Fun fact about how this "game" works: you can have the characters either speak normally, or speak with Banjo-talk! Obviously, the latter is the one to choose for this story. XD
Alberto carried Giulia back to land while Luca carried Robi and Kent helped Jolene. It was almost noon as the sky was vibrant with fluffy, ovular clouds. The town of Portorosso was lively with children and parents joyous to be reunited with them. Balloons and banners filled the air as the people cheered for last year's winners! "Boy, everyone sure seems happy to see you guys!" Robi said.
"We won the triathlon last year." Luca smiled. "And I guess we just saved the town, hehe. We can sign up over here."
"About that," Giulia spun to them with a raised brow, "do you guys even have a bike? You'll need one for the third part of the race."
"Uhhh…" Kent scratched his head. "I don't suppose there's a store we can buy one? Except I don't think our money will be accepted…"
"Then you can visit the Build-a-Bike shop. I'll let you have some money." Giulia handed them some. "Try to make one that looks good!"
"OW!" A ball flew and hit Robi's head.
"Oh mio Signore, what did you Fishfreaks bring to town this time?"
Luca's trio glared spitefully at a tall teen with smooth brown hair, a blue shirt and shorts, and brown shoes. Smugness radiated from his features. "If it isn't Signore Vespa." Alberto said.
"That's Ercole Visconti to you, Sharkbait. And who do we have here? Some butterfly-beaver abomination," he addressed Robi, "a sea-slug in a dress," Jolene, "and a boiled lobster or something?" at Kent.
"Had trouble thinking of my insult?" Kent remarked.
"These are our new friends," Luca stomped, "and you don't stand a chance against both our teams, Ercole!"
"As if! I've been training since last year to wipe the floor with you mostri. What's more, I signed a deal with some witch where if I win the prize, I'll be swimmin' in mullah! She even gave me these 'magic' potions to trounce you!"
"You call these two freaks, but you're fine working for a magic witch?" Giulia asked.
"Whoever helps me win is okay in my book. Maybe if you freaks drop out, I'll share some of the money with you."
"As if we'd ever!" Robi declared. "Let's sign up!"
"We also need to decide who'll be competing in which event." Giulia explained. "The race will start with swimming to the buoy and back, then the meatball-collecting contest, followed by a bike race downhill."
"Then it's easy." Kent said. "I'll handle the swimming, Jolene can do the collecting, and Robi can ride the bike. I'll try to make one light enough for your wings to lift."
"Isn't the 2nd event supposed to be eating pasta?" Luca asked.
"They changed it to meatball-collecting." Giulia answered. "For people with dietary problems, I think."
"Jolene's a faster collector than she is an eater!" Robi smiled.
At the Build-a-Bike shop, Kent got to work crafting a bike short enough for Robi's height, sturdy for his hefty frame, but light for his wings to lift over obstacles (the building mechanics worked like Banjo: Nuts and Bolts). Robi, pleased by the bike, would journey to the hill overlooking town, waiting his cue alongside Giulia.
Ercole, Kent, and Alberto perched firmly at the edge of the pier. "Sui tuoi segni… Preparatevi… GO!"
"Why was that part in English?" Kent asked.
"Just andare!" Alberto shouted. (Play "Boat Race" from DK64!)
Kent and Alberto dove in and swam with the best of their natural biology! Sadly, Kent's half-Imuchakk traits put him behind Alberto's full-blooded Fishman body. But even worse, Ercole drank a potion that gave him twice the speed of a dolphin, bypassing the youths! He would even release boxes that would explode against the kids when crashed into, which Alberto learned the hard way. Kent grabbed the Fishboy and carried him until Alberto had the sense to swim again. They warily evaded the other boxes, but Ercole had long passed them by the time they reached the buoy. Fortunately, those boxes he dropped would be Ercole's undoing: he bumped into them during the trip back, injuring and slowing himself.
Thanks to this, Alberto and Kent made it to shore first, tagging Luca and Jolene. "You have to collect 20 meatballs before Robi can go, Jolene!"
Jolene ran up the street collecting every ball she could and depositing it in a bag she was given. She and Luca had fun collecting, until Ercole caught up. He withdrew a magic wind bag to suck up all the meatballs in his path. "Here's a little gift from me to you!" He threw magic powder over red and white life savers laying around town. They grew angry eyes and bounced at the kids, squeezing them within their hoops.
Jolene willed the clay under her dress to inflate and rip the floaties. Luca likewise bent down to bite the balloon rings and deflate them. "So long, Mr. Circle." Jolene waved the floaties goodbye. She walked close to some buildings as she heard a Jinjo's cry. It was hanging on a second-floor balcony. She stretched Clay Arms to grab a hanging ladder, climbing a different balcony before jumping to the Pink Jinjo's balcony. From there, she could climb on the roof and collect several hidden meatballs.
"Haha, that's the last of them!" Ercole boasted. "Now for a little shortcut!" He threw more powder down and poofed into thin air.
"20, 21, 22…" Jolene counted.
"Robi, she's got enough meatballs!" Kent called. "The rest is up to you!"
…
"So, those wings are part of your body?" Giulia asked.
"Yup! I'm a Nimbi. A whole bunch of us live in the sky."
"There are sky people, too?!"
"Uh-huh! And there are aliens who live in space, and tiny people who live in your walls…"
"I thought I heard voices in there sometimes…" Giulia whispered, growing more awed.
"AAH!" They were shocked when Ercole suddenly appeared, mounting his bike to ride downhill. Robi received the call from Kent and began pedaling, and Giulia had to wait a few extra seconds for Luca's cue. Ercole dropped more Box Bombs along the path, but Robi could easily flutter over them while Giulia had to dodge more carefully. Grublin Hoods would also shoot arrows from the sides, requiring Robi to either jump or duck. Robi felt intense chi flows in certain spots and could thrust his arms up to Rock Jump! Not only would they give him a speed boost, but he could fly over several hazards. At one point, Ercole looked back, smirking when it seemed his opponents had fallen too far back. …Until he felt a shadow over him. "FLYING BEAVER?!" Robi's bike landed directly on top, the bully tumbling.
A furious Ercole threw Bombchus to the ground, targeting and chasing Robi. The Nimbi would thrust fists back and jut rocks out to block and blow up the bombs, the bursts slowing Ercole down as well. Ercole had no nope of catching up then: the people of Portorosso would be cheering for new winners! Robi jumped and claimed the Jiggy on the pedestal. "YEAAAAH!" Kent screamed.
"Alright, you guys ain't bad." Alberto smiled. "But I still trounced ya in the swimming."
"WOOHOOOOO!" Giulia caught up to the racers in excitement.
"NO!" Ercole yelled. "Those freaks cheated! Their fish power, and that idiota's wings, that prize belongs to me!"
"Sorry, Ercole, it seems you've lost. My contract needs to claim its cost."
"Grunty!" Robi gasped.
"Wait, Padrona! I will make these buffoni pay! I will-"
"You speak two languages, but how 'bout a third? Become a starfish, you dimwitted turd!"
"NOOOOO!" Ercole was suddenly swallowed up in a magic cloud, transforming into a little starfish. "Dio mio!! What've you done to me?!"
A smirking Giulia approached and peeled him off the street. "Who were you calling Fishfreaks, Ercole?"
"Ha ha, serves you right, grosso naso!" Alberto teased.
"Hey, uh, he looks thirsty." Luca pointed. "Should we get him some water?"
"Are you kiddin'? Let him choke on his own air. He might make a nice meal."
"No!!" Robi shouted. "Hurry, take him to the sea!"
"Okay, okay…" Alberto sighed in disappointment. (End song.)
Remembering the Anti-form Cauldron under the aquarium, Luca carried Ercole there, Alberto and the operatives following. He tossed Ercole through the cauldron's bubble, but he came out looking exactly the same. "'ey, what's the grande idea?! Nothing's changed!"
"B-But it worked when we were jellyfish…"
Robi stuck his head through a bubble to speak. "Maybe Grunty's magic is stronger than Uncle Facilier's. We could always ask him for help."
"Oy, I don't need any help from you fat-cheeked animali! This is probably some kind of nightmare. I'll wake up any second!" The starfish flailed his points in trying to swim away, only to sink to the seafloor. "Hrmph!" He merely resorted to walking.
"Well, have fun on the low end of the food chain, Signore Seastar." Alberto taunted.
"Don't be so mean to him." Robi said. "He may be a bully, but he's probably got his own problems goin' on. We know someone like that, don't we, Jolene?"
"Spike said that starfish are stupid 'cause no one plugged in their brain cord."
"Well, his head's pointy, too, so we should plug his in." Kent remarked.
"Hey, I just remembered!" Robi perked up. "Kent, there's a volcano area that way. We thought you could help us find something there."
"Oh, yeah, let's check that out!" Luca remembered. "Alberto, can you look after Ercole?"
"Mehg, why do I have to…" Alberto begrudgingly followed the starfish.
Luca and the three operatives swam to the small mountain of lava with a boiling skull at the top. Kent swam directly in front of the skull. He felt a strong connection with the Lava Chi inside. He kept his breath held and steadied his focus, taking hold of the lava in his bending. With enough power, he willed a pillar of lava to push the skull to the surface.
Giulia happened to be fishing above that area. "…?!" The sea boiled several yards away, Giulia pushed by the wave of a rising skull! The lava that carried it spread and hardened into an island. The four kids rose to the surface to awe at the result. "What did you guys do?!" Giulia exclaimed.
"Uh, I think we just broke an ancient Underworld seal." Kent answered.
"Not again!!" Robi moaned.
"Or maybe it could be pirate treasure! I'm hoping for the latter."
They climbed up on the island and walked into the skull's jaw. There was a large treasure chest, the kids joyed at their expectations being met! They pushed the lid open and peered inside: "A portal! 'Bet this is another secret world!"
"Secret world?" Luca asked.
"It'll go to a different place… and maybe a different time, too. Kent, you should stay here in case we need to keep the island up. Let's go, Jolene!" They kicked up into the box and fell into its vortex!
Sub-world: Krusty Krab
The duo flew out of a chest inside what looked like a pirate's cabin, with a boarded floor, metal doors that looked like those on a cruise ship, and barrel chairs. "BOUNCIN' BARNACLES!" a scruffy sailor's voice yelled: a pudge red crab man in a blue shirt, darker trousers, and a sturdy black belt sat at the captain's desk. "Where in blazes did you kids come from?!"
"I know you! You're from SpongeBob!" Robi pointed.
"I wish I had SpongeBob! First those bloody pirates try to steal me gold," he directed to a Jiggy in a glass case, "now I got a couple of thievin' bilge-rats breakin' into me cabin! Well, I ain't lettin' you go off scot-free. JIM LAD! Get yer sorry heinie in here!"
A young boy with messy black hair in a red, white-spotted bandanna, short blue jeans with a patch, and a skull belt rushed into the cabin. He also wore a thin, tall white hat with an anchor symbol. "What is it, Mr. K?"
"These two scallywags will be workin' here, startin' today." Mr. Krabs capped caps on Robi and Jolene. "For breakin' into me office, they've got a debt of $2,000! And if they don't make that much within the hour, they're working overtime!"
"Oi, you got some serious coral in your jeans, enslavin' innocent sailors like this!"
"Don't make me increase your debt as well, boy! Or else ye'd best show these cabin kids the ropes."
"Jim!" a girl called. "We've got more orders on Floor 2, Room 3!"
"Coming, Tilda! Orright, come with me, you lot." The operatives followed the older pirate out to a larger room. It was a restaurant where several of Grunty's minions dined at tables designed like helms.
"Jim, who are these two?" asked a girl with blonde pigtails and a pink shirt with a skull.
"Two more kids Krabs shanghaied into his crew. So, here's the gist, lubbers: our job is to grab orders from the kitchen windows around the restaurant, take them to designated tables, and grab finished trays to bring back to the kitchens. Krabs says if we can make $2,000 in the hour, Krabs says he'll let us go, or else we need to start all over again. He's real cracked in that noggin, isn't he?"
"But we don't know how to work in a restaurant!" Robi yelled.
"Did Mr. Krabs read the Book of the Laws?" Jolene asked. "'Cause it says that child labor is not allowed…"
"Laws don't exist on the sea." Matilda shrugged. "We'll help you kids find your way around. But we better get started now!"
"I'll go with Jim! Jolene, you go with her. Good luck!" (Play "Rake Hornpipe/Oyster Girls" by A_A_RonHD!)
Robi's first order required him to carry a Krabby Patty and soda to the Playground Room. Following Jim, he climbed a ladder to the ceiling and ran across a scaffold to reach an upper hallway. They had to run past some portraits of Krabs' family—Portrait Chompas (monstrous bone eels) burst out of them to try and bite the kids, but Jim would slice them with his cutlass. They reached the playground and brought the food to a Topper and Bawl at a table, earning $10. Immediately afterward, a Grublin asked them to take a kids' meal to his child above the slide. The slide was slippery and Hotheads were constantly sliding down. Robi used Flutter Sprint to go up it and jump the Hotheads, giving the meal to the little Grublin, earning $5. Coincidentally, there was a crying Seaman Grublin who had a cut in his knee. Robi lifted him on his back and jumped down to Jim.
The pirate led Robi to the stage of singing animatronics, all of which were just gray replicas of Mr. Krabs playing violins. However, one of the violins was broken, the Robo-Krabs crying. "Ah, blimey. I need to get this fixed, too. Listen, go down that hall and take a left to find the medical room."
"I didn't know restaurants had medical rooms."
"Krabs will have anything that makes him money." With that, they split up. This hall had Grublin Doctors run back, forth, and in circles pushing tables of equipment. Sadly, none of them wanted to operate on the child, they just wanted to give Robi a harder time. Robi dodged his way past them and found the medical room, dropping the kid off and getting $20. He tried to make his way back to Jim, but after reaching the animatronic stage, a customer called him over. There was a small Snippet wandering the floor, having apparently escaped from the aquarium upstairs. Unsure how to get up there, Robi ran to the hallway he first used to get here and found a stairwell. It led to the aquarium room, where he had to jump up some escalating tanks without falling in. He dropped the Snippet in its tank, and it paid him $15.
But then he noticed another tank had a crack in it, so he had to find a supply closet to get some heavy tape. Also, there was a lost walrus child, so Robi picked it up, promising to find its parent. He rushed back downstairs and searched the hallway and Playground Room for a supply closet. He encountered Jim Lad, who said the closet was in the Animatronic Backstage where he just was. Jim took the walrus child and trusted Robi with the repair job. Robi had to evade Robo-Krabs with cutlasses before finding the closet, retrieving some tape! But on his way out, the playground's kitchen worker asked him to bring an order to the aquarium room, much to Robi's convenience! He fulfilled both tasks in quick succession, earning $50 total.
He then had to bring a finished tray to the aquarium kitchen's sink. He tried to run between the counters and ovens, but got his feet stuck to some spilled gunk on the floor. The oven beside him spat out a fire and burned the poor Nimbi! "Stupid boy, you'll have to learn! Red hot ovens tend to burn!" Gruntilda cackled. A frustrated Robi was more cautious in traversing the kitchen to put the tray away, for $35. Coincidentally, he saw Matilda run in and place some raw fish on a stove. "Hey, where's Jolene?"
"Well, I had to handle this fish, so I sent her to bring a deck of cards to the Casino Room."
"She shouldn't be by herself in a place she doesn't know! Where is she, I'll find her."
"Just go through the Swaying Ship Room and jump into the door on the second layer." Robi ran out the door she just came from and into a room where the tables were set on scaled-down, swaying boats. Keeping his balance was tricky in running across and jumping them. He learned about a vomit spill on a boat on the third layer, so he made a note of it as he jumped toward a door on the second layer. Robi had to jump some large, stretchy dice platforms to reach the casino and found a table of weasels waiting for their cards. But where was Jolene? He looked around and… saw her standing at the roulette table. Her head spun watching the ball go 'round and 'round.
"Jolene, come on! We gotta get those cards over there!" Robi took her hand and pulled her toward the weasels' table, though her eyes stayed attracted to the roulette.
"Sorry, that's Red 30!" said the slot machine robot managing it. "And another $700 for us!"
They gave the weasels their cards, earning $20. But then they needed to get a new battery for the pinball machine, and Robi remembered the spill in the Ship Room. "Jolene, go ask that guy at the desk where you can find a battery, I'm going to get a mop." Robi raced back to the first hallway, remembering there was a mop in that storage closet—the Portrait Chompas had respawned as one of them managed to nip him. However, a different Chompa had dirty teeth and asked Robi to find a toothbrush. Robi grabbed the mop and bucket from the closet and carried them all the way to the Swaying Ships, struggling to jump up with that extra weight. He mopped the spill up and scored $15.
Jolene was told to get a battery from the Power Room in the casino's corner. She had to traverse a hallway covered in electric wires, carefully jumping the gaps between. She collected a battery with the pinball machine's design and made her way back. After inserting the battery, she got $40. "Black 21! You lose $350!" She looked at the roulette wheel again. She walked over to again stare at the ball zooming around the wheel.
Robi was again asked to take a bag of raw patties down to the main room's kitchen. In rushing through this floor's kitchen, he got burned by the stoves again—he was also asked to carry some fried fish to the Snow Room, so he held that tray in his other hand. He reached the main room's kitchen and handed the patties to the Keelhaul cook, getting $20, but was then asked to carry a bag of worms to Eyrie. He then remembered the Chompa's toothbrush and visited the bathroom on this floor. There was a toothbrush on the desk, and he could only carry it in his teeth with his hands full. It was easy to bring the toothbrush to Chompa and get $15, but to reach the Snow Room, he had to go to the Aquarium Room and enter an igloo embedded in the wall. Robi dodged sliding ice blocks with eyes called Chinkers in rushing up the hall to the wintery dining room. He dropped the cooked fish at a table for the walrus family (including the baby walrus he tried to help earlier). He got $30, and a Biggyfoot asked him to carry a box of Twinklies (sentient Christmas lights) to the Munchers at another table. This quick task earned him $20… but Robi didn't expect the green Munchers to feast on the poor lights.
Jolene watched the ball bounce around before landing in the Black 10 spot. "'ey, kid." The Slotbot acknowledged her. "You wanna make a bet or you just gonna stand there and stare? C'mon, don't you want more in your allowance?"
"Uhhh…we need…" Jolene looked at her left hand and raised two fingers. "2…" and raised three fingers in the right, "thousand dollars."
"2,000 it is then. Then pick a spot to bet it all on."
"Uhhhh…" As Jolene's eyes wandered around the numbers, she half-consciously rubbed a wad of clay between her fingers. "…8." She poked the Red 08. When her finger rose back up, the piece of clay was left on that spot.
"Is that how old you are? Alright, let 'er spin!" The roulette whirled as the ball began bouncing. It seemed to fix itself on a certain spot before it could start slowing down. And when it did… "RED 08?! Lucky little…" Jolene casually picked the ball off the wheel. She saw a speck of clay stuck to it and bent it off. "Alright, here's your money." The Slotbot shot her $2,000. "But ya fancy betting for more?"
"Uh…I don't know. I'll go ask Robi."
From the Swaying Ship Room, Robi could jump to a wide vent and crawl through, but large fans blocked the way. "Hmmm…" Knowing he needed Jolene, he wondered where to find her. "…She's not at the wheel again is she?" Robi made his way back to the casino and saw his pudgy-cheeked partner wandering around. "Jolene, just stay with me from now on. We need to start getting work done."
"I got $2,000."
"You got…GOT WHAT?!"
"I pointed at the '8' and the ball landed in it."
"You mean you bet $2,000 and won?! That's…that was really risky, but that's great! I guess now we can pay Mr. Krabs! But… we still gotta get that Jiggy. And I'd like it if those pirate kids can be free, too. Let's get as much money as we can!" Robi led her back to the vent and used her clay to stick the fans so they could crawl past. The vent led to a bridge in the main room, which connected to a crow's nest. The pole had a ladder leading outside to an actual, giant nest with a big eagle. Robi dropped the bag of worms for Eyrie to dine on, earning $50!
The rest of this hour was a test of patience, memory, and endurance as the young workers made loops around all the same rooms, from finding Eyrie's baby, bringing flowers to sentient urns, bringing some water to Gobi, a missing wedding ring to Grabba, or some cheese to the Jippo Jims. The fruits of their labor would pay off when they returned to Krabs with-
"$5,125?!"
"Blimey!" Jim perked up. "That's more than enough for all four of us!"
"I don't believe it! You must have stole 'em from somewhere!"
"The only thing we 'stole' was… a hard day's work! Or something." Robi retorted. "And if you don't want this money, we'll just take it and go. We can just leave through that portal, anyway." He pointed to the chest they had flown out of.
"We can escape through there?" Matilda asked. "Fine by me."
"OI!! Don't you think about taking me MONEY!"
"Then how 'bout this?" Robi asked. "We'll give you the money if you let us go… and let us take that Jiggy in that case."
"B-But, Gruntilda asked me to protect this gold… but, that much money…mmmmm…fine! It's not worth it to let a pack of dirty kids have this much loot. The gold is yours. Take it and leave me money in peace."
With that, the glass smashed open and the Jiggy shot out. Robi, Jolene, Jim, and Matilda shared a dance: they hop-skipped in a circle as Jim bounced the Jiggy on his sword. He flipped it into Matilda's blunderbuss, clogging it as she tried to shoot it out. She wound up shooting Jolene against the wall, but she shook it off and stashed it away. "Thanks for helping us find our way around, you two."
"Not a problem. But who are you blokes, anyway? You don't look like seafarers, that's for sure."
"Huhu, we're definitely not." Robi blushed. "We're Robi and Jolene. We'd tell you more, but we aren't really sure what time it is. We should get going."
"Yeah, we should, too." Matilda agreed. "We won't catch up to Jason's crew if we waste our time here, will we?"
"Aye. Best of luck to you lot then! Hope we catch ya on the high seas!" The young pirates raced out of the office.
"Hehe, bye-bye!" Robi waved. "…Jason? Nah, can't be the Jason we know, right? Let's go, Jo!" They leapt back into the portal. (End song.)
After Krabs was done basking in his pile of new money… the realization that he let the prisoners get away caught up to him. "Oh, barnacles." He opened his desk chest, unveiling a TV. He tuned into a channel as Gruntilda's image appeared. "Mr. Krab, you're looking drab. What's happened to make you so sad?"
"Well, er…the kids might've worked up a huge load of cash and… bought their freedom. I also might've sold them the Jiggy, too."
"WHAT?! I lent you that Jiggy to trap those pirates! The Executives will be very irate! Since those two won the Dead Man Race, we suspected they would've been Guardian candidates! But now we won't have a chance of catching that one, now you've let them go over your greed for mon'!"
"But it was so much! I didn't want them to waste it all on a pair of fancy shoes or somethin'! Even I would never do that!"
"I guess the Culinary Manager is only useful for collecting profit and serving meals that're fruitful. But if you wish to regain my trust, spider pancakes and tadpole toast is what I lust!"
"Aye-aye, Miss Grunty…"
After they returned to Italy, a gorgeous twilight graced the horizon. "Glad you two made it back!" Kent said.
"You two look beat." Giulia said. "I talked to my dad earlier and he said he'd let you guys stay at our house."
"That would be great." Robi smiled.
"He was hoping to serve us fish tonight, but because of the aquarium, we've had a hard time catching some."
"Well, I'm pretty good at fishing." Kent said. "I even managed to save some good bait! Just sail me to any good spots you know and I'll nab us some."
"Then let's try to catch five different varieties. Dad likes variety!"
The friends sailed the open waters around the aquarium, their minds and bodies relaxing in the gentle sea breeze and soft light. Kent had special bait from both Hawaii and Imuchakk, irresistible for hungry fish. In the first zone, Kent was able to catch a bass bass! It was a bass playing a bass! The second fish he caught was a Heihei Fish: it looked like a dimwitted chicken with cyan and yellow feathers, but still shaped like a fish. The third was a Flashy Fak Fak, a white anglerfish with an alternating, Christmas light antenna. The fourth was an Armored Snippet, with a hard dark-blue shell and soft red underbelly. After their recent business with Krabs, this would make a fine meal. And the fifth fish was… "Uncle Ugo?"
"Hi, kids. My friends told me about these tasty treats falling in around here. It tastes good! Where are they coming from?"
"That's my… bait." Kent answered. "We're trying to catch normal fish."
"Okay." Ugo dove back in. With that, they sailed to the 6th zone and caught a Rave Eel, an electric eel flashing like a rave show. "Perfect! Dad's gonna love these!"
Giulia led the trio to her house. "Ciao, Papá!" Her dad, Massimo was a large man in a white knitted sweater, brown hair and a fluffy mustache over his puffy face, and dense brows almost covering his squinted eyes. "I brought new friends! And dinner!"
"I was wonderin' where you've been, Giulia. …Mama Mia, how'd you catch a haul this big?!"
"I'm just very good at what I do!" Kent beamed.
"So, are these three Fishmen as well?"
"No, but I'm a Nimbi." Robi answered. "Kent's half-Imuchakk, but Jolene's human."
"I don't know what any of those mean, but any runt that can catch this much is welcome in my house. I found this funny gold rock outside, you can have it for your troubles." He tossed them a Jiggy! "Hope you kids are hungry, 'cause we're havin' a heck of a dinner!"
"Come to think, we could've eaten at the Krusty Krab. Ah well, this is better!"
The feast was shared with all the surrounding townspeople, with Luca and Alberto climbing up to join them. The ops shared their adventure so far with Massimo, how they were traveling to different lands to save people like Giulia from Grunty's curse. But they left out the recent time travel info for simplicity. Alberto agreed to take some of the meat to Ercole, though he wasn't sure what starfish ate exactly.
Luca and Alberto even had their own "treehouse" in Giulia's yard, easily accessible via a branch by her window. (It was actually just a single wood platform, so they could gaze at the stars as they lay.) "There's another one of those wing pads." Robi studied the butterfly pad on the platform.
"It just appeared there when the aquarium showed up." Giulia said.
"Weird… but we still don't know how to use it."
"It's too small for all of us." Kent said. "I'll just sleep in the yard, you two can have it."
"Then we better not fall off."
Robi and Jolene settled on the platform. The clouds had an odd, but luscious yellow hue to them, warming their sights as they drifted into slumber. Jolene looked especially tuckered after all the swimming she had to do today. Robi rolled over and put his sweatered arm over her for extra warmth. Together, they stayed warm for another night.
Mysterious Lair
"I think I'd like some fishy dinner. 'Cause everyone know that Grunty winner!"
"That's not right…" Jolene said.
"Yeah! You're not the winner, Grunty!"
"No. I mean she didn't use her words right."
The way to the next world would likely be under the water up here. But Robi wanted to first go back to Tupu's Trees. Now that they could swim, they dove under Boggy's pool in the dam. It led to a wide pipeline that seemed to be blowing jets down, causing fans to spin. They waited for breaks in the jets, so they could swim between the blades, but when the jets started up, they grabbed onto some handles to keep from blowing back. The pipe would gradually become a portal, leading into another pipe. The two swum to the surface and found their selves… in a Japanese hot spring.
There seemed to be Yōkai bathing in the spring, some stone, some kappa, and some umbrellas with faces. They seemed to be within a mountain range above the clouds. "Is this another secret world?" They explored the spring a bit. "There's another Wing Pad. You mean we'll have to come back here again? First, we need to find Boggy's ice cream." They climbed some steps to a high layer and found a popsicle resting in an ice cooler. "Perfect! We'll take you." Robi shut the cooler and carried it back through the tunnel, bringing it to Boggy.
"(Golly! Thanks, kids!)" Tupu translated his speech. "(I wonder what's in the center of this popsicle?)" Boggy licked the large sweet so much that it unearthed a Jiggy. "(Oh? This ain't edible. You can have it, kids.)"
"It's all icky-sticky…" Jolene cringed.
"After we just took a bath, too…"
"Hey, they are having a barbeque over there." Tupu pointed. "You do not eat meat, do you?"
"Well, we had fish last night. I guess you're not a meat-type yourself."
Lily peeped out of Tupu's hair. "But I am! Let's go see!"
The kids jumped to the park's center and followed a route from the horse track, opposite of Facilier's hat. Norton and some others were eating cooked meat around a barbeque stand.
"Hey, guys." Norton greeted. "You're just in time."
"Huhu, you have no idea." Robi joked.
"Tupu only eats fruit and vegetables." The wild girl stated.
"Animals eat each other all the time." Norton reasoned. "I know you talk to animals, but…eh, whatever."
"Hey, I just remembered!" Robi perked up. "We found this clam back in the aquarium." He grabbed it from the Infi-Cube. "I wonder if he'll be good eatin'?" He tossed the large, red clam on the grill. The mollusk winced from the intense heat, its mouth popping open before it fell still. A Jiggy was on its tongue! And that wasn't the only thing to dance for: there was a Witch Switch sitting under a tent roof, similar to the one from Egypt. It would've been hidden under a pile of firewood earlier, but now that that was being used for the grill's fireplace, they were able to press the switch. "Still not sure what that does, but I think we're good to go now. …After we eat."
They tasted some cooked clam before leaving. While swimming back up the river to get here, they realized a secret tunnel was open: it led to a shore with a Jiggy! "Oh! Maybe those Witch Switches reveal Jiggies in the lair! Cool!"
"So, where do we go now?" Jolene asked.
"Let's swim underwater in the lake around Luca's world." They returned upstairs and dove under the lake. There was a cluster of boulders clogging a tunnel at the bottom, easy to break with their bending. The tunnel would arch down and loop very high up, in which jets threatened to banish them through holes and pour out back into the lake. The tall tunnel would finally surface atop a cliff: one edge would fall back into the lake, while the other fell off the very lair itself. The next, intersecting building of the lair towered above one end of the cliff, but they had no way to climb it.
They headed to the opposite side of the cliff, leading to a shorter building where they initially came from to get to the lake. They used Clay Prints to cross a trail along the building's side. There were gaps in the trail, but Robi could raise the earth out of them to reveal the missing parts. The trail would twist right to lead up the building. At the top, they discovered a puzzle, with four statues surrounding it. They looked like the Yōkai they just saw in the hot spring. When they approached the puzzle pedestal, the statues awoke and attacked. Jolene punched them down while Robi used Sun Sand to destroy them.
Jolene placed nine Jiggies into the portrait! It depicted a mountain range with clouds, a house built into a formation of large rocks, and a neon building in the distance. Just as they were wondering where the world would open up… the earth rumbled. A great mountain rose from the abyss side of the cliff, intersecting with the higher building of the lair. A stairwell led up the mountain. The awestruck kids ran down and to the stairs' base. A Japanese arch suspended a sign: "Oni Mountain is open." Jolene read. "We can go in there now."
"Awesome! This looks like a fun one! Let's keep going and we'll save Spike and your parents in no time!"
"I can't believe you got this far! You're so incompetent, it's bizarre!"
"Looks like we got you scared, Grunty! C'mon, Jolene, we're almost at the top!" The children raced up the stairs excitedly, the expanding mountain transitioning into a portal.
"The higher they climb, the further they'll fall! Soon, I will destroy you all! RAKAKAKAKAKAKAAAAA!"