Author's Notes: I love the Sly Cooper series. I love it so much that I've come out of my semi-retirement in fanfiction to write again, possibly the largest fanfiction I've ever written.

You're in for a full-scale adventure that will try to stick as close to the Cooper style as possible, and I'm giving this fanfiction everything I've got to make it good. I hope this story will be a credit to both the Sly Cooper section of this website and the Sly Cooper franchise itself.

The only warning I can think of for this story is that it contains characters of my creation, from new enemies to new allies for the Cooper Gang. But not to worry, this story will focus mainly on the characters we all know and love, and we'll have a few cameos for characters of Sly Cooper games past.

So without further ado, let the tale begin!

Berlin, Germany

4:26 AM

Dawn had begun to break in the city of Berlin and the entire city seemed quiet, most of the population was sound asleep in the safety of their homes. The sky, though still dark, was beginning to show the light of day, as a soft orange glow illuminated the horizon, though the stars still shone brightly, unhindered by the approaching sunlight. The dark silhouette of the buildings pressed against this beautiful backdrop made for a lovely composition, and the silence only added to the allure.

A dark figure scurried up a drain pipe and up onto the rooftops and ran across them, leaping from roof to roof in at a frantic pace, like a panic-stricken rabbit chased by the wolf. Rapidly losing both breath and energy from both fatigue and the fact that he hadn't slept all night, he sought shelter behind a large chimney.

But reprieve did not last long, only a few seconds when across the sky came a burst of bright yellow and blue energy. The chimney was shattered, reduced to a pile of rubble, and again, the prey was forced to run once more.

And his hunter was not far behind. A graceful leap was all it took to reach the spot where he had been only a moment before. The chaser stood up and looked in all directions and spotted her target fleeing. The vixen frowned, ears pressed against her head in frustration. Her brown eyes narrowed in as she lifted a gloved hand to brush away a lock of dark blue hair. The other one held a red and yellow Shock Pistol, bearing the Interpol symbol. She removed her tan jacket, for it was doing nothing but slowing her, down and she tossed it aside, into the arms of a subordinate.

"You can't run forever, Cooper!" She yelled. "This time, you will be caught!"

For once in his life, the words of Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox struck fear into Sly Cooper's racing heart. He was running on pure instinct now, the only thing on his mind survival. A few shock pistol rounds whizzed by him, one grazing his arm as he felt a tiny pain shoot down his spine. He ignored it and pressed on.

He heard the sound of helicopter rotors, and within a second, the entire sky was filled with Interpol helicopters. It seemed that every available officer in the entire city was dead set on capturing him. They poured out of the aircrafts, trying to block his way, but Sly swung his cane and opened a path.

But Carmelita's words rang true, he could not escape her forever, and the raccoon found himself soon overcome by officers. Nowhere left to run, it seemed that Cooper had used the last of his luck when he spotted Inspector Fox high above the crowd surrounding him.

"I've got you now, Cooper." She announced cryptically and fired.

But though her aim was perfect, and she would have hit Sly without a doubt, a small remote controlled helicopter flew quickly into the shot's path, absorbing the electricity and falling onto the ground where it laid as smoldering pile of melted metal.
"What?" Carmelita snarled as she looked around for the owner behind the chopper, but when she heard the sound of a brawl happening, she turned back towards the crowd. Only there was a new participant, a pink hippo had fought his way into the center of it and together, he and his friend were now forcing their way out, towards freedom. "Stop them!" Carmelita shouted, firing a few more Shock Pistol rounds. However, all that did was end up hitting the Interpol officers and helping the criminals escape. Having no other choice, she leapt into the fray, vaulting over the bodies of knocked out officers to advance.

"Thanks, Murray." Sly panted as he and his friend ran.

"Don't thank me yet, Sly." Murray replied as he veered to the side to avoid being electrocuted. "We're not out yet. Bentley and Penelope are waiting in the van."

In a leap of faith, the two of them jumped down the side of a building and landed onto a canopy, where they bounced safely to the street below. The Cooper Gang van was ready for them, and they wasted no time jumping into the double doors and shutting them.

"Not this time!" Carmelita hissed as she leaned over the edge and aimed her weapon. But at the last second, she noticed a flashing red light out of the corner of her eye, and she jumped back in time to avoid the detonation of the bombs that had been set up there. Once the smoke cleared, she looked over the edge in time to see the Cooper van round a corner and exit the city limits.

She slammed her fist down, and sank to her knees. Not caring who was around, she slumped over the edge and began to cry.

"You've really done it this time, Cooper." She sobbed. "I…I won't let you get away." Lifting her head, she gazed out into the countryside. "Not after this. I will bring you in, no matter what."

Nobody said a word as we made our getaway from Carmelita and the police. The only sound was the gentle rumbling of the team van going down the road. Finally, the strain got to us as Murray forced himself to keep his temper in check as he drove, and Penelope began to cry softly as Bentley did his best to comfort her.

I suppose I should start from the beginning. My name is Sly Cooper, and I was born into a family of master thieves. As the last of the Coopers, I continue the family tradition of thievery. Only recently have I come to terms with my past, when the gang grew its ranks and we broke into my family's vault.

Since then, the only member who decided to stay with us was Penelope. The Guru, the Panda King, and Dimitri have gone back to continue their lives, but we keep in touch. It was thanks to them that we discovered that we were being framed for a hideous crime. Someone had killed the German ambassador's daughter in cold blood, and apparently, we had claimed responsibility.

We may be law breaker and thieves, but we're not murderers. Someone had been acting in our name, which brought us to Germany, where we quickly formed a plan to break into Interpol and hack their files. It turned out that Carmelita was brought in to head the hunt for us, having tailed us for years, she knew us best. It was then we were caught and forced to run for our lives.

Whoever had set us up was going to pay. Not just for us, but for the ambassador's daughter, and…Carmelita as well.

I've seen many faces of Carmelita over the years, from her usual unshakable rage to a beautiful smile, but I had never seen her cry before. To see her lovely face stained with tears…it disturbed me. It wasn't Carmelita.

I was going to prove to the world, and most of all, to Carmelita, that my gang and I were innocent.

No matter what.

Closing Notes: I'm sorry that was so short, but this is only the prologue. I promise the next chapters will be longer. Bear with me, I haven't written for a while.