"Ah, it's a delight to see you again. How have you spent your time, dear friend?"

"…An odd question to ask? I suppose, yet again, from your perspective it is."

"It's always so hard to choose the proper words around you, even after two-thousand years"

"Alas, I know you are busy, I will not waste your time. Another chapter is unfolding soon enough, am I not wrong?"

"You already know where they shall be going, you've guided them well enough with this particular placement. How much fun do you plan on having though?"

"…Hahaha, I suppose it is impossible for you to make a comparison, you are correct. Then perhaps it'd be better to ask how far you plan to go."

"That far, not the same? I suppose escalation is always part of your game. Very well my friend, then go, enjoy yourself to your heart's content!"

"I-I beg your pardon? Why my dear, I do believe that was a laugh slipping out from between your rosy lips."

"Did my presumptuous attempt at giving you permission truly humor you so? A fair affair, I'd say au contraire. Let us start then, in the land of mutants and marsupials…"

CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EX STORY 2:

TWINSANITY

Chapter 1: Adventures in the Land Down Under

"Hmmmm…HMMMMM!"

"Hrggg…"

"Hmmm…HMMMM!"

In an air sphere speeding through the depths of space, a symphony of hums and grunts was played between it's two passengers, a girl by the name of Shina Aurora and a boy named Alex Whiter. At this moment he guided their ride with a miffed tapping of his foot in rhythm with the hums.

Shina, dressed in her fitting blue t-shirt and light beige pants, examined a curved stone with engravings familiar only to her. Her wrist pivoted as her face contorted in a forcibly bizarre way of expressing curiosity, and as she laid against her flowing golden locks her legs paddled as though in the presence of water.

Alex's expression grew tighter and tighter, slowly making his face resemble an angry prune until he released his emotions all at once "You've been at this non-stop! So…STOP!" Shina's body jerked up, meeting the daggers jolting from his eyes. With a tilt to the right she spun the stone on a finger and smiled.

"Ya expecting me to do anything else in here? If you just picked up a board game last planet…"

"Like, oh my god! I seem to have left my wallet one million light years back." Alex swung a hand beside himself while sounding feminine, then clamped his teeth hard enough to scare a tiger and exclaimed "Should I turn around to get it?!" With a quaking stamp and swerve, he went back to piloting.

Silence pervaded the sphere until Shina stood and tossed the stone up, the snap from it being clamped between her fingers making Alex's emotions exchange with a sigh as his head hung. With a short hop and glide over, Shina held the stone in front of Alex and her aura poured through it to create a foggy trail out into space.

As her arms rested on Alex's shoulders his skin stiffened, yet his innards melted from her jolly words "Look, look! We finally found the next planet!" She would never catch a glimpse of his pink cheeks as she backflipped and let out a holler of joy.

"I-It only took three months." He gasped as the tension became a distant memory, allowing him to focus on getting the sphere to the planet.

Shina pirouetted with the stone raised high and sang "We're one step closer to saving you sis~!" then with a graceful yet sudden stop she held the stone under her arm and thrust a finger forward.

"Onward, Cap-I-Tan!"

"Aye aye, rookie." Alex quipped with a shrewd brush of his head back. To his surprise, it only took three minutes to get close to the planet, but looking at it only perked his brows and got him murmuring "Hey wait a second…This isn't Earth, is it?"

"Blue seas, seven continents…If it's not Earth then I'm going to question my teacher when I get back." Shina observed with little fanfare. As Alex grumbled to himself "I'd question more than that…" and then followed the trail of aura to what appeared to be Australia's islands.

"Somehow, a second Earth is easy to swallow. But what will we find?" His intention for privacy was ruined with a sharp widening of his eyes as Shina spoke out "Well if we're going to Australia, I might have some ideas. Eeeeeee, this is so exciting!"

With squeals expected of one half her age, Shina clenched her fists against her chest and backed off. Alex's ear rung for a little and he retreated back into his usual grumpiness, muttering with a scowl "Great, this is happening again. Well, now that she has guidance maybe she'll not waste our time."

The aura magnetically drew the duo towards a small tropical island off the coast of Australia. It had a volcano in it's center and palm trees with leaves of various colors dotted across the gristly sand beaches. The rest of the island was covered in jungles too thick to observe from above. To Alex, there was an air of peace and tranquility that was foreign to him.

The sphere landed softly on the southern edge of the island, pushing up the sand in dusty rings and sending the native crabs scuttling to the navy blue seas. Alex let out a sigh as Shina somersaulted out of the fading sphere and landed with her arms swung up.

"Ahhh, warm air!" She arched back, and Alex found himself quite distracted by her ample breasts as she unwittingly thrust them forward. "Yep! I can just hear the acapella!" She said as she straightened up.

"W-Whadda what?" Alex babbled like the doofus he is and Shina spun around, standing on one leg with arms hung out "I mean duh, we're on N. Sanity Island! Circa Twinsanity judging by it's looks."

"Whatever" He replied sternly "We're not here for a vacation. Where's the trail lead us now?" he then brushed her off to look around.

His eyes focused on some bouncing green crates labeled 'Nitro' and suddenly an environmentalist was born of him as he thought "This CAN'T be good for the area." A chicken runs right up to one of the crates, letting out his last cluck as a chain of explosions took out his kin in the area. Alex couldn't even enjoy being right and winced before looking at Shina, who was shaking the artifact like a rattle.

"Hey Alex, the trails gone cold." Shina shrugged aloofly. Alex blinked twice and then started to approach her with a suspecting "What do you mean 'cold'?"

"Frozen. Chilled. Icy. Freiz-" The stone was swiped from her as Alex bluntly said "I have no time for your synonyms, Shina. You can't tell me this isn't working" while looking at it.

"Oh well in that case it's definitely working!" Shina said with spunk bordering on the sarcastic, and with a glare over his shoulder Alex waved the stone lightly and said "Forget it. Why would this stupid thing just…stop?" Shina turned around and rubbed her chin, but expectedly she shrugged after.

"Grrrrrreeeeaaat…" Alex flicked the stone back to Shina's possession and he defaulted to his chest pressing armfold. With only a glance at her glistening eyes he could predict, unfortunately, what would happen next.

"Then it's time for another adventure!" With a perky hop she chirped and then giggled. Of course, mister party pooper himself stamped his foot down, saying after her abrupt gasp "Worry about finding information!"

"Keep ya pants on Alex! If we're on N. Sanity Island then there's a lot of people we can talk to!" Shina waved a hand around while Alex mustered up a puff of disbelief and replied "'People' in the broadest definition of the term. Well, whatever. Considering where we are…"

He looked around, gliding on by the tiki idols past the coastline until he peered into the luscious jungle, where he saw a nice stone hut with a red roof basking under the rays of the morning sun. Shina was already hopping innocently towards that hut, causing Alex to shake his head and then go after her. The sound of waves was slowly drowned by the chirping of birds, and with the air growing warmer the atmosphere got bathed in a light yellow hue thanks to the canopy filtering the sunlight through.

Unaware of the insanity he'd be dragged into, not as though he'd care, a bipedal orange furred marsupial wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes laid flat in the middle of the sunlight beaming down. His chest puffed like a balloon and deflated just as well with every breath, and with his arms stretched out he was truly engulfed in a feeling of relaxation.

"OHMIGOSH You're THE Crash Bandicoot!" Tragically, he was caught up in the cacophony of a fangirling squeal and his body jolted awake, fur standing on end as his green eyes bulged out momentarily. His gloved right arm was then grabbed and shaken furiously by Shina, who let out all her feelings in a single burst of glee "I' !…ImeanexceptCrashBoomBangbutnobodylikedthatone,ohmygoshyourfurissosoftupcloseandpersonalandIcan't-"

As Shina stroked his arm, Crash picked at his ear with whatever freedom he had. With a shrug and a goofy look on his face he flicked the wax away. His savior came with a rude reminder towards Shina in the form of a two-finger jab to the neck, and as she rubbed the spot she looked straight back into the bewildered eyes of her comrade.

"Really?!" He swung his arms out wide enough to hug a bear and continued on with the ferocity of one "I suggest finding info and you go to the brainless marsupial?! This isn't like Spyro, we'd be lucky to even get a snark out of the guy!"

"Aleeeeeeex, it's not nice to insult someone for their brain problems." Shina said in a lofty voice as a sort of scratching sound directed her towards Crash digging out a spare shoe from the ground with his teeth, and looking quite proud of it to 'boot'!

"…Look, it's not an insult when I say the floating plank living on this world would be more useful than him." Alex opened his eyes and lowered his arms, moving around Shina and making his way to do the door with a mutter of "Speaking of…"

He only had to pound it twice as it opened quickly. Backing off, his expression was apathetic to the appearance of the 'floating plank'. The wood had a perplexed frown on it's cracked yet bulbous wooden lips, and while his yellow eyes were pupil-less his thick brows matched his feelings to a tee. The four colored feathers on his top and green feather goatee gave this being a mythical vibe.

"What is all this commotion?" They spoke like a guru, calmer than the evening tide. When his eyes met the simple looking Alex, he let out a gasp to the boy's surprise. Then, the wood bowed gently and stated "Never, in all my years, did I think I'd get to see the successor of the revered Elemental Overlord."

"Uhhh…" Alex glanced aside and muttered "R-Right."

Shina ran up to the mask and held her hand out. He raised his brows, and after a blinking glance at her hand she quickly grabbed and wiggled the mask's goatee.

"A pleasure to meet ya Mr. Aku-Aku! My name is Shina Aurora!" She then nudged back and playfully said "Grumpy gus over there is Alex Whiter!"

"Real mature." Alex's disgruntled whisper was followed by the girl folding her arms back and saying "I'm just jivin'!" The boy shook his head as he approached and forced her arm holding the stone forward, looking the brow raised mask in the eyes with his expected seriousness.

"Aku, have you seen any stone like this around?" He tapped the stone a couple times as the mask floated over and hummed in thought. He pulled back and slowly shook.

"I'm afraid I have not. Is it fair to assume this is important to you both?" Aku smiled and listened in as Shina proclaimed "It's super duper important! We're looking for more pieces of this artifact so we can find the Cosmos Drive and save my sister!"

"Ah, a valiant effort if I do say so myself. Though if you don't mind me asking, young Overlord…Why are YOU here?"

"I ask myself that more than I care to admit…" Alex rolled his eyes and with a careless glance he said "I'm the only way she can go between planets. Plus, you know…Elemental Overlord duties and all that."

"Well, I am pleased to inform you that our world has been at peace for a few years now. You have Crash to thank for that."

Alex looked back and saw Crash running towards the jungle, following what appeared to be a yellow-skinned man wearing a girlish blonde wig and slightly feminine clothes.

"Speaking of..." He pointed out, and Aku shifted his focus with a squint and comment of "How peculiar…Since when has Coco had a head that big?"

"Well thanks for your help Aku we'll search for it on our own bye!" Alex hastily tried to leave while dragging Shina by the arm, but she slipped free and with a gesture blocked the boy's way with a wall of aura. He turned around with a glare and said "Shina, we are NOT wasting time with this."

"Why not? Helping Crash is a good excuse to scour the island for the next piece." Shina shrugged and grinned. Hastily, Alex wiggled a finger at her and pointed out "Forgive me if I don't believe that. You were just squealing about adventure like a clique girl at the mall not too long ago."

"What an inapt comparison." Shina merrily spoke with a hand clenched before her smile, then she swung a pinky out from that same hand and said in a sing-song tone "Hows about I solemnly swear on a pinky promise to stay focused?"

"That's pretty kiddie." Alex bluntly said. With a sigh and a trembling hand he grit his teeth and raised a pinky up "B-But if it'll get us through this, then fine." The pinky promise was done with a energetic grip from Shina, and she almost pulled Alex from the ground as she moved back and clapped.

"Alright! Lets go catch up with Crash!" She pumped her fist and sprinted towards Aku as he was flying into the jungle. He stopped when the girl stood and pivoted in front of him with an offer "Hey Mr. Aku-Aku, you want some help with Crash?"

"I wouldn't want to be a burden." Said Aku humbly.

"Our goals coincide. Scratch your back and you scratch mine?"

The mask happily said "Very well. But be careful, I have a bad feeling about this…" and then stiffened his wooden body as the two went into the jungle. Alex was a sighing follower in all this, and during their trek through the jungle he cared not about the luscious sights and wildlife. Instead he tried to zero in on the next artifact.

"Can't even sense the darn thing. If this island was a haystack, then I'm currently the needle hunter…" He brushed the ground with a kick as they entered a moist tunnel, a trail of unconscious animals in their wake.

"Crash was here…" He then looked over at Shina as she appeared to be mid-conversation with Aku, her gaze not wandering as it should. A scowl cocked, Alex picked up the pace until he was inches behind the two, right in time for Shina to be snorting like a pig.

"S-So I guess you could say we 'CRASH' landed on this planet." Aku's low, genuine laughter was drowned by a bellowing groan from Alex, and the two looked back as he dragged a hand along his face.

"Something wrong Alex?" She inquired, and with a sweeping motion Alex groaned "N-Never mind…Can you just hand me the artifact?" It was tossed over instantly, though he fumbled it for a few seconds. With a slight grimace as his heart beat fast, Alex focused on the stone and his lips slowly curled into a scowl.

"Stupid rock…Just what are you made of?" He threw it straight back, Shina spinning around and clamping it out of the air before it hit her head. Alex raised his brows and shook his head as they exited the tunnel and finally caught up with Crash. He was belly flopping atop some ugly as sin green worms that were popping out of the ground.

"There you are Crash. Why did you run off?" Aku inquired. Crash stood up and after brushing the dirt from his chest pointed to the left. Around a towering totem was the strange man from before. He trotted around in circles like a country girl in a flower field, and from this close the lipstick and mascara on his large noggin was so frighteningly clear.

"Eaugh! And here I thought I had experienced the scariest thing in my life." Alex said with visible disgust as Shina commented "Nothing wrong with putting on a little make-up" nonchalantly, not at all fooling the boy with her secrecy towards the man's unbelievably idiotic disguise.

With a squint Aku noted "That is definitely not Coco" and Alex followed up with a blunt "It's not even a woman!" as he swung his arms up. His expression would go sour as Crash quickly pursued the man speaking in falsetto.

"Come along Crash! I have a surprise waiting for you!" That 'mysterious' man bounced off a worm to get to higher ground, and Crash did the same.

"…I better offer my protection." Aku said with a wooden sigh, shaking himself and then flying after him. Shina got one inch off when she was jerked back down by Alex using vines from the ground around her left leg. Shina blushed and said "Y-You're being a bit forceful there Alex" as she looked back and put fingers against her giggling lips.

"S-Start looking around. We'll follow them after." He was firm even as his own translucent blush gave away his true feelings. It didn't take long to scan the surrounding jungle, but there was naught a clue to be found. Placing his hands in his pockets and fighting back the urge to grumble profanities, Alex flew up on ahead to the path Crash took, Shina catching up a few seconds later.

"Nothing so far! Oh, but this is so exciting! It's like we're in a haystack, and looking for the nee-"

"Already made the comparison." As Alex was blunt Shina responded with a playful sticking-out of her tongue out as she said "Lighten up Alex, heheh!"

The sound from Alex's ensuing sigh could drown out the deepest yawn, and he chose to indulge in the art of silence as they went along the path and eventually slid down a slope leading to an enclosed stone arena. Crash and Aku were in the middle of it, and on the northern part of the wall was the man still wearing his hastily put together disguise.

But with an over energetic twirl the man would rip the disguise off and reveal his pasty white lab coat with a grin that crossed his whole face. How even someone like Crash did not recognize this man from his thick wavy eyebrows, unkempt beard, and jolting out sideburns is something not even this mad scientist would be able to figure out. With a gesture of his red glove the man said "Surprised to see me Crash?"

Crash and Aku both raised their brows with the bandicoot's lips puckered in surprise, and as the man boasted "Like the fleas in your fur I keep coming back!" Crash began to roughly itch at his chin. His admittedly already short attention span was thus taken far away from the ravings of this lunatic as she stamped his foot down and with a scowl said "THREE YEARS I spent frozen alone in the Antarctic wastes!" with enough red-hot fury that probably would've gotten him out of the ice sooner.

And yet, so quickly, he cuddled his hands against his head fondly and stated "Aaaaaand I missed yooooou!" With Crash's attention grabbed again the man gestured and bowed, continuing on with "So I organized a little gathering. Like a birthday party except…the exact opposite."

Crash did not care any further as his mind already trotted off to dreams of cakes as tall as mountains, a fair amount of drooling sliding out the side of his mouth.

"And look, all your friends are here!" He referred to a gathering of people Crash has indeed met, like the half-croc half-dingo Dingodile, the Mafioso mouse Pinstripe, and the interstellar racer Nitros Oxide to name a few. Of course, to call them 'friends'…well, I think it should be obvious what's really going on here. At least the muscular bandicoot Crunch was there with a slice of cake and genuine intentions, but he was just a confused individual amongst a crowd of bloodthirsty mutants, aliens, and one revenge seeking young polar bear.

"Cortex, has four defeats not taught you a lesson?" Aku-Aku said with calm disdain. Cortex did his deep rooted chuckle as his signature orange hoverboard fell in front of him, and as he leaped onto it he pulled out a red ray gun and said menacingly "Well…The teachers always said I was a BAAAAD learner."

All this time, Alex and Shina hid behind the entrance to the arena until it was suddenly sealed up by a massive slab. Then Shina leaped up and poked her head over, Alex gritting his teeth and whispering while pointing straight down "Shina! We're not getting involved! Get down from there!"

"But what if that strange aura shows up again? I mean, it did the last time…" Shina paddled her feet against the rock and with mouth agape Alex dulled his expression and leaped up to observe limply. As the battle between mad scientist and his greatest failure began, Alex could only pray that things could go simply this time around…

Next Time: An Underground Search