Bandicoot Chronicles: Dawning Darkness
F.T.A.: I haven't done a Benjamin Bandicoot story for a long, long time (excluding Benjamin Bandicoot Collection Volume 1), so I've decided to make a trilogy of Benjamin Bandicoot's newest adventures, "The Bandicoot Chronicles." It takes place three years after Crash: Mind Over Mutant, which took place two years after Benjamin Bandicoot 3, which took place a year after Bandicoot Within 2 etc. It's about how Benjamin and Lily (originally Lila, but Super Saiyan Crash kept calling her Lily in his stories that I decided changing it) first met, as well as Benjamin meeting his greatest enemy: Gaznor, the ruler of the Nega World, which is a dimension of darkness and evil. So, enjoy the first chapter of the trilogy!
"You're not leaving, are you, Benjamin?"
Benjamin Bandicoot was putting some stuff in his hand-made boat. It was 5 years since Benjamin had the nightmare and had defeated Dr. Sly once and for all. His hair had grown longer, and he wore a yellow sleeveless jacket. The Black Blade (the crystal made of the Black Crystals) was in a strap on his back. The World Warriors: Mazurka, Bloat, Raynuk, Phantom Strange and Hurricane Hannah; were watching him pack. He was planning to leave Silver City to seek the answer to his problem.
"I must find the source of all these strange dreams," Benjamin answered. Recently, Benjamin began having strange nightmares about someone in terrible danger. But every time, it was the same person calling for help. He didn't recognize the voice, but it began frightening him, like if someone was actually calling for help far away. So he had to find out the source and help him or her.
"I can't have any of you five in danger," Benjamin continued, "So I must leave to find the problem and solve it. I will return soon, so I'm counting on you guys to protect the kingdom for me." Mazurka nodded.
"We will," Mazurka said.
"Thank you," Benjamin smiled as he hopped into the boat and sailed off.
His boat sailed across the ocean for many hours, looking for land. And over the many hours, he found none, but he knew that it wasn't in his home kingdom. Hours later, he was literally in the middle of nowhere. Benjamin was lying in the boat. He got up and took a coin out of his pocket.
"If it's heads, I keep going. If tails, I turn back," Benjamin said to himself as he flipped the coin. He sighed; he got heads. So he kept heading off for…some kind of land.
That night, Benjamin's boat was sailing in the ocean still! He had found no land for the whole day. He was asleep in the boat, not noticing that there was no land. Suddenly, he woke up. He thought he felt a raindrop land on his nose. He looked around, but no land. He sighed and as he lied back down. He felt another drop not even a second later. He got back up, and no land. He took his hand out of the boat as a drop of rain landed on his hand. Yep. It was raining. He had to look out before the rain came down harder so his boat wouldn't flood and sink. Suddenly, in a flash, the rain came crashing down at a high speed. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked as the boat began filling with water. Benjamin began to panic. Suddenly, the lightning hit Benjamin's boat, causing it to break in pieces. Benjamin grabbed a plank and got on top of it, but it didn't last long when a huge wave splashed on top of him. When the wave cleared, Benjamin was lying with half of his body on the plank while the other half was under the water. The wave that hit him was so strong that he became unconscious. Suddenly, a helicopter flew above him. Two passengers were inside, and their faces could not be seen, for it was dark.
"Is it him? Is it the one we seek?" One of the passengers asked. By the sound of the voice, which sounded snaky, this passenger was a boy.
"Yes, it is. He has the Black Blade," The other passenger answered. This passenger voice was also a snaky voice, but more of a female one.
"Should we catch him? The Boss would be very happy," The male asked.
"Yes, let us capture the bandicoot!" The female answered.
Suddenly, a speedboat drove by Benjamin. The driver was a bandicoot, but could not be fully seen, for the shadows blocked the bandicoot's appearance. He put Benjamin in the speedboat's back seat and sped off. The two passengers looked at each other in surprise.
"That stupid bandicoot took him!" The male complained.
"I know!" The female yelled.
"Should we go after them?"
"No. We'll get him next time."
The helicopter then flew off in the opposite direction of the speedboat.
Meanwhile, on an island, a bandicoot was working on the eye of the robot which crashed on the island a while ago. The bandicoot wore goggles on her forehead, light green army pants and a star shirt. Another bandicoot was doing pushups. He had brown skin and a mechanical arm. He wore dark green army pants and was shirtless. Yes, the two were Coco and Crunch, the robot was the Doominator, and the island was Wumpa Island.
"There we go," Coco said, "All fixed up." The crash of the Space Head about three years ago caused the Doominator eye to clog up, so it wouldn't work. Coco just realized it when Crash left for a ride in his new speedboat, and she spent the whole day trying to fix it.
"Hey, Coco!" Crunch called out. "Crash is back! Don't feed the animals at the zoo!" The bandicoot on the speedboat hopped off the speedboat. Yes, the bandicoot was Crash. He picked up Benjamin and dropped him on the grass just outside of his house.
"Coco! Crunch! Come look!" Crash called out as Coco and Crunch ran up to Crash. Coco looked at him, and then smiled.
"It's Benjamin!" Coco exclaimed. Crunch smiled. Crash took a look at him. He looked like if he was unconscious. Then Benjamin finally woke up. He spit some water out of his mouth as he looked up. He saw three friendly faces.
"Crash! Coco! Crunch! I haven't seen you guys for five years!" Benjamin exclaimed as he got up. "Um, where are we?"
"Wumpa Island," Coco answered as she pointed to the Doominator. Benjamin nodded his head.
"Why were you out at sea?" Crash asked. Benjamin then told the whole story.
"Ah," Coco answered. "So this dream is haunting you?"
"Yep," Benjamin said, "So I went to find the source, but I was washed up by a wave. And Crash knows the rest."
Suddenly, a scream was heard. Crash, Coco, Crunch and Benjamin quickly turned around. Benjamin recognized the voice. It was the one from his dream! They looked at each other, nodded, and ran.
The noise came from in the depths of the forest. They ran and stopped, gasping. There was a crashed helicopter right in front of a giant vine. A girl was tangled up in the vine. She was a squirrel with gray and white fur, and she wore a pink dress. She had long, black hair and sky blue eyes. She also wore pink boots. She panicked as three giant spiders walked up to her, ready to have her for breakfast.
"That poor girl!" Crash gasped, "We have to help her, Benjamin! … Benjamin?" He was nowhere, for he was already in combat. He took out his Black Blade and sliced up one of the spiders. Another one ran up to him and shot a web at him, but Benjamin sliced it up and sliced the spider. The last spider squealed as it ran off. Benjamin then looked at the squirrel as he cut the vine, letting her free. He looked at her sparkly eyes.
"Um, hello," Benjamin said, quite shy.
"Hello," The squirrel answered, quite shy too. "Thank you for saving me."
"Um, uh, no problem," Benjamin stuttered, but then acted like a gentlemen. "My name is Benjamin Bandicoot, and these are my friends, Crash Bandicoot, Coco Bandicoot and Crunch Bandicoot."
"Please to meet you," The squirrel giggled. "My name is Lily."
"Hey, wait a minute," Crash interrupted. "Aren't you the princess of the Acornelius Realm?"
"Why, yes," Lily answered. "The only reason I'm here in Wumpa Island is because I am seeking you, Crash."
"Really?" Crash said, surprised.
"My father, King Julius Acornelius, needs your help," Lily began, "Our kingdom has been invaded by wolves from the Nega World. Their leader, Gaznor, has told my father to surrender his crown or he will take over by force! We have until we have the next Twilight Lining to make our choice."
"What's a Twilight Lining?" Crunch asked.
"The Twilight Lining is when the Floating Moons in the shrine outside the castle line up in a straight line in front of the actual moon," Lily explains, "And we have until then to decide."
"So what do you want me to do?" Crash asked.
"To stop them before the Twilight Lining!" Lily exclaimed, "And it's in three days!"
"We will help you," Benjamin said.
"Oh, good!" Lily exclaimed, "But we're going to need to get there somehow, and my copter is bashed."
"Leave that to me," Coco said as she quickly fixed the copter. In a matter of seconds, the copter was ready for take-off. So the five flew off to the Acornelius Realm…
F.T.A.: So that's the end of the first chapter! Will Benjamin and Crash stop Gaznor and the wolves of the Nega World from taking over the Acornelius Realm? Find out next time…