I own no franchises. Yet.

"Crash... I need your help."

Looking up from the odd-looking contraption he'd been spontaneously gluing metal sporks to, a tall, orange-furred bandicoot smiled over to his sister as she approached him, before saying, "Sure. Anything."

"Anything?" she repeated back, saying the word in a most peculiar way; Crash at once regretted replying the way he had, for clearly something was up.

Shifting his eyes to the side, he said, "Well, depends on what the anything is, Coco."

Also shifting her eyes, the blonde-haired, teenage bandicoot girl hesitated, before beginning to smile back at her brother in a sweet way. It was cute. It was precious. It was-

"Sinister," Crash said, giving a sigh. "What is it you need, Coco?"

"Well... you know how I'm in the school's Glee club?"

This would not be ending well, the older bandicoot at once thought to himself, before giving a cautious nod, and saying, "... what about it?"

"We're supposed to be in a competition at the end of this week, against the local school. They have pretty talented Glee club members theirself."

"That's ...nice?" Crash said, feeling warier still.

Clearing her throat, Coco continued on. "See, one of our lead singers and dancers in the club, Tag, is sick with strep throat. He'll be out until next week. Since he's missing the tournament, we don't stand much of a chance. Our coordinator is considering withdrawing us from the competition altogether."

"Unless ...?" Crash ventured to say, beginning to make a face as he figured out what was probably coming next.

"Unless," Coco replied. "We find a replacement."

"No," Crash said at once, waving his arms in front of himself. "No, no. Not gonna happen. Nope. Nadda. No way. To the "n", to the "o". No."

{Two Days Later}

"I'm glad the outfit Tag was gonna wear fits you so well, Crash." Coco was standing just backstage in her school's auditorium, along with her brother. The other team members were standing around too, as well as the coordinator of it all.

Everyone looked, in a word, petrified.

The show that the other group had just put on had been spectacular, even they had to admit it. Unless something short of a miracle happened to be pulled off, they didn't stand a chance. All exchanging nervous glances as the announcer by the stage let it be known that they were coming on to perform next, the Glee members and Crash all looked at each other one last time, each of them feeling more nervous still. As the curtain rose, Crash looked over to his sister, before saying, "You owe me. I hope you know you owe me. I also hope you know just how much it is that you happen to owe me, for I don't care how well the clothes fit, "Twilit Meadow" Periwinkle is so not my color."

Rolling her eyes, Coco replied, "Yes, I owe you. Now focus. The curtain's rising."

"Along with my humility level," Crash murmured, before falling silent with everyone else as the curtain rose completely.

All simultaneously stepping onto the stage, taking their positions, they listened as the music soon began to play. A contemporary song choice, the music in question called for an opening with a rap number. Thankfully, Crash completely knew all the words to the rap number... or at least, he'd assured his sister that he did, so she'd get off his back about memorizing them. Sure, he'd given them a read-over a few times, but now, and especially with so many pairs of eyes on him, Crash couldn't remember so much as a single syllable from the opening rap.

"Crash!" Coco hissed. "What are you waiting for?"

Wiping the sweat from his brow with one of his large hands, Crash cleared his throat, before beginning his attempt:

As I was walkin' down the street, uh, flashy sneakers on my feet, saw a girl who looked... cu-eete, and the sun was so... complete?

Stopping there, sensing he had managed to not use a single word from the actual rap lyrics, Crash looked over apologetically to Coco, who, unlike her brother and his apologetic gaze, wore one of pure, unadulterated anger.

"Well, sorry!" Crash exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air as the music screeched to a halt. "I didn't wanna be in this production anyway, you know! I'm not even a Glee member! Never have been!"

"What?" the coordinator of the opposing Glee team then said, having heard every word. "That's against the rules - using a replacement that isn't a team member."

Sweating more profusely, Crash gave a nervous sort of laugh as he turned around to find every single team member, coordinator included, giving him loathesome looks. Laughing still, it lasted a moment more, before turning into tears as he went over to Coco. "Hide me from them," he whispered. "Your Glee team has murderous tendencies!"

"So do I," Coco whispered back, causing her brother to shriek and step back away from her. "And by the way, whatever I owed you... not only is that so-called debt cancelled, but you now owe me."

"Seriously," the rival coordinator said then, walking right up onto the stage to face off with the home team's coordinator. "Give me a good reason why you shouldn't be disqualified from competing the rest of the entire school season?"

Arching an eyebrow as Crash looked back to her, Coco said to him simply, "I'd suggest you volunteer yourself as a club member, or else change your identity and flee the country. I know where you live."

Sighing, the older bandicoot looked over to the two coordinators, before saying, "I am a member of the team. I was as of yesterday, when I signed on for this number. I was just kidding when I ...blew off all that steam. I really am a member."

When Coco gave him another look, he added, "Er, to prove it, I'll ...be in every other competition for the rest of the year."

"There we go," Coco said, smiling as the now-baffled opposing coordinator had no choice but to shake her head and leave the stage. "Now we're even," Coco said.

"Fantastic," Crash answered her in a glum voice. "But I'm still not wearing periwinkle ever again."