Crunch's Pain
By: Lord Red
Chapter 1: A Terrible Accident
The cold morning air cut through a large bandicoot's face as he ran up the snow-covered hill. As he kept running, snow began falling again and soon he was surrounded by a vast valley of powdery snow.
"Shoot! This is where I'll have to stay until this blizzard clears up!" he grumbled as he ducked into a big hole inside a giant redwood tree.
The large bandicoot's name was Crunch, and he had been created by the evil Dr. Cortex to destroy Crash, but he had been set free. Now the maroon-colored bandicoot was living with Crash and his friends. But at the moment, he was also trying to avoid the freezing cold drafts.
"Come on, stupid weather! I've gotta get home! My butt's starting to freeze!" he groaned.
Suddenly, the wind dropped, the snow slowly melting away as well. Crunch went outside the tree and saw something that made him shake with fear. A huge fire had started spreading and had burned the hill to rubble. And it was heading for him! Without a moment's hesitation, Crunch turned around and ran back to the Crash Hut to warn Crash about it.
Unfortunately, when he got there, he saw that the whole hut had fallen!
"Crash! CRASH!" Crunch called as he started looking through the rubble. "WHERE ARE YOU? CRASH!"
"I'm— right— here," a voice groaned. Crunch looked around and finally saw the familiar orange ear underneath some of the wood. The large bandicoot walked over and pushed the wood out of the way.
"Crash! Are you all right? Speak to me!"
For a moment, Crash said nothing. Then, he whispered so low that Crunch could hardly hear.
"This was Cortex's doing."
"Cortex?" Crunch spluttered, furiously. "When I find him..."
Crash put up his hand. "Don't do anything drastic now, Crunch. You need to prepare the graves."
Crunch was confused. "What do you mean?"
"That accident hurt Coco and I so badly, we're pretty sure we're not going to live much longer."
Crunch's eyes started filling with tears. "No, Crash! Please don't say you're going to die!"
"I can't help it, buddy. You have to be strong. Coco is already dead anyway. I can't hold on anymore," Crash groaned as he died.
"Crash!" Crunch screamed. "Crash! Wake up!"
No answer came. It was deadly quiet. Crunch turned and sat down on the rubble and put his head in his hands.
"I don't have family anymore!" the large bandicoot sighed, sadly. "Now what am I going to do?"
Then he growled. Crash said Cortex had done this.
"Wait till I find you, Cortex," Crunch said, angrily. "I'll make sure you wish you were never born."
