Crash and Spyro, A Friendship Across Lifetimes

Chapter 24: Time Twisting Machine

IT had been two days since Coco's wedding, Crunch hade made a full recover from his injury, though a scar would remain on his stomach for a long time. N Brio had told Crash of his plans to infiltrate N Tropy's Time Twisting Machine and shut it down before Cortex could use it. Crash could tell that their strategy was very risky and very likely could fail. Dr. Cortex has had a while with six of the Power Gems to use his time machine whenever he wanted, but N Brio knew that he and N Tropy were still determining the exact time in which the Gems were created. Cortex had a suspicion, though, that the Gems could be older than Earth itself, so he also planned to travel to the time when all seven were first gathered together once he concluded how old the Gems actually were.

"But why exactly does Cortex need to travel back in time?" Crash asked with his SAD. "He just as easily could have all seven Gems now?"

"True," N Brio responded. "But Cortex still seeks knowledge on these Gems" N Brio held the Power Gem he had in his possession. "He wishes to consult the being who first had control of all seven Power Gems in the past. And if you're curious, the Gems themselves cannot traverse through time."

"What do you think Cortex could learn from a creature that powerful?"

"Well, Cortex has learned a lot about the power of the Gems, but has not been able to... interface with them. From the ancient texts Cortex has read and what he has observed from N Tropy's research into the past, the Power Gems are supposedly magical, and wielders of its magic can use it to turn their will into reality. Of course Cortex is skeptical of this, but is willing to believe in this if he can witness it for himself. Cortex has even recently hypothesized that these Gems may be the key to breaking through the trans-dimensional barrier, which will allow him to travel through the multiverse. This is why he needs to be stopped. He is playing with power he cannot hope to comprehend or control."

The people of Budakan had been using the power of their one Power Gem to aid their society for generations. Their witch Doctor, Aku-Aku, was the most adept at wielding their power. But what Cortex was planning to do was something else entirely. He was trying to play god with these gems.

Dr. Nefarious Tropy's life ambition was to understand the space time continuum. And when Dr. Cortex provided him with the means to complete this goal, he never could have been happier. The two, along with the now defunct Dr. Nitrous Brio had worked tirelessly to construct from his blueprints the world's first time machine. But when N Tropy held a Power Gem in his hands, he was struck with a vision. Although "vision" wouldn't be the words that N Tropy would use to describe this sensation. It was truth. He saw it, no felt the omniverse. He could sense time, and saw before him an orrery of worlds. A complete understanding of how it all worked. The knowledge subsided after the reverie ended, and he could only remember some small details of the event, but this insight profoundly changed him. He tried to explain what he saw to Cortex, and continued to fixate on his vision afterwards.

Cortex, though confused by N Tropy's delusional rant, had always had a sneaking suspicion about the multiverse concept. These Power Gems had been confirming the impossible as reality ever since he first held one at Madame Amberly's Academy. Why just rule one world, when there could be so many more to conquer. Poor Victor and Moirés, Cortex thought to himself.

N-Gin waited impatiently for his master's orders. He was still troubled by what Coco and Nitrous Brio had called him. "Niko" they had said. Neo Cortex had said that Coco was his sister and his enemy. The word sister didn't have any significance to N-Gin, though he did know what the word meant. The contradiction of having a sister as an enemy did concern him, though he wasn't going to question his master. But what did N Brio mean by "Cortex made you who you are?" N-Gin knew he couldn't trust his enemy, but that man was the first person he saw once he came to all those months ago. For months, N-Gin soaked in what his master was trying to accomplish with the Power Gems. He learned the inner workings of the science and technology used by Cortex and his subordinates. And then he learned of Cortex's mutations. Subject C1... caused him to have delusions. Who the hell was this creature, and why did he bewilder him so? He asked Cortex about it before they planned to kill the creature. Cortex responded by saying he was the reason why he almost died. And that now was the time for him to enact his revenge. He had gotten away because of N Brio. And for that, they both had to die.