Nathan Charles and Luna Fang: Into the Dragon Realms
By Mutitoon90
Chapter Two
Nathan managed to catch up with the Bandicoots and Luna, who had just reached the portal room and Brio. He wanted to see the disruption in the portal's gateway, and he saw it in two colors: light blue and light purple. The conflicting colors seemed to be pushing each other, like two people would if they were pushing for room on their seat on a public transportation.
"So, this is what you're talking about earlier. Right, Brio?" The former Cortex asked the former ally of the Cortex clan, who answered in a nervous and studdering tone of voice.
"Ye-e-es, Nathan-an-an. It's-s-s b-b-been act-t-ting like this-s-s sinc-c-ce th-th-this mor-mor-morning!"
"It must be pretty bad in theory for you to studder like that." Nathan noticed the speech pattern in his oldest ally's voice, "Tell me what you think might happen."
"I-I-I don't-t-t kno-o-ow! Th-th-that's why-y-y I-I-I'm worri-i-ied!"
"He's got a point." Luna said as she opened her bento box, "Anything from a random creature popping out of the portal to something unimaginable might happen, when the portals merge together."
"Really?!" The three Bandicoots exclaimed as they looked at Luna, who pulled out her chopsticks and started eating some of the food in the box and nodded her head to confirm what she had said.
"Well," Nathan thought a little before speaking, "with the exception of the merging of the portal paths, let's hope that nothing happens."
Each of the others agreed in their own way: Brio nodded his head so fast that he almost looked like a bobble head toy, Crash and Coco looked at each other and turned to Crunch, who just shrugged his shoulders, before Crash went to Nathan, while Coco went to Luna's side, and the werewolf of the group just continued to munch on his boxed food as she nodded in agreement. Aku-Aku, who has not spoken, kept to himself.
Then, an alarm went off in the Stonehenge-like cave, telling all that were in there that a dangerous situation was about to happen in the portal room. The group became very concerned about their well-being as well as each other's safety.
"What the-" Nathan almost exclaimed a curse, when he saw that the portal's pathways were merging with each other.
"RUN!" Luna's shout rang out to the others' ears, telling that the situation was something more powerful and possibly dangerous for them.
Making their way to the opening of the cave that was the portal room, Aku-Aku, the Bandicoots and the male humans followed the female werewolf out of the cave and ducked away from the mouth of the cave. Soon after, the cave glowed with a bright violet light, while the ground shook. Both events lasted for a few moments, but it seemed to be an eternity for the group.
Once the light dimmed and faded and the ground stopped rumbling, the three Bandicoots, the humans and the ancient mask removed themselves from the shrubbery of the island. As they emerged from the plants near the cave, they expressed their concerns and questions to each other.
"What was that all about!?" Crash asked his friends as he pulled a twig out of his red hair.
"I don't know." Nathan shrugged his shoulders in respone to the inquiry, "It was the strangest thing I've encountered yet."
"No kidding." Crunch scratched his head with his organic left hand in response to his own confusion. Then, he added, "We better check it out."
"Right!" Coco agreed in her excitement, "After all, it's something new to us!"
"Still," interjected Luna, who was unsure about the situation, "it could be something very dangerous as well."
Aku-Aku looked at Luna with a dumbstrucked look on his face, and he had to ask a question: "Luna, are you well?"
"Sleep-deprived, but I'm all right for the most part." The wolfgirl grinned at the mask.
"So, that was why you were snacking in the portal room and Nathan didn't rise his voice to you about that." The mask knew that Luna was not allow to eat in the portal room due to the possibilty of the crumbs falling into the machinery.
"However," Nathan pointed out a fact of his own, "we have a situation, besides the rules of the portal room."
"Right." Nodded Luna, who looked at the entrance of the portal room, "We've got to find out what went wrong in there."
"Maybe it's a friendly creature..." Crash was trying to be hopeful about the incident about the portals combining together.
"I wouldn't be so quick to be optimistic so soon." Nathan pointed out to his best friend, who gulped loudly at the ex-Cortex's words.
"I'm going in!" Coco ran from the others, causing those that care about her the most to go after her to try to keep her out of trouble.
"Coco!" Yelled out the young Bandicoot's older brother, Crash, "Get your tail back here right now!"
"Coco, get back here." Crunch also shouted out to the youngest of the marsupials as he pursued after her.
"Luna," Nathan scolded the she-wolf as the group entered the cave, "I blame you for Coco's misbehavior!"
"Don't you blame me for the whole responsibility of Coco's behavior, Nathan Charles!" Furiously responded Luna, who had a tone of one being insulted in her voice, "'It takes a village to raise a child.' Besides, I'm not the only one on Wumpa Island with bad habits!"
"That's true." Nathan replied thoughtfully before he aggressively added, "However, you're the only one that seems to express them the most."
"Looking like it and being it aren't the same thing!" A growl flowed venomously from Luna's throat as she spoke to Nathan.
At that point, Nathan stopped talking to Luna; when Luna was angry, it was a wise idea to let the brunette werewolf be, because if he did not back from her verbally, he would find himself on his back after receiving a punch from Luna.
Then, the group found themselves in the portal room once more, and everything was as they left it, with one exception: the portal's gateway was a tint of violet. The odd change of color caused a conversation among the group of seven.
"Looks like things aren't as bad as we'd thought." Nathan sighed out of relief before he smiled widely at his friends.
"Right!" Crash chuckled out, also relieved that nothing bad had happened in the portal room and to them.
"Man..." A disappointed Coco sadly moaned, "I wanted to meet a new lifeform from another world..."
Luna went to Coco and said in a motherly tone, "Be careful for whatever ya wish for, because it just might come true, and not in the way you'd like it to be."
Nathan agreed with Luna's words, but he had his doubts about Luna's sincerity, since he and Luna had a disagreement moments earlier, but he had nothing much more to say; after all, Luna did point out that Luna was not the only culpit in the developement of the youngest Bandicoot's behavior.
Luna, being an empathic werewolf, sensed the doubt in Nathan's mind, but she chose not to act on it, knowing that it was not the best time to call him out on the doubt. The werewolf was also still a little mad at him for competely blaming her for Coco's lack of self-control, and she knew that Nathan was also sore from the verbal counter that she had given him.
As the group talked to each other, Brio, who was quiet for a good part of the time, noticed something was amiss at the portal's gateway. He saw the someone or something was trying to get through the portal.
"Na-a-athan!" Brio called out to his ally, who looked at him, "Lo-o-ook at the PORTAL!"
Nathan, as well as the others, looked at the vortex of the portal and saw what Brio saw, and they all sensed that something was coming out of the portal.
"All right!" Coco shouted in excitement as she started to run to the portal, but Luna was quick to grab the blonde Bandicoot by the seat of her pants, saying in a stern voice, "Oh, no!"
The she-bandicoot frowned at Luna, because Coco wanted to meet the newcomer, despite the possibility of the newcomer being hostile. The others would have laughed at the sight, but the current situation had their full attention at the time.
Then, the group shattered into two different hiding places; Crash and Crunch nearly flew to a control panel, and they were followed by Nathan and Brio. Aku-Aku went to Luna, who was hiding herself and Coco near the entrance of the cave.
As the divided group looked at the portal, three dinosaur-like beings appeared out of the portal's vortex. One of them was a blue, stood on two legs and carried a huge club. Another one was green, stood on all fours and had a pair of laser cannons strapped onto him. The last one was, without a doubt, different than the first two; he was small in size, wore an attire that was colored marroon and red as if trying to pass himself off as someone important, orange-skinned with one horn and carried something that looked like combination of a scepter and a wand.
"What were you numbskulls thinking?!" The shortest of the trio shouted at the other two in a demeaning manner, "Can't you two do anything right!?"
As she heard this, Coco was realizing why Luna and the others were so worried about her safety. Looking at her friend, Coco asked, "Not a friendly?"
"Big time." Luna confirmed with her friend's question, knowing that sometimes that some people have to learn things the hard way.
Then, they returned to listening to the dinosaur trio, when the smaller of the trio started to express some curiosity towards the portal room. This caused them - the girls - to worry about the well-being of their home.
"Where are we?" The apparent leader inquiried before sniffing the air and making a statement, "The smell is unusual, but there're no dragons here. Good!"
"Uh, no..." Crash stated under his breath; it was not loud enough for the dinosaurs to hear him, but his friends did, and they could not help themselves from agreeing with him.
"Crush!" The imporant-looking creature commanded the blue, winged creature, "Go back and pack my bags! We're moving here!"
Luna was ready to spring into action, but Nathan was the first to directly address the smaller leader of the trio.
"I wouldn't be so quick about making such a declaration just quite yet!" Nathan revealed himself from his hiding place.
"Who are you!?" Anger and fury flowed from the smaller creature's mouth as he asked the dark-haired man.
"I'm Nathan Charles, nee Cortex, and I'm one of the guardians of Wumpa Island and its sibling isles." The young man introduced himself, and then he asked, "Now, who are you, newcomer?"
Luna knew that Nathan exaggerated a little about his importance, but she knew why he did it, especially since the newcomers did not know them very well. Also, Luna sensed that the leader of the three newcomers was very arrogant and had a thirst of power, however she held her place until she felt she was needed, so she would listen until then.
"I am Ripto, your new neighbor and, in very short time," the smaller dinosaur-like bowed in a somewhat mocking manner, "your new king."
This cause the whole group to be in shock with the exception of Nathan, who was familiar with power-hungry people, and Luna, who had detected this earlier, however, all of the allies and friends stayed were they were, until it was the right time to strike.
"I doubt you'd find me and my friends such easy opponents to beat." Nathan boasted, which was something that he rarely did, "However, if you want to find out, give me your best shot!"
"That's fine with me, boy!" The one-horned creature seemed to giggle a giddy tone of voice. Then, he turned to the green dinosaur and gave it a command, "Gulp, shoot him down!"
Nodding to Ripto, the four-legged giant turned to Nathan as the laser cannons charged up for a few moments before firing at the human. Nathan, who had taken the chance to pull out his weapon from his back pocket, activated it and placed a yellow barrier between himself and the electric blasts. As the blasts hit the shield, they were absorbed, and the barrier faded from sight.
"What!?" Ripto was without a doubt surprised at Nathan's counter, but Nathan, having noticed the expression on the smaller creature's face, said, "I'm not done yet."
Ripto's shocked expression became more visible upon hearing Nathan's words, which had an underlining tone that seemed to say, 'Watch this.'
Then, the projectile end of the weapon started to glow, and after a few moments, the glow became electric and shot out at Gulp, who was sent into the portal to be forcefully returned to his world. Nathan, seeing that the green giant was defeated, blew into the smoking end of the weapon.
"How-how can this be!?" Shouted a shocked Ripto, who was able to recover quick enough to also add, "You'll pay for this!"
"Oh, really?" Nathan asked in a mocking tone of voice, "Well, got anything else to fight with, or is that it?"
Luna's laughter busted out of Luna upon hearing Nathan's 'questions,' knowing well enough that a mixture of his past experiences and her own influence were the reasons why Nathan was acting the way he was; the ex-Cortex learned that certain people are easily infuriated.
"CRUSH!" Ripto turned to his remaining lackey, "TURN THAT WHATEVER HE IS INTO MULCH! RIGHT NOW!"
Willing to obey his master, Crush stomped towards Nathan, who lost his balance from the aftershock of the thunderous step, and the blue creature's club was lifted over its owner's head, being readied to destory Nathan.
The club dropped to the ground, but it never touched the ground or Nathan. However, it was kicked into the air, and it landed onto Crush's head, knocking out the behemoth. The one who kicked the over-sized weapon away from Nathan turned to the young man and asked, "You alright?"
"I'll live, Luna." Nathan replied as he saw the offered hand and took it. Upon returning to an upright position, the former Cortex also said, "Thanks for the save."
"No prob." Luna smiled widely at her ally. As fast as it came, her bright smile vanished and was replaced by a serious expression, "Now, we have to deal with the dino-squirt."
"Dino-squirt!?" Ripto was downright outraged as he roared out at the insulting werewolf, "You'll pay for that!"
Without missing a beat, Luna retroted with a mocking grin on her face, "What? You mean you can do more than just yell like a parrot?"
That curt comment caused Ripto to not only become red-faced in fury, but his scepter started to glow as well. That grabbed Luna's attention the fastest, and that was followed by the others' stares.
"I don't have a good feeling about this..." The brunette woman stated as the end of the jeweled wand glowed even brighter.
"I'll show you that I can beat you!" Ripto half-ranted as he pointed the scepter to the ceiling, "I'll put you all to sleep... FOREVER!"
Crash, who heard this, was quick to go to action and charged at the enraged dinosaur. Using his spinning technique, the hero of the Wumpa Islands slammed into Ripto, sending the wizard back to his world.
However, Ripto managed to release his spell before he was returned to his world; the magical blast flew to the direction of Luna and Nathan. Luna, sensing the power of the spell, pushed the dark-haired man out of the way and took on the spell itself.
"Luna!" Nathan shouted as he saw the glowing power engulf the werewolf before the spell's light faded completely.
"It's okay, Nathan." Luna tried to reassure the ex-hier of the Cortex clan, "I'll be all right, so there's no need to worry about little ol' me."
"I have a full right to be worried about you as well as everyone else here!" Nathan countered strongly, "You won't have pushed me to the side if it were something minor!"
A deep sigh escaped her lips before the female werewolf spoke, knowing that Nathan was right, "Well, it's minor to me; that's why I took that curse."
"WHAAAT!?" The Bandicoots and Brio accompanied Nathan in the shout, which caused Luna to covered her sensitive ears.
"Owww..." A moan echoed from Luna's lips; the werewolf knew better than to say the word 'curse' in front of her friends, but it was too late to take it back. So, the female werewolf explained herself.
"As you guys know, I'm a werewolf, and you guys know that I'm more sensitive to certain than most people. Also, being a werewolf allows me to absorb certain spells and curses without feeling too much of the effects, even though some of them would act like an illness."
"Like an illness?" Coco repeated as she processed the information, and then the youngest Bandicoot realized what Luna meant, nearly-shouting out, "It's going to fully affect you, given some time!?"
"Yep." Luna stated in a manner that was like she didn't care about the curse's effects on herself, which quickly got on Nathan's nerves.
"Why are you so damn calm!? Show some damn concern about yourself for once! Don't you know what could happen if you're out like a light!?"
Luna rubbed her ears, which received the full assault of the former Cortex's yelling, as she said, "I'm worried, but why should I run around all over the place, acting like chicken that's about to lose its head, when I could just hop into the portal and go after the guy that's casted the spell on me?"
"You're planning to go after Ripto?" Crash and Crunch asked unknowingly in unison, "By yourself!? That's crazy!"
"Perhaps..." Luna grinned at her friends with a laugh in her thoart, "However, I don't plan on sitting on my tail, waiting for the spell to take full effect."
"Don't know about what I'd do, if it was me," Nathan blushed at his own foolishness, since he should have known that Luna was a woman of action, "however, I can't blame you for wanting to do something in an attempt to free yourself from such a fate. Count me in this endeavor."
"Really?" Luna genuinely asked Nathan before asking, "Why?"
Nathan was quick answer: "You're a very important part of Wumpa Island, especially keeping Tiny from going out of control of bordom, you have many friends and family that'll miss you greatly, and I'm truly concerned about your dad getting his hands on me, if I don't help, at least, to get this curse lifted."
"Understandable." Luna smiled gratefully at the former Cortex, knowing that he was speaking a truth, even if it was not an entire truth.
"Me too!" Crash announced loudly to the group, but it was mainly directed at the brown-haired werewolf, "We would be lost without your Wumpa fruit pies too!"
"Well, thanks for the concern, Crash." Luna said in a false tone of gratitude to the best friend of Nathan Charles, "I'm sure you having your pies is more important than my well-being."
"You really see it that way?" The red-orange Bandicoot looked confused as he asked. With a shift in his mood, Crash beamed a smile, saying, "Wow, Luna! Didn't think you'd be that considerant about me after this morning!"
Hearing this, Luna could not help herself from freeing a heavy sigh; what Crash had said earlier was true, and Luna knew it, but the other hand, which included the question, was also honest. Crash was one of the few living creatures that Luna had problems when it came to her empathic powers, because Crash has a tendency to feel only one emotion at a time and rarely has mixed feelings about anything. Whether it was a result of the experiment with the Cortex Vortex or not, the she-wolf knew one thing for sure: Crash is usually honest about his feelings, and he is not afraid to show it to others.
"Crash," Crunch interjected his perspective into the conversion, "Luna was being sarcastic."
"Really?" Crash asked his fellow Bandicoot, before thinking for a moment and saying, "I really don't think so."
Another sigh flew from the werewolf's lips as she mentally stated in her mind about how 'correct' the expressive marsupial was, nearly stating her thoughts verbally.
Luna was not the only one who had thoughts about Crash's assumption about Luna, which almost showed a truth about the Bandicoot that even Crash did not know about himself: Coco shook her head, hardly believing how dense her elder brother could be at certain times, Crunch also shook his head as he mentally told himself that he needed to talk to Crash about priorities and tact, Brio just sighed, knowing about Crash's past before the stormy night of his escape from Neo Cortex's castle and Nathan smiled, knowing that Crash was only being himself.
Within an hour's time, Luna, Nathan and Crash were ready to depart into the world that Ripto came from, and they were packed for the trip. Nathan had a brown backpack, which held a first-aid kit, a map-making program that he made and designed himself and his spare clothing for the trip. Luna had her forest-green satchel, which had all of the food and water, her extra clothes for the trip, a pair of sandals and a pair of tennis shoes. Crash had an orange backpack, which held only his clothes, and a sour expression on his face.
"Why does Luna have to carry the food!?"
Annoyance was drenched in Nathan's words as he tried to keep himself calm while answering his friend's question-like complaint.
"Because, Crash, you have a bad habit of eating up food when you get the chance, and Luna is the only one that can keep the food out of your reach."
"And I still don't see why that Luna has to carry all of the food!" Crash yelled out, echoing out the words throughout the cave and expressing his frustation towards the fact that Luna was charged with the chore of carrying the food.
"To make sure that the other habitants of Ripto's world wouldn't be able to trick us into eating something we shouldn't." Luna stated both truthfully and sternly.
Nathan sighed loudly and said, "Besides, we need someone that can run fast enough to keep certain creatures from getting the food."
"I can run fast." Crash announced to his companions of the trip.
Making eye contact with each other, Luna and Nathan quietly agreed that they were not going to allow Crash to succed in his attempts to obtain the food. Turning to Crash, they spoke in an unusual unison, "Forget it, Crash, because we're not allowing you to carry the food.
Defeated and outnumbered two to one, Crash fell silent, knowing well enough that both Nathan and Luna were going to stand their ground on the subject. However, he was not going to give up so easily.
"Coco?" Crash's green eyes turned to his sister with a pleading look in his eyes, "Do you think that I shouldn't carry the food?"
"In a word," Stated Crash's younger sister, "Yes."
"I'm hurt..." Hollered Crash, who was trying to pull on the she-bandicoot's feelings, however she was not believing her older brother.
"Forget it, big brother; you're not gonna get me on your side this time."
Looking for some more sympathy, Crash turned to Crunch, who was quick to stop him before the orange Bandicoot could even speak.
"Don't even think about it, Crash!"
Turning to Brio, Crash was only met by rebuff: "Don't ask me for help!"
"Aku-Aku?" Crash turned to the ancient mask, but his attempt was halted by an unexpected person.
"Crash, will you just shut up and accept the fact that you're not trusted with the food in any situation."
Every head turned to the direction of the voice, and all saw Sash wallking towards them. The silver-haired werewolf went to the three that were planning to pursue after Ripto and his underlings, starting with Luna.
"Luna," the concerned cousin of the brunette werewolf asked, "are you sure that you're up to the task at hand?"
"More sure than not!" Luna beamed a smile that said, 'do not worry about me,' and she added, "Besides, I'm more likely than not to catch Ripto before the curse taking full effect on me."
Sash, who was more of a sister than a cousin to Luna, sighed deeply as she knew that there was hardly anything in the whole world that would make Luna change her mind once the brunette makes it up of her own free will. With a bittersweet smile, the moon mystic from Japan hugged Luna tightly and said quietly, "Please, be careful."
"Always try to." Luna winked and smiled, silently telling Sash to have hope for the future.
Sash nodded, knowing that Luna was a grown woman, before turning to Crash Bandicoot, who gulped loudly as his leaf-shaded eyes met with the moon mystic's amber eyes, which showed a stern glare in them.
"Crash, I expect you to be on your best behavior, when it comes to Luna, because if I hear otherwise and believe it to be, I'll be one of your worst nightmares! Is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." Crash rolled his green eyes as he answered the question, which was not a good idea on Crash's part.
Sash, who was the most calm of the group, was outraged by Crash's rudeness towards her as her eyes glowed in her fury. With a loud voice that boomed throughout the cave, the silver-haired she-wolf shouted out, "CRASH BANDICOOT, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ACT LIKE THAT! NOW, THE NEXT TIME YOU ROLL YOUR EYES AT ME, I WILL ROLL YOUR HEAD TO AUSTRALIA VIA AIRWAY! UNDERSTAND?"
Crash was shaken up by Sash's unusually shouting, and he nodded to confirm that he understood what the moon mystic's words.
Then, Sash's expression changed from fearful to being pleased as she stated, "I'm glad that you understand, Crash."
The orange marsupial grinned nervously as he mentally begged to run off to Ripto's world to distance himself from the moon mystic. Fear was the keeping Crash from running off to the portal's vortex, and it was also the reason that the Bandicoot wanted to leave so badly.
"Is everyone ready?" Nathan inquired to his friends, and each member of the group gave their own answer to the young man.
"Ready to rock and roll." Luna calmly and confidently replied with a wide and sly grin on her somewhat tanned face.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Moaned Crash, who still wanted to stay away from Ripto and his over-sized thugs.
"I'll be on standby to make sure that you three get back here safely." Coco chirped out in her excitement.
"I'll assist her in any way I can." Brio spoke up and overcoming his stuttering at the same time.
"Don't worry about Coco and Brio." Crunch spoke up boldly, "I'll make sure that no one messes with them."
"However," Sash spoke quickly after the burgundy Bandicoot's announcement, "if Crunch's physically strength should fail, Aku-Aku and I shall fend them off with our powers."
"Don't worry about us." Aku-Aku nodded in agreement, "You three have to find Ripto and make him reverse this curse that he placed onto Luna."
"Right. " The trio nodded, knowing that the ancient mask was right, before turning to the active portal.
Nathan faced to swirling vortex of the man-made wormhole. Recalling his allies in the endeavor, the former member of the Cortex clan looked at his best friend, Crash, who looked worried and managed to give a confirming nod. Seeing Crash's head movement, the raven-haired man looked at Luna, the cursed werewolf, and Luna looked back with an expression that seemed to say, 'It's now or never.'
Returning his attention back to the portal's light blue vortex, Nathan's determination was powerful in strength, and he was ready to track down Ripto and make him remove the sleeping curse that he had placed on Luna, who took the spell to protect Nathan.
With a commanding tone of voice, Nathan said to his friends, "Let's go!"
It was very unusual from to have a commanding tone in his words, however Crash and Luna knew that Nathan was ready to go after Ripto. Luna was the first to jump into the portal with a loud "Bonzai" flying from her mouth. Crash followed after Luna after a second to pray for his safety and the safety of his human friends. Nathan was last, making no noise for a battle cry, and he formed no words for a prayer; he just leapt into the wormhole, only knowing that Ripto was at the other side of the portal.