Falling Ashes

Chapter 3

Crash, Coco, Crunch, John, Pete, Aku-Aku, Von Clutch, Pasadena, Cortex, N. Gin, and Nina were all in Mystery Island as the ashes kept falling from the sky.

John asked, "What is going on?"

Coco got her laptop and started to type as she answered, "Not sure. I've never seen anything like this before."

Pete stated, "This is bad."

Aku-Aku replied, "More than you all realize. I fear my brother is behind this."

Crunch groaned, "Figured... But what is he trying to do?"

Aku-Aku answered, "I fear he is trying to cover the earth with ash. I don't know why this elaborate way of doing it."

Coco finally analyzed the ash as she stated, "Seems like this ash is completely one hundred percent alien."

Nina asked, "Alien?"

N. Gin answered, "That's what she said..."

Cortex stated, "But the only aliens we know of is Nitrous Oxide and Velo. They don't have the technology to do something like this. ...do they?"

Pasadena huffed, "No one was talking to you, Phoenix."

Cortex flinched, feeling bad. He still couldn't believe that he was being that cruel to the people he worked with and were friends with. 'I hope God has mercy on my soul,' he thought. Crash looked at his best friend and instantly felt bad. He knew that the ex evil scientist had amnesia but no one outside of John and Pete really believed him. N. Gin barely talked to Cortex as did Nina. Coco made him bad every time she saw an opportunity. Speaking of which, the blonde bandicoot looked at Cortex coldly.

Coco responded, "We also have another alien that isn't exactly green and has a racing problem."

Cortex barely looked at Coco after that, looking down at the ground. Granted, Crunch didn't like what Coco was doing to Cortex but he was still wary of the little yellow bald man. It seemed like the only ones that kept their mouths shut or talked about Phoenix whenever Cortex wasn't around were Von Clutch and Pasadena.

Aku-Aku decided to be the voice of reason and stated, "Alright, that's enough. We need to figure this out reasonably."

Pasadena asked, "But how do we figure out what this ash is?"

Coco stated, looking at her laptop, "Well, according to scans, this ash is coming from Kobold."

Crunch questioned, "Kobold? That's Velo's planet."

Von Clutch gaped and said, "Ah! That's a scary planet!"

N. Gin asked, "But how are we going to get there?"

Nina answered, "Didn't you tell me that you were transported there..."

Cortex stated, "Yeah we did but I think we could transport ourselves there."

Aku-Aku nodded in agreement as he transported them to Kobold.

...

-Flashback: 'Crash Nitro Kart'-

On Earth, Crash Bandicoot is asleep while Coco and Crunch work on Crash's car (although Crunch was working out while Aku-Aku was watching).

Crunch commented, "That diet is a joke."

Aku-Aku stated, "Well, I have heard that you can loose a lot of weight on it."

Crunch replied, "But you can't keep it off. Just eat less and exercise more."

Just then, a white light came through the window. The three of them saw this.

Aku-Aku told them, "Something's wrong. That's not sunlight."

Upstairs, the light shined on Crash. Crash shielded his eyes until he got out his sunglasses and put them on. That's when the house was brought up to space.

Meanwhile, Cortex, paces across his laboratory floor with Tiny playing checkers.

Cortex grumbled, "Oh, how am I going to defeat those wretched Bandicoots...?" He paused and added, "And conquer the world, of course!"

Tiny yelled, throwing his checker board, "Bandicoots! I can squash Bandicoots."

Cortex sighed, "Yes, I know Tiny but you failed so many, many, many times..." He paused as he stated, "Tiny, go see if N. Gin requires assistance."

Tiny stood up, saluted Cortex, and ran into another part of the castle. There was N. Gin and Dingodile, working on a cart.

N. Gin told Dingodile, "Dingodile, throw the switch!"

Dingodile nodded and was about to do that until Tiny busted in, flattening Dingodile with the door. That's when the same white light started to come in. N. Gin instantly got annoyed.

He yelled at Tiny, "Hey! What did you break now?!"

Cortex saw the light and gasped as the tower was brought up into space.

Crash took off his sunglasses when he heard something outside. He went to go investigate but the door broke as he did. That's when he heard the roar of the crowd. 'What the,' he thought, 'A stadium?' That's when he looked up and saw stars. He wondered why it was night time but saw Coco and Crunch behind him. Crash waved but then saw Coco pale as she pointed behind him. Crash spun around and saw Cortex and his team. Tiny snorted as Crash waved awkwardly.

Cortex started to say, "What have you done..."

That's when he was interrupted by a hologram of an alien head.

He stated, "I am Emperor Velo XXVII, ruler of this galaxy!" As he said that, the crowd roared with applause and cheers. He added, "My subjects hunger for entertainment..." The crowd started to chant his name as he commented, "...and word of your racing prowess has reached my glorious empire." That's when they saw Nitrous Oxide, Zim, Zam, N. Trance, Pura, and Dingodile. He threatened, "And I hope you put on a good show, especially since winning the circuit will win your freedom. And if, for some reason, you refuse to race, your Earth will be... destroyed." Everyone gapped at this as Velo finished, "But... I don't think it will come to that. Do you accept my challenge?"

-End of Flashback-

...

Within seconds, our heroes arrived at Kobold. Velo came out of the shadows almost instantly.

Velo commented, "I see that you finally decided to come."

Crash hissed, "What are you doing with those ashes? What are you planning?"

Cortex advised, "Easy, Crash."

Coco added, coldly, "Yeah, you don't want to turn into a Phoenix."

Cortex shot her a look as Velo stated, "I am not going to tell you anything, Crash Bandicoot. But I will tell you once you defeat my circuit."

Crash replied, hissing, "We already did that."

Velo smirked evilly as he waved his scepter, which started to glow a rainbow light. Crash shielded his eyes and as soon as he reopened them, he saw that his team had changed. With him were: Cortex, John, Pete, and Nina. Coco, Crunch, and N. Gin were over on the other side. That's when they saw an improved Kronk, Nash, Norm, and Geary. Kronk was skinnier, Nash was muscular, Norm was a bit taller, and Geary was bigger in his gears.

Velo stated, "Yes but not like this before."

...

Wishmaker1028: Velo is back babies! Now I wanna play this game again! Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!