A/N

Little warning, this chapter gets a bit dark at the end. I'm also gonna start transitioning between Cortex and the Bandicoots. Enjoy! Longest chapter ever.

You gotta keep saying that?

I know I'm terrible. XD Just work with me here. And people if you would, read the authors note at the end of this chapter before you start complaining. Thanks. Onward!


A Twinsane Wedding

Chapter 6 Your Worst Nightmare

Crash and Aku Aku casually strolled through the tunnel back tword the house. They weren't in a rush like Coco was. "So, Crash how did therapy go with Cortex?" The mask wondered. Crash clicked his teeth and gave a thumbs up. "So it went well, alright. Come on, let's go and comfort Coco, I know she's skeptical about Cortex."

Coco breathed in a sigh of releif as she ran over to the house, but her calm demeanor didn't last long.

Crunch was outside lifting weights, while at the same time, he had eyes and ears all around the perimeter, nothing evil was going to get passed his trained eye. He stopped patrolling and set the barbells down when he spotted his two siblings and Aku Aku coming into view, "Hey Coco, little bro, what's up?"

The female bandicoot growled in frustration. She pictured Cortex standing in front of her; just seeing his face was enough to get her worked up. Coco imagined wrapping her hands around his throat and strangling him, "I am going to kill him! He is so dead when I get my hands on him again! I knew I should have hit him when I had the chance, but you told me to calm down, you said violence never solves anything!"

"Coco, please!" Aku Aku begged, his eyes were lined with a mixture of both worry and concern for the young girl. "What would hitting him accomplish?"

'What would that accomplish? Oh I don't know, everything?' She thought.

"What's wrong sis, who are you wanting to hit?" Crunch asked, reaching out a hand to her. Coco hissed in response. "Ok, I'll wait till you're calm." He frowned and pulled his arm back, before backing away slowly and joining Crash.

Crash, after scratching his chin for a brief moment, scurried over to the front door and plucked up a bright pink flower. He dashed back and held it out to the younger bandicoot. She took a look at it and gazed up at her brother.

Finally she accepted it. Coco couldn't say no to her first older brother about anything. She took it and placed it in her hair, then received a hug from him after. "Thank you Crash." After taking a deep breath and calming herself of her tirade, she faced Crunch and explained what had happened to them. "Me and Crash were over at Cortex's Iceberg Lab."

"Oh boy, what's that little weasel of a scientist done now? More mind control? More minions?" Crunch asked, picking up a tree branch and snapping it in two with his one metal hand like it was nothing more than a flimsy little twig. He could only assume that is was something evil. It was Cortex after all. Just the mention of his name made the bandicoots blood boil.

"Cortex tried to use his machine, the Psychetron, to do away with Crash. But of course, like all of his plans, it failed. And the worst part of that is he instead got zapped and teleported right into our brothers brain."

Crunch couldn't believe what he had just heard. Had his ears deceived him? "What?! That's horrible!" When it came to protecting his siblings, Crunch took the older brother role very seriously. Seeing anything bad happen to Crash or Coco was his worst nightmare. He lifted up Crash and started shaking him around like a lifeless rag doll, "Little Crashy, are you alright?! Don't worry, we'll get him out of your head!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Crunch, it's alright, me and Nina got him out." Coco calmly explained. "Cortex left a recorded explanation about throwing his machine into reverse. So, we followed his instructions and surprise surprise, something that he said actually worked. And me and Nina sent him and Crash to start therapy sessions to work out their issues."

"They do have a lot of issues. Good call." He gave a thumbs up and sat his sibling down, Crash's eyes were spinning like tops after being put back on the ground, and his ears were ringing from the eardrum shattering loud voice. "And is it working?"

"Crash seems to think so, don't you Crash?" He nodded and gave a thumbs up, before plopping down on the ground and falling backward. "Yup, not sure about Cortex though. But, in all fairness, I could care less about him. I just want to kill him sometimes, but I know I could never bring myself do that." Coco tried to control her anger; She took a deep breath. In and out, in and out...Pretty soon she realized that this method wasn't going to work, rage still lurked underneath the fur. "Crunch, can I use that punching bag that you've got out back?"

"Sure, anytime you want to hit something, feel free to hit that." He encouraged. "And I know how you feel. Have at it." Coco nodded, she knew she would feel better after releasing some rage. Balling her hands into fists, she stomped angrily to the backside of the house.

After watching the younger bandicoot storm off, Crunch looked at Aku Aku and tilted his head. "Is she gonna be alright?"

"I think she'll be fine, she's got you, me and Crash to help her. I think she'll be much better after a good nights sleep tonight."

Crunch suppressed a long sigh before saying, "I hope you're right." Aku Aku and Crash then headed inside the house, leaving Crunch to get back to his weight lifting. "I hope you're right."


Cortex sighed as he rolled over in bed, he looked up at the stone ceiling and held out the photo. Crash's happy face (with eyes crossed and his tounge stuck out) gazed back at him.

'How can you be so happy all the time?' Cortex then remembered when they first arrived in the 10th dimension and Twinsanity Island.

"Your fur is so soft, and warm." Cortex had no clue it was Crash's 10th dimensional counterpart he was hugging. It wasn't until something felt off that both amazed and utterly terrified him. The bandicoot felt taller, and his fur felt matted. He looked up before recoiling backward and screaming in fright.

Evil Crash, a wicked twisted bandicoot with a thirst for blood and meat. He growled at Cortex before leaping over him and snatching up Nina.

When Cortex and Good Crash made an effort to rescue Nina from the clutches of Evil Crash, he chased after Cortex and tried to tear him to shreds. Trying to be brave back then had failed horribly. Luckily the feral marsupial got distracted by a bird, leaving the man a window of opportunity to hightail it out of there.

The scientist shuddered as he remembered that. The was an event Dr. Cortex would rather forget, but as much as his mind tried to block it out, he knew it would forever lurk in the back of his brain, "Your doppleganger almost killed me, but from what I've seen throughout our journey together, you would never do anything to hurt me. You really do care about me."

Cortex's eyes trailed downward and gazed over the blood stain on his clothes. That would be a permanent reminder of what had happened today.

Setting the photo and his weapon down for a moment, he waltzed over to his closet and pulled out a fresh white lab coat. Throwing it on, he felt much better, of course the stab injury would take more time to heal properly. He crumpled up the ruined article of clothing and tossed it in the trash.

"It's not your fault that I got hurt in Totem Hokum today, it was all me. I wasn't watching where I was stepping. Dr. Jacobson was right. Crash, if you really were a complete idiot, I would have beaten you ten years ago. You are definitely a lot smarter than you look.." Cortex, again couldn't beleive what he was saying. "But I did enjoy that hug you gave me."

Closing the closet, he worked his way back, flopped backward into bed, and pulled the covers up over him. He put his ray gun on his nightstand and the photo on the pillow next to him, just as something else hit him. "Crash I know I said I wanted you evil, but I don't, the bandicoot from Twinsanity Island almost murdered me, and while you may not be the brightest, you're actually really sweet." Cortex inhaled then exhaled a long sigh, before reality smacked him right in the face. "Darn that therapist was right. Oh, he is good."

Dr. Jacobson had gotten into his head and wasn't about to leave.

Turning out the bedside table lamp, he sighed happily as he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. Listening to the waves crash against the rocks outside seemed to help as he drifted off into what Cortex hoped would be a peaceful slumber.


Cortex's eyes snapped open, he gasped as he picked himself up and looked around frantically. He was on a beach. The atmosphere of this place was dark and gloomy, almost depresssing: the dark purple sky above him rumbled with thunder as lightening cracked the sky. Even the water was a deep purple. The trees bare and their branches curved and spiked like talons.

But what made him realize exactly where he was, was the faces of the Evil Twins carved into the stone cliffs of this unforgettable nightmarish dimension.

"Oh my gosh, this is Twinsanity Island. Why am I back here?" Cortex asked himself. He started to feel uneasy as he hugged himself, trying to keep warm. "Crash?" Only the raging storm and the icy wind answered him. As he slowly pressed forward, robotic ant like creatures with blue laser swords jumped out from behind the rocks. "You're the soilders of Victor and Moritz aren't you?"

"Yes, and we've been instructed by the Evil Twins to capture you." One of the ants aimed his sword right at Cortex's throat and charged forward, causing him to stagger backward, slamming up against a rock. His bones cracked and broke under the pressure, and the injury from Totem Hokum opened up again, blood gushed out and dripped down the front of him, coating and staining the front of his clothes a deep scarlet.

As the ants raised their weapons, Cortex held up his hands, "Please, I don't wanna die! But I can't undo what I did to the twins to make them like they are! I can't reverse it!"

"Oh, we're not gonna kill you, we were only sent by Victor and Moritz to patrol this dimension and find you. The twins had a hunch that you would return here, so naturally, those two are going to be the ones to end your life."

The doctor was stunned that they still wanted their revenge. "I'll never forgive myself for what happened when I was eight. That I was the cause of what became of them.'

The leader ant gestured his soilders closer so they could capture the scientist. Cortex gulped, reaching into his pocket for his ray gun. He hoped he could stun them for just long enough for him to make his escape. But his eyes widened in shock and he started trembling as he realized nothing was there.

'Of course.' Fear clouded his mind and anxiety swelled up inside him. The man dashed out from behind the rock and tried to run, but Cortex didn't manage to make it two steps before his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground under the weight of his injury.

The ants smirked as they flew up above him and pulled out a rope. One soilder tied it into a lasso and threw it, as Cortex attempted to pick himself back up. Catching one of Cortex's ankles, he pulled the scientist down and yanked him backward. Reeling him in like a fish on a hook.

"Crash! Where are you?! Crash!" Again no one answered...no one came. He was stuck, forcefully being dragged to the Evil Twins.

Victor and Moritz flew tword their minions, grinning as they saw their old owner who had ruined their lives. He was fighting the ants all the way. "We knew you'd come back pops, we just knew it." Moritz replied.

"Like we said, you ruined our lives. Now allow us to return the favor." Victor snapped a finger and Evil Crash appeared. Emerald eyes almost immediately locked onto Cortex. "Crash, lunch time." The dark red bandicoot growled and licked his lips.

"Do you have no sense of pity for what you're about to do?! You were my pets! I cared for you! And I'm sorry for what I did! There are some things that even I can't undo!" Dr. Cortex was sobbing and screaming as he said that.

The twins pondered that for a moment. Before reaching a conclusion. They broke the answer into two parts.

"No pity at all, sorry. Plus you didn't even recognize us when we first arrived on N Sanity Island." Moritz reminded.

"And we want to forget what happened to us when we entered this place years ago. It was all your fault!" Is what came from Victor's mouth.

Using telekinesis, they levitated Cortex up into the air and dangled him mere inches above Evil Crash. This was the end for poor Cortex: no ray gun, no good Crash to come and save him, no way out. The drooling bandicoot waved a goodbye to the scientist and opened his mouth, ready for his meal.

"Goodbye." Victor and Moritz let their hands drop to their sides, stopping the telepathic ability and letting their owner fall down;

Right into the jaws of death, with Cortex screaming all the way...

A/N

One month to Nitro Fueled! WOO! Come on June!

Focus.

Sorry, got a bit carried away. XD Alright, so this chapter was a bit of a challenge to write, but I got it. And left it at an awesome cliffhanger to boot. Victory! I'm sorry this chapter took a dark turn in the end, I just had the idea of giving Cortex a nightmare would not leave my brain, so there's that explination. XD But if you like the idea, that's good too. And I know the twins got eaten alive, but I was pondering what would happen if they finally got their revenge on Cortex. The end of this chapter was the result.

Oh, you are so bad.

Why thank you. And I know Crunch made a cameo appearance in Twinsanity before the Mechabandicoot boss fight, but I decided to keep it along the lines of where Wrath of Cortex ended and have him stay with Crash and Coco.

Cue Mission Impossible theme for probably the next chapter.

Thanks Cortex. Reviewers:

Anon: Yes, the Spyro reference. I agree, you steal a dragons treasure, you will definitly pay the price. And I think you're right, Cortex has always had feelings for Crash. Cause the first icon we see on his gun in Twinsanity is the Love setting.

FlauraRara: Nope, no treasure for the N Team. They got roasted, literally. Yeah, the Love setting is gonna be trouble in the future. Also I took a close look at cutscenes from Crash 3 and 5 and here's what I can make. Cortex's ray gun was presumably left in that other dimension where he and N Tropy ended up when they turned into 3 year olds. Cause his ray gun wasn't seen again until Twinsanity and the opening cutscene. My theory is Cortex rebuilt it and added in the Love setting. Since it wasn't seen in Wrath of Cortex.

Wonder what the team will find in their search through Cortex's stuff?

Really, the whole N Team and Uka Uka going through my stuff...oh no! *screams*

*raises eyebrow* You have something to hide?

W-what?! *blushes and looks away* No...see ya! *sprints off* This chapter is also gonna haunt me for probably the rest of my life!

Until next time, keep smiling! Cortex get back here! *grabs a heavy duty rope and runs after him*