Chapter 3: New Friendships

The next day was another school day, so Diddy left on his way to Kong Kollege. But first, he decided to go visit the new kongs that had arrived the day before to see how they were doing and, in addition, he brought them a few bananas from the reserve.

Diddy arrived at the house where they had stayed and looked out the window. The four new kongs were already starting to wake up.

"Hey, hello! It's me," Diddy called them softly.

The four kongs turned to see him and greeted him with joy.

"Hey? It's Diddy. Hi!"

"Diddy, you're back!"

"Hey, Diddy!"

"Here, I brought you some bananas," Diddy said, handing them the bananas he had brought them.

"Oh, thanks, Diddy!" the young kongs said happily while taking the bananas.

"Will you stay with us for a while?" Chunky asked him.

"Not now, I have to go to school," Diddy replied. "But maybe in the afternoon I will come and take you to see the island a little, what do you think?" he suggested to them kindly.

"That would be great," Chunky replied, smiling.

"Yes, I want to go!" Tiny jumped with excitement.

"Well, but… isn't it dangerous?" Dixie asked, looking a little worried.

"Of course not, Trixie. There are nice and fun places here," Diddy replied.

"It's Dixie," she clarified with a little laugh. "And well, then no problem. Come on later."

"Okay, then we'll go this afternoon," Diddy said goodbye. "See you later!"

Then, Diddy headed towards school. At first, he remained smiling after having gone to greet the group of kongs that he had just met; he hadn't even realized that he was calm this time… until he remembered that he was approaching Kong Kollege, and was now thinking about the group of his bully classmates.

Diddy was arriving and, like the day before, and like almost every day, the quartet of bully children were waiting to do something bad to him. Diddy tried to stay hidden in certain corners near Kong Kollege, trying not to be found by any of those kids, whom he had already seen nearby.

Diddy ducked into the bushes to try to get to the classroom stealthily. When suddenly, Jemky, the orangutan boy, appeared to him by surprise without him being able to see him before. He stood in front of Diddy and grabbed him by the shirt instantly.

"There you are, you rotten lizard!"

"Ugh, you are going to start!" Diddy responded, trying to get free.

"We've got you, you dumb dwarf!" Mandrew exclaimed, appearing along with Melenky and Rocky.

"No! Let me…

Before Diddy could make a defensive move, the four bully kids grabbed him tightly and began to drag him to a hidden corner among the trees. Jemky knocked him down and slammed him to the ground, then Mandrew rushed in with a kick that left him hurting for a while and kept his arms crushed along with Melenky. Meanwhile, Rocky had taken Diddy's backpack to start rummaging through it, and from it he took out his lunch.

"Hey, Melenky, take this!" Rocky said, throwing the lunch, which Melenky took by surprise.

"Uh, are we going to eat it?" Melenky asked, confused as he held the lunch.

"Don't be dumb, throw it away!" Jemky replied.

"Don't even think about it, clown face!" Diddy warned Melenky as Mandrew kept him pinned down.

"Well, it's too bad that you're going to die of hunger this break, dwarf," Melenky told him in a mocking tone.

Melenky hurriedly threw the lunch on the floor and began to trample it until it was destroyed, while laughing with the group.

"Nooo!" Diddy exclaimed, pushing Mandrew away and trying to save his lunch, but it was too late.

Suddenly, Rocky and Melenky grabbed his arms again, and then Jemky and Mandrew took the pieces of Diddy's lunch to start rubbing them in his face, until he was all soaked and caked with food.

"Noo! Leave…!" Diddy exclaimed, trying to open his eyes because his vision was obstructed.

The quartet began to laugh mockingly as they saw Diddy with his face covered in food scraps.

"Buuuh! You're going to be without eating anything, lizard-headed monkey!" Mandrew said, pointing at him and laughing.

"And with your silly face stamped!" Melenky added in the same way.

"Ugh! How I hate you, dumb idiots!" Diddy grumbled at them, before going against them. "You are…"

"Hey, hey, be careful!" Jemky said, holding him by the arms and looking at him menacingly. "Don't stand up to us, you stupid monkey, or you abstain from the consequences…"

"There comes Wrinkly, guys!" Rocky interrupted, looking in one direction. "Act normal!"

Immediately, the quartet rushed to grab some plant leaves and began cleaning up the remains of food on the floor, and even roughly wiped Diddy's face a little.

"Good morning, student..." Wrinkly appeared on the scene, and then observed the stage. "But what has happened here?"

"Uh… Hello, Mrs. Wrinkly!" Jemky answered with a forced smile. "Our little friend Diddy dropped his lunch and we were helping him pick it up and... he also fell right in front of his lunch and it got all over his face."

"Yeah, we're cleaning up the mess," Rocky added in the same way.

"Oh, you're so kind," Wrinkly said, smiling at them. "Well, Diddy, you can go wash your face now, and don't worry about your lunch, you have some very good friends who will surely want to share their lunch with you. Hey, I want to see the four of you sharing your lunches with Diddy right now, okay?" she ordered them.

The four of them made a strange gesture and looked with hidden malice at Diddy when Wrinkly gave them that idea, but they tried to smile anyway.

"Yes... of course, Mrs. Wrinkly," Jemky replied, looking askance at Diddy. "We will give some of our lunch to our little friend."

"Okay, let's go to the classroom now," Wrinkly told them before continuing walking. "Class is going to start."

Following this, everyone entered the classroom. Diddy, with a half-stamped face, stared at his evil classmates, making mocking signs at Wrinkly's suggestion, while they returned the same gestures behind their teacher's back.

"Rotten banana-head monkey," Jemky whispered, rolling his eyes at him.

"Cretinous scoundrels," Diddy responded in the same way.

"See you later, Diddy," Donkey said goodbye from the door of the house. "Are you sure you don't want to come? Funky is taking us surfing today."

"No, I can't now, Donkey. I have to do a very difficult homework," Diddy answered as he looked at his notebooks.

"Okay, buddy. Then see you."

Donkey left and headed to Funky's house because they were meeting Lanky and Swanky at the beach. Diddy had also been invited, but he preferred to stay because he could take advantage of the moment to go out with the new kongs that he had recently met, since he had promised them that he would take them to know the island that same afternoon.

Diddy headed towards the new kongs' house. He had sympathized with them quite well, that he wanted to get to know them more and be able to cheer them up after the events of the previous day.

"Hey, look! It's Diddy!" Tiny exclaimed when she saw Diddy arriving.

"Hi, Diddy!" said the four young kongs.

"Hi! How are you?" Diddy greeted them when he arrived. "Are you ready to go?"

"Of course, little friend," Chunky responded excitedly along with the other three kids. "Where will we go first?"

"What do you think of the beach?" Diddy suggested, smiling at them.

"Sounds great," Dixie replied, smiling, but then became serious. "Uhh, but there's no one who can see us in that place?"

"No, it's empty now," Diddy replied. "And don't worry, there are no dangers out there."

"Okay, no problem then," Tiny said, smiling.

"Well, then let's go," Diddy invited them. "We are not so far."

Diddy took his new friends to one of the beaches in the island, where the water was crystal clear with a calm tide, the sand was flat, and there were huge, colorful palm trees. The new kongs were amazed when they got there. It was certainly a good place to start.

"Wow, this place is fascinating!" Dixie exclaimed, admiring the place.

"Did you see? There's no danger here," Diddy replied, smiling at them. "Do you like playing in the sea?"

"We haven't done it in a while, but we liked to play in the sea," Dixie answered.

"Well, what about now?" Diddy suggested to them, making signs of invitation. "Come on, let's go to the water!"

"Let's see who gets there first!" Tiny exclaimed in a playful tone.

The five kongs immediately ran towards the sea, playfully this time. The water was very cool and there were no strong waves, so it was a perfect day for a dip.

"Hey, I don't think we've bathed on a beach like this in a while," Tiny commented. "Do you come here often, Diddy?" she asked him.

"On certain occasions," he replied. "We usually come here with my uncle Donkey and our herd friends."

"Do you have many friends?" Chunky asked him curiously.

"Well, friends as such, I would say only those from our herd and some who live far away."

"And do you have friends at school too?" Dixie asked. "You said you go to school."

Suddenly, Diddy changed his expression a little at that question, but after a few seconds, he tried to recover his smile as best he could.

"Uhh, actually... no," Diddy responded with a forced smile. "About school, I'd say the kids there aren't so friendly," he added, speaking generally.

"Oh, that doesn't sound fun," Chunky said with his hands at his sides.

"But hey, there's no problem with that either," Diddy added, trying to change the topic. "Well... do you think we play something?"

They had a fun time on the beach, and the new kongs seemed a little happier; the day before they were being threatened by a group of evil apes, but now they seemed to be having a few minutes of fun. For his part, Diddy was also feeling happy that he made them smile a little.

Later, they came out of the sea, and Diddy decided to take them somewhere else to continue cheering them up.

"Hey, how about we go for a walk in the jungle?" Diddy suggested to them.

"Of course," the others responded without thinking so much about it.

Then, Diddy took them into the jungle, he showed them nice places on the island, the waterfalls being the most fun places to have a great time. He also took them to other interesting sites such as the island's mines or the outer temples. The new kongs were delighted with everything, and even seemed to feel comfortable on the tour.

"Hey, Diddy, this all looks great," Chunky commented as he looked around. "Chunky is liking this island."

"I guess it wasn't a bad landing here," Dixie added, smiling.

"And I still need to introduce you to some of our animal friends," Diddy told them. "Do you want to meet them?"

Diddy also took them to meet some other animals that lived on the island, in addition to those that had accompanied him and Donkey on their last adventure...

"... He is Rambi, the rhinoceros. He helped us on our adventure with Donkey…"

"… He is Enguarde, the swordfish…"

"… He is Squawks, the parrot…"

The rest of the day, Diddy took them to many places on the island. They had such a good time that they stayed until late, almost in the evening. Finally, he took them for some coconuts to end the day.

When they were already returning to the quartet's temporary house, they were talking on the way.

"Kiddy was very mischievous," Tiny said, laughing a little. "He once spilled her baby bottle in Chunky's eyes while he was sleeping."

"Oh! Don't even talk," Dixie interrupted. "I still remember when you cut my hair and it looked like a disheveled baboon."

"Hey, I don't remember that!" Tiny replied.

"Dixie, you used to throw food in Chunky's face when you were a toddler too," Chunky added, speaking in the third person.

"I never bothered you, don't lie!" Dixie replied.

"Come on, stop your little conflicts," Diddy interrupted, laughing when he heard their anecdotes.

"Believe me, sometimes I have to put up with these three, even Chunky," Dixie pointed out.

"Hey, Chunky is older than you!" Chunky replied.

"Yes, but sometimes you act like a baby."

The kongs continued talking on the way. They began to tell many family anecdotes about themselves that even made them argue between moments, but which Diddy found somewhat funny.

"Well, we're here," Tiny said when they had reached their house.

"Today was a great day," Dixie said, smiling. "This island is nice. I loved it after all."

"It's true, Chunky hasn't gone for a walk like that in a long time," Chunky added.

"Thank you for taking us, Diddy. You're great!" Tiny said, jumping slightly.

"It's nothing. I'm glad you had a good time," Diddy responded, happy to see them happy.

"Do you want to be our new friend, Diddy?" Chunky said, giving him small pats on the head.

Hearing those words, Diddy smiled; it had been a long time since someone wanted to call him a friend.

"Of course! Why not?" Diddy replied, smiling at them. "By the way, do you want to go out again tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" the four young kongs responded, looking excited.

And so, a few days passed...

Diddy became good friends with the new kongs. When Donkey hung out with Candy or the other kongs, Diddy took the opportunity to hang out with his new friends. He played and spent time with them, took them for walks around the island, they told stories and certain anecdotes about their lives and they had a lot of fun. More and more, these four kongs looked better and seemed more confident in hanging out with Diddy and telling him about themselves. Diddy hadn't made any new contemporary friends for a while.

But Diddy kept wondering: where did the four of them come from? And why did those mandrills chase them and even want to exterminate them? Well, that detail was something that those young kongs didn't want to tell at the moment, they did not even want to mention it; every time Diddy tried to ask them, they totally changed their mood. However, Diddy respected his decision, as he assumed it had to have been some harsh or delicate event and he also didn't want to be reckless with them.

Anyway, Diddy was feeling happier during those days. Even though he had some evil classmates who tormented him daily at school, he now had new friends to play and have fun with. His new friends had given him good impressions and were kind to him and, in the same way, Diddy was kind to them.

A/N: That's it for the third chapter :)

I must admit that the idea of Diddy being tormented by bully children was inspired by other fanfics that I read years ago. Obviously, I did have to apply it with my own ideas, but it helped me a lot to put the story together. Same with the idea that Dixie arrived as a new one on DK Island after... a difficult past situation of her.