Chapter 4

"What are you guys doing here?" Nathan asked.

"I could ask you the same thing" said Sly in response to Nathans question.

After the incident they both had with the Polygon Man, Sly was able to forgive Nathan since he gave the papers back to him then they became friends. But whenever it came to treasure hunts or heists, they both always make it some sort of competition or race against each other to get to the treasure or museum items firsts.

"Well were here because were...sightseeing, yeah that's it were just here to admire the cemetery" said Nathan trying to make up a lie. Parappa, Big Daddy and Little Sister stared at him in confusion.

Sly chuckled, "I can tell a lie when I see one Nate"

"What are you talking about, I'm not lying. Me and my group are just here to admire this cemetery, right guys?" Nathan asked to his group hoping that they would support him.

Parappa and Big Daddy didn't answer except for Little Sister who came out with a different answer.

"I thought we were going find some treasure Nathan" said Little Sister.

Nathan put his palm on his face and shook his head in disappointment.

"Ok fine so were on a treasure hunt, but how did you know all of this and how did you follow us here?" Nathan asked.

Sly Cooper reached into his backpack to reveal the maps and drawings that Nathan had created, "Let's just say, I borrowed these from you"

Nathan gasped, "Ah so you're the one who took my maps, I thought I lost them at one point but I should've realised you took them".

Nathan and Sly were about to have a small argument so Parappa, Big Daddy and Little Sister decided to talk with Nariko and Sackboy.

"Mr Bubbles can I play with Mr Sackboy?" Little Sister asked her guardian.

He groaned letting her know that she was allowed to. She hugged Sackboy then watched as he got out his PopIt to reveal a skipping rope that they both could enjoy without having to swing it. Big Daddy watched Little Sister making sure nothing bad would happen to her after the zombies attacked. Of course when he met Sackboy he got very angry when Little Sister was playing with him and said that Sackboy's her new friend, this didn't make him only feel angry but also jealous too.

Whilst Big Daddy was watching Little Sister and Sackboy. Nariko and Parappa were having a conversation.

"So Nariko what are you doing here with Sly Cooper and Sackboy, are you also after the treasure?" Parappa asked.

"I'm not interested in the treasure" said Nariko.

"Oh well why did you come here if you didn't want the treasure I mean doesn't that sound like you're wasting your time?"

Nariko looked at her heavenly sword then back at Parappa, "I only came here to fight, not you and you're group of course but anyone and anything else that tries to attack me or my comrades"

"By comrades do you mean your clan back at your world?" Parappa asked.

"Well you're partly right, my clan, Father and Kai are my comrades. But you, Nathan, Sly and the other All-Stars are my comrades too, so I fight along with them. We look out and help each other in any way we can"

Nariko looked at Sackboy still playing with the swinging rope with Little Sister and Big Daddy watching them. "We may have fought each other before but Sackboy thinks of us all as a family to him, it's weird and crazy at first to think of something like that especially since some us are truly powerful, evil, skilful or even incredible when it comes to fighting but that's actually a rather nice thought from him"

Parappa agreed with Nariko by nodding his head.

Nariko looked at her reflection on the heavenly sword. "Even though it's nice of Sackboy to think of us like that, I believe I wouldn't consider myself worthy of being a family to Sackboy because of how monstrous I can be"

Parappa raised his arm out to Nariko, "That's not true, I mean you're crazy in battle but just because you're very good at fighting doesn't mean that you're a monster plus the way you fight I think is very cool even when you build your combos. When I first met you when we were fighting, I thought that there would be some good in you because the way you fight makes me think you're fighting for what's right"

Nariko smiled from Parappas comment, "Well I'm fighting for what's right of course which is to protect this sword from king Bohan, but I'd never thought that there would be any good in me. I know this doesn't sound like me but that was actually nice, thank you"

Parappa smiled too and put a thumb up, "You're welcome"

"Do you actually like the way I fight?" Nariko asked.

"Of course I think it's amazing, you're a strong fighter. Even stronger than me"

Nariko felt good to be admired by someone who was not from her world, "Well that's not true Parappa you're a strong fighter and a worthy opponent to me. The way you fight is rather impressive. You're attacks are short range but your 'thousand punches' and 'thousand kicks' is incredible"

Parappa smiled from Nariko's comment, "Well that's all thanks to my self confidence, as long as I keep on believing in myself no challenge is to tough for me"

"I could certainly learn a few lessons from you Parappa" said Nariko, she then laughed.

"Well have some confidence in yourself is the only lesson I can give you for the time being" Parappa joked also laughing along with Nariko.

Sackboy looked at where Nariko and Parappa were having a conversation and was very happy to see them laughing.

A few seconds later after the laughter Nariko then asked "So now that were here we need to go through that gate towards the crypt right?"

"Yeah, but we need to find the key in order to get through" said Parappa.

Little Sister stopped jumping over the skipping rope and looked at Big Daddy which his eyes were filled with green. "Mr Bubbles...smash open the gate" she instructed. Big Daddy charged at the gate but was knocked back to the ground and hitting onto a small pillar which had a green gargoyle.

Getting up from the ground Big Daddy looked at the gargoyle moving. Parappa, Nariko, Sackboy and Little Sister walked to where he was to see the gargoyle too.

"Beyond these gates lies a crypt to Gallowmere's cowardly hero, you didn't think you could all just walk on through here did you? You did! Ha ha ha ha, oh my aching sides ha ha ha. Guess again, the Imp thieves down further in the cemetery have the key to open this gate. Go ask them for it, you weirdo's"

Almost everyone listening to the gargoyle speak were actually rather shocked. "Who on earth lives in a world with talking objects" some of them thought.

The gargoyle looked at Nariko and said "Ah you know what they say about redheads don't you, they...uh...have...red hair"

Nariko glared at the gargoyle not liking his comments on her.

"Well now we know where the key is, we need to tell Nathan and Sly so we can go on the lookout" said Parappa.

"We could do that but it looks like Nathan and Sly are still having their argument" said Nariko, and she was right as they were both still going at each other.

"You're saying you found the book on the floor in the library, well if so how does that make the book yours, does it even have a name in that book?" Sly asked.

"Well no, it's hard to tell from the writing but these maps and locations look similar to my other work, I think these are the same co-ordinates that lead to the lost riches of my ancestor" said Nathan in response.

"But if it doesn't have a name inside that says it's part of your legacy and you can't understand it then they're definitely not the property of some two bit treasure hunter who found them, why don't you let a real treasure hunter like me take care of it" said Sly with a small smile, he held out his hand so he could give him the book.

"Well you're a cute fella aint you, squirrel boy?" said Nathan in response, he was not going to lose to a thieving raccoon.

"Uh Nate, Sly we just found out that we need a key to open the gate and it's hidden somewhere deep in this cemetery with some thieving Imps" said Parappa trying to break up the argument.

Sly notices that Nathan was not going to give up easily, the idea of finding a key gave him an idea. "Ok Nate I'll tell you what, let's see who gets the key first to open the gate, I'll race you?" said Sly holding out his hand for a handshake.

"It's on" said Nathan shaking his hand. Nathan ran up to Parappa, Big Daddy and Little Sister and pointed them to the right path which leads to more graves, some dead trees and a small lake. "Come on, this way, hurry" said Nathan making them move faster so he can beat Sly to the key.

"See you later Sackboy and Nariko" said Parappa waving but was being pushed by Nathan.

Sackboy waved them goodbye hoping that he could see them again later on. "See you later as well Parappa" said Nariko. They both followed Sly towards the other path which contained statues and crypts.