Andy's Yard

Blackness encompassed Kairi's vision. She could feel her body ache, but no movement was available to her. For a while she laid there, floating in the darkness, an almost peaceful place where nothing but silence echoed on and on.

"Giving up already Kairi?" spoke a familiar voice from the blackness.

"Riku? Riku is that you?" she mumbled, trying to locate the source of the voice.

She felt a firm grip grab her hand, pulling her out of the darkness and back to her feet. When she opened her eyes, she saw Riku there, a smirk spread wise across his face as his emerald green eyes gazed at her.

"Riku? Cadet have you lost it already?"

Riku dissipated before her eyes, in his place stood Buzz. Around them sat lush greenery, it must have lessened the impact of the fall. But even so, Kairi could feel her body ache within her wooden joints; she remembered the tumble that they had taken.

"Note to star command, the new cadet seems to be experiencing severe head trauma."

"Oh, I'm sorry sir! But I'm okay really, just a few scratches and bumps here and there."

He looked at her with doubt written plainly across his face.

"Come on cadet; let's find a way back up there. I'll conduct some recon in back; you go check out the front. That sheriff will serve his time when I return." The spaceman wandered off to the back of the yard, leaving Kairi confused and alone.

She decided she might as well go check out the front of the building, inching along the side of the house as to not attract any attention to herself. She rounded the corner only to dip quickly back as a large blue van pulled into the driveway. Out from it jumped the same large boy from before, his excited footsteps sending tremors across the ground as Kairi tried to maintain balance.

"Alright Andy," boomed a loud voice from the van, "go in and grab one toy, then we'll head out to Pizza Planet. Just be quick!'

"Okay mom, I just have to run in and grab Buzz! Be back in a sec!" the boy hastily responded before springing into the house.

Kairi sprinted around the house to find Buzz, nearly crashing into him as she rounded the corner to the back yard.

"Buzz," she panted, trying to catch her breath, "that giant kid is back. He ran into the house looking for you! They said they're leaving soon so we gotta go!"

"Good work cadet, let's move out!"

The two of them ran back to the front, pausing only to make sure the woman in the van was looking away before they ran to the underside of the van.

"Alright cadet, grab onto something and don't let go! We're going to be in for a bumpy ride." Buzz explained as he latched on to a metal bar above them. She struggled a bit, but finally managed to pull herself onto a large tube, sitting atop it as she waited.

The front door crashed shut as the boy came shuffling back to the van.

"Mom, I can't find Buzz…" he moaned in a defeated tone, "so I brought Woody instead."

Buzz was alerted at the sound of the name.

"That sheriff is going to pay for this insubordination. Once this thing stops, I'll give him a little piece of what we like to call Space Ranger justice."

The van started up, jostling Kairi around as they started down the road. As her stomach roiled inside of her, she fought the urge to throw up. It was not going to be a fun ride. She clenched her eyes shut and imagined something more peaceful, memories of home with Sora and Riku at her side.

Before too long, the van pulled up to a stop, finally giving her a chance to hope down from her terrible ride. She stumbled around a bit at first, trying to regain stability as Buzz hopped down beside her.

"A refueling station I see. All right cadet, let's get in there and show that sheriff a piece of our mind!" he ran off yet again. He was always doing that, she realized, running from place to place without a moments consideration. Somehow she always managed to get wrapped up in these things, but she supposed that's what being a cadet was all about. She wasn't too sure.

They climbed the sleek metal exterior of the van, pulling themselves up through the glass window that was thankfully cracked open enough for them to squeeze through. With little grace, Kairi plopped down onto the cushioned seat, glad at least to finally be out of the night's cold. But it was not a blessing she had the liberty of taking pleasure in for long.

"Sheriff! You had better explain yourself now!" shouted Buzz as he aimed his red sight for Woody, who had ran up to them.

"Buzz! Kairi! I'm sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen! I was aiming for those things, not trying to send you guys out the window!" Woody panicked.

Kairi could see the regret in his eyes. She knew Woody wasn't a bad guy, his heart was in the right place. She could relate to what he was feeling, she decided to try and calm Buzz down.

"Buzz, relax. Woody didn't mean to displace you, it was all a mistake. Can't we just forget about this and—"

"That's enough cadet! The sheriff tried to usurp me and I for one am done with this!" Buzz charged at Woody, sending the two into a scuffle across the seats, their shouts echoing across the night.

"You two stop it! Please! You need to stop fighting!" Kairi cried in vain, her words falling on deaf ears as the two men continued their struggle. They scrambled their way across the seats, shouting insults at one another as they drew near the door. Woody tried to pull himself to his feet, only to be knocked into the latch by Buzz, popping the door open and sending the pair down onto the black pavement.

Kairi jumped down in pursuit, continuing her plight to them, trying her best to sound assertive and hide the panic in her voice. Suddenly, the door of the gas station opened as Andy and his mother began returning to the vehicle.

"You guys they're coming back! We need to hide quickly!" she shouted as her patience snapped. The giants drew nearer and still the toys continued their scuffle across the parking lot. The time to return to the vehicle had passed as they hopped into the van and sped off.

Woody and Buzz realized this after it was too late, the three of them chasing after the vehicle as it sped down the road.

"Awwww great. Now look what you did Buzz! You could have been perfectly fine and back in Andy's room where you belong. But noooo, the psychotic space ranger had to make a mess of things again."

"Look who's talking sheriff. It's your fault that we're all stuck out here. Without my ship, there's no way that I can make it back to Star Command. You've put the whole universe in jeopardy!"

At that Woody grew fed up and stomped away, leaving Kairi with a fuming Buzz to cool down.

"Buzz, we'll get back, don't worry about it," she tried to sound sure, "we just need to look for…"

She scoped around the station, trying to grasp at any hint of a way out of this mess. Several other vehicles sat stationary around the building, but none of them seemed of use to them.

Then she spotted it. In front of the building sat an odd looking van with a space shuttle attached to its roof. Across its filthy white exterior read the words Pizza Planet.

"Hey you guys! Look! Didn't they say they were headed to Pizza Planet? There's something right there that should take us back to them!"

Woody and Buzz turned their attention to the van, both of their faces lighting up as they realized her genius, or at least she hoped they had.

"Great work cadet! That van will get us there in no time! Sheriff, I'll deal with you later, but for now, let's move out!" Buzz commanded as he led the charge to their ride.

The three of them snuck behind one of the dirt covered wheels, making sure to keep out of sight while searching for any way in. Woody climbed up one of the wheels, making his way up to the back of the vehicle. He shouted down to them as he popped open the back latch, opening the way into a trash covered trunk.

Buzz and Kairi followed him up, the three of them struggled a bit to shut the trunk door, but eventually it clicked in. All was working splendidly for once.

An awkward silence was thankfully cut short as the driver exited the station and swung open the door to the driver's seat, his slightly overweight body crushing down on the leather seat as he started up the rumbling van.

As they started to move down the road towards Pizza Planet, Kairi took the down time as a chance to recollect her thoughts. So much had happened today, her first day as a true adventurer. She could still remember the strength she felt while holding her keyblade in defiance of the heartless, protecting her new friends with her life. Did she need some work? Possibly, but it felt great to be able to protect somebody by any extent. She giggled quietly to herself as she imagined what Sora and Riku would say once they heard about her great adventure.

Even so, she wondered who the man in the black robe was, the man that had lead her here. How did he end up on the beach of the islands? What reason did he have for bringing her here? Even though she didn't want to question the means by which her journey became possible, she couldn't help but to be skeptical. More importantly, why did her dream reappear to her when he approached?

So many questions filled Kairi's head, all of them as confusing as the last and sprouting many more questions like an elaborate tree of mystery.

Her train of thought was interrupted when they finally pulled into Pizza Planet, its exterior brimming with fluorescent lights as loud music erupted from its doors. It was an exciting place, albeit a little noisy for her liking. She took note of how different it was from the peaceful crashing of the ocean waves at home, broken only by the cawing of gulls. But different didn't have to mean bad.

The three of them donned disguises in the form of trash, with Kairi stuffing herself into a small French fry container that reeked of grease and salt, sending her stomach once again on the verge of emptying itself.

They hobbled out of the vehicle and across the sidewalk to the front doors, pausing only to duck down whenever one of the giant people happened to pass by. When they finally made it into the building and removed their disguises, Kairi gazed upon an amazing sight, her wooden jaw dropping dangerously far for its hinges.

The place was a metropolis of flashing lights in every direction. The noise it produced cascaded over her, with many light hearted beeps and boops bouncing off of every corner. Children sat at booths and games, their voices of glee bellowing out, amplified a hundred times by their sheer size.

Her companions stood vigilant, looking for any sign of Andy.

"All right cadet, keep a lookout," commanded Buzz, "they have to be around here somewhe-"

Buzz stopped midsentence as he gazed up at one of the machines. Kairi followed his sight until she found his goal, a large ship sitting atop the glass dome of a grabbing machine. Woody walked up to Buzz in panic.

"Buzz. Buzz! You can't be thinking…no. Buzz don't do this!" Woody tried to stop him as Buzz booked off towards the ship, shouting back to them.

"No time to talk now! This ship is just what I need to get back to Star Command! Come on cadet; let's move out before it takes off!"

Kairi traded a worried glance with Woody as they bolted after Buzz who was in the middle of climbing into the machine.

They tried to coax Buzz out, but he only burrowed himself in deeper, forcing them to follow him. Up the red metal pipes they clambered, still shouting at the space ranger as they entered the deep tunnels. Before too long they entered the chamber of the machine, a chamber filled to the brim with identical green toys, all mumbling to themselves, unaware of their arrival.

Woody shoved the toys out of his way, "see Buzz? You can't even get to the ship from here. Can we just go back out now and find Andy so we can go home?" he begged.

"Yeah come on Buzz, we need to get out of here. I don't like the look of this place and these toys are giving me the creeps. Can we please just go back?"

"Pick up your spine cadet!" Buzz replied, "there has to be some way to get up there. What's that up top?" he inquired as he pointed towards a large metal protrusion that hung down from the sealing.

Kairi was startled as the green toys all answered his question in unison, their identical voices chanting out in a way that was not at all horrifyingly weird.

"The claw! He's our leader!" spoke the toys in an eerie monotone voice.

As if by summoning, the claw shook, its gears creaking as it began to lower itself down to them.

"Buzz, get down!" cried Kairi to the space man as she scrambled to get ahold of him. But the sea of toys resisted her, giving her only the chance to grab his leg, desperately trying to pull him back down.

She felt Woody grab onto her leg in turn, his face full of terror.

"That kid out there is Sid Buzz! Sid! He mangles toys like it's nothing; you need to get back down!"

The claw descended closer and closer as they tried to pull their friend back to safety. But it was in vain as the steel of the claw latched around Buzz's arm, pulling the three of them out of the sea of toys that proceeded to chant at them in glee. Kairi went limp as she tried to maintain herself, but panic filled her as she was lifted clear into the air.

As she faced the glass she spotted the child that had captured them. His face was menacing, covered in freckles and with teeth jagged and yellowed. He let out a sinister cackle that sent a chill down her spine.

"Three for one?" he cheered to himself, "awesome! Hey you guys, we're going to have….fun tonight." The kids cackling dissipated as the trio dropped down into a hatch, sliding out of the machine and back out to the floor of the arcade.

The child's hands grabbed them, the smell of filth and sweat nearly overcame Kairi as she was gathered up.

"Well you guys," he whispered to them, "let's….go home."

His horrifying laugh filled her ears, sending her into a state of chilling fear.

The laugh didn't end as they exited through the front doors, entered yet another vehicle, and sped off into the night.