Elsewhere, Koala Kong has made his way over to Crash's place, standing at the front door with a bouquet of flowers and King Chicken in tow. Having been inspired by the advice the Komodo Brothers gave him earlier that day at Von Clutch's Motorworld, Koala Kong is now ready to confess his true feelings to Liz. He pulls out a piece of paper and glances at it. On it is a speech which he wrote himself:
Dearest Liz,
I can no longer keep these bottled-up feelings to myself. So what if I am sided with Cortex? So what if I tried to crush your friend Crash on Cortex's orders? Well, it doesn't matter to me. I want to put that old life behind me and start anew. And I can start by telling you how I really feel deep down inside: I love you, Liz. I only just discovered these feelings recently, and I want to prove to you that I am capable of being a good mate. If you'd only give me a chance at redemption, you'll see that deep down, I am your one true love.
Sincerely,
Your secret admirer, Koala Kong
Having looked over the speech, he then turns to King Chicken and asks, "Y-you... think I'm... r-ready... to... do this... l-little... b-b-buddy?"
King Chicken, standing there minding his own business, simply clucks after a beat.
Koala Kong then inhales deeply and says to himself, "Well... h-here... g-goes..."
He reaches out to ring the doorbell. However, before he can ring it, he hears Coco from behind him saying, "Hang tight, Brio. We're almost there!" getting his attention.
He spins around to see Crash, Coco, Tawna, N. Brio, Spyro and a reluctant Cortex, who is being dragged along the ground by Tawna, approaching the bandicoot's house, having walked all the way from Wumpa City to mend to Brio, who was mutated into an octopus-like state from mutant food.
"I am so glad you're taking the time to help me out, Coco." Brio says to her as they get closer to the house. "I'd hate to have to spend the rest of my life like this, all sticky and slimey."
"Well, it's the least I could do, especially since you helped me and Crash stop Cortex after betraying him." Coco tells him, prompting Crash to say something to Brio through incomprehensible gibberish.
Brio chuckles and says back to Crash, "Yeah, his plans always do go up in smoke, even the time when he forced me to help him with those flawed NV units!"
"So, we're just going to pretend I didn't hear all of that just now?" Cortex asks in annoyance.
As they make it to the front door, they are all surprised to see that Koala Kong is there.
"Koala Kong? What are you doing here?" Coco asks with surprise, curious to know why one of Cortex's minions would be at their house.
"Yeah, and what's with the flowers?" Tawna asks in confusion, prompting Koala Kong to stutter, "Uh... I..."
"Never mind that now." Coco says to him. "I'm actually glad you're here. We could use your help right now."
"You... do?" Koala Kong asks her.
"Do you think you could carry Brio into the house?" Coco asks as she gestures to Brio. "Don't want to get any slime all over the rugs and furniture."
"Oh." Koala Kong says as he picks up N. Brio, dropping the bouquet of flowers in the process.
"A beefed-up koala?" Spyro asks himself, befuddled. "Huh. As if an insane blue kangaroo wasn't weird enough."
"Well, I just hope you're here to help me in destroying Crash and his friends, Kong." Cortex says to Koala Kong as Crash opens the door and goes inside, with Coco and Spyro following behind.
"Cortex, please!" Brio scolds Cortex, annoyed. "Is that all you can think about right now? Hurting the very people who are trying to help me out?"
"Yes." Cortex replies. "I'm an evil scientist, and it's my job to hurt those who try to stop me."
"Oh, please." Tawna groans as she drags Cortex inside, with Koala Kong following behind whilst carrying Brio and King Chicken. At that moment, Crunch and Ami, having finished their rock concert, have just pulled up to the bandicoot's house where they see Koala Kong going inside and closing the door behind him.
"What in the world...?" Crunch asks as he and Ami glance at each other with confusion.
Inside the house, down in the basement where the living quarters for Tawna and the Nitro Squad are, Isabella, Megumi and Liz are busy watching a live news broadcast from Chick and Stew in Wumpa City's Market Square, where the mutant food attacked Crash, Tawna and Brio earlier. They all watch the report with concern, with Isabella being the most concerned for Crash and Tawna's well-being.
On the TV, Chick says, "This is Chick Gizzard-Lips coming to you live from downtown Wumpa City, where complete chaos has erupted not more than an hour ago."
"That's right, Chick." Stew adds. "It seems that, based on the footage we received, giant, mutant space food from who knows where fell out of the sky and started laying waste to the city. And our eggs would've been scrambled if our lovable bandicoot friend Crash and his darling sweetheart Tawna hadn't shown up and fended off these creatures."
"Oh, Crash..." Isabella moans whilst getting teary-eyed. "I hope you and Tawna are safe."
Suddenly, the three of them hear the sound of someone coming down the stairs, getting their attention. They spin around to see Coco leading Koala Kong down to the basement.
"We're almost there, Brio." Coco says as she, Brio and Koala Kong reach the bottom of the stairs. "The entrance to my lab is just at the bottom of these stairs."
"Coco!" Isabella worriedly says as she, Megumi and Liz get up off the couch and run towards them.
"Brio?" Megumi asks with extreme concern as she and Liz glance at him with fear. "What's... happened to you?!"
"Oh, hi, Megumi." Brio nonchilantly says to her. "You don't want to know."
"Koala Kong?" Liz asks, getting his attention, prompting his face to light up with surprise. "Why are you here?"
Nervous, Koala Kong can only stutter, "Uh... I, uh..."
Isabella continues to speak as she gives Coco a hug. "Oh, thank heaven! Where's Crash and Tawna? Please tell me they're safe!"
"Don't worry, Isabella. They're fine." Coco reassures her as she gestures to the top of the stairs. "See? They're coming down the stairs right now."
Seconds later, Cortex is thrown down the stairs by Tawna, where he lands right at Coco's feet.
"Cortex?!" Isabella exclaims as Cortex gets up in a daze. "What's he doing here?"
"Well, he ambushed me and Crash while we were trying to fight off all that mutant food downtown." Tawna tells Isabella as she, Crash and Spyro make it to the bottom of the stairs.
"Crash! Tawna!" Isabella cries out as she races to the two of them and gives them a hug. "Thank God you two are safe!"
Crash then says something to Isabella through incomprehensible gibberish.
Once Crash is finished speaking, Megumi asks, "So you brought Cortex here to prevent him from causing anymore harm to you while Coco tends to Brio?"
Crash nods in conformation, followed by Isabella telling him, "Well, I'm just glad you and Tawna are safe."
As Coco approaches the entrance to her lab, Tawna covers Cortex's eyes so he can't see the combination to the keypad as Coco types away.
Annoyed, Cortex groans, "Will you please stop laying your hands all over me?"
As the entrance to Coco's lab opens, Ami and Crunch make their way down the stairs, where they see Koala Kong with Brio in tow, prompting Crunch to ask, "Koala Kong! What's the meaning of this? What are you doing here?"
Startled, Koala Kong turns to face Crunch and Ami, revealing Brio in his mutated state to the two of them, resulting in the pair cringing in surprise and disgust.
"Coco!" Ami calls out to her as she and the others start to enter her lab. "What is going on here?" Moments later, she spots Tawna dragging Cortex into the lab, prompting her to ask Tawna as she, Crunch and the rest of the group enter the lab, "And why is Cortex here?""Yeah!" Crunch exclaims. "Someone fill me and Ami in on what's going on!"
Spyro then turns to the pair and says to them, "Well, long story short, Crash and Tawna's date was interrupted by mutant food, Brio got attacked and mutated into this octopus-like creature, Cortex showed up to try and ambush us, and now, we have to bring Brio here to help him out and figure out a way to undo the mess he's in."
After a beat, Ami replies, "Yeah, that makes total sense."
"I know, right?" Spyro replies as Coco lays Brio on an operating table.
As Coco grabs some tools to help Brio, Cortex eyes the many gizmos and gadgets lying about the lab, prompting him to get a fiendish grin on his face as he glances over at Crash and the others. Before he can even take a step, Coco, without even turning her back, tells Cortex, "Don't even think about it, bub."
"Drat." Cortex grumbles to himself while Crash chuckles as Tawna grabs hold of Cortex's forearm.
Coco then approaches Brio with a petri dish and a butter knife and tells him, "Now, hold still, Brio. I don't want to accidentally cut you or anything."
"Yes, of course, Coco." Brio tells her as she uses the butter knife to scrape some of Brio's silme off of his skin and into the petri dish.
She then approaches a computer screen, sticks the petri dish into a device resembling a microwave and activates it. As the machine scans the slime, Coco turns to the group and says to them, "Now then, this baby here can detect the DNA of the mutant food that was in the slime I got off of Brio's mutated person. Then, using methods too complicated to explain, we can trace the DNA back to the source of where it came from."
Confused with Coco's words, everyone stares at her dumbfounded as if they had no idea what she just said. Coco, slightly annoyed, tells the group, "Okay, simply speaking, this device can tell us where the mutant food came from."
"Ah. That makes more sense." Crunch replies as everyone murmurs in agreement.
Seconds later, a ding is heard from the machine as the computer screen connected to it turns on, getting Coco's attention. She then turns and sees the results of the scan about to come up.
"All right..." Coco says as she glances at the computer screen. "And this mutant food came from..." A moment later, the planet Gasmoxia flashes onto the screen, with Velo's mothership hovering above it.
"Gasmoxia?" Coco asks, dumbfounded. "Isn't that the home planet of Oxide?"
"Wait a second." Megumi interrupts. "You mean to tell us that the food that was attacking the city came all the way from space?"
Coco then turns back to the computer screen and notices something on the monitor, prompting her to say, "Hold on, you guys. There's a security feed aboard some kind of mothership that I can hack into here. Give me a second here..." Coco then goes to work, typing away on a keyboard. Seconds later, a video feed starts to come up on the screen. "There. Now to see who's responsible for sending this mutant food our way."
On the screen, a feed of Velo's R&D department comes up, with Velo angrily pacing about the room, annoyed that the attack on Wumpa City failed and yelling something while Oxide follows him around. Seeing Velo on the screen, Crash and Coco's faces very quickly light up with fear as they are reduced to a stuttering mess.
"Oh, great. It's this clown again." Cortex snarks as Crash and Coco almost collapse into hysterics.
"VELO!" Coco cries out in fear as she leaps into Isabella's arms, while Crash likewise screams in fear as he leaps into Tawna's arms.
"Crash! Coco!" Tawna exclaims with fear. "Are you guys okay?"
"No, Tawna!" Coco exclaims with fear as Crash shudders intensely. "It's him! The most feared ruler of the galaxy!"
Ami scoffs and says to Coco, "That big green clown? Please. We can take him with one hand tied behind our backs!"
"No, Ami. Not with this clown you can't!" Coco warns Ami as she and Crash get down from Tawna and Isabella's arms.
"We can't?" Ami asks, confused. "Why not?"
"Don't you all know who we're dealing with here?" Coco continues as she warns everyone, "He's Emperor Velo XXVII! He threatened to destroy our planet unless we agreed to race for him!"
"Yeah." Crunch says, adding on to Coco's warning. "And when we actually did beat him, he still threatened to destroy earth unless we earned all of his precious time relics."
"But this doesn't make any sense." Coco says to herself as she looks back at the video feed. "He should not be here."
"Wha... what do you mean, Coco?" Liz asks, confused.
Coco then turns to Liz and tells her, "I mean, after we beat him again with all of his relics, he exploded, literally!"
"Exploded?" Spyro asks, dumbfounded and puzzled, prompting Crunch to answer, "He's a robot, Spyro."
"Wait, what are they saying, Coco?" Brio asks Coco, noticing that the video feed has no sound coming out of it, prompting Coco to return to the computer screen and examine the feed.
"I'm not sure. Let me see if this footage has an audio feed..." Coco mutters to herself as she types away at the keyboard to get an audio signal. "There we go."
Once the audio on the feed comes up, Velo calls out, "Pinstripe! Geary! Get in here, you two!"
"Pinstripe?!" Tawna angrily exclaims.
"Yes, Big V, what is it?" Pinstripe asks as he and Geary enter the room in the video, prompting Crash to scowl intensely at the rat who almost killed him and Coco and tried to make Tawna his one and only.
"Our warning shot failed!" Velo shouts at the two of them. "Crash and his girlfriend destroyed all our mutant food!"
"Yes, true." Geary says to Velo. "But there is some good news, milord."
"And that would be?" Velo asks, still annoyed with what happened.
"We have a confirmed mutation!" Geary exclaims.
"Excellent!" Velo exclaims in the video. "And who, pray tell, has fallen victim to my army of mutant food?"
Geary then pulls out a piece of paper printed from a computer and reads off of it, "Dr. Nitrus Brio, scientist colleague of Dr. Neo Cortex."
"Ah, yes." Pinstripe smugly says in the video. "Our beloved pin cushion Brio."
"Pin cushion?!" Brio exclaims in annoyance.
"It's a shame we never got to feed him to that Megamix creature he willingly created..." Pinstripe says to Velo.
"Willingly?!" Brio growls as everyone in the room, even the normally cheerful Megumi, develops looks of anger and annoyance as they continue to watch the video. "They forced me!"
"...but I suppose this is the next best thing." Pinstripe gleefully continues. "It brings me joy to watch bad things happen to good people."
"That rat!" Tawna growls. "I thought we were rid of him for good after Oxide took him and that robot away! But no! Now he's actually helping this Velo character with his plan to conquer earth!"
"Calm down, Tawna." Megumi tells Tawna as she tries to calm her down. "If we stopped him before, surely we can stop him again."
After Velo takes some deep breaths, he turns to Pinstripe and Geary and tells them, "Well, you two go on to those two fast food joints and get to work on stealing their food. The sooner we start mutating, the sooner we can start our invasion."
"Yes, sir!" Pinstripe exclaims as he turns to Geary. "Come along, Geary! We've got some work to do!"
"Stealing and mutating food?" Crunch asks with confusion. "What in the name of Aku Aku are they talking about?"
"I don't know." Tawna replies. "But I'm not about to let him steal me away from Crash, not after the way he treated me in that post-apocalyptic nightmare!"
Crash nods and gives Tawna a comfort hug, prompting Tawna to return the hug and tell Crash, "Don't worry, Crash. We're not going to let him take me from you. That's a promise."
"Uh, Velo?" Oxide asks meekishly as Pinstripe and Geary leave the room.
"Yes, Oxide, what is it?" Velo asks as he turns to Oxide.
"I just had a thought." Oxide warns Velo. "What if Crash and the others are somehow watching us and learning of our plans at this very moment? They could come here and stop us!"
"And what makes you think they're watching us even as we speak?" Velo asks Oxide.
"Well, you do realize Crash's teenage sister is a whiz with computers, so she could've hacked into our security feed." Oxide tells him.
"Oh, please, Oxide. You worry too much." Velo tells Oxide. "Our security system's too advanced for anyone to hack into."
Coco scoffs and says to herself, "'Too advanced,' he says." prompting a chuckle or two from the rest of the group.
"And besides, even if they do make their way here to Gasmoxia, I've got a special surprise waiting for them." Velo continues to Oxide. "In the meantime, you, Zam and Zem head out in a carrier to secure the perimeter of Gasmoxia's atmosphere in case they do show up."
"Yes, sir, Velo!" Oxide says in the video before calling out, "Zam! Zem! Where are you two buffoons? We've got a job to do!"
As Oxide leaves the room, Velo chuckles to himself and, as he pulls out a small vial of liquid, says to himself, "Oh, I'd love to see that Brio character try to get a hold of this antidote should he come this way with Crash and the others." He then leaves the room and turns off the lights, somehow causing the video feed to cut off.
"Wait, did he say 'antidote?'" Brio says with surprise.
"You know, I think he did, Brio." Megumi says to Brio, before Ami adds, "But the question is, how are we going to get it for you? I mean, it's not like we can just waltz into Gasmoxia and snatch it from Velo while his back is turned."
"I don't know, what do you think, Coco?" Crunch asks as he turns to Coco, only to not get a response from her. "Coco?"
Coco sighs, rests her hands on the countertop and says, "We have no choice, then."
"What do you mean, Coco?" Tawna asks with confusion.
"I mean, we cannot let him get to earth." Coco says as she turns and approaches the rest of the group. "If he makes it to earth with all that mutant food, we're all goners!"
Crash, realizing where Coco is going with her words, adds onto Coco's speech through incomprehensible gibberish, causing everyone's faces to light up with what he's saying.
"I couldn't agree more, big brother!" Coco tells Crash as she pats him on the back.
"Wait." Cortex says as he realizes what Coco's about to say. "Don't do it. Don't you dare say it!"
Coco then tells the group with determination, "Everyone, we're going to have to go to Gasmoxia ourselves and stop that big green menace!"
"Really?" Brio asks as everyone's faces light up with surprise. "Us go into space?"
"Are you serious, Coco?" Liz asks with surprise.
"Of course, I am!" Coco tells her as Crash nods.
"But, Coco, dear." Isabella says to her. "We could be heading into potentially dangerous terrain. I don't want to lose you and Crash, especially after what happened in Wumpa City."
"I wouldn't worry, Isabella." Coco tells her with confidence. "Do you have any idea how many times me and Crash have stopped Cortex here?"
"Gee, thanks for the wonderful words of wisdom there." Cortex sarcastically tells Coco in annoyance.
As Crash and Coco head into another part of Coco's lab, Coco motions for everyone to follow her as she tells them, "Suit up, everyone! We must leave for Gasmoxia at once!"
As everyone follows Crash and Coco out of the computer room, Ami groans and asks Crunch, "Why did I have to go and jinx it, Crunch?"