Crash looked around with a nervous smile. He realized that his siblings were not happy with him. Beyond that, Aku'Aku's wooden scowl was boring into his very soul. Coco was standing in the entrance to the stairs leading down to her lab. She had her hands on her hips with a frown. She shook her head as if saying "why?". Crunch was leaning against his door frame with his arms crossed. He, too, looked frustrated with Crash. However, Aku'Aku was the most angry and was the first to speak.
"You cannot go romping throughout the house, Crash. Take your games outside and be more careful. You will have to clean this up. Even heroes have to clean up after themselves. I'm sure Coco and Crunch have had it with your nonsense. It is time to mature," Aku'Aku ranted. Crash gave an uneasy shrug, and began to wipe up the shattered vase with his hands. Aku'Aku then turned to Coco and Crunch. "You two need to look after him more closely. Crash seems to be more like a young child full of energy right now. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Therefore you two will need to work extra hard. Don't give up on him for-" Aku'Aku was interrupted by a bright flash of light. In their arguments, none of the Bandicoots nor the wooden mask had noticed a human approach the Eastern window in the living room. The man was in his 60's with a white handlebar mustache, a monocle and a tan suit. The flash came from the man's camera. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw three mutated creatures and a floating wooden mask arguing with each other inside the house. He grinned, turned 180 degrees, and ran as fast as his feet could carry him.
Inside the house, Crunch rushed to the window. He saw the man racing away from the house towards a giant machine that had landed in the distance in the sands. He turned to his family, "There is a human running away from our house towards a machine with giant blades on top of it. I think Cortex called it a helicopter? He had some kind of contraption in his hands that must have produced the flash of light," he observed.
Coco's fears were assuaged. "Its alright, Crunch. That must have only been a camera. All he he did was take a picture of us. I thought it was Cortex, for a moment, trying to zap us into next year," she explained.
"Coco, you know well that I do not trust humans. That man is going to send that picture all over the world, and soon we'll become a petting zoo! I need to get that camera!" Crunch said as he walked towards the door.
"Crunch, no! You won't make it in time, and it really is not that big of a deal!" Coco raced with surprising speed to stand in her older brother's way. "I-I met one of them the other day. I told them where our house is so they could come visit. His name was Steve." She blushed.
"Coco, what do you think you have gotten us into? This is not good at all. Now stand aside!" Crunch growled. She folded her arms and let out a stubborn "hurmph". Crunch picked her up, set her behind him, and ran out the door.
"Its not fair. He's so strong!" Coco whimpered.
Outside, Crunch leaped through the sand faster than he had on any morning run. He was making quick time and gaining on the human fast. But alas, the human had a massive head start. The man looked behind him and saw Crunch's hulking figure barreling straight for him. He let out a concerned "yelp" and hopped onto the helicopter. "GO! GO! GO!" the man shouted with terror. To Crunch's dismay, the helicopter took off with great speed and floated to the sky. By this point, Crunch was right under where the helicopter had taken off. He took a great leap in the air. The air from the helicopter blowing past him, one could hear Crunch's heart sink when he missed the helicopter skids by less than an inch. Crunch plummeted back to earth with a sandy "thump" as the helicopter sped into the sky with the man taking even more pictures of a defeated Bandicoot. Crunch got up from the sand. He was furious.
"Coco better have a good explanation. My sister might have just changed our lives forever."