*Prologue: Cortex's Discovery*

The mad scientist screamed as he is falling down to his island as his blimp above the air, flying around the castle in flames. Dr. Neo Cortex was defeated by Crash Bandicoot who come all the way to save the islands and rescue his sister, Coco. He crashed down into the mines. The cavern is too dark, and Cortex fired up a match. He coughed a bit and look around to see some blue crystals on the walls. But, there is one in front of him that caught his attention. A purple crystal is beaming before him. So beautiful, so shiny. Dr. Cortex let out an evil laughter.

"Crystals... Of course!" He said. Then he felt the flame on his finger, making him drop the match and the cavern is dark. "D'oh!"

*One Year Later*

Above the planet Earth, there is a space station that looks like a shape of a blimp, but with a letter "N" on it. Inside the space station, there is Cortex looking out the window to see the view of Earth with a look on his face. It had been a whole year since his failure and humiliation, but since he found that crystal in the mines, he knows that they could help him get power. He built a space station as a new lair, but he didn't do it alone. Behind him was his new assistant, N. Gin, studying the Master Crystal with his computer. The doctor is strange looking. He had an accident. A missile is on his head, and his red hair is poking out on the right.
Cortex banished Nitrus Brio after he discovered the crystal to start a new plan to rule the world. Brio claimed that he's the reason to make the Evolve-O Ray and the Vortex work in the first place, and Cortex never credited him for it. Furious, Brio was forced to leave Cortex's life and he had some plans to get back at his old friend.
N. Gin looked up the results on the computers screen about the Master Crystal. There are more crystals out there, but they are scattered around between Australia and Antarctica.

"But Doctor Cortex, to reach full power, we need not only your Master Crystal, but also the remaining 25 Slave Crystals from the surface. How do you expect to retrieve them when we don't have any earthbound operatives left?" N. Gin spoke in a metallic voice.

"You fool! Do you think I'm unaware of the situation?!" Cortex barked, not turning to his assistant. "If we don't have any friends left on the surface, then we'll need to find..." He made a glare as he looks down at Earth. "An enemy..."

"An enemy?" N. Gin asked in confusion. "But, why doctor?"

"Trust me, my friend. I know just a person who will be able to help us. But I've got to be very clever." Cortex said. "No one will have second thoughts of my plans."

"Who is it?"

"My failed creation..."

*Author's Note: You guys must be surprised to see this so soon after the first is done, huh? Well, I want to get the second one started. Sorry that this prologue is short, but the chapters will be more fun. Doing these stories for the N. Sane Trilogy!*