Chapter seven- Another Plan to Foil

Coco couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe there'd been children on N. Sanity Island all along and they never even knew. Not even Aku knew. It was heartbreaking. However, Coco had to admit she felt a little better knowing they all protected one another. Not even Jag was willing to snitch on them, and he knew and trusted Kieran. At least they could do their part to help now. Once the shelter was built, the little ones would have a place to live. It wasn't much for the moment, but it would have to do until Aku found a better place for them.

As Coco strode through the forest on her way back to Kieran and the others, she felt a strange feeling prickle the hairs at the back of her neck. She paused for a second, unsure as to why the reaction was occurring. Normally, she felt it when she was being followed. Yet, she took a quick glance around and she was alone. With a small shrug, Coco continued on. She walked back to the place she last saw the group, but when she pushed through the layer of leaves her heart jumped in surprise.

Men dressed in white coats were everywhere. They were armed with long metal sticks that sparked whenever they made contact with something or someone. Coco was stunned for a moment as she tried to absorb the terrible scene. The men were apprehending the children! Those they could get their hands on, anyway. Coco could see Maya, fighting with a ferocity that Coco had never seen before. She was desperately defending a small leopard cub, but was unsuccessful. A man snuck behind her, grasped the cub and stuffed the poor child in a sack.

Kieran was fighting as much as he could, but he was outnumbered. Coco watched in horror as one of the men came from behind and struck him at the back of the head with one of their rods. Another jabbed the stick in Kieran's ribs, and by the way the bilby jolted in pain Coco could only guess that they were charged with electricity. She snapped out of her stupor when she sensed a body behind her. As the man reached out to grip her shoulders, Coco whirled and clenched both his wrists. Without hesitation she flipped him over her head and slammed him into the ground. She rushed into the fray, enraged and ready to kick the crap out of anyone who was unlucky enough to get in her way.

First, she headed for Kieran. She attacked the closest man with a running kick that knocked him flat. One of the others abandoned zapping Kieran between his shoulder blades and lunged at Coco. She blocked the strike easily, and twisted the man's wrist so she could wrench the rod out of his hands. She held the rod before her, ready to take him on. To her surprise, he didn't step forward to challenge her. He backed off immediately. Coco used this lapse to drop to her knees and grip Kieran's shoulder.

"You alright?" She asked.

Kieran grunted, trying to recover his breath enough to speak.

"Fine." He wheezed. "Help them."

Coco didn't have to be told twice. She jumped up and rushed toward the first man she could see with a bag in his hands. She smashed him across the face with the rod, and he immediately dropped the bag. A tiny crocodile child crawled out from the bag, scurrying as fast as he could away from the skirmish. Coco was doing her best to rescue what children she could, but there were too many enemies. As Coco jumped on top of one of the men, wrapping her arms around his throat in a headlock, she tried to find Maya. She was fighting hard, but she wasn't making much progress. She was too small to do any real damage. Coco called out to her.

"Maya! Help them get away! Quickly!"

Maya's eyes were wide. Beneath her anger, Coco could recognize her fear. However, the girl was strong enough to do what was necessary. She ushered the free children toward the trees. Kieran was back on his feet again, but he wasn't much use. He wouldn't be until he recuperated from those shocks. As Coco continued fighting, she heard a collaborative voice that sounded like a robot.

"Abort! Abort!"

The men in the white coats immediately responded to the call. They took what children they had and ran. As Coco looked on, she realized she hadn't seen how many children they already had in confinement. They were all loaded into a hovercraft, and the engines were whirring as it prepared to take off. Jag had pushed past Maya and was running full speed toward the group of men.

"Jag!" Maya and Coco screamed his name together, but he didn't stop.

During Coco's hesitation, she didn't see one of the men she was fighting get up and smack her hard against the face. Her head snapped to the side, and she was momentarily dazed. This prevented her from charging forward to help Jag. The little panther leapt upon one of the bags holding three children. The bag fell to the ground and the children escaped, darting away into the trees. The men tried to recapture the three, but couldn't. So, swung about to catch Jag instead. Unable to battle so many men, Jag was helpless. One of the men gripped him in a tight lock and leapt aboard the ship. Coco gazed on with horror, and felt a rush of wind blow by her.

"Maya?" Coco spotted Maya's flicking tail as the margay rushed toward the ship.

"Jag!" Her voice was pained and panicked as she tried to reach him.

Coco bit back a curse and sprinted forward. If Maya got caught in the blast from the engines, she'd be killed. Coco quickly overtook the gangly girl, forcing her to the ground and gripping her tightly.

"Maya, no!" Coco yelled over the thrusters as the ship ascended.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Maya tore at Coco's grip, tears streaming from her eyes as she tried to pull free.

Soon, the ship lifted into the air. It hovered for a moment, and then jetted off into the sky. Gradually, the sounds of the engines died away, and the jungle was left in a terrible weight of silence. Coco was still holding Maya, but gently. Maya was staring off into the sky, crying silently. Kieran stumbled toward them, looking upward as well. He dropped his head.

"I'm sorry." His voice was quiet and pained.

Coco gripped Kieran's leg, silently urging him not to berate himself. It wasn't his fault. If they could have done anything to prevent it they would have. Coco couldn't turn away. She kept her eyes skyward for a long time, her stomach tying itself in knots. Finally, she gave Maya's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Don't worry. We'll get them back."

Crash was whistling a tune, trying to remember where he heard it. He spent more of his effort on this then actually building the shelter. However, he didn't feel as though he could blame himself for that. He'd never been very good at it. Crunch had graciously volunteered to help him out. Of course, Crash had pestered him about it all morning, and it was really Tawna who sealed the deal. Nevertheless, Crunch was very good at heavy lifting so Crash was thankful for his contribution. He didn't even mention how annoying it was when Crunch had to keep disappearing to check on Tawna.

Crash was balancing his hammer on his knee when Crunch returned for the fifth time. Crash was lying on his back, so he didn't bother rolling over to face him.

"The baby didn't come yet?" His tone was sarcastic.

"Shut up." Crunch grumbled as he started chopping another large branch.

"You know, when the doctor says it's gonna be a couple weeks, it's probably gonna be a couple weeks. Take a breather, relax. You know you're not going to get much down time once the little tyke comes."

"Drop it." Crunch was in worse spirits than normal. "Are you going to do something, or are you going to just sit there? I can do this on my own if you're not going to do anything."

Crash shook his head.

"Uh uh, friend. I said I was going to build this thing, and I'm going to do it."

"Then do it, and stop lazing about."

"I'm just getting my second wind."

"You haven't even started yet."

"Then I'm getting my first wind, get off my back."

Despite Crunch's jibes, Crash decided his bud was right. He really should hop to it. So he found a box of nails and began pounding away. He hated working, especially in the hot sun. However, the thought of eating a nice, juicy wamba fruit in the shade of some large tree motivated him. He'd just dropped the nails and was watching them tumble down the roof and rain upon a distraught Crunch when he saw Coco and the others come over the ridge. He quickly pretended to be working, but without any nails he could only tap at the shingles. He wasn't in the mood to be yelled at.

"Hey Coco, good to see yah. Just finishing up this…" Crash trailed off when he gazed up.

Coco was holding a dirty child in her arms. Beside her, Kieran was carrying two more. A young margay girl was cradling her wrist, evidence of a sprain. Coco herself was in rough shape. Some of her blond hair poked out of her ponytail in disarray, and she had a bruise just below one of her eyes. Crash slid down the roof and ran toward them. As he did, Crunch turned and saw the sight for himself.

"What…?"

Crash's eyes were wide with concern as he approached the group. He met Coco's eyes.

"Coco?" He asked quietly. "What happened?"

Coco shook her head, and Crash realized what happened. Half the children that he'd seen before were missing. He wanted to get an answer out of Coco, but she was more concerned with the children. She looked around Crash, and addressed Crunch.

"Can you take them inside, Crunch?" She asked.

Crunch came forward, and accepted the child that she passed to him. He offered a nod, and guided the children into the house. As they left, Coco gave Crash her full attention.

"We were attacked, Crash. By men in white coats. I think they were Cortex's men."

Crash snorted. "I wouldn't put it past the old codger. Twisted bastard. How can we find out for sure?"

"I'll check his system. I'm sure he's changed it since I last hacked into it, but I don't think he could've discovered a more advanced security program for his mainframe."

Crash shrugged. "Let's check it out."

The trio proceeded to Coco's lab, where she quickly activated her laptop and began typing ferociously. As she did, Crash tried to figure out why Cortex would need a group of kids. There were so many other evolved mutants of his walking around, why would he target kids? It didn't make sense. He'd been expecting Coco to take a little longer in her search, but she broke his system almost immediately. Crash and Kieran quickly crowded the screen behind her.

"Alright, what have we got?" Crash asked, not knowing what any of the numbers on the screen meant.

Coco scanned up and down the monitor, shaking her head.

"This is all old stuff. He's tried these plans before."

"Maybe he's running out of material."

"No. I think he's using it as a cover. That, or he's really disorganized."

"He's not a clean freak, that's for sure."

Coco continued searching. She clicked icon after icon, trying to locate anything on the abduction of Anthrian children. On the next click, she drew back with a gasp.

"Oh God…" She exhaled slowly.

Crash leaned over her shoulder, trying to make out what had affected her. When he saw it, he snarled in anger.

"Son of a…"

It was a detailed summery on Cortex's latest scheme. There were diagrams of a prototype bio-weapon developed in an Australian laboratory. It was created to destroy whatever genetic makeup was programmed into it. It was easily guessed what kind of genetic code Cortex would target. As Kieran read it, he scratched his head in confusion.

"But then, why would he capture children?"

"He needs genetic samples to program the weapon." Coco explained, her voice low and disgusted. "We obviously destroyed most of his originals during our exploits that he now needs to resupply."

Kieran narrowed his eyes angrily.

"Monstrous."

As Coco searched further into the new scheme, Crunch walked in with a frown on his face.

"May I ask what the heck is going on here?"

"What's going on, comrade," Crash muttered. "Is that we have another situation on our hands. And we're gonna have to hash out what to do about it."

There wasn't much more information on the mission besides what Coco already downloaded. She scanned through it all again, trying to wrap her head around it. It wasn't as though this new plan was surprising. It was undeniably "Cortex". Yet, action had to be taken. Coco had organized the important documents upon the table, and urged everyone to take a seat. Crash was subdued and thoughtful, which was unusual for him. Through every one of Cortex's evil plans, Crash always acted with a sure, confident manner that was rarely affected by any outside source. Somehow he always knew what the outcome was going to be. Even if he didn't, nothing short of a world in irreversible turmoil would wipe the smile off his face.

Now, he was worried. Coco guessed it was because he was facing a different challenge then he was used to. Malevolence was something her brother was familiar with, especially from Cortex. The thought of innocent children in his clutches… It made her sick to her stomach. Coco smacked both hands down upon the table, striking these thoughts from her mind.

"Alright, now, let's figure out what we're going to do."

"I'm all ears, sis, you're the playmaker on this one." Crash encouraged, leaning his weight upon his elbows.

Coco nodded, and glanced at the sheets.

"Okay. There are two missions here that we have to consider. The first, rescuing the children. The second will be more difficult, but our intervention is imperative. Even if we save the children before Cortex receives that toxin, we can't let it get into his hands. I'm sure he'll be able to gather a sample of mutant DNA in the future to arm the thing. The surest way of getting that serum will be to beat Cortex's minions to it."

"Sounds good." Crash propped his cheek on his hand. "Where is it?"

"Australia."

Crash sat up straight, a funny look on his face. He cleared his throat audibly.

"Uh, sis, there're humans in Australia."

Coco shrugged.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I don't think any of us will blend in very well, and I'm not interested in being Australia's 'bigfoot'."

"You wouldn't have to worry about that if you wore smaller shoes." Crunch mumbled.

Crash turned on him with a raised finger.

"Is that all you're going to contribute to the conversation? Eh? Well laugh it up, bud, because you're gonna be the yeti."

Crunch shook his head.

"I'm not going with you."

Coco started, and fixed her gaze on him. Crash had already abandoned the conversation, focusing instead on trying to see the size number at the bottom of his shoe.

"You're not? Why?" Coco asked.

Crunch didn't face her. There was something in his face that seemed uncertain.

"I'm staying with Tawna. I'm not going on these missions anymore."

"But, Crunch…" Coco was speechless.

Crunch wasn't going to help them? This was a different battle now. They weren't just saving the world. They were saving their world. If Cortex extracted DNA from the children, and modified it to use to destroy every mutated creature on the islands, they would all be eradicated. Surely Crunch couldn't stand by and do nothing. Before Coco could voice this, Crunch headed for the door. At a last attempt to bring him to his senses, Coco called out something else.

"Tina Tiger is retrieving the toxin for Cortex."

Crunch stopped, one hand propped on the doorframe. Coco watched him, waiting to see if the mention of his old enemy would light his determination for their cause. Even Crash craned his neck, curious to see how Crunch would react. To the surprise of both of them, Crunch didn't even turn around.

"I've made my decision."

As Crunch left, Coco sagged back in her seat, deflated. Crash lifted his head and offered her a shrug.

"It's his choice, Coco. There's nothing to do about it."

"I can't believe he isn't going to help." Kieran said quietly. "How can he not? We have a responsibility-."

"Crunch has paid his dues already, bud." Crash interrupted, leaning back on his chair. "More than you know."

"And you haven't?" Coco returned, challenging her brother. "How many times have you pulled up your socks and saved the world, even when you didn't want to? You've got more of a reason to quit then he does."

Crash cocked his head, silent for a moment. Then he grinned, and faced both Kieran and Coco with a strangely perceptive smile.

"Difference is, I don't have anyone depending on me. He does. He has a woman who loves him and a baby on the way. I can't say for sure, but that seems like powerful motivation to hang up the ol' superhero cape and settle down."

Something in Crash's tone sounded almost wistful, and Coco couldn't explain why she felt a twisting feeling in the pit of her stomach. As if night suddenly blinked into day, Crash sat up and leaned on the table.

"Alright, let's map this out. Putting my 'bigfoot' paranoia aside for a moment, I'll go to Australia and try to get that serum before that freaky Tiger gets her hands on it. You two head up to Cortex's fortress and bring back the kids. Make sure you know which fortress he's staying in. He switches labs like a tourist switches hotels."

Coco snickered.

"That's not really fair, Crash. You blew up all his other laboratories."

"That's not relevant. How about it, does that sound like a plan?"

Coco was quiet for a minute. She hated the idea of Crash going to that place alone with no backup. However, they didn't have much of a choice. Tina Tiger was already on her way to the Australian lab. They would have to act fast.

"Alright." Coco agreed with a small sigh. "Let's get ready."

Crunch tried to keep a calm demeanor, but inside he was stewing. The moment he turned his back on the others he felt a wave of repulsion wash over him. How could he think of sitting it out while Crash and Coco were risked their lives? He tried to convince himself that they did just fine without him. They didn't need any help. Coco had her new friend to watch her back and Crash…Crash could look after himself. How many times had that dope saved the world on his own? He even managed to save it from Crunch when he'd been under Cortex's evil influence. Despite his desire to join their mission, he needed to think about his family.

Crunch entered the hut, completely forgetting that he'd taken the children there. A dozen or more faces turned toward him, and Crunch found himself deeply unsettled. Cortex had kidnapped half their group, and the thought of children such as the ones that stood before him in captivity made his stomach roll. One of the children came forward, a heated anger in her eyes.

"What's going on? Aren't we going after them?"

Crunch spread his arms, conveying his lack of knowledge.

"I don't know what's happening, but something will be done to bring your friends home."

The girl seemed irritated.

"Discussion gets us nowhere. We need to go now!"

With this final exclamation, the girl stomped her foot hard on the ground. It was during that outburst that Crunch understood. The little girl was terrified. Beneath her furious exterior she concealed a deep fear that she could hardly contain. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and she looked just about on the verge of sagging to the ground and bawling. In the past, such a sight would have made Crunch shy away with discomfort. However, he was not the same person he was years past. He dropped to one knee, putting himself at eyelevel with the girl. He placed his hands on her shoulders and gazed at her with stern eyes. Her own almond eyes widened slightly in surprise. Crunch kept his voice low.

"Your friends will be returned to you, have no fear of that. The only thing you can do now is wait for them, and take care of the others. They will be looking to you for strength."

The girl's former façade had melted completely, and she was nothing more than a scared young girl, sniffling back tears. She rubbed her eyes, and then offered a small nod. Crunch smiled warmly.

"Good."

He stood in one fluid motion, and left the children behind in the living room. He headed toward Tawna's chambers, and gently knocked on the door before entering. Tawna was fast asleep on the bed, her arms curled around one of Coco's plush pillows. Crunch felt an involuntary smile conquer his mouth. He loved how peaceful and beautiful Tawna looked when she slept. Crunch quietly and slowly stepped toward the bed and sat down upon it. He placed a hand on her leg, feeling his insecurities drift away upon feeling her warmth beneath his palm. Tawna must have been sleeping lightly, because she stirred and then opened one eye. When she saw him she smiled dozily.

"Hey, you." She said in a sleepy voice. "What's going on?"

Crunch hesitated, and then distracted himself by stroking Tawna's leg absently.

"It looks like we have another problem on our hands."

He could feel Tawna peering into his face, looking for a betrayal in his features to suggest the level of severity. Unable to find answers in his eyes, she questioned him.

"Not Cortex?"

Crunch offered one nod. Tawna heaved a heavy sigh, and shook her head.

"How many times does he have to lose before he finally gives up?" She turned to Crunch again. "Is Crash going?"

Crunch nodded his head. "Crash, Coco, and Coco's little friend Kieran."

"What about you?"

Tawna's voice was so soft and unassuming that Crunch couldn't decipher her true feelings from her voice as he normally could. So he shrugged.

"I'm staying here with you. They don't need me."

Even as he said the words, Crunch felt hollow. He didn't want to be left behind. However, he couldn't forgo his responsibilities. He was in the midst of these thoughts when Tawna's voice penetrated his ponderings.

"Like hell they don't."

Crunch's ears perked, and he faced Tawna with a bewildered expression. He was flabbergasted. Tawna was frowning, her thin eyebrows pinched together in anger toward him. Before Crunch could open his mouth, Tawna spoke again.

"What is Cortex's plan?"

"He's stealing a toxin that he can target on mutated animals and exterminate them."

Tawna sucked at her teeth and nodded. Then she fixed him with that same angry look.

"Crunch, I know what you're doing. You want to stay here to protect us." As Tawna said the word "us", she gripped her swollen stomach. "You want to make sure we are alright. But Crunch, none of us will be alright if Cortex wins. Crash has fought him before and he has always managed to succeed, but you are invaluable. You can't let Crash and Coco go out there on their own. You need to go with them, and stop Cortex."

Tawna finished, and Crunch could only gaze at her with awe. Tawna was never angry, but seeing her so passionate made Crunch feel a greater esteem for her. However, the emotion couldn't last. Tawna sighed, and gripped Crunch's organic hand.

"I'll worry about you, Crunch, of course. But I know how strong you are. I know you will only be an asset, and give us a bigger chance of defeating Cortex." She dipped her head. "I love you, so much."

Crunch felt his face grow hot. He hated demonstrating emotion at the best of times. But repeating Tawna's words in his head and seeing her brave face looking back at him, he couldn't help a feeling of warmth from filling him. He lifted his hand out of hers, and touched her cheek tenderly.

"And I love you."

Tawna beamed at him, her eyes so full of adoration that Crunch found himself feeling overcome with timidity. He was about to draw back, but Tawna leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. He succumbed immediately, cradling the back of her head with his metal hand. Tawna retreated, resting her forehead on Crunch's shoulder.

"Go get him, Crunch." He heard her whisper as he stroked her hair delicately. "We'll be here when you get back."