Just a bit of a disclaimer, I'm not asian. I'm native american. The name of the villain in this one means "Fire metal". It might be "Deep fried rice". I dunno. This is what google said.
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The gang headed out, this time, straight to China, where 'The Panda King' resided.
The Panda King was born Huojin Sung, a penniless child to a pair of poor farmers. He was fascinated by fireworks that the rich nobles would set off every New Year, and would travel ten miles or so up hill in order to watch them clearly.
He spent a decade honing and studying the rockets, trying to master the art to bring them something beautiful.
But when he tried to show his fireworks to them, the sent him away, not being able to see past his shabby clothes.
Humiliated, Sung used the very tools of his art to punish those who had shunned him, and used them instead for crime.
The Fiendish Five recruited him as their demolitions expert, and from then on, his explosive touch became feared worldwide. He was last known to be perfecting a new art form high in the unstable Kun Lun Mountains in western China, in his impenetrable fortress.
The fortress in which Jade was standing in now.
The fortress in which an angry Jade was standing in now.
The reason for her anger is that when she was climbing the large mountain, she witnessed a statue of the Panda King fire off some heavy duty fireworks into the mountainside, sparking an avalanche that buried an entire village under tons of freezing snow.
Hundreds of people are hurt, dead, or just freezing because this waste of space had an inadequacy complex, and sensitive feelings that some assholes hurt years ago.
Does it sound like Jade's angry? Because Jade's angry.
It was one thing to kill her parents, something that affected her deeply, but she could concede and see that they were just two people. Two people that didn't really matter to anyone but Jade.
But to bury an entire village because, what Jade found out from hearing over the intercom he has set up (and to the translator chip Bentley recently installed in her earpiece), they didn't pay his insanely high extortion- excuse her, protection money?
This guy wasn't just a thief. He wasn't just a member of the Fiendish Five. He wasn't just someone who killed two people twelve years ago.
No, Huojin Sung was a monster. A monster who hasn't changed at all, and a monster that needs to be stopped.
He was different from the other three she'd gone after.
Raleigh just sunk the ships; he'd fish the crew out of the ocean and send them towards civilization while they were unconscious. Muggshot just looked tough, his file said that, besides the West's, he'd never actually killed anyone. And even Mz. Ruby, the coldblooded voodoo queen, was more interested in the dead than the living.
Sung just killed to kill. That's what made him despicable, and that's the reason Jade felt anger and determination burning in her as she stood in the fortress.
"Nice job breaking into the compound, Sly." Robbie's voice spoke into her earpiece. "The Panda King looks to be at the top of the giant statue of himself, where there's a temple at the top. It doesn't look climable, but I think I've figured out a way to get up there."
"What's the catch?" She asked.
"The catch is that it's obstructed by that reinforced ceiling hatch you're standing next to."
Jade looked at the hatch, then looked around. "Think I could use some fireworks to open it up?"
Robbie thought for a moment. "Given the devastating punch his particular brand of firework packs, theoretically speaking, it seems plausible."
He went on. "Once inside the hatch, there's a secret passageway that leads up the inside of the statue, to Huojin Sung himself."
Jade nodded. "Got it. He'll be taken care of within the hour."
She hung up, surprisingly devoid of any and all jokes she could've made. This guy seemed monstrous, and taking him down was something that Jade took very seriously.
She looked to her left, where a large temple seemed to be. Jade hopped down from the roof she was standing on and made her way over to the side of it.
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She peaked in through the window, and found eight or so people inside, balancing on swaying wooden poles and twirling them back and forth.
This isn't a temple at all, she thought to herself. This is a training facility.
It only made her hate Huojin that much more.
Towards the back of the temple, there was a large metal dragon, the fireplace for the facility. It looked angry, and its mouth was open in a large roar, where a fire was lit to heat up the grounds.
Jade slipped in through the window and snuck behind the dragon, though she was certain she could walk straight in through the front doors and the students wouldn't notice her at all.
She hooked her cane to the top of the dragon and pulled herself up above it, then looked around, having a better view of the facility.
A large gong was across from her, and above that, a rope leading out of the compound, to another part of the mountain. The only thing in between her and the gong besides air was a large lantern, with a large wooden circle attached to it. It looked like it had no other purpose than aesthetics, however, and Jade was wary about stepping onto it.
There seemed to be no other way around, however, and if she was going to get a crack at the Panda King, she was going to have to take some risks.
The blue-clad woman jumped from the head of the statue and landed on the wooden circle. It began to tip over with her weight, so she grabbed the rope above it and sort of straddled the lantern to even things out a bit. Other than a little bit of protest from the wood, everything seemed to be okay.
Jade swung the lantern back and forth, building up some momentum. Once she felt it was enough, she jumped to the platform the gong was on.
While she missed it with her body, she managed to hook onto it with her cane, and dangled there for a moment, her grip on her heirloom tight and vice-like. She could feel her cane slipping, so she scrambled up the platform quickly, and slid underneath the gong to hide herself.
She found where the rope was tied to the platform, and hooked her cane onto it, using it as a zipline out of the place.
She saw a guard patrolling the place she was to land. He was a big guy, and the twin daggers on his back looked wickedly sharp. Jade decided he was not someone she wanted to mess with head on. She pushed her feet in front of her, and whistled.
The guard looked up just in time for her feet to make contact with his face, and his head to make contact with the stone behind him. He crumpled to the floor, and Jade tied him up with some rope after pocketing his daggers.
A little ways away, there was a sort of gazebo, with a hole in the roof to get to the top. If Jade had to guess, she'd think that this was some other sort of training, getting to the top of the gazebo without a ladder or stairs of any sort.
The thief luckily had the ultimate tool for climbing with her. She jumped, and hooked her cane to the edge of the hole, then shimmied up it like she would a rope. Once at the top, there was a small flagpole bearing the symbol of the temple on it, what Jade assumed was another test. She climbed easily up the pole, and landed on a snowy platform under what looked to be a building with a large metal bird protruding from it.
The snow came up to her knees, and she had to do this awkward sort of high step to get to the bird.
Its neck was extended, and from the length of it, it looked like a cross between a snake and a bird. It also looked pretty sturdy, and she latched her cane onto its neck.
After testing to see if it could hold her weight, Jade swung back and forth, getting a little higher each time. When she was going fast enough, she let go at the height of her swing and landed deftly on the bird-snake's neck, grabbing her cane before it fell.
At the top of the structure were some fireworks, and she scooped them up, hauling it off with her to the main part of the fortress.
!
The fireworks had been set off, and Jade was just about to jump through when a voice stopped her.
"Freeze, rat!" Tori called out, leveling her sigts on Jade.
The thief turned around and smiled. "How can I freeze when my heart warms at the very sight of you?" She winked.
"Shut up, punk." The cop growled out. "I don't know what you're doing in China, but I'm sure it can't be good for whoever owns this place."
Jade crossed her arms. "You must only have eyes for me if you're too blind to see what's going on around here."
Tori cocked her shock pistol. "All I see is a pathetic thief who's escaped justice for far too long."
The paler woman scoffed. "I'm proud to be a thief. Especially when I'm stealing from a vicious extortionist and murderer like Huojin Sung."
She went on. "Open your eyes 'detective', these quaint temples are a front for an illegal explosives factory."
"Don't try to confuse the issue. You criminals are all the same and none of you can escape justice." And with that, she shot at Jade, who immediately dove for cover in the temple. She burst through the wall that hid the entrance to the secret passageway, Tori hot on her heels, firing shot after shot at her.
Jade ran as fast as she could, and saw the end of the passageway ahead of her. It was a large, reinforced metal door at the top of some steps, with a railing on either side of it, and she prayed silently that it was unlocked.
She got there with Tori seconds behind her, and pulled the heavy door, trying to get it open.
A shot right next to her tugged the door back a couple inches, and Tori leveled her sights once more.
"Give it up, Sly Cooper." She growled out.
Jade smiled and held up her hands.
"Ya got me, Ms. Fox."
The surprise on Tori's face quickly faded back into her usual scowl as she approached the thief to handcuff her.
However, once she'd pulled the cuffs out, Jade whirled around and knocked the pistol out of her hands. She then grabbed the cuffs and attached one to Tori's wrist, then the other to the railing next to them.
"You bastard! Take these off immediately!" Tori seethed once Jade stole the keys off of her.
"I will. Maybe. Depends on how I'm feeling." She winked and pulled the door open, then slipped inside and shut it. After she locked it, she slipped the key under it to Tori.
Her worries that the cop might not be able to reach the key were put to rest when she heard a pounding on the door.
With a smile, Jade continued on to the temple.
!
Jade found Huojin Sung in the middle of the temple. He was a, well, a fat man, though similar to sumo wrestlers, Jade was willing to be a large portion of that was muscle. He wore no shirt, despite the temple having pillars instead of walls, and his black hair was in a tight bun. The only item of clothing he seemed to be wearing was a pair of red shorts with yellow flames decorating the sides, and a red belt around the waistband that flowed in the breeze every time he bounced from foot to foot.
"I see you carry the cane of the notorious West thief clan." The Panda King spoke, his voice a deep monotone.
"Have you come here for revenge? To steal back the Thievius Victorious?"
Jade crossed her arms. "That was my plan at first, but now I'm more interested in putting and end to your avalanche extortion racket."
He tilted his head to the side. "Why should you care if I bury a few worthless villages in snow? You are a thief, just like me."
She shook her head and planted her fists on her hips. "No, that's only half-right. I am a thief, from a long line of master thieves, while you...you're just a frustrated firework artist turned homicidal pyromaniac."
The Panda King clenched his fists. "Insolent child! You shall pay dearly for your disrespect!"
He stopped bouncing for a moment and put his fists together in front of him. "Still, to honor your West ancestry, I will send you to your death with the beauty of my new firework techique..."
He hit his fists together, and they caught fire. "Flame-Fu!"
Huojin jumped to one side, kicking a strip of flames towards Jade, who dodged it and began to move closer to him. He kept shooting stream after stream of fire at her, and shekept narrowly avoiding the flames, the faint burns on her arm and legs stinging slightly from the heat of the fire.
Once she got within striking distance, she hit anything she thought would hurt: his legs, his arms, his head, etc.
Huojin seemed to ignore it, raising a hand in the air and screaming, "Fiery Wheel!" Before he spun quickly on his head and brought the same arm around, swiping at Jade's legs.
She jumped to avoid the attack, and he used this to his advantage, using his large belly to bounce her away from him, where he continued his onslaught of flame.
She managed to get close once more, and this time, he brought out a new technique.
"Palms of Thunder!" He smacked the ground where she stood seconds before with his hands, and flames spread out a good few feet from the starting point. She used his new stance to knee him in the face, and blood poured from his nose.
Other than spitting some blood out of his mouth and wiping his nose, he seemed unaffected, and backhanded her away from him.
Jade recovered quickly, and dodged the fireball he sent her way. As she got close once more, a plan formulated in her mind.
She kept her distance, maintaining a few feet between them, until he called out what she was looking for.
"Palms of Thunder!" He yelled again, and right as he smacked his hands on the ground, she jumped and brought both of her feet down on his hands with as much orce as she could manage.
He pulled back, and she grabbed his ankle with her cane, pulling harshly to both dislocate it and to bring him to the ground.
As she stood atop him, He looked up at her neutrally.
"Your skill with that cane is unparalleled." He observed. She nodded, and brought her foot down on his head, knocking him unconscious. She tied him up quickly, and searched the place or her pages, finding them under one of the statues adorning the temple.
Robbie's voice filled her ears. "Sly! I did a cross analysis of the metal used in that reinforced metal hatch, and it turns out it can only be found in one place. The Krakarov volcano in Russia. That's got to be where we'll find the fifth member of the Fiendish Five. So let's go!"
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Well, that's another chapter. I can tell you now that there will be two more chapters, and that'll be the end of this story. For those of you who know the Sly Cooper series, however, you know that this is far from the end of this series. Shoot, I still have 3 more games to go through!