Episode 2: The Crash Catastrophe

WARNING: This chapter contains characters and story elements from Bug Fables: the everlasting sapling, Hollow Knight, Spyro the dragon, Shovel Knight, and Crash Bandicoot. You've been warned

As the duo exited the portal, the first thing that caught Spyros eyes were the green fields of Summer Forest. Wait, wasn't that the portal to Winter Tundra? How did we end up here? he thought before he was cut off by an explosion in the distance, "That must be where Hunter is! Let's roll buddy!" Sparx buzzed in agreement and they both rushed towards the explosion.

When they arrived, they saw multiple gnorcs lining the walls of Summer Forest's castle fighting the bugs that had attacked Spyro, along with other creatures that were firing laser bolts out of pincers. "It's worse than what Hunter said! We need to find him!" he said as he proceeded into the castle. Arriving inside the castle, he heard a loud screech and saw Hunter with a scared look on his face firing volleys of arrows at a humongous purple dragon-like creature.

The dragon had a head shaped like a spike attached to a long neck which folded in on itself. His bones were pushing against his dark purple skin and his limbs were long with treacherous talons on his hands and feet. The beast had a segmented tail with a deadly spike on the end, which was three quarters the size of the dragon's body. His large bony wings cast a great shadow on the ground below, obscuring the sun from sight, with only small morsels of light bleeding through the slightly transparent patterns of the patagium.

Ridley

The cunning god of death

Arrow after arrow pelted Ridley's thick skin but they just kept bouncing off. Ridley started rearing up to launch himself at Hunter and shot forward. Hunter rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the space pirate's attack. Ridley crashed straight through the wall "Hunter!" shouted Spyro, "Sorry I took so long, what's going on here, and what was that thing?"

"Spyro! Everything's gone wrong!" cried Hunter, shivering at his near-death experience, "At first it was just gnorcs but after a while those w-weird bugs started pouring out of those green portals. I tried escaping to the Winter tundra but just before I entered, the portal stopped working! And then that dragon thing started torching the castle"

"Wait, if the portals aren't working, how did we-" Spyro stopped when he noticed a gnorc has just faceplanted into the ground behind Hunter. "Um… what?"

"What is it?" Just as Hunter asked, another gnorc fell onto the ground beside the other one, and then another, and another, and another. The trio were staring at the gnorcs falling to the ground one by one. Suddenly, gnorcs stopped falling and were soon replaced by the bug husks. "I think someone's trying to scare us" said Hunter, pulling an arrow out of his quiver, "Whoever you guys are, you'll never get the best of us! Spyro and I aren't scared so easily!" At that moment one of the clawed creatures jumped down from the wall and landed on the grass in the courtyard.

The bipedal zebesian had round slitted blue eyes and a tuft of white feathers on the back of their head as well as a long, hunched over body, coloured green and purple. On the end of each was a large claw that, when opened, revealed small circular laser attachments at the centre. The knees and tips of the feet spike upwards. Hunter started screaming and ran behind Spyro.

"We are the space pirates, and you will surrender to us. Ridley needs some organic meat in his system" said the space pirate, "and you, small purple thing! You look like him. What are you?"

"That purple thing has a name? Well unlike him, I don't tumble off cliffs and bully cheetahs" responded Spyro, adopting a battle stance. The space pirate lifted his claw and fired into the air. Multiple zebesians, varying in colours, dropped down onto the ground, creating craters at their feet. At this point, Hunter was terrified beyond belief. "Hunter, stop shivering and help me out with these guys!" said Spyro, although he didn't blame Hunter for being scared. Suddenly, a screech rang out in the sky, the same one Spyro heard before. He looked up to see Ridley diving down towards the courtyard. Unable to do anything in time, he shielded the team with his wings. Just before hitting the ground, Ridley pulled up and turned around to land on the castle walls. He stared down at Spyro who had just opened his wings to see why he hadn't been squashed.

"You seem like a nice change of pace unlike the other creatures here" said Ridley in a low raspy voice, "Are you this thing's friend?"

"I'm Spyro the dragon! What makes you think you can mess with my friend?" said Spyro, stretching his wings out.

"It's simple. I want this castle, and you stand in my way" he replied, "Pirates! All guns on the mammal. The dragon's mine" Ridley commanded, stretching his wings out as well.

"Spyro, you're not s-seriously gonna leave me alone with these guys, r-right?" said Hunter, shivering as the space pirates aimed their claws at him.

"Don't worry, I have an idea. Grab onto my leg when I fly upwards, then we can just fly away," Spyro whispered.

"That Ridley guy can fly too. I don't think we can outmaneuvre him."

"Well let's hope I'm faster than him."

Ridley crouched, ready to fly upwards at the slightest hint of movement from Spyro. Spyro did the same. Ridley's stomach started quaking as he charged up a plasma blast. Before the fight could begin, a blue and red space pirate shouted "Ridley! It's the bandicoot!". Ridley turned around, still withholding the plasma blast, to be knocked in the face by an orange blur. As a result, his jaws unclenched and his mouth opened, leading to a thick purple stream of plasma firing directly into the dome of the castle.

Crash Bandicoot and Aku Aku

The wonder from down under

Crash was an orange bipedal bandicoot wearing leather gloves, red sneakers and jeans. On his head was a red mohawk pointing forward and above his eyes were large brown eyebrows. "I don't believe it! It's Crash!" said Hunter, standing up to watch the fight. Alongside him was the floating mask Aku Aku, who was a small piece of wood with two bright yellow eyes, a mouth and four feathers varying in colours above his red wooden eyebrows.

"All guns on the bandicoot! Make sure he doesn't follow us again" shouted Ridley as he flew upwards, dodging Crash's spin attack. The pirates let out volleys of laser bolts at Crash, who ran as fast as he could to dodge the blasts.

"Quickly, while they're distracted!" shouted Spyro over the sound of constant laser blasts.

"What about Crash! We're not gonna leave him behind, are we?" said Hunter.

"I've got a plan. In the meantime, run!".

Spyro and Hunter along with Sparx ran for the archway leading to the castle exit. One of the pirates spotted their escape and shot multiple blasts towards the group, hitting Spyro on the back. Sparx turned from gold to a thick shade of blue the moment Spyro was hit. "Are you okay guys?" asked Hunter to Spyro.

"We're fine" he answered after stumbling slightly and then getting back up. Stopping outside in the courtyard, the team started looking for other dangers. Hunter spotted a group of the other worldly portals.

"Hey, it's those portals!" said Hunter, "maybe we can find out who's behind this if we split up and investigate each of these portals"

"Alright, but I'm not leaving Crash and Aku Aku behind with the Space Pirates" Spyro replied stretching his wings.

"Alright, I'll go through one of the portals here and you swing back and bring Crash"

"That sounds like a plan! Good luck Hunter. Come on Sparx, let's fly!" said Spyro as he and Sparx shot upwards towards the sky. Hunter watched them fly away but spotted a group of Space Pirates marching through the archway Spyro and Hunter exited from. Hunter hastily turned around and ran through one of the portals.

Shot after shot was being fired at Crash, but even still he outran them. "Crash I don't think we can keep this up" said Aku Aku, "We can't follow Ridley forever". Crash nodded his head in agreement and jumped down onto the other side of the wall. "We'll have to retreat for now, if only the other masks were here. Where's the nearest portal?". Crash shrugged but suddenly pointed to something in the sky. It was Spyro and Sparx, and they were flying down towards them. "Who are you? Are you with Ridley?" said Aku Aku as Spyro landed on the ground.

"No way! It's me, Spyro the dragon! You guys remember me, right?" said Spyro tilting his head. They both looked at each other confused. "No? I raced with you guys once. We fought Ripto and Dr cortex, right?"

"We remember you Spyro but we're sorry, we've only ever seen you race, and that's about it"

"Then who did I fight Cortex and Ripto with?". Ridley let out a screech and they all looked upwards to see him flying above the castle in search of them, except for Crash, who got scared and held Aku Aku up to his face while crouching. "We don't have time for this. Come with me, we've found a way out of here"

"We?" said Aku Aku breaking free of Crash's grip "There's someone else with you?"

"Yeah, my friend Hunter! He's already gone through one of those portals, we're just gonna follow him through". Crash looked at Aku Aku with a worried look.

"Spyro, we've noticed something while travelling all this way. Those portals have been opening and closing randomly. Maybe Hunter has been cut off from us by now"

"Hunter can handle himself. It's us we should be worried about" Spyro said pointing towards the sky at Ridley.

"Well, what should we do? The Space Pirates are ruthless, we can't get past them"

"It's simple. Me and Sparx will distract that big ol' ugly dragon up there and you head to the courtyard with the portals".

"Are you sure you can handle him?"

"Relax. I'm only distracting him. I'll bet that I'm faster than him anyways"

"Ok. Come on Crash, let's move" said Aku Aku. Crash gave Spyro a thumbs up and started making his way to the courtyard along with. Meanwhile, Spyro and Sparx took to the skies once again to face Ridley.

"Hey Ridley! How about we fight for real!" Spyro shouted. Ridley turned his head and flew straight towards him at blistering speeds. "Uh oh, time to move" he said diving down to avoid Ridley's attack. Ridley shot past where Spyro was and circled back around with his claw outstretched. Spyro started flying away but Sparx noticed Ridley catching up. He buzzed to Spyro who nodded his head. He flew up and looped around landing on Ridley's back. "Prepare to be toasted!" said Spyro letting out a large breath of fire to scold Ridley's back, but when the fire cleared there were no signs of burn marks.

"I've suffered worse attacks than yours, child" said Ridley diving downwards.

"Oh no" he said jumping off before Ridley hit the ground, opening his wings and gliding away. Ridley pulled himself up from the dive and headed straight for Spyro who was gliding away. Ridley violently grabbed him and Sparx and started intensifying his grip, crushing Spyro's body. "I think my body's folding in on itself" said Spyro as he gasped for air.

"This castle is property of the Space Pirates, and your meat will provide great sustenance to my cells" snarled Ridley as he continued to close his hand. However, Sparx slipped out of Ridley's hand and flew up to his face, spitting a couple of miniscule fireballs at Ridley's face. Ridley flinched and was starting to lose his grip. Spyro took this opportunity and smothered Ridley's face with his fire breath. Ridley screeched and dropped Spyro, who began falling towards the ground.

"I think it's time for us to leave" Spyro said weakly. Opening his wings once again, he continued to glide towards the portals. Spyro was scanning the ground for Crash and Aku Aku and saw Crash spinning into a group of space pirates as they shot him, knocking them all over. "Crash! We need to get out of here, Ridley's on his way!" he said as he landed. Crash responded by nodding and running through one of the portals along with Aku Aku. Spyro turned to look behind him and Ridley was nowhere to be found. "Finally, I think we lost" he said to Sparx as they went through the portal.

On the outskirts of Bugaria, a fiery green portal formed. Out of the portal emerged The Knight, dripping with water and twitching from the electricity. They limped over to a nearby rock and placed their nail against the it, finally free from the enemies coming from every direction. Suddenly, Metal heads arm extended from the portal and grabbed the Knight, slowly crushing them in his grip, electric sparks coursing around the arm and through the Knights body.

Right before the knight was crushed, Specter Knight dashed out of the portal, slicing Metalheads arm off at its joint and freeing The Knight. What remained of the metallic arm retreated through the portal. Specter knight turned to the weary Knight. "You are welcome, creature" he said. The Knight only stared back at him. "Do you speak no words? Perhaps it's a price to pay for your incredible skill with a blade".

The Knight stood up and grabbed their nail, sheathing it on their back. White sparks started levitating off the ground around The Knight as the wounds on their body healed. "I've been watching you creature. The stench of death follows you; why though?" pondered Specter Knight, "it doesn't matter right now. What matters is the safety of these worlds. I'm sure you're aware of it too, what with the unfamiliar beings we've seen. Worlds are being forced together, it's the only possible explanation. However, this place appears largely untouched by the portals".

Specter knight dashed away and ran up the face of a nearby cliff, grabbing onto the ledge and flinging himself up, landing on the short grass which glazed the landscape. "I see a town just up ahead!" he shouted to The Knight, "you may not be able to speak, but a warrior such as yourself must have gotten as far as you have somehow! Go warn the town in any way you can, I will stay here in case more portals show up!" As he said that, the Knight dashed off in the direction of the town.

Next time: The Knight will enter Bugaria as a friend, but the people might not see it that way. What exactly is going on? Where are Spyro and Crash now? This will be answered soon.