AUTHOR NOTES-
Okay, so what have I got to say in part 4 of my Crash fic outing? Much of this area focuses hard around Cortex's approach to squaring off against the leader of the Squadron Gemini with the provisional flamethrower from the Black Seagull. Alas, in true Twinsanity fashion, things have to go horribly wrong. ; This in turn briefly lead into the basis for what I feel is a new act in the storyline, relating to a closer exploration on Meteor Mountain and a lil' engine that I want to call the CODA...
Again I thank those who approached the part and/or dropped a comment since the uploading of part 3 last week. Might as well shift back to what has been granted down the line…
EcoBlood – Glad to see someone else liked the Kazoo reference. I was going to make that an ocarina at first, but I would end up getting my tail pulled by my muse and Zelda fans everywhere…
Neo – Good to see you could make it. I take you've got firm interest over the explained torture – that's good to know, and with the way my plot notes are going I'd be revealing a fair few clues relating to Squadron Gemini's purpose on the way. Mreow.
TP – I'll be sure to continue on. Really flattered by your commentary I'm sure, although sometimes I have concern over my paragraphing… but never mind.
Now that that's over… once again, be sure to have fun reading this.
Peace out,
Rexy-
The corridors of the far side of the stronghold on top - of one of the tallest hills of N. Sanity Island – were seen to be given a deeper set of darkness than some of the earlier rooms, with very minimal light resources given around it.
The only thing that aided in granting a good sense of light was the familiar red mist that was associated with the stronghold entrance. But even that caused some areas of the floor to show an obscure pathway around it.
Within one corner of the corridors, the leader of the Squadron Gemini was seen making a thunderous walk in a ferocious state all around him. He then made his way towards a nearby doorway and came to a stop.
There, he looked to the left, and then to the right. His expression continued to show just as much bitterness as ever, and that was easily shown upon the tense nature granted all the way around the faint facial details.
He then looked down, thinking hard upon the words granted from the smaller creature within the main operation room. He knew that maintaining an island's structure was difficult, but it's a shame that his mind didn't meat with his co-worker.
"'Even their army is too feeble...' what kind of gesture is that?" he snarled to himself. "My boss has got the wrong end of the stick, I'm sure."
He growled, before thumping his back straight towards the door. But soon after that, he ended up hearing a very faint creak within his ear sight. He cautiously looked around for the cause, but… due to the amount of mist and darkness he could barely see anything.
"I smell a rat, and I know it's not me. It'll come into my grasp, before you know it."
He then growled, before opening the door behind him and making a storm straight inside the room. There, the room was sealed with a slam, causing a wide echo of noise to end up going across the corridors.
Hidden within the mist and darkness from one corridor, two eyes were seen glowing within the darkness. The figures with them eventually stepped out into the faint light, thus only just making them out as Cortex and Nina.
"Is that... the so-called leader that the Black Seagull told us about?" Cortex asked his niece.
"Looks like it according to Kyle's photographs. Wow... very menacing."
Nina showed a deep expression filled with curiosity all around her, mesmerized by the whole creepy settings brought around her. The mist soon managed to creep around her limbs, providing a deep cold temperature all around her.
There, she looked back at Cortex, whose expression gradually started to show more fear over time. She looked on at his own eyes, hoping to know what was emerging within his own worrying mind.
He then managed to take a step back from the sight of the metallic door, with his own expression being maintained within an instant. That left Nina to make his way closer towards him, her face showing a lot of determination.
"But do we have to go in there?" he started to panic. "It's... it's too dark, and I don't like the atmosphere of this place!"
She soon snapped back. "Oh, you coped just fine when you studied at the Academy of Evil! So for that, you'll be sure to stand still here too. Now get in there!"
There, she managed to take a hold upon his hand, leaving him to scream upon the force. Then, she ended up spinning him around in a waltz fashion, before hurling him head first towards the metallic door.
"AAARGH!"
The force of his head upon the door caused a clash upon the structures, which left it to break straight off its hinges. And then, the structure fell straight down towards the ground with an echoing clash.
In the background, Nina managed to smile with a successful grin upon her mouth. Then, she managed to make her way straight towards the door herself, skipping her way as she came ever so closer while taking the flamethrower trolley with her.
Once at the foot of the door, she saw her fallen uncle, still wincing in pain after the throw. There, she took a stride over him – only with the pushcart to end up plowing straight across his body - before facing his direction once more with a vicious look showing within the eyes.
"I apologize for the push there, Uncle. Didn't mean to trip you up or anything", she replied with a sarcastic smirk.
All that Cortex could do was moan with pain. "Don't you dare mention it...?"
With pain and hesitance he ended up making his way back up on both feet. Once there, he brushed his lab shirt, getting rid of all forms of dust which clashed upon the white colors upon his clothes.
There, they looked upon the structures of the room itself. The deep metallic red structures, filled with a light amount of eerie red mist along the ground, have managed to provide a strong amount of haunting atmosphere all around them.
Cortex ended up taking a further hold upon the flamethrower, looking much closer around the room with his eyes showing a more vicious amount of concern as time continued. The unpleasant emptiness even ended up causing his limbs to gradually come around to shaking in their place.
"I don't like it here - it's too quiet", she whispered. "Mind, maybe the creature has hidden somewhere that we don't know about?"
"See, I told you it's not worth being around" sighed Cortex. "We need to escape this domain immediately."
Just as when he managed to say that, a sound of creaking was heard nearby. That left both figures to end up looking straight back towards the door, where a laser fence was portrayed right across the scene.
More and more of those lasers were used, to provide a blood curling blocking – that harsh, the vicious force of the lasers ended up granting a deep feeling of unease even at two feet away from them.
"Then again..." he responded with a gulp, "never mind."
"Welcome to my den, Neo Cortex", growled a deep and menacing voice. "I've heard so much about you."
The voice caught Cortex's attention, where he ended up seeing into a black shadow that was located right at the other side of the room – only its eyes can be seen within the mysterious reaches of the darkness.
"Who goes there?" he asked it with a shout.
"You can only refer to me, as Kaiser Gemini. If there's anything else you want to know, it's all gone under the ashes."
The figure continued to leer straight towards Cortex and Nina, with its eyes providing a deep blood-curdling experience straight towards them both. Then, it managed to stand up on both feet, thus revealing its colossal size.
Within an instant, Cortex reached straight for his laser and pointed it straight towards the figure, with his expression showing a mixed face filled with fear, determination and anger all at the same time.
"Tell me, what do you want with this island?" he asked the monster.
The creature refused to speak. Instead, it stepped further and further within the darkness, revealing its bandicoot-bird status all around it. The bushy eyebrows and the spots upon his head have provided enough fear straight towards both figures.
Cortex took a step closer. "Or if you're refusing to speak, leave it alone!"
All that the Kaiser could do was growl straight towards Cortex himself, with his hands showing a tighter grasp than before. The mixed combination of claws and feathers were seen in providing a menacing gesture right upon him.
There, he picked up a nearby pipe, which in turn was just as wide as his colossal hands. He then threw it straight towards Cortex, whom ended up ducking just in the nick of time while showing shock by the whole ordeal.
"You'll easily regret what you've said, shrimp", he growled back. "I take you're a part of the rebellion?"
Cortex responded back with a nod from his angle, with his teeth starting to grit with a deep amount of anger all around him. He then stood up on both feet, and started backtracking his way towards the pushcart.
"I still need an idea on the Rebellion's purpose", he said with his fists shaking, "but I still know that this place isn't there for you!"
Within an instant, he managed to take a hold upon the flamethrower, and started pulling it up front towards him. There, the demonic creature tried to use its hands in attacking his own opponent, but Cortex was left to keep ducking under his attacks.
There, he finally pulled the trigger for the flamethrower, causing a bright gust of fire to make its way straight out from the nose, allowing it to instantly strike his opponent's body with an incoming gush of heat.
But the Kaiser soon pushed his way out from the flames, and jumped his way towards the other side of the room. That left Cortex to continue making his way towards the scene ahead of him, using his legs to try in bringing the trailer forward in a scooter fashion.
"Nina! I think I need a hand!"
She gave out a light smile from her position. "Coming through!"
Upon his response, Nina ended up making her run straight across the room, performing a cartwheel and a somersault as she made her way there. She soon reached the walls, where she outstretched her arms at the right time.
There, the chains left on the bear traps upon her hands were extended, leaving the clutches to end up grasping themselves around the edge of the pushcart. That left Cortex to hold onto the flamethrower tank, as the cart was suddenly brought forward.
"ARRGH!" the monster panicked from the fire's force.
And it wasn't long until the cart made a stop 2 feet away from his opponent, where within that time the creature tried to escape but Nina used her other hand to take a grasp upon his back before trying her best to hold onto his brute escaping force.
There, Cortex aimed the flamethrower straight towards his opponent – again, the force of the fire was too much for the Kaiser, but that in effect left the scientist to be gradually forced back with the strength of the flames.
"GRRR!" he then leered with a menacing status. "Let's see how you like it, little princess!"
He then brought his attention straight back to Nina, whose looks of determination were still shown within her forceful grasp around her. And it wasn't long until she started to pulse the bear traps much harder than before.
His expression showed just as much pain when he eventually managed to come around to her, using one of his hands to pick her up by the neck, causing her bear traps to retract back into their place. But… that was until he ended up hearing some light footsteps from nearby.
"Uh-oh...!"
The creature then made his look straight towards the other side of the room, where Cortex was seen making a further run right towards him with his laser gun at hand, and with the flamethrower being left in a corner for the time being.
And within an instant, he used the bright neon green shots from his laser to provide multiple attacks straight towards his opponent, leaving him to end up ducking and diving under various different ranges of fire, thus dropping Nina in the progress.
She then made her run straight towards another side of the room, with her hands clutching by her side. That in turn left Cortex to make his run back towards the flamethrower, with the Kaiser suddenly starting to chase him for his reactions.
"That's it!" Cortex then exclaimed with determination. "Let's see if we can finish the job!"
He picked up the flamethrower and pulled the trigger. However… all that came off was a puff of steam. He gave out a light blink at its actions, before looking straight down at the weapon's nose, shaking it as he did so.
"Goodness sake, how do you work this thing?"
He tried to kick the fuel tank within the pushcart, and tried pointing the nose straight towards the Kaiser again. But… it still didn't seem to want to fire. That left his expression to show a lot of confusion over time.
He knew that it would be over once the Kaiser made his sweep straight towards him, but… he still tried several other times. That in turn left the flamethrower to finally start firing and in turn singeing his opponent's fur and detaching a lot of nearby pipes on top of him… but with the force being almost too powerful for his feet to stand.
"AAARGH!" he then screamed loudly.
Nina managed to notice the strain. "Uncle Neo!"
The force of the fire then became that strong his body was being lifted above the ground, and that left him to end up flying straight towards the tank of the machine. Its position against the wall left it to end up grating along the side, before suddenly turning towards its right.
And eventually, it ended up making its way that far to the right it was at a right angle to the wall, leaving the trolley to shoot backwards much faster. All that Cortex could do was look behind him with strain.
And that left him to shunt his way straight through the walls at the other side of the room, causing a deep hole within it. The forces of the fire were still left to scatter right across the room, where Nina was lucky to evade by taking cover among one of the nearby walls.
"I'm coming for you!"
She was seen coughing in her position, trying to escape from the vast amount of smoke, before she steadily made her way towards the hole herself. Carefully, she climbed her way out, and started bringing herself on pursuit for her uncle.
There, the force of the flamethrower was left to see him flying straight into the skies. He was then set at that high an altitude that bailing out from his position will never at all be considered as an option.
Meanwhile, within the rubble as caused by the flamethrower fire, the Kaiser was seen struggling his way out from the mess. He brought his claw-like hand out, and climbed his way out with his eyes showing strain all around him.
"You may have fried me yet, but you'll know that one of these days we will be able to meet again. Just like the previous few occasions we've seen of you..."
And there, the figure then started to vanish his way straight back into the darkness, its charcoal-shaded attires upon its fur starting to provide a deep blemish all around him with a lot of deep feelings of pain scattered all around him.
His footsteps left behind several traces of soot upon the soles of his shoes, which in turn were left to add to the stains as shown within the room itself. They in turn eventually caused similar black stains right across the metallic floors.
Finally, the Kaiser made his way out the door, making his way back the way he came to begin with, with his eyes continuing to show the very same feelings of pain he had prior to his departure.
That in turn left the part of the stronghold to remain still as a whole, with the red mist scattered around it providing the only sense of presence all around the area, still providing its feelings of unease given the cold temperatures that surrounded it.
No one knows when the room would be approached again. But from what most of the group will know it may be a long time before the stronghold will be accessed once more.
Back outside, the rain was brought down to nothing but a light drizzle upon the ground, which in effect caused broad and firm mud puddles showing themselves upon the grounds. The temperature around the island was still as cold as ever.
Near a slope that leads down from the west of the stronghold, both Crash and Crunch were seen making their walk back down towards the lower areas of the island itself, with their hands united peacefully.
Crunch's eyes were brought down towards the camera, knowing that he managed to escape the stronghold at a safe pace. Crash showed an equal expression filled with passion around him, but… only to see it drop when a gray trail of what looked like smoke was seen hovering across the sky.
"Get me off this thing!" exclaimed a voice in the distance.
Crunch came to a sudden stop. "Was that Cortex?"
Crunch looked straight up. And there indeed, there was a black dot flying straight along the sky. Crash focused his viewpoint there too, seeing into the figure a bit closer as time managed to advance on.
And there, he then showed himself right across the brighter portions of the skies – the features then instantly identified him to be Cortex, still struggling upon the force of the flamethrower's propellant-type fire.
"YEAAARGH!" he exclaimed with further panic.
"That's definitely him all right", said Crash. "Whatever happened over there for him?"
"There's no time to waste!" a nearby voice shouted.
From nearby, Nina managed to run behind them, and in turn she managed to catch up with the two bandicoots. Even when she was with them she didn't stop running, with her looks showing an equal amount of determination all around.
"Let's see if we can catch him before he gets fed to the sharks!"
Crash and Crunch both looked at each other, shrugging at their own expressions before they started making their way straight towards Nina's direction. And for them, they knew that the chase was on.
Meanwhile, she already brought herself directly below him, with her frisk pace showing that she was determined to reach him no matter what was the case. Her focus to his point within the sky became stronger as she got closer.
He ended up smiling as she ended up advancing much closer towards his direction, knowing that he might as well end up being saved after all. But… it wasn't long until his attention was brought straight back to the flamethrower nuzzle.
His face continued to show fear and worry. "How do you turn off this thing?"
"Uncle Neo!"
He brought his attention straight back towards Nina while still taking hold upon the flamethrower tank. While that happened, both Crash and Crunch were seen making their run from behind, trying their best to catch up with him.
And it wasn't long until she managed to take a closer look at the flamethrower as it came slightly closer towards the ground. But even from that angle, the structures were difficult to analyze from her position.
"Do you know how you turned it on?" she asked him.
Cortex looked around the flamethrower nuzzle for any forms of help, yet much of it was shown to be a basic shape in practice – a cream colored gun shooting fire out from a hole, with black and yellow squares along the edge.
With all his might, he then turned it around and saw a small button panel as shown straight onto it. There, he looked closer, and ended up seeing into a crucial problem – a broken handle situated near a few small red buttons.
"Oh great..." he frowned. "Did I break the handle on this thing?"
Nina's face still showed determination. "At least find some way to block the nose!"
He then brought his attention straight towards the nose, which continued to fire out flame upon flame in order to keep him advancing. That left him to show a face filled with hesitance as he ended up bringing the fire closer to his direction.
There, he saw an empty spot residing upon the flamethrower tank – a dent as shown upon the side. He looked back towards the nose, and saw that to be at a firm enough size to be able to fit through the hole. And there, he smiled shakily.
"I hope this works...!" He said with a light amount of lacking confidence.
Cortex then took a hold upon the nose, and ended up placing it within the dent. That in turn caused the fire to eventually come to a stop… but in turn causing a serious shuffle to occur within the tank itself.
It then started to fall.
"Oh no..." he gasped at the action. "Aaargh!"
There, he started to pummel his way towards the ground, several feet within the air. That left Crash, Crunch and Nina to show panic as they in turn managed to make their way straight towards his own direction.
Eventually, he made his way towards the main hut for the rebellion. Once there, he ended up landing upon the cloth rooftop, leaving him to bounce before the weight soon gave way, which made him fall into the building.
That left a lot of wooden rubble to end up crashing straight down inside, with Cortex being showered within them before landing on top of an office desk. The dust left behind soon cleared, showing him covered in wooden planks with only his hands sticking out.
"Ouch... my head!" he said with further pain.
"It's about time you got back, doc."
The voice caused Cortex to end up lifting his head from above the rubble, leaving him to end up seeing towards Kyle's direction. The pelican was seen with his arms folded, surprised to see one of the rebellion members crashing down just like that.
Then, some doors were seen rustling in another direction, leaving him to bring his attention towards that side of the room. There, he saw Crash, Crunch and Nina emerge on the scene together.
"Ah, Crash, glad to see you can make it too", he said to the bandicoot with a smile.
"Crash!" Coco shouted from the other side of the room.
The sight of Crash left Coco to end up standing up from her position, and once there she ended up jumping onto his chest and providing a deep hug in his direction, relieved to know that he survived the stronghold.
"Oh, I'm glad to see you're alright, big brother!" she said with a broad grin on her face.
"Hey, cool it! I've only been gone for a couple of hours!"
The gesture left Coco to end up blushing slightly as she ended up releasing her grip from Crash's body. There, he ended up dusting himself off before sitting down on a nearby chair, interested in seeing the aftermath of the stronghold approach.
"So, while we're here, did you manage to get anything from the fortress?" Kyle asked the others.
"Yeah, Crunch managed to take some recon photos of the whole operation" replied Crash with a nod. "Problem is, they may take ages to print out."
Crunch shook his head. "Not under Kyle's technology we don't!"
In an instant, Crunch took out his spy camera and placed it within a nearby black pedestal machine. On a nearby monitor, the recon photos taken were all displayed one by one, and were printed out from a nearby press. The gesture caused Crash to end up with a confused look around him.
"Can someone please tell me how these machine-thingies got better when I was jailed?"
Kyle, however, ignored him altogether. "Anyway, it looks as if we've got some good shots provided. I'll see if I can draw up a plan from here."
The pelican gave off a light smile before he ended up bringing his attention back towards the photos shown upon the screen. He brought himself straight towards the panel, and used his wing-like hands to print them off individually.
That left the others to disperse around the room, knowing that the general printing process is bound to take a fair amount of time in general. For they knew that a plan was about to come in mind.
Several hours was the duration that it took for Kyle to sit down at a desk and start providing slides for an incoming slideshow. Some careful hand-crafted work and attention to the small slides have worked in making them as precise as possible.
By that time, the skies were already turning into a deep shade of red, easily matching that of the vicious night skies. At that time, some of Cortex's minions even ended up on the edge of falling asleep on top of one another.
But it wasn't long until Kyle managed to snap his fingers, bringing the attention of the group to his direction. A projector was brought against a white board, and one by one the slides were placed in, giving him time to speak in between sessions.
"Thanks to the analysis of our team we are sure to move on in with the next phase in line", the pelican said with a confident expression. "From what I heard from Nina, the creature has migrated to the foot of Meteor Mountain, leaving a new heavy resistance spot to set up there."
He opened up several slides in a row, revealing the leader of the Squadron Gemini in a darkened silhouette form, as well as Meteor Mountain as portrayed in many different angles all at once, although looking just as menacing at every single one of which.
"Kazaa, the Black Seagull and the rest of our spies have managed to set up places all around the volcano, and for that we are sure to push the enemy back even further."
He then managed to switch over to various slides, which managed to hold what was taken from Crunch's spy camera. There, the visions of the interior – as well as the machine in the middle – caused Cortex's face to turn white with horror.
"The recon photos have told me that the leader, dubbed 'Kaiser Gemini', has ended up working with a shorter shadowed figure to work on twisting the entire world to an opposite state. They have tried it here on this island with what seemed like an advanced version of Cortex's 'Psychotron' gadget, and has worked successfully."
There, he ended up starting to flinch further, panicking over his machine. Not once did he actually give his blueprints away to anyone, he thought to himself, so how could it be possible for them to approach the machine and generate the ultimate twisted formation?
Those questions remained within his head as Kyle ended up reaching the end of the slide show. The projector was turned off, leaving Kyle to end up making a further walk around the scenery, bringing his feet right across the floor as he did so.
"So it looks as if it'll be a tough job to find out how to restore the island, but we have got some note worthy plans ahead of us."
"Like what?" asked Crash in the background.
Kyle gave out a light blink towards the orange bandicoot, his eyes curiously twitching from side to side over time. There, he ended up walking towards a nearby desk, and brought up a blueprint showing an airship design covered in brown coffee stains.
"I've been providing some heavy modifications lately onto a machine I ended up strolling across during my travels", he said as he pointed towards the blueprint. "It's dubbed the CODA; it's a beautiful vessel which chemical power source can in turn be used to restore life as it is. I even tested it on some plants among the shores outside."
He pointed on at the nearby window, and it was there that they saw into some of the plants that were only just inches from the sandy shores. They in themselves seemed to be the only breed of plants that were seen glowing a beautiful green color, filled with grace around their posture.
"Looks beautiful", whispered Coco with a loving smile.
Nina, however, didn't seem to care less. "Oh brother...!"
Nina ended up rolling her eyes while folding her arms as she did so. And it wasn't long until everyone managed to make their way away from the window, gradually showing interest on the power behind the CODA.
"So it looks as if that will eventually be used to restore the island's good around it", Kyle said with a smile. "I'll stay behind and see if I can provide some further alterations to help make it better. For now, I hope to see you all pull off a good fight at Meteor Mountain."
Kyle ended up saluting the others with a broad state all around him, with the others coming around to saluting straight back at him. For them it seemed that a strong tomorrow was about to come around them.
One by one, everyone managed to smile straight back towards him, proud of seeing into the incoming mission around them. Then, they all started to make their way out the door, looking closely towards the others as they did so.
"You can count on us, Kyle!" Crunch said with a confident smile.
"I have one last question for you sir", blinked Nina. "Are you staying here, just because you can't fight?"
At the sound of Nina's response, he started blushing at the response. That left him to end up looking straight down at his own hands, before outstretching them with a building amount of confidence.
"Hm, well... fighting isn't exactly expected of a pelican, but I sure as heck can fly", he lightly chuckled to himself.
All that Nina could do was end up rolling her eyes straight on at him, before she ended up making her way back outside with a light eye twitch showing all around her. It wasn't long until most of the others gradually left one by one with her.
"Whichever happens out of all this", he started again, "I hope to see you work well in the next phase of the operation. Be sure to call me back if you have any further news!"
"We're on it Kyle!" Coco responded back confidently.
She gave out a light grin towards his direction, before she in turn managed to make her way out the door. That itself was closed lightly, leaving the room to be brought back into silence for one more time.
No sooner than that happened, Tiny, Pinstripe, Ripper Roo and the Komodo Brothers left the building together with their own weapons in tow, ready to tackle an assigned mission themselves. Polar and Pura also made their way with them, being towed on leashes.
That left Kyle alone within the building, with all the high-tech equipment and documents all to himself. He gave off a light and cautious expression before approaching the nearest radar within his grasp.
He then looked around the empty spaces of the room. There, within his own mind he started thinking a lot about the company that he had within the rebellion. Will they actually survive the trials around them? And will he manage to escape from the painful world as a peaceful figure in the end?
He then smiled, showing that optimism is a key component behind the team. For as far as he know, the rebellion will be facing a glorious future right ahead.
end of part 4-
