Gadget, Jorge and Ivan had followed the bio-signature trail to where the boat had ended up. It had been at least over an hour.
"So, when is this trail gonna end, G?" asked Jorge "We've been waiting for at least an hour"
"Yeah, we're stuck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean" said Ivan "I don't see anything"
"Patience, my friends" said Gadget "It could take a while"
Just then, the Gadgetmobile's siren started to make that annoying sound "Attention passengers! We have reached our destination; this strange unknown island. When it comes to traveling to strange places, we know you have no choice whatsoever, but thanks for riding Air Gadgetmobile"
"Land ho!" Gadget extended his arm to point at the island "Set course for that island, Gadgetmobile"
"Sure thing, Inspector" said the Gadgetmobile "And thank God, I think my paint is starting to wash off"
The Gadgetmobile went at breakneck speed and made it to the island, where the stolen ship was. The trio got off the car and set foot on the island.
"We made it gang" said Gadget "Since the stolen ship is here, the thieves must be here somewhere. Go go gadget binoculars!"
Gadget's highly sensitive heat detectors on his binoculars started to scan the place for the biomass's of the thieves.
"Let's see..." Gadget muttered as he scanned the place "They should be here somewhere..."
Just then, Jorge saw something going into the sky.
"Gadget" he tapped on the inspector's shoulder "Mira! Smoke!"
"Huh?" Gadget zoomed in on the imagery and saw the smoke "Wowsers! Smoke! Somebody ought to put that out"
"No Gadget" said Ivan "What Jorge means is that smoke is a sign. When there's smoke, there's a fire and when there's a fire, there's a source and when there's a source..."
"There's someone who started it!" the trio said in unison.
"Then we must follow the smoke to its source" Gadget proclaimed "Come on along boys"
Gadget, Jorge and Ivan walked into the jungle. Using Gadget's handy dandy Gadget-Machete, they managed to survive the depths of the jungle and look for the source of the smoke. Finally, they came across some sort of tribal village in the heart of the jungle.
"Wowsers" said Gadget "It looks like we've found the source of the smoke. It's in this place"
"It appears to be some sort of tribal village" said Ivan.
"I guess that means we're not alone on this island" Gadget remarked "Maybe someone can help us"
Just then, Ivan stepped on a trap and was pulled up and hung by his ankle from a tree.
"Wowsers!" Gadget exclaimed "Ivan! What happened?"
"I don't know" said Ivan "I just took a step and I must've accidentally triggered this trap"
"Don't worry Ivan, we'll get you down" said Jorge.
"Right" said Gadget "Go go gadget, scis-"
Just then, a bunch of natives jumped out of the bushes and drew their spears right at our heroes.
"Aye carumba" Jorge gasped "Natives!"
"Wowsers" Gadget exclaimed "Looks like we've found some locals!"
Just then, a fat man with a staff and feathery hat some other tribal stuff on him arrived.
"Who are you?" asked the man.
"My name is Inspector Gadget, Metro City" Gadget replied "Who might you be, sir?"
"I am Chief Akamunti of the Abanooki people" said the man.
"Nice to meet you chief" Gadget said as he shook the man's hand "As I've told you, I'm Inspector Gadget and this is Jorge..."
"Hola" said Jorge.
"And the bespectacled piƱata hanging from the tree is Ivan" Gadget pointed to Ivan, who was still hanging from the tree.
"A little help?" Ivan grinned.
"Friends or enemies?" the chief asked, sternly.
"We're friends, sir" Gadget told them "You can trust us, I insist"
The chief looked into Gadget's eyes for a while and finally confirmed something.
"You can be trusted" said the chief.
"How do you know that, sir?" asked the chief's right hand man "Is it some ancient technique performed by our ancestors?"
"No" said the chief "This is called 'using your gut', Mandis"
"Works for me" Gadget shrugged "So, where are we, chief?"
"You are on Volcano Island" the chief explained "It is an uncharted island that no outsider has ever set foot on. We are a peace loving race, so we usually don't have feuds or wars"
"If you're a peace loving race, why did your tribe try to attack us?" asked Jorge.
"I'm most sorry for my tribe attacking you, but recent events have impacted on our lives..." said the chief "It all started about five days ago when-"
"Uh, I'm sorry to interrupt this but, could you please get me down?" asked Ivan "All the blood is coming to my brain"
"Oh, sorry Ivan" Gadget chuckled "Go go gadget, scissors"
An extension hand came out of Gadget's hand with some scissors and it cut the vine that was holding Ivan and he fell to the ground. Jorge then helped Ivan get up off the ground.
"Thanks Jorge" said Ivan.
"De nada" Jorge replied.
"So anyways chief, what's going on?" asked Gadget.
The chief cleared his throat "As I was saying, five days ago, I was taking one of my daily strolls when I came across this strange, glowing stone. This stone wasn't like anything I had ever seen, drawing me towards its light. But as soon as I picked up the stone, I was then attacked by a mob of other natives. I lacked the physique to deal with them, so I had no choice but to run away. But the other two were faster, and quickly caught up and backed into a corner. When the situation look it's bleakest, the stone started to glow radiantly, sending the spear guys into a panic and scaring them away. Thus saving my life"
"Wowsers" said Gadget "So then what happened?"
The chief continued "I took it back to my village and showed it to the rest of the tribe. Telling them about how the stone save my life. I then came to the conclusion that the great leaders of old sent it down from the Heavens as a good luck charm and it was mounted atop a statue in the village. Sadly, Good luck was the last thing it brought us..."
"This is gonna get more thrilling, I can tell" Jorge remarked.
"A few days later, a strange prophet from the outside world appeared, and requested to see the stone I had found. Not one to turn down guests, I was happy to oblige" the chief continued "He observed the stone and claimed it to be cursed and dark days will soon befall us, but I was skeptical. Little did I know that this man wasn't a prophet at all and his boss and her henchmen attacked our village with some powerful weapons, capturing most of my tribe. The people that didn't get away were soon enslaved by these outsiders and are being forced into hard labor"
"What kind of hard labor?" asked Ivan.
"They're forcing our shaman to take him to an ancient cathedral where we've kept our worst treasure...the Dark Entity" the chief replied.
"Oh no! Not the Dark Entity! Not that! Anything but that!" Jorge shouted "What's the Dark Entity?"
"The Dark Entity is our ancient enemy" the chief explained "Thousands of years ago, a a mysterious person had opened up a book about the Dark Prophecy and the Dark Entity was released. No one knows how it was made, but it almost plunged the world into darkness"
"Awesome, then what happened?" asked Ivan.
"My ancestors created a counter spell to stop it, using eight different ancient diamonds and they sealed it up in a sarcophagus in a temple" the chief finished "If they release that again, the world is doomed"
"Oh my God! We gotta do something" said Jorge "But what?"
"It's obvious what we must do, Jorge" said Gadget "We have to stop these bad guys from releasing that entity and destroying millions of lives. To begin, let's rescue the enslaved citizens"
"Right" the chief nodded "But I'm afraid I can't take you, I must stay here and look after the rest of the tribe. Two of my bravest men will take you. Mantis! Kantrop! Come here"
Two men came out of some huts with a dark blue panther, a purple aardvark and a red macaw.
"Yes Chief Akamunti?" they groaned.
"I need a favor from you" the chief said as he showed them our main trio "These are our guests; Inspector Gadget, Jorge and Ivan. They are going to free our people from the outsiders that attacked us"
"You are going to free our people?" asked Kantrop "I find that very difficult to believe"
"I may not look like much, but I have some gadgets that can help you guys against the villains. See for yourself" Gadget said as he pressed a button on his coat and showed a bunch of his gadgets.
"Whoa mama!" Mantis exclaimed "Look at those things"
"And I'm pretty sure we have some skills to contribute too, don't we Gadget?" asked Ivan.
"Of course, whatever" Gadget hand waved them "So shall we track down these prisoners?"
"Yes, we shall" said Kantrop "But it's not us who are going to track down our friends, our animals will help!"
"Animals?" asked Jorge.
"Yep" Mantis nodded "These are our animals; our panther Jasper, our aardvark Elton and our macaw, Red"
"How can they lead us to the prison?" asked Ivan.
"It's quite simple, Ivan" said Mantis "Jasper and Elton can track the scent of the missing people with their sensitive sniffers, being predators and all and Red can fly up in the skies and scale the area with his perfect eyesight"
"No need, Mantis" said Gadget "My awesome gadgets can do all those things in the blink of an eye"
"I don't know Gadget, maybe we should try to let them help" Jorge said "After all, these guys know this jungle and island better than we do, it might be good if we let them guide us"
"Yeah, we don't know anything about jungle survival or any of this supernatural mumbo jumbo" Ivan added.
"Fine" Gadget sighed "But we'll still use my gadgets"
"So Mantis, do you or anybody have anything that might have your friends' scent on it?" asked Jorge "Like they do with dogs?"
"Yes, I do" Mantis nodded as he reached in his pocket and took out a bracelet "My wife, Deena was one of the people who got enslaved and captured. This is her charm bracelet I made for her on our wedding day. Jasper, sniff it boy"
Jasper and Elton sniffed the bracelet and started to pick up the scent.
"Quick! Let's follow them" said Kantrop "I think they found the scent"
Our heroes followed the animals, while Gadget looked kind of skeptical.
Meanwhile somewhere on the island, someone had been watching our heroes on their way to where the prisoned people were on some sort of video monitor.
"Well, it looks like my old adversary, Inspector Gadget and his cronies have come to the island! I got them right where I want them" the woman turned to her henchmen "Go after them and bring them to me dead or alive!"
"Yes m'lady" said General Krunk "We will take care of them"
"And you'd better" said their boss "I will destroy Inspector Gadget and his little friends or my name isn't Fiona DuBois!"
Author's Note:
It looks like Gadget, Jorge and Ivan are going to have their work cut out for them with their new allies, Kantrop and Mantis. However, I think Gadget's gonna have a little problem with letting his new allies help. But they'd better watch out because DuBois is back and badder than ever!
