Rayman and the Dragon - Fanfiction

[Earth Gwee]

I've had this story running through my head for a good while now. It's pretty obvious that by now this type of story is not original anymore, but gosh darn it, I'm writing it anyway. I'm not sure if there's a specific subforum for fanfiction, but until then, I'll be posting it here.

Hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 1


The Magician had returned. He had just made himself known and was now on the run for his life.

Rayman was in pursuit of the Teensie, running on fast feet, the draw strings of his hoodie bouncing with each footfall. He had had quite enough of this little bugger, what with the recent incident with the dragons returning from their 100-year-long slumber. How was this guy half his height able to outrun him so easily?

Rayman continued the chase through vast stretches of forest with Globox lagging far behind. "You go on ahead, guys!" the exhausted glute called out after Rayman. "I'll catch up later!"

"Globox!" Rayman called over, still running after the speedy Magician. But he had no time to worry about Globox right now. At least, Barbara was there with him, having come to help as soon as the Magician had announced his return. "We have to head him off!" Rayman pointed. "I'll go this way, and you that way!" Barbara nodded with a cheeky grin, preparing to draw her ax. She veered off in another direction while Rayman did the same, both of them planning to catch the Magician later on.

Soon, however, the evil Teensie headed towards a large, ominous-looking cave, stumbling on his way in. Rayman arrived not long after. Barbara jumped out of the shadows, ax at the ready. The Magician feigned innocence, as he slowly backed away into the darkness.

"End of the line, Magician," Rayman declared in the traditional heroic fashion. "What are you planning this time?"

The Teensie dropped to his knees and raised his hands over his head. "Oh, please don't hurt me, Rayman. I've done nothing wrong!"

"Liar!" Barbara shot back. She turned to Rayman. "Hey, Ray. Want I should slice him up into tiny, little pieces?"

"Not yet," replied Rayman, holding up a hand for her to wait. "First, I want to know what this little guy is planning. Why else would he come back again?"

"I already told you!" the Magician whimpered. "I've done nothing wrong!" But then, his expression did a 180. His mouth twisted into a cunning grin. "Yet." He reached out a tiny hand into the darkness and pulled down on something. Something hidden behind him clicked.

"Click?" Rayman queried uneasily. "That's never good."

A series of unseen mechanisms sounded off one by one, until they all blended together into a loud whir. A light shined and grew, expanding to at least twenty feet in diameter. The light revealed the mechanisms connecting to a giant, complex, ring, which apparently encircled the swirling light. The Magician, very pleased with himself and practically overflowing with insanity, gave out the best evil laugh he could muster.

"You fools!" the evil Teensie proclaimed out loud, pointing at the limbless hero. Rayman stepped back a few steps, fists raised. Barbara held her ax in a defensive position. Both were unsure of what to make of this beastly ring. "You have fallen right into my trap! Rayman! I give you the ultimate portal that no Teensie in his hay day could ever dream of conjuring up on his own! Not even the entire Teensie population could ever dream of conjuring up this baby!"

"What have you cooked up this time, Magician?" Rayman demanded. "Some sort of star gate or something?"

"Better than a star gate, my friend. This portal will send you flying across the cosmos, far away from this world! So far, that not even I could get you back! And really. Why would I want to?" He guffawed again.

Rayman grinned cockily. "Yeah? Well, guess what, you twisted Teensie?" The Magician stopped to meet his gaze. "You've just messed with the wrong limbless hero!"

The Magician folded his arms. "Famous last words, Rayman. For once you are gone, I'll take over the Glade. Enjoy the ride!" He then reached over and pulled the lever lower on its panel. The giant portal hummed much louder now, becoming intensely brighter, the light spinning even faster. The air in the cave picked up. The sheer amount of energy emitting from the portal created a strong, windy current.

Rayman ran towards the Teensie, winding up his fist for a good punch. Barbara accompanied him, carrying her ax, readying it once again for slicing. There was no way they'd let this Magician succeed in his plan.

The Magician stepped out of the way of their charging attacks. But they whipped around and gave chase again. Rayman threw his charged-up fist, Barbara swung her ax, both of them missing the Magician and almost hitting each other. They regained their balance and resumed the chase.

The Magician ran around the back of the portal. Rayman concentrated, with one eye tightly closed, aiming. He threw his fist again. It followed the Magician around and behind the portal. The Teensie popped out from the other side and blew a raspberry. "Ha! You missed!" But he was then punched in the face by Rayman's other fist.

Barbara held her ax behind her, ready to swing it at the Magician, who recovered just in time. He hopped around the mechanism, avoiding her heavy swings like an annoying fly. He landed on the lever again, pushing it down to the lowest it could go and hopped off. The portal's energy spiked immensely! Barbara stopped to see this happen, her face showing concern. She ran towards Rayman in the hopes of warning him. The Magician landed in front of Rayman, who prepared to wind up for another punch.

But something went wrong. His balance was being upset by the sudden pick up in wind speed. It was pushing him towards the portal. No. The portal was pulling him in! He tried to turn the opposite direction and outrun the wind, but to no avail. His frantic feet created little streaks in the ground with each futile step. Grinning another evil grin, the Magician quickly jumped behind the mechanisms, safe from the windy current.

Barbara plunged the blades of her ax into the ground and tightly held onto its shaft. Rayman's feet left the ground, but Barbara was just barely able to grab him in time. The two held hands for dear life, both refusing to let up their grip. Sadly, the pull of the portal was proving to be too strong. It threatened to yank Rayman away from Barbara's grasp.

"Don't you let go!" the barbarian princess ordered Rayman, who's eyes were watering from the amount of wind in his face.

Just at that same moment, Globox approached the cave, struggling to breathe from all that running. He heaved and wheezed, hanging onto the edge of the cave's mouth. "Hey, guys," he panted. "I made it. Now where--?"

His eyes nearly ejected from their sockets. He finally noticed the whirlwind and the portal near the back of the cave. And... "Rayman! Barbara!" Soon, he too was caught in the pulling current. Globox was sent flying into the path of the portal, but was thankfully saved by Barbara's trusty ax. "What's goin' on?!" he cried.

"Globox!" Rayman cried back. Globox grabbed onto his other hand. "Buddy!" He smiled, teary-eyed.

"Don't worry, Rayman! We gotcha!"

The Magician looked on, enjoying the fruitless struggle between the hero and his friends. "Face it, Rayman! It's hopeless for you!"

The pull of the portal tore Rayman's left hand from Barbara's right, but he managed to stay held firm in Globox's hand. Barbara couldn't reach out again for fear of risking them both, or all of them. Rayman tried to reach out again himself, but the portal wouldn't let him. In fact, his right hand was beginning to slip! "Globox! Can I ask you something?!"

"Yeah?"

"Why is your hand so slippery?!"

As best they tried, it wasn't enough to stay together. Their grips loosened and released. Rayman flew through the air and straight towards the portal. The ax also failed to hold onto the ground and flew as well, carrying Globox and Barbara with it. In the span of a second, the limbless hero was gone. The portal vanished. The wind went dead. And Globox and Barbara were flung through the portal's massive frame, landing in a heap on the other side of the machine.

They both looked up in total shock and utter disbelief at the backside of the portal's frame. They couldn't fathom it.

Rayman, the Guardian of Light and the hero of the Glade of Dreams, was no more.

The Magician's victorious, twisted laughter echoed throughout the forest.

--

Rayman hit soft wet grass and dirt upon impact. Though it reassured him that it was similar to that of the grass back in the Glade, for the split seconds he took to register what was going on, something about this grass felt different somehow. He took little time to focus on the grass he hit, however, and more on regaining his bearings.

The limbless being struggled to stand. The force from that portal hurtling him through practically space-time itself felt as if it threatened to scatter his parts across who-knows-where. He ached all over, as he managed to balance his floating torso over his feet. His two tufts of hair were tousled from the force, but that was the least of his worries.

Though he was happy that that weird, trippy journey was over within a matter of seconds, he needed to know if he was still home, or at the very least near it enough. For a moment, Rayman almost had forgotten how he was sent to this new location. But it didn't take him long to recall what had sent him here, or rather who.

"Argh! That damn Magician!" he growled out loud, not even caring who heard him; the place seemed empty anyway. And dark. "I can't let him beat me like this! I gotta find a way back!"

Finally he decided to overlook the surrounding area. It was an open field with fine, green grass. Mountains circled the vast space. Tree clustered together. But these trees didn't look at all familiar. They were too spindly and not nearly as big and exotic as the ones in the Glade. Other trees did seem fuller than the others, but still not quite as pretty to look at. Then again, he couldn't make hardly any of them out in this strange darkness.

Rayman looked up into the night sky. A second passed before he fully realized something and his gut filled with heavy dread. There was only one single moon to be found, and it was puny. The stars were differently arranged as well. No wonder it was so dark out here. Normally the Twin Moons lit up the night, but they were nowhere in sight. Reality sank in like poison. He was not on the same planet anymore, likely not even in the same solar system. The absence of any red Lums should have also been his first clue.

He instinctively took a few steps back as if to run away. "Where am I?" he said to himself, fear and sadness eating at him. The presence of a single, tiny moon frightened him in a way he was unfamiliar with. His heart pounded hard within his chest, choking him. "This... this can't be. I couldn't have gone that far!" The Magician wasn't kidding when he had said that portal would send him across the cosmos.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rayman spotted a small structure in the distance, about 50 meters away. Light emitting from its windows. A residence! Hesitant but determined to find out where he was and how he could get back home, he had to take this chance. Rayman ran across the grassy field, trekking the 50-meter stretch in no time, even crossing a faded dirt path.

The house was a single-story building, constructed from logs and some smooth, grey stone he failed to recognize. He certainly didn't want to frighten whoever lived here. And for all he knew, a monster might live here. Though he didn't doubt his ability to defend himself, he remained cautious.

He stayed just a few meters away from the house's front door and called out, "Um, excuse me! Sir or madam? Can you help me out? I'm a little lost. Well, a lot lost, actually."

The door opened a crack. A silhouette slowly stepped out. From the darkness, Rayman could make out a metallic scrape against the stone wall. The silhouette spoke in a young feminine voice. "Uh... yeah. Sure. Come closer so I can see you."

Whoever this silhouette was, she sounded pleasant enough, so Rayman calmly walked into the light emanating from the household, revealing his form to a young woman barely two feet taller than himself. Her eyes were wide at the sight of him.

Rayman failed to notice the shovel she had armed herself with in time, as the spade of it swung back and mercilessly smacked the left side of his face with a resonating bang! His head vibrated from the heavy impact and in a second he was on the ground, his brain rattled. Spots danced in front of his eyes.

"Look at the stars tonight, aren't dey pretty?" he shakily muttered in a complete daze before losing consciousness.

The young woman panted, trying to catch her breath with the shovel upheld from the follow-through of the swing, after having clobbered the poor limbless creature out of shock and self-defense.

She crept toward his limp body parts, afraid he might move again. When she finally realized he could not, she set the shovel down, remaining wide-eyed. She knelt down, apprehensive and in awe at his mere existence. She carefully placed a hand over his purple torso, amazed to feel very light, slow breaths coming from it. A quiet groan rose from the creature.

"How are you alive?" the young woman whispered, gasping.

She attempted to lift his torso, expecting it to be completely independent from his other parts, but was surprised to see his head, hands, and feet follow the torso upon her lifting it. Somehow, his parts were connected by some invisible force. She could definitely feel the collective weight of his parts as she held the creature in her arms, as she slowly walked back inside, becoming more and more fascinated by Rayman's mere existence.

--

Rayman's head swam in a mixed jumble of distorted dreams and memories before he came to about a half hour later. He placed a hand to his aching, pounding forehead and it finally registered that his left cheek and eye also stung. He could barely recall being hit with a shovel, but in a moment it came in clear.

"Ow... Ugh, my head..." he groaned. His brain still took its time to make sense of what had happened and where he was. Suddenly, his the left side of his face was hit with a sharp, cold sensation. He flinched at it, grunting. "Hey, what the--?"

"Hold still," he heard the young female voice say to him. "It'll swell if I don't put ice on it."

"Huh?"

Rayman finally was able to fully open his eyes, though his vision was half blurred. He was inside the house, resting on a soft chair, with the young woman standing over him with what appeared to be an ice pack pressed against the left side of his face. From what he could make out, she wore an off-white shirt with a green jacket and grey-ish blue pants. Her dirty blonde hair was cut to just above her shoulders with a little flip towards the bottom. A pair of glasses rested on her nose.

"Hey, you're that girl," he said slowly. "What'd you hit me for?"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to hit you that hard." She moved the ice pack to Rayman's injured eye, to which he flinched. "It's just... I thought you were here to hurt me. You scared me."

Rayman's heart sank a bit. "Oh. Well, I didn't mean to scare ya. I was just looking for some help."

"Hm. What kind of help?"

"Well, see, I'm not exactly from around here."

"I can tell," the woman remarked.

"I got sucked into a portal by an enemy of mine, and I think I've ended up somewhere very far away from my home planet. I need to get back as soon as I can so I can stop him from taking over my home."

The young woman furrowed her eyebrows, though not out of malice. "Oh." She shook her head, thinning her lips as if struggling with the right words. "I'm sorry. I can't help you."

"What? Why not?"

"The thing is, creating portals won't work from here." The woman looked at Rayman sternly with a hint of sadness. "I had to learn early on that creating portals from one place to another only works once. It's basically a one-way trip. Once you've gone through, there's no going back. I'm very sorry to say this, but I'm afraid you're stuck here."

"Well, I don't believe that."

"You're going to have to get used to it."

Rayman sank deeper into the chair and sulked a bit, contemplating his current situation. How was he going to get home in time to prevent the Glade from a complete take-over by that stupid Magician? The only person around to help him says that she can't? Was he really stuck here with no way back? No! he thought to himself. I'm not giving up! That's not what I do! There has to be a way back.

"Oh, my name is Gwee, by the way. Sorry I didn't introduce myself sooner," the young woman said, a bit embarrassed.

"Gwee, eh?" the limbless being mused, his darkened mood leaving him. "Kind of a strange name."

Gwee snickered at the remark. "Oh, yeah? And what's your name?"

"Rayman," he replied, rather proud of himself.

Gwee cocked an eyebrow. "Rayman. Now that's a strange name."

Rayman smirked, chuckling. "Or you could call me Ray."

"Nah, Rayman's fine. How's your head, by the way?"

He pressed a hand to his head, wincing. "Eh, still hurts, but I think I can manage." He attempted to stand from the chair, and though his headache certainly didn't make things any better, he found he was able to at least stand on his own two feet.

"Be careful," Gwee cautioned. "We don't want your injuries to get any worse."

"Ah, don't worry. I'm a fast healer. Besides, I've been through a lot worse." He found a nearby mirror just next to the kitchenette nearby to get a look at himself. He propped himself up on a small table underneath the mirror, since he was barely three feet tall. His expression twisted at the sight of himself. "Yeesh, that's one heck of a shiner you gave me." His left eye was pink, the eyelid partly closed and swelled with a deep shade of purple. As a bonus injury, his left cheek also had received quite the bruise.

"Sorry about that. But again, you need to rest," the young woman urged. "Otherwise you won't heal properly."

Rayman hopped back down on the floor to face the concerned Gwee. "Well, until I find a way back home, I don't really have much choice, do I?" he sighed.

There was a brief pause between the two, as the young woman gave a light head-shake. Apparently, this one was too stubborn for his own good.

Just then, Rayman's stomach grumbled loudly, diverting both of their attention. He placed his hands over his middle in reaction to the sudden burst of noise. His face flushed sheepishly.

"You hungry?" Gwee queried.

"Uh, yeah," Rayman admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Guess it's been a while since I last ate."

"Sure sounds like it." Gwee moved over to the kitchenette and brought over to the tiny island a bowl of what Rayman recognized as fruit. "I have a few apples, pears, and bananas here you can try."

He jumped up on one of the tall chairs beside the island and eyed the fruit bowl, part of him reluctant to taste it. He'd never seen fruit like this before. "I also have strawberries and grapes," Gwee offered.

Rayman debated which to eat first, completely unfamiliar with any of the names of this strange assortment. His stomach growled impatiently, telling him to just eat the fruit already! He then picked out a pear and sniffed it. He bit into it and felt the juice burst forth into his mouth. It was rather sweet and the skin had a somewhat rough but easily chewable texture. He smiled at the taste, rather liking it, and swallowed.

"Mmm... Hey! This isn't half bad!" He noticed finally that Gwee had been staring at him while he ate. He responded with a quizzical look. "What?"

Gwee remembered herself and shook her head. "Oh, sorry. I was just wondering how you swallow without--"

"Without a neck?" he finished, his mouth full with another chunk of the fruit. He swallowed. "Ya know, I've always thought it was the same magical energy that keeps my parts together." He found himself examining his hands thoughtfully. "Does that make any sense to you?"

"I think so. It's like it immediately transfers as energy into your stomach when you swallow."

"Exactly," Rayman said with a chuckle, after gulping down another bite.

It was comforting to have met someone in this world who had a fair grasp on magic. True, Gwee was the only person in this world he'd met so far, but he didn't care. At least he'd met someone other than his close friends who seemed to take a liking to him and care for his well-being, especially after clobbering him with her own shovel.

And then something dawned on him.

"So, uh, you live here by yourself?" he finally asked.

"Yes," Gwee answered honestly. "I've lived here on my own for half my life."

Rayman took a minute to examine the house. All this room consisted of was this kitchenette and a small space for guests to sit, where he'd been resting unconscious. There were two doors off to the side that led to what Rayman guessed were the bedroom and possibly a bathroom. There wasn't much too it, but from what he could see, it was rather neat and tidy for someone living on her own. He remember Ly's house being just about as clean as this.

"Well, you seem to do pretty well for yourself," Rayman observed, finished with his pear.

Gwee sighed to herself and bore a sad smile. "Yeah, for the most part. I tend to keep to myself, so I don't really have any friends."

That struck Rayman as unbelievable and a little sad. "Really? I can't even imagine what's it's like to not have any friends."

"Well, it's because some of the people in the nearby town don't really like me all that much."

He turned his attention down to the mostly eaten pear in his hand. I guess that's why she lives here by herself, Rayman concluded.

But then, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary here, aside from the house being different from most households in the Glade of Dreams, and that was obviously due to this being a whole other world. Was it possible that everyone else in this world was just not as attractive or clean as Gwee and they just hate attractive, clean people?

"I mean, it's not that I look all that different from the rest of them," Gwee added at length. "But I did something a while ago that scared a few people. Since then, they seem to think that's a reason to not associate themselves with me."

Rayman pondered that for a moment. "Well, if you don't look all that different from other people, I don't see why they wouldn't like you. I mean, look at me! I'm a limbless freak! I'm as freaky as you can get and the people in my world don't have a problem with it."

"Well, I suppose you're lucky to have grown up in a place that's so accepting of other people's differences," Gwee mused. She rose from her seat and replaced the fruit bowl to its original spot on the kitchenette counter. "Anyway, it's very late. We should rest up for the night, you especially."

"All right, all right. I gotcha," he said, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. He had to admit, after all he'd been through today, he did feel pretty exhausted.

"Tell you what," Gwee said. "We'll go into town tomorrow so I can show you a bit of what this world is like. I need a few things from there anyway."

Rayman smiled at that idea. "Hey! Sounds great! At least, I won't be all cooped up in here all the time."

Gwee reached into the nearest closet, in her closed off bedroom, and brought out a blanket. "Sorry, I don't have an extra bed you can sleep in, but the couch is comfortable enough, I found." She gestured to the couch behind him.

"I'll take it," Rayman said, accepting the blanket. "Honestly, I'll take anything at this point."

"Well, I'll be in my room if you need me. Just knock before you come in."

"Will do." He gave a thumbs-up and smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, Gwee."

She smiled back. "No problem. Good night."

"G'night."

With that, Gwee vanished into her own room while Rayman immediately made himself comfortable on the couch and lay the blanket over himself. As usual for him, he found no trouble falling asleep, his thoughts drifting off into memories of his friends and the Glade of Dreams.

Unfortunately, his dreams mostly consisted of his first encounter with the Magician. He remembered attempting to fight off the robots with much difficulty, more so than other times he'd fought off an enemy. He saw all of his friends locked up in cages and the Glade overtaken by monstrous machines, horrified by the images as the possible outcome if he were to fail at getting home. It all ended with him being expelled from the world forever. And then... Mr. Dark.

Maybe he shouldn't have eaten right before bed.

--

About a thousand worlds away, it had been less than half a day since Rayman's disappearance through the portal. The Fairy Council was gathering for a routine meeting. Many Teensies congregated around the circular room, which was the threshold to the Heart of the World, while many more filed in.

Within the halls leading to the Heart of the World, one particular Teensie very suspiciously snuck his way around the corners, attempting stealthy maneuvers that, quite frankly, served no real purpose. He was in plain sight and unsurprisingly got many stares from the other Teensies. The Teensie halted in his actions, putting on the best grin he could muster, as if he were up to nothing.

The Teensie stopped to glance at the marble floor at his feet, his reflection showing the truth of the illusion he had created for himself. The pattern on his nose showed to be very different from all the rest, that this Teensie was not at all as he seemed.

The Magician was plotting. He was quite proud of himself when he had successfully sent Rayman hurtling through space-time, out of the Glade of Dreams forever. Without the limbless hero around to keep balance, he could commence with taking over the Glade.

"What morons. What simpletons," he chuckled rather evilly to himself. "They have no idea that I have just expelled Rayman from this world for good." He glanced left and right to make doubly sure no one else was around. "Mr. Dark will love me once he sees my all my great work. Ales Mansay, you're a genius!"

"Hey, new guy!" one Teensie called out. The Magician stood erect. "Get your carcass in here!"

"Uh, yes! Of course! Forgive me, I was merely..."

"Never mind! Just get goin'!"

"Right behind ya!" He snuck in one more evil chuckle before vanishing into the circular room.

--

To be continued...

[Lum-Toon Lvr]

Loving/Enjoying the story so far. Though the next part will have one craving for a "stack". *giggle*. Any who keep on "experimenting". Just don't blow up the lab,or create a creature for horrifying that it escapes and terrorizes the neighborhood. Look what happened with Eddie the limbed Ray-manian. (yeah. Blowing my horn. ). Take care 'n' Good Luck

[Earth Gwee]

Chapter 2


In the middle of his troubled sleep, Rayman was stirred. The beginning of sunlight peaked into the tiny house, but that wasn't what woke the limbless being. At least, not the only thing.

He was alerted to a deep, whispering, rhythmic rumble. "Am I hungry again already?" he thought out loud to himself, but listening more carefully, he found the rumble to be more animalistic. "Wait."

When he rose from the couch, he stopped to feel that his body parts, especially his head, still hurt from last night. His eye and cheek still stunk from the swelling, but he refused to let any of that bother him. He needed to see the source of these animal sounds.

Almost right away, he could tell the sounds were emanating from Gwee's room. He furrowed his brow with suspicion, as he crept closer to the door, the rumbling growing louder. It sounded much like a breathing giant.

He remembered to knock on the door as Gwee had instructed, but if there was a dangerous creature in her room, he couldn't afford to take the chance by alerting the creature to his or Gwee's presence by knocking. Slowly, quietly, Rayman turned the knob, pushed the door open, and took silent steps into the room.

The limbless being halted, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. His breath caught where his throat would be. Within the dark room lay a giant bed of pebbles, soil, and leaves. Upon the bed lay a giant green, furry animal, it's body rising and falling with each rumbling breath it took. Its tail was tipped with a bushy tuft of dirty-blonde fur. What really tipped him off was the pair of small, ribbed wings of a darker shade of green folded over the creature's back. This was a dragon!

Of all the dragons he had fought during their invasion of the Glade, Rayman had never encountered a green, furry one before. He considered himself lucky to an extent; this dragon was soundly sleeping, with no intension of attacking. "But where's Gwee?" he said aloud, searching for any sign of the young woman.

Just then, movement from the dragon. It was stirring! Rayman clapped his hands over his mouth. "Uh-oh. Did I do that?" he quietly whimpered. But he readied himself, raising his fists. The dragon's neck lifted to reveal its large, wedge-shaped head topped with a dirty-blonde, furry mane.

The dragon's tired eyes shot wide open upon the sight of Rayman. It unleashed a panicked roar, the tail whipping around and hitting the front of his body faster than he was able to register it. The full weight and strength of the tail sent him hurtling back out through the door and smashing against the wall in the living area.

His body and head ached all over again, as he struggled to right himself. He grunted loudly, "Gwee! Don't worry! I'm comin' in to help ya!" With difficulty but determination, Rayman ran back inside, thinking Gwee might be held hostage by the dragon. He was shocked to discover the young woman standing in the middle of the dirt bed, struggling to breathe. But no dragon.

"Gwee! You're okay!" he exclaimed breathlessly, his hands held outward.

Having gathered her breath now, she turned to him, looking annoyed. "Rayman! What were you doing?" she demanded. "I said to knock first!"

Rayman lowered his hands, feeling a pang of guilt. "I... I'm sorry. I... I was going to knock, but I heard something growling and I wanted to make sure you weren't in any danger."

"Well, thanks, but I wasn't. Next time be more respectful of my privacy!"

"But there was a dragon sleeping in here!" he cried out, pointing. "I saw it!"

"Rayman. Look at me. Dragons don't exist. Not in this world." Gwee sounded awfully stern. Rayman had trouble believing that there was never a dragon and that something else had launched him out the door.

"Well, they do in my world! I know what I saw! It hit me through the door with its tail!" He blinked as a thought passed. "It was surprisingly soft, actually," he mused.

"I highly doubt one of your dragons would've passed through that portal along with you without you or anybody else noticing or saying something."

Rayman glanced downward, his expression souring. She was right about one thing. During his chase with the Magician, he hadn't seen one dragon. In fact, he and his friends had gotten rid of the dragons a while ago. And he was certain the Magician wasn't smart enough to send a re-awakened dragon after him for good measure. Still, the sudden appearance and disappearance of this dragon left him unconvinced that it was never there. Where could it have gone? How could it have vanished like that?

"Well, I know I saw it," he stated. "Next time, I'll be sure to give it a good wallop." He firmly punched his palm. "Then you'll believe me."

Gwee sniggered. "You do that, shorty." She rubbed the top of his head, ruffling up his hair tufts. He grunted a little and fixed his hair back up. "Anyway, if I'm going to take you into town, we're going to have to cover you up first."

Rayman was struck confused. "Huh? What's wrong with how I look?"

"Nothing. It's just that... How do I explain this... No one else in this world is like you. If someone sees you, they'll freak out. People here don't take lightly to things they don't understand."

Rayman still had trouble understanding. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, your limblessness will scare people. They'll either run away or try to poke and prod you or kill you. And I don't care how strong you say you are."

He thought to himself for a bit, still trying to grasp the idea of changing his appearance to prevent from scaring people. Sure he was the only true limbless being he knew of, but that hasn't scared anyone before. So why would it now? He mentally berated himself. Gotta remember, Rayman. This isn't your world. Still, he had to prepare for the possibility of having to defend himself should the need arise in the future, just incase he was discovered and/or attacked.

"Well, okay. If you say so," he said, relenting. "But how are we gonna do that exactly? It's not like I can grow arms or legs. And even if I could, I wouldn't want to, I can tell ya that." He put his hands to his sides, rolling his eyes up at that last thought.

"I have a better idea." Gwee grabbed the blanket Rayman had slept under. "Put up your hoodie." Going along with what she was saying, he did as she told him. Gwee then tied the blanket around his purple tummy, allowing the blanket to drape over and completely hide his lack of legs. She then went to grab a smaller blanket and tied it around the neck of his hoodie, over the first blanket, hiding his lack of arms. Then she grabbed a green scarf from her closet and tied it around the empty space below Rayman's floating head. She pondered her handiwork. "Hmm. Well, it's not the best I've come up with, but it's a good start, at least."

Rayman took a glance at the mirror and soured at his reflection. "Ugh, I look like a big-nosed old lady with a black eye," he complained. "Who... still has healthy, golden locks."

"Or you could be like a big-nosed Red Riding Hood with a black eye," Gwee joked.

Rayman's sour glare shut her up immediately. "First of all, that's not funny. Second, who the heck is Red Riding Hood?"

"She's a little girl from an old folk story on this world."

He brought a hand to his forehead, exasperated. "Aw, great. Now I definitely look like some type of big-nosed female with a black eye! This is stupid. Can't we try something else?"

"Nope. It's either that or walking around limbless in an otherwise 'limbed' world."

He couldn't argue with that, though part of him still struggled to understand why people here would be scared of his limblessness. It's not like he had any intention of hurting anybody. He merely grumbled, acting pretty childish at this point.
"Fine."

"Come on," Gwee said. "As long as we're up, let's head into town for some breakfast. But we're going to have to walk there."

Rayman's sour expression lifted upon hearing that. "Ah, walking's fine. I do a lot of that on a regular basis." He was glad to know he'd be getting some exercise.

"Good, because it's a good five miles from here to there."

Quickly, Gwee rushed to brush her short hair, taking less than a minute. As final preparation, she grabbed a large, green satchel, draping it over her shoulder. With that, the two left out the front door, into the crisp morning air, but not before each of them grabbed some fruit to snack on along the way. Though Rayman may have had the energy, even he knew not to take a long walk on an empty stomach.

However, as they walked down the winding dirt path, Rayman found he had trouble getting rid of the memory of seeing that dragon. He knew now he needed to get back home more than ever, especially if there was a dragon loose in this world.

On the plus side, his black eye and bruised cheek already had begun healing.

--

Far, very far beneath the Sea of Serendipity, deep within the confines of a complex, secret base, hidden in the bowels of the metal and glass catacombs, were two prisoners. They had put up quite the fight before they had ended up down here.

Barbara sat in a solid steel cage, dangling several meters above the floor. Globox as well. Barbara's ax had been taken away from her once the Magician's robot forces had over powered her. Globox had gone a little easier than her, obviously. He may have had the strength, but sometimes wasn't smart enough to know how to use it. And without Rayman around, the fight to stop the Magician seemed nearly pointless.

Globox whimpered sadly. "Hey, Barbara?" he queried.

Barbara turned to him, her arms folded. She was still sore from the lost battle. "What?"

"Do you think Rayman's still... ya know... alive? I mean, d'ya think he's okay?"

She shrugged in response. "Heck, if I know. I doubt he's dead though. I may not have known him as long as you, but I have a feeling he won't give up so easily. Wherever that pipsqueak sent him."

"Yeah..."

The barbarian princess snarled to herself, "If I had my ax, I swear, I'd cut that Magician like a mother--!"

Just then, a Lividstone walked in, one of the first of many nightmares from before. He was accompanied by a midget dragon chef, who carried with him two covered plates. Globox brightened and clapped his hands eagerly. "Oh, boy! Suppertime!"

The Lividstone brought over a ladder, allowing the dragon chef to climb up and hand each of the prisoners their mystery dinner. The dragon chef flashed a grin before descending the ladder and leaving the prison room with the Lividstone.

When Barbara and Globox opened their respective dishes, they almost felt sick to their stomachs. The food was less than appetizing. Barbara threw her plate away, but Globox took a second glance, sniffed the food, and decided to go ahead and eat it anyway. He smiled. "Aw, you're missing out, Barbara! Wanna bite of mine?"

Barbara shook her head and rolled her eyes. Globox continued eating. "We need to find a way out of here," she mused.

"Yeah, if only Polokus were here. He'd know what to do," Globox piped up between his slopping up of food.

Barbara's face slowly lit up. "Globox, you big lug, that may be one of the smartest things you've ever said!"

"Really?" Globox grinned.

"We'll tell Polokus about what happened to Rayman! He'll be able to tell us if he's still alive somewhere! All we need to do is figure a way out of here!"

She glanced around the prison room and spotted a cleaning monster, one of the creatures that had cropped up from its century-long sleep. These monsters were obsessed with order and cleanliness. And one of them just happened to be cleaning her ax.

She whistled over to the monster. "Hey, you! Yeah! You! You cleaning my ax?"

The monster nodded, eyeing her with suspicion.

"I wanna see if you're cleaning it just right! I'd like to see my face in it, ya know!"

The monster hesitated.

"Hey! Don't worry! I'm not gonna dupe you like those other heroes do in stories to the main villain's minions! That'd be stupid of me!"

The monster wasn't entirely convinced, but decided to do as she asked. It commanded the other cleaning monsters to create ladder out of themselves, allowing the monster holding Barbara's ax to bring it up to her.

"Why, thank ye kindly," she said in a fake gentile voice that the monster was obviously too stupid to see pick up on.

Quickly and with ease, she threw the blade of the ax at the lock on her cage, shattering it to bits. She leaped out and landed on the floor, utterly destroying the monsters, which all dissipated into black fog. She then took a flying leap, tossed her ax in the manner of a boomerang, and shattered the lock on Globox's cage. It took a moment before the glute realized he was free from his imprisonment. He hopped out of his cage and ended up landing with a splat. But him being Globox, he easily recovered.

Within minutes, Barbara and Globox ran down darkened corridors, barely avoiding minions at every turn. It wasn't long before they were both spotted and captured again.

"Globox, help me think of a Plan B," Barbara said matter-of-factly, sitting in a now fixed up cage.

Globox wasn't paying attention.

--

The sun was fairly high in the sky now. Well, higher than the moment Rayman and Gwee began their five-mile trek into town. The trip had certainly made them rather hungry by now; the fruit they took with them barely lasted half the trip.

The town itself proved to be quite quaint. It consisted of buildings Rayman had never imagined. From each of them hung a sign indicating their type of business. In front of the buildings and scattered on the dark, smooth, stone paths were metal boxes set with wheels. But there was something else Rayman noticed about this scene: the sheer amount of humans!

"Wow!" he exclaimed in awe. "I've never seen so many humans in one place before!"

"You have humans in your world, I'm guessing?"

"Well, yeah, but the only one I've ever met was my friend Barbara. She helped me fight the dragons back home."

Gwee's face dropped a little, but she was careful not to let Rayman pick up on it. "Oh. You fought dragons, huh?"

"Yeah, you should've been there!" Rayman recounted what he remembered with childlike excitement. "We were taking on this big, dumb-looking dragon that was burning down a whole bunch of castles and barracks! But we took him down easy."

"I see."

Already, the two noticed, that they were beginning to get weird stares from other passing people, who whispered predictably demeaning comments: "Jeez, his nose is huge." "Is that normal?" "Is that a dwarf?" "His eye looks awful!" "If that's his mother, she needs a serious lesson in parenting." Rayman didn't feel all that bothered by the comments, but something about them rubbed him the wrong way. It made him all the more grateful to have run into Gwee, despite the shovel incident.

Gwee led Rayman towards a building that was accompanied by what appeared to be a large sign that read House of Pancakes.
Rayman was confused at this. This place looked like no house he'd ever seen, and he certainly had no idea what pancakes were. From what he could guess, they were some type of cake. But in a pan? Granted he liked the idea of having cake for breakfast, but these humans seemed to have a very odd way of preparing it. He had no time to ask, as he and Gwee entered the structure, approaching a podium just inside.

Rayman quickly took in the sight of the slew of tables in this giant room. So many humans were sitting at these tables eating food he had never really seen before. The mixed smells of cooking food prompted his stomach to start acting up again, but the collective chatter of the humans drowned out its hungry cries.

"Let me do the talking," Gwee told him. He nodded.

A woman not much older than Gwee, wearing a shirt with the House of Pancakes logo printed on the front and what appeared to be some sort of name tag, smiled brightly. "Welcome! Two today?"

"Yes, thanks."

"Would you like a kid's menu?"

"Uh, no thanks."

"Right this way." The woman took two folded menus into her arms and led the two around and between the tables.

Rayman cocked an eyebrow. Was she referring to him when she asked about a kid's menu? Did he really look like any of the other kids in here? Then again, this woman was the only other person besides Gwee to not pass harsh judgement on his appearance. He knew, however, that her smile was just for show; he wasn't naïve.

"We'd like a booth, please," said Gwee.

"Sure thing," the hostess said brightly.

In a few short seconds, the two were seated at an empty booth. It was enclosed, more so than the open seats in the room. When he sat down on the inside the booth next to Gwee, he was annoyed to discover his head barely reaching over the table. Now he could see why the lady asked about the kid's menu.

"Would you like a booster seat?"

Rayman almost shot her with a full-on glare. The very question alone was enough to injure his pride. Though he had never actually seen a booster seat, its name spoke for itself. Gwee could see the beginnings of the venomous look in his eye and stepped in. "No, no, calm down. It's okay," she whispered to him and then said to the hostess, "That'd be good, thanks."

"Great! I'll have one right over to ya."

"Thanks."

The hostess left and came back with an object made of plastic, in a shape Rayman couldn't describe. But he knew what it was, and he hated it already. He growled to Gwee under his breath, "There's no way I'm sitting on that!" Gwee returned the glare, reminding him that if he made a big deal out of something so minuscule, he'd risk revealing himself. This was neither the time nor place to argue.

Against his will, he relented. Rayman, the limbless hero, sat in the booster seat, feeling very annoyed and humiliated. It didn't help that his rear was the most uncomfortable it had ever been.

"Now, what would you like for drinks?" the hostess asked, putting on a very fake smile.

"Water for both of us is fine," said Gwee.

"No problem. I'll be right back with your order." The hostess finally walked off.

Gwee smirked towards the disgruntled Rayman and indicated her satchel. "Trust me, this is more comfortable," she told him. Well, he trusted her this far, so he propped himself upon the satchel, which served as a cushion to help ease the pain in his rump. Not the best, but it was enough to satisfy.

"Thanks," he said. "I guess." He opened up the menu and stared at it quizzically. "Why do humans order food from a menu anyway? Aren't they perfectly capable of making it at home?"

"Yes, but sometimes we like to eat out, try new things that we otherwise couldn't make at home," Gwee explained and leaned over Rayman's non-existent shoulder. "See anything that strikes your fancy?"

"Hmm..." Rayman continued to stare the menu down, trying to figure it out. His eye ran down the pancake section, highly curious as to what pancakes were like. Then he saw something, blinking in mild surprise. He brightened. "Chocolate chip pancakes... I gotta try those! Why didn't you tell me this world had chocolate?"

"You like chocolate?"

"You kidding? I love it!"

Gwee giggled. "I see you're a fan of sweet things."

Suddenly the hostess returned with two glasses of ice water. Though Rayman was more than eager to give his order, Gwee ended up speaking it for him, including her own order of bacon and scrambled eggs.

In 15-minute's time, Rayman received his chocolate chip pancakes. Gwee's order consisted of a few strips of cooked meat and yellow mush. Rayman could only surmise that this was bacon and scrambled eggs. Unable to hold back, he dug right into the pancakes, enjoying each sweet, melty bit of chocolate. The indignity of the booster seat didn't even matter to him anymore.

On cue, a few people stole a glance at Rayman and Gwee, who obscured the view of him by sitting towards the outside of the booth. She eyed the onlookers, her glare intensifying. They quickly took that as an order to continue minding their own business, which they did. Some of the children still glanced back, though, asking about the little guy with the big nose.

With his mouth full, Rayman admitted, "Ya know, I gotta say, these humans sure know how to cook." He took another ravenous bite. "I mean, it's almost as good as back home in the Glade!"

Gwee couldn't help smiling and let out an amused chortle. "Well, I'm glad you enjoy it."

"I gotta tell Murfy about this when I get home!"

Her expression dropped again, pausing between bites of scrambled eggs. She leaned in close to the limbless being. "Rayman, I've already told you this," she said in a hushed tone, trying to sound firm but gentle. "It's a one way trip. You can't get back home."

"Well, I'm not giving up. That's not what I do. I know there's a way to get back," he shot back with his mouth still full, ruining any dramatic effect with his muffled speech. He swallowed. "We just need to figure it out." He gave out a short sigh. "If only the Teensies were here. They'd know exactly what to do." He took another big bite of his breakfast.

Gwee blinked with curiosity. "Teensies?"

"They're little, blue creatures that are about half my size," Rayman explained after swallowing. "And their noses are about as long as their bodies." He scoffed slightly, out of good humor. "And they call me big-nose. But they've created lots of portals for me before, when I had to fight off a whole bunch of robo-pirates and Hoodlums." Gwee simply kept her gaze on him. "I'm probably not making any sense, am I?"

Gwee shook her head. "No, of course. It makes total sense. If these Teensies can create portals, then maybe..." She paused, lost in thought for a moment. "Maybe you're right. There's still a small chance that you'd be able to get home, though."

Rayman grinned knowingly at her. "Hey. Don't worry. I've gotten out of tougher scrapes than this. As long as the Teensies realize I'm gone, they'll figure something out. And besides, my friends are still there. I know they'll tell the Teensie's what's going on."

Gwee rested her cheeks in her propped up hands. "I really hope you're right."

Inwardly, Rayman hoped the same thing. He still had that stupid Magician to deal with. What he wouldn't give to punch that bugger in the nose. And if the Teensies never found that he was missing, if Globox and Barbara were unable to get to the Teensies, he would need a fairy's help to contact them. Right now, he decided to just enjoy finishing his chocolate chip breakfast. These pancakes helped him care less about his injured eye and cheek. If he were to ever get home, this would definitely be one thing he'd take away from all this.

Not long after both of them finished eating, Gwee paid the bill--a concept that eluded Rayman--and left the restaurant. On the way out, Rayman rubbed his sore bottom, trying to rid it of the discomfort the booster seat had given him.

"Thank Polokus, I don't have sit in that thing anymore! That was both painful and embarrassing!"

"I'll bet."

Just then, completely out of nowhere, a young, teenaged boy walked up to them, carrying a wide-eyed expression. "Hey! It's you!" the boy called out as he approached. "Yeah, you were the one that scared a whole bunch of people a few months ago at the store!" Both Gwee and Rayman froze, their eyes meeting for a second before turning to the boy.

"I beg your pardon?" said Gwee.

"Yeah, I got a picture of it! Wanna see?" The boy pulled out a folded photograph from his pocket and handed it to a very nervous Gwee. She eyed it, her eyes angrily squinting. "It's not that great, but I noticed you had a fully functioning tail! At least, that what it looked like. Is it real? Or was it a prop to scare people?"

This boy seemed way too excited over something as simple as a tail, Rayman observed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. But then it hit him like a kick to the face. Wait. A tail? Could she really be a...?

"Ooh! Hey! Who's this little guy?" the boy wanted to know, staring at Rayman, almost studying him. The limbless being felt his personal space being tapped at. "Wow. Where'd you get that black eye? And how come your nose is so big? And why are you all covered up? Did ya get into some kind of accident?"

"Uh..."

"Hey! Leave him alone," Gwee told the kid, noticing that he was getting a little too curious about Rayman's disguise. "He's got nothing to do with this. I want to know what made you think taking this picture was a good idea."

"Oh. I was thinking it was just a prank, but I thought more about it, and I just gotta know for sure! Do you really have a tail? 'Cause that'd be amazing!"

Rayman got a look at the photo. It was of Gwee's retreating backside, though it was very blurry, as she appeared to be running away in the shot. Just barely off-frame at the bottom was the beginnings of a green, fuzzy tail protruding from her pants. His face turned red and averted his eyes back up to Gwee's angry face.

If she did have a tail that she was hiding, that meant she might just be a fairy, like his best friend Ly. And if she was a fairy, that meant he had a shot at returning home. She could contact the Teensies! That explains how she's familiar with magic!

She shot her burning glare at the boy. Without looking back at it, she tore the photo in half, knowingly crushing the boy's innocent excitement. "You wanna know something amazing?" she seethed. "A pitiful brat who doesn't learn to keep to himself and so rudely claims something so ridiculous." She shoved the torn picture into the distraught boy's hands. "Now go away."

The boy seemed to be on the verge of tears and quickly ran in the opposite direction he came. Other people took quick glances and whispered amongst themselves and tried to walk past Gwee, avoiding her.

Rayman couldn't believe what had just happened. Astonished, he demanded, "What'd you do that for? I mean, yeah, that picture was less than flattering, but did you really have to hurt his feelings like that?"

"He had no business doing what he did," Gwee replied coldly. "He needed to be taught that."

Rayman put his hands to his sides. "Hm. Still a pretty mean thing to do, especially for a fairy. It's no wonder you haven't made any friends."

"What?" Gwee's face burned again, though out of anxiety this time. "First of all, that's not fair of you to say! That is not why I don't have friends! Second... You think that I'm a fairy?"

"Well, that tail looked real enough." Gwee buried her face in her palms at Rayman's tactless observation, groaning. "Hey, don't worry. There's no shame in it. One of my best friends is a fairy. She has a big, bushy tail like you. Except hers is blue."

She turned her troubled face to him. "Rayman, I'm not a fairy. I'm human. Always have been. I don't know what that boy saw, but that picture doesn't prove anything."

Well, that certainly destroyed his hopes of the trip home being any easier. Not that he had any intension of giving up, despite the fact that Gwee wasn't a fairy. He almost felt ashamed to have thought she was a fairy at all and deeply apologetic for wrongly reasoning why she had no friends. It made him feel especially guilty when he took note of a hint of tears in her eyes.

"Oh, gosh. Listen, I'm real sorry," he said sadly. "I didn't mean to make you upset." He rubbed the back of his hand absentmindedly. "I guess I really jumped to conclusions there, didn't I?"

"Yeah. You did."

"And... what I said about why you don't have friends... You're right. It wasn't fair. I was real stupid for saying it."

Gwee smiled softly, the anger and annoyance completely melting from her face. She kneeled down and hugged Rayman, gently pulling him into her chest to ease his shame. "It's all right. I know you're young. And that you still have a lot to learn."

"Yeah..."

"And even if that tail was real, I suppose it would be easy for you to mistake me for a fairy."

"Heh. Yep."

All the same, Rayman couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to Gwee than he at first thought. Come to think of it, that little bit of a tail, real or not, did somewhat resemble the fur on that dragon from earlier this morning. Were she and the dragon connected somehow? No, they couldn't be one and the same. Dragons were not shapeshifters. That much he knew. Whatever the case, she was definitely hiding something, and he needed to know what it was. For now, he had to be careful around her. She was his new friend, after all, until he could return home. He certainly didn't want to risk hurting her feelings again.

Gwee finally stood up from the embrace. "Come on. Let's go to the grocery store. I still need some things from there."

"Do they have chocolate there, too?" Rayman asked with puppy-like enthusiasm, his cheerfulness returning.

"Yes. Yes, they do."

"All right!"

--

Barbara tried everything she could think of: tricking the monsters again, hitting the bars with her helmet, gnawing at them (which almost resulted in her losing another tooth), all with hardly any help from Globox. Apparently, that idea of going to Polokus came as easily as it went. His brain was never really capable of complex thought, unfortunately.

Finally, Barbara couldn't take it anymore. She panted and wheezed before plopping down again in her cage. She removed her helmet, and wiped her sweaty forehead. She exhaled with exasperation. Then she felt something when she ran her hand through her messy, red hair. A hairpin? She stared at it, befuddled. "Huh. Why do I have this in there?"

"Hey! Is that a hairpin?" asked Globox. "That's guaranteed to work! We're saved!"

Barbara smiled once again and began fiddling with the hairpin in the lock. In seconds, it came undone. "Well, that's stupidly convenient. Let's get outta here, Globox!"

On their second escape attempt, they had much better luck this time around. They were quicker to learn where enemies would pop up and where they were stationed, while sneaking left and right down each hallway and through each underwater tube.

At one point, Barbara grabbed two minions stationed near the entrance of one of the prison rooms, knocked them out, and she and Globox swapped outfits with them. Although, since Globox never wore clothes anyway, the second unconscious minion was left in his undergarments. They now wore black jumpsuits, fashioned with three-eyed, night vision goggles. Barbara did her best to appear subtle, as Globox stumbled close behind her, trying to get comfortable in the new outfit.

"Uh, Barbara?" he questioned. "Is this really necessary?"

"Completely, Globox," she replied in a rigid and hushed tone, as if she were a spy. "This way, we can blend right in and sneak outta here scott free and look really cool while doing so. Now let's move!"

With a reluctant and uncomfortable Globox following behind, Barbara quietly snuck around the dark corridors. Every once in a while, when encountering jumpsuit-wearing toads, they'd stand erect, acting as best the part as they could.

The exit didn't seem too far ahead of them now.

--

To be continued...

[Earth Gwee]

Chapter 3


A few minutes after recovering their sanity, Rayman and Gwee strolled casually down the main street of town, where a number of shops and other business places lined either side. The two stepped into a small whole food store filled to the brim with more food Rayman had never imagined. A lot of it reminded him of the food back home, some of it he recognized as meat stuff, and some just confounded him. The way these humans packaged their food confused him the most.

Gwee filled a small basket with a few items for making dough, fresh cheese and tomatoes, and leafy greens. She picked up other items as well, mainly to last her the rest of the week or longer. Then she led Rayman to an aisle with desserts, frozen or otherwise. She was looking for something special. Finally, she spotted it.

"Ah! Here we go," she said, plucking a box from the shelf.

"What is it?"

"This is a chocolate orange. It's about that time of year where they start selling these." Rayman took a look at the box. It had a stylized orange fruit printed on it with the words Chocolate Orange written at the top. "I figured since you like fruit and chocolate, this might interest you. Two of your favorite things in one package."

He took the box in his hands and turned it over, examining it. He took a long, blissful breath through his nose. Already the dopamine was kicking in, as he could practically smell the sweet mixture of orange and chocolate wafting from the box, sending his senses flying. "Mmm..."

"It's all chocolate with a bit of an orange flavoring in it. And it's in pieces that you have to separate by giving it a good pound on the top. Trust me. It's delicious. And it's my treat to you."

"Wow," Rayman mused, grinning in awe. "Thanks! I can't wait to try it!"

"But save it for later. I want to make us lunch when we get home."

"Oh, yeah! Sure thing!" he nodded eagerly. He looked back down at the box in hands and ran his tongue over his lips. "Aw, I can already taste it!"

They headed out just as soon as the items were paid for. Rayman even offered to carry the item-filled bag, which was about as big as he was. This grabbed a few people's attention, as they were slightly impressed at his ability to carry something that big and heavy so easily. Even Gwee voiced how impressed she was that despite his lack of limbs, Rayman was more than capable.

Just then, Gwee slowed her walking to a stop. "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Rayman asked curiously. He noticed there were a few shady-looking characters gathered around the entrance to a tiny bar. Judging by Gwee's sudden stop and her gaze upon them, he put together in his mind that maybe she and these guys had had an unfortunate encounter. "Are those guys enemies of yours?"

"I've had... dealings with them." Gwee then picked up in walking speed, with Rayman following behind. "Just keep walking. Don't look at them, don't acknowledge them, pretend they're not there," she told him, as well as herself.

Keeping up with her quickened pace, Rayman turned serious. Yes, these shady guys were her enemies. His gut was shouting at him to take them out to make sure they'd never even think to give her trouble. But he couldn't risk blowing his cover. Not now. He had to trust that if people saw his limblessness, they'd hinder him from reaching his goal. He'd be attracting unwanted attention if he made any trouble, even if it was to protect a friend. But he felt his ego starting to get in the way.

And then... just what Gwee did not want to happen.

"Hey, you!" one of the shady men called out. "Chick with the glasses!"

There were four of them, all of them in their mid to late 20s and looking as if they cared little for personal hygiene. One of them, the leader, wore a typical leather jacket. The rest wore more casual attire and all of them carried an undesirable air about them. Rayman could tell right away that these men were here just to make matters worse for Gwee. The four shady men caught up with her and Rayman, circling the two and stopping them from going any farther.

"Yeah, we remember you," said leather jacket guy, grinning very snidely. "You were the one that did the magic trick a few weeks ago."

"Yeah, tell us how you did it, huh, sweetie?" one of the other men added, poking her in the back and sending a creepy chill down her spine. Rayman felt creeped out just by watching.

Gwee stood there in silence, not meeting their eyes at all.

"Aw, you don't wanna talk to us?" said leather jacket. "Hey, guys, I think she's shy." Then he noticed Rayman. "Who's your little freaky friend here?"

"Ha-ha! He looks like Red Riding Hood with a big nose!" the third guy piped up, laughing.

"He looks real screwed up. What'd ya do, little lady? Did ya beat him or something?"

The men all chuckled.

Rayman's gut and brain fought with one another over whether or not to say something and get these guys off his and Gwee's backs.

"Yeah, I bet that's why his nose is so big," the fourth man remarked, getting the others to laugh again.

Rayman's hands tightened around the bag he was carrying.

"Hey, she's even making him carry her groceries! You a slave driver, too, babe?"

The guys commented amongst themselves. Gwee's face went as tense as Rayman's hands. Both of them longed to fight back somehow and these guys refused to back down.

"Come on, hon, whatcha hidin'?" said leather jacket, doing a terrible job at sounding friendly and inviting. "You can tell us. How'd you grow that tail 'o yours, huh?" He less than subtly reached for Gwee's backside, which Rayman saw and widened his eyes at. Even in his world, he knew that was an offensive gesture. As if these guys weren't harassing her enough! He found himself growling under his breath. He couldn't just stand here anymore and let Gwee take this kind of treatment. "How'd it come poppin' out 'o your a--?"

"Hey!" Rayman snapped, forcefully dropping the bag to his side. He pointed a finger at the guy. "That's far enough, pal!" The boys all turned to the limbless being. Gwee also turned to him, concerned.

"Ooh, the big-nosed shrimp's got somethin' to say," leather jacket guy teased and then asked Gwee, "What, is he your body-guard, too?"

"Dude, this chick is a slave driver," remarked the fourth man.

"I'm not gonna let you treat my friend this way!" Rayman told leather jacket, balling his hands into fists. "I don't let anyone treat my friends that way! Got it? You lay one hand on her, you're in for a beating!"

Leather jacket chuckled out loud. "Check it out! Little shrimpy here wants to fight me!" He crackled his knuckles. "Okay, fine. I'll take you on. This'll be easy."

Gwee worriedly shook her head and whispered, "No, no, no. You'll get us all in trouble."

"Don't worry, Gwee," Rayman whispered back, full of confidence. "I can take 'em. It takes a lot more than a few punks like these to stop me."

"Sure you wanna 'nother black eye, little freak?" leather jacket guy said, easily towering six feet over the limbless being.

Rayman flashed a cocky grin. He signaled the guy with a bring-it-on gesture.

The other guys spread out to allow the two room to fight. Gwee also backed away, afraid of what might happen.

Leather jacket guy took a hefty swing at Rayman, who easily took a step to the side, missing the blow entirely. "Whoops!" He made sure to keep he fists close to his body so as to not risk anyone seeing his lack of arms. The man snarled, frustrated, and came back again with another swing at him. Rayman side-stepped again. "Too slow," he joked. The man ran into one of his own buddies. "What's the matter? Am I too short for ya?"

"Argh! Shut up!" Leather jacket guy came back again with more force. He intended to seriously hurt Rayman. And his friends cheered him on, the whole scene getting the attention of many passers-by.

With his own energy built up, Rayman released his fist with the speed of a bullet. The fist buried itself in the guy's gut and immediately retreated back to Rayman's side, as if is never left its spot under the cover of the disguise. The guy reeled a little, recovered, and came back once again.

It was obvious Rayman was merely toying with him, ducking here, dodging there, all while maintaining his confident composure. But this guy was driven purely by his own insecurities and built-up rage. However, it was really Rayman that was playing with fire right now. He had not yet fully realized what he was getting himself into.

The two fighters went back and forth, with Rayman continuing to play around with leather jacket guy and leather jacket guy barely missing Rayman's face with each failed blow. The people watching muttered amongst themselves as to whether or not someone should do something.

With each missed blow to Rayman's face, leather jacket guy's rage continued to build. He let out frustrated roars and snarls, yelling at Rayman to hold still so he could kill him. Gwee grew more and more anxious with each passing moment. She urged Rayman to just let well enough alone, but neither of the fighting boys stopped.

Back and forth they went. Between ducks and dodging, Rayman worked in a few more punches to the guy's stomach, back, and legs, and even managed to jump up and land two strong kicks, rendering the guy to his knees. He gave a short, triumphant laugh. "Ha! Got ya now!"

Unexpectedly, then, and to Rayman's surprise, leather jacket guy's hand quickly reached out and closed around Rayman's neck, or lack thereof, and picked him up off the ground. And though he had no neck, Rayman could feel the grip attempting to strangle him. But that wasn't what had him scared at this point. Part of him regretted picking a fight with this burly, easily angered human.

The guy gave his own victorious chuckle. "No, I got you, ya little--!" Then, the guy's face froze. He tried squeezing the area where Rayman's neck would be. There was nothing but empty fabric in his hand. "What the hell?"

He used his other hand to hold Rayman by the scruff of his hoodie while he pulled down the scarf. Rayman gulped. The guy's eyes shot wide and he hurriedly pulled the rest of Rayman's disguise off of him. The guy gave a loud, feminine scream as he threw Rayman to the ground. Even his hoodie flopped backward, betraying his two tufts of hair.

Gwee's heart began to race, her face shot with panic and worry. "Oh, no."

The truth about the limbless being was revealed.

Rayman shook the ruffles out of his hair and stood there for a good long moment. All eyes were glued to only him.

The corner of his mouth turned into a lopsided smile. He chuckled nervously and gave a weak wave to the countless, speechless witnesses. "Uh, hey there. Ever seen floating parts before?"

It was then that the many people staring at him gave a collection of overlapping gasps, screams, mutters, shouts, and questions. Most of them began closing in around him at a quick pace, faster than Gwee could get to him. The people pushed past her, trying to get a good look at the limbless wonder.

Rayman swallowed hard, overwhelmed by the sheer number of people circling in, getting closer to him, their voices overlapping. He snapped his head in different directions, trying to find an opening, feeling more and more claustrophobic. Finding no way out, he remained within the circle of curious humans. His head was spinning. He didn't want to punch his way out. These were innocent people. Stupid, yes, but innocent nonetheless. And they were all taller than him, which made escape all the more difficult.

A few humans even brought out rectangular devices and held them vertically in Rayman's direction, some of them with camera shutter sounds. One human stated out loud, "Dude, I'm posting this on my blog. This guy's freaky!"

Off to the side, another human carried a real camera. Was this the same teenage boy from earlier today?

The number of passing humans grew and grew. Soon, the whole town seemed to be out and about just to see Rayman and wonder how he existed. Many of them asked how he was alive, how he was physically possible, if he was a puppet (and then dispelling that idea), whether or not he was real, how he was able to move, whether he had innards, whether there were others like him, if he was from another planet, and whether he could be taken apart to examine.

Rayman finally understood. Gwee was right about people acting scared towards his limblessness. But these people weren't just scared. They were incredibly curious. And they weren't treating him like a living being. In fact, where was Gwee anyway?

"Gwee? A little help here?" he pleaded to himself.

Just then, a loud roar reverberated the air from nearby. Rayman turned his attention around. All of the humans stopped and looked around as well. The majority of them then screamed and dissipated. A larger creature came charging towards them, and since many of them were scattering, this gave Rayman a chance to see what creature had them more freaked out than he did. His eyes shot wide and his body tensed.

It was the dragon from this morning! The green, furry dragon with the dirty-blonde mane and tail tuft came bounding down the stretch of asphalt, twice as big as the biggest wild cat, snarling, growling, and angry. And... wearing a pair of glasses? And it was coming for him!

With feet quick as a cheetah, the dragon twisted around behind Rayman, used its canine-shaped snout to scoop him up onto its shoulders, and speedily ran off and away from the scattered crowd of humans. Having no choice, he held onto the nape of the dragon's surprisingly soft neck for dear life. Suddenly, the dragon spoke!

"Come on, Rayman! We're getting out of here!"

Rayman's jaw nearly dislodged itself from his skull. "You can talk?!"

"Of course, I can, stupid! Now hang on! This is gonna get bumpy!"

The dragon took a few more giant bounds before spreading its darker green wings and taking a flying leap into the air, high above the trees. Rayman's stomach lurched horribly. He willed himself not to lose his half-digested breakfast and took in the sight of the widespread wilderness many meters below his feet. The dragon then grabbed onto a large, thick branch sticking out the top of a large, thick tree, stopping the short ride.

It took Rayman a good few seconds before finally gathering his breath. The dragon craned its long neck around to meet his eyes. He pointed an accusatory finger. "You!"

"Yes?" the dragon replied rather pleasantly.

"You're that dragon!"

"Yes, and I just saved your life, you limbless fool." There was a pause as the dragon's head inched a bit closer to his face, its mouth smirking. "You sure you still want to give me that wallop you promised? Shorty?"

Rayman's breath caught. He squinted hard at the dragon's round eyes and ran its voice through his mind. Slowly, it dawned upon him at last. And he felt like a complete idiot for not figuring it out earlier. "Gwee? You're the...?"

The dragon nodded. "Always have been."

Rayman nearly fell off the dragon's shoulders. He had trouble finding the words. He just couldn't comprehend it all. "B-bu-but... You were--! I thought that--! When did--? How did you--?"

Gwee the dragon gave a light laugh. "Don't worry, I'll explain. It'll be a while before anyone finds us up here."

Rayman tried his best to gather his sanity and listened as she gave her story:

"Like you, I'm not from this world. When I was a fledgling, I was sent here by accident when my companion and I experimented with portals. You see, in my native world, dragons and humans are bonded at birth by a spiritual tether. We dragons are gifted with the innate ability to change into the shape that best suits our needs. In my case, when I landed here, I was forced to take on the form of a human. Unfortunately, I tend to lose control; my true form seeps through whenever my emotions get the best of me."

"And when you were asleep this morning," Rayman pointed out half jokingly.

"Yes, when I'm asleep as well. Anyway, that's why people were scared of me. Those men down there were the same ones that gave me trouble a few weeks ago. I got angry and let my real self show through a bit. True, it got them to back off for a while, but that meant other people had seen me shift. So, I ran."

That explains the kid with the picture.

"Otherwise, I have been living here happily, on my own, where no one can bother me, and I still have all the necessities for living a human life."

Rayman had to ask a question. "But then, why not just live out there in the woods? As a dragon? No one would see you there."

Gwee's face hardened. "Rayman, you don't understand. You think the amount of humans you've seen in this town is high? On this planet alone live over seven billion of them. There is not one place on earth these humans won't explore. Sooner or later, I'd have been found anyway. Even if I'd decided to live my life here as a smaller animal, I'd have been hunted by a bigger animal or by one of these humans. They are the dominant species in this world. That's why I've had to live as one of them."

Rayman ran his hand over his hair. His head felt heavy from all of this new information. He tried and failed to fathom over seven billion humans living on one planet. "Yeesh! This planet must be as big as the sun if it's got that many people living on it!"

Gwee gave a sad chortle and slowly shook her head. "Oh, Rayman, you little limbless wonder. You still have so much to learn." She playfully tickled his tummy with her snout, getting him to chuckle like a little kid.

Rayman didn't realize it, but through everything that had taken place today, Gwee had become a sort of motherly figure to him. Or at the very least, somewhat of a big sister. Despite their rough meeting, she had treated him with the same kindness any of his friends back home would. It all made sense why she didn't react the same way the humans did upon seeing him and why she was familiar with magic. She was from a magical world, as well. She, herself, was magical. Same as him.

It finally came together for Rayman that Gwee had understood him from the beginning. And it was ironic that she happened to be a dragon, the first intelligent one he had ever met, and the first who he now came to understand as well. He had no intention of giving her that wallop anymore. In fact, he could now easily call her one of his most trusted friends. Gwee had become his very first ever dragon friend.

Just then, the branch snapped.

A pause.

The dragon and the limbless being went plummeting through the tree's canopy, hitting branches and loose twigs on the way down before finally hitting the dirt ground below. Gwee hit the ground first before Rayman landed right next to her, both of them aching too much from the fall to move.

"Ow..." Rayman groaned.

Gwee joined him in the groaning. "I've been human for far too long."

"Or maybe you've been putting on weight."

She haughtily snorted in his direction.

--

Barbara and Globox had been sneaking around for the past 15 minutes in their stolen jumpsuits. Not long after, the rest of the minions had been alerted to the prisoners' escape. The minions scrambled, given orders to find the escapees.

The barbarian princess and the glute were stopped in the middle of a long hallway, so close to the exit, by a very tall, muscular troll. "Hey, you two!" They were forced to turn and face the troll, standing as straight as possible. Globox was the most nervous of the two. "We got a couple o' prisoners on the loose! Move your keesters and help us find 'em!"

"Yes, sir," Barbara replied with a salute, dropping her voice low.

Globox just gulped.

But the troll squinted his eyes, staring at the two with heavy suspicion. "Wait a minute..." he mused. "You two look familiar." A pause. The tension was thick as the troll scrutinized the two. "Were you my poker buddies?"

"Uh, yes. We were. Good guess."

The troll grinned brightly. "Hey! Well, c'mon! We got us some escapees to find!"

"You go it, boss."

Barbara and Globox hurriedly followed the troll in search for... well, themselves. Still Globox proved to be anything but calm and collected. Barbara whispered at him, telling him to keep it together and to stay close.

Unfortunately, Globox had a heck of a time with his jumpsuit and ended up tripping behind. His night vision goggles fell off, causing the group to stop and glance back at him.

The troll noticed this happen. He stared down at the sheepish Globox, who waved. Barbara tensed up and looked to the troll. The giant minion pointed at the clumsy glute. "Hey! It's one o' dem prisoners! Wait a minute..." He then grabbed Barbara's goggles, pulling them off and revealing her messy, red hair. "You ain't my poker buddies!"

Barbara was about to draw her ax when the troll snatched it from her hands and threw behind him. He then picked both her and Globox up in his humungous meat hooks, looking rather annoyed.

Once again, Barbara and Globox were locked up in their cages. This time, Barbara's was reinforced with an encasing of thick chains. She sat there with her legs crossed and her face rested in her propped up hands.

Silence passed between the two for a moment.

Globox broke the silence first. "Now what'll we do?"

"Well, let's see," replied Barbara, sarcasm at the ready. "We've escaped twice, we've been caught twice, my ax is gone again, I'm all chained up with no way out. Gee, what can we do?" Globox withdrew at the sound of her rising voice. "Let's just face it, Globox! Rayman's gone and we can't even get to Polokus in time to tell him! Unless he decides to drop into our laps, we're not going anywhere!"

Right on cue, another cage dropped down near them with Polokus inside!

"Polokus!" Both Barbara and Globox were elated to see the great Bubble Dreamer in their sights at last. But then they remembered that he, too, was in a cage.

Polokus turned calmly to the other prisoners. "Oh, hello there, Barbara and Globox. Fancy seeing you two here. How have you been?" Globox merely saddened and Barbara scowled. "Ah, yes. We are in a bit of a bind, it seems."

Barbara piped up, "Yeah! We needed to tell you about Rayman! He's--!"

"Disappeared? Yes, I sensed his spirit leave this world. I came to investigate the cause of his disappearance, and..." The Bubble Dreamer seemed a bit embarrassed. "Well, I happened to be in the air at the time and it so happened that the Magician's forces were right were I happened to be. And since I happen to be vulnerable in the air, well, I was captured and dropped down right here."

Barbara's face dropped. "So in other words..."

"I made a boo-boo." Polokus saw she was glaring at him. "What? Gods make boo-boos all the time."

"Yeah, that's a pretty big boo-boo there, sir."

"Indeed."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, since I cannot sense Rayman, who is the only one fit enough to fight the nightmares the Magician plans to unleash once again--"

"He's gonna unleash the nightmares?!"

"--and scatter the Heart of the World, the only thing we can do... is give up."

Barbara and Globox couldn't believe what they were hearing. From their god no less! "But you're Polokus!" Barbara exclaimed frantically. "You can't just give up! Just 'cause Rayman's not around! There's gotta be something you can do!"

Polokus thought for a moment. "Hmm... Well, if there is one thing the Red Wizards have taught me, it is that often you find the answers to life's questions from within, through meditation." He smiled pleasantly.

Barbara slumped forward, exasperated. "What? This is no time to meditate! What good will that do?"

"Much, little one. If we all meditate together, we can combine our energies and focus them on finding our Rayman, wherever he may be in the universe. If we all open up our spirits together, the universe will tell us where to find him."

"Well, that's something, I guess. Okay, then, go ahead and do your little meditation thingie. Tell us if you find him."

"I did say all of us, did I not?" Polokus reiterated.

"Aw, man!" Barbara groaned obnoxiously. "But that's so boring!"

"Come on, Barbara!" Globox urged. "You wanna find Rayman, don'tcha?"

Finally, Barbara relented, folding her arms. She was a barbarian princess, so the whole idea of meditation greatly disinterested her. But if it meant locating the Guardian, she figured she may as well give it a shot. If she didn't fall asleep first. "Ugh, fine. I'll do it. I'll do the whole 'be one with the universe' and all that."

"Good." The god nodded approvingly. He began to instruct the two on proper meditation. Perhaps this way, Rayman would be found at last. It was a long shot, but it had to be done. At this point, what did they have to lose? "First, you must clear your mind of all earthly thoughts."

"Globox has ya covered there," Barbara chipped in snidely.

"Once your mind is as clear as Globox's, you must focus. Focus on the energy within yourself. Be calm. Be at peace. Breathe." Globox and Barbara did as instructed. "Now... imagine you are a blooming blossom, reaching out for the energy that surrounds you. Feel the sunlight grace you and feed you with its knowledge. Imagine all of the stars and all of the planets circling around you, guiding you across the vast universe. Feel the energy, the knowledge, of the universe, as it opens out in front of you."

Globox had long fallen asleep at this point. But Barbara was determined to find Rayman, so she followed Polokus through.

"Now, imagine yourself sifting through the energies. See Rayman's energy in your mind's eye. Imagine yourself finding Rayman. Hold onto his energy. Focus only on Rayman. Follow his energy trail until you find him. Focus. You only see Rayman. Focus..."

They continued into the wee hours of the night.

--

To be continued...

[Earth Gwee]

Chapter 4


Afternoon had transitioned into early evening by the time Rayman was taken back to Gwee's house, riding on her shoulders.

Gwee decided to shift back to her human form once the two arrived home. They hurried inside, wary that they have been followed by some nut-job along the way. Rayman entered first to allow Gwee to check for trespassers. There were none, so she closed and locked the door, leaned against it, and let out a held breath.

"Whew! I think we're safe for now."

"You sure?"

"I didn't hear anyone following us, so yes. I'm sure." She then shot Rayman with a scolding stare. "What were you thinking back there, picking a fight with that guy?!"

Rayman was taken aback by her sudden scolding. He tried to defend his case. "Hey, where I come from I am a hero! It's my job to protect people! I had to so something! I couldn't just stand there and let those jerks bully you like that! What kind of Guardian would I be if I didn't do my job, huh? Can't you at least be a little grateful?"

Gwee exhaled with exasperation. "I am grateful, Rayman." She then softened her tone and kneeled down to his height. "Look. Don't ever think that I don't appreciate you trying to help me the way you did. Believe me. That's more than anyone has ever done for me since I first came here. But if you want to help me, don't be such an idiot!" She slapped him upside the head to get her point across.

"Ouch! Hey! That's the third time in less than a day you've hit me!" Rayman complained, rubbing his head. "And I still have a sore eye! Go easy, will ya?"

"Only if you promise not to go around picking fights and exposing yourself like a total moron."

"All right, all right! I promise!" She still held her scolding gaze, which he tried his best to dispel by holding up a straight hand. "I swear! Guardian's honor!" And he meant it.

"Good enough." Gwee took a cautious glance at the window. "Still, we'll need to be a lot more discrete from now on. People are bound to wonder where to find the limbless shorty and the big, green dragon."

"Yeah..." Rayman scratched the back of his head, thinning his mouth. He honestly felt somewhat guilty for having picked a fight with the guy in the leather jacket. Now they were both in more danger than before. He had already begun to realize just how dangerous this world of humans truly was. All the more reason for him to find a way back home. Then something dawned on him. "Hey, is it me, or did we forget something?"

"Ah! The groceries!" Gwee gasped, slapping her forehead. "We forgot them!" The bag of groceries Rayman had dropped to his side had been left behind during their escape out of town! "Rayman, stay here. Keep the doors and windows locked, and if anybody knocks don't answer. Don't even say a word."

He nodded obediently, as Gwee made her way out the door. Before she left completely, Rayman grabbed her attention with a quick question. "But what if someone tries to break in?"

"Give 'em a good wallop," Gwee replied, smiling. He smiled back, as she shifted to her original dragon form once she was outside and had locked the door. "I'm not about to pay for the same groceries twice." With that, she took off running, making sure to change form to avoid watchful eyes along the way.

Rayman jumped up onto the kitchenette counter and watched her leave from behind the window. Part of him felt concerned that she might be spotted during her transformations, but he had to trust she'd make it back without a hitch. He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. Then, deciding he was hungry, he grabbed another pear from the fruit bowl and began munching on it.

"Hm, I hope she gets back soon," he mused with a cheek full of fruit. "I still want that chocolate orange." He sat himself down on the kitchenette counter, continuing to munch on the pear.

Thoughts of home and his friends slowly came trickling in. He thought about Globox, about Barbara, about Murfy and Ly, about Polokus and the Teensies, and about Betilla his creator. He wondered about their well-being and the state of the Glade. How much damage had the Magician caused by now? A lot can happen in less than a day. A lot had happened in less than a day already. So just how much had happened since he had been stranded on this world? A small part of him was afraid to find out, if he were to ever return home. Not unprepaired, but certainly uneasy.

--

Unbeknownst to Rayman, just about a hundred meters away from the house, two men lurked about outside. Actually, they were sitting inside one of those metal boxes on wheels, except that this one seemed to have a carrier for its rear half. A rusted, baby blue truck. It had just arrived and was out of Rayman's earshot.

"You sure this is the place, son?" one of the men asked the other, who apparently was the younger of the two. In fact, the younger one was the same excitable teenager from before.

"Yeah. And we're looking for these two creatures." He handed the older man, apparently his father, the one photograph he was able to take of the frightened Rayman as well as Gwee's true form. "I'm telling you, Dad. What I saw today was amazing! I mean, I just knew there was something up with those two! Like maybe, maybe that girl and that dragon are one and the same! 'Cause that would explain the tail she had. And then maybe that thing with the floating parts is an alien! Or maybe they're both aliens--!"

"Yeah, okay, shut up. Just take your camera, see if they're in there so we can get this over with, all right?"

The boy silenced himself, grabbing a small video camera, and quietly snuck out of the truck, careful not to close the door too loudly. He rushed over to the house and ducked down under the window of the kitchenette, where the limbless being still sat.

With his back turned to the window, Rayman continued to casually eat his pear, completely unaware of the human teenager.

Eyes wide with wonder and fascination, the boy watched Rayman chew and swallow a chunk of the fruit in his floating hand. In a rushed and excited fashion, the boy raised his video camera up to the window, making sure to record the limbless creature as soon as he took another bite. "How does it eat?" the boy whispered under his breath.

Rayman swallowed and cleared his throat, lightly pounding his chest, before taking another bite. "How does it breathe?"

Rayman then felt an itch on the back of his head and scratched it. "How does it even move?"

The teenager continued to film Rayman's every action, even the most mundane, whether he was rubbing his nose or picking his teeth. Then, when the teenager shifted his weight, a twig loudly snapped.

Rayman blinked, alerted to the sound, his mouth still full. "Hm?" He turned his attention to the window just as the teenager ducked down underneath it and shuffled on the grass. Curious as to where the sounds came from, Rayman peered out the window with his nose pressed against the glass. He scrutinized the area, not seeing the teenager hugging the wall and clutching his camera. The truck was also out of view, undercover of some nearby trees in the distance. He furrowed his brow at the empty area outside. "Probably just a squirrel." He closed the curtain, just in case.

The boy breathed out silently and rushed back to the truck on excited feet. "I got it, Dad!" he whispered loudly as he closed the passenger door of the vehicle. "It's even more incredible up close! The way it moves without any arms or legs! It doesn't even have a neck! They're just floating parts!"

The father took a look at the recorded footage of Rayman on the camera, his face alight with awe. He then gazed upward in thought. "So, we may have just discovered an unidentified creature of sorts. And that girl, whoever she is, has been harboring it."

"Yeah! We gotta call somebody about this!"

"Son, that's exactly what we're gonna do. And I know just who to get a hold of."

The boy tightened up with excitement and anticipation. "This is so cool! Dad! We're gonna be famous!"

--

An hour passed. The sun had long set behind the mountains and Gwee had not yet returned.

Out of boredom, Rayman had eaten up all of the fruit in the bowl, leaving nothing behind but the skinny pear and apple cores and the banana peels. He had lay himself on the couch with one hand place upon his full stomach and the other behind his head, waiting as patiently as he could. He was growing more and more antsy as time passed on, mostly due to his concern for Gwee and his need to be outdoors. It was a real shame Gwee wasn't a fairy like Ly. She could easily keep in contact with him and tell him she was all right.

Finally, he rose to his feet, coming to a decision. "Urgh! This is too much! I can't take it anymore! I gotta go out and find Gwee. I have to make sure she's okay. And I still want that chocolate orange!" But he was smart enough not to go outside without covering up first, so he put up his hoodie and was just about to head to the bathroom to grab a towel.

Just then, the front door creaked. Someone seemed to be pushing against it from the outside. A light knock wrapped at the door. "Ah! That's gotta be Gwee!" Rayman exclaimed to himself, pulling his hoodie back and throwing the towel to the side. "I bet she needs help with the door."

He casually walked over to the door, opened it, and stepped outside to greet the dragon. Upon doing so, he heard some shuffling outside. And then he saw what had made the shuffling in the first place, stopping in his tracks. "Hah?" Gwee had not returned. "Aw, great."

About five meters in front of him stood two male humans, each carrying some sort of weapon device Rayman had trouble recognizing. And both were aimed at him. "Boy, I am an idiot," he berated himself. He readied his fists and began winding up for a punch.

Both humans scampered around to avoid the upcoming punch while one of them shouted, "Shoot it! Shoot it!" One of Rayman's fists managed to down the shouting human. "Oof!"

Just as Rayman was ready to throw another punch, one of the weapons fired a small dart that stuck into his side. "Ow!" he cried out, knocked out of balance from the shot. He immediately removed the dart and tossed it aside. "Hey! That hurt, you--!"

He tried to wind up again, barely starting to get his fist going. But something didn't feel quite right. Something was happening to his system.

His fist loosened and dropped down to his side. He staggered on his feet, struggling to keep himself upright. "Uhh, what's goin' on? Ooh, I don't feel so good," he moaned, his speech slowing to a slur. He put a hand to his light, woozy head. His vision also showed signs of a blur, more so than in just his injured left eye. The dart that stuck him had been laced with a strong drug!

The humans stood there watching Rayman fail to fight off the effects, his body swaying. He pointed a droopy finger at the two and said through his daze in a wavering voice, "Ah, I'm... gonna give you such a wallop... You... won't even know what... hit ya..." He tried once more to wind up his fist, but it petered out before he could get it going again. "Ah, rats." His eyelids drooped more and more with each passing second. He then dropped to his hands. The drug was forcing him to fall asleep.

Once he was completely grounded yet still clinging to consciousness, one of the humans--the one who Rayman had landed a punch on--picked up his weakening body. "Incredible! I didn't think that would actually work!"

Rayman, to the best of his ability, gave his carrier a frustrated look, but he just didn't have the strength to keep it held for long and allowed his body to fall limp, exhaling. "Guh... Gwee..." was all he could muster through his slow, sleepy speech. Just as the two humans began to walk off with him, Rayman's blurred vision faded to black. Awareness slipped from his mind's grasp. He had gone completely under.

At that exact moment, Rayman's parts all separated from their central core and collapsed to the ground, including his now unconscious head! He had quite literally fallen apart! His torso remained in the arms of his carrier, who stopped in his tracks and nearly screamed. Both humans did their best to pick up Rayman's fallen pieces.

"Uh, is that supposed to happen?" the carrier frantically queried.

"I dunno, but if this thing ends up dead, I'm blaming you."

The two humans then took off running to a parked vehicle, dumped Rayman's lifeless parts into the trunk, and drove off. To where was anyone's guess.

--

Gwee finally returned not long after the car had ridden away from her property. It had driven far enough now, through town. Though Gwee had passed it by on her way out, she remained none the wiser to Rayman's capture.

Out of breath, she approached the house, carrying the recovered grocery bag in her human arms. "I'm back, Rayman! And I got your chocolate orange!" she called out. "Sorry I took so..."

She stopped. Her heart fell into her gut. The door had been left wide open. "...long." She ran inside, inwardly praying that Rayman had managed to fight off whoever intruded on the residence. When she entered through the front door and placed the bag on the kitchenette island, she quickly glanced about the empty space in the house. Panic and dread rose within her gut.

"Rayman? Where are you?" she called again. No answer. Not a trace of the limbless being to be found. She noticed the fruit bowl sitting near the couch, filled with fruit remains. "Well, somebody was hungry. Rayman!" she called out a third time.

As Gwee searched a bit more, she detected a foreign scent and sniffed the air, following it outside, around the front of the house. She dropped to the ground and breathed in deeper. Someone had been here all right. The scent was fresh with adrenaline, from Rayman and two unidentifiable humans. She lowered her head with underlying rage, a deep growl rumbling in her throat.

"Oh, I'm having smoked rats for dinner tonight," she snarled, tiny flames dancing from between her teeth, a mischievous grin playing across her mouth.

Shifting back to her true form, the angry dragon sped off down the road.

--

"Polokus, we've been at this for hours!" Barbara complained, having broken her reluctant meditation. "And I still can't find Rayman!"

It was late morning by now and Globox remained asleep in his cage. Drool had long started to flow from his lip.

"Patience, young one," the Bubble Dreamer urged calmly. "Let your mind be at peace, for only through peace of mind can you truly--"

"I don't have peace of mind! I can't have peace of mind! Not when the stupid-head Magician still plans on releasing all the nightmares!"

"And scattering the Heart of the World."

"And scattering the Heart of the World! I never thought I'd say this--I mean, I really never thought I'd say this--but we're doomed! We're finished! Without Rayman around, we don't stand a chance!" Feeling defeated, Barbara plopped down, crossing her legs and burying her face in her hands. "We might as well give up. Like you said."

Polokus perked up then. "Or perhaps we are not as doomed as you think."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"I have just established contact. Rayman is alive."

Barbara almost couldn't believe what she'd heard. In fact, this sudden news was enough to wake Globox. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, young one. I sense his spirit. It is very far away. So far, that it would take more than the entire Teensie population to bring it back. But Rayman is, indeed, alive."

Both Globox and Barbara cheered, giddy and elated at the knowledge of Rayman's well-being. The Glade may have a winning chance yet! But the Bubble Dreamer wasn't finished.

"However, I sense that he is very weak. Something or someone has put him in a deep, deep sleep from which he cannot awaken on his own."

Barbara and Globox deflated. "So, what'll we do?" the barbarian princess asked.

"Well, the Teensies are the only ones capable of creating a portal that can bring Rayman back to us. And as long as they have not yet been captured by the Magician's forces, together, I'm sure they can do just that. We have nothing to worry about."

Irony struck hard. All of the Teensies were dropped into the prison room, each inside their own cages.

"And then maybe we do."

--

To be continued...

[Earth Gwee]

Chapter 5


Rayman's headache made a painful return. He could barely remember what had happened last night that had forced him to fall unconscious again. Suddenly, he was reminded of the night he'd met Gwee, only he knew he had not been hit in the head with a shovel this time. As far as he could tell, his black eye didn't hardly bother him anymore. It felt like he'd been taking a long, hard nap.

He pulled his eyes open a crack as he stirred. His blurry vision from last night hadn't cleared up yet, but the more awake he became, the more his vision sharpened. However, he had trouble making heads or tails of this new location. It felt... sterile.

"Where... where am I now?" he managed to say, feeling the remnants of a yawn. "Why does my chin feel like it's on something hard and cold?" It took him a short minute to finally realize something was not right here. "Why can't I feel anything?" His eyes shot wide open at the sight of a table of some sort that his head was resting on. "Wh-where's my body?! Where are my hands?! Where's anything?!"

Just then, a tall, aged human approached him, or rather his head, and kneeled down to meet his newfound height. From the look of this human, it was male and seemed to be a look-alike of Vincent Price. What was more disturbing was that he even sounded like the guy when he spoke.

"Ah, you're finally awake!" the male human exclaimed, elated. He changed his tone then, sounding amused. "I honestly didn't believe it at first when my friends brought you to me in pieces. Literally," he chuckled to himself. "But you are quite the extraordinary specimen, my friend. How you are perfectly capable of movement without the benefit of limbs."

Rayman furrowed his brow. He was obviously far from happy. "All right, you creepy old man. Who are you? Where am I?" he demanded. "Where's my body? Where are my parts?!"

"And perfectly capable of human speech, as well," the human mused as if Rayman was a mere dumb animal. "Eh, you may call me Dr. Malloy. You are in my own personal laboratory. And don't worry. You're parts are right here." He then moved himself over to give Rayman's head a better view of the room.

He was in some sort of office. Machinery and wiring that were unfamiliar to him cluttered the room. He saw his torso laid out on another table. His hands and feet were contained in foggy boxes. Normally, even if his parts were disconnected, Rayman remained in full control of them, but for some reason that had him on edge he had no feeling in them. He couldn't call them back so he could beat this guy up.

"My friends had told of your fighting spirit and your refusal to come along peacefully," the human named Malloy explained. "So, I thought it best to take no chances and inject each of your parts with a muscle relaxant. Needless to say, it seems to have worked perfectly."

An angry growl emitted from Rayman's throat. He concentrated on his body, commanding it to move, but to no avail.

"Now of course, I could not paralyze all of your parts." Malloy drew closer to Rayman's face, grinning quite evilly now, making him very uncomfortable. "I still have many questions for you, my fine specimen. And the answers are locked away in that little, disembodied head of yours." He poked the top of Rayman's scalp a couple of times and chuckled.

"Well, you can forget it," Rayman shot back. "You're not getting anything out of my head. I ain't sayin' a word to ya." He turned his eyes away from Malloy in refusal. He would remain as stubborn as he'd ever been.

"Suit yourself. But once I am through with the preliminary examination, if you do not cooperate and answer my questions, I may just have to resort to... well... opening you up, see what really makes you tick."

Rayman's eyes whipped back around in shock. "What?! You're crazy if you think you can open me up!" He shut his eyes and focused. "Come on, body. Move!"

He concentrated even more on getting his paralyzed torso to rise from the table. However, the relaxant was still set in his system. He let go, panting. Thankfully, he was still able to breathe. The relaxant hadn't done much to his vitals.

Malloy had already placed a stethoscope on Rayman's front. "Ooh! Now this is fascinating." He could hear Rayman's heartrate accelerating from the sudden short burst of adrenaline. But to Malloy's ears, it sounded odd. It was unlike any normal heartbeat he had ever heard. In all other respects it did sound normal, but there was a slight alien hum on top of each beat. "Tell me. How does blood circulate through your body?"

"What are ya, deaf, old man?" Rayman said snidely. "I ain't sayin' a thing!"

At this point, Malloy was showing signs of frustration with the big-nosed head. "I ask you again: how does blood circulate through your body? How do you move your parts? What keeps them together? Tell me how you eat, how you breath! How are you alive without a set of limbs? Or a neck?"

Rayman remained defiantly silent.

The man neared his boiling point. He pounded a fist on the table. "Answer me, damn you!"

As a crowning act of defiance, Rayman took a short breath in, crossed his eyes and waggled his stuck-out tongue at the man, making an obnoxious gargling noise. "Bleh-leh-leh-leh-leh!" He chortled mischievously.

"Why you impudent, little--! Fine!" Malloy snarled, calming himself down. "You're lucky I still have more tests to run before I cut you open. Then perhaps we'll see who laughs last." He turned back to Rayman's torso and continued to listen to the limbless being's innards.

"Heh. That's something a clichéd villain like the Magician would say," Rayman remarked under his breath.

"What was that?"

"What, me? I didn't say a word." He merely whistled, feigning innocence.

Rayman then glanced over to the boxes containing his hands and feet. He could feel and see them twitching a bit. Maybe that muscle relaxant wasn't quite as strong as he thought. His eyes lit up with hope and a plan began to form in his mind. He would wait until the relaxant wore off a bit more before making his escape. He had to hope that this Dr. Malloy wasn't as smart or attentive as he was so far leading on.

Then Rayman's thoughts drifted. He thought about Gwee. How would she be able to find him now? He had no idea where he was and no way of contacting her. And since at the moment he was incapacitated, and, by extension, beheaded, he had no way of getting himself back together.

Gwee will probably be mad if she finds I've gone and gotten myself captured. And literally fallen to pieces. Worst case scenario, she'll probably eat me. He immediately pushed that thought away. But then he thought more. Then again, maybe getting eaten by a dragon would be better than having this nutcase cut me open.

Just then, Malloy pulled over a large, standing device. The top end of it resembled a dark box attached to its thinner and more complex body. The box end hung over Rayman's immobilized torso. The man then turned on the machine by means of a few tiny switches. A cone-shaped light shined down upon the body. Malloy then moved over to one of the other machines that seemed to have a monitor for a face. The monitor also switched on. Rayman's eyes widened and his face twisted. Shown in monochrome was a real time image of his own internal organs.

"Yeugh. That's a side of me I never thought I'd see," he said to himself, off-put by the image. "Hey! Dr. Nutso!" Rayman loudly called over. "If you can see inside me that way, why even cut me open in the first place?"

"Simple," answer Malloy with relish. "I want to see what color you are on the inside."

"Ugh. Forget I asked." Suddenly flashbacks of the Black Lum named André came to mind.

Just then, Malloy reacted to something unusual he apparently had never come across before, aside from Rayman himself. "My, my," he mused with intrigue. "What have we here?"

On the monitor, a gentle pulsation of light and energy was surging through Rayman's system. The pulse was in time with his heartbeat. In fact, the pulsing light seemed to be emanating straight from his heart. His heart was the source! This certainly explained the slight hum.

Rayman, however, wasn't put off by this at all. In fact, he had always been aware of his heart being the source of his light and energy. He had always know it was essentially the same as any other living creature, just in a different form in his case. He possessed blood, of course, but that, along with everything else, came in the form of light energy, from the central magical core that was his heart. From the time Betilla had created him, that's how it had always been. And he was proud of it.

"What is this?" Malloy wanted to know. "Is this what gives you life? Is this what gives you full mobility?"

Rayman grinned curtly. "That's for me to know, and you to never find out."

"If you don't tell me exactly what this is, I swear, I'll cut you open this minute and find out for myself!" Malloy threatened, raising his voice and swiftly approaching Rayman's head with a scalpel.

Rayman blew a raspberry.

"I warn you," Malloy continued, pointing a finger close to Rayman's face. "Do not try my--" Not giving him the chance to finish, Rayman jumped his head up and bit down hard on Malloy's finger, to which Malloy screamed out loud in agony. "Augh! Get off! Get off!" He attempted to shake his hand free of Rayman's clenching teeth. When that failed, he tugged on the head's mussed up hair tufts, pulling him off.

Rayman's head hung above the floor with his hair in the grasp of the old man, spitting in disgust. "Yuck! When's the last time you sanitized?" he remarked. "And you call yourself a licensed practitioner."

"Silence! I have had just about enough of your insolence!" Malloy snarled. "Wherever you're from, it is quite clear to me that you're nothing but a mere child. A spoiled brat!"

"And my guess is you've never handled a spoiled brat like me before, have ya? Oh. Well. First time for everything."

Malloy growled. Holding the Rayman head at arm's length, he carried him over to the same table. This time, though, he immediately brought up a small, metal cage and threw the head into it, locking the cage up.

"I warned you!" Malloy went over to Rayman's torso and held up the surgical knife. "Mister Body, meet Missus Scalpel!"

Rayman hammered his eyes tightly shut and gritted his teeth, grunting loudly, pouring more effort than before into waking his immobilized parts. Just as Malloy was ready to slice open Rayman's chest, the torso sprung to life, lifting itself upright on the table! The real time image of his inner core even showed a huge spike in the pulsating light energy. The paralysis had completely worn off.

"Ha! Yes!" Rayman whooped out loud.

Malloy stepped back, bewildered. "What are you doing? How are you doing this?!"

At the same time, Rayman had one eye shut with the other focused on the boxes containing his hands and feet, a grin tugging at his face. The parts shook and popped out of their respective boxes like a set of loose springs. First, the feet found and connected back their owner, allowing the torso to rise above them. The torso jumped up and kicked Malloy in the chest as the hands hopped across the table over to him, doing their best to hold on to him and land a few good punches.

"Yeah! Get 'im, boys!" Rayman cheered.

The torso joined the fray, landing a few more kicks to the downed Malloy, who repeatedly demanded the parts to get off and stop this foolishness. During their punches, the hands rejoined the torso. The left one held the doctor down while the right wound up and landed a strong, hard punch to his face, effectively knocking him out cold.

"All right! Yeah-ha!" the elated Rayman whooped again. He then signaled with a whistle. "Hey! C'mere!"

The headless form responded, walking over to the table and taking the head out of the cage, replacing it onto the torso. With his parts restored, Rayman happily stretched out his hands and exhaled, proudly assessing himself.

"Ahh, sure is nice to be back together again. Now to get outta here and find Gwee."

Before he could head out the door behind him, it suddenly opened a crack. A curious teenager poked his head through. "Uncle Victor?" the boy called out. "What's going o--?"

Rayman whipped around on his heel to see the face of the boy. "Hey! You!" he pointed.

The teenager immediately saw that Rayman was up and about again and attempted to close the door on him out of fear. But the limbless being made a flying leap for the door, forcing it open again, and ended up in a small, empty hallway. He held the boy fast against the wall, his hands making up for what he lacked in height.

"All right, you, I'm not having a good day! Where--?" Rayman started to say, but he stopped and scrutinized the terrified boy's face, recognizing it. "Hey, wait. I know you!"

"Please don't hurt me," the boy whimpered.

"Yeah, you were the one that showed Gwee that picture! What the heck are you doing here?"

"I... I live here."

Rayman cocked an eyebrow. "Then, who's that nutty jerk? Your grandpa or something?" He gestured towards the knocked-out doctor.

"He's my uncle."

"Hmph. I guess over-curiosity runs in the family."

"Look, I don't want any trouble. We just want to know how you're alive."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that. But why? Because I'm limbless? Does everybody in this world have limbs?"

"Well... yeah. No living creature has floating parts like you. It's physically impossible. You're physically impossible! Uh, no offence."

"Then do you know about the two guys who came after me?" Rayman stared the teenager down, who seemed too apprehensive and scared to answer. It was as if the two where part of some interrogation, and Rayman was the interrogator. "Well? Do you?"

"Y... yeah."

"How did they know where to find me?" Rayman demanded.

"I... I took video of you. And told them where you were."

This confused Rayman a bit. "Video?"

"Yeah, you know. Moving pictures. I guess they don't have that on your home planet, do they? But the way you were eating that pear without a neck and breathing and--"

Rayman forced the boy against the wall again, his anger rising. He didn't much like the idea of having pictures being taken of him without his knowing. "You took pictures of me?!"

"Ah! Don't kill me, please!" the boy cowered.

Finally, Rayman relented and loosened his grip on the boy, exhaling. He knew for sure now that this kid meant no real harm, that he didn't know better. He had no reason to hurt him. His expression softened with melancholy. "All right, look, whatever your name is..."

"Uh, Danny. Danny Malloy."

"Right. Danny." Rayman now felt he had no choice but to explain his situation to this strange human. "I need help. I don't know where I am, and I don't even wanna know how I got here. But my home planet needs me. Everybody on it is in danger, and I'm the only one who can protect it. And Gwee is the only one who has an idea of how to get me home. Even if she told me it's impossible. But I know it's not."

"Gwee?"

"My friend. She's the one you took that bad picture of, remember?" Rayman eyed the boy.

"Oh, yeah. Her. Is she an alien like you, too?"

Rayman was taken aback by that. "Huh? No! She's--!" But he changed his mind, deciding to humor the kid for a bit. "Yeah, sure, she is. Fine. Whatever. The point is I need you to help me get back to her. You know where she lives, right? Oh, of course, you do. You took pictures of us."

"So, you're saying your Gwee friend knows how to call the mother ship so you can return to your alien brethren?" Danny guessed excitedly.

Rayman gave the boy a flat, disgruntled look. "Sure. Let's go with that."

"Aw, man, this is so cool! I knew we weren't alone in the universe!" Danny gingerly held out a hand while Rayman rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I'm not like my uncle. I mean, I guess I was thinking of being famous for discovering something like you," the boy carefully admitted, "but I know now that'd be wrong of me. I'd be honored to help you get back to your friend, in any way possible. You can count on me, Mister Limbless Alien Dude."

The limbless being smirked knowingly and shook the boy's hand. "Call me Rayman."

--

It was early morning at that same moment.

It had been close to eight hours since Gwee began her search for Rayman. Wearing her human disguise, she begrudgingly wandered the streets of an upper-class suburb just on the outskirts of a larger city, far from that small town. A few of the residents who happened to be out this early morning stopped to stare at the young woman. Her tail swung freely, twitching irritably. She had traveled at least two-hundred miles to get this far, walking, running, or gliding on her wings in between. Dark bags hung under her tired eyes.

"I'm gonna kill 'im," the dragon groaned. "When I find that limbless... thing... I'm gonna kill 'im. An' eat 'im whole. Er, piece by piece... 'cuz, he got no arms or legs n' stuff. Yeah..."

Her brain had been deprived of sleep and her body deprived of a decent meal since she set out to find Rayman. Needless to say, she was not thinking straight. Yet during this whole time, Gwee had refused to give up. She had a lock on Rayman's scent and was determined to follow it until he was found.

--

Danny helped Rayman tie Uncle Victor Malloy to a chair, gag him with a piece of duct tape, and shut him away in a closet before they headed for the front door. The doctor had already regained consciousness and was fighting to be free of the bindings, no doubt shouting profanities through the tape over his mouth. Danny honestly felt sorry for doing this to a family member, even if he was borderline insane.

Rayman stepped out into the morning, covered up in a new set of cloth to hide his limblessness, his hoodie up over his head. He assessed the new area he now stood in. There were many houses lining the street, each as big and fancy as the other.

"What is this place?" he asked Danny.

"This is called a suburb," the boy explained. "Well, it's higher in class than most. People with a lot o' money live here. I sometimes get away from here to visit my dad."

"Hm. That explains why you were in that little town. I need to get back there so I can find Gwee."

Danny's face dropped. "Aw, jeez. Sorry, Ray-dude. We're two-hundred miles away from there. And I don't have my driver's license yet."

Rayman's eyes almost popped out of his skull. "What?! Gwee's probably out looking for me right now! She could be anywhere! How are we gonna find her?"

Just then, Danny noticed something and pointed. "Uh, I could be wrong, but isn't that her? Right there?"

Rayman turned in the direction Danny was pointing and he very nearly collapsed into pieces again. He almost denied what his eyes were telling him. "No way. It can't be!"

There, trudging slowly down the street of the suburb, was a very exhausted, very bitter Gwee in human disguise. Her hair was quite a bit more mussed up than Rayman's and she was very clearly not in the best of moods.

"Gwee!" he called out, overcome with joy, and jogged on over to his dragon friend. Gwee stopped and looked over at the little limbless being approaching her. "Boy, am I glad to see...!"

He slowed to a halt when he finally realized she was in a foul mood, his smile melting away. In fact, she looked downright terrible.

"Oh. Uh..." Rayman chose his words carefully so as to not provoke her. "You're lookin'... well traveled." Her upper lip curled up a bit to reveal her fangs. Rayman gulped. "Uh, hey, why don't we get you inside? Freshen up a bit. Maybe cover up that tail of yours." He very kindly and quickly ushered her inside the house, alongside Danny.

"Dude, she looks horrible," Danny remarked, though he was equally concerned. The problem was he was also very naïve.

Rayman tensed up and quickly motioned a hand across his non-existent neck, hissing through gritted teeth, "Ix-nay. Ix-nay!"

Once they were in the living room, Danny made sure to close and lock the door. Rayman discarded the cloth from his body and pulled down his hoodie, never keeping an eye off of the disguised dragon.

Gwee squinted her eyes at the boy. She pursed her lips and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You... I know you..."

Danny withdrew nervously.

Rayman quickly intervened before Gwee got the idea to bite Danny's head off. "It's okay, Gwee. Take it easy. He's cool. We're cool now."

"Yeah, yeah! Totally cool."

Then Gwee shot her glare down at the uneasy Rayman. "And you!!" she seethed. A deep, rumbling growl emanated from her throat. Her body morphed and shifted to its true dragon likeness, towering over the limbless being. Her baggy eyes went wide with pure and utter rage. Green embers flickered from between her incisors. "I said... to keep the door locked... while I was away!" she roared at the top of her fiery lungs.

Rayman and Danny nearly wet themselves.

But then, Gwee twitched. She collapsed onto the floor, creating a brief vibration due to her sheer size and weight. With surprised looks, Rayman and Danny gingerly peered over the still dragon. She wasn't unconscious. She was still steadily breathing. But her 200-mile journey had her all but spent.

"Erm, Gwee?" Rayman dropped down to her side. "Are you okay? Talk to me!"

As if to respond, a sudden, loud, rolling grumble rose from the dragon. He quirked a brow at the noise.

"What was that?" asked Danny.

Gwee merely moaned in reply.

Rayman blinked. "I think it's her stomach growling. She must be starving!"

Danny began to panic. "Aw, man. I hope she doesn't wanna eat us! I'm too young to be dragon food!"

"Relax, Danny," Rayman firmly told the boy. "I'm not sure she even has the energy to eat something like you. Besides, you'd probably give her indigestion."

"Hey!"

"And from the looks of it, I'd say she hasn't had any sleep either."

He could tell she had given nearly her all to find him, robbing herself of proper rest and a meal. She had done more for him than he ever did for her so far. Rayman decided it was now his turn to care for Gwee. Now was the time to return the favor. Plus, seeing her in this state made him think about his eight-hour nap, despite it being forced upon him. Comparing his forced sleep to Gwee's total lack of it made him feel a tad guilty.

"Come on, Gwee," he said and began to lift the dragon's heavy body up from the floor. He grunted, "Let's get ya someplace... more comfortable."

He didn't have too great a difficult time, but Gwee was certainly heavier than most objects he'd lifted in his day. He moved her, little by little, up onto a large, L-shaped sofa in the living room. Danny tried helping as well, lifting her tail, though it wasn't much at all. Once she was completely laid on the sofa, they found that her total body length rivaled the sofa itself by a good few feet. Rayman wiped his brow and exhaled.

Danny stared at the limbless being. "Dude! She's gotta be, like, 800 pounds!" he marveled. Gwee was too tired to hit the boy out of resentment with her tail. "You're pretty strong for a little guy."

Rayman smirked cockily and brushed his gloved fingernails against his chest as if he were polishing them. It gave him a good feeling when someone unfamiliar with him was impressed by his deceptive physical strength. "Heh. This is nothin.' You should see the kinda work I do back home."

"You mean I could go with you to your home planet?"

"Eh, not what I meant." He turned his attention to Gwee, whose body rose and fell with each long breath. His expression turned melancholy. "Look at her," Rayman observed with a gesture. "She came here all this way in one night. Just to find me."

Danny followed Rayman's sad gaze. "She must really care about you, dude."

"Yeah..."

"How'd you guys meet anyway?"

The limbless being turned up to the boy and began to summarize what had transpired so far: "Well, for starters, I was chasing down an enemy of mine back home, but it turned out he'd created this giant portal machine that sucked me up, flung me across the universe, and landed me right here. Well, right in front of Gwee's house, anyway. I tried to ask for her help, but I guess I scared her with my whole, ya know, no-arms-or-legs thing, and she knocked me out with a shovel."

"Ouch!" Danny winced.

"Yep, gave me one heck of a shiner." Rayman pointed to his still bruised eye. It was no longer half-closed, but fully open and mending quite nicely.

"It doesn't look so bad now, since I last saw you."

"Well, I'm a fast healer. Anyway, at least, she was nice enough to ice my eye. I told her what was going on, but she told me you can only go through a portal once and never again. A 'one-way trip,' you could say. But I know for sure it's not a one-way trip. Not where I come from."

"So how come you still stick around her?"

"I dunno. I guess... she and I are the same. Kind of. She's in the same boat as me. Or maybe I'm in the same boat as her, and she's just been in the boat a lot longer than me. She was sucked through a portal, too, and landed here when she was a kid. And she's had to disguise herself as a human since then, just to keep herself from being hunted down." Rayman paused. "Like I was." He heard himself say those words. Those words alone put everything into perspective for him right then, in that one moment.

Danny thought for a bit. "Hmm. Maybe you two were destined to meet each other?"

Rayman glanced back up at the boy quizzically. "Huh? Whaddaya mean?"

"Well, think about it! You were sucked through a portal, you landed right on her doorstep, and she happens to know a thing or two about portals because she got stuck here the same way, right?"

"Yeah?"

"It's destiny! You two having that much in common and getting so close to one another? You can't deny, you have kind of a thing going. I bet you two could work something out."

Rayman's eyes widened. "Whoa! Danny! Slow down! I've only just met her! We're not even the same species!"

"Nah, man! Not like that! I mean, if portals work on your world all the time, and she's also been through a portal, I'll bet you two could create your own! You could both go back to your world, do your whole hero thing, and then get her back home!"

Rayman considered that idea for a short moment. "Good plan, but there's just one problem: I can't make portals."

"But I'll bet she can. Just 'cause portals only work once on her world doesn't mean she can't create another one here, right? Maybe if you do some kind of meditation thingie, you could pool your alien magic together and make your own portal!"

A pause.

Danny kept up his excited grin. Rayman was stone-faced.

"Where do you get these ideas?" he finally asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"I'm really into this stuff! Whaddaya want from me?"

Another brief pause, as the limbless being turned his attention back to Gwee.

"I'm tellin' ya, Ray. You've been her ticket home this whole entire time. It's you who's gonna get her home."

"Yeah..." Rayman mused slowly, thinking. If this theory was correct, just getting out of this world in order to send Gwee back home by enlisting the help of the Teensies, that'd definitely be one more heroic deed to add to the list. "Maybe you're right. Maybe in the end... I am the one that can get her home."

Just then, another loud, rolling grumble startled both Rayman and Danny out of their thoughts. "Uh, was that her stomach again?" Danny nervously asked, pointing at Gwee.

"Nah, that was me," replied Rayman, placing a hand to his hungry tummy. "I haven't had any breakfast yet."

Gwee drew their attention to her by lightly chuckling, amused that his stomach was as empty as her's. Rayman took only very slight offence and responded by approaching her with half sarcasm.

"Oh, you think that's funny, do ya? Well, lemme tell you somethin', missy! I was shot with a dart by two goons, carried away to who-knows-where, knocked up on muscle relaxant--not fun, by the way--and held captive for hours, in pieces, by some crackpot scientist who wanted to cut me open and see how I'm physically possible, and who is now tied up and locked in a closet!"

Sounds of the struggling doctor could be heard for a brief moment. Nobody turned to look.

"So as far as I can tell... you need a breather more than I do." He chuckled as well, patting the side of Gwee's belly.

The dragon's tail sluggishly and gently pushed Rayman close to her tired, grinning face. "Come here, you little limbless wonder," she said slowly, her voice cracking from exhaustion.

Normally, Rayman would never hug a dragon, but for the first time since he had met Gwee, he wrapped his hands around the back of her long neck, embracing her. The events of the past day-and-a-half proved how much they both needed each other to survive in this world and possibly leave it. Gwee's acts of kindness alone and her willingness to travel all this way to find him made him realize that even more. And he had never felt so grateful and so connected to such an unlikely friend he had only just barely met.

Danny was taking video of the two, which Rayman noticed. "Not now, Danny!" he scolded. "We're having a touching moment here!" The boy hurriedly lowered the camera.

--

To be continued...