Chapter 10: Friendship Is N. Sane

The jungle path was noticeably quiet as Pura led Nina along, no doubt due to the fact that the predatory feline was on the move; the wildlife of N. Sanity were staying out of sight and, where possible, down wind, having no desire to become the tiger's next meal. Indeed, Nina herself felt uneasy as she silently walked along behind the great beast, blue eyes downcast. Once again, her thoughts were muddled, the goth girl trying to think of what she'd say when she saw Coco… assuming that Crash and Crunch would even let Cortex's niece back inside the Bandicoots' house after all the trouble she'd caused.

Strictly speaking, Crash had never been one to hold a genuine grudge; the bandicoot boy was simply too laid back for that. Crunch, on the other hand, had precious little tolerance for those whom he disapproved of, and his last words to Nina just a few short hours prior had made it clear that she was anything but in his good books at this stage. As for Coco herself… Nina bit her lip apprehensively, a knot tightening in her stomach at the thought of even trying to look the brainy marsupial in the eye. Eye contact was a difficulty for Nina at the best of times, but after everything she'd done as of late, after outright throttling Coco… How could one come back from something like that, assuming that such was even possible?

And all of that was on the table even before Nina took her very recent epiphany into account. Coco drove her mad… in every sense of the word. There was no way around it at this point; she was mad at Coco. Mad because of Coco. Mad about Coco. Mad for Coco…

Somehow, that super smart bandicoot girl had gotten under Nina's skin like an itch that she couldn't scratch. Her form, her voice… everything about her dominated Nina's mind for a plethora of reasons that the goth girl could scarcely comprehend… and it was driving her insane.

Or N. Sane…

Pura gave a short growl to get Nina's attention and she looked up from her distracted state, stopping just in time to avoid walking headlong into the tiger, who now stood still at the end of the jungle path, the Bandicoot homestead just a few metres away.

"Oh, um… right," Nina said awkwardly, resting one of her metal hands behind her head, careful not to close her fingers around her dark hair. "Thanks for, uh, leading me back here, I guess."

Pura said nothing - not that he ever did; Crash was more likely to speak than he was. The tiger slunk away slowly and without a sound. Nina watched until the striped beast was out of sight, and then exhaled deeply, putting one foot in front of the other as she forced herself to trudge up to the front door of the nearby cottage. Oh, man. If she had been nervous when approaching this door the other night, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. The knot in her stomach felt like it was reproducing, forming multiple aches in her gut, each one tighter and more uncomfortable than the last. Her heart was beating faster. Sweat was beginning to form on her forehead around the lowercase 'n'. She bit her lip yet again and raised her metal hand to knock… only to lower it. She cast her gaze downward, looking miserable… and then her eyes fell on the 'Welcome' mat on the doorstep before her. It was a quaint, adorable thing with hand drawn images of Crash and Coco's respective heads on either side of the word 'Welcome'. Staring at Coco's enthusiastic, encouraging smile, even in the faded dark chalk, filled Nina with a newfound sense of determination.

"No," she said aloud firmly, straightening up to her full height. "Coco and I have been rivals for a long time, and if I have any respect for that, I need to make sure that we part ways on equal terms! Even if she won't accept my apology, I owe it to us both to at least try." With that, she reached up and rapped smartly on the round, wooden door with newfound confidence.

Confidence that started to dwindle as soon as she had knocked. The sweat on her brow… The knots in her stomach… Nina's tension was about to peak, her nerves moments away from being completely shot.

"Come on, answer the door. Somebody answer the door!" she hissed softly, gritting her teeth in anxiety. A moment passed, and then she started pounding on the door with both fists, barely aware of what she was doing. "Hey! HEY! Anybody home?!" she shouted wildly, finally losing her cool and letting her instincts take over. A few seconds later, the door was flung open from within and it was Crash who stood there, the bandicoot boy looking bewildered and a little alarmed; it wasn't every day that someone came pounding hysterically on his front door. Nina was a little caught off guard, for she had expected Crunch, if anyone, to be waiting for her, ready to grab her by the throat and see how much she liked having metal fingers wrapped around her neck, but the niece of Cortex quickly found whatever little composure she had left and cleared her throat rather nervously. "I… I need to see Coco! Um, please," she added desperately. Crash arched an eyebrow; it wasn't like Nina to use the word 'please'. Still, he offered no protest, quietly moving aside and gesturing for Nina to enter his family home, pointing her to the kitchen. For once, Nina didn't hesitate; she was through the living room and in the kitchen in less than five seconds to find a very surprised Coco, Crunch and Aku Aku sitting - or floating, in the latter's case - at the table, the three having been caught up in a somewhat heated conversation prior to Nina's barging in. The three fell silent at the sight of Coco's recent house guest.

Her most unusual house guest, to put it lightly.

"Speak of the Devil," Crunch said quietly after a long moment, thankfully not getting up from his seat to confront Nina directly, instead raising the glass of milk he was holding in his organic hand and taking a sip from it, not taking his narrowed eyes off Nina as he did so.

"Nina," Aku Aku greeted in a polite, yet decidedly neutral tone - neither outwardly friendly nor outwardly hostile. "I cannot honestly say I was expecting your… intrusion."

To Nina's surprise, the word 'intrusion' stung at her. The fact that the ancient witchdoctor mask had said it so neutrally despite the term inferring a lack of welcome, a lack of want of presence… It was as though the wise old spirit expected no better of her, yet had unspoken disappointment in her all the same, like a father figure who wished that his child could be more, be better than what they were, but didn't see it ever happening. Nina had no doubt in her mind that Aku Aku had been brought up to speed on recent events.

"I… I have something to say to Coco, i-if I may," Nina managed, taking a clumsy step forward.

Coco started to get up. Crunch moved to put an arm on her shoulder so as to halt her, but she gave him a look, the kind of look that could only be given by a younger sister to an older brother, and Crunch groaned in exasperation and lowered his arm. Coco walked around the table and approached Nina. "I'm right here, Nina. Talk to me," she said with that same air of neutrality, that same unspoken disappointment in her voice, and yet… there was also something else. A sense of curiosity, of wavering but still present hope, like a flame that hadn't been fully snuffed out. Nina could see it in her eyes. Oh, Ancients, those luminous emerald eyes - so soft, yet so wild… Such a contrast to Nina's own piercing blue eyes, which were filled with a flurry of emotions, precious little of them positive, but all compounded by an ever-present sense of sadness.

"Look, I… I wanted to say that I'm… I'm sorry for what I did to you before." Nina forced the words out, her voice cracking more and more as she went on. "It was a… horrible experience to subject you to and I… I know that I probably can't ever make it up to you fully, but… if you'd be willing to put it behind you… I mean, I…" It was no good. She couldn't go on. Nina Cortex sank to her knees and let the tears flow, making no attempt whatsoever to stem the flow. She just knelt there, great, hiccoughing sobs escaping her, letting the salty droplets from her ocular organs begin to pile up on the floor.

"Oh, God…" Crunch muttered under his breath, averting his gaze. "I never could stand to see a girl cry…" He sighed wearily.

Aku Aku said nothing, but the mask's artificial facial features worked their way into a more softened, sympathetic expression as he watched the scene before him. Coco, on her part, reached down and gently took hold of Nina's wrist. The goth girl looked up at her, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, which were in there somewhere, behind a veritable waterfall of tears.

"You're lucky, you know," Coco told Nina gently as she helped the goth girl to her feet.

Nina sniffed; a long, loud, utterly pathetic sound. "Huh?"

"You're lucky that we Bandicoots aren't known for holding grudges," she said before pulling Nina into a hug.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Nina wailed, continuing to cry, now doing so onto Coco's shoulder.

"Come on, settle down now, Nina. You're ruining your make-up… and it didn't look all that great to begin with," Coco teased. Nina managed a small giggle at that despite her tearful state.

"Oh, man, look at me!" Nina exclaimed as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I can just imagine what Uncle Neo would say if he saw me now."

"Something pompous and self-absorbed, no doubt," Coco said, and both girls laughed. Even Aku Aku and Crunch gave a small chuckle each.

"Alright, kid, I'll let your actions slide as well, so long as you keep those hands of yours on a leash from now on," the muscular bandicoot said a bit more warmly. "I mean, they are already on springs, after all."

"Hardy har har," Nina said sarcastically. "How 'bout you, feathers? Think you can tolerate having me around to any degree?" she asked cheekily, glancing over at Aku Aku."

"As a wise man once said, 'The best way to defeat an enemy… is to make them a friend'," Aku Aku stated, smiling, "And both Crash and Coco have proven quite adept at such time and again."

"Hey, what about me?" Crunch demanded as Crash filed into the kitchen, the younger male having overheard everything from the living room.

"You're getting there. Slowly," Coco said, grinning broadly at the muscular bandicoot.

Crunch scowled as Crash, Coco, Aku Aku and Nina all laughed at his expense, but after a moment, the big guy cracked a smile and ended up joining in with the laughter good-naturedly, sunlight shining brightly through the kitchen window, adding an almost whimsical touch to the lighthearted scene within.

"Ugh. Oh, my aching head…" Neo Cortex groaned as he picked himself up off the floor of the surveillance room in his castle. He was back to his normal adult self now, and the temporal transformation he had undergone now left him with a feeling similar to a hangover. "N. Gin? Are you there?" the celebrated evil scientist called out.

No answer. Cortex groaned again, this time with irritation. Putting a hand to his forehead, covering the metallic 'N', the yellow-skinned fellow clumsily, awkwardly dragged himself over to the monitor, still getting used to having an adult body once more, and typed a series of commands into the keyboard as he surveyed the cameras, looking for any of his henchmen.

"Tiny's not in his room… Dingodile's flown the coop, as usual… N. Tropy's made himself scarce because of course he has, the dirty coward…" Cortex sighed irritably. "No matter. I can get things sorted myself." On that note, he pressed a large button to one side of the keyboard and a moment later, two Lab Assistants, the humanoid robotic minions Cortex had created for himself, arrived at the doorway, standing at attention. "Ah, my loyal minions!" Cortex mused aloud, talking more to himself than the robots that wore lab coats as he stepped toward them. "Unquestionably loyal to a fault… It's good to know that I have some dependable help around here. Slaves, go and bring me the schematics for the quantum warp prototype!" he demanded before clasping his hands together in a sinister manner, a devious grin forming on his face. "I think it's about time I showed Tropy how it's done…"

The End

Yep, that's right - a cliffhanger ending that serves as a nod to the future of the Crash Bandicoot series. A future that I am most certainly looking forward to…

So, how was it? I hope the resolution with Nina and Coco was satisfying… enough. I have plans for more Crash Bandicoot content going forward, especially as we draw closer to the release of Crash 4. Stay tuned, stay awesome and stay… away from the Nitro crates. Trust me, you'll thank me later. Ta-ta!