Chapter 5: The Menhir Hills

The portal had taken Rayman back to earth. To be precise, it teleported him to the Menhir Hills, which was a very wide-open grassy valley with lots of hills and, of course, menhirs (huge stones).
The sun was starting to rise again, now. Rayman ran up one of the grassy hills--and saw one of his old friends, Clark, standing there! Clark was a large, tough, muscle-built creature--probably capable of defeating large masses of Robo-Pirates easily. Rayman was lucky to have him as a friend! And he was lucky to find Clark here at this time!
"Hi, Clark," said Rayman.
"Hey, little buddy," spoke Clark. "Hey, follow me and I'll show you the way to another part of this area. There's another pirate hideout there. We've gotta put at stop to them!"
"They've built ANOTHER hideout?" gasped Rayman. "Gee, those metal pirates are taking over the whole land!"
However, Rayman was glad that the strong, muscular Clark was with him and could do something about it. Although Clark was somewhat clumsy, his strength came in handy very often. With Rayman and Clark working together, they could probably clear out the pirates' hideout twice as fast!
Clark then ran through the hills, across a sturdy, wooden bridge, and through another large outdoor area. Rayman didn't see any Yellow Lums here, though. The pirates' second hideout was up ahead, in plain view. Clark had got there ahead of Rayman and was already in the hideout. Rayman, who was still outside, could hear a lot of loud noises coming from inside, which sounded like a bunch of robots being thrown around and smashed! Rayman went inside, too. There was a signpost on the wall outside the hideout which read:

"Robo-Pirate military academy. Please respect the need for total silence for the cadets' concentration."

Rayman entered the wooden building. He knew that Clark was in there.

He entered a dark room of the hideout, where there were a lot of robot body parts and bolts lying around on the floor. These were obviously remains of defeated Robo-Pirates. It was very quiet in here, now that all the Robo-Pirates weren't there anymore. Clark was sitting in the corner of the room, against a wooden wall, looking tired.
"Clark!" shouted Rayman happily, walking up to him. "So you wiped out all these Robo-Pirates! ...Only 200 pirates against you? They didn't stand a chance!"
"H..hello, little buddy," said Clark slowly. He was looking rather tired and sick.
"What's the matter, Clark?" asked Rayman, becoming worried. "You're not dying, are you?"
"Uh...no, I don't think so..." said Clark. "I think I've just swallowed something bad for me."
"Oh, no," groaned Rayman, wondering what to do. "Too bad Otto the Teensie doctor hasn't finished building his medical clinic in Clearleaf Forest yet, because then we could take you there!"
"But for now, maybe I could get better if I have some life potion," said Clark.
"Awwh, come on! You seriously expect me to find some?" groaned Rayman.
"I hear there's some that's hidden near the entrance of the Marshlands, in a place called the Cave of Bad Dreams."
Rayman then remembered the strange, one-eyed, green monster with the top hat and the skull sceptre, who was guarding the hollow oak tree back in the marshes and had previously forbidden Rayman's entry.
"The Cave of Bad Dreams!" shouted Rayman excitedly. "That's it! That's the password I need to enter the cave in the marshes! But how did you know that's the password, Clark?"
"Uh...Polokus told me," replied Clark slowly. "But beware, that's also the cave where Polokus hid away all his nightmares and negative thoughts that had created scary creatures. Polokus wasn't able to control all of his creations. You'll have to go through a lot of creepy rooms before finding the elixir that's hidden in that cave. Anyway, don't forget the name of that place--the Cave of Bad Dreams--or else the guardian won't let you pass!"
"The Cave of Bad Dreams," Rayman repeated again. "I won't forget. Hang in there, I'll go to the marshes and bring back the elixir."
"Umm...thanks, little buddy," mumbled Clark, tiredly. Then, he fainted.
Rayman turned around and went back outside to the front yard of the hideout.
"It will be a long walk back to the marshes..." frowned Rayman, walking back. His feet were getting tired from walking such long distances for hours and hours.
However, as luck might have it, he saw Bzzit flying by, who buzzed: "Hey, Rayman, I hear that you need to get back to the marshes! Hop on my back and I'll take you back there!"
"Gee, thanks, Bzzit!" replied Rayman as he hopped onto the giant mosquito's back and they flew off to the Cave Guardian's hollow tree in the marshlands...