It had been one year since the world was saved from a “dark” end. Thanks to the efforts of Crunch and the elementals. He defeated Crimzon Demoness in a huge fight and after that he saw his sister Crystal after a long time. But the good news doesn’t stop. One month after the fight a never heard sound was heard on X.Treme island. The Bandicoot family got two new members. The one was Crystal the other was a baby. Crunch and Tani had a little daughter together. Tasha Bandiger. Anyway the life has changed for everyone. Even for Steve. He was back from his world trip 2 month before and joined the now “peaceful” time together with Crunch and Tani.

It was a nice day on X.Treme island. Crunch and Steve were walking through the jungle. “You still have this crystal you’ve found on your trip?” Crunch asked. “Yeah sure. I have it always with me. Why?” Steve replied. “Well we should go to the ruins. There are a lot hieroglyphs which have to do with the Elementals and their crystals. Maybe we can find out a bit about your one.” “We can try it but I think their will be nothing about it.” “Ok! Then let’s go to the ruins.”

A few minutes later Crunch and Steve reached the ruins and they started to search for some clues which have to do with the crystal Steve found. “Hey Steve! Come over to me! I’ve found something in this text which looks exactly like the crystal you’ve found.” Crunch told Steve. “Yeah you’re right. Hmm… I think I should be able to read the hieroglyphs: “The almighty is prisoner of a crystal to save the world for his power. Whoever reads this and is not able to control the powers of the almighty Me-To is in great dangers. The almighty will make you a slave to him and will take over the world.” and then follows a spell.” “Sound’s bad. Maybe we should ask Aku Aku what to do with the crystal.” Crunch told Steve “Why? It’s harmless.” Steve replied “I don’t think so after what you’ve read.” “Maybe you’re right. This spell sounds like it could be to free the “almighty”. I call you mighty Me-To! Master of the metal! Give me your power to defeat the enemies I have! Sound’s strange, huh?” “Yeah. But now let’s go or else… What the!…” Crunch started and pointed on Steve’s pocket which started to glow in a strange bright light. “I have the crystal in it!” Steve said and pulled it out. Then the crystal flew in front of him and glowed even brighter than before. Suddenly a beam shoot out of the crystal and hit Steve in his chest. Then the crystal formed to a strange thing. It looked like an Elemental mask. “Steve! Is everything ok with you?” Crunch yelled “Yeah I think I’m…I’m ok! But what… was that?”

“That was the power you wanted! I’m Me-To the metal Elemental! And it seems that you are my new slave now!” Me-To said to Steve. “Your what?! No way! Ok listen I don’t know who you are or what do you want from me but I won’t do anything for you!” “Think so huh, you little furry critter? Let’s see about that…” Me-To said. In the same moment the ground under Steve started to glow like shiny metal. Steve had a strange feeling in his whole body and as he looked down to his feet he saw something metal-like crawling up his legs. It slowly covered his whole body. Steve tried to move but he couldn’t. He was frozen. Crunch tried to help him but he couldn’t move too.

The metal has covered Steve’s whole body now expect his head. But it crawled up more and more. “CRUNCH! HELP ME!” Steve screamed in fear. But it was too late. Finally he was covered with metal and didn’t move anymore. Me-To laughed evil “Now I’ll take control over this critter and then I’ll take over the world again! And I’ll kill anyone who get into my way!”

Then he flew over to Steve and merged with him in a bright light.

Steve fell down to his knees and Crunch got free and went quickly over to him. He kneeled down to him “Hey Steve, are you ok?” Then Steve turned his head to Crunch and looked at him “Your brother doesn’t exist anymore! I have now the control over him and he’ll never come back! He’s too weak to free himself! And now I’ll take over the world again and no one could stop me now!” Then Steve err… Me-To stood up and grabbed Crunch by his neck and tried to choke him. Crunch tried to free himself by crushing the arm with which Me-To was holding him with his metal-arm. “Your too weak Crunch! That’ll not work!” Crunch knew that he was in danger but he can’t do anything. Then he had an idea. He turned quickly into his Wa-Wa form and got free. He moved a few meters away from Me-To. “Ohh wanna fight me now?” Me-To asked him “I can’t fight him… He’s my brother. But I must do something…” Crunch thought. Then he heard suddenly a voice in his head “Crunch, that’s not me! I have no longer control over myself. And don’t worry that you could hurt me. It’s Me-To not me!” “How could that be? I mean how you can talk to me?” “Don’t ask any questions I’ll tell you that later! And now go and defeat this damn elemental, I want my body back!”

“Yeah I wanna fight you! And I’ll defeat you!” Crunch yelled over to Me-To.

“Then let’s start!” Crunch made the first move and started to attack Me-To with water, which he simply blocked with his hands. Then Me-To stomped on the ground and metal shafts came out of the ground. He threw them at Crunch but they flew trough him “You should know it… Physical attacks doesn’t have an effect on me in water form!” Crunch growled to him. But the shafts were only a deflection and Crunch was suddenly trapped in a metal bubble. But not for long. He switched into his Py-Ro form and heated up the bubble until it started to melt. Free again he was attacked by Me-To with a punch but he got quickly back on his feet and fired up. Crunch went sightly angry and threw fireballs on Me-To while Me-to threw his metal shafts on Crunch in return. They both managed to escape each others attacks until a shaft hit Crunch in his left arm. He pulled it out and growled loudly at Me-To. Crunch was even angrier than before and he hit Me-To with a large fire burst.

Me-To got sightly some damage. As he came out of the flames he glow’s dark red. Crunch tried to flame up Me-To again but he could escape some metal spikes ,which came out of the ground, just in the right time before they hurt him. “That was only luck! The next time you’ll be death!” Me-To yelled at Crunch

Crunch knew that he was too slow to win that fight and so he switched into his Lo-Lo form. Crunch flew over Me-To, who was still able to attack Crunch.

Me-To shoot small metal balls at Crunch which explode when they hit anything. But Crunch was too fast now and Me-To can’t hit him. Crunch then started his attack. He threw lightning’s down on Me-To. And with every lightning he shoots down on Me-To, which he couldn’t block, Crunch noticed that Me-To went slower and more weak as before. But even Crunch gets more and more tired. As they were fighting they went higher and higher up to the mountains until they reached the volcano’s crater.

Both, Crunch and Me-To were sightly exhausted but no one of them wants to give up the fight. Then Me-To suddenly fired one of those metal bombs on Crunch and Crunch shoot a lightning on the ball to block it. As the lightning hit the ball, there was a huge explosion and Crunch and Me-To flew through the air. Crunch landed hard a few meters away from the crater and Me-To flew into the volcano. Crunch quickly got up again and headed to the crater to see what happened to Me-To… and his brother. As he looked down into the volcano he could see Me-To laying on a small stone plate which was floating on the lava. He didn’t move anymore. Seconds later he started to glow in a bright light. The metal disappeared and Me-To left Steve’s body too. Then Me-To flew up and tried to escape but Crunch stopped him. “Well you have to choose between me and your brother down there. I don’t think he’ll be long alive in that heat and the stone plate is melting too. And he can’t swim in lava right?” Me-To said with an evil laugh. Crunch growled at him and flew over the volcano. Me-To then quickly disappeared.

Crunch then used Lo-Lo and Wa-Wa together to freeze the lava. The whole lava lake was now covered with ice. But he only had a few seconds and so he hurried and flew down into the volcano to save his brother. As Crunch rescued Steve he was still knocked out. He landed near the ruins. There he laid Steve on the ground. Then Crunch suddenly turned back to his normal form. He was too tired to go on and so he fell asleep near Steve.

A few hours passed and Crunch and Steve were still sleeping near the ruins. Then one of them suddenly moved. It was Crunch. As he opened his eyes and got up, he saw Steve still knocked out “Man I wonder what’s happened to him that he’s still KO. I should better bring him home…” he thought. A few moments later he took Steve carefully on his shoulder and headed back to the tree house.

Crunch was near the house as he met Tani. She came just back from a little trip as she saw Crunch and Steve. “Hey Crunch! What’s happened to you two?” she asked a bit worried “Well I’m ok. Really. It’s Steve. He is still knocked out after all what’s happened. Everything started as we were searching in the ruins for some clues for the crystal he found. Steve found a spell and spoke it then the crystal started to glow and an elemental mask came out of it. That was Me-To the metal elemental thought. Moments later Steve was covered with some metal-like and Me-To took control over him. Then I had a fight against him, defeated Me-To and then Steve turned back to normal.” Crunch replied as they were walking up the stairs to the house. Tani opened the door and Crunch put Steve on the sofa. “Do you think we should ask Brio if he could help us with him?” Tani asked “I don’t think that Brio can help us in this situation. We should let him rest for a while and take an eye on him. Steve is a tough one. I know that he’ll be fine.” Crunch replied “I hope it for him…”

It was dark now outside. Steve was still knocked out and didn’t moved. Crunch and Tani were sitting around him for hours. Then Crunch heard a voice. It was Lo-Lo “Do you think he’s still alive? Maybe we should give him a little shock?” “That’s a bad idea! I don’t want to kill him! I know that he’s alive… well I hope it…” “Come on Crunch… just a little one. And I thought he’s electro proof so why you have any worries on my idea?” “It’s cos I… I don’t really know… Just shut up.” and Lo-Lo’s voice became silent. Tani looked over to him “What are you thinking about?” “Nothing…Just had a little argument with Lo-Lo…” “Any useful ideas from your elemental friend’s?” “Not really. Just the one to ‘shock’ him.” “Yeah, that doesn’t really help.” Crunch then put his arms around Tani and soon they slept in.

The next morning. It was dawn and the sun was rising. It seems to be another beautiful day on X.Treme island. Tani woke up early this morning. She opened her eyes and looked up to Crunch. He was still holding her. She closed her eyes again and enjoyed the moment. But only until she noticed that not everything was like it should. Tani got up and as she looked on the sofa, she was suddenly in shock. Steve wasn’t there anymore! “Crunch! Crunch… wake up!” “Uhh… only five minutes …” “Come on! It’s Steve. He… he isn’t here!” “What!? Where is he?” Crunch was totally awake now. “I don’t know. As I woke up he wasn’t there.” “We have to search him. What when he’s in trouble yet again? I’ll go to his favourite place and through the beach.” “Ok. Then I’ll search him around here and I’ll call Brio as well.” “Ok Tani!” Crunch replied and ran down to the beach.

Crunch was running to the north side of the island along the beach. He looked around everywhere he stopped to search his brother. Then he suddenly noticed something on the beach near the place where Steve fought against Jaseo. As he got closer to the place, he could see that it was his brother. Crunch was sightly relived as he saw Steve alive and awake. He walked to him and sat down near him on a tree. “Hey Steve! We’ve searched you. You made us worried sick, you know. Why you don’t woke me up when you got up?” “Oh…hey Crunch… I’m sorry for that. But you and Tani looked so cute while you were sleeping, I simply wouldn’t wake you up. I could imagine that you two had already enough problems with me as well… after everything what‘s happened...” “Nonsense! I don’t want you to talk about that. We’re brothers! When we wouldn’t help each other who else would?” “But you know as well as me what’s happened… I even hurt you!” Steve said and pointed on the wound on Crunch’s left arm. “That’s nothing compared to that what I’ve made with you while I was fighting against Me-To.” “That might be… but what when it happens again? I mean everything might be ok at the moment… but what when Me-To returns? I wasn’t able to resist him! He just took me over and you’re not always around me…” “I know that it’s not easy to control an elemental. And I can imagine that it’s even harder when it tries to take control of you.” “You say it so easily cos you have no problems with using the elementals. I bet you could even control Me-To!” “Well I think I could help you with that… I’ll teach you how to control an elemental!” Crunch said to his little brother and then they both went back to the tree house and to Tani.

A few hours later. Crunch, Tani and Steve just had breakfast as Crunch and Steve were leaving the house and heading to the ruins again. Steve still looked depressed and he didn’t really care about what happened around him. He looked down to the ground while he followed Crunch. As they arrived at the ruins, Crunch stopped and turned back to his brother “Are you ready for what comes now?” “…Yeah I am…” Steve replied slowly. Then Crunch suddenly hauled off with his right arm and hit Steve with a punch. Steve flew a few meters and landed hard on his back “And for what was that?” he yelled over to his big brother “I’m sorry for that. I thought you would block my attack…” Crunch replied “Man it’s even worse than I thought. It seems that he totally lost his will to live.” Crunch spoke to himself while he was walking over to Steve to help him up. “We have to do something. It can’t go on like this. I thought you never give up anything. How could you give up yourself after that? What’s up with you?” “…I don’t know. Really. Since Me-To took me over I have to think about so much things… I don’t want to be depressed all the time. I simply want to forget all that…” “Well you have only one choice. You have to find Me-To and learn how to control him.” “I want to! But how? I don’t know what to do when I found him… everything will be like the first time. And then, maybe forever…” “I want to teach you now how to use an elemental. So that you’ll be able to face Me-To and to force him to do what you want.” Crunch told him “Ok. I’ll do anything. I really want my revenge on him now!” Steve replied “That’s my brother!”

“Ok Steve. I’ll now talk to the one who’ll teach you about the elementals.” Crunch told him “Ok” Steve replied. Crunch then turned away from Steve and spoke to Wa-Wa “Hey Wa-Wa! I need your help.” “You don’t have to say any word! We’ve all heard your conversation and we all have the same meaning about that: It’s a dumb idea!” “Come one. He’s my brother and he really needs your help.” “No! I wouldn’t do it!” “Ok. When you wouldn’t do it, then I’ll force you to do it.” “You can’t force me to do anything!” “Sure?” Wa-Wa thought about the idea a few moments and finally said “Ok. I’ll help him. But only cos he’s your brother!”

Crunch then turned back to Steve “Everything’s ok now. I decided that Wa-Wa will teach you.” he said and freed Wa-Wa from his crystal. “Thanks for your help Crunch…” “You don’t have to thank him for his help, son. Well I hope you learn as fast as Crunch cos I still think that’s a dumb idea and I want to do this as fast as possible!” Wa-Wa told Steve “Yes, sir!” Steve replied “Good… Well I think you can let me now alone with him, Crunch.” “Ok. Then I’ll go back to Tani and wait for you two.” Crunch said and headed back to the tree house.

A few days passed and Crunch was working out in the exercise room as Tani came in “Don’t you have any worries about Steve? I mean he’s out for nearly three days now.” “Sure I’m a bit worried about him. But what could happen to him? No animal could mess up with him and even Tiny isn’t a problem for him. He’s also totally the old one I know as my brother now. And don’t forget that Wa-Wa is with him.” “Yeah. Maybe you’re right…” Just in this moment they both heard that the front door opened. “Crunch? Tani? Is anyone here?” It was Steve. He came back from his ‘special’ training. “See? He’s exactly like me. You don’t have to worry about him.” Crunch told Tani and went over into the lounge. “Hey Steve! Nice to see ya after three days. What took you so long?” “Wa-Wa will tell you anyway so I could better do it right now. Well on the first day Wa-Wa taught me how to use the water powers. But I had a few problems to control the powers in the beginning so I needed a second day. And the third day was only mental training. I think I’m ready to face Me-to now.” “Well those are good news. But where is Wa-Wa?” In this moment the water elemental flew through the door and stopped in front of Crunch “I don’t want to talk about that!” and then he went in his crystal again. “What’s up with him?” “Well I think he’s just a bit disappointed that I’m now able to use his powers even when he doesn’t want.” “Seems like you showed the water guy who’s the stronger one…” Crunch said with a smile. “Yeah. It was a good training for me as well. Everything I have to do now is to find Me-To and get my revenge on him!” Steve replied “Maybe Brio could help you to find him…” “Maybe. I’ll go over to him later. But now… you have to excuse me. I’m very tired...” Steve said, fell asleep immediately and fell down to the floor. Crunch caught him up just in the right moment and laid him on the sofa.

One hour later. Crunch just entered the lounge. Steve was getting up as he came in “So early up?” Crunch asked “Yeah. I couldn’t really sleep.” Steve replied “After all what you want to do now I can imagine why…” “Yeah… I bet that you can… Well you know that I’m not a friend of great words, so…” “It’s ok. Tani is in her room.” Crunch said. He knows that Steve just wanted to say ‘goodbye’. Steve knocked on Tani’s door and then he entered her room. Crunch then leaned back to the doorframe and thought about, how it was as he had to find the elementals. A few moments later Steve came back into the lounge “Well then let’s go!” Crunch said “Wait a moment! ‘We’ are going nowhere. It’s just me and no one else. You’ll stay here!” Steve told him “Why that?” “Cos I have to do it on my own. I thought you’ll understand it but it seems that you don’t.” “And what when he takes you over again?” “Well that’ll be my problem then. I know you just want to help me, but I don’t need your help with that. Well you were always there when I was really in trouble and I know that you’re my big brother, but that’s actually the point. I was always your little brother, the weak one. I wasn’t even able to stay at cortex’s castle as he nearly killed me. No. I had to hide on Tasmania until I was old enough. But now I have the chance to show everyone what I can…” “I understand… then I wish you good luck with all that. And try to come back as the one I know…” “Sure I will. And don’t worry about me. I’ll show Me-To who’s the stronger one.” Steve replied “Then it’s time to say goodbye now.” “Yeah…” and then they both hugged each other. “I’ll be back in at least one week.” “Well then I’ll wait for ya.” Crunch replied. “See ya in a week!” Steve said as he left the house.

Steve was on the castle island and knocked on the lage entrance door. It was soon opened by one of Brio’s lab assistants and Steve went in “Where I can find Brio?” he asked the lab assistant “Dr. Brio is not here at the moment. He went over to the mine near the castle one hour and 30 minutes ago to repair some machines in the mine. We were advised to send every visitor to his office.” The assistant replied. “Ok. Then I’ll wait there til he comes back.” Steve said and went on the way to Brio’s office. As he walked through the hallways he noticed that it was getting dark outside. Then he remembered that he didn’t eat anything for the whole day. He became more and more hungry and so he decided to take a snack at the café. After four steaks he had finally enough. Brio wasn’t still back at the castle and so Steve decided to stay the night at the castle and wait for him.

The next morning. Steve was up early and had already breakfast. After it, he went over to the mine to search Brio who still wasn’t back. He walked through the forest along the path to the mine. But something was wrong. It was too silent. Even for this part of the island. Steve couldn’t hear any birds or other animals and the trucks which were bringing the ore to the castle, stopped on their way too. Steve made his way to the mine “What goes on here? Why is everything so silent?” he thought and as he could see the entrance of the mine, he had his answer. Everything around the entrance was covered with a light ice like layer. The trees, the machines, the lab assistants, the mine building and the animals around as well. “Seems like I don’t need Brio’s help to find Me-To anymore…” Steve said to himself while he was going to the entrance. As he entered the metal-crystal layer, he noticed after a while that he was stuck. His shoes were covered with the layer as well now. Steve quickly jumped out of them. He thought that he’ll end like all the other things around him now too, but he won’t. He kept standing there for a few minutes and nothing happened. A bit confused he made his way to the mine shaft. As he stand in front of the shaft entrance, he saw that it was blocked by metal. Steve was thinking how he should came in, but in this moment a hole in the wall opened. “Seems like he knows that I’m here… But this could be a trap too… I’ll better be careful.” he thought and went in.

Just in the moment as Steve entered the mine, the entrance closed again quickly. “Oh great! It was a trap! Doesn’t matter. I don’t need an exit before I haven’t found Me-To and defeated him!” Steve thought and went down the mine. Soon he found the control room for the mine and went in. It was all covered with metal-crystal too like the whole mine. Steve searched for a map of the shafts. As he found it, he leaned over a control-desk to see where the deepest shaft was. Then he suddenly hit a button by mistake and a screen lighted up. On the screen he could see Brio “W-w-when you see this v-v-video, then please try to h-h-help me! I’m in shaft d-d-delta 3 on the 10^th level as you can s-s-see on the map as well. B-b-but be careful! There are a lot of m-m-monsters around! I’m in the s-s-storage room near the eleva…” then Brio was covered by the metal-crystal and the video restarted. Steve left the room and ran to the elevator at the end of the main shaft. “Well let’s see… level 10 is 1000 meters down from here and shaft delta 3 is 200 meters from the main elevator. But how should I get down there?” just in this moment he could hear something. Steve turned to the direction from where it comes from. Down the tunnel he could see something.

It was a big creature, even bigger than him and it was heading straight to him. As it was only a few meters away, Steve went into his fighting position “This has to be one of the monster’s Brio was talking about…” he thought. The monster now started to run and attacked Steve with a punch. Steve got outta the way of the attack just in time. He noticed then that the monster was made of crystals. The monster started an other attack and Steve get out of the way again. The monster hit the wall and it’s punch was so strong that there was a big hole in the wall after the attack. Then Steve started to attack the monster and hit it with a punch in the front. After the hit it split up in thousands of pieces and was destroyed. “That was a bit too easy for my taste…” Steve thought and headed back to the elevator. He looked down the shaft. It was dark and he couldn’t see the elevator. Steve then jumped into the shaft and used the steel wire to climb down to the 10^th level.

Steve went deeper and deeper with every minute. The sings on the elevator shaft showed the depth: 800m ;900m and 1000m. He had finally reached the 10^th level. He went in shaft delta 3 and searched for the storage room. A few minutes later he could see the room. The door was open and so he went in. There he could see Brio. Frozen in a crystal. “I hope that everything turns back to normal when I’ve defeated Me-To…” Steve said “But for now you’re safe here thought.” Then Steve went out of the room and closed the door. But the sound of the smacking door was a bit loud and the echo lasts for a few seconds. Steve walked down the delta 3 shaft but stopped again as he heard a loud noise. The noise were dozens of the crystal monsters. They were falling from the ceiling. “I wondered already what took them so long.” he thought. Now he was surrounded by the monsters. A few of them started to attack him. Steve could move outta the way of a few attacks. But there were too much attacks and he couldn’t block them all and got some damage. He destroyed a lot of the monsters but it seems that for everyone he destroys 10 new were coming. Steve got sightly angry cos it seems that his trip would end here. “That can’t be the end. Not here, not now.” he thought “No! I have to defeat Me-To!” Steve yelled. Then he ran into some of the monsters and destroyed them. He killed one after an other. After one of the monsters scratched him, he went madder by the second and finally freaked out. “YOU LITTLE GLASS FIGURES WANT TO STOP ME? NEVER!” Steve shouted and fought against them for an endless time.

Finally there were no more monsters. The last one just broke into small pieces. Steve was slowly calming down after the long fight. Sightly tired, he made his way down to the end of delta 3 where Me-To has to be.

A bright light was coming from the end of the shaft. Steve kept going into it. As he was through the light, he was in a large cave full of crystals. “Finally we meet again…” a familiar voice said. “I know that you want you’re revenge on me. But I have a better idea. Why you don’t join my side? Together we could rule the whole world!” Me-To said “I don’t want to join your side or want to help you with your ‘world domination’ shit.” Steve replied. “Everything could be much easier if you just do what I say and come to my side. now I have to choose the hard way again…” Me-To said and shot a ray at Steve. He tried to take him over again but this time it doesn’t work “It’s a pity that you fight against me. Together we could have anything. But now I have to get rid of you. Guardians!” Me-To yelled, but nothing happened. ”When you mean the crystal pieces down the shaft with ‘guardians’ then you have no more of them thought.” Steve said “Doesn’t matter. I could do it on my own as well!” Me-To yelled and attacked Steve with a ray. Steve moved outta the way of the attack. Where the ray hit the floor crystals were growing out of it. “When one of those hits me, I’ll end like Brio.” Steve thought. Me-To shoot his rays on Steve who was to busy with getting out of the way of Me-To’s attacks, that he couldn’t strike back. But as one of the rays hit a crystal and was reflected, Steve had an idea. He broke off a large crystal and used it as a shield. Me-To shot a ray directly on Steve. Steve used his crystal shield and shot the ray where it comes from. ”OH NO! NOT AGAIN!” Me-To yelled. As the ray hit Me-To, he suddenly disappeared and turned into the little crystal, he was in the first time. It flew down to Steve and turned into a necklace. But something was different now. The crystal was now silver and gold and not black like the first time. Steve put it around his neck and soon he noticed that the metal-crystal layer disappeared. Everything seems to be normal now. Steve went back to the storage room where he left Brio. As he approached to the room, he could see already the little scientist. “Hey Brio! Seems like you’re back to life again.” “Y-y-yes. And only thanks to your e-e-efforts. I was maybe f-f-frozen, but I still noticed a-a-anything around me. What do you think in g-g-going back to the castle?” Brio stuttered “I think it’s a great idea!” Steve replied. Then Brio pulled out a remote control and pressed a few buttons. Then they both disappeared in a bright light.

The next day. Steve left the castle early. He wanted to start the training with Me-To as soon as possible, cos Steve thought that I wouldn’t be that easy to control an elemental. He decided to train on Tasmania so that no one is in danger if anything goes wrong. A few hours later Steve arrived near the destroyed base. It was the first time he saw it after the explosion. Only a few walls and the main gate were left. Anything else was totally destroyed. He freed Me-To from his crystal to start the training but went into his fighting position too. Me-To then looked at him “What’s wrong with you? Don’t worry I wouldn’t attack you. I’m sorry for everything what I’ve done in the past.”

Me-To said. Steve was sightly confused “Are you trying to fool me?” he asked “No of course not! Let me explain all this. Well the elementals exist now already for a few centuries and we were used by a lot of people over the times. And when an elemental is used for evil things, then it turns to the evil side as well. But when someone with a good heart defeats the elemental and take control of it, then it turns back to normal.” Me-To told him “I think I understand now… So that means you’re on the good side now?” “Yes. But now let’s start the training. Or did you freed me only to talk with me?” “How you know…” Steve started but then he remembered that the elementals could see what he was thinking about. “I think you’re ready, right?” Me-To asked. “Yeah sure.” Steve replied. “Well then let’s start.” Me-To said and flew around Steve some times and soon he started to transform into the metal form. As the transformation was completed, Me-To stopped in front of Steve “I know you were already in the ‘real’ metal form so I was able to turn you into it right now. First you should know that you’re much stronger than before. So be careful with your new strength until you’re able to control it.” “Can I try it a bit?” Steve asked “Sure you can. But watch out what are you doing.” Me-To replied. Then Steve went over to walls which were still standing. He stand in front of it and destroyed the whole wall with only a little punch “oops… Actually I just wanted to make a little hole.” “That’s what I’m talking about. You should train a bit more that you adapt yourself with your new powers until we start the real attacks.”

The hours passed and the sun was slowly going down. “Well it seems to me that you’re ready for the ‘real’ attacks now.” Me-To said while he was floating over to Steve. “Now I’ll teach you in using your claws as a deadly weapon. Just attack a target and imagine that you want to rip it into pieces. That’s all. You should try it on the gate. It should be no problem.” Me-To told him. “On the gate? It’s massive steel! Even the explosion didn’t had an effect on it!” “Just do it.” Then Steve turned to the gate. He ran for it and slashed out with his claws. He ripped through the massive steel like a hot knife through the butter. “Wow! That was cool!” “When you liked that, the wait for the next attack I’ll teach you… Well now I’ll teach you how to throw these metal shaft’s. Just imagine that you hold one of them and as soon as it appeared, throw it.” Steve then thought on a shaft and soon he held one in his right paw. He focused on a tree and threw it. The shaft hit the tree and split it up in two pieces. “Whoa! That’s a nice attack too.” “Yeah it is. And now let’s turn to the last attack I’ll teach you. I call it the ‘crystal trap’. I’ll show you once and then it’s your turn.” Me-To told Steve. Then he formed a bright shining ball in front of him and shoot it on a tree. As the ball hit the tree, it was getting covered with crystal. “Cool…” Steve said “Well now it’s your turn. You can use your paws to form the ball thought.” Me-To said to him. Steve then hold up his right paw and thought about the attack. Soon the light ball formed and he threw it on an other tree. “Seems like you learn fast. Well that’s all what I can teach you. The rest you have to find out on your own.” Me-To said and went in his crystal again.

The week passed fast and Steve was still training on Tasmania. He went more and more into his new powers and had soon the total control over them. The week was nearly over now and Steve decided to go back to X.treme island.

Steve was finally back on X.treme island like he told it his brother. He went to the tree house to visit Crunch and Tani. As he was near the house, he could see Crunch resting outside “This will be funny..” Steve thought and turned into his metal form. He formed a shaft and threw it to Crunch. It hit the ground only a few centimetres from Crunch’s face. He got up in shock “Who’s there?” he yelled. Then Steve jumped out of the jungle “It’s just me…” he said “…your brother failed again in fighting against me. And this time you won’t win!” Steve added. Crunch then turned immediately into his Py-Ro form and attacked his brother. He pinned Steve down to the ground and was wondering why he didn’t defeat himself. Then Steve started to laugh “… You wouldn’t win this fight, cos there won’t be one.” Steve then turned back to his normal form and looked at his sightly confused brother “Could you go down from me?” “Ohh… yeah… sure…” Crunch said and stood up. Then he helped his little brother up “Is that really you Steve?” Crunch asked “Yeap. Still the old one. Well not really, but you know what I want to say with that.” “Wow. You really got him.” “Does that mean that you thought that I could fail?” “Hell no! I’m just surprised that you really needed only one week.” “Actually I’ve needed only 2 days. Let’s go in. Then I’ll tell you everything.” “Yeah. Why not. Then you can tell Tani as well.” and then the two went up to the house.

“…and then I went back to X.treme island. Sorry again that I fooled you Crunch. I simply couldn’t resist.” Steve said “Yeah sure. But don’t do it again!” Crunch growled “Nah, I won’t.” Steve replied “That would be better for ya!” “What do you mean with that?” “Nothing! Just that you can’t be serious!” “Not serious, huh? Wanna go outside? Then I show you what ‘serious’ is!” “Ok! Then let’s…” Crunch started but then Tani cut him off “Hey Guys! Could you two stop this little argument just for a moment? I have to tell ya both some important news.” Then Crunch and Steve sat back on the sofa “Yeah… sure we can. What do you have to tell us?” Crunch asked “Well… I’m pregnant! Crunch you’ll be father again.” Tani said and smiled. Crunch smiled as well and his mood turned to more than happy “You’re pregnant? Those are the best news since we got Tasha.” he said and went over to Tani. “Well those are really great news! But wait a moment… does that mean I’ll become uncle again?” Steve asked and Tani nodded.

The next morning. After the breakfast Crunch and Steve were outside at the ruins for a training fight. Crunch wanted to see the ‘new’ powers which his brother got. And even Steve wanted to test his new powers on a real enemy. But again they had a little argument ,like brothers have it sometimes, for no reason. Crunch was just happy that he’ll become father again but Steve wasn’t, cos Crunch was too distracted by the good news “Crunch! Watch out!” just in this moment a shaft flew through him. Luckily Crunch was in his water form. “Crunch! What’s up with you? You could even be dead now.” Steve yelled at his brother “It’s nothing.” and just one second later Crunch turned back to his normal form “Really nothing?” Steve asked his brother “Really…” Crunch replied a bit annoyed. “Well then let’s go on with our fight.” “We continue it an other day. But for now I’m a bit tired…” “Whoa. Wait a moment. You mean you give up this fight?” “I didn’t give up. We just pause this fight.” “I don’t think so. You can’t say in a real fight ‘I’m a bit tired. Let’s go on tomorrow’ or so. Seems like I won this time.” “That’s it! You haven’t won and I didn’t gave up! We continue this fight now and here! Prepare for your end little brother!” Crunch shouted “It always works to make him angry…” Steve thought.

Finally Crunch and Steve were back in their fight again. But this time Crunch wasn’t distracted. He was fully concentrated on the fight. Even Steve had problems now. He had never seen his brother fighting like that. Crunch attacked him so fast and so hard with every attack like he would kill him. Steve knew what was with Crunch. He was in a rage for some reason. Steve tried his best to defend himself but Crunch was too strong for him. Even cos Crunch was fighting in his elemental forms. Steve was too busy with blocking all the attacks so he couldn’t strike back “Damn! What’s up with him? I’m not his enemy! I must find a way to stop him. But how? I’m not even able to attack …” Steve was careless for a moment and got a hit from Crunch. It was so hard that he flew back and landed hard near the cliff. “Ahh… I have to be more careful now.” Steve thought. Then he saw Crunch, dashing straight to him. Steve went up quickly and prepared for the attack. Crunch hit him again with a punch and Steve hit the ground again. As he was laying on the ground, Steve got the chance for an attack. He kicked Crunch as hard as he could. Crunch then flew a few meters back. He went even angrier than before. Crunch turned in his Lo-Lo form, flew up and attacked now with a huge lightning. The attack was too fast to be blocked and so it hit Steve. Then there was a huge explosion and Crunch got control over himself again. He saw his brother hanging on the edge over the sea. Crunch was confused for a moment but then everything got back in his mind.

Crunch went down to the ground and turned back to normal. He ran to the edge to help his brother. But it was too late. Everything he could see was his brother falling down into the sea. Then Crunch could hear a baleful noise. He jumped back a few meters and just in the right moment. In front of him a huge part of the cliff broke off and fell down to the sea as well. Crunch went to another part of the cliff and looked down to the sea “STEVE! WHERE ARE YOU?” he shouted but he got no answer. Then Crunch jumped into the sea. He turned in his Wa-Wa form and searched his brother in the deep sea. He destroyed one rock after an other but he couldn’t find him.

After two long hours of searching he gave finally all his hopes away. He knew that there was no more chance now to find his brother alive. Crunch went slowly back to the beach. He felt so sad about what’s happened. Steve, his brother, a member of his family, was now forever away. Crunch sat down on the beach and stared at the sea for hours.

The sun was going down and Crunch still sat on the beach. Tani came just in this moment through the forest. She saw Crunch and walked over to him “Hey Crunch! Why you don’t came back? I was already worried that anything happened to you and Steve. While we’re talking about him, where is he?” Tani said and looked around. “He’s away…” Crunch whispered “So? And when he’ll be back? I have the dinner on the table.” “He’ll never come back. He’s… he’s dead… I‘ve killed him…” Crunch replied slowly. Tani got a shock and as she realized what’s happened, tears were running down her face. Crunch went up and hugged her. And then even Crunch started to cry.