//------------------------------// // Episode 3: A Zero's Journey // Story: Equestria Ninja Girls: Crash of the Titans // by RainbowRaptorDash1 //------------------------------// The group kept moving towards the temple, until Crash decided to ask Foxer a question. "Foxer, any idea how many mutants Cortex has so far?" He asked as Foxer answered with a shrug. "Beats me. I think the least amount would be hundreds or thousands." She simply said, shocking the ninja trio. "WHAT?!" Mikey, Pinkie and Sonata yelled in complete surprise. "I don't even remember how I got like this. The earliest thing I remember is a cage, the sound of evil laughter, and a surge of electricity painfully going through my body." Foxer explained, starting to stress herself out, but Sonata petted Foxer to calm her down. "It's okay, Foxer, just try to calm down." Sonata suggested soothingly, as Foxer took a deep breath in, then out. "Thanks Sonata. I needed that." Foxer said in gratitude. "I do my best to help my friends." Sonata responded. "So much for that idea." Crash deadpanned, making the group stopped as the path ahead was riddled with traps. "Guys, I don't think we should go forward with Foxer. We better find another path." Mikey suggested. "We can't. This is the quickest way." Aku Aku told them, as Foxer noticed herself glowing a bit. "Hey, guys, I think I have an idea." Foxer said, catching their attention. "Ooh! What is your idea?" Pinkie asked in excitement as she was answered by a light covering Foxer, making the heroes and Aku Aku close their eyes. And when the light faded, in Foxer's place, was a light arctic blue Snipe mask with moderate persian blue feathers on the top of it. "Whoa! You turned into a mask?!" Sonata asked in surprise. "Yepperoonie! That way I can go with you through areas I normally can't." Foxer explained as Sonata strapped the mask over her collapsed bike and went to catch up to the others, finding them looking at an empty area. "What's wrong, guys?" Sonata asked. "Something not right here." Pinkie said in suspicion. "Yeah, no guards to stop us." Mikey agreed. "Ain't like Cortex to do that." Crash added. "Maybe he thinks those booby traps will take us out. But still, there could be more guards further ahead." Sonata guessed. "Hmm... You do have a point." Aku Aku admitted. "Either way, we can handle it easily." Mikey said, as Crash looked at the archway and got an idea. "Sonata, get onto that archway with Foxer and be ready to play sniper." "You got it!" Sonata responded with a thumbs-up as she jumped onto the archway, but realized something, there wasn't enough room for both her and Foxer! "Shoot! This isn't good!" "There's a way we can still help them." Foxer said. "Really? What?" Sonata asked. "Put my mask on your face." Foxer answered, making Sonata hesitant, but she decided to trust the Snipe mask. "Here goes nothing." Sonata said as she put Foxer's mask on her face, causing her to stumble and whimper in pain. Then she screamed into the sky with the mask having its jaw open as if it was howling, a bright light covering her and the mask. When the light died, what stood in Sonata's place was a combination of a siren and a snipe, with a strange mark on her right cheek. Meanwhile, Crash and the others walked into the area, pretending they're none the wiser. "Okay guys, looks like the coast is clear." Crash acted. "You heard the bandicoot. Let's go!" Mikey declared. "Wahoo!" Pinkie cheered. "Oh, guess again, you dumb idiots." A Ratnician said as Ratnicians swarmed over the heroes with Spikes, Snipes, and a Goar. Crash looked ahead and saw the path blocked with boulders. "We need to jack the Goar to clear the way ahead." "Don't worry! I got your back!" A mysterious voice said as feather darts shaped like tonfas rained down on the Goar, completely stunning it. "That's new." Pinkie noted as she threw down a smoke bomb, temporary blinding the mutant titans and Ratnicians and rushed through the crowd and jacked the Goar. "Mikey, jack one of the Spikes. I'll handle the Ratnicians. Sonata, give us cover." Crash ordered. "Somehow, I'm not surprised you knew it was me, Crash." The voice admitted as the sniper was indeed indeed Sonata, but it was also Foxer, for it was Foxata! "Here, have some tonfa feather darts!" Foxata taunted as she threw more feather darts, taking out the Ratnicians that were gonna attack any of her friends from behind. A Ratnician tried to sneak up behind Foxata, only for Crash to use his swornardrang to stop him. "Mess with me all you want, but not my friends." Crash said as he caught his Bokken Sword perfectly. Mikey had jacked a Spike and knocked out the Snipes in the area. "We've all got each other's backs dudes." Mikey-Spike said. "Yes indeedy!" Pinkie-Goar agreed. "Come on, we're almost through this!" Aku Aku told his friends as one of Cortex's Spybot was broadcasting the whole beatdown. "Just when I thought that rodent couldn't be anymore infuriating, he had to make new friends." Dr. Cortex growled. "Haha! Way to go, guys!" Coco cheered. "Hmm... Those three clearly aren't slackers when it comes to battle. We'll need to be more weary of them." Uka Uka advised as the Spybot was destroyed by one of Foxata's feather darts. "I thought I smelled a rat." Foxata scoffed. "A shame Donnie or Twilight ain't with us. Then we could turn these scraped Spybots into something useful." Mikey-Spike said. "They're the brainy one like my sister, right?" Crash asked as he beated up the last Ratnician. "Exactamundo!" Mikey-Spike answered with a smile. "Glad we managed to take care of them and each other." Foxata said in relief as she jumped down to her friends, leaving the heroes and Aku Aku in awe at her new form. "You two can combine powers!!! Making you a siren and a Snipe! That's so awesome!!!!!" Pinkie squealed in absolute excitement. "That's right, Pink Pie!" Foxata confirmed as she grabbed both sides of her face, making a light erupt. And when it faded, showed Sonata with the Snipe mask in its place. "That was rush of energy." Sonata said, feeling the adrenaline go away. "Looks like it took a lot out of Foxer." Mikey-Spike pointed out as he and the others saw the eyes of Foxer's mask closed, meaning she was sound asleep, and making Sonata guilty about waking her up. "Ah, don't sweat it. Aku Aku, can you teleporting her back to the house for some sleep?" Crash asked as Aku Aku tried to teleport Foxer, but it proved to be impossible. "I can’t, because for some reason, Foxer seems to have a really deep connection to Sonata. So I’m guessing she’ll be able to rest in her mask form." Aku Aku said as Sonata carefully strapped the mask over her collapsed bike, with Pinkie-Goar started clearing the path. "Alright everyone! Road’s been cleaned of any obstacles!" Pinkie-Goar said as everyone walked ahead and saw Cortex's vehicle in the air, with a strange hose vacuum seemed to be draining something from the top of the temple. "That’s Cortex’s mechanical blimp! But what’s it doing?" Sonata asked. "Guys, it’s as I feared, Cortex and Uka Uka are stealing all of the mojo from the temple." Aku Aku dreaded. "You think there might be a link between this and the enslaved mutants we've been fighting?" Pinkie-Goar asked. "There must be." Aku Aku confirmed. "How much mojo is in that temple?" Crash asked his voodoo mask friend. "There’s an enormous treasure of mojo contained within. It’s like the Texas Mojo Repository in there!" Aku Aku answered. "Whoa dude, that’s a whole lotta mojo." Mikey admitted. "Hurry everyone!" Aku Aku urged as everyone rushed ahead, but noticed the Goar that Pinkie unjacked was following them. "What's the matter, girl? Don't you want to go to your friends." Pinkie asked as the Goar shook her head 'No' and nuzzled the pink party ninja. "Aww… Can she stay with us?" Pinkie asked as the Goar transformed into a brilliant rose colored Goar mask with light ceriseish gray tusks. "Judging by that transformation into a mask, I guess so." Aku Aku answered, much to Pinkie's happiness. "YIPPEE!!!" Pinkie cheered as they all went inside the temple. Meanwhile, Cortex was getting his secret weapon ready. "Just a bit more modifications and it'll be ready." Cortex said. "Hmm… It seems that wretched bandicoot, his friends and my brother have arrived at the temple." Uka Uka informed. "Good, now I can deal with them personally." Cortex said with a smile, but then Coco started laughing at the duo. "What’s so amusing about that?!" Uka Uka asked, irritated by that. "She just thinks that we’ll lose. But we won’t lose this time." Cortex said, unsurprised by that. "You're gonna lose. Not just because of Crash, but my new friends fought way tougher enemies than you." Coco answered, making the evil scientist and voodoo mask confused. "What do you mean tougher?" Dr. Cortex asked as Coco explained what the girls and turtle fought, leaving the two villains surprised. "Oh… Okay, I admit… That’s a bit unsettling." Uka Uka admitted. "Ninja Assassins, Alien Invaders, Corrupted Officials... This stuff sounds like something from a Saturday Morning Cartoon." Dr. Cortex scoffed. "You don't stand a chance against them." Coco told the two bad guys. "Physically, yes. Mentally... I am superior." Dr. Cortex boasted. "Besides, once have have the mojo, we have hundreds of thousands of mutant soldiers, meaning they won’t stand a chance." Uka Uka said as Coco watched the villains leave. While she showed confidence, she was secretly worried for her friends. To be continued...