Crash Bandicoot

Chapter 5: Dear Father

Dear Father,

It has been approximately two weeks since I returned to the castle. The academy was less than pleasant, but I suppose I should have suspected as much. Madame Amberly is not aware of my absence, but Nina said that she would distract her. I pray that she keeps that promise.

Your whereabouts have yet to be revealed to me. I asked Dr. Cortex, but he either did not hear me or simply ignored me. That is not like him at all, or at least not with me. I would have asked Mother, but she has gone missing. I did see someone recently that sounded like her, but I could tell that wasn't her. The presence from this individual felt...different somehow. I spotted her speaking with Dr. Cortex a few days ago, but luckily neither of them noticed me. I could not make out everything that was said, but I have a terrible feeling about all this.

Perhaps I should explain what has transpired thus far. As you already know, Dr. Cortex has taken it upon himself to mutate numerous animals to work for him. He failed with some of them, however, and one managed to escape the castle. I believe his name was...Crashworth? That doesn't matter. Let me get to what is bothering me.

The individual I mentioned earlier in this letter wears a black cloak. I am not certain as to why this is, but I believe I have seen that cloak somewhere before. I'm just not entirely sure where. Do you suppose Mother would know? She does possess dark magic, after all, and I do sense a rather...dark presence emanating from this person.

The cloaked individual and Cortex have been working alongside each other, as far as I know. This concerns me greatly. Am I in the right for being so worried or am I just being paranoid? Only time will tell, as you always say.

I wish you would hurry back from wherever you ran off to. It is unlike you to vanish like that without first telling me where you are headed. Now I'm all alone, and for the first time in my life, I feel helpless and afraid. Well, I'm not alone if you count the other scientists, but we haven't interacted much over the past couple of weeks.

Father...where have you gone?

Your concerned daughter,

Natalie

***

Natalie, a teenager with blue skin, set her pen down on her desk. She stood up, folded the slip of paper and slid it carefully into the pocket of her lab coat, and made her way out of the darkness of her bedroom. She sighed as she trudged down the eerie hallway.

All her life, she had been ridiculed by most of her peers simply due to the fact that she was a hybrid. More specifically, she was a mix of a human and a cat; her mother was a feline, while her father was a human. She was also often made fun of due to her blue skin, which she inherited from her father.

There was a trait of hers that most people were not aware of. Natalie kept it secret, and for good reason. She possessed dark magic, something she inherited from her mother. She hadn't used magic in years, however, after she nearly murdered her best friend. She was only around the age of five, and she was still traumatized from the experience.

She grabbed the letter from out of her pocket as she approached a fellow hybrid. The hybrid in question was a mix of a crocodile and a dingo. He was known to all as Dingodile for that reason. She handed him the letter, and he immediately knew what to do with it. He took it to be sent to Natalie's father.

"Thank you," she said after Dingodile returned.

"No problem, mate," the hybrid spoke with a thick Australian accent, grinning as he did so. "If you need anything else, just let me know."

Natalie was about to take her leave, but she turned around to face Dingodile once more. "I do have one question. Do you know who has been assisting Dr. Cortex?"

"I do, actually. I think she said her name was...Lyra? Yeah, I think that was it. Why ask?"

"Oh, I was just wondering. Thanks, Dingodile."

"No problem."

Natalie made her way back to her bedroom. Along the way, she wondered, Lyra? Why does that name sound so familiar?