Odds and Ends

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Kate looked at her companion in complete and utter shock. Crash was stunned—in more ways than one—as he was unmasked to one of his greatest friends. He expected a scream, but she could only stare at him dumbly.

Nega chuckled. "You see, Doll Face? He's a mutant animal. Pretty boy here always has been, always will be."

Kate would've spoken, if she could. Crash snarled and tried to glare at Nega, who had him on his knees and held by the jacket collar. "Same as you, Nega."

"Yes, yes, don't flatter me. I'm already aware of my excellencies," Nega smirked in response. Kate furrowed her brow, and came back to reality.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, let me get this straight. You two are… animals?"

Crash sighed. "You've seen what Cortex can do. He wanted me to be some general, but I declined, and years later, here I am now. Nega here… Eh, he's my evil twin from another dimension."

"You were… created?"

"Mutated."

"Yes, now if this little charade is over with, I'd rather to get paid sooner than later," Nega sighed irately. He pulled the trigger to the tazer once more, and Crash could only wince in sudden pain. This wasn't any fun. Nega put the tazer away, and got out his better firearm.

He set it to stun, and shot Kate with it. She tensed up, and fell to the ground. She was still conscious, but the use of her muscles was removed for awhile. Crash's eyes widened, and he wearily struggled against Nega's grip. "Kate!"

"Relax, hot shot. She's still alive, but you won't be," Nega grinned with malice. He pointed the gun and Crash, and squeezed the trigger. Crash felt the beam envelope his already stressed body, but could do nothing as he muscles stopped working. Nega released he grip on Crash's jacket collar, and he stood up.

Nega hadn't realized, though, that he'd forgotten to switch it to kill mode, therefore Crash was still conscious. Although, Crash wasn't sure how long that would last, due to the freaking tazer wearing him out. Nega chuckled, and walked over to Kate's limp body. He picked her up by the shoulders and looked her in the face.

"You're little friend's dead." Kate would've had an array of rage and grief lining her facial features, if she could summon the muscle to even make an expression. Nega placed her in the passenger seat of the olive green Jeep.

Nega took one glance at Crash, and grinned. He was satisfied, and didn't plan on taking the body to Cortex, so he simply left him there for some other poor soul to clean up the mess. So, Nega walked to the driver's side and hopped in.

Nega sighed, and took off his white helmet, showing his true face. "Alright, missy prissy. I've got to get a better signal to Cortex's space station so I can teleport us to his base," he spoke to Kate as he turned the keys and turned on the engine.

Kate didn't know that her friend wasn't dead and felt distressed. 'He can't be… dead… Jack can't be…' was all she could think. Nega pulled out the device that he'd used to teleport and contact Nina Cortex with, and placed it in his lap so he could keep a constant eye on the signal. He then drove out of the dirt parking lot in rather good spirits.

He was getting paid, he has the girl in his possession, and Crash Bandicoot is dead. Also, he remembered the deal he made with Nina, and chuckled. That little brat isn't getting any credit for this whatsoever, which made him one happy guy.

"Hell, I love being me."

Ten minutes later, Crash felt as if he should've fallen asleep right there. His eyes were dry from the incapability of blinking, and he was pretty sure that if he stayed there any longer, someone was bound to notice him lying there.

Crash sighed. This sucked big time. He'd let Nega get Kate, his best friend, and now he was taking her to Cortex. Who knows what that maniac was going to do to her? Just thinking about it made Crash's skin crawl with hatred. Cortex was willing to do anything to rule the world, even scoop a harmless woman from the face of the Earth.

Crash's mind averted to the day he'd met Kate. Then the day they spent the night at their first motel, the day she and him took on a small army of robots, the day he crashed a plane and parachuted with her, the day they got on the cruise boat, the day she saved him from Nega, and now, today.

Today, when he went on a romantic ride with her. Crash sighed, and blinked before closing his eyes in the sweet memory. It was actually rather enjoyable.

But then it his him. He blinked. Crash blinked a few more times, and smiled. Smiled! He was almost eager to get back onto his feet, but when he tried to move his limbs, he gained no result. That part was yet to come.

He groaned. "Great. Well, at least I can talk." He felt a buzzing in his jacket pocket. The walkie-talkie device was vibrating, and Crash wanted to pick it up. He tried moving, yet accomplished nothing. He muttered a profanity, and after a solid three minutes, the vibration ceased.

"Oh joy. Now Coco will have a panic attack." A lean man walked by and heard Crash's talking. He turned to see Crash, and gasped. But the bandicoot offered a smile. "Mind lending a hand, mate?"

The man screamed and ran off in the direction he was heading, and Crash sighed. "Of course. Humans." He simply lay there a minute, that is, until the device vibrated once more. Crash wrinkled his nose. "Sorry, Crash Bandicoot is unavailable for the moment. Please leave your name and your freaking number at the beep," he mumbled in an irritated monotonous tone.

"Crash!" Coco's voice came from his pocket. Now he was confused. Wasn't he supposed to answer it? "Where are you?"

Despite his doubts, he spoke loudly so his sister could hear. "I'm kind of in a sticky situation here."

"What kind of situation?"

"Let's see, Kate's gone, I can't move, and a human saw me without the helmet. But other than that, it's sunny out today."

"Crash! What happened? Hang on!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, sis."

Crash was rather taken aback when the device literally crawled out of his pocket on tiny little legs and stood in front of his face. "Crikey, what else can this thing do?" he asked. Suddenly, a little satellite dish dissipated from the antennae. "Need I even ask?" The bandicoot could only watch in awe as it fired a bright white beam directly at his face.

He was blinded by the intense whiteness, and his eyes closed tightly. When the light faded, he slowly opened his eyes, and was shocked. He was on the carpet of his own living room! He was home! He immediately smiled and inhaled deeply.

The smell of his home on N. Sanity was refreshing. Coco immediately ran into the room and saw her brother on the floor. "Crash!"

"Hiya, Coco," he sighed. She knelt beside him, worry written all over her face.

"Are you hurt?" She began to check his body for injuries, until he spoke.

"Not hurt, just immobilized. Now, would you mind helping me to the couch?" Crash felt himself getting lifted into the air by the collar of his jacket. He was nearly two feet off the ground, and the one who had him ascended turned his body so he could face them.

Crash grinned. "Ah, Crunch. Good man. Mind throwing me on the couch?" Crunch Bandicoot smirked as he held the smaller bandicoot with his bionic arm.

"Alright." He held Crash over the couch and dropped him. Crash was shocked for a bit after the sudden drop, and he furrowed his brow as he looked at Crunch.

"The drop could've had more grace."

"You asked for it, runt."

Crash looked at Coco. "So how long before I can move again?"

"How long did it take before you were able to move your facial features when you were shot?"

"About fifteen minutes."

"And when I called you, how long were you able to talk?"

"I don't know, ten minutes?"

"And it takes about five minutes to teleport you here, so you should be able to move right around…" Coco contemplated her answer, and Crash brought up a hand and ran it through his hair.

"Look, I don't see how this is able to tell…" He paused, and his eyes shifted to his elevated hand. "Good Lord. Must I always be faced in irony?"

Crash tried to get up from the couch, and found that he couldn't. Yet another let-down. "Okay, but what about my legs?"

"They should come back in fifteen minutes," Coco stated. Suddenly, a smile ran across her face, and she walked over to Crash, and embraced the bandicoot in a hug. Crash stiffened for a moment, but it melted away and he soon returned the hug.

"I've missed you so much," Coco said upon burying her face into his chest. Crash chuckled.

"I have too, squirt."

Nega sighed. Kate had been able to talk again, but she didn't utter a word. She wasn't on speaking terms with him. The crimson-furred bandicoot sighed. "Look, Doll Face, you don't have to turn a cold shoulder. I can be a nice guy."

She turned her head and looked at him with a skeptical eye. He grinned. "I'm a huge liar, as well." She rolled her eyes, and folded her arms.

'Mutated bandicoots. Who'da thunk? Apparently that freaky doctor,' Kate thought. Then a shiver ran up her spine. 'What's he planning on doing with me, anyway? Is he gonna turn me into an animal?'

"Hey," Kate said to Nega. The latter glanced at her, and a smiled fell upon his lips.

"So now she talks."

"Shut up."

"Ooh, feisty."

Kate groaned. "We're you a human before you got… mutated?"

"Nah, from what I was told, I was an Eastern Barred bandicoot."

Kate shivered. What happened to reality? Since when do anthropomorphic creatures roam the Earth? But, considering Cortex's robots, it was almost as if anything was possible. Life was just getting out of hand.

"Crash was too. See, he's from this dimension, while I'm from another. I was summoned here, though, to kill him," Nega explained. Kate shot a look of pure hatred at him.

"Jack is still alive." Although, she believed that deep down, he was gone. Nega chuckled.

"You just keep telling yourself that shit, darling." He took a glance at his device, and smiled. "And looky here, we've got a signal."

Kate's eyes widened as Nega jumped out of the Jeep, and walked over to her side. He opened her door, and grinned savagely. "Ladies first." Kate scowled, and threw a punch into Nega's muzzle. He yelped in pain and he rubbed it in pain.

"You little…" He grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the car. She winced at his brute force, but recovered quickly. She lobbed another fist into his stomach, and in turn he grasped the inflicted abdomen as if it eased the hurt. He growled and held Kate's wrists.

"Let me go!" Kate grunted as she struggled to escape the evil bandicoot's grip. He curled his lip up, showing his canines with ferocity.

"What are you gonna do? Your hands are tied!"

Kate gave a growl herself, and heaved her knee into Nega's legs. His eyes flew open and he fell to his knees, holding his groin in great agony. "Oyi! Me sugarplums!" he cried, his voice creaking and cracking.

"Seems I put a nook in your cranny," Kate grinned in triumph while backing up a bit. Nega held a mixture of pure rage and pain on his face.

"If there's anything you and that little runt had in common, one of 'em is kicking me in the damn nards! Sheesh!" Nega exclaimed as he was able to stand again. He eyed Kate with darkness now, and he grabbed her. She squirmed to be free, but to avail.

Nega's attention turned to the device. He pressed on the blue glass-like grid, and with each tap, the device made a sort of beeping sound. When Nega was finished with this, he sighed, and placed the device back into his brown trench coat's pocket.

Kate resisted his grip even more, but he continued to hold her as if with little effort. All of a sudden, Kate could see her feet and his starting to dissolve into mere blue grids, which then in turn dispersed into tiny particles that flew up into the atmosphere. This continued to run up their bodies at a rapid pace, until it inevitably reached their heads, and they were gone.

Crash stared at the Wumpa fruit in his hands. He longed to sink his teeth into the succulent fruit, but every time he held the fruit up to his mouth, something mentally kept him from biting the darn thing. "What is wrong with me?" he growled. Crunch, who was pleasantly lifting weights, cast his eyes over to where the shorter bandicoot stood.

"First of all, you're talking to yourself. Second, too many to count," he grinned. Crash held his adoptive brother with an unsavory air.

"Well, I'm nearly dying to eat this, but I can't. Care to explain, Muscle Man?"

Crunch's head turned back to the weights he was lifting, and he spoke. "You know, you were gone a long time with that chick. I think that the time you spent with her, some sort of bond was established."

"Are you saying that I have feelings for her?" Crash scoffed. Crunched shrugged while heaving the presumably heavy weights up and down.

"No. All I'm saying is that you are showing symptoms yearning a person. You've obviously lost your appetite, and your face portrays feelings of guilt and loss. You make it too obvious."

Crash groaned. He had made it too obvious. "Yeah, well, I need to do something about." Crunch took a small glance at him.

"And what would that be?"

Crash's eyes flickered to the floor as he tossed the fruit away. "I have to go and get her back." Crunch's eyes grew wide as his brow furrowed deeply.

"What?" He lost his grip on the weight that he'd raised, and it came crashing onto his chest. He coughed in pain, and wearily placed it back on the hooks. "You *cough*… just got back!"

Crash was already heading toward his sister's lab. "I know, but if I don't do something, who will?"