Previously, in Crash Bandicoot: The Dark Prognosticus:
Our heroes stopped their search, as they looked up at two individuals standing on a rock. One was a blonde dude with pale skin, and wore Gothic clothing like he was some kind of vampire...and he had red eyes, so maybe he was a vampire. The other person was a black-haired chick, who wore all black. They both wore amulets around their neck - the boy's amulet was purple, while the girl's amulet was purple too, but with a lighter shade. Both amulets had a hand symbol on it, with six fingers.
"I believe this is what you're looking for," the boy said, as he took out the digital camera Crash and company were looking for. "Take it or leave it!" The boy threw the digital camera on the ground, at Crash's feet, breaking the camera in the process.
"Hey, you did that on purpose!" Crash pointed at the boy with a frown. "Who do you think you are?!"
"How about I tell you...I'm Draven, and this is Lorelai. We're both from an evil academy, in case you were wondering..."
"Draven...Lorelai..." Crash saw the amulets around Draven and Lorelai's necks. "...so you must both be evil!"
"About time you figured it out..." said Lorelai. "...for a chosen one, you sure aren't that observant. Or bright."
"You take that back!"
"Did you guys find the camera yet? Sorry for being so far away from you..."
Grutika, who searched for the digital camera away from Team Crash, would join our heroes as she approached them, before her face sank when she saw Draven and Lorelai. Both of whom were ecstatic to see the Indian fox.
"Ah, Grutika Johal..." smiled Draven, sensing the disgust in Grutika's eyes. "...about time we see each other's faces again."
Episode 10: Shark Attack
Grutika found herself in utter disbelief, as she was looking up at Draven and Lorelai - two students sent to the Luong Estuary from their evil headmaster. Grutika had quite the history with those two, it seemed like.
"Wh-What are you two doing in this estuary?" Grutika had to ask the two Keystone Academy students. Yeah, Keystone Academy...that's what we'll call it for now.
"Just searching for a mask - the Mask of Willpower," replied Lorelai, easily amused by the shock written in Grutika's face. "What, you and your friends are looking for that mask, too?"
"Yes we were, and that mask has our name on it," replied Crunch, stepping up to the plate. "So move aside, you fools!"
"And who might this be?" questioned Draven, taking a closer look at Crash. "Is that...the brother of the chosen one, Crunch Bandicoot? Yes, I've heard much about you, yes indeed..."
"They must've found me on my social media pages..." Crunch whispered to Aku, feeling slightly insecure. "...thought I made them all private!"
"Clearly you didn't do a great job..." murmured Aku.
"Alright you two, we don't wanna fight - we just wanna get what we came for, and leave peacefully," Coco said to Draven and Lorelai. "So if you would please..."
"No, if you would please, just head back where you came from, and let us get the mask ourselves," retorted Lorelai. "That should make things easier for you, right?"
"This Lorelai chick is pushing quite the hard bargain, but she's pretty hot though," Fake Crash quietly discussed with Crash. "I think we should take up on the offer."
"So you want her and Draven to take the masks themselves?" frowned Crash. "We're not trying to help out the enemy!"
"No man, think about it - we let the students get all eight masks, and then at the last moment, we'll steal the masks away from them? Huh, huh?"
Evidently, Crash wasn't on board with the idea, not one bit.
"Now you look here, Draven and Lorelai, we came here for a reason, for a specific purpose, and you're not gonna get in our way," Crash said to the two students, completely ignoring Fake Crash. "So how about you return to your little school or whatever, and..."
"I don't think that would be necessary, Crash Bandicoot."
Suddenly a gust of wind, as our heroes blocked their faces to block any flying debris. Then, sticking a perfect landing next to Draven and Lorelai was some guy with black hair, wearing an amulet around his neck similar to Draven and Lorelai. Our heroes recognized this dude from before...but it was Grutika who recognized him the most.
"Ah, this must be our first time meeting each other...save for Grutika, of course," said the dude, as Grutika's face sank even more. "You can call me Ilmari Koskinen - I happen to be one of the eighteen pupils from the Keystone Island Academy. I see you've already met my fellow classmates, Draven and Lorelai..."
"Just great, another fool whose butt we have to kick!" frowned Crunched as he cracked his knuckles.
"I believe it'll be you and your friends who'll have your butts kicked...Draven, Lorelai, you two look for the mask, while I hold these peons off." Draven and Lorelai did as they were told, as they left the premises. "Been waiting for this moment, for a long time..."
"You've been waiting to fight me or something?" questioned Crash. "Not gonna lie, that sounds especially creepy, especially from a stranger like yourself."
"I think he meant to say that he's been waiting for someone to kick his butt," said Fake Crash. "Since, you know, we have a flawless track record against evil students."
"Hey, we've kicked the butts of Chantex's pupils, so this guy shouldn't be any different," stated Coco, not thinking of Ilmari as a challenge.
"Silence you fools!" shouted Ilmari, shutting our heroes up. "Since you want to talk a big game, I'll have to shut your mouths permanently..."
Ilmari grew white wings, and flew up into the sky, flying over our heroes. He then fired a powerful vortex of air at the heroes, who managed to jump out of the way.
"Cortex and his ray gun would be really useful right now..." remarked Yaya, as she hurled her spear at Ilmari, who used a gust of wind to reflect the spear. Fortunately Yaya caught her spear in the nick of time.
"Well Cortex obviously isn't here, so we'll just have to do with what we got," said Cortex, who resorted to firing wumpa fruit at Ilmari from his wumpa bazooka. Ilmari, using his flight to his ability, dodged the fruit, scoffing at Crash's accuracy and attack method.
"It'll take much more than some lousy fruit to stop me, bandicoot," the student shouted at Crash, only to receive a handful of wumpa to the face. Ilmari wiped away the wumpa, before firing a gust of wind at our heroes, blowing them away.
"Ah dang nabit, Crunch ripped his pants!" grunted Crunch, having stuck a landing after being blown away. There was a rip in his pants, revealing his boxers, and Crunch covered up the rip immediately.
"Grutika, can you do something to stop Ilmari?" Aku asked the Indian fox, who was looking up at the flying Ilmari. Grutika had quite the bone to pick with Ilmari, so why pick it now?
"I think I got something up my sleeves..." replied Grutika, using her powers to manipulate the earth and make a bunch of rocks levitate from the ground. These rocks circled around Grutika, who looked at Ilmari with intimidating eyes.
"Oh how cute, you're using rocks to stop me..." smirked Ilamri, still flying in the air with his arms folded behind his head. Looked like he was relaxing on a couch, but in the air. "What are you gonna do with them, throw them at me? I'd rather see you..."
Ilmari would be cut off, when Grutika threw a rock at him through the means of gravitational force. Ilmari dodged the rock, before Grutika threw another one at him. And another one. And another one. And another one. Until Grutika struck Ilmari with a rock on her sixth attempt, sending the student crashing down into the water.
"I got him, I got him!" yelled Grutika, as our heroes approached the water to see if Ilmari would come out of it. They all quickly got on the offensive, expecting Ilmari to pop out at any given second...
...but nothing happened. Until down the stream, Ilmari popped out and flew up out of the water on his wings, away from our heroes. He was back up in the air, holding the place where Grutika struck him at.
"You guys have won this round...for now," Ilmari said to our heroes. "But I can guarantee you that next time around, you won't be so fortunate." Ilmari then directed his attention entirely on Grutika. "And as for you, Grutika, all I can say is...you were better off as a villain. Azalea should've kept you that way."
On that note, Ilmari flew away, either back to the Keystone Academy or to parts unknown. The last sentence left Team Crash rather confused.
"How does Ilmari know about Azalea turning you all into evil students?" questioned Aku. "Does he have some sort of allegiance with the Dark Confederation?!"
"I doubt it - but then again, Ilmari could be a secret agent for the organization," replied Grutika. "I think we should keep a close eye on him and the other students in the future."
"Crash, Crash Bandicoot, have you found McDavid's camera yet?" a member of the 2nd Regent Squad approached Crash. Crash picked up the broken digital camera, and showed it to the frog. "My goodness, what happened to it?"
"Some delinquent threw it at my feet," replied Crash, handing the broken camera to the frog. "His name was Draven, and he was alone - brought some gal named Lorelai with him. They're up to no good."
"Ah, I take it you have met those two already?"
"Whaddaya mean, you saw them before?"
"Yes I did...two minutes ago to be exact. They're attacking the village as I speak."
"Those fools are attacking the village?!" frowned Crunched, ready for a fight. "Why aren't you doing anything to stop them?"
"Because I'm just a frog, man...only thing I'm capable of is whipping people with my tongue. And I can't even do that right. I should give up on life."
"You can give up on life another time, we gotta head back to the village, and fast!" said Crash, as our heroes and the 2nd Regent Squad returned to the village.
Team Crash and the 2nd Regent member returned to the village, which was overrun by Gloombreed of different shapes and sizes. Members of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regent Squads were battling the monsters, while the worthless 4th Regent Squad watched from a safe distance, watching the higher-ranked squads do their thing.
"Sock it to 'em, sock it to 'em, rah rah rah..." the members of the 4th Regent Squad chanted. But they weren't just chanting for the three Regent Squads. They were also chanting for the Komodo Bros, slicing and dicing the Gloombreed with their swords.
"About time you bums got here!" Komodo Joe shouted to our heroes. "These monsters have been taking over the village like crazy!"
"Where's Cortex and the others?" asked Crash.
"They returned to the village not so long ago," replied Komodo Moe. "Then the Gloombreed started to show up, along with some two teenagers wearing amulets around their necks! Must be some evil delinquents..."
"He must be referring to Draven and Lorelai," Coco said to Crash, before returning her attention to the Komodo Bros. "Where are those two?"
"Inside the chieftain's hut, along with Team Cortex. I think they're after the chief girl..."
Fearing for the well-being of Chief Waterloo, Team Crash headed inside the chief house, and to their shock, saw Team Cortex lying on the floor in pain. Last person to be sent to the floor was Tropy, who was knocked out by a sucker punch from Draven.
"Look, Draven, we have visitors!" Lorelai alerted the teen, as she pointed at Team Crash. "It's the bandicoot and those dorks again!"
"Figured they would be scurrying back to the village," smirked Draven, turning his attention to Crash and company. "What are you here for, huh?"
"Tell us what you did with Chief Waterloo!" Crash pointed at Draven and Lorelai defiantly.
"I'm...I'm right here, Crash," Chief Waterloo poked her head out from her high chair, so she could be seen.
"Chief Waterloo is safe...for now," stated Draven. "As we stated before, we came to this estuary looking for a mask...and if we don't get what we want, the chief is gonna pay!"
"Not on my watch!" shouted Webbed Foot as he arrived at the chief house, along with the 1st Regent Squad. "Either you leave the premises, or we'll have to escort you out with force!"
"Oh please, what's a bunch of frogs gonna do to us?" taunted Lorelai, not threatened in the slightest. "Watcha gonna do, hurt us with your itty bitty spears? Give me a freaking break!"
"I'm not going to tell you again...leave the premises, NOW."
Draven and Lorelai did not oblige - instead, the summoned a horde of Gloombreed, to fight the 1st Regent Squad. None of the squad members were able to fight the Gloombreed as they were beaten up, thrown around, and kicked on. Team Crash would helped out...
...but Draven and Lorelai were heading towards Chief Waterloo, with the 1st Regent Squad distracted. By the time Draven and Lorelai reached the high chair, where Chief Waterloo was shivering in fear...they were greeted by a guest.
"Going somewhere?" Aku floated down in front of Chief Waterloo, protecting the toad. Draven and Lorelai backed away, only to bump into Crunch.
"You fools are going DOWN!" the burly bandicoot screamed, as he grabbed the two students by the collar and threw them on the ground behind him, where the rest of Team Crash was. Crash was about to lay a beatdown on Draven and Lorelai...
...but before he could, some thick black smoke entered and filled up the entire chief house, making everyone cough. When the smoke died down, Crash saw that the Gloombreed were gone, as well as Draven and Lorelai.
And as for Chief Waterloo...she was gone as well!
"Oh my, Chief Waterloo has gone missing!" panicked Aku, seeing that the chief was no longer hiding behind her high chair. "Someone must've kidnapped her!"
"Bet it was those Keystone Academy fools, they must've had a remote-controlled smoke machine outside!" assumed Crunch, already jumping to conclusions! "Those fools are always one step ahead!"
"I doubt they had anything to do with the smoke, Crunch," stated Yaya, with Webbed Foot searching for Chief Waterloo. Members of the 1st Regent Squad headed out to search for their chief. "If anything, this was likely the doing of the Dark Confederation."
"Didn't Chief Waterloo say that her brother was a part of the group?" Fake Crash perked up. "What if her brother wanted to nab her? I got a bad feeling about this..."
Team Cortex would soon rise up to their feet, after spending a minute or two on the ground in pain. They too had to endure the smoke, and they too wondered where Chief Waterloo went, as they looked around.
"Has Chief Waterloo been kidnapped?" asked Tropy, who woke up from his unconsciousness rather quickly as he rubbed his head. The smoke must've helped.
"I'm afraid so...and the two teenagers are gone," replied Webbed Foot. "My men are searching for Chief Waterloo's whereabouts as I speak." A member of the 1st Regent Squad headed back inside the chief house, to inform Webbed Foot about something.
"Webbed Foot, I just scouted the surrounding area - the village is now clear of monsters," the frog told Webbed Foot. "It was all thanks to those Komodo dragons. As for our chief...a local witness told me that she was being carried away by two individuals wearing cloaks. They were headed towards the end of the estuary."
"The Dark Confederation..." Webbed Foot uttered, before regaining his composure. He turned his attention to our heroes, knowing they could rescue Chief Waterloo. "I know you all have been through a lot today, but on behalf of the entire tribe, we would greatly appreciate it if you could..."
"Say no more, Webbed Foot...we're gonna bring Chief Waterloo back to the village," assured Crash, as Webbed Foot flashed a smile. "Right after I give Mr. McDavid his camera back. But before that, a trip to the bathroom would be nice...do you have any bathrooms?"
"We have specific ponds in the village meant for urinating. We never clean them, by the way."
"Yeah...I think I'll take my chances with the shrubbery."
After his pee break, Crash would return the camera, albeit broken, to Dougal, who was less than pleased.
"That was the only camera we had..." said a despondent David. "...we totally forgot to bring our spare cameras."
"Spare...cameras?" Crash raised an eyebrow. "You know what, I'm not gonna question anything."
"A great researcher should always be prepared," stated Dougal, as he placed his broken camera in his backpack. Sitting Droplet entered his hut, wanting to speak with Crash.
"Your sister has informed me that you're planning on rescuing our chief," the salamander said to Crash. "Please make sure to bring her back, safe and sound!"
"That's already on my agenda," assured Crash, giving Sitting Droplet a thumbs up.
At the very end of the estuary were the two members of the Dark Confederation - Sebille and Duri, with the latter carrying his sister, Chief Waterloo, over his shoulder, and the former carrying Nina over hers. Our heroes arrived at the scene.
"You guys just don't know when to quit, don't you?" sighed Sebille, shaking her head.
"Yeah, yeah, we would like one Chief Waterloo please, if you don't mind," responded Crash. But Duri wasn't willing to give up his sister that easily.
"No way we're giving you Chief Waterloo," Duri said to Crash, standing firm. "What we plan to her is none of your concern."
"C'mon big brother, just do what Crash says, and let's just...move on from this," Chief Waterloo said to Duri. "And then, you can move on from the Dark Confederation."
"I'm never listening to a trash little sister like yourself."
Duri's remark left our heroes speechless, as Chief Waterloo looked at her brother all crazily.
"Duri...do you really mean that?" the chieftain asked, to make sure she was hearing right.
"Mean it with all my heart. I view you the same way I view the rest of the village...utterly pathetic."
"You don't mean that, Duri, you're just lying to me! It's all lies, I tell you! Lies, lies, LIES! What would mother and father think of you?!"
"Who cares what they would think of me...and besides, I killed them anyway."
Duri's heartless admittance about killing his and Chief Waterloo's parents was obviously upsetting to Chief Waterloo, whose eyes widened with the left eye shedding a tear. Our heroes had the same amount of shock.
"Y-Y-You were the one who killed mom and dad?" stammered Chief Waterloo, unable to process what was real anymore. "...b-b-but why?"
"To prove my worth to the Alpha of the Dark Confederation, Daniil Yerofeyev," explained Duri. "Sacrificing our parents for a spot in the Confederation was the only option I had."
"Terribly sorry, but your brother speaks the truth, sweetheart," stated Sebille. "And unfortunately for you, your mom and dad won't be the only family members to be deceased...amirite Duri?"
"Yes you are Sebille, and now, I'm going to do what I should've done years ago...now, it is time..."
It was time indeed, as a shark fin came swimming out from the ocean to the estuary. Team Cortex identified who it was, when Buster the shark appeared out of the water, ready for his feast.
"I'm here!" Buster announced, much to the chagrin of Team Cortex. "Dinner is served...for me!"
"Pipe down, or you won't get your food..." ordered Sebille.
"Who is that shark fellow?" asked Aku. "Is he the shark that's been harassing the villagers?"
"That's the one! His name is Buster. And he's gonna eat Chief Waterloo alive!"
"And my niece, what are you going to do to her?" asked a wary Cortex.
"We're taking her to our base for inspection. We might give her back to you when we're done...emphasis on might."
"You won't...do anything terrible to her, will you?"
"We won't say..." Sebille grinned, with an evil smile that certainly didn't quell Cortex's fears.
"Can we please get this whole thing over with?" expressed Chief Waterloo. "I really wanna go back home!"
"Oh you'll be going home alright...to mom and dad," Duri replied in a heartless tone, as he turned to face Buster. "Alright, Buster, it's time for your meal!"
"Aw what, I have to eat that stupid toad?!" frowned Buster. "Man, I wanted to devour to goth girl instead! Sure she might look filthy, but she's quite delectable!"
"My niece is not filthy, take that back!" Cortex angrily shook his fist at Buster.
"So you won't oblige...just as I figured," said Duri, as he took out his right hand, which had an θ symbol on it, and the symbol glowed. Duri then leaped unto Buster, and his hand was still glowing.
With his glowing hand, Duri placed it on Buster's head, causing the shark to shake, like he was being possessed. In a matter of seconds, Buster's skin became darker, and his eyes were an evil red. Duri had seemingly taken control of Buster, thanks to his hand.
"Sebille, go and take the Cortex girl away," Duri told Sebille, who nodded as she darted away. "I'll deal with the bandicoot and the other pests..."
Riding atop a new and improved Buster, looking mean as ever, Duri used Buster to fire beams of energy...from Buster's mouth. Our heroes dodged these beams, before Tropy fired a beam of his own at Buster.
"Nice try, hotshot..." said Duri as he took the beam, and redirected it at Tropy, sending him flying.
"If he keeps that up, we'll never land a hit on him..." remarked Tropy, as he got off the ground.
"We should try attacking from up above," said Grutika, as she summoned a bunch of rocks and held them over Buster. She dropped them on the shark, but Duri was one step ahead.
"Ah, raining rocks from the sky...no good," replied Duri, summoning Buster to fire eye beams at the rocks, destroying them. "Whatever you attempt to throw at me, it won't work. I got all my bases covered..."
Duri would speak too soon, when Zola summoned a gust of sand and directed it at Buster's eyes. The shark screamed in pain, as it flailed around on the water.
"Yes, it worked!" exclaimed Zola, while Duri did his best to maintain his control and balance on Buster. "That should hold off the eye beams, for now."
"Stay still, you stupid shark!" frowned Duri, as Buster continued to flail. Buster began firing beams from his mouth, and our heroes ran for cover.
"Big brother, I'm starting to feel a little queasy here..." said Chief Waterloo, still being carried over Duri's shoulder.
"Shut up or I'll feed you to the shark..."
With Duri losing his balance on top of Buster, Cortex charged up a plasma shot, and fired it at the toad. This worsened Duri's balance, as he was now standing on one foot. Yaya then threw her spear at Duri, and by dodging by the spear, Duri fell backwards into the water, bringing Chief Waterloo along with her.
"Okay guys, we got him now!" announced Crash, as our heroes were ready to go to work on Buster. By the time they reached the shark, Duri fired a beam of energy at the heroes, repelling them from Buster.
"Not on my watch, bandicoot!" the toad said, as he and Chief Waterloo got out of the water. "Fire away, Buster!"
Buster did as he was told, firing more beams from his mouth at our heroes. Zola summoned a wall of sand to block the attacks.
"Since these pests want to be a major pain in the butt..." Duri said to Chief Waterloo, dragging her close to Buster, "...I'll get this over with and feed you to the shark!"
"Crash, help me - Duri's trying to turn me into shark food!" Chief Waterloo called out to the bandicoot, with Duri covering her mouth to prevent her from speaking. Crash rushed into action, as he dove into the water and swam towards Chief Waterloo.
"Crap I just realized...I can't swim!" panicked Crash, as he sank into the water.
"Whaddaya mean, he just realized?" Fake Crash asked Coco. "Thought he knew that already..."
"I don't see you saving the chief of the Luong tribe," retorted Coco, as Fake Crash looked at Duri, dragging Chief Waterloo towards Buster. Buster had his mouth wide open, ready for his feast.
No way was Fake Crash going to allow it. So he did what he had to do...
The bandicoot screamed like a banshee, as he ran towards Buster. Duri looked up and saw this.
"Watch out Buster, that ugly bandicoot is trying to attack you!" the toad warned the shark, who turned around and fired lasers at Fake Crash. The bandicoot dodged the beams, albeit in dramatic fashion, as he reached Buster, before punching the shark in the face. It was quite an effective punch.
In fact, it was so darn effective, that it sent Buster flying towards Duri. Duri screamed as he held up Chief Waterloo...
...before Cortex swooped by on his hoverboots and rescued Chief Waterloo, taking her out of Duri's hands, and allowing Buster to swallow Duri whole.
"Now for the finishing blow..." said Cortex, high up in the air, as he fired a large fireball at Buster. The fireball struck the shark, causing him to explode into a million pieces. And just like that, Buster - and Duri - were gone.
After the explosion, however, a mask was seen flying up into the air, before landing in the hands of Coco. Was that the mask our heroes were looking for?
"Hold up, was that the Mask of Willpower?" Crunch questioned, after he rescued Crash from drowning. "Can't believe that dumb shark had the mask in his belly this whole time...thank goodness it wasn't digested!"
"Only one way to find out if this mask is the real deal," said Coco, as Crunch brought Crash over to the blonde bandicoot. "I think this is the mask we've been looking for."
Coco handed the mask to Crash, which depicted a Hispanic woman with reddish-brown hair. Crash held the mask in his hands...and it came to life!
"Hello, who's this?" the mask asked, as she looked at Crash. "Ooh, a bandicoot! You must be Crash, right?"
"...yes, it is I, Crash Bandicoot," replied Crash.
"You're the one destined to save me from my fate, aren't you? I'm so happy you came! I've heard many great things about you!"
"And it continues..." murmured Zola, as Cortex descended to the ground holding Chief Waterloo.
"What is that, is that the mask?" Chief Waterloo asked.
"It most certainly is - we finally found it!" exclaimed Crash. "We found the Mask of Willpower!"
"Um, that's Gabrielle, for you..." the mask stated her name. "...also, the 'Mask of Willpower'? Don't like the sound of that..."
"As it turned out, the mask was in Buster's stomach the whole time," stated Zola. "He must've eaten it somewhere."
"Well I did see the mask, flying up in the air after Buster was destroyed," said Chief Waterloo. "Which...unfortunately, resulted in Duri meeting his end as well."
"Eh, Duri was a bad guy, he had to go," remarked Von Clutch, only to receive a nudge from Pasadena.
"Wait a sec...isn't that Duri's partner-in-crime?" wondered Pasadena, when she saw a certain girl run back to the premises with Nina. It was Sebille, who was astonished to see Buster and Duri nowhere in sight.
"Wh-Where did Duri go?" Sebille asked, out of breath. Then, leaping out from the shadows were the Komodo Bros, donning their swords. Sebille saw them and got out of the way, before the Komodo Bros threw their swords at her and causing her to drop Nina in the process.
"Get out of the estuary, you hear?!" shouted Komodo Joe, as he and Moe threw their swords at Sebille until she was out of sight. With Sebille gone, and Nina out of her clutch, the Komodo Bros stopped throwing their swords.
"Oh, hi everyone, I see you rescued the chief and found the mask!" Komodo Moe said to our heroes. "Awesome!"
"Why aren't you bozos at Grantor's mansion?!" Cortex scolded the Komodo Bros.
"Because you forgot to warp up back there."
"That is right...it was that frog's potbelly that distracted me. Why must I have such a fascination with big stomachs...screw you, internet!"
"...I think now would be a great time to head back," stated Chief Waterloo.
With Chief Waterloo saved, the Mask of Willpower found, and the Dark Confederation gone away from the estuary, it was time for our heroes - and the Komodo Bros - to say their goodbyes. They met with Chief Waterloo and the rest of the Luong tribe at the village.
"On behalf of my tribe, I would like to thank you all for saving our village from Buster, and from the Dark Confederation," Chief Waterloo thanked our heroes, with Webbed Foot and Sitting Droplet at her side. "Your efforts will be remembered, and will be kept sacred for a long time."
"Well what can we say - saving the day is kinda our thing," grinned Crash. "Sucks that your brother had to go, but what had to be done had to be done..."
"You're right about that, Crash. I resent that Duri had to join the Dark Confederation...and stoop as low as killing our parents to prove his worth to the leader...but he got what was coming for him, in the end."
"Before you go...I must give you this," Sitting Droplet approached Cortex, carrying two vials. "While you were away, I concocted some potions that will revive your niece, and your floating mask. You should use them immediately, once you return home."
"Will do," assured Cortex, accepting the vials from Sitting Droplet while Crunch carried the N head's niece.
"Guess it's time to head back now, since we got our mask," remarked Crash. He looked up, and saw David and Dougal, standing with the Luong tribesmen. "McDougal, McDavid, you wanna come with us to Pridwen?"
"We would return home, but Dave and I still have some work to do in this estuary," replied Dougal.
"Besides, my wife will pick us up anyways once we're through," added David, before smiling romantically. "She's a real keeper..."
"Okay..." uttered Crash, before looking down at Gabrielle, in his hands. "Can you teleport us to Pridwen?"
"Sure can do!" smiled Gabrielle. "Haven't been in Pridwen in such a darn long time...everyone ready? Pridwen away!"
And with that, our heroes...and the Komodo Bros..teleported away to Pridwen, after a job well done.
Meanwhile, looking overheard while standing on the chief house was an individual wearing a blue jumpsuit with black markings over it, holding a scythe...accompanied by another individual, also wearing a jumpsuit but red in color, while wielding a scythe as well.
"We'll get him later..." the blue jumpsuit figure told his friend, as the two individuals walked away.
End of Chapter 10
But wait, there's more!
We now turn our attention to the unnamed building that was featured in chapter 7 - the same building with the room where the silhouettes met. Eighteen silhouettes were in attendance in this room, all circled around the giant figure with red eyes.
"Draven, Lorelai, how did you screw up your mission?" the giant figure questioned.
"It was Draven's fault, he couldn't stop Crash!" the purple silhouette, Lorelai, spoke up.
"No, it was thanks to that smoke that Crash got away," the black silhouette, Draven, stated. "We had to get away, for our own safety."
"I see...and because of that, you both ended up empty handed," said the giant figure. "Utterly pathetic..."
"Should we look into finding the next mask of the prophecy, headmaster?" asked the pink silhouette.
"Yes we should...that mask, is the Mask of Valor. Which is in the Temple of Ichabod, I believe. Renee, Eily, and Bridget...you ladies will find that mask. Understood."
"We got it covered," replied Renee, giving the giant figure a thumbs up.
"Excellent. Meeting adjourned."
So the eighteen silhouettes went away, leaving the giant figure by himself. He turned around, seemingly in thought.
"A member of the Dark Confederation, Duri, has been killed..." the figure said, before shaking his head. "Makes me wonder who'll be next...but at least we have our newest recruit..."