Oh boy, some foreshadowing!

Also...I think I'll bump the rating up just a little bit.

...Diddy couldn't tell where he was. First thing he knew, he was sleeping in DK's arms. Next thing he knew, he was in in some-sort of misty swamp. He couldn't tell where he was, nor how he got here.

"Well, well...If it isn't Diddy Kong."

Diddy jumped in response, he looked around to see if anyone was there. That voice didn't sound like anyone he knew, so why was he hearing it all of a sudden?

"I know you're confused, but there is something I must warn you about."

"B-but why?" Diddy asked, "And how do you know my name?"

"That is not important," said the voice. "What I MUST warn you about is your next adventure."

"You mean there's more?" Diddy asked.

"Indeed," said the voice. "Your next adventure will not be an easy one. In fact, many will even try to kill you."

"S-so what should I do?"

The voice went silent for a moment, Diddy felt like he was going to panic before the voice talked again.

"That...is something you'll have to figure out on your own."

"Then what's the point of warning me?"

"All I can tell you is that DK's life rests in your hands."

"W-what!?"

Before Diddy could say anymore, he heard a sinister laugh coming from somewhere. In that instant, he could feel a cannonball go right through his chest.

Diddy gasped for air as he woke up, he felt around his chest to see if he was still alive. Thankfully, he was...But he couldn't help but wonder what that dream was about. He crawled out of DK's arms and made his way over to the pool of lava. He looked at the Tiki Tong statue with an intense look.

"Were you the one talkin' to me?"

Of course, he didn't expect to hear the voice he heard in that dream. But he wondered what they meant when they said DK's life rested in his hands. Diddy wasn't exactly a hero, plus DK can take care of himself just fine. So why ask him to guard DK's life?"

Speaking of which, DK began to wake up, he stretched his arms before scratching his armpit. He looked around confusingly before looking over at Diddy. "Well, aren't you up early."

"Hehe..." Diddy smiled sheepishly, "Y-yeah, of course."

DK put his backpack down, he pulled out an orange. "Anyway, we should probably eat up before we do anything."

"Right," Diddy said as he grabbed a couple peanuts from the bag and started eating them...including the shells.

"...Say, DK?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't happen to have any weird dreams last night, did you?"

DK shook his head. "All I can remember was a huge pile of bananas."

"Huh..." Diddy scratched his head. "Did you hear any weird voices at all?"

"No, did you?"

Diddy nodded. "He was tryin' to warn me about something, I dunno what though."

"Well, maybe it's just Tiki Tong tryin' to help ya out?"

"With what, exactly?"

"I dunno, but it sounds important."

Diddy looked up at the Tiki Tong statue. He wasn't sure if he should bring up the part about guarding DK's life, but it was probably best to keep quiet about it for now. After all, DK can take care of himself.

The Kongs headed outside of the cave, the sun was finally out. Since they no longer had to worry about the snow, they began to head out.

DK looked ahead of himself, he could see smoke in the distance. He knew it couldn't have been the mountain itself, so he had to assume the Kremlings had something to do with it. A little further ahead, and the Kongs could see a village. This wasn't where the smoke was coming from, but it was interesting to look at nonetheless. DK slid down the slope to reach the village. He was followed by Diddy, who sounded like he was having fun as he slid down.

"What is this place, DK?"

"I dunno, but I don't think anyone else is out here."

As far as DK could tell, the houses were all worn down from years of neglect. The windows were broken, the doors were frozen shut. DK wasn't sure about whether this place belonged to the Kongs or the Tikis at some point.

The duo eventually stumbled upon a pair of birds. One of them was an ostrich with shoes on his other bird happened to be Squawks, who was sitting on the Ostrich's back.

"Where have you guys been?" DK asked curiously.

"Well you see, Expresso and I were trying to get those bananas back from the Kremlings," Squawks explained. "To put a long story short, they stuffed me in a box and Expresso had to bust it open."

"So is that why you two are out here?" DK asked. Squawks nodded, "We've also been trying to stay away from one of the Gnawties. He's been chasing us all day."

"Why can't you guys just knock him out?" DK asked before Diddy came to a realization. "Wait, didn't Queen B say something about a Gnawty before we headed up here?"

"...Oh yeah."

The group froze as they heard a loud roar somewhere. Squawks flew off of Expresso's back and landed onto DK's head. "At any rate, we've gotta get moving!"

DK nodded as he climbed onto Expresso's back. He brought Diddy onto the ostrich's neck before the group moved on. Diddy tilted his head, he gave Expresso a confused look. "Is he all right carrying us all like this?"

"Of course," Squawks replied. "Expresso's the strongest bird I know out here!"

Expresso bobbed his head proudly as if he were acknowledging this fact. The ostrich nearly tripped as he heard another roar, this time it was nearby. The Kongs looked back, they could see a massive Gnawty chasing after them. It was twice the size of Very Gnawty, not to mention its fur was darker.

"STEP ON IT, EXPRESSO!" Squawks yelled as Expresso tried to flap his wings. He climbed onto boulder and jumped onto a nearby roof. He leapt from house to house in order to keep away from Really Gnawty, but the beastly beaver didn't care. It ran through the buildings like they were nothing.

"WHAT NOW, DK!?" Diddy asked while holding Expresso for dear life.

"We've gotta knock that thing out, somehow!" DK replied. "Problem is, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to do that."

"Can't you just punch him in the nose like that Very Gnawty back in the mines!?"

"Are you kidding!? That thing could crush me if it wanted to!"

Diddy groaned, he had to think of a way to get rid of that thing. After all, if DK can't do anything, then Diddy would have to think of something. He thought of getting that thing to run into a wall. It was crazy, but somebody had to do it. He jumped off Expresso's neck and ran towards the Gnawty. DK nearly had a heart attack, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

"JUST TRUST ME!" Diddy yelled back as he jumped off the house and stood in front of the Gnawty. He began to wave his arms. "HEY, I BET YOU CAN'T GET ME!"

Really Gnawty turned his head to look at Diddy, the young monkey ran as soon as he was spotted. DK was panicking, he turned Expresso around and began chasing the Gnawty as well. He wasn't going to let Diddy endanger himself like that.

Diddy kept running, he would occasionally turn his back to see if Really Gnawty was still chasing him. Eventually, Diddy made his way to an icy wall. He turned around and waited for Really Gnawty to get close. When the Gnawty lunged, Diddy jumped out of the way. The snow that sat on the wall fell off, it fell on top of the Gnawty as well as Diddy.

"NO!" DK yelled as he jumped off of Expresso's back. He began to dig around through the snow. While Really Gnawty's head was still present, Diddy was completely buried under the snow. Fortunately, it didn't take long for DK to find his nephew...Who was still dazed from from all the snow falling onto him.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" DK yelled out of concern as he grabbed his nephew's shoulders. "You know you could've gotten yourself killed because of that thing!"

"I know that!" Diddy replied.

"THEN WHY'D YOU DO IT!"

"Because I had to do SOMETHING," Diddy said as he looked away while rubbing his arm. "I know it was stupid. But if I hadn't done anything, that thing would still be chasin' us down."

DK was awestruck. Despite all the stuff Diddy had said about himself in that cave, he has really proven himself to be much stronger then the other Kongs give him credit for. Heck, even DK didn't think too much about his nephew. While he didn't have the muscles, Diddy was certainly shaping up to being a great ally.

"Say, Squawks? Do you have any idea where the Kremlings went?" DK asked.

"Of course, they headed off to the old factory." Squawks said. "I think they said something about getting supplies there, I think they're gonna find an easier way to carry those Bananas over to their ship."

"Maybe that's where that smoke's coming from," Diddy said while tugging DK's arm.

"If that's the case, then I hope Expresso won't mind taking us down the mountain."

"And what about me?" Squawks asked.

"You should go find Candy," DK replied. "I'll bet she's made it back home by now."

"You got it," Squawks said as he began to fly off. "Hopefully I'll be able to see you guys back home!"

DK waved good bye before climbing back onto Expresso's back. He placed Diddy back onto Expresso's neck before the group headed down the mountain. DK couldn't help but smile, he couldn't wait to teach those Kremlings a lesson.

Well that was a fun chapter!

And hey, it's not like DKC got famous enough to get a sequel involving pirates...Nope, not at all!