Crash Bandicoot: Welcome to Amphibia
Ch. 4: The Quest for Pizza
In N. Sanity Beach, Coco was talking to Anne and Sprig on her computer. They were talking about how Anne and Sprig were horrible roommates.
"Wow, you two must have a hard time being roommates after your basement flooded." Coco said.
"Definitely! It started out great, but it quickly went downhill. The wet towels, the heat, the humidity, the web crusties…" Anne shivers in disgust.
Sprig was next to tell Coco about his complaints, "The loud snacking, the freezing cold, lights on at all hours, so we had to try to fix the leak ourselves. That's when a duo of River Lampreys attack us. We fought and beat them and they dug a hole to drain most of the water, but there is plenty of water that remains."
"After that, I had to sleep on the couch, but the floor there flooded as well. Thankfully, Hop Pop finally fixed it, so I'm finally heading back to the basement." Anne said.
"You two must have gone through a whole ideal, but it looks like your friendship didn't suffer as a result." Coco said to them.
Anne said to her, "Of course it didn't! We're Sprig and Anne!"
"Anne and Sprig!" Sprig said.
"Spranne against the world!" They both said with them doing their handshake afterwards.
"I find it strange that this whole roommate fiasco lasted for nearly two weeks. It's only been a few hours here." Coco said. "Looks like the time in Amphibia is different from where we live."
"Strange." Anne said. "Anyway, I need to show you and Crash something quick. Both of you get over here as fast as you can."
"Got it." She hit a button on her computer which activated the portal to Wartwood in the Warp Room. "Crash!" Coco saw his big brother having trouble with monkeys taking Wumpa Fruit with him trying to get a Wumpa Fruit that a monkey is holding. "When you're done with…that, head to the Warp Room to Wartwood. Anne needs to show us something important." Crash nodded yes to her sister so she grabbed her computer and headed to the warp room.
When she left Crash continued his struggle in getting the Wumpa fruit until another monkey threw a crate at him which caused him to let go of it. One the two monkey joined up, they taunted Crash by laughing and blowing raspberries at him. Crash got angry and spinned towards them only for them to swing away via the trees with Crash in pursuit of them.
At the warp room, Coco made it and jumped in the portal to Wartwood. Once she made it, she looked around and then looked up and saw a frog getting carried away by a dragonfly.
"Ah, somebody help me!" The frog who is captured by the dragonfly said.
"I wish Anne told me where exactly to meet her. Now I have to find out where they are the hard way. The Planters' house is a good place to start looking." Coco said.
She was about to walk until she was bumped by three tadpoles who were playing around.
"Ouch…" She said while getting back on her feet.
"Oops, sorry, orange lady." The sea foam tadpole said.
"It's fine. You just surprised me, that's all." Coco said to them. "Aren't you three a little too young to go wandering off on your own?"
"Well, we were trying to get our sister to play with us, but she couldn't be bothered, so we decided to play without her." The lavender tadpole said to Coco.
"She must be worried sick about you three." Coco said.
"Aw, she doesn't care about us." The blue tadpole said.
"Rosemary, Ginger, Lavender, you three better not be causing trouble again!" A female frog said with a husky voice.
Coco looked behind her and sees a blue frog with pink hair covering one of her eyes with a knot. She was wearing a black sack dress and was creepy in appearance.
"Maddie! Are you finally going to play with us?" Lavender asked.
"No, I'm not! Not after what you I just saw you three did to her!" Maddie said, talking about Coco. "I'm so sorry about my sisters! I was about to take them home!"
"Don't worry. They didn't do anything to bother me." Coco said. So, your name's Maddie? Nice to meet you. I'm Coco Bandicoot.
"Hmm, You're one of those giant orange rats that have been with the Planters recently, right?" Maddie asked.
"Bandicoot. My brother and I are bandicoots." Coco said, correcting Maddie. She showed her hand to Maddie who shook it while looking at her while smiling in a disturbing way.
"I'm looking forward to talking with you again…" Maddie said in a creepy tone.
"Sure." Coco said while being slightly creeped out. She headed to the Planter house while waving goodbye to Maddie.
Maddie turned to her sisters and said to them, "All right, you three. Time to take you three back home and once we're there, I'm giving you all a stern talking too."
"Aww, you're no fun, Maddie." All three tadpoles said.
Coco made it to the Planter Family Home where she sees Anne showing Sprig and Polly stuff from her home though her phone.
"Ah-ha, there she is!" Coco said..
Anne saw her and said, "You made it! But, where's your brother?"
Coco told her, "He ran into a bit of trouble, but nothing majorly bad or anything. So what do you want to show me?"
"Take a good look at this!" She showed her phone to Coco and showed a video of a black cat. "This bad boy is my kitty, Domino. You would like her, since she got fire."
Coco's eyes widened as she saw Anne's cat on her phone. It's the exact same cat that appeared back at home and who claimed to be a guardian. After seeing this, she was taken to a void, with Anne, Sprig, and Polly disappearing in thin air.
"Coco… Coco…." A ghostly voice said. The illusion of the guardian in the form of Domino's head circles around Coco to remind her of their promise. "Remember my promise, Coco, remember…"
"I know, I know!" Coco shouted. "You don't have to rub it in!"
"Hey, I'm just a figment of your imagination. You're just freaking out Anne and her friends with what you're saying right now. Just look at them." The guardian shifted his head forward while he and Coco went out of the void to show Anne, Sprig and Polly. They are all wondering what Coco is doing, since they don't see the guardian's head.
"Um, who are you talking to?" Polly asked.
As the guardian's illusion poofed away, Coco said to them, "Oh, um, well, your cat made me think about my pet, Pura back home. I think I should bring him next time to see how you all would like him."
"Okay then." Anne said who didn't bother wanting to know about what she was up to. Out of nowhere, a stench passed through them. Anne sniffed it and was disgusted by the smell. "Ugh, what is that horrible smell? Did something crawl under the house and die?"
Sprig sniffed the horrid smell and said, "Worse Anne, much worse. Hop Pop is cooking!"
Anne, Sprig, and Polly head back to their home to inspect the smell. A portal opens near Coco and Crash walks out, grumbling about not getting any Wumpa Fruit.
"Crash, thank goodness you're here!" Coco said with Crash looking up to see her sister. "Listen, the thing Anne wanted to show us was her pet cat!" Crash doesn't get on why Coco told him that. "The reason this is a big deal is that it is the same cat that appeared back at our home!"
Crash thought about this for a second and once he put two and two together, his mouth flew open, as he found she was talking about the guardian.
"Yeah, it was a big shock for me, too. Listen, we can't tell Anne about you-know-who, so if she or the Planters get suspicious, let's tell them we're just thinking about our pets, ok?" Coco said with her big brother agreed on what she wanted them to do. "Now, let's walk back to their house. Sprig said something about Hop Pop's cooking."
At the Planter's house, Anne, Sprig, and Polly are about to take the back door.
While getting the back door handle, Sprig said, "Brace yourself, Anne."
"Brace myself for wha…" Anne was interrupted when Sprig opened the door causing the stench to come out of the house. It even tossed Sprig from the door. Crash and Coco caught up and saw the stench, so they covered their noses before getting closer.
"What a horrible odor! What is your grandfather even cooking in there?" Coco said to Sprig and Polly.
Sprig got up and said, "Only one way to find out."
Inside, Hop Pop is cooking something in a pot and taste testing it.
Sprig comes in first and sees Hop Pop cooking. "So, what's the plan, Hop Pop? Poisoning the competition?"
Hop Pop hit Sprig head with the ladle and said, "The plan is to win."
"Win? Win what?" Anne said as she and everyone else came inside.
"The annual Frog Village Potluck." Hop Pop said. He then shows them pictures of past years winners. "Every once a year, we frogs gather for a great contest. The family who brings the most tasting dish is showered with love and copper coins. But any family with the worst tasting dish spends the night in the shame cage." Hop Pop points outside with his ladle showing a cage with the word SHAME on top of it. Lighting strikes in the background as it is shown.
"Brutal." Anne said.
"Seeing that your dish smells pretty bad, I'm gonna guess that you Planters go in that cage every year." The Planters sighed after hearing what Coco said.
"Unfortunately, yes." Sprig said, depressed.
Anne started to feel bad for the Planters so she hit her hand on the table and said, "If you think I'm gonna let my favorite froggy family end up in a cage, you've got another thing coming! I know that the bandicoots and I aren't technically Planters, but maybe we can help."
Crash wonders in Coco would tag along in this.
"I say let's help them out with this potluck." Coco said to him. "It sounds like fun!" She whispers this next sentence to him. "Plus, it may make them forget about the C-A-T." Crash like this plan so he gives an a-ok sign to the Planters which brightened up their mood.
"We sure appreciate it, you guys!" Sprig said.
"So, what you're making over there, Hop Pop? Sock Gumbo?" Anne said as she looked at the stew in the pot.
"No, silly. It's a traditional recipe from my family cookbook." He showed a cookbook called "Ye Olde Ways" to Anne. "We've been using this baby since I was a pollywog." Crash gets the book to open it for him and Coco to read. As they read through the recipes, they started to feel revulsion at what they saw, so they gave the book to Anne.
She gave the recipes a once-over and said, "I think I found your problem, guys." The Planters gasped, knowing what kept them from winning with Anne just slamming the book closed. "Old things are dumb!" She dropped the book only for Hop Pop to keep it from hitting the floor by using his tongue.
"Oh, that makes sense." Polly said.
"It's all so clear now." Sprig said, agreeing with his sister.
"I don't know, Anne. Despite those recipes not being very…appealing, the Planters seem to focus on tradition before improvising." Coco said, trying to tell Anne that tradition is important to the Planters.
"Tradition is everything to us Planters as we do tradition first and anything fancy never." Hop Pop said. "What would my great Gam-Gam say about this?"
Anne looked at the picture of Hop Pop's great grandmother for a second and said to Hop Pop, "She'd say "Move on and try something new."
Hop Pop sighs. "She was a fierce woman."
"Look, if we're gonna win this thing, we need something new, something revolutionary…" Anne got out her phone and searched for a certain kind of food on it. "…something no one in the swamp has ever seen before. Something like…" She placed her phone on the table and pushed it to where the Planters, Crash and Coco are. They looked at what the food Anne had in mind. Sprig and Polly were amazed at what they saw.
"Pizza?" Coco said. "This is the "revolutionary" food you want to put in that potluck?"
"Absolutely!" Anne said to her. "Pizza is the ultimate dish. You haven't lived until you shared them with your friends at the mall."
"Whoa!" Sprig said in awe.
"I don't know what it is, but I love it." Polly said who was just as amused.
"Now, hold on a minute! Before we get carried away, what about this try-and-true recipe?" Hop Pop flips the pages of the cookbook and shows a picture of a pie that has crickets, worms, and an appetizer appearance on it. It was called "Swamp Mold Pot Pie". Just looking at it turned Crash green and sick to his stomach.
Sprig and Polly responded to Hop Pop's suggestion by chanting, "Pizza, pizza!"
"Okay, okay sheesh!" Hop Pop said as he closed the book.
"We'll win for sure with this Hop Pop!" Sprig said. He then brought out a hammer. "Now all we got to do is…" Before Sprig could hammer Anne's phone, Coco quickly took it from him.
"Hey, don't smash this, Sprig!" Coco said as she gave it to Anne.
"Ahem, all we have to do is get four ingredients." Anne typed the name of the ingredients on her phone and showed it to them. "Dough, cheese, basil, and tomatoes. Are you guys ready to make our pizza dreams a pizza reality?"
"Pizza dreams!" Sprig and Polly shouted.
Crash's eyes widened as he wanted a certain ingredient added in.
"Um, why is your brother staring at us like that?" Anne said, wondering what is up with Crash.
Coco sees her brother and knows what he wants. "It's because he wants to add Wumpa to the pizza."
"You mean that fruit with the purple juice in it? I don't know, dude. It's kind of disgusting." She said. Crash started to sob with puppy dog eyes which caused Anne to cave in. "Oh, all right. I guess there's no harm in adding that." Crash shouted happily afterwards.
"Oh, oh! Since we're adding fruit, maybe we should also put pineapple on it! Seems like a natural fit." Sprig said. After he said this, Anne grabbed Sprig and pinned him to the wall.
"Don't you dare talk about pineapple on my pizza, ever." Anne said in a slight whisper to Sprig while looking dead on at him, menacingly. Everyone was surprised at what Anne just did, especially Crash and Coco who were caught off guard by such a tone shift. As she dropped Sprig, she said calmly to everyone else, "Ok, let's go get those ingredients. Pizza dreams!"
"Pizza dreams." Sprig said, weakly.
Polly jumped near Sprig while in her bucket and shouted, "Pizza dreams!"
"What was that all about? Maybe she just hates pineapple." Coco said, still questioning how Anne went savage for a few seconds. Crash just shrugged Coco's theory off.
The journey for pizza cuts to The Flour and Daughters Bakery where Mr. Flour is getting some dough ready by stomping it, even though a fly landed on the stool. After tossing it into the oven he tells them all what they have to do to get the dough.
"If you want the dough, the boy has to marry my daughter." He points to a corner to which the group looks and sees Maddie. She turned and they all saw she was holding a voodoo doll of Sprig and was about to puncture it with a stick.
"Hiiiii, Spriiiiiiig… Hiiiii, Cocooooo…" Maddie said creeply. She then slowly pieced the voodoo doll which caused Sprig to get squeamish.
"Ain't she adorable?" Mr. Flour said.
"That's Maddie!" Coco said. "She was right about us meeting again."
"You already know her?" Anne asked.
Coco explained to her, "Only recently. Her sisters bumped into me when I came here, she appeared to take them home, and we started talking. She does seem very unsettling, but I think she is fine in my book. She's definitely better than a know-it-all, monkey-faced girl I know back home."
"Sure." Anne said, slightly interested at what Coco had said. She started to talk to Mr. Flour again. "As for the proposal, You got a deal!"
"What?! You're just gonna sell out Sprig like he's some bargaining chip?" Coco shouted, flabbergasted at Anne's decision.
"She does have a point, Anne. Besides, if we used a traditional recipe, we wouldn't have to sell Sprig." Hop Pop said while showing the cookbook.
"No, that old book is old." Anne said in denial. "Sprig's eternal happiness is a small price to pay for pizza."
"Agreed." Polly said.
Crash starts to worry about Sprig's fate with Maddie.
"Aw, don't worry about me, guys. It probably won't be as bad as you both think. Maybe we'll learn to love each…" Sprig looked back and immediately stopped talking and screamed when he saw Maddie behind him looking at him dead center while giving a disturbing smile.
"I've seen your death in my mind." Maddie said.
"I was kinda hoping that it might be a surprise." Sprig said nervously.
"It will be." Maddie said. "This caused Sprig to get horrified about what was going to happen to him in the future."
"Congrats on your new son! Now cough up the dough." Anne said with Coco just looking at her with a stern face while nodding in disagreement.
"Yay!" Mr. Flour said. He then gives Anne the dough she asked for.
"Pleasure doing business with ya." Anne said. She and Hop Pop left the bakery while Sprig starts to carry Polly in her bucket. He still feels uncomfortable being near Maddie.
"Looks like we gotta go. See ya!" Sprig said with darting out once he finished speaking.
As they both left, Polly said, "I get to be the maid of honor."
"See you soon, hubby…" Maddie said while waving the voodoo doll hand. She turns to look at Crash and Coco and starts to smile creepily again. "Bye for now, friend…"
Crash started to feel uneasy so he bolted outside. Coco followed as she wasn't creeped out as much.
The scenes shift to Mrs. Croaker's Dairy where the group is running from Brutus the Cow-a-pillar who they are trying to herd back into the pen so they can get cheese from Mrs. Croaker.
"Thanks again for helping me out. I know Brutus can be a handful." Mr's Croaker said.
"What are we here for again?" Sprig shouted as he runs.
"Cheese!" Anne said while running.
"You know, there's a recipe in here that doesn't need cheese." Hop Pop said with Polly laughing while being chased.
"Maybe we should just do that book's pie recipe, Anne!" Coco said with Crash joining in.
"No old recipes, you three!" Anne said as she still refused to do a traditional Plantar recipe.
"Fine, If you're that bent on making this pizza, at least give Crash a boost up on that bug's head!" Coco said.
Crash jumped on top of Anne's hands. She gave him a boost up on Brutus' head and took control of him by grabbing his horns.
Yee-haw! Crash said as he rode Brutus.
"Get him in the pen, Crash!" Anne told him.
Crash guided Brutus in the pen and got him to stop chasing the Planters. Once he's in, Crash jumps off of him and out of the pen near Coco while Sprig closes it with his tongue. He was about to do his victory dance until he was frightened by Brutus roaring at him.
"There you go, dearie. A hunk of cheese." Mrs. Croaker said as she gave Anne a cheese wheel. "Made fresh from the milk of those co…"
"Please don't tell me where it comes from." Anne said, quickly.
"Trust us, we don't want to know.' Coco said with Crash shaking his head up and down as he doesn't want to know either.
Some time later, Anne and Sprig are putting the ingredients they all gathered in a bag after getting the basil. Coco was using her computer as a checklist for everything they collected so far.
"Dough, check. Cheese, check. Basil, check." Coco said as she looked at the ingredients. "We're getting close to making this pizza, you guys, and with minimal damage all round, except for Sprig, of course." Coco looked at Sprig who was beaten up during getting the recent ingredient.
As Sprig put the basil in the bag, Anne said, "Hey, careful with that basil, dude! We have to fight like 10 giant aphids to get it."
"You guys took on 10 giant aphids, I've been busy checking off the ingredients like you asked me to do!" Coco said, correcting her.
"Who knew ultimate flavor would be so painful?" Sprig said while in pain. His teeth are shown to be broken from fighting the aphids.
"Almost lost my behind to those things." Hop Pop said.
"This is the price of progress, Hop Pop!" Sprig said
"Exactly." Anne said. She turns her attention to Coco. "So, how long will it take for your brother to get the ingredient he wants?"
"Who knows? Some monkeys have been taking Wumpa from the trees back home, so Crash is going to have a hard time getting one." Coco said.
"What's a monkey?" Polly asked.
"Well, while he is taking care of that, we can focus on getting the last ingredient, tomatoes." Anne grabs a map. "According to this, they should be up ahead."
"I still can't believe I traded my favorite dentures for that map." Hop Pop said.
"You know I never actually tasted a tomato." Sprig said.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen any tomates at all around Wartwood." Coco said.
"There's a reason for that." Hop Pop told them while picking up the cookbook. "There in the dangerous vegetable section. The book suggests that we go for prunes instead. Can't go wrong with prunes!"
"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Dangerous vegetables? Come on, you're just being a worry wart as always, Hop Pop." Anne said, who she thinks Hop Pop is just being superstitious.
"Anne, after all we've been through, I believe in anything he says." Coco said to her.
Coco was on point as once they made it to the tomates, it revealed that alongside it is a giant tomato plant with three heads resembling venus fly traps. The middle head ate a dragonfly passing above it.
"Ho…" Polly said who was on Hop Pop's head.
"…ly…" Sprig said, continuing what Polly said
"…tomato." Anne said, finishing the sentence.
"Now, do you see what I mean?" Coco said to Anne.
The plant's middle head looked at them and roared fiercely.
"This overgrown weed kinda reminds me of the Man Eating Plants back home, only this one is much bigger and has three heads." Coco said. "Getting those tomatoes isn't gonna be easy."
"You know, this baby got some great substitutes. All of which are delightfully harmless." Hop Pop said while he and Sprig back up.
"Couldn't hurt to view a few options." Sprig said who wants to take the safe route.
"It might be time to think about other cooking suggestions, Anne." Coco said as she backed up as well.
Anne quickly runs behind them and blocks their path. "Hold on! Guys, the shame cage isn't just in the town square, it's up here." Anne said, pointing at her forehead. "We're not gonna change the world without taking a few risks. We need to be bold, groundbreaking, brave!"
"You make for a terrible revolutionist with what you're saying right now. This isn't some challenge, this is a life or death situation.' Coco said. During her talk, one of the tomato plant's tentacles starts to move towards Hop Pop.
"She's right, Anne. There's a big difference between courage and stupidity!" While saying that last word, Hop Pop was grabbed by the plant tentacle causing Polly to fall off his head where she was caught by Sprig. The tentacles quickly go to the plant's middle head and toss Hop Pop towards it where he was gobble up in one bite. The plant roars again as it wants the others to snack on.
"Hop Pop!" They all said.
More tentacles shift their focus on Anne and the others. While Coco managed to escape their clutches, Anne, Sprig and Polly weren't as lucky and were caught by them. One by one they were eaten by the plant's middle head.
"My fiance was right again!" Sprig said as he was eaten by the plant.
"Guys!" Coco said.
The portal Coco made to get Crash back to N. Sanity Island opened up near her and he came out of it. Crash is shown to have Wumpa Juice all over himself as the monkeys mess around with him again, but he somehow managed to get a Wumpa Fruit. After spinning the juice away, he instantly notices that Anne or the Planters aren't with her sister.
"We have a problem, Crash! Anne and the Planters got eaten by that giant plant!" Coco said while pointing at the tomato plant which roared at them both. "I have no idea if they're still alive!"
Coco starts to worry only to stop when her computer starts to beep the same beep when Anne calls her on it. She checks and sees Anne and the Planters dangling on the plant's throat to keep from being digested.
"You guys are alive!" Coco said.
"Yes, but the ingredients, everything we worked for, they're all gone, melted away by this plant's stomach acid!" Anne said while showing the bag and the ingredients, nearly dissolving in the plant's stomach acid.
"This is one good thing about this. It will be a quick painless death." Sprig said.
"Why would this be painless?" Polly said, seeing Sprig bending the truth.
"Just let me have this lie!" Sprig shouted to her.
"We're coming to get you all out!" Coco told them.
"No! Don't, you two!" Hop Pop said.
"You'll both end up getting eaten too!" Polly said.
Anne sighs. "My revolutionary idea was supposed to save my frog family, not get them killed! I shouldn't have been so stubborn. I just really want to share a pizza with you guys."
Coco said, "Anne, what you did for the Planters isn't about pizza. It's about you deciding to help the Planters despite not being one."
"She does have a point, Anne." Hop Pop said. "When you decided to make this pizza, I didn't care about it anyway, but you were really trying to help this family out, and that's worth something in my book."
Coco realized something when Hop Pop said the word book. "Hop Pop, the book! It told about the dangerous tomatoes, maybe it has something to get you four out of this mess!"
"I don't know it will be a lifesaver." Hop Pop said as he brought out the book. 'Nothing especially useful other than the throat of this giant tomato plant is absolutely delicious eaten raw."
When they found out about that, all four of them smiled.
"Looks like they got a plan." Coco said. Crash alerted Coco to the tomato plant after the middle head burped. "Crash, what is seeing a burping plant going to help Anne and the Planters?" Coco got her answer as the plant's throat started to move around. Four bumps showed up on the throat and bursts, revealing Anne and the Planters chomping rapidly at the plant's throat. This allows them to get out covered in tomato plant juice. The plants roared before dying on the ground.
Polly spit at one of the heads and said, "Know your place, plant!" Anne picks up Polly after she is done speaking.
"Gross! You four really need a bath after this potluck." Bells were heard from the town.
"And it looks like it is about to start."
"She's right. There isn't much time left. Let's go home and make one of your old recipes, Hop Pop!" Anne said.
"Yep, but maybe we can spruce it up with something a little dangerous." Hop Pop said with all of them looking at the tomatoes.
They take one and head back quickly to the Planter house to make a Swamp Mold Pot Pie, tomato style. Only Crash and Coco stayed with Crash in disappointment that he got the Wumpa Fruit for nothing now that making a pizza is a bust.
"No worries, Crash. This isn't in vain. They are going to use the tomato they got to spruce up the recipe." Coco said. She got the Wumpa Fruit from her big brother. "We're gonna use this to add something to their dish as well. Some a little N' sane. Let's head back to Wartwood. The pot luck is about to start." Both head back to the town square.
Above Wartwood, the same frog taken by the dragonfly is still flying around.
"Yep, still up here. Still need help." He said, being much less freaked out.
On the grounds of Wartwood. The Hop Luck begins with the frogs putting the final preparations to their dishes. Anne and the Planters are there too with them making a Swamp pot pie for the potluck. They also added the tomato they got from the plant.
"Perfect!" Anne and Hop Pop both said.
A fanfare was heard as it was caused by Toady playing a trumpet. He was then bumped by Mayor Toadstool.
"Alright, let the annual potluck begin! Let's get to tasting those dishes!" Toadstool said. He starts tasting the dishes and saying they are delectable. "And last, but not least, ugh, the Planters. What filth did you cook up this time?" Toadstool notices the tomato on the pot pie. "Tomatoes? Awfully dangerous." He chuckled and was about to taste the pie until…
"Wait!" Coco said, her and Crash running towards the pot luck. "Before trying their pie, let us add something on it."
"Well, well, if it isn't the two orange hedgehogs." Toadstool said to them both. "Normally, I won't allow it, but since you two I'm in a good mood today, so I let this slide. Go and add your ingredient!"
"Thank you, mayor, and we're bandicoots, not hedgehogs." Coco said. She brought out the Wumpa Fruit from her pocket and squeezed it above the pot pie which caused the purple juice from the Wumpa Fruit landed on it. "Ok, try it now."
Toadstool placed his finger on the Wumpa Coated Pot Pie and took a bite out of what he had got. Toady does a drumroll as he tasted it. Anne, The Planters, Crash, and Coco looked while they waited on what Toadstool thinks of the dish.
After he's finished eating, he said, "Sweet sassy molassy, with only the tomato, I would have said that this the best dish the Planter family has ever brought to a potluck, but after these two added that fruit, this is the best thing I ever tasted. I believe we have ourselves a winner!" Toady played his trumpet again, this time a victory tune.
"WHAT?!" Hop Pop shouted with the townies gasping.
"Oh, my frog! This is unbelievable, we actually won!" Sprig said, excited.
"Wait, you thought that you Planters won this potluck? No! No, no, no, no, no, no. These two late entries are the winners!" Toadstool said while waving his hand to Crash and Coco.
"What, but why?" Anne said to him.
"Like I said, It's the fruit these two added. Its taste really was something else, but outside of that, your dish under it was still terrible." He gets a green ribbon that says "Good Grief!" on it. He gives it to Hop Pop. "Last place, as usual." Toady played a wah-wah on his trumpet. "You folks should know the way to The Shame Cage by now. Hurry along, then." Anne and the Planters head to the Shame Cage. He turned his attention to the bandicoot siblings. "As for you two, I don't either of you would accept copper coins, so hmm… I got it! I noticed you both have been collecting these so take this with you!" Toadstool gets a blue crystal out of his pocket.
"A blue crystal! We've been searching for those! Where did you find this?" Coco said while getting the crystal.
Toadstool said to her, "I was around town when it was just down from the sky. Normally, I just keep this for myself. But, what the hey. I think you two deserve it more, but expect for me to be this generous next time we meet." Crash and Coco head off to see Anne and the Planters before they go to The Shame Cage. While this was happening, a townie grabbed the Wumpa coated Swamp Mold Pot Pie.
Anne and the Planters sigh in defeat with the exception of Sprig who tried to keep their spirits high.
"Cheer up guys!" Sprig said while hopping. "Sure, we came last…again, but thanks to Anne's new ideas, Hop Pop's old ones, and the bandicoots' unique ones, we did the best we ever done!"
"You know he's right." Hop Pop said.
"Yeah!" Polly said.
Anne said, "We did, didn't we?" The Planters stood behind the cage while Anne stopped near the cage. "Uh, this is weird, but any chance I squeeze in there?"
"How about it, Carl?" Hop Pop asked him.
"The more the merrier…" Carl said in a grumbly voice.
Hop Pop chuckled and said, "You hear that?"
"Get in here, you crazy kid!"
Woo-hoo!
Crash and Coco watched Anne as she joined the Planters in the shame cage.
What are we supposed to do, Crash? If we surrender, we might end up losing the crystal. We need it to get Anne home.
"Hey, you two!" Anne said to Crash and Coco which turned their attention to them. Don't worry about us. Your fruit won fair and square, so take the victory!
"Are you sure?" Coco asked.
"Definitely. You two help us Planters keep traditions, so you deserved this." Hop Pop said to her.
"Sure, thanks for that, you guys." Coco said while still being worried about Anne and the Planters. While Carl lifted the shame cage up, Coco notices the townies are picking up dirt from the ground. Why are they picking up dirt? After seeing this and the shame cage again, she knows what they are going to throw it to. "Uh-oh." Crash is wondering what is troubling her sister.
Once lifted up, Anne said, "Well, if we can't share a pizza, at least we can share this. You know, honestly, this isn't so…" Anne's sentence was cut short when she was hit by a piece of dirt thrown by a townie. "Hey, what the heck?! What was that?"
"Oh, I forgot to mention the shame nuggets." Sprig said, who fails to mention to tell Anne everything about what the losers do in The Shame Cage.
The entire town of Wartwood starts to throw dirt-filled shame nuggets at them while saying that they should be ashamed of their horrible cooking.
"Hey, that's my son in law!" Mr. Flour said with Maddie waving at him while smiling. She's still holding that voodoo doll of Sprig. Sprig waves back while looking uneasy about her future fiance.
Maddie saw Crash and Coco and waved to them with the same smile. They waved back with Crash showing the same worried face as Sprig.
"Let's go before this starts to get more awkward, Crash. We'll figure out how to repay Anne and the Planters back later." Coco said as she pressed a button on her computer making a portal appear. While they walked in, Maddie didn't lose eye contact with them. This only stopped when the portal faded away.
"Is that the best you got?" Polly said to the dirt flinging townies.
Hop Pop sighs and said, "Tradition is such a beautiful…" Hop Pop was cut off by someone throwing a shame nugget at him. Then the townie who grabbed the Wumpa Pot Pie tossed it at Hop Pop, leaving purple juice on his face. "…SON OF A SLUG!"