Outside, below in the valleys of Spiral Mountain, young Tooty was still talking, crunched over to the Mole, Kazooie watching her from inside.

"…And that's all there really is to know about alchemy really," the Mole finished his long speech.

"I wish my lazy brother would wake up!" said Tooty dully.

"Oh, is that him up there? Oh, what am I saying of course it isn't…"

A green blur was circling around the tower over spiral mountain- Grunty was enjoying flying again.

"Hey, what is that?" asked Tooty inquisitively. "It sure is big, too big to be a bird…"

"Where are my glasses, I can get a much better look at it with them on," the mole searched his pockets and pulled out his thick spectacles, and looked again at the approaching blur. "Oh My…" was all he could muster. "RUN! Tooty run! Get it inside now! RUN!"

"What, what is it?" But she didn't have to ask, the witch was now only a few yards away from them now, Tooty could see right into her bloodthirsty eyes. "AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

In an instance, Gruntilda swooped down and grabbed the cub, flying off with her.

"Tooty!" screamed the Mole.

All of this happened in less than a minute, the witch turned tails and was heading back to her lair.

"Who are you? Let me go! AAAAAHHHHHHH! HELP ME!" Tooty bit down into the witch's hand, Grunty responded by slapping Tooty across the face, as the witch's blood and the cub's tooth splattered into the moat around the mountain.

Kazooie hung there, speechless. She was trying to intake what she had seen; it had gone by so fast.

"Banjo! Banjo! BANJO!" she flapped her wings desperately, and in result knocked the coat rack she was hanging on over.

"Oh…what is now," groaned Banjo rolling over.

"BANJO, COME HERE IT'S TOOTY!"

Banjo woke with a start and ran out to the living room.

"What happened?" he said in an alarmed tone, raising Kazooie up.

"I…I'm not really sure!" she gasped frantically, her words a mile a minute, "I was just sitting here, and, and, she was over there talking to herself, and the next thing I know…oh God…it happened so fast, something just came out of the sky, it was like a blur, a green blur. It couldn't have been a bird, and it carried Tooty off with here!"

"What…" he said as though he couldn't quite comprehend what had been said to him. "Something, stole Tooty?" Kazooie nodded shaking. "But…WHAT?" He looked out the window confused; there was nothing there. "Where…where did they go!"

"Oh God!" she cried misty-eyed. "I don't know! This is all my fault, I was just so…so, scared and…and worried, and…" Banjo headed out the door.

"TOOTY! TOOTY! WHERE ARE YOU TOOTY!"

"Where do you think you're going, buddy?" she said with newfound poise, as he made to find run out into the valley.

"TO FIND TOOTY! Oh Gosh, what happened!"

"Not without me your not!"

"No Kazooie, just stay here."

"Listen Fur face, there's no way I'm letting you look for her without me helping! Now come back here and get me!"

"Oh fine," he said and tossed her over his shoulder.

They bear and bird stepped out of the front gate, looking around for any clues.

"Um, excuse…"

Banjo turned around instantly, and looked down to see a mole on the ground wearing thick glasses talking to him.

"Who are you!" demanded Banjo.

"I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself," said the mole. "You must be Banjo, my name is Bottles Mole."

"Mole? You mean, there really was a Mr. Mole?"

"Oh, she told you about me did she? Wait, no, I can't get caught up in conversation, you must know what happened to Tooty this instant!"

"What, what did happened to Tooty!" cawed Kazooie.

"Hey, what is that thing on your back Banjo, it sure is ugly…"

"I'm a Red Crested Breegull for you information, and you ain't no beauty queen yourself goggle-boy!"

"There's no reason to get rude with me ma'am…"

"I'm getting rude with you! You're the one here callin' me ugly!"

"Kazooie, please," said Banjo. "Go ahead, Bottles, tell us what you were going to say. What happened to my baby sister?"

"She was kidnapped by the witch Gruntilda."

"Excuse me?"

"I know that this is difficult to believe, but she was."

"What did you do to her!" he shouted. "You think I'm going to believe that a witch took her away! You did something to her, didn't ya!"

"Wait…" said Kazooie slowly. "Now, I'm not saying I trust this rodent, but…but it did kinda…I mean it happened so quickly, but it did kinda look like a woman on a broomstick swooped down and grabbed her…"

"This is so insane! First my sister disappears, then I find out her imaginary friend is real, and now it's saying that a witch stole her! But still, Tooty would talk every day about a friendly mole friend of her…who are you, I want more then just your name."

"Ok, well I came from the city originally. I was in university; I studied music but also took a class in myths and legends. Well, after I graduated I thought I'd do my own research on legends, maybe write an article about it. So I'd studied a legend about a witch that used to live here in this area, and so I burrowed to Spiral Mountain a few months ago…"

"Go on!"

"Well, as you can see that drawbridge up the mountain is broken, so I dug my way up into the cave, and found it was no cave…"

Kazooie said suddenly, "Why are we supposed to trust you!"

"Shut up Kazzie and listen!" said Banjo.

"It's very difficult to explain it," continue the mole. "I guess I'll start at the beginning. The story goes that about a thousand years ago, an evil but beautiful witch used her extraordinary powers to take over the world; She held the world for centuries under her command, everything was dark and evil. But she had a sister who also knew magic named Brentilda. Brentilda battled with her sister, an epic battle, it lasted months. Brentilda wasn't as powerful as Gruntilda, but her good magic overcame her dark magic. In the end, neither died and neither won. Brentilda sealed her sister away inside the walls of her lair, right above us, but not before Gruntilda did the same to Brentilda."

"Ok, so then how could this Grunty witch kidnap my sister if she's trapped in a wall!"

"Well, that I don't know. But I've been inside her lair; I've seen portraits of her. That was Gruntilda."

"And…did you see what happened to her?"

"She flew off, turned around, and headed back inside her lair…"

"Then I'm going inside that lair!"

"Banjo, you aren't buying this stuff are you!" said Kazooie.

"Right now, I have nothing else to go by. And you yourself said you saw a witch."

"I didn't say that, I said I thought it looked like that."

"Wait Banjo, you just can't go barging into that place!" said Bottles.

"And why not, my sister is in there!"

"You don't understand; it's not that simple. Her lair works as not only her headquarters, but also an obstacle course to keep people out, and a prison for her enemies."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll try to explain. You see, with her lair, she has created wormholes into small pocket universes of her creation. I don't know how many. The entrances to these worlds are locked. But throughout the many room of her lair there are giant puzzles with pieces missing, if you find the missing pieces a world opens."

"This all sounds so ridiculous…"

"You got that right," added Kazooie.

"Now some of these jigsaw pieces are in the liar, but most are hidden in the worlds. But there are also various doors throughout the lair that can only be opened if you have sufficient musical notes."

"Music notes?" asked Banjo.

"I was getting to that. Throughout the worlds, there are golden object similar in shape to music notes. When you collect enough of them, you can get through the Note Doors. Eventually I suppose you'll get to the top where Gruntilda is."

"I'm sorry, this is just too confusing. I don't really get what you're saying. I mean just ten minutes ago I was fast asleep, and now you want me to collect jigsaw puzzles and music to save my sister from a witch."

"I'm so sorry Banjo. You know, I really cared for your sister. After I came here, I sort of, became accustomed to the country and decided to make a nest for myself here. And well, I met your sister by accident almost, and she's such a cute child, fun and intelligent. She's made great company for me here; you know I taught her how to play the flute, even if it wasn't very well made. She just has such vibrancy to her, that it seems she can enchant anyone with her innocent charm. You have to save her."

"Shut up!" said Kazooie. "Explain again, why are we supposed to believe you?"

"Kazooie, I don't really know what is going on. For all I know, this guy right here could have been behind all of this. I really don't know. But what I do know is that the only way for me to find out is to go in there. What will happen to me, I don't know. I don't care; Because I will risk anything for my sister. I will not lose her."

Kazooie sighed, "Fine. Let's go then, together nothing can beat us!"

"What are you talking about? You are staying here!"

"Fat chance! I already told you, if you're going out to find Tooty, I'm going to go with you. If you leave me here, I'll follow you myself. Besides, even without legs, I am a killing machine!"

"I'll meet you up there you two," said Bottles. "Be your guide and such."

"And remember," said Kazooie smiling sweetly, "If you have tricked us, I will squeeze the life out of you slowly."

"Here we go then," said Banjo.