Crash Bandicoot

Chapter 8: Cortex Castle

The search for Aku Aku felt like it had lasted for an eternity, but in actuality, only ten minutes had passed. Of course, when you have been venturing for a while and don't have any way to check the time, anything could feel like it takes forever. That was exactly how Crash felt, and he was about ready to give up.

Another ten minutes had passed, and he came to an abrupt halt. He looked up in astonishment. Did he finally make it, or were his eyes playing tricks on him? He blinked a few times to be sure, even rubbing his eyes every now and then. Indeed, he had found himself at Cortex Castle. How he had gotten there so quickly, he was not sure. He didn't care much, either. He was just relieved that he was even closer to saving his girlfriend.

Crash began walking toward the front doors of the castle, his breath quickening with each step. He was more nervous than he had been for the entire journey. Who could honestly blame him? If anything happened to Tawna, he would not know what to do with himself.

Something told him that Aku Aku was in the castle. He just had to be! Once he reached the doors at last, he reached for one of the handles, only to retract his hand. Something did not feel right. Someone was watching him again.

The bandicoot turned around, but no one else seemed to be present. He turned back around to face the doors of the castle once more. Yet again, he reached for the handle, but before he could even touch it, the doors swung open on their own. He was confused as could be, but he didn't question it as he vigilantly entered the gloomy castle.

Crash's mouth was agape. Who in the world would design a castle like that? There were traps, lab assistants, various animals, and so much more blocking his path. What the hell was Cortex thinking? It then occurred to the bandicoot that the evil scientist had been expecting him, so of course he would put hazards in the way. It made more sense now that he thought about it.

He heaved another sigh before running through the various obstacles. He managed to dodge all the lab assistants, and the bandicoot looked back proudly. Doing so, however, caused him to run into spikes that protruded from the wall. As a result, he teleported a few inches back and had to start over. He looked above his head and saw that he had two lives left.

He was perhaps too confident, for he ran into a trap again. Now that he had one life remaining, he had to be extra careful. Otherwise, he would perish for good. With that in mind, he continued down the long hallway, albeit more slowly than usual. He managed to dodge all of the obstacles he kept running into...only to have his life ended by a lab assistant.

The bandicoot slowly opened his eyes and noticed that he had teleported back again. But wait, didn't he only have one life just now? He looked above his head and saw that the number 0 was present.

Crash mentally facepalmed. He actually had more lives than he had first thought. 0 must have meant that that was his actual final life. It didn't make much sense, but he did understand the situation to an extent.

Now that he had one life remaining (for real this time), he had to be more vigilant than he already was. Of course, he didn't go through the path without being nervous. Wouldn't you be nervous as well if you've almost had your head chopped off several times?

He took one final leap for the end of the path. He closed his eyes and gulped, as a lab assistant was blocking him. He jumped over the enemy, eyes still closed. They slowly opened a few seconds later once he realized that he had made it, expression slowly changing to a wide grin. He wanted to do his trademark victory dance - he had come up with one recently - but he couldn't celebrate just yet. He still had to rescue Tawna, after all.

He searched every room of the castle, but he just could not locate her. There was one room left. He was about to open the door, until he heard murmuring coming from inside. He pressed an ear to the door, trying to listen to whatever was being said. He heard two separate voices, recognizing one of them to be Doctor Cortex. The other voice sounded feminine, but he had no idea who it could have been.