Back at Nuclear Pizza, the rest of the group had watched as Cortex took off in the Galactic Cruiser kart he stole and crash landed on a nearby asteroid. Even though they are glad they don't have to deal with him anymore, given how much trouble he caused Coco over the course of their journey, they are still disgusted with his actions regardless.
"Who does Cortex think he is?" Spyro scoffs in annoyance. "I mean, really."
"You said it, Spyro." Koala Kong says, agreeing with him. "The way he's been treating Crash's poor helpless sister, it makes me so glad I'm no longer working for him!"
"Yeah!" Megumi exclaims in annoyance, much to the other's surprise. "Where does he get the gall to insult Coco's intelligence like that? That jerk!"
"Whoa! Megumi!" Ami exclaims, trying to calm Megumi down. "Take it easy there!"
"Sorry, guys, but I'm just... really upset right now!" Megumi tells them, still annoyed. "No one backtalks my bestie like that!"
"Easy, Megumi. Just calm down." Liz calmly says as she rests her hand on Megumi's back. "You saw Cortex get stranded on that asteroid over there. He won't be bothering us anymore."
Zem then sighs and says to the group, "I don't get it."
"You don't get what, Zem?" Ami asks, getting her attention.
"I mean, he's your arch-nemesis." Zem says to her. "Why would you bring that scumbag along when you knew he was trying to kill you guys?"
"Well, we had to bring him along so that way, he wouldn't try to take over the world while we wouldn't be there to stop him." Ami tells him.
"Ah..." Zem exclaims while Zam nods his head. "That makes sense. Good thinking."
Moments later, the group hears faint sniffling from behind them, getting their attention. They turn around to see that Crash and Isabella had caught up with Coco, who ran off in a sobbing heap after Cortex insulted her intelligence.
As the three of them approach the rest of the group, Tawna asks with concern, "Hey, Coco, you okay?"
Looking up at Tawna with red eyes from all the crying she did, Coco sniffles and replies, "I... (sniff) I guess so." before hanging her head back down.
"Don't let Cortex's words get to you, Coco dear." Isabella calmly says as she bends down and lifts up Coco's chin. "It's not your fault we might be stranded here."
"Yeah, and just so you know, you are not stupid." N. Brio tells her. "I mean, without your intelligence, we never would've made it up here in the first place."
Coco sniffles and says to her friends with a growing smile, "Thanks, you guys."
As Coco receives a hug from Isabella and Crash, a dark shadow begins to fall over the group and the two restaurants, getting their attention.
"Wait, why is it getting dark all of a sudden?" Coco asks with confusion as Megumi eventually spots something in the distance that causes her face to light up with surprise.
"Guys! Look!" Megumi exclaims, getting the group's attention as she points out to what she laid eyes upon: Velo's mothership approaching the two restaurants, as Pinstripe and Geary, having spotted Crash and the others, had alerted Velo to where they were at, prompting Velo to take the mothership their location.
"It's Velo's mothership!" Zem exclaims. "Pinstripe and Geary must've told Velo where you guys were!"
"Oh, yes!" Ami exclaims as she spots a row of space cruisers, before attempting to run towards one to take it up to Velo's mothership. "Time for some action! Come on, guys!"
"Ami, wait!" Crunch calls out, grabbing Ami's hand so she doesn't do anything crazy. "Don't do it! Please."
"But, Crunch!" Ami exclaims. "Velo's right there! Let's get a cruiser, fly up there and teach him a lesson while we still have the chance!"
"But, Ami, don't you remember our talk about not acting on impulse?" Crunch worriedly tells her as he releases her hand. "I don't want to see you get into any more trouble."
"Yeah, and besides, we don't even have a plan on how we're going to get up there undetected."
"But, guys!" Ami whines as she continues to gesture towards the mothership. "Velo!"
"Calm down, Ami." Crunch tells her as he rests his hands on her shoulders. "We'll get up there soon enough."
"Think you can sit tight while we come up with a good plan?" Coco calmly asks her as Crash motions the group to form a circle so they can talk amongst themselves.
"But..." Ami whines as Crunch and the others form a circle.
"You can do this, Ami." Crunch calmly says to her. "Just stay put while we discuss our plan."
As the group begins to talk amongst themselves on what course of action they should take, Ami groans and whines, folding her arms and sitting down on the ground in a pouting position, like an immature child. Constantly eyeballing back and forth between the nearby space carriers and Velo's mothership, Ami starts to twitch in conflict, as she wants to listen to what Crunch had said so that she wouldn't put herself or her friends in danger, but at the same time, doesn't want to waste a perfect opportunity to stop Velo right there and then.
"Well, I think we can make that plan work." Crunch says as the group finishes up their discussion, having come up with a good enough plan to try and get aboard the mothership. Crunch then turns to Ami and asks, "What do you think, Ami?" only to not get a response from her. Confused and slightly concerned, he asks again, "Ami?"
Ami then gets up and turns to the rest of the group. Crunch, concerned, asks again, "Ami, were you even listening to our plan?"
Ignoring Crunch's words, Ami glances back at the nearby space carriers, before glancing up at Velo's mothership, before finally glancing back at the heroes, with a look of regret on her face as she rubs her arm.
"Wait." Crunch says with fear as he realizes what Ami is about to do. "Ami, whatever it is you're about to do, please, for the sake of the lives of yourself and your friends, PLEASE. Don't. Do. It."
"Sorry about this, guys." Ami regretfully tells the group, before charging to one of the nearby space carriers, shouting, "Velo, here I come!"
"Ami! Wait!" Crunch cries out in fear as he races after Ami, who at that point had climbed aboard a green-coated Void Manta kart, and started up the engine. "Stop!"
Right as Crunch makes it to Ami, she blasts off up towards the mothership, the force of the blast pushing Crunch back several feet.
As the group runs up to Crunch, he holds his hand up and fearfully cries out Ami's name as he watches her get up to the mothership, where she leaps out of the kart and grabs onto a nearby access ladder. As she watches the Void Manta kart plummet to the surface of Gasmoxia, she scoffs it off and proceeds to climb up the ladder to a nearby emergency hatch. As she puts in the needed strength to open the hatch, ignoring the distant cries of her friends, she eventually manages to open it and leaps inside the mothership.
Landing inside a cargo room with various knickknacks Velo had snatched up to study the lifestyles of earth's habitants, Ami looks around to see if there's anyone else in the room with her. Once she sees that the coast is clear, she pulls out a walkie talkie to contact the others.
"Guys, you there?" Ami says to the group, speaking into her walkie talkie. "I made it inside the mothership."
"Ami!" Crunch fearfully exclaims through the other end. "Are you insane?!"
"Insanely buff and gorgeous, if that's what you mean?" Ami replies with a smirk as she checks herself in a nearby mirror.
"Ami, get out of there!" Coco fearfully exclaims. "You've might've tripped a sensor aboard the ship!"
"Yeah!" Isabella exclaims. "You're going to get yourself caught! Or worse!"
"Don't worry, guys. I'll be fine." Ami reassures them. "I'll kill the power to this flying hunk of scrap metal and give that emperor and Pinstripe what for!"
"Ami—" Crunch exclaims as Ami cuts the power to her walkie-talkie.
"Now then, which way to the power core?" Ami ponders to herself as she exits the cargo room and starts to sneak around the mothership, armed with her two ray guns.
Back with the others, Crunch paces back and forth, terrified over what Ami had just done.
"Oh, this is bad! This is really, really bad!" Crunch fearfully says in a panic. "She's going to get herself captured!"
"Yeah, and there's no way she could possibly kill the power to the mothership." Zem says to the group, fearful that they are not going to like what he has to say.
"Why not, Zem?" Coco asks in confusion.
"Because the power core is protected by energy fields and gamma rays that are so powerful and so freakishly hot that, unless you're a Gasmoxian, your flesh will be melted off and your skeleton will be burnt to ash in a matter seconds!" Zem tells them with fear in his voice. "It's the equivalent of being caught in a nuclear blast!"
Upon hearing this, Crunch develops a look of fright on his face, which turns pale from the thought of Ami being reduced to nothing but a lifeless skeleton. He then gets down on the ground, cups his hands into his face and moans, "Ami, what have you done? Why didn't you listen to me about not being so impulsive?" prompting the others to try and comfort him.
Back in the mothership, Ami quietly sneaks along a catwalk high above the ship's main launch bay, where she sees dozens upon dozens of vessels large enough to carry the mutant food, like the one that was launched at Wumpa City as a warning shot. Not wanting to make a sound, as there are dozens of Stench Titans, which are a mix of a skunk and a buzzard, busy patrolling the launch bay below, Ami quietly crawls along the catwalk so as to not make a sound.
Once she's out of range of the Stench Titans' view and earshot, Ami gets back up on her feet and continues to roam the halls.
"Okay, where would that power core be?" Ami asks herself as she continues to sneak around, looking in every direction around her in the process. "I mean, this big boy should be no different than the cruiser we traveled in."
As Ami stops in front of a nearby shelf full of books, she then gets an idea on how she can better locate the power core. "Okay... so if I were Coco, I would want to put the power core..."
As Ami continues to think to herself, her face lights up as she snaps her fingers, exclaiming, "Smack dab in the middle of the ship!"
She then laughs and throws her arms up, accidentally knocking some books off the shelf next to her. Worried that someone might have heard her, she quickly and quietly starts to place the books back on the shelf, before one of the books gets her attention.
"Hello, what this?" Ami asks herself as she glances at the cover of the book she's holding.
"Getting to Know the Ins and Outs of Your 2003 Series Mothership, Third Edition." Ami says, reading the title of the book. "Huh. Maybe this'll tell me where I need to go. Let's see here..."
As she starts to flip through the pages of the book to find the spot where the power core is, her walkie-talkie comes back on as the group tries to urge her to leave and come back to them.
"Ami, come in!" Crunch fearfully cries, getting her attention as she continues to flip through the book. "Ami, are you there? Please come in!"
"In a minute, guys!" Ami tells the group. "Let me find the power core and then I'll signal you when it's safe to come aboard!"
"Ami!" Crunch exclaims as Ami cuts off her walkie-talkie. She then mutters indistinctly to herself as she continues to flip through the pages.
"A-ha! Here it is!" Ami exclaims as she comes across a chapter labeled 'POWER CORE MAINTENANCE.' She then starts to read, "'The ship's main power core is located directly underneath the ship's main launch bay.'"
"Well, looks like I was actually right about something!" Ami says to herself as she tosses the book aside, before heading off to find a stairwell leading down to the power core."I should start paying attention to Coco's scientific jibber-jabber more often."
As Ami rounds a corner, the book continues to bounce along the walkway before falling off the catwalk above the launch bay, where it comes to a stop and leaves itself open at one major piece of text that Ami had failed to notice and what Zem had warned the group about:
WARNING!
Before attempting ANY sort of maintenance on the power core, radiation suits MUST be worn at ALL TIMES. Radiation suits can be found in the Research & Development Department. Failure to wear a radiation suit before entering the power core will result in a slow and painful death from even the smallest exposure to the energy fields and gamma rays within. If for whatever reason you choose to ignore this warning and get exposed to these powerful forces, don't come crying to us when your flesh gets violently ripped off, your muscles and organs melt into goo and your skeleton disintegrates into dust. It's your own fault, not ours.
Eventually, Ami, still sneaking around, comes across a door labeled 'THIS WAY TO MAIN POWER CORE'. As she opens the door and heads inside, she turns on her walkie-talkie and says to the group, "Guys, you there? I found the path to the main power core!"
"Ami, seriously! You need to get out of there right now!" Crunch fearfully cries in a panic as Ami descends a stairwell down to the power core. "You are going to DIE if you attempt to shut off the power core!"
"We are not kidding, Ami!" Tawna fearfully exclaims as Ami makes her way to the bottom of the stairs and continues to head towards the power core. "Turn around and get back to us while you still have the chance!"
"Nonsense, you guys!" Ami reassures them as she rounds another corner. "I know exactly what I'm—"
She then looks up and stops dead in her tracks when she sees a group of Stench Titans and Doom Monkeys right in front of her, blocking her path to the door leading into the main power core. Noticing Ami, they quickly get up and start to advance on her, with the intent of harm.
Seeing this, Ami simply chuckles and tells them, "Nice try, you ninnies. Do you have any idea who you're dealing with? I'll tear through you clowns faster than the time it takes me to workout at the gym!"
Hearing this, the Stench Titans and Doom Monkeys simply chuckle at Ami's words, followed by chuckles from other voices, getting Ami's attention.
Ami then turns around and sees that she's completely surrounded by Ratnicians and Slap-E's, who had gathered around her to block her path as she talked down to the Stench Titans and Doom Monkeys.
Ami then smirks and tells everyone surrounding her with determination, "Outnumber me all you want, but you all are no match for me and my—"
Unfortunately, Ami's determination quickly dissipates when a pair of Slap-E's leap up and snatch her two ray guns away. As they hand the two ray guns over to the Stench Titans, Ami develops a look of massive fear and worry as she notices the Ratnicians and Doom Monkeys all putting on gas masks.
She then sees the Stench Titans turning around and bending over, prompting Ami to whimper, "Oh, Ami, what have you gotten yourself into?"
All of a sudden, the Stench Titans unleash a powerful gas onto Ami, which overpowers her and causes her to pass out from its foul smell. She is then lifted up by the Stench Titans, who take her walkie-talkie and throw it against the wall, smashing it to pieces.
With the Ratnicians, Doom Monkeys and Slap-E's following close behind, Ami is carried away to Velo's throne room to be held prisoner.