Chapter 1 – Falling Stars

A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back with a new story. Some people have expressed interest in a sequel to my first Crash fic Something About You and I decided to finally do it. I recommend you go read that before this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Crash Bandicoot.

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"Crash!"

Crash yelped awake and fell off his bed as someone proceeded banging on his bedroom door. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his head.

"Crash, hurry! Open up!"

Heart pounding against his chest, Crash scrambled over to the door, wearing nothing more than his green boxers and socks. He quickly opened the door to see his sister standing there in her blue pajamas.

Before he could get a word out, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him away urgently. "Come on, hurry! It's gonna end soon!" Crash yelped as he tried to keep up with her. Once they were out of the house, Crash saw it was still nighttime and grumbled under his breath. What did she wake him up for?

"Look!" Coco exclaimed as pointed to the sky. Crash did just that and gasped at the streaks of light shooting through the sky.

"It's a meteor shower!" his sister muttered gleefully. "Isn't it amazing?"

Crash nodded absently, his gazed fixed at the sky. He followed his sister to the beach and sat on a bent palm tree, watching in awe as they continued raining down from the sky. He let out a soft yawn and scratched his back before looking up ahead to his sister.

She was standing a few feet away, closer to the shore and was busy recording the shower on her phone, muttering excitedly to herself.

Crash looked up at the bright sky and closed his eyes, breathing in the cool night air and sighing contently.

It's been three months since Cortex's castle sank into the sea and the islands were freed from his control. He and his sister have been living in Wumpa Islands under Aku-Aku's protection ever since.

The world outside the castle was much more breath-taking than he thought it would be. No matter where he went, there was always something that sparked his curiosity. Crash didn't miss the life of confinement he had at the castle. Living as one of Cortex's pawns, a means to an end and nothing more.

Suddenly, just as he was starting to relax, Crash gasped when a meteorite flew over their heads and crashed into the edge of the forest, the sound of the impact shaking the air and causing the birds nearby to fly away. The two didn't have much time to recover as another one followed it and hit the mountain.

"C-Crash, are you okay?" he sister asked shakily. Crash gulped nervously and nodded, staring at the mountain where he could see smoke rising. It was then Crash grimaced when a cold, dreadful feeling filled the air and for a split second he thought their surroundings darkened a little.

And then the laughter came.

It was deep and malicious, seeming to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It sent a shiver down their spines as they drew closer together.

Aku-Aku suddenly appeared in a flash of light. "Children, hurry. Get inside!" he muttered urgently.

Deciding not argue, the two mutants rushed inside their house and Aku-Aku closed the door shut with his magic.

"Aku-Aku, what's going on?" Coco asked.

The mask sighed and his expression turned grim. "My brother Uka-Uka..…he's free."

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"A long time ago, my brother and I used to guard the islands together as one force. We had our different views and….ways of doing our duty, but everything was fine for the most part. However, Uka-Uka began to desire more power and control to the point where he tried to rule over the islands and even the world itself."

Aku-Aku turned from the fireplace to face the two bandicoots. "Of course, I was there to stop him. He was then sealed away in a temple in the mountain. Even though he couldn't escape his prison for centuries, his magic managed to seep through and create the monsters that used to roam the islands," he explained gravely. "Now that he's free, there is no knowing what he might try to do."

Crash exchanged an uneasy look with his sister before she asked. "Aku-Aku, what are you going to do?"

"For now, I'm going to track him down and see what he might be up to. Until I come back, I want you two to stay home and don't venture into the forest, alright?"

"Okay….just be careful," Coco said and Crash nodded at him.

The mask chuckled. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Stay safe," he said before finally vanishing.

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The two mutants did as they were told and remained home in the next morning. Coco was sitting on the floor, typing away on her laptop. She barely managed to get much sleep for the rest of the night with the danger of the ancient evil mask looming over their heads. Her brother was lying on the floor, staring at the wall in boredom. Not that she blamed him.

Several minutes later, she noticed her laptop's battery was dying. She frowned in dismay and then had an idea. "Hey, Crash. Could you go find a…." she trailed off when she noticed she was alone in the room. "Crash?"

She closed her laptop and left to look for him around the house. She then went outside. "Crash? Crash, where are you?" she called out, beginning to panic and then saw him by the bushes, bending down in front of something. As she drew closer, she could hear him cooing and laughing.

Raising an eyebrow, she spoke up. "Crash, what are you doing?"

Crash stiffened and glanced back at her.

"What do you have there?" she asked curiously, tilting to the side to see what he was hiding.

Crash quickly stood up and shook his head while showing her his empty hands, a nervous smile on his face.

Coco narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and then noticed something orange moving in the bushes behind him, but before she could get a good look at it, it disappeared.

Deciding to question him about that later, Coco sighed. "Never mind, what are you doing out here? Aku-Aku told us to stay indoors until he comes back, remember?"

Face lighting up, Crash ran over to pick something off the ground and brought it back to her.

"Space rock!" Crash muttered, grinning widely.

Coco blinked in surprise at the dark rock in his hand. "Wait, is this first meteorite that fell here last night?" she asked even though she knew the answer and Crash nodded.

Coco groaned and rubbed her temples. Honestly, she shouldn't really be surprised by this.

Well, it didn't matter at this point and she would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit curious about his finding too. "Alright, let's head home."

Just as they were about to turn around, a low noise coming from within the forest made them stop in their tracks. The two were even more startled when loud screams followed it.

Looking at each other worriedly, the two siblings quickly rushed into the forest.

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Somewhere in a far city the night before, Neo Cortex was lying on a bed in a shabby apartment.

This was what his life had come to. Ever since that night when he fled his castle with his minions and lost all of his research and inventions, everything had gone downhill for him.

Since he had nowhere to go, he fled to this city and started living in this apartment block. He also had to keep his mutants somewhere away from the public's eye.

And it's all his fault. Cortex thought with a dark scowl, the face of the grinning imbecile flashing in his mind. If it weren't for that idiot he would have had his perfect mutant army and probably conquering the world right now, but now because of him everything was lost!

Growling, he slammed his fist against the bedside in frustration and sighed.

Just then, Cortex felt a chill in the air and shivered. "Great," he huffed. Now the thin walls were letting the cold into his room, as if it wasn't bad enough already-

His train of thought was immediately broken when he noticed black smoke gathering in the center of the room and he yelped in fright, pressing himself against the wall.

A dark face with demonic yellow eyes stared back at him from the blackness. "Doctor Cortex."

The man's eyes widened. "Y-you!?"

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A/N: Thanks for reading. In case you're wondering this is an AU for the game Crash Bandicoot Warped just like how the previous story was for the first game. I decided to skip Cortex Strikes Back because, well, there isn't much I could add or do with that game's story. I hope this clears everything up.

Anyway, let me know what you think of this so far with a review!