Chapter 13

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Crash walked through the hallways of the castle, Sceptile and Simipour supporting his weight. Eventually, Crash and the others had finally found Aku-Aku. However, there were three things wrong. One: he was hooked up to some sort of machine. Two: he looked like he was completely out of magic. And three: Cortex was shocking Aku-Aku. That's when Crash finally had enough.

"HEY! Leave him alone," Crash shouted, gaining Cortex's attention.

The short little bald man spun around as he saw the group standing there and answered, "And what if I don't?"

Crash stepped away from the Pokemon, trying to stand on his own. However, due to the extent of his injuries, he immediately crashed to the ground. Cortex laughed evilly as Pinstripe, Nina, and John were about to help. But, to their shock and amazement, Crash had gotten to his feet.

He yelled, a fire burning in his eyes, "We are done! You hear me?! We are finished!"

Cortex shrugged, bringing out a gun, "I could care less."

Pinstripe brought out his Tommy gun as he replied, "Not with us around!"

Nina threw her poke ball as her Altaria appeared in a flash of light, humming.

She added, "And us."

John stepped forward, sparking his cheeks, "And me."

"Sceptile," said Sceptile, joining its Pichu friend.

"Simipour," said Simipour.

Cortex snapped his fingers as Salamence flew over to the other Dragon/Flying type first. Nina saw this and knew she had to react.

She commanded, "Altaria, use Dragon Breath!"

Altaria inhaled, producing the paralyzing breath from its beak.

Cortex countered, "Dodge and use Dragon Claw!"

Salamence used its speed to quickly avoid Dragon Breath as its claws started to glow red. It was Pinstripe's turn to react.

He yelled, "Simipour, Ice Beam!"

Simipour fired the chilling beam at Salamence. It quickly dodged it, hitting Altaria.

Nina cried out, slightly worried, "Altaria!" Altaria looked slightly hurt but fine. She quickly commanded, "Moonblast!"

Altaria started to glow a pink color as John fired a Zap Cannon. Sceptile fired a Leaf Storm, straight at Salamence - trying to knock the Dragon/Flying type out.

Cortex countered, "Salamence, Protect then Earthquake!"

Salamence protected itself with a green shield, managing to stop the attacks coming its way. As it slammed down on the ground, most of the Pokemon felt it except for Altaria. John managed to recover as did all the other Pokemon but Salamence had disappeared.

"Where'd the Salamence go," John asked.

Altaria looked around, humming.

"Sim," Simipour said, also looking.

"Scep," Sceptile said, trying to stay calm.

Pinstripe stated, "Forget Salamence...where'd Cortex go?!"

Nina replied, "Like that freaking bunny rabbit in that horror game! Freaking teleports!"

As Pinstripe was about to tell Nina that now wasn't the time to talk about that, Cortex appeared in front of him - kneeing him in the stomach. Pinstripe felt that as he was forced back and away from Nina. Every time Cortex or Salamence dealt a blow, Crash felt responsible. His heart was sinking further and further into the pit of his stomach.

"I promise, if I ever battle you when I'm evil, I won't hurt you."

Crash remembered those words from that day so long ago. As John went down for the count, Crash struggled to stand. He couldn't believe that the Electric type fought so hard to keep him safe.

"And I promise, no matter what, we'll always be friends."

'So much for that promise,' Crash thought, as Pinstripe and Simipour went down for the count. He couldn't believe what was happening and yet here it was...live and in person. In those moments, Crash couldn't help but look away when his friends all started to fall one by one. It was madness. Utter madness. The last one to fall was his Sceptile, the one he raised since it was a Treecko. 'Sceptile,' he thought, tears rolling down his face. He was the last one left as he struggled to get to his feet.

"You are the last one standing, Crash," Cortex stated.

"Y-you won't get away with this," Crash replied, going for a poke ball.

Cortex responded, "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

Crash told him, snarling, "I guess we do!"

With that, Crash threw his poke ball and with another flash of light, a very powerful Froslass came out.

"Froslass," said the Snow Land Pokemon.

Cortex asked, "Type advantage much?"

Crash ignored him and commanded, "Froslass, use Hail!"

Froslass creepily pointed at the sky (who knew there was sky indoors) as Hail started to come down, pounding Salamence.

Cortex countered, "Flamethrower!"

Salamence took a breath in as Crash knew that he had to act quick.

Crash told Froslass, "Shadow Ball!"

The Ice/Ghost type kept appearing and disappearing quickly, firing the ghostly move as Salamence's Flamethrower. The two moves collided, causing an explosion.

Cortex coughed, "Man, that Froslass is tough..."

Crash commanded, "Froslass, Ice Beam!"

Froslass fired the cold beam at Salamence at a fast speed, freezing the Dragon/Flying type. Cortex snarled as he trapped Froslass in an electric net, shocking it.

"Lass," it cried out in agony.

Crash cried out, "Froslass!"

Cortex pointed out his gun as he stated, "And this means the end for you, Crash Bandicoot."

Crash cried out, "No... Please Cortex... You're a hero..."

...

Crash's POV

I closed my eyes, bracing for the worst, hoping what I said got through to Cortex somehow. I heard a bullet firing and my hopes were quickly dashed. As I waited for a bright light to come, it didn't. There was...nothing. Just silence. Wait, what did that mean? I calmed down a bit and heard something I wasn't expecting. My heart. I was...alive? I slightly opened my eyes, seeing the gun on the castle floor. What? What happened? I looked at Cortex, who seemed like he was in shock.

"C-Crash," he stammered.

He seemed confused, as if he thought he'd never see me again.

"Cortex," I asked, a bit optimistic.

Cortex ran over to me and hugged me tight...something I thought I would never feel again. Granted, there was still a lot of problems, I knew as I slowly returned the hug. But all that matter right now was our friendship.

....

Wishmaker1028: All I can say now is this. Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!

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