Final Chapter

Defeated by the bandicoots, the evil unfortunate scientist ended up laying somewhere else in the immense obscurity of Cortex Island. A while after his only current base being utterly destroyed, Cortex eventually woke up from his fall as he felt the headaches and toothaches disorienting his mind even more, making him to groan out of pain until the moment he recalled everything that had just happened.

"Stupid bandicoot..." He began to snarl with all of his spite, despite that in reality he was talking to the puppet since there was nobody to listen to him. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! STUPID! Arrgh! I cannot believe I just lost AGAIN! What did I ever, ever do wrong to deserve THIS?!" He started pulling out his own black hair from the sides of his head. "I swear one day, Crash Bandicoot, you and your happy new crew of pathetic bandicoot friends will suffer what I just did! One day!"

Suddenly, an acquainted deep voice began to haunt the scientist, as soon as he also had the feeling that he almost forgot something... or someone.

"Cortex..." Uka Uka smirked as his face showed up through the darkness, startling him to death due to his voodoo powers glowing orange lights around his mask. "Remember thedeadline?"

He swallowed; but a type of a slow motion swallow which made him already picture his soon doom that was about to come.

"Uh... oh..." He stuttered.

"CCOOOOORRTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXX!" And his shouting echoed throughout the island.

Later that night, Crash and his friends eventually returned to N. Sanity Island after accomplishing their greatest victory. The arrival to their home sweet home couldn't have been anymore perfect than having a pleasant refreshing beach and a beautiful view all around its landscape, not to mention that they also have forgotten through all this time that it wouldn't last long for the sunrise to appear anytime soon. Though pleased themselves that they've got rid of Cortex for some good amount of time from now on, the bandicoots were actually becoming discouraged as they knew that Amelia and her brothers had now to leave them to return to their old home.

With the two pilots' F-16s still parked near to Crash's house and ready to take off at any moment, the bandicoot family tried to enjoy to the fullest their last minutes before saying goodbye to their new friends. To them, the time well spent and the whole fun just passed too quickly, and for their major dismay they even were having difficulty to accept the fact that, perhaps, they were never going to see them again after a long while.

"We're going to miss you, guys." Coco spoke with a despondent tone, sighing to herself.

"Yeah, it was too short!" Crunch somewhat attempted to change their minds. "You sure you don't want to stay for... you know, a few days?"

"Let them go, Crunch." Aku Aku peacefully stated as he was joyless as well. "They also have their own lives."

"I'm sorry." Amelia apologized, her ears slightly dropping as she held the blonde bandicootess' hands. "I'd also like to stay here, but..." She discontinued after she sighed. "Thank you for being awesome and taking care of me, guys. I'll be sure to always remember you."

"Amelia..." She whispered.

As the twin brothers were despondent as well, Rock decided to walk towards Crunch and give him a present. "Hey, umm... I may not know much about you and all that stuff, but here, have my magazine. There's a lot of hot chicks in it."

Accepting his gift, the muscular burgundy bandicoot couldn't help but smile at his sympathy. "Thanks, dude."

"Goodbye, guys." Rick said as he approached to Coco and Aku Aku. "We're going to miss you all, as well... especially you, Coco." He avowed.

She slightly blushed. "R-really?"

"Yeah." He turned his face away as he was embarrassed. "But before I go, please, save my phone number in case you feel bored enough to ever call me." Rick eventually confessed as he removed from his pocket a piece of paper and handed it to her, but shortly after Coco didn't bother to give a small kiss on his cheek.

"I'd love to call you." She softly laughed.

This unexpectedly changed the blonde bandicoot's life for complete, since he already expected that she would never like him. "Heh heh, yeah..." He blushed so much that he almost turned himself into a tomato. "Umm sorry, I gotta go."

After almost everyone giving last farewells to each other, Crash and Amelia ended up being the only ones who still hadn't the courage to do so. As the sky was getting clearer and clearer, the aussie bandicoot and the female spy stood up with their feet on the sand as they merely gazed into each other's eyes, waiting for either one of both to eventually say something.

"So..." Crash began, exchanging an almost inexistent sigh between his words. "I see that you have to leave now, huh?"

"Yes." Amelia replied in a low voice, stopping looking at him as she wondered why she was feeling regretful.

"Well, in that case..." He tried to smile, although behind it was in reality a sad, shattered smile. "Good luck. Who knows, maybe we'll even meet each other again... life still goes on, right?"

That thought got stuck in her mind. "Yeah..." She smiled back. "Life still goes on."

Releasing his hands, Amelia gave one last deep breath as she closed her eyes for a moment, glancing straightly at the orange bandicoot until she'd eventually regain the forces to tell him.

"Goodbye, Crash."

Turning her back, the black bandicootess' last words would be forever marked inside the marsupial hero's heart as he watched her slowly walking away. None of both could tell if there would be another second chance to see each other face to face, yet, they knew that their fates wouldn't still break up their friendship and inseparable teamwork.

Right after Rick has been rearranging an extra seat for his sister in his F-16, Amelia kept stepping through the smooth sand until the plane as, even more irresistible, her thoughts in regards to Crash were becoming further and further hard to let them go. A kind of melancholic feeling which it was pushing her to the edge and constantly making her to think twice, though she also was stubborn enough to be strong and just accept her departure to Cortex Island.

Until, all at once, a Wumpa fruit just fell onto the ground, lying precisely next to the female spy's foot.

And then, by just glancing at it for a brief instant, memories started to dominate her mind; including that flashback of when she and Crash shared one of their moments with that delicious fruit.

"Try a bite. I think you'll like it."

"It's really good."

"You like it?"

"Yeah. This can only be the most sweet fruit I've ever eaten in my life!"

That voice. She just couldn't get it out of her head.

And the further she'd give one more single step towards the plane, the more she was leaving behind the only opportunity to ever stay with him.

"C'mon, Ame!" Rick called her, becoming a little impatient for awaiting too long. "The fuel isn't cheap nowadays, and you know it!"

But now, she didn't care about the fuel anymore; not getting into the F-16 for once, not even about her departure to her homeland. Decided, Amelia suddenly turned her back once again and this time began running in direction to the aussie bandicoot, calling out his name as an unique and joyous smile changed the course of her life.

"Crash!"

Surprised by hearing her voice again, and puzzled than ever, Crash turned his face back while he was walking towards the others when a glomp caught him without expecting, allowing Amelia to kiss him into the lips as soon as he also realized that she was the one he was looking for. Kissing romantically just in the time the sunrise eventually showed up over the ocean, the rest of the bandicoot crew stood, on the other hand, so open-eyed and amazed at such astonishing surprise that they became speechless from the beginning to end, as well with Rock's sunglasses falling to the ground and Crunch fainting backwards, which for the record it was totally unusual from him.

"Of course I'm staying." The black bandicootess finally confessed, still with the fortunate smile on her face. Unable to even say a word, Crash also smiled as he placed a hand on her cheek to gaze one more time into the spy's hazel eyes, this until Aku Aku resolved to appear between them.

"You guys just give me no choice." He gently laughed. "I have a feeling that this family is getting bigger."

"Wow, now that was... utterly unexpected?" Rock remarked.

"Rock, please remind me next time to bring a chainsaw and push that bandicoot out the bridge." Rick whispered into his brother's ear as he began having homicidal thoughts.

"Aww, that was so romantic!" Coco was, of course, the first and the only one to affirm otherwise.

"Why have I passed out?" Crunch eventually woke up, asking for not remembering anything that just happened at all.

"We're going to stay, Aku." Amelia said as she kept holding Crash's hand. "We want a new start from now on."

"Man," Rick simply folded his arms, upset. "And I wanted to go to Los Angeles..."

"I would've prefered California anyways." Rock contradicted him.

"Oh, pssh." He huffed, rolling his eyes. "Shut up."

"Well..." Aku Aku rethought, but upon seeing the two bandicoots so close and happy with each other, he ended up changing his mind as he smiled. "Why not? Of course you guys can stay."

"YES!" Coco squealed in happiness as she just hugged both Crash and Amelia. "I'm so happy to know you're going to stay! I knew it!"

"So that means we are too?" Rock inquired for a second before he saw Crunch moving pages of the magazine and smirking to himself in pleasure. "Indeed." He rushed until him to join his interesting search.

"Oh, well... this way..." Rick began to raise his eyebrows and smile as he approached to Coco, daring himself. "Will you give me another kiss?" He showed his lips.

"Not even dead." That was her response as she just walked away, frowning.

"Why, God? Why?" He talked to himself as an imaginary thunderstorm began to rain above his blonde hair.

"Hey, do you want a walk through the island to know it better?" Crash suggested as he felt bored on standing on the sand.

"Sure, it seems a nice idea." Amelia agreed and went with him, leaving all the others behind as the undaunted hero and the perspicacious spy held each other's hands, leisurely viewing the enormous scenery of N. Sanity Island.

The End

And here was the ending to Upheaval, folks! Sorry if I really wrote this chapter into a cheesy, perhaps a bit over too dramatic chapter, but hey, the part I tend to suck the most is at finals, so please excuse me.

On a side note, if you're worried that there won't be another next Crash Bandicoot story from me, then don't be! I have this upcoming one I've been waiting to write for over a year, and it may come around July if I don't get busy, but let's hope in these Summer holidays I also don't let myself to be too lazy.

Before I go, I want to thank everybody who've read and appreciated this fan fic as much as I did, since it's my very first one starting in the CB universe. And thank you for all your awesome reviews, as well! They're one of the reasons why I keep writing and sharing my stories with everyone. But now, it's time for me to get a little break.

See you soon!

~BeatrixDiSanti