Odds and Ends
Cortex shifted and got a better view of what work lay before him. He studied it up and down, and spoke to it. "Cyboria, awaken," he commanded.
The Cyborg, whose face was hidden by the bangs of her hair, was released from her cords that gripped her back and held her in the air. Her feet hit the ground with a solid clang, and she brushed the hair from her face. Cortex looked at her face in curiosity.
"Cyboria, what is your mission?"
The red light on her eyepiece that took place of her right eye glowed at this. "My mission is to destroy Crash Bandicoot, and to loyally respect my creator, Doctor Neo Cortex," she spoke in metallic, yet human voice.
Cortex was almost thrilled. A security robot that was watching stood there, and caught the mad scientist's attention. He turned to Cyboria again. "Destroy that robot."
Cyboria's red eye flashed bright, and she pointed cannon arm at the machine and fired faster than greased lightning. The robot had a neat hole burnt right through it, and quickly fell to the ground, useless. Cortex felt a devilish smile creep upon his face.
"Very good, Cyboria. Now, find that bandicoot."
Cyboria's facial features remained blank, but she nodded and walked past the Doctor. "With pleasure."
Crash moaned. His head hurt, and he was awfully sleepy. What happened? He thought about it, and saw that he was trapped in a dull circular room with cords scattered along the floor. "Oh, right. Space station."
He got to his feet, and saw that there was a window at the very top of the room. Nega and Nina were looking down at him with smiles on their faces. "What are they so cheery about?" Crash muttered aloud. Then he remembered; Kate. Oh, crap, how long was he out? Where was she?
"Where's Kate at?" he shouted up at them. He could hear Nega speak from the window, for apparently it was not thick.
"You'll see her soon enough, pretty boy."
Crash growled. He scanned the room for an exit, and noticed a metal door that was sealed shut, and probably locked. Great. He looked back up at the window, and now saw Cortex standing there to observe. Crash groaned.
"Have I turned into an interesting sideshow or something?" Cortex's features were ridden with anticipation and malevolence.
"No, Bandicoot, today you will meet your ultimate demise."
"Pfft. Like I haven't heard that before," Crash ridiculed. Cortex didn't seem deterred by his remark in the least.
"This challenge will be different from the others, Crash. Your own friend turned enemy will be doing the job of ridding a nuisance such as you from our lives forever."
"Friend turned enemy?" Crash pondered audibly. As if on cue, the door to where Crash was trapped slid open. He glanced in that direction, and in the darkness of what lay behind it was a single red dot that seemed to pulsate. Crash furrowed his brow and shoved his hands into his pockets.
Then, a woman who was half-human and half-machine walked out into the open, and Crash gasped softly. "Kate?" As soon as she was in the room, the door closed and locked behind her. She stood still and didn't take her gaze away from Crash.
"Crash Bandicoot," she greeted soberly. Crash was utterly shocked at what happened to her, because she was totally different! Her hair was down and straight, and perfectly fell down her shoulders. The only skin he could see was her face. Her entire right forearm was gone, replaced with a large mortar, and her eye were almost completely gray.
"What happened…?" Crash breathed. Cortex chuckled.
"She's mine now. Cyboria was created to destroy you, Crash, and she'll rule the world alongside me." Crash couldn't take his eyes off of the woman who'd once been his friend, and gulped.
"Kate…"
"My name is Cyboria, you little cretin," the Cyborg snapped. Crash backed up slightly. "Call me Kate again and I'll shoot you where you stand."
Crash was knocked for six upon hearing her say such ferocious words. Kate seemed gone, but he knew he'd just have to bring her back. Cortex averted his eyes to where Cyboria had taken a stance.
"Kill him."
A sinful smirk curled Cyboria's lip up. "Gladly." Crash's eyes widened immensely as Cyboria lunged at him. In seconds, he was pinned to the ground, staring up at her vicious face.
"Kate, snap out of it! You don't work for this creep!" Crash swayed to her. She scowled and held up the barrel of her cannon to his face.
"You dare question my place of work?"
Crash blinked, and shoved the heavy Cyborg off him. He was back on his feet in no time, and he kept watching Cyboria cautiously. She stood up with a look of pure rage on her paler than usual face. "Kate, listen to me—"
"Why do that when I could have so much more fun ripping out your innards?"
Nega watched the battle with interest. "My, my, Cortex. She's quite the minion. And just to think, hours ago she was an ally to pretty boy."
Nina also sighed. "Yes, she truly is evil. Let's throw her a party."
"Ooh, is the brat jealous?"
"Silence, Bandicoot!"
"Please, you two. Quit your useless banter," Cortex intervened whilst still watching the onslaught. Nega and Nina grumbled incoherent words, but nevertheless were quiet.
Cyboria, through the sight of her right mechanical eye, readied her weapon-ized arm for fire. Crash noticed the inside of it began to glow bright pink, and realized that it was charging. Crap.
"Look, I know that I can be a jerk sometimes, but is trying to kill me really necessary?" he joked. Cyboria didn't seem to be slowed in the least be his humor.
"Trying to be funny will only get you killed, Bandicoot," she growled when trying to ready another attack.
"Hey, I've survived on it for years and I'm still kicking," Crash sneered. He quickly dodged another beam, and laughed, "And lucky as usual."
Cyboria grit her teeth together in seething anger, but changed her weapon. Her arm transformed into a flamethrower, and she aimed it at her opponent. "You infernal rat."
"Marsupial, thank you very much." Cyboria lowered her gun and sighed.
"Do you think I care?"
Crash flashed a trademark grin, and gave a thumbs-up. "Touché, mate." Cyboria gave a battle cry as she ran at him. Crash's grinned vanished, and just as she leapt at him, he performed a slide on his knees as her bulky body passed over his.
Cyboria hit the ground with a loud thud, and Crash rapidly turned to face her. She got up, and was wincing and holding a sore spot on her head. Crash was instantly filled with guilt as she looked at him in pain.
Crash let the better side of his nature get to him. "You okay?"
Cyboria growled, and stood up. She gave a sweep-kick that knocked him to his feet. Crash was aghast for a moment, and she quickly restrained him to the metal floor. "I don't need your sympathy, Crash."
"Ah, so we've decided use first names now, huh?" Crash smirked. Cyboria exhaled sharply in irritation. She put the nozzle of the flamethrower to his face, and Crash cringed. "Hey, no need to be hasty."
"Your death is my mission." She readied the flames that would soon end his life, and smiled with malice. "Any last words?"
Crash looked into the eye that once was filled with vibrancy and joy, and he sighed. "You know, I never thought you of all people would be the death of me. 'Kate Clark kills Crash Bandicoot.'"
Cyboria seemed momentarily stunned by this name, and Crash noticed it. So, he continued to speak with more confidence. "I also know that you never wanted to be a Cyborg or Cortex's minion. You wanted to be an artist."
"I… did…" Cyboria mumbled. Crash knew that he could actually succeed in this and resumed.
"And that little dragon tramp stamp you had was sure cute."
For the first time, he saw Cyboria blushing, and she blinked a few times. "I got it because my brother dared me to!"
Crash was amazed at this; that was more Kate's voice than Cyboria's. By now, she was grimacing heavily, and she stood up. Crash was relieved, because she was pretty heavy. Cyboria clutched her head stiffly, and she stumbled backward.
"Ugh, quiet you pesky female!" Cyboria shouted. Crash was confused now. What was happening? Seemingly, Kate still had a conscious, but didn't seem to be winning.
Crash was unfortunately still in range, and Cyboria kicked him to a wall. He hit the wall with a heavy pound. He groaned as he slid down to the floor. His chest was in a great deal of pain, and he looked at Cyboria's face, which was shocked.
"Crash!" she shouted in remorse. He coughed, and rubbed his aching chest.
"No hard feelings. Being possessed isn't too good either, I suppose."
Cyboria's red eye studied Crash, but every image through there seemed to fuzz up with static. "SYSTEM OVERRIDE" kept flashing over and over, and she growled, approached the fallen bandicoot.
"Why is this girl so important to you, Crash Bandicoot?" she questioned as she took her metal hand to his throat and sliding him up the wall. He choked slightly, and stared her in the eye. He took in what breath he had, and furrowed his brow.
"Because I love her."
Cyboria's face fell, her expression unreadable. Her grip lessened until her hand fell to her side. The red light on her eyepiece began to flicker and fade. "Love…?" Finally, the red light totally gave out, and it was black.
Crash slid to the floor and stood. He rubbed his sore neck as he stared at the woman before him. "…Kate?"
She blinked, and her gaze focused on Crash. "Crash, I-I'm… Sorry…"
Crash sighed in utter relief, and grabbed her in a hug. Kate returned it instantly, and pressed her face against his chest. "Don't be," he breathed.
Cortex growled. Cyboria had gone offline, and when he tried to regain control, he couldn't. "No! What happened?"
Nega sighed. "Seems pretty boy's emotions got the better of him." Nina was smirking to herself. She was the evil little girl once again. Cortex stormed down to his main lab, where he ordered his robots to destroy the two.
But Nina came up behind her enraged uncle. "Didn't you create her to be a killing machine?"
Kate and Crash were at the door to the room where they battled. "Okay, do you know the code to this door?" Crash asked. She shrugged and pointed the flamethrower at it. Flames spewed at the door, and a large hole was singed into it. "That works."
They crawled through the hole that led them into a dark, unlit hallway. Kate simply lit a flame that lighted the way. Crash thought this flamethrower thing came in handy, and he walked alongside Kate. After five minutes of walking, they reached a lighted area, and she disarmed the flamethrower as it retracted back into her cannon.
"Alright, let's find those escape pods, shall we?" Kate asked. Crash grinned.
"You bet."
"If I'm correct, they should be at least two halls down."
"Let's go with your theory."
They settled the agreement, and walked in the determined direction. But, to their dismay, two security bots were standing in the entrance of their hall. Crash groaned. "Great. More robots."
Kate looked at him with a snicker. "Give me a minute." Her cannon readied a beam, and electricity shot out of it, and the robots quickly exploded. Crash chuckled. That required no effort from him, and that thrilled him.
"Good going, Kate. Let's go." Crash was the one who stepped in front of her, and she followed. Eventually, they reached their destination, but it was being guarded heavily by at least a dozen of the same security bots. Kate scowled.
"He must've known, that yellow bastard."
"Hey, let me handle this," he smiled jubilantly. He casually stepped out into the view of the robots, and stopped right in front of them. "Alright, who wants a piece of this bandicoot?"
Every security bot raised a gun and took aim at Crash. Kate, in a panic, ran out into the open and aimed her own weapon at them. A white blazing shaft of light discharged from her mortar, and sliced every robot in half. Kate looked at Crash in bewilderment.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was in belief that you would come out and destroy them, you just needed motivation," he explained.
"You idiot."
"Hey, I'm not the one with a weapon, here."
They made their way to a pod, and noticed how small they were. Crash studied it with wonder, and glanced at Kate. "Ladies first."
She groaned, but before she got in, she pressed a red button that was placed next to the pods. Red lights began to sporadically fill the halls, and a siren began to go off. "What'd you do?" Crash asked her. Kate smirked.
"Payback for turning me into a Cyborg."
"Let me guess, the station will self-destruct in a few minutes?"
"You got it."
Crash smiled and ruffled up her hair a bit. "That's my girl." He stepped inside the capsule and Kate soon followed. It was rather cramped, and their bodies were just inches apart as they could only stand. Kate looked at Crash, who was equal height to her now. "Where are we landing?" Crash could only grin.
"Set a course for N. Sanity Island, Australia."
"Insanity?"
"No, N. Sanity. Not insanity."
"Right."
Kate turned to a small keyboard that was in her reach, typed a few commands, and the capsule shipped off into space, heading off to Earth. Crash sighed again, and Kate did too.
"Well, it's good to have ya back, Red."
"It's good to be back." Kate paused, and gazed at Crash with a serene face. "So, you… love me?"
Crash was hesitant, but sighed. "Yeah, I do. You're something else, you know that, kid?"
"Something else, alright," Kate smiled. It became awkwardly quiet after that, but Kate locked her metal hand around Crash's own. "I love you, too."
Coco Bandicoot had been practicing her martial arts on a tree outside her home. She threw a fist at it, and then a kick, and finally a chop that made a cracking sound when it made contact. Coco shook her hand in pain, and Aku Aku, who'd been watching, floated closer.
"Coco, perhaps if you angled your hand a bit lower, you would've made an incision," he suggested. Coco only glared slightly at the mask, but ignored his advice.
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
Crunch walked up behind her, and saw what she had been doing. He grinned. "Allow me." He threw his metal fist into the tree, and the poor thing snapped like a twig. He smirked at Coco in arrogant triumph, but the toppling tree collided into the roof of their house.
Coco turned to see Crunch, his expression one of grief and shock. "Nice work; all brawn and no brains."
But then another crash was heard, this being far off from their house. "What was that?" Aku asked. They all took off in the direction that the clatter was heard, and came upon a small capsule that had smashed into the forest, leaving a torn trail of dirt and plants behind.
They stopped in their tracks upon sight, and the door of the pod opened. A metal hand grasped the edge of the door, and heaved herself out. Coco gasped, but Crunch and Aku were confused. Kate collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily.
"What an impact." She stood up, and first glanced at the small bandicoot girl. Coco growled, but the Cyborg woman smiled and held out a hand. "Hi, you must be Co—"
She was interrupted by a brute uppercut to the jaw. Kate stumbled backward, flabbergasted. "What the… What was that for?"
"Where's my brother?" Coco asked while preparing for battle.
"Oyi!"
All heads turned to see an orange hand waving from the pod. "Assistance would be very kind right about now." The Kate groaned while rubbing her jaw and walking to the pod. She grasped the hand and helped the bandicoot out. He smiled. "Thanks mate."
Crash saw his sister, looking dumbly at him and the Kate. "What's with you?" he asked. Coco shook it off, and ran up to her brother and wrapping him in a hug.
"You're back!" she shouted joyously. The Kate rolled her eyes. Minutes ago she was ready to kill her. Crash chuckled and pushed his sister away.
"Yeah, I'm back. I'd also like you to meet someone," he said upon gesturing to Kate. Coco smiled sheepishly. "This is Kate."
"Nice to meet you… Kate," Coco said, and she put out her hand. "Sorry about earlier."
Kate grasped her hand and shook it warmly. "It's okay."
Crunch was watching the whole situation with a rather amused expression. "Well, if this tea party is over, I have to go and take a run. Nice meeting you, Kate." He turned and left. Crash sighed.
"He's the family's 'Talkative One,'" he scoffed. Kate nodded and put her hand to her hip.
"Obviously. And… There's a floating mask… over there…" she stated slowly. Aku brought himself in front of Kate and readied his voice.
"I am Aku Aku, the protective spirit of these three islands. I'm honored to meet you, Kate." Kate gave a small grin before shifting a bit.
"You too, Aku."
Crash yawned and gave a stretch. "I am exhausted. I am going to fill my stomach with Wumpa fruit, and take the king of all naps right underneath my favorite tree."
He headed off and Kate only watched. Coco sighed. "That's my brother, all right. Glad to see that you didn't change him too much."
"Changing that fur ball would take a lot more than a month with me," Kate reckoned. Coco smirked.
"So, are you staying with us now?"
"You know, I'm not sure. If I went back home looking like this, I don't think I'd have much luck getting back into college."
"Well, you're free to crash here for awhile."
"Thanks." The two girls began to walk back to the house, and Kate spotted a snoring Crash, his gut bulging slightly from consuming massive amounts of Wumpa fruit. Kate sighed, and sat beside him. Coco continued to walk to the house, and she looked back at Kate.
"You know, if you like him, you have to put up with him too."
Kate flashed a grin. "I have this long, and I think I've got the hang of it." Coco giggled lightly, and walked inside the house. Kate leaned back on the tree, and looked at the bandicoot beside her.
"You know, Crash, I'm not sure where reality has gone, but, here's to my new life." Suddenly, a fruit was held in her face.
"Would you like a Wumpa fruit to celebrate?" Crash asked. Kate smiled, but pushed the fruit away.
"I can't eat."
Crash shrugged. "Suit yourself." He gorged the fruit in less than two minutes, and finished with a satisfying sigh. "You don't know what you're missing out on."
"Yeah, if only I still had a stomach."
Crash was about to crack a joke about it, but saw that Kate was completely serious. "Oh. Sorry."
"Eh, it's alright. I have to cope with it, I guess."
Kate positioned herself closer to Crash, and he put an arm around her shoulders. "You know, I think I'm actually going to like it on N. Sanity."
Crash chuckled. "It's all odds and ends around here, Kate."
And thus, I end this story. But, what's a story without an epilogue? There's one chapter left to go, and I must thank all of you sincerely for bearing thousands of words of the flourishing love between these two love birds. A huge thanks to every reviewer, because they truly mean every word to me.
Thanks again, signed:
Chicflick