CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: The Fortress.
The moon had been obscured by thick clouds that night while the waves crashed against Blackeye's monolith. The Fleet's ships had all moved out of the place to who-knows-where, leaving it surprisingly vacant. The Galleon seemed gloomier than ever.
"All right, we're here," spoke Kazooie. "Let's make sure we've got our plan set up properly."
"You mean the plan where we run like fools and get to the safe?" asked Mary.
"No, it's a bit more complicated than that," said the Breegull.
"I think she's right," added Bottles.
"Of course I am!" she said. "We can't just go in there expecting to catch them by surprise." She looked up at the large structure. "Here's what we do: You see that window up there?"
They nodded.
"Well, Mary and I will fly up to that while fur-brain and skull-head make their way in through the lower floors. Hopefully we'll meet somewhere in the middle, eliminating any resistance we meet. That sound all right?"
Mumbo rubbed his skull in confusion. "Who carry Jiggy?"
The mole spoke. "I don't think the birds can carry that up there. So I've got it here." He tugged at the straps of his orange backpack.
"Okay then," said Mary. "Let's do this thing!"
The birds flapped up to a considerable height, and Kazooie spat a Blue Egg at the glass. She had managed to break it open without making too much of a noise.
Mumbo peered up towards the top of the fortress. It seemed to go on through the clouds, into infinity. "Mama!"
"Let's go," insisted Bottles.
Elsewhere, Kazooie and Mary had found themselves in a dank storage room filled with rancid meats.
"What, they never heard of a freezer?" asked the canary.
"Probably some pirate superstition," assured the Breegull. "Let's get out of here."
They made it out to an immense circular hallway. "You go left, I go right," suggested Kazooie.
Mary began trotting to the right.
"No, I said left!"
"Oops." She walked the other way.
The Breegull started down the corridor, feeling strangely lonely. She was starting to forget what it felt like to carry a 400 pound bear on her back. It had somehow been a pleasure.
After a while, she saw someone huddled by a door. "Who's there?" she yelled.
"Kazooie?" said the voice.
"Aw geez," said the Breegull as she realized who it was.
"What did you expect?" asked Canary Mary. "The hallway is circular."
"No, nothing. I just thought you looked like -- never mind." She took a breath. "Let's just stick together, all right?"
PURRRT.
"I guess I'll take that as a 'yes'."
"Um, that wasn't me."
The obscene noise fired once more.
Kazooie frowned. "Man, someone needs more fiber in their diet."
The sounds were coming from a room two doors down from where they stood. They had found the source: a restroom marked "LADS".
"Let's go in," prompted the Breegull.
"What?" said Mary. "In the Men's Room?"
Kazooie rolled her eyes, then pushed the door open.
"WA-HAY!" said the bathroom's sole inhabitant.
The birds instantly covered their eyes.
"Hey, Kazooie!" said the inhabitant. "Don't you remember me?"
She peeked through her feathers. "Oh. Hi, Loggo."
The toilet made a deep noise in greeting. "Sorry for making all that racket. I've been moved around so much, it's starting to get difficult doing my one important job."
Mary began to gag.
The Breegull couldn't believe the irony. "What better place to throw up?" She motioned to the bowl with gusto.
The canary swallowed. "No, no, I'll be all right..."
"Really?" she said. "Well, you should always practice for the day you might become a mother."
Mary gave a sarcastic smirk.
"So Loggo," Kazooie began, "How do we get to the upper floors in this place?"
"Easy," he said. "Turn around, go up three doors, and take the stairs."
"That was helpful," remarked the canary, clutching her gut.
"Just make sure you don't enter the room filled with carcasses," the toilet warned.
"Why not?" asked Kazooie.
"All that rancid meat's the reason I've been clogged up for the past few months. The plumbers were in it up to their knees..."
It was then that Mary finally lost her lunch.
The pipes carried out the substance, rattling behind Mumbo's skull as he began to crawl out from inside a duct. Bottles did his best to bring up the rear.
They appeared to be in a gargantuan space filled with nothing but scrap metal.
"What in the world...?" uttered the mole. "Why would Blackeye need a place like this?"
"How would Mumbo know?" he argued, staring at what loomed before them.
A rusted and heavily damaged shell of a hull lay upside-down, revealing its corroded underside. The logo on the back was practically unreadable, but the two could figure out it once said.
"The Winkybunion!" said Bottles.
"Quite right," said a small shape hopping out of one of the many cracks in the ship.
Mumbo readied his zapping stick. "Who there?"
The figure walked towards them. "I suppose we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm a Jinjo."
"I see that now," said the mole.
"Nice meeting you," he replied. "As you no doubt have guessed, I am now a drone of Kluntilda Winkybunion."
"Shaman thought so."
"So am I," said another Jinjo, stepping out from under the hull.
"Why am I not liking the look of this?" asked Bottles.
They continued to exit the Winkybunion. Some came out of portholes, others from behind the ship, and thus did more and more of them appear until they had filled the floor.
"Lordy!" said Mumbo.
Swiftly, the Crazy 888 Jinjos began their attack.