Chapter Two- A Power Unhinged

Crash had given into his sister's constant urging, and decided to learn how to water-ski. It was not a practice he was particularly interested in, but Coco had been so excited when she fixed her old skidoo, that Crash could hardly refuse. He squinted as flecks of water sprayed in his face, and looked up at the bright sky to escape the blinding splashes. It was a beautiful day, yet that wasn't too much of a surprise. On their substantial yet quaint island, warm sunny days were hardly out of the ordinary. That was probably why Crash enjoyed it there so much. Yet as he kept his fingers locked around the line, he couldn't help but feel slightly nervous.

Okay, don't worry Crash, you'll be fine…unless a big shark decides to take a bite out of you.

Crash flinched at this thought, and needed to twist to avoid plunging into the ocean water. Water which he was unable to swim in, he remembered. Regardless, he gained his balance once again, and continued to hold on as tight as possible. Coco turned around and offered a hearty laugh.

"Hey, you're doing great big brother!"

Crash grimaced as he nearly wiped out for the fifteenth time.

"How about you keep your eyes on where you're going."

Coco smiled wickedly, and flipped around in the saddle, leaning back and having a grand old time torturing her irritated brother.

"You think I'll crash into anything in the middle of the ocean?" She called smugly.

"Knowing you and your driving skills, I wouldn't be surprised if I winded up in a tree."

Coco fixed him with a confused look, as though she was figuring out his meaning. Then her brows angled in annoyance. She was about to say something else, but a deafening thunderclap drowned out her words. Crash winced at the magnitude of the explosion in the sky, and glanced up with a frown. Dark clouds were obscuring the sun, and a wind began to blow increasingly hard. Crash planted his feet and kept his hands latched around the rope. Coco had noticed the strange change in the weather too, and spun around to take control of the water vehicle.

"What the…?" Crash didn't have a chance to continue.

Crash angled his eyes and glanced toward the island. Vaguely, he could just make out a cloud of smoke trailing up from one of the mountains. Well, at least, Crash had always thought it was a mountain. He guessed now that it was a volcano.

Coco's head was in constant movement, as she scanned about her in confusion. "What's going on?"

Crash was too busy hanging on for dear life to offer his opinion. Coco looked over her shoulder, her big eyes wide with nervousness. She had her eye on something behind him, and her jaw dropped.

"Oh no, Crash, look out!"

Crash flipped his head around to get a glimpse of what she was warning him about, and swallowed hard when he saw it.

Now how am I supposed to watch out for that?

A massive tidal wave was charging toward them, getting bigger and wider by the second. Crash clenched his jaw and turned back toward Coco.

"Step on it!"

Coco complied, running her skidoo as fast as it was able. Crash held on tightly, and turned around again to see how fast the wave was moving. He gulped. It was pretty fast. He knew now they would never make it to land, at least, not in the way they intended. Crash prepared to hold his breath as he shouted to Coco.

"Brace yourself Sis, we're not gonna make it."

Crash didn't notice if Coco heard him or not. He felt the wave crash over him, and suddenly he was thrown into a whirling, disorienting vortex of water. He couldn't hold on to the rope, and it snapped from his grasp and disappeared into the blackness. Crash flailed there, eyes open and in frantic search for Coco. He couldn't see her anywhere, but he wasn't too worried. At least she was a better swimmer than he was. Crash remained stationary in the water, not kicking or attempting to swim, but instead letting the wave do all the work. It didn't take long for the water to carry him back to shore, and Crash soon found himself thrown roughly onto the sandy beach. He lay there on his stomach, wet, sore and miserable with a face full of sand. Immediately he felt someone at his side. Coco raked her wet hair out of her wide green eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Crash rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes. "No, I'm dead."

Coco stood up with a sigh, but he could tell that it was out of relief. "I'll go find a wild monkey to give you a nice dose of artificial respiration."

Crash grimaced at the thought, and then struggled to a sitting position.

"I'm I crazy to ask…what the heck just happened?"

Coco offered barely a shrug as she shoved her hands in her pockets. Crash was wondering if the supernatural occurrences were bumming Coco out, but he could see what she was really upset about and he smiled apologetically.

"It'll still work."

Coco's skidoo had piled into a tree, and didn't particularly look very good in its crumpled position. Coco's shoulders dropped.

"I just fixed the stupid thing."

Crash remained sitting, and stretched a knot that appeared in his shoulder. "Just for the record, I don't think you'd be able to use it right now even if it was working."

Finally, Aku Aku sped from through the trees. His gold eyes were bright with apprehension, as usual, and he was moving so fast he nearly barreled into Coco.

"Have you-"

"Seen a volcano erupting, feel a seismic charge shake the earth, almost drown in the result of a colossal tidal wave? Yes Aku, on all those accounts."

Crash shook his head. Coco was very peevish when things didn't go her way, and although the problems on the island were of a quite serious scale, she still hadn't bothered to hide her bitterness. Aku then seemed to notice that the two of them were soaking wet. He raised his brows in concern.

"Are you alright?"

"Alive." Crash confirmed as he pulled off his shoe and let the water run out. "But I can't give you more than that."

Aku appeared to be pondering, but didn't speak for a few moments. Coco squeezed the water out of her hair and Crash shook off his fur during the interlude, but Crash could already guess that something pretty serious was going on. As usual. Aku finally broke from his spell and focused on the bandicoots.

"This is Uka Uka's handiwork."

Crash felt like groaning, but didn't make a sound. Figure that out on your own, did'ja?

"Well, if that psychotic mask is stirring up trouble now, that means Cortex is probably stirring along with him." This statement was from Coco, whose tone had not yet descended into worry.

There was no need for either of them to question Uka and Cortex's escape from the time warp. It wasn't a surprise. Evil wasn't an easy thing to get rid of. Crash was about to speak, but lost his words as he noticed the sun had returned. He took a farther lay of the land, and notice nothing else unusual was happening. The ocean had settled, and the choppy waves became still once again. Crash scratched his ear.

"Hmm, that's pretty weird."

"What could possibly be affecting the climate so dramatically?" Coco thought hard but didn't come to a conclusion.

Crash really hadn't even the slightest idea how whatever was happening was…happening. So, as usual, he waited for someone smarter to come up with the answers. He turned toward Aku, mouth open to relay something witty, but he stopped cold when he saw Aku's expression. The old mask's golden eyes were wide, and he was staring blankly at the calm ocean. Crash was about to question him when the mask jolted back to reality and focused his attention on the two bandicoots before him.

"I…something is definitely not right here." Aku's voice was nervous.

"Thanks for the clarification Professor." Crash's tone was light and sarcastic.

Coco elbowed Crash hard in the side and shot him a warning glance. Then she turned her attention to Aku.

"We could kinda gather that for ourselves Aku. Do you know what's happening?"

Aku seemed to zone out again, and as Crash and Coco exchanged glances the old mask roused himself from his blank stare. It looked as though he kept falling asleep with his eyes open, but that was probably not the case. Aku fixed both of them with a stern look.

"Get back to the house. Both of you. I will meet you there later."

With that final statement, Aku disappeared. Crash let out an exasperated breath and glanced down at his sister. Coco flipped her blond hair behind her shoulder.

"This sounds like another doomsday prevention escapade to me."

Crash ruffled her hair before turning and sauntering down the path. "Get used to it Sis, there's no rest for a partially evolved bandicoot."