It was supposed to be a typical day on N. Sanity Isle. Never in his life did Crash Bandicoot ever expect to team up with his arch nemesis, Dr. Neo Cortex. Nor that he would met two talking Pichu brothers, John and Pete. However, it did happen and it did start out as a typical day. Cortex had kidnapped Coco, dressed up as her, and lead Crash to the bay. John and Pete obviously followed, having a bad feeling about the whole thing. Crash wasn't surprised to see the evil scientist had returned. He was, surprised, to sense something different coming from him. Crash didn't know what it was. He tried to shake it off.

Things got worse when the four of them got into a tunnel. They wounded up in the middle of the tunnel, finding a power crystal. Cortex grabbed it and before he knew it, he got lifted up by a drill. The drill opened up and out came these robotic ants.

John questioned, "What are those things?"

Pete answered, "Not sure but let's get to battle!"

Crash spun around, sending out his Sceptile. Before long, they managed to defeat the robotic ants. The drill went back down and Cortex landed on his feet. Crash recalled Sceptile, quite proud of his Grass type. Cortex held up the power crystal, the inside of it was flaring up. It caught Crash's eye.

Crash breathed, "That's strange..."

John asked, "How so?"

Cortex took a look at the crystal and explained, "The power crystals only flare up when an evil more powerful than Uka-Uka is coming to threaten it..." He looked worried when he said that. He added quietly, "I thought it was just a legend though..."

Pete spoke up, "Apparently not."

The four of them exchanged scared looks and decided to head back up to the surface. They finally managed to get back, only to be intercepted by a zipper. The zipper started to zip down, revealing a dark looking place. Two strange creatures came out of it, looking like aliens.

The one of them demanded (Mortiz), "Power you fools! For the awesome might of... the Evil Twins!"

Of course none of them were scared. Why would they be? They didn't seem to be that scary. Until they pulled Cortex's brain out of his skull. Crash paled as John, Pete, and Cortex all screamed out of fright. Mortiz thew Cortex's brain back at him. Cortex ran off in fright.

The other one (Victor) taunted, "Catch you later brainiac!"

And like that, the Evil Twins left. Crash now knew what the power crystal were warning about. So of course he had little but no choice to find Cortex. John and Pete had already gone ahead of him (so he had little choice). So after saving Cortex from the villagers, the four of them had arrived at the edge of the tribe.

"You have nothing to do with guys right?" Crash asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cortex raised his right hand as he placed his left hand over his heart as he truthfully answered, "I swear on my father's grave. I have nothing to do with this..."

Before anyone could ask, that's when they came across of a stone god named Tikimon. It was just a demonstration of the Evil Twins power. However, it was also a demonstration of Cortex's Salamence.

Pete breathed, "He has a Salamence?!"

John replied, "Apparently."

Crash was surprised too. He and Cortex had never had a true Pokemon battle.

Maybe one day...

Why did he think that? Why was Cortex looking like... he was hyperventilating? He was, much to Crash's surprise. Before he could find out, they had defeated Tikimon. The Evil Twins fled back to the tenth dimension. Wasting no time, Cortex knew that they had to get to Iceberg Lair. By the time they got near the top, they found and accidently freed Uka-Uka. The minute Cortex saw his boss, he fell to his knees and looked down at the ground.

"Mighty Uka-Uka!" He breathed.

The evil magical mask boomed, "WHO HAS RELEASED ME FROM MY ICY TOMB?!" That's when he looked around. He saw Cortex with Crash, John, and Pete. He was surprised to see them together. He stated, "My my... can it be...? Crash...? And Cortex? With two Pichu brothers?! I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you!"

Crash puckered up, making a few kissing motions. John and Pete both face faulted. Cortex rolled his eyes, grabbing the power crystal. He dragged Crash away from Uka-Uka and the four of them started to fight him - as an ice monster. They finally defeated Uka-Uka and before he could flee, Aku-Aku flew up to him.

He informed, "An evil greater than even you is threatening to destroy this world."

Uka-Uka groaned, "No! That's my job!"

Aku-Aku stated, "Divided we are just two magical masks. Join me and together we shall defeat this evil infestation!"

Before long, the four of them had gotten to the lair. That's when the Evil Twins came back, holding the magical masks like they were Halloween masks. That's when something got all of their attention.

"You don't remember us, do you Doctor?"

That's when everyone perked up, even Cortex.

He squinted his eyes a bit and asked, "S - should I?"

"You ruined our lives!"

Crash didn't care what happened next. Or that they defeated the robotic ants. All he cared about was the fact that he was lied to. Sure Cortex had done it before but this time...

It hurt.

The bandicoot turned on his heel, in a huff. He felt like he had been lied to. Granted, that had happened before but this time... it hurt. Cortex looked at him, admittedly a bit sadly. Crash didn't even turn back around. Cortex looked at the magical masks and the two Pichu brothers.

Cortex spoke up, "I can't do this anymore! I quit!"

Uka-Uka huffed, "You can't quit! Those evil upstarts want you!"

Aku-Aku stated, "For what reason, we are not sure of."

"Maybe they were a failed experiment?" John offered.

"Yeah that would make sense..." Pete started to say as Cortex started to leave. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where are you going?"

He barely managed to say, "I'm... going home..."

Before anyone could say a thing, Cortex was out the door. Crash watched this from the corner of his eye. Thinking that Cortex was over dramatizing, Crash waited a three minutes. He wanted to see if the evil scientist came back.

Pete walked over to where Cortex had walked out, looking out the doorway. He paled. Crash raised an eyebrow.

Crash gibbered, "What is it?"

Pete answered, "He wasn't kidding... he's gone already!"

John walked over to his brother, to confirm and found that Pete was correct.

He told Crash, "Pete's right. He's gone."

Uka-Uka growled, "Impossible. There's no way he'd be gone that fast!"

Aku-Aku nodded (?) in agreement. "I must agree."

Crash breathed, "Where did he go...?"

...

Wishmaker1028: Alright there we have it! The start to the 'Back Home' AU. Crash can't talk, Cortex has always been evil (up til this point and doesn't know which side to be on), and Pokemon are in the fray this time! Hope you all enjoyed! Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!