Chapter Text
Another day in the glade, another call to adventure. Ales Mansay seems to be messing with the creatures of the glade again with new spells he’s mastered. Like every day before and every day after, Rayman, Globox, Barbara, and Grand Minimus fight on to put an end to the mischief. Hopefully by the end of the this, there’s room for a nap too.
“Alright Ales, ready to get your ass whooped again?” Rayman asked, fighting stance at the ready.
“Oh you won’t have to worry about getting my tush whooped, because this time, it’ll be yours!” Ales declared. He put his dirigible on autopilot, and started warming up his mana.
The team spread out. Barbara and Globox ran off to run up the sides of the glade’s trees, jumping off, and attacked from the sides of the dirigible to throw Ales off balance. Grand Minimus hopped onto Rayman’s hand, and Rayman swung his non-existent arm around, chucking Grand Minimus to Ales Mansay. The two tussled in order to get Ales off the flying machine, or at least to hit the autopilot button again to send it crashing.
Globox and the weight of Barbara’s axe brought the dirigible down plenty, but it was nowhere near touching the ground. Between Ales and Grand Minimus, the magician was holding onto that machine like glue. The fighting was working with stalling whatever Ales was trying to cast, but they can’t let him get away again.
“It’s not coming down!” Globox yelped.
“Come on down, guys! We’ll attack from the front then!” Rayman called out.
Globox, Barbara, and Grand Minimus nodded to each other, and hopped off Ales’s dirigible. It was damaged, but still managed to keep flight.
The four grouped up, stood their ground, and charged for Ales Mansay. The Teensie magician began charging up his mana again, with a blue aura emanating from his hands. Just as the crew leaped forward towards him to attack, a powerful beam of blue energy fired at them.
It seemed like them coming right to Ales was just what he wanted, as a maniacal cackle came from the magician. The four fell to the ground with a thud.
“The Glade of Dreams won’t be helped with the way you are now! You small, insignificant weaklings! The glade shall be under my fists, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me—“
The unnecessary speech was quickly cut off by Barbara’s axe, hitting the dirigible and blasting off Ales Mansay into the distance once again.
“AAAAAA YOU ROTTEN VERMINSSSSsss!!” Ales shouted as he gradually disappeared into the distance.
The axe boomeranged back into Barbara’s hand, but something didn’t feel right. It was much smaller and lighter than she remember it being. Actually, she felt lighter and smaller than usual! And apparently everyone else felt the same!
The rest of the crew got up from the ground, confused on what happened. Grand Minimus was the first to notice. He mumbled as he tried to put his crown back on.
“Hmm, I don’t remember my clothes being this big. Did Ales shrink us?” G.M. asked, though he sounded a lot more childlike when asking.
“Rayman! Are you ok?” Globox asked, helping Rayman up off the ground.
“Yeah, I’m ok.” Rayman answered. He paused for a bit trying to recognize his friend. “Ah! Globox?! I thought you were one of your kids!”
“You look like you in the pictures in Betilla’s scrapbook!” Globox replied.
The pictures in Betilla’s scrapbook? Rayman thought. A lot of those are my baby photos. The spell Ales cast didn’t make us…did it??
Rayman looked around for anything that could show his reflection. A river was nearby, and the thingamajig took a good look at himself. His nose was much rounder, his eyes were bigger, and his hair was back to a much brighter yellow-blonde.
“AHHHH!! Ales’s spell! Oh nooo!” Rayman panicked. Typically a spell cast by the magician wouldn’t bother Rayman, but now he was physically back at square one. The others came by the river to check on Rayman, and to see their reflections. It was true. Ales’s spell turned the four back to little kiddos.
In the reflections, a different but similar face popped up.
“Barbara? Is that you?” Grand Minimus asked, turning to her.”
“Uhuh!” The little barbarian nodded.
Globox, Rayman, and Grand Minimus were able to recognize each other easily, but Barbara? Not as much. She didn’t like talking about her past, so they never knew what Barbara looked like as a baby (or what human babies looked like in general). Luckily, her firey red hair, winged helmet, and large battle axe were there for the others to tell.
“Awww you’re so cuteeee!” The three said in unison, adoring Barbara’s stubby new form.
“I AM NOT CUTE!” Barbara cut off, slamming her axe to the ground. The others immediately backed off.
“I am a brave and mighty warrior! Not a cute little princess! Hmph!” None of the others called her a princess, but they all understood Barbara didn’t like being called cute.
Lost in the woods, the four wondered what to do next. Rayman knew how to get back to Betilla, but it would have to be quite the walk. The four got into a line with Rayman in the lead, and walked their way back to Rayman’s home.
“Betilla!” “Betillaaaa!” “Mama Betilla!” The tots called as they walked. They hoped somehow their shouts would get her attention.
Only about 10 minutes had passed, but the little ones had already worn themselves out from walking and yelling. They weren’t ready to give up yet, but they needed a break. Exerting so much energy just wandering and yelling as loud as they could was exhausting. Combining that with hunger and thirst, yeah they needed to rest.
A rustle from where they rested sounded. The four perked up, and scooted closer to one another, scared for what the sound could be. The rustling grew louder and closer, it could be anything!
“See! I told ya there were kiddos lost in the woods!” A voice was heard. It wasn’t just any voice however, it was Murfy! And with him, Betilla herself.
Rayman gasped as he saw Betilla, and ran up to her quickly. “Mama Betilla!”
“Rayman?” Betilla giggled as the thingamajig hugged her leg. She picked him up in her arms, and looked to the other tots as they came up to her.
“But, how did this happen? With all four of you??” Murfy asked. He expected something like this to happen to Rayman, but to happen to all four was a surprise.
“It was that meanie Ales Mansay’s fault!” Grand Minimus exclaimed.
“Mhm! We were gonna attack him, and he cast a spell to make us little!” Globox explained further.
“And we don’t know how to grow back!” Barbara pouted.
Betilla sighed. “What are gonna do with that freakazoid?”
“What are we gonna do with these kids??” Murfy interrupted. “You know taking care of little ones ain’t my forte. They’ll run all over me!”
“Murfy, you don’t have to do anything. Just hold onto one of their hands while we go see Polokus, and they’ll be fine.” Betilla advised.
“Alright, alright, I’m not gonna be walking though.” Murfy complied, holding out a hand to Barbara. Her tiny hand held onto his, and his tolerance for kids built up a little bit. Even he can’t help to admit that the little one holding his hand was adorable.
Betilla held Rayman in one arm, carried Grand Minimus on her shoulders, and held Globox’s hand in the other. It was a lot, sure, but as long as she could balance them all, it was light work.
All of them walked together through the glade’s woods, making their way to Polokus’s hut.