The sky was dark and cloudy, blocking the sunlight and turning this bright midday into dusk, little raindrops drizzled on the Kong, and the ground was soaked in the rain. The air was thick with moisture that brought discomforts to whoever trailed through it. Every once in a while, faint thunder can be heard, followed by streaks of lightning across the sky. The winds caused tree branches to sway in great abundance. There were crashes to the forest floor as branches snap and fall. Silence bestowed upon the creatures of this forest. There wasn't the singing of birds, scurrying of rodents, or the galloping of deer. Donkey Kong III was getting soaked in this gloomy day as he stood in the presence of a wooden banana sticking out of the earth. Back when it was freshly made, it was littered with flowers. Now it was bare except for the wildflowers that infested the meadow it lies. It was still in good condition despite the years it was there, showing that it was still regularly upkeep. Engraved in it was the name of a gorilla that brought Donkey Kong III into this world, Donkey Kong Junior.

"Where'd you go, dad?" Donkey Kong thought out loud. "Why'd you have to leave us?"

The rain began to intensify. It was as if the sky opened up into a downpour, or if it was crying so Donkey Kong didn't. Donkey Kong rarely cried, but when his mother broke the news that his father might never be found. He cried. He bawled like a baby. He cried so much that he was suffocating from his own tears. His tears fell so hard that it was like the rain soaking him, a downpour of misery and despair. Through the years, Donkey Kong moved on. Deep inside his soul, however, he was still crying as he did back then. Today marks the 20th anniversary of his father's disappearance. What no better way to commemorate but to visit Donkey Kong Jr.'s memorial.

"Bye, dad," Donkey Kong said as he turned his back to the memorial, "I love you."

He left, leaving the wooden banana alone in the rain.

As he walked with no direction, he pulled out his Nintendo Switch to check the time, 1:00 PM. He has a few hours to kill before he has to go to Donkey Kong Country Returns' 10th-anniversary event. Something he would do anything to get out of. It was different from the other anniversaries, more depressing and mournful. Usually, video game birthdays are fun. Friends and foes push aside their differences aside for a day of celebration and nostalgia. It was a time where many fond memories were made and treasured. Today was the 10th birthday of Donkey Kong Country Returns. People from the human world and characters from the video game worlds will come together. The Kongs and the Tiki Tak Tribe will put their differences aside and celebrate their game. That won't happen and never will. Too many faces were lost in time. Too many faces no longer walk this earth. The world was void of too many faces that makes Donkey Kong Country Returns whole.

As he came back to the group, he discovered Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong conversing while staying dry under the overhang jutting out of a building. Kiddy Kong was having a blast splashing in puddles and running about unfazed by the stormy weather. None of them noticed DK approaching due to the rainfall obscuring the world like fog.

"Has it really been ten years since Donkey Kong Country Returns?" Diddy Kong said to Dixie, "it felt like yesterday."

"Time flies," Dixie said as she watched Kiddy play in a puddle. "so, what were Tikis like? The only Tikis I got to see in person was the Screaming Towers in the Bright Savannah during Tropical Freeze."

"They were unique," Diddy began as he thought back to his interactions with the species, "so little was known about them. It made them fascinating to me. We don't know if they had personalities, emotions, or anything. We don't know if they were really bad or just misunderstood. We don't even know where they came from. They came out of the volcano, but how did they get there?"

"We'll never know," Dixie said. "they're all dead now."

"I know," Diddy said. "It's just that they were so interesting, and now we can't ask them any questions. Heck, we don't even know if they can speak any language or how they communicated. There are so many mysteries involving them that will never be solved."

"Don't think about it too much, Diddy," Dixie said with a small smile as she tried to cheer him up. "You can't do anything about it now."

"I know," Diddy said, staring out into the rain and watching Kiddy flail about in the raindrops, "They were villains and all, but do they deserve death? I just wish Donkey Kong Country Returns ended differently."

"There's a lot of things that we wished gone differently," DK said, butting into the conversation. The gorilla stepped out of the covering the downpour gave him from preying eyes. "There are so many moments in time where you wish you can step back and correct mistakes, loss, tragedy. You can't. Time moves forward whether you like it or not. You just have to live with it. Move on from those tragedies. Life is ugly but could be beautiful as well."

"When did you act smart?" Dixie asked a bit caught off guard. Donkey Kong III is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Half the time, he was as bright as this rainy, stormy day. He had a banana brain that was hooked on bananas but protective of his family and friends. He's the last gorilla that anyone would've thought to say a speech like that.

"I'm smarter when I'm depressed," Donkey Kong answered.