hey, Buzz!" Rex yelled, looking nervously behind him. "Stop! Slow down!"
Everyone was strung out on the string hanging from Ultimate Buzz's back as he continued to climb up.
From far down below, a Red Nocturne took note and then vanished into another air duct just as Buzz, Sora, Donald, and Goofy struggled up the side of the elevator onto the top. And far behind them was a Zurg. They had the bad luck of being sighted by this toy and were not aware of the fact that they were being followed.
" Hey! I can see Brother there!" Rikku waved out of the gummi ship window as Aozora steered the cactuar gummi ship down closer to the peaceful island that Yuna called Besaid Island. "And there's Buddy! And Shinra! Hey guys!"
She waved madly at the window until Paine said, "They can't see you, Rikku."
" Oh, right, heheheh...sorry," Rikku replied in embarrassment.
" Crew of the Gullwings, eh?" Aozora found it was hard to keep a straight face and accept the fact that three very tough women joined some group named after a bird's wing. He wondered whether or not it had to do with an ominous statement made about feathers falling from the sky when the darkest crime was committed.
" Will you be staying with us?" Yuna asked curiously as Aozora brought the gummi ship to a halt in the shallows of the blue ocean and the island town. "For a little while, at least."
Aozora shook his head, his heart staunchly set on chasing after the person he was supposed to protect. "No, I must find Sora. I promised those I do not want to betray; I must find him."
" Not even for a few hours?" Rikku whined. "Or maybe until we leave Besaid Island."
" Well, maybe...I guess," Aozora gave way bit by bit. "But not for long. Maybe I'll just stay for a few hours to find out the status of Spira-"
" All business and no fun," Paine shook her head. "Some life."
" Hey!" Aozora turned on her.
" If you call it a life," Yuna said quietly as she pressed a button on the side and the gummi ship door opened. "Do you?"
Clearly she struck a nerve. Aozora cast her a cold, frozen stare and stomped past her out of the hatch. He jumped down into the cool shallow water and strode ashore, ignoring the odd trio of men who stood not too far away.
" What's with him?" Brother asked the others in his strange accent.
" Don't' know," Buddy shrugged. " Whoever he is."
" I think I do," Shinra commented. " After all, I know everything."
" Sure you do," Paine answered as she jumped out of the green gummi ship.
" Hey guys!" Rikku yelled and waved before following Paine.
" Hey Rikku!" they shouted back.
" Hey!" Yuna jumped off. "Nothing much happen?"
" Did ya miss me?" Rikku hollered.
" Maybe," Buddy said while Shinra added, "Looks like you've been through something serious."
" Serious my ass," Aozora snapped from a distance away. "I don't even know why I'm down here when I'm supposed to be going after-"
" You're supposed to be guarding a Keyblade Master, am I right?" Shinra interrupted.
" And how do you know?" Aozora turned on him, keeping his temper in check quite well.
" I know everything," Shinra answered. "If you keep your anger in check any longer, you can explode Spira and still be mad enough to terrorize another world as well, am I right?"
Aozora glared at him, then said, "You know what, I'm going back. I gotta find Sora."
" Good," Shinra nodded. "He will need you, Guardian. Find him, or find war."
" What about that king you mutter in your sleep sometimes?" Brother asked of Shinra. "Kings and keys, I here all the time."
" Oh King Mickey," Shinra noted. " Right. Nobody worry about him. He's quite fine. He's just worried about whether or not everything will turn out right. Right now he's trying to figure out where the door of light is and the history behind the Kingdom Keys."
" How do you know all that, may I ask?" Aozora asked, his bronze eyes afire.
" He told me," Shinra said calmly. " Face to face."
Aozora gaped at him.
" Uh...Shinra?" Yuna decided it was the best time to digress to something else. "What do you have on Vegnagun?"
" Still can't find it," Shinra replied.
" We may need to find more spheres," Brother grumbled.
" And where Baralai, Nooj, and Gippal went," Buddy added. "Still a mystery as far as I know."
" Aren't we busy?" Rikku commented.
" So is he," Paine noted Aozora climbing back into the gummi ship. "Take-off in style."
" Is that a cactuar?" Shinra asked incredulously and rather loudly.
" Maybe!" Aozora shouted back indignantly and slammed the gummi ship door closed.
" There goes another nerve," Rikku winced.
"How 'bout giving me a little intro there, Jessie?" Woody suggested as he shut himself up in a cardboard box standing on its side.
" Introducing," Jessie, the red-haired cowgirl, trumpeted, "the high-riding-est cowboy around-"
" You forgot rootin'-tootin'-est!" Woody hissed, poking his head out from between the folds of the cardboard top.
" The high-ridin'-est, rootin'-tootin'-est cowboy here of all time, Sheriff Woody!"
Woody strode out with an arrogant look on his face towards Jessie and Bullseye, the horse. "Say, little missy, you notice any trouble around these parts?"
He stood on his legs in a suave manner.
" Nary a bit, not with Sheriff Woody around," Jessie answered.
" Wait!" Woody froze, the silliness gone and replaced by excited eagerness. "Wait-wait-wait-wait! I got it! I got it! This is great! Okay! The bandits got the critters tied up in the burning barn and now for the best part!"
He dove into the cardboard box, saying, "Help us! The barn's on fire! I've got ya, critters. No need to worry. Woody saves the day again!"
He charged out triumphantly, throwing Styrofoam pieces up in the air.
" Yee-hah!" Jessie whooped.
" Now where's my trusty steed Bullseye? I have to ride off into the sunset-oh!"
Bullseye rushed up for Woody to clamber onto his back. "Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"
Bullseye reared maybe a bit too high. Woody yelled, "W-w-watch it!"
He and the saddle toppled off and Bullseye froze, before crossing his forearms before his 'private' and walked away.
Jessie went to pull the saddle off Woody. The saddle tickled him and he yelped, "Wait, I'm ticklish, okay?"
He realized that was the wrong thing to say. Jessie gave him an evil eye. "Oh, you are?"
" No, no, no," Woody didn't get a chance to back away as Jessie and Bullseye jumped him. "Cut it out. Stop it. Stop it. No please. No, no. Stop! Stop!"
Meanwhile Ultimate Buzz, Rex, Hamm, Slinky, and Mr. Potato Head were still wandering the air ducts on level twenty three. Ultimate Buzz whispered into his left forearm, "Mission log. Have reached Zurg's command deck, but no sign of him or his wooden captive."
Then they heard Woody's voice echo down the air duct. "Please, no!"
Slinky perked up at this. "That's Woody!"
" This way!" Ultimate Buzz gestured them down an air duct, running after Woody's voice.
" Please, please no!" they continued to hear him shout.
They reached the end of the air duct where his voice came out strongest and they tried to see Woody through the metal grate. They could not see much over a cardboard box obscuring their view though.
" Buzz, can you see?" Mr. Potato Head asked worriedly. "What's going on?"
" Take that!" they heard a feminine voice shout.
Ultimate Buzz mused for a moment, then took one of Mr. Potato Head's eyes and held it out of the grate to see.
" To the left," Mr. Potato Head was saying. "No, your left. Take it up higher."
" Uh...guys," Rex was saying as he stared at the air duct behind them. "I'm telling you, something's following us."
" Not now, Rex," Mr. Potato Head brushed the green dinosaur's remarks aside. "Oh, it-it's horrible. They-they're torturing him!"
" What do we do?" Hamm asked them.
" Use your head!" Ultimate Buzz said and they all looked at Rex, who was looking at behind them.
" Hey, wait a minute," Slinky said, following Rex's gaze. "Something is back there!"
There was a hiss of something frigid flying past them and a part of the air duct grate froze over. They all stared at the ice-covered section of the grate and all managed to suppress a scream.
" Right, let's use your head!" Ultimate Buzz exclaimed.
" But I don't wanna use my head!" Rex wailed as they grabbed a hold of him and charged him at the grate.
A small fireball flew past them and melted the frozen part of the grate as they rammed Rex into the grate and flew out into the room.
" What's going on here?" Prospector yelled, whirling around on the jumble of toys.
" Buzz, guys!" Woody exclaimed in surprise from his position on the ground. "Hey, how did you find me?"
" Watch yourself!" Ultimate Buzz ordered the others as they charged at Prospector, Jessie, and Bullseye.
" We're here to spring ya, Woody!" Slinky explained.
" You heard of kung fu?" Hamm shrieked at Prospector as he jumped on the cardboard box and glared him in the eye through the thin plastic. "Well, get ready for pork chop."
" Prepare to meet Mr. Angry Eyes!" Mr. Potato Head threatened Jessie and pulled off his eyes. He searched through the hatch behind him and yanked out his other pair of shoes and stuck them where his eyes were supposed to be. He then charged at Jessie but obviously he couldn't see; he ran into the wall next to Jessie, who was giving him a look one gives to a lunatic.
" Hold it, now!" Woody hollered as he jumped into the mess. "Hey, you don't understand! These are my friends!"
" Yeah, we're his friends!" Rex agreed, misunderstanding Woody.
" No, Rex," Woody corrected. "I mean they're my friends."
" Hey, stop it!" Jessie ordered Slinky, who was having a stare-down with Bullseye. "Leave him alone, springy dog! Hey!"
Slinky quickly wrapped himself around both Jessie and Bullseye, leaving them all tied up.
" Grab Woody and let's go!" Slinky ordered from his impossible position.
Agreeing, the others picked him up and marched him to the grate, though Woody protested, "Fellas, hold it! Buzz, put me down!"
" Quick!" Rex said. "To the vent!"
" They're stealing him!" Jessie yelled.
" No!" Prospector moaned. "They must be stopped, you hear me? Stop them, stop them!"
Suddenly Buzz went flying out of the vent and held his hand up. "Hold it right there!"
" Buzz?" the others demanded incredulously.
" You again?" Ultimate Buzz moaned and bristled at the same time.
" Woody!" Buzz saw Woody. "Thank goodness you're all right."
" Buzz, what is going on?" Woody demanded as he forced himself down onto the solid ground.
" Hold on," Ultimate Buzz stepped forward to Buzz's side. "I am Buzz Lightyear, and I'm in charge of this detachment."
" No, I'm Buzz Lightyear," Buzz countered.
" I'm Buzz Lightyear," Ultimate Buzz stated angrily.
" I'm Buzz Lightyear!" Buzz hollered in his face.
" So, who's the real Buzz?" Woody asked in confusion as the two Space Rangers faced off each other.
" I am!" they both shouted back.
" Don't let this imposter fool you!" Ultimate Buzz pleaded his case. "He's been trained by Zurg himself to mimic my every move."
" Fat chance," a foreign voice said behind them in the vent. "Just show them, Buzz, and let's get out of here; we can't hold on much longer!"
" Who?" they all turned to Buzz, who calmly pressed a button on Ultimate Buzz. His helmet went down.
Ultimate Buzz began to wheeze and gasp, going down on his knees and in the act of choking. Everyone gave him a real skeptical eye.
" Buzz!" they shouted happily, now knowing who the real Buzz Lightyear was.
" I had a feeling it was you, Buzz," Slinky admitted while undoing himself. "My front end just had to catch up with my back end."
" Will somebody please explain what's going on?" Ultimate Buzz demanded, his helmet now back in place.
" It's all right space ranger," Buzz whispered while others began to grow aware of explosions deep in the vent. "It's a code 546."
" You mean it's a-"
" Yes."
" And he's a-"
" Oh, yeah."
" Your Majesty," Ultimate Buzz went down on one knee and kissed Woody on the hand.
" Woody, you're in danger here," Buzz looked at Woody sternly. "We need to leave now."
" Al's selling you to a toy museum in Japan!" Rex added, eyeing the bent nervously in the process.
" I know, it's okay, Buzz," Woody said calmly, holding his hands up. "I actually wanna go."
" What?" Rex demanded.
" Are you crazy?!" Hamm shouted.
" Look, the thing is, I'm a rare Sheriff Woody doll, and these guys are my Roundup gang," Woody explained patiently, gesturing to the others.
" Woody, what are you talking about?" Buzz demanded while three figures emerged from the shadows of the vent.
" What am I talking about?" Woody turned on him. "Woody's Roundup! Oh, its this great old TV show and I was the star-"
" What's a TV?" a foreign, rather regal voice asked curiously.
" What's a TV?" everyone turned to the voice behind them.
They found themselves staring at an actual human boy who was no bigger than them, with radiating sky-blue eyes, a tanned complexion, and sunburnt brown hair. He was dressed in black and blue and he was holding a deadly looking key in his hand. He was with a white duck in blue with some strange-looking staff and a dog-like creature in mechanic's clothing and a shield.
" Oh, right, right," Buzz said apologetically. "That's Sora and his friends Donald and Goofy. Is the vent clear?"
The boy, Sora, nodded. "Woody, we've got to get you out of here."
" Wait, wait, wait," Woody said. " Hold on a second. You're a human being, a kid. What are you doing here? And why are you so small?"
" And why is he seeing us as we are?" Slinky demanded.
" Long story," Buzz explained calmly. "Now Woody, stop this nonsense about you being all famous and all, and let's go. Now."
" Nah, Buzz," Woody protested, to the surprise of his friends. "I can't go. I can't abandon these guys. They need me to get into this museum. Without me, they'll go back into storage-maybe forever!"
" Woody, you're not a collector's item," Buzz said, his patience growing thin. "You are a child's plaything. You are a toy!"
" So that's what a toy is," Sora said, enlightened. "A plaything, like Wakka's blitzball and Selphie's nunchaku. I get it now."
" For how much longer?" Woody demanded. "One more rip, and Andy's done with me. And what do I do then, Buzz? Huh? You tell me."
This conversation was starting to open up something in Sora, something more than enlightening. He was starting to realize what was really going on. Woody was somehow this child's toy and he somehow got into this apartment, Al's apartment. He was a rare toy and could be sent to a museum forever. For what? What makes him want to go to a museum so bad?
" I don't understand?" Sora said. " Why do you want to go to a museum so badly?"
Everyone froze at this innocent question.
" You-you last forever," Woody finally explained. "Children will flock to see you and you will last forever. Safe behind glass, to be adored by all children. Forever."
" Behind glass?" Sora questioned. " But why would you want to stay behind glass? Why not with a child who truly loves you? Not all children will love you the way only one will do. And besides, nobody lasts forever."
" That's not true!" Jessie shot back, but her conviction in Prospector's words of eternity in a museum was starting to erode. "A child who truly loves you will later abandon you, leave you by the road, and love you no more. And we don't last forever unless we're behind glass."
" There can be no love," Sora said sadly. "You don't understand the meaning of it all, do you? You are here, or were here, because someone needed you. A friend needed you. Go into this museum of yours, locked behind glass-who's going to love you? Who's going to hold you, embrace you, and be with you all the time? Nobody lasts forever...and I've learned that I might as well make the best of it. Behind glass, I'll never survive. And I don't think you will, too."
There was an even heavier silence.
" Somewhere in that pad of stuffing," Buzz said heavily, looking Woody in the eye, "is a toy who taught me that life's only worth living if you're being loved by a kid. And I traveled all this way to rescue that toy because I believed him."
" Well, you wasted your time," Woody said and turned his back on them, though he seemed clearly shaken by Sora's innocent questioning.
" I don't know what happened to you or how you were brainwashed this way," Sora said, "but you have to come back with your friends, to this Andy of yours. This world seems to lie in your hands, Woody. And if you choose to bring down your world, destroy everything you've known and loved in the process, like Andy, then be my guest. It seems we've wasted our time here, guys. Clearly if someone as important as Woody believes and behaves this way, this world doesn't deserve to exist.
" What?" everybody else demanded of Sora.
" We're going," Sora said. "We're gonna clear the way in the vent for you guys but after that, you guys are all on your own. The Heartless and Nobodies can take care of this world, that's for sure."
They headed back for the vent, presently followed by Buzz, Ultimate Buzz, Slinky, Rex, Hamm, and Mr. Potato Head.
" You're abandoning this world?" Buzz asked. "Why?"
" This Woody...he may be special after all," Sora replied. "Either he knows where this world's Keyhole is or he is the Keyhole. And a Keyhole whose faith is like his won't save your world."
" You seem to know something more about this whole problem of ours," Slinky stated. "What do you know?"
Sora was silent, if only for a little while. "I had a friend who...well, we were like rivals. Always fought over the smallest thing but we always laughed in the process. We were best friends, until this girl came to our home, Kairi. Then we began to compete, trying to be the best in her eyes. But we still laughed. We were still friends. But as we got older, he drifted away. He began to grow more distant. It didn't seem like it to other people but I was able to feel it. He was losing faith. What that was, I wasn't sure. But then I learned. He was losing faith in peace and happiness on Destiny Island. It bored him, bored him into trying to sail out into the sea, in search of something more. Kairi and I, we helped him do that. We helped him built a raft, gather supplies, and even name the raft. We volunteered to join him and we began to laugh again, like in the old days. It was an adventure we couldn't afford to miss."
" Then what?" Rex asked when Sora fell silent.
It seemed to be painful for Sora to continue. "Darkness fell on Destiny Island. Our home was being destroyed. I searched for Riku, my friend, and Kairi, but Riku joined the devouring darkness and Kairi vanished before my eyes. And I was forced to face this darkness alone. And then...and then I learned what had happened. The darkness in Riku's heart, simmering there from the moment he began to drift away, had gotten hold of him. I couldn't reach him, like how you couldn't reach Woody. Riku, he had given himself up to darkness. And it was only later he himself tried to fight this darkness. By then, though, it was too late. Riku was destroyed by the darkness. The last time I saw him was one year ago. He knew what he had done; I could see it in his eyes. He was devastated beyond imagine. But he accepted his mistakes...and helped me lock him into darkness. I've been searching for him ever since."
" What a horrible story," Hamm commented.
" I'm scared," Rex shivered.
" So you knew something of this, didn't you," Buzz was beginning to understand. "You were able to strike a nerve in Woody; you knew what was going on."
" He is another lost cause," Sora said. "Lost forever, until he discovers his own mistake. And whether or not it will be too late will be for him to decide."
" Oh..." Buzz sighed.
" Why are there no Heartless?" Goofy whispered to Donald.
" Uh..." Donald was clearly puzzled by this. "Sora, why are there no Heartless?"
" Good point," Sora pulled out his Keyblade. "Stay on guard anyways. You may never know where they'll show up-"
" Buzz!" Woody's voice hollered down the vent.
" Yes?" Buzz and Ultimate Buzz whirled around.
" I'm coming with you! Wait – wait – wait – wait. I'll be back in just a second."
" Way to go, cowboy!" Buzz crowed and everyone cheered. Sora cracked a smile.
" So he did discover his own mistake!" Mr. Potato Head shouted.
" We're saved!" Hamm and Rex chanted. "We're saved! We're saved! We're saved!"
" Kid, what did I tell you?" Buzz said happily. "He'll turn around; he was the one who told me-"
" Buzz," Woody's voice ran through the vent, laced with intense fear. "Help, Buzz! Guys!"
They ran back to the vent except for Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They saw something suspicious.
" Looks like Heartless," Donald noted and they ran.