It Begins pt.8

Getting into the Alpha-1, Jill sat next to Mira as Booster and XR were in the back. Despite the fuming female ranger next to her, she was quiet and had a somber look on her face.

"You okay Jill?" Booster asked. This got her attention.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I'm fine." She replied, eyes never leaving the window.

"Are you sure? I mean, you look a little down." Jill sighed as she continued to gaze out in space.

"I'm just a bit worried about my Dad." Booster smiled and patted her shoulder.

"Don't you worry about Buzz. He'll be alright…I mean, yeah; he's going up against the greatest evil in the universe…all alone…with alarming odds stacked against him…" Booster trailed off and bit his bottom lip. The three others looked at him for a bit before XR spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.

"So! Let's change the subject!" He smiled seductively at Jill. "What kind of tattoo is it and where is it located?" She glared at him.

"You really shouldn't hit on your boss's daughter." Jill snapped.

"Ha! Joke's on you! Buzz was my partner, and I'm no longer with him, so you're fair game Sweetheart!" She responded with a kick to the bot's head.

"OOOO!" Mira growled, drawing everyone's attention. "Sent packing like a bunch of first year rookies!"

"Which technically, we are." XR pointed out. Suddenly the Alpha-1's communicator radio turned on as Buzz's voice came through it.

"I don't know if anyone will be left untainted by Zurg's evil to receive this last chapter." Booster gasped.

"Did I sit on another button?" Mira shushed him.

"Shhh. It's Buzz!" Jill looked to the radio worryingly.

"Dad?"

"As I go to my doom-" Buzz's voice continued.

"DOOM?" Booster whimpered.

"I pause to pay tribute to four of the best and the brightest to ever come out of star command." XR happily hit the dashboard.

"That's me, and three others!"

"I have taken a one-man stand against darkness and depravity and I have failed. I was wrong." The four exchanged worried looks as Zurg's voice was heard in the background. "Perhaps if I had taken a new partner…or two…or three"

"HOT ROCKETS! Did you hear that?" Booster cried happily.

"He needs us!" XR said proudly.

"He actually admits he needs us." Mira added.

"We're coming Buzz!" Booster yelled as Mira turned the ship around.

"Huh? Wait! What about-" Jill had started.

"The only, small victory I have is that my daughter, the light of my life, is safe from Zurg's evil. As she lives on, I can rest easy knowing there is some good out there. I only wish is that she knows how much I treasure her lively spirit and creative problem solving."

"Ah." Jill said with a grin.

"Well, you heard the man, Start solving creatively!" XR said. Rubbing her chin, Jill smiled as she looked at Mira.

"I may already have."

~0~0~

"Buzz Lightyear, over…and out." Buzz slumped over as the two hornets holding him carried him off.

"Target Buzz Lightyear!" Zurg commanded a brain pod that was typing away at the control pad.

"You're the evil emperor." Bolts of electricity sparked threw the mega ray. "Mega ray, mega ready!" He called to a grub. The grub waved and tapped a red button a couple of times as the ray's tip was pointed at Buzz.

"Do it." Zurg commanded. The brain pod pulled a lever that illuminated the ray in an eerie purple glow. Buzz glared as it was about to shoot him. Right as the ray shot the mind controlling beam at him, two purple hands grabbed him and pulled him away. Buzz looked up and smiled as he saw XR's grinning face as the bot was hanging upside down of the bottom of the Alpha-1.

"Hot Rockets!" Booster yelled happily as he piloted the ship with Jill next to him, smiling.

"See, this is where metal arms come in handy. I don't wanna show off, but when you have to hold a heavy guy like-Gahh!" XR screamed as the two hornets shocked Buzz and the electricity traveled up his extended arms and shocked him as well. Buzz quickly hit the button on his spacesuit chest that extended his wings causing the two hornets to fall off him.

"You okay down there XR?" Jill called to the little bot.

"Define alright." XR moaned as he started to glitch. Suddenly he lost the magnetic hold on the ship and began to fall. "Booster! Jill!" he cried as he fell.

"We've lost XR!" Jill cried as Booster gasped and turned the ship around before nose diving after the bot. Quickly pulling up under XR, the little bot landed, then bounced against the top before hitting the fin of the ship.

"Sorry!" Booster cried.

"That was, AMAZING Booster!" Jill cried happily.

"Ru-Really?" Booster asked. Jill smiled and nodded. "Hee, hee thanks." Jill suddenly gasped. "What?" She pointed towards Zurg aiming a weapon at her father. "Buzz!" Buzz was hit by the weapon's beam and started to fall.

"DADDY!" Jill screamed as tears filled her eyes. She quickly turned to Booster. "We've gotta go help him!" Booster nodded and drove towards the top of Zurg's tower. "Booster! You're driving too fast!" She yelled as the young Jo-ad was pulling back on the joystick.

"I can't help it! The stick is jammed!" He yelled panicking. Jill looked back and saw they were about to crash.

"Oh…craters" Jill cried.

"Janitor Driving!" XR yelled as they hit the ground and crashed into everything.

"WATCH OOOOUUUUUTTTTT!" Booster cried as Jill hid behind him. They screamed as they hit a control panel and stopped, yet again loosing XR in the process.

"Come on Boost!" XR yelled as he was hurled. Rubbing their sore heads, Jill and Booster jumped as Mira ghosted threw the dashboard.

"Buzz is hit!" She cried. Jill nodded.

"We know!"

"Tsk. Rookies." Jill froze when she heard that voice. Turning, she gasped as she saw a ghost from her past.

"Uncle Warp?" The man looked like him…yet something was off. Looking him over, she saw that this Warp was missing his right arm and it had been replaced with a robotic one. The second thing was that this Warp was wearing a Zurg uniform. Booster's voice brought her back to the present.

"Hey, isn't that Buzz's dead partner?" Mira and Jill's eyes went huge as Warp's robotic hand turned into a laser.

"EJECT!" Mira yelled as she hit the eject button that launched Booster out of the Alpha-1 and narrowly avoided the laser's shot. Booster, meanwhile, landed on Warp. Giving a groan, Warp looked up at Booster.

"Aren't you the janitor?" Booster smiled and crossed his arms.

"Yeeap!" Warp gave another groan.

"Oh this is gonna be GREAT for my rep."

"Booster, XR, restrained him!" Mira yelled. She looked to Jill who was still in the ship, back turned to her. "Jillian?" She tenderly asked as she walked up to the girl. "Jill? Are you alright?" She saw the younger woman brush tears away before standing up and facing her.

"I'm alright. Just-" She stole a glare at Warp. "Fine, just fine." Mira nodded as she placed a hand on Jill's shoulder before turning to the two boys.

"Guys? Let's go give Buzz his backup."