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Chapter 7: The Caves of Skops
Razorbeard stepped over the body of the vanquished spider-king Eregata, and began to climb the steps to his prize. Sand fell like waterfalls around him, and the ornately carved decorations on the walls around him shone. His pet Raylien towered behind him. He held his Form Baton ready.
He reached the top of the stairs. Before him was a large, round platform, made from yellow stone. Surrounding it was a pool of quicksand.
In the centre was a square, stone pillar. Razorbeard walked towards it, staring at it. He held his Form Baton high, and stopped before it.
The Form Baton glowed with energy, and a bolt of lightning appeared between it and the top of the pillar, playing between them. Then it stopped.
The pillar slid off of its base, revealing a hole in it.
Inside the hole was a dusty, old book.
Razorbeard would have grinned if he had anything resembling a mouth.
“We’re in business.”
A tear slid down Rayman’s cheek as he fought for his life. One of his best friends, Clark the Giant, was gone.
Christian, Lachimax, Mr. Dark and Ly fought beside him. Mr. Dark blasted Aliens out of his way with nothing but his mind, Christian slashed at them with his Form Baton, Lachimax twirled his spear in increasingly intricate combat moves, and Ly threw fireballs into the Aliens.
Christian pressed several buttons on his Form Baton, and a steady stream of flame began to pour from the end. The Aliens shied from it, snarling in anger. The five fighters escaped through the gap, running down the tunnel, Murfy following them close behind. Again.
They reached the place where they had left Globox and Uglette. Neither of them was there.
“That bloody coward...” muttered Rayman.
They turned off at the first tunnel they found. Mr. Dark raised his hands to the roof, and commanded the rocks to do his bidding.
They did.
The stone came alive, closing the entrance of the side tunnel and sealing the tunnel off from any Aliens that might attempt to follow them.
“But then nobody else will be able to get through...”
“If anybody else has survived, they’ll find another way out,”
Lachimax spoke into his headset: “This is Hybrid Knaaren, repeat, Hybrid Knaaren. Is there anyone out there?”
For a few moments, silence. Then the headpiece spluttered to life. “This is Purple Terror, repeat, Purple Terror. I’m heading back the way we came. We are under pursuit by Aliens. With me are Stonehead, Huntress and... What the hell? We just found Uglette and the kids. They’re running with us now. Hell knows how they got down here so quickly...”
“Is Globox with them?”
“Negative on that, sir,”
“Okay, Purple Terror. Go out the way you came. From what Christian has told us, these things are essentially nocturnal and they might back off in the light...”
“They won’t,” spoke Christian. “They’ll follow them, trust me,”
“Fine. If you can get out into the open and pick them off with guns, you might stand a chance,”
“Great. See you on the other side. Over and out,”
“Now to see what we can see...” said Christian, his voice penetrating the absolute darkness. Then there was a light, coming from the Form Baton. It illuminated the entire tunnel...
Revealing Globox, huddled in a corner, shaking and crying.
“Globox!”
He looked up.
“Rayman, I’m a worthless plum-sniffer. I lost Uglette!”
Rayman sat down next to him and patted his back. “It’s okay, Globox. She’s with CODEFS now. She’ll be alright,”
Globox sniffed. “An Alien came down the tunnel. We ran, but Uglette and the kids went the other way. Oh, Gaseous Gloop... Our other kids are out there too, you know. Gilly died, but there are another six hundred out on their own, fending for themselves against Razorbeard and the Aliens...”
He burst into tears again.
Rayman hugged him awkwardly.
Murfy’s voice interrupted this moment. “Sorry to interrupt, but shouldn’t we get moving?”
The considerably reduced band walked through the tunnel, ever vigilant. Eventually the tunnel began to open out. The walls began to change colour, going from dull brown, dirt walls to purplish, stone ones. Finally, the companions emerged into a huge cavern, with a vast lake in the centre. It was surrounded by naturally formed stone pillars, and there were many overhanging platforms. Hovering in the air were herds of Purple Lums, roaming throughout the cavern.
“I know this place...” said Rayman. “I’ve been here before. This is the Cave of Skops!”
“Yes,” said Murfy, ever the man of few words. Or the flying frog with few words. If that is what Murfy is.
“But how did we get here? Clearleaf Forest is miles away,”
“The Rabbid Tunnels link many distant places, it seems,” Murfy replied.
“This place is almost directly below my old hideout,” said Mr. Dark. “I remember luring Mister Skops too you to prevent you from reaching me,”
“Yeah. Good times, huh?”
Nobody could see Dark’s face through the shadows that obscured it, but he was smiling. “Yes. Good times,”
I guess it’s safe to rest here for a while, said Ly.
So they did. The group found a flat, bare space and lay down. And, to the dripping of water throughout the cavern, Rayman began to doze.
The Tower of the Leptys
“Hey, look! It’s more of Andre’s little buddies! Wonder if they want to play?”
“Shut up Globox, and keep driving!”
Rayman flipped backwards into the reverse facing seat behind Globox’s, and gripped the gun turret. He pointed it at the stream of Hoodlum shuttles coming towards their own, and let fly with a burst of green laser. The Hoodlum shuttles burst into flame, falling, crashing into the ground far below. The Black Lums within the Hoodlum suits escaped from the fireballs, flying upwards.
Suddenly, the shuttle jerked, veering off course. “What are you doing, Globox?” he shouted.
He heard a hissing, snarling sound from right behind him, and turned...
To find that Globox was no longer there.
In his place was an Alien.
“Rayman, wake up!”
Rayman’s eyes sprung open. He was in the Cave of Skops. The event in his dream had happened almost two years ago, after Andre the Black Lum had escaped from the confines of Globox’s digestive system. Except for the part with the Alien.
Rayman rolled over to find Globox staring at him in concern. “You were tossing and turning. I woke you up,”
“Thanks for that, Globox,” Rayman said.
“We’re gonna move out soon. Mr. Dark has a plan of action,”
Rayman stood up, looked around. He guessed that it was probably around midday outside, but he couldn’t tell the difference in here. Mr. Dark and Lachimax were conversing close by, discussing what to do next. Mr. Dark had produced a map, seemingly out of nowhere, and was showing it to Lachimax.
“If we head up this passage, we will be dead on course for Candy Chateau. I have a few devices there that could help us out,”
“Alright, but I have heard of this place. The Caves of Skops are reputedly guarded by a huge scorpion creature, Mister Skops...”
“They are,” said Rayman. Both Lachimax and Mr. Dark turned to face him. “But Mister Skops will not attack us unless we provoke him directly. If we stay clear of his cave, he will leave us alone,”
Rayman could sense Mr. Dark was smiling within the shadows of his hat. “As you so unwisely did, all those years ago,”
“Yes. So, what’s the plan?”
“We head up, as steeply as we can, towards Candy Chateau. We plan to use it as a base, as it is well protected from any threat,”
“Excellent. Finally, we will no longer be running from these things,”
Lachimax glanced at Christian. “Plus, on the way there, you might be able to talk to Christian,”
Rayman caught his meaning.
The considerably smaller party moved out shortly after, following Mr. Dark’s map of the Caves. He led them ever upwards, through the labyrinth of huge caverns and underground caves. And as they marched, Rayman talked to Christian.
“How did those Rabbids die? We came out and they were served on a platter!”
“It was a Yautja, better known as a Predator to other species. The Yautja are a race of technologically advanced trophy hunters. They have developed a cloaking device system, which renders them near-invisible. Although they do have high standards of technology on their home planet, they prefer to use simpler weapons in their hunts, such as blades and throwing weapons. Though a favourite weapon of theirs, the plasma caster, is fairly advanced. But do not underestimate them because of their weapons. The Predators have, and always will be, deadly efficient hunters,”
That explains the running, said Ly, listening in behind them.
“Yes. A single Yautja can take down a squad of trained Special Forces soldiers with ease. The history of the xenomorphs is tied closely with that of the Yautja. They used them for hunting, considering them the ultimate prey. Aliens were often used in rites of passage. If you killed a xenomorph, you were a true hunter. But the Yautja have been silent for many years now. They supposedly died out in... an accident on their homeworld. But I always suspected there were survivors,”
“Okay... so there’s one here, and he’s hunting the Aliens?”
“Apparently. Though we should steer clear of him or her,”
Any further conversation was cut off by Mr. Dark cursing. “Damn it! The passage is blocked!”
“What!?”
“A rockslide or something...”
And, indeed, a rockslide had blocked their path. They were on a raised path on the wall of one cave, high in the air. A long drop ended in a vast lake below them.
“We’ll have to backtrack. There are alternate routes, though not as quick or safe,”
“We have no other choice,”
So they backtracked.
Eventually they found themselves inside a slightly smaller cave, one with a lake of bubbling lava replacing those of water in the other caves. In the middle of the cave, on a raised platform, was a massive pile of gold, jewels and other treasures, almost equal to the stockpile of the Cave of Bad Dreams.
Fast asleep, on a winding path which led to the treasure, was a massive scorpion.
Mister Skops.
His head rested on his single, disembodied claw, snoring contentedly. His tail lay curled around his body.
Rayman looked sharply to Mr. Dark. “You didn’t tell me we were coming here!”
Dark bowed his head. “It is the only way through. We have no choice. Besides, there is a pathway around the edge of the cavern. We can avoid Skops completely,”
At that very moment, several Aliens were crawling across the ceiling.
Globox was the first to spot them. “ALIENS!”
Christian ignited his Form Baton sword. “Not more of these mother...”
They could only watch as the Aliens dropped onto Skops’ back, waking him instantly. The giant scorpion roared, attempting to shake the xenomorphs off. He impaled one on his tail, apparently unaffected by the acid blood, and gripped another in his claw. But there were many of them, and they began to drive Skops towards Rayman and the others.
Lachimax turned to them. “Quickly, follow the path around the outside!”
But there were more Aliens appearing by the second, and several of them had dropped in the companions’ way. Rayman turned to see that there were more where they had come from.
They were trapped.
“Polokus’s vodka...”
The companions fought. There were dozens of Aliens, and they drove the party down the narrow walkway.
Straight towards Skops.
Rayman swept an Alien off the path with his feet, knocking it into the lava. It died without a sound. Globox began to dance, calling a small thunderstorm to strike at the xenomorphs. But, despite their efforts, they were driven, slowly but inexorably, towards Skops.
Finally, there was nothing between them. Skops, unable to get rid of his Alien attackers, turned on Rayman’s companions in anger. He grabbed Lachimax in his claw, throwing him to the ground. His tail struck, fast as lightning. It missed once, as Lachimax rolled, but was poised for another strike.
The end of his tail whizzed through the air...
And was blocked by the blade of an axe.
An axe held by something half-dog, half human.