I want to clarify that Donkey Kong, until a certain point in the story, is the modern-day Cranky Kong. This story is a prequel to the original game made by Rare and starts after the events of Donkey Kong 3, where Donkey Kong and Jr. have fled to the barren tundra of Baffin Island in northern Canada.
Baffin TundraDonkey Kong overlooked the settlement. Ever since he and his son had fled here from that greenhouse full of bugs two years ago, he had been safe from the search parties, but at a heavy cost. The freezing cold climate and wildly erratic day length had made it very hard for the Western lowland gorillas to adapt, and he knew they wouldn't last much longer. The constant cold had made them sluggish to conserve their heat, and he doubted they could escape if the humans who were hunting them came back. They were very thin, and only managed to survive by stealing food from the settlement. He knew what the humans had done to catch the apes when they were at peak strength, and now, in a weakened state in the middle of nowhere, he knew if they found the duo, it would all be over. He had seen what they were capable of.
After they had been chased out of the greenhouse, they'd went into hiding a few miles away from the city, in a dense forest. He then met a kind crocodile named K. Rool who had told him about this place, and said that he would help them get to it. He said to journey north, "through the forest, high mountains, a plain, more mountains, then a long, long stretch of deciduous and then pine forest interspersed with numerous lakes." He then gave Donkey two amulets, one for him and one for Jr.
He said that they would help the apes find his friends who would point them in the right direction at a place he said was called the "Arctic treeline." He would know when he reached it because the pine trees would grow more and more beaten-down and weak until they finally stopped, to quote K. Rool. He then said to journey across the flat plain that K. Rool called "tundra" until they reached a coast "on the salty water." He then said to get in the water and swim as fast as they could, because the amulets would protect them from the evil biting cold, but not for forever, only for 100 miles, and this was only about half that length, so they shouldn't have to worry. "Swim as hard as you can until you reach more tundra, then you are there," he said. But Donkey wondered if K. Rool had meant for them to get hypothermia and drown, as the spell on the amulets had worn off around 2/3 of the way through, and they had to hightail it to shore. They had soon encountered mountains around a human settlement. He was subsisting on stolen food in a cave near this settlement. Now, he had to return to the cave.
At the cave, he took some flint and started a fire with some stolen wood. Junior then took some stolen hot dogs and some stolen burgers and put them on the fire.
While the food cooked, Junior called from another room, "By my calculations, we should be able to subsist for another couple months, and after that, we die. Simple as that. Let's just hope K. Rool can get us out of this frozen wasteland before that happens.
They ate in silence. They knew that their food was the last, and they had to raid the settlement again. Security had tightened since their last raid. They had used a lot of food to give them peak strength. They fell asleep with full bellies for the first time in months.
When they woke, it was still dark. Donkey's watch said 4 AM. The sun would not rise until 10, judging from the last time it rose. They had six hours to raid the settlement and cover their tracks.
They trekked to the settlement in absolute silence. As they approached it, they found a rock to hide behind. They then waited until a security guard passed by, then ran for it. They ascended the wall, getting past every searchlight, but then Junior slipped and a searchlight passed them.
Donkey felt terrible fear as a guard yelled, "It's the raiders!"
