AUTHOR NOTES
Ow. Been meaning to put it up yesterday, but you know me - I hate Tuesdays.
Anyhow, this is it - the final battle! You know what this means - the ultimate climax for the fate of the planet as we know it. This reveals much of the secrets behind the Gemini's forming, as well as the strength behind their intensions.
I had so much fun writing this part out I never even backed it up, and was at risk of losing it a few days ago due to a hardware crash. Phew...?
Going through the pair of reviews I received from the past two days… regular EcoBlood. Glad to see you're still enjoying it. Mind, because of various time constraints (the end of the academic year is getting closer) I have had thoughts on wanting to cut down the storyline for After the Daystar, although still keeping the key components upon it. Damn. I hate essays. Hopefully I should find time to check out Crossfire, so be prepared…
And Talia the Hedgehog. Another fan of what I applied with Nina's personality – glad to see you enjoyed it so far. See, what I did with Nina's personality is solid proof that no evil is absolute evil. And as much as some people want to express it, the N-Team are not monsters. Heh.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this new part! The finale will hopefully come by Sunday.
Peace out,
Rexy
The light bridge that connected the platform right above the Kaiser's key stronghold was shown to be a steep one - several hundred steps at a time that eventually managed to lead its way directly to the top.
In due time, Crash managed to get there, with much of the others making their following near him. He helped them onto the platform one by one; all fitting within a space that managed to resemble a 100-metre-edge checkers board.
The sound of crumbling then came from behind him; he looked in that direction, and saw the stairs folding away one by one, forming nothing more than a slide to the bottom, and no way to return back up. That left Crash to grit his teeth with a smirk as he came closer to the Kaiser, standing at the other side of the platform.
"Okay Kaiser, you've chased us around long enough", growled the orange bandicoot. "Now tell us what you truly want with this world!
"What makes you think I'd do such a thing? I wasn't one for revealing much of my secrets in the past; never did much of the same thing in the present."
The vicious tone left Crash to sigh as he continued to look closer on at the Kaiser with a confusing expression upon his face. He then managed to step forward, his eyes widening and his fists clutching, showing his complex expressions.
"This is getting out of hand", Crash sighed. "I mean, how do you know us?"
"There's only one way to find out - ask my accomplice."
The Kaiser then made his step towards the right, and right there he saw another short shadow in front of him - the same one that has followed him right across the Squadron Gemini's specific purpose.
Eventually, a spotlight was shown on him, revealing the figure in its entirety - a short, egg-like figure with purple legs, a silver container-like body, menacing green eyes, and two metallic arms - one covered with gold and showing a normal arm at the end, and the other showing itself to be a menacing silver one covered with spikes and a chained ball at the end.
"N-Trance?" the group exclaimed in unison.
"That's right. I never thought I'd see the dimensions get so twisted. In fact, even the 10th Dimension isn't as cracked up as it was."
Crash blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I saw at that part of the void that an evil version of yourself ate up the Evil Twins, for the sole purpose of him being hungry", he smirked upon speaking. "Do you remember a figure like that?"
Cortex showed a widened eyed response as he thought carefully about the highlights of his previous exhibition around Twinsanity Island. And there, the memories of a sinister red bandicoot with claws came into his mind.
"Evil... Crash?"
"And just as the dimension wanted to imply", continued N-Trance, "we have cued in a gruesome transformation. Kaiser Gemini IS Evil Crash and the Evil Twins rolled into one sole body!"
Right at the response, the Kaiser brought himself into a sinister laugh. That left the group to look on at the figure once more - of course, with the red fur and the bold patch upon his head, let alone the short beak placed upon him, it just had to come into place.
Most of the group were then left to look up with fear towards the creature's eyes, although Coco ended up starting to shake her legs right at the sight of the figure. She then brought herself into a collapsing motion, leaving Kazaa to catch her.
"I think... I think I'm going to faint...!" she whispered faintly to Kazaa.
"Coco!"
"Now you see why we wanted to get back at you", N-Trance then spoke with a sneer. "Mess around with the lives of twisted dimensions, and in return we'll mess around with yours."
"That's not how the system works!"
Bev growled on towards Trance from her position, before she in turn stepped forward and showed a menacing leer towards the two. She gave out a sigh, before clicking her hands in tension.
"From what I heard it was the Twins' fault for coming to this island in the first place and terrorising the people around it."
"I still think it 's mine for messing around with them in the first place", mumbled Cortex in the background.
"It's not that", she said in a grittier tone. "It's just a damn coincidence. Just relax - I'm sure that some way we're going to get around it."
Her expression soon turned from anger to pure confidence, leaving her to look on at the others with a determined expression around her. That in turn was soon reflected towards the rest of the group, knowing that they would fight bravely against them.
At the same time, both Trance and the Kaiser made their approach right towards the middle of the platform, looking up towards the twisted twilight skies above them. They then gestured their hands right up towards the sky as that happened.
"Well whatever happens, it's too late now!" cried the Kaiser. "The planet's transformation is almost complete! Watch this planet suffer under our PLAGUE!"
"No, don't even think about it!"
Within the group, Nina showed a light smirk upon her face as she came forward, her hands clapping lightly within her own gesture. Her eyes then started to turn red with rage as she was set to keep advancing.
She then took further steps forward, leaving a long shadow to trail behind her back as she stepped further away from the strobe lights that surrounded the platform. As that happened, Cortex showed fear as he managed to make her run towards her, taking a hold upon her by the arm.
"NINA!"
"I can handle it, trust me", she sighed back.
She then shrugged her arm away from his grasp, leaving his grip to eventually release around her. That in turn left him to show a half-curious half-indecisive expression as he made a backwards-tiptoe motion back towards the others.
As soon as Nina ended up at halfway across towards her opponents, she came to a light stop, her steel trap based hands easily gripping tightly around their grasp. She gave out a shifty expression as she focused hard towards her opponents.
"Well if you want a fight to the death, you're getting it!" Trance exclaimed towards her. "Don't expect it to be pretty!"
Nina was left to growl on at his direction, her buckteeth gritting tightly against her lower lip at that moment in time. By that time, a cooler gale wind managed to blow through her clothes, reflecting upon her anger. But…
"I'll be by your side", smiled Bev as she came to one side of her.
"Same here", Kazaa mimicked as she went to the right. "We can do this together!"
She looked to her left, and saw Bev standing by her side with a confident expression. She then looked to the right and saw Kazaa showing the same emotion. There, all three girls looked ahead, showing determination all around them.
"Let's go!" Nina commanded the team.
And thus, they then managed to make their run straight towards Trance and the Kaiser, whom both showed sinister expressions around them as they came closer. But… it wasn't long until the Kaiser then clapped his hand, causing a bright strobe light to shine above them.
That caused several blurred shapes to make their way straight onto the surface, all of which to end up forming themselves as Gemini soldiers. They aimed their guns straight towards the three girls, whom all jumped out of the way gracefully upon attack.
Nina then growled at them from her position. "Take this, freak!"
Upon jumping up, Nina forced her hands straight upon the soldiers, whom ended up wincing upon pinch. She then ended up with enough courage to throw some of which off the platform she was on, before reclaiming the steel traps back within her own hands.
At the same time, Bev and Kazaa used their own bare hands to force their way through more Gemini soldiers of their own, showing their own confident expressions as time continued. In the background, Cortex seemed to show a light blink of hesitance however.
"Oh great, what are we meant to do as she gets tortured out there?"
"We can help out", nodded Crash. "Simple as that."
With a light smile upon his face, Crash managed to make his way back towards the light bridge they came from. Once there, he took a hold of Coco's hands, and they both slid down the non-climbable ramp together.
"Crash! Coco!" Cortex cried out towards them. "Where are you two going?"
"Don't panic too much", smiled Crunch from nearby. "They'll think of something."
Cortex showed a light blink of hesitance upon Crunch's response, leaving him to look up at the brown bandicoot with a light twitch upon his own eyes. All that he managed to show back was a light smirk upon his own mouth.
That in turn left them to look straight back on at the fight, where the numbers for the Squadron Gemini soldiers were starting to die down in an instant. And it was there that they knew that fate was steadily coming on cue.
Back with Bev, she managed to continue to bring her way straight towards the others with a light grit upon her teeth. As soon as she forced her way through those particular soldiers, she managed to bring her focus straight towards the Kaiser.
"Let's see how you like them apples!"
That in turn left her to make a keen jump straight towards his direction, performing a flying kick within the air. It soon managed to strike the Kaiser's chest… although that left her to instantly rebound from there.
She then landed firmly onto both feet, ready to attack the Gemini leader once more, although… he himself made a further attack and swiped his claw-like hands straight towards her. That left her to scream right at the attack.
Upon the first attack she ducked under the hand… but on the second, she was brought into a tight grasp around her stomach. That left her to be picked up into the air, struggling to bring herself free from her position.
"Ergh, I need help - I'm stuck in a knot here!"
"I'm coming, Bev!"
From nearby, Kazaa made a keen run towards the group, her tail instantly twitching over time as she managed to bring herself into an all-fours run. As she managed to come closer towards the Gemini, her expression showed a more confident look around her.
As soon as she was a few feet away from the Kaiser, she made a leap into the air, somersaulting like a raccoon within the air. As she was about to head down towards ground level, she brought out her claws from her own hands.
"Take this!"
In an instant, she brought her claws into a scratch around his face, leaving him to wince at the scratch as well as releasing his grip from his hands. That left Bev to fall towards the ground, landing stomach first.
She soon brought her head up, steadily bringing herself onto two feet as she managed to do so. As that happened, Nina and Kazaa managed to make their way around the monster and started to double team against it.
"Hahah, looks like you're meddled with!" Kazaa sneered on at him.
Nina: Let's see if we can keep going like this!
It wasn't long until their attacks soon caused the Kaiser to make its jump out of the way, his claws starting to glow within the eerie strobe light. That left him to make a further attack towards the pair, separating the girls upon landing his fists upon the floor.
Kazaa was left to roll her way back the way she came, although upon stop she looked on upon Nina, whom was then seen trying to fight alone from her position. But… at the same time, she was double-teamed by Kaiser and N-Trance.
"Oh crud..."
At that moment in time, N-Trance brought out his replacement arm and used it to form a powerful blue electric surge around it. That in turn left several sparks to show upon the sky as time managed to emerge on.
He then aimed his fist forward, causing a surge of electric energy to start chasing her. That left her to make her run away from it, trying to roll and make the force evade her at the same time… but it didn't work.
Eventually, the energy managed to catch up with her and surround her in an instant, leaving her to scream as she was forced to slow down, a bubble starting to envelop around her body all too suddenly.
"NINA!" Cortex cried out towards her.
"Hahahah!"
At that point, Trance started to smirk viciously as he looked on at Cortex's expression at first, and then back towards Nina's bubble prison. By then, a bright blue electric field was starting to show around it.
Every few seconds, a pulse from inside the shield managed to go through her flesh, leaving her to wince as time went on. Eventually, she started to struggle and collapse onto her knees, showing a deep frown of pain on her mouth.
"I doubt she'd get free from this grasp!" Trance smirked as he looked on at her. "She'll suffocate for all her might here!"
Her pain was easily shown upon Cortex's eyes, whom could only just look on with anger and sadness at the same time. No one upsets my niece and gets away with it, he thought quietly to himself.
"We need to bring her down!" Bev shouted with a growl in her throat.
"Oh great", Cortex frowned. "How are we going to do that?"
Cortex showed a lot of panic as the pain upon his niece continued. That left him to show a light frown as time managed to advance further… but it wasn't too long until he noted Tropy coming near him.
"Trust your instincts - I'm sure we can bring her out of this mess!"
Cortex gave out a light blink and brought his attention towards Tropy's attention, whom in turn showed a confident expression. At the same time, he clicked his fingers, and caused several white blurs to show upon the platform.
"What the-!" Cortex froze mid-speech.
The white shapes started to give out a more powerful blur over time, before giving out a bright flash around him. That in turn left the remainder of the group to focus in on the figures in all their entirety.
And there they stood, confused but understanding of the situation - Tiny, Pinstripe, Ripper Roo, both of the Komodo Brothers, and Polar and Pura. That left Cortex to show a gradual and more confident expression as time advanced on.
He then looked in the other direction, and saw that Dingodile, N. Gin and Brio were seen with deep smirks back onto their own faces, which in turn left Cortex to look on ahead of him with a smile upon his face.
"If that's the case, let's see if we can fight on!"
At that call, Cortex brought out his gun and made a steady approach towards the others, a sinister expression showing upon his face. While that happened, the others made his following, showing their own menacing pacing upon the ground at the same time.
There, the Kaiser made his advancement with Trance alongside him, and that left half of the remaining Squadron soldiers to make their way around them, the other half left to block Nina during that moment in time.
As that happened, they soon managed to come various feet within one another's grasp, leaving Tropy to point his tuning fork within the air with a confident expression upon his face. He then pointed it forward, ready to command.
"Tiny, launch the rocks!"
He gestured towards Tiny, whom was seen walking behind him and carving out several round rocks from the light platform's ground. He was left to juggle them with a precise expression all around him, before throwing them one by one towards his opponents.
"Hey, cut that out!" Trance screamed out.
"D-d-did someone say 'cut'?"
Upon that call, Brio brought out another potion and drunk the contents, leaving him to wince lightly before taking hiding behind Tiny's developing rock pile. That left the others to show curiousness, wondering upon Brio's tactics.
Then, he managed to emerge from behind the rock in his giant monster form, his fists pounding greatly among the ground with rage. He started to make his approach towards the Squadron soldiers, using his own hand to easily scratch his opponents.
As he was seen making his further approach towards the Gemini, Cortex managed to make his following alongside him… only to end up with an irrational force jumping right on top of him at that moment in time.
"Ripper Roo! What are you doing - I'm not your opponent!"
Cortex looked upon his shoulder, and indeed, he saw Ripper Roo chewing onto his hair at that moment in time. That left him to wince before the pair were involved into a light roller brawl across the ground.
Roo's grip was soon fastened around Cortex, his paranoid eyes continuing to shape and provide an insane gesture around his face. That in turn left the scientist to clutch his fists before spacing his limbs out.
"YEEEAARGH!"
The force sent the blue kangaroo hopping off his body, at long last. He then sighed from his position, looking around in various different directions; there, more of the Squadron soldiers were coming around him.
That left him to smirk as he took a hold upon his laser once more. He aimed towards one and shot various bullets towards it, bringing it down in an instant. He then did the same to another closer opponent.
"Take this!"
He then smirked as he started to make his run right across the scene, shooting his laser whenever he can and bringing down more and more of the Gemini. Much of which were starting to fall by the dozen by that point.
Eventually, he started to make his dash towards Trance and the Kaiser, a face filled with determination showing as he came closer. He then pulled the trigger… but nothing seemed to come out. That left him to panic as he saw the laser's fuel tank.
"Out of ammo! AAARGH!"
"I'll help you, myte!"
In the background, Dingodile made his shunt against various other opponents, using his flamethrower to attack his opponents - and occasionally skid across the ground in a hover skater style - before making his way towards the scientist.
Once there he brought his hands towards the flamethrower capsule and unhooked something from the side of the tank - a smaller tank. He tossed it towards Cortex's direction, whom then looked confused seeing how it was empty.
"Incoming!"
He gave out a light blink as he looked behind him, seeing N. Gin make his run across the ground and using another laser to shoot the Gemini. That left some of which to not end up knocked down, but starting to dissolve into nothing.
By the time he reached Cortex, he opened up his fuel cartridge and emptied half the contents into the new tank. He showed a light smile as he then connected it underneath his own laser's nose.
"Phew, thanks for the help guys - I appreciate-"
"No time to speak", shouted Bev. "We need to finish them off! Get ready to shoot!"
"Shoot?"
Cortex blinked lightly as he looked straight on towards the pistol once more. He then looked up, and saw more Gemini soldiers - with Trance and the Kaiser at the back - ready to attack further from their position.
By then, much of them were seen already surrounding the group, leaving them to show surprised expressions as the chances of a way out was minimal without fighting their way out from their position.
"If that's what you're intending..." Cortex whispered.
He looked to his left, and then to his right. Then he brought his attention behind him, the distance between him and the platform's edge becoming shorter and shorter. And then, he turned forward, a smirk showing on his face.
He aimed his pistol straight on towards the soldiers, and pulled the trigger as far as he could go. In an instant, a white energy bullet made its zoom across the scene, making its way right past the soldiers and leaving them to show shock as they quickly stepped away from it.
"Nina!" Cortex cried out with a high tone. "I'm coming for you!"
With a confident look, Cortex managed to make his zoom right towards Nina and her bubble, trying his best to evade the Gemini's attacks as he came closer towards them. His shaken face still didn't reflect the pace he soon managed to leave behind.
He dodged under several opponents' attacks - although there were a few instances when some scratches were left to lightly come down his lab coat - and yet was still confident enough to fight back with his laser in mid-run.
Several shots escaped from his weapon, leaving them to strike his opponents before they quickly dissolved into nothing. It was through those general motions that Cortex gradually started to pick up confidence upon his face.
Over time, he managed to find his way out from the Gemini cluster, leaving him just mere footsteps away from Nina and the bubble imprisoning her. The electric energy was leaving her to show herself in a faint-like motion inside it.
He looked back on at the bubble with a growl upon his face. And then, he pushed his weapon up high, ready to make another move towards her. By then, the sparks were reflecting strongly towards his face.
"NINA!"
He brought himself into a paced run across the platform, his shadow getting shorter and shorter as he made his way towards the light that shone around the bubble. The sound of the electric sparks also got to him, making him slightly wince upon said motion.
Upon halfway through, he managed to make a light skip straight into the air, aiming his gun straight towards the bubble. He then pulled the trigger and allowed various shots to make their escape from the nose of the laser.
They made their way towards the bubble, where some of which exploded into white sparks upon contact. He growled, and thus continued to make his shoot towards them. There, some of which ended up making their strike upon the surface once more.
Several more shots later, and the bubble then started to change color to a grayscaled variation. The electric sparks then started to decrease around Nina's body, leaving her to lift her head up with curiosity at the time.
And upon the final few shots, the bubble was then shattered open, leaving her to make her way out from her imprisonment and landing like a rag doll upon the floor. Upon that motion, Cortex made his run towards her, his eyes looking hopeful.
"Nina, are you alright?"
"Yeah", she weakly coughed. "Although he did provide quite a stir around my body..."
Nina looked up from her position, and gave out a light smile towards her Uncle's face. That in turn left him to show a confident expression in return… all before a shadow quickly came over them.
He turned around, and used his laser to shoot towards the direction of the shadow's bearer - N-Trance himself. But… that just left the shots to rebound from his armor, causing just a light blemish on the surface.
"You have provided quite a challenge my friend; too bad that what you did wasn't enough to help restore this world."
N-Trance showed a smirk upon his face as he sent his new arm into the air. By then, the metallic structures were reflected strongly upon his face, leaving him to smirk cautiously as time managed to advance.
"Let the transformation begin!"
Behind him, the Kaiser gave out a brief nod as he managed to make his approach near him. As soon as he got there, he brought his arms into a strong surge of deep purple energy around them.
He then took a hold of Trance's arm, leaving that to charge up with the same amount of energy to match. That left the surge to continue onwards as time went further on, before an orb was soon formed out of it.
The orb then grew to be as big as the Kaiser's head, which in turn had its colors reflecting strongly upon his face. And then, the orb was triggered straight towards the sky like a freshly-lit firework.
The skies were then twisted and started to form various different colors right across the skies, flashing from dark and moody blues and reds, all the way through to frightening strobe lights within seconds.
A vast amount of wind was blown around the scene, even directly above the clouds, which in turn were starting to turn into nothing but gaseous streamlined provisions swarming above the planet's surface.
The water of the ocean was soon being lifted steadily from the ground like a magnet being lifted right above the ground, some of which being soaked right into the clouds, while a few drops were seen heading towards outer space.
"This is it... the end of the world as we know it."
Cortex showed a face of panic as he saw the planet's gravity slowly being upturned for what it was. He then started to show more hesitance as at the same time, various orange meteor-like objects were falling their way towards the ground.
He then gave out a deep sigh as he looked on at the ground, knowing that the platform that he's on is the last area that he'd be able to stand upon. At the same time, he felt a hand touch his shoulder, leaving him to twitch.
"But remember what Kyle said to us", smiled Bev as she touched Cortex's shoulder. "We have all fought bravely, and we will be remembered well for that."
Kazaa was left to sigh from behind her. "I'm just glad he didn't live to see this."
From Bev's position, Kazaa showed a light and broad-eyed expression upon her own face, while at the same time much of the others ended up showing sympathetic expressions as time managed to advance further.
As that happened, the amount of water making its way into space was increasing, while at the same time various other objects like plants and rocks were also steadily forcing their way up towards the skies.
That in turn left nothing more than a grayscaled desert-like area to form among the remainder of the planet's surface, all before that in turn started to dissolve into absolutely nothing. That in turn left a whirlpool of light starting to form upon it.
"I'm sorry if it all had to a close sometime soon", Tropy sighed with despair.
"But can't you help us by bringing us back in time?" N. Gin asked him with hope.
"No, even my powers there are limited. We're going to struggle from here on in."
Tropy then sighed as he looked on at his pitchfork, understanding of the limits that time travel could provide among his companions. All that N. Gin could do was sigh faintly to himself with defeat showing on his face.
At the same time, the whirlpool of light was starting to steadily make its way around the planet's surface, almost swallowing up everything there was above ground level. That left nothing but emptiness in its wake.
Time then passed, and the strength of the whirlpool of light started to increase further and further, with the Kaiser's vile and menacing laugh starting to echo right across the now emptying plain.
While that happened, Cortex brought his face towards the ground, a deep frown showing upon his face as time has managed to pass. With the whirlpool coming closer and closer, he knew that the Earth has faced a devastating demise that even he couldn't create.
But while that happened… the sound of an engine was heard from beneath the platform. That in turn left the scientist to slightly lift his head up at the sound of it, leaving him to look towards the surface and detect the machine.
"What was that?" Cortex exclaimed.
Crunch then pointed straight upwards. "Look up!"
Cortex indeed looked up, and right within the oozing night sky he managed to take note of a ship that was flying high within its position upon the sky. Its purple colors were only just made out alongside the bright strobe lights.
It managed to circle the platform, before various white flashes started to show from on top of the ship, striking down towards the platform. That in turn caused some of the light particles that made it up to crumble into nothing.
It then made its way around the other side, showing itself in a closer format. Right upon the recognition of its fins and its color patterns, Bev showed a smile as she managed to make her walk towards the platform's edge.
"That's the CODA!"
"And there's Crash standing right on top of it!"
Kazaa pointed up, and indeed, Crash was seen standing firmly upon the surface with a smirk showing upon his face. There, he was holding onto a turret that was sitting right on top of the ship, which showed a majestic motion around its silver plating.
He then pointed the gun back towards the platform, and shot various white energy bullets down towards the surface, crumbling other parts of the light platform apart. The essence of the explosion left some of Cortex's close minions to gasp in awe.
"Whoa, now that's one awesome turret!" Kazaa said with a romantic smile.
"Wait a minute", Cortex paused with confusion. "I thought I'm the only one who can pilot that thing?"
Cortex showed a hesitant expression as he looked closer towards the CODA - if Crash was riding it, who was flying it, he thought to himself. And it was through one turn upon the ship that it came much closer to his viewpoint.
From his standing position, Crash looked on at the sunroof on top of the ship from his position, his fur bravely blowing within the wind as time managed to advance. And right there, he saw Coco holding onto the controls tightly.
With a determined expression, she pulled several levers down and another one up, taking a hold upon the steering wheel and allowing the ship to make a faint ascension upon the planet's surface.
"Let's go show him what we got Crash!" shouted Coco from below.
"We're on it!"
Crash made a devious smirk as he took a tighter grip upon the turret, showing itself to be of a similar shape to a machine gun. Various essences of light were seen making their way within the fuel compartments directly underneath the nose.
He looked right there, and saw various pipes connected inside the ship. They in turn helped to fill up the tank, which he read the dominant label on it - "ammunition". He placed his hand lightly upon the texture, giving out a light smile for himself.
And upon taking it out from the tank, he saw that it was shown to be clean - not only his hand, but also the glove that was brought around it. There, he managed to know well about the powers of the CODA - the machine capable of restoring peace.
"Hahaha, eat this!"
With a devious expression, he used the gun to shoot down towards the others, causing a powerful pulse to show around the ground upon landing. On that platform, N-Trance and the Kaiser were starting to panic at the shots' force.
And it wasn't long until the ship managed to swarm around various sides of the ship, the gun continuing to shoot its way right across the scene and shooting further towards its opponents. Upon one particular shooting, it landed upon N-Trance's new arm, which somehow turned itself into a replica of the torn arm from him.
The Kaiser then managed to make his way to try and block Trance from getting hit further; thus, he used his arms to block the shots even further, causing more energy particles to rebound from him… although at the cost of having his elbows suddenly turn bright red with a sparkling clean nature.
"Heh, he's not even standing a chance! Why?"
"Such are the mysterious powers of the CODA", grinned Coco from below. "Maybe we should ask Cortex when we get back!"
Coco smiled on and showed a confident expression as she turned the ship around, leaving Crash to continue aiming down towards the others. He then smirked before looking on towards the energy tank.
He saw there that it was half full - surprising ever since he was hoping for the gun to fill itself, but he still smiled confidently as he took a hold upon the trigger once more as Trance and the Kaiser came closer.
"Don't stand there", shouted the Kaiser. "Let's fight on against them!"
It was there that the remainder of the Squadron Gemini also showed up from behind him, flashing with white energy particles around them before landing safely upon the ground. They aimed their guns up towards the blimp, showing confident expressions all around.
There, they charged up various balls of dark magic within their own pistols, swarming with an eerie form of light around them. The orbs themselves became gradually bigger over time - swarming with energy as they soon became almost as big as the head of the average Squadron member.
"Bite the dust!" Trance exclaimed.
The energy orbs then made their flow straight towards the machine, striking hard against the surface when appropriate. Some of which even managed to strike some of the engine foundations underneath, leaving it to struggle to maintain its balance and drop to its right.
"Whoa!" screamed Coco. "The ship's starting to stutter here!"
"No worries, I'll make sure to use the turret to its full potential!"
Crash then took a harder grasp upon the turret as the ship was seen losing its streamlined nature. He then aimed the gun right on at the opponents, showing a deep smirk upon his face as time went on.
At the same time, more orbs were being shot towards the side of the ship, leaving it to stutter further. Eventually, Crash was left to eventually sit on a part of the gun and tried shooting from that direction.
The Kaiser continued to leer on at him. "You won't live long to see this planet transform, you little runt!"
Crash's expression started to show more rage as time emerged, maintaining a strong grasp upon the trigger as time managed to continue. It then made its shooting right towards the Gemini, leaving them to show shock upon the gun's continuation.
Eventually, the ship made its turn, leaving the balance to be tipped towards the other side, with the gun to form a totally different direction altogether. He then pointed the gun as appropriately from his position to match.
As Crash continued to shoot, the others managed to watch from aside looking on at his confident motion. The reflections were shown even more so on Cortex, whom showed a slightly confused expression to match the scene.
"How can Crash cope with a machine like this?" Cortex asked the remainder of the team.
"I don't know, but he's damn good."
Bev showed a deep smile as she watched on at Crash's powerful aiming ability, which then started to strike straight down towards the Kaiser's feet, robbing him of his claws within a mere few shots.
As his confidence continued to increase as he continued to attack the group, Cortex then thought on about the CODA magic. He looked towards his laser, and indeed saw the white substance firm within his gun to match.
"Those bullets..." Cortex lightly asked Bev as he looked on at his laser. "Maybe that's what you're intending for us with the CODA energy, to try and strike them back?"
"You invented it in the first place - how did it come around?"
Cortex widened his eyes. Of course, he made the airship - and in due time, its energy source - yet he didn't know much about the fuel until that moment in time. He thought carefully about the airship's origins, right from the start of his siege against Crash… and the company he had back then.
"Now that you mention it... BRIO!"
Cortex brought his attention towards Brio, whom ended up giving out a shy nod at the sight. It was realised that his mastery in potions had to show the truth behind the creation of the CODA energy itself.
While the two were left to ponder over the situation themselves, Crash continued to make a brave fight from the top of the ship. By then, the Gemini were really starting to pull back with dark orbs for counter-attacks.
As that happened, more orbs managed to strike the side of the ship, leaving the balance to worsen over time. But Crash still smirked steadily from his position, ready to be able to use the turret to its potential.
"Let's keep going! He's almost there!"
He looked through the sunroof, and indeed he saw Coco starting to wince inside the ship, in spite of holding the controls steadily. That left him to growl as he brought his attention back towards the weapon itself.
As that happened, more dark orbs came through, although this time the balloon compartment of the ship was left to twist itself 90 degrees. That left Crash sitting right on top of the turret, leaving him to struggle to point the gun up.
"Oh no, this thing's really falling!"
"We need to land this!"
Coco showed hesitance as she tried to turn the ship around to the other side. This time, the controls were becoming less and less responsive as the damage on the ship was starting to worsen.
At the same time, Crash took a hold upon the side of the ship and tried to pull the gun up… but that only resulted in some bolts falling off from the base, leaving a gush of white energy to suddenly fly out from underneath the gun's position.
The energy was shown to spray out in a similar fashion like water towards the platform, instantly covering much of the remaining Gemini members as well as moderate portions of Trance and the Kaiser.
"Perfect spot!"
Coco then gave out a smile as she saw a small clearing upon the deteriorating platform; one that was big enough to be able to land the ship. Right there, she took a closer grasp upon the steering wheel and brought the ship around.
Thus, it went straight forward towards the clearing, the nose gradually being lifted up over time. Determination continued to show around her, with the same expression being shown around Crash, whom was struggling to maintain his balance.
And there, the ship managed to make its landing right on the surface, providing a deep scratch upon the glistening floor. Crash then managed to make his jump off as the CODA energy was left to spray right across the platform.
"Oh no, what has she done?" Trance exclaimed from his standing point.
"Retreat!" commanded the Kaiser.
As the CODA energy continued to spread across the platform, most of the Gemini members were starting to panic as it came closer towards them. By that time, some of which were left to jump off the platform, towards the strobe light whirlpool beneath.
That left Trance and the Kaiser til last - Crash then made his jump across the scene, trying his best to catch up with the pair with his fists brought back, but… before he could even inflict damage, they too jumped off.
The orange bandicoot then looked over the edge, curious over what would have happened to the pair. But… even there, time wasn't to waste - at that time, some of the CODA magic went around the soles of his shoes, making them look prestige and clean.
He took a step back as he saw some of the energy fall off the platform as it crumbled, leaving a light rain shower of white energy towards the whirlpool. That in turn left stronger electric surges to show beneath, instantly reflecting towards his eyes.
The sight then left him to make his way straight towards the ship once more, skidding among the ground as he did so. This time he met up with Coco in the cockpit, whom was showing hesitance just trying to re-lift the ship off the ground.
At the same time, the others then managed to make their entrance within the ship, hoping to escape from the incoming energy surge from below. And yet… the ship refused to take off. It as a result left them having to see into a sharp white flash.
The blinding flash lasted for a vast amount of time as a whole. By then, the details of the key components of the planet were shown to be indistinguishable as long as the light's strength was there.
Gradually, the details of the light started to fade out, allowing the darker areas of the mountain tops to gradually come into view although in a monochrome format around them. This in turn was followed by the basic shapes of the land.
Details were soon refined in a sketchbook-like format, before the white light soon gradually turned into pastel colors. The colors then became deeper and deeper, before showing the island as it was once more.
But this time around, the skies were shown to be a bright sky blue color, with fluffy clouds showing around it. Trees and plants started to spring to life as if it faced the first spring season in a long time.
The ocean then started to flow gently once more, with a lot of dolphins bursting out from the waters itself. A random whale also managed to make its appearance among the horizon, showing its majestic form before gently going beneath the waves.
Upon the skies, several doves started to fly their way among the surface, as if they were set to see the arrival of a new world once more. Various other types of birds were also seen making their departure from the ground, aiding to the amount of peace the ground has unveiled.
As that happened, the crucially damaged CODA managed to fly among the skies and land upon the sandy beaches once more, where the group were exposed to the island's peaceful status once more. Yet they noticed at the same time, that there was one element of the war that still remains outstanding.
The ruins of the Rebellion HQ were still intact, although no longer were they ridden with rising smoke and scattered ashes. And right where Crunch left him, was Kyle's body… in the exact position left in.
The group looked on upon him from their position, and indeed, they knew they followed his exact wishes - to use the CODA to win the fight. Although his sacrifice may have meant a lot to the team, they knew that his wishes have aided strongly in restoring the island… at peace once more.
-end of part 9-
