Chapter 6 - It Begins

"This is it," thought Crash, "today is the day we thwart Cortex's plans."

Crash looked around him, at his friends, his allies, his fellow war buddies. Everyone had a look of nervousness on their faces, and there was no reason for them not to have. No one had any idea what would face them, and no one knew if they would survive. At that moment, Crash saw Aku Aku coming towards him.

"Are you ready to move out Crash?" he questioned.

Crash paused for a second, before he made his final decision.

"Yes, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Ok Crash...may we all survive this day."

Aku Aku made his way to the centre of the gathering of people.

"Friends, it is finally time. I do not know what we may be facing, but we will face it head on, and we will face it together! Look out for each other out there. Now, let's face this evil that plagues our island, MOVE OUT!"

The two hundred strong group slowly made their way through the jungle, and it was not an easy journey. The undergrowth was hard to walk through, and many of the animals struggled to keep up. Crash, Coco and Crunch all walked together, with Pura by Coco's side. She gave a little mew of concern.

"Don't worry Pura, I'll look out for you, as I will do everyone else."

The vast, thick jungle suddenly dispersed, revealing a large clearing. There was nowhere to hide here.

"Everybody, stop!" Crash shouted.

Everyone stopped moving, and looked at Crash, who proceeded to walk up to Crunch.

"Look Crunch, up ahead."

Crunch stared into the distance, where he spotted a large mass of silhouettes edging towards them.

"Good god, there must be twice as many of them as there are us," Crunch said with a hint of terror in his voice, "we can't possibly win this!"

"We have to try Crunch, we have to try!"

Cortex's army was almost upon them, as Crash made his way to the front of the group, to confront his nemesis.

"CORTEX, YOU MONSTER, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO STOOP SO LOW, THESE ANIMALS NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!"

Cortex laughed, "HAVE YOU NOT YET REALISED I DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANY WORTHLESS ANIMALS, THE LESS THERE ARE, THE BETTER, AND I WILL NOT REST UNTIL I HAVE ELIMINATED YOU!"

"You cold-hearted bastard!" Crash muttered under his breath.

"NOW MY MINIONS, ATTACK!" Cortex roared.

"OK GUYS, FORWARD, DON'T HOLD BACK!"

A flurry of metal and fur ensued, as the two groups clased head on. Crash and his group were heavily outnumbered, and the robotic animals were twice as strong as he'll ever be. Crash fired a wumpa fruit at two huge gorillas, which connctected with one of the creatures heads, knocking it over. He looked over to his left, and saw Crunch facing off against a panther. He threw it across the battlefield with some considerable force, but no sooner had he done that, another creature grabbed him from behind and wrestled him to the ground. Crash wished he could help his friends, but he too was having problems of his own.

"CRASH, WE'RE LOSING TOO MANY ALLIES," Coco called out, "WE CAN'T FIGHT MUCH LONGER!"

Crash looked around quickly, and saw that Coco was correct. He saw animals being torn limb from limb everywhere he looked, whereas his group were hardly making a dent in Cortex's defences. Blood was covering the ground, turning it a deep crimson in colour. Crash knew that they were fighting a losing battle.

"PULL BACK, FOR GOD'S SAKE PULL BACK!" Crash ordered.

Everyone knew they had no choice, and as they quickly turned and retreated back into the safety of the jungle, Cortex's voice rang out.

"DO YOU SEE CRASH, YOU CANNOT STOP ME THIS TIME, I WILL DEFEAT YOU!"

Crash collapsed onto the floor when they reached the safety of his hut. He looked at his friends, their faces covered in scratches and bruises. Crunch was quickly doing a head count, to see who was left.

"How many are there?" Crash asked.

"We only have seventy-three allies left, they totally decimated us Crash!"

Crash began to cry, his emotions finally taking over himself.

"This is it, we've failed. Cortex is finally going to win!"

"Never say that Crash," Aku Aku stated, "we can still win."

"NO WE CAN'T," Crash shouted, tears streaming down his face, "IT'S HOPELESS, WE CAN'T WIN!"

Crash ran into his hut and slammed the door behind him. Aku Aku stared at Coco and Crunch. Just from looking at their faces, he knew that what Crash had said was right. There really was no hope left for any of them.