All of the following is copyrighted by me 1/18/10
Rayman: Apocalypse
"Breaking Point"
Rayman fell out of the portal, hitting the ground with a thud. He turned around to see that the "portal" he'd stepped through was actually the Heart of the World. Suddenly, the chamber shook violently. Listening carefully, Rayman could hear the sounds of a battle outside. He could also hear muffled voices. Deciding to take a look, he walked out of the chamber, jumping into the floor portal.
The rest of the Fairy Council was in ruins, and Rayman felt a stronger tremor as he entered.
"This is like when André was nearing the Heart," Rayman said to himself. "Only worse." Feeling anxiety grow inside him, Rayman broke into a run, sprinting through the ruined halls. As he went through, he could swear that he heard screams from somewhere close. Rayman gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.
"H-help..." a weak voice came from under a pile of rubble. Rayman skidded to a stop and moved away the stones. Underneath was a young Teensie, weakly gasping for air. Glistening, blue blood flowed from under his body, forming a growing puddle.
"What happened here?" Rayman asked, clutching the Teensie's hand.
"Rayman..." the Teensie looked up. "The Hoodlums...they came back, and...the Resistance came but we...we couldn't stop them."
"The Resistance?" Rayman echoed uncertainly. What had happened while he was gone?
"The others...they need your help...find them, or we...we..." the Teensie's eyes seemed to see through Rayman, and he exhaled. Rayman felt his hand go limp. He hastily checked for a pulse, searched for body heat. He found both, but then the pulse began to weaken, and the heat began to fade rapidly. Eventually, the body was cold, and the pulse was gone. Rayman lay the hand down next to the Teensie and stood up slowly. He felt like he'd caused all this somehow. Ignoring the feeling as best he could, he continued through the crumbling walls to the outside, stumbling a little with each tremor.
The seen Rayman stepped into was more chaotic then inside the castle. There were numerous Teensies trying to hold a barrier around the Council, but they were obviously tired. In front of them were Razoff and Begoniax, who were helping all they could, picking off Hoodlums coming from ahead. Not far in front was Hoodlum fighting the Hoodlums. He had the symbol of a cog and a tattered flag sewn onto his back. Rayman then saw that Razoff and Begoniax had the same symbols on their clothes. Rayman could also see Globox hiding behind a bush. Confused, Rayman went to one of the Teensies.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"The Hoodlums are going for a full-scale invasion for the Heart of the World!" the Teensie told him. "Rayman, it's good that you've returned, we need your help! The Hoodlum fighting the others is named Frank, and he was the leader of the Resistance. He's also the only one left. You need to help him!"
"What did the Resistance do?"
"They pulled off a number of operations against the Hoodlums!" the Teensie said distractedly. "Razoff saved all the Teensies here. Frank, Larry, and Globox had all been around the world, but something went wrong when they were trying to intercept the Hoodlums on their way here, and—" the Teensie was cut off as a bullet went through his head. He was dead before he hit the ground. Frank was trying to hold off the Hoodlums, but everyone knew that he was going to fail by himself. Rayman sprang up, fists already flying.
"Rayman?" Frank cried out in surprise. "You're back!"
"I think I preferred the world I left," Rayman threw his fist into another Hoodlum. "Any ideas on how to stop this?"
"Not a clue, but your help is appreciated," Frank replied, shooting a Hoodlum.
* * *
"I was so close!" André cried out, his fists flailing wildly. "Now that Rayman is here...actually, I don't think even he can solve this!" André resumed punching his fists in the air as the robed man came in.
"André," he began walking. "Fire the super-laser we've made."
"Don't tell me what to do!" André turned sharply. "And you will refer to me as Lord André!"
"I will call you what I please," the robed man replied, still walking forward.
"Hoodlums!" André ordered. "Kill this fool!" Instantly ten Hoodlum Officers jumped in, surrounding the robed man, who was still walking. They all fired.
"Pathetic," the man muttered. There was a brief glimpse of a dark ring, and all the bullets vanished. Suddenly, the man was on top of on the Officers. He thrust his hand into the Officer, who suddenly shook, his outfit changing to a mixture of blacks and dark blues, his eyes a deep red. The man moved to the next on faster then André could comprehend, and the Dark Lum Lord watched as his entire force was changed in the blink of an eye. Without breaking stride, the man floated down to the same spot he'd jumped from and continued walking forward, this time followed by the changed Officers.
"What are you?" André shook. The man simply grabbed him and threw him into a wall.
"Dark Officers," he ordered. "Apprehend that idiotic ball of fuzz." He then stepped to the keypad, and entered the coordinates of the Fairy Council.
"The world ends today," he cast off his robe, laughing. Outside, the laser fired.
* * *
"Rayman!" Begoniax called. "Hoodlum to your right!" Rayman swung out his right fist, hitting something wiry. He turned and saw a Hoodlum fall to the ground. A lot more of the Teensies had fallen now, and the Fairy Council was slowly falling apart. Rayman, Frank, Begoniax, and Razoff were trying their best, but they were doomed to fail. Rayman turned to Frank and saw him twitch. He then looked up. His eyes widened.
"Get down!" he grabbed Rayman, pulling him to the ground. Rayman turned and saw as a gigantic laser fell upon the Fairy Council, destroying it and the Heart of the World within. The Fairy Council shattered like a mirror, and huge pieces of stone fell to the ground. Rayman shut his eyes, waiting for the end. After a moment, he realized that it didn't come. He opened his eyes and saw that Frank was up. He looked up and jumped, his head narrowly missing the huge stone that was floating just above him. He looked around, seeing only wasteland. The ground had changed to a dull gray, and dust of the same color swirled around. The Fairy Council was frozen in mid-collapse, its top becoming a series of floating rocks. Rayman then looked around and saw the Teensies had become statues. Some had their hands out, creating the now-vanished barrier around the Fairy Council like they were before it collapsed. Others were looking up in terror, forever watching a doom that would never come.
"No," Frank said, hopelessness filling his voice. Rayman turned and saw a stone Razoff and his gun. A spear floated in the air in front of the barrel, complete with a now-visible vapor trail. Beside him was a petrified Begoniax, trying to cast some sort of spell at a piece of the Fair Council falling towards the pair.
Rayman suddenly remembered someone important. Turning quickly, he felt the same hopelessness he'd heard come from Frank. Globox stood, his eyes full of terror and his mouth wide open, looking at a cluster of rocks about to fall upon him. Frank was looking out at where the Hoodlums had been. Rayman turned out to face the lake and its islets and saw nothing. Just pieces of land dotting an eerily-calm lake. No Hoodlums.
"Look at the sky," Frank pointed out. Rayman looked up and saw black. There were no stars. Just black and, in the distance, two red moons. Rayman then realized that in this area, all the vegetation was gone, too. There wasn't even any grass. Just gray ground.
"I don't understand," Rayman said finally. "What happened?"
"The world's dead," Frank couldn't have said it more bluntly.
"Dead? But..."
"If I can understand this right, then dying is a better word," Frank continued. "Since this section was the closest to the Heart, it went first."
"So..." Rayman looked at his feet. "I failed? Is this it?"
"We won't figure that out sitting here," Frank replied. He didn't seem to understand what he was talking about.
"Don't you get it?!" Rayman snapped turning on Frank. "We lost! André just destroyed the world! We failed! I failed..."
"No," Frank walked up. "André didn't do this. You of all people should remember that he wanted to rule the world by using the Heart. He wouldn't have blown it up. There'd be no world left to rule. Furthermore, this world's not dead—yet. We still have a chance to fix this. If we can find out what happened, then maybe we can reverse it and get the guy who did it in the first place. We still have a shot." Rayman didn't feel the same, but part of him wanted to believe that there was something he could do.
"Alright," he got up. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Frank asked.
"Hopefully..." Rayman began, then hesitated. "...if not too much has changed, then I know of someone who can help us.