A/N: I'd just like to say I've never had a first day for a story be quite so popular! I've received so many followers, favorites, and kind words in such a short time since publication. Thank you all so much! I hope you continue to enjoy the story as we move forward.
And obviously, I don't own Toy Story.
Chapter 2: A Bump in the Road
"Potato Head, if you touch my butt one more time, you won't like what I'm gonna do the second I get out of this box!" Jessie hollered from across the box as they sat in the back of a Ship-It truck en-route to Vermont.
"Wait, that's where my arm is? Toss it over!" Mr. Potato Head called. "Anyone seen my ear?"
"Yeah, and you're not gonna like where it is." Hamm mumbled, shaking himself a bit to reveal the ear rattling around inside of him, it must have fell into his coin slot.
"I thought I heard something rumbling." Potato Head huffed.
"How much longer until we have reached the system of Vier-Mont?" The Aliens asked in unison.
"We've only been on the road for a few hours, I'm guessing it'll be at least two more nights until we reach Vermont." Buzz answered.
"Two nights!?" Rex wailed. "I can't wait that long, I need air!"
"Why don't you just poke your tail through the box then, ya big lizard?" Mr. Potato Head ask, popping his arm back into socket after Jessie tossed it to him. "Or better yet, why don't we just pop the tape open on the top of the box?" He suggested, looking up at the gap in the cardboard flaps sealed by tape, this gap allowing the faintest amount of light into the box.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Buzz shook his head.
"Buzz..." Jessie said softly. "Just for a few minutes?" She asked. "I could really use some air." Buzz sighed, he knew he couldn't say no to her, he nodded slightly and took the paper clip from the shipping receipt and slit the tape with it, allowing the flaps to be pushed open.
"Oh, that's better." Rex sighed with relief. He, Jessie, Buzz, and Slinky Dog jumped out of the box.
"I heard Bonnie mention Andy had a set of twin boys, that should be fun." Slinky mentioned as the four stretched their legs, walking about in the back of the truck. "If'n they're anything like Andy or Bonnie that is."
"I'm sure it'll be great Slink." Buzz nodded. "I bet they already have a bunch of toys of their own too."
"What if they already have a dinosaur!?" Rex asked, suddenly all full of nerves. "I don't want to cause any trouble, what if he thinks I'm trying to take his place and he throws me out the window!?" He shook his arms frantically. The other toys weren't exactly sure what to say, they all just exchanged confused glances, Buzz cleared his throat and stepped over to Rex.
"I... doubt that'll happen, Rex." Buzz assured him.
"Maybe they've got a bunch of stuffed animals!" Jessie grinned, full of hope. "I've always wanted a corral full of critters!"
"I still remember when you first tried to lasso Hamm." Slinky mentioned, chuckling at the memory. "He was none too happy about that one. Woody even had to make a new rule at the next staff meetin' because of it."
"Rule number twenty seven: no hogtying other toys." Buzz nodded.
"I still think he used 'hogtying' on purpose." Hamm mentioned, peeking his head out of the box.
"As uptight as he was, the sheriff did have a sense of humor." Mr. Potato Head shrugged.
"Yeah..." Rex nodded, looking down a bit, there was a bit of an awkward air in the back of the truck now, really focusing on a memory of Woody reminded them all how much they missed him. Jessie noticed the new mood that had arisen and quickly thought up a way to lift everyone's spirits.
"Hey everyone, why don't we play a game of hide and go seek to pass the time?" Jessie suggested. "Plenty of hiding spots back here after all."
"That's a great idea, Jessie." Buzz nodded, stepping to her side. "Who's in?"
"Count me in!" Rex exclaimed as Slinky Dog nodded his head. Hamm was the next to agree, hopping out of the box with the three Aliens behind him, Bullseye next, and finally the two Potato Heads, only after Mrs. Potato Head begged her husband to join in on the fun.
"I suggested it, so I'll be 'it'. Everyone else, go and hide." Jessie instructed before turning around so her face was up against a box, she closed her eyes and started to count to sixty. "One... Two... Three..."
"I'm on my way, from misery to happiness today... uh huh uh huh uh huh uh huh," the man who had just picked up Woody and Bo hummed as he drove along. "Man, Cadie is going to flip when she sees you, Bo." He said aloud as he drove as if he were talking to the two dolls. "She had a Bo Peep lamp when she was a kid, hand-me-down from her mom." He explained.
"It was imaginative and cute when Andy did things like that as a kid, this is just weird." Woody whispered to Bo in the man's bag, listening to him speak to them. "If we're lucky, he won't take his bag when he stops next."
"He'd better not. I'm not going up on anyone's shelf." Bo murmured as she peeked out the small opening in the bag. "I'm not losing my sheep either."
"You won't, Bo." Woody assured her, just then, the car pulled into an alley beside a building with a shop on the ground floor and an apartment on the upper floor. The man got out of the car and grabbed his bag, he then unlocked the door on the side of the building that surpassed the store and led to the apartment and walked up the stairs.
He took the bag into a room that seemed to be decorated like a home office. Toys of all different brands, years, and conditions adorned the shelves. "Alright, let's get a good look at you two." The man mumbled as he took the two toys out of the bag and carefully set them on the table, Woody flopped over, through the man sat him up to the best of his ability, and Bo standing in her pose. The man opened up his laptop and searched up images of the two dolls for an exact reference.
"Huh, I dare say someone customized you, Bo." He remarked. "That outfit is pretty far off the mark from an out of the box image." He looked at her arm next, seeing it seemed to be held together by a strip of tape. "Years haven't been the kindest to you, huh?" He said glumly before turning his attention to Woody. "Let's see, there was something written on your boot at some point, can't make out what it was." He looked at the smudged permanent ink. "No sheriff's badge, and..." He turned him around to get a look at the pull string to give it a test pull. He nearly dropped Woody when he saw his back, at one point his back had been completely ripped open! It was now crudely sewn up and there was no pull string in sight. "Woody, Woody I am sorry." He sighed. "Poor fella, both of you must have seen a lot of crazy things, huh?" He asked as he got up. "Alright, make yourselves at home. I've just got to say hello to the missus." He called as he left his office and closed the door behind him.
Bo immediately scanned the room. No windows. She looked up, no way up out the ceiling and through the roof. The only possible way out was this place was the door, and then she'd have to sneak out the rest of the way.
"When I get out of here, I'm going to have Ducky on sandbox cleaning duty for an entire US tour." Bo huffed as she hopped down from the desk, Woody following behind her.
"Well hello there," a robotic voice behind Woody and Bo suddenly spoke up, they looked behind them to see a toy robot, it looked relatively similar to Andy's Robot, only this Robot was red where Andy's was mostly blue. He also appeared to have more lights on him where the arrows on his chest and his headphone like ear pieces were concerned, he must have been a later model. "My name is Educate-R. Product of Einstein Toys, 1997, yourselves?" He asked.
"Woody. Uhh... Cowboy Crunchies promotion, late 50's." Woody replied, tipping his hat.
"Bo Peep, Fabletop Lamps, 1976." Bo introduced herself. "Look, Educate-R, Woody and I need to go, we've got a life of our own and we aren't interested in sitting up on a shelf, collecting dust."
"What makes you think you'll be collecting dust? Do I look dusty to you?" The robot toy asked. "Eddy won't be happy, but if you do need to leave, it's just out this door and down the stairs." He informed them.
"Thanks." Bo nodded respectfully before suddenly the door swung open and in stepped the man, who Woody and Bo could only assume was Eddy, he smiled fondly as he looked down at the floor to see the three toys, he closed the door behind him and nodded to Educate-R, indicating that since the door was closed it was okay to speak.
"Hello Eddy," Educate-R looked up at his owner. "Did you enjoy your morning walk?"
"Yes I did." He nodded before picking up Bo and Woody, who did in fact freeze once more upon his arrival. He set them down on the desk and picked up Educate-R. "This whole thing is going to be a lot easier if you're willing to have a chat." He said to the two dolls. "I didn't want to surprise you like that, but sometimes it's the only way." He shrugged.
"They don't want to stay here, Eddy." Educate-R said.
"Oh, do they already have a kid?" Eddy looked to them, Woody was the first to break character, he sat up and looked at Eddy.
"No. No kid." Woody shook his head. "But we have friends that are waiting for us."
"Woody!" Bo hissed.
"There's no point in pretending anymore, Bo." Woody reasoned before looking to the man, still slightly uncomfortable at the notion of speaking to a human so casually. "We're part of a group of toys that help toys get new kids, we were just on our way to the carnival when you found Bo and I."
"Really?" Eddy asked. "That sounds really interesting! I kind of do the same thing, as a matter of fact."
"Huh?" Bo tilted her head.
"Oh yeah." He nodded. "C'mon, I'll take you to my store." He held his bag out. Woody seemed fine, but Bo was wary.
"C'mon. Give him a chance." Woody said softly, Bo looked at Woody and sighed a little, she knew her sheriff was a good judge of character, she knew he'd never steer her wrong.
"Alright." Bo nodded, climbing into his bag with Woody.
"You're going to have to freeze when we're in the hall. Cadie isn't aware of the whole... toys coming to life thing." He explained, as he opened the door and stepped out, Bo and Woody frozen yet peeking out of the bag, their top halves visible.
"Is that Bo?" A female voice suddenly asked. "Please tell me you aren't selling her! You got me excited when you told me you found one." Cadie asked, looking at the Bo Peep figurine adoringly.
"Relax, hon. I'm just taking these two down for a tour of the shop and maybe some repairs. I'll have them back up in a jiffy, Cadie." He assured her as he stepped down the stairs. He walked out the exit to their apartment and walked into the first floor shop. "I know you aren't eager about staying, Bo. But she was really excited to hear about you." He said to her as he stepped in the shop.
"I don't really do kids, but I'd sooner go with a kid than a grown woman." Bo said to Eddy.
"So, we all agree all that that just went down, totally not mine and Bunny's fault, right?" Ducky asked the remaining toys from the group, they had left the shrub and instead, retreated back to the playground, not eager to go about their task without any sense of leadership.
"It wasn't yours and Bunny's fault." Giggle assured him. "It was your fault."
"My fault!?" Ducky asked. "My foot got caught in a root, how's that my fault?"
"You're a shuffler, you need to learn to watch where you step." Duke backed up Giggle. Ducky sighed and looked impatiently at the two toys.
"You gonna make me say it?" Ducky asked before letting out another sigh. "With these tiny legs, I can not take big strides, and with this big head, I can not look down when I walk, or else I would tip over." He explained.
"Fellas, fellas, listen. Yeah, Woody and Bo are gone. But fighting about it isn't gonna help anything." Bunny said. "What's important now is we figure out how to get 'em back."
"Are you suggesting a rescue mission?" Duke asked.
"You bet your back bacon I am, Caboom." Bunny nodded.
"I'm always up for a little search and rescue!" Giggle jumped in excitement, Bo's sheep bleated in agreement with what Bunny was suggesting, the toys quickly strode back to the playhouse in the park, ready to plan their next move.
"Anyone wanna play I Spy?" Hamm joked to the toys, they were back in the box again. They had nearly been found out when the truck stopped for gas. The driver had opened up the back door to check on the packages, and only opened it a second after the flaps of their box had been shut. The couldn't exactly get out anymore though, since in a panic and worried about the box getting re-taped, Jessie had placed another box on top of theirs, and she underestimated how hard it would be to push the box open with the added weight.
"I spy with my little eye, your cork in my face!" Mr. Potato Head spat bitterly as he tried to shift to another part of the box. "I'm this close to putting all my pieces inside my butt and napping for the rest of the trip."
"Nobody's stoppin you, spud head." Slinky mumbled, as the toys spoke, Buzz could hear a sound that wasn't there until they had piled back into the box again coming from outside. Every so often, he'd here a 'clink' sound.
"Quiet, what's that sound?" Buzz asked, pressing his ear to the slight remaining opening of the flaps that wasn't covered by the box on top. "Sounds like clanking metal." He deduced, and sure enough, every bump in the road, the same clanking sound.
"What is that?" Jessie asked.
"Sounds like a jiggling latch." Hamm remarked. "Same sound from when the driver was opening the door."
"That's impossible." Buzz shook his head. "We're driving. He couldn't be opening the door."
"Ehhh I didn't hear him lock the latch. Looks like we're driving with an open door." Hamm said.
"What do we do!?" Mrs. Potato Head shrieked. "We'll get thrown out of the truck!"
"Calm down." Buzz tried to calm the gang. "The latch may be open, but the door isn't. We aren't going to get thrown out of the truck." At that very moment, the truck hit a hard bump on the road, hard enough to make the door fly open and send an array of boxes, the one full of toys included, crashing out onto the road. However, since the box with Andy's toys wasn't sealed, it flew open, causing the array of toys to come out of the box and bounce off the highway and tumble down the grassy hill next to the highway.
"Is everyone okay?" Jessie asked, picking her hat up off the ground and putting it back on, also making sure that Woody's badge was still pinned down.
"Where's my hat? Has anyone seen my hat?" Mrs. Potato Head wailed as she patted her hatless head, looking around for her flowered hat, which had made it's way onto the head of one of her Alien sons. "I'll take that." She said as she put her hat back on her head.
"So much for we won't fly out of the truck, huh?" Hamm murmured.
"What are we gonna do!? We're lost!" Rex wailed.
"Everybody calm down." Buzz said. "Look, the truck's stopped. He'll see us on the side of the highway and pick us up." They watched the man scurry out of the truck and pick up the boxes that had fallen out, when he got to the box that held the toys, he looked at it quizzically, seeing that it was empty. He then shrugged and tossed the box off the highway before closing the door and making sure to lock the latch before getting back in and continuing his drive.
"Two for two, Buzzy." Hamm sighed.
"C'mon guys." Jessie said, climbing up on Bullseye's back. "We're only a mile or so from the next town, let's head that way and figure out our way from there." She instructed, Bullseye started to walk with her on him, the other toys followed. "Hop on up here, space ranger." She smirked, pulling Buzz up by the hand. "It'll be okay, right?"
"Exactly." Buzz nodded.
"That... wasn't rhetorical, Buzz. I'm really asking if it'll be okay." Jessie murmured.
"I'm sure of it." Buzz promised her.
"So, what is it exactly you do here?" Bo asked, leaning up against the cash register of the shop. Eddy had closed the blinds on the windows to make sure no passersby saw toys moving around.
"I find and repair lost toys, and then I get them to new owners." Eddy explained. "Like what you guys do, but I make a buck off it." He said. "Every toy up in my apartment or here in this store was a toy I found. Everyone here is second hand, sometimes even third or fourth hand." He chuckled. "Hey Transitron," he called to a toy that towered over Bo and Woody, a robot toy made up of individual vehicles. "Your replacement wheel came in this morning."
"Most excellent." The robotic voice said. "Component 2 will be ready for mobility once more."
"I'll even have you put out in the window display the next morning, a kid is sure to see you then." Eddy grinned. "Any other questions?" He asked the two dolls.
"Several, as a matter of fact." Woody mumbled. "I don't even know where to begin."
"I don't have any customers, so I've got time." Eddy shrugged as he went through his stock of paints for his airbrush machine. "I need to pick up a canister of Citron Yellow tomorrow, that Little Tykes school bus was in rough shape." He mumbled to himself.
"Why do you talk to toys?" Bo asked. "Better yet, how do you know about us?"
"I kind of thought that's what you'd ask first, they always do." Eddy smiled as he looked back at the dolls. "I've always loved toys. I took care of them like they were my pride and joy with my own when I was a kid, and that was something that never left me. So I opened up a toy shop, also claiming that I'd do what I could to repair or maintain any worn out or broken toy that was brought into me." He explained. "One day, this little girl, about ten, she one of my first customers actually, brought in a Buzz Lightyear action figure, Utility Belt edition, and let me tell you, it was in rough shape. She told me she had been saving for months to bring him in for repairs, her mother had urged her just to throw it out and buy a new one, but this was her Buzz Lightyear." He took a photo album out and opened it to a picture of the action figure, Woody and Bo, both having known a Buzz, even though it wasn't that Buzz, were almost faint at the sight of the space ranger toy.
"But a promise was a promise, I stayed up all night trying to fix it." He explained. "I had to open it up to maintain some of the wiring, I needed a new spring for the wing mechanism, and the whole body needed repainting. I used two whole canisters of glow in the dark lime green on him, most of my workbench still glows in the dark from that night." He chuckled fondly. "And then, just as I had turned the screw to shut his backpack in after replacing the batteries, I heard something." He explained. "I heard a thank you. And it sounded like the voice from the toy. I picked up the toy and pressed his buttons, cycling through the phrases, I looped around the phrases all three times and there wasn't a thank you in there. I set the toy back down and looked at it, then I noticed the toy didn't have it's wide grin, more of this look like... like I had just saved it's life, and he was eternally grateful." He explained, Woody and Bo exchanged smirks, where had they heard that one before? "At first, I was terrified, but the space man an assured me he meant no harm, and he just wanted me to listen to what he had to say."
"Thank you," the Buzz had told him. "Gracie was heartbroken when my laser stopped lighting, and even more sorrowful when she saw that my wings didn't lock in anymore. Gracie's a good kid, none of this damage was on her part. Her brother had taken me from her room and didn't play anywhere near as nice as Gracie would have. Gracie found me at the bottom of the stairs, covered in dents and scratches. She tried everything to get me to work the way I did again, but I was too broken. Her mother even threw me in the trash, but Gracie fished me out when she saw an ad for your store in the paper, from that point she started saving all her allowance money to bring me in and see what you could do." He said. "You gave me a second chance, I don't know how many years I have left before my Gracie grows out of toys, but thanks to you I still get those years. Your noble actions are commendable, and a good space ranger always shows gratitude, even if it breaks the rules." He saluted Eddy. "You're doing good work here." He said before freezing up in his toy pose again.
"I wasn't sure what to think, at first I thought I was hallucinating from all the paint fumes and my exhaustion, I went to bed that night not thinking anything of it, and then the next morning Gracie had come to pick him up." He continued. "And her face just lit up when she saw her Buzz Lightyear standing on the counter. She bounded over and hugged her Buzz tightly. Before she left though, I opened the cash register and gave her the money I had initially charged for repairs back, I told her that no child should have to pay to get their toy back. She thanked me and happily left the shop, but over her shoulder I saw the Buzz Lightyear salute me as she left. Confirming that it wasn't all something I had made up." He concluded. "I never told another soul about it, and since then have made my store and home office as hospitable as possible for toys, since there were other toys in the repair room at the time that had saw Buzz come to life, word got out among the toys pretty fast I knew."
"Wow." Woody remarked.
"And all the toys here are just okay with you selling them off?" Bo asked.
"Of course." Eddy nodded. "It's a symbiotic relationship, me and these toys. I bring them in and repair them, and then people buy them. They get fixed up and sent to a good home, I get money."
"You ever get collectors in here?" Woody asked. "A lot of toys in here seem on the older side."
"Unfortunately, yes." Eddy nodded. "I get plenty of collectors in here, I usually turn them away though, I don't want these toys stuck living on a shelf for the rest of their lives. Toys are meant to be played with."
"You're pretty smart, for a grown up." Bo grinned a little bit, nudging him with her crook.
"Thanks." Eddy nodded. "Look, neither of you need to stay if you don't want to. But I think there are ways we can help each other."
"How so?" Woody asked.
"Lets face it, what type of R&R supplies do you toys carry on you for lost toys in need of patching up?" Eddy asked. "Probably a roll of tape and a needle and thread for popped seams. Not exactly optimum pieces of equipment for repair and restoration."
"That's true." Bo nodded.
"So, I was thinking a system like this. You two and your friends find lost toys and bring them back to me. I'll repair them, and sell them at my shop to kids. In return, I'll offer you and your friends shelter and full service repairs whenever needed." Eddy said.
"Well..." Bo thought to herself. "I can't promise it's what I want to do forever, but this sounds like a fun system to try, what do you think, sheriff?" She asked.
"The same system with even more benefits sounds pretty good to me. A warm place to sleep at night sounds pretty nice too." Woody admitted. "We'll be happy to help, Eddy."
"Great!" Eddy grinned. "Now, how about I get you two fixed up?" He offered. "I'm sure it gets tedious replacing that tape all the time." He gently poked Bo's patched arm.
"I just ran out of tape again." Bo nodded. He picked the two dolls up and led them to the back room for due repairs and restoration.
"Well this is just great. We're all lost!" Mr. Potato Head bemoaned as the crew of toys walked along. "I blame Jessie, if we had've kept the box shut, we would've been put back in the truck!"
"One more word and I'll give you what I promised you back in the box, Potato Head." Jessie threatened, having enough of listening to the spud gripe, he had been doing so ever since they started walking on foot earlier that afternoon.
"Let's just... everybody calm down." Buzz said. "Hamm, do you still remember everything that was written on the box?"
"Down to the last comma." Hamm nodded.
"There. We can just find a box and re-mail ourselves, we'll be back on the road in no time." Buzz grinned, trying to lift the spirits of the toys. It worked fine on Jessie and Rex, but not great on everyone else.
"Let's... find a place to rest for the night, we can figure this all out tomorrow morning." Jessie suggested. Buzz nodded, pulling back a leaf covered branch that was before them to reveal that the gang had stepped into a playground. No sign of children in it, which was expected since it was nearly midnight.
"C'mon." Buzz led the toys along. "Be careful, anything could be out here. We don't want to attract anything."
"You glow in the dark, you gave up subtle a long time ago, Buzz." Hamm replied flatly. Just then, a softball bounced by Buzz and skidded to a stop not to far from him. He tilted his head and looked quizzically at the ball, slowly stepping towards it.
"Heh?" Buzz remarked as he looked down at the ball, suddenly, the force of being tackled from the back overcame him, the other toys didn't even have time to warn him, they just say two blurred shadows rush out from nowhere.
"Winna winna chicken dinna!" A voice from one of the tacklers exclaimed as they and Buzz bounced into a patch of foliage. Andy's other toys jumped back, afraid of whatever had just attacked their friend, suddenly, they heard a small engine rev and tires squeal, sometime was driving in circles around them, they could see the shine from a little headlight, the motorcycle skidded to a stop before them, and a toy no bigger than one of the Potato Heads got off the bike and stepped forward, his white and red colors lit up by the headlight.
"Who are you?" Duke Caboom asked, stepping into the light.
Yes. Ducky, Bunny, and Duke know Buzz. And yes, Ducky, Bunny, and Duke saw Andy's other toys at the end of Toy Story 4, but I figured between it being the dead of night in the case of the former, and the fact it was a brief moment thirteen years ago for the latter, it would make sense that the three took precautionary measures when they heard a group of toys arrive on their turf.