Hello again. Wait no longer, for Chapter 6 is up and ready to be reviewed! Enjoy!
Sly Cooper and the Space Thieves
Chapter 6- The Games Part 2
The sun rises on the Vapok village as Sly and his friends got up, ate, and prepared to participate in the games. When they arrived at the location of the games, they were stunned! It was an ancient stadium that looked similar to the Roman Coliseum back on Earth, except it was twice as big and had sculptures of other Vapok competitors.
Chief Rajz was standing on the highest seat in the stadium and was pleased that they showed up. As soon as the rest of the village was seated, he began to speak through a horn-like speaker so that everyone could hear him. "My people, welcome to the Games Stadium! Normally we'd have the games every 3 years, but we have made an exception! Here today are a team of competitors from another world, and they are determined to win! Will they succeed? Let us welcome our guests: Sly Cooper, Bentley, Murray, Guru, Penelope, Panda King, Dimitri, and Carmelita Fox!" The crowds booed and hissed at them, no doubt that they want them to lose.
'Nice crowd,' thought Sly as he heard them booing. "Silence!" yelled the chief so that everyone was quiet. "Now let us welcome back the champion team from last year: Opo, Tet, Moz, Jud, Weq, Sou, Uri, and Gub!" This time the crowds cheered and praised as their home team entered the stadium, knowing that they will crush Sly's team to rubble! And it looks like they could; for each of the Vapok champs were twice as big as Murray. 'We're in trouble,' thought Bentley.
"Now that both teams are present, we can begin! First, the captains of both teams must shake hands and agree to a fair play from both sides!" Sly stepped toward the other team's captain, which was Opo. They shook hands and agreed to play fair. Opo screamed to Sly as he walked back to his team: "You are going down, little furry man!" Sly was intimidated by him, but he wasn't afraid; he defeated foes a lot bigger than him.
"Both teams know the rules and know that I will be watching for foul play, so don't cheat! Okay, let us get the games started! The first event is the Wrestling Contest. In the center of the stadium is a big, white circle; that is the ring. Both teams choose a member to wrestle the other. The objective is to either knock your opponent out cold or push him out of the ring. You will have 15 minutes to fight; otherwise I will choose the winner. Wrestlers, enter the ring at this time!" Murray feels that this should be his kind of contest; he will enter. "Good luck, big guy," said Sly as the hippo stepped into the ring. His opponent was Moz, and he looks confident he can take down Murray. "Hear me, horn head! "The Murray" shall prevail!" "We'll see," replied the huge rhino.
"Players, begin!" Murray began the match by grabbing Moz and lifting him above his head and spun him around and around, and then he threw him down on the ground hard (Murray was wearing his special suit for the match)! For a moment or two, it seemed as though he wouldn't get up, but after the 5th count he got on his feet. Murray was surprised he could get up after an impact like that! Moz was pissed; he ran toward Murray and hit him hard with his horn right in the chest; only for Moz to bounce off him! Now he was really mad. "I'll rip you apart hippo!" He yelled as he and Murray locked hands in attempt to push each other out. Even with the suit's added strength, Murray was almost evenly matched with his opponent.
They continued to push each other with increased effort, not budging an inch! After a few minutes, Murray began to gain ground. Moz couldn't believe that he was being pushed back by a weakling! He tried to stop, but he was getting tired and was barely holding his ground. They finally reached the edge of the arena, and Moz panicked. If he got pushed out, he will lose. He was giving it everything he got just to stay in the ring. "Why won't you move back!" Murray smiled. "Because my strength comes from my soul and my determination to help my friends get home, even you cannot fight against it!" After he made his statement, he summoned all his strength (with the suit's help) and pushed Moz out of the ring! Murray wins!
Sly and the others cheered for Murray's outstanding victory, while Opo's team was shocked. Their best wrestler, defeated by an outsider! The whole stadium was in an uproar as their champion team received the first loss in the games. Even Chief Rajz was surprised at the outcome, but he was impressed with Murray's performance. "Wow! This was unexpected; Murray from Team Cooper has defeated Moz! One horn will be awarded to Murray for his outstanding match!" Just then, Murray was given a silver horn; the first of five! "I did it guys! I won the first event and the first horn!" Murray was excited that he won for his friends. "Nice job pal; one horn down, four to go," said Bentley.
Chief Rajz spoke again, and then the stadium went quiet. "Alright, time to proceed to event number two: The Guesser. Three boxes will be brought out for each selected player. One contains a horn; the other two will blow up in your face! You have to guess which one has the horn in it. It won't be easy, since all three boxes will look exactly alike! As if that weren't challenging enough, you will have only 5 minutes to choose the right box before the others explode! The champ player will go first!" "This sounds like your department, Bentley. Think you can pull it off?" Sly said to his crippled friend. "Sly, this will be a piece of cake. I'll do it!" Bentley replied.
Ten minutes later, 3 boxes were brought out for Tet. The boxes looked small and were made of wood. Tet looked confident he can pull this one off. He plans to get a win for his team, and he will not fail like Moz. "Begin!" Cried Rajz. Tet studied the boxes very carefully. After only 2 minutes, he picked the left box; which contained gold horn! His team cheered as he secured their first horn for them. The stadium roared with excitement at his excellent problem solving skills. Now it was Bentley's turn to choose. "Just do what you do best," said Sly as his friend was given his 3 boxes.
"Bentley, begin!" Yelled Rajz. Bentley's boxes looked the same as Tet's. He thought hard about the horn's probable place. 'These boxes are completely identical; it will be difficult to decide which one has the horn. Which is it?' Bentley thought as he tried to guess. 3 minutes have passed, and Bentley still hasn't figured it out. He began to panic. 'I'm running out of time, think Bentley think!' Then he got an idea. He closed his eyes and listened for the explosives. He listened hard, then he heard two small hissing sounds. He tried to guess the locations of the sounds. One sounded like it was on the left, and the other sounded like it came from right in front of him. 'So that means that the horn must be in the right box,' he thought as he opened his eyes and chose the right box. He lifted it and it had….
"The horn!" Bentley yelled as he held the team's second horn in his hands. The stadium booed again at him and his team for another victory. "Well I'll be; both players found their horns without getting blown to bits! Our champions have one horn so far, while Team Cooper has two. Either our visitors are better than we thought, or our champs maybe slacking off today!" Opo and his team were not pleased to hear that and roared in outrage. Opo yelled at Sly: "The Games have only begun Sly Cooper; soon you and your team will pay for this!" "Yeah, whatever meathead." Opo went red in the face when he heard that and his ears were steaming!
"Time for event number three: The Cook-off. One member from each team will cook a delicious dish using the ingredients provided with all utensils at the same time. They will have 15 minutes to make a scrumptious dish. Then I will come down and try their meals. The dish that tastes better will win the next horn. Teams, choose your chefs!" Sly chose Dimitri for his good cooking skills, and Opo chose Sou. They both went to their respective cooking tables and prepared to slice and dice. "Alright, cooks. You may begin!" Then both competitors began to make their meals.
Dimitri was making his magic by cutting vegetables and seasoning meat with style, while Sou was hastily chopping fruit and fish. Both were cooking fast and determined to outdo the other. Just as the timer on their tables went off, they took their meals out of their ovens. "Time's up! Let us see how they did!" Rajz came down to the stadium and looked at their meals; both looked very appetizing. He decided to try Sou's dish first. "Chief Rajz, this is my Stuffed Fruit Fish! A cooked mackerel seasoned with spice peppers and stuffed with Alu berries." The chief took a fork and knife and tried a bite of the fish. He seemed to like it; not good for Dimitri. "Delicious! Unique and creative! Well done, Sou!" Now went over to try Dimitri's meal. "What you see, chief rhino, is my Dimitri Surprise! A rich delicacy with spicy beef, seasoned veggies, and a light garlic sauce. Makes your mouth water, does it not?" Rajz reached for his fork and tasted it.
It wasn't called the Dimitri Surprise for nothing as he smiled wildly and yelled, "Wow! I have never tasted anything so spicy and so flavorful in all my life; I love it! Dimitri is the winner! Do you mind if I have the rest of your meal?" Dimitri smiled. "Help yourself, Rajz-man! I cook all my meals with passion and style! No one can say no to my scrumptious cuisines." Dimitri was immediately given his horn while Rajz was enjoying the winning meal. Sou's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe that the chief chose the lizard's dish over his! In fury, he smashed his cooking stand and threw it across the field. 'Talk about a sore loser,' thought Sly as he watched Sou walk away in defeat. Sly's team now had 3 horns while Opo's team still only had 1.
As soon as Rajz was finished with his Dimitri Surprise, he went back up to his seat and silenced the very pissed off crowd. "Now that that is over, let us check the score: Team Cooper- 3 horns, Team Opo- 1 horn. Incredible! Our out-of-town team has taken a strong lead over our reining champions! But it isn't over yet; we will be taking a 30 minute break before our next sets of events begin. So take this time to stretch your legs, visit the concession stand, or use the restrooms. Be sure to return to your seats in 30 minutes, for the toughest events will begin!"
Sly and his team decided to get something to eat, while the Opo's team went away to prepare for the next games. "So far, so good guys. We have 3 horns. Just 2 more and we will get to face the final challenge, and then we will win." Sly said with confidence. Carmelita was also pleased with their victories so far, but couldn't help but worry. "Ringtail, let us not get cocky. These next few games maybe tougher than the others so far. We need to be prepared. Besides, we still don't know what the final challenge is." "Ah, don't worry too much Carmelita. I think we can handle anything that comes our way," Sly said.
While they were talking, Chief Rajz was watching them from somewhere close. "So, you think you can handle anything? The final challenge I have chosen will change your mind," he said with a smile.
To Be Continued…
