Crash was horrendously bored. This was different from normal bored, as when he was normally bored, he would simply and go and pester one of his siblings, and failing that take a nap. The difference this time of course, was that when he had gone to pester Coco, she had actually asked for his help.
Well, that was easy! He had something to do now! What could possibly be so boring about helping his beloved sister?
Apparently, everything. She droned on in some smart-people language that Crash had no idea how to understand, and the help simply involved sitting by a box of salvaged metal components, and fishing out various pieces as Coco called for them. At first it was quite enjoyable but quickly grew dull. She just kept asking for little springy pieces which Crash wasn't even allowed to play with, since apparently his sister needed them right that very moment. Crash frowned, she could be so bossy at times.
So to pass the time, he rummaged around the box anyway. There were a couple of more springy pieces that he set aside, knowing that his sister would probably need them, along with those parts that squeaked a little when you bent them. There was even some cogs in here!
What really caught his attention though was a black cylinder, roughly the same length and width as his finger, and it had a little button on it. He brought it out of the box and turned the object around in his hands, investigating it. The ends of the cylinder seemed to have screwed on discs of a bright grey colour on them, and one of them had a hole in it. He poked the hole, frustrated that it didn't do much, so instead he checked the other end of the cylinder. There was a little keychain on the other end, which he fiddled with, however that novelty wore off.
He was about to toss it back in the box before he remembered the button. Eh, this thing seemed harmless enough, what's the worse that could happen? He pressed the button, and held it down, his eyes fixating onto something new. A very appealing shiny red dot had promptly appeared on the concrete floor of the laboratory. His eyes widened akin to a cat about to pounce on something. He had to have it!
Letting go of everything he was holding, he pounced forward, pushing off the stool he was sitting on with his feet, and promptly crashed onto the concrete floor with a loud crash. "Oof!" he breathed out as his chest crashed into the floor, winding him. He moved his hands, and despaired when he realised that the laser was gone.
"Crash, what on earth are you doing?"
Crash looked up to see Coco standing over him, tapping her foot and eyebrows raised. She didn't look too happy. Crash grinned sheepishly, and Coco rolled her eyes. She turned her back on him and went back to work. "You know, Crash. If you're bored, you can just go do your own thing, I can handle this on my own." she stated, knowing what her brother was probably up to. Crash grinned even wider, he picked himself up, and found that he had dropped his new toy. On his way out from the lab, he picked it up and babbled a brief goodbye to his sister and then making his way into the house.
He sat down on the sofa, pressing the button again. The red dot appeared on the table. He saw it again, he had to catch it- wait... A realisation struck him! He took his thumb off the button, and the light disappeared. Ah, so that's what was causing the light. He needed to investigate further. He grinned and stuck the laser end of the pointer into his eye and turned it on. His vision flooded with red, but he couldn't see anything. Just more red. Actually now that he thought about it, his eye was a bit tingly now. It kind of felt funny, actually! So in a moment of pure genius, he stuck it in his other eye. A moment later he stopped, and took a good look around the room. He smiled, this was weirdly cool, everything was off-colour, and bathed in red. This was awesome! He strutted around the room, feeling slightly dizzy, gaping in awe at the pretty shades of red, before promptly tripping over and face-planting into the carpet.
Ouch, well, that hurt more than usual, and now he had a headache. Pushing himself up, and shaking his head, his eyes readjusted as everything turned to normal again. Alright, that was fun, but it kind of hurt now. So he sat up properly, and began to think. Clearing his thoughts of that red vision, he began to think properly about what he should do next. Most of the little Crashes in his head just mentioned sleeping or eating, but one smart fellow would mention trying to trick the others with the laser pointer so that they'd pounce on it like he had! That was great, that little Crash in his head was going to get a raise for sure!
Ending his session with his little Crashes applauding the lucky little Crash on a job well done, he set out into the hallway, and pushed open the door slightly to Crunch's room. The buff bandicoot was still lifting weights like he had been earlier, when the bigger bandicoot had told Crash to go bother Coco, and that he was busy. He hadn't been noticed yet however. Suppressing a giggle, he pointed the laser into the room and pressed the button.
Crunch's brows raised in confusion when he spotted the red dot in the middle of his room. He stopped lifting the dumbbell he was holding with his non-metallic arm, and looked around, trying to spot where it was coming from. It didn't take long at all for him to see the laser pointer and the gloved orange hand sticking through his open door. He sighed, placed the dumbbell on the bed and got up. He pulled open the door and stared down at Crash, who's face scrunched up as he desperately tried not to burst out in laughter at the look on Crunch's face.
He failed. Badly.
Crunch continued to stare down at the bandicoot as he rolled around on his back, cackling like Ripper Roo. He reached down and picked up the laser pointer that his brother had dropped when he dropped to the floor, his patience already running thing. Eventually Crash stopped, and opened his eyes, looking up at the disinterested face of Crunch. "Are you done?" he asked blankly. Crash nodded vigorously.
"Good. Fetch." Crunch said, before he tossed the red laser down the hall. Crash's eyes widened, he knew he could get Crunch to play with him! He scampered back down the hall to catch his quarry, failing to hear the door slamming shut and promptly locking. Crash spotted the laser pointer roll underneath the sofa as he slid on his belly upon arriving into the room. He immediately stuck his hand underneath the sofa, and twisted his entire body around, spending a great deal of effort pulling it out again.
It was there, lying on his side after retrieving his new toy, he locked eyes with Polar, who had obviously strutted over and was now sitting down, watching what he was up to. Crash grinned, and stood up, before pointing the laser down on the floor in front of Polar. He wasn't looking at it, instead still looking up at his master, his head turned to the side in curiosity.
Crash blinked, before gesturing to the ground. The curious cub peered down, spotting the laser and tilted his head inquisitively. He didn't move, just looked. Crash's smile faded, and he realised that the cub wasn't going to pounce on it. So he moved the laser around. Polar just followed the laser with his eyes whilst he sat still. Crash frowned, it seemed his beloved bear just wasn't as interested. But then his eyes widened, as Polar reared his head back. Oh, here we go! This was going to be good, the cub was surely going to pounce on it now and provide him with endless entertainment!
Polar's head finshed rearing back, and he promptly sneezed, shook his head, and got up, trotting off to do something else. Well, that was anti-climatic. Oh well. He watched the young animal turn the corner, before his eyes turned back towards Coco's lab. He grinned evilly.
Coco was carefully adjusting the bolts on her latest project when she noticed the red dot appear and dance around in front of her eyes. She lifted her goggles and rubber her eyes with her finger and thumb, before turning around to see the expectant look on Crash's eyes. "Big brother, can't you play chase the laser with Polar instead of waving it around on my workbench?" she asked, but the way that her brother's frown drooped from his face told her everything. An idea popped into her head. She leaned under the bench to find Pura curled up on a pile of her blueprints. She poked the sleepy kitty. He mewled and stretched out his paws as he woke up, amber eyes opening to see what she wanted.
Coco stepped aside, and gestured to Crash. "Try the laser, Crash." she said with a smirk. Crash's eyes widened along with his grin, and he pointed the laser at the ground again, turning it on. The effect was almost immediate. Pura's amber eyes were slowly consumed by an ever expanding iris, focused on the laser with intent to kill. He hopped down, maintaining eye contact with the prey, and smacked it with his paws. When Crash moved the laser, Pura followed. Coco giggled.
"Okay Crash, go play with Pura. I've gotta finish this." she said, turning back to her work. Crash however was too occupied to hear her. He was currently leading the energetic tiger cub around the room with the laser pointer, and listening to the sounds of his paws thundering against the concrete. Oh this was brilliant. He shined the light up the wall, and Pura followed. His razor sharp claws coming out and clambering his way up the wall, knocking everything in his path to the ground.
"Crash! Go play!" Coco said, frustrated that Crash was luring Pura into destroying her laboratory. Crash merely cackled maniacally and led Pura out of the room with the pointer. The possibilities were surely endless with this thing. Over the course of the next few minutes, Pura was scaling the sofas, bouncing over tables and chairs, and rumbling around the house in relentless pursuit of the laser. He led the tiger into the kitchen, and chortled in joy when the cat slid around the corners because of the lack of traction his claws had on the hard kitchen tile floor. Crash sat on the island counter and led Pura around in circles for what seemed like hours.
"Still at it, huh?" Crunch said as he stepped into the room, opened the fridge whilst being careful to not have his feet run over by the frenzied cub, and grabbed a drink. Crash stopped moving the laser as he watched Crunch leave the room for the lounge, before bending over to look at something on the table, probably a newspaper or a magazine.
The sight gave Crash a devilish idea, the ultimate coup-de-grace to finish off his day of fun. He began to slowly move the laser from Pura, who was lying on his back and paddling the floor where the laser was, before flicking the laser directly onto the oblivious burgundy bandicoot's behind. Pura's ears flattened, his eyes still as wide as when they started, and rolled back onto his feet, hanging low. His hind legs pushed up and his rear wiggled as he focused. And with a strong push of his hind legs, the predator pounced on his prey.
The screech could be heard across the island. Even Aku Aku flinched.
Crash was a little put out that Crunch had broken his toy after that one, but it was worth it.