Chapter 49: Wrench
The next day had arrived, so Diddy and Dixie were getting ready. To tell the truth, they were not so in the mood to go and continue working on that ship, and they had even considered not going. But anyway, they decided to continue.
They assumed that Mr. Pinky would have already arrived during the early morning. They went back up to his house, took a look out the window, but to their surprise... there was no sign of him being there, and the door was still secured. All their things in the house could be seen intact, just as they had seen them the night before.
"Hasn't he arrived?" Dixie said worriedly.
"Apparently not," Diddy replied in the same tone. "Could it be that he has been kidnapped?... Or did the hurricane pass through the way he traveled?"
"I hope not, or maybe he had to stay there longer," Dixie said, trying to stay calm. "Although he didn't tell us anything."
Both were already worrying enough, since Mr. Pinky had never left like this, but they still wanted to think that he would return and had only had a mishap in the place he went, so it would take a little longer.
Diddy and Dixie left the house, still hoping that they would find Mr. Pinky when they returned. They were both very hungry, so they went looking for some bananas among the trees. They had some time that they could not get food autonomously.
Then, they made their way, albeit reluctantly, to the site where they were building the ship. After all, they couldn't waste all the work they had done, despite things weren't going so well with their four friends. Besides, they had promised to help them return to DK Island, something they had both wanted so much since they were in the circus.
They arrived at the construction site and were met by Ricky and Melvyn, who greeted them with apparent normalcy this time.
"Hey, how are you, friends?!" Ricky greeted them, smiling at them... In fact, he did it as he used to before. Diddy and Dixie greeted them as well. "You know what? We're going to finish our ship soon!"
"Yeah, it only needs a few small pieces, some adjustments and that's all!" Melvyn added, looking excited.
"Really?" Diddy replied with a forced smile. "That's nice."
"That's right," Ricky added, maintaining excitement. "And that means you'll soon be back on your island!"
"And we'll take you home first on our journey," Melvyn said cheerfully. "This trip is especially for our best friends we've ever had," he added, giving Diddy and Dixie a few little nudges of excitement.
Both smiled at the gesture, although deep down they didn't feel as excited as they did... And they weren't too happy with the "best friends they've ever had" label either.
"What are you waiting for? Let's finish the ship," Ricky said, inviting them.
"Hey... but this time we'll do something, right?" Diddy asked them with folded arms.
"Well, yes, why not?" Ricky replied, looking at them strangely before catching what they said. "Oh, hey, we haven't been excluding you, why do you keep hinting at that?"
"Yeah, where do you get those things?" Melvyn added in the same way. "We're your friends, how could we ignore you?"
"Well... I don't know if you've noticed," Dixie replied with a shrug, "but you've been very weird with us this week."
"What are you talking about?" Ricky said with a look of weirdness. "We're not weird with you; we've been building the boat as usual."
"Anyway, let's continue," Melvyn added, taking them by the arms. "Let's see the ship."
Ricky and Melvyn invited Diddy and Dixie to continue. Apparently, this time they were being treated normally as before; they didn't seem to be upset with both of them and, apparently, the indifference they had had with the two of them that week had disappeared as if nothing had happened. Now Diddy and Dixie were confused.
The group got up to the deck, where most of the ship was almost finished.
"By the way, I wanted to ask you something," Diddy said, hoping to find an answer to something that had been troubling them both for the past few hours. "Haven't you seen Mr. Pinky by any chance?"
"No, why?" Ricky and Melvyn replied, looking confused.
"He has left since yesterday morning to a school on another island and has not returned."
"Well, not really," Melvyn replied, still confused. "In fact, the last time we saw him was on the day of Dixie's gift. Has he got lost?"
"That's what we don't know," Dixie replied. "He doesn't use to leave like that. He had told us that he would return yesterday at noon, but he has given no signal."
Ricky and Melvyn didn't give them any expected positive response either. That was already worrying Diddy and Dixie more, since nowhere did they receive news about Mr. Pinky and didn't want to think the worst.
The small group began to resume work, and this time Diddy and Dixie were able to collaborate, since Ricky and Melvyn were including them again in the tasks.
"Hey, what about the girls?" Dixie asked them later, as she hadn't seen them.
"They're not here and I don't think they'll come back until the evening," Melvyn replied as they continued to work. "In fact, you don't even know what happened to Mandy this morning."
"She's with allergies," Ricky added. "Recently, we went to get food near a lake. She climbed some palm trees to reach some coconuts, but fell into the water. And you know... a bunch of red spots appeared on her skin. So, she went to the medicine ape, and Jenny went to accompany her. And those treatments are so long-lasting."
"Wow, it must have been terrible for her," Dixie replied with pity. "Poor Mandy."
"Yeah, those kinds of situations have happened to us frequently," Melvyn said. "I once fell off one of our boats while we were sailing and spent a lot of time in the water... You can already imagine how my skin got."
They all continued to work on construction. For some reason, Ricky and Melvyn interacted that day with Diddy and Dixie as if nothing had happened; apparently, they had returned to being good with them: again, they talked frequently, they joked and talked again as before and, in the same way, they already included them in tasks that they had to contribute to the construction of the ship. Diddy and Dixie thought that maybe they just needed time to get things back to normal. They remained in a quiet rhythm all afternoon while continuing the work, in fact, they felt that that day there was a tranquility as before... and it's that to tell the truth, and although they didn't want to admit it, Diddy was calm on the one hand because Jenny wasn't present, and likewise Dixie; finally, felt that she had nothing to worry about.
Night was almost coming and, of course, the ship was almost finished with the naked eye; it had been a productive day. Diddy and Dixie were with Ricky and Melvyn on the deck of the ship making adjustments to the helm.
"When would we start the trip?" Dixie asked them as she held the helm.
"When we finish everything; there is very little left," replied Ricky. "Maybe today or tomorrow will be the last day and we already have our ship ready."
"This doesn't fit!" Melvyn complained as he tried hard to adjust a screw with a wrench. "I can't anymore…" he added, looking exhausted.
"Wait a minute, this is not the right wrench," Ricky said, taking the wrench Melvyn used. "The wrench we need here is bigger."
"Well, that's the only one I've seen today," Melvyn replied with a shrug.
"Ah, yes, I think I remember I left it there," Ricky said, pointing to a path through the trees. "Hey, Diddy, could you go get it please? It's the other wrench we use, the one that is bigger."
"Are you sure you left it there?" Diddy asked.
"Yes, while we were adjusting some masts, I dropped it there," Ricky replied, giving himself a facepalm and with small laughter. "Go, it's not that far; just search in that area. Meanwhile, here we'll continue adjusting the other screws."
Diddy shrugged and got off the ship to go in search of that wrench. He walked through a place among the trees, and began to search in the area.
Meanwhile, Dixie along with Ricky and Melvyn continued with what they were doing. The helm still had adjustments that needed to be made, so they worked on that. When suddenly, someone called them by surprise.
"Hi!" that known voice suddenly exclaimed. "I've arrived, how did everything go today?"
"Ah, Mandy!" Ricky replied, seeing the kong girl again. "Did you come back recently?"
"No, we've been here for a few minutes," she replied. "I was helping another group of kids with a piece."
"Did your allergies heal well?" Melvyn asked.
"I feel the best now," Mandy replied, smiling. "Geez, it was horrible the itch I had from falling into that lake... Oh, hi, Dixie! How are you?" she greeted her when she noticed her.
"Hi, Mandy," Dixie replied in kind. "I hadn't seen you today, do you feel better?"
"Yes, of course. They may have already told you what happened to me," Mandy said with a few small laughs. "Anyway, what are you doing right now?"
"We were adjusting this helm," Ricky replied. "Hey, what about Jenny?"
"Oh, she's here too," Mandy said thoughtfully… though she seemed to be looking sideways at Dixie. "She was also helping that group of kids; in a while she may finish. In fact, I was already going to return to that group. See you!"
Mandy then left and stepped off the ship, while Ricky and Melvyn continued with Dixie adjusting the helm they were working on. Everything seemed to have gone well that day in the construction of that ship.
"Diddy isn't taking long, by the way?" Melvyn said after a while.
"Hey, it's true, why don't we also go and help him get the wrench?" Ricky added, getting up. "Come if you want too, Dixie."
On the other hand, Diddy was still looking for the wrench, and had been looking for it for several minutes, but there seemed to be no trace of it. To make matters worse, the area wasn't so bright, that stones and leaves on the ground could hardly be seen. He rummaged through the bushes and stones, but found nothing. He was thinking of going back and asking for help searching.
Suddenly, Diddy heard some light noises around him. He looked everywhere but there was nothing, so he continued with the search. Seconds later, he heard another noise as if an object had fallen on the ground. He turned to look and, to his surprise, it was a wrench, which was on the edge of a tree. It was a bit strange, but he still went to take it and finally it was the one he was looking for.
Diddy was going to return with the wrench to the others, when suddenly, he received a small blow to the head that made him hurt a little. He was going to turn to see what had been, when from one moment to another, someone took him forcibly by the shoulders and turned him towards the tree, making him fall towards it and hold on... Instantly, he also felt that someone started kissing him on the lips... It was Jenny.
"B-but what?!" Diddy exclaimed in alarm before pulling away and releasing her immediately.
"DIDDY?!" at the same time, another voice exclaimed that Diddy would not have wanted to hear at the time.
Diddy looked to the side, and to make matters worse, there was Dixie staring at him with an expression of full shock, and next her were Ricky and Melvyn in the same way. Diddy froze without understanding what had happened, since he didn't even know where Jenny had come from.
"B-but how...?!" Diddy stuttered.
"What? You said let's kiss, didn't you, Diddy?" Jenny interrupted with a playful smile.
"What?! No, no, no!" Diddy exclaimed, coming to his senses. "I don't understand what happen-"
"But what have you done, Diddy?!" Melvyn exclaimed, all shocked along with Ricky.
Ricky and Melvyn made sounds of astonishment and began to ask him with extreme curiosity what they had seen, while Dixie was only all paralyzed; she had arrived just as she saw something she would never have wanted to see. Before her impulses consumed her, she made a gesture of indignation and rushed out of the scene.
"No, no, no, Dixie!" exclaimed Diddy trying to reach her, but she was going further, and besides they stopped him. "Wait!"
"Diddy! Jenny!"interrupted Ricky interposing in his way along with Melvyn.
"Didn't you say it had nothing to do with Diddy, Jenny?!" Melvyn added in the same way.
"Well... it really has," Jenny replied, looking sideways at Diddy.
"Hey, NO! What's wrong with you, Jenny?! What did you do?!"contradicted Diddy in anger. "You really don't understand anything?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Jenny replied with a malicious, sarcastic smile, which made Diddy angrier.
"What happened here?!" exclaimed an additional voice.
Suddenly, and similar to the last time, the other kong children began to join the scene until a crowd formed again, at the same time that they began to murmur and some approached Diddy to ask if such rumors were true. Diddy was about to collapse; again, he had been involved in an uproar and for the same reason... although this time was worse.
Diddy, on the verge of losing control, just wanted to get out of there too. He pushed away all who stood in his way, and then ran as far as he could from there; he didn't have enough patience to endure such a scandal again at that time.
Diddy sped through the trees, and stopped when he was sure no one could see him. He tried to calm down a little and be able to process everything, because he didn't imagine that something like that could happen to him that day, he didn't even know how Jenny could surprise him like that; he was all convinced that she wasn't even present in that place. He already said that it was very strange to have had a quiet day. Now Diddy only felt too much discomfort and indignation at what had just happened to him.
Minutes later, he decided to head to the house, as he assumed Dixie had gone there. He didn't want to imagine what face she would make, and just wanted to think that at least she was okay. Diddy was on his way to the house, when suddenly, among all the trees, he saw a known silhouette... which was from Dixie.
Dixie was standing next to some bushes. She had an expression of having been left with a blank mind; she didn't know if what she had seen recently was real or if she was just dreaming because of her insecurities Jenny caused her about Diddy. Anyway, that image of Diddy with Jenny was repeated a thousand times in her head, and it was repeated... tormenting her thoughts.
Diddy arrived where Dixie was. He didn't know how she would react if he spoke to her, as it was clear that she wasn't happy at all and, to his bad luck, the way she had seen him with Jenny was obvious enough that she could think badly this time. Still, Diddy wanted to feel sure talking to her, since he wasn't really to blame for anything.
"Dixie…" Diddy said, approaching her with a little trepidation, though Dixie didn't want to turn around at first. "I swear what you just saw wasn't what sure you're thinking!"
"What did I just see?" said Dixie about to burst, before turning to Diddy. "What… was what you did, Diddy Kong?!"
"I didn't do anything! I swear I didn't!" Diddy replied, raising his voice as well. "I didn't even know Jenny was there, she's not supposed to be-"
"But you did it anyway; I saw it clearly!" interrupted Dixie angrily. "Why, Diddy?! I thought you never-"
"No! I didn't do anything, it was Jenny, you know how she is!" Diddy interrupted, holding her shoulders. "Let me explain, please!"
"But now I just saw it with my own eye-"
"That I can explain it to you!... Please, listen to me."
Dixie was on the verge of collapse, but Diddy looked at her firmly so that she could calm down and listen to him. Dixie heaved a loud sigh, trying not to lose control and let him give his explanation, even if she had seen clearly as if he had given a chance to Jenny.
"See, Dixie, I just went to get that wrench, nothing else," Diddy said quickly. "And then that wrench appeared and I went to pick it up, and before I came back Jenny appeared, she took me by the shoulders, made me fall towards the tree and then kissed me! But I neither knew she would appear, nor had I seen her!"
"And how do you explain that you were holding her in front of you?" Dixie asked him extremely seriously.
"Well, she made me fall to the front, and instinctively I had to hold on to something; I didn't even realize it was her!"
Dixie was silent for a moment, trying to process the explanation. She had trusted Diddy all along and even defended him from Jenny; he had quite gained her trust in the midst of all her insecurity for her... But now she didn't quite know what to think about what she had just witnessed.
"You're lying, right?" Dixie said before turning and leaving.
"No, Dixie!" Diddy exclaimed, reaching for her and taking her arm. "I'm telling you everything seriously!"
"But I did see it all with my own eyes!" replied Dixie.
"If you had really seen it all, you would believe me," Diddy countered.
That answer only made Dixie angrier, as she just pulled her arm away from Diddy and continued walking.
"Dixie, please!" Diddy exclaimed, following her, but she just kept walking with a few long and very reluctant steps. "Oh, come on, Dixie... you know I don't love Jenny! She didn't even kiss me well; I pushed her away... Please, believe me... I didn't even notice Jenny; I thought she was with Mandy as we had been told... I just went for that wrench… And you know what Jenny is like... You really don't believe me, Dixie?"
"Ugh, don't follow me now, please!" Dixie interrupted, raising her voice, before making a gesture of regret for having shouted. "Uh... I-I just need to think about it, Diddy, please... I'm sorry. I'll go to the house," she added more calmly, before leaving completely.
Diddy just stared at her as she walked away and headed to the house. He felt so bad; his girlfriend had been angry about something he never intended to do; it had happened, but he hadn't noticed at the time.
At Dixie's request, he decided not to follow her and instead went for a walk in the area. But later, he also felt a great impulse to want to return to the site of the ship, because he was curious to know what could be happening there after the event. Maybe the scandal would still live on or maybe it was all over, so Diddy immediately headed to the place.
Diddy arrived again at the site where they were building the ship, but this time he didn't join the others, rather he just stayed hidden among the trees and bushes, trying not to make so much noise and keeping a low profile. To Diddy's surprise, the quartet was reunited with the other kong children; they seemed to be telling them something, while laughing out loud.
Diddy went to the bushes closest to them so he could hear them... He felt that something wasn't right with them. And then, he stopped to listen to what they were saying.
"Did they believe that about my allergies?!" Mandy said as she laughed loudly.
"Yes, everything went on the way we wanted; they thought Jenny and Mandy weren't here," Ricky added with a sly smile. "You would all have seen those two's faces when it happened. And we arrived just in time for Dixie to see!"
"That monkey just pretended, but he let himself be kissed anyways," Jenny added in a mocking tone. "And then his foolish girlfriend ran out. She must be crying now, poor."
"The trick with the 'lost' wrench worked!" Melvyn said excitedly before laughing. "Poor dumb monkey who really believed it and went looking for it."
"But they'll break up with all this no matter what," Mandy concluded, smiling maliciously.
"I hope so! Pair of ridiculous monkeys," Ricky said mockingly. "Hey! But you know, don't say any of this to them," he added, speaking to the other kong children. Then, everyone continued to laugh mockingly.
Diddy was completely shocked... and very indignant too. He had just heard with his own ears as his supposed four friends trampled on him and Dixie, as well as discovering that the whole event had been planned by them. In a nutshell... they themselves had intentions to separate him and Dixie, and had manipulated them to make it happen.
Diddy was slowly feeling strong urges to get out and confront the four of them, but he couldn't; he was also fed up with so much drama, that he just wanted to go to the house and, of course, fix things with Dixie in the first place. He wanted her to be there too, listening to the four of them at that moment so that she would know the truth and believe him. Without doing anything else, Diddy turned around and decided to return to the house, at the same time that he was grumbling along the way with all the anger and indignation he felt at that moment.
Dixie was sitting on the floor of the room; she was very overwhelmed by what had happened. First of all, she was all disappointed in Jenny, because the week before, after the first scandal, she had apologized and Dixie had treated her as best she could, had tried to understand her, to explain how she felt and, moreover, never wanted to be on bad terms with her for Diddy... But apparently, Jenny didn't care at all; she didn't care how Dixie would feel or the fact that she was her friend, and she didn't care to do anything to get close to Diddy. And, to make matters worse, she had recently just seen how she had managed to get close and kiss him. And, even though Diddy clarified how it happened, Dixie didn't know whether to believe it or not. Diddy had shown her that she could trust him and was not afraid to tell her anything that wasn't right, she had even seen what Jenny was like with Diddy, but still... Dixie seemed to find no comfort at the time, not after what she had seen live with her own eyes.
Minutes later, someone knocked on the door, and Dixie got up to open it. It was Diddy, who also brought a few bananas. He smiled at her with some insecurity and shyness, while she kept her expression serious, which only made Diddy change his face and be sad for her.
Diddy walked into the room, and Dixie just went to sit in her hammock, turning her back to him. There was a silence for several seconds, and Dixie didn't even look at Diddy; she couldn't do it.
"I brought some bananas for dinner, do you want it?" said Diddy, handing her a few, with some insecurity. She barely took them without turning over.
"Thank you," Dixie replied, still not looking at him and keeping her seriousness.
"Uhh, and Mr. Pinky still doesn't show up too," Diddy added.
"I already did notice."
Diddy wanted to talk to Dixie and keep asking her to believe him, but he didn't feel so confident about it because of the attitude she was having. But he knew he would have to talk to her anyway if he wanted to really fix things with her.
"Hey, Dix... can we talk?" asked Diddy, still not getting an answer from her. "Don't look at me if you want. But I just found out something... When you left, I went back there for a while to see what everyone would be doing and... I heard those four of them telling others that what happened recently was all planned by them."
"What...?" Dixie said at last, turning to Diddy and looking at him strangely.
"Yeah, everything was planned! Mandy's allergies were a lie; she and Jenny were there the whole time. The wrench matter was also a lie; they had purposely left it hidden so that I would go find it and Jenny would take advantage of me. And besides, Ricky and Melvyn then told you to go and get me, right? Because they also mentioned that they arrived just in time for you to see everything."
Dixie was thoughtful for a moment after that explanation; she still tried to believe Diddy as he told her more and more details.
"Are you really telling me, Diddy?" Dixie asked, looking confused.
"Yes! And they also spoke ill of us, I heard them!" Diddy added, speaking quickly and indignantly. "They called us 'pair of ridiculous monkeys', each one spoke in a derogatory way about us, said that hopefully we'll break up after what happened, and in the end, they told the rest not to tell us anything about what they were talking about. You should have seen that too!"
Dixie was more confused. Diddy hoped that with that she would believe him better, but instead, he received no positive response from her, so she turned again.
"Oh, don't you really believe me, Dixie?" asked Diddy with a plea. "Please, Dix-"
"I don't know, Diddy!" exclaimed Dixie, turning all over and raising her voice a little, but then restrained herself and spoke to him normally. "Ugh... See, actually I do believe everything you tell me, it's just that... I can't get that image out of my head recently about Jenny with you… That's all."
Diddy was silent for a while. He knew that Dixie had been affected by what happened and that made it difficult for her to understand the situation. Suddenly, Dixie began to have some tears in her eyes, but she was trying to contain herself.
"Oh, I think I understand…" Diddy said with some insecurity. "You are... jealous, right?"
"Well, yes…" Dixie replied truthfully, though with some embarrassment. Then, she wiped a few tears before emitting a small sob. "Sorry, Diddy, sorry... And I don't want to keep pretending I don't care anymore and I don't mind that about her."
"Hey, don't apologize for that, Dix-"
"Diddy…" she interrupted, wiping her eyes, "and we'd better not talk now; I'm sure I'll come out yelling at you and I don't like to argue with you like that... Wait until it passes and we'll talk about it tomorrow... I don't feel good now."
"Oh... I understand, Dixie," Diddy replied quietly.
Diddy felt bad about how Dixie said she felt; he never wanted to make her feel that way, much less for something that he wasn't to blame. He wanted to talk to her and fix things, but he didn't want to pressure her either, so he decided not to pursue the topic for the time being. Instead, he just wanted to try to make her feel better.
"Do you want me to... give you a hug?" Diddy asked her with some hesitation in having asked.
Dixie, as she finished wiping a few tears, looked up at him and then lowered it again, before nodding her head a little, to which Diddy went to sit next to her and proceeded to hug her for a while.
Although Dixie was somewhat upset about what happened and didn't reciprocate the hug this time, she stayed with her head resting on Diddy's shoulder. Later, Diddy separated from her and stared at her for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry, Diddy," Dixie said, sadly, before hugging him this time. "And sorry for yelling at you... and not believing you."
"No, no, don't worry," he replied as he held her. "And that's okay, we can talk tomorrow if that makes you feel better."
Dixie continued with her gaze lowered, and later nodded. Then, Diddy retreated to head towards his hammock.
After settling in, Diddy began to eat the bananas he had brought, at the same time that Dixie did the same, although with a noticeably low mood.
Later, they were already prepared for sleep. And Mr. Pinky? He still didn't appear, which also worried both, since that day had been the second in a row that they hadn't seen him.
A/N: Don't kill me! I promise you that this will be fixed, and even in the future, sooo later, there will be an explanation for all this.