N Cased in N Trancement

by Primal WolfBlood

Some of the greatest racers across the bandicoot world are invited to race in the prestigious Cosmic Circuit. But who will come out on top when Cortex's minions run out of patience with their boss and go into business for themselves?

3. Chapter 3

N-Cased in N-Trancement, a Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fuelled Story

Lap 3: Pitstop in Peril

Following the race in the Slide Colosseum, the three remaining members of Team Mutant went straight off to talk to their potential new team-mate. 'I would have them smoked if he hadn't played dirty.' Uncharacteristically, Yaya was less critical of Dingo than she was of her team-mate.

'Like you were any better there. The way you were speaking.' 'When did you get so defensive of him?' 'When you pretty much dared him to do it. We're supposed to be getting her back not encouraging him.' 'There's no harm having a little bit of banter.'

'When Pasadena's back to her senses, then you can start banter. Not before.' 'What I said is child's play compared to what you said.' 'I didn't say anything wrong.' 'Neither did I. I was simply pointing out that his crew seem rather pleased at what they have done to… what's her name again – Pasadinner?'

Yaya was just about to blow when Von Clutch silenced them both. 'I find it appropriate that I take the questioning here.' With little disagreement from either of his partners, Ebenezer stepped forward to his potential client, who simply said 'I thought you'd never come.'

Elsewhere

Coco was getting increasingly concerned and annoyed at the presence of Trance. 'I can't believe he had the cheek to come back. I thought we'd got rid of him, but he just won't leave us alone!' 'Calm down, he isn't going to get you.' 'And how are you going to stop him?'

Crunch simply looked down at his arm. 'I have a metal fist which isn't being used for much. If he comes anywhere near you, I'm going to scramble that egg! And then none of the king's horses or men would ever be able to put him back together.'

The next day

As the teams lined up again, Pinstripe stood in his Negative Suit, and made an announcement. 'Today is the last day of the first stage. Now Mr. Von Clutch, I believe you have a little proposal for me, do you not?' He stood up straight, his stocky body representing a heart of pure iron and grit. 'Yes sir. As you can see, we appear to be short by one team member.'

'That you do. I'm sure nobody would doubt that. So what is your proposal?' 'And, you said yesterday that we could replace Pasadena in our team.' 'I did, however I gave you a strict time limit in which to bring them over, and you've just about passed that. Unfortunate.' But this was where Von Clutch's plan started to pay dividends as the sinister Pinstripe sneered.

'That will not be an issue Mr. Potoroo, as the individual is already here on this base planet.' Somewhat surprised, Pinstripe acquiesed. 'In that case, I suggest you introduce them immediately.' Much to the shock of all the other teams, a familiar Doctor with an angular yellow head walked into the colleseum.

Flashback: The previous day

'I thought you'd never come.' 'I'm sorry Doctor Cortex, but my team-mates are taking some convincing. So if you could answer just a couple of questions.' 'Happily. As long as they're not on Galactic Geography. I hated Galactic Geography at school. I got a Triple Z in my final exam.' 'You were that abysmal?' 'No… I just fell asleep five minutes in. I think I was dreaming of conquering the Sn xx dimension at lunchtime. Anyway, you had questions?'

The suspicious Yaya had plenty lined up for him. 'Why should we trust you to help us?' 'It's a deal which benefits both sides dear. You want your little friend back, and I want to show Dr. Tropy that he is far inferior to myself in every single way.' 'How do we know you're not just double crossing us?' 'What, and miss a chance to look like the intelligent evil genius which I am? I would never miss such an opportunity!' Uncharacteristically, Hasty then had a question himself. 'Say it's the last lap, I'm in front like usual and you're just behind. We have N. Gin behind us going faster. What do you do?'

Cortex smirked. 'The answer is obvious.' 'Well it should be.' 'What I do is I stand up in my kart, turn around, and shoot that backstabbing traitor in the face with my laser gun!' The result seemed to surprise everyone, until Von Clutch plucked up the courage to remind the not-so-good doctor that shooting other drivers was illegal. Having looked around at each other, the team accepted their new member. 'We would like to offer you the spare place on our team.' 'Cortex looked at them, and gave his signature evil laugh, while Yaya just stared at him. 'What was that?' 'Sorry, I give off evil laughs when I'm pleased. Caused a lot of problems on my first date.'

In the present

The other teams seemed very surprised at this development. But Pinstripe just laughed. 'In accordance with our rules, I have no choice but to allow Doctor Neo Cortex to race for you. He will keep his points from racing previously, and be eligible to score points for yourselves. Now teams, you may prepare for a trip to the Dingo Canyon.'

As Team Mutant met up again, Yaya had a very important question. 'This might be a stupid question, but you do actually know how to get Pasadena out of their manipulation, don't you?' Cortex's side hair drooped as he lowered his head. 'Regretfully, Dr. Trance rarely shares his trade secrets.' 'By rarely do you mean ever?' Cortex nodded.

'All I know is that the not so honourable doctor is far from frivolous with his gift. He will only use it for those he feels he has to.' 'And that means?' Hasty then explained for him. 'It means that he's not just going to take anybody. He's got targets lined up and he knows how to get 'em.'

'Well if he's got targets already, then what can we do?' Von Clutch had a plan. 'If he's after somebody else, then we can focus on Pasadena. Because I know his type and his type, they always work alone. Why else would people not know how his power works? But for now, we need to focus on this race.'

Immediately, Von Clutch put himself forward for the race. 'I will take the lead here. And I did wonder if our honourable guest would join us here?' Cortex looked round, and then realised 'You're talking to me aren't you?' They all simply nodded. 'Fine, what's the worst that can happen?'

Meanwhile, Dingodile was starting to become a little bit uncooperative with his team. As before they had any chance to discuss, he got in his kart, displeasing Tropy. 'Dingo, I understand your eagerness, but I believe we should be discussing this first.' He just looked at him with contempt. 'Nah mate, this is my track. Let me go and I'll win. But by all means choose who comes second.'

Tropy was furious, but tried not to show it. 'Well I'm sure that you won't show me so much disrespect will you Pasadena?' 'No Doctor Tropy, I am here to serve.' 'Good. I might have to enlist the help of my colleague more often.' This time, N. Gin was the one to intervene. 'Doctor Tropy, I respect your wisdom infinitely. However, my stats do inform me that I may be a better choice for this race.' 'Dr. Gin, my mind is made up. If you want to race, try talking to your team-mate.' With little progress made, it was Dingo and Pasadena who lined up on the starting grid.

The hybrid was quickly spotted by his former master however. 'Have you no shame but to betray me?' 'Sorry mate, wasn't personal or nowt.' 'How's your life being a dogsbody for the wonderful Doctor Tropy?' He asked, sarcastically. Which lighted something inside Dingo. 'Listen here mate, I ain't no dogsbody. I'm an individual. Now you wanna sort this mano a mano, or you want to keep arguing like a couplea little bitches?'

No sooner had the race begun than the hybrid immediately showed his worth, accelerating off of the line with unbelievable pace. Coming down the initial straight, he was already putting kart lengths between himself and the chasing pack, lead by Cortex and Oxide. Reaching the first corner, the yellow doctor attempted to catch Dingo out, only for him to receive an intercom message from Pasadena.

'Missile coming, be careful.' 'I got it sweetcheeks.' He then sped up, and used the wall of the tunnel to block the missile as he drove in. 'Got away with one there. Well I'll just have to put my foot down then hadn't I?' As Dingo blasted along, the hunter had become the hunted with Crash reeling in Cortex, eventually overtaking him for second at the start of Lap 2.

Further back, Pasadena was being held up by Crunch, until the metal-armed Bandicoot leapt off of a hill, allowing the O'Possum to cruise straight under him for 6th. On the very next bend, some tight racing allowed her to squeeze Zam onto the rough, and by the mid point of the lap, she'd overhauled Oxide, with her bug-eyed kart cleaving through him like a bullet.

Back at the front, Cortex had overhauled Crash, and set about closing a near 15 second gap to the leader. Gaining ground all the time, he was confident of victory. Soon enough, bad luck with a pair of spins had seen Dingo slowed and the Doctor was in range to fire off a bowling bomb. Seeing this, the hybrid used his somewhat-limited brain.

'Right, you wanna play it that way mate? Hang with this!' Waiting until the last moment, Dingo violently veered off to the left, taking the other fork in the path as Cortex ploughed straight through the other side. Cortex loaded up one more missile, but as Dingo got ready to lay down a potion to block it, Pasadena came roaring up and went wheel-to-wheel with the Doctor, pushing him into the waterfall off the final jump.

Having finished, Dingodile looked round pensively, but there was no need to worry, as Pasadena emerged in fourth place, Crash edging ahead of Oxide on the line to take second, and Cortex ending up down in seventh. As the last racers crossed the line, Pasadena immediately returned to the base planet, while Dingo was confronted by Cortex once again.

'What did I do for you to betray me so badly?' 'Listen mate, they made their own decisions. I don't want none of this. I just wanna race and get back to the bayou. I'm over being evil anyway. You do what you want.' As Dingo returned to the base planet, he looked around, but clearly had his own plan. 'One good turn deserves another.'

Five minutes later, in Team Tropy's garage

N. Gin was busy mending his kart from several bruising races as Dingodile walked into the room. 'Doctor Gin, Trance has an important job for you.' 'Whatever it is, it can wait until I'm finished here.' 'Yeah yeah, I know. He did suggest it was pretty important though.'

Finally, Gin looked up. 'What does he want this time?' 'He wants you to, uh, solder the antenna on Pasadena's helmet and reverse the gearing direction on it.' 'Wouldn't he be better at that?' 'Said he was too busy with finding the other newbie. Apparently your engineering is, uh, well known? Something about you being the best outside of the Diesel Dimension.'

The flattery seemed to work, and N. Gin nodded. 'Tell him that I'll be over there in half an hour. Where is he again?' 'West wing of the hub. Apparently it's because that little brat damaged the helmet.' 'Yes, I figured that was why. Although I wonder why he sent you.' 'He was busy and I happened to be there. Trust me it's not my kind of fun day either.' 'You know Dingo, anybody would think you don't want this to succeed.' 'Do I really have to explain why I don't like him?'

'No, but you could be more cooperative.' 'He's a maniac. And I'm over all this ruining people's days for no reason. You know, it kind of gets boring after a while.' 'Well what would you do instead?' 'Dunno, just not this. I'm fed-up of being ordered about on a daily basis.' Shortly after, N. Gin went to fix the helmet, while Trance had another meeting with Tropy.

'The plan is proceeding just as intended.' 'Excellent. Do you have another target?' 'Just the one. I'm sure you can imagine which one.' 'Your eternal target.' 'Yes. And this time, I will make no mistakes. There will be no interruptions, and there will be no going back. They made a mockery of me once.' 'A mere blip on an otherwise perfect record. The question is though, when will it begin?' 'The time is near. I will only know the opportunity when I see it.'

The 10th race was a sprint through the Turbo Track. And eager to make up for her previous issues, Coco had insisted on partnering Crunch. 'Yo you sure about this Coco? We can always get you on the tighter ones.' 'I'm doing this Crunch. Besides, I feel safer out there than I do here.' 'How? You're totally safe with me.' 'I don't know… I feel like I'm being watched constantly.'

Crash then sneaked up, and tapped her shoulder from behind. 'Crash! Stop doing that to me! I'm scared enough already!' She then jumped into her kart. 'Let's go.' 'You got it sista.' The two drove off, as Crash looked at Pura and shrugged his shoulders.

Meanwhile, Dingo was still being awkward. 'Just so you know, I'm not racing here.' This time, Tropy appeared to be fine with it. 'Tiny, I'll put some trust in you to keep up with Pasadena.' Just as he said this, Pasadena rolled in, with N. Gin. 'And where have you been you been Doctor?'

Rubbing his fingers together, N. Gin giggled. 'I was just fixing the helmet. It now works better than ever. Doctor Trance wanted me to.' Dingo then made sure to cover his tracks. 'He asked me to pass the message on when he went to talk to you.' 'Well a good job appears to have been done.' With this, the race began.

On the track

As the engines roared, Tiny had the early advantage, but Coco slipped down the side of his kart on the first bend, and into first. Pasadena menwhile, was driving extremely erratically as her helmet kept buzzing, causing her brain to go into meltdown.

By the end of Lap 1, Coco had extended her lead and was topping a Bandicoot 1-2 with Tiny right behind in third. However, the massive tiger had too much pace on the long straights, and edged in front, only for her to drift right in front of him at the hairpin, stealing the lead back.

And this was how it would continue, with Crunch and Tiny constantly exchanging second. Yaya was fourth, but struggling to keep up with the sheer pace. Pasadena's helmet had stopped malfunctioning, but she was in 6th and over a lap behind the front three.

On the last lap it was still one from three. Tiny retook the lead, but at the next bend, the two behemoths went wheel to wheel, and ended up both driving off of the track, leaving Coco free range to sweep round the bend. 'See you later boys!' She cruised through the rest of the lap and cantered to victory, nearly 16 seconds clear. Crunch took second right on the line, with Yaya well clear in fourth. Pasadena finished fifth, almost two minutes behind the leader and nearly 20 seconds off of her former team-mate. Zam and Velo brought up the rear, having spent the entirety of the race arguing.

On the base planet

Coco was just returning to her team when she was tapped on the shoulder. 'If that's you Crash, stop it.' The tapping continued, and then she made the awful mistake, and turned around to see what was going on.

Immediately she froze as Trance's hand opened to reveal a ticking stopwatch. 'Observe the ticking watch, and you will do exactly as I say. You will now race on behalf of Team Tropy, at the behest of myself, N. Trance, as your master. Now get in the kart.'

Quickly losing any sense of independence, Coco sat down in the kart, and the helmet plunged straight into her brain. 'How may I serve you Master Trance?' He responded by giggling. 'You were mine once. I will not let go of you again. You have intelligence which we can use. And soon, you will never resist again. Now for your makeover.'

An hour later, Team Tropy were shocked to see Coco walk in, looking radically different. Her blonde hair was now shorter and dyed light blue, fastened back into a ponytail with a fierce-looking choker. She now had a pair of green goggles with a yellow rim as well, and a familiar helmet on her head. The look in her eyes was blank, devoid of life.

Trance then walked into the frame. ''Doctor Tropy, your power is required now.' This surprised the veteran evildoer. 'You require my assistance?' 'Yes. You have complete mastery over time. Therefore, I wish for you to lock this one into her spell forever.' 'This power is strenuous. I will only be able to do it to one for now.'

Trance seemed to be aware. 'She knows much which we could benefit from.' Tropy then walked over, and placed his hand over Coco's face. Immediately a clock started ticking in her brain, and she was enveloped by a strange subspace, causing her to scream in agony. 'I am fast forwarding her spell. In her brain, it will have been locked in for 100,000 years.'

When Tropy let go of her face, the feminine Bandicoot had a bitter scowl on her face. Her eyes had even changed colour, with one now light grey and the other light blue. 'She'll be out of commission for a number of hours. But if you would listen closely.' Everyone leaned in, and they heard the metronomic tick of a clock, shocking Dingo.

'That's some crazy sh*t mate.' 'That clock will continue to tick for 100,000 years. When the clock ceases, so will her life.' 'So she's immortal?' 'In effect, yes.' The remainder of the team then went out to the main auditorium, where Dingo sneaked off to warn the Bandicoots.

As he approached, Crunch threatened him. 'I don't want no funny business mate. I want to warn you that Doctor Trance has your friend.' 'Coco? Only saw her not long ago.' 'Yeah… well sounds like he got to her just afterwards.' 'Listen butch, if you're kidding us' 'Why would I do that? I'm risking my behind just to tell you this. Just be careful.'

As he returned, Tropy had been watching. ''I thought I told you not to taunt them.' 'Did you? Can't say I heard you.' Pinstripe then made an announcement. 'Drivers, there is only two races left. But I have a little surprise first. To test the teams, these last two races will be driven by the drivers who did not compete in the last race. After which, only the Top 8 overall will continue. Enjoy the high speed of Electron Avenue.'

As the race was about to begin on the superfast track, Hasty and Von Clutch seemed confident. 'We're going to smoke this course so hard you'll need a fire extinguisher afterwards.' 'I'd say we stand a better than average chance here.' Before they could engage in more fighting talk though, they saw Pasadena walk past, still completely entranced, with N. Gin well behind her.

So Von Clutch took it upon himself to confront the devious doctor. 'Why Pasadena? Why are you targeting her of everyone?' N. Gin laughed, and rubbed his fingers together. 'She's not the only one. We're building an evil empire! But don't ask me, I'm just the monkey.' He then jumped into his kart.

As soon as the lights went green, Pasadena stormed away, closely followed by Hasty, with the other drivers left in the dust. Coming down the initial tunnel, the moose looked down the side of Dena, only to immediately get pushed out, as she was driving more aggressively again now. They continued battling all the way up, until Pasadena took a pair of ramps up, boosting her lead.

Try as he might, Hasty was just unable to keep up with the sheer pace. By the time the first lap ended, he was 15 seconds behind her, and nearly 20 ahead of Velo in 3rd. He was relying on her making a mistake, but with all the thinking being done for her, there was no chance of that. Laser focused, she continued to fly round, weaving through the track almost flat-out.

With Hasty totally isolated in his position, it was up to Von Clutch to keep the hard racing up to maximise points. Going into the second lap, Crash swept past both himself and Velo into 3rd, with less than 10 seconds seperating 3rd from Zem in last. Hard racing ensued, with the orange marsupial conistently coming out ahead.

This continued until near the end of the lap, when Pinstripe secretly started messing with the timing of the electric gates. This ended up catching out everyone other than Crash (who accidentally jumped over them via a boost ramp), and N. Gin, who found himself in 4th.

Going into the last lap, Pasadena was almost 55 seconds clear, and started to hunt down Hasty to lap him. As she closed in, he looked back and saw her. Feeling opportunistic, he slowed down, and as she passed by, grabbed onto her helmet, successfully pulling off the antenna. Suddenly he got a massive shock from it though, and Trance's voice could be heard.

'You really think I didn't anticipate such a move? My Control Helmet 4.0 has an internal antenna plugged directly into the victim's brain!' There was then a muffled whispering. 'What an excellent idea! Pasadena, come in.' Her reply was robotic. 'Yes master how may I help you?' 'I want you to destroy him.' Her eyes then lit up red. 'I will leave nothing.'

At this point she started throwing a barrage of bowling bombs at him, while he tried to escape. But try as he might, she was just too quick and eventually rammed him off of the road, dropping him back down the field, having taken a real beating from the projectiles. 'Good Pasadena. Now finish and get back here.' 'Yes master Trance.'

The brainwashed O'Possum crossed the line, finishing almost two minutes clear of the field. Von Clutch came through and looked to be getting second, but seeing that Hasty was coming up behind, graciously slowed so they could take equal second, only to misjudge and end up a split second behind him. Crash finished with the final point, right ahead of Zem.

When Pasadena returned, Dingo gave the evil eye to the unwitting doctors, who were already celebrating. 'Since she's with us forever, we might as well have a little bit of fun in the process.' 'Yes, indeed. How is the other one charging?' 'She will awake soon.' Just then, there was a noise behind them.

As they all looked back, Coco had awoken and was stood, wearing her Team Trance uniform (a cobalt blue jumpsuit with a red spiral on the front). 'I'm ready for action in the service of yourself and the wonderful Dr. Tropy.' Tropy then laughed. 'We have some… little science experiments when we're done here. I'm sure you and Pasadena here wouldn't mind being our little lab rats would you?' 'Not at all. It would be a pleasure to be of service.'

Their plotting was interrupted by Pinstripe. 'For your last race before the Top 8 are confirmed, we have a special one for you. You must survive a trip through the trecharous N. Gin Labs.' This raised Crunch's suspicions straight away. 'Hang on man, you're having us race on Dingodile's circuit, now N. Gin's track? What's goin' on here?' Pinstripe just laughed. 'You will see soon enough. For now I suggest you sit down and shut up.'

In the race

As the lights went green, Pasadena was off to her usual fast start, but this time, there was to be no repeat domination. As on the first jump, Hasty fired a bowling bomb straight at her kart, dropping her through the gap, respawning in 6th. 'Take that for trying to kill me!' In all the confusion, Oxide had sneaked into first, and was showing great mastery of the track. N. Gin was second, but appeared to be somewhat distracted, as he had accidentally dialled in his kart radio to a conversation involving Dingodile.

'Yeah, I'm not exactly comfortable with what they're doing.' The other individual then hummed quitely. 'You could always talk to them about it.' 'They're loopy mate. Also I need to complete the job first. You know exactly what they're like.' In all the intrigue of the conversation, N. Gin failed to realise that he'd suddenly dropped to last place.

Coming into the last turns of the first lap, Oxide had regained first, having briefly dropped down after crashing before the boost tunnel. Crash was several seconds behind, and Von Clutch was in 3rd place. Further back, Pasadena and Hasty were in 6th and 7th, with the moose having spent a bulk of the race firing at her in revenge.

At the front, Crash was closing in on the lead, but the ultra-competitive Oxide noticed him. 'You think you're going to overtake me Peon? Well how about you try this on for size!' Oxide then unleashed a trio of speed boosters, powering him out of sight. This left Crash struggling in his exhaust fumes, pushing him back towards Von Clutch.

The Gasmoxian slug stretched his lead further, and started to lay down potions behind him to trip up the other competitors. Meaning that the big battle then switched to 2nd position, where a strong middle lap had seen N. Gin move into the top half of the race. Pasadena was now in 6th, struggling to recover from being driven off of the road, while Pura and Zem brought up the rear.

The last lap saw the points positions switch a number of times, but the identities of the drivers scoring was never in any huge doubt, other than a brief moment when Pura sneaked through into 4th for all of 30 yards. Eventually it was the mad theme park owner who claimed the position, about a lap too late to mount a challenge for the lead, Oxide winning by 35 seconds. Crash kept 3rd and N. Gin had to settle for one point.

After the end of the race, Oxide was delighted to win. And being Nitrous Oxide, he was hardly a gracious winner, instead dancing around in front of Von Clutch, who responded by tapping his spindly legs, causing the Gasmoxian to fall flat on his face. An embarrassing end to an impressive victory.

End of chapter

As the racers got back, Pinstripe announced the Top 8. 'Congratulations to our final eight – Dingodile, Pasadena, Oxide, Coco, Von Clutch, Yaya, Hasty, and Crash. And as Team Tropy have finished overall first, they have the honour of choosing the first two tracks of the final stage. Now this is how those stages will work. We will have 8 races, all of which will be held over seven laps. The grid for Race 1 will be in reverse order. Now if you will'

He never got chance to finish, as Hasty had lived up to his name and sneaked around, picking up a contract from next to Pinstripe, which he threw into the crowd. Rising above all others, N. Gin grasped the paper, only to immediately eat Crunch's metal fist when he landed. As the strapping bandicoot read the paper, he shook his head. 'I knew it.'

He then handed it over to Von Clutch, who read it out with his megaphone. 'It is a letter to Pinstripe Potoroo from a Dr. Nefarious Tropy. It states that if he organises a "Galactic Racing League", and makes sure that Team Tropy win, then he will be paid the sum of 1000 crystals.' Pinstripe then stood up, straightened his suit out, and laughed. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, the content of that letter is 100% accurate. This whole series is… what might you call it… pre-determined. And I have no intention of changing that.'

Next time: Lap 4 – Drifting towards Dingodile