Crunch was about to drift off to sleep, until footsteps were faintly heard out in the jungle... Crunch thought it was probably just some wild animals, but as the steps got louder... another strange sound was heard, he could hear the sounds of ticking, Crunch opened his eyes and raised his head slightly, he decided he should go and check it out just incase it was one of Crimzon’s minions. Crunch snuck off into the darkness of the jungle, to hide his noticeable fur colour... he stalked closer towards the sounds of steps and ticking.

He was straying a bit far from the camp but didn't worry about losing track, thanks to the fireplace. He got close to the mysterious figure but soon it noticed Crunch moving in closer, it quickly ran off... Crunch saw through the dark that the figure was rather tall, this seemed very familiar to him so he started to chase it... they ran for a few minutes through the darkness of the jungle until finally, another temple was seen but was lighten up by the moonlight instead of torches. The mysterious being finally jumped from the dense jungle and landed on the flat moonlighted temple ground, Crunch jumped forward and landed right on the platform as well. He was a bit surprised with whom he saw, he quickly got into a fighting stance "Dr Tropy..." he said quietly, "Huh? Crunch bandicoot... What are YOU doing here?" he asked "Here to take down Crimzon... though I can probably take you down as well as a warm up..." Crunch said, he disliked Tropy a lot for what he did back in the Space station. Dr N.Tropy aided Dr Cortex in Kris roo's demise, and also the extermination for Crunch... except Crunch had survived the attack by losing his arm, but suffering for a long while after that as well. Crunch lost his chance for vengeance on Tropy when Rok-ko sealed him inside rock, "Hah! You thought that pitiful rock mask could defeat me? You must be bloody insane! Why not let me finish what Cortex started ehh...." N.Tropy said, and grinned evilly. Crunch snarled back and was starting to get vicious but didn't try to use any powers, especially fire... as they would alarm Crimzon "Shut it! I'm not young anymore, I've grown up since then, so you'll never get that chance to defeat me again!!!" Crunch yelled at the time master "Hah I wont bow down to the likes of an animal! Let's settle this in a proper manner!" replied Tropy, both Crunch and Tropy charged for each other, Tropy lashed out his turning fork and attempted to swipe it right onto Crunch's face, Crunch used his metal arm to block the attack leaving a loud sound of metal clashing, Crunch kicked Tropy's knees and he almost feel back, but used his turning fork to stand, Crunch came forward and punched Tropy in the armored chest with his left fist, Tropy flung back and landed on his back "Heh I admit you're stronger now but strength isn't all you need to defeat the likes of me!" Tropy quickly jumped up and held his fork in both hands, and smashed it down to the ground, lasers came flashing from the bottom of the metal, Crunch dashed backwards to avoid the shots, and even leapt behind a boulder to wait until it was over, as soon as the lasers vanished he jumped out from behind the boulder to go for Tropy, but Tropy just vanished and the whole area turned white, "What the...?" Crunch said, and he stopped in his path before the whiteness cleared, Tropy appeared behind him and whacked Crunch with his turning fork on the shoulder! Crunch flinched and tossed himself around but Tropy was a quick fighter, he hit Crunch again but on the side of one of his legs, Crunch almost loses his balance from the hits but then ducked down quick and head butted Tropy forward "Argh you skunk!" Tropy yelled, and he was pushed back. Both fighters looked on at each other "You're not bad for a stickman you know..." Crunch told Tropy "Stop with the rubbish talk! I am not weak, I am the great master of time! You are nothing but an animal, one of Cortex's mistakes!!" shouted Tropy in return, Crunch just glared back "Be glad you have that armor, without it all your bones would be broken...!" Crunch taunted "Oh that is it!" Tropy shouted, he ran forward and got his turning fork into firing position and blasted out laser shots, Crunch knew he had to dodge these quick, he jumped backwards twice then leapt high and managed to get over Tropy as well, Tropy quickly turned to Crunch before he landed and he came forward and whacked both of Crunch's legs causing him to trip over! Crunch fell to the ground and Tropy did his teleportation stunt again! He watched as the whole area turned white, he wasn't sure where Tropy would strike. Crunch rolled over and got back up and Tropy became visible as the whiteness disappeared again and blasted a laser towards Crunch! Crunch ducked and the boulder behind him shattered to pieces! Crunch attempted to run for Tropy, he pulled his metal fist back and smashed Tropy right in the centre of his armor! "Argh!" yelled Tropy, and he was flung back quick and smashed into the temple walls behind him, Crunch stood there to see the outcome, Tropy slowly stood up shaking off the rubble, he looked at his clock armor and saw that the clock on his chest armor has cracked, this made Tropy extremely furious "No one DARES to break my armor!" He shouted, he quickly got up and ran for Crunch, Crunch awaited his attack... Tropy got his fork into firing position and charged it as he got closer, Crunch prepared himself to side step and avoid but Tropy then vanished into nowhere again! It all happened so fast that Crunch didn't have time to react and turn then the whiteness flashed and then Crunch was stricken! The place turned back to normal and Tropy had teleported behind Crunch and managed to hit the turning fork right on Crunch's head, in exactly the same position as when he hit Crunch back in year 1998... to aid Cortex in Crunch's punishment. Crunch was a bit shocked that it happened again, and finally fell to the ground.

Dr Tropy stood there standing tall, he sighed and smiled deviously "Hah! The very same move I used on you, to knock you down back in those days. How sad!" Tropy said sarcastically, Crunch lay there but he realized he wasn't knocked out. But he decided to pretend to be knocked out, to think of his next move, "Huh, I'm not even that much hurt... This fool thinks I'll go down with that old attack!!" thought Crunch, Tropy then held his turning fork in both his hands and raised it above Crunch's body, ready to stab down on him "Now It's 'time' to end your pitiful life!" Tropy yelled in fury, Crunch opened his eyes slightly to see what Tropy was going to do next, he then had a good idea of attack in mind but it had to be very fast and precise. Tropy smashed down his weapon to stab Crunch, Crunch twisted himself around and narrowly missed the fork as the fork smashed down into the concrete, the blast from it caused dust and light to go around the two, Crunch quickly pulled back his clawed hand and shouted "PREPARE FOR YOUR PAYBACK!" Tropy's eyes widened as he saw Crunch's hand coming for him and soon a screamed echoed through the jungle

"AHHHHH!" screamed Tropy, and the lightness from the turning fork had cleared. Tropy fell onto his back and clutched his hand tightly over his wound, where his left arm used to be joined to... his right arm had been completely torn off by Crunch's move, as it was seen from a distance along with the turning fork laying next to it. Crunch was on his knees but then stood up. He still had his back turned after finishing his attack, Tropy was in pain but tried not to moan more about it, "No no NO!!! How could this, this have happened! I am the great master of time Argh!" Tropy cried, Crunch finally turned around to look at Dr Tropy, whom was on his knees and had his had covering the wound with blood slowly coming from it, though Crunch didn't look angry anymore. He looked up at the sky "...Yes, I finally got revenge on him, I don't even hate him anymore... I bet Kris would have liked this..." Crunch thought, Crunch smiled and was pleased with finally getting vengeance on Dr Tropy, Tropy just watched Crunch and was still infuriated "So what are you bloody going to do now!? Finish me off?!! Don't just stand there looking at the sky, look at ME!!!" shouted Tropy, Crunch looked back at him "I could easily kill you now but no. You don't deserve it. You know who I'd rather finish off... I've gotten my revenge on you, there's no reason to hate you no more..." Crunch told Tropy, Tropy's eyes widened. He was shocked that Crunch would let him go like that... "WHAT? How DARE you make a mockery out of me by showing pity! I hate you, I hate all you bandicoots!!!" Tropy yelled again, Crunch didn't care about his words much "I'm letting you live so you can feel the pain of others... maybe you'll one day understand" "Shut up! Just SHUT UP!" replied Tropy, Crunch just carried on glaring at him, "Quit being so stubborn and be grateful for me sparing you...!" Crunch told Tropy, he just turned his back on him and walked away.. back through the jungle "Argh! Don't you dare just walk away from me like that!" shouted Tropy, but Crunch just ignored him and walked on through the darkness, Tropy was extremely upset. Though he started to regret ever working for Dr Cortex in the first place, he also started to feel afraid of Crunch. He was different from the other two bandicoots. He crawled over to his turning fork and used it to teleport away from the area... to try and do something about the loss of his right arm.

Crunch had walked back to the camp... and snuck back near the fireplace to try and sleep after the fight, "Man it's good to finally get someone off my 'hate' list... though his metal fork did leave a bit of a bruise! But it's nothing serious" Crunch said in his mind, Py-ro smirked "Heh hate list... well I'm surprised you didn't need to use us in that fight! Nice one." He told Crunch, "That was some mighty fine moves you pulled off out there SOLDIER!" Wa-wa replied "Thanks. Though tomorrow, I'll need to use you guys to take on Crimzon... I hope you're all ready!" Crunch asked the elements "Oh hell yeah!" Rok-ko replied, and soon Crunch finally decided to drift off to sleep.

Chapter 30