The world around him became clearer again, but it was only when Crash could make out the ground that he leapt off Tropy. The latter was still in a sense of wide-eyed shock, staring down at his sparking appendage as though he couldn't understand why the machine had ceased to work. Crash could have cleared it up for him, but he suspected the idiot already knew.
"How…?" Now anger rose into Tropy's expression, and his face pinched.
"Simple really." Crash yawned with a casual flip of his hand. "You see, all this time traveling business gives me a headache, and although it was not my first way of going about it, I had no choice but to bust your little scrape of hardware. Sorry mate, I hope we can still be friends."
Tropy held his wounded arm carefully, and he stepped forward with murder in his eyes. Suddenly, a booming voice rocked the ground they stood on.
"You have failed me Tropy. Stand down now."
Tropy's mouth fell open in his second lapse of confusion. "But, I'll-"
"You will do nothing."
With a look of enraged emotion bottled within his beady red eyes, Tropy stepped back into the darkness, and Crash was alone. Since Crash had a fraction of time on his hands, he began to glance around his surroundings, and noticed that he was standing on rock, and as he squinted through the dimness it seemed that the walls were constructed with the same material. Crash was getting pretty annoyed about being ignored, and he opened his mouth to say so.
"Hello again, Crash Bandicoot."
Crash snapped his jaw shut, and watched in rising irritation as the area became illuminated. He now could see that he was in a weird laboratory, and he hated laboratories. Yet the freaky, sterile labs were not nearly as creepy as the short figure that stood amid it. Doctor Neo Cortex, in the flesh, was standing on a raised platform with an odd weapon in his hand. That weapon was pointed directly at Crash. Not in the practice of letting on his nervousness, Crash smiled and offered a friendly wave.
"Hey Doc. Long time no see."
"Cut the chatter Bandicoot. Your false confidence is not amusing."
Crash shrugged. "Maybe not, but it's the best I could do under the circumstances."
Crash felt a slight change in the air, and turned around to see a figure materialize. She still held the three relics in her arms, and she looked quite shaken. Before Crash could say anything, Coco got to her feet and started marching forward. She looked like she wanted to speak, but she was too dazed to construct any words.
"Ah, so this is your sister then? The other foolish marsupial that deterred our plans."
Coco shook off her time lag quickly. "Oh, you're Cortex huh? Can't say you're really what I expected, but I was right in my prediction that you'd be an ugly cuss. I've got something I need to say to you-"
"-Your hairstyle is unique and your oddly proportioned head adds to your charm." Crash interjected with mock compassion.
Coco glared at her brother, anger that was meant for Cortex now turned on him. Crash grinned hesitantly.
"No need to tick anyone off when we're not in a great situation. Jeers come after we win. Just helping you out Sis, since this is your first time."
Coco continued to glare, but kept her mouth shut. Crash realized they were being rude to the mad scientist, and slowly turned back around.
"I have been waiting for years to finally end your existence, Crash Bandicoot."
Crash snorted. "That's not a legitimate statement Doctor, considering I was only created about a year and a half ago. 'Years' implies at least two."
Cortex was not in the mood for this, it appeared. "Farewell, Crash Bandicoot."
Crash sighed, and prepared to dart out of the way as usual, keeping track of his sister as well. Unexpectedly, the gun flew from Cortex's grasp and smashed against one of the titanium walls. Cortex looked just as surprised as the bandicoot siblings. The lights began to flicker, and Cortex looked very nervous.
"I have grown increasingly tired of your failures Cortex. Your ineptitude does not deserve to be redeemed, and so I will take care of this meddlesome creature myself."
Crash furrowed his brow and felt Coco's tightening grip on his arm. Somehow every ounce of warmth was sucked from the air, and Crash withheld a heavy shiver. Coco moved closer to him.
"Crash…what…?"
Coco trailed off as an entity became visible in the flickering darkness. Its bright golden eyes looked familiar, but at the same time completely foreign. Crash gulped as a blast of unease raked his insides. It was a floating mask, hideous and twisted with dirty bones strapped to the top and sides of its plank-like body. It wore a gnarled sneer, and a distant frightening rumbling shook the two bandicoots, and Crash realized a moment later that it was laugher.
"Of course, I am far too aggravated to kill this abomination so quickly. Perhaps I finally have found an outlet in which to vent my anger."
Crash didn't like the sound of that. He knew that this had to be Uka Uka, the evil mask that Aku warned them about. The seriousness of the situation was making the air dense, and it wasn't putting Crash in a good mood. His green gaze remained fixed on the possessed mask as he slowly pushed Coco away.
"Move it Sis." He spoke under his breath.
Coco's voice was frightened, with forced bravery. "No Crash I-"
"Move."
"But I-"
A flurry of whirling light spiraled toward them, and Crash clenched his jaw as he shoved his sister.
"MOVE IT!"
The blast hit Crash head-on, and subconsciously he could hear a high-pitched scream, but out of surprise and not pain thankfully. He sailed through the air and landed hard on his shoulder, unable to gather his senses in time before another attack materialized. The fire raked his body and sent horrible waves of excruciation through his nerves, but he didn't make a sound, biting back his groans.
"I don't understand what the challenge is." Uka began as he let loose more electric currents. "It does not seem capable of the endeavors you have suggested Cortex, you are an embarrassment."
Crash was having difficulty registering what the mask was saying, hearing only the pulsing of his own strangled heart-beat. He had to get out of this line of fire he was in. He felt another bolt shake through his insides, and he clenched his jaw. Uka said something else, but all Crash could make out was a rumbling noise that sounded incoherent. Subconsciously, Crash felt himself lifting off the ground, and again he was flying through the air. When he hit the sharp edges of the rock wall, his gasp of pain as the jagged rocks gouged into his skin was replaced with a shuttering inhale as his air was knocked from his lungs. He was suspended there for a moment, unable to move or breathe and very aware of the blood that was trickling from his back.
"STOP IT!"
Crash could guess the voice belonged to Coco, but his vision was so hazy that he couldn't look to see. He slowly began to slide down the wall, and winced as the rock scratched against his already torn skin. When he felt the ground at his feet, he slumped forward and collapsed to his knees.
"Yet it is fortunate that the relics are finally in our grasp. Really, the amount of work for us was dwindled by their involvement, so perhaps I should consider that."
Crash felt the air around him started whirling, and soon the suction grew strong enough to pull him along the ground. He shook his head to clear his vision, but it didn't do any good. The dust and rock around him gathered into the air, and Crash vainly tried to grasp onto anything he could as he slid. The air only stopped whirling when Crash had propelled over the side of a cliff, and he scrambled to grasp the rock before he fell into the open chasm. The tips of his fingers were bleeding from the gritty scrape over rock and the intensity of the friction, and his arms were still pretty numb from Uka's previous attacks. Hanging on was a challenge, one that Crash didn't think he was up to. Suddenly, Coco appeared before him, her eyes wild and wet with tears. She grasped both his arms with her tiny hands and held on with all her might. Her tears were falling from the tip of her nose and splashing Crash in the face.
"Hey…quit it." Crash uttered weakly, shaking off the tears.
Coco took her bottom lip between her teeth as she tried to stop crying. "Don't you dare let go."
Crash managed half a smile. "S'okay, letting go isn't the plan."
Uka looked thoroughly disgusted from his position above them.
"Well well, I never thought it was possible that animals could care about one another so strongly. Yet I'm afraid it is in vain. I banish both of you abominations to the infinity of death. Farewell."
Crash closed his eyes and squeezed his sister's hand, preparing for what was to come. As the flaming sphere of churning fire blasted toward them, Crash felt a wave of cool crystal light, and opened one eye. The sphere exploded, sending flickers of flame in every direction, but Crash felt nothing. When the flash dimmed away, Crash could see the shape of a familiar figure shielding them. Uka smiled wickedly.
"Ah, it's you."
"You have no right to be here Uka Uka." Aku Aku's voice was filled with anger.
"You mean I have no right to freedom?"
"If your goal is to enslave the lives of others, your freedom is a plague to this earth."
Crash was impressed by the steady control of Aku's voice, and the way he balanced his anger without fully diminishing it. Yet Crash was afraid as well. He'd never seen Aku this angry, and he hadn't the slightest idea what he had the capacity to do. It was at this time that Coco braced herself and yanked on Crash's arm. Crash growled, feeling a dazzling pain dance up and down his affected limb. He suspected he sprained it when he crashed into the wall. Coco's eyes betrayed her worry, but her voice was even.
"Climb up. Help me."
Crash clenched his teeth and forced himself to pull himself up, ignoring the pain for the time being. Coco pulled him up with impressive strength. After he was out of the direct jaws of the open chasm, he felt absolutely exhausted, and let his forehead fall to his knee. All the while, Aku and Uka were speaking to one another with perfectly balanced rage between them. Finally Uka laughed.
"I suppose it was something I should have expected. You are a traitor, and would sacrifice anyone for your own moralistic glories. You know I am correct, don't you…brother?"
Crash didn't pick up on the reference right away, but it was when Coco gasped that he really got it. His eyes widened. Brother?
The lights started to flicker again, but this time it was Aku's magic that was disturbing the electric currents. His voice was dangerous.
"Any relational tie that once bound me to you has been severed Uka Uka. You will not harm my charges again and you will cease this ridiculous campaign. Do you understand?"
Uka's laugh thundered throughout the laboratory, and Crash felt himself wince. That laugh sure was creepy. All of a sudden a frightening red glow pulsed off the evil mask, and Crash gaped as his face became absolutely demonic.
"The thought of battling you made my eons of imprisonment bearable, and your destruction was the nourishment to fuel my desire to escape. You will die, brother, as you were meant too all those years ago."
Lights danced around the forms of the two masks, each reverberating signs of inexplicable rivalry and unfathomable fury. Golden eyes bore into one another as the ground shook, causing Crash to grasp Coco before she tumbled into the pit behind them. The loud pulsing of some strange but frightening noise shook Crash's insides, and he slammed his hands over his ears to drown it out. From beside him, Coco did the same. The masks began to battle, each demonstrating the measure of their power. Uka unleashed flurries of fiery arrows toward Aku, and the latter returned only with a defensive blow, snuffing out the flames. As Crash and Coco watched transfixed, stray shots and ricochets blasted the rock walls around them, sending hailstones of sedimentary shards over the siblings. Crash protected his head, and glanced at Coco.
"Sorta gives a whole new meaning for sibling rivalry, eh?" His voice just barely carried over the loud whirring of rushing wind.
Coco still had her hands over her ears. "This is serious Crash, stop making jokes!"
Crash grinned lopsidedly, and winced as the action tugged at the cut on his lip. "It's just how I get through the day honey."
Uka doubled his attack, showering Aku with fireballs and torpedoes of solid ice. Aku deflected each attack, with no indication of returning fire. Crash felt confused at this spectacle.
"Why isn't he fighting back?" Coco's tone suggested she was just as confused.
Crash didn't answer, but he pondered the question. Why wasn't he fighting back? Was it because Uka was his brother? The whole thing seemed pretty odd to Crash but he refrained from pointing it out. What was certain, ever so slowly, Aku was loosing. Aku was showing signs of exhaustion as he placed a shield over himself and the bandicoots behind him, absorbing the blow. After a moment, Aku was finally able to break Uka's attack and regroup.
"I don't want to fight you Uka Uka." Aku's voice was haggard.
"But I want to fight you." Uka's voice held the same amount of strength and confidence since the beginning. "I don't understand why you want to fight for these lamentations to the animal populace. They are not meant to live, they must be destroyed."
"You speak in a tongue of utter ignorance brother, and it will be your undoing. Do not judge those whose resilience you are blind to. Every creature has a right to live."
"Do NOT lecture me!" Uka's anger was thrown behind his attacks, and Crash felt a jolt of panic as he watched the strength fade from his old friend's eyes.
At first, Crash had thought it improper to interfere with a family battle, but he didn't feel right just sitting there. Crash reached a hand out and grasped the three relics. He gazed at them for a moment and considered.
These pieces of junk must be useful for something other than switching dimensions.
Crash thought about it a moment longer, and a light blinked in his mind. As he struggled to his feet he felt a small but strong hand bar him from rising. Coco was glaring at him, again.
"What are you doing?"
Crash couldn't hear her, but he could read her lips well enough.
"At this rate we'll have to walk home."
Shrugging out of her grip, Crash stood up fully and started stumbling forward, the relics of sapphire, gold and platinum held tightly in his hands. He strode through the whirling winds and falling flames and snow. He continued on even as Uka abandoned his current attack and fixed his eyes on him. After a moment of staring in bewilderment, Uka thundered a laugh.
"Ah, the creature has come to make a last stand. Have you any idea what you hold in your hands, boy? Are you going to use them to defeat me?"
Uka's tone was one of utter amusement, and Crash reveled in it, offering a polite but very sly grin.
"You could say that."
The very next instant, Crash threw the three relics to the ground, and they shattered on impact. Uka's face blanked from utter shock as he dropped his jaw.
"What…have you DONE?" Uka bellowed, enraged.
The shards of the relics glowed with their respective colours of blue, white and gold. They flickered for a moment, and then began to whirl together in a gathering speed. Crash stepped back, a beaming look of utter confidence on his face. He winked.
"Oops."