Rayman: Hands and Feet Scramble– Chapter 1
Characters created by Michel Ancel
Written by Andrew Kaiko
I am of no relation to the production or post-production team, and so, I do not own the characters and all related subjects. Rayman is © 2002 Ubi Soft Entertainment. The character of Rayman and all other characters and subjects are all trademarks of Ubi Soft Entertainment. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
"Come on, Rayman!"
"LY! You always run faster than me!" he answered, a goofy smile on his face.
"What's the matter, Slowpoke?! Those little feet can't operate without long legs? Ha ha haa!" She leaped into the air a good distance away from him, clearly teasing Rayman in good fun, emphasizing that she DID indeed have long legs! The bright, glowing foliage brushed against her as she zoomed through the trees.
Rayman felt his smile would never fade. He thought to himself, you know you got a great friend when you exchange insults, put-downs and slams at each other and still like them.
For a retort, he attempted, "Well— I'll show ya' LEG!" He tried to trip Ly in mid-land, but she just dodged him and pushed him forward! Now HE was in the lead! And all the while, they were giggling.
"I CAN RESCUE ENTIRE COMMUNITIES, AND STILL LOOSE TO A PIXIE!"
It could not have been a better early summer day in the forest of Neotopia. Propelling himself through the green grass, Rayman could smell the fresh dew from the bushes he passed. This kind of aroma could only exist on those rare days when it was just the right temperature, the sun was fully out, no clouds, low humidity and the flora and fauna in full bloom. In fact, these days were said to only appear once a year! Since the humidity was low, voices could be carried at greater distances- all the better for Rayman and Ly to exchange more insults at each other!
Ly passed by a big toadstool, which had a wooden door beneath it and a chimney on the top- Murfy's house. The commotion outside disturbed Murfy, who slammed his window open and shouted, "HEY! I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF AN IMPORTANT TELEPHONE C—ACK!!!" Ly had grabbed Murfy along with her.
"HEY FAIRY! WATCH THE WINGS!"
"Join us! Come on!"
"AS IF I – ACK!—HAVE A CHOICE!!" His hands finally lost grip on the REALLY LONG dial cord, which zipped back to the receiver after Murfy managed to fit an "I'll call you!" in the few precious seconds.
Ly then shouted back to Rayman, "I'll bet you can finish THIS round, Stubby!"
"Oh, you don't know the HALF of it!" he responded. "PUN. INTENDED."
For being a limbless creature, he could do stuff no other creature could. Without hesitating, he disconnected his feet from the energy force. Taking on a life of their own, his feet galloped faster than ever, closing in on Ly. Ly, just realizing what he was up to, felt more stressed than relaxed as she darted in different directions, trying to loose the feet. Mysteriously, she enjoyed the heightened anxiety even more!
Murfy shouted, "Oy! I promised his ma I'd keep him in one piece!"
With his legs gone, Rayman could use his hair as helicopter wings, increasing his speed. Rayman then disconnected his hands, and they flew off in a different direction. Whenever Ly darted in one direction to loose the feet, the rest of him was always there no matter where she was!
Giddy with uncertainty, Ly giggled to the point where her voice cracked. With no strategy, she instinctively leaped into another foliage of leaves. Murfy yelped like a kid on a roller coaster. The white hands, which could fly at speeds like a cheetah, pursued her into the tops of the trees. They grabbed her by the shoulders, halting her for the first time in two hours! Still giggling, her chest sore, her arms and legs flared in the air. "Okay! Okay! You win! Hahahahha!" The hands eased her down under the trees, and soared her through the beautiful forest to the finish line, where the rest of Rayman was already waiting.
The Teensies were also waiting there to mark the finish line. "AND RAYMAN IS THE WINNER!" The hands put her safely to the ground, and connected themselves back on Rayman's sides. She released a shivering Murfy out of her grip. Ly then shouted at Rayman, meaning to be seriously angered, but to no avail. Her permanent smile caused her to have a giggle fit in the middle.
"That was cheating! You cheated, you Git!"
"I was just trying to prove my point," he said.
Ly got it. They both had disadvantages.
Having raced for two hours straight, they all collapsed on the soil, panting like their lungs were going to burst. For a while they just let the gentle sunlight ease its way above them. Ly was the first to speak after a while. "Oh! Where's Globox?!"
Rayman, almost as if he forgot he was exhausted, sprung back up. Globox was in the race with them at the beginning of the day, but he had disappeared somewhere! "We gotta' find him!"
But as soon as they were about to run the same distance back, they spotted an exhausted Globox nearing the finish line. He had clearly fallen- he was covered in mud, but he didn't seem to mind, his race branching out from amphibians. In fact, he was smiling too. "Wow, I finally caught up with you guys! Hey, Sharpshooter, I saw your hands carrying Ly up in the air just now!"
"Yeah, sneaky little rascals, they be," he kidded. Ly forced a smirk.
"At the next training session, we need to do something with those rascals," said Murfy. "Like, I dunno, tie them to your chest..."
Globox didn't even realize he was covered in mud. "That was the BEST race EVER! Did you see me trip and revisit my lunch?"
"No, thankfully."
Globox panted some more, and then straightened himself. "I'd better get back home. The kids'll be wondering where I am. See you guys!"
Ly brightened. "Oh! I'll go with you! I haven't seen them in a year!"
"Oh, you'd be surprised how much they grew! Melvin had a growth wart—I mean, SPURT! Spurt! A growth spurt! Or was it Molvin? Melroy? Anyway, one of them DEFINITELY had a growth wart!"
Murfy agreed to go along with them. Globox led Ly and Murfy to his home outside the forests. The Teensies then left back to the Council.
Rayman, now alone and never more content at his life at this stage, decided to spend some alone time, wandering through uncharted territory where no Raymanian had gone before, and other uneventful hobbies. But he was unaware that this particular stroll would turn out to be VERY eventful...
The Globox kids were hopping and jumping all around Ly, sitting in a chair inside Globox's home. "Tell us a story, Auntie Ly! Tell us a story!"
Ly over-accentuated her actions, as if to perform as a children's storyteller and said, using her arms in synch with her voice, "Well, what story should I tell you?"
One kid said, "Duh one about Wayman beating the Pirates!"
"Ha ha ha! Oh, but you kids were IN that story! You know how it all happened."
"Dat's –d-d-dat's why we want ta' heaw'it."
Another suggested, "How about the one where Rayman beat the Big Bad Lum?"
"Why does it always have to be about Rayman, kids? There are other stories to tell!"
The kids all pleaded her to tell something about Rayman. After she had quieted them all down, she spoke again. "Okay, okay!" She then said to herself, I have no win over anything these days. "We will compromise. This story has to do with Rayman, but isn't really about him—"
"Is –I-I-I-is he in it?"
"Oh, okay! I'll put him in the end! Now quiet! These are the tales, kids! Now, no one knows if this story is real, or a fake, but it has been passed down from generation to generation, and is a classic! This is the story... of how Rayman's race... became ... limbless..."
A long time ago, when there were no such things as feet without legs, hands without arms, or even heads without necks, there was a creature that resembled a lot like Rayman's race. It had the big nose, the orange flesh, and a little round tummy, but it had arms, legs and a neck. His name was Addie.
One day, Addie was walking through the woods much like the one next to us, when he came to this huge tree. It looked like any other tree, but this one was silver and appeared to glow all around. It was so tall you couldn't even see the top of it, and at the bottom of the truck, a voice echoed to Addie from within.
"Addie, you may not remember me, but I do remember you. My name is Ordra, and believe it or not, I am the one who created you!"
"I don't believe it," said Addie.
"But it is true," said Ordra. "My voice exists because I can channel the same energy that branches from the Central Dreaming, and because of that, I am a goddess that is part of the original Creation. This tree is simply a place where I like to get away and visit the earthly ground once every year."
Addie still did not believe it. "Well," she said. "If you are able to climb upon my branches to the top of the tree, what you will see will indeed make you believe it."
Addie thought, in an echoed voice inside his head so you kids could understand what he was thinking, but couldn't possibly be able to do in real life, granted that this is a juvenile kiddy story, "I will climb up, but I am certain there won't be anything up there."
So he did, and when he was on the very top of the tree, there was a glowing white ball of energy! And out of that energy ball jumped out a creature that looked exactly like Addie!
The tree said, "This is a creature the same as you in every sense! He is even called Addie as well!"
Addie stared awestruck at the creature and, as if a reflection in a mirror, Addie II said and did the exact things Addie said, "I do believe now, Ordra."
Ordra was pleased and added, "You may watch over this tree if you wish. Every year on this day I visit this tree to experience what I am governing over first hand, but there is only one thing you must remember. You must never let anybody or anything rid it of it's branches. Take a look at them. Though strong and healthy they are now, if they were to be cut off while I am inside the tree, it will affect me in the worst possible way."
Addie did watch over the tree each year that date. And after 10 years, when he again visited the tree, to his horror, the branches DID get cut off! He tried to get to the white ball at the top, but having nothing to climb from, couldn't reach it! He shouted, "Ordra! I am so sorry! I do not know what happened! Please tell me you are okay!"
He heard a voice that said, "I am not well. While I was in this tree, some other monsters came and cut them off! Now, I regret to show you what they did to my powers, but here it is."
A flash of white light exploded from above, and, hurtling to the ground, landed Addie II, his head, chest, hands, and legs all cut off and sprawled all over the ground!
Addie raced to his friend and cried over him, cradling his head. "I will find a way to save you from dying, my friend!" He noticed that there were five other branches that the monsters had missed, lying on the ground also. Quickly, he reattached them to the tree as best he could. Although they would never pass as being seamlessly attached, he was delighted to see that Addie II was standing up! But he was standing without any limbs!
Addie was surprised. "Are you hurt?!" he asked him.
Addie II replied, "I feel fine! Why do you ask?"
What an amazing thing, this new phenomenon brought Addie! In the rest of his life, Addie II became a new race himself, and from that day forward, all of his descendants were limbless as well. And alas, when Addie died, there were no more of his kind with limbs.
But only one of this race, thus far, could channel the powers that come with these lack of limbs, and that is Rayman. For he, for some reason, was chosen by the forces of creation to channel the powers. And that is how Rayman's race became limbless.
"Globox! Globox! I got great news!" Never had Globox seen Murfy so excited and flying all over the place!
Globox was visiting Murfy's little house, and, he must admit, wasn't entirely comfortable with the head and legroom. "What is it, Murfy?"
"When I was in the race with Rayman and Ly, I was in the middle of a phone call! And do you know what that call was about?!"
Globox stared into space, trying hard to oil the cranks in his brain.
"Of course you don't, but THAT DOESN'T MATTER- I AM SOOOOO HAPPY!" He twirled Globox around his biggest room, as if dancing with him, and as we was saying the following, released the blue guy, slamming him outside. "The phone call was from The Teensie Council telling me that I've been nominated for the Annual Best Gaming Sidekick/Guide For Adventurous Heroes Awards at the annual Video Game Character Awards, and that I must go to the award show in case I win! OH JOY OF JOYS! I'VE WANTED TO BE NOMINATED FOR SO LONG, BUT NEVER STOOD A CHANCE 'CAUSE OF SOME OTHER BETTER NOMINEE BEATING ME! I'm finally going to get the reputation I deserve! Did you know that I NEVER won any award in my life?!"
Globox was sprawled against a tree across from Murfy's door. He waddled over to the greenbottle. "Murfy, isn't that the show where all the best sidekicks in today's hottest video games gather in one room for one night only?"
"Pretty much! OH I AM SOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY! Oh, Globox, I love you!" he choked Globox in the throat and then quickly eased back.
Globox was silent for a minute and then said, "I'm happy for you, but... I'm Rayman's sidekick too."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, anyway... I GOTTA' TELL RAYMAN AND LY THE NEWS! Oh, if only I could teleport like that fairy does!"
He was flying back and forth, too quick for Globox to get a word out. "Uh... Murfy—M-Murf—Uh... um... I- I- Did the Teensies say anything about me?"
"Maybe I can give that speech I wrote three years ago, provided Daxter doesn't upstage us again—"
"Murfy!" Globox finally caught him in his grasp. "Did they say anything about me?"
"No, why?"
"I appeared in the last two games too!"
"Oh, YOU were there?"
"Murfy, I wanted to be nominated too."
"Why in the world would they nominate you? All you did was get drunk and hop and run on walls all over the place."
Murfy could see that Globox was hiding his sadness under a thrust out chest. "Hey look, Bud. It's just an award show. The award is nothing but a statue of an attractive action heroine made of 24k gold... can't do anything with it... nothin' exciting..."
"Do you have a slip or anything where we can see if I got nominated? You know, two or more characters can be considered one nominee for one award, when in reason."
Murfy scratched his head, "Well... I do have one slip..."
He went inside and came out with fine print that told of this year's award nominees. "The Teensies came over and gave me this. Didn't really read through everything..."
Globox eyes widened when he read the part of the Sidekick Award. And to Murfy's worst expectations, the blue mouth turned upward at the sides. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!"
After sleeping over night in the safe shelter of a pile of moss, Rayman brushed it off of his body and straightened his hood that he used as a pillow. Yawning, he crept out of the moss and started to walk back to his home.
But as he was walking a little ways into a denser part of the forest, the morning sunlight shown upon something that convinced Rayman that he would not be home in a while.
Sitting in the middle of a small clearing, his head in his hands as if crying, was a creature that couldn't be more than 12 years old.
And his body was that of a Lapitaur...
(to be continued)
Characters created by Michel Ancel
Written by Andrew Kaiko
I am of no relation to the production or post-production team, and so, I do not own the characters and all related subjects. Rayman is © 2002 Ubi Soft Entertainment. The character of Rayman and all other characters and subjects are all trademarks of Ubi Soft Entertainment. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
"Come on, Rayman!"
"LY! You always run faster than me!" he answered, a goofy smile on his face.
"What's the matter, Slowpoke?! Those little feet can't operate without long legs? Ha ha haa!" She leaped into the air a good distance away from him, clearly teasing Rayman in good fun, emphasizing that she DID indeed have long legs! The bright, glowing foliage brushed against her as she zoomed through the trees.
Rayman felt his smile would never fade. He thought to himself, you know you got a great friend when you exchange insults, put-downs and slams at each other and still like them.
For a retort, he attempted, "Well— I'll show ya' LEG!" He tried to trip Ly in mid-land, but she just dodged him and pushed him forward! Now HE was in the lead! And all the while, they were giggling.
"I CAN RESCUE ENTIRE COMMUNITIES, AND STILL LOOSE TO A PIXIE!"
It could not have been a better early summer day in the forest of Neotopia. Propelling himself through the green grass, Rayman could smell the fresh dew from the bushes he passed. This kind of aroma could only exist on those rare days when it was just the right temperature, the sun was fully out, no clouds, low humidity and the flora and fauna in full bloom. In fact, these days were said to only appear once a year! Since the humidity was low, voices could be carried at greater distances- all the better for Rayman and Ly to exchange more insults at each other!
Ly passed by a big toadstool, which had a wooden door beneath it and a chimney on the top- Murfy's house. The commotion outside disturbed Murfy, who slammed his window open and shouted, "HEY! I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF AN IMPORTANT TELEPHONE C—ACK!!!" Ly had grabbed Murfy along with her.
"HEY FAIRY! WATCH THE WINGS!"
"Join us! Come on!"
"AS IF I – ACK!—HAVE A CHOICE!!" His hands finally lost grip on the REALLY LONG dial cord, which zipped back to the receiver after Murfy managed to fit an "I'll call you!" in the few precious seconds.
Ly then shouted back to Rayman, "I'll bet you can finish THIS round, Stubby!"
"Oh, you don't know the HALF of it!" he responded. "PUN. INTENDED."
For being a limbless creature, he could do stuff no other creature could. Without hesitating, he disconnected his feet from the energy force. Taking on a life of their own, his feet galloped faster than ever, closing in on Ly. Ly, just realizing what he was up to, felt more stressed than relaxed as she darted in different directions, trying to loose the feet. Mysteriously, she enjoyed the heightened anxiety even more!
Murfy shouted, "Oy! I promised his ma I'd keep him in one piece!"
With his legs gone, Rayman could use his hair as helicopter wings, increasing his speed. Rayman then disconnected his hands, and they flew off in a different direction. Whenever Ly darted in one direction to loose the feet, the rest of him was always there no matter where she was!
Giddy with uncertainty, Ly giggled to the point where her voice cracked. With no strategy, she instinctively leaped into another foliage of leaves. Murfy yelped like a kid on a roller coaster. The white hands, which could fly at speeds like a cheetah, pursued her into the tops of the trees. They grabbed her by the shoulders, halting her for the first time in two hours! Still giggling, her chest sore, her arms and legs flared in the air. "Okay! Okay! You win! Hahahahha!" The hands eased her down under the trees, and soared her through the beautiful forest to the finish line, where the rest of Rayman was already waiting.
The Teensies were also waiting there to mark the finish line. "AND RAYMAN IS THE WINNER!" The hands put her safely to the ground, and connected themselves back on Rayman's sides. She released a shivering Murfy out of her grip. Ly then shouted at Rayman, meaning to be seriously angered, but to no avail. Her permanent smile caused her to have a giggle fit in the middle.
"That was cheating! You cheated, you Git!"
"I was just trying to prove my point," he said.
Ly got it. They both had disadvantages.
Having raced for two hours straight, they all collapsed on the soil, panting like their lungs were going to burst. For a while they just let the gentle sunlight ease its way above them. Ly was the first to speak after a while. "Oh! Where's Globox?!"
Rayman, almost as if he forgot he was exhausted, sprung back up. Globox was in the race with them at the beginning of the day, but he had disappeared somewhere! "We gotta' find him!"
But as soon as they were about to run the same distance back, they spotted an exhausted Globox nearing the finish line. He had clearly fallen- he was covered in mud, but he didn't seem to mind, his race branching out from amphibians. In fact, he was smiling too. "Wow, I finally caught up with you guys! Hey, Sharpshooter, I saw your hands carrying Ly up in the air just now!"
"Yeah, sneaky little rascals, they be," he kidded. Ly forced a smirk.
"At the next training session, we need to do something with those rascals," said Murfy. "Like, I dunno, tie them to your chest..."
Globox didn't even realize he was covered in mud. "That was the BEST race EVER! Did you see me trip and revisit my lunch?"
"No, thankfully."
Globox panted some more, and then straightened himself. "I'd better get back home. The kids'll be wondering where I am. See you guys!"
Ly brightened. "Oh! I'll go with you! I haven't seen them in a year!"
"Oh, you'd be surprised how much they grew! Melvin had a growth wart—I mean, SPURT! Spurt! A growth spurt! Or was it Molvin? Melroy? Anyway, one of them DEFINITELY had a growth wart!"
Murfy agreed to go along with them. Globox led Ly and Murfy to his home outside the forests. The Teensies then left back to the Council.
Rayman, now alone and never more content at his life at this stage, decided to spend some alone time, wandering through uncharted territory where no Raymanian had gone before, and other uneventful hobbies. But he was unaware that this particular stroll would turn out to be VERY eventful...
The Globox kids were hopping and jumping all around Ly, sitting in a chair inside Globox's home. "Tell us a story, Auntie Ly! Tell us a story!"
Ly over-accentuated her actions, as if to perform as a children's storyteller and said, using her arms in synch with her voice, "Well, what story should I tell you?"
One kid said, "Duh one about Wayman beating the Pirates!"
"Ha ha ha! Oh, but you kids were IN that story! You know how it all happened."
"Dat's –d-d-dat's why we want ta' heaw'it."
Another suggested, "How about the one where Rayman beat the Big Bad Lum?"
"Why does it always have to be about Rayman, kids? There are other stories to tell!"
The kids all pleaded her to tell something about Rayman. After she had quieted them all down, she spoke again. "Okay, okay!" She then said to herself, I have no win over anything these days. "We will compromise. This story has to do with Rayman, but isn't really about him—"
"Is –I-I-I-is he in it?"
"Oh, okay! I'll put him in the end! Now quiet! These are the tales, kids! Now, no one knows if this story is real, or a fake, but it has been passed down from generation to generation, and is a classic! This is the story... of how Rayman's race... became ... limbless..."
A long time ago, when there were no such things as feet without legs, hands without arms, or even heads without necks, there was a creature that resembled a lot like Rayman's race. It had the big nose, the orange flesh, and a little round tummy, but it had arms, legs and a neck. His name was Addie.
One day, Addie was walking through the woods much like the one next to us, when he came to this huge tree. It looked like any other tree, but this one was silver and appeared to glow all around. It was so tall you couldn't even see the top of it, and at the bottom of the truck, a voice echoed to Addie from within.
"Addie, you may not remember me, but I do remember you. My name is Ordra, and believe it or not, I am the one who created you!"
"I don't believe it," said Addie.
"But it is true," said Ordra. "My voice exists because I can channel the same energy that branches from the Central Dreaming, and because of that, I am a goddess that is part of the original Creation. This tree is simply a place where I like to get away and visit the earthly ground once every year."
Addie still did not believe it. "Well," she said. "If you are able to climb upon my branches to the top of the tree, what you will see will indeed make you believe it."
Addie thought, in an echoed voice inside his head so you kids could understand what he was thinking, but couldn't possibly be able to do in real life, granted that this is a juvenile kiddy story, "I will climb up, but I am certain there won't be anything up there."
So he did, and when he was on the very top of the tree, there was a glowing white ball of energy! And out of that energy ball jumped out a creature that looked exactly like Addie!
The tree said, "This is a creature the same as you in every sense! He is even called Addie as well!"
Addie stared awestruck at the creature and, as if a reflection in a mirror, Addie II said and did the exact things Addie said, "I do believe now, Ordra."
Ordra was pleased and added, "You may watch over this tree if you wish. Every year on this day I visit this tree to experience what I am governing over first hand, but there is only one thing you must remember. You must never let anybody or anything rid it of it's branches. Take a look at them. Though strong and healthy they are now, if they were to be cut off while I am inside the tree, it will affect me in the worst possible way."
Addie did watch over the tree each year that date. And after 10 years, when he again visited the tree, to his horror, the branches DID get cut off! He tried to get to the white ball at the top, but having nothing to climb from, couldn't reach it! He shouted, "Ordra! I am so sorry! I do not know what happened! Please tell me you are okay!"
He heard a voice that said, "I am not well. While I was in this tree, some other monsters came and cut them off! Now, I regret to show you what they did to my powers, but here it is."
A flash of white light exploded from above, and, hurtling to the ground, landed Addie II, his head, chest, hands, and legs all cut off and sprawled all over the ground!
Addie raced to his friend and cried over him, cradling his head. "I will find a way to save you from dying, my friend!" He noticed that there were five other branches that the monsters had missed, lying on the ground also. Quickly, he reattached them to the tree as best he could. Although they would never pass as being seamlessly attached, he was delighted to see that Addie II was standing up! But he was standing without any limbs!
Addie was surprised. "Are you hurt?!" he asked him.
Addie II replied, "I feel fine! Why do you ask?"
What an amazing thing, this new phenomenon brought Addie! In the rest of his life, Addie II became a new race himself, and from that day forward, all of his descendants were limbless as well. And alas, when Addie died, there were no more of his kind with limbs.
But only one of this race, thus far, could channel the powers that come with these lack of limbs, and that is Rayman. For he, for some reason, was chosen by the forces of creation to channel the powers. And that is how Rayman's race became limbless.
"Globox! Globox! I got great news!" Never had Globox seen Murfy so excited and flying all over the place!
Globox was visiting Murfy's little house, and, he must admit, wasn't entirely comfortable with the head and legroom. "What is it, Murfy?"
"When I was in the race with Rayman and Ly, I was in the middle of a phone call! And do you know what that call was about?!"
Globox stared into space, trying hard to oil the cranks in his brain.
"Of course you don't, but THAT DOESN'T MATTER- I AM SOOOOO HAPPY!" He twirled Globox around his biggest room, as if dancing with him, and as we was saying the following, released the blue guy, slamming him outside. "The phone call was from The Teensie Council telling me that I've been nominated for the Annual Best Gaming Sidekick/Guide For Adventurous Heroes Awards at the annual Video Game Character Awards, and that I must go to the award show in case I win! OH JOY OF JOYS! I'VE WANTED TO BE NOMINATED FOR SO LONG, BUT NEVER STOOD A CHANCE 'CAUSE OF SOME OTHER BETTER NOMINEE BEATING ME! I'm finally going to get the reputation I deserve! Did you know that I NEVER won any award in my life?!"
Globox was sprawled against a tree across from Murfy's door. He waddled over to the greenbottle. "Murfy, isn't that the show where all the best sidekicks in today's hottest video games gather in one room for one night only?"
"Pretty much! OH I AM SOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY! Oh, Globox, I love you!" he choked Globox in the throat and then quickly eased back.
Globox was silent for a minute and then said, "I'm happy for you, but... I'm Rayman's sidekick too."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, anyway... I GOTTA' TELL RAYMAN AND LY THE NEWS! Oh, if only I could teleport like that fairy does!"
He was flying back and forth, too quick for Globox to get a word out. "Uh... Murfy—M-Murf—Uh... um... I- I- Did the Teensies say anything about me?"
"Maybe I can give that speech I wrote three years ago, provided Daxter doesn't upstage us again—"
"Murfy!" Globox finally caught him in his grasp. "Did they say anything about me?"
"No, why?"
"I appeared in the last two games too!"
"Oh, YOU were there?"
"Murfy, I wanted to be nominated too."
"Why in the world would they nominate you? All you did was get drunk and hop and run on walls all over the place."
Murfy could see that Globox was hiding his sadness under a thrust out chest. "Hey look, Bud. It's just an award show. The award is nothing but a statue of an attractive action heroine made of 24k gold... can't do anything with it... nothin' exciting..."
"Do you have a slip or anything where we can see if I got nominated? You know, two or more characters can be considered one nominee for one award, when in reason."
Murfy scratched his head, "Well... I do have one slip..."
He went inside and came out with fine print that told of this year's award nominees. "The Teensies came over and gave me this. Didn't really read through everything..."
Globox eyes widened when he read the part of the Sidekick Award. And to Murfy's worst expectations, the blue mouth turned upward at the sides. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!"
After sleeping over night in the safe shelter of a pile of moss, Rayman brushed it off of his body and straightened his hood that he used as a pillow. Yawning, he crept out of the moss and started to walk back to his home.
But as he was walking a little ways into a denser part of the forest, the morning sunlight shown upon something that convinced Rayman that he would not be home in a while.
Sitting in the middle of a small clearing, his head in his hands as if crying, was a creature that couldn't be more than 12 years old.
And his body was that of a Lapitaur...
(to be continued)