A/N: Extensive chapter.
Chapter 86: A Deep Conversation
"I can't believe it; did they really find that?" one of the people asked others. "A building hidden on an islet?"
"Indeed, and they're trying to find the location of that building. They may find important material there."
"Anyway, that proves that Messrs. Owens would be the masterminds of this case; they were more than visible in those video recordings. In any case, this will continue to be investigated."
A group of people was near the playground, finishing examining the six little kongs in case they had any inconvenience in their time of recreation. Those people were talking about the current case, apparently with recent updates and, as expected, the kongs were listening attentively to what they were saying.
"We'll see if those tamers will be sentenced, which is most likely the case. Did you also hear that the investigators are going to interrogate the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft? In the recordings, it was revealed how the Owens made a deal with them and how they were going to take the little chimpanzees away; they only kept the adult apes and the other four little ones in cages at that time."
"Heavens, I honestly didn't think those video recordings would be that revealing," one of the people added as they examined Dixie. "Who would have thought that a few little apes would provide us with that information? It seems they're very intelligent and know how to defend themselves very well, as seen in those recordings."
"By the way... don't these two little ones get along with these four ones?" one of the people asked, pointing to Diddy and Dixie and then to the quartet.
"According to what we saw in those videos... no. Although they don't seem to get along that badly now; even this afternoon they have spent playing together normally. With whom we should be more careful is with adult apes; they may already have a more fixed aggressive personality... It was even seen that they know how to use guns, and it seems that the four little ones have been learning as well."
"What a horror. Surely that training is also the work of those Owens."
The people finished examining the little kongs, and then returned them to the playground area. Suddenly, another person entered carrying trays of various fruits to give to the kongs. After that, the people left again and left them alone. It was almost nightfall and all the kongs were quite hungry, so they didn't hesitate to start enjoying the food.
"At least the food here is delicious," Jemky said as he chewed on the food.
The six kongs continued to eat until they left their respective trays empty. Strange as it seemed, the people appeared again and took away the trays immediately, leaving the kongs alone again and earning dubious looks from them.
"Are they spying on us or what?" Mandrew asked, crossing his arms.
"They said they were going to evaluate us; they must be monitoring us somehow," Rocky replied, shrugging as they settled on some low platforms in the playground.
"What time will we leave here?" Melenky asked after a while. "I think we should go look for our dads. We'll enter through the windows in case the door is locked."
"We can't go in; the windows are closed now," Rocky pointed to the exterior walls of the clinic, where the windows on each level of it could be seen. "Besides, our dads still have to recover well. I think the sapphires have not yet finished working on them."
"I hope those tamers are locked up in jail soon," Melenky added with a somewhat worried look. "I'm really afraid they'll come for us."
"What are you saying?" Jemky said, looking at him strangely. "They won't come for us; together with our dads we'll give them their comeuppance again. They won't kill us, so there's nothing to fear."
"Hey, don't pretend," Mandrew replied to Jemky. "You were so afraid of them too, especially when that one with the patched eye grabbed you by your hair locks."
"Not true, I wasn't afraid at all," Jemky replied, becoming defensive, before sighing and getting serious a few seconds later. "Well... What could I tell you, I was afraid at the time, and it's something to worry about."
"Anyway, as soon as we can, we have to get out of here," Rocky finished. "And right, we'll play the next round we agreed upon earlier this afternoon in this playground later, don't forget."
The quartet settled in to take a break, while remaining serious. Diddy and Dixie were next to them, settled in that place too; strange as it seemed, this time they didn't feel uncomfortable in the presence of the quartet, at least not for the time being as long as they didn't bother them. In fact, during the time they were playing with them in the afternoon, they had not done so badly.
"What about you?" Rocky spoke to Diddy and Dixie. "Will you escape from this place too?"
"We don't even know where we are," Diddy replied earnestly. "And where do you plan to escape?"
"Well, the truth is, we don't know," Jemky replied. "I mean... the reason we came here was because our dads wanted to come for Rocky's dad and our uncle, and incidentally kill you two, taking advantage of an oversight of those tamers after they saw on the news that you were here," he added with a shrug. "But now we don't know if they still have that goal, I mean, they had no problem allying with Dixie to finish off those crazy tamers."
Diddy and Dixie made a gesture of discomfort at that answer, which even increased their uncertainty of staying in that place a little.
"Oh, but don't worry," Rocky said with a slight laugh. "At least the four of us don't plan to kill you at all; we have no reason to fight now. Maybe with our dads we'll just run away from here or go back to our island... And I guess you'll continue on your way to DK Island, right?"
"Obviously," Dixie replied, looking at them with some suspicion. "But we don't even know where it is. And by the way, did you also know anything about those tamers before?"
"Not really, our dads have never mentioned them to us," Mandrew said. "They just referred to them as 'the bosses' but we had no idea who they were."
"They haven't even wanted to tell us now," Rocky added, shrugging in a serious tone. "In addition... now it turns out that they're not even our dads. But well, that's normal: they never want to give us clear explanations of something."
"Yeah, and it was recently that they told us that they were dedicated to hunting animals," Melenky added in the same way. "They had always told us that they hunted exotic monsters and took them to laboratories, but actually what they did was that," he added before there was a moment of silence as they looked at Diddy and Dixie. "Anyway... and what about you two? Are you dating again?" he asked them, smiling again in a mocking way along with the other kids.
"Would you like to stop touching on those topics?" Diddy replied, getting annoyed again along with Dixie. "And no, it's not like you thought."
"You two are still wimps," Mandrew told them. "We thought you had gotten back together. Or maybe you'll get back later."
"That's how first loves are, they're always stupid and childish," Rocky added with a slight mocking smile. "I had a girlfriend a while ago, but that fool was actually cheating on her other boyfriend with me," he added, looking annoyed. "And on top of that, that idiot boy wanted to beat me up, but I ignored him."
"I had one too," Mandrew said the same way. "But likewise, that fool girl cheated on me with an ugly disheveled chimpanzee, uglier and disheveled than me... Ah, but at least I gave that wormhead his comeuppance for stealing her from me, although they stayed together anyway."
"And you know? I had a girlfriend too," Melenky added with the same tone of disappointment. "And that stupid girl cheated on me the following week with three lousy gorilla boys."
"Hey, aren't those the same stories you told us when you were the Jennies?" Diddy asked them with some curiosity and a puzzled smile.
"Yeah, yeah, the same stories," Mandrew replied. "Of course, in my case I just had to reverse the roles of the story because I was Mandy."
"The only different story was Jemky's," Melenky said, pointing to him. "He has never been cheated on."
"Exactly," Jemky said in a tone of pride. "On the other hand, girls have loved me a lot. Believe it or not, I've had twenty-five girlfriends."
"Oh, but you're exaggerating," Rocky replied, giving Jemky a little push. "You have only had eight formal girlfriends; as for the other seventeen girls: seven agreed to date you but then they disliked you, another six beat you up for being insistent, and the other four almost killed you and we had to go to your rescue."
"Ugh, shut up!" Jemky exclaimed, giving Rocky a harder push. "You didn't have to say that," he added before regaining his normal expression. "Uh, well, but yeah, I've had eight girlfriends and they were all very pretty and loved me... Some of them even left their boyfriends for me, and the fool boys stayed crying," he added with a mocking laugh.
"Eight girlfriends? And how long did you last with each one?" Diddy asked with a somewhat mocking tone and a look of strangeness.
"With each one? They were almost at the same time," Jemky replied in the same tone, before rolling his eyes. "But of course, then they broke up with me. I don't know how all of them became friends and suddenly one day one of them summoned me and they were all gathered there, and then those stupid girls broke up with me and humiliated me in public. Since then, I haven't had any more formal girlfriends."
"That's because then you became such a desperate boy for girls," Mandrew emphasized. "You took very seriously those conquest advice that the ape of the millipede sweets gave us."
"You guys didn't even take those advice; you were almost as cowards with your girlfriends as Diddy," Jemky replied, before calming down. "Anyway, that's the story."
"And... At what point have you had girlfriends?" Dixie asked them, looking at them strangely.
"Ah, it was in the time before we entered Kong Kollege," Jemky replied normally. "About five years ago, our dads left us at an animal shelter. There we met quite a few apes."
"Animal shelter?" Dixie asked along with Diddy. "Is it the…"
"No, it's not that one on Hurricane Island," Rocky reaffirmed with a few small laughs. "It's another shelter on another island, where we were before Kong Kollege. In that place we spent a long season... Or well, until the day they kicked us out of there and ordered our dads to take us away."
"Really?" Diddy asked, also looking at them strangely. "And why did your dads leave you in that place?"
"Well, because they were always working, just working," Mandrew replied with a shrug. "Well, that's what they've always done with us as far as we can remember: they left us in community places for us to stay and supposedly be taken care of, while they went on their journeys."
"What are you saying?" Dixie asked, keeping her expression. "So... your dads… didn't really see you much?"
"They did see us, but only on weekends or once a month," Jemky replied, before emitting a slight sigh. "But yes, a big part of our lives has been spent more with other apes than with our dads."
"And... they also left you when you were babies?" Dixie asked them with some insecurity.
"Well, we don't remember anything about that time," Melenky said earnestly. "But our dads have only told us that they carried us with them all the time, while they had the monsters in the laboratory... or rather, the animals they hunted. In addition... I don't know if it was an old dream or a real one, but... I do remember seeing our dads killing some animals; I don't know if it was one of my earliest memories as I started to have recollection."
"In fact, Melenky has always told us that, although we haven't believed him that much," Rocky said, also getting serious. "But with the news they have given us, maybe it has been true. We were about three years old when our dads no longer wanted to have us with them all the time, and they hid us so that we could not see them working, since we already started talking and asking them questions."
"I usually remember something too…" Jemky added, also getting a seriousness. "I've also had those dubious memories like Melenky, although I was never one hundred percent sure. I remember seeing our dads with guns and also manipulating other animals in very strange and rough ways."
"But no, they never wanted to give us an explanation," Rocky added. "Whenever we asked them something about their 'works', they ignored us or made up other stories... But well, that's how they've always been."
Diddy and Dixie looked at each other for a few seconds, before looking back at the quartet... Suddenly, the four of them had their expressions changed; they all showed a seriousness rarely seen in them. While they both knew it was somewhat unwise to ask someone about a serious topic, they were quite curious at the time about them.
"And... were your dads the ones who taught you how to use guns?" Diddy asked them. "Were they who taught you to... do everything you usually did?"
"No, they never have," Rocky replied still earnestly. "What's more, whenever we have been caught carrying guns, they begin to lash us mercilessly."
"They've never wanted to teach us anything, actually," Mandrew added in the same tone. "They spent only a few days with us and then told us that they should go to work, or else they wouldn't be able to bring us food."
"Even when you were... little children?" Dixie asked them with some doubt. "I mean, did they at least take care of you or teach you basic things once you stopped being babies?"
The quartet made a gesture of weirdness to Dixie's question; as if such a question had seemed absurd to them.
"I don't know what exactly you mean," Rocky said, becoming more serious. "As I said, until we were three years old, our dads kept us with them; I guess they barely taught us to walk, eat, bathe and kept us distracted with toys. After that... they sent us to some kind of home for young apes, where we spent another three years... Although that place… was the worst, seriously."
"An orphanage, you say?" Diddy also asked seriously. "And... they left you there alone all the time?"
"Indeed," Mandrew replied. "It was a kind of school, but where we stayed for long periods. According to our dads, in that place we were going to be taken care of and be fine while they were away; they only went to visit us once a month and they left again... But that place was dreadful, really."
"And we really... had a very bad time there," Rocky added, keeping his seriousness. "In that place there were a lot of primate children, from little children like us at that time, to others who were almost adults."
"I still remember the first day when my dad and our uncle Will left us there," Jemky added in the same way. "We were very scared and didn't want to be left. Besides... the other children who spoke to us when we arrived, told us many awful things that happened there... and they were indeed right."
"Really?" Diddy exclaimed with an astonished and surprised look. "But what kind of place was that?"
"And that was like a school then?" Dixie asked them with some insecurity. "I mean, what were you made to do there?"
"Well... we were made to get up early every day to eat," Rocky replied. "Although the caretakers fed us, kept us clean and let us play, they also made us follow very strict rules and punished us very ugly if we didn't do something right, however minimal," he added, before looking down. This time... he looked more serious than before, even as if he were recounting some bad event. "In that place... there was a gorilla lady who was the headmistress... That lady was a monster; we all feared her, especially if someone did something wrong or if someone was reported for doing something wrong... Their punishments ranged from beating us with hundreds of lashes or hitting us with heavy objects, to locking us up in dark rooms and leaving us without food for days... She did that to me on several occasions, sometimes just because I warned Jemky, Mandrew and Melenky to behave when they did some mischief, lest they be punished... But she only blamed me most of the time."
"She punished me several times by beating me or locking me up too," Melenky also mentioned in the same expression as Rocky... even more deeply, as if he now looked like a helpless child. "And not only of her, we also… were afraid of some of the supervisors and caretakers of that place, especially a specific chimpanzee... He was funny with us at first and even played games with us, but... sometimes he left and returned behaving very strangely, and he started mistreating the children... That darn one beat us and mistreated us in dreadful ways. I even told the headmistress on one occasion that he gave me one of the many beatings... but she never believed us because she never considered any of the caretakers as bad, and even she herself used to send us with them when we didn't do something right... I spent several nights unable to sleep well in that place because of all that, and I only had nightmares when I did."
"Oh, no, what a horror," Dixie exclaimed, looking appalled along with Diddy. "How could they leave you in such a place?"
"Wait, but wasn't there someone there who saw those things wrong?" Diddy asked them. "I mean, did you ask someone else for help? Or did no one see those things?"
"No... we weren't brave enough to do it," Rocky replied. "What's more, we didn't know how or who else to ask for help in that place; we were very young... We never learned to ask for help, really."
"Only the four of us had each other," Mandrew said with the same low expression. "Even with our small heights back then, we tried to defend each other from other bad kids that were there... Many times, older kids also used to be mean to the little ones and did cruelties to them... There was a specific group of older gorilla kids who always liked to bully me a lot, scare me, hit me, make fun of me and tell me that I was very ugly. I remember that even once those fools tied me up, took me to a lake in that place and threw me; I almost drowned, until Jemky, Rocky and Melenky came to save me as best they could. I told the headmistress, and those kids were punished, but... anyway, they continued to do the same and got away with it with me, not caring about anything, even if they were punished. Those idiots were savages."
"It can't be," Dixie said, still shocked along with Diddy. "But what kind of care place was that?"
Both Diddy and Dixie were shocked by the stories the quartet told them; although they already knew that they did not have a good relationship with their dads and received bad treatment from them, they did not think that they had also gone through other awful situations; they had never seen them that way. They'd think the quartet was making it all up to make them feel sorry for them like they did through the Jennies, but no... This time, they were looking directly at them and seeing their expressions that they rarely let show.
"And that wasn't all…" Jemky added in the same way. "The older children who misbehaved were punished by making them take care of the youngest ones. I remember that for a season… I had to be taken care of by an older chimpanzee girl. She was very loving at first and took care of me, but sometimes... she treated me so badly and hurt me, and didn't leave me alone. If I ran away from her, she started beating me and locking me up for long hours, and she didn't care if she hurt me or I begged her to stop... Until one day I reported her and the headmistress punished her, but then…" Jemky paused a little, as if taking strength to continue, "then she went to look for me and gave me a terrible beating, took me to the shore of that lake and... submerged me to try to drown me, and was getting it. Until Mandrew, Melenky and Rocky arrived and pushed her into the water so that she let me go and I could escape, even if I felt like I couldn't breathe... I had quite a few nightmares afterwards, and I used to cry before sleeping... afraid that that crazy lunatic girl would look for me."
Jemky kept his eyes down, and even was seen with some moisture in his eyes, so much so that even a drop came out from one of them, but he turned around immediately as if he did not want to be seen. Seconds later, Melenky was also seen how his eyes moistened as he looked down. That surprised Diddy and Dixie much more, since at least in the time they had known them, they had never seen any of the four of them like that.
"And no one... no one but the four of us could help us," Rocky said with absolute seriousness. "When our dads went to visit us, several times we begged them to get us out of there, but... they just told us that there was no more place and no one else who could take care of us. We managed to get out of there when we were six years old because we had planned an escape with other kids. Our dads... were about to punish us, but we told them the barbarities we went through there, and we showed them our scars or very ugly wounds with which they were horrified, and at least they stayed with us to comfort us. After a few days, they asked us the names of all those who hurt us in that orphanage, and they left again with their guns in hand to that place. Then, they went back to their journeys as usual."
"Even so, they almost left us in another orphanage they had found," Mandrew added. "But we begged them not to do it, and that we were already old enough to take care of ourselves, so they took us to live on another island where they later left us at a shelter."
"But the truth is, we were also afraid of that place at first," Melenky said as he seemed to wipe tears from his eyes. "We didn't talk to anyone and even pushed away those who tried to approach us; we even stayed most of the time on the outside of the shelter. There were a few older kids who wanted to bother or bully us, but we were starting to fight them better, at least those of our height."
"And after a few months…" Rocky continued, "we met that male gorilla who became our friend, the one who showed us the candies with millipede venom."
"And... did you meet him in that shelter?" Diddy asked them with some hesitation about asking them any questions.
"Yes, on the outside to be exact," Rocky replied. "One day, while the four of us were outside the shelter, he approached us, asked our names and if we were alone. He was very good with us, so much so that even every day he waited for us on the outside to give us candies and gifts, he even played with us. We invited him to come with us to the shelter, but he never wanted to; he didn't want anyone to see him... A few months later, he invited us to his house in a strange place with many strange apes. He even wanted to adopt us, but we told him that we already had dads. Anyway, he was good friends with us... at least at first. He asked us what our dads were like and what our lives were like, and we told him everything we lived in the orphanage and that we were very afraid, even that we were afraid to interact with the other apes in the shelter, and that we needed to see our dads but they could not to us…"
"And that's when he showed us... that candies with millipede venom," Jemky said, turning again after apparently wiping his eyes. "He taught us how to prepare them and how to eat them... He told us that with that all our problems would end, that we'd no longer feel afraid or abandoned, that we'd only spend laughing... And truth be told... it worked for us."
"At first we didn't want to accept that from him," Rocky added. "But he insisted that it would help us. And many times afterwards, we kept telling him that we were still afraid of many things, but he... told us that we were being cowardly and that we had to be very tough, that we shouldn't fear anyone or let them take us for fools. He told us that if someone didn't like us, we should give them their due. He even taught us how to fight and attack."
"He told us that this is how we had to let off steam: fighting," Jemky added in a slightly trembling voice. "He told us that we shouldn't allow anyone to think they're superior to us. I remember that... I told him that I was afraid of girls because of what happened to me, and he just told me that I was being ridiculous, that I'd only be a failure when I grow up. And that's when... he also taught us how to get girlfriends, although I was the one he taught the most, so that I would no longer fear and make me stronger."
"He actually mocked us, now that I think about it," Mandrew said, annoyed. "Afterwards, he no longer listened to us or gave us gifts; he only told us that we should 'be very tough', not continue crying, and forget everything we had been through, and of course, he continued to offer us millipede sweets... And it's that in truth they did help us at least to survive, while our dads were away."
"We even feel more confident socializing later," Rocky said. "We met new friends at the shelter, with whom we got along very well, and we even got our girlfriends a couple of years later. We continued to take the millipede venom candies and enjoyed it a lot, really. The only detail afterwards... was that that gorilla no longer wanted to give us those sweets... He now wanted us to bring him jewelry and valuables in exchange for those sweets, and as we felt a great need to take them, we began to go in search of those objects... In fact, I admit that we even stole the belongings of the apes from the shelter and found it fun, as if it were a game."
"We used to escape from the shelter to go get valuables," Jemky added, his eyes down. "We really wanted those millipede candies; it was what made us happy and what we really found help with... And in the times we had enough, we even offered a little to our friends from that place as well. Everything went on like that... until our dads found out."
"In fact, we had gotten ourselves into more trouble already," Mandrew said. "Those of the shelter already wanted to expel us, we had had several fights with the other kids there, many times we escaped, we even took millipedes there and stole the belongings of everyone in that place... And they reported all that to our dads and ordered them to get us out of there."
"Our dads gave us the beating of our lives," Melenky said. "They whipped us for a long time until they got tired; they told us they didn't know what else to do with us. They asked us who had shown us those candies and we told him about our gorilla friend, and they told us why we had listened to him, that that ape just wanted to manipulate us and that children shouldn't consume those things."
"In fact, we answered them back," Jemky continued. "I even told them that... with those candies we felt so good that we no longer even missed them... Obviously, we earned another beating, although we didn't care so much at that time, and we even returned to the shelter as if nothing had happened. Then, we were going to return with our gorilla friend, but suddenly one day... he was dead."
"We had found his body," Rocky added before pausing. "He had... a lot of injuries and we never knew what happened to him. We fled from that place and returned to the shelter... although no one wanted to see us there anymore, so we just stayed outside. We continued to take millipede candies secretly and on our own, since at least we knew other apes close to that gorilla who also had, although of course... they asked us for jewelry or coins in exchange, so we went out to get them. And we went for almost another year that way."
"And after that was when we moved to Z Island," Mandrew continued. "Our dads went to visit us and found out that we still took millipedes, and they told us that they would enroll us better in a school... and yeah, in Kong Kollege. According to them, it was to "educate" us, but no idea if it succeeded; we only cared about feeling good, and for that, we continued to take those candies; we didn't care about anything else. On Z Island we found other hidden places where there were sweets and millipedes in exchange for coins. Diddy already knows the story from there: it was where we met him and... we became friends, although he seemed like a silly monkey to us because he never wanted to do the same as us or follow our games."
"And you already know the story," Rocky finished. "We went out to steal valuable items to exchange them for coins and get the millipedes. On that Z Island our dads had left us in a house just for us; since then, we had unlimited freedom to go out and nothing mattered to us anymore. Even when our dads returned, sometimes they brought their guns and we took them secretly so we could get valuable items more easily... Although of course, they found out and punished us, but we didn't care one bit about their punishments anymore. And the rest you know: Diddy was our new friend, since no one else in Kong Kollege wanted to talk to us, but he never wanted to play along with us, and to top it all he threw the guns we used to steal from our dads into the sea, and those guns were the most valuable they had... And yes, the beating we received from them was tremendous."
"And well, that's when we started to dislike Diddy," Jemky added. "He was like a little kid like the ones we then liked to bother and make cry."
"I admit I was amused by his frightened face," Mandrew said. "And by the way, Diddy... did you seriously believe that we were going to kill you, Donkey and Wrinkly if you reported us?" he said, recovering a little his mocking tone.
Diddy made an immediate gesture of disgust and some indignation after hearing that, although he also knew that he could no longer do anything about that situation.
"Hey, is it serious?" Jemky asked, looking at him with some oddity. "We weren't going to do that, monkey, I mean... maybe we'd have given you a beating or left you to your fate if you survived. In fact... on several occasions when we threatened you both, we weren't really going to act as we told you... Those threats were the same ones that were told to us in that orphanage when we were little, and they scared us a lot... Although anyway, that crazy girl did try to carry out her threat with me," he ended up adopting a seriousness again.
"And that's it, that's what we were going through," Rocky added, also showing himself serious again along with the others, before sighing. "But what can we do... This miserable life is where we had to grow."
"That sounds like... the story you told us as the Jennies," Diddy said with a doubtful look. "When you told us that you had been abandoned as little children on an island with several children and stayed in many places."
"Ah, that story that we made up for you," Rocky said with a shrug, before releasing another sigh. "Joking aside... I'd have preferred that to what we have really been through... and no one ever helped us, just barely the millipede sweets that made us laugh no matter how we felt."
"So, you... have always lived adrift in many ways," Dixie added. "Even without anyone being able to really help you all."
"Actually... yes," Rocky replied as he readopted a helpless child's expression along with the other three. "And yeah, the truth is that we have had to survive... We've been through several things... The only company many times has only been the four of us... More than once, other savage apes have tried to do us some evil or some other animal has wanted to attack us... More than once, we have seen death up close because of other ones, or even because of our journeys or from playing with our dads' guns... And they have barely helped us when we have had an accident... but almost never when we felt fearful or sad. Although anyway... things have also mattered less and less to us."
There was another moment of silence, as the quartet just kept their eyes down and continued with their expressions uncommon in them. Diddy and Dixie, meanwhile, had only been more shocked; they didn't remember having any deep conversations with the quartet, they couldn't even believe that they could open up to talk about their lives, not even Diddy had seen them talk like that when they were his friends. Both could not deny that the backstory of the quartet caused them more pity than they already had for them, despite everything they had done to both of them.
"I'm really… so sorry," Diddy told them with a tone of compassion and breaking the silence a little.
"So... deep down, it's what you've always wanted," Dixie also commented. "You just needed to be heard and helped from everything... Is that so, right? Have you just wanted to find a way to feel good and forget all those dreadful things that happened to you?"
Suddenly, the four kong children looked up at the two again, while now they had expressions that showed in their entirety helpless children and that they were only broken deep down... as if they both had touched a sensitive side of their being. Seconds later, the four looked away. Jemky even showed himself in disgust and turned his back again, as if trying to ignore Dixie's assumption.
"Is that... true?" Dixie added again with some insecurity. "You have only needed help from your dads throughout your lives and they haven't known how to be there... Isn't it?"
"Uh, well, it's not exactly that…" Mandrew replied, breaking the silence. "About those millipede sweets, we just wanted to try them and-"
"No!" Rocky interrupted suddenly, showing absolute seriousness, before looking at Diddy and Dixie. "Actually... maybe what Dixie just said is true."
"It's that it's very clear, not to offend you," Dixie added earnestly. "You've been through very awful things, you wanted to seek help, especially from your dads... but neither they nor anyone else could really do it, from what you tell us. And you just keep trying to find a way to feel good, to feel safe... to feel that no one is going to hurt you again."
"It's not that!" Mandrew replied as if he wanted to get defensive. "I mean-"
"No! It really is!" Rocky interrupted again quite seriously towards his group, before there were a few seconds of silence. "I mean, about looking for a way to feel good is true; what's more... were the millipedes for that, or not?"
"But we took them because we liked them and that's it," Mandrew replied, still in defense.
"But think about something," Dixie replied. "You were hurt a lot as little children, you wanted to seek help, your dads could not do well and left you to your fate, and that crazy male gorilla told you that he was going to help you with those weird millipede sweets, right? You told them what your lives were like, right?" she asked them before just Rocky and then Melenky nodded their heads a little. "So, that gorilla manipulated you all, took advantage of you by seeing you helpless, and only gave you terrible lessons on how to be strong, and not even your dads could correct you."
"Well, about that-" Mandrew said before being interrupted this time by Melenky.
"That's true too," Melenky said as he wiped his eyes a little again. "That gorilla offered us the millipede sweets for that very reason, so that we'd feel good and not have more pain. And besides, that's why he also taught us how to fight and other things."
"And by the way, something else," Diddy added also earnestly. "You liked to steal so you could get more of those candies, didn't you? Was that why you did it so much and behaved like that?"
"Well, that's true too, actually," Rocky replied.
"But about the things we went through at the orphanage and all that, we don't care anymore," Mandrew repeated, still defensively. "What's more, we hardly even remembered, and you two came to ask us."
"Uhh, actually... I do remember," Melenky said, his eyes still moist. "And to be honest... I have taken millipede sweets to feel better and forget any awful thing I don't want to remember."
"Me too, and it's not a lie," Rocky added earnestly toward Mandrew. "You and Jemky never want to admit anything, but you know it's true."
"Are you siding with these two?" Mandrew replied, pointing to Diddy and Dixie.
"It's not that!" Rocky replied. "It's just... It's true what they say. Or are you going to tell me that at first that millipede venom didn't taste disgusting but then you took it because it made you laugh and feel better?"
"Hey, and I don't know if you've noticed something too," Diddy said earnestly. "But sometimes... you all behave almost in the same way as how you have been treated or hurt. Is that why you are like that?"
The quartet didn't answer anything for a while; they just looked at them both again without changing their expressions.
"Is that true, right?" Dixie asked them, still not getting an answer from any of them. Rocky barely shrugged as slightest response.
"Why... didn't you say all this before?" Diddy asked them as there was still silence from the quartet. "I mean, I'm not in a position to say that when I didn't tell anyone that you bothered me either, but... it really would be the right thing to do."
"Monkey, we weren't going to tell you this," Rocky replied. "Or were you going to repair our damage?"
"Maybe not, but at least I'd have understood you a little better," Diddy replied. "At least things would have been too different with you when you were my friends."
"Ugh, but what else can we do now?" Mandrew exclaimed as if trying to be indifferent. "Everything has already happened, it's how we had to live."
Diddy and Dixie just watched them without saying anything for a while. The kids of the quartet only returned the same looks, and Melenky and Jemky could even be clearly seen having moist eyes as if they were about to burst. Mandrew was kept with an annoyed look and with some indignation, while Rocky was somewhat more serious.
"Can we continue talking to you?" Dixie asked them somewhat unsurely, receiving only a nod from Rocky. "Look, we don't know what you could do now; surely after this you'll go with your dads if those tamers don't get up again. And I don't know if you'd take what I'm going to tell you badly and continue to be the way you are, but if at some point you have the opportunity... you could do things right. We're very sorry for everything you all went through, and who knows, one day you might find someone or something that truly helps you without destroying you or leading you astray. But just one thing... you'll never get it if you remain the way you are; you'll never find any help from anyone if you just keep harming others."
"That's very true," Diddy added in the same way. "Just look at it: you and I were friends... but you treated me very badly and wanted me to be just like you, even if I told you that the things you did were wrong. And what I did was I just stepped away, but anyway, you all kept bothering me, and then you wanted to do the same thing with Dixie... And with that you only made us dislike you and have terrible references from you... That's what you're going to get from others if you stay that way. Just try to think about that."
"Don't be the same as how you've been treated," Dixie added, speaking calmly. "All you'll achieve is to continue getting into trouble and that anyone who runs into you hates you, even to the point of hurting you again. And seriously, you didn't deserve to have gone through all those dreadful things and not truly get help, but... if after all that you go around hurting others, then you'll really deserve the worst."
"And it's not your fault everything that's happened to you," Diddy added. "Seriously, we regret what you've been through and the life that you've had to live... But you can still be different and at least not let your bad memories incentivize you to be evil. It's not anyone's fault to have been born in the life that each one has had to live. Look... I don't have my parents; I lost them when I was very little and I didn't know I'd never see them again until I got a little older. Sometimes, I have those bad memories and I haven't had a happy life either... But even so, not to mention that I haven't been perfect, I've never thought of hurting someone for no reason."
"And neither do I," Dixie continued. "I don't know if you remember what I told you while you were the Jennies, but I don't have my parents either, nor my aunt and uncle who were also like that, and I had to see them leave in dreadful ways. With my sister and my two cousins we lived a hellish life, and we were even almost like you: adrift and without anyone helping us... But even so, none of us are evil, and we found enough refuge when we arrived at DK Island and we have done well... And likewise, it's not that we've all been perfect, but we never got into bad habits."
"Hmm, sure... You haven't had a happy life either," Rocky said, looking at them thoughtfully, before looking down. "But at least... you've been helped, I even suppose that your parents were different from ours, right? I mean, according to what you told us when we were the Jennies: Diddy... has Donkey anyway, who's like his father; and Dixie has no one... but I remember she told us that her parents were very good, and Diddy's too... right?"
"Well, that's true," Diddy replied. "But you shouldn't use that as an excuse for your bad behavior either... It's just what we're trying to tell you."
"That's what you must change," Dixie told them. "Just stop and think... if every time you do harm to others or to yourselves, do you really feel that you'll be freed from everything that way? Do you really think that that will make you feel the best? If you're looking to feel better, you can start there: questioning your actions... Therefore, every time you're going to harm someone, just stop to think about how the other one will feel, how you'd feel if someone did the same to you. Stop to think... about the little, innocent children you once were... and who were hurt. Moreover... I think I haven't really thanked you yet for saving me; you did a good deed there... Perhaps, deep down inside you, there's still a part of those innocent little children... and maybe you should listen to them... if no one wanted to listen to them before."
The quartet just kept the same expressions, while at the same time looking at each other as if nothing else they could do. Suddenly, Mandrew began to have some tears in his eyes too, just like Melenky and Jemky, who looked as if they had been repressing themselves for a while.
"Uh, hey, it's okay…" Dixie said in a compassionate tone. "If you want to cry... do it; we're not going to laugh if that's what you think. It's okay to talk and let go of something that's been bothering you for so long."
Suddenly, Melenky looked down again and just burst into tears, letting his eyes shed tears continuously; followed by Mandrew, who let out a few tears and wiped them immediately. Jemky, on the other hand, continued to remain strong at first, but within a few seconds... he gave a loud sob too and his eyes began to shed continuous tears and he tried to wipe them as he could, although before long, he got up to withdraw and go hide in another corner. Rocky, although his eyes were moistened too, was the one who remained strongest, and just placed his hands on Melenky and Mandrew's shoulders as a gesture of compassion, even if he also looked almost the same.
Diddy and Dixie just kept silent not knowing what else to do; they had never seen the four of them that way; in fact... they never imagined seeing them like that. The quartet of those children were always their archenemies who had given them several headaches, and had even taken them for fools and even attempted to harm them. But in that moment of vulnerability and after listening to their stories, they couldn't help but think about how the four of them would have been different if their lives had been different... if at least someone had treated them better in the past and given them the love and attention they needed, because after and despite everything... the four of them were just children, they were children like the two of them, with similar lives but not the same luck.
"Hey…" Diddy called them after a while, with some insecurity. "We don't want you to take anything wrong, just in cas-"
"No... It's okay," Rocky replied, wiping his eyes one last time and a trembling voice. "I just… think we should leave things here."
"Okay, don't worry," Diddy said before pausing. "Uhh... Do you mind if we stay here?"
"Well, stay if you want," Rocky said with a shrug. "We won't stop you."
"Do you need to... say anything else?" Dixie asked.
"No, no, it's enough," Rocky replied, trying to regain his spirits. "Moreover... we could play the round we agreed earlier this afternoon in this playground zone later," he added, trying to smile at them a little again. "What do you say?"
"If you say so, well... no problem," Dixie replied, smiling a little along with Diddy, although with some insecurity.
"I'd say yes," Rocky replied, smiling again for a second. "Uh, but I don't know about the others."
"I'll join too," Mandrew added in the same way. "I think it's enough talking... Are you going to play, Melenky?"
"Well... yes," Melenky replied as he finished wiping his eyes and still showed some sadness. "Although maybe later... I don't feel like it right now."
"Okay, so... those of us who are," Rocky said, before looking towards some hidden corners behind. "And will Jemky play?"
Then, Rocky got up for a while to go to that corner where Jemky was to talk to him... He was sitting and hugging his legs in that hidden corner and with his head down, as if he didn't want to see anyone at that moment. Later, Melenky joined in to see him as well.
"Hey, Jemky... will you play the round we agreed earlier this afternoon?" Rocky asked, before looking at him seriously after receiving no answer from him. "Uhh... will you play?"
"Leave me…" Jemky replied in a brittle voice and without raising his head, while rubbing his hands over his eyes continuously.
Rocky just gave him a compassionate look for quite a few seconds, before slowly retreating and keeping his expression... Suddenly, Melenky, who continued to stay there, went to sit next to Jemky, whom he then patted lightly on the back as if he wanted to comfort him... Jemky looked up at him while his eyes were all moistened and he showed deep distress, as did Melenky, who then lowered his gaze and burst into abundant tears without stopping. A few seconds later, Jemky lowered his head again and continued to shed tears and sobs continuously, as if he had no comfort at that moment either.
On the other hand, Rocky had returned to where they were before... still with a low expression.
"Uhh, I don't think Jemky will play," Rocky whispered, returning to the group, as he again showed total seriousness. "And Melenky says later, so... we'd better play later or tomorrow; let's rest a little now."
"By the way... I think I need a break too," Mandrew said, standing up and sighing. "If you plan to play later, just call me, okay?"
Suddenly, Mandrew also withdrew from the conversation and went to another corner, although he just went to sit on the banks of the ball pit, and remained lost in thought, looking into nothingness for a long time. Meanwhile, Rocky just shrugged and continued to stay with Diddy and Dixie, who were not knowing what else to do at the time.
"What time will those doctors come to see us, by the way?" Rocky asked as he looked up at the building. Afterwards, he continued in silence for a while, before looking at Diddy and Dixie as if he wanted to speak to them, but also as if he didn't know how to do it at first. "Hey, uhh..." he said in a tone of shyness, to which they both turned to look at him again. "By the way... thanks for... listen to us," he said, smiling a little, and then getting serious again. "Yeah, really... I know I said I didn't want to continue talking about it, but... we had never been able to talk about these things like this; it has always been a sensitive issue for us, although we may not have wanted to acknowledge it. And... it's true what you say, I admit it:... we've just been looking for ways to feel good and forget all the awful things we've been through... and maybe we haven't been doing it the right way."
Both Diddy and Dixie looked at each other with a little astonishment at what Rocky had just said; they didn't know what to say at first, but they smiled at him a little later anyway to talk to him.
"Uhh... Okay, don't worry," Diddy said, trying to smile at him a little. "As we said: it's okay if you want to talk about something that has bothered you for so long, as long as you do it calmly."
"Moreover…" Dixie added in the same way, "acknowledging your actions and mistakes can be the first step in trying to improve... If you want, of course."
"Wow... and no one had talked to us like you either," Rocky said, smiling a little, but showing some sadness. "Almost every time we've talked about this with someone, they used to say things that made us feel worse... Like the male gorilla who showed us those millipede sweets, or in the shelter where we were before: Melenky was mocked, for example; Jemky was given very mean comments; or Mandrew was bullied too, or he himself used to joke about our situation and I told him not to do it with that. And yeah... it was in those sweets with millipede venom that we found real comfort."
"Oh... All that sounds terrible," Dixie said in the same tone. "Truth be told... we never thought you had lived like that; I mean... we knew that you had no control from your dads, but never that other apes have also hurt you in awful ways and led you astray."
"Besides, not to offend or anything, but…" Diddy added, "I even thought that you were just crazy kids who bothered other ones because you wanted to feel superior and that's it; I mean... you actually have been, but I never thought that you had gone through much worse situations. What's more, I believed that... you didn't even have feelings."
"Hey, of course we do," Rocky replied, smiling at them with some strangeness, before getting absolute seriousness and looking down. "At least I do... I've had many days where I've felt the worst or didn't feel like living. Melenky shows them too, in fact; many times, I have seen him cry and he tells me how he feels, and I also tell him about me. Maybe Mandrew and Jemky do tend to act tough, if it weren't for the fact that several times, they overdid it with millipede sweets... There were even times when Jemky used to do it until he fainted, and when he woke up, he just started to cry and tell me that he had done it on purpose, although afterwards he didn't want to talk about how he felt anymore. And yeah... maybe we've hurt ourselves too, but... we haven't found any other ways, it's as if we just... survived."
"Oh... Geez, I didn't think your issues were so bad," Diddy said, looking at him quite compassionately now. "And didn't your dads... really help you or anything?"
"They didn't even care that much; they even spent most of their time away from us," Rocky replied, shrugging and looking down at the ground. "I mean, they did comfort us at first, as we said, but then it was as if it depended only on us to heal our wounds. Barely, our dads helped us if we had accidents, but... not to mention they used to reproach us afterwards. And so... what could be done, because anyway... they have also been the only ones who have at least helped us a little."
"And by chance... Do you think you could still change and stop your bad behaviors?" Dixie asked them with some insecurity.
"I don't know," Rocky replied, emitting another sigh, before showing tears in his eyes again, but trying to wipe them away. "Maybe I do, but... I don't even know how. First of all, we have to see how we get out of here," he finished, looking back at them and shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, monkeys, I think we should leave everything here now... Don't you want to play a little in this playground? At least to count how many platforms there are."
Diddy and Dixie, although still somewhat pitied about the four of them, smiled a little at Rocky and agreed to spend some time with him. They even continued to sit in the same place to talk, this time without touching on any sensitive topic. Later, they walked on the playground area for a while and also called Mandrew, who was nearby. While Diddy and Dixie never expected to hang out with them, at least they weren't feeling threatened this time, and the atmosphere was quiet enough at that moment to agree. They didn't know how they got there.