KINGDOM HEARTS III: Final Mix
Disclaimer: I do not own the story or characters featured in this story. They are the sole creation of the Walt Disney Co., PIXAR, Marvel Comics, Tetsuya Nomura, and Square Enix. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.
WARNING! Contains story spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III, so read with caution if you haven't played the game yet.
Chapter 19: The Mystic Portal Awaits
"Just what are you?" Sora called out to the doll, frustrated with the prospect of dealing with another giant Heartless threat.
"Everybody knows me; I'm an Angelic Amber!" the doll greeted the group with a smile. "My house has a lot of neat stuff, but it's been so lonely lately. But some nice man came by a little while ago and woke me up, and he said he'd bring me a whole lotta new friends to play with! And now we'll have all the time in the world to spend together," she laughed as she continued to explain, all the while giving everybody else the creeps with how disturbingly serene she was with kidnapping other toys forcibly to play with her.
"Well, it's been nice to meet you, Amber, but I think we all better get going, right, Buzz?" Woody asked his friend as they were ready to make a run for it.
"You big party poopers! You can't leave before our tea party!" she seethed as her eyes narrowed into angry slits and body appeared to slither up in front of Sora's face.
"This could get bad... Hamm, Jessie, Bullseye! You need to get out of here quick!" Woody told the three rescued toys.
"No! Hamm, you can leave if you want, me and Bullseye are gonna lend a hand against this demon doll," Jessie told Hamm, who was fidgeting in a panic.
"Right on it. One stay at the dread and breakfast was enough for me!" Hamm yelped as he ran off. Sora and the others began their battle as they dodged the doll's jerky swerving and body-slamming as the Keyblade wielder then counterattacked with hard swings and blasts of magic. The doll was very persistent, but eventually it went down.
"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me anymore. I don't wanna go! All I wanted was a friend of my own!" Angelic Amber begged and sobbed, as Sora raised his Keyblade above his head, ready to force the Heartless inside the doll out (even knowing that doing so would cause it to no longer be alive).
"I get it, I really do," Sora sympathetically told the toy before his expression turned solemn. "But that doesn't mean you can just kidnap people against their will! You're just being used to separate those people from their loved ones!" Without another word, Sora swung the Keyblade down and knocked the Heartless out of the doll, causing the monster to dissolve in a shadowy mist as the doll slumped onto the floor lifelessly. Once again, Buzz looked at the doll's sorry state and turned towards Woody.
"She was being controlled too," Buzz observed. "What if this is what happens if we stay here any longer? We'll start attacking each other?"
"Buzz, you can't think like that!" Jessie told the space ranger.
"Yeah, you're stronger than that, Buzz!" Sora added with concern. "As long as you don't lose heart, you'll be fine."
"And besides, I for one know you'll never be one to give up on a friend," Woody spoke up, putting Buzz's mind at ease.
"True enough, cowboy," Buzz replied.
"There's one thing I don't follow about all of this," Jessie interrupted, as she asked Sora a question. "Just what is going on here? When Bullseye and I were grabbed, a guy in a black hood told us that we were just here to be bait for a kid with a key while the others were back in the real world."
"Well, long story short, this place is a replica of your own world, or so we've been told," Sora answered.
"Well, thanks for clearing things up, Sora. I'm sure we'll get along just fine," Jessie told the boy.
"I'm sorry for worrying you all. There's just one more group of toys we need to rescue." Everyone else nodded in agreement as they opened the window out of the store and took notice of a flying saucer puttering about in the air.
"I think I know who that is going after," Woody remarked. "Quick, everyone! After that UFO!" After climbing out the window, the group chased after the flying saucer down to the "Play Place" store. In the middle of a play mat, the heroes saw the Little Green Aliens looking up towards the saucer.
"The Claw has come for us!" one of the aliens exclaimed.
"The Mystic portal awaits!" another added as the saucer's crane lowered down.
"Wait! Stop!" Sora and Woody cried out as they ran forward hoping to stop it, everyone else following from behind.
"Farewell, friends. We go on to a better place," the aliens spoke as the crane snagged the three toys and Heartless began appearing from all corners of the store.
"Well, now what do we do?" Donald and Goofy asked, as they assumed a battle stance.
"We gotta shoot that thing out of the sky, that's what!" Jessie told Sora's partners.
"I think the thing we need for that is right close by," Sora assured, as the group focused on taking down a Gigas that was starting to fire at them. After its health was worn down and the Heartless that was piloting it was forcibly ejected, Sora boarded the robot and began to open fire on the UFO as it zipped and sped around the store, trying to fry the others with bolts of lightning. Eventually, the ship took as much damage as it could handle and crashed into the ground, releasing the aliens from its grip, along with one other toy- a squeaky penguin.
"We are back!" the three aliens said in unison.
"The spiky haired one saved our lives! Many thanks to him and his partners," the first one declared.
"But at what cost? Our ship is no more," the second mentioned.
"Nirvana will not be reached today," the third added sadly.
"Didn't think about it that way," Sora replied sheepishly. "Sorry about trashing your ride."
"Don't be," Buzz assured Sora. "They're usually like this most of the time."
"Do not distress, our mighty hero. For we have an even greater home, our new home: the chamber of Andy."
"Wheezy, never thought you were stuck in there," Woody spoke up as he helped the penguin up on its feet.
"Thank you, Woody," Wheezy replied with a smile, getting a cough out of his system. "That thing's insides were aggravating my condition again."
"Hey, do you know if anybody else from Andy's room that disappeared is around?" Sora asked Wheezy.
"Sorry, Sora, but as far as me and Bullseye are concerned, us two were the only ones who were left behind here until we just saved Wheezy. We haven't seen hide or hair of any of the other toys," Jessie told the Keyblade wielder.
"Anyway, the aliens are right," Buzz told the others. "We don't belong in this store; we should be heading back home to Andy's. We already accomplished more than what we expected to when we arrived."
"But Buzz, the guy in the hood said that room isn't even the real one!" Sora rebuked. "We're so close to fixing everything!"
"Can you prove that anything he told us is even remotely true?" Buzz argued, leaving Sora silent. "And even if it's a fake room, that doesn't mean that Andy himself isn't somewhere in this world still. It doesn't matter one way or another, my mind is made up. I'm going home to wait for Andy."
"You have me there, Buzz. Now that everyone is accounted for, we should get ready to go back home," Woody replied.
"Okay..." Sora said with disappointment. "We could've used friends like you for the final showdown though."
"But Sora, Organization XIII is our problem to solve," Goofy whispered.
"Ah, we'll be fine," Donald said smugly. "I could take them down with one wing behind my back!"
"You sure about that?" Sora joked, stifling a giggle.
"I'll show ya!" Donald squawked angrily, chasing Sora with his stave.
"Calm down, Donald! It was just a joke!" Sora yelped with laughter as he ran off towards Woody and Buzz. "So can we at least see you guys off?"
"I don't see that being a problem," Woody answered. "C'mon, the others are waiting for us by the entrance."
And that finishes this another chapter. I hope you enjoyed this little update, and please remember to leave a review! See you all next time, and may your heart be your guiding key.