"Alright, we're almost to your ship", Woody said, mounted on her horse bullseye. The rangers had assured her they could pull the ship back with their strength as long as they had a way to decrease friction, which were the wheels on the carts. At least Buzz did.

"We can mount your ship on the carts then set them up so you can pull them, though I honestly don't understand why you'd want to pull all that weight yourselves", Woody said as she looked back at the group behind her, sitting in the carts.

"We didn't, Buzz did", Mira grumbled under her breath earning her a glare from Buzz.

The only reason we're pulling it, is because Buzz wants to show off! Can't even accept help from that nice woman without having to puff his chest out, Mira thought.

"Oh don't worry tuts, with me on the job, we'll get this ship back to the town before you can say 'star command'", XR said grinning, though Buzz sent him another glare. Woody giggled at XR, she'd like to see that happen. In the distance the ship came to view, Woody sped up the horse slightly.

The faster they got to the ship, the faster they could get back home safe and sound.

Suddenly, Buzz heard the growling of something in the dark desert. The sun had set a few minutes back and now was the perfect time for predators to strike, which they were doing now. "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah, what is that?", Booster said as he got in a defensive position. "It sounds like... growling?"

"You mean the coyotes?", Woody said, having stopped Bullseye. She took a look around, catching the glint of their luminous eyes. "Everyone hold on tight to the carts!" As soon as everyone was settled, she hit the reins and Bullseye started to run at full speed. "Run like the wind Bullseye!"

Soon a pack of coyotes made themselves known as they ran after the carts with the bright colored rangers.

"They are gaining on us!", Mira yelled, causing the rangers to hold up their blaster arms to fire at the mangy beasts. Woody looked behind at the carts, watching them go into that same position they were in before. She had no idea what they were doing, until Buzz shot a bright colored beam from his arm.

She gasped in horror, watching as the beams missed the coyotes, but came close to shooting them. She pulled the lead back, making Bullseye stop in his tracks and throw all the rangers off balance. She jumped off her horse and ran in front of the rangers as they began to raise their arms again.

"No stop!", Woody yelled, yanking their hands down. "Don't shoot them!" Buzz threw her and incredulous look.

"Oh no! Not another one like Dr. Furbanna (2)", Mira said in irritation. She was just about done dealing with things attacking them today.

"What?!", he yelled as the coyotes slowly crept toward them. "They're the ones that attacked us."

"They are only trying to hunt for food as instinct tells them to do! Shooting them isn't the only option!", Woody said in a hushed voice as she kept an eye on the nocturnal hunters.

"So what do you suggest we do?!", Buzz asked her, hushing down as he saw the animals get closer.

"You? Nothing. Let me handle this!", she said before turning away from them, running to her horse and getting a knapsack. Then she slowly walked over to the coyotes, under her breath counting six of them, a moderate pack. As soon as they began to try and circle around her, she clapped her hands and stomped over to their direction.

"What is she doing?", Buzz asked watching the coyotes warily, ready to shoot one if need be. They were getting a bit too close to her for his liking.

"I think she's herding them, or something like that", Mira said watching the sheriff get them all into a group, instead of circling around her. "Look at her, she's huddling them all up."

"Alright, come on, git", Woody said, pushing them back. When one began to growl at her, she screamed at it and stomped the ground, scaring it right back into submission. "Alright, you little scoundrels", she said as she reached into her bag, pulling out a couple of apples, and a canteen.

She split the apples up, tossing them on the ground watching the coyotes slowly inch towards the fruit. "Come on eat up", Woody said as she tossed more pieces of the apples. "We don't want you eating anything else." The coyotes started to lap and lick at the apples some eating the slices, still staring up at the cowgirl.

"What are you trying to do!? Encourage them!?", Buzz yelled in a hushed voice.

"I'm giving them something to munch on instead of us!", Woody yelled back, as she poured some water into her cupped palm, extending her hand out slowly to the timid animals. Smiling slightly as one of the cubs ran forward and began to drink the water straight away. "I'll walk right back to you in a second, just let them finish."

Just then the coyotes jumped on Woody all together, knocking her to the ground. Buzz lurched forward arm raised and ready to fire, when he heard Woody laughing. Getting a better look he saw the coyotes licking and jumping on Woody. "Okay! Okay! Down boys! Down!", Woody yelled as the wild dogs continued to show their affections to the girl.

"Whoah! Wait am I missing something?", XR asked watching the scene in confusion.

"These coyotes are actually a pack I found a while back, nurse them back to health during a drought", Woody explained. "I've been keeping an eye on them since, and well it seems they recognize me now, as I do them." Woody slowly stood up, scratching the wild dogs behind their ears to placate their playful demeanor, she didn't exactly like being knocked down.

Woody stood up completely, walking backwards to the her horse, never turning her back on the pack of coyotes, who were more like love sick puppies now. "They'll leave us alone for now, we should get a move on tho', before they decide they can turn a blind eye on who raised them."

The cowgirl settled onto her horse and hit the reins, telling bullseye to go on, making their way to the ship. Buzz in the meantime, watched her silently, quietly amazed at her skills with animals, how she handled herself and those animals. He was impressed. Very impressed.

Footnotes

(2)- Dr. Ozma Furbanna was a love interest of Buzz's, though unrequited for the most part. Dr. Furbanna was a Zoologist studying the native life on a hostile planet, where the team and the doctor met. She stubbornly protected the animals, even if they were unreasonably aggressive and galaxy threatening, even teaming up with Zurg at one point.