//------------------------------// // Crash VS. Cortex: Round 3 // Story: Video Game Journeys: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy // by CrashGuy41 //------------------------------// "That was amazing, Coco!" Twilight congratulated. Their celebration was cut short, however, when Cortex and Uka Uka sent them another message. "It's funny how history repeats itself," Cortex said unimpressed. "Yet again, N. Gin has failed to defeat you bandicoots." Uka Uka was very cross upon hearing this. "WHAT?! For this we must destroy you!" he threatened. Cortex shook off Uka Uka's possession and held his head in pain. It was really starting to hurt from all of the times Uka Uka had been possessing him to get to the point. "Oh, my aching head. I'm not feeling myself these days." "Gee, I wonder why," Rainbow said sarcastically. "Just shut up, Dash," Twilight said, facepalming. "Ignoring your friend's insult, it would be that the end is in sight," Cortex continued. "Gather another five crystals and again you will have foiled my plan. Or will you?" As the message ended, the last sentence made Twilight a little nervous. What did Cortex exactly mean by that? Whatever it was, it didn't sound good to her. Despite that, Crash managed to go back into Tomb Wader and obtain a sapphire relic for the time trial. After that, he went into a new level in the basement, Rings of Power. In the level, Crash flew a blue biplane known as the Orange Baron. This level was a race. In order to get one of the gems, Crash had to come in first place while flying through all 30 rings. It wasn't easy, thanks to the handling of the plane, but he managed to do it and beat the time trial all in one go. Upon returning, he not only had both gems, but also a gold time trial relic for his troubles. After that, he traveled to the next level, Gone Tomorrow and obtained not only the crystal, but also both gems in the level. Upon returning to the Time Twister, he immediately went back in for the relic and was eventually rewarded with a sapphire relic. After that, he entered the next level, which was the final racing level in the 1950's, Orange Asphault. The race was surprisingly a lot easier than it was in the level, Road Crash. Crash even managed to get the clear gem after getting all of the crates. Once again, after returning to the Time Twister, he went back into the level for the time relic. It was once again, another sapphire relic. The following level, Flaming Passion, was the final level set in ancient Arabia. Crash managed to get the crystal and clear gem from that level. Not only that, but he barely managed to get a sapphire relic upon entering it for the second time. After getting Flaming Passion's sapphire relic, Aku Aku teleported into the Time Twister, much to everyone's surprise. "Oh, my goodness! What are you doing here, Aku Aku?" Fluttershy asked. "Children, I have come to warn you about our upcoming battle. Remember, it is not only Dr. Cortex that we battle," Aku Aku warned. "Beware of Uka Uka, my children. He is a far more dangerous enemy than anyone can imagine. It will not only take the power of you, Crash, but also the power of our new allies." "Us?!" the girls all exclaimed in unison. "Yes, you. You must use your magical abilities to help Crash defeat both Uka Uka and Dr. Cortex. Worry not, though. I will attempt to weaken Uka Uka while Crash deals with Dr. Cortex on the battlefield. You must use your powers to not only protect him, but to also aid him in battle. We will need all the help we can get if anyone is to stand a chance." Twilight and looked at her friends, who were all deeply concerned. "We've made it this far. If we're going to stop this crazy scientist and this evil mask, then we need to work together and show them that these kind of actions will never triumph over the magic of friendship!" Twilight exclaimed, putting her hand in the middle. "Twilight's right, y'all. If we can go up against foes like the Dazzlings, then we can sure as heck go up against a deranged mad scientist," Applejack said, joining in the middle. "Abso-tiva-lutely!" Pinkie exclaimed, also joining. "Here, here," Rarity added, joining in as well. "Count me in," Rainbow said, putting her hand in the middle. "Come on, Fluttershy. We can't do this without you." Fluttershy was hesitant at first, but eventually joined in with her hand in the middle. "Anyone who would dare use or threaten animals like Crash and Coco for their own selfish needs is enough to get me in this fight. I'm in," she said, joining in with the others. "Then it's settled. Once we defeat Cortex once and for all, we're going to find Sunset Shimmer and return home!" Twilight exclaimed. Everyone lifted up their hands in excitement as they agreed on Twilight's comment. "Good luck, children," Aku Aku said before teleporting away. Filled with energy after seeing the Rainbooms give each other a well-deserved pep talk, Crash decided to tackle the next level, Mad Bombers. The goal was to destroy all five red fighter planes. It wasn't easy, since the lab assistants were constantly gunning for Crash in the air. He managed to succeed, however, even managing to come back with both the crystal and gem in the level. He then went back inside and obtained another sapphire relic for the level. He was then about to go into the final main level when Twilight stopped him. "Hang on, Crash. I'm picking up another level on a completely different area of the Time Twister," she said. She brought up the level on the screen. It was another futuristic level. "Coco, do you think you can take this level and get one or both of the gems?" Coco looked at the level on the screen. It looked very hard, but she was confident that she could do it. "Yeah, I think I can take it," Coco said. "Alright. Good luck." Coco gave Twilight a big hug before setting off on the platform close to the first area of the Time Twister. The platform took her to an isolated area of the Time Twister with a single button with the number 31 on it. It was the level, Future Tense. Coco stepped on the button and then jumped into the portal. Everyone eyed the giant monitor worriedly as Coco made her way towards the death platform. "Please be careful, Coco," Fluttershy pleaded softly. Coco managed to use all of the abilities that she obtained, including a new one that Twilight equipped her with just before entering the level. It was a special powerup called the Speed Shoes, allowing her to run faster. As soon as she got the clear gem at the end of death route, she noticed something odd dancing in the distance. It looked like Crash, but not exactly. He had huge bushy eyebrows, tiny pupils, a large round nose, longer ears, and big teeth. Back in the Time Twister, everyone was shocked at this abomination that looked like Crash Bandicoot. "What in the world is that ugly thing?!" Rarity cringed. Fluttershy angrily rolled her eyes at Rarity's comment. Even though it was a weird copy, she still believed that it deserved to be respected. "A weird imitation of Crash. I think it should be called Fake Crash," Twilight said. "Look at that thing dance. It's so silly," Rainbow laughed. Applejack could barely contain her laughter and ended up cackling at Fake Crash's goofy dance. Soon, Coco made her way back into the Time Twister with the gem that she obtained from the death route. That was one more gem to add the collection to stopping Cortex's scheme for world domination. After making her way back up, Crash decided to tackle the final level, Bug Lite. The first time he went through, he got the gem from the multi-colored gem path. He then went back in for a second time to get both the box gem and the crystal needed to stop Cortex's evil plans. He returned with the final crystal and the 45th gem needed to stop Cortex. Everyone was so happy, that they all did a variant of Crash's iconic dance to celebrate. After that was over, all that was left was to defeat Cortex for the third time. It was finally time to take the battle to him once and for all. Before they could, however, Cortex and Uka Uka sent them a message. To their surprise, Cortex was laughing as if he had cracked or something. "I'm sorry. This is the part where I'm supposed to be angry, full of rage, incensed beyond belief," Cortex said. As he spoke, Uka Uka raised an eyebrow in confusion. Why was Cortex acting so calm when he should be screaming his head off in anger? For him, that just didn't make sense. "Once again, you have outsmarted and outspun my best henchmen. I should be rather upset, shouldn't I?" Unable to take any more of his useless banter, Uka Uka possessed Cortex to get straight to the point. "AND IN FACT, WE'RE FURIOUS!" he roared. "But it seems you have overlooked one small detail, you little orange delivery boy. Now that you have gathered all the crystals and all most of the gems, all we have to do IS TAKE THEM FROM YOU!" And with that, the message ended. Twilight looked at Coco as Crash stepped on the portal with Cortex's face on it. "Coco, stay here and monitor us. I want to make sure that Cortex sees the face of the person he once called his assistant once he's defeated," Twilight said, determined. "Come on, everyone. Let's go teach Cortex a lesson he'll never forget." Everyone stepped into the portal and prepared to face Cortex in battle. They arrived somewhere in the Time Twister machine, where Cortex was now on an improved hoverboard with Uka Uka possessing him happily. "Welcome to your doom, everyone! I am so happy that you have come, for you have brought all of the crystals and all of the gems needed to me!" Uka Uka exclaimed. "Ultimate power is mine! The world as we know it IS ABOUT TO END!" Uka Uka unpossessed Cortex to let him fight Crash while he fought against his brother, Aku Aku. The girls, on the other hand, were watching the fight form the nearby monitors, safe from harm. As Cortex fired his laser gun at Crash, both Aku Aku and Uka Uka fired beams at each other, which were equal in strength. "Be careful, Crash!" Fluttershy called out worriedly. Crash responded in gibberish as he did his best to dodge all of the attacks coming at him. "I know it's dangerous, but you have to do your best! For the sake of the entire world!" Just then, Cortex mixed things up a bit by throwing land mines that exploded similarly to TNT crates. "CRASH! LOOK OUT!" Twilight shouted as the mines started counting down. Thinking fast, Pinkie pulled out to bottles of sprinkles out of her hair and threw them at the mines, causing them to explode. The resulting explosion from the sprinkles knocked Cortex off of his hoverboard. Seeing an opportunity, Crash spun Cortex down into the shaft into the middle of the arena. Not wanting Cortex to go down that easily, Uka Uka lifted him back up and gave him a shield to protect himself. "What in tarnation?! Now that jerkwad's got a shield!" Applejack exclaimed. "No fair! Now we can't damage him as easily!" Rainbow said. Suddenly, Aku Aku and Uka Uka were spinning around the arena as they fought each other intensely. Seeing that Crash might get pulverized, Rarity used her magic to conjure up a shield to protect Crash from the two brothers as Cortex continued to fire at him. "Nice work, Rarity!" "Thank you. Sadly, this shield is only good against both Aku Aku and Uka Uka's constant fighting and has no effect against anything Cortex has up his sleeves," Rarity responded. As soon as Cortex threw the mines, his shield malfunctioned, leaving him exposed. Knowing that Crash might get hurt if he went near Cortex, due to the fact that he was so close to the mines, Applejack decided to use a nearby boulder to knock Cortex off of his hoverboard. The impact made him see little birds above his head. Since it was another opportunity to attack, Crash did just that and spun him down into the shaft again, with both the hoverboard and Uka Uka following suit. It was time for the final phase. During this time, both Aku Aku and Uka Uka had resorted to a classic brawl. Every now and then they would attack each other and spin like crazy before going back up into the air. Suddenly, Cortex revealed a whole slew of mines around the entire arena. Knowing that Crash might be trapped, Twilight used magic to get some of the mines out of the way. She even used one of them to knock Cortex off of his hoverboard. Crash once again spun Cortex into the shaft, where he landed on his stomach with a loud thud. "WE DID IT! WE WON!" Pinkie shouted. Just then, they all felt something rumble underneath their feet. "Uh, I don't think that was my stomach." "No, Pinkie. It's worse. THE TIME TWISTER'S ABOUT TO SELF-DESTRUCT ON ITSELF! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" Twilight screamed. Thinking fast, Rainbow Dash used her super speed to get Crash as Twilight set the coordinates back to N. Sanity Island. "Aku Aku, you've got to get Coco out of the Time Twister! We'll meet you back at N. Sanity Island!" As she spoke, a portal leading to N. Sanity Island appeared and they all quickly jumped in. Underneath them, however, Cortex and Uka Uka were not so lucky. One of the portals, which led to a volcano, was starting to suck the two of them inside. "No! It cannot be! Not a prisoner of time again!" Uka Uka pleaded as he tried to get away. "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" It was no use, however, as he attempt to get away from the portal were all in vein, since it was sucking everything in. Back on the main floor of the Time Twister, Coco started panicking as the machine was self-destructing on itself. Thankfully, she was barely rescued just in time by Aku Aku. It was now the month of December. Snow covered the island around the bandicoot house as Crash, Coco, Aku Aku, Polar, Pura, who had decided to join Coco on their way out, and the Rainbooms gathered around a burning fire by the fireplace. "Oh jellybeans, that was close. How could something like that even happen?" Fluttershy remarked. "To put it simply, the Time Twister machine could not hold itself together," Aku Aku explained. "We were lucky to escape." "I'll say. That was three adventures we went on all in one, yet we still don't know what happened to Sunset Shimmer," Pinkie responded. "I'm sure your friend is out there somewhere, Miss Pinkie," Aku Aku said reassuringly. "Mark my words, one of these days, you will find her and then you will most likely be able to go back into your world." "Now that's one thing I'm looking forward to," Applejack said. "Hmm... That makes me wonder. What happened to that Cortex character and your brother, Uka Uka?" Rarity asked. "It is difficult to say what has happened to our enemies, but I doubt we'll be seeing them for a LONG time," Aku Aku said. Meanwhile, imprisoned near a volcano, were two evil babies. They were actually Cortex and N. Tropy, having been reduced to infants thanks to the Time Twister imploding on itself. The two of them were tugging on Uka Uka, wanting to take control of him. "Give me the mask! With it, I shall take over the world! Come on!" Baby Cortex groaned. Was this truly the end of Cortex? Or had things begun to stew for an act of revenge in an even bigger plot? And what of Sunset Shimmer? Will the Rainbooms ever reunite with her? Only time will tell. TO BE CONTINUED...