A Toy's Life {Open}

[Jumba Jookiba]

To be fair, Jumba had begun his project on the sidewalk outside of Once Upon a Toy Store in Disney Springs, before a Cast Member politely but insistently told him he had to reassemble his machine somewhere else. He was blocking the footpath.

Huffing that no one understood Genius, Jumba gathered up his various lasers and gears and energy boxes and moved them inside of the toy store once said Cast Member had left him.

This was probably going to shortly result in his being kicked out of the store also, as that was little better, but to business!

Which machine was Jumba fixing?

The shrink ray?
The Super Hero Maker?
Both!

He was working on the idea that the only reason two wrongs usually didn't make a right was because no one had ever jammed them both together!

Actually the Super Hero Maker had actually worked, just a bit too well and a crazed fashion obsessed duck had been able to steal it! He needed a sort of fail safe, shut off, all powers gone implement and maybe the part of the shrink ray that didn't work as intended would help; and the working parts of the Super machine would make the other work.

Bolting things together he had the shrink ray machine again but with much of the innards having belonged to the Super machine.

Now for the test to see exactly what he had. Jumba flipped a switch and instantly knew something was wrong. He was very familiar with that whirring sound that grew too loud.

"Be hitting the boat wood!", he yelled in warning before taking his own advice and diving behind a shelf, covering his head.

Thankfully the shop was empty of patrons, yet sitting up after the explosion he instantly thought he had shrunk himself again given how large the shelf beside him was.

"Oh no".

Pushing up, Jumba saw that it was more complicated. Why was his arm plastic? And why was his chest so bulky?

Not yet realizing he had turned himself, and anyone unfortunate enough to be in the store at the time for the explosion, into a toy version of themselves, Jumba opened the panel on his chest and found that his plastic arms could fold in and he could transform into a rocket ship still with his head outside.

Doing so he found he had the power to fly himself up and around the room on his own though, so that was something. He glanced around, ok where was his busted machine?

[Jessie]

While Jessie still couldn't get any of the other toys of the Parks to react, she liked to check up at the toy stores every now and again and see that all was ok and no one had been left off of a shelf unable to get back on or such.

She was left kid-less again, but that just meant Morgan was back with her own toys and that was how it should be. It helped that Jessie knew the girl hadn't chosen to leave this time.

This wasn't like Emily or Andy, and again to be more fair to Andy.

How much what she was doing now was so like Woody and looking after other toys, she also didn't ponder. Yet as she glanced over the shelves of Once Upon a Toy Store, she smiled as she spotted a gap.

"Ah! I see you found a kid, Mr. Sully, good for you!". There were a lot of other Sully dolls on the shelf, but Jessie didn't know about numbering them, that seemed impersonal.

She thought she was alone, for the moment, a Cast Member having stepped out and the shop unusually empty, until she heard a voice.

"Be hitting the boat wood!"

It took her a moment to place it. Jumba?

In figuring this out, she didn't heed the warning in time and was thrown back by the blast. Thankfully she wasn't padded with anything that could be too damaged. After slamming into a shelf and sliding to the floor, she just dusted herself off and glanced around. "Jumba? You ok?".

He could be hurt by the blast, and she knew by now the alien could get some bad ideas. Having seen likenesses of her friends around the Parks, and even before, Jessie didn't immediately put it together when a rocket toy with Jumba's head shot up into the air.

"Excuse me? Have you seen your Original?". she asked. Toys used a lot of words for the character or person they were derived from.

[Dug]

Dug was happy.

The blue not-human (according to the not-human) was taking Dug on a walk today, and walks were always fun. There were always new things to sniff, and following his nose was one of Dug's favorite things. Along with walks. Walks were one of his favorite things, too.

Dug liked walking with Ian. Ian kept slack on the leash--not that Dug really needed a leash, but he was "supposed" to have one. He didn't mind walking with a leash. And there were lots of times that Dug went off without a leash, on his own. Sometimes people scolded him for it.

During their walk, Dug picked up an odd scent just outside of a shop. He circled around, not realizing he wrapped the leash around Ian's legs. The scent led Dug into the shop, and Dug had almost found the source when--BOOM.

He'd heard something about hitting boat wood, but Dug didn't see any boats. Not that he would've been good at hitting it anyway.

Dug realized he felt funny. He certainly felt smaller. He went to give a good shake of his fur, but it was far less satisfying than it should've been. It was then that Dug realized his fur was weird. It was much shorter than it had ever been. He sat down and wagged his tail once, and it didn't feel the same either. He turned--and his tail wasn't fluffy anymore. Dug glanced back to whine at Ian. "What happened?" he asked. But Ian was gone.

[Ian Lightfoot]

Ian didn't mind walking Dug. Dug was much better behaved than Blazey; Dug never pulled on the leash and obeyed every command. That collar certainly helped a lot. Ian wondered if it would work on Blazey, and what kind of thoughts went through the dragon's mind.

While Dug led the way, Ian trailed along, paying more attention to his notebook than what Dug was up to. He had the leash wrapped around his right wrist, with his staff in the same hand. He barely felt the leash wind around his legs and spun automatically so he didn't stay wrapped. Ian glanced up as Dug led him into a toy store. Tucking his notebook in his sweatshirt pocket, Ian followed. Dug had picked up a scent and was following it.

A shout, a sudden bang, and Ian was picking himself up off the ground. The leash was gone, and the young elf boy panicked, swiveling his head around to search. He spotted his staff, but it looked weird. Off, somehow. Reaching to pick it up, he noticed his hand felt stiff. He flexed his hand a few times, but that didn't help. Weirdly, his fingers were stuck together and no matter how he tried, he couldn't separate them. He fumbled with the staff; it was much lighter than it should've been. Almost like it was made of plastic.

Taking stock of his surroundings, Ian knew something bad had happened. Everything in the store was much bigger than it had been moments before. Or... He'd gotten smaller. Ian rolled his shoulders--or tried to, but they didn't move the way he'd wanted--and held the staff, trying to point it at himself. His wrists wouldn't bend right, though.

A thread of doubt crossed Ian's mind. He certainly hadn't shrunk himself. Maybe his magic would mess things up more, instead of fixing them. But a levitation spell shouldn't interfere, right? "Aloft Elevar," he incanted, still aiming the staff at himself. His feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

He heard Dug whine, and Ian's thoughts shifted back to what he'd been doing before the bang. It didn't take long for Ian to spot Dug, although the dog certainly looked different, almost like the toys that lined the shelves. When Ian spotted another Dug up above them, something clicked in his brain. Still moving toward where he'd heard the whine, he eyes cast about searching for--there.

It was another Ian on the shelves. Several of them. Nearby were Barley toys, and Corey, even his mom and Colt had toys. He shuddered, not liking the thought of being a toy. What if someone wanted to buy him, and he was stuck as a toy forever?

[Panchito]

Panchito sauntered into the toy store with a jingle of spurs and a gleam in his eye. There was a girl who worked here, Lindsay by name, and he had his heart set on asking her for a date tonight. Sure, she'd already turned him down six times, but that wouldn't discourage this caballero.

He didn't see her behind the counter. He didn't see her anywhere in the store. Could she be hiding? As Panchito considered what to do next, he heard an explosion that sent him flying across the room to collide with a display of Funko Pops that cascaded down on his head, burying the vacquero in a mountain of boxed figures.

"Caramba!" he said before digging his way to freedom. But the rooster that emerged was a lot different than the rooster that came into the store a few moments before. He was only a few inches tall now and made of lithographed tin. A large metal key protruded from his back. Panchito was now a vintage tin wind-up.

[Dug]

Dug couldn't rely on his nose to sniff out Ian. Sniffing didn't do anything for him at all.

He sat down, not sure what he should do. With a quick glance around, Dug spotted someone standing nearby. She was small. Well, she was still taller than he was, but Dug expected pretty much everyone to be taller than him. He thought she might be able to help. A person was a person, after all.

He shuffled over to her and sat again. "Hi there," he started. "Can you help me find my, uh, friend?" No one would replace Carl as his Master, but Ian and Barley and the Riveras were really good friends, like Russell. "He is blue and tall and carries a large stick that I am not allowed to chew on." That had been such a disappointment to the golden canine. Sticks were for chewing, but that one was off limits.

[Ian Lightfoot]

Ian heard a strange word, caramba and found himself drawn to the speaker and away from the toys above him. Dug was momentarily forgotten, since he'd stopped whining. "Are you okay?" He waddled over, still not used to the stiffness in his joints. He was able to hook the staff to the back of his hand; while it felt unnatural, it did help him keep ahold of it while still being able to use his hands.

He pulled aside the boxes as a tin figure emerged. Ian thought the figure looked even more stiff than he himself felt. He kept the staff on the back on the back of his hand, wondering if he should bother holding on to it at all if he couldn't use it for magic. It didn't take him long to reconsider that thought; if when he returned to normal, he worried that if he didn't have the staff with him, it would stay small and a toy. And that wasn't something he would be able to stomach.

[Andrina]

Andrina had been inside of the store even before Jumba's arrival. Of course he, and the others, hadn't seen her when they arrived for the very fact that she hadn't at that time been in the main part of the store.

While Andrina was a princess, most here didn't know that unless she mentioned Daddy, Ruler of the Sea or they knew of her past and Ariel's own transformation. Many of the Cast Members did and they treated her accordingly, though it was also hard to tell from the general respect most Special Guests got as long as they weren't of the trouble making sort.

For all of her status, she wasn't a stuck-up princess. For that reason she had asked, as anyone would, why the girl behind the counter yesterday, Lindsay, had seemed so upset. It was something about being scheduled for a stock day and a last minute obligation that had come up. Honestly, Andrina didn't need to know how serious it was, Lindsay didn't want to have to flake on her boss with such short notice.

As it was just moving boxes and not having to actually run the counter or anything, Andrina had offered to step in for the girl...and had to fight and keep offering when Lindsay refused, but the girl was also in a bind so reluctantly agreed, but begged Andrina to keep a low profile and please not let her boss find out.

That hadn't been hard, Andrina wondered if she was the only one in the store until she brought out a set of Ariel dolls (she had spent far too many minutes looking for all of her other sisters and herself to make a complete set and was going to make a joke complaint about not finding any) and stepped into chaos.

Actually the first thing she noticed was an explosion that knocked the box from her hand and sent her sideways. Sitting up, she found the same problem of very tall shelves and...wait why did she have a tail again on land? and why was there a pole sticking out of her side?

Examining herself from a sitting position she found she was some kind of wind-up bath toy, though the identification didn't immediately come to her. There was a tin toy rooster beside her and...she felt like she had seen him around before?

Yes, she placed him from helping at a restaurant and a few other times and actually wondered if this wasn't more trouble as he could be annoying, though nothing her sense of wit couldn't handle.

She couldn't stop herself from even commenting, half to herself, "I don't think I appreciate the extra limbs...and losing others".

Legs were hard to get used to and count as normal still.

She blinked as an Elf toy wandered over, one who looked like Barley. Hadn't he had a brother?

Jessie next hopped up on a table and addressed a toy with Jumba's head.

Andrina felt a small suspicion of how this could have happened try to take hold but...no last time the scientist was there when something had happened had been more Yzma's fault.

Still, something had happened, that much was clear.

"Be on the lookout for a woman scary beyond all reason", Andrina commented to no one in particular, glancing about.

[Jumba Jookiba]

"Excuse me? Have you seen your Original?"

"Oh yes, the machine was being very original", Jumba answered, turning to the cowgirl doll he recognized even back in her doll state. "Is just needing more work" he admitted, flying over to where the ruined laser like device sat on it's side, the side facing up broken and the insides visible due to the cover having flown off.

"Now what exactly was happening...?", he glanced to himself and then some of the others in the shop. Oh no, had he brought some of the toys to life? More than just Jessie?

Well...maybe she would like that...

But wait...they seemed like familiar toys...especially that mermaid...oh...Jumba thought he realized what might have happened and he flew up a bit higher just in case anyone else figured it out as well.

He would experiment on if he was stuck as a rocket when he knew if it was safe to come down.

[Jessie]

"Oh yes, the machine was being very original...Is just needing more work"

Jessie looked confused. That...had not been what she had asked...

Wait...toy Jumba also made inventions...

She had heard Buzz had suffered from similar at first and even met one delusional copy of him (and even a pint sized delusional fast food meal toy) and even seen glimpses in her Buzz that time he was reset...

It was possible...

As she was thinking through this someone else spoke.

"Hi there, Can you help me find my, uh, friend? He is blue and tall and carries a large stick that I am not allowed to chew on."

It was a stuffed dog. An adorable one at that. "Aww, hey there fella", Jessie gave him a smile before reminding herself to answer his question.

"Oh yes, I think your buddy's right over there", Jessie pointed from her shelf. Well this was just fantastic if all of the familiar looking toys were talking now!

But...wait...why weren't the others? Jessie glanced about the shop, getting suspicious herself.

[Panchito]

Panchito easily freed himself from the pile of boxes. He just walked right out between them, there being plenty of space between the cartons. This should have seemed strange to him, along with the amount of noise he was making as he walked. His spurs always jingled, but this was whirring, clicking, jingling--all kinds of sounds. As I said, this should have struck the rooster as strange. But he didn't normally spend too much time worrying about little details like that. And noise never bothered him.

Are you okay?

"Si, of course, Señor..." The speaker was looking kind of...blue. In the literal sense. Now that, Panchito noticed. But it didn't ruffle his feathers; after all, this was obviously a doll, so why not blue? And he'd met a talking doll before, so even that didn't disturb his unflappable self.

"It will take more than a pile of toy dolls to stop a caballero." Stranger than the talking doll was the fact that the room looked so much bigger than he'd remembered it.

[Dug]

Dug turned to where the person pointed and spotted Ian. "Oh boy," he said to her. Usually, he would bound over to Ian but something about his new fur made that really difficult. "Oh boy," he said again, the inflection exactly the same. "I have found you!" Out of habit, Dug sniffed at Ian. He could see that something was different about the not-human, but he couldn't smell what was different.

Okay, he couldn't smell anything at all. It was almost like he had something stuck on his nose. Or maybe in it.

A metal creature appeared beside Ian and Dug dropped into a play bow. A new friend?

That thought reminded Dug that he hadn't thanked the other new friend, the one that had spotted Ian. "Thank you!" He wanted to smother her in kisses but his tongue felt weird, like it did after licking carpet. The reason why was beyond Dug. He didn't understand yet his changed appearance, let alone why it had happened. The plush canine took his place next to Ian, although something in the back of Dug's brain tickled that Ian was shorter now than he had been on their walk. He stared at the not-human, trying to figure it out.

[Ian Lightfoot]

It had indeed been the tin figure that spoke the strange word. Words, Ian corrected himself, though he vaguely recognized two as words he'd heard from the Riveras. The tin figure made a lot of noise, too. It had a large metal thing sticking out of its back, and Ian had a sudden urge to learn what it did, but he stopped himself. He wasn't sure Barley would've been able to suppress the urge.

He heard Dug and turned automatically, his task remembered. Dug was... different. He was a toy, too, a plush. "You okay, boy?" he asked, more out of habit than anything else. He reached to pat Dug's head and noticed Dug was taller, relatively, than he had been. This Dug would probably be able to knock Ian over just based on size. Ian just hoped Dug wouldn't.

"Yeah, hey, thanks," he said to the girl doll. He wasn't entirely sure what he was thanking her for, but if Dug felt the need to thank her, Ian thought he should too. "Do you, by any chance, know what happened to make us like this?" He waved his staff hand to indicate himself and Dug and thought the dog was eyeing his staff. Despite being told it was not for chewing, Dug had a habit of trying anyway. He wasn't sure how much damage a plush could do though.

[Panchito]

It seemed like that explosion hadn't caused any damage to the store or hurt anyone. And a few toys knocked on the floor was no big deal. And the blue doll had begun to play with a toy dog. This all left Panchito free to look for Lindsay, the whole reason he came to the store in the first place.

It was then he realized his six-guns were in his hands, not in his holster. Why he drew them, he didn't know, but when he tried to holster them, he found he could not let them go. It was then that the rooster took a good look at himself, the part he could see.

He was definitely made of metal, shiny and smooth, with details like his clothes just painted on. He found his reflection in the glass of a nearby case, and there was no doubt: he was now a little tin toy.

"Holy smokes!" he cried with amazement, though not panic. Turning to the blue doll, he asked, "Were you used to be a person, also?"