Chapter 4 - Preparing for War

Crash opened his eyes slowly, his head was throbbing, and every single one of his ribs felt like they had been ripped apart. The sun was beating down on Crash, it looked like early afternoon, he must have been knocked out for a good few hours. After regaining his thoughts for a few minutes, he suddenly remembered how he came to be knocked out.

"CORTEX! I have to warn the others!"

Crash struggled to stand up, but to his dismay, he found himself tied down to the ground, there was no way he could escape, the thick ropes were binding him tightly.

"How much worse could this get!" he thought to himself.

As though something had read his thoughts, Crash heard a loud rumbling and an explosion, it also started to get very, very hot.

"Oh no!" Crash realised where he was.

He was tied down at the base of the N.Sanity volcano, which was now just beginning to erupt, the lava was slowly oozing towards him, he was about to be burnt to a crisp. Drops of sweat started to pour down Crash's face as he tried desperately to free himself, but to no avail. Crash gave up all hope of freeing himself, when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of orange.

"Oh great, has that mechanical tiger come to rip my heart out before I become a chargrilled mess?" he gave a groan.

Crash saw the blur of colour again, it was too small to be a fully grown tiger. Crash's eyes lit up, it had to be Pura.

"PURA, OVER HERE!" Crash shouted at the top of his voice.

A loud mew was heard, and the tiny tiger cub came bounding towards Crash.

"Oh Pura, thank god you're here!"

Pura gave a soft purr and licked Crash's face.

"There will be more time for that later Pura, hurry, try to bite through these ropes tieing me down."

The lava was almost upon Crash and Pura, his fur was starting to singe. Pura bit furiously through the rope clutching Crash's left hand.

"Hurry Pura, hurry!" Crash said with a panic-stricken voice.

At last, Crash felt some relief in his left hand, Pura had done it. Crash wasted no more time untieing his legs and remaining hand, and without a moment to lose. As Crash and Pura were running down the volcano, he saw the place where he was just bound to go up in flames, the ropes lost in a sea of lava.

"Come on Pura, we have to warn the other's of what Cortex is up to!"

Crash sprinted as fast as his leg's could carry him back to the safety of his hut, with Pura in tow.

Meanwhile, back at the Bandicoot's hut, everyone was starting to become more and more worried.

"Where could he be?" Coco said, trying to hold back the tears, "Pura hasn't come back either, I'm so worried."

"Don't worry Coco," Crunch replid, trying not to sound worried either, "If I know Crash, he'll be back."

The door of the hut swung open at that very moment, and there stood Crash, gasping for breath, his fur was black in some places.

"Oh my god, Crash, what happened!" Coco ran up to her brother and gave him a warming hug.

"I will...get to that...call Aku Aku...he needs to hear this."

Crash slumped into the nearest chair, exhausted, the others gathered round him. He then told them of his walk along the beach last night, how he encountered the robot tiger and Cortex, and how he barely escaped being burnt to death. Everyone's mouth's dropped open.

"So, my preminitions WERE true after all," Aku Aku declared, "It sounds like Cortex is producing a massive army, consisting of our fellow animal friends, except he has manipulated them and turned them into mindless killing machines, I never thought he would stoop so low."

Aku Aku gave a heavy sigh.

"This is not good, not good at all."

"Do you think now would be the time to take action?" Crunch questioned.

Aku Aku stared directly at Crunch.

"Yes, we have to take action immediately!"

Crash gave a puzzled look, "but who can we get to join us in the fight?"

"Anybody and everybody, every last living thing on this island can come to our aid."

The Bandicoots looked at each other.

"We will get as many creatures as we can to help us Aku," Coco said.

"Good, go now, and stop for nothing!"

The three friends took Aku's words and made their way into the jungle, to search for fellow allies.

Unbeknown to the bandicoots, their every move and word was being watched. A flurry of feathers shot back to the ruins of Cortex Castle, where a menacing looking parrot perched onto the huge steel shoulder of Doctor Cortex, who gave a sly chuckle.

"So Crash, you survived being burnt alive, never mind though, you don't stand a chance against me and my army, you will be wiped out!

The maniacal laugh of Cortex filled the air, as several hunderd pairs of eyes glowed menacingly in the setting sun.