As it turned out, Rajan had withdrawn to a long forgotten temple deep in the jungle, which he'd transformed into the center of his spice production operation, running off the Clockwerk Heart. I still didn't understand what was so special about this spice that it was illegal, and neither Dad nor Uncle Bentley seemed willing to enlighten me at the time, assuming they knew themselves.
The jungle was too thick to drive through, so we had to walk. Well, Dad, Uncle Bentley, and Uncle Murray had to walk. I was still small enough to ride, and Dad insisted I conserve my energy, since we wouldn't have many opportunities to rehydrate. Just because I could keep myself from sweating didn't keep long walks in stifling heat from being dehydrating, and as the smallest mammal of the group, I had the hardest time staying hydrated.
By the time we reached the temple, it had actually started to rain. This made my initial hunt for the vault rather miserable, but still doable. At least the rain water was clean and drinkable. Once I opened the vault, I found more weapon schematics Uncle Bentley could adapt to our canes, these to release an electrical discharge when attacking.
After I got back from retrieving that, Dad decided I should see to the elephant driven scanners, since I had a better way with animals than anyone else, mostly because Ferals saw me as an infant rather than an interloper. Personally, I think the decision was more driven by the fact it was dry, warm, and toasty in the hideout while I was still wet from hunting the vault...
"So, what's the plan, Uncle Bentley?" Coco asked as she glanced through her Binoc-U-com from the elephant to the spice plants Bentley had holo-tagged.
"The spice plants around here are illegal because if you eat too many, you go into an uncontrollable rage," Bentley explained.
"Then why the heck would anyone want to buy them?" Coco demanded in confusion.
"Criminals who want to drive their victims into said rage?" Bentley suggested.
"...carry on..."
"If you slip some of the spice plants into the elephant's feed bag, the surge of rage should override its domestication training, and it'll break free," Bentley clarified. "Destroying the satellite array in the process. However, they only grow high up in the jungle canopy. Are you sure you're up to the climbing?"
"Certainly," Coco stated firmly. "Besides...with all the other techniques I've done and developed specifically for my magic...there's another one I want to try."
Frowning in concentration, Coco made her way to the tree nearest the elephant that had a spice plant at the top. Rising up on her hind legs, she placed her forehooves against the bark. She then lifted her left hind hoof and placed it there as well.
Closing her eyes and focusing her magic, she lifted her right hind hoof.
A slow smile crossed her face as she felt her magic interacting with the living earth magic in the tree, letting her scale right up the side as long as she kept three hooves against the bark at a time. As she walked up the side of the tree, however, a very close call came.
"Hey!" One of the guards asked his fellow. "Did you just see a tiny pony walking up the side of a tree?"
Coco mightily resisted the urge to freeze in fear, continuing her climb slowly and steadily.
"No, and neither did you," the second guard replied.
"But-"
"If you're seeing things, you're in trouble for nipping at the boss's wine," the second guard detailed. "If'n ya ain't, do you really think we can handle a pony that can - among other things - walk up trees?"
"...right, I didn't see nothin'." The two guards continued their patrol.
With a sigh of relief, Coco took her hoof out of her mane and placed it back against the bark to continue her climb, the needles left where they were. It didn't take long to retrieve all six spice plants and deposit them into the elephant's feed bag. Once it snacked, it went on a rampage, smashing the satellite array to bits as it broke free.
After that, I unilaterally decided it was Dad's turn to handle a few jobs while I stayed snug and warm with some cocoa and blankets after drying off. Dad was more than willing to take the next job, involving bugging Rajan's office...with a unique species of water beetle, of all things. While this was going on, Uncle Bentley - who wasn't bothered by the rain at all - managed to get a hold of the blueprints to the entire operation, letting us plan out a way to get the Heart right out from under Rajan's nose...which apparently involved flooding as much of the place as necessary to make Rajan pull a runner with the Heart before bum rushing him. On Dad's instruction, I was left out of that entirely.
I suppose I couldn't blame him for that decision, since I...hadn't reacted well after the fact to the spice plants I'd harvested for the elephant, so keeping me away from the spice making operation was a good idea. Beyond that, if Rajan had been exposed to too much of his spice, he'd probably be close to Feral, and see me less as person and more as prey. This left it to Dad to blow up the spice production operation.
It also left him to deal with Constable Neyla's arrival without me. I don't know what she and Dad talked about, but she led Dad to a secret entrance to steal half the Clockwerk Heart, leaving Rajan keeping the other half on his person - or more specifically, his staff - at all times.
...I don't know how many times everyone's told me I can't blame myself for what happened next. Doesn't stop me from doing it anyway...