A/N: The next five chapters will be somewhat long and with paragraphs of a lot of text. But some still have details that will be used later.

Chapter 22: The Quest

In the middle of the open sea, there was Dixie who, with the help of Enguarde, was on her way to search for Diddy on the island that the blue swordfish had indicated. Dixie also carried a backpack with a few bananas as provisions for the road, as well as some sheets of paper and a pencil, and even the middle of the photo where Diddy appeared, the same one she had given him weeks before.

The journey took all night and had lasted so long that it became exhausting. But even so, Dixie knew she had to go get Diddy, go back to DK Island, and consequently fix things with him. Dixie only hoped that he was okay and nothing bad had happened to him, since the only thing that still came to mind was that the group of bully children had to do with his disappearance, although Enguarde had claimed that the ones who had taken him away were not apes.

Most of the scenarios that could be seen along the way, were of pure horizons, and only a few islands could be seen in the distance from time to time. Between times, Dixie came to think that they had been lost, but Enguarde claimed to remember the road well. The journey had been too long, and Dixie hadn't even slept even if she wanted to; instead, she decided to write down on one of the sheets all the way to come back later. A cold wind was also beginning to be felt during the trip, and even the sky was cloudy enough to be a normal day, but Dixie tried to stand firm and didn't take it seriously.

After so much travel, which had perhaps taken more than ten hours and even saw the dawn, Enguarde announced that they were already close. They had spotted the island where he claimed to have last seen Diddy... although this island was not exactly like it was thought.

"Is that… the island?" Dixie asked, astonished to see how it looked. That 'island' was not as she had imagined it: with jungles and a lot of trees... It was rather a city, with houses and big buildings. Dixie hadn't seen such a city for many, many years. "Are you sure it's here?"

"Yeah, this is where they took Diddy away, I saw it. Those creatures carried him in a cage."

Finally, they reached the shores of the sea. Now they were on a desolate beach overlooking some very tall buildings. Dixie couldn't believe that Diddy might be in that place, as it seemed to be very strange. She was beginning to question whether she had done well to get there and to have gotten there alone. She wanted to return to DK Island, but she couldn't leave Diddy, much less if Enguarde claimed that he had been kidnapped by some unknown creatures.

"And now what?" Dixie said as she saw how extensive the beach was and much more so the city. She didn't know where to go to find Diddy.

"It's supposed that he was taken away inside this island," Enguarde replied, pointing with his nose. "Go search for him, I'll wait for you here."

Dixie watched all the sprawling scenery she could see and didn't know where to start. She thought that maybe it wouldn't be so easy, let alone returning home. She remembered her sister, her cousins and all the other kongs, and was even about to regret having decided to undertake that journey, but she couldn't.

"No... You can go back to DK Island if you want," she told Enguarde. "At least tell the others that I arrived okay... and that I'll keep searching for Diddy and then we'll come back."

"What?! But you're going to get lost when you two come back," replied Enguarde worriedly.

"Don't worry, I've written down all the way back. When I find Diddy, we'll build some boat or raft and return. I hope we get out of here quickly," she added, looking at the whole sprawling city.

"Okay... if you say so," replied Enguarde, very worried and not so convinced to leave Dixie. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Okay," Dixie said with a little smile. "Thanks for everything, Enguarde. Now I must go for Diddy."

All that said, Enguarde gave Dixie one last look, and then set off back to DK Island. Meanwhile, Dixie continued to walk along the beach looking for some way to find out where Diddy was.

She walked for a few minutes along the long beach without finding anything, until she finally caught something out: in the distance, there were some creatures, some in the sand and others in the sea. Dixie ran towards them and, when she was closer, she could see their details better... To her surprise, they were identical to how Enguarde had described them: long arms and legs, tall, and small-headed... They were human people. In fact, Dixie had seen human people before in her life; one of those occasions was when some ones tried to kidnap her along with Tiny and Kiddy years ago, and the other was when she was very young and living in a circus with her family, so Dixie didn't know what to think about it. Those people were enjoying the beach with their colorful swimsuits and umbrellas, as well as beach toys for the little ones.

Before fully reaching them, Dixie hid behind some huge rocks to get a better look at people. She looked at them strangely since Enguarde had indicated that such creatures had taken Diddy away... but those people were seen as too cheerful and harmless for them to do such a thing; now Dixie was confused, but at least she hoped that Diddy wasn't with some human who was bad, like those with who once she had that terrible event about their parents.

Dixie, although a little doubtful, decided to get out of hiding and began to walk through the crowd of people. If she wanted to find Diddy, she would have to question one of them if they had him or had seen him.

"A MONKEY!" one of the people shouted suddenly, getting the attention of everyone else.

With that shout, the crowd began to turn and be amazed to see Dixie. She looked at them strangely at that reaction, but did not take them care and went to one of the groups of humans to speak to them.

"Uhh, hello?" Dixie told them. "Excuse me, I wanted to know if you have seen a monke-"

"AHHH, DON'T GET NEAR TO ME!"cried one of the men in a terrified manner.

"No, no, I won't hurt you, I just want to know if-"

"AHHHHH!" shouted the whole group of people before running away.

The entire crowd began to panic because of Dixie's presence. Some were clearly terrified while others murmured looking at her with tension. Dixie began to feel uncomfortable being the center of attention and at the expression of terror in people by her presence, but she couldn't give up and continued to try to talk to one of them. So, she went to another group of people to talk to them.

"Hey, I just wanted to ask if a monkey hasn't come here-"

"GET AWAY, MONKEY!"cried a woman looking terrified and away from her.

"Ugh! I won't hurt you; I just want you to tell me if you've seen a monkey with a red cap!" Dixie exclaimed, raising her voice and losing her patience.

But with that shout, the crowd became much more frightened. Some started running off the beach all in an uproar. Dixie couldn't believe at all how such people could have taken Diddy away if they feared her.

"Don't be afraid, it's a harmless little creature!" exclaimed a young man with other people, who were heading to Dixie. Apparently, they were people who didn't show fear towards her.

"Hello, little monkey, did you get lost?" said a woman addressing Dixie and speaking to her in a sweet tone.

"No, I'm not lost," Dixie replied before explaining the situation. "I just want to know if some of you haven't seen a monkey. He's the same size as me, he has a tail, wears a cap and red shirts.

"Are you hungry, little one?" another of the humans in the group asked, apparently ignoring what Dixie had just explained.

"What? No! A monkey!" Dixie replied. "Haven't you seen him?"

"Oh, don't worry, you must be lost," added another, still not hearing what Dixie was saying. "But we can help you in some way."

"No, I ask if you haven't seen a monkey around here!" Dixie exclaimed, losing her patience.

"It's so adorable!"

"Look, and she has nice hair."

"And why is she carrying a backpack?"

"How about we adopt her?"

Apparently, people weren't listening to what Dixie was saying. She tried a few more times to talk to them, but still got no answers. These people just kept flattering her, taking her hair, and talking to her sweetly as if she was a pet or a helpless creature.

"The monkey!"Dixie exclaimed, raising her voice to the point of frightening that group of people as well. Then, they began to move away from her little by little, and they also began to show a terrified face. "Oh, no, no, why do you look at me like that? Just tell me if you haven't seen another monkey, aren't you listening to me?"

"Uhh... Does anyone know how to understand primates? Because I don't," one of the confused people commented.

Dixie had finally understood the situation: they didn't understand her language, and now she didn't know what else she could do... Suddenly, at that moment, she remembered that she also brought something that could be useful. She rummaged through her backpack and extracted nothing more and nothing less than Diddy's photo, the same one that was broken; with that, she could indicate what she wanted to tell them, so she showed it to the group of people.

"Wait! I think I know what she wants to tell us," one of the people exclaimed. "Are you looking for that monkey in the photo, little one?"

Dixie nodded immediately, relieved that they had finally understood what she was trying to explain to them.

"I haven't seen any monkeys like that, little one."

"Me neither, there aren't even monkeys around here. It's even strange that you're here."

The rest of the people began to answer almost the same. That disappointed Dixie a lot and began to worry her a lot more. Now she didn't know where to search for Diddy, she looked at his picture again and was saddened, wondering with all the uncertainty if she would see him again.

"I think I have seen that monkey!" said someone else behind the group, catching the attention, especially from Dixie. It was a human child who came in a group with two other children.

"Really? And where could a monkey like that be?" one of the people asked those children.

The boy went to Dixie to get a better look at the photo she was carrying, looked at it carefully, and showed a shocked face.

"That I think is the new monkey I saw yesterday at the zoo 'Zoovlaki'!" replied the boy, very astonished. "He wears those same red clothes."

"That monkey is great, he juggles and does other amazing jumps," commented another of the children cheerfully.

Dixie changed her face immediately and felt a little air of hope; what they were telling her were clear references to Diddy... But in a zoo? What could he be doing over there? Dixie, as best she could, began beckoning people about how she could get there.

"What are you saying? ¿The... zoo?"

"Are you looking for your little friend, the monkey, and you want to go to the zoo?" one of the human children asked.

Dixie nodded, relieved that she was understood and expecting concrete answers.

"But that's difficult, they're not going to let any animal out of there," commented one of the adults.

"Or are you also from the zoo 'Zoovlaki' and you got lost, little one?" another of the people asked her.

Dixie wanted to say no, but decided to give them an affirmative answer so that she would have a better chance of being given directions on how to get there.

"Well, that's a bit far from here, but we'll take you to the police officers so that-"

Instantly, Dixie desperately shook her head; she would have to arrive herself if she wanted to find out better where Diddy was.

"You can't go there alone, they'll catch you anyway," replied one of the children.

Suddenly, between the beach and the street, it began to fill with a big crowd of people, and they were not alone, several vehicles with red and blue lights had also arrived... They were police officers who had apparently been contacted by people because of Dixie's presence.

"Oh, no! Come this way," whispered one of the children who, along with his group, took Dixie to a hiding place so she wouldn't be seen by the police. "The 'Zoovlaki' is at-"

"Is it serious? She can't just go on her own," interrupted another of the children.

"That doesn't matter, haven't you heard that primates are cunning and very agile?" the other child replied, before speaking to Dixie again. "Look, monkey, get on one of the buildings, you must be good at climbing, and from up there you'll surely see the zoo. It has a big sign with green letters that say 'Zoovlaki', and at the bottom of the zoo, you can see an orange building. Did you understand me?"

Dixie tried to process the information the child was telling her until she fully understood it, and then nodded.

"Well, now go quickly before the police arrive and catch you," said one of the children.

"And hide well, try not to let anyone see you. Good luck, little one!"

After all that, Dixie left for the city, but not before saying goodbye to the children with her hand in gratitude. She thought that if there were people who were that kind, maybe Diddy wasn't having such a hard time and wasn't in serious danger... She even thought that Diddy might just have been lost and some people would have him to try to help him.

She ran stealthily out of the beach until reach the city. On the sidewalks there were some trees to which she climbed and hid. She observed the city and analyzed how she could climb one of the buildings; she had always climbed trees but never a building. Besides, there was a large road on which vehicles passed at full speed.

At one point, the vehicles came to a complete stop, so it was the opportunity for Dixie. She made sure that no one was nearby and got out of the tree, then ran into the street and hid under one of the vehicles. There was a large traffic of vehicles planted on the road, so it could be a good mobilization route for her. She passed stealth and quickly under each of the vehicles, trying not to be seen by anyone. She was coming to the next sidewalk, when suddenly, the vehicles started again. Dixie, without reaching the sidewalk, had to lie on the ground and stand still, with enormous tension as she saw how each vehicle passed over her, and had to stay in the center to avoid being run over. A while later, vehicles stopped passing, and the road was empty. Dixie was in the middle of it and at risk of being discovered, so without further thought, she ran to the sidewalk.

Not knowing where to go now, Dixie ran into a very narrow alley between two buildings that were in front. A few people saw her passing by and were alerted, but Dixie completely ignored them. She looked up and saw how tall the building was; she remembered that the children on the beach had told her to climb to the top of one to observe where the zoo was... "Zoovlaki". The building had windows and a few elements to hold onto, so Dixie managed to get up. She began to climb the building holding on to window sills and trying to jump as high as she could to reach more supports such as window bars, windowsills, cracks, or exterior ornaments that would serve her to climb. Apparently, it was not so difficult for her.

Minutes later, she reached the top of the building. She was a little exhausted but at least she had made it. She looked up again and realized that... the building where she stood was not as tall as she thought. In fact, the other buildings on the sides were taller and blocked the view of the city. Dixie was frustrated but she wasn't going to give up either, so she jumped down the building about all the window ledges and, trying not to let anyone see her, began to climb the building next door in the same way. That other building was a little more complicated since it was much taller, but fortunately, Dixie didn't usually fear heights.

She reached the top of the building and now she was tired, but from that height she could see the city better. Dixie paused for a while to observe, and smiled for a moment at the sight she was perceiving; she never imagined being able to contemplate a big city from that height with her own eyes. From there, she could see the houses, the buildings, the streets with cars walking, the crowds of people and many more things that she had never seen before. Curiosity invaded her and she really wanted to go through everything, even though she wasn't so well received by people. But knowing new places only reminded her... of Diddy; she wished he was there too and remembered that she must find him, so she focused again. She began searching in detail around the city for a zoo as described by those human children.

"AAAHHH! AN ANIMAL!" shouted a man who had got up with two other people, to the top of the building, by means of an elevator.

"I'll take care of it!" exclaimed another of the people running towards Dixie to catch her.

Dixie panicked not knowing where to escape now. She was going to come down from the building, but looking down, it was too high. A few meters away, there was another building, which was a few centimeters higher. Dixie, unable to think about for long, plucked up the courage and ran in the direction of the building next door. When she reached the edge of the building where she was, she jumped with all the strength she had, using her hair in time to gain distance, and with that she managed to reach the top of the other building. Putting her feet on the other building, she turned to look at the people, who had been paralyzed by Dixie's bold move, especially because of her hair.

Dixie, seeing that she was able to make that jump, smiled and was filled with much more energy. She began to jump from building to building, performing the same movement with her hair; she found it fun and risky at the same time. At one point, she stopped to continue observing where such a zoo was; she had to locate a big sign with green letters that said "Zoovlaki" and with an orange building, as she had been told. She looked at every detail of the city, but found nothing similar to what was mentioned. She was starting to get frustrated and was questioning again if it had been a good idea to get there; she didn't want to think either that Diddy wasn't actually in that city and the whole trip would have been in vain.

Suddenly, she caught sight of something on the road under the building where she was, which immediately attracted her attention: it was a large vehicle carrying what appeared to be a cage and, inside it, there were... animals? Dixie was astonished at that, but much more at what she saw later: at the top of the cage there was a sign, she narrowed her eyes and was shocked to see that it said nothing more than "Zoovlaki". Dixie was immediately thrilled and knew that this might be her chance to make it to that zoo. The vehicle was planted, so she started getting out of the building as fast as she could. But things got complicated when the vehicle started up again and Dixie was halfway up the building. Unable to think at that moment, she began to jump towards the windowsills of the buildings next door in a descending manner and, from a window at medium height, jumped in the direction of the vehicle; she almost didn't get there, but her hair helped her gain distance. Finally, she managed to land in the vehicle, grabbed hold of the bars of the cage and climbed to the top. Now, she was hoping could make it to that zoo.

"Hello?"

Dixie got scared when someone spoke to her, but then realized it came from the same cage… They were giraffes, which was very strange to her, because she couldn't imagine finding other animals in the middle of the city.

"Uhh, hello... Hey, do you go to the zoo... Zoovlaki?" Dixie asked them with some shyness.

"We live there," replied one of the giraffes, although to tell the truth, they were in low spirits. "And who are you, little ape? And what are you doing around here?"

"I'm Dixie and... I was searching for a friend who is supposedly in that zoo. What's it like over there?"

"What can I tell you, it's a very ordinary and boring life," replied another giraffe without any expression. "People go to see us every day, take pictures, feed us and that's all."

"And haven't you seen a monkey there wearing red clothes?"

"We don't even know much about the other animals there."

Dixie looked at them strangely; those giraffes might not have been as charismatic as they appeared, and the strangest thing was that they said their life was very ordinary. Still, they didn't seem to describe the place as dangerous, which reassured Dixie a bit.

The vehicle continued to drive. With giraffes in company, Dixie could keep a low profile to people.

Several minutes after so much mobilization, Dixie opened her eyes with amazement and excitement to see what she was looking for so much in the city: in front there was a huge sign that said "Zoovlaki" with green letters, in addition of two statues of elephants at the ends; now she was in the place she had been told. The vehicle then began to park near the sidewalk.

"Hey, monkey girl or whatever you are," said one of the giraffes. "If you are not from this zoo, you better hide or those men will catch you."

Suddenly, some men got out of the vehicle and were heading towards the cage. Dixie, hearing the suggestion of the giraffes, immediately left and jumped into one of the walls of the zoo enclosure, climbed to the top and hid among one of the statues that were there.

From there, she had a view of the zoo. She had never seen one, in fact... she didn't even know exactly what they looked like, she just knew that there were animals. She could observe several corners, each different from others and, of course, there were several animals of different species: birds, mammals and reptiles, all in one place. There were also a lot of people walking around to observe them and take a few pictures of them. It seemed like a nice place, and it was as if animals had their own home in the middle of a big city. What Dixie didn't understand was how people weren't afraid of animals in that place. Until she realized another detail: all the animals were locked up, with no way out; they were all behind bars or inside glass walls... That was a bit strange to Dixie.

After so much observation, Dixie returned to what she was going to do: search for Diddy. But she didn't know how to start, as there was a crowd of people present; if she went out, she would surely scare them away. But since there were animals, she thought she might go a little unnoticed. At the entrance there were only people selling sweets and balloons, so she went down with caution and began to walk stealthily near the walls and hiding behind some small plants. To be able to fully enter the zoo there was a ticket office, where there were only a few bars that went up and down. She waited a couple of minutes for the exact moment, which no one was seeing, and went through the entrance under the bars without problems. Now, she was inside the zoo.

"Look, a loose little monkey!" announced a human child astonished to see Dixie and who was almost attracting the attention of everyone present.

Dixie panicked and, out of survival instinct, she ran out in a hurry. There were some trees nearby, which she immediately climbed up and started jumping one by one until she got far enough away from people. Arriving at the last tree, there were no more people, so she went down smoothly. There was only a lawn, trees and a small lake nearby; it looked like a small jungle space.

"Huh! Who are you?" said a voice that suddenly scared Dixie, so she turned to look at who it belonged to. "The primate area is in the background."

It was a group of tall ostriches that were in the same place. Dixie, upon closer observation, realized that she was in one of the zoo's latticed spaces.

"Uh... I'm just searching for a friend. I'd been told that he'd been seen around here," Dixie replied with a forced smile. "He's a monkey of my same stature."

"As I told you, the primate area is in the background. There are no monkeys around here," the ostrich added, pointing his head toward the bottom of the zoo. "By the way, it's not good that you walk around here; you might be captured."

"And... How do I get to that primate area?" asked Dixie.

"You're not from here, are you?" another ostrich questioned, who then lowered his head to the ground in front of Dixie. "Hop on and I'll show you an alternative."

Dixie agreed and climbed on the back of the ostrich and then to his head. There she already had a better view.

"Do you see that sign with drawings of monkeys? It's over there. You can go through those walls, no one will suspect you there," he pointed to some walls that were towards the side walls of all the animal corners. "Just be careful not to fall."

"Okay. Thank you!" Dixie replied, smiling at them.

Subsequently, Dixie jumped towards one of the walls that was in the next place and, cautiously, was walking through each of them. Those walls were very narrow, but she made the effort not to fall and to be able to reach where the primates that the ostriches had indicated to her were. As she passed through each of the sites, several animals noticed her and looked at her as if she were an intruder; among them, there were zebras, rhinos, hippos, tigers, birds, among others, although to tell the truth, they all had an expression of boredom and without grace.

Eventually, Dixie made it to the primate zone. There were some of the same species, as well as gorillas, monkeys, orangutans, baboons, mandrills, which for a moment reminded her of the Kong family. With great caution, she climbed down to the ground and infiltrated the site.

"Who are you?!" a big gorilla exclaimed, looking at Dixie strangely. Suddenly, a bunch of apes began to crowd towards her.

"Uhh... H-Hello, is that... I wanted to ask if a monkey wasn't around here," Dixie replied with some nerves.

"Are you new here?" a baboon ape asked her, still looking at her strangely.

"No, I'm not from here. I just came to find a friend... He's a monkey, has a tail and wears a cap and red shirts with yellow stars."

The other apes immediately changed their hard gaze to one of complete amazement, as they all looked at each other quickly.

"Isn't it... the new one?" one of the apes asked the others.

"The one called... Diddy?" added another.

Dixie instantly opened her eyes as wide as she could and was thrilled to hear that; she felt as if the universe was in her luck after so much travel.

"Yeah! That's how he's called! It's him! It's him!"Dixie said with enormous emotion and taking small leaps. Suddenly, the others smiled instantly as if they knew him too.

"Ahh, that little monkey!" the gorilla commented cheerfully. "Yeah, he arrived two days ago, he was very scared at first but then we cheered him up a bit. He is a nice monkey."

"Is he your brother?" asked another of the apes.

"No, he's just my friend," Dixie replied with a small smile. "Well, and where is he?"

"Well, the monkey Diddy showed the people of the zoo that he knows how to do incredible acrobatics, and that's why they have taken him to another area here. We've heard people passing by talking about him. In fact, I think he's performing now."

"What? Just now?!" Dixie exclaimed, astonished. "Where exactly is he?!"

"I guess on the other side of the zoo; some animals do a lot of shows there and people like it," said one of the apes on the other side of one of the walls. "Go up there and see if you find him."

"And wait, little girl! If you came looking for him, then you came from the jungle or something?" another ape, astonished, asked.

"Yes, from an island," Dixie replied quickly, before leaving. "Well, excuse me, but I have to go. Thanks for the information!"

The apes said goodbye to Dixie and, immediately, she climbed some trees and then crossed the wall that was on the sides. Indeed, on the other side was another area of the zoo: there were no more corners with animals, only a semi-wooded area with a path that led to another esplanade and, as Dixie had been informed before, an orange building was in sight in the background.

There were a lot of people walking, so Dixie had to land on the ground with stealth. There were also a few trees and several plants that served as a hiding place. In the background, there was a big crowd of people, which caught her attention, so she headed there. Further on, there was a lake that had to cross it through a bridge. Dixie had no more plants to hide in there, so she had to go through the lake which luckily was nothing deep.

Arriving on the other side, she could better observe what the crowd of people was about: there was a huge cage with a high pedestal in the center. Apparently, it was a spectacle, and people were in front of it. But suddenly... Dixie felt her heart begin to race to the maximum at what she saw: Diddy! She opened her eyes as wide as she could and a huge smile was drawn when she saw the monkey again; she couldn't even believe it, she begged it wasn't any hallucination of hers... Finally, she had found him! And by the way... he was not seen in serious danger as she had imagined when he disappeared.

Diddy was right on the pedestal. The whole crowd was watching him as if he were a celebrity, and apparently, Diddy was giving a show with the stunts he used to do. In addition to him, there were some hoops and ropes that were also part of the show of the little monkey. All the people were amazed and applauded with emotion at the show.

Dixie, without thinking any more, continued on her way and hid behind the plants as she headed in the direction of where Diddy was. She climbed on a tree that was as close as possible to observe him. She couldn't believe it; when Enguarde had said that Diddy was kidnapped, she thought his life would be at risk, but seeing him again, she noticed everything was normal as if nothing happened, in fact... he looked pretty well.

But as Dixie watched Diddy, the memory of four days ago invaded her mind instantly...

That day, Dixie was sitting on a rock waiting for Diddy to arrive. She carried in her hands a tiny box covered in pink glitter with a red ribbon and with a note inside. When suddenly...

"You!" Jemky appeared heading towards Dixie, apparently very angry. "I wanted to find you!"

"W-what are you doing here?!" Dixie exclaimed, getting up and defensive. "What do you want?!"

"Don't act crazy! That emerald you gave me was fake!" he replied furiously before extending his hand. "We want the real emerald!"

"Well, yeah! It was fake," Dixie replied with a shrug. "Did you really think I was going to hand it over to you?"

"Ah, yeah?! So, this time you will hand it over to me!"Jemky replied as he pulled a gun from his pockets to point it at Dixie.

Instantly, Dixie was startled and screamed as she covered her face and began to tremble in terror.

"Oh, are you afraid, girl? What a pity you can't defend yourself this time," Jemky said with an evil smile. "Now! I want that emerald!" he added, pointing her more closely. "Nobody makes fun of the four of us!"

"J-Jemky... I-I'll g-give you whatever you want, b-but please... d-don't hurt me," Dixie stammered, with all the fear she could have felt after seeing him in that form. "And... and I don't think I can give it to you now b-because I'm w-waiting for D-Diddy. In... In fact... there he comes."

Dixie, her arm shaking, pointed to Diddy, who wasn't coming that far from where they were. Jemky also observed him from a distance, and then smiled evilly.

"Well, I don't care! This is what you'll do with him then if he sees us!" he ordered, pointing the gun at her closely. "When that monkey arrives, you'll have to tell him that you won't go with him, pretend again that we're going on a date or something to make him leave and you'll tell him that you don't love him anymore, that you won't be his friend anymore, stomp on him! Make him feel bad!"

"B-But what are you talking about?! I can't do that to him!"

"If you don't, then he'll pay the consequences, and I'll shoot him right then and there!" he snapped, snatching the tiny box she was carrying and throwing it to the ground. "Now, the better you do, the more likely I'm to pity you two! And play along, by the way!" he added, smiling maliciously as Dixie trembled. "Now come!" he ordered, taking her arm to start walking quickly with her. "If he arrives and sees us, you know what you have to tell him."

...

"Oh, hi, dwarf," Jemky said to Diddy with a sly smile when he arrived.

"Uh, h-hi, Diddy," Dixie said with a forced smile… trying to sound natural.

"But... And now what?" exclaimed Diddy, quite confused.

...

"Ugh, okay, Dixie!" Diddy replied from a distance after "arguing" with Dixie. "Anyway, I didn't even want to go with you today!"

Without arguing any more, Diddy retreated from the area at an accelerated pace.

Meanwhile, Dixie and Jemky also went away from the site at accelerated steps and while he was holding Dixie's arm.

"He's already gone," Jemky whispered, looking at Diddy in the distance, before speaking to Dixie. "What a good performance, baby. That monkey was saved," he said, smiling and at the same time looking at her seriously. "But now: hand us over what was pending… I want that emerald! And for having given us that fake emerald, I'll now order you to bring me Diddy's complete pyramid!" he added as he pulled the gun out of his vest again to point it at her. "And from here you don't leave until you hand it over to us, okay?"

Dixie was just being invaded by all the guilt she could feel remembering it... That was what had actually happened. But at the same time, she knew she couldn't lose the courage she took to find Diddy again, and she would have to go for him.

On the other hand, Diddy was not having a bad time; he really liked to do acrobatics, and being in front of a huge number of spectators, made him feel like a star, and this time without hateful classmates bothering him as in that celebration of him and Donkey after saving the banana reserve. When Diddy finished jumping through some hoops, he stood in the middle of the pedestal and greeted the whole crowd happily while they applauded him... But he stopped in his tracks when he looked at one of the trees nearby: a silhouette with pink beret and blond hair... was watching him... "What?!"he exclaimed in his mind.

After the millisecond of eye contact, Dixie immediately hid among the branches of the tree she was on. She wanted to see Diddy again, but at the same time, she was very embarrassed to meet him again because the last time they had seen each other, they were on such bad terms. But anyway, she had to go see him, so she came down from the tree and looked for a shortcut to get to him.

Diddy, on the other hand, thought it was just another of his thoughts and didn't take it seriously, so he continued with his show without further ado. Subsequently, he jumped towards a rope that was suspended in the air, and began to juggle keeping with one foot and doing acrobatic jumps successively. He was very focused... until he saw again the Dixie's silhouette moving under the trees. Instantly, he felt a turn in his heart and now he was well sure that it was her. He almost lost his balance on the rope, to which people murmured with concern. But Diddy didn't want to lose focus, even though his maximum concentration was no longer the same.

For his last stunt, Diddy started jumping through several hoops while juggling, and he must have all concentration fixed. But when he reached the last hoop, he lost all his balance. Luckily, he held his tail in time and smiled at the audience to pretend. The reason for that imbalance was nothing more and nothing less because now, in front of his eyes… was Dixie looking straight at him. She was hiding behind the small wall that separated the huge cage from the crowd of people. Both kongs were now seeing each other in the distance. At the awkward moment, Dixie waved to him in the distance, smiling nervously. Diddy, on the other hand, was paralyzed, as he couldn't believe what he was seeing; it wasn't just a thought anymore: it was real Dixie!

Minutes later, the show ended and people began to disperse, all glad to have watched Diddy's performance. Some took pictures of him and said goodbye from a distance, while he tried to stay as if nothing happened.

When there were already few people, Diddy disappeared for a few seconds, until he reappeared on the ground under the pedestal, to finish making sure that what he had seen was true and not a bad move of his thoughts. With a little insecurity, he moved much closer to the bars, while Dixie, with all the nerves at the top, also went towards him. Both of them looked at each other for a few seconds when they were already face to face and, at the same time, they didn't know what to say at the moment.

"D-Dix-Dixie?... Really... is it you?" stammered Diddy, still not recovering from the shock.

"Uhh... h-hi, Diddy... Yes... it's me," Dixie replied, smiling nervously and also stuttering. She hoped the reunion would have been more emotional, but it was just being somewhat tense.

Diddy only took a breath before he could speak normally.

"But… how did you get here?" he asked her, very confused.

"Well... everyone on the island is searching for you. I found Enguarde and... he said you had been kidnapped, and some kids on the beach in this town told me you were here. I thought… that you were in danger and I came to... rescue you," she explained slowly and with a forced smile.

"Ah, there's nothing dangerous here as such," Diddy replied more calmly before pausing. "Well, I thought there was, but no. This place looks fun, the people here have been very kind to me… Although the other animals are a bit serious and unfriendly."

There was another awkward silence. Dixie then tried to talk to him as if nothing happened, as he was not seen at all in serious danger.

"I see... And by the way, you were great," Dixie said to break the ice after the quiet time. "I saw your whole presentation, you were amazing."

"Oh, thank you," Diddy replied in kind. "Do you know? The human people here told me that I'm a star monkey and that they'll give me many awards for the stunts in a few days," he added in the same tone of joy as if he were telling her something normally.

"Really? That sounds great... By the way, how did you get here? Were you captured or did you come on your own?"

"Well, a couple of days ago I went out at night for a ride around the sea, and suddenly there was a pretty strong wind that pushed me out to sea. I just had gone out because-"

Suddenly, Diddy's cheerful expression turned completely to one of disgust. He suddenly remembered the bad terms he had been left with Dixie, he remembered everything: from when she stood him up for dating Jemky, when she said those hurtful words of enmity, until when she shamelessly lied to the teacher about his pyramid. He didn't continue to say anything more, and just turned around in disgust.

"What's up?" Dixie asked with strangeness, until she guessed what Diddy was thinking. "Oh, no, no! Look, Diddy, I swear I didn't mean everything I told you and-"

"I don't talk to fake friends!"he interrupted coldly.

"Ugh! Those four fools from school were armed again as you had told me long ago!" Dixie exclaimed, getting to the point. "That's what happened!"

"What?!" Diddy immediately turned around upon hearing Dixie's statements. He was shocked for a moment as if at first, he didn't believe what she said.

"Yeah, I was going to tell you yesterday when we left school, but I couldn't find you anymore," Dixie replied earnestly before speaking quickly. "Those four have guns again. Jemky threatened me so that I would tell you that I was dating him and that I didn't want to be your friend anymore, and so that I wouldn't tell Mr. Pinky that the pyramid was yours, or that else, they wouldn't mind attacking you, Mr. Pinky, the whole class, or whoever was present. That's what really happened!"

Diddy froze for a while when he heard that; he was very confused by what Dixie was saying. But suddenly, those fears for his four annoying classmates were reappearing after a long time.

"Are you... saying all that seriously, Dixie?" he asked her seriously.

"Yes, Diddy... And forgive me, I didn't want to hurt you that way," Dixie said, looking down sadly.

Diddy still looked at her strangely as he processed what she had just told him.

"Uhh, okay, Dixie... I can forgive you, but-"

"Come here, little monkey!"

Suddenly, two human men appeared in the cage. One of them caught Diddy by surprise, while the other man opened a small cage where they pushed him inside.

"Diddy!" Dixie exclaimed, frightened.

"W-what?!" Diddy exclaimed.

"Hey! That chimpanzee ran away!" said one of the men when he also saw Dixie.

Immediately, Dixie hid in a shortcut she had come for. From there, she looked as Diddy was being taken out of the huge cage and in the direction of the orange building. She was very confused and, because of the way they took Diddy, she began to suspect that maybe that place was not as quiet as she thought for a moment.

Without staying still, Dixie went out to follow in the footsteps of the men taking Diddy away. She ran stealthily down the short way that remained, but unfortunately, the men entered the building and closed the door instantly...