Odds and Ends

The TENTH CHAPTER! And hopefully the most interesting you'll read so far!

Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!

The very first thing Jack did when leaving the cruise ship was rent a chair and relax on the beach. Kate had agreed with this, because she didn't get to go the beach often. He took off his leather jacket, leaving his tank-top on. She was wearing the black two-piece bathing suit she'd gotten on the ship.

And the intense heat had gotten even hotter.

Kate borrowed a towel, and laid it next to him. "I am going to find out what you find so interesting about sleeping, Jack."

He smiled. "Yeah, yeah. People don't know what a great advantage it is."

"I say it's your excuse for getting out of work."

"So you say, my dear. So you say."

"So I say correctly," she retorted. Kate laid herself on the pink towel, and brought out a pair of shades she'd asked Jack to buy for her a few hours ago. He wanted to say no, but Kate brought out "the puppy dog eyes."

"What are you doing?" he'd said. Kate made a small sniff, and looked up at him with pleading sad eyes. "That's not gonna work on me, Red." She tried to make them even bigger and shinier, and finally, he sighed. "Fine."

She'd picked out the blackest possible, and back to the present, she was putting them on. They shaded the sun rather well. "Great shades, Jack."

He turned a bit in his beach chair grumbled something incoherent, then saying, "That was the weakest display of beseeching I've ever seen."

"But you totally caved in," Kate smirked. He griped something again, causing a laugh to escape Kate's mouth. "What a man you are."

Jack rolled his eyes. Women were so arrogant.

'Ah, but Crash… Look at Kate…' echoed a voice in his head. He turned his head and faced her. Kate was pulling out the band that held her hair up. In turn, her hair fell down to her shoulder blades rather quickly, and she combed her fingers through it so that it would be straight.

He couldn't look away. Her attention was on the volleyball players more than on anything else. Kate took in a deep breath as she situated her top straps.

'She's beautiful… is she not?'

"She is…" Jack mumbled without realizing. Kate had heard his mumble and turned her attention to him.

"… She is what?"

Jack snapped out of his trance, and shook his head momentarily. "Oh, uh… Nothing."

Kate furrowed her brow a bit, but decided not to care and lay back on the towel. "You're losing it."

Jack sighed. "I know."

Night fell. Every individual had left the beach by now. That is, until something rather odd happened.

At around twelve o'clock midnight, a figure began to materialize from the sand up. When the figure was in full form, it was an anthropomorphic bandicoot that held a device in his hand.

He cleared his throat a bit before speaking. "Teleportation's by far one of the best ways to travel." Nega stuffed the device in his pocket, and took a casual stroll down the beach.

"Now where could my copy be? Hm… That little runt blends in too well." He paced one foot in front of the other while putting his clawed hands in his pockets. It was very dark out, but some of the distant city lights tried to prevent that, it seemed.

Nega began to ponder, which happened to be something that occurred quite often lately. He ran over his job again: kill that rat, get the girl, bring her to Cortex alive, and receive ten million dollars. Quite simple, really.

"If pretty boy was someone who was easy to kill," Nega muttered with a growl. Remarkably, he was able to recover his gun, which had a stun mode and kill mode. Nega was rather eager to test the kill mode, actually.

Suddenly, Nega's path was lighted with two rays of light from behind. He halted, and stood firm with out turning around. A voice spoke out.

"Sir, civilians aren't allowed to roam the beaches at his time of night." Nega grinned. The Beach Police strike again. This was the perfect opportunity to try out his gun.

"Oh, my dearest man," Nega feigned in a sad tone, "I'm dreadfully sorry."

The security man walked up behind Nega from his Jeep, and spoke again. "Well, maybe you didn't know. I'll let you off with a warning this time."

Nega grinned ferociously, keeping his animalistic face away from the man. "No, I meant I'm sorry… For you."

The guard was about to question, when Nega whipped out his gun and pointed it at the man. The guard had no time to react as the gun's trigger was pulled and a beam of magenta light shot out at him.

Nega put the gun away. He held a look of satisfaction at the limp body of the guard. "Excellent work, Nega. That little fur ball is going down," he muttered to himself. He walked over to the Jeep, and decided to see if this guard had anything useful.

He rummaged through the compartments and found a tazer, some chewing gum, cigarettes, a lighter, and a white helmet in the back seat. "Let's see… The tazer could prove useful later on. The gum," he stuck a piece in his mouth and chewed it a bit, "has every right to be shoved into my pocket. Cigarettes; might as well with the lighter. And last but not least… the white helmet."

He put all the other items in his pockets as he examined the white helmet. "Didn't Crash have a black helmet…?" he muttered. Probably why he was able to blend in and keep his identity discrete. Nega shrugged before putting it on, and found it a rather good fit. It covered his ears and muzzle completely, and coincidentally had a yellow tinted visor that had the "mirror effect," where one could see out but not in.

He chuckled darkly. "Ooh, boy. This should be fun." Nega, with the advantage of knowing how to drive, sat up in the driver's seat and turned on the car. "Very fun, indeed."

Coco sat in her living room with Pura, the tiger that she had claimed as a pet ever since the incident in China and the Great Wall. The great beast purred happily as it snuggled itself into Coco's abdomen. The latter smiled lightheartedly, as she gently stroked the thick fur of the feline.

To her side, her laptop was left open by accident, and a distinct sound played from it. Coco's eyes averted to the screen as a new email message made itself known. Coco nearly gasped as a video came up with a familiar face.

"Crash!" she shouted with a wide grin of joy. The sibling bandicoot shushed her. He moved away from the view of the camera for a moment, to reveal a sleeping Kate on the bed behind him. Coco realized that she had to whisper, and spoke. "How did you—"

"Kate showed me how to video chat, and by tinkering with this walkie-talkie thing, I found your email, whatever that is," he explained briefly. Coco could see the helmet sitting on the table.

"So, does Kate know yet?"

"No, and I plan to keep it that way, because I don't think any human is really able to grasp mutant bandicoots. Ever since I saw Gary faint…"

"Who's Gary?"

"Never mind him; I wanted to talk."

"About…?"

"Well, you know… What's Crunch doing?"

"He's watching TV…"

"Tell him to keep his paws off my stuff, would you? Knowing that lug nut is bad enough."

"Listen here, pipsqueak. I can make your life a living hell as soon as you get back," Crunch's voice growled in the background. Crash grinned.

"Glad to hear he's still the merry old chap I still know."

Coco rolled her eyes and stroked Pura's fur absently as she talked to her brother, "Crash, when are you going to come back?"

"Well, I have good news. I'm in Australia," he grinned while straightening his elongating red hair. "I'm closer than ever."

Coco smiled, and looked at her brother's end of the video chat. She inhaled deeply, and she spoke. "Crash, take care. I don't know what I'd do if you…"

But Crash had been playing with his yo-yo during her speech, and looked up at the screen blankly. "Did you say something?"

Coco felt the bridge of her nose wrinkle in anger. "Yeah, I said that you need to pay more attention to people you big jerk!"

Crash watched the video chat close, and he gave a chuckle. "I'm not fond of soft moments anyway." He turned off the rental room's desktop computer with a tired sigh. He then turned to his friend's sleeping form.

Kate turned in her sleep with a moan. Crash had come to know that she was an extremely heavy sleeper, so he needn't worry that much if she turned a bit, or if he talked in a normal voice.

"Hell, I could have a dozen sirens go off and she'd still be out cold," Crash muttered with a grin. He gave a stretch and a yawn. "I really need to get some rest."

His hands subconsciously grabbed the black helmet as he rose from his seat. He slowly paced over to the suite's couch, and he collapsed onto it with a moan. He put the helmet on his head, and with the last stretch, he relaxed his muscles, closed the helmet visor, and inevitably began to snore lightly.

Jack awoke slowly, but surely. He blinked a few times, and knew that it was probably afternoon. He sat up, and inhaled deeply. He honestly did not want to get up, but he knew from experience that if he didn't, Kate would be doing that job for him.

Speaking of the fiery redhead, where was she?

Jack took a glance around the room, and saw she was no where to be seen. Where'd she go? He got up, and took a peek into the bathroom, which the door was left open. No Kate.

"Good Lord, where'd she go?" But, from the spur of the moment, he couldn't help but notice the mirror above the sink. He walked into the bathroom, and took a look at his reflection. He felt a smile starting to form, and he slipped off the helmet.

He gazed at his reflection, and he began to fix his hair a bit. "My, my, Crash Bandicoot. You are indeed one handsome devil." While he was absorbed in his arrogance, he heard the door to the suite open. He heard he clatter of a plastic bag. His breath caught in his throat for a moment.

"Okay, time to try these on," Kate's voice spoke through the other side of the bathroom door. In a panic, Crash had absolutely no time to run out and put his helmet back on at the same time, so he quickly ran into the shower and closed the curtain.

He heard the door open, and in walked Kate. She was humming a tune, and was carrying a yellow plastic bag full of clothes. Kate opened it, and brought out a pair of jeans. "Well, now aren't these just the best jeans I've ever seen? Only for forty bucks off of Jack's credit card!" she said with a giggle. Crash felt around in his pockets and found that his wallet was nowhere. He made a quiet growl, just barely audible.

Kate began to change her clothes to that of which the ones she bought. Crash, despite the many urges, respected her privacy. But, he thought, just a harmless glance wouldn't hurt, so he got a quick look from the crack of the curtain, and just as Kate slipped off her blue tank-top, Crash spied a red dragon tattoo right above her belt.

"Well, what have we here? A little tramp stamp?" Crash whispered to himself with a malicious grin. Kate wriggled on a black shirt with a large red heart on the torso, and she heaved a sigh.

"I still can't figure out why I went to college to be a teacher. I'd like to become an artist or something," she said upon getting eye make-up out of the plastic bag. She began to apply the stuff to her eyes, and Crash looked away.

'An artist, huh?'

Kate, finished with her make-up, began to stare into the mirror. "Well Kate, your beauty pageant over, you should go and get something out of that vending machine a few doors down." She walked out of the bathroom, leaving the hidden bandicoot to himself.

Crash heard the suite door close, and he let out a breath. "Way. Too. Close."

He stepped out of the shower carefully, and he put on the helmet. He noticed that his wallet was perched on the sink, and he swiped it off and shoved it into his back pocket. He walked out of the bathroom and sat back on the couch with a huff.

"Well, Crash, the time has come. Time to pretend that none of this ever happened," he spoke to himself, and he lay back on the couch with a sleeping pose. He only wanted Kate to come in and not notice that he was gone for a period of time.

That's exactly what happened, but when Kate walked in with a can of soda in hand, she saw Jack "sleeping," she groaned.

"He's still sleeping?" Kate stood over him with an aggravated expression, which then turned to one of mischief. She chuckled, and tipped the can slightly. But before any of the beverage spilt, Jack spoke.

"Don't even think about it, Red."

Kate jumped back in surprise, and she held the can straight again. "You're awake?"

"Yes, ma'am." He positioned himself up so that Kate could sit down, which she did.

"Oh. Well, what do you think?" She gestured to her new attire, in which Jack studied and nodded.

"Not bad, considering that's forty bucks out of my credit card."

"You heard me in the bathroom?"

"Yes, I did."

Well, after about ten minutes of idle chit-chat, Kate stood up. "Let's go somewhere."

Jack was confused as to what the girl wanted to do, and furrowed his brow. "Where to?" Kate held a devilish smile to her face.

"Have you ever heard of Six Flags?"

Jack felt the protective bar on the seat go down. "Are you sure this qualifies as 'fun?'" he asked Kate, who sat beside him, with a nervous tone. Kate, with a wide grin, looked at him.

"Well, duh! Haven't you ever rode on a roller coaster?" she asked him as if it was something everyone's done. Jack looked forward and saw the giant slope in front of them. They were in the very front of the ride.

"Can't say I have."

Kate held a look of disbelief on her face. "Never? Not ever, not once in your entire life?"

"No."

Kate was almost horror-stricken, but then beamed. "Well, then prepare yourself, buddy."

The coaster began to move forward at a moderate pace, and began to climb the steep slope. Jack was not amused by this whatsoever, but Kate was building up excitement, as he could tell. Just as the coaster reached the top, it stayed that way for what seemed to be forever, but then the ride plummeted down.

Kate was letting out a joyful "Woo!" while Jack, on the other hand, was holding onto the bar for dear life. This is what humans did for fun? Sharp turns at every corner, and many steep slopes; it was torture. And to top it all off, there was a loop approaching. Kate was anxious to get there, while Jack was regretting ever getting on this bloody machine.

The roller coaster quickly built up speed and went through the loop in a span of two seconds. Kate was nearly shouting Hallelujah, and Jack… He was quietly pleading that the ride would end soon. To his fortune, the coaster approached the finishing point, and stopped.

Kate let out a breath. "Absolutely exhilarating and refreshing!" She turned to see Jack, eyes tightly shut and hands clamped onto the bar. "Jack?"

"God? Is that you?" he asked without moving a muscle. Kate rolled her eyes as the bars snapped off the passengers, her comrade's grasp slipping from them, to his misfortune.

"The ride's over, smart one."

Jack opened one eye and scanned the surroundings. As soon as he deemed them worthy to return to the world of the living, he rose from his seat. "I'm getting off then."

As he stepped off the ride, Kate gave an irritated sigh. "What a wuss."

That day, Jack had tried many new things. He rode on a roller coaster (which became known to him as Hell on Tracks), he tried smoothies, which he was able to slide the straw into his helmet, he won a giant bear—that he hated so he handed it over to Kate—and he even got an autograph from some Australian celebrity.

"All in one day," he moaned in remembrance. Right now, he was waiting in line for some other crummy ride Kate begged him to try. He read the sign again. "The Swan Lake. Is this really all that you say it is? I honestly don't think it'll be all that it's cracked up to be."

"Jack, please. I've never been on it, and you've obviously never set foot in an amusement park, so we're going," she said with a more superior tone, which Jack really began to find irritable.

The teen boy who was allowing two people at a time met Jack and Kate's faces. "You two together?"

Kate gave a solemn nod, while Jack sighed. The boy let the duo inside, and they walked over to where the ride started. It was like a little river that led into a cave, and as one boat docked, another left off. The boats were shaped like (obviously) swans, and Jack stepped first.

"This should be really boring," he sighed. He helped Kate get inside the two person boat, and they sat down. Immediately, the boat began to float down the miniature river. Jack took notice that it was sunset, and purple, orange, and red clashed colors in the sky.

He leaned back in his seat, and sat across from Kate. "So, what do we do here?"

Kate gave him a soft glance, but smiled. "We just enjoy the ride." He nearly groaned, but then their small boat entered the cave. A purple glow from the mouths of the cave lit up the inside with ease, and gave everything a magnificent glow.

Jack caught a glance at his friend's face, and felt captivated. The purple lit her face in such a way… He gave a gulp, and spoke. "Heh, sunsets… and their purple radiance. It never ends."

Kate chuckled. "Yeah, but could you imagine a world without sunsets?"

"Life would be pretty drab, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah."

Jack felt himself staring at Kate, but he couldn't look away. Something inside him felt like it was on fire, something… that made his stomach flutter. This feeling was utterly foreign to him, and he didn't know how to cope with it.

Right now, Jack yearned to get closer to Kate, but something seemed to be pushing him away. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' he asked mentally, but no answer came. Only Kate's face and one word popped into his mind.

Love…

Oh, how he argued with himself mentally after that, and if his thoughts went aloud, he'd more than likely be considered insane. But, after facing his own stubbornness, he sighed, and decided to enjoy the moment while it lasted.

"All right, let's get off."

He could've slapped himself for letting such a precious time slip away, and saw that they were "docked." He muttered a few incoherent words of irritation, but he got out of the boat. But this time, when he took Kate's hand to help her out of the bird-impersonating vessel, he felt the hairs on his neck stand up a bit.

Nega growled. Where was that pipsqueak hiding? He's tracked him down to an amusement park, but couldn't locate that runt's exact spot. If he wanted to go in for the kill, he'd have to get a closer range. He had gotten a pass to the park so he could go in and find Crash.

Sure, if he went in and did his business, he'd be attracting attention. "Which is fine by me," he snarled happily, causing a passing woman to glance at him with perplexity. He casually sat on a bench, and took a look at the scenery.

The place smelled of food, oil, and vomit. It was disgusting. "How do humans live in such conditions?" Nega moaned. The child with a blue balloon beside him looked at him in fear, which he turned to the small boy. "What do you want, kid? Can't you see I'm trying to kill someone here?"

The child's eyes widened, and to top off horrifying the toddler, Nega took a claw and punctured the balloon, causing a massive pop, destroying the object the child held dear. The child screamed, and ran off the bench, darting to a woman who appeared to be his mother.

Nega chuckled. That was surely amusing. But the woman walked up to Nega, and she grimaced at him. "You popped my son's balloon!"

Nega gave a low throaty growl that was inhuman, and the woman gasped, grabbed her bawling toddler, and ran off. Afterwards, the Nega cackled in laughter, and smiled. "All too fun, scaring the living shit out of people."

He got up from the bench and continued to search for his counterpart. Nowhere to be seen. Nega made a series of assorted growls in aggravation, but achieved nothing with them besides stares. Just when he was about to give up the search and call it a day, he saw someone.

It was a red headed girl outside the men's room, who was apparently waiting for someone. Nega studied her, and took a crumpled photo out of his pocket, and looked at it, then the young woman. There's no way…

"Is that the girl I'm looking for?" he muttered. Glancing at the photo, the girl, then the photo once more, he was convinced that she was indeed Kate Clark. He grinned eagerly, and noticed that she was fair game now that Crash wasn't around.

He walked toward her casually, and was soon in front of her. Kate furrowed her brow in confusion.

"May I help you?" she asked him.

"Yes, I was wondering if you would take part in a survey," he lied, making his tone brighter so he doesn't let on anything.

"What kind of survey?"

Nega clicked his tongue in thought, and he dug his hands in his pocket, and felt a dart. He grasped it, and spoke. "An amusement park satisfaction survey."

Kate sighed. "Well, the coasters are well worth it, but some of the rides are pretty sappy."

"Oh really? Tell me, Doll Face, have you been on the Tranquilizer yet?"

"The Tranquilizer?"

"Yes, it goes something like," he pulled the dart out of his pocket, "this." Nega quickly took the dart, and stabbed it into Kate's neck. She gasped in sudden shock, and when he was sure the dart was devoid of the serum, he took it out and threw it on the ground.

"What the hell?" Kate cursed as she looked at Nega in bewilderment and anger. But her vision began to blur, and her knees buckled. Nega caught her as soon as she collapsed, and he hefted her onto his right shoulder with relative ease.

"Now, now, darling. You mustn't be alone because someone may come and take you away," he grinned savagely. Kate only lay limp while he carried her, and he quickly left the amusement park.

Jack walked out of the bathroom with a satisfied sigh. "Alright, Kate. We should go home now," he said. But when he looked around, she was nowhere to be found. "Kate?" When he looked down, he saw a yellow dart with a black stripe. He picked it up, and looked down the path. He saw a man carrying… Kate.

"Oh no," he breathed, and he took off down the small pathway. Right when he reached a turn, they were gone. "No!" he growled. Jack ran to where they disappeared, which was to the parking lot. He saw the man putting Kate into a Jeep, and Jack could feel a snarl curling on his lips.

"HEY!" he shouted from the entrance. The man halted, and turned his attention to Jack, and laughed.

"Look who decided to show!" he said. Jack walked up to the man, and growled menacingly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with her?"

"Why, taking her to my employer, of course. She's worth world domination to him, apparently." At this, Jack could instantly tell who this was.

"Nega, you slimy bastard. What'd you do to her?" He could feel his retractable claws starting to extend in his fury. Nega only laughed behind his white helmet.

"Tranquilizers come in handy, you know."

But, he didn't know how short-lived they were, as Kate began to stir. Their attention turned to her, as she awakened. She knit her brows together groggily. She saw Jack, and her captor, face to face, and noticed one detail they shared.

"Is it popular to wear helmets year-round?" Jack groaned, while Nega snickered.

"My dear, have you not seen what's underneath his mask?"

Kate narrowed her eyes at Nega, which then he instantly whipped out the tazer. Without a second's notice, he shot Jack with it, which in turn he collapsed to the ground with a flustered grunt.

By now, Kate was out of the car and ready to help her friend retaliate, but Nega held his weakened enemy by the shoulders. Jack was taken aback by the sudden jolt of electricity. "Jack!" Kate shouted. Nega was confused.

"Jack? You mean this runt?" He shocked Jack again with the tazer, and a gasp erupted from the latter's mouth.

"Who else? Stop!" Kate shouted frantically. Unfortunately, Nega found a sadistic pleasure in others' pain, so he once again pulled the trigger to the tazer, and Jack could only strain his muscles as electricity coursed through his body. When it stopped, his vision became blurry and it was difficult to distinguish the features on Kate's face.

Nega chuckled. He assumed that Kate, since she thought that Crash's name was Jack, did not know that he was a mutant bandicoot, so he would get a kick out of this. "Oh-ho-ho-ho. Poor little Jackie feeling woozy?"

Jack could feel his stomach gnarl, and he growled. "You sick freak."

But, Nega gave a crooked smile, tazed him again, and grabbed the back of Jack's helmet. "Who are you calling a freak, bandicoot?" he said with bitterness, and he yanked off the helmet. Kate gasped.

Ooh! A cliffy! Eh, sort of, but anyway… I really liked writing this chapter, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as well! MORE TO COME, I SWEAR TO YOU THE READER!