The Shopping Trip

'Crash? Crash? Where are you, big brother?' Coco shouted as she peered in the closet. Crunch was lifting heavy chairs to find Crash.

'Mangaraggshayably!' Crash chortled, gleefully, as he calmly strolled down the stairs.

'Oh, there you are, Crash! You know how you love Wumpa fruit…?' Coco asked, excited. Crash's head started nodding so furiously Crunch had to put his metal hand over Crash's head. Even then Crunch could feel some slight vibrations.

'Well have I got a deal for you! If you help us do our shopping, we'll give you a month's supply of Wumpa fruit!'

'Yahoo!' Crash jumped up, as if he had been struck by lightning. Crunch put a hand over Crash's hair to stop him from destroying the light fixtures.

'Woah, Crash! You seem overenergismatic!' laughed Crunch.

'Go over to Sylvester's Shop and buy the things on this list,' Coco added. She rummaged around in her bag, throwing out some lipstick and other girly accessories. Finally, she found her purse and two sheets of paper. She gave them to Crash. Crash pocketed the purse and read one of the papers.

'Be careful with that purse, Crash. Don't talk to strangers,' Crunch said, with a thumbs-up.

One of the papers was a map, containing directions on how to get to Sylvester's. Because this was Crash's first time at collecting the shopping, he needed this map. Without it, he'd be lost.

The other paper was a shopping list. Crash had to find:

Breath mints

Snackers (a popular chocolate bar with nuts in)

Bunch of bananas

Coconut seeds

Shoes

'OK, Crash! See you later! We'll get the Wumpa!' Coco waved.

'Gagahejal!' replied Crash, walking out the door.

'Gee, I sure hope he gets to his destination on time,' Crunch muttered to Coco once Crash had left.

'What do you mean? All he has to do is cross over the bridge, then go thr-'

Coco looked at the door in horror and dashed out. Crunch just stared at the spot where Coco had been, seconds before.

When Coco finally caught up with Crash, she told him the bad news.

'Crash, the radio said that Brio Bridge is still under maintenance. You'll have to go through Flowery Forest instead,' Coco gasped.

Crash gave Coco the thumbs-up before trotting away to Flowery Forest.

When Coco was back home, Crunch asked her what the big problem was.

'There was a slight diversion, so Crash has to go through Flowery Forest.'

'NOT FLOWERY FOREST!' Crunch jumped backwards.

'What's wrong with Flowery Forest? It has flowers and bees and trees and butterflies…'

'You know as much as I do Flowery Forest is next to Fearsome Forest…'

'Yeah, they both look the same from the outside.'

'Well, since this is Crash's first time out, he might get confused and go into the wrong one!' Crunch said at last, exhausted.

'Don't worry. What's the worst that can happen?' Coco smiled.

Silence. Crunch looked nervous.

'If Crash doesn't come back, don't blame me.'

Meanwhile, at Cortex Castle…