A/N: Sorry that took so long, my computer won't let me upload my stories. Now I am back and this next world is the Ape Escape world, so please review and enjoy.

Chapter 10: In a large monkey's belly:

As the heroes left West City behind, Crash was beginning to think sadly. He had missed his island and his sister. He knows that Crunch would be all right, but he a lot more concerned for his sister. He promised her that he will protect her while they were little and he wasn't there for her. Knuckles noticed it and tried to confront him.

"You're thinking about your sister aren't you?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes… I just… I just missed her. I don't know where she is" Crash said.

"Don't worry about it pal" Knuckles said as he wrapped his arm around Crash's shoulder "one thing is for sure we found Bowser's report. And I'm sure we'll… what is that?"

He just said that because a huge shadow had appeared above them. Shadow came running in to see what's going on.

"Did you see a huge shadow above us?" asked Shadow.

"Is it Sonic?" asked Knuckles.

"Don't be ridiculous" Shadow sighed "if it IS Sonic, his shadow was never THAT big!"

"I say we see what it is" Crash said, "no wait. There a huge yellow monkey in front of us."

"YELLOW MONKEY?!" The 3 looked out of the window. Pipotchi came out to see as well. A huge, fat, yellow monkey, which looked like a sumo wrestler, is floating in the air and he is enormous.

"What is that?!" Crash asked. "Is that a monkey or a sumo?"

"No… it's a dog…" Shadow said. Crash and Knuckles, who were terrified of dogs, screamed and backed away. "Just kidding" Shadow said sarcastically. Crash and Knuckles looked cross.

"ABOUT THAT, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE CRASH!" Shadow pleaded as he was dragged along the floor holding Crash, who was walked towards the exit to the space pod.

After a little persuasion, Crash came back to the pilot seat. Shadow has a bruised nose because his face was on the floor. Knuckles was talking to Pipotchi.

"Pipo, pi, pi, pipo!" Pipotchi said.

"Guys. Pipotchi said that it is Yellow Monkey, of the Freaky Monkey Five. Their world might be destroyed and he was floating like a huge whale in space."

"No wonder why he was so fat. He only wore something that sumo wrestlers wears" Crash said, and then he said "Uh oh."

"What do you mean 'uh oh'?" Shadow asked.

"THAT UH OH!" Crash yelled as Yellow Monkey was flying towards them, his mouth opened.

"QUICK, CRASH! TURN US AROUND!" Shadow yelped.

"Too late! It's gonna swallow us" Crash panicked.

Soon the ship enters the mouth of the yellow monkey and it was surrounded by darkness. Crash fainted after seeing this.

He had a flashback, or a dream.

There was Wumpa Jungle, and we see young Crash and Crunch walking towards the beach.

"So, what do we want to do for fun?" asked Crunch "Coco went out with Pikachu, Samus and Mewtwo to a concert so they won't be back for a while."

"Well, I heard there was some monster living in a cave" Crash said.

"Really? Or are you're just making it up?" asked Crunch.

"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes" said Crash.

"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?" asked Crunch.

"What difference does it make? There's a huge monster in there, I tell you that" Crash said.

"All right. Let's go see it then" Crunch said. They begin to walk to the small cave. When they got to the entrance, Crunch said "So, suppose there really is a monster... Think we can beat it by ourselves, Crash?"

"No problem. Let's do it!" Crash said. As Crunch approached the entrance, Crash stopped him. "Wait. Listen. There! Can you hear it growling?"

"Yeah, I can" Crunch said as a growling voice came through the entrance. "Shh, quiet now, Crash. We got to be careful now."

"I can't wait" Crash said and followed Crunch in the cave.

As Crash and Crunch got into the cave, they found there was nothing there. There was a wind through the roof.

"Oh, the growl of the monster I'm scared" Crunch said joking.

"Ha-ha! Very funny, Crunch. That's just the wind making the noise" Crash said "Tch, I wish it was a monster. Huh?" He saw a door in a cave, which seem suspicious. "Hold on. What's that?"

Crunch went up to examine it. "A window? Or a door? I can't open it. There's no handle."

"So this really all in here?" asked Crash "not much isn't it?"

"What do you expect in a boring place like this?" asked Crunch "Man, we need to get out more. Get out more? Hey, Crash?" He turned to Crash.

"Huh? Yes, Crunch?" asked Crash.

"I got a great idea. When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!" Crunch said "come on, what do you say? It'll be a lot of fun."

"Yeah, great idea!" Crash said as they turned to leave the cave "so, what do we do for fun now?"

"Hey, you know about your sister at the mayor's house?" Crunch asked "Did you hear…?"

But then it turned white.

Crash awoke to see that he is in a strange arena. It was all red, and he lying on a red tongue. TONGUE? Crash got up and wiped the salvia off his chest and clothes. He turned to see yellow-ish white teeth and it smells of bananas.

"Yuck! He eat bananas and he didn't brush his teeth?!" Crash asked.

"HEY, WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF?!" yelled a cross voice.

"Shadow?" Crash turned to see Shadow and Knuckles looking upwards. Knuckles turned to Crash.

"Oh hey, Crash. Are you OK?" asked Knuckles.

"Yeah I guess so. Where are we?" asked Crash.

Just before he could get a question, he saw a blue block heading towards him. He quickly jumped back and it landed in front of him.

"And who is trying to kill us?" he asked.

"No one is and I think I know what's going on" Shadow said "That Yellow Monkey just swallowed us into his mouth."

"I hope we won't get digested" Crash said.

"Don't worry, but one question. Do monkeys have weather inside themselves?" Knuckles said.

"Why?"

"Because today's weather is unexpected showers" Knuckles said. Then a block hit him on the head "Heavy showers more like" he added as he rubbed his head.

Shadow saw someone in a chest above a wooden ramp. "Hey! Who's there?" he ordered.

The boy then looked at them. He has red hair, which look spiky but also floppy. He has a plaster on his nose, an orange jacket, a red shirt and blue shorts. He smiled when he saw the 3. "It's just me."

"Oh, it's only a boy" Shadow said. "ONLY A BOY?!" He gasped.

Pipotchi gasped when he saw the boy. "Pipo!"

"Huh? Pipotchi!" the boy gasped. Pipotchi flew over to him and the boy hugged him. "Where have you been, boy? I was worried about you." He turned to the 3 heroes. "Thank you. Please come to my boat. We'll fill you in on the details there."

He picked up a green block and he and Pipotchi walked towards a wooden crashed boat where the wooden ramps go.

Carefully not to get their shoes covered with saliva, Crash, Shadow and Knuckles crossed the small wooden planks to reach to the boat. There they saw the same boy with 3 others. One is a girl with a brown hat, brown hair, a black vest and green skirt. Next to him was a boy who has red spiky hair and a bit of yellow. He wore a white jacket with red stripes and blue jeans. Next to him was a boy with dark blue hair with goggles, a white jacket, a black vest and blue trousers.

"What's that you got there, Jimmy?" asked the girl to the red haired boy with Pipotchi.

"It's a gummi block." Jimmy said "with this, we can fly out of here."

"Oh I see…" said the red haired boy "can it really do that?"

"It sure can" Crash said as they joined them.

"Oh my…" the girl gasped "a talking bandicoot, hedgehog and echidna?"

"That's right, madam. I am Shadow the Hedgehog" Shadow said "and this is Knuckles the Echidna and Crash Bandicoot."

"So Yellow Monkey got you too, huh?" asked the blue haired boy. "Nice to meet you. I am Kei."

"And I'm Spike" sand the red haired boy.

"And I am his girlfriend, Helga" said the girl.

"And I am Jimmy" said Jimmy.

"So how did you all end up here, Spike?" asked Crash.

"Well, after we defeated Specter, some black things attacked our worlds. Our friends only send us to escape in a space pod but we got separated when we saw our world was destroyed" Spike said "we travelled all over, looking for each other. I found them inside Yellow Monkey."

"Well, thank goodness we all back together again" Helga said.

Jimmy nodded and saw someone enter the hole of the monkey's throat. Kei and Spike moved the gummi block over to the bed.

"So… you knew Pipotchi very well" Kei said. "Jimmy was worried about him."

"Well, we've all had quite a journey. Right, Jimmy? Jimmy?" Helga looked around for Jimmy but he was gone.

Spike looked around for him too and saw him enter the throat. "Jimmy! Come back here! Jimmy's gone into the throat. Kei, protect Helga. I'll go and get Jimmy!"

"We'll come too" Crash said. "There are Heartless around and you might need us."

"OK, thanks Crash" Spike said.

"Be careful Spike" Helga said as she and Spike hugged.

"I will."

Crash and the heroes got off the boat and ran into the throat. It was a surprising shock when they entered the room. There are doors and rooms everywhere.

"What is he? A robot?" asked Knuckles asked.

"No… but this is not like Yellow Monkey to have lot of rooms in here" Spike said.

"Hey, there's Jimmy" said Shadow as he pointed to Jimmy by the doorway.

"Hey, what are you're doing there?" asked Crash.

"Having fun" Jimmy said "actually, I saw someone enter here."

"Well, there's no one here. Let's go back" Crash said.

"Helga is worried about you" Knuckles said.

"Jimmy, come on! Stop fooling around!" Crash said "This is no time for games."

"Let's go back, cousin" Spike said.

As the heroes turned to leave, a familiar voice came in.

"But Crash, I thought you liked games". They turned around to see Crunch Bandicoot near Jimmy. "Or are you so cool now that you had the keyblade, huh?"

"Crunch? What are you're doing here?" asked Crash.

"Friend of his?" asked Spike to Shadow.

"Yeah, he is" Shadow said, "from his world."

"But how did you get here?" asked Knuckles.

"Oh, I just dropped in so catch up to you guys" Crunch said "And I think I have some fun with Jimmy".

"You mean… we're going to play?" asked Jimmy.

"Exactly. Let's play 'Follow the Leader'. Crash and the others must chase us until they catch us" Crunch said.

"Come on, this is serious!" Crash snapped "And did you even manage to find Coco?"

"Maybe…" Crunch said "Come on, Crash. Catch us, and maybe you know."

"Oh come on!" Spike said but Crunch pulled Jimmy by the hand and they ran off.

"This is not the good times for games" Shadow said to Crash "Let just get Jimmy from Crunch and find a way to get out of here".

"OK, but remember, me and Spike wears the pants here" Crash said.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Shadow snapped.

"Hey, me and Spike are wearing clothes, while you two…" he tried not to laugh as Spike finished his sentence.

"While you and Knuckles don't wear a thing, expect gloves and shoes!"

Shadow and Knuckles blushed and covered themselves. Crash and Spike roared with laughter.

"OK, laugh it up!" Shadow said.

"We better get going. Crunch already got a head start" Crash said.

They had to go a long way. They were even attacked by Heartless. With Spike alongside them, Crash and the others took out the Heartless. Crash then stopped. Everyone stopped to look at him.

"Wait a minute. I thought there might be Heartless in here and there are" Crash said "I wonder why?"

"I dunno." Knuckles said.

"What is Crunch up to?" asked Shadow.

Meanwhile, Crunch walked in the room and somehow he managed to meet up with Sephiroth.

"Why do you still care for that wretched bandicoot?" Sephiroth said "He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all".

"Hey, I don't care about him, I just like messing around with him a bit" Crunch said.

"Oh really now? Of course you are." Sephiroth said.

"What do you mean by that?!"

"I meant that you must beware of the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it" Sephiroth said as he walked away to a portal.

"Mind your own business!" Crunch snarled but Sephiroth was gone.

Suddenly, Jimmy ran in and gone to the other room. Following close behind was Crash and the others. Spike saw Jimmy going in and tried to stop him, only for Crunch to push him away.

"Let me through!" Spike yelled "I want to save Jimmy!"

"Sorry kid, but no can do" Crunch said "well done Crash" he said to Crash "You caught up to me."

"Crunch! What's the matter with you?" Crash snapped "What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Crash".

"What do you mean?"

"Let just say we put it this way shall we?" asked Crunch "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Coco?"

Crash bowed his head. "I do. I just miss her, don't you understand. I just…"

But then they hear a scream.

"JIMMY!" Spike yelled and pushed past Crunch and ran through the door.

"Wait, Spike!" Crash, Knuckles, Shadow and Crunch followed after him.

As soon as they entered the room, they saw Spike's face in horror. Jimmy is trapped in a huge cage-like heartless.

"No! Jimmy!" Spike yelled. "Crash, help me save him!"

"We will!" Knuckles said.

"You're up to this?" Crunch asked as he got his sword out.

Crash held the keyblade and got into a fighting position "No problem. Let's do it!"

The heroes and Crunch charged forward and attacked the heartless. The heartless wiped his whip like hands and knocked Crash and Shadow aside. Spike attacked with his stun club into the chest and tried to get Jimmy out, but the heartless tried to attack him if it wasn't for Crunch who pushed Spike out the way and took the hit himself. Crash then spotted it weakness.

"The head! Aim for the head!"

Shadow nodded at this and rolled up into a ball and attacked the head. The heartless growled in pain and Crash, Crunch and Spike attacked it again with their swords. Crash delivered the final blow.

The heartless growled and reached it arms to the ceiling and spits Jimmy out into a hole. Spike and Crunch jumped after him.

"Spike, wait!" Crash yelled as the others jumped in after him.

When the landed, there were back at the boat on the roof. Kei looked up.

"Crash! Where's Spike?!"

"I'm here!" Spike said as he appeared beside Crash.

"ARGH!" Crash said "Don't scare me like that, Spike!"

"Sorry Crash" Spike said "Wait! Where's Jimmy?"

They hear Helga scream. Crash and the others got off the roof and landed by them. Helga was looking up. They looked up too.

"Crunch!" Crash gasped. Crunch was on the ramp holding an unconscious Jimmy.

"Please, just give us back Jimmy" Helga cried.

"Sorry little girl. But I got business with this puppet" Crunch said.

"He's not a puppet!" Spike yelled angrily "Jimmy's my cousin!"

"You let him go right now!" Kei snarled.

"He is a strange one" Crunch said "no human can befriend a baby monkey. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who lost theirs."

"Wait a minute. Are you're talking about Coco?" asked Crash.

"And what do you care about her?!" Crunch snapped and walked away with Jimmy held hostage.

"Come on guys!" Crash said "Crunch will not get away with this!"

Crash, Spike, Pipotchi, Knuckles and Shadow chased Crunch up the nose. In there was a small platform with green bogeys everywhere. Crunch was in the middle with an unconscious Jimmy by one side on the wall.

"Crunch, enough is enough! Let Jimmy go!" Crash said "he's no concern to you!"

"What should I? You care for a boy who lost his heart to the heartless? I wonder if it a clue to helping Coco."

"Don't be stupid. Coco's heart can be anywhere, but not in Jimmy's" Shadow said.

"I wasn't talking to you, hedgehog!" Crunch said and offered Crash his hand "Crash, what do you say? Let's join forces to save her. Master Sephiroth will award us greatly!"

"SEPHIROTH?!" Crash gasped.

"You mean you're working for HIM?!" Knuckles gasped.

"Come on, Sephiroth's a good guy when you get to know him. We can do this together" Crunch said.

Crash got out his keyblade. "Never!"

"What?!" Crunch said "you rather fight me over a boy with no heart?"

"Heart or no heart" Crash said "I can see it now. You allowed this evil mastermind to twist your mind until now you become the very thing you swore to destroy. You let yourself become Sephiroth's handyman. And at least one thing is for sure, Jimmy still have a conscience."

"A conscience? Crash, I told you to lay off that Pinocchio movie" Crunch said.

"I am serious!" Crash said as Spike and Pipotchi rushed up to Jimmy. "You might not be hear it, but right now it's loud and clear. And my heart is telling is telling me that you are on the wrong side!"

"Fine! You leave me with no choice!" Crunch snarled.

Spike and Pipotchi ran up to Jimmy.

"Jimmy! Jimmy!" Spike cried.

"Pipo!" Pipotchi cried.

Jimmy opened his eyes weakly "Spike… Pipotchi… I'm not going to make it…"

Spike then released something. "Then way do you sound OK?"

"Oh!" Jimmy said as he opened his eyes "I guess I'm OK."

Spike hugged his cousin. "Let's get you home" Spike smiled. He turned to Pipotchi. "Pipotchi, will you do us a favour and stay with Crash and the others on their adventures?"

"Pipo." (Yes.)

"Thank you. Good luck on your adventures, Crash!" Spike said as he and Jimmy ran off.

"Be careful OK, Spike!" Crash said.

Suddenly, the same heartless who locked Jimmy, appeared.

"Not you again!" Knuckles sighed.

Seeing his chance to escape, Crunch opened a dark portal and escaped. Crash saw him leave but has to stay behind and take down the heartless. The heartless charged at the heroes but the heroes ducked. Crash and Shadow charged and spins on it's head. It was the same routine like last time. But this time, the heartless opened his chest and a huge beam was aiming at Knuckles. It fired a white beam. Knuckles tried to defend himself but Crash swing in and pushed him out of the way while the beam went over their heads. Crash threw the keyblade into the chest of the Heartless and it causes a final blow. The keyblade reappeared in Crash's hand.

The heartless screamed and then lost it heart and disappeared. Suddenly, the whole place begins to rumble.

"What's going on?!" Knuckles gasped.

"My guess that we just fought this battle in Yellow Monkey's nose" Shadow said. "Let's go to the gummi ship and then he just blow just out. Quick, to the ship!"

Shadow and Knuckles make a break for it, but Crash stayed behind.

"Crunch?!" Crash called "Crunch, where are you?!"

"Crash, come on!" Shadow rushed back and dragged Crash along.

Meanwhile, on Eneru's ship, Crunch looked at the laid Coco, and she hasn't opened her eyes. Sephiroth was with them.

"So… Coco's like… a lifeless puppet now?" Crunch asked.

"Afraid so" Sephiroth said.

"And her heart is…" Crunch said more sadly.

"Taken by the heartless no doubt" Sephiroth said.

"Tell me! What can I do?" Crunch pleaded to Sephiroth "what must I do to save her? I'll do anything!"

"Anything, huh? Well, there is one thing. There are seven maidens of the purest heart. We call them the princesses of heart. Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There you will surely find a way to recover Coco's heart." Sephiroth said and he smiled evilly "Now, I'll grant you a marvellous gift. The power to control the Heartless."

Sephiroth reached out his sword and stabbed it in Crunch's chest. Crunch felt the impact but feel no pain. Then he was covered with a green aura. Sephiroth pulled out his blade and Crunch turned to Coco.

"Soon Coco, soon" Crunch said. He then turned to Crunch. "But what about Crash? He will come here soon."

"Let him come" Sephiroth said "I'm sure Eneru, Razorbeard and Raphael can entertain them."

Back to the heroes, Yellow Monkey then felt his nose tickled and then he gave one mighty sneeze and blew Crash's ship back into space. Inside the ship, the 3 began talking.

"I wonder if Spike and the others got out safely…" Knuckles asked.

"Oh, I'm sure they got out too and landed on another world" Shadow said.

"Crunch…" Crash sighed. He couldn't believe it. Crunch was his best friend. How could he betray him by working with someone like Sephiroth? Knuckles and Shadow noticed this and tried to cheer him up.

"Hey, come on, Crash. Cheer up" Shadow said.

"I know a way to cheer him up. I wonder if Naruto had a tournament opened." Knuckles said.

"Huh?" Crash asked "why you did you count Naruto in this?"

"Well, I was wondering if we could complete in another tournament" Knuckles said.

Crash wondered. "Good idea. Let's go back to the Land of Fire Tournament!"

They made their way back to the arena for another tournament.

To be continued…

A/N: Back to the Naruto world again and then we go to Soul Calibur world for the Little Mermaid world. Please stay tuned and review.