A/N: This chapter will be longer.
Chapter 5: An Untold Secret
The next morning, Diddy was walking to school. Although he had been in a better mood during those days, it disappeared when it was time to go to Kong Kollege. He wished he didn't have to go, but it was a good custom that every Kong should receive a school education, especially if he wanted to become a hero like Donkey one day.
Upon arriving at school, Diddy detected no sign of his annoying classmates, so he calmly passed by to try to get to the classroom... or at least he tried.
"There's that monkey!" Jemky pointed out, appearing behind Diddy, and then the other three bully kids crowded against him and began to grab his limbs to attack him. Diddy was going to react and try to hit him back, but it didn't work.
"No!... LET ME GO!" Diddy pleaded as he tried to get out of the four kids. Generally, they were stronger than him and he almost never managed to win a fight against them.
Suddenly, Jemky slammed him to the ground while the other three kids trampled on his limbs. Diddy began to get more desperate, to the point of having to act defensively, and as best he could, he spontaneously kicked Jemky in the face; it was so strong that the latter screamed in pain.
"Ahhh! Worm-faced vermin monkey!" the orangutan boy shouted as he rubbed his face.
The other three children of the group went to help Jemky, who had a bruise on his nose due to the blow he received from Diddy.
"Are you okay, Jemky?" Mandrew told him and, immediately, the bully kids glared at Diddy. He just smiled at them, showing his teeth.
"Finish him off!" Rocky yelled.
Again, the four of them lunged at Diddy. He was going to escape until Rocky grabbed him by the tail and turned him upside down before Mandrew grabbed him by the neck aggressively.
"Listen to me, you stupid dwarf!" Mandrew warned him, while Diddy made a pleading face. "You know it's not good for you to counterattack us!"
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
Immediately, Diddy received a hard blow to the eye from Mandrew, causing a bruise. Diddy screamed in pain, much louder than Jemky. That was the main reason why he didn't usually defend himself well against them, since they always hit him back harder no matter what.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Mandrew repeated in a sarcastic tone.
"Well, you already know what our rules are, little lizard," Rocky added, taking him by the neck. "Don't tell Wrinkly or your uncle... or you'll see what we're capable of! Did you hear?!"
Diddy became so enraged by the blow he had received and, standing upside down, he rushed in to give some quick slaps in the face, this time to Mandrew and Rocky, getting them to let go of him. Diddy didn't stay any longer and ran out of there as fast as he could, while the four of them went after him, until they finally lost sight of him.
"This shameless monkey!" Rocky exclaimed, trying to look for him with the group.
"That idiot is going to pay me dearly!" Jemky added as he held his nose. "Just wait!"
Diddy continued running until he got back to his house and entered it with such desperation. He didn't want to go back to school again for the moment and had almost collapsed. He closed the door immediately while he was breathing heavily, although he didn't notice the presence of Donkey, who was coming out of his room.
Donkey saw Diddy arrive and noticed that he was exhausted, desperate... and with a bruised eye, although Diddy tried to regain his normal posture.
"Diddy! What happened? Why did you come back early?… Huh?! But what happened to your eye?!" Donkey exclaimed, shocked when he saw Diddy's eye in that state.
"Uhh, n-nothing, I just... I fell out of a tree," Diddy said quickly and trying to cover his eye; his last words were the first thing he could think to say.
"Oh, no!" Donkey exclaimed, stamping his feet forward. "Don't tell me they were your so-called friends."
"What?! Oh, you're about to start. Why would they do something like that to me?" Diddy replied, trying to imply that Donkey was crazy.
"That face doesn't convince me, I know they did that and now at this very moment I'm going to go talk to them," Donkey said firmly.
"What?! Hey, what are you saying?!" Diddy exclaimed, panicking. "Wait, wait! Why would you want to talk to them? I do not think that…"
"Nothing to wait for!" Donkey pushed Diddy away from the door, before leaving. "You don't want to tell me but I know, my instinct doesn't fail! Besides, this isn't the first time you've come home with an injury like that."
"But I already told you that I fell from a tree!" Diddy exclaimed, begging that Donkey won't talk to the four bully kids.
"Oh, of course, from a tree. And then why are you so scared?" Donkey replied ironically, and then ran straight towards the school.
"Donkey!"
Diddy tried to catch up and stop him, but Donkey was already going further away. He began to panic, since he didn't want Donkey to go to Kong Kollege to talk to that quartet, much less for him to bring up that topic with them. He had begun to shake in despair.
Donkey arrived at the school with a confrontational attitude and saw the group of Diddy's "friends" gathered, whom he then approached. Diddy, who was behind Donkey, decided to hide in the bushes to watch, fearing what would happen. At that moment, he felt his blood running inside his body.
"You!" Donkey exclaimed and, immediately, the four kids turned to look at him. "You know who I am, right?"
The group of bully children stood still and just looked at each other as if they didn't know what to say.
"Uhh, you seem familiar to me, sir," Melenky told him with a forced smile.
"By any chance, you... haven't hit Diddy in the eye, huh?" Donkey told them directly and giving them a hardened look.
"What?!" Mandrew exclaimed, looking shocked. "And why would we do something like that to Diddy? We haven't done anything to him."
"Are you sure?!" Donkey exclaimed, raising his voice. "And then what happened to him! Did you do something to him?!"
"O-of course not!" replied Rocky, looking at him strangely. "Hey, Mr. Donkey, what's this about? Why do you accuse us like this?"
"If Diddy is our friend," Jemky added in the same way. "Why do you tell us that? I don't know what you're talking about."
"Huh, no?!" Donkey exclaimed angrily. "Diddy, come here!"
Diddy came out of the bush shaking with fear and with his eye black, hoping that the quartet kids weren't thinking he had reported them.
"Check this out!" Donkey said as he picked up Diddy and pointed to his eye. "Tell me if it wasn't you."
The four kids seemed not to know what to say, although deep down they could see that they wanted to massacre Diddy, since they might have thought that he had already reported them and they only looked at him out of the corner of their eye, while Diddy could feel the thirst for revenge in them.
"Uhh, Donkey, I already told you I fell out of a tree and that's all," Diddy reaffirmed with a shaky voice as an excuse for the group.
"Ohh, that. Yes, that's true," Jemky playing along, showing the wound on his nose. "We were playing with Diddy and suddenly we fell out of a tree. Just look at my nose!"
"Hey, but we didn't know that Diddy had hit himself in the eye," Melenky added in the same way. "Diddy, why didn't you tell us?"
"Or rather, weren't you fighting?!" Donkey interrupted, still looking at them suspiciously.
"Good morning, children!" Wrinkly appeared, and the situation calmed down immediately "Oh, Donkey, good morning! What are you doing here..."
"Wrinkly! You must keep a good eye on these children. Look!" Donkey interrupted, showing Diddy's black eye. "I'm sure they did this to Diddy."
"Hey, no, it's not true..." Diddy hastened to say trying to "save" the situation. "Of course not, I fell from a tree while playing with my friends, but Donkey doesn't want to believe me, he's speculating around. Look, Jemky was also injured."
"Yes, I hit my nose and Diddy in the eye," Jemky added, rubbing his nose. "Diddy got scared and wanted to go home after we fell."
"Yes, it was that," Diddy added, going with the flow. "I went to the house to tell Donkey to help my wound, but he came out saying out of nowhere that my friends did this to me."
"Oh, it can't be! Poor children," Wrinkly sympathized, placing her hands on Diddy and Jemky's shoulders. "Now I'll put a bandage on you, and you should be more careful the next time you walk in the trees, my little ones."
"Grandma! Do you ignore my guess?" Donkey exclaimed in frustration.
Wrinkly never realized what was really going on, as she always thought that all her students were well-behaved and wouldn't be capable of any cruelty.
"Donkey, but what are you saying? My students are very well-behaved and get along very well with each other," Wrinkly told him. "Where did you get those ideas?"
"You see, I always look at Diddy with fear when he comes to school, he doesn't want to talk to me about his friends, and the last thing he told me was that they were fighting and...
"No, no, no! That was before, we're not fighting anymore," Diddy interrupted, trying to deflect the matter. "It had been just a silly fight."
"Well, as far as I've seen, Diddy gets along very well with his friends," Wrinkly told Donkey. "I don't understand why you come to say such accusations; Diddy himself just said that he fell from the tree."
"But, Grandma! You'd better keep an eye on them," Donkey insisted. "It's serious."
"But if Diddy just explained it, boy!" Wrinkly replied. "They're saying they only had one accident... Oh, and look! It's getting late, class is about to start. Come on, kids, come in!"
"B-but... Oh, these grandparents of mine!" Donkey complained quietly.
Wrinkly, along with the five students, began to head toward the classroom. The quartet of bad kids looked menacing but sneakily at Diddy, while Diddy tried to stay serious in Wrinkly's presence.
Diddy only said goodbye to Donkey from a distance with an uncertain look, while the latter was only frustrated, mostly by Wrinkly's disbelief. And also, Diddy didn't want to speak the truth... He feared that a conflict would be generated, he even felt terrible that he could not have spoken about it at that moment he had the opportunity.
At night, Donkey changed Diddy's blindfold and cleaned his eye with medicinal products. For his part, Diddy stuck with his excuse that he had "fallen from a tree." Still, Donkey seemed unconvinced; he sensed that something bad was happening to Diddy regarding his "friends", he noticed it since the school year began. Diddy just kept quiet about the issue.
Later, they headed towards the new house of the new kongs: Dixie, Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky, since, as Funky had planned, there was going to be a welcome party for them.
The party was going to be celebrated outside the new house, and everything was being prepared. There was a small stage with lots of jungle-style lights and ornaments, and the kongs waited for everyone to arrive. Of course, this time it was a small party only between the Kong family along with Kiddy, Chunky, Dixie, and Tiny.
Then, Donkey and Diddy arrived, and greeted the others.
"Hi, bros!" Funky greeted them. "Good thing you arrived."
"Hi, Funky. How is it going?" Donkey asked with joy. "Have you already started?"
"Not yet, you have to wait a few minutes while I sort out some things. And, by the way, there will be games!"
"Great!" Diddy replied with emotion.
"Huh! What do you have in your eye, Diddy?" Funky asked him as he noticed his blindfolded eye.
"Uhh, I fell from a tree while playing with my friends at school," Diddy replied, sounding as truthful as he could. Donkey just became serious and moved his head side to side as he remembered the matter.
"Woah, brother! You should be more careful," Funky suggested. "Don't throw yourself like that or you can scatter... Well, bros, I have to keep ordering everything, see you," he added before going to continue with the preparations.
"Donkey Kong!" said a female voice that Donkey recognized immediately.
"Candy!" Donkey exclaimed, turning to look at his girlfriend. "Oh, you look beautiful as always."
Suddenly, the Kong couple embraced, and they began to say love flattery to each other as usual.
"You look so handsome, honey," Candy replied, before noticing Diddy. "Oh, hi, Diddy, how have you been... Uhh, excuse me, what's happened to your eye?"
"According to him, he fell from a tree," Donkey replied, not so convinced yet, before continuing to talk to Candy. "And how are you doing, my little piece of heaven?"
Then, Donkey with Candy started with their affairs, their nicknames and their flirtations of couples... earning a few strange looks from Diddy; he liked to see them together, although sometimes he became funny and somewhat cloying when they started to get romantic.
"They've already started," Diddy said quietly and shrugged.
As Donkey stayed with Candy, Diddy headed off to see what the others were doing. He went to Lanky, who was preparing the meal.
"Hi, Lanky," Diddy said with a smile.
"Hi, Diddy, how do you... Huh! And your eye?" Lanky said interruptedly when the first thing that caught his attention was Diddy's blindfolded eye.
"Uh, I just fell from a tree," Diddy replied, somewhat uncomfortable that he had asked him that.
"Oh, be careful next time, little kid. Don't go hurting yourself like that," Lanky said, patting Diddy on the head, then left to hand out food.
Diddy had nothing to do at the time; Donkey was with Candy, Lanky delivering food, Funky with the preparations, and Cranky and Wrinkly were just talking about their younger days, so he wouldn't go to meet them either.
"Hey, Diddy!" Wrinkly called him as she saw him pass.
"Hi, Wrinkly," Diddy replied, greeting her and heading towards her.
"How about you, little kid? How is your eye?"
"It's all good. It only hurts a little," he replied, half-smiling.
"Well, with the days you'll recover, dear," Wrinkly said, smiling at him.
"Yes... I hope so, too," Diddy said, staying normal.
"Oh, and by the way, Diddy... only I want you to tell me something," Wrinkly said, staring at him, which began to make Diddy tense. "Did you and Jemky really fall from a tree?... Weren't you fighting or something?"
Diddy became much more tense when he saw that Wrinkly might have some suspicions of the matter just like Donkey. He felt an enormous urge to tell the truth, but he couldn't; he didn't want to think about what might happen next if he did.
"Uh, no... We really fell from a tree," Diddy replied with a forced smile before making up a false story. "What happened was that the five of us were playing on the branches of the tree, and then Melenky started jumping and the branch loosened. Mandrew, Melenky and Rocky managed to hold each other, but Jemky and I couldn't. And then I ran to Donkey to help me with the wound, but he made up another story."
Diddy begged in his mind that his false story had sounded believable. Wrinkly stared at him for a few seconds as she analyzed whether what Diddy said was true, until she then nodded.
"Okay, okay, Diddy," Wrinkly said before giving a sigh. "I just want to tell you one thing: any inconvenience you may have... I'm here to help you, don't forget."
Diddy was silent for a while; he needed to tell the whole real situation, but at the same time, fear won him. He just smiled at Wrinkly and continued to assure her that everything was fine.
Diddy kept going around to see what the other kongs were doing. Dixie, Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky were gathered at the table along with Swanky, who told them of his stories. Immediately, Diddy joined them to see his friends.
"... and that's how I got my gold tooth," Swanky told his stories as an entrepreneur ape. "Not easy as you could tell," he added with a few small laughs.
"Wow!" exclaimed the four young kongs in unison.
"Hey, hi, Diddy!" Tiny said as she saw Diddy arrive, and everyone turned to see him.
"Hi, Diddy!" exclaimed the rest. Suddenly... they were also shocked to see Diddy blindfolded.
"Huh! But what happened to his…" Chunky was going to ask until Diddy interrupted him.
"Uhh, I just fell from a tree while playing with my school friends, that's all," Diddy repeated his excuse for the umpteenth time and tried to smile.
"Oh, Diddy, you need to be more careful when you go over the trees," Swanky added.
"Come and hear Swanky's stories, they're very interesting," Chunky said, smiling. "Chunky found them funny."
Swanky kept telling of his luxurious life while the others listened to him. But a while later, Diddy retired, as he had already heard those stories a bunch of times.
Actually, Diddy was somewhat discouraged by his eye. He wanted to be excited for the party and share good times with others, but everyone asked him only for his eye as soon as they saw him, and that made him remember the bad time he had at school. In turn, he was tired of repeating the same lie that he fell from a tree. It was not the first time that his four bad classmates left him with physical injuries because of the fights.
Diddy didn't know what else to do, so he went to sit on a rock behind the stage. He stood there for a few minutes thinking about how fake his school friends turned out to be, how they became school bullies to him, and that he couldn't tell Wrinkly or Donkey about that inconvenience, fearing those four kids would cause major harm if he reported them.
"Diddy?" said someone arriving at that same place. Diddy realized it was just Dixie. "What are you doing around here?"
"Uh... Nothing, I just came to stay here for a while," he replied with a dull tone and lowering his gaze.
"Oh, you're sore from your eye, aren't you?" Dixie asked him as she sat next to him. "How did you fall from a tree?"
Diddy, about to want to explode, was tired of repeating the same excuse when someone asked him that question; he wanted for a moment to be completely honest about the situation.
"Well... I didn't really fall from any trees," Diddy said, sighing in frustration.
"And then?"
"It was my classmates," Diddy replied anguished, before opening his eyes to the fullest at what he had just said. "Uhh, I-I mean... No…"
"What?" Dixie exclaimed, looking at him strangely. "Classmates?…"
"No, no, no!" Diddy was left not knowing what else to say. "J-just I fell off the tree while playing with my classmates," he finished trying to fix the answer.
"Did you mean... that your classmates did that to you?" Dixie asked him as if she no longer believed such an excuse.
Diddy couldn't help but put on a face of some indignation after hearing what was really happening to him. Suddenly, he was exposed to the truth. He just sighed and looked down again.
"Well... Yes... Yes, that," he replied unconfidently and looking away. "Uh, b-but don't tell anyone, please!" he added with despair at such an attack of sincerity that he had... He had never said it before, and as if he had thought aloud at the time, he mentioned anything about it for the first time.
"What?... Oh, don't worry, I don't say anything," Dixie said with a small laugh as she saw Diddy's change of reaction. "But why? I don't think classmates are that bad... Or was it really a bad situation?"
"Well... is that you wouldn't understand... It's a long explanation."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, if you want to, don't tell it now," Dixie replied apologetically. "Huh, sorry to ask, but is it something serious or similar?"
Diddy didn't know whether to tell her or not. Although deep down he needed to tell someone, the fear of what might happen next dominated him, he had even regretted saying that... But after thinking about it for a moment, he had realized that he had already been very obvious in front of Dixie; She was one of his new friends, who had been a refuge for him in those last days, and perhaps because of that he had been invaded by the attack of sincerity.
"Well, you'll see... J-Just don't tell anyone this, do you?" Diddy said, trying to take courage to tell it, which by the way, was the first time he had spoken it. "It's just... Four classmates of mine always bother me at school, and this morning while they were beating me, I fought back and then they hit me back in the eye... And I lied to Donkey that I had only fallen from a tree."
"Really? But why did they do that to you?... And why didn't you tell Donkey?" Dixie asked as she realized the situation wasn't that simple. "Are those children really that bad?"
"It's... a long history with those four," Diddy replied with his eyes lowered. "I've never really been able to tell it well."
"Oh... Okay, I guess it's kind of hard, right?" Dixie said in a tone of compassion, and Diddy just nodded with a low look. "You know? Whatever happened, I think you should tell Donkey, from what I see."
"I can't do it," replied Diddy, trying not to lose his cool. "I mean... I think you'd have to know what happened to understand it, sorry."
Dixie watched him with some strangeness; she seemed not yet to understand Diddy's situation and was surprised by the attitude he was having, since he had never shown himself like this in front of his new friends.
"Diddy... You can talk about it if you want," she said, trying to cheer him up. "Sure, if you feel ready. I don't think it's a good idea to keep things to yourself when it's a serious situation like you're mentioning."
"Okay, but please... Seriously, don't tell anyone," Diddy pleaded with his eyes.
Diddy, although hesitating a little, dared to tell a story that he had not been able to reveal even to Donkey... Something that had been tormenting him for a long time...
...
As I told you, I have some classmates at school who are annoying cretins. They were my friends at first, in fact, with the only ones in the classroom I've ever hung out with. I met them about a year ago, in the last school cycle.
Diddy began by telling his first day of school, where a new school year was beginning. Everything was new to him, as almost all of his classmates were new. He, during break hours, went out and tried to talk to all his new classmates; with the previous ones he had had, he had formed good friendships, but these were no longer there and he no longer had anyone to hang with. He went to a group of three kong children to speak to them.
"Hello, how are you?!" Diddy said to the group.
But the three of them just looked at him with a strange face as if they had been greeted by a stranger they didn't want to meet.
"Hello," one of them replied with the greatest indifference, and after that they walked away.
Diddy shrugged at that bad gesture, so he went to a group of two kong girls to try again.
"Hello," Diddy greeted them. "What are your names?"
"None of your business, monkey," one of them replied, looking at him strangely, and they walked away too.
Diddy, being ignored again, went to another group of four orangutan and chimpanzee children. This time, he would have more hope of making new friends.
"Hello... Uh, I'm Diddy"
But everyone in the groups looked at him as if he seemed like a weird kid to them. They didn't say anything to him and walked away from him almost instantly. Diddy, seeing that no one wanted to talk to him, was frustrated and had no choice but to go and sit in a corner by himself.
"Hey, monkey!" someone called him suddenly.
Diddy turned to look. The callers were another group of four kong children to whom he had not yet spoken to them.
"Are you alone?" one of those children asked him. "Come here."
Diddy thought about it for a few seconds, but then agreed and approached that group made up of an orangutan, a mandrill, a red-shanked langur and a capuchin monkey. This group of children, unlike the rest, did want to talk to him, although Diddy did not take it that way at first.
"Come, don't look at us like that. Nobody wants to talk to us either," the orangutan boy said with a few small laughs. "We can be your friends if you want. What's your name?"
"Uh... I'm Diddy," he replied, still looking at them strangely.
"Okay, Diddy. I am Jemky, and they are Mandrew, Melenky and Rocky," he pointed to each one, and they greeted Diddy smiling at him. "And yes, we are just like you, nobody here wants to meet to us."
"Yes, all kids here are kind of unfriendly," Rocky added, shrugging.
"Kids are weird here," Mandrew said likewise.
"Are you from this island, Diddy?" Melenky asked.
"Absolutely," Diddy replied, starting to take a little confidence and smiling back. "Don't you?"
"No, we're from a small island near here," replied Mandrew. "Its name is Z Island."
"We travel every day," Melenky added. "Our dads signed us up for this school... although we didn't want to."
"So, you also come from another school?" Diddy asked them.
"Well, before we came here, we were in a shelter," Rocky replied. "But... we had some problems there and our dads took us out."
"Now tell us about yourself, little monkey," Jemky continued, smiling at him. "How long have you been at this school?"
"Do you like adventures?" Mandrew added in the same way.
They looked very friendly, so I kept talking to them. Days later, we hung out at break or in free hours. There was nothing wrong with them apparently, so we became good friends, since just like me, no one in the classroom wanted to talk to them. We were like those excluded from the class, but at least we were a group and we had a good time.
"Hey, let's play 'the rolled monkey'," Mandrew once said.
"Oh, right! Let Rocky be the rolled," Melenky said.
"And why am I?" Rocky replied. "Better you."
At that time, I liked them very much. They were just a bit rough to play with and sometimes made heavy jokes, but I didn't take it such importance back then. There were even times when they would come to DK Island in the afternoons and we would go out to play.
"Hey, Diddy, do you want to go with us tomorrow afternoon to see our island?" Jemky proposed on another occasion. "It's not far away."
"We'll do a lot of fun things there," Melenky added with emotion. "Come on, Diddy!"
"Sounds great," Diddy replied, smiling at them. "I'll tell Donkey and then let you know, okay?
I agreed to go. For a couple of months, everything had gone well with them, so there would be no problem... Or at least that's what I thought until I went with them to their island.
"Hey, but what place is that?" Diddy asked, looking confused. "And why do you disguise yourselves like that?"
"Because only adult apes are allowed to buy here," whispered Jemky who was standing on Mandrew's shoulders, and both had put a long jacket around to simulate a tall stature. The two also carried a sack with various objects, and then entered a corner between large bushes to be absent for a while.
"And what are they for?" Diddy pointed to the sack.
"Oh, they're jewels. They were from an ape gentleman and we took them," Rocky replied with a shrug. "Jemky and Mandrew will go sell them to get our sweets. We will leave some for you too, don't worry."
"Did you take them?" asked Diddy, looking at them strangely. "So, did you steal them?"
"We didn't steal them," Melenky replied. "That gentleman had left them in a corner for a while and then we took them and that's it."
"Done! We already got those sweets with millipedes," Jemky exclaimed, returning with Mandrew, before coming down from his shoulders.
Jemky brought a tray with what appeared to be colorful candy lollipops, while Mandrew carried a box, which he later opened and showed a pile of millipedes running inside it. Diddy just looked weirdly at these elements.
"And… what is that for?" Diddy asked them.
"You'll see," Jemky replied, smiling at him. "We will let you try, don't worry."
The quartet headed into another corner, and Diddy followed. Upon arriving there, Diddy was confused and surprised at what his friends at the time began to do: they had lit a fire, on which they placed a container containing a liquid that they had extracted from the millipedes by squeezing them. Following that, the four of them took a sweet lollipop each and started smearing them on it, and even handed one to Diddy.
"B-But what is this?" Diddy asked, looking strangely at them and the lollipop.
"Try them! You'll like them," Melenky said, giving him a little push. "They will only make you laugh."
"B-but this is... millipede poison, isn't it?" replied Diddy.
"Yes, but fear not, it won't hurt you," Jemky told him. "On the contrary... It will be the best thing you've ever tasted."
Then, the four of them tasted the covered lollipops as if they were any other candy, while Diddy was still hesitant to do so. Suddenly... the four kids began to show smiles on their faces that turned into sudden laughter, which earned some odd looks from Diddy.
"Hey, try it, what are you waiting for?!" Mandrew told him as he laughed as he spoke. "Try it!" he exclaimed, giving him a little push.
The four of them were now laughing nonstop and for no reason, which was all the odd thing for Diddy. Then, for a moment of curiosity, Diddy was going to give the lollipop a little taste, but as soon as he had the first contact, he expelled it immediately and almost let go of the lollipop.
"But what the heck is this?!" exclaimed Diddy in extreme disgust. "This tastes horrible!"
"Yeah, yeah, that's what we thought at first!" Jemky replied amid laughter. "B-but then it's great!"
"Try it, Diddy, don't be boring!" said Mandrew, giving him a push and laughing out loud.
Diddy just looked at them with some disgust now, and was even uncomfortable with the situation, so he just threw the lollipop and even wanted to get away from the group.
"Hey, why do you throw it?! Don't waste it!" Rocky replied as if he wanted to reproach him, but without ceasing to laugh at the same time.
Things were changing when I started going out with them to their island where they live. They were no longer the same ones I thought I had met and began to show their bad attitudes. They stole the belongings of others and then ran away and later even sold them, and with that... they only bought those strange sweets with millipede poison. They also liked to play jokes and annoy other animals, especially those that were younger.
"Look, we're going to take the toy from that little monkey," Mandrew pointed to a little child kong, who was playing with a small toy monkey near a stream.
"What?" But we can't do that," Diddy objected. "You said we were going to make jokes, but not of this kind."
"You just watch," Mandrew replied with a mischievous smile.
The group went up to the little kong boy and snatched his toy. Afterwards, they threw him into the stream and laughed at him as he began to cry. They even later pushed the little kong into the water.
"Hey, but what's wrong with you?!" Diddy replied after seeing his wickedness. "It's a little boy!"
"Oh, relax, Diddy. This is fun," Melenky replied as if it were a simple game. "Look at that gentleman over there!" he pointed to an adult Kong who was walking. "I think we should make him fall down."
"Let's throw stones at him so he stumbles and then take anything he has," Jemky added, smiling maliciously. "Let's go!"
Subsequently, the group went to where they had seen the adult kong. Meanwhile, Diddy stayed to rescue the toy of the little kong boy and then return him and, of course, help him too.
They went like that for a few days, and for almost all the bad jokes and misdeeds they made, I was trying to help their victims in some way, and without them noticing. I told those four that it was not right what they did, but they took it as a joke, and even behaving like that seemed to make them feel good.
"Hey, where are you going, Diddy?! Jemky exclaimed, pulling Diddy's shirt as he was taking some jewelry that they had stolen from someone. "Oh, don't tell me that you were going to give them back to that gorilla lady?!"
"What's wrong with you, Diddy?" Mandrew replied, looking at him reproachfully. "Don't want to be part of our group? Aren't you our friend?"
"Sure, but don't you realize what you're doing? I mean, you are stealing, you are taking other people's objects, that is not...
"Oh, Diddy, Diddy!" interrupted Rocky. "Look, it's not the first time we've done this, you just go with the flow... Think that with all these things we can get many sweets, and above all... A lot of those lollipops with millipedes," he added, whispering in the last sentence.
"But not this way!" Diddy replied in opposition. "And those millipedes are…"
"Oh, don't be boring, Diddy!" Mandrew said, giving him a little push. "Don't be silly, just relax and have fun with us."
"Yeah, stop being a silly kid," Melenky added in the same way. "We will make you try more of the millipede sweets so that you pass."
I didn't like them anymore; I didn't even want to consider them friends anymore and I only hung out with them to see what evils they did and try to remedy them. But everything was worse afterwards...
"Well, Diddy, it looks like you're already one of us, and we brought you a gift," Jemky said, pulling what appeared to be a gun out of a bag and handed it to Diddy. There were other guns in the bag, which looked complex enough to be for children their age.
"Wow! Will we play soldiers or something?" Diddy asked them curiously as he looked at it in his hands.
"Will we play, you say?" said Mandrew in a mocking tone. "But if they are real guns, the ones that shoot."
"But what?!" Diddy exclaimed in shock. "And where did you get them?"
"Our dads gave them to us for our birthdays," Jemky replied excitedly, as each of the group picked up a gun.
"And look, we kept one for you so you can join us in our games too," Rocky added in a tone of malice.
"With these we will get someone's belongings more easily," Mandrew exclaimed with emotion.
"Oh, no, no, no, not like that!" Diddy countered, leaving the gun on the ground. "This is already too much!"
"Hey, but what do you say?!" Melenky replied, looking at him strangely. "Don't you want to play with us?"
"No!" Diddy replied. "You guys already go too far, I'm not going to be like you, and…"
Suddenly, Jemky grabbed him by the shirt, gave him a threatening look, and immediately pointed the gun at his head. Diddy froze and began to feel instantly terrified at this unexpected gesture.
"Diddy... You will be like us, you are already one of us," Jemky told him, looking at him in a threatening way. "Oh, and be careful to tell Wrinkly or whoever about this because if not... we'll end you!" he added, pressing the gun further against his head and then releasing him abruptly. "Now pick that up and join us. And put the charger on it! If not, it's not going to work," he ordered, picking up and handing him the gun charger.
I followed them, and they began to do the same evils, only this time, they stolethe belongings of their victims pointing those weapons at them, and that gave them more facilities to do so.
"This is an assault, sir!" Jemky exclaimed as the four pointed with the guns at an adult ape carrying jewels, which they snatched without consideration, before running away. Surreptitiously, Diddy took the jewels again and returned them to the ape later.
They forced me to do the same as them, but as much as possible I also kept trying to help their victims. Now I had to be careful that they did not discover me, since they told me that if I was not like them, they would also end me. They turned out to be robbers after all.
"Give me that!" Melenky ordered another ape, snatching a bag, but he resisted him.
"What's wrong with you,brat boy?!" replied the ape.
"Huh, aren't you going to give it to us?!" Jemky replied, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the ape's stomach.
The rest of the quartet also drew their guns and, instantly, left that ape paralyzed and took his belongings. Although, minutes later, Diddy returned with them and returned them to the ape, making a gesture of silence to him before returning to the group.
At the end of that same day, when they were going to cross the line, I decided to stop them in any way; I couldn't let them do worse.
"Well, from what I see, you don't know how to use a gun, Diddy," Jemky said, looking at him in disgust. "But we're going to teach you!"
"But!" Diddy exclaimed in confusion. "I... I don't want to!"
"We'll teach you, I SAID!" Jemky replied, grabbing Diddy by the arms, who was also carrying a gun in his hand. "Look, you grasp it so firmly with one hand. Then, with the other, you pull back from here and also grab it tightly so that the shot does not deflect. Then, you just aim, pull the trigger with the center of your finger and you're done. Now give it a try!"
Diddy, feeling enormous discomfort, proceeded to do as he was told and, although trembling to do so, fired a few times into nothingness, at the same time feeling a discomfort in his ears from the noise that the shots generated.
"Not bad, but don't tremble!" Rocky replied. "You need to practice more! Let's go!"
Diddy kept "practicing" the shot for a while, while he had around the threatening looks of his "friends" at the time.
"Well, now let's put it into practice," Jemky said.
Later, Mandrew and Melenky arrived carrying a small sack, in which something was seen moving inside it. On a rock, they placed what was inside the sack: it was a baby bird who was crying and scared.
"Now shoot him," Rocky ordered Diddy as if nothing had happened.
"What?! B-but it's a baby and…"
"And what? Babies have no memory, they won't feel anything," Mandrew added with a shrug.
"Oh, no, that's not, you're really crazy, what's wrong with you?!" Diddy reproached them earnestly. "You guys weren't like that! You are not the friends I know…"
"Just do it, don't be a coward!" Mandrew replied, slapping him down. "Show that you are one of us!"
"THEN I'M NOT ONE OF YOU!" Diddy replied, raising his voice and throwing the gun aside.
Jemky, furious as well as the group, grabbed him by the shirt tightly and pointed the gun at him looking roughly, to which Diddy froze.
"We don't give you the option to be like us, you have to be like us," he ordered in a threatening tone before releasing him. "Now do it, or we will shoot him ourselves and then shoot you for being a coward."
Diddy, having no escape, with four armed ape children around him, took his gun and pointed it at the little bird... Suddenly, he lunged at him and grabbed him, then jumped and rolled on the ground along with him. He ended up escaping along with the bird away from the four of them.
"HEY, COME BACK!" Jemky shouted, and together with the other three, they started shooting aimlessly. Fortunately, Diddy was too agile and was able to hide in time.
Diddy was running at full speed with the little bird and, when he was well away from the four bully kids, he went to a bush, where he left the little bird hidden and sheltered. Then he ran out again, since the group of four was not so far away.
He kept running as fast as he could. He wanted to return to DK Island, but he could no longer run away from his so-called friends, at least not if they were now armed. He climbed a tree to rest for a while and hide. The quartet bully kids stopped when they lost sight of him, but even so, Diddy was close to them to keep an eye on them. Diddy saw a pile of vines tangled on the branches of the trees and didn't have much time to think, so he came up with a plan with the first thing that came to mind.
While the quartet was looking for a trace of Diddy, he climbed down from the tree and picked up a few small stones to more than one large one. He climbed back up to the tree and, with some branches and a piece of vine, set up a quick slingshot, took the stones and threw them at each of the four kids successively, hitting them right in the eyes. The four of them screamed in pain to the point of dropping their weapons to put their hands to their eyes. Then, Diddy took the larger stone and threw it towards the branch that held the vines, causing all of them to fall on the four kids, leaving them buried and with difficulty to get out. Then, he came down from the tree towards them.
"HEY, STUPID MONKEY!" Jemky exclaimed as he struggled to untie himself from the vines along with the other three kids.
Diddy, without thinking more, took advantage of the fact that the four kids had left their weapons aside, so he rummaged them and took them all to flee from there with them. He ran aimlessly and not knowing what to do next, until he saw a cliff and headed there. There was a wild tide underneath, so he was determined on what he was going to do, until...
"STAY STILL, MONKEY!" appeared the group of the four bully kids, who had reached him. "Give us back our babies!" Jemky added, referring to weapons.
The evil group was getting much closer to Diddy, until he took one of the guns in one hand and pointed it at the four of them, stopping them instantly. He just wanted to stop them; he didn't think about actually shooting them.
"Oh, Diddy," Jemky said mockingly and with his hands raised. "Are you going to kill your only school friends who took you into their group?"
"Well, I'd rather run out of friends than have ones like you," Diddy replied, looking at them seriously.
After a few seconds of keeping the gun pointed and his hand shaking, Diddy took all the weapons again and, mercilessly, threw them into the sea.
"NOOOOO!" the four kids exclaimed in horror, heading towards the edge of the cliff, watching their new 'toys' fall and get lost in the strong waves of the sea.
"I didn't want thief friends!" Diddy told them firmly.
Immediately, the four of them looked at Diddy with all the hatred they carried.
"You're a STUPID INSOLENT!" Rocky exclaimed furiously.
"Those guns were our best birthday presents!" added Melenky in the same way.
"And now our dads are going to punish us because of you, gecko monkey!" Jemky added, about to want to face him. "This does not stay like this, CATCH THAT IDIOT RIGHT NOW!"
Immediately, the four threw themselves at Diddy, who tried to flee, but unfortunately, did not reach. Between the four, the bully kids grabbed him by the limbs and tail and began to beat him violently.
"LET GO OF ME!" Diddy exclaimed, trying to get out of their midst. "WAIT FOR... WRINKLY... KNOW THIS, and…"
Suddenly, they stopped when they heard that. Jemky grabbed Diddy by the shirt with a menacing attitude before warning him.
"No! If Wrinkly or Donkey, or whoever, finds out and comes to face us... we will look for a way to end them and then you, whatever it is; we can get more weapons from our dads! No one makes fun of us! So, beware of saying a word, you cowardly dwarf."
After those words, the four of them held Diddy tightly again and, without having a drop of mercy, they also threw him into the sea. Diddy screamed in despair as he fell into the high tide, where there were wild waves crashing into the rocks. After falling into the water, with the little strength he now had, Diddy tried to get out of there as best he could.
Although it cost me a lot, I managed to get out and reach the shores of the beach. I returned home and Donkey saw me with all the wounds and bruises I had. I wanted to tell him what happened, but I couldn't, I just told him that I had had a heavy fall when I was returning home, and of course... that I had had an excellent afternoon with my "friends".
When we went back to school, I didn't want to see those four bullies, so I didn't even talk to them and tried to ignore them... But they didn't do the same to me. From there, they hate me, and not only that, but they also treat me badly and like to annoy me in different ways. They reproached me that because of me their dads gave them their good reprimand for losing those weapons.
...
"And that's the story," Diddy concluded, still questioning whether he did the right thing to reveal it to anyone. "Well, I have not seen them with guns anymore since they say that, as a result, their dads restrained them, and that they even gave them a good beating for losing them."
Dixie had been shocked by everything Diddy had told her. After all, she had understood the gravity of the matter.
"They're really evil, they're evil psychopaths," Dixie exclaimed, still shocked at what Diddy said; he had already told his new friends many things about him... but never that situation. "Oh, I'm sorry, Diddy, I didn't know you were going through something like that," she said, taking pity on him. "But what about their parents? Don't they say anything to those kids? I mean, don't they realize the bad things they do?"
"I have no idea; I don't know his parents. In fact, they had only told me that they hardly spend much time with them because they work so hard. Wrinkly even said that the one who enrolled them in school was only an orangutan adult," Diddy replied before looking down again. "But since that happened, my school days have been a nightmare. Seriously, I can't stand them. Everything was better without them."
Dixie fell silent, thinking about the whole situation Diddy was going through. For his part, Diddy was in an internal battle between relief and regret of having told that story, which he had kept for some time.
"Oh, Diddy, how terrible," Dixie said, showing concern. "Those kids are evil, they're crazy... Why are they like that?"
"I have no idea either," Diddy replied, shrugging and staring down. "It's like they just have fun doing all these misdeeds."
"Wow, they're completely insane," Dixie said, frowning. "First of all... where did they get the idea of those... strange sweets with millipedes?"
"According to what they told me, they had met a gorilla in the shelter where they had been before; they say that he taught them and then they themselves learned to get them."
"A shelter?... Haven't their parents been able to take care of them? And secondly... what kind of parents will they have to have been given... weapons for their birthdays?"
"I don't know that about them. I even asked them a few times what their family was like, even though they didn't seem to want to talk about it. I have no idea what they could be like. They only said that the four of them have always lived together and are like brothers."
"Well... although at least you stopped them, I mean, who knows what more atrocities they could have committed if you hadn't taken their guns," Dixie added before smiling a little. "You were very brave in stopping them, after all."
Diddy looked up again upon hearing what Dixie had said. That cheered him up a little and smiled at her for a second... But then, his smile faded and he was scared again, as if there was nothing else to do for him.
"But don't tell anyone all this, please!" Diddy pleaded anxiously. "Really, don't tell it, seriously."
"Uh... Well, I won't say anything," Dixie replied, looking at him with some strangeness. "But... hey, really, if I were you, I would tell Donkey and…"
"No, no, no, I know Donkey, he will immediately go against them... and I don't want anything to happen to him... Please, you have to promise me," Diddy continued to plead desperately before taking a sigh and lowering his gaze. "I even think I shouldn't have told you."
"Uhh, okay... I won't tell anyone, I promise you," Dixie replied, trying to calm him down, though not quite sure what she was saying. "But... I would advise you that if at any time you feel the courage to tell Donkey... do it; you know it's not good to keep those kinds of secrets. Also, those children may threaten you like that just to scare you."
"I know... but I don't feel ready now," Diddy replied with his eyes lowered. "Anyway, one day school will be over and I will never see them again... I just hope that; that is the only thing left for me to do."
There was another moment of silence as Diddy continued to question whether it had been right to have told anyone that, although on the other hand, he also felt some relief in having told the truth for the first time.
For her part, Dixie remained with him and, a few minutes later, smiled again to try to cheer him up.
"Hey, and you don't want to go back to the party?" Dixie suggested after a while. "Or will you stay here longer?"
Diddy thought about it for a while, as he was not in such a good mood. But later, he agreed and accompanied Dixie to walk around the site for a while. At first, there were still moments of silence with Diddy, but little by little he was regaining the mood to at least talk.
"Diddy, and have you tried to defend yourself from those bad kids?" Dixie asked as they walked.
"Yes, but they always win me. They even threatened to accuse me with Wrinkly if I seriously hurt them. Besides, I see them every day at school, it's not like a one-time enemy to be able to flee in case of a big counterattack."
"Hey, but you're really not going to tell Donkey about that?" Dixie asked, looking at him with concern. "That is, he could help you, and who knows, those children would just be expelled from school, and you will never see them again."
"I can't, I'm very afraid to do it... Seriously. I wouldn't want there to be any more problems afterwards," Diddy said, again being somewhat unsure about talking about the situation. "Well, I think we better leave that topic... How about telling me how you learned to turn your hair?"
"Oh, I told you, it's a gift I've had since I was a little child," Dixie replied, stroking her own hair. "Tiny and I were born with this ability."
"Wow, it must be very useful," Diddy said, taking some of Dixie's hair and watching it curiously.
"Too much. My sister and I have saved ourselves from many falls thanks to our hair, besides we can defend ourselves too, at least from enemies of our size."
"Then it's like a gift of birth," Diddy said, smiling in amazement. "And how did you discover it? Or did someone teach you?"
"Well, in fact, our whole family was from a circus in a city that had a huge tower. I was very young at the time and Tiny was barely a baby. In that place, I remember that people made us play a lot and it was where we discovered that we could fly with our hair."
"Really? Were you from a circus?" Diddy asked in amazement. "With shows and stuff?"
"Yes, of course," Dixie replied, nodding and smiling. "Chunky, Tiny and I were born there; our parents were from that place. I only lived there for the first three years of my life."
"Wait! Now that you mention a circus... Do you remember Cranky's story with the circus he was in?" Diddy asked with a look of strangeness. "He didn't say that people there made him play, that rather that place was terrible and they only had him chained. You... weren't in those same situations?"
"No, as far as I can remember. We had a good time there; I loved the functions and much more when we participated. The circus was named Chimp Cirque. Until one day... My parents and uncles decided that we should escape from that place because they said we would have a better life outside, although I never quite understood that... They didn't want to talk to us about that when we asked them."
"Wow, how strange," Diddy commented. "And then, you went to live on some island, didn't you?"
"Yes, and that's where we lived for the rest of the years. At first, I missed the circus, but then I got used to living in nature, I even think my parents and uncles had a hard time; sometimes I saw them worried, although they didn't want to tell us why. But anyway, we stayed together often since we all lived together."
"Wow, you were a close-knit family from what I see," Diddy said, smiling.
"Yes... yes, we were," Dixie replied, smiling, though weakly... as if she were also sad at the same time. Then, she also tried to change the topic. "By the way, and how did Cranky escape from that circus he was in?"
"Well... after he stole that plumber's girlfriend in revenge, he was locked up again, and his son, Donkey Junior, came to his rescue…"
Then, they continued walking and talking a little more until later they went to sit near one of the trees of the site. For the first time, Diddy had told his bad situation to someone even if he wasn't sure he had; after all, Dixie had understood and promised not to tell anyone... Still, deep down she thought it would be necessary for Diddy to report that to Wrinkly, since after all, it was a threat and he could be in danger, but anyway, she had decided to understand him... for the time being.
"Do you do this kind of event frequently?" Dixie asked curiously.
"Usually yes," Diddy replied. "Sometimes we do big celebrations and sometimes they are just small meetings where we talk or eat something."
"Wow, you must have a lot of fun," Dixie said, smiling. "You are all very close."
"The truth is that we did have a good time... Well, only Cranky who sometimes opposes when we want to do an event, but then ends up convinced; I've already told you how grumpy he is," Diddy finished with a laugh, being then accompanied by Dixie.
On the other hand, there were Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky together, who seemed to be playing hide and seek. Even if Chunky was older, he occasionally played with his young relatives.
"I count and you hide," Chunky told them.
Later, Tiny and Kiddy went to hide in some bushes. But Tiny, from the hiding place, managed to observe something that seemed to catch her attention and put her imagination to fly... It was Diddy and Dixie chatting and even laughing together. Chunky then found Tiny and Kiddy, causing them a scare.
"Uhu! Here you are…"
"Silence!" Tiny interrupted quietly.
"What happened... Oh, I see, are we spying?" Chunky asked quietly, also behind the bushes along with Kiddy and Tiny. "What are we supposed to spy on?"
"Just look," Tiny said, pointing to Diddy and Dixie in the distance. "Don't you see them... adorable?" she added with a little laugh.
"Adorable? What do you mean?" Chunky asked with a strange look, though then he opened his eyes as wide as he could. "Ohh, I see," he exclaimed in a playful tone as if he had caught the reference.
"My sister seems to be doing very well here," Tiny said, smiling in the same way and shrugging.
"Will it be?" Chunky said, watching strangely and crossing his arms. "Chunky doesn't believe it much; Dixie has said that such things will never happen to her."
"Hey, everybody! The party is about to begin!" Funky announced suddenly.
After so many preparations, all the kongs gathered to start the party. There were many games that Swanky organized, since he liked them very much, and in which all the kongs participated and had a lot of fun, even Diddy, who had already cheered up little by little. Everyone won prizes, except for Cranky, as he became too frustrated or lost patience in the middle of games.
"In my time nobody played these silly games!" growled Cranky after competing against Donkey in a game of target shooting with balls, and losing the game.
"If you think they're silly, what are you playing for?" Donkey replied, earning a few laughs from the rest.
"You little insolent!" Cranky replied, annoyed.
"Stop your fights, friends, how about we dance now?" Swanky suggested cheerfully.
"Yeah!" the others replied with emotion.
Later, they turned on the music and started dancing the rest of the party until they got tired. No doubt, the Kong family liked to have fun to the fullest. While the music was on, they made more games or dynamics in the middle of the dances.
It had been an excellent welcome for Dixie, Tiny, Chunky and Kiddy. During the event, they danced, played and enjoyed delicious sweets and exquisite food to the latest. The four of them looked very happy and were grateful to the Kong family for receiving them well. For their part, the other Kongs were also happy to get to know them more and share moments with them.
After midnight, the event ended. Everyone was already getting ready to go home.
"That was great!" Chunky exclaimed cheerfully. "Chunky is very happy. You guys are amazing!"
"Yes, we haven't had these parties in a long time," Tiny added in the same tone. "You are the best!"
"We're glad you liked it," Donkey replied, smiling. "You guys are great too."
"Yes, this has been phenomenal," Funky added with emotion. "It has been a pleasure to have you present, little friends."
"Hey... Thank you all, seriously," Dixie added, smiling kindly. "You have done so much for us and we are extremely grateful. I don't know how we could pay you."
"Oh, don't worry, we're just here to help," Donkey replied likewise. "And you know, you can count on us for whatever. The doors are open."
"Friends, I was thinking if next week we could spend the day at the beach, what do you think?" Funky suggested. "We will stay all day, and in the evening, we will eat a special dinner."
"We think it's a great idea!" answered the other kongs in a similar way.
Subsequently, they all began to leave for their respective houses. They were happy to have welcomed their new friends. Dixie, Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky, meanwhile, entered their new house... but before, Dixie said goodbye in the distance to Diddy when he was already leaving with Donkey; he gave her a strange look at first, but then returned her the same gesture with a smile.
N/A: We come to the end of this chapter. And well, I warned at the beginning that this story could have somewhat crazy contexts... like that of those four bully kids. By the way, Z Island where they live is fictional, it has no importance in the story.
And another thing, the fact that Dixie belonged to a circus before, I took it from a fragment of a game magazine, and where there was an interview with Dixie. Obviously, I just took it for inspiration, and then adapted it with my ideas.