Donkey Kong: The Fan-Adapted Novelization

Chapter 7: 50m, or "The Pie Factory"

From the bottom of the skyscraper, Luigi shivered underneath his umbrella. "I can't believe he's actually doing this," he said as he and Stanley looked on. "If he's not careful, he'll get himself killed."

"I don't know; he's doing great so far. I don't know where all the barrels are coming from, but he's taken care of them pretty nicely, don't you think?" Stanley asked.

The green-clad plumber sighed. "We should probably start making those phone calls."

"Right. But first we need to find a phone booth." He looked back and forth, but the crowds were growing larger by the second. "How are we gonna get through?"

"Very carefully. Come on."

Luigi grabbed his neighbor's wrist and started weaving his way through the throngs of screaming people. As much as he tolerated cities, he didn't like big ones, and the crowds were a big reason why. There was no way he could concentrate on finding a phone booth with so much cacophony in the streets.

Eventually, they escaped, finding a phone booth stationed near a small group of stragglers outside the crowd. Among them was a small group of teenagers clustered around the entrance of the phone booth. "Excuse me," Luigi asked. "My friend and I need to get inside and make some calls."

"There's only room for one person," answered the first one, a girl in a headscarf. "My friends and I tried getting in there when the rain picked up, but it got cramped too quickly."

"Any of you kids have an umbrella?" Stanley inquired.

"We do, but it's too small for all of us," the girl in the headscarf answered. "That's why we stayed were."

"Oh." The exterminator turned to Luigi. "Mind if we borrow yours?"

He handed Stanley the umbrella. "Go ahead."

"Thanks. I don't want them catching a cold out here."

The plumber nodded, and ducked quietly into the phone booth. Meanwhile, Stanley began chatting away with the girl in the headscarf and the rest of her friends. "So, what were you all up to before the storm picked up?"

"We went shopping," answered another girl with a long, black braid going down her back. "The rain started when we were halfway home."

"I tried calling a taxi, but they were too busy picking up evacuees from the zoo," the third one piped up, a tall, skinny boy with wavy black hair. "So we figured we could stay here and wait out the storm."

"Raj made a good call, too," the girl with the headscarf added. "As soon as we saw the giant ape on the way to City Hall we had to squeeze in there with him."

"It was awful," Raj replied. "I felt like I couldn't breathe."

"As soon as that thing started climbing up the side of the building, Aniqa opened the door and let us out," the girl with the braid said. "We've been here ever since."

"What's going on with that thing, anyway?" Aniqa asked. "Yoko thought she saw it carrying a girl underneath his arm."

Stanley nodded. "That part's true. It's been all over the news for the past half hour. That's why I'm here with the guy in the phone booth. His brother is chasing the ape up the skyscraper."

Yoko's eyes widened. "He's WHAT?!"

"Look up there!" Raj pointed towards the girders. "He's reached the pie factory!"

The exterminator raised an eyebrow in confusion. "The pie factory?"

"My uncle works at the construction site," he answered. "They call it 'the pie factory' because of all the cement tubs up there. Hopefully he won't slip on any of the conveyor belts and step in one by accident."