Page "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back" Paragraph 8

Following from where Crash Bandicoot left off, Crash defeats Doctor Neo Cortex and escapes Cortex's lair via airship with his girlfriend, Tawna, whom Crash rescued from Cortex's clutches in the previous game.

Cortex is then sent hurtling towards the Earth, his maniacal bid for world domination thwarted.

After his crash, Cortex awakens in a dark cavern filled with glowing crystals.

Convinced that they hold tremendous power, Cortex takes one of the crystals and returns to his laboratory to examine it.

He discovers that the planets will soon align, creating a catastrophic solar flux that threatens to destroy the Earth.

Learning that the crystals are the only means of containing this force, Cortex enlists the aid of his old colleague Doctor N. Gin and they design a new, crystal-powered " Cortex Vortex " ( a machine that Cortex used to control his minions in the previous game ) that will capture the stellar energy.

Because 25 more crystals are needed to provide the necessary power matrix, Cortex devises a plot to manipulate Crash Bandicoot into retrieving the crystals for him.