Coco's Glasses

"Crunch, hand me that wrench."

"Sure thing, sis," Crunch said, not looking up from his bodybuilding magazine. Coco frowned and poked her head out from under Crash's blue racing kart. The brainy marsupial was in the middle of changing the transmission fluid as well as making a few other adjustments to the vehicle. She glared in annoyance at the musclebound bandicoot in the corner, who's face was obscured by the magazine.

"I said, hand me that wrench, Crunch," Coco repeated.

"Sure, whatever you say, sis," came the reply.

"CRUNCH!" Coco howled, starting to get really irritated. The male bandicoot looked up from his reading material at last.

"Huh? What? Oh, sorry, Coco," Crunch said, chuckling with embarrassment. "You were saying?"

"Hand. Me. That. Wrench," Coco growled through gritted teeth.

Crunch grabbed the tool from the toolbox and hurriedly handed it to his adoptive sister.

"No, the other one," Coco said, tossing the wrench aside.

Crunch handed her another tool. Coco stared at it, her eyes narrowing.

"That's a screwdriver, Crunch."

"Oh, sorry. Here you go," Crunch said, passing her a hammer.

"Crunch, do you even know what a wrench is?"

"Uh, no, not really," Crunch admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Mechanical expertise is more your thing. Me, I'm all about physical fitness, as you know."

Coco groaned, frustrated. "Forget it. Just go and see if you can find Crash. He'll probably be more helpful." With that, she returned to unscrewing something underneath the car while Crunch walked away. The object became too lose and suddenly, black oil started to pour onto Coco, her startled scream becoming muffled as the dirty liquid filled her mouth. She wrenched herself out from under the car, oil staining her favourite tank top as she did so, stood up and spat out the foul-tasting kerosene. She had finally had it with this job. "BLOODY HELL!" she screamed, kicking a cardboard box full of spare hubcaps.

"Now, now - there's no need for that kind of language, Coco," Aku Aku stated, floating in through the wall thanks to his magic. The levitating wooden mask looked tired and withered these days, but he could still get around and aid the Bandicoots on their missions against Cortex.

"Sorry, Aku Aku," Coco mumbled apologetically. "It's just that I get so frustrated when those two don't help me with stuff like this." She sighed. "Oh, never mind. I'm going to change my top. This is Crash's car, anyway, so if he wants it fixed, he can figure out how to do it himself!"

Aku Aku just watched sadly as Coco stormed away in a huff. "Teenagers of today," he said, making a gesture that would've been a shrug if he had possessed shoulders. "They're still largely an enigma to me, and I fear that they always will be."

"Damn, I got that stupid gunk all over my glasses," Coco muttered. She was currently rinsing said glasses off in the bathroom sink. The glasses were bright red with rectangular rims. "I can't believe I need to wear these things. They make me look like such a nerd."

Why was it that Coco needed glasses? It had all started the day before…

Flashback

"Ya! Hah! Hee-yah!"

Coco was practicing her martial arts skills on a series of wooden crates spread out on the grass near the beach. This was not a good day for her. Many of her usually flawless, expertly-placed kicks and chops were missing their targets. She had noticed that she had seemed a little uncoordinated lately. She hoped that she wasn't losing her touch.

"I must be growing careless," she mused aloud. "I need to get my act together so I can be ready for whatever Cortex and his goons might throw at us."

She looked around for more crates to practice on, having shattered all of the wooden boxes in her immediate area to pieces. She spotted some on the grass not too far away, where the chickens were haplessly pecking at the ground. She grinned.

"This time…" she whispered, starting to hurry in the direction of the crates.

Meanwhile, our hero, good ol' Crash Bandicoot himself, was walking casually along the beach, his hands in his pockets. He had been feeling somewhat more mellow lately, finding it less enticing to just jump around and spin into crates, reducing them to splinters. The fact that it had been nearly a year since he had last been on an adventure probably had something to do with it. Of course, no adventures meant no evil threat, but still, he missed the fun and the thrill of running merrily through all sorts of places, meeting everything with a spin attack or a body slam or whatever. He could see Coco nearby, no doubt practicing her karate techniques again. The bandicoot boy chuckled to himself. His sister would never change. His smile then faltered. Coco was racing toward the chicken coop showing no sign of stopping. The chicken coop was filled with Nitro crates.

Nitro crates that exploded with enough force to completely sever limbs, or worse.

Something was wrong. Crash could tell. He had noticed how Coco had been oddly clumsy lately, missing spots when she washed the dishes, making silly spelling mistakes when writing notes and so on. Why else would she be recklessly running towards what was rapidly starting to look like her imminent death?

Crash ran at his sister, leaping at her just as she took to the air in a flying karate kick. He tackled her to the ground, much to her protest.

"What the hell, Crash?" she exclaimed angrily. "Let me go!"

Crash just gibbered disapprovingly in response, picking up a nearby stick off the ground and throwing it at the nearest Nitro crate.

KABLAM!

Coco actually screamed in fright at the explosion, making it clear that she hadn't been expecting it at all. Crash was shocked. It was almost as if his sister hadn't even seen the volatile boxes. Realising what had almost happened, Coco stood up slowly and threw her arms around Crash in a tight hug, frightened at how she had almost killed herself and ashamed that she had made such poor judgement. Crash just gibbered at her comfortingly, though he sounded a little angry, too. It was as if he was saying, 'It's okay. You're safe now. Still, what were you thinking?! You know we keep the Nitro crates there!'

End flashback

Coco sighed and turned off the tap, drying the glasses with a small towel. She put them on and gazed at herself in the mirror.

"Ugh. Definitely not my idea of a fashion statement," she muttered bitterly.

"You won't get anywhere with that negative attitude, fool."

Coco turned to see Crunch leaning against the doorway, his arms folded.

"What do you want, Crunch? Come to poke fun at my glasses?"

"Hardly," the burly bandicoot said. "There's nothing wrong with your glasses. You're just not used to them yet."

"Yeah, and somehow I don't think I ever will be," Coco said with a sigh. She walked out of the bathroom and headed to her room. Crunch just sighed wearily to himself.

"Girls. Bunch o' drama queens, if you ask me."

"Okay, come and get it!" Coco called. Crash and Crunch came racing into the kitchen, sitting down at the table and proceeding to scoff down their respective roast chicken dinners with alarming speed. Coco rolled her eyes and sat down with her own plate of food, picking up her knife and fork and cutting into the meat daintily. She raised the succulent poultry to her mouth and chewed slowly, feeling that something seemed a bit different tonight. It wasn't the food that was different - it was delicious, actually. There was just a different atmosphere, as far as Coco was concerned.

"Pass the gravy," Crunch grunted, nudging Crash in the shoulder, causing the younger male bandicoot to spill mashed potatoes on his bare chest. Crash growled in annoyance, passing the gravy boat to Crunch so swiftly that the steaming hot brown liquid sloshed everywhere. "Hey, watch it, fool! That stuff's hot!" Crunch exclaimed. Crash just glared at him, removing the mashed potato from his chest fur with a napkin. Crunch turned away, grabbing a forkful of his now gravy-soaked meal and cramming it into his mouth, chewing deliberately and aggressively. Crash did the same, both male bandicoots glaring daggers at each other, chewing noisily with their mouths open.

"Guys, please, no nonsense at the dinner table tonight," Coco pleaded, now picking at her food gloomily, moving a few green peas back and forth across the plate. The boys had only just noticed how miserable she looked and gazed at her, puzzled. Had their passive aggressive behaviour really upset her that much?

Coco looked up from her plate, realising that her brothers were watching her like hawks.

"What?" she asked.

"Nuthin'," Crunch said with a shrug. Crash shrugged as well and both boys returned to focusing on their plates, glancing up at their sister now and then, just to make sure that she was alright. Coco started to interpret these looks the wrong way, however, looking more and more distressed as she became more aware that she was being stared at. Finally, she leapt up, knocking over her glass of milk as she did so.

"Go ahead, stare all you want!" she screeched, her voice shrill. "You don't know what it's like to wear glasses! You wouldn't even…!" She trailed off and hurried away. Crash winced as he heard the girl's bedroom door slam.

"What was that all about?" Crunch exclaimed, bewildered.

"I fear that Coco is sensitive about her looks when wearing her new glasses," Aku Aku mused, making Crunch jump. The floating mask had appeared behind the musclebound bandicoot without warning.

"You've really gotta stop doing that," Crunch said, folding his arms as he turned to face the ancient witchdoctor. Crash got up, sighing. He realised that if anyone was going to resolve this, it would have to be him. He headed over to his sister's bedroom door and knocked. He could hear Coco crying within.

"Go away!" she called. Crash sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out a glowing green orb. He turned away from the door and thrust the orb onto the floor. In a burst of magical energy, a sinister-looking mutant with jagged teeth, sunken eyes and peeling dark blue skin stood before him, looking a little dazed. It shook its head as if to clear it. In retrospect, Crash realised that it might not have been a good idea to unleash a mutant in the house without Aku Aku being at the ready to help him control it. Still, the bandicoot was quite adept at managing these creatures at this point and could surely handle this one time without his mentor manipulating the monster's free will.

Crash leapt up onto the Grimly's shoulders and planted his feet on either side of the mutant's neck, nudging one side to make it turn to face Coco's bedroom door. He smacked the creature around the head and it grunted in annoyance, understanding the cue to shift into its shadow form. It sank into the floor with Crash still in tow, passed under the door and emerged into the room. Coco looked up at the creature and shrieked in alarm, her fright quickly turning to great annoyance when she saw her brother atop the Grimly. Crash leapt off the mutant and converted it into energy, pocketing it once more.

"What the hell, Crash?!" Coco demanded. "You scared the crap out of me! And besides, I told you I wanted to be left alone!"

Crash just shook his head and babbled something, pointing at Coco's glasses which were on the bedside table. Coco glanced at them and sniffed, wiping her eyes.

"I'm not wearing them, Crash. They make me look stupid," she declared. Crash sighed in annoyance and walked over to the door, unlocking it and walking out. A few moments later, he came back in with a note in his hand. He handed it to Coco. The handwriting was messy and some of the letters were backwards, but Coco was able to decipher her brother's written words. "'If you want to talk about looking stupid, get a load of this'," she read aloud. She looked up at Crash, not getting it. Her brother then produced the item he had been hiding behind his back.

It was a pair of novelty glasses with a big nose, fake moustache and bushy eyebrows attached. Crash put them on and pulled the silliest face he could muster. It was really immature, but Coco still couldn't help snorting with laughter. Crash took the note back and scribbled something else on it before passing it to his sister again.

"'See? It could be a lot worse'," Coco read. She managed to smile at Crash. He meant well and tried to be supportive, as a big brother should, but it still didn't make Coco feel all that much better as she reluctantly put on her own glasses and gazed at her reflection in her small make-up mirror. She sighed, looking sad again. Crash removed his fake glasses and wrote one final word on the note. This time, the spelling was perfect and the letters were all facing the right way:

Smile.

Coco did smile, glad that her brother was there for her. She saw her smile in the mirror and as she looked at it, that smile became wider as she realised just how nice her smile looked even with these glasses on. She stood up and hugged Crash, grateful for him.

"Oh, Crash, sometimes you can be a pain, but I don't know what I'd do without you," she said happily.

Meanwhile, Crunch was still in the kitchen, now looking for the ice cream in the freezer. He found the container and was annoyed to find that all the chocolate ice cream had been eaten, leaving only the strawberry and vanilla. He looked up from the dessert container as Crash and Coco walked in, both looking much happier.

"Who ate all the chocolate?" Crunch demanded, oblivious to the change in mood amongst his adoptive siblings. They shrugged, for neither of them had been near the ice cream.

In the closet nearby, chocolate smudged all over her face, was a certain goth teenage girl with metal hands. She looked very satisfied with herself.

"Losers," Nina whispered. "This is the third night in a row that I've done this and they still haven't figured out that it's me yet."

The End… Apparently

Yeah, I know, this story was kind of random. In truth, I just think that glasses would suit Coco, what with her being a genius and all. Also, I just had to throw in an appearance of Nina. She's my favourite Crash character.

The chocolate ice cream thing was inspired by a Simpsons episode. "Marge, we need some more vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream! Mmm, chocolate." Classic.