Video Game Journeys: Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

by CrashGuy41

4th Time's A Charm

The group soon found themselves in the next area, which was The 11th Dimension 1954 in an arctic region. Surprisingly, everyone had on winter clothes to keep themselves warm. This included Crash and Coco, as well. All except for the masks, of course. Masks don't wear clothes. It's just not practical.

As soon as they entered, both Crash and Pinkie slid on the ice, as neither of them were wearing ice skates. The two of them then fell on their stomach as a hologram of Cortex suddenly appeared before them.

"Crash Bandicoot! You banished me to the past, but all it did was give me more time to plan your doom. Doom for you and your friends. Especially you, Twilight," Cortex said.

Twilight gulped. She was scared of what Cortex had in mind for her possible end.

"Where are you, you jerkbag?!" Rainbow snarled.

"You'll find me up the mountain. Don't freeze on the way!"

The hologram disappeared and the projector that was, well, projecting it, flew off towards its master.

"Wow, you know, I'm sensing a real fraught history here," Lani-Loli said feeling a little bit perplexed. "How many times have you beaten this clown, anyway?"

"Three," Coco said bluntly.

"Really? Only three?"

Crash nodded his head in agreement.

"Funny. Seemed like more."

"Maybe that's because all of those other times might not have happened yet, or...? You know what? It's not important. Let's just go kick his butt again!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Crash nodded and started running off towards a nearby ship.

"Crash, wait!" Twilight called.

But Crash didn't listen. He just kept running towards the nearby ship that was suspended over by the falls. As soon as everyone caught up with them, the ship somehow detonated right in front of their eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight managed to get a glimpse of who caused the explosion: Cortex himself. This made her extremely mad.

"CORRRRRTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXX! YOU DESPICABLE, VILE, UNCARING, CHURRO-LOVING, ANIMAL HATING PIECE OF SHIT!" Twilight screamed. "YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE UP THERE, YOU ASSHOLE! OTHERWISE, I'D GIVE YOU WHAT FOR! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"

The others hung their mouths open in shock. Twilight, who was usually the calm and rational one, had finally snapped.

"Woah, woah. Twilight, calm down," Rainbow said.

"Twilight, breathe!" Sunset pleaded.

Twilight took a deep breath and then exhaled.

"You feel any better?"

"A little," Twilight said.

She was still angry, but nothing like she was just a few moments ago.

"You okay?" Fluttershy asked meekly.

"Yeah. It's just that... I really needed to get that out of my system."

"Oh, it's alright, dearie. It's perfectly understandable why you would be upset," Kupuna-Wa said gently.

"And you oughta know, since you literally see everything that was and will be."

"Mmhmm. Now then, back to the matter at hand. If we are to cross these gaps, then one of you will have to slow down time. And that's where I come in."

"No offense, lady, but I can probably get across there in at least ten seconds flat," Rainbow boasted.

"While it may be easy for you, the others might have trouble, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Oh. Right."

"So, who would like to be the one that slows down time long enough for everyone to cross?"

"I'll do it," Twilight said.

"As I knew you would."

Kupuna-Wa spun around Twilight and created an outfit for her, complete with a headpiece just like hers. She then stuck herself onto Twilight's back, giving her her power.

"Not to be a skeptic or anything, but how will slowing down time allow all of us to cross that gap?" Rainbow asked.

Suddenly, two chunks of ice that resembled platforms flowed down the waterfall at an incredible speed. That's when Rainbow realized why time needed to be slowed down for the others. Even though she might be able to clear those platforms thanks to her super speed, the others need more time to clear them, lest they fall into the icy cold water below.

"Okay, everyone. When I slow down time, stay close! We don't want to risk falling off of the waterfall."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they heard more ice breaking. As soon as the platforms came close, Twilight put her hands up to her head in a stance.

"TIME SLOW!"

As soon as she said those two words, time slowed down tremendously. Knowing the effect wouldn't last long, everyone quickly jumped across the gap and made it to the other side in one piece.

"Now that. Was. So. Awesome!"

Just then, Twilight lost the outfit and went back into wearing her winter clothes again.

"Hoo! What a rush! Now that that's all over, let's go find Cortex and give him a beating he'll never forget!"

That was one statement that everyone could agree on. Cortex definitely needed to be taught a lesson in meddling with the multiverse.

---

Eventually, everyone made their way up the mountain and boarded Cortex's newly improved blimp.

"Well, hello, everyone. It's about time," Cortex said smugly.

Twilight gritted her teeth and angrily narrowed her eyes at the diminutive scientist.

"This is going to be just like the old days... except this time, everything will go according to my plan! Hahahahahahahaha!"

Just as Crash was about to step forward, Twilight held up her hand in front of him.

"What are you doing?!" Coco asked.

"Stay out of this! This is personal!" Twilight snarled. "KUPUNA-WA!"

She extended her arms out and the outfit from before formed right onto her.

"So you have the power of one of those masks now? Big deal. I'll still destroy all of you!" Cortex shouted.

He then activated a bunch of giant deadly missiles that rained down onto the arena. Thankfully, Twilight dodged all of them by the skin of her teeth.

"Punchbot MK II: Deploy!"

A robot with boxing gloves came out of one of slots and started rotating extremely fast, trying to punch something. Twilight, however, was prepared for this.

"TIME SLOW!"

Right on cue, time slowed down tremendously, allowing Twilight to run up to the robot and kick right into the control panel. Once time resumed to normal speed, it was revealed that the boxing glove on the robot had also hit Cortex in the face.

"Ow! Punchbot MK II is for hitting YOU, not ME! Raaa!"

"Give it up, Cortex! You know you're going to lose no matter what!"

"You honestly think that's the only Punchbot I have?"

Just then, three more Punchbots appeared and spun towards Twilight at impressive speeds. Thinking fast, Rainbow Dash used her super speed to run towards one of them and kicked it into the control panel.

"What? Two against one? That's not fair!"

"Make that four against one!" Coco exclaimed, joining them.

"I told you guys TO STAY BACK!" Twilight snarled.

"No way are we letting you do this alone, Twilight. Friends stick together no matter what, remember?" Rainbow said.

"You're right, Rainbow Dash. Alright, everyone, let's finish this!"

Just before the Punchbots could hit them, the two remaining ones got dizzy.

"Hit them now! HIT THEM NOW!"

Crash and Coco both spun the remaining Punchbots into the Control Centre and ended up destroying it. Cortex was once again beaten... For the fourth time.

---

The Command Centre exploded, launching Cortex into the air and back onto the floor of his blimp. While this was happening, Twilight's suit disappeared and she went back into wearing her winter clothes again. After Cortex landed, she slowly walked up to him and she was extremely mad.

"Was it really worth all of this, Cortex?" Twilight asked gravely. "Mutating and brainwashing poor Australian animals, collecting crystals for your own personal gain, TWICE, and now, attempting to rule over EVERY SINGLE UNIVERSE THAT'S EXISTED?!"

Cortex looked up at his former assistant. What he saw terrified him. It was the same look he had once given her when both her and her friends first arrived. Only this time, the tables had turned. Twilight was now the one who was talking down to him.

"Please, Twilight! Have mercy!"

Twilight yanked Cortex's lab coat and brought him up to her face.

"Mercy?! You never showed me any mercy! Why should I show you any? I should take that laser of yours and disintegrate you right this minute! But luckily for you, I'm not that cruel."

She let go of his lab coat and threw him to the ground.

"I hope you've learned your lesson by now, Cortex. Because I am getting sick and tired of your constant bullshit!"

Just then, a hologram of N. Tropy appeared between the two of them, sending them jumping in a shock.

"I knew you would be unable to handle this simplest of tasks, Cortex. You couldn't even take care of your former assistant," N. Tropy gloated.

"Gloat all you want, I quit! If you need me, I'll be on a tropical island somewhere. Alone," Cortex grumbled as he stormed away from the hologram.

"How fortunate. You see, I no longer have need for our alliance. I found a new partner... for my master's plan."

"Wait! You mean this whole time you were scheming behind my back?!"

"Of course! The Rift Generator has capabilities far beyond your meager imagination. You were content to simply rule over space and time, but I'd rather help my master start from scratch. Erase it all. Wipe the slate clean. With my master in charge of everything, no one will be safe from their wrath! All will bow down to them and there will be no one left powerful enough to stop them. I'm going to reset the timeline to their liking. Which means YOU won't exist, and neither will those featherbrained masks, or those meddling marsupials, or those multi-colored magical girls and their pony friend! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"

As he laughed, the hologram disappeared into the projector, ending the transmission.

"Wiped from existence by that pompous peacock?! I'd like to see him try after I shove that tuning fork up his--"

"BUT, not if we get to him first," Coco interjected.

"It appears we have a common enemy. Perhaps there is a way out of our endless cycle after all."

Twilight marched up to Cortex and glared at him intently.

"You better not be lying, Cortex. Or else you're going to regret it," she growled.

It looks like Twilight still doesn't fully trust Cortex, but as of right now, they need him in order to stop N. Tropy. Is Cortex really turning over a new leaf? Or is this just a cover-up for him to wait for the right moment to eventually resume his evil ways? With only one mask left to find, our heroes can only hope that Cortex doesn't end up stabbing them in the back again.

Author's Note:

The stance that Twilight does is a reference to Dragon Ball's Solar Flare technique. Characters like Tien Shinhan and Krillin often assume that pose just before they use the technique.

Comments

[MLPMekarm]

that move works 10x better if the user is bald.

[Kburke20]

11840425
Oh, okay then.

And hopefully we find out who the mysterious voice is that had the girls sent into Crash & Coco's world.

[zachary12]

nice work