Daring Do and the Tie Wearing Kong

by Amereep

Persisting Prowess

Hours have passed since K. Rool escaped with Mulungu's Scepter. Daring had made her way back to the hangout where the kongs had successfully returned the hoard of bananas. Daring informed DK, Diddy and Dixie on what happened and that she intends on getting back the scepter.

The four of them began to form a plan around the hangout, but the matter of where K. Rool retreated to was also something they were scratching their heads over.

DK sat on a bolder with a leg up, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin on his knuckles as he wondered. Every so often he nabbed a banana with his free hand, squeezing it to shoot the mushy inside of the fruit into his mouth.

Diddy hung upside down by his tail from a tree branch, keeping the lotus position as he pondered and letting his blood flow to his head.

Dixie leaned her back against the trunk of a tree with her arms folded, gently tapping the back of her head on the bark as she contemplated.

As for the mare in the pith helmet of the group, she was lost in thought while sitting on the jungle floor. Around Daring was her torn backpack, being used as a sling for her right wing. She used banana leaves to dress the wound and had it rest inside the empty bag. It was uncomfortable, but she had to make due with what she could get.

Daring was also somewhere between weary and drowsy. Being up for almost twenty-four hours and avoiding danger had drained her, staying awake was now starting to become a challenge. Her head was starting to cause her pain from the strain she was putting on her fatigue mind. She needed sleep, but that would just mean that K. Rool would get farther away with Mulungu's Scepter.

She kept on reflecting on all the conversations she's had with the King of the Kremlings, hoping to get an idea on where to start.

"I was the one who spread the rumors of this island to bring treasure seekers like you here to get those keys for me."

"Still can't believe that this was all thought up by that clown." Daring spoke aloud to the kongs. "That gator is smarter than he lets on to be."

"I have the authority power, luxurious wealth, countless loyal workers, cunning intellect, superior technology, perfect physique. And now, possess the enchanting source of magic."

"It doesn't help that he's heavily secured, but the biggest issue here is that..."

"Caballeron told me so much about you."

"...he knows me and has used that knowledge against me."

"All I had to do was give a little motivation of some inception."

"Which always seem to go in his favor."

"But you however, have a way to make things to go accordingly."

"So how can you stop somecreature that has everything and can anticipate your next move?" Daring tapped her head to push out an answer. She caught the action she was doing.

"You know, you're a lot like those 'fleabags'. While you're obviously smarter than them, you're just as easy to direct; given the right motive."

Daring looked up at DK, who was tapping his head for an answer as well. "I remember K. Rool telling me that he's had problems with you guys in the past."

"Those filthy apes have been nothing but a cavity to my flawless planning for as long as I can remember."

"What's your secret for outsmarting a smartypants?"

DK, Diddy, and Dixie shared a shrug for an answer.

Daring went back into thought, "...an old friend once told me that you need to know your enemy in order to outsmart them. And I can't think of no better time to follow his words than now."

"So let's think. K. Rool is careful, manipulative, misleading, a bit prideful, and now believes that he's the victor."

"I've won, you lost, and there's nothing you can do to turn that around. "

"Now if I was K. Rool and if I heard the news about my sunken ship..."

"I may not predict what'll happen exactly, but I planned for every possible outcome."

"...I would have a backup plan ready." Daring rubbed her chin in a define manner, "He said that he had an industrial location."

"Return back to the factory. I'll arrive shortly."

"Where would that be?"

"Oh!" DK exclaims, "Ohhooo oh ohho." He then pantomime like he's gripping onto something to his sides and tilts his body like he's riding a vehicle.

"If you're suggesting the mines, then I have to disagree. Because that's the first place I'd look. "

"I can read you like a book."

"No, the place has to be unexpected. It has to be an area where we would least suspect it to be."

The four of them thought it through on where such a place would be, but none of them could really come up with anything.

Daring suddenly felt a sting in her shot wing and rubbed it to sooth the pain.

"Something's been bugging me for a while."

"I consider the possibilities. And remove them."

"Why did he take out my wing? If he wanted to stop me from interfering, why didn't he just take out one of my legs?"

"Eh eh he hee." Dixie flapped her arms.

"Yeah. I wouldn't be able to fly, let alone glide or spiral down without a second airfoil to keep me balanced. But you don't need to fly to go after him..... unless.... unless he's planning to get airborne somehow!" Daring tapped a hoof to her lips, "If that were the case and if we throw in that statement about the factory, then I assume the Kremlings are building an airship for K. Rool to escape on. Now the question is, 'Where would such a facility be?'"

A moment of silence fell on the group again.

"...it would have to be in a large open area in order for the ship to take off. Somewhere............ the warehouses! I remember Barkeep telling me that there was going to be a factory built where the fire was. But when I saw it earlier today, the structure wasn't even attempted yet." Daring rubbed her temple, "...............however...........things have changed in the past few hours. It would be understandable if Rool constructed a factory during that time frame by using the scepter."

"This scepter allows cold-blooded creatures to tap into the fifth element, 'Magic'."

"Four walls and a roof. That's roughly all you need to make a factory outside of the machines, which could easily be worked around with magic. The entire idea seems completely far fetched, though." A cocky smile formed on Daring's face, "Which seems like the perfect place for K. Rool."

She was settled on the idea and was about to head towards Rool's location, but her smile began to falter. "Yet... there's still one more troubling issue we have to consider."

"With an endless fountain of mana at my disposal."

"With him possessing magic, it's gonna be near impossible to approach him head on. And with the security and protection he has with him..."

"I am an impervious wall that at best you could only scuff."

"We have to separate him from his followers somehow."

"Ah haa ha ah ahh." Chirped in Diddy and began putting his fists up and punching the air.

"Fighting them?" Daring interpreted, "That... that might just work."

"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 by some ill gotten manner."

"If I was Rool, I wouldn't want to take any chances at dealing with you guys. After all that planning and timing it took to get the scepter, I wouldn't want to deal with kongs that have outsmarted me before." Daring gave a huff, "But that won't be enough."

"In order for us to stop him and get back the scepter, we need to get Rool alone and to make him think he's alone. His guard will be lowered, allowing us to steal the scepter without him using the magic to bend us to his control."

Daring got up and patted herself off, "We'll have to improvise along the way, but I think that's everything we need to know."

DK, Diddy, and Dixie followed suit as they're ready to help Daring out.

"I appreciate the help you guys. I'm pushing myself a little bit too much on this one, so it's nice to know that somecreature is there to catch me if I fall."

"Let's head out." Daring said as she led the way with a yawn.

---

Pursuing towards the many warehouses based off of a hunch, it was understandable for Daring to be a bit apprehensive on the results. It didn't help when they arrived that they had to search for the place from the ground. It seemed so much different to Daring when she had a bird's eye view of the area, but from what she could remember from the night she arrived on the island, the location should be spotted close by the sea. The four of them placed themselves between the warehouses and the ocean.

They quickly found a building that wasn't there this morning being cased in a range of orange colors from the setting sun. There was about an hour or so of sunlight left for them to work with.

Nevertheless, Daring Do started to feel the odds shifting in her favor from the correct assumption she made about King K. Rool.

As the four of them headed along the side of the suspected warehouse, Daring stopped the team before turning the corner towards the main entrance to analyze the situation. Sure enough, there were two kremlings standing guard; one green, the other magenta. They were armored, but they look like they grabbed what they could find in the janitor's closet as they both held trash can lids like shields and had metal buckets for helmets.

Daring pulled back, "I would prefer if we got in somehow without causing any commotion." Her eyes drifted down before looking up at the structure and past the windows near the top, "If only we could reach the roof, we might find a hatch or an air dock or something."

"Oh!" DK chimed and gestured to follow him.

DK led Daring, Diddy, and Dixie towards the other end of the warehouse and cupped his hands together as if he was pocketing the air. He began blowing between his thumbs and was producing a whistle from his hands that sounded like a mourning dove.

"He must be calling another animal buddy." Daring pondered, "But what kind of animal could help us get up there?"

After minutes, DK lowered his hands as something came around the corner.

The moment Daring saw it, she immediately flattened her back against the warehouse. Low to the ground, the creature crossed by the scared stiff mare and stopped to view her with his two bulbous eyes. It grinned its teeth at her, causing Daring's mane to stand on end, before continuing past her.

"...no..." Daring barely muttered, "No nonono. Anything but that."

"Oh hoo ohh ho hooo hoho oho." DK told the orange hairy creature with dark spots.

Feeling Dixie jumping onto his abdomen, the creature looked up the side of the building. His cheeks began to bloat and it spitted out from his mouth a wad of silk. He continued to do this up along the wall and began crawling up the vertical surface; using the sneakers on his eight legs. When he reached the top, he lowered down a sticky rope for DK to grab on and gradually started climbing up with Diddy clinging on his back; joining Dixie and the giant spider that made the rope.

The spider and kongs look down, seeing that Daring was shivering at the sight of the thread. She knew if she wanted to infiltrate the warehouse, she had to grab the spider silk. But it was spider silk.

"T-t-tell me," Daring gulped, "Tell me to grab the rope."

DK scratched his head.

Diddy looked at Dixie puzzled.

And Dixie gave Diddy a shrug.

"JUST TELL ME TO GRAB THE ROPE!"

"Oh?"

"Ah?"

"Eh?"

"Th.....thanks." Daring replied, annoyed at the lack of their vocabulary.

Daring looked at the web strand once more. She took a deep breath and wrapped her forelegs around the sticky thread. The thought of what she was doing was making her shiver, and the moment her hind legs left the ground, she scrunched up and was being pulled up by the team above.

When Daring was being lifted past the warehouse's window, her mind was ripped off the web to the thunderstruck site inside, a gigantic vehicle that looked like a cross between a zeppelin and a twin-tailed aircraft. Supported by rigging cable it had a set of three flaps to steer on the bottom of each tail and three sets of propellers shared the same horizontal axis roll that connected to the gondola. The gondola itself has a deck on top, under the fuselage shaped like a kremling's head and the two horizontal propellers on each end. Outside of some scaffolds being worked on here and there, the airship looked pretty complete.

"If it wasn't for that kremling on the front, I would be fooled into believing that it was a Highwind original."

A few wooden carts were on the floor with piles of ores inside them, most likely dug from Rool's mining operation. Dozens of empty crates were being filled with spare parts and carried inside the airship. A couple of TNT barrels were off to the side, waiting to be loaded when construction was complete. Kremlings were abundant, busy at forging, wiring, and loading the airship with crates of materials and backup parts. Cranes were also being used, and outside of that and the ship, the only machines inside were a few generators that powered the lights inside the facility.

The last thing that caught her eyes before she was pulled past the window was a purple light from inside. She saw a cart of mined minerals being changed by an aura into various parts meant for the inside of a machine. The aura faded, the light dimmed, and Daring saw K. Rool lowering the staff he used to make those parts.

Once she made it to the top, Daring hastefully removed her grip on the thread of spider silk. She had a bit of a fight with the sticky substance, but she eventually got freed. Unfortunately, Daring's reward for putting up with it was the sight of a flat rooftop.

No vents, no hatches, just a flat surface with a ledge around the border.

"No entry points," the disappointment in Daring's tone was apparent, "meaning that we're going to have to make some commotion by breaking through a window or the hangar doors. But we can't do that, it'll just alert K. Rool. And judging by how completed that ship is, he'd probably order an immediate take o-"

Daring lifted an eyebrow when it hit her.

"How's he going to escape? That ship was way too big to get through the hangar doors. ......maybe......"

A smirk formed on Daring's face and she turned towards DK, Diddy, Dixie, and the giant spider that had her back.

"I got an idea. Dixie, I want you to use an orange to explode the hanger door. Then DK will get some coconuts and hit them where it hurts with his gun, allowing Diddy to use his barrel jetpack to fly in and snatch the scepter in the confusion. Finally, we head back to the plane where the spider has it started for our getaway. All of you got that?"

The other members of the small team gave their own confused look amongst themselves.

Daring then caught on at what a ridiculous plan that was. She tapped her cheeks and shook her head to focus on the matter at hoof, but it was clear that her fatigue state was starting to impair her judgement and causing her imagination to go wild.

"Sorry, let me try this again..."

---

Inside the facility, K. Rool was talking to a goggle-wearing subordinate who held a clipboard in his claws. "So how's everything looking?"

"We have enough fuel, and we're good on power." replied his subordinate as K. Rool peeked over his shoulder. "With the arrival just now of the new equipment, we should have enough to fully construct the Kloud Klipper in about ten or so minutes. The real issue we're facing is operating the tin can with the tech we have. While that wand's magic can change the appearance of material into the parts we need, it doesn't have the coding installed, so there's a lot of troubleshooting holding us back."

"How long do you suppose it'll take?"

"Well given that the last parts we need just arrived, and that we'll need to test them first before the real thing; I say we'll be ready at around eighteen zulu time."

"So an hour and a half." Rool loosened himself up at the news, "Leaving in the cover of the night kinda destroys the fun out of revealing our location to everyone outside, but I guess blending in the starry sky has some grandeur to it as well."

*CLAMP*

The sound of the hangar's door slamming shut echoed within the hideout, causing some workers to react to the startling noise. It was the magenta scaled guard from outside, he abandoned his post and fled inside shieldless. He locked the hanger's door and scampered towards K. Rool.

"SIR," the armored kremling hollered across the floor, "THAT KONG IS HERE."

"WHAT?" Rool's left eye bulged at the irritating news.

The guard skidded to a halt before his leader. "Him and the other two kongs are right outside the door. Koin is keeping them at bay, and he ordered me inside to inform you."

K. Rool tightened his grip on the scepter, displaying his frustration in a form of a snarl. "EVERY-TIME!!!!" Rool roared, "Alright. Tell me. Are you sure that it was only those three? There wasn't any other creature with them, was there?"

"No, sir. Just those three primates."

K. Rool stared out in space, wobbling his jaw as he kept his gators waiting.

"Sir, what are your orders?"

".............we're leaving"

"S-sir?"

"I said we're leaving. Now! PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE!" K. Rool yelled to his entire crew, "I WANT US AIRBORNE IN FIVE MINUTES, SO GET MOVING YOU FLYING GECKOS!!!"

"But sir," the goggle wearing Kremling assured, "we're not ready yet. We're still working on programming the Klipper for operation."

"I don't care if it's completely operable. Just as long as we're hovering two hundred feet in the air within the next five minutes. We can complete it then."

"But you have the power of magic on your side. Is a retreat really necessary?"

"If there is one thing that I've learned from that witless ape, it's that there are some individuals that you can never anticipate from. I'm not going to risk it after all the time I've placed into getting this scepter."

"Once we're in the air, we'll be free of any interference. Now quit jabbering and GET MOVING!!!!" K. Rool snapped at his follower, to which he scuttled to help the others.

The Kremling King gazed at the ceiling and the scepter he held began glowing.

---

*YAAAAAWWN*

Daring released another loud yawn as she waited on the edge of the roof of the hanger. Her leg bounced in agitation to the sound of her kong pals fighting the guard without her help. But it was all part of her plan for them to be decoys.

Daring felt a twist in her chest when she looked at her company that stayed on the roof with her, the giant tarantula.

The hairy spider grinned his teeth with a smile at her.

Daring replied in gesture with a smile of her own, quivering as it stared at her with those two big eyes of his.

The two turned their sight at the roof that was suddenly covered in a purple aura. Both the mare and spider crouched and hid close to the edge of the building as the roof started to shake. In a flash, the roof disappeared and revealed the Kloud Klipper in all its glory to the world.

"FIVE MINUTES, GATORS!!!" K. Rool yelled over the loud machinery, "DON'T DISAPPOINT ME." he stated before marching inside the vessel.

"Then we have to move fast." Daring informed the spider who was already eight steps ahead of her with a line of his silk at the ready.

Daring bit her lips as she gripped the spider thread and scaled down the hanger's interior's wall. The spider kept extending his thread as Daring made long jumps down while the entire crew was in too frantic of a state to spot the mare scaling the wall.

Daring eventually touched the ground behind some empty carts and shook the spider silk off. The spider up top pulled the self-made rope to him and scurried along towards his next phase while Daring began hers the moment she spotted the TNT barrel.

---

Outside the hanger door, the armored green-scaled Kremling was keeping the kongs from entering as he pressed his back against the entrance with two trash can lids to shield their approach.

When Dixie twirled around one shield, the guard pushed her away with the other.

When Diddy sprung at the gator, he was bounced back by a shove.

When DK attempted to pull a lid, the kremling smacked him with the other.

The guard was keeping his ground despite the kongs' best efforts. With all of his sides guarded, finding a way past was proving troublesome, until a glob of spider silk was dropped on him from a grinning tarantula above.

It caught the guard by surprise, but he still had some fire lift in him as he tried to fight out of the silk. "The only way you're getting past me is to get me from behind," the kremling verbally lashed, "And with my back against the door, that's not going to happe-"

*BOOM*

A portion of the hanger's door behind him blew off from the inside, sending the kremling forward and getting more tangled up in the spider silk.

DK, Diddy, and Dixie jumped inside and proclaimed their arrival together, "AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!"

[ALL CLAWS CURRENTLY OFF BOARD,] K. Rool's voice thundered from the various speakers attached to the ship, [FOCUS ON THE INTRUDERS. DO NOT LET THEM ON BOARD.]

Three dozen kremlings dropped what they were doing and swarmed the primates. They were running on feet, jumping off from scaffolds, and sliding down ladders from crane cabins. As one such operator left his cabin and touched the floor, Daring Do was hiding close by to climb the ladder up to the cabin of one of the cranes that was over the airship.

The central attention was still on the three kongs that infiltrated the warehouse as Daring ascended the ladder. The blades of the ship were beginning to gyrate when Daring reached the cabin. She jumped onto the jib portion of the crane and quickened her pacing along it.

DK, Diddy, and Dixie were flipping and tossing the kremlings around. When they hit the floor, they kept getting back up and continued to assault the kongs.

The ship started to rise and Daring hastened her approach. The wind from the blades blew her helmet off, but she just kept going. Daring was cutting it close, but she leapt for the top deck. She hit her hind hoof on the rails, sending the pony for a tumble onto the ship.

Ascending further out of reach, the three kongs and remaining kremlings were left grounded. The kremlings began making their escape, now that there was no reason for them to fight anymore.

DK, Diddy and Dixie watched the airship get higher and higher, leaving nothing but Daring's helmet to fall down as a parting gift to them.

---

Daring Do was feeling the wind pushing her down as the ship rose.

"Rool should be feeling like he's won now that he escaped the kongs' attempt to stop him." Daring reminded herself with a tired mind. "He should also be thinking that I'm no longer a threat because of the precautions he made on my wing, as well as the fact that I wasn't with those kongs, leading him to believe my lack of sleep got to me. Rool's guard should be down, so he won't see me coming. Just as long as I avoid his crew."

The airship stopped ascending and the pressure that was placed on Daring was lifted, allowing her to stand up again. She stared at the floor while she caught her breath. Her eyes focused on the straight metal ridges that made up the floor of the deck. And they were starting to waver.

Daring laid a hoof to her head, her drowsiness was getting worse. Her vision was starting to fail on her with things beginning to appear to be moving around when they shouldn't be. She scanned the area and spotted a door that led inside.

"I need to hurry and get those bananas. ....no no. The Scepter. Get the scepter."

Daring galloped towards the door, opened it, turned the corner and lurched onto railings for an overview of a system of pipes, cables, and gears before her. The scent of oil and grease irritated the nose within the tower corridor. A loud humming resonated from the rotating pillars, turbines, and pistons working to keep the airship skyborn. The grated walkways that covered the conduits were bent and split into various paths to maneuver around this elaborate environment. Despite it being fairly new, the place was scattered with boxes and pieces yet to be installed within this floating fortress.

Among the consoles, levers, and speakers; nearly a dozen kremlings of all kinds were traversing along the tight pathways, tinkering and operating parts of the ship as they did. Daring crouched down low and made her way deeper into the ship.

"Where would that bug-eyed gator be?"

Taking a set of stairs down, Daring placed a hoof in the middle of a pathway. She felt the grated floor below her wobble, and upon closer inspection of it, she understood that the path was layered with a series of grated tiles, most of which weren't fully fastened. To her left was a console along the side of the path, with various crates and a dead end towards the back of the pathway. Daring took right to proceed to the next set of stairs, but recoiled back to the sight of a kremling at the bottom heading in her direction. Daring quickly shuffled back and hid under the console before she was noticed. She held her breath as the kremling stopped in front of the dashboard.

Daring listened to the sounds of beeps and taps from the kremling operating above her. She began to feel her chest getting tighter and couldn't stop herself as she gave out a quiet yawn.

"*YAWN*"

Daring flinched from hearing the kremling giving a yawn soon after she did.

"CAN I GET MORE BELTS HERE?"

"I GOT YOU." The kremling at the console responded to the deafened request. He proceeds to the crates at the end of the hall and pulls out the belts from a rectangle crate. He walks by Daring's hiding spot, still unaware of the pony's presence.

Daring watched him leave and she turned to the crates at the end of the hall and got an idea.

---

A short time later on the flight deck, King K. Rool was busy writing his inauguration speech. The area was just as messy as the engine room, scattered with wooden crates, round barrels, tin oil drums and random personal belongings along the walls to form a path. Roll was sitting in the swivel bolted seat in front of the consoles with a wide ranged viewing window beyond that.

The overweight gator placed the quill he's been using to write his speech on the console to his left; next to Mulungu's Scepter. Roll reviewed over his work. ".........maybe it might sound better if I went under a different persona?"

"Sir," a kremling enters through the open door to the room, "We surveillance the area below us."

K. Rool focused his attention on his subordinate,"And the kongs?"

"All three of them are grounded, but they're all focused on us."

"We should be in the clear," he said clapping his claws with a grin on his face, "but keep an eye on them. They'll likely chase us once we get moving, and I want to keep it that way."

Doing as he was told, the kremling gave a salute and left the room. The moment he did however, he unintentionally rammed his knee into one of the various crates of the pathway.

He grumbled at the rectangular wooden crate and continued around it.

Seconds passed until the crate lifted up and Daring Do peeked out from under her mobile hiding spot. The pony peered inside the flight deck and K. Rool had already returned to his speech. And laying on the console to his left, Mulugu's Scepter.

Steadying her breathing, Daring slowly tip-hooved closer to the relic. The crate on her back blended with everything else in the room, but she had no visibility of where she was going. Daring periodically lifted the wooden container to see where she was and listened very closely to her surroundings for any sudden sound.

The humming in the room wasn't as loud as the engine room was, but she had some confidence that she wasn't making a sound.

"What treason is this?"

Daring's body locked in place when she heard K. Rool's voice.

"Confront me? Ha! You do not want to make me your adversary."

She could feel her heart in her throat, her mind was racing for a new course of action now that she was found out.

"Kneel before, Prince K. Roolestia."

The tension Daring felt started to loosen the moment she heard that bizarre title. She took a peek from under the crate. K. Rool wasn't looking at her, he was still sitting in his seat posing a talon at the window in an authoritative manner

"No no no..." K. Rool tickled his chin with the quill, pondering over something. "...Prince K. Roolaris!" he grinned and returned to writing.

Daring steadied her nerves again and glazed her sight over to the staff, moving even slower as she got closer. She gently laid each hoof on the metal floor with every step made until she was practically right next to Rool. Daring held her breath as she extended her left wing up towards the scepter that was on the edge of the monarch's sight. She gently wrapped her wing around the treasured artifact, feeling the heavy weight as Rool continued writing.

"SIR!"

Daring swiftly dropped to the floor, reconcealing herself under the crate with an empty wing.

K. Rool turned to the saluting kremling in the doorway, "I've come to report that we'll be moving momentarily and you might feel a sudden jolt when we do."

"I see," replied the king. "Thank you for the heads up."

"After we do, I'll send the extra hands on guard duty."

"That won't be necessary."

Daring felt her blood freeze over as she heard two thuds on the box she was in.

"The only threat that could hinder us up here is Daring Do, but with a shot wing, she wouldn't be able to fly up here. Besides, all of that exertion she placed on securing the artifact has left her exhausted. She'd probably collapse before even setting hoof on this vessel. So why don't you act like me and put your feet up on something."

"I'll do just that. Thank you, sir."

The sound of fading footsteps could be heard, "Now where was I? .....oh yes, the speech." And a subtle sound of a weight being lifted off the box signaled Daring to continue. She gently lifted the box, feeling her heart beating on her rib cage from all this tension.

K. Rool was back to writing, leaving the scepter in reach for any creator to snag.

Daring slowly stretched out her wing again, making quick glances to the Kremling King as she got closer.

He only had to swerve his bulging eye and she'd be caught.

She felt a cold sweat dripping down her cheeks as she wrapped her wing around the artifact and began lifting the heavy golden object. She cautiously pulled back, struggling at the weight and biting her lip from making any kind of sound. And at last, Daring was gripping Mulungu's Scepter tightly to her chest with a delightful grin. She was mesmerized to see lights flickering inside the purple crystal that made up the head of the scepter, illuminating gently and leaving a faint glow inside the crate. Daring began heading back towards the door just as cautiously as she came in. K. Rool still didn't notice the absent relic when she made it halfway towards the door. She was almost out of the room, she could feel a second wind coming to fight off her fatigue state.

And then the ship jolted and everything inside the room was thrown.

Barrels rolled, drums tipped, and Daring was flipped with the crate while K. Rool was thrown back in his chair.

K. Rool sat up in his seat, readjusting his crown, checked on the condition of the scepter and found it missing. He turned back and Daring was soon spotted the moment she got back on her legs. "DARING DO!?!?!?" roared The Kremling King. He eyed the scepter being tightly gripped within the pegasus' wing. "Well," Rool hopped off the chair and cautiously approached her, "it appears that I've underestimated your reputation of 'never giving up'."

"An estimation," Daring kept her eyes locked on him as she slowly walked backwards towards the door, "that you'll dearly regret!" and bolted out of the room.

Daring was in no condition to put up a fight, especially now that she got what she came for. She galloped down the grated walkway, taking only a glimpse back to see if K. Rool was chasing her. But she soon gained a sinking feeling when she saw nocreature was following her.

[ATTENTION ALL CLAWS!] K. Rool's voice rumbled through the airship through the speakers.

Daring skidded to a halt, she knew what the reptile was planning and had to think fast to outsmart him.

[DARING DO HAS INFILTRATED THE SHIP AND STOLEN THE SCEPTER.]

She shifted her sights for someplace to hide, no way she could handle an entire ship of Kremlings in her state. The immediate area did have crates to conceal herself in, but if the crew was on the search for her, it wouldn't take long before she was found. It had to be someplace where the Kremlings would overlook.

[FIND THAT FEATHERED MULE AND SEIZE HER.]

Daring was frantically panicking, shuffling back into a corner to protect her rear. And suddenly felt unleveled in one of her steps.

[IMMEDIATELY!!!]

It was the grated floor that covered the conduits. One of the tiles was wobbling.

Doors swung open and the sound of Kremlings were starting to fill the area.

Daring Do swiftly lifted and dove under the grate into the conduits. It was a cramped space, but she was able to fit if she got down on her stomach.

Kremlings passed overhead of Daring's position. Checking around machines and inside crates for the pony that was just below their feet.

"Now," Daring refocused her objective and started crawling the tight path, "I need to get off this tin can somehow. Maybe there's a glider or a parachute somewhere."

The grates above Daring rattled and wobbled as the Kremlings were scrambling to find her, yet were still getting no closer. "SEARCH EVERYWHERE!!!" K. Rool bellowed as he searched with his crew. "SCAVE THE CLOUDS! FLUSH THE VEINS! I WANT NOTHING LEFT UNTURNED!!!"

Daring took a turn at a split in her path and she winced to the sharp stinging coursing through her injured wing after bumping into the corner. She mended the pain through soft strokes for a moment, but was interrupted when something from the corner of her eye was spotted.

Walking on four short legs like a quadruped, was a small cerulean skinned Kremling. So small in fact, that it had plenty of room moving about without bumping into anything, making that much more threatening with a mouth that could bite half of Daring Do's leg. The kremling spotted her in moments and bared its large teeth before it scurried at the pony; clamping his jaw as he did.

It was more than obvious that Daring was in no position to fend herself from someone like him; not in a cramped place where her movement was restrained. Being that she was holding the scepter in her left wing, Daring placed her back to the grated tile above and pushed her hooves against the conduits below. The grate lifted and she slipped out into the open and bounced off the back of a blue muscled kremling wearing a pair of camouflage overalls. The kremling turned as Daring Do did the same, but before she could get away, she was caught and lifted into the air.

The kremling had snagged Daring by the tail, hoisting her up easily with one arm outstretched. Daring retaliated, and she pulled back her legs and bucked him right in the jaw with a loud audible smack.

"Hurhurhurhur," the muscled gator laughed.

Things were starting to turn out just like it did back at the mines for her. Daring held onto the scepter as tight as she could when her captor had her at eye level. She glimpsed at the golden scepter, before scowling at the Kremling with a smirk on her face.

And dropped the scepter.

*CLANG*

"Owowowow," howled the muscled gator, dropping Daring and soothing his toe that was injured by the solid gold scepter.

While the sound of the gold wasn't loud enough to be heard over the entire ship, it did get the attention of a dozen kremlings.

"THERE SHE IS!"

Daring Do snatched Mulungu's Scepter back into her left wing when the kremlings were at both ends of the path, narrowed by the railings along it. They were getting closer and the one she just dealt with was getting over the pain in his toe, so she had to take the only option left for her.

Daring leapt on the railing and sprung towards one of the horizontal beams supporting the airship. She landed three hooves on it, but her fourth dragged the rest of her to the point where she was hanging by two legs from the beam. Daring was trying to pull herself up, but the weight of the scepter combined with her exhausted state was proving to be a challenge for her to just hang on. The Kremling Crew wasn't going to give Daring the chance and some began to walk along the beam to nab her.

With things as they were, Daring had to drop herself someplace different, but everyplace she viewed would cause more problems than the one she was in now. The piston would whack her across the room, the gears would crush her in its teeth, and anything that looked safe to fall on was too far down that it would injure her when she landed. Her head throbbed from the strain she was placing on it, but her mind registered a crazy idea the moment she saw an industrial sized fan blowing air upwards within swinging range.

Daring readjusted her grip on the golden scepter before making a few swings and flinging herself at the fan. She felt her fur ruffle as the fan hit her and blew her back. This didn't stop her descent however, not with the heavy gold scepter she kept close to her.

She plopped on the fan guard and felt her body shiver from the impact. It felt like nothing was broken to her, but Daring could feel that she sprained her left foreleg's ankle. She hissed the pain, but pressed on and kept her leg in mind as she leapt for a close walkway and galloped down a cluttered path of crates.

Shortly, Daring slid to a halt when another crew member was in her path. Her ears flopped down at the sight of a bulky kremling that made the one that grabbed her moments ago appear slim in comparison. If it wasn't the features of muscles, scars, and stitches that made him threatening, then it was the giant wooden club that did it. The kremling patted the head of the battering weapon in his palm, cautiously avoiding the sharp metal spikes that poked out around it.

Daring made the most sensible choice and ran back the other way, picking a fight with him would lead to an instant loss.

The heavy vibration Daring soon felt on the pathway warned her that the kremling was giving chase.

Daring hopped over the crates that littered the path, tending to not use her left foreleg for the time being as she held Mulungu's Scepter in her left wing. The walkway ended at a wide area that could allow a decent size crowd to move about freely, even with the many crates laying around. Daring peered back at the kremling chasing her, and while running around him could be possible for her within this open section of the ship, she had another idea.

She swooped around the corner and out of the kremling's sight. Leaving the impression that she kept running when she instead hid behind a crate and some pipes. Daring steadied her breathing as she felt the vibration getting stronger. She took a sharp inhale and waited a second longer before kicking the box in front of the muscled kremling.

Tumbling over the crate, the kremling's club wacks a machine in the process and caused it to spew out steam.

Daring galloped away as a fog was starting to form with the muscled kremling getting caught in it. He quickly lost sight of her as the air got dense, while Daring was staying ahead of the cloud of vapor.

"Drop the scepter!"

Daring skidded to an abrupt stop when a chubby brown shaded kremling yelled at the pony from farther ahead. He aimed a cannon he held around an arm at Daring. "Or you'll be eating iron!"

The distance between the two of them was quite lengthy, and the idea that he would risk the chance of hitting and damaging the artifact was very unlikely. Daring smirked, "You don't have the ba-"

*BOOM!*

Daring dropped to the floor as a cannon ball came flying at her. The giant kremling with the club that chased Daring emerged from the misty air from behind the pony, seeing the cannon ball heading straight towards him. With what little time he had to react with, he instinctively swung the club to knock the iron sphere out of the way. The ammunition goes flying and bashes into a rotating pillar, causing a severe dent in the column.

A nearby light began flashing red and a glaring siren rang throughout the airship. [ALTITUDE FAILURE!] a voice announced from the speakers [ALTITUDE FAILURE!].

Daring Do felt her body getting lighter from the ship's descent, but she was feeling the most of this lightness coming from her forehead. Her body was telling her to get some rest, but she needed to get off this airship, NOW!

Seeing an open path, Daring took that as an exit route, but she was only able to take a step before a series of kremlings came running down it. Daring quickly turned towards another plausible escape route, but kremlings were already approaching from there as well. She would've considered making another jump over the rails like before, but the big kremling with the giant club was between her and her last choice.

Slowly, Daring Do was moving back as the crew members began circling her. Her pupils dilated while she watched the wavy kremlins getting closer. She clenched her eyes and shook her head to fight off her drowsy state and refocused her vision. Daring suddenly bumped her rear against a sturdy wall and she shifted onto her hind legs with her back on the blocking surface. She kept her eyes on kremlings as she patted her right forehoof along the wall for something to defend herself with.

She wasn't finding anything, but Daring suddenly felt something she could grip.

It felt like a handle. To a valve, perhaps? She took a quick glance, it was a handle to a door.

Daring quickly pulled the handle, rammed the door, and immediately caught herself on the handle from taking another step forward. She pulled back, clenching her heart from the shock she nearly fell into. The doorway led nowhere, nowhere but a one way plummet to the jungle floor below.

The sun outside glinted off the golden scepter Daring held while she felt the wind turning her sweaty face icy cold.

"Let it sink in, Daring Do."

Daring whipped her head back, the kremlings had circled her with the king that led them approaching the edge of that ring. K. Rool steadily gestured his hands toward his crew to stand position.

"Take a good look around yourself," Rool suggested to the mare, "and let it all sink in."

Daring passed the scepter to her foreleg, locking the artifact close to her chest.

"You are currently flying in an aircraft, surrounded by Kremlings that follow my orders. With a broken wing, your only means of escape is a ten thousand meter drop that'll undoubtedly end your life upon impact. Power is failing, and the only thing that can save you and the rest of us from crashing lies within your grip, a tool that can only be used by cold-blooded creatures like me and my crew. It's over, no matter how you slice it, your efforts were all for not."

Daring winced, placing her head in her hoof. The strain of thinking of a way out of this was beginning to take its toll on her tired mind. She needed sleep, the pain from the headache was proof enough.

"In your current weary state, you have no hopes of overpowering us. Your only option is to hand over that scepter. With it, I'll use the magic it possesses to save us from crashing."

Tried as she might, the moment she thought of something, she soon quickly forgets it.

"This entire attempt of yours was obviously going to fail from the start. You're smart enough to have known that."

Everything was getting hazy for her, she couldn't make sense of anything and was starting to incorporate things differently.

"Let's not act like those 'unintelligent primates', and settle this with our logical minds."

No matter how hard she tried, she could only see one option to make.

Daring Do's dreary eyes could barely form out K. Rool's grinning smile before she hung her head, "...you were right, Rool."

K. Rool's smile faded, "Were?"

"Reckless. Stubborn. Resourceful. You were right, I am just like those kongs." Daring gently shifted her leg back, "But we have one more characteristic in common." she slumped against the door's frame to support her tired body, which only made the kremlings more antsy.

Daring whipped her head up to show the king her cocky determination.

"Stupidity."

Daring Do leaned back and the entire kremling crew lurched forward to grab her, but she was already out of reach as she fell from the ship. She held the scepter tightly to her chest, every hair on her body was flapping to the wind blowing past her. It seemed like it would be the end for her as she was falling with the setting sun, but in truth, Daring Do was gambling on the biggest trust fall in her life.

She didn't know how, or from where, but If there was anycreature that could surprise her with something fortunate, it was the kongs.

Daring just needed to contact them in some way. Something that they could see or perhaps even hear that told them of her situation. There was one thing she recalled, a response that they always made when they successfully escaped.

With what little energy she had left, Daring Do took in a deep breath and yelled out...

---

On the jungle floor, DK, Diddy, and Dixie have been chasing the Kloud Klipper as it soared through the sky. The many palm trees around them were spaced enough to easily view the vehicle flying through the air, but the speed it's going was leaving the kongs in the dust. No longer were the three of them under the mighty airship, but rather a dozen yards behind it. Yet they still tread on, despite the exhausting chase.

"AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!"

Daring Do's voice echoed through the air, alerting the three kongs of her escape, but none of them could spot the falling mare.

.......AHHA!" Diddy cried the moment he spotted Daring. He could see vague flashes of the sunset being cast by Mulungu's Scepter through Daring's attempt of reflective signalling. Diddy informed the others, "Ah haa ah haha!"

Daring was too far away for them to catch in time. The kongs halted their chase, thinking fast at what to do.

"OH HOHO!" DK hastefully wrapped his arms around the trunk of one of the palm trees and began pulling back. He kept stepping back, dragging down the trunk as it was sliding up to the head of the plant, making the tree appear to be curving down. "Oh...ohho!" DK struggled saying.

Dixie jumped on the palm tree's head, positioning herself in the leaves.

Diddy climbed up a different tree with his sights set on Daring, "Ah aaah. Aaaaaaaah. .........AH!"

DK released his grip on the tree, flinging Dixie off like she was in a catapult.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

---

Daring was still falling, barely staying conscious despite the danger she was in.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!!!!"

Her mind sharpened to a sight on a chimpanzee hurling towards her.

Daring stretched out her right foreleg and Dixie grabbed the mare's limb, sending both of them spinning in circles. Daring opened her left wing and with Dixie's hair being the second airfoil, the two of them were slowing their descent down as they spun around in circles.

After about a minute or two of twirling, Daring and Dixie plopped gently on the ground. The descent didn't help Daring at all with her sight, everything was spinning even worse around the pegasus. But eventually, it began to settle down and she made out a gorilla, a monkey, and a chimp staring at her with a mixture of glee and relief. She also spotted the Kloud Klipper slowly falling half a mile away, roughly skimming the top of the trees.

"You might want to cover your ears." Daring suggested to the kongs as the four of them blocked off the sound for the upcoming crash.

*CRRRRRRSSSSSSSHHHHHH*

The sound of cracking trees and screeching metal being dented and torn echoed throughout the jungle. All four of them felt the vibration rippling beneath them as the ship dug through the ground and tore through the plants and soil, splashing them away as if it were water. Dented out of shape with parts thrown off, it was half buried into the earth until the ship halted from going any further.

The Klipper was now just a fallen airship with a shredded hull and a crushed bow planted in the ground at an angle.

The three kongs drummed their chests, clapped their hands, and twirled at Daring's triumphant retrieval of Mulungu's scepter.

"We shouldn't celebrate just yet." Daring yawned her protest. Now that she was out of trouble, her body and mind began to ease up. The last bit of her perseverance was fading along with her consciousness. "We still need to.... to consider that there's...... there's....."

Daring fell asleep within the care of DK, Diddy, and Dixie. With the hassle over and the night approaching, the three kongs called it a day and carried the exhausted pegasus back to the hangout.

---

Following the proceeding morning, Daring was getting herself ready for a sail across the ocean. Now that she retrieved Mulungu's Scepter, she believed that now was time to depart from Melee Island, else K. Rool might attempt to repeat yesterday's events with the roles reversed. Her, DK, Diddy, and Dixie were currently hiding behind the tavern back at port for the time being. The back looked just the same as yesterday; a locked door leading inside and the receptacles stored next to it.

Daring was kneeling on the ground, making the last few adjustments she needed before leaving. "And.... there." She declared, lifting herself with the scepter in her wing, "We should be good now."

Daring peered around the corner of the tavern, checking on the progress of the freighter she would be parting on. It was a vessel composed mostly of welded steel, smaller than most cargo ships but still decent in size. The ship was armed with giant cannons, no different than the ones on the galleon the other day. The hatch covers of the freighter were open for the wooden crates and boxes of goods, both mineral and organic, to be stored. The stock was already overflowing out and was expected to reach over seven hooves above the main deck. There were still about a couple dozen containers that were yet to be loaded, so Daring still had to wait it out a little longer.

"I've already talked with the captain and he's willing to give me a ride." Daring informed the kongs, "He seems to be a trustworthy guy, but that hippo seems to have a real belching problem." She turned back and noticed the doleful faces DK, Diddy, and Dixie were giving her.

The expressions alone were enough to tell what was going through their heads, and it left Daring Do on the spot to do something about it. Daring had to speak up for everyone, she always had to, but she was finding it difficult to think of the right words to say.

She rubbed the back of her neck as she began, "Um... one... one of the things about being an archaeologist is that there is a bit of a social science behind it, which is basically a study of relationships among individuals within a society. Primates, in general, tend to use tools to go about their lives. But I've come to understand that the three of you take it a step further by working off each other's strengths, which is why you always work in teams."

Daring shifted her eyes up to think, turning her head to try and find the words, "It was... no, I mean... it may have started as a series of 'quid pro quos' for us, but I've come to view all of you in a more trusting light from all the support and hospitality you've shown me. I guess that... well the point is... what I'm trying to get across..."

She felt a gentle push and found that she was enveloped in an embrace from Dixie. Daring wrapped her right hoof around the beret wearing chimp to return the feeling. Her left hoof was then lifted by Diddy's grip, performing a hand/hoof shake with the monkey.

Daring couldn't hide her bittersweet smile from the sentimental gestures, "Thanks for having my back, guys. I've handled things on my own so many times that I often forget the potential of working with others can bring."

Diddy and Dixie stepped back, allowing DK to approach Daring Do with something in his hand. He extended his arm and presented a banana for the mare to take.

Daring takes the fruit in her hooves, "A banana from your hoard." She admired the gift as a memory started to bubble, "It's funny, this situation reminds me of something that happened to me before I came to this island. A good friend tossed me a gift as I was heading out the door." A smile started to show on Daring's face as she remembers him and the helpful advice he gave.

"Ay, but ane creature's trash is another's treasure. Ye juist have tae use it in yer advantage."

Daring tightened her grip around the artifact in her wing, "Heh, that old donkey."

"OH!"

DK broke Daring's remenancing with a surprised yelp, "Hmm? What's up?"

He kept pointing to his tie and himself with great excitement, "OH HO. Ooh ho hoo oh ho."

Daring gave his actions some thought, "...are ....are you implying that I just said your name?"

DK frantically nodded.

She was mystified, none of the words sounded like names to Daring. "Was it 'that'? ...old? ...donkey?"

"OH HO!"

"Donkey? Your name is 'Donkey'?"

DK pounded his chest vigorously, feeling triumphant that Daring finally understood that his name was 'Donkey'.

Daring gave a snort and tittered at the name, "Donkey... that's a name I would've never guessed. Equine culture uses it more as a name for a species, but in your case, I think you wear it quite well."

*Ding* *ding* *ding*

The four of them heard the cargo ship's bell ringing.

"That's the three minute warning," informed Daring as she placed the fruit in her pith helmet, "so I should be leaving now. Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, thank you again for all your help." She peeked around the dock, "Take care of yourselves." and galloped for the ship with the scepter in hoof.

The docks hardly had anycreatures there that appeared to be a threat, but Daring took no chances until she made it on board to the main deck with the wooden crates. She galloped along the rails and up the steps towards the stern.

With the blowing of its horn, the freighter began its journey across the ocean.

Upon reaching the back of the ship, Daring Do viewed port and saw the three kongs that she'd ventured with still behind the tavern, waving at the pegasus. She waved back in turn as they began to get farther and farther away.

As the sun beamed down on her and the golden scepter with the shimmering purple orb at the head, Daring began to let her mind wonder. Reflecting upon the adventure that she soon wouldn't forget.

*Sploosh*

Daring Do closed her eyes and let the sound of the ocean calm her mind.

*Cling... Cling...*

Her ears twitched to the sound of something hitting the metal frame of the ship. And it sounded like it was getting closer.

*THUD*

Daring twerk her head towards a sudden sound of something slamming itself on deck. She spun around, pressing her back on the railing from an unwanted guest standing twenty yards away from her in a soggy, tattered red cape. Panting with a hanging jaw from the exhausting swim, an overweight overlord with a bent crown glared at Daring Do from across the deck.

"King K. Rool?!" Daring said in a disbelieved tone.

The kremling ruler wrung the salt water from his cape and flailed it behind him. "Alright, *huff* you had your fun." Rool said, still having trouble catching his breath. He flexed his claw towards Daring, suggesting her to... "Return Mulungu's Scepter."

Daring pulled her right side back to protect her injured wing in the sling backpack; making small shuffles back as she held the scepter in the left wing.

"Come now," K. Rool steadily approached, "You're stuck on this boat with me in the middle of the ocean. There's nowhere you can run with that heavy thing."

Daring tilted her head lower at him. She was keeping her distance from Rool, but eventually, she bumped into the port side railings. Daring looked over the rails at the ocean below her and she extended the golden artifact over the sea; visually threatening the kremling that she'll throw the relic overboard.

"I'd think twice before doing that." K. Rool grinned a threat of his own. "You don't want to lose more than just the artifact, do you?"

"............you're smiling."

K. Rool's body locked in place the moment Daring spoke. His smirk began to fade.

"Just like in the mines when you misled me into being your errand girl for those fanged keys. Just like on the galleon when you made me think you were far ahead of me at nabbing the scepter, when in turn, you were actually setting things up to tire, follow, and stop me from being a threat as you claim the artifact." Daring pulled the scepter closer, "And now, you're smiling when I was about to throw this overboard."

King K Rool shook his head with a grim look on his face.

"You were planning to retrieve this later. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a submarine ready to search for it."

"No." Rool foreboded the direction this is turning towards.

"No matter what, you're not going to give up chasing this scepter, not until you learn how to replicate the magic it possesses for yourself."

"You wouldn't dare." he would've gotten a chill if he wasn't already cold blooded.

"I can see there's only one choice left to make sure that you never get this relic for your misguided ways."

Daring Do lifted the scepter up and smashed the head of it on the railing, making the purple sphere shatter upon impact. It sounded like glass breaking and resulted with the purple lights inside to scatter into the air. She tossed the rest of the staff behind her towards the sea, hearing it splash and float on the water's surface.

King K. Rool was completely overwhelmed at what he witnessed, frozen stiff to where he couldn't comprehend how to handle this moment.

"I didn't like doing that, I don't like destroying any artifacts that I find on my adventures." Daring clutched her injured wing inside the backpack of her makeshift sling. "They're a legacy, a marking of one's struggles and accomplishments being told long after they're gone through something that meant a lot to them. But creatures like you see it as an opportunity to take advantage of, like a bully taking what he pleases simply because they can."

Rool fell to his hands, hanging his head with his eyes looking past the floor.

"Well I want no part in your bullying. I am not going to be the reason for making you an unrivaled threat that can do as he wishes. Even if it means being an idiot in doing so."

The two of them stayed silent, letting the humming of the ship's motor and the splashing of the water do the talking for them.

With nothing left to say, Daring Do started to head off and leave K. Rool in his misery.

"You...."

Daring's ears flicked to the kremling's low uttering. K. Rool scrapped the metallic surface of the deck, using his talons to leave a screeching sound as he dragged his claw.

"You...."

He clenched his hand and left a small vibration as he slammed it down on the floor.

"You..."

He whipped his head up at Daring, displaying his boiling rage through his gritting sharp teeth and the broken blood vessels in his left eye.

"YOU GROTESTING PILE OF DOG FOOD!!!!"

K. Rool stormed at Daring Do, using his hand to lurch himself forward like a predator charging after its prey.

There wasn't a chance for Daring to overpower him head on, they both could see that glaring fact, and having only one wing to work with meant she couldn't fly out of reach. She had to play it smart.

Daring galloped to her right, both behind the bridge to keep out of Rool's sight and down the stairway towards the main deck. She was halfway there before hearing Rool slam against the railing up top and felt the stairs rumbling from his approach. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Daring Do hastefully made herself hidden amongst the many boxes and crates.

King K. Rool jumped the last few steps and slammed his feet on the main deck, clenching his claws at the infuriating fact that Daring Do wasn't anywhere in his line of sight. He shoved and tossed the wooden containers, bent on finding the pony that caused his furious rampage. "If there was any indication on what you did to the Power Stone," K. Rool fumed his mind aloud at the stealthy mare, "I KNEW you wouldn't hesitate on destroying the scepter if you ever got your muddy hooves on it! After all of that manipulating and precautions, the measly 'PAWN' that led me to the scepter has found a way to outdo me!"

"Funny thing about pawns."

The kremling king paused the moment he heard Daring's voice, listening closely while he catches his breath.

"They're always ordered to march towards danger."

Rool identified the location and charged towards a voice hiding behind a crate.

"But once the weakest piece is no longer useful..."

The moment he reached the box, Daring Do jumped out from behind and shoved King K. Rool's muzzle inside the hole of a life saver.

"They return as something that can best kings."

She smirked while galloping away, leaving Rool to growl and pulled off the life preserver.

Daring ran behind a decent sized crate, just to have something to keep the approaching king at bay. They had their eyes on each other as they shuffled around the wooden container.

"I never thought there could be anything more infuriating than those kongs," K. Rool hissed, "but you might've proven me wrong."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Rool slammed down his fist down on the crate and a brief sound of wood cracking could be heard before the box shattered apart. Coconuts in the container spilled out on the deck, leaving nothing for Daring to hide behind.

The worried expression on Daring Do's face displayed that she was unprepared for that reaction.

K. Rool planted a foot on a coconut and cracked it apart. He stomped towards Daring while she paced back, "You freed those primates, caused a mess in my mining operation, sunk my glorious ship, outsmarted my expectations, BROUGHT DOWN MY AIRCRAFT, STOLE THE ONE OBJECT I'VE BEEN SEARCHING YEARS FOR, and now, YOU'VE JUST DESTROYED IT!!!!!!!"

Daring bumped her rear against something, it was one of the large cannons tilted back from the ocean. Daring swerved around the oversize gun. She galloped farther ahead and was suddenly yanked back; all but her helmet. The head gear fell on its top, revealing the barren crown inside while Daring was hanging in the air by the grip Rool had around her tail.

The pony huffed, "Why is it always the tai-ACK!" Daring Do was then hanging in the air from K. Rool's grip around her neck.

"Give me one," Rool's mouth was still agape as he gasped for the air he kept failing to catch, "JUST ONE SOLIDIFYING REASON, why I shouldn't clench my teeth on your head and bite it off. RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!"

Daring struggled at his tight grip, having it hard to breath, let alone speak. "Bgh... because..." she tapped Rool's wrist to break free. She wasn't getting anywhere, but that didn't stop her from growing a smile. "Yo...ur.. mou..... outh..." she swung her left wing in front of her chest, revealing that she was holding a banana. It caught the panting king's bulging eye and he turned his head towards the odd reveal, "Is full!"

Daring squeezed her wing's grip on the fruit with all her strength and the banana shot out of its peel, flying straight inside K. Rool's open mouth towards the back of it.

The impact of something lodged into his throat made K. Rool unintentionally lose his grip on Daring. He was solely focused on the banana that was choking him.

Daring fell to the floor, coughing for air; however, she had to act fast. Preoccupied, teetering, unbalanced, faltering, this was the opportunity she needed. Daring quickly ran around Rool, grabbed his cape, and started to wrap the cloth around him to the point where he was turning along with it. Daring dropped the banana peel, positioned herself, and rammed against Rool to stagger him towards the fruit remains. He slipped on it and stumbled into the giant cannon, only to get himself stuck inside with his feet hanging out. Daring got under and slowly got the cannon to flip towards the ocean.

"*Cough* *Cough* DARING DO!!" The mare could hear K, Rool voice bellowing inside the artillery, kicking his feet as he did. "I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU!"

The threat didn't phase the mare in the slightest, she was just relieved at how everything turned out more or less like she planned. "Well, your Majesty," Daring nonchalantly spoke while she patted the cannon, "It has been an honor meeting you, but I'm afraid I must be going. I hope I lived up to your expectations that you had of me and exceeded them." She casually strolled over and wrapped her wing around the firing string. "Please, allow me the privilege of honoring you through the traditional way of showing respect towards royalty such as yourself."

"ONE DAY!! YOU'LL BE PAYING FOR THIS ONE DAY, DARING-"

*BOOM*

"DOOOOOOOOOO!"

He vanished out of Daring's sight over the sea. "Ladies and gentlecolts," she said to no one in particular, "The King has left the ship."

She kept watching, silently maintaining her composure.

"..."

Now that King K. Rool knows that the scepter was destroyed, she didn't have to worry about him chasing her down anymore.

"..."

But...

"......pf...pfft....pwehahaha!"

She just couldn't contain her giddiness.

"That was so corny!"

Daring flopped her back against the artillery, staring up at the open sky as she tried to calm down.

"Now I see why it's so hard for him to keep a straight face."

Despite after all the effort she made, Daring still found a reason to smile.

Still in her gleeful state, Daring spotted one of the purple orbs that broke from the scepter flying towards her. She lifted up a forehoof and the orb landed on it.

"It's quite amazing what you can make with a broken broom handle, a glass jar, and some honey, huh?"

The purple orb dimmed down, revealing that it was a firefly.

"So how do you like the topside world?"

It began glowing brighter again and flew away.

Daring pulled off the backpack-sling to give her right wing some fresh air and to review the condition of what she held in it; a golden scepter with a purple amethyst orb for the head. The real Mulungu's Scepter.

Once she was certain that the artifact had no scratches or dents, Daring returned her sights back to the scenery, enjoying the comforting breeze that was being brushed upon her.

"Boy, what a country."

Author's Note:

Cranky's Corner

Endings

It was going to happen eventually, just took that lazy Amereep a few years to do so! And that ending, I could've written a better one even if I was drunk off from five rounds of Dirty Bananas. But at least it's over with.

Some things don't know when to end, but it seems the show figured that one out, eventually. I'm surprised they survived for nine seasons, would've thought they ended it when Twilight got wings or when those fillies got their cutie marks. A show isn't that investing if the characters gained what they were aiming for. Giving them small issues to overcome for an episode only band-aids the solution, and this is coming from someone who's franchise went through something similar during our 3^rd generation (I can still hear those bongo drums to this day).

There were many more things I could've covered and ol' Cranky has plenty to tell you young-ins as well, but it looks like I'll have things left unsaid. I'm not the only one though, Amereep had a few lines he wanted in this story yet couldn't find the place to put them. Remember that one kremling with the two big swords that fell off the boat in the last chapter? Amereep wanted to bring him back to intervene with Daring again for a final installment where Daring had to express the fact that he wasn't intimidating and should change his career to a field in entertainment. He took it out because he believed it broke the flow of the story, but maybe someone will put it in a sequel at some point.

You see, that's the thing about fanfiction, nothing's stopping you from continuing a story. If you think there's more to say, then say it. If it would've been better if you changed something, then change it. If you think the story was lacking something, then add Cranky Kong.

As long as there's a fan, the story will never end.

Hold on. Amereep wanted me to read this for him. Let me just clean my glasses..... okay.

Thank you for reading 'Daring Do and the Tie Wearing Kong'.

This Idea came up shortly before my last story was finished when I was considering on my next big story. I often try to make them based off what hasn't been down, yet popular enough to bring in a crowd. At the time, I noticed that there were only about three crossovers involving Donkey Kong, Seriously, three? so I decided to tackle it.

As I reflected with my experience with the games, my mind kept reflecting on the temple levels and Daring Do seemed like an obvious tie-in. From there, the pieces on how they should meet and interact fell into place to the point where it seemed like the two franchises appeared to be part of the same world. I don't know. This story is more like Indiana Jones meets Donkey Kong rather than being a MLP episode.

There was a lot of developing to it, and I tried to blend the feeling of the games into the story. DKC at its core is a platform game, but it was mostly immersive through its music on the environments, which most of them associated towards nature, and quickly became the theme for the temples. A strong source of inspiration was that I often listened to the soundtrack "DKC Mix't Ape '94" presented by Big Mat Attacks whenever I was writing a certain chapter. Ah yes, I recall Amereep taking a line from that soundtrack for the Water Temple chapter.

The artifact, Mulungu's Scepter, was for the longest time intended to be something called, 'The Mask of Sagacity' that would've placed K. Rool's insanity in order (sense he always came off as a little bit crazy). Eventually, I changed it up after watching a convince video from youtuber 'King J. Grim' called 'In The Mind of: King K. Rool'. The artifact was switched to 'The Staff of Inka Dinka Doo' as an homage towards the DKC TV series, but the name sounded too silly to me, so I wasn't really all up for it. I eventually settled on a different name after finding a story about a magical crocodile named Mulungu. So you stole it.

But the biggest challenge I was facing is how to go about the kongs themselves. Even with the general idea you might get from the TV series, it just felt wrong to have them conversing with Daring on the same level. So I took this as a challenge to try and make a story where Daring would have to carry most of the dialogue herself. It actually helped in a few areas, one being the hook (what story would dare make the central character do all the talking?) A first-person story. The second is that it would make things harder for Daring. You sadist. And lastly, it would help with the moral of the story. I was trying to get across the message that you could be the most intelligent person alive that can anticipate everything, but you can never anticipate what an idiot will do. That was his message? Well he's not wrong, I never saw it coming.

I hope you enjoyed reading this story and hope that you'll join me for my next big story where I'll be writing a Final Fantasy crossover focusing on Tempest Shadow, Shining Armor, and Flash Sentry. I know the one he's talking about. That was the one Amereep just couldn't wait to start before finishing this story and pushed this story back to build upon the other one.

Be sure to follow me so you don't miss it and drop a thumb up if you enjoyed this story. And while you're waiting for the Final Fantasy story, consider reading some of my other crossover stories in the meantime. I have a Legend of Zelda one that was mentioned in the last chapter, a Sonic the Hedgehog one that follows the SATAM series, and a Undertale-ish story that plays out like you're playing a game. If you want something more unique however, you can read about a detective story involving monstermares, a cute little story about your conscious, or my anthology of tales instead.

Geesh, how desperate can you get?

Comments

[FTR2017]

Congratulations on a job well done, dear author sir.

I enjoyed the ride from the first chapter down to the last! Thank you for your hard work, and for sharing your view with us readers!

[CarolMAssphalt666]

This is a magnificent story, and I enjoyed every word of it. Well done.

[Heavy759]

This is the best Donkey Kong crossover i ever read there's no other like this out there that doesn't involve the Kongs talking

[The Red Parade]

Hi! This was reviewed here. Thanks for picking me as a reviewer and I hope you find what I had to say helpful.

[Heavy759]

To this day this is the only best donkey kong crossover