Welp. . . here I go again! Starting a new story when I should really be adding to the ones that I've already posted. However, in my defense, with the whole 'year of the Rayman' that we just had happening in 2023, can you really blame me for getting nearly bludgeoned with all the inspiration? Between Captain Laserhawk, Spark of Hope DLC, and fan interest at an all time high with some even promising remakes and digging into what should have been Rayman 4, I just couldn't help myself!

So, I decided to start this journey by going with the fan favorite. I just feel like there's a lot to explore and build upon here. So, I hope any returning readers aren't too mad about this addition. And for any Rayman fans out there who decide to read my silly story, I hope you enjoy!

Look what the pirates have done to our world? A planet of anguish and pain, haunted by evil. A dark place, teeming with fierce monsters. Nothing can stop them, now that they've captured our hero. They've taken everything and reduced our people to slaves. The robots search for innocent prey. In the chaos, they exploded the Heart of the World! The 1000 Lums of energy which form it have been scattered. We are getting weak. Soon, it will be too late. . .

Lottie, I'm sorry, but please don't give up! You must do what you can to help Rayman. Together, you are our only hope!

. . .

The Buccaneer, the pirates' prison ship, Commander: the Admiral Razorbeard. Slaves now on board: 19,001.

Wake up Rayman, I have sent you help. . .

"Water. . ."

"Spare us. . ."

"O. . . Ooh!"

"Help!"

The desperate cries of the captured citizens of the Glade of Dreams is what met Globox as he was unceremoniously dragged across the ragged floor of Admiral Razorbeard's pirate prison ship. Rows upon rows of cages lined each side of the hall, weary grasping hands reaching out towards him as they passed. Timbers creaked, and ominous shadows danced along the walls as the single, dimly lit lantern slowly swung with the ebb and flow of the vessel. It was a dismal sight indeed.

However, Globox did not utter a single word of complaint to the two metal pirates who held him fast, pulling him along with one of his arms each clasped in their iron grip. Until eventually, they made it to the specially designed cell at the very end of the long passage. The pirates powered down the energy barrier keeping the single occupant in place. Tossing him in, he hit the ground with a grunt and a bounce, landing near a limp, unresponsive form.

"Why did the Admiral want us to put this dopey frog in here with the Glade's Most Wanted? It's not like he's got any magic or abilities that need suppressed." One of the pirates asked the other as he reactivated the barrier.

"Razorbeard don't wanna take any chances. Word is, the frog's been blessed by a fairy. So, better safe than sorry," the second pirate explained with a shrug.

"If the frog's been blessed by a fairy, then why didn't he try an' fight us when he got captured?" The first pirate continued his inane inquiring, much to the displeasure of his companion.

"Don't know. I don't get paid to ask questions!" he snapped back, before turning and skulking off in the direction they'd just come.

The other pirate glanced back and forth between the cell and his retreating compatriot, before scratching his head and inevitably following after.

"You get paid?" he wondered dumbly.

Once their captors were gone, Globox turned towards his cell mate, which also just so happened to be his best friend. He appeared unconscious and void of any life. Gently, and with great concern, Globox reached out a hand to tap at the foot nearest him, hoping to get some kind of reaction.

"Rayman?" he slowly called.

It seemed to work to rouse his friend, who just managed to weakly lift his weary head before blinking at him through a pair of bleary eyes. It took a couple moments, but eventually Rayman was able to recognize the image of his life-long pal. Realization instantly took hold, filling him with energy that he didn't know he still had!

Rayman's face broke out into a massive grin as he rapidly scrambled off the floor and into Globox's waiting arms.

"Globox, my friend!" he cheered excitedly, feeling the stinging of happy tears prick at his eyes as the pair rocked back and forth on the floor of the cell, Globox holding him tight.

Rayman had never felt so relieved in his entire life! It had been so long, he'd begun to give up hope that he'd ever see any of his friends again! While they might still both be captured, at least they were together.

Globox grinned as he gave his friends several encouraging pats, breathing out a sigh of his own.

"Oh, good. You had me kinda worried for a second there," he confessed, setting the limbless wonder down on unsteady feet. "Are you okay, Rayman?" he asked.

"Not really. . . I feel weak, and my powers have disappeared," he confessed, fixing him with a fearful and defeated look. Globox merely blinked blankly back at him. "You know, Globox. . . I think this might be the end. . ." he trailed sorrowfully.

"No way! It's not the end! See, Ly gave me a good gift to bring to you!" he corrected him with a silly grin.

"Ly, the fairy?" Rayman snapped up in surprise, until another thought occurred to him. "Wait, so she had you get captured, on purpose?" he questioned dubiously.

"Yeah, she said it was the only way to save you. What do you think? Do I make a good prisoner?" he wondered, still sporting a goofy smile.

"Sure, Globox. Now, where's the gift she sent with you?" he reminded him in a humoring tone.

"Oh, yeah. It's right here," he told him, reaching down his own throat before pulling out a small, glowing silvery orb of energy and holding it out to Rayman.

"A silver Lum!" he exclaimed in elated surprise, the ball immediately gravitating towards him and filling him up with power. "Incredible! I can feel it's energy building up in me! Globox, we're saved! My fist is back to full strength!" he cheered, throwing said fist into the air in celebration.

"That's great, Rayman! That means you'll be able to use your fist to bust us, and Lottie, outta here!" Globox added, nonchalantly clapping his hands together.

"Yeah, then after that, we should go and see Ly. She'll be able to–" Rayman stopped short when the realization of what his friend had just said suddenly dawned on him.

"Wait – who's Lottie?"

. . .

In a cell located in a secluded part of the ship, yet another figure lay lifelessly sprawled out on the floor of the cage. This one was adorned in a dark, forest tunic and sporting a head of hair that would have put a lime to shame. Resting on her back sat a pair of transparent, gossamer wings, one of which was rent nearly in two – evidence of the almost constant abuse she'd been taking over the past several days from her robot pirate captors. The subtle rise and fall of the damaged wings being the only indication that this fairy girl was even still alive.

Lottie, I'm sorry, but please don't give up! You must do what you can to help Rayman. Together, you are our only hope!

There it was, that voice again. It kept trying to tell her not to give up, but what was even the point?

Although, the girl had to admit that she did have questions. Was that voice even actually talking to her? Was she, Lottie? And who was this, Rayman person the voice kept mentioning. It sounded so familiar, and yet she couldn't quite place it. Like something she'd heard in a dream. . .

The sharp creak of the cell door opening caused the girl to tense in absolute dread. No more! She didn't think she could take anymore! How long were these idiotic robots going to torture her before they realized that she was telling the truth?! She didn't know anything about any other fairies or where they could possibly be hiding! She didn't understand why they thought she would! She didn't even know where she was or what she was doing here, let alone who she even was! But what she didn't remember the most, was being a fairy! She was pretty sure she was supposed to be human, or at least, she used to be.

Even so, the only things she could recall at all now, was this pirate ship, and pain!

A moment later, and a splattering sound met her ears, followed by the loud slam of the door closing once again. Lottie let out a ragged sigh of relief. Not another torture session, yet. Just throwing her some food so she wouldn't starve. Although she didn't understand why they bothered feeding her. Hoping to keep her alive long enough until she 'broke' she supposed. Well, the joke was on them. You can't tell what you don't know.

Somehow finding the motivation to lift her head, simply out of curiosity over what they'd brought her more than any actual desire to eat it, she found some kind of fruit, leaking it's juice all over the ground. The smell was almost putrid, telling her they'd given her something rotten again. Lottie could feel her stomach churn under her. Even if she'd had an appetite, she didn't think she could force herself to eat something so foul. This had to be the worst thing they'd given her yet!

Oh well, she didn't think she'd be lasting much longer at this rate anyway. . .

. . .

"Ly told me she's an earth fairy with powerful healing magic, and that you're going to need her help if you wanna defeat the pirates."

Rayman was running what Globox had told him through his mind as the both of them were creeping through the bowels of the prison ship. Who in the world was this new fairy he'd never heard of, and why was Ly so insistent that he'd need her help? He found himself wondering, internally scoffing in derision.

Didn't she realize how big of a risk this was, for both him and his friend? Why couldn't she just wait until they figured out a way to rescue everyone on the ship. Why did it need to be now? Also, since when had he ever needed help saving the world? He'd been perfectly find on his own the last time, right?

Actually, Rayman had to check himself on that last thought. He'd gotten help from the fairies at regular intervals during his last adventure, and he supposed he'd technically already gotten help from Ly earlier as well. It was just the risk he was putting Globox in that was making him stressed, he told himself. If Ly thought that rescuing this girl was that important, then he supposed he should listen to her.

Poking his head up over a ledge, Rayman finally discovered the cell they were keeping her in. She was a fairy alright, her bright coloring and shimmery wings telling him that. Although, she currently appeared rather ragged, her color faded and one of her wings suffering a painful looking injury. Just what had these pirates been doing to her?

Swinging his head from side to side to make sure the coast was clear, Rayman shimmied himself onto the platform, motioning to Globox that he should stay where he was. He padded up to the door of the cage, but the fairy didn't move. He had a concerned moment where he wondered if she was even still alive. Better break the door and check.

Winding up his fist, he sent it towards the locked door, bashing it down with a single blow. Yup, still got it, he thought with satisfaction, moving his way inside.

At the sound of her cell door being destroyed, Lottie suddenly sprang alert, glancing around in confusion at what that loud noise had just been. A second later, and her gaze landed on the figure in front of her. It definitely wasn't a robot pirate! This guy had blonde hair, was wearing a hoodie comprised of a purple shirt and red hood, and had yellow shoes on his disembodied feet.

Wait. . . disembodied?

Lottie did a double take and realized that it wasn't just his feet. This guy didn't seem to have legs, arms, or a neck! Strangely enough, however, this revelation gave way to a small tingle of familiarity in the back of her mind.

"Rayman. . .?" The word seemingly left her mouth all on it's own, her voice coming out in a hoarse, croaky whisper. He visibly flinched at hearing her use his name, probably just as surprised as she was that she knew it.

The tromping footfalls of what was clearly a patrol of guards snapped them out of their impromptu staring contest. Lottie's mouth dropped open in panic, and the figure in front of her was on her like lightening! Before she knew what was happening, the limbless creature had a floating hand firmly clamped over her mouth, keeping her from making any noise.

Maybe he'd thought she'd been about to scream? She wasn't sure, but either way, having him right up against her, that big nose of his hovering only inches from her face, caused Lottie to shiver at the sensation of the veritable tidal wave of memories suddenly crashing over her!

She could clearly picture herself, sitting on a couch with a controller in her hands, the exact guy currently on top of her displayed in vibrant colors on her TV screen. She remembered herself getting frustrated about not being able to get past a particular level, the one where you had to fly through a maze of spikes that you couldn't touch.

The next memory, a sequel, this one having the added feature of being in full 3D, and where you had to fight against – Robot Pirates! That's why all of this seemed so familiar. She'd seen it all before! Not that she'd been any better at the second game, given she'd never beaten that one either. . .

Wait, a game? So that, that meant. . . This wasn't supposed to be real. None of this was supposed to be real! The revelation only succeeded in providing more questions than answers, mostly why, but even more importantly – how?!

Although, as Rayman turned to her and pressed a finger to his lips, it was clear to Lottie that this was no longer just a game. After all, he certainly appeared much less, polygonal, than she remembered. In fact, he not only looked, but actually felt like he was made of flesh and blood, if the hand currently clamped against her face was any indication.

Speaking of which, Lottie was suddenly brought out of her random flashback by the sound of the patrol stomping on by, and eventually growing fainter as they moved away. Only then did Rayman breathe out a sigh of relief and release her mouth.

"You don't have to be scared. We're here to get you out of here," he explained in a whisper, which Lottie found to be wholly unnecessary.

"Really? You don't say?" she retorted, earning her a startled look, followed by an irritated scowl in response to her sarcasm.

"Yeah, you're welcome. Now, come on. We need to find a way off this ship before those pirates come back," he told her, turning and climbing back out of the cage.

Realizing that he was right, and it was now or never, Lottie made an attempt to stand and follow. However, she quickly found that her starved and weakened legs weren't quite up to the task of supporting her weight!

"Wait, I don't think I–" she attempted to relay as much to Rayman, but was cut off when she stumbled forward.

Her foot unfortunately landed on the rotted piece of discarded fruit that had been intended as her dinner. The momentum causing her to slip forward towards the door of the cage, the other foot catching on the bottom lip, her whole body bucking and somersaulting through the opening, until finally coming to a stop on her back! Except, the landing hadn't been nearly as hard as she'd been expecting. In fact, one could have even described it as downright cushy.

Lottie opened her eyes and found herself blinking up in bewilderment at a large, grinning blue face! She might have screamed then, had she not already had some inkling as to who this face belonged to.

"Aw! You're a cute, little fairy," Globox cheerily informed her.

"I – am?" Was all she could think to say. Guess this was who Rayman had meant by, we.

"Hi, I'm Globox. You must be Lottie," he chirped.

"Or so I'm told," she mumbled back.

"Globox! Would you keep it down?" Rayman suddenly demanded in a hiss. "There will be time for introductions later," he lectured, Globox looking properly chided. "Hey, you. Can you walk?"

Lottie could only assume he was talking to her. "Apparently not," she answered, realizing that he must have seen her less than graceful tumbling act.

"It's alright, Rayman. I can carry her," Globox offered, pulling the fairy girl out of his arms and setting her down on his head, her legs straddling his thick neck.

"O-kay, so I guess this is happening now?" she mutter in response to the sudden man-handling.

"Fine," Rayman threw his hands up in reluctant consent. "Now, we just need to figure out where the closest exit is.

"Down the hall and on the left," Lottie chimed in without really thinking. It earned her a skeptical glance from the limbless wonder, but he searched towards where she had indicated nonetheless. "There's this metal grate that I've seen the pirates use to dumb out waste. I'm guessing it leads to the outside. If you're strong enough to break down my cage door, then I'm guessing you'll be strong enough to break through that," she added in clarification.

Rayman hurried in that direction, Globox trotting along behind him with his new charge, until they reached the grate, exactly where she said it would be. The hero flashed the girl an appreciative smile.

"This is perfect! Good looking out, fairy girl. Now, let's blow this joint!" And with that, Rayman wound up his fist and smashed the grate right off it's frame. A moment later, and he jumped into the newly made hole, Globox more than happy to join him.

"Hey, wait a minute. Shouldn't we–?" Lottie's protests were cut off by the sudden sensation of plummeting to the ground below, everyone yelling as they went, while the airship slowly floated away, none the wiser.

Globox's greater mass caused him to fall the fastest, unfortunately resulting in Lottie losing her grip on him. She shrieked in terror as she rocketed towards the solid earth, desperately flailing her arms like a drowning child. As the forest floor began to get dangerously close, Lottie thought that this was going to be the end! She closed her eyes right before she hit, only to suddenly bounce off of something soft.

Lottie lifted her head and peered around, to find that the soft thing had been Globox, again. He was sprawled out on his back with her perched on his rather plush gut. Taking a closer look, he appeared to be no worse for wear, just a bit stunned. The fairy girl blew out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Thanks, Globox," she told him, offering his belly a few pats before collapsing on top of him.

"Aw! You're welcome!" he was surprisingly quick to reply, plucking her off him and holding her up by the armpits like a kitten. "We did it! We escaped!" he cheered with a big grin, but then seemed to realize something. "Wait, where's Rayman?" he wondered.

A moment later, there was a frantic yell, and something landed with a loud thud in the brush near them.

"Oh, there he is!" he observed, as though this were just another Tuesday, hopping up and rushing over to his side while still carrying the half-conscious fairy. "Rayman! Rayman! Are – you okay?" he then seemed to think to ask.

The limbless hero picked himself up off the ground, rubbing at his sore tailbone.

"Yeah, nothing a good soak won't fix," he assured his friend, his gaze then shifting to the limp creature clutched in his hands. "So, Globox, you wanna put her down now?" he suggested.

"Oh, right," the blue frog-man consented, before proceeding to practically drop her onto her feet.

Of course, she didn't stay that way, immediately buckling and ending up sprawled out on her back. The girl was panting and shivering, her eyes remaining tightly closed in achy exhaustion.

"Careful, Globox! Can't you see she's hurt?" Rayman scolded, actually being able to see the extent of the damage for himself now that they were out in the light. She looked even rougher than he had at first thought. "What did those pirates do to you?" he found himself wondering aloud, despite the girl not being in any state to answer.

"Come on, Globox. We need to find some red Lums. That should help fix her up," he instructed.

After several doses of red Lum energy, Lottie finally felt like she had enough strength to open her eyes, blearily staring up at a pair of concerned faces. As they slowly came into focus, so did her mind, and she was painfully reminded of where she was and what was going on.

"She's awake!" Globox observed, clapping his hands together with glee.

"Hey, fairy girl. How are you feeling?" Rayman wondered at her, sounding a bit more chipper now that they were free and safe, for the moment.

Lottie managed to push herself up and rub a hand over her grime covered face. She still felt a bit dizzy and weak, but she realized that at least it didn't hurt anymore.

"Better. The pain is gone," she answered honestly, patting at herself. "How did. . .?" she began, trailing off when she glanced up to find Rayman smirking at her. It was the kind that always made you want to slap someone for being a know-it-all.

"Red Lums always do the trick," he answered with a wink, holding one up for her to see.

Lottie stared in wide-eyed wonder at the glowing, red orb in front of her. It looked so much cooler in person than just as a bunch of pixels on a screen. It made her wonder what it would feel like, as she reached a hand out towards it. Rayman didn't attempt to dissuade her or pull it away, like she'd been expecting. Instead, he actually just handed her the creature. It gave off a tingling sensation as it rested in her hands, until it eventually floated towards her chest and seemed to absorb directly into her, the little tear that was left over on her wing from the previous treatments suddenly magically repairing itself, making her wings completely whole once more.

"Guess you weren't quite at full health yet," Rayman opted to explain in response to her questioning gaze.

Well, now that she was, Lottie couldn't seem to stop herself from just staring at the limbless hero next to her in absolute wonder! She wanted to question him. Ask what she was doing here? How she'd gotten here in the first place? And why she was suddenly a fairy of all things? But she wasn't able to articulate any of it. Instead, she simply reached out towards him as if she were in a trance.

"I can't believe you're real. . ." she spoke breathily, to the point where it kind of gave him the creeps.

Rayman snapped her hand out of the air before she could reach his face.

"Of course I'm real! What's going on with you? Those pirates knock a screw loose, or what?" he accused, putting a finger up to his temple.

With that, the magic bubble seemed to shatter in an instant. Lottie, now feeling rather offended, shook his hand off of her with a huff.

"My screws are all exactly where they should be, thank you very much," she snapped, rising from the ground to brush herself off in a haughty manner, not that it really did any good. "Now, if you'll excuse me, thank you for the rescue, but I need to be somewhere that's – not here," she decided, and attempted to walk off to – well, she wasn't really sure where, but she didn't exactly feel welcome at present.

Realizing that she was actually trying to leave, Rayman had a small moment of panic before he too jumped to his feet. He quickly scrambled around in front of her to prevent her from going any further.

"Whoa! Where do you think you're going?" he demanded, holding his hands out towards her. "You can't just leave. You're supposed to be the one that's going to help me defeat the pirates," he tried to argue.

"Huh? Me? Are you sure?" she questioned dubiously.

"Actually, no." He seemed to admit. "I don't really see how having you along is going to make any diff–" Rayman instantly cut himself off at the indignant look she suddenly fixed him with, as she made a sharp motion to try and walk around him to leave again.

Rayman slapped a hand against his face, before skirting around her to once again block her path. The girl only glowered at him.

"Wait, wait, wait," he implored her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Look, I'm sorry. I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot. So, why don't we try starting over?" he suggested, holding a placating hand out in her direction.

Lottie considered the floating hand in front of her. Realizing that she really didn't have anything to lose, she decided to go ahead and accept it.

"Hi, I'm Rayman," he told her. "But then again, you seemed to have already known that," he couldn't help adding with a slight slyness to his tone.

Lottie cringed a bit and adverted her gaze, but didn't let go of his hand.

"Yeah, it's – cool, to meet you," she found herself confessing, despite the unusual introduction.

"Is it? I guess that's good to know. And you're Lottie, right?" he asked, double checking.

"I mean, that's what everyone keeps saying," she acknowledged strangely, Rayman fixing her with a funny look at the statement as she finally pulled her hand out of his.

Luckily, everyone's favorite blue sidekick decided to step in at that moment, not giving him the chance to ask her about it. He'd been busy glancing back and forth at them throughout the whole exchange, but it didn't seem like he'd fully understood everything he'd heard.

"It's so nice to see you getting along with the new kid, Rayman," he randomly praised his friend.

"What? Kid?" Lottie repeated as if she hadn't heard him correctly.

Although, now that she was standing right next to the titular hero, Lottie couldn't help but notice that the top of her head barely came to his eye level, forcing her to look up at him. Which she actually found a little strange. Weren't all the other fairies actually bigger than he was? Guess Globox had been right about one thing, she was a little fairy, but she certainly wasn't a child!

That didn't seem to be stopping Globox, however.

"Hey Rayman, can we keep her?" he wondered, his eyes glowing hopefully.

"What do you mean, keep me? I'm not a stray pet, ya know!" she pointed out to him.

"She sounds a little cranky. Does someone need a nap?" Globox cooed, rubbing at her head.

"A nap?! I'm a grown woman!" Lottie barked, insulted, slapping his hand away from her.

He hissed and shook his hand like she had burned him, sticking the appendage in his mouth.

"Hey! Don't yell at Globox like that! He doesn't mean anything by it!" Rayman immediately went on the defensive, yelling at her like she was the bad guy! So much for them starting over.

Lottie let out a deep, cleansing breath before turning her attention back to the limbless wonder.

"Fine," she acknowledged, shifting for a moment towards Globox. "Globox, I'm sorry for being so harsh," she told him in a humoring tone. Then back to Rayman. "Now, how exactly am I supposed to be helping you defeat an army of pirates, again?" she inquired. No matter what that disembodied voice had been telling her, she didn't really see how she was going to be of much help.

"I. . ." Rayman hesitated before answering. "I don't know," he confessed. "All Ly told us is that you're supposed to be some kind of powerful earth fairy and that I was going to need your help," he seemed reluctant to admit. "So, I guess the next thing we should do is find Ly. She should be able to explain everything, not to mention help me get the rest of my powers back," he added as an aside.

"Great! Glad to hear you have some kind of plan," she stressed, probably unnecessarily.

"Yep, and if that doesn't work out, we could always just – put you down for that nap," he told her with a cheeky grin and turned to go.

Lottie hurried to catch up with him so that she could throw him a wicked side eye.

"You know, I think I liked you better when you just spoke gibberish!" she muttered testily.

"What?" he asked, either not really hearing or not understanding, possibly both.

"Never mind."

While the Gibberish is nice, Voice Acting can also be very satisfying, as long as it's done reasonably well. ;)