Chapter 23: The Crow's Nest

"Come in, you useless grub!" Razorbeard shouted at his right-hand robot.

"R-Rayman has four masks and he's on the ship……"

"You failed me again," the admiral growled. "I warned you, didn't I? Let's see how well you swim in molten lava! Meanwhile, I'll just handle this little problem myself." Razorbeard turned to his men. "Prepare the Grolgoth! I know how to lure Rayman to me……"

From a large metal pole attached to the crow's nest, we can see Goobox being tied to it by the feet and hanging upside down. His life hung by a little rope. Razorbeard got into the Grolgoth and aimed a gun at him. "Identify target!"

As he was about to shoot, Rayman appeared on the crow's nest as well. "Leave my friend alone!" he yelled above the howling wind.

Razorbeard shot the pole anyway and both Rayman and Globox went down. "Hahaha! Now you're alone for all eternity!" he laughed at Rayman.

But Rayman climbed back up, and Globox had not completely fallen off the ship. "WHAT?!" Razorbeard stormed.

"Are you alright, my friend?" Rayman hollered at Globox from the top.

"I'll be fine. Now go!" Globox said, still hanging from the rope.

Maybe someone will find Globox hanging there and rescue him before the rope snaps under his weight. Yes, Globox will be fine. Right now, Rayman's got literally bigger things to worry about.

Razorbeard and The Grolgoth stood before Rayman. The captain fired a few bombs at Rayman. Rayman shot them back. They moved away from him but they did not hit the Grolgoth. Razorbeard's giant machine had moved out of the way before his own bombs touched him. He was quick in his reflexes. But Rayman was quicker, and smarter.

When the Grolgoth shot some more bombs at him, Rayman waited until they got really close to him before he shot them back. That way, Razorbeard inside the Grolgoth would think Rayman is going to get hit with the bombs so close so he wouldn't bother to move his machine out of the way. The bombs hit the Grolgoth, and its life points decreased. YES!

Rayman let the bombs hit the Grolgoth back a few more times and he felt victorious. Razorbeard had Rayman right in the crossfire. He was about to push a button and let 'im have it when the ground shook it. Huh? Rayman felt it, too. But what ground? He was standing on a crow's nest on a pirate ship floating in the sky. What ground?

The wiring and the wooden panels on top of the crow's nest began to give way. Rayman hung on, but he and the Grolgoth end up falling down the crow nest, down towards some lava. Rayman screamed. And somewhere in the Fairy Glade, Ly opened her eyes. She had heard him, and she was coming to help.

"Don't be afraid, Rayman…… I'm here!" She said as she gathered all the energy she needed to create a silver lum and catch Rayman before he hit the molten liquid.

"WHOOAH!" Rayman cried as the silver lum appeared from below him and caught him. It moved him to a platform in the lava nearby. On the platform was a shell. Rayman tapped it from behind, it looked back and recognised its rider. It started whinnying and neighing and doing a little joyful dance around Rayman and it scooped Rayman up onto its back with his head. Both were reading to take off and take down Razorbeard once and for all!

Just then Ly's head appeared in front of Rayman. She had to share some news with him.

"Bravo, Rayman! You were sensational! Razorbeard is nearly beaten! Thanks to you, hope has come back into our hearts. The slaves on the ship have broken their chains and have escaped. On land, Polokus has eliminated all the pirates. Destroy Razorbeard and our victory will be complete! Good luck, Rayman!" And Ly's head disappeared.

The Grolgoth, all this time, was suspending itself in between two poles above the lava. From inside the Grolgoth, Razorbeard aimed his gun. He once again had Rayman in his crossfire. He's not going to let this limbless hero go this time.

Rayman and the flying shell took off. The goal was to collect a glowing ball of five shots and shoot at the Grolgoth's hands, making it slip and let go of the poles and drop into the lava. After the first drop, the Grolgoth got back up and shot some trailing missiles at Rayman. It was tricky and twisty, but Rayman managed to avoid getting hit by the missiles. He also managed to avoid the rising lava whenever Razorbeard tells him "Your lava bath is ready!". Every time he ran out of shots, he would fly around in the ship until he saw another sparkling ball and fly into it to pick it up.

Remember the rotating chair at the Top of the World? Rayman felt just like that. Dizzy, but he was on a mission to be dizzy anyway. He kept flying round and round until he used up and collected enough shots and made the Grolgoth fall enough times in the lava and defeat it. Victory! The Grolgoth was destroyed. Razorbeard came out in an escape pod. He was not done yet.

"Rayman, I've saved one little surprise for you." And he pushed a button. Lying there in the lava, a countdown began inside the Grolgoth. Before Rayman knew what was going on, the Grolgoth AND the entire pirate ship exploded. Globox had been rescued from the outside, but Rayman was still inside.

A sombre funeral was held for Rayman. The people — Ly, Murfy, Globox and his family, the Teensies, Clark, the shells Rayman rode on, Carmen, and even Polokus himself — gathered around a totem. On top of the totem was one of Rayman's shoes. Rayman's dead. Who will protect them now?

Suddenly, the shoe began to move. Baby Globox stepped towards it. Some balls of light gathered around the shoe and suddenly dashed off in another direction. Everyone looked in that direction. From somewhere deep inside the forest, Rayman emerged walking on a crutch. Globox's children dashed towards him and cuddled him. Rayman's shoe attached itself back onto his body.

Polokus and the people cheered. Their hero was alive! And he had survived that explosion in the sky. Everyone was overjoyed. They kept calling out Rayman's name. Rayman was overjoyed himself, too. He gave the Baby Globoxes a great, big HUG.

Fireworks shot into the sky. The people of the planet celebrated and thanked Rayman.

"Rayman, we honour you this evening. Without your courage, the enemy would still be here. Once again, the world has found harmony. The heart of the world is back together. Now rest, Rayman. You may have to fight again. Who knows what tomorrow may bring……"