The pirates were being chased by the Eminadlian army. Eminadle was a terrible country ruled by the terrible king, King Fariton. King Farition was a ruthless King who wanted perfection. Every thing he did was, and had to be, perfect. Eminadle was a big kingdom that also specialized in perfection.

Now, these pirates that I was telling you about were led by the great Captain Madoline. Captain Madoline was a female (surprise, surprise) and led a crew of pirates called the Frustrated Failure. Their ship was called The Last Hope. The pirates spent their time raiding other ships and being chased by the Eminadlian army. Let me introduce you to the crew:  

There were twenty of them, including Captain Madoline. Captain Madoline was the bravest captain that sailed the seven seas. She was daring and adventurous. Bob was the brainiac of the crew and always knew what to do. Joe was the cook and cooked excellent meals. Mary was perky and always happy to help out. Bessie originally came from a ranch before she ran away to join the Frustrated Failure. Kate was mostly below deck and helped the seasick pirates. Billy kept an eye out for dangerous sea creatures. Sally kept an eye out for obstacles and other things the ship might bump into. James was always at the mast and kept an eye out for land, as well as the Eminadlian army. Ruth was the “maid” and made the beds and did the laundry. Dink was the cabin boy and swept the floor and helped the cook. Sam was the best with weapons and helped the other pirates train and exercise.  John was very friendly and came to the Frustrated Failure in search of adventure. Josh was the cook’s assistant and was very mischievous. Sara was the treasure keeper, had blue-streaked hair, and wanted the Vikings to win the Super Bowl. Spencer was the prison guard and was very easy going. Lillie was first mate and was very happy. Alex kept track of all the parrots and was called the Parrotman. Katie was happy and always cheerful. Steven was the shark bait. The pirates tied him up and lowered him in the water every time they wanted to catch a shark (they pulled him up just in time though).

***

One day, Sam said, “I am tired of running away. Why can’t we just stand and fight?”  This comment was met with murmurs of agreement. All of the crew was tired of running and ready for some excitement and fun.  

Bob piped up and said, “I have read in one of my books that there is an island called  Treemania. Why don’t we go there and fight?”  

Then, Captain Madoline came to where they were having their conversation. “What is Treemania?” she inquired.  

“Treemania is a giant treehouse that has all sorts of booby traps. How Treemania works, nobody knows. The treehouse seems to run on a secret power and is basically a giant fortress that protects people. It was made by the great magician, Allen Dor, to protect his family. In the fortress, there are ten levels. Once you pull the lever on the top level, every fifteen minutes, the treehouse will shake, and you must find something marked in blue to hold onto or to go into.”  Bob was a little out of breath after giving an explanation like that.  

“Let’s do it!”  cried Captain Madoline. “A new adventure awaits the Frustrated Failure!”  

“Hooray!” shouted the crew.  

“But be warned,” said Bob. “The treehouse is very hard to find because it is placed on a small, moving island that moves along in a large circle around the Bahamas.”

So the Frustrated Failure set sail for the Bahamas.

Finally, after a week of searching, James yelled, “Land ho!”

***

All the sailors excitedly peered over the edge of the ship. Behold! Before them was an island, and on it was the biggest tree they had ever seen. It took up the whole island!  And perched on top of that tree was a giant treehouse! The treehouse was built of strong wood and stone and was ten stories high, just as Bob had said. On the trunk of the tree to the treehouse was a stone staircase that was finely carved and decorated. The pirates were in awe as they stared at the treehouse. Captain Madoline parked The Last Hope on the island so it would not get left behind when the island started moving again.  

The crew gingerly climbed the staircase and entered Treemania. Treemania was even bigger than it had seemed on the outside. Inside the treehouse was all sorts of stuff. A giant set of monkey bars hung over a large gap. Under the floor, the crew heard sounds of splashing and grunting: crocodiles. The stairs were like the ones that they had used to climb up to Treemania. Each level had a different obstacle.  

The second level’s obstacle was a giant trapeze with platforms high above the ground, and if you fell, it was certain death (and crocodiles.)  

The third level had a maze that had cubbies and random spots colored in blue.  

The fourth was open, and the floor was covered in tiles, some blue and some not.  

The fifth level looked like a giant chess board with massive chess pieces. Some of the squares on the chessboard were blue.  

The sixth floor was just doors, but to confuse people, some of the doors were painted blue.  

The seventh floor was empty except for statues and some blue cubbies.  

The eighth floor was like a giant foosball set. Some of the players were red and had red tiles around them, and some were blue and had blue tiles around them.

The ninth floor was completely barren except for some patches marked in blue.  

The tenth floor was made up entirely of stairs, some of which were blue.

As the crew made their way up the steps, Captain Madoline kept a watchful eye out of each window for the Eminadlian army and King Farition. When they reached the tenth floor, which was helpfully stocked with a spyglass and window, Captain Madoline and the crew started searching for the switch to start the magic when they needed it. Finally, Sara found it beneath the top step, and it took the whole crew to lift the heavy step.

Suddenly, James, who was looking out of the window, exclaimed, “The Eminadlian army is here!” Everyone started panicking.  

“Calm down!” Captain Madoline yelled. “Nobody is going to get anything done by panicking.” The pirates quieted down immediately. “Sara, the minute they get in here, can you and Lillie flip the switch and make sure that the stair is fully covering the switch? We don’t want the pirates to see the switch and turn Treemania off. The rest of you, split up and go to different levels. Don’t waste any time. Let’s go, go, go!”  

The pirates split up and ran in different directions. Captain Madoline rushed downstairs, where the army was already climbing up the steps. King Farition strode in (perfectly of course), and Captain Madoline yelled, “Now!”

All the way upstairs, Sara and Lillie quickly flipped the switch and covered it with the step. The Eminadlian army swarmed into the treehouse. Captain Madoline and Bob fought for their lives while hanging from the monkey bars. After a while, Captain Madoline was dueling eight soldiers, and the rest of the crew were battling four.  

Suddenly, the treehouse gave a mighty shake, and most of the soldiers in the army fell onto their knees. Captain Madoline and Bob were hanging onto the only blue bars.  They sighed in relief as the other bars shook violently, making the soldiers fall into the lake filled with crocodiles.  

Meanwhile, on the second level, Katie and Joe were swinging from the trapeze and knocking down pirates. When the treehouse shook, Katie and Joe almost lost their grip, but they didn’t, and a trapdoor opened up, and all the soldiers fell through into a cage.

On the third floor, Ruth and Mary were running for their lives in the maze. When the treehouse shook, Ruth scrambled into a cubby while Mary ran into a spot covered in blue paint. A second later, logs came tumbling down into the maze, crushing the Eminadlian army.  

At the same time, on the fourth floor, Kate and Alex were fighting back to back, taking care to only step on the blue tiles. Every now and then, a parrot would fly out of Alex’s shirt pocket and bite a soldier’s finger. Later, when the tower shook, huge spikes poked out of all the tiles except the blue ones, poking painful holes in the soldier’s feet and giving Kate and Alex the upper hand in the fight.  

Billy and John were fighting on the fifth floor on top of a giant chessboard, only standing on the blue tiles. It was a good thing that they were doing so, because after the treehouse shook, the chess pieces started playing a very fast game of chess, squishing soldiers on the spot.  

On the sixth level, Sally and Steven were running through doors (only the blue ones, of course.) The soldiers, Sally, and Steven were bumping into one another and dueling every now and then. The pirates who were in white-doored rooms were in trouble because the doors stubbornly refused to open, trapping the pirates inside.  

Meanwhile, on the seventh level, Dink and Bessie were fighting and dodging statues. When Treemania shook, Dink and Bessie dived into a blue cubby as the statues came alive and started shooting the soldiers with laser beams. Dink and Bessie snickered in their sanctuary.  

Spencer and James, on the eighth level, were standing on blue tiles of a foosball set and swiping at the soldiers from behind the metal men. After the treehouse shook, the red men came to life and started kicking the soldiers out of the treehouse.  

On the ninth level, Josh and Sam were battling while trying to stay inside the blue patches. When the treehouse shook, giant bags of rocks came crashing down on top of the people who were not in the blue patches.  

Meanwhile, on top of all that, Lillie and Sara were jumping from step to step, avoiding swords and staying only on the two blue steps. While Treemania shook, the other stairs suddenly grew walls and were lifted out of the roof, where the stairs tipped and the soldiers fell into a lake of toothy eels and piranhas.

But one soldier managed to jump out of the box, and landed hard on the top step, which had not gone up as the rest did. The stone step fell away, and he turned off the switch. Immediately, the steps that were going up and in the process of dumping soldiers out came back to the ground, the wall around it disappeared, and soldiers streamed out. On every level, all the machines and stuff turned off and disappeared. The soldiers chased the pirates to the top level. Captain Madoline made a run for the switch, but was quickly stopped by a wall of soldiers guarding the switch.

“Do you have any last words, pirate?”  King Farition sneered. Suddenly, a ghost stepped out of nowhere.

“No, it can’t be…” Bob whispered.

“Who?” asked Captain Madoline, paralyzed by the funny ghost.

“It’s the ghost of Allen Dor!” exclaimed Bob, smiling. The ghost smiled at them, waved, and then flipped the switch again.

“Any last words, pirate?” King Farition pressed. He seemed to not have seen the ghost.

“Yes,” said Captain Madoline. “In the blue, we are as good as new!”

All of a sudden, Treemania gave another shake. All of the steps boosted up and dumped all of the soldiers in the lake, leaving the Frustrated Failure on the blue steps. After that, the Frustrated Failure made their permanent home on Treemania and lived happily ever after.