*Okay, so this may be the longest one-shot I have yet to do, but, in a late honor to 25 years of Pixar and Toy Story, a little switcheroo story. What if Woody was the one strapped to the rocket as Sid intended? How will it go down?*
"No. No! Slinky, wait!" Woody shouted as his friend lowered the blinds across the way in Andy's room. "No! Slinky!" The cowboy slumps over the windowsill in defeat. He and Buzz had been in Sid's house only for a day, and when Woody finally got the attention of his friends, they didn't believe that Buzz was alive. Well Buzz wasn't any help, cause he sat on the floor. It didn't help either that Woody tried to convince them with Buzz's arm instead of Buzz himself. His arm came off when the space ranger tried to fly across to an open window. Woody still didn't understand why Buzz was now in this funk, but he definitely wasn't helping their situation. Now they had lost their last hope of ever getting out of the hell they had entered. Suddenly, Woody heard noises and saw the mutant toys of Sid's moving towards Buzz.
"Buzz!" He said, jumping down from the desk. Buzz's arm still clasped in his hand, he ran over to the toys and tried to pry them off of him. "Get away from him, you freaks!" A toy with a babyface turned and reached for Buzz's arm. Woody held onto it, not letting go. Eventually he lost his grip on it and fell backwards. The toys continued to surround Buzz. Woody got up and tossed them aside.
"Leave him alone, you monsters. He's still alive and you're not going to..." He got through and saw Buzz, his arm reattached. Woody gasped. "Hey, hey they fixed you. I, I don't get it. They're cannibals, we saw them eat those other toys." Those other toys were a Janie doll and a pterodactyl, both with their heads on their correct bodies. They all looked up at Woody. Woody looked at Buzz and then back at the toys, laughing nervously.
"Uh, heh, sorry! I, I thought you were gonna...you know, eat my friend." He said. When he said that, they immediately rushed under the bed. "Hey! No, no, wait! What's wrong?" That's when he heard Sid's mom yelling from downstairs. "Oh no, Sid!" Woody grabbed Buzz by the arms and dragged him towards the bed. "Come on, Buzz, use your legs!" They heard Sid and his mom arguing. Woody's knees began to shake as he looked at the door. Frustrated, he dropped Buzz, moved in front of him and shoved him hard, making him roll under the bed out of sight.
"Ouch! Woody! What are you..." Buzz snapped.
"Shush!"
"You know, I'm already depressed as it is, you don't need to kick me down further."
"What could possibly be making you so depressed right now?"
"Oh I don't know, the fact that you were right?" Woody's mouth dropped and he turned to the space ranger. Buzz sighed. "I saw a Buzz Lightyear commercial. I'm not from star command, I can't shoot lasers, I can't even fly. I'm nothing but a toy, a stupid, insignificant toy." Woody was taken back by that comment. He looked down at the carpet.
"No. No you're not, Buzz. You are a lot more than that. You..." Just then they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. "Quiet, he's coming." They stayed silent as Sid burst into the room.
"It came! It finally came!" He laughed. He was holding a box that he set on his desk. Ripping it open, he gasped. "The big one. 'Extremely dangerous, keep out of reach of children.' Cool!"
"What is it, Woody?" Buzz asked.
"I, I'm not exactly sure." He peaked out and saw Sid looking around. On the desk, he saw what Sid had gotten: a rocket. He dove back down beside Buzz. "It's a rocket! He's going to blow up another toy, just like he did to that combat Carl! Oh we are so..."
"Quiet! Sid's on the move." Buzz said. They saw him moving around the room.
"Hmm, what am I going to blow, man. Hey, where's that wimpy cowboy doll?" Buzz looked at Woody, who looked back at him.
"We should move..." Buzz said, moving an inch when Woody stopped him.
"No! Don't move!" He hissed just as Sid's hand came under the bed towards Buzz. Quick as lighting, Woody moved in front of Buzz, blocking Sid from taking him, and let himself be taken instead. Buzz was shocked and tried to reach out to the cowboy, but it was too late. Woody went limp as Sid pulled him out. The boy smiled wickedly.
"There you are, you stupid ragdoll. Let's see if you can survive being blasted into orbit." He laughed and duck taped Woody to the rocket. Buzz was horrified. Suddenly lightning lit up the room, making Sid look out the window. It was pouring. "Oh no! Aw man!" Under the bed, Buzz sighed with relief. Sid banged his head against the window and looked down at the cowboy. "Sid Phillips reporting, launch postponed due to adverse weather conditions. Tomorrow's forecast..." He placed Woody on the desk next to an alarm clock. "Sunny! Sweet dreams."
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Once Sid was completely asleep, Buzz moved from his hiding spot under the bed. He climbed up the side of the desk and saw the depressed cowboy. Sid had wrapped duct tape not only around his midsection, but also his hands, which were wrapped behind the rocket. Woody's head was down, his eyes closed. Buzz took a step towards him.
"Woody?" The space ranger said quietly. The sheriff didn't move. Buzz tried again, a little louder. "Woody? I'm so, so..."
"Don't. Woody said sharply. You're not the one who needs to apologize. I got us into this mess, so I deserve to be strapped to this rocket." Buzz was both shocked and confused.
"You deserve to...no one deserves to be strapped to a rocket, sheriff."
"I do, especially after the way I've been treating you. From the first day you came into Andy's room, I've acted like a jerk. Because you were new and so full of yourself, thinking you were some great space ranger." Woody sighed and lifted his head to look out the window. "I'm normally so welcoming to new toys, but you, you were different. Jealousy and anger clouded my judgment to the point where I was actually threatened by you."
"Hold on, you were threatened by me?" Woody turned to him.
"How could I not be? Look at you. You're a Buzz Lightyear! You've got wings, you glow in the dark, and you can karate chop things. Heck you're helmet goes 'whoosh' when it opens! You are one of the coolest toys I've ever seen. You're so cool, that...that I thought..."
"You thought that I was going to replace you." Buzz said. Woody sighed.
"Not only that, but I was afraid that if Andy loved you so much, he would get sick of me and I would be on my way to the trash. So I acted irrationally and tried to get rid of you by..." He swallowed and cleared his throat. "Knocking you out the window. I'm not proud of that. I'm sorry. If I could go back to that day and change things, I would. But I can't." He turned his head and closed his eyes. "You should leave, Buzz. Get out while you can, and get back to Andy. I'll be fine." Buzz stared at him for a minute and then walked over and sat down beside him.
"So you messed up. So what? We both did. Buzz said. What happens now is we accept our faults, forgive one another and move on. Now I will go, but you're coming with me, sheriff. Now hold still!" He got up and went around the rocket to Woody's tied hands. He worked on the tape for a few minutes until he was able to tear it off, freeing his hands. The rain had stopped and the sun was starting to come in as Buzz started working on the tape around the rocket. Suddenly they heard screeching.
"Buzz, it's the moving van! Woody whispered. Forget the rocket, we've got to get out of her now!"
"Psst, cowboy! Space Ranger! Down here!" Woody and Buzz looked down and saw Janie and some of the mutant toys.
"We know a way out. Come with us!" Janie said.
"Quickly!" Roller bob hissed. Woody and Buzz climbed down the desk and scurried over to Janie.
"Quick, get on Roller bob. He'll take you over to the TV room. There is a drainpipe just outside the window. You can climb down it and get back to your boy."
"Thank you, Janie. We are eternally grateful to you. I hope things get better for you here." Woody said. Janie beamed.
"Go Roller Bob." Just then Sid's alarm clock went off. "Oh no! Hand, door! Quickly!" A jack in the box that had a hand instead of Jack raised up towards the doorknob and turned it, opening the door. With Woody and Buzz on skateboard, Roller Bob zipped out of Sid's room along with the other mutant toys over to Hannah's room. Thankfully Hannah wasn't there, so the toys were able to make a tower up to her desk to get to the window. Woody and Buzz got out on the window sill and looked at the mutants.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us? You can leave all of this." Woody asked.
"We'll be okay, sheriff. Babyface said. Trust me. We survive so that we can help other toys who get taken home by that rotten boy." Woody hesitated, but Babyface nudged him. "Go to your boy, Sheriff."
"Thank you, all of you." Woody said. He and Buzz bid them goodbye and climbed down the drainpipe. They got to the fence and saw the last of the boxes being packed up.
"Come on cowboy, we can make it!" Buzz cried. He climbed through a slat in the fence and made a dash to the truck. Woody tried to climb through the fence, but got stuck because of the rocket.
"Ah! Darn this thing." Buzz heard him and turned around. He started running towards him, but Woody put his hand up. "Just go, I'll catch up."
"Hang on." He jumped in the air, turned once and kicked at the slat next to Woody, breaking it. He then help maneuver the cowboy to where he could get through without injuring himself. Together they ran to the truck and saw Bo and Slinky looking out one of the boxes marked 'Andy's room'.
"Woody? Buzz? Is that you?" Bo asked.
"Bo! Thank goodness! Help us up!" Woody said. Carefully, she climbed down from the box, lowered her crook, and pulled them up. As she did, Potato Head and the rest of the toys came out to the edge of the truck.
"Hey, what gives? Bo, why are you helping this murderer?" Potato Head snapped.
"Hey, knock it off. Woody is not a murderer." Buzz said, making the spud gasp.
"Buzz! You're okay!" Rex said excitedly.
"What's going on here? You're defending Woody?" Hamm asked.
"Woody and I have settled our differences and made amends. Buzz said. We just broke out of Sid's house together."
"See? They're friends now, guys." Slinky cried.
"I'm still not convinced." The spud mumbled.
"Woody, what is that taped to your back?" Bo asked.
"A rocket. Woody said. Sid was going to blow me up. That's why we made a break for it. We need help getting it off."
"Rocky, hand me that box cutter over there, please." The muscle man did and Bo cut through the tape. Buzz tossed the rocket in the grass.
"Alright, Ms. Davis, that's the rest of it!" They heard a move say.
"Oh no, Andy!" Woody said.
"The family is getting in the car. You guys have to be in there. Bo said. Go. Go now." She kissed Woody quickly and then they ran and dove into the backseat just as Andy was getting in. The boy's hand touched the seat, but instead of cushion, he felt cloth and plastic. Looking down, he gasped with joy.
"Hey wow!" He exclaimed.
"What, what is it?" His mom said.
"It's Woody and Buzz!"
"Oh good, you found them! Where were they?"
"Here in the car!"
"See? I told you, right where you left them." Andy held them close against his chest. Buzz looked over at Woody, who was looking at him, and both of them winked at each other. They made it just in the nick of time and they did it together, thus sparking a crazy, exciting, and adventurous friendship between sheriff and space ranger.
*Simple switcheroo that turned out all right, if I do say so myself. What did you guys think? Again, I know it's way past the anniversary, but I was busy with other stories. I have another one shot that I'm playing that pertains to the 'Pride family' stories I do. Just a small one. Till next time, three more days till 2021!*