Disclaimer: I do not own any of these Banjo-Tooie characters. Except for Molly. How many times do I have to say this, anyway?

Chapter 4

The day (and night) continued on as casually as ever. Everyone had become more eager to win, since King Jingaling had quit. A few contestants were a little bit sad for their Jinjo friend, but had gotten over the loss pretty quickly.

The next morning, sunlight beamed through the tiny, filthy windows. Everyone woke up kind of early today, and no one had much sleep, either, due to the discomfort of the concrete floor and some houseguests whining and complaining. Also, some arguments had erupted later in the night. But now, some contestants, or should I say most, were on the tired side. It got ugly.

Mumbo had drawn an imaginary line across half of the room. It was so Wumba would stay away, on "her side" of the room. Wumba had agreed enthusiastically, but....

"Amateur shaman stays on his own side!" Wumba hollered.

"No, Mumbo on his side still!" Mumbo argued, even though he was about 4 feet away from the "line", which was pretty obvious that he wasn't. Everyone around them just hook their heads and sighed.

"No he isn't!" Wumba growled. "Mumbo get on his side, or else Wumba turn into hideous toad with warts!" Mumbo made a face in the most immature way, and stomped off to the other side of the room. Wumba smiled to herself victoriously.

After a breakfast of fat backs and grits (Pig wedges and old, moldy cream of wheat), the host barged in once again. Smiling dramatically, he grabbed the nearest contestant in one arm (Bottles) and gave him a really hard noogie.

"Guys and gals!" he shouted with a microphone. "Our first challenge!"

"Better be good," Jamjars mumbled.

"Ooooh, I'm ready for a challenge!" Mr. Fit shouted, and he began to do various crunches and push-ups. The host let go of Bottles, letting him breathe. "Our challenge is a race across a mile long track. The thing you don't want, is to be caught in last place at the end of the race. If you win first place, however, you will be rewarded with immunity for our vote-out tonight."

Some of the faster people smiled, having faith in themselves. The slower people didn't look too sure of themselves.

"Any questions before we go out to the track?" the announcer said.

Kazooie was the first to blurt something out. "Do we get to use items?"

"Nope. Just pure skill."

"Can we hurt people?" Mingy asked hopefully.

"Hm, no," the host said.

"But...... we're tired!" Chief Bloatazin said with a yawn. "Can't we do something else?"

"No, we're doing a race. We're wasting time here. Let's go!" He began to walk away. Everyone shrugged and followed.

Everybody was pleased to be out of that hell hole. The fresh air was so pleasant. Most of all the unhappy or grumpy moods became cheerful. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue today. The sun was shining down on everything. Birds were wrapped up in the most wonderful singsong. The grass was so green. So fresh.... Ah. Some were using this time of being free from that stinky old cramped up room. Molly playfully threw some stray dandelions at people, even the seemingly annoyed host. Kazooie could let the soft, light breeze flow past her crimson-gold wings. Bullion Bill could finally perform his hillbilly dance in front of everyone. And Honey B could finally breathe some clean air. Basically, everyone was enjoying their freedom.

After about a quarter mile of walking, all 22 of them (including the host) reached the long track. Some contestants gulped in horror. You couldn't really see the end. It was like the ocean.... Well, sort of.

"We're supposed to run THAT!?" Jamjars complained nervously.

"I can't even run that far!" Chief Bloatazin wailed.

The announcer cleared his throat. "There are certain rules. One: You can't fly over 6 feet high." Kazooie, Canary Mary, and Honey B felt a wave of disappointment go over them.

"Two: You can't push or shove. Three: No running off the track. Four: You're allowed to take short breaks or walk the track." Boggy and a few of the other less fit people breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, I guess that's it. Oh, and you moles there. NO DIGGING!" Jamjars and Bottles got a little angry and frustrated. They were barely able to run, less wobble.

"All right then. Get into your places!" the host commanded. In about a minute, everyone was assembled onto the starting line.

"Here we go.......5.......4.......3........2.........1.....GO!" He shot off a small gun that shoots confetti.

Already, it seemed like Kazooie, Molly, Canary Mary, and Mr. Fit were ganging up on each other for the lead, while the extremely slow Gruntilda, Bottles, Chief Bloatazin, Old King Coal, Jamjars, Boggy, and Klungo were near last place.

Mumbo whizzed past Weldar, accidentally yet amazingly knocking him over. "HEY!" Weldar screamed. "Get your bony ass over here!"

Mumbo looked back, but, not caring, continued on with the race. Weldar grumbled, and pushed his heavy tankard body along. Eventually, even the slow people were ahead of him. Old King Coal was right next to Weldar, since he couldn't even run.

In the lead, Kazooie and Molly had gone farther than Mr. Fit and Canary Mary, and were passing each other often for the lead. (If you haven't noticed, Jinjos are frickin' fast.) Canary Mary and Mr. Fit were ganging up on each other in 3rd and 4th place. Canary Mary was flapping her goldenrod yellow wings rapidly, trying to outrun, or "outfly" Mr. Fit. They were really breaking a sweat.

Mingy Jongo and Mumbo were equally fast, being almost exactly the same, except Mingy being robotic. Mumbo knew that this was his other enemy, and Mingy knew that this was his. They glared at each other menacingly while running as fast as they can to get ahead of one another.

Some people didn't care if they won or not, just as long as they didn't get last. Weldar had eventually slipped behind Old King Coal. He was now panicking.

"I have no choice...." He said. He leaped into the air in that extremely annoying fashion, and was now hovering above the track, going pretty fast.

Kazooie had passed Molly by 2 feet, and with the finish line just ahead of her, she had a 99.99 % chance of winning.

"Yes...... haha, I get immunity!" She almost made it..... when that little .01 happened. Weldar came crashing down on the finish line , making Kazooie squawk and retreat back a few steps. Molly had passed the finish line by then, taking full advantage of Kazooie.

Weldar wasn't a legible winner. He didn't get last place, either. So, Molly got first place. Then came Mr. Fit, Canary Mary, Kazooie, Mumbo, Mingy, Jolly, Banjo, Bullion Bill, Mr. Pants, Wumba, Unga Bunga, Honey B, Klungo, Jamjars, Bottles, Gruntilda, Boggy, Chief Bloatazin, and in last place, Old King Coal.

"Molly, congratulations, you cannot be voted off!" the host shouted, lacing a chained red necklace around her tiny neck that had an "I" at the end. She smiled proudly.

"As for Old King Coal..... I'm sorry. You may now leave. You are evicted. Goodbye." Old King Coal frowned.

"Now..... as for all the rest of you, go back to your house, erm, place." They obeyed, and went back home, exhausted beyond belief.