Chapter #12: The Precipice!

Things were going to start getting arduous and suspenseful...Rayman could sense it...
Rayman was now in the Precipice. He thought he'd explore this area while waiting for Owlbert to wake up. However, the Precipice looked awfully treacherous! Standing at the dizzying heights at the top of the cliffs, Rayman stared down into the deep, seemingly-endless gap between two cliffs... There were some long bridges leading through the precipice, made of the thinnest boards of wood. It looked like an unstable place.
As if the area didn't look dangerous enough...guess what was coming back? Razorbeard's warship--and this time, it really wasn't giving up! The ship furiously and rapidly started firing hundreds of cannonballs down, bombing and breaking the wooden planks of the bridge that Rayman was supposed to cross! The bridges started collapsing! This had happened in the Marshlands earlier in Rayman's quest...but this time, it was ten times worse! Rayman became scared. He had to react fast! Quickly, Rayman ran ahead of the cannonball barrage, and ran across this bridge, as fast as his feet could take him, as the bridge collapsed very, very rapidly beneath his feet.
KA-BLAMM-BLAMM-WHEE-BLAMM-BLAAAAAMM-BLAMM-BLAMM-BLAMM-BLAMM- BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM! That's the noise the cannonballs made as they flew across the sky and came down smashing right through the planks of the wooden, unstable bridges! KABLAMBLAMBLAMBALAMMMMMM!!!!! Rayman was in very hot pursuit from the warship, and had to run, run, run, across the collapsing bridge very quickly! Fast wasn't fast enough!
Would Rayman be able to survive all the way through to the end of The Precipice? His survival depended on both the sturdiness of the bridges, and if he'd be quick enough to get across and avoid the cannonballs! There were also many Yellow Lums, sitting right on the bridges and in plain view, lucky for him. He picked them all up, but he had to do it very fast because the bridge he was on was falling and collapsing!
This dangerous, scary path went on for about five whole minutes... Eventually, after this very, very loud, lengthy and almost-impossible-to- survive chase, the warship flew away. There was a deep cave in the cliff walls, which was too small for the huge warship to fly through. Rayman ran through this tunnel. It was just a short tunnel, which led into another outdoor area. There was deep water below the bridge that Rayman was on...it was toxic, acid water...and there was also a very high tower up ahead, with bridges leading around the sides of it, and up to the top of it! Rayman ran across the bridge...
The warship then came back! It let another whole myriad of cannonballs go flying towards the bridge which Rayman was standing on. Then, it also fired a whole bunch of flying missile shells that had come to life! They trailed towards Rayman. There was no time to tame these shells; Rayman absolutely had to get a move on, or fall into the river below because the bridge would break into pieces and there wouldn't be anything to stand on! He couldn't waste any time--not even a single millisceond!
He ran further and faster up the bridge. He reached the pathway which curved around the sides of the tower, and sloping upwards. The warship was still flying behind Rayman and chasing him. Its Jolly Roger flag blew back and forth in the gusty gale. And if this warship wasn't enough problems, the acid water in the area was now rising! And the tall tower was starting to slowly sink! The warship continued firing cannonballs breaking the bridge, threatening to get rid of Rayman once and for all, and the tower was sinking simoutaneously. Razorbeard was sure that Rayman didn't have a single slight chance of making it to the top of this tower...
BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!!!!! BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!!!!! BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!!!!!
It was a very long way up to the top.
Soon...after being very close to falling off the bridges and down into the acid water below...Rayman did finally make it to the top of this exceedingly treacherous, doomful tower!
"Woo-hoo!" yelled Rayman! "That was very, very close!!!"
"What???!!!???!!!" yelled Admiral Razorbeard, from his warship, in disbelief. "If he's even able to survive THAT...then what am I gonna do to get rid of him??? Arrrgh!!!"
At the top of this tower, Rayman saw there was a red button, which he quickly pressed...and it caused a long, metal bridge raise across the water surrounding him. Rayman hurriedly crossed over this metal bridge, which led to a tunnel in the cliff walls that were surrounding the tall tower. Rayman went into the cave that was inside the cliff walls.
Inside this cave, there was an extremely deep, deep, deep pit leading down, down, down, downwards. Rayman looked down at it. Then, oops! He fell into it! He plummetted down, down, down, down... Rayman, thinking quickly, activated his helicopter hair to glide more slowly and safely. Down, down, down, down, down he glided through this deep, deep, deep, deep tunnel. And lucky for him, there were also a few Yellow Lums floating in mid-air! Rayman grabbed them all, as he glided down, down, down, down, down... It was a very, very, very long way down to the bottom of this downwards tunnel.
Finally, he reached the bottom of the pit. There was a wooden bridge leading across the rest of the gap, to the cave exit. Suddenly, the warship appeared again! It, too, had flown into this cave--through another wide-open entrance.
Rayman once again, ran across the bridge, as the warship was quickly destroying it.
BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!!!!! BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!!!!! BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!!!!!
Suddenly, when Rayman was almost near the end of this rickety bridge and nearing the exit of the huge cave, a giant cannonball knocked Rayman off the bridge he was standing on--and Rayman fell off!
"Aaaaah!" screamed Rayman. He was going to fall to his doom...
"Har, har, har!" Razorbeard laughed, from his warship.
However--AT THE LAST POSSIBLE MILLISECOND--Rayman quickly grabbed onto the edge of what remained of the bridge--just exactly before he could fall into the pit below. He then pulled himself back up, and he ran the rest of the way across the rapidly-collapsing bridge. A giant cannonball was trailing at full speed towards the last plank of the bridge...the last plank was about to be destroyed...THE LAST PLANK WAS ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED...Rayman ran off the last plank, and set foot on the solid cave ground up ahead...and, just as the final plank was breaking up into tiny pieces and disappearing...RAYMAN MADE IT TO THE CAVE EXIT!!!!! JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME!!!!! Through this cave exit, he came out at a vast, beach area, at the very bottom of the precipice.
There was a gentle breeze out here... Everything was quiet, now..completely quiet and peaceful... Razorbeard and his warship had left, in fury and embarrassment. There were no more cannonballs raining down on Rayman...just dead silence surrounding the area...
The sun was starting to set. On the far right, there was a gateway in the cliff walls, which seemed to lead to the next area. However, before entering this room, Rayman noticed several Yellow Lums lying around on the beach outside. He picked them all up, and then walked up to the gate. The gate in the cliff walls led into a small cavern room where there was another cage. When Rayman broke it open with his powerful fists, another Teensie came out of this cage!
This Teensie spoke, "I hear that you want to see Owlbert and borrow his aircraft so you can get to the mines! Well, it's almost night-time now, so he's probably awake by now...so I'll take you back to him..."
It opened a portal leading back to Owlbert's house outside the Echoing Caverns!
Rayman now had a total of 655 Yellow Lums. Getting the ones in The Precipice had been really dangerous...