Chapter 7

He puts on the white lab coat, & he buttons it up to fasten it close on his torso. The rubber gloves come on afterwards, followed by a swift combing of the two areas of greying hair that are located on his N. Larged head: the long, side-piece around his head, & the little, pointed piece he has on the top of his forehead. Lastly, he takes the time to polish that gigantic "N" on his forehead.

Now wrapping-up his self-preparation, the doctor is N. "It's good to be back N. Business.", he says.

"Mmhmm. Wwwwhat's...what's going on?"

Coco Bandicoot wakes up from a long-lasting nap. She barely has any memory of what's going on, & is currently unaware of where she is. When she fully awakens, she discovers that she is being held captive while being transported on an unusual airborne vehicle. With her are an array of familiar bad guys on board, otherwise known as "The N. Tertainers", who consists of the deranged clown Dr. N. Tertain himself, the burgundy bandibrute known as Crunch Bandicoot, & Dr. N. Visible, the cunning-chameleon. Of course, they're all lead by Dr. Neo Cortex himself, who finally makes his physical presence known as the captain of his brand-new airship.

"Good, she's awake.", says Cortex. "Man the ship while I N. Terrogate our prisoner."

"Ugh, where the heck am I?", says Coco. She turns around to see Cortex's ugly-mug in person for the first time in a long time. She reacts disgustingly by yelling, "EEP! CORTEX?! I knew it! I knew you had something to do with this! What have you done this time?!"

"Ah, so many questions from the supposed 'smarter' sister of Crash Bandicoot.", he replies. "Just sit back & enjoy the nice breeze while you can, because it may be the last time you ever experience this sensation..."

The siNister doctor approaches Coco slowly to offer a sort of compromise. He continues,

"...Unless, of course, you're willing to cooperate, then you might prove to be of greater use."

"Eeeehhh doubt it, doc!", says N. Terrain. "I know her type, she's the kind o' girl who can fight for 'erself in sit'ations like this. I seen 'er try it while Crunch was handlin' her earlier."

"Don't worry, N. Tertain.", Cortex responds. "Coco here knows what's good for her. She will comply to my every demands, or else my newest general here, Crunch, is going to make short work of her, worse than he did to her miserable brother."

Though frightened by Cortex's threatening promise & Crunch's brooding presence, Coco eventually gets an idea. After thinking to herself, she responds.

"You know what? You're right. I surrender.", she says. "I will happily comply to all & any of your commands!"

"That's more like- wait, seriously?", says caught off-guard Cortex.

"Uh-huh!", she reassures. "Hey, I know when I'm beat. I'm clearly outnumbered here, & burgundy n' broody over there doesn't seem too fond of me in the slightest. I mean, look at 'im, if Crash couldn't take him (even though he got sucker-punched), then what choice do I have? (a lot of gadgets & 4 years of martial arts under my belt, that's what.)"

"What was that?", Cortex asks.

"Nothing!", she quickly replies. "Nothing at all."

"Well, GOOOLLLY!", yells . "I had a feelin' she'd come around eventually! Hey, anybody smell a skunk?"

Seconds later, Dr. N. Trap, still wreaking of skunk-funk, gets picked up in her little circus-car & is carried onto the airship. She was barely able to break free from one of her own traps that was used against her by Jade Tiger. Because of this, the Russian scientist is still furious. She gets out of her vehicle to vent, in more ways than one...

"Grr, that N. Sufferable little cat-girl & her worthless forest friends.", she mumbled. "Just wait 'til I-I...ah-ACHOO!"

"N. Trap?! You seem to be a small bandicoot bilby short.", Cortex states. "Oh, & gesundheit."

"PEE-YEW!", goes N. Tertain. "It smells like the locals of the jungle offered you some 'special perfume', hahahahaaa!"

Cortex holds his nose to avoid the stench while speaking with N. Trap. He asks, "What

happened?"

"Do. Not. Ask.", she grumbles. After collecting herself, she explains everything.

"The bandicoot you call Crash made a new feline friend & they both subdued me. I was, surrounded by- so many, furry little creatures...they were all so cute, & I COULDN'T- I- ACHOO! I COULDN'T STAND IT!"

"Oh, Netra, don't worry.", Cortex says. "I know exactly how you feel. I have a niece that always loves to cuddle with the tiny fuzzies, & it makes me sick! Luckily, I currently have plans in place to put a stop to that (hopefully she'll understand), just like I have plans to get that N. Fernal bandicoot, & whoever else is foolish enough to lend him a paw on his misadventure, off our backs for good."

Coco eavesdrops on the conversation. She talks in her head to avoid any further conflict engaging with the baddies. "Is that so, Neo? We'll see about-"

But her thoughts are interrupted as Crunch stares with N. Tensity at her. It's likely that he knows what she's thinking.

"Ugh. Talk about a fuzzkill…", she says to herself.

"We're not out of ideas yet.", says Cortex. "He won't see what's coming now. Speaking of which...

...I believe it's time to make your move, Dr. N. Visible-"

Everyone looks around to see if the chameleon doctor is present for N. Structions, but alas, he's mysteriously nowhere to be found.

"Uh, is he gone?", asks Cortex. "Or is he- is he still here? *Sigh*, you never really know with that guy, being that he's, well-"

"Using camouflage to go invisible?", says N. Trap.

"Yes yes, exactly.", Cortex replies. "Hmm."

He feels silence & no presence of N. Visible, but Cortex still tries to make sure if he's still here or not.

"Dr. N. Visible? Uhh, I guess he's- *coughs*, already on it- OH, MY WORD! THAT SMELL!"

"Ok, seriously.", says N. Tertain. " When the audience throws tomatoes at ya during our performance, they're gonna be doing ya a favor. Jus' saying."

Annoyed even more, N. Trap snaps back, "OH SHUT IT ALREADY, YOU- YOU CLOWN!"

"Huehuehuehue!", laughs N. Tertain. "That skunk's aim must've been astounding!"

On the sidelines, Coco secretly giggles to herself at the antics between the evil doctors. For her, it's good stress-relief for her current situation. Even Crunch smirks a little at what's happening! But after settling down, Coco must focus back on keeping up her undercover captivity so that she'll be able to contact Crash at some point & tell him what Cortex is going to do next.

Back on N. Sanity Island, Crash Bandicoot makes his way through the jungle to save his sister & stop the N. Tertainers from whatever horrible thing they plan to do to the entire bandicoot species. With him is his trusty witch doctor guardian, Aku Aku, & his newest, unevolved bandicoot companion that's nicknamed Bandicute. They make their way to the streams & begin to carefully plan out how to cross them. Aku Aku makes a suggestion for Crash.

"Now may be a good opportunity to use your jet-board to cross this river.", he says.

Crash nods in agreement. He takes out the Bandroid phone to choose the jet-board as transportation, but as soon as Bandicute sees the unusual new device, he tries to mess with the screen.

"Ay!", goes Crash.

Fascinated by the colors & the functionality of the screen, the little bandicoot messes with the gadget choices, switching from the jetpack, to the motorcycle, to the fruit-bazooka.

Aku Aku tries to warn Bandicute, "No, Bandicute! You don't know what you're doing!"

The bubbly bilby tries to grab the whole thing for himself. Crash tries to take it from him, but they both end up accidentally tossing it towards the river.

"*GASP!*", goes Crash.

"Oh no.", says Aku Aku.

In an odd twist, the phone stops falling in mid air right above the water. It's now frozen in place.

"Huh?", says Crash.

This weird occurrence puzzles everyone, but it doesn't take The Great Aku Aku too long to figure out what's the deal.

"Who are you?", Aku Aku says. "Speak now & reveal yourself!"

The culprit appears from camouflage, revealing himself to be none other that Dr. N. Visible.

"You dropped your phone."

Everyone is surprised by this new & most-likely evil face. The sinister & silent chinese-accent omitted from the cunning chamaeleon ninja sends shivers down Crash & Bandicute's fur. N. Visble quickly throws the Bandroid back at Crash with full force, knocking him in the face & making him toss Bandicute. "EEEP!", the bilby yells. It then lands into the river.

"DAAAHHH!", screams Crash.

The heroic marsupial desperately tries to scramble for the bandicoot in peril. He reaches his hand out to grab him, but the currents pull Bandicute away. Crash runs as fast as he can along the edge to try to save him, all the while N. Visible follows behind him in attack-mode.

"Oh no. Crash! Don't let Bandicute drown!", says Aku Aku.