Hello once again audience!

*Dodges a slew of various projectiles*

Eesh! Tough crowd. Just because I haven't updated in like, forever...

Okay, point taken. School's a bitch, what can I say?

Anyway, ONWARDS TO EPICOSITY!

Corey walked through the streets of New York, head down, hands in his pockets. His mistrusting grey eyes flicked back and forth. A head of messy silver hair was concealed under a green hoodie, and dark blue jeans and sneakers covered runner's legs and feet. As he passed an alley, a glimmer caught his eye. Intrigued, he walked over and unearthed a thick mask from the trash that covered the ground. It resembled a roughly cut tiki face, vaguely circular in shape and bright green in colour, with yellow eyes, purple eyebrows and a thick-lipped mouth with a few fangs poking from it. (AN: Basically it's the Velo mask from Crash Nitro Kart) As the boy watched, it started to glow with a bright green light. He shut his eyes as it grew blinding and tried to drop the mask, but he couldn't even pry a finger off it. The light engulfed him, and he disappeared.

TWANSITION!

Corey fell over, hitting the ground with a noise that suggested said ground was made of metal. "Owwww..." He opened his eyes, confirming his location to be inside a lab of some sort. He unsteadily got to his feet, only to be nearly knocked over as a voice cut through the air. "It worked! It worked!" The source of the voice was a little man with what appeared to be a rocket lodged in his head. Standing beside him was a yellow-skinned man with a weirdly shaped head and a black goatee wearing some sort of lab coat, and floating on this man's other side was a sinister-looking mask. The mask spoke in rough tones. "Evidently, N-Gin. The question is, will the ray work?" Corey frowned. "Ray?" Lab Coat Man grinned and pointed upwards. Corey followed his finger and found himself staring down the barrel of a massive raygun. It looks just like the stereotypical raygun, was his slightly amused thought. "Ah. Right. Glad we have that established. Now then-" He abruptly threw himself out from under it just as it fired a bright blue blast of lightning, missing the boy by a hair. Lab Coat frowned, took out a remote and started pushing buttons on it. The barrel swivelled and fired again and Corey dove behind a bench to avoid it, knocking a pair of circuitry-covered elbow-length gloves to the floor as he did so. N-Gin went nuts. "NO! DON'T LET HIM GET THOSE GLOVES! THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT!" Corey grinned and shoved them in his pockets. "I'm gonna be an annoying bastard and take them anyway." In all this time, he hadn't let go of the mask. He dodged another beam and tucked the green slab of wood safely in his jacket. He liked the look of it, and he supposed it wouldn't hurt to keep it. Now, back to business. Dodge, spring, duck and roll. Dodge, spring, duck - Uh-oh. The boy had run out of room and was thoroughly cornered between several sinister-looking contraptions. Lab Coat let out a hiss of triumph and slammed his fist down on the remote. The energy struck Corey, and he cried out in pain. His entire body was on fire and something painful was happening to his face. Just when Corey couldn't take any more, the pain mercifully stopped and he fell to his hands and knees, sucking in air. "Ohhh...I'm gonna feel that tomorrow." Lab Coat was gloating. "Ha ha! The ray worked! Now all I have to do is brainwash him and train him, and then I'll get Crash for sure!" But before anyone could do anything, the green mask floated out of Corey's jacket, thrust itself into the boy's hands and zipped away. Corey held tight, knowing that any place had to be better than wherever he was right now. The mask crashed through a window, fell towards a rail that spiralled downwards and Corey let his instincts take over. He swung his arms down and placed his feet on top of the mask, turning it into an impromptu skateboard. Seconds later, he landed on the rail, bending his knees to soak up the impact. He stuck his hands in his pockets, looked ahead and noticed for the first time that he was escaping from a tower-like structure that bent at crazy angles, with a comparatively small mansion-esque structure at the base. Corey took this opportunity to find out what the ray had done to him. He'd grown silver fur all over his body, and his nose, and to a lesser extent his mouth, had turned into a muzzle like that of a bandicoot. His ears had also shifted to the top of his head, and turned vaguely triangular. Other than that and a slight toning of his arms and legs, plus swirling green tribal tattoos on his arms and shoulders, he was unchanged. Just as he was getting used to sliding down the rail, he heard an unsettling noise. He turned to see several cannons emerge from the top of the tower and fire missiles that homed in on the human-turned-bandicoot. Corey took one look at them and threw himself off the rail, taking his hands out of his jeans to grab onto the mask and shove it in his jacket once again. An airship suddenly loomed below him and he steered himself towards it, falling through a trapdoor in the side and landing in the cabin with a thump. "Owwww...Again..." He looked up at the pilot's seat. It spun around, revealing a female bandicoot dressed in a white T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. She also had flowing blonde hair down to her waist. She was a little shorter than Corey, but her green eyes held intelligence and determination. Corey got to his feet. "Thanks for the save. The name's Corey." "I'm Coco. Strap yourself in and hang on." He did as the girl instructed and she yanked on a lever, catapulting the ship forward just as something exploded. He looked back and saw the balloon of the airship going up in flames through where the back wall used to be. He realised that Coco had launched the cabin of the airship forward to escape the missiles. She quickly unstrapped herself and grabbed a snowboard that was strapped to the wall. "Do you have your own board?" Corey got up as well and rifled through his jacket, extracting the mask that had saved his behind. "I got this." "Perfect. Now we," She ran towards the back. "JUMP! WHOOHOO!" Corey leaped out after her. "BONZAI!" They dropped towards a thick jungle and landed on a series of thick branches. Coco quickly proved herself to be a natural, performing insane moves Corey hadn't even seen in snowboarding tourneys on TV to keep on keepin' on. He himself managed to keep upright, and even showed off a little by standing on his hands and swinging from vine to vine with his feet. He flipped upright and rode alongside Coco. "So where're we going?" "To our house. 'Our' being me, Crash, and Crunch. We were all mutated from ordinary bandicoots to serve in Cortex's army, but Crash and I escaped. Crunch was sent after us, but Crash turned him to our side." Corey nodded. "I see. What's Crash like?" Coco shrugged. "Energetic. Crazy. Always smiling. But he's a whole lot more fun than I'm making him sound. I'm the brains of the bunch, and Crunch is the muscle. Aku-Aku, this floating mask guy, he's like a father to us." "Sounds like you have a pretty good life, aside from being mutants and all." Another shrug from the female bandicoot. "You get used to it. Anyway, the trees are about to end." The bandicoots leaped from their boards and landed on their feet. Coco randomly kicked a nearby tree, caught two fruits that dropped from it and handed one to Corey. "Here ya go. Wumpa Fruit. Delicious and nutritious." Corey took a bite. "Mmmmm. This is good." "I know, right?" They walked along a trail, eating as they went. Corey explained how he'd ended up as a bandicoot, and in return Coco told him of the Bandicoot family's various adventures. By the time Coco was finished, they'd arrived at the house. Coco opened the front door and they both stepped inside - whereupon Coco was tackled by a second bandicoot. "Coco!" The girl laughed. "Hey Crash!" Corey just stood there, a little stunned but mostly surprised. "What the..." Then another bandicoot appeared. He was massive, at least twice as tall as the others, and his entire right arm was mechanical. "What the..." Then a light red mask with a few feathers around it's edges floated in. "Actually, I'm used to that by now." Coco laughed. "Corey, meet the family." The first bandicoot waved and spoke gibberish. Corey tilted his head. "Huh?" Coco translated. "He said he's Crash, and he likes you already." "O-Kay. You're gonna have to translate for me, cause I can't understand a word he's saying." A glance at Crash. "No offence." The shirtless bandicoot gave a shrug which Corey took to mean None taken. The cyborg bandicoot walked up. "Crunch's the name." "I'm Corey. Nice to meet you." The silver bandicoot was a little freaked out by the bionic arm, but Crunch seemed nice enough. The mask floated forward. "I am Aku-Aku. You've probably met my younger brother Uka-Uka." "Indeed I have. That wooden (beep) and that (beep)ing son of a (beep) Cortex were the ones that (beep)ed me up." Everyone stared at him in shock, then burst out laughing. Coco gasped for breath. "Oh, you're gonna fit right in with us." Corey looked around at the bandicoots and mask laughing their heads off, and thought I'm gonna have fun with these guys. I just know it.

Questions, concerns, drama anyone?

This will follow the story of Crash of the Titans, so for anyone who has not played that game -

Spoiler Nazi: NO SPOILERS FOR YOU!

*Kicks Nazi into the Sun*

Anyway, read review and all that jazz.

Rowan out!