-AUTHOR'S NOTES-
Heh, it's been a long time since I actually wrote a Crash fic here. :) I've been told by a lot of people to get in here and provide something to actually read in this part of the site, so… there we go.
This is basically the first proper Crash fic I wrote since unveiling Galaxy of Europe back in 2002, and it's in this one that I want to show a bit of difference in what I write. Here, the legacy for Crash Bandicoot faces a darker turn, and in true Twinsanity fashion we have him working with Cortex in an attempt to defeat a rogue enemy force that just recently inhabited the island.
I have literally worked hard on this one, even with all the reflective proportions within it. I hope you enjoy reading this thing as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Peace out,
-Rexy-
The sights of the south western portions of the Pacific Ocean were seen glimmering brightly against the sunrise skies, which left behind several sparkles upon the water. Several fish were seen hovering near the surface, taking in the glances above the waves.
A few dolphins in the distance performed breath-taking jumps from the far side, leaping with a lot of majesty all around them and in turn landing in a streamlined fashion and keeping the waters as smooth as possible.
A small pack of younger dolphins ended up swimming straight underneath a canoe-type boat, floating beautifully upon the surface. Its structure was shown to be in an ancient aborigine style, with tribal influences placed all around it.
Sitting near the back, just outside a hut attached to the boat, was a young black haired girl with a black dress upon her. She didn't show her face, but her emotions showed a calm and relaxed motion around her.
And at the other side of the boat, there sat another figure – one wearing a white laboratory coat, and with red gloves placed upon his own two hands. He didn't show much of his face either, but when he spoke, he showed his beard-covered mouth into the sunlight.
"It has been a year since I last saw the Evil Twins roam around this sole dimension", he spoke with a faint and deep voice.
He gave out a sigh, before pointing his head down towards the water surface. Over there, the reflections of parts of the barge were seen all around it, allowing the boat to shine in all of its majestic glory.
There, the figure showed his face reflecting upon the water – a figure with yellow skin, a black ring of hair around his head to match the color on his beard, deep red eyes, and a tattooed N symbol placed upon his forehead.
He picked up the strength to speak again. "I have remembered the horrific events that have managed to stand between their defeat, their escape, and my own problems that have occurred within that time."
He then placed his hands upon the water surface, leaving the water to end up providing a few ripples among the surface while in turn blurring into a vision from the figure's eyes. That one in particular showed him in a pink jelly-based room, covered by orange marsupials wearing distinguishable blue jeans and having deep green eyes all around them.
"It took me nearly two weeks to get released from that blasted bandicoot Crash's brain after accidentally zapping myself inside it. It was a living nightmare!"
Most of the creatures ended up pulling off a rugby tackle on top of him, leaving them to end up rolling towards one side of the room. There, a monitor was seen showing a viewpoint around a laboratory.
"And I swear it could have been easier if Coco and Nina seemed to compromise first, from what I managed to see through that marsupial's eyes."
There, two other figures – another orange bandicoot but this time she was female with long blonde hair and with a set of blue dungarees covering a white t-shirt, and a human girl with deathly pale skin, a lot of black/navy clothes around her, buck teeth and a lower case n on her forehead – were seen involved in a catfight. There, the figure ended up widening his eyes with horror.
The vision soon started to fade into another again, but this time on a demented tropical home, where there were two parrot-like creatures in space outfits seen retreating to a nearby bungalow, cowering with fear.
"Most of us feel unsure over what happened to the Evil Twins at the end. He might have been consumed by a monster - that Evil Crash creature is the first thing that came in mind - or maybe ending up hiding away in starvation, far away from their own fortress."
A shadow then managed to creep over them, showing its claw-like hands around them. He then brought himself into the spotlight – a red bandicoot figure, but with menacing eyes around him, a broad amount of upper body strength and deeper red pants all around him.
Both parrot creatures – presuming those were the Evil Twins – ended up holding onto each other with fear, screaming at the top of their voices as the creature drew closer and closer towards them, ready to make its attack.
"Alas, times have changed."
And then, the vision faded back out towards the canoe edge once more. There, the figure showed more concern through his two eyes than beforehand, with his hair blowing through the wind while adding to his moods.
"And yet it's here that I, the great Neo Cortex", he smiled while speaking, "have never faced a prouder moment other than this. I may still be scheming to get rid of that blasted bandicoot..."
He gave out a light growl from his mouth upon speaking, but… it wasn't long until another dolphin rising from the waves left him to smile as he managed to stand up on both feet. There, he ended up bringing his head up towards the skies, showing a confident smile all around him.
"But there will always be a time to think back on the scenario that could have almost changed forever as we knew it..."
He smiled before he ended up making his walk towards the hut placed upon the back. There, he ended up placing his back upon the walls, looking on at the dimming light among him. That in turn was reflected upon his own face.
From nearby, the female figure from the back of the boat stood up, while showing herself in front focus. She ended up showing herself as the pale skinned girl in the flashback, being Nina herself.
There, they both managed to come close to one another, as they ended up seeing into the scenery enveloping ahead of them. Right there, a land mass gradually started to peak over the horizon, showing the nearby end of the water stretch.
They both looked behind them, and it was there that the Iceberg lab that they managed to depart from was nothing more than a spec in the distance. For that, they both gave out confident smiles, knowing that the island may not be a "place of no return".
The waves in turn ended up becoming gentler as they managed to come much closer towards their destination, which in turn was represented by a smooth and relaxed ride towards the island ahead.
-A FAN FICTION PRODUCTION-
But there was one thing that they ended up noting as they got closer – the skies ended up turning into a deep sunset color all around them too quickly. That in turn was easily reflected upon the light coming down upon the barge's surface.
Then, the waters themselves started to face some light jumps upon the line, causing the barge to end up jumping upon the water, leaving a few drops of water starting to land upon the surface of the boat.
And then, a strong breeze ended up started to surround them, as if a storm was about to surround them. That in turn ended up causing their hair to blow in the wind as the mass came into closer view.
-A Crash Bandicoot™ related fanfic by RexRock-
And as like magic, the island was gradually shown in full view, from the top of its volcano gradually going down towards the shores. A black cloud was seen surrounding it, giving off bright purple thunderbolts every few seconds.
Most of the island was either shrouded in darkness, or covered in deathly weeds, thus emphasizing on the mass's more horrific nature. A few metallic structures were also seen all around the mountain tops.
A strong amount of smoke also escaped from out of the volcano, thus providing a more shaken horrific glance all around it. That in turn escaped into the skies, and provided a darker cloud all around the scene.
-THE BLACK TIDE-
In time, the waves gradually started to get rougher and rougher, leaving the barge to start rocking from side to side. That left Cortex to take a strong grasp upon the edge while maintaining his eyesight upon the island.
Nina managed to earn enough support by using her hands to hold onto one of the walls around the hut held inside the boat. And as the volcano slowly started to rumble, the force was steadily conducted through the water.
Eventually, giant waves started to emerge from behind, leaving drops of water to get into the barge. And the drops gradually turned into bigger splashes, before the boat was on the risk of capsizing.
"Uncle Neo!" screamed Nina from behind.
Cortex tried to keep his balance at the front, but eventually… the force behind the water started to get rougher and rougher. And eventually… the boat was tipped upside down, thus bringing him directly underwater.
That in turn left Nina to dive in from her position, leaving her to swim deep for her falling uncle. Eventually, she found him steadily floating down towards the waves in a lying motion, with his limbs sticking upwards.
She quickly managed to make his way over to him, taking a hold of him by the hand and eventually bringing both of them straight up towards the water surface. There, they instantly gasped for air, relieved they managed to escape the force of the boat's tipping.
Holding onto her uncle as tight as she can, she looked behind her and ended up seeing the boat beginning to collapse as plank by plank it was deteriorating into nothing. A nearby one drifted towards their direction, being almost as wide as a manta ray in size.
There, she helped Cortex took a hold onto the surface, before hanging on right next to him. And together they paddled their way towards the island; a dangerous way there, but they knew that they were lucky to be alive.
The sands that surrounded the island were dry and brittle, aside from those that were occasionally swept underneath the water surface where they ended up sparkling with a light silver color all around.
Hidden within the sand were deep watery footprints, which in turn got drier as the beach was brought further inland. A long trail of land mass was seen upon the floor, showing some further footprints upon the ground.
As the tiki barge was seen sinking within the deeper ends of the sea, that left Cortex and Nina – the bearers of the footprints – to walk further on ahead of them, absorbing the island's more sinister surroundings. Their expressions both looked subdued.
"I suppose it's true in saying things change over a great period of time", Cortex muttered to himself. "But how?"
"I have no idea", Nina somehow replied while shaking her head, "but whatever's happened, it seems even worse than what happened back on Twinsanity Island."
"I have understood the ways of their torture", he spoke again, "but I feel this may have been rubbing the wrong way on something."
As they walked on, Cortex's thoughts were focused on his previous adventure, where he – alongside with Crash Bandicoot – ended up stopping the Evil Twins from twisting their world to an evil paradise. And then… he blinked hard.
"Oh no!" he then panicked. "Please... don't let it be...!"
Various flashbacks started to follow in his mind, most of which linking towards his calamity-filled pitfalls throughout, as well as some more serious triumphs. Bringing down the totem god Tikimon, fighting Uka Uka in an ice monster's body, facing various scenarios with N. Gin and his treasure hunters, escaping from Madame Amberley's clutches after leaving the Academy of Evil, and in turn defeating the Evil Twins on Twinsanity Island in the 10th dimension…
A concept was then struck.
That in turn left Cortex to lightly scream with pain, before bringing himself on his hands and knees, expressing pain upon his own face; nearby, Nina ended up showing concern through her own eyes.
"Uncle!" she shouted towards him.
She ended up crouching down towards his level, wanting to place her hand against his back, but… before she could even do so, he ended up retreating away from her direction slightly, realizing the pain her trap-like hands would provide.
"I'm not firm enough to explain right now", he sighed with hesitance.
Nina looked on at him quietly, and it was there that she responded with a small nod pointing down. It was there that Cortex soon managed to bring himself to his feet and calmly stroke her upon her own back, trying to lift her own moods up.
But before anything else could happen, a whole massacre of black figures ended up flying above them and heading straight down towards the surface. They in turn managed to land firmly upon the ground with their own sleek positions.
"What kind of creatures are those?" Nina asked.
They in turn started to step into the light. And they themselves were shown to be armored astronaut creatures, with their own faces showing bird-like anatomy; however they were shown to have shades of red fur instead of feathers around them.
They brought out their bird-like hands, and placed small pistols within them. They then started to approach both Cortex and Nina, with their faces gradually becoming more sinister as time managed to draw on.
"They look similar to the Evil Twins!" gasped Cortex as he looked on at their structures while shifting his focus towards Nina from time to time. "But... how is that possible?"
"We have no time to ask questions. Let's move on in!"
In a sudden, Nina ended up making her dash towards one side of the party. There, she opened up her hands, and launched a bear trap device from them straight towards the opponents; while most of the creatures ducked, the odd one or two ended up being punched harshly around the face.
The device eventually reached Cortex, whom in turn rolled upon the ground in the last minute. While he was down there, he ended up being surrounded on both sides by two other creatures, pointing their guns down at him.
"May you accept my token of complete honor?" he asked with hesitance.
He brought his own pistol out, and pointed it straight towards the opponents all around him. But they in turn ended up pointing their own pistols down further, before in turn pulling their triggers and allowing radiant white light to shine from their laser pellets.
"AAARGH!"
At the very attack, Cortex ended up jumping up onto both feet and ended up making his run straight back the way he came. Before he even returned to the beach, he took cover behind a tree… only to see another laser shot integrate it in the matter of seconds.
Meanwhile, back at the clearing, Nina ended up coming closer towards another team of opponents from all angles. She looked on at them all with a confident expression, before twitching her own hands with a devious expression.
"Eat this, punk!"
And just as when the opponents were close enough, she brought herself into a death defying spin with her claw-like hands being used to send her opponents further down towards the ground with pain around them.
While that happened, more creatures started to make their run near her, which in turn left her to open up one of her hands to attack her opponents with long range attacks in all directions around her.
"I never thought fighting you would be so easy!" she smirked viciously.
She ended up smiling as she managed to dust herself off from the attacks she managed to pull off. But while that happened, a larger member of the crew ended up approaching her from behind.
The creature then roared at her, causing her to end up turning behind her and end up launching her bear trap hands towards it as furiously as she can. It ended up clipping onto its hand, leaving the creature to end up smirking with no pain.
That was until a light thunderbolt ended up striking the area, conducting through the chain and providing the current through both figures, leaving them to be shocked together and causing them to fall to the ground, the hand eventually being released from the grasp.
"Positively shocking", she said in a traumatized motion.
"Nina, get me out of this mess!"
She stood up, her hair starting to stand on end and a few light black marks showing upon her clothes. There, she saw Cortex being escorted back into the clearing by more of the monsters, held on all of his limbs, struggling to escape from their clutches.
"They're going to tear my lungs out if you don't come near me in the next five seconds!"
She knew she had to think fast, even at her state. But there, she managed to pull herself together, and eventually dash her way towards another side of the clearing. There, Cortex saw the monsters coming closer and closer to her, ready to use their weapons to pierce damage upon his body.
They placed the guns just a mere inch towards his body, and were ready to pull the trouble when… a shadow ended up coming over them. They looked up, and it was there that they saw Nina standing on top of a large boulder.
"Geromino!"
She brought out one of her hands, and attached it to the twig on a nearby tree. There, she swung straight down towards her opponents, slamming as hard as she can onto them with her own legs. That in turn knocked a few creatures to the ground, while in turn freeing Cortex from the waist down.
She then turned around, and managed to attack her way back towards a few other remaining creatures. There, a further kick left it to release its pistol before falling, leaving her to turn around and use her other hand to grab it from a long range.
She then pulled the trigger for herself, causing a stream of white laser shots to be fired towards the ground. That left most of the creatures to end up running from her wave of terror, in turn leaving Cortex behind as they retreated.
"How do you like THEM apples?" she smirked with a casual look.
Then, she ended up jumping her way straight back down towards the ground, landing firmly on both legs. Her new found pistol was still pointed on at the team around her, which in turn ended up leaving the clearing in a mere instant.
Silence was brought all around her, leaving her to smile peacefully on the scene all around her. All that remained of the attacking team was footprints upon the floor, left from the stances of the battle itself.
She then managed to make her way towards the middle of the clearing herself, before providing light punches into the air herself; that caused the traps to spring out from her hands and were brought high into the air with victory.
"Rock on!" she then cried out with victory.
"Phew, thanks for covering me" sighed Cortex. "Frankly I wouldn't have stood much of a chance without you by my-"
"Anything to help an ol' timer. Y'see?"
The traps were soon brought back into her hands, and that in turn left her to reach Cortex's grasp and place him in a handshake motion. That in turn left him to show a face filled with pain upon the force of her uncontrollable grasp.
But it wasn't too long until silence was struck around them again. The sound of waves crashing were brought back into their own ear range, leaving them to smile peacefully at it. But there was another gesture that sounded like metal clashing, which left their eyes to widen.
"What was that?" Cortex asked.
Nina twitched her head to the left, and then to the right. She took a cautious step forward, where she ended up coming towards a small metal trap layered in the ground. It was seen banging furiously every few seconds.
She brought out her hands, and instantly pulled the door off its hinges, leaving her to see into a figure from down below – an orange marsupial creature with blue jeans, quivering green eyes and a pair of brown shoes upon him to blend in with his deep red hair.
Nina gasped at the sight. "Crash!"
He brought his head up towards Nina, with a face filled with concern and pain upon him. There, she ended up crouching down on both knees, leaving her to stretch her arm out towards him as gently as she could.
"Crash, what are you doing down there?" she asked with concern. "I thought you would have been able to get around the island and defeat this invading menace! What happened?"
He took a hold of Nina's elbow, and climbed his way back up towards the surface. Once he did, all he could do is show a face filled with gloom upon him, which in turn was reflected back onto her own two eyes.
"I take you're too upset to tell, huh?" she said with a sympathetic look. "You know, maybe we should take you back towards the Iceberg Lab and see if you can calm down. How about that?"
With a reassuring smile, she ended up placing her hand upon his back, instantly taking a hold on him in a painful hug granted the bear traps in place. The pressure and pain left him to scream on the spot, before… providing the inevitable.
He then opened his mouth to speak. "Nina, not too hard!"
"AAAH!" she screamed with shock while releasing her grip. "He talks!"
"Are you sure this is the Crash we know?" Cortex asked curiously.
Nina looked back at Cortex with a shocked look all around her, before looking back at Crash. He in turn managed to escape from her struggling grasp, before bringing himself on hands and knees, gasping for air.
"I've had it up to here with what has happened to this island in the past 3 months", growled Crash. "Strange birds invading this island and swamping it for their own... N. Gin still invading the other side of the island for buried treasure... and on top of that Coco and Crunch have gone missing!"
He then ended up bringing his face front first into the sand, leaving a lot of grains to end up rising into the air over time. That in turn left Cortex to calmly approach him, curious over the new turn Crash has taken.
"But what explains your ability to speak?" he asked him.
Crash ended up ignoring his plea. "Those damn birds imprisoned me, tortured me, changed me... even took my prize yo-yo away from me!"
In frustration, he ended up going within his jean pockets and pulling them inside out. That in turn revealed nothing inside at all. Not even a single spec of dust. Cortex gave out a light blink with shock over the change of events.
While that happened, Crash eventually stood up, took a hold onto one of his own arms and literally started to growl as he turned towards the inner regions of the island. There, a stronghold was stood firmly upon a hill, with a volcano not too far from it.
"Take it easy, Crash", said Nina with reassurance. "Now that you're out from your trapped prison, there must be a way that we can be able to get back at this army. We'll also be bound to pinpoint their leader when we get the right information".
The bandicoot was then brought into silence. "You'd do that for me?"
He looked on at Nina, whom gave a confident smile back towards him, before coming closer towards him and using her forearm to end up stroking him lightly upon the back; she may have been cold to the touch, but his smile may have showed that he faced colder over time.
While that happened, Cortex approached him from nearby and brought out his arm, extending it into a handshake. As soon as that happened, he in turn managed to embrace himself into a hug, with a couple of tears of joy starting to come down his face.
"Thanks, guys", he said with a face filled with relief.
The vision of the new coming venture didn't erase his freshly found smile for one second. He then knew that his time of pain and torture was over, and it was up to then that he was set to put things right again.
And the expressions for Cortex and Nina were sure to aid him for most of the way. He managed to blink on at them both… while at the same time putting on a brave expression towards Nina's force around her sudden hug around his chest.
"Uh, I think you've broken my spine..."
Several minutes passed, and the waters around N. Sanity Island were shown to gently simmer upon the sandy surface at a peaceful rate around them. The deep skies didn't help much for sight, although much of that was aided due to the use of neon sparks zooming across the skies.
Further up the sandy dunes walked Crash, Cortex and Nina together, their hands brought down the sides of their bodies and their expressions showing more reflective looks upon them. The sand left them to provide more pristine footprints as they walked further.
Within the group, Crash was seen making his look up towards the mechanical structures on tops of the hills, most of which seemed to be obscured by various mountainous structures right in front of them.
"I take there's no trace of hope left on this island now that you were captured?" Cortex asked Crash.
"Not quite."
He looked back at Cortex, his expression gradually becoming more hopeful. While he and Nina looked on at him with shock, all that Crash could do was smile back before walking further with his hands locked behind his back.
"As far as I can see, I saw some renegade fighters near my prison cell, taking down some of these opponents themselves. They were in an unusual form of shapes around them."
"Any names we should know about?" questioned Nina.
"I could sense only one of which, and that was someone named 'Kyle-Jovi'."
At the sound of the name, Cortex came to a sudden stop. That in turn left Nina to come to a stop two seconds later, her face turning back towards him. He was seen in a pondering stance, his eyes gradually twitching from side to side.
"Kyle-Jovi..." His eyes blinked. "That name sounds familiar to me..."
"I take it's another experiment of yours?" Nina sighed while looking back at him. "Or did you totally forget about him?"
Nina shifted her focus straight towards Cortex with a light twitch upon her eye. There, he started to show a face filled with puzzled complexions, before he ended up taking a light step back and brought his head up towards the sky.
"He too escaped from my lab before putting him under the Cortex Vortex." He then growled before looking down. "If only if I confiscated him of his wings sooner..."
"Do you have any idea on where he may reside?" asked Crash. "Because I feel he may be able to help us out when needed."
"Knowing him he might have forgotten about the whole surroundings by now", Nina shrugged.
She ended up folding her arms with a light twitch of the eye, bringing her focus back towards her uncle in a highly sarcastic fashion. All he could do was respond back with a more afraid look than anything.
While that happened, he ended up looking further down the sandy paths ahead. They looked so clean and untouched in comparison to the rest of the island, leaving them to end up showing more reflective looks as time went on.
"It's all a case of pot-luck, I'm afraid", Cortex replied with a grim look. "We go around the island, see if we can hunt him down... or worse."
Crash's ears dropped down with fear, with Nina soon to follow with her relaxed arm expression. There, it wasn't long until all three of them started to walk at a briefer pace than before, ready to take in the remaining sights of the changed island.
The skies still looked as painfully purple as possible, the sands were still shown to be dry upon the surface, and the remaining portions of plant life showed pain through the withering colors brought upon them.
It was there that they knew that together, they had a new journey to be able to embark on - the arrival of the invading furry bird creatures towards their island home, and the hope of seeking the most thoughtful help source to guide them there.
But is the legacy of Kyle-Jovi as truthful as it made out to be? Or will it be responsible for a serious downfall? Those and many other questions were left roaming through their head as the dry path continued on.
-end of part 1-