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, upright and covered in all kinds of curious things that none of the other animals had ever seen before. It wore a black hood and black cape, beneath which shone bright green armor made of alligator skin. Maybe that was one of the bad animals it had killed, like the legends told! The creature also had a turtle shell shield and a bow and arrow. But at the time it was attacking, it was holding a long, pointed staff made of heavy oak. The sight of it was terrifying to the apes! Especially that green armor! For there was nothing that apes were more afraid of than great snakes and lizards. It made all of them begin to panic and scatter.

“Oh no! It’s the Phantom Ape! It’s real! It’s really real! Run away! Run away!”

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

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

But Old Black Beard wouldn’t let them. He was too determined to rule the forest! And he wasn’t about to let one little animal spoil his plan—Phantom Ape or not!

“You cowards!” he shouted down at them. “Don’t be afrrr-aid! It’s just one crrr-eature! Seize him! Seize him, I say! 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 with its 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.

“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.

It would also use the pointy end of its staff to prick and pry at the apes. And if anyone tried to sneak up on the creature, look out! It would swoosh its staff sideways and downward, tripping their legs out from under them. No one had ever seen anything like this beating before! Fifteen had already fallen out of the tree! And none of them looked like they were planning on getting up again.

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

Even Edward was getting into it. All of the good animals were. Everyone except Dorabella, that is. She thought it was too violent for little chicks to see, 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 when she turned to her, she saw that the butterfly was cheering too—and possibly even enjoying it more than any of the boy animals were.

“Kill!” she squeaked delightedly. It was half-scary to see and half-cute. “Kill! Kill! Kill! Muah hah hah hah hah! Give it to them! Like that! Hi-ya!”

“Oh goodness . . .” sighed Dorabella.

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 couldn’t. 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.”

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, all around the good animals’ mysterious hero. The evil king ape 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, the creature would duck, dodge, roll under or jump over them. Once, the apes even swore they saw it jump on top of an ape’s head while in midair, using it like a stepping stone!

“I can’t catch him! He’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, reader, when Edward mentioned how there was a rumor that the creature could weave spider webs? Well, those turned out to be nets it threw at its enemies. The mysterious creature carried them in little mysterious pouches of the very mysterious belt it wore. 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 up to higher places. It seemed uncatchable! Except, that is, for one of the apes . . .

Stomper was able to jump up high without the aid of any rope trampoline. He could do it just by using his big, strong legs.

“One . . . two . . . three!” he counted. And he launched himself up to where the mysterious creature was. When he landed, the whole tree shook and there was nowhere to run or swing to. Stomper had it trapped!

“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 on it.

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

It was hard to balance with the branch shaking from the stomps. Lumpy and his friends, who were on our hero’s back, were throwing acorns they’d grabbed at Stomper. But they just bounced right off him and made him laugh that stupid laugh even more.

“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, 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 bee hive 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! God speed, boyz!”

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 Stompers big 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 Stomper 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.

“Run away! Run away!” was all you could hear besides the now even louder cheering and clapping for the hero—jumping up and down in excitement.

“No! No!” cried Old Black Beard. “Come back, you fools! Don’t leave me!”

His plan had failed. His guards were gone and no one was left to defend him. Never before had he ever felt so frustrated or humiliated, reader! He was angry! Furious! But he was no longer scary to anyone.

The mysterious creature spent some time showboating—flipping through the air, waving, doing tricks and giving high fives. Everyone felt like it was on their side. Everyone trusted it. Even after they saw how dangerous it was.

Out of the corner of its eye, the creature then saw Old Black Beard trying to sneak away. With one crack of its whip and a bounce on one of its trampoline nets, it bounded—flew!—straight up the branch he was on, blocking his path.

“Freeze!” it said.

Then it drew its spear and thrust it towards Black Beard’s neck, forcing him to back up until his back was right up against the trunk of the tree.

“Don’t move! I’m warning you. Don’t try and run!”