Hey there, Project Prometheus coming at ya with a Crash Bandicoot project. Now then, before we get started, I feel that I should give you all fair warning that I plan on taking several creative liberties with this fanfic, such as having Tawna take a lot of personality traits from her Crash Bandicoot 4 counterpart, in that she's way more of an action girl rather than a damsel in distress, and have her take over Coco's roll as the genius inventor/computer whiz/techie. But, then what about Coco Bandicoot herself, you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked.

You see, in this AU, while Crash Bandicoot was able to save both himself and Tawna from becoming Doctor Cortex's henchmen, Coco Bandicoot wasn't so lucky this time, and the bandicoot she used to be has been forever lost to the Cortex Vortex, leaving only the cold, cunning, ruthless, and cruel General Cocolina Cortex the First in her place. That said, Cocolina isn't exactly fond of the idea of taking orders from an incompetent and pathetic excuse for both a villain and an evil genius like Cortex, hint hint, nudge nudge. And this is something that Uka Uka very much supports, as he wants to trade in the pathetic Cortex for the far superior Cocolina, especially since she's not only a female copy of a certain miserable bandicoot in terms of physical abilities, but is far superior in the brains and competence department. That she's Crash's younger sister is an added bonus.

Also, in this AU, Crash has the ability to talk completely and fluently. Don't worry, apart from his vastly improved speech skills, he's still the lovable N. Sane idiot hero we all know and love. After all, as a wise man once said, the ability to speak does not make you intelligent.

Well, I believe that I have gone on long enough. Let's get this party started! Welcome to Dimension 111495! And before anyone asks, yes, that is my birthday.

Prologue

An Evil Plot Unfolds

Cortex Castle was on fire and crumbling away as a pair of mutated bandicoots made their way through it in search of a means of escape. It wasn't long before the pair of bandicoots found themselves in the castle's hanger bay, which had a large purple zeppelin ready to go.

One of the bandicoots, a short and stout orange furred male with a dark brown mohawk and bright blue eyes wearing only a pair of shorts with a black belt, worn brown fingerless gloves, and bright red and white sneakers, heaved a sigh. "That'll have to do," Crashworth Cortex I, better known as Crash Bandicoot, reluctantly said. "Come on, Tawna!" Crash said as he grabbed ahold of his attractive bandicoot girlfriend, Tawna Bandicoot, who was twice Crash's own height and had long blonde hair, rather seductive blue eyes, and wore a pink t-shirt, light blue denim shorts with a black belt that seemed to enhance her slender, hourglass shape, and black and white sneakers onboard the blimp.

"Uh, can you fly this thing, Tawna?" Crash asked his girlfriend as they entered the cockpit.

"Well, I've been in captivity for a few months, and spent a great deal of that time being put through hellish training course after hellish training course, dying and being resurrected by Cortex multiple times, so I haven't flown much of anything before, but I'll give it a shot," the female bandicoot replied as she took the pilot's seat.

"Excellent," Crash replied with a beaming smile as Tawna pressed a few buttons on the control panel, managing to start up the airship's engines. Slowly but surely, the blimp made its way out of the hanger and into the open skies.

But, before the blimp could completely clear Cortex Castle's airspace, an alarm went off inside the airship. A quick check of the instruments on the control panel revealed that there was something small and fast closing in on them.

"You stay here, I'll head up top and see if I can figure out what's after us," Crash instructed as he got up and made his way to the roof hatch of the blimp.

As the freezing cold wind whipped around the young bandicoot, Crash was quickly introduced with what it was that was pursuing them: flying through the air on his jetpack, was none other than the man responsible for making Crash the bandicoot he was today, Doctor Neo Cortex.

"Damn you, Crash Bandicoot!" Cortex, who had yellowish skin and a large black "N" stamped on his forehead and a bad haircut clad in a white lab coat, black pants, and black boots, said as he trained his blaster pistol on the bandicoot. "I knew I should have stuck with the wombat! But, no, I had to go and dispose of dear Willie because I thought I saw something special in you!"

"What you saw was an opportunity to make innocent creatures into monsters! I sometimes wonder how I wasn't wrapped up in a straightjacket like Ripper Roo! Even now, I'm not convinced I'm perfectly sane, even if I have the ability to speak human thanks to your experiments…" Crash said.

"Well, wonder no longer, my former General! I've come to put you and your little girlfriend down like the failures you are!" said Cortex before he fired a green globual of energy at the mutated bandicoot.

Reacting out of sheer instinct, Crash performed the Tornado Spin attack that had quickly become his trademark combat technique, deflecting the projectile directly into Cortex's jetpack, causing the flying device to begin to malfunction almost immediately, complete with alarms blaring.

Snarling in anger, Cortex fired several more blasts from his blaster, and each time, Crash either spun into or avoided the blast, which were somehow congregating into a single, larger energy globule, until, with one last bit of energy, the whole globule was launched into Cortex's jetpack, causing it to emit large fumes of black smoke and vibrate rapidly on the mad scientist's back.

Knowing what was coming, a look of terror crossed Cortex's face. "Oh dear…" Cortex said right before the jetpack exploded, sending Cortex screaming down to the ground far below.

Crash flopped down onto his back and closed his eyes, taking a moment to relax from his victory. There was little to no chance that Cortex could survive his fall, considering how many times he'd fallen to his death while training to become Cortex's general, only to be resurrected by Cortex's Reviv-o-Tron and subjected to the same experiment all over again.

But, something in Crash's gut told him that this was not the last he would see of Doctor Neo Cortex, and it would only be a matter of time before he struck back against him.

One Year Later…

Cortex stood proudly onboard his newly completed space station, one that just so happened to function as a massive Cortex Vortex powered by a remarkable discovery he had made after somehow surviving his fall, reminiscing on his defeat one year ago at the hands of that miserable Crash Bandicoot. But, this time, not even his failure of a creation could stop him. Not with his new General. And her relationship with Crash just made everything better.

After all, there was something special about watching siblings fight each other. Especially if one of those siblings is more than willing to kill the other one.

"The final check is complete. All systems are operational," came the warped voice of Doctor Nitro Gin, or N. Gin, for short. He was a short portly man wearing a white lab coat, black pants, black leather gloves and boots, and what looked like some kind of unexploded rocket lodged firmly into the side of his skull. "But, Doctor Cortex, in order to reach maximum power, we need not only your Master Crystal, but the other twenty-five Slave Crystals on the surface. How can you expect to retrieve them when we don't have any earthbound operatives left?"

"Well, for one thing, Doctor N. Gin, I'm pretty sure the doctor is well aware of the situation regarding our lack of associates," said a female voice from nearby.

Cortex smiled and turned on his heel to face the source of the voice. Standing nearby was a female mutant bandicoot with short, curly blonde hair and green eyes, one of which was covered up by a purely cosmetic eyepatch, and wore a khaki-colored military dress uniform with a dark maroon dress shirt and a black tie underneath, a general's hat with a large golden "N" on the front, and black leather boots with orange at the tip and the back.

"Ah, my dear General Coco, how lovely to see you," Cortex greeted his General, who snapped to attention.

"Doctor Cortex, sir, Doctor N. Gin," greeted General Coco before she continued speaking. "If I may make a suggestion... since we don't have any allies… why not ask an enemy?"

"You're not suggesting we actually ask Crash Bandicoot to help us gather the other twenty-five Crystals, are you?" Cortex asked, a surprised look crossing his face as he spoke.

"No, of course not. Crashworth may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I highly doubt he would listen to you. Otherwise he'd be here with us in his own General's uniform." Coco replied. "I'm suggesting that I ask my idiot brother to help me collect the Slave Crystals, and then I give the Crystals to you."

Cortex smiled. Truly, Cocolina Cortex I was everything he had ever wanted Crashworth to become. Whether it was fate or sheer dumb luck that he found her unconscious in the ruins of Cortex Castle, having been hit on the head by some debris, Cortex was still happy things worked out regardless.

"And that, Coco, is why you're my general."

And thus concludes the prologue. I know it's a little short, but it is my intention to have the second chapter be much longer, and maybe have it include two or three levels. Either way, it should be much longer. Anyways, if you like what you see here, then be sure to fav, follow, and review, and I'll see you guys next time!