A Whole New World
Story 1 of Who Knows(?)
It was June 14, 2014. I had just finished The Pixelator, my own invention crafted from a toaster, 3 printers, a dell laptop, and some other stuff. After pocketing its custom remote, I dragged it from my room downstairs to "the office," a room in my house with a TV, wall-sized window, and filing cabinet. I hooked it up to the x-box 360 and put in my favorite gave, Rayman Legends. As I played though, I heard a faint humming sound rapidly get louder. Now, The Pixelator is meant to turn programming and code into physical, tangible objects by reconstructing a tank filled with junk into a 3D model of the subject. If I want to enter a game, it scans my brain and muscle structure and stores my body's cells/atoms into a separate tank.
I feebly attempted to protect myself with my hands, but to no avail. There was an explosion of blue light, and I rubbed my eyes to recover from the momentary blindness. When I did, I saw something jaw dropping. There, in front of me, was the one.
The only.
Rayman.
Oh, boy! I couldn't believe it! Rayman was by far superior to any other video game character. I had put magnets into the tank, and I could see thin wires supporting his limbs. Obviously, The Pixelator was smart enough to know that his hands, head and body wouldn't float on their own. He cracked his knuckles and looked around, his eyes landing on me.
"…Who are you? Where am I? What is this stuff on my hands?"
"I know you probably have a million plus questions, but I'll give you the basics. I'm Pasqual _. This is a whole 'nother dimension and that machine behind you is how you got here and how you'll get back. But as of now, Ray, you're a far way from home, my limbless creation; a far way from home indeed."
"Hey," he snapped. "…only my friends call me ray. I don't even know you, save your name."
"Well, it'll take a bit for your way home to cool down. In the meantime…Hungry?"
I made a sandwich as I answered his questions about my home world and he answered mine about his. When I finished making the sandwich, Rayman watched me in curiosity.
"…What's that?" Rayman asked, eying the jar of peanut butter on my right.
"Peanut butter. I guess it'll be your first real meal. So go ahead, there're spoons on your right. Help yourself, I mean the jars almost empty."
He got a spoon and cautiously took a mouthful. His eyes lit up. "That's good! I've never had anything quite like it!" he took another spoonful and put the jar away.
"So the pixelator should be cooled down by now. You've got two choices, Rayman, and I'll let you decide. Choice one: you can go into the Pixelator, I can play the game, and I can forget this ever happened. Choice two: you can go back, and I can keep the pixelator active and it can serve as a portal. It's up to you."
He pondered it for a moment, and then said, "The one with the portal." He smiled softly.
"What's it like, saving people?"
He had a sly smirk on. "Why don't you find out? Well both go to the glade, and ill consult the bubble dreamer. If he gives the O.K., you can be me for, like, 24 hours. So, whadda ya say? And, call me Ray; but just to save time," he said, his smirk leaving his face.
I couldn't believe it. Rayman? For 24 hours? Awesome!
After I got everything set up, I pushed the button on the Pixelator and with a flash of light, we were in the snoring tree. I guess Polokus was there, because ray was kneeling down. He started talking, and all of a sudden, I was lifted into the air. I felt my nose elongate, my neck disappear, my mouth move to the bottom of my head, and my limbs disappear. The rest was indescribable. I felt my eyes converge into one. I was Rayman. I blinked, and saw the bubble dreamer right in front of me. I yelped in surprise, and I was lowered.
"There is a threat in the forest. Go and stop it, Soldier of light and laughter," Polokus said, winking.
Next thing I knew, I was in a village, next to a girl whom I tried to remember the name to. Barbara. She was gorgeous. I know it was programming, but the way she looked…wow. She turned to me. "Thank Polokus you're here, Ray! The teensies messed up on a spell, and the green gas is making people go uncon-" she never got the time to finish. She was OUT. The gas went in my now enormous nose, and, not being used to the extreme sensitivity of it, I sneezed. Somehow, the gas reacted and, well, dissipated into the nearby air. Barbara got up. "…your nose isn't typically that sensitive, 'Ray,'" she said, suspicion growing.
"Uh, well, you see, uh…" my eyes darted everywhere, looking for an excuse. "…it's getting dark. Why don't I spill tomorrow?" I ran off in no specific direction as the sun set quickly. I didn't know where to go, but my feet did. I ran into a mossy, vine-covered tree the size if a three-story house. My legs led into what I presumed to be Ray's bedroom. I climbed into the covers to see Rayman as a lum, floating there, staring at me.
"Well, you best be off to bed," he said.
I looked around to see pictures of Rayman and Betilla. Betilla had a heart-shaped frame around most of her pictures. "You like her, don't you?" I asked.
He sighed. "…yeah…" he began to pulsate with yellow light as a dreamy look entered his eyes.
I covered my eyes. "Ok, ok, enough with the light show! I have insomnia as it is."
He stopped pulsing and looked at me. A mischievous look entered his eyes. "You might have insomnia, but I don't."
"What do you mea-" I was cut off by my own snoring.
I stretched my arms and sat up in bed. "Wow, what a dream," I said.
"Ooh, cool! What was it?" I heard a voice ask.
"GAH!" I screamed and saw little ray lum staring at me. "… I guess it wasn't a dream."
"Well, I'll gather the gang. You hold down the fort." He winked.
I was confused by his subtle but obviously meaningful gesture. When he left, I got out of bed and let my feet go to the kitchen. The house seemed to resemble the living room view from the Big Bang Theory. The only difference was all of this furniture was wood, and there was no TV. The window wasn't left of the door; it was actually on the other side of the room, across from it (the door). I got a weird fruit thing and proceeded to eat it, my body running on Rayman autopilot. When I finished it, a shadow blocked out the light from the window.
Still on autopilot, I rushed up to the roof and saw a dragon terrorizing the house. I took a few steps back and lunged at the large red creature. When I made contact, it shrunk to half size, the other half bubblizing and popping. A second attempt failed, the dragon anticipating the move and dodging it easily. What it didn't see coming (or me, either) was that when I missed I skidded sideways and heli-haired to brake myself. I flew at high speed into its face, it exploding on impact.
I fell onto the roof. "Oh, yeah! Watch out for me, villains of the world! One, deuce, you're out! Just like that!" I did an embarrassing victory dance as I noticed people watching me.
"Fun's over," Ray said. He had Barbara and Globox behind him.
"Alright, it's time to spill. I'm a human who created a machine and came here and pretended to be Rayman, and this is the part where you get mad," I said guiltily.
Rayman smiled a huge, satisfied smile. "I'm sorry. I messed up. I meant the fun's just beginning." I felt myself lifted again. Nothing changed at first. Then my body thinned ever so slightly, my hair turned black, my shoes became brown, white, and apricot. My hoodie became a beige color, and the hood brown. My skin darkened to my natural Hispanic skin tone. It too was a small change in skin color, but every bit counts. I was lowered to find Rayman as himself in front of me.
"Now we give you two choices: one, you can leave and be human and forget this ever happened. Or," he put his "arms," for say, around Globox and Barbara and pulled them in. "…you could live with me and we can have one heck of a time!"
I looked at them. They all looked back with kind, friendly faces. "…Do I even need to say?"
Ray chuckled. "How about a new name for the new look?"
I recalled my victory speech. "...Deuce. Deuce Limbly."
I smiled. This was the dawn of an adventurous life.
Filled with friends.
And enemies.
Mystery.
Love.
Secrets.
