I'm baaaaack! Sorry I kept you all waiting. Should've updated at least once last month. But at least I got this chapter posted.
A man wearing traditional Dark Confederation garb showed up, appearing out from the trees. But something was different about him...he was wearing a hoodie, with the hood over his head, and strangely enough, a mask with a smiley face on it.
"Sebille, this is your new traveling partner, Bart," said Strazio, as Bart held out his hand. Sebille shook it, reluctantly. "He's the newcomer our Alpha spoke about."
"I can already tell that we're gonna be BEST FRIENDS!" Bart exclaimed to Sebille.
"He's scaring me already," remarked Sebille, quickly retracting her hand.
"You should've seen him on the way here..." mumbled Nemesio, arms still folded.
"Nemesio and I must go now - we have some more duties to fulfill," Strazio told Sebille. "Make sure you treat Bart nicely."
And with that, Strazio leaped up into the air, with Nemesio following suit. Sebille was left alone with Bart, who was moving around with excitement.
Up in the sky flapping her wings, another one of Chantex's former pupils, Inez, had watched the entire exchange...before flying back to Pridwen.
Chapter 12: In Times Past
Sebille was walking through the forest with the newest recruit of the Dark Confederation, Bart. Bart was a very interesting fellow - in addition to his usual Confederation attire, he also wore a smiley face mask, and a hoodie with the hood over his head. For those reasons alone, Sebille made sure to keep her distance.
"So Miss Zeta, what is my first line of mission?" Bart excitedly asked Sebille, as he skipped along.
"Your first mission is to stay the heck away from me, if you truly value your life," ordered Sebille, still keeping her distance. "So far, you aren't doing such a great job..."
"I heard that the Mask of Valor is at the Temple of Ichabod. Are we going to the Temple of Ichabod, Miss Zeta? I'd love to go!"
"No we're not going, the Alpha already found two members to take care of that. We're just looking for...'candidates' for the prophecy, that's all."
"Ooh, I love the sound of that! Is the chosen one a candidate?"
"Actually he is...given his status, he's the most important candidate of them all. So capturing him will be our highest priority."
"I see...I sure hope to see the chosen one in person. That would make my day, it really would!"
As Bart and Sebille walked through the forestation, another question popped up in Bart's head...
"Miss Zeta, will we be traveling to the Temple of Achabod?" the new recruit of the Dark Confederation asked. "To see the chosen one?"
"No we cannot, for we have other business to attend to," replied Sebille. "But on the other hand, the chosen one, Crash, is gonna see some old friends..."
Fast forward a day later, and it was morning time in the city of Pridwen. Nina, who was asleep in her bed, would soon wake up, yawning as she stretched her arms out wide. She looked towards her uncle, Dr. Cortex, and saw him asleep in his bed...with his butt sticking up in the air, with no covers on. AT least his head was resting on a pillow.
"Uncle Cortex, why must you sleep like that?" questioned Nina, waking up her uncle from his slumber. "Does it not feel uncomfortable?"
"It might look uncomfortable to you Nina, but my doctor told me that I would avoid back problems if I sleep in that position!" stated Cortex, as he crawled out of his bed. "I haven't had any issues since I followed his advice!"
"Quick question: does your doctor have a doctorate?" This was a question that took Cortex a while to think over.
"No he doesn't have one...yet, but when he does, I'll be the first to tell you!"
Nina rolled her eyes at Cortex, as she left the room and went down the stairs, to the living room. There, she found Luigi, in his pajamas, chugging a gallon of milk, as the minions were cheering him on.
"Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug..." the minions mindlessly chanted, as Nina stood by and watched.
"MILK GALLON SPIKE!" shouted Luigi, as he threw the empty gallon of milk unto the floor and tore off his pajama shirt...by unbuttoning it. The teen was cheering, and so were the minions.
"Even with new blood in the mansion, the stupidity is still at an all-time high..." Nina sighed, as she continued on her way to the garage.
Once in the garage, Nina saw Crash training with Grantor, and oddly enough, the bandicoot's fur was a whole lot more orange than before. If it was orange. As if that wasn't freaky enough, his body was hardening, like rock.
"Now Crash, release!" a voice shouted, as Crash mustered all the strength inside of him and released a bunch of rock shards from his body. The shards traveled far cross the garage, and one of the shards even came flying towards Nina.
"Gah!" Nina shrieked, moving her head out of the way to avoid the rock shard. "Watch where you're shooting those things!"
"Whoops, my bad Nina," Crash apologized to the goth girl, before bringing his attention to Grantor. "You sure this is a great place to practice Gabrielle's abilities, Grantor?"
"We would practice in the driveway, but we shouldn't risk destroying any property," replied Grantor, taking a sip from the cup of coffee in his hands. "Last thing we'd want is to damage a neighbor's car!"
"You just keep on your little practicing thing, while I just sit here until you guys are done..." Nina said, as she sat in a dusty chair.
"I wouldn't sit in that chair, Nina...saw a black widow spider crawling all over it a while ago." Upon hearing this, Nina shrieked as she hopped out of the chair.
"D-Did you even bother killing it?"
"Why should I? It was a big one, could've been a mother. Don't want to leave her children motherless."
"Man you are such a softy..."
"Did you come here for something, Nina? Crash and I wouldn't mind if we..."
"Don't forget about me!" the mysterious voiced shouted, heard once more. It was Gabrielle, and she came from Crash's mind. Or head. Or conscience. Just pick one.
"...Crash, Gabrielle and I wouldn't mind if we put our training on hold, so you can ask us anything of importance."
"Yeah, what he said," said Crash, as Nina, who was on the floor, stood up on her feet.
"Well, I do have a question...about the Dark Confederation. Not sure if anyone told you this, but apparently they tried to kidnap me while I was in the Luong Estuary. Or at least that's what Uncle Cortex told me. Got any idea why they wanted me in the first place?"
"MINDY!" shouted Grantor, and a few seconds later, Mindy showed up in the garage. "Would you be a dear, and fetch me a prophecy scroll?"
"Yes, Grantor," replied Mindy, as the girl ran back inside the mansion and came back with a prophecy scroll in hand, giving it to Grantor. "Here you go."
"Thank you very much." Once Mindy returned to the mansion, Grantor unraveled the scroll, and scanned it up and down. "It seems as if you're an integral part of the prophecy, miss Nina..."
"Wow, I honestly didn't know I was that important to begin with," remarked Nina, extremely startled by this information. "I probably shouldn't tell Uncle Cortex about it though - knowing him, he'll probably throw a huge fit."
"According to this prophecy scroll, you're a part of a group of ten very special members. And it appears that Crash is a part of this group as well!"
"Why me, being the chosen one is hard enough!" wailed Crash. "Got too many monkeys on my back..."
"I think this calls for a video...Crash, take Gabrielle off your face, and you and Nina meet me in the kitchen. I think watching some old film will explain things far better than I can."
"Are we gonna watch film on the projector screen like we did in the last adventure?"
"Of course we are - and it's a good thing I brought my projector with me to this mansion, along with my footage. Otherwise, we'd be screwed! Or I'd be screwed, rather...I had that projector ever since I was a baby."
"Ever since, you were...a baby?" Nina raised an eyebrow.
"It was an early birthday gift...my parents were super generous with me."
While everyone was eating breakfast, Grantor grabbed his projector, and pulled it into the kitchen and placing it at the front of the table. Everyone looked at the badger, as he turned the projector on.
"We're watching a movie this early in the morning?" asked Keyon, as he was eating a pancake.
"No, we're watching some old footage from a long time ago," replied Pasadena, taking the syrup out of Keyon's hand. "Trust me, I know, Grantor forced it on us..."
"Such poor word choice, O'Possum - I was only trying to enlighten you and the others," said Grantor, as the projector started up. "What you're about to see concerns your current adventure. The film featured pretty much serves as a bit of a precursor to The Dark Prognosticus." -dramatic music-
"Man I love that dramatic tone..." Fake Crash sighed rather happily, as everyone gave the bandicoot weird looks.
"The main group featured in the film you're about the see are the chosen ones of Keystone Island, the chosen ones of prophecy...as well as a very special group called the Light Confederation."
Crunch, who was sipping his orange juice, would spit his drink out after hearing what Grantor had said. The bandicoot spat out his drink in the face of Aku, who was less than amused.
"Just what the doctor ordered..." the witchdoctor mask sighed, as Crunch wiped his mouth.
"You mean to tell us that there's a Dark Confederation and a Light Confederation?!" the bandicoot frowned at Grantor. "What, is there also a Twilight Federation?!"
"Thank heavens, no! Besides, Twilight Confederation doesn't even roll off the tongue. The Light Confederation actually used to exist prior to the Dark Confederation, but I'll let the film do the talking for me. It should be starting right now..."
Indeed the film was starting up, as a blurry image appeared on the screen...
(Like in the previous story, outsider talk is entirely italicized.)
Soon the image became more refined and clear, revealing three individuals wearing white cloaks. The three individuals were a ginger-haired man, a dark-skinned woman, and a wombat. Their faces were in clear view.
"Those three individuals are the chosen ones of Keystone Island - Fitz, Naomi, and Dominik," explained Grantor.
"Not gonna lie, the Naomi chick looks pretty hot..." smiled N. Gin, as he purred loudly, Cortex punched him in the face.
"Please have some decency, you're gonna make me look bad..." the N head said to his right hand man. "...provided you haven't already."
Fitz, Naomi, and Dominik were standing together, in a circle, around some kind of object. The very object was a sword, stuck in a stone - was it the sword of Excalibur?
"Soooo are you gonna lift up the sword or not?" Naomi asked Fitz, who was staring at the legendary blade rather intently.
"Uh, yeah, right," replied Fitz, seemingly snapping out of his trance, as he grabbed the handle of the sword with both hands. Pulling with all his might, the ginger pulled the sword out of the stone, and held it up high in the air, the sun shining on the very tip of the blade.
"Showoff..." murmured Kong, eating his pancakes rather loudly.
"With this mighty blade, the blade of Excalibur, the Light Confederation shall rule supreme!" vowed Fitz, as ten cloaked individuals gathered around Fitz, Naomi, and Dominik. One of the cloaked individuals happened to be a bandicoot.
"If King Arthur were here, he would be so proud..." the bandicoot remarked, with a proud smile.
"Right you are, Schroeder, right you are - I have to admit, you'd look pretty great wielding this blade one day. One day..."
"That bandicoot is Schroeder, he's the brother of Detlef," explained Grantor. "He was chosen to be the successor of Fitz, who is the leader of the Light Confederation."
"Heh, he reminds me a lot...of me," remarked Crash, noticing some similarities between Schroeder and himself. "Wonder what happened to him."
The chosen trio stepped down from the rock, joining their fellow Light Confederation members. Other than the bandicoot, Schroeder, there was a pale woman with black hair, a jaguar, an armadillo, a burly man, a blonde-haired woman, a lobster, a walking grasshopper, and a man who appeared to be of Native descent.
"Awesome, you finally found the sword of Excalibur...now can we get on with our mission now?" the pale woman with the black hair asked Fitz, seeming impatient.
"Of course, my dear - obviously the more important deeds always come first," smiled Fitz, wagging his finger at the woman. "It is only by fate that I'm required to seek and maintain the legendary sword."
"The pale woman is Malvolia - she and Schroeder used to be pretty close with one another," explained Grantor. Nina took a great liking towards Malvolia, as she found herself stroking her chin.
The watching of the old footage would be interrupted, when a familiar tone sounded - the radar sound. The moment he heard the radar, Grantor instantly stopped the projector, and rushed out of the kitchen like his life depended on it.
"Don't know about you guys, but that Grantor really needs a girlfriend," remarked Stew. "Getting super excited over the wrong stuff!"
"Leave him alone Stew, it's Grantor," Chick said to the chicken, placing his hand on his partner's shoulder. "He serves no purpose other than being the mentor to Crash and his friends."
"Get yo hand off of me!" Stew slapped Chick's hand away, as Grantor returned to the kitchen.
"The next mask - the Mask of Valor - is in the Temple of Ichabod," the badger explained to our heroes, all giddy inside. "As always, there should be a portal to your destination somewhere in town."
"And I'll have to use the mask I've acquired to find said portal," said Crash, flexing his fingers. "Shouldn't be a problem..."
"Charles, Trent, would you two like to come with Crash and the others to the Temple of Ichabod?" The chameleon and the blonde both looked up, when Grantor asked them this question. "Crash could really use all the help he can get..."
"Not sure if Crash even wants our help, but I suppose Charles and I can offer some assistance," shrugged Trent, before looking towards Crash. "So, when will we be heading out?"
"As soon as possible," replied Crash. "Can't leave evil waiting forever!"
Grantor stood outside, as he watched Crash and company make their way to the portal to the temple. The badger was about to head back inside his mansion...
...when a blue jay landed in front of him. It was Inez.
"About time you made it back," smiled Grantor.
"Sorry if I kept you worried...experience a whole lot of fatigue," apologized Inez. "Also, I was doing some snooping around."
"As long as you took care of my errands, that's all that matters. So, what kind of snooping were you up to?"
"Well, I saw a Dark Confederation meeting in a forest. Wasn't a major meeting - just a meeting between three members. Strazio was one of them."
"The prophecy scroll did say that Strazio would be brought back alive...how that was achieved, I do not know. What were the members discussing?"
"I wasn't exactly sure, but I saw that they got a new member of sorts...haven't gotten an early impression of him."
Eating as much of as their breakfast as they could, our heroes, joined by Charles and Trent, got themselves prepared as they embarked on a journey - a journey to the Temple of Ichabod. The heroes looked around town for the portal, not knowing where it was.
"Good afternoon and a cockle-doodle-doo to everyone watching!" reported Chick, as he and Stew were following our heroes around. Their trusty cameraman, Rilla Roo, was recording the duo. "This is Chick Gizzardlips here, along with my trusty partner Stew."
"Our man Crash is back on the hunt, looking for another mask!" added Stew. "The mask he's looking for this time is the Mask of Valor, located in the Temple of Ichabod! And frankly, Crash doesn't even know how to get to the temple! All thanks to that lousy bum..."
"Don't you blokes have anything else better to do?" Charles snapped on the Chick and Stew, interrupting Stew.
"Leave them alone Charles, they did this even back when we we were over at Gemstone Island," said Coco, holding a device in her hands. "There's no quit to them."
"Hey sis, what's that funky contraption you got there in your hands?" Crunched asked the blodne bandicoot.
"Oh, just some device that allows us to track the portal leading to the Temple of Ichabod. No biggie."
"How come you get to use that device, and niether of us don't?" pouted Fake Crash, folding his arms. "Not hard to see who Grantor's favorite is..."
"Or maybe Grantor gave me the device because I'm the smartest person in the group. Food for thought."
"Oh yeah, well I'm pretty smart too! Uh...two plus two...equals bread!"
"...Coco, where is the portal located?" Von Clutch asked the bandicoot, wanting to change the subject.
"According to this device, the portal is just up ahead, at a bank," replied Coco, looking at the map on the device. "We're only a couple of meters away."
Our heroes would reach the bank, and head inside. There was a safe, with a security guard standing in front of it.
"The portal is in the safe, so we'll have to get past the guard to get inside," stated Coco, the device beeping with a flashing red light.
"Either the guard is there because this bank gets robbed often, or the guard is just bored," assumed Cortex, approaching the guard. "Let me talk some sense into him!"
"This isn't going to go well..." remarked Tropy...and he would be right, as Cortex was sent flying towards the heroes, landing on the floor.
"The man wouldn't even let me speak to him! What a jerk! Crash, do something!"
"Do something I shall..." said Crash, as he took out Gabrielle from his knapsack and wore the mask on his face, turning his body spiky and rock hard. The accountants took notice. The bandicoot marched towards the security guard, who got scared.
"Boo!" Gabrielle spooked the guard, making him scream and run away. Using his temporary strength, Crash opened the lock to the safe, and opened the door. The accountants were too afraid to stop him.
"Not exactly the intended use of my new powers, but at least we found the portal," remarked Crash, as he took Gabrielle off his face. With the heroes joining him, Crash would lead the group inside the safe, through the portal...
...and arrived at a humid, tropical area, with some forestation. Our heroes got a sense of their surroundings, and looked ahead and saw a giant pyramid-like temple out in the distance.
"Well folks, the mask definitely has to be in that temple," said Uka, knowing that the temple was none other than the Temple of Ichabod. Unless it was an imitation. "So let's get movin'!"
"Do you think those guys might know where the mask is?" asked Trent, as he pointed at a bunch of tigers, wearing robes and holding their hands prayerfully, in a line as they entered the temple. "It wouldn't hurt to ask them."
"They must all be monks," assumed Pasadena, as she observed the tigers' garb. "They would definitely know where the mask is!"
Our heroes moved forward, moving towards the tigers, and they wouldn't get that far. For something stopped them in the tracks.
And that something? It was a bright, white flash that caught our heroes' attention. Everyone turned around, hearing some bustling in the bushes.
"Golly, I found him, I found the chosen one!" a distinct female voice, with an accent, uttered from the bushes. "Finally I got him on my camera!"
Out from the bushes appeared a brown-haired woman, with a purple vest, white dress shirt, black miniskirt, black knee highs socks and brown boots. She had her eyes locked on her target, Crash, and she was holding a camera.
"Should I even ask who you are?" Crash asked the woman, who immediately ran up to the bandicoot and eagerly shook his hand.
"Margo Osment, your most trusted reporter in Keystone Island, from the number one newspaper, The Pridwen Times! The first to every scoop! You can always count on me!"
"It hasn't even been half a minute yet, and she's already annoying..." Uka whispered to Cortex.
"Give her some time, she might wear off eventually," Cortex whispered back.
"I've been writing up stories about you ever since your arrival on this island," Margo said to Crash, adjusting the red ascot on her dress shirt. "Your heroics in the Luong Estuary was a major hit among the readers!"
"Dang, I didn't know people knew I was in the estuary..." remarked Crash. "I must be super popular. You must be an awesome journalist or something."
"Guess you could say that...I'm also a reporter! Though it's a side job. I'm doing some reporting right now!"
"Stand back Stew...looks like we got some competition..." Chick murmured to Stew, who was glaring down Margo intensely.
"That Margo chick better know her place, or we're gonna square up..." responded Stew.
"So, what are you and your friends up to?" asked Margo, before clapping her hands in excitement. "Lemme guess - you're gonna find another mask!"
"Uh, yes we are, and we're hoping to find it in that temple over there," replied Crash, pointing at the temple.
"The Temple of Ichabod? Cool! Good thing I have a cameraman who knows a way inside. Javier, get your butt over here!"
A Hispanic cameraman would pop out of the bushes, wearing a backwards gray cap, an open green flannel shirt, a white t-shirt, and some baggy black pants. He was carrying a camera with him.
"Oh yeah, this is definitely a competition now..." seethed Chick, as he cracked his knuckles.
"Everyone, I would like for you to meet Javier Ramirez, my trusty cameraman!" Margo introduced Javier to our heroes. "He's way cooler than he looks!"
"Hey," Javier simply waved to our heroes, sounding pretty bored.
"Javier, can you show Crash and his friends a way inside the Temple of Ichabod? They're looking for a mask!"
"I suppose I can..." Javier sighed a heavy sigh, as he started marching towards the Temple of Ichabod. "Everyone follow me, and watch out for scorpions. There's a lot of them in this area."
"Now you tell me..." frowned Fake Crash, playing around with a scorpion and getting stung in the process. The bandicoot got swollen real quick, as Charles grabbed him and dragged him away.
"Good grief, you carry so much dead weight..." the chameleon said, trying to keep up with the others.
