Banjo-Whooie?! (A Banjo-Kazooie Origin story/ IN PROGRESS/ UNDER EDITING 😁)

Fivie

It was dusk by the time the group finally reached Spiral Mountain. The sky was the color of Kazooie's plumage, except not quite as bright. She was fast asleep in Banjo's backpack, not making so much as a peep. Banjo was on his way to hitting the sack too before he finally caught sight of Bottles' burrow on the horizon. He was the only mole in the whole of Spiral Mountain, so if you saw a molehill, it belonged to him.

"Finally..." he mumbled before letting out a huge yawn. It was loud enough that it even stirred rambunctious Kazooie from her sleep. "Ow... Wha... What time is it?" She slurred. "Did I actually fall asleep? During the day?! Something must be really wrong with me."

"You're telling me." Tooty replied, fresh as a daisy. "I felt actual nausea looking at your wing. I'm surprised you haven't keeled over yet. As for the time..." She placed a paw as a hood over eyes and gauged the position of the sun. "I'd say 5:30, 6:00. It's not even bedtime yet and you two are nodding off! Well, Banjo doesn't surprise me, I guess. He sleeps like a hundred hours a day."

"I do not!" He refuted. "Sure I may take a nap now and again-"

"And again and again and again-"

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, Tooty."

"I'm just wondering how you sleep 100 hours in every 24-hour day." Kazooie teased. "That's pretty impressive."

Tooty giggled. Banjo flushed that familiar pink color and gave Kazooie a look. "You're lucky I'm tired."

She pretended like she was scared. "Ooh! I'm terrified, Slumberjack!"

He jabbed a finger at Kazooie, smirking.
"Y'know, you can't really talk seeing as you spent the whole trip home asleep on my back."

Her eyebrow perked up in surprise. "Alright, that's fair. I'll shut my beak." she conceded. Banjo turned smug, satisfied with his victory.

"Perfect timing." said Tooty. "We're here." She bounded up to Bottles' molehill.

"What is she gonna do? Knock?" Kazooie asked no one in particular.

Tooty stomped her foot on the ground three times in succession. No more than ten seconds later, a hand appeared out of the top of the hill and created a hole for a voice to follow: "Just a moment!"

"Maybe I should start following through on this beak shutting stuff." Kazooie said to herself.

A minute later, a head popped out of the molehill. It was black-furred, rosy-cheeked, and sporting hilariously large spectacles.

"Bottles!" Tooty cried.

"Hey, pal!" Banjo greeted.

"...Wow. He IS a dork." Kazooie said, incredulous.

Bottles shook his head vigorously to clear the dirt from his fur, and pulled his arms from the burrow. He held them out and Tooty rushed into them with a bear hug.

"Tooty! Banjo! It's great to see you again. I still can't believe Banjo kept his word! So, how was your trip to Breegull Beach?"

"Uh...it was fun." Tooty said. "I found a lot of cool seashells and I swam for a bit. Banjo didn't do much..."

"That can't be true!" Bottles replied. He pointed a claw at Banjo with a sly grin on his face. "You slept, right?"

Banjo threw his arms up. "Oh, come on! Give me a break, you guys!"

Tooty, Kazooie, and Bottles laughed together, the bird's laugh catching his attention. He pulled himself the rest of the way out of his molehill and looked past Banjo's shoulder, meeting Kazooie's eyes.

"Hey, Banjo. Who's that?"

"Oh! Forgive me, this is our buddy Kazooie."

Buddy? Kazooie thought.

"Some strange buddy. Does it talk?"

Kazooie made an offended grunt. "Way better than you can, Bottle-brain!- Owww!" She groaned at her still-sore wing.

"Well, you know what they say." Bottles began. "Karma's a-"

"Bottles!" Tooty cried, remembering why they visited him in the first place. "Your X-Ray machine. Is it up and running yet?"

"Yeah. What for?"

"We need to use it. Kazooie got hurt really bad earlier today and she needs checked out by a professional."

His eyes got wide, magnified many times by his comically thick glasses. "Are you kidding? No way! That chick's mean!"

"But Bottles, she could lose her ability to fly! Pleeease? She needs your help!" Tooty opened her eyes as wide as she could, flattened her ears, and peered woefully into her good friend's eyes. She was making that face. She did it just like Banjo taught her, and it worked on Bottles pretty much every time. The family big blue eyes were a killer.

"Stop that!" Bottles commanded, faltering. "Y-You can't expect me... I simply cannot... I absolutely REFUSE..."

Tooty had her hands clamped together now and even managed to make her eyes gleam with a little water. "Pleeeeease, Bottles?"

Bottles gazed over at Banjo. The bear pleaded with her: "It would really mean a lot. To both of us." Even Kazooie was making baby-doll eyes.

He looked, then immediately regretted looking, back at Tooty and begrudgingly made up his mind. "Ugh! Alright! I hate when you use that face on me..."

Tooty tittered as he returned underground to his burrow. "Well? Are you coming or what?" he called.

The blonde nestled herself through the molehill until gravity took hold and dropped her right into Bottles' arms. He set her down and called back up. "C'mon, Banjo! It's just a little dirt."

"Uh, it's not that." Banjo replied. "I mean it kind of is, but... Bottles, there's just no way I'm going to fit through that hole!"

"Oh, great..." Kazooie mumbled, clearly trying not to laugh.

"Pass Wicker Snicker down first!"

Banjo scrunched up his face.

"He means me, Brainiac." Kazooie said.

"Oh. Good idea, Bottles!" Banjo grabbed the straps of his backpack and slowly lowered his friend into the burrow. Tooty was waiting for her, arms outstretched. The backpack landed gently in her arms. "Have you got her?" Banjo asked.

"Yep! Now let's do this, Bottles. Don't worry Kazooie, soon we'll know exactly what's wrong with you and you'll be better in no time." Tooty assured, her smile full of that trademark child kindness.

"...I hope." Kazooie replied, watching Banjo clumsily attempt to squeeze his large shoulders through the burrow's small opening. She shook her head. "I really, really hope."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Sorry for not publishing for a while! I've been struggling a bit irl. I usually have some backup chapters written in case I can't actively write. Things are getting better though so expect more! Thanks for all the reads and faves ❤️
Chia