Chapter 2

The night was calm. On the North Sanity Island, or simply N. Sanity Island, the old hut that was known as the house of Crash Bandicoot and his siblings was still located in the island's shore, right behind the beach. Sand, rocks and plenty of vegetation were the main features of N. Sanity Beach, despite the fact that the hut was only three miles away from the densest jungle and another ten miles before it could reach the third largest mountain in the Tasmanian Islands.

At home, everything was occurring normally. In the living room, where there was the old fireplace with a few photographs above it of Crash and his ex-girlfriend Tawna, his jet board placed on the wall and a round window on the opposite corner, it turned out that Crash and Crunch Bandicoot were peacefully watching TV while sitting on the couch. The slightly broken television set, which not only was from the mid 90's but was also offered to the bandicoots by N. Brio for helping him a few years earlier, seemed to work quite decently with only a couple of interferences every now and then on the analog screen. At such hour of the night, ironically, they were laughing at a show which revolved around a group of grown men doing all kinds of practical pranks.

"I'm still not sure if these guys are brilliant or stupid." Crunch remarked, leaning against the couch with his non-metallic arm.

"That's an easy answer, don't ya think?" Crash smiled, his thick Australian voice echoing throughout the room. "Of course they're both."

"It was a rhetorical question, ya dummy." He rolled his eyes.

Then, at that precise moment, an episode showed one of the guys sitting on a jet ski, shouted his name to the audience before speeding up through a path of water, and eventually jumped into a bush while the rest of the group laughed maniacally.

Crash tried to keep his breath from laughing so much. "That was a good one!"

"Yeah," Crunch smirked. "So this is how you broke Coco's jet ski, am I right?"

In a split second, Crash froze. "Huh... I was young and reckless, okay?"

"Young?" Crunch snorted. "That was like, what, three years ago!"

"Yes, but as I said, I used to be more reckless. I'm not like that anymore."

"You blatant liar."

"Hey, don't tell me that you don't remember us doing stunts like those guys."

"Us? You mean you."

"Okay, aside from Coco's jet ski, what else did I break, hmm?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Nothing," Crunch shrugged. "Although I still remember you picking up a shoe with your mouth from a hole you dug in the sand and chasing Cortex through the woods because you thought he was Coco."

Crash frowned at the remembrance. "You're no help, you know what–"

"BOYS!"

The two males jumped from their seats before laying their eyes on the angry individual. Coco Bandicoot was standing at the entrance of the room with her arms folded; she was wearing a white robe, white make-up spread on her face with two lemon slices placed on her eyelids, and her blond hair was arranged into a bun rather than into her usual ponytail. If neither of the two bandicoots sitting on the couch got scared by the shout, then they most likely got scared by their sister's appearance instead.

"Coco, you scared us!" Crunch scowled.

"With all my due respect, sis," Crash, oblivious, aimed his index finger at her. "You look like you came straight out of a horror movie."

Crunch immediately turned his head to look at his younger brother with a disbelief expression on his face, but Coco, surprisingly, didn't seem to be affected by his witty remark. "Very funny," she laughed in a sarcastic manner, and finally removed the lemon slices from her eyelids. "Seriously, guys; it is one hour in the morning, don't you think it's already time to hop into bed?"

"Yeah, you're right..." Crunch sighed, a hint of tiredness shown in his voice. "Crash and I spent so much time watching crappy shows on TV that even we lost the track of time."

"I know; I heard your laughter all the way across the room." She half-closed her eyes.

"Sorry about that, sis." Crash gave his apology with a friendly smile, while Crunch picked up the control remote that was lying on the green carpet to turn off the TV. He then jumped from the couch and stretched out his arms with a yawn. "Well, time to go to sleep."

"Oh, now you're sleepy..." Crunch sneered.

Whether it was habit or not, Crash easily ignored the muscular bandicoot's remark, and walked until the entrance where his sister was standing. "Good night, Coco."

"Good night, big brother." She yawned. It was a good thing that she hadn't lost her sleep yet.

Before he could go upstairs to go to his bedroom, or in this case, the attic, Crash looked at Crunch one last time, since he was finally exiting the living room after hours of mindless entertainment.

"Night, Crunch."

He gave him a thumbs-up and everyone went to their respective rooms.


Aku Aku was restless. At the Hyperspace Temple, where he had spent the last twenty-four hours trying to disclose the source of a highly negative energy that had suddenly come out of nowhere, the witch doctor was getting overwhelmed with worry. Not only he didn't know where the source had come from, but he also was trying to discover who was going to be its first victim – he had such knowledge about spirits and all kinds of energies that if a particular one was able to put him in a stress of that degree, then it was because it wasn't a good sign at all.

The only good news he could interpret as somewhat blessing was that his evil twin brother Uka Uka or any of the Elementals wasn't there. The Elementals have been banished from the temple soon after Crunch was released from Cortex's control, and Uka Uka, especially, was too busy planning evil schemes to take over the world along with Cortex and the gang, although it was one of those quirks of his that Aku Aku never really understood. What was so great or gratifying about taking over Earth and make billions of people suffer under his power? But aside from that philosophical question, which didn't really matter or even help him to be honest, Aku Aku was trying his hardest to go back into action and prevent the next big disaster... if he could stop thinking so desperately about a solution for the problem.

And then it hit him like a wall of bricks: the last time he had an argument with Uka Uka, which happened around forty-eight hours ago, he told Aku Aku that he had had enough with Cortex spending too much time in his laboratory coming up with meaningless experiments instead of actually making his world domination plans come to fruition.

Sure, Cortex had a tendency to have his head in the clouds and not jump automatically into world domination, but the "spending too much time in his laboratory" detail was the light bulb he needed.

Of course he sent someone else to kill Crash.


It was three in the morning, and Crash was still open-eyed.

It was very unusual. Nothing in that peaceful night could have possibly disturbed his sleep cycle, and Crash was never an anxious mutant to begin with. He did manage to fall asleep once or twice, but each time he did, he would always wake up with a halt, as if his brain suddenly decided to put him in alert mode for whatever reason. Nonetheless, Crash didn't seem too worried about his inability to sleep.

Still lied down on his comfortable hammock, which was suspended between two walls with a round window behind it, Crash was so bored out of his mind that he let both of his arms touch the wooden floor and began counting sheep as a desperate measure to fall asleep again, but not even that was working. He soon gave up and sat on the hammock with his knees close to his chest, only to turn his green-apple eyes at the clear sky through the window's glass.

"It sure is a beautiful night..." he said, absent-minded.

Moments later, his ears caught what seemed to be movements. Crash's attention then turned to this unknown presence that unexpectedly began to bother him, and even though he couldn't detect anything out of place inside the attic – since it was thankfully illuminated by the full moon – Crash continued to walk quietly. He extensively scanned the whole area, only to find nothing but dust on old furniture...

...Until he encountered a pair of brown eyes lurking in the shadows.

BANG!

Before he could even say a simple 'ow', Crash got hit in the head by a piece of wood and fell to the floor. Fortunately, the attacker didn't hit him hard enough to make him unconscious, so he instinctively turned his chin up to take a better look at his opponent, and stood shocked at what he saw.

The attacker was a bandicoot.

"What is your problem, mate?" Crash demanded, with his ears against his skull as a response to threat.

"Not your business."

The hyena-like voice caught him off guard, but at the same time made him realize something – it sounded like a feminine voice. While the attacker was trying to remove a knife that, quite ironically, got stuck in their belt, Crash studied their features – aside from the fact that they were wearing a jet-black assassin suit with a mask to hide their snout, the familiar "N" insignia on their belt and the obvious physical differences he and they had as a species, they also had a slender figure, accentuated hips, long sharp claws, eyelashes...

Not only she worked for Cortex, she was also a lady.

As soon as she got hold of the knife, Crash rolled to the side in order to run away from her, but she was so fast and agile that she managed to kick him towards the floor once more, seizing him with one of her arms around his neck while the other was holding the knife.

Crash tried to buy some time by starting a futile conversation. "Hey, huh, assassin lady... may I ask why are you even trying to kill me in the first place?"

She growled; indeed, he wasn't exactly Mr. Casanova.

Desperate to save his life, Crash used his legs to push the assassin away from him and enjoyed the slim opportunity to run downstairs, although he did fall through the stairs by the end because of the adrenaline. So much so that he didn't feel any pain, as he just kept running towards the round entrance door, which was also made of wood, as he frantically tried to open it in order to save his own fur from her wrath.

"Please don't fail on me now, please don't fail on me now, please don't fail on me now–"

As Amelia reached the end of the stairs and jumped all the way towards the orange bandicoot with the same knife that had a shiny, razor-sharp blade grasped in her hand, Crash turned his head at her.

He screamed.

Whether it was God's pity or purely luck, Crash was quick enough to lower his head and Amelia struck her knife into the wooden door, which gave him the time he needed to open it and flee as fast as he could. When he ran into the jungle and turned his head back to see if he was still being followed, there she was chasing him at full speed, almost like a cheetah, and after five minutes of nothing but straight-out running, Crash had no choice but to give up.

With all of his energies completely drained, Crash weakly walked up to a palm tree and leaned against its trunk in order to breathe. For a brief period – as in just a minute – the assassin disappeared, only for her to return unmasked to show a smirk on her face, as she approached Crash and touched his throat with the tip of her blade.

"Sweet dreams, bandicoot." She softly said, with malice clearly shown in her voice, as Crash dropped his ears in hopelessness before closing his eyes.

"Crash!"

Hearing his family's calls from the distance was truly the light at the end of the tunnel, but for Amelia, it was time to disappear again, as she left an untouched Crash no more or less. Feeling exhausted and with his hand now placed on his throat, he watched the sneaky assassin vanishing into the dense jungle.

"Crash! Crash, where are you?"

"Over here!"

He knew they wouldn't find him in there, so Crash walked all the way to the beach in order to meet them. Coco, Crunch and even Aku Aku appeared soon after, unmistakably concerned about his health, as they couldn't restrain themselves from coming up with a million questions.

"Crash, what happened? Are you hurt?" Coco was so worried that she even placed her hand on her chest because of her heartbeat.

"What was that scream about?" Crunch asked. "And what happened to the door? Did Rusty Walrus just come in or did you sleepwalk?"

"Guys," Crash tried to reassure them. "I'm fine, but you have no idea what just happened this whole time – I was attacked by an assassin lady!"

"Who?" Coco raised an eyebrow, dumbfounded.

"You were attacked by a sin?" Crunch frowned.

"No, it was an assassin who happened to be a lady! And the worst part is that she was one of us, too!"

"In what context?" He inquired.

"She was a bandicoot, and she worked for Cortex! The reason why I'm absolutely sure of that – well, aside from the obvious fact that she tried to kill me with a knife – is that she had an uppercase "N" on her belt."

"I knew it." To everyone's surprise, Aku Aku spoke. "I knew it was going to happen... I am so sorry, Crash. I tried to warn you, or at least prevent the situation from happening, but I simply couldn't make it in time."

"It's okay, Aku." Crash tiredly smiled. "You tried your best. At least I ended up intact."

"Barely." Upon hearing that remark, Coco angrily elbowed Crunch.

"On the other hand..." Crash started, thoughtful. He then gave up on the idea for thinking it was pointless, but Aku Aku persuaded him to keep talking.

"What is it, Crash?"

"The assassin might be a bandicoot like the rest of us, but at the same time... she was different. For starters, she had slick black fur, something I've never seen before, her ears and snout were smaller than mine and she had a tail. I always thought that we were the only mutated bandicoots in this island."

"Clearly something's not right." Crunch agreed.

"We have to investigate," Coco added. "Not only to know where she came from, but also to assure your and everyone else's safety. If that lady was hired by Cortex to murder you, she won't stop, unless she was brainwashed in the same way as Crunch."

"Correct, Coco." Aku Aku nodded. "If we're ever able to break the brainwashing process, if that happens to be her case, Crash will be out of danger. But until then, we have to be vigilant."

"Tell me about it..." Crash sighed, fatigued. His night might have sucked in every sense of the word, but at least he was grateful to receive a comfort hug from Coco.