bbreader20 presents: A story of frog-hopping and crate smashing proportions! Get ready to hop to it in… Crash Bandicoot: Welcome to Amphibia!
Ch. 1: Anne and the Bandicoot
It is an ordinary day on N. Sanity Island. Crash is sleeping as usual. Aku Aku then appeared to try to wake Crash up.
"Crash, you can't sleep now! Coco has asked me to tell you that she needs to tell us something important." Aku Aku said. Crash didn't even bother waking up , much to Aku Aku annoyance. "Crash, she said it was urgent! You must hurry back home now!" Crash finally got up but is still a little tired. "Now that you're finally awake, I'll meet you back home." Aku Aku flies back to the Bandicoot House.
Crash then headed back home where Coco was. As he runs, he smashes a crate with his spin attack, releasing a Wumpa Fruit. He grabs it and takes a bite out of it since he's hungry, but as he keeps running home eating, he doesn't even notice the hole in front of him. Because of this, he ends up falling down carelessly. When he hits the bottom, he sees that he is in a warp room similar to the one Cortex pulled him towards. He looked above the door and saw the name "woods" in the it's a shortcut back home, he entered the door and through the portal. As Crash is teleported, the leaves covering the full word blew away, its full name revealed as, "Wartwood Woods". Once Crash makes it through the other side, He notices that the forest seems to be more swamp-like than normal. He then takes a step which follows with him getting caught in a trap and hosed up while screaming. Then, the grass started to rustle as something came out. It turns out to be a 13-year old Thai girl. She was gasping for air and holding a homemade spear.
"Caught ya! Though you got the best of ol' Anne, eh? Well, you didn't!" The girl said to Crash which he nodded no at her.
Just then, a pink frog named Sprig came from behind a bush and gasped at Anne.
"Giant head, fiddly limbs, face bump, THE BEAAAAAAAASSSSSSTTTT!" Sprig said.
Crash was scratching his head in confusion and what the pink frog just said.
"Stop following me!" Anne said to both of them.
"I have bad news for you, beast! I taste horrible, and that goes double for this….orange creature!" Sprig said, while Crash is still wondering what is happening.
"Ew, I am not going to eat either of you." Anne said while placing her spear on top of the mud.
"Well, you tried to eat Wally." He said, trying to prove a point.
"I tried to ask "Wally" for help. He ran off the moment he saw me." Anne said.
Sprig, who knew how Wally would act, said, "That does sound like Wally."
"Crash!" A familiar voice said nearby. Anne and Sprig looked and saw that it was Aku Aku who called. " What took you so long? You were gone for a while so I decided to check up and saw that hole in the ground leading to a warp room. Also, why are you caught in that trap?" Crash then pointed at Anne who trapped him.
"Yeah, sorry about that, dude." She said nervously. Soon after, a roar was heard from afar along with trees falling down. "Oh no, it's coming back."
"What is?" Sprig asked Anne. Without answering him, she grabbed her spear and him and went inside the hollow log by sliding in. Crash then spins which gets him free from the trap. He and Aku Aku went inside the log as well to hide by also sliding. The monster is shown to be a red mantis. When it couldn't find them, it headed off in another direction.
"You saved me. You're not a beast, you're a hero! A ugly, ugly, ugly hero!" Sprig said quickly his tone for saving him.
"Call me ugly again and maybe I'll will eat you." Anne said.
Sprig laughed and said, "You're not going to eat me!" The two looked at Crash and Aku Aku. "So you two got names?"
Aku Aku starts to introduce themselves, "This is Crash Bandicoot and I'm Aku Aku. And your names are?"
Anne answered with, "The name's Anne. Anne Boonchuy."
"And I'm Sprig Planter." Sprig then said to all of them, "Put her there!" He then showed his hand to Anne, as he wanted to do a hand shake with her.
Crash then showed his hand, deciding that he wanted to shake hands with her as well.
"Uh, ok." Anne said as she shook Sprig's hand with one hand and Crash's hand with her other hand. As she let go one of her hands was covered in green slime with the other covered in purple slime.
"Uh, so both of your hands just barfed on both of my hands." Anne said as she wiped them off.
Crash looked at his hand and saw some leftover Wumpa Juice on it. He was a bit messy eating that Wumpa Fruit before he got here since he was in a rush.
Anne's stomach then growls. She sighed and said, "Ok then. Do either of you have anything to eat?"
"Sure do." Sprig said while lifting a piece of bark from the wood revealing a bunch of bugs.
Crash then pulled out his half-eaten Wumpa Fruit from his pocket. Anne sees the fruit and notices the purple juice on it.
"…things that are not that fruit or bugs?" She said, disgusted.
Crash then annoyingly put his Wumpa Fruit back in his pocket.
"No bugs, huh?" Sprig said as he ate one with his tongue. "We'll have to search around a bit. Come on, follow me!" Sprig said as he left the log.
"How do I know I can trust any of you?" Anne said.
"We just got here. We're not a threat whatsoever. And I don't think the pink frog is threatening either. Looks like he wouldn't harm a fly, but he will eat one." Aku Aku said with Crash nodding in agreement.
Anne looked at Sprig who was giving her a cute glare. She laughed and said, "I guess you've proved your point. Ok, Sprig, I'll follow you."
"Then, come on! It's chow time!" Sprig said as he grabbed Anne's arm.
Crash then looked at Aku Aku, then he looked at Anne and Sprig.
"Are you going to follow them?" Aku Aku said with Crash nodding his head yes. "Ok then. Maybe the pink frog can tell us where we are."
Not that far from their location is a place called Wartwood. Near the Grub and Go, the similar portal warp has brought someone else. This time it is a female bandicoot with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and wearing a white shirt with blue overalls. It was Coco Bandicoot, Crash's little sister.
"I couldn't wait for Crash or Aku Aku any longer! I hope they don't get angry at me for using that hidden warp room I found earlier." Coco said. "I wonder if the locals are friendly."
She then looked around to see the place and saw a bunch of frogs and their mayor named Toadstool forming an angry mob as they are getting ready to capture the creature terrorizing Wartwood.
"When I say kill you said it! Kill…" Toadstool said.
"…It!" The mob said.
"Kill…" Toadstool repeated.
"…It!" The mob said once again.
"I guess not." She said.
She then heard a large burp coming from a slug wagon with a bunch of candy wrappers around it. She looked inside it and saw a pollywog named Polly with her face covered in candy and her bucket tipped over. She saw Coco and said, "I don't have a candy problem, you have a candy problem!"
"Ick, why do you have candy all over your face?" Coco said to her.
"Oh, Sprig bribed me with it so he could get past me." Polly told her.
"And where is this "Sprig" is now?" She asked her.
Polly did forget most of the full story into why Sprig wanted to get past her, but she did answer with this, "Uh, something something monster, something something woods."
"What in tarnation?!" Someone said from behind.
Coco looked back and saw that the one who said that was an old frog named Hopediah Planter.
"Um, you know him?" Coco asked him.
Hop Pop answered in a panic, "Yes, I do, by frog! He's my grandson! I told Polly to make sure Sprig stays in the cart to keep him out of trouble!"
"Oh, if your boy went into the woods, he's as good as eaten!" Wally said who heard the conversation. "That beast will devour everything in his path!"
"Not on my watch!" Hop Pop said as he grabbed and placed her on top of his head. "Hang in there, boy, Hop Pop's a' comin'!" Hop Pop and Polly then head into the woods. The angry mob then followed Hop Pop while cheering to capture the beast.
"Harvest the toenails for medicinal purposes!" Wally shouted.
"Hmm, this beast they keep talking about, could that be Crash? I better follow them to make sure he doesn't get mixed up in all this." Coco thought to herself. She then followed the mob to the woods.
Back at the woods, Sprig has harvested, grabbed, and collected a bunch of mushrooms for Anne. She picked up an edible branch and ate it.
"Hey, this is pretty good." She said with her mouth full.
"Mmm-hmm." Sprig said. Crash then grabbed his Wumpa fruit and started eating it again. "So first question, WHAT THE HECK ARE THREE OF YOU AND WHERE DID YOU ALL COME FROM?!"
"For Crash, he's a mutated bandicoot from N. Sanity Island" Aku Aku said.
Mutant? Anne said.
Aku Aku answered her question, "Yes, he was originally supposed to be a general for an evil scientist's army of super mutants for world domination, but he managed to escape from him years ago."
"Sure, as for me, I'm a human being and I come from…ANOTHER WORLD!" Anne said. "Either that or this is a dream."
"Wow." Sprig said in awe. "Do you know how any of you got here?"
Aku Aku said, "Yes. Crash was about to head home to see his sister, until he fell down a pit. He landed near a warp room and decided to go inside one of the doors thinking it was a shortcut and ended up here."
"You two may know how you made it here, but I don't. One minute I was in my world, and the next thing I knew I was here. I don't know how to get home, or if I can go home." Anne told them all. "So how about you? What are you doing in the woods?"
"Proving that I'm responsible!" Sprig said.
"Are you sure about that? I don't think chasing after a human is what you call "responsible". Aku Aku said.
Sprig just said, "Uhhhhhhhh…." Suddenly a rustle from the grass showed that Wally had spotted them.
"There they are!" Wally shouted at the mob.
The mob then encircles Anne.
"What? Stay away from me!: Anne told them.
The mob then started to capture Anne while pushing Crash aside.
"Whoa!" Crash said as he was tossed away from the mob and fell on the ground.
"No, you guys got it all wrong!" Sprig said, trying to stop them, but failed and Anne was tied down.
Hop Pop and Polly went to Sprig as they thought he captured Anne. "Haha, you caught the monster! Sprig, I'm impressed!" Hop Pop said.
"Crash!" Coco said from behind them. Crash waved at her after he got up. "Crash, nice to finally see you, big brother! The townsfolk keep talking about a monster, but I didn't expect for them to be talking about a human." Coco then starts looking at Anne. She knows that she's no monster of any kind.
"What the heck, dude? You set me up? I thought we were connecting!" Anne said to Sprig.
"N-n-n-no! This wasn't my plan!" Sprig said.
"Maybe we should intervene on this, guys." Coco said.
"Good idea, Coco. Crash, let go tell them about this misunderstanding."Aku Aku said with Crash about to head to the mob.
Before that could happen, a large roar was heard and a green mantis appeared from the bushes and roared at all of them. The mob gasped at the sight of it.
"Wow, the bugs grow big here." Coco said.
"I know right?." Aku Aku said with Crash shaking his head yes.
"Quickly everyone, mantis formation!" Toadstool said.
The mob then hop together to form a mantis shape. The mantis then walked away backwards. Everyone cheered thinking they scared it off until the red mantis from earlier fell from a tree.
"Nope, that scared it off." Polly said.
Hop Pop agrees by saying, "Yeah, that makes more sense."
Crash was whimpering a bit after seeing that mantis again.
"You saw this mantis before, Crash?" Coco asked him.
"We did. Crash and I saw it when we met those two." Aku Aku said.
The red mantis roared and destroyed the mob formation with ease. It then started chasing them.
"It's gonna eat out guts!" A frog villiger said.
"NO! "Anne shouted. She then sees Sprig untying her. "What is this, another trick? You're gonna leave me as bait so that you and that mob escape?
"I'll distract that thing, you get out of here." Sprig said. He then got toward the mantis while Anne got the ropes off her.
Crash then looked at Sprig head toward the beast and decided to help out as well.
"Hey!" Sprig said as he used his slingshot and shot a rock in the mantis' eye getting its attention.
It got angry and is about to bite Sprig until using his spin move to temporarily stun him.
"Thanks, um...bandicoot?" Sprig said with Crash being happy he was to remember what species he is.
"Look out, you two!" Coco said.
They both looked and saw the mantis quickly recovered from that spin attack and started to strike at them with its sickle shaped arm, but Anne grabbed it arm and stopped it from hitting them.
"Either of you, do something now!" Anne said while her pupils glow blue for a second. Coco and Aku Aku saw her eyes glow, knowing that she's no ordinary girl.
"Oh right!" Sprig then grabbed the rope and started to tie up the mantis, going round and round, and loop de loop. After he was done he tried pulling the rope to trap but, but he can't pull it off alone. Before it got free Anne pulled the other end of the rope which finally captured the beast. Crash then spins on more time on it which causes it to fall down. When it hits the ground, it spits out something familiar to Crash. He grabbed it and saw that it was a crystal, but it was sporting a blue hue instead of the usual purple. Wanting to show this to Coco and Aku Aku, he put it in his pocket. The townsfolk saw the defeated mantis and cheered.
"We did it!" They both said.
"Up top! "Anne said with Sprig using his tongue for the high five living saliva on her arm. "Oh boy, that's gross." She then looked at Crash who is doing his signature dance and said, "And that's just strange."
"You'll get used to it." Coco said to her.
"Well, now that that's settled, what the heck are we going to do with this thing? I say we run it out of town and let it be someone else's problem." Toadstool said with the mob agreeing with him.
Before they could throw Anne out, Sprig hopped in front of them, blocking their path and said, "Stop! I've seen her save me earlier. She's not a monster, just lost and needs our help. We should take care of her."
"Are you crazy? Allowing this monster to stay with us?" Toadstool said to him
"Yeah! What if it goes nutty tomorrow and starts eating people?" Wally said.
"Not gonna happen, buddy." Anne said to him.
Coco came to Anne's defense with, "She helped my big brother, so I trust her. Plus, I don't think she's interested in having frog legs for dinner."
"Don't worry yourselves silly. I'll keep an eye on 'em, both of 'em." Hop Pop said about Anne and Sprig.
Toadstool thought about it, then he said, "Fine! Have it your way, Hopediah Planter, but I don't like it. Alright boys, pack it in!" Toadstool and the mob head back to Wartwood while bringing the red mantis with them. One of them even said that it tastes good with butter.
Once they're gone, Sprig said to Hop Pop while holding his arm with his hand, readying for a scolding, "Looks like I'm back causing trouble for the family again, huh?"
"Trouble? Sprig, standing up to that mob to help this creature out was… some of the bravest and most responsible stuff I've ever seen." Hop Pop said, proud of his grandson.
"True, but I still think it wasn't a smart move to just run into danger like that." Coco said while Crash took out his yo-yo to play with.
"She's right, What you just did was cool, but it was also really dumb!" Polly said, agreeing with Coco.
"Yes. Really, really dumb." Hop Pop said.
Sprig gasps. "You think I'm responsible?"
Hop Pop then said while Anne took out her phone to find a signal, "Well, yeah just this one time…"
"Yes, woo-hoo!" Sprig then started to do a victory dance.
"Well, don't get carried away…" Hop Pop said.
Not listening to Hop Pop, Sprig says, "Big Win!"
Aku Aku then said to them, "Since you're all doing so well, I think it's time for us to take our leave. Crash, Coco let's head back."
Anne stopped them by saying. "Wait, before you all go, you said you use portals to transport here. Can one of them take me home?"
"Sure, if there is one available. Where are you from?" Coco said to her.
"Los Angeles, California." Anne said, telling them where she lives.
"Um, sorry. We don't have a warp room that can take you there." She said to her.
"Oh… well in that case…" She looks at the Planters. "…one of you, just give me a map. I got to find my way out of this kooky place as fast as I can."
"Oh, a map won't be enough." Hop Pop said. He then showed a map of the valley. "The valley around Wartwood is surrounded by mountains that are impenetrable this time of year."
"It should clear up in about two months!" Sprig said.
Hop Pop then said, "But until then, if you try to cross those mountains…"
"You will die." Polly said, finishing what Hop Pop had said.
"Pretty much the toughest death route ever, huh, Crash?" Coco said to him with Crash thinking about it. He thought that it was full of bottomless pits, nitro crates, and tight platforming. This caused him to sweat in fear.
"Are you saying that I'm stuck in this town full of insanity for two whole months? Where am I gonna stay?" Anne told them. Her question was answered as they all went to the Planter Family home. Hop Pop turned on the light to the basement.
"All righty, kitchen's upstairs. Breakfast at sunrise, sharp." Hop Pop said as he headed up the ladder.
"Okay… Thanks, dude." Anne said to him.
She then put her sleeping bag on the ground. Afterward, Crash fell down comically and started to see crates spinning above his head. Coco came down next using the ladder with Aku Aku floating down.
"Hi there, human. We just came to see how you're settling in." Coco said to Anne.
"I'm doing fine for now, blonde cat." She said.
"I'm not a cat! I'm a bandicoot just like my brother!" Coco said, angrily.
"Sorry, it's just with those ears of yours you kind of look like one." Anne said.
"It's fine." Coco said. "Since were getting to know each other, I should at least tell you my name. It's Coco."
"Good to know your name, Coco." Anne said to her.
"Hey, getting comfy?" Sprig said. He then put some of his pluses on the basement's ground. "Brought some toys to keep you company. I'm too old for these." He then grabbed one of the toys and said, "Except for this one." He keeps doing this for the rest of the toys until he is holding them all. "I'm glad you're living with us, monster."
"Yeah, me too, weird little frog boy." Anne then looked at Crash and said. "It is also nice to meet you and your family too, you fuzzy daredevil." Crash then started to laugh at what Anne said to him.
"Ok, it is time for us to take our leave. Coco, you know what to do." Aku Aku said.
"You got it." Coco said as she typed on her laptop. A portal then appeared beneath them. "Maybe we'll see you two again later, but until then, see ya!" Crash, Coco jumped in the portal with Aku Aku floating through the portal. It then closed beneath them.
"Well, time for me to leave too." Sprig said. "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite. Seriously, they can drain a body in seconds."
"Egh!" Anne then sits on her sleeping bag and gets a box from her backpack which she was covering with a sheet. The box looks special as it was ornamented in gold as well as three gray stones embedded on it. She blows on it then places her hand on top of it. "Come on, Come on!" She then opens it, hoping that it will take her home, but nothing happens even after she opens and closes it a few more times. She then sighs in failure. "Looks like I'm gonna be here for a while."
Back at the warp room, Crash, Coco and Aku Aku had made it back from the Planter Family home.
"Talk about a weird place to be in, but that girl was nice and that frog family is not so bad either." Coco said. She then looked at Crash and said, "As for this warp room, this is the important thing I was going to talk about, you two . Let's head back home so that I can tell you both the full story. "
They all went back to their house. They're, Coco explained about the hidden warp room she found using her laptop.
"While walking around N. Sanity Island, I noticed a hole in the ground leading to a warp room. I decided to research it and what I found was very interesting. Turns out that warp room was hidden for a reason. While it is similar to the one Cortex used to trick you in getting the crystals to power up his Cortex Vortex, this one seems to take the user to a different world, a world where amphibians and reptiles are the most dominant species."
"Is there more about this you can tell us about the world we just been in?" Aku Aku asked.
Coco answered with, "Unfortunately, no. The words that appeared on my laptop about it are in a language I can't decipher no matter how hard I try. It seems that the writing is from an ancient reptilian language. It was also glowing blue, red, and green as I searched through it."
Crash remembers about the crystal and pulls it out of his pocket for Coco and Aku Aku to see.
"It's definitely a crystal, but it's blue instead of purple. I wonder why it looks like that?" Aku Aku said
"Wait a sec, don't you guys remember?" Coco said to them. "When that girl stopped that mantis from attacking the pink frog and Crash, her pupils glowed blue! There must be some kind of connection!"
"It seems so." Aku Aku said. "But there is one thing we do know. Uka Uka can use this for his evil purposes. We mustn't let him or Dr. Cortex gets this crystal or any others in that world."
"Seems like we'll be heading back there soon, Crash." Coco said with Crash agreeing.
Up in space in Cortex's space station, The rebuilt Cortex Vortex, Dr. Neo Cortex is once again planning on trying to take over the world, using his computer to find a way. Soon, Uka Uka barges in and complains about Cortex failing again and again.
"CORTEX, you continue to disappoint me by keeping your promise of world domination! Thanks to you, we lost every gem, crystal or anything else noteworthy for a power source!" Uka Uka said.
"But, Uka Uka, it's that meddlesome bandicoot that gets in our way when we plan to rule the world!" Cortex said to him.
"My patience is wearing thinner for every loss you have against that infernal marsupial!" Uka Uka then gives him an ultimatum. "You have one last chance to get me results, or else!"
"Funny you should say that." Cortex said, "I think I found the answers to our problems. In my scientific endeavors, I've been studying a relic so ancient that it doesn't even exist in this world, but from a world called Amphibia. It has the power to transport anything to different worlds or for different worlds to come here, but it requires three stones that must be charged with a certain energy. The language was so ancient, it was hard to decipher, but I was able to translate these words of the energy it uses though it is questionable, heart, strength, and wit."
"Hmm, heart…, strength…, wit…, yes, I know its creator, The Guardian of the Three Stones!" Uka Uka said.
Cortex added with, "Yes, that's it! Its guardian must have chosen the warriors of those traits. If we find them we can take the energy from them to power the box, turning it into a weapon to bring monsters to bring the world to its knees…"
"Not only that, We can finally get rid of that meddlesome bandicoot forever along with having the power to enslave my miserable brother of mine! This plan of yours might work, Cortex, just don't fail me!" Uka Uka said.
Cortex then said, "Get ready, Crash Bandicoot. Soon, once it's in my grasp, I will finally have my vengeance! Muhahahaha!"
Notes: In case anyone is wondering, this is being work on alongside my other crossover, Spyro: Legacy of the Owl House. As for which one takes priority, it for me do decide.