Chapter 6 – Finding the way
By now, Crunch had taken
the young anthros back home. Collide back to Tawna’s house, and his bandiger
young back to his own home. It was now a calm afternoon, with the sky slowly
fading to an orange kind of colour… things still plagued Crunch’s mind about
the future. And so he finally went off, to head for the
“I don’t feel like getting my fur wet with salt today… heh”
He thought.
***
It only took several
minutes for him to arrive on the island. Before leaving the Jet
Ski hidden around some nearby rocks up the shore, and heading off into the
direction of the castle.
Mckeeing
the bridges, passing old buildings which Neo used to operate, before finally
arriving at the concrete steps.
“This place gives me
so many memories… good and bad ones…”
He thought to himself again,
before walking up the steps and going through the large doors… into the
mysterious castle. It had changed slightly over the years, and no trace of Neo
Cortex was seen anymore. No photos, no paintings… not even his trademark ‘N’
logos. Crunch simply smiled, and walked on.
He finally reached the
high areas of the castle, and came up to a door… with the sign ‘Dr Nitrus Brio’
on it. He eagerly knocked, waiting for an answer.
Within a few seconds, the
door opened and Crunch stood back, to try and avoiding startling the sensitive
scientist…
“Oh, why hello there
Crunch! He he, nice of you to drop
by!”
The bolt headed, small man
spoke. Crunch could only blink at him, he didn’t stutter? That surprised him.
“Well…
hello to you too, Brio!”
Brio kindly opened his
door wider, for Crunch to walk on through.
***
Both man and beast were
sitting on a balcony area, outside of the Castle. Despite the Castle,
previously owned by Cortex… being as strange and dreaded looking at it was… it
did have a pleasant view from outside, up on this newly built balcony area.
Crunch admired the views
from here, gazing out into the horizon where his home
“This must be one of the
nicest things to see from this crazy castle, huh?”
“Hah, yeah… must agree with you there! Though I sometimes did admire seeing my,
c-c-creations from the Evolvo-ray!”
“Hey now, don’t start the stuttering!”
“Sorry Crunch, sometimes when I think about… Neo, I start to feel uneasy. But
even through those hard times back then, you and many other great creatures
were evolved, into heroes… something you can easily be proud of”
Crunch merely gave off a
smile to Brio, at his comment.
“Well, there is
actually a main reason I came over here today… about the Evolvo-ray and all
that”
“Really, what would
you like to know about it? You already know that it was originally Cortex’s
idea… but I was the one who mastered it, and made it capable of the evolution
process…heh!”
“Yes I know but… I’d like to know, how does it actually make me, and all the
other anthros into, what we are? And why does it do so?”
Crunch asked Brio. He
seemed rather surprised with his questions, as none of the other anthros have
ever asked him those kinds of questions before. He placed his coffee down, and
begun explaining…
“Well, as you might
know… evolution is a rather, complex event. It happens to all creatures around
us, and in different ways. For example, look at human beings. You might already
notice we have heheh… some similarities to creatures
like the apes and monkeys!”
Crunch gave off a laugh
“Hah yeah, it’s a bit
too easy to notice the family resemblance there! But wait… that’s odd though,
why are humans the only ones who are… err ‘evolved’ like that?”
“That is an answer I’m not quite able to answer I’m sorry… but most scientists,
including myself know that we evolved like that over time, because of a growing
intelligence, adaptation and a bit of… luck. We don’t fully understand why it
was only humans, and no other species. So Neo and I originally wanted to find a
way to see if it’s possible to make another species evolve the same kind of
way… and thus, the Evolvo-ray was created.”
“That is… very
interesting. But I think I need to know more first…”
“Yes, there is still more to explain. It turns out the Evolvo-ray was a success
and it did give us a bit of an insight into the future of the particular
species we used… such as yours, Crunch! Heheheh,
turns out your race, over a number of generations… will eventually be evolved,
like you are!”
“What the… you really
mean it?”
“Yes… along with other species we have tried so far, like potoroos,
dingoes, etc… but not all species will evolve, we tried some species, like hoofed
animals, marine animals, reptiles and others but they failed… unless we added
human genes to them to give them the right body structure. We don’t understand
this completely yet, but we believe some species will eventually catch up with
evolution, so they can adapt to the changes mankind have made…like a way of
nature wanting to keep things ‘fair’, as you might put it”
Brio said, but Crunch
seemed a bit off focus now. And not listening to Brio properly… he was pleased
to hear about that news, his species will eventually be anthro, naturally? It
was too good to be true.
“Err Crunch, are you
listening to me?”
“Oh sorry, I’m just… too glad to hear that. I didn’t want it to seem like…
we’ll be the only evolved animals, you know. But now I know that we won’t!”
“I wouldn’t get your
hopes up too high though… evolution takes, thousands if not, millions of years
to happen. And with Mankind’s disruption to wildlife, all over the world… it’s
making it very tough for many species to survive. But all hope isn’t lost… it
does seem nature is trying to keep up with these sudden changes”
Crunch looked at Brio, then looked out to his side
with an unsure expression. Before looking at Brio again
“Hmm it’s just that,
I want to find a good future for my family… and all of my friends too. I don’t
believe we can stay this way in the long term… who are my children ever going
to end up with later in life? You and other scientists can’t keep evolving
animals for ever…”
“You know Crunch, you’re exactly right about that. Having
to evolve creatures all the time is too much effort; it takes a lot of energy
and power to evolve even just one of you. But, if you can find a way into the
future…”
“Then everything should be… alright for us then. And there is someone with a
Time Machine too… Dr Nefarious Tropy”
“As
yes, Tropy. But C-c-crunch…
something must be done about the state of this planet first. Because in all
honesty… I believe many species will not make it in the next few th-th-thousand years, or even hundred…”
“What... what do you mean? Are humans really… that out of control?”
Crunch was staring down at
Brio. The little man could only look up at Crunch, with a worried expression.
He looked down before replying,
“As being one myself… yes, in a way. Don’t you realize how overpopulated
the world is? And how many species are endangered, or been extinct… and all the
continuous habitat destruction… caused by man?”
“…I can’t believe I didn’t look into that much earlier. I haven’t been out into
the world as often as I should have. I’m not sure what can be done about that.
I actually should try and check out the future for myself…”
Crunch suddenly stood up,
looking quite determined. Brio quickly shot up, and yelled
“No wait! You must be
c-c-careful, and not always trust the future! It changes all the time,
depending on the state of when you l-l-left! But if you can find a future, a
good one… then I wish you the b-b-best of luck with that! I am sure not all
hope is lost, especially when I think of you, Crash and the other heroes alike…
hehe!”
Crunch smiled slightly,
back at Brio. They both walked back inside, as Crunch was about to leave.
“Heh, I suppose the
evolution answer isn’t completely answered, but it’s still good enough for me”
“Well Crunch, there are some things that science just cannot explain… heheh!”
Brio said with his
trademark giggling, while Crunch grinned slightly back at him, before walking
to the doorway he came through.
“Thank you though… Brio, for telling me all of that. It has given me a much
bigger insight into… everything.”
“You’re welcome Crunch, heh! You are a very intelligent and thoughtful anthro…
now you go out there, and try and find the right future for everyone!”
Crunch nodded back at him,
with a determined look on his face. Before waving goodbye and taking off down
the stairs and back to his island home.
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