Trouble at Cortex Castle

Chapter 3

Despite the damage done to the dining hall, Starlight Hotel was still running. The disgraced minions were sent to their stables ("WHAT! It's Dingodile's fault, not ours! Send him out!"), while Neo Cortex and the rest of the scientists were in his room, thinking up new ways to take over the world.

On this occasion however, Neo Cortex had a rather different plan. "We are going to create a cloning machine!" He declared.

"But why?" N. Gin asked.

"Imagine that annoying bandicoot up against five of you, N. Gin. Or trying to defeat to defeat four Dingodiles. Or even three of Tiny."

Both N. Gin and N. Tropy did not remind him of that disastrous experiment with Fake Crash...

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The bandicoot had looked up at N. Gin with fear in its eyes. It was strapped to a chair, the belt cutting into its skin. For a slight moment N. Gin felt guilty. Then he remembered that letting it go free would be disobeying Cortex's orders. If he did that, he would be out of a job, and N. Gin was certain that nobody else would employ someone with a missile in his head.

Dr Cortex's orders were specifically this: To create an exact clone of Crash Bandicoot and then use it to defeat the original. Both N. Gin and N. Tropy had selected an Eastern Barred Bandicoot, subjected it to a check-up, scribbled down its statistics and then plonked it down on the hard, cold seat.

"Now what?" N. Gin asked. His expertise was in the field of physics, not biology. He knew a couple of facts, but not enough to create a clone.

"I believe we need something of Crash himself. A strand of hair, a fingerprint - that sort of thing." N. Tropy frowned. "I think."

So N. Gin scoured his mechanical parts for a strand of orange hair. He came across one lying on top of Cortex's stun gun and handed it to N. Tropy, who frowned in thought as it lay on the palm of his hand. "The Eolvo-O-Ray elevates animal intelligence, and the Cortex Vortex creates commandos to serve Dr. Cortex's every whim..."

"I know that, I've been around here a lot longer then you."

"No, I mean we haven't got a proper machine to clone a creature."

Now it was N. Gin's turn to pause in thought. "We'll have to improvise. As soon as you complete the Time Twister the bandicoots are going to come. I'll just snap the hair in two and then slot it inside both machines."

"Are you sure it's going to work?"

"Nope. It's times like these we could use N. Brio."

N. Gin followed his own instructions to the latter, pausing to smile as he watched the time-obsessed scientist pin the squirming animal down. "Ouch!" N. Tropy yelled, as the bandicoot bit down on his finger. "You filthy skunk!" he spat, now beginning to harbour an intense hatred of all bandicoots.

N. Gin aimed the Eolvo-O-Ray at the creature and motioned N. Tropy to move aside. It whirred and hummed as N. Tropy climbed up the stone steps and watched N. Gin input the co-ordinates. The machine whirred a final time and then sent a bolt of light toward the creature. It rocked backwards and forwards on the chair, electricity frying every bone in its body, the molecules and DNA being rearranged.....

N. Tropy quickly noticed that N. Gin was not even looking at the transformation taking place before them. He had his eyes screwed shut and gloved hands clamped over his ears, probably because the animal was making such a racket that it made his headache even worse. N. Tropy turned away, smirking slightly.