Chapter 60: Sudden Events

The next day had arrived. Dixie had slept lying on one of the rocks in the same corner near the shelter, where she spent the night before. She had decided not to sleep in the house this time, as she needed some alone time to be able to let off steam. She got up to get some bananas to eat, and then returned to the same place. She didn't feel like anything; she just thought about everything that had happened the day before.

Suddenly, she heard several footsteps nearby. It was a group of animals that were from the circus, walking around the shelter. Dixie stared at them for a moment: most of them already had almost all their wounds from circus training healed, besides, they were increasingly seen with a better countenance and a more cheerful attitude; that reminded her of when they were rescued from that zoo... Suddenly, she thought that maybe if it hadn't been for her and Diddy, who knows what fate those animals would have been. That thought at least managed to get a little smile out of Dixie... Although later, she became sad again when she returned to the present.

"Huh! Dixie! How is it going?" exclaimed one of the animals when they found her.

Dixie stood still for a moment when she was found out. Immediately, she tried to change her expression, because she didn't want to show herself in a low mood. The group of animals headed to her and were surprised to find her there.

"Hi... How are you?" Dixie replied with a faint smile.

"What are you doing around here so early?" the animals asked her, looking at her strangely. Dixie tried to hide her sadness, but from the way she expressed herself, it was evident, and some of the animals noticed. "Is everything okay?"

"Uhh... Yes, of course," Dixie replied, trying to smile. "Everything is fine…"

"Sure?" they asked her, not so convinced because of the low expression she showed. "And... have you talked to Diddy?"

Dixie couldn't help but look sad at the question again, which was very noticeable to the rest.

"Oh, I'm sorry if we were-"

"No, it's okay, don't worry," Dixie replied, trying to smile again, but she couldn't keep pretending she was okay. "It's just that... he and I don't have anything anymore."

"What?!" exclaimed the animals, shocked and beginning to murmur.

"How?! That is... not anymore, definitely?"

"But you two were meant for each other!"

"That's what I thought," Dixie said with a low look. "But I think I was wrong."

"Didn't you manage to convince him to believe in your word?"

"Diddy never believed me that all that is fake," Dixie replied in frustration. "And I don't know how to prove it to him anymore."

"So, we'll go talk to him!" exclaimed the animals with attitude and the rest joined. "We'll bring him back to you, Dixie. Together we'll convince him-"

"No!" Dixie interrupted as she recalled with anguish what happened next. "Forget it... it'll no longer do any good."

"But why? We want to help you two come back."

"Yeah, you two can't be like that and-"

"It's that... Oh, just leave it at that," Dixie replied, trying to restrain herself as she also recalled how she found Diddy along with Jenny when she tried to talk to him. "I really thank you for your help, but... I don't want to talk about this anymore, I'm sorry. And no, I really can't do anything anymore."

The animals watched her sadly. Everyone was sympathetic and really wanted to help her and Diddy, but Dixie insisted on doing nothing more about it.

"Oh, okay, Dixie," the animals replied before entering a moment of silence. "Uhh, don't you want to spend some time at the shelter? Today they made banana cake," they kindly suggested.

"Yeah, come, so you can feel better," said another of the animals in the same way. "You're welcome there, don't forget it."

Dixie, although in absent spirits, smiled a little at them and agreed to accompany them, since after all, she had nothing else to do for the time being.

In the afternoon, Mr. Pinky's house was empty and completely silent. Neither Diddy nor Dixie were present... Although a few minutes later, and after there was no presence at all... Diddy arrived at the house.

Anyone would think that Diddy was calm and arriving normally, but it didn't seem to be so... For some reason, he was somewhat restless and tired at the moment he reached the door of the room.

"Dixie! Dixie!" he exclaimed, banging on the door in a desperate way, as if he even wanted to push it. "Dixie, please open me! Dixie!"

For some reason, Diddy seemed desperate to get in... but he received no response from Dixie. Seconds later, he went to the side window, which looked into the room.

"Dixie, Dixie, are you here?!" Diddy exclaimed, trying to force open the window. "You have to listen to me, please... Dixie... It's about Jenny and the others! They have-"

But when he managed to open the window a little, he peeked inside... only to realize that Dixie wasn't present.

"Ugh, why doesn't she show up yet?" muttered Diddy to himself. "Dixie!... DIXIE!" he shouted again as he searched for her.

He continued to look for her nearby, but she gave no sign of being present, so Diddy made a gesture of frustration.

Then, not finding Dixie, Diddy got out of the house and ran to another place, this time to the animal shelter... Apparently, he had one important thing to report, as he had just mentioned.

He arrived at the shelter, and the first to notice his presence were the ones from the circus... Those who barely saw him, all looked at him seriously.

"Hey! I need to talk to you!" Diddy said to the animals, hurriedly heading towards them. "D-do you remember you told us about some kongs disappearing-"

"Well, well, little monkey, what have you done?!" exclaimed the animals, throwing a hardened look.

"Huh? Me what?" Diddy asked them in confusion.

"What did you do to Dixie?" asked one of the animals looking at him seriously. "In the morning, she was here, spent the whole night sleeping out there and was so sad for you."

"Is it true that you have already changed her for another girl?" asked another of the animals. "For your friend Jenny?!

"What?! No!" Diddy replied earnestly. "I mean... I was with Jenny yesterday, but it's not what you think. What happens is that Jenny, and in fact, that whole group of friends we had, are-"

"Hey, sorry to interrupt you," said one of the animals. "But we also have an important detail to tell you about... that letter you think Dixie sent to that orangutan boy."

"Huh?!... Hey, and what does this come to? How do you know?" Diddy asked strangely at the comment. "Did Dixie tell you anything about that?"

"She told us it's fake!" said another animal directly. "She says she never sent letters to that orangutan boy and you don't want to believe her!"

"She even went to the post office and there they told her that no one has sent a letter like that," added another of the animals.

The rest of the animal group continued to bombard Diddy with claims that Dixie did nothing wrong to him, which made him tense and began to confuse him.

"Hey, wait, wait!" interrupted Diddy, calming them down and trying to contain himself. "Look, I don't want to talk about that topic, but it's that you weren't there at that time: that letter had the Dixie's handwriting and was from the post office, it said things that only we knew, and the orangutan not only showed us that letter, but also more things and-"

"Yeah, also photos and a painting and things that that orangutan boy said that nobody else knew!" one of the animals interrupted. "Yes! Dixie told us, and also told us that all of that is fake; she says she has no idea where those mysterious evidences came from."

"Hey, but look…" replied Diddy, still not convinced, "even Dixie and I sent some letters to our island a week ago, and the letter that that orangutan showed also said that, and nobody knew that! They even had the stamp of that post office and the map, and I don't know what's up with the photos!"

"But anyway! She says she didn't write it down or take those pictures!" the animals reaffirmed. "You've got to talk to her, Diddy. Try to believe her one more time, please. Dixie doesn't seem to be able to do something like that to you."

"I really didn't want to believe she could do that," Diddy reaffirmed. "But I didn't know what to think with everything we saw and were told. Besides... how could that orangutan boy know about us? It's... impossible that he has known so many things like that out of nowhere!"

"Well, nobody knows, Dixie doesn't know either!" one of the animals replied. "Even to us it all sounds so strange too, but perhaps you should get together to find it all out. I don't think Dixie is lying."

"But so... how do you explain the photos?" added Diddy. "I mean... they are photos! How can that be refuted? And she didn't even want to give me an explanation about it, she just told me that they never happened, and even that they were fake. I wanted her to at least tell me how they happened, but no-"

"Well, she also said she doesn't know where they came from!" replied the animals. "She said she never took them!"

"Come on, Diddy. Go find her and talk to her. You two were meant for each other, are you going to let everything between you end?... And in case you're wondering, Dixie didn't come to tell us all this out of nowhere; she had first come to ask us if we didn't know where those supposed evidences could have come from, that's why we started to find out about the situation."

Diddy's mind was only filled with confusion now with everything he was being told and he didn't know what to do anymore.

"You see... Yes, I'll talk to her; at some point I know we'll talk again," Diddy replied, trying to be calm. "I even recently wanted to talk to her, but she wasn't at the house and she wasn't last night either". Diddy just breathed a sigh before continuing. "In fact, I was going to tell you something that I discovered and that I also need to tell you. It's urgent, in fact! Very urgent!"

"And what did you want to tell us now that you've arrived?" the animals asked him.

"Ugh, it's that... it's hard to explain and maybe you won't believe it because it must sound absurd," Diddy replied before sighing again. "But I do need your help or whoever, please! The thing is, I found out that…"

Dixie had gone back to walk around the island. She had spent much of the morning and afternoon at the animal shelter, and also went for a walk nearby between times. After all, she needed to clear her mind a little... even though the only thing on her mind was Diddy. Even in the morning she had also passed by the house to rest only for a while, take a bath and be distracted. For some reason, Diddy wasn't present when she was at the residence. Dixie supposed that maybe he would need his space too... Or she also supposed who he might be hanging around with at the time. But even so, Dixie didn't want to be overwhelmed with her negative thoughts anymore.

She continued her search for answers for a while, but she could not find any no matter how hard she tried, and even found no trace of any of the bully kids... It was even beginning to seem strange to her. She also wanted to continue venting, since she still felt hurt by everything that happened. She didn't want to see Diddy at all; seeing him again at that time would be only more hurtful to her.

After so much walking in the middle of the jungle, she went to sit on a large rock so she could clear her mind a little. But as much as she tried not to think about Diddy and everything that had happened, it was what tormented her thoughts the most. She couldn't help it and began to become distressed again and shed tears from her eyes afterwards.

"Dixie?" a known female voice suddenly called her.

Dixie immediately looked up and watched where it had come from, while wiping her tears quickly. When suddenly, she realized that it was Mandy who was heading towards her. Dixie felt somewhat uncomfortable to see her again and much more so if herself was in that mood.

"Uh... Hi, Mandy," Dixie greeted her with a forced smile.

"Is something wrong with you?" Mandy asked, heading to her side.

"No... it's nothing," Dixie replied, smiling weakly and wiping her tears in a sneaky way.

"Are you sure?... You look a little sad," Mandy asked again in an apparent tone of compassion, which was very strange to Dixie, since she no longer trusted much in those attitudes of her past friends.

"It's okay, really," Dixie added, struggling to be calm.

Mandy looked at her with some doubts, but as if she guessed the situation because of Dixie's mood.

"Is it because of... Diddy, right?" she asked her with a little insecurity.

Instantly, Dixie filled her eyes with tears again, and looked away immediately.

"Ugh... Yes, yes, I guess you already know that," Dixie replied, rolling her eyes and trying to restrain herself.

"Oh... Well, yes... Jenny told me," Mandy said with a forced smile, before sitting down next to her. "And from what she told me, it seems that Diddy now did give a chance to her... But first Diddy had broken up with you, right?"

"Yes, it was so... and I don't want to talk about it, please," Dixie replied angrily, turning her back.

"I see... Uhh, and you... also had another boyfriend, right?" Mandy asked, turning Dixie's attention. "That orangutan boy who liked you at school was your boyfriend and you hid it from Diddy?"

Dixie immediately turned to look at her with deep indignation at such a fallacy, and even more so if it had already reached the ears of more ones.

"Hey, that's not true! Of course not!" Dixie exclaimed angrily. "I didn't do anything wrong in case you've been told like that... Urgh, Diddy told it, right?!"

"Well... he told Jenny, and Jenny told me. She told me that Diddy told her that you had sent a letter to that orangutan boy to come and see you and Diddy wouldn't know anythin-"

"Nooo!" Dixie interrupted, furious and feeling as if her blood was boiling at that moment, while inevitably beginning to shed tears. "That wasn't the case! I don't know how the heck that psychopathic orangutan appeared here!"

"Well, that's what Jenny told me... In fact, she also told me that Diddy told her a lot of things about you."

"What?!" Dixie exclaimed, increasing her anger. "What else did he say?!"

"Well, he told her that you were a fake one, that now he hates you, that you were a total waste of time for him and he regrets everything he did for you... Jenny even told me that Diddy always thought she was cute, but that he never gave her a chance because of you."

Dixie, being tired of hearing what she said, began to grumble in a low voice as she felt enormous anger inside her and began to sob angrily as well.

"Ugh... Diddy Kong," Dixie muttered, letting tears run down her face. "Why were we dating?"

"But don't worry... That's how boys are... Don't feel bad, Dixie," Mandy added before giving her a hug, to which Dixie looked at her strangely in the middle of her wet eyes. "Remember that there are many more boys in the world. Maybe Diddy wasn't for you."

"Hmm, there's the chimpanzee!" suddenly said a deep voice that belonged to neither of the two kong girls.

Dixie opened her eyes in full and looked everywhere to see who had said that... Suddenly, to her surprise, a pair of figures appeared heading towards them, who... didn't look friendly at all. Both were tall ones with hoods and dark cloaks on, so they didn't see faces or many physical features. They were approaching the two kong girls.

Dixie began to tense up instantly, as she clearly sensed that something wasn't right with those strange ones, and got up to start escaping, taking Mandy by the arm to protect her and also flee with her... But to her great surprise, Mandy grabbed her hair hard, preventing her from running.

"What the-?!" Dixie exclaimed to Mandy.

"Come here, girl!" both cloaked ones exclaimed when, suddenly, they grabbed Dixie by the limbs and even her hair.

Dixie began to scream and be filled with extreme fear, putting herself on alert as she struggled to get free from them; she had no idea who they were or why they were trying to catch her.

"NO!... LET ME GO! WHO ARE YOU-"

Suddenly, between both strangers they took out some vines and began to try to wrap her completely, including her hair. They tied her up and held her tightly with those same vines and, to Dixie's surprise... was Mandy helping those mysterious ones hold her?

Dixie panicked not knowing what was happening now. She tried to let go with all her survival instinct, but she could not succeed, because those cloaked ones had held her too tightly that she could not do anything. Then, these mysterious ones carried her in their arms and began to walk... while Mandy was walking behind them.

Dixie was trying to scream, but the vines also had her face wrapped around it, so she was just bursting out of terror and emitting sounds of deep despair. By their way of walking, those cloaked ones appeared to be adult apes.

"Calm down, little one... You'll just go back to where you should have stayed," one of those hooded figures said as he carried her in his arms.

Suddenly, with a frightened look and while she was being carried in arms by those hooded ones, Dixie managed to look under the hood of one of them: a face quite known to her... Dixie was instantly frozen and filled with terror... an immense terror that hadn't been had for too long.

Diddy was on his way to the house after telling the circus animals something he claimed to have discovered... Something that had made him have several thoughts and didn't know what conclusions to draw now. He had to go talk to Dixie, he knew that both weren't on good terms, but anyway, it was something of great importance that he had to tell.

Diddy was already close to the house. He hoped Dixie was inside it and wanted to hear him. But then... he stopped when he saw something strange hanging around Mr. Pinky's house.

He walked a little closer to the house, when suddenly, he noticed a pair of silhouettes walking and monitoring around Mr. Pinky's house and his room. Those ones were hooded, in addition to wearing long dark cloaks. By their way of moving and part of their limbs that could be seen, they appeared to be apes. Suddenly, those cloaked ones took out some heavy objects and began to push the door of Mr. Pinky's house, then entered it.

Diddy got into a state of alert when he had a bad feeling about them, since they didn't seem to be friendly beings and, stealthily, began to climb the stairs. He went to the porch of Mr. Pinky's house, near where those hooded ones were, strictly trying not to be found out by them. He couldn't see their faces well and just listened to them.

"No, there's no one here!" exclaimed one of them before getting out.

Both mysterious ones went down to Diddy and Dixie's room and, in the same way, also knocked down the door of it. Diddy immediately went downstairs to spy on them out the window, he was at least a little relieved that Dixie wasn't present at that time. Still, fear was taking hold of him.

"No, that monkey in red clothes and cap isn't here either!"

Diddy opened his eyes to the fullest and felt a strong inner shake when he heard them clearly referring to himself. Now he would have to flee, but at the same time, he was curious to know who these mysterious ones were and what they intended to do.

"Urgh, these guys!" exclaimed one of the cloaked complaining and stomping. "We have to punish them again! Who sent them to be with their dumb couple-stealers games?!"

"And where is the little blonde monkey in pink with flying-hair?!" exclaimed the other.

"That one has already been caught, they have her along with the other children."

Diddy felt a deep whirlwind in his stomach upon hearing that, as it was clear that it was Dixie... And he heard that she had already been caught.

Suddenly, a high-pitched sound began to be emitted, and one of the hooded ones pulled out from his hood a device from which the sound came.

"The ship is going to sail! Come quickly!" a deep voice was heard coming from the device.

"Oh, blast! Let's go, forget that monkey boy, at least they caught the monkey girl!" said the cloaked ones before leaving the room. "Let's go! To the ship!"

The two mysterious figures started heading towards the stairs, so Diddy had to go down as fast as he could and went to hide immediately among the nearby vegetation. Those mysterious ones got down from the house and started running.

With everything those cloaked ones had mentioned, Diddy deduced which ship they might be talking about, so he also began to run as fast as his four limbs gave him. He didn't know how from one moment to the next such a situation had arisen. He continued to run, while taking care not to be seen by those hooded ones. He was getting tired, but he couldn't stop until he figured out what that all was.

After several minutes of hustle and bustle, Diddy arrived at the right place and, to his surprise... it was empty! There was no ship on the site, it was just as it was when they were going to start building it. Now he was sure that it would be the same ship mentioned by those mysterious ones.

Diddy rummaged everywhere, until suddenly, he looked in the direction of the sea and noticed something shocking: floating already in the sea, was the very ship they had built with their group of past friends and the rest of the kong children, ready to set sail. Diddy immediately headed to spy on it closely. He might think that all of them would already start their planned journey on the ship, but... what he saw afterward, left him shocked in his entirety... A pair of other figures, dressed in the same way as those who invaded the house, were also on board, and not only that, they also had all those kong children from head to toe with vines, blindfolded and formed in rows... Yes, it was the kong kids of the herd with whom they built that ship.

Diddy panicked as he watched each of the children and, to his surprise... Dixie was among them too! The other children were completely still, while Dixie was the only one who presented desperate movements as if trying to untie herself. Immediately, Diddy began to head towards the ship, when suddenly, he heard footsteps coming behind him, so he had to hide… They were the same two mysterious figures who had recently invaded the house.

Diddy waited for them to pass by first and get on the ship. While waiting, he noticed another detail that left him shocked to the extreme: he managed to see the very silhouettes of Ricky, Jenny, Melvyn and Mandy also on board the ship... The curious thing is that they were not tied; on the contrary, they walked freely on the deck of the ship and even seemed to interact with the hooded ones normally... as if they were their accomplices or something like that.

The ship began to sail and, with nothing else to do, Diddy ran as far as he could towards it. It was too late to seek help, so somehow, he would have to infiltrate anyway. He threw himself into the sea and swam as fast as possible until he could reach the ship, climbed up one of the sides of it and held on to certain pieces that protruded.

The ship was slowly moving away from the island, while Diddy continued to hold on to it, while wondering where they were going and what they would do with all the child crew. Above all, he wondered how he was going to get Dixie out of there. What he really was sure of... was that this was not a good situation...