Chapter Four
Flight and Fight
Crash, Coco and their new friend Spark hurried down the corridors, quietly. Twice, they almost ran into one of Cortex's minions. The first was the insane Ripper Roo, who they were alerted of his presence when a loud explosion went off down the hall and he came bouncing down, all black from the blast and laughing his head off.
The second was the infamous Dr. N. Gin, with his large missile sticking out of his head. The scientist was fuming from his missile, which looked set to explode at any given second. Something must have happened that REALLY ticked him off.
"Geez," Coco sighed as she realized they'd passed the same portraiture of Cortex for the fourth time. "It's a maze in here! We'll never find the North Tower like this."
"It's you!" a voice cried out from down the hall. Wheeling around, the group spotted none other than Dr. Nitrus Brio. The doctor charged up at them, his long skinny head with bolts sticking out of the sides. He beckoned them towards a door, opened it with a set of keys he had and shoved Crash, Coco and Spark through. He then latched the door from the outside. Then, a metallic clanking echoed throughout the halls and Dr. N. Trance appeared. The egg shaped Master of Hypnotism in his metallic body, for he had lost his own limbs long ago, clanked towards him.
"What are you doing here?" the hypnotic scoundrel snarled at N. Brio.
"I could ask you the very same question Trance!" Brio snapped. "I was given the keys by Cortex him-self, so I am supposed to patrol the hallways. You, on the other hand have no business here."
N. Trance glared at him, then the large claw on his right arm opened, a hypnotic spiral beginning to spin. Brio swiftly whipped out a beaker full of a red fluid. "Go ahead Trance... Make my day! You know I despise you. And you know I can survive this stuff... but you can't."
Trance glowered and closed the claw with a clink. "I know you're up to something Nitrus! That fool Neo may not believe me, but I know not to trust you."
"Well, maybe that's the reason why Cortex give me higher duties than you. I trust him and he trusts me."
The two doctors scowled at one another, then Trance stormed off in a huff. "By the way," the hypnotic master added angrily. "Did you hear those bandicoots escaped? Better keep an eye out for them. Don't want to be the one that lets them slip through your fingers right?"
Brio just glared and watched as his egg shaped nemesis walk off. He pretended to be inspecting the rooms in case Trance was still watching, before he slipped into the room he'd locked Crash and Coco in. "I was wondering when you'd escape that dungeon!" he exclaimed as he bolted the door behind him-self.
"You could have given us a hand Brio," Crash answered as he sat up from lying down on the soft bed. "Hey, whose room is this anyway?"
"Uh..." Brio thought for a moment. "It's Pinstripe's I believe. And I'm sorry I didn't help you, but Cortex gave me direct orders to patrol the halls. It'd blow my cover if I'd left to help you. Then I couldn't spy and help you out. Hey! Who's this?" he asked as he pointed to Spark, who was purring like a cat as Coco rubbed her scaly head.
"This is Spark," Coco answered. "We found her and she helped us escape."
Brio chewed his lip for a second. "You know, it was a dragon that tipped off Dingodile that you were heading for the North Tower."
"Scorch!" Spark spat, sparkles of flame on her breath. "I swear, I'll kill him!"
"So they know we're heading for the tower?" Crash answered, flopping back onto the bed. "Great! Just great! So what are they doing to protect the tower?"
Brio thought for a moment. "The entrance is guarded. You'd have to battle your way through seven minions to get there. Err... six."
"Huh?" Coco asked. "Why only six?"
"Because Crunch is one of them. He'd let you pass, pretending you'd beaten him cause he's with me remember? But the others... well, they'd all want to kill you."
"Who are they?" Crash asked.
"Let's see, there's the Komodo Bros. Joe and Moe. Tiny Tiger is directly after them. Koala Kong is the next one afterwards. Then, Crunch, Pinstripe and finally N. Gin has something up there." Brio sighed. "There's no way you could get through all of them undetected. You'd be seen and captured. Or very well perhaps, killed."
Coco pondered for a second. "What is up there anyway?"
"That I don't know," Brio shrugged. "Cortex has kept it very quiet. In fact, only he and Uka-Uka know about it I believe."
Coco pondered for a moment. "Is there any other way into the tower?"
Brio shook his head. "Sorry, but that is the only way in, or out. At least that I know of."
Coco thought for a minute. "What we need..." she suggested. "Is a diversion. Something to distract them all and leave their posts for a few minutes so one of us can slip into the tower."
"I think..." Brio beamed. "I may have just the thing! This here," Nitrus smiled as he handed Coco a flask of an odd bleached colored liquid. "Is a new mix I've made just recently. Mix it with a piece of someone, hair, skin, whatever... and you take on the physical appearance of that person for a period of time."
"So what do we do?" Crash asked. "I become Tiny or someone for a little while?"
"No," Brio shook his head. "You have to get in on force anyway. And stealing part of that person will get them to trip the alarm and it all goes to waste. No, this potion is for Spark."
"Me?" the young dragon gasped. "Why me?"
Brio grinned and pulled a hair from Crash's head. "Oww! Hey!"
"I get it!" Coco gasped. "Spark takes on the look of Crash and she and I flee from the castle. Cortex will order the Commandos after us because he'd believe we were no longer in the castle. Meanwhile, the real Crash gets inside the tower, right?"
Brio nodded. "I'll smuggle you to a safe exit and then you go, cause the distraction and then hide somewhere. Crash, you'll be able to cope with Cortex your-self right?"
"No problem... That oaf is no problem for me."
"Get them! Get the bandicoots you fools!" Cortex's voice roared throughout the castle from a loud speaker as Coco and 'Crash' fled from the back exit, taunting by poking out their tongues and pulling down eyelids at the mad scientist, wherever he was. "They're no longer in the castle! Capture them! Get them! Just get those bandicoots!"
Moments after, Coco and 'Crash' fled into the woods as every single minion of Cortex's gave chase. Dingodile, Tiny, the Komodo Bros., N. Trance, N. Tropy, N. Gin, Pinstripe, Rilla Roo, Ripper Roo and Koala Kong. Crunch and Brio were also there, but only so they blow their cover as spies.
The real Crash watched and waited for a minute, before he stepped out into the open. The coast seemed clear, but Crash had a strange feeling that there was a bit more to this than what he saw. With the JetPack on his back, Crash quickly located the North Tower and was going to make a beeline for it when he heard, "WE MEET AGAIN!"
Turning, Crash saw him-self staring into the face of Inferno. Some of the scales were blackened and patches of skin underneath them was red raw, but the dragon was alive and well. Having hidden behind the castle wall, Inferno had waited for the perfect chance. Crash uttered something in fright and swiftly leapt into action with the JetPack into the sky.
With a roar, he saw that Inferno was attempting to follow him into the sky. The dragon's wings were badly torched, but the dragon leapt into the sky and confronted the bandicoot by cutting him off. Crash halted in mid-air, confused on what to do now.
"Yeah! You get him!" a smaller voice barked and Crash saw a smaller blue dragon appear beside Inferno, in full flight. Scorch. "I want to see him die!"
Inferno growled and yelled, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Scorch turned to his father his eyes wide in shock. "But... but... I want to see this... learn to hunt like you..."
Inferno snapped back, "GET OUT, YOU STUPID JUVENILE! I DON'T HAVE TIME TO MESS WITH THE LIKES OF YOU! I AGREED TO YOUR MOTHER THAT I'D HATCH YOU, BUT THAT WAS IT! NOW GET LOST!" Drawing back his wing, Inferno struck Scorch hard with it, causing the young dragon to tumble towards the ground, lost of consciousness.
Crash seriously didn't like the young cocky dragon, but he couldn't let the little thing die like that. Cutting the JetPack, he dropped, confusing Inferno for a moment. Once Crash was facing the ground, he turned the pack on again and dove for the falling dragon. Snagging the tail, he hauled the young dragon up as he pulled out of the dive, a searing heat on his jeans. He dodged just in time to avoid a large fireball that Inferno had attempted to inflict upon him.
Clutching the benumbed Scorch close, Crash remembered how Coco told him Inferno wouldn't attack in case he harmed his young. Would it work again? As he narrowly dodged a jet of scoldering flames, Crash realized that wasn't the case. There was only one thing left to do... knock Inferno out.
Flying low to the turret he'd left from, Crash dropped the lifeless Scorch onto the tower safely and jetted off. As Crash continued to jet about, dodging Inferno's blasts, he looked for a suitable way to knock the dragon out.
The portcullis! If he could get Inferno to fly into it, perhaps that would do it! It certainly looked powerful enough to knock the dragon senseless. The gate was big enough for Inferno to fit through, so if he dropped the portcullis at the last second...
"Yeah! Just like you dragons!" Crash yelled out to taunt Inferno. "Always insist on using your fire! You're probably too slow to catch me aren't you?"
"YOU RECKON I'M SLOW DO YOU?" the dragon roared. "VERY WELL YOU SHYSTER. I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE OF DEATH! HERE I COME!" And the vast beast folded back its wings and dove towards Crash.
Crash flew around the castle walls, in an attempt to get Inferno off guard. He had to lead the dragon to think that he wasn't attempting a trap. The dragon was indeed very fast; in fact, he was gaining distance between them. Crash had to do it right now or he would be dragon fodder before the next pass. Turning sharply into the gates, he smashed the latch on the wheel for the portcullis with his hand as he flew past, smashing his wrist transmitter badly. Several sparks shot out from the contraption.
He heard the heavy crash of the metal portcullis and then roaring of agony behind him. Turning as he landed the JetPack, he saw Inferno, his head inside the castle gates, but the rest outside. The portcullis had come down on his neck. Crash gasped in horror as he watched the dragon thrash and roar in pain, slowly getting weaker and weaker, until... the head slumped to one side, the eyes rolled back and the vast beast's tongue rolled out.
Crash just stood there. He couldn't believe it. He'd killed someone that was neutral. Okay, he was trying to kill him but still, Inferno was neutral. Never before had he actually killed someone. Last time, he hadn't attempted to kill Inferno, but almost did, and the same applied for this time, only, he had actually succeeded in killing him.
"Crash!" a voice called out. "Help us!" It was through the transmitter, rough and static sounding as the transmitter struggled to cope with the message. It was Polar's voice. "The whole future is changing! If this carries on too much longer, we'll disappear! Crash you need to..." But the transmitter fell dead.
The bandicoot gritted his teeth. He'd have to take out Cortex right now. Jetting up to the North Tower, he pulled out the keys they had stolen from Rilla Roo some time ago in the dungeon. He unlocked the door and opened it, throwing off his JetPack. Glancing one last time at the lifeless bulk that was Inferno, he decided something...
He would mourn for his sin later... he would mourn for Inferno later on... the dragon may tried to kill him, but he was still a living creature that Crash him-self had killed, when Crash had sworn not to follow in Cortex's footsteps...
He would honor Inferno's life afterwards.
Then he entered and pulled the door behind him.
Flight and Fight
Crash, Coco and their new friend Spark hurried down the corridors, quietly. Twice, they almost ran into one of Cortex's minions. The first was the insane Ripper Roo, who they were alerted of his presence when a loud explosion went off down the hall and he came bouncing down, all black from the blast and laughing his head off.
The second was the infamous Dr. N. Gin, with his large missile sticking out of his head. The scientist was fuming from his missile, which looked set to explode at any given second. Something must have happened that REALLY ticked him off.
"Geez," Coco sighed as she realized they'd passed the same portraiture of Cortex for the fourth time. "It's a maze in here! We'll never find the North Tower like this."
"It's you!" a voice cried out from down the hall. Wheeling around, the group spotted none other than Dr. Nitrus Brio. The doctor charged up at them, his long skinny head with bolts sticking out of the sides. He beckoned them towards a door, opened it with a set of keys he had and shoved Crash, Coco and Spark through. He then latched the door from the outside. Then, a metallic clanking echoed throughout the halls and Dr. N. Trance appeared. The egg shaped Master of Hypnotism in his metallic body, for he had lost his own limbs long ago, clanked towards him.
"What are you doing here?" the hypnotic scoundrel snarled at N. Brio.
"I could ask you the very same question Trance!" Brio snapped. "I was given the keys by Cortex him-self, so I am supposed to patrol the hallways. You, on the other hand have no business here."
N. Trance glared at him, then the large claw on his right arm opened, a hypnotic spiral beginning to spin. Brio swiftly whipped out a beaker full of a red fluid. "Go ahead Trance... Make my day! You know I despise you. And you know I can survive this stuff... but you can't."
Trance glowered and closed the claw with a clink. "I know you're up to something Nitrus! That fool Neo may not believe me, but I know not to trust you."
"Well, maybe that's the reason why Cortex give me higher duties than you. I trust him and he trusts me."
The two doctors scowled at one another, then Trance stormed off in a huff. "By the way," the hypnotic master added angrily. "Did you hear those bandicoots escaped? Better keep an eye out for them. Don't want to be the one that lets them slip through your fingers right?"
Brio just glared and watched as his egg shaped nemesis walk off. He pretended to be inspecting the rooms in case Trance was still watching, before he slipped into the room he'd locked Crash and Coco in. "I was wondering when you'd escape that dungeon!" he exclaimed as he bolted the door behind him-self.
"You could have given us a hand Brio," Crash answered as he sat up from lying down on the soft bed. "Hey, whose room is this anyway?"
"Uh..." Brio thought for a moment. "It's Pinstripe's I believe. And I'm sorry I didn't help you, but Cortex gave me direct orders to patrol the halls. It'd blow my cover if I'd left to help you. Then I couldn't spy and help you out. Hey! Who's this?" he asked as he pointed to Spark, who was purring like a cat as Coco rubbed her scaly head.
"This is Spark," Coco answered. "We found her and she helped us escape."
Brio chewed his lip for a second. "You know, it was a dragon that tipped off Dingodile that you were heading for the North Tower."
"Scorch!" Spark spat, sparkles of flame on her breath. "I swear, I'll kill him!"
"So they know we're heading for the tower?" Crash answered, flopping back onto the bed. "Great! Just great! So what are they doing to protect the tower?"
Brio thought for a moment. "The entrance is guarded. You'd have to battle your way through seven minions to get there. Err... six."
"Huh?" Coco asked. "Why only six?"
"Because Crunch is one of them. He'd let you pass, pretending you'd beaten him cause he's with me remember? But the others... well, they'd all want to kill you."
"Who are they?" Crash asked.
"Let's see, there's the Komodo Bros. Joe and Moe. Tiny Tiger is directly after them. Koala Kong is the next one afterwards. Then, Crunch, Pinstripe and finally N. Gin has something up there." Brio sighed. "There's no way you could get through all of them undetected. You'd be seen and captured. Or very well perhaps, killed."
Coco pondered for a second. "What is up there anyway?"
"That I don't know," Brio shrugged. "Cortex has kept it very quiet. In fact, only he and Uka-Uka know about it I believe."
Coco pondered for a moment. "Is there any other way into the tower?"
Brio shook his head. "Sorry, but that is the only way in, or out. At least that I know of."
Coco thought for a minute. "What we need..." she suggested. "Is a diversion. Something to distract them all and leave their posts for a few minutes so one of us can slip into the tower."
"I think..." Brio beamed. "I may have just the thing! This here," Nitrus smiled as he handed Coco a flask of an odd bleached colored liquid. "Is a new mix I've made just recently. Mix it with a piece of someone, hair, skin, whatever... and you take on the physical appearance of that person for a period of time."
"So what do we do?" Crash asked. "I become Tiny or someone for a little while?"
"No," Brio shook his head. "You have to get in on force anyway. And stealing part of that person will get them to trip the alarm and it all goes to waste. No, this potion is for Spark."
"Me?" the young dragon gasped. "Why me?"
Brio grinned and pulled a hair from Crash's head. "Oww! Hey!"
"I get it!" Coco gasped. "Spark takes on the look of Crash and she and I flee from the castle. Cortex will order the Commandos after us because he'd believe we were no longer in the castle. Meanwhile, the real Crash gets inside the tower, right?"
Brio nodded. "I'll smuggle you to a safe exit and then you go, cause the distraction and then hide somewhere. Crash, you'll be able to cope with Cortex your-self right?"
"No problem... That oaf is no problem for me."
"Get them! Get the bandicoots you fools!" Cortex's voice roared throughout the castle from a loud speaker as Coco and 'Crash' fled from the back exit, taunting by poking out their tongues and pulling down eyelids at the mad scientist, wherever he was. "They're no longer in the castle! Capture them! Get them! Just get those bandicoots!"
Moments after, Coco and 'Crash' fled into the woods as every single minion of Cortex's gave chase. Dingodile, Tiny, the Komodo Bros., N. Trance, N. Tropy, N. Gin, Pinstripe, Rilla Roo, Ripper Roo and Koala Kong. Crunch and Brio were also there, but only so they blow their cover as spies.
The real Crash watched and waited for a minute, before he stepped out into the open. The coast seemed clear, but Crash had a strange feeling that there was a bit more to this than what he saw. With the JetPack on his back, Crash quickly located the North Tower and was going to make a beeline for it when he heard, "WE MEET AGAIN!"
Turning, Crash saw him-self staring into the face of Inferno. Some of the scales were blackened and patches of skin underneath them was red raw, but the dragon was alive and well. Having hidden behind the castle wall, Inferno had waited for the perfect chance. Crash uttered something in fright and swiftly leapt into action with the JetPack into the sky.
With a roar, he saw that Inferno was attempting to follow him into the sky. The dragon's wings were badly torched, but the dragon leapt into the sky and confronted the bandicoot by cutting him off. Crash halted in mid-air, confused on what to do now.
"Yeah! You get him!" a smaller voice barked and Crash saw a smaller blue dragon appear beside Inferno, in full flight. Scorch. "I want to see him die!"
Inferno growled and yelled, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Scorch turned to his father his eyes wide in shock. "But... but... I want to see this... learn to hunt like you..."
Inferno snapped back, "GET OUT, YOU STUPID JUVENILE! I DON'T HAVE TIME TO MESS WITH THE LIKES OF YOU! I AGREED TO YOUR MOTHER THAT I'D HATCH YOU, BUT THAT WAS IT! NOW GET LOST!" Drawing back his wing, Inferno struck Scorch hard with it, causing the young dragon to tumble towards the ground, lost of consciousness.
Crash seriously didn't like the young cocky dragon, but he couldn't let the little thing die like that. Cutting the JetPack, he dropped, confusing Inferno for a moment. Once Crash was facing the ground, he turned the pack on again and dove for the falling dragon. Snagging the tail, he hauled the young dragon up as he pulled out of the dive, a searing heat on his jeans. He dodged just in time to avoid a large fireball that Inferno had attempted to inflict upon him.
Clutching the benumbed Scorch close, Crash remembered how Coco told him Inferno wouldn't attack in case he harmed his young. Would it work again? As he narrowly dodged a jet of scoldering flames, Crash realized that wasn't the case. There was only one thing left to do... knock Inferno out.
Flying low to the turret he'd left from, Crash dropped the lifeless Scorch onto the tower safely and jetted off. As Crash continued to jet about, dodging Inferno's blasts, he looked for a suitable way to knock the dragon out.
The portcullis! If he could get Inferno to fly into it, perhaps that would do it! It certainly looked powerful enough to knock the dragon senseless. The gate was big enough for Inferno to fit through, so if he dropped the portcullis at the last second...
"Yeah! Just like you dragons!" Crash yelled out to taunt Inferno. "Always insist on using your fire! You're probably too slow to catch me aren't you?"
"YOU RECKON I'M SLOW DO YOU?" the dragon roared. "VERY WELL YOU SHYSTER. I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE OF DEATH! HERE I COME!" And the vast beast folded back its wings and dove towards Crash.
Crash flew around the castle walls, in an attempt to get Inferno off guard. He had to lead the dragon to think that he wasn't attempting a trap. The dragon was indeed very fast; in fact, he was gaining distance between them. Crash had to do it right now or he would be dragon fodder before the next pass. Turning sharply into the gates, he smashed the latch on the wheel for the portcullis with his hand as he flew past, smashing his wrist transmitter badly. Several sparks shot out from the contraption.
He heard the heavy crash of the metal portcullis and then roaring of agony behind him. Turning as he landed the JetPack, he saw Inferno, his head inside the castle gates, but the rest outside. The portcullis had come down on his neck. Crash gasped in horror as he watched the dragon thrash and roar in pain, slowly getting weaker and weaker, until... the head slumped to one side, the eyes rolled back and the vast beast's tongue rolled out.
Crash just stood there. He couldn't believe it. He'd killed someone that was neutral. Okay, he was trying to kill him but still, Inferno was neutral. Never before had he actually killed someone. Last time, he hadn't attempted to kill Inferno, but almost did, and the same applied for this time, only, he had actually succeeded in killing him.
"Crash!" a voice called out. "Help us!" It was through the transmitter, rough and static sounding as the transmitter struggled to cope with the message. It was Polar's voice. "The whole future is changing! If this carries on too much longer, we'll disappear! Crash you need to..." But the transmitter fell dead.
The bandicoot gritted his teeth. He'd have to take out Cortex right now. Jetting up to the North Tower, he pulled out the keys they had stolen from Rilla Roo some time ago in the dungeon. He unlocked the door and opened it, throwing off his JetPack. Glancing one last time at the lifeless bulk that was Inferno, he decided something...
He would mourn for his sin later... he would mourn for Inferno later on... the dragon may tried to kill him, but he was still a living creature that Crash him-self had killed, when Crash had sworn not to follow in Cortex's footsteps...
He would honor Inferno's life afterwards.
Then he entered and pulled the door behind him.