Welcome back folks. Who's ready for some N. Sanity?
Ever since Crash 4 was announced, it reawakened my love for the series, and with my first works on this site being all about a spin off set in the Mario universe, an idea had brewed. And now that Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time has come out, I can finally bring this to you.
I'm very excited for this story. I have it all planned out in a little doc and anything. I hope you all enjoy this. Granted I also hope for a Tv Tropes page, but hey, a man can dream.
Edit: ~~~ means a P.O.V. change.
Crash Bandicoot is owned by Activision. Mario is owned by Nintendo.
When someone told you that the best place in the universe to relax and be at peace with oneself is the very end of time itself, they would laugh at you, call you insane, and then call the local mental hospital to have you interned for said insanity.
Okay, that last part might just be Dr. Neo Cortex projecting that one time he told his plans of world domination to his high school crush. But she was dead, so it didn't matter anyway.
And it didn't stop the mad scientist, who once yearned to create an army of mutant animals to conquer the world, only to have it all be foiled by what he considered to be the greatest of his creations multiple times over, to take a deep, relaxing breath as he admired the extinguishing stars in the sky.
That latest debacle involving inter dimensional travel that resulted in him getting banished to this very place had taught him a valuable lesson. That sometimes it was fine to give up on a plan that was simply never meant to come to fruition. And he was taking that lesson to heart.
His inner musings were interrupted, however, by a rift in space and time opening up in front of him. He shielded his eyes from the bright light, waiting for it to subside enough to be able to see who had come to join him in his little slice of paradise.
"Dr. Cortex! We've found you!" The voice of Dr. N. Gin, his most loyal subordinate, came through the portal. The weapons engineer hopped through out of the rift, rapidly waddling over to him with glee on his face. And right after him came Tiny Tiger, his other most loyal subordinate. He had the biggest smile on his face when he saw the doctor simply lying down on the ground looking at the sky.
"N. Gin. Tiny. I see you managed to find me somehow." He said with a careless tone.
"Why of course, master. We spared no expense in retrieving you from this horrible place. It took us weeks scavenging the remains of Dr. N. Trophy's machine. But at last, we finally managed to find your prison."
"Yeah! Now you can come home, and we can squash bandicoots once and for all!" Tiny helpfully added.
What Cortex said next shocked the two to their very core.
"Oh, forget those vermin. Why don't you two lie down with me, and we can watch the end of the universe together, hmm? Trying to beat those two is a waste of time." The scientist patted the ground next to him.
N. Gin and Tiger shared a look with each other, wondering what had happened to the mad scientist they knew, who had a lust for revenge and world domination, before lying down on the next to the scientist.
"But why would you just give up like that! Those vermin are still out there, running around and stinking up the world you oh so deserve to conquer!"
"Yeah! You love squashing bandicoots!"
"Oh, you two, so obsessed with past transgressions. You should do what I do, and give up on trying to get revenge on those two. It caused me nothing but pain and suffering, constantly trying to retake what I once had. But here, I no longer have to worry about anything anymore. I am finally at peace with myself, and I didn't need to conquer the multiverse to achieve that."
The doctor's explanation disturbed his two subordinates. Seeing him be so okay with his defeat, in comparison to his bombastic hatred of the bandicoots.
But maybe this wasn't so bad.
The three remained on the ground, enjoying the view of stars fading out of existence. A strangely peaceful view.
"The bandicoot girl wants to turn your castle into her own lab place." Tiny commented after a while.
The sight of Cortex's eyes flashing open with a very visible twitch meant that Tiny had struck a nerve.
"The nerve of that brat!" The raging scientist shot up from the ground, startling his two companions. "Doesn't she have any idea how hard it was to find that stupid castle in the first place, let alone how much it cost?! They're not like wumpa fruit in a crate, you don't just find those everywhere! Oh, and moving that thing to an island in the region of Australia, does she have any idea how expensive that was?!"
N. Gin and Tiny could only stare in awe at their leader's magnificent rant. About how much he hated the expenses he wasted in getting the castle. About the many sleepless nights he spent working on creating the Lab Assistants, and his very own Cortex Vortex. The months of training wasted on the mutant animals. Especially on two particular marsupials.
"And those stupid Bandicoots! I get banished for a week and they immediately decide to intrude on my territory!? After all that training and all those battles, they decide to disrespect me, just like that!?"
As if preparing to frame this moment in the most appropriate way possible, a stormy cloud had formed, with the views of the scientists two subordinates putting Cortex right in front of it.
"I! Hate! Those! Bandicoots!" The mad scientist screamed to the sky, lightning striking behind him, creating the perfect moment of villainous fabulousness. N. Gin and Tiny were in awe at the sight of it all.
Regaining his breath from that intense rant, Cortex pointed at the two. "Get up, you oafs! We have work to do!"
His loyal minions got up with excitement, delighted to see that their beloved master was back. They followed Cortex into the rift back home, all in a confident stride. There was planning to be done.
"Before, my plans were usually small in scale. Conquer the world with an army, or by brainwashing, or by time travel. But every time, Crash and his little mask friend found out and put a stop to it." Cortex mused to himself, walking back and forth back inside the ruins of Castle Cortex. N. Gin and Tiny were standing at attention, listening to whatever evil plan he was going to come up with.
"And going bigger with the multiverse only made our return more obvious. They noticed us immediately and used those stupid Quantum Masks to put an end to that. How are we to come up with the perfect revenge plan with all these factors?"
"If I may suggest, Dr. Cortex, perhaps we've been thinking about this all wrong." N. Gin suggested. "All of your villainous plans involved those vermin in some way or form. Perhaps we simply need a plan that has no trace of their presence anywhere?"
"N. Gin that is a stupid idea. Of course those bandicoots are going to be involved in our plans. They always manage to find me, no matter where we are."
A rare flash of realization appeared in Tiny's eyes, and he quickly raised his hand in the air.
"Ughh, yes, Tiny, what is it."
"What if we find place with no Bandicoots?"
The tasmanian tiger's idea was almost stupid in it's simplicity. But the words still rang in his gigantic brain. A place without Bandicoots?
…
…
A WORLD WITHOUT BANDICOOTS!
"Tiny! I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're a genius!"
"He is?" N. Gin said in disbelief, while Tiny fist pumped in happiness.
"Of course! We've been going about this all wrong this entire time. We've been trying to battle those stupid Bandicoots for so long, but we were never strong enough to vanquish them. But in a universe without them anywhere to be seen, we'll have all the time in the universe to amass an army, one that those two couldn't even begin to comprehend how to take on! We'll be unstoppable! Mwahahahahah!" He began to laugh, evilly.
N. Gin joined in the laughing fit after a short moment. Tiny simply stared at the two laughing maniacs, wondering if he should join in or not.
When it was over, Cortex made his way over to his main computer, bringing up a map of the multiverse. "Now we just have to find a perfect universe to conquer, without catching the attention of those stupid Quantum Masks."
"Oh, I don't believe those will be a problem." N. Gin malevolently said. "There's a reason we managed to free you from your prison with minimal interference."
"How so?" Cortex inquired.
"Oh, we came up with the perfect way to get rid of them. Hehehehehe."
In an undisclosed location, a lab assistant disguised in masseuse clothes brought his hand down on the back of the mask of phase, causing him to scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooohhhhhh, yeah, that's the spot." Lani-Loli sighed, feeling all his worries fade away thanks to the wonderful massage he was receiving.
The four quantum masks were at an actual spa. Not a fake one, a real one.
"Indeed." Ika-Ika, mask of gravity, said, cucumbers on both his eyes as he enjoyed his mud facial. "How fortunate that we got an invitation to this place in the mail. We definitely earned this vacation."
"Yeah, not like the universe won't be in danger with us away, or whatever." The more doubtful side of Ika-Ika said, cucumbers on his eyes as well.
"Oh calm down, the universe can handle itself with us gone for a while." The jolly side chastised himself. "Kupuna-Wa, tell us what the forecast is for our future. I'm pretty sure it can handle itself without us, hmm?"
The mask of time was dipped in a hot tub, her headdress wrapped in a warm towel. "Oh, reality won't end itself while we're here. No need to be a worrywort about things."
"For once, I agree with her. I feel so relaxed right now." Lani-Loli added. "I'm not even worried about whatever catastrophic plan those scientists could end up cooking up while we're gone! I'm being serious here!"
"See? Even good ol Lani-Loli is relaxing. Now, let's just enjoy this mud facial. I say we've earned it."
"Whatever man."
'Akano, lounging on a recliner chair, hummed in agreement. The dark matter mask turned to the resort employee by the door and asked. "More Kale chips."
"Well that is a weight off my back at least." Cortex shrugged. "Now, to build ourselves a way to travel the multiverse."
"We have N. Tropy's rift generator? Why not use that?" N. Gin pointed at the machine in question. It was just the central part of the machine, barely held together by duct tape and shoddily soldered metal plates.
Cortex responded by kicking the machine, causing it to instantly collapse. "There is no way I'm using that pompous peacock's inventions ever again! No, I want it to be of my very own creation!" He moved to his computer, and after some searching, he pulled up blueprints to a particular machine of his own design. "The Psychetron! I had planned to try multiversal travel decades ago, but it never went anywhere thanks to those bandicoots constantly distracting me from my other projects. But now, thanks to our latest debacle, I can finally make use of it!"
Turning around, he pointed at N. Gin. "Call the Lab Assistants! Tell them to get to work on building this, now!"
The weapons engineer saluted his master before waddling away into the castles courtyard, where the Lab Assistants were likely having their only lunch break of the month.
"Tiny!"
The tasmanian tiger mutant stood at attention.
"Head into the castle storage. Chances are there should still be some crystals located down there from our previous adventures. Gather them and bring them to me!"
Saluting him, Tiny rushed towards a boarded up window and jumped through the wall. It would have infuriated Cortex, seeing more property damage caused by his least intelligent subordinate, but right now he could care less about that. He was too excited at the prospect of an idea that was so likely to succeed.
Now, to find a universe that had no Bandicoots in sight. He made his way towards the computer and began scouring the multiverse map for the perfect world to conquer.
Meanwhile, in another universe. One where the hills had eyes. And the flowers. And sometimes houses.
A winged turtle creature, a Parakoopa to be exact, flew through the night sky. Soon he was joined by a literal flock of Parakoopas, all heading to the same destination.
Bowser's Castle, the capital of Bowser's Kingdom.
The barren lands and magma lakes of the kingdom were home to many creatures. Goomba's, Boo's, Piranha Plants, Bob-Omb's, Spikes. They were a varied people, but they all shared one thing in common.
Their undying loyalty to their great king. Bowser.
Explaining who he was would be pointless. Seriously, you all know him… But if you need an explanation.
He had only one goal. Conquer the Mushroom Kingdom (and maybe marry the Princess, but that wasn't that big a deal anymore.)
And for 35 years he has tried, and for 35 years he has failed, all thanks to his arch nemesis, the ex-plumber/saviour of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario. And sometimes that other guy, Luigi.
Said king was standing on a podium in front of his castle, his entire army gathered together and waiting in bated breath for what he was about to announce.
When the ruler saw that his entire army was fully gathered in front of him, he raised his fist in the air. Instantly, his army grew quite, allowing him to speak his mind.
"My minions! It has been 35 years since the first time we tried conquering the Mushroom Kingdom. Since then, plan after plan after plan has been foiled by that stupid plumber, Mario!"
"Boo!" "He sucks!" "Mario is overrated!" "Autograph my face, Lord Bowser!" The crowd jeered.
"Yeah, yeah, I know that. Every time we try, that mustached loser and his green brother whatshisface show up and ruin everything. But has that ever stopped us from trying again?!"
"Never!" "We'll beat that loser!" "Your awesomeness will win one day!" "Marry me!" The crowd roared.
"That's right, my minions! He can beat us down as many times as he wants, but we'll always come back, bigger and badder than ever. And one day that loser will be nothing but mush to clean off my feet. Then, and only then will the Mushroom Kingdom be mine. And after that, we can move on to bigger targets! Bean Bean! Metro! The entire world! Heck, the entire universe! Why the heck not!"
The crowd roared louder than before, some throwing their shells in the air out of sheer excitement.
"Hahahaha! This is what I'm talking about. Give me that energy! Bwahahaha!.. Okay, everybody shut up." He slammed his fist down, instantly quieting everyone in the crowd. Well, everyone but one Boo who was still cheering loudly.
"WHOOOOO! WHOOOO! Whoooo! Whoo. Whoo?" The Boo finally realized that everyone had stopped, and sunk awkwardly back into the ground.
"... Anyway. There's another important thing that I made you all gather here for. Something you've all been waiting for."
Everyone watched in bated breath, awaiting their lords grand revelation.
From beneath the podium, Bowser pulled out a massive stack of envelopes, almost tallerthan he was, and plopped them onto the ground next to his feet. "It's payday!"
That got the crowd to cheer the loudest it had that night.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's about damn time. And in even better news, thanks to how well project 'Origami Kingdom,' no relation to the pop up story book, did, you are all getting bonuses tonight!" He spiced up that last bit with jazz hands.
The crowd was exceptionally happy about that, loudly cheering.
"Alright, I'm gonna call up your name, you raise your hand, or jump and down a lot, and I'll have the paychecks delivered directly to you." He grabbed the first letter on top of the pile. "Patrick Goombaton."
One by one, names were called, minions excitedly awaiting their paychecks to reach their hands, especially since they were touched by Bowser.
Behind the curtain that was covering the entrance of Bowser's Castle, the son of the king himself, Bowser Jr, was toying around on his Koopa Phone, waiting until his father finished his little payday ceremony thing.
"Lord Junior, please put that thing down. It is bad for your eyesight." The head of the royal magic court/ babysitter of the royal family, Kamek, chastised the young koopa.
"But what else am I supposed to do until papa finishes paying his dumb minions?" Junior whined. "Besides, I'm doing important work here. Check this out." He showed what was on his phone to the magikoopa.
Looking closely, Kamek could see an aerial view of the Kingdom itself, specifically the ceremony Lord Bowser was holding.
"It's this cool camera drone I built. We can use it to spy on the Mario Bros and learn their secrets!"
"Hmmm, that does sound interesting. Though I don't believe your father will approve of this."
"Pfft, he will! You'll see." Junior went back to toying around with the drone. However, after a while, he noticed something that gave him pause.
Kamek took notice of the reaction. "Lord Junior, what is wrong?"
Bowser Junior suddenly jumped off his seat and ran into the main stage. "DAAAAD!"
"Berry Boo." Bowser handed the paycheck to the Boo. The undead critter held up the letter in the air and stared at it in awe.
"I can finally afford H. !"
"DAAAAAAD!"
Bowser turned to see his son rushing towards him. The king wasted no time in grabbing the younger koopa into his arms.
"Hang on a moment son. You!" He yelled at a koopa in the crowd. "Give everyone their paychecks! I've got father business to attend to."
Once the red shelled koopa got up onto the stage and started to struggle his way up the podium, the Koopa King finally put his attention on his son. "So, what is it you wanna tell me son?"
Junior wordlessly showed his father his phone. Bowser looked at the image on the device, his face going from curiosity, to confusion, and finally, a frown.
The area of Bowser's Kingdom that bordered it's main target of abuse, the Mushroom Kingdom, was pretty easy to notice when one arrived at it. The part that belonged to the Mushroom Kingdom was lush and green, the part of Bowser's Kingdom was barren and charred. All common features of the area.
What was not a common sight was the giant tear in the space time continuum that had suddenly popped up there, casting an ominous glow across the landscape.
Approaching the area was a small chunk of Bowser's army, composed of giant tanks being dragged by Chain Chomps, Goomba and Koopa foot soldiers, and three fully manned airships.
The ground troops all stopped in front of the tear, parting away for one of the airships to land. The gangway lowered until it touched the ground, letting Bowser, his son and Kamek to walk down and approach the rift themselves.
The army all awaited their lords next orders, watching him assess the rift to see what it was all about.
A sudden pulse, followed by the rift widening, startled everyone but the Koopa King himself, who simply raised his eyebrow, interested in what was happening.
A blinding light emanated from the rift, obscuring everyone's vision. Slowly, the silhouettes of three beings started to form in the rift, growing larger as if approaching them.
Rock music blared through as the first two silhouettes exited. A large tiger creature jumped out, sliding on his knees while wailing on the guitar, while a much shorter looking human with a missile jammed in his head exited on a floating platform, banging away on the drums.
In between the two, a short, yellow skinned human dressed in some mad scientist attire with a distinctive letter N adorning his massive, bald head walked out, nodding along to the music.
The sight of him raising his hand in the air, causing the two to stop playing, signalled to the gathered army that he was the leader of this little group.
Viewing his entrance as having been sufficiently epic, Cortex examined what was in front of him. An army of little fungus creatures, turtles and giant ball chain dogs. Their armaments were impressive, if very archaic looking. Still, they could prove useful to him.
The only thing the Koopa king saw standing in front of him was what amounted to two nerds in lab coats and their pet cat. It was the most unimpressive display he had seen in his entire life. That cat was barely half his size, anyway.
The only thing the scientist saw standing in front of him was a particularly intimidating, but not very intelligent looking turtle creature, a miniature version of said giant turtle creature, and a small, robed wizard cosplayer wielding a toy like wand. It was the most unimpressive display he had seen in his entire life.
Cortex/Bowser was not impressed in the slightest.
Once he felt he had properly analysed what stood before him, Cortex began his speech.
"Greetings, inhabitants of this universe! I am Dr. Neo Cortex! And as of right now, I am your new ruler!"
The crowds murmuring, and the giant turtle's intense glare did not deter Cortex whatsoever from continuing his evil speech of doom.
"Now I know you're all going to be apprehensive about this new change in management, but I can assure you that the brainwashing process is completely painless for the first few seconds. You will also be paid whatever the minimum wage is in this reality, and will be provided with the bare minimum of amenities once you're under my employ. N. Gin!"
His loyal minion stood at attention. "Yes, master!?"
"Prepare the Cortex Vortex! It's brainwashing time." Cortex declared, turning to face what would soon be his new army, only to come face to face with the giant turtle beast staring at him right in the eye.
The nerve of this guy. Showing up in his kingdom, acting like he owned the place, and even threatening to brainwash his minions. He had enough experience with those three things to be justifiably angry about it. Wannabee villains showing up in his kingdom, intruding on his turf.
Time to teach these nerds a lesson.
"Alright, buddy." He poked the little yellow nerd right on the N, earning himself a glare from Cortex. "I don't know how things work where you come from, but let me tell you how things work around these parts."
The Koopa King stood tall, letting it sink in to the scientists just how huge he was. "I'm King Bowser, the Big Bad around these parts. And for 35 years, I've been trying to conquer this place. And in those 35 years, I've had a lot of little wannabe loser villains like yourself show up and try to take my place as the big baddie of this world for themselves. You wanna know what happened to those losers?"
The scientist seized up a bit when Bowser got up his personal space once more, feeling the warm air coming out of his nose. "I defeated them, and sent them running with their tails tucked between their legs. And the big lesson of the story is that here, I'm the main baddie, and if I had to give you any kind of advice, it's to go back where you came from and to never come back. Otherwise you're gonna be more bruise than person when I'm done with you."
The koopa king watched as his little speech sunk in the diminutive doctor's brain. Ah, it was always fun scaring away the newbies who tried to intrude on his turf.
He was surprised however to hear the scientist laugh.
"Gahahaha! Ah, you remind me of one of my high school bullies. Carlton, head of the football team. You would have liked him. Same level of intelligence." The mad scientist strutted along, twirling his blaster as he reminisced on his high school days. "Of course he's dead now. Tragic thing, he died in a mysterious explosion. Along with the entire high school. And a good chunk of the town we lived in. Sad, I know."
The scientist stood as tall as he could, his loyal minions standing behind him. "And that is another thing you may end up sharing in common with him if you and your little army of malcontents don't surrender yourselves to me immediately!"
Bowser glared at the scientist, his son and Kamek standing behind him. "Pfft, yeah right. Kamek!."
"As you wish, my lord." The royal wizard took to the sky, catching the scientists and Tiny's attention.
"Now, son." Bowser turned to address Junior. "This is how your pops gets rid of baddies who think they're better than him. Pay close attention."
Junior immediately took out his Koopa phone and began recording the soon to ensue awesomeness.
Cortex, N. Gin and Tiny all shared a look of confusion among each other, wondering what Bowser was trying to do. The ground suddenly shaking broke that shared look as the chunk of ground they were standing on was suddenly flung into the air.
Kamek blew on his wand as he flew back to the ground, standing his distance.
Bowser stomped the ground, pulled back his fist and waited for the right moment. With perfect precision, the Koopa king punched the chunk of ground when it reached him, destroying it and sending it's passengers flying into the distance, their screams fading away.
"You are the coolest, dad!" Junior declared as Bowser picked him up.
"No need to state the obvious, son. Now it's bedtime. A good night's sleep makes one bad villain, as I always say." Bowser turned to address his army. "Everyone retreat! The problem's been dealt with!"
"But Lord Bowser! Those scientists could be dangerous if we leave them alone like that." Kamek pointed out. "Shouldn't we strengthen our border security?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm pretty sure I thought these nerds a pretty good lesson." Bowser waved off Kamek's worries, walking back onto his airship with Junior in his arms. The army began their retreat back into the kingdom, content with the "threat" having been neutralized by their Awesomeness.
In the fields of the Mushroom Kingdom's outskirts, Cortex, N. Gin and Tiny crash landed into the ground in a messy heap.
Cortex struggled to pull his big head out of the ground, only succeeding when Tiny walked up to him and pulled him out by the legs. The dirt slowly slid down Cortex's sad face as he dangled in the air.
"Well that was a spectacular failure." Cortex sardonically said. "Oh. why do I even bother at all."
"Master, don't give up." N. Gin tried to reassure him. "We simply came in unprepared! He couldn't hope to succeed against you when you're at your full might!"
"Yeah! Tiny will crush turtle guy when doctor says so!" Tiny joined in on the reassuring.
It definitely succeeded in its intended purpose, if the evil smile that was growing on Cortex's face was anything to go by. "Ah, once in a while your brains come up with an actually intelligent thought."
Dropping down on the ground with an "oof." Cortex got back on to his feet and began pacing.
"We were expecting zero resistance in this reality. But it looks like its inhabitants aren't very keen on conscription and brainwashing. We are going to need reinforcements!"
He pulled out a remote, and with the push of a button, a rift appeared before them.
"Let's head back! We have some calls to make, and some favors to cash in. This Bowser fellow thinks he has a chance against me. Unfortunately for him, he's made a powerful enemy. It's time. For war! Muhahahahahaha. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
As they walked into the rift in space, the trio all began to laugh maniacally. This Bowser fellow will soon meet a fate of mad science that he couldn't even begin to predict. And once he was out of the picture, Cortex would have free reign of the world.
Things were going to get very interesting very soon.
1 Month Later
In the Bandicoot household on N. Sanity Island, Coco yawned as she poured herself and her brother a bowl of wumpa marshmallow cereal. It was another uneventful morning for the two, as they had all been for the past month. Something was off about everything. As if something was missing in their life.
A mad scientist shaped hole, to be exact.
But Coco's big brain simply elected to ignore the question in favor of breakfast. It probably wasn't that big a deal anyway.
"Crash! Craaaash! Breakfast is ready!" She yelled for her brother to get his bowl. When she got no response, she decided to bring it to him instead.
Exiting the kitchen, she saw her brother snoozing away on the couch, feet dangling off of the arm rest. The bandicoot girl rolled her eyes at her brother's typical antics. "Craaaaaash. Wake uuuuuuup."
Still no reaction.
Coco shrugged at that, and simply walked up to her brother, and poured the contents of the bowl into his mouth. Somehow, he did not choke, let alone react to the food in his mouth. He was even still snoring as if there wasn't anything obstructing his airways.
Coco took the leftover space on the couch that wasn't taken up by sleeping bandicoot, and with her cereal bowl on her lap, pulled out her laptop and started typing away. She needed to check on her fancy new "Twitch" channel.
Another average morning, as per usual.
Outside of the bandicoot house, Aku Aku, guardian mask of N. Sanity island, surveyed the land. Something had been strange about the past month.
It was… uneventful.
Sure, they were no strangers to long periods of peace without some evil scientist with a big evil plan to conquer the world. They had banished Cortex and the N. Tropies to different corners of the multiverse, after all. Not to mention his brother, Uka Uka, still being trapped in the past as well.
But usually, whenever the masterminds weren't doing something huge, their lackey's would keep up the pace with more minor plots, usually involving killing them. It kept them in shape, at the very least, and was a welcome change of pace on a particularly boring day.
But nothing had happened at all in the past month.
No attacks from one of N. Brio's mutant creations. No threats of N. Gin and his superweapons. No Tiny Tiger challenging Crash to arm wrestling.
Just pure, perpetual, peace.
And it was strange.
He went back inside the house, deciding to discuss his thoughts with the others. "Good morning, children."
"Good morning, Aku." Coco greeted back. The exchange, for whatever reason, was enough to wake up Crash, who after noticing the breakfast in his mouth, and putting two and two together, swallowed it all in one big gulp. An impressive, biology defying feet if one thought about it.
"Has this month felt odd to you two? As if something was missing?" He asked.
Coco simply sighed in frustration. "Ugh, yeah. We haven't had an attack by any of Cortex's lackeys the entire time. It's driving me crazy too."
Crash nodded along to his sister's answer. Now that he thought about it, it had been strangely quiet the past couple of weeks. He had had plenty of time to dig holes, eat wumpa fruit, work on his novel about two mutants finding love in a post apocalyptic jungle, and chew on old shoes, all without a single, mad science based attack at all. It was strange. He missed them.
"I haven't sensed the presence of my brother anywhere at all, and Cortex and the Dr.'s Tropy are still stuck outside our reality. We should expect this kind of peace. But it seems unnatural, in some way. Hmmm." The mask was in deep thought now.
Crash scratched his head in thought. There was something ringing around in his brain. Something that didn't usually occur to him. What did Coco call that again?.. An idea!
Coco felt Crash poking her shoulder. "What is it, Crash?" She turned to ask her brother. Crash began pantomiming something. Holding his hands over his eye like he was holding a telescope, staring right at her laptop?
...
Wait! Of course!
"The cameras!" Coco realized. Giving her brother a thank you hug, she began rapidly typing through her laptop, searching for something.
Aku Aku, not in the know of what the bandicoots knew, floated over to the couch to have a better view of Coco's laptop. "I'm assuming you two have a lead?"
"Yep. A while before we banished Cortex to the past, I hacked into his castle's camera system to keep an eye on things in case they ever returned there. The lab assistants shut it down some time ago, so I stopped looking into it. It's why I've had my eye on the place, waiting for them to leave. I want to make it my own, use it for my own scientific work, and stuff. Anyway, there might be something useful on there that could give us some answers."
On the laptop screen, a video feed popped up showing an image of the inside of Castle Cortex. The video was dated 1996, showing Dr. Cortex… singing?
"And IIIIIIIIIIIII! Will always love youuuuuuu!"
The video feed began to fast forward thanks to Coco, who laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, hehe, I may have been digging up some dirt on Cortex. Just in case. Hehe."
Crash was disappointed. Cortex had such a beautiful singing voice.
The video continued fast forwarding, the numbers flashing by rapidly, until suddenly the date went from 1998 to 2000, skipping over a big chunk of time.
Viewing the video, they could see Dr. Cortex exiting a quantum rift with N. Gin and Tiny. Behind them, a shoddily put together rift generator appeared as well.
"He escaped. Why am I not surprised." Coco rolled her eyes. Aku Aku and Crash sighed in agreement. Mad scientists really were harder to squash than cockroaches.
They continued to watch as Cortex came up with his newest evil plan: to travel to a different universe, conquer it and amass a new army to finally defeat them with. After fast forwarding a few more hours, they landed on the sight of a completed device, Cortex's Psychenator, and watched as he pressed a button on the remote he had on hand.
The feed went fuzzy after that.
The bandicoots and their mask father figure processed this information. Cortex was in a different universe now, doing who knows what, and they hadn't realized that the entire time. Coco quickly checked to confirm that yes, the footage took place a month ago.
"How could Cortex break out of the end of time? The Quantum Masks should have noticed!" Coco pointed out.
"They've been on vacation to a spa since last month. They must have been too busy relaxing to notice any imbalances in the fabric of reality. This is terrible children."
Aku Aku slammed the door open. "Quickly! We must head to Cortex Castle! If we're fast enough, we can mitigate whatever damage he's caused in this other universe!"
Crash and Coco nodded at each other, and began preparing themselves. Crash slapped on his gloves, and ran a hand over his mohawk to make sure it was perfectly messy. Coco, meanwhile, grabbed her tablet from her room, and quickly adjusted her goggles above her head.
The two ran outside after Aku Aku, heading on their way to Castle Cortex.
Having teleported into the main chamber of Castle Cortex, Crash and Aku Aku examined the giant machine hanging from the ceiling, all the while Coco was hard at work in trying to get it under her control.
"This is definitely of Cortex's design. It's even using power crystals."
Crash poked at the machine in different places, either burning his finger or electrocuting himself every time he did. Didn't stop him from trying, though.
"He must have had them hidden inside the castle somewhere. Convenient for him, I suppose." He said. "Are you almost finished gaining control?" Aku Aku called out to Coco.
"Just a second." She said back. She typed away at her tablet for a few more seconds, until. "Aaaaaaaaand done. One interdimensional travel device ready for use."
A rift opened right in front of Crash, startling him and making him fall on his back. He dusted himself off as he got back up, Coco and Aku Aku joining him in standing in front of the rift.
"We can pretty much jump between universes anytime we want if we need to. As long as it's powered up, anyway."
"Excellent work, Coco. Now." Aku Aku floated in front of the bandicoot siblings to address them. "We don't know what is beyond this rift. What we do know, however, is that Cortex has already had a full month to do whatever he wants in this reality. We are likely to encounter familiar foes, and things we've never had to deal with before. Are you two ready?"
Crash and Coco shared a confident look with each other. Cortex's hairbrained schemes were nothing new. Even with a different universe involved, things were likely to end up the same. With the bandicoots on top, and scientists at the bottom.
Getting a running start, Crash swan dived into the rift, letting out a loud "WOAH!" as he flew inside.
New universe, here we come!
Before you all ask, I had written the beginning of the story before the 100% and 106% endings were discovered. But hey, creative liberties can be taken.
Next time, we enter level 1-1: Toad Town Ruckus. See you next week.