Crash and Spyro, A Friendship Across Lifetimes C8

Chapter 8: The Journey to Cortex Island

UPON reaching his island, Cortex became aware through surveillance that his former general had returned. Oh good, he though, one last loose end to tie up before departing these useless islands. Cortex had seven Power Gems, which meant he could finally act out his grand plan and take over this world. It was important that he unified the world under his leadership. He was the only person smart enough to do so. He needed to acquire control through force, quickly and with no resistance. He would use the power of these prophesized Gems and enslave millions of lives instantly. Use of these Gems energy’s had yielded some of the greatest inventions in mankind’s history: the Evolve-O Ray and the Cortex Vortex. And legend had it that those who wielded the “magic” of the seven Colored Gems could gain immortality and complete, willful control over the energy that surged within these stones. It all sounded like fairytales until he discovered a Power Gem in his adolescence. He studied that Power Crystal intensely, until he discovered that the sheer amount of energy held within the crystal was incomprehensible. However, he couldn’t extract the energy at all. He later learned that by having multiple crystals within close vicinity of each other, did the incredible power locked within the crystalline structure become easier to access. He observed this when he had three crystals onboard his zeppelin earlier. If only he knew more about who had control over the seven gems all those millennia ago; he would need to consult N Tropy about this. Their work with the Power Gems on time travel has produced some interesting results.

---

Cortex had left several of his mutants behind on N Sanity Island to keep the island secure and to hunt down any of the surviving Budakans who didn’t die in the fire. Those mutants Crash took care of first. It wasn’t easy, but he fought them on his terms. Singling them out or a surprise attack from atop a tree did the trick. However, a mutant named Dingo-Dile gave him the most trouble. He was the current leader of the mutants left on Budakan Island and primary cause the Native Fortress burned down in flames. He carried a flame thrower with him at all times; apparently arson was his favorite pastime. He stood in the ashes of Budakan, setting random things on fire that had not been scorched earlier. He turned around to find Crash standing behind him.

“Aye, if it isn’t the prodigal son? He has returned, at last. Or should I say you’ve finally decided to crawl out of hiding and be put out of your misery, eh?”

Crash stood there, staring down his enemy and planning on how to defeat him.

“Don’t talk much, do we? Cortex told me all about you and your babe, Subject C2; quite the looker, too. Maybe I’ll take her off your dead hands once I’m through with you.”

Dingo-Dile activated his flame thrower and a corkscrew of fire blazed from the nozzle of Dingo’s gun and made its way towards Crash. He slid to the right to avoid the fire and continued to run towards a semi-destroyed house for cover. Dingo-Dile then torched the house, and it soon turned into an inferno.

“Idiot” Dingo said in joyous success. Crash had climbed his way to the top of the hut and got onto the roof. Before Dingo-Dile realized where exactly Crash was, he leaped from the top of the building, double jumped in midair, and slammed onto Dingo-Dile from the air. Crash got off of him, ripped a tiny hose loose from Dingo-Dile’s flamethrower, and ran away as Dingo-Dile angrily picked himself up from the ground.

“Alright, mate. I’m going to roast you now.” Dingo-Dile pressed the trigger on his flame thrower; the activator fluid made its way from the combustion fluid tank to pilot flame towards the nozzle of the gun, but leaked out from where the hose which Crash had removed used to be. “What the hell?” Dingo-Dile asked in confusion, as his back and liquid storage tank began to be drenched in lighter fluid. Crash picked up a stick, allowed one side of it to catch on fire, and then threw it at Dingo-Dile. In an instant, he burst into flames and screamed in agony. He ran around in a panic before the liquid storage tank on his back exploded violently. N Sanity Island was now clear of Cortex’s presence. Crash made his way to the second island.

---

The ruins of the second islands were a dangerous and ominous place. That didn’t seem to bother Cortex or his minions. They set up a massive investigation of the place in order to find his second Power Crystal. The lives of most of the mutants Cortex had made after Crash were expendable, and for those that had died exploring the treacherous caverns and temples of this abandoned civilization, others just replaced them. Crash saw plenty of dead corpses on his way to Koala Kong. On his way, however, a delusional and failed experiment who Crash remembered as “Ripper Roo” confronted him. His skin was dark blue, and his eyes were bloodshot red. It was a very disheartening sight. Ripper Roo was probably abandoned here to set off any traps that were in this area. He wasn’t expected to live. Crash actually remembered this mutant as one of the first rejected experiments he saw while still loyal to Cortex all those months ago. Whatever Ripper Roo was saying, it was incomprehensible. He leaped forward in an attempt to attack Crash, but Crash dogged fairly easily. This area wasn’t lit very well, and there were un-sprung traps still around the area, along with several dangerous pitfalls. Ripper Roo continued to pursue Crash and spoke unintelligibly. They made it outside before Ripper Roo tackled him from behind and they both plummeted into a river below. Crash swam to the edge of the stream, dealing with the racing current as he did so. He reached the shore and turned, only to notice that Ripper Roo was franticly waving his small arms and struggled mightily to keep his head above water. Crash ran across the shoreline, trying to think of some way to help the deranged creature. It wasn’t until Crash saw what was up ahead that he stopped. Ripper Roo disappeared upon reaching the end of the waterfall; when Crash made it to the edge, he peered over the side and spotted a lifeless blue kangaroo drifting down the current. He must have struck one of the rocks at the base of the waterfall. Though Crash was a mutant, he was fortunate to be alive and well, he took pity on the creature, and moved towards Cortex’s mineshaft.

---

Being in such remote and reclusive islands, Cortex needed to come up with ways to power his operations on the third island. That’s where this mineshaft burying into the side of a dormant volcano came into play. Currently, Koala Kong was overseeing the operation, keeping the lesser mutants in check as the slaves mined and transported coal to the surface. Crash contemplated just avoiding the place entirely and going straight to Cortex’s Island. But he knew that he needed to deal with all of Cortex’s threats on all the islands. None of the ruthless savages that were Cortex’s select group of superior mutants could be left to terrorize the Budakans anymore.

There was almost no automation to the excavation site, the coal was quarried and transported manually by hundreds of mutated and deformed creatures that worked without hesitation until they died of exhaustion or malnourishment. Corpses were tossed into the molten lava to avoid having to bury them and allowing them to pile up or rot. The coal was even boated to the third island by manually propelled boats. Even as slaves, these creatures were still blindly loyal to their creator and master, and once Kola ordered them to attack, Crash was swarmed by hundreds of mutants varying greatly in size, strength, color, and state of decay. He avoided off the first wave, and borrowed a mine cart to quickly make his way deeper into the volcano. He stealthily avoided large clusters of mindless mutants, and made his way toward Koala Kong. He could hear his horrible voice echoing throughout the chambers of the inner excavation site. The heat and dry air was almost unbearable. He appeared from behind a stalagmite and saw the large, grey furred mutant that was Koala Kong. The Mutant wore a large red shirt and yellow pants. Dr. Cortex’s insignia, the letter ‘N’, was proudly stamped on the top left part of the shirt.

“So, I see the rat has come out of hiding. A transmission by Dingo-Dile from N Sanity Island said you were in the area. I guess you took care of the crock, didn’t you?” Kong’s dictation was terrible, as bad as his, except his pitch was much lower and snarlier than his, plus Kong wasn’t self-conscience about it. He was much stronger than Crash was, however, Niko would be the reason he would win this fight. As young as he was, Niko was gifted when it came to combat. He demonstrated his technique which he had learned from his father and the other tribesman on Crash himself when they had first met. He was strong for his age and size, and took Crash down hard the first couple of times they “practiced” together. Niko was a proud and cocky little Budakan. But he loved his culture and his people, and would have grown up to be a fierce defender of his peoples. After a while, Crash had learned a lot from him, and thanked him for the training. Little did Crash know that Niko’s training might actually save his life. Too bad Crash couldn’t have returned the favor.

Kong picked up a large bolder and heaved it at Crash’s direction with stunning speed. Crash narrowly dogged the first bolder, and eluded the second one. That boulder struck some TNT that was lying around and tossed it near a lava pit bordering the area Kong and Crash were fighting at. Crash was light on his feet and an excellent dodger; he could counter Kong’s bulky form and slow movement with punishing strikes to both his legs and chest. He followed off this assaults with something new. He spun rapidly and the resulting contact with his stiff arms and legs sent Kong flying backwards into some stalagmites. His frustration was evident on his face; he was losing to a scrawny wimp. He hurled another bolder towards Crash, and it landed in a pool of lave, spewing drops of lava all around, some of which landed on the TNT crates that had settled near the lava earlier. Suddenly, several explosions erupted from behind, destabilizing the roof and surrounding cave. Lava started to fill the area as a pool of it from to the left now could ooze freely into the cavern. Kong was pinned down by some boulders, and blood could be seen puddling underneath. He was hurt bad, and didn’t have the strength to move the bolder. He grunted loudly but could not move the bolder pinning him down. The lava began to creep closer. Crash, temporally knocked out by colliding with some rocks awoke to see the lava flowing in and headed to the exit before hearing Kong’s cry for help. Crash reached for one of the broken wooden support beams and wedged it underneath the bolder and tried to leverage it free. After his second effort, he was able to lift the bolder high enough for Kong to free his crushed leg. Kong could barely move and was in serious pain. Crash offered him his hand, and began dragging him away from the area. Just then, more mutants came from out of nowhere and attacked both Crash and Kong. They chose a horrible time to rebel. Kong was defenseless in his current condition, and a mob began to rip him to shreds. Crash struggled to get the first mutant off, and threw it into a second that was sprinting towards him. Larger mutants then appeared and charged at him directly. Lava was quickly approaching from behind and dripping from the ceiling. Crash needed to get out of here, now. He double jumped over the first one and landed on the back of the second, then slammed both of his hands onto the creature’s ears, popping his ear drums and giving it a serious migraine. He flung crash off, before running into a wall in confusion. The other mutant began to give chase, but Crash sprinted away and earned distance from the caving mineshaft. It was an intense minute and a half, but Crash successfully made it to the surface again. The volcano must have become active again. Crash noticed a boat coming towards the beach. He made his way to it, hoping to commandeer it and get To Cortex’s island. He was going to pay for what he has done to the Budakan’s, Ripper Roo, and all the mutants in this coal shaft.