CHAPTER 13 – The Rescue
Meanwhile back at Bonnie's house, Jessie had retired to the bed – or rather, under it. She always liked the underside of the bed for some reason. Maybe it was because she felt closer to Emily when she was under it. Or maybe she just liked to feel the loneliness completely engulf her.
Of course, tonight she was thinking about Buzz. She couldn't believe he was gone, after only a few short sweet minutes alone with him. She shut her eyes, and she could taste his kiss. She could almost feel his arms around her small frame, comforting her. She hoped it was just her imagination, because she would hate to think of him as a ghost.
She reopened her eyes and jumped when she saw Bullseye peeking under the bed. She smiled but made no movement. Bullseye whinnied softly and padded forward, his head down and his eyes sad. He nudged the forlorn cowgirl and gave her a soft lick on the cheek, and she smiled, "I'm sorry Bullseye. I just miss him, you know."
Bullseye nodded and pawed at the ground for a minute before settling down next to Jessie. She petted him. "I shouldn't be so sad; I know Woody's gone to find him." She brightened at the thought, "I'm sure Woody is having a great time, being outdoors!"
Contrary to her belief, Woody was not having a great time at all. The garden seemed enormous and there were so many pots, and only one Buzz.
"I guess we should split up," Woody shrugged, but Buttercup harrumphed at this.
"You're going to wander off alone in a dark garden to find a toy, without even knowing what's in here?"
Buttercup had a point, Woody thought. "Okay, we'll stick together, but let's hurry. Buzz has been gone a long time and he could be injured or something."
They set off, Buttercup giving Woody a boost up to search inside every plant pot. They trawled the garden for what could have been hours, until they came to a large white and yellow pot with a big shrub inside it.
Buttercup hoisted Woody up to the surface of the plant. Woody thrashed his way through the plant when suddenly he heard something.
"Mmmfh."
"Buzz?" Woody jumped back and stared at the soil. He could see something white under the topsoil, and he dug at the soil for a moment, before uncovering something that was glassy and reflective. Buzz's helmet! He thought, continuing to dig at the soil furiously.
Buttercup called up, "Did you find him?"
"Yes," Woody called back.
"I wondered why you were digging," Buttercup replied casually.
"Would you get up here and give me a hand?" Woody retorted, and Buttercup laughed.
"Haven't got a hand free. I have a couple spare hooves though."
Woody rolled his eyes. "Very funny," he sighed, and went back to the task at hand. Buttercup joined him after a while and in due course they uncovered Buzz's helmet completely. Woody pushed the button to open the helmet and Buzz gasped for air.
"I've never been so glad to see you Woody!" He wheezed, and Woody smiled.
"Let's get you out of there, Buzz."
"Easier said than done, cowboy. I've got one of the roots wrapped around my legs. Wriggling doesn't help."
Woody groaned. "You have to be joking with me? We have to unearth the entire pot?"
"I guess so," Buzz said wistfully, trying to wriggle an arm free.
"Shame we don't have anything to dig with." Buttercup said sadly.
Woody frowned. "Dig...dig!" He jumped down from the pot, "Buttercup, come with me!" He called and Buzz stared around at them.
"Woody, you're going to leave me here?"
"Just hang tight Buzz, I got this." Woody called back. "Come on Buttercup, let's go find the outbuilding. A place like this has to have a shed or something."
After a bit of searching around the garden, they located a small shed. There was a crack in the door that Woody was able to slip through, and once inside he went rummaging. "Aha!" He called, unearthing a trowel. He slipped the trowel out to Buttercup, who helped Woody drag it back to the pot where Buzz was.
Then Woody led Buttercup over to the rockery, and they jumped up. "Take the biggest slabs of rock you can manage," Woody instructed the unicorn, and together they dragged three rocks back to the pot as well.
They were exhausted after this, but there was still a lot of work to do. Woody started wedging the trowel under the pot. They placed two of the big rockery stones either side of the trowel.
"Ok, Buzz, get ready. We're going to tip the pot," Woody called.
"What? How?"
"Just trust me. Ok, Buttercup. When I say go, push the rocks under the pot., Now gimme a boost."
Buttercup boosted Woody up onto the side of the pot, and passed him up a third large rock. "Ok...Buttercup, get ready," Woody called, and dropped the stone he was holding onto the trowel. "Go!"
The trowel handle pushed down, the shovel part pushed up, the pot started to tip...and fall back into the place, just as Buttercup pushed the two stones, one after the other, under the pot. The pot was now wedged in place.
Woody however, had lost his balance and had fallen, along with several layers of dirt, down onto the ground the other side of the plant pot.
"Woody!" Buzz choked out, having swallowed some of the said dirt. "How the heck is this helping?"
"Buzz, please, you gotta trust me. I know what I'm doing. I think."
Woody ran around to the other side of the pot. "OK Buttercup, time to push." He braced his shoulder against the underside of the pot, and Buttercup joined him. "Ok...1, 2, 3, push!" he shouted, and they both shoved as hard as they could on the underside of the pot.
The pot lurched and rolled a bit, but eventually it tipped right up. They heard Buzz coughing, and raced around...the plant had fallen out of the pot. But Buzz was still buried – the earth was quite dry and solid around him. However now Woody could see Buzz's leg, wrapped tightly in the root of the plant.
"Buttercup, how are your teeth feeling about a little nibbling duty," he enquired, pointing to the plant root.
"On it, Woody," Buttercup said cheerfully, and set to work gnawing away the root trapping Buzz's leg, while Woody picked up the trowel.
"Buzz, I'm going to scrape some of the earth away, watch out," he cautioned the space ranger, who nodded.
"It's not like I'm going anywhere," he observed wryly.
Woody started digging a little bit through the earth, the layers beginning to break away. Buttercup finished gnawing through the root and Buzz gave a sigh of relief as slowly the two toys uncovered him of earth. He lay on the ground for some time, stretching and flexing his limbs, trying to get himself moving again.
"I hope I haven't rusted," he muttered, standing up at long last, and Woody grinned.
"C'mon Buzz. Let's get you home." He replied, straightening his hat and dusting himself down.
"You have no idea how good that sounds," Buzz returned, removing the remaining foliage stuck around his legs, and following Buttercup and Woody to the gate.