This is a story my sister is writing and letting me post here.
Every year there were races on the three N. Sanity islands, and the top eight qualifying times would get to race. Since there weren't many racers on the islands, everybody always knew who the eight racers were going to be, Crash, Coco, Crunch, Cortex, N. Gin, Dingodile, Tiny, and either Polar or Pura, depending on whose turn it was to race. The season was a month away, and each racer was preparing their car for the opening race. News of the islands' racing skills spread far and wide, and this year the top three racers would get to be in the international tournament. The island buzzed with excitement as everyone prepared.
Deep in the jungles of the islands lived the bandicoot trio; Crash, his sister, Coco, and their cousin, Crunch. The bandicoot house was small, but big enough for the three of them and Polar and Pura. Coco was the first one up that morning and it was her turn to cook breakfast. She was in a good mood, so she decided to make pancakes. Pretty soon the aroma awakened the rest of the house. Crash meandered into the kitchen yawning and scratching his head and went straight for the fridge.
"Crash, we're having pancakes, so don't eat last night's pizza, or you'll have no room for these," Coco said without turning from her skillet. Crash froze with a piece of cold pizza in his hand and sighed and put it down, reaching for the orange juice instead.
"Pancakes! Alright!" shouted Crunch as he bounded into the kitchen. "I love it when Coco makes breakfast!" Crash scratched his head and grunted in disagreement.
"Oh yeah, except that one time when she was mad at us and we just got toast," Crunch said. "Not a good day."
"Putting ten pounds of wumpa fruit in my bed was NOT funny!" Coco said. Crash and Crunch snickered. Coco shot them a deathly look.
"Uh, Crash, let's go set the table," Crunch said. Crash nodded. They grabbed some plates and silverware and began to set the table. When Coco finished cooking she brought the pancakes into the dining room and they sat down together and ate with Polar and Pura.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island the morning was going quite differently.
In Cortex towers in the very top room of the metal fortress was at his computer perfecting his formula at his computer for his simulation run of his newly modified car. Beside his computer was a picture of Coco, his secret love. It was actually a picture of Crash and Coco that he stole from their house, but he threw the part with Crash away. The door burst open and Cortex came storming in.
"! How is the progress on the new cars?" He asked peering over 's shoulder at his computer.
"They are almost finished, master," he said excitedly. "Soon we can do the simulation run!"
"Good!" said Cortex about to turn and leave. Then he stopped. ", why do you have a picture of the female bandicoot on your desk?" N. Gin snatched up the picture and shoved it in one of the drawers of his desk and began to stutter an explanation.
"Never mind," Cortex said holding up a hand. "I don't think I want to know. Page me when it's simulation time." He left closing the door behind him. opened the drawer and pulled the picture out. He set it down on his desk and looked at it one more time before returning to his work.
And still on another part of the island was a completely different morning.
*****
"Crickey, Tiny! How many dishes did you use? I just cleaned the kitchen yesterday!" Dingodile exclaimed. They were partners in last year's team races and became best friends afterwards and were roommates in a small house on the island. They were complete opposites though.
"Tiny no like clean!" said Tiny. For whatever reason Tiny had never learned how to speak correctly (just like Crash had never learned how to speak).
"And who taught you English anyway?" Dingodile continued as he cleaned dishes. "I mean, blimey! How do we know if children are getting an education?"
"Need work on cars today, Dingo," Tiny said from the couch. he was watching TV.
"I hear ya. No tellin' what those blokes already got down at Cortex towers. And that Shelia, Coco, you know she's going to be cooking up something good for them three," Dingodile replied.
Along with the individual races of the season, there were also team races. The teams were always the same: and Cortex, Coco and Crash, Dingodile and Tiny, and Crunch with either Polar or Pura. The teams usually worked on their cars together especially for the team race.
These races were different from normal races. The courses were dangerous, filled with obstacles that could set a racer back big time. Also, there were boxes that racers could hit to give them power ups or weapons. Yes, weapons. Missiles, bombs, explosives, the good stuff. The cars were impervious, so no one ever got hurt, just slowed down a bit.
Back at Cortex towers had just finished his work for the simulation run. He had been perfecting the acceleration of his car and the balance of Cortex's car. He had just run a simulation on his computer to make sure all the kinks were worked out. They had robots put together the cars for the simulation runs. Racing had made Cortex and rich, especially from their wins in the team and individual races for the past three years. Racing kept cortex's desire for world domination at bay because it gave him the competition he needed and his winning streak gave him the power he wanted. Besides owning and operating Cortex towers, he also owned most of the businesses on his side of the island. Coco, Crunch, and Crash had enough money between the three of them to keep Cortex from owning the entire island.
After completed the computer simulation run and was satisfied with the results, he took the picture of Coco off his desk and stored it safely in the top drawer. Then he hit the page button to let Cortex know that it was time. The elevator arrived at 's room and the doors opened with a mechanical whoosh. stepped inside the tube-like elevator car and hit the send button. This elevator only went to the simulation lab and back to 's room. There were several others in the towers that led to other places. One for example led to 's secret lab. Cortex was a genius but he was also conceited enough that he couldn't see past the end of his nose. Not that was creating anything that he couldn't share with Cortex, but he was a very secretive person and liked to have a place for his secrets.
The elevator stopped at one of the two entrances to the simulation lab (the other entrance was from Cortex's room) and the doors opened. stepped out of the elevator into the operating station of the simulation lab. Cortex was already powering up the station. He nodded to as he went to his computer to log in and download the information for the run.
"All systems are powered up and ready," said Cortex turning to .
"Information download complete. Recording systems ready," replied. They began the simulation. The cars race through a track based on the program and variables had plugged in. Cortex's model went first. Cortex liked for his car to have balance. Each racecar had three major components: turning capabilities, speed, and acceleration. Cortex approved of his model, so next they ran 's. enjoyed powerful acceleration at the expense of a lower maximum speed and slightly harder turning, but the acceleration really helped after being shot by a missile or hitting an explosive. When they finished their simulation runs and they were both satisfied they powered down the lab and went back upstairs for lunch.
"We'll start building after we eat," Cortex said. nodded and stepped into his elevator and pressed the 'send' button after the doors closed.
*****
After their pancake breakfast and clean up, Coco began calculations on her pink laptop for their cars. Coco was a genius, easily as brilliant as Cortex and without the maniacal desire to rule that world of Cortex or the unstable insanity that was . Crunch had to leave to give a motivational speech at an elementary school. Crunch had once followed and helped Cortex, but had since changed his ways and was now a hero and role model to children.
"When you get back, we should start working on our cars some more," Coco said to Crunch as he was leaving.
"Ok, but I have to work out after I give my talk, so it might be a while," he said. Coco nodded and went back to work on her computer. Purea curled up beside her and she petted the little tiger as she worked. Crash went outside and played retch with Polar for a while before they both fell asleep in the yard.
When Crunch returned, he found Polar and Crash sprawled out in the front lawn. He walked around them shaking his head and chuckling to himself. He walked inside the house to find Coco still typing away at her computer.
"How's it going? We ready to build?" Crunch asked.
"As soon as you wake up those two sleepyheads out there," Coco replied. "How did your thing go?"
"Oh, it was great, kids had a great time. We gotta start winning though or a few will turn to the dark side," Crunch said on his way to the fridge for something to drink.
"This is our year," Coco said closing her computer and standing up. "I'll meet you in the garage, and bring that leftover pizza." She walked out the door and nudged her brother and Polar as she walked around to the garage. Within minutes the whole gang was in the garage eating pizza and working on their cars. Today they were making the final adjustments and then Coco was going to hook up each car to a machine that would adjust the components of each car to suit the driver. Crash, like Cortex, enjoyed an even balance of the three, while Coco enjoyed extra acceleration, Polar and Pura preferred better turning which cost them speed and put them behind in fast tracks; however, on the tricky tracks, sometimes that put them ahead.
Meanwhile Dingodile and Tiny were also making the final adjustments to their cars before their test runs. They both favored higher speeds at the expense of their turning. They didn't win as many races as Crash, Coco, Cortex, and , but they were crowd favorites for sure. Because of their high speeds, they were the most likely to flip or wreck or cause a wreck, and the crowds loved it.