Hey! So some of you are probably wondering why I took down "The Last Member" and put this earlier version of the story back up. Well, I've decided that I need to to take a break from fanfiction for a while. But I didn't want to leave behind an unfinished story, and since I was pretty close to the finishing this earlier version when I took it down, I decided I'd put it back up and finish it off before I officially go on hiatus.

I haven't changed all that much-just a slight tweak here and there- except that before, there was a chapter about what some Kremlings were doing at Hideout Helm. I wasn't really happy with that chapter and I personally feel I should have waited until Chunky arrived at Hideout Helm to have any kremlings make appearances, so that's what I'm doing this time. You can safely disregard that chapter if you remember it at all.

I first started writing this version of the story quite a few years ago, so it's definitely got some flaws (especially the early chapters), but overall I'm happy with it and hope you can get some enjoyment out of it.

For those of you who are new to this story, I'm just going to mention that it's mainly based on Donkey Kong 64. I have somewhat limited knowledge of the other Donkey Kong games so please bear with me if I get a few things wrong.

For the first and last time, I do not own Donkey Kong.

~CHAPTER 1~

It seemed to be a normal end to a normal day on Donkey Kong Island. The Kongs were celebrating another victory against K. Rool. Donkey Kong's banana hoard was safe, Diddy, Tiny, Lanky, and Chunky were free, and the Blast-O-Matic was shut down.

The Kongs were having a party on the beach. Donkey Kong was eating bananas so fast he was practically breathing them. Diddy watched and just shook his head. He's not eating bananas, he thought, he's going bananas, but he knew Donkey had worked hard lately and needed to have some fun. He was startled as he heard a soft, sweet giggle behind him.

He spun around to see Dixie smiling at him mischievously. "Do you wanna help me test this new Jet Pack Funky made? It's powered completely by Orange Grenades, so the danger level is high!" Diddy just grinned and nodded. The two ran off, and would surely end up causing trouble.

A few moments later, Candy arrived, wearing a long, sleeveless hot pink dress and had her blonde hair atop her head in an updo. She began talking in her most sugary voice. "Donkey dear, how would you like to...oh!" She shrieked as she saw Donkey shoving bananas into his mouth. "Donkey, what are you doing?!" she practically screamed, all of the sugar out of her voice. He turned his head and said,

"Donkey eating bananas."

Candy let out a groan and said, exasperated. "WHAT have I told you about using proper English?"

Donkey quickly replied, "Oh, right. I meant I am eating bananas."

Candy narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you start talking like that when you are around bananas? Or even thinking about bananas?" Her voice got louder and her face turned red. "I bet you like bananas more than me! I bet if you had to choose between me and bananas, you would choose bananas, right?"

Donkey cowered. He was too scared to say anything, but Candy took his silence the wrong way. "I KNEW it! Well, you and me are over. Don't even try getting me back, because I'm over you! Stay away from me, you disgusting freak!" She stormed off. "Wait, Candy!" Donkey started to follow her, but she just turned and glared at him. "I'm going home." She declared flatly. Donkey sat down and whimpered pitifully.

Suddenly, a chorus of squawks filled the air. The Kong's parrot friend, Squawks, flew over from K. Rool's Mechanical Island. He had been spying on K. Rool to be sure he wasn't already planning anything new. Lanky looked up and said, "Hey Squawks. Anything to report?" Squawks started chirping excitedly.

"I've got big, big news!" All the Kongs gathered around. (Except for Candy, Diddy, and Dixie, of course). Squawks chattered excitedly, "K. Rool's got some Kremling sickness called Kremling Kough. Apparently you get it from being in the rain too much."

Tiny smirked. "I'm not surprised. It's always raining on that mechanical island of his. But why should we care? K. Rool has a cold. So what?"

Squawks looked Tiny in the eye. "Kremling Kough is no cold, Tiny. It sounds mild and harmless, but it's not. It's a severe chest infection that can often be fatal. And in K. Rool's case, it's headed that way."

For a moment there was silence. Then suddenly the beach erupted with cheers. "No more stealing Donkey's banana hoard!" Donkey cheered.

"No more getting captured!" Lanky shouted as he began dancing rather clumsily.

"No more bothersome young apes complaining about their problems to me!" Cranky jeered.

"That Kremling just couldn't take my FIREPOWER!" Funky said, even though firepower had nothing to do with K. Rool's sickness.

"Good riddance, I say." Tiny added. Everyone on the beach was celebrating. Everyone except Chunky, that is.

He just stood where he was, staring at the ground, twiddling his thumbs behind his back. He seemed pretty downcast for some reason. No one noticed him though. After a while he slipped away quietly.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard in the distance. Everyone's attention snapped toward the noise. A few moments later, Diddy came hurtling through the air on a Jet Pack, Dixie clinging onto it for her life. A huge cloud of smoke was behind them, and the half the Jet Pack was blown off.

A loud thud could be heard as they crashed onto the beach.