PSManiac: Hello everybody! This is chapter nine of Multiverse Mishap! Thanks to all who suggested, you know who you are.
One of the worlds included in this chapter was actually created by a reviewer. I only own the stuff that I created. Enjoy!
Chapter Nine: Super Crash Brothers
Billy Bob's ship flew into the atmosphere of a forest-covered world. Suddenly, lights and alarms began going off in the jeep.
"What's going on?" Coco asked.
"Tha good news is that we are landin'," Billy Bob explained as he stared at a screen on the dashboard that said, "Low
Fuel."
"And the bad news?" Crunch asked.
"That there bad news is…" Billy Bob began before the jeep plummeted to the planet's surface.
Billy Bob climbed out of the wreckage and said, "It's a crash-landing."
"Is everyone okay?" Aku Aku asked.
"Physically or mentally?" Crunch asked back.
"Physically," Aku Aku answered.
"Then I'm fine," Crunch said.
"Same here," Coco said.
Crash's hand emerged from the pile of metal in a thumbs-up.
"Where are we, anyway?" Coco asked.
Then, she noticed the power crystal floating in a large hole in a tree. She walked up to it as Aku Aku gazed at their
surroundings.
"Weird," Aku Aku said, "Wasn't that large tree next to that boulder?"
"You're just being paranoid," Coco assured his as she took the crystal.
She turned around and saw that the rest of her friends were staring, wide-eyed, at something behind her.
"Aku Aku, you're not being paranoid, are you," she asked.
Aku Aku nodded. Coco turned around and saw two, pitch-black eyes on the tree staring angrily at her. She yelped and
jumped back, avoiding a slash from the huge tree.
"What is that thing?" Coco asked as the tree creature stood up.
"Don't ya mean those things?" Billy Bob asked.
"What things do you mean?" Crunch asked.
"Those things are what I mean," Billy Bob said as he pointed to the other living trees that were surrounding them.
"Oh, those things are what you mean," Crunch said.
Billy Bob nodded and said, "Yeah, I did mean those…"
"We get it!" Coco yelled.
The army of living trees came closer to the bandicoots, glaring menacingly at them. Our heroes huddled together, preparing
for anything that might happen. But, as they will find out, they didn't really prepare for everything. This is because a
shower of acorns flew out of the forest and struck the living trees. The tree creatures covered their faces and retreated.
Aku Aku opened one eye and asked, "Are we dead yet?"
Out of the forest came several, rather short, hooded figures with big, bushy tails and carrying slingshots.
"The Secret Squirrels!" Coco exclaimed, "We must be back in the Dreadwood forest."
Crunch turned to the squirrels and asked, "Do you guys know what those things were that attacked us?"
One of the squirrels motioned for the bandicoots to follow him and leapt into the forest. The bandicoots looked at each
other, shrugged, and followed him. Then, Petunia crawled out the wreckage and scampered after the bandicoots.
Cortex groggily opened his eyes and was very surprised to see… himself? He shot up and pointed his blaster at the other
Neo.
"Stay back, devilishly handsome clone!" he ordered.
"Uncle Neo, relax," Nina, who popped up beside Cortex, said, "It's just a mirror."
"Oh," Cortex said, "I knew that."
He looked around and saw that the room they were in was completely covered in mirrors.
"What is this place?" Neo asked.
"I don't know," Nina said, "But we need to find the others."
"Agreed," Neo said, "But I have one question. How do we get out of here?"
Nina tried to punch the mirrored wall, but her fist just bounced off.
"I can't punch through the mirrors," she explained.
"There has to be a hallway here somewhere," Neo said, "But we just can't see it because of all the mirrors. Quickly, feel the
walls for an opening!"
The uncle and niece team began their search for a way out of their reflective prison.
"I can't find an opening anywhere!" Neo exclaimed as he leaned against a mirrored wall, "We're going to be trapped here
for…"
Suddenly, the wall that Neo was leaning against opened like a door and Neo fell through the previously mentioned door
and into a mirrored hallway.
"I'm okay!" Neo called, "I landed on something soft and… wooden?"
"Get off of me you imbecile!" Uka Uka roared as he pushed Cortex off of his face.
"Uka Uka!" Cortex exclaimed and saluted, "I wasn't expecting to bump into you so quickly."
"You never expect many things, do you Cortex?" Uka Uka asked.
An evil laugh rang through the mirrored corridor and the image on Sergeant Lederhosen appeared on all of the mirrors.
"Well, if it isn't the N- Team!" Lederhosen stated in his usual, high-pitched German accent, "I was expecting you to be lost
and gone completely crackers by now. But, one out of two isn't that bad."
"Perish, fool!" Uka Uka roared as he sent a fireball at Lederhosen. It was a mirror, so the flame went out.
"Your third dimension attacks won't crash the 999 million mirrors of Rorrim!" Lederhosen laughed, "Face it, you're trapped,
humans!"
The evil vulture disappeared.
"Does anyone have a plan? I've got nothing," Cortex said.
Nina thought for a minute.
"There has to be some way this mirror maze is so well lit," Nina said, "Perhaps there is a huge opening somewhere, where
the sunlight goes through and reflects though all of the maze!"
"Of course!" Cortex exclaimed as he ruffled Nina's hair, "That's my Nina."
"Uncle Cortex," Nina whined.
"Sorry," Cortex apologized.
The bandicoots walked through the bushes of Dreadwood forest with the small group of five or six Secret Squirrels leading
them to their mysterious destination. They soon arrived to what our heroes instantly recognized as the Secret Tree House
City of the Secret Squirrels, except it was in ruins.
"Did those tree creatures attack this place?" Coco asked.
One of the Squirrels nodded and led them to the largest of the tree houses. They climbed inside and saw Gray Squirrel
standing there.
"Gray Squirrel, what's up?" Crunch greeted as he held his hand out for a high-five.
Gray Squirrel tried to high-five Crunch, but was too short.
"Sorry, I forgot about that," Crunch apologized.
Gray Squirrel shook his head and led the bandicoots to a telescope that was looking out of a window. Aku Aku looked
through the telescope.
"It's those tree creatures!" Aku Aku exclaimed, "They're gathered around Hairy Mole's old lumber mill."
"What would they want there?" Coco asked.
"They are probably workin' for Doctor N. Tangle," Billy Bob theorized as the telescope fell apart.
"You just couldn't resist, could you?" Aku Aku asked Billy Bob.
"There has to be some way to defeat those things," Coco said, "There are too many of them!"
Gray Squirrel scampered into the other room and brought out to the bandicoots a book. He handed the book to Crash. The
other heroes looked over Crash's shoulder to read.
"An Evil Botanist's Guide to Mutant Plants," Coco read.
Crash began flipping through the pages of the book.
"There's that thing that attacked us in Zeropolis," Crunch pointed out.
They soon came to the page about the tree creatures.
"Tree Golems," Coco read, "Are carnivorous trees that have evolved over time and have the ability to walk. Not only do
they get their food from animals, but also through sunlight by a bulb on the top of their trunks. In fact, without their bulbs,
they will die instantly."
"It looks like we have found a weakness," Crunch said.
Billy Bob turned to Petunia, who was now busy chasing her tail.
"Petunia," Billy Bob said, "I'm going to go into battle and destroy some evil trees. I might not come back. Please don't cry,
Petunia, it'll be okay."
Billy Bob was obviously not registering that Petunia was interested in her own tail more that him.
"Don't have an emotional breakdown, Petunia," Billy Bob cried, tears welling up in his eyes, "I might not come back, but
still get on with your life!"
He began crying loudly as Petunia continued to chase her tail. The bandicoots stared at Billy Bob and began to back away
slowly. They're back up too much. Watch out! Agh!
"Great," Coco said, "We tripped over the narrator."
"Not again," Crunch sighed, "We go through narrators like socks."
I guess I'll have to narrate… again.
"Hooray! It's PSManiac!" the bandicoots cheered.
Let's get on with it then!
"What now?" Coco asked.
We'll go over the N- Team and see how they are doing! Or is it saw how they were doing? It's hand to tell because this
story is in past tense.
The N- Team walked through the mirrored halls of Rorrim, searching for Tropy and N. Gin.
"N. Gin!" Nina called, "Where are you, you fat tub of lard?"
"I'm not fat! I'm just big boned!" a voice exclaimed from behind them.
Cortex screamed like a little girl and jumped into the air, expecting someone to catch him. No one did, so he just fell to the
floor.
"You're alive, N. Gin?" Uka Uka asked, "I thought that you would get eaten in a second."
"Come on," Nina said, "We have to find Tropy before Lederhosen sends in any big and ugly Interdroids after us."
Several Interdroids appeared.
"I guess I spoke too soon," Nina said.
"I got this one," Cortex said as he fired his blaster at one of the Interdroids.
Then, the laser blast bounced off of the Interdroid. The N- Team ducked as the laser began bouncing all over the place.
"You idiot!" Uka Uka roared at Cortex, "That was a mirror!"
"How was I supposed to know?" Cortex asked.
The laser blast continued to bounce across the hall. Finally, it blasted the correct Interdroid and the evil robot fell back.
"Let's go!" Neo called, and he and his minions raced down the hallway.
They turned a corner, only to smash into a mirror.
"Any more bright ideas, box head?" Uka Uka asked sarcastically as his floated up from the mirrored floor.
"How about you meet my friend?" the voice of Sergeant Lederhosen suggested, "The Spiked Wall of Death!"
A spiked wall appeared at the other end of the hallway and sped towards the N- Team. The screamed and shrank against
the wall.
"I know! I'll just blast it!" Neo exclaimed.
"No!" Nina yelled, "The Spiked Wall…"
"Of Death!" Lederhosen called.
"Right, the Spiked Wall of Death," Nina said, "Is made of mirrors. The blast will just bounce off!"
"So basically," Neo said, "We're done for."
The Spiked Wall of Death came closer as the N- Team huddled against the wall behind them. Then, the Spiked Wall of Death
stopped two inches from their faces.
"No!" Lederhosen cried, "This is a very bad time for you to malfunction!"
The wall behind the N- Team broke, revealing more mirrored hallways. The evil doers raced through the opening.
"Work you stupid machine!" Lederhosen ordered.
There was a loud thump, followed by a louder yelp of pain.
"Perhaps kicking the control panel wasn't such a good idea," Lederhosen said.
There was the sound of Lederhosen calling someone with his cell phone.
"Hello? Is this Bed, Traps, and Beyond?" he asked, "I'm calling about my Spiked Wall of Death… Uh huh… sure, I'll hold."
The heroic bandicoots looked out from behind a fallen tree at the gathering of Tree Golems around the old evil lumber mill.
"Okay, here's the plan," Coco whispered, "All we have to do is sneak around the lumber mill and defeat any nearby,
unexpecting Tree Golems. After that, we sneak into the mill and defeat any enemies inside. But we have to do this without
being noticed."
Crunch tapped on Coco's shoulder, pointed to several Tree Golems standing behind them, and said, "We got noticed."
The Tree Golems grabbed our heroes and carried them into the lumber mill. They struggled in a useless attempt to get free,
but, as I said before, it was a useless attempt. They arrived at the center of the mill, where an X shaped stage sat in the
middle of the room. Standing on that stage, smiling evilly at the bandicoots and the Secret Squirrels, was Doctor N. Tangle.
Well, you couldn't see his mouth so we can't be sure that he's smiling, but let's just assume that he's smiling.
"It looks like as if we have some party crashers," he told his Tree Golems sarcastically before turning to his foes, "But I
don't mind. You know what they say…"
"What do they say?" Coco asked.
"Huh… I was hoping you would know," N. Tangle said, "Nevertheless, you arrived just as we were playing a party game,
Treasure Hunt."
A Tree Golem appeared and handed N. Tangle a small plant with a single, blue stem with seven or eight purple leaves
hanging on all sides of the plant.
"Ah," N. Tangle said as he carefully took the plant into his green, clawed hands, "Ianthinus auctus, Lakeside Violet Plant,
very rare."
"You were here for a sissy plant for your garden?" Crunch asked.
Suddenly, N. Tangle grabbed Crunch with a vine tentacle and screamed, "Do not mock the power of plants, especially this
one!"
He threw Crunch against a wall and wiped the dust off of his leafy shoulders.
"That's better," he said, "I nearly lost it then. Anyway, you mammals don't have a chance of defeating me."
"We don't have to defeat you," Coco said, "But they can!"
Nothing happened.
"Uh… who?" N. Tangle asked.
"Guys!" Coco yelled, "That's your signal!"
Several glass boxes crashed through the widows and shattered on the floor of the room. Hundreds of tiny, green insects
began crawling all over the Tree Golems. The Tree Golems screamed and scampered around the room, trying to get the
bugs off.
"Aphids!" N. Tangle gasped, "You mammals are really on my bad side now!"
More Secret Squirrels leapt through the broken windows and fought the Tree Golems. N. Tangle pushed a button on a
remote control. The stage began moving up as a large circular door opened on the ceiling, revealing an elevator shaft to
the mill's roof.
"Crash!" Coco called, "Go after N. Tangle! Whatever he wants that plant for, it can't be good!"
Crash nodded and leapt onto the elevator stage. N. Tangle turned to Crash, surprised at first, and laughed evilly.
"Do you really think that a rodent such as yourself will ever defeat me?" N. Tangle asked.
Crash nodded.
"How wrong you are appalls me," N. Tangle said as he whipped out a battle mace made out of plants, "Prepare to breathe
your last oxygen molecules, mammal!"
The N- Team continued their search for their not-so-beloved time scientist, N. Tropy.
"I think that we passed that mirror about fifty times," Neo said.
"Okay, we're lost," Nina said, "Well never get out of here."
Tropy raced past them, screaming, "Run! Run! Run!"
"Was that Tropy?" Neo asked, "And why was he running."
Neo looked in the direction the Tropy was running away from and saw thousands of tiny, silver, spiderlike creatures chasing
after him.
"Oh," Neo said, "That's why."
The four of them began running for their evil lives as the spiders chased after them. Tropy pulled them into another
hallway. The five villains watched as the spiders passed their hiding spot.
"What… are… those… things?" Neo asked, panting heavily.
"Lederhosen called those things Nanodroids," Tropy said, "Nasty little Interdroids. They're harmless alone, but that many
Nanodroids are as deadly as Ripper Roo on a sugar rush."
"Wow," N. Gin said, "That is deadly. I still have bruises on my behind from the last time that happened. Do you want to
see?"
"No!" the N- Team screamed in utter fear.
"Fine then," N. Gin said, "You don't have to be so rude about it."
"Tropy," Uka Uka said, "Do you have a plan on how to get out of here?"
I think that I saw a way out while I was running for my life," Tropy explained, "About eighty yards down there."
He pointed down a hallway. Neo ran down the hallway, and crashed into a mirror.
"You did that on purpose!" Neo yelled.
"Maybe I did," Tropy answered, "Maybe I didn't."
Neo glared at Tropy as they began their trek for escape. They soon arrived in a tall, cone-shaped room with a large hole at
the top with sunlight shining through.
"We made it!" Nina cheered.
"One problem," Neo stated, "How do we get up there?"
Everyone turned to Uka Uka, the only one of them that could fly.
"Don't look at me!" the evil mask exclaimed, "I'm not carrying any of you!"
Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of Nanodroids entered the room and formed a huge mass of metal.
"Oh no," Neo said, "I think this might be bad."
The pile of Nanodroids formed a mouth with sharp, pointy teeth and grinned evilly down at the N- Team.
Tropy looked at Neo and asked, "You think?"
Next time on Crash: Multiverse Mishap…
Crash faces the evil N. Tangle in Hairy Mole's old lumber mill of evil. Meanwhile, the N- Team must also face the faceless face
of the Nanodroids. Who will win? It's Good versus Evil and Evil versus… Evil. Find out what happens in Chapter Ten: Mirror
Misfortune.
PSManiac: This chapter was sponsored by Bed, Traps, and Beyond. So review and suggest!