Chapter 10 – A first look
The strangest feeling
overcame Crunch, as he felt a big rush all around him with nothing but flashes
of many different colours and lights. Crash and
It was the same metal
floor which he was standing on before going into the portal… or was it?
Everyone was now completely out of the portal now, and it remained there… still
opened, with it glowing brightly behind them. Crunch was the first to open his
eyes and he noticed they were in the same Time Machine room they left, which
was sort of to be expected, but it looked different. It looked as if it was
frozen in time, and it was indeed. They even could see N.Tropy… still locked
inside the rocks that Crunch imprisoned him in, though secretly Crunch was
hoping to see a 8000 year old skeleton corpse of him instead, but he still
smirked at the idea of it anyway.
“It seems the whole
Time Machine ship is frozen in time… we should head off outside, to see the
real world…”
Crunch said, and the
others all nodded and they headed off outside.
The three bandicoots all had a very eerie
feeling overcoming them, as they came outside to see the sky, and it was an
orange colour. And seemed to be slightly foggy. But the ‘time shield’ was still
surrounding the ship in the sky, where it was. So Crunch turned to Aku-aku
“Will you teleport us
down to the ground somewhere, so we can find someone to talk with?”
“Sure Crunch. You shouldn’t have to always use your powers yourself. Follow me,
bandicoots”
Aku-aku said, and he spun
around them… and all 4 of them vanished, while the elementals teleported on
their own along with them.
They all reappeared down
on the surface, of the Australian land and with a puff of magic dust, they were
there. Crash and
“Hmm we must be out
in the middle of
“Hmm no… it isn’t hot enough to be a desert, and the air smells as if there has
been vehicles around, or fire… can you smell it?”
Crunch asked after
“Hey, you guys are quiet all of a sudden… what’s up with that?”
“Something isn’t right Crunch… I don’t like it here!”
Rok-ko said, and backed
away slightly. Then he moved closer to Crunch and had a very unusual expression
for a change.
“Please, I want to go
back in the crystal!”
Rok-ko said, Crunch raised
one his eyebrows and let him back into the crystal, which now shun a bright
yellow colour.
“What is wrong with him?”
“We feel as if something here isn’t right, Crunch. But I am not afraid of
anything! So I’ll stay…”
“But we haven’t even seen most of the world yet, so how could we know it’s all
bad?”
“Py-ro is right son!
And even though we lads haven’t seen the whole world yet, we still know for
SURE that something is not RIGHT.”
Wa-wa barked, making Crunch move his head away from them slightly. And they
carried on walking along the barren land. Soon, they were in a rocky area… and
for some reason, Crunch felt as if they weren’t alone now. He grew tenser and
quickly turned himself around and walked a few paces….
“Ok, come on out! I
don’t like being followed as if I am being spied on…!”
He shouted angrily. He
knew someone was there so he walked over closer, looking ready to fight someone
or something, if he must.
“Ok! Stop, we’re not
looking for a fight!”
A male voice shouted,
which made Crunch stand still in his track. Crash and
His eyes widened. Is this
for real?
“Who… are you guys?
And why are you following us…?”
“We were about to ask you the same thing… you are, after all… a very odd
creature to see out here. As well as those 2 orange anthros over there and
those… voodoo masks”
“We’re new around here… and, you… on the left… this may sound stupid but, are
you an anthro?”
Crunch asked after one of
the men spoke, and the anthro looked at Crunch with a surprised expression.
Then he replied
“Uhh yeah, why are
you asking me that? You’re one yourself!”
“It’s just that, where we come from… anthros are something out of the ordinary,
were you evolved by a machine, or scientists?”
Now the trio was confused.
What on earth was this burgundy beast talking about? They all looked at each
other, dumbfounded. Crunch realized they had no idea what he was talking about,
so he didn’t ask about it again. But then the anthro replied
“I don’t know where
you’ve been for the last few thousand years, but anthro canines are normal. We
are among the most common species of anthro on the planet of this age. But what
about you, what… kind of anthro are you?”
He asked Crunch but then
something strange was heard in the skies, something completely unfamiliar to
Crunch and his crew, but the trio of soldiers knew the sound and they suddenly
looked alarmed
“We must get out of here, now!”
One of the men yelled, and
they all ran
“You all better
follow us, unless you want to meet a certain death!”
Crunch was now surprised
but then turned to Crash and
“Come on guys, follow
them!”
Everyone ran off from the
scene and followed the 2 men and dog anthro.
***
They lead to an entrance,
which appeared to go into an underground basement area. But as they ran down
the steps, it started to look very futuristic. The walls were all metal plated,
and lights were all over the place, as well as power pipes and then other
humans were seen, along with more canine anthros... and even a couple of
domestic cat anthros. Crunch was surprised to see more anthros, but he knew
that something was very wrong, still. Why was all of this hidden so far
underground? Why were they not living on the land?
The workers and soldiers in the area gave off stares at Crunch and his group,
all looking surprised, as if they had never seen anything or anyone like them
in their entire lifetimes. Finally, they were led to a main area. And the 3
soldiers stopped. With one of the men turning back to Crunch
“We’ll let you speak
with our general. At least you’re not one of the ‘enemies’. You and your crew
appear to be lost… so you can ask our general anything you need to ask”
“Sure thing. And thanks for the help too… we were, rather lost out in that
desert”
“Desert? That’s far from a desert…”
He said, and the trio
walked away to the side… as a general walked out into the scene. But he also
had someone else walking alongside him, a female anthro this time… who appeared
to be a unique species they hadn’t seen before.
The General was obviously
a human. Who looked bold, and probably in his 40’s.
“Welcome, strange ones. My name is General Kyzer Kazmoren. One of the generals
of
“Hello to you too. My name is Crunch. This is Crash and Coco… and the masks you
see are Aku-aku, guardian of light… and 3 of the elementals, fire, water and
air… earth is hiding right now though”
“The 4 elements? Hmm, I have heard many stories about them, but very few have
ever seen a magical mask before… but you do hear about them a lot.”
The General said, as he
came closer to look at the masks, who stared back at his with blank glares.
“We are real, human.
We’re just here, to see how much you guys have poisoned this planet…”
Py-ro said, in a dark
tone. The general simply frowned, but also felt surprised at being talked to by
one of the masks.
“We didn’t ruin the world;
the terrorists are the ones to blame for this trouble! Which is why we are
fighting back!”
“You mean, war? But
why?! This is an outrage, so is this why all the civilizations are hiding away
underground!?”
Crunch angrily asked, with
the General looking mildly surprised, as well as his anthro companion.
“Where have you been,
frozen in a chamber? It’s nothing new, you know. Wars have been going on for
centuries, if not… millenniums. Resources are hard to come by; many are fueled
by greed and power! We have to fight, to survive!”
He shouted back. Crunch
didn’t like what he was hearing… then he remembered overpopulation. It all made
sense now, the world is so overpopulated, that it must have lead to savage wars
over land and resources. Crash and
“This is… terrible.
However, it is good to see anthros really do exist”
“Of course they do, how could you not know? You are one yourself! Though I have
no idea what kind of anthro you are, you look… very unique. All 3 of you.”
“Well, so does that female anthro…”
Crunch said, and glanced
over at her. She looked a little surprised, but then she spoke,
“Why me? I am a
karline. Kind of uncommon, a karline is a cross between a cat and dog anthro… specifically.
Doesn’t usually happen, but sometimes when anthros are living so close
together… some different species will find affection with one another”
She said in a soft tone of
voice. Crunch smiled slightly, as it reminded him of his relationship with
Tani. But then the karline anthro asked
“However, what about
you… what are you? You don’t look like a feline or canine… or any other species
of anthro”
“Oh, us 3 here are bandicoots. Crash and
“Huh, what is a bandicoot?”
Then Crunch shuddered. Of
course, barely anyone knows his species, after all. Then
“A bandicoot is well,
a type of marsupial! In our unevolved form though, a lot of humans mistaken us
as rodents, but we are NOT!!!”
She said, in a perky kind
of way. The karline girl had slightly wide eyes, but the General looked even
more curious, then he spoke as well…
“A marsupial… the
only marsupial anthros I know of are the kangaroos, since well… I don’t know if
you 3 already know but, kangaroos are the only marsupials”
“What are you talking about? There’s way more marsupials! Like wallabies, Potoroos, thylacines and lots of others!”
“Young lady… all
those other marsupials are, extinct. Have been for hundreds and if not,
thousands of years. Many species were wiped out, and only the numerous and
domesticated survived, while a few became anthro.”
***
It was one of the worst
feelings the bandicoot trio have ever felt. It felt almost like a stab to the
heart… but the emotional version, rather than the physical. But it hurt almost
the same way.
As for Crunch, he was
feeling the same pain… but also rage, and torment. They had to leave that
underground chamber, as Crunch had a very angry reaction, causing him to almost
transform into his Fire elemental form, but luckily he didn’t hurt anyone.
Since he did know it wasn’t their fault, specifically.
But the rage was there,
and a huge load of determination… the elementals at his side also could feel
his emotions, and knew what they must do. As they walked along the land, they
could now realize how much damage as been done, to only a small area. The sun
wasn’t even visible. It was blocked by large ‘smog’, which glowed in an orange
haze… thanks to the sun behind it. Thus, meaning no large plants or trees could
grow. Only smaller ones.
Life was extremely scarce,
not even much insects around, such as sand flies which would usually hover
around your face during the day.
And now… they finally
noticed some ruins, of buildings. They appeared to be half buried though, from
the dirt and dust of the land, looking as if they’ve been that way for many
years. Crunch couldn’t take it anymore, he absolutely hated it here. Crash and
Py-ro was mostly disappointed
that he wasn’t here… to cause any volcanic eruptions of any sort. But other
than that, he didn’t care as much. But he did feel Crunch’s anger, and he felt
that he should help Crunch…
While Wa-wa was slightly
dreading what the water was like…
“Let’s get out of
this horrendous place…”
Crunch said, but then he unexpectedly
changed into his Lo-lo form. Crunch was the light blue colour, like he always
was in that form. But already, he could sense the air and he was sickened by it…
so he didn’t breathe. As he was able to hold his breath as long as possible in
this form. He grabbed both
Crunch carried on flying,
with all the masks following him and now… they finally saw the sea. It was a
shocking sight, they noticed the tops of some old skyscrapers down there, sea
levels were higher. But not only that, the water looked murky, and filthy.
There was even litter washed up on the shores. Wa-wa couldn’t stand it; he was
too speechless to say anything.
Crunch landed back on the
Time Machines ship. No one really said a word. They were all too shocked to say
much more, they merely walked back through the doorway, hallway and then… to
the front of the portal.
No one needed to say anything;
they all went through the portal without any hesitation.
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