Sora & Aqua both flew down towards the world, passing through the world barrier effortlessly. Soon they saw what appeared to be a desert surrounded by tall rocky mountains and bluffs, not at all unlike the kind you would find in your stereotypical western. Fitting right into the scene was a small wooden town that practically screamed western. Two rows of wooden buildings, with three buildings apiece and with what appeared to be a schoolhouse at the end of the two rows. The two touched down their Keyblade Riders, facing the schoolhouse.
"Is it just me, or did we just drop into a cheesy cowboy movie?" Sora asked as Aqua shrugged. Their armor and Keyblade Riders had vanished, leaving them in their usual attire.
"I dunno. I've never been here before. You?" Aqua asked as Sora shook his head.
"Nope." Sora replied.
"Well this is probably a first. A world that neither of us have been to before." Aqua said with a laugh as Sora chuckled and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah you're right. But there's something missing from this place." Sora said as Aqua nodded.
"Yeah. People, that's what's missing." Aqua said as Sora smirked.
"Oh I know why. I've seen enough cartoon westerns to know what's wrong. Stranger comes to town, the people hide, and then there's a shootout." Sora said as Aqua looked at him with a blank stare.
"Sora, we're not here to harm anyone. I'm not getting into a shootout, besides I hate guns." Aqua said as Sora shrugged.
"I know, but hey, this place looks deserted." Sora said as Aqua nodded.
"Yep, definitely no sign of intelligent life anywhere." She said with a shrug. Until…
"Hello?"
"WHOA!" "AHHH!" Sora and Aqua yelped as they quickly summoned their Keyblades and dropped into a battle stance. Their sudden, yet mutual, startling was caused by the sudden appearance of a tall man in a yellow plaid shirt with white button cufflinks, a black and white cow hide vest with a gold star over his left breast with the word "Sheriff" written on it, red paisley bandana around his neck, a pair of blue jeans, brown cowboy boots with spurs, an empty gun holster with red jewel on his right hip attached to a brown leather belt with a gold ranchers belt buckle. He had well kept brown hair that looked, downright plastic, and a matching cowboy hat.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Easy there partners, didn't mean to scare ya." The man said (With a voice like Tom Hanks) quickly as the two lowered their weapons.
"Well why did you jump out at us then?" Aqua asked the cowboy shrugged.
"It was just a mistake fellas, no harm done right?" the cowboy asked with a friendly smile. The two looked at each other and shrugged.
"You're right, we're sorry." Sora said as the cowboy smiled and chuckled.
"Ah forget about it, there's nothing to forgive. But where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Sheriff Woody, and this dusty ol' town is known as known as Toy Box Town." The cowboy said as he motioned to town.
"Looks like a nice place. Is it just you here?" Aqua asked as Woody laughed.
"Aw no. Everyone's just hiding. Hang on just a second." Woody said as he turned towards the town and hollered, "Hey everyone! Come on out and give these two newcomers a nice, big, Toy Box Town welcome!"
Slowly, an odd assortment of people started appearing from inside or behind the buildings. Sora noticed right off that none of them looked like they belonged in a western themed world.
"Psst, hey Aqua, these guys seem kinda familiar." Sora whispered.
"How so?" Aqua whispered back as the people gathered around.
"They look like a bunch of living, life sized…toys." Sora said as he looked squarely at a life sized Slinky Dog toy that was moving and behaving all on its own. Aside from the Slinky Dog, there was a large plastic green T-Rex toy, a pink piggy bank, a Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, a life-sized Barbie doll in a business suit, a brown stuffed horse toy, and a trio of small three eyed aliens with a single antennae, pointed ears, three fingered hands, blue jumpsuits with the symbol of a pizza with a Saturn ring around it on the left breast. They then noticed that Woody's arm, shoulder, and leg joints were all painfully thin, as if they had been sewn onto his body.
"Everyone, say hello to…uh what are your names?" Woody asked as Sora and Aqua looked at each other and shrugged.
"I'm Sora."
"And I'm Aqua." They introduced.
"And we uh…come in peace." Sora said with a smile.
"Now where have we heard that before?" the piggy bank asked knowingly (with a voice sounding like John Ratzenberger) as he waddled up to them.
"Hey there, the name's Hamm, the banker here in Toy Box Town. Say that's a fancy lookin' key ya got there buddy boy." The piggy bank said, looking at Sora's Keyblade.
"Thanks." Sora said as the dinosaur approached him.
"Oh I'm so glad you're not dinosaurs!" the dinosaur said as he shook both Sora and Aqua's hands happily.
"Thanks…I think." Aqua said with a shrug.
"That's Rex." Woody said as the dinosaur backed up and the Slinky Dog approached.
"Everyone calls me Slinky or just Slink." The Slinky Dog said with a friendly nod before the two potato heads approached with the three eyed aliens behind them.
"I'm Mr. Potato Head, and this is my wife, Mrs. Potato Head." Mr. Potato Head said as the Mrs. Pulled the three aliens around in front, each making a squeaking noise as they moved.
"And these are our children!" she said loudly (with a voice like Estelle Harris').
"Strangers-." "-from the outside!" two of the three aliens said before all three of them went "Oooh" in unison.
"Uh, hi." Aqua said with a friendly wave. She then felt a wet tongue lick the side of her face. She turned with a start and saw the horse looking at her with a friendly expression.
"Oh, that's Bullseye, the fastest most loyal steed in the west." Woody introduced, as Aqua smiled and rubbed her hand over the horse's muzzle.
"Aww, that's a good horsey." Aqua said as the Barbie doll approached
"I'm school teacher Barbie, I run the school over there." The Barbie doll said with a cheery smile and matching disposition. This caused Sora to pause.
"Okay, hold on, do you guys realize that you're all life sized toys?" Sora asked as the assortment of toys looked at each other and almost shrugged in unison.
"Well yeah. So?" Woody said with a shrug.
"Really? Huh." Sora said, putting his hands behind his head in a relaxed pose. Woody then started looking around curiously.
"Oh pull my string, where's Buzz and Jessie? They're supposed to be here!" Woody said. Just then they heard a woman's voice call…
"Did someone call my name? YODEL-AY-EEE-OOO!"
Just then a woman landed in the center of the crowd from overhead. She had red yarn for hair in a ponytail with yellow bow and a red cowgirl hat on her head. She was dressed in a white with yellow top cowgirl's shirt, blue jeans with cowhide chaps, a belt matching Woody's own, and a pair of cowboy boots but without the spurs. She turned to them with an excited grin.
"Well howdy folks! Name's Jessie!" the cowgirl greeted, shaking the two's hands excitedly.
"I'm Sora, and this is-." "Jessie?" Aqua asked in silent disbelief.
"Your name's Jessie too?" Jessie asked as Aqua shook her head, still stunned.
"No. My name's Aqua, but you…you're a Jessie doll. I had a Jessie doll just like you when I was just a little girl…well you were much, much smaller." Aqua said as she looked Jessie over slowly, a hint of a tear in her eye but a soft smile on her face.
"Aww well ain't that swell? I reckon you and I'll get along just fine." Jessie said as she quickly put her arm around the blue haired Keyblade Master.
"Well whaddya know, she's got a fan club besides ol' astro-nut." Mr. Potato Head said with a chuckle. Just then they heard the roar of engines and a blue light appear from overhead. Everyone backed out of the way as a man in a spacesuit with bright blue flames coming from a winged jetpack slowly touched down. The man's spacesuit was green and white with purple straps running from a panel on the chest down to his waist. There were four buttons on his chest, a blue, green, and red set of buttons on his right, a single red round one on his left, and in the center was a blue insignia with a planet with wings behind a rocket ship under the words "Space Ranger" in black lettering. On his right arm was a red button on his upper arm surrounded by a black and yellow hazard striped label that read "Laser." Below the button on his lower arm was said "laser," though it looked like a light bulb that blinks. His left arm had an insignia with the letters S and R on either side of a rocket ship on his upper arm with a strange panel on his lower arm. The wings were purple on the bottom with white and red hazard stripes along the top with flashing green and red lights on the tips of the wings. The spaceman's head was inside a sort of purple suit but with two small round bumps where his ears were.
"Sorry we're late Woody, we were just checking out a disturbance in sector four. The race track needs some more batteries for the speed enhancement section." The spaceman said (with a voice like Tim Allen) as Woody nodded understandingly. The spaceman pressed the big red button on his chest and in a flash his wings closed up behind him.
"No problem Buzz. Hey, say hello to the new comers." Woody said as the spaceman turned towards the two.
"Greetings, I am Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger, Universe Protection Unit, and I come in peace." Buzz said, extending a hand and retracting his helmet at the same time. Sora was stunned as he stood in disbelief.
"Whoa! A real Buzz Lightyear! I've got one of these at home! A pleasure to meet you Mr. Lightyear!" Sora said as he enthusiastically shook the Space Ranger's hand.
"The pleasure is mine, my spiky haired friend. What might your name be?" Buzz asked as Sora grinned.
"I'm Sora, and this is Aqua." Sora said, motioning to Aqua who smiled and nodded to the Space Ranger.
"Ma'am." Buzz said with a friendly nod and handshake.
"So a town full of living toys, in a western setting. I'm not sure that I understand completely." Aqua said, not noticing as most of the toys started to disperse, leaving Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bullseye behind with Sora and Aqua.
"Well we don't understand it either. You see years ago, we were just ordinary toys with separate owners but all of our owners knew each other. But then one day we find ourselves in this place. So we decided to make the best of things." Woody explained.
"We've been here ever since." Jessie added.
"Oh I wish I knew where my old Buzz Lightyear toy was, and then I could probably get you to autograph it." Sora said as Buzz laughed.
"Well where was I the last time you saw me?" Buzz asked.
"I had him in my room…but that was over a year ago…and before the islands were swallowed into darkness." Sora said with a sigh.
"Darkness? Would this happen to be one of Zurg's nefarious schemes?" Buzz asked, earning an amused giggle from Jessie, and a blank stare from Woody.
"No Buzz, it wasn't Zurg, for crying out loud!" Woody groaned. Aqua was curious however.
"Who's Zurg?" Aqua asked as Woody groaned and face palmed.
"Oh here we go." He mumbled.
"Evil Emperor Zurg is the most evil menace the galaxy has ever seen! As a member of the Universe Protection Corps, I protect the galaxy from the threat of invasion, by the Evil Emperor Zurg, sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance!" Buzz declared proudly before pausing with a sheepish look on his face.
"Uh Woody, did I just…" "Yeah, you did just relapse into Space Ranger mode again." Woody said as Buzz rubbed his hand over his face.
"Sorry about that, it's just kinda drilled into me." Buzz said with an innocent shrug.
"No problem, I thought it was rather…oh what's a good word?" Aqua asked.
"How about cheesy?" Woody asked, causing Sora to snicker.
"Right. Well we'd love to stay and chat but we've got stuff we've got to do. This world doesn't seem to be in any trouble. I don't see any Heartless or Nobodies here so we probably should be going." Aqua said as Sora nodded.
"Yeah, we're on a kind of mission and we can't stop in one place for very long." Sora said as the three toys gave them understanding looks.
"The mission must always take priority. Good luck out there." Buzz said with a salute.
"Hope you find what you're looking for." Jessie said as she and Aqua shook hands again.
"And if you ever want to come back and give a bunch of toys a visit, then don't hesitate to drop on in." Woody said as Sora and Aqua turned to leave, waving to the toys as they walked towards the edge of town. They walked in silence until Aqua paused with a concentrated look on her face. Sora paused and turned towards her curiously.
"Something wrong?" Sora asked. Aqua sighed before answering.
"I'm such a dunce." Aqua said as she ran a hand down her face.
"Well I knew that. But what are you talking about?" Sora asked as Aqua gave him a wry glare.
"Sheriff Woody, Bullseye, Jessie, the name of the town. I've seen them all before. They're from an old TV show from when Terra, Ven, and I were just kids. It was a show called, naturally, Woody's Roundup! We each had toys of Woody, Bullseye, Jessie…oh and Stinky Pete the Prospector!" Aqua said as Sora laughed.
"Stinky Pete?" he asked in amusement.
"Yeah, yeah. Terra had him, but he also had Woody, and I had Bullseye and Jessie. When Ven came along, we gave him Woody and Bullseye respectively. Oh those were good times. Times that I cherish in my heart." Aqua said with a smile and a distant stare.
"I know what you mean. The time Riku, Kairi, and I spent just playing with toys are times I cherish too. I had Buzz Lightyear, Riku had Zurg, and Kairi had none of it so she went with Barbie." Sora said as Aqua snickered.
"I kinda already had Kairi pegged as a Barbie Girl." Aqua said. (Irony)
"You know though, as I think about it, I also had a Mr. Potato Head, the Dinosaur, Slinky Dog, and the three of us each had one of those aliens. If I remember correctly, Kairi had a Mrs. Potato Head, and Riku had the piggy bank." Sora said as Aqua looked back curiously at the three toys who were talking with each other as Bullseye stood loyally by them.
"You don't suppose…" Aqua said as she tapped her chin, "…that these are our old toys just come to life do you?"
"It's possible. But if that's the case, where's Terra's Prospector toy and Riku's Zurg?" Sora asked as Aqua shrugged.
"Good question. You know perhaps it's worth asking." Aqua said.
"What about Ven?" Sora asked.
"Relax Sora, one question isn't going to hurt anything." Aqua said as Sora nodded in agreement and followed after her towards the toys who noticed their approach.
"Well Hey-Howdy-Hey. Back so soon?" Woody asked.
"I had just a quick question for the three of you. Do the two of you know a toy named Stinky Pete?" Aqua asked curiously. Woody and Jessie's expressions both darkened slightly, as did Buzz's. Even Bullseye looked disheartened at the mention of the old Prospector.
"Stinky Pete was banished from here years ago. He still causes trouble for us every once in a while but we always straighten him out." Woody said as Buzz and Jessie both nodded.
"He's tried to destroy Buzz several times." Jessie said earning a surprised look from Aqua.
"I don't understand. Why would Stinky Pete be a bad guy? He was a good guy in the TV show. Why would he be a villain now?" Aqua asked as the toys looked at each other.
"Two words. Space toys. Years ago, Woody's Roundup was taken off the air when children started playing with space toys like Buzz. Prospector never got over that." Woody explained.
"So when Buzz came to town, he tried to get him thrown out but Woody refused." Jessie added.
"Then the old man tried to blow me up by strapping a rocket to my back. Woody caught him in time and banished him from town." Buzz added.
"So, Stinky Pete's here, he's just banished." Aqua said with a somewhat disheartened look.
"I'm afraid so, ma'am." Buzz said as Sora looked up at Buzz.
"Don't suppose that there's an Evil Emperor Zurg running around here is there?" Sora asked as Buzz looked down at him and nodded.
"Yes, the Evil Emperor himself lives in a base just south of here." Buzz said.
"Which is also, coincidentally, near where Stinky Pete's mine is hidden. Those two fight all the time." Woody said.
"What about here. They cause any trouble for you guys at all?" Aqua asked as the three scoffed.
"Hardly." They said in unison. However, they then heard what sounded like an explosion coming from a short distance away. They all turned and saw a small cloud of dust go up into the air.
"Looks like something's going on at Bo Peep's! Come on guys let's go!" Woody said as he hopped onto Bullseye's back along with Jessie. Buzz popped open his wings.
"Hey! Wait for us!" Sora said as he and Aqua summoned their Keyblade Riders but without the armor.
"Ride like the wind, Bullseye!" Woody shouted as Bullseye took off. Buzz squatted down slightly as his jetpack started to roar to life.
"To Infinity and Beyond!" He shouted before launching into the air and after the three. Sora and Aqua looked at each other and shrugged.
"Eh, just go." Aqua said as they took off after the toys.
Our heroes arrived outside of a small farmhouse where a woman in a white and pink shepherdess clothes and holding a cyan blue shepherd's crook. Her skin reflected off the sunlight, as if her skin was made of porcelain, which it was. As they arrived, Buzz retracted his wings, Sora and Aqua dismissed their Keyblade Riders, and Woody and Jessie dismounted Bullseye. Woody immediately hurried up towards the porcelain woman as the others hung back.
"Whose house is this?" Aqua asked.
"Oh this is just where Bo Peep, Woody's gal pal, lives." Jessie said as Buzz noticed something nearby, A smoldering crater.
"Bo Peep?" Sora asked, looking over towards the porcelain woman as she and Woody spoke privately nearby.
"Yep, and by the looks of things, she's lost her sheep again. Don't worry, I'll root 'em out!" Jessie said as she scampered off as if searching.
"Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep. How very ironic." Aqua said with a chuckle.
"Yeah but that Bo Peep doll looks familiar. I think Kairi had one…or was it you?" Sora asked, rubbing his head. Aqua looked at him concerned.
"Ven's memories flaring up again?" Aqua asked as Sora nodded.
"It's an old one I think. It's of a girl, I think about nine or so, playing with a porcelain doll very carefully. Oh, it's you. I can tell by the hair." Sora said as Aqua smiled and ruffled his hair.
"Yep that's Ven and I did have a Bo Peep doll just like her. She came with a lamp in my bedroom. Oh Ven, I can't wait to get you out of there." Aqua said softly. Sora then noticed Buzz near the crater, looking at it curiously. Sora then approached the Space Ranger toy.
"Uh, Buzz? What are you doing?" Sora asked as Buzz opened a panel on his lower left arm and started pressing buttons.
"I'm scanning this crater for any traces of what created it. I suspect that whoever did this was trying to…wait a minute." Buzz said as he spotted something near the crater.
"What are these?" Aqua asked as she spotted what appeared to be two parallel rows of light circles in the dirt.
"Tracks left by Bo Peep's sheep!" Buzz exclaimed as Woody, Jessie, and Bo approached hurriedly.
"Altogether, let's follow the tracks." Woody said as they slowly did so, until the tracks disappeared inside a corn field. Everyone but Sora and Aqua turned to Buzz as soon as they reached the wall of corn.
"Buzz, you think you can give us a bird's eye view?" Woody asked as Buzz stepped back and popped open his wings. He then leapt into the air, his engines launching him high into the air. He hovered overhead for a moment before coming back down, facing away from the others.
"Did you find my sheep, Buzz?" Bo asked as Buzz turned and shook his head. His expression was unreadable.
"No, but I do know where they are and why there's a crater in your pasture." Buzz said as everyone looked at each other.
"Okay, where are they?" Sora asked as Buzz opened the panel on his arm again.
"According to my scans, the crater showed trace elements of Trinitrotoluene." Buzz said, earning blank looks from the others. He sighed before adding. "Trinitrotoluene is TNT, the explosive."
"TNT? But who would-…the Prospector did this?" Woody asked as Jessie gasped.
"Why that no good-dirty-rotten-critter-napper!" Jessie yelled in anger.
"Stinky Pete? But why would he go after Bo Peep's sheep? He's always gunning for you Buzz." Woody said but Buzz didn't react. Aqua however had a suspicion.
"You saw something in the corn field didn't you?" Aqua asked as Buzz knelt down into the dirt and drew something. They all looked and saw it was a letter Z inside of a circle.
"Z! Zurg's calling card!" Sora exclaimed as he saw the letter.
"It was shaped like a crop circle." Buzz added.
"Now what would Zurg want with Bo Peep's sheep?" Woody scoffed.
"Sheep powered ray gun?" Sora asked with a shrug. (A/N: Lol)
"No, Zurg tried it before, didn't work. Zurg is after something else here." Buzz said as Aqua realized something.
"Uh, guys, I believe the obvious question would be, why are they working together? You said that Stinky Pete hate's space toys and I assume that Zurg is a space toy? So what motivation would Zurg have for joining up with Stinky Pete?" Aqua asked.
"I don't know, but we're going to get to the bottom of this. I'll have Sarge and the troops stand guard out here in case anything else happens, Bo." Woody said as Buzz turned and pressed one of the smaller buttons on his chest, relaying Woody's instructions while Bo Peep quickly grabbed Woody by the bandana and kissed him on the cheek.
"Be careful Woody." Bo said as Woody straightened his hat and badge.
"Well, lil' lady you don't need to worry 'cause Sheriff Woody is on the job." Woody said as he joined the others.
"So, what's the plan?" Sora asked.
"We march right up to Zurg's fortress and demand he release Bo Peep's sheep!" Buzz said as Jessie shook her head.
"No way, we gotta get the Prospector out of his mine and force him to tell us where he hid the sheep." Jessie said.
"Guys-guys-guys! I think it's obvious what needs to be done here. We need to split up." Woody said as Aqua quickly threw her arm around Jessie's shoulder.
"I'm with Jessie!" Aqua declared, causing Jessie to grin and put her arm around Aqua in return. Sora turned to Buzz and stood at attention with a salute.
"Cadet Sora, reporting for duty Ranger Lightyear!" Sora said as Buzz saluted back.
"Looks like its Buzz and Sora going after Zurg, while the three of us go after Stinky Pete." Woody said before getting licked in the side of the face by Bullseye.
"Bullseye! Of course you're coming along." Woody laughed before mounting his faithful steed. Jessie hopped on behind him while Aqua summoned her Keyblade Rider. Buzz popped open his wings while Sora summoned his Keyblade Rider as well.
"Good luck Sora." Aqua said as Sora nodded with a smile.
"You too, Master." Sora said.
"Hey Buzz, try not to crash this time. We don't want to get reacquainted with Mrs. Nesbit again now do we?" Woody chortled as Jessie nearly fell off the saddle laughing. Buzz was obviously annoyed.
"It was the one time Woody! We agreed never to mention that again!" Buzz said as Woody chuckled. Sora looked thoughtful.
"Mrs. Nesbit, now where have I heard that name before?" He asked himself quietly. Bullseye then let out a whinny and reared back on his haunches as Woody waved his hat overhead.
"Ride like the wind Bullseye!" Woody shouted, putting the hat back on before Bullseye took off at full gallop with Aqua flying close behind. Sora and Buzz looked at each other and nodded as Buzz's engines started.
"To Infinity-…!" Buzz said as Sora smiled and finished…
"…and Beyond!"
End Chapter 31
A/N: I've been trying to figure out how to include Toy Story into the story, and the beginning scene of Toy Story 3 gave me the idea. There will be no spoilers for Toy Story 3 in these chapters so ya'll don't need to worry about that. No I don't own Toy Story or any of its characters.
Also the irony up there was definitely a reference to the song, "Barbie Girl" by the group known as Aqua, hence the irony. Also, I don't know what kinds of Barbie dolls are out there (Kinda obvious given that I'm a guy), but I'm pretty sure that there's no "School teacher" Barbie. (I would not be surprised if there was one though.)
The "Sheep Powered Ray Gun" line is a reference to the cartoon "Sheep in the Big City."