Chapter XXXVI: The world of toys part III
Finally making it over to Riku and King Mickey, Nozomi saw that they were entangled with Buzz who was still trying to fix his cardboard space ship, Riku at the moment was resting against the back of the bed with his arms behind his back, his eyes closed but then they opened as Nozomi arrived beside him.
Watching for a moment, Nozomi saw that Buzz was talking to King Mickey lying on skateboard as he pointed to something, asking for advice, "so what do you believe would be right for this hyper atomic reactor?" He asked him.
The king silent for a moment in thought then replied, "Well um, something that'll just hold it together I guess?"
Buzz hearing this acknowledged it as he nodded, "yes, yes good choice it makes perfect sense, right," then looking beyond the skateboard he was on he called out, "unit directional bonding strip."
With that a toy robot, a green slinky snake and a muscle bound wrestler action figure began to stretch out some tape to help with the rebuilding of his ship.
Seeing that Buzz was now preoccupied Mickey walked away a slight distance towards Nozomi and Riku, finally arriving to where they were Nozomi ushered the king to come closer to her. Doing that she then leaned down, with Cait Sith still upon her head as she whispered into one of his big ears, "your majesty? Why is he trying to fix that cardboard box?"
Hearing her question he replied, "well he believes that thing to be a space ship and that he's gotta get back to somewhere called star command."
Hearing this Nozomi's eyebrows creased baffled as she was quiet but then she asked him, "Is he really from outer space?"
The king shook his head, "nope most definitely not, but how he comes to think that way is not clear to me."
Finally getting some understanding Nozomi then let a single word fall from her mouth, "oh?"
But then before any more words could be spoken Buzz once again called out for King Mickey, hearing him the king smiled a little awkwardly as he then said, "well looks like I've gotta be goin, we'll discuss about this later, seeya in while!" With that the king took off as he went to see what other problems the astronaut was having.
Seeing him run away Nozomi spoke aloud, "that Buzz guy's definitely weird."
Cait sith then replied, "Ya got that right lass!"
Nozomi smiled as he agreed and then decided she'd go over and talk to Riku who she saw once again had his eyes closed. Moving closer over to him she stood next to him as she then started off, "hey snowball?"
He sighed obviously in another one of his moods as he then replied, "yeah what is it?" Annoyed once again at being called snowball.
"What do you think of that weird astronaut?" She asked him curious.
Quiet for a moment he then replied, "well he's just in his own delusional world, which I'm sure he'll wake up from soon enough," he finished shrugging slightly.
Hearing this Nozomi replied, "yeah, I guess he will… I hope he'll be able to handle it though when it happens."
There was then silence between them as the young heroine rolled one of her roller blade feet to and throw slightly, Cait sith wagging his tail contentedly still on her head, but then he settled down and fell asleep. As Nozomi heard his purring she looked above and smiled as she shook her head as she gently and quietly lifted Cait sith off and let him curl up and sleep on the floor. Riku in the mean time was still in his relaxed pose, but then he became bored himself of this quiet situation and decided to make some conversation, "so what were you off doing?"
Hearing him Nozomi looked over to him, "what was I doing?" She asked.
Annoyed again at her dopey nature once more he replied, "yes."
Not noticing Riku's annoyance Nozomi told him with her carefree attitude, "well just exploring really… oh! And I also talked to Woody too!" Remembering him she turned to look to see if he was still in front of the stagecoach chest. Unfortunately though he wasn't anymore as she saw the empty space, she grew depressed as she gazed on.
It was then Riku opened his eyes as he looked at her curious as to why she'd gone quiet, then looking at her depressed face his eyes were curious as he asked, "you talked to Woody?"
Nozomi then sighed herself further echoing her sadness, "yeah… it seems as though he's been really depressed lately… about Buzz."
Riku came confused slightly himself as he asked, "Buzz? Why would he be sad about him?"
Looking at him Nozomi explained, "well I was told by this shepherdess doll, Bo-Peep that their owner Andy has basically left Woody out of things, even though he used to be his favourite and instead has got obsessed with Buzz… which is why there are loads of pictures of him all over the place."
Quiet for a moment digesting this information Riku then spoke, "I see then… so he's been replaced."
Hearing this Nozomi was stunned for a moment as she looked at him but then sadness crept over as she looked away and nodded, "yeah… but it's awful though…"
Listening to this reply Riku then said, "well that's the way it is… as you grow older there'll always be toys that you end up forgetting and even abandon eventually."
Hearing this bitter truthful fact Nozomi acknowledged it as she replied, "you make it sound so easy to do…"
Riku replied, "well of course I mean when I was a kid I had quite a few toys I used to play with, and then you just forget them, every kid does."
This simply depressed her more as she replied, "I guess they do… if they have enough toys to be forgotten."
Listening to this dismal reply Riku was confused. but then his eyes came over with realisation as he replied, "what do you mean? Didn't you have that many toys?"
Nozomi shook her head, "No… I mean what I had all together was my big Moomba teddy bear, a raggy doll, a couple of bouncy balls, some toy blocks, a skipping rope… and a pull cart, that was all I had."
Riku was silent as he heard this small amount, it was nothing compared to what he had growing up. His parents had always been quite generous to him and so he had more than enough of things that led him onto his next question, "why didn't you have that many toys?"
Hearing him Nozomi told him, "well when my master left I had money to take care of household things like food and maintenance and so… I couldn't really spend it much for luxuries."
Listening to this answer Riku spoke, "I see then… it must have been tough."
Nozomi then let out a small laugh, a sarcastic smile on her lips, "you got that right, I used to get jealous of all the other kids and the toys they had… but."
Hearing her pause Riku wondered why as he then asked her to make her continue, "but what?"
"I was grateful for what I had… cause though I didn't have much, the toys I had always kept me company… even as I got older, I mean sure I don't play with them as much I used to and they don't serve that great of a purpose… but every now and again I'd look at them or hold one of them in my arms, and the memories that I had from them made me feel better."
Hearing this surprising little patch of wisdom from Nozomi's mouth Riku was quiet for a moment as he then said, "I see… looks like you treasure things really well."
At this Nozomi smiled as she replied, "yeah… that's why I feel really bad for Woody, I mean I can't imagine anything worse than that, to be forgotten and discarded so easily as though you mean nothing… I don't think that I'd be able to cope with those types of feelings." Her smile had then dimmed slightly as the melancholy of the idea emerged in her mind.
When those words were spoken, Riku felt a pang of pain in his heart as his face then became saddened as he turned away from Nozomi.
Snapping her head out of her thoughts Nozomi turned her head to look at Riku, but then as she saw his depressed face she became confused at this wondering what was wrong.
But before she could speak suddenly, there were sounds of barking from outside as suddenly a new young male voice was heard shouting, "yes!" Ending with manic laughter.
Distracted Nozomi asked, "what's that?" Riku too was surprised at the new voice as he looked towards the window where he could hear the laughter and barking.
Then suddenly Slinky came by as he spoke with a chill of terror in his voice, " it's Sid!"
Nozomi as he heard him looked confused as she asked, "Sid?"
At the moment it was then Cait sith woke up as he yawned and stretched his arms asking, "now what in the singin hills of Pete's dragon is that racket?"
Hearing this outburst Nozomi didn't know what to say, but then she was distracted as once more suddenly she heard rustling, looking up she then saw that the toys were all gathering together as they headed toward the open window with the red desk in front of it.
Seeing this both she and Riku along with Cait sith followed the herd of toys as they all heard murmurings amongst them, it was the green dinosaur Rex who was heard first, " I thought he was at Summer camp!"
Everyone was quiet as they reached the chair but then they heard the pink piggy bank speak, "they must have kicked him out early this year."
Finally then they were on the desk as they made their way to the window and it's open blue sky, the green dinosaur complained once more, " oh no not Sid!"
Hearing this Nozomi then whispered up to Cait sith who had once more nestled himself upon her head, "well looks like this Sid kid isn't well liked."
"Obvious sight there lass!" Cait sith replied, as he smacked her head gently as he usually did in agreement.
Finally then making it to the window Nozomi, Riku and Cait Sith looked outside as they saw a small boy around Andy's age dressed in a black T-shirt with a skull upon in it with dark brown hair. Beside him was a white dog with brown fur patches in various places over his body, looking at him it was obvious he was vicious with his sharp teeth and angry eyes along with his red spiked collar holding him back with a rope.
Looking at him Nozomi saw he was throwing sticks at something that was on the ground, squinting her eyes slightly and looking a little more closely as she kneeled down she saw that it was a toy soldier of some kind.
"Who is it this time?' Mr Potato head asked with anxious worry.
Suddenly it was then that Woody appeared as he looked over Nozomi, she looked up at him surprised at his appearance.
He looked out into the yard as he then said, " I, I can't tell, hey where's Lenny?" He asked looking around.
It was suddenly then that a little pair of blue binoculars spoke as he walked over saying, "right here Woody!"
With that Woody went over to pick up the binoculars as he did Nozomi moved out of the way slightly to give Woody room to move, as she did it was then Rex spoke once more, " Oh no! I can't bear to watch one of these again!"
Nozomi as well as the others were confused at this as she asked, "why what's so-"
"Oh no… it's a combat Carl…" Woody spoke as he looked and saw the poor toy soldier strapped with a rocket upon his back.
The party still confused though couldn't speak any further as then Buzz had finally arrived along with King Mickey who too had come up to observe what was happening.
"what's goin on?" Buzz asked as he pushed his way through to the front shoving Nozomi out of the slightly making her annoyed with him once more.
Woody then began to reply, "nothing that concerns you space men just us toys." With that he began to look once more into the binoculars that were Lenny.
Buzz seeing this pulled Lenny over to him as he then said, "I better take a look anyway."
As he pulled it over Nozomi took her chance as did Riku to spy overhead from behind Buzz to see what was truly going on. They then looked through the small blue toy together. Nozomi, Riku Cait sith and Buzz were all shocked at what they were looking at as they saw the poor soldier and that horrible rocket strapped to him.
"Why is that soldier attached to an explosive device!" Buzz spoke alarmed.
Nozomi chimed in, "yeah what's going on!" Equally distressed.
It was then that the binoculars were pulled over as Woody spoke, "That's why, Sid!"
However looking everyone was confused as Riku indicated as he asked, "A dog?"
"Sure is a hairy fella," Buzz added as he observed.
Nozomi didn't know how on earth a dog could do this, but then it was Woody who looked through Lenny and saw the mistake he'd made as he said, " no, no that Skud you idiots! That's Sid."
With that they were pulled over to look at their true target as there they saw Sid laughing manically as he waved his hands his hands to and throw as though he'd gained victory over something menacing.
From first looking at him it was obvious that the kid was bad news however Buzz seemed to be ignorant of this as he then said, "you mean that happy child?" He asked.
Nozomi looked at him dismissively as she said, "you call that a happy child?"
Potato head then chipped in, "that ain't no happy child!"
It was then Rex let out the horrible truth, "he tortures toys! Just for fun!"
Hearing this information Nozomi's eyes widened in horror at this idea, Riku looked infuriated as Cait sith then cried angrily, "that little creep! Why if I was big enough I'd give him a right good old spankin he'd never forget!"
Then as he spoke this Sid had then tried to throw a huge grey heavy brick upon the defenceless combat Carl soldier.
Seeing this Nozomi became infuriated at this barbaric behaviour, walking toward the window quickly, it was then that Buzz spoke, " Well then we've got to do something!"
It was then looking at Buzz for the first time as he approached the edge of the window as she did too that she began to like him a little as she replied, "couldn't agree more!"
Buzz smiled at her glad to see someone was just as passionate about a rescue, however it was then that Bo-peep and king Mickey stepped in to stop the over eager pair.
Bo-peep cried as she tried to stop Buzz from going as she held onto him with her herding stick saying, " what're you doing get down from there!"
The king on the other hand had gotten a hold of Nozomi's hand as he started to pull her back saying, "Nozomi you can't it's way too dangerous!"
However Nozomi was desperate as she struggled against him though it was tricky since due to her wheeled blades there was no way she could produce any grit, however she spoke, "but you're majesty! I-"
Buzz spoke once more, "I'm gonna teach that boy a lesson!"
However Woody still disbelieving as ever replied, "yeah, sure you go ahead, melt him with yer scary laser," he then grabbed Buzz's arm as he pressed the button making it blink and buzz as he smiled sarcastically.
Nozomi continued to struggle as she complained, "Oh let go! I've gotta do something! We've got to-"
It was then Riku grabbed her other hand as he told her angrily making her quiet in moments, "there's nothing we can do for that toy!"
"Be careful with that it extremely dangerous!" Buzz complained to Woody but then as he finished it was then an alarming call came.
"He's lighting it! He's lighting it!" Lenny shouted alarmed.
Nozomi
turned her face shocked and then finally he finished shouting, "Hit
the deck!"
With that a boom sounded as everyone ducked alarmed
as then there was a sound of toy pieces flying everywhere. There was
silence for a few moments as everyone calmed down, Nozomi opened her
eyes as she had instinctively shielded herself as one of her arms was
over her head, and Riku himself had ducked down too lying on the
floor with his head down.
The king had done the same himself as had Cait sith too now no longer on her head, getting up they all dusted themselves off while Nozomi had run to the window and then looked with truly sad eyes, as she saw where the toy had once been there was nothing left but a black crater, she sank to her knees as she sat down looking down at the scene. The other toys then appeared around her too along with Cait sith, Riku and Mickey as they all gazed upon the scene.
The boy Sid then emerged in victory as he then shouted loudly, "Yes he's gone! He's history!" As his dog continued to bark onwards.
Nozomi was quiet as she heard Buzz speak, "I could of stopped him!" He spoke with silent determination.
It was then Woody replied to him a sarcastic smile on his face once more, "Buzz I would love to see you try! Course I'd love to see you as a crater."
As everyone then looked down at the scene it was Bo-Peep who then said, "the sooner we move the better…"
With that everyone was quiet for a few moments until finally they then walked away from the window, however Nozomi didn't move from where she was. Even after all the other toys had left, Riku Cait sith and Mickey gazed at her worried, but before anyone could move it was Woody who too had stayed behind and had observed Nozomi and her reaction to the situation.
Walking over to her he stood beside her as he reached out one of his long arms out as he then put it on her shoulder, "hey Nozomi? Ya doin all right? He asked.
Looking up to who had spoken to her Nozomi looked up sadly at Woody, she then looked back down again and shook her head as she spoke, "that poor toy… I couldn't' to do anything to help him… how can someone do something so terrible like that?" She asked him.
Woody shook his head as he told her, "your guess is as good as mine, but… the only thing I can say is that I'm sure he's gone somewhere better."
Looking at him Nozomi was quiet as she asked with uncertainty, "are you sure?"
Woody nodded, "I an… besides I'm sure he'd feel honoured to know you felt specially just for him, that's what we toys live for." He finished with a gentle smile.
Quiet still Nozomi did feel bad for letting the toy down, but then the words she heard from Woody did comfort her a little so smiling gratefully, she got up and then hugged Woody as a silent thank you.
Feeling her doing this he was unsure first himself but then he smiled a little more as he gave her a little squeeze back, like that for a few moments she then let go and roller bladed over to Riku and the others.
As she rolled away she waved back to Woody as she then spoke, "thanks again Woody, see you later!" With that she disappeared with Riku who looked annoyed once more for some reason and Mickey who smiled as they went to discuss some things. Cait sith once more jumping up and nestling himself on his favourite nap spot of Nozomi's hair.
However as the group vanished off the desk edge and then down onto the chair, Woody's smile vanished to be replaced with a frown as he felt uncertainty in his heart.
"He, he, he seems as though the good old sheriff has a soft spot eh?" Came a familiar mocking chuckling tone.
Woody turned and looked at him as he shook his head and said, " that wasn't anything… now have you cooked up this idea of how yer gonna solve my problem?" He asked.
The figure grinned widely, "sure I have, why don't cha sit yerself down while I lay it down for ya?"
Woody staring at him still felt some distrust about this guy but then knowing he had nothing to lose he sat himself down as he was given the dastardly scheme.
