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In his last moments before the waters embraced him, James' mind was a constant flurry of emotions storming through the waves when he tightly held onto Kruz, desperately hugging him despite the sea's best efforts to separate the two. He could barely think on anything else but keeping his friend close to him, frightened of losing him in that very moment until he soon blacked out for a reason he did not understand. The next time he opened his eyes, his vision was blurred and he started to cough, choking up a bit of water that had managed to sneak into his throat before turning over to vomit up. Seawater from his throat poured out onto a dark sandy beach, his tongue wretchedly covered in slimy salt. As he felt his feet kept constantly wet by the lapping of the waves, he could hear the island squawking and buzzing in chaos from unseen events nearby, slowly standing up. He felt he was back in Dream Land again with such a familiar scenario, until he noticed the Kongs' island far away in the distance with its iconic snowy peaks. The island he was on however, was much darker in tone. He examined the shore around him, not so much sandy but sooty. Golden colours now turned dark and ashen with rocky reefs all around, contrasting against dark green skies filled with pollution, making him remember with a sarcastic fondness for the skies of Chicago. Gazing upwards, he could see nothing but barren rock, formed into huge jagged cliffs.

The tropical breeze that had once caressed the galleon and the seas, were now somehow gone with the rest of the ship. Here on this barren shore was a cold, almost metallic stiffness in the air. It was the sort of breeze that would flow through a semi-abandoned factory, weaving through rusted cogs and gears as big as him. His teeth sneered slightly with a shivering of the lip, as if he remembered the sound of nails on a chalkboard. "Where the fuck am I now?" he wondered aloud. He tried to see where the galleon was, but it was nowhere in his sight or even at sea. He feared it had sunk, the madness of King K. Rool having taken it down with countless members of the crew. But then his mind turned to the only person he hoped had truly survived, suddenly dismayed at not seeing him nearby. "D-dammit! Kruz!? KRUZ!?!? WHERE ARE YOU!?!? ...oh god please be okay...wait...if I washed up here, maybe the others did." With that optimistic thought, he began his trek along the beach, navigating around the island in the middle of a vile-skied afternoon. The sea reflected this by looking a most corrupted green, no doubt filled with scum and other excess sewage from the environmentally-unfriendly homebase of the Kremlings. He skirted around the main rocky cliffs of the island, after what felt like half an hour before he soon reached the end of the filth-ridden shore. Beyond that was just a rocky reef, jagged and uneven, the water surrounding it slapping the butt of the island before rising up to slash against an overhanging rocky cliffside. But with realisation, he remembered that these were the same sort of rocks that the ship had been impaled upon, and tried to find a way around them. Pacing back and forth upon the beach he tried to think of an idea, casting his gaze across them, looking for a leeway, a calmer section to swim, even a rope or natural bridge. Eventually he gave up and decided to shout for help. "HELLOOOOOOOO!!?!?"

No reply came, and for a moment he feared he was truly alone again. But he called out still, hoping someone was around. "ANYONE THEEEERE!?!?!" For a while still came no reply, and he stood gazing at the rocks still, fearful of sitting down on the diseased-looking shore. Thankfully his prayers were answered when a hail came from the other side. "HELLOOOOOOO!?!" "Wha-HELLO!?!" "WHO'S THERE!?!" "IT'S ME, REX!" "...BROWN SCALES, PURPLE MARKS!?" "AND A BIG-ASS PAIR OF SCISSORS!" "HEY GUYS IT'S REX! HANG ON, WE'LL GETCHA OVER!" He waited for several minutes, hoping that they had a good plan to get him over unharmed, but what he didn't expect was the blast of a cannon. Immediately ducking by instinct, he saw a cannonball shoot high above him and over the rocky cliff, a rope behind it turning taut within seconds and preventing it from travelling further before the ball fell nearby. James could barely make out some kremlings in the distance on the other side of the wave-stricken rocks, the rope firmly caught over an overhang with cannonball on the raptor's side. "YOU ALRIGHT!?!" "YEAH, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?!?" "JUST A LITTLE TRICK, YOU GOT A ROPEWAY OVER NOW TO GET TO US!" "...SERIOUSLY!?!" "DON' WORRY, THE ROPE'S A SPECIAL KIND, REAL RESISTANT, USED FOR LIFTIN' STUFF! COME ON, CLIMB UP!" Indeed, upon closer examination the raptor noted that the rope was not like the usual woven kind, woven from either jute or hemp. This was somehow tougher, stronger fabric that gleaned with a dull silver colour, somewhat reminiscent of the cables mountain climbers used. Trusting his fellow reptiles, he began to climb the rope, pulling himself upwards, struggling slightly.

His upper arm strength, while better than before Frog's training, was still not entirely accustomed to the act of climbing up a rope and pulling his whole weight with him. His head turned heated with the effort involved in having to pull himself up a little more, every few feet being clasped hard by his claws, scrunching up his eyes in order to push forth that little extra ounce of energy. It felt like forever until he reached the rocky overhang itself that the rope had been thrown over, taut against the rock itself from the weight of the cannonball, the raptor being careful in his steps when he noted the barnacle-encrusted slippery surface the jutting cliff had. Soon he reached the other side and tenderly swung his way down the rope, imagining it was like the rigging back on the ship. With claws sliding off onto the other side, he reached upon the other rocky shore, one that was nevertheless flat enough to walk on with his kremling friends. "Haha glad to see ya made it," said one of the two green kremlings who patted James on the back with a pale hand, "we're just tryin' to get a list of casualties up an' hopefully keep it small." "A list? Wait, what about the rest of the crew?" "They're over at the caves, come on." Leaving the rope behind in case of other castaways, the three reptiles made their way across the rocky flats, navigating around crackled rifts towards the front of the island, which James noticed was rather mixed in its variety. After a small easy uphill climb, he saw a swampy lagoon that had turned scummy with seawater, to form a vile estuary where a sunken ship barred the way. A large wooden port lead upwards from it towards a huge neon sign, garishly resplendent above what appeared to be giant beehives. However, James' attention was more directed towards the smouldering sea-side volcano he was currently upon the side of, its fires glowing a dark red beneath his feet within various cracks. Guided closer by the kremlings towards one particular area, he could see two things past the rising lumpy rockface of the volcano. A multitude of kremlings recuperating in the caverns, and the remains of Gangplank Galleon opposite them, completely impaled upon the rocks.

The ship had surprisingly held itself together well, in the sense that it could still be recognised as a ship and from a distance even uphold the illusion that it was seaworthy. But upon closer examination it was indeed ruined, a titanic scar across the bottom hull, the rocks stabbing straight through it to cause further damage. There was also, strangely, a large hole in the hull itself, localised within one point. Even James could see that such a thing was not caused by collision. Ignoring this for now, he went over to the caverns themselves to see if he could locate any familiar faces. The caverns were particularly large and closer to sea level, naturally formed at first but with evidence of further sculpting by the kremlings to become more accommodating as some sort of drop-off point for cargo and such. James was hailed by some of them, who blessed his survival and noted him down on the register of survivors. According to the bursar, who held the register in keeping with his official duties, only one-third of the crew was accounted for so far. Thankfully however Kruz had been noted down as a survivor. Even more thankfully, Krow had not. With that, he headed towards the caverns asking for Kruz, describing him to any and all who had time to listen, eventually directed towards one smaller cavern full of supplies. The smooth darkened grey interior had its natural ambience of bubbling lava through thick walls, the casual waves of the sea stroking the cavern mouth occasionally interrupted by the chattering of kremlings, while they moved supplies and wounded.

Boxes were piled up all throughout the caves, half-sunken and filled with potential salvage. Wounded or deceased kremlings lied on makeshift blankets made from the ship's sails, wrapped in bandages. Some of them would moan, some would be able to speak, occasionally one or two of them would scream in crippling agony from the loss of their limb. Eventually, James managed to weave his way through the caves amidst boxes and bodies to where he saw a familiar brown kremling, with sunset red pants and a hook for his left hand, sitting on a box tenderly thinking to himself. James' heart swelled up, and he almost wanted to scream with glee at the sight of him, but he instead opted for the more manly: "Ahoy there bunkmate!" Kruz looked up immediately upon the voice, a wide grin lighting up his entire snout at the sight of his friend. "REX!" They couldn't stop themselves from running to each other and immediately hugging, swinging their strapping lean arms right around the other's body, Kruz being careful with his hook and patting the flat of it on James' back, nuzzling warmly. "Where the hell didya end up bro!?" "Some crappy shore past the rocks, two guys heard me call for help and helped me get over them to back here." "Ohhhhh lemme guess, cannon and rope?" "Yeah!" "Hah, heard about that, was hopin' it'd be you they'd find." "Where did you end up?" "Near the ship actually, got kinda caught between a couple of rocks but nothin' serious. Just easier to find when I signalled to the rowboats who got themselves here." "Damn...I'm glad you're okay." "Same to you." They hugged once more to confirm the other's existence, sighing warmly at their reunion. James almost wanted to kiss him, but Kruz beat him to it with a hearty smooch on the lips, making the raptor blush with surprise at such a friendly gesture.

"So uh...what's been happenin' here?" "We're still tryin' to find survivors an' get them here to recover, as well as any supplies we need. Actually supplies we been real lucky with finding, got all washed out of the ship from the crash, but survivors are...harder to find. And not all of them live long enough by the time they get back here." "Yeah I passed a few who weren't holding up too well...I'm sorry." "Hey, don't be, it's cool, it happens, we gotta move on." "But they were your friends, weren't they?" "Some of 'em. But most of my friends are alive, and you." "Glad to hear...sooooo..." In an effort to change the conversation to something more cheerful, James smirked as he cast his mind back to what they were conspiring to do before the waves had separated them. "Did we finish the job on Krow or....?" "Hopefully. I haven't seen 'im at all, an' the bursar says nobody's reported him in yet. Actually..." "What?" "...none of the captains have been found yet. No elites, no nuthin', they're all gone. I mean I know there's a lot of us still missing but it seems kind of...you'd think at least one would make his way here." "Yeah? That is kinda odd." James slowly stroked his snout, trying to come up with possible ideas, other than the obvious fact that they had all escaped with the captain. In this line of thinking however, something occurred to him. "Hey, you said you knew what Krow was up to right?" "Ah huh...you wanna know what I found out huh?" "Pretty much, I mean you got suspicious when you realised the captain had switched out with someone else with his cape and crown, then Krow started following you and all, right?" "Right, but that wasn't the weirdest part. The weird part was how Krook was navigating the helm for some reason." "...hey yeah, K. Rool ordered him to go one way before he went to the cargo hold." "So I notice something's up and I got worried about you, especially when 'the king' came out, so I went down the way he'd been, and the ship was going crazy right when I was below deck. I get to the hold, filling up with water, callin' out for ya and next thing I know, I see Krow followin' me to make sure I wasn't up to anythin' funny." "So...what WAS he up to?" "I think K. Rool got all crazy, crazier than usual, and didn't trust any of us enough to let us come with 'im, so he gets Krook to steer the ship into the rocks, escape with his elites to the island with DK, an' leave us to fend fer ourselves. Also puts DK's buddies off the trail fer a while to give 'im time fer whatever his master plan is."

James then answered back with a question that had been nagging him throughout his entire time as a member of the crew. "...does anyone even KNOW what his master plan is?" "Only the higher-ups, and they're all probably with their captain right now." "So...what about the rest of the crew, is he still our captain or...?" "Not anymore after the shit he pulled. We're splittin' off from him, gonna band together an' keep ourselves alive. Some of us went to find 'im though, still convinced he'd keep 'em around as crew. Dunno what happened to 'em." "Damn...so what is this place we're in?" "Oh this is kind of an emergency port in case we can't dock at the usual port. Used to be all naturally-made by the lava but we did some work on it to fit us better." "Not bad I gotta say." "Hehe yeah. It'll make a good hideout to recover before we plan anythin' else. What about you?" "Huh?" "You said you were gonna hang around with us until K. Rool was done with those apes. Now that all this happened though...you...you gonna stay or...?" Kruz said this with the slightest trepidation, afraid of the answer. James hadn't considered it after all that happened, his mind still reeling from the sinking ship, still trying to get his bearings. But Kruz was right. He had no obligation to stay here anymore. Except for one thing, the thought of which made him clench his fists. "I'm gonna stay here awhile. But only for one thing. I'm gonna find K. Rool." "Wait, what?" "He's been teasing me about this plan of his and I wanna know what he's REALLY up to. If I leave now, I'll never find out and I can't just let him run away after he tried to drown all of us." "Woah woah woah, you gonna climb ALL the way up this island?" "Not all of it, just as far as he goes." "Hehe, he'll be at the top, no doubt about it bro. His fortress is there, he'll take DK right up there fer whatever crazy plan he has." "Then I'll climb to the top, so what!?" "How the hell you gonna do that, you dunno anythin' about this place!" "I'll learn quick enough! I won't let him get away without a scratch after what he just did." "...you really gonna go after 'im? What you gonna do when you find him?" "I'm gonna gut him and cut his fucking eye out." "What about the Kongs? They're gonna be after him too, what if you an' them cross paths?" "I'll stay out of the way, they got their own objective, and I got mine. I think they at least respect that."

James snarled as he said this, raging insult clearly written across his face as his demand for vengeance grew. Kruz knew that exact look, and he knew even more not to argue with it. But he was scared for his friend and for what might happen to him. "If yer gonna go after 'im, I'm coming too." "What?" "Rex, I know this island better than you, I live here an' all, you need a guide to get you through this place or else you just gonna get lost. The sooner you get through this place, the quicker you'll get to K. Rool, an' that's where I come in to help ya through." "Hmmm...I wouldn't mind having you along, but you sure you wanna?" "I only waited here cuz you're my friend. So..." Kruz said nothing more and offered his right hand. With no reason to say no, and realising that Kruz was right, he eagerly shook it with a strong grip. "Deal." "Haha, that's what I like to hear! Alrigh', we leave whenever yer ready." "I'm ready now." James shrugged nonchalantly. "Heh, we better grab some supplies first if we're gonna get anywhere, lemme just get some." Nodding, he waited for his fellow ex-rigger to grab some food and medicine for the journey ahead, sitting on a crate to recover himself a little, steeling his nerves with graphic mental images of how he would slaughter and torture K. Rool. He was soon grinning to himself, feeling along his scissors' handles with an almost sadistic glee. Then he was reminded of Glenn's teachings. Justice was all good and well, but it wasn't a good thing to revel in the torture and agony of one's enemies. He debated on this with himself, on what was good and proper, on how he should be. Should he be merciful and kill the captain quickly and efficiently, or did he have the right to make every second of his last moments cripplingly slow and filled with anguish? He eventually decided: "Fuck chivalry, I'm a pirate, pirates don't get that. I'll be a noble knight some other time, won't help me now."

With that decision in mind, he had little more to wait when Kruz came back with a sizeable brown satchel, apparently used by scouting parties to collect items. Kruz had one already equipped around his waist, hanging off of his leg. "Here, put this on." James did so, tenderly belting up and feeling the strangely leather-like feel of the satchel against his scales. It was the size of a hardback book, with dull metal buckles for the one large main compartment and two smaller pockets. It was certainly light as well, which pleased the raptor despite the fact that it was clearly full of food. "Food's in the main pocket and medicine's in the smaller ones, bandages an' stuff. No one's gonna miss any of it." "Sweet. So, we ready?" "Yep. Let's go, I'll lead." "No one's gonna stop us?" "Got no right to, say we can go off on our own if we wanna, we don' care anymore." With only the humblest waves of goodbye to their fellow ex-crewmates, James and Kruz walked out of the caverns and straight towards their first obstacle of Crocodile Isle, the throbbing rocky volcano that smouldered directly beside them. Kruz explained his already planned route as they walked towards the boiling entrance, lava pulsing within shades of red and orange. "We gotta head through Crocodile Cauldron here if we wanna be able to get over to Krem Quay. That way we just wade through the marsh, head up towards Krazy Kremland, through Gloomy Gulch and finally up to K. Rool's Keep." "Doesn't sound TOO hard but uh.....we seriously going through a volcano? Can't we just climb it?" "Nope, gets too steep past a certain point, only way you can get up is through the inside of it. Don' worry, this used to be a harbour years ago until the island's volcano underneath got a bit crazy an' spilled out here. Since then it's been kinda bubblin' over an' it don't look like it's gonna blow anytime soon." "I hope you're right." With trepidation, James followed his friend dutifully into one large vent low and flat enough for them to slowly climb into, still not believing the fact that he was willing to actually climb the inside of a volcano just to get further upwards to face K. Rool. He could leave anytime he wanted, he knew that, but he refused to run away like a coward. Not this time.

The interior of Crocodile Cauldron was, as expected, a sweltering lagoon of lava waterfalls and magma tributaries, flowing unceasingly out of the rock like the yolk from a broken egg. One or two mountains were spewing lava, forever and always, rivers all around the travellers as they stood upon solid dark-brown rock. Two large areas scooped out of the rocky walls could be seen glittering with all sorts of crystals, but the most prominent sight of the volcano was the remains of another galleon half-submerged in the lava. "Wow, who fucked up putting that one in port?" "Was already there bro," explained Kruz knowingly, "like I said, used to be a harbour until the volcano puked up the lava." "Damn..." "Yeah she was a good ship. Anyways, we gotta get across the lava river in front of us, then we go along right towards Kannon's Klaim, a mineshaft owned by a guy called Kannon. He'll let us through long as we don' make any trouble. After that we hop on over through the galleon and into the water-" "-uhhhh water? I think you mean lava." "Well that's the thing. It's in its own li'l lagoon blocked off from the lava, that's why it's not completely melted. But the heat here's so hot that the water in there's boiling." "Ahhh huh." "Next we head over the next river which has practically no ground to jump on but we'll get through it, and finally up the last mineshaft over on yer far left, way at the back." "Sounds easy enough," joked James with a dry chuckle as they made their way down towards the first lava river. The heat turned more unbearable with every step as they were soon at the river itself, looking for a way across. The two thanked themselves for being reptiles for the fact that the heat was less effective on them, only turning more vigorous, even if James was worried about feeling sluggish with his sweating anthropomorphism. They soon realised they had to hop their way over small rocky platforms sticking above the lava, gingerly hopping from rock to rock as best as they could, keeping each other balanced with careful jumps and their natural sense of balance, Kruz moreso for his years of service upon ship masts. James was not as balanced, but he was certainly skilled in his better reflexes to avoid falling into the lava, which bubbled and boiled all around them threateningly so, as if ready to just burst a thick bubbly pustule all over either of them.

Despite this constant threat, they made their way relatively well through half of it, until the land became less regular in the second part of the river towards Kannon's Klaim. The lava thickening over the area prevented them from hopping onto any further land. "Well, now what?" asked James with some disappointment. "Now, we hitch a ride." Kruz whistled out towards the lava and much to James' surprise, some platforms slowly submerged from the magma. But they weren't rocks. In fact, they were surprisingly alive. Red and green alligators, looking up rather plaintively towards the raptor and kremling, waiting obediently with stern neutral eyes. "...the hell?" "Krocheads. Don' worry, they're friendly as anythin', they happily let anyone walk over their heads to get across." "Kroc heads? But...how are they even IN the lava?" "Beats me, K. Rool said these guys are like genetic throwbacks or sumthin', hardened up from the old age of reptiles when we used to walk on four legs. We trained 'em a li'l to make platforms fer us." "That sounds...uh, interesting." "Yeah it's weird I know but can't complain. Watch out fer the red ones though, they don' like you standin' on 'em fer too long." Without another word, Kruz hopped onto the first green krochead, with James following suit once he saw how safe it actually was. The huge sturdy gator snouts kept surprisingly still, and didn't even sink an inch when he landed on them, hopping onwards further and further through the volcano, keeping up with Kruz as best as he could. The only surprise he got was when he hopped onto a red krochead and it snapped its jaw wide open, flinging James high into the air. He desperately landed against a rocky wall, clinging tightly for his life. "You alright!?" "Y-yeah!" "I told ya about the red ones, bro! I told you!" "Yeah yeah, I getcha!" Carefully climbing his way down back to the river, he kept leaping with Kruz over the gators, from green to green, from green to red, from red to rock. He did his best to get ready to leap towards rock or even more daringly another krochead. But they soon made it through with only the most tense of nerves, reaching the mineshaft's wooden entrance without any bruises. A makeshift dumbwaiter beneath a blue-tinted shaft greeted them. "Phew...that was...uhhh..." "Interesting?" "Yeah." "Hehehe, it's only gonna get more interestin' from here on out. Come on, lessee if we can meet up with Kannon an' get a passage through here."