Chapter 13A: The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire — Part 1

Rayman appeared in the Council Chamber of the Teensies for the second time. The Teensie King(s) told him he had enough lums to pass through the door. When he emerged into a volcanic area, he knew he was in for a hot, hot level.

He helicoptered down into a lava maze of some sort. A sign he saw read: "Warning, Labyrinth! If you get lost, contact Robo-Rooters immediately!"

Rayman had a lot to learn in this maze. Other than the usual defeating of Robo-Pirates and swinging from purple lums and collecting his first ever Golden Fist (that makes his single shots much stronger), he had to learn to ride plums.

Yes. Plums. Rayman found that he could shoot a plum off its stem, jump onto it, and ride it. He could make it move by shooting in the opposite direction. The plum also strangely does not burn up or deteriorate when on the lava. It just bounces in place with Rayman on it when he's not facing or shooting in any direction. He used the plum to cross the labyrinth and collect all the lums and smash all the cages in every corner of the maze he could find.

Rayman also found out he could throw the plum onto vertical poles to cross lava pits; and also at enemies to stick it onto their heads, jump on them, and reach platforms above them. These plums are a real treat in this maze, Rayman decided. He could take one back to where he lived but one is just too heavy to carry so he just scratched that idea.

He broke two cages on the way out of the maze, including his 40th one that made his energy bar extend again. Every 10 cages and he gets his maximum energy level maximised further. Great!

He was now in a grassy area. Murfy came over and summarised everything Rayman learned about the plum. He added a few more points: it can take him across lava AND water, and he can shoot it to move it when it's far away. Rayman thanked Murfy and rode another plum the left of way, into a tall temple made of stone.

In this temple, Rayman broke four more cages, crossed more lava streams, dodged parts of the wall spitting out fire, and fought off tiny and giant spiders. To get out of the temple, he had to ride a shell multiple times on the same path, over and over again, because he kept dying when he kept crashing into the same ol' spot. It was a difficult, winding terrain with lava underneath. Rayman lost count of the times he fell into the lava below.

He finally got out of the temple and rode a plum back to the grassy area. Then he rode the right of way, defeated another robo-pirate (on a metal grill surface, not on the plum). And broke one more cage. Then he continued into a strange, creepy cave with weird stone structures and the creepy harp-and-theremin music from the Cave of Bad Dreams began playing again in the background.

Rayman saw a mini Cave-of-Bad-Dreams Guardian bouncing towards him and he knew what to do. He kept shooting at it but it was hard to get it because it kept dodging his shots very effectively and quickly. Its strong reflexes made up for its lack of ability to shoot fire from its mouth at Rayman. Rayman defeated it at last, it turned into a plum magically, and used the plum to get onto a platform and get out of the cave, into the clear, open air once again.