PART 2: Missing!
That night, Kazooie had a peculiar dream. She dreamt that Banjo and Kimberly were kissing again. But then, something made her eyes widen. Kimberly reached over Banjo's neck and BIT him! Banjo reacted quickly and grabbed her arm in pain. Kazooie tried to come towards them, but she could hardly move. Then, she was in the backpack, wide awake, but noticing that the only persons in the room were herself and Banjo. "Jeez... what a dream. Note to self- not so many worms before going to sleep" she said foggily to herself. In the quiet, cozy backpack, sleep came quickly.
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The next day, Kazooie noticed Banjo sitting quietly on his bed, watching the backpack intensely. His head was bent to one side, concealing the right side of his neck. Outside, the wind was still, and the snow had ceased falling, she noticed. A bit suspicious about her dream, Kazooie approached him. "What're YOU staring at?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing looks pretty interesting, eh, Banjo?"
"Guh huh."
"What's the matter with you? Didn't you eat your Wheaties this morning?" Banjo nodded dimly. Shrugging, Kazooie went into the shower to do wash off the dirt of the previous day. Shaking herself dry, she began preening herself with her beak. But as she entered the bedroom, something occurred to her: it was eight o' clock. Banjo was never awake, farless dressed, until noon, if it was a good day. And Tooty's bed was empty. In fact, the entire house was unnaturally quiet, and she realized that the HOUSE was empty. Opening the door, Kazooie saw the tell tale signs of footprints leading off into the distance.
One her quest to follow them, she saw a molehill. Suppose... "Hey, Beetle Breath!" Her voice echoed down the hole. "Any idiot down there?" Again, no sign of life. Bottles the mole obviously wasn't there. But a smaller, round set of prints joined the other three... three? There was something peculiar going on... Finally, she reached a place where the footprints disappeared. Kazooie sighed and looked around. Suppose they were hiding? Kazooie took a step forward- and disappeared herself.
When the red-crested breegull regained her senses, she realized that she was in a damp, dark prison. On either side of her, men old enough to be her grandfather were crammed, in some cases five to a 6' by 6' cell. And not one of them was unharmed. Some of the prisoners were missing the proper body-parts, some seemed to be in the various stages of various disease, while almost all sported open wounds of some sort. Kazooie suddenly wondered where the HECK she was. As the breegull passed the entrance, an old, wrinkled hand grabbed hers. "Hey! What the-"
"H-here... miss.... Maybe... there's... hope... for you..." Kazooie bent down to view the old man. Then, something shocked her- he wasn't that old at all! He was perhaps in his late thirties- early forties. Not old enough to look as wrinkled and weathered as that hand which grabbed hers.
The face pretty much resembled a skull with a piece of browning leather stretched to breaking over it. "What in the hell?!"
"Yes.... th-this is hell... I haven't eaten in... how long again? T-take this k-key and get out, miss... before... you meet a fate... like mine..."
"Hey! Have you seen a-"
"Get... out... or you'll... suffer... long..." He handed Kazooie a silver and gold key. "Use... this... at the... Center.... Gate..." Kazooie took the key, and realized that the man had gone limp. Dead. Shaking off a severe shudder, Kazooie walked toward the light, and snuck out the open door. As she left, she noticed a sign which said, 'DEATH ROOM". "Gee, now ain't THAT the truth," though Kazooie, as she crept down the empty, carpeted hallway.
The breegull stepped lightly down the foreboding hallway, looking suspiciously from place to place- even the tiger striped carpeting seemed threatening. Time to look for Banjo. "Banjo?" she called. "Hey, Fuzz-face, you here?" No response. Kazooie had the sudden urge to turn around- someone was behind of her. She counted three in her mind, then turned. A single frail-looking butler studied her carefully, then stated, "Who are you? Are you a student?"
"Who are you and where's-"
"Oh, your room? I'm so sorry, miss. Your room. Yes, of course, miss." he interrupted nervously. "I am slave number 103452." Kazooie only blinked as the frightened butler led her through the beautifully carpeted hallway. As Kazooie stepped through the carpet, she couldn't help but admire the soft, black and gold under her feet. The edges of the ceilings were seemed to be attached to the walls with gold. And the beautiful walls were lined with large pillars, which were themselves decorated with gold. The butler reached a brown door, carved with the faces of three vampiric women, one holding a golden locket. Finally, he faced her. "Yes, miss. Here is the school information regarding the schedules, eating times, map of the school and services. Is there anything I can get for you, miss? Food? Dress? Personal slave?" Kazooie shook her head, giving him a strange look. The man opened the door, quivering, and handed her a large envelope.
Inside, two pretty girls, one a feline, the other a human, were sitting on a bed, surrounded by haggard-looking people. The people of different species and ages but all male were at work, painting the girls' nail, tending their hair, fanning them. Two young squirrels held up a silver bowls of chocolates for the seemingly very spoilt girls. And the vain girls checked themselves in the mirror which a hapless monkey held up for them. All the creature seemed miserable. No sign of Banjo, Tooty, Bottles or the infamous Kimberly Shanice Real. A young -looked like a puppy with wings- slave ran towards Kazooie, who impatiently whispered to him,
"Jeez! Go jump in a pool." The small slave, who was probably three, began crying in terror.
"Please don't, miss! I can't swim! I can't swim! I'm scared!"
Kazooie looked at him in amazement. "Good grief, kid. I didn't mean actually go drown yourself."
The feline girl gave the child a disgusted look. "Be quiet! Guard! Two hundred and fifty stripes for this little delinquent." A huge, burly gruntling grabbed the sobbing child by his little paw as Kazooie stood up in front of the child.
"Hey! Are you people crazy?! That'll kill the kid!" The human girl giggled at her and whispered to the other, and they both muttered,
"Stupid new students." Kazooie watched the guard, as he raised a wicked-looking whip to the child. She didn't usually get in the middle of things like this, but the kid had been on the earth for four years at most.
"Leave him alone, green butt!" The child looked seriously surprised, as did everyone else in the room. The guard held the child, then dropped him to the ground, giving him a bad look before going into the hidden room. The breegull was surprised; she hadn't expected him to obey her. Kazooie turned to the child, who kneeled at and hugged her feet. "Ok, ok. I need some personal space, already," she said, prying him away from her paling feet. The child grabbed her wing and kissed it reverently, before going out another door in the room. Ooookaaay, theeen... weird, thought the breegull. The girls turned to Kazooie.
"You must be a new student, I suppose."
"Yes, I suppose," echoed the human.
"You really mustn't bother with the slaves. Afterall, they're only slaves."
"Yes. Only slaves." Kazooie looked bothered. The feline continued.
"I suppose you want to know my name. I am Maxine Alexandra Marie Christina Frans the fourth, daughter of King Madrice Frans the eight, heir to a six billion dollar estate." Kazooie swallowed. The human who had been echoing the feline introduced herself, "Me, I am Elizabeth Christina Francesca Mecris, daughter of King Francois Mecris the seventh, heir to a five billion dollar estate." Kazooie simply stared at them.
"Well I'm-"
"New wealth?!"
"New wealth?!"
"Of course. Only something as ridiculously disgusting as new wealth would cancel the rightful punishment of a disobedient slave," said the feline. Kazooie looked at the ridiculously snobbish girls."New wealth. You can see it in her, can't you? So brash and distasteful."
"Yes, distasteful," said the human, making a face.
Kazooie rolled her eyes. "Aw, shut up, furball and monkey girl!" Let her be "distasteful". At least she would be the one with brains at the end. Finally, she opened the envelope. She was about to view the map of the school, but just then, a slave came in, ringing a small silver bell. "Dinner is served." Dinner turned out to be caviar, pate, escargot, and biscuits. Kazooie suspiciously pecked a small escargot- and immediately spat it out. "This tastes like oil!" she declared. Nothing like the juicy worms that she was accustomed to.The two snobs turned up their noses and whispered to each other. "NEW wealth could never appreciate the finer things in life."
"Never appreciate them."
"If she were a slave, I'd give give her two hundred stripes."
"Of course! Two hundred stripes!"
"Yeah, well your not exactly peaches and cream yourselves, powder butts." Deciding against probably poisoning herself, she viewed the map, not touching any of the disgusting-looking stuff on the plate.
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That night, the breegull opened her eyes, wincing slightly at the loud snores of her roommates. Opening the door, she snuck out into the carpeted hallway. The one thing she wanted to find on the map turned out to be behind a great carved door, with the profiles of three vampiric women carved on the front. One had huge ears, like an elf, the other had small ears and the hand of one woman was carved so that it looked as if it was holding the knocker. Kazooie looked down at the map. "Knock once, but not too loud, knock twice, but not too soft. The third may let you enter if she fares well." Sighing, she lifted a wing to hold the knocker, but suddenly, a closed wooden eye opened.
"Ah! You want to enter the library?" Kazooie shrugged and knocked softly. The woman smiled and bared her polished wooden teeth. "I would have killed you had you knocked any louder." The breegull ignored that and waited as the second woman awoke. Kazooie knocked loudly, feeling the vibrations through the room. The third woman awoke rather crankily. "I'm awake. I have no time to threaten you; just talk to my sister.
Kazooie rolled her eyes and tapped her feet impatiently. "If this place gets any cornier-"
"My library is corny, is it?!" said the woman whose hand held the knocker. "Then answer this. What red thing must you give me before you enter?" Kazooie tapped. "Listen, sequoia face, I gotta get into the-"
"Give up?" she sneered.
"Whatever, termite nose," sounded Kazooie impatiently.
"Then let me give you a hint," said the wooden woman. She suddenly lunged forward out of the wooden background and returned to her position in the door. Kazooie was so fazed by the attack, she only felt the pain after she saw blood spatter on the door and ooze out of her wing, colouring the yellow tips red. The bird watched up in shock as the door laughed. "Be glad I ask nothing more from you, rude child. Enter." Kazooie silently eyed the door, still holding her bleeding wing. But as soon as she was inside the library, looked back at the door, saying, "Just wait 'til my friends, the woodpeckers show up, mahogany butt!
Before doing anything else, Kazooie inspected the injured wing. It wasn't that badly hurt, and the pain had already begun to subside. Finally, she looked around the huge library. The walls were a cream colour, and the ceiling was stained glass, designed in the shape of...those three vampiric women. Kazooie figured that she had had enough of them, especially the one who always seemed to be holding a golden... was it is a locket?.... in her hand, except for that one time when she held the locker on the door to the library.