Dingodile blearily opened his eyes.
What the? Why I'm out on the ground and not in my tent?
He felt something touching him and looked down.
And why the hell am I hugging Penta?!
At this point, his brain finally rebooted, and he remembered what happened last night, and also that after hours of watching guard, he and the penguin finally succumbed to sleep.
He also noticed that he again shrunk down to normal in his sleep.
Smiling, the hybrid didn't move to not wake up his new friend, and savored the warm and fuzzy feeling it brought him.
He eventually began looking around.
And realized that everyone, Commandos and Bandicoots, was awake and staring at him.
While the Commandos were just surprised, the Bandicoots were astonished.
Especially Coco, who was stammering gibberish.
"...What?" asked defensively Dingodile.
"What do you mean, "what"?!" finally yelped Coco. "You're hugging Penta!"
"Yeah, so what?"
""So what?!" Ten days ago, you wanted nothing but to roast him!"
"Yeah, well, whaddaya want me to say? I changed."
"...Changed?"
Only then, Dingodile remembered that the Bandicoots knew nothing of what happened at Sinta and Rella, or the detail of the confrontation with Py-Ro.
So he told them.
When he was done, the mask and the siblings were completely flabbergasted.
And the pyromaniac was starting to feel exasperated.
"Oh, quit looking at me like I grew a new head!" he barked. "The others changed too, you know!"
The Commandos protested. What did he mean, they changed too?!
"Really?" deadpanned Dingodile. "Joe, you and Moe weren't that close before that bastard N.Gin sent us here, no?"
Joe couldn't help but admit it was true. From the beginning, Moe had brotherly love for him, but he saw Moe more like a partner in battle at best, and a minion at worst. The bearded Komodo's sacrifice against the demented robot had been a brutal eye opener, a painful realization that he had been a shitty elder brother, and a decision to make up for it.
And both of them had gotten out of this better than before.
This admission opened a sort of dam, and the others admitted too than in various ways, they weren't the same than before they got themselves in this mess. They felt calmer, more at ease, and actually felt tighter as a group.
Some, like the two muscles of the group, hid that they had more changes, not daring to face or admit it.
"Look, I know it's surprising," ended the hybrid as he hugged back an awakened Penta. "Hell, I'm surprised I changed like that after being stuck all this time at "raging sadistic asshole". But I'm not complaining, far from it. So why you'd complain too?"
Coco mumbled excuses, completely lost.
Crash patted her back in a "There, there" way.
Aku Aku, on the other hand, was lost in deep thoughts.

The copious breakfast brought back everyone to a better mood.
"It's the last day, right?"
"Yes. Tonight, we'll reach Muros. There, we'll rest for the night before finding that portal and go back to the Wumpa Islands."
"And kick N.Gin's ass!"
Cheers erupted.
"And after that?" asked Aku Aku.
"You already asked that. We said we'd see then. We have other priorities."
"Like what?" countered the mask. "Between the fact that you're almost there and that survival isn't a concern for you anymore thanks to Dingodile's new abilities, you have nothing more important now."
The uplifted couldn't find a retort.
And as they broke camp and began walking the final stretch to their goal, they began really thinking to that question...

Art by  gepredators
Original here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26983203/
Dingodile and Penta © Naughty Dog