Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

"Hmm? What is this?"

Coco came to a stop as she spotted something lying on the ground. Once she leaned over to pick it up, she noticed that it was a videotape. Crash, who was just as confused as his sister, tilted his head to one side. He held out a hand, as though to ask if he could see it. He wasn't certain why, but he felt a...connection to it. As he held it firmly, he started to become light headed, causing him to drop it.

"Crash!" his sister yelled, but he couldn't hear a thing.

He fell unconscious and collapsed to the ground. Images upon images flickered through his mind. He saw himself in what he recognized to be Cortex Castle, but it looked slightly different. He jumped across numerous crates, attempting to break all of them and being careful not to fall. Once he reached the end, he could hear Cortex's voice through an intercom as the scientist congratulated him.

***

"Crash? Crash! Big brother, please wake up!"

Crash opened his eyes to find himself next to his friends once more. He carefully stood up, holding his head as he did so. As he came to, his sister asked him what had transpired, to which he replied by stating that he was back in 1996.

"You went to the past?" Coco asked. "How can that be possible?"

Aku Aku thought for a moment before saying, "I have a theory. That tape might be a gateway to the past. Tell me, child, what you saw."

"I was doing some sort of obstacle course," Crash explained. "It was designed by Cortex, I think. All I was really doing was breaking crates. What's weird is, I don't remember ever doing something like that."

"That may have occurred right after you were mutated."

"But I recall escaping the castle after I was mutated."

"Maybe someone tampered with your memories," said Coco. "That's the only thing I can think of."

"Perhaps there are more of these tapes to be found," Aku Aku added. "If so, we must locate them. Doing so may recover your memories, Crash."

The marsupial nodded before excitedly sprinting down the path, with the others doing their best to keep up with him. They had to come to an abrupt stop, however, when they heard N. Gin's voice yet again and noticed a large vehicle of sorts behind them.

"Are you ready?" the evil scientist began. "Start...your..." Just as the vehicle was put in drive, it was held back by something. "What?! S-Sabotage!"

The vehicle - the Doom Rig, as N. Gin called it - managed to free itself, with Coco shouting, "RUN!"

The others didn't have to be told twice. They took off in the opposite direction, being forced to dodge numerous obstacles along the way. They managed to lose the Doom Rig after a while, with Crash and Coco panting heavily afterward.

"That was a close one," the latter said, with the former nodding in agreement. Coco then spotted something on the ground and pointed at it. "Look! Another tape!"

Crash immediately picked it up, passing out once more. Yet again, he saw his past self in Cortex Castle, breaking even more crates that weren't as easy to get to. He still managed to get through unscathed. Crash awakened not long after and explained everything that he had witnessed.

"We're getting closer to recovering your memories, Crash!" said Coco excitedly.

"That is, if Aku Aku's theory is correct," Lani-Loni pointed out.

"Right."

After a few minutes, they found themselves before a large contraption of sorts. N. Gin was in the front and, as he turned around, said, "Alright, all you bloodthirsty lunatics. Put your freaky little hands together for...RAWK-IT HEAD!" The Weapon of Mass Percussion, with an unconscious Akano serving as the power source, activated as an audience in the background cheered. "Prepare for a beating, bandicoots!"

Crash and Coco were forced to dodge discs of light that were launched from N. Gin's speakers. Enemies were launched as well, but they soon discovered that spinning into them caused them to be launched back toward the W.O.M.P. Crash, noticing that a path had been revealed, jumped as quickly as he could to the other side, using Lani-Loni to reach the W.O.M.P. and spin into it. He was knocked backward, successfully landing next to his sister as Lani-Loni floated to the side once more.

The W.O.M.P. eventually began to malfunction, and N. Gin was launched out of it. As he stared up at it, he wailed, "My beautiful creation..." Akano was launched out of the machine as well, bouncing off N. Gin's head and flying through another Quantum Rift.

"Akano!" called out Lani-Loni as he and the others quickly left through the Rift.