Chapter 16

"Whoa!"

Cloud was caught unprepared. He decided to join Sora and Riku, but he feels regret from doing this.

He became a toy. He felt like a human, but he was dressed as a toy soldier. Sora was dressed as himself, while Riku was dressed in a cool, black battle uniform.

"The gummi ship changed us!" said Riku. "So this world really is a toy story, then."

Somehow, their movements were not blocky. The three wondered about what they will encounter here when they heard laughter.

"What's going on?" asked Cloud.

"A party?" asked Riku. "Either way, we cannot be caught here. We have to move forward."

They found themselves in a bedroom. Sora remembered the first time he went to Alice's world and realized that they were obviously shrunk down. The room looked like it belonged to a young boy. Toys were everywhere, scattered along the ground-

Riku sensed movement. To his astonishment, he saw toys getting up. They looked at the group with similar astonishment.

"Hey, look!" yelled a dog-slinky toy. "New toys!"

"You mean these numbskulls?" replied a brown, round toy. "They look like wannabe ninjas or something."

A sheriff came near Sora. "Who are you toys?" asked the sheriff.

"Sora, Riku, and Cloud." Sora said, pointing to the owner of each name. "What about you?"

"I'm Woody." The sheriff had the aura of authority, but Sora felt something...odd about him. "I am Andy's favorite toy."

"Who-"

"Our owner. He plays with us. Anyways, what type of toys are you suppose to be?"

Riku spoke up. "Anime toys. We were transported from Japan and given as a gift."

Cloud and Sora looked at him with amusement while the other toys pondered on this. "Look, we could care less," said Woody, "But today is Andy's birthday. There is a party today, and new toys are coming."

A radio screeched next to the bed. The toys gathered near it. "It needs to be set up better!" yelled Woody. "We need more troops down there!"

A bunch of green toy soldiers came out of the bed, scaring Sora and Cloud. "Sir!" they said. "What do we need to do?"

"Go set up the radio in the plants! Bring the brown-haired man with you!" Sora looked shocked at the demand, but before anyone could protest, he was escorted from the room by the green men.

They reached the stairways. Each green man brought parachutes, attaching rope from their hips to the top of the perch. Seven of them jumped down the place into the ground, and several others jumped from the ropes. Sora joined them, only to fit the ground with his face.

"Alright, men!" yelled the leader of the green men. "We need to split up! Seven of us, including the stranger on his face, will eavesdrop on how the party is progressing. Ten of you will wait for the back-up team that has the other radio so we can contact upstairs! The rest of you, hide in the plant near the christmas tree!"

The group split up. Sora and the leader went near the door near the kitchen. "Wouldn't anyone notice anything...weird here?" asked Sora.

"Nope, boy! You see, Andy plays with his toys all the time. His mother-"

"Andy! Time for food!" The mother opened the door, stepping on one of the toy soldiers. "Oh, that boy! I told him not to make a mess!" She went back to the kitchen, leaving the toys unattended.

"No!" Sora ran to the injured toy. "C'mon! I got you!"

"Why..." mumbled the toy. "Why help me..."

"Let's go to the tree!" yelled the leader. Suddenly, heartless surrounded them. Five of them went straight to Sora.

"Not again!" yelled the leader. Sora felt light envelope him, and a light barrier went around the soldier toys.

"Hurry! We have to go now!" yelled Sora. The toys ran to the tree.

"Give that soldier to me!" demanded the leader. Sora gave the leader the injured toy and pulled out his keyblade. More heartless came out of the shadows, aiming to attack the soldiers.

"Not a chance!" Sora rushed at five heartless, obliterating them. Hollows appeared, to the shock of Sora, but they were just as weak as the heartless. Sora covered the toys until they were back in the tree. Sora ran to the tree, making it just in time before the mother came back.

"I was sure that his toys were here...oh well." She went back to the kitchen, preparing the cake for the party.

"Mission success!" proclaimed the leader. "The radio is now here. since it is wireless and it makes no noise, we can connect to the radio upstairs without problems! No one can notice us here, so we will be fine. I will also say that this warrior here has saved the day with his dignity!" The toys saluted to Sora, who returned it with a similar salute. "Now there is a proper toy who shows respect!"

Meanwhile, upstairs, Riku and Cloud were anxious. They were worried about Sora, of course, but they were also worried about their surroundings. The toys have little tolerance at the newcomers, so their only choice is to earn their respect. Only a few of the toys were not rude to them.

"Don't take this badly," said one of the toys, "But we don't get new toys often. Woody feels that he would be replaced by anything new."

The green dinosaur toy, called Rex, laughed at his own remark. "Woody is basically the leader here. He wants the best for everyone here, keeping people in line and making sure that all the new toys are monitored for our safety."

"Is he jealous of us?" asked Cloud.

"Maybe. I think that most of the other toys have his attitude. They want to be played with. I mean, what is a toy's function? To be played with."

Riku watched the room. Every other toy looked anxious, looking at the radio. "Do you guys fear change?"

"Yes. Being thrown out or being replaced by others is something that we do not want."

Riku was deep in thought, but before saying anything, the radio screeched softly.

"Everyone!" yelled one of the soldiers. "We got the radio in! Andy is opening his birthday presents!"

The other toys crowded around the radio as they heard laughter. "The first present...is a book!" The toys lost their excitement and started to get bored after that remark. "What kid needs a book? Next present is...a barbie doll!"

"Who invited that kid?" asked a piggy bank. Cloud blushed, to the chagrin of Riku.

"Next is...Legos! I think that this is it..."

Woody looked happy. He was about to turn off the radio when Sora's voice came up. "Wait! His mom's going in the closet!"

"Sora!" Riku and Cloud looked relieved.

"So what?" said Woody. "She's putting the trash away-"

"No, she isn't! She's getting out another present! A-"

Yelling broke out downstairs, and Sora's voice was unheard. "What's he saying?!" yelled Rex. "Slinky, Potato-Head, anybody, what is he saying?" Unfortunately, he knocked against the desk holding the radio and it crashed to the ground. Two batteries rolled away from the radio.

"You idiot!" yelled Potato-Head. "Now we will never know what that kid was saying!"

Riku and Cloud grabbed a battery and ran back to the radio. They placed the batteries inside the radio and set it straight up.

"-hide! They are coming upstairs!" The voice was muffled by footsteps.

Alarmed, Woody and most of the other toys turned still. Everyone else hid in the various cupboards in the room. The kids went in the room, happy as Andy played with his new present. He pushed Woody to the ground, placing the present in the room, and the group ran back down the stairs.

"Oww..." Woody muttered. Potato-Head was laughing at what transpired while everyone else got out of their hiding spots.

"That was hilarious!" crowed the toy. "Woody's being replaced!"

"That is not what is happening." Woody brushed dust off him, instilling authority back in the room. "Andy was just excited with his present. I'll take a look up to see what it is."

As Riku and Cloud watched, Woody climbed up, only to be shocked at what he sees. A man in a space suit is there, standing straight.

Buzz Lightyear has arrived.