At last, the dirty green and blue
smog was beginning to clear. Gruntilda the witch stood at
the topmost window of her Lair, grinning wickedly down on
her newly discovered world like a thundercloud before a
storm.
"Tiny creatures far below," she cackled, "which of you'll
be first to go?"
The witch rubbed her hands in glee at the prospect of
becoming even more lovely than she already was. Landing
somewhere new was always exciting - and judging by all the
puffing and clanking coming from the next room, it seemed
as if her greatest invention felt the same way. And what
an invention it was! A machine that could suck out the
physical beauty from its victims, ready for Gruntilda to
absorb like a sponge!
The witch rubbed the graceful curve of her chin with
pride. Nobody else would even have dreamed of creating
such a marvellous thing, she thought. Least of all her
pretty sister, Brentilda. How dare that interfering
do-gooder inherit the family good looks and not her? How
dare she be born with a face so angelic when Gruntilda had
always been... well... slightly disadvantaged in that
department?
Thanks to her mechanical pride and joy in the next room,
though, Gruntilda knew that all that would soon change.
Hah! At last she could become beautiful beyond her wildest
dreams!
Picking her nose in a particularly smug manner, the witch
turned her attention away from the window to the bubbling
cauldron nearby, and began to cast the truth spell - a
spell which, she thought, would confirm her place as the
most wonderfully attractive creature on this latest world
of hers...
Meanwhile, Tooty was enjoying the
warmth of the sun and the happy birdsong all around as she
skipped home through the deep green fields of Spiral
Mountain. The young bear had spent a carefree couple of
hours out piping amongst the woodland animals, and now she
was heading back to have another try at waking that big
lazy brother of hers.
Just as the cosy little house that she shared with Banjo
and Kazooie came into view up ahead, Tooty slowed down to
watch a nearby molehill tremble, splutter and sprout a
pair of blurry eyes that could only belong to her good
friend Bottles.
"Hi there, Bottles!" beamed the young bear.
"Morning, Tooty," blinked the mole as his round little
body came up out of the hole with a pop. "And what are
your plans for this lovely day?"
Tooty jumped up and down excitedly as his words reminded
her of Banjo's promise. "Oh! I'm going to get my lazy
brother out of bed, and we're going on an adventure!" she
squealed.
Bottles smiled absent-mindedly at her. "That'll be nice,"
he said, then squinted up into the sky over her shoulder.
"Hey, isn't that your brother up there?"
Tooty turned to look, and saw an odd shape swooping down
towards them at high speed.
"No, I don't think that's Banjo," she said, frowning. "I
wonder who it could be..."
Sweeter than me? Prettier
than me? Impossible!
Gruntilda was so furious at the cauldron's words that she
wasn't really concentrating on flying her broomstick, and
had to pull up sharply as her boots clipped the top of a
fence. This only made her even angrier than before, and
she found herself screeching abuse at thin air.
"As cute as me, you stupid pot? For her own sake, I hope
she's not!"
The witch zoomed recklessly on through the skies until her
intended target came into view: the unnecessarily cute
young bear shown to her by that treacherous cauldron,
staring up now from the field far below.
Gruntilda snorted. "I need those looks far more than she,
and finally perfect I shall be!"
With a loud scream and a cackle, the witch took aim and
sent the broomstick into a dive.
Kazooie popped out of the backpack in
alarm as noise erupted just outside the window.
"Banjo! Banjo!" she squawked, recognising two of
the three yelling voices as those of Tooty and Bottles the
mole. "Banjo, wake up!"
The Honey Bear groaned and pulled the pillow over his
head. "Aww, leave me alone, Kazooie, it's too early," came
his muffled voice.
"This is no time to be lazy, Banjo!" trilled the Breegull,
her anxious fidgeting causing the backpack to swing to and
fro on the hatstand it hung from. "We've got trouble! Pull
yourself together!"
Banjo groaned again, rolled over, and was about to say
something else when Kazooie's struggles proved too much
for the supporting stand, toppling it onto the floor with
a crash and an undignified squawk.
The Honey Bear jumped out of bed in surprise, just as the
curtains flapped open with the backlash from something
launching itself at high speed from his front lawn. And
beneath the manic cackling that reached him on the wind,
he heard the helpless cries of a voice he recognised...
Tooty's!
Banjo gulped and searched the room for his feathered
friend, realising that this was definitely going to be one
of those days.
"Uh, Kazooie, what are you doing down there?" he said in
confusion, snatching up the backpack as he bolted for the
door. "This is no time to be lazy - we've got trouble!"
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