Jiggies of Time, Part 1

This new Third Gen arc is heavily Banjo-Kazooie inspired! While we meet a familiar crossover, this story will take us through settings of new crossovers, themed around lighthearted children!

Part 1: The Mysterious Lair

The night was quiet, the outskirts of Minneapolis undisturbed. No stars were present in the sky, nothing to give it depth… so, the lair was able to materialize in the veil of darkness.

A pudgy old witch, green with a pointed chin, wriggled her fingers above a magic cauldron. Its green ooze stirred, forming the shadow of a horned figure. "I have come to the predestined place. But rifts in time, there is no trace."

"A rift will appear in the coming days. When it does, you need only do as you always have." She spoke in a soft, refined voice.

"So be it, I will only wait. I'll find more youths and seal their fate! But first, to install the cloaking feature, lest I be found by unwanted creatures."

"About that, Gruntilda… The King says that some 'special' children will appear there soon. Perhaps you may have more to drain from."

"I will gladly heed your advice." Grunty sneered, rubbing her fists with anticipation. "I hope these children taste extra nice. Rakakakakakaka!"

Puzzle Park, 11a.m. (Play "Kokiri Forest" from Banjo: Jiggies of Time!)

Sector W had almost unanimously voted Jataro Kemuri as the best dad. He wasn't a huge, tough brute like Robi and Kent's dads, or Spike's mom. In fact, Spike himself was the only outlier who loved challenging the strong parents. Otherwise, to him, Jataro was a pushover. He was a thin, handsome, kindhearted parent who would always be joyed to take the kids out on a trip!

Sculpture parks were always his favorite places, so today's trip brought them to one in the forest outside Minneapolis. The falling autumn leaves added to the park's beauty. Jataro stepped out of the car and opened the backdoor. "Alright, kids, we're here!"

"About time!" Spike Johnson insisted on kicking out of the car first, the 8-year-old brute named for his spiky hair and bracelets on his wrists and ankles.

"Come on, Lily!" Robi McKenzie, the frizzy-haired Sector Leader, carried his tiny Kateenian friend out. Robi had butterfly wings defining his Nimbi heritage, green glasses, and a slight orange complexion.

Kent Taylor climbed out next. The Hawaiian had tan red skin with a yellow vacation shirt and brown shoes with magma crack designs. "Come on, Jolene." Jataro told the last kid in the back.

His daughter had pudgy cheeks, dark-blonde hair in tiny pigtails, and a white frilly dress. In contrast to her slight chubby body, her arms and legs were small. Jataro could also see she left an imprint on the window from looking out it. "Dad? When I see the trees go by, they look slow from far away… but when we're right next to 'em, they go fast. And, the stuff that's really far away, it goes slow…"

"Everything passes by at the same speed, Jolene. It just depends how far you look at it. Come on, or your friends will get a headstart!"

Jolene pulled her buckle off and climbed out, joining her friends in a line. "Well, kids," Jataro clapped, "you know the drill! I've hidden 10 clay puzzle pieces around this park. Do your best to find them all! And most importantly, have fun looking at the sculptures!"

"I'm gonna find more than any of you!" Spike excitedly ran off.

"Spike, don't break anything!" Kent chased after him.

"Robi, I wanna find them on my own, too!" Lily cheered.

"You sure, Lily? This place looks pretty big."

"I'm still faster than yoooouuu!" Lily leapt off her redheaded friend and scampered off.

"Just be careful, Lily!"

"Hey, Robi." Jataro said. "You think you can tag along with Jolene? Last time we did this, she… got a little dazed staring at the art."

"Huhu! Sure, Mr. Kemuri." Robi walked close to his friend. "Let's go, Jolene! You can lead the way."

"Follow the leadeeeeerrr…" This song clicked in her mind once her assignment was given.

Stage 0: Puzzle Park

Mission: Collect Clay Puzzles!

Jolene saw a bridge-looking area further ahead. It was suspended over a trench and required them to jump flat, log platforms. Thankfully, a net would catch them underneath should they miss. "This is easy, Jolene! We do jump like these for breakfast! At least, I do. Mom says jumping jacks work up an appetite." Jolene squat and jumped to the first log, holding the suspension ropes as it bobbed from her weight. She wobbled on her right foot after bouncing to the next, stumbling on the others and falling on her rump once at the safe point. However, they would have another bridge to cross, with horizontal logs. "These ones are farther. Let me help you across them!"

Robi wasn't as lightweight as normal Nimbi; he put most of the blame in his big feet. He could still fly around the air on his own, but when carrying someone else, he could only float a small distance before wanting to set down. Thankfully, the platforms were close enough for him to carry Jolene and flutter to them. Once at the end, they needed to climb some high footholds to reach a slide. "You can just use your claybending for this one!"

Jolene grabbed two mounds of clay from her Infi-Cube, covering her hands with them. She stretched the mounds up to grab the each platform and pull herself up while Robi floated. "After you, Jolene!" On his instruction, Jolene slid down the slide. "Wheeeee!" He followed suit, kicking his still-sitting friend at the end. The force knocked Jolene on her front, Robi giggling at her folly. Jolene pushed up, looking up at a wood squirrel sculpture. The squirrel was holding a clay puzzle piece in its claws, so Jolene pulled it free with her bending.

"…Robi, if squirrels eat acorns, and acorns make trees, and trees are wood… do wood squirrels eat their selves?"

"I guess that's why we don't see much of them." Robi complied with her query.

Jolene was a slow-minded child, but she at least had a bit of smarts to her name. She could process basic knowledge and was pretty trustworthy in battle, but she'll commonly contemplate weird topics. If left on her own, she might spend forever thinking about this wooden squirrel, but with Robi's help, she was nudged along the return bridge leading to a ladder back to start. The duo climbed a stairway built around a tree, leading onto a ledge with a sandpit with a large sandcastle behind it, seemingly molded from wet sand. It was no surprise to find Spike up here.

"Heya, slowpokes! How many did you find? NONE? I'll bet ya he buried one under here!" Spike spun in the sandpit and drilled underneath. He would emerge with a Clay Puzzle in hand. "One and done! Heheh…" He faced the sandcastle with a smirk. "Musta taken a lotta work to make this without bending. And I could ruin it with my pinky…" He inched his finger close to it.

"Don't, Spike! Someone worked really hard to make that!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hey, Jolene, answer this for me: when two slowpokes are stuck together, do they get smarter or dumber?!" He kicked sand at the two, laughing as he jumped off the ledge.

"Puh!" Jolene spat sand out. "But a… 'slowpoke' isn't a thing. Robi, we gotta tell Spike that-"

"Forget about that, Jolene. We got puzzles to find!"

There was a large pond where an enormous spoon was propped at an angle, a peg holding up its center from the pond. The handle end was zipped in the pond. "Mama says I shouldn't swim with a dress, or it'll float up, and I'll look like a froggy."

"It's alright, Jolene. Maybe we gotta find something to go in it." They instead traveled to a stone garden with several blocks scattered about. In the center was a very tall pillar. Each of the blocks had ladder-like steps embedded into and around them. Jolene molded large hands of clay to pick the blocks up, having to stack them in a way they could climb all the way up. Jolene needed Robi's direction to turn them the correct way. The blocks could then lead Jolene to the top of the pillar, where another puzzle awaited!

Close to the stone garden, there was a trio of stone pyramid sculptures of different widths and height. The two saw Lily climbing the biggest one, which had a tiny hole fit for her size. "Sorry, guys! Only I can fit through here!" Lily slipped right in. Robi floated up to peep inside: the hole saw through the other side of the pyramid, but Lily followed a secret route inside.

After navigating a maze, the Kateenian discovered… what looked like a teenager's bedroom. A loud boombox was playing a rock remix of the stage music, there were half-eaten berries dropped around the floor, and a poster of a light metal Minish band. The occupant was an angsty Minish, bobbing his head to the beat on his bed. "Eh? Are you the housekeeper I called? Then start with the top of the 'drobe."

"…" Lily certainly didn't expect to find this inside a sculptured pyramid. Incidentally, the Clay Puzzle she was looking for was on top of the wardrobe. She had to jump on the TV to make the leap to it… Lily would remember to question Jataro how he hid this in here.

Robi and Jolene saw a ladder leading up one of the trees. From there, they could jump other treetops, using Robi's brief hover to lift his friend. The trees led to a platform with a giant cherry. "Jolene, I bet I know where this goes!"

"A cherry this big would have lots of big vitamins, but then that many vitamins would be bad for-"

"I meant we gotta bring this to the giant spoon, silly!" Jolene used her big Clay Hands to hoist the cherry up, Robi impressed by her strength. She dropped it off the platform so they could get down easier, picking it up again. Jolene set it on the shore facing the spoon. With a strong stomp, Robi launched it into the spoon with a rock-jab. The handle end flipped up like a catapult, flinging a puzzle onto their shore!

"Check it, nerds!" Spike rapped. "I just found my 2nd one!"

"Yeah, well we got 3!" Robi boasted.

"Yeah, and it took dummies to do it! Between you two, it's just… two-and-a-half!" He needed a second to do the math.

"Guess who just got his 3rd puzzle piece?!" Kent approached them next, showing off his prizes.

"Uh-oh!" Robi gasped. "And Lily found one, which means…" he counted his fingers, "Jolene! We gotta hurry and find the last one! Where do you think we should go?"

"Uhhhh…"

"And while you spend forever thinkin', I'll be winnin'!" Spike ran off.

"Heh, sorry, Robi." Kent left to search himself.

"Uhh…up there?" Jolene pointed up a short cliff.

"Good idea! I bet there's more of the park up there. …And we can use these rocks!" There were several flat rocks embedded in the ground. Using Seismic Sense, Robi can tell they were as tall as pillars underneath, making them rise like stairs. They were still far apart to where they needed to jump them, Robi helping keep Jolene stable. Once atop the cliff, the duo proceeded up a path carved in the hill. They came to a tall ledge that Jolene could pull up with her Clay Arms. They came to a dead end in a rounded gorge, but Robi felt the ground beneath them unstable. "Jolene, there's a cave under here. Let's go in!" They both jumped and stomped the ground, smashing it open! A narrow tunnel stretched before the young earthbenders. "Hmm…I wonder if this is still part of the park? Jolene?" The girl curiously wandered ahead. "Yeah, we can just check it out real quick!" So, Robi joined her. (End song.)

Jataro opened trunk and pulled out a folded-up wheelchair. He set it up right beside the passenger seat. "Let's see how they're doing, Carmine."

Confined to a contamination suit, his wife had been in a terrible accident in childhood. Her flesh melted and her body was extremely sensitive to most feelings. Against her better comfort, Carmine insisted on having her own child, not just adopting. After a painful pregnancy, Jolene was born… the most beautiful daughter any mom in her condition could ask for. "Why couldn't we go to watch them?"

"It's embarrassing when you know your parents are watching. She's more comfortable around Robi."

"I guess so. You know, her teachers called. She's falling behind in school. She can't keep up in history or science, and she's slow on her extra credit KND reports."

Jataro giggled. "'When I beat the Count, I made two clay, then three clay, then five clay, then six clay, then 13 clay, then 16…'"

"Jataro!"

"Come on, it was adorable! And hey, she wins her own solo battles, so you can't say she's not independent."

"I know… but sometimes, I worry if she can survive on her own. Even as an operative…"

"She's still only 8. Give her time to learn. She's not 'Numbuh Miracle' for nothing."

"Yeah…" Carmine tried to put on a smile as Jataro rolled her into the park.

"Looks like the winner is ME!" Kent declared with four puzzles in hand.

"Lucky chump!" Spike threw his pieces on the ground and squished them. "At least the dumbos didn't win."

"Spike didn't wi~in, Spike didn't wi~in!" Lily did a teasing dance on Spike's foot.

"Says the girl who could only find the Pity Piece!" Spike grabbed her off the ground.

"Hey, kids!" Jataro and Carmine approached. "Did you find all of them? Where's Robi and Jolene?"

"I saw them make steps to go up there." Lily pointed at the cliff.

"I didn't hide any up there. There's no park that way."

"Oh, dear…" Carmine moaned.

"Hahahahaha! They got lost! Suckers!"

"Well, Spike," Jataro stared reprovingly, "since you're so worried, why don't you go up and find them?"

Spike blew a raspberry. "You're comin' with me, Lily liver." He kept the Kateenian lightly pinched and stomped toward the cliff.

The tunnel led out onto an entrenched path. Robi and Jolene crossed piles of fallen leaves, the crunching beneath their steps the only sound in the quiet wood. "WAH!!" A giant orange flower snapped a bushel of leaves in its "teeth." It continued to snap as the kids loitered near, a pair of eyes glaring from its center. "That was close!" Robi said. "One step closer and our toes would've been done for! Jolene, why don't you make clones to bait those bad flowers?"

Jolene created Clay Clones, blobby gray versions of herself. She made them go ahead and be chomped by the Snarebears, wedging them closed. Once they passed by, Jolene bent the clay back to her. She would have to repeat this technique to jump a series of platforms planted with Snarebears, using the chewed clay as footholds. The path would make a few curves as small, green monsters called Uggers ambushed them, their bodies all face with strong arms and legs. "Ow!" Robi suffered a punch to the buckteeth from the first Ugger, but would make sure the other Uggers learned their lesson with some earthbending.

The kids traversed up a hill, going through a veil of mist. "Jolene, I don't think we're supposed to go this far. Maybe we should go… back?"

Through the mist, stretching over a foggy gorge, was a bridge. Old and rickety as if it's been there for centuries. It led into the mouth of a colossal fortress, looming ominously above them. "It's… huge… Is it part of the park, too? Why don't we go ask your dad?"

Jolene stared mesmerized for a moment. She'd never seen a building of this unusual shape… a small part of her thought it was a funhouse, just inviting her in. Though perhaps she should ask her dad's permission. "Help!"

The kids started at the sound of chirp. It was a strange chirp that almost sounded like a call for, "Help!" The kids looked up. A humming bird was fluttering above them, colored blue. "Help!" It buzzed around before flying toward the lair. A curious Jolene chased it across the bridge. "Jolene!" Robi pursued, but scared the bridge might break from his weight, he fluttered across. Jolene kept her hands on the ropes and made sure her shoes landed on the boards. Though Robi wanted to pull her back, even he was curious about the mysterious keep. At the edge of the entrance, both stopped to gaze into its depths. After sharing a wondering look with each other, the friends stepped inside. (Play "Hivory Towers Gruntilda Remix" by Will T.!)

Hub-world: The Mysterious Lair

The two were taken aback by the giant painting of a witch in the entrance chamber. "Intruders set foot in my lair! Some ugly children, do they dare?! My Gruntlings shall make you mine. Until then, have a good time! RAKAKAKAKAKA!"

The witch's omnipresent voice sent a chill down their spines. "Is this some sorta haunted house? Halloween's over! Jolene, let's-" the door sealed behind them. "Uh-oh!"

"Grah-rou!" A band of gorilla-like ogres with yellow skin and red coats stormed down from some stairs on the left. Robi stomped up a wall to block the Gruntlings, but the earth would sink back down after a few seconds. "What?!" Robi grabbed Jolene's hand and rushed down the passage on the right. "How did my wall go down?!"

"Grunty's hex shall limit your power! Your days in here will surely dour!"

"Grunty?" Has Robi heard that name somewhere?

The tunnel led to a vast chamber with a deep chasm, with seemingly no way to go. However, Robi could stomp platforms out of the wall to the left, allowing them to cross to the next path before they sank back in. The road would fork once more: the left passage was an abyss with tree branches hanging over it. The walls were made of wood as well, so they couldn't cross it. Instead, the two followed the right path, leading to a river. Although they couldn't swim, Jolene molded a boat out of her clay, allowing the kids to safely float up. Large piranhas called Chumps would try to munch the boat, only for their teeth to get stuck in the clay. Robi would flutter up and stomp the Chumps off, but he would notice a dark magic around his wings as he was forced to land. "Even my wings are cursed. What is this place…?"

The river eventually ended at a grass hill with trees. Robi helped Jolene climb up it, leading to a massive, barred gate with a lamp-lit path beyond it. Jolene approached the gate… she had a habit of putting her mouth around bars like this, but she was repelled by a magic barrier between the bars. "Your dad said you shouldn't do that. You'll get germs." Robi said. "But I guess we couldn't fit through if we were small enough. …What's over there?"

One of the trees on their hilltop was slanted, making an almost natural path. From there, Robi helped Jolene Flutter Jump to wood platforms on other trees. This would lead to another painting with a puzzle piece pedestal before it. "It's a… puzzle?" Jolene stared mesmerized at the pedestal, rubbing its smooth top, which glowed magically from the touch. As Robi stepped up on it, he wasn't even sure what kind of stone it was made of… not that he knew his rocks very well. Just how to bend them. "…There's a piece missing."

Robi faced the painting. There was a large, jigsaw-shaped piece missing. "Jolene, it's not a picture, it's a puzzle! Are we supposed to fit this piece?"

"Nuh-uh. It's too big, Robi. Mom says that if we stick pieces in the wrong place, they'll all get squished up, and then they'll never fit anywhere."

"You're right. Besides, I can't even pull out the earth it's on top of. Hmm…" Robi raised one of their Clay Pieces. "But… these pieces could fit. I don't think they're meant to though. But we can keep going up there!" There was a staircase left of the puzzle. The kids walked up and entered a hallway full of Whipcracks, wooden tentacles rooted to the floor or wall as they whipped to and fro. "Jolene, let's show these whip-heads some good old rock-throwing!" Robi stomped a small rock out of the ground and threw it at a Whipcrack—it grabbed the rock and threw it back. "OW! Jolene, we have to attack 'em together!"

Jolene mimicked his motion of stomping the floor and bouncing a rock out. They attacked the Whipcracks simultaneously, overwhelming the rooted tentacles and destroying them. The hall ended at a small garden with pretty, alien flowers, and a golden puzzle piece in the center. As expected, Jolene's eyes were entranced by the pretty gold jigsaw, fondling it in her little hands. "You don't think… your dad hid this, do you?"

"…" Jolene bit into the gold, wincing as she hurt her teeth. "Jolene!"

"Dad says if it's real gold, it isn't chewy."

"It's still not safe to bite. I bet I know where to put this! Do you?"

"Ya…" Jolene carried the jigsaw back to the large puzzle. She stood on the pedestal, and the gold piece magically floated into the empty spot. As an epic fanfare played, the youths heard and saw the large gate opening. Once it stopped, a sign magically materialized above it: Tupu's Trees.

Robi and Jolene jumped back to the hill, staring at the lamplit path stretching beyond it, a forested town park surrounding it. Curiosity becoming them, the friends walked down. The path led to a spiraling portal… and there was nowhere to go but in.

"Those brats just entered the first land! Have they discovered my plan?! It matters not, their youth will be mine. The Life Clock will steal ALL their time! Raaaaakakakakakakaaaaa!"