Final Chapter: A Friend for the First Time

After a dull but relaxed trip back to the laboratory, the group climb their way to the top and dropped Nina and Cortex on the ground in the Psychotron room. Alex stretched back and felt only a tinge of pain from his spine.

"Aaaaah, that's much better. Hey, if this doesn't work out Shina, maybe you can get a job as a masseuse." Alex stood up and wiggled his head left and right before looking back to the bandicoots, who were sitting down and catching their breath.

"You guys holding up ok?" He asked with a light gesture. Crash slanted back and flopped against the ground while Coco murmured "I could do without any more excitement for a long time, if that's alright…"

Shrugging and looking back ahead, Alex muttered "Least you didn't end up like Spyro." Then he found Shina peeking around the computer that activates the Psychotron. She reached inside a cabinet on the right and pulled out the first artifact piece.

"THAT was your hiding place?" He commented in utter disbelief as he approached her. She turned around with a piece in each hand and nodded delightfully. She then took and connected them together, fitting them in place perfectly. With a couple gentle tugs she couldn't even separate them.

"Awesome! That's one less thing to worry about!" Shina bounced merrily a couple times, but dour as he was Alex let out a 'tsk' and reminded her "Despite the fact you'll have to carry that whole thing around. We're not always going to have the convenience of hiding spots, I'd imagine."

Shina laid a finger beside her cheek and with a couple taps suggested "Uhhh maybe we can try and find Cortex's shrink ray?" Having a thought exerting sneer plastered on his face, Alex whispered "Is that game even CANON in this world?"

Shina looked over to Aku and without care exclaimed "Hey Aku! I know this is out of the blue, but did Cortex ever shrink the Earth?!" The mask raised his brows and responded "I-I do believe that happened three years ago, why do you ask?"

"Thanks!" Without answering Shina blurted that politely and turned to Alex, who of course had his own qualms and voiced them bluntly "So what, we're just going to carry around a giant shrink ray every time we want to store the artifact pieces?"

"We could if we shrink the shrink ray!" Shina raised a finger during her response, but after holding it for a bit and staring into Alex's dull expression she chuckled and admitted "Y-Yeah, that is a bit of a stretch isn't it?"

"Look, I'm sure we can figure something out here." Alex reached into his pockets and wiggled the Gaia Temporis in his finger tips. With a blink of the eyes he glanced down and thought "I wonder…"

He was distracted by Shina waving the combined artifact together like a rattle. The girl commented "Huh, not getting any aura out of this. Guess we need to go back first." Alex sighed and said "No duh. I'm just glad this leg of the journey is finally over."

He started to turn but was accosted by a hug from Shina. Her chest pressed against the side of his neck brought a flush of red to his face, but the embrace did not last long as she quickly pulled away and looked a bit embarrassed herself. Surprising Alex, she scratched the side of her nose and muttered "I-I'm sorry, I was so caught up in happiness I forgot our…y-you know…"

"O-Oh yeah…THAT." Alex shook his head a couple times and brought his arms folded before his chest, mentioning with a tap of his foot "Look, if you're fine with it, can we just forget that whole thing happened? We both were real donkey rears."

"Y-Yeah! That's probably the best idea!" Shina said with some hesitation before Alex glared at her and commented "Now don't get the wrong mindset here Shina, I'm not saying to forget the points of the argument, just how heated the whole thing got."

"U-u…ohhhh…" Shina curled her lips into a slight pucker and looked away, earning an irked response from the boy "Shina, seriously?"

The girl closed her eyes and let out a drawn out sigh, fiddling her fingers on the artifact she stared at before giving an admonishing whisper to herself "Shina, don't be stupid again…I know that's hard, but…" She then looked at Alex and told him "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean for it to come off that way, Alex."

Shina gripped the artifact and held it before her waist, closing her eyes and murmuring "W-What happened after our argument got me thinking…I was being really, really, REALLY stupid." Alex slowly raised his brows and said intrigued "Go on…"

"This was never a burden I could handle on my own. I started this whole thing seeking YOUR help, ya know?" Her grip on the artifact tightened and with a grin obviously forced she continued "These worlds are wonderful when they're behind a screen, but they're scarier in reality…"

"Took you long enough to realize it." Alex grumbled with a partially impressed smile as Shina went on to say "I was in over my head from the start, and I was seconds away from dooming my people…and more importantly my-"

Interrupting bluntly, Alex asked "Shina, I don't want a long-winded realization. Look me in the eyes and tell me what you'll take away from this." The girl stuttered "I-I was getting to that!" in an offended manner.

She then took in a deep breath and with a glare brimming with her innocence and honesty she told him "I will do everything I can to focus on getting the other artifact pieces. It'll be really hard, but I will try my best to stay focused and determined."

"Well alright then, that's better. I'm holding you to that though."

"Uh-huh! I mean…we're kind of stuck together now, aren't we?" Shina giggled, and a humored Alex responded "Pffft, with the world's most stubborn brand of glue."

Their talk is interrupted by some groans coming from Nina. Shina turned and walked over as the girl stood up and rubbed her head. "Urgghh…I can't believe uncle did that…" The first thing Nina saw was that everyone was alive, including Cortex, and she immediately turned to Shina and murmured "Why am I not surprised?"

"Enjoy your rest, sleepy-head?" Shina said as her usual perky self. Nina mustered a groan and said in a snobby tone "It was great, fantastic in fact! So let me guess, you guys are going to force me to take you back home."

"Force is such a harsh word Nina. We're hoping ya choose to do this willingly." Shina smiled as she held her arms back. Nina commented "Well I'd just looooove to help, but I don't know how to set the coordinates to get us back."

"Why am I not surprised…" Alex bemoaned while rubbing his forehead and sighing. Shina raised a hand up and covered it in aura, looking to Cortex with a mischievous grin.

"I got an idea!" Shina walked over to Cortex and with hand lowered she wiggled it back and forth. A hand of aura appeared and slapped Cortex across the face multiple times, but he didn't budge. Nina swiftly pushed Shina aside and said "You're too soft. Watch…this!"

In her infinite kindness, Nina lifted Cortex up by the collar and slapped him hard with her giant metal hand. "Wake up! Come on you egotistical uncle, wake up!" Shina squirmed with every hit and eventually looked away. It didn't take long for Cortex to snap awake with widened eyes, but he kept getting slapped a couple times while stammering "I - am - awake - NINA!"

His angry proclamation is what got her to finally stop, but not without a smile and comment "What, I can't have a little fun?" She let go and allowed him to get on his feet. After a bit of tongue wiggling he spat a tooth out on the ground and had his hands on his head.

"Ooooh, how painful…I need some aspirin." Cortex couldn't have been referring to the smack down Nina gave, and Alex told him "You don't get to play dumb Cortex. We all know what you did."

The doctor hung his head and his expression could only be described as one of mortification. He shook a little bit and stuttered "I-I did do something horrible, didn't I? Something far viler than I could ever have done…"

Alex grit his teeth and moved towards the man angrily "Enough of your-!" Shina held him back with an arm out and whispered "Wait, let him continue…"

Cortex muttered unhinged "I-It was like I was a prisoner in my own body…I was myself, but I wasn't. It was…s-so cold, a-and there was this whisper…"

Aku floated towards the doctor and told him bluntly "And you expect us to believe you? After all the other times you've lied and deceived us?" Cortex exclaimed "I-I swear I'm telling the truth!"

Alex, logging that away, muttered "Y-Yeah…! Don't try and scamper out of this!" before whispering to Shina "We'll talk about this later" and choosing to approach the doctor. With his bluntness, the boy told Cortex "The only reason you're still alive is because you need to operate the Psychotron."

"The…? O-Oh right, the Psychotron…Yes yes, I should get us back home now, right…" Cortex weakly wobbled over to the console for the machine, everyone staring at him with caution. Alex tapped his arms and thought "Is it actually possible he's telling the truth?"

The doctor shook his head and tapped away at the console until the Psychotron activated. The usual space-time warp happened and the entire lab was taken back to Crash's dimension. Nina looked around and inquired "Did it work?" to which Alex replied "Well I'm sensing a lot more ice than was there before."

"Congrats uncle, you pulled it off." Nina commented. The doctor let out a decent chuckle before turning around to show a smile on his face. "You know what, that felt pretty good. A single success out of a mountain of failures was enough to brighten my day…"

He was doing a horrible job hiding the fact that he was tapping away at the console some more. Alex glanced over at Crash and Coco as they were both resting and then slowly wiggled his right fingers around, focusing back on Cortex as he said "But you know what would REALLY brighten my day?"

The Psychotron's laser gun started to turn towards the bandicoots, with Cortex gripping his fist tightly in front of him and exclaiming "To be rid of you pesky bandicoots…FOREVER!" Alex and Shina looked at each other with dull expression and muttered "Called it" to their own surprise. As Cortex fired a beam from the Psychotron at the bandicoots, Alex stepped to the right and flipped his fingers to cause a reflective piece of metal to rise from the ground. It intercepted the beam and sent it right at Cortex, who could only widen his eyes and mutter "…Oh why did I even bother…" before being zapped.

In a moment that could not be explained, the zapped Cortex became one with the beam as it shattered the console for the machine and then bounced back over to Crash's head. The bandicoot woke upright and raised his right eye in surprise, then poked the side of his head. With a grin he stood up to be greeted by the confused gazes from Nina and Aku.

"W-What just happened?" Nina inquired in a puzzled tone. Alex grinned and replied "I think your uncle's going to be spending quite a bit of time in Crash's head, sorry to say."

The girl turned around and looked at both the boy and Crash for a while, weighing her options before gritting her teeth and quickly making a rush for the metal sphere containing Uka-Uka. She turned around and said hastily "I-I'm just going to go back to school now, bye bye!" No effort was made to stop her as she rushed out the door, much to Aku's chagrin.

"Was that really a good idea?" He reluctantly asked, with Alex telling him "Oh please, she won't be able to cause any trouble for a long, looooong time."

"I suppose that is true, but I have to ask…What happened to Cortex?" Aku asked will looking concerned towards Crash.

In the deep blank recesses of Crash's mind, Cortex was screaming in agony as hundreds of bandicoots danced before him.

Alex grinned wider than ever before and said "Hahahah, I'm sure he's having a great time." Aku's glare forced the boy to tell him "Look, he's not going to infect Crash's mind with evil. He'll be fine…You guys can go home and relax now."

The mask closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh as Crash walked up and patted him on the back. With a smile looked Alex and Shina in the eyes and expressed joyously "We owe you two a great debt for your assistance. Please, if there is anything we can do for you, then do not be afraid to ask."

Shina said while waving the artifact around "Well since you helped us claim this, I'd say we're even! Just listen to Alex on this, alright?" The mask nodded his head and turned to see Crash carrying Coco on his back as she continued to sleep.

With a giggle the girl said "But we'll still see you guys off…ya know, just in case there's no boat waiting for ya." Then, leaving the laboratory behind, the group made their way to the shore of the icy island and found the native's canoe still there. The bandicoots and Aku boarded it. With Crash waving at them, Shina leaned forward and exclaimed "It was nice meeting you guys! Make sure to have lots of fun, and I hope we can meet again someday!"

Crash, with a smile brimming wide, opened his mouth and said "Bye-bye!" as the boat started to depart. Aku glanced at the bandicoot with eyes nearly popping out of his sockets. Alex stammered like a baby while Shina pumped her fist and proclaimed "Cool! That's a memory to smile about later!"

Folding his arms, Alex muttered "Guess that's saner than everything else…" He then put his hands into his pockets and upon feeling the Gaia Temporis again whispered "Oh, right…" and looked at Shina.

"Hey, can I see the artifact for a moment? There's something I want to try…" Alex waved his left hand towards himself and Shina handed it over without hassle. The boy turned and pulled the Gaia Temporis out stealthily, hovering it near the artifact and murmuring "You can warp time and space, so maybe you could…"

He didn't even have to finish before the stone glowed bright and the artifact shrunk to a more manageable, pocket-fitting level. With a confused "Why can't you always be this responsive?" he tucked the stone away and turned around with the shrunken artifact in his palm. His right eye twitched and a slight but quietly unhinged chuckle came out as he said "T-There, that should do it!"

With a surprised gasp, Shina proclaimed "You had shrinking powers all along?!" before swiping the artifact from him and looking it over. She then poured some aura inside and a trail of it shot up off the planet. Alex folded his arms and said "N-Not exactly, I just manipulated the stone's atomic structure."

"…Come to think about it, I could've used the Gaia Temporis to fix Shina's size way back when. SON OF A-"

"Betcha things will be much easier now that I won't have to carry this in my hand all the time!" Shina tucked the stone into her pocket and let out a hearty giggle. Alex looked at her and said "At least some blue-skinned guy won't steal it now."

The two chuckled at that joke for a little bit before Alex interrupted the joy with a cough and said "A-Anyways, Shina, before we go there's something I'd like to…t-t-to tell you…" The boy gulped down some saliva as his mind raced in a fluttering beat. Feeling light-headed as she asked innocently "What is it?"

"Come on Alex, it's not so difficult. You're not asking much here, and why would you care what she thinks? Focus, focus, it's easy!" After a brief pep talk he turned to her and said "L-L-Look…You were pretty honest with me earlier, so I want to do the same."

"You're right, I've been…maaaaaaybe a little too much of a jerk. In your own bizarre way you were trying to help me. Perhaps I couldn't see that because of how much you were goofing around. I honestly thought you were just one big clown."

Alex pointed at her and continued "If you're actually able to focus like you vowed to do, then we won't waste anymore time butting heads like we did."

Shina raised a hand to her chin and said "Geez Alex, did ya hit your head or something? You're acting different now." With a flustered stutter he replied "P-Psst, no! What are you even talking about, I'm the same I've always been!"

"Aaaaaw, so your kindness just came bubbling to the surface after all!" She grinned brightly, and frustratingly Alex proclaimed "I-I'm trying to say I want us to actually be friends this time, dummy!" without thinking. He embarrassingly clamped his mouth with his hands and looked at Shina.

She just looked back and said "Ok, sure!" without hesitation. "N-No fanfare? Well alright, t-that really wasn't so bad…" He swiped his forehead and let out a sigh of relief, unaware of Shina clasping her hands and swaying her body around merrily.

"He's opened up a little more! YES!" She twirled halfway around and stopped on a dime, only making a slight glance back before continuing to think "…T-Then again, he also helped me out a bit too."

Alex waved his right hand out and said "Alright alright, I think we've been on this world long enough." As Alex began to create a barrier of air around the two of them, Shina turned and said "I'm going to miss this place. It was weird, but it was fun…sort-of."

"Well hopefully next world's a bit more put together…" Alex took off from the planet's surface, quickly leaving the planet behind as Shina sat down and concentrated on the artifact to summon the aura trail for Alex to follow. She decided to lay back, unaware of Alex slowly turning back to glance at the aura coming from her pocket.

"I-It was like I was a prisoner in my own body…"

Cortex's words echoed, and Alex grit his teeth before looking ahead and whispering forebodingly "Just who the heck is following us? …And what do they want from this?"

"A rather interesting inquiry to end this tale on, wouldn't you agree my friend?"

"…Yes, it is bothersome to know the answers before they do, isn't it? We've both known long before they were even born."

"The flaws of foresight and immortality, I suppose. And yet you are allowed to stand outside this cage and continue to have fun for another year before I enter the stage."

"Oh? Did I sound a bit jealous? Envy composes one-seventh of a man, after all, haha!"

"…Yes, yes, I suppose you have given those two enough of a warm-up. Your game shall become more dangerous from here on out, but remember…Breaking them dooms us both."

"…Your smiles are never reassuring, quite frankly. So next on the plate is 'THAT' world, isn't it? Interesting…Actually, if I can make a particular request to you, my friend, there's a fight I wish for you to set up…"

CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EX STORY 2

THE END!

Author's Notes:

And thus the second story is done and done. Overall, I think I liked how this turned out MUCH better than the Spyro story. Personally, a non-linear source material made for a much better flow in the grand scheme of things. I especially enjoyed that little original content with the Pirate Dimension, which I did because in Twinsanity they had a dimension like that scrapped from the final game, so with the freedom of Fanfiction I brought that idea back to life.

Not to say I didn't have some problems. It is a shame Crash can't really talk because it means there was only a few things I could do with him, though some could argue Cortex was the "protagonist" representing the Crash world this time. I also do wish I could've better stuck in the original content for my characters, but there was always going to be this type of interruption in one of the stories regardless of what I decided. I can assure you this will be the only time this'll happen though.

So next on the line for stories is the Guilty Gear story...Yeah that's definitely a leap in terms of mood, I agree, but it's a deliberate choice. I'll be spending the next month getting all my facts and shit in line so I'll be full, absolutely ready for the next few stories, soooo come back at the start of September for the third story, "The Xrd Impact".

Thanks again for reading, have a good day.