Chapter 11

After taking their mother and placing her upon her bedroom's bed, Cade, Maya and Kida quietly closed the door, heading towards the basement to discuss the subject together while someone just knocked at the door. Opening it, Maya stood surprised to see a certain tiger who was breathing anxiously at the entrance.

"Guys! Guys, did you just watch what I think it was on the TV?" Tymon avowed, panting, even though that all he did was jumping his house's fence. "Mr. Crash got kidnapped!"

"Ty, you realize that I always watch the news at least five minutes before you do, right?" Cade frowned an eyebrow at him.

"Cade, stop calling him stupid." Maya retorted. "He wants to help us."

"I think I have a hint on where Mr. Crash could possibly be..." He urged, placing a finger under his chin. "My father told me once that he used to work in an ominous island called Cortex Island... he says that is where a mad scientist called Meo - or Neo? - Cortex used to live inside a huge castle, more specifically, a lab."

"Wait a minute - that's the name that the cyborg and the Chicken men said, they even added that my dad used to 'save their butts back in the era'... what?!" Cade bursted. "It was all true?"

Kida smacked her forehead upon knowing that her eldest brother finally realized it.

"Even if dad could lie, I don't think he was smart enough to do so easily..." Maya added.

"What are we gonna do?" Ty asked. "Should we follow the rules and simply wait until he returns?"

"Return?" Cade scoffed. "Since when my dad knows how to save himself?"

"Well... he did jump from a castle once..." His sister reminded.

"That doesn't count."

"Yeah, but... don't we have school in the first place?" Ty inquired to the teenage bandicoot, eventually clarifying what he really meant to say. Cade put an arm around his shoulder, smirking.

"Ty, Ty, all you do care is about meaningless books with no pictures, don't tell me that you were thinking on going inside that bus..."

"Actually, I, huh-"

"C'mon, fella! Are you a pussy or a tiger?"

Slightly offended by his demand, Ty couldn't help but sigh. "Tiger..."

"That's better." Cade smiled. "Now, come on in..."

Inside the basement, Cade was displaying his brilliant strategy on a black chalkboard to his only three pupils. Wearing a war helmet on his head to pretend that he was their general, the teenage bandicoot walked past and forth while talking, with a stick in his hand to show every single detail of the plan B.

"We're going to use our 4x4 to drive in direction to the main highway that will lead us to the seaport, then, we'll swim until we reach one of the Cortex Island's beaches, go into the jungle - I won't be responsible for any carnivorous plant deaths though -, pass through Cortex's castle, kick their butts, save dad, return to the jungle - again, I won't be responsible -, swim together until we come back to Wumpa Island, let dad drive the jeep, return home, tell mom that dad has only been lost in the bathroom all of this time and that none of us have been doing stupid stuff, and then we'll enjoy a delicious dinner as a reward. Any questions?"

Ty rose his hand up.

"Yeah, just one. How are we going to achieve until Cortex Island just by swimming? There's sharks in the ocean and we'd presumably take overnight to arrive there."

"Plus, we would die of hypothermia." Maya said.

"Right..." Cade rubbed his chin. "I have another plan B; we're going to use the 4x4 to drive to the main highway that will lead us to the seaport, use dad's old jet boat to reach Cortex Island's beach, go into the jungle, pass through Cortex's castle, kick their butts, save dad, return to the jungle, use the jet boat again to return to Wumpa Island, let dad drive the jeep, return home, tell mom that dad has only been absent-minded on reading Bandiboy magazines and that none of us have been doing any stupid stuff, and then we'll finally enjoy a delighted dinner as a reward. Again, any questions?"

This time, Maya rose hers.

"Is the jet boat capable to carry the four of us at the same time?" She asked. "I just find it a little... too risky."

"Yeah, and why would Mr. Crash read Bandiboy magazines? Won't Mrs. Bandicoot toss him a frying pan when she'll know?" Ty agreed.

Annoyed, Cade hit his head three times on the wall. "Fine! We'll use the 4x4 to drive until the seaport, steal someone's boat, reach Cortex Island, go into the jungle, pass through Cortex's castle and kick their butts, save dad, return to the jungle, use the same boat to return to Wumpa Island, let myself to drive the jeep, return home, tell mom that dad has only been lost in the bathroom and that none of us have been doing stupid things, and then we'll finally enjoy the dinner. So?"

Despite that they had to take a moment of silence to reflect, Maya, Ty and Kida eventually gave him a thumbs up.

"Thank you. Now," Cade made that famous military gesture with his hand. "Let's do it."

Opening the wide garage door, the young bandicoots and tiger put their hands to work by turning on the 4x4's engine after stealing the car keys. Even bringing their father's good old green bazooka which was only saved for extreme emergencies, Cade and Ty sat on the front seats while Maya and Kida sat on the back ones, placing sunglasses on their eyes to make the situation far more important.

"Ty, turn on the radio." Cade ordered without looking at him, his voice sounding as serious as almost in slow motion. And so the tasmanian tiger obeyed, putting a CD that the two friends have recorded specifically for such unexpected event, until both started shaking their heads upon listening to one of Black Eyed Peas' songs.

Ha ha ha
Pump it!
Ha ha ha
And pump it (louder)!
And pump it (louder)!
And pump it (louder)!
And pump it-!

Suddenly, the music went off when Maya abruptly turned off the radio. Offended, the boys couldn't help but scowl at her.

"Maya!" They shouted.

"Why did you do that? That was a classic!" Ty urged.

"That was my favourite song!" Cade protested.

"What in Elvis Presley's name was this?" She folded her arms, also offended. "We're just beginning a mission to save someone seriously, and all you do is shaking your heads while this loud music is trying to wake up mom?"

"She has a point." Ty added.

Cade scoffed. "Fine. I'll remind myself to use My Head Will Go On from Celine Dion next time." He folded his arms, annoyed.

"Huh... didn't you mean, 'My Heart Will Go On'?" Ty corrected.

"You just never understand sarcasm, do you?" Cade rolled his eyes.

"Come on, boys! We don't have the entire day." Maya hurried, returning to the back seat. But seconds before the male teenage bandicoot could put a foot on the accelerator, Maya gave Ty the Wumpa Islands archipelago map to provide them some relevant instructions.

"Here, all the highways and streets are marked in this map." She told him. In return, he smiled.

"Thanks, Maya." Ty blushed slightly. Although Cade noticed that small yet considered insignificant detail, he nevertheless pretended that he didn't see it.

"Destination; Cortex Island!" And he sped up towards the road.

Author's Note: I'm verily sorry for such delay of updating this story and for this chapter coming out small. I've been busy with other stuff I've been doing at the moment, but I promise you that I'll finish this fanfic in the best way I can this year. Anyway, just let you know that my Crash craze isn't dead yet. Cheers! :3