Uh…hi?

Yeah…I'm sorry I sorta just dropped this story for over 3 years. It honestly would've stayed that way for longer, but I started to feel bad since I recently "updated" this story by removing a certain chapter that seemed completely irrelevant (since part of it connected to a past Crash story of mine that I didn't post on this site, so it didn't make a lot of sense). So, because this made the story get "updated", I got asked if I was gonna write more to this, so I figured…why not?

There's no guarantee that there will be a whole lot more, but I'll admit that this is my all-time favorite Crash story, and the only Crash story I'll ever consider updating, even if it may take a year or so again. For anyone still into this story, thanks for sticking around! XD

Last time on "Simply Marvelous"…

"Who the heck ARE you!?" Coco exclaimed, glaring up at the woman.

"Marvelous Pseredon—contemporary assistant to Dr. Neo Cortex. Pleasure to meet you, now that we both know whose side we're really on," Marvel stated sweetly. "Now, would you be so kind as to tell me exactly where your brother is? I'd just love to meet him—"

A sudden blow to her noggin knocked her out cold, her limp body dropping onto the hard concrete.

[Later]

"Well, you've been unconscious for a while, and houses around the block are starting to shut off their lights. I think we'd better head back to the lair," Nina informed her.

"What...?" Marvel repeated, her body stiffening. "No...no more candy?" Her eyes narrowed, and she swung her fists in the air. "THOSE DANG BANDICOOTS! They wasted my time!"

"Hey, it's okay..." Nina raised her hands in surrender. "At least you got some candy, right?"

Marvel, on the other hand, only stared at her candy bag in remorse, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Those wretched little vermin are going to pay."

Marvel had still not gotten over the trick-or-treating incident between her and the bandicoots. After explaining the situation to Cortex that night, the doctor was, undoubtedly, furious that she let them escape. However, once Nina defended her, he eventually let the issue drop, blaming it on Marvel's sugar-rush from all the candy.

Since then, Marvel had always made it a habit of hers to train, whether it be in the basement or outdoors. Even if she played it cool during Cortex's lecture, she hated how embarrassed she felt. Having those bandicoots right in her grasp, only to let them overpower her and slip away was not only humiliating, but downright pathetic.

For the next four days, it was almost as if Marvel was a completely differently person. She didn't seem as lively, didn't feel like baking anything for once, and did everything Cortex told her without her smart-aleck comments. Even he was beginning to feel uncomfortable over her silence.

"Get over it, Cortex. Perhaps she's just not used to failing like you are," Uka grouched one day, giving Cortex the evil eye.

Cortex's face turned entirely red. "SHUT UP!"

Later that day, Marvel headed down in the basement to practice more fighting skills with her trident. She picked up a mannequin from the ground and brushed it off, setting it on the other side of the room. Backing up a fair distance, she held her trident with one hand and slowly brought it back, concentrating on the target that was painted on the mannequin's chest. After a few seconds, she hurled it forward, and it soared straight into the target, impaling it right through the middle.

Marvel grinned widely, silently celebrating.

"Not bad," a voice mumbled.

Marvel flinched and whirled around, and she caught sight of Pinstripe in the corner of the room. She blinked, wondering why this felt so unusual, but then she realized it was because this was the first time she had ever heard him talk to her. "Uh…thanks," she mumbled, walking over to the mannequin and ripping her trident out.

Now, to Marvel, Pinstripe was an…odd sort of character. Definitely not the same "odd" as Ripper Roo, but whenever something happened in the lair—conversations, experiments, random activities—he would just sort of…be there. It didn't matter what anyone was doing; he would come into the room without a word, wander around a bit, peek at random items, then just leave.

The poor guy must've been really bored or something.

This time, however, Pinstripe wasn't just wandering around. He seemed to be fully fixated on his Tommy gun, polishing it off with a cloth. On his forehead was some sort of bandage—something that Marvel asked Cortex about, but he was quick to claim that it was none of her business.

"So, what brings you down here?" Marvel asked him curiously, rubbing a finger on her trident to inspect for dust or cotton.

The potoroo shrugged indifferently. "Me? Eh. Sometimes I do some shootin' practice, is all."

"Ah. You must be pretty annoyed that I've been hogging this room for the past few days then, aren't ya?" Marvel smiled dryly.

"Personally, I could care less," he replied, although his eye-roll made it evident he was a bit irritated. "But the fact that it's almost been a week does sort of...collide with my pastime."

"Well…" Marvel already got to work putting together another training dummy. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but you're just gonna have to live with it for now, honey."

Pinstripe narrowed his eyes at her at first, but shrugged and turned around. "Fine, fine. Besides…I'm sure you need this training room a lot more than I do, anyway."

Marvel suddenly twitched. "Excuse me?" When Pinstripe didn't respond, she turned to face him. "Are you implying something?"

He didn't even turn around. "Hey, I'm not the one who got taken down by two scrawny bandicoots in Halloween costumes."

"EXCUSE ME?" Marvel gritted her teeth, dropping the training dummy.

"Trust me; nobody can really blame you for wanting to hide down here after all that."

Marvel's grip tightened around her trident.

Before Pinstripe could even set one foot on the stairs, a flash of gold swarmed his vision as it darted right past his face, stabbing the wall beside him. He forced a step back, eyes widening at the trident that was just inches from impaling him straight through the head.

Maintaining his composure, his eyes slowly went to Marvel, who eerily made her way towards him.

"I don't think I'm the one who should be hiding right about now."

Nina walked into the kitchen, where Cortex was at the sink. He had a wrench, which he was tightening the faucet with.

"Sink broke again?"

"I don't know what is up with this stupid thing, but it's driving me CRAZY!" Cortex hollered, looking about ready to bash it with his fists.

Nina turned her head when she saw Ripper Roo hop into the room, only for him to freeze at the sight of Cortex and slowly retreat back into the hall. She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I was gonna ask, have you seen Pinstripe?"

Cortex continued tightening the faucet, straining as he did so. "How the heck should I know? He could be anywhere. Where did you last see him?"

"I think he went downstairs or something, but I don't remember if he came back up. I just wanted to ask him something."

"Well, I highly doubt he went down there, seeing how…" Cortex stopped, eyes searching the room to make sure no one else was around, "…intense Marvel has been, lately."

Nina nodded. "Yeah, about that, I'm…pretty worried about her," she admitted. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

Cortex was quiet, feeling a bit concerned for Marvel as well. He blinked, then quickly shook his head and answered, "I'm sure this is just a phase. She'll be just fine and peachy before we know it. She just needs to learn how to pay better attention next time, that's all!" He focused his attention on the sink once more, making sure it was tight enough not to easily break again.

"…" Nina raised a suspicious brow at him. She opened her mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by a loud shriek coming from the basement.

Cortex nearly dropped his wrench. "What the HECK!?" Nina ran towards the door, and he snatched a blaster off the counter before following her.

"Okay—ow! STOP—I SAID STOP! J-JUST—AHH!"

Recognizing the voice, Cortex quickened his pace down the stairs and came to a complete halt next to Nina, facing a pretty bizarre scene:

Pinstripe was duct-taped to a training mannequin. Just barely above the tip of his head was Marvel's trident, stabbed into the wall. As he was struggling to break free, Marvel was giggling like a madwoman, clapping her hands together.

Cortex's mouth dropped wide open, whereas Nina started laughing her head off. She brought out her phone to take a picture, and Cortex gave her a look.

"WHAT is going on here!?" he hollered.

Marvel flinched, not even realizing they had walked in. She whirled around and, for the first time in nearly a week, smiled brightly. "Oh! Hi Cortex! Want to join me for some trainin'!? I got a new dummy and everything!" She squealed, pointing at Pinstripe.

"DON'T. YOU. DARE." Pinstripe rasped, sending Cortex a look that could kill.

Cortex stared at him, then slowly back at Marvel. "I…think I'll pass…" he spoke just above a whisper.

"Whatever floats your boat!" Marvel beamed and hummed to herself as she pulled out her trident. Once she did, she gave Pinstripe a pat on the head. "Thank you for being such a good boy."

"You're a psychopath!" Pinstripe hissed.

Marvel just giggled once more and returned to Nina and Cortex. "Welp. I think I'm done for the day! That was fun!" She skipped up the stairs, as happy as ever.

Nina and Cortex blinked, then faced each other. "I…think Marvel is back to normal?" Nina stifled another laugh.

"This is…I don't even know…" Cortex was purely stunned.

"I'M MAKING SUGAR COOKIES!"

Nina perked up. "Yup! She's definitely back to normal!" She hurried up the stairs, shouting, "Leave some for me!"

Cortex was left standing alone with Pinstripe, who was still trying to break free from the duct tape. "Do I…even want to know what happened?" The doctor mumbled.

"Oh, shut up!" Pinstripe spat. "How about you just throw another chair at my head to end my misery?!"

Cortex glared at him. Not even bothering to respond, he turned and walked back up the stairs, muttering, "I guess I could use a sugar cookie right about now…"