A lonely hut sat in a quiet, lush, vibrant forest, it was quite compact for what it was, with a circular, red, wooden door being the entrance. A short stone path leading in front of it, and a stone wall surrounding it as well. Smoke was quietly extruding from the tiny chimney that crookedly stood atop the roof of the hut. The sweet but sombre tones of birds chirping on this bright, glistening sunny day was soon brought to a halt.

The front door was thrown open, kicking up dust and almost flying off the hinges, and out flew an orange marsupial. He tripped and planted his face into the ground, spluttering a bit. His legs began to kick a bit due to the struggle of uprooting his skull from the ground. His red sneakers scuffing the dirt and the dirt staining his blue jeans a tad, he was able to pull himself out and he stumbled onto his rear end. Holding his head, his hands ruffled his Mohawk back into shape, and he adjusted his brown biker gloves as well.

Crash Bandicoot stood up, and turned around waiting for his family to join him on his casual day out. Soon a soft, female voice was heard from inside their home.

"Crash, I understand that you're excited but you could help us carry some stuff!", she shouted from indoors, before the audible sound of clattering and shattering followed. Out stumbled Crash's younger sister, Coco Bandicoot, her blonde hair slightly ruffled but she put it back into shape quickly. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a pink flower imprinted on the front, blue jeans also and pink sneakers. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, with a fringe in front, and she had a blue flower head to the top left of her hair, she was a little bit shorter than Crash.

Coco was lugging an assortment of sports balls and beach chairs, and tossed them on the floor after huffing. The brainy bandicoot, forgetting her laptop, went to quickly fetch it from inside, leaving Crash to pick up some of the equipment set before him.

Not long after, a bigger, red bandicoot emerged from the hut, he had jagged ears, was really buff and had a steel right hand. Crunch had a bunch of chairs under his left arm and a boombox over the other. "Hey bro", Crunch greeted Crash, who returned a smile, "I just thought we'd bring this baby Coco amped up recently, should be nice to have some tunes while we're chilling on the beach". Crash and Crunch waited for Coco to return so they could head out to the seafront and relax while the sun was blazing.

Coco came back outside, pink laptop in tow. Crunch raised an eyebrow, "You're bringing that thing to the beach? Isn't the point to enjoy the outside world?".

Coco frowned, grasping it slightly tighter, "Judge all you want, it's just with me in case I need it". She glanced at her brothers who were lugging everything, "Now, let's get going shall we?".

"Hold on, children", a wiser more soft voice commanded, out flew a floating mask, their guardian, Aku Aku. His feathers were as coloured and varied as always, assorted colours such as yellow, red, orange and purpe. His soft, yellow eyes were welcoming and warm along with his clear white smile.

Crunch turned to the beach in the distance past some trees down a rocky path, "Alright, let's get goin'". Crash nodded in agreement, and the family wandered down toward the sandy dunes of Island.

A few minutes later, the family had set up near an old chicken coop on the beach, where some rocks were scattered about and 'Skull Rock' sat on the other end of the valley. As the poultry pecked about perplexed, the bandicoots were just taking in the fresh air, and chatting a bit.

Crunch and Coco sat on some beach beds they brought, a green and pink one respectively. Slightly across from them was their middle brother, digging a massive hole. As Crash tossed clumps of sand about, some of the local wildlife wandered over, namely some crabs. Crash pulled his head out from the hole and saw one of the crustaceans, he waved his left hand and was soon clamped by the angry crab.

Crash began to run about frantically in the distance, desperately trying to remove the vice grip on his hand. Aku Aku noticed this and flew over to try and help him, of course he was aware he couldn't physically do much.

Coco saw this and chuckled at Crash's antics, and opened up her laptop and began to watch some video online that piqued her interest. Crunch lay with is sunglasses on, "Mm, that's some good sun comin' down", he claimed, basking in what would no doubt be a fine tan in a few days. Crunch's ears twitched a little hearing outside audio from Coco's laptop speakers, "What're you watching?", he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

Coco answered, not taking her eyes off the screen, "Nothing much, some academy advertisement...", she was mesmerised by what the advert was promising, qualifications, experience, hands on work, the sort of thing she'd happily take in a heartbeat.

Crunch hummed, "Is it for animals like us? Or People?".

Coco narrowed her eyes, scanning the page, "We are people, Crunch, but yeah we're applicable! And it's on the Island? Where?".

Crunch groaned, "Probably that new area on the west side past the caverns. Some rich guy bought it so it was probably to invest in that, but count me out, we got our hands full as it is with those evil losers".

Coco seemed a tad down hearing that, she didn't disagree was the thing, Crunch was right, with all the heroic world-saving, how could they ever hope to get a proper education?

Crunch continued "Besides, it's gonna be hard to get a job on a remote island, unless they build some shopping complex or something, haha!". Crunch was jolly laughing to himself, all Coco thought then was how great that would be.

Soon a shadow was cast over her eyes, and Crash had a frisbee in his hand, smiling and gently waving it as a hint. Coco gave a soft smile, "Alright" she said laughing, she took the frisbee from him and began to wind up her arm. "Go long!", she cheered, tossing it into the air, the frisbee gliding throughout the blue sky, Crash turned and dashed after his target.

Crunch chuckled seeing Crash skedaddle away, "Guy never gets tired, does he?".

Coco shook her head, "Nope, can always count on him to try his best".

The purple frisbee had finished ascending and began to descend, and landed on top of the sea. Crash's phobia kicked in and he stopped just short of the sea, the frisbee was just in front of him thankfully, so he wouldn't have to dip too deep at least, but nonetheless he had a sinking feeling just seeing it adrift there. Nevertheless he reached out for the disc, only to see the small toy began to shake a tad. Sharks? No way, they didn't swim in these waters much...

Crash's face sunk as what began to emerge from the water was worse, way worse than sharks.

Meanwhile Aku Aku and Crunch were having a small debate on the benefits of certain diets, of course Aku's time on the planet had been much longer so his views were a bit more old fashioned. "I said it before and I'll say it again", Crunch began, "Just eat less and exercise more, and the strain your body goes through will be all worth it in the end".

As Aku Aku noted Crunch's point and was about to add his own views on the subject, the group noticed Crash's absence. Coco sighed, "If he's gone and got himself lost in the caverns again I swear". Coco slowly put her trusty laptop aside and stood up, stretching and looking around, she could see Crash a little far away, and something else. Coco's eyes widened, "Not again... C'mon Crunch!" she commanded, zipping over to Crash's direction.

Crunch looked lost, "Huh? What?".

Aku Aku turned, then groaned, "The usual...".

Crash stood still, shocked at the size of the behemoth that stood before him, a pure mechanical marvel and (no doubt) killing machine. A giant, fuelled weapon of anarchy was standing, looking down onto him, it was donning a huge saw-blade on its right hand and a mounted machine gun on the left, with a head that was oddly shaped. It was like an odd oval shape, and it had a huge, metallic 'N' plastered on its forehead. All this, and the oh so distinct laughter of a scientific madman echoed from inside.

Inside the head of the robot, sat a small, angry, maniacal man in a slick leather chair. He was yellow skinned, had black hair and a flat head, he too had an 'N' on his forehead. As he began to move the levers in his yellow-gloved hands, his laughter rose. Dr. Neo Cortex was having the time of his life, finally he had trapped the infernal bandicoot and caught him off guard, this would be an easy kill.

"I can't believe it was this simple...", he started, his voice low and sinister, with a hint of arrogance too. "It only took waiting for a couple hours submerged underwater, but now, I've got the rodent right in my grasp...". Cortex rubbed his hands together in glee, the suddenly stopped, "What the-".

As soon as he saw something was up, a giant rock was tossed at one of the robot's eyes, knocking it back slightly, followed by a grunt from Cortex. He didn't sound pleased at all, Crash turned and was relieved his family had come to assist, Coco, Crunch (carrying a load of said rocks) and Aku Aku stood next to him. They all faced the robot in unison.

Cortex growled, "Of course it wouldn't be easy... !", he bellowed, causing his henchman to turn to him.

The rocket-headed, pale, crazed lunatic was startled by his master's sudden outburst at him. "Y-yes master?", whimpered, at a slightly lower part of the mechanical monster, surrounded by monitors.

"Your surveillance wasn't good at all! You said only the usual bandicoot was approaching!", Cortex yelled, flinched a little bit.

"With respect, sir, this is quite a big machine...", commented tapping his fingers together awkwardly.

Cortex raised an eyebrow, as if he was wondering if was questioning his sheer brilliance in robotic design. "Never mind", he muttered, turning back around, "Let's get this show on the road!". Cortex jammed one of the levers forward, and the mech appropriately moved, aggressively launching forward for a strike with its saw.

The heroes aptly dodged the strike, the blade whirring into the sand and sending particles of the tiny granules everywhere. Crash tightened his hands, a determined look on his face, ready to fight, Crunch and Aku Aku stood beside him. Coco however, was looking back at her laptop sat afar, it's polished exterior reflecting the sunlight, like it was asking to be fetched.

"Ok guys", Coco began, her eyes darting back and forth from her possession and the enemy. "You distract Cortex as much as you can, I have an idea on how to exploit this flawed design". Before her brothers could respond she leaped into action. Cortex however noticed this.

" ! Activate targeting estimation!" Cortex demanded, and soon his view was covered in many targets, he however was focused on the blonde bandicoot. "Run for your life, smart one, it will be your misstep...".

Cortex began to fire an array of bullets toward Coco, Crunch ran over to the chicken coop and pried one of the walls off of it, chicken began to fly everywhere panicking. Crunch pulled up the red wooden wall, Aku Aku dashed over and fused his power with it to make a literal shield for Crunch to wield, covering his little sister.

Crash was left in the open, thinking fast before his arch-enemy could focus him down, he sprinted to the distressed chickens, scooping them up and running behind the cover Crunch provided. Coco had nabbed her laptop, and began to run an executable on her desktop, "Ok guys, we need to get a full view of this thing, so try and combat it, my laptop will scan it for any possible weakness!".

With a firm nod, Crash and Crunch sprung into action once the rattling had ceased, and it was clear they had to reload. The shield was tattered and ruined beyond repair, so Crunch quickly tossed it aside and darted over to the enemy, as did Crash. Aku Aku stayed by Coco's side, "I can give you a brief window of invulnerability but it's all I can muster right now, Coco", he warned.

The mech began to grind and churn, its gun shifting into a rocket launcher, and quickly began to fire a barrage of rockets to their furry foes. Crash slid under a couple, and weaved through some narrowly, finally spinning one back at the robot, causing it to explode right in its gut. Crunch saw this and smirked, "Nice find, Crash, I'll help!", Crunch grabbed one of the rockets and right when it was about to detonate, whirled it around and lobbed it right back at Cortex.

"Not good...", commented, as the lights inside the machine began to blink red.

Coco noticed this, "Guys! You made an opening in the chest!", she pointed to the exposed area where some cogs where winding together. Crash narrowed his eyes and grinned, exiting the scene.

Coco put her laptop aside, as it wasn't actually helping, and pulled out a wrench of hers, pink and covered with flowers painted on. However the paint was a little worn since she used it so much, she jogged over and nodded to Crunch, who nodded back.

Crunch put his hands together and Coco hopped onto them, Crunch launched her up into the air at tremendous speed. Coco wound her right arm up and tossed the wrench, it spinning rapidly and puncturing the robot's exposed weakness.

Cortex began to sweat a bit, wiggling the levers quite a lot as well, "Stupid, rodents...", he growled. Coco landed safely, she and Crunch looked on in victory, but not for long, as the mech pulled out the wrench, and threw it away into the distance, past some caverns.

Coco shrieked in shock and Crunch grew more irritated. "It's one thing to threaten me and my siblings", Crunch began, pacing slowly forward, "But you go and throw away something so valuable to them, you got another thing coming, friend". Crunch cracked his knuckles, but just as he did Cortex began to holler with laughter.

"I don't see what you can do, I still have a complete battle suit of armour", he taunted. Crash came back, panting, everyone turned to him in silence, and Crash pulled out a chicken he had saved earlier, his smile was wide. Cortex's face dropped, "I hate chickens...", he moaned.

Crash lobbed the bird right over, and as it clucked and freaked out, it was caught inside the gears of the machine, it suddenly stopped moving and held still. Inside, Cortex and 's faces were melancholic, and in a matter of seconds the robot was exploding all over, causing the wreckage to plummet backwards and cause a huge wave from the ocean to splash onto the island.

Cortex flew out on his hoverboard, with holding on underneath for dear life, "Once again you meddlesome rats got lucky, we'll see who's lucky next time!", Cortex warned, flying away quickly, causing to shriek.

A moment of silence passed, and the family were relieved, Aku Aku sighed, "Even when we want time off to relax, we are burdened by Cortex and his nefarious schemes". The chicken Crash threw slowly descended and began to peck about at the ground some more, unharmed. Crash picked it up and patted it on it's tiny head.

Coco turned around and walked back over to her laptop, still running the unneeded diagnostic, she turned it off and looked quite down. In the distance, Crunch was giving Crash a friendly ruffling of his hair, "Way to go, bro! Chickens do help a lot huh". As Crunch said that he leaning down to the chicken in Crash's arms, who proceeded to peck him in the face, Crunch shrieked but laughed at the same time.

Coco did smile softly seeing her brothers celebrate, but she was just a bit down due to her favourite wrench now lost on the island. It would probably take days to find it, and she often not seen without it.

Aku Aku glided over to the children, "Well, I feel this day has been slightly soured, may I suggest we relax at home?". The others all agreed and headed back after packing up, Crash lugged a bunch of chickens with him, needing to find them a new home.

Coco held her laptop under her left arm, "That's sweet you're bringing them with you, Crash", she smiled.

Crunch nodded, "Gotta agree, I'll get to making them a new coop tomorrow, they'd be a bit safer with us than out near the sea where Cortex lingers".

As the family laughed together at Cortex's failure, they slowly walked in a line together toward home.

The front room of the hut was very natural, wooden floor, some rugs on top in various patterns. A fireplace with various pictures of the bandicoot family, and even one of Crash and his ex-girlfriend, Tawna. Crash was currently fast asleep this evening, adrift in his dreams and completely comfortable. He was no doubt spent from the fight earlier.

Coco was making dinner for the family, not because she wanted to, but because she was the only one who could cook anything worth eating in the house. Crunch would just slap loads of protein nonsense all over the plate and have it all be meat. Crash would only go and make something 'wumpa' related, and that got old fast for the others.

The kitchen was small and cozy, there were countless fruits and vegetables in the assorted cupboards, not to mention the slabs of meat they had in their fridge-freezer. As Coco stirred the soup she was making, the steam emanated from the pot, only furthering her stomach growling. At the back of her mind she was still bothered about losing a prized possession today, but she did help stop Cortex and from wrecking their home once again, so that made it worth it.

Crunch was in the garage, a place he frequented as all of his bodybuilding equipment was in here, along with some of Coco's tech stuff. He had it all, punching bags, dumbbells, benches, squat racks... Anything you'd find in your typical gym, he had it, his siblings had no idea how, but he found them. It was his haven to get away from it all, in his own way, pushing his body further meant protecting others further.

Crunch was currently doing sit-ups quietly to some music being played in the room, next to him was his old kart from the Velo Grand Prix a few years ago, behind his kart were Crash and Coco's. They were sadly not as maintained as they used to be, but they kept them for memories. Crunch was proud of his little siblings today, they did good, he thought they did very well. His reminiscing was brought to a halt when he heard Coco calling that dinner was ready, and he leaped up ready to eat.

At the table, Coco sat on one end, with Crunch and Crash on the sides, ploughing through their meal at a shocking pace. She rolled her eyes and took her time, savouring the flavour. In about a couple minutes, the two brothers belched simultaneously and gave a thumbs up, a sign they were satisfied. Aku Aku floated in slowly, joining them in conversing at the table. Once Coco was finished, she collected all of the bowls and placed them in the kitchen by the sink, the family had a rotor for washing up, and it was Crash's turn today.

As the night sky began to spread over, the hut's lights were turned on, and whilst Crash was cleaning up from their dinner, elsewhere Cortex was flying away from the island, toward his rustic, rocky castle fortress.

Cortex's hoverboard was chugging painfully due to the combined weight of him and , and soon it began to descend, crashing onto the floor by the front door to Cortex's lair. Cortex landed on his feet, brushing bits of charred ash off of his clothes, and landed on his head, whining a little bit in the distance. Cortex pressed a button on one of his wrists that opened up the creaking door.

Inside the main room were countless machines, machinations and robotics, all dark blue and glowing, very ominous. In the center was their main table for concocting evil schemes, sat around it were a few other villains, Tiny Tiger, a purely muscled Tiger, not the brightest but far from useless. He sat grinning in his blissful way with his red sneakers and green cloth pants.

Dingodile, sat with his trusty flamethrower at his side, it was wheezing slightly, he gave a small nod to Cortex's presence. He was also donning his blue jeans to be decent in public.

Pinstripe, one of Cortex's most prized creations, was also there, his slick greasy black hair reflecting the lamp light off its surface, he was suavely dressed.

Finally Ripper Roo, a more unhinged but still useful asset to the Cortex Commandos, he was giggling to himself about lord knows what in his tightened straight jacket. The blue fur on his head twitching a little as well.

They all glanced over, Pinstripe adjusted his maroon suit slightly, "Rough day, huh boss?".

Cortex sighed, "Failure, again", he started, walking over and past the mutated animals, "One day I'll have that rat gasping for air...".

The other villains looked concerned, but didn't pry into Cortex, they continued what they were doing before he arrived, playing poker. Pinstripe placed down his cards, "Straight", causing the others to groan, except Roo who just seemed confused as to what game they were playing.

Cortex ascended many rocky, spiralling stairs and ended up in the command room he had used to so long. Around the room were countless monitors and scanning equipment, weapons including his typical ray-gun, and all sorts of blackboard with various attempted plans scribbled on them. In the centre, much like downstairs sat a huge oval table with chairs designated for the other villains to sit and discuss plots.

"Well well well, look who didn't achieve their goals AGAIN!" a booming, heavy voice yelled across the room, Cortex slightly flinched and sighed in response. Floating toward him slowly was a darkened, wooden mask, with a yellow zigzag pattern across his forehead, and bones beside his head. His expression wasn't one of joy, heaven forbid, he was annoyed, miffed, furious. Uka Uka, Aku Aku's evil twin brother and arch-enemy, growled in Cortex's face, to which Cortex tried to smile to make things less heated.

Uka Uka's dark yellow eyes couldn't even express the frustration he had with this snivelling scientist, "I gave you simple instructions, and you couldn't even follow them right?!".

Cortex winced, "T-Today was just an off day! Honest...", his hands shaking as they covered his face, as if he was going to be struck.

Uka Uka shook himself as if shaking his head, "Why I expect any of you to do anything right, is beyond me... We've tried ambushes, assaults, tag teaming, none of it seems to work. Especially since most of the power crystals and gems are in their hands now, wonder who's fault that is...".

Cortex opened one of his eyes, "Yes well, uhm, maybe it's just how we go about it, we haven't tried a large scale assault on the rodents in quite some time".

Uka Uka turned back around suddenly, he was about to scream but stopped himself, as Cortex went back to cowering, Uka Uka grinned. "You're right, we haven't done that in quite some time indeed. Cortex! Gather the others and assemble them here, it's time we resort to one of my favourite strategies, brute force...".

Cortex nodded and scampered away back downstairs, Uka Uka was left laughing to himself.

Back at the bandicoot hut, the family were sat around the fireplace, Crunch was sat on one of the green armchairs in the room, lifting some small weights. Crash was warming his hands by the crimson flame, with Aku Aku tyring not to get too close to the fire. Coco sat typing away on her laptop, it was a nice, quiet ambience about the room.

Soon Crunch broke the silence, "When will they ever let up?". Everyone turned to him, Crunch didn't look up, he just kept lifting, he continued, "Each time we beat 'em, they just keep coming back for more, and more...".

Aku Aku knew exactly what Crunch meant, he had a long feud with his twin brother, Uka Uka for ages that was still ongoing. "Crunch", Aku began, sounding quite mellow, "It's not an easy fight, but it's one that's worth it, we're responsible for saving Island so many times".

Coco spoke up, "He's right, Crunch, and besides, if we don't fight them off, who will? The Tribe down the river? Papu Papu and his goons? They wouldn't stand a chance".

Crunch sighed, "Yeah, you're right, it's just tiring y'know? Can't think of the last time we got a break from them".

Aku Aku hummed, "A vacation is overdue perhaps". Crash nodded heavily approval, following with a wide smile. Aku Aku chuckled, "Well then, we best discuss this tomorrow, because right now I could use some rest, I suggest you all head to bed soon as well". With that, Aku glided away into the deeper parts of the house, he slept in one of the extensions at the back of the house that Crunch helped make in his spare time. It was pretty much a tool shed, but Aku Aku didn't mind it. Aku Aku placed himself down on one of the shelves among a bunch of other tools and utensils and slowly closed his eyes.

Crash hopped up and waltzed out of the room, coming to a narrow hallway, as his shoes clunked against the wooden floor, he eventually found the door to his room at the end of the hall on his left. Upon opening the door, Crash was greeted to his small and incredibly messy, bedroom. There were countless jeans and pink boxers strewn about the place, with some shoes dotted about a bit. A few pictures hung on the wall next to the door frame, snapshots of Crash, Coco and , Cortex's old lab assistant, of all people, after Crash shot down the Cortex Vortex years ago. There were a few of the family, minus Crunch, at the Time Twister event that followed a year prior, and even one of Crash holding a racing trophy.

Crash's bed was a simple mattress on a few wooden crates he'd collected (normal ones thankfully), and he had a very thin, albeit comfy, red blanket that almost covered the bed. However instead of going under the cover of his bed, he just landed face first on it, and was out like a light.

Crunch lay in his bed, hands behind his head, pondering. His room was opposite Crash's, and was not much different, if only for the abundance of fitness magazines and some tools for when he needed to tune up his metal arm. His bed was in a slightly better state than his little brother's however, a proper King-sized bed with some dark beige camo duvet on top. Crunch was motionless, minus his slow breathing, he really did want to take a break from all this heroic fighting all the time. He enjoyed it, sure, and he did like saving people, but right now all he could think of was that there had to be something more for him and his family. He was essentially the shield, and loved the job, but had this empty feeling eating away at him.

Coco's room fared better in terms of tidiness, however that didn't stop the workbench in the corner of her room making a mess with assorted wrenches, spanners and screwdrivers about. Her bed was a single mattress with a soft, pink duvet and pillows. Coco had just turned off her bedside lamp, yawning gently, she put her laptop down and pushed it slightly under her bed. She stood up and went to her printer on the other end of the room, it was chugging heavily printing out something, she pinched the edge of the paper and carefully pulled it out, smiling. She turned around and stood on her bed, pinning the newly formed picture into the wall, the A4 paper gently moving due to the soft wind coming through her window to her right. As Coco knelt down, looking up at the picture, she bobbed up and down a little in glee, she then got under her duvet and went to sleep within minutes.

The wind gently drifted through the room, the poster lay stuck in the wall, saying 'N Sanity Academy: N Role today!'