Oh, Brother (open)

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

((I labeled it as "open," because I figured you wouldn't mind more joining. I can change it if you'd rather it be "invite only" or just us.))

"-gonna get... you... what?"

These were the words uttered by a very confused humanoid bandicoot as she stumbled out of a swirling, yellow portal and into the eerie darkness of the Woods. Blinking her large, green orbs, all she could do was glance around in a mixture of curiosity and puzzlement at her new surroundings. She was so shocked by the sudden change that she didn't even notice the portal behind her close, if she even realized there had been one at all. One minute she had been chasing Crunch on the beach, trying to get her laptop back. The next, she was standing here, in the middle of a forest of tall conifers at night.

"Cortex" was the first word to pop into Coco Bandicoot's head, though she couldn't imagine why he'd send her to a random forest. Too bad Crunch still had her laptop; she may have been able to use it to pinpoint her location. Now she would just have to try and find her way out of this forest, and hope that there was someone who could tell her where she was. Sighing and scratching at her blonde locks, Coco took a moment to rub her upper arms with her paws before moving forward. This forest gave her the creeps, but she'd dealt with scarier things than a few shadows.

And if she ran into any monsters? Well, she'd use her martial arts to give them a beatdown. Crash and Crunch weren't the only ones who could fight, after all.

[nintendonut1]

Other than the entrance of the bandicoot, the Woods was reletively quiet and peaceful, and it reamined such once the portal had closed. However, anyone who had stayed on Dimensional Island for even a breif period of time would know that this peace NEVER lasted very long.

Coco was not such a person, so she was probably surprised by the enraged shriek that shook the birds from the trees.

In an orange blur, her brother rushed past her, dropping a few of the tacos in his arms. "Hi Coco, bye Coco!"

"YOU MISERABLE MARSUPIAL!![/b]" A big, bloated witch appeared soon after, running after Crash with fists waving in unspeakable fury. "RETURN TO ME THOSE TACOS!!"

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

((... I do believe you just mindfucked me... with tacos...))

Coco yelped and jumped about a foot into the air at the sudden shriek, her fur and hair standing on end. She looked up at the trees, watching the birds fly off as her heart began to pound with instinctive fear. She returned her gaze forward, looking around her with a tense body as her ears swiveled this way and that. Coco was just about to call out, when something orange and furry suddenly ran passed her. Blinking her green eyes, she whipped around the instant her mind registered the voice.

"Crash?!" He'd been missing for a while, but she'd guessed he was just exploring the jungle and messing around. But if he was here too, then maybe this did have something to do with Cortex. And- "...are those tacos?" she muttered, finally noticing them. Coco bent down to pick one up, looking it over with a raised brow and confused expression. However, she cringed when she heard more yelling behind her, and glanced over her shoulder to see what all the commotion was about.

"AGGGH!! CRASH!!" she shouted upon sight of the enraged witch. Coco dropped the taco with a second thought and ran after her brother, crashing through the brush and dodging tree trunks. "What did you do now?! And where are we, anyway?! Hey! Are you listening? CRASH!!" she called, half-scared and half-annoyed.

[nintendonut1]

Crash bit his lip as he kept running. Was it his fault that he had grown to love tacos in his stay here on this island? Was it his fault that the pile of tacos had been out in the open? ...well, not so much as 'out in the open,' per se, more like in a big cauldron, but still! He couldn't help himself!

Gruntilda continued her chase. "You FOOL!! Those tacos are NOT meant to be messed around with! You're LUCKY none of them have gone off yet!!"

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

Coco growled angrily when her brother didn't even acknowledge her or her questions, putting on an extra boost of speed to catch up to him. She was now just a few inches behind him, and reached out one of her paws in an effort to grab his shoulder and yank him to a stop. Meanwhile, tacos were dropping left and right, and she tried desperately to avoid stepping in one. "Crash! Would you stop already?! Those tacos obviously aren't yours, and you know stealing is wrong!...unless it's stealing from Dr. Cortex."

Coco glanced over her shoulder at the witch as she screamed more about the tacos, though the last bit brought about her puzzlement again. "Gone off? What does she mean by that? Crash! Are you sure those are ordinary tacos?"

[nintendonut1]

"But Coco!!" Crash whined to her behind him. "They looked so goshdarn good~! Whoop!"

Not watching where he was going, Crash tripped over a loose rock, the pile of tacos flying out of his arms.

"NOOOOO!!!!" Gruntilda could only watch as her tacos flew through the air, hurtling into a nearby, thankfully empty ravine.

Why was it good that it was empty?

The answer came in a concentrated blast that would make Micheal Bay hang his head in shame. The blast did not directly harm the three, them being quite a ways above it, but the bandicoots were cleanly knocked over from the force, and though Gruntilda's girth kept her stable, she still braced against it, holding her hat to prevent it from clearing away.

When it calmed down, they beheld a great crater below them, smoking with toxic green gas.

"...great. JUST great."

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

Coco rolled her eyes. "Crash, that doesn't-" She was interrupted as her brother suddenly tripped, not a surprise seeing how clumsy he was. She quickly put on the brakes, but still managed to trip over his fallen form and faceplant the forest floor. 'I'm gonna kill him,' Coco thought, the anger boiling up within her like hot lava. She was just getting into a kneeling position when there was a sudden explosion, the likes of which put the ones Cortex's lairs gave off to shame.

Had she been standing, she would have fallen over from the quake in the ground that followed the explosion. However, the shockwaves from the blast still affected Coco, and she was thrown back into Crash from the force of it. She groaned, shaking the dizziness from her head and realizing with exasperation that in the tumble, her brother had landed on her. "Crash... get off..." she wheezed, the wind knocked out of her.

[nintendonut1]

"Woooo~!" Crash breathed out, giggling dizzily. "Now THOSE are explosively delicious tacos!"

Grunty swiveled back when Crash brought attention back to himself. "You IDIOT! They WERE explosive! My explosion spells need physical entities to be effective, so I had to put them into those tacos! I was GOING to use them to make a new lair for myself in this kooky place, but now you just made me waste it all! And for what??" She gestured with an angry finger at the crater. "A big freakin' hole in the ground!!"

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

"CRASH!! OFF!!" Coco grunted in an almost-shout, annoyed at her brother's stupidity and lack of listening to her. Shoving him off with a groan, she pulled in a few deep, welcoming breaths before sitting up. Wincing, she rubbed at her sore head with one hand and brushed dirt from her clothes with the other. "That explains the 'gone off' bit... man... Hope Cortex never gets the idea to turn food into explosives," she muttered. Coco could just imagine the havoc it would wreak, especially on Crash and Crunch.

Geez, why was she stuck with such thick-headed bandicoots? Coco turned her attention to Grunty when the yelling started up again, annoyed; it was starting to give her a headache. Seriously, this witch's voice was like nails on a chalkboard and Crash's singing combined. "Look, I'm really sorry about my brother's behavior, miss. He has problems controlling himself- especially around food. If there's something we could do to make up for it..." she trailed off suggestively. 'AND to get you off our backs,' she thought.

[nintendonut1]

"Weee~!" Crash rolled over when Coco pushed him off, giggling.

Grunty regarded Coco with a scowl as she tried to plead for forgiveness. Like the witch could care, really.

"Hmmp! There's no excuse for stupidity! I learned that a LONG time ago!" Calming down, she considered the offer. "If you could get me MORE of those tacos, WITHOUT eating them, then that MIGHT square us away. But it took me a MIGHTY LONG TIME to collect that many tacos!"

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

Coco shot an annoyed look at Crash, seeing as he wasn't taking things seriously- as usual. She then returned her gaze to the witch, scowling right back at her. However, when she heard the requested task, she groaned and smacked her forehead with a paw. Coco wasn't going to even say the word taco for a whole month after this. Shooting a glare at her brother this time for getting them into this mess, she sighed and knew there was no getting out of it.

"Okay, okay, fine. How many do you want, and where can we find them?"

[nintendonut1]

"There were at least fifty in that batch," Grunty stressed. "And how am I supposed to know? I gathered them over time when I went out for lunch!"

"Why didn't you just go to Taco Frenzy, outside City Hall?" Crash asked out of the blue, sitting up and seriously contemplating Grunty's dilemna. "That's where I get mine! They specialize in party sizes, so getting fifty tacos there would be no problem!"

"......................"

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

Coco gave Crash a blank stare, unsure of whether to smack him upside the head or hug him. Certainly, his knowledge of where to get tacos would come in handy. However, only if said tacos were explosive. And what kind of restaurant would sell exploding tacos? Oh yeah, then there was the fact that-

"Crash! You dummy!" Coco punched her brother on the head, glaring at him. "Why did you steal HER tacos, when there's a place you can buy as many as you want?! Ugh!!" She exclaimed, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. Coco then placed her hands on her hips and stared down Crash, frowning slightly.

"And we need exploding tacos, Crash. Does that place sell exploding tacos, too?"

[nintendonut1]

"Mmm...well..." Crash twiddled his thumbs, then grinned hugely. "Everyone KNOWS food stolen always tastes better!"

Grunty opened her mouth to protest, but it came out mute in befuddlement, and she cocked her head in acceptance. "Alright, I'll have to give him that one."

"Hmm..." Crash rubbed his fury chin. "Perhaps there's a bomb store nearby..."

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

Coco promptly applied her paw to her forehead. "Crash, that is the most ridiculous-" she began, but paused. She glanced over at the witch with an incredulous expression, wondering how on Earth she could agree with him. Turning back to her brother with a shake of her head, Coco considered his next words. Rubbing her chin, she soon formulated a viable plan and smiled a bit.

"Okay, I know what we can do." Getting into a lecturing pose before the two, she tried to explain it in words they would understand. "We go and buy fifty tacos. Then, we buy the necessary ingedients used to make a bomb from the bomb shop. I'll combine the two to make the tacos explosive, and then we'll be done. Where did you want them?" she asked, looking at Grunty.