Chapter 3

The Battle in the Life Tree and the

Very Severe Beating of the Ape Bullies

image [https://i.imgur.com/Mb3SH8l.png]

It was just like out of one of Sebastian’s day dreams. The action! The excitement! The surprises! The bad guys, who he’d always wished and hoped someone would stand up to, finally getting a taste of their own medicine!

The creature was about four feet tall, slender and upright. It wore a bright green tunic and cloak as black as night. Around its waist, was tied a golden sash with little pouches on the back.

“Run away!” cried the Black Beard Gang. “Run away! Run away!”

“Quick! Before it eats us! Don’t you remember the stories?”

“I’m not staying to fight that thing! Forget it!”

But Old Black Beard wouldn’t let them.

“You cowards!” he shouted down at them. “Don’t be afrrr-aid! It’s just one crrr-eature! Fight! Destroy him! That’s an order! MAKE HIM SUFFAH!”

“Yes sir!” the bravest ones yelled back.

The mysterious creature, meanwhile, wasn’t wasting any time. As soon as it landed in the tree, it leaped down, drew a long pointed staff and delivered such a blow onto one poor ape’s head that it went cross-eyed and straight to sleep, tumbling out of the tree, down into some mud.

image [https://i.imgur.com/gj7jYaw.png]

“Oh yeah!” cried Sebastian, very impressed. “Pow! Right in the face! Did you see that?” He loved every minute of it.

Three more of the gang fell under our hero’s staff after that. Smack! Thwack! Oof! Just like that! And when others tried to jump up onto the branch to tackle it, the mysterious creature batted them away like baseballs, one by one. No one had ever seen such skills before. Seventeen had already fallen out of the tree, and none of them looked like they were planning on climbing back up.

“Pow! Oh, yeah!” yelled Sebastian. “Bang! Yeah, get him! Woo! Oh yeah! Pow! Pow! Pow!”

Even Edward was getting into it. All of the animals were. Everyone except Dorabella, that is. She thought it was too violent for little chicks to watch and was trying to cover Sebastian’s eyes.

“Oh, Mrs. Butterfly!” she lamented, hoping to get at least one animal on her side. “Isn’t this simply awful?”

But the butterfly seemed to be enjoying it more than anyone.

“Kill!” she squeaked delightedly. “Kill! Kill! Kill! Muah, hah, hah! Give it to them! Like that! Hi-ya!”

“Oh goodness . . .” Dorabella sighed.

The hero spotted Lumpy and his friends and used its whip to swing down to save them. Stomper saw it coming and tried to stomp them first but wasn’t fast enough. Before his foot came down, the mysterious creature managed to swoop under it and scoop them up. A very close call! It made everyone wonder even more about what kind of creature was under that hood.

“Wow! Look at him go!” Sebastian marvelled. “Did you see that long thing he swung with? What is that? It can’t be a tail! It came from his hand! Do you think he’s a spider?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” replied Edward, sounding like a know-it-all. “He’s obviously some sort of flying pig.”

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Dorabella was more concerned about how they kept referring to it as a boy.

“Hey! Why do you keep saying ‘he’? It could be a girl you know . . .”

“Hah! A girl!” Sebastian gawked. “Don’t make me laugh! Now, quiet! I’m trying to watch!”

The mysterious creature couldn’t be caught no matter how many apes chased after it. Even when Old Black Beard sent his personal bodyguards, it always seemed to slip through their fingers.

“Ooh! Ahh! Ooh Ahh! More apes! More apes! Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! What are you waiting for? Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! Hey, you!” he yelled at one next to him. “What are you doing?” He grabbed him by the ear. “Don’t just stand there! Get him! Get him!”

Soon there were apes everywhere. The mysterious creature was surrounded. Old Black Beard was sure that would be enough. But it wasn’t! The creature was still too fast for them. Every time they’d try to grab or tackle it, it would duck, dodge, roll under or jump over them. One of the apes even swore he saw it jump on top of an ape’s head while in midair, using it like a stepping stone!

“I can’t catch it! It’s too quick!” yelled one ape.

“Hurry! Someone grab its tail!” yelled another.

“It doesn’t have one! It doesn’t have one! That’s what I keep trying to tell you! Try something else!”

And do you remember the rumor about how the creature could weave spider webs? Well, those turned out to be nets it threw at its enemies. Sometimes it would throw them at apes who were jumping towards it and catch them that way. Other times, it would throw them down at an open space and use them like a trampoline to jump higher. The only one who could keep up with him was Stomper. With his big legs, he could leap up to the same branch without the aid of any rope.

“One . . . two . . . three!” he counted. When he landed, the whole tree shook.

“Ho! Ho! Ho! . . . Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!” he grunted, walking slowly towards his victims. The branch was getting wet with his drool. The mysterious creature nearly slipped. It reached behind itself and pulled out a whip, lashing Stomper. But the giant just laughed. It reached again, this time pulling out a boomerang. But it just bounced off him.

“Ho! Ho! Ho! HO! HO! HO! Come on, Phantom Ape, and fight! Stomper not scared of you! HO! . . . HO! . . . HO! . . .”

He started walking closer, shaking the branch with every step, making it difficult to balance. It was out of nets. Even worse, there was nowhere nearby to jump to.

“Blast!” said Sebastian getting worried. “Look at him, he’s trapped! We’ve got to do something! We’ve got to help! Or he’ll be stomped for sure!”

Sebastian didn’t care that he was little. While everyone else was busy just watching, he wanted to get involved and do something. So, he looked around and thought of an idea.

“I know!” he said. “I’ve got it! Watch!”

And he took off running down the branch his nest was on, fluttering and even flying a little here and there.

“Oh, Sebastian! Do be careful!” yelled his sister, who was ready to follow now if necessary.

“What’s gotten into that chick?” said one of the older birds in the tree. “I say! Has he gone mad?”

Sebastian found a large beehive nested right above where Stomper was standing.

“Hey!” he said to them. “Say, uh . . . Ahem . . . Do you guys mind if I—”

But the bees had already been thinking the same thing.

“Yezzz! DoOoOo it!” they all buzzed together. “We beezzz are ready to defend our tree!”

The queen stepped very carefully and daintily out of the hive and onto the branch where Sebastian was.

“Go on, soldiers! Do your duty! We all remember the war the apes waged on us last time! Now it’s time for—buzzzzz—our revenge!”

Then all of the bees yelled “For the queen!” and Sebastian pecked at the top, causing the hive to break off and fall down . . . down . . . right onto Stomper’s head! It broke open and they all started stinging him at once. “Hazza! Hazza! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Hazza! Take that!” It wasn’t long until the giant lost his balance and fell to the ground. He ran away crying after that, and was never seen again.

“Thanks!” said the mysterious creature, looking up at Sebastian and waving. Sebastian smiled, star-struck, and waved back.

That was the end of the Black Beard Gang. As soon as they saw their strongest ape run off, they fled or limped away along with him. Everyone cheered.

“NoOoOo!” sobbed Old Black Beard. “Come back, you fools! Don’t leave me!”

The mysterious creature picked up it’s whip and started swinging around the tree triumphantly—flipping through the air, waving, doing tricks and giving high fives. Never had the animals felt so excited.

Hoping no one would notice, Old Black Beard tried to slip away with the others. But the mysterious creature swung down just in time.

“Freeze!” it said, blocking his path. It drew its spear and thrust it to Old Black Beard’s neck, forcing him to back up to the trunk of the tree. “Don’t move! I’m warning you! Don’t try and run!”