Very funny, my friend! This is very reminiscent of when in Crash TWoC the sphere touches the nitro boxes and remains intact, Aku's mask is never visible near the sphere, but it is there if you enter the portal with the mask. I sometimes show this to my viewers and explain that it is similar to the episode in Crash Twinsanity, in "Cavern Catastrophe", in both versions. Aku's mask is also not visible near Crash, for example, near the Ants' car, but it is there... . Now you have found an analogue here).