It was a dark and stormy night at Cortex Castle, located on a mysterious island somewhere in Australia. Brio had been spending hours down in the lab, and had promised Cortex he would be timing when his pizza would be done cooking. Cortex was beginning to get furious that Brio had not come back upstairs from the lab, and began pounding his desk.
"Curses that Brio. What could possibly be taking him so long? And my dear little precious frozen pepperoni pizza with genetically modified olives and peppers could end up burnt to a crisp. Why sometimes that Brio makes me angrier than Crash Bandicoot! Should I execute my evil plans solo this time, Anthony?" Cortex asked his pet hamster, who usually was in his cage atop Cortex's desk where he kept some of his important plans. But to Cortex's astonishment, Anthony the hamster was no longer in his cage.
"Anthony, where are you? The one animal I would never genetically alter in any way, shape, or form. Where are you? I sure hope Brio doesn't have anything to do with this!" said Cortex. Cortex began walking downstairs, heading towards the lab room where Brio usually worked on his dangerous experiments, such as the Evolvo Ray. He gently knocked on the door leading to Room 104. After getting no response, Cortex finally kicked the door in violently, and stormed inside. There, he saw Brio and Anthony. Brio was administering zaps to Anthony with the Evolvo Ray.
"Brio, damn you, you mutated my hamster! I used to gloat to him about my scientific advances, now what do I have to gloat to? My pizza that you haven't been checking on?" yelled Cortex.
"I didn't just mutate him, Tex. I also inserted the genes of a jellyfish into him, and now he glows in the dark, observe! Hahahahaaa!" chortled Brio, as he flicked the light switch off and on repeatedly.
"Please stop doing that," said Cortex. "You'll surely blow a circuit"
"Ahahaha, ahem, I'm so sorry about that" said Brio grinning sheepishly and leaving the light switch on. He then continued blasting Cortex's pet hamster with the evolvo ray, cackling maniacally.
"Good grief, what in the world are you doing to Anthony?" said Cortex.
"Anthony? This inferior being actually has a name?" said Brio, zapping the hamster yet again with another blast from the ray.
"Yes," replied Cortex. "In fact, I vented my anger at that hamster, and I could have sworn he listened to me when I did so," he added. Brio raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so? Then maybe I should stop zapping him. On second thought, if he understands your desires to take over the world, he could be our greatest asset ever" said Brio.
"No Brio, I command you to release Anthony this instant" said Cortex, trying to grab the Evolvo Ray away from Brio. They struggled and arm wrestled over the ray for what seemed like hours, but afterwards, the device slipped out of Cortex's hands, seconds after he thought he had won the match. The ray had been accidentally set on auto-blast due to the struggling, and it began blasting the hamster repeatedly, causing it to mutate even more. When it was finally finished mutating, the result was quite humerous. The hamster looked as harmless and cute as a baby, yet it was gigantic.
"All this and I never even got a single slice of my super pizza with those adorable little genetically modified olives" groaned Cortex. The hamster beamed a sly mischevious smile down at Cortex and Brio.
"Look at him Cortex. Such magnificence, such beauty, such intelligent life. Surely he will help us take over the world" said Brio. The hamster shook his head back and forth, as if to indicate he would not be helping them do anything of the sort. Then he opened up the nearbye microwave, and pullled out Cortex's pizza. He tossed the pizza in the air, which proceeded to land in his mouth, after which he gobbled it up in one single bite, licking his chops as he did so. Brio and Cortex watched in shock and horror, as the hamster stormed out of the room, with an Evolvo gun in tow.
"After him! Seize him. Brio, are all my lab assistants on break or something?" asked Cortex.
"Ah, you mean those nerdy cloned juveniles with the funny glasses? I regret to inform you that they're on an extended vacation in Europe. We'll just have to chase the hamster ourselves!" suggested Brio. So Cortex and Brio tried to catch up with the hamster, chasing him upstairs. But Anthony ran all the way to the balcony outside.
"No, Anthony. Don't do it, don't jump off my balcony. You have so many things to watch me live for. Conquest, world domination, a new world order, and delicious pizzas with genetically modified olives. Why are you doing this?" Cortex demanded to know. The hamster took one long look at Cortex before jumping off.
"Because I want a different life! NOW!" said the hamster. Brio patted Cortex on the back.
"Cortex I'm truly sorry for messing with your hamster. You know full well how I just absoloutely love experimenting with every living thing I can get my hands on" said Brio.
"That was possibly one of the most disturbing things you've ever said, but never mind that, my favorite hamster is about to jump off the balcony and die!" said Cortex
"I don't think he's suicidal Cortex" said Brio.
"Why is that?" asked Cortex.
"Because he's using that old propeller suit your dear old grandma knitted for you" said Brio, as he watched Anthony the hamster strap on the suit and fly off into the distance.
"Where could he possibly be going? He could end up meeting Crash Bandicoot and Aku Aku. They could form an alliance, and then who knows what would happen" said Brio.
"Yes, I know. You should be ashamed of yourself Brio!" said Cortex..
"I should have put a tracking device in him. If he meets Crash, and if they become friends, then we're in hot water for sure" said Cortex.
"Hot water, that actually sounds rather relaxing in contrast to our stressful day doesn't it?" said Brio.
"Remind me to banish you from my island next Tuesday!" said Cortex.
Meanwhile, on N. Sanity Beach:
Aku Aku was reading "Goodnight Moon" to Crash, as he was falling asleep under a palm tree, and Crash's genius sister Coco was drinking hot coco while sitting in a lawn chair giving her pet tiger cub Pura some candy bar scraps. As Aku Aku continued reading, he began yawning, put on his sleeping cap, and floated down to the ground, pulling some sand up from the beach and attempting to use it as a blanket, but failing miserably each time. Coco, after feeding Pura the last of her remaining chocolate bar scraps, decided to settle down for a nap as well. But just as everyone was sleeping, they heard the ground shaking. Aku Aku was the first to wake up and notice.
"Oh no, it cannot be!" said Aku Aku. Coco woke up.
"What now tacky Acky?" asked Coco, stretching her arms.
"I fear great danger! The earth is shaking! We should retreat into the house immediately" suggested Aku Aku. Coco and Crash had immense trust in Aku Aku, so they did as he proposed. When they were all in the house, Coco got out her laptop and began logging onto the internet to see if there were any earthquakes or natural disasters going on in their area. She couldn't find any information, so she decided to use her binoculars and look outside. She saw a giant figure approaching, that looked like an enourmas hamster.
"Guys, I think I found our problem" said Coco.
"What is it?" asked Aku Aku.
"It sure is cute, but it could destroy our home" said Coco.
"Oh my, that is one fat hamster. He must be one of Cortex's experiments" said Aku Aku.
"Yeah, trusting that hamster might be a little unwise, but it sure is cute! You know, according to something I read on TrickyLeaks, the australian government secretly wants to domesticate all mutated hamstesr!" said Coco.
"Hmm, interesting. Maybe he can be domesticated, who knows. I'll go and try to reason with the being. I believe it has a beautiful soul, I can sense it" said Aku Aku. Aku Aku floated outside, still in his dorky night cap.
"Hello fine creature. What brings you here?" asked Aku Aku. The creature sneezed, sending Aku Aku all the way back into the house, against the wall, falling slowly to the floor.
"I have landed flat, and corrected. That hamster is dangerous" said Aku Aku.
"I'll check out Cortex's secret blog and see if he's up to anything!" said Coco, typing on her laptop. After checking Cortex's blog, she read the news that Brio had apparently mutated Cortex's pet hamster, much to his dissapointment.
"According to his blog, that thing used to be Cortex's pet, eh Coco?" said Aku Aku.
"It also has an evolvo gun in its hand, and it looks an awful lot like a miniature hand held version of the Evolvo Ray!" said Coco, looking outside. The hamster, after muttering about not being able to lose weight, began setting the device on "Shrink ray mode" and shrunk himself down to the size of Crash and Coco, so he could interact with them. He walked on into their house.
"Hello, I want some cookies and donuts! I love cookies and donuts" said the hamster.
"Hi, I'm Coco Bandicoot. What's your name?" asked Coco.
"G'day mate. I'm Anthony. Rick Anthony. I prefer being called Rick, but Cortex always called me Anthony, stupid old figjam scientist. I tried to tell him that through telepathy, but he never understood. Oh, and I love your house. It's so roomy, mate!" said Rick.
"Thank you! This is my brother Crash, and this is our magical guardian mask Aku Aku" said Coco, introducing her friends. Rick shook Crash's hand, which gave Crash an electric impulse.
"Woah!" yelled Crash.
"Sorry mate, must be the jellyfish in me" replied Rick. Since Aku Aku had no hands, Rick simply grabbed him, hugged him, and shook him, causing his feathers to start falling out everywhere, all over the floor.
"Crash, can you help me clean all this up?" said Coco. Crash was chewing on the carpet, as he sometimes did during Wumpa Fruit withdrawls.
"Oh, right, well, since I'm apparently Mrs. Smartypants, I'll do it!" said Coco. Rick could not believe Crash's odd behavior.
"Crikey, your brother has a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock eh mate?" said Rick.
"Well, yeah, but he can't help it his brains are completely scrambled, yet he manages to save the world so it kinda all balances out. He's actually very sociable, when he's not having an episode" explained Coco.
"I just need a Wumpa fruit" said Crash. Coco tossed Crash a wumpa fruit, and he recovered from his seizure-like fit.
"I see, the kid likes wumpa fruits, oh wait you're the younger one aren't you? Well it's nice to meet you Coco. Can I live here?" asked Rick.
"Sure," said Coco.
"Now wait a minute, we need to talk about bathroom rules first" said Aku Aku.
"Rules? Ah, mate, as long as I can sing it's all fine by me! I really like to sing" said Rick.
"Have you composed any songs?" asked Coco.
"Do trees eat spaggetti? No, they don't. And I haven't composed any songs either. I haven't even been anthro for more than two hours or so," explained Rick.
"Did Cortex mutate you?" asked Coco.
"Cortex? No mate, it was Brio. Let me tell you right now, I don't know how it all turned out for you, but being zapped with the evolvo ray was terrible, the entire time I needed a trip to the dunny, but the mad doctor didn't CARE!" said Rick.
"Oooh, sounds bad!" said Coco.
"Yeah, but the one thing I did discover after I escaped from Cortex's lair was this rusty gadget on the ground. When I blew the sand off of it, I discovered I could play music with it!" said Rick.
"Just for the record, that gizmo thingy wasn't an NV was it?" asked Coco. Rick looked confused.
"NV? No, it was an I-Patch, it had the craziest little pirate logo on it. Anyway, I caught myself singing along to some tunes, and I'd like to develop my talent further" said Rick.
"Cool! I'll be glad to help. Wanna do some karaoke right now?" asked Coco.
"Sure! Wait, what's karaoke?" asked Rick.
"I'll show you" said Coco. "Acky, do we still have Legendary Microphone Heroes?" she asked.
"No, Crash's polar bear ate the controls! And do you mind? I'm still lathering my feathers" replied Aku Aku, who was taking a shower. Coco sighed.
"What about Microphone Mavericks? Microphone Marytrs? Microphone Monsters?" Coco asked
"NO! All those games were eaten" yelled Aku-Aku. Coco sighed again.
"I suppose I could use my laptop to get on LyricsTube, and then we can find some songs to sing into the mic with" said Coco.
"Sounds excellent!" said Rick. So Coco and Rick Anthony plugged in a mic, and began searching for songs. The first one she found was "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescance, but after Rick sang the opening, Coco decided it would be better he if he sang a different song. This time it was "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley.
"Hey, this guy has a similar name to me, I'm Rick Anthony, he's Rick Astley, and we both like to sing! This is great!" said Rick. Rick and Coco then sang the night away, driving Aku Aku insane. Even after Coco and the others went to sleep, Rick continued singing. When dawn finally arrived, Rick had an epiphany.
"This is my calling, I'm gonna be a pop star" announced Rick, as Aku began making scrambled eggs and french toast.
to be continued...
note: Cortex will try to take advantage of Rick by giving him an NV.