Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex
Retold by Mutitoon90
Chapter Nine
As Luna and Aku-Aku were exiting the portal, the werewolf was sent to the muddy ground by something that landed on her back. The ancient mask looked at Luna, who moaned in pain that would soon subside, and then he turned his attention to the thing the hit the brunette human's back, which greatly surprised him.
"Coco!" Gasped the guardian on the Wumpa Islands, "What are you doing here!?"
"I was-" The youngest of the Bandicoots tried to answer, but Luna was quick to recover from being landed on and got to her feet, causing Coco to flip over onto the ground.
"Coco," Luna turned to the female bandicoot with a neutral face, "that hurt."
"Sorry." The sister of Crash looked at Luna with a sincere face, and then she became serious and announced her thoughts, "I wanted to come! Crash got to go and Nathan too!"
Luna's face allowed a smile on her face as she said, "You're right, Coco. I'm really sorry about that. Forgive me?"
The blonde pre-teenish female looked up Luna in a mild shock, and she quickly recovered to say with a half-smug grin, "Sure."
Forgiven and pleased to the answer from Coco, the she-wolf offered a hand to the she-bandicoot, who was still sitting on the ground when the hand of her friend entered her eyesight. Luna's smile became wider, when Coco took her hand, and the werewolf helped the Bandicoot to her feet.
"Thanks, Luna."
Then, Coco looked at her current location and saw surprised at what she saw: plantlife not unlike that of her home, a wide river that rushed at her right, the animals that were in the trees and a mountain that was in front of the group's eyesights.
"Where are we?" The wide, green-eyed pre-teen asked her friend, who answered in a simple statement: We're in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, home of the Amazon Rainforest and Pico da Neblina, or Mist Peak."
Coco's eyes became even larger as she turned to Luna in a whirl and yelled out, "We're in South America!"
"Shh!" The brunette human placed her index finger in front of her own mouth, before she added in a whisper, "Not so loud, girl. If the Yanomami hear us, we can just forget about getting the Dagger of Quetzalcoatl."
Greatly confused, Coco asked her female ally, "Who's the Yanomami?"
With a heavy sigh, Luna had a desire to explain to the young Bandicoot about the tribe that lived in that area of the country of Brazil, but there was a need to reach the mountain before the final Elemental's winds blow onto the Wumpa Islands. Quickly, the she-werewolf picked up Coco and put the Bandicoot on her -Luna's- back.
"What's going on?" Coco asked in a slightly nervous voice as she saw Luna's body starting to change to her lupine-like form.
"I'm just making sure we get there before the Ynomami get to us." The werewolf answered in a half-gruff voice. Then, Luna turned to Aku-Aku and said, "Aku-Aku, try to keep up with me."
"I will." The mask with the colorful feathers nodded as the werewolf completed her transformation.
Once she was completely and physically transformed, Luna said to the youngest member of the group, "Hold on tight, Coco. It's gonna get fast and windy."
"Right!" Coco nodded as she wrapped her arms around Luna's neck before saying, "I'm ready."
With a serious look on her face, Luna went to hands and feet and ran off towards the mountain that rested in the renowed Amazon Jungle as Coco held on to her, and Aku-Aku managed to keep up with the speedy canine-like human.
As Luna sped through the jungle, the animals that lived in the rainforest were spooked by Luna's speed. The natives that lived there never learned of the trio had been in their home. Once at the base of the mountain, Luna climbed the stone surface and hurried her pace, knowing that the sooner they reach the hidden temple of Quetzalcoatl, the sooner they could stop the final Elemental from destorying the islands.
"Luna," Coco gasped a little as she spoke, "the air's thin up here."
"That happens when one is over nine thousand feet above sea level." Luna's breath sounded in need of air as well.
"You're starting to feel it too, huh?" Coco managed to giggle in her weak state due to the lack of oxygen.
"Big time." Luna smiled as she continued to climb the mountain.
"Luna, maybe you should rest for a time." Aku-Aku suggested to the werewolf, who said between gasps of air, "Nope."
The ancient mask shook, like a human shaking their head, knowing that the werewolf was determined to reach their destination before Lo-Lo, the Air Elemental, tried to destroy the Wumpa Islands. At least, he knew that Luna was being stubborn for a good reason.
"Finally!" Luna gasped out upon reaching a cliff that was near the snowy top of Pico da Neblin and before collapsing onto the ground.
Coco, who was also gasping for breath but not as bad as the werewolf, got off of Luna's back and looked at the temple that hardly looked like the pictures of the temples of Quetzalcoatl that she had saw before the trip. It was nothing more than a cliff face.
"Luna, are you sure we're at the temple."
"Yep." Luna responsed in a series of gasps, "Looks are not always what they appear to be, my dear friend."
Then, the brown werewolf went to the facing of the cliff and started sniffing very closely at the stone surface. Upon reaching a part of the surface, Luna halted her search and started pushing on the area. Coco realized that Luna needed some help, so she went to the werewolf's side and started pushing with Luna. The combined forces were just enough to reveal the opening to the temple.
Coco's mind was starting to fade, when she heard some voices that he knew was in another language, but she was affected by the spell of understanding, which allowed her to understand what the voices were saying.
"It's Luna!"
"Artemis Fang's child? Why is she here?"
"Maybe to meet with her father; he's here to refuel our oxygen tanks."
"What of this little one? She's not a werewolf."
"Knowing Luna, this one's a friend of hers."
"Let's get the tanks and the masks."
Coco's mind was slipping out of consciousness, when she felt a rush of air enter her lungs, causing her to gasp in surprise.
"It's good to see you well." A woman's voice grabbed Coco's attention, causing the young Bandicoot to turn to the voice's direction of origin.
The owner of the voice was a woman that was middle-aged with white-silver hair, moon-yellow eyes, and tanned skin. The attire of the moon mystic was modern clothing, but it was more covered than Luna's attire.
"Who are you?" Coco asked, still a little dizzy from the lack of oxygen.
"I'm Metztli, the head priestess of this hidden temple of Quetzalcoatl." The woman answered with a motherly smile on her face and showing the oxygen mask in her hand.
"Mama," a little voice meeked out, "are you going to read me my bedtime story?"
Coco turned to the door and saw a very young boy with dark hair and bright brown eyes in pajamas and holding a stuffed animal in his small arms.
"My child," Metztli spoke to the child in the same voice, "I will, just as soon as I can."
Coco looked at the little boy, who was about to be on the verge of tears, and turned to the boy's mother and said, "Maybe I could tell a story to him?"
"You would?" Metztli asked in a surprised voice. "I don't know if you should: Tecciztecatl is picky about his storytellers."
"That doesn't mean I can't try." The youngest of the Wumpa Island Bandicoots countered, still insisting that she would tell him a story.
"All right..." The boy's mother was unsure about Coco's chances of success with the child, "But don't say that I didn't warn you."
"Understood." The young Bandicoot nodded, willing to try and positive that she would accomplish her self-appointed mission.
As Coco tried to get to her feet, the boy threw his stuff bear at the genetically-altered Bandicoot, who ducked, and the boy's mother caught it.
"Tecciztecatl..." Growled the stern mother, who was unpleased with her child's behavior, "Go to your room, now."
The boy, fearful of his mother's wrath, ran off to his room, and Coco could not help herself from feeling sorry for the boy, who just wanted a bedtime story.
"Hey, take easy on him." Coco said to Metztli, "You did warn me about him wanting certain storytellers."
"I did," the mother confirmed with the Bandicoot, but my son should have never done that to you, espeically since you're Luna's friend."
"Maybe so." Coco was still a little confused about the situation, when the mention of Luna sparked her mind and what she recalled before blacking out.
"Hey, is Luna's dad really here?"
Before Metztli could answer the question, a man's voice roared into the ears of everyone that were in the temple.
"LUNA, GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"
Then, Luna, in human form, entered the room and closed the door right behind her. As quickly as she closed the door, she locked it and sighed deeply, saying, "Dad still thinks I'm just a kid."
"Well," Coco was hesitant to speak at first, but she managed to complete the statement, "aren't you in some ways?"
With a quick look at Coco, Luna admitted, "That's about right, Coco. However, my dad believes me to be a complete child, unwise to the ways of the world and easily fooled by most."
"Oh!" Coco gasped at Luna's words, "I didn't know that."
"I know." Luna confessed to the younger female as she went to her ally's side, "I've never liked involving my friends with my problems.
"And that's something Luna's been doing for years." A man's voice rang into the room, causing the three females to turn towards the door.
In the doorway, there was a man in his early fourties with brown hair, blue eyes and a stern look on his face. His clothes were composed of a dark green shirt and blue jeans, which was not very much different from Luna's attire.
"You're Luna's dad?" Coco asked, a little dumbfounded by the male's stern facial appearance, which the opposite of Luna's normally nonchalant attitude.
"I am." The older man nodded to the younger Bandicoot before saying, "You must be Coco Bandicoot, the sister of Crash."
"You know who I am?" The orange mammal pointed at herself in her shock.
"Luna told me and her mother about the Wumpa Islands." Artemis Fang nodded to confirm with the inquiry of the bandicoot girl.
"Cool!"
"Oh, boy." Luna moaned as she knew that her father was going to talk about how she was supposed to be with her mother and not traversing the world with a boy that he had never met, and she was right.
"Luna's mother is worried to death about her daughter's safety." Artemis started his rant to Coco in a kinder tone than he had used with Luna, "Luna ran off with a boy, who could be a sl-uh- ahem, I mean a very bad man, and she doesn't seem to care."
"Dad," Luna spoke out, "I'm not a little girl anymore, and Nathan's not a 'bad man,' like Phoebe's been telling you; he's better than most of the guys that have tried to hit on me."
"I'll believe it when I see it!" The stubborn father of Luna announced to his daughter, who said in response, "Fine, you'll meet him and see for yourself then!"
"Fine!"
Coco turned to Metztli and asked a question: "Have those two always been like this?"
"Only when the subject of any form of conversation were about boys." The mothely pristess answered with a deep sigh of annoyance from the disagreement between Luna and Artemis.
Sometime after Luna and her father made the 'agreement' to see Nathan, Coco and Luna found Aku-Aku, and the three were led by Metztli to the way to the relic that belonged to Quetzalcoatl thousand of years ago.
"Here we are." Metztli announced to the trio, "Do you expect the final trap to be so easy to escape from?"
"I just hope that I can, that's all." Luna grinned at the priestess, who showed a very disapproving frown to the brunette girl, causing Luna to ask, "What?"
"Luna," the sister of Crash Bandicoot spoke out, "let's go."
"Right..." The werewolf of the trio agreed, adding to her own statement, "Let's get into some warmer winds."
"Warmer winds?" The blonde bandicoot asked, which Luna answered by saying, "I'll explain it to you later."
Entering the cavern, the three started off slowly. Then, Luna stopped and changed into her werewolf form, made Coco climb onto her back again and ran off, setting off many of the traps that were down in the path to the relic's resting place.
Finally, they've reached the area, where Quetzalcoatl's dagger was laying in wait to fullfill its purpose, like its sibling relics before it.
"It's a blue dagger!" Coco pointed out to the she-wolf, as she removed herself from Luna's back.
"It's actually the color turquoise," a gruff-sounding Luna the werewolf answered in a semi-corrective tone, "and the blade is made of volcanic glass, or obsidian."
"Cool." Coco said as she rushed over to claim to the dagger as the group's prize, but Luna was more cautious and said, "Be careful; I don't know what kind of trap the ancients Aztecs built into this place."
"I will." The young Bandicoot said with a confindent grin on her youthful face.
Then, she grabbed the glass dagger and picked it up slowly. When nothing happened, Coco sounded out a cheer, "Yeah! We did it!"
Then, the earth started to shake and rumble, causing Luna to say in a semi-concerned and a semi-srcastic voice, "Yeah, we really did it."
"Run!" Aku-Aku shouted out, which the females complied without any questions about the choose he made.
Coco retured to Luna's back, and the werewolf dashed off on all fours in the attempt to escape the trap that was set off. Aku-Aku led the way back as the three of them ran past the traps that they failed to set off.
Soon, the trio ran out of the cavern, causing Metztli to back off from the entrance of the cavren. Luna quickly removed Coco off of her back and threw the Bandicoot to her father, Artemis, who was to catch Coco.
"Luna!" The four people that was the brunette's family, friends and allies shouted out as several poisonous darts flew out of the entrance of the cave and flew at Luna.
Luna had her back against the stone wall, when the darts entered her eyesights. Quickly, the werewolf with brown fur managed to dodge every single of those dart, but it was just barely; by inches, the darts missed Luna's flesh.
"That was WAY too close!" Luna announced in a vernacular that did not match the gruffness of the werwolf's voice as she peeled herself off the wall, causing Coco to giggle a little, and Aku-Aku grinned at the sight of the usually calm Luna in a panicked state of mind.
Artemis ran to the transformed girl that was his only child and embraced her, saying, "Honey, are you all right?"
"I'm right, Dad," Luna's werewolfish face blushed as she spoke to the man that was hugging her midsection, "but you could've waited after I've returned to my human form before you hugged me."
The mask, the bandicoot and the priestess laughed out and so hard that they fell to the floor, unable to stand on their feet.
Looking at her friends on the floor in a hard laugh, Luna looked at the priestess, who was in the same postition as Coco and Aku-Aku were in, and then she looked at her father, who was still hugging her. Seeing this, there was only one thing Luna could say about her current situation.
"At least, I'm in a place that it's normal for a full grown man to embrace a werewolf without any fear towards it."
