Everyone had now arrived at the secret location where the Academy of Evil was, not far from where they were standing "Hmm Academy of 'evil' ehh? I like the sound of that..." Py-ro said, "I believe this is a task that Crunch should do alone. If you two elementals follow, it could cause more troubles than it's worth" Aku aku suggested, Rok-ko and Py-ro looked annoyed "We're not listening to you Goodie good!" yelled Rok-ko "No wait guys, Aku's right. The elemental crystals are here so I see his point, it might be risky with you two following me around..." Crunch told the two masks, "Alright fine, we'll just wait out here until you come back" replied Py-ro, "Well now I'll be heading back home, and I shall get Coco to activate the portal right in this spot, for Lo-lo's location. Good luck Crunch" "Yeah thanks for the help!" Aku aku then disappeared from the scene, leaving only the elementals and Crunch behind. Crunch started to head off in the direction of the Academy "Ok guys, I'll try and be quick and please, no fighting!" "Heh yeah of course, as long as Rok-ko keeps his loud mouth closed!" Py-ro said "Hey! I don't have a loud mouth!" then both the masks had already started to squabble, Crunch just shrugged and moved on, he was relieved to finally be on his own... "Man, it's good to finally have those masks out of my way for once, I hope these crystals will be useful too...." he thought, as he carried on walking, he also realized how long he had been away from home, "...I miss Tani, too bad she couldn't come. I just hope things at home are all good...".

Crunch was lurking around the Academy of evil from the back schoolyard, he noticed the high metal fences, but simply approached them and bent the bars wide enough to squeeze through. The sun was now almost gone, only leaving a glow of orange in the horizon with a navy blue and black sky above, Crunch looked around at the high academy buildings, and noticed the lights coming on as the night came nearer, he also noticed gargoyles perched on the buildings, start to come to life. The vicious guard dogs were also patrolling the school grounds, Crunch just ignored the dogs and the dogs didn't dare to approach him nether... everyone just minded their own business.

Crunch now found the large main entrance door, at the office... he slowly walked up the stairs "Hmm, I think its time to have a good talk with Amberly... " Crunch thought, as he got closer to the large door, the door then opened itself and Amberly was standing there, she frowned angrily "Ugh! I have had enough of you! How dare you mess around with our plans! Crimzon Demoness is NONE of your business!" Amberly shouted at Crunch in rage, Crunch didn't seem all that thrilled though "I really don't care about you and your minions, Crimzon is to be destroyed, by ME! I'm not going to take any chances and let some oversized witch deal with this problem...." "how dare you speak my name in vein!" She shouted, as she fired a spark of lighting at Crunch, Crunch attempted to block it with the metal arm, "Hmm very familiar, I'm guessing you're the creator of Jaseo bilby then?" Crunch asked "Correct. But you must leave now, we're going to deal with this problem ourselves, we are unsure of what to do at this stage, but we WILL defeat Crimzon!" said Amberly, "I highly doubt it, I don't see how someone like you could take on a Demoness..." Crunch said, as an insult. Amberly screwed her face up in disgust, "ugh! Cortexes creations make me sick! I'll let my top student deal with you instead...." Amberly said, as she turned her back on Crunch "What? So you're just going to walk away from me? Don't be so pathetic! If it's a battle you want them come for it!" Madame Amberly ignored Crunch as she disappeared into the darkness... then in a mere few seconds, a short figure dashed quickly towards Crunch, surprising him "YAH!" the female voice yelled, Crunch quickly jumped back into the dark schoolyard behind him, the shadow of the girl soon vanished into the darkness along with Crunch, "Grr! I can't believe she's making me fight a school girl!" Crunch thought, it was dark but his night vision could see objects around him but not clearly, "Watch out animal!" she shouted. She knew where Crunch was due to his large size... making him an easy target,, and a metallic fist came directly for Crunch! She was quick, the fist hit Crunch on the side of his back, he was a bit surprised "What the... that's pretty tough for a girl...!" Crunch quickly turned, and tried keeping his focus on her, she ran around and attempted to punch yet again but with both fists this time, aiming for Crunch's face! Crunch saw them and moved as quick as he could, he was also puzzled that the girl was able to stretch her arms so far, "Wow what the hell is she? Well I have to try and stop her somehow, but I don't want to harm her though..." Crunch then thought of a plan, both the bandicoot and human girl were still in the dark, she ran close to Crunch and tried a spin attack this time! Crunch was pushed back a bit, as if it was Crash that did that "You are so annoying! I'll defeat you!!!" She screamed, he then tried a punch... but directly for Crunch's crotch,

"EEK!" Crunch gasped, he placed his metal hand in the way at the last moment, and the girls metal hand hit it, with a loud cling "Darn you!" she screamed and retracted her arm, she tried to punch yet again with her other hand but aimed for his muzzle, this time Crunch blocked her attack completely with his metal fist, making another loud clash of metal! "Hmm so looks like you have two metal hands then ehh?" Crunch asked, she answered "Shut up! I'll knock you down, just you wait!" she then did something unexpected, she ran towards Crunch and jumped over him, Crunch was slightly shocked but very soon after, the steel hand grabbed Crunch's neck from behind! Crunch just gasped from the surprise "Hah I got you now!" she yelled, luckily for Crunch his neck was thick and muscular so it didn't choke him, but it was hurting "You're quite a cheeky little devil aren't you?" he said, and attempted to pull off her hands that clung to his fur and skin tightly, wasn't such an effort to get the first hand off with his metal fist, but took him slightly longer to undo the other but he finally did it, her arms flung back to her position "Hey that's not fair!" she yelled, Crunch couldn't tolerate her anymore, he turned around and ran towards her, she got slightly frightened and thought he'd simply crush her, but he didn't. Crunch lashed out his hands and grabbed both the girls steel hands, she screamed and Crunch stretched them out a bit, tying them both into a knot! After doing so, Crunch just placed her back on the ground, and stood back a couple of metres.

It was still very dark. Not much to be seen, but the girl was sitting there. tied up by her own arms, she then started to sob, Crunch stood there with his armed folded, "Oh what's a matter kid? That's what happens when you mess with someone like me." Crunch told her, she just cried "I'm... I'm sorry! I didn't think you'd be that smart to beat me... I obviously judged you... Who, who are you anyway?" she asked, Crunch glared back at the young teenager, "Hmm well, I suppose I could tell you. My name is Crunch." her jaw dropped "Cr.... Crunch? No... you can't be, are you?" she said, then she tried to look closely at Crunch, but it was too dark to see... "Yeah, that's me. Why? Are you one of Cortex's pathetic followers?" she gasped "I am Dr Cortexes niece!" Crunch's ears flicked up, he then remembered.... "Are you, Nina Cortex?!" "Yes that's me!" Crunch then grabbed the girl named Nina, and headed over to an area with lights, Nina gasped when she finally saw Crunch properly, Crunch then untied her arms... "oh... oh my gosh! Crunch! It's you! I'm so sorry for trying to attack you!" Nina screamed, and she used her bionic arms to hug him, Crunch was a little surprised "Hey easy with those steel arms! But it's good to see you again Nina! You sure haven't changed much!" "Oh my gosh this is so awesome! I haven't seen you, Tani and the others in a very long time...sigh, too bad Crystal isn't here...." Crunch looked down "yeah.... I still miss her as well..." Crunch said, "But wow this is so great! And you're like, the only fluffy creature that actually doesn't run when I hug!" Nina said in a very girly way, Crunch just laughed a bit "It's really good to see you haven't changed much! I was afraid you'd end up being evil like your Uncle..." "Oh no way, I love animals! I still love my Uncle very much... but no one can change how I think towards fluffy critters! And hey, I think you should take this from me..." said Nina, "Oh, what is it Nina?" "It's this necklace I made for Crystal, but it's not a good idea to give it to her now so I think you should have it..." Nina then pulled out a necklace from her pocket, it had four small clear crystals on it, and Crunch looked at it with interest "Oh wow looks nice, I bet Crystal would have liked it... What's it for?" asked Crunch "I'm not completely sure but the evil Crimzon Demoness thinks it's the elemental crystals! I hid it away from her though, because I thought that would be a safe idea..." Crunch was glad, "Yes this is what I just needed!" "Needed? what for...?" Nina asked "Well you see, I'm using the elemental masks to help stop Crimzon's destruction and these crystals were supposed to help me with this. So Nina, I have to say thanks a lot for giving these to me" Crunch said, Nina bowed down "You're welcome Crunch! Well too bad Amberly has a problem with you... but I think you should go before she finds out we're on the same side, hehe!" "Heh yeah you're right, but it was nice to see you again... and be reminded of Crystal. she'll never be forgotten, and this necklace will be a reminder of that..." Crunch quickly headed off, and waved bye to Nina "Bye Crunch!" and he soon disappeared into the darkness, and she went back into the academy.

Chapter 20