Chapter 17 – A New Face

 

The bandicoots made their way through the unknown forest of the future… with Crunch leading the pace, as he was best at tracking down other anthros and animals than Crash and Coco.

While Crunch was focused, Crash and Coco were bored… especially Coco. Crash looked around at the natural surroundings though, bemused at how different this future was to their past. But then things came to his mind. Did things from home still exist here? What about wumpa fruit? He got an idea and remembered he still had a half eaten wumpa in his pockets. He elbowed Coco, who was next to him; she turned to her brother, annoyed

 

“Hey, why did you do that for?”

He quickly grabbed out the wumpa and showed it to Coco. She was unsure what he was doing, but then got the hint

 

“Wumpa? Hmm yeah, I also wonder if it still exists in this future… I sure hope so! Or else we’ll have to use that wumpa’s seed for cloning or something!”

 

She said with a laugh. Crash laughed too and Crunch heard them, he slowed down a bit to catch in on the convocation,

 

“Hopefully you won’t have to, surely there’s still some at home! Heh. Hmm that reminds me, I hope wild boars still exist too… and if they do, I hope they aren’t anthro. Would be awkward having to hunt anthros…”

Coco laughed along with Crunch, and Crash did too. Even though he didn’t quite understand that.  

 

“Yeah that would, makes me glad me and Crash are vegetarian!”

“Hah. I still have no idea how you two can live without eating meat... even just a little bit!”

“Hey now, we don’t understand how you could even like the thought of tasting flesh! And we also don’t get why you don’t like wumpa…!”

 

“It’s too sweet for me, that’s all. I still like some other fruits but… not ones that sting the tongue!”

 

The three bandicoots laughed at each other, before Coco finally said

“Sting? What a silly way to put it! Oh boy, well… I do hope our home is still there… well obviously our house won’t be. And Aku-aku…”

 

“I’m sure Aku-aku is still there, waiting for us. And those elementals… man, I wonder where on Earth they could be right about now? I hope they still remember me…”

 

Crunch said.

The bandicoots walked on through the forest, still following the fresh paw prints of the dogs as they carried on into the forest and more inland. Neither ancient buildings nor any other civilities were around, only trees and bush. It seemed as if they were alone out here, but they weren’t…

 

“Howdy fellow perelamids!”

 

A short furry figure said, as it jumped out from the bushes near the right side of the bandicoot trio, whom startled them. Crash shouted ‘Whoa!’ while Crunch and Coco were speechless

 

“Sorry to startle you lot, but I though I’d finally come out to give a gidday to ya’ all”

“Huh? Who are you anyway, and why were you following us?”

Crunch asked this stranger. He looked closely at him, and then noticed something. He looked back at Crash and Coco and then back at him. He was the exact same species. An Eastern Barred bandicoot! He was around Crash’s size, but with golden blonde hair, blue eyes, and looked rougher overall with a grey singlet, a necklace with a sharks tooth at the end and faded green shorts. But he also had a tail, something Crash and Coco always lacked since their evolution.

 

The bandicoot siblings were already surprised, more so than Crunch. This is the first time they’ve ever seen another of their own kind, ever since they were evolved years ago.

The new bandicoot simply smiled back at them all before introducing himself…

 

“The name’s Dayne. I’ve been hearin’ a lot about you yanks so I thought I’d come to check what the fuss is all about”

“Well it’s good to meet you Dayne, my name’s Crunch. And this is Crash and Coco…”

 

Crunch said, and Dayne moved closer to shake hands with the huge burgundy bandicoot. Then he moved over to Crash to shake his hands

 

“Good to meet you too bro, you dun seem to like talking, ehh?”

He said and gave a smirk; Crash shook his head after his question and shook hands with him back, before he watched Dayne move over to Coco. Crash’s eyes locked onto him like a hawk, noticing the newcomer bandicoots expression change as he moved over. The newbie bandicoot bowed down before Coco and took her hand gently with his own, to give it a gentle kiss…

“And lass, it is a pleasure to meet you too. One of the finest looking barred bandis I have ever seen, I must add”

 

He said and let her hand go. Coco seemed completely stunned, not sure if she should be angry at a random guy for doing that or to simply take it as a compliment. Crunch couldn’t help but laugh in his mind, while Crash was still starring… looking suspicious.

Coco finally replied,

“Well err… it’s nice to meet you too, Dayne…!”

She said, still blushing. Dayne stood back to look at the three new bandicoots. He folded his arms and looked up at them, before questioning...

“So, I’ve heard these rumors about an elemental keeper and they say he’s the burgundy with the iron paw… which is meant to be you Crunch, am I right?”

“Well yeah, that’s true. We came from the past to..”

“What! The past? Ok no way, I aint believin’ those folklore stories anymore! No way!”

“Huh what? They’re not made up… they’re real! I had to come here to make sure this future is better and to capture the elementals again but…”

“Hey hey now, this aint Back to the Future! No way can those fairytales be true!”

“They ARENT fairytales!”

Crunch shouted at him, wanting to growl as well. Dayne could only glare back in a stubborn way. Coco sighed at them, before speaking up

 

“Ok guys, stop it! We have to concentrate on other things for now! Crunch, it’s hard to explain to these ‘future’ anthros about our ambitions, so we shouldn’t try to force them to believe us. And Dayne… why were you following us anyway?”

“I just wanted to see you guys for me-self, to see if this ‘so called’ legend is real and to..”

Crunch growled at him loudly this time and Dayne backed away quickly. With his ears pulled back and crouching down in a submissive way. Crunch stopped but still gave an annoyed glare down at him. Crash could only give a cheeky smile, and even muttered ‘tsk tsk tsk’ while shaking his head to the side.

Crunch calmed down a bit now and said to Dayne…

 

 

“Ok, you don’t believe me now. Fine, but you probably will later. We’re on a mission to help put an end to this ‘canine trouble’ this part of Australia seems to be having… before we continue our quest home”

 

“Well you seem serious mate, but I’ll have to wait and see proof before I believe you’re ‘him’. Sure you’ve got the metal paw but… that aint so uncommon in this age. And yes, I heard about that… very noble of you lot to go against this cybernetic menace!”

“Wait, cybernetic?!”

Gasped Coco, after Dayne replied.

 

“Yes, he’s quite an odd villain, aint he? His name is Ironfang. He once was a good chap. Just your average dingo dog, and walked alongside human folks, working for a police force in this state of Aussie. But after an accident, he almost died but his best friend; a human… didn’t allow it to happen so he became half machine and well… the rest is history. And that is about all I know! But I wanted to help you guys, as a sort of ‘guide’, ya know? Since you seem to be new around here”

 

“Hmm how bizarre… it seems as if the machine side of him caused him to become evil and hungry for power. Well, I’ll do my best to deal with this villain and you’ll be quite useful for showing us around then, since you seem to know this place well”

 

Crunch said after him, and Dayne smiled back. Eager to become part of this quest.

 

“As long as you don’t get me into any dangerous life-threatening situations, then I’m all up for it! Say, you guys are a strange group… and you’re the first Burgundy I’ve ever spoken to!”

“Really? You’ve seen more of my kind?”

“Oh yeah, for sure cuz. Most don’t speak Human so it is quite cool to be able to speak to one, especially one that wont hunt me down like prey!”

 

Dayne said with a laugh. Crunch smirked as well while Coco and Crash didn’t really like what they heard. Burgundies hunt smaller bandicoot species? No, it has to be a joke, they both thought.

Coco looked over at Dayne before saying…

 

“So, you’re going to help us with tracking down this evil organization then? Would be best if we get a move on, talking all day is only going to slow us down you know”

“Well sorry lady, I aint the only one blabberin’ here. Right’eo people, we’ll carry on following the tracks but I must warn you, Ironfang has several experienced minions and once he finds out about some rebels such as you guys, then you better be prepared!”

 

“Trust me. I’m pretty sure we’ll be prepared for anything, right guys?”

Crunch said, turning to look at Crash and Coco. They both nodded eagerly and Dayne stared at them. Crunch thought they should carry on their adventure through the unknown, following the tracks in their path. Dayne shuddered, and walks on behind them, thinking…

“What an odd bandicoot trio…”.

 Chapter 18...