Chapter Text
It was a cool, calm night in the Glade of Dreams. Rayman was sitting around in his house, admiring the treasures and trinkets he had collected over the years and how much he had grown alongside his friends. He had a picture of them and himself on the wall, celebrating their triumph over the Robo-Pirate army two years ago. Ly and Clark had gone their own way quite some time ago, writing letters to him and the others in their spare time, but all of them were content in their own way.
He then thought about Adell, whom he had met on one of their prison ships after a group of Pirates ganged up on him. She was quite a helping hand when it came to ending the war after her escape, and she eventually decided to start working at the Fairy Council after Globox invited her to live with himself and his family. In spite of her quiet and enigmatic nature, she was a caring and strong-willed woman with an unmatched sense of loyalty… next to his own, of course.
A series of knocks on his door interrupted his train of thought. Rayman opened it, only to find Murfy, another friend of his, in a state of pure panic.
Before Rayman had the chance to speak, Murfy’s frenzy was in full swing as he spoke, not even stopping to breathe in his panic. “Raygetoutherethere’sahugeproblemabunchofHoodlumsaretryingtodestroytheHeartoftheWorldandnowwe’realldoomedifyou—”
“Murfy, breathe!” Rayman tried to calm him down. “I’ll get it taken care of, don’t worry.” With that, he ran into the forest, only to be greeted by the sounds of chaos and destruction the moment he stepped out of the door.
Another gunshot rang through the forest as Rayman tried to keep up with Murfy. He was still shocked that an entire army of Hoodlums had somehow manifested overnight, but he was more concerned with the present situation. Namely, not getting shot.
“Hey blondie, ya wanna bet that Adell’s already taken out a whole troop of these ripoff scarecrows?” Murfy asked. Cracking jokes had always helped him calm his nerves.
“Not now, Murf!” The limbless hero of the Glade of Dreams replied. “Besides, I forgot my wallet at home.”
A bullet whizzed through the air, which Rayman barely dodged.
“Oh, alright!” Murfy sighed. “Besides, if she got her hands on ‘em, this place wouldn’t be crawling with Hoodlums.”
Rayman looked around, searching for any signs of Adell or Globox. ‘They’re safe. They can handle a few enemies.’ He had to keep reminding himself, before a Hoodlum decided it was brave enough to attack him up-front.
-
Meanwhile, Adell had abandoned her post as a guard for the Fairy Council to try to help eliminate some of the Hoodlums. Her mind was still reeling from what felt like a nightmarish, but somehow real, hell. And yet she was back, mustering up the strength to sprint through the woods while hacking down Hoodlums left and right without so much as a second thought. Her curled ebony hair soared behind her as she dashed into the shadows and prayed that shortcut she thought of would work. Her sea-green tunic was caught in the thicket, but her steel arm guards were enough to shield her as she cut through the branches and leaves.
‘Keep running.’ She repeated in her head as she clawed her way through. ‘I can’t do this, I can’t lose them again. And I won’t.’
And then, her indigo eyes met Rayman’s cerulean ones.
A Hoodlum had arrived before she had, aiming its rifle at her friend. He dodged the bullet and lunged in with a hard, quick uppercut, staggering his foe as it stumbled into the trunk of a nearby tree. Adell sprinted in front of him as she brandished her sword, driving it into the Hoodlum’s burlap uniform and ripping it apart while the Black Lum that was once inside it retreated.
“Adell!” Rayman smiled. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“Good to see you too.” Adell replied. “It’s nice that you’re alive, but we need to keep moving right now.”
“Right!” And with that, he grabbed her hand and kept running, hoping to find Globox.
“Hey, where’s my warm, happy greeting?” Murfy complained. “I’m right here!”
“It was hard to see you when you were cowering uselessly behind a bush, Murfy.” Adell snarked. “But I guess it’s decent to see that you’re still kicking.”
“Y’know what, I’ll take it.” Murfy sighed as Rayman laughed, before proceeding further into the woods.
-
Globox did his best to run, only stopping to slice the Hoodlums’ burlap uniforms with his scimitar and send them retreating. (He was glad Adell thought to give him her old sword when she got a new one.) At the very least, they didn’t seem to be interested in attacking his home. Just the whole rest of the Glade. He suddenly wondered why they would avoid that particular place, but his train of thought was interrupted by a lone, unarmed Hoodlum running up to him.
“I have a sword!” He shouted as he brandished it in the most menacing way he could, but, being himself, wasn’t threatening at all. “Don’t come any closer!”
It stepped back in response, with Globox assuming that it was afraid of the sharp blade he wielded. But then it took off its hat, revealing a wide-eyed Black Lum.
“Globox?” He inquired softly, his crimson eyes filled with an expression Globox couldn’t read.
He seemed strangely familiar to Globox, like his mind was trying to pull memories from what felt like nothing. And yet, they came from somewhere. It was confusing, yet bittersweet and even soothing all at once. He finally gathered himself enough to ask, “Do I know you?”
“Oh, that’s right.” The Lum muttered, before removing his cloak. “You don’t. At least, not… not yet. I’m André.”
Globox didn’t understand why he immediately wanted to call him Andy. “Okay, then.” He cautiously took a few steps backwards. “What are you doing here? I thought you Hoodlums were planning to take over—”
“Not anymore. I’m here to stop them.” André shifted his gaze slightly, just in time to notice a dark figure lunging out from the underbrush. Both he and Globox recognized her immediately.
“Ellie!” Globox beamed as he leapt forward, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight, unable to hide his immense joy. “I was so worried about you! Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you? Where are Rayman and—”
“Right here, Glo!” Rayman smiled as he stumbled through the bushes with Murfy in tow. Globox immediately brought them into his embrace as well. André stayed off to the side, simply watching as they laughed and bantered. He suddenly felt a dull pain throbbing in his chest as he saw the looks of contentment on their faces. Adell didn’t even have those scars. He really had-
“Oh, great!” Murfy griped when his eyes met André’s. “Another one of those-”
“Murfy, wait!” Globox raised his voice. “This is André, and he’s here to help!”
“A Hoodlum against other Hoodlums?” Rayman asked. “How do we know we can trust him?”
“He doesn’t have a weapon.” Globox answered.
“Uh, so?” Murfy scoffed. “He’s still an enemy! Get him!”
“No.” Adell interrupted, stepping in front of her friends. “Think about it. The Hoodlums are well-armed, yet André doesn’t have anything. He…” She had to keep herself from breaking as she continued. “He’s not a threat, guys.”
“Fair enough.” Rayman frowned slightly as he backed off. “But if he tries anything funny…”
“So, what’s the plan?” Globox asked, trying to diffuse the situation.
“There’s a Hoodlum outpost over in Clearleaf forest. If we take it out and handle the rest as we go, we should be able to handle the situation relatively quick.” Adell replied. She was always one to make plans quickly and efficiently, but it almost seemed like she had everything mapped out in her head before hand. “André, we’ll follow your lead on this.”
“Alright.” André said. “Get some supplies, it’ll be a pretty long journey.”
“Why are we gonna listen to him?!” Rayman shouted.
“Because he knows where the bases are and we don’t. If he does anything, I’ll take care of it myself.” Adell answered calmly.
“Okay! I was about to go tell my family we were going to be leaving anyway, so that works out well!” Globox smiled, his usual cheery self. André was suddenly envious of his positive attitude.
“Go on, Ray. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Adell’s gaze grew cold as she focused on André. “Murfy, you can go now.”
And with that, everyone but Adell and André went their separate ways.
The following silence between the Hoodlum and the warrior was interminable, before André noticed something.
“I thought your eyes were blue.”
“Seriously? We encounter each other after you raise a whole army, and that’s the first thing you say?!”
“I mean that they look a little more purple than they were.”
“Oh, now you’re just—“
“Hey, guys!” Globox smiled, now with a large olive-green bag on his shoulder.
“He didn’t try to cause any more havoc, did he?” Rayman inquired.
“No. I’m guessing we’re ready to go now?” Adell asked.
“Ready when you are.” André said quietly. “Alright, the base in Clearleaf Forest should be off in the northeast. It’s a quicker walk than you’d figure.”
“Let’s do this!” Rayman tried to amp everyone up.
“And then we can sit down and eat a nice meal!” Globox said, attempting to motivate everyone in his own way.
“Hold on a sec, okay?” André asked as a scarlet glow emanated from his hands. In an instant, he transformed into a humanoid figure with dark skin and black hair like Adell’s. He wore a brown coat with patches of various shades of orange and red on it, as well as dark work pants with a red belt and black boots. Although he was a fair bit shorter than Adell (closer to Rayman’s height), he looked like he could have been her brother. “Alright, let’s get going. We’ve got some havoc to wreak out there!”