Crash Bandicoot: The Beginning

*Chapter 5: Wumpa Island*

Sounds of waves are ringing in his ears. Seagulls can be heard around him. He felt the beaks poking his body, picking on his fur. Crash groaned and opened his eyes, making the seagulls fly away from him. Crash rolled on his back, holding his head with one hand, blocking the bright sun with the other, sitting up. He can see the ocean in front of him. He touches the sand with his hand, feeling the warmth and softness of it. He began to stand up, shaking the sand off of his fur, looking around himself to see he is no longer in Cortex's castle. He is on a different island. Behind him is a jungle. But he looked ahead of the ocean to see the island with a castle. That's Cortex's castle. He just remembered something. Coco is still out there. Crash must get her out of there, but...how? Crash couldn't swim all the way to get to the castle. After jumping out the window last night, he couldn't swim. He blacked out when the ocean took him away to a different island.

"Mmm." Crash mumbled. He is scratching his head in wonder. He had to get to that island to get his little sister out of there. He turned to face the jungle. Is this the island that Coco she dreamed about? Crash took a deep breath, and head in the jungle. He passed by a few crabs that are picking up scraps. And Crash noticed a few pieces of temple are laying around. He touched the stone and sniffed it. But he is not interested in it and kept walking through the quiet jungle. He hears birds chirping in the trees, and wildlife around him. He learns about some animals from Coco's books she read him, and about nature. Now Crash is experiencing it. If only Coco is here with him, she would love this.
He stopped to see temple stairs that lead up the rest of the island. He walked up the stairs. As he reached the top, he turned back to see the view of the beach and the ocean. He smiled at the beautiful sight.

"Whoa..." He said. This island is wonderful. It would make a good home for Crash and Coco one day. Then, his stomach started to growl. He touched his stomach, feeling it vibrate. He needs to find something to eat. He walked off to the jungle to find food for him to move on. He started to sniff the air. He hears a bird flying by him to get to the ground and uses its beak to dig the ground and got a worm. The bird flew away with a worm in its mouth. Crash raises a brow after he watched. He kneels down and dig for worms. He picked one from the dirt and put it in his mouth, but he spit it out in disgust. "Ack!" He spits out the dirt and wiped his mouth and walked away from the spot. Worms aren't a good meal. Crash must find something else.
After ten minutes of walking, Crash found a tree that is filled with fruit. He smiled at the sight of them. He remembered what they are called. Wumpa Fruit. Crash started to climb on the tree and started to reach for the fruit. But the tree branch started to snap, making the bandicoot fall to the grass. The fruits fell from the tree. Crash grabbed the Wumpa Fruit and took a big bite out of it.

"Mmm!" Crash moaned happily. The fruit is unbelievably delicious. The juice is falling from his mouth, but he licked it up with his tongue. He is in heaven now. As he was eating, two monkeys are on the tree, watching him. They see the fruit next to the bandicoot. They jumped down and took the fruit from him. Crash turned to see the monkeys stealing his food. He let out a cry of anger and started to chase after the monkeys through the jungle. The monkeys screeched as they hop tree to tree, holding the Wumpa Fruits. Crash continued to chase them to get his food back. But the monkeys are too fast for him, they climbed the trees to lose him. Crash is panting from running. Then, something caught his eye. There is a temple ruin ahead of him. The entrance is covered by vines. Crash doesn't know why, but something tells him to go inside. So, Crash pulled the vines out of the way and went inside the old temple.

The torches by the bandicoot started to light, catching him by surprise. Crash took one of the wall and head down the dark temple. There are cobwebs everywhere, bugs scurrying here and there. Crash uses the torch to see the ground. There are old broken objects around. Is someone living here? Crash kept walking with a torch in one hand. Once he took a step, a brick lowered. Crash looked up to see arrows shooting from the walls, making him run across in panic. There are traps here. Crash let out a sigh of relief, seeing he is not shot by a arrow. He turned and there is something inside a dim room, and there is an object sitting on the stone. Crash came close to it and sees it's an ancient mask. It's brown with eyebrows, a nose, a mouth, and hollow eyes, and colorful feathers on top, and a green goatee below.

"Hmm." Crash wondered, studying the mask. He uses his free hand to grab the mask off of the stone. But the temple started to shake. Crash triggered a trap. He whimpered and ran for his life. The place starts to crumble. Crash threw the torch down and held the mask close to him and ran out of the old temple. He rolled on the grass and see the temple still standing, but the doorway has dust coming out of it. The inside is crumbling. "Whew!" Crash sighed, wiping his forehead. He looked down at the ancient mask with both hands. He turned it around to see the back and place it over his face. Nothing. Crash scratched his head. Suddenly, he hears hissing sounds behind him. He turned, and there is a snake. It's black, and it has a red belly. Crash doesn't know if it's friendly or not. As he reached for it, the snake hissed louder and almost bit Crash's hand. The bandicoot jumped back in fright. The snake slithered towards him, getting ready to strike him. Crash started to whimper, backing away slowly.
Suddenly, the ancient mask started to glow. It flew up and went over Crash's face, and his body started to glow. The music was heard. Sounds of drums and a chant coming out of nowhere. Then, the bandicoot started to spin attack the snake, sending it away. The mask floats off of Crash's face and turned to him. Crash looked up at the ancient mask in awe. It's alive. And its eyes are no longer hollow, they are gold.

"Are you alright, young one?" The mask asked. The voice is definitely male. Sounds gentle. Crash nodded at him, still in awe. "Good. I awaken just in time to save you from a venom snake. Be careful next time. This island may be peaceful, but it can be filled with danger." The mask said. "Now, I must ask. What is your name? You are the one who has awakened me."