The wind of the sea blew in Daring Do's face when she left the inn the next morning.
Last night wasn't very productive for her as she still didn't have any leads on where to go next. She only knew that Caballeron was working for somepony that wanted goods, one of which was a gorilla. Daring yawned and readjusted her backpack. She wore her sailor disguise again, planning to fit in for the original intent that she had in mind last night.
Do headed over to the bar and could hear the music being played from outside of the wooden cabin. She opened the double doors and the sound of country swing was being played by the piano player for the entire dining room to hear. There were a few ponies eating their breakfast. None of them looked familiar, so Daring felt more at ease in here. She strolled over to the counter and laid her back against it, trying to play out as the tough type of pony.
The sound of the bartender's pacing caught Daring's ear. "Can I get you anything?" he asked in a deep, rumbling voice.
"What's your specialty?"
"Caramelized honey latte."
"I'll have one." She honestly didn't care for the beverage. She only wanted a setup line to begin asking some questions. "News of late is that this place once had a culture here."
"Must've just came into port," he said as he began to make the drink, "the latest news here is that the warehouse went up in flames last night."
The mare tipped her hat forward, "You don't say."
"They're trying to salvage what they can from the wreckage, folks also say that there's going to be a factory built over it as well." He slid her the drink and she reached around while unintentionally brushed across the bartender's hoof. At least she thought it was a hoof; it felt more like claws to her. Do glimpsed at the bartender and nearly jumps back to see that he was a bear. "Take it that you have never seen one of my kind before."
"At least one that could talk." she said as she got back up.
He viewed Do in a calm and accepting manner, "You'll see plenty of strange things around here. All kinds of creatures come to port everyday for one reason or another. Toads, birds, there's even a squirrel that's a frequent customer of mine; but majority of the time you'll see crocs around here." Daring took a sip of the latte, the honey really brought out the flavor to the drink. "So what brings you here?" the bear asked as he wiped the counter.
"Well," she read the bear's name tag before she continued. "....Barkeep, I'm trying to find information on the culture that once thrived here. You wouldn't happen to know where I may find some ruins, do you?"
"Expedition, huh?" Barkeep shook his head while he restocked his inventory, "Most of this island is still uncharted and the jungle is too thick to see from an aerial point of view."
Daring stared at her drink and took a gulp of it, drowning her disappointment.
"However, I do get some rouges every so often talking about mining over to the east. Can't say what they're digging for, but it's something to go on."
"Digging, huh?" Daring wondered before she finished the drink. She left some bits on the counter, "Keep the change," and headed back.
Daring Do faced the jungle and took a moment to change out of her sailor disguise and back into her exploration attire. She felt more unrestrained and comfortable in her explorer's vest than wearing nothing at all. After putting her disguise in her backpack, she flipped her helmet on her head, gave it a tap, and flew into the jungle.
The jungle was brimming with life; whether it was plant or animal, but Daring paid no attention to them. She brushed aside the leaves and armadillos curled into balls when she flew over them. The mare wasn't here for sightseeing, she was here to find any clues if anypony came by this way. Cut leaves, broken branches, hooftracks: her eyes were peeled for anything of the sorts.
Daring Do paused in the air when something on the ground caught her attention. She dropped to the floor; bewildered at seeing tracks that she never expected to find. Daring tapped it and a dinging sound was heard coming from the iron bars of the rail tracks. The adventurer assumed that she was on the right track, sort of speak, so she started to tread along the rails to find where it leads.
It didn't take long before something caught her by surprise though.
*HHHSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssss*
A loud hissing sound was heard in the distance and Daring saw white smoke rising up ahead. She gallops toward the sound and arrives at the base of a mountain with a large cavern engraved into it. The tracks she followed lead into the mouth of the cave, and quite literally looked like the mouth of a cow skull with eyes and nose also having a cave of their own.
The sudden sound startles Daring again and sees the cause of the sound bursting out of the mountain in the form of hot boiling water. The hissing sound was from a geyser on the side of the mountain.
Once the geyser settled, the golden pegasus was hearing sounds coming from inside the cavern. It sounded like chatter, clanking, and banging. Daring Do flew up to the right eye socket of the skull cavern entrance to peer inside.
She felt like she wasn't looking into a mine shaft, but a dungeon. The roof was as high as any of the canopies outside, with scaffolds hanging from the ceiling. Majority of the walls were covered with plywood and wooden beams. Barrels, crates, pickaxes; the ground had these scattered in a semi-orderly fashion. The tools and cases were one thing, but Daring Do was more interested in those that were handling them; biped walking crocodiles. There were hundreds of six to seven hooves tall crocodiles going into tunnels with empty minecarts and coming out with them full of rocks and dirt.
"What are they digging for?" Daring thought to herself. She could've always asked them, but in her experience, it was better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
The pegasus flew over to the scaffolds, considering that she didn't see any crocodiles up there, and cautiously walked along the bridge that hung in the air. She noted that the scaffolds all had locking latches to keep them connected to one another so to keep some of them suspended without the use of a cable.
"WHAAAAAT!?!?"
A voice vibrated the entire cavern and caused every crocodile to look at the gator that bellowed it.
Daring looked over the railing and saw a large brown crocodile dressed like a general hiding behind a clipboard from the fat green gator that towered over him at eight and a half hooves.
"We're only at...." the general stopped and gulped, "....fifty percent of the necessary resources, Sir."
The fat gator roared in a frustrated tone and started to pace back and forth to cool down. For every turn, his long red cape flapped around him with a whoosh, "Why must I be suffered with these setbacks?" He rubbed the temple of his head, just below the gold crown he wore.
"Well, we are using all the lizards we got on hand. After all, you did order half of them to-"
"Yes, yes, you don't have to remind me." He looks up at all the crocodiles staring at him, "SHAKE A TAIL, YOU LAZY LIZARDS!!!" The outburst scared all the gators back to work and left the king to fume.
"One last thing, Sir."
"What," the king looked at him like he was about to bite his head off, "is it?"
The scared reptile points outside, "Caballeron's here."
Both Do and the king followed his finger at the cavern entrance. The sound of rowdy chanter could be heard coming from outside and a pair of mine carts were screeching on the tracks when it entered the cave. Caballeron and his gang were riding in the front cart, but was the back cart that caught Daring’s attention. She never would've expected to meet him like this, but there he was in a steel cage. The gorilla from last night.
"Ah, Caballeron." the crocodile leader greeted, "You truly are a stallion of your word."
"And I hope you're a gator of yours." the doc replied back.
"But I am," the king gestured to his commander and the general gave a signal to a pair of gators. They left and came back rolling two barrels on their side all the way up to Caballeron and his henchponies. A gator pops open one of the lids to reveal a pile of gold coins inside, "As promised, two barrels of Kremkoins."
"Okay boys," the pony signals his lackeys and they began to unload the imprisoned gorilla from the cart. The ape screeched and shook the cage but it wasn't making any progress at escaping. The stallions left the kong in the center of the room for all to see while they began to load the barrels of coins in the trolley. "If you ever need another job done, you know who to seek." Caballeron jumps inside the cart, "And remember, what I said about her."
The king nodded, "Your concern is duly noted."
"To bar, henchponies!" The gang cheered as they rode the cart out of the cavern.
The king watched them leave, and rolled his eyes, "I swear, these ponies are nothing but bad puns."
"Should I be a deligator for you next time, Sir?" the general volunteered.
The unamused dictator glared at him and he turned his attention to the gorilla inside the cage. He grinned at his captive and took out a banana for the ape to see. "Well, well, well." the croc said each word to a peel of the banana, "Look where you are now. No freedom, no family, no bananas; looks like I finally won."
The kong was enticed by the banana in front of him and was dispirited when the fat gator began eating it.
"I'll be honest, I rather liked the idea of you being burnt alive in that warehouse, but I can still find enjoyment in other ways." The king finished the banana and tossed the peel into the cage for the heartbroken gorilla to pick up. "Better get used to this sight, simian. Because once I find your banana hoard, I'm planning to have you for dinner, just so you can witness my subjects eat every last banana that you had."
The ape hollered and shook the cage. The crocodile simply waved his claw and his subordinates took the kong away.
The ruler waits until he's left his sight, "...........ptha!" he spits out the banana that he just ate. The croc then pulls out mouthwash, a tooth brush, and dental floss and begins using it on himself.
"Is everything all right, Sir?" the sergeant asked.
The king spits out what was lifted in his mouth, "I HATE BANANAS!!!" the fat croc yelled before he smiled, "But it was worth it, just to see that face."
Daring Do needed to press on. She wasted enough time; staying in one place for too long wasn't a good idea, but the mare couldn't get her mind off that gorilla. She felt a little indebted to him for helping her escape the warehouse last night and just couldn't in good conscious have left him here.
Daring groaned at her decision and headed in the direction she saw the ape was being taken.
With a slamming against the wall, the kong gripped the bar of the cage as he watched the crocs leave him alone in the corner of an abandoned dug out tunnel. He looked at the metal rods that kept him confined and tried to pull them apart, but it didn't work. The gorilla groaned, planting his head on the bars from this predicament.
Daring Do glided into the room and recoiled her wings as she approached the ape, "Hey!"
He looked over and immediately recognized her. The kong began to shake the cage while he made grunts to get her to set him free. She looked at the copper lock that sealed the door, it was in a shape of a skull with a keyhole on the forehead. This was an easy lock to pick, but Daring wanted to ask something before freeing him.
"So how'd you get captured again? Were you lured by a banana?" The gorilla nodded and Daring slapped her forehead. She slid her hoof down thinking of how much of a moron this kong is. "Alright, listen......" Daring paused; trying to decide on what to call him. The ape's tie caught her attention as it swung with the two letters imprinted on it, ".....DK. I'll get you out of there, but you're on your own from now on. The last thing I need right now is to babysit a gorilla."
The kong shook his head in agreement.
Daring plucked one of her feathers out and used the tip of it like a lock-pick. She fidgeted with it and the latch clicked open. DK immediately jumped out and ran out of the room.
"You're welcome." spoke the pegasus in an annoyed tone from the fact that he didn't even thank her. She adjusted her hat and just noticed something that made her turn pale.
Daring Do could handle it all; giant pythons, savage lions, and the always famished Cipactli. She wasn't scared of anything, but there is one thing that terrifies her the most no matter how many times she had to face it.
A hairy demon from Tartarus stared at her with all of its little eyes while it hanged there from the ceiling with the help of its web.
"A spider!" Daring screeched at the sight of the insect that wasn't even the size of her nose. She quickly flew out of the room, and returned back to her investigation.
Daring had been walking across the scaffold for an hour now, and she still hasn't found tail or scale of a croc up here. She suddenly froze when she heard a sound.
*HHHSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssss*
Peering down from the scaffolds, she saw a geyser to the left and it blew a stream high enough for it to escape out of the cave through an opening in the ceiling; but she found something more interesting on the right that explained what was going on around here.
Daring saw the crocs breaking down the wall of the cavern on their own scaffolds that were planted to the ground. They pierced their pickaxes into the minerals of the wall and broke off chunks of iron at a steady pace. Below each of them were mine carts being pushed constantly like a conveyor belt to catch the metallic rocks as they fell, making the oldest leaving the chain with a full load and a new empty one entering the line.
This was nothing more than a harvest ground, nothing suggested that they were looking for something.
Daring layed her hooves on the railing and rested her jaw on them, groaning with annoyance. "These guys aren't digging for expedition reasoning, Barkeep said that he isn't aware of any ruins around here, and Caballeron doesn't seem like he's concern with any artifact." she gives a depressed sigh, "Was there really an ancient civilization here at one point or has this trip here been for nothing?"
"INTRUDER!!!" Daring looked to the right and saw a crocodile up here a few scaffolds over. "WE'VE GOT A PONY UP HERE!!!" he yelled to the others while he pointed a finger at her.
It was time for her to go! Daring Do galloped past the croc and headed towards the exit; she didn't have a reason to stay and the last thing she wanted to deal with was a group of crocodiles that could be considered to be a small army.
She stayed on the scaffold, high above from any of the lizards catching her. "Ha HA!!!" A showboating voice came from up ahead. A small yellow croc with a pirate hat ran across Daring's path and he stared her down. "Ye ain't getting by me, lass." He swung two swords around, trying to seem skilled and intimidating, but they seemed a bit too big for him to wield.
Daring sighed; shaking her head at this little nuisance. She leaned forward to kick the locks to the scaffold and it collapsed with the little shrimp falling to the floor; leaving Daring Do hovering in the air with the use of her wings.
She zipped into a tunnel and made quick tight turns at each corner. Daring crashes into a navy blue crocodile wearing camouflage overalls. She bounces off of his muscled body and falls to the ground as the gator stands there like a pillar looking at her. She quickly flew back up and went around him, but her tail was snagged in the air by the blue reptile.
Daring swung in the air by her tail, "Let me go, leather lips!!!" She pulled her legs back and shot them right at his jaw to make a loud smack.
"Hurhurhurhur," the muscled gator laughed.
Daring kept kicking him but he just giggled it off. She groaned and just decided to hang there at the simple truth that she just couldn't fight against.
She was caught.
Daring Do was thrown to the ground and landed next to the rail-tracks. She gritted her teeth at the bulky crocodile and the friends he had behind him. Daring tried to break free of the ropes that binds her wings, but they just won't break. They didn't even bother to tie her legs; she was surrounded by hundreds of crocodiles, and if they were half as strong as the blue one, then trying to escape would only spell doom for her.
"So this is the famous Daring Do, treasure hunter extraordinaire."
Daring looked across the tracks and saw scaly toes on the other side. Looking up past the large girth, she saw the croc from earlier, the one with the crown. He was staring down at her, giving her a good look that his left eye was bloodshot.
"Caballeron told me so much about you. He said that you're a tomb raider, has escaped every death trap that had ensnared you, and of course, was the one that freed my hairy prisoner from his barrel last night."
"So you hired Caballeron just to capture a gorilla? What are you going to do with him, put him in a circus?"
"That's not a bad idea." he gazed off rubbing his chin, "I could title him the eighth wonder of the world."
"Ah but we're getting ahead of ourselves. I know so much about you, while you know nothing of me." The gator stood up straight to present himself at his best, "I am King K. Rool, leader of the Kremlings."
"Kremlings, huh?" Daring huffed back, "What's that, a cereal brand?" The gators around her snarled at her response.
"It's best if you don't get on a Kremlings bad side, push them too far and they might just- " he lurched his head and snapped his jaw at her.
Daring shifted her tide wings.
"I wouldn't bother escaping. You'll only find yourself back here within a matter of hours."
"And what makes you so certain that you can catch me again?"
"Because my dear, after Caballeron told me of how much of a nuisance you could be, I decided to put a bounty on you to keep you from interfering."
"Interfering?" the pegasus smirked at the fat gator, "Interfering in what?"
"That's none of your concern."
The mare lowered her head from those words and began chuckling. All the Kremlings looked at her, believing that she might have lost it.
But that was far from the case, "So.... there really is something on this island."
K. Rool peered his bloodshot eye at her, wanting an answer for her statement.
"'A tomb raider,' that's what you called me. Tell me, why would you keep a tomb raider from interfering?"
Daring whipped her head up to show the king her cocky determination.
"It's because you're on the trail of an artifact. You're going to keep me here so you can get to it first."
K. Rool gave her a stern look, but she didn't weave from her tough attitude.
The gator slowly began to smirk his sharp teeth at her, "Oh, you are a clever one."
"Look out! Watch it!!" Daring and the crocs started hearing voices echoing in the cave. "Move over!! Get out of the way!!!" It was coming from the cavern to the right, and it sounded like it was getting closer. The constant sound of something that's rolling was getting louder with each passing second.
Suddenly, a mine cart comes bursting out of the tunnel with someone familiar riding it.
"OOOO-HOOOOOO!!!"
DK came rolling out on the track that separated Daring and K. Rool. The gorilla leaned out, scooped up the pegasus as he rode by and headed into another cavern.
"WHAT?! AGAIN?!?!" the kremlin king roared from seeing his now freed prisoner. "Don't just stand there you leather-bagged nitwits!" he yelled at his lizards, "AFTER THEM!!!!"
Daring was pulled into the cart with DK, she looked at him completely baffled at his presence. "What are you doing here? You should've escaped at least an hour ago."
The gorilla made grunting noises along with hand gestures to explain his reasoning, which didn't explain anything to Daring.
She looked at him puzzled, but something coming up behind him caught her attention.
"One! Two! One! Two!" a group of kremlins on a handcart were approaching fast with one of them cheering the others on.
Daring quickly got DK's attention, "Hurry, and get this off!" she pointed to the rope around her wings with her fingerless hoof.
The ape obliged and easily untangled her free. Daring flew behind her cart and started pushing it while hovering above the tracks.
The minecar was speeding up, but the handcar was speeding up faster. She tried to push it as fast as she could, but the pegasus started to have a hard time to even keep up with her own cart and began to hang on as it was pulling her.
Daring suddenly felt her tail being tugged. She looked back and one of the crocs had her by the tail. He pulled her back and she was starting to lose her grip.
"AAGG! AAAAAAGGG!!!" DK roars at the kremlins and starts hitting them with a wooden pole. He clonked their heads with it and the gators lost their grip on Daring as they became unconscious.
Majority of them were down and the rest of them were having a tough time keeping up. The kremlins were slowing down and DK pulled Daring back into the cart.
"Thanks," she said, wiping the sweat from her forehead at the close call. Daring looked at the wooden staff the gorilla held, "Where'd you get the stick?" DK pointed to the front of the cart and there was a broken wooden stub attached to the cart. She felt her heart suddenly take a steep plunge, "You idiot! That was the break handle!!!"
He looked at her as if he was trying to say, 'Is that a problem?'
The cart rolled over a little hill and Daring could feel the cart and herself airborne. She looked up ahead and saw a dimly lit red room approaching up fast. The adventurer gulped as she knew exactly what was up ahead.
The two of them enter into a hot and steamy cavern with a fiery pool of lava underneath the rail tracks. A sharp turn was up ahead and the two of them panicked. Daring flew over to the side of the cart as they approached the turn and began to push the cart as it started to derail. The intense heat underneath her was overwhelming, the sweat that dropped from her body became vapor before it could even reach the boiling liquid. The weight of the trolley stopped falling towards her and DK helped bring it back on track by swinging his body weight.
The ape pulled the tired pegasus into the cart once more as they entered into another tunnel. "Just, who in the right mind would build rail tracks over lava?" the mare asked.
DK shrugged with a grunt and she took that as an IDK.
The cart speeds out into a digging sight that Daring was in earlier. She felt her mane blowing to the wind that hit her, but started to panic as they're heading towards a row of carts underneath a row of scaffolds. "We're going to ram into it!!!"
The ape didn't look worried, in fact, he was more interested in what was above the trolleys. DK grabbed both sides of the cart and got down low. He suddenly sprung up and pulled the cart up with him. Daring entered free fall again as they made about sixteen hooves into the air. They landed on the scaffolds and were rattling on the bumpy surface, crashing into scattered pickaxes, buckets, and an occasional kremlin along the way.
Daring warned them of their presents, "Coming through!!! Watch your tail!!! Oh!.... SOMEPONY GET HIM SOME ICE!"
The cart flew off the end of the scaffold and the riders screamed as they fell. It plopped into the ground and the trolley had finally stopped. Daring hung over the side of the cart, relieved that the ride was over; but suddenly, she felt the cart rumbling. She looked over and saw some water spurting from underneath them.
The mare sighed at what was about to happen. "We're lodged into a geyser, aren't we?" Daring asked the gorilla to make certain, but he only responded by looking at her.
Both the kong and pony were slammed to the floor of the trolley at the velocity of the cart shooting out from the geyser. They're vision got brighter as they were blasted outside and began to bounce down the rocky mountain. They both continued into the jungle and finally stopped for certain this time when they crashed into a tree.
Daring flopped out of the cart holding her head at that dizzying experience, DK on the other hoof jumped out with his arms up into the air.
"AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!" he cried into the jungle of his return.
"Y-yeah, aawoo-hoo." the tired mare said.
As she regained her bearings again, Daring Do began to form her next course of action. "There really was a civilization here, but that K. Rool fella already has a lead on an artifact; while I'm still left in the dark as to where to look. I can't get any help back at port if the stuff he said about having wanted posters of me were true. It be too risky; even if I was in a disguise." She puts a hoof to her chin from this difficult situation, "How am I going to get any leads?"
The tree to her left shook, DK was climbing up it. She viewed him as he reached towards a bushel of bananas and considered something that might help her catch up to K. Rool. "Hey, big guy!" Daring Do called out to DK while she flew up to him, "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find some old ruins around here, do ya?"
The gorilla looked at her with a banana in his mouth, trying to grasp at what she asked.
"You know; a shrine, a temple, an old structure."
He munched on the banana a little.
"Don't you know of a place where I can find a statue? Maybe a chalice?"
The ape blinked.
"..........an arrowhead?"
He tilted his head at her question and Daring Do pulled her face down from the frustration.
"Okay, let me try and dumb it down." She prepared her words carefully, "I am looking for a place where you keep something safe from others stealing it."
DK's eyes widened as he figured out what she wanted. He grunted and grabbed a vine in one hand with his other holding the rest of the bananas. The gorilla fell from the tree and swung on the vine to another vine; continuing the process as he went deeper into the jungle.
Daring Do beamed a smile from the response she got and followed him into the jungle. To the place that fitted with DK's description of 'a place where you keep something safe'.