Disclaimer(s): Naughty Dog, Universal Studios, and God.
A/N: A big THANK YOU to those poeple who reviewed. And who answered my question.Thanks! All of your insights really seems to connect to the reason why peeps pair up Coco with Dingodile. It could be anything.
A big NOT-SO Thank You to those who reviewed just to blow the wind out of my sail. If you don't like it, GET OUT. No one's asking you to stay. So save your horrific breath, and LEAVE. (A THANK YOU to whoever deleted the bad reviewer...I guess it was one of the staffs? N E ways, thanks) ALSO, Crash isn't MUTE in the PS2 game. :p...lol
And, as for the text formation of stuff, I'm sorry, but it's extremely difficult to fix each and everything. I uploaded 5 different documents of the first chapter of "From Now and Forever", and boy howdy, it's a lot of work. I got so tired(and angry), that I just gave up. But I'm still trying to stop the texts from sticking TOO close to each other, and then a lot of you might be able to read easier. (I know that feeling when trying to read stuff that are like clustered.)
This second chapter, I...I really don't know what to do. This story WILL have a plot, however.(I have this fanfiction that really doesn't have a dominant plot...it's another crossover, of Simpsons and South Park.) Well, enjoy...again! :)
(--Chapter Two: Cortex Strikes Back...With A New Partner--)
At the same time, the dragon and the bandicoot blinked away. Spyro hung his head low to cover up his fierce blushing. Crash, who was unaware of what had just happened, started to converse. "So," he began nonchalantly, "What were you doing before you landed here?" Spyro patted his face, hoping that the blush would soon go away. "I was going after this villian named Ripto, and I...think I saw him go through this weird looking portal...but I guess not?"
Crash began to advance, and soon others started to join the conversation. Coco, meanwhile, remained silent, and then decided to walk off on her own. Still, even though Sypro seemed absorbed in the conversation, he noticed the Peggy Sue no more.
"Can you get up now?" inquired Aku-Aku with concern.
"Oh, yes. I can. And thank you for asking." replied Spyro, still with the confusion of Coco's departure. He sat up.
"If you're going to catch a bad guy, we can help..." said Crash.
"Oh, no. It's ok. But thanks for your offer." "No, we can really help. We don't have anything else to do - really." insisted Crash.
Before Spyro said another word, Coco came running into the room, trying to catch her breath. "You guys won't believe this...but it's is alive again!" she managed to puff out the words. "What? But how?" gasped Aku Aku, properly surprised. "Look." The female bandicoot said as she pulled out a piece of machinery that had the letter 'N' engraved on. "Where did you get that?" asked Crash. Coco had an answer to the question. "I was just walking in the forest, and well, I heard a faraway explosion, and then suddenly, this - thing came flying over here. It dropped right in front of me." The room was now completely silent. Everyone was thinking different thoughts.
Crash: 'It can't be true. It just can't be. He was gone - I saw it...we all saw it!'
Coco: 'What ARE we gonna do?'
Aku Aku: 'Oh, dear...'
Pura: 'I'm hungry.'
Spyro: 'Alive again? That means resurrection...oh my God! Ripto!'
Aku Aku was the first to break the silence. "How could he have revived, just like that?" Spyro spoke up, his eyes wide with the sudden knowledge. "I think I know who the reviver might be. The villain I was going after, Ripto, DID have this strange, unknown crystal orb. It...I heard that it was really powerful, and with it, you can do almost anything with it. Like reviving people, for instance." "With it, can you take over the world?" inquired Crash. "There's this other crystal orb, and if you combined that and the crystal orb that Ripto possess right now, then you might have enough power to make the world your followers." replied Spyro. A wave of wondering passed through the room. "Well, it's time to take out the trash again." mumbled Crash, almost to himself. "What?" asked Coco. "Time to take out the trash again. Look." and Crash pointed towards an overstuffed garbage can which looked about to explode. "My, my. You're right, Crash." replied Aku Aku. "Wait. What about Cortex and...this Ripto?" Coco could not believe how Crash could act so casually at the breaking news of Cortex. "He couldn't have revived. Even that orb sounds like baloney."
"So you're just gonna sit here and wait for another catastrophe to happen, is that it?"
"Hey, why do YOU care?" snapped Crash angrily. Without another word, Coco stormed out of the house - again, but with tears. She could not remember a time when her brother was hostile to her before. Crash found a nearby chair, flopped down on it, and hung his head low with denial and repentance. He too, thought that he spoke pretty harshily to his little sister. Still, how COULD she get angry or sad that fast? Aku Aku flew by his side. "Crash, I don't think that was a very nice way to speak to your sister." he rebuked. Crash flung his head up. "Cortex COULDN'T be alive. We saw him eradicating. We did. We did!" and with that, he sunk even lower into his chair. "There, there, child. If he's alive, he's bound to do something evil again. So, as the old proverb goes, 'whatever shall be, shall be'." comforted Aku Aku. "Yeah, you're right. We'll just have to take this to end, until it ends." resigned Crash, as he stood up. Aku Aku nodded, and gave a warm smile. "Now let's look for your sister."
Pura, being Coco's best pet friend, knew almost everything about her. Pura knew where Coco went to when she was feeling down, frustrated, or any negative feelings. Therefore, Pura led the way. As they walked along the forest trail, they started to get acquainted with the newcomer, Spyro. "I need to get that asshole of a Ripto. And free some dragons, wherever they may be..." Spyro gave a sigh in the middle of his dialogue, "and search for the missing treasures of the Dragon Kingdom.
Crash started to think of Spyro's situation and his. Then, he mentioned the aforesaid idea, which was to help Spyro. "You have your own evil dude to go after, and I have mine as well. Don't you think, maybe we can help each other out?" asked Crash.
Spyro regarded him with pensive eyes. This bandicoot guy...was he trying to be his friend? In Spyro's earlier history, he had never really had an actual friend - except his faithful dragonfly sidekick, Sparx. He had always wanted a friend of his size, for Sparx was not able to do everything, like tackling a sheep. Plus, there weren't many dragons who were his age. He had always been quite lonely. And now, here was one of the creatures who usually feared dragons, wanting to be his friend. "Sure," replied the dragon, a little sheepishly. Crash gave a his big friendly grin at his friend.
The gang finally stopped when Pura halted. Where they stopped was at a fork on the trail. The fork had two different ways: One was a sunlit path, with only grass on the two sides of its trail path, with sporic flowers. The other path was quite different. It was a darker way, for there were overcrowding trees above, with little shafts of sunlight falling here and there. On the two sides of its trail path were wildflowers and berry bushes. Those made the path look narrower. Pura looked about, feeling very confused.
"Well, Pura, which way do we go? Or is this the area where Coco usually is?" asked Aku Aku. Pura turned around and shook his furry head "No", and then turned back, feeling even more confused.
"Oh, Pura. Can't you remember?" blurted out Spyro, after some minutes went by, half anxiously and half indignantly. The other three started to regard the dragon with a questioning atmosphere. Why did he care so much about Coco? thought Crash. Then, he realized why. Fortunately for Spyro's saved embarrassment, Crash's assumption was wrong. He thought that Spyro was anxious to get that Ripto dude. But secretly, Cupid's arrow had squarely struck Spyro's heart. Spyro started to turn red as he started to explain his "exclamation". "Well, uh, um, that Cortex guy sounded pretty dangerous...so, yeah. Yeah!" stammered Spyro, his face now completely a bright, pinkish red. Pura shook his head no for Spyro's question.
Everybody groaned. They sat by on a nearby log, trying to talk things out, while Pura stalked around trying to get Coco's scent. He wanted to sit down too, but the guilt of his not being able to remember which way Coco takes at the fork stimulated him to keep working. After a few minutes, he started to roar.
"What's up, Pura?" Crash, Spyro and Aku Aku got up, and went towards the eager tiger. Pura nodded towards a small blindfold lying at the entrance of the sunlit path. Crash picked it up and examined it more closely. It had the letter 'N' embroidered on it. As he started to shake the cloth a bit, a small piece of paper fell out. Spyro caught it and read it.
"'Dear Bandicoot(actually, forget the word 'dear'...ha!), I have now captured your precious little sister. If you want to see her alive again, well...you have to find a way to get her back from moi. And yes, I am alive again. How? My new ally revived me with this...thing. The next time we meet again, bandicoot, it won't be as easy as it used to be when you tried to defeat I, the great Dr. Neo Cortex! My new ally seems to be very powerful, indeed. Well, ciao for now. HA! Signed, Cortex.'
...So it was Ripto! That bastard..." He concluded with a soft, angry voice.
Pura seemed to purr, "What are we going to do?". Crash bent down and petted Pura, and reassured him. "Don't worry, we'll find Coco." Then, he stood up and began to think aloud.
"Hmmm...Do you think Cortex is where he always is...err, was?" Crash addressed to Aku Aku. Before he could answer, an explosion sounded, with smoke coming up. Without a word, the wise mask flew up high, and tried to locate where the smoke and the explosion came from. He flew back down, and said, "I think Cortex isn't so very far away...They're up north, but they're also on an island."
Crash became disappointed. "Oh, man. How are we supposed to get there? We don't even have a boat, and to build one, it'll take too much time. And by then, what if we're too late?" Everyone became anxious for a second, yet it wasn't long when Spyro puffed out his chest, put his paws (or hands) on his hips, and declared,"Well, I CAN fly, you know. And since Aku Aku can fly, maybe I can carry you?"
Crash looked up, with dimmed eyes. "Oh, yeah? What about Pura? Could you carry both of us?"
"We could leave him here."
"No," said Crash, "We would need Pura. What if the place would be heavily gaurded?" The gang slumped their shoulders down with hopelessness.
"Crash, maybe if you look around your room, you'll find your jet pack or something." suggested Aku Aku, after some thinking.
"Hey, yeah. I'll look for my jet packs!" The idea appealed to Crash. "Then, maybe I can carry Pura as well."
His gaurdian smiled. "We'll go at night, how about that? Then, if there are gaurds, I'm sure they'd be pretty snoozed to notice every little thing. Plus, the darkness would act as a bit of camouflage." At this, everybody else agreed. "Back to our house we go! And find that old jet pack." Pura led the way back. "It won't take short time," Aku Aku added, "to find your jet pack with a room like yours, Crash." Once again, the gang laughed, save Crash.
"Wanna see my room, Spyro?" asked Crash as they went into the cottage. "Sure," replied Spyro, stifling a laugh from Aku Aku's remark. How messy would the room look? Crash glared at the dragon. "I'm proud of my room." he said defiantly. As the duo walked up the stairs, Spyro noticed one room with the door open. Inside, the room was painted light pink, and with the light of the setting sun refracting through the window, the room looked rippling gold. The room was very neat; everything seemed to be in their place.
"Who's room is that?" asked Spyro. "That's Coco's. She's almost neurotically clean." answered Crash. "So different from you, eh?" grinned Spyro. "Haha, I guess so." Crash opened the door of his room. Spyro's eyes went wide when he saw Crash's room. Boy, was Aku Aku telling the raw truth! It was a sight to behold. Crash seemed oblivious to Spyro's reaction, and started to dig around his junk.
"Can you help me?"
"Sure."
It wasn't long before Crash held up a wench. "Hey, I can finally fix the planes!" Here, Spyro was surprised again. "You own airplanes?" Crash nodded. "Yep. I have one, and so does Coco. You know," Crash developed an idea, "maybe we can use the planes to get acro...oh, never mind. I just forgot how long it takes to fix a plane."
"Would it take longer than us finding your jet pack?" smirked Spyro.
"Hey, shut it! We'll find it before nightfall." snapped Crash, with a determined voice. "Whatever you say, Crash. Whatever you say."
It was twilight when Crash dug up the jet pack. "Yo, I found it! See? I told you. Spyro. Spyro!" Spyro had fallen asleep. "Wake up!" Crash shook the snoozing dragon. "Huh, what?" Spyro looked, "Oh, the jet pack. Good job, man. Good job."
"Now we can go save Coco." Without waiting for Spyro, Crash got up and left the room. Spyro, groggy from his quick nap, finally awakened fully. Coco. Now they could go save her. Spyro was not really sure what he felt about her, but he knew it was something strong. I wonder how she is right now, he thought with concern.
Meanwhile, up in a tower in Cortex's big, rusty castle, a fair damsel was tied up in a rope. "Let go of me, Cortex." Coco demanded. Cortex walked back and forth in front of her, and said, "Hmmm...no." He laughed demonically. "What do you want with me?." spoke Coco in a low, angry voice.
"Oh, it's not that I have want something of you. Although," he leaned his face into Coco's, "with your beauty and brains, you would make a very fine wife to me." Coco stared with unbelieving horror. "What I'm planning to do, my dear Coco, is to take over the world. Of course, I have to defeat your brother to take over N. Sanity island. After that, nothing else can stop me." He stopped for a quick laugh. "With you imprisoned here, your brother will eventually come up and try to save you. He'd have to go through me, but it won't be that easy, for my new companion is very powerful...and he shall be helping me."
Coco growled. "Crash'll get you for this." Yet, the evil doctor gave out an evil laugh that sounded through the hallways of the castle.
"Okay, it's nightfall. Should we get ready for anything else, Aku Aku?" asked Crash.
"Yes. Maybe you should bring your bazooka along, just in case things get pretty ugly. First, we should land on shallow water of the shore, and hide in one of the nearby bushes. The gaurds, if any, should be pretty sleepy. So I don't think it would be such a struggle to get into the castle."
"All right. Is that all?"
"Oh, and one more thing, children. Bring your confidence and courage."
Pura purred, as if to say, "We sure won't be sleeping tonight.". Then the gang left the house, and started off for the spot where they stopped in the forest. When they got there, Aku Aku said, "Follow me. I think I'll know the way." The rest said cheerfully, "We're ready for the real thing already!"
To be continued in Chapter 3
Author's notes: Okay, that's about it. The next chapter, I shall make it good, I promise! Bye bye. D