Chapter 91: The End of the Hurricane
About an hour later, Diddy and Dixie were still inside the vehicle, which was still rolling. They kept looking out the windows at the whole landscape with no buildings in sight; instead, it now had wide horizons where the vast sea could begin to be seen.
Minutes later, the vehicle was stopped right on one of those beaches that were nearby. Suddenly, the door of the compartment where Diddy and Dixie were opened, and the people who had taken them let themselves be shown again. They took Diddy and Dixie down from there, with the box in which they brought Jenny's quartet. Then, they were taken to a dock where some small boats that seemed to carry heavy objects were parked.
The people went to one of those boats, where, after a few moments of dialogue with other people there, they loaded Diddy and Dixie in it, before they also boarded with the box containing Jenny's quartet.
Later, the ship sailed and began to sail over the sea, leaving that city behind. Diddy and Dixie were inside a cabin again, which had windows where they watched as they moved away from everything until they went further out to sea. The landscape that several minutes later they had was becoming only open sea and infinite horizons.
They spent several hours sailing in that boat, and the trip began to become exhausting and boring. Sleep was taking over Diddy and Dixie, so they took turns taking a break and sleeping while the other stayed up to watch that there were no mishaps along the way.
A few long hours later, the ship stopped next to a low cliff, which was from an island with a jungle atmosphere in the distance.
Suddenly, the doors of the cabin where Diddy and Dixie were opened, and the people appeared again to take them down with the box where the other kongs were. After disembarking everything, the people began to walk into that island. This time, they had taken the quartet of mechanical children out of the box and carried them in their arms as well; the children looked afraid at first, but Diddy and Dixie tried to gesture to them to stay calm.
Minutes later, they stopped in a jungle area, which looked quite calm and with a relaxing atmosphere in sight.
"Well, we've arrived, little monkeys," one of the people said as they left Diddy and Dixie on the ground. "You're free again. I know you'll be fine."
"Are you sure…" another one asked, doubtful, "that it won't be necessary to follow up on them?"
"Don't worry," the first person replied, smiling at Diddy and Dixie. "They're quite strong, and they know how to take care of themselves very well."
Diddy and Dixie made a few slight gestures of affirmation towards the people. Then, both stopped to observe the entire environment in front of them; it made them feel a bit of uncertainty deep down, but at the same time, they smiled to know that they had returned to natural lands to search for Hurricane Island on their own. Afterward, Jenny's quartet joined them as they looked at the place as well.
"So, it seems that everything has ended here," the people said, ducking to be in front of Diddy and Dixie and placing their hands on their shoulders. "You're going to stay here; it's a good place for you and you'll be fine, or well... wherever you go."
"Take good care of yourselves, little ones," another of the people said, smiling at them in the same way. "We hope everything goes well for you and that you can find peace."
The two kongs looked towards the area and then looked towards the people, to whom they smiled for all the help they had been offered in that animal hospital. Then, Dixie looked up at a banana tree, gestured to Diddy, and headed over to climb it. They both picked up a few bananas, and then got off to go to the people and hand them those bananas while smiling at them.
"Oh, no, don't worry, little ones," one of the people said, emitting a little laugh at that detail from Diddy and Dixie. "But we'll take them anyway; we thank you."
Diddy and Dixie smiled at them again, while feeling quite a bit of gratitude towards the people at that moment. Although the first time they arrived at that hospital they were quite afraid of them, now they could not stop thanking them in their language for having treated them well and saved them in a way.
"Goodbye, little ones," one of the people said as the group of them lined up in front of Diddy and Dixie. "Take good care of yourselves, and take care of your little friends too," they added, pointing to the quartet. "Or well... I hope you can return them to their family as you tried to tell us."
Diddy and Dixie smiled one last time at the people, before beckoning the quartet to continue on their way. Without more to say, they both turned around and started walking into the jungle, also taking Jenny's quartet along with them: this time, the four kong children were all calm. In the distance, Diddy and Dixie turned to look at the people again and, seconds later, went completely into the trees in front of them.
Later, and as if it was already waiting for them, they noticed the presence of a path in sight, which was marked by a dirt road... Diddy and Dixie remembered what the apes had told them before leaving, and they could not believe it had turned out to be true. Even so, they still had to finish making sure, so they started the walk along that path, taking the quartet with them too.
They spent long minutes walking along that path. Between times, both could not help but think that they could get lost because of how surrounded by tall vegetation that site was, but even so, at no time did they stop, and just continued until they saw something that could resemble Hurricane Island, as they had been told. Fortunately, they did not encounter any obstacle or any danger that interfered in their way.
They reached the end of the path, which ended at an extensive beach where there were maritime horizons in sight. When suddenly... Diddy and Dixie gasped as they felt an enormous excitement after so long, after reaching to see… the very Hurricane Island in the distance. Although only a couple of times they had seen it from afar, it looked quite similar to how they remembered it, so they had almost no doubt that it was the same one.
"Is it t-the... Hurricane Island?" Dixie wondered, keeping her expression.
"The same one!" Diddy exclaimed, before jumping with excitement.
The two began to jump for joy while embracing each other with excitement, and then ran to hug the quartet as well, although the latter did not seem to understand. They were feeling an excitement they hadn't had in a while, since when they were still on Hurricane Island.
"We did it!" Diddy exclaimed, still jumping in victory, before getting serious again to react. "Well, now we have to see how we can get there."
"We'll put together a boat or a raft or whatever, there's no other way," Dixie replied as she looked all over the beach. "On the beaches there are usually tree and wood debris. Let's go!"
Without letting another minute pass, both set out to find materials that could be used to build a boat to transport, even if it was a small one. The task was not so complicated, since, similar to Hurricane Island, that beach also had several remains of wood and fallen vegetation, perhaps because the hurricane would pass in that area too.
Diddy and Dixie began to put together a small boat, enough for the two of them along with the other four kong children. Curiously, those children did not sit still, and rather helped them in the construction as if it were at their will; it was as if they had been left with the memories of when they built that ship on Hurricane Island.
Almost three hours passed while assembling the boat, which consisted of a small but at the same time spacious raft to be able to go the six together. At the end, Diddy and Dixie took a few minutes of rest, while the quartet inspected the raft as if they wanted to make sure everything was okay.
Then, without waiting any longer, Diddy and Dixie set out to launch the boat, letting the other four children board first so they wouldn't have to come into contact with the water. They pushed the raft until they managed to bring it to a point where the waves wouldn't hit as hard, and then the two of them climbed aboard, using a pair of oars to keep balanced.
Minutes later, the raft was already moving farther and farther away from that island, and now it was already sailing out to sea. With so many mishaps that used to happen to them, Diddy and Dixie were surprised to see that everything had gone well. They were both smiling knowing that now circumstances seemed to be moving forward.
The trip was feeling eternal, although the current was taking them in the direction of Hurricane Island anyway, so they did not have to make so much effort with the oars. On the way they were talking, paddling, or also taking care of the other children, since they wanted to get restless between moments.
"I'd think it's over," Diddy said in the middle of a conversation, as they took a break. "Everything looks calm and the sky somewhat clearer, compared to how it was before. I think the hurricane is definitely gone."
"It means we can go to DK Island," Dixie said, smiling for a few seconds. "Or well, we'll have to see first where it is... And also see if we find the animals, the children and Mr. Pinky," she added again, showing concern and looking into nothingness.
Diddy got the same expression too; it happened to them every time they remembered that detail. They could do nothing but wait to find that answer about the whereabouts of all of them. They tried not to let that anxiety to know it dominate them, since just thinking about it left them quite overwhelmed.
Suddenly, their thoughts were interrupted when they saw that Melvyn was playing with the water, to which Dixie went to stop him from falling.
"Melvyn, no," Dixie said, taking his arm to get him back in the raft.
"And what will we do with these kids, by the way?" Diddy asked, looking at them all.
"Taking them to the shelter to take them to their family, I suppose," Dixie replied with a shrug, before remembering why Diddy could have asked that. "Oh, well... First of all, we'd have to ask if there is really someone waiting for them, otherwise, the same apes of the shelter could... you know, give them some last dignified goodbye. Because it wouldn't be a good idea to leave them as they are; it'd even be in vain."
"Geez, I don't understand how everything could have changed," Diddy said after a while. "Weren't we building that ship with them a few weeks ago?... And we had even fought with them over... silly things?"
"I guess it all took an unexpected turn," Dixie said again, shrugging and sitting down next to Diddy. 'I don't even know how we couldn't notice before," she added before looking again at the quartet, who were watching the whole sea and Hurricane Island in the distance like innocent children. "I'd like to have met the real them... I'll never understand how there can be so much evil in this world," she said later in a tone of sadness. "Even the entire group of those criminal apes also went through so much evil throughout their lives."
"I know... And I don't know what to think about it anymore," Diddy added in the same tone of seriousness and looking into nothingness. "Sometimes it comforts me to know that the world is left with fewer criminals and future criminals; and among others, it comforts me to know that they're resting after so much martyrdom now. But above all... I think about those other four... and how it could have been prevented from becoming thug children, but no one could do it."
"Do you think they would have changed if they had continued to live in that hospital?"
"Well... I think at least Rocky and Melenky maybe yes, especially Rocky. As for Mandrew and Jemky... perhaps it would have been a bit more difficult for them. Oh... I don't know what else to think about them," he added before pausing for a couple of minutes. "But... what reassures me the most is that the three main real criminals will be paying for it dearly in life... Perhaps the little time they have left to live, in fact"
"I swear I've thought the same thing," Dixie replied in the same tone. "Maybe everything has been done the way it had to happen... The good thing is that it's all over. The Jennies have been the last victims of all that macabre organization, and no other animal will be anymore."
Both remained silent as they looked towards the quartet of mechanical children and towards Hurricane Island, which was getting closer and closer. At the same time, their inner joy grew at having come out safe and sound from it all.
"Wow, this raft is well made, after all," Diddy commented after a while, as giving light continuous strokes to the surface of the raft. "And we did it in just a few hours."
"And this time we didn't fight to see who builds a better boat," Dixie added jokingly.
"Hey!" Diddy replied in the same tone, giving her a slight nudge. "Well, at least it's true."
The two gave a few small laughs after remembering that, and then fell silent again. Afterwards, Dixie smiled at Diddy again, while he did the same, and between the two they gave light pushes in a playful way. The two stared at each other... and this time, they had their faces somewhat close, although they did not feel something precisely, but rather, they were in total confidence. When suddenly, Diddy and Dixie realized that Jenny and company were looking at them with curious faces, which then made them both blush a little, before looking at each other again and giving a few shy smiles.
"Uhh, well, and..." Diddy uttered, trying to downplay the moment. "Ah, look! We're almost there," he added, pointing to Hurricane Island.
"Ah, yeah, yeah, sure," Dixie replied almost in the same way, laughing shyly, before smiling more calmly. "Hey, seriously tough, we're pretty near... and it's really Hurricane Island!"
The trip had lasted almost an hour when it was finally ending. The boat was beginning to wobble on the waves near the seashore, so Diddy and Dixie had to steer the raft to a safe spot to stand. They asked the four children to hold on, and then they both got off the raft so they could drag it to the sand, where the waves no longer reached so much. They helped the four kong children get down, and then they all had their feet on the sand of the very Hurricane Island. It was already past mid-afternoon.
Diddy and Dixie looked out over the entire beach and vegetation heading into the island. Then, they both smiled as they looked around and saw that, indeed, it was Hurricane Island where they had arrived.
"We did it!" Dixie exclaimed before heading to hug Diddy with excitement, and he responded with the same energy.
"We arrived, Dix!" Diddy exclaimed with the same emotion. "We did it!"
Then, still with the emotion alive, the two ran to hug the quartet as well, as if for a moment they returned to the time where they were their friends and achieved something they had planned. The four kong children never seemed to understand Diddy and Dixie's excitement, but they still smiled and were infected with the same energy as the two of them.
"Let's go, we have to go to the shelter," Dixie said, smiling more calmly. "We have to look for the others. I think it was over there," she added, pointing in a direction into the wooded area.
Without waiting any longer, both began to enter the island, taking the four children with them. Diddy and Dixie already used to know several areas of Hurricane Island, so they didn't feel lost at all. Minutes later, they were already walking along the route leading to the shelter. Until at one point... they both stopped with the four children upon remembering something important.
"D-do you think… all of them are in the shelter?" Diddy asked, looking down the path.
"There's only one way to know," Dixie said the same way. "And if they're not there, we'll at least ask the others-"
Suddenly, a chimpanzee kong boy appeared on the way, who came running and stopped in front of them while giving them a curious look.
"Uh, hi?" Diddy said with a forced smile when he saw certain strange expressions in that child, who did not answer the greeting or say anything.
"Doesn't he speak?" Dixie asked, smiling at the same time with a look of strangeness. Suddenly, she noticed certain traits that this child had... which were becoming quite known to them. "Wait, wait a minute, Diddy!" she exclaimed, suddenly changing her expression. "Isn't this kid…"
"What?... Wait, is it him?" Diddy wondered, getting an expression of astonishment too when he noticed the boy better.
Suddenly, five other children appeared coming to them, who were of different species and also had the same strange gestures, while looking curiously at Diddy and Dixie.
"I can't believe it," Dixie exclaimed, looking more astonished, as she looked at Diddy as well.
"Are they? The same ones?" Diddy wondered in the same way, beginning to smile with excitement.
"Yeah! Yes, they are!" Dixie replied with the same emotion, as they looked at the known features of those kongs.
About six more ape children appeared, increasing Diddy and Dixie' amazement. Both were feeling an enormous excitement and as if a part of their calm had returned after realizing that they were... the children from that herd, whom they had rescued.
"I don't believe it! They're alive!" Dixie exclaimed, jumping with excitement along with Diddy. "They have been saved!"
"It's them!" Diddy added in the same way, before looking at them again. "And by the way, did they all manage to be saf-"
"Oh, holy heavens, these children!" a different voice exclaimed suddenly. "They have got restless agai-"
Suddenly, Diddy and Dixie gasped again as their astonishment increased, seeing three known silhouettes a few meters from them, who were also looking at them with the same expression... They were three animals, including an elephant, a zebra and a tiger.
"No... No, I must be dreaming," the elephant said, going blank as did the other two.
"Are they the real Diddy and Dixie?" the zebra asked with the same expression.
"What?! It's you!" Diddy exclaimed, heading towards them alongside Dixie, while they both had the same shocked expressions. "You're alive!"
Suddenly, and as if they had recovered their sense of reality, Diddy and Dixie ran towards those animals with more excitement than they already had at that moment.
"You're alive!" Dixie exclaimed as they ran toward them.
Diddy and Dixie gave each of them a quick hug of excitement, at the same time that those animals got the same expression as they reacted to seeing them both. The emotion was so great that they could even forget any mishap at that moment.
"No, I can't believe it! I can't believe it!" the elephant exclaimed along with the other two animals with excitement. "It's you two! You're safe and sound! You came out alive!"
"Oh, by the holy heavens!" the zebra added in the same way. "I swore that something terrible could have happened to you two, but you're so... healthy."
"W-what happened to you?!" the tiger asked them with such emotion. "You're completely fine, right?!"
"We want to ask you the same thing," Dixie replied, still trying to calm her excitement. "We're fine, and you?"
"All right," the elephant replied, still smiling broadly. "And now better, seeing you two well. We thought we'd never see you again."
"And how did you survive, by the way?" Dixie asked them so curiously. "You all were saved, right? Or some of you didn't-"
"All of us!" the elephant replied confidently, which increased the relief in Diddy and Dixie. "Thanks to heaven, we managed to save all of us; it was quite complicated but we did it. Y-you see, after that storm tossed the whole ship, those of us who were bigger struggled underwater to get it back afloat. Then, we tried to get back on board and help those who had fallen into the sea; we endured a little longer through the storm until we managed to see an islet where we could stop. Obviously, it took us hours all that, and even some of us didn't appear until one or two days later, and we just found all of us complete when we arrived on this island. Fortunately, the children were unharmed; they stayed inside the cabins."
"Geez, that sounds tremendous!" Diddy said, still astonished.
"The only ones who were missing... were you and your four little friends," the zebra said. "We thought we had lost you all, but now you have returned even with your friends, it's amazing!" he added, going to observe the Jenny and company's quartet.
"And how did you survive?" the tiger asked them with the same curiosity. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, no. It's really a long story," Diddy replied. "We just can tell you that we woke up on another island out of nowhere and those tamers caught us to take us elsewhere."
"Holy heavens! What a horror!" the animals exclaimed, all showing astonishment and horror at the answer. "And what did those bestial beings want to do with you?"
"They were going to take us on a plane with these four kids," Dixie replied. "They even had those very apes and those other four kids who were our schoolmates as prisoners... It was truly a nightmare; literally, we almost didn't make it back anymore, maybe the two of us or either of us."
"Yeah, it was terrible," Diddy added. "Seriously, we came out alive by miracle. But at least in the end-"
Diddy stopped suddenly after seeing that more of the animals in the herd had arrived, along with more of the rescued kong children.
"Diddy? Dixie? Is it r-really you?" a gorilla who had arrived and looked astonished exclaimed. "I can't believe it!"
"You are safe and sound!" a rhinoceros added in the same way.
The newly arrived animals crowded towards Diddy and Dixie, to whom they greeted them with joy, and they returned the greeting with the same emotion. For both of them it was an amazing thing that everything went well after so much hustle. But suddenly... both were speechless and now really felt that they were all complete when they saw another member that was missing: a muscular, mustachioed gorilla with fixed hairstyle was also with the other animals.
"Mr. Pinky!" Diddy and Dixie exclaimed in unison with such excitement as they ran straight for him.
Diddy and Dixie threw themselves into hugging Mr. Pinky's arms, while looking at him with enough excitement upon knowing that he was okay, as well as the other animals and kong children in the herd.
"Mr. Pinky!" Diddy exclaimed excitedly after breaking away from his arm. "You're safe, mister!"
"We're glad to see you again!" Dixie added in the same cheerful way. "H-how have you been? Is everything... Uhh... Okay?"
Suddenly, both Diddy and Dixie changed their expressions again when they realized that Mr. Pinky… didn't respond to them in the same way they did. Both remembered the conditions in which the apes had left him and, as if it were sudden, their mood dropped again almost as before they found them all.
"Uhh, Mr. Pinky?" Diddy said as he looked just at a gorilla who was looking at them with a lost look as if they were strangers. "Oh, right... Doesn't he remember us?"
"Uhh, hey, little friends," the elephant said, getting a pitied expression too. "I'm sorry to tell you that Mr. Pinky… is no longer Mr. Pinky as such... He's not in their five senses, so to speak. He... is gone."
Diddy and Dixie kept looking towards Mr. Pinky, who barely looked at them without expression and as if he did not know them at all; in fact, he even did not make any gesture or sign; he just was just there. Afterwards, they both looked at the kong children they had rescued... who were in the same way but a little more hyperactive.
"And yeah... These children too," the tiger added, looking sad too. "That's why they haven't even been handed over to their relatives who have come to look for them; they'd see that they're not their same children. Only the owners of the shelter have been doing games and activities to get their minds awakened a little, but even so... it seems that it's in vain."
"No, wait!" Dixie exclaimed, stopping the conversation. "I think... maybe that can be remedied."
"What are you talking about?" the animals asked her with a look of strangeness.
"It's that... the evil apes themselves told us a way to make them supposedly recover their memory... although it hasn't been tried and I don't know if it'd work."
"Ah, yeah," Diddy added. "With a mixture of sapphire and emerald powder. We have the emerald, but they told us that the sapphires could be found in any underground cave here."
"What?!" the other animals exclaimed, all confused and looking at them strangely.
"And... are you sure it'll work?" the elephant asked them.
"That's what we don't know," Dixie replied. "But we can try anyway. What do you say?... That's what those apes told us before they died."
"I'd say yes; I don't know about the others," the zebra replied, before the rest of the animals murmured similar things. "Okay, so, show us what that procedure is like... And by the way, did you kill those apes or what?"
"Well... not exactly," Diddy replied with some insecurity as he recalled it. "Rather... they decided it themselves. Long explanation."
"Geez, I'm quite intrigued to know," the tiger said. "I see that a lot of things have happened to you."
"Hey, how about going inside the shelter to have a snack?" the elephant proposed. "So you can greet the others and then tell us well what happened to you after you got lost in that storm."
"That sounds good," Diddy replied, nodding.
"Okay, then let's go," Dixie added, shrugging and smiling a little.
Then, Diddy and Dixie, along with Jenny's quartet, headed inside the animal shelter, being accompanied by the herd together.
Upon entering, it felt quite welcoming for both of them to return to that place after weeks that seemed to have been months ago. As expected, several of the known animals saw them and began to greet them cheerfully. They also found other animals of the herd that were missing, in addition to the rest of the rescued children and, as they had been told... they were all complete and safe. Another detail that they could notice was that the animals that had been from the circus or the zoo were seen better than ever; some of them even no longer lived there because they had fully recovered.
"But it's the little monkeys!" one of the owners of the shelter exclaimed with his group. "What happened to you? How have you been? You're safe and sound!"
"It's a long story, but we came out okay," Diddy replied cheerfully.
"Come, come in!" another of the owners said, making gestures of welcome to them.
Diddy and Dixie followed the apes, while greeting more of the known animals. After that, the shelter owners offered them something to eat, as they did before when the two had arrived at the shelter three months ago. Truth be told, Diddy and Dixie were quite hungry, even though on the way, the people at that hospital had already supplied them with something to eat.
A/N: The next chapters will be calm... We're already nearing the end :3