Chapter Text
Slowly, his senses were coming together.
The first thing he heard was a crashing-like sound not too far from where he was.
The first thing he felt was a soft, grainy-like substance underneath him.
The first thing he saw, when he blinked his eyes, was a vast expanse of dull gold.
And the first thought that he had was that he was Buzz Lightyear.
It felt like an obvious thought, like something he had known all his life. Which was… um… huh… well, he didn’t actually know. He’d been saving the galaxy for so long that it failed him to remember just how long. That felt like something he should know right off the bat, too.
But, Buzz did not panic. No, a good space ranger never should. Perhaps, he thought, it was the disorientation.
Another obvious thing was that he had crash-landed somewhere, a strange, mysterious planet. Sitting up, he properly observed. Those crash landings were never an easy thing to take.
That crashing sound, however, as it turned out, was the crash of sea surf, aggressively hitting against the shore.
The soft grains that were below him turned out to be sand that stretched out for seeming miles.
And that wasn’t the only thing he spotted.
There were living things, too. Lots of them. He could see their figures littering in nearly any given spot on the sand.
Buzz grew cautious.
He very well knew the type of hostility that alien creatures could have. Still, he had to know what he was up against so he could come up with a proper tactic of handling.
Taking a breath, he poised his laser, in case it should be needed, and began to trek to the nearest one.
His steps were slow, wary, ready to put that karate-action into good use.
Then all of a sudden, the being moved.
Buzz startled a moment, and then even more so when he saw that the being… was himself!
The ranger gaped incredulously. The second version of himself did, too.
An exact likeness if he ever saw it. The same eyes. The same nose. The same eyebrow arch and laser and jetpack.
It could be a minion of Zurg, some part of him said. But Buzz, interestingly, did not feel threatened by this ranger. Nor the dozens upon dozens that emerged, starting to regain consciousness, all over the area, looking as startled and confused as he felt.
Some of them came out of their spaceships. Others were just half-buried in sand, as he had been. And others still came from a large, strange metal container, enormous in size that was not too far away. When Buzz saw that, he was amazed. It looked as though it could hold a good hundred spaceships if needed.
But why were they here? Buzz thought. It had to be a mistake. He did not have a particular mission at the moment, from what he could recall. Eventually, him and the others reached an unspoken conclusion: they had to leave.
Buzz began to head in the other direction, where some foliage was. Perhaps he could find someone who knew what this place was, how to get a properly working ship to head out (none of the ones that the other rangers came in were functional at the moment).
Behind him, he could hear the other rangers step into formation, marching along. They went like that for a while, pushing aside plants and other leaves when they needed to get where they were going - and making sure that he kept his laser poised and ready at all times, should danger decide to show its dastardly face. Buzz felt good about the journey, though. There was probably a city ahead, or at the very least people, even if it wasn’t a sophisticated place with the most advanced of technologies.
However, in parting the last of the leaves, Buzz had to stop himself short, his footing almost giving way when his step had met nothing but air. He quickly tumbled back. It was strange, he found, that he could not feel his heart beating out of his chest right about now. It sure felt like one of those moments. Why? Because he’d nearly plummeted off a cliff.
High and dangerous, with sharp, pointed rocks at the bottom that would certainly have not made the fall any easier. Sea surf crashed against the rocks, the ocean going on as far as the eye could see.
The other rangers saw this too, the conclusion this time a grim one.
They were trapped.
Night had fallen.
Buzz now found himself sitting around a campfire with the other rangers. Panic mode was still not going to be finding them. So they’d made use of the resources, gathering sticks to make this fire, gathering whatever else they could find to start making tenting to spend the night. And… however many other nights they’d have to spend here.
And, where was here?
There was only beach and sand and waves, and that wasn’t giving much of an answer.
So Buzz let his gaze follow the direction of the fire embers and looked up into the sky instead. They always brought comfort. He could name every constellation. Also, there was just something soothing about looking at the stars…
And right then and there, that’s when it clicked.
Wait a minute… stars!
“S-star,” he stammered out, more to himself than to the others. It appeared though that one of them heard him. That, or they were also speaking to themselves as well. Nevertheless, he got the response that he did.
“Command,” the other ranger replied.
“Star Command,” yet a third ranger said.
Buzz nodded. That’s what they all needed to do. Why hadn’t they thought of it before? They had to get back in touch with their home base, the knowledge center of, dare he say, the whole universe. Star Command would know what to do.
“Rendezvous with Star Command,” Buzz said, this time more out loud.
The ranger next to him nodded and repeated his phrase in a slightly louder voice. “Rendezvous with Star Command!”
Then, rangers all around their circle began to say it, a mantra, a chant taking form.
“Rendezvous with Star Command! Rendezvous with Star Command! RENDEZVOUS WITH STAR COMMAND!”
That was their goal, that was their fuel, their motive, the thing that made them determined and strong and purposed.
The thing that brought them all together to build the gigantic raft that they did from the branches and vines and other things they could find.
The thing that led them to boarding that raft, setting sail into the mysterious sea with nothing but hope and courage and faith.