Rayman: Hands and Feet Scramble- Chapter 6
Characters created by Michel Ancel
Written by Andrew Kaiko
http:www.sketchesandsquirrels.com
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 6
The smoke cleared and dispersed outward over the surrounding gray buildings. Shocked passer-bys stopped in their tracks, their mouths gapping open. But of course, nobody felt the nerve to approach the crashed vehicle and save whoever was buried underneath the rubble.
They all ran away once the doorway opened up! Out crawled four apparently unscathed strangers, all tripping over one another and trying to get up, but falling down again!
"A perfect landing, Ms. Free Rider!" muttered Murfy.
-----
The entire city had a very cold mood about it. Everything was gray, and not a single curve could be seen. Only stoic, straight lines formed the uninspired walls of the buildings. And, like New York City, the streets were arranged in a grid, with a long street in each of the four directions. The more they wandered, the more Ly began to think that stains and cracks were the city's identifying motif.
"We've been walking for hours, and NOTHING looks different! There are no signs, no cars, no landmarks, no billboards, the people out here look like zombies (don't get too close, Globox), and no SIDEWALKS!"
Mr. Trucker said, "Welp, then ah' reckon th' REAL attractions are inside these buildins'!"
Murfy scoffed. "Obviously! So let's look for a door! Is there one over here?! No? How about over there?! Can't find one, huh? Oh! I forgot! There AREN'T any doors, Geniuses! How the he-"
Ly grabbed him by the coat collar when he was in mid-air. Controlling herself, she put on a forced smile. "Murfy! Uh... just... be quiet, okay."
Murfy flew over towards Globox, following him instead. "I tell ya', Globox, I never knew I would be the one to say this, but this quest is doomed! Finding Rayman will be like trying to find a needle in fifty haystacks!"
Globox replied, "Huh? Oh, sorry. I was too busy picking my teeth with this needle I found. You were saying?" "Never mind." That wasn't the only thing on his mind at the time. The date for the Best Comic Sidekick/Guide for Adventurous Heroes Award at the Annual Video Game Character Awards Show wasn't getting any farther away, and from the looks of things, he wouldn't make it. And with Globox never giving him a wink of time to prepare for it, he was beginning to think he might as well skip his life-long dream.
"Something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, no, no, Globox. I'm fine."
None of them wanted to ask for help, because the pedestrians were all minding their own business, their heads focused on the dark gravel road. And compared to New York, there were only about fifteen of them in each location they crossed through- no wonder there weren't any vehicles out!
Mr. Trucker was the first to speak after another hour. "Ya' know, ah've noticed that there're sum innerestin' stuff underneath the sewage grates on the sides of the roads..." Ly was puzzled. "Why would there be grates? Does it rain here? Is there any litter on the streets? I don't see any clouds or pollution! I feel both sad and clean at the same time!"
"Got me. But jus' look!" He was right. Peering downward into the grates, they noticed lights and movement underneath, even ambiences of crowds and machines! That must've been it! The planet operated covered by a mock city as a shield on the surface!
"Rayman's sure to be somewhere down there! But how do we-WOAH! WHO PUSHED ME?! I'M FAAAAALLIIIIIING! MUUUUUUUUURFYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU IIIIIIIIIIIIDIIIIOOOOOooooooooo..."
-----
Boble, his respect for Rayman now fully formed, tries when he can to find Rayman's head in the factory while off duty.
-----
They could've ran to find him.
They could've started searching for him right there.
But they could not. They must've stood there for a full hour. The visions displayed for their pleasure possessed them. They could not resist tearing their eyes off the dazzling sights. The excited crowds running out one store and in another. The bells, music, sounds, and voices, echoing across the semi-cylindrical ceilings, decorated with brightly colored tapestries, artificial gigantic plants on cables dangling from them! The warm, orange tint the ultra-violet lights gave off like Las Vegas!
"Did... I... just... die and go to Teensie-bopper Heaven?!" uttered Murfy!
Ly snapped back to reality. "Oh, come on, now, Murfy! You're how old?! Surely, you can contain your... incredibly strong excitement toward the... alluring... eye-catching... huhuhuhuuuu... uh... where am I?"
"Underneath the sewage grate! You would've noticed if you weren't standing their drooling! And speaking of drooling, Globox! Cease the flood!"
"I can't help it! It's so beautiful..."
Mr. Trucker shook off his fixation and straightened his belt. "Welp, guess ah'd better get a'goin'..."
Murfy whipped around. "But your Ol' Betsy is destroyed!" "That don' worry me none. Ah'm a wanderer', ah' go aroun'n'round'n'round! Ah'll fahnd sum way t' escape this barre-trap. Besides, this kanda' shoppin' place is unhealthy fer me."
"Well, thanks a bunch for the lift! You saved our fairy butts! You sure you don't want any service from us?"
Mr. Trucker turned around, and spoke while he was walking farther away from them. "Ooo, nope! You guys need to git here more importantly than ah' do, so, good luck t' ya'! Hope you fahnd your friend whoever he is..."
"His name's Rayman!" Murfy shouted across the walkway.
Mr. Trucker turned around, and gave him a stare that Murfy hadn't seen before. Sort of a twinkle in his eye. "Ah'll remember! Keep on truckin', y'all hear?! Keep on truckin'..." With that, he disappeared into the crowd.
Ly, finally out of her trance, watched him disappear. "What a nice man."
Globox, out of his trance as well, was still admiring the various signs that surrounded them. Floor upon floor, the walls drenched in colored ultra-violet lights, there was no way he could focus on anything else. "Ooo! Ooo! I wanna' go THERE, and THERE, and THERE, and-"
"Hold your Clydesdales, Globox," Murfy tugged at his feet. "If we're gonna' achieve our goal, which is, may I remind you, a matter of life and death for our best friend,... we gotta' search in an orderly fashion... mmmm, fashion..."
"Tear your eyes off of that clothing store, Murfy," Ly ordered! "I agree! So the first thing we need to do is find some sort of map, or directory... Oh, look! There's one over there!" She pointed to a three-sided revolving stand, one side which displayed a diagram of the section they were in. A bright yellow arrow pointed to a certain location on the map, which said, 'You Are Here'.
Now, keep in mind that none of these creatures had ever been to a mall. In fact, Neotopia had no use for any real currency- they only bartered and traded. The fact that they were in another galaxy made everything around them more foreign than if they had stayed in their own galaxy.
Murfy stared at the arrow. "Huh. Well,... if, 'We Are Here', then... that helps in determining how to get back 'Here', right?"
Ly fixed her hair back and put on a determined expression. "Okay. The letters and numbers on this legend stand for every stop. So, I guess if we just match the same ID number to the ones on the map... we can use it to get to where we want to go!"
Globox also peered over the other two. "Does that say, 'Candy Store'?! I wanna' go there first!"
"Okay, but that's way out of our path. I think it would make sense to stop at all the shops on our way there first, just to make sure we've checked in every possible place Rayman could be."
Murfy was suddenly suspicious. "Are you just saying that because all the major women's apparel stores are on that walkway?" "What?! NO! No! We can't get distracted from our rescue mission! This is serious! We can't just separate and run off like a pack of offspring! We are NOT here to get anything EXCEPT Rayman! All right?! ...I call Lord and Vader!"
Murfy restrained her again. "Wait! We forgot to consider one other thing... do these aliens require trades of any sort?"
They all paused and thought about it for, literally, a second. "NAAAH!"
"I call SPACY'S!"
"I call Galaxy Game Console!"
"CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!"
"Meet back here at the big pointy fountain!"
"Ready, set, GO!"
-----
"YOU VHOT?!"
Madame's white face was an inch away from her two miserable assistants, craning over her desk. They had told her about their little mistake, but fortunately, none of them knew about Rayman's head regaining consciousness.
"Yew imbeciles! I told yew tew to be extra careful with zat machine, no?!"
"But, Madame! Vee really did oieur best! Nothing could stand between us and honest mistakes, for vee aren't machines... besides, it vas Vente's fault."
"VHOT?! I did not touch zee machine! It vas your fault zat yew don't know the first thing about mechanics!"
"Silence, both of yew! Vente! Three more hours on your studies of Mechanical Engineering!"
"Aw..."
"And Achat... three more hours of your studies about Not Blaming Someone Else On Lack of Mechanical Engineering!"
"Aw..."
"I do not run a shnewty creamery here! Zee statistics show zat zee prices for second-hand parts are rising at an exponential rate, vile zee prices for everything else are lowering! My part of the business eez desteened tew get even bigger, and zee last thing I need are YEW TEW SHNEWTING EET OOP! Now GET TO VORK! And NO MORE SHNEWTING, SHNEWTERS!"
The "shnewters" both continued to bicker, walking out of her office. Madame heaved a heavy sigh, returned to sitting at her desk, and then put on a quizzical look. She prompted herself to her tiny feet, and walked out of her office, past a few dark corridors lighted by candelabras, and stopped in front of a window, peering over one of the Main Areas of the factory.
The robot hands and eyes were still ever hard at work, as well as the factory workers. Somewhere in that vast array of worker was the one Lapitaur who, if taught to train his extra limbs correctly, would be the key to driving this business to greatness.
Madame had become more and more gracious toward Boble in the past few hours. Or so Boble thought. Indeed, she gave him more time off to get him inside the gym and train his inactive limbs to maturity, but still they were still closed. To Boble, the trips to the gym was a relief, but still, he knew his time would one day come.
If only there was a better, quicker way to get those limbs to work.
-----
Good, thought Murfy. I can't believe how this will work out! This trip may not be so bad after all!
He was admiring the covers of video and computer game cases on the shelves in the Galaxy Game Consol. To avoid fans or the paparazzi, he was sure to disguise himself underneath his own coat, turned inside out. He was also sure not to use his wings, and therefore, had to walk like any other boring wingless creature. He found this to be very uncomfortable, being such a tiny greenbottle, but he could run pretty fast.
This also meant that he needed help reaching anything above the bottom shelf!
"Do you need assistant with anything ELSE from the other 'easy-to-reach' shelves, Sir?" asked a bemused employee.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I'd like to see that cover with the orange weasel creature."
"Wonderful choice, Sir." The employee took out a copy of Jak and Daxter II, and handed it to Murfy.
"That'll be all. Thanks for the assistance."
"Oh, that's what I'm here for, Sir."
Looking at the cover, he noticed that Daxter's friend looked drastically different from the last game, since this was the second in the series. Murfy thought, if his friend is any more mature than in the previous game, my rival would be sure to have a lot more difficulty getting the award—
"MURFY!"
"GAAAH!" He spun around, and who should be towering over him but Globox! Somehow, he had spent a short time at the candy store, and just by chance, bumped into Murfy!
Murfy whispered to him, but forcefully. "What are you doing here?! I thought you were at the candy store! Are you supposed to be looking for Rayman too?! It's best if we split up!"
"I was at the candy store. It's just on the other side of this wall, ya' know! I didn't like the candy there, though."
"Well, can't you use your pea-brain for ONE moment?! We are in a VIDEO GAME STORE!"
"So?"
"SO! We STAR in one! If any customers see us, we wouldn't get any privacy and be delayed in our search and rescue! Not to mention the press will surely think we're putting our noses into how to get the Best Sidekick/Guide For Adventurous Heroes Award! You gotta' get into some kind of costume before anyone sees you!"
Globox paused for a minute. Then he smiled, zipped toward the back of the shop, and zipped back. His head was covered in a Darth Maul mask, but the shape of his head made him look more like a clown with spikes on his face.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaay... that'll do, I guess."
"Why did you want to go here, by the way?"
Murfy glanced left, then right, then whispered, "I see the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, my friend. Not only will I cover more ground in finding Rayman, but I can also buy and evaluate the nominees for the same award I'm tryin' to get, by PLAYING their games! I'd know just what I'm up against!"
"You mean you haven't played any of their games yet?!"
"No, I'm afraid not. I've been too busy with my own schedules and guiding Rayman in the past year. But now I can keep up, so you might as well help me get these!" Murfy picked up the three games that contained the three nominees for the Best Sidekick/Guide for Adventurous Heroes Award, stacked up on one another. Globox carried two of them to lighten the load.
They approached the register at the front of the store, and waited in line. By the time it was their turn, Globox placed the games on the desk. But just when Murfy felt like everything was finally going his way, he heard a low voice from the desk. "Sorry, Dudes, but you can't buy these if you don't have any money."
Globox was surprised. "Money? Oh! Uh... just a minute..." He kneed down to Murfy, and said, "I thought you said this place didn't have any trade system!"
"That's what I thought! Just—just ask him what they trade!"
Globox nervously whipped to a straight pose facing the register. "Um... we're new to his planet. Uh... is there someplace that lists what you accept?"
"Sure, Dude. Here's a list." He took out a blue binder and placed it in front of Globox, who opened it. Inside were about 10,000 different forms of currency that this planet accepted, and after search as quickly as possible, to his delight, he noticed that Lums were among the list!
"Lums?" asked Murfy after he found out. "Do we have any?"
Globox smiled deviously, and reached inside his mouth, revealing a pack of Lums! This may have disgusted a few people on line, seeing a guy in a Darth Maul mask regurgitate something and take it out, but Murfy tried to console them. "Don't be alarmed, people! He's used to doing this!"
And so, they brought the games without any further inconvenience, and also learned at this planet does in fact have a certain kind of trade. But their bigger and more important task was yet to be worked upon- they saw no trace of Rayman anywhere.
Except for about fifty different kinds of Rayman merchandise...
-----
It was hard to pant in and out, when there was nowhere in his body for the oxygen to go into. Rayman the Head was now dangling from a three- dimensional grid of other Raymanian heads! They were arranged like a deep layer of items waiting to be bought on the walls of stores!
Thankfully, he was nowhere near purchase yet! This was another storage area, and it was cold, eerie and dark, the only light being a blue hazy one in the middle of the ceiling. The heads weren't covered in anything like plastic cases- they were just hanging there free. But it was still very quiet.
What had happened after he last saw Boble?! Where did he go?! Surely this was Madame's doing, and he was determined, as he always was, to get out! He wiggled, swung, and shook in his hanging place until he bumped into another head to his left.
To his surprise, it yawned! "Oh! Oh my! Are you not paralyzed?!"
This shocked Rayman as well! He stared at this other head. It was a female Raymanian, also like his own in many ways. Only she had professionally done dirty blonde hair. And there was a pink flower (he couldn't place the name), placed in her right side.
"Oh! Well, I am just as surprised as you are!" Immediately, seeing an escape opportunity, he continued speaking! "I'm Rayman! I need to get out of here?! Do you know a way out?!"
"Sir, please refrain from yelling at a government official's head."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were such an esteemed leader."
"Politician. Well, former politician. Before arriving at this planet, I was a serious professional in a high imperial position on Neotopia. You probably never heard of my home though- it's on the opposite end of the planet from the Fairy Glades. I was very good at it too. Yet, once my name became nationally famous, I couldn't get any higher than that. You know why?"
"No... what IS you name, BTW?"
"Pansy."
"PANsy? Like the flower?!" Rayman unsuccessfully tried to hold in a chuckle. He could see why her career stopped short once they all knew the name of a serious politician.
"I saw that!"
"Sorry, it's just— I-- snicker"!"
"S'alright. I've heard every joke in the book already."
"Oh." Rayman clearing his throat and straightened his face. "Sorry again... about those other ridicules, I mean. I know how it f—"
"Don't get sympathetic with me. I've heard all the apologies as well."
"Jesus,... Pansy... (snicker)... what DO I have to do surprise you?"
"Nothing can really surprise beings whose' body parts can be detached."
"Good point." Even though only his head was there, he was still able to crane it sideways to a limit. If he craned it too far to the side, he would loose balance and topple over. But this time, he was hanging from his two hair puffs held by metal clips. It was hard to turn in this position, because the head would just dangle back facing front again like a swing. "Mmf! Mmf! I'm trying to see how we can get outta' this—"
"It's hopeless. I've looked already. There is no way out except if we get carried somewhere else by something else. And I'm referring to our shipment out of here and into suffocating cardboard boxes or worse, plastic cases!"
"I've been in worse situations before and I've gotten out Scott free!"
"This is different. You obviously don't know much about the biology of our bodies, do you?"
"WOAH, now! We just met, Lady!
"Not funny. I'm talking about what happens to us if our hands, feet, and heads stay detached from the central energy source for too long!"
Rayman was now interested. "Go on..."
"We rot."
"EXCUSE me, Miss?"
"Our hands, feet, and heads rot! Think of it as a laptop disconnected from the outlets. It can operate freely for up to about two hours or less, right? Then it uses up all the energy, and shuts down until it's reattached to another outlet, right? Without our tummies, our other parts won't just shut down, but wrinkle inward, become gray, and eventually, become prune-like forms, dropping to the floor."
Rayman couldn't believe his ears. "How long is OUR time limit?!"
"About five days."
Rayman fell silent again. For the first time in a long while, he felt his defenses begin to crumble down, starting with the surface layers. He also felt this... (snicker)... Pansy.. could help him escape all the more. "Well, I mean... I told you... I could still—"
"Don't go into your little heroic stories. I've obviously heard of you, Rayman."
"What is it with the people I meet on this trip?! They have no sense of humor at all!"
They both clearly wanted the conversation to end now, so they both tried to turn away from each other as much as possible in a "Hmf!". Rayman, dropping his one and possibly last conversation with another Raymanian, could do nothing now except let his eyes wander amongst the millions of other Raymanian heads, all in the same hanging position as he, arranged in columns and rows in three directions! The only thing that made him and... (snicker)... "PANsy"... different from the rest is that they were both conscious.
He had never seen so many of his own kind's heads in one dark room! He wanted so much to call for help, but each time he built the guts, he repressed them, knowing that no one would respond. He looked around and, getting bored and more fraught, found himself playing games with the heads surrounding him, such as, counting how many heads he could spot with read hats on. Then blue hats. Then green bandanas. Glasses. Facial hair. Blond hair. Black hair. Round noses. Long noses. Lop-sided noses. Shaved heads. Piercing. He could've sworn he caught sight of an old friend a few times. He never realized how big Neotopia was!
Look at these guys! So innocent and bright and colorful! We shouldn't have to go through this torment! What was Madame running here, anyway?! Who would want to buy second-hand, paralyzed body parts?! For what purpose?! Either the universe was bigger than he could comprehend, or Madame should be gotten rid of! Or there are lots of stupid consumers out there! He was almost willing to pick the latter.
"I can hear you muttering to yourself, Rayman. Naughty habit." She seemed to have gotten soft as their silence progressed.
"I never knew we would die out like this."
"It's the way our ecosystem works. And placing us in a foreign environment only increases the speed of our deterioration."
Rayman could never be sadder than what he was previously, so, he naturally turned to humor! "When did the politician suddenly become a biologist?!"
Pansy did smile a little, but made no sound. Rayman was satisfied.
"Hey, listen. Before I reached this rack of heads, I met another alien who's also stuck here, but Madame put him in special supervision until his time comes... Maybe we can heighten the chances of HIM seeing US instead of the other way around! Yes, Ma'am, I am not giving up! Somehow, we gotta' get back to the main area!"
"WHICH 'Main Area'?! Rayman, this planet is bigger than a hundred Neotopia's combined! There are hundreds of Main Areas and they all look alike except for the way they are labeled! And... to tell you the truth... I've done my share of the searching as well..."
Rayman brightened again. "You HAVE?! How?!" Rayman suddenly realized HER head was conscious as well!
"Madame's machines may be the best in the universe, but they aren't perfect! Every once in a blue moon, something goes wrong. In my case, I was shipped into Madame's office by her henchmen about three days ago. But unbeknownst to them, their Paralyzers weren't working well, and, thinking quickly, I faked my own coma! Only my head and left foot are still awake. You see where I'm going with this?"
Rayman could now fill in the blanks! He had her head right here, but her FOOT...
He was so happy he rattled and swung himself to and fro from the metal clips by his hair! "Oh, Pansy, if I had my hands here and you had your midsection, I would give you a big—"
"Please refrain from abusing the government official's head, Sir."
-----
"Say look, Murfy! There's another crowd over there! And it looks like this time it's NOT a CEL PHONE!"
Globox pointed to the crowd they both passed on the opposite end of the large string of stores. They had been to many stores, and were now covered in so many shopping bags and accessories that Murfy could barely keep floating. And it appeared that Globox needed to practice narrowing his tastes- he went to stores that his type wouldn't be known to go, such as SPACY'S and NOISE "R" WE.
Murfy managed to crank his head and say, "Eh, we might as well go there too. Like the Fairy said, we can't leave any place unexplored in case another cool item—I mean, Rayman—is on sale!"
They both headed toward the crowd, and what they had discovered was a big performance of some sort. Or show? People in the front were dressed in very expensive clothing. There was a flashy alien at the podium up on a big stage with a mike.
"Murfy, why do all the people in the front have big signs with numbers on them?"
"Eh, they're probably rating the items. This looks like a place where they determine what items sell better than the rest!"
"And that guy at the podium is talkin' REAL loud!"
"Yeah, his unnaturally fast voice must show that he's really excited by this next little number!"
And what a piece it was. Starting at 200 lbs, or 16 lums, was... a purple little ball with a white circle in the front!
Rayman's source of energy! Rayman's paralyzed stomach! Was up for auction!
(to be continued...)
Characters created by Michel Ancel
Written by Andrew Kaiko
http:www.sketchesandsquirrels.com
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 6
The smoke cleared and dispersed outward over the surrounding gray buildings. Shocked passer-bys stopped in their tracks, their mouths gapping open. But of course, nobody felt the nerve to approach the crashed vehicle and save whoever was buried underneath the rubble.
They all ran away once the doorway opened up! Out crawled four apparently unscathed strangers, all tripping over one another and trying to get up, but falling down again!
"A perfect landing, Ms. Free Rider!" muttered Murfy.
-----
The entire city had a very cold mood about it. Everything was gray, and not a single curve could be seen. Only stoic, straight lines formed the uninspired walls of the buildings. And, like New York City, the streets were arranged in a grid, with a long street in each of the four directions. The more they wandered, the more Ly began to think that stains and cracks were the city's identifying motif.
"We've been walking for hours, and NOTHING looks different! There are no signs, no cars, no landmarks, no billboards, the people out here look like zombies (don't get too close, Globox), and no SIDEWALKS!"
Mr. Trucker said, "Welp, then ah' reckon th' REAL attractions are inside these buildins'!"
Murfy scoffed. "Obviously! So let's look for a door! Is there one over here?! No? How about over there?! Can't find one, huh? Oh! I forgot! There AREN'T any doors, Geniuses! How the he-"
Ly grabbed him by the coat collar when he was in mid-air. Controlling herself, she put on a forced smile. "Murfy! Uh... just... be quiet, okay."
Murfy flew over towards Globox, following him instead. "I tell ya', Globox, I never knew I would be the one to say this, but this quest is doomed! Finding Rayman will be like trying to find a needle in fifty haystacks!"
Globox replied, "Huh? Oh, sorry. I was too busy picking my teeth with this needle I found. You were saying?" "Never mind." That wasn't the only thing on his mind at the time. The date for the Best Comic Sidekick/Guide for Adventurous Heroes Award at the Annual Video Game Character Awards Show wasn't getting any farther away, and from the looks of things, he wouldn't make it. And with Globox never giving him a wink of time to prepare for it, he was beginning to think he might as well skip his life-long dream.
"Something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, no, no, Globox. I'm fine."
None of them wanted to ask for help, because the pedestrians were all minding their own business, their heads focused on the dark gravel road. And compared to New York, there were only about fifteen of them in each location they crossed through- no wonder there weren't any vehicles out!
Mr. Trucker was the first to speak after another hour. "Ya' know, ah've noticed that there're sum innerestin' stuff underneath the sewage grates on the sides of the roads..." Ly was puzzled. "Why would there be grates? Does it rain here? Is there any litter on the streets? I don't see any clouds or pollution! I feel both sad and clean at the same time!"
"Got me. But jus' look!" He was right. Peering downward into the grates, they noticed lights and movement underneath, even ambiences of crowds and machines! That must've been it! The planet operated covered by a mock city as a shield on the surface!
"Rayman's sure to be somewhere down there! But how do we-WOAH! WHO PUSHED ME?! I'M FAAAAALLIIIIIING! MUUUUUUUUURFYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU IIIIIIIIIIIIDIIIIOOOOOooooooooo..."
-----
Boble, his respect for Rayman now fully formed, tries when he can to find Rayman's head in the factory while off duty.
-----
They could've ran to find him.
They could've started searching for him right there.
But they could not. They must've stood there for a full hour. The visions displayed for their pleasure possessed them. They could not resist tearing their eyes off the dazzling sights. The excited crowds running out one store and in another. The bells, music, sounds, and voices, echoing across the semi-cylindrical ceilings, decorated with brightly colored tapestries, artificial gigantic plants on cables dangling from them! The warm, orange tint the ultra-violet lights gave off like Las Vegas!
"Did... I... just... die and go to Teensie-bopper Heaven?!" uttered Murfy!
Ly snapped back to reality. "Oh, come on, now, Murfy! You're how old?! Surely, you can contain your... incredibly strong excitement toward the... alluring... eye-catching... huhuhuhuuuu... uh... where am I?"
"Underneath the sewage grate! You would've noticed if you weren't standing their drooling! And speaking of drooling, Globox! Cease the flood!"
"I can't help it! It's so beautiful..."
Mr. Trucker shook off his fixation and straightened his belt. "Welp, guess ah'd better get a'goin'..."
Murfy whipped around. "But your Ol' Betsy is destroyed!" "That don' worry me none. Ah'm a wanderer', ah' go aroun'n'round'n'round! Ah'll fahnd sum way t' escape this barre-trap. Besides, this kanda' shoppin' place is unhealthy fer me."
"Well, thanks a bunch for the lift! You saved our fairy butts! You sure you don't want any service from us?"
Mr. Trucker turned around, and spoke while he was walking farther away from them. "Ooo, nope! You guys need to git here more importantly than ah' do, so, good luck t' ya'! Hope you fahnd your friend whoever he is..."
"His name's Rayman!" Murfy shouted across the walkway.
Mr. Trucker turned around, and gave him a stare that Murfy hadn't seen before. Sort of a twinkle in his eye. "Ah'll remember! Keep on truckin', y'all hear?! Keep on truckin'..." With that, he disappeared into the crowd.
Ly, finally out of her trance, watched him disappear. "What a nice man."
Globox, out of his trance as well, was still admiring the various signs that surrounded them. Floor upon floor, the walls drenched in colored ultra-violet lights, there was no way he could focus on anything else. "Ooo! Ooo! I wanna' go THERE, and THERE, and THERE, and-"
"Hold your Clydesdales, Globox," Murfy tugged at his feet. "If we're gonna' achieve our goal, which is, may I remind you, a matter of life and death for our best friend,... we gotta' search in an orderly fashion... mmmm, fashion..."
"Tear your eyes off of that clothing store, Murfy," Ly ordered! "I agree! So the first thing we need to do is find some sort of map, or directory... Oh, look! There's one over there!" She pointed to a three-sided revolving stand, one side which displayed a diagram of the section they were in. A bright yellow arrow pointed to a certain location on the map, which said, 'You Are Here'.
Now, keep in mind that none of these creatures had ever been to a mall. In fact, Neotopia had no use for any real currency- they only bartered and traded. The fact that they were in another galaxy made everything around them more foreign than if they had stayed in their own galaxy.
Murfy stared at the arrow. "Huh. Well,... if, 'We Are Here', then... that helps in determining how to get back 'Here', right?"
Ly fixed her hair back and put on a determined expression. "Okay. The letters and numbers on this legend stand for every stop. So, I guess if we just match the same ID number to the ones on the map... we can use it to get to where we want to go!"
Globox also peered over the other two. "Does that say, 'Candy Store'?! I wanna' go there first!"
"Okay, but that's way out of our path. I think it would make sense to stop at all the shops on our way there first, just to make sure we've checked in every possible place Rayman could be."
Murfy was suddenly suspicious. "Are you just saying that because all the major women's apparel stores are on that walkway?" "What?! NO! No! We can't get distracted from our rescue mission! This is serious! We can't just separate and run off like a pack of offspring! We are NOT here to get anything EXCEPT Rayman! All right?! ...I call Lord and Vader!"
Murfy restrained her again. "Wait! We forgot to consider one other thing... do these aliens require trades of any sort?"
They all paused and thought about it for, literally, a second. "NAAAH!"
"I call SPACY'S!"
"I call Galaxy Game Console!"
"CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!"
"Meet back here at the big pointy fountain!"
"Ready, set, GO!"
-----
"YOU VHOT?!"
Madame's white face was an inch away from her two miserable assistants, craning over her desk. They had told her about their little mistake, but fortunately, none of them knew about Rayman's head regaining consciousness.
"Yew imbeciles! I told yew tew to be extra careful with zat machine, no?!"
"But, Madame! Vee really did oieur best! Nothing could stand between us and honest mistakes, for vee aren't machines... besides, it vas Vente's fault."
"VHOT?! I did not touch zee machine! It vas your fault zat yew don't know the first thing about mechanics!"
"Silence, both of yew! Vente! Three more hours on your studies of Mechanical Engineering!"
"Aw..."
"And Achat... three more hours of your studies about Not Blaming Someone Else On Lack of Mechanical Engineering!"
"Aw..."
"I do not run a shnewty creamery here! Zee statistics show zat zee prices for second-hand parts are rising at an exponential rate, vile zee prices for everything else are lowering! My part of the business eez desteened tew get even bigger, and zee last thing I need are YEW TEW SHNEWTING EET OOP! Now GET TO VORK! And NO MORE SHNEWTING, SHNEWTERS!"
The "shnewters" both continued to bicker, walking out of her office. Madame heaved a heavy sigh, returned to sitting at her desk, and then put on a quizzical look. She prompted herself to her tiny feet, and walked out of her office, past a few dark corridors lighted by candelabras, and stopped in front of a window, peering over one of the Main Areas of the factory.
The robot hands and eyes were still ever hard at work, as well as the factory workers. Somewhere in that vast array of worker was the one Lapitaur who, if taught to train his extra limbs correctly, would be the key to driving this business to greatness.
Madame had become more and more gracious toward Boble in the past few hours. Or so Boble thought. Indeed, she gave him more time off to get him inside the gym and train his inactive limbs to maturity, but still they were still closed. To Boble, the trips to the gym was a relief, but still, he knew his time would one day come.
If only there was a better, quicker way to get those limbs to work.
-----
Good, thought Murfy. I can't believe how this will work out! This trip may not be so bad after all!
He was admiring the covers of video and computer game cases on the shelves in the Galaxy Game Consol. To avoid fans or the paparazzi, he was sure to disguise himself underneath his own coat, turned inside out. He was also sure not to use his wings, and therefore, had to walk like any other boring wingless creature. He found this to be very uncomfortable, being such a tiny greenbottle, but he could run pretty fast.
This also meant that he needed help reaching anything above the bottom shelf!
"Do you need assistant with anything ELSE from the other 'easy-to-reach' shelves, Sir?" asked a bemused employee.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I'd like to see that cover with the orange weasel creature."
"Wonderful choice, Sir." The employee took out a copy of Jak and Daxter II, and handed it to Murfy.
"That'll be all. Thanks for the assistance."
"Oh, that's what I'm here for, Sir."
Looking at the cover, he noticed that Daxter's friend looked drastically different from the last game, since this was the second in the series. Murfy thought, if his friend is any more mature than in the previous game, my rival would be sure to have a lot more difficulty getting the award—
"MURFY!"
"GAAAH!" He spun around, and who should be towering over him but Globox! Somehow, he had spent a short time at the candy store, and just by chance, bumped into Murfy!
Murfy whispered to him, but forcefully. "What are you doing here?! I thought you were at the candy store! Are you supposed to be looking for Rayman too?! It's best if we split up!"
"I was at the candy store. It's just on the other side of this wall, ya' know! I didn't like the candy there, though."
"Well, can't you use your pea-brain for ONE moment?! We are in a VIDEO GAME STORE!"
"So?"
"SO! We STAR in one! If any customers see us, we wouldn't get any privacy and be delayed in our search and rescue! Not to mention the press will surely think we're putting our noses into how to get the Best Sidekick/Guide For Adventurous Heroes Award! You gotta' get into some kind of costume before anyone sees you!"
Globox paused for a minute. Then he smiled, zipped toward the back of the shop, and zipped back. His head was covered in a Darth Maul mask, but the shape of his head made him look more like a clown with spikes on his face.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaay... that'll do, I guess."
"Why did you want to go here, by the way?"
Murfy glanced left, then right, then whispered, "I see the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, my friend. Not only will I cover more ground in finding Rayman, but I can also buy and evaluate the nominees for the same award I'm tryin' to get, by PLAYING their games! I'd know just what I'm up against!"
"You mean you haven't played any of their games yet?!"
"No, I'm afraid not. I've been too busy with my own schedules and guiding Rayman in the past year. But now I can keep up, so you might as well help me get these!" Murfy picked up the three games that contained the three nominees for the Best Sidekick/Guide for Adventurous Heroes Award, stacked up on one another. Globox carried two of them to lighten the load.
They approached the register at the front of the store, and waited in line. By the time it was their turn, Globox placed the games on the desk. But just when Murfy felt like everything was finally going his way, he heard a low voice from the desk. "Sorry, Dudes, but you can't buy these if you don't have any money."
Globox was surprised. "Money? Oh! Uh... just a minute..." He kneed down to Murfy, and said, "I thought you said this place didn't have any trade system!"
"That's what I thought! Just—just ask him what they trade!"
Globox nervously whipped to a straight pose facing the register. "Um... we're new to his planet. Uh... is there someplace that lists what you accept?"
"Sure, Dude. Here's a list." He took out a blue binder and placed it in front of Globox, who opened it. Inside were about 10,000 different forms of currency that this planet accepted, and after search as quickly as possible, to his delight, he noticed that Lums were among the list!
"Lums?" asked Murfy after he found out. "Do we have any?"
Globox smiled deviously, and reached inside his mouth, revealing a pack of Lums! This may have disgusted a few people on line, seeing a guy in a Darth Maul mask regurgitate something and take it out, but Murfy tried to console them. "Don't be alarmed, people! He's used to doing this!"
And so, they brought the games without any further inconvenience, and also learned at this planet does in fact have a certain kind of trade. But their bigger and more important task was yet to be worked upon- they saw no trace of Rayman anywhere.
Except for about fifty different kinds of Rayman merchandise...
-----
It was hard to pant in and out, when there was nowhere in his body for the oxygen to go into. Rayman the Head was now dangling from a three- dimensional grid of other Raymanian heads! They were arranged like a deep layer of items waiting to be bought on the walls of stores!
Thankfully, he was nowhere near purchase yet! This was another storage area, and it was cold, eerie and dark, the only light being a blue hazy one in the middle of the ceiling. The heads weren't covered in anything like plastic cases- they were just hanging there free. But it was still very quiet.
What had happened after he last saw Boble?! Where did he go?! Surely this was Madame's doing, and he was determined, as he always was, to get out! He wiggled, swung, and shook in his hanging place until he bumped into another head to his left.
To his surprise, it yawned! "Oh! Oh my! Are you not paralyzed?!"
This shocked Rayman as well! He stared at this other head. It was a female Raymanian, also like his own in many ways. Only she had professionally done dirty blonde hair. And there was a pink flower (he couldn't place the name), placed in her right side.
"Oh! Well, I am just as surprised as you are!" Immediately, seeing an escape opportunity, he continued speaking! "I'm Rayman! I need to get out of here?! Do you know a way out?!"
"Sir, please refrain from yelling at a government official's head."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were such an esteemed leader."
"Politician. Well, former politician. Before arriving at this planet, I was a serious professional in a high imperial position on Neotopia. You probably never heard of my home though- it's on the opposite end of the planet from the Fairy Glades. I was very good at it too. Yet, once my name became nationally famous, I couldn't get any higher than that. You know why?"
"No... what IS you name, BTW?"
"Pansy."
"PANsy? Like the flower?!" Rayman unsuccessfully tried to hold in a chuckle. He could see why her career stopped short once they all knew the name of a serious politician.
"I saw that!"
"Sorry, it's just— I-- snicker"!"
"S'alright. I've heard every joke in the book already."
"Oh." Rayman clearing his throat and straightened his face. "Sorry again... about those other ridicules, I mean. I know how it f—"
"Don't get sympathetic with me. I've heard all the apologies as well."
"Jesus,... Pansy... (snicker)... what DO I have to do surprise you?"
"Nothing can really surprise beings whose' body parts can be detached."
"Good point." Even though only his head was there, he was still able to crane it sideways to a limit. If he craned it too far to the side, he would loose balance and topple over. But this time, he was hanging from his two hair puffs held by metal clips. It was hard to turn in this position, because the head would just dangle back facing front again like a swing. "Mmf! Mmf! I'm trying to see how we can get outta' this—"
"It's hopeless. I've looked already. There is no way out except if we get carried somewhere else by something else. And I'm referring to our shipment out of here and into suffocating cardboard boxes or worse, plastic cases!"
"I've been in worse situations before and I've gotten out Scott free!"
"This is different. You obviously don't know much about the biology of our bodies, do you?"
"WOAH, now! We just met, Lady!
"Not funny. I'm talking about what happens to us if our hands, feet, and heads stay detached from the central energy source for too long!"
Rayman was now interested. "Go on..."
"We rot."
"EXCUSE me, Miss?"
"Our hands, feet, and heads rot! Think of it as a laptop disconnected from the outlets. It can operate freely for up to about two hours or less, right? Then it uses up all the energy, and shuts down until it's reattached to another outlet, right? Without our tummies, our other parts won't just shut down, but wrinkle inward, become gray, and eventually, become prune-like forms, dropping to the floor."
Rayman couldn't believe his ears. "How long is OUR time limit?!"
"About five days."
Rayman fell silent again. For the first time in a long while, he felt his defenses begin to crumble down, starting with the surface layers. He also felt this... (snicker)... Pansy.. could help him escape all the more. "Well, I mean... I told you... I could still—"
"Don't go into your little heroic stories. I've obviously heard of you, Rayman."
"What is it with the people I meet on this trip?! They have no sense of humor at all!"
They both clearly wanted the conversation to end now, so they both tried to turn away from each other as much as possible in a "Hmf!". Rayman, dropping his one and possibly last conversation with another Raymanian, could do nothing now except let his eyes wander amongst the millions of other Raymanian heads, all in the same hanging position as he, arranged in columns and rows in three directions! The only thing that made him and... (snicker)... "PANsy"... different from the rest is that they were both conscious.
He had never seen so many of his own kind's heads in one dark room! He wanted so much to call for help, but each time he built the guts, he repressed them, knowing that no one would respond. He looked around and, getting bored and more fraught, found himself playing games with the heads surrounding him, such as, counting how many heads he could spot with read hats on. Then blue hats. Then green bandanas. Glasses. Facial hair. Blond hair. Black hair. Round noses. Long noses. Lop-sided noses. Shaved heads. Piercing. He could've sworn he caught sight of an old friend a few times. He never realized how big Neotopia was!
Look at these guys! So innocent and bright and colorful! We shouldn't have to go through this torment! What was Madame running here, anyway?! Who would want to buy second-hand, paralyzed body parts?! For what purpose?! Either the universe was bigger than he could comprehend, or Madame should be gotten rid of! Or there are lots of stupid consumers out there! He was almost willing to pick the latter.
"I can hear you muttering to yourself, Rayman. Naughty habit." She seemed to have gotten soft as their silence progressed.
"I never knew we would die out like this."
"It's the way our ecosystem works. And placing us in a foreign environment only increases the speed of our deterioration."
Rayman could never be sadder than what he was previously, so, he naturally turned to humor! "When did the politician suddenly become a biologist?!"
Pansy did smile a little, but made no sound. Rayman was satisfied.
"Hey, listen. Before I reached this rack of heads, I met another alien who's also stuck here, but Madame put him in special supervision until his time comes... Maybe we can heighten the chances of HIM seeing US instead of the other way around! Yes, Ma'am, I am not giving up! Somehow, we gotta' get back to the main area!"
"WHICH 'Main Area'?! Rayman, this planet is bigger than a hundred Neotopia's combined! There are hundreds of Main Areas and they all look alike except for the way they are labeled! And... to tell you the truth... I've done my share of the searching as well..."
Rayman brightened again. "You HAVE?! How?!" Rayman suddenly realized HER head was conscious as well!
"Madame's machines may be the best in the universe, but they aren't perfect! Every once in a blue moon, something goes wrong. In my case, I was shipped into Madame's office by her henchmen about three days ago. But unbeknownst to them, their Paralyzers weren't working well, and, thinking quickly, I faked my own coma! Only my head and left foot are still awake. You see where I'm going with this?"
Rayman could now fill in the blanks! He had her head right here, but her FOOT...
He was so happy he rattled and swung himself to and fro from the metal clips by his hair! "Oh, Pansy, if I had my hands here and you had your midsection, I would give you a big—"
"Please refrain from abusing the government official's head, Sir."
-----
"Say look, Murfy! There's another crowd over there! And it looks like this time it's NOT a CEL PHONE!"
Globox pointed to the crowd they both passed on the opposite end of the large string of stores. They had been to many stores, and were now covered in so many shopping bags and accessories that Murfy could barely keep floating. And it appeared that Globox needed to practice narrowing his tastes- he went to stores that his type wouldn't be known to go, such as SPACY'S and NOISE "R" WE.
Murfy managed to crank his head and say, "Eh, we might as well go there too. Like the Fairy said, we can't leave any place unexplored in case another cool item—I mean, Rayman—is on sale!"
They both headed toward the crowd, and what they had discovered was a big performance of some sort. Or show? People in the front were dressed in very expensive clothing. There was a flashy alien at the podium up on a big stage with a mike.
"Murfy, why do all the people in the front have big signs with numbers on them?"
"Eh, they're probably rating the items. This looks like a place where they determine what items sell better than the rest!"
"And that guy at the podium is talkin' REAL loud!"
"Yeah, his unnaturally fast voice must show that he's really excited by this next little number!"
And what a piece it was. Starting at 200 lbs, or 16 lums, was... a purple little ball with a white circle in the front!
Rayman's source of energy! Rayman's paralyzed stomach! Was up for auction!
(to be continued...)