Bit longer chapter this time around. Also, we're finally going to start seeing some character growth from our MC, as the title suggests. I hope everyone likes it! Let me know in the comments below! Like and Subscribe! Wait. . . wrong platform. :P
Returning to the boat, Bzzit couldn't help but notice that the small party was now conspicuously one blue character short. Rayman sadly explained about the pirate attack and how Globox had ended up taken, graciously leaving out any kind of incriminating details regarding Lottie. Which she appreciated despite feeling hardly deserving of.
They made record time returning to the mainland, Rayman practically dragging the fairy girl towards the Stone Circle where the Teensies were waiting. It honestly felt like everything was passing in a kind of dazed blur for her, as the limbless hero repeated the same story on how they had been successful in finding the first mask, but unfortunately lost Globox in the process. The tiny creatures appeared rather disheartened at the news, until one of them chimed in that not all hope was lost.
"Now that the pirates know about Globox's rain dance power, there's no way they would risk taking him back to the prison ship. Which means they're likely holding him somewhere in the Glade," he reasoned.
"You're right," the Teensie King readily agreed. "You should see if you can track down Clark, Rayman. He's been busy trying to hunt down any of our other friends that have been captured by the pirates. He may have an idea of where they could be keeping Globox," he recommended.
"Thanks a lot, guys. I'll be sure and do just that," Rayman nodded in appreciation. "Any idea where he might be?" he then wondered.
"I'd try on the other side of Menhir Hills," another random Teensie squeaked.
"Got it!" he confirmed, turning to take hold of the spacey, green fairy next to him. "Let's go, Lottie," he told her and pulled her along. She snapped to attention before hurrying to keep up with him.
"Did something seem a bit, off with our new fairy friend?" the Wizard Teensie wondered as they stared after the departing duo.
"I'm sure she's just upset that Globox was captured," the king offered with a shrug.
"Yeah, maybe. . ." the Wizard trailed.
. . .
Clark ended up being even easier to find than Rayman had thought. The trail of destruction leading towards what was left of a pirate base being a key indicator. The limbless hero marveled at the hanging limbs and missing halves of what remained of the robot guards as the pair of them wandered the small fortress. Eventually they came upon the giant himself, only he was sitting slouched over in a corner appearing a lot more green than yellow at the moment. His heavy panting another warning that something was definitely wrong.
"Clark! So it was you who wiped out all these pirates! Only twenty pirates against you? They didn't stand a chance," Rayman praised, strolling closer to his friend.
"Hu. . . Hello, little buddy. You wanna, arm wrestle?" he tried asking in a friendly manner. However, he didn't sound nearly as energetic about it as he had before.
"Hey, you're not looking so good. The pirates didn't hurt you, did they?" the limbless hero wondered with a skeptical frown, having doubts that such a thing could even be possible.
"Clark think, swallowed something – bad for me," the ogre shuttered, the effort to speak clearly being a struggle for him, which was rather concerning. "Feel dizzy. Head hurt, stomach hurt," he wheezed.
Lottie's eyes widened with fearful understanding at the familiar sounding symptoms. Her limbless companion picking up on her body language, he cocked his head and raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"It sounds like he ate something toxic," she pointed out.
"I already figured out that much. What do we do about it?" he asked leadingly, Lottie only responding with a defeated sigh.
"I know what you're thinking, but even if I understood how to heal, I don't think it would do any good. Statistically, fairy magic usually has no affect on poison," she explained.
"Clark know, what to do. Need Life Potion, to get better," the giant suddenly interjected.
"A life potion?" Rayman inquired.
"Sounds promising," Lottie added.
"Go to the Marshes of Awakening, deep inside them is a place called the Cave of Bad Dreams. That's where friends can find keeper of the Fountain of Life, but you can't forget the name, or else the guard won't let you pass," Clark warned them.
"Who could forget a name like that?" Rayman pointed out warily, glancing at Lottie to find her fixing him with a worried expression. "You getting a bad feeling about this too?" he guessed, and she nodded. "Well, not much we can do about it. We need to hurry before Clark gets any worse," he urged, but the fairy girl's face fell into a frown.
"What about Globox?" she reminded him.
Rayman let out a long sigh before answering her.
"I don't know. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out where the pirates took him on the way," he determined.
"Pirates took, friend Globox?" Clark wondered at them, regaining their attention.
"Unfortunately, yes. That's the reason why we're here to find you. The Teensies said you might know where he is," Rayman confirmed.
"Help me, then Clark help friends find Globox," he offered, which seemed fair, considering. Globox wasn't racing against the clock like their giant friend, after all.
"Good idea. Hang in there, Clark. We'll be back with that potion before you know it!" Rayman assured him, once again taking Lottie firmly by the wrist before pulling her along as he hurried out the door.
"Tha – thanks, little buddy," they heard him weakly call after them.
. . .
Strange as it may sound, the Marshes of Awakening were actually not in the same place as the Bayou, despite how similar their names sounded. In fact, the Marshes turned out to be a great deal farther compared to the previous swampy area they'd visited before. It was full on dark by this time, making the journey that much harder, but at this point, there was far too much at stake for them to think about stopping now.
Although, as they traveled, Lottie found herself continually being baffled by the fact that no matter how he moved, or how far ahead of her he got, that Rayman was able to easily keep one of his hands wrapped snugly around her arm. It was crazy how it could still be connected at such a distance, but connected it remained. In fact, she could feel it gently encourage her forward whenever they did get a bit too far apart. She kept staring down at it, giving her the impression like she was wearing some kind of oddly shaped, living bangle.
However, she was fairly certain that the reason he continued to keep ahold of her had more to do with not wanting her to fall behind or wander off on him, rather than any kind of affection that such a gesture could be otherwise interpreted as. Lottie wasn't sure how she felt about basically having the equivalent of a tracking device gripped around her wrist. On the other hand, she hadn't exactly inspired much confidence that she wouldn't try and pull something like that if given the opportunity. After all, despite what he'd told her, she still couldn't help but feel that he'd be better off without her.
Even so, she wasn't about to start being even more of a burden than she already was! Therefore, she was doing her best to keep up with him as well as she could. Heaven forbid she start slowing him down even further now!
During this leg of the journey, the green fairy didn't offer so much as a whisper of argument or complaint at the pace or environmental conditions. In fact, she didn't utter so much as a single word the entire time, but that didn't mean she was idle. She busied herself with wracking her brain to see if she could come up with any ideas on how she could be more than just a useless ball and chain! She at least owed it to Rayman to try! She sadly lacked magical fists like he had, but if she could somehow get her hands on a weapon of some kind, then maybe she'd be able to help him fight or–
"Lottie?"
The sound of his voice suddenly cutting through her thoughts nearly caused her to jump out of her skin! She blinked up in bewilderment at the concerned expression he was fixing her with. She glanced around in surprise, finally noticing that she hadn't been paying even the slightest amount of attention to where they'd been going! The bit of bog she'd been about to wander into was evidence of that!
"Are you, going to be okay?" he wondered. "You've been pretty zoned out and haven't said a word since we left Clark. Not to mention, you keep. . ." he trailed off, lowering his gaze.
Lottie followed his stare to find her free hand on top of his. That's when she finally realized that she'd been subconsciously, fiddling with it this entire time!
"Sorry!" She blurted out, immediately removing the offending appendage off of his. "I've just been, thinking," she offered as way of explanation for the odd behavior.
"About what?" he pressed, his tone carrying a hint of amusement.
She hesitated, considering on how to best answer before finally settling on just telling the truth.
"You know, on how I can – help," she confessed, her visage turning a shade darker.
Rayman perked with interest at hearing that. A little surprised at the idea that she was willing to even try at this point.
"You, come up with anything?" he asked.
She thought about her idea, but then realized he'd probably find the concept ridiculous, and opted to just shake her head instead. Even if she could somehow procure a weapon, it wasn't like she was strong or skilled enough to actually use it effectively!
"Oh, too bad," he seemed to sympathize. "Well, I wanted to let you know that I just spotted a yellow Lum that needs rescued. Also, to – warn you about that pond," he halfheartedly joked, motioning towards it.
"Oh, right," Lottie sheepishly backed away from the water.
"Anyway, I'm gonna need my other hand to get to it, so please wait for me right here, okay?" he instructed, sounding worried that she might try and bolt or something the second he let her go.
However, instead of answering with her typical neutral response, Lottie suddenly seemed to brighten at what he'd just told her.
"Wait, a yellow Lum?" she questioned, searching around for it with more interest than he expected from her.
"Yeah, up there," he explained, gesturing towards the top of a nearby tree.
Sure enough, the little yellow ball appeared to be caught in the branches, buzzing madly in an attempt to get itself free. Inspiration struck the girl like a light switching on. This could be the answer she was looking for!
Yellow Lums were beings made out of pure creation energy, after all. That's what the others had said. Perhaps if she did the rescuing, she might be able to persuade the little creature to do her a favor. She just hoped she was enough of a fairy to actually communicate with it, like she was sure she was supposed to be able to do!
"Don't worry. I got this!" she called with a sudden burst of enthusiasm, shaking off his hand and scampering away towards the base of the tree.
"Huh?" Rayman could only stare in stymied obfuscation as the fairy girl bolted off. That is, until he managed to snap himself out of it, calling after her with concern. "Wait, Lottie, you shouldn't–" but it was clear she wasn't listening as she determinedly scuttled her way up the tree. "Be careful!" he found himself warning.
"I think I can handle climbing a tree!" he heard her distant voice reply.
"Debatable," he muttered to himself, wondering where all this sudden excitability was coming from as he waited for her at the base.
Once Lottie had reached the top, she perched herself on a branch before reaching towards the whirring ball. It jerked away from her, trying desperately to keep clear of her grasp. Well, that was a little insulting. The dumb things always seemed to flock towards Rayman, so why would it be scared of her? Either way, now wasn't the time to be getting butt-hurt.
"Don't worry, little guy. I'm not going to hurt you," she spoke softly to it, holding her hands out as she waited for it to calm down.
After a minute, it seemed to respond to her positive energy, and stilled. Which finally allowed her to take hold and detach it from the vine it was caught on. She pulled it towards her face and smiled.
"There, that's better, right? Listen, little friend. I was hoping, now that you're free and all, that you might be willing to help me with a small favor?" she ventured, waiting to see how it would respond.
Now that it was sitting in her hands, it was almost as if she'd developed a sort of, connection with it. Probably stemming from the fact that she was supposed to be a magical creature herself, despite her failed attempts at conjuring any magic of her own so far. Even so, it was as if she could sense a kind of – skeptical aura coming from it.
"It's – it's not just for me. It's so that I can help Rayman save the world," she opted to explain, but then took a deep sigh as she realized how ridiculous that sounded. "You see, I just – showed up here a little while ago, and according to Ly, I'm here because I'm somehow supposed to play a role in helping Rayman defeat the pirates. Except, so far, I haven't been doing a very good job," she lamented, lowering her head in shame. "In fact, I've been less than useless, and I've only been making things even harder for him. Since I can't use magic, or fly, or anything I'm supposed to do. . ." she trailed in an irritated mutter.
The little orb felt startled at this news, but allowed her to continue nonetheless.
"So, I was hoping, maybe, you'd be willing to craft me something that I can use to help him. You know, for Rayman's sake, like a magic weapon or. . ."
She paused as she felt the Lum considering her words, before finally vibrating in a satisfied consent. Lottie broke out into a big grin. It was going to help her? This was perfect! Setting her new friend on her shoulder, Lottie wasted no time in sliding back down the tree to where Rayman was now, impatiently waiting.
"Finally decided to come back, huh? What were you doing up there for so long? Having a tea party?" he wondered irritably.
"Uh, I had an idea, and this Lum agreed to help me with it," she partly explained, holding it out in front of her.
"What idea? What did you–?"
He never got a chance to finish the question before the Lum suddenly flew out of her hands. Zipping over to a nearby boulder at the foot of the tree, the ball of light started to rapidly circle it, almost as though it were pulling the very essence of the stone from the rock itself. After a minute, it lifted away and continued circling in the air, something at the center of it's spiral taking shape. Lottie cocked her head before she began to make out the image of a double-headed axe. Once that was done, the Lum then moved to the tree, taking some of the wood from the base to create an intricately shaped handle that wrapped itself around the center of the head and secured it tightly.
The weapon, now finished, floated over to where the curious watchers were standing, before gently lowering itself into Lottie's waiting hands. As a final touch, the Lum itself then seemed to actually enter the new weapon, causing it to glow and thrum with power! As beautiful and formidable as the axe looked, what amazed Lottie the most was how light it felt, despite it being almost as large as she was! She smiled wide, swinging it around in the air a few times to test it out, making her wonder if this was what it felt like to be an Iron Knuckle?
"Hold up. You asked the Lum to make you an axe?" Rayman finally voiced in confusion.
"A magic axe!" she corrected. "Well, I didn't actually ask for an axe, specifically, but I guess it decided that this would be the best weapon to use against robot pirates," she realized.
"Wait, wait, wait. Now you wanna help fight the pirates? But it's dangerous, you could get hurt or. . ." he trailed, letting the implications speak for themselves, but Lottie simply gave her head a determined shake.
"I don't care. I just want to stop being so useless, and helping you fight was the only thing I could think of to do! Besides, this way you won't have to waste energy or risk anyone else worrying about trying to protect me. I'll be able to protect myself from now on. No more weaponized incompetence," she reasoned. "Plus, the Lum agreed. I'm not forcing it or anything," she added placatingly, hugging her new weapon to her chest.
"Lottie, I told you. You're not–" he started to argue, but a sharp look from her shut him down. He blew out a defeated sigh. "Okay, don't think those were the words I used, exactly," he muttered in a bit of a pout, glancing back at her only to find her conviction hadn't wavered.
"Fine," he blew out in consent. "But, just so you know, you'll have to give up the Lum when we eventually repair the Heart of the World," he warned.
Lottie gave him a curt nod that she understood, taking a moment to lash the axe to her back with some vines before they continued on. Which Rayman couldn't help but notice that the fairy girl now did so with a bit more pep in her step.
Sadly, it couldn't last as long as she would have liked. As the night continued to drag on, Lottie could feel herself beginning to drag as well. Even Rayman had started to slow down, a sign that he was probably feeling the fatigue as much as she was. After another minute, he even stopped to seemingly catch his breath, taking a closer look at her as he did so.
"Maybe we should think about stopping. It's been a while since you've gotten any rest," he pointed out, as if she was the only one who needed it.
Lottie frowned at him. Oh no! She wasn't going to be the reason that they needed to stop! Not this time! If he could keep going, then she could too, she decided, violently shaking her head.
"We can't afford to stop. Clark is counting on us!" she argued.
"I know," Rayman assured her. "But Clark is also very strong. I have no doubts that he's going to be just fine. Us on the other hand, well – to be honest, I'm kind of worried about what were gonna run into in the Cave of Bad Dreams. I think we'll be better equipped to deal with it if we get a little sleep first. Even if it's just a few hours," he reasoned.
Lottie had only about half a second to consider getting smart with him, before she realized that she was way too tired for that. He was absolutely right, after all. So, if he was alright stopping to get some sleep, then she should take advantage of that.
"That's a good point. It would be even worse if we fail at getting this Life Potion. Then who will help Clark?" she pressed.
"Exactly," he agreed.
Glancing around, Rayman managed to find a semi-protected spot at the base of a tree that also contained one of those mossy patches they had been using for bedding for the last several times they'd stopped for sleep. He immediately collapsed as Lottie took a moment to remove her new weapon from off her back and set it against the tree. Although, she hesitated slightly before lying down herself. She found herself getting a bit concerned at the idea of trying to sleep without Globox around to provide a buffer in between them.
Was she the only one worried about this being awkward?
Moving carefully to avoid any actual contact, Lottie slid herself down on the very edge of the patch to give him as much space as possible, facing away and hugging up against a root of the tree. Satisfied that this was acceptable, the fairy girl did her best to relax so that she could get some sleep.
However, not being asleep just yet, Rayman couldn't help but notice that while he'd clearly heard the girl lie down, it was strange that he wasn't able to feel her next to him. Rotating around to see what was up, he had to fight to keep from laughing at the position he found her in. Like she was trying to stay near him, while simultaneously being as far away as possible! Did she really think that her sleeping next to him was going to bother him or something?
This girl seriously needed to learn how to relax!
So, without bothering to wait for an invitation, Rayman decided to take the initiative by sliding up against her until his back was flush along hers. Now feeling more comfortable, the limbless hero resettled and closed his eyes before drifting off.
Meanwhile, Lottie's eyes popped open and she went rigid at the sudden, unexpected sensation of his torso pressing into her back! Her gaze darted wildly around in confusion, but she didn't dare move. For a moment, she wondered at what he could be thinking, until logic eventually won out as she realized that there was no way this had been on purpose, right? Surely not. He must have just, moved in his sleep, is all.
Still, so much for getting any rest! No way would she be able to fall asleep like this! Dang it, Rayman! Why you gotta do me like that? She lamented to herself. Although, she had to admit at the same time, it was kind of nice. It certainly felt safer and less lonely than just cuddling with a tree root! Oh well, she supposed she could live with it, letting out a sigh as she closed her eyes.
. . .
Several hours later, and dawn began to break over the boggy woods. The angle of the light was enough to rouse Lottie from sleep. She wearily pulled her eyes open, only to find a very large nose staring her right in the face! While the girl flinched in startled surprise, she at least managed to not react audibly.
She glanced around to see if she could locate the other parts of the limbless hero. Discovering one hand had somehow gotten itself tucked up underneath her head while the other one was resting along the length of her arm. Boy, these guys sure did like to thrash around in their sleep! Since there was no way that this position was any more intentional than the last one had been.
Being very careful not to disturb him, Lottie pushed herself up off the ground, taking the hand from her arm to replace it back along his side. She moved around the tree to retrieve her axe, glancing back towards the sleeping figure as she pondered what to do next. She thought about waking him, knowing that they didn't exactly have time to waste. Except, he still looked so tired that she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Although, maybe there was something else she could be doing in the meantime to help get them back on the road faster? An idea occurred to her then, and she brightened before turning and wandering off deeper into the marshes.
However, what she hadn't considered was Rayman waking up while she was gone. The limbless hero opened his eyes and sat up once he noticed that it was morning, running a floating hand over his droopy face. Peering around, he suddenly snapped to attention at the realization that he was strangely alone. Leaping to his feet, he began staring around in earnest now, searching for any sign of his missing fairy companion.
"Lottie? Lottie!" he called for her, his tone increasing in volume the longer he was unable to locate her.
There was a rustle next to him, and he whipped around to find a bright green figure stumble out of the brush. The fairy girl flashed him a big smile to find him up and about.
"Oh, good morning, Rayman. I hope you slept alright," she told him.
"Yeah, fine. But, what are you doing up already?" he practically accused her. She looked slightly confused by his tone, but proceeded to shake it off.
"Well, I just happened to wake up, and thought I could see about finding us some breakfast before we headed out," she explained, holding out the bundle that he'd failed to notice she'd had tucked under her arm.
Lottie spread open the large leaf she was using as a makeshift bag to show him what she'd gathered. She'd managed to find a bush that was growing some large, red berries that sort of reminded her of a cross between cranberries and crab apples. She'd also discovered a plant that looked almost like a cattail growing in the marsh, which she remembered learning somewhere had edible roots. So, she'd also pulled up several of those, using her axe to cut off the stalks, leaving just a collection of light brown tubers.
"Oh. . . I didn't. . ." he slowly trailed, his mind apparently struggling to process that the fairy girl could even be capable of such a thing. He was also left feeling a little silly to think that she'd decide to just abandon him at this point.
"Thanks, Lottie. I, appreciate it," he finally told her, sounding sincere as he took one of the odd berries from the top of the pile and popped it into his mouth without hesitation.
To which the fairy girl let out the tense breath she'd been holding. She'd honestly been a bit worried about whether or not what she'd found was even edible, but him ingesting the berries without the slightest concern told her that it should be fine. So, she took several to shove into her own mouth as they both continued on towards their next destination. She also sampled one of the cattails as they went, enjoying the light, earthy sweetness that it had to offer as she casually chewed on the root.
The pair barely had a chance to finish off the rations before they came to a section of the mire covered in thorns so thick and densely packed together that it was practically a carpet across the floor of the swamp. It also appeared to stretch on for quite the distance, giving the travelers pause as to how exactly they were supposed to get past it.
"So, now what?" Lottie wondered after a tense silence.
"It'll take too long to find a way around. But, it doesn't really look like something we're going to be able to just run across, does it?" Rayman added, rubbing at his chin.
That was when something in the distance suddenly caught the girl's attention. It was angular, bright yellow, and headed straight towards them!
"Doesn't seem to be a problem for him," she pointed at the thing.
"Is that a missile with feet?" Rayman wondered dubiously as he squinted at it.
"That's what it looks like to me," Lottie agreed with a shrug.
A moment later and it was basically on top of them! Rayman yelped and began to dash away before the shell could crash into him! Meanwhile, Lottie didn't move, merely watching with mild amusement as the limbless wondered doubled back to lob a glare at her.
"Why isn't it chasing you?" he demanded.
"I don't know. I guess it likes you," she teased with a grin.
Eventually however, the sentient rocket began to slow, until finally coming to a stop as it hunched over, both it and Rayman visibly panting from the exertion. That's when the whole spectacle finally jogged something in Lottie's memory. Hadn't Rayman managed to tame these things in the game? Moseying over to the now much more docile creature, the fairy girl began to give it a couple of pats, which it seemed to enjoy. Even going so far as to whinny and rub up against her. Oh, that's right! She'd almost forgotten about the bizarre horse noises!
She glanced up to find Rayman fixing her with a questioning gaze.
"I, guess it likes me too?" she replied to the silent inquiry. "Hey, now that you've tired it out, maybe it'll let us ride it across the thorns," she suggested.
"I don't know, Lottie. I'm pretty sure that thing belongs to the pirates. What if it decides to blow up while we're on top of it?" he pointed out warily.
"Well, it kinda seems like it can think for itself a bit, doesn't it? I mean, if it were me, I wouldn't want to blow up at all! Maybe we could reason with it?" Lottie argued before bending over to peer into the front of the shell, where a face would be if it had one. "Whatdaya say, little guy? Would you be willing to let us hitch a ride if we promise not to let you blow up?" she asked it.
The shell responded with a loud whinny, enthusiastically hopping up and down several times before dashing around her in a circle. Lottie smirked at Rayman nodding towards the playful reaction.
"I think we can trust it. Besides, it'll certainly save us a lot of time and frustration," she encouraged, patting leadingly at the missile's back.
"Alright," he finally consented, straddling the shell's back. "But if this thing blows up, I'm blaming you!" he lectured, only half-way teasing as he pulled her up onto the creature behind him.
Riding the shell wasn't quite as chaotic as Lottie remembered from the games, which she was very grateful for. Heaven forbid they make too sharp of a turn and end up turning Rayman's fears into reality! Even so, she still found herself keeping a firm grip around Rayman's middle as they trotted across the bramble. Falling into that mess didn't seem like it'd be any more fun either!
They made it across the sea of thorns in record time and thankfully without incident, coming to a stop in front of another one of the pirate's forts. Rayman and Lottie dismounted the shell in front of a sign that read: Robot Military Academy – Quiet, training in progress.
"This must be where the missile came from. How much you wanna bet they use these to guard their bases?" Lottie surmised, motioning towards the panting shell. "They must just send them out as a kamikaze attack against their enemies. The poor things," she sympathized, once again rubbing at the back of the metal creature.
"Guess that explains why it was so willing to make friends," Rayman acknowledged, also giving it a few pats of appreciation.
Sneaking up to the entry way of the small fortress, Lottie paused for a moment to ready her new weapon. She had no idea if this was going to work, but now was as good a time as any to test her battle prowess. Hopefully with the power of the Lum aiding her, she wouldn't end up being too great a liability for Rayman. After all, how hard could it possibly be to swing an axe around, right?
"Lottie, you know you don't have to do this. I'm sure I can handle these guys on my own if you'd rather just wait out here," Rayman whispered, casting a worried glance in her direction.
"I'm sure you could too, but I still want to help," she replied with a determined scowl.
"But, I'm still afraid that you'll only end up getting hurt," he protested reasonably.
"I'll be fine. These pirates seem much more interested in capturing us than hurting us, anyway. Besides, what was the point of all this if I don't even try?" she fervently argued, brandishing her weapon at him. He raised his hands defensively.
"Alright, I get it. Just, be careful, okay?" he requested, Lottie offering a placating nod.
As soon as they stepped into the fort, the pirates were on them like a bad rash! They immediately opened fire with their robot blasters, which Rayman had no issues ducking and weaving around in order to get close enough for his fists to be effective. Lottie, on the other hand, knowing that she wasn't nearly as nimble as he was, opted to take a more defensive approach by using the large axe head as a makeshift shield, blocking the incoming fire with surprisingly minimal effort.
Eventually, a break in the onslaught allowed her to grab a quick glance at the side of the axe that had taken the brunt of the fire. She was pleased to find it practically unscathed. But now, it was her turn to go on the attack!
She charged at the nearest robot, swinging her weapon wide to bring it down in the middle of his chest. It connected with a satisfying clang, leaving a deep gash on his front and causing him to stumble back. Capitalizing on his hesitation, Lottie moved in for another strike, this time going for a horizontal swing that succeeded in taking the pirate's head clean off! The rest of his body slumped to the ground as the fairy girl glanced down at the glowing axe in her hands in shock.
She'd defeated a pirate, and it had been, laughably easy! Although, she reasoned that it was probably more of a testament to the potency of magical weapons than any kind of ability on her part. Still, that didn't stop her from enthusiastically pressing forward, smashing several more pirates to smithereens with each successful strike!
Before she even realized the battle was over, Lottie suddenly found herself standing among piles of spare parts. She searched for her next foe, only to find that there were none left. She took a moment to survey her handiwork, then turned to her axe with an expression of thrilled appreciation.
"Alright! Now that's what I'm talking about! Who needs earth magic when you've got one of these babies?!" she cheered in satisfaction, waving the weapon around.
A sound on the other side of the room managed to catch her attention, and she glanced up to find Rayman fixing her with what seemed to be an amused regard. And yet, if his eyebrows were raised any higher, they would have vanished into his hair.
"Well, that, wasn't bad," he admitted, staring around at all the robot pieces. "I guess it's safe to say you've finally found your stride," he mused.
"Definitely!" Lottie readily agreed. "I can see why you'd enjoy this," she mentioned, motioning towards the carnage strewn across the floor. "It's certainly, cathartic," she confessed, moving past him with the axe resting on her shoulder and her head held high.
Continuing on, Rayman couldn't help but smile as he watched the fairy girl skipping along in front of him, merrily whistling a tune. He didn't think he'd ever seen her acting this, happy before. Which he had to admit, was a nice change of pace! Despite feeling like this drastic shift in attitude was basically coming out of nowhere, it was definitely making the journey a touch more pleasant than it had been so far. Perhaps that cheery, bubbly fairy personality she'd talked about before was finally coming out now that she'd succeeded in doing something helpful?
Apparently, all they had to do was get her an axe! Go figure, he thought with an eye roll of mock exasperation, having doubts that he'd ever be able to fully understand girls.
