Chapter 11 – The One

A/N: Hey everyone, I just finished my final exams for the semester so I'll be focusing on finishing this story as soon as possible. I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you enjoy it.

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Crash coughed as he crawled through the narrow tunnel, his eyes twitching from the all dust in the air. Growling, he rushed his way through the dark and soon reached the other side, landing on the ground with a grunt.

Huffing, he dusted himself as he looked around. He made it pretty deep into the tomb and was starting to wonder if the portal was even remotely close. After having bypassed so many traps, he was beyond sick of this place.

Suddenly, a light chuckle reached his ears.

"Well, I never expected you to be here,"

Crash spun around and glared at the dark, watching as a floating shape moved through the shadows swiftly and a pair of eyes glared at him from among them.

Crash immediately recognized those eyes.

"I see my annoying brother is nowhere to be seen. Did you wander off without him?" Uka-Uka taunted patronizingly as he came into the light.

Crash bared his teeth and got into a fighting position, clutching the crystal tightly in his hand.

"Hold on, I'm not here to fight you," The mask said with an easy smile, but his eyes were looking over Crash. The mutant certainly was so much different from the time they met in that desert town. Back then, the mask had known something was off about him and now he knew why. "I actually found this further back when I arrived here,"

The bandicoot's eyes widened when a power crystal appeared with the mask. Crash was ready to take it from him by force when the mask tossed it in his direction.

Catching it, the mutant blinked and looked at him in confusion.

"I was planning on keeping it for myself, but now I feel you should have it," he said calmly.

Crash wanted to question the unexpected offer, but he felt too distracted by the power of the two crystals now in his hands. He can feel it streaming through him and empowering his body.

Uka-Uka caught notice of the bandicoot's fur growing a bit darker and grinned deviously. "Incredible things these crystals, aren't they?" he said, floating closer to Crash. "I remember seeing plenty of these around the island when I used to live there before they became rare to find. I wasn't really aware of the power they held within them back then. Cortex once told me you destroyed his castle with only the power of one, right? Well, imagine what having a dozen of them would be like,"

Crash seemed to have the same thought and grinned widely.

He floated to his side and stopped there. "Listen, I feel we were going about this the wrong way. I want to gather all the power crystals and you desire that too, right?"

Crash looked up at him briefly then nodded cautiously.

"It's clear to me now that you were the best option all along for this task. While Cortex and his minions couldn't collect even one, you've never failed. You defeated them all again and again. I can see why you were the one chosen to be the mutants' commander in the past," he said, impressed. He then circled around the bandicoot and stopped when he sensed something else within him.

"I can feel a fragment of energy from N. Tropy's machine stuck in you," he hummed. "I see. That's why I didn't feel your presence a while before. Heh, you're full of surprises, aren't you?"

The mutant blinked at this new piece of information, having not known that. He shrugged. He supposed that explained everything in a way.

"Well, I might be able to help you get this ability under your control so you will be able to use it freely and in any time you want," he offered. "What do you say we join forces, Crash Bandicoot?"

The promise of more power was more enough to convince Crash. Feeling a pulse coming from the crystals, he nodded without a second thought. Uka-Uka grinned sinisterly.

"Good. Let's start,"

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"Where is he? It feels like we've been wandering these hallways for hours!" Pinstripe whined.

"It really hasn't been that long," Koala Kong replied, which was good because Coco was starting to get really tired of answering to their endless list of complaints.

"Hey, big guy. Would you mind carrying me? My feet are starting to hurt," Dingodile asked.

"No,"

Dingodile frowned at this. "I'm going to climb on your back,"

"And I will drop you," the other replied, causing him grumble.

It was annoying yet a traitorous part of Coco's mind kept reminding her of how familiar all this was. It was always like this back at the castle, with all the mutants arguing, teasing and messing with each other all the time. It gave her almost gave her an odd sense of nostalgia, but she was quick to push it away. She shouldn't be feeling like that, shouldn't let herself remember those times this way. They along with the rest of the mutants betrayed them and worked with Cortex to take over the world. She needed to remind herself of that fact.

Suddenly, a tremor shook the hallway and startled them.

"W-what was that?" She muttered. Then a loud echoing sound followed, one she recalled with a chill down her spine, the sound of several time portals opening together.

It wasn't long until small portals began slowly materializing in the air around them.

"What's that?" Dingodile cried out, panicking.

"Let's just run!" Coco stammered and they did just that, scrambling through the ancient corridor as the portals began sucking everything near them.

"What is this? What's going?!" Pinstripe shouted.

"It's Crash. We might be too late!" Coco exclaimed and looked back to see pots being sucked into a portal.

That was a mistake.

In her moment of distraction, she didn't see the portal opening in her way until it was too late and she ended up setting foot into it. Her stomach dropped as she felt herself forcibly pulled down through it. She screamed all the way until she hit the ground with a yelp. It wasn't a long fall by any means, but it was enough to leave her sore for a minute.

Groaning, she sat up and jerked back at the sight of her surroundings. It was like no place she ever been too.

There didn't seem to be any land, just islands big and small floating around her in an orange void. She can see even houses, castles and giant cog wheels spinning on their own in the sky. She didn't understand why, but a shudder went through her. There was underlying sense of wrongness with this bizarre place, as if she stayed here long enough she would fade away into nothing.

Where did I end up? This doesn't even look like a place on Earth! She thought frantically. She couldn't stay here. She had to find a way back to her brother!

Wasting no time, she began running around the wastelands, coming across more ruins and buildings buried into the ground. She didn't know how long she had walked, but to her it kept feeling as if she wasn't making any progress at all. She saw some time portals opening briefly nearby, but she found herself unable to jump into them, knowing that she could end up somewhere worse than this. She could feel tears of frustration and despair filling her eyes at the thought of never going back and seeing her brother again.

The sound of footsteps suddenly snapped her out of her grim thoughts. She glanced back and gasped. "You?!"

"I would say the same," said none other than N. Tropy himself. The blue-skinned man had several pieces of his armor missing, but still managed to hold onto his tuning fork staff. "I see I caught you in a bad time?"

Coco quickly whipped away her tears and glared at him. "Shut up,"

N. Tropy scrunched his face at her and huffed, sitting down on the ground. "So, I'm going to assume you're mission didn't go so well,"

Coco looked away, not wanting to talk about it with him.

"How long exactly was I gone from the main timeline anyway?" he asked.

Coco blinked and looked at him confusedly.

"There is no time in this place. We're outside of the time stream after all,"

"Wait, that's where we are?" Coco asked back, stunned.

"Yes, I assumed you would be aware of that by now," he said in a condescending tone, much to her dismay.

"Well, I don't really figure that out because I'll be getting out of here immediately!" the girl snapped back, which only got her a raised brow from N. Tropy.

"You don't know the way back," he said, not as a realization and more of a statement.

Coco flinched, but said nothing. She decided to change the subject. "I don't know the answer to your question since we've been jumping through time a lot,"

"Right. So, are you going to tell me what happened to my Time Twister?" he asked in a sharp tone. "What's been going on with the timeline?"

Coco averted her gaze, seeing no point in hiding this anymore. She told him everything. The fight at the Time Twister that started all of this and the situation they were before she fell into this void.

"Unbelievable. So much work…WASTED!" he groaned into his hands. "You fools ruined everything! You two and Cortex!"

"Thanks. I've been hearing that a lot," Coco deadpanned, seriously tired of all this pointless blaming at this point. "If you don't have anything helpful to say then I'll be going," she said and began walking away.

"Go where?"

"I'm going to choose a portal and jump into it. Staying here won't do me any good,"

For some reason that got a laugh out of the man, causing her to glare at him. "What?"

He stopped laughing and smirked at her. "Even if you somehow manage to end up where your brother is, how are you two planning on returning to the present you came from?"

Coco frowned. "I just told you that my brother can open time portals and if my theory is correct then we should find our way back to the present eventu-"

"Wrong," N. Tropy muttered.

"You don't know that. You're just saying that to discourage me!"

His face lost all previous mirth and he looked angry at her. "Come on! Cortex told me you are his smartest mutant. You should know the impossibility of what you're trying to do!" he growled. "I specifically designed it so that all the gateways opened by the Time Twister are connected to it. All the portals you and your brother had been using that entire time were always linked to the present you belonged to!"

Coco soon realized what he was implying and her eyes widened in horror. "So…"

"You two have been haphazardly jumping through the timeline with no destination. You could have ended up thousands of years into the future, the distant past or even back to places that you've already escaped from before. It might take you hundreds of years to find a portal that will actually take you to the specific present you're looking for!"

Coco stood there, too stunned by this to respond immediately. "No….that's not true. You're lying," she said, but there was less conviction behind it this time.

"You're in denial, girl," he sighed and dropped his head over his hands. "Just accept the fact that we're all lost,"

"No, I won't," Coco murmured quietly. "I'm going to find Crash….and then we'll go back home,"

Without saying more, she turned around and began storming away to some nearby portals. She stopped and looked between them hesitantly. Taking a shaky breath, she approached the one on her right.

"Not that one," N. Tropy called suddenly. "It's the third on the left,"

"What? How do you know-"

"You underestimate, girl," he said with a smug glint in his eyes. "My abilities might be limited, but there are still things I can see and feel,"

She eyed him suspiciously. "Why…are you helping me anyway?"

He shrugged. "If you wish to waste your time in your futile attempt to go home then I might as well set you on the right path at least,"

"You mean you're not coming?" She asked, though she had no idea why she did.

"I see no point considering what's going on," he said and looked up as another tremor shook the air. "Whatever he's doing out there, it's really messing everything up,"

Coco turned to the portal and then gave a hesitant glance back. "Thanks, I guess," she said reluctantly.

"Whatever," he grunted.

Wasting no time, she jumped and left the void.

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Coco cried out as she fell on the floor. "I really should be used to this by now,"

She looked around and felt a bit relieved to see she was back within the pyramid, though she had no idea when or where exactly did she end up inside it. I hope I'm not late!

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a heavy pulse coming through the walls. She bit her lip and began following it only to eventually run into something. "Ow!"

"Girl?!"

She looked up to see Dingodile and the other two looking down at her baffled. "Didn't you get snatched away by one of those portals ten minutes ago?"

"Ten…minutes ago?!" She muttered in surprise. She felt she had been gone for at least two hours. N. Tropy wasn't lying then. She shook her head. "I was, but I found my way back here again," She answered as she pulled herself up.

"How exactly?" Pinstripe asked with a raised brow.

"I-" She immediately closed her mouth, not wanting to recall that conversation she had. "It doesn't matter. Did you find Crash?"

"We think he's up ahead," Koala Kong said, wincing at the tremor coming from said direction. "We weren't sure what to do,"

"Don't tell her that!" Pinstripe snapped, his pride not allowing him to admit that the disappearance of their enemy had thrown them off in any way.

"What? You know we need him to go back home and she knows what's going on with him better than we do," he replied.

Coco stiffened as N. Tropy's words echoed in her mind. Right, she told everyone that Crash can take them back to the present, she herself believed that, but now she knew the truth. She just didn't know how to break it to them. "Let's just go get him," she said eventually. Saving her brother should come first. Anything else comes later.

The three exchanged hesitant looks before slowly following her. They walked with held breaths as the noises grew louder the further they went. Soon enough, they reached a large archway. Coco peered behind it and froze up.

Crash was standing in the middle of the massive room, clutching two crystals in his hands while a wild force cackled around him, but what shocked her even more was the sight of Uka-Uka floating next to him.

"What's going on? What are you seeing?" Dingodile asked behind her anxiously.

"Shh!" She muttered quietly even though she knew she wouldn't be able to describe what she saw since it didn't make sense to her at all. Crash had tried destroying them earlier so why wasn't he attacking the mask too?

"You do realize I can sense your presence, right? Just come out,"

The four stiffened at the call and glanced at each other with wide eyes. Taking a shaky breath, Coco walked out of her hiding spot and walked into the room where the two were waiting up on the stone stairway where a giant statue was.

Coco swallowed and glared at the mask. "What's going here? Crash, why are you with that maniac?"

"He works with me now. Isn't it obvious?" Uka-Uka answered and a part of Coco was expecting that answer, but it still felt like a slap to the face to her.

"Crash, come on. You can't trust him!" She shouted. She knew she can't snap him out of the crystal's control, but she hoped he would at least know better than to side with the evil mask, but he only smirked at her.

"As for you three, are you going to explain what are you doing with my brother's alley?" Uka-Uka asked sternly, turning to Cortex's henchmen.

"Um….we…we weren't really friends with them or anything like that. We were just hoping they would get us back to the present," Pinstripe stuttered, trying hard to look calm under the demonic mask's gaze.

"Oh, really? Well, good news then. With Crash and the power crystals with me, we have gained the power to control time. I can send you back,"

While Coco paled at this revelation, the three perked up.

"But I won't,"

"What? Why?!" Dingodile exclaimed only to flinch back when the mask sent him a dark glare.

"I recall telling you that I don't like failures or show those who fail me mercy, but you three along with Cortex kept doing just that over and over," he state with his eyes blazing as he floated over Crash.

Coco gulped and backed away with the others as Uka-Uka placed himself over her brother's face.

"It's time for you all to face punishment,"

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A/N: Thanks for reading. The next chapter should be the last so be ready.