Crash Bandicoot: The Dark Descent

Chapter 1: Amnesia

"...Remember who you are… Remember that you are Crash Bandicoot… Even if you forget about me, don't ever forget who you are… Please…"

My eyes slowly flutters open, followed by a groan emitted from my lips. The first thing my eyeballs see when my blurry vision cleared up is a stained glass window and the first thing my ears hears is the sounds of a stormy rain going on outside beyond these stone walls.

I clutch my head for a moment, feeling like it had been split open or something. I then took a look at my hands and saw that i'm wearing a pair of brown fingerless gloves, taking off one of them to reveal an orange furred hand underneath it.

I'd look at the rest of myself to see more of that orange fur on the arms, torso and parts of my shins. In addition to the gloves, I am wearing a pair of blue jean shorts with a white lace at the front and a set of white trimmed brown sneakers with white neatly done shoelaces.

'What am I?' I thought to myself.

Slowly getting to my feet, I glanced around my surroundings. I find myself in a cold musty hallway lined with red carpets and the stained glass windows on the walls to my left providing the only tangible light source in an otherwise dark area. I appear to be the only soul around here it seems.

Upon closer inspection, this hallway i'm in right now didn't look to have many wander through it which explains the partial darkness I see here.

Unsure of where to go exactly, I chose to go the other way in what I'd perceive as my south. Wait, how do I know what a south is or knows what my sense of directions are?

Nevertheless, I walked in that particular direction with the vague notation of what I am supposed to be doing. Find my way out of here.

Find my way out of what exactly, i'm not exactly sure. I'll just have to follow where the trail leads to in here and hope I don't get lost along the way. Something tells me this isn't the kind of place you'd really want to get lost in. Period.

I wouldn't get far in the direction I was going when I came to a deadend and it's obvious judging from the large volume of rocks present that this path has caved in, blocking the way. I wonder if I have come through this way prior to waking up on that floor over there?

Glancing to my left, there was a wooden door and I opened it to see the room inside. It was pretty sparse with the only item of note being this silver cylinder object I see on the table, my nostrils could detect a faint smell of flint coming from it. I looked to one side of the room and saw an unlit candle to my right, I wonder…

After fiddling with this metal container and figuring out how it works exactly, I lit my first candle and the room lights up. Dispelling the darkness from it.

Now that i've learned how to make a light with that candle, i'll be able to navigate through this darkness much easier if that's what the rest of this place will be like. Suddenly, I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach at the thought.

I knew waiting around in the safe sanctuary of this light won't get me anywhere, so I headed out of the room and proceeded forwards through the hallway that hasn't caved-in.

Who am I, where am I and what's going on were among the questions swirling around in my mind as I walked through these cold, lonely halls with only the quiet whistling winds from outside and the occasional echoes of my footsteps providing the sounds heard around here. My mind preoccupied in trying to figure out what had happened that led to me ending up here in the first place. Who was I before this?

I suddenly stopped and looked back over my shoulder to find nothing behind me, feeling like i'm being watched somehow but I saw no pair of eyes in the darkness staring back at me which is either a good thing or bad thing. Felt slight goosebumps on my skin under the orange fur from such a thought.

I'd see a flight of stairs made of stone leading to a door and had a few lit candles on the walls surrounding it. I slowly went over to them and walked up on the stairs at my own pace. Expecting nothing from this.

However as soon as I got near the door at the top, it blew open from a sudden burst of wind followed by a howl. Less to say, I was startled by this and felt my heartbeats spike up momentarily in that moment as I thought something was going to come out from the other side of the door.

Nothing. The door was merely blown open by what I presumed were the chilly winds coming from outside and there was only me standing over at it, my heartbeats slowing back down to normal. I walked through the door to find a new area where there are some brown wooden broom closets, four red doors on the sides as well as a double set of doors up ahead, two old rusted knight suits standing between two of the red doors on both sides and a lot of cobwebs in the corners.

I went for the doors up ahead and found them locked. I'll have to do a little search around here then.

Looking at the broom closets that are here, I opened them up to look inside and discovering another one of those flint cylinders which I promptly picked up. I then went to the first red door to my right which was locked as was the door next to it. The second door to my left fortunately wasn't locked and I went inside it to look for something, something to perhaps unlock these other doors.

It was a little hard to see and I accidentally knocked some stuff down from a shelf to my left alongside the two stacked chairs next to the shelf as they all hit the hard floors, making me jump when they did. I searched about the room with arms stretched out forwards to help me find my way around inside it.

My hands would find a brown drawer desk which incidentally happens to have a flint cylinder that I picked up and would poke through the drawers before finding a shiny gold key with a round loop on the back in one of them. It'd be pointless to proceed onwards without it, so I took the first key and left the room.

I tried out the door to my right with it in the keyhole and saw it doesn't work on that door. I checked the right door on the other side and it didn't work on it either. By process of elimination, it should work on the left door.

I'd be proven correct when I hear a click on the door. Slowly, I opened up the door and found another room just like the previous one.

Although, I had an easier time navigating in this room with there being candles up at the ceiling above me and didn't knock down as many objects as before. I came to another desk but there's now three little wooden boxes on top and a bunch of letters surrounding them instead of a flint cylinder.

I looked at one of the boxes that each contained a unique symbol on them, the symbol on the box i'm holding had what looks like a thing with legs on it. Beneath it are seven square slots. Slots that are the right size for those letters on the desk.

The second box has one of a round thing with a bit coming from the top and five six slots while the third has a half-circle coming from the bottom and five slots.

There I was, picking up the letters and sticking them on the boxes, making random guesses. At first, the letters formed a bunch of gibberish… But then I started seeing a pattern emerge the more I kept at it and I began figuring it out in my mind. The letters are meant to form words relating to the symbols themselves. It all made sense now.

I solved the first box with the letters spelling 'INSECTS' where the letter 'F' would pop out of it, the letter that wasn't amongst the pile. I'd solve the second with 'FRUITS' which produces another 'F' which I then use to solve the third box with 'FUNGI'.

When I solved the third box, a key would come out of it which I graciously accepted and set the puzzle box back down before taking my life from the room with the prize in my hand. I wondered how I knew the answers in my head and vividly recalling what they actually taste like…

I took the second key clasped in my hand to the right sided door opposite of the room I was just in and funnily enough, it did unlock for me. Allowing me to enter the third room with relative ease. There, i'd be greeted by the sight of several black-painted jars and dirty beaker glasses spread all over the room up on the shelves and on the floors including a few on the desk.

The desk was the first thing I checked in the room and found no key in it, so it has to be in one of these glasses. But which one?

There I was, spending who knows how long just going through each jar and beaker in search of a key. It has to be in one of them because why else would this room be full of them besides storage purposes. That's what my mind is telling me at least.

After a boring tedious search, I eventually found the key in the key located near the door. A little out of my field of view when I came in.

With the third key, it's only inevitable that the double doors will become openable soon enough. I went to the last locked red door and unlocked it with the new key, much to my satisfaction.

The interior of this is much different from the other three rooms as there's a picture on the wall to my left, a closet behind the red door, a grey floor rug beneath my soles, a lit candle standing around my height, a shelf full of books to my right and a wooden chair at the desk in front of me. The light of the candle stand illuminated the room and allowed me to see the neater presentation of this room in comparison to the other three.

The painted picture on the wall is that of a serene lake portrait with the green mountains seen behind the trees in the distance and the blue waters in the forefront. It looked nice to stare at. However, my eyes would wander to a page that's sitting on the desk and I soon picked it up to examine it.

Upon closer examination, it was a written page and the top of it reads: 'Subject #208 Diary Entry: 01/01/1996.'

Subject #208, what is that? I wonder who or what is Subject #208, so I directed my eyes to the paragraph below.

'The male orange eastern-barred bandicoot subject is soon due to begin his first test today at 7:00 PM. He will undergo the same trials I have once subjected that failed wombat to and I will be making notes of his performance as he goes through today's test. Signed, Dr N. Cortex.'

Suddenly, I have these flashes of memories coming to me...

"...D-D-Dr Cortex, the bandicoot has been successfully evolved." I saw myself strapped to a wooden table with a strange red looking thing above me in a darkly-lit and two strange looking people talking to each other. One in white with yellow gloves and the other in green with black sleeves.

"Excellent, looks like I'll be getting my general soon enough." Said the one with the black beard, pale to yellowish skin tone and a capitalised 'N' on his forehead as I see him grinning at whatever the other person had said. This must be Dr Cortex then...

"I w-w-wouldn't count my chickens b-b-before they hatch—"

"That wombat is a complete failure Brio. Skull shattered like a dropped egg during a test and I had to make my minions clean that mess up." The thought of that image made me wince.

"W-W-Why the bandicoot then?" The one named Brio had bolts on the sides of his long bald head and he's got something of a snaggletooth from what I could see of him.

"I've read up on their behavioural traits through books and I think having one as a general would be most suitable. Plus this one's skull wouldn't shatter as much when I take him out for tests."

"W-W-Why not assign Pinstripe t-t-to the general p-p-position instead?" Replied the one named Brio and who exactly is this Pinstripe being?

"I don't see him cut out for the role and besides, he's a good earner from where he is now as well as making for a nice bodyguard and loyal to me like I am the Don. I did think about picking that potoroo to turn into a general before I went for the wombat however…"

"W-W-What about these other six b-b-bandicoots?" Other bandicoots? So, I ain't the only one of my kind.

"What gender are these other bandicoots?"

"A-A-All of them are f-f-females. Five are about two years old while one is barely a year old w-w-when they were captured."

"I suppose having more bandicoots around wouldn't hurt and I could do an experiment to see how these marsupials' mating habits have changed following their evolution. Who knows, I might even have them be a squad within my army."

"W-W-Which of them should w-w-we evolve first?"

"Hmmm… How about the one that's got some spunk and moxie to her as Pinstripe would put it?"

"T-T-Then i'll begin p-p-preparations right a-a-away."

"Get on it then. Assistants, take this one to the castle cells..."

Before I knew it, I was back in front of a desk with a piece of paper in my gloved hands and taking in what i've just experienced there. A memory unlocked.

So… I must be a bandicoot then and I must be the Subject #208 that the note was on about. I hear mentions of an army and generals in that memory I didn't know I had before coming here but what do they both mean exactly?

And that Dr Cortex one said something about those other bandicoots which made me curious as to where they are now or if they were 'evolved' like what Brio had said regarding me. If they were, then where are they and where am I in this castle—

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Suddenly, I heard something pounding on the double doors out in the hallway. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up instantly and my heart started beating quickly as chills ran down through my spine. I needed to hide and fast.

I looked to the closet next to the door of the room i'm in and quickly stuffed myself into it before shutting both doors, hiding from whatever was going to come into that hallway. My breathing was shaky and uneven from how frightened I was feeling right now, having to keep quiet as much as I can to not let whatever's trying to get in find me here.

I stayed inside the closet for around four minutes until I gently peaked open the left door to see if the coast was clear. Seeing if it was still around looking for me...

I swivelled my ears to search for that thing anywhere and all I hear is dead silence. When it felt safe enough to come out, I stepped out of the closet and cautiously walked towards the wall to find nobody there but me and the double doors still shut.

Was the door pounding all part of my imagination or did whatever that thing was shut the doors after themselves when it found nothing here?

I wondered where I was supposed to go as I returned to the room I had found the note in and poked around in it, checking to see if there's anything out of place here.

I kept wondering this when I got to the bookshelf and had pulled on a switch that was disguised as a book which caused the shelf itself to move forwards to one side, revealing a hidden passage behind it. Now i'm getting somewhere around here and I bravely ventured forth into the dark and somewhat creepy passage…

Where am I, why am I here, and how did I lose my memories in the first place? Questions were aplenty in the deep recesses of my thoughts… Wondering what truly lies in this place…

"Hello there, what's your name? My name is Tawna and you are?"

Author's Note: Based on the title, setup and general vibe of the setting, this story is definitely inspired by Fictional Games' Amnesia: The Dark Descent if it wasn't already obvious with Crash playing the role of Daniel here.

I'll let you figure out who those other female bandicoots are that N. Brio had brought up to Neo Cortex in what would be the first of several flashbacks for this fic. Questions, questions...

What do you think of this first chapter? Stay tuned for more chapters.