[Amazing story + Commissioned by Armeddesertfox]

Mumbo's Mountain -

Normally failing your mission in the first area is the moment video game heroes have to stop and think to themselves “is this really the player we want to have control us for the entire game?” Luckily for Banjo & Kazooie the price of failure in this bright green field of butterflies and flowers isn't anything damningly serious, just some positive punishment to simply reinforce that they should be more careful.

Having been needlessly rammed by a bull several times while collecting music notes and lost little Jinjos, Banjo was low on health as he and Kazooie challenged Congo at the top of his tree. But after being cloncked in the head by an orange, the duo were seeing stars as they collapsed. Before they could even get to their feet they were tied to the tree by the tribal Grublin's, who would have used their totem pole had it not been destroyed. Having also recently witnessed all their village huts be smashed by the duo for no discernible reason, the Grublins had tied the dangerous bear and bird to the tree, making sure the birds long kicking legs were also secured. Banjo awoke unable to move his arms as the purple creatures were poking him with a stick to see if he was a threat. As is tradition for their tribe, crimes from outsiders were punished not by fierce bludgeoning with rocks, but instead with light tickling.

Yes they are a pretty pathetic tribe but that doesn't mean the ticking didn't work, as they used their ceremonial head feathers to brush at the honey bear's belly causing him to giggle. Each firm fiber scratched and slid along his smooth belly, with the swirling of pokey quills inside his belly button sent the bear into a giggling fit. Desperately curling up trying to cover his tummy with his knees was a poor idea as the Grublin's gripped Banjo's legs and held them into the air as they began feathering is big bare soles. Thousands of tiny threads swept back and forth catching every wrinkle of his chocolate brown paw pads, floating across his insteps and up to the ball of his foot, eventually sawing between his chubby toes. He desperately bucked his body and twisted his ankles, blocking 1 foot with the other trying to escape the feathers attack which only caused the Grublin's to grab and hold him tighter, and attack him even more with extra feathers around his ankles. In one last desperation move he tried to grab the feathers with his toes but unfortunately they weren't flexible enough to grip them and he just ended up being tickled between the toes even more.

When he thought it couldn't get any worse, the termites of Tickers Tower on the hill who had warned him of trespassing caught wind of the ticklish assault. As a sort of punishment and just because he wanted to, the bug managed to wrangle off and scuttle away with Banjo's fashionable yellow pants. The £11 pair of shorts now belonged to him leaving Banjo heavily blushing and embarrassed at his position. The bashful bear tried vainly to hide his indecency by crossing his legs but with the Grublin's gripping his ankles his undies were exposed for anyone to see.

Kazooie did not fare much better, her legs stuck between Banjo and the tree, unable to kick away any feathers. The red bregull knew her feathers were effective on her own talons, she even secretly enjoyed sessions of self inflicted feet tingling, but being helpless at the hands of some brainless jungle people somehow made it worse. The tribals even took a chance to resupply as they began plucking feathers off Kazooie's head, sides, and even her tail feathers. They would later be used to make new headdress, but for now they sweeped the red and yellow tipped feathers along the sensitive undersides of her golden bird feet.

Showing up late to teach the duo new moves, Bottles the Mole was surprised to see they had already failed in their quest to gather magical items and break Gruntilda the Witch's evil spells. Seems even he didn't take this failure with disappointment, moreso finding it funny how quickly they failed. Seeing as how they were not in any real danger and didn't really need saving just yet, Bottles joined the fun cupping one of Kazooie's talons in one hand and placing the other beneath Banjo and began tickling poor bear the snarky bird. Scritching his blunt claws under her foot and between her slender long toes seemed to be apt revenge for Kazooie's comments earlier about his appearance, weight, and poor family life. He dug his fingers into her arch and underneath their toes. Banjo was entirely defenseless and though Kazooie tried clenching her talons inwards shut, the scrunching skins across her sole only made the moles devilish claws scraping against her wrinkles tickle even more. Bottles relished the strength of her struggling toes while he continued teasing her ticklishness as she couldn't fight back. Rubbing her feet to make the bird more flushed and embarrassed, he noticed her sole felt almost like a silk sheet against his hands, and it was this moment Kazooie realized maybe she shouldn't have spent so many afternoons getting mani-pedis and lotioning up her feet every night to make them softer.

And as the sun continued to move and set across the sky, Banjo and Kazooie still were forced to feel the tingles of their ticklish defeat. At night fell the Grublin's even set up a campfire and some makeshift tents around the tree near the duo, as if they were settling down here to always have Banjo and Kazooie's ticklish feet near. Would the feathering ever end?