A Space Cowboy in the Desert

Special thanks to YoukaiYume for inspiration. The story was going okay, but it really took off once I saw and became inspired by some of her Toy Story illustrations. I then got to thinking that it would be fun to rewrite bits and pieces of my story here and there to hint at some of these pictures or borrow them completely to enrich the story. Bonus points if you can point out scenes written for the drawings.

Chapter 1: Zurg drops a different kind of bomb

The calm at the frontline just before a great battle was very unnerving. All seemed peaceful and yet one could not distract their mind from the truth. This moment of peace was actually chaos in disguise and was just waiting to prey on them. Our hero was all too familiar with this contradicting concept of being surrounded by tranquility and yet feeling not at rest. Like all other distracting ideas however, he easily ignored the anxiety and was instead focused on the task that lay before him. After all, he was Buzz Lightyear, a member of the elite Universe Protection Unit of the Space Ranger Corp, Star Command and arguably the most decorated Ranger to ever dawn the uniform. No matter what, Buzz would allow nothing to get in his way or distract him from his mission.

If ever there was a time in Buzz's life to be distracted, now would be a perfectly warranted occasion. Emperor Zurg had taken some major headway in a few previous battles of strategic significance and morale was down among the ranks of Star Command. In fact, during one of those head-on battles with Zurg, even though Buzz had ultimately came out on top, his victory for the Galactic Alliance was soured and proved to be inadvertently another win for Zurg. Emperor Zurg had lost that battle with Buzz but in the process had revealed a secret to the Space Ranger Corp. that was so demoralizing that it held the potentially to cost the Galactic Alliance the war…

Buzz Lightyear was in Zurg's death grip dangling several feet off the ground. The dark Emperor was in quite a foul mood and Buzz expected nothing less. Who would not be cross upon finding the bane of their existence inside a vertical transporter shaft within their own supposedly heavily-fortified flagship? Add being found while relaying key intelligence back to Star Command and you knew you were cruising for contusions. Enraged that Buzz had managed to infiltrate his ship, Zurg tossed the Space Ranger like a ragdoll and Buzz almost slid over the edge of the transporter platform and down the endless shaft below. Running into Zurg himself, along with his armed minions, was not part of Buzz's initial plan, but still, it was the least of his worries. This distraction would cost the unfortunate Space Ranger valuable time that he needed to abandon ship before Star Command's signal went off.

Zurg had the high ground and with his enemy surrounded, he easily mistook Buzz's somewhat concerned look about being stalled for fear. The Emperor let out a maniacal laugh and said,

"Surrender, Buzz Lightyear. I have won!" Zurg's words caused a slight chill to go down the spines of every ranger within earshot of Buzz's transmission at Star Command HQ. Buzz had had no time to severe his com-link before he was completely preoccupied with the sight of scores of laser sights being pointed right at his heart. It only took half a nanosecond for Buzz's unabashed demure to return to him as he began to contemplate Zurg's words. Surrender? Buzz would let Zurg know what he thought of that suggestion! Buzz was a somewhat guarded and private man by nature and though he knew full well from the light on his opened wrist communicator that everyone at Star Command would hear, he did not care. With his demise imminent, Buzz was beyond caring who heard him give Zurg his most personal reason as to why surrender was not an option. Buzz would later wish that he had not been so uncharacteristically careless with his feelings. After all, loose lips sink ships…

"I'll never give in! You killed my father!" Buzz shouted back defiantly with what he and Star Command thought would be his last breath.

The listeners at Star Command marveled at Buzz's bravery in the face of death at the hands of Zurg. Here was a man who would have memorials erected to his memory. He would be the standard of courage for generations of children who would wonder if their courage and family loyalty were up to par to that of Buzz Lightyear. Sadly, this admiration mutated into ridicule as quickly as it took Zurg to finish his next statement.

"No, Buzz. I AM your father…" That was the last thing heard before Buzz's conversation was replace by an explosion and then dead air.

BOOM! The entire flagship shook with the force of an earsplitting blast. Apparently Zurg had caught Buzz a little too late to thwart the Space Ranger's mission completely. Buzz had already successfully completed the first half of his assignment, to overload the computers in the engine room. This was evident by the successive sound of explosions coming from that room's general direction. Under any other circumstances, Buzz would have been relieved that he had managed to give Star Command its signal to attack the distracted and damaged ship, but not this time.

"NOOOoooooo-!" was all Buzz could shout at Zurg after hearing such a wild accusation about his parentage.

Zurg righted himself after the blasts, seemingly unscathed and said,

"Search your feelings, Buzz. You know it to be true. We are so much alike. Even I went through a similar defiant period as you. However, you are getting a little old now for this goody-two-shoes teen rebellion and I tire of this farce between us. The Galactic Alliance will soon be obliterated and you need not share their fate... Not when you finally know the truth, my son. Despite being raised by weaklings, you have proven yourself to be a competent leader and a worthy adversary. Join me, Buzz… And together we will rule the galaxy as father and son!"

Everything was so surreal, in slow motion. Buzz was in shock. It took another explosion to rattle his brain back into Space Ranger mode and the mission at hand. That's right! Buzz Lightyear could not allow himself to be distracted, not when there was a mission he had yet to complete. Phase 1 was finished. Now, on to Phase 2: Escape! Zurg and his words would indeed be the least of his worries if he did not leave soon! The explosions were the signal for Star Command to attack the flagship with everything it had and whether or not he was safely away from it! Buzz decided to take advantage of chaos from the next explosion to drive past Zurg's minions, out of the shaft and into the hallway. It was a very desperate plan and ultimately unnecessary. As if sensing Buzz's intentions, Zurg ordered his gunmen to stand down and let Buzz pass.

"I will allow you to leave now as a sign of good faith." said Zurg, "I only ask that you consider my offer. I will not give you another chance to escape the fate of those lying fools who raised you. Now if you will excuse me, I have to repair the damage and ward off the attack that my own SON unleashed on my ship."

Buzz was escorted by gunmen as far as the launch bay. He waited for the inevitable double cross, the back stab, the trap, but it never came. Zurg's cronies just backed off and he was simply left to his own devices. With the touch of a button Buzz's wings extended out of the back of his spacesuit, he launched out into the vacuum of space and just flew back to his side of the battle line unharmed.

Buzz returned to Star Command HQ in a daze rather than his usual cool, collected hero self. Buzz has single handedly crippled Zurg's flagship, forced Zurg to retreat and it all seemed like unremarkable news to him compared to the bomb that Zurg had dropped about Space Ranger Lightyear's past! Zurg was Buzz Lightyear's biological father! It was pretty much unanimous anywhere in the universe that any other news was dwarfed by comparison.

No one approached him or spoke to Buzz as he walked practically on autopilot from the Star Command launch bay area, but he was nonetheless the center of attention. Indeed, a shockwave of paranoia and distrust had been sent throughout the Galactic Alliance with Buzz at the epicenter. It vaguely registered to Buzz that people were whispering all kinds of wild ideas and ugly questions about his origins. It was quite demoralizing all around for space rangers and Buzz Lightyear alike. People began to ask themselves where did Buzz's true loyalty lie? Serving nearly two decades to the cause of the Galactic Alliance was an awfully long time for Buzz to turn out to be a possible sleeper-cell… And if Buzz could not be trusted, then who could? Probably no one…