Kazooie had just drifted into a causal sleep when suddenly, a loud crash from somewhere up the cliff shook her awake. She jolted up and looked around. "What was that?" she asked. Slowly standing, she walked cautiously in the direction from where the noise had come. When she reached the cliff's corner, she peered around it and gasped. Sitting helplessly on the ground was a baby dragon. Noticing Kazooie peeking behind the corner, he looked up the cliff, whimpering. Following his gaze up to the very top of the cliff, she saw a huge nest on a ledge.

"Great…" sighed Kazooie. "So much for some time alone." She looked back to make sure no one was coming, then sat down beside it.

"Mama?" he wined looking at Kazooie, who in return, stifled back a laugh. One of his ears was much longer than the other, his fangs when abnormally far past its chin and his head seemed to be twice the size of the rest of his body. He watched her every move with increasing interest and delight.

"You must be a popular one," laughed Kazooie, wiping a tear away. "Wonder how you could have fallen…" She looked up to see a giant nest sitting on the top of the cliff rocking back and forth in the wind. "Seesh… that looks completely safe."

"Mama?" He smiled.

"Oh, I know where this is going! No, no, NO! I'm not you mom!" She turned on her heels, fully intending to return to her spot on the cliff to go back to sleep. "What am I supposed to do? Fly you back up there so you can fall again? Besides, I'm sure you can get back up there on your own if you really want up there so badly…" She turned to watch the bird attempt to lift itself off the ground, but fall back on the dirt. Seeing Kazooie watching him, he smiled and continued attempting to get up the cliff.

"Who am I kidding? It can't even fly yet…"

The sky had only seemed to grow darker, but the tiny bird was still faithfully watching for her mother to come back. "I wonder what's taking her so long," she thought to herself. Small drops of water began to fall from the clouds to her small, already chilled body. She ruffled her feather impatiently. Hopping up on the edge of the nest, she peered down at the ground below her, then looked out across the sky. "She should be close by now… Ah ha!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a red flash. "MA!" she called. But the only reply that came was the sound of her own echo.

"Ma? Where'd you go? M-"

A sudden gust of wind suddenly threw her off the ledge and sent her tumbling out of the nest. Her scream pierced the air as she was thrown the ground. "MAAA!!!" She closed her eyes, terrified of how high in the air she was. She could feel herself dropping quickly, quickly, and then…

SMASH!

An immense pain sprung from her chest as she landed with a thud on a tree stump. "I can't breathe. I must be dead," she decided senselessly. She lay there for a moment, fighting pain and slowly regaining her breath. After a moment, the pain wasn't as bad. Determination filled her thoughts when she remembered the red flash she had seen seconds ago, and with a great amount of trouble, she managed to force herself up into a sitting position. Her head pounded.

Finally, when her headache eased a little and she thought that she'd be fine to go on looking, she hopped up and took a step when, much to her dismay, she heard a soft crack. A sharp, terrible pain flew through her leg causing her to fall back to the ground, shocked and terrified. She tried to scream, but all that came out of her mouth were heavy, deprived gasps for air. Looking down at her leg, she realized it might be broken. The pain was so great that all she could do was sit and clench her teeth. Tears were forcing their way through her squeezed-shut eyes and mixing with the rain.

Rain began falling harder until it was hitting her so hard that her whole body hurt. Knowing that she needed to get out of the rain, she dragged herself painfully to the highest point she knew of and collapsed under a tree. Taking a leaf, she wrapped it gingerly around her leg and lay down, fighting the pain the best she could. Never before in her life had she been in so much pain, but the worst part was, now that such a moment had come, she was alone.

"Ma… please find me…"

"Kazooie! There you are!" Startled, she looked back to see Banjo rushing up the hill, out of breath. He looked frustrated, tired and concerned. "Kazooie where have you been? I've been looking everywhere!"

"B-Banjo?" she shuddered. "I… wha-"

"Who's that?" he asked, looking at the baby dragon behind her who was still continuing its seemingly hopeless method of flight.

"I-I… I dunno. It fell." She pointed up the cliff to the nest on the ledge. "Look, Banjo, sorry if I-"

"We'll talk about it in a minute. I'm going to take this little fella back up the cliff…" He looked up the cliff to see the nest swaying on the ledge and cringed. "But I think I'll leave him beside the nest."

Too dazed to object, or say anything else for that matter, she simply nodded and watched him place the creature in his backpack. He turned to look at her as he pulled the pack on again. "Stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes." And he was gone up the cliff.

Kazooie sighed and sat back down. She knew eventually she'd have to return home and face Banjo, but she didn't think he'd go after her. And she definitely hadn't expected him so suddenly to come running up the hill. She did feel bad for making him worry so much…

"Wait a minute! It's his fault!" she huffed, suddenly contradicting herself. "I didn't make him come after me! He should've known that I would come back." She crossed her wings and closed her eyes, trying to think of a good reason to be mad at him. "First of all, there was that time when he… uhh, no…" she tapped her head thoughtfully. "OH! What about when he… oh… no, that was my fault." Nothing came to mind. She growled and unfolded her wings.

"This is hopeless. I don't know what to say to him! He wouldn't understand… would he? What if he doesn't even remember? I mean, it's been a long time since we've talked about it. A really, really long time…"

Kazooie awoke with the sun shining in her eyes. She let out a tired and sore groan. She was soaked and sore. Slowly, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. The past night events came back to her thoughts. Fearfully, she looked down at her leg. Sure enough, it was bruised and cut. Bravely, she removed the leaf to see how bad it was. After examining it carefully she decided, "It doesn't look broken… maybe I could try…" She slowly lifted herself off the ground and held onto the tree for support. It hurt, but it wasn't unbearable like yesterday.

Looking around for something to help her walk, she noticed a stick a few inches away. "Looks like it will work." Once in her hands, she hoisted herself up and took a deep breath. "Sure hope Ma is okay. That was quite a storm." For the first time, she looked around to find she didn't recognize the place. Nothing looked familiar. Water was everywhere, trees were broken- it was a mess. "Boy… things sure look bad. I wonder how I even survived that storm... and where am I?"

After a moment of though and observances, she limped down the hill to get a close up look at everything. She felt so small and helpless next to all the huge tree scattered around her. "C'mon, Kazooie," she told herself. "Be brave! You'll find her and everything will be back to normal!"

After a few hours of painfully limping, she stopped at a large pool. Small fish jumped in and out of the water. She watched the birds at the opposite end of the pool combing the soil for worms and felt her stomach growl. She hadn't eaten in quite a while. Carefully, she sat down. For once, everything looked beautiful and calm. "You'd never be able to tell a raging storm went through here only last night," she whispered as she took in the calm atmosphere. Looking down stream, she saw a waterfall with several colorful streaks hovering above it. They looked like they had been painted with water and they seemed to dance playfully over the pool.

"I wonder what those are…" Curious, she picked herself up and carefully walked toward the edge of the cliff with her crutch. She got as close to the pool of water as she could and stood admiring the rainbows.

"I've never seen anything like this before! They sure are pretty…" Before she realized she was leaning too close, she fell face-first into the water. The next thing she knew, she was underwater, fighting her way back to the surface. Pain shot through her as the currents dragged her through the water like a toy. Finally, after resurfacing, she looked around wildly for something to grab onto. Nothing.

"HELP!" she screamed. She was getting dangerously closer to the falls. "Please! Somebody h-" Again, she was dragged underwater. Trying to kick was useless, so she began flapping her wings. They may have been tiny, but they were her only option. Furiously, she flapped them again and again, struggling to push herself up. She resurfaced just in time to see the waterfall suck her in and over the edge. Her stomach tuned as she was dragged over the falls. For a moment, she felt herself suspended in mid air, weightless; then a numb feeling overtook her. She almost didn't feel herself drop into the water. Again, she pulled her head above the water, gasping as air finally filled her lungs. But to her horror, another waterfall lay directly at the end of the pool. Closing her eyes, and holding herself tightly, she braced herself for the fall. Again, she felt the sick feeling...

Then everything went black.

When she awoke, she was in a place that she didn't recognize. She had washed up on the grass beside a small, yet deep pool. The waterfall stood behind it, constantly pouring in more water.

Slowly, she sat up, still feeling the pain in her leg, as well as a new stiffness in her wings. "Where am I?" It was like no place she had ever seen. She had been used to living on a mountain, or even in a forest, but this place was wide open with tall green grass everywhere. In the center of a pool that merged from the one she was currently sitting beside, a large, spiraled mountain stood tall and alone. A ladder leading to an odd-shaped mountain entrance attached to the top of it. A few trees stood out here and there, and a garden sat at the opposite end of where she was. "What a strange place…"