Nina's Shocking Discovery

Chapter 4:

Betrayal

Disclaimer: I do not own Crash Bandicoot or any of the Crash characters.

"He made you lie?" Nina asked. "AND YOU LET HIM?"

"Nina…"

"NO! What kind of father are you? A coward who hides from his brother?"

"Nina, I"

"I don't want to hear another word." Nina turned in her spot and ignored him.

All was silent…

Finally, the Twins' ship reached their destination.

"Welcome to the tenth dimension!" Victor sang with a twinkle and a sinister laugh. "This will be your new home for a while - until we kill you, that is!"

"Yeah, and then hell will be your new home after that!" Moritz chimed, not so sinisterly. Victor commended him, slapping him on the back. "You need to work on your sinister skills, brother! Yeesh, you could at least try to act evil!"

Neo and Nina found themselves being led of the ship in chains by Victor. Moritz, however, stayed on the ship by himself.

Nina was still furious with her…FATHER. She bit back tears as she forced herself to think of the word rather than the word she was used to saying about Neo. "How could he," she thought. "How could he lie to me after all this time?"

Another voice whispered to her in the back of her head, crying, But what about his sacrifice? He knew the family traditions, and he still risked shame to save you.

The part of her that was still angry with him cried back, "Yes, but if he was really so unconcerned with his own reputation in the family, why did he lie? That's just as bad!" Nina was torn. Secretly, she wondered if he was even lying to her about her uncle being horrible, and if he was just so jealous of him that he wanted her for himself, so he stole her away from Veo.

But she didn't have time to dwell on this for long, for Victor soon was calling back to them, "We're almost there, kiddies! Don't worry, you'll be VERY at home here!" he laughed with a sinister look on his face. "And don't even think of calling your precious friends for help!"

"That wretched bandicoot is not my friend!" Neo shouted back, but he couldn't help but realize how important Crash was to this mission. Though he utterly loathed him and wanted him out of his hair forever more, he prayed that Crash and Brio would find a way into the tenth dimension to help them.

But his prayers were soon to be answered, for Moritz took very unkindly to Victor's comment earlier. In fact, he was so fed up at this point, for Victor was always cruel to him even though they were brothers. Determined to stop his brother, he made the one call he didn't want to make.

Meanwhile, Crash and Brio were back at Neo's laboratory on the ice island. Suddenly, they heard the ship's phone ringing at them. Wondering if it was Cortex or Nina, they picked up. "Hello?"

"Crash, Brio, I need your help!" Moritz' squeaky voice piped, but Crash and Brio were immediately suspicious of him, and for good reason, of course.

"Why should we?" Crash yelled. "Though I'm glad to finally see Cortex captured, you and your brother have done enough damage."

"Yes, what could you possibly say to us that would ever get us to help you?" Brio asked.

"I can get you here, to the tenth dimension," Moritz said.

"How?" Crash said. "We have the crystals we need, but Cortex is the only one who knows how to work this machine!"

"You forget that I'm an old experiment of his," Moritz sneered back. "Place the crystals in the machine, and I'll walk you through the rest."

Deciding to trust Moritz, Crash and Brio followed his instructions down to the letter, and they were about to be transported when they heard a voice.

"Excuse me, is this my brother's lair?"

They turned to see who they thought was Cortex, but realizing what they had heard earlier, they knew better. For standing before them was none other than Cortex' twin brother, Veo Cortex.

"How did you get in here!" Crash exclaimed.

"Well, you see, it was I that actually created this machine," Veo snickered, "but my blasted brother Neo decided to steal it from me. He took it along with my precious niece!"

"So, what, you want revenge?" Brio asked with a dirty look on his face. "You'll have to go through us."

But Veo was one step ahead. He shoved Crash and Brio into the machine and, quick as a cat, jumped in with them as they were transported to the tenth dimension.

When they finally landed, Crash and Brio looked to see Veo running towards the castle. "Quick, after him!"