Year 1, day 75: Today, we decided to begin our expedition down the train tunnels from the Terrydactyland station. Do not try this at home, kids; we are professional explorers.
I explained the dangers as well as I could. Chuffy the train had started Banjo-Tooie derailed. With all the stations closed, it seemed very unlikely that there would be other trains running on the Isle’s rail network. But it was still a possibility. Luckily, both Terra and I had some kind of tremorsense from being Ground-types; if we could feel a train coming, I would dig out a nook if possible and Terra would use Wonderwing if not. Whatever would result from a train at full-speed hitting an invincible Terra, I didn’t want to know. Her Giant Feathers had been safely stored in my backpack where we could get them out whenever we needed.
Bitbit protested “why risk running into the train at all when there was still the route to Witchyworld left,” to which I replied that the Mine that would be at the end of the tunnel would be a better place for treasure-hunting, which was a thing that he couldn’t argue with.
So we opened the station and headed for the right-hand tunnel, but we barely got a couple feet in when…
“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you!”
I turned. A mole wearing a military uniform and shades was standing at the corner of the tunnel, smacking his palm with some kind of stick.
“There’s very bad things in there…” finished Jamjars.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like a severe lack of discipline and copious amounts of stupidity!”
I wish I could’ve argued with that. “Well what’ll you do if we do?” I said.
“You talking back to me, punk? Am I going to have to use my moves to get you back in line?”
“Look, we don’t want trouble,” Terra interrupted. “We just want to get out of this valley, but the main entrance is blocked and our ideas were running low.”
“Is that it? Hmm…” It was hard to tell with the shades, but I could still feel him looking us over. Eventually, he said, “Normally I reserve my hatches for official military personnel only, but I’m feeling generous today. I can escort you through the tunnels to the public silo network and you can take it from there. Tortoise is going to be a tight squeeze, though.”
“I can turn her into a frog!” Piddle declared. “She’ll be the smallest of us all then!”
“That’ll do it. Name’s Sargent Jamjars. Now get in formation and follow me.”
Thankfully we didn’t have to go the entire way back single-file. Jamjars lead us to the hatch that was near the main entrance; I think it was the one where he taught how to use the Springy Step Shoes. Or will teach, probably. I have no idea of the timeframe. One by one (after Piddle did the transformation, of course) we descended into the legendary realm of the moles.
It was pretty dark in the tunnels, but I didn’t have any trouble seeing. There were a surprising amount of other moles down here, all in military uniform. They gave us some weird looks as we went through, only for Jamjars to give them a significantly less weird glare back until they went back to what they are doing.
“Mole military operations are top-secret, civilians,” he told us. “Can’t have the witches finding out what we’re doing.”
“We swear we won’t tell a soul,” I replied. (Thankfully, I’m not sure this, whatever it is, counts.)
Eventually we arrived in a wider tunnel, more brightly lit, with trolley tracks along the bottom. There was a currently a small trolley on it, parked on the platform we arrived on. It was manned by another military mole.
All their work was really impressive. I guess you could call it a proper underground movement.
“And this here’s a silo network station,” Jamjars said. “These tunnels are open to civilians and connect most of the major parts of the island. Free of charge to use to anyone fighting the witches. On the house this time-” He slapped a handful of Notes to the trolley driver. “-but it’s 20 Notes a ride for up to eight after this.”
“We got it, Sargent,” I told him. “Thank you for all your help.”
“You can thank me by wising up and not walking into a train tunnel like a birdbrain,” he replied.
“Hey!” Bitbit barked. He had taken to my backpack, which was becoming his second-favorite spot behind the top of Terra’s shell.
“Dismissed!” he shouted at us before matching back into the hatch tunnels, sealing them behind him.
Piddle turned Terra back to normal as I thought about where we should go. It took a moment going through the listing when I got an idea.
“Where to?” the driver asked once we all boarded.
“Jinjo Village,” I told him.
The transit took awhile, so I took the time to fill them in on what Jinjos were. We hadn’t seen any in Terrydactyland – not a surprise, as the Jinjos in Tooie were from the Village and scattered due to the witches driving through the place in a digging machine. They were magical bear-bird creatures, but much nicer than any dinosaur we had met.
The village was vibrant and very much more alive without having one of houses flattened. The Jinjos were friendly and welcoming. Piddle really liked them.
That said, when we went to the palace to see if we could live here, the King was rather adamant about Jinjo Village being a place that the Jinjos lived. It was important, OK? Sorry. Luckily, I had a backup idea.
So I spent 20 Notes on the silo to take us to the Plateau.
“So why are we here?” Terra asked when we arrived at the rather flat and desolate location.
“Because Glitter Gulch Mine is right over there,” I said, pointing over to the closed mineshaft. “Also, we might be able to find shelter under that giant beehive. It’ll have to do until we can suss out… something.”
“Something?”
“Today has been a very busy day…”
Jumpchain: A Man Chooses 