I've been excited for this story in a while. Thanks for all of your support~
N. Sanity Island
Crunch flexed and lifted his weights as Coco was working on something and Crash was taking a nap. Pura sat by Coco's side and Aku-Aku was out, for he sensed something coming. The floating mask made it to the beach finally, and looked around. It is odd that Cortex would stay quiet for such a long period of time... Washed on the shore was a metal containment unit... with Cortex's logo on the bottom. Aku-Aku was ready to alert the others when the pod door opened, and something coughed. "Good grief that thing is cramped."
Curious, he floated over the pod and looked inside. A young dark brown bandicoot crawled out in a ragged black shirt and very dirty and raggedy pale green pants, coughing and breathing real fresh air after a very long time. She put the swords in their sheaths at her waist. Then she reached inside the pod and took out a moving bundle. "Ababa!" Cooed the bundle. Teeth poked out from her gums, and the older sibling could see that she was ready to eat more solid foods.
"It's nice to see you too." Adriana said, finally hugging her sister with tears threatening to fall and smelling Sammy's still sweet smelling hair. "Man, that baby shampoo lasted for an entire year?" Sammy's eyes wandered and then she saw the flying mask.
"Ba ba ba gaaa!" Aku-Aku had to let out a few laughs as the baby bandicoot stared at him with wide eyes.
"You hungry? Don't worry, we'll find something soon." Adriana carried Sammy into the woods, with Aku-Aku following behind. Sammy drooled a bit and watched the flying mask curiously. Occasionally she reached out to Aku-Aku but the mask remained distant. Adriana walked on until she came upon some fruits laying around. She picked one up and sniffed it. Something in her bandicoot body was familiar with it and forced her to take a big bite out of it. Surprisingly the fruit was much more delicious than any fruit she ever tasted. "Sammy, I found something." She broke off a tiny piece and put it in the baby's mouth.
"Nu! Gaaba gee!" She at first refused, but ate it after a while. Sammy seemed to enjoy the fruit as much as she did, and took an entire fruit and began to snack rapidly on it with her new teeth. Adriana continued to walk on until she made it to the border that seperated the natives of the island and the bandicoot's home. She was about to go deep into native territory when Aku-Aku floated in front of them. The older bandicoot screamed and fell, clutching Sammy and with her other hand gripping the handle of her sword.
"No! Do not be alarmed! I have no intention of hurting either of you. This side of the island is not very safe for either of you." Said he.
"Sorry, but I'm not very trusting when it comes to floating masks." She said, narrowing her eyes.
"Floating masks? Surely you..." Aku-Aku came to a realization. "You don't happen to mean my evil brother, Uka-Uka?"
"Yes. Now if you'll excuse us..." Sammy wriggled out of her sister's arms and tried to reach up to Aku-Aku again, except this time, the floating mask came down to her. Sammy hugged the piece of wood, surprising both older ones.
"Well... if she really can trust you, I'll follow along." She sighed. Sammy clapped her hands together happily. Adriana scooped up Sammy.
"Follow, I'll show you a place where you'll be safe." Aku-Aku said, then led the way with the siblings following close behind.
Bandicoot home
Crash was still sleeping until Crunch dropped his weights and surprised him, waking Crash up. Pura jumped and Coco banged her head on the roof of the machine she was inside. "AGH!" Coco cried out in pain.
"Hey, anyone seen Aky-Aku lately?" Crunch asked, not even noticing he caused the ones around him irritation. Pura stretched his back and yawned. He wanted to get more sleep but obiovusly that wouldn't be possible here, so he went into the guest room to sleep.
"He said he just wanted to check something." Coco said, massaging her aching head and going back to working on a portal that busted on their last adventure. "You'd know this if you paid attention instead of lifting weights so much." Crunch narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to make a witty remark.
"Gaaa!" The room was silent. Crash burst out laughing, Coco smirked and Crunch was embarrassed until Aku-Aku came in with two new bandicoots. "Aba gaaa!~" The baby bandicoot cooed. Coco just about squealed seeing the adorable baby, and Crash fell from the couch seeing the older sister.
"This place is even better than the orphanage." Adriana said. Sammy giggled.
"Uh, Aku-Aku? Who are these people?" Coco asked, a wrench in her hand just in case they were enemies.
"I don't know, but they have something to do why Cortex and my brother have been quiet for so long." Aku-Aku said. Crash didn't seem too interested, but more at just looking at the girl. Crunch took hold of Sammy and swung her around.
"You know, this kid is actually kind of cute." Crunch said.
"That's Samantha. Just be careful, she just-"
"BLEH!" Sammy puked on the floor. Yellow drippings spilled from her mouth. Everyone but the baby flinched.
"...ate." Coco wiped the barf away and threw away the rag. She held out her hand to Adriana.
"I'm Coco. And you are?" The brown bandicoot took her hand.
"Adriana. Nice to meet you folk." She said, then cleaned her ear out with her pinky finger.
"Cool. That's Crunch, of course you've already met Aku-Aku," She gestrued to the mask. "And over on the couch is my brother Crash. He can't speak though, well, besides woah." Adriana took Sammy out of Crunch's hands, which he was happy to give up. The baby yawned.
"Aww. Looks like someone needs to sleep. I'll take her somewhere she can get some rest." Coco offered, then took her away to their guest room. Adriana decided to trust these people... for now. All was silent as the new bandicoot looked around the room and fiddled with her swords. Finally, Aku-Aku broke the silence.
"Why don't you tell us of Cortex's plans now?" The girl sighed and got herself comfortable on the couch next to Crash. The orange bandicoot straightened himself out and tried to look cool and relaxed, stretching his arms across the couch and behind her. The girl began to explain the horrific things that happened during her stay at the labs, emphasising her experiences as Cortex had experimented on her many times to heighten her senses and abilities, and lifted her shirt right after. Crash and Crunch were just about ready to drop their jaws when she showed a large scar on her stomach. "Oh my word... Cortex has no boundaries!" Aku-Aku said angrily.
"Yes, and that's not the worse part. He... he... kidnapped multiple people like myself, but they all died during his experimentations. He called me a 'breakthrough', because I was only near death after three or four days of his harsh training and my new body." Adriana let one tear slip. Crash then hesitated before putting an arm around her.
"Why did he do all those things?" Aku-Aku asked.
"He wanted to create the perfect assassin... to kill him." She pointed a thumb to Crash with her other hand threading through her hair and trying to soothe the headache away. Crash jumped and went to the edge of the couch, farther away from the assassin created just to kill him. Crunch and even Aku-Aku seemed surprised. Coco was just coming back and her breath caught. "I will take Samantha and leave you people if you don't want me around." Adriana got up from her place on the couch and was prepared to leave when Crash blocked the door. "Look, I can't stay! That sick bastard could have programmed me to kill you during any waking moment!" Crash still refused to budge.
"Crash can't be killed very easily. You should know from your time with Cortex how hard it is." Coco said.
"Yes... but I believe it would be much easier if I just left."
"Or I can just scan you to see if you're in any way bugged. If so, then I'll just hack into them. No biggie." Coco said with a smile.
"But... but..." Adriana was speechless.
"No buts!" Coco interrupted. Crash and Crunch had to snicker. The girls looked at them with angry eyes and they shut up. Coco showed her newly found friend into the lab with the guys following. "We'll have to do a scan on your sister, if that's alright with you." Coco said as she punched in the instructions into her laptop. A large machine presented itself from the wall.
"Wow... that's pretty cool." Adriana said. Coco seemed pleased.
"Yep! And I built it myself. Now get in, but you're gonna have to remove all your clothes." Crash and Crunch whistled. She glared at them. Adriana blushed.
"F-Fine... but can you please get them out?" She asked. Crunch and Crash were kicked out along with Aku-Aku.