Experiment Bandicoot
Chapter 17:
Death
Year 18, Day 200
As weeks passed and no sign of our Mask Gods, we grew impatient each passing day. Some of Cortex's henchmen and my team (notably Tawna and Crunch) started to make bets on who would emerge as a true God. Coco scolded that betting money on something as serious as the world ending didn't phase either of them. She gave up and went over to Tobias who comforted her.
I spent most of the time in the clinic on my request.
"You've been fainting often and I guess now is a good as anytime to figure out."
"You mean you still haven't?" I slightly scoffed.
"Well, I had the whole "taking-over-the-world" thing going on most of the time, right alongside "Trying-to-figure-out-how-to-kill-you" and "Creating-more-mutants." I sighed and rolled his eyes, happy he always had that sense of humor.
Besides the blood samples he had to constantly take, there were tests I had to take such as jogging to see if my heart was working right, X-Ray scans, scans for any signs of cancer, and other doctor stuff that's too complicated for the average person to know. Hell, I didn't even know that those hearing things doctors have to hear heartbeats were called stethoscope until I was, like 11 maybe.
Throughout the weeks of no Mask God signs, I've been poked, probed, X-Rayed, fed freakin' distasteful medicine, peed in a cup, CAT scan, etc. Ugh, I felt like I was going to die.
"Anything yet?" I asked.
"No." Cortex mumbled, "No sign of any sickness. No cancer, no virus, no bacteria…I guess that brings up to my original theory."
"What theory?" I asked, more out of curiosity as I was too happy knowing I didn't have any sign of cancer or other sickly diseases.
"Nothing you need to know about just yet." Cortex softly mumbled as he started to organizer the papers he had of me. Then he quietly left the clinic. Okay, he was definitely hiding something from me.
………………
As if my fainting was bad, it was even worse with my mind, filled with thoughts of my own. Everything Nina said to me about Cortex, and those faint whisperings coming from that ghost kid. I never bothered telling anyone of the boy, but I knew I had to. I was beginning to think he was connected to all this.
I was sleeping as usual when night arrived and once more, I heard the whispers. I immediately woke up and there was the boy again.
"Seriously, what the hell is your problem?" I groaned. I wasn't so much as afraid of him anymore as I was annoyed, "What is the big deal with you spooking me? I don't even know you!"
"Oh, you do…you've just never met me face to face, is all." This time, he spoke in a normal voice.
"Well, who are you?"
"Your executioner."
"…What do you want?"
"Come closer and you'll die. Come closer and save them. Those masks."
"What do you mean?"
"Those masks…they should have come out of the portal by now, but they haven't. Come closer and save them."
"But if I come closer, you'll kill me."
"Yes."
"But it's the only way to save them, our Mask Gods?"
"Yes."
"Do you have them as prisoner or something?"
"Come save them or the End of the World will begin."
I manage to see the boy disappear in a small silvery smoke. Again, I stood still, but this time for sure, I knew I had to tell the others of that freakish kid. The next day, I told the others of the small boy and my frequent encounters of them.
"Why didn't ya tell us about the boy before, especially to me, ya girlfriend?" Tawna asked in deep concern with a hint of anger, her hands to her hips. Her voice sounded like she was hurt that I, her boyfriend, refuse to tell her something as creepy as this. I gave her an apologetic look.
"Look, I didn't think the kid was connected to the portal." I spoke, "I thought I'd deal with him later, after the portal stuff."
"Deal with him later!" Coco gasped, "Crash, it's a ghost! For all we know, "later" could mean he'd have strangled you or something!"
"I don't think he wanted to kill me…well, not yet anyways." I gestured, "All the times he threaten me, but never moved an inch."
"So, he's got the m-m-m-m-m-m-m-mask gods?" Brio stuttered. I nodded.
"Well then, I guess we better do something." Gin ordered, "Maybe we have to go inside the portal ourselves."
"Is it possible?" Cortex gasped, "I mean, what I meant to say is, are we even allowed inside?" Silence fell.
"We could really use Tropy about now." Crunch smiled, confident the light blue skinned man would come, but he didn't. Annoyed, Crunch repeated, "Yep, Riiiiiiiiiiight about now!"
"Forget Tropy, I'm going inside the portal." I motioned, "Head for the portal!" Gin and Brio saluted and flew the airship close to the portal until we were above it. To our great surprise, when we reached the portal, the entire thing started to shoot beautiful rays of yellow and light blue until it engulfed the entire ship. The entire light surrounding us felt warm. Warm enough that jackets and snow boots weren't needed. Nodding, I immediately went over to change, then went outside to the deck.
"Any one else want to come, they can." I grinned and felt very light on my feet for some reason. It was when I jumped from the deck (and everyone gasped as I fell), it felt like I was floating gently towards the entrance...
Year X, Day X
Was he crazy? That's what I thought at that time. But then again, Crash has been known to do unpredictable, quick, clever, yet risky things. He was a walking orange daredevil and he loved every inch of it. Everyone stared as we watched Crash fall (or float fall as he appeared to be doing).
"What now?" Crunch asked. I pondered deeply, went into my room and changed out of my winter clothing. Quickly taking a headphone and placing it around my ear, I loaded my gun and started to run out.
"I'll keep in contact!" I shouted. Then I too, leaped. It was beautiful. The multiple colors of blue, pink, yellow, violet, and red passed through me. Every color I passed as I fell, I also became that color. The white light blinded me as I passed, but once I did pass (and it was only for a brief second), I noticed floating flat rocky surfaces. I landed gently on one. Searching around, I finally found Crash who was more down, jumping from rock to rock.
"CRASH!" I shouted. He stopped and waited till I reached him. I gasped for air when I was next to him.
"I am getting TOO old for this."
"Decided to come?" Crash smirked.
"For Uka's sake." My hands cupped my knees as I stared at my feet, gasping for air. As soon as I was done gasping for breath, others came.
Seconds later, Coco, Tawna, Tobias, and Nina joined the party.
"That's all of us." Tawna mentioned, "The others are keepin' watch and we better hurry, too. By the time I started to leap off, those demony dragon things came back. The others are fightin' them off." Crash nodded.
"We better hurry before those dragons end up killing the others." Tobias pointed out, "They're already outnumbered."
"Will they be alright?" Coco asked as we leaped from rock to rock.
"I trust them." I softly spoke.
As we jumped, we felt like we were in space as our leap felt airy. The colors of the Northern Lights surrounded the walls and moved about like a raging waterfall. We weren't aware of how far the bottom was, but when we landed in a large platform, we still had many to go.
"I don't see any more rocks down there, what do we do?" Tobias pondered. So we all spread out and looked around. The entire platform was filled with high, jagged rocks, and strange green statues of some sort that made shapes that made no sense. Only a deep thinking artist would know what they meant.
"Hey, guys! Check this out!" Coco shouted. We all ran to her as she was jumping up and down on some round, smooth, and flat platform floating on the edge of the larger rocked platform we were on. Every leap she made, the thin, blue platform glowed.
"Maybe if we all get on, something might happen." Coco gestured. And something did happen the moment she stopped jumping. It started to spark, as if it was charging itself. The others gasped and we all hitched a ride as the blue platform started to slowly lower itself down.
"Ain't that something, an elevator." Tawna placed her hands on her waist. We remain silent for a while.
"How far do we have to go?" Nina asked quietly.
"I don't know." Crash softly spoke. Silence fell again. I watched the other children: Crash had a determined, heroic face one. Tawna was fidgeting with her hands, curling them into a fist, ready to kill. Nina had on a rather inappropriate relaxed look, while Coco was sitting on the edge of the platform, while Tobias stared at her as if he was worried that she had to come on such a dangerous mission.
"This is eerily content." Tawna whispered, "I'd figure we'd run into something by now."
"Better not say stuff like that or you might jinx it." Tobias smiled slightly.
"Bit too late for that." Nina gripped onto my shoulder (her metal hand literally crushing it) as her other hand pointed to a bunch of four legged creatures coming our way.
"What are those?" Coco asked.
"I…don't know."
We still wished we didn't, but those four legged creatures came closer. They appeared to be some sort of demonic hellhounds. Black in color and with snaring fangs, they charged at us, flying towards us, and our battle began. We were completely surrounded.
"OY! These demon things are REALLY startin' to piss me off!" Tawna dived down and manage to kick two of the hell hounds.
"It seems the more we destroy them, the more they come!" Nina whipped her extended hands around after she told us to duck, destroying several of the beasts, "This is pointless!" She then spun as her extended arm hit a multiple of hellhounds.
"I can see the ground!" Coco cried after she flip kicked a hellhound.
"Okay, when it gets low enough, jump off and run!" Crash ordered, "Concentrate on finding the Masks and less on fighting. Do it only if they get in your way!" He wrestled a hellhound off him who nearly bit him on the shoulder. I kept a safe distance from them and shot them with my gun.
When the platform lowered, we all leaped in unison and read like the dickens. Anything that got in our path, we kicked, punched, and shot our way through. We had mere assumption we were going the right way. The walls were still filled with Northern Light colors while the rocky ground we were on was an eerie cerulean. The hellhounds were very persistent folks. As we slowly started to loose their breath, the hellhounds still pursued. Unfortunately for my case, my possible old age and relying too much on that damn red hoverboard was causing me to lag behind.
"Uncle Cortex!" Nina noticed, she started to run the other way.
"No! Nina! Keep running!" I gestured, still struggling to keep up until I tripped over my own foot and fell, "Keep running!" Nina hesitated, but Crash gave her a harsh push.
"Keep going!" And it was Crash who ran all the way to fetch me. Carrying me in his arms like a mother does with her infant, he quickly caught up with the others. I, however, was still trying to catch my breath.
"Dear Me, I'm gonna have a heart attack!" I wheezed.
"Crash, we can't keep this up!" Tawna showed signs of gasping for air, "We're all tired and exhausted while those damn…things are still runnin' like they've had 50 Gatorades!"
"Yea, what do we do?" Coco screamed. Tobias came and tried to calm her down. Crash didn't answer. His attention was staring at where he was going, his face caught with fear and general clueless ness. Various "umms" left his mouth as we all ran once again when the hellhounds caught up to us, multiplying in number. In fact, we ran so fast that we hardly had time to react when we all fell from a cliff. The hellhounds immediately stopped and went no further, as though there was some barrier next to the cliff. Instead, they howled and growled at us in anger, peeved we weren't going to be their dinner.
We fell in that floaty way like we did before when we leaped from the airship. Gently we landed on our feet after floating-falling for about 5 minutes. The cliff was already too far to see and there were no signs of anymore hellhounds. As far as we were concerned, we were safe. Once we had landed, I was back on my feet.
"Uncle Cortex!" Nina cried as Crash gently placed me down, "Are you okay?" She gave me a tightening hug which I enjoyed, but disliked all the same as she was choking the daylights out of me.
"Nina, I'm fine." I moved her away before my face turned blue, "You should thank Crash, he saved me."
"I know. Thanks Crash, really." Nina smiled. Crash just nodded, sat down, and gave a thumbs up. Tawna and Coco took Crash's example and they too, sat down and took a breather. The area we surveyed was much darker then the colorful induced walls. The walls still had color, but was much darker. We felt cramped and was sure we entered in some sort of pseudo cave. We didn't sit long as Coco immediately got up and ran.
"Coco, where are ya goin'?" Tawna shouted.
"I saw something spark!" Coco yelled as she ran deeper into the cave.
"Coco, be careful!" Crash shouted, "Don't go too far!"
"CRASH! TAWNA! TOBIAS! GUYS! COME SEE! COME SEE!" She shouted. For a while, we all thought she discovered something horrifying, so when we ran towards her, expecting the worse, we were surprised that she had her face in awe, and in mere seconds, so did we….
Year X, Day X
We saw crystals. Crystals. Big ones, small ones, most of them clumped together. Aside from the normal magneta ones I've always seen, these crystals came in a whole aura of colors. Each colored crystal gave of their respective color and splashed the wall, making an even more gorgeous Northern Lights then the ones above which felt more like psycho 60's trip you only get from too much drinking and drugs. These looked like they were ripped straight from the skies of Alaska, including the beauty and elegance.
"Crash, these are crystals!" Coco pointed out the obvious.
"Oh, we've hit the jackpot!" I screamed in girlish delight, my eyes filled with greed, "These crystals are MORE then enough to power all the weapons I have to rule the world!" I stopped talking when everyone but Nina gave me a threatening glare.
"I don't get it." Tawna came in, "Why are their crystals all of a sudden?" We all moved until we assumed we were in the middle of the room. Then and there did Crash's crystal did glow brightly. Soon, various crystals around us blinked. It was like watching a Simon Says game, you know, that electronic toy that I always lose to the younger henchmen. Sue me, I'm more a board game person, I kill at Candy Land.
"What's going on?" Coco asked, a bit of fear in her eyes. We hunched close together, afraid the crystals might start to shoot lasers at us or something. Crash however, gasped and clutched his crystal.
"They're talking to us." He spoke, not all that loudly, barely could tell from a whisper, "Well, at least to me, anyways."
"You can understand them?" Nina muttered. Crash nodded slowly.
"Maybe it's because I have a crystal." Crash shrugged.
"Well, what the hell are they saying!" I irritably asked. Crash gave me a look, then eyed the crystals.
"Ummm…they're saying this is the Origin of the Crystals." Crash started, "They're welcoming my little crystal back for it was born here. All crystals have come from this place, the one we're in right now."
"Sure is a hell of a lot." Tawna mumbled.
"Miners would pee their pants in glee if they found this place." Tobias added his two cents.
"The crystals said something about how when this world was created, they powered it up. They're the reasons why we still have oceans and rivers, trees, living creatures. The Mask Gods might have created them, but they've kept them alive. We need the crystals to live and let Earth flourish. More humans are discovering the crystals that are more upper in the surface and used for their own use, the world slowly losing life. The Magneta colored ones were the ones were lived in the more upper surface."
"Are these crystals alive?" Nina ignored whatever the crystals were telling Crash and eyeing the blinking stones. Crash continued.
"The crystals sense a disturbance. Many do not come to the Center of the Earth let alone know it exists. Humans were meant to keep away from these crystals here, the most strongest of them all." I, too grew more intrigued by the story then wanting them in my pockets.
"The crystals said we weren't even suppose to be here, just the Mask Gods."
"But we're here because we're to save our respective Mask Gods!" Coco cried, hands together, her face worried, "We're not bad people! We would never harm you! I'm sorry if we used your crystals for wrong deeds, we didn't know!"
"Be that as it may, we're still not allowed here." Crash spoke, "We could be killed on sight." Everyone gasped. I squeaked like a little girl, clutching onto the bottom of Crash's shirt as though I was a scared boy clutching onto his parent for protection.
"But…" We all gasped when Crash said "but", hoping against all hope it'll be good news, "Because there is an even greater presence inside the Earth, stopping the Masks from achieving their goal, we must save them and stop the great presence."
"Great, we'll do that!" Nina shouted quickly, wanting so badly to leave.
"Know this…" Crash's voice was now quieter as he spoke, "Even if we do save them, we'll suffer the consequences." Then the crystals stopped blinking.
"Suffer the consequences!" Tawna shouted, "When we're out to save the Mask Gods AND stop some great presence from doin' whatever to ruin this planet? How about a little gratitude!"
"Tawna, is it truly wise to upset the crystals further!" Coco pulled her back, "This is bad enough as it is! People are hurt, the demons could have gotten the others on the airship, people could be dead!"
Crash took a deep breath and started to walk off. We all followed, though. It was when I started to pant greatly from walking and the others frequent yawns that we rested for the night. We were in a hurry, but we needed sleep.
"This is going to sound stupid, but I have a feeling we've reached the place where this great presence could be." Crash slowly spoke after he viewed the nothingness.
"How will we get around?" Tawna asked.
"I don't know, but we'll worry about that tomorrow." And we slept.
………………
Year 18, Day ?
It's funny how much the crystals weren't kidding when they said we would "suffer the consequences." Especially when one revolved on my poor sister. We were all sleeping, preserving our energy. Unbeknownst to most of us, the ghost kid's whispers came about again. Again, my annoyance factor rose a few meters. Not wanting to wake the others up, I decided to see what the hell he wanted now.
"As you get closer, you're more vulnerable."
"Where are you?" I asked in a stern manner as I walked a bit further away from the others.
"You can't see me, I'm all around."
"Kid, you are really, really getting on my nerves." I groaned, "Seriously, what do you want with me!"
"I'll tell you when you get here and you better get here fast. I have the Mask Gods, remember?"
"You know, I'm starting to think you don't and you just lured me in for a different purpose." I chimed in, not even all that sure of what I saying, "Maybe you don't have the Mask Gods and this is some sort of trick."
"I'm serious…the crystals…they speak of consequences for coming down here. Accidents can happen."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you really need further motivation to get you to come down here?"
"What…what are you going to do?"
"Your loved ones…"
"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THEM?"
Again, the kid was silent, but he gave a big grin.
"You hurt them, I'll never forgive you…not that I haven't even forgiven you since I've seen your creepy mug."
The child, still with the grin stood silent.
"TELL ME! TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO TO THEM!"
Nothing. I had no choice but to return back. The others all seem fine.
……………………
Year X, Day X
When morning came, we barely ate before we immediately decided to go up and explore further. Crash, however, was going ever so slower then usual, turning his head ever so often as though something was going to pop out any second.
"Crash, relax." Tawna gestured.
"Guys…just…just please, please keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious." Crash begged.
"Crash, it's okay." Coco comforted, "We will be fine. We'll find the Mask Gods and go home."
"Yea, then we can play video games." Tobias' calm face smirked in, "Life will be kinder to us."
Crash slowly nodded, seemingly a bit convinced, but he kept a worried face all day.
The ground became more bumpy and steep as we headed. The cave gradually took us more down and deeper then we'd want in our lifetime, not to mention darker. Not enough to use flashlights, but all the more scary. Tawna and Nina both kept a straight face (although I'm sure they were scared, too), Crash still retained that worried look (he tried to hide it with a more confident face whenever one of us even blinked in his direction), Coco was clinging her arms to Tobias who kept his usual calm face (looking more like he was bored then scared or determined). I just kept a rather blank. My mind was busy theorizing on Crash's fainting problems. I had one theory, but I tried hard not to believe it. After all, Crash stood this long. 18 years, in fact, I wanted him to last longer…
"CORTEX! WATCH OUT!" I was pulled away by Crash when a falling stalactite landed where I once stood. Before I could thank him, another one fell. It wasn't long before we got the picture that all the stalactites on the top of the cave were sent plummeting down. We ran once more while I was held by Crash again. Maybe it was me, but the stalactites seem to enjoy falling in whatever directions we ran while the others remained attached to the top. It's like they had a mind of its own or enough to kill any moving target.
"Any bright ideas?" Nina cried out as we continued to run.
"Yea, just try and find a freakin' entrance or something to cover us!" Crash cried. So asides from running, we had to look for a place to hide. Because I wasn't the one running, I concentrated better on looking then the others and eventually found a small hole where we could duck until the stalactites stop falling. We made our way there, but something always went wrong when Coco tripped.
"COCO!" Crash shouted. He started to head back, but Tobias stepped in.
"Get the others to safety, I'll get Coco!" He cried back to us as he ran.
……
"Coco, are you alright?"
"I hurt a little from tripping, but I'm unharmed."
"Good, then we better get back to the others." Tobias took Coco by her hand, lifted her up, and ran with Coco ahead of her. Meanwhile, we were all gesturing for them to hurry up, shouting words of encouragement. I felt during this time a very slow-mo sort of sense, kinda like a dramatic scene from a movie. As we shouted for them to quicken their pace, Tobias and Coco anxiously running towards us, a lone stalactite came down on the two, most directly towards Coco. Coco, noticing this quickly stopped and screamed, panicking instead of running.
"COCO!" Crash's scream felt like an echo as he quickly placed me down and ran towards her. I saw Tobias heading in Coco's direction as well. I was too shocked to move and it seemed Tawna and Nina was, too as they instead stood watching, or maybe we were just too slow to react. I think I had my eyes closed as I didn't know what happen until I opened them. Instead of seeing either Crash or Tobias running to Coco, I instead saw her bundled next to the cave walls as she shook violently. I looked in the direction she was looking and I understood why she was so horrified. The stalactite landed on Tobias' torso area. I saw Crash desperately trying to push the giant rock off of him. Tawna and Nina ran to help while I stared hopelessly like a dead fish. The stalactite have stopped falling and we were all left in this saddening state.
"Come on, just a bit further guys!" Crash shouted, "Cortex! Don't just stand there! Help out!" I finally snap back to reality and tried to push the rock away from Tobias. The poor boy was hopelessly trying to breath in air.
"Cu…Cu…"
"Don't say anything." Tawna tried to reassure him, "Try to save your breath."
"Cortex, can you do anything?" Crash asked, "Any medicine, anything?"
"I…I'm not sure." I softly muttered. I really wasn't certain; the stalactite was considerably deep inside Tobias' torso.
"Cu…Cu…"
"Coco, I think he wants you." Crash gasped as we continued to push the rock. Coco just stood there like she was glued to the wall. She was obviously horrified.
"For the love of-" Nina went over and had to practically drag her to where Tobias was. Once she was near him, Tobias slowly extended her arm and placed a hand on her cheek. Both of them were spewing out tears.
"Cu…Cu…Lo…" Tobias could hardly utter a word before his arm stopped stroking Coco's cheek and fell limply to the ground. At that point, we manage to pull the giant rock off, but it was already too late to save his life. Silence fell before Coco let out a howling scream.
Year 18, Day ?
We traveled for a couple of days with Tobias. It was when we reached a large lake that we buried him there. There was no time to head back, there was no way we wanted to cremate and leave his body be, there was no place to bury him. Water burial was the only way. Neither of the group sans Tawna and I could carry Tobias. I was given the task to slowly drop him into the water. We gave our proper respect. I was surprised to see Coco whimpering in tears more then full out bawling. I told her she could cry as hard as she wanted, but she instead shook her head and just sobbed a bit further away from us. We reluctantly continued, hoping to put an end to this. Immediately in my mind, I finally knew what Akio meant by "accidents happening" and the crystals meaning "suffering consequences." This was our punishment for entering a realm forbidden to us mortals, no matter how much we tried to do a good deed.
We manage to reach our journey's end when we saw the end of the cave. The way out was completely dark. Confused, I slowly peeked my head in and saw absolute nothingness. Vast empty black space. It's like a zone of no existence.
"We're going in?" Nina asked.
"I'm going in." I spoke, "The rest of you take Coco and leave."
"Excuse me?" Tawna cried out, hands to her hips again, "What the HELL do you think you are, saying shit like that?"
"Yea, we spent days traveling in this stupid place and you expect us to turn back to the airship?" Nina cried.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you to do." I sighed, "I want to handle this alone. This is personal." Then Tawna slapped me.
"NU-UH! NO WAY!" She cried, "Last time you said that, it was your first fist fight with Cortex. Ain't happening again, bucko!"
"I don't want anyone dying anymore!" I cried, "Look, Coco is upset! She needs to be with others instead of just us!"
"But we're in this together, all of us!" Nina cried, "Uncle Cortex, say something!" Cortex tried to utter a word out, but nothing came.
Year X, Day X
Why couldn't I say anything? Why couldn't I protest against Crash from making mincemeat out of himself? I just stood there, trying to think of some word to get him to stay. Did I wanted him to go? Was I desperate to rid of him? No…it was something else. I believe it was "trust." I trusted his decision.
"CORTEX!" Tawna shouted, expecting an answer. I sighed.
"I trust you."
"What?" came Crash.
"I trust you." I spoke a bit louder, "I have complete faith in your decision." Again another set of silence. Crash smiled a bit. Tawna and Nina stared at each other and both gave a sign, signaling that they gave up. Tawna went over to Coco, and then turned to face Crash,
"I swear if you die, I'll rip you in two in the afterlife!" Tawna shouted.
"Fine by me." Crash smiled weakly. Nina and I went over to where Tawna was. We all watched as Crash was getting ready to dive, but another interruption came.
"CRASH!" The young bandicoot froze and turned his head to eye Coco, who called him. We were shocked when she finally decided to speak rather then mumble incoherently about Tobias or how depressed she was (she blamed herself for Tobias death).
"Crash! Don't go!" Her voice broke down again and her tears came out, "Don't go! Just…don't go!" Tawna tried to restrain her, but Coco struggled madly like she was in a straitjacket and walked over to Crash.
"I have to go! I have to save the world!" Crash shouted.
"NO! IF YOU GO, YOU MIGHT DIE!"
"Coco…it's alright. I won't die."
"NOOOOO! DON'T GO!"
"COCO!"
"After Tobias…after I had him to love…I had you, Crash. I already lost too many people! You think I'm not happy with my parents death? Now Tobias is gone, if I lose you, I'll go crazy!"
"But you got over your parent's death! You were so much happier! It'll be the same with Tobias!"
"I had YEARS to spent with Tobias! And…and while I loved Mom and Dad, I only knew them for three years! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANYONE ANYMORE!"
"Then what? I stay and let the world be destroyed? Then we ALL die!"
"But we'll be together in the AfterLife!"
"NO!" Crash stared at me, his face cringing as he tried to hold back his tears, "Not all of us will be in the same place. I don't want to die until I'm made certain I finish what I wanted to accomplish since I was 16!"
"Crash…"
"No, Coco. You can't stop me. I won't die because I still have to do something first before I even consider thinking about death! Right now, I gotta save the world!" Everyone stared at him.
Coco then fell on her knees and started to bawl.
"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO STUPID?" She cried as she screamed, her so irritated and angry like the likes we've never seen, "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SHOW OFF?"
"Coco!"
"WHY? THIS ISN'T FUN! You act like your immortal, but you're not!"
"I'm not trying to act like that!"
"You're SO STUPID! I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!"
"Coco…you don't mean that!"
"YES I DO! I HATE YOU, CRASH!"
Our mouths were left hanging while Crash's face was one of determination. He had slight watery tears in his eyes. I don't think he blamed Coco for what he said. With her recent loss, it was understandably. Crash understood and through tear stained eyes, he put on his grinning face and spoke, "I have to do this. I don't know why I feel so compelled to do this then ever before, but I have to. You may hate me now, but you'll regret saying it. We all love each other too much. If I die, I die. If I don't, I don't. Let fate decide what'll happen to me, but I HAVE.TO.DO.THIS."
And without a second of waste, Crash leaped into the empty darkness awaiting him.
Year 18, Day ?
It's kind of funny. I'm thinking all this in my head. I leaped to the cave exit and quickly tried to think of someway to reach wherever. I looked around and saw straight ahead of me, a greenish white sort of Milky way galaxy. It wasn't there before. I then saw billions and trillions of stars. Was I in some sort of imaginary space? Did I magically transfer from the Center of the Earth to outer space? I was floating. I stepped closer and wondered if I was to go there, the green/white milky way.
Have faith. A little voice rang inside my ear. I nodded, then I lifted up my leg ands tried to get it so I was running. I placed it in the inky blackness or so I thought. Soon, a transparent staircase with bits of white on it appeared, leading towards the Milky Way. It was a path. A beautiful path. Taking my chances, I quickly ran to the Milky Way.
When I reached it, I touched the swirly space glow of green and white and felt like I was being slowly sucked into a vacuum. I slowly floated towards wherever, reaching my destination when I noticed I was…well, more or less, inside the Milky Way thing. The swirls of green and white gently passed me. Every time it did, I felt warm and relaxed, I had my eyes closed as the green and white swirls passed me, but when I opened my eyes, I was greeted once more, by that child.
"You." I gasped. I stared up and saw the Mask Gods, wrapped around by the green and white swirls, unconscious. What was this kid? A more powerful God? My staring was then interrupted by-
"CRASH!" I turned around and saw Cortex…
Year X, Day X
"What are you doing here!" He asked in a sort of shocked, yet pissed expression, knowing I was to run for my life.
"I came to help you, stupid! Left after you after the others made it a good distance away. Sneaked back over here." I shouted, "Uka is my Mask God and I'll see to it that he wins!"
Crash eyed me, expecting something more out of me.
"……………..Besides, I was worried about you." I saw a smile lit up in Crash's face.
I sighed and looked around, gasping when I saw the Mask Gods bind by the swirls of green and white, then I eyed a small, pale child, wearing a white kimono to fit with his paleness. He was some sort of ghost child not unlike from The Grudge. I wasn't gasping, however, because of his pale ghost-like appearance, I was gasping because I knew who he was.
"You've come." The boy spoke in a regular voice, "I've been waiting for nearly 2 decades for you to come."
"Who, me?" Crash pointed to himself.
"Just you, until he came." The boy pointed to me, "But that's okay, I think he should see and hear all this."
"Who are you?" Crash gasped.
"I'm you." The boy smiled wickedly. Crash gave his "That's ridiculous" face, since Crash was an anthro and the boy was…well, a human boy.
"I've spent nearly 2 decades building up all my hate for you until I was so powerful, I could destroy gods like Aku and Uka."
"THEY'RE DEAD?" Crash shouted, panicking. The boy slowly said nothing.
Crash blinked and stared again at the boy.
"What do you mean…I'm you?" Crash slowly asked.
"You must be me. You're everything I was to him." The boy pointed to me.
"Who are you?" Crash gasped, his eyes shocked with fear.
"Why don't you ask him?" The boy starred at me. Crash did so as well.
"Do you know him?" He whispered. I slowly nodded.
"Yes…I know him." I softly spoke.
"Then who is he?" Crash shouted, frustrated and angry.
"He's…He's…"I was afraid to say his name. The boy sighed and stared at the both of us.
"WHO ARE YOU?" Crash looked ready to fall on his knees and cry like Coco did. His cheeks were already turning a bad shade of red from his face of cringing too much. The boy grinned evilly and giggled.
"I'm Akio."
To Be Continued…
……………
Author's Note: Yea, I axed Tobias. Ouchie-ness. I tried to make it that both Coco and Crash (mainly Coco) has a sort of "insane" feel because of all the crap going on in their lives. Yea, lots of random crap going on. I know it feels a bit hasten, but the original plan was that Tobias wasn't gonna go with Coco and the others on their journey and end up dead through an illness. I didn't do that since I thought a death of Tobias with Coco would be more involved and dead through an illness is basically tedious since Akio died the same way.
And no, Tobias' burial wasn't from Aerith's death scene in FF7.
As for the ghost kid being Akio, well, let's just say things are gonna be even MORE insane in the next chapter. This story is also almost done. Just few steps closer to making the long awaited "Jak and Crash."
