After traveling far and wide on the island where the next mask rested, they finally came face-to-face with Akano, the Quantum Mask of dark matter. Akano was a mask that was comprised entirely of multiple dark purple rocks. He was shaped like a beaker with a thinner top that widened out with a large chin at the bottom.
As Crash tried lifting him up, he realized that the mask was heavier than he looked. So heavy, in fact, that he ended up dropping him on his foot.
"Ooohh! That's gotta hurt," Pinkie cringed.
Suddenly, Akano woke up and stared at everyone intently. They didn't know what it was, but there was something about Akano that gave off a very scary and unsettling vibe to him. Thankfully, Lani-Loli came between them and explained to Akano that they were there to help.
"Follow," Akano said, floating off.
"Short and to the point. Love this guy!" Lani-Loli said excitedly as he followed his brother through a Quantum Rift.
Knowing now that Akano was actually very friendly, the others followed the masks through the Quantum Rift all the way to a place known as Tranquility Falls 1402.
Once they entered the area, though, Crash got stuck in the rift and ended up flying face-first into a nearby gong. The ringing was so loud, that all of the girls, including Coco, covered their ears.
"Man, and I thought Bulk Biceps was loud," Rainbow groaned.
Crash then stumbled back over to them, feeling dizzy from the impact of the gong.
"So, where's the next mask?" Coco asked.
"Not here," Lani-Loi replied. "If these chucklenuts weren't punching holes in reality, we could make our own rifts."
As he spoke, he failed to notice a certain green-clothed man behind him. Pinkie tapped Twilight's shoulder and pointed in the general direction of the man. It was N. Brio, Cortex's former colleague who was reluctant to work with him again. As Lani-Loli finally turned around, the sight of N. Brio's ugly mug terrified him so much that he leapt in Crash's arms. Crash, being Crash, was just as startled. This was only because N. Brio had managed to catch him off-guard when he least expected it. Terrified, he jumped into Coco's arms, much to her annoyance. Rainbow, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous she thought they looked being terrified by N. Brio. Just then, she felt Rarity angrily slap the back of her head.
"You think that's funny?!" she snarled.
"Come on, Rares. You should've seen the look on their faces!" Rainbow laughed.
"Will you can it, Dash?! Now's not the time to be fooling around!" Applejack chastised.
"Hello, Brio," Twilight said suspiciously.
"Well, hello, Twilight," N. Brio said in response.
"I thought you hated Cortex's guts. Why are you working for him again?"
"Only so I c-c-c-c-c-c-can prove that I'm b-b-b-b-b-b-better than him. Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Friends, I have a fun little game for you to play."
"Look, Brio, we don't have time for this! We're trying to..."
"I've got a reward for the clever people and bandicoots that can reach my testing grounds."
"Testing grounds? Have you been conducting your potion experiments again?!"
"What do you think? Anyways, be warned that you'll have to defeat my deadly diabolical creations along the way! Muahahahaha!"
After laughing, N. Brio threw an explosive potion at his feet, causing him to disappear in the blast as if it were a smoke bomb.
"Ugh! That guy really breaks my beakers!"
"Come on, Twilight, there's no time to waste! We have to get to N. Brio as fast as we can!" Coco said as she ran off with Crash lagging behind.
Knowing fully way that she was right, Twilight and the others ran after them and eventually made their way to N. Brio's testing grounds.
"Oh, good! You've arrived!" N. Brio exclaimed in excitement. "And now for your reward! It's to battle me! Muahahahahahahahaha!"
"Shut up! FOR GOD'S SAKE, JUST SHUT UP, N. BRIO!" Twilight roared.
"My, such strong words coming from someone so young. I guess I'll have to teach you all a lesson!"
He threw a few beakers at them, creating the slime monsters he used on them before once again. Thankfully, this time both bandicoots were able to damage him by spinning into them, as well as sliding. Eventually, N. Brio got fed up with them ruining his little moment that he became a hulking monster again. This time, however, the entire world became inverted, in terms of the color schemes.
"What the hell is going on?!" Rainbow asked, panicking.
"Rainbow Dash! Language!" Rarity scolded.
"Um, excuse me. Did you guys not see the rating?" Pinkie asked.
"Uh, what are you talking about, Pinkie?" Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing," Pinkie said smiling slyly.
CONTINUE
LEVEL STATS
OPTIONS
PASS N' PLAY
RESTART LEVEL
QUIT
What the? Damnit, Pinkie!
What? What did I do?
You know what you done did, Pinks! You broke the fourth wall again!
Aw, come on, Mr. Gamer! I was just trying to explain why we were using such minor foul language.
I know you were! The story clearly has the Profanity warning for those who are about to read it. This game was actually rated PEGI 12+ in the UK because of it being darker than most Crash games!
WHAT?!
Pinkie, Just get off of the pause screen so the readers can enjoy the story. My goodness, I bet their laughing at this conversation right now. Either that, or they're feeling bad for me again just like in the last story.
Alright, alright! I get it! Sheesh! When are you going to do the...
Pinkie! Don't even think about spoiling it.
*Pinkie pouts annoyingly*
Alright, fine. Party pooper.
Ahem! Sorry about that. At least the wall's still okay. Anyways, Akano decided to give Coco a suit that matched his appearance. He then attached himself to her back, giving her Dark Matter powers. After N. Brio got dizzy from smashing the ground too much, Coco activated the Dark Matter Spin and started spinning as if she had the Death Tornado Spin again. The spin was so powerful that knocked N. Brio off of the platform. He soon landed on the one below. Just as he hit the ground, one of his beakers broke directly on him. Everyone celebrated their victory, which was short-lived thanks to N. Brio leaping back onto the arena, now as a green Pteranodon.
"And for my final t-t-test. Face my reptilian wrath!" N. Brio said smugly.
Suddenly, he felt something building up in his stomach and covered it with his wings.
"My cloaca..."
Hearing this made Fluttershy, Applejack and Twilight grimace.
"Did he just say what I think he said?" Fluttershy cringed.
"Yeah. He said cloaca," Twilight responded.
"Oh, boy," Applejack groaned. "That's how ma chickens lay their..."
Before she could finish, as if on cue, a purple-and-green egg with blue spots and two electrical bolts appeared in front of him. Horrified by this experience, N. Brio flew away in embarrassment.
"Oh my," Rarity said nauseously. "I think I'm going to... ULP!"
She quickly covered her mouth with her hand as her face turned green. Thinking fast, Pinkie took out a brown paper bag from her hair and gave it to Rarity. Rarity then vomited inside the paper bag about four or five times. She was absolutely disgusted at what she saw.
"Yeah, that was pretty gross. I'm glad we're the only ones that saw it," Pinkie cringed.
"Oh... My!" Fluttershy whimpered.
"I don't think I needed to see that," Rainbow said.
"You and me both, Dash," Applejack agreed.
"Yeah, that was pretty disturbing," Twilight said.
"That was really uncomfortable, even for me," Sunset shivered.
Coco, on the other hand, was actually the most traumatized by what she saw. N. Brio just literally laid an actual egg. It managed to really creep her out. Crash, however, thought the egg was cool-looking and held it up like a trophy.
"Let's get out of here," Coco said, not wanting to stay around the egg any longer.
As she dragged Crash towards a nearby Quantum Rift, Fluttershy grabbed the egg and tossed it away. She never wanted to see an egg like that one ever again. After that, everyone followed Crash and Coco through the Quantum Rift towards their next destination, which was actually an event that happened only a few days earlier.