Chapter 4: The Path

The next chance she got, Coco ran to the Crash Hut and stomped up to her room. She could not believe how bad her love life had gone. One minute, she was enjoying her life with Dingodile, the next, she was enjoying her time with Crunch, and finally, Crunch and Dingodile had a fight. Could things get any worse?

"Well, of course they could," Coco sighed as she plopped down on her bed and sobbed bitterly. This was entirely her fault that things were going down the toilet. Her sobs were overheard by her pet, Pura, who was a sweet orange tiger cub. He then bounded into the room and began to lick Coco in the face. Coco stopped sobbing and smiled at the cat.

"Pura! What are you doing here?"

"Meow!"

Coco could tell that Pura REALLY wanted Coco to cheer up. That was why he licked her.

"Oh, Pura, you always cheer me up!" Coco laughed as she scratched the cat under the chin.

"Purr," Pura replied.

At dinner, Coco was eating her Wumpa fruit, not looking at Crunch, and Crunch was eating his meat. He wasn't looking at Coco, either. Crash, who was sitting between the two, was getting worried.

"I don't like this, Polar," he whispered to his pet polar bear.

"Arf!" Polar barked back, which meant, "Neither do I!"

"What the heck are we to do?"

"Arf!"

Crash scowled at his pet and shrugged. Things were not going well, not because of the feud Crunch and Coco were having, but because his pet polar bear couldn't talk.

Later that night, Coco and Crunch were sitting on the couch. They were not happy. At first, there was a deadly quiet, and then Coco broke the silence.

"Well, Crunch? How's your life?" Coco asked, coldly.

"I'm fine," Crunch snapped. "How about YOU?"

"I'm fi—'' Coco began, but stopped. She knew if she said "Fine", she'd be lying. She looked at Crunch and sighed.

"To tell you the truth, Crunch," she replied. "I'm not. I'm feeling torn between you and Dingodile! And now I might lose you both for this? I CAN'T TAKE IT!"

With that, Coco began to cry. Tears were falling out of her eyes like streams. Crunch felt really bad.

"Coco, this is my fault," he whispered, gently. "You're not to blame."

But if Crunch thought that would make Coco stop crying, he was wrong. As Coco continued weeping, it made Crunch suddenly want to cry, too. After all, the last time he had felt this way about a girl was when he was with a friend of his, named Lee Bandicoot. And then, she was killed.

But, Crunch had already cried once, and he didn't want to a second time. As he watched Coco weep, he realized that the only way to cheer her up was to write a poem about her. So, despite the fact that he wasn't a poet, Crunch ran to the nearby closet, grabbed some paper and a pen, and wrote. It said,

"Coco, for every path you take,

I'll be right with you.

For every decision you make,

I'll be with you.

You're always in my heart.

And I go red every time I think of you.

Oh, you beautiful angel!

Let's go out!

Crunch then put the pen down and carried the poem to Coco. As soon as he sat down, Coco looked up, still crying.

"Here, Coco," Crunch said, softly. "This poem is for you."

Coco took the poem out of Crunch's hand and read it. The moment she had finished reading it, she turned around and smiled at the giant bandicoot and hugged him.