Dialogue for the second half of this chapter taken from Toy Story 2.
Chapter 18: World Of Toys:
Radiant Garden – Spaceport:
Kairi greeted the trio at the spaceport with a hug for all of them and a kiss on the lips for Sora. After Donald teasingly remarked for them to "get a room" the couple broke apart and blushed profusely. Some things never changed. Once Donald and Goofy's laughter died down, she grilled them all on what had they'd found and brought them up to speed on what they'd missed. She was greatly disturbed by what the Legion had done in Saint Canard, and they were mortified by the tragedy in San Fransokyo. To change the subject to less depressing matters, Sora suggested that they all take a short vacation for the day.
"We don't have any urgent sightings from the Hellfire Club or the Legion right now, and we've got enough Keyblade Wielders to cover for us so we can all take some time off," he explained. "And besides, when's the last time we all had a day to ourselves without having stuff to deal with?" Everyone agreed and together they boarded the train that would take them from Radiant Garden's spaceport, carved into the mountains outside the city, all the way back to the town gates. Sora and Kairi sat next to each other on the train, arms wrapped around each other and her head on his shoulder.
Thirty minutes later, they exited the train and climbed the stairs from the underground station up into the city's Lower Market. From there, they discussed what to do with their time off over a light lunch at one of the cafes. Since there weren't any festivals or other community events on any of the nearby worlds at the moment, Kairi suggested going to the library to visit Pooh and the others in the 100 Acre Wood. The idea was met with unanimous approval, and once they'd finished their meal, the foursome made their way up to the castle library. When they arrived, they found that the book had been moved. Upon asking the librarian on duty, they found that Ienzo (who had gone into the book as a child following the deaths of his parents) had borrowed it.
Since they couldn't visit Pooh and the gang, inspiration struck, and Sora suggested the possibility that there were other worlds within books hidden among the shelves of the Hollow Bastion library. Kairi liked the idea, and the group split up as they searched the book cases to see what they could find. And hour later, they were all gathered around the L shelf, having already searched all of the other shelves and finding nothing. They were about to call of the search and go find something else to do when Sora pulled a book titled "Toy Story" off the shelf. Intrigued, the young man pulled the book open, only for a blinding white light to envelope the room. When it faded, Sora and Donald, who had been standing right next to him when he'd opened the book, had vanished, evidently inside the book itself. Figuring that the two of them were bound to get in trouble together if left unsupervised, Kairi and Goofy checked their gear just in case and leaped in after them.
World of Toys – Neighborhood Sidewalk:
Kairi shook her head as her vision cleared from the flash of being transported inside the book's world. Next to her, Goofy was climbing unsteadily to his feet. Once they had both regained their senses, she took a moment to examine their surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that Sora and Donald were nowhere to be seen. The second thing she noticed was that she and Goofy had shrunk to a small fraction of their normal size. From where they were standing, the house they'd landed in front of looked like it was the size of a mountain, and the mailbox across the lawn appeared from their perspective to be the size of a two-story building. Any further observations about their environment were cut off when they heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes to their right.
The two of them were about to pull out their weapons and prepare for battle when they saw what looked like some kind of astronaut action figure dart out of the bushes and crouch behind a mailbox. After looking to see if the coast was clear, the space man stuck his arm out and waved, indicating for someone to come forward. That someone turned out to be a plastic dinosaur attempting to camouflage itself in leaves, followed by a piggy bank, a plastic dog with a spring in the middle, and what appeared to be a potato with arms, legs, and a face. As the princess and the captain of the guard crept through the yard of the house they'd landed, the pig tripped and spilled coins all over the sidewalk.
"Alright," they heard him exclaim. "Nobody look 'til I get my cork back in."
"Good work men," the astronaut called back. "We're two blocks down, only nineteen more to go!" Startled exclamations and groans immediately followed this outburst, and Kairi deduced from the complaints that it had taken them a while just to travel two blocks. "Come on fellas," the space man urged his companions. "Did Woody give up when Sid had me strapped to a rocket? No. And did he give up when you threw him out of the back of that moving van? No he didn't. We have a friend in need. And we will not rest until he's safe in Andy's room. Now let's move out!" Kairi decided that now would be a good time for her and Goofy to make their presence known so they could ask for directions or see if any of them had seen Sora and Donald.
The toys were surprised to see them and were both confused and amazed a "how lifelike they looked," clearly mistaking the duo for other toys wandering the neighborhood. Since the whole "keeping the worlds separate" rule wasn't in effect anymore, and because people apparently didn't know that toys were alive in this world, she and Goofy decided on the truth. The astronaut, Buzz Lightyear, was skeptical, as apparently some toys who were fresh out of the box like Buzz didn't realize that they were toys. A few Blizzaga and Magnega spells quickly shot down that misunderstanding before it could get entrenched in the toys' plastic heads. Once everyone was convinced that she and Goofy were telling the group, they shared stories as they walked to get to know each other more. Kairi and Goofy were amazed by a world where toys came to life, and the toys were amazed by the fact that there were other worlds out there with genuine magic.
Apparently Woody, a cowboy doll belonging to their owner, Andy, had been stolen after attempting to rescue a friend from a yard sale. He'd been a family heirloom for years, and normally got taken along to summer camp with Andy, but a torn arm meant that he'd had to stay home for the summer. Anyway, Buzz and the other toys had identified the thief as the owner of a local toy store, and the gang was making their way to the store in the hopes of rescuing Woody before Andy returned home from summer camp. The toys were all amazed that Kairi was an actual princess, and she easily got along with Rex, the dinosaur. Goofy instantly befriended Slinky, the dog. Sora would probably make friends with Woody and Buzz easily, Kairi thought to herself as the group made their way through the darkened streets. Not to mention, Donald, Hamm, and Mr. Potato Head would definitely get along like a house on fire.
The group trekked all through the night, taking only a couple hours so that Kairi and Goofy could nap along the way. Their shield and Keyblade were put to good use throughout the night facing down pests from cockroaches to rats that the group came across. As they walked through the dark, their way lit by the moon above and street lamps nearby, Kairi couldn't help but worry about where Sora and Donald had ended up. Given the fact that they had likely been shrunk like she and Goofy had, they could be anywhere in this world, and even if Sora and Donald used the gate often found in storybook worlds and left the book, he'd have no way of knowing where she was. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind as the sun rose the next morning and they walked along the side of the street next to a white concrete wall.
"Hey Buzz," Hamm called out as they exited the bushes and trudged exhaustedly towards an opening in the shrubbery that led further down the road. "Can we slow down? May I remind you that some of us are carrying over six dollars in change?"
"Losing health units," Rex gasped drearily. "Must rest."
"Is everyone present and accounted for?" Buzz inquired as he did a headcount to make sure nobody had fallen behind.
"Not quite everyone," Potato Head answered.
"Whose behind?" Buzz asked.
"Mine," Slinky replied as his back half slowly toddled up behind him. Despite their fatigue, Kairi and Goofy couldn't help but laugh at the unintentional humor in the springy dog's comment.
"Hey guys," Hamm shouted. "Why do the toys cross the road?"
"Not now, Hamm," Buzz remarked tiredly as the group walked towards the opening in the bushes where the piggy bank was waiting.
"Oh!" Rex exclaimed obliviously. "I love riddles. Why?"
"To get to the chicken on the other side!" the pig responded with a laugh as they all stood facing the large building across the street with the words "Al's Toy Barn" on the roof with a giant chicken statue in front of the store. This must be it, Kairi realized as she and Goofy leaned against the brick wall at the back of the group and caught their breath. Their friend is in there. Now if only we can just figure out what happened to Sora and Donald. Although knowing how easily those two can get into trouble, we'll probably just have to follow the trail of confusion and chaos.
"Yay!" Rex hollered as everyone else broke out in cheers. "The chicken!" Their celebration was cut short as they witnessed a rapidly moving stream of cars and busses bang and crush a can of soda lying in the road before knocking it to the curb in front of the group of toys.
"Oh well," the plastic T-Rex continued with a deadpan tone as he turned around and prepared to leave. "We tried." As much as she wanted to help, Kairi couldn't help but agree that crossing this road was extremely dangerous. We need to find another way, she thought to herself. Maybe we can find a crosswalk somewhere, or I could use a Zero Graviza spell to float us across. Unfortunately, Buzz, as the unofficial team leader, appeared to believe that the simple yet dangerous approach was the most effective.
"We'll have to cross," the space ranger stated matter-of-factly while grabbing Rex's tail with one hand. As she looked further up and down the road, Kairi noted that despite the presence of a traffic light, there were no crosswalks to be found within a reasonable distance.
"You're not turning me into a mashed potato!" Mr. Potato Head protested as everyone around him gasped in surprise.
"I may not be a smart dog, but I know what roadkill is," Slinky added.
"There has to be a safe way to cross," Buzz explained. Kairi and Goofy voiced their agreement, but questioned how they were going to cross the street when there were no crosswalks. Goofy spotted some traffic cones further up the road. Since the humans in this world didn't know that toys were alive, Buzz decided that they could use the cones for cover. Realizing that they couldn't cross the road fast enough on foot to avoid causing traffic accidents, Kairi offered to use the Collission Magnet spell that Aqua had taught her in order to throw everyone across to the other side, leaving only Goofy and herself to cross over with the cones.
The plan went along smoothly, and while Kairi was busy flinging the toys across the street to the Al's Toy Barn parking lot, Goofy discovered a pair of disused roller skates left abandoned in the bushes. Once the light turned red, she and Goofy, under the cover of two traffic cones, rolled across the pavement towards the other side using the roller skates like miniature skateboards. They made it across just as the light turned green and the morning traffic came rushing through. With the group all together again, they headed inside the store. With any luck, they could find Woody and figure out where Sora and Donald had ended up.
For a Toy Story world, I figured that Toy Story 2 would be the ideal place for the Kingdom Hearts cast to come into the TS story, as Toy Story 3 would be too emotional for a Breather Episode while Toy Story 1 I felt wouldn't have many opportunities to explain how the KH cast got into the plot. Having them join up with the gang while they're making their way to Al's Toy Barn made the most sense to me as an insertion point. And we will be seeing Sora and Donald again next chapter. No prizes for guessing where they ended up. And yes, the Toy Story book being on the L shelf is a shout out to John Lasseter, director of the first 2 Toy Story movies and without who Pixar likely wouldn't be where it is today.
I hope everyone likes having the Toy Story world be inside a storybook like the 100 Acre Wood. Because having it be a Tethered World would be a big continuity error with the interquels I've written, I figured that this explanation made the most sense. I reworked the road crossing scene because I figured that Kairi and Goofy would have found a way to get everyone across without causing a major traffic jam. I know some of you probably feel that the toys accepted that Kairi and Goofy were telling the truth too easily, but none of the toys in the TS universe are capable of Kingdom Hearts-style magic, there's really no other way to explain it, so they just dealt with it. They're fascinated by other worlds and magic, and they will be pestering Donald, Goofy, Sora, and Kairi with questions throughout the next chapter (or two, depending on how long the next chapter goes).