Disclaimer: Crash Bandicoot was created by Naughty Dog, not me.

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Lacking Precision

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Having been mutated from an ordinary bandicoot a long time ago by mad scientists, Crash had mostly spent his days and years trying not to think too heavily about stuff, but he did have to wonder how the heck there was a place called Evil Public School on his home island without him noticing. In all honesty, it just felt out of whack, even if his archfoe who also mutated him, Doctor Neo Cortex, was involved.

Still, if it meant helping his one-time enemy turned lifelong bandicoot brother, Crunch, getting out of the mind control that Cortex's NV was placing him under, Crash, and his mystical mask companion, Aku Aku, were both willing to break into the school to meet with the one person that could probably help them. Of course, they were surprised to see just how much resentment Nina Cortex held since their last encounter.

"Leave me alone," the blue-skinned niece of Crash's own creator yelled in anger at him and Aku Aku as soon as her surprise at their sudden appearance faded. She then scathingly added, "I hate you! You ruined my life!"

Just as Nina raised her hand to slap the two, however, Crash interjected just as quick, yelping, "Uka Uka set you up!" Having closed his eyes in preparation for the slap, Crash slowly opened his left eyelid to see Nina looking surprised at what the bandicoot just said.

"Say what now," the school student uttered in confusion.

Taking it as an opening, Crash then added on to his priors words, saying, "Well, think about it, Nina. Your uncle sent you here for," inputting a shrug in Aku Aku's direction, he continued with, "more or less, betraying him when Uka Uka had you take command from him."

Seeing where Crash was coming from, Aku Aku then inputted, "Yeah, that's right! If my rotten brother hadn't made that decision for you, you'd still be in Cortex's good graces and at the Academy of Evil where you were."

Having absorbed their arguments, Nina opened her mouth once then twice as if to argue back before ultimately replying with a defeated exhale, "That actually makes sense."

"Good," Aku Aku acknowledged with a relieved smile that he shared with a reciprocating Crash. Going back on topic, the floating mask then told Nina, "Now please listen, your uncle put Crunch on some kind of mind control gizmo that he and N. Brio made together, and are drawing bad Mojo from my brother to power an infinite amount like it. If you want revenge on Uka Uka and Cortex, you should tell us where we can find Crunch."

Humming in thought at the prospect, Nina slowly formed a devilish smirk and said, "As much as me getting payback through you sounds good, are you two willing to do anything else for me?"

Initially befuddled by Nina's question, Aku Aku, having an idea where she was coming from, then sighed and answered, "Yes, anything," even though Crash's own look of dread should have been noticeable for him to see.

"Then kiss," Nina softly demanded to the shock of both mutant bandicoot and floating mask alike.

While Aku Aku groaned in discomfort, Crash's own dismay was replaced with a thoughtful expression, which prompted a wide smile as he exclaimed, "Wahoo!" As the Human girl and the mask possessed by a Human's spirit were both startled by the joyous outburst, their shock almost immediately gave to confusion when Crash pulled out a photograph from his parents and kissed it in an exaggerated way.

"Uh, Crash," Aku Aku said in an attempt to understand what was going on before the bandicoot, having broken his kiss, grabbed the magic mask and placed him at a right angle to plant a kiss on Nina's forehead.

Immediately pulling herself back, Nina shouted, "What the heck just happened!?"

Chuckling to himself in amusement mixed with self-confidence, Crash then showed the photo he was kissing to Nina and Aku Aku alike. It was a picture of his fellow mutant bandicoot and girlfriend, Tawna. "Simply put, kiddo," Crash began to say in a smarty kind of manner that irked the girl more, "I kissed my babe's picture and had Aku Aku kiss you on your forehead!"

Having gotten the idea at last, Aku Aku laughed out loud alongside Crash as he was trying to say, "Oh, goodness, Nina! You should've been more precise!"

Nina, however, was not happy at as she snapped, "Do you want to save Crunch or not, you jerks!?"

The laughter quickly ending, both of the unlikely heroes gave speedy apologies to the villainous girl, who then told them to help her protect her current science project from her unlikable schoolmates, especially since it would help the two get to N. Brio's location where Crunch was at.

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I am sure that those of you who have seen/played Crash: Mind Over Mutant can recognize the cutscene this one-shot is based off of. I had considered having Crash plant a kiss on Nina's lips, but the whole aging thing in both of their cases concerned me (even if Nina is indeed a teenager, I cannot find a good way to calculate how bandicoots age at the moment), so I made this a general short story for humor and such. Plus, Tawna reference! So you know.