Chapter two: The Arrival
(Dark Road)
Deciding to ignore the sheriff's warning and proceed to the mansion, Dingodile continued driving down the dirt road. The three in the jeep looked around several times, trying to see if they could find the mansion, but so far, they had come up with nothing.
"Are you sure we should have trusted his directions?" Dingodile asked.
"Well, he IS the sherrif." Coco shrugged. "I imagine he would knows these parts better than most people."
Tiny, in the meantime, kept looking around, and even took a couple looks backwards. In all honesty, he was checking to see if the monster ape from earlier was following them. Thankfully, he didn't see a thing.
"You seem awfully jumpy, Tiny." Coco noticed. "You alright?"
"Yeah! Tiny good!" Tiny said, perhaps a little too quickly.
Coco raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound or look like it." She replied. "You look as if you've seen a monster."
Tiny looked at Coco uneasily, but the female bandicoot decided to drop it and continue searching for the mansion. The huge feline sighed in relief as he went back to keeping an eye open for his predator.
"Ah, would ya look at that…" Dingodile said. Coco and Tiny looked ahead and saw that they were approaching a wall of shrubbery. "A dead end."
Dingodile stopped his jeep and sat in silence for a few seconds. "Well, Ah guess that settles it." He said. "We're headin' back home."
"No, Dingodile! Look!" Coco said, pointing at the blockage.
Dingodile looked again and saw that the wall was opening. On further inspection, it turned out to be the front gates of the Koopa Manor property, covered in leaves. Looking past the gate, Dingodile saw that there was a cemetery on the other side.
"The road leads on!" Coco said brightly.
"Yeah, but look…" Dingodile chuckled nervously, not really liking where this was going anymore. "Right through a graveyard."
"Come on, Dingodile. We've come this far." Coco said. "Let's go check out that mansion of yours and see what it looks like."
Dingodile swallowed, but reluctantly put his jeep into drive again and pressed on, driving through the cemetery. Tiny looked at all of the lonely graves scattered around and shivered. This seemed natural, because despite his size, Tiny was the most cowardly of the three.
Coco, on the other hand, was exactly the opposite. "Gee, I wonder if we'll see real ghosts like the sheriff said." She said, looking like she was getting excited again.
Tiny whimpered and sat back.
"D-Don't talk like that, Coco." Dingodile said. "There's n-no such things as g-ghosts."
Coco suddenly heard what sounded like a horse running and looked out the window. "Too bad. Then I guess this headless horse-monkey out here is just a phony, right?" She asked.
Dingodile's eyes snapped open, as did Tiny's. Both friends looked out the window and saw a figure riding a white horse with glowing, yellow eyes. But what scared them the most was the fact that he was holding his own head, that of a silver-haired monkey, under his right arm. The headless rider laughed evilly as he chased the jeep down.
Dingodile and Tiny screamed and look at each other. "A GHOST!"
With that, Dingodile sped up the jeep in an attempt to get away from the headless horse-monkey and turned a turn. Looking back, Dingodile sighe din relief when he saw that the headless horse-monkey was no longer chasing them.
"Dingodile! Wolf!" Tiny shouted.
Dingodile snapped to attention and looked ahead, seeing a black wolf running at them. The Australian hybrid quickly turned again, driving away from the wolf.
Before the wolf could give chase, a shadowy figure appeared. "Link, that wasn't an enemy!" The shadow scolded. "I sent us to the wrong spot. Just let me try again and we'll get back to Zora's Domain."
The wolf suddenly turned into particles of black shadow and zoomed off, clear out of the area.
"Is it following us?" Coco asked.
Tiny looked back. "No. Wolf gone."
Dingodile suddenly slammed on the brakes again. When the jeep came to a full stop, the three looked ahead and saw an old-looking koopa with a blue civil war uniform and pale, white eyes.
"Leave this place!" The koopa ghost ordered, raising his arms into the air. "Leave this place!"
Dingodile, thinking quickly, started his jeep again and drove off, leaving the old ghost in the dust.
"We gotta find a way out of this place!" Dingodile said frantically.
"Look! Up ahead!" Coco pointed out.
Dingodile looked ahead and saw a large, old-looking mansion. Seeing the sign over the door that read 'Koopa Manor' told Dingodile that this was the mansion he had inherited.
"We found it!" Coco rejoiced. "There's your mansion, Dingodile!"
"Ah don't care, Coco!" Dingodile replied. "Ah don't want it anymore!"
Dingodile tried turning the jeep around to work his way back to the front gates, but the jeep stopped part-way through. Dingodile immediately started turning the key to start the jeep again, but nothing was happening.
"Ah, no!" Dingodile cried. "What a time for the engine ta stall!"
The three friends looked into the distance and saw the headless horse-monkey riding up again, laughing evilly.
"YIPES!" Tiny screamed.
"Into the mansion!" Dingodile cried. "Maybe the ghost won't follow us!"
Dingodile, Coco and Tiny got out of the jeep and instantly made a mad dash for the front door of the mansion. Once they got inside the front door, the friends tried stopping, but found themselves stepping on a rug. The trio slid forward on the rug the entire way down the main room of the mansion until they found themselves getting dumped into the fireplace.
Coughing and covered in soot, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny stepped out of the fireplace. However, they suddenly felt the soot getting blown off them, cleaning all three of them off.
"Oy. Who did that?" Dingodile asked as he looked ahead.
There stood an old-looking man with a white coat and black glasses. He was slouching over and had a hunch in his back. In his hand was an old-fashioned windbag, which he had used to clean the three off. He then let out a strange-sounding cackle.
"DOUBLE YIPES!" Tiny cried.
"I hope that you and your friends will be…Comfortable here, Master Dingodile." The man said.
Tiny jumped back in fear, but slipped on the stone base of the fireplace and found himself back inside the pit of soot.
"How'd ya know my name, mate?" Dingodile asked.
"Why, I've been expecting you, of course." The man insisted.
"And whom might YOU be?" Coco asked suspiciously.
"I'm Albert Wily, butler and servant of the Colonel for some fifty-odd years, and rightful owner of this place." The butler said. Dingodile looked behind him and saw an old picture of his uncle, Bowser Koopa, whom was holding a sword. "Unfortunately, the old fool decided to leave it all to YOU! INCLUDING the family jewels! And so I…Am at your service."
"Family jewels?" Tiny, having gotten himself out of the fireplace, asked.
"Yeah. What family jewels?" Dingodile asked.
"Ha! 'What family jewels?' he says!" Wily laughed. "Only a king's ransom in gold and jewels hidden somewhere on these grounds! Why…Don't tell me you've never heard of 'The Koopa Bonanza'!" With that, he took his glasses off, revealing a pair of eyes that rolled in different directions as he laughed.
Coco leaned closer to her friends. "I don't know whom looks nuttier." She muttered. "Wily or that picture of the old Colonel."
"Yeah." Tiny agreed.
"Speaking of Uncle Bowser, he looks just like the…" Dingodile said, starting to shiver as he tried to get the last word out.
"Like…The ghost?" Wily taunted, finishing Dingodile's sentence.
"Yeah!" All three friends said as one.
Wily chuckled. "Why, don't worry. He won't hurt you." He assured. "Ghosts can't hurt anyone."
Suddenly, a sword shot from out of nowhere and stuck itself in the wall just beside Dingodile's head. All three friends screamed in fright.
Wily, on the other hand, turned and calmly addressed his audience. "Now, Colonel. Where are your manners, sir?" The old butler asked. "Is that any way to treat you guests, let alone you dear nephew?" The three saw that Wily was talking to Bowser's picture, which was now missing the sword. "Even though they don't belong here and want to take away MY treasure?" He finished his little speech with another strange-sounding cackle.
As Tiny and Dingodile started backing off, Coco stood defiant. "YOUR treasure?" She asked, offended. "Listen, goggle-eyes! If there's any jewels hanging around here, they all belong to Dingodile, okay?"
"Uh…Ah appreciate you stickin' up fer me, Coco, but I don't think we should get into all this." Dingodile said.
"Huh? But, Dingodile!" Coco said.
"We…Uh…Need ta get going." Dingodile said, taking Coco's hand and leading her towards the door, which Tiny was already going towards.
"But, Dingodile! It IS your treasure." Coco reasoned. "You inherited it."
As Dingodile and Coco talked, Tiny prepared to open the door. However, when he did, he looked out and his eyes snapped open. For there, standing just outside the front door, was the same brown ape from earlier. He waved down at Tiny cheerily. Tiny hastily shut the door and pressed himself against it, his eyes wide and his pupils small.
"Well, the battery of mah jeep is probably okay by now, so…" Dingodile said as he approached the door and saw Tiny blocking his way out. "Well, come on, Tiny. Let us outta here."
"Uh-uh! Uh-uh!" Tiny said, shaking his head.
"Tiny, quit playin' around." Dingodile said. "Let's get back in the jeep and back home."
"No, Dingodile!" Tiny said, stepping away from the door. "There monster out there!"
"Monster?" Dingodile asked.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, scaring all three of the friends. In a frantic rush, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny flew headfirst into another room and shut the door. Wily, on the other hand, approached the door and opened it, finding himself staring at a short man with a red mustache.
"Ah, Sheriff Sam." Wily greeted. "Please. Do come in."
"Just wanted ta ask ya ta keep a good eyeball out for an escaped ape named Donkey Kong." Sheriff Sam replied. "He was last seen headed this-a-way."
Inside the other room, Dingodile had his ear pressed against the door. He sighed in relief.
"Who there, Dingodile?" Tiny asked. "The monster?"
"Nah, it's just the sheriff." Dingodile replied. "Come on, Tiny. There's no monsters."
"No! There a big gorilla!" Tiny insisted.
Coco laughed. "You're such a wimp, Tiny." She said.
"But Tiny a LIVE wimp." Tiny replied with a grin.
Dingodile and Coco left the room to greet the sheriff, but Tiny stayed behind and shut the door again. The huge tiger pressed his ear against the door to listen in. Suddenly, Donkey Kong appeared behind Tiny and listened in as well, although the huge feline didn't notice.
"Heya, sheriff!" Dingodile greeted.
"Oh! Hey there, boy!" Sam greeted back. "I can see that ya didn't take my advice on leaving."
"Well…Uh…" Dingodile said.
"That's right, sheriff!" Coco said brightly. "We're staying! We're gonna find the Koopa Jewels!"
"Now whatcha wanna do that for, missy?" Sam asked. "All those stories about a hidden treasure are just hogwash!" He then turned towards Wily again. "So if you see this ape, be sure to let me know, okay?"
"Alright, sheriff. But I'm afraid it'll do no good." Wily said with a smirk.
"What do you mean it won't do no good?" Sam demanded. "We gotta catch this here ape!"
"But you can't capture it, sheriff." Wily replied with a shrug. "You see…It's a ghost."
"A ghost?" Dingodile, Coco and Sam asked.
"A ghost?" Donkey Kong asked back in the other room, looking just as surprised.
Tiny turned to Donkey Kong and smiled. "That right. A ghost." He said. However, once he did, his eyes opened in realization. Two seconds later, Tiny leapt into the air, screamed and flew out of the room.
Everyone looked and saw Tiny leap at Dingodile, and tackle him. Dingodile stepped back in surprise, but managed to regain his footing. Dingodile place his hands on his hips and looked up, where Tiny had himself wrapped around Dingodile's head in fear (and making it look like Dingodile was wearing a huge, furry hat).
"Tiny, what's wrong with you?" Dingodile asked.
"There monster in there!" Tiny shouted back, pointing off into the room he had come from.
Dingodile showed surprising strength, lifted Tiny off his head and dropped him to the floor. "Don't be ridiculous, Tiny. What kinda monster?" He asked.
Tiny, too scared to talk, reached his arms into the air and started scratching his side, making monkey noises.
"Looks like he imitating the escaped ape!" Sam pointed out.
"You mean…The GHOST ape." Wily corrected, purposefully trying to scare the sheriff.
"Hmph…We'll see what kinda ghost he is." Sam said as he approached the door and held his gun ready. "Okay, you big bundle of fur! Get out before I come in after ya!" Not getting a response, Sam continued. "Okay! Ya leave me no choice! Here I come!"
With that, Sam kicked in the door and walked into the dark room to take down the ape.
To be continued…
Blue Monkey (Ape Escape) is playing the headless horseman's role
Link (in his wolf form) played the wolf's role (and won't appear again)
Bowser (Mario) is playing Colonel Beauregard's role
Dr. Wily (Megaman) is playing Farquard's role
