Chapter 9 – Midtown Rumble
A/N: Hey everyone, I'm posting this a little late in the night, but I really wanted to get this out today. I had to take a break from writing to focus on my studies and exams, so sorry for being gone for a while.
Anyway, enjoy!
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The two siblings landed on the ground in the middle of a forest. Crash pulled himself up and gazed around excitedly, but one look was all it took for him to realize they were yet again not back in Wumpa Island. Instead, there were these talk slim sticks stretching way high above them. He sighed dejectedly and his ears drooped in disappointment.
"Well at least we're making progress," Coco said suddenly and he perked up, looking at her confused. "Think about it. We first ended up in the prehistoric age, then the medieval times and I'm assuming that wherever this is it's probably after or close to that. I believe we're moving forward in time,"
Crash blinked and grinned widely. If that was the case they just had to keep jumping through portals until they reach the time they came from.
"Well, is the next portal around here?" she asked him. Crash scratched his head and looked around, but there was no blue thread to be seen. He shook his head.
Coco sighed. "Alright. We'll have to go look around then,"
With no direction in mind, the two mutants began walking through dark forest faintly illuminated by moonlight and fireflies. Eventually, they found a path and began following it until they saw lights glowing in the dark. Lanterns.
Excited, the two hurried down the path until they made it out of the forest and ended up on a cliff. The two stared at the distance until something caught Coco's attention.
It was the Great Wall, still being built.
"I remember this place. I've been here before, back when the portal sucked me in for the first time," She then felt her brother tap her shoulder and point down to a town down below. She frowned. "Crash, seriously? We've just made it out of that king's castle. Being spotted is what got us chained in his dungeon in the first place,"
Crash pouted and patted his stomach.
Sighing, Coco looked away. She kind of felt the same. She hadn't eaten anything since they fell into the dinosaur jungle and even then not much was eatable there. "Fine, we grab something to eat and get out. Got it?"
Crash nodded eagerly and rubbed his hands together.
Without wasting any time, the two began walking down the slope toward the faintly lit town, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows. They pressed themselves against a wall and stayed still as they spotted a carriage driving by.
Crash caught the smell of food coming out of it and stuck out his tongue, ready to sneak after it when his sister spoke up.
"Hold on, what is this?"
Crash turned to the wall they were standing against and nearly jerked back at the sight of painting of Pinstripe stuck on it.
"What is this doing-Oh no….don't tell me," Coco groaned. "They were here already?!"
They peeked from behind the wall to see more paintings of the mutant hung around the town and there was one of Dingodile by a store. Sneaking around the shadows, the two ended up in an alleyway. "I can't believe this! How much are these guys going to screw up?"
Crash refrained from mentioning the fact that the two of them had been seen by humans before and something was bound to come from that. He instead gazed around the alley and noticed something on the ground, a mask of Dingodile.
"Egoistical much?" Coco muttered. "If these two took over this place then we need to do something about it,"
Crash nodded and walked over, tossing the mask into a barrel with a scoff before following her. Peaking around the corner, they saw humans carrying plates of food somewhere ahead. None of them were androids though.
Now that he thought about it, Crash hadn't seen any in a while now. He turned to his sister and pointed at the humans, making an evil face while forming glasses over his eyes with his fingers.
"The androids? Well, they were made from the Time Twister so maybe they all disappeared after it blew up?"
She didn't sound too sure, but it was better than nothing for Crash. Suddenly, Coco tensed up and Crash followed her gaze to see what she was looking at. Two men were pushing a wagon through the town filled with animal cages. Among them was a familiar little tiger behind bars.
He was nearly knocked away by Coco as she hurried after barely remembering to stay hidden with Crash trying to catch up to her in panic. It didn't take long for them to see them enter a large dark storage house. Coco was storming her way forward without any sign of caution while Crash scrambling behind her nervously. It was odd considering that he was usually the reckless one out of the two of them and running head first into danger.
Once she stepped inside, Coco and Crash saw cages scattered all around them. Crash couldn't help shuddering slightly as it reminded him of the room of cages back in Cortex's castle. His sister then called out. "Hello?"
The two men stopped what they were doing and screamed at the sight of the two. Coco raised her hands. "Hang on, we're not bad-"
One of them flung a tea pot at her and she ducked down to avoid it. The two then ran straight for the door shrieking. "At this point, I shouldn't be surprised by this," Coco sighed and then perked up when she remembered the cage. "Pura!" she rushed over to it and bent down on her knees. "Hey, buddy. Are you okay?" she asked softly as she struggled with the lock and the tiger made a worried sound. "Don't worry; we'll get you out of here,"
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Dingodile bit down on the roasted chicken leg as the humans continued bringing more plates to their table. He scared an old man with his sharp teeth who sputtered and stumbled back.
"Seriously, how much can you eat?" Pinstripe asked, playing around with his plate of rice.
Dingodile swallowed and glared at him. "Hey, I don't get to have all this fancy food back at the castle, so shut it!" he muttered, pointing at him with the leg.
Pinstripe sighed and tried once more to use the chopsticks to pick a dumpling from his plate only for it to fall down again. He grunted. "Ugh, it's like learning how to use our mutant bodies all over again," he picked the dumpling up and popped it in his mouth, chewing quietly.
"Where do you think the others are right now, mate?" Dingodile asked him, a slight serious edge to his voice. "We've been here for days and none of them showed up yet,"
Pinstripe frowned. He had been thinking about that way before he asked him. "I assume they ended up somewhere else from here," he then shrugged. "I honestly don't mind being here though. It's nice to finally be treated with the respect that I-"
Before he could finish, he was hit with a tomato to the face. Whipping it away, he growled. "W-who did that?!"
"Us!" Coco muttered, standing not far from the massive table with her brother only to notice him munching on a peach. "Crash!"
"Need food to fight," he said, mouth full. Coco slapped her forehead and groaned in defeat.
"What are you two maniacs doing here?!" Pinstripe exclaimed, standing up.
"Out of everybody to show up?" Dingodile grumbled, biting down on his chicken leg again.
"I should be asking you! Do have any idea how much you jerks could change in the future because of what you're doing right now?!" Coco yelled back angrily.
"Yeesh, now you're starting to sound like N. Tropy," Dingodile scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"What we do is none of your business, but in all honesty I'm glad you're here. After all, I have a score to settle with you two, especially a certain buffoon," Pinstripe stated bitterly, glaring at Crash who returned the glare.
The moment Pinstripe reached down for his rifle, Crash dashed forward and jumped onto the table, much to their surprise and kicked a plate of food into his face, causing him to back away.
Realizing the fight that was about to happen, all the humans nearby dropped the dishes they were carrying and fled.
"Oh no, you don't!" Coco hurried in front of Dingodile, preventing him from reaching his tank and taking a fighting stance.
"Out of the way, brat!" the mutant spun around and smacked her away with his tail. He then grabbed his weapon from the ground and smirked. "Let's see how you'll like getting toasted,"
He aimed and fired a stream of flames at the girl, causing her to duck down to avoid it. The whole table behind her was blasted away instead. "Oh, look at what you made me do!" he huffed and started firing more aggressively, nearly hitting some of the houses around.
Coco gritted her teeth. She had to end this before he set the whole town on fire, but she didn't have any cover to hide behind from his attacks. While Coco continued running across the area to avoid his shots, Pura went running behind him and bit his tail, making him cry out in surprise.
"Let go of me!" he growled, shaking his tail to get rid of it. Coco took the chance and launched herself at him, kicking him in the jaw and knocking him away.
Dusting herself, she bent down to pet her tiger friend. "Nice work, buddy," she said and Pura made a proud noise.
Meanwhile, Crash was still fighting Pinstripe. The taller mutant tried kicking Crash, but he rolled out of the way and evaded another swipe directed at him.
"You think you can just barge in here and ruin everything again? This time I won't let you get away!"
Crash frowned. He was still bitter about what happened at the castle? He jumped back again when he swung his fist at him and then blinked when the other mutant sprinted away.
He then gasped when he saw Pinstripe running to the rifle and he realized his mistake too late. Without thinking, he scrambled after him, but the other had already gotten the weapon and aimed at him, firing immediately.
The bullet barely missed Crash's ear as he ducked down and slid the rest of the way to Pinstripe's leg, kicking him there and causing him to gasp and kneel, which gave Crash enough time to knock the rifle away from him and punch him hard in the face.
"Crash, here!" He turned around to see his sister rushing over to him with some rope. "Tie him up!"
Doing as he told, Crash and Coco ended up tying both mutants. "Phew, that should keep them from causing any more trouble around here," Coco said, giving her brother a thumbs up.
"That's what you think," Pinstripe grumbled.
"What?"
"Tell me, now that you have us both tied up like this. What are you planning on doing to us?" Pinstripe asked smugly. "It's your fault that we're all stuck here when shouldn't be, remember?"
Coco scowled at him while Crash flinched. "Well…I- Of course we know!" she said stubbornly. She turned to her brother, whispering. "I honestly don't know what to do with them. I never thought of that until now,"
Crash looked down in thought for a moment and then looked up at her. "Bring them,"
His sister blinked. "Huh?"
"What are you two whispering about?" Dingodile growled.
Crash turned to them. "Come with us,"
""What?" Dingodile muttered, looking at him in surprise.
"Crash, what are you saying?!" Coco gaped in disbelief.
"Can't leave them here," Crash murmured.
Coco opened her mouth to argue, but realized he had a point. Leaving them in the past will still be just as bad for the future, though she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to her brother's request than what he was letting on.
"Have you two lost your minds? The Time Twister was destroyed. There is no way to go back to the future!" Pinstripe scoffed.
Coco glared at him and then sighed. "There is a way actually. My brother somehow can find portals and open them now. That's how he and I ended up here just a little bit ago,"
"Seriously?" Dingodile muttered while Pinstripe huffed.
"I don't care if he can really do that. I'm not relying on that idiot for anything!"
Dingodile rolled his eyes at him. "Oh, hush up. You know you don't want to be stuck here forever," he said and the other didn't respond. "If there is a chance for me to go back then I'm taking it. Even if I had to hang around the enemy," he added cunningly.
"Alright, fine," Pinstripe told the bandicoots, sounding as if it physically hurt him to say that.
Crash grinned while Coco shook her head tiredly. "I can't believe we're actually doing this," she then glanced at him. "Lead the way, big brother,"
Crash nodded and walked away humming. Pinstripe and Dingodile grunted as they struggled to stand up due to their binds and began walking after him only to be stopped by Coco. "Alright you two, my brother may have agreed to let you two come along, but I'll be keeping an eye on you so you better not try anything," she warned.
"Yes, ma'am," Dingodile said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Coco glared at him, but walked away when she heard Crash call for her, followed by their two enemies.
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A/N: Thanks for reading. Now that I only have two stories to work on I'll be able to update this more often, so the next chapter won't take long to be ready.