Author's Note: Finally got a chapter out, it's short but it's a chapter. Reviews motivate me to write more, it should get more action-y next chapter. Geek out.

Chapter 2:

Old Friends

The two Hellcat fighters flew into the opened hangar of the blue and white air submarine alongside the two dragons. Both cockpits opened to allow the non-winged members of the party to exit their vehicles into the hangar full of anthropomorphic Australian animals. While Crash, Coco, Crunch, and Aku-Aku were able to exchange a few words with friends, Jak and Keira were stared at suspiciously and Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and Daxter were largely ignored. Of course, this did not settle too well with the latter two.

"Hey! Why are they ignoring us, we're the real Heroes!" Daxter yelled angrily.

"Yeah," the dragonfly agreed, "those guys would be nothing without us!" Their outbursts were met with scornful glares from both parties, which succeeded in driving them down. A short man with a tall head and two bolts over his ears tottered forward and wordlessly urged the Heroes to follow him. Crash smiled at the humans and the dragons' unsure faces.

"Don't worry, Dr. N. Brio obviously has a plan," Crash assured and pushed the others towards the area N. Brio was leading them to.

They emerged in a small room with shelves full of beakers and a small table in the back for mixing. N. Brio turned to face them from behind the table and smiled, showing one overlarge incisor among his other teeth.

"C-C-Crash, C-Coco, I am glad to see you are b-back and with f-friends too," he stuttered, followed by a high pitched giggle. "I-it is unfortunate th-that many of the a-anthros are mistrusting o-of your human friends. Th-They have learned t-to trust me since I turned from C-Cortex b-but it seems that your f-friends are not trusted. A-as I understand, they d-do not have the t-time to gain their trust neither." Jak nodded in response.

"No, we have to find the Villains and beat them now!" he said. N. Brio nodded and pulled a pair of beakers full of purple liquid out of one of the shelves. He handed one to Jak and the other to Keira.

"If they w-will not t-trust a human, then p-perhaps the ruse of an anthro will h-help them accept you." Jak and Keira both swigged down their separate beakers and choked. Both started to grow fur as their ears shrank and moved further up on their heads while their noses pulled the rest of their faces forward. Jak was the first to stand up, receiving looks from everyone else who was standing up. Crash and Spyro looked at each other then burst out laughing, rolling on the ground with mirth. Jak looked at his hands to see them covered in orange fur then he looked at a conveniently placed mirror to see that he looked like a bandicoot. He glared in annoyance at Crash and Spyro then at Keira to see her starting to get up, also turned into a bandicoot, and then finally at Coco to see her staring dreamily.

"Wow Jak, maybe you should stay this way," she sighed. Crash looked up from where he had been laughing to glare at Coco (with Keira joining him) while Spyro's laughing simply redoubled and Cynder, Sparx, and Daxter also started to chuckle. Jak sat down, only to jump up again as he felt something had emerged from the end of his spine.

"Ow, wait, do I have a tail?" he asked, feeling the unfamiliar lump in the seat of his pants.

"Let me check," the Ottsel offered with a chuckle. He leapt up, gripping the waist of Jak's pants and looked in. "Yep, but it's really tiny." Crash and Daxter started laughing again while Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx's laughing redoubled. N. Brio sighed and snapped his fingers together to get everyone's attention.

"A-alright everyone, let's g-go, we do have a w-war going on here," he stuttered, annoyed. Crash and Coco immediately got serious while Crunch and Aku-Aku (who were always serious) looked at N. Brio. "O-our spy has b-been captured and we need s-someone to save them and you s-seem to be the best fitted f-for the job." Jak nodded and waved for everyone to follow before N. Brio coughed and shook his head. "Coco, I-I know how much you w-want to be involved b-but we need someone t-to help with r-running the ship. I-it is consequential in the V-Villains' defeat." He then turned to everyone else. "A-and if anyone else is c-competent with machines and c-can be spared, that would be appreciated." Keira stepped forward and stood by Coco, not letting her eyes leave the younger bandicoot's face as she looked at Jak.

"Th-thank you, it is appreciated. Does anyone else, for any reason wish to stay to protect the ship?" he asked of the remaining Heroes. Cynder and Crunch stepped forward despite Spyro and Crash's objections.

"I may be stealthy but you know I'm not quite as strong as you and I'm more vulnerable to darkness," she sighed.

"And I'm no good at stealth," Crunch added for his case. "Sorry." N. Brio smiled at them both.

"I-it takes a certain k-kind of strength to admit one's w-weaknesses," he said comfortingly. He then turned to the remaining Heroes: Crash, Aku-Aku, Jak, Daxter, Spyro, and Sparx. "I-I wish you all luck. P-please bring our s-spy back; we do not w-want to lose anybody." Jak nodded again and this time lead the remaining Heroes out to the hangar and into the Hellcats. Both fighters lifted off and flew out towards the castle, heading down for the base of the large dome.

Author's Note: More action next chapter, so get ready and review. More old friends and enemies appear so review and you get it quicker. Geek out.