Of all the Wumpa islands, there was but one that Cortex had not yet captured, N. Sanity island. It was here where Crash and Coco had made a home for themselves and since then, even though they weren't related, the two had become like brother and sister, which is why they lived together in a small hut just off the beach that Coco herself had built.
Today, she was making some repairs to their home as it had been slightly damaged from a previous hurricane. She gathered some wood and patched the holes in the hut, hammering the boards into them.
"Crash?! Crash?!" she shouted, wiping the sweat from her fur.
Her shouting was to no avail as Crash was nowhere around. This wasn't the first time. Usually, whenever there was hard work to be done, Crash was either gone or sleeping.
"Oh brother. If laziness was a sport, that bandicoot would have enough gold medals to meld into a trophy," Coco said, laughing to herself before she continued her work.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, inside a native fortress, a group of tribesmen danced a ritualistic dance to the rhythm of drums that were being played. They were know as the Ooga Booga tribe, guardians of N. Sanity island.
Two other tribesmen carried a large plate of yellowish-orange fruit and presented it before their leader; the mighty Papu Papu. A towering figure who ruled over the tribe with his incredible strength and intensity.
And he displayed said intensity by picking his nose and eating his boogers.
One of the tribesmen stepped forward. "Mighty Papu Papu. We bring morning Wumpa fruit for you to eat," he said.
"We hope you enjoy. We not care that we almost get torn apart by wild hog for it. We happy to give you fruit," the other said.
"And then we give you hog as dessert," said the first one, showing the hog.
Papu Papu licked his lips as he went for the fruit. But as he did, he noticed that something felt different. "This fruit feel...hairy..." he said.
"Maybe fruit have extra fuzz today?" said a tribesman.
"Do fruit also have teeth today as well?" Papu asked, further feeling the fruit.
Suddenly, Papu yelped in pain, removing his hand from the fruit pile. Something had bitten his finger.
The tribesmen removed the fruit from the pile to reveal none other than Crash, scarfing down the fruit himself.
Crash gave an innocent smile as he waved at the angry villagers.
"Bandicoot steal fruit! Bandicoot must be punished! Get bandicoot so bandicoot can be punished!" commanded Papu.
With that, Crash made a run for it with Papu and his tribe close behind.
The tribesmen chased Crash through the fortress until they lost him. They looked around but didn't see him anywhere.
Just then, they spotted a nearby animal. A rather odd looking monkey with orange fur.
"Hello, monkey that look like bandicoot. Have you seen bandicoot anywhere?" asked Papu.
The monkey pointed north.
"Thank you, bandicoot monkey," Papu said.
Papu and his tribe resumed the chase while the monkey was met by a big female ape who took a liking to him and gave him a big affectionate bear hug. She squeezed him so hard that the disguise fell off revealing it to be Crash. The ape was so mad, that she balled up her fist and punched Crash straight into the air, being seen by Papu and his tribe.
"Bandicoot learn to fly," said a tribesmen.
Crash landed safely, however, he smelled something burning and there was smoke coming from behind him. He turned to see that he had landed on a torch. He ran around, yelping in pain and as he did so, he bowled into the Papu and his tribe, knocking them down before he cooled himself off in a nearby lake.
Emerging from the lake, Crash was greeted by the tribe who surrounded him with spears pointed directly at him.
Crash shivered in fear, but then suddenly realized he was still wet and began spinning around like a tornado to dry himself off. In the process, he knocked down most of the tribe with the exception of Papu whose wide girth kept him on his feet.
Standing face to face, Crash realized there was nothing left to do but fight.
"Bandicoot eat Papu fruit! Papu punish bandicoot!" Papu said.
Crash and Papu eyed each other intensely, before backing up a few away. They both went into sumo stances. Then Crash did a karate stance while Papu did a crane stance. They continued this until Papu turned his back, then turned again to see Crash gone.
The mighty chief stamped the ground hard in anger before he and his tribesmen chased after him again.
Back at the hut, Coco had put the finishing touches on the repairs.
"Well it's like I always say; a wooden board a day keeps the rain from falling on our heads. OK, that's literally the first time I've said that in my life, but it's a good thing to live by," Coco said.
Suddenly, she heard voices coming from the nearby forest that grew louder and louder, as if they were heading in her direction. And low and behold, Crash burst from out of the forest, running past the hut with Papu and the tribe in pursuit.
Coco let out a sigh. "He must've eaten their fruit again," she said.
As the chase continued, Crash hid behind a nearby tree.
"Where bandicoot go?" a tribesman said.
"Me not know. It like bandicoot disappear. You not see bandicoots do that often. Bandicoot must be magic," said Papu.
Just then, one of the tribesmen spotted a Wumpa fruit on the ground and picked it up. Then he saw another one and did the same, following a trail of fruit until he came to a final one. As he went for the fruit though, the ground beneath him fell through, revealing it to be a pit trap. The tribesman looked around, realizing he was in a trap, then just shrugged it off and proceeded to eat the fruit.
The rest of the tribe continued looking when they saw what looked like Crash pop out from a bush, but it was actually a cardboard cutout.
However, the tribe was easily fooled.
Two of the tribes men charged after it only to be et by a giant log that swung towards them, hitting both of them.
Just then, another Crash cutout appeared. Three more tribesmen went after it and got caught in a high rope trap.
Then another one appeared. More tribesmen went after it and ended up getting bolted into the air by a spring trap.
Then more and more Crash cutouts appeared until dozens of them surrounded the tribe.
"Bandicoot IS magic! Bandicoot multiplying!" said Papu.
Suddenly, a giant net fell from the tress and ensnared Papu and his tribe.
Crash looked on as the tribe was incapacitated when Coco grabbed him by the arm.
"Would it be too much to ask that you keep yourself out of trouble?" Coco said before she and Crash ran off.
Meanwhile, using his strength, Papu broke free and he and the tribe continued their pursuit.
After a while, the two appeared to have lost them and took a moment to catch their breaths.
"Crash, do you ever not think with your stomach?" Coco asked.
Crash just smiled and shrugged.
Suddenly, the two heard a rumbling sound coming from behind them. They turned to see Papu and his tribe standing atop a small hill where they were prying a giant boulder from its foundation.
"Papu smash bandicoots with big rock! Then Papu dine on roasted bandicoot. Medium well. Not medium rare or well done. Not really Papu's style," Papu said.
The tribe sent the boulder rolling towards the two bandicoots who proceeded to run for their lives.
"This is not how I wanted to get the day rolling. Ha! Ya get it?! 'rolling' because...the boulder is...rolling?" Coco said to Crash.
Crash didn't respond.
"Never mind..." Coco said.
The two bandicoots tried to put some distance between themselves and the boulder and they seem to do a good job until Coco realized she and Crash had stopped moving, but were still running. It wasn't until she looked down that she realized that she and Crash were miles off the ground and stopped running. Crash kept running until Coco tapped him on the shoulder and he realized it too. And then they, along with the boulder, fell down.
The boulder landed on the ground with Crash and Coco landing on top of it. The two bandicoots kept their balance, rolling on the boulder. However, Crash lost his and began rolling with the boulder.
Coco had to think of something quick. Suddenly, she noticed the multiple vines hanging over her and she got an idea. After peeling off Crash, she grabbed one of the vines and she and Crash swung off of the boulder, leaving it to roll off.
"Good thing we didn't 'boulder' anyone over! Ya get it?! Because...it was...a boulder..." Coco said.
Again, there was no response from Crash.
"Oh come on! That was a killer!" said Coco.
Getting back on the ground and having seemed to have lost the tribe, Crash and Coco were about to head home, when Crash spotted something that piqued his interest; a hog.
Crash's eyes widened and a huge sly smile came across his face.
Coco noticed and knew right away what Crash was thinking. "Hog run?" she said to Crash.
Crash nodded. Yep, Crash just couldn't resist some good ole fashioned hog riding.
Coco saw another hog next to the first one and figured she'd join in the fun.
Slowly, the two tiptoed towards the hogs, closer and closer until they were just behind them and then...THEY POUNCED!
The two bandicoots rode the hogs throughout the island, jumping over gaps and running over tribesmen along the way.
"Woohoo! Get along, little hoggie!" shouted Coco.
Eventually, both the hogs threw the bandicoots off of them, throwing them into the beach. Crash landed head first into the sand.
Coco chuckled. "Well that's what you get for trying to 'hog' all the glory!"
Just then, Coco noticed something in the distant ocean. It appeared to be a figure coming in at an exceptional rate of speed. And it looked as if the figure was riding on a speedboat.
Crash got his head out of the sand, but as he did, the speedboat skidded onto the sand and more got into his face.
The figure riding the speedboat was none other than the female bandicoot.
She stepped off the speedboat and stood before Crash and Coco.
After Crash wiped the sand off his face, he got a good look at the female bandicoot and was immediately entranced by her looks, floating in the air, and letting out his tongue like a dog.
The female bandicoot just pushed him back before Coco restrained him.
"Forgive him. His attention span is about the size of his brain. Where did you come from?" asked Coco.
"I escaped from Dr. Cortex's island," said the female bandicoot.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. You escaped from ole Crome Dome? Well welcome to the Island of Mistfit Genectic Mutations. Well, actually, it's N. Sanity Isalnd. I'm Coco and the drooling one is Crash. He's like the lazy, annoying brother I never asked for. Who are you?" asked Coco.
But before she could answer, the female bandicoot, along with Crash and Coco, were captured by Papu and his tribe and then taken back to the village.
Once they were tied up together at a steak, the female finally introduced herself.
"I'm Tawna."
