Hello lovelies! I am here to put in a disclaimer. This chapter has implication of non consent, so read with careful consideration if its a trigger. But as I always I do hope you enjoy and do leave any feedback.
Chapter 19
Crash, Pinstripe and Dingodile walk down the path in silence, feeling the pain and the exhaustion from the fight. Dingodile let out a big sigh,
"Ok, if no one is going to say it, I will. What the bloody hell was that?!" Dingodile shouted as Pinstripe is getting irritated.
"Not now, man." Pinstripe grumbled but Dingodile ignores him.
"We got teleported into a tribes village to see Nina unconscious with an arrow on her back, been told that our boss has been kidnapped and then randomly fight purple ZOMBIES!? Who has been disintegrated by purple aura light from the little girl bandicoot! It's insane! All because you can't get over your ex-girlfriend and kept her underwear like a fucking creep that led us here in the first place!" Pinstripe has enough, grabbed Dingodile and threw him against the tree nearby. Dingodile is shocked that a skinny Potoroo can be so strong to throw a big dingo like him.
He looks up to see Pinstripe pointing his gun between his eyes with an angry glint in his eyes.
"Don't you dare drag Tawna into this or my love for her! That has nothing to do with the zombies and what happened to Nina so don't you dare put this blame on me or Tawna! None of us knew that's going to happen and you know that!" Dingodile just growled when Pinstripe is right, then turns to Crash where he just stands there watching them with a scared look on his face. Dingodile walks towards him,
"You know something don't you? You and the other bandicoots know something. So tell us, What's. Going. On." Crash cowers under his intimidating gaze when he hears the voice of his saviour.
"Alright that's enough you two." they turned to see Aku aku, Crunch and Coco walking towards them.
"We will discuss this on the way to N. Gin's labs. For now stop fighting and lets get going." Crunch follows Aku aku to the robot when everyone has a chance to take a closer look at Coco who is deathly pale with dark circles around her eyes veins still flashing purple that covers the entire right arm. Crash feels helpless, he wants to help his sister but he doesn't know how.
"Mate, she needs help." Dingodile exclaimed with concern written on his face.
Crunch just looks downtrodden,
"Lets just go." He walks away and goes into the robot where Tawna and N. Gin is setting Nina down on the back seat. Nina was the first to see them and shocked to see Coco looks like.
"Is she ok!?" Aku aku float up to her,
"She will be, don't worry she's just exhausted so she will be sleeping on the back seat with you if that's alright." Nina doesn't entirely believe him but nods her head, wanting to keep an eye on her.
"I'll stay with them too. In case there are any problems." Tawna speaks up, she sits between Nina and Coco, leading Coco's head onto her lap. Nina gets a closer look at Coco. For the first time she is seeing her being peaceful, instead of having an angry look on her face. She knows Coco doesn't like her and her family but she hopes they will one day become friends. Then she hears Dingodile and Pinstripe squeazing through the door and screaming at each other as Pinstripe manages to get in and immediately get to Tawna, squeezing between Nina and Tawna, casually putting his arm around Tawna. She is not amused.
"So babe, looks like we will be working together to save the boss, right? So, maybe when we have time we could get some alone time?" he said with a wink when Tawna throws him through the window while Dingodile is still struggling to get through with Crash and Crunch trying to push him in.
"Bloody creep." Tawna muttered while pulling Nina closer to her.
"You two know each other? He seems to like you." Nina said with a smile. Tawna just groans,
"Ugh, We had a thing when I was working for your Uncle then he became insufferable." Tawna scoffed when Nina's head tilted.
"What thing?" Tawna starts to sweat,
"Oh errr, nothing! Forget I said anything!" Nina decides to drop it when everyone crammed into the back. Dingodile came in first followed by Crash who gave Tawna a stink eye. Tawna sensed he overheard what she said to Nina and probably need to talk to him at some point and Crunch came in with Pinstripe draped over his shoulder. Aku aku float in flying straight to Coco to check if she's ok, while N. Gin sort themselves out in the front.
"Alright! Let's go to my labs to get that plasma ammo! Hopefully we won't get disrupted along the way!" they said with a laugh as they turn the ignition and slowly lift the MechaBandicoot off the ground and speed up towards the sky. As it leveled out in a calm pace, Dingodile turns to Aku aku.
"Ok, you said you're going to tell us what is happening. So..." he gestured him to tell the story when all Aku aku can do is sigh but he knows if he wants their help, they deserve to know.
"Ok, you and Pinstripe do deserve to know, but first let me ask you guys this," Crunch set him down and shake him awake causing him to shake his head and focus on Aku aku,
"How much do you know about Dr Neo Cortex?" he asked as Dingo looked at him confused,
"What do you mean? He is an evil scientist, he prides himself and his work," Pinstripe laughs,
"That's one way of putting it, his ego is bigger than his head." he said making everyone laugh alittle, including Tawna. Dingodile continues,
"But then something weird happened, he must have had a terrible meeting with Uka uka because he came out sombre while we were playing with Nina." Nina looks down as she remembered the last thing Cortex said to her,
"He took me to the Bandicoots to save me." she said in a quiet voice,
"He said it would be the last place he would look for me, and now he has Uncle" she starts to sob when Tawna puts her arm around her while Crunch and Pinstripe nearby puts their hands on her to comfort her.
"That makes sense, Nina has always been his top priority. Love her to bits." Aku aku nodded at Dingo and continues,
"But do both of you know that Neo used to be married? To a girl called Nadia?" this shocked Dingodile and Pinstripe, as he's slowly stands up, still looking at Aku aku, Tawna is also surprised by this fact.
"I know, it's hard to believe isn't it?" Crunch made a snide comment where Crash nudged him for it.
"Well if you don't believe it, I was there when they got married, I was both their best man and maid of honor. Watching two of my best friends get married is the best day of my life and yes they were in love, in fact couldn't get enough of each other."
"Too much info!" Crunch interrupted N. Gin when Tawna asked.
"When you said 'used to' do you mean divorce?" Aku aku sadly shakes his head, making them feel sad for him.
"Poor mate, no wonder he went insane."
"It's a lot more complex than that. We did think she was dead at the time, but then she somehow managed to communicate to us through Coco to tell us she has been trapped in a crystal made by Dr N. Tropy himself with Uka uka's help and we need to stop them in order to save both Neo and Nadia." Aku aku said to everyone who nods in agreement,
"And could Dr. N Tropy and Nadia being trapped in a crystal could be connected to the zombies we just fought?" Aku aku nodded when Dingo asked that question,
"That is a high possibility,"
"And if she has been using Coco to talk to you guys she must have transfer much of crystal's essence into Coco." Tawna added while stroking Coco's hair.
"Unintentionally! I know for a fact she will never hurt anyone!" N. Gin shouts back. Pinstripe can't help but think back to when him and Dingodile sneaked into Tropy's room, seen the creepy photos pinned onto the walls.
"Was Tropy in love with this Nadia girl?" Pinstripe randomly asked causing everyone to look at him, he turns to Dingodile.
"We saw the photos in his room, remember? Of the pretty girl with a younger version of Neo Cortex. He has red X's drawn on his eyes." a realisation hit Dingodile like a bomb as he remembers what he's talking about. They hear N. Gin's scoffed,
"Love? Obsessed more like, I remember when he found out Neo and Nadia were dating, he took her and trapped her in the cupboard with him so... he..." they slowed what they're saying when they realised was actually happened as flashback run through their head of Nadia being half naked, crying her eyes out.
'How can I be so stupid? Why didn't I put two and two together?!' Everyone is shocked and angry by what they just heard, and even feeling a little sick. Crunch balled up his fist with anger,
"That's fucked up!" he shouted as he punched the wall scaring both Crash and Nina.
"And not only he had trapped her but what happened before that?" Nina asked, everyone has gone quiet, don't know what to say after what they just heard.
"N. Gin speed this up, both Neo and Nadia are in danger!" Aku aku shouted, they didn't need to be told twice as they put the foot down speed the robot, almost to 100mph where everyone's screamed and being pushed back from the velocity of the speed, but N. Gin didn't care. They just want to get to the lab, get the plasma ammo and use it to take down that sick bastard so he can get his friends back.