Multifandom Short Stories

~ Walking on Eggshells ~

Game: Crash Bandicoot

Author's Note reserved for end

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Crash always started his morning routine by greeting the egg that rested on his bedside table.

By this point, Coco and Aku Aku still didn't understand why the bandicoot took such a strong liking to the egg that N. Brio laid during their previous outing. They certainly didn't want to understand how N. Brio was able to lay that egg to begin with. But they supported him as much as they thought they could despite their concerns. The two even got Crash a little baby stroller to push the egg around in, which he loved.

Crash simply adored the little thing. He treated it with the same love and gentle care that a mother hen would treat her eggs, in a sense. Mother hens couldn't physically carry their eggs in their wings, nor did they insist that the eggs watch them play video games. Sometimes the egg would get the controller too so it could feel included, even though its co-op skills were less than ideal.

"It's cute," Aku Aku commented one afternoon whilst the bandicoot was preoccupied with taking it on a walk on the beach. "But also mildly concerning."

"Maybe it's some sort of parental-psychology thing." Coco pulled out her cell phone, typing as fast as her thumbs could take it. "I'm no expert in that field, but he's definitely giving that thing the childhood Cortex didn't give us."

Aku Aku frowned solemnly. "I see. Still, I think he's growing a little too attached to it."

A rustle came from the bushes behind them. Coco tensed up into a fighting stance and turned around (as Aku Aku could do nothing but watch), but eased at the sight of Tawna joining them in their observations. Well, the alternate dimension's version of her, anyway. She, too, seemed a little saddened at the sight of her friend cradling the egg across the shore.

"Aw, man. Again?" she asked. Aku Aku sighed. Tawna didn't need anything else to get the message. "Is that thing even going to hatch? Eggs gotta roost, right?"

"That's what I'm looking into right now," Coco replied. "The main problem's that we have no idea what we should do with it or how. Eggs differ across species, and here's one from a species that, quite frankly, shouldn't have existed."

Tawna looked at Coco thoughtfully. "Oh, yeah. N. Brio, right?"

The young bandicoot slammed her eyes shut and shuddered. "You should be grateful you weren't there for that."

"So what do we do, then?" Tawna asked. "I say we eat it, but I don't think he's going to like that idea."

"Tell him it went to a lovely farm upstate where it can roam free," Aku Aku suggested. "And if he asks, we're banned from the property for reasons we don't know."

As Tawna and Aku Aku debated the ethics of dealing with the egg, Coco gave Crash a distant but sympathetic glance. He really did seem happy with the egg around, but it was still an enigma at best and a potential threat at worse, given where it came from. Nobody knew what was inside that thing.

Unless...

"Crash!" Coco called out as she ran towards her brother. He looked up at her in confusion, his body shifting so that the egg would also face her. "I've got an idea. A really great one. But I'm gonna need the egg for it."

He held the egg closer to him protectively.

"I know, I know. It's just to see what's inside it, that's all," Coco explained. "I'll run a diagnostic or two, and we'll go from there. That way you know what's best for it, alright? You could be treating it even better than you are now."