Heroes of Universes: Crash Bandicoot

Chapter 21: Part 5: Part 10

The team looked at the wreck of the robot, with Victor and Mauritz still locked in the cage and trapped in the wreck. Knowing that their enemy had been defeated, the team cheered. "All right! We defeated the Evil Twins and saved the dimensions!" Crash smiled. He and Alicia both happily hugged each other, and when they looked up to see this, they were both surprised, but then they started to smile.

"There's nothing like stopping a more threatening enemy from getting away from their plans, huh, Cortex?" Maverick asked. Cortex nodded in agreement, but then he looked up at Crash and started to come over to him. "Crash?" Cortex asked. Crash turned to see Cortex and smiled.

"Yes, Cortex?" Crash asked in response. Cortex looked down to think of what to say, and then he looked back up at Crash. "I really need to thank you for helping me through all of this. You were really a huge help throughout this adventure." Cortex explained. Crash smiled at this and nodded; he knew that was true.

"You were as well, Cortex. If it weren't for your knowledge of everything around us, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere." Crash responded. Cortex nodded in agreement, but there was something that he couldn't work out throughout the whole adventure.

"But, there's something I don't understand. I have been trying to chase you down for years just to get rid of you. But, you counted on my help and never tried to suspect me of anything. Why did you consider me to even be your friend, after everything I tried to do to not only you, but Alicia as well, Crash?" Cortex asked. Crash shook his head; that answer was far too easy.

"You want to know something, Cortex? I always knew you belonged on the good side." Crash said. Cortex was astonished by that answer; did he really just hear Crash say that right? "W-what did you say, Crash?" Cortex asked.

"I always knew you needed to be on our side. But you just never realized it because you were convinced that the best way to achieve your plans was by getting rid of me and Alicia. It just took the threat of the Evil Twins for you to realise just how much you needed our help, and I knew then that you understood. You just needed that more than anything to see that your greatest enemies are in fact your closet friends." Crash explained. Cortex could feel tears start to build up in his eyes; he had never felt happier than he did now. He looked up at Crash with a bright smile and happily hugged him tightly, much to Crash's surprise.

"Thank you so much, Crash. I never thought I would hear you say that, but you're right. I needed this more than anything else to realize that. I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you. Could you ever forgive me for it?" Cortex asked. Crash was surprised at first, but then he smiled and returned Cortex's embrace. After Cortex let go, Crash looked him right in the eyes and nodded.

"Of course, Cortex. Of course I can." Crash responded. But Alicia interrupted them to ask something. "Guys, what do you think we should do with the Evil Twins?" Alicia asked, looking over at the cage. Cortex went over and picked the cage up, with Victor and Mauritz still inside.

"I don't know what we can do with you. I'd like to leave you somewhere you can get what you deserve. But, I can't think of a place like that." Cortex said, as he looked at Victor and Mauritz in the cage.

"I think I can, Cortex. To Evil Crash's house!" Maverick responded. As the team arrived at Evil Crash's house, Cortex slowly opened the door, dropped the cage in and quickly shut the door behind him. Victor and Mauritz looked to notice Evil Crash, who looked at them with a huge grin on his face.

"Well, this is one heck of an ending." Victor commented. Outside, the team could hear screaming coming from inside the house and then there was silence. After a few seconds, the team smiled, knowing that Victor and Mauritz were gone for good.

"That took care of them. Why don't we get out of this dimension now and head back home?" Crash asked. The others nodded in agreement, and headed back inside the Lab where Cortex went over to the controls of the Psychetron.

"You know what to do, Cortex? Let's get out of here!" Crash said. Cortex nodded, and with this the Lab vanished and soon arrived at the icy area. As the team climbed out of the Iceberg Lab, they found they were back in their dimension.

"It feels great to be back. Let's back home and tell everyone about what happened." Crash said. As the rest started to head over to the boat, Crash looked back to notice Cortex and Nina standing there and had a bit of thought over something before he looked back at the group. "Guys, don't you think they should be allowed to come as well? I mean, after everything they've done for us, I think they feel at home with us." Crash explained. The others were surprised at first, but then they understood what Crash was saying and nodded. Delighted, Crash ran over to Cortex and Nina.

"Cortex, why don't you and Nina come along as well? I think you two belong at home with us." Crash said. Cortex and Nina both smiled, and jumped onto the boat along with the rest of the team, and Crash got on after them. As they were on their way back to N. Sanity Island, Cortex looked over at Crash.

"Crash, you're really doing this for us? I just don't know what to say anymore." Cortex explained. Crash just showed Cortex a smile that let him know that he didn't have to say anything. Back on N. Sanity Island, Coco was keeping a look out for the others when she looked to see the boat coming and smiled.

"Crunch, here they come!" Coco said. The boat arrived and the team climbed off board onto the island, where Coco ran over to them. "You guys made it back! I was so worried about you all." Coco smiled.

"Well, you don't need to worry anymore, Coco. We're home." Crash responded. But, Coco was alarmed when Cortex climbed out of the boat with Nina in his arms. "Crash, what's Cortex doing here?" Coco asked. Crash turned to see them and smiled.

"Don't worry, Coco. Cortex is on our side now; he belongs here with us." Crash explained. Cortex happily waved to Coco and Crunch. Coco looked down at Nina in Cortex's arms.

"Who is this?" she asked. "Meet my niece, Nina." Cortex responded, as he placed Nina down. Nina looked up at Coco and smiled brightly.

"Hello." Nina said, waving. As Crash was watching this on, Alicia came over to him. "Crash?" she asked. Crash turned around to see Alicia and smiled.

"Yes, Alicia?" he asked. Alicia looked down for a few moments to think before she punched Crash in the arm, much to his alarm. "That's for all the danger you've had to put me through!" Alicia said. Crash rubbed his arm off; he wasn't expecting Alicia to do that.

"Well, that was uncalled for." Crash commented. Alicia then happily shook her head, and then she came over and kissed Crash much to his surprise. After she let go, Crash was staring at her in amazement.

"And that's for making it safely through it all." Alicia added. Crash gently touched his lips, amazed by what Alicia just did. "I didn't see that coming, either...but I enjoyed it!" Crash smiled. Alicia happily smiled at this, but then Crash came over and happily kissed her. Alicia was initially surprised, but then she smiled just enjoying herself. The others could see this as well and were all delighted by this.

"Nice one, Crash. Way to make the move!" Crunch said. After Crash and Alicia let go, Crash turned to the rest of the group while Alicia happily leaned against him, holding his arm.

"Now then, who's up for a celebration, guys?" Crash asked. Everyone agreed, when Reala came over to Maverick. "What is it, Reala?" Maverick asked. Reala explained the problem and pointed to a portal that had appeared behind them.

"Yeah, I know." Maverick agreed, nodding. He and Reala came over to the group. "Guys?" Maverick asked. The team turned around wondering what the problem was. "It looks like...we need to say goodbye." Maverick said.

"What?!" The team asked in unison, alarmed. "What do you mean?" Cortex asked, just as puzzled as the others were. Maverick and Reala looked at each other, before they looked back at the group.

"Well, Reala and I...we need to head back to our world." Maverick explained. The others were confused, before they understood. "I get it. You have somewhere you need to head back to, don't you?" Crash asked. Maverick and Reala both nodded in agreement.

"But before we go, we have something we'd like to say about each of you." Maverick said. He first started by coming over to Crash. "Crash, it was a lot of fun going on adventures with you." Maverick said. Crash happily laughed and nodded.

"You bet it was." Crash agreed, nodding. "I hope you have a fun time doing what you do best, and make you treat Alicia right, okay?" Maverick asked. Crash nodded in agreement with that, and Maverick then came over to Alicia.

"Alicia, it was great to see you always helping us. Take care of Crash; we've been through a lot together." Maverick said. Alicia nodded and responded "I will." Maverick then looked at Cortex, and smiled.

"Cortex, what can I say about you that hasn't already been said?" Maverick asked. Cortex just smiled, and looked Maverick in the eyes before he could continue.

"You and Reala were a lot of wonderful help through all of this. I could never thank you enough for having so much patience with someone like me." Cortex explained. "Well, it wasn't easy, but we got through it. It probably won't be easy adapting to being on the good side, but you just try your hardest at it, okay, Cortex?" Maverick asked. Cortex nodded slowly in agreement.

"I will do my best. I promise." Cortex said. Maverick smiled at this and then looked over at Coco, who was happily smiling at him.

"Coco, I'm so glad I could get to help such an amazing girl like you. You were certainly very reliable to the team with that handy laptop of yours and your own skills as well." Maverick explained. Coco's smile grew brighter and she started to blush a little.

"Will I be able to see you again soon, Maverick?" Coco asked. Maverick nodded at this question.

"You will, Coco." Maverick responded. He then looked down at Nina and then turned to Reala. "I'll let you talk to Nina, Reala." Maverick said. Reala smiled at this, and then came over to Nina, bending down to get to her height.

"Nina..." Reala said. "Reala, thank you for keeping me safe throughout this adventure. It made me glad to know that there was someone who wanted to see me safe through everything." Nina explained. Reala nodded; Nina couldn't have put it better. "I hope I get to see you again soon, Reala." Nina said.

"Me too, Nina." Reala agreed. Nina ran over to Reala and the two shared one last hug. Cortex looked down to see the two and smiled. 'I don't think Nina has met anyone as special as Reala before. I hope we get to meet again soon.' Cortex thought. As Reala let Nina go, he stood up and turned to look at Maverick.

"We better get going. We'll see you guys soon!" Maverick smiled, and he and Reala jumped through the portal behind them, which then vanished in front of the others' eyes.

"Okay, we'll be waiting until then!" Crash called, hoping they would hear him. Cortex looked at the others, and then looked down in worry. 'I don't know what the others will say if they find out I'm on Crash's side. I just hope they don't find out.' he thought. Crash looked to see Cortex looking down in worry, and could tell what the problem was. With this, he looked up at the sky.

'Please, let Cortex know that he is safe with us, and that he doesn't have to be afraid. He just needs reassurance that he will be all right with us. Let him know of that, and that he doesn't have to worry.' Crash thought. Cortex then looked up in surprise to see a small dove sitting on one of the tree branches.

'Who is that?' Cortex wondered to himself. Crash looked up as well to notice the dove and smiled. 'I'm so happy to see You here.' Crash thought. The dove looked down at Crash and Cortex and bobbed its head, letting them know they didn't have to worry. As the dove flew away, Cortex was surprised and left wondering who that was.

Meanwhile, Maverick and Reala had just arrived back at Maverick's room and Maverick was quick to notice something. "I don't believe this. It's the same time and day that we left; it's as if we were never gone." Maverick said to himself in surprise. He then smiled and turned to face Reala.

"Well then, Reala, why don't we head downstairs and tell the others about what happened?" Maverick asked. He started to head downstairs to the living room. Reala followed, but as he was about to close the door, he looked back at the Universe Warper: the machine that started everything.

'I hope we get to see everyone again soon. I'll never forget everything we've been through.' Reala thought. Maverick then looked back to notice Reala still standing there, and started to come back up. "What's going on, Reala? Come on!" Maverick called.

"Okay, I'll be right there, Master!" Reala responded. He then looked back at the room briefly, and then closed the door behind him to followed Maverick downstairs.

It had been a few days since the Evil Twins adventure, and Crash, Alicia and Cortex found themselves in a psychiatrist's office. Alicia was sitting on one of the couches behind Crash reading to herself, before she looked up at Crash from her book.

"So, why are we here again?" Alicia asked. Crash shrugged, but they soon got the answer to their question.

"We're beginning these therapy sessions so we can work through the conflicts in your relationships." The psychiatrist, Dr Paul explained. Crash and Alicia looked at each other in surprise, hearing that.

"We have conflicts?" Alicia asked. "Apparently." Crash responded, shrugging. Cortex was just wondering what exactly was going on here.

"We're going to begin with a trust exercise." Dr Paul said. Crash put his hand up to ask a question. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked. Alicia and Cortex shook their heads, wondering what went through Crash's mind sometimes.

"Don't worry. These are all perfectly safe." Dr Paul responded. "Okay, thanks for the heads up." Crash said. As Alicia was listening to this, she was wondering when people thought this was a good idea; from what she heard, it rarely ever worked. Cortex didn't like it either, so he started to try and get himself out of it.

"I don't think this is going to work. He's an idiot. I don't even like him, let alone trust him." Cortex explained. Crash and Alicia just smiled at him; they knew better. "I don't believe him. He's pretending." Alicia whispered. Cortex then looked down, knowing they would catch him out and continued.

"That, and I have a fear of falling." Cortex said. Crash rolled his eyes, clearly knowing what Cortex was pretending. "Don't be stubborn, Cortex." Alicia smiled. Cortex then sighed, irritated.

"All right, let's get this over with." Cortex sighed. Alicia was watching to see how this would turn out, but then she noticed a Wumpa fruit roll out of the fruit bowl and she could tell that Crash would get distracted. She looked up to make sure Crash didn't notice, and then she bent down and picked up the Wumpa fruit just as Cortex was falling backwards.

"Look at you two! You're doing it like professionals." Alicia smiled. Crash looked to notice that Alicia was right and then he looked down at Cortex. "Cortex, you can look now." Crash said. Cortex opened his eyes and looked to see that Crash had caught him, and a bright smile crossed his face.

"Crash, catch!" Alicia said, tossing a Wumpa fruit to Crash. "Thanks!" Crash smiled, but as he went to catch the Wumpa fruit, he let go of Cortex who landed on the floor. The two bandicoots looked down to see him lying there and smiled.

"Sorry about that, Crash. You'll need to get used to Crash's attention span; you know how he is." Alicia smiled. With this, the two bandicoots started laughing. Cortex sat up, initially annoyed, but then he couldn't help laughing either; he thought it was great to be on their side now.