//------------------------------// // Water Temple's Park // Story: Daring Do and the Tie Wearing Kong // by Amereep //------------------------------// The next morning, outside of DK's banana hoard cavern, Daring Do was resting in a tree while the kongs below were conversing while they ate juicy fruits for the day ahead of them. "Just where could they be?" wondered the pegasus while she laid her head on her backpack; viewing her map of the island.  It was doing little help for her as it only showed the basic outline of the jungle with no key features.  "A temple based off of one of the four elements.  They shouldn't be that hard to find, but I'm just not finding any possible locations on this map." "HEE HEE!" The mare looked down at the ponytailed chimpanzee calling out to her from the jungle floor.  She was offering her a vine full of grapes to Daring. "No thanks, I'm good....." she pushed herself up when she realized, "I never did give you a name, did I." "Eh?" Daring studied the female primate carefully to pick out the perfect name for her.  "How about I call you....." The kong tilted her head at what the mare's choice could be. "..........Daisy." She screeched in a rageful tone and stomped around.  She kicked the tree Daring was in and it vibrated the perennial plant; shaking the mare's backpack off the branch and landing on the kong. Daring swooped down to the monkey; viewing that she was stuck inside of her pack.  "Guess you didn't like the name." The mare pulled the bag off her and saw her sailor disguise laying over the chimp.  The pony noted that the dixie cup hat was covering the kong's eyes and considered a different name,  "How about I call you 'Dixie' instead." The chimp bounced up and down; expressing that she liked that name. Daring watched as Dixie hopped back to the other to apes.  She looked back at the unhelpful map and back at the kongs.  "This map isn't showing me anything, but perhaps they could.  They live here, so they know the land better than the map.  There's also three of them, so they could share their opinions with each other to arrive at what I'm trying to ask for."  She watched DK eat a banana, "And not something else." The mare clapped her hooves and gained their attention.  "Okay guys, since I helped all of you get back together, I would appreciate it if you could return the favor by helping me with something.  I'm looking for a couple of ruins on this island.  Do you happen to know where I can find some?" They stared on at her. "You know, someplace like the one we found yesterday." The apes looked at each other in confusion. Daring rolled her eyes as she schlepped over and took Diddy's hat from him.  She put it on; forming a posture and appearance of the spear holding statues from the temple yesterday. "Ah ah!" spoke Diddy before communicating to the others what she was talking about. "Yes, that place." Daring flipped the hat back on the spider monkey's head, "Know any place kinda like that one?" Each kong was trying to think of a place that was similar.  Dixie twirled her ponytail, Diddy scratched his scalp, and DK pounded his head. "They're thinking, but they seem to need a little bit of help." thought the mare, "Why don't we start with a specific element.  Do you know one where there's a lot of water?  You know water, right?"  She lowered her hooves while shaking them to symbolize rain, she puffed her cheeks along with adding stroking movements of her forelegs to express swimming, she scooped up the air and brought it up to her mouth to represent drinking. "........OH!" DK proclaimed.  The gorilla pointed at the other two monkeys and pointed to his banana cave, signaling to keep watch over his hoard.  With the pounding of his chest, the kong gestured the pony to follow him and began running into the jungle. Daring puts on her backpack and took a deep breath before following him, "I hope it worked this time." It started off soft for the traveling duo, but the constant roaring sound of water splashing was getting louder to their destination.  They arrived not at a waterfall, but the largest system of waterfalls Daring has ever encountered.  For miles, a series of streams fell over cliffs at various heights; from small drops to life threatening plummets.  The liquid merged and divided at random points, all leading up to another major stream within a large valley covered in mist. Climbing and gliding down, they entered into the fog.  Daring was completely lost inside the white vapor, but she had no trouble at following the brown ape.  He made a turn around one of the falls and ran along a path that was circling behind it, approaching a dark cavern.  DK charged in, while the pegasus trotted her way inside.  Darkness soon took Daring's vision, yet she pressed onward.  Overhead were small dim blue lights that twinkled and glimmered like stars in the sky; they were glowworms that guided the mare in an enchanting fashion.  The sound of the waterfalls faded behind her as she went deeper into the tunnel, but another set of waterfalls began to get louder up ahead with a room coming into light with a kong waiting for her. When she reached him, she found that she was inside the entrance chamber hallway of a temple.  Various tones of light cerulean colored the room, gradienting from dark sea blue to pure white.  The two strolled down the hallway's path, covered in marble designs carved in the ground.  Columns, carvings, floors, all of it had a smooth surface that shines like the cascades found along the walls.  They fell into pools on each side of the path the mare took, complete with sea life swimming about within the calming streams.  With the sound of the water bouncing off the walls, the smell of moisture in the air, and the cold damp atmosphere; it felt like she was at an indoor community pool. The kong and pony halted when they arrived at the other end of the room.  Two Kremling statues like the ones in the other temple stood next to a passage that proceeded further inside.  Daring's eyes glanced above the tunnel and noticed a Crocodian inscription chiseled into the wall.   Water, the bearer of life. Caressing by nature, yet destructive when enraged. Living to its name with no control, ceasing to relent its storm. The controller of the name is the one that unifies the wrath of the god. Her experience told her to always take in proverbs when given before ever heading into a dungeon.  Daring placed the words of wisdom in the back of her mind and proceeded towards the passage. The sound of heavy footsteps behind her suddenly made her pause, she forgot about her escort.  "Thanks for getting me here big guy," the mare turned towards DK, "but I got this.  Why don't you head back home for now." Daring continued her excavation, but heard the ape following her.  "Look.  I appreciate that you helped me and all, but I prefer it if I handle it alone from here.  Temples have all sorts of traps just waiting to be triggered by careless travelers.  Spikes, mercury, falling rocks, head wires.  You'll likely get yourself killed." The gorilla snorted. "Just stay here and wait for me if you're that concerned."  Daring proceeded towards the door and twisted her neck to see DK about to make a step forward.  The gorilla stopped after being found out and sat on the floor. The mare focused back on the temple, hoping that she got through to him. The place was like a maze for her.  Daring climbed steps, jumped streams, and dodged water pressured shots as she made her way to the current room she stood in. The room was a corridor not much different from the entrance chamber.  The only difference is that there weren't any waterfalls, the streams of water were rapid instead of calming, and the ground had letters embedded into floor panels. She knew what she had to do. Daring pulled back and steadied her mind.  She focused with a powerful inhale and leaped into the air.  As she was about to land, the pegasus flapped her wings, gliding to the other side. "These traps are completely broken for flying creatures." she thought with a smirk on her face. Suddenly, the sound of some rocks shifting from behind caught her ears.  She turned and saw that DK was there, looking at the floor panel he unintentionally pushed. Daring glared, "I thought I told yo-" her chastising stopped when the left wall abruptly slammed down, revealing a torrent of water gushing towards the mare. DK jumped back from the flow of water that flowed by and Daring was pinned to the wall by the water pressure.  The panel that was stepped on began to rise and the wall did along with it, sealing the tsunami of liquid.  With the water no longer holding her in place, Daring fell into the rapid stream below and was riding with the flow.  The ape that started the mess stretched out his arm to scoop the adventurer up, but missed. Daring was at the mercy of the rapids.  It threw her, it tossed her, it drenched her, and her punishment ended when she fell into a calm stream. She gained her bearings and found where she fell in.  It was the entrance chamber, she came out of one of the cascades pouring into one of the pools. Daring snorted bubbles as she groaned in the water. "I hate water temples." Daring jogged up stairs, leaped over streams, and slid between water shots before she arrived back to the room that stopped her and the gorilla that caused it. "Why did you come here?  I told you to stay put in the entrance chamber." she lashed out, "NO, don't answer that, I wouldn't even understand you if ya did.  You're just going to keep tagging along no matter what I say, will ya!" The gorilla nodded with a grin. She pulled her pith helmet over her face; just in case her internal screaming happened to slip out.  "............FINE!  Have it your way, Magilla."  She said sarcastically, venting her exasperation at the kong's stubbornness.  Daring viewed the lettered pathway, "There's no way in Tartarus that I'm going to carry you to the other side, so we'll have to do this the old fashion way." The mare sat down, thinking how to solve this puzzle.  She recalled the inscription from earlier, "'The controller of the name is the one that unifies the wrath of the god.'  It's clear that I have to step on these letters to spell out its name, but what's its name?"  She ruffled her mane, trying to recall a god that was associated with water, "'Living to its name with no control.'" Daring rubbed her chin and clapped her hooves together when she figured it out, "Chaos of Water!"  She viewed the ground and found the letter 'C' within reach. "Okay DK, I want you to step exactly where I step.  Got it?" The ape nodded and Daring shook her legs to warm up. "Alright." she jumped on the 'C' panel. And it sank. The wall to the left opened again and Daring was washed away with the rapids once more. DK was left alone again, but he did what he was told and stepped where she did; sending him down the stream as well. "Lets.  Try.  This.  Again." The drenched mare said next to the wet ape after she went through the temple for the third time.  You could've sworn the water on her fur was turning to steam from her boiling frustration.  "That inscription was in Crocodian.  And in the Crocodian alphabet, 'Chaos' is spelled as 'Kaos'." Scanning the floor once more, Daring found a 'K' panel within jumping range. "Follow where I jump." she reminded DK and leaped to the tile. And it stayed in place. "Okay, time to end this farce."  Like a game of hopscotch, Daring Do and DK jumped from panel to panel, spelling out the deity's name.  Each tile she jumped to, the ape would fill the previous one.  With one last leap by her, followed by him, they made it to the other side of the room.  They peered into the next area, it was large in depth, standard height size, and was filled with springs pouring water into a shallow pool that splayed across the floor.  The two explorers stepped inside and caused ripples to form upon the surface; traveling across the room towards columns, walls, and the altar up ahead.  There stood a pedestal that held the first key that she needed to open the kremling mouthed door; a glowing blue zircon gem in the shape of a long fang. However, there was one more thing that was floating about between them and their goal.  An energy orb, bouncing through the air in a dark blue glow. "A guardian." the pony spoke aloud to her ape companion.  On rare occasions, Daring would have to face an entity that blocked her from an artifact she desired.  Each time the guardian was different, one was a slithering equinconda, another was a screeching harpony, and the last one she met was a knuckleheaded echidna, but this was the first time meeting an orb.  "I don't know what to expect from this thing, so stay alert." They softly walked across the shallow water.  The bottom of their hooves and feet were the only parts of them that were getting wet; despite the fact that water continued to pour inside the room. Like a heartbeat, the glowing orb pulsed brighter for a brief moment.  Daring and DK stopped before the sphere made another beat.  A steady tempo was coming from the ball of energy, but the mare wasn't going to let that scare her.  She crept closer at an even slower rate than before; only to cause the orb's thumping to get faster and heavier.  The magical ball of energy was starting to vibrate, making a humming sound to ward off the approaching mare; yet her ambition wasn't swayed by this act.  With one final effort, the sphere expanded and shined the whole room in a bright blue light.  With a popping sound, it blew itself apart into small shimmering lights before it faded into nothing; not that much different from a firework exploding in the night sky. Daring felt uneased, it was too easy for her, and that waved a warning flag for the mare that something bad was going to happen.  "Let's hurry and get out of here." The kong and pony duo approached the pedestal that held the floating gem that shines a brilliant aqua blue glow.  Calming herself, the pegasus steadied her breathing with her wings spread open.  In and out, the lungs expanded and deflated to the air within the room. Daring swiped the fang off the pedestal and held it in her wing. ............ It was silent within the room, outside of the water that was already flowing inside.  "No traps?" thought the mare.  She was expecting something to happen, anything that would put her to the test, but the fact that nothing happened only made her feel a sense of doom lurking ahead. "Come on," she shoved the fang jewel into her backpack hastefully, "let's get out of here."  The very moment she turned towards the entrance she came from, a stone slab slammed down within the door frame; locking the two inside. The pouring springs started to burst out water, gushing torrents to fill the room up.  Daring noted that the ceiling to this room is low, it wouldn't take long before the room was filled with water. "LET'S GO!" the mare shouted and the two of them ran across the water to the blocked door.  The water splashed at her hooves with every gallop she made; but with every leg she lifted, she felt a little bit slower.  Her hooves were starting to feel heavy.  She tried to fly, but the weight of her legs were too much for the mare to  carry. "Come on!!!" Daring mentally scolded herself, "Why do I feel so hea...!!!!!!" it suddenly became all clear to her at what was happening.  "That glowing orb.  It wasn't a guardian, it was a magic trap!" Spells channeled to last hundreds of thousands of years, magic traps were obstacles that Daring was never prepared for.  They could evoke conditions to an individual within the room the spell was cast upon; forcing a rule for intruders to follow.  The conditions vary upon the magic, but for this spell in particular, the water increases the weight of whatever was submerged in it. "It feels like my hooves are as heavy as cannon balls." the mare grunted as she lifted her legs through the enchanted water.  She suddenly felt something grab her around the torso and was lifted out of the water from DK's hand gripping around her.  The ape placed the pony on his back and charged at the wall that sealed them inside.  The enchanted water was doing little to DK's strength, but Daring could only wonder for how long. By the time they made it to the door, the water had reached DK's knees.  The exit was sealed by a flat surfaced slab made of Gabbro.  It was locked in place at every corner and was in a gap embedded into the floor; making it impossible to lift up. The gorilla pushed against the chunk of rock before pummelling it with punches; but no matter how much he tried, it wasn't cracking.  "Gabbro is a very hard mineral," Daring thought, "breaking through it with powerful strikes from a gorilla, isn't going to work." Scanning the room; the pegasus considered on possibly another way out.  "Water is filling up the room at a rapid rate, but it was staying at a low level when we came in; even when water was pouring in.  The only way that it could stay like that is if the water was leaving somehow.  Where would that be?"  She watched the water gushing into the room, raising ever higher every second.  The pouring water vibrated the water, causing ripples across the surface and bubbles to form on the right side of the room. Daring took a sharp gasp as it became clear. "Hey," she tapped on DK's head and flew over the bubbles, "Try breaking the floor over here." The ape followed her direction and marched through the pool.  The water was now past the gorilla's hip and it was starting to slow him down with the extra weight.  When he arrived at the bubbling spot, it became clear that the bubbles were coming out of a crack in the floor; a sign that there was another room below with air and a possible escape.  DK struggled at lifting his foot before stomping on the floor showing little results from his action; but as the water level continued to rise, his efforts at smashing the floor weakened as he focused more at supporting his head above the water. It didn't look good for Daring either as the water had her pinned against the ceiling.  Her hanging tail was the first part of her that made contact with the enchanted pool and was starting to pull her down.  The weight was too much for her wings to carry; and after a deep breath, she sank to the bottom with a thud. DK soon followed and they both desperately scraped and bashed the ground.  The floor was cracking more and more, but no matter how hard she stomped or how hard he punched, they weren't making it to the other side fast enough. Daring collapsed under the weight of the magical gravity, it was too exhausting to fight against without any air.  She was about to run out of all the oxygen she had left inside her. The kong was low on oxygen as well, yet he furiously wailed on the crumbling surface. He couldn't lift up his arms anymore, but with a screeching howl, he used the only thing he could swing for one final effort and bashed the ground with a powerful headbutt. With that last foolhardy effort, the stone surface began to crumble; falling into the floor below.  The two adventurers were swept along and they fell into the room below that held.... a rapid stream. They felt lighter after leaving the room and they both swam up to the surface for air, exhilarated that they were no longer under the influence of the room's magic; but this grace of relief was exchanged for the grip the river had on them.   For the next few minutes, it was creatures vs nature, as Daring Do and DK tried everything that they could to escape the current.  There was nothing they could grab onto amongst the smooth surfaced walls.  The water suddenly got stronger and the two found themselves caught in a whirlpool.  DK was paddling against the current and Daring was trying to kick herself up to fly out; but the swirling vortex pulled them down into a drain.  They were whipped about with hardly any time to think, but the ride quickly ended as they came falling out of a cascade and back into another pool at the entrance chamber. The two adventurers were completely drenched as they floated on the surface of water, steadying their breathing from the experience.  "So, we got the key and made our grand escape by nearly drowning." the mare said to the kong.  In a sarcastic tone, she asked, "Did you have fun?" He nodded chuckling.  She would've seriously questioned if that headbutt he made did any brain damage if she wasn't already certain that he had a brain to damage. The pony shook her head at how incorrigible he was, "Come on, let's head back." The two swam to the edge of the pool as the fishes below them brushed by.  Daring gripped on the edge with a hoof and unexpectedly felt something grip her back.  "Allow me," she was suddenly pulled out of the water and was held in the air by a claw from a familiar green kremling, King K. Rool. Immediately, DK flings himself out of the water to charge at the reptile; but two large, beefy kremling twins slam on top of the kong and pin him to the ground. "Looks like I caught myself a seapony." the king grinned at his catch and Daring groaned at the bad comment; she might as well be tortured from phrases like those. Back to back, DK and Daring were tied together by one end of a rope made of manila hemp.  The other end of the lasso was being held by the twins with their king circling at what they'd caught. "It's a real privilege to meet you once again, Daring Do." K. Rool pulled his cape back as he bowed, "You've been pretty busy from what I've heard." Daring's attitude quickly switched, putting up a strong offensive front for the interrogation she's expecting, "And where'd you get that information?" "A little bird told me." "As it pecked the ticks off your back, I assume." The gator lashed out at her, "Those are Hippos, not Kremlings, you glue factory reject!" She gave him a nasty look from that derogatory remark. "That's it!  That's the face I was looking for."  He laughs at her scowl, ending it with a revealing sigh.  "You have no idea how depressing it is when your adversary can't understand an insult when it hits them.  Isn't that right, banana breath." he asked DK, to which the ape looked puzzled from the remark. "Just what do you have against those kongs anyway?" "Those filthy apes have been nothing but a cavity to my flawless planning for as long as I can remember.  Whenever I form a scheme, whenever I make an attempt, whenever I have finally won; they always find a way to take it away from me in some ill gotten manner."  K. Rool rubbed his forehead, "It's enough to give anyone a migraine.  But you however, have a way to make things to go accordingly."   The king swings Daring's stolen backpack in his claw, "For example," and began to rummage through her belongings to pull out the fang jewel.  He tossed the bag aside and awed at the gem, "Exquisite.  Simply remarkable.  This is definitely something 'The Great Daring Do' would obtain through her journeys." "You're not going to get away with this, you over-sized granny purse!" She gritted her teeth, desperately trying to break free. The king's bloodshot eye glazed over to her, only to huff at her remark, "Big talk coming from an appetizer."  He began to walk circles around the captured duo, idling his time.  "Tell me, have you ever heard of blue dog-like creatures that have a hand at the end of their tails?" Daring immediately knew of a creature that fits that description, but she wasn't going to indulge him with a response. "They've been part of my interest as of late, and I've been learning many things about their kind.  For instance, they have a very nasty way that they prefer when dealing with their prey.  Being aquatic creatures, they can usually stay underwater for up to thirty minutes, longer if they're not stressed.  They wait under water until some unfortunate git comes by, and then with their long prehensile tail, they would drag their victims down under the water until they drown." "They sound like my kind of species.  A distant cousin, if you will." "Two leather boots of a pair." the pony mocked in a smirk, but that soon faded when he showed no reaction to it. "So I thought," K. Rool kicked the rope tied to her and DK.  She followed her gaze along the strap to see the other end tied to a Kremling statue; mere inches to the pool with the twins ready to push the chunk of rock in, "'Why not give it a try?'" The Kremling twins rammed against the statue and it fell into the pool with a splash.  The rocky model began to sink, dragging the pony and kong closer to the water as they struggled to stay on land. "You'll enjoy drowning," K. Rool waved goodbye to the two of them with the fanged gem, "I heard from an old sailor once that it's like going home." The world of the two tied victims suddenly became muffled as they hit the water and began sinking.  No matter how hard they tried to swim, they couldn't lift the weight of the statue.  The two of them kept passing by schools of fishes until the rock sculpture hit the seafloor. Daring was struggling to get free and DK was clapping his feet together.  She wiggled and pushed against the rope binding them, but everything she tried only made the rope tighter around the two of them.  A pain in her chest was starting to spread through the pony's body, every part of her was demanding her to breathe.  She took in some water, but Daring fought the desire to breathe in order to avoid taking in any more water with all of her mental discipline.  The fishes swam about around the mare, she could feel the wave of the water as the fishes wiggled their bodies.  Her vision was starting to fade, fighting both the rope and her body's instinct was utter agony.  Her effort of breaking free of the rope's bind was diminished as the only thing she could focus her will upon was not to breathe; but that too was about to shrivel up.  She couldn't feel the restraints on her body anymore and felt a current rushing by her.  She didn't know what was happening anymore; but when she heard a splashing sound with a breeze of cold air, she coughed up the water in her lungs and greedily breathed in all the air that she could. She could still taste the salt from the water lingering in her mouth as her sanity was starting to enlighten her at her surroundings.  Daring was above the water, she knew that much, and she was holding on to something to keep her afloat.  It wasn't the edge of the pool or a kong;  but a fish.  The rope that tied the ape and pony together floated by with signs that it was cut with something sharp.  It floated by the fish's long pointed nose when the mare realized that she was saved by a dark ocean blue, sea green bellied, swordfish. Daring heard another splash and saw DK getting out of the water.  The broadbill swam up to the edge for the kong to pick up the drenched pony.  "Just..... how....." she tried to get herself back in order, "What happened?" The gorilla clapped his hands together. Daring didn't understand what that meant. DK clapped his hands again. The pegasus still didn't understand what he was getting at. "I don't know what this means," she clapped her hooves together and the sound of splashing caught her attention.  She viewed the swordfish as its eyes were focused on her. Daring clapped her hooves again and the fish jumped in the water, expressing that it now knew her call. It finally hit her, "You called it!" DK confirmed it with a nod. The mare gives a weak laugh, "He may be a pain to drag around, and he may be as sharp as a bowling ball, but he always seems to know how to get us out of a jam.  I can see why K. Rool is constantly having problems with him."  Her eyes widened, "K. ROOL!  He still has the fang!"  She wobbled to her backpack, still not completely recovered from her near death experience, and put it on.  "Come on, we need to get it back." Daring was tough, but she wasn't in any condition to go after the kremling king.  The ape took it upon himself and carried the pegasus on his back as they left to get the jewel back; leaving the swordfish to return back home. "Hip, hop, hip, hop, whatcha got?" "Not a lot." "Hip, hop, hip, hop, whatcha say?" "Where's our pay!" Within the jungle, King K. Rool was leading the twins in a marching fashion; wielding the blue-fanged jewel around like a baton as he conducted the two.  A breeze rushed by the kremlings, and the fat gator suddenly felt a bit empty handed.  He looked at his claw and the fang was missing from his grasp. "OOOO-HOOOOOO!!!" K. Rool looked up ahead at the gorilla that snatched it.  DK was swinging from vine to vine with his right hand and held the jewel in his left hand.  Daring Do turned back as she rode on the kong's back.  "Later, gator." the mare said with a cocky grin at the king down below.  She returned her focus to what lay ahead; but if she only focused on K. Rool for a little bit more longer, she would've noticed something off-putting about the dictator. He was grinning.