Hell, this chapter was good fun to write! Although, it seems completely not necessary, it is. Believe me, it is. I believe next chapter might be a sinister interlude. Duh, duh, duuh!

A Vandal in our Midst

"I do not believe I'm doing this!" moaned Rayman, feeling miserable.

"You have to! She's a friend of mine!"

"But do we have to go to these extremes?"

"YES!"

Rayman had a rope tied precariously around his waist and was bracing to jump into the deep dark dank dungeons below. He had been given the challenge by Ly, to rescue a particular imp named Kaelinth. Apparently Kaelinth had been accused of vandalising the Pixele Tree. In reality, she had done nothing but touch it. Crime is tough. Punishment is tougher.

Rayman looked up. Globox, Drealy, Chippy and Minimus were peering at him through a hole. They were controlling the pulley on which Rayman was connected to. "Don't worry!" cried Drealy, "Nothing can go wrong!" Ly smiled: "All you've got to do is get lowered down, grab Kaelinth and get out!"

"Great," said Rayman, "Basically a death sentence."

"You ready?" asked Chippy.

"On the count of three."

"Wait! Not yet!"

"Three," said Globox. Rayman felt himself toppling over the edge. He screamed. The pulley system lurched. "Oh dear," said Chippy. Rayman went flying straight into the opposite wall. "NOT IN THE MOOD!" shouted Rayman, angrily.

"Sorry....... Ooh! Ouch. Sorry doubled!" Rayman had crashed into the parallel wall. Little did the group of six know, that an alarm bell had just been issued all round the Fairy Council. "Just lower me down!" shouted Rayman.

"Yes sir! Right away sir!" Rayman felt his stomach lurch. He plummeted at least sixty foot into pitch blackness. How close, he came to the ground, Rayman never knew. "Sorry!" came a faint voice. But Rayman wasn't listening. He could here another faint voice. "Hello," it called, "Who's there?"

"It's um, Rayman! Come to save you."

"The Rayman?"

"The Rayman."

"But why are you saving me? I am but a humble imp!"

"Ly's persuaded me too!"

"Oh, I see... Good old Ly."

"Now can you cling onto me. We going up."

"Hang on, I just need to find you."

Meanwhile, Globox, Chippy, Minimus and Drealy were still peering over the edge. "Wonder how long he's been down there?" inquired Globox.

"Two minutes. Almost less than," answered Minimus, rolling his eyes.

"Gotcha." Suddenly, the quartet heard a clicking sound. Rather like the loading of a rifle. "Hastalavisto, non-fairies!" cried a rather menacing-looking fairy.

"Oh," said Minimus.

"My," said Globox.

"God," said Drealy.

"We are so dead," said Chippy.

"What are you doing and why are you here?" growled the fairy.

"Isn't that kind of the same question?"

"I'm the one, asking the questions here!" snapped back the fairy.

"Yes m'am. Apologies m'am."

"Now which one of you's gonna explain to me first, what's going on? Or are you all gonna be dead meat served on a carcass of fish oil. I love donuts."

"Is it out of interest, the end of your shift?"

"Very nearly. But stop de-unattracting me or you'll all die."

"Tsk, tsk. Such bad double phrasing."

"WHICH ONE OF YOU!" Unfortunately, the fairy shouting was just too much for poor Chippy to take. He yelped back and got his foot caught in the pulley. The pulley shot upwards and caused a chain reaction for Rayman to go flinging up.

"YAHHHHH!!!" screamed Rayman. Meanwhile, Chippy had got himself into a rather awkward predicament. He either allowed himself to be sucked into the pulley, let himself drop down slowly and get shot to pieces or go plummeting down to his doom. He chose to plummet.

This obviously caused Rayman to go up. Suddenly his head slammed straight into a strange rod. Light filled the area. Blinding light, so you couldn't really see anything more anyway.

Chippy let go and plummeted. Minimus, unfortunately, mistook this for an act of death and leapt forward to save him. "NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Minimus and grabbed hold of Chippy. Teensies are extremely weightless creatures. Minimus made practically no difference to Chippy's fall except of being part of it. This left Drealy and Globox to the wraths of the fairy.

Ly was equally worried. Something had gone terribly wrong and it was all her fault for making them all do this. "It's time for some action," thought Ly, out loud.

Rayman felt dizzy. Dizzier than a demented cow with both Mad Cow's Disease and the flu. After all, his head had just been through an absolutely awful ordeal. "Help!" He heard a squeal. "I'm going to fall!" Rayman looked around him. Then he saw her. A tiny imp about the size of his hand was desperately straggling on the non-existent holes in the wall. "Don't worry!" shouted Rayman, "I'll save you!"

"Please hurry!" Rayman tried to make the rope swing in her direction but he was failing miserably and besides, Chippy and Minimus' inch-by-inch descent was giving him an inch-by-inch ascent. He could hear gunshots. That could be a bonus problem. Then -

"PEOPLE! PEOPLE! PEOPLE! WHAT IS THIS FIGHTING FOR, FOR IT'S A VANDAL IN OUR MIDST!"

"Please, dear god, what now..."

Out of the blue, (or blinding white) stepped a small green bug with the biggest smile you will ever, ever see. Ly saw him and groaned. It was none other than their old friend, Murfy. I say friend, I really mean acquaintance. Murfy had recently been made a rap star and his head had bloated to the size of a large fridge. The name of this pop star... A Vandal in our Midst. He began to sing:

"Everybody knows, my simple name!

It begins with M and it's still the same!

But let me tell you, I'm a really bad guy!

For my vandalism, spreads to the sky!"

Rayman stared. Stunned. "Tell me this isn't true." Murfy flew up to Rayman's level. "What's the matter with you then, my friend!"

"I'm suspended by a rope, trying to save somebody and I think my friends have been shot."

"Whoa! I think we have one grumpy person! We all know what this guy needs!" A chorus of mini Murfys appeared: "Yeah! Woo! Yabba dabba doo!"

"He needs some vandalism!"

"I don't believe in vandalism!"

"Sure you do!" Rayman, Chippy and Minimus were roughly at the same level now. After exchanging greetings they analysed their situation. "HHHHHHHHHHHIYAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Drealy, came tumbling down. In desperation, she clung onto both sides of rope. Then there was a scream. Ly went down as well. "Now it's up to Globox!" As if on timing, Globox came tumbling down as well. "This is now awkward."

"This is going to be hilarious!" grinned Murfy.

"Why?" asked Ly, cautiously.

"The pulley system is breaking under all your weight!"

"You're gonna pay for that, wise bug," screamed Ly, grabbing hold of Murfy.

"Wait a minute," suggested Rayman, "Isn't the pulley built on a spring mechanism?"

"Oh! This is going to hurt!" screamed Murfy, clinging onto the nearest thing he could cling onto: They seemed like a very thin, small pair of legs. Meanwhile, the fairy above, brushed her hands. "Glad that's over," she snarled happily.

CRACK.

The eight of them went flinging up into the hair and straight through the hole in which the fairy was peering over. A kafuffle of screams and yikes came over them. Then went smashing directly through the glass ceiling and up and up and up. A load of other fairies stared up in amazement. Some of them, reacted well, and started shooting. Then, they were out. Slamming through layers of soil and then.

KERLUMP.

They had crashed into a tree. A particular multi-coloured tree. The tree, toppled and fell, with great speed, straight onto the groaning Murfy. Murfy slid out and stared in amazement. "That is some vandalism!" he said.

"Huh!" gasped Rayman. For they had destroyed the Pixele Tree. Beautiful sunrises were no more in the Ubix Valley. "How dare you!" screeched the fairy.

"I am arresting you for vandalising the Pixele Tree! Anything you say now may affect your case severely!"

"Wait hang on!" said Kaelinth, "You vandalised it as well!"

"I -, I - ARGH!" And at that, the fairy ran off into the woods, never to be seen within the Ubix Valley again. Suddenly, a huge shadow loomed over them. They all looked up. It was a hovercraft with the words:

BB: BETILLA'S BEASTIES

A familiar fairy peered over the edge of the hovercraft. I believe, you all have some explaining to do. The eight of them looked at each other uneasily. There were in serious trouble.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Well, hope you enjoyed it. Please give me some reviews! I want at least fifteen by the time I get to Chapter 10. Are you up to the challenge?