A loud snore echoed through the jungle, startling away some birds. A wooden hut slightly shook when another came from within. A simian mouth opened and closed again with another snore inside the shack, smacking its lips in satisfaction.
Smashing puppets in the ground were just another hard day's work for Donkey Kong. Recently, there were fewer sightings in the World of Light, which led most of his friends to wonder if they were giving up… or, to others, knowing that the Smashers were just too good to beat.
That was good news for the ape. What he needed after that was some good, old-fashioned rest. Diddy admitted that he, too, had been feeling weary lately… and even K. Rool, as much as he tried to deny it.
DK even remembered him saying that if he said a word to anyone about him dozing off in the home of his "greatest enemy", he'd strangle him with his necktie. That would've been the crocodile's drowsiness talking, for DK couldn't even speak.
He lazily tossed a banana peel behind him, pushing those thoughts away. The sounds of snoring continued to fill the hut. DK realized he must've been more tired than he thought, for he believed he had just heard the sound of something electric…
...but when he noticed the snoring stop when something bounced along the ground, he started to question if he didn't imagine it. The giant ape rolled around and immediately spotted something gold and shiny on the hut's wooden floor.
He picked it up in his hand and squinted at the object, faintly hearing Diddy Kong make a curious sound. The strange thing looked like a puzzle piece.
Diddy scratched his head, a thinking expression on his face. DK turned to him, wondering if Diddy had seen this somewhere before. Before the little chimp could give any sort of explanation…
A faint rustling sound came from outside. Donkey Kong instantly shot up from the floor and pounded his chest, slightly backing away from the window. Was that another puppet? Or just a part of the local wildlife? He glanced to the still form of K. Rool from the corner of his eye. Diddy clapped his hands over the small bubble-like formation around the snoozing croc's snout…
...and King K. Rool was up in a flash. "What?! Who dares?!" He looked around the hut in a frenzy, claws already out. His eye turned to the window, where another bush rustled about. "Grr… I'll teach that nuisance to disturb a king's beauty sleep!"
The Kongs were already at the window, peeking outside for any sign of the mysterious disturbance. Donkey Kong suddenly felt a massive weight behind him, prompting him to glance up and see K. Rool face-first against the window. He bared his teeth, growing mildly irritated at the lack of elbow room.
Then came a shadow.
DK looked outside, where something was silhouetted against the sunlight. Everyone else caught sight of it and K. Rool tried to get a closer look. His attempt resulted in everyone's combined weight smashing through the wall. Briefly shaking his head from the destruction, DK blinked at the shadow… where he caught a pair of flapping wings. All three of them squinted at the figure.
It appeared tall and marsupial-like, resembling a bear in shape. Something that looked like a bird rested on its shoulder. Diddy Kong let out a noise of part-confusion, part-amazement. There was a look of familiarity in his eyes. The figure crouched down…
...and before Donkey Kong could comprehend what was happening, feathers flew everywhere. One of them shot right in front of his nose, prompting the ape to sneeze. He looked back to where the figure once stood but saw nothing there, except for a brown dog and his duck companion.
Everyone's jaws dropped. DK was in disbelief as he blinked twice. Was this all a joke? Duck Hunt interrupting his nap for a little prank? Beside him, King K. Rool snarled and clenched his fists angrily while Diddy was frozen in shock.
"You… you horrid little hound!" he growled. "You think you can just come up here and play a little trick on me?! Throw a rock into my perfect nap fit for a king?! If I had my Kritters with me, I'd have them show you what for! You wipe that stupid grin off your face right now, you putrid pooch!"
While the king continued to shout threats at the giggling dog and duck, something clicked in DK's mind. He… he'd seen something like this before, didn't he? Wasn't this familiar somehow?
He locked eyes with Diddy, who had a similar expression on his face. Curious, both simians turned to Duck Hunt and watched him do his little celebration.
"In fact, forget the Kritters! I'll give you a good kick out of this jungle my-" The sky suddenly flashed for a second, halting K. Rool's threats. All three pairs of eyes looked up to the sky… where they saw a faint figure falling from the orange heavens.
Duck Hunt stopped laughing, noticing the trio was no longer looking at him. He studied their faces for a moment… and when his ears picked up something yelling, the dog grew still. He tried to track down the source of the sound…
And when he deduced the sound was getting louder, he turned his head up.
"YIPE!"
THUD! The falling figure crashed down right on top of Duck Hunt in a mix of fur and feathers. Dust flew everywhere and DK lifted an arm to shield himself. Diddy threw up his hands and K. Rool flinched from the particles in his face.
All eyes looked back to the crash site. Through the settling dust, something pushed up against the ground. Its head was stuck in the dirt while something else was shouting encouragement at it.
"What are you pushing with, your back?! Come on!"
With a popping sound, the figure tumbled onto the ground and landed flat on its back. The thing that had spoken let out a squawk of alarm before it was suddenly silenced. Duck Hunt was slowly compiling himself, faint and quite dizzy, from what DK could tell from his movements.
"Whoa! Where in the world are we?!"
The muffled voice caught his attention. "Oh! Sorry about that!" the figure said, standing back up. The bird-like creature on its back shook its head of dirt. "You weigh like a ton of bricks, you honey-gobbler!"
"Calm down, Kazooie!" the mammal spoke as the last of the dust began to fade. The Kongs and K. Rool were treated to the sight of a brown bear facing away from them, staring into the jungle. On his back, an orange bird rested in a blue backpack and widened its eyes at the sight of the trio. "First, we gotta figure out where the heck we are. Second, we gotta find out how to get back home!"
"Er… Banjo?"
"Huh? What is it?" The bear looked over his shoulder… and turned around with a shocked expression. "Jumping Jiggies! Is that-?!" The strange duo, the Kongs, and K. Rool were silent…
...before Diddy Kong burst into a screeching fit of joy, clapping his hands. He bounded out of the window and ran up to the bear, hopping up and down with an excitement Donkey Kong had never seen in his little buddy before. The bear was also taken aback until he laughed and shook Diddy's hand.
"Guh-huh! Good to see you, too, Diddy! How long's it been, my old pal?" Diddy continued to hoot and screech while Donkey Kong climbed out of the hole. A growling King K. Rool followed him, staring at the bear.
"Hey! Who are you to drop in and throw a wrench into my perfectly good nap?" At the sight of the crocodile, the bear froze stiff, slowly looked up, and nervously gulped. "Gosh, I'm awfully sorry about that. I just found this strange letter, I followed its instructions, and I found myself here. I don't mean to trouble you, but I really need to get back home! Tooty will likely believe Gruntilda captured me as she did her!"
K. Rool blinked in confusion before shaking his head. "Who's… you know what, forget it! You never answered that first part of my question, fuzzy! You got a name?"
"Why, yes, I do. My name is Banjo, and-"
"And YOU'VE got quite a nerve for introductions, fish-breath!" The orange bird popped out of the bear's backpack and squawked at K. Rool. The bear's face turned into an expression of pure panic while K. Rool stepped back with shock.
"WHAT did you say, feather-face?!" he growled at the bird. "Do you have any idea who I am?!" From the bear's- Banjo's expression, Donkey Kong could tell things were gonna get ugly fast. Diddy Kong pulled his hat over his face with a frightened "eep" noise, proving his point.
"Let's see," the bird replied. "Cape, crown, an eye that looks like you haven't slept in a week. Yep, you're the king of stupid, that's what you are!"
"Kazooie, no!" Banjo shushed, hurriedly trying to push the resisting animal into the backpack. "Down! Bad bird! Ow!" The bird pecked him in the face and forcefully leaned, turning Banjo completely around.
"How DARE you insult me, King K. Rool, commander of the Kremlins!" K. Rool snarled. "I'll pluck every feather from your body, you little beaked brat!"
"You use fighting words with Banjo, you use fighting words with me!" The bird snapped back. "You want a piece of me, scales-for-brains?! You want a piece of- AWK!" A green scaly hand snagged the bird by the neck and yanked her out of the pack, leaving a feather or two fluttering in the air. K. Rool brought the bird to his face, staring her right in the eyes with his mouth agape.
"With pleasure. The only thing I'm gonna hate about this is picking out feathers between my teeth."
"Bring it on, ugly!" the bird pecked K. Rool in the eye, making him yell out and release it. Now free, the bird flew off and scratched her talons on the croc's head. Now enraged, K. Rool lashed his claws out at the bird, who flew out of range, stuck out her tongue, and dove at his face again.
Banjo was in a panic. "You!" he shouted, pointing at Donkey Kong. "You're a friend of Diddy's, right? Stop them before my Breegull buddy becomes that thing's supper!"
"GET DOWN HERE, you avian appetizer!" K. Rool snarled, jumping up to catch the bird- Kazooie, was it?- in his claws. Kazooie darted away, making K. Rool land flat on his face and scramble back up angrier. "I'll gnaw on your drumsticks! I'll gobble on your giblets! I'll fest on your-"
Kazooie turned around and popped out something that looked like an egg. It landed in K. Rool's open maw, causing the king to stop his rampage. He stood still for a moment… before the thing in his mouth blew up.
K. Rool coughed and gagged out smoke, collapsing on his stomach. Kazooie fluttered back to Banjo's pack, laughing victoriously. "That's what you get, Snacker-on-land!" Donkey Kong was curious as to how this bear was here, as well as one other thing.
He pointed to Banjo and Diddy, making a noise of confusion. "What's that? You want to know how I know Diddy?" Banjo asked. "That's easy! I met him when he was holding his little racing league! Those sure were the days…" Diddy Kong nodded, mimicking holding a steering wheel. "Anyway, before I get too sidetracked… maybe you know where I am?"
Donkey Kong nodded. He looked down at the ground, poking his finger in the dirt. While Banjo and Kazooie watched, the ape moved his hand around to draw something in the dirt. He made a cross-like pattern within a circle. Banjo stared at it for a moment, then gasped in realization.
"Kazooie! You recognize this symbol, right?"
"Of course I do!" the Breegull replied harshly. She looked at the symbol, trying to piece together where she saw it. "Um… what is it?"
Banjo facepalmed before looking back at the symbol. "That's the same symbol we saw on that piece of paper you found! The one that said we were invited to something! Do you think this could be it?"
Kazooie looked around the jungle. "If this is supposed to be a party, I want a refund! There's no presents, no cake, no music, and did I mention no cake?"
"Hmm…" Banjo tapped his foot against his ground. "If we weren't invited to a party, then what- GAAAAH!" The bear was suddenly yanked off the ground and thrashed about in the air, surprising both the Kongs and the recovering K. Rool.
The unseen force smashed Banjo into the dirt like a ragdoll, making the bear grunt out with each impact and Kazooie squawked in pain and alarm. Finally, the bear was sent flying right into a tree, where he crashed head-first into the trunk. Banjo collapsed in a daze… before a bunch of bananas fell on top of him and Kazooie.
With narrowed eyebrows, Donkey Kong scooped up a fistful of dirt and chucked it out into the air. The dirt particles landed on something unseen that made a simian howl of irritation. Donkey Kong could make out the face of the invisible impostor, allowing him to land a good, strong punch on the figure.
It came into view when it hit the ground: a duplicate of himself. It shook its head, scrambled up on all fours, and beat its chest. Diddy Kong hooted and jumped at the puppet fighter, who bashed the chimp aside with its head. With a roar, the duplicate threw itself at the real Donkey Kong, who seized hold with both hands and proceeded to grapple it.
Suddenly, something behind the puppet caught Donkey Kong's attention: a dust cloud kicked up from a rampaging force. The ape was distracted at the sight, enough to make his duplicate overpower him and throw him to the ground.
Banjo poked his head out of the bananas in a disoriented fashion. Kazooie popped her head out of the pack and looked at the nearby commotion. She squawked in surprise and pecked Banjo in the head, making him snap out of his daze.
"Banjo! We got trouble! It's a brawl! A rumble! A beatdown! Get us in there, quick! I wanna peck some eyes out!"
"Uh-oh!" Banjo gasped, jumping to his feet. "Our new friends are in danger!" He grabbed onto Kazooie and ran towards the puppets, holding the bird by the legs. Several of the puppets noticed the duo charging right for them; duplicates of Diddy Kong, a giant gold R.O.B., a golden Mii Swordfighter with a mask, three yellow Ridley clones, and five yellow Kirby clones.
The Kirby copies hopped at Banjo first, who swatted them away by using Kazooie like a baseball bat. He smashed one of the clones into the ground, with Kazooie uttering a sound on the impact. Donkey Kong squared off against his invisible double, using the ground as a reference point as to where it was. While some of his punches missed, he felt the occasional solid surface. Unfortunately, that same solid surface could slam into his head and his chest.
Banjo jabbed Kazooie into the last Kirby clone beak-first, landing two hooks and an uppercut. He dropped on all fours, allowing the Breegull to peck at the clone in rapid movements. The clone exploded with light, allowing a spiritual orb to rise into the air.
Banjo blinked. "Huh? Is that a Jiggy?" Before Kazooie could answer him, the fake Diddy tackled the bear to the ground and started to pound him. Kazooie responded by poking the chimp in the nose. "Back off, banana-breath!"
Banjo hopped back to his feet and broke into a run, slamming into the false chimp- who had its arms up in a blocking pose- with a roll. Kazooie propped him up, allowing him to knock the puppet into the air with a roundhouse kick. The puppet activated its rocketbarrel pack, drew a popgun, and fired three peanuts at Banjo. With wide eyes, the bear dodged them all with quick thinking.
"Two can play at that game!" he called, holding Kazooie out in front of them and sliding his hand down her neck as if priming a shotgun. Kazooie squawked, spitting an egg out of her open mouth. The fake Diddy maneuvered to the side to avoid the projectile, aiming at the duo with both popguns.
The puppet never had the chance to fire before Banjo fired more eggs at it, forcing the clone to stay on the move. The puppet stuck out its tongue and blew a raspberry at Banjo… who held Kazooie like a javelin and hurled the Breegull at the fake monkey. A scuffle of fur and feathers later, the puppet fell to the ground and Kazooie returned to Banjo's pack.
A spiritual orb arose from the puppet's destroyed shell. Banjo moved to get a closer look and his eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh! Tooty?" He stared at the spirit in sheer shock before it zipped towards Banjo and vanished inside his body, confusing the bear even more. "What the-? How is she…?"
"What happened to her?" squawked Kazooie.
"And…" Banjo clutched his head. "Why do I feel so weird?" Closeby, something caught Banjo's attention. He turned and saw Diddy Kong duking it out with… was that another Banjo? With two peanuts to the face, it was down and blew up like a barrel bomb. Donkey Kong also forced his duplicate to reveal himself, drop-kicked it to the dirt, and smashed it down with both fists. That one also exploded, revealing another spirit. "And is that Bottles?"
The soul of the mole shot up and away, leaving Banjo scratching his head in utter disbelief. "Gosh, Kazooie… are our friends really trapped inside all these guys? How did it happen?"
"Quit worrying about how they got in!" Kazooie squawked. "Start busting them out!" Banjo nodded and sprinted towards the golden fighter. The enemy swept a leg at Banjo, who hopped in the air and dodged an upward swing. The fake Mii Swordfighter thrust out a leg, which Banjo caught and spun around. After releasing the clone and sending it sailing into a tree, Kazooie popped out a Grenade Egg that Banjo chucked at it.
"Here, catch!" she shouted. The explosive blew on contact with the false Mii, destroying it on the spot. From the smoky cloud, the spirit of Mumbo Jumbo floated away.
Donkey Kong crashed down on top of the giant golden R.O.B., wailing on it with his massive fists. The fake robot zapped the ape with its eye lasers, forcing him off it. King K. Rool took the chance to leap on top of the robot before it could right itself, slamming into the head belly-first. The duplicate exploded from that strike, leaving nothing but colorful sparks in its place.
Diddy Kong hooted and struck a karate pose, looking around for his next opponent. Unfortunately for him, the little monkey failed to notice a giant two-dimensional shape approaching him. Banjo jumped back when he spotted it before he and Kazooie nodded. The bear and the breegull dashed towards the monkey…
...but small, gold figures barred the duo's path. The five gold Kirby clones hopped at Banjo, who plowed through some of them with a forward roll. Grabbing one puppet, he slammed it into the ground headfirst and walloped another with Kazooie. The Breegull smacked another with her wings and pecked a fourth copy in the eye.
Nearby, Donkey Kong was lunging at the giant Mr. Game and Watch puppet while K. Rool was fending off three yellow Ridley clones swooping all around him. The crocodile king jumped on top of one, struggling to hold it down while it screeched and thrashed about. DK smashed on the smaller Mr. Game and Watch copies as if he wanted to make them more flatter than they already were.
Banjo kicked away a Kirby clone and slammed a fist downward. At the same time, Kazooie slammed both of her wings down on more copies, taking them out. Banjo socked the last one and turned around, allowing Kazooie to smack it with both feet. With the gold Kirby clones out of the way, Kazooie popped her legs out of the pack and sprinted towards the three Ridley copies.
One of the puppets had tackled King K. Rool to the ground, grappling with its claws and screeching in the croc's face. Using a Shock Spring Pad to get the jump on it, Banjo slammed down on its head while Kazooie popped out two more Grenade Eggs on the others. Swiftly turning around, Banjo charged forward while Kazooie's wings glowed with magic. The duo crashed into the two remaining puppets at full speed, leaving a gold aura behind them.
King K. Rool stood up and shook his head, confused at the whole ordeal. "So the little birdie is a makeshift grenade launcher. Forgive me if I find that impressive." Kazooie popped out another Grenade Egg, prompting Diddy to snag it out of the air and throw it hard at his opponent.
The last of the Ridley clones fell to the ground and blasted into dust, allowing the soul of a Buzzbomb to fly away, complete with a constant buzzing noise. DK and Diddy mopped up the last of the Mr. Game and Watch puppets, breaking free another soul that the bear and bird recognized.
"Whoa, check it out!" called Kazooie. "It's the Jinjos!"
"And… the Mighty Jinjonator," Banjo finished. "But how did this all happen to them? Why are they all small and glowy?"
"Because this was all a trap, that's why!" Kazooie snapped. "I betcha this whole thing was set up by L.O.G.! Zapping us to who-knows-where, sending a bunch of minions to bash our heads in, I mean, come on! Who doesn't want to do that to us these days?!"
"Stop right there!" K. Rool snarled, irritated at Kazooie's constant babbling. "First off, who is this L-O-G character." Banjo opened his mouth to reply, but Kazooie beat him to it. "A deranged reality warper with an outdated computer for a head. Now let's go find him so I can peck in his screen!"
"Whoever this is, this wasn't him!" K. Rool shot back. "Those things you just fought belonged to some sun deity called Galeem. Long story short, we beat him, but we didn't beat them!"
"And you must need our help to finish the job!" Banjo realized, flashing a thumbs-up. "Count us in! It's been a while since Kazooie and I had a good brawl! So tell us more about these guys."
"They're puppets," K. Rool explained. "Copies of us that have been infused with kidnapped souls, both good and bad. Some are easy to squash, others are more of a pushover. But no matter how strong they seem, they can be beaten. And when they do, their imprisoned spirits can pop out and float away free."
"Us?" Kazooie repeated. "You mean there's more of you?" Donkey Kong nodded gleefully. He beckoned Banjo and Kazooie to follow him as he walked down a dirt path… but the ape didn't get very far.
With a loud thud, something heavy and green slammed down onto the path and kicked up dust. "Aw, great!" Kazooie squawked. "Now what?!"
When the dust settled, a giant clone of King Dedede spun its hammer and narrowed its eyes at the fighters. A Star Rod was held in its other hand. Beside it, three huge copies of Dr. Mario stood with megavitamins in hand.
Kazooie stared suspiciously at the puppet, trying to determine what soul lurked within. "Wait a second… is that supposed to be who I think it is?" Banjo tapped his foot on the ground, studying the puppet. "Hmm. Green, big, over-inflated ego, magic wand… is that… Gruntilda?" His eyes popped wide at his guess as if he had surprised himself.
"Only one way to find out," Kazooie answered, taking a moment to clear her throat. "HEY, GRUNTY! You upgraded from hopping skull to fat penguin and you still can't disguise your toxic personality! Literally!"
Banjo could have sworn he saw the puppet's green face turn red with anger. Holding its hammer high, the copy broke into a stomping charge and flung the Star Rod, sending shooting stars at the duo. Banjo quickly weaved his body to avoid the shots, wide-eyed as some of them narrowly missed his fur.
"Yep. That's her, alright," Kazooie concluded calmly.
The Breegull flapped her wings and launched Banjo away, saving him from the crushing hammer that smashed into the ground. One end of the hammer opened up and the puppet spun around, releasing a cloud of purple mist into their ear.
"Is that another poison trick?" Kazooie asked while two of the giant Dr. Mario puppets thundered towards the Kongs and K. Rool. "Well, it won't help you for long!" The third puppet tossed megavitamin capsules at a sprinting Banjo, who hopped over it with Kazooie's assistance. "And neither will your little Klungo wannabes!"
Banjo threw Kazooie at the puppet's head, allowing the Breegull to fly around in a pecking frenzy. Banjo stomped down on the head, leaping off and rolling at the puppet's legs. As it crashed to the ground, Kazooie returned to Banjo's pack and took flight, turning Banjo around and making him fall onto the puppet belly-first.
Bouncing from the impact, Banjo and Kazooie used their Bill Drill technique to deal the final blow on the massive puppet, destroying it and turning their attention to the Dedede puppet. Banjo held Kazooie in front and fired eggs from her mouth, connecting with shooting stars and knocking the Star Rod out of the puppet's hand. Raising its hammer again, the puppet charged forward and prompted Banjo and Kazooie to run towards it with another Wonderwing dash. The puppet failed to evade and took the full force of the blow, but was quick to recover.
The puppet missed three hammer swings, earning it a peck in the face from Kazooie and an uppercut from Banjo. The bear threw an overhead punch, only for his fist to meet the hammer. The Dedede puppet spun and knocked Banjo's gut with the hammer, sending the bear sliding back.
The puppet smashed the ground with its hammer, creating a poisonous substance that trailed through the ground. While running towards the puppet again, Banjo weaved around the purple patches of ground but stepped in a small puddle of the substance. The bear staggered for a moment, glancing back at the poison.
"Hey… wasn't that supposed to hurt more or something?"
"Yeah, you're right!" Kazooie realized as the bear continued to evade the puppet's hammer swings. "Didn't you say you felt weird when Tooty- well, whatever it was that happened to her- got into you?"
"Do you think this could be her? She's helping us?"
Kazooie ducked into the pack for a second to avoid having her head taken off her neck. "By making poison less painful to us? What else it could be?"
Banjo hopped away from another smash and delivered two hooks to the puppet's gut. The puppet threw itself belly-first at Banjo, knocking the bear onto his back. Kazooie squawked in alarm as they hit the dirt.
"Oof!" Banjo grunted. "This Galeem fella really knew what he was doing, putting Gruntilda into a big, fat penguin with a hammer!" The puppet shot into the air and crashed back down with a loud slam. Banjo rolled out of the way to avoid getting crushed but was hit in the face by a spiked ball that appeared to have eyes. Banjo collapsed again, blinking his weakened eyes.
Something bright and spherical shot into view, darting across the sky. "Huh? What's that?" Excited hoots answered him, and he turned to see Diddy jumping up and down, the other two giant puppets nowhere to be seen. With a grin on his face, Donkey Kong pointed to the orb and punched an open palm.
"They want us to… break it?" Kazooie asked. Banjo rolled back to his feet, avoiding a downward hammer strike that was close to pulverizing them.
"If it'll help, it's our best bet!" Using a Shock Spring Pad to launch himself into the air, Banjo wailed at the orb with fists and feet while Kazooie jabbed her beak and smacked her wings against it. To finish it off, the duo charged at it with a third Wonderwing strike.
The strange orb shattered open, allowing mysterious energy to flood into Banjo and Kazooie in streams of light. The bear's eyes turned a bright yellow and he touched down onto the ground, staring at his glowing hands. "Wow! I feel… incredible!"
"Me too!" Kazooie called. "I have no idea what that was, but I'm glad we did what we did!"
"I think I've got an idea!" Banjo replied. "Watch this, Kazooie!" Unfazed at this turn of events, the puppet charged again. Banjo drew himself back with blazing bright eyes, then threw up his arm. Just before the Dedede puppet could bring its hammer down on the duo, a statue erupted from the ground and knocked the surprised puppet into the sky. The glow fading from his eyes and body, Banjo looked at the statue in awe.
It was a statue of the Jinjonator. Before his eyes, the statue crumbled apart to reveal the Jinjonator lying underneath, who shot up into the sky. It reached the falling puppet with incredible speed and proceeded to ram into it nose-first. It barraged the Dedede puppet with a flurry of high-speed barrages. The Jinjonator looped back around, flying for the puppet one last time with the four Jinjos in tow.
With a final slam, the Jinjonator smashed into the puppet hard enough to deal a critical blow. The final impact sent the puppet sailing off a nearby cliff, plummeting to the ground below. With no time to waste, Banjo and Kazooie jumped down after it.
The Dedede puppet flailed around in a desperate attempt to recover, only to slam into a boulder that was knocked loose. The puppet continued to fall until it crashed into the earth in a large hole of its shape. The boulder crashed down on top of the hole, sealing it up. Banjo sprang off the rock and landed in a near-clumsy manner, with Kazooie flapping her wings to right the bear. Once the duo was settled, Kazooie turned back to the rock and stuck out her tongue.
"Our Jinjo did not fail to work, he's anything but a worthless jerk!" she snapped. Banjo dusted off his hands with a calm smile and followed Kazooie's gaze. "Well, that takes care of that! But our jig here is only getting started, right?"
King K. Rool hovered down on his propellorpack and landed on top of the rock. Diddy flew in on his rocketbarrel pack and Donkey Kong landed with a thud, carrying a dazed Duck Hunt on his shoulder. The ape looked to Banjo, shaking his head. Duck Hunt began to stir, blinking open his dizzy eyes.
"Seems like we've got a lot more baddies to beat, Kazooie!" Banjo announced, bowing before the Kongs. "I can tell these guys have been through a lot, so they're gonna need all the help they can get!"
"Sounds good to me! Who do I get to peck next?"
"Guys! Guys!" A voice called from above. Banjo turned and looked up to see an angel with glowing-blue wings glide down towards the jungle. He touched down before the Kongs, the glow on his wings fading.
"I'm so glad I found you!" the angel gasped. "Several puppets are attacking the base! We need you guys over there now before our defensive line is breached!"
"Sounds like fun!" Kazooie squawked, drawing the angel's attention. "Uh, who are you?"
Banjo shot the angel a thumbs-up. "I'm Banjo and this is Kazooie! And we're your newest recruits. Guh-huh!"
"Newest recruits?"
"We just walloped a bunch of phonies over here, and I'm anxious to be let at more!" Kazooie added. "Which way to this base?"
"Well, uh, glad to have you on the team," the angel said, still taking in the fact of the new arrival. "I'm Pit, by the way." His eyes shot open in realization. "Oh, right! The base! Follow me!" His wings flashed and he shot into the air, followed by Diddy and K. Rool on their flight equipment. Snatching up Banjo and Kazooie in his open hand, Donkey Kong bounded after them into the trees.
The ape occasionally threw both duos into the air while swinging on vines, leaving the birds to flap their wings and keep their companions safe until they were caught. As Banjo and Kazooie were carried by Donkey Kong, they looked at each other knowingly. It looks like they were invited to a party after all: one with an all-you-can-beat-buffet, complete with new friends to meet!