Experiment Bandicoot
Chapter 18:
Adulthood

Year X, Day X
"Akio." That name pass through my lips like a cold whisper. It's as if a ghost pass through my body, although considering what Akio was, my feelings weren't so far off.

"Akio?" Crash gave off a puzzled look and I suddenly remembered that I had never spoken of his…err…brother, for lack of a better word. I tried telling him at that moment, but my lips grew numb and I suddenly seem to have forgotten how to speak.

"You don't know me, Hiroki, but I know you." Akio softly spoke, "You are the son of Matsuku Ichigoya."

"Yea…okay, thanks for pointing out the obvious, but I kinda wanna know who you are." Crash was in a fighting pose, both hands into fists, legs slightly bent as if he was almost sitting on an invisible chair, his eyes glaring.

"I am Cortex's son." Akio grinned, "I am you and you are me."

"Cortex's son?" Again he came a puzzled looked, "Are you telling me you're some sort of my spirit or something? My lost conscience?"

"No…we are different, but the same." Akio answered, "You were born from father's blood, but your true parents were merely small rodents who probably forgot who you are let along who you are suppose to be."

"What?" Crash backed off, his face filled with shock, "I was adopted."

"Is that what he told you?" Akio asked, ironically giving an innocent "I don't get it" look. Then the boy proceeded to giggle which seem to echo in the Milky Way…umm…room.

"You're silly, Hiroki. You're a silly brother." Akio smiled, "You are me because you took my life away. You replaced my role as son towards father. You are not adopted, you are something else."

"You are SOME kind of nutter." Crash posed again, "It doesn't matter, since you ain't making any lick of sense, I guess the best thing now is to kick ass." And with that, he dived towards Akio.

"CRASH! STOP!" I shouted, not sure why I was warning him when I didn't know any better on getting rid of Akio then he did. Why all of a sudden could I speak again? God Lord.

As Crash neared Akio, more then a second away from landing a punch, Akio quickly disappeared, reappeared behind Crash, then extended his ghostly arms and hugged Crash around the chest. Before Crash could react, he was flung over the room. The giggles of my once former first born bouncing off the Milky Way walls.

"Umm…are you okay?" I tried to maintain my villain image by not acting too concern, but at this rate, I had no clue what rules should be played out. Crash mumbled something which I only assumed was a "yes" as he got up once more and charged towards Akio. He disappeared again, but Crash, learning from his mistake, quickly moved away before Akio got to him. It didn't matter because the little ghost boy had an odd, but remarkable sort of arsenals. Besides arm extending, he literally blew up his entire body until there was barely any room to move. Surprisingly, we weren't able to go through him like ghosts normally would make us do. With his body extended, Crash had his life nearly squeezed to death. I, however, seemed to be covered as if in some protective layer. Akio manage to return to normal size with Crash breathing for his life. The boy, a few inches off the ground, hovered towards Crash and giggled that high pitch voice like a school girl. However innocent a child's laughter could be, the sound made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

"You are silly." He giggled towards Crash, lying on the ground, trying to recover his breath back, "Father lied to you. You weren't adopted, you weren't even born. You were created."

"Stop…lying." Crash chocked to get his breath back, "Just stop."

"But I'm not lying." Akio spoke, almost in a hurtful, rejected voice, "I died off an illness, a cancer when I was only 6. Then father created you because he had to fill his gap with another son. Before that, you were some nameless bandicoot that I picked up when you were gravely injured. A small, baby bandicoot. I admit, I blame myself for starting the path that would continue to lead into the making of you, but it's your fault, you took father's love all for yourself."

"How can I take your father's love!" Crash tried to stand up, but he must've felt like his ribs broke due to him being nearly squeezed and crushed as he was clutching his chest, "I didn't even know you existed!"

"You still think I'm some liar?" Crash nodded, and Akio squirmed and cried. We were both shock.

"You see me before your own eyes, as father's first son, but you do not believe you were created?" Akio spoke through tearstained eyes, "How can you be so dense?"

"I…I…" Crash looked around the area while thinking of what to say, but nothing came out. His expression looked rather guilty, as if he took that kid's lollipop and ate it in front of him.

"You're not adopted! You are father's son by blood!" Akio shouted, changing his tone from a weeping willow to hell-bent demon, "HE GAVE YOU HIS BLOOD WHEN HE MADE YOU, THUSLY HE GAVE HIS HEART TO YOU!" And with that, Akio suddenly turned into red flames that nearly engulf the entire room. The fires circled Crash and I, both of us on other ends, staring at each other. Then, Akio, who was part of the flame, complete with glowing red eyes, extended his arm, and literally dug into my brains. Soon, the flames created images: Akio's untimely death, the funeral, me working hours on end on that stupid Evolv-O-Ray, Candy leaving me, me carrying the injured bandicoot to the machine, Crash inside that tube where he was kept till he was ready to be "born", and ultimately me holding him in my arms after we pulled him out of the machine. The images stopped and Akio's arm left my brain. I gasped, as though I was nearly choking to death, then eyed Crash who gave off the most horrific face I've ever seen of him. The flames were bright, but I think I saw massive amounts of tears flowing down his eyes.

"So, it's true." He quickly, but calmly said, still with that horror face, "I was nothing more then some freak you created just because you didn't have the power to move on."

"No, Crash, it's nothing like that!" I urged, "I really did love you, with every ounce of my heart!"

"I wasn't adopted…my real parents were a bunch of…animals that weren't even bipedal, let alone talk!" He's voice started to break, yet got louder at the same time, "I bet they don't even know who I am. I bet there're already dead."

"Crash, listen to me!" I shouted, but I could barely get a word out.

"NO!" He interrupted loudly, then he spoke calmly, "You made me believe you loved me…cherished me as your own…"

"BUT I DID!" I shouted, my eyes getting watery, then I briefly paused before I spoke again, "I still do!" But by then, Crash seem to have cut off on anyone as he gave a face as though he had lost all hope. Sitting down, both legs a bit up, head down, I knew I had regretted not telling him of Akio or his true origin. He was so happy…but look at him…what am I to do, I thought. Before long, I notice blackness. I gasped. The Milky Way was slowly starting to disappear and eventually, Crash was starting to be swept in darkness.

"CRASH!" I shouted, trying to run towards him, but Akio's flames kept me back, "CRASH! CRASH! GRAB MY HAND!" But he refused. He's entire body was starting to disappear from the darkness, and eventually, the entire place was filled with darkness.

"I got rid of him." Akio's voice was heard, "Because he took my life." I was starting to fall, fall towards the never ending blackness. I had my eyes closed and all I could think of was Crash…and all the times we've spent together: Watching him walk as a baby, feeding him mashed vegetables, putting on a bandage when he got a cut, rocking him to sleep, helping him with his homework, watching him grow, swimming in the ocean when we were in the beach, our first fight, his rebellion over my changed image, our constant battles…tears came in my eyes…

Year X, Day X
I woke up and found myself back in the Nicodemus.

"OY! Everybody, he's awake!" Tawna cried. Nearly all my henchmen came to see me, nearly all glad to see I was alive.

"How…how did I get here?" I mumbled, my voice sounded hoarse and soft.

"We manage to get back to the Nicodemus and used it to find ya and Crash." Tawna answered, "We found ya just as ya were fallin' into darkness, but Crash we couldn't find."

"What happen, where is Crash?" Crunch asked, "And ya better hope it's a good reason, Coco is already having a tearjerker moment as it is."

A brief silence fell as I surrounded my arms around my knees, "….Crash….fell into darkness." Lots of gasps and shock filled the room.

"What happen?" Tawna whispered. Eyeing her, then facing towards the others, I gave a sigh and told everything. Minutes later, the entire group froze. It was like staring at a painting.

"You're…Crash's…biological father!" Crunch gasped. I nodded, "Well…somewhat."

"And your first born is a revenge seeking ghost…dude…thingy!" Pinstripe continued. I nodded.

"And Crash is in angst because ya kept all this from him?" Tawna nearly exploded. I nodded.

"And Tiny need to go use bathroom BAD!"

"I was wrong to kept all this from him…his true origin." I softly spoke.

"Ya damn right!" Tawna had her arms to her waist, "God, for someone with a massive high IQ, you're such a DUMB…DUMB…errr…NITWIT….FREAKIN' IDIOT! A YELLA' BELLY!" She got louder after each insult. I merely looked down like a dog ready to be punished by a rolled up newspaper. I'd gladly trade places with that dog anytime.

"Now what?" Crunch asked, exhausted.

"We have to find Crash, we have to go down there…NOW!" Tawna cried, "We ain't losing him. Coco will be even more devastated." Everybody started to leave the room, leaving me alone on my bed, cradling myself, as if to protect myself from all the bad things from the world. Immediately after the door shut, I pondered and pondered. I went wrong was all that clearly popped up in my head. Despite the various chattering going on outside, everything felt silent.

"Moping around isn't going to bring Crash back."

I gasped, spun my head, and saw Nina walking in, her voice filled with concern then hatred.

"You're Crash's father, you need to be responsible and bring your son back." She spoke sincerely and softly. My head immediately went down.

"I can't do anything." I muttered under my breath, "Crash has sunk into darkness, Akio killed him."

"How do you know he's dead?" Nina asked. I was silent.

"You're his father; you'll know how he truly is doing." Nina clearly, but softly spoke, then she chucked something towards me that landed on the floor, near my bed. I stared at it. It was his favorite doll, the little elf thing he named "Jack" without a "C", something I'll still never figure out why he spelt it that way (then again, he received the doll when he was a small toddler, he probably spelled "Jack" that way). I started at Nina next who merely smiled a little, then walked towards the door.

"You better make a decision. After all, I look up to you. You fail Crash, you fail me, too old man."

She closed the door on the way out. I got off my bed and slowly walked over to the doll. I picked it up. I didn't care how and when Nina manage to retrieve this from Crash's room, a room where it could only be accessed by a key I, and only I, possess. I stared at its little blue eyes and had faint images of Crash clutching that doll like his life depended on it. I smiled a weak smile from that faint memory. I then notice there was a long, thin, light blue fabric tied on the doll's left arm. Did Nina put that there? Taking the doll and placing it inside my large lab coat pockets, I immediately headed out the door and to the main cockpit where everyone was discussing plans to save Crash and the world.

"What's everyone standing around for!" I cried. Everyone looked at me in utter amazement, "We got a son to save, a world to save, masks to save…a whole lotta saving, actually."

"Cortex." Tawna smiled. I could see Coco wedged in a corner, drying off her tears. I walked over to her.

"This'll all be over soon, Coco." I placed a hand on her shoulder, and then stared at Gin and Brio, "Guys, I don't care how you do it, but just get inside that portal. We're going in top speed, ram and fight whatever is blocking your path, find Crash first!" Everyone cheered, not caring how risky and stupid the plan was. Gin and Brio charged up their engine and seconds later, the airship flew like a peregrine falcon, knocking all of us off our feet.

"Crash…"

Year X, Day X
A lot of risk was involved entering the dark, inky blackness. There was nothing there, no directions to turn. No intergalactic space objects floating in the sky, it was all or nothing. We didn't care, I didn't care. As Nicodemus flew like a raging bird, my mind was filled with thoughts and memories of my time with Crash. He has to know, I did love him…no, I DO love him, even to this day. He's my son; I won't give up on him. A parent never should. I have to make Akio understand as well, I never meant to replace him. I made mistakes and I will pay for them.

"He's just troubled." I told the others of Akio, "I have to let him know I made the mistake, not him, not Crash. It's all me."

As the airship flew by, a blinding light circled us and soon before us was Akio, now in blue flames, and literally 10 times the size of this ship.

"Akio!" I cried, "Listen and listen well! You're angry, you're jealous of Crash's relationship with me!"

"Of course I am!" Akio screeched, his voice as grating as nails on a chalkboard, "You replaced me with HIM!"

"I know, I know I did!" I cried, "I even forgot you a few times, but listen! This was MY doing! I created Crash because I missed YOU! Crash had no fault in this! He was an innocent pawn in my little plans to make myself the perfect world! Everything fell apart…losing both you and Candy…disapproving parents, a life of villainy…I just wanted that perfect world again." I was on my knees, face down. I was out on the deck, speaking with my first child. Silence fell and I saw Akio's face, he looked like a child wanting desperately for his parents to hug him. Then, he suddenly grew angry again.

"It doesn't matter anymore!" He cried, "It's too late to change now! You have to die now!" And his entire body started to engulf the ship, ready to suffocate us all. We all screamed while I tried to tell Akio to stop.

"PLEASE! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" I cried, but I could feel the air cutting off us as his flame-like body started to burn the ship and created ungodly amounts of smoke. I had my eyes closed, but the burning smell of flame faded. I noticed Akio quickly moving away.

"What th-?" Tawna gasped, edging near me.

"LOOK!" Crunch pointed. To all our disbelieved eyes, Aku Aku and Uka Uka manage to come save the day by showing off their magical abilities by shooting lasers at Akio. The two were small compare to Akio, but damaging him plenty, due to his shock at them working together.

"I had you imprisoned, you could not escape." Akio gasped, his shrill voice filling the dark emptiness.

"One God alone cannot withstand what ungodly amount of powers you had achieved…" Aku started.

"…But by joining two as one, we stand a pretty damn good chance!" Uka finished. The two eyed us and smiled gently. This was the first time I saw Uka smile.

"Two must become one, to create a balance, light and dark, black and white, love and hate…" Aku started.

"…Bring about a harmony." Uka continued, "It doesn't need one God to rule this galaxy, but two." And before anything could be said, the two masks twirled together as trails of their respective colors (Aku blue, Uka red) flew by, then the darkness was filled with another blinding white light. How many were we planning to have of those? We all tried to open our eyes and only saw one figure in total blackness from the light.

"Two is one, so did the mighty Gods have been tested…and passed." It was Tropy who slightly smiled, "Both are granted the gift of True Gods…may their judgment and power bring about a wonderful galaxy." His voice faded away. The white light still continued, but I opened my eyes wide enough to see Crash…or so I thought. I immediately leaped off the airship.

"CORTEX! NO!" I could hear Tawna.

"UNCLE!" Nina cried after. I didn't care; I knew what I was doing.

I extended my arm and in seconds, Crash grabbed onto my hand. I knew it was his. The white light still engulfed everything. I couldn't see anything but Crash who was literally bruised and bleeding.

"Crash…you're hurt." I whispered, tears flowing.

"Yea…Akio got me pretty bad." Crash slowly spoke, then he eyed me, "You don't look great either." I then noticed I was bleeding in a few spots, too. We were still clutching our hand as we both sobbed.

"I heard your heart…"Crash smiled, "I…I don't know how…but I heard it…I'm not sure where we are, but it feels good."

"It does, doesn't it?" I smiled, "Maybe this is where we go when we die. Maybe this is the afterlife and we just…well, got a short sneak peek." Crash smiled softly, our hands still touching. We seem to be falling, but it felt…comfortable.

"Aku and Uka are true Gods now." I sobbed, "I'm sure they can stop Akio…then…both of us can talk with him, show that we care. Show him this was all because of an old man's mistakes." Crash still weakly smiled, but his face felt like the brim of innocence, as though he was just a child again. I then snapped back from staring at Crash, then dug inside my lab coat, pulling out the doll.

"Here." I gently spoke, "It's yours." Crash smiled. He reached for the doll until we were both touching it. I'm not so sure what happen. I'm not so sure how a doll did all this, but we were filled with such a warm glow that when we stared at each other again, all our wounds had healed. We proceeded to hugging, despite our main condition of slightly falling into nowhere. Crash finally took the doll and using that light blue string, tied it near his left waist where his blue sash was. My feet felt heavier, and then I noticed we were both on solid ground. Granted, the floors were transparent, but still. The white disappeared and black came again, only this time; there were stars, comets, and other space doo-dads. Unfortunately, there was also Akio who rained down on us, hoping to flatten us. We both dodged out of the way.

"We have to calm him down." I suggested, "That means fighting. You ready for this?"

"Yes." Crash nodded. Both running in unison, we delivered a solid blow of kicks and punches. Akio squirmed and moved about, extending his arms, turning into fire, or blowing himself up. He also showed new arsenals with ways of magical spells, chucking nearby comets at us, blowing up meteors, and the likes. Crash, being agile and clever, carried me occasionally while dodging, and would even chuck me where I would land on Akio's face and delivered a serious of blows. Akio screamed a deadly pierced scream, nearly bleeding our ears, especially Crash's, who's was much more sensitive. Akio then surrounded us with black, angular whips of some sort. Too many to count.

"I HATE YOU ALL!" He screamed, "MEANIES!"

Unprepared on what to do as the whips immediately headed our way, Crash and I hugged. I think we were both ready to die together in each other's arms, but a huge laser sent the whips away. We gasped, turned around, and saw absolutely no one around, but was heard by a familiar voice.

"Akio!" Aku spoke, "You're hatred has caused this galaxy to be nearly destroyed, ripped in two!"

"Hate is an anger which will not go away." Uka's voice came next, "Everybody dislikes something, but you must have the balance of love to counter it. Otherwise, you will become unstable and surround fully to darkness where it will torment you forever."

The main problem was where their voice was coming from. We couldn't see them.

"AKU! Where are you?" Crash cried.

"We are here, Crash." Aku spoke, "You cannot see us for we are True Gods…our bodies are the Galaxy you live." Crash smiled, but his face turned sour when Akio's shrill voice rang as he cried and shrank back into a small boy again. As he continued to cry, ashamed to look at Crash and I, we both slowly walked over to him. I smiled and placed a hand on his back.

"This is not your fault." I softly spoke, "These are the mistakes made by myself, even though I had not intended to do so. I love you, Akio, and I love Crash, equally as my own sons." He still cried, even harder if that was possible.

"We forgive." I softly spoke, "We forgive all this madness and move on."

"We can't cling onto something forever." Crash broke in, "We have to move on." Akio cried some more before he spoke.

"I've been…bad!" He cried, "I've been a bad son!"

"There, there." I rubbed his back gently, "No…you were just confused and misunderstood. It's over now, everything is fine." His bawls turned into a mere gentle sob.

"You…forgive me?" Akio whimpered. I nodded as we both stared. Akio slowly, but surely smiled.

"I will never forget you, ever." I shook my head to prove it, "Know that." Akio nodded, his eyes still filled with tears. Then we both stood up.

"Go to the Afterlife." Crash suggested, "You'll meet our ancestors there. Say "hi" to them for me." Akio softly giggled and stared at Crash as he wiped the last remaining tears left on his powder white face.

"I am sorry, little brother." Akio sighed, "For all the troubles I caused…" Crash smiled, indicating that he, too had forgiven Akio. Akio smiled back and gently started to go into the Afterlife…if not for the fact that the black whips were back once again.

"WHAT?" I gasped.

"I don't understand! Akio understood!" Crash shouted.

"My hate must be too strong." Akio spoke, standing perfectly still, head slightly down, speaking in a calm tone as though this was a daily basis, "It has acted on its own and will not stop until Crash is dead."

"Won't stop?" I gasped.

"Yes, it will haunt Crash forever until he no longer walks the Earth." Akio muttered, "I am…sorry."

"I don't care what it does, Akio, we have to get out of here!" I gasped. Then, to my surprise, I saw Nicodemus far up top, we were just below it. They couldn't risk going down anymore then they have or otherwise the black whips would engulf them, too.

"I can help." Akio smiled, "With my last ounce of magic before I descend into the Afterlife." With that, he came close to both Crash and I. We were surrounded by a white light and saw ourselves in some sort of transparent, pinkish bubble, slowly flying towards Nicodemus. The black whips extended and quickly gave chase.

"Akio, go faster!" I ordered.

"I am trying!" Akio gasped, throwing his arms in the air to try and keep the bubble intact. Unfortunately, with one black whip grabbing onto the bubble, more surrounded it and started to pull us back. Akio struggled so hard to get out. We could hear the others crying out to us, giving Akio encouragement to pull us up, but the struggling continued. I stared around, sweat surrounding my entire face and I eyed Akio, struggling with all his might, and Crash, staring sadly up to face his friends and family.

"Coco's not on the deck." Crash sadly replied.

"Crash, this isn't the time!" I cried.

"I know she's been hurt…" Crash started, "But tell Coco… "I'm Sorry."

"Huh?" I gasped and faced Crash, looking at him as if he was some homicidal maniac.

"I'm…sorry." Crash eyed me, then he eyed the black whips, "They want me…they'll get me." He smiled, tears flowing.

"I know you risked your life to save me…" Crash spoke through tear stained eyes, "But now…it's my turn to risk my life and save you."

"Crash…no…NO!" I suddenly realized what he was going to do, "DON'T BE STUPID!" Crash merely smiled, taking the insult to heart. His crystal started to glow madly.

"…………You won't change….not as long as I live…"

I said nothing but watched in shock. He smiled warmly.
"Don't worry." He shook his head, "I'll come back…when this is all over." Then he blindly leaped out of the bubble and fell towards the black whip which all started to head towards Crash's direction. The bubble shoot up and I immediately fell to Crunch's arms who manage to catch me. Akio vanished afterwards, heading for, assumingly, the Afterlife. I, however, was worming my way out of Crunch's arms and heading for the edge of the deck, ready to leap out myself if not for Tawna who grabbed me.
"CRASH!" I screamed.
"CORTEX! NO!" She screamed, tears coming off her eyes. I knew it was hard on her to loose her boyfriend. I struggled some more, I didn't care if I, too, was engulfed. Nina came to help Tawna and eventually Crunch.
"CRASH! CRASH!" My shouts meant nothing as Crash fell, the black whips circling him, grabbing onto him and pulling him in further. I could not see his face, so all I did was scream. The airship started to fly away in full speed as the black whips not only circled Crash, but started to circle the entire space-like area.
"AKU! UKA! HELP US! SOMEBODY!" Gin and Brio cried out as they both steered the ship, hoping to find some sort of exit. Sure enough, a wormhole came out of nowhere, and the two took this as an escape route.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRROKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

I felt another blinding white light.

"As time passes, many different things will come to you and those close to you. The time when the Gods return will be at hand and when it does, a difference will be made. I have seen it…I could stop it, stop this tragedy from ever happening. As we gained something, we lose something. I could stop it…but it is not right to trifle so much on the power of time."

"If I kill you, the future will not go the way it was meant to. Destiny will not be fulfilled. Everything is connected, everything is a balance."
To Be Continued…