Chapter 28: Back… home?

On a deserted beach, and in the wee hours of the morning, several waves collided strongly with each other, at the same time as they went towards the open sea and returned to the sand. Several waves passed later, when suddenly, a little monkey with a cap and red shirt, apparently unconscious, was swept away by the waves towards the firm sand. Minutes later, the monkey lying in the sand, began to open his eyes before another small wave passed over him and woke him up suddenly. He began to cough repeatedly until he was completely recovered. Suddenly, he recovered all his senses and stopped to observe better where he was; it was clear that he was on an island. He almost smiled for having survived that storm and reached dry land... until he realized that someone else was missing from the scene.

"Dixie!"Diddy exclaimed in panic when he noticed that she was not present. "Oh, no, no, no!"

Diddy moved desperately around the seashore as he tried to locate Dixie and shouted her name. Until it happened a couple of minutes later, when the waves came dragging a little chimpanzee with blond hair and pink clothes. Diddy, sighing with relief, immediately ran and swam to her and took her towards the sand. She was also unconscious, until she slowly opened her eyes and began to cough.

"Are you okay, Dixie?!" he asked her as he held her on the sand.

"Yes... But…" she replied with difficulty, beginning to get up. "What happened?... Have we already arrived?"

Diddy looked everywhere. The place where they were gave the appearance of being an island, so he clung to the idea that they would be on a beach on DK Island.

"Well... I guess so. I think I remember this beach," Diddy said with a forced smile. "Ah, yeah! Of course, I remember it, I think we used to come to this beach, do you remember?"

Dixie fully regained her senses and got up to inspect... But by observing the surroundings carefully, she could see something not so good.

"Diddy…" Dixie said quietly as she looked clearly everywhere. "This is not DK Island."

"What do you say? Of course this is DK Island," Diddy replied, ignoring Dixie's guess. "Look, there are beaches... and those palm trees with coconuts... Oh, and look at all that pile of trees. It's clear that those things are from DK Island."

Dixie gave him a look of strangeness. Then, she went to one of the tallest trees in sight and then began to climb to the top. Diddy went to follow her and also climbed up. When they reached the top, they only saw a massive amount of trees, the rest of the long beach, plus endless hills... They didn't see any particular trace of DK Island, in addition that it was almost all dark due to the night.

"Uhh... well, DK Island also had places like that and... maybe we are in another area."

They both stared around... which was dark and with no sign of showing exactly where they were.

"Oh, no, no, Diddy! We got lost, realize it!" Dixie exclaimed, beginning to despair. "T-that storm swept us away, our boat got lost, we landed in this unknown place and no trace of DK Island is seen!"

"Oh, I know! I was just trying to be positive," Diddy replied, before stopping to look around again. "But don't worry, we'll surely find a way out of here... I don't think we're that far away; we'd already been traveling on that boat for a long time."

Both kongs came down from the tree and went towards the shores of the beach. They looked in more detail everywhere, but before long, the two were overcome with anguish and despair… They definitely seemed to have gottenlost. That storm and the strong waves had swept them to an island that neither of them knew what it was. The last hope they would have was that maybe that was DK Island, but due to the darkness, they could not check it.

"Oh, no, no, no! Now what do we do?!" exclaimed Diddy, desperate and already aware of the situation they were in. "W-what place is this?!"

"Well... let's look around if just in case DK Island is nearby," Dixie replied with insecurity. "Who knows, maybe we're not as far away as you said."

"But it's all very dark," Diddy said frightenedly.

"I know, but we can't stay here and do nothing either."

The two began to walk around the beach, looking for some clue as to where they might be and, above all, where DK Island might be. Later, they entered the tree area. Due to the darkness of the night, it was difficult to see when they were walking on the ground, so they had to go over the tops of the trees. It was maybe almost an hour as they jumped from tree to tree and sneaked through the vegetation quickly. Sometimes, they were about to fall to the ground due to darkness, and in turn they collided with a few branches. Even so... they failed to find anything known to them about DK Island.

When they were tired, and with lower hopes of locating DK Island, they only returned to the beach where they had originally arrived. They sat on the sand, frustrated that they had failed on their journey home. They had waited so long to get out of the zoo only to end up on another island that was quite likely not DK Island.

"Oh, no! This can't be happening, I don't want to stay on an island far from home," Diddy said, throwing his cap to the ground.

"All that trip was for nothing!" Dixie added in the same tone. "I even had written down the way back."

"Wait... And don't you have it yet?"

"Everything got lost at sea," Dixie replied in frustration. "Stupid storm!"

"Geez!" Diddy exclaimed in the same way as he picked up his cap. "Now what?"

Both stood for a while doing nothing and in silence; there was nothing else they could do at the moment; they were only surrounded by an extensive beach and a wooded area behind. A few minutes later, sleep and fatigue were also taking over the two, since in the last few days they had not had the best rests, but in turn, the worry of having gotten lost also overwhelmed them. They both leaned close to each other as they struggled not to close their eyes, until Dixie reacted again and regained her senses.

"No, we can't sleep here," Dixie said, trying to stay awake as she dozed along with Diddy.

"I know, but it's all I want to do now," Diddy replied with narrowed eyes. "What if we better sleep and tomorrow in the daytime we look for DK Island? It may even be in sight right now, but since it's night we can't see it."

"But... what if while we sleep a giant beast comes and catches us?" she added with some fear.

"Well, there is no one seen around here; it's very quiet," Diddy added, looking around. "Oh, but where will we sleep?"

Dixie thought about it for a while, but deep down she also wanted to sleep and knew that they couldn't do anything else for the time being, so then she agreed.

"Well... what if we build some sleeping places?" Dixie proposed. "Something like shelters".

"And how can we do that?" Diddy asked, still with narrow eyes.

"It's not so difficult," Dixie replied as she got up again. "Come, let's find a good corner to sleep."

Diddy, although too tired, agreed to accompany Dixie. Both walked another while more until they found a corner where they could sleep. They tried not to go that far and stayed in a not so dark place with enough tall vegetation around to stay hidden and shaded.

"I think it doesn't look so bad here," Dixie said, looking around cautiously. "What do you say?"

"Not bad to replenish energy," Diddy replied with a shrug. "And how is it that a shelter is made?"

"Well, we just need a few branches and leaves, that's all... And here there seem to be many. First, we must light a campfire."

Dixie set out to look for a few small branches, in addition to a few coconut shells. It was not so complicated, since it was what was most in that place. She asked Diddy for help in holding the branches, and then began rubbing them against each other and smoke sparks began to come out later. After that, Dixie took the coconut shell and placed it on the source of smoke that, with the help of a few blows, began to generate a flame, which scared Diddy at first, but helped them to have more lighting around.

"Now, we can build our sleeping shelters," Dixie said.

They both began to look for more branches and fallen leaves as Dixie had said. This time, they had to be larger branches, which were also not that far away. Then, Dixie began to build these sleeping shelters, also giving instructions to Diddy, who between moments gave looks of surprise at what they were doing. The procedure consisted of placing several branches inclined and grouped together, achieving a tent shape, which they covered with several leaves later.

"Where did you learn this from?" Diddy asked Dixie as they finished laying the leaves.

"We learned it with Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky when we were fugitives," she replied, placing one last pile of leaves and shaking her hands. "Well, I think it's ready."

"Wow, they don't look so bad," Diddy said, looking again at the pair of shelters they had built. "Okay, I guess we can rest."

Both proceeded to go to the temporary sleeping shelters, one in each. They had not been able to rest comfortably for days, so as soon as they each lay down in their position, they fell to sleep.

"Uhh, Diddy... are you sure nothing will happen around here while we sleep?" Dixie asked, still afraid and getting up a little again.

"Yes, don't worry. If it was dangerous something would have caught us by now," Diddy replied before turning to lie down at his position. "Rest well, Dix."

"Okay... Rest too."

Dixie also turned to the other side and tried to sleep, but she couldn't get it easily because of the worry she now had. She couldn't believe that she had tried so hard to find Diddy, she even had the way back written down, only to be surprised by a wild swell that swept them to an unknown island that who knows what it was. Although after all, she remembered that this was also the case with her sister and cousins in the time they fled from the group of evil apes that pursued them. She was even regretting telling Enguarde to return to DK Island and that she and Diddy would be able to return safely. The only thing that managed to make Dixie at least a little smile was when she remembered the last thing that had happened before that storm interrupted their trip... She blushed as she remembered that moment with Diddy; she didn't expect that to happen.

On the other hand, Diddy, still trying to sleep and with the unknown of having landed on that island, was thinking the same. He smiled and gave inner screams of excitement as he remembered the little kiss he had had with Dixie before they were swept away by the swells. It was the first time he had kissed someone and, best of all, it had been with the girl he loved so much and, at the same time, he also cursed the weather phenomenon for having ruined the moment, and even wondered if that had been okay. But in the middle of it all... his excitement faded when he realized that both had tried to escape from the zoo, save a massive number of animals and try to return home, only to end up getting lost. Diddy also felt deeply guilty for having gone out to sea that night; he knew they would still be calm on DK Island if he hadn't. He was also thinking of Donkey; he knew that he might be too worried, and he just hoped he could see him again as soon as possible, and that he wasn't thinking that a thief had taken him, as Dixie had told him.

After so many thoughts, both kongs fell asleep deeply, hoping that the next day they could continue their search for DK Island and find it. After all, it was the only thing left for them to do... Who knows, and in the end, they would be nearby DK Island.