To the island, today was the day that history was once again made by Captain Apex Z. Standing upright, staring at- what he thought was- a mesmerising horizon, directly at the ship at the far end of the island with it's lights beaming.
Removing his hands from his dark blue, jacket, he inhaled the misty products of the air and exhaled them back.
"I don't really know why you're standing at the edge of a mountain side" a voice interrupted his thoughts.
It was Ozzie the elevator operator. If you could call what he operated an elevator. It was basically a wooden structure that would carry you down, assuming the man pushed the lever attached to the mechanisms used to control it tight enough. If he didn't or the ropes snapped, then you would fall thirty foot of the mountain, plunging down into the jagged, large rocks or even the canopy of jungle leaves attached to the sides of the mountain, or perhaps bash your head on the wooden bridges connecting several rocks to the mountain so one could walk towards the doomed cave.
Or you could land in the water and live, but that was pretty much a miracle.
"Give me a few more seconds too finish posing" the tiger called back, resuming his serious face. His eyes were fixed on the two mysterious ships vanishing in the grey clouds in the distant sea. "Okay maximum coolness reached. You were saying?"
"Er right, right," stammered the short, nervous looking man. He appeared quite anxious as he wasn't sure how exactly to use this elevator. The usual worker was absent so he had to fill in. He went onboard one of the "vanishing ships"- as they are called- one day and was never heard from again. "So…you, er, step lightly on the wood…lift, and I'll um lower you down."
"And then I meet the evil guys?" asked Apex.
"Yeah, yeah, sure" the man anxiously nodded. "Zerebrous' right hand men, they are".
"Now you're sure this is safe?" Apex repeated his earlier question.
"Safe? Ha, is that knot tied in securely" the short man joked, laughing. "No, seriously, is it, because I'd like to know, so I don't k-kill anyone. I mean, I've never tried it before, but it c-can't hurt to try, right?"
Apex hummed, uncertain, and stood on the creaking piece of wood.
"Y-y-you don't look that heavy, I'm sure it'll be fine" the man re-assured Apex.
"Maybe I should leave my jacket up here, since weight seems to be a concern" decided Apex, as he didn't want to have to resort to revealing-
Suddenly, the piece of wood gave in to gravity as the mass imploded on the planks, causing it to stray from the ropes attached to it and pummel downwards.
His poor eyes full of tears, his heart painted from red to black, his young wings drenched from the salty teardrops of his own betrayed eyes. There he lay pitying himself, as no one else did. There under the pale moonlight, beside the misty sea with the darkest of nights, Flame was there, despite everything he did she wasn't here. Ten years he forced himself to sit on the decks of Salazar's ghost ship just to protect her. And now finally after ten years when they could be together, she wasn't here. Why wasn't she here? Because of Spyro.
"How long are you going to sulk?" asked the Forever King. "While Nitrix Slazar's rise is imminent"
"Go away!" yelled Flame. "Spyro will handle it, he's the hero, not me".
"No he cannot do it alone, you've travelled with Ember long enough so you know how much it hurt her to leave you as much as it does for you" said the Forever King.
"Ha! 'Hurt her', she chose Spyro"
"Maybe, but Master Eon is out there somewhere, and none of them know how to find it except you" said the King. "The British are coming; Salazar is still out there; Nitrix is coming and so is Malefor, you think a little fire-breather who doubts his own destiny will handle all that? Right now, you are the only one standing in the way of the deaths of thousands of dragons and you do nothing, as the Dead take command of the sea".
"You're right, I know where Eon is, I must bring him home" Flame decided, stretching out his wings.
"Hurry Flame, before the Coming Darkness takes you in as well!" the Forever King yelled as Flame flew out into the sunset.
Not a scream was heard, and Apex' groan was solely due to him standing back up from the hard, cold, rocky surface that surrounded the entrance of the cave, where he now stood. Or lay.
How was this possible? How, you ask? For in Apex' hand he held the Golden Sword, carved by Master Eon himself to slay Nitrix Slazar the first time round. He didn't want to have to reveal it but obviously he had no choice.
Apex stretched his back before walking towards the bright cave entrance. In order for him to first give the map to this Voodoo Lady to decipher for him, he would have to first steal back his map from Zerebrous.
He immediately charged in.
"Stand aside, this is a raid!" he shouted.
Before him was the biggest beehive of gold he had ever set his eyes upon. Below the five step staircase in front of him, was floorboards made of Acacia wood, and on them, gold, diamonds, jewels galore. Apex' eyes widened at this illustrious sight.
"I do not like this tiger, kill him please" a voice interrupted his gaze.
"Why does everyone like doing that to me?" wondered Apex.
"You mean wanting to kill you or interrupting your gazing?" asked a second voice.
It was Lord James' agent, Fink, and another agent of the EITC, who goes by the secret name 'Gold Magnet', his real name was and always will be a secret.
"How can we help you, Mr…?" began Fink.
"And after we help you, then can we kill you?" growled Gold.
"Dr- actually, Dr. Hanzdefewineiufssapasdfrowessn Salazar" lied the tiger.
With that, the two burst out laughing.
"Everyone knows that Salazar's been dead for over eight years!" said Fink in between his hysterical laughter.
"Although, there are those who say that, late at night, if you stare into the fog long enough, you may see the Silent Blade, captained by the lost spirit of Salazar" stated Gold, narrowing his eyes.
"An old legend" snorted Fink. "And I do not believe in spirits. So Apex Z, was it, what is that you want?"
Apex was alarmed that he knew his name, maybe what everyone said about Zerebrous was correct, his eyes really do go everywhere.
"If you knew my name, why'd you ask?" questioned Apex.
"Just to mess with you" grinned Fink. "Zerebrous knows all who enters upon his island."
"How nice to see some fellow rebels become thieves and beggars," Apex responded sarcastically.
"Thieves and beggars? Perhaps. What are you?"
"A thief? Occasionally. An adventurer? On my good days. A hero? When I feel like it."
"Then why not join the British, you'd make a fortune and be a hero?" asked Gold. "Although the post of hero is reserved for the one who destroyed Cynder- Spyro the purple dragon".
"I'd rather not subscribe onto strange little…traders. Not at a time like this" he refused. He had more pressing things to worry about than to return to the Royal Navy.
"Such as?" Gold learned forward. He could already guess why he had come before them.
"The map to World's End" revealed the tiger, although not much of a revelation considering they already knew. "Reyes made it, I had it, you stole it, I want it. Now." Gold hissed in response. "Please."
"But we have so much to offer in the ranks of the Empire, such a place in the governorship of these new realms" offered Fink.
"What is your perception of a 'new realms'?" Apex walked down the stairs, away from the draft coming from the entrance. "Dragons live here, you think they'll led Lord James and Director stupid colonise it?"
"Things have changed, Apex" Gold to learned forward. "These dragons had their time, now it's OUR time to shine, either they move or be moved, I'll have one way and I don't care which".
"Okay, can we skip the lecturing" interrupted Apex, rudely.
Fink nodded behind his back, but was stopped by Gold's sudden and ferocious turn.
"Shall we make a deal then?" proposed Gold. "If you beat us in a friendly game of poker, we shall hand you the map piece you so desperately crave."
Apex edged himself closer to the table and seated himself opposite Fink, beside Gold. Pushing aside the riches, Gold took out a stack of cards, dividing them into three equal sets, one for each of them.
"You, as well as us, know exactly what secrets lay at World's End" Gold whispered, deeply. "Nonetheless, it will cost you nothing less than a fortune for us to give up such a prize, therefore, I propose an alternative. That is, if you trust us?"
Despite his brain telling him to say "I trust you as far as I could throw you" (which wouldn't be that far actually) he replied with a simple "of course".
They took a minute to study there cards, and Apex, while noticing Gold's sneaky glances at his opponents and Fink's 'I'm on your side, what's wrong with you?' look, noticed his own pile of cards appeared widely uneven. For starters, he barely had any cards beyond the number 2. Clearly he had been deceived. Fortunately, the shady sailor that bought him to this mountain side mentioned their trickery, so Apex employed his own tricks.
Secretly, placing the cards in his pocket, he took out a set of five equal card's and gave in.
"Five of a kind! Not even you two can beat that!" he smirked, pushing the five forward. Gold hissed once again.
"You are correct, Apex, we cannot" agreed Gold, a devious grin appearing on his face. "The question remains, however, whether or not you can beat a pair."
"A pair?" asked Apex.
"A pair of murderous agents!" Fink whipped out a pistol. "US, I am talking about US".
"Oh, 'a pair' that's pretty clever" Apex nervously chuckled. "Now now gentlemen".
Suddenly, Ozzie burst open the door above the ladder and looked around. "There's a man out back with a parcel saying you need to sign".
The deathly wind brushed inside the cave, destroying the light stored in the lamps and darkening the entire room.
"There he goes!" yelled Gold, as he and Fink chased him.
"Behind you, you fool!" screamed Gold, leaping down from the balcony and landing on the table.
As another cloud approached, the room darkened even more, making Fink crash onto Gold as he leapt down as well.
"You idiot, get off me!" he shrieked.
"Who are you calling a-
Apex returned to the grass infused with sand beach, where he approached the hooded, man in his small dinghy.
"Got what I need from Lord James' terrible agents" he told him.
"Good, let us leave this place of death" his raspy and dark voice urged.
For it not for his slender and shorter characteristics, Apex could easily mistake him for Reyes.
Keeping to the mist, the hooded man sailed as close towards the shore as possible to get to the other side.
"How I hate this blasted mist" complained the man.
"Really, I think it's pretty" replied Apex.
"Sure it's pretty but EGAD is it dull!"
"You sure you won't be coming with me?"
"No, I've spent too long in the comfort of death, but someone else will help you mark my words- or should I say some dragon" refused the hooded figure. "Plus, my coupon for a free meal at Dead Cavern's is about to expire, and I really love their burgers."
"Does that count as news?" Apex asked the reporter upon arriving back in town.
"You bet!" he cheered. "I got to be honest, going to that creepy lady for news is kinda disturbing, give me one more story and I'll fork over her secrets!"
If any of you have played/ seen Monkey Island 3, you might recall the scene in the cave of Skull Island, when Guybrush has to steal a diamond from the two smugglers, who know all and see all on Blood Island.