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Klubba, upon first sight, was the most intimidating kremling James had ever seen, even moreso than K. Rool himself. A massively muscular monster, green with scars all over, the most prominent being a stitch that looked like a canyon would on a map, crossing his right melon-sized pectoral. He appeared to be very top-heavy, with a body built like an inverted triangle. He gazed down before the newcomers with a head somewhat small compared to his gloriously boulder-sized shoulders, only outsized by the immensely bulbous club he wielded. The sound of nail-festooned wood patting against scarred hands accompanied the swamp's natural cacophony. "Ahoy there Klubba!" said Kruz with a friendly cheer. He was blissfully unafraid of the beast, who merely smiled in return. "Ahoy thar. How be the galleon?" "Ehhh...things turned out bad." "Thought as much...news be spreadin' like wildfire across the island abou' it." "Yeah? How far? How much do the folk know?" "That mutiny occurred on the ship an' the cap'n 'ad to flee wi' his most trusted group to be safe." "Not...ENTIRELY untrue I admit." "Heh...don' worry, yer secret's safe wi' me." "Really?" "Y'know how I feel about the cap'n an' the state o' things. Passed by 'e did, kept me guard up, kept 'loyal' to him. Never liked the fat prick." "Hehehe yeah I..." Klubba cocked an eyebrow, but his hands remained untense, concerned rather than suspicious. "You in trouble or sumthin'? Cuz if you weren't, you'd not be all nervous." "Well...look we can trust you right?" "Course...whut abou' 'im?" He nodded towards James, his club stopping against his hand. "Never seen 'im afore." "He's a recent recruit, don' worry, I trust him with my life." "Better watch yersel' then." "Uhh if it helps any," added James to represent himself, "I'm the one that's planning to climb the whole island to kill said fat prick." "HAR HAR! Y'serious?!" "Damn right I am!" "Hmph...so..."

He suddenly swung out his club towards James, almost blinding him with its weight while controlling his power, the raptor immediately jumping back and readily arming himself with scissors out. "If I were workin' fer the cap'n...wouldya kill me?" "You don't scare me," snarled the raptor who tried to suppress his shaking grip, "you stand in my way and I'll gut you here and now." "...har har har...you got spirit lad. Yer stupid, but that won't do ya 'arm 'ere." Klubba put his club back in both hands with a smile as Kruz stepped forwards again, confident that his trust was gained. "Since yer friend's crazy enough to make that kinda boast, even if I'd be able to flatten 'is shaky li'l 'ead, I'll tell ya whut I 'eard. After you tell me everythin' about whut really 'appened." "Alright." Kruz and James took turns in explaining everything about what had occurred on the ship, starting from the first fight with Donkey Kong and ending at the shipwreck. Klubba merely nodded assertively, leaning his jaw upon the club handle like a cane, attentive until they had finished by explaining with the update on their current mission. "Hmmm...sounds pretty dodgy." "It is," said Kruz, "an' all we wanna know is why the cap'n was willin' to sink a whole new galleon just to cover his tracks fer some ape." "Well...maybe I can clear sumthin' up." "Go on bro." "Cap'n passed through 'ere with that ape all tied up an' knocked out, hoisted over his bodyguards mutterin' about the ship gettin' wrecked by mutiny. Had all 'is elites wi' 'im heading up to 'is keep no doubt." "We're on the right track then!" crowed James. "All we have to do is pretend we're just part of the crew on the island and not with the galleon, and nobody else but his elites know right!?" "Why ya say that, lad?" "Well, we were part of the crew yeah but does anyone else know that? He can't remember EVERYONE on the ship." "Not so fast Rex," said Kruz with a stern tone before turning to Klubba, "just realised somethin'. Was Krow with them? You know big, lean, orange?" "Yep, 'e were." "Shit. If Krow's alive, then he's probably told the captain about the both of us. And if he has, then he's gonna make sure that every kremling who wasn't on the ship'll try to kill us, 'specially after we tried to kill him, that's blatant mutiny right there." "You sure about that?" asked James. "We got a whole island here full of pirates who dunno what really happened on the ship. They got no reason to think K. Rool's lyin'." "Dammit." "Didn' hear anythin' about two mutinous lads fightin' in the 'old," mentioned Klubba, "but y'right, wouldn' wanna take any chances." "Well I'll be okay," said Kruz, "there's plenty of brown hook-handed kremlings on this island. But uh...Rex is unique." "So what are we gonna do?" asked the raptor. "We head to Kremland bro. It's on our way anyway, I know a place where we can get a disguise for ya." "Sweet. Guess we're off then?" "Yeah, but OH uh...Klubba, you able to put in a good word fer us with yer bro?" "Ahhhh..."

The herculean kremling rubbed his neck tenderly with an awkward apologetic grin. "Thing is, me an' Kudgel been fightin' a lot lately abou' the cap'n." "Yeah?" "Still thinks the cap'n's doin' the best fer our crew, I disagree, we get into fights about it...dunno if I can put in a good word fer ya." "I don' wanna fight him dude." "Appreciate it mate, but I dunno if yer gonna get past withou' a fight. I'll relay a message to smooth things over, but if 'e's gonna fight...try not to kill 'im." "Alright." Soon the two left without further questions, but one thing did come to James' mind. Two rather that he was unable to ignore as he approached the gargantuan croc. "Hey uh....I need to ask two things." "Shoot lad." "One, did you see any monkeys run by you at all? Two, what IS this tollbooth for?" "Har har...one, I didn' see any monkeys run past 'ere yet, an' two, this is fer the inner sanctum." "Inner sanctum?" "The heart of the island isself, very special to us kremlings. K. Rool didn' go that way so don' worry." "Huh...what's it like?" "A lost world preserved through millions of years, untouched by all 'cept us. No one'd dare enter its sacred grounds." "Right...okay then. Well if K. Rool didn't go that way then up we go." With his curiosity satisfied for now, the raptor went with his kremling friend towards the bow of the swamp galleon, whilst Klubba stood guard. A totem before a hidden other world, far from prying eyes in the midst of a filth-ridden swamp, the very aura around him somewhat...strange. James felt as if he wasn't even in the same place when around Klubba. But he put it down to nerves and moved on. The galleon's bow had upended itself upwards into something of a makeshift rampway, intersected by a thickening mesh of brambles that grabbed at the end of it, thorny fingers daring to impale all who brushed near them. Yet despite the terribly brooding obstacle that laid before them, of a near-insurmountable climb across half a ruined galleon, there was a light. A strange pale green light of the sun daring to glint down from between the bramble thickets. James could see the sky, green from where he was but a sky all the same, no longer dealing with tiny rays that littered the marsh indeterminately. Near the end of this terrible maddening swamp was hope, and his heart somewhat soared as him and Kruz began to climb. "Just climb towards the light an' you'll be alright," said Kruz reassuringly. "....heh, that rhymed." "Already on it." The deck itself was overgrown with vegetation, the wood creaking still against the sick-coloured waters of the mire, roots and brambles twisting around the deck, but the real problem for the two were the ship's former crew members still traversing the gangways, turned mad by the swamp atmosphere, refusing to part with their beloved ship.

Avoiding them was easier than James had thought, what with the amount of rigging that still swung from the masts, swinging over the crazy kremlings, the ones they couldn't avoid not exactly coherent enough to fight without being skewered very quickly. They barely had any tactics other than galloping towards the intruders or swinging their cutlasses brazenly. Then they met the more brutish kremlings, the muscular loaders. They were impossible to just cut and stab through so at most they were avoided. Eventually Kruz and James had reached the main mast, clambering up along the rigging only to find that it was quite slippery, festooned with slime. The two had claws thankfully to grab into tougher ropes. But even then this made the climb more arduous, as they did their best to scale towards the exit, that laid upon the other side of the bramble thicket itself. James occasionally slipped once a while, unused to such treacherous conditions, but he kept close to Kruz who guided him right, occasionally holding onto each other. Another problem soon came with the fact that this end of the swamp had unpredictable water levels, as they soon realised when they looked down to see the marsh rise up to meet them. "CLIMB!" roared Kruz. They increased their pace as best as they could, the slime not helping as they scrabbled towards the light above the crow's nest, the water flooding upwards, swallowing the galleon, washing it anew with scumwater. The panic in James' heart rose as he desperately made sure that every grasp of a rope was solid enough to go upwards from, with Kruz largely assisting. Soon they had finally reached the crow's nest, the water not even reaching that far before it slowly sank back down to sea level in defeat. Light shone upon the two as they gazed towards the terrible bramble thicket. A violent mesh of spikes with what appeared to be plankways inbetween them. Even more strangely, floating barrels painted with arrows or little explosions hung in the sky. "Okay," began Kruz, "we got a pathway through the brambles here, just get in the barrels an' aim yerself towards other barrels. Get on the boardwalks we made an' we'll make it." "...why are those barrels floating?" "Swamp gas, kinda like balloons, also makes the force that shoots you out to the other barrels." "Ohhhh...wait, SHOOT out?" "Yeah, come on!"

He barely explained more before they entered the sticklebrush maze. James could see a way through it, but it was quite complex, and some ways seemed impossible without the barrels which pointed where to go. One thing he was thankful for however, was that they were high enough to see the sun again, the night starting to settle in somewhat as they neared the twilight hour. As Kruz mentally laid out a path from memory, James gazed upon the clouds with their rosy-pink bellies, the sun setting over the horizon somewhere across the sea. Eventually they were ready to move on, as Kruz jumped into a barrel beckoning James inside. The raptor wasn't entirely confident in this, in fact he barely trusted any of this at all for how much it made no sense. But he trusted Kruz, and he followed him dutifully, stuffing himself inside the barrel, fixed towards one direction. "Okay, when yer ready, slam yer fists against the sides hard as ya can." Bracing himself for the eventual madness that would soon follow, he did just that, and the barrel obeyed by blasting them out towards another barrel in the distance. James howled with fear and excitement as they flew through the brambles, easily missing the thorns that threatened them with shining points, straight into another barrel that swallowed them which aimed readily towards another. Kruz ignited it this time, the two shooting out like scaled rockets and slamdunking into another barrel. Then another, and another, with each new blast changing James' expression slowly into that of maddening glee, whooping with joy at how strangely fun it was to fly through the air. The sunset glistened across the thorns wherever they went, barrel blast after barrel blast through the brambles only making the two evermore excited to reach the end. Laughing through the air together, never touching the spikes even once. Birds flying past occasionally got flustered by the sudden sight of two reptiles barrelling through the air past them, during their expert navigation of the thicket. Soon however that fun would end, as they landed upon a walkway built onto one particularly large bramble vine, regaining their composure. "Hooo...hooo..." "Hhhh...hehe...watcha think?" asked Kruz. "Tha...that was...the stupidest...best thing EVER! Holy shit that was the craziest fucking thing I ever done, that was AWESOME!" "Hahahaha, well if you think that's awesome, wait 'til ya see Kremland." With that, they made their way out of the stickerbrush, a pathway towards the exit clear to see by the shining gold cavern in the mountainside before them. But of course they had one more problem to contend with before they could truly leave the mire behind. As they made their way along a bayou across a large pool of swampwater, the boardwalk rumbled under them as something landed behind them. A massive grey kremling, the spitting image of Klubba minus the large club and a scar here or there.

"Whut poor soul dares to try an' leave Krem Quay?" His voice was dark like funeral gravel. James wondered if he was older and/or stronger than Klubba. "We're just crew members gone astray from our glorious captain," said Kruz as if reciting a password, "please allow us to return to his side." "That so? Where ya stationed?" "Crocodile Cauldron, we're scouts to report on some very important news regarding the Kongs." "...hmph." He crossed his arms, clearly suspicious of the two, moreso of the non-kremling. "You. You with him?" "Yes," said James. "Strange weapon you got there." "It works for me." "Fists are all I need. Punch like this can kill a gorilla." "Good thing the captain didn't ask you to handle DK huh?" Kruz turned with a venomous look to James to make him shut up, but the guard already turned more suspicious. "...how d'ya know about that?" Kruz did his best to swerve through the dialogue. "Know about what?" "The cap'n and DK." "....oh come on bro, you been under a rock or somethin'? Everyone knows about that!" "Whut?" "K. Rool an' his biiiig war with the Kongs, seriously that's the first thing you know as a kremling! Don' worry about him, he's new but even he knows!" There was enough doubt and crossed wires for the guard to have doubts, thinking he was mistaken. But a good guard must always be certain of who he lets by, and he felt his captain's life depended on that. Indeed, he was right, despite dropping his guard a little. "Heh, sorry fer that, can't be too careful wi' all sorts comin' round here." "No worries bro, you got yer job, we got ours." "So, stuff about the Kongs eh? Plannin' an invasion of sum sort?" "Well kinda expected but yeah, gotta tell the cap'n quick as we can so he can get ready with more defences an' shit." "Betcha woulda faced up to 'em real good huh?" "Oh we did, man DK was a monster." "Bet even with yer skills as riggers you had problems." "You kiddin', come on bro, we're not meant to fight, we're meant fer swingin' around an' fixin' the sails so the ship'll floa-..." Kruz's eyes widened with horror at what he had let slip, and he struggled to maintain composure as well as resist clapping his hands to his snout. The guard smiled and cracked his knuckles together. "I knew it. Yer the ones the captain mentioned. Tried to kill yer superior didn't you...Kruz an' Rex?" "...uhhh...no, watcha talkin' about bro, I meant-" He was silenced with a brutally swift punch to the gut that slammed him across the boardwalk, rolling nearly into the water. James screamed out to him in panic. "KRUZ!" "You ain't getting anywhere near the cap'n, boys. Why dontcha show ol' Kudgel if you can fight better than you can lie?"

James pulled his scissors out and faced the swamp guardian, definitely the brother of Klubba as if his size wasn't enough of a clue, but he wasn't sure if he was tougher since he relied purely on his fists. Kudgel readily swung a haymaker at James, who dodged best as he could, surprised by the speed of his swings as he tried to slash back in return. His blade was only slammed downwards by a fist, and he was punched backwards severely, near to where Kruz was struggling to get up. "UNNGH!" "Heheh, come on boys, if yer gonna mutiny, you gotta be tougher than that!" Kudgel began to charge across the strengthened plankway, his stomps shaking the ground as the two did their best to dodge out of the way. Kruz slipped into the water, while James polevaulted over the brute with his superior jumping skills, straight behind him to slash across the flank. The beast roared in surprise before he turned to deliver another solid haymaker, which James did his best to deflect. But the sheer force that Kudgel delivered his punches with was enough to break through his scissorguard, with James getting headbutted backwards. He could barely dodge a crushing hammerfist that split two of the planks in half, the pieces pinging from the boardwalk like bullets. Kruz had waited for the right opportunity to submerge from behind and stab him around the kidney region. Kudgel barely grunted before turning to slap the kremling away with a backhand that sent him spinning. This gave James the opportunity to stab him again in the other side, mimicking his friend's attack, more successfully due to the pain that built up inside the guard. Kudgel wasn't having it, as he decided to daringly bring his fists out and swing them out together while spinning, a furious power lariat that James managed to dodge, but was now stuck trying to back away from as it spun closer and closer. A furious muscular tornado threatening to bludgeon him into a bloody pulp. Kruz however had a plan, swimming towards where Kudgel was, waiting for him to reach one particularly weakened plank. He started to secretly undo it with his cutlass hacking through it, until it was just weak enough. When Kudgel stepped on it, he fell like a helicopter out of control, spinning water out everywhere in surprise, hitting his side against a beam of the walkway sorely so.

Kruz swam up out onto the boardwalk and called James over so they could escape while their opponent was busy, running faster than Kudgel ever could. By the time he had recovered, the two were long gone and off to Kremland. With a snarling roar that echoed monstrously throughout Krem Quay, all he could do now was to tend to his wounds, and guard against any future opponents. Kruz was panting hard with heavy breaths as they ran out of the swamp, through a well-lit tunnel between rows of torches. "Dammit," he said, "I keep forgettin' how smart that musclefuck is!" "Can't help it man, we both got duped." "Still, you did good against him Rex." "Yeah but if you hadn't had your idea I'm pretty sure he'd have beaten me to death." "Anyways, we're finally out of the damn swamp, now we can get to Kremland an' think about disguisin' ya." "Disguises huh? What IS Kremland anyway, you haven't told me anything about it?" "You'll see...hhhh...hhhh..." Kruz stopped and laid against a wall, panting and clutching his ribs. "Fff...hhhh..." "You okay?" "J-just gimme a minute...dammit...I think he broke somethin'." "You wanna stop here, maybe camp or something?" "Nah nah, I'm fine, they got a medical station up at Kremland anyway, s'where most of us get amputated." "Iiii don't think you want your chest amputated Kruz." "I know that, dumbass." They chuckled as James offered a shoulder to Kruz to help him along, the bruise clearly worse than it looked. And it already looked quite a worrying purple, whereas the raptor had his own bruise that didn't hurt him as much, having not had a surprise punch to the stomach. Soon the tunnel ended outwards into another swamp, but one somehow smaller than the other, and with one noticeable difference. Two rather. A huge glowing neon sign in dizzying red, blue and yellow colours flickered brilliantly out to sea. James remembered seeing such a sign before from the ship, and now he could finally see what it said. In bright green letters, upheld by a large model of a Kremling who glared down upon all who dare approach. "Kremland..." "Thassit...hhh...we just get inside an' we'll be alright." However, circled around the festive entrance were what appeared to be enormous cone-shaped beehives, with equally enormous hornets buzzing aimlessly around them. Terribly large things with spikes all over them, and terrible little pincers on their mouths, their buzzing filling the air ceaselessly. I hope we don't have to go through any of those hives, thought James as he tenderly walked forwards with Kruz, his remaining hand around his shoulders. "We're gonna have to go through the hives," said Kruz wearily, much to James whining. "Ohhhhhhhh, can't we just go around!?" "No, we made the hives like an agreement with the Zingers. They have all the honey they want an' in exchange we leave 'em alone an' give us free passage. The only way to get through this swamp without drownin' in it is through 'em." "God...dammit." "Hey it's alright, they're our friends...if K. Rool forgot to mention us to 'em that is." "Let's hope so."

With trepidation, they walked towards the closest cluster of hives to the left of the sign, entering submissively. The hornet's hive was, for lack of a better word, sticky. Incredibly sticky. Honey oozed all over the bright yellow walls made of spit and debris, collected by the wasps from all over, a solidly-constructed hive indeed that they had no choice but to traverse. Kruz began to support himself, having regained his wind enough after soothing his bruise with some ointment from his satchel. The hive seemed mainly to go upwards in terms of pathways, the sound of buzzing everywhere from the adult hornets flying around, to the baby larvae snuggled up in a disgustingly adorable way within honeycombs. "Alrigh'," said Kruz as he walked over to a honey-glazed wall, "rules about the hives. One, don't even think of hurting any of 'em. Two, do NOT go near the li'l ones. Three, don't you dare steal any honey." "Right." He had no intention of fighting the wasps or taking honey either way as they began to scale the walls. The honey was such an incredible stickiness that they could clamber onto it without any problem. Kruz was a little slowed down due to his condition, but he did his best as they scaled their way through the hive, avoiding any and all of the insect residents. James hated the feel of his claws getting so sticky, but he had to go with it, leaping from wall to wall, grasping the thick orange-yellow goo between his fingers, helping Kruz whenever possible to advance forwards ahead of him. Sometimes they only had to walk through long honeycomb-entrenched hallways, avoiding the honey that dared to slow them down, gooey enough underfoot to act like almost cartoonishly-strong glue. James couldn't resist tasting a little bit either, sneaking a slurp along a wall and finding the honey to be incredibly sweet. Too sweet for him as he shivered from the taste that tingled his tongue with such purity. Despite the size of the hive, Kruz had a good enough memory to navigate through it, avoiding other kremlings who walked back and forth through it, either as guards or just passing through the same as them. Kruz was fine to walk out in the open, but the raptor had to hide more often, usually behind honey-filled combs, taking care not to break them or else suffer the wrath of a million stingers. Kruz had a more problematic time dealing with large shafts that required jumping from wall to wall, a passageway seemingly built precisely to test the skills of the more agile kremlings. While the two had no problems normally, the kremling's injury made every leap a heart-rending struggle, his breath turning shaky everytime he hit the wall, scrabbling with hook and hand panting hard. James was always at his side to offer a hand whenever necessary, climbing ever closer towards a slippery slope at the top, which would lead towards the exit. Finally, they had managed to escape to the other side without any stings, other than the fact they were now coated in honey from head to toeclaws, glistening from their bodies under the darkening night sky. Regardless, they walked onwards into the main entrance itself, under the gaze of the giant kremling, only for James to gasp in marvel at what Kremland truly was. "...it's...a carnival?"