Hello, all, allow me to introduce myself. I am Jack of Knaves, and I'd like to extend a warm welcome to my first project on this site. This one was adopted from one Project Prometheus, and well, it is my hope and goal to finish what they started. But, apart from that, I don't really have much else to talk about, so on that note, let us begin!

HAPPY 25TH ANNIVERSARY, CRASH BANDICOOT!

Prologue

Into The Vortex And Out The Window

Doctor Nina Violet Cortex, a bewitching young woman with ashen skin that appeared to be almost a light blue color, a black "N" stamped on her forehead, short dark hair, and sleek mechanical prosthetic hands wearing a black leather long coat, a purple top, black denim jeans, and black heeled boots, stood at the door to that led to what she'd come to call the birthing suite for her monstrous creations.

All of those Nina had experimented on were animals, taken from around Australia, Africa, and Tasmania. Easy access, and all that happy jazz. Most of those Nina taken now had their own special abilities, characteristics, and even weapons, all thanks to her crowning achievements in her lifetime of evil: the Evolv-o-Ray, a device capable of forcibly ascending virtually any mundane and mindless animal into a mighty supersoldier worth a battalion of any regular infantry, assuming said animal survived the mutation process, or weren't transformed into some form of horrific abomination, and the Cortex Vortex, which was, in short, a brainwashing device that bended Nina's monsters to her will.

If any of those animal rights activists caught wind of what she was doing to so many creatures, even going as far as splicing a dingo with a crocodile, they would probably try to storm her fortress in an attempt to lynch her and either rescue or put down Nina's monstrosities. Fortunately for her, OSHA didn't exist out here, so her castle was filled to bursting with all manner of traps, pitfalls, and other nasty surprises. Plus, the island where Castle Cortex was built was in a perpetual storm more often than not, so climbing up to her living areas was an exceptionally difficult challenge. And on the off chance someone was able to survive the daunting slippery climb and hellish stormy ascent that climbing Castle Cortex was…

Well, a small, depraved part of Nina had always wondered what the Evolv-o-Ray would do to a human.

But, that was neither here nor there at this point. The latest test subject was what Nina believed would become the general of her Cortex Commandos, an elite task force for world domination that her uncle, Neo Periwinkle Cortex, had been working on prior to his untimely demise as a result of one of his experiments. Whether her uncle would be proud of her for following in his footsteps or horrified and disgusted by the abominations she had created, Nina didn't really care, especially now that one of her assistants was entering the chamber with her latest test subject in hand.

The aforementioned test subject was a bandicoot, one of several that her assistants had come upon during one of their expeditions. Small, helpless, kind of adorable, excellent jumpers, and not on any endangered species list that she was aware of, Nina felt that it was a safe bet that no one would miss them, much like she wouldn't miss any of her assistants, save for a select few that she considered to be her friends.

"The female sibling then?" Nina asked the assistant before gesturing over to an operating table with several restraining mechanisms in. "Strap her in."

The assistant nodded and proceeded to do as he was asked, Nina following the man there, watching as the female bandicoot was strapped onto the table.

"I don't know if you can understand me with that tiny rodent-" Nina started to say before another, nearby assistant cut her off.

"Actually, the bandicoot is a marsupial-" the man started to say right before Nina cut him off with an iron left hook right to the temporal lobe. "COMPANY DISMISSED!" the assistant shouted before falling to the ground, unconscious with blood leaking out of a gash on his head.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Nina continued addressing the female bandicoot, irritation evident in her voice. "I don't know if you can understand me with that tiny marsupial brain of yours, but… whatever discomfort you are feeling now may seem unbearable. But, I can promise you this much. What comes next… might just kill you. But, if you survive, you will know greatness that only a select few could ever hope to know, and no other bandicoot could ever hope to attain. Make me proud… General."

On that note, Nina turned on her heel and walked out of the room and entered the control booth for her Evolv-o-Ray, grabbing a pair of black goggles that she proceeded to slip over her eyes while many of her assistants did the same.

"All right, you all know the drill, I better not see anything about what we're doing here end up online unless you want to be the next test subject to be strapped onto that table to be mutated, blah, blah, blah," Nina said as she stepped up to the control console. "Begin the procedure."

"Evolv-o-Ray capacitors charging, Doctor Cortex," one of the assistants said as he and several others fiddled with some other knobs and control doohickies. After a few brief moments, the Evolv-o-Ray's capacitors were fully charged, enabling Nina to press the button that allowed her to fire the Evolv-o-Ray onto the terrified bandicoot on the operating table, bathing the creature in orange energy that crackled around the entire area, causing a bright flash of light to completely enshroud the operating room, forcing the assistants to shield their eyes while Nina herself stood firm.

Once the light finally faded, many of the assistants found themselves suffering nosebleeds from what was on the operating table in a semi-conscious state, much to Nina's annoyance, although considering what was on the table at the moment, she couldn't really blame them. Her own nostrils were feeling a tad wet as well.

The Evolv-o-Ray had transformed the bandicoot into a surprisingly-human looking creature that actually looked as though it was around Nina's age. Slender yet well built at the same time, with orange fur blonde hair that reached down to her shoulders, and in what most humans would consider to be their birthday suit, Nina had to admit that her latest creation certainly had herself a nice bod.

I think I have some old clothes lying around somewhere that should provide ample coverage for her… assets, thought Nina before she spoke aloud. "Assistants! Listen up!" Nina barked at her lackeys. "First, I want you to get yourselves and this room cleaned up. Then, I want you to take the test subject to one of the spare bedrooms in the castle's living quarters. Once you've done this… bring me the rest of the bandicoots, and prepare the Reviv-o-Tron, death courses, and combat arena. The test subjects will begin training as soon as they are fit and able."

Several Months Later…

The mutated bandicoot, which Nina had named "Coco," after the genus of the bandicoot, was clad in a white shirt, blue denim overalls, black and white sneakers, and a pair of goggles on her head. Coco had passed every single deadly challenge that Nina had thrown at her with flying colors. Her intelligence was able to surpass even Doctor Cortex and her fellow scientists's own intellect. On more than one occasion, they had caught Coco trying to make a break for it, forcing Nina to seal off all Castle Cortex's secret passageways.

Indeed, Coco was everything Nina ever hoped for her General and more. Now, it was time for her trip through the Cortex Vortex, as she was strapped into a chair that was placed directly beneath the Vortex. Except, Nina was running a little late, as one of her associates, Doctor Marcus Brio, or "M. Brio," a young man with sleek black hair, a rather thin body, and clad in a lab coat with a green shirt underneath, black pants, and brown shoes, noted. And unless both Coco and Brio's hearing was starting to fail them, someone was piloting and fighting a giant robot right outside the room, along with a number of voices, including ones that sounded like Nina and Coco's own.

Sometime after the noises and voices stopped, a very battered looking Nina Cortex stormed into the room.

"Everything okay, Nina?" asked Brio.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, everything's fine," Nina said dismissively. "Hey, Coco, when we're done here, there's some trash I need you to take out. Just ignore the fact that it looks exactly like me, and ignore anything she says about time travel and wombats or whatever, okay? Good girl, now let's get this show on the road. Brio, put Coco into the Vortex."

"Uh… okay? But, Nina, I've been crunching the Vortex's numbers and I really think we should hold off on sending her into the Vortex. We still haven't figured out the causes of previous failures. There's simply no telling what that Crystal's energy could do!" Brio protested.

"Did I stutter, Brio? I said, put her through!" snapped Nina.

Brio couldn't help but sigh helplessly as he pulled the lever that raised Coco's chair into the massive egg-shaped contraption, bathing her in the chaotic blue energies inside. However, the very next moment, the Cortex Vortex began to fall apart, the energies inside sparking around on the ceiling above as the control panel blared an alert that Nina quickly responded to.

What the hell?! The Vortex's core has been ejected?! thought Nina in mild panic and alarm. Grr, guess that piece of garbage who claims to be my future self came to sooner than expected… she'll regret this when I put my cold, robotic hands around her throat and snap her pathetic little neck!

"Brio, shut it down! Get Coco out of there, now!" Nina shouted at Brio, who nodded and started to make his way over to the next room where the Vortex's Master Controls were, until an explosion from the machine broke Coco's restraints, causing her to fall out of the Cortex Vortex, her expression and the way she was stumbling around indicating that she was still experiencing some residual effects from being inside the Vortex.

Nina looked over at the mutated bandicoot, an expression of alarm forming on her face as she began to realize that Coco was about to stumble directly out the window and fall hundreds of feet into a very chaotic and stormy ocean, and that was if she wasn't impaled on a stalactite. While Nina could just use the Reviv-o-Tron to bring Coco back if she were impaled, that didn't seem like a pleasant way to go… not that being blasted apart by TNT Crates, prototype Nitro Crates, or various other hazards she used in her death courses were any better, but still. At least Nina would still have a corpse to resurrect, which wouldn't be the case if Coco was lost at sea.

By the time Nina made a move to try to save Coco from that grim fate, however, she was too late. Coco tripped over the lip of the window and fell backwards out of it, falling with a scream and landing with a hard splash in the chaotic maelstrom of an ocean below, likely to never be seen again.

Nina could only stare down at the ocean below, her robotic fists clenching with anger as Brio joined her at the broken window.

"Did you catch the little bitch who did this?!" Nina hissed in anger.

"No, there was no one out there when I went to shut down the Vortex. But, I did find the core lying shattered on the floor. What should we do?" asked Brio.

"We… are going to create a new power core. Then… we are going to repair the Vortex… then, once he has completed running through my testing gauntlets… we are going to send Crashworth through…"

Wumpa Island-N. Sanity Beach

Coco Bandicoot, unconscious, cold, and just barely clinging to life, washed ashore onto the beach, where she attracted the attention of a masked-shaped shadow.

Hmm… poor child… she is clearly not a human, not with the fur and ears… a heavily mutated bandicoot, perhaps? the shadow mused to himself. It would explain the disturbances I have sensed coming from the hazardous wasteland that the third of the Wumpa Islands has become as of late. The shadow seemed to shake as though it were a head shaking in disappointment. Even after all these eons sealed away, my evil twin brother Uka Uka still threatens the world with his servants and malice… and yet, I sense something about this child… I sense she has a very strong Mojo… perhaps, I can teach her to harness it. It would no doubt be of use on her quest to thwart my brother and his minions' plans. For now, however, the child needs medical attention.

With a cry of "Obdigah!" and what sounded like the beat of a bongo drum, both the shadow and Coco disappeared into thin air.

And that's a bingo! So, if you folks liked what you saw here, then please by all means, fave, follow, review, and make sure to join us next time as Coco receives a rude awakening! See you then!