Banjo-Kazooie: Fracture

Chapter 2: Break

The duo soon found themselves tumbling out of the portal and into the unforgiving, cold water of the Seaside. Feeling his feet touch bottom, Banjo sprang to the surface, clearing his throat and lungs with a cough. This had never happened before. With Kazooie's help, Banjo scrambled ashore, and shook the water from his fur, chilled.

"Whew, why is it so cold? It's July," he inquired aloud.

Kazooie flapped her wings a bit to shake the water out, "Think the fact that it's overcast have anything to do with it?"

On that note, Banjo looked up, noticing the ceiling of clouds above them. No sunlight came through. The clouds contained a grey tint, heavy with rain. He brought his gaze to the normally crowded street and pier, now barren sans a few papers blowing in the wind.

"Where is everyone?"

Kazooie glanced around briefly, noticing the dead sign advertising "Klungo's Arcade." "Maybe Igor knows something?"

"Couldn't hurt to ask," Banjo replied, "but what about the break in the pier?"

"We have our moves back, remember?"

"Oh, right."

Using a quick flap, Kazooie hoisted herself and Banjo over the gap, landing neatly on the other side, only to find the arcade empty.

"Okay, no one's home then…"

"This is really weird, Kazooie,"

"Remind me what isn't weird around here?"

"Okay, weird for Showdown Town, should we take a look around?"

"Let's just find Motherboard Brain and see what's wrong with my stick."

"…Our wrench."

"No, my stick, which I'm about to hit you with if you don't get a move on."

Deciding the conversation was over, Banjo left the pier, making his way to the nearby lighthouse. A rustle of gravel caused him to turn on his heel just in time to see something black disappear behind the lighthouse. It reappeared again on the other side.

"Hey, you!" Banjo called out.

The figure, a penguin, gasped before diving back behind the lighthouse. A siren suddenly sounded from nowhere, and before he could react, something slammed into Banjo, sending him off the cliff. Surfacing again, and wondering what had hit him exactly, Banjo felt himself being dragged away into the cavern under the lighthouse by a pair of black paws.

The bear tried to speak before having his mouth muffled. He tried to turn his head to see his potential captor. It was then that Kazooie emerged from the backpack and pecked at this new character. They drew their paws away, seething slightly.

"Whoa wait, who are you?!" Kazooie shouted.

"Shh…" a voice responded, his face still obscured by the dark.

A sound similar to an engine running resonated throughout the cave, growing louder by the second.

"Tell me who you are right now!"

"Hush, Kazooie!" Banjo urged.

He ushered the duo farther back into the cave as a Police vehicle made its way through, shining its spotlight around, searching. The three watched intently as the vehicle slowly passed by. Banjo recognized it as one of the Showdown Town Police vehicles, but with one new addition: the grenade gun had been replaced with a most deadly torpedile.

Silence.

When the sound of the engine had died away, signaling the threat's departure, Kazooie opened her mouth.

"Alright, who do you think you are? We could have just as easily handled that ourselves," she gestured with her wrench.

"Kazooie, did you see what it was armed with?" Banjo asked, thinking she was insane if she thought a torpedile of all things wasn't something to be concerned with.

"I guess 'elping others ain't well accepted 'round 'ere…" he concluded, stepping into the light.

A male badger now stood before them. A red bandana and goggles adorned his head. He wore tattered, baggy, black jeans, and a worn out vest. His eyes were a slightly red color. It took Banjo a few moments before it came to him:

"Bumper?"

The badger smiled slightly.

"Good t' see y', mate."

Kazooie's mouth hung open, utterly shocked.

"… Banjo?"

He looked over his shoulder at her.

"When did you have friends outside of me?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later."

"Does it have to do with the elephant and the giant pig?"

"Yes."

"… Don't tell me then."

Rolling his eyes, Banjo turned back to his old friend.

"So why are you here? What's going on?"

"Timber got a message from 'is cousin 'bout suspicious activity 'round town," Bumper explained, pulling a folded newspaper from his pocket and handing it to Banjo.

The bold print exclaimed: Nutty Acres Crop Fails.

"Ouch," Banjo said, scanning the article quickly.

"That ain't all, 'parently th' Terrarium is filled with toxic gas now; everythin' is dying."

"So you came to check it out?"

"Not jus' me, Timber is with 'is cousin, Thomas, an' Pipsy is inquirin' in th' Theatre District."

"What about Drumstick and Conker?"

"Drumstick is surveying th' races while we're gone, an' your guess is as good as mine as t' what's become of Conker, I 'aven't 'eard from 'im in a long time."

"Are you two quite finished? We're just looking to get my stick fixed and then we'll be on our way," Kazooie interrupted.

"Hold on Kaz," Banjo answered, "so does anyone know what's causing all this?"

"I 'aven't the faintest, all Timber's cousin said wassat some weird stuff 'as been goin' on."

"Did he mention anything about the Lord of Games?"

"Not t' my knowledge."

Banjo turned to Kazooie, "Looks like we have more of a reason to find him now."

"Yeah, whatever, I just want my stick fixed," she said, retreating into the backpack.

"Alright then, let's go."

"Wait."

The two stopped.

"Y' can't make it there safely, not with all these cops 'round."

"Why not? It's just a bunch of rubbish police officers, no big deal."

"Y' might want to think again," Bumper's expression became serious.

"Th' town is split in t' two factions: th' Theatre District, an' Uptown. Uptown controls th' Police force, and is willing t' fire at anythin' that is tresspassin' in Uptown territories."

"Okay, so we'll just avoid those areas then," Kazooie concluded.

"Too late now missy, you're in one," the badger retorted. "Th' only places not taken by Uptown are th' Theatre District, th' Town Square, an' th' Docks, an' th' Docks are constantly bein' patrolled."

"So how do we get to the factory?" Banjo asked.

"Th' canals 'round town 'ave all but dried up now, an' there are some tunnels lying about. There's a tunnel close by that leads to th' pool, so y' should be fine from there."

"Thanks Bumper," Banjo replied.

"Wait a second, how come Uptown hasn't caught you?" Kazooie raised an eyebrow.

"I'm posin' as a Dock worker right now, they 'aven't bothered us yet," he explained. "Now follow me."

The duo followed Bumper along the edge of the beach, passing King Jingaling's Bingo palace, and onto the banks once again. Sure enough, just beyond the wreck of the Saucer of Peril was a parched canal.

"'ere y' go, I think y' can take it from 'ere."

"Thanks again, Bumper."

"Yeah, whatever," Kazooie added, not at all impressed given she could have made the distance easily herself.

"Not a problem," Bumper was about to leave before turning to them again, "Oi, if you're ever by th' docks again, look me up!"

"We will," Banjo called before descending into the tunnel.

About halfway through, Kazooie felt the need to break the quiet.

"That's a thick accent if I've ever heard one, I couldn't understand him half the time!"

Ignoring the comment, Banjo recognized the location immediately upon leaving the tunnel. Bumper was correct, for they had ended up at the pool. Taking a right upon leaving the area, Banjo hopped the cliff, and headed along the path to Town Square.

At least, it looked like Town Square.

However, this Town Square was missing many of its inhabitants, and was instead occupied by many more Police Vehicles, all armed with deadly torpediles. Navigating the area inconspicuously, Banjo somehow made it to the other side of the square near the Theatre District. Feeling it was safe, Banjo decided to view the surrounding area.

The most evident change was the shattered Jiggy Bank, all one hundred and thirty-one Jiggies were gone without a trace.

"Oh no," Banjo said to himself, his moral quieting a bit, "all our hard work…"

"Come on, Banjo, this happens every time. Everything we do is reset and we have to fetch one hundred something more, you know this!" Kazooie prompted in an attempt to cheer him up.

"I guess so," he replied solemnly, although he didn't feel any better.

"Let's just go find scart mouth and see what's up," she placed a wing on his shoulder.

And with that, the two proceeded to the back of the cliff where the Factory lie, taking the long way up.