Chapter 12: A Whale Of A Time

"Mmm…" Barista murmured sleepily as she slowly opened her eyes. She felt incredibly relaxed and well-rested. She sat up and glanced around the chamber, stretching her arms upward and yawning soundlessly as she did so. The white-furred bandicoot boy was nowhere in sight, but a familiar clinking sound told her that he was behind his stack of crates again, searching through them in pursuit of some item or another.

The bat girl slowly got to her feet, stepping a little closer to the fire and holding her hands out before it, taking in its warmth for a moment. She noticed that the rusted soup pot was no longer hanging over the flames, said pot instead resting empty atop one of the crates, from behind which the white-furred bandicoot emerged even as Barista glanced in the direction of the boxes.

'Ah. You're awake,' his disembodied voice mused as he gazed at the defecting minion of evil. 'Feeling better, I take it?'

Barista frowned slightly; was it her imagination, or was his tone more condescending now? There was certainly none of the gentleness that he'd expressed when she'd been weakened. "Um, yes, actually," she admitted a little warily. "Is that… okay?"

The white-furred bandicoot shrugged. 'No fur off my back,' he responded somewhat coldly before turning back to his stack of crates and starting to rummage through the nearest one. 'I take it you want breakfast?'

Barista's frown deepened. "Did I miss something?" she asked, starting to grow annoyed. "You sound like you're ticked off at me and I haven't done anything to trouble you, at least as far as I know."

'Hmph. You're perceptive, I'll give you that,' the bandicoot boy mused as he shoved his arm deep into the crate before him, pulling out a pair of pliers a second later, only to drop them back into the crate and continue rummaging, the tool apparently not what he'd been looking for. 'Certainly more that your fellow Brat Girls. Perhaps you really are different from the rest of them and I wasn't just making that up to justify saving your sorry butt in my own mind.'

"I… What?!" Barista spluttered. "You needed an excuse to save someone's life? I thought you bandicoots were supposed to be self-proclaimed heroes!"

'Do NOT talk to me about heroism!' the bandicoot boy's voice boomed inside Barista's head as he whirled around to face her with an enraged expression, causing the bat girl to yelp and put her hands to her temples, a brief but very pronounced jolt of pain having just surged through her head. After a moment, the bandicoot boy visibly sighed before speaking telepathically once more, his words more calm and levelled. 'I have little patience for so-called 'heroes'. Think they can tell me how to live my life, what I'm 'allowed' to do with my time, with my abilities… They're no better than the villains when all is said and done.'

"Man, what was that?" Barista exclaimed, slowly and cautiously lowering her hands, ready to grab and nurse her head again if need be. "I felt like my skull was being bombarded!"

'Yes, that can happen when one loses their cool while communicating with others through the Mojo. My apologies,' the white-furred bandicoot's voice said quietly. He then smirked. 'At least I didn't cause your head to explode.'

Barista's eyes widened at that. "You could've WHAT?!" she shrieked, horrified. The bandicoot boy laughed out loud in response to the look on her face.

'I'm just messing with you!' he assured her. 'Of course I wouldn't have made your head explode! …Tempting as the notion might be,' he then added darkly before turning his attention to the crates once more.

"Okay, seriously, what is your beef with me?" Barista demanded. "If you're too good to save a life without a specific reason, then why'd you save mine? Why not just leave me out in the blizzard to become an icicle?"

'Because I sensed something different about you when I found you, something about your aura,' the bandicoot boy elaborated, picking up his oil lantern and moving it aside as he 'spoke'. 'There was none of that usual Brat Girl hostility in you. There was something… different.' He then chuckled. 'Alas, you are no less irksome for it.'

"Hmph!" Barista exclaimed, folding her arms and turning away. "Good to know that you bandicoots are just as big a bunch of jerks as the worst of the Brat Girls," she declared bitterly.

'Funny thing about us 'jerks' - we survive,' the white-furred bandicoot's voice said as he rummaged through the crate before him once more. 'Then again, most Brat Girls are jerks and they literally run off cliffs because they're that stupid. Guess it takes brains as well as being a jerk to last five minutes out here… which I guess begs the question: How is your brains-to-jerkiness ratio, Brat Girl?' he asked cheekily, a hint of snideness in his words.

"Barista."

'Come again?'

"My name is Barista!" the bat girl snapped. "And I am no longer a Brat Girl. Now I'm just… a bat girl."

'A Brat Girl with a name. I'm guessing you're defecting from evil… or at least trying to,' the bandicoot boy mused. 'What was your serial number?'

"BG-2187, if it's any of your business," Barista elaborated, glancing back at him. "How about you? You got a name? Or should I just call you Jerk Bandicoot?"

The white-furred bandicoot snorted. 'No one's jerking this bandicoot, lady. Least of all you.'

Barista's eyes widened again, her cheeks turning bright red. "Th-That is not what I meant and you know it!" she spluttered, mortified. The bandicoot boy laughed again as he turned away from the crate, a rusted oil can in one tattooed hand.

'To tell you the truth, I've never really cared for names. I'm just a survivor. Nothing more,' he stated calmly. As Barista turned her body around to face him properly, she noticed a certain look in the marsupial teen's eye, a look that she had seen many times in the mirror.

A look… of loneliness.

"You… You don't have a name, do you?" she asked quietly, all disdain gone from her voice. "You're just a nameless bandicoot trying to survive in a harsh world."

The white-furred bandicoot said nothing as he went about topping up the nearby lantern with the oil can, his mirth having faded, a solemn expression on his muzzle. Once he was done, he set both items down and glanced at Barista, a hint of sadness in his eye. 'I had a codename once. It's the only 'name' that I've ever known, and as I said, I've never really cared for it.' He exhaled deeply. 'Carbon. That was the codename given to me by Doctor Cortex when he cloned me. I was meant to be a perfect copy of Crash Bandicoot - a 'carbon copy', if you will. The only difference was that I would be completely loyal to Cortex… but as I'm sure you can guess, it didn't work out that way for the good doctor. I escaped from his lab, met up with the original Crash and his crew, hung out with them for a while.' He then paused, holding up his left palm, the tattoo on the back of his hand glowing electric blue, an orb of blue energy appearing out of thin air and floating just above his appendage.

"Whoa…" Barista mused in awe as she stared at the orb. It was mystical. Beautiful. Mesmerising.

'Aku Aku trained me in the ways of the Mojo, but when I started using my powers for my own gain rather than to selflessly protect Wumpa Island, the Bandicoots labelled me as a loose cannon and banished me to the north,' Carbon concluded, dispelling the Mojo sphere, a few blue sparkles lingering in its wake. 'I've been here ever since.'

Barista didn't know what to say. "I…" she started, raising her hand only to lower it a moment later, closing her mouth.

'I couldn't deal with being a so-called 'hero', Carbon said. 'The pressure of having to do the 'right' thing all the time, even if it hurt…' He shook his head. 'I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I don't even know you.'

Barista was deep in thought. "Maybe you saved me not because you saw anything different in me, but because you saw something in yourself, something that you've been trying to deny," she suggested. "Maybe you don't hate the idea of being a hero. Maybe you're just scared that you're not good enough to be one. Maybe some part of you… wants to be a hero, and that part pushed you to help me."

Carbon said nothing, telepathically or otherwise. He moved to sit down before the fire, holding his hands out in front of it as Barista had done before, warming them. He looked up in surprise as Barista sat down beside him. He was even more surprised when he felt her hand gently take hold of his.

"Whether you're a hero in your own mind or not, you are my hero," she told him softly. "Thank you for saving me… ya big jerk," she finished cheekily, a wry smirk on her face. Carbon chuckled at that, but said nothing more. Barista let go of his hand and the two just sat in silence for a while, warming themselves by the fire. After what could've been minutes or hours, Carbon felt a weight on his shoulder and glancing to his left, he was bewildered to find Barista's head resting against him, the bat girl having nodded off. After a moment, he smiled and slowly moved his left arm, gently wrapping it around her and pulling her closer, the pair huddled together for increased warmth. It was a serene, tranquil moment…

…Until Carbon's stomach rumbled, and he remembered that neither of them had had breakfast yet.

A short while later, Barista jerked awake, startled by a loud clanking sound. The bat girl sat bolt upright and glanced around, soon seeing Carbon standing there, rattling the empty soup pot with one hand, a smug look on his face.

'Up and at 'em, sleeping beauty,' he said cheekily. 'It's almost midday and we need to get going if we're gonna find breakfast.'

"Breakfast? Oh! Right!" Barista exclaimed, finally realising how hungry she was. "Wait a minute. Why are we heading out in search of breakfast?" the bat girl asked. "Can't we just pop open another couple of your tins of soup?"

'We could, but I prefer to treat those soup rations as a last-resort option. I only served some up for you before because you were barely hanging on,' Carbon elaborated, slinging a knapsack over his shoulder as he spoke. 'Most days, I hunt for my food. Keeps me fit and active as well as nourished, and if you're gonna be staying in my cave, you're gonna be pulling your weight, bat girl.'

"Oh?" Barista said, raising an eyebrow. "I was at death's door less than forty-eight hours ago and now you want me to hunt Ancients-only-know-what. Yeah, that's gonna end well once a fully grown polar bear or something like that gets involved. Wait, what am I saying? I can't hunt! I'm a barista, Carbon! It's in my name, for the Ancients' sakes! I serve up coffee and tea, not freshly harvested animal guts from a beast I wrestled myself!"

'You're a former minion of evil, are you not? Surely you were trained in the most basic of self-defence techniques at least?' Carbon pointed out, raising an eyebrow knowingly.

"I… Well, yes," Barista admitted, her cheeks reddening slightly underneath her fur, "But I've never been much of a combatant when all is said and done. I preferred to leave that to more capable, more daring Brat Girls… such as literally anyone who wasn't me!"

'You defected from evil with the consequences in mind. I'd say that was pretty daring. Granted, you almost died as a result, but still…'

"St-Stop countering every one of my arguments!" Barista spluttered, starting to grow flustered. "I can't fight, okay? Without a megaphone, I might as well be defenceless!"

'I can help you with that,' Carbon said, pulling a megaphone out of one of the crates and tossing it to Barista. She caught it, recognising it as a standard issue Brat Girl megaphone. The serial number on the side of the sound amplifying device had visibly faded over time, the letters and digits no longer legible.

"Yeah, but… Argh!" Barista cried in frustration. "Fine! I'll help you with your stupid hunt! But only because I owe you for saving my life! …And because I'm hungry," she added as her stomach growled.

Carbon chuckled. 'Hunger is the optimal excuse to hunt, yes, but you do also owe your handsome saviour for helping you keep the breath in your body,' the white-furred bandicoot said slyly.

"Oh, shut up," Barista declared irritably, which only made Carbon chuckle once more.

'We're here.'

Barista looked around, seeing only the desolate tundra of the Frozen Coast in all directions, the frigid ocean to the north. "Where? There's nothing here."

'Look down,' Carbon instructed. Barista did so and then frowned. She was standing on a thick sheet of ice that stretched all around her in a thirty yard radius, give or take. Was it her imagination, or did she just see something move beneath the ice…?

"Oh, crap!" she yelped, hastily taking a step back and almost slipping and falling over as she did so. It was only Carbon reaching out with lightning reflexes to grab her arm that kept her from toppling over.

'Relax,' he told her firmly. 'They're not predators. Not to us, anyway. They're not gonna burst up through the ice and grab us, alright? They're just fish.'

"Fish?" Relief flowed through Barista's system. "Oh, man. I thought you had dragged me out here to hunt leopard seals or mammoths or something!"

Carbon gave a knowing snort at that. 'Mammoths are extinct, bat brain, and even if they weren't, it'd take more than just the two of us to take one down.' He then grinned cockily. 'Not for the lack of trying, though; they wouldn't be expecting my Mojo magic, that's for sure, and if I could jack one of those big boys, we'd have quite the hunting companion, let me tell you!'

"'Jack'?" Barista repeated, tilting her head slightly. "What d'you mean by that?"

'I can use my Mojo magic to override the will of subdued creatures and control their actions. Basically, I can turn wild beasts - or feral Titans - into my subservient steeds. Good for both travel and combat.'

"Wait. You mind-jack them?!" Barista exclaimed, her eyes widening. "But that's immoral! It's…!"

'Exactly what your fellow minions are trying to do with their little NV devices,' Carbon finished for her. 'We are no worse than them, Barista. The difference is that we'd be doing it to survive, not to conquer. Of course, try telling that to Aku Aku and his trio of glorified lapdogs…' he went on darkly. He then smirked. 'Besides, it's still better than jacking them in the other kind of way, am I right?' he asked cheekily, playfully nudging the bat girl in the shoulder as he telepathically spoke.

"Eurgh! Get lost!" Barista exclaimed, disgusted, and Carbon laughed heartily before turning his attention to the thick sheet of ice they were standing upon. The white-furred bandicoot then proceeded to pull a large dagger from his knapsack, said dagger appearing to be made from the tusk of a Goar, one of the less common species of Titans. He knelt down and began to carve a circular pattern into the ice, whistling to the tune of Pressureless Preamble as he went.

Barista watched intently as Carbon went about his work, wondering just what he was up to. Then it clicked for her and her blue eyes lit up in realisation.

"Hang on…" she said slowly. "I think I saw a documentary like this once. Are we… ice fishing?"

'You've seen enough documentaries to know about ice fishing, but not that mammoths are extinct? You need to get out more, bat girl,' Carbon declared as he completed his circle.

"Says the bandicoot who lives in a cave in the middle of nowhere," Barista retorted without missing a beat, and Carbon chuckled, knowing that she had a fair point.

'Give me a hand with this, will you?' he said as he shifted the circle of ice he had cut, trying to lift it up. Barista obliged and several seconds of straining and grunting later, the two managed to drag the heavy, frigid slab out of the ice, soon leaving it resting at the edge of the hole they had made. They stood there panting for a moment, catching their breath, and then Carbon grinned again before pulling a ring of wire and two small, folded up wooden poles out of his knapsack. He unfolded them, each part snapping into place to form a longer pole. 'Time for the catch of the day,' he declared, handing one of the poles to Barista, who took it somewhat uncertainly, turning it over in her hand.

"I just realised, I have no idea how to fish with this thing," she admitted.

Carbon stared at her for a few seconds, and then he face-palmed.

'Okay, one more time - and… cast!'

Barista lightly swung the rod she held forward, the wire Carbon had attached to it flailing through the frigid air. The hook and bobber at the end of the wire hit the water with a distinct sploosh, the bobber quickly surfacing and, well, bobbing up and down gently.

"Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this!" the bat girl exclaimed, smiling brightly as she watched the little red and white bobber, only for her eyes to widen in surprise as the object suddenly vanished beneath the icy water, a sharp tug on the wire nearly causing the rod to slip through her fingers.

'Whoa, you've got one on the line already!' Carbon said, both surprised and impressed. 'Alright, steady now. Reel it in nice and easy like I showed you before…'

"Hah!" Barista cried triumphantly, lifting the fish out of the water and holding it up at eye level. Her face then fell as she saw just how small her catch was. "Aw, man! That's not even a snack, let alone breakfast!"

Carbon laughed. 'Hey, that's still pretty good for a first-timer. Just throw him back and keep at it.'

Barista made to unhook the fish, only to exclaim in disgust as her fur-covered fingers made contact with the marine life-form. "Eww! It's all slimy and gross!" she complained, which just made Carbon laugh all the harder.

'Get outside your comfort zone, bat girl! This is the real world!' he told her, still grinning knowingly. His grin then faded as he suddenly felt the ground shake, a distant thud echoing around them.

No, not around them.

Beneath them.

"Wh-Whoa!" Barista exclaimed, unintentionally knocking the fish from her rod's hook, causing the creature to fall none too gracefully back into the water. It lay motionlessly on the water's surface for a few seconds, and then it seemed to regain its senses and hastily submerged itself. "What was that? An earthquake?"

Carbon didn't answer. He was standing completely still, his arms spread out to keep him balanced in the event of another quake. His green eyes showed wariness and his bandicoot ears were pricked up, listening intently.

Another great thud rang out, the ground shaking a bit more violently. Something then caught Barista's eye beneath the ice. Something that moved. Something big.

"You… You said there weren't any predators around here," she said nervously, glancing at the white-furred marsupial. "You are sure about that… right? Right? Carbon?"

Carbon glimpsed movement right beneath his sneakers. The colour drained from his face beneath his fur. 'Oh, fu—!'

BLAM!

Barista screamed as little more than ten feet away from her, something erupted out of the ice, bursting through it like a shotgun bullet through a sheet of glass. It seemed to leap through the air in slow motion, its fins splayed out at its sides, dorsal fin straight and upright. Its black and white body was smooth and glistening with the moisture of the deep. Its snout-like mouth was open, revealing numerous teeth that looked lethally sharp.

The orca crashed down through the ice, forming another opening right next to the one it had just made. All around Barista and Carbon, huge, jagged cracks began to appear in the ice.

'We need to get out of here!' Carbon mentally shouted, suddenly beside Barista. He grabbed her by the wrist and started to drag her away from the scene of the danger.

"Th-That's…! That's a…!" Barista stammered, glancing back over her shoulder at the spot where the orca had been, her eyes wide with terror. "That was a killer whale!"

'Yes, and it'll kill us if we stick around!' Carbon exclaimed as they hurried to get off the ice and onto more solid, snowy ground.

BLAM!

Another scream left Barista's mouth, this time because she was flying forward, she and Carbon having been thrown off their feet by the impact of the orca once again bursting out of the ice, this time right behind them. Huge chunks of ice flew through the air around them; a terrifying moment of chaos. Behind them, the killer whale let out a chilling cry that seemed to echo for miles. It then smashed down right behind the pair of marsupials, breaking the ice apart and—

'BARISTA!' Carbon telepathically screamed as Barista suddenly vanished from view, having plunged into the icy waters, her own scream abruptly cut off as the world around her suddenly vanished to be replaced with an endless, icy blackness, and icy didn't even begin to describe it; it was as though she had been plunged into the unfathomable cold of death itself. She couldn't see. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even think. All she knew was that she was filled with a sense of terror unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She looked around, seeing nothing but the inky blackness of the water surrounding her on all sides… and then a gigantic pink tongue flanked by teeth was inches from her face, speeding towards her like a freight train.

Barista was suddenly wrenched from the depths moments before the orca's teeth could snap shut upon her form, the roar of sound suddenly meeting her ears, a stark but welcome contrast to the eerie silence of the deep. She drew in a deep, shuddering gasp of a breath, finding Carbon standing over her, fear and concern in his green eyes.

'Don't worry! I've got you!' he cried as the orca burst out of the water once more, Carbon hastily dragged Barista's half-frozen body back as the great beast snapped at them, again missing only narrowly.

As the killer whale crashed back into the depths once again, Barista felt an odd sense of warmth in her lower body that sharply contrasted how cold the rest of her body felt. It took her a moment to realise that she was peeing herself due to how traumatised she was.

"W-We… c-c-can't outrun it…" she managed, her teeth chattering severely. "C-Can't esc-cape it… You'll have t-t-to j-jack it…"

'Say what?! Barista, you're traumatised! You're not talking sense!' Carbon exclaimed, the orca passing directly beneath him as he spoke, now circling its prey from below in a very shark-like manner. It knew it had them exactly where it wanted them.

"Th-The m-m-megaphone…" Barista forced the words out, weakly raising an arm and pointing at the small supply bag Carbon had loaned her, said bag lying on its side near the hole Carbon had carved in the ice, Barista having set it aside before starting her fishing. The white-furred bandicoot glanced at it as the bat girl spoke. "G-Get it… P-P-Put it t-to m-my lips…"

As the orca let out a chilling, echoing call from below, Carbon realised what Barista had in mind. He gritted his teeth. 'Alright! But stay completely still until I get it to you! Movement will attract that thing! I'll draw it away!' With that, the bandicoot was off across the ice, taking a wild leap just in time to avoid the orca as it burst up through the ice once more, snapping at Carbon's heels, its gigantic tongue just barely brushing against the boy's leg fur, prompting a short shriek of panic from the marsupial teen. He leapt, bounded and twirled across the ice, snapping teeth and ten tons of marine fury hot on his proverbial tail all the while. At last, he reached the supply bag and snatched it up, quickly wrenching the megaphone from within. 'Got it!' he declared telepathically, grinning in triumph. His face then fell, however, as the orca then crashed down on top of him, both it and him disappearing into the frigid waters.

"C-CARBON!" Barista shrieked, barely able to lift her head off the ground, her eyes wide, her chilled body still shivering violently.

Something than landed on the ice beside Barista with a distinct clunk, causing her to yelp in startled surprise. It took her a second to realise that it was the megaphone. Carbon had thrown it over to her just before the killer whale had veritably body-slammed him. An eerie silence followed, and then—

BLAM! The orca leapt into the air once more, and Barista was momentarily dumbstruck at the sight of Carbon perched most precariously on the creature's back, clinging to it by the dorsal fin, his white fur soaked through.

'DO IT!' he telepathically screamed. Barista, despite her dumbfounded and half-frozen state, didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed the megaphone, cranked up the volume of the device all the way with shaking fingers and held it to her mouth, needing both hands to keep it anywhere close to steady. Then, from the deepest, most guttural part of her being, she let loose not a chitter, but a full-on, no-holds-barred bat screech.

The sound waves that erupted out of the megaphone's speaker were not the usual pink, but a deep, dark purple, so dark that they were almost black. Carbon actually screamed out loud as the sound-waves met him head-on, tearing into him with such force that they actually caused his entire body physical pain. The orca got the main brunt of it, though, and its anguished wail was almost as deafening as the sound waves themselves. The marine monster lost all of its coordination, falling to land painfully on its side on the ice rather than smartly smashing through it as it had done repeatedly before. It began to thrash about in panic, and Carbon, still fighting to hold onto the slippery creature, struggled forward, the tattoo on his hand glowing brightly. He reached out and with a strained effort, slammed his palm against the exact centre of the orca's forehead, and then…

Barista cut off her screech, winded from the effort. Unable to speak, she could only stare at Carbon as she lay there, the bandicoot boy letting his breath out in a long, low whoosh as he slid off the killer whale to land on his back before it, the beast's beady black eyes glowing an unnatural green.

'It's tame,' he managed to communicate, even his telepathic voice sounding utterly exhausted. He then smirked in spite of himself, his green eyes meeting Barista's blue ones. 'Whew! I think we're about ready for mammoths after that!'

Barista weakly opened her mouth in a soundless laugh, her mirthful expression remaining on her visage as she passed out, the chaos, terror and her own fatigue finally catching up with her. Once more, she found herself sinking into a void of blackness, but this one… was decidedly earned.