The legendary workshop of Santa Claus turned out different from what Woody had expected as they walked through darkened hallways. Granted, Woody had envisioned the workshop bursting with activity and life in the middle of the holiday season. He never pictured to be walking through the place in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve when Santa was asleep.

Jessie frowned as she looked from side to side. "So, where exactly are these elves supposed to be?"

"This place is huge," said Slinky as he shook his head. "We could spend hours looking in here."

"Wait a sec!" Mr. Potato Head said as he raised his hand. "Did anyone else hear laughter just now?"

Buzz shut his eyes and listened. "If my estimates are correct it's coming from around that table!"

Woody lifted his head and could hear the laughter as well. It was high pitch, but hardly sounded like a kid. "Okay guys, remember these are Santa's elves so we've got to be on our best behaviour."

"Especially if we don't want to be on the naughty list," Rex added.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Hamm mumbled as they walked around the table. Everyone froze at the sight before them.

They had indeed found the elves, but like the workshop they were hardly anything like what Woody had pictured. He had expected to see busy elves working at their hardest at making the best toys possible. These were the legendary toy makers and for many toys they were viewed equally as important as Santa, as there wouldn't be Christmas toys if not for these creatures.

So, seeing three elves giggling madly with goofy grins as they each took a turns shoving a toy flute up their nose and their heads into a toy trumpet rather shattered the pristine image. Seeing the third elf get his head stuck inside the trumpet especially wasn't encouraging.

"I'm thinking these three have been hitting the eggnog," Mr. Potato Head whispered to Hamm who nodded in agreement.

Woody sucked in air as he let go of Bullseye and fixed his hat. "Well, we found them, so I'm going to talk to them."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Woody?," Buzz asked as they watched two of the elves yank the third elf's head out of the trumpet. "They don't seem the engineering type to me."

"I'm with Buzz here," Jessie raised her hand in agreement. "I've seen squirrels more focused than those...um elves."

"Oh, come on, guys," said Woody as he straightened his hat. "These are Santa's elves. He wouldn't just let anyone make his toys." He glanced back just as the elves freed their friend and started using the toy trumpet as a baseball bat with the third elf as the ball.

"With that said, " Woody chuckled nervously. "Be on stand by."

"Will do, Woody!" Buzz confirmed with a salute as Woody made his way over.

He cleared his throat. "Um...Hi! Excuse me?"

The elves blinked as they dropped the third elf to the ground and stared at Woody in awe. The one holding the trumpet placed it on the floor and gave a quiet "Ooh!"

Woody straightened his posture and tried to ignore the awkward stares he was receiving. "Listen, there's been a bit of a mix up. See, my friends and I accidently fell into Santa's sack."

One elf was giving Woody a dangerous look, and circled him until he stood behind the toy. "So, we were wondering if you could just tell him-"

"THERE'S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT!"

Woody yelped as he felt his pull string slip back into his back. The elf who was behind him had no doubt pulled his string, and was clapping his hands in amusement.

"Um...yes," said Woody as he turned to him. "It does that, so as I was saying-"

"SOMEONE'S POISONED THE WATERHOLE!"

Woody turned and tried to hold his temper as the other two elves laughed after pulling his string. "Yes, it's funny, now can we-"

"REACH FOR THE SKIES!" Woody's voice box spoke again and the elves laughed, thrilled by their new toy.

"Cut that out!" Woody had had enough and held his hands behind his back to cover his drawstring. "Now will you-"

Woody trailed off. The three elves stared at him curiously and reached their hands out eager to pull his drawstring. They stepped closer and seemed to care less about what Woody wanted.

He gulped. "Um...Stay back!"

"Woody needs help!" said Slinky.

"I'm on it!" Buzz cried as he leapt into action. He somersaulted on the floor and stopped directly in front of Woody and shielded him from the elves.

The elves seemed baffled as Buzz stood straight and shot his flashlight laser at them. "Stay back you primitive beings!"

The elves tilted their heads at Buzz like they were processing just what Buzz was. Suddenly, to Buzz and Woody's horror, the elves' expression changed to one of pure delight as they chimed a loud "Oooh!" in unison.

"Um..." replied Woody as he and Buzz inched their way back to the others. "I think your plan backfired, Buzz."

"Yes," Buzz nodded in agreement as the elves moved closer. "I believe it has."

"RUN!" Jessie cried.

The toys turned and screamed in terror as the three elves happily cheered and gave chase.

"This is crazy!" snapped Mr. Potato Head as they ran. "There's more of us than there are of them!"

"Wrong! There's more of them now!" Slinky yelled as he glanced back and saw more curious elves joining in and running after after them.

Hamm cringed as he saw the mad look in their eyes. "They're catching up!"

"I know! I know!" Woody said as he panted. The toys couldn't keep running forever.

"Woody, look!" Jessie suddenly cried as she pointed to a large locked storage closet. "We can use that!"

Woody sighed in relief, but didn't let himself slow down. "Finally, some luck for a change." He glanced back to the others. "Guys, it's time to initiate emergency plan 33."

"Right, Woody!" Buzz nodded. "Potato Head and I will go tackle the locks!"

"Wait!" said Rex frantically. "Is plan 33 the one where I get a hula hoop? Or is it the one where I wear a giant dog treat on my head?"

"Just run to the door you moron!" Mr. Potato Head called as he and Buzz raced ahead to the cabinet.

"Everyone!" Woody called. "Turn right!"

The toys did as they were told as the elves gave more merry cheers in this new game. Woody could feel his legs beginning to give out as they ran and he glanced back fearing that his friends were feeling the same way and would soon be captured.

Thankfully, as the toys neared the door, Buzz had unlocked the last lock on the door and waved as he jumped back.

"Hold the door!" Woody ordered as the toys came charging through.

Mr. Potato Head and Buzz pulled the door open just as Woody and the other toys ran inside and the elves followed in hot pursuit. However, as soon as the toys entered they all sharply turned on their heels and backtracked out the door. Before the elves were even given a chance to ponder what had happened, the toys were free of the closet and Buzz and Mr. Potato Head had slammed the door shut.

The chase finally at an end, all the toys collapsed onto the floor into a pile. "Good job, guys," Woody panted as he raised a thumbs up. "We should be able to catch our breath-"

"Uh, Woody-" Buzz cut in as he fearfully pointed ahead.

More elves stood at the end of the hall, all with the same gleeful look in their eyes as they stared at the toys.

"How many elves can this thing trap?" Rex asked nervously.

Woody gulped. "I think we're going to find out."

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After the tenth and final round of luring and trapping the elves into the storage closet, Jessie slammed the door shut before she slumped and leaned against Buzz. "That should be all of them."

The other toys gave a groan, no one willing to budge an inch. "That better be," Slinky replied, rubbing his sore feet. "I couldn't lift a paw if my life depended on it."

Mr. Potato Head forced himself to sit up and glare at Woody. "Let's talk to the elves, you said," he muttered darkly. "It will be fine, you said."

Woody didn't even bother to raise his exhausted head. "Can...*huff*...it...*huff*."

Buzz sighed as he forced himself to sit up. "It's late and we all need some sleep." He looked over the exhausted toys. "We won't solve anything when we're this worn out."

Woody nodded. "You're right, let's find a place to sleep and then in the morning, we'll figure out how to get home."

"I think I saw another storage closet on the third round of running," said Hamm.

"Let's go there then," Woody said as he tugged Bullseye along. The closet should be a safe place for all the toys in case there were other elves they hadn't caught. Last thing they needed was to wake up and find themselves in the hands of one of those crazy elves.

Woody glanced to Bullseye as they walked, even though he had to be as exhausted as the rest of them, the horse seemed to be on high alert. It was like he was expecting something to attack them any minute. I wish I knew what was up with him.

"Here it is!" Hamm called as Mr. Potato Head opened the door. "It looks like it's where Santa stores his paints."

"That's good enough for me," Jessie said as she slumped inside and climbed into the nearest box. "I'm so tired I could sleep on a rock."

The other toys agreed in unison as they each found a makeshift bed. "Some Christmas this is turning out to be," said Mr. Potato Head as he glared at Bullseye. "All thanks to you pony!"

Bullseye snarled, but Woody held him back. "It doesn't matter whose fault it was. We're all here now, so we'll have to make the best of it." He looked back to the toy horse who was now glaring at the door. "Come on, boy, you need sleep too."

Bullseye seemed reluctant, but he gave a sigh and followed Woody into a low shelf and laid his head on Woody's lap.

"Night boy," Woody whispered as he patted Bullseye's head, watching as the other toys fell asleep. He then sighed and shut his eyes. He could only hope that Bonnie wouldn't be missing them too much tomorrow.

Elsewhere in the dark factory, the creature hissed with delight. He was excited, very excited. There were thousands of machines for him to break and wreck to his heart's content. The creature laughed as he entered a room and found a chocolate maker to tear his claws into. He was going to have a ton of fun here.

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North slept like a log when he crawled into bed as he usually did after his annual run. His normal routine was for him to awake and have Phil bring him a cup of cocoa before they prepared the factory for the Guardians' party. He had taken extra effort with the planning this year since it would also be Jack's first Christmas with them.

North had sworn to himself it would be the best Christmas the young winter spirit could remember. North felt it was only his duty after Jack had been by himself for so long. So, there was nothing allowed to go wrong today.

When a loud boom shook the factory and North fell out of his bed in shock, he realized the day was hardly off to an ideal start. North cursed as he untangled himself from the bed sheets.

"Phil!" North called as he pulled on the bed to climb to his feet. "What is happening?!"

Phil flung the door open and rapidly cried out in his yeti language.

North blinked as he processed what the yeti had told him. "The washing machine blew up?! Then fix-"

Phil continued to ramble hastily and waved his arms in the air.

"What do you mean not only washing machine?! All machines?!"

Phil nodded and North got his confirmation as he heard more agitated yeti cries coming outside his room.

North's eyes narrowed. This was hardly normal. "Phil, go give Glen hand! I will dress and be there as soon as I can!"

Phil gave a salute and ran out the door as another crash was heard.

North cursed more as he scrambled to get dressed. This was NOT how Christmas morning was supposed to happen.

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Woody yawned as he woke up. "Morning every-huh?" He was shocked to find that Bullseye was not next to him sleeping, which was odd since normally the toy horse was a late sleeper. Woody glanced up and saw Bullseye was desperately pawing at the door as he tried to get it open.

"Oh, for heaven-Bullseye!" Woody called as he stood and the other toys began to wake. Woody folded his arms as he glared at Bullseye. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

Bullseye eyes narrowed and, as he did back in Bonnie's house, gestured his head towards the door.

Woody sighed in exasperation. His patience was wearing thin. "No, we're not going to open that door until we have a plan!"

Bullseye gave an equally frustrated snort as he pawed at the door.

"I'm telling you, the horse has gone nuts," Hamm replied as he climbed off the other shelf along with Mr. Potato Head and Slinky.

"Actually," Buzz said as he and Jessie climbed out of the box they were in. "We should open it and access our current situation."

Woody frowned suspiciously at Bullseye, but then tipped his hat. "All right, Slinky give Buzz a hand while I hang on to Bullseye."

The toy horse gave an offended snort as Woody took hold of his saddle and Woody gave an annoyed look back. He loved the little horse, but his behaviour had been ridiculous since last night and they couldn't risk any more of it if they wanted to get home.

Jessie gave a worried frown as Slinky and Buzz pulled the door open. "So, how do we get home?"

"W-what if we borrow the sleigh?" said Rex as he fiddled his arms. "We could leave a note saying where we'll put it back when we get home."

"Oh sure," said Mr. Potato Head as he folded his arms. "We'll just gather all those giant reindeer, hitch them up and pile on top of each other and pray we don't fall out as we drive it home."

"So," Rex said slowly. "It could work?"

Before Mr. Potato Head could reply, Slinky spoke. "Hey, Hamm, any idea what you call a group of yetis?" Slinky asked as he stared out the door with Buzz.

Hamm raised an eyebrow, not sure why Slinky would ask such a question. "Sorry, you've stumped me there. Yetis, as far as I know, are loners and don't hang out in groups."

"Huh," Slinky said as he tilted his head and Buzz held the door open. "Then I reckon these guys didn't get the memo."

The toys' jaws dropped as they looked out. Hundreds of yetis were madly running around, each letting out a frustrated grunt or yells along with the roaring whistles and bells that seemed to be howling from every direction.

"Look at them all!" Jessie said. "Why does Santa have so many yetis?"

Buzz frowned. "I'm more concerned with why they're all so alarmed." He looked back to the others. "It's Christmas day, shouldn't they be more relaxed?"

"I don't care if Santa has a secret army of garden gnomes," said Mr. Potato Head, stomping his foot. "Let's find the big fat guy and ask him for a ride home."

"But we'll be on the naughty list!" Rex exclaimed as he chewed on his claws.

"Then we'll just have to accept that as punishment, we need to get home to Bonnie" Woody said as he glanced to Bullseye. "And when we get home you and I are going to have a long talk."

Bullseye gave an annoyed snort as a response.

"If we're going to see Santa," said Jessie as she looked out into the work floor. "We'd better find a way of getting around that won't risk us getting stomped on."

The toys all cringed as they saw a large foot stomp in front of the door before dashing away. Slinky looked around and pointed up. "Look, there's a ventilation shaft! Let's go through there."

Woody adjusted his hat and started to climb the shelf in front of the vent. "Seems like our best shot, come on, guys!"

Mr. Potato Head scowled as the toys followed. "Terrific, crawling through a dusty old shaft on Christmas Day. And I thought having to play out in the snow was bad."

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Outside the workshop's front door, Bunny shivered as he rubbed his feet to warm them up. "I hate walkin' through snow."

"Did it ever occur to you to wear shoes?" Jack said with a smirk as he leaned on his staff.

Bunny scoffed as he pointed to Jack's bare toes. "I'll wear shoes the day ya actually put on a pair."

"Bunny! Jack!" Tooth called as she and Sandy flew down and landed with huge grins on their faces. "Merry Christmas!" she greeted as she gave each of them a hug. "Did you two just get here?"

"Yeah," Jack said with a laugh. "Although, we might have gotten here faster if Cottontail didn't complain about walking in snow every two minutes."

Bunny rolled his eyes and Sandy chuckled. "Can we continue this inside where it's warm?"

Tooth beamed and flapped her wings. "Oh Jack, you're going to love North's Christmas party."

Sandy knocked, but gave a frown to Bunny when no one answered.

"Weird," Bunny said as he took hold of the door knob. "Normally, Phil's waitin' to greet us."

Tooth didn't seem to notice as she continued. "And there are games, and food of every variety you can imagine."

Jack smiled. "It sounds fun."

Bunny turned the knob and pushed the door as Tooth finished. "Not only that, it's one of the most peaceful times you'll ever-"

A yeti's frustrated cry cut Tooth off as the furry figure ran by. The four Guardians stared in bafflement as every single yeti in sight was desperately either working on a machine or ran around madly as they held tools in their hands.

Jack was certain he heard yeti curse words from a group in a far corner. "Um…maybe my definition of the word is different from you guys," Jack said as he tapped the top of his staff. "But this looks far from peaceful to me."

"Oi!" Bunny called out. "What's goin' on here?!"

One of the yetis paused long enough to yell a few mumbled words before he went back to whacking his hammer against a candy maker. Sandy raised an eyebrow and created an image of North.

"Yeah, we better find North," Jack agreed as he flew up. "Come on, I'll bet he's on the work floor."

The others followed as they adamantly tried to avoid colliding with any yetis as they raced by. They went down the elevator and Tooth spied the last Guardian in the center of the chaos. "There he is!" she cried and pointed.

North seemed ready to pull his beard out as he gave orders. "Arrg! Stove is on fire?! Then put it out! Steve give Phil hand! Aggie go watch globe! That is last thing I need to go crazy!"

The yetis gave a salute as they went to carry out their orders. North shut his eyes and massaged his temples. "I am getting migraine."

"Oi! North!" Bunny said as they moved towards him. "What the blazes is goin' on!"

A look of relief washed over his face. "I have never been so happy to see you!" He raised his arms up. "Workshop has gone kaput!"

"What do you mean kaput?" Tooth asked confused.

"I mean-"

A crash echoed throughout the floor as a pair of yetis rammed into each other and scrambled to scoop up their spare parts and tools.

Sandy cringed and created the image of North's office door.

North sighed. "Yes, we talk in office." He growled. "I can not concentrate with all this noise! Come!"

The other four Guardians exchanged concerned expressions before they chased after North into his office.

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"Geez," said Mr. Potato Head as he wiped away another spider's web. "How long is this vent?"

"Who knows," Slinky replied. "We haven't seen any-"

"Hold it, I see light ahead," said Buzz as he ran to the end. The other toys caught up as he looked through the opening. "There's a desk, and a file cabinet. This must be Santa's office," Buzz whispered, as he looked around from what he could see through the vent.

"But where's Santa?" Woody asked as he peeked through.

It was then that the door opened and Santa entered, but he was no longer wearing the long red coat he had been wearing last night. Woody couldn't help but notice he also looked much more ragged and tired now. Four other people entered, well if 'people' was the right word. The strange group consisted of a teen boy with snow white hair, a small golden man, a feathered woman with wings and a giant rabbit.

"Who are those guys?" Rex asked.

Woody shushed Rex to be quiet and leaned forward to listen.

"So," started the large rabbit. "What's going on here? I haven't seen this place in such chaos since Christmas of '87."

The teen boy suddenly looked alarmed and gripped his staff. "Nothing happened with the run last night did it, North?"

"North?" Mr. Potato Head muttered. "I thought his name was Santa."

"Actually," Hamm replied. "As I recall Santa has several different names-"

"Guys, quiet," Jessie whispered.

"Well, sorry for trying to be educational."

Santa, or North as he seemed to be called here, shook his head. "No, no, Jack, delivery went fine without hitch."

"Jack?" said Buzz, and then his eyes widened. "Wait, does he mean Jack Frost?"

"Isn't that the fella that's Bonnie's been talking about lately?" Slinky whispered as he tried to sit up and get a better look. "The one that makes it snow."

Woody nodded as he looked at the other figures in the room. "If he's Jack Frost," he looked to the feathered woman. She did look oddly familiar, but then it hit him. "I bet she's the Tooth Fairy." She looked almost identical to the same fairy he had seen come in and collect Andy's teeth.

"But she's huge," Jessie replied. "She was always so tiny whenever we've seen her."

"Perhaps she has shape changing abilities," Buzz replied stroking his chin.

Hamm looked up and his eyes narrowed at the small golden man. "And I'll bet all the quarters in me the little man there is the Sandman. Funny, I thought he'd be taller."

Woody frowned, but gave a nod. "He does seem to be the same colour as that flying sand we see in the sky at night."

"Geez," Mr. Potato Head muttered in disbelief as he adjusted his hat. "What is this? A fairy tale convention?"

"Oh, oh!" Rex gasped excitedly and clapped his hands. "Then the tall rabbit must be the groundhog."

The others all looked to Rex with blank expressions. He fidgeted. "What? He has fur and so does the groundhog."

"He's the Easter Bunny you dinobrain!" Mr. Potato Head snapped.

Suddenly, Buzz and Woody saw the Easter Bunny's ears twitch and turn in their direction

"Everyone, hush!" Woody said alarmed, clapping a hand over Rex's mouth. Buzz held his breath as he protectively held Jessie, pulling her back.

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Down in the office, Bunny narrowed his eyes at the air vent. He was certain he had heard something...

"Bunny?" North asked.

Bunny shook his head and turned back to North. "Sorry, Mate, ya were sayin'."

North sighed as he began to pace. "Since early this morning, all of my machines have gone kaput." He threw his hands in the air. "Everything from my gift wrapping machines to toaster. Nothing works!"

Sandy frowned as he twiddled his fingers and created a sand image of Pitch.

Tooth shook her head. "I can't see this as Pitch's doing," she flapped her wings and hovered. "If he wanted to ruin Christmas for North, he would do it before his run not afterward."

Bunny nodded as he drummed his fingers against his elbow. "Plus, it ain't his style. Wreckin' machines is annoyin', but he wouldn't bother with somethin' this trivial."

"Wait, speaking of annoying," as Jack began to eye the floor and looked around him. "Where are the elves? I haven't seen any running around." He looked back to North. "And isn't fixing machines one of the few things they're good for?"

North gave a nod. While the elves did get underfoot, they were useful for fixing and adjusting broken machines. "That is because elves are missing."

"Missin?" Bunny said in disbelief. They were annoying little buggers, but it wasn't like them at all to abandon North with this much chaos happening. "Ya can't find them?"

"Have looked everywhere!" North said exasperated. "But no clue and yetis are up to their necks trying to fix everything." He slumped in his chair and ran a hand through his beard. "I am getting worried."

Tooth flew closer and patted his shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find them, North."

"Could they be out playing in the snow somewhere?" Jack asked. He had been teaching the elves snow games lately. Maybe they lost track of time while having a snowball fight.

North shook his head. "No, but," he raised his head and grimaced. "I am sensing there is something else here."

The others exchanged a puzzled glanced. "What do you mean?" Jack asked.

North sat up. "Something is here, in my workshop, that does not belong," he patted his stomach. "I feel it in my belly."

Bunny's ears twitched again as he heard a small sound like a person was taking an anxious gulp. Was it from that air vent?

"Do you suppose this 'thing' is also wrecking the machines?" Tooth asked

North added. "I believe so."

"Then we just need to find it," stated Jack as he flew up in the air. "Let's search this place top to bottom, find whatever this thing is and get rid of it."

Sandy punched a fist into his palm and gave a nod.

Bunny decided to ignore the odd noise for the moment and looked to the others. "Right, so we need to do a proper search. Let's split up and hunt down the bloody whatever thing is here."

North no longer seemed quite so tired as he rose and cracked his knuckles. "I am in perfect mood for hunting. Need some stress relief." He pointed to Tooth and Sandy. "You two go search in left wing and we will go to right. Then we meet up back in office." The group left the office to begin the search.

Bunny took one more glance at the air vent. He was probably just hearing things. Still, better to double check just to be safe. If he recalled correctly that air vent went straight to paint storage.

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Back in the storage room, Buzz was the last toy to climb down the shelf. "Well," he said slowly, trying to sound positive. "That was informative."

"Yeah," said Mr. Potato Head grimly. "We've learned that going to Santa, or North or whatever name he's going by today is the last thing we want to do!"

"Come on, guys," said Woody, as he tried to keep an eye on Bullseye. The little toy horse was pawing at the door again. "Maybe if we go and explain-"

"But you heard him!" Rex exclaimed waving his claws in the air. "He thinks we broke the machines! And he felt it in his belly!" He then grabbed Slinky by his face and shook him in panic. "IN HIS BELLY!"

"But we didn't touch his machines!" said Jessie stomping her boot. "We're innocent!"

Buzz paced in thought. "No, but we did trap the elves," he paused and turned sharply. "Maybe that interrupted their routine of maintaining the machines."

As Buzz finished they heard a crash and more yeti mumbles which Woody could only imagine were yeti curse words. "But locking the elves up can't cause this much damage, can it?" He glanced to Bullseye was was now trying to push the door open with his head. Woody sighed and went over to pull him away from the door. Maybe Hamm was right and it was mad horse disease.

"Maybe we should go and get those elves out then?" Slinky suggested.

"Oh, fantastic," Hamm moaned. "Because I'm just dying to deal with those lunatics again."

"But maybe North wouldn't be so mad at us."

Woody was about to agree with Slinky when he paused at the door. There was a thump. Several thumps. They were coming fast. Woody gulped and spun around.

"Guys! Hide!"

The toys gave a collective panicked yelp and ran to hide behind various paint buckets or whatever box they could fit in. Woody glanced back wondering if Bullseye had to be pulled away, but the horse had enough common sense to dive into a bucket of clean brushes by the door.

Woody dove into a shelf just as Buzz and Jessie approached the top shelf. "Hurry Jessie," Buzz replied as he gave her a boost to the shelf. There was a box large enough for them to hide in. However, just as Jessie turned to lend a hand to Buzz, the spaceman toy lost his footing.

He landed on the floor with a hard thud, just as the storage door opened. Having no choice, Buzz collapsed and lay motionless on the floor.

The door opened to reveal Bunny. He held a boomerang in his hand and carefully eyed the room. "I know I heard somethin' in here."

Bunny entered slowly and didn't even see Buzz, until his toe landed on one of the toy's buttons.

"BUZZ LIGHTYEAR TO THE RESCUE!"

Bunny jumped. "What the-" He glanced at his feet and stared puzzled at Buzz. "A toy?"

Buzz remained lifeless as Bunny picked him up in his large paw, lifting the toy to his face. He stared hard and long at Buzz like he was trying to judge a potential criminal during an interrogation.

Then, much to Buzz's surprise and horror, he spoke directly at him. "Okay," said Bunny as his nose twitched. "Drop the act."

Panic rang through Buzz's mind, but he remained in his lifeless state. He heard Bunny sigh and place a hand on his hip. "I've been around for centuries, Mate." Buzz stared directly into the large rabbit's eyes. "Ya don't think I know a living toy when I see one?"

Buzz swallowed. The pair of eyes he looked into clearly belonged to an ancient being. Buzz couldn't explain how he knew, but there was no way this creature was going to be fooled.

Buzz shifted uncomfortably and slowly began to move. "Um..." he began. "Look, we can explain-"

"YAAAA!" Jessie suddenly jumped off the shelf she'd been hiding on and tackled the top of Bunny's head. "Get ya paws off my ranger!" she cried as she pulled on Bunny's ears.

"OW!" Bunny cried as he was forced to drop Buzz. "Why ya little-" He spun around desperately trying to reach for Jessie, but she kept dodging his paws. "When I get my hands on ya!"

Jessie steered Bunny towards the wall with a hard kick. Bunny slammed into a shelf causing various cans of paint to topple over, including a particularly large one that hit Bunny directly on the head.

Bunny gave a grunt before he wobbled and fell onto the floor unconscious. Jessie jumped off as the other toys reappeared from their hiding places.

"Buzz," Jessie as she rushed to his side. "Ya alright?"

"I'm fine," Buzz replied as he pointed to Bunny. "But what about him?"

Hamm examined Bunny and shook his head in disapproval. "Nice going, Jessie," Hamm replied, sourly. "You killed the Easter Bunny."

"We're going on the naughty list for sure now!" Rex cried almost in tears.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "I didn't kill him, I knocked the critter out."

Buzz coughed. "So...um...hands off your ranger, huh?"

"Fellas, we don't have time for this," said Slinky as he nervously watched the door. "It won't be long until the others show up."

"Right," said Mr. Potato Head crossing his arms. "And they're not going to be too happy hearing about Calamity Jessie taking out their giant rabbit."

"Everyone, calm down," said Woody. "We need to keep our heads and make a plan - wait a second." He looked over the whole group. "Where's Bullseye?"

The group glanced back to the bucket where Bullseye had hid, but it was now empty save for the paint brushes. "He must have run off, Woody," said Jessie as she pointed to the door. "The rabbit left the door ajar for him to leave."

"Again!" cried Woody exasperated. "That's it, when we get home he is so going on a leash."

"Bunny!" they heard North cried out. "Are you alright? Heard giant crash!"

"Crud! They're coming, Woody!" cried Slinky. "What do we do?"

"Um..." Woody stammered, but Hamm was the first to respond.

"I'll tell you what we do!" Hamm began to run out of the room. "RUN AND PANIC!"

"Hamm!" Woody cried, but Buzz caught his arm. "No, he's right Woody. If we stick together, we have a higher chance of getting caught then we would if we split up."

The footsteps drew closer.

Woody sighed. "Okay, fine. Split up! We'll try to meet up at the rendezvous point where the sleigh is!" The others quickly ran out the door and went in various directions.

"And if anyone finds Bullseye," Woody called. "TIE HIM TO A POLE OR SOMETHING!" He then sighed as he too bolted. Unbeknownst to Woody, a pair of green beady eyes watched him from the shadows of the roof beams and hissed in enjoyment.

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Tooth was the first to arrive at the scene, gasping in horror as she found a moaning Bunny on the floor. She flew over and helped Bunny sit up. "Are you hurt?"

Bunny grunted as he rubbed the bump on his head. "Just my pride mostly."

Jack, North and Sandy quickly appeared. Sandy caused a question mark to appear the same time North asked. "Bunny what happened?"

"I was attacked," Bunny explained as he climbed to his feet and gripped a shelf for support. "By a couple of toys."

The others exchanged baffled looks and Jack coughed. "Are you sure you don't have a concussion?"

"LIVING toys," Bunny snapped. "I heard voices and found a live spaceman toy on the floor." He then pointed to the shelf on the other side of the room. "And as I was questionin' him a doll attacked me and knocked me into a shelf!"

Tooth frowned and looked to North. "I thought your toys didn't come alive until children were holding them."

North ran a hand through his beard. "They do not. Very strange."

Jack, however, had another question in his mind and was staring directly at Bunny. "You, the great Easter Bunny," said Jack, suppressing his laugh, but not his smile. "Got beaten up by a doll?

"I did not get beaten up!" Bunny stated, twitching an eye and straightening his posture. "She just caught me off guard and knocked me out!"

"See, to me," said Jack grinning like a cat. "That's the exact same thing as getting beaten up."

North nodded as he stroked his beard. "Jack has point."

"In any case," Bunny replied, dying to change the subject. "My point is there are a bunch of live toys runnin' around." He counted on his fingers. "From what I heard there are at least eight of them."

Sandy raised a skeptical eyebrow as he produced an image of a teddy bear attacking a machine and failing miserably.

"Yeah," Jack nodded in agreement. "Why would toys be attacking North's machines?" He leaned against his staff. "It sounds like a plot to a lame Christmas special."

North nodded. "It does not add up, but," he held up his hand. "It is only clue we have and there may be connection."

"So, we need to find these toys," Tooth concluded. "And have them tell us what's going on."

"But," Jack added as he looked to Bunny. "Maybe you better sit this out, Long Ears." He gave a cheeky grin. "I mean, if one toy managed to take you out then a bunch of them-"

"Oh, don't worry about me, Frostbite!" Bunny replied as he poked Jack's arm. "In fact, I'm bettin' I'll be able to catch way more toys than you."

Jack grinned. "Oh? Bet, huh? You sure on that?"

"Oh," North chimed in, rubbing his hand. "I want in on this!"

"Guys," Tooth said with a sigh as Sandy also raised his hands with a huge grin. "Do we really need to-"

"Winner gets to see the losers wear elf outfits while singing a song of the winner's choice!" Jack declared.

Bunny, Sandy and North nodded in agreement as Tooth shook her head, not sure if she would ever understand men.