Of Keyblades and Kokonuts

In another world somewhere, there was a vast island called Kongo Bongo. It was filled with mountains, jungles, and beaches galore. And the whole place was peaceful...until a recent visit by the Heartless spoiled the peace. Now the island was under a dark veil, a seemingly endless night.

One particular day, two apes were out patrolling the forest for any activity. One of them was a huge gorilla with brown fur and a red necktie with the initials D.K. on it. This was Donkey Kong, the future ruler of Kongo Bongo Island who perferred to be called DK for short. With him was his sidekick, Diddy Kong, a chimpanzee with brown fur, and a red shirt and cap. The duo wandered through the jungle, watching for any Heartless that may spring out at them.

"Why did we volunteer to patrol the Forbidden Forest for these stupid shadow things?" DK asked.

"Cuz you're the future ruler of Kongo Bongo, ya big goof," Diddy replied. "We also gotta search for the Crystal Coconut; you can't rule Kongo Bongo without it! Now quit worryin' and keep lookin', I just wanna finish looking around so we can---"

DK stopped short, making his sidekick stop as well. They hid behind a tree and watched as three figures walked through the forest. One was a well-built 15 year old boy in white, black and red garments, while another was a duck in blue garments, and a third was a dog-like person in black, green and yellow.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Goofy?" the boy asked the dog.

"Gawrsh, I'm pretty sure this is right, Sora," the dog replied. "King Mickey said that this world had a Keyhole somewhere, and it was being overrun by Heartless. Least I THINK that's what he said."

"I knew it!" the duck moaned. "We're lost!"

"Whaddaya think those things are, DK?" Diddy whispered.

"I dunno, but they're goin' down," Donkey said. And he leapt out from behind the tree with a loud,

"BANANAAAA SLAMMAAAA!!"

The trio jumped in fear and drew out three weapons. The dog held a Knight's Shield while the duck whipped out a Mage's Staff. The boy, however, held a strange-looking weapon; it was a large, silver key with a gold handle, and a chain that ended in what looked like a mousehead.

"Back off, or I'll have to slam ya!" DK said as he got himself ready to rumble.

"Who are you?" asked the duck.

"Name's Donkey Kong, future ruler of Kongo Bongo," DK said, introducing himself. "And you're my latest punching bags!"

Diddy suddenly dashed out and stopped DK. "Hold it, DK!" he said. "See what that kid is holding?"

DK looked at the boy's weapon. "So what? He has a big key for a sword, no big deal," he said with a shrug.

Diddy slapped his forehead in annoyance. "Don't you remember what Cranky told you?" he asked. "He said to watch out for someone with a giant key. HE'S got a giant key! He can help us!"

"Oh yeah, now I remember," DK said with a snap of his fingers.

"Uh, what exactly do you guys want with my Keyblade?" the boy asked confused.

"Lemme start again," DK said. "My name's Donkey Kong, the future ruler of Kongo Bongo. And this here's my sidekick, Diddy."

"Hiya," Diddy said.

"O-kay than...uh, my name's Sora," the boy said. "And these are my friends, Donald Duck and Goofy."

"Pleased to meet ya," DK said shaking Sora's hand. "So what're you and your pals doin' here, Sora?"

"Well, we're here to fight the Heartless!" Donald said.

"You mean those black things?" Diddy asked.

"Yup," Goofy said. "Looks like they got this place taken over pretty good. How'd this happen?"

"Follow us, we know someone who'll explain everything," DK said as he motioned to the trio to follow him.

Sora looked at Donald and Goofy, who shrugged. Then they followed DK and Diddy to a treehouse cabin somewhere outside the Forbidden Forest. That's where they met an old ape named Cranky Kong.

"It's about time you two knuckleheads showed up," Cranky snapped.

"Well, we were busy patrolling the Forbidden Forest when we ran into these guys," Diddy said as he pointed to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

Cranky looked at Sora and his friends strenuously. "They're the ones," he said at last.

"Huh?" Goofy asked.

"I've heard of you three," Cranky said. "You're the Keybearer, aren't you?"

"Uh, yes sir," Sora said.

"Excellent," Cranky said. "I knew you'd show. Listen, we got ourselves a problem here."

"We know, the Heartless are here," Sora sighed.

"Well, actually...yes, that's it exactly," Cranky said. "But there's a reason why they're parusing this little island. You know DK is the future ruler of Kongo Bongo, right?"

"Yeah," Donald said with a nod.

"Well, ya see, the main job as ruler is to guard something called the Crystal Coconut," Cranky explained. "It's supposed to keep evil spirits off the island. But we have some dupe named King K. Rool who keeps trying to steal it from us."

"So, uh, what happened to the Coconut?" Goofy asked.

"It was stolen," Cranky said flatly.

"That's why there're Heartless all over this island," Sora said. "Who stole it?"

"Surprisingly, it wasn't one of K. Rool's cronies," Cranky said. "It was some big creature in blue and red clothes."

"Pete!" Donald quakced. "I knew that palooka was up to his old tricks again!"

"Calm down, Quackerjack," Cranky snapped, making Donald stop instantly. "Anyway, he stole the Coconut in the name of K. Rool. He said that the Crystal Coconut has the ability to reveal Kongo Bongo Island's Keyhole. And if he finds it, the island is in grave danger."

"So we just gotta get this Crystal Coconut thing back," Sora said. "No problem!"

"Not so fast," Crany said. "DK has to come with you. Since he's the ruler, he needs to accompany you three to get the Coconut back from K. Rool."

"No sweat," Sora said. "We can handle 'em, right DK?"

"Yeah, let's get 'em!" DK said. And with that, the foursome traveled into the dank woods, battling Heartless along the way. At one point, the quartet was walking towards K. Rool's lair without any heartless showing up.

"So why're you the future ruler of this here island, DK?" Goofy asked.

"Beats me," DK replied. "The Coconut just chose me."

"Yeah, my Keyblade did the same thing to me," Sora said. "It chose me like the Crystal Coconut chose you."

"Well, ain't that a coincidence," DK chuckled.

"But why does K. Rool want the Coconut?" Donald asked.

"He wants to rule the island, too," DK sighed. "But I keep stoppin' 'em every time."

"Except for this time," Donald remarked.

"Shut up," DK said.

Eventually, the heroes got to K. Rool's lair, where a fat crocodile named King K. Rool was waiting with a catlike creature named Pete and his two henchmen, Klump and Krusha.

"Well, if it isn't Donkey Kong," K. Rool sneered.

"And the Boat Boy King's cronies, too," Pete chuckled. "What're you wimps doin' here?"

"We came to get back the Crystal Coconut!" DK shouted. Now give it over!"

"Not a chance," K. Rool snapped. "Not while I contro, the Heartless!"

And with a snap of his fingers, K. Rool made a pack of Soldier Heartless appear. The foursome rushed into the fight. Sora slashed through the Heartless with his Keyblade, Donald shot bursts of fire, Goofy spin-bashed them with his shield, and DK used his stalky arms and burly fists to punch through them. It wasn't long before all the Heartless were gone. Sora and his friends looked at the villains, who looked a bit panicked.

"That all ya got?" Sora asked tauntingly.

"I don't think so, Keyrunt!" Pete shouted as he slammed his big hands onto Klump and Krusha's shoulders.

"Wha-wha-what're you doing, suh?" Klump asked.

"I'm suppin' you two goons up!" Pete shouted.

"Why us?" Klump asked.

"So you can take on those runts," Pete said. "Now go get 'em!"

Pete pushed the cronies forward. They fell to the ground, but picked themselves back up. They were still the same, except their eyes were glowing a deep pruple.

"Gawrsh! He musta given K. Rool's sidekicks Heartless powers!" Goofy yelped.

"We can take care of 'em! Donald, let's try a Duck Flare on these creeps!" Sora shouted.

"Yeah!" Donald said excitedly. Klump and Krusha snapped at the duo, but Donald successfully leapt up onto Sora's shoulders and summoned a bunch of fireworks, sending them flying into Klump and Krusha. Sora slashed at them with his Keyblade as Donald summoned another set of fireworks. After three or four more tries, Donald leapt off of Sora's shoulders.

"Take THAT!!" he shouted as he set off a huge display of fireworks, hitting the two crocs repeatedly as Sora hit them with his Keyblade. When the dust settled, Klump and Krusha had lost their Heartless powers.

"Unngh...sorry, suh," Klump groaned. "But I'm gettin' outta here!" And with that, Klump and Krusha ran off. Pete sighed in annoyance.

"Looks like it's my turn to beat these nimrods," Pete sighed as he cracked his knuckles.

"Oh no ya don't!" DK shouted as he ran in and started brawling with K. Rool. Pete and DK exchanged mean hooks left and right, but it looked like DK was running out of gas.

"DK needs help!" Sora yelped. "Goofy!"

"A-hyuk! Right, Sora!" Goofy laughed as he grabbed onto Sora. The duo spun around and bashed Pete relentlessly before spinning and grabbing each other's arms. FInally, they finished up with a wheel-like move that dealt major damage to Pete. The villain landed on his back and got up slowly.

"You haven't won yet," Pete growled as he ran up to K. Rool and thrusted a dark-glowing fist into his chest.

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING???" K. Rool asked in shock.

"You're the last chance to keep this island crawlin' with Heartless," Pete snapped. "So I'm gonna make you the biggest one on the island!!"

K. Rool writhed in pain as he struggled to get Pete's hand out of his chest. When Pete finally removed his fist, K. Rool transformed into an ugly beast. His jaws became larger and more powerful, and his clawed hands grew longer and more curved. And the Crystal Coconut he was holding had melded right into his chest.

"Wak!" Donald quacke din a panic.

"We can take 'em!" Sora shouted.

Sora swung his Keyblade at the K. Rool Heartless while Donald used his magic and Goofy used his shield to attack. DK tried attacking with his brute strength, but it didn't prove to be very useful.

"Wait, I got an idea!" Sora exclaimed. He threw his Keyblade like a boomerang straight at K. Rool's chest. The impact jarred the Crystal Coconut loose from K. Rool's chest, and it landed into DK's hands.

"Okay, whatever you can do now, please do something useful for me!" DK pleaded to the Crystal Coconut. And just then, the Coconut glowed with a bright light and powered DK up, making his arms bigger and thicker. "Yo, Sora! Whaddaya say we take this creepazoid down!"

Sora nodded. Then he and DK teamed up to attack K. Rool; DK knocked K. Rool towards Sora like a volleyball, then Sora knocked K. Rool back like a baseball. The duo continued that for a few moments before DK hucked K. Rool up into the air and both he and Sora hit him at the same time. And just when it looked like K. Rool was down, he got back up and roared loudly. But Sora, DOnald, and Goofy clashed their weapons together while DK slammed the ground with his fists, producing a mega-sized blast that knocked K. Rool back and made his Heartless form dissolve. The regular K. Rool fell to the ground with a thump, looked at the heroes and ran in a panic with Pete. DK just looked at the Crystal Coconut with pride.

"I knew you were useful for something," he said as he kissed the Coconut.

"C'mon, let's get outta this place," Donald said as he walked out of the room. And everyone left as the darkness lifted, revealing blue skies. Back at Cranky's cabin, the old Kong was surprisingly happy.

"I can't believe you got it back, DK, but you got it," he chuckled. "Thanks to you and Sora and his pals, Kongo Bongo Island is safe from those Heartless. And..."

Before Cranky could go on, the Crystal Coconut glowed and lifted into the air. It emitted a bright light at a huge mountain in the distance, revealing a giant Keyhole. Sora took his Keyblade and shot a ray of light at it, making a locking sound be heard. Kongo Bongo was sealed away from the Heartless forever.

"Well, that takes care of that," Cranky sighed.

"Not quite," Sora interjected, as another beam of light shot from the Crystal Coconut, revealing another Keyhole in the sky. With another beam of light from the Keyblade, Sora worked his magic to open a portal.

"What just happened?" DK asked.

"We opened a new pathway," Goofy explained.

"See, we had to find this world's Keyhole and lock it from the Heartless," Sora said. "But we also had to link this world with all the other worlds out there, too."

"Strange, I thought the Crystal Coconut just revealed the Keyhole," Cranky said.

"Well, we gotta go," Donald said.

"But before you guys go, take this," DK said as he handed a banana keychain to Sora. "This is to remember all of us by. Come back to visit us sometime, 'kay?"

"You bet, DK!" Sora chuckled as he high-fived DK. "So long, everyone!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy left the cabin and went back to where they came from. Somehow, DK, Cranky, Sora, and his pals all knew they'd see each other again soon. They were just another group of friends the trio had found on their many adventures.

(End Credit Music: Donkey Kong Country TV Theme Song)

Haley Joel Osment as Sora
Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
Bill Farmer as Goofy
Richard Yearwood as Donkey Kong
Andrew Sabiston as Diddy Kong
Aron Tager as Cranky Kong
Ben Campbell as King K. Rool
Ron Rubin as Krusha
Len Carlson as Klump
Jim Cummings as Pete