Chapter 8: The Tree Tops

WARNING: This chapter is a bit more interesting than Chapter 7. Read carefully, 'cuz I've put some interesting made-up details in this chapter...

The portal led to an area called The Tree Tops. Rayman ended up in a room inside one of the trees in the forest canopy. The yellow morning sunlight shone through the holes in this hollow tree, making everything look extremely bright.
Even though this was the sunniest day in history, it wasn't necessarily a peaceful one. Murfy flew by, buzzing loudly in fear. "Be careful, because there are some giant spiders lurking around in these trees! I wouldn't want to get eaten by one!..."
"Will they want to eat me, too?" asked Rayman.
"I dunno...maybe, maybe not, but just to be safe, don't let them get you!" replied Murfy, scared. He then flew away, in case any spiders would suddenly appear.
Rayman proceeded further through the inside of this tree. Then, without any warning, a giant, black, hairy spider dropped from the ceiling and started charging towards Rayman. Did the spider think that Rayman was a fly?
"I'm not a fly! I'm not a fly, you idiot!" screamed Rayman. He created a ball of energy in his fists. As the spider charged towards Rayman, Rayman threw his ball of energy at it. The spider got stunned, but then quickly recovered. It continued charging towards Rayman. Rayman hopped over it. He decided that it was better to run away from this spider than to stay and fight it. It could end up killing Rayman!
There was a cobweb on one of the walls inside this tree, which Rayman grabbed onto and climbed up. The spider still followed Rayman, up the cobweb. Rayman climbed all the way to the end of the cobweb, and jumped off onto a ledge sticking out of the walls on the right. From here, there was a giant hole in the tree, which Rayman hopped through to get outside.
The sun was shining very brightly outside. Rayman was now standing on a high-up branch on the outside of the tree. There was actually a whole bridge made of tree branches, and this allowed Rayman to cross over to another hollow tree, which also had an opening in it. He walked across the branch bridge carefully, to avoid falling off it. There were a few Yellow Lums on this tree branch bridge that he was standing on. He picked them all up. He now had 460 Yellow Lums. Rayman entered the second tree through the opening in it.
In the room in the second tree, there was a room with a few more Yellow Lums! He picked them up, and he now had 470 Yellow Lums! In the center of this room, there was also a small hole. Rayman wondered if he should go down through it? He decided he'd have to see what was down there, since there wasn't anywhere else to go! So he dropped through the tiny hole. Down, down, down, he fell through the hole in the tree...
...and he landed on the floor of another room, this one inside the second tree. Here, he could hear someone humming boredly. It sounded like Globox! Was this where the pirates had imprisoned Globox for the second time?
There was a sign on the wall, which the Robo-Pirates had put up. It read:
"Imprisoned here is Public Enemy #2. His rain-dance led to the rusting of several brave Robo-Pirate commanders..."
This must be where Globox is imprisoned!, thought Rayman.
There was a huge gap in the ground, with a small, narrow bridge leading to the other end. Here, Rayman could see that there was a caged area, where Globox probably was trapped.
So, Rayman ran across this bridge, to access Globox's cage. Suddenly, a Robo-Pirate popped out of the ground.
"Arrh, arrh, ARRH!" yelled the pirate! The pirate pulling out its gun. "You've made it this far! I don't believe it! You must NOT set Globox free! You must NOT set him free!!!!!...I guess he didn't listen to me," said the pirate, lying defeated on the ground, after Rayman shot several balls of energy at him.
Then, Rayman stepped up to the area where Globox's cage was. However, he didn't see how he was going to free Globox. There wasn't any button that could be activated...oh, yes, there was. On the far cave walls across the room. Rayman created another ball of energy in his fists, and shot it at this button.
Yippie-yippie!!!!! This button opened Globox's cage! Just as Rayman had predicted!!!!!
"Yeah! Rayman is the greatest!" yelled Globox.
"It must have been very boring, being held in that prison room for three whole days," Rayman thought.
"Not really..." said Globox. "I drew some pictures on the wall of the prison to keep myself busy..."
"What did you do when there wasn't any more space left on the wall?" asked Rayman.
"Then I washed off my old pictures, with the rain from my rain-dance, to make room for new pictures. ...Anyway, thanks for freeing me! Now, follow me, and I'll help you get further..."
Globox hopped out of his prison. Then, he walked over across the narrow bridge. Rayman followed him back across the bridge, back to where Rayman had entered this room.
"You see this other hallway?" said Globox. There was a hallway leading to another room of the tree, which Rayman and Globox could go through...if a red laser forcefield didn't keep appearing in front of the hallway entrance when they approached it! There was a small machine-like object creating a red laser forcefield in front of the tunnel, when they approached it. The laser forcefield blocked the hallway to the next room, and Rayman said it looked like there was no way past it.
"Yes, there is..." said Globox, "...if we just rust the machine that's creating the laser forcefield!"
"Oh," said Rayman. "I should have known!"
Then Globox started doing a rain-dance, causing a rain cloud to appear over the machine. Heavy rain poured out from this dark cloud, which rusted the machine. The machine couldn't make any more forcefields now! So the forcefield that had been there faded away, and now Rayman and Globox could enter this tunnel that had been previously blocked by the forcefield.

In the next room, there were some Yellow Lums. Rayman picked them all up. He now had 480. There was also a small flower on the ground.
"Hi, little flower!" spoke Globox. "What's your name? Rose? My name's Globox! ...Hmm...it looks like you need some water...well, don't worry..." Globox walked up in front of the flower, and did a rain-dance while standing in front of the small flower. A cloud then appeared over the flower, and rain came pouring from the cloud, which watered the flower and caused it to grow bigger. Rayman could now stand on the top of this giant-sized flower, like a platform, to reach a ledge that was high above it. But unfortunately, Globox couldn't hop that high, and even if he could, his heavy weight would squish the flower.
Rayman then walked across this ledge and entered another tunnel. It was very dark inside here. There was a long path in this tunnel, leading over a huge pit. However, there was some fire blocking his path. Globox's rain-dance could have easily put out this fire, but Globox couldn't reach this high-up area!
Then, Rayman turned back and walked out of the tunnel, back to the ledge that was above the giant flower. He sat and thought about what to do to get Globox up here...
Then, he noticed a wooden pole sticking out from this ledge. Rayman shot at it, to break it and knock it over. This created a bridge, so Globox could walk across it and get up there.
Globox then walked across this ledge and entered the dark tunnel where the fire was. He did his rain-dance. Once again, a rain-cloud appeared. The rain doused the fire easily. So, Rayman and Globox both walked further through the tunnel.
At the other end of the tunnel, beyond where the fire had been, there was another room, which was brighter. The sun shone through this room. It looked peaceful in here...until a Robo-Pirate popped up from the ground. Rayman fought it and defeated it, again.
Globox ran and hid in a corner of the room.
Rayman, after knocking down the pirate, walked up to where Globox was hiding, and asked, "What's the matter? Are you afraid?"
"No, no!" said Globox--afraid to admit he was afraid.
"There's no shame in being scared, you know," Rayman assured him. "The warship and the pirates are very dangerous. Oh, if only I had more of my powers back, I could get rid of more of them..."
"Powers? Globox forgot that!" Globox pulled a Silver Lum out. "Here's another gift that Ly told me to give to you..."
"A SILVER LUM!" yelled Rayman!
"This will make your fists stronger," explained Globox.
"This will make my fists stronger..." repeated Rayman. "Okay!"
Then, the two of them went through the exit of the room.
They came to an outdoor area, high above the ground outside. There was a very long tree-branch, creating a bridge across the canopy, leading to the opening of another tree. The entrance to this tree, however, was blocked by another laser forcefield being created by a machine. Not only that, but the machine creating the laser forcefield, also had a laser forcefield around it, which was being created by a second machine! Globox was about to approach the second machine and was about to rust it with his rain-dance, when...
Suddenly, the pirates' warship appeared, swooping overhead.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" panicked Globox. "AAAH, AAH," he continued screaming, running back and hiding in another hole in the tree.
This left Rayman to deal with the warship. It fired a whole bunch of cannonballs down to the bridge that Rayman was standing on, trying to destroy it. KA-BLAM-BOOM-BOOMB-BLAM-BLOOM-BAM-KABLOOM! But luckily, this bridge was very stable, and it did not break.
"Arrh!" Razorbeard yelled, from inside the warship. "I'll just have to send out a bunch of my Robo-Pirates to attack..."
Then, a whole swarm of Robo-Pirates jumped out of the warship, and onto the bridge, ambushing Rayman and pulling out their guns and swords. Using his stronger fists, Rayman made a very big blast of silver energy, and fired it at one of the pirates. It collapsed and was defeated. Rayman did the same thing with the other pirates, dodging their shots and firing his own bursts of energy at them. It was an incredibly long battle. Finally, the last Robo-Pirate was down. The warship then flew away. Rayman thought he could hear Razorbeard saying, "Arrrrrh...I'll be back..."

Rayman ran back to Globox, to tell him it was now safe to come out, again.
"You actually got rid of that massive army?" said Globox. "Well, thank goodness..." Then, he and Rayman walked to the other end of the bridge, where there was another machine creating a focefield blocking the machine that was creating a forcefield blocking the entrance to the next oak tree. Globox just deactivated the second forcefield machine (the one that was creating a forcefield protecting the first machine), and then the forcefield around the first machine faded away. Then, Globox did his rain- dance on the first machine (the one creating the forcefield that was blocking the entrance to the next tree). The machine was now rusted and deactivated--and the forcefield around the entrance to the next tree turned off. Rayman and Globox entered the inside of the hollow tree.
Inside THIS tree, there was a room, also containing a huge, metal doorway leading into another room. Rayman approcahed this doorway, but there was a red spotlight on the floor, coming from a security camera that was detecting any intruders. The door closed, not letting Rayman enter. It looked impossible to get any further, now.
But then, Globox noticed a small, bushy red plant on the ground near the door. Globox watered it, by doing another rain-dance. The plant grew bigger.
"Huh?" said Rayman. "Globox, what do you plan to do with this giant plant?"
"Hide in here, Rayman," whispered Globox, "and use it to disguise yourself..."
Rayman hopped into the huge, leafy plant. He now looked like a very big-nosed bush. He then moved towards the door again, this time disguising himself by holding the giant, red leaves of the plant in front of him.
The red spotlight on the ground detected Rayman, again.
"Identification under way..." said the speaker that was above the door. Then it said: "Everything's okay. It's just a very big-nosed bush. Security door inactivated."
Then, the red spotlight disappeared, and the doorway opened up. Rayman hurried through it.
"Phew! They didn't recognize me!" said Rayman. "They think I'm just a bush!"
Behind this door, there was a cage containing a Teensie. It opened up the entrance to another portal and spoke: "This leads to the Whale Bay." Rayman hopped into it.
"Good luck in the rest of your adventure, Rayman!" said Globox. "I can't come with you. My darling Uglette wants to see me." Uglette was Globox's wife.
The Teensie also created a portal for Globox to get back to his home, which was in the Woods of Light. Globox hopped through the portal which led back to the Woods of Light, and Rayman went through the portal leading to the Whale Bay. He now had a total of 505 Yellow Lums. They all shone brightly...