Toy Box pt2
Toy Box pt2
With their current group of friends now in trouble, Buzz agreed to work together for the time being, but he still showed skepticism towards the three wielders. After the army men split up to look for Hamm and the aliens, Riku, Woody and the others made for the second floor of the store to locate Rex. They were able to use the ball railings attached to the structure at the center of the store to reach the second floor, where more Heartless spawned and controlled a Gigas or two. After the Heartless were dealt with, the gang made for the Action Figure store where Sarge saw Rex being hauled off to. The inside of the store had several more displays featuring Gigas and monster-like toys from various other games.
“Rex!” Woody cried out as he ran in, Riku and the others close behind. When they caught up to the cowboy he was looking around in confusion, scratching his head.
“What’s wrong, Woody?” Riku asked him worriedly.
“I was sure I saw him walk this way…” Woody mumbled as he continued to look around the store. He definitely saw a dinosaur walk around the corner. Riku helped by looking around as well until he heard something that sounded like a growl.
“Did you hear that?” he asked the others as he turned towards them. They all strained their ears to listen for the sound, the store going completely silent.
“Uh… what’s that?” Lea questioned nervously as he pointed up at a nearby display. The others looked up and saw something moving behind some boxes. Something big.
“I sense something dark,” Aqua stated with a glare, summoning Master Keeper. Riku and Lea followed her example and summoned their own keyblades just as another, louder growl could be heard.
Suddenly, a display of boxes was thrown apart when a large Kaiju toy stomped forward, letting out a roar. The three wielders could see waves of darkness emitting from the toy, the Heartless emblem on its chest. Buzz glared as he readied his laser. Aqua looked over at the spaceman curiously when he did.
“If it wanted to play nice, it should have stayed away from my friends!” Buzz declared with a smile. Aqua smiled back at him as the whole gang banded together and charged the controlled toy as more Heartless spawned in the store.
===
Taking out the Kaiju toy was harder than they thought, especially when it started attacking them with lightning and when two more appeared. Not to mention, the Toy Troopers kept trying to get into the nearby Gigas, forcing them to take them out before they got the upper hand, while avoiding stray lightning bolts. Riku finally managed to take out two of the three Kaijus by taking control of a Gigas, but had to abandon the robot toy when he received a direct hit of lightning from the final monster Heartless, rendering the robot useless. Now, it was five toys fighting against a Kaiju and nearly a dozen Toy Troopers.
“Incoming!”
Everyone looked up in shock when they heard a familiar dinosaur cry out. From on high Rex came into the frey on a toy plane, crashing into the Kaiju just as it sent out another blast of lightning. The blast ended up missing the toys and instead struck the Toy Troopers, eliminating them instantly and leaving the Kaiju stunned. This gave Riku the chance to jump forward and deliver the killing blow. A moment later the Heartless emblem disappeared from the toy’s chest and it was left immobile. Woody and Buzz rushed to Rex, helping the dinosaur up from where he had crash landed.
“What happened?” Rex asked as he looked over his friends, spotting the Kaiju toy and the broken plane next to it. Riku wondered where Rex came from while on a plane, and noticed, on the other side of the store, another toy plane flying around in a circle while attached to a line from the ceiling, another line hanging limp nearby. That explained it. “Oh, no! Did I do that?”
“Great work, Rex,” Buzz said with a smile, patting the dinosaur on his back. “Impressive moves.”
“Great?” Rex repeated curiously. He looked over at Riku and the others, who all smiled and nodded in agreement. Rex lit up at their affirmation. “Hurray! That makes me so happy!” He couldn’t hold himself back as he hobbled forward and hugged Riku, the teen freezing up at the action while Aqua and Lea chuckled.
“Yes, you were amazing,” Riku said in fake excitement, patting Rex on the head. “But do you know what happened to Hamm and the aliens?”
“Something happened to them?” Rex asked them, looking to Woody and Buzz curiously.
“Back to square one,” Buzz grumbled as he shook his head, Woody sighing as he slumped slightly. The cowboy did perk up though when he saw Sarge hopping towards them.
“Any news, Sarge?” he asked the army man. Sarge saluted the sheriff before he spoke.
“Sir! One of my men just located Hamm forward of our position, in Babies and Toddlers. The corporal was debriefing him, but something must have gone wrong. All radio contact has been lost.” Woody looked to his friends and the three wielders in worry.
“Do you have anything more specific?” Buzz asked the army man.
“Right before I lost contact, I heard music with some sort of sonic interference.” Everyone looked at each other curiously at that.
“Could it be the Heartless?” Aqua asked the boys, who both shrugged as they were just as confused as her.
“We should still check it out,” Riku said, everyone nodding in agreement.
“Uh… I think I’ll stay by the exit,” Rex said nervously, fidgeting on the spot. “I’ll just slow you guys down…”
“Good idea,” Aqua said with a smile. “We need someone to watch the entrance. Think you can take on such an important mission for us?”
“Yes, sir- uh, ma’am!” Rex said excitedly, saluting her before he rushed out of the store. When Aqua turned back to the others, she saw Buzz giving her a smile of approval before he walked ahead to join Woody.
===
With Rex someplace safer, it was time to find Hamm. Because Babies and Toddlers was closed from the inside, the only way in was through the vents. Luckily, there was an open vent in the Action Store connected to the children’s store. Unluckily, there were Heartless in the vents they had to fight along the way, but only the smaller Shadows, Toy Troopers, Large Bodies, and Pole Cannons. No monstrous Heartless, thank goodness.
Woody and Buzz helped to guide them through the maze of vents until they reached a loose vent cover. After forcing it open, they found themselves on top of a display shelf in a store almost entirely pink in color, dolls and stuffed animals everywhere.
“This is Babies and Toddlers,” Woody said as they climbed out the vent and made their way down the shelf to the floor. “Sarge said something about ‘music’ when he lost contact with Corporal.”
“So, we look for anything that would make music,” Riku said as they started walking through the store, the others agreeing with him.
In reality, the store wasn’t that big, but because of their small size it took some time for them to look over everything in the store to see what would cause music. They saw that there were speakers up along the corners of the ceiling, but a quick check by Woody and Buzz confirmed that the power was off for them. That was when Riku noticed a small display area that had animatronic frogs dressed formally, most of the frogs holding different musical instruments while one frog held a conductor's wand. Did the frogs play music or something?
“What’s this?” Lea called out as he climbed into a plastic record player. He nearly slipped as he walked on it, causing the record on top to start moving. When the needle dragged along it, Riku could hear music play from the top, and the frogs started to move.
“Hey, the frogs play along with the music,” Aqua stated, also noticing the figures move. “Keep walking, Lea!”
“Uh, okay,” Lea said in confusion, walking along the record.
“That’s not how you do it!” Woody said with a chuckle as he joined the redhead, running on the record. Lea almost tripped again, but managed to keep up with the cowboy as they ran as fast as they could. Because of their constant moving, the music continued to play and the frogs moved, like a mini orchestra.
“Is this what the music sounded like?” Riku asked Sarge as he looked down at the army man.
“Affirmative, Riku,” the green man said with a salute. “But we have yet to locate the corporal.” The toys looked around when Riku noticed an odd sound coming from the frog orchestra.
“Do you hear that?” he asked the other toys. Aqua, Buzz, and Sarge followed him as he walked along the orchestra. Then he heard it again. It sounded like a clunky, muffled hum. He followed the sound until he reached a horn that appeared to be struggling. “Here,” he said as he looked inside it, seeing something green moving around. He reached in and pulled hard, and with a sudden shout, the silver haired teen fell back, another green army man landing next to him, the horn now playing properly.
“Corporal!” Sarge shouted as he hopped forward, helping up the injured toy. “You alright, son?”
“Y-yes, sir,” the toy said as he struggled to stand up.
“You’re the one who found Hamm,” Buzz stated as he looked down at the army man. “What happened?”
“I was radioing in when a hand grabbed me and shoved me in there,” he said as he pointed to the horn. “They must have taken Hamm somewhere else…”
“I’ll look after the corporal while you look for Hamm,” Sarge declared as he supported Corporal with one arm over his shoulder, saluting them with his other hand. “Good luck out there.”
“Be careful,” Aqua said with a smile as the army men hopped away, one them being dragged slightly.
“W-what’s… going… on?”
Riku looked up in confusion and saw that Lea and Woody were still running on the record player, both steadily becoming exhausted. “Oh, sorry!” Riku called out with a smirk, Aqua chuckling when she noticed them. “You guys can stop now!” At those words, Lea and Woody jumped off the record player, gasping for air as they joined the others.
“Why… didn’t you guys...say sooner?” Woody asked them, gasping for air.
“There’s no time for a rest,” Buzz said, trying not to smile. “We need to look for Hamm.”
“I think I might know where he is,” Aqua said as she looked up. When the toys gave her a confused look, she pointed up at another display: just a few feet up near a display window was a dollhouse, shaking around like something was trapped inside it.
A moment later, they were forcing open the dollhouse, and sure enough, Hamm waddled out.
“Talk about cabin fever!” the piggy bank exclaimed when he saw them. “Thanks for the save!”
“You okay?” Woody asked his friend worriedly.
“Other than being locked in, the accommodations were nice,” Hamm said as he looked back into the dollhouse, Lea peeking in curiously. Other than everything being smaller than normal and made of plastic, it was a cute little house.
But, then, Lea saw a large golden amber eye staring back at him from one of the windows.
“Oh, shit!” Lea cried out as he jumped back, and just in time as the dollhouse was knocked over by a sudden force of darkness. Everyone looked up in fear when they saw an Angelic Amber doll floating near them, a Heartless emblem on one of the rabbit ears on her head. Aqua recognized the doll from the many displays and packaging lining the walls, but noticed that she normally had bright blue-green eyes instead of the soulless yellow ones she currently had.
“It’s her!” Hamm shouted in fear as he hid behind the three wielders as they summoned their keyblades. “She’s the doll who pig-penned me! I’m outta here!” And with that, Hamm jumped out the window with some help from Woody, telling him to head for the entrance.
“Not another possessed toy…” Buzz muttered, frowning as he got into a fighting stance next to the others just as more Heartless spawned.
===
It took some serious team effort, but eventually the Angelic Amber collapsed to the ground, lifeless, as the Heartless emblem disappeared. The three wielders huddled together to make sure everyone was okay, but Riku noticed Buzz looking up at the doll with an unreadable expression.
“Is everything alright, Buzz?” Riku asked the spaceman. Aqua, Lea, and Woody all turned to him curiously.
“What if we end up just like her?” Buzz asked them as he continued to glare at the immobile doll. “Forgetting ourselves and attacking each other?” The three wielders looked to each other in worry while Woody stepped towards his friend.
“You’re just overthinking it,” the cowboy said with a smile. “That won’t happen to us.”
“You can’t be sure!” Buzz said as he looked at Woody, brows knitted together in worry. “What if I get taken over and attack you?” It seems fighting the possessed toys really scared him.
“Don’t think something so ridiculous,” Aqua said as she stepped forward with a smile. “The Heartless - the darkness- can only take control of you if you let your heart falter. But, even if the darkness got to you, as long as your heart is strong, nothing can harm you.” She turned to look back at Riku and Lea. “I know of those who may have had their hearts lost to darkness before, but they refused to give up, and with the support of their friends, they came back stronger than ever.”
“That’s good to hear,” Woody said with a smile as he patted Buzz on his shoulder. “Cuz I know you Buzz, and you’ll never lose heart when it comes to your friends!” Buzz looked up at Woody, then to Aqua and the boys, who all gave him reassuring smiles. After a moment he seemed to relax.
“True enough,” he said softly, smiling at them. “Sorry I worried you all.”
“Not a problem!” Woody exclaimed, patting Buzz on the shoulder again before turning to the wielders. “Now, let’s go look for our friends!”
“But where could the aliens be?” Aqua asked aloud, crossing her arms in thought. Riku was also curious until he heard a weird sound coming from outside the store.
“Wheeeeeeee!”
Everyone looked up in surprise when they saw a UFO with the Heartless emblem on it fly by the open shop window, the three aliens hanging underneath it in the clutches of a giant claw.
“There they are,” Woody said with a smile as he ran for the open window, Buzz and the wielders right on his tail.
===
Saving the aliens was already difficult enough as they had to chase around a UFO, but it was made worse when Toy Troopers, Pole Cannons, Shadows, Large Bodies, and Marionettes spawned and attacked them, several of the troopers controlling Gigas and the Marionettes possessing random toys, causing their eyes to glow yellow and a Heartless emblem to appear on them. The three wielders managed to take out one of the Gigas for Riku to control, and from there, they learned to follow the UFOs flight pattern so the rest of the gang could attack it while Riku fought off the Gigas and other Heartless. Eventually, the Heartless stopped spawning and the UFO crashed near an indoor play area, releasing the aliens.
“We are back!” the aliens said as they hobbled in circles around Aqua. “Our ship is no more! Nirvana will not be reached!” Aqua kneeled down next to the aliens and gave them a sad smile.
“Sorry we destroyed your ship,” she said apologetically. The aliens looked up at her with smiles on their faces.
“Fear not,” one of them said with raised arms. “We still have our new home.”
“The Chamber of Andy,” they said in union, making Aqua smile brightly.
“They’re right,” Buzz said with a frown. “We don’t belong here. We should be back home, in Andy’s room.” The three wielders looked to Buzz in slight confusion.
“But… that Xehanort guy said that this world is fake,” Lea pointed out. “Even if you returned to that room, Andy won’t—“ But Lea didn’t get a chance to finish as Aqua elbowed him in his side, making him yelp in pain. Buzz looked to the three wielders with a determined look on his face.
“Even if this world is fake, that doesn’t mean Andy isn’t out there looking for us,” he said. “I’m going back home. You with me, Woody?” Woody seemed to contemplate what he said before giving a nod.
“You’re right, Buzz,” the cowboy said with a smile. “Now that all our friends are back together, we should head home.” The toys all headed out of the play area, the three wielders following close behind.
===
It didn’t take long for the gang to reach the ground floor where the other toys waited for them, huddled up together and chatting away.
“Sarge, roll call!” Woody called out as the three aliens joined the group. Sarge stood at attention when he saw them approach.
“Sir, yes, sir!” the army man shouted with a salute. “Roll call! All toys at attention!” When the toys heard the order, they all stood together in a single file line as Buzz walked past them, counting them down.
“Sarge… Army men times four… Hamm… Aliens 1, 2, 3…” But he stopped when he reached the end of the line and noticed that they were short by one dinosaur. “Where’s Rex?”
“Oh, he took off not long ago,” Hamm mentioned nonchalantly. “He’s up by the video games on the third floor.” Buzz ran a hand across his face as he gave a long sigh.
“Here we go again…”
“What happened to Rex?” Riku asked the toys as the wielders joined the group.
“He thought Woody and Buzz still didn’t trust you guys, so he wanted to prove them wrong,” Hamm stated. Riku looked back at Aqua and Lea, who both frowned at the news.
“But it’s too dangerous to be walking around with the Heartless still here,” Riku said as he turned to Woody and Buzz. “We’ll help get him back.”
“Thanks, guys,” Woody said with a smile as they headed back into the store.