Chapter One: Starting Off

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The sun was shining down upon several small houses in what looked like a jungle. While at first glance, things looked like a normal village, the people inhabiting it told otherwise. Sitting atop a rock, typing frantically on a pink laptop was a female bandicoot, wearing human clothes and with a full head of blonde hair, complete with a ponytail.

"Coco!" A voice called out.

Coco Bandicoot looked up from her laptop and saw a tribal mask floating towards her. She smiled. "Hey, Aku Aku!" She greeted back. "What's up?"

"I just got a letter from the boss." Aku Aku explained, holding up a letter (somehow). "They liked your idea for new game and they think it has a good chance of actually making it."

"Really?!" Coco asked excitedly. "Wow! That's great!"

"Oy! Did they mention anything about what AH wrote about?" An Australian voice asked from behind.

The two looked in the direction of the voice and saw a dingo-crocodile hybrid walking over with a hopeful grin.

Aku Aku sighed. "No, Dingodile. They still think you and Tiny make better villains." He replied.

Dingodile's face drooped. "Aw, man! Why can't those guys see the potential Tiny and Ah have? Did they forget 'Crash Bash'?" He asked.

"Sadly, EVERYBODY'S trying to forget 'Crash Bash'." Coco sighed. "I think the company's even denying Rilla Roo's existence."

"But it was the only one Tiny and Ah enjoyed because we were good guys!" Dingodile insisted. "Ah even said that in the letter!"

"I'm sure that they'll notice the potential you guys have someday." Coco assured before looking at Aku Aku again. "What about Cortex's idea of having a new villain instead of him this time? That seemed to work well for 'Twinsanity'."

"Yes, but we all know Cortex simply wishes to be beaten up less." Aku Aku sighed. "And he usually ends up getting the short end of the stick anyway."

Despite what everyone else outside of their node thought, Cortex was, in reality, on relatively good terms with Crash and the others. Even some of his men were good friends with Crash. One thing that Cortex never staged during the games, however, was his hatred for bandicoots in general. Everyone had to admit that Crash's ineptness got annoying at times, and even caused some damage to several of the sets during production for several games. Of course, Cortex was usually the only one injured during said destruction of sets, and that just made things worse.

"And the others?" Coco asked. "What about them?"

"Well, the boss is seeing some potential in Koala Kong and everyone seems to want Ripper Roo to come back. Pinstripe and the Komodo Brothers are still trying to get some popularity with the fans, but it's too early to tell at this point." Aku Aku replied.

Suddenly, before any of the three had time to react any further, they heard a distinct singing voice coming from behind.

"She eat like she have hole in neck and Tiny always one who get stuck with check!" A loud voice sang. "Tiny don't know how they no weigh ton! Oh, girls just want have lunch! Girls just want have lunch!"

Coco, Aku Aku and Dingodile looked and saw a huge, orange tiger walking towards them, a pair of headphones sitting on his head, which was obviously the source of the music he was singing.

"How did Tiny get so into Weird Al, anyway?" Coco asked.

"Ah think Donkey Kong brought a CD when he came by ta visit." Dingodile replied.

"Hello, everyone!" Tiny said cheerily and he walked up to the ground, put his music on pause and took off his headphones. "What going on?"

"Aku Aku's just telling us about this letter he got from the boss." Coco replied.

"Oh! Did boss agree to give Tiny bigger part?!" Tiny asked excitedly.

"They're thinking about it." Aku Aku replied, looking over the letter again. "I think you've got an okay chance because you're a lot more popular than Koala Kong. Heck, I think you and Crunch are tied for the most popular strongman in the series."

"Anything other than cheap cameo Tiny get in Twinsanity is fine!" Tiny insisted.

"Well, if they use my idea, I think we'll finally have a great game again." Coco replied. "We haven't had a truly great game since CTR, after all."

"How do we keep getting' games if our franchise is strugglin', anyway?" Dingodile asked.

"In all honesty, I think the companies like Crash's 'stage personality'." Coco replied again, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. Everyone looked and saw Crash chasing his tail. "Apparently, they thought Crash was just ACTING stupid for the games to make them funnier."

"Is that why so many different companies made our games?" Dingodile asked.

"Wouldn't be surprised." Coco reasoned.

Tiny looked around for a few seconds, then back at the others. "Where Crunch?" He asked. "Him not show up for workout this morning."

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Coco asked. "Crunch went to VG Central for the day to hang with some of his friends he hasn't seen in a while."

Tiny tilted his head a bit. "VG…Central? Where that?" He asked.

"You've never heard of VG Central, mate?" Dingodile asked. "Why, it's right smack dab in the middle of all the different gaming node around."

"Yes. It's the center point of all the gaming nodes, and thus brings all of them together." Aku Aku added. "Game characters go there every day to mingle and take their minds off of the hassle of everyday life or to unwind after receiving poor reviews for a game."

"Is it good place to go?" Tiny asked.

"Oh, heck yeah." Coco nodded. "I go there all the time. Some of my best friends hang out at VG Central."

Tiny's eyes lit up in excitement. "Can Tiny go there?!" He asked.

Dingodile laughed. "Sure, Tiny. Ya can go there whenever ya want." He said. "The station's open all the time and it only costs three bucks fer a ticket."

"Why tickets so cheap?" Tiny asked.

"With the amount of people travelling every day, they can afford to have it so cheap." Coco replied. "You should go there sometime, Tiny. You definitely wouldn't regret it."

"Can Tiny go now?!" Tiny asked.

Dingodile looked at his watch. "Well, it IS kinda early in the day. If ya wanna go today, go right ahead." He replied.

"Just make sure you're back for supper, alright?" Coco asked.

Tiny nodded frantically. "Okay! Tiny be back before supper!" He agreed. "Where station?"

"The nodal train station is outside of the village, down the road a bit." Aku Aku explained. "Just be sure to remember the way back to the nodal train station when you get there."

Tiny thanked the others and bid farewell to them. After he did, Tiny left the village and started running down the dirt road outside of it.

The huge feline wasted no time in running down the dirt road. Soon, he spotted a huge, futuristic-looking building off in the distance. Tiny quickly rushed over to it and pushed open the double-doors to get inside.

Looking around for a few seconds, Tiny quickly spotted a counter. Knowing that he shouldn't run unless he was in a real hurry, Tiny walked over to the counter.

"Can I help you?" The man behind the counter asked.

"Tiny want to go to VG Central." Tiny replied. "When does next train leave?"

"You've got plenty of time. "The man assured. "A ticket's just three dollars."

"No problem." Tiny said as he handed three dollars to the man. After a couple of seconds, Tiny had a ticket.

"Thank you very much!" Tiny said. "Which way to train platform?"

"Just up those stairs over there." The man replied.

Tiny quickly went up the set of stairs he was directed to and found himself standing on a small train platform. Tiny looked around and quickly saw a parked train. The sign nearby told Tiny that it was going to VG Central, so the huge feline knew he had found the right train.

Walking over to the train, Tiny stepped on and quickly found a seat. It didn't take much longer for the train to start. The train drove forward for about twenty yards before vanishing into a wormhole on the track, vanishing from sight completely.

To be continued…

Author's note: Keep in mind that this fic will have several references to different crossover pairings.