Chapter 21: Digging for Bolts (and Monsters)

Rayman traversed the area around the crash streak like he was a Tarzan. Sure, his purple body made him stand out amongst the greenery, but he was quick and hyper.

"So," I chose to strike up a conversation because it would otherwise be rather awkward while looking for that specific bolt and any possible other parts that had fallen off the ship. "What do you call your world, Rayman? I never caught the name."

"The residents of this world simply call it the Glade of Dreams," he answered, landing from a tree to walk at my side. "Ratchet calls the name a little lazy, but lots of people here are the more relaxed, pacifist types. So it hasn't changed from the old days."

"How old are we talking here? Some 200,000 years ago?"

Rayman laughed. "Oh no, this world is much younger than that. I'd estimate it's been around for 50,000 years."

What? I'm no astronomy nerd like Bentley or Penelope, but I did know that it took BILLIONS of years for planet to form, let alone for signs of life to form.

"Yeah, Tails made the same face when I told them," the ginger stated, walking backwards smugly. "Seems a lot of people find it impossible for a world to only be around for that long and already be brimming with different creatures."

"Does the age of this planet have anything to do with these 'Nightmares' you keep talking about?" I inquired. My guide sighed.

"Sort of. The creator of this world is Polokus, the Bubble Dreamer. Anything he dreams of becomes a reality here. Some say he can even foresee future disasters. And as you know, not all dreams are about rainbows and sunshine. So his Nightmares also manifest, and unlike the other inhabitants they can multiply as much as they want on their own. It's practically endless."

"So that's where you and your friends come into play."

"Yeah, especially me." His tone changed, like it was hard to talk about himself in particular, and he even turned around to walk forward again. Maybe it's because he was asked the same questions by the others already, or he didn't like being involved in cleaning up the mistakes of the "creator" of the Glade of Dreams.

"Is it something you chose?" I asked cautiously. "Did you choose to be a hero, I mean."

"I..." The ginger stopped. So did I. He looked up to the sky, where one of the moons was becoming visible. "I didn't like to think about it, still don't. I didn't choose to be a hero, not originally. Because that was the reason I was born in the first place. And I didn't want to be tied to a single role."

I could see where this was going. But Rayman? This cheerful goofball of oddities was brought into this world to face a threat alone with no other purpose let alone one he chose for himself? I thought that was only in movies and books. Never liked those stories, they're messed up.

"You're the first person to ask me those questions, actually," Rayman admitted, smiling up at me. "Felt nice to get it off my chest."

I responded, "I can imagine. I'm confident that you can tell me and my friends anything, and I can definitely see some long lasting friendships coming out of our current situation..."

"Thanks, Sly," Rayman nodded to me before looking away, a smile still on his face yet with a somewhat somber look on his eyes. "Gosh... Being able to open up about that feels so surreal to me, to be honest. I never even considered opening up to any of my friends about being kind of shoved into this role that I have of being a hero in my world."

"I can only imagine how stressful that can seriously be," I said to Rayman with a tone of sympathy, showing him that I understood his predicament. "I know I'd have a lot of pent up stress within me if I had the responsibility of becoming a hero in my world since the day I was born. Even if that would sort of eventually become the case for me later in life."

"You're a hero?" That caught his attention quickly.

"Well, sort of. I don't devote myself to that, but when I think about it, that's what it might look like. You see, my friends and I are this gang and what we do is steal from thieves."

"Steal? But then, wouldn't that make you thieves yourselves?"

"It's actually the family business on my side," I admitted as I started walking again with the metal detector still not reacting to anything. Rayman quickly followed. "Anyway, the family legacy gets threatened one way or another, and me and my gang tear down their thieving operations which eventually leads to their capture at the hands of law enforcement. So I guess you can say we're a group of heroes who defeat bad people when the law can't."

"So, you didn't exactly choose to be a hero, but you end up doing heroic deeds despite the methods your gang use to make them happen."

"Yep. It just happens."

"So you chose to follow the footsteps of your legacy traditions, not out of obligation?" I didn't know how I felt about that question. I could tell he's asking because of his own doubts, but I never felt that was the only path I could take.

"No, I was never told that I could only become a thief. My father gave me many chances when I was younger to choose a different path from our ancestors. Though he would tell me stories of his days in the business and the stories passed down. I guess I was more inspired than forced."

"But that was all you knew back then, right?"

"My parents made sure to teach actual life skills. It wasn't about pickpocketing and walking along rails. Besides... my dad wasn't even around to teach me any of that." Yeah, it made me sad to talk about that night, let alone to someone I just met, but he confided in me about his troubles so I could do the same.

"Oh." He looked like he understood what I meant, the somber look in his eyes returning. "I'm sorry you went through that. I can't imagine what that kind of pain feels like."

"Honestly, Bentley and Murray turned out to be all the family I needed. Plus, we likely wouldn't have met if Dad was still around. So I think things worked out in the end..."

"I guess that's one way to look at things," Rayman said, his expression brightening up slightly. "You three seem like you've had a lot of adventures together and only grew closer ever since."

"You don't know the half of it," I said with a fond smile. "It's been that way ever since we met at the orphanage I found myself at after my family passed away. And since then, the three of us have pretty much been as inseparable as you can probably imagine."

"Sounds like me and Globox. He's one of my first friends, best friend actually. A real family man, plenty of troublemaking kids but he always makes time for me."

"I didn't know Globox has a family."

"The little ones were a handful, I'll give you that. I'd babysit ten of them at a time back in those days."

Ten kids?! I didn't mind children, but ten?!

"If you think ten is a lot, Globox and his wife Uglette have another 640," Rayman pointed out, laughing all the while.

My jaw must've hit the floor.

"I haven't even had my first yet!" I exclaimed my shock. Not that Carmelita and I ever talked about when we would have children of our own, it never really crossed our minds. It would be nice to care for a cub between me and my love, maybe when the universe wasn't possibly at risk. "How are they able to manage over 600 kids?!"

"I have never been able to get an answer out of them."

Before I could ask more, the detector beeped.

"Looks like we finally got something," I stated.

"Well, lead the way."

A swerve here, a turn there. Then a LOUD ringing. I tried not to bring my hands to my ears and drop the device, but Rayman looked completely unaffected as he started unearthing a metal box. As he pulled the box out, the detector stopped.

"Ow..." My ears were starting to echo the ringing. I'm going to get a migraine.

"You okay?" Rayman asked in concern.

"Why did Bentley make the volume so loud? And why are you not cringing?"

"Let's just say I've gotten used to it in over 200 years."

"... I'm not even going to ask how old you are."

"Yeah, don't. Nearly gave Ratchet a heart attack when I told him."

With that, we continued our search. Rayman even found these cotton-like plants that he gave me to muffle the ringing. That's much better already.

We uncovered several metal things that looked like they belonged to a ship. Screws, plating, some motherboard pieces, and even this blaster that looked like it was still in good condition. No nuts though, let alone the specific one needed for safe travel off planet. It was starting to get a little tiring, and we were already pretty far from the ship.

Rayman suddenly froze, then assumed a defensive position.

"Rayman?"

"Something's here," he said. I unstuffed my ears and listened carefully. Truth be told, I couldn't tell what he could be talking about with the way the sounds from all over the jungle seemed to echo.

"Are you sure?"

"Very." "In that case, I have one question. How scared should I be right now?"

"Considering that you've only just arrived here in my world, I would definitely recommend keeping your guard up, if I were you," Rayman advised, a clear tone of caution his voice as he remained in the defensive position he was practically frozen in.

"Rayman, are you really sure that something's out there?" I then asked, trying really hard to listen to anything suspicious coming in our direction but nonetheless, couldn't really hear anything out of the ordinary. "I don't know if it's because I'm just not that adjusted to how your world works like you are, but I'm not really seeing or even hearing anything off around here..."

"Trust me, you get attuned to this world after several hundred years."

Something lunged out from the trees out of nowhere, resembling a one-eyed, black monster with tiny wings. Instantly, Rayman winded a fist back and then launched it at the creature. In one shot, the beast inflated and exploded.

"And that was a Nightmare, one kind anyway," Rayman stated. He still hadn't dropped his guard. "But where there's one of them, there's always more."

"And you fight those things all the time?"

"Not counting the robot pirate fiasco, yeah. At least it's a similar formula in defeating Nightmares. Strike before they do, or dodge that first attack and wait for an opening. Get ready."

"Okay..." Putting down the metal detector, I pulled my cane from where I had placed it on my back earlier.

"To your left!" the ginger called out. I reacted immediately, swiping my cane to the demanded direction. I hit a creature that was smaller than the previous one, and it had two eyes instead of one with sharp teeth and a strand of white hair tipped with red.

"Darktoons too? Wonderful," my partner groaned in annoyance.

"Especially not a fan of the tiny ones?"

"You have no idea. Watch your six!"

I spun around and landed a hit on a more bird like Nightmare.

"Thanks for the advice, Hopefully I don't get tired out fighting these things..."

"Don't get too comfortable yet, though!" Rayman warned me as he launched a powerful punch at another bird-like Nightmare just before it looked like it could strike him. "Darktoon coming your way to your right!"

Taking Rayman's warning to heart, I quickly whipped my head to the side just in time to see a Darktoon pounce right in my direction. Thankfully, I was able to dodge out of the way of its attack at the last second and give it a good whack with my cane. I better be careful around these creatures... There's no way Rayman can keep warning me about them forever.

Then something rang- no, sang?- Well, something snapped my attention to behind me and I was blocking the spiked club of a rather large Nightmare shaped like a gross toad. With another swing of my cane, I popped it. Still strange.

"Toads? Here?" Rayman commented with surprise. Wow, they are literally just called "Toads". Okay. The thingie guy still didn't drop his guard and sent another fist flying at a Darktoon.

It was seemingly a nonstop onslaught of Darktoons, bird things, Cyclops beasts and Toads, but at least I was now able (somehow) to sense their general location as Rayman and I forced back to back in striking back. Rayman wasn't kidding when he said that there were a lot of them. How many of these mob battles have I been in now since all of this happened? I lost count.

A horn sounded out of nowhere, and all of the Nightmares suddenly froze. Rayman's focus went to the canopy in surprise.

"That horn again...!" he said. Seeming as if it was a calling, the monsters immediately fled towards the sound. One of the Toads even dropped a large washer nut onto the ground in their haste. It looked like that might be the missing nut we're looking for this whole time.

Rayman looked ready to run after the enemies, but I had a feeling that wouldn't be a good idea at this time. We had a spaceship to repair after all, something more important for the time being. So I hooked the end of my cane on his hood, which sprung him back when he made a run for them. Now the ginger was dangling off the end.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" he asked, looking over his "shoulder" to me.

"Don't we have a spaceship to repair? We can go after them later. We have more important things to deal with right now..."

"But... But they're all getting away!" Rayman insisted, trying to shake himself out of my grasp. "We can't just let them run off, not without at least knowing where they're all going!"

"But what about fixing the ship? Everyone will probably end up wondering where we are if we end up running off to who knows where. Besides, all of those creatures ran off to... wherever that horn sounded from, so we should be okay for now. Seriously, what even was that horn, anyway? You seemed pretty familiar with it for some reason."

"That horn is clearly calling the Nightmares towards whoever is sounding it! I can finish this now!"

"Because you want to or you have to because you're the hero?"

I didn't know if that was the right thing to say or if I royally messed up, but Rayman stopped struggling against the cane. He started taking deep breaths, like gulps of air, and calmly unhooked himself using his floating hands to pull his hood off to drop to his feet. I didn't need to worry about him running off, he seemed like he's not in any condition to think clearly.

"... I want to believe... that I don't need to be a hero... just normal, and fun... like everyone else..." Oh no, he's getting sad again after trying to cheer him up. Great job, Sly Cooper.

"But I'll never be normal..." The ginger looked like he was curling in on himself. Signs of a breakdown if I ever saw it.

"I'm sorry I said it like that," I told him. I moved to stand in front of him and crouched down to his eye level.

I continued, "My life hasn't been what others would consider normal for a while, so I think I understand how you are feeling..."

"You don't know that, Sly," Rayman weakly as I noticed that his voice cracked slightly. "You're not like me. You weren't born to become a hero. You weren't forced into this position like I was when I was brought to this world. I was expected to keep this entire world of mine safe since day one while you just happened to grow into the role of hero yourself."

I opened my mouth slightly as I tried to find the right words to console Rayman with. I could tell that he was getting utterly distraught from his current situation and to be honest, I couldn't necessarily blame him. I don't think I could begin to imagine the constant pressure he must be feeling to this day due to such high expectations being placed on him ever since his creation.

I wish I knew what to say to him, to tell him that everything will work out. But I didn't, I had no idea what to say for his situation.

I was caught off guard when he started to laugh, however there wasn't a single speck of anything actually happy. There were even tears starting to build up in his eyes.

"I am really popping my bubble here," he said, noticing the crack again. "I could never talk about myself to my friends like this, but it's so easy with you. Is that me finally losing it? Am I going crazy?"

"There's nothing crazy about letting your emotions out," I quickly answered. "It's probably easier to talk to me because I have no prior notions about you. I'm not expecting anything from you, how you behave or what you do. You don't fear that I will see as pathetic for showing weakness. If anything, it proves you're like anyone else."

"'Like anyone else'?" Okay, a bit of progress, it looked like he was starting to calm down a tinge. Just try not to push too much, Cooper. Geez, is this how my dad would feel when I was little with my short fits?

"You laugh, you cry, you like having fun, you can get scared. If you didn't have all of those, then I'd really believe you weren't normal. And, from what you've told me and what I've seen, your friends see you the same way as they do any other person in this world."

"Do you really think... they will still see me as someone they can rely on?" I offered a small smile, though I felt my heart crack a little from the insecurity this guy had.

"If you can't rely on them, a shoulder to cry on, then they're not worth it. But I doubt that will be the case with your friends."

"You really think that?" "Positive. Just try and talk to them. I'm confident things will be fine."

"You honestly think they'd understand all of the pressure I've been keeping inside of me from them after all of this time...?"

"Why would I start lying to you now, especially given how distressed you're obviously feeling at the moment?"

There was a tense pause between the both of us as I stared at Rayman silently, hoping to get some kind of response from him. I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about potentially having done more harm than good, even if things were looking up between us throughout our conversation. Was I really able to get through to him and help him understand that it's okay to open up about his personal feelings instead of just keeping them bottled up?

And then, as if I was provided with a silent answer, I found myself taken by slight surprise as Rayman then suddenly turned around to face me and wrap his disembodied hands around me, pulling me in for a surprise hug that was surprisingly tight despite his clear lack of arms.

He was still quivering a little, like he was trying to keep himself from full out crying. The tears I felt getting into my shirt said otherwise.

Hugging was something Murray did better, but this poor guy needed this, so I wrapped an arm around his torso comfortingly.

"It will be okay. I promise."

"... I trust you, Sly."

That sounded like he was putting a lot of faith in me. I better not ever disappoint him.

"You feel better now?"

Rayman pulled away just a little, and he wiped away the last of the tears with his hand. The smile he gave me was a little wobbly, like he was trying to reign himself in.

"Thank you."

With how close we still were, I gave him a pat on the back before standing up.

"Shall we start heading back?" I asked.

"I think we should. I don't want to keep the others waiting too long..."

"Right", I agreed with a nod. "Hopefully the others have been able to find pieces of the ship that we can use to properly patch it up like we were able to. You think we should also tell them about our little encounter just now with those monsters too?"

"We might as well," Rayman said with a small shrug. "I know my friends would definitely need to know about how there were Nightmares around, since they're just as familiar as to what they are as I am."

"Right. We better get going now, then, before more of those guys come up and take us by surprise again."

Rayman nodded in agreement. He started heading in the direction of the ship, and I just followed patiently behind him.

I couldn't help but feel protective of this kid. After everything he had been through, he still fought with himself just to smile, to make it look like he wasn't collapsing under all the pressure of being a hero. And I never expected to be his rock in that matter, but it felt good to comfort him. It was different from how I would comfort Bentley or Murray, even Carmelita.

Rayman was more than a hero to me. He's a good kid with quite the band of friends to support him. I wasn't going to let whoever gave him the hero title a harder time than what he's shouldering.

End Chapter