Secrets of Memories Chapter 35: How to Help a Rescue Mission
" It's too late, Woody," Prospector's cold voice sliced through the air. " That silly Buzz Lightweight or bastard of a Keyblade Master can't help you."
" His name is Buzz Lightyear!" Woody shouted back indignantly. " Who the hell are you talking about?"
" Whatever," Prospector snapped back. " Always hated those upstart space toys. And that fool of a kid should never have come here; I thought they'd already seen to that!"
The others didn't know much of what Prospector was talking about but they definitely understood one thing: Woody really was in trouble. Somehow the grate covering the gate was screwed in again and they could tell it was screwed in real tight.
" It's stuck!" Woody wailed in horror as he tried to pry out the grate. " What do we do?"
" Should I use my head?" Rex suggested tentatively.
" No time for that!" a voice shouted from down below in the vent. " Someone's coming!"
" It's Al!" Woody shrieked and ran to the stacks of boxes. Prospector hopped into his box and Jessie and Bullseye ran to their respective boxes. Woody fell limp just as Al charged in, shouting in his phone and shuffling boxes.
" Look at the time," Al looked at his watch as he shut off the phone. " I'm gonna be late! Oh, figures. I can't miss this flight! I gotta pack."
In front of the toy gang's horrified eyes, Al packed up Woody and the others, putting them in a green suitcase, and clicking it shut. " All right. Let's see. Uh, wallet, keys, tickets, uh, passport, beef jerky – very expensive over there."
" Shower!" Al sniffed himself. " Oh, I can skip the shower. I just gotta get outta here now!"
He stood up with the green suitcase and stormed out of the room. Buzz already knew where Al was headed.
" Quick!" Buzz ordered the others. " To the elevator! Hurry, I can hear it coming!"
True to his word, the vent was shaking and they ran down the vent as fast as they could.
" Uh…Buzz?" Sora's questioning voice drifted over to them. " Tell me you know who this lunatic is?"
As they happened upon Sora, Donald, and Goofy, they also happened upon…
" So, we meet again, Buzz Lightyear," Zurg blocked their way to the elevator, his machine gun pointing at them. " For the last time."
" Aah!" Rex screamed.
" Oh no, another lunatic," Mr. Potato Head moaned.
" It's Zurg!" Rex and Ultimate Buzz shrieked.
" A toy, I presume?" Sora asked with a sarcastic manner.
" No joke, no joke!" Rex was shouting. " He's got an ion blaster!"
" A what?" Hamm turned on the green dinosaur.
" Duck!" Donald shrieked and everyone dropped on their faces while Zurg fired what seemed to be yellow rubber balls at them. Then Sora jumped up at swung the Keyblade at the next rubber ball that came their way. The ball struck back at Zurg, hitting his visor and obscuring his vision. He fell backwards onto the elevator.
" Yep, I was right after all," Mr. Potato Head muttered. " A raving lunatic!"
" Quick! Get on!" Buzz ordered and everyone jumped on. " The emergency hatch! Come on! Come on! Hurry-"
He was opening the hatch on top of the elevator in the process and quickly let go as a blast of fire exploded inches from his fingertips.
" Heartless!" Sora shouted a warning. " Look out!!"
Red Nocturnes, Yellow Operas, Blue Rhapsodies, Green Requiems, Gargoyles, Air Pirates, and, to Sora's horror, Wyverns swooped down on them from above.
Ultimate Buzz and Zurg were the only ones who did not heed Sora's warning call. Ultimate Buzz was busy being bashed into pieces by Zurg. He was being slammed against the elevator, a button being pushed constantly so his voice box kept saying, " Buzz – Buzz – Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!"
They only separated when Sora threw a Blizzaga between them to extinguish a Red Nocturne.
" Surrender Buzz Lightyear," Zurg still said, pointing his cannon at Ultimate Buzz. " I have won."
" I'll never give in," Ultimate Buzz said staunchly. " You killed my father!"
While Sora, Donald, and Goofy went around chasing Heartless, Zurg revealed the truth, "No, Buzz. I am your father."
Ultimate Buzz took seconds to soak in the news. With that, he sank down on his knees and screamed to the heavens above – in this case the ceiling of the elevator chute – " Nooooooo!"
" Come on! Come on! Come on!" Al was muttering angrily, pushing at a button continuously.
Buzz peered in on the man from his position on top of the elevator.
" Buzz," Rex was trying to reach Ultimate Buzz, " you could have defeated Zurg all along! You just needed to believe in yourself!"
" Prepare to die!" Zurg announced, pointing his cannon right on Ultimate Buzz.
" I can't look!" Rex wailed, turning around. His long tail barely missed Sora and walloped Zurg.
" Wh – wh- whoa!" Zurg shrieked and he fell over the edge and down the elevator chute.
" I did it," Rex realized what he had done. " I finally defeated Zurg!"
" Father," Ultimate Buzz whimpered, his arm outreached over the edge of the elevator in a futile attempt to stop his fall.
Meanwhile, Buzz and the others had a hold on Slinky, who was carefully swinging his way towards the green suitcase Woody was trapped in. He kept missing but swung himself closer and closer until he finally undid the clips on the suitcase.
" Ah, finally!" Al breathed a brief sigh of relief as the elevator froze and the doors opened.
Woody opened the suitcase and grabbed onto Slinky's paws as Al began to drag the suitcase and the boxes underneath it out of the elevator. But Prospector popped up and pulled him back in. He then shut the suitcase as Al walked out.
" No!" they shouted as they tumbled into the elevator. Sora, Donald, and Goofy, sensing that the scenario was changing, jumped in with them. They all got up and ran out of the elevator, running as fast as they could as Al passed between glass doors and got into his blue car.
Before Sora could cast Stopga, Mr. Potato Head had his plastic black hat in his hand and threw it like a Frisbee. It clogged itself between the two doors and everyone got through. Mr. Potato Head made sure the door didn't' take his arm as he snatched the black hat out.
" How are we going to get him now?" Rex asked hopelessly as they saw the car moving out of the parking lot.
" Pizza, anyone?" Mr. Potato Head and Hamm suggested, giving an eye to a pizza truck.
" Go, go, go!" Buzz ordered the others go to the car. He chose to ignore Sora's comment, " What's a pizza, exactly?"
" I got it!" Ultimate Buzz ran past to catch a yellow rubber ball.
" Buzz, are you coming?" Buzz asked.
" No, I have a lot of catching up to do with my dad," Ultimate Buzz replied and threw the yellow rubber ball past Buzz to Zurg not too far away.
The ball hit Zurg on the head but his reply was, " Good throw, son. That's my boy. Go long, Buzzy!"
" Oh, you're a great dad," Ultimate Buzz exclaimed with the excitement of a toddler. " Yippee!"
" Farewell," Buzz said with a smile, then ran to the car.
" Does anyone know how to drive?" Rex asked tentatively as he eyed the controls.
" Can't be too hard," Sora commented.
" Slink, take the pedals," Buzz ordered. " Rex, Donald, Goofy, you navigate. Hamm and Potato operate the levers and knobs."
" Whoa!" Slinky commented as he dropped down to check the pedals.
As Rex, Donald, and Goofy climbed up on the board, they spotted Squeeze Toy Aliens (and we all know how they look like) hanging from a string on the mirror.
" Oooooooh."
" Strangers."
" From the outside."
" Oh no," Buzz moaned. Sora took it that Buzz had a bad experience that involved the mysterious green creatures.
" He's at a red light!" Rex shrieked.
" We can catch him!" Donald added.
" Yup, huyuk!" Goofy stated.
" Maximum power, Slink!" Buzz shouted and Slink slammed on the right pedal.
" Waaa! It turned green!" Rex alerted.
" Does that mean 'go'?" Sora asked curiously, then grabbed the wheel as the car lurched forward.
" Hurry!" Donald squalled.
" Why won't it go?" Buzz was clearly perplexed.
" Use the wand of power," the Squeeze Toy Aliens suggested, pointing at the stick in the middle of the two seats in the truck.
" Oh! Ow! Ooh!" Hamm moaned as he and Mr. Potato Head both jumped at the stick and pulled it from Park to, well, backwards. Then they pulled it more to, well, forward.
" Rex, which way?" Buzz demanded as he carefully – or tried to be careful – maneuvered the wheel and the truck.
" Left!" Rex hollered and Buzz turned the wheel left. " No, no! I mean right! That's right! No I mean left!"
" Left is right," Goofy offered a helpful hint.
" Buzz, he's turning left! He's turning left!" Rex screamed.
" Oh, oh, boy! Whoa – oa – oa – oa!" the three Squeeze Toy Aliens wailed as the string they were tied to detached itself from the mirror and they sailed out the window. Mr. Potato Head, being there when they flew out, snatched the string and pulled them inside.
" Oh I seriously doubt he's getting this kind of mileage," Hamm commented as he read from the Driver's Manual.
" What's mileage?" Sora asked curiously, then grabbed onto the wheel as Rex yelled, " Go right! To the right! Right – right – right – right!"
" Whoa!" the Squeeze Toy Aliens yelped as they landed on Mr. Potato Head. " You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful."
Sora couldn't help but snigger as he watched the green creatures hail Mr. Potato Head.
" Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," the plastic spud had a look of annoyance on his face.
" The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading," an electronic voice thundered. " No parking."
" The airport, woo hoo!" Goofy cheered as they screeched to a stop in front of gray buildings.
" Guys, we can't park here!" Rex wailed. " It's a white zone!"
" No time for that," Buzz commented as Donald pulled on the stick all the way up.
" You have saved our lives," the Squeeze Toy Aliens huddled around a truly irritated Mr. Potato Head. " We are eternally grateful."
" Final boarding call for Far East Airlines-" the same mysterious voice announced.
" Where's the voice coming from?" Sora wondered while they jumped out of the pizza truck.
" There he is!" Buzz shouted, pointing to a person who definitely looked like Al.
" – flight 451 to Tokyo, all confirmed," the PA system continued. " Passengers must board at this time. Passenger Twitch, passenger Leon Twitch, please pick up-"
" You have saved our lives!" the Squeeze Toy Aliens continued to shout. " We are eternally grateful!"
" Will you just leave me alone?" Mr. Potato Head shouted at them.
" Oh! Someone's coming!" Rex and Goofy exclaimed at the same time.
They spotted a pet carrier and huddled inside. Sora pulled the gate shut and Buzz, using the holes on the bottom of the cage, moved them across the area and dropped when a girl approached.
" Ooh, a puppy!" the girl leaned forward, intent on seeing who was there.
Everyone looked at Slinky.
" Uh, bark-bark-bark-bark, bark-bark-bark-bark," Slinky said. The girl screamed in fear and ran off.
" Listen, flyboy, the contents of that case are worth more than you make in a year! You got that, sport? You be careful," Al ordered the clerk as he picked up Al's green suitcase.
" I understand sir," the clerk answered, clearly used to this treatment.
Buzz took them close to the conveyor belt the clerk was putting the green suitcase on.
" Do you have a fragile sticker or something?" Al demanded, clearly worried.
" Don't worry sir," the clerk tried to pacify the portly man. He still did not put down the suitcase.
" Because I know what goes on back there," Al said sternly while the clerk put the suitcase on the belt. " I had a box of cookies once that came back as crumbs!"
" Quickly!" Sora hissed and the dog carrier jumped onto the conveyor belt not far from the green suitcase.
" The Mystical Portal!" one of the Squeeze Toy Aliens announced, pointing to where the conveyor belt was taking the luggage.
" Oooooooh!" the three toys said. Donald gave Mr. Potato Head a queer look.
" Once we go through, we just need to find that case," Buzz ordered the others as they passed through the 'Mystical Portal' and slid down a steep ramp. The dog carrier banged against the side of a conveyor belt and the door swung open, causing everyone to tumble out onto the belt.
" Ow!" Slinky moaned while the others picked themselves up. " There's the case!"
He spotted a green suitcase but Hamm begged to differ. " No, there's the case!"
He pointed to a case on another belt.
" You take that one!" Buzz ordered Mr. Potato Head, Hamm, Rex, Donald, Goofy, and the three Squeeze Toy Aliens. " We'll take this one!"
" Don't kill yourself, Sora!" Donald issued a warning as the group split into different directions.
" Like I'm going to," Sora growled under his breath as he quickly followed Buzz and Slinky around and over suitcases.
- -
Aozora silently watched as Ancient Greece loomed up before his eyes. He didn't know what to expect, seeing the world whole and hale.
What am I supposed to feel? Aozora wondered. Happy? Upset? Regretful? What? I helped destroy this world and now I see it thriving. What am I supposed to do? And somebody's bound to recognize me if I go down there.
He remembered the short, portly satyr who chased him out of the stable he lit. The look on the satyr's face spoke more than enough.
He won't forget who I am, that's for sure.
And then there's the huge man with the satyr, the one he saw briefly, surrounded by flames, before he left to follow the others of the Society out of Ancient Greece.
I don't' think he'll forget me, either.
Aozora took the chance anyways as he brought his gummi ship down closer, revealing booming marketplaces and cities. The place was thriving, that's for sure.
How am I supposed to find Sora there? Aozora wondered as he spotted the gummi garage and steered his gummi ship in that direction, to dock and enter the world he had destroyed.
People were giving his gummi ship plenty of stares as he docked and got off the cactuar. He gave them a sharp look and they dispersed quickly. He didn't mean to overdo it but, I guess my eyes still freak people out. Or is it I still walk around with a scowl on my face?
He strode out of the huge building, which vaguely resembled a temple, and onto the sunny streets of a world that seemed unaffected by Sora's presence. That alone made Aozora suspicious. What he knew so far was that wherever Sora was, chaos seemed to reign.
" Why is everything so normal?" Aozora wondered as he wandered through the streets, ignoring the queer looks other people were giving him. He was used to the looks; if his bronze eyes didn't bother them, his outlandish clothing certainly did.
" Um, sir, um, have you ever happened upon a teenager with black clothes?" Aozora asked a passerby. " You know, kind of like me?"
The young man he stopped, with dark, curly hair and clever blue eyes, looked at him with surprise. " A teenager with black clothes?"
" He's with a white duck and a dog-like creature," Aozora added quickly.
" Oh, hm…let me think," the young man said. " Oh, I think I know who you are!"
" Me?" Aozora was perplexed. He was asking about the Keyblade Master, not himself!
The young man nodded. " Meg was very concerned about why he wasn't with the Guardian. I take it you are he, the Guardian?"
" Meg?" Aozora echoed. Why did he have a good idea of who this was? " Well, I guess you could call me that but I was asking about the teenager, not myself."
" You really think I don't know his name when I know who you are and who Meg is?" the young man was amused. This irritated Aozora.
" Fine then, his name is Sora; have you run into him lately?" Aozora said in exasperation. Geezes, what does it take to have people understand me?
" Well…" the young man brooded a bit. " Not lately but yes, I've run into him before. And that in itself is a long story."
Aozora was aghast. What did he mean by 'not lately'? " What do you mean by 'not lately'? And what's a long story?"
" See," the young man said patiently, " my name is Eucletes and I'm a merchant here. One day I heard that a certain hero of ours returned and I went with the others to greet him. A huge crowd for sure but I got close enough to see he wasn't alone. Walking with him was not only his trainer, Phil, but there was Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Then Sora bent over, touching the right side of his waist, then spotted something in the crowd. Ten seconds later, bam! Heartless and Nobodies swarmed the place!"
" The right side…he was wounded terribly on the right side," Aozora mused. " How long ago was this?"
" Hm…not sure, really," Eucletes replied as they wandered through the marketplace. " Perhaps days ago, if not weeks."
" Days? If not weeks?" Aozora echoed.
" They left quite some time ago," Eucletes answered as they approached the steps of a looming marble temple and went up. " But I'm not sure where they're headed-"
" YOU!!!" a voice roared over the marketplace and something punched into Aozora's legs. He fell down the stairs and onto the marketplace floor on his face. Something with sharp feet jumped on his back, screaming obscenities at him.
" Phil! I thought you said he was only a kid!" another voice shouted.
" Phil! Get. Off. Of. HIM!!!" a woman's voice screamed.
Aozora closed his eyes, not wanting to be a witness to some sort of pandemonium he seemed to be creating.
- -
In the process of running through baggage and luggage, they found a green suitcase, opened it, and fell into it. There was nothing in it but papers and stickers and Buzz, Sora, and Slinky left that suitcase alone, running after the one they originally saw.
Sora decided not to mention that Buzz had a sticker on his sitter that said ' Butte'.
" Whoa – oa! Buzz!" Slinky yelled anxiously as his back end got caught on a piece of luggage and it split to another belt. " Buzz, Sora, guys, my back end's going to Baton Rouge!"
Sora and Buzz, who were busy jumping baggage, turned and ran to Slinky. They took a hold on each of his paws and tried to pull him in. But to no avail; his hold on the luggage was too strong for them and they were forced to let him go.
" Slinky!" Sora yelled.
" You guys go on ahead, I'll untangle myself here!" Slinky told them off.
Meanwhile, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, Rex, Donald, and Goofy rushed after the green suitcase they were to go after. The three Squeeze Toy Aliens stayed behind, too small and slow to keep up with them.
" Woody, here we come!" Hamm yelled.
" Woody!" Mr. Potato Head shouted as they jumped the suitcase and opened it.
" It's a camera," Donald said, crestfallen.
" Nice flash, though," Hamm commented.
" Not only a camera!" Goofy was looking beyond the suitcase. " That there's Heartless!"
" And Nobodies!" Donald screamed. " Duck!"
Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, and Rex dropped behind the suitcase and Donald cast Aeroga upon everyone.
" Cool!" Rex exclaimed. " I'm surrounded by magic! Ha, I knew magic was real!"
" Shield Nobodies, Goofy!" Donald warned. " I'll take on the Heartless. You know what to do."
" Huyuk, of course!" Goofy agreed. " Charge!"
Lifting his shield up before his body, Goofy ran at the Shield Nobodies, taking out the armored white creatures.
Donald was confronted by a horde of Shadows and Soldiers, which really was a weak field if there weren't so many. He decided to pull a Gandalf on them and slammed his staff on the ground, shouting, " Firaga!" in the process.
A wave of fire rippled over the ground and even if a Shadow flattened itself in the ground, it could not escape the fire. The surviving Heartless were quickly brought down by Donald's staff as he jumped around them, whacking them on the heads and jolting them off the conveyor belt with his Aeroga shield.
While that was going on, Buzz was the first to reach their suitcase. Sora followed closely, having an intuition that Buzz was in for a nasty surprise.
Buzz flung open the suitcase, shouting, " Okay, Woody, let's go!"
Instead of Woody, Prospector loomed before him and walloped him in the face. Shouting in surprise, Buzz tumbled off the conveyor belt, leaving only Sora to face Prospector.
" Take that, space toy," Prospector grumbled and was about to put the lid on the green suitcase when Woody came out and threw himself at Prospector.
" Hey! No one does that to my friend!" he shouted while they tumbled onto the belt, throwing kicks and trading punches.
Sora looked up to the green suitcase. It was radiating darkness.
" Heartless!" Sora shouted a warning. " Jessie, Bullseye, whoever you are, get outta there!"
" They can't, Keyblade Master," Prospector said to him. " All tied up and ready to fly safely to Japan. And the Heartless, they're gonna make sure nobody lets them out unless it's Al."
" You're in league with the Heartless, aren't you?" Sora demanded. Prospector grinned.
" Don't forget the Nobodies," and he threw a punch at Sora.
Shouting, Sora went over the ledge as well.
" No!" Woody shouted, then gasped in horror as Prospector ripped his right arm again with his pick.
" Now, its your choice, Woody," Prospector said darkly. " You can go to Japan together or in pieces. If he fixed ya once, he can fix ya again. Now get in the box!"
" Never!" Woody shouted back at him defiantly.
" Fine!" Prospector lifted his pick, ready to bring it down on the cowboy.
" Strike Raid!" a voice yelled and seconds later, something blazing white struck at Prospector's back, causing him to lose his grip on the pick. Ten seconds later, flashes went off.
" No! Aah!" Prospector cringed, unable to see while Buzz, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, the three Squeeze Toy Aliens, Donald, and Goofy grinned from behind cameras and lights.
" Woo hoo!" Goofy pumped his fist up in the air and took more pictures of Prospector cringing and Sora Super Gliding in, pointing the Keyblade at Prospector. It was obvious Sora was not afraid to blast Prospector into smithereens.
Buzz jumped down and kicked away the pick, then grabbed Prospector's hands and held them behind his back.
" Gotcha," Buzz said with a grin.
" Idiots!" Prospector wailed. " Children destroy toys! You'll all be ruined, forgotten! Spending eternity rotting in some landfill!"
" Well, Stinky Pete, I think its time you learned the true meaning of playtime," Woody said with a smirk on his face. " Right over there, guys!"
He pointed at a pink backpack. Prospector cringed, then caught Sora laughing.
" You're going to pay, Keyblade Master!" Prospector said ominously. " Depriving the Heartless of this world's Keyhole, you're going to pay dearly. We will see to that. It will be the Heartless, not the Nobodies, who will see you dead!"
" Stick him in," Sora said, unfazed by Prospector's threats.
" No," Prospector wailed, looking from Buzz and Woody to Sora. " No! No!"
They watched as the backpack slid away, Prospector wailing all the while.
" Happy trails, Prospector!" Woody waved giddily.
" Buzz! Woody!" Slinky shouted.
" Help us out of here!" Hamm added, understanding that they were trapped.
" Hurry!" Rex yelled, pointing anxiously at a chute they were all headed towards.
" Get out of there, Jessie! Bullseye!" Woody shouted. Bullseye bucked free of the suitcase and ran to Woody but Jessie was still caught inside.
" Oh, no, Jessie! Come on!" Woody cried out while Jessie tried to pull herself free.
" Oh, Woody!" Jessie yelled as the green suitcase slid down the chute to the waiting hands of a worker. She fell limp and the worker shut her in the suitcase, then threw the suitcase into the waiting luggage truck.
" Jessie!" Woody yelled, then whistled to Bullseye. " Ride like the wind, Bullseye! Hey, howdy, hey! Giddyap!"
Buzz and Sora joined him on Bullseye's back and Buzz shouted encouragingly to Bullseye as he slid down the chute and jumped off to follow the luggage truck, " Come on, Bullseye! Yah!"
" Guys, give me a boost!" Woody asked of them as they caught the luggage truck and got it. " Oh! Ohhhh! Ohhh!"
They watched Woody as he tried to keep his balance. Sora then told Buzz, " Keep covering us," and High Jumped onto the luggage truck. Buzz and Bullseye drew back a bit as Sora and Woody inched towards the green suitcase. Then the luggage truck screeched to a sudden stop and they got lost in the baggage.
Then each piece of luggage got thrown onto the conveyor belt leading up to the storage of the Japan-bound plane and Sora and Woody, hiding under separate pieces of luggage, boarded the train. The worker inside the storage chucked the luggage to the side and they quickly scrambled out, spreading out in search of a green suitcase which Woody found first.
" Ah!" Woody said, opening the suitcase and finding Jessie sniffing, alone inside. " Excuse me, ma'am, but I believe you're on the wrong flight!"
" Woody!" Jessie shouted and hugged him.
" Come on guys, we gotta get out of here!" Sora yelled at them and ran for the door to the storage.
" Let's go," Woody said and they reached the edge. " On the count of three, one, two – "
The door shut on them.