Chapter

Buzz Lightyear sped through the dark sky, his jet engines shooting out sparks as he blasted over the surface of a huge planet. He navigated around rocks and craters, then landed smoothly. He glanced up and down the surface of the deserted planet before raising his wrist communicator. “Buzz Lightyear Mission Log: all signs point to this planet as the location of Zurg’s fortress. But there seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere.”

Just then, a cluster of red laser beams landed on Buzz. He looked up to discover that he was surrounded by armed robot forces—and they were all aiming their weapons right at him! Buzz dove across the ground and fired his laser at a group of rock crystals. The crystals reflected his laser beam back at the crowd of robots, creating a huge explosion. The force of the explosion blasted the robots away and threw Buzz into a crater, robot parts raining down around him. He ran to the wall of the crater for cover, and a robotic camera popped out of it. The camera trained its sights right on Buzz. Quickly, he took aim once more and fired.

The camera was destroyed, but then the ground began to shift under his feet. Suddenly, a hole opened up beneath Buzz, and he jumped into a deep, dark cavern before the hole closed above him once again. He landed on the ground and turned on his space suit’s glow-in-the-dark feature before running into what looked like a tunnel.

As he made his way through the tunnel, Buzz didn’t realize that the evil Emperor Zurg was monitoring his every step from a control room. Zurg let out an evil laugh. “Come to me, my prey,” he growled.

Suddenly, the lights in the tunnel came on. Buzz stopped and turned around just as a door slammed shut behind him. Deadly spikes shot out of the door and began to zoom toward Buzz. He turned and ran as fast as he could through the tunnel, the spikes following behind. As Buzz ran, he saw another door up ahead—but it was starting to close! He took a giant leap and made it through the door without a millisecond to spare. Crash! The spikes banged against the closed door, denting the exterior behind him.

Buzz stood at the edge of a chasm. On the other side, the source of Zurg’s power hung suspended in a force field. It was a small object that looked like a battery. Buzz had to reach it, so he stepped onto a bridge made up of disks that were suspended in the air. He jumped carefully from disk to disk, each one letting out an ominous musical note as he made his way across. Without warning, the disks suddenly fell away, sending Buzz into a free fall.

Buzz pushed a button on his utility belt, creating a clear bubble that encased him and allowed him to zoom back up to the ledge where Zurg’s power source was located. When he landed safely, the bubble burst, and Buzz reached for the power source—but it disappeared. It had been an illusion!

Suddenly, Buzz heard Zurg’s sinister voice. He turned to find the evil robot rising up behind him. “So we meet again, Buzz Lightyear…for the last time,” sneered Zurg.

“Not today, Zurg!” shouted Buzz.

Zurg took aim with his ion blaster and began to fire at Buzz, but Buzz managed to grab one of the disks that had been part of the bridge and use it as a shield. Zurg’s shots bounced right off it. Buzz then hurled the shield at Zurg, hitting him directly in the face.

“Ohh…,” moaned a stunned Zurg.

Taking advantage of Zurg’s momentary weakness, Buzz leaped over him and fired one shot. It careened to Zurg’s left, narrowly missing its target.

Zurg recovered and took aim again. This time he hit Buzz. “Ah-ha-ha!” Zurg laughed triumphantly.

Suddenly, the words GAME OVER flashed in red across a television screen.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Rex, a plastic T. rex, shouted. He was holding a video game controller. Next to him, Buzz Lightyear, the space ranger toy, smiled encouragingly. “Oh, you almost had him!” said Buzz.

Sun streamed in through the windows of Andy Davis’s bedroom, where his toys stood atop his desk, battling the evil Zurg in a video game. Since Andy was not in the room, his toys were moving around on their own, just as they always did when people weren’t watching. Rex loved playing the Buzz Lightyear video game, and he had been determined to beat the evil Zurg, but now he was slumped in failure.

“I’m never gonna defeat Zurg!” he cried.

“Sure you will, Rex. In fact, you’re a better Buzz than I am,” replied Buzz.

“But look at my little arms. I can’t press the Fire button and jump at the same time!” moaned Rex as he motioned to the buttons that controlled both movements.

Suddenly, the toys heard a loud crash coming from Andy’s dresser. They looked up to see Woody the cowboy toy rummaging impatiently through one of the drawers, tossing junk to the floor. “Where is it?” he asked himself over and over.

“Uh, Woody?” asked Buzz with concern.

Startled by Buzz’s voice, Woody stood up and smacked his head on the open drawer directly above him. The impact sent him tumbling out of the drawer he was in. He hit another drawer before landing hard on the floor below.

“Hang on, cowboy!” shouted Buzz. He launched himself down to the floor and landed expertly in front of Woody.

“Woody, are you all right?” asked Buzz.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, Buzz.” But Woody didn’t look fine. He looked frazzled as he continued talking nervously. “Okay, here’s a list of things to do while I’m gone. Batteries need to be changed. Toys in the bottom of the chest need to be rotated. Oh, and make sure everyone attends Mr. Spell’s seminar on what to do if you or a part of you is swallowed. Okay? Okay. Good.”

Buzz shook his head calmly. “Woody, you haven’t found your hat yet, have you?”

“No!” exclaimed Woody, suddenly showing complete panic. “Andy’s leaving for Cowboy Camp any minute, and I can’t find it anywhere!”

“Don’t worry. In just a few hours you’ll be sitting around a campfire with Andy making delicious hot schmoes,” said Buzz.

“They’re called s’mores, Buzz,” Woody corrected him.

“Right,” said Buzz, nodding. “Has anyone found Woody’s hat yet?” he called to the rest of the toys.

The Green Army Men swarmed around the open toy box. Some slid down ropes from the lid into the box. “Hut! Hut! Hut!” they chanted.

From the edge of the toy box, Sarge saluted Buzz and Woody. “Negatory. Still searching.”

Hamm, a plastic piggy bank, sat on the window sill and pulled the blinds open and shut, as if signaling someone outside. Lenny, a pair of toy binoculars, peered through the window. “The lawn gnome next door says it’s not in the yard, but he’ll keep looking,” Hamm reported.

A porcelain Bo Peep figurine walked into the room. “It’s not in Molly’s room. We’ve looked everywhere,” she said. Molly was Andy’s little sister, and everyone knew that Andy’s toys sometimes ended up with her.

Woody walked over to Andy’s backpack, which was lying on the floor. He peered inside. No hat. “Great. That’s just great! This’ll be the first year I miss Cowboy Camp, all because of my stupid hat.”

“Woody, look under your boot,” said Bo Peep.

“Bo, don’t be silly. My hat’s not under my boot,” replied Woody.

“Just look,” she said.

Woody sighed and then raised his foot and looked at it. The word ANDY had been written on the sole with a marker. “You see? No hat. Just the word Andy.”

“Uh-huh,” said Bo, smiling. “And the boy who wrote that would take you to camp with or without your hat.”

Woody smiled apologetically as he stared at the signature. Bo was right. “I’m sorry, Bo. It’s just that I’ve been looking forward to this all year. It’s my one time with just me and Andy.”

Bo grinned, then snared Woody with her shepherd’s crook. She pulled him toward her. “You’re cute when you care,” she cooed.

“Bo, not in front of Buzz,” whispered a blushing Woody.

“Let him look,” she said, leaning forward to kiss Woody.

Suddenly, Bo’s sheep began to baa. Woody and Bo looked up to find Rex and the sheep in a tug-of-war over the cord of the video game controller.

“Uh, Miss Peep? Your sheep!” exclaimed an overwhelmed Rex. Bo Peep gave a loud whistle, and the sheep immediately let go of the cord. Rex fell backward and landed on the remote control. The TV turned on, blasting a commercial for Al’s Toy Barn, the local toy store.

“Hey, kids, this is Al, from Al’s Toy Barn!” came a voice from the TV. The toys watched as a large man in a chicken suit flapped his fake wings and hopped around in front of Al’s Toy Barn. “I’m sitting on some good deals here. I think I’m feeling a deal hatching right now! Let’s see what we got!” A bell pinged, and the camera focused on the ground near the man’s feet, revealing a cartoon egg. It cracked open, and pictures of toys began to float across the screen. “We got boats for a buck, beanies for a buck, boomerangs…,” Al continued.

“Turn it off!” shouted Woody. “Someone’s going to hear!” Rex ran to the remote and stomped on it over and over. But he couldn’t figure out which button would turn the TV off.

The TV continued to blare as Al flapped his chicken wings. “And that’s cheap, cheap, cheap!” A map flashed on the screen, and Al pointed to the Toy Barn. “So hurry on down!”

Hamm waddled forward and grabbed the remote. “For crying out loud, it’s this one!” He pushed the Power button and the TV shut off. “I despise that chicken.”

“Ahh!” Woody exclaimed in relief.

Suddenly, Slinky Dog came through the door. Or at least the front of his body did—the coils of his wiry body remained in the hallway. “Fellas!” he called. “Okay, I got some good news and I got some bad news.”

“What? What is it?” asked the toys. They all looked at Slinky anxiously.

“Good news is, I found your hat, Woody.” Slinky’s back end padded into the room, tail wagging. Woody’s hat was perched right on top of it.

“My hat!” shouted Woody. “Aw, Slink. Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Where did you find it?”

“Well, that’s the bad news,” replied Slinky.

Suddenly, a dog’s bark sounded from the hall. The bark grew louder and more excited as the dog approached.

“Aaah! It’s Buster!” shouted Rex.

The Green Army Men and Rocky Gibraltar, the toy strongman, rushed to the door and closed it quickly in an attempt to keep out Andy’s overeager puppy. But they were too slow, and the door didn’t click shut. Rocky strained, but Buster was pushing too hard from the other side. The dog’s wet nose nudged through the crack in the door. And the toys knew it wasn’t stopping there.