> Daring Do and the Tie Wearing Kong
>  by Amereep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Crossroad Port
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The air is fresh, the wind is plenty, and the pegasus was sleeping in the cargo hold.  With her pith helmet over her face and her backpack as a pillow, she rode on a ship currently on the Celestial Sea towards her next destination; a place called Melee Island.  It was a recently discovered island that has been around long enough to build a port there.  The island had a plentiful amount of bananas, coconuts, and other sorts of fruits to harvest for trading.  Word has it that the island was once inhabited by natives at one point long ago.

That's where our snoozing pegasus came into play.  Her name was Daring Do, a light gold mare with a mane full of various shades of gray.  She's a pony that lives up to her name by the daring acts she performs to get things done from her to-do list.  A bit reckless at times, but these acts of rashness have helped her nab rare and ancient artifacts throughout the world.  She's an historian that studied old trinkets to keep alive the dead cultures from where it derived from, and now she seeks to find a forgotten culture that once lived on Melee island.  

The sound of the boat's horn suddenly made her jolt forward.  Daring rubbed her moderately rosy eyes as she looked at what's happening on deck.  She covered her eyes from the setting sun to make out that she had finally made it to the island.  The mare gave a yawn and stretched to get the cracks out of her body; she's been cooped up for too long on this rickety ship.

Daring took note of the small port she's heading to.  About half a dozen buildings faced towards the sea; declaring that they're either an inn or a bar.  Scanning along the side showed warehouses holding cargo waiting to be transported.  Behind the strip of buildings was the main attraction, the jungle.  Dense, thick, and exceedingly hard to see through the trees.  They blew to the ocean wind and the setting sun was casting an orange shade among the many hills of trees.

Nothing was too extravagant from what she was expecting, but there's something that seemed a bit off to her.  At the docks were docked trading ships, but one of them seemed more like a 'taking' ship.  The boat had a few cannons off on its sides and displayed three masts to catch as much wind as possible.  It seemed slow, but the sheer size of it looked like it could tear whatever poor ship apart that floats in front of it.

"Competition?" wondered the pegasus.

In Do's line of work; obtaining artifacts was more than just simply digging.  It's about beating other archaeologists at reaching these treasures before they do.  At times she was lucky in finding some of her loot without any trouble, but the majority of the time she had a few rivals to deal with; and they'd make certain that nopony would get in their way.

She took no chance at the thought and headed back down to get her backpack.  Daring rustled through the contents inside; pushed the aerial map of the island aside, nudged the compass over, and pulled out a set of clothes.  Within minutes, she slipped out of her explorer's vest and into an attire fitting for sailors.  Stripe shirt, neckerchief, suspenders, and a dixie cup hat made up her new appearance.

"Whether or not they are, it's best if I hide my identity."  The horn blew once more, signaling the ship has reached the docks.  Daring shoved her vest and salacot into her backpack and went back above deck.

Do jumped off the boat and landed on the wooden dock; her first order of business is to gather up some information.  She headed to this island without any leads on a specific relic, all she heard was that this place had a culture at one point and that was good enough for her.  Like many of her adventures, Daring liked to swing by the bar to hear the latest news on what's happening.  This method of gathering info has been done to death, but nothing can spill the beans more than having to make small talk and where better on the island then the only place where you can get a bite to eat.

It's best to keep things fresh, and as she headed toward the hangout; Daring tilted her head down and began to wonder, "What should my personality be this time?  Should I be a sailor that talks in pirate lingo?  Maybe one that gives off the impression of a tough gal?"

As Do thought this over, her ears suddenly flicked to a series of voices that she heard before.  Talking amongst themselves as they walked along the port are four ponies.  One of them is wearing sunglasses, another wearing a baron hat, A giant one with sideburns, and one with a horseshoe mustache.

"They're Caballeron's lackeys!"  The ponies were walking towards her as she walked towards them.  She had to play it cool, a sudden change in direction could raise suspicion.  She pulled her hat down before pushing the sideburns pony, "One side, Wolverine!"

As she continued walking, the pony she pushed looked back at her and the gears in his head were starting to turn.  "Hey guys,"

Daring began sweating, believing her cover was just blown.

"I think I'm in love."

But she would've preferred being found out if it meant not hearing those words.

"You're always going for the ones that can kick your plot." said the one in sunglasses, "Come on, Caballeron is waiting."

All of them returned to their path and Daring turned back watching them.  This was the break she needed.

She knew Caballeron from her past adventures.  He's a pony who's in archaeology only for the money and does dirty tricks to make a profit out of it.  If he's here, then maybe he's got something to go on; some kind of relic that she could beat him to.

Daring Do hasn't even been on the island for more than five minutes and it seemed everything was going by very quick and smoothly for her...... she didn't like that.  That was usually the first sign of trouble for her, whether it was the cause of somepony in general or fate's twisted sense of humor, it usually would end badly for her.

She cautiously began to follow the henchponies from afar and safe distance.





The moon was rising when Daring Do reached the ponies destination, a warehouse.  A large simple design made up the structure with a large door meant for big shipment was open showing its interior.  The pegasus peered inside; towers of barrels were stacked on top of one another to form what could be considered a jungle of barrels.

Daring scanned her eyes around and spotted the pony she was expecting.  A wooden cart with a gambogeish gray earth pony was sitting in the driver's seat, Dr, Caballeron.  He seemed peeved while tapping his hoof on the cart with the other hoof supporting his head up.  He sits in a cart with a lit lantern, watching his henchponies acting like idiots.

The pony wearing the sunglasses was giving orders to the other three while they tried to push a barrel up into the cart.  "Okay more to the left.  No, no, your left."

"Who's left?  My left, Rogue's left, or Biff's left?"

"Biff's left."

"So that means I turn left."

"No you turn right."

"U-turn?  I thought we were trying to get it on the cart."

"Come on, hurry up!"  shouted Caballeron, "We should've been there hours ago."

"Yes boss." all of them said.

"Okay, now turn left..... NO BIFF'S LEFT!!!!"

The doctor planted his forehead on the edge of the cart in frustration.

"It's not like Caballeron to do something simple like trading goods." Daring thought, "What's he up to?"  Getting answers from him won't be easy, so she'll have to get creative.  She looks around the room and notices two barrels close by the stallions, most likely they're going to be placed on the cart as well.  "I got an Idea; I'll see where they're taking these barrels by hiding in one."

The golden pegasus slowly began to tiphoof around and dove behind some steel barrels.  She peered over and rolled over to some blue barrels.  The mare laid up against the keg and spotted some text written on it.  She jerked back reading 'flammable'.  In fact, a lot of barrels here were flammable; oil and fuel kegs were everywhere.

Do gulped and slid to a stack of wooden barrels that were the closest to the two barrels.  Daring noted that the casks are labeled with a unique mark on them.  She looked around to find if any barrel shared the same design, but none bare the image on its exterior.  "Looks like I'll have to take one of them, remove whatever is inside, then hide in it."

The stallions finished loading the first barrel and picked up the next one.  With them busy, she quickly pulled the other barrel behind a stack with stealth.  She would have to act fast for this plan to work.

Daring grabbed the top metal ring that sealed the round container and began pulling.  She put all her might into it, but it just wouldn't come off.  The mare looked around, agitated to find something that could help and spotted a metal tool with a curve that could slide between the ring and wood.  She shoved the curl tool between the metal and wood.  She raised her back leg and took careful aim.

"There, that's all." one of the lackeys said.

Caballeron looked at the barrels, "There should be three, where's the last one?"

With a fierce strike, she knocked the hoop clean off, but accidentally launched the keg at a tower of barrels she was hiding behind.  The wooden structure comes toppling down, banging and rolling across the floor, attracting everypony's attention towards Daring Do.

"Restrain her!" Caballeron ordered his stallions and before she knew it, Daring's hooves were soon tied with rope.  She struggled to break free, gritted her teeth in discomfort and glared at them for the advantage they had over her.  "Wait, I know that scowl anywhere."  The doctor walked closer, slowly seeing through Daring's sailor disguise, "Daring Do, This is most unexpected.  Here to cause trouble for me?"

"Perhaps," she puts on a cool demeanor despite the position she's in.  "What's in the barrels?"

"Nothing you're interested in, just goods we gathered in the jungle for a buyer."

"Don't lie to me.  You're the get-rich-quick kind of pony, this job is beneath you."

"I'll admit that it is a little bit unorthodox, but our buyer is paying us handsomely for this cargo to arrive and every minute conversing with you prolongs that arrival!"  he stomped his hoof to express his frustration. "I tire of this babbling; you took the barrel, didn't you."

Daring stayed silent, showing no change in her expression.

"Where is it?"

She psyched herself up for anything to happen.

"Are you going to tell me or are we going to have to beat it out of you?"

Daring gave a smirk to get on Caballeron's nerves.

"Oh, it's on!"

As the doctor raised a hoof, the fallen barrels suddenly blasted apart.  Everypony looked over to the blast and they saw a creature getting up.  It rotated its shoulder and cracked his neck.  He stood up straight at nearly eight hooves on his two legs, holding his fists up in the air to stretch out its muscles.  "AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!" He began to pound his chest along with a cry; acknowledging his freedom.  He flexed and revealed himself to be a brown furred gorilla.  Swaying in the air, Do noticed that the only piece of attire he had on was a red tie with the letters 'DK' on it printed in yellow.

Barrels slowly rolled past everypony as they stared at the kong.  "Oh horsefeathers," said a henchpony.  The ape grabbed a huge barrel and lifted it over his head, "HE'S ESCAPED!!!!!"

They scrambled as the gorilla hurled the barrel at them. "Stop him!" Caballeron commands, "Rogue, the cargo!"

Caballeron's lackeys went to surround the ape while Rogue galloped to the cart with the cargo and began to escape with it; leaving Daring Do alone.  She shuffled her hooves to break free from the ropes that bound her.

The gorilla on the other hoof was being wrapped in ropes, but he didn't seem to mind much.  The ponies were trying to restrain him, and he just chuckled.  The kong grabbed the ropes and flung the stallions across the room.

The ropes on Daring were starting to loosen and she slowly succeeded at sliding one of her hooves out.  The sound for broken glass grabbed her attention back to Caballeron.  He's stood outside with a wooden cart in front of him that began to catch on fire from a broken lantern.

"HENCHPONIES, VÁMONOS!"

The doctor kicked the cart into the warehouse and it rolled by the stallions as they headed for the door.  Daring Do escaped from the ropes and rolled to the side; nearly avoiding the fiery collision as it rammed against the explosive barrels; inflaming the wooden containers.  "It's been a blast seeing you again, Daring Do." He pointed over to the chains for the door and she noticed a barrel.  Her eyes dilated when she read the imprint 'TNT' on the lit barrel.  "But I think it's time we put our confrontations to a close." The keg exploded; breaking the chains and the door between the two of them came slamming down.

The pegasus galloped to the door and tried to lift it up, but it's too heavy.  "CABALLERON, YOU SNAKE IN THE GRASS!!!  YOU BETTER PRAY TO CELESTIA THAT THEY CAN IDENTIFY YOU BY DENTAL RECORDS!!!!!"  Though the same could be said for her.

Daring Do was trapped, with little time to think.  She was starting to cough from the toxic gas filling the building and the flammable barrels in here could explode any minute; blowing the whole warehouse to Tartarus.

The gorilla on the other hand was looking around the room for an exit.  He saw a skylight glass window above him and started grinning.  Daring suddenly feels something grab her entire torso and is lifted up off the ground within the gorilla's hand.  He grabbed an empty barrel and shoved her inside.  The ape pulled his arm back as he looked to the window.

"HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY APE SHI-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!" Daring Do screamed as she was thrown spiraling towards the glass window.

The wooden container protected the pegasus as the barrel shattered through the glass and fell right into the ocean.  The barrel bopped up from the water and Do took in a breath of fresh air while she witnessed the warehouse exploding.  Barrels went flying everywhere and Daring saw a creature leaving behind a trail of smoke as it rocketed out of the blast straight towards the night sky.

"OOOO-HOOOOOO!!!"

As she witnessed the silhouette of the gorilla posing in front of the moon, she knew there that she was going to eventually meet up with that ape again.
> Crocodile Cavern
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The wind of the sea blew in Daring Do's face when she left the inn the next morning.

Last night wasn't very productive for her as she still didn't have any leads on where to go next.  She only knew that Caballeron was working for somepony that wanted goods, one of which was a gorilla.  Daring yawned and readjusted her backpack.  She wore her sailor disguise again, planning to fit in for the original intent that she had in mind last night.

Do headed over to the bar and could hear the music being played from outside of the wooden cabin.  She opened the double doors and the sound of country swing was being played by the piano player for the entire dining room to hear.  There were a few ponies eating their breakfast.  None of them looked familiar, so Daring felt more at ease in here.  She strolled over to the counter and laid her back against it, trying to play out as the tough type of pony.

The sound of the bartender's pacing caught Daring's ear.  "Can I get you anything?" he asked in a deep, rumbling voice.

"What's your specialty?"

"Caramelized honey latte."

"I'll have one."  She honestly didn't care for the beverage.  She only wanted a setup line to begin asking some questions.  "News of late is that this place once had a culture here."

"Must've just came into port," he said as he began to make the drink, "the latest news here is that the warehouse went up in flames last night."

The mare tipped her hat forward, "You don't say."

"They're trying to salvage what they can from the wreckage, folks also say that there's going to be a factory built over it as well."  He slid her the drink and she reached around while unintentionally brushed across the bartender's hoof.  At least she thought it was a hoof; it felt more like claws to her.  Do glimpsed at the bartender and nearly jumps back to see that he was a bear.  "Take it that you have never seen one of my kind before."

"At least one that could talk." she said as she got back up.

He viewed Do in a calm and accepting manner, "You'll see plenty of strange things around here.  All kinds of creatures come to port everyday for one reason or another.  Toads, birds, there's even a squirrel that's a frequent customer of mine; but majority of the time you'll see crocs around here."  Daring took a sip of the latte, the honey really brought out the flavor to the drink.  "So what brings you here?" the bear asked as he wiped the counter.

"Well," she read the bear's name tag before she continued. "....Barkeep, I'm trying to find information on the culture that once thrived here.  You wouldn't happen to know where I may find some ruins, do you?"

"Expedition, huh?" Barkeep shook his head while he restocked his inventory, "Most of this island is still uncharted and the jungle is too thick to see from an aerial point of view."

Daring stared at her drink and took a gulp of it, drowning her disappointment.

"However, I do get some rouges every so often talking about mining over to the east.  Can't say what they're digging for, but it's something to go on."

"Digging, huh?" Daring wondered before she finished the drink.  She left some bits on the counter, "Keep the change," and headed back.

Daring Do faced the jungle and took a moment to change out of her sailor disguise and back into her exploration attire.  She felt more unrestrained and comfortable in her explorer's vest than wearing nothing at all.  After putting her disguise in her backpack, she flipped her helmet on her head, gave it a tap, and flew into the jungle.

The jungle was brimming with life; whether it was plant or animal, but Daring paid no attention to them.  She brushed aside the leaves and armadillos curled into balls when she flew over them.  The mare wasn't here for sightseeing, she was here to find any clues if anypony came by this way.  Cut leaves, broken branches, hooftracks: her eyes were peeled for anything of the sorts.

Daring Do paused in the air when something on the ground caught her attention.  She dropped to the floor; bewildered at seeing tracks that she never expected to find.  Daring tapped it and a dinging sound was heard coming from the iron bars of the rail tracks.  The adventurer assumed that she was on the right track, sort of speak, so she started to tread along the rails to find where it leads.

It didn't take long before something caught her by surprise though.

*HHHSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssss*

A loud hissing sound was heard in the distance and Daring saw white smoke rising up ahead.  She gallops toward the sound and arrives at the base of a mountain with a large cavern engraved into it.  The tracks she followed lead into the mouth of the cave, and quite literally looked like the mouth of a cow skull with eyes and nose also having a cave of their own.

The sudden sound startles Daring again and sees the cause of the sound bursting out of the mountain in the form of hot boiling water.  The hissing sound was from a geyser on the side of the mountain.

Once the geyser settled, the golden pegasus was hearing sounds coming from inside the cavern.  It sounded like chatter, clanking, and banging.  Daring Do flew up to the right eye socket of the skull cavern entrance to peer inside.

She felt like she wasn't looking into a mine shaft, but a dungeon.  The roof was as high as any of the canopies outside, with scaffolds hanging from the ceiling.  Majority of the walls were covered with plywood and wooden beams.  Barrels, crates, pickaxes; the ground had these scattered in a semi-orderly fashion.  The tools and cases were one thing, but Daring Do was more interested in those that were handling them; biped walking crocodiles.  There were hundreds of six to seven hooves tall crocodiles going into tunnels with empty minecarts and coming out with them full of rocks and dirt.

"What are they digging for?" Daring thought to herself.  She could've always asked them, but in her experience, it was better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

The pegasus flew over to the scaffolds, considering that she didn't see any crocodiles up there, and cautiously walked along the bridge that hung in the air.  She noted that the scaffolds all had locking latches to keep them connected to one another so to keep some of them suspended without the use of a cable.

"WHAAAAAT!?!?"

A voice vibrated the entire cavern and caused every crocodile to look at the gator that bellowed it.

Daring looked over the railing and saw a large brown crocodile dressed like a general hiding behind a clipboard from the fat green gator that towered over him at eight and a half hooves.

"We're only at...." the general stopped and gulped, "....fifty percent of the necessary resources, Sir."

The fat gator roared in a frustrated tone and started to pace back and forth to cool down.  For every turn, his long red cape flapped around him with a whoosh, "Why must I be suffered with these setbacks?" He rubbed the temple of his head, just below the gold crown he wore.

"Well, we are using all the lizards we got on hand.  After all, you did order half of them to-"

"Yes, yes, you don't have to remind me."  He looks up at all the crocodiles staring at him, "SHAKE A TAIL, YOU LAZY LIZARDS!!!"  The outburst scared all the gators back to work and left the king to fume.

"One last thing, Sir."

"What," the king looked at him like he was about to bite his head off, "is it?"

The scared reptile points outside, "Caballeron's here."

Both Do and the king followed his finger at the cavern entrance.  The sound of rowdy chanter could be heard coming from outside and a pair of mine carts were screeching on the tracks when it entered the cave.  Caballeron and his gang were riding in the front cart, but was the back cart that caught Daring’s attention.  She never would've expected to meet him like this, but there he was in a steel cage.  The gorilla from last night.

"Ah, Caballeron." the crocodile leader greeted, "You truly are a stallion of your word."

"And I hope you're a gator of yours." the doc replied back.

"But I am," the king gestured to his commander and the general gave a signal to a pair of gators.  They left and came back rolling two barrels on their side all the way up to Caballeron and his henchponies.  A gator pops open one of the lids to reveal a pile of gold coins inside, "As promised, two barrels of Kremkoins."

"Okay boys," the pony signals his lackeys and they began to unload the imprisoned gorilla from the cart.  The ape screeched and shook the cage but it wasn't making any progress at escaping.  The stallions left the kong in the center of the room for all to see while they began to load the barrels of coins in the trolley.  "If you ever need another job done, you know who to seek."  Caballeron jumps inside the cart, "And remember, what I said about her."

The king nodded, "Your concern is duly noted."

"To bar, henchponies!" The gang cheered as they rode the cart out of the cavern.

The king watched them leave, and rolled his eyes, "I swear, these ponies are nothing but bad puns."

"Should I be a deligator for you next time, Sir?" the general volunteered.

The unamused dictator glared at him and he turned his attention to the gorilla inside the cage.  He grinned at his captive and took out a banana for the ape to see.  "Well, well, well." the croc said each word to a peel of the banana, "Look where you are now.  No freedom, no family, no bananas; looks like I finally won."

The kong was enticed by the banana in front of him and was dispirited when the fat gator began eating it.

"I'll be honest, I rather liked the idea of you being burnt alive in that warehouse, but I can still find enjoyment in other ways."  The king finished the banana and tossed the peel into the cage for the heartbroken gorilla to pick up.  "Better get used to this sight, simian.  Because once I find your banana hoard, I'm planning to have you for dinner, just so you can witness my subjects eat every last banana that you had."

The ape hollered and shook the cage.  The crocodile simply waved his claw and his subordinates took the kong away.

The ruler waits until he's left his sight, "...........ptha!" he spits out the banana that he just ate.  The croc then pulls out mouthwash, a tooth brush, and dental floss and begins using it on himself.

"Is everything all right, Sir?" the sergeant asked.

The king spits out what was lifted in his mouth, "I HATE BANANAS!!!" the fat croc yelled before he smiled, "But it was worth it, just to see that face."

Daring Do needed to press on.  She wasted enough time; staying in one place for too long wasn't a good idea, but the mare couldn't get her mind off that gorilla.  She felt a little indebted to him for helping her escape the warehouse last night and just couldn't in good conscious have left him here.

Daring groaned at her decision and headed in the direction she saw the ape was being taken.





With a slamming against the wall, the kong gripped the bar of the cage as he watched the crocs leave him alone in the corner of an abandoned dug out tunnel.  He looked at the metal rods that kept him confined and tried to pull them apart, but it didn't work.  The gorilla groaned, planting his head on the bars from this predicament.

Daring Do glided into the room and recoiled her wings as she approached the ape, "Hey!"

He looked over and immediately recognized her.  The kong began to shake the cage while he made grunts to get her to set him free.  She looked at the copper lock that sealed the door, it was in a shape of a skull with a keyhole on the forehead.  This was an easy lock to pick, but Daring wanted to ask something before freeing him.

"So how'd you get captured again?  Were you lured by a banana?"  The gorilla nodded and Daring slapped her forehead.  She slid her hoof down thinking of how much of a moron this kong is.  "Alright, listen......" Daring paused; trying to decide on what to call him.  The ape's tie caught her attention as it swung with the two letters imprinted on it, ".....DK.  I'll get you out of there, but you're on your own from now on.  The last thing I need right now is to babysit a gorilla."

The kong shook his head in agreement.

Daring plucked one of her feathers out and used the tip of it like a lock-pick.  She fidgeted with it and the latch clicked open.  DK immediately jumped out and ran out of the room.

"You're welcome." spoke the pegasus in an annoyed tone from the fact that he didn't even thank her.  She adjusted her hat and just noticed something that made her turn pale.

Daring Do could handle it all; giant pythons, savage lions, and the always famished Cipactli.  She wasn't scared of anything, but there is one thing that terrifies her the most no matter how many times she had to face it.

A hairy demon from Tartarus stared at her with all of its little eyes while it hanged there from the ceiling with the help of its web.

"A spider!" Daring screeched at the sight of the insect that wasn't even the size of her nose.  She quickly flew out of the room, and returned back to her investigation.





Daring had been walking across the scaffold for an hour now, and she still hasn't found tail or scale of a croc up here.  She suddenly froze when she heard a sound.

*HHHSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssss*

Peering down from the scaffolds, she saw a geyser to the left and it blew a stream high enough for it to escape out of the cave through an opening in the ceiling; but she found something more interesting on the right that explained what was going on around here.

Daring saw the crocs breaking down the wall of the cavern on their own scaffolds that were planted to the ground.  They pierced their pickaxes into the minerals of the wall and broke off chunks of iron at a steady pace.  Below each of them were mine carts being pushed constantly like a conveyor belt to catch the metallic rocks as they fell, making the oldest leaving the chain with a full load and a new empty one entering the line.

This was nothing more than a harvest ground, nothing suggested that they were looking for something.

Daring layed her hooves on the railing and rested her jaw on them, groaning with annoyance.  "These guys aren't digging for expedition reasoning, Barkeep said that he isn't aware of any ruins around here, and Caballeron doesn't seem like he's concern with any artifact." she gives a depressed sigh, "Was there really an ancient civilization here at one point or has this trip here been for nothing?"

"INTRUDER!!!"  Daring looked to the right and saw a crocodile up here a few scaffolds over.  "WE'VE GOT A PONY UP HERE!!!" he yelled to the others while he pointed a finger at her.

It was time for her to go!  Daring Do galloped past the croc and headed towards the exit; she didn't have a reason to stay and the last thing she wanted to deal with was a group of crocodiles that could be considered to be a small army.

She stayed on the scaffold, high above from any of the lizards catching her.  "Ha HA!!!" A showboating voice came from up ahead.  A small yellow croc with a pirate hat ran across Daring's path and he stared her down.  "Ye ain't getting by me, lass."  He swung two swords around, trying to seem skilled and intimidating, but they seemed a bit too big for him to wield.

Daring sighed; shaking her head at this little nuisance.  She leaned forward to kick the locks to the scaffold and it collapsed with the little shrimp falling to the floor; leaving Daring Do hovering in the air with the use of her wings.

She zipped into a tunnel and made quick tight turns at each corner.  Daring crashes into a navy blue crocodile wearing camouflage overalls.  She bounces off of his muscled body and falls to the ground as the gator stands there like a pillar looking at her.  She quickly flew back up and went around him, but her tail was snagged in the air by the blue reptile.

Daring swung in the air by her tail, "Let me go, leather lips!!!"  She pulled her legs back and shot them right at his jaw to make a loud smack.

"Hurhurhurhur," the muscled gator laughed.

Daring kept kicking him but he just giggled it off.  She groaned and just decided to hang there at the simple truth that she just couldn't fight against.

She was caught.





Daring Do was thrown to the ground and landed next to the rail-tracks.  She gritted her teeth at the bulky crocodile and the friends he had behind him.  Daring tried to break free of the ropes that binds her wings, but they just won't break.  They didn't even bother to tie her legs; she was surrounded by hundreds of crocodiles, and if they were half as strong as the blue one, then trying to escape would only spell doom for her.

"So this is the famous Daring Do, treasure hunter extraordinaire."

Daring looked across the tracks and saw scaly toes on the other side.  Looking up past the large girth, she saw the croc from earlier, the one with the crown.  He was staring down at her, giving her a good look that his left eye was bloodshot.

"Caballeron told me so much about you.  He said that you're a tomb raider, has escaped every death trap that had ensnared you, and of course, was the one that freed my hairy prisoner from his barrel last night."

"So you hired Caballeron just to capture a gorilla?  What are you going to do with him, put him in a circus?"

"That's not a bad idea." he gazed off rubbing his chin, "I could title him the eighth wonder of the world."

"Ah but we're getting ahead of ourselves.  I know so much about you, while you know nothing of me."  The gator stood up straight to present himself at his best, "I am King K. Rool, leader of the Kremlings."

"Kremlings, huh?" Daring huffed back, "What's that, a cereal brand?"  The gators around her snarled at her response.

"It's best if you don't get on a Kremlings bad side, push them too far and they might just- " he lurched his head and snapped his jaw at her.

Daring shifted her tide wings.

"I wouldn't bother escaping.  You'll only find yourself back here within a matter of hours."

"And what makes you so certain that you can catch me again?"

"Because my dear, after Caballeron told me of how much of a nuisance you could be, I decided to put a bounty on you to keep you from interfering."

"Interfering?" the pegasus smirked at the fat gator, "Interfering in what?"

"That's none of your concern."

The mare lowered her head from those words and began chuckling.  All the Kremlings looked at her, believing that she might have lost it.

But that was far from the case, "So.... there really is something on this island."

K. Rool peered his bloodshot eye at her, wanting an answer for her statement.

"'A tomb raider,' that's what you called me.  Tell me, why would you keep a tomb raider from interfering?"

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

"It's because you're on the trail of an artifact.  You're going to keep me here so you can get to it first."

K. Rool gave her a stern look, but she didn't weave from her tough attitude.

The gator slowly began to smirk his sharp teeth at her, "Oh, you are a clever one."

"Look out!  Watch it!!"  Daring and the crocs started hearing voices echoing in the cave.  "Move over!!  Get out of the way!!!"  It was coming from the cavern to the right, and it sounded like it was getting closer.  The constant sound of something that's rolling was getting louder with each passing second.

Suddenly, a mine cart comes bursting out of the tunnel with someone familiar riding it.

"OOOO-HOOOOOO!!!"

DK came rolling out on the track that separated Daring and K. Rool.  The gorilla leaned out, scooped up the pegasus as he rode by and headed into another cavern.

"WHAT?!  AGAIN?!?!" the kremlin king roared from seeing his now freed prisoner.  "Don't just stand there you leather-bagged nitwits!" he yelled at his lizards, "AFTER THEM!!!!"

Daring was pulled into the cart with DK, she looked at him completely baffled at his presence.  "What are you doing here?  You should've escaped at least an hour ago."

The gorilla made grunting noises along with hand gestures to explain his reasoning, which didn't explain anything to Daring.

She looked at him puzzled, but something coming up behind him caught her attention.

"One! Two! One! Two!" a group of kremlins on a handcart were approaching fast with one of them cheering the others on.

Daring quickly got DK's attention, "Hurry, and get this off!" she pointed to the rope around her wings with her fingerless hoof.

The ape obliged and easily untangled her free.  Daring flew behind her cart and started pushing it while hovering above the tracks.

The minecar was speeding up, but the handcar was speeding up faster.  She tried to push it as fast as she could, but the pegasus started to have a hard time to even keep up with her own cart and began to hang on as it was pulling her.

Daring suddenly  felt her tail being tugged.  She looked back and one of the crocs had her by the tail.  He pulled her back and she was starting to lose her grip.

"AAGG!  AAAAAAGGG!!!" DK roars at the kremlins and starts hitting them with a wooden pole.  He clonked their heads with it and the gators lost their grip on Daring as they became unconscious.

Majority of them were down and the rest of them were having a tough time keeping up.  The kremlins were slowing down and DK pulled Daring back into the cart.

"Thanks," she said, wiping the sweat from her forehead at the close call.  Daring looked at the wooden staff the gorilla held, "Where'd you get the stick?"  DK pointed to the front of the cart and there was a broken wooden stub attached to the cart.  She felt her heart suddenly take a steep plunge, "You idiot!  That was the break handle!!!"

He looked at her as if he was trying to say, 'Is that a problem?'

The cart rolled over a little hill and Daring could feel the cart and herself airborne.  She looked up ahead and saw a dimly lit red room approaching up fast.  The adventurer gulped as she knew exactly what was up ahead.

The two of them enter into a hot and steamy cavern with a fiery pool of lava underneath the rail tracks.  A sharp turn was up ahead and the two of them panicked.  Daring flew over to the side of the cart as they approached the turn and began to push the cart as it started to derail.  The intense heat underneath her was overwhelming, the sweat that dropped from her body became vapor before it could even reach the boiling liquid.  The weight of the trolley stopped falling towards her and DK helped bring it back on track by swinging his body weight.

The ape pulled the tired pegasus into the cart once more as they entered into another tunnel.  "Just, who in the right mind would build rail tracks over lava?" the mare asked.

DK shrugged with a grunt and she took that as an IDK.

The cart speeds out into a digging sight that Daring was in earlier.  She felt her mane blowing to the wind that hit her, but started to panic as they're heading towards a row of carts underneath a row of scaffolds.  "We're going to ram into it!!!"

The ape didn't look worried, in fact, he was more interested in what was above the trolleys.  DK grabbed both sides of the cart and got down low.  He suddenly sprung up and pulled the cart up with him.  Daring entered free fall again as they made about sixteen hooves into the air.  They landed on the scaffolds and were rattling on the bumpy surface, crashing into scattered pickaxes, buckets, and an occasional kremlin along the way.

Daring warned them of their presents, "Coming through!!!  Watch your tail!!!  Oh!.... SOMEPONY GET HIM SOME ICE!"

The cart flew off the end of the scaffold and the riders screamed as they fell.  It plopped into the ground and the trolley had finally stopped.  Daring hung over the side of the cart, relieved that the ride was over; but suddenly, she felt the cart rumbling.  She looked over and saw some water spurting from underneath them.

The mare sighed at what was about to happen.  "We're lodged into a geyser, aren't we?" Daring asked the gorilla to make certain, but he only responded by looking at her.

Both the kong and pony were slammed to the floor of the trolley at the velocity of the cart shooting out from the geyser.  They're vision got brighter as they were blasted outside and began to bounce down the rocky mountain.  They both continued into the jungle and finally stopped for certain this time when they crashed into a tree.

Daring flopped out of the cart holding her head at that dizzying experience, DK on the other hoof jumped out with his arms up into the air.

"AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!" he cried into the jungle of his return.

"Y-yeah, aawoo-hoo." the tired mare said.

As she regained her bearings again, Daring Do began to form her next course of action.  "There really was a civilization here, but that K. Rool fella already has a lead on an artifact; while I'm still left in the dark as to where to look.  I can't get any help back at port if the stuff he said about having wanted posters of me were true.  It be too risky; even if I was in a disguise."  She puts a hoof to her chin from this difficult situation, "How am I going to get any leads?"

The tree to her left shook, DK was climbing up it.  She viewed him as he reached towards a bushel of bananas and considered something that might help her catch up to K. Rool.  "Hey, big guy!"  Daring Do called out to DK while she flew up to him, "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find some old ruins around here, do ya?"

The gorilla looked at her with a banana in his mouth, trying to grasp at what she asked.

"You know; a shrine, a temple, an old structure."

He munched on the banana a little.

"Don't you know of a place where I can find a statue?  Maybe a chalice?"

The ape blinked.

"..........an arrowhead?"

He tilted his head at her question and Daring Do pulled her face down from the frustration.

"Okay, let me try and dumb it down." She prepared her words carefully, "I am looking for a place where you keep something safe from others stealing it."

DK's eyes widened as he figured out what she wanted.  He grunted and grabbed a vine in one hand with his other holding the rest of the bananas.  The gorilla fell from the tree and swung on the vine to another vine; continuing the process as he went deeper into the jungle.

Daring Do beamed a smile from the response she got and followed him into the jungle.  To the place that fitted with DK's description of 'a place where you keep something safe'.
> Buzzing Bailout
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'I am looking for a place where you keep something safe from others stealing it.'

Those were Daring Do's exact words to DK, but as she stared at the contents of that place, she felt..... bamboozled.

"So this is it?" she said, sounding very depressed, "This is the safe place?"

DK nodded and took another banana from the tower behind him.

Daring blinked in astonishment at the collection he had.  She expected many things when she entered the cavern she stood in now, but she never expected this cavern was meant to protect DK's banana hoard.

The pegasus lowers her head into her hoof with a chuckle, "Just what was I suspecting?  This kong isn't going to be of any help to me."  She looked up to see him gorge himself with another banana. "I'll be better off alone."

Daring thought it would be best to just leave him to his nanners and turned to the entrance.  Her eyes widened and she suddenly ducked from something green nearly hitting her face.

It flew overhead and stopped in front of DK.  "Squawk squawk," a green parrot with yellow and red feather tips began screeching at the gorilla.  He listened to the bird and the banana he was chewing on fell out of his mouth.  The kong looked disturbed from the squawking.  

"It seems like you're busy," the mare said as she headed for the entrance again, "So I'll make like one of your bananas and split."

Daring trotted outside into the fresh air and looked at the sun.  It was difficult to tell under the canopy but she could see through the leaves that it was noon.  The green parrot from moments ago flew over Daring and she suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground.  DK held her suspended in the air and placed her on his back as he followed the flying bird.

"WHAt dO You WANt nOW?" groaned the mare while she bounced on the gorilla's back through the jungle.





Minutes passed as DK ran over land, swinged on vines, and flung himself off branches while he followed close behind the green parrot until it suddenly stopped.  The bird hovered in place just before entering into the opening up ahead.  "Squawk," it said to the two of them and gestured to look forward.  The adventurer got off of DK; she heard the ruffling of the fallen leaves as she landed.  The two of them brushed the montera leaves aside to see where they'd arrived.

Daring was astonished to find that the parrot led them to a gigantic structure with a height that could easily compete with any redwood.  It was an appropriate comparison because the structure was actually made out of wood, but broken down into a form of parchment for which you write upon.  It was made out of paper.

The structure was designed in the form of a cone; wide on the ground of scattered leaves while it narrowed as it ascended up.  There was a large shadowed hole on the ground level to allow anypony the access to enter the structure; an offer only a fool would take.

Seeing one this size was something Daring Do had never imagined ever being possible, but it can't be denied that the structure was really in fact, a hornet's nest.

"Ooo ho," DK said to Daring, "Ooo ooooo oh ah hoooo ho."

The mare shook her head at him, "Sorry, but I can't understand what you're saying."

The gorilla pointed to himself, then at the hive and ended it by pounding his chest.

"O....okay."

He then continued by pointing at Daring, then at the hive and ended it by pointing to his tie.

"................I got nothing."

Dk started to screech and began to pummel his head with his own fists.

"Squawk Squaw," the parrot spoke to DK.

"Oh," the ape nodded and walked to the hive; a hand on his forehead from frustration.

The kong began to climb up the nest.  He arrived at an acceptable location and with brute strength,  he pounded his fists at the insect nest.  A series of  buzzing sounds was heard coming from the entrance.  A swarm of giant hornets, each almost as large as DK, began flying out and headed to the ape.  The gorilla screeched and started to run through the jungle with the cloud of death following behind him.

Daring watched and shook her head at what was happening, "What a stupid ape."

"Awk!" the bird said to the pegasus and motioned to the nest.

She understood what it meant, however... "Oh no, that's not going to happen."

"Squawk!!"

"No.  I have better things to do than to get stung to death." she turned and walked away to search for some ruins.

The parrot landed on her helmet, "SQUAWK!" It flew up carrying Daring's pith helm in the talons of its feet.

"Hey!  Give it back!" Daring demanded, "My uncle gave that to me!"

The bird goes flying into the nest and the mare galloped after it into the dark tunnel.  Daring's vision got darker, but she could hear the parrot's wings flapping up ahead.  The light began to return in with an orange glow within the area and she slowed down when she began to feel like her hooves were getting stuck on something sticky.  When Daring made it through the tunnel, she was greeted with a dome covered in honey.  The floor, walls, even the ceiling was dripping in honey from the many large hexagon prismatic honeycombs that the place was built out of.  Many of the combs were sealed, but there were a few dozen empty ones and there's also a few that have yet to be sealed.

Daring could see a comb starting to form a drip above her.  She sidestepped as a large sap of honey plopped next to her.  The curious mare scooped up some of the nectar and gave it a small lick.  It tasted like the honey from that latte she had earlier.

"Squawk!"

She looked towards the sound and saw the green parrot flying in place; waiting for her, "There you are!  Get back here, you fat-nosed cracker-eater!!!"  The bird flew off when Daring began to chase after it with the use of her wings.

Following the green target was no problem for her, but everything else was an issue.  The layers of hexagons were playing tricks with her judgement.  She was having a hard time telling what was in the distance and what was in front of her.  Daring freaked when the bird zipped through a comb.  She retracted her wings and barely slid through the vacant hexagon.

The parrot swooped up and let go of the helmet, letting it fall to the floor.

*Clonk*

Daring Do landed on the ground to pick it up, but was surprised to see that it landed on .........a barrel.  There was a barrel stuck in the honey.

"How'd this get here?" the mare wondered.  She took her helmet back and saw that the barrel was imprinted with a unique design on it, the same design of the barrels Caballeron and his henceponies were dealing with last night.  A thought suddenly occurred to Daring, "If this is anything like the barrel Caballeron had, then chances are..."

The mare put her theory to the test and knocked on the wooden container.

*Knock knockknockknock knock*

She waited for a response.

........

She laid an ear against it.

........

But nothing repli-

*Knock knock*

Daring jumped back, there was something inside.  Now that she knew this, the thought that it might be hostile towards her crossed her mind.  "Should I let it out?" Daring wondered aloud, "Even if I act upon that thought, I have nothing to help me remove the top metal ring.  Without removing that, freeing whatever is inside would take a hefty sum of minutes."

An iron hook landed on top of the barrel, "Awk squawk."  The pegasus looked up to see that it was the parrot that dropped the hook.  Daring looked back at the hook, wondering where it got the iron hook, "SQUAWK!" but for the safety of her hat, she decided to look past that question and just use it.

Daring Do grabbed the hook and jammed the tip behind the ring.  She spun around and gave a mighty buck at it; sending the hook, lid, and ringer to go flying.

The mare walked back from the barrel, letting whatever was inside to come out first.

Two hands hooked on the rim and something sprung out into the air.  It spun with a blur of red and brown as it fell to, quite literally, stick the landing into some honey.

"Ha-haaaa~♪" he said in a 'Ta-da' tone.

Wearing a red cap and tank top with a few yellow stars patterned on it, a monkey stood before her eye to eye.

The little kong began to start dancing while making a rhythmic tune out of his chanting; most likely to celebrate his freedom.  He spun around, giving Daring a glimpse at his long prehensile tail, meaning that he was a spider monkey.

"I think I understand now." the pegasus realized as she watched him, "DK wanted me to get this little guy while he distracting the hornets."  Daring shook her head, focusing on the matter at hand. "We need to get outta here.  Listen up, pal."

The kong didn't hear and continued to sing.

"I'm talking over here, buddy."

He hopped around on a foot playing an air guitar.

"HEY!!!"

Spooking the monkey from his solo, he looked over at the annoyed mare.

Daring sighed, shaking her head, "You really like singing, don't ya little guy?"

The ape removed his cap to scratch his head. 

"Alright then...." She decided to call him a name that reflects his love for music. ".....Diddy.  Your gorilla friend is dealing with the hornets, so we need to get ou-"

"AHH AAAHH!" The newly named Diddy interrupted her with frantic screeching and a finger pointed at the confused mare.

Daring didn't even get a chance to speak, before the monkey suddenly jerked her to the side to witness a needle zipping by her.  It pierced Diddy's barrel; making a loud cracking sound as it did.  Something large was on the other end of the needle, something with wings buzzing as they flapped.  It started to fly up with the extra weight at a slow pace.  It whipped around and flung the barrel off the stinger that belonged to a giant hornet.

"This.... this must be the queen." thought Daring as she gazed at the insect that was twice the size of her workers.

Both the green parrot and brown monkey screeched at the hornet, but the buzzer was focused only on the monochrome-maned pegasus.

Daring tightened her muscles, readying herself for whenever the hornet strikes.  She glanced over to the yelling kong, "Hey Diddy," he responded to her call, "When I start flying, I want you to head towards the jungle.  I'll stay here to keep her distracted."

The kong shook his fists in the air, expressing signs that he didn't agree with that plan.

She could tell that he didn't like it, but now wasn't the time to get into an argument.  So... "I'm glad you agree," she acted ignorant and flew into the air looking smugged while Diddy threw his hat down to the floor looking sterned.

The insect queen did just what Daring suspected her to do and took chase after the pegasus.  The two of them made sharp turns around corners and sped up at long stretches.  Being smaller, it seemed like the adventurer would have the advantage in speed, but the queen knew her hive and was catching up to the agile mare.

When natural strengths were out of the question, Daring would rely on her surroundings.  She dove through a honeycomb, the hornet would be too big to get through the small tunnel.  When she exited the hexagon, she collided into a wall.  Pushing off it, Daring saw that she was stuck in a thin space between two walls; a wall of sealed honeycomb cells in front of her and a series of empty ones behind her.

A slam vibrated the empty cones, Daring spun around and the legs of the queen flattened itself on the wall that separated them.  The hornet walks around on the wall and positions her stinger over the empty comb that holds the pegasus' face.

Daring shrieked and slid along the tight space as the sharp needle pierced through the empty comb cell.  The queen shuffled her feet and tried again while Daring moved about to avoid being stung.

The golden mare was sweating at her situation.  She took a quick glance over to Diddy, making sure he left, but he was still there.  He was holding the lid that flew off the barrel he was in, like a frisbee.

With a twist of his body, the kong threw it and the lid went flying at the giant bug.  The queen was knocked off balance by the disk hitting her head.  She looked at Diddy clapping his hands over his head and bouncing on a foot, proud of the action he made.

The hornet queen was distracted and Daring to this moment to slide through a comb.  She spread her wings when she made it through and returned to flying, the hornet returned to her chase towards the mare.

Daring looked back down at the monkey as she flew, "I SAID TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

Diddy made quick gestures to him, her, and the exit.

"DON'T ARGUE WITH ME.  JUST D-" she was suddenly silenced by something that dripped on her.

With a plop to the ground, Daring was encased inside a sticky sap of honey that fell from the ceiling.  She retracted her wings and focused on escaping, but her movement was slow while she fought against the liquidy substance.  Her head escaped for some air, but her body was still stuck for the approaching queen from above.

The hornet pointed its stinger directly at the mare.

"AAH AAAH!" Diddy screeched and came flying at the insect.  The little monkey was riding the hornet and was holding on as the queen was irrationally moving about to shake him off.

This act of bravery was enough to give Daring the time she needed to escape from the nectar.  The gooey sap of honey stuck to her fur and feathers but at least she was able to move more freely now.

She tried to stretch out her wings to fly after them, but her wings were stuck from the honey and couldn't be extended.  All she could do now was to watch from the ground at the rodeo between monkey and hornet.

Diddy shimmied his way across the queen's back and onto her thorax.  He grabbed on her antennas and was pulling on them.  The hornet was losing control and flew at an awkward angle to adjust.  Her stinger was pointed out and the two of them pierced the wall with it.

The kong jumped off her and the insect was squirming to break free.  At the swing of a powerful jerk, the queen was able to break free by making a hole in her hive.

With a furious look on her face, the hornet spun around to look at the pony-kong duo with a bright light shining behind her.  Daring's eyes widened "There," she whispered to Diddy while pointing to the light source, the hole made by the queen.  "That's an exit out of this nest.  We'll use that to escape."

The hornet hornet flew at them, extending her stinger.  The two of them were planning to avoid her, but she was suddenly bashed by a shinny sphere.  All of them looked over to see that the green parrot that led Daring here was perched inside an empty comb.  It rotated its body and bit into the wax that made the hexagon container, pulling out a large chunk of it.  The bird chewed and rolled the wax around in its mouth, then spat it out in the shape of a sphere towards the queen.

She flew up towards the parrot and began to chase it through her nest, "Come on," giving Daring time to escape with Diddy.

The spider monkey jumped through first, followed by the mare.  She placed a hoof down and tripped outside the suspended hole.  Daring landed on the leaves scattered on the ground, and when she got up, they were attached to her sticky fur.

"AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!" Diddy yelled out.

"SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK!!!" the green parrot said as it flew out of the hole.

"Neigh." Daring humored, sounding unenthused.  "Now come on, the queen could be heading outside to get us."

The parrot took off on its own and the monkey ran into the jungle with the pegasus following close behind.

Daring looked back, the hornet queen leaving the nest looking furious and saw her.  The large hornet chased after them and the pegasus panicked while pressuring Diddy to run faster as they made it into the jungle.  

"AAAWOOO!  AAAWOOO!" The spider monkey kept on shrieking out into the jungle.

"Quite!  What are you trying to do, tell her where we are?"  Daring asked.

"OOOO-HOOOOOO!!!"

The two of them looked back and saw that DK was swinging behind them on a vine.  It didn't relax the two of them as he also brought the swarm of hornets behind him as well.

Diddy clung onto a tree and climbed up it while Daring continued to gallop past him.  At the right time, the little monkey bounced off the tree and clings onto DK as he swung by.  He held onto the gorilla's shoulder while he rode on his back.

The giant ape grabbed another vine and slid down it during his swing.  The two of them practically skimmed across the ground and were approaching the galloping pony.

Daring wasn't going to look back, her main concern was finding someplace to hide from the swarm.  Suddenly, she felt a pull on her tail.  Her rear was being raised in the air followed by the rest of her body.  She hung in the air from DK hold on her tail and swung onto his back.  The gooey honey on Daring got stuck on the gorilla's hairy back, locking them back-to-back, but...

,,ʇɥǝʎ,ɹǝ ɹıƃɥʇ qǝɥıup ns¡,,

...she was upside down.  With her view now limited, Daring felt her heart getting faster from the anxiety of wanting to know what was happening behind her and what was in front of the kongs.

DK flung himself from the vine and grabbed another to swing on.  He continued this process and was making a good distance between them and the swarm.

"AAH!" Diddy cried and Daring felt DK make a sudden turn.  The mare saw another swarm of hornets that DK avoided.  "AAHH  AAAAAH!!!"  She felt more jerking and more swarms were appearing.

Daring suddenly felt her world spin as DK flung himself off the vine and did a back-flip.  She saw a lagoon below them and felt the wind flying past them.  The mare had speculations and took a deep breath.

The group splashed into the water and DK began to swim deeper into the lagoon.

The honey started to dissolve off of Daring Do and she began to detach off of the gorilla's fur.  She was able to extend her wings and did just that to help her swim through the water.

The two primates were swimming towards a certain direction downwards.  It occurred to the mare that they might know of a way to avoid the hornets above her.  She swam towards them with the kick of her legs and the flap of her wings.

Daring caught up in no time, the kongs were sliding into a rock crevice and she retracted her wings and started to drag her way through the hole.  By this time her lungs were aching for air, but she kept pulling forward.  She came out into an open area and the apes were swimming up.  Daring used her wings to rocket herself up,

"....................................BWAH!!!" She comes bursting out of the water and greedily took in the air in the surrounding area.

They found themselves in a large underwater cavern, colored with a cool blue light on the walls, rigid rocks on the ceiling and a dry floor surrounding the pool of water.

The swimmers climbed out of the water and the two pals high-fived each other at successfully escaping from the hornet swarm.

Daring twisted her tail, draining the water from it.  "Well there you go DK," she said in a peeved off tone, "I helped get your little pal back."  Whipping the water from her mane, she looked at the gorilla sternly, "Now will you leave me alone.  I didn't come to this island to save monkeys, I came here..... to......... find.............."  Her mind wasn't focused on the kongs anymore, but what was behind them.

It was an underground temple.
> Mulungu's Mystery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daring Do, DK, and Diddy stood before the steps of an ancient temple within the underground cavern it rested in.  The structure was built from a series of layered stone bricks with patches of moss growing from various cracks found on the crumbled surfaces.  The temple stretched to the ceiling with a balcony looming over the entrance, supported by a series of round columns.

Daring was beaming, she finally found a temple on this island and was planning to enjoy the next few hours.  "I'm going in," she informed the two kongs as she passed by them, "I suggest you two not to follow."  She walked through the arches that lead inside, but despite her warning, the two primates followed right behind her.

The three approached the first room and viewed the large entrance chamber to its fullest.  The first thing to note, was that In the center of the room, stood a pool of water in the ground.  Looking over it revealed that there was another cavern glowing with illuminated rocks that cast a rippling blue light in the room they stood in.  The floor and walls were smooth, if not, a little jagged with cracks that ruin the murals imprinted on them.  Statues on the floor and walls are scattered around the room, but they all had one thing in common with each other; they all looked like Kremlings.

Heads of stone Kremlings were cemented into the pillars around the room, two Kremling statues were genuflected with a spear in their claws, and a giant head of a Kremling was on the wall between the two stone guards.

"It seems like our gator friends had ancestors on this island at one point." Daring told the apes, they didn't seem concerned about that info.  "I bet my cutie mark that this is the place K. Rool is looking for."

Marveling at the architecture, the golden pegasus walked around the giant head on the opposite end of the room.  The idol loomed overhead with sharp fangs pointing down to those who stood under it.  She noticed that it was missing some fangs, as well as a soft breeze coming from the wall.  There was a small gap coming up from the floor and all the way up to the stone carving of the Kremling's head; like the wall was intended to descend somehow.  There was some writing on the flat surface, but with the many cultures she learned over her adventures, recalling a certain language was a bit of a challenge for her.

"Oh oh oh." Daring glanced over to DK's laughing, seeing the result of what Diddy did to one of the spear holding statues.  The monkey placed his hat on the Kremling at an angle that made the ancient relic look like a somewhat-modern day rapper.

She looked back at the written language and back at the statue.  The mare slapped her head for not realizing it sooner, "It's Crocodian."

Daring returned her attention towards the wall and began reading.


Cools.  Softens.  Molds.  Forged.

We sink our teeth into these things that gave us life.

Cracking it open to savor the gift that's inside.


A riddle, one of the many subtle ways to halt any adventurer.

"We sink our teeth..." Daring thought, immediately associating it with the sharp fangs above her.  Nothing seemed significant about them other than the fact that it was missing four teeth.  ".....................FOUR!!!  The first line had four specific words, so perhaps...."  Flying up to a missing tooth, she placed her hoof under the roof of the structure's mouth.

............she felt a hole.

Daring flew to the next missing tooth and felt another hole.  She continued with the last two and they each had a hole as well.

"There must be some kind of key that fits into these holes." thought the archaeologist.  She dropped to the floor and sat on her rear to think, "Where would those keys be?"

As the mare thought about the location, Diddy was watching the pool of water in the center of the room.  Variety of fishes were swimming down below; Clownfish, Blowfish, Jellyfish, but something else decided to jump out of the pool.

"Ahr!  Ahr!"

It was a silver furred seal, barking at the two apes.  "Ahr rahr rah!"

They both listened and formed a shocked expression.  DK grabbed the seal's flipper and shook it before running out of the temple.  The spider monkey lifted his hat at the aquatic mammal.  "Ah ah ha ha." he called out to Daring Do.

"Huh?" she looked back then waved a hoof, "Yeah, see ya later.  Now let me think, what if the ke-" Daring suddenly fell forward.  She was being dragged by her tail from a very bossy little kong.  The mare groaned while skidding across the floor, "I guess I'm coming along then." she said in an annoyed tone.

The seal celebrated by clapping his flippers together as the two left the temple.





Sunset was almost near when the team arrived at the edge of a cliff that dropped to the ocean.  The kongs looked onward and started to banter with each other while pointing to the distance ahead.  Daring Do could only observe what was causing them to go bananas.

The pegasus looked past them and saw an island a mile away that looked like a tangled mess of fauna to the best of her judgment.

"Oh!  Ho hooo oh."

"Ah!"

The primates turned to Daring, chanting to her along with gestures to the island.  DK pointed to his tie and Diddy flapped his arms while they talked to her in their own way.

"Let me guess," the adventurer stated, "Another one of your friends is over there on that island."

The kongs nodded their heads.

"And you want me to go over there to bring them back here, right?"

Again, they nodded their heads.

The exhausted mare rubbed her eyes with a hoof from this new sidetracking issue, "Fine, but judging from the last two times, your friend is probably stuck in a barrel.  I'm going to need something to slip under a metal ring in order to open it.  It's gotta be tough and sturdy, otherwise it'll break and your pal will still be stuck."  Daring lowered her hoof to see two confused apes.  "........FIND SOMETHING THAT CAN OPEN A BARREL!!!"

The two of them screeched from her annoyed outburst and began looking through the jungle for something they could use.

Daring cupped her face into her hooves, "It's like I'm talking to a couple of foals."  She pulled her face down from frustration and started searching for something to use for the barrel she'll encounter.

Searching for something that could be used to open a barrel, proved to be a difficult task to accomplish with only elements found in nature.  Rocks were durable, but they lacked the ability to get under the metal rim.  Stick branches could help amply leverage to pop it off, but it would break before you could even put any pressure on them.

*Yawn*

Daring was getting tired from all the madness that happened to her today.

Sneaking into a Kremling camp, escaping them by mine cart, shot out of a geyser, fighting off the mother of all wasps at gaining a piercing from, running for her life from a giant hornet swarm, swimming in a lagoon that nearly stole her breath away, and being dragged around by hairy apes all over the jungle.  It was enough to make anypony collapse.

Her nose caught the whiff of something.  Something that made her feel..... refreshed.

Following her nose, she approached a shrub that grew the elixir she needed so dearly right now.  It was a Coffea plant, the plant that grew the one thing that lightened the drowsiness from her body right now, Coffee beans.

Daring nabbed a few and began chewing them, a few mouthfuls woke her up.  "It might not be a bad idea to take some with me." she thought and scooped up just enough to fill her left chest pocket.

"Ooooh-OH!!!" DK called out and the group gathered back together.  "Ho ho ho!" he showed off a sharp and smoothed white material that curved at an angle.  It was a tusk from a warthog.

The golden pegasus grinned, "Ivory is a pretty hard substance.  I think this will work just fine."  DK gave Daring the tusk and she placed it into her backpack, "It goes without saying, but stay here.  I'll be back with your pal."

With that, the mare flew towards the island, leaving the two kongs to wait impatiently at the cliff side.





As she approached the fauna infested land, it started to become clear to her at what the giant forest truly was, a series of thorny vines.  Daring slowed down her approach to take in this vineforest.  Thick olive colored stems of sharp needles were stretching towards the sky with no clear origin point, but the gaps between each vine was wide enough to give any pegasi a decent amount of air space to fly in.  The golden mare tilted her helmet and flew inside the scandent forest at a calm pace.

Flying through a gigantic sticker bush should take careful planning and trajectory, however, Daring's mind was more preoccupied on other things.  Her eyes and wings were on auto-pilot while her mind returned back to the riddle.  "'Things that gave us life,' what does that mean?  Mothers can give life, but the riddle seemed like it was implying something greater, like the mother of all mothers.  What else gives life?"

"Har!"

A sudden sound stopped Daring and broke her from her thoughts.  She looked around the vine forest for the source and saw something that might be the cause.  Perched on a vine up in-front of her were sets of glaring eyes looking back.  Three small vultures looked down at her with an intensive look that tried to intimidate the pony.  One of them wore a red bandanna and was hissing at the pegasus down below, no doubt to her that he must be the leader.

It was obvious to Daring Do that she was trespassing onto their territory.  They didn't seem like they would be much of a problem, but to be safe, she tried to reason with them.  "I'm just here looking for a barrel."

"Hur!" spoke the one with the bandanna, sounding like he wanted her to leave.

"I just need that and I'll roll on out of here."

All of them hissed at her and shuffled in place.

They weren't showing any agreement to Daring's request, but she wasn't going back empty hooved.  She blitzed ahead, and the vultures swooped down and began to follow her with the intent of throwing her out.

The vultures may have been small, but they were fast little buzzards.

"Har hur hur."

Daring looked back and saw them catching up to her.  Avoiding them and the vines while looking for a barrel would be too much for her to keep track of, she needed to shake them off.  The birds were smaller than her, meaning that flying through small gaps wasn't going to work.  She took tight turns around some vines that nearly scraped her fur on the sharp thorns it had, but the birds glided around them easily with the home advantage they had over her.

The pegasus looked back and saw that they're mere hooves away from her tail, one was even trying to snap at it.  "They're good at swooping and gliding," she noted, "but I wonder if they're good at...."  She made a sharp loop and watched the buzzards fly under her.  Re-leveling herself, the mare watched the vultures slowing down to turn towards their slippery prey.

They stared her down as she did them while flying there.  There was a bit of distance between her and the small flock, yet she charged at them while they mimicked her actions.  The confrontation suddenly became a joust to see who would chicken out first.  Daring's hooves were stretched out like she was trying to dive into some water while the avians pointed their beaks.

With a harsh twist of her body, Daring gyrated herself to act like a pony-sized drill and collided with the small vultures, easily kicking them out of the air.  She looked back while they spiral out of control.  "Nice try fellas," Daring flew backwards out of cockiness,"but it'll take more than that to make me sweat."

She suddenly collided with something soft, cushioning her impact from this new object.  It flung her forward like she bounced off a spring, but it immediately pulled her back with something sticky.  Daring was bounced back and forth for a bit until it settled, she could hardly look around to see what got her, but she could feel that whatever got her was made of silk.

The brave adventurer began to quiver, feeling like she was about to live one of her worst nightmares.

Daring felt small vibrations coming from the silk, she could barely move her frozen head to see that a large creature was approaching her.  It stretched out a long hairy leg followed by the other seven legs he had, each placing a foot on the sticky surface.  Green venom dripped from his two large fangs with a scowled look at the trapped mare.  He began to drag himself across his web, giving Daring only a few moments to make peace with her maker before she's fodder for a gigantic red hairy tarantula.

Daring felt like her black mane was turning pure white at that moment.  She panted rapidly from the anxiety, smelling the fragrance of coffee beans on her breath.  

Like a lightning bolt, the pegasi gasped at an idea that could possibly help her escape.  She dug her muzzle into her chest pocket and sucked up as many beans as she could into her mouth.

Daring pulled back with bloated cheeks and returned her gaze back at the arachnid, trembling with beads of sweat as he flexed his jaw for preparation.

The hairy bug loomed over her, Daring fought the instinct to swallow and stiffened herself from looking away.  He spread its large fangs wide open and after the mare took a mighty inhale through her nose, she spat the coffee beans into its gaping mouth.

The tarantula pulled back in surprise, chewing on this unexpecting intake.  He felt odd at this foreign sustenance invading his body, that's because caffeine has a funny way of effecting spiders.

*hic*

It leaves them with impaired judgment and a lack of muscle dexterity, which started to show on the big hairy bug.

This was what Daring was hoping for, but it didn't settle her down from the fact of his presents.  "H-hey," she called, causing the gigantic tarantula to turn to her with a drowsy look.  "C-c-could you get m-me off this thing?"

The arachnid stared at her for a moment, causing the scared mare to give a very sheepish smile.

*hic*

He waved a leg in the air, trying to scrape at nothing, but eventually landed on Daring.  She shuddered while being pulled off the web from a spider's leg and took the first moment she could to get some distance between the two of them.

Her nerves were trying to pull her out of there, but she knew this would be a good opportunity to take advantage of his condition.  "A-a-a-also," she took a big gulp before she gained the courage to proceed, "D-d-do you kn-n-now wh-where I c-c-can find a.... a b-barrel?"

He wobbled, trying to show signals that were pointing up, but she got the message.

"THANKS!" she blurted out and rocketed towards the sky.

The spider raised a leg and waved her goodbye.

*hic*





Blasting through the bramble, Daring found herself in the open, outside over the forest of vines that now have prickly flowers scattered on various stems.  The sun was setting with only half of it left to go, the majority of the flower heads have closed for the day, she had to find that container soon.

She scoured the surface of the sharp fauna.  Daring wasn't finding it anywhere and considered that getting the location of something from an intoxicated spider was a bad idea.

Halting her gaze, there was one flower that was different from the others.  The pegasus flapped her wings closer, the flower head was closed, but it appeared that it had its petals wrapped around something.  It was the barrel!

The adventurer pulled the ivory tusk from her backpack and jammed it under the ring.  She flew back and delivered a flying buck to send the metal ring for a loop.  Hovering back, Daring watched the trapped kong.

A pink beret cautiously began to rise from the barrel.  Green eyes peeking behind blond bangs viewed over the rim of the wooden container and a light brown chimp appearing with feminine features looked at the golden mare.

"Eh eh he?"

"Your monkey friends sent me to get you." Daring informed the freed kong. "Come on, they're waiting for us."

The chimp looked over the rim to view the thorny forest below her.  Her hair dropped to reveal the long thick ponytail that's tied with a light blue band.

Trailing her eyes down, the pegasus realized the issue, "Right, you wouldn't know anything about flying, would you."

"Eeh hee hee!" replied the ponytailed simian.

Daring went up next to the barrel and arched her back, "Get on."

The kong got up on the rim, showing that she wore a short pink top tied with a knot on the bottom front.  She jumped on the pegasus's back.

"Settled?  Then let's ge-"

As she turned, she stopped in place to view the scene of the island.  Looking at it filled her with a sense of....... tranquility.

She felt the strong wind ruffling her mane; molding it to its desire.

It pushed waves of water along the ocean; cooling and calmly.

The fire from the sun dimmed along the horizon; softening in its descent.

It casted an entrancing glow on the earth below; forging the beauty of life on the island.

Daring was awestruck by the breathtaking site.  It began to make her feel enlightened.

Enlightened with an answer.

"Cools.  Softens.  Molds.  Forged." she quoted the words she got from the temple, "We sink our teeth into these things that gave us life."

"Eh?" the chimp asked curiously, but Daring wasn't listening.

The mare was considering the possibility, ".............................Sweet motherly Gaia!"  She began to grin from the conclusion she arrived to, "'Gave us life', what are the basic necessities needed to make up life."

"Eeh??"

"The elements!  They're talking about water, fire, wind, and earth!!!"

"Eh eeeehh???"

"Somewhere on this island are four keys to open that temple door, and each of them must be associated with a type of element."

"Ehe." The kong gave up asking.

"But...... where are they?"

Daring wondered on that thought, not noticing a black parrot with yellow eyes perched on a vine below.  The bird spread its wings and flew off, avoiding the gaze of the two girls.
> Water Temple's Park
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.
> Fire Temple's Pool
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they sat next by the campfire the mare made for this chilly morning, Daring Do finished eating a pineapple while her, DK, and Dixie watched Diddy jumping about.  The two kongs were laughing and cheering at the simian's acrobatic skills and chanting dialogue.  The pony couldn't understand the monkey, but she did find some amusement at how he swung on branches with the use of his hands, feet, and tail.

"He's certainly a peppy primate." Daring thought.

Diddy did a flip and snagged a banana hanging on a tree.  The moment he landed, he began talking into it like a microphone. He walked over to the mare while he spoke to the other two with the fruit.

"Ah ah ha ah?" he extended the banana to Daring's mouth, like he was expecting her to say something into it.

She was surprised, but more confused at what to say, "Um...... Daring Do."

"Ah ha?"

She darted her eye to the side, uncertain at what he wanted, ".....from Equestria?"

"Aah!  Ha haha ahha ha." the other two laughed at his response.

Daring felt like she was just made a monkey from this primate, "Okay, hotshot." the mare said to Diddy, "Since you're acting like the top banana around here, why don't you show me where I can find the next temple."

The kong drummed his chest to imply that he's up for the challenge.

"Since yesterday's temple was water, why don't you show me a fire temple."

Diddy's eyes stared into space as he tried to recall said place.

"A fiery place, something like that," Daring pointed to the campfire, "but everywhere."

He removed his cap, scratching his head for an answer.

"A very hot place," she fanned herself with her wings to imply an intense heat she's describing.

"AH!" the little primate jumped as he recalled a place that fitted the description.  Diddy flipped the hat onto his head and gested her to follow him through the jungle.

He hopped away and the pony followed, "OH!" but stopped for a moment.  "Just a sec," Daring flew up to a bushel of bananas and circled around the hanging fruits.  The pegasus plucked one of them and viewed it intensely.  She tossed it lightly in her hooves, analyzing the weight of it.  "Okay," she placed the banana in her backpack, "let's head out."

The two of them continued deeper into the tropical ecosystem, waving goodbye to DK and Dixie that stayed to guard the banana hoard.





The tropical flora of the jungle soon began to grow fewer and fewer the farther the two travelers walked through the valley they found themselves in.  The dirt path they walked transitioned into a black stone road made of tuff; leading up to a cavern engraved into the hill ahead.  The leading kong walked in without so much as a pause in his pacing, but Daring was slowing her steps as she looked around.  The path of tuff was one thing, but a heat she was feeling coming out of the cave was making her more alert of her surroundings.

"If Diddy has no problem entering here, then I shouldn't either."

She stepped into the dark cavern, her pupils dilated to the dim surroundings.  Her hooves glazed along the wall's surface, feeling nothing but bumps on an otherwise smooth surface.  The floor itself was also very flat; no rock to bash your knee against, no cracks to trip over, nothing but an isolated pathway.  It was bland, making it much more easier for the pony to see that a dim red light shined at the other end of the cave.  The closer she got to it though, the warmer she was getting.

Exiting the tunnel, she sees that she was in a dimly lit room with the kong she was following standing at a cliff up ahead, pointing a finger over the edge. 

Daring pulled her vest's collar to let some air circulate through her clothes. "What's up?" she asked as she approached next to him.

The two explorers suddenly lurched forward at an unexpected angle they took as the cliff broke under their weight.  The rubble slammed down on a slope and was carrying the pony and kong team towards something that didn't agree with them.  They jumped off, rolling to a halt as the broken cliff splashed into a pool of hot molten lava.  Getting up from the roll-out, they viewed the chunk of rock floating on the surface of magma.  There were lakes of lava here and there, casting a red shade of light to the room.  The ceiling wasn't visible in the large cavern, too high from the lava to be shined by the illuminating glow.

"It feels like a sauna in here." the pony said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.  Her eyes could see the haze of the heat, distorting her vision around the two of them.  Steam was actually coming out from the lava as well in the form of thermals, which made Daring concerned on a possible issue.  The pegasus stretched out her wing to the hot air and immediately pulled back from an intense sting that it gave.  Pegasi wings are meant to withstand the icy cold temperature of the wind, not the volcanic heated steam from lava.  The humidity of the place didn't help much for her either as she brushed her hoof across her forehead.  "I'll be frying my wings if I go flying over the lava."  Daring tucked her wings into her vest for protection.

"No creature in their right mind would consider entering this boiling cave." the pony looked over to the monkey, "Is there really a temple here?"

Diddy swung his arm overhead and continued to move forward.

Daring followed him, watching the kong and the dangerous pools around her.  The lava bubbled and popped small explosions of molten rock that sprinkled the side of the path.  Their efforts through the humid environment only got tougher as they began to ascend up a hill.  It kept going and it started to show some effect on the two of them as their breathing was getting heavier from the lack of oxygen within the volcanic environment.

The eyes of the pony's started to see a vague image within the distorting heat that looked unnatural within this cavern oven.  A giant face was coming into her vision up ahead, resembling that of a Kremling's.  It didn't notice her, it didn't even move.  And when the two of them made it to the top of the hill, the face was actually a statue standing on top of a stone flat marquee to a granite structured temple.

"First mine-rails over lava, now temples in volcanic areas." Daring thought, "I'm starting to think these Kremlings aren't really gators, but actually Dragons."

They walked along the fancy entrance and under the marquee that was being supported by five arched columns along its edges.  Diddy entered the temple in a nonchalantly manner while the pony took more caution in her surroundings.  She noticed two Kremling statues that guarded the entrance looking different from the other ones she's met on her journey.  They held spears like the others, but they were also standing up with a shield in their claw.  It was a long-narrow shield that stretched down to the gator's knees in a sharp curve and up to the chin with a round end.

Daring's focus glazed into the entrance chamber.  The room was illuminated with small streams of lava that made up the floor.  Short stone bridges allowed the pony and kong duo to walk to the other side effortlessly, yet Daring kept her eyes to the ground to avoid any missteps into the molting liquid.  The stone floor was set in a pattern of large tiles that didn't bring out anything grand about the place, but one section appeared different to the other tiles.  The stone surface in front of the next room had an engraving of words chiseled into it.

Daring stopped her pacing and read the passage. 


Fire, the embodiment of life.

Beautiful when dancing, frightening as it devours.

Coursing through the veins, the blaze empowers.

Those who live with burning desire, push forward until they acquire.


The pegasus put a hoof to her mouth,  "Sounds like the third line is a reference to the god Ifrit; who was known to bleed fire and to have powerful muscles.  This sounds like it'll be a series of trials that'll involve more physique in order to overcome."  Her thoughts were broken from suddenly feeling some weight on her back.  Daring glanced back and saw Diddy standing on her with anticipation.  "I take it that you're going to be the monkey that you are and refuse to get off my back to stay here, aren't ya?"

The kong tapped her head and pointed forwards.

She groaned, "Fine."  Looking ahead, there was a gap on the floor within the doorway.  The mare jumped over it with the kong riding her, "At least you won't trigger any traps this way."

Landing on the other-side, the floor suddenly sank and an intense heat was felt behind both of them.  She jumped forward, doing a spin, and planted her hooves to see a stream of lava falling into the door's gap.  The trap floor panel began to rise up to an even level, making the lava flow to dissipate and the path to the entrance available.

"Strange." thought Daring Do, "Traps are usually activated for something ahead for us to accidentally walk into.  Why would a trap like this be activated behind us instead?"

She was coming up with an explanation, so she placed it at the back of her mind and headed deeper into the temple.  Her pathway was narrow, illuminated only by the lava flowing in the gaps of the hall's corners.  It reminded the pegasus of the runway at the flight school she went to when she was little, but it also felt like a mocking from the structure's behalf at the wings she'll have to avoid using.

Daring Do stopped her pacing as she approached the first set of trials, "What the?"

The next room was wider, but the floor was separated by a series of platforms that alternated between left and right the farther ahead the room went.  The platforms themselves were slanted at an angle that could cause anypony a sense of unbalance and cause them to tumble into the pool of lava that splayed across the room.

"Temples are usually more seclusive about their traps and trials.  This honestly looks like an obstacle course."  The pony rotated her shoulders, "Okay, get off." she told Diddy and he rolled backwards as Daring stood on her hind legs.  "I'm going to need to be light and nimble to get through this."

With a few more stretches, Daring crouched down.  She tightened her muscles and charged into the room, jumping to the platform on the left.  Her left legs bent at the joints and sprung her off to the next platform on the right.  She repeated the process with her right legs and continued until she passed five more platforms and landed safely on the other side.

"There.  That wasn't so hard."  The mare said, ending it with a 'whew'.  She looked back at the kong on the other side, "Think you'll be able to make it?"

Diddy tightened his cap with a tough look on his face and ran towards the pool of lava.  He leapt to the left platform and bounced off it with a front flip.  He landed on the right one and sprang off it doing a twirl.  He landed on the next one with a hand stand and pushed himself forward.

As he bounced from left to right, so did the mare's head, slowly becoming slack-jawed at how easy he made it look.

Bouncing off the last one with his tail, Diddy rolled into a cartwheel and stopped on a hand, clapping his feet together at the success of his accomplishment.  Daring took a moment to take in what just transpired and continued forward while shaking her head.  "Sometimes you scare me." she told the spider monkey.





Approaching the next room, the two of them find another area with a plunge into one of two pools of lava; separated only by a single narrow pathway to the room ahead.

"It's going to be like walking a tightrope without a safety net."  Daring commented aloud, "You ready for this, Di-" she looked behind herself, but the little primate was gone.

"Ahh ha ah."

She looked up ahead and saw that Diddy was already skipping along the path.  The mare huffed, "Jumping into a dangerous situation like this."  The kong reached the other side and waved back to Daring to hurry up, ".....he reminds me of myself." she thought with a small smirk on her face.

With a steady pace, Daring Do moved along the narrow walkway.  Instincts kept nipping at the back of her head to get her to use her wings for balance, but she was doing fine without them.  She was halfway there, she placed another hoof forward and felt her legs shaking.  Her entire body soon followed in a violent vibration.  The mare panicked, she crouched low and gripped the edges of the path.

And yet she kept on shaking.

A rumbling sound twitched Daring's ears and the sound of loose gravel was heard around her.  She looked around, seeing that Diddy and even the lava shaking about.  The kong laid on the wall for support while the rumbling began to settle down.  The adventurers paused a few seconds when the rumbling finally stopped.

"Was that an earthquake?" pondered the pony, "I'm not staying around here to see if there's going to be an aftershock."  She stayed low to the floor and quickly made it to the other side where a rambunctious Diddy awaited.

Daring took some deep breaths to settle herself down from the unexpected tremor.

"Ahha ha?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she guessed, "Come on, the key for this temple can't be that much farther."  She continued down the hall with the kong; her nerves settled, yet her heavy breathing stayed the same.





"Well this is a new one." spoke a confused Daring Do.

The pony-kong duo viewed at the next trial, uncertain on how to approach it.  The trial wasn't in a room of its own, but in fact, within the narrow hallway.  There were no blades, no spikes, or guardians.  It was just a pool of steaming lava, one that was too far to jump over.

Daring was rubbing her chin with her hoof, "Any ideas on how to get over this?" she asked the little kong.

Diddy was imitating with his own chin rub, "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh." the monkey thought aloud.

"Yeah, me too.  Usually I would just fly over these kinds of obstacles, but my wings..." she eyed the steam coming from the molten liquid.  "Even if I could, my wings wouldn't be able to spread far enough in this tight space."

"AH!" Diddy exploded with a revelation.

The pony observed the kong approach the edge of the pool.  He widened his stance and bent his knees.  Springing up into the air, the monkey planted his hands and feet on the walls beside him.  He was suspended in the air, putting pressure on the walls as if he were trying to push them apart.  With his feet secured, he stretched his arms forward and stuck them to the wall.  Doing the same thing with his feet, Diddy began to make slow progress across the boiling lava below.

Daring shivers at the performance, "Something about that maneuver just creeps me out, but if it works..."  Pulling her backpack tighter around on her body, she placed a hoof on the left wall and her right on the other, soon realizing that she had a problem.  Looking at Diddy, his arm length is a little bit longer than the width of the hall.  Looking back at her own, she was a little bit longer than her leg joints.  But this awkward setup wouldn't stop her pursuit and pressed her legs up against the wall with all her strength.

Slowly, Daring shimmied herself forward; first the front legs, then the back.  She felt like a caterpillar inching her way further.  Before she knew it, she found herself suspended over the boiling pit of lava.  The mare's legs were starting to get irritated under the pressure of squeezing them against the narrow hallway.

With the spring in his limbs, Diddy jumped to the other side of the magma.  He watched the mare inch her way closer at a steady pace.  "Ah, ha, ah, ha, ah, ha!" the kong cheered her on in a 'One, Two' fashion.

The pegasus felt the imprints forming on her skin by the wall's rigid surface, yet she persisted.  Listening to the primate's chanting, she moved to the rhythm and soon found herself at the other side with him.

Daring landed on her hooves, "That was exhausting," she wiped the sweat from her forehead, "It's like I'm training for the Equestria Games with these obstacles."  The mare rubbed her legs to ease the tension she gave them.  Looking at the kong she noted out loud, "You don't seem to be having any trouble though.  I guess living in the jungle all your life can be quite a workout, huh?"

Diddy wobbled this hand to imply as if he was saying, 'kinda'.





Daring paced herself forward and steadily entered into a round room with pouring streams of lava dripping down the walls.  Everywhere she turned, there was nothing but smoldering lava pouring into the corner gaps; all except for a Kremling statue at the center of the room.  It was standing on a stone-cube pedestal, standing strong with a shield in one claw and a javelin in the other, posing like it was going to throw the weapon.

The mare had a twitch in her eye from finding such a barren room, "Oh no no no no no.  After all of that hassle, we better find something in this place!"  She looked over at Diddy, "You agree with me, right?"

He didn't reply, he just continued to fan himself with his hat.

"Right."  Her attention returned to the puzzling room.  ".....what did that engraving from earlier say again?"  She tapped her head, it was getting harder to think inside the heated temple, ".......those who live with burning desire, push forward until they acquire."

Daring gazed at the statue with the words in mind.  Looking at how it was posed, how it appeared as if it was planning to charge into the lava, and how the arm stretched out the shield at an angle.  Like it was meant to divert whatever poured on it.

".........noooo....." she said in disbelief, "That's just too easy."

A grinding sound suddenly echoed within the chamber.  It surprised her, but it didn't take long before Daring saw the cause.  It was the statue; it was sliding forward, scraping across the gravel as it was being pushed by Diddy.

Her attention was then drawn to the statue's shield, watching as it began to dip into the lava flow.  The magma that fell upon it was starting to slide down along the protective gear's face at an angle, diverting the pouring liquid like she assumed it would.  It was then that a hallway revealed itself on the other side; now that the statue was covering the opening from lava.

Diddy patted his hands at the successful job he did, while Daring gazed completely flabbergasted at the situation.  "So it really was that easy.  What this place has at testing one's endurance, lacks greatly at testing one's wisdom.  I mean, that was so simple that even a monkey could sol....."

She noticed what she was saying and looked at the clever primate.  He was grinning his teeth and chuckling at the comparison.

"Did I just accidentally make a monkey joke?  In fact, I think I've been making a lot of monkey jokes as of late." she groaned at her choice of words, "These kongs are starting to leave an impression on me."  Daring pushed the thought aside, "Let's go before you start driving me completely bananas."  He started to bellow in laughter and Daring slapped her face at the fact that she was also making bananas jokes.





The two adventurers headed down the hall to the next room and were surprised that it was scattered with piles of gold; three times their height.  The treasure consisted of pearls, shields, gems, vases, but the majority of the mounds were nothing but gold coins.

"The last temple had a magic trap, could this place also have one?"  Scanning her eyes about, Daring couldn't see any glowing orb flying around.  Still... "Keep your eyes peeled," she told Diddy, "I don't know what to expect in here.  But for now, try and find a fang in here."

They went their separate ways in search for the next key.  Daring walked softly with every step through the room, walking around treasure mounds that could set anypony up for life.  As tempting as it was to take some of these for archaeology and wealth, the mare focused on only finding the key and getting out of this steaming cauldron as fast as she could.  Hesitant at first, she paused at the sight of a golden Kremling idol.  I was holding a platter, modeled as if it was trying to give her whatever was on it; and that's where she found it, the second key!  Glowing in a warm ruby red, the fang for the next keyhole rested and on a round golden platter.

She evaluated the expression the statue gave at presenting her with the key and came to one conclusion, "An offering plate?  Is this a sign that I should just take it like the last key?" the mare rubbed the back of her head, "......nuh-uh."

She dropped her backpack and rummaged through it before pulling out the banana she took with her earlier.  Looking back and forth between the fruit and the keystone, the pegasus analysed the shape, size, and with luck, weight correctly.  "I'll stick to the original plan."  Daring placed the banana on the back of her right fore-hoof, balancing it evenly on its center.  She slowly moved her hoof over the ruby and gently laid it down on it, making sure not to put any pressure on it while her left fore-hoof was hanging under the edge of the plate.  She looked over at Diddy, making sure he wasn't going to startle her with anything.

He was preoccupying himself by juggling three coins.

Daring's focus returned back to the gem, and slowed down her breathing.  Easing her thoughts and tensing up her body, she psyched herself up.

After a couple more deep breaths, she acted.

Daring tilted her hoof down around the ruby and the banana began rolling down the back of her hoof.  She yanked her right hoof back and slid the gem off the plate into her left hoof while the banana fell where the ruby was a moment ago.

Smiling with a proud smirk, Daring tossed the gem in her hoof, "Ha!  Who needs digits?"  When the fang fell back down, it bounced off her hoof and clanged on the ground.  Daring grumbled as she bent down, "Diddy, we're leaving."

The kong acknowledged this and tossed the three coins back onto a pile.

*Click click click*

He readjusted his hat and straightened his shirt, but he also noticed that some of the coins had slid back down near his feet.  Diddy picked up the five gold pieces and tossed them back.

*Click-ick click-ick-ick*

He nodded that the coins returned. but more of the pieces slid down near his feet.  The monkey grunted, picked up the nine gold coins, pulled back his arm and...

*Click-ick click*

Diddy paused.  He still had the coins in his grip when he heard the sound of metal clicking against each other.  He hopped over to Daring, who was tucking away the ruby into her backpack, and tugged at her vest to get the mare's attention.

"Hmm?  What's up?" She swung the bag on with a look at him.  Daring saw the monkey appearing a bit stammered as he watched the gold pile.  The pony viewed the mound of loot and joined her simian friend at sensing the unsettling atmosphere building in the room.

The coins continued to slide down and the pile started to rumble.  Like the environment the adventurers found themselves in, the stack erupted like a volcano and rained coins everywhere.

Daring Do covered her face from the speckles of gold falling at her; and something stood out, she saw some silver heading right at her.  She couldn't tell what it was amongst the coins and sprung back as It embedded itself into the very spot where Daring stood moments ago, narrowly avoiding a sharp steel sword.

She stared at the tip that curved to one side of the edge.  Her gaze went along the metal until she met the face of a kremling skull with crossbones behind it and a handle going through it's missing jaw.  "It looks like a cleaver.  Who throws a sword instead of wielding it?" the mare noted before wiping off some sweat from the close shave she nearly received.

Diddy bounced to the collapsed pile to inspect the cause.  "Careful," the mare cautioned the kong as she approached, "We're not alone in here."  Daring was certain, it had to be a guardian this time.  With the piles of gold everywhere, hiding behind one of them would be obvious; but... "What creature are we dealing with?"

The monkey looked back, "AHH AAAHH!" he frantically screeched and pointed a finger at the mare.

His response made Daring hear a series of bells going off in her head.  "That expression.  That's the same expression he made when we first met.  Just moments before the hornet queen tried to...!!!!!!"

She rolled to the left and felt her heart jump at the sight of the cleaver flying right past her; seeing the kremling skull shine red glowing eyes at her.

Daring skidded on the coins to a halt and Diddy cartwheeled out of the way of the blade.  The sword spun around at the skull to face the two intruders.  It hovered in the air, analyzing them as they did with the enchanted weapon.

"A sword?  The guardian is a sword?" Daring was confused, she never faced a magical weapon before.  "How are we going to get rid of it?  It's not like we can throw punches at a sharp blade."

The cleaver leered at the pegasus and soared at her with slices.  Daring hopped back with each swing, what else could she do other than to dance around each strike?

"Haa HAA!!!" Diddy gripped on the handle of the sword and began to fight it to gain control.  All that accomplished was a rodeo ride for the simian, as the blade was now more focused on flicking him off.

Daring Do scanned around herself for something to use, "Fighting it will be pointless.  We need to stop its movement, or break its blade, or..... or....." she searched, but nothing could be really that effective.  That is until her eyes studied the end of the hallway they came in; the hall that has a statue redirecting the flow of lava.

".......we'll melt it!"

She ran down the hallway, "DIDDY, LET'S GO!!"

The monkey heard her call and launched himself off the cleaver's handle.  The blade flipped around and followed them down the hall at a steady pace.  They could easily outrun it and the two of them made it to the sculpture with plenty of time to spare.

Daring and Diddy pushed the stone forward, feeling the heat of lava coming from behind and barely missing their tails.  The stone kept getting lighter as it had lesser lava poured on it until it was as light as it could get; leaving the lava to flow naturally once again.

Both of them looked back at the solid curtain of molten liquid.  Diddy wiped his forehead and Daring collapsed on the statue to recover her strength.  "There...." said the pony between deep breaths, ".....easy."

*SPLOOSH!!!*

They bolted their heads around and saw the cleaver bursting through the lava, dripping the boiling liquid on the floor.  The heated sweat the two had on them suddenly felt cold as the sword vibrated with a heated red blade.  It pulled back and spun around, flinging the lava all over the place.

"AAAHHH!!!" the two adventurers yelled as they hid behind the statue.

"There's nothing much we can do now, but..." Daring looked down the hallway that they traveled, "RUN!"

Daring and Diddy hightailed it back to the third trial, with the cleaver following at a jogging pace.

First was the stretched pool of lava and the close walls that held it.  Diddy leapt up and planted his hands and feet on the wall, followed by quick movements forward, one pair of limbs at a time.  Daring placed her legs on the wall as well and was going as fast as she could, but signs of her struggling were showing.  Her breathing was getting heavier with each inch closer and sweat fell over her fur to drop into the lava below.  If it wasn't the heat that was making her sweat, then it was the amount of strain she was putting on herself through this obstetrical.  Her right hind leg started to slip down the wall.  Gritting her teeth, she pushed harder against the walls, feeling even the tiniest of gravel leaving imprints on her.

Diddy made it over, and coached Daring to push forward.  One, two, one, two, and she dropped to the other side.  Her time to rest was cut short that very moment when the monkey pointed to the cleaver ten feet away.  He ran ahead and she followed while rubbing her legs from the soreness.

The narrow walkway was next.  The buddy duo started down at the path, though this was much easier than the other trials, it started to feel more difficult than the last time they crossed it.  The panting in the mare's voice only got more suspenseful.  It started to look like to her that the path was wobbling.  Daring quickened the pace before things got too disorienting and safely made it over with Diddy, but she still felt a bit unbalanced.  The cleaver has yet to enter the room, so they took this difficult moment to try and cool off.  Diddy pulled the collar of his shirt and flapped the bottom of it.

Daring laid up against the frame of the door, the heat was getting to her.  And that's when it finally hit her,  "This heated environment, these athletic trials, the guardian slowly chasing us.  This is what the kremlings that built this place were planning, they wanted a temple that exhausted intruders to the point of collapsing.  Making them fall into the pits of lava around here or to be easily chopped up without a fight."  The floating sword entered the room and pointed the tip of its blade at the pony.  "....hurry." she told the kong and continued with him.

The altering platforms, they seemed like a cinch to cross for the pony an hour ago; now they seem like an impossible feat for her.  Diddy pounded his chest, ran forward and began hopping between surfaces, too exhausted to show any pizzazz this time.  He landed on the other side, now it was Daring Do's turn.  She took a deep breath and looked back, the sword just entered the hallway.  The mare returned her sight on the platforms, ran to the first one and bounced to the second.  Every jump just kept getting more and more harder to find the strength to continue.  She leapt off the fifth, shot from the sixth, and with one last jump, she landed on the other side, toppling to the floor in a slide.

The mare felt as though she was being boiled in a cauldron under her own sweat.  Wheezing, trying to get any oxygen within the humid environment,  Her head was spinning, she could feel her legs pulsing from the strain she's putting them through, and Diddy's screeches only sounded muffled to her.  She lifted her head up to see that the monkey was pointing at the entrance; they were almost out.

Diddy pulled Daring to her hooves and led the way with the mare galloping close behind; leaving the cleaver to miss them a few seconds later.  Their hearts felt like they were burning as they ran on through the insufferable temperature, but their spirits were getting higher with each second, making them run faster to end this heated ordeal.  It wasn't the outside air, but getting out of the tight space they were in would help cool them down.  The mare could see it; through the next room, beyond the chiseled inscription, and over the gap within the doorway laid her salvation.

Her eyes shot wide, "WAIT!!!"

She snapped onto Diddy's tail with her teeth and pulled him back just as the floor started to sink below him, stopping him from walking through a stream of pouring lava.

Daring yanked back the primate, too stunned at the near fatal miss to move on his own, and the trap floor panel began to rise.  Slowly the pouring lava that separated them from outside began to dissipate.  The mare glanced back to the sword; it was seconds away.

"Come on!" she scooped Diddy up on her back.  The lava was gone and the cleaver pulled back as it loomed over them.

She threw herself over the panel and gap; only losing a bit of her tail hairs from the blade's swing.  The loss of hair meant nothing to her, she only focused on getting out of there.  Galloping out of the temple, past the shield holding statues, and around the pillars that held up the marquee with the large golden statue.

Daring felt more cooler now that she was out of there.  Cool-headed on the other hand...

"You have got to BE KIDDING ME!!!!!!"

...she was anything but.

Daring skidded to a halt, the path the duo took getting here was gone; covered in a sea of molten lava.  They were trapped, lava had risen up to the point where they were practically stranded on an island.  She walked backwards and bumped against the center column.

Diddy got off the mare as the two of them looked around to see what caused this sudden rise of lava.  Their attention was caught by the stream of molten liquid pouring into the dome from the right.  "That wasn't there before!" Daring remarked, "I'm certain of it.  That shouldn't be........ unless....... that earthquake from earlier!  It must've shifted a gap for more lava to flow in!"  But knowing that wasn't going to help her situation.

They looked towards the entrance to the outside world, taking into account that lava was pouring out of it.  They had to get over there somehow, 
Frantically wondering how to make it over there, the two of them darted their eyes for a solution.  The only thing that could possibly help them was floating on the magma; the broken cliff.

It dawned on the pony, "We could ride on that to get out of here!"  The only problem, it was at the other end of the dome.  "It's too far for us to get to.  We need to find ano-"  

"AHH AAAHH!" Diddy screeched with a pointed finger.

As if on cue, Daring ducked her head as the cleaver's blade just missed her neck; as it jammed itself into the center column.  The mare quickly kicked her hind legs at the sword to wedge itself even further into the stone pillar.  She watched it jiggle about, trying to free itself, and from the corners of her eye; she saw the answer at getting out of here.  "The statues!"

Daring galloped to the left sculpture, "Diddy!" she points to the right statue, "Break off the spear that one is holding!"

"Ah." confirmed the kong.

While he was working on his own statue by gripping and tugging at the narrow weapon, Daring Do was determined to break off the shield from her own statue.  She positioned herself between the shield and the Kremling that held it and began pushing them apart.  It wasn't budging.  She tried kicking at the wrist instead.  She struck again and again with all the strength she could find in herself.  Her ears flopped at the subtle sound of crumpling gravel.  After a few more firm strikes, she pushed the shield one more time and it went falling to the floor; wobbling on its front.

Daring was halfway done with the necessary tools she needed for her plan, "Did you get the spear, Di-"

*Grumble*

The sound of crumbling gravel brought her attention towards the monkey.  He grabbed two pieces of a complete spear and carried them over to her, leaving behind a tipped over and crumbled statue.  She wasn't expecting him to break the whole sculpture, but she honestly didn't care at this point.

"Help me with this," Daring requested from the kong.  She began pushing the faced down shield towards the lava, "This just has to work."

Diddy tossed the broken spear pieces on the shield's back and helped her along.  Passing the cleaver rattling for freedom and slid it into the molten liquid with a splash.  The chunk of rock, splayed out to look like the shield it is, balanced itself from the help of buoyancy.

"We'll use this to get out of here," spoke the mare before they lept onto their new boat.  It gave a stiff bounce; implying that riding on this would be like sailing through mud.  Daring sighed in both frustration and relief; frustrated because they'll have to work extra hard to get through the lava and relieved because they wouldn't have to worry about lava splashing onto the temporary boat; not as long as they go at a steady calm pace.  "Alright, grab a spear piece and start paddling."  Diddy sat up front with the head half of the spear in his grip, leaving Daring in the back with the bottom end of the spear.  It was awkward for her to grip with her hooves, but she couldn't let her wings out just yet; so she had to cope with it and practically wrapped her forelegs around it.

As they started to make their way across boiling magma, the cleaver was starting to vibrate the pillar; shaking harder and harder to gain freedom from it.  The efforts began showing as the pillar was forming large cracks.

*Grumble*

Daring's ears twitched, "Did you hear something?" she asked Diddy, who shook his head.  They looked about, "It sounded a bit distant, but I swear tha-!!!" that's when she noticed the sword.  It sliced itself through the pillar, leaving a collapsed pile of rubble.  The blade turned towards the two of them, showing the skull's red eyes shining like a beacon for the fury it had in store for them.

"OH MONKEY TRUMPETS!!!" yelled the pony.  She told Diddy to speed up through a series of 'GOs' and they paddled harder.  The fatigue was returning to them as they dug into the molten liquid, but sadly, they weren't getting to the exit fast enough and the cleaver was catching up to them.

*GRUMBLE  GRUMBLE*

The sound frightened the two to screech.  Viewing back, beyond the sword, the pillars were collapsing.  The canopy that the pillars were holding was breaking apart and the large golden idol that rested on top was sliding towards them.  The ridge of the golden idol's bottom splashed into the lava pool and kept sliding down the now undermagma hill that the adventures took earlier.  More importantly was that the statue was causing an effect on the lava; it's forming a wave that was heading straight towards all three of them.

"WHY IS IT NEVER EASY?"

Daring and Diddy paddled harder for the exit, but their extra efforts were doing very little difference than before.  The approaching wave caught the cleaver within its boiling tide; melting it under the pressure of the powerful lava current.

The adventurers didn't look back from their impending doom, but they could feel that something was off the moment they began accelerating.  Diddy couldn't feel any more resistance in his paddling, and looking over the edge of the shield explained everything.  "Ah haha ahha....AH!" he told his partner with a wave of his spear, but he suddenly pointed behind Daring.

With a curious look, she turned and nearly fell off to see that they were riding on the wall of a wave of lava.  The shield wobbled, causing the two riders to stand up in surprise.  Daring's legs began to swivel as she battled to gain control of the shield while Diddy held on to the edges and watched where they were heading.  The experience was all new to her, she never surfed before in her life; and yet, it felt natural.  The air brushing across her face, the small suspended feeling of the shield being in the air, her surroundings sweeping passed her.  It felt almost like flying to the pegasus.

"AAHH!!!" the kong yelled to get the pony's attention at the tunnel ahead.

At their current height, they would crash into the wall above it.  Daring quickly thought of an idea, "If this is like flying..." she smirked and lurched forward, "Then I need to dive!"  The shield flattened on the surface and zipped forward to a lower altitude, entering the tunnel in time.  They were surfing with limited visibility in the dark cave.  Nothing but the glow of lava shined for them; however, a familiar glow up ahead of them was approaching fast.  They're launched out of the cavern and into the fresh air of the jungle.  The shield bounced and crashed into the dirt, causing the two of them to fall off into a roll on the cool soil.

Finally outside, Daring simply laid there from the exhausting experience; feeling the brushing drop of temperature course through her body.  As for Diddy...

"AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!"

He was up on his feet in a matter of moments, pounding his chest from the excitement of the wild ride and bouncing around at the energy he still had left in him.

"Diddy," the mare said tiredly, "If the occasion ever happens, remind me to never compete with you in any kind of race."
> Wind Temple's Lift
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gently swaying to the movement of her sleep, Daring Do began to wake up for another day in the jungle.  Though she wasn't committed to the idea; the sun, the birds, and even her stomach was nagging her to get up and moving.

She started rocking and pinned a hoof to the floor.  Daring dragged the rest of her body off the comfy hammock she slept in, it wasn't often that she could sleep in a giant leaf.

The groggy mare paced herself forward before she began to stretch out her muscles through a series of aerobics, hearing the cracking of her joints as she did.

"Eh he hee."

Although, that wasn't the only thing she heard.

Daring twisted her joints and saw that a pink beret wearing chimpanzee stroking her ponytail with a hairbrush was approaching her, "Hey Dixie.  Looks like you're an early bird too.  The boys asleep?"

The kong nodded.

"Well that just means we get first call on the food around here."  Viewing the surrounding area, the girls searched for anything edible.  There were plenty to choose from, but none of them seemed appealing enough to eat.  Daring scanned over the green jungle, getting hungrier by the minute, and eventually saw a hint of red up in the trees.  She squinted her eyes to see that it was a fruit she hasn't seen since she was just a little filly.  "A Heart Fruit!"

The two girls stared at the high hanging fruit from the jungle floor.  Three hundred, four hundred feet perhaps; it would be quite a test for the two of them.  "I'll race you for it." Daring challenged the chimp with a flap of her wings, "I'll even give you a head start."

Dixie spun on a foot and started to climb up a tree.  It was steady pacing, but the chimp was making decent progress by using her arms to hook around a branch and her legs to push her up. 

The mare noted how high she has gotten and close she was to the fruit, "Now should be a go-"

*CRICK*

A branch that Dixie landed on suddenly broke and she began falling to the ground.

Daring acted with haste and positioned herself to catch the kong.  "DON'T WORRY!  I GOTCHA!  I....got.....cha...." Her voice trailed off at the baffling sight.

Dixie was gently floating down through the air.  She was spinning, using her body as a center point and her hair as a propeller.

"She's like a helicopter seed falling to the ground." The pony couldn't believe, "How is she able to do that?"

The kong continued her descent and landed softly on the mare's back, barely feeling any weight to the landing.

"You guys never cease to surprise me," she said in astonishment at how chimp defied the air; which made her consider something, "Say, how about you show me where I can find the wind temple."

Dixie jumped off her back, giving a straight face at the pony.

"C'mon, you gotta know what wind is."  She whistled while moving her hooves to imply the sound of the breeze.

The chimp brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, thinking of such a place.

"Things like this," said the pegasus and flapped her wings to send a gust at the kong, expressing the feeling it left.

".........EH!" she spoke up, nodding at a place that could fit the description.

"You know of one!"  Her wings spread out wide at the excitement, "Could you show me?"

"Eh eh hee he." Dixie pointed up.

The mare looked up and saw that the heart fruit was still hanging in the tree.  "Right," spoke an embarrassed Daring, forgetting the calls of her stomach at the excitement, "after breakfast."





Treating it like a cushion, Dixie rode on Daring Do's backpack as they soar through the air; pointing the pegasus towards the next temple.  Over the trees they flew, easily avoiding any obstacle, until they halted at a limestone cliff.  The edge was covered with ferns draping down for any adventurer to climb up the cliff with.  Flying up the precipice, the girls reached the top in a matter of minutes to discover a large flat summit.  It was barren of trees, but not of ferns; even some orchids were growing as well.

Dixie jumped off and scampered across the summit; allowing time for Daring to admire the scenery.  The breeze of the wind ruffled her fur and swayed the sunbathing flowers to the morning light.

"Eeeh eeh he." the kong called the pony over.

Approaching the chimp, Daring saw the kong pointing towards a giant hole that hummed a low key sound.  She felt a strong wind hitting her the moment she tried to look inside, revealing a deep pit cavern.  It looked kind of unnatural to her, like it was dug out by somecreature; not of recent at least, judging by the growing moss around the hole's walls

The mare looked confused, "So the temple is down here?"

Dixie nodded while she blew a pink bubble.

*POP*

"Weird.  For a temple dedicated to wind, I was expecting for a more wide and open ar- Wait!  Where did you get gum?"

Dixie stuck a hand into her beret pulled out a pack containing several sticks of the chewy substance.

"That's not what I..." the golden pegasus sighed, "nevermind.  Let's go."

With the chimp jumping onto her back and a hop of her own, Daring dove into the wind tunnel as if it was water.

Being the pegasus that she was, handling harsh winds was hardly considered a challenge for her.  She lined herself up with the gale, making as much wind resistance as possible; the only main resistant that held them back were her mane, tail, and Dixie's hair.  The kong clenched tighter on Daring's backpack while the pony kept a hoof on her rattling helmet.  The light behind them was fading, but a green tone was glowing further ahead for them as a guide.  The focal point soon became a broad vision when Daring entered a solutional cavern that was formed naturally by the dissolving of minerals. 

Swooping in, the pegasus landed on the rigid floor of a green lit room.  Behind them, the wind continued from a second wind tunnel in the ground; but Dixie jumped off Daring's back and pulled her in the opposite direction by the mare's foreleg.

Daring was stumbling at keeping an even pace with the chimp; but that didn't stop her from noticing the light sources of the room, brightly tinted lime illuminating quartz crystals.

Batches of the shining minerals were everywhere; the walls, the ceiling, all shining a faint glow from their planted spots.  The pony slipped out of the kong's grip when a comparison came to mind, "The way they stick out around here kinda makes them look like plants ready to be mined out.  ............that might not be a bad idea." she said with an optimistic tone in her voice.

Finding a decent one that seemed breakable, she spun around and gave the mineral a mighty kick; causing two decent sized pieces to crack off.  Daring scooped them up with her wing to analyze the long narrow crystals, "These could be used as torches if I'm ever short on a light source."

"Eeh eeeh he." Daring stuffed them into her backpack and headed over to Dixie's call.  

When she arrived, she was greeted by a kong pointing to a unique scene, a scene that could best be described as an underground Japonies garden.  It was a compact area that didn't have trees or bushes, but had moss growing on the wall around them.  A walkway leading them across the room, passing a tiny pond on their left and an unlit Granodiorite stone lantern on the right.  The path led towards two kremling statues, each holding up a spear; having them cross one another over the passage that led to a series of stairs leading down deeper into the shrine.  They could hear the howling wind echo throughout the cavern in a harmonic tone as they walked closer and under a stone archway that loomed over the path.  Daring laid her hoof on a column that held up the arch and let it skim across while she gazed about the room.  The mare could smell the fresh scent of floral from the moss and felt the smooth flat surface pillar in her hoof.  She suddenly felt some engravings on the column that felt like a pattern to her; and upon inspecting, it was an inscription.


Wind, the experience of life.

Many paths are to be unravel, but the breeze calls only one to travel.

What lies ahead holds nothing but mystery, gaining knowledge over the course of your history.

Be wary of the brother you choose, for your journey you could quickly lose.


The pony tapped her hoof, "The 'brother' part is an obvious reference to the wind gods, Zephos and Cyclos.  While one was more friendly and helped to push you along, the other was constantly pushing you back and caused nothing but mischief.  They often confront each other and start to form swirling tornadoes to express their rivalry; but just like brothers, they forgive each other and overcome their differences by working together."

Daring paused for a moment, considering something that she wasn't quite used to.  ".........say," she rubbed the back of her neck, uncertain if she should even be asking this question, ".....would you.......like.......to come along?"

"I would love that, Miss Do."

Her senses heighten by the unsuspecting response.  She didn't have time to react when she felt something grab her tail and whipped her backwards.  Daring bounced on the floor and the moment she planted a forehoof to push her up, a gray furred paw pinned it down while an orange black-striped paw got the other.  All of this happened so fast, she never saw it coming; and from the growling and hissing that she heard from them, it became all to clear that these natural predators were felines.

"But I think you should stay here."

Her attention focused on the voice that caught her off guard.  She saw a persian blue creature with gold accessories such as bracelets, a necklace, and even an ear ring on him.  She exchanged glares with black pupils on the olive colored eyes of the elongated dog-like face before her.  His arms pushed him higher than his legs did, giving him a strong posture for his presence.  And scanning down his back, a long tail curled around a struggling Dixie; muffled by a hand at the end of the creature's tail

"Ahuizotl." Daring spoke with distaste.

He was a face that was never welcomed to be seen.  Always seen with his feline followers, he's caused nothing but trouble for Daring Do by putting her in tight situations and life threatening moments.   Despite the blunders he's used to, his ferocious wrath is the major thing she always had to be concerned about; for it was both his strongest asset and his greatest weakness.

"Why are you here?"

"You and I know the answer to that, Miss Do.  No matter how far you run, no matter how well you hide, I WILL have my revenge."

"Are you still mad about that incident at Avalon Island?"

He snorted, "I could've had any wish granted, but YOU, you had to wish it out of existence."

"You were going to wish for an era of darkness!"

"THE POWER STONE SHOULD'VE BEEN MINE!!!" he gritted his fangs at her, grinding them at the thought of losing such a wish granting artifact.  "So I've hunted you down to this island to claim vengeance.  Once I found your wanted posters all over port, I knew you had to be hiding somewhere in the jungle; the only place where you wouldn't have to worry about being caught.  Spotting a gold pegasus and pink clothed monkey amongst the light blue sky was an easy enough target to follow."  Ahuizotl told all this while he swung Dixie around by the hair like a chain connected to a pocket watch.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"And you were able to climb up a mountain in a matter of minutes." she said, sounding very doubtful of the authenticity of the tale.

"Have you met my servants?  They're cats, they've been known to be good climbers." Ahuizotl tossed a dizzy chimp at Daring and showed the fist at the end of his tail.  "It also doesn't hurt to have an extra hand."

He looked over to his followers, "Chain them up."

With swift efforts and implied threats of claw scratches, the girls were wrapped tightly around one of the columns by steel links.  They sat on opposite sides from each other with Dixie kicking her feet and Daring shuffling, trying to adjust to the contents in her backpack laying along her spine.  The mare looked at the lock that bound them, then viewed the Aztec beast; currently reading the description on the pillar.

"So what are you plotting this time?" nagged the pony.

"This time?" Ahuizotl asked, "This time I'm planning to rid of you once and for all."

"You always say that, but it always fails.  What makes you think it'll work this time."

"Because, Daring Do, I..." he paused in mid-thought, looking surprised at his own words.  The fiend glared at the mare for unexplained reasons.

"......what?" Daring tried aggravating him further, "Can't think up an excuse?  Or is one of your subordinates holding your tongue?"  She was always good at getting Ahuizotl to go into a banter of rageful hatred, however...

"..........Mitsy, watch them.  The rest of you, come!"

An eyebrow raised on Daring's face as Ahuizotl went into the temple with his cats.  She watched each of them pass by; the tiger, the cheetah, the lynx, and the panther, leaving the white fluffy house cat, Mitsy, alone with the two adventurers.

But the appearance of one more cat passing by caught the mare's attention.  It seemed normal at first with the whiskers, claws and even having a big black nose; but unlike the rest of the other felines, this one was walking on two legs.  Not only that, it was also blue; but the greatest astonishment about this cat, was that it had seven tails.

"That cat...." Daring thought as she followed the strange mammal with her gaze.  The cat noticed the attention it was getting and slowed down to stare at the golden pegasus with a confused look.  It scratched the back of it's head, sending bits of its fur flying.

"Come, Nina!" Ahuizotl commanded, to which the cat followed posthaste and continued with the others into the temple.

"That cat wasn't part of his gang before."





Minutes past for the two chained adventurers, minding their time their own way.  Dixie was shaking all about; pulling, pushing, and screeching for freedom.  Daring Do on the other hand was analyzing the situation and was more preoccupied with a puzzling matter.

"Ahuizotl seemed a bit odd in our conversation.  As long as I've known him, he's always been the gloatful type.  Laughing at his victories, proclaiming his plans out loud; and yet.... he was avoiding them.  He might be trying to learn from his mistakes, but it also seems a bit clumsy as well.  In fact, he usually puts me in a deathtrap after he catches me.  But this..."

The pegasus looked over at the fluffy cat, hearing subtle growls coming from her.

Daring already had a plan for escaping the chains that binds her and Dixie, but it would take a decent amount of effort to get it done.  It would take a minute or two to execute it successfully, and with Mitsy watching so intensely, it would require a distraction.  She darted her eyes at the chimp, assuming that her struggling might be the cause of the cat's tension.

"Dixie, relax." The mare whispered to the kong, "When you're dealing with bozos like these, you have to keep a certain atmosphere about yourself.  Act tough, yet also in control; kinda like a poker game.  It gets on their nerves and they'll lose their cool if we make it seem like we have something over them.  We'll just be showing how helpless we are if we keep struggling or start screeching like a.... well...... like a chimpanzee."

Dixie gave a huff and settled down pouting; chewing on her gum with utter frustration.

Daring's eyes glazed over to Mitsy, who started to groom herself.  She watched the feline, noting that she kept looking over at them every few seconds.  The pegasus groaned, "That committed fuzzball.  With her peering over here so much, she'll undoubtedly see us trying to escape.  We need something for her to focus on instead."

*POP*

The sound of Dixie chewing on her gum kept making Daring's ear twitch.  To the pony, the sound of the sticky gum felt like it was deafening everything around her. Yet she kept pondering for a distraction while she watched Mitsy clean her bountiful fluffy fur.

"..............." A mischievous grin crept onto her face at the devilish idea.  "Okay Dixie," she turned her head to hide her mouth from the cat, "I got a plan..."

The kong listened with periodic nods at what she was told.

"....then we'll chase after Ahuizotl.  Got it?"

"Eh he."

"Okay."  Daring cleared her throat for her first move, ".....................EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!  A MOUSE!"

The outburst piqued Mitsy's interest.

"Getitgetitgetitgetit!!!" Daring said, kicking the floor and wiggled about.

Mitsy jerked her head for the little rodent.

"Not there." Daring tilted her head, "There!"

The cat stood up, scanning the area that the pony pointed to.

"Did you see?  It went behind that crystal."

Mitsy scurried towards the shiny mineral.

"No, you just missed it.  It headed to the pond."

She hurdled to the body of water.

"What are you doing!?  It ran right past ya!!!"

She skidded and ran back.

"AH!  IT’S COMING THIS WAY!!!!"

The cat charged towards the enchained girls and began circling them.

*phoop*

Mitsy twerked her head around in search for the non-existing mouse that Daring led her to believe.

"It must've gotten away." the mare stated.

With a low growl, the cat returned back to her spot and got back to her grooming.

Daring and Dixie share a glance at each other, knowing what's about to happen.

As Mitsy continued with her licking, her nose bopped into something sticky.  It was a pink something that looked wet and chewed up.  She leaned back, uncertain on this foreign invader... a wad of chewing gum.

The cat tried to shake off this cohesive object, but it was stuck to the many hairs of her fur.  She kept pawing at it, yet her efforts only made it worse as it got her paw sticky as well and wouldn't let her go.

Mitsy went into a frenzy at trying to remove the gum, "She's distracted, now's the time to act." Daring took a deep breath, pressed up against her backpack, and began to wiggle about.  She sank lower to the ground as the leather fabric of the pack rolled her along.  Lifting her chin, her head shimmied under the chains and before she knew it, she was free again.

With the sudden absence of the pony, the chains became much looser and Dixie had no trouble slipping right out.

"Come on," Daring issued, "we gotta catch up!"  With Ahuizotl already having a head start, the pony-kong duo charged into the temple, leaving Mitsy stuck to the cavern walls in gum.  Daring was determined to catch up to the blue lowlife and getting the next key before he does.  But when she skidded into the first room, she realized that it would be more troublesome than she thought.

The two adventurers found themselves in a decently large room that held a giant illuminating crystal in the center.  Along the walls, thirty-two hallways were ready to be taken for any who dared to venture in.  The two girls spun around looking at where they should go, hearing the sound of the wind echoing the chamber.

"So many paths," Daring spoke with unclarity.  She looked over to Dixie, "Which way should we go?"

The chimp began pointing at each passage, "Eehe eehe hehee he..."

"No no, we can't just guess this."  The mare tapped her forehead.

Dixie in the meantime got out another stick of gum, tossing the wrapper aside.

"...........'many paths'.....'but the breeze calls only one to travel'.........I believe that is what the inscription said.  So let's go to where we can hear the wind is coming from."

Staying silent, the girls honed their hearing.

"...................I'm having some trouble pinpointing it." Daring informed to which Dixie nodded in agreement.  The sound of wind vibrating within the room's wall was causing nothing but trouble at locating the source.  Daring rotated her ears and settled on one specific hallway, "There.  That's where the wind is coming from."  Without so much as a second thought, Dixie marched towards the hall that the mare suggested.  Despite Daring having some doubt in her choice, she followed the adventurous chimp.





The sound of the wind was echoing through the corridor, getting louder with each step the girls took.  However, the mare and kong were too absorbed at the sight of the hall they traversed through.  It was covered in Granodiorite, just like the entrance, but the illuminating crystals could be found here embedded in the walls.  They looked like flakes ranging from small to large, all glowing a hint of green within the darken passage for them to see.  It felt as if they were traveling across a sea of stars.

Daring admired the architect, "The Kremlings certainly know how to make things look..."

"Eh hee?"

"I was thinking more of... 'mystical', actually." 

The girls arrived at a split in the halls.  The path they were on was merging towards a hallway blocked off by pillars, appearing as if they were bars to a jail-cell.  They peeked around the corner to the other path, and at that very moment, their heads were suddenly fighting the wind current that blew at them down a long hall.

Daring and Dix pulled back, "Looks like we'll have to push against the wind in order to continue.  Are you up for it?"

The chimp popped another bubble and got low to the ground on all fours; starting to crawl across the floor into the gale.

Daring followed fashion and used her wing help to form as little resistance as possible.  Her helmet rattled while she pursued forward, determined to get through this as the wind grazed across her feathers.  She pushed herself one leg at a time, keeping her other three firmly planted to the floor.  The wind was a challenge, but she was making decent progress.

Dixie however, was struggling.  Her ponytail was whipping about, she placed pressure on her hand and feet, but she was starting to slide back.

"Heee........he..........HEEEEEE!!!" the kong cried as she was tumbling backwards.

The grip of the wind slammed her into Daring and rolled her around the mare.  The kong grabbed onto the pony's hind leg for support.  Daring felt each action of the chimp's, sliding her back some at the sudden added weight.  The pony got her bearings again and marched forward with little trouble added.  Dixie used the pegasus as a shield against the wind and was able to walk a lot more easily now behind her.

The wind was getting rougher the farther they went down the wind tunnel.  Daring squinted her eyes up ahead; she saw another barred hallway, and another split path that was available.

They were almost there and pressed onward. The girls pushed, pulled, and struggled to move forward.  The wind was getting stronger, but when they finally reached the open passage at the split, they felt a heavy weight lifted off from them. 

Daring tossed her mane, "There, made it through in one piece."

The chimp looked unamused at the mare with her hair a complete mess.





The girls continued down the hall with Dixie riding on Daring's back, stroking her ponytail with her fingers to get it back in order.

"Those were some pretty tough winds," the mare tried to make small talk with the kong. "You were practically plucked off the ground."

"Eeh he hehe heeh."

"Well you are pretty light," the pony noted on her passenger's weight, ".....actually, that would also explain how you were able to slow your fall by using your hair earlier.  I wouldn't have ever guessed."

"Eh eh he hee?" Dixie flapped her arms and acted out gliding.

"Well... yeah, I can glide through the air in a slow and calm pace too, but I really rely on using both my wings to keep balance.  You're light enough that you only need one airfoil, your hair.  Pegasi, on the other hoof, are a bit too heavy to stay in the air with just one; that's why we have a second airfoil to balance things out."  She opened her wings to get her point across better.  "I need at least two wings, otherwise I'll sink like... a....... what!?"

They entered another room with a confused look on their face.  They were in a circular dome room with a crystal in the center and had 32 hallway passages; it was the exact same room they started in.

Daring looked around at the familiar setting, "We couldn't have gone in a circle."  She suddenly felt something crinkly push her underhoof, lifting the limb up revealed a crumpled wrapper to a gum pack.  "We did go in a circle!  I could've sworn that was the right one."   Tapping her chin, the golden mare tried again to listen for the wind.  The sound seemed to be resonating even more than last time, adding to her frustration.  ".....arg, I don't know."  The adventurous pony saw Dixie staring at her with patience, "How about you?  Do you know where we should go?"

The chimp looked amongst the doors and wrapped a lock of hair around a finger.  "Eh heeeeeeeeeeeee........ eh heh!" she pointed a finger at one of the tunnels.

"That one?" Daring confirmed with a shrug afterwards.  "What do we have to lose?"  They continued their journey down the hall next to each other.  "So out of the three of you kongs," Daring said to break the silence, "I take it that you're the more sensible one of the group"

"Eh eehe." Dixie said, sounding exasperated.  "Eh heehe eh eh hee, hehe heh, 'Oh ho hoo oh.' eh hee he heh, 'Ha ha aaahah.' eh hee eh, 'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeh hehe.'"

The mare couldn't make out one word from that statement.  However, "They do seem like a bit of a hoofful, we might as well consider ourselves as babysitters for those two." Daring had no problem understanding.  The tone in her voice, the impersonations of the guys, the length of how long she stayed on a word.  She was subconsciously picking up on these antics and expressions.

"Boys." the mare snorted.

"Eh he, heeh." the chimp agreed.

*GIIIRR*

The girls froze the moment they heard a sound that sounded like the grinding of stones.  Suddenly, a bronze blade swooped down from the ceiling towards them.

The two girls distanced themselves from each other as the blade slashed right between the two of them.  Daring laid flat on the wall, holding in her breath as it passed mere inches from her.

The weapon went back into the ceiling's opening on the other side, making another grinding sound as the gap closed.  

The girls relaxed with a mighty sigh in unison.  Daring peered at the condition of the chimp, she was laying flat on the wall not much different from her own posture.  "Is she mimicking me," she pondered, "or do we think a lot alike?"  The mare leaned back on that thought.

*GIIIRR*

The sound of gravel scraping against itself surprised her again, but instead of avoiding a blade, she suddenly felt herself sliding backwards.  Daring flapped her legs from the surprise in the sudden shift but ultimately fell to the ground.

The chimp hopped over to the mare as she got up, understanding that the grinding of the sound was in fact the wall rotating.  She patted herself down while viewing the new hallway she stumbled onto.  "A secret passage?" the pony was astounded by the discovery, "I don't come across these very often in temples."

"Ehhe?"

"Yeah, temples tend to want to test your prowess and wouldn't open up paths for you so easily.  ....however.... it does seem to follow the theme of this temple."

"Eh?"

"The experience of life," Daring viewed the hidden path while recalling the inscription, "this could be considered a shortcut for us....."

The mare's silence concerned the kong.  She waved a hand in her face and eventually broke her out the trance with a tiny spook.

*POP*

Daring snapped her gaze at Dixie, watching her curl her bubble gum back into her mouth.  The pony shook her head, "We shouldn't take it unless we know for curtain it can be trusted.  For all we know, it could lead us into some even deadlier traps."  "Let's get back to the hall we were taking."

Dixie didn't seem to mind and continued to scamper back to the other corridor.

"We may be risking an opportunity here, but this information of there being secret passages in this place could be useful later."





"Oh, come on!" Daring cried out at finding themselves in the same room as they were before a third time.

Daring sat on the hard stone floor and planted her hooves over her eyes.  She rubbed them from the distasteful sight of the room.  The pony swept her hooves across her face; growling in pure frustration as she ruffled her mane.  She settled them over her ears, deafening the obnoxious wind that reverberated around them.  "It's practically yelling at us to follow it," she laid out the situation to the kong, "but we'll be running in circles at this pace."

Dixie sat from across the mare, brushing strands of hair behind her ear.

"Okay, let's review.  The inscription said, 'the breeze calls only one to travel, right?"

"Hee eh."

"Right.  Which leads us to assume that we need to follow the sound of the wind in order to progress, right?"

"Hee eh."

"Right.  But when we take those paths, we return back here with no progress whatsoever, right?"

"Hee eh."

"Right.  So..... what are we not seeing here?  What are we doing wrong?"  Daring tapped her forehead for an answer, "If we don't  think this through, it could mean certain doom.  I mean the last one nearly sliced off our pony tails."

"Eeeh he he hee eh?" Dix pointed a thumb behind herself.

"Same word, different examples.  One is my tail and the other is your hai......."  Daring noticed something that struck her out of the argument.  Her eyes were completely transfixed on the chimp before her.

Dixie tilted her head, causing a couple strands of hair to slide off her ear and gently flow to the breeze.  The mare looked at the many halls to choose from, all of them have the sound of wind calling them closer; but the strands of hairs are only flowing towards one direction.

"..........many paths.............but the breeze calls only one to travel!!!" it became all clear to her.

"The sound of the wind isn't what we should be focused on," Daring bit a feather from her wing and winced as she plucked it.  She spat it out and watched it gently fly, "It's the flow of the breeze!"

The girls watched the feather dance through the air as it bopped its way across the room and followed it into one of the hallways.  It started as a calm stroll at first, then the wind started to pick up.  The mare and kong began jogging to catch up, hearing the sound of the breeze getting louder.  They turn it into a sprint as the feather begins to violently shake about in the air.  They ran all out at it, paying no attention to what was around them until they suddenly had to support themselves to the corners of a room entrance.

They've walked into a wide, tall chamber covered in thick moss everywhere.  There were plenty of halls on the surface as well as tunnels up along the walls that entered this place.  Nothing much could be stated about the place thanks to the main attraction that drew in the most attention, as well as everything around it.  In the center of the room, grabbing everything it could get a hold of, was a raging tornado.

The girls tightened their gaze at the vortex.  Dirt was helping to give it a form, but the contents of what it held was unclear.  There were crumbled columns, jagged boulders, and the one thing they did not expect; cats.

Daring shook her head, "Ahuizotl, you blunderhead.  Don't tell me you activated a magic trap on yourself."

They watched the cheetah of the group kicking and pawing through the air as if it was trying to run, viewed the panther scratching at whatever it could latch onto, and saw the lynx stretch its forelegs out to its side as if it was trying to glide.

"Though I wouldn't put it past any of your lackeys."

At that moment, the sight of Ahuizotl flying by came into view; spinning about as he tried to grab anything that was grounded with his right hand.  His left however, had something that caught the mare's attention.  A fang-shaped emerald emitting a bright shamrock glow, was in the grip of the Aztec beast.

"THERE!" Daring yelled to the kong over the howling wind, "THAT'S WHAT WE'RE AFTER."  She slid her pith helmet into her backpack, and just as she was about to request Dixie to get on her back, she saw that the chimp was putting pressure on the ground with her arms.

The twister was trying to pull the kong in.

"She'd only be fighting to stay on me if she hitched a ride," Daring considered.  "STAY HERE.  I'LL BE BACK TO GET YA." Daring yelled before she flew into the rotating column of air.

A tornado can be perilous for anycreature to fly through, including a pegasus, and Daring was no exception.  Her ears were flapping as she made quick glances at the Aztec beast before returning at what she was flying at.  Pushing aside an airborne statue head, scampering up a floating column, and accidentally got spotted by the panther of Ahuizotl's group.  The wind silenced the feline's battle cry, yet she still paid close attention to the giant cat and swiftly avoided their claws.

After the near hit, Daring shot her head up ahead and saw a giant boulder that she was about to collide with.  Her body quickly took over her mind and she placed a hoof on the rigid surface to fall into a roll.  Daring spun along the rock and suddenly felt herself get entangled in something.  She glanced at the blue furry ropes that held her and struggled to get loose, but she couldn't break free, not until the ropes suddenly whipped her out.

The pegasus got her bearings and noticed herself covered in blue fur.  She looked back and saw the tangled ropes were in fact the tails to that bizarre looking blue cat from earlier.  The cat was clinging on the boulder desperately within the tornado.  Daring noticed the swift scratches it made, causing some fur to shed.  The pony's eyes widened and looked at the blue fur that covered her body.

"𝕐𝕌ℂ𝕂!!!"

She shook her body, but the shed fur wouldn't come off.  It was a little irritating, but more important things need to be attended to.

Daring turned her attentions back up ahead towards Ahuizotl and flew in his direction.  His backside was facing her and he's kicking the air to try and swim his way out of the tornado by grabbing a small cliff approaching on the right.  With his left hand holding the jewel, he extended his arm but couldn't reach the rock formation; so he got ready for when it came around again.

The pegasus seized the opportunity and she approached his blind side on the left.  Ahuizotl extended out his right arm, giving it another attempt at grabbing the small cliff that was approaching.  With his attention only on the edge, he stretched as far as he could... but just missed it.  He watched it pass by and then spotted Daring Do at the corner of his eye.

Ahuizotl growled, baring his fangs at the mare and she pulled herself back as he swung his elbow at her.  With her presence known, the Aztec beast moved the gem to the hand on his tail and spread out his arms to guard Daring from taking it.  She flew ahead of the wind and in front of Ahuizotl.  Daring charged as he pulled back a right fist.  She quickly expanded her wings to catch the wind, pulling her back from the beast's punch.  Closing her wings, she drove a hoof into Ahuizotl's face.  Daring lept for the shamrock glowing key, but Ahuizotl grabbed her tail and whipped her away.

It was clear that the air was her home field advantage, but with his brute strength being used defensively, it was something that Daring was going to have trouble with.





Back on the ground, Dixie was bopping about as she watched the fight above.  She was getting excited, exaggerating with punches as if she was there helping and coaching Daring on.  "Eh eeeh, eh he heee, eeh heee eeeh."

"SNAAAARRRLL!!!"

The voice alarmed the kong of imminent threat.  She twirled around, witnessing an unexpecting sight.  Digging their claws into the thick moss on the walls, Ahuizotl's cats were climbing their way across the plant.  They snarled and growled at the chimp as they crawled to the frame of the hall.

Dixie backed up from the felines when they reached the floor.  The five cats threatened her with hisses while they slowly approached.  She kept an eye on all of them while she steadily distanced herself.

And then she felt something pulling her ponytail.

Her feet were sliding on the ground and she felt her entire body pulling herself back.  She was lifted off the ground when and began screeching as she was being pulled into the powerful grip of the tornado.





Daring was having trouble no matter how she tried to attack.  Upwind, downwind, overhead, under-head; no matter how she tried to swoop in, Ahuizotl always twisted his body to face the pegasus.  It didn't help that she also had to watch out for the flying debris; both flying about, or thrown at her.

She barely dodged a clay pot cast by the Aztec creature.  Daring peered over her shoulder at him, considering how to outsmart him, when her eyes caught onto something pink.  It was Dixie, spinning helplessly like the victim to the twister that she was.  The kong waved her arms at the pony for help, her cries were too deafened by the sound of the wind.

The mare darted her eyes to the villain holding the key in his tail that floated between them, then back at the chimp.  "....time to see how much we think alike."

Daring jerked her head while she turned towards Ahuizotl, hoping it would translate to Dixie, and dove at the blue beast.  He pulled back a right and extended out his left arm to block her.  He kept his pose, anticipating the same trick as before; but instead, she continued and pushed him by kicking off his guarding arm.  It didn't faze him, it didn't even hurt him, it just pushed him.  Daring pulled back, causing Ahuizotl to lower his defense to the bizarre tactic.

He suddenly felt a tug at his tail and saw a chimp flying over him holding a jewel fang.  He looked over at his tail  and saw that it was missing the emerald key.

Dixie wagged the crystal at him, "Eh hee." thanking him for the shiny stone as she was caught by Daring.

The girls flew off, leaving a roaring Ahuizotl to grab on a cliff on the wall.

With Dixie holding on tight on the pony's back, Daring flew towards the hall they came from.  She slows to a halt at the presence of Ahuizotl's cats blocking the path.  The mare looked at all the other tunnels to choose and dashed down one of them.

Dixie brushed the shedded blue fur off the pony's backpack before placing the fang inside, while Daring focused only on getting out.  The sound of her hoofstep echoed through the passage.

"SEIZE THEM!!!!" she could hear Ahuizotl yell in a thundering tone.  A pounding of paws was heard behind them and a four way path was coming up ahead.  Daring took the right one without a second thought.  Her main objective now was to shake these guys off her trail.

The path turned and curled and another split was up ahead.  This time she took the left path and slid to a halt when she saw the tiger of the group sprinting in her direction.  He belted at the moment their eyes met and lept at her for a pounce.  Daring inadvertently kicked backwards and avoided being flattened by the large cat, but she felt little hands climb on top of her head and saw Dixie leaping forward to stomp on the tiger's head.  The pegasus flew over the feline with the kong grabbing her tail as she did to climb her way onto the pony's back again.

Daring continued down the hall and heard the tiger roaring for reinforcement.  She saw another split up ahead, but that cry for assistance was enough to gain the attention of three faces to peek around the corner up ahead; the seven-tails, panther, and Ahuizotl.

The mare skimmed on the floor as they walked towards her.  The sounds of mewing were heard behind them and a quick glance showed that the cheetah, lynx, and tiger.  Surrounded on both sides, she was scrambling on what to do.  Daring wound herself up as she stared at the fiends ahead, and Dixie spun on the mare's back to face the ones that were behind her.  They didn't have the faintest clue on how to escape this one unscathed.  Daring saw the seven-tails scratching their fur again, reminding her of the shedded blue fur on herself.

The pony whipped her foreleg to shake off some of it from the irritation it was giving her.

Ahuizotl chuckled at his assured victory, "Make this easy on all of us, Daring Do."

The mare tightened her muscles, feeling the sweat-drops slide down her face at this inescapable plight.

"Give us the jewel."

She glared at him, suddenly seeing a small blue hair that she shook off gently floating past her gaze.

"Do it quick."

She watched it fly on the breeze of the wind and squeezed its way through the cracks on the wall to her right.

"And I might not have to scar that cutie mark of yours."

She swerved her eyes back at him, "................", and then she rammed herself on the right wall to push the rotating surface into another hall.

Daring immediately ran down the new corridor, feeling and hearing the sound of wind from up ahead.  Dixie frantically held on as she rode backwards, unprepared for the action the pony took.  The kong witnessed Ahuizotl and his cats entering the hall, looking dumbfounded at the girls.

The Aztec beast grunted before making a roar that could rival a lion's and rockets towards them, leaving his subjects in his dust.

"Eh eh." spoke Dixie in a tone that sounded like she said, 'uh oh'.  She patted the mare's rear to go faster, but she seemed to be slowing down instead.

Daring was having a fight against the wind up ahead.  It was another wind tunnel that blew upwards into a hole in the ceiling a dozen of yards ahead of them, but the wind bouncing around the edge of the roof's hole was keeping her back.  Daring began beating her wing to push herself forward, struggling to keep up a constant speed.

Ahuizotl was being hit by the wind as well, but it didn't stop his pursuit.  He gripped the floor and was pulling himself closer to them faster than they were getting away.

The mare's tail was flailing in the wind in front of him.  Ahuizotl stretched out to grab the strands of her chromatic gray hair, and it slipped right through his fingers as Dixie pulled the pony's tail closer to her.

"Al.....most....." Daring gritted as she started to feel a change in wind pressure,  Her forehooves were starting to feel as if they were being pushed up.  "HANG ON," Daring yelled at Dixie over the wind and the pony quickly twisted her body to slide around the ceiling edge and into the hole.

The tunnel was smooth sailing for the two of them, excluding a dozen or so jagged crystals hanging around the walls.  Daring had no trouble avoiding these minerals, "You doing okay back there?"

"Eeh hee," Dixie said, still holding on tight as she rode backwards, "Eh he heehe eh-EEEEEEEEH!!!!!"

Daring took a quick glance back and saw the thing she was screeching about was slingshotting himself closer to them, Ahuizotl.

The pegasus bolted upwards as the blue villain was getting closer.  He nabbed an embedded crystal with his right hand and flung himself further.  He latched onto a mineral with his left hand and shot himself higher.  He gripped a rock with his tail hand and launched himself farther.

Daring flapped harder and stayed focused on what was ahead.  She suddenly saw a green lit solutional cavern pass her by as she went into another tunnel.  She knew where she was and began flapping her wings like a hummingbird.  The Aztec creature was getting closer, the kong was wobbling about, and the mare could see sunlight up ahead.

Daring explodes out of the tunnel with Dixie, and with Ahuizotl only a second away.

With the sight of freedom, threat, and seizing only moments away, the sense of tachypsychia was felt amongst the three of them.  With all of the muscles he could stretch, Ahuizotl extended his arm out to the fullest at Daring's hind leg.  He clenched his fist.

And caught her.

The hold she felt suddenly made the mare feel as if her heart jumped up to her throat.  Daring could feel herself being dragged down by the extra weight.

Being the only one ignored; Dixie took matters into her hands.  She tilted her head back and whipped her hair at the back of Ahuizotl's hand.  He flinched at the stinging sensation and lost his hold on the pony; leading him to fall to the ground and allowing the two of them to escape.

The Aztec beast pushed himself up and glared at the girls flying off, "WE'RE NOT FINISHED YET DARING DO!!!  I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE YET!!!!!!"

Now that they've escaped, Dixie waved him goodbye, but Daring wasn't paying any attention to his bellows anymore.  She was concerned on other issues.

"With Ahuizotl now in the game, things just got more troubling, as now there is two competitions I have to worry about."

She looked back, seeing the glowing key peeking out of her backpack.

"Just what do these keys unlock anyway?  If Ahuizotl is after them, then it can't be very good for everypony.  And the faster I get whatever he's after, the better off we'll all be."

Daring looked up at the sun, "It's a little but before noon, there's still plenty of time left for today."

She wobbled her jaw back and forth in thought.

"Perhaps a night excavation is in order."
> Earth Temple's Grave
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay," Daring rolled out the uncharted map of the island on a stump for all three kongs to see.

After a few hours of rest and a quick dip in the water to wash off the shedded blue fur of the seven-tails, the adventurous pegasus was ready to go after the Earth Temple.

"So far," She pulled out the three fanged keys from her backpack and pierced the blue gem into a section of the map, "the Water Temple was found here.  This is where the Fire Temple was at," she stabbed the red fang in the other end of the map as well.  She took the last fang and jammed the green jewel in a section of the map to finish up, "And this is where the Wind Temple was discovered.  As you can see, each temple has a specific corner that they cover on the island."

The three primates intensely watched the golden mare's hoof as she pointed to the locations on the map.

"Judging by the positions, I can deduce the location for the next Earth Temple.  So the next place I'm going to head for is... here!"

All three of them looked at where she pointed, taking a moment to envision the place she was talking about.

And then they started bouncing everywhere, screeching in mass hysteria like they lost all common sense of restraint.

Daring was backing up confused at the whole situation, "What's with all the monkey business?"

DK planted his hand on the pony's head and kept it still as he lowered himself to an even eye level with her.  With a serious look on his face, he shook his head 'no' at her.

"Are you trying to tell me that I shouldn't go there?"

The ape nodded.

"Why?"

Diddy and Dixie chimed in with the answer.  The monkey pulled his shirt collar over his head and began waving his arms, while the chimp threw her hair over her face and stood there motionless.  They straightened themselves back up and shivered their bodies.

"So there's something about that place that scares you."  from what Daring understood.  She looked over at the sun, now starting to set for the night to arrive.  Her gaze trailed off when considering in postponing or not. "...............no.  I've come this far, and I'm not going to let something spooky scare me away."

The kongs began chattering amongst themselves while Daring took the keys that they've already gathered and shoved them into her backpack

"Ohho ho." DK got the mare's attention.  All three of them were standing in attendance with the gorilla of the group placed his hands on their shoulders. 

Daring made another assumption on their gestures, "Are you implying that all three of you are coming along?"  With a nod from all three of them, the mare was at the loss of words.  True that she could use some company and she was anticipating that one of them would tag along, but all three?

The mare gave a huff at their nuisance, "Alright, let's head out." she said with a smile.





A full moon was swimming in a sea of stars above them by the time they reached the general location of the expected temple.  The shine of the moonlight kept the group's vision  clear for the sandy-brown path they traveled, as well the environment they found themselves in.  Tropical goldenrod plants made up the majority of the bushes that they brushed aside, sprinkled with mint and violet flowers growing in them.  A moist scent was in the air, giving a feeling of Autumn was about; and the smell of the many rotting trees could be picked up by their noses.  Many of them were tall, thin trunks that were waiting to fall over at any moment; but some of them were fat and stout oaks.  The gang passed by one such tree and the moon reviled a horrendous sight of an odious looking face on the trunk. 

The kongs jumped back by the frightening sight with a screech of surprise.  Daring though, wasn't very intimidated, "Oh, come on guys.  It's just a funny looking tree."  DK loosened his tie, Diddy legs were shaking, and Dixie was gripping Diddy's arm for protection.  "Relax.  This forest may look creepy, but there's nothing to be afraid abo-" she froze solid the moment she spotted a silky web of a spider's, "W-w-w-w-w-we should just focus on finding the temple."

An hour went by as they wandered about, searching for a structure of any sorts.  And they eventually noticed something.

Fauna became more sparse the deeper they went.  The soil looked pretty ugly and sandy, no place for plants to grow from.  Yet there were trees and bushes that still decided to take root here, but the lack of nutrients in the ground made them look very unhealthy and appear as if they were dying.

They followed the trail of rotting plants and their interlude of wandering aimlessly came to an end when a structure was spotted.  The team crossed a wide barren yard, stricken of any form of life growing around the three story building.  They walked up to a decaying temple, one that felt reminiscent of a basilica.  Its age was shown by the cracked sandstone material they used to construct it.  Columns, arches, and even parts of the walls have fallen from the flax colored ruin.

Daring Do used what little light she had from the moon to find something specific.  The thing that she has found at every temple thus far, and she found it chiseled next to the frame of the door; an inscription.


Earth, the destination of life.

Stiff, not making sound; we ___________________________

____________________________________________________________________ them to achieve.

Their __________________ strife, but the soil will ___________ 


She groaned at the sight of the crumbled wall, "Years of exposure to the weather have broken off parts of the message.  All I can get from it, is that this temple is associating itself with the departed."

"This may get pretty ugly, guys." the mare truthfully informed the kongs.  "We'll need to stay sharp and keep our wits about us if we want to find the last key." She looked at the kongs with a perturbed look on her face, "You guys ready?"

They replied with chest beatings and hat straightenings.

An elated looked crossed the pony's face, but suddenly found this situation ironic.  Not too long ago, she was trying to work with them as little as possible; finding them as nothing more than a nuisance.  But now, she was actually enjoying the involvement; even hoping for their help on many more things now.

Daring held back a small chortle to the entire situation, "I've been putting a lot more faith in them lately."

She peered over to the broken inscription, then up at the basilica temple that she was about to enter.

"I feel like I'm going to be needing a lot of faith in the near future."





The four explorers traversed into a large collapsing room.  Beams of light were cast by the moon above through the various openings in the ceiling.  Bricks and rubble scattered the tiled floor, resting among the glowing yellow mushrooms found growing between the cracks of the surface.  Dried roots had broken apart the bricks of the wall, forming cracks as it climbed it's way up.  A single window loomed over the entrance, allowing an airflow through the temple and making it bone-chillingly cold. Fallen arches and tipped pillars were everywhere; leaving only the imagination a vague hint of what this place once looked like.

"The area looks unsteady." Daring commented, only to have it confirmed by the sound of gravel rustling to the vibration in her voice.  She sucked in her lips the moment some dust appeared in the moonlight.  "Okay guys," she whispered to the kongs, "Try to be as quiet as possible until we get to the next room."

They gave tiny grunts of confirmation.

Gazing across the room, three passages were hiding under large stone arches for the team to take; the one in the left corner, the one in the right corner, and the one in the center.  Slowly they walked over the bricks and stones that have fallen in their path.  Despite what little light they had peering inside, they hardly could see where they were going.  Daring shuffled her hooves across the floor, getting a feel on the surfaces before she took a step forward.  She clanked the front of her hoof on solid rock, it didn't hurt thanks to the hard keratin layer that covers everypony's hooves.  For the soft toes of a primate's on the other hand...

"AHA!"

Everycreature looked at Diddy, who's holding his toe from accidentally hitting it against a fallen brick.  All of them froze in place as the sound of gravel rustling was heard.  A pile of it poured from the ceiling next to them and dust floated in the air towards Daring.

Her nose tickled and twitched to the dust that was invading it, "Ah!"

DK covered his eyes.

"Aaahh!"

Diddy covered his ears.

"Aaaaahhh!"

Dixie covered her mouth.

"............." All four of them gave out a heavy sigh, relieved that she held back the convulsion.

Then DK sneezed.

"ACHOO!!!"

The room vibrated and began collapsing in upon itself.  Daring eyeballed the right cornered path and took action.  "DOWN THE HALL!  QUICK!!!" informed the mare to her companions before galloping hastefully toward the corridor.  She side stepped to the left as rubble nearly missed toppling over her and winched after feeling some stones hitting her.  Daring hopped and dove at the hall, skidding inside a dust cloud as she did.  The sound of the falling debris behind her slowly began to settle and she flapped the dust away to view that the entrance was now blocked.

The adventurous pegasus brushed herself off, "Are all of you okay?"

The only response she got was her own echo.

Daring perked her head up, scanning the area for any presences of the kongs, yet she found that she was the only one around.  "Where did they.... THEY DIDN'T!!!!"  She placed her ear against the debris, "ANYMONKEY THERE?"

She listened for a sound.  Scratch, thud, voice, anything that told her that something was underneath the pile.

".......I'm not hearing anything.  Did they happen to go down a different hallway during that collapse?"  She leaned back, recollecting her thoughts on the whole predicament.  "There's no point in worrying about it if that's the case.  I'm sure we'll meet up eventually if I just continue searching for the last key."

Daring placed the thought aside and proceeded down the hall with careful attentiveness.





As the hallway ended into the corner of another chamber, Daring took a moment to view the place that was lit only by the moonlight that squeezed through the cracks in the ceiling.  Lifeless roots have climbed up the crumbing wall towards a window to the outside world.  A messy floor laid before her of stone blocks, toppled columns, and illuminating shrooms.  Other than the absence of an exit and the fact that the roof was shorter, it looked no different from the room before her to be honest, there were even two similar passages found on the left wall; one in the center and the other in the corner.

Daring knitted her brows, bamboozled at the similarities.  With nothing to examine within the room, she took the center hallway.

The pony trotted the passage, listening to the echoes of her hoofsteps hitting on the hard stone surface.

*Clop* *Clop* *Clop* *Clop* *Pomph* *Pomph* *Pomph*

Daring stopped her pacing to the intruding sound.  She glanced at the floor, it was a dirt patch.  Sliding her gaze upwards, the floor alterated between soil patches and brick layers the further down the passage went.  "Strange," thought the mare, "I would've understood if bits and pieces of soil appeared from degrading tile cracks, but the patches of dirt look deliberately made.  About two yards of dirt followed by six yards of tiles."

Her eyes stared off into space, flickering about for an answer at this bizarre choice in design.  Daring suddenly caught sight of the room up ahead, it was covered in luster from the moonlight.  She crept closer to the chamber, watching the dust particles dancing in the lunar beam.

Daring suddenly squinted her eyes, "What's that?"  Using her wings, she flew over and scooped it up into her hooves.  It was a red fabric with two yellow letters on it, 'D' and 'K'. "What's this doing here?" the mare questioned the tie she held, noting that it still had it's loop to it.  She planted her hooves on the squared soil of dirt, surrounded by a tiled floor like the border to a photograph.  The room had four passages, each at the center of their own individual walls.  Looking up, the mare stared at the hole in the ceiling; giving her viewing access to the moon looming above.  With it shining down on her, Daring felt like she was in the center spotlight of a play.  "That orb can really make you feel small in the world."  She felt some tiny pressures around her ankles and upon viewing the cause, she was alarmed to see that she was submerging into the soil.

She panicked at the sudden surprise of sinking.  It felt like quicksand, but it was engulfing her at a much faster pace.  It reached her knees before Daring desperately flapped her wings to escape.  Her feathers were skimming across the weak surface as she steadily began to lift herself up.  Her wings were still a bit sore from the strain she placed on them this morning during her escape from the wind temple, but she gritted through the pain.

Daring plopped out of the soil and flew towards the door ahead; relieved to find a solid brick surface to land on.  She wiped her forehead with the cloth she held in her hoof, "A couple inches more deeper and I might've bitten it."

Her patting of the fabric slowed down when she comprehended something.  A notion that made her body feel colder the more she interpreted it.  She looked at the red tie and slowly panned her sight over to the quicksand that she found it on.

A grim thought crossed her mind.  A very grim and dreary thought.

Entangled within emotions of conjecture, shock, denial, despair; Daring was struggling at accepting any of them.  ".............no." she shook her head, "There's no way that could possibly be the case."  She stuffed the tie into her backpack next to the glowing green crystals she got earlier today.

"I'm sure he just dropped it." she told herself, yet her thoughts wouldn't relent on accepting the answer she believed was most likely true.





Minutes passed as Daring continued down the reverberating hallway.  Her hooves were going at a steady beat, sounding each time as they hit the floor.

"Ehehhe he eh eh hehe eh."

The mare twitched her ear, hearing something coming from up ahead.

"Ahahha ha ah ah haha ah."

And they sounded familiar.

Daring quickened her pacing, reaching the end of the hall to discover that Diddy and Dixie were in that room arguing.

"Ah haa ah ha ha."

"Hee he eh eeh hehe!"

Each of them were pointing at a path, too engrossed in their bantering with each other to even notice the mare approaching them.

Daring took a second to review the surroundings of the place the three of them stood in.

It was another basic looking room that appeared no different than the first and second rooms she was in.  Moonlight seeping through cracks, glowing mushrooms scattered the floor, dried roots on the cracked wall, a window to let the air through, and even three paths to choose from; one on the left of Daring, one on the right of her which Dixie was gesturing towards, and the one where she just came from that Diddy is pointing to.

"This is starting to become quite unorthodox." Daring commented on the pattern she's noticing with these chambers.

"Ah HAA ah ha ha!"

"Eh hee ehehhe he HEE!"

Daring refocused on the two kongs arguing about which path they should take.  "Ahem." The mare broke their quarrel by clearing her throat.  She was then noticed greeted by two over-ecstatic kongs with flips, spins, and rolls coming from them.  "I take it that you guys took the path on the left when the ceiling was collapsing." she got a confirming nod from them.  Daring pointed to the passage on her left, "Which I'm guessing lead you coming out of that hall." and received another round of nodding.  "Well I just came out from the hall behind me, so let's stick together and head down the one on the right."

Dixie gave a proud smile that they'll be going down the path she wanted, leaving Diddy to motorboat his lips in defeat.

They did as suggested and began to tread down the hall with Daring leading the way.  The walk was silent, leaving that nerving thought on the pony's mind to get even worse.  "I shouldn't tell them," she thought, "not until I'm certain."  Daring tried to shake the thought with something else, "So, did you guys have any trouble while we were separated?  Any traps that you stumbled upon?"

She peered over her shoulder to see the two of them shaking their heads.

"That's good to hear," she spoke before going into thought, "But it's starting to worry me.  Besides the accident in the first room, I've only encountered one snare out of four rooms and halls.  Where are all the traps?  Did they malfunction over the years of poor preservation?"  Daring placed a hoof to her mouth, "If it did or didn't, this is starting to become too easy."  The good fortune only made her shiver, she couldn't shake the feeling that danger was just around the corner.  "I'm starting to understand why the kongs fear this area."

Once they'd reached the end of the corridor, they were treated with something that didn't surprise Daring; a room that looked no different from the prior one.

"Eh hehe." Dixie suggested with a finger pointing towards the far end hallway.

"Ahha ha haahha." Diddy insisted as he pointed towards the hall on the right.

The kongs began to argue on which path should be taken.  However, Daring tuned them out as she began to think this through.  "If I had to guess, Dixie's path will just lead us to another room like this one." The pony groaned from this entire ordeal, "The arrangement of these rooms are just making us go in circles.  It's almost like they want us to take the center path.  .........maybe.........did I miss something there?"  Daring thought very carefully on what that 'something' may have been.

"He."

"Ha."

"He!"

"Ha!"

"HE!!!!"

"HA!!!!"

"We'll take the center," Daring spoke before their bickering got too out of hand.  A spark of confidence twinkled in the mare's eyes, "I believe I know where we need to go."





After another stroll through the corridor, the trio arrived at the center room.  It was just the same as she left it; open skylight, simple space, and a patch of dirt surrounded by stone tiles.  Daring spread a wing in front of the two, "The ground is sinkable here."

The kongs crouched down, observing the soil for a better understanding.

"There must've been something that I overlooked here," the puzzled mare stated aloud, "but what?"

Diddy twerked his head about the surrounding area.  The layered brick walls had nothing but cracks on them, the tiles didn't sport anything but dust, there just wasn't anything that stood within the empty room.  The monkey gave Daring a raised eyebrow, expressing the doubtfulness of her statement.

"I know that it seems unlikely, but the layout of this place has been nothing but unconventional.  Instead of a complexing labyrinth or a straight forward path of tests, this place is built like a diamond.  Majority of these rooms have three paths to choose from.  Every time we choose a left or right path, we enter into another room just like the one before; but whenever we choose the middle path, we end up here."

"Eh ehhe hee ehheh?" Dixie asked the pony, proceeding by grabbing her beret and using it to wave a gust of wind at the golden mare.

Daring considered her actions for a moment, ".........are you asking about this being anything like the wind temple?"

The chimp nodded, leaving the pony amused that she used her own method of association against her. 

"I don't think this is the same trick they're trying to pull on us as they did then.  All the temples have been playing off a theme that associates with life in some way."  Her gaze drifted off as she recalled the events up to now.

"Water comes off as something our ancestors must've gone through, where they were stubborn enough to continue forward, even if they were sent back into the water."

"Fire pushed us with physical tests, a survival of the fittest which rewarded us for our victory at being dominant."

"Wind made us go in circles aimlessly, until we learned from our mistakes and followed a path we were certain on; like a puzzling situation found in everyday life."

"Now for Earth, the inscription at the entrance said it was the destination of life.  Life only has one destination that all living creatures share.  No matter how you dance around it, you'll eventually have to confront it.  And when you do, you....."  Her eyes slowly peered over the section of soil that could bury anycreature in minutes.

"......alright you two," the kongs looked over to her, "I want the both of you to find the exit and head back home."

The primates glimpsed at each other, sharing the same uncertain look on their faces.

"I have a hunch on how to progress, but it's a little bit crazy."  She pondered for a moment, ".....okay, completely crazy.  And I don't want you guys getting yourselves killed from an oversight I made.  Elysium knows that I've had more than enough of that for one day, but if I'm right, I'll be coming back with more than just the last key,"

The mare took a moment to collect herself and to find the strength for the ultimate test.  She held her breath and with a leap of faith, Daring hopped on the sinkable soil, and started to feel herself being pulled down.

Diddy and Dixie screeched in complete panic by her abrupt and severe choice.

"I'll be fine," she reassured the kongs to settle their nerves, yet it did little to calm her own anxiety on the issue.  "I'm curtain this is the way to the key, but to put so much faith in a deathtrap that you would have to gamble your life?"

She was flank deep into the ground and all of Daring's instincts were barking at her to get out, yet she bit her lip to overcome that nerve.  She felt her heart beats climbing up her throat, getting stronger as it tried to warn her of the impending doom she was getting herself in.  Daring glanced over to her worried companions before tilting her chin up, taking one last breath of air before completely submerging into the ground.

Everything was muffled around her; nothing but the grinding of the soil could be heard.  She was too constrained to move and could only feel her veins pulsing within the cold ground.

The only thing that was going through Daring Do's mind at that time, was that she made a grave mistake.

Her thoughts couldn't focus on anything else, until her hooves suddenly felt heavy.  The legs soon followed; she could feel them suspended in the air.  Relief rushed over her the more she felt in control of her body again.  She suddenly felt this sensation rush over her as the rest of herself slipped out of the soil and fell a short distance to another floor.

She felt free to move again and was able to breath in some fresh air; it didn't feel very fresh to her, nevertheless, she thanked whatever deity that was watching over her.  When she opened her eyes, her vision didn't get any better.  Nothing could be seen within the pitch black room, though the soft yet firm floor told her that she was laying on dirt soil.  She patted the ground as she got up, but her eyes just couldn't adjust to the darkness.

"It's such a relief that my hunch was correct, but it looks like I plucked my wings on this one.  It's so dark down here," Daring thought to herself.  ".....wait a minute!"

The pegasus scrounged through her backpack and saw what she was looking for; the only thing she could see, two green illuminating crystals.  Daring pulled out one and the room brightened up a little in a green hue.  The room was very average looking for an old structure; brick walls, dirt floor, but the one thing that stood out was that the ceiling was much shorter to the ground than the room above.  At best, she could only get about three or four hooves of air before hitting her head.  The ceiling itself was made up of layered bricks that looked solidly locked together with one another.  There appeared to be a section on the ceiling that was framing a patch of soil, more than likely the place where she fell through.  "There's no way I'll be getting back through there, it's too restrictive to swim my way up.  How does it even stay up there when it acts like quicksand?  Is it magic?  Polypeptides maybe?"

Her eyes glided around the room and she spotted a door frame leading to another area.  She traversed towards it and found a wide stretched area that had columns holding up the floor above in a row that went down her left and right sides.  Daring headed left, observing small hubs not much different from the one she fell in.  The lack of any artifacts or defining features the rooms had caused a chill to quiver across the mare's body.  It appeared to her that she was probably an old prison of sorts, but after reaching a wall at the end of the long hall, she was certain that she was currently in an ancient monastery.

Before her was a wall that had a badly aged mural of a kremling.  The croc's appearance came off as being middle-aged, showing a dignified look on his face that seeked for a distinct sign of respect from the viewer.  His heels pressed together as his elbows were to his side and the arms open up to reveal what he was holding, a mirror in one claw and an open book in the other.  He's portrayed in a garden filled with trees tethered with bells, shrubs growing pomegranates, and an open gate with a key still in the lock.  They all lead up back to the kremling's face, showing off a golden circle behind his head.

Daring was getting an impression from what this mural was telling her, but once she noticed the Crocodian inscription at the bottom, her suspicions became clear.


The Enlightenment of Mulungu


 "Mulungu, huh?" She took a step back and got another good look at the Kremling, "With all those symbols the image holds, it must've been the idea of the century."

She placed a hoof to her mouth, "Just what was it that you discovered?"

Daring's ears suddenly flapped to the sound of heavy pounding echoing through the chamber.  She scanned the area as the sound was getting louder, as if it was approaching her.  It didn't take long to figure out what, or rather 'who', was making the sound as they came screeching to a halt in front of her.  With a little hop and the pounding of their chest, they push out a clenched hand in front of the mare; giving the invitation to have a fist/hoof bump with DK.

She was relieved to see the familiar face and a very lively one at that, "You really know how to make somepony worried."  Daring indulged him by bumping her hoof on his fist, "It's nice to see that you're okay.  You must've been stumbling around in the dark down here," she commented, getting a confirmed head bob in response.

Daring noticed that something was different about the kong's appearance.  It then struck her and she reached for her backpack, "Here, you lost your tie."  Daring tossed it to the gorilla and she watched him slip it on, noticing how close DK was to the ceiling; he would've been brushing his head on the roof if he wasn't resting on his knuckles.  His height also made his face pretty dark from the lack of light as well.

"While I'm at it," she reached in her bag again and pulled out the other glowing crystal she had with her.  "Take this, it'll be easier if we both have our own source of light."

DK gripped onto the green gem, analyzing the mineral as it shined.

"Come on," spoke Daring as she proceeded down the tunnel, "the last fang must be somewhere down here.  And I'm not leaving until I find it."





Traveling through the darkness of the temple's basement, their discoveries were pretty underwhelming.  Rooms were empty and sight was limited to a few hooves around them.  It was at times like these that conversation would be their only retreat from boredom and the dead silence that surrounded them.

"So out of curiosity," the Daring began with, "what do those letters on your tie mean anyway?"

The gorilla looked down at the fabric in question.

She had to carry most of the conversation for the two of them, "Do they stand for a brand?"

He shook his head.

"How about representing a type of franchise?"

His expression looked puzzled for a moment, but shook to confirm that it wasn't.

"Hmm.....  Well here's a shot in the dark," she found some irony in that; given her surroundings, "But are they initials to your full name?"

He nodded that it was, leading Daring only to ponder even further.

"They are!?  Well this is going to be difficult.  I wonder what your name could be?"  She took a long look at him, analyzing his features to arrive at the first name that came to her head.  "Well...... given that you wear a tie and the fact that you seem to be the more older and watchful type out of your friends, I'm guessing..... Daddy Kong?"

DK shook his head at the wrong name.

She took another moment before giving a huff, "Then I don't know."

DK ran in front of her, "Hoo oh.  Hoo oh." insisting her to keep trying.

"Look, I can't understand what you're saying, pal.  So trying to tell me you name would be near impossible for me to get."  The gorilla didn't let that stop him and he started making gestures along with his chanting.  Fist clenches, chest beats, ground slaps; all of it didn't leave any form of a hint to understanding what his name could've been.  "Um.... Dobby Kong?  Dinkly Kong?  Dinkey Kong?  Sorry, but I don't know what you're trying to get across."

DK pounded his head from the failed attempts at connecting with her.

"I'm kinda tempted to suggest Doofus King." Daring thought, finding that these persisting attempts were starting to become irritating.  "Stubborn ape."

As she watched the kong's efforts, a shimmer beyond him suddenly was caught in her gaze.  "Hey, there's something glinting over there."  

They approached the glimmer with caution, finding another light source down there was enough to take precaution.  A reflection?  Some threat?  It wasn't clear, but it was at a low ground level.  And upon arriving at the illumination, they discover that embedded into the soil, was a glowing yellow citrine.

"It might be half buried, but this must be the last fanged key we need." Daring commented "It's a jewel, it's glowing, I'm positive that this is what we're looking for."  The mare took the first step forward and the two travelers heard a snap beneath them.  Lifting her hoof, they viewed the rotting wooden poles that the mare stepped on.  Amongst them were stone bowls, all forming a decent sized circle around the jewel.  "If I had to guess," Daring considered, "these used to be torch lamps.  And judging by the formation they were laid out, they prized this gem with great respect; which begs the question, 'Why is it embedded into the ground?'"

Her eyes focused solely on the planted key in the center of the arrangement, she wasn't going to let the fact that this gem being sacred stop her from taking it.  Not after all the effort she put on this excavation.

Daring gently laid a hoof within the circle.  She was still cautious of any traps that might activate, but It was a firm dirt patch so it left little for her to worry about.  The golden pegasus stretched out her right wing around the citrine, "On three...."

"One....."

"Two....."

And with a mighty grip, something grabbed her.

It came bursting out of the ground and latched tightly on Daring's wing.  She hastily recoiled her appendage back and felt a lingering sensation that it was just scratched by something sharp.  They didn't have time to identify what it was before something else shot out of the ground, holding the citrine key within a cold white hand.  It revealed what they were facing as a head popped out of the ground.  It let the gravel slide down its kremling face and stared a crimson glow shone from each of its eye sockets.  It opened its slack-jawed mouth and gave a piercing sharp screech, befitting for the skeleton that it was.

Daring took a step back, staying cautious as the pile of bones dragged itself out of the ground.  The mare has met skeletal remains from many creatures on her journeys before, but this was the first one that decided to move on its own.  She glanced at the gem it held in its claw, holding it like a torch that gave a rusted look on its boned body.  The jewel was suddenly gripped by another hand; a fleshed skinned hand belonging to DK.  With one mighty swing, he whipped the citrine and flung off the skeleton; letting it fly towards a pillar and breaking it into pieces upon impact.  And just like that, it was already over with.

The kong turned and handed the jewel to the surprised Daring, "Um.... thanks."  She took the key and brushed some of the contents of her bag aside to make room for it.  "Well this was certainly easy," Her movement broke to a sudden halt.  Eyes widening and pupils shrinking; her blood suddenly turned cold when it hit her, "Too easy."

Dirt patches flew up from the ground as dozens of skeleton hands broke through the floor.  The limbs slammed the surface and began pulling the rest of their bodies out from the soil.  All of them started screeching at the two adventurers, with mouths full of razor sharp teeth ready to clamp down on them.  The mare and kong steadily walked themselves back to the wall, watching uneasily at the number of skeletons that were appearing.  They were like weeds that continued to sprout out of the ground with no sign of stopping.   Fifteen were staggering towards them, twelve were climbing out of the dirt, and the slack-jawed one that was thrown was beginning to rebuild itself.

"Oh ho."

"My sentiments exactly," Daring replied to the gorilla.  With no end in sight on how many there's gonna be for this self repairing army, Daring thought now would be an appropriate time to make an ungraceful retreat.  "But to where?" she thought, "We can't escape from the way we fell in and we've been down the entirety of this passage and saw nothing that'll lead us out of this decaying temple."

Her eyes darted around to what her options were, though her choices were very limited due to her vision in the dark place.  The only things she could see were the approaching skeletons and the kong that loomed over her.  The sight of his posture caught her attention; noticing just how he was hunched over from the low ceiling.  "Try breaking the roof," Daring asked of DK before returning her gaze back at the group that was cornering them, "I'll deal with these guys."

Daring gripped her illuminating crystal in her mouth and DK began to pouch and ram at the ceiling; holding onto his own crystal as he did.

"There may be a lot of them, but they're still just a pile of bones," thought the golden-furred mare.  Her reactions were put to the test as the first skeleton swung a claw down at her.  She hopped back, letting the sharp talons pass by; then she charged in low and snatched its left femur bone with her wing.  It topped over, but Daring was too focused on the next skeleton on the right.  She swept a roundhouse kick to its head, spinning the skull around aimlessly.  Another came from the left and her eyes caught the skeleton on the far right ignoring her and heading for DK.  She avoided the left one's scratch attack by bashing it's claws off with the femur bone she stole, then flung it at the right one to topple it over.  The sound of gravel shifting below her caught her attention, and she briskly stomped a sprouting skull back into the ground.

But the skull continued to rise against the pegasus' hoof and more boneheads were appearing out of the shadows.  Daring felt a tug on her hind leg, the first skeleton she took down was crawled on its pelvis and had her in its grasp.

*Grumble*

Daring's ears made her turn to the sound of rocks crumbling behind her.  DK covered his head as the ceiling collapsed above him, but what was revealed was unfortunately a layer of dirt and another skeleton climbing out of it.  A screech from a skeleton brought Daring's attention back to the matter at hand and she whipped it back.  Her face was suddenly slapped by one of them and she lost her grip on the illuminating crystal.  It goes flying into the hoard and gets lost amongst them.  Her vision of the skeletons faded to only the red glow in their eyes; hardly enough for her to see them when they attacked.

Daring whipped her leg free and flew over to DK, holding the only illuminating crystal they had to see with.  She landed on his back, completely indecisive on their next strategy at getting out of there.

The skeletons approached ever closer to the gorilla.  He extended a wide back hand to brush them away, but some held onto and even bit the kong.  DK whipped his arm frantically and succeeded at flinging it off.

Daring growled at this entire situation, "I just can't think of any other way of escaping other than breaking through the ceiling.  One section of this fallen down temple must be weak enough that'll allow us back to the top-floor, but we can't search every brick with these guys on us."  She was biting her lip, nearly to the point of puncturing.  And then an idea suddenly got into her head.

She leaned over the kong's shoulder and brushed the feathers of her wing on his nose.

DK's face contorted to a sensation that was building up inside of him.

"ACHOO!!!"

The sound reverberated within the passage, and the cracking of bones and stones soon followed after.  Daring bobbed her head up towards the sound as DK brushed away another line of skeletons.  It was in the darkness but it couldn't have been missed; a beam of moonlight pouring down from the ceiling on their right.

"Over there!!!" shout the mare, "That's our best bet at getting out of here."

There were dozens of skeletons blocking the duo from their destination in the dark shadows.  DK mowed through them to the best of his efforts by sweeping them aside, but many of those swings only gave the skeletons something to grab on.  Hundreds of bone pieces clung to his fur, slowing down his escape and trying to drag him down lower to the floor.  Daring didn't let this go unnoticed, she pounced and kicked the bone on and around him.

They battered through roughly forty skeletons in the short travel they made, and yet the kremling remains still didn't relent their assault.  The two stood under the weak ceiling and DK wasted no time at gyrating his arm and smashing through the through.  A wide hole was made from the fallen debris, leading to another part of the temple which the duo hastily flew and climbed through.

Shaking off the few bones that straggled onto them, the two took note that they were in one of the four rooms that surround the center.  The area was completely lit by moonlight casting through the singular window of the room.  They've been in this place for a couple of hours now.

"Oh hoo." DK handed back the crystal that helped light the way below, back to Daring.

She stuffed it in her bag looking pleased, "That was an experience I never want to go through again." Daring gave one more glance at the skeletons that growled at their out of reach targets.  "Let's get outta here before we end up like our friends in the basement.  I'm sure those two must be worried sick about us."

"Ho ohho?"

"You know who I'm talking about."

"AEAEAEAEAEHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Daring and DK froze at the sudden screech they heard coming down the center hall.  The tension of what it was made them consider that they weren't out of trouble yet.  They focused on the hall, observing the rays of light pouring through cracks and openings of fallen bricks.  The sound of footsteps was echoing down the path and it was getting louder with brief flashes of something approaching.  And to their surprise, two frightened kongs came hurdling down the hall towards them.

"Diddy?  Dixie?" the gorilla and mare relaxed at the sight of the two, "What are you guys still doing here?"

They both start chanting ballistically, too agitated to even greet the two of them in an appropriate manner.  The young kongs tried to pull the other two by an arm and foreleg.

"What's the matter?"


*Sͭ҉̖̗̬̯͚̫͟Ķ̼͕͉̯̠̲͈̍ͪ́̉̋̌̑͌͞Ȩ͍̫͉̫̜̜͍ͬ̾E̵͕̥̿ͫ̏̏͜Ě̥͎̰̙͇̜̼̑͞Ė̐͊̌͏̛̪̬E͈̼̦̻͓ͧ̋̊͛̓̂̑̚E̷̸̹̟̠̠͓̠̖͑͌͛̑ͮ̾̊ͤE̱͉̥̫̘ͦͪ̑̿ͪ̂͋̀E͎̫̞̗͇̔̿̄H̸̭̼̯̳̦̀̈ͧ̿̓̅ͨͮ̀*

They heard another screech coming down the hall, but it sounded a lot more unfriendlier.  Bits and pieces of its bony body were being relieved as it stept into the rays of moonlight.  Its screeches rumbled the walls of the temple with a sound that came off as a rusty sword being scrapped on a chalkboard.  It seemed to be getting taller with each step it took until its head displayed under the ceiling opening, relieving itself to be a twelve hoof tall skeleton; big enough that it was scraping it's head across the ceiling.

"Yeah, I'd run from that too." Daring concurred with the two of them.  "Something that size isn't worth the hassle." her eyes darted to the sides and saw the two available hallways to choose from.  "Head to the left!" Daring instructed and darted for the path.  They suddenly stopped from noticing a collapsed ceiling at the other end of the hall.  Daring hesitated, reconsidering on a different escape route.  "Um... the right path!" they weaved to said passage and froze at the sight of a gigantic skeleton hand shooting up from one of the soil sections in the hall.

The four of them steadily backed off at the skinless creature climbing towards them.

"What now?" muttered Daring amongst the group.  Their heads quirked everywhere in search of an escape route, and with a screech from Dixie, they found their salvation.  Like a guiding light source, the moon peeking through the window behind them was showing them the way.  Practically telling them to climb the dried roots that led up to it and slip outside.

"Head up there!  GO!!!" ordered the mare before returning her gaze at the two giants approaching.  Daring flew at them and began flying around like a pesky insect.  Gliding between their legs and weaving around arm swings; just to keep them occupied for the others to make their escape.

DK locked his fingers together for his two kong pals to step on and get launched up at the window.  One went through shortly before the other, leaving DK to climb up the dead roots towards the opening.

One of the giants caught a glimpse of the ape escaping and began staggering toward it.  "HEY!  Your fight is with me, bonehead!" yelled Daring.  She swooped in and gave the skeleton a mighty kick on its head.  The pony immediately regretted it as the impact shook throughout her body; it didn't even phase bonehead at all, "Well somecreature has been drinking their milk."  She averted her eyes back at the other skeleton and saw its claw swinging down on her.  It was undodgeable, Daring quickly reacted and scrunched herself up to make as little of space as possible.  She positioned herself and slipped between the giant's bony hand and let it slam on the other skeleton's head with an impact strong enough to push it aside.

The ray of moonlight suddenly vanished, a clear sign to Daring that DK must've reached the window.  It was now her turn to leave and the pegasus flew towards it, but was suddenly met with another roadblock.  Kicking and dangling his legs in the air, DK was stuck in the window.

Daring groaned and tried pushing him through, but he wouldn't budge.  "Come on.  Come on.  We don't have time for this." the mare spoke in an apprehensive tone.  Daring looked back with an intense look of dread at the skeleton stretching out to grab them.  "QUIT MONKEYING AROUND!!!" she yelled at DK and with a strong mighty strike, she bucked his butt through the window.

She immediately flew through the opening and felt a grip on her tail.  Daring planted her legs on the outside wall as she was being pulled back.  She placed pressure on her legs, gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes shut as she fought the hold on her tail.  Daring winced at the pain she felt of her hair strands being pulled out, but she broke free and literally came rolling to the ground outside.

Daring's eyes were spinning by that rollout.  She could see nine kongs spinning around her, looking between her and the hoard of skeletons that separated them.  Daring steadied her vision and the nine kongs synced together into the three primate she knew; but the skeletons didn't.  She jumped to her hooves and joined the kongs at witnessing the horrific sight of a horde of at least three hundred skeletons staggering towards them.  The glow coming from each of their eye sockets were enough to tell the adventurers that they were planning to make this place their grave.

The mare and kongs steadily moved back at the approaching army.  Daring was rattling her brain on how to get out of this one, "I could easily fly over these numbskulls and would have no trouble with caring Dixie, and perhaps Diddy as well, but carrying an 800 pound gorilla would be out of the question."  She noticed that the four of them were slowly getting cornered against the temple they just escaped from, "Charging through them is our best option, but it'll be suicide to go against this many."  Daring and the kongs bump against the barren surface of the outside wall, too preoccupied at the swarm that made threatening scratches and jaw snaps at them.  "Climbing up the wall doesn't seem possible, and breaking it down would only lead us back to meeting those two giants again."

It seemed like a hopeless situation to the pegasis, but she was determined not to go down without a fight.  Daring zipped forward and struck underneath a skeleton's jaw.  She was then clawed and flew back with her vest ripped in four tears.  Diddy and Dixie went in to give her backup.  DK however....

"OOOO-HOOOOOO!!!"  He yelled, pounding his chest with a furious look on his face and began to drum the dirt with the loud slamming of his palms.

"What are you doing!?" Daring asked, guarding a swipe with her helmet before returning the favor with a headbutt.

He didn't respond, let alone helped, he just continued to clap the ground.

"WHY ARE YO-" Her memory suddenly interrupted her, recalling a time where DK was also doing something irrational during a tight situation.  "The Water Temple.  You were also clapping then.  Are you trying to summon something?"  She stood on her hind legs and punched a bonehead, "No offence DK, but I highly doubt that there is anycreature you can call that'll help us against an army of skele-"  The word Daring wanted to say refused to leave her throat from the sight she was seeing.  

Up ahead, skeletons were being tossed through the air by something that was plowing towards them.  So many bones were going about that it made it difficult to tell what it was.  She felt the tremors in the ground from this thing as it was approaching.  Her ears perked as it bellowed and hopped back when this bulky creature entered the circle.  It slowed down next to DK for him to jump on its gray skinned back.  From the hooved feet that it scrapped in the dirt and large sharp horn that it had at the end of it's snout, it became obvious to Daring that the creature DK was calling for, was a rhinoceros.

Diddy quickly climbed on top of DK's back and Dixie hopped on Daring's.  With a loud snort, the rhinoceros plowed through the hoard again with Daring flying overhead.  It was like watching a plow brushing the fallen snow away, though the sound of cracking bones instead of crunching snow was a little off putting.  The boneheads tried to stop the quadruped tank, but its thick skin just brushed off any scratches or bites they tried inflicting upon it.

Daring shook her head in disbelief, "To think we were in a bind a moment ago.  I should really consider on learning some calls of my own if something like that ever happens again."

The rhino blew out of the horde and kept going into the jungle that started to look livelier the further they went.  "AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!" All three of the kongs cried out at their freedom from the hoard.

With this victory, they had all of the fangs needed to enter that underground temple.  An anticipating thrill filled the mare's spirit with a sense of giddiness one could gain from waiting for a holiday to arrive or knowing a secret that others don't.  "With all of the fangs in our possession, we have nothing to worry about K. Rool or Ahuizotl getting an advantage over us.  We hold all the keys, there's nothing they can take from us now."
> Seething Swashbucklers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the double doors to the tavern swung open, a gold coated pegasus traversed inside.  There were many creatures about the place; from flying griffons to robust minotaurs.  They paid no mind to the pony, but the one that did was the large looking donkey that stood behind the main counter.  "Daring Do!" The jack said with the sound of delight in his heavy accent, "It's been far tae long syne A'v last seen ye."

"Hey Tapper, how's it been." she replied sounding half interested as she made it over to a seat.

Tapper was an old friend of Daring's uncle.  She's known him since she was a filly and has always been a helpful source to get advice from.  He was covered in light brown fur, indicating that he was getting to that age of retirement, but his stubborn attitude refused the idea of it.  Tapper's face always appeared to be a stern and unfriendly looking one, but he was one of the sweetest guys around; almost as much as his sweet tooth.  If there was one thing that he absolutely loves, it would be candy and he often had quite a bit of it stashed away whenever he got a craving.  But as for now, he was more concerned of Daring's tone, "Sounds like the last excavation didnae gae very well."

"Ahuizotl got involved and I got into a bind where I had to destroy the Power Stone before he could use it."  The mare sat at the counter stool with a heavy sigh, "All of that effort and I end up with nothing."

"For one that makes quick decisions, ye certainly live up tae yer career bi dwellin on the past."

"I mean, I thought I saw the last of him when he pulled the wrong lever; but he just came back minutes with renewed ambitions."

"Aye, a wild haggis can be juist as connivin. Let yer guard doun for a moment an they run away wi yer best hat," Tapper rubbed his bald head.  "But tak a lesson from the McMules on hou they caucht one; Know yer enemy.  Once ye know whit they can do, then ye can outsmart thaim before they can outsmart you."

"And how did they manage to catch that varmint?"

"Used a box, a rotten apple, and a empty paper towel roll."

The mare looked skeptic on the idea, "Really?  That's just a bunch of garbage."

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

Daring rubbed her temple, "I just need to get my mind off it and get something to lighten my spirits.  Something........ something chocolate."

The bar keeper pondered for a moment, "....hold on."

As he left, Daring folded her forelegs and laid her head with a sigh.  She tried to get a moment of peace, but the approaching sound of footsteps and floor scratching only informed her that she wasn't going to receive any.  "I have some info that you may find of interest."  She rolled her head to the side and saw a friendly face that she didn't want to see.

Standing there in his patched vest and his ears pointed high, was a short gainsboro-furred diamond dog that goes by the name, Hound.  He was a shady fella that tended to get his nose into places where it shouldn't belong for profitable gains.  Word on the street, back alley deals; he had intel on almost everything that's happening.  He was well spoken by diamond dog standards, but his bark is worse than his bite as he tries to avoid conflict; which is why he's grateful towards Daring Do.  Ever since she saved him from a hegemonic technomagician for having knowledge about a millennium door, he's been seeing her as a partner and often leads her with information on lost artifacts of sorts in hopes of getting a little profit from her achievement.

Daring returned back to her resting position, "I'm not in the mood for any of your gossip, Hound."

"Just hear me out," he said as he hopped onto the stool next to her, "There's an artifact to the far east that many have sought to find.  They call it the Dewprism."  Hound leans in with a sly grin, "Does that sound interesting?"

She didn't reply or showed any sign of interest.

"I'm not hearing a 'no', so I'll continue.  Well, the client said that it cou-"

Daring shot her head up, "Wait wait wait.  Client?"  The pony shook her head at the canine, "I don't work with clients."

"But the threads of fate are calling," he pleaded, "She's even willing to pay a large amount of money for it."

"So was Duke Mercator, before he back-stabbed me and got a head start for The Treasure of King Nole."

"That was just one time!"

"Then what do you call the time that magical old bird tricked me into reviving a bloodsucker?  Not only that, she didn't even have a dime to her name!"

"Okay, untrustworthy clients.  But I have a good feeling about this one.  She's brash, a little snotty, but that's a princess for you.  She reminds me of that other trustworthy princess that wanted you to get that sword."

"You mean Lumina, The Sword of Luminescence?  Yeah, she was pretty trusting.  Too bad she forgot to tell me that the sword had a WIZARD OF DARKNESS sealed in it!"

Daring glared at him, "I don't work with clients, things always turn ugly when I do."  She huffed after making her statement final, "Besides, I hate being used."

"Alright, fine.  She won't like hearing this," grumbled the dog before he spoke under his breath, "Maybe getting her some pumpkin pie would soften the news?"

"So, are we done here?" asked the pony as she slouched back on the counter.

Hound stayed quiet for a few moments before he snapped his digits, "Well there was something that I heard that you might like to know.  Have you heard of a place called, 'Melee Island'?"

Daring waffled the name, but she couldn't paint a picture of it.

"Wouldn't blame you if you haven't.  It's an island discovered in the south-east about two months ago.  The place is quite tropical, from what I've heard, so it's become quite a popular place for harvesting; stuff like fruits, minerals, those kinds of things.  Many of the spoils they gather arrive in town once about every other day; both the substantial kind and the enlightening kind."

"Enlightening how?"

"Enlightening by culture.  The harvesters have been talking about a civilization that once lived there.  Talking about structures and the possible treasures that they hold."

"Sounds like you've been listening to wood nymphs again." Daring huffed, "So what can you tell me about the culture?"

Hound turned his head with a sheepish expression, "Well, that's the thing.  No one has any information about this society.  No photographs of temples, no artifact pieces on hand; No matter how much I scour about, I just get word of mouth that there once was an intellectual population living on the island."

She peered over at him with a baffling look, "You're always good at digging up the dirt on rumors.  And the fact that you're telling me that you can't find anything out about them makes this 'invitation' very unwelcoming."

"But even so, an unexplored island with the rumor of a civilization that houses possible artifacts is sure to catch the eyes of a few treasure hunters."

"Which means that It would be like digging for gold, but with a more than likely chance that I'll be coming back with nothing if it really is just a rumor."  Daring pondered on the thought, "Yet Hound has a good point.  There'll be a couple of seekers heading towards the island, rumor or not.  And even though the info is pretty weak, all rumors have a grain of truth to them."  She ruffled her mane, "This is a real wild card that I've been dealt here."

"If you're interested," the diamond dog said, very persusivly, "The next cargo ship heading for the island will be leaving in about an hour.  If you go now, you might make it."

"............."  The pegasus jumped off the stool and bolted for the door.

"HEY, DARING!"

She turned around and began fumbling with something that was just tossed to her.  Daring firmly gripped it in her wing, before looking at the old donkey that passed it to her.

"It's the chocolate ye wantit."

The mare took another look at what she held.  It was a 'Butterhooves' candy bar, "Really?  But isn't this from your personal stash?"

"Don't act aw surprised.  You always got a bit o ma stash whan ye played one of yer uncle's pretend treasure hunts.  You may have grown, but you deserve somethin after the hassle you went through."

Daring couldn't hide her smile from the endearing gesture.  "Thanks Tapper," she replied before galloping out the door towards her next adventure; reinvigorated in the success of it.





*YAWN*

Daring Do expressed her heavy fatigue as she paced herself through the jungle.

The sun was rising as her and the other kongs were returning back to the hangout after that night in the Earth Temple.  Dixie was asleep on the pony's back, as well as Diddy was on DK's, leaving the mare and gorilla to carry them.

DK got off of the rhinoceros hours ago, thanking for the trouble it got them out of and letting the bulky mammal return back to its own resting place.  "I'm still amazed that he's able to call wild animals for help by just simply clapping." Daring enthralled the technique before looking down at her hooves.  Her eyes trailed up to the tattered vest she wore, ripped apart from the skeletons last night.  "It's manageable, but I should consider getting a new one after this adventure is over with."  Which wouldn't be very long from now.

With the help the kongs have given her, Daring now carries the four necessary keys needed to open the door in the underground temple.  Many questions skimmed the tip of her mind on what this artifact she was after could be; but as long as she has the four keys in the backpack strapped around her, she'll eventually find the answer soon enough. 

They eventually made it back to the banana hoard cave.

DK gently laid Diddy down against a tree, taking caution of not waking him and proceeded to do the same with Dixie.  With the group safely back, the gorilla made his way inside the cavern; leaving a drowsy mare with two sleeping primates.

Daring gave a stretch before laying against a tree trunk.  She tipped her helmet over her eyes, allowing the sun to warm her up without the light to irritate her nap.  The pony took a deep inhale before slowly letting it out and began to nod asleep.

"OOOOOOOHHHH!!!!!!!"

Until DK's cry echoed out of the cavern and caused all three of them to jerk up at the yell.

The monkey, chimp, and mare share a look among each other before joining the gorilla in the cave.  They screeched to a halt to see an empty cavern, absent of the towering pile of bananas, and the frantic gorilla that once had them.  DK was looking everywhere for them; around stalagmites, between crevices, under rocks both boulder and pebble sized.  Yet his search only left him hanging his head down low.

"I guess having all of you helping last night, with no one guarding the hoard, was a bad idea."

DK shook his fist in the air and marched out the cavern with the other two kongs imitating his action.

"Wait.  Wait."  The pegasus flew outside with them, "Don't tell me you guys are going to get them now."

Gritting his teeth, DK pounded his chest to display his resolve.

Daring lowered her head into a hoof, her mind was a bit foggy from the fatigue and she was starting to have some trouble thinking straight.  She wanted to get some sleep after last night's exhausting events, but if she was in his tie with the keys at stake, she would do the same thing.  Even after all the help they've been for her, denying them would haunt her conscious from even getting any sleep.

"It's just a quick search for some bananas, not a dungeon.  We'll get this done in about an hour."  Daring nodded, "Alright, let's get your bananas back.  So do you know how you're going to go about it?"

The gorilla raised a finger like he was about to say something, but quickly lowered it as he looked up at his forehead; completely lost in thought.

"Why don't you let me lead the way this time."  Offered the mare.  "The amount of bananas he had would've been difficult to carry all at once.  They would've needed some help from another creature or use something like a barrel to carry all of them."  She peered at the jungle surroundings, "Even with the help, there would've been a path treaded upon by multiple steps. So...."

Daring's eyes scanned the conditions of the flora about them.  Many looked like healthy plants and stout bushes; but some looked trampled on and even had branches broken off them.  Those damaged parts of the jungle were going in a row, forming a sloppy path left by the thieves of the bananas.

"Alright," the pony said with the tap of her hat, "Follow me." 





The four traversed through the jungle, weaving and swerving around leaves and branches before they began to hear the sound of water coming in and out from up ahead.  A breeze hit them with a scent of salt in it and the dense forest began to thin out to reveal a small town.  With the sea in front of them, the boats docked ahead, and a tavern to their right; they arrived at the port Daring started at when she first arrived on the island.

The kongs were ready to move forward, but...

"Whoa, hold on." Daring halted the three of them and pushed them behind the tavern.

The back wall of the tavern bland with a locked door leading inside.  There was trash off to the side of the door; garbage inside trash cans, a yellow broom with a broken handle resting in a wooden barrel, and a crate of some empty glass jars waiting to be recycled.

"Let me get a higher view of the area before we go charging in."  Daring insisted.

The gorilla stuck his chin out with a huff.

"For all we know, we might be galloping right into a trap.  It'll only take a minute."

He gave a low grunt before he gave a nod.

With that, Daring flapped her wings up to the roof of the tavern.  The sun was peeking behind her as she looked over the side to the port below her.  It may have been a few days, but something about the place felt different to her somehow.  The inn still had the simple deals, she could hear the same music being played from the tavern; but the empty lot within the many warehouses seemed off.

Daring waffled over the thought, "....wait!  That's the same area where the fire was."  She was surprised at how fast it took them to clean the place up.  There was also a lot of building material near the lot.  "I think that tavern owner told me that there was something that's going to be built there."  Daring wondered.

"They're trying to salvage what they can from the wreckage, folks also say that there's going to be a factory built over it as well."

She shook her head, "I'm getting off track."

Daring refocused on the many ships docked at port.  Majority of them were armed cargo ships, some were basic crafts that could hold a small of twenty sailors.  She couldn't see any bananas in the open on either ship, but her eyes eventually caught onto the giant pile of yellow fruits that was undeniably what she was looking for;  On the colossal galleon ship.

"There they are,"  As she analyzed the ship, she saw five scrawny looking kremlings guarding the gangway from the port,  "Kremlings, huh?  Judging by that and the king sized ship, that's probably K. Rool's.  Hmm... I have no problem believing DK taking care of one or two of them, but I don't think the rest of us are up to the task of wrestling a gator before they start calling for backup.  Hmm...."

Daring flew back down to the trio of kongs, "Okay, they're on the galleon, but a group of Kremlings are guarding the gangway on dock four and who knows how many will be coming if they call for help.  So here's what I suggest, you guys go to dock five and I'll grab a rope from the galleon, tie it to the ship, toss the other end to you guys, you tie it to a post, you climb across, net the fruit, and make out like bandits."

There were no objections.  Daring peeked around the corner to make certain the coast was clear, "On my mark.......... now!"

The kongs ran towards their destination and Daring was about to join them, but the sight of a familiar face suddenly caught her in her tracks.  Plastered on the side of the building, was a wanted poster with her face on it.

"I guess that round leather bag of a king wasn't lying about placing flyers of me throughout the port," huffed the mare; though she felt uneased by the things she noticed about it.

For starters, where did they get that picture from?  The photo of her looked like she was attacking the camera; which didn't tell much, but the location of what looked like snowy rocks in the background seemed familiar.  The only time she was in an environment like that was when she was climbing a snowy mountain in search of 'The Lost Crown of Genghis Dullahan'.  And so was Caballeron at the time.

The second thing she noticed was that it didn't have a reward of any kind for her capture.  "Wanted.  Daring Do.  Requesting assistance for the famous archaeological adventuring pegasus.  Beseeching a request for an artifact found within the vicinity of the isla-....... hey wait a minute.... this isn't a wanted poster.  It's a request flyer that's asking for my help in a job."

Daring scuffed at the parchment, "This seems like a pathetic trick by K. Rool."  She ignores the trap and flies around the ship, avoiding the gaze of the kremlings.  She proceeds with the plan and finds a rope on board long enough to tie it up on the railing of the ship and tosses the other end from the trio of kongs.

As they tied up and made their way across the rope, Daring took a moment to examine the ship.  It was layered with four decks, each wide and large enough for a decent sized group to have plenty of elbow room.  The floor had dents and scratches on it, as well as some hatches that were most likely used to lower cargo inside the vessel.  There were the bananas of course, stacked in a pile on the main deck.  There were huge cannons on each side with openings of almost three hooves in diameter, they were designed to fire when a rope is pulled.  A hatch door with steps leading deeper into the ship was opened, the entrance appeared voided of anycreature inside.  The two door flaps had hooks that appeared to be designed to barred the door from the inside.

A thud suddenly brought her attention back to the kongs climbing on board.  Daring signaled them to quiet down as they made it over to the bananas.  "Alright, let's make this quick.  Daylight's coming and we gotta get home....... Clementia help me if there's a tarantula."

A sudden sound of a loud creak was heard below them and the team of four suddenly fell through an open cargo hatch.

They plummet through two more hatches before the four of them hit a wooden floor with their bellies.  Before any of them could get up, Daring heard DK grunting and turned to see him struggling with something.  Two blue hands gripped the ape's wrists and held them together behind his back; powerful arms belonging to a familiar Aztec creature she met yesterday.

"Ahuizotl!" blurted the mare.  Diddy and Dixie were suddenly pounced on by two of his feline followers, "But I thought-" Daring was suddenly pressed down on the floor by a heavy weight on her back.

"That this was my ship?"

She winched up and saw the large gut of the Kremling she was anticipating.  He had her pinned under his foot, placing pressure on the leg that he leaned on.  His red cape was draped over his shoulder as he smirked down at her with his sharp pointed teeth.  Daring tried to slide loose, but King K. Rool wasn't giving her any sort of freedom.  "You two are working together?!"

"Indeed we are," the kremling king stated, "After seeing the flyers about you, he came barging at me with a demand of your whereabouts.  We started conversing and I learned all about your history with him and the problems you have caused."  The gator waved a talen in a disciplining manner at the pony, "That was very unsporting of you for wishing that stone away.  And speaking of stones..." he extended his arm out to the side, flexing his claw for one of his cohorts to place a dagger in his grip.  Rool used the knife to slit the left strap of Daring's backpack and lifted his foot to slide the bag off her.

Daring gritted her teeth at the king, planning to kick the bag out of his hands and back into her possession; but before she could even begin to stand up, a burly gray muscled kremling gripped her vest and hurled the mare across the room.  She bounced on the wooden floor before sliding inside a prison cell, barred by steel poles.  Daring whipped her head back to witness Diddy and Dixie thrown inside with her.  She flew towards the door and was stopped by DK blocking her as Ahuizotl shoved him in.

The gorilla was struggling to free his wrists from the tyrant, but was ultimately pushed inside as a foot shoved against his back.

With a loud clanging sound of metal, the four of them were sealed inside the brig.

K. Rool unstrapped the flap to her backpack and looked inside, "One, two, three, and four.  That's all the keys."

Daring rung her hooves around the bars; staring daggers at the reptilian monarch, "Give those back!"

"Give them back?" he said as his bloodshot eye widened at her, "And after all that effort to deliver them to me?  Why I couldn't."

She knew that he wouldn't, that line never worked, but being trapped behind bars meant she could only resort to using words to reclaim the situation back into her favor.  Daring ground her teeth to think of something to say; anything that could help her somehow.  "What are you after, Rool?  What do those keys unlock?"

The kremling looked at Ahuizotl, "I'll be disembarking shortly."

"DON'T YOU IGNORE ME!"

"I'll leave the rest to you." he said to which the Aztec nodded.

With the flip of his cape, the king of the kremlings marched towards a set of stairs leading above deck.  "You better watch your back, Rool!" Daring threatened,  "Cause when I get out of here, I'm coming for you!"

He took a momentary pause on the steps to look back at the imprisoned pegasus and the kongs that reside in his brig.  He had a smug grin that bared his chompers, "Duly noted."

The gator continued his assent, leaving Daring to grumble.  "I'm going to make a necklace out of those teeth."

"You should be more concerned about yourself."

She turned her sights towards Ahuizotl and his statement.

"I can't say what'll happen to your friends," he peered over to the kongs that were returning his dirty look, "but me and Rool settled on an agreement; he gets the keys to the temple, and I get you," he clenched his palm over the sight of her.  "Soon, you'll receive a watery grave given by yours truly."

"So this is what it was." the mare replied.  "Your plan of ridding me once and for all was by teaming up with K. Rool."

"He's a crafty crocodile, that one.  It was his idea to keep our alliance a secret from you in hopes that it would spur you further at gathering all of those fangs.  And judging by the rings under your eyes along with the fact that you fell so easily into our trap by your fatigued mind," Ahuizotl smirked at her state, "shows just how effective his deceptive planning can be." 

Daring tightened her grip on the bars as the Aztec beast headed up the stairs, knowing it'll only be a matter of time before she'll walk the plank.





Nearly twenty minutes past as the four of them were coping with the reality of the situation in their own way.  Dixie was climbing, shaking, and squeezing through the bars to get free, but she was just barely big enough to get caught between them.  DK was whining and stretching his arm through the bars at one of the bananas of the pile brought down by the crew just to mock them for their imprisonment, making sure the yellow fruit was just out of reach of him.  Daring was laying against the back wall with Diddy, too dismayed and lost in thought to question where the monkey got the harmonica that he was playing.

The cell didn't have much to offer in terms of what they could see.  The Brig was in the Cargo Hold, the lowest part of the ship that acted like a cooler for the supplies the crew had; food and drinks in barrels, extra sails and ropes folded inside crates, and a few hanging lanterns dangling from the ceiling.  There were a few more containers like brown sacks that were double knotted and black iron pots sealed with latches scattered about; but they did little help as they were far out of reach as well.

With nothing helpful to snag and the occasional muffled yelling they heard above them...

"YOU!  THAT MAST IS NOT A SCRATCHING POST!"

...it all seemed hopeless on escaping their sentenced fate.

Dixie hopped down and bounce up to the dazed pony, "EH HEE HE EEEHEEHH!"

"I know.  I know."  Daring told the agitated chimp, "But I have no idea on how to get out of here."  She groaned as she glazed her eyes beyond the banana pile at the keys to the cell hanging on a hook, "The keys are too far for us to reach and the lock is too narrow for my feathers to pick open.  I wouldn't suggest breaking the wood of the boat since this is the lowest part of the ship; water would be rushing in if we did.  The bars are keeping a gorilla away from his bananas, so that means these bars are strong and they won't bend easily."  

Daring laid her head back, "No matter how I look at it, we're trapped in here."

The chimpanzee joined her disheartened friends from the truth they faced.

Daring shut her eyes as her mind wandered, letting the gentle rocking of the ship give her some tranquility.

"Ooooooh"

She peered over at the gorilla.  He was still whining as he kept trying to get one of the bananas.  "Oh for the love of Qualopec, just use your tie, DK!"

The ape looked at her in a blank stare, uncertain as to what she was getting on about.

As she huffed, Daring walked over to him and scooped the ring of the tie over his head.  "Look."  She swung it around like a lasso with her wing, "Try to wrap it around a banana and pull it."

He was returned the tie and did what he was told.  The first attempt missed, the second was completely off; but after a few more tries, he caught one of the bananas from the pile.  "Oh ho ho!" DK cheered at finally nabbing one.

It didn't feel like much of a victory to Daring.  She looked over to the keys on the hook, "Even with the little extra reach, we wouldn't come close to reaching those keys."

In his grip, DK squeezed the fruit and the banana shoots out of the peel for the ape to catch it in his mouth.

".....................Say," Daring began to wonder, "Give me a couple more of those."

The gorilla obliged and fished a few more for her.  She peeled one open and looked over at the other female of the group.  "Hey Dixie," Daring said with a clever look, "Why don't we give you a makeover."

"EH?!"





"CLOSE THE SAILS!  DROP THE ANCHOR!"  Yelled the fiendish, Ahuizotl.  A small crew of kremlings left behind obliged his order.  The Aztec focused on one of them, "YOU!  Go get the mare, and feel free to use any method on her friends to make it so."

"AYE."  Said a peglegged pirate.  He smacked a cat-o-nine whip in his clutches before heading below deck with a grin.

Ahuizotl snorts, "This salty air is simply irritating to the nose."  He glared at the Jolly Roger flapping in the wind; noting the face of a kremling skeleton.  "That reptile....." muttered Ahuizotl with a sound of disgust in his voice.  A conversation he had with K Rool earlier kept nagging at him and he kept reflecting upon it over and over in his head.

"Be careful with her."

"You have nothing to fear.  This isn't the first ship I've managed to sail."

"I was talking about Daring Do."

"Bah, you think she poses a threat anymore?  There's nothing she can do now."

"And how many times have you said that before your plans were thwarted by her?"

".........."

"She'll escape, so I'd take the few moments you have to think on how to counter that before she makes her move."

The blue Aztec gave a huff, "He may have a generous hospitality, but he obviously takes me too lightly.  I'm going to chain her up, throw her into a chest, and push her overboard; it's foolproof.  .......where's that gator?"

Ahuizotl looked out at the decks, but he didn't see Daring or the gator.

".....no......SHE DIDN'T!"

He quickly made his way down to the brig; passing by crew members, leaping down the stairways, and arriving at a pitiful sight of a muffled gator tied up in an open cell.  Ahuizotl ran up and slammed his hands on the door frame, "Where is she?" he asked the tied up pirate.

Before the muffled kremling could even say anything, Ahuizotl suddenly felt a powerful push behind him and began to slide off balance on something slippery.  He toppled over the gator and went crashing to the ground; soon hearing the door to the jail cell closing on them.  Ahuizotl flipped himself around and saw on the other side of the bars three kongs and a cocky pegasus tossing a banana in her wing.

"YOU!!!" yelled the Aztec beast before launching himself at her; only to be stopped by the cage.  "HOW?!?!?!"

"You know, these bananas are starting to grow on me." Daring tossed the fruit she held over to her gorilla friend, "Not only are they delicious...."

DK displayed the truth by eating it.

".....but they're also great traps to give others the slip...."

Diddy kicked a banana peel over with all the other peels that surrounded the cage

".....and helpful enough to get you out of a tight situation."

Dixie shook off the mushed bananas that covered her.

Ahuizotl looked at the bars holding him and saw the mushed banana remains covering two of them.  The blue beast roared and tried to bend the cage open, but he couldn't do anything to the iron bars that imprisoned him.

"Now then," Daring ignored his tantrum to focus on the primates.  With the keys in her tattered vest, they had nothing to worry about.  But as for now... "How are we going to get back to land with all of these bananas?"

The four of them looked at each other, anticipating an answer from one in the group.

"A paddle boat won't be able to hold all of us along with the bananas, and I doubt any of you know how to operate a ship of this size.  Not to mention, relaying is heavily needed in order to sail a ship; and honestly, our communication isn't the best."

".....Ohho!"  DK spoke up, "Ho ohoh ho oh hooh oh oohho."

The other two kongs seemed to like the suggestion, but Daring was left out of the loop of what he said, "Do you have an idea?"

DK pointed to himself, then at Daring, and ended with him beating his chest.

The mare's thoughts were immediately reminded of the last time he did those gestures back at the wasp hive and started to piece together the message.  "...........you want me and you to be decoys!"

He grinned at her answer.

"Huh," Daring returned the smile, "I guess I'm starting to learn their language."





Up on deck, the mixed crew of kremlings and felines were preoccupying their time within their own species.  While the cats sunbathed, the gators were scrubbing the decks; singing a shanty as they did.

Expand his jaw and shove a stick in.
Guzzle down some ocean water.
When he begs we'll band his jaw trap.
So early in the morning.

The expressions on the cats' faces didn't look very pleased with their performance.

*Whoosh*

A sudden sound of a flap perked up a few of the felines.  It was sudden and brief, but enough to cause a couple of them to look at the open hatch door.  As the panther of them stalked over to check it out, a few others followed close behind.  The black cat peered into the dimly lit room below and immediately jumped back as a gorilla jumped out.

DK pounded his chest and acknowledged his freedom for the whole boat to hear, "AAAWOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!"

All decks reacted accordingly to the ape's chant.  Ahuizotl's cats on The Main Deck quickly surrounded the kong, a kremling on The Forecastle Deck jumped down to Main's, and three more kremlings on The Aftercastle Deck looked down at the fight.  "Look alive," said the orange kremling on the Aftercastle, "We have a jailbrea-." before he could even finish, an empty crate from the sky fell on top of him.  Knocked unconscious, he laid there under a pile of broken wood as the other gators looked up to see a pegasus flying overhead.

As she soared above the buoyant vessel, Daring peered down at the deck of the ship.  "While DK works on the Main Deck, I'll tackle the higher decks and work my way down towards him.  There's about a dozen scattered amongst them on board, so this will be a cakewalk.  But....... I'm not seeing K. Rool anywhere.  Which means he's probably on land; heading for the temple."

*BOOM*

The sound spooked the pony and the next thing she saw was a pile of bananas soaring towards the shore.  Daring looked at the Main Deck, seeing Diddy and Dixie heading below and coming above the decks with all the bananas they could carry before shoving them into a cannon pointing it at shore.

"Not my first option for transporting fruit, but whatever works for them I gu-AH!!"

Daring was startled by a silver scaled kremling bouncing up; nearly grabbing her.  He fell back down on deck and bounced off his peglegs again like a pogo stick.

"If you can't fly," spoke the pegasus as she easily dodged him with a loop, "Stay out of the sky!"  And rams the gator; sending him into the ocean.

She then landed along the railing, glaring at the kremling in the large trench coat at the stern.  The gator lifted a large hook he had for hands and gestured to her to come over.

Daring shook her head at him and gestured that he come to her.

He bowed at her request and swung his arm; letting the hook fly off.  Startled by the action, she was hit by the metal object and fell overboard as the hook boomeranged back to the kremling.  "Hook, line, and sinker." he chuckled as he walked over to the rails to see her paddling in the waters, but she wasn't there.

"You betcha!" the gator heard behind him.  He turned just in time to see a pegasus smashing a hoof into his face before falling over the rails and into the ocean.  "Did you already forget that I can fly?" she said, readjusting her jaw from the impact.

"Ha HA!!!" She quickly turned towards the sound of a showboating voice that came swinging from the sky.  A small yellow croc with a pirate hat came swinging on a rope and dropped onto the deck.  Holding two large swords that were obviously too big for him, Daring recalled that this was the same showboating kremling she faced in the mines.  "Ye may've gotten the drop on me last time, lass.  But this time, things shall be different."

Daring rolled her eyes from the pathetic display of bravado and saw the cannon next to her.  With a mighty strike of a buck, she broke the metal ring that held the support rope around the gun.

"Hardy har har.  We be at sea, ye won't be besting me with the same trick on the scaffold."

She ignored him and tossed the rope aside, then wrapped a wing around the firing string.  Daring leaned back with a bland look at the showboating kremling.  He shifted his gaze between her and the heavy artillery on wheels.  When he stopped his sight on Daring's bored expression, she pulled the string.

*BOOM*

The cannon launched backwards at him and the shrimp was shortly carried by it.  He was rammed at the railing and the wooden safety hazard snapped apart; sending him and the cannon into the ocean.  The little kremling splashed about to stay afloat with his swords in hand.

Daring looked over the railing at the croc and simply shook her head at the sight.





"RRRAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

Ahuizotl continued his struggle at breaking the bars, but his raging temper wasn't doing him any good.  He blew steam out of his nose, all he could do was watch the kongs run up the stairs with all the bananas they could carry before coming back down to gather more.

"mfff affmfbf ffee?"

The blue-furred Aztec panned his sight at the Kremling that was still tied up in the cell with him.  "I don't suppose you know how to get out of here."

"Ivvv bff." his cellmate's jaw was tied together, muffling his answer.

Ahuizotl sternly groaned at the reptile's attempt and he crouched down to untie his mouth.  "Repeat that again."

"I said, 'I do'.  I always keep a spare in my wooden leg."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER!!!" yelled the beast.

The Kremling was quickly untied and he pulled off his peg-leg.  He bopped the bottom a few times and a key fell out from opening on the top

Ahuizotl unlocked their cell and bolted out; passing by Dixie and pushing Diddy aside as he headed up the stairs.

"I'll teach yer for hog-tying me." The kremling spoke to the kongs as he snapped the rope that bound him.  He leapt at Diddy; the monkey jumped back.  The gator swung at the primate; Diddy leapt onto a support beam.  The reptile pounced at him; the kong bounced away and hung by his tail from some hanging ropes.  "QUIT DODGING, YOU TRAPEZE JUNGLE RAT!"

The Kremling whipped the rope at Diddy, but he drops down and the rope smacks a hanging lantern to the floor.

"You can't dodge forever!" 





Daring reached the main deck and joined DK in his fight against Ahuizotl's cats.  DK has been mostly tossing them overboard, but they're persistent on climbing back on deck.  "All right you spitwad hackers," Daring taunted the cats, "Which one of you wants to.. dish... it....... out.........."  She stared at one feline in particular that appeared familiar, a hairless house cat.  She was growling at the pony like it had a grudge against her, "M....Mitsy?" Daring asked.  The little white fuzzball that she left at the wind temple all stuck in bubblegum was baring her fangs with not a hair left of her coat on.  Daring was barely able to stifle a chuckle, "Like the new look."

Mitsy hissed at her with a cursing glare at it rushed forward.

Daring felt the thud DK made walking behind her and he bellowed a roar at the approaching cat.

Stopping on a dime, Mitsy looked up in terror of the giant gorilla that had the mare's back. ".........mew." she cried before running off the ship. 

"Would you look at that, she listened to you," the mare told the ape behind her.  "I always knew gorillas were good with cats."

"DARING DO!"

The pony and kong turned at the call of her name and saw that an enraged Ahuizotl yelled it.  He was fuming as he charged like a wild animal at the mare. 

Daring tightened her leg muscles, anticipating the fight she was about to find herself in.

Ahuizotl pulled his arm back with the intention to slam the mare to the floor.  He swung down at Daring and was caught by the hand of DK's.  The Aztec glared at the burly primate that was holding him back from the pony below them and threw a punch at the ape; only to be caught by the gorilla's other hand.  Ahuizotl focused on pushing DK aside, but the kong was giving him a run for his money as he was being pushed back as well.

"EH HEE EH EH!"

Daring was crouched down low as they were having their struggle match when she heard Dixie calling and flailing her arms for help.  "I'll see what it is," spoke the pony as she swerved around Ahuizotl and jumped over his tail that tried to grab her.

"Keep things clear topside, Dix." Daring asked as she passed the chimp.

Dixie agreed to the request and immediately regretted it when she turned to face Ahuizotl's horde of cats.   She was backing up as the felines were slowly stalking closer with hisses and growls.  Dixie jerked her head to each of them, panicking on what to do.

"Eeh....eeh......EH!"

Suddenly considering an idea, Dixie reached into her pink beret and pulled out their weapon of destruction, a stick of gum.  The cats froze as she chewed the gum; and when she popped a bubble, they jumped back in fear of ending up like Mitsy did.





Daring quickly descended the stairs to the lowest deck.

"AH HAA HA!"

She paused midway on the steps when she heard Diddy's cry.  Daring had her eyes on the kong, he was locked inside the brig again; shaking the bars to get free.  Diddy was agitated as his head was shifting between her and something else.

"He's locked inside?" Daring looked around and saw no other creature. "This is definitely a trap..... they're waiting for me to take the bait." 

Her eyes focused on Diddy's, hoping that a moment of staring at one another would share the thoughts of her mind.

The kong started to calm down at her gaze.

Daring pulled out the key and flew over to the cell's door in a calm manner.  Her ears were listening for any kind of sound that would trigger trouble for them, but she made it a priority that her actions didn't appear suspecting of a lurking threat.

She shoved the key in the slot and twis-

"AHH AAAHH!" Diddy screeched a familiar cry and Daring immediately bucked herself into the gut of the Kremling behind her.

The gator wobbled back, groaning from the wind that was knocked out of him and allowing plenty of time for Daring to free the captured monkey.  "You...little...urchins!" he coughed between words.

As Diddy hopped out to join the mare, the two of them started to hear a hissing sound.  They focused on the Kremling, who was also baffled on the sound.

"What in the seven seas is tha-*gasp*!" the reptile took a sharp inhale as it occurred to him at what the source could be.  He hurdled around some barrels and saw a black pot leaking steam from the lid that was locked in place.  The container was rattling from the heat of a fallen lantern resting next to it.  "NO!!!" yelled the Kremling, "NOT THE SUNDAY SPECIAL!!!!"

The kong and pony were stupefied as to why the pirate suddenly took a dive behind some containers.

*BOOM*

The two flinched as the ship rocked and the iron pot suddenly shot past them faster than the two of them could blink.  They turned and saw that it broke through the metal bars and was embedded  into the wooden wall.  While it was a startling sight for the three of them to see, the biggest sight was that it left a gigantic hole on the other side of the room; letting the water of the ocean to pour inside.

"This isn't good!" Daring gulped as the water already reached her torso.

"You bet your sea-legs it ain't!" agreed the Kremling, "No way we can fix a hole that size!  I'M JUMPING SHIP!!!" He yelled before running up the stairs.

Daring looked at Diddy, "Find some barrels and gather all the bananas that you can get in it.  WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!!"

As the monkey did what he was told, a concerning thought was clouding the mare's mind.

"I wonder how topside took that explosion?"





Locking their hands together to prevent the other from backing out, Ahuizotl and DK struggled for dominance.  Gritting their teeth, flexing their muscles; when one seemed like they would push the other off for control, the other finds the strength to push back.

"If you have any sense of critical thinking," the tyrant grunted, "then you should consider on backing down before you regret it.  I can be much more of a hassle than K. Rool could ever be for you."

DK tilted his head back and swung it back to headbutt Ahuizotl, only to fail as the Aztec beast used the third hand on his tail to catch the impact.  He chortled at the gorilla's failed attempt and pushed his head back.

*BOOM*

The ship tilted to the sudden explosion and rocked the two muscle weighted creatures off a steady balance.  Ahuizotl's third hand slid down the kongs face and began to cover his eyes.  DK was trying to shake him off his face and succeeded at letting it slide by him and allowing the ape to bite the Aztec's tail.

Ahuizotl lost his hold against the ape from the flinching pain and was suddenly lifted over the gorilla's head and tossed over the rails.

DK pounded his chest in victory as the Aztec splashed into the ocean.

The water slowed down Ahuizotl's momentum, yet it didn't cool his temper any.  He growled out bubbles and was about ready to swim right back up, but something caught his eye.  The giant hole that was pouring water into the ship began to make him grin with an idea in mind.

Up above, Daring and Diddy came running up the stairs, each carrying a barrel of bananas.  "Here," Daring requested DK to take the barrel on her back that she carefully held between her wings, "The ship is sinking, and these are all the ones we can get."

DK and Diddy shoved the bananas into the cannon and pulled the firing string.

*BOOM*

Shooting the bananas to the shore.

"Okay, we got the monkey, the ape......." Daring spun around and found the chimp, "Dix!  We're leaving!"

The mare broke Dixie's gaze on the main mast; the mast with all of Ahuizotl's cats are up on, fearing the bubblegum chewing kong.

Daring viewed the display of felines before turning to the kong behind her, "DK, would you do the honors?"

The muscular gorilla loosened up with a shake before he rammed his shoulder at the mast.  He did it again and a cracking sound of wood was heard.  With one more ram, the mast began falling overboard, carrying all the cats and splashing them into the ocean.

"Now how are we going to get back to shore?" Daring wondered before a blatant thought hit her. "Wait.  Let me guess..."

*BOOM*

"AAAAAAAAAAA!" Cried Diddy as he was shot out of the cannon towards shore.

"Yeah, that was it." The mare shook her head at their charming simplicity.

*BOOM*

"EEEEEEEEEEE!"  Yelled Dixie as she was launched through the air.

DK quickly followed by jumping in the large artillery, "Oh ooho!" The ape requested as he slapped the iron weapon.

"Alright, I'll pull the string," Answered Daring.  She plopped her pith helmet on him, "Not much of a proper helmet, but it'll do."

*BOOM*

"OOOOOOOOOOO!"

All the kongs were off the sinking ship, it was now time for her to fly.  Daring flapped her wings, and felt an abrupt pull on her tail.  She looked back; seeing that Ahuizotl was gripping her with his third hand.

Daring was suddenly whipped down below by the swing of his tail. She rolled across the floor and collided over a chest; a series of swords came sliding out from inside.  Daring pushed herself up and took a quick glance at the large confined space she found herself in; making sense of what just happened to her.

The first thing she noticed was the capstan, it still had some removable handles placed inside some of the slots.  Next were the three legged chairs that surrounded the short table; judging by the plates, bowls, pans, and eating utensils scattered and hanging about, that's where some of the sailors have their meals.  There were cannons stationed at all the gun ports, along with a hefty amount of cannonballs crates next to each of them.  The last thing she noted were the stairs that led to the lower level, revealing a flooded room that was nearly filled.

"Nocreature is going to protect you this time." spoke the Aztec beast behind her.

She peered over her shoulder and saw Ahuizotl placing a wooden plank on the bar lock that led to the top deck.  The lock looked like metal hooks nailed onto the door flaps.  He bashed the tip of the hooks; bending them into the wood and jamming the door shut.

His attention returned back to the mare and he began to stalk towards her with a vicious glare.  He stepped over the tipped chest, picking up two sharp curved Cutlasses in the grip of the hands on his arm and swiped a dagger with the one on his tail.

Daring rolled on her back and stumbled as she pushed herself away from the sight of malice the beast was implying to unleash upon her, "You're really serious about this."

"Like I said before, Miss Do." Spoke Ahuizotl as he raised a sharp blade...

"I.  WILL.  HAVE.  MY.  REVENGE!!!"

She back-rolled onto her hooves just as he slammed his blade on the wooden floor.  Her ripped vest flapped with her wings as she bounced backwards from a sweep of the other sword.  The mare hit her back on the capstan as she landed on her hind legs.  She dodged out another swing by quickly rolling along one of the capstan's handles and pulled it out as she did.

Daring gripped her wings and forelegs tightly around the wooden rod for protection.  She planted one end on the floor and used it as support to stand on her hind legs; evening her height with the pole she held.

"Pitiful." Ahuizotl heckled at her attempt of putting up a fight.  He swung at an angle and was deflected immediately by Daring.  She twirled the pole in her forelegs, spun it in her wings, and whirled it around her torso before cementing her stance.  The glare she gave him implied to back off, which only fueled his rage into relentlessly attacking her.

Steadily being pushed back, Daring had her hooves full from fighting off the three blades being swung by Ahuizotl.  Her ears twitched to the sound of splashing with each step they took.  Water was seeping in from below, it'll only be a matter of minutes before the entire floor would be undersea.

The tension was beginning to show on Daring's face from the trouble she found herself in.  "With the bar hooks jammed, how ca-!!!"  She couldn't even get a moment to think.  The moment her mind wandered, Ahuizotl dug a cutlass into the pole.  Her hooves were scraped across the floor as she struggled against the brutish power, using all her strength from allowing the blade to get any closer to her face.  The expression on the beast's face showed only one desiring to end the mare's days of interfering; he had no interest in his own survival from the sinking ship they stood in.

Daring gritted her teeth, planted a foreleg for extra support, and was starting to hear cracking sounds coming from the wooden pole.  Her eyes narrowed on Ahuizotl's glare before she shifted her site toward something behind him, a metal fork jabbed into a table. Daring winched as she felt the weight of the Aztec beast on her and she used that to her advantage.  She twisted her hold on the wooden handle and windmilled the pole as she moved to his side, disarming him of the sword that was embedded into the rod.  She quickly conked the pole at his head in hopes of getting a few extra seconds before tossing the handle aside and grabbing the fork.  

The pegasus soared towards the staircase with the hatched door that led topside and shoved as much of the fork under a hook.  She grunted as the mare began pressing the handle down, trying to pry the hook out of the wood; but tried as she might, the only thing she was bending was the fork.  "Come on, you just have to wo-IIIIRK!!!"  Daring shrilled when a knife thud into the wooden staircase.

She looked back, seeing that Ahuizotl threw the knife he held in his tail; he did not look pleased by the wallop she gave him.  He came charging, Daring tossed the bent tool aside and flew off, but was immediately yanked back by her clothes.  She glanced at her tattered vest, they were pinned under the knife.  Daring pulled, but she wasn't making any progress.  The villain growled as he aimed to thrust the cutlass at her neck.

Shrieking in terror, Daring hastefully slid out of her vest and down the stairs, dodging just barely before the sword stabbed the door.  Splashing from her hooves submerging into ankle-high water, she quickly turned to face him and made some distance.

Ahuizotl growled at the pony's persistence.  As he pulled the sword, he discovered that it's lodged and couldn't be removed.  Ahuizotl grunted and bellowed as he struggled to remove the blade out of the door.  He jerked and bashed at the wood with brute force; it was opening slightly with each strike he made at it.

"He's unintentionally loosening the nails of the hooks." Daring noted before the villain freed the blade and looked over to her.

Daring scanned the flooding room for something to defend with; pacing back as he sloshed his way through the water at her.  She looked left.  She looked right.  And she grabbed the only thing that seemed durable with her left wing and forehoof; a three-legged stool.

The Aztec creature pulled back the sword he had in his right hand and held out his palm with the left.  The posture came across to Daring that he was planning to pull her only protection away before striking her down; it would be foolish to get too close.

Walking in circles, the two were anticipating a move from the other.  With each passing second, the water level was only getting higher.  The room was flooded up to Daring's knees now, her movement was starting to become impaired from the density of the water.  Dodging would prove to be difficult for the mare, and the thought of it being the same for Ahuizotl, sparked an idea for her.

Daring slowly lowered her free wing into the water, making sure that it was out of her opponent's sight.  She let the liquid soak into her fur and feathers for her plan she had in mind.  With her wing good and wet, she swung at the villain to launch some water at him and charged quickly after.

Ahuizotl instinctively recoiled his arm to block the harmless droplets, dropping his guard to snatch the stool.  The mare rammed the furniture like a shield, bashing him off balance.  He staggered backwards and Daring swung the seat at his side to send him stumbling into the pile of cannonballs.
 
With her goal at giving him 'two for flinching' completed, Daring quickly flew back to the door with the furniture in hoof.  She rammed the stool at it, she pushed herself against it, and she swung the seat at the hooks; finally breaking it's hold on the door.

Ahuizotl pulled himself together when the room got brighter from the sunlight Daring let in.  She tossed the stool aside and gave him a 'better luck next time' salute and galloped upstairs.  The tyrant growled with utter rage at seeing her making another escape.  His eyes glanced at the cannonball pile next to him and gripped one of the iron spheres.





Above, Daring galloped across the deck towards the railing that had the view of the island.

*CRACK*

The mare screeched to a halt at the sight of a cannonball shooting through the wooden floor mere inches in front of her.

*CRACKCRACK*

Two more suddenly appeared behind her.

*CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK*

They were appearing everywhere around her.  She refused to stay on this ship any longer and jumped on the rails.

*CRACK*

A louder sound snapped Daring's attention behind herself.  In a horrendous display, Ahuizotl erupted through the wooden floor with his arm stretched out towards the mare and tightly grips his hand around Daring's torso.  The Aztec beast loomed over her as the two of them fell overboard and into the water together.

The two of them were sinking into the cold abyss of the ocean as this fight suddenly became severely one-sided.  Air was leaking out of Daring's nose as she pounded, pushed, pulled, and kicked her legs at Ahuizotl's powerful arm, but it did little to hurt him with the water slowing down her strikes.  She was quickly becoming desperate for oxygen, yet the Aztec beast that held her down showed no desire at allowing either of them any air.  Looking at his remorseless eyes, it was obvious to the mare that her doom seemed imminent.  Ahuizotl had a vile glare on him, but he was keeping his movement to a minimum to save his oxygen; prolong her torture.  Thirty minutes?  Forty minutes?  It looked like he could stay down there for as long as it took until the pony succumbed to drowning; there was no way Daring had any chance at holding her breath for that long.  He gripped tighter, forcing some air out of her and intensifying her panic state; staying calm proved to be unfeasible as she struggled for a way out of this.  But with each passing second, it became harder and harder to concentrate as her lungs were crying for a breath of fresh air.

Her eyes suddenly flared from a thought that might turn the tides.

It has to work, it was her best bet at surviving.  Daring pulled back her forelegs and swung them back to make a muffled clap of the water.  She pulled back and repeated the motion again and again, putting everything she had on continuing this effort.

The furrowed eyebrows of Ahuizotl started to become unleveled from her questionable tactic, but it didn't matter to him if she was clapping, pleading, or even praying; victory was assured for him.  He indulged in the satisfying knowledge that this thwart would soon succumb to her fate.  For years, she's been nothing but a pain in the rear for him; it was such a problem, that he could practically feel the inflicting turmoil it caused.

In fact, it felt a bit too surreal for him.

A sharp pain coursed through Ahuizotl's body as he tried to fight the urge, but he couldn't help but to yell at the discomforting sting he felt.  He loosened his grip on Daring and held his rear-end to comfort the aching soreness he felt from a sharp poke.

Ahuizotl saw a quick flash of something swimming from behind him and up to Daring.  It took mere seconds to understand what just happened, he scowled at the sharp nose creature that pierced him with such pain and the pony that grabbed onto the dark ocean blue fin of the swordfish that came to save her.  

As the fish carried the pony with speeds that Ahuizotl had no hope of catching; the tyrant savagely roared in the muffling water.




 
At shore, a few dozen or so bananas were floating in the ocean and were slowly being beached by the waves.  DK was collecting the one still in the water, tossing them onto a giant leaf on shore where Diddy and Dixie were collecting the beached bananas.

The gorilla tossed another banana and was soon greeted by Daring riding the swordfish that rescued her.  She was still wheezing for air, but she managed to say,  "How's.... *gasp* ...everything?" 

DK grinned with a thumb up.

"Good." She pants a few more times before she calmed down, "Now that you're settled, I gotta go wrestle a gator."  Flapping her wings, she flew as fast as she could past all of them while they waved at her.

Daring soared through the dense jungle with precision, spiraled into a dive as she dove into the lagoon, skimmed along the crevices of the rock formations, rocketed to the surface of the hidden cavern, flew into the shrine that houses the artifact that everycreature wanted, and flung water droplets from her flared wings as she stood in the temple.

Panting from exhaustion, Daring paused for a moment to catch her breath and to analyze the entrance chamber.  It was just as she left it back those many days ago; the walls with murals on them, the pool with the illuminating rocks that lit the place up, the statues of the Kremlings who posed in a dignified manner, and the stone head of a kremling that loomed over a now opened passage.  She paced herself in the pool, seeing the idol that bares its fangs now complete with a full row of teeth.  The four keys that she gathered were embedded in the empty slots.  They now appear dull and lacked the glowing shine it once had.

Daring stood at the open door, her eyes catching the torn backpack that was once hers lying on the stone surface of the floor.  "He's been here." Daring figured, "I just hope that he hasn't left yet."

Taking a deep breath, the mare galloped down the hall, but after ten seconds, she arrived at a small room that was barren of anything other than a purple crystal glowing on the ceiling.  The walls around her showed no passages to travel down, making this room nothing more than a dead end.

"No." Daring said dumbfounded, "After all that hard effort, after all of those temples that had a theme to them, I arrive to a small cubical?"  The pony hung her head as she pondered, "There must be something more to this."

With her eyes stared at the floor, she noted that there was one more feature to the room to make it look decorative; it was stone tiled in a three by three pattern.  Other than the lighting making the center square brighter and the others dimmer, there was nothing special or unique about them.

Daring took another look at the room; gaining a hint of déjà vu about it.  "A dark squared room with a single spotlight coming from above in the center.  ..................it's...........it's a lot like............THE EARTH TEMPLE!!!!!"  She slapped a hoof to her head, "There's no way I'd ever forget that risky test with the quicksand."  She took another look at the tiles and focused her sight on the center one "Perhaps...."

The mare psyched up for whatever might happen and leaped to the center floor tile.  

And a bright purple flash suddenly blinds her.





The unsuspecting shine died down and left the pony with a blurry vision.  She kept seeing purple orbs lighting up and fleeting away in the dim lit area.  As her sight cleared up, Daring began to notice that she wasn't in the same room she was in a second ago.  Her surroundings appeared to be a secluded grove, center between two tree trunks on her sides and protected by the pine thistles branches that curved a dome at where she stood.  It would make for a decent base or den for practically any creature to take shelter in, but there were dozens of purple orbs gently floating about that had already taken vacancy.  Daring lifted a leg as one of them approached, landing lightly and started to die down on the rim of her hoof.  She was transfixed as it dimmed to show a firefly resting for a few seconds before it's lower thorax glowed the purple light and flew off again.  Her eyes caught a brighter light source up ahead and she galloped forward; finding a sight that left her more confused on her current location.

She was in a gigantic underground cave that was as bright as day, brimming with illuminating colors brightly glowing from practically everything that resided in it.  The citrine colored grass sparkled the dew drops on them, the flowers danced their colorful ruby petals for the world to envy, the trees stretched to the ceiling for the shamrock mist that glinted above; all surrounding a zircon shining lake that formed the central point of this area.  There was oddly a staircase that led to nowhere near the pond's edge.  It had a black smooth surface like basalt with all fifty-six steps being colored gray like a path to follow.  It was unique, but what really got her attention was that at the center of the lake, hovering meters above the surface, was a giant octahedron.  Gently rotating as it did, it gave a light brilliant raspberry glow that made anycreature mesmerized on it.

"That floor panel I stepped on," Daring considered, "It must've been a teleporter."  She kept staring at the object, utterly stumped at what it could be.  "It doesn't look like a jewel, it kinda looks like it could be....." the mare rubbed her eyes, making certain that they've fully recovered from the flash of the teleport pad, but she could see something.  Inside of the three dimensional shape, was a stone structure floating inside.  "A barrier?"  The contents were fascinating, but the staircase was puzzling.  Daring switched her sight between the two, wobbling her jaw on a thought; and considered, 'why not'.

The mare went up to the stairway and gently placed a hoof on the first step.  She suddenly leaned back at the startling glow beneath her leg as the step lit up.  Surprising, yes, but what was really surprising to her was that's all it did.  Taking another step brought the same result as the one prior, leaving Daring to wonder about the reason for this prestidigitation.

She proceeded up the staircase, up towards the very top where she planted her hoof and a narrow wave of light shot towards the floating structure in shimmering fashion.  The octahedron shattered and the contents inside was freed for her to get a better look at.  It was a shrine made of erbium that shimmered a pink radiance from all the lights that bounced off it.  It began to fall; waves formed, flowers shook and even Daring's mane was ruffled by the strong gust of wind it gave from the plummet.  The shrine slowed down just before hitting the water and it started to levitate back up; positioning itself back into place from where it was originally held.

Daring was completely lost of any thought from the sight she was witnessing.  She trailed her eyes down the beam of light formed by the stairs; it started to look as if it could be a bridge leading towards the shrine.  Gently placing a hoof on the near-transparent path, she felt the firm surface underneath her.  Proceeding with the rest of her body, Daring was soon walking on the trail of light leading towards the floating temple.  The scenery was majestic; but the things that were happening were utterly extramundane.  "Is this even an ancient structure?  Teleporting pads, levitating structures, and now rays of light that can be walked on.  I've only been here for five minutes and this place has proven to be the most advanced location I've ever been to, even to modern day standards."

When she stepped up to the entrance of the erbium temple, Daring could hear her hoofsteps echoing down a hall.  A gentle breeze flowed out at her from inside, beckoning her to proceed.  She proceeded and a series of lanterns lit up along the reflective checkered floor of black and gray tiles.  This all seemed new to her, so fresh, as if it was a corridor that time failed to touch.

Arriving at a humongous dome, a giant statue of a kremling was resting at the other end.  It was from its head down to its torso, but it was almost as big as the dome itself.  Daring got closer and made out that the statue looked a lot like the kremling she saw on the mural in the Earth Temple, Mulungu.  He had his arms out in front of him as if he was controlling the floating object between his claws;  A golden scepter with a purple amethyst orb for the head.

"What's that?" Daring galloped towards it.

"STAY!"

The mare froze at the center of the dome after hearing a husky and menacing voice.

"Well done, Daring Do.  Your reputability is truly something else."

She spun herself around and saw a green light beaming at her from the hallway she came out of.  Daring covered the trail of green light from her eyes and saw the Kremling king standing next to the beam, applauding her accomplishment.

"K. ROOL!"  Daring yelled and firmed her stance.  She suddenly flinched to a loud banging sound by which she has never heard before.  The sound of pebbles bouncing quickly followed beneath her.  She glanced at the floor and saw that a small section of it was chipped off mere inches from where she stood.

"LAST WARNING!" The menacing voice spoke.

K. Rool waved his hand back, "Easy, Kroc.  She can do little to retaliate now."  He winced past her, "So is that..... Sweet Davy Krockett,  The genuine artificial, Mulungu's Scepter!"  Rool bellowed in laughter as he ran around the mare and cautiously clutched the relic in his claws.  "Oh," He cooed as rubbed his cheek on it, "The years I've spent looking for you."

Something about the statement struck Daring as being off, "Years?  But this island was founded months ago."

The gator chuckled, "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."

"What are you talking about?" Daring said in a challenging tone.

"Tell me Daring, why was it that I appeared behind you when it was obvious that I got a head start?"

The thought didn't cross her exhausted mind.

"It's because I anticipated that you would escape from Ahuizotl's clutches.  Honestly, if I knew that getting this was just a stroll away, I would've gotten it myself before you came.  But if you were able to escape drowning once, you would have no trouble doing it again.  So I waited for you to search ahead for me."

"You anticipated it, huh?"  She smirked,  "Did you plan on having your ship sinking, too?"

"What?" Rool said flat out.  He scowled at her, wobbling his jaw from side to side, "Okay.  I may not predict what'll happen exactly, but I planned for every possible outcome.  Especially plans that were concocted by me.  Tell me Daring, how did you find the temple found in the caves?"

Daring Do was hesitant on whether she should answer that or not, "..........I found it while running away from some hornets."

"After finding that monkey in the hives." he added bluntly with a smile, "And that riddle; 'forging, cooling. softening. molding.'  It must've been a toughy."

"Ye..........yeah.  But I got it eventually from-"

"From finding inspiration when you rescued the chimp." he finished the sentence with his own words.  "Quite convenient that helping those primates helped you take a step closer to your goal.  Wouldn't you say?"

The mare glowered at him, "............."

And he returns it with a grin, "Now you're catching on."

"So ever since we met in the mines, you thought up this ploy?"

"Of course, after seeing that gorilla save you, it came across that you two were working together.  Whether it was out of the kindness of your heart or to simply use him for your benefit, I considered it a possibility of your teamwork.  So in a similar form to chess, I used the remaining two 'pawns' I had as a way to guide you towards gathering the keys to unlock this place and allowing me to 'check' you here."

Daring glared at the monarch, finding the fact that she was led here distasteful.

K. Rool formed a scowl and gave out a low grunt with quick glances at her wings. "But that's only the surface.  The truth is much more deeper than you know."  He reached into his cape and tossed something at her, "It started with this."

It bounced on the stone surface, making crinkled sounds as a scroll rolled towards the mare.  Daring kicked it open and saw a tatty document written in the Crocodian language.

"It's an old heirloom I found one day that tells of a kremling named Mulungu.  He was a philosopher that found particular interest in the natural element; water, fire, wind, and earth.  The gator was a genius and found that all of life originated from the four elements.  But then a thought came to him one fateful day, 'Where did the elements themselves come from?'  He took a journey to find that answer by surrounding himself in nature for many years to come."

"Through the years, Mulungu discovered many interesting things throughout his studies.  He learned that all living creatures possess the four elements inside them in some way, shape, or form.  He learned that cold-blooded creatures were more in tune with those elements than mammals were.  He also learned that those cold-blooded creatures could use those elements as well, such as the fire breathing dragon could.  But eventually, he discovered what he was searching for, and it left him completely astounded.  A fifth element, one that all the other four elements originated from, a master element if you will.  What was more of a discovery for him, was that he figured out a way to successfully harness that element into its rawest form.  Hence this, he created a scepter that allowed cold-blooded creatures to wield and use this elusive fifth element with a flick of the wrist."

"With this element, Mulungu returned with his discovery in mind of sharing it.  Everylizard took this too well and considered him to be a god; building shrines and temples dedicated to each element.  But after witnessing all of this honoring and praising from his fellow kremlings, Mulungu soon realized that what he held was a power that others simply couldn't comprehend.  So he hid this scepter in an inaccessible place somewhere on this island, hoping that one day, kremlings would view this element not as a key to being a deity, but as a tool to be built upon like all the other natural elements."

"For years I sought this relic and eventually found that underground temple.  I tried to enter that chamber by force, but whether it was by explosions or bashing a battering ram at it, I just couldn't break down the entrance that needed those four keys.  It took some time, but I found a few temples that held them.  However, those temples were deathtraps, sprinkled with that fifth element within each of them.  No creature with any common sense would dare to enter such a place."

K. Rool paused for a moment, "Is it coming together now?"  The king smiled with his bloodshot eye getting wider at the mare, "Have you realized yet the place that you stand in this story?"

Daring loosened her focus on the gator to reflect on those words.  "What's he getting at?" she considered what his next course of action would be.  And her eyebrows began to rise at the realization.

"That's right." he began grinning his sharp teeth at her, "I was the one who spread the rumors of this island to bring treasure seekers like you here to get those keys for me."

"Caballeron was the first hunter to arrive on the island and I intercepted him with my request.  After telling him the situation, he declined with the same thoughts as me about its perils.  So I offered him the job of ridding me of those primates.  He agreed and did a decent job; but then, you came interfering."

"I was informed about your history from him and after listening to all of your great accomplishments, I knew I found my treasure hunter.  Caballeron warned me that you would never accept the offer, but I still felt that this was my best shot and I sent a subordinate with flyers back to town that sought for you; tucking away the thought of your disapproval."  

"He was right." Daring grind those words through her gritted teeth, "I hate being used."

"Yes, I could tell by that fighting spirit I saw in those eyes of yours when we met.  I'm all too familiar with eyes like those, so that's when I considered on a different approach, one that made it where I was a rival that was trying to get the scepter first.  All I had to do was give a little motivation of some inception and... well.. monkey see, monkey do." K. Rool huffed, "That's a befitting name for you now that I think of it, Monkey Do.  I can read you like a book and all I had to do was grind the street organ to a tune that my little puppet would dance to."

Daring crouched low, arching her back and giving a small growl as she flared her wings.

The gator smiled as he calmly walked to his right, "Ahuizotl did an excellent job as well at pushing you further.  I was testing your credibility at the water temple to be honest, but he was trying to take over your job as well as getting rid of you.  He tends to be a bit overconfident, doesn't he?  Letting simple things slip by him without much concern for the aftermath."

He stopped walking and looked past the pegasus.

"As for me, I consider the possibilities."

"And remove them."

To the sudden sound that echoed through the temple; Daring flinched.

There was a sudden sensation running through the mare that she never felt before.  She felt unbalanced and placed a hoof forward to steady herself from falling.  The gentle breeze that flowed through the temple brushed her fur; it was comforting, but the caressing feeling suddenly took a sharp turn when she felt it hit her right wing.  The cold air left a searing sensation upon her that made the pony ball over in severe agony.  It was intense, it was insufferable, and it made her yell out at the harmful experience that her wing was shot.

K. Rool leaned over, examining the pegasus that was clenching her wing tightly.  "Excellent precision!  I believe you avoided hitting the bone."

The pain was too much.  She couldn't think of anything other than the fact that her wing was hurting her.

"You'll survive.  After all, you're The Great Daring Do."  The overweight king patted the pony on the head, "Why I might even require your expertise again sometime down the line." She fell on a knee as the gator walked past and flapped his cape.  "Come Kroc, my legacy awaits." K. Rool tossed the scepter in the air and caught it as he marched towards the entrance.

"WHERE!"

The overweight overlord turned back at Daring.  She was getting back up and turned to face them.

"Where," the mare said before taking a sharp inhale through her teeth as she tightly held her wing with a hoof, "...do you think you're going?"  She nearly tumbled when she took a step forward, "After all that trouble I went through, I'm not letting you leave with that scepter."

The green light from the shadows shined a dot on the middle of her forehead, but K. Rool waved his arm in the way, "Return back to the factory.  I'll arrive shortly."  At his command, the light vanished and the sound of footsteps running away could be heard.  "Alright, Daring Do.  You want this?" he extended it out in front of him, "Come and get it."

Daring wobbled at keeping her balance as she walked forward.  She slowly began to sprint forward and was soon galloping at full speed.  She jumped at it and was suddenly bounced backwards into a fall.  It felt like she was hit, but it looked like K. Rool didn't even move a muscle.  She didn't know what happened, all she saw was the color purple for a brief second.

"Well?  I'm waiting."

She pushed herself up and lept at it.  The mare saw the purple again and fell back.

"You won't get anywhere by just sitting around."

Daring got back on her legs and walked up;  Suddenly bumping her face on something solid.  She placed her hoof on a glass surface that covered K. Rool in a purple orb.

"Did I forget to mention what this thing does?" he said with a grin that told he intended to keep it a secret.  "This scepter allows cold-blooded creatures to tap into the fifth element, 'Magic'.  Which means I can do this," the scepter glowed and Daring was suddenly being lifted off the ground by a purple aura.  She was shot backwards like a tennis ball from a strong force and tumbled into the statue of Mulungu.

"This." K Rool points the scepter at the statue of Mulungu.  With a glow from the purple gem on it, he transformed the face to look like DK's.

"And..." the scepter glows in a strong bright light, "THIS!"  A beam shoots out from the tip and obliterates the head into pieces for Daring to cover from.

K. Rool bellowed out a laugh, "By my girth, this is exhilarating!"

Daring brushes off the fallen rubble to the best of her efforts, "What are you going to do with it?"

"Well it's very simple.  You know how we take the things we learn from the past to help pave the way for the future, right?  Well I'm going to rediscover what Mulungu has kept hidden from the world by studying this scepter; finding out how to harness and creating magic in its purest form.  With an endless fountain of mana at my disposal, I shall mass produce this element to make a legion of magic wielding Kremlings, forming a nation of unrivaled proportions."

"I'm..." The mare tried pushing herself up, but she's staggering from the pain again.  "I'm not... gonna.."

"Oh Daring Do, wake up and face the facts.  I've won, you lost, and there's nothing you can do to turn that around.  I have the authority power, luxurious wealth, countless loyal workers, cunning intellect, superior technology, perfect physique," he slapped his bulbous belly to make it jiggle.  "And now, possess the enchanting source of magic.  While you're just a basic mare, that just gets by, with dense comrades, a sensible intellect, zero technology, currently fatigued, and now have a broken wing.  I am an impervious wall that at best you could only scuff."

The scepter glowed as he swung his hand around, "Farewell Daring Do!  And pray that we won't meet again."  His voice echoed through the chamber as his body started to become transparent, "For the next time we meet, I'll be more powerful than your princesses put together!"

Daring slowly pushed herself up, adjusting to the pain she was feeling.  "He said that this was like a chess game to him, huh?"  She clenched her wing, there's no way she'll be able to fly for at least a couple of days, "Well, I'm more of a poker kind of mare."  With the buckling of her legs, she stabled herself, "And frankly..."

"I'm not ready to fold."
> 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."