Yes, I've finally got another chapter up. This one's a biggie, but it's pretty action packed, so I hope you enjoy it. Sorry for the slight delay.
Chapter 7: Just a Toy
Chapter 7: Just a Toy
“You were... jealous?” Buzz asked, finally looking up and showing emotion.
“Why else would I push you out a window?” Woody cried. “You're a space ranger toy! You have lasers and wings and cool catchphrases. All I have is... a worn out pull-string and an old hat.”
Buzz sat in silence for a minute before he mumbled, “It's just... I was a space ranger before. And now I'm just a toy. A fake.”
“What happened to you?” Woody asked, wondering what could make Buzz so depressed all of the sudden, “You used to be happier than all the rest of Andy's toys combined!”
“Well... I escaped from Sid's room after you pushed me out the window. Then I got chased by Sid's dog, and he led me into a room down the hall. And I saw... a commercial for Buzz Lightyears. Rows and rows of them in every store, all exactly like me. I'm just a fake, a replica.”
“No you're not,” Aros said, turning away from the attacking, rabid toys to face Buzz, “Just because you look the same, and act mostly the same doesn't mean you are the same. You have your own heart, one that isn't like anybody else's.”
“Thanks, Aros,” Buzz said weakly.
“...But, uh...how did you lose your arm?” Woody asked, pointing at Buzz's shoulder.
“I... I tried to fly...”
“You tried to fly?!” Woody cried, “But you said you knew you were a toy!”
“I wanted to prove that I wasn't a toy. To prove that I was real. So I jumped off the stairs. That's where Sid's sister found me.”
Aros nodded and began to say something when Woody interrupted, crying, “Aros, look out!”
As Aros whirled around, Sid's fishing pole-on-legs lunged at Aros, whipping him with its thin wire. Aros stumbled back as three more toys barreled past him, leaping on Buzz. Aros regained his balance and dove at the toys. But before he could make contact with the pile, the fishing pole hooked his keyblade and yanked it from his grasp. Aros tripped forward, crashing into Mickey. Soon, all of Sid's toys had climbed on top of Buzz.
“Get off him you cannibals!” Woody screamed, clawing any toy he could reach.
Aros jumped to his feet and summoned his keyblade back with a flash. He was about to slash at the pile when Mickey held out a hand to stop him.
“Mickey!” Aros yelled, trying to shove the mouse aside.
“Look!” Mickey said, pointing at the pile with his keyblade.
The toys were slowly backing away from Buzz, who was lying on his back. Buzz sat up and examined his arm in wonder.
“What are they doing?” Aros asked, confused.
Buzz raised his other arm and rubbed his hands together. Woody dashed over to Buzz and patted him on the shoulder.
“They put his arm back on!” Aros yelled, running over to Buzz with Mickey.
“Yeah...” Buzz said in awe.
“Thanks, guys,” Mickey whispered sheepishly to Sid's toys, “Sorry about trying to hit you with our keyblades.”
The leader of the toys, the half robotic doll, nodded and led the rest of the mob towards the shelves. Aros smiled guiltily as they disappeared into the darkness.
“Well, Buzz, let's get out of here,” Woody said, grinning widely. As he stepped over to help Buzz to his feet, a loud thumping echoed off the hall outside the room. From the other side of the door, they heard Sid yell, “Stay out of my room Sally, and stop taking my toys!”
Woody looked at Aros and Mickey in a panic and dashed under the shelves next to the desk with the rest of Sid's toys.
Aros and Mickey followed, but Aros stopped, whispering urgently, “C'mon, Buzz, get up.”
“I'm coming,” Buzz answered, crawling to his feet.
Buzz made it half way to the shelf when the door slammed open. Buzz immediately dropped to the ground in a sitting position, staring blankly towards the wall. Sid crossed the room without noticing him and threw a red and blue rocket onto the desk. As he stepped backwards, Sid's foot made contact with Buzz's wing.
Sid spun around and spotted Buzz. “How'd you get there? I thought I put you... Never mind.”
Sid picked up Buzz and set him roughly on the table. From the red toolbox, Sid pulled out a roll of duct tape, which he promptly used to strap the rocket to Buzz's back. He pulled out a match from the toolbox and slipped it between two layers of the duct tape.
“There, now you can make it to the moon, mister space ranger.” Sid cackled in laughter and walked towards the door, with Buzz in hand. It was time to show those stupid toys who was boss. He made it halfway across the room when a corridor of darkness sprang up from the floor.
Sid yelped in fright, and dropped Buzz to the ground. He scrambled back to the desk and pulled a wrench from the tool box, preparing to defend himself from whatever came out of the portal. Oznei stormed out of the dark pillar and waved his right hand, sending Sid's wrench flying through the air.
“So,” Oznei started angrily, “I assume you haven't done anything productive.”
“I-I-I” Sid stuttered in fear.
“Oh, shut up, I don't need to hear your babble. You see, I just met with my superior, and he has a very important task for me.”
“Your... superior?” This could be bad, Sid thought nervously. What was that creep gonna do to him?
“That's right,” Oznei congratulated sarcastically, “I'm working for a man named Tronahex. And Tronahex needs something from this world. In fact, he needs two things. And I think you can help me get them.”
“What? Me?” Sid whimpered, hoping that he wasn't needed for anything dangerous.
“Yes you!” Oznei spat, “But I'm going to have to make some adjustments to my plan, since you don't seem to be able to do anything useful without my supervision.”
“What-what is it you want?”
Oznei laughed, “I suppose I can tell you, since it won't matter anyway. I need a heart: the heart to this world.”
“This world has a... heart?” Oznei asked, stunned.
“Yes, every world has a heart, idiot. And the power within those hearts is beyond comprehension. But the heart of your world seems to be bent on escaping my superior.”
“Where is it?” Sid asked, growing slightly more confident.
“...I believe it is in your neighbor, Andrew.”
Sid frowned. “Andy? Why him?”
“Andrew is a very unique boy. His heart is naturally made of pure light, which I believe makes him the perfect host for such a powerful heart. With your help, I plan to extract that heart.”
“Extract it? But how?”
“I think you know already,” Oznei answered with a wicked grin.
Sid gulped, “You're going to... kill him...”
Oznei laughed, “No, you are.”
“No! I-I can't. I didn't know... that you were going to kill... I just was having fun!”
“You accepted darkness, and now it's time for you to face the consequences. You will kill him, one way or another. We must extract the heart before the keyblade masters seal it away.”
“NO!!!” Sid screamed, becoming hysterical. Oznei was insane. He was evil!
“Fine, then I guess you'll be doing it unwillingly!”
Oznei held out his hand again, and black flames erupted all around Sid. Sid cried out and thrashed about, but the darkness soon covered him from head to toe. Oznei watched him passively for several seconds and then lowered his hand. As the flames receded, Aros noticed that Sid's skin had a strange purple tint, and seemed slightly translucent.
Oznei walked around Sid, inspecting him, and then said, “There, now it's time to kill Andrew and the keyblade masters.”
As the tall robed man whispered his plan to Sid, Woody reached forward and tapped Aros on the shoulder, signaling him to come farther under the shelf. Aros crawled over to Mickey, who was crouched next to several of Sid's toys. Mickey gestured for Aros to climb onto a large skateboard with Woody. Aros did so, but jumped in surprise when he noticed that there was a small plastic head attached to the front of the skateboard. The head turned and smiled at Aros, and then turned back away as Mickey climbed on.
Woody leaned forward and whispered to Aros, “We're going to grab Buzz and get out of here.”
Aros nodded and Woody held up a hand to count down. As the skateboard's head saw Woody lower his last finger it zipped out from under the shelf and over to Buzz. As the robed man spotted the skateboard, he yelled out in surprise and barked out for Sid to follow them. Aros reached out with Woody and heaved Buzz onto the board as it whizzed by the toy. The board shot out the door to Sid's room, and made a sharp turn to the left to fly down the stairs. As it was falling, Aros tightly gripped the front of the skateboard to stop himself from falling off. He could feel Woody holding on to his right shoe as they hit a step and launched into the air.
The skateboard finally reached the bottom of the steps, crashed into a wall, and rode off down the hallway, with Aros, Mickey, Buzz, and Woody barely holding on. Behind them, Sid took a flying leap down the steps and thundered through the hallway after them. As the skatedboard reached the end of the hall, it flew through the doggy door in the front door onto the porch. Behind it, Aros could hear Sid crash into the doorway.
The skateboard shot off the small porch and to the sidewalk, which it followed quickly out to the road. As the board was halfway to Andy's house, Aros heard the front door of Sid's house slam open, and he heard Sid dashing after them.
“Hey, Aros, look!” Mickey cried.
Aros spun around to look ahead, and saw a large teal car driving away from in front of Andy's house. Standing where it had just left was a young boy with short brown hair wearing a cowboy hat.
“That's Andy!” Woody yelled, “That's him!”
“Well then, it looks like you and I have got some work to do, Aros,” Mickey said quickly. “I'll hold off Sid, you seal the heart of this world in Andy.”
“How?” Aros asked urgently.
“Just do what feels right. The keyblade will show you the way.”
Mickey quickly pulled a small vial of pink fluid from his jacket and downed half of the liquid inside. He handed the bottle to Aros and flipped off the back of the skateboard, landing lightly in the middle of the sidewalk with his keyblade in hand. As he took a step forward, he began to slowly grow back to his normal size.
Aros called out for the skateboard to stop as it neared Andy, who was staring in amazement at the living toys approaching him. Aros downed the contents of Mickey's vial in one gulp and jumped off the skateboard, flying through the air towards Andy. He quickly summoned his keyblade and held it out towards Andy. A strange sensation swept over him, and a glimmering beam of light shot out of the blade and made contact with Andy's chest. A glowing symbol shaped like a lock appeared for a moment, and then all the light disappeared. Aros landed on the ground at full size and sent away his keyblade.
Andy was standing completely frozen, half amazed and half frightened at what just happened.
“Andy, get inside, quick!” Aros ordered. “It's not safe out here. Your neighbor's gone crazy. But we'll take care of it.”
Andy stared wide-eyed at Aros for a moment and then sprinted into his house. Aros turned and ran back to Mickey, summoning his keyblade again. As he reached Mickey, the skateboard whizzed by him, with only Woody on it.
“Where's Buzz?” Aros asked.
“At the house,” Woody replied inaudibly.
Unable to hear him, Aros yelled back, “Just get back to the house. Mickey and I can handle this!”
Woody shook his head and weaved past Mickey and straight at Sid. Sid grinned as he saw Woody approaching, and stomped on the front of the moving skateboard, sending Woody shooting into the air. Sid caught him in mid-flight, and held him tightly before Aros and Mickey.
Sid smiled, and black flames leaped from Sid's hand and surrounded Woody. Seconds later, a dark mist materialized and whirled around Sid, enveloping him in a cocoon of darkness. Soon, he was completely hidden behind the veil of shadows.
“What's going on?” Aros asked frantically, unsure whether to attack the darkness with his keyblade.
“I don't know!” Mickey replied anxiously.
Suddenly, the dark mist exploded outward, sending both Aros and Mickey reeling backwards. A massive, dark figure rose through the smoke. As the darkness cleared, Aros could see that the figure was about twenty feet tall, with six black arms and a dark purple torso. The top two of its arms had seven sharp, bony fingers, and the bottom four arms were nothing but sharp scythes. It also had two short, thick legs with several sharp claws for toes. Its head seemed strangely similar to Sid's, but it also seemed pale and deformed. On the figures chest, Aros spotted a space ranger badge and the word, 'Lightyear'.
As if to confirm Aros' thoughts, Mickey said, “I think Sid is absorbing Woody's darkness.”
“What do we do?”Aros asked helplessly.
Mickey prepared his keyblade and dashed at the creature, crying back to Aros, “Attack its chest or its head, and watch out for the arms!” The creature swung the first of its scythe-like arms at Mickey, who leaped over the blade and sliced the arm with his keyblade. The arm fell limply to the ground and exploded in a cloud of smoke. Mickey jumped at the creature's head, but was blocked by the creature's top right clawed arm.
“Mickey!” Aros cried, running at the beast.
“No, Aros,” Mickey yelled, “attack the arms! You can't get to the head if the arms are there to block you!”
Aros changed his course and jumped to the right as one of the bladed arms crashed into the ground. With all his strength, he swung his keyblade at the creature's wrist. But another of its arms smashed into Aros' torso, sending him flying to side. A third arm was about to slice Aros in half when Mickey leaped into the fray again, slicing the third arm off the beast. Mickey dove at the arm that was still embedded in the ground, but was blocked by the creature's top left arm, which pinned him to the ground with its seven long fingers.
“Aros, forget the arms!” Mickey ordered, struggling to break free of the creature's grasp. “There's too many of them. Use magic to hit the head!”
“Magic?! I don't know any magic! How am I supposed to-”
“Aros, just do what feels natural,” Mickey interrupted as one of the bladed arms swung at his prostrate body, “the keyblade will guide you!”
Aros nodded and ran again at the beast. With a malevolent smile from its gruesome head, the creature roared and jabbed at Aros with its other clawed hand. Expecting the attack, Aros leaped to the side and sliced off the ends of all seven of the hand's fingers with a single fluid stroke.
The creature screeched in pain as Aros sprang up onto the now fingerless arm and jumped up towards the beast's head. It blindly swiped forward in an attempt to knock away Aros's imminent attack. But from behind Aros' there was a low buzzing, as something shot across the lawn towards the beast. Aros turned as a rocket blasted past him and a loud, “To infinity, and beyond!” sounded from a figure riding atop the rocket. Just as the rocket was about to collide with the creature's arm, Buzz leaped from the rocket and dropped to the ground, jarred, but not injured. The rocket exploded in a dazzling display of colors, incinerating the creature's swinging arm.
Aros held forth his keyblade and, without pausing to think about what he was doing, focused all his energy on the keyblade in his grip. As a strange tingling sensation shot through Aros' arm, a ball of fire erupted from the tip of his keyblade and shot forward into the beast's exposed head. Aros landed softly on the ground as the creature toppled over backwards and crashed to the pavement of the sidewalk.
As the beast's left arm released Mickey, he rolled to the side and jumped to his feet, summoning back his keyblade and standing in front of Buzz.
“I did it!” Aros exclaimed to Mickey. “I really used magic. It felt so... weird! Like I was releasing energy through the keyblade.”
Mickey nodded his encouragement and then returned his attention to the fallen beast. With a loud bang, it exploded into a cloud of black smoke, which slowly rose upward in a pillar of darkness. At the base of the plume was Sid's small, human body, lying crumpled on the ground. Next to it was Woody, who quickly jumped to his feet and ran over to Buzz and Mickey.
Watching Sid's body slowly stir on the ground, Mickey said, “Thanks for the help, Buzz, but I think you better take Woody and get somewhere safe now.”
Buzz nodded and ran back towards Andy's house past Aros, who gave him a quick thumbs up. When Buzz and Woody had each reached the house safely, Aros lowered his keyblade and ran over to Mickey, who was still panting from fighting off the monster's arm.
Sid slowly climbed to his feet, and evaluated Aros and Mickey quickly with his cold amber eyes. He staggered slightly, but immediately regained his composure and approached the two warriors.
“Sid!” Aros yelled, “are you in there? Can you hear me?”
Sid suddenly erupted in hysterical laughter. “Is Sid in here? What a foolish question. Of course he's in here. He is simply subdued. You cannot remove someone's mind from their body. You can only manipulate it.”
“You're... that man in the black robe! Mesna's servant” Aros said angrily.
“Yes and no. My name is Oznei, and I serve Tronahex, not Mesna. Mesna is dead.”
“What?! How?” Aros and Mickey cried together.
“I admit, I am a bit disappointed. I was expecting a debate. I would think that the Organization would at least tell its new members what they're fighting. I mean, really, Mesna died more than a year ago. How could you not have heard?” Sid casually stepped back from them. “Of course, now there's really no reason for the Organization to exist. Especially not with Tronahex on the throne.”
“What are you talking about?” Aros demanded. “Who's Tronahex? What do you mean the Organization shouldn't exist?”
“Aros, it's probably a trick,” Mickey said. “He's trying to distract us.”
“I hardly need to distract you,” Sid replied with a laugh. He held out his palm, and released a ball of black flames at Aros and Mickey. Mickey swung Star Seeker forward, and a large chunk of ice shot from his keyblade, colliding with the flame and exploding in midair.
Mickey shot another blast of ice at Sid, who blocked it with a simple swish of his hand. The ice rebounded back at Mickey, who hit the chunk with his keblade, bouncing it back at Sid again.
“Aros!” Mickey cried, shaking Aros out of watching the dangerous game of ping-pong. Aros leaped to the right and shot a ball of fire from his keyblade at Sid. Sid launched another ball of black flames at Aros' attack, destroying it with a bang. Immediately after launching his ball of fire, Aros pointed his keyblade at Sid's chest, and shot a glimmering beam of light. As Sid blocked Mickey's ice chunk yet again, the beam struck him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Black flames exploded out from his sprawled body, and his skin slowly regained its opaqueness.
“What did you do?” Mickey asked in wonder.
“I-I don't know. I just felt an urge to hold up my keyblade, and then that beam shot out. It felt a lot like when I sealed Andy's heart.”
“It looks like you stopped Oznei from controlling Sid,” Mickey observed, watching as Sid's body returned to its normal color.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Aros agreed, running over to Sid.
He crouched beside Sid's unconscious body, and lowered his head to Sid's chest, checking for a heart beat or breathing. “He's just unconscious,” Aros said, feeling the slow rise and fall of the boy's shirt.
“Good,” Mickey muttered, relieved that no one was injured.
As Aros returned to his feet, a corridor of darkness shot out of the ground several feet away. Oznei slowly stepped out, grinning savagely at Aros and Mickey.
“Oznei!” Aros yelled. “Looks like we beat you after all!”
Oznei laughed coldly. “Did you now? Because as I see it, you only beat a meager puppet. I am still standing before you, am I not?”
“Fine, then we'll beat you again!” Aros threatened.
Oznei held up his right hand, and a ball of black flames exploded in his palm A large, tattered book appeared from the flames. He quickly flipped open the book and pulled out a small, sharp knife, which had previously acted as a bookmark.
“Let's see who is truly more powerful,” he whispered cunningly. With a flash of light, Oznei disappeared from before Aros and Mickey.
“Where is he?” Aros cried.
Suddenly, Mickey flew backwards with a thud. As the mouse hit the dirt, he cried out, “Aros, look out, he's right in front of you!”
Aros swiped his keyblade at the air in front of where Mickey had been struck, but his blade met nothing but air. “Where are you?” Aros yelled angrily. “Show yourself, you coward!”
“Very well,” Oznei's smooth voice conceded from across the yard. The robed man was leaning against the fence that separated Sid and Andy's yard, stroking his greasy black hair. “Here I am.” Aros was about to rush at him when a second Oznei appeared to Aros' right. “And I'm here too.”
“Wha-?”
Behind Aros, a third Oznei appeared, swinging his knife at the keyblade wielder's unguarded back. Mickey leaped to his feet and dove towards the robed man, slashing at him with the Star Seeker. But the keyblade simply continued right on through Oznei and to the ground, without slowing down. The Oznei holding the knife flickered and disappeared.
A fourth Oznei appeared instantly behind Mickey and struck him hard in the side of the head with his large book.
“Mickey!” Aros yelled, spinning around to face the mouse's attacker. But as he turned around, the robed man was already gone. He spun back around, and found himself face-to-face with three copies of Oznei. Aros quickly blocked an attack from the right Oznei and swung his keyblade at the middle one. It flickered and faded right before Aros' eyes. But before he could rest for a second, the left Oznei smacked Aros hard in the head with his book. Grinning, he raised a gleaming dagger above Aros' body.
“Goodbye, keyblade master,” he said cheerfully, as the other copy of Oznei disappeared with a swish.
Aros closed his eyes and winced as he imagined the dagger rushing down towards him, ready to end his short life. A startling realization swept over him; this time he really would die. Mickey was on the ground several feet away, and Woody and Buzz were in the house, so he had no one to save him from the oncoming blade. Aros almost grinned. This was how the powerful keyblade wielder would fall: alone, curled up on the grass, beaten by a robed illusionist.
A second passed.
Aros heard a muffled gurgling sound from above him, and light thud as something small hit the dirt next to his leg. He cautiously peeled open his eyes.
Oznei was standing above him, his arms spread out above his head. His dagger was lying by Aros, and his book was in his left hand. Protruding from the middle of Oznei's chest, Aros could see the thin tip of a steel sword. With a jerk, the sword was wrenched from Oznei's body. Oznei staggered to the side and almost fell to the ground, crying out in pain.
Aros peered around in curiosity, looking for the robed man's killer. As Oznei pitched over onto the grass, Aros saw a tall knight, covered from head to foot in battered black armor. Two long, curved spikes pointed out form his shoulder plates, and his helmet had indents in the shape of human eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
“Get off the ground!” the knight ordered to Aros, his voice sharp and commanding.
Aros leaped to his feet and stumbled over to the knight's side. Behind him, Oznei slowly climbed back to his feet. Sweat and blood pouring from his face and chest, he almost fell down again.
Oznei spit up some blood as he attempted to speak. “So... Cecil! I haven't... seen you in... ages.”
The knight, apparently named Cecil, snickered and replied, “It's good to see you too, Oznei. Imagine the odds of running into you here. I actually have a couple of questions for you.”
Oznei began to laugh, but quickly stopped, obviously in too much pain. “Over my... dead body.”
“That can be arranged,” Cecil warned, raising his bloody sword again.
“Not... this time,” Oznei growled.
“Who are you working for?” Cecil demanded. “I don't want any lies!”
“King Tronahex.”
Cecil shook his head. “Are you really going to try that lie on me? I said, who do you work for?!”
Oznei laughed laboriously. “I told you, I serve Tronahex.”
Cecil swore angrily. Oznei half laughed, half choked, and then shrieked at the top of his lungs. He threw out his arms to the side, and sent out a wave of darkness across the lawn. Black clouds quickly materialized over the subdivision, and wisps of darkness spun around the yard.
As Oznei slowly floated up off the ground, Cecil summoned a corridor of darkness. “You two, go through there!” he commanded Mickey and Aros.
“What about you?” Aros yelled over Oznei's scream and the loud rumbling of the dark clouds.
“I'll be fine,” Cecil assured him. “Trust me, I can handle it. Just go!”
Aros gave one last look to Cecil and then turned and ran through the black portal, Mickey hot on his heels.
Cecil raised his sword and turned back to look at Oznei, who was thrashing about, hovering a foot or so in the air. “So, you serve Tronahex, do you?”
“Why else would I push you out a window?” Woody cried. “You're a space ranger toy! You have lasers and wings and cool catchphrases. All I have is... a worn out pull-string and an old hat.”
Buzz sat in silence for a minute before he mumbled, “It's just... I was a space ranger before. And now I'm just a toy. A fake.”
“What happened to you?” Woody asked, wondering what could make Buzz so depressed all of the sudden, “You used to be happier than all the rest of Andy's toys combined!”
“Well... I escaped from Sid's room after you pushed me out the window. Then I got chased by Sid's dog, and he led me into a room down the hall. And I saw... a commercial for Buzz Lightyears. Rows and rows of them in every store, all exactly like me. I'm just a fake, a replica.”
“No you're not,” Aros said, turning away from the attacking, rabid toys to face Buzz, “Just because you look the same, and act mostly the same doesn't mean you are the same. You have your own heart, one that isn't like anybody else's.”
“Thanks, Aros,” Buzz said weakly.
“...But, uh...how did you lose your arm?” Woody asked, pointing at Buzz's shoulder.
“I... I tried to fly...”
“You tried to fly?!” Woody cried, “But you said you knew you were a toy!”
“I wanted to prove that I wasn't a toy. To prove that I was real. So I jumped off the stairs. That's where Sid's sister found me.”
Aros nodded and began to say something when Woody interrupted, crying, “Aros, look out!”
As Aros whirled around, Sid's fishing pole-on-legs lunged at Aros, whipping him with its thin wire. Aros stumbled back as three more toys barreled past him, leaping on Buzz. Aros regained his balance and dove at the toys. But before he could make contact with the pile, the fishing pole hooked his keyblade and yanked it from his grasp. Aros tripped forward, crashing into Mickey. Soon, all of Sid's toys had climbed on top of Buzz.
“Get off him you cannibals!” Woody screamed, clawing any toy he could reach.
Aros jumped to his feet and summoned his keyblade back with a flash. He was about to slash at the pile when Mickey held out a hand to stop him.
“Mickey!” Aros yelled, trying to shove the mouse aside.
“Look!” Mickey said, pointing at the pile with his keyblade.
The toys were slowly backing away from Buzz, who was lying on his back. Buzz sat up and examined his arm in wonder.
“What are they doing?” Aros asked, confused.
Buzz raised his other arm and rubbed his hands together. Woody dashed over to Buzz and patted him on the shoulder.
“They put his arm back on!” Aros yelled, running over to Buzz with Mickey.
“Yeah...” Buzz said in awe.
“Thanks, guys,” Mickey whispered sheepishly to Sid's toys, “Sorry about trying to hit you with our keyblades.”
The leader of the toys, the half robotic doll, nodded and led the rest of the mob towards the shelves. Aros smiled guiltily as they disappeared into the darkness.
“Well, Buzz, let's get out of here,” Woody said, grinning widely. As he stepped over to help Buzz to his feet, a loud thumping echoed off the hall outside the room. From the other side of the door, they heard Sid yell, “Stay out of my room Sally, and stop taking my toys!”
Woody looked at Aros and Mickey in a panic and dashed under the shelves next to the desk with the rest of Sid's toys.
Aros and Mickey followed, but Aros stopped, whispering urgently, “C'mon, Buzz, get up.”
“I'm coming,” Buzz answered, crawling to his feet.
Buzz made it half way to the shelf when the door slammed open. Buzz immediately dropped to the ground in a sitting position, staring blankly towards the wall. Sid crossed the room without noticing him and threw a red and blue rocket onto the desk. As he stepped backwards, Sid's foot made contact with Buzz's wing.
******
Sid spun around and spotted Buzz. “How'd you get there? I thought I put you... Never mind.”
Sid picked up Buzz and set him roughly on the table. From the red toolbox, Sid pulled out a roll of duct tape, which he promptly used to strap the rocket to Buzz's back. He pulled out a match from the toolbox and slipped it between two layers of the duct tape.
“There, now you can make it to the moon, mister space ranger.” Sid cackled in laughter and walked towards the door, with Buzz in hand. It was time to show those stupid toys who was boss. He made it halfway across the room when a corridor of darkness sprang up from the floor.
Sid yelped in fright, and dropped Buzz to the ground. He scrambled back to the desk and pulled a wrench from the tool box, preparing to defend himself from whatever came out of the portal. Oznei stormed out of the dark pillar and waved his right hand, sending Sid's wrench flying through the air.
“So,” Oznei started angrily, “I assume you haven't done anything productive.”
“I-I-I” Sid stuttered in fear.
“Oh, shut up, I don't need to hear your babble. You see, I just met with my superior, and he has a very important task for me.”
“Your... superior?” This could be bad, Sid thought nervously. What was that creep gonna do to him?
“That's right,” Oznei congratulated sarcastically, “I'm working for a man named Tronahex. And Tronahex needs something from this world. In fact, he needs two things. And I think you can help me get them.”
“What? Me?” Sid whimpered, hoping that he wasn't needed for anything dangerous.
“Yes you!” Oznei spat, “But I'm going to have to make some adjustments to my plan, since you don't seem to be able to do anything useful without my supervision.”
“What-what is it you want?”
Oznei laughed, “I suppose I can tell you, since it won't matter anyway. I need a heart: the heart to this world.”
“This world has a... heart?” Oznei asked, stunned.
“Yes, every world has a heart, idiot. And the power within those hearts is beyond comprehension. But the heart of your world seems to be bent on escaping my superior.”
“Where is it?” Sid asked, growing slightly more confident.
“...I believe it is in your neighbor, Andrew.”
Sid frowned. “Andy? Why him?”
“Andrew is a very unique boy. His heart is naturally made of pure light, which I believe makes him the perfect host for such a powerful heart. With your help, I plan to extract that heart.”
“Extract it? But how?”
“I think you know already,” Oznei answered with a wicked grin.
Sid gulped, “You're going to... kill him...”
Oznei laughed, “No, you are.”
“No! I-I can't. I didn't know... that you were going to kill... I just was having fun!”
“You accepted darkness, and now it's time for you to face the consequences. You will kill him, one way or another. We must extract the heart before the keyblade masters seal it away.”
“NO!!!” Sid screamed, becoming hysterical. Oznei was insane. He was evil!
“Fine, then I guess you'll be doing it unwillingly!”
Oznei held out his hand again, and black flames erupted all around Sid. Sid cried out and thrashed about, but the darkness soon covered him from head to toe. Oznei watched him passively for several seconds and then lowered his hand. As the flames receded, Aros noticed that Sid's skin had a strange purple tint, and seemed slightly translucent.
Oznei walked around Sid, inspecting him, and then said, “There, now it's time to kill Andrew and the keyblade masters.”
******
As the tall robed man whispered his plan to Sid, Woody reached forward and tapped Aros on the shoulder, signaling him to come farther under the shelf. Aros crawled over to Mickey, who was crouched next to several of Sid's toys. Mickey gestured for Aros to climb onto a large skateboard with Woody. Aros did so, but jumped in surprise when he noticed that there was a small plastic head attached to the front of the skateboard. The head turned and smiled at Aros, and then turned back away as Mickey climbed on.
Woody leaned forward and whispered to Aros, “We're going to grab Buzz and get out of here.”
Aros nodded and Woody held up a hand to count down. As the skateboard's head saw Woody lower his last finger it zipped out from under the shelf and over to Buzz. As the robed man spotted the skateboard, he yelled out in surprise and barked out for Sid to follow them. Aros reached out with Woody and heaved Buzz onto the board as it whizzed by the toy. The board shot out the door to Sid's room, and made a sharp turn to the left to fly down the stairs. As it was falling, Aros tightly gripped the front of the skateboard to stop himself from falling off. He could feel Woody holding on to his right shoe as they hit a step and launched into the air.
The skateboard finally reached the bottom of the steps, crashed into a wall, and rode off down the hallway, with Aros, Mickey, Buzz, and Woody barely holding on. Behind them, Sid took a flying leap down the steps and thundered through the hallway after them. As the skatedboard reached the end of the hall, it flew through the doggy door in the front door onto the porch. Behind it, Aros could hear Sid crash into the doorway.
The skateboard shot off the small porch and to the sidewalk, which it followed quickly out to the road. As the board was halfway to Andy's house, Aros heard the front door of Sid's house slam open, and he heard Sid dashing after them.
“Hey, Aros, look!” Mickey cried.
Aros spun around to look ahead, and saw a large teal car driving away from in front of Andy's house. Standing where it had just left was a young boy with short brown hair wearing a cowboy hat.
“That's Andy!” Woody yelled, “That's him!”
“Well then, it looks like you and I have got some work to do, Aros,” Mickey said quickly. “I'll hold off Sid, you seal the heart of this world in Andy.”
“How?” Aros asked urgently.
“Just do what feels right. The keyblade will show you the way.”
Mickey quickly pulled a small vial of pink fluid from his jacket and downed half of the liquid inside. He handed the bottle to Aros and flipped off the back of the skateboard, landing lightly in the middle of the sidewalk with his keyblade in hand. As he took a step forward, he began to slowly grow back to his normal size.
Aros called out for the skateboard to stop as it neared Andy, who was staring in amazement at the living toys approaching him. Aros downed the contents of Mickey's vial in one gulp and jumped off the skateboard, flying through the air towards Andy. He quickly summoned his keyblade and held it out towards Andy. A strange sensation swept over him, and a glimmering beam of light shot out of the blade and made contact with Andy's chest. A glowing symbol shaped like a lock appeared for a moment, and then all the light disappeared. Aros landed on the ground at full size and sent away his keyblade.
Andy was standing completely frozen, half amazed and half frightened at what just happened.
“Andy, get inside, quick!” Aros ordered. “It's not safe out here. Your neighbor's gone crazy. But we'll take care of it.”
Andy stared wide-eyed at Aros for a moment and then sprinted into his house. Aros turned and ran back to Mickey, summoning his keyblade again. As he reached Mickey, the skateboard whizzed by him, with only Woody on it.
“Where's Buzz?” Aros asked.
“At the house,” Woody replied inaudibly.
Unable to hear him, Aros yelled back, “Just get back to the house. Mickey and I can handle this!”
Woody shook his head and weaved past Mickey and straight at Sid. Sid grinned as he saw Woody approaching, and stomped on the front of the moving skateboard, sending Woody shooting into the air. Sid caught him in mid-flight, and held him tightly before Aros and Mickey.
Sid smiled, and black flames leaped from Sid's hand and surrounded Woody. Seconds later, a dark mist materialized and whirled around Sid, enveloping him in a cocoon of darkness. Soon, he was completely hidden behind the veil of shadows.
“What's going on?” Aros asked frantically, unsure whether to attack the darkness with his keyblade.
“I don't know!” Mickey replied anxiously.
Suddenly, the dark mist exploded outward, sending both Aros and Mickey reeling backwards. A massive, dark figure rose through the smoke. As the darkness cleared, Aros could see that the figure was about twenty feet tall, with six black arms and a dark purple torso. The top two of its arms had seven sharp, bony fingers, and the bottom four arms were nothing but sharp scythes. It also had two short, thick legs with several sharp claws for toes. Its head seemed strangely similar to Sid's, but it also seemed pale and deformed. On the figures chest, Aros spotted a space ranger badge and the word, 'Lightyear'.
As if to confirm Aros' thoughts, Mickey said, “I think Sid is absorbing Woody's darkness.”
“What do we do?”Aros asked helplessly.
Mickey prepared his keyblade and dashed at the creature, crying back to Aros, “Attack its chest or its head, and watch out for the arms!” The creature swung the first of its scythe-like arms at Mickey, who leaped over the blade and sliced the arm with his keyblade. The arm fell limply to the ground and exploded in a cloud of smoke. Mickey jumped at the creature's head, but was blocked by the creature's top right clawed arm.
“Mickey!” Aros cried, running at the beast.
“No, Aros,” Mickey yelled, “attack the arms! You can't get to the head if the arms are there to block you!”
Aros changed his course and jumped to the right as one of the bladed arms crashed into the ground. With all his strength, he swung his keyblade at the creature's wrist. But another of its arms smashed into Aros' torso, sending him flying to side. A third arm was about to slice Aros in half when Mickey leaped into the fray again, slicing the third arm off the beast. Mickey dove at the arm that was still embedded in the ground, but was blocked by the creature's top left arm, which pinned him to the ground with its seven long fingers.
“Aros, forget the arms!” Mickey ordered, struggling to break free of the creature's grasp. “There's too many of them. Use magic to hit the head!”
“Magic?! I don't know any magic! How am I supposed to-”
“Aros, just do what feels natural,” Mickey interrupted as one of the bladed arms swung at his prostrate body, “the keyblade will guide you!”
Aros nodded and ran again at the beast. With a malevolent smile from its gruesome head, the creature roared and jabbed at Aros with its other clawed hand. Expecting the attack, Aros leaped to the side and sliced off the ends of all seven of the hand's fingers with a single fluid stroke.
The creature screeched in pain as Aros sprang up onto the now fingerless arm and jumped up towards the beast's head. It blindly swiped forward in an attempt to knock away Aros's imminent attack. But from behind Aros' there was a low buzzing, as something shot across the lawn towards the beast. Aros turned as a rocket blasted past him and a loud, “To infinity, and beyond!” sounded from a figure riding atop the rocket. Just as the rocket was about to collide with the creature's arm, Buzz leaped from the rocket and dropped to the ground, jarred, but not injured. The rocket exploded in a dazzling display of colors, incinerating the creature's swinging arm.
Aros held forth his keyblade and, without pausing to think about what he was doing, focused all his energy on the keyblade in his grip. As a strange tingling sensation shot through Aros' arm, a ball of fire erupted from the tip of his keyblade and shot forward into the beast's exposed head. Aros landed softly on the ground as the creature toppled over backwards and crashed to the pavement of the sidewalk.
As the beast's left arm released Mickey, he rolled to the side and jumped to his feet, summoning back his keyblade and standing in front of Buzz.
“I did it!” Aros exclaimed to Mickey. “I really used magic. It felt so... weird! Like I was releasing energy through the keyblade.”
Mickey nodded his encouragement and then returned his attention to the fallen beast. With a loud bang, it exploded into a cloud of black smoke, which slowly rose upward in a pillar of darkness. At the base of the plume was Sid's small, human body, lying crumpled on the ground. Next to it was Woody, who quickly jumped to his feet and ran over to Buzz and Mickey.
Watching Sid's body slowly stir on the ground, Mickey said, “Thanks for the help, Buzz, but I think you better take Woody and get somewhere safe now.”
Buzz nodded and ran back towards Andy's house past Aros, who gave him a quick thumbs up. When Buzz and Woody had each reached the house safely, Aros lowered his keyblade and ran over to Mickey, who was still panting from fighting off the monster's arm.
Sid slowly climbed to his feet, and evaluated Aros and Mickey quickly with his cold amber eyes. He staggered slightly, but immediately regained his composure and approached the two warriors.
“Sid!” Aros yelled, “are you in there? Can you hear me?”
Sid suddenly erupted in hysterical laughter. “Is Sid in here? What a foolish question. Of course he's in here. He is simply subdued. You cannot remove someone's mind from their body. You can only manipulate it.”
“You're... that man in the black robe! Mesna's servant” Aros said angrily.
“Yes and no. My name is Oznei, and I serve Tronahex, not Mesna. Mesna is dead.”
“What?! How?” Aros and Mickey cried together.
“I admit, I am a bit disappointed. I was expecting a debate. I would think that the Organization would at least tell its new members what they're fighting. I mean, really, Mesna died more than a year ago. How could you not have heard?” Sid casually stepped back from them. “Of course, now there's really no reason for the Organization to exist. Especially not with Tronahex on the throne.”
“What are you talking about?” Aros demanded. “Who's Tronahex? What do you mean the Organization shouldn't exist?”
“Aros, it's probably a trick,” Mickey said. “He's trying to distract us.”
“I hardly need to distract you,” Sid replied with a laugh. He held out his palm, and released a ball of black flames at Aros and Mickey. Mickey swung Star Seeker forward, and a large chunk of ice shot from his keyblade, colliding with the flame and exploding in midair.
Mickey shot another blast of ice at Sid, who blocked it with a simple swish of his hand. The ice rebounded back at Mickey, who hit the chunk with his keblade, bouncing it back at Sid again.
“Aros!” Mickey cried, shaking Aros out of watching the dangerous game of ping-pong. Aros leaped to the right and shot a ball of fire from his keyblade at Sid. Sid launched another ball of black flames at Aros' attack, destroying it with a bang. Immediately after launching his ball of fire, Aros pointed his keyblade at Sid's chest, and shot a glimmering beam of light. As Sid blocked Mickey's ice chunk yet again, the beam struck him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Black flames exploded out from his sprawled body, and his skin slowly regained its opaqueness.
“What did you do?” Mickey asked in wonder.
“I-I don't know. I just felt an urge to hold up my keyblade, and then that beam shot out. It felt a lot like when I sealed Andy's heart.”
“It looks like you stopped Oznei from controlling Sid,” Mickey observed, watching as Sid's body returned to its normal color.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Aros agreed, running over to Sid.
He crouched beside Sid's unconscious body, and lowered his head to Sid's chest, checking for a heart beat or breathing. “He's just unconscious,” Aros said, feeling the slow rise and fall of the boy's shirt.
“Good,” Mickey muttered, relieved that no one was injured.
As Aros returned to his feet, a corridor of darkness shot out of the ground several feet away. Oznei slowly stepped out, grinning savagely at Aros and Mickey.
“Oznei!” Aros yelled. “Looks like we beat you after all!”
Oznei laughed coldly. “Did you now? Because as I see it, you only beat a meager puppet. I am still standing before you, am I not?”
“Fine, then we'll beat you again!” Aros threatened.
Oznei held up his right hand, and a ball of black flames exploded in his palm A large, tattered book appeared from the flames. He quickly flipped open the book and pulled out a small, sharp knife, which had previously acted as a bookmark.
“Let's see who is truly more powerful,” he whispered cunningly. With a flash of light, Oznei disappeared from before Aros and Mickey.
“Where is he?” Aros cried.
Suddenly, Mickey flew backwards with a thud. As the mouse hit the dirt, he cried out, “Aros, look out, he's right in front of you!”
Aros swiped his keyblade at the air in front of where Mickey had been struck, but his blade met nothing but air. “Where are you?” Aros yelled angrily. “Show yourself, you coward!”
“Very well,” Oznei's smooth voice conceded from across the yard. The robed man was leaning against the fence that separated Sid and Andy's yard, stroking his greasy black hair. “Here I am.” Aros was about to rush at him when a second Oznei appeared to Aros' right. “And I'm here too.”
“Wha-?”
Behind Aros, a third Oznei appeared, swinging his knife at the keyblade wielder's unguarded back. Mickey leaped to his feet and dove towards the robed man, slashing at him with the Star Seeker. But the keyblade simply continued right on through Oznei and to the ground, without slowing down. The Oznei holding the knife flickered and disappeared.
A fourth Oznei appeared instantly behind Mickey and struck him hard in the side of the head with his large book.
“Mickey!” Aros yelled, spinning around to face the mouse's attacker. But as he turned around, the robed man was already gone. He spun back around, and found himself face-to-face with three copies of Oznei. Aros quickly blocked an attack from the right Oznei and swung his keyblade at the middle one. It flickered and faded right before Aros' eyes. But before he could rest for a second, the left Oznei smacked Aros hard in the head with his book. Grinning, he raised a gleaming dagger above Aros' body.
“Goodbye, keyblade master,” he said cheerfully, as the other copy of Oznei disappeared with a swish.
Aros closed his eyes and winced as he imagined the dagger rushing down towards him, ready to end his short life. A startling realization swept over him; this time he really would die. Mickey was on the ground several feet away, and Woody and Buzz were in the house, so he had no one to save him from the oncoming blade. Aros almost grinned. This was how the powerful keyblade wielder would fall: alone, curled up on the grass, beaten by a robed illusionist.
A second passed.
Aros heard a muffled gurgling sound from above him, and light thud as something small hit the dirt next to his leg. He cautiously peeled open his eyes.
Oznei was standing above him, his arms spread out above his head. His dagger was lying by Aros, and his book was in his left hand. Protruding from the middle of Oznei's chest, Aros could see the thin tip of a steel sword. With a jerk, the sword was wrenched from Oznei's body. Oznei staggered to the side and almost fell to the ground, crying out in pain.
Aros peered around in curiosity, looking for the robed man's killer. As Oznei pitched over onto the grass, Aros saw a tall knight, covered from head to foot in battered black armor. Two long, curved spikes pointed out form his shoulder plates, and his helmet had indents in the shape of human eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
“Get off the ground!” the knight ordered to Aros, his voice sharp and commanding.
Aros leaped to his feet and stumbled over to the knight's side. Behind him, Oznei slowly climbed back to his feet. Sweat and blood pouring from his face and chest, he almost fell down again.
Oznei spit up some blood as he attempted to speak. “So... Cecil! I haven't... seen you in... ages.”
The knight, apparently named Cecil, snickered and replied, “It's good to see you too, Oznei. Imagine the odds of running into you here. I actually have a couple of questions for you.”
Oznei began to laugh, but quickly stopped, obviously in too much pain. “Over my... dead body.”
“That can be arranged,” Cecil warned, raising his bloody sword again.
“Not... this time,” Oznei growled.
“Who are you working for?” Cecil demanded. “I don't want any lies!”
“King Tronahex.”
Cecil shook his head. “Are you really going to try that lie on me? I said, who do you work for?!”
Oznei laughed laboriously. “I told you, I serve Tronahex.”
Cecil swore angrily. Oznei half laughed, half choked, and then shrieked at the top of his lungs. He threw out his arms to the side, and sent out a wave of darkness across the lawn. Black clouds quickly materialized over the subdivision, and wisps of darkness spun around the yard.
As Oznei slowly floated up off the ground, Cecil summoned a corridor of darkness. “You two, go through there!” he commanded Mickey and Aros.
“What about you?” Aros yelled over Oznei's scream and the loud rumbling of the dark clouds.
“I'll be fine,” Cecil assured him. “Trust me, I can handle it. Just go!”
Aros gave one last look to Cecil and then turned and ran through the black portal, Mickey hot on his heels.
Cecil raised his sword and turned back to look at Oznei, who was thrashing about, hovering a foot or so in the air. “So, you serve Tronahex, do you?”
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