The trip to Haiti was interesting as Sly took in the fact that the alligator woman was a renowned sorceress or witch and even conjuring the dead to aid her schemes, the mystic of the Fiendish Five as they entered the swamp where Mz. Ruby was last seen. He jumped out o the van as Bentley spoke up through the binoc-u-com. "Sorry, Sly, but this is one mission you will have to accomplish without me."
"You don't believe in ghosts, do you?"
"Sure I do. My scanners have picked up verifiable paranormal activity, but that's not the problem." Sly rolled his eyes as that meant one thing. "This swamp is oozing with disgusting mold and bacteria."
"Suck it up, Bentley. We've got work to do."
"Well, alright then." Besides, Bentley is in the van while he was contending with the 'disgusting mold and bacteria. "Don't forget to use the new move you learned from Muggshot's section of the Thievius Raccoonus."
"You mean the Raccoon Rail Walk?"
"The roots and vines around here are perfect for that. All you gotta do is..."
"Keep balance and focus on footing, I can do that."
"Especially where you see the bark has been worn away. And where it's super slick from icky slime and moss, you'll rail slide like a skater grinding pipe."
"I'm liking it." Sly stashed the com and continued on, pausing as he found an abandoned cycle on the side, its color rather... policing as Sly called it. "Hey Bentley, did any local police force come this way?"
"There shouldn't be any police force in the area, most of them have been locking down the Mexican border to keep Mz. Ruby out, even if they can't do much against her... Why, is there something there?"
"A police-issued bike, looks recent, but is covered by overgrowth." Sly answered as he took a photo and headed out, whoever else was there with them was in trouble, if the bike was any notice of trouble, heading across the vines and roots before getting past living wood... things, giant bugs, and a lone sentry before Bentley called again to the widespread huts and something across the way.
"That's Mz. Ruby's lair. To get in, you'll need that key on top of a tiki pedestal in the guard compound." Bentley continued as Sly spotted the strange-lit candles about the place. "There's a bad mojo force field protecting it, so you'll have to destroy all five of the purple candles surrounding it."
"No problem."
"Don't get cocky or you'll end up with your head shrunk to the size of a pea." The guards did look to be meaning business as Bentley continued in concern. "You've got to get past those voodoo guards — and I'm warning you — they're mean and they work like a team."
"So do we, buddy!" Sly snuck about and took out the guards with care, but his main focus was the candles and that put the rats done for good as Bentley cheered.
"You've done it! The mojo force field is down and you can steal the key!" Sly leapt over and snatched the key before heading over to the Vault to collect a page of the Raccoonus, empowering his Roll Move with an electromagnetic power, basically his rolling will now be a 'shocking' experience for anyone to touch him. He headed on up and unlocked the way, getting into the Swamp's Dark Center and stopping again when Bentley called in, directing their view to the over sized gator skull on the cliff.
"My paranormal scanner is maxing out on that structure."
"A reading like that could only be coming off Mz. Ruby herself." Sly mused as Bentley agreed.
"I think you're right, Sly. If you want a crack at Mz. Ruby, you're going to have to find a way inside that Skull Temple." That was the hard part, there was no way to just do that, so Sly had to go searching for a way in as he slid on down to the main area of influence and stopped, sitting by an altar was... a chicken, but it was the weapon beside it that was of some interest, it was a rifle as Sly walked over and grabbed it in confusion as Bentley spoke. "A Zap-tron 1986!? That is one of Interpol's top sniper rifles, it is also custom-made for some tough guys in the force, the 'Winter Watch'."
"Okay..." Sly was confused as he looked it over and then the chicken. "Okay... so what is it doing here with a... chicken?"
"I don't know." Sly hummed as he didn't pay too much mind to it as he rubbed the chicken's head as Bentley continued. "...But one thing is certain, our agent is somewhere in Haiti and I don't know if he is going to come back if anything at all."
"Sounds like a challenge, maybe we can..."
"Get your hand off my head..." Sly paused and slowly turned as the chicken looked at him and spoke again. "Remove it, I don't like being coddled." Sly swiftly pulled his hand away in surprise as the chicken didn't move too much before sitting down. "You seem like a nice guy, a criminal, but nonetheless a nice guy."
"Who...!?"
"My name... is right now out of the picture." The chicken spoke as he continued. "I ended up getting transformed by the local voodoo, my life is now a chicken, and I have no sure way to reverse it, but..." Within a swift movement, the chicken sprung, kicking the gun out of Sly's hands, catching it, and aimed the barrel to Sly's chin as he spoke. "I am no fool, so don't give me a reason to fire. What are you doing here... really, Mister Cooper?"
"Please..." Sly smiled, despite the threat. "Mister Cooper was my father, I am Sly Cooper, and I have come here to put an end to the voodoo priestess Mz. Ruby, she aided in the death of my family and I want to get both justice for what they did and the pages stolen from me that fateful night." The standoff continued before a rat spotted and came charging, Sly nearly moved, but the chicken was faster, the rifle shifting and batting the rat before its barrel planted on the back and the trigger pulled, volts surging across the attacker as the chicken just stood on the stock, Sly noticing that the coin pouch was tugging upward, toward the chicken.
"Do you seek her death?"
"No..." Sly shook his head as he eased up. "No, I don't want to kill anyone, I won't stoop that low, death is..."
"The ruin of a soul, the coward's way." Chicken spoke as he nodded. "Death is a last resort and not an answer, Cooper. You may not stain your hands in innocent blood, but you still hunt down these criminals to get justice... a modern-day Robin Hood, it would seem." The rifle somehow collapsed and the chicken kicked it for Sly to catch as the bird jumped and landed on his shoulder. "We have work to do then, let's start hunting." Mz. Ruby called out to the growth of the voodoo power, but Sly had different plans as they headed out and headed into what looked to be some large cage as Bentley called it in.
"What's with this industrial-strength voodoo gate? Mz. Ruby must really be trying to keep something out."
"Or maybe... she's trying to keep something in!" The chicken looked about it as Sly scaled on in and they continued on, the chicken possessing nerves of steel to the sliding and large spiders that could easily make a meal out of the both of them. They headed lower to the large swamp marsh as Bentley shook.
"These walls are making me claustrophobic." Both paused as the reeds in the water... moved and Bentley jumped. "Whoa! Did you see those reeds move? There's something huge under there. You better get going!"
"But what exactly is it...?" The chicken questioned as he looked about to their continued advance, scaling up again. "It couldn't be small, there would be no reason for the gates or the dome, it's something large... something big."
"Yes, but what...?" Sly questioned as they jumped down and continued, getting on another walk before something broken behind them and they turned to the beating horizon of snake eyes and a terrifying maw from orange skin emerging from the bone covering, both stone facing as Sly spoke. "Run...?"
"Run... RUN!" They bolted as the thing chomped on the path behind them and continued after them, Sly breathing as the thing chased after them before making it to a stone statue submerged and the creature splashed into the waters below, murky to hide its form as the Chicken grimaced. "Well, now we know... and that is not a pretty sight."
"No, I think we can take another round..." Sly chuckled as the Chicken stone-faced before following in laughing as they grabbed the key and page, dating modern times with guard rosters from all of the hideouts that could be out there, and departed from the demon-like environment...
The next place didn't do them any favors as Bentley warned them when a spectral cat ghost popped up out of no way. "Sly, you'd better be on your guard here. My paranormal scanners show this place is really haunted!"
"No... you don't say." The Chicken voiced as Sly dealt out the spirits and smashed a gravestone to Bentley's exclaim.
"Now that was very interesting. When you smashed that gravestone, the ghosts stopped coming. It must be some kind of ghost generator. Maybe if you smashed them all, you'd be safe."
"That is excluding the giant mosquitos, the walking tree trucks, and titanic spiders?"
"Shut up, don't terrify me like that!" Chicken kept his beak shut as Sly handled the ghost issue that must have been by Mz. Ruby, a usable source of trapped spirits that she could draw from, but no more as they handled it and arrived to the treasure key as they also collected the page for the Thievius Raccoonus, a spare that did have the layout for Mz. Ruby's base, so Sly could easily find anything breakable or likewise nearby as they got out of there, spirits were one thing that didn't want to find out more about...
The next task before them was a gate that could only be opened once all of the twenty-five tiki torches were set ablaze on a swamp skiff, the fuel to the flamethrower being the piranhas that were swimming in the waters, musky and disgusting, so Sly decided to pop a question for the Chicken to get some details. "So, you certainly have a handle on using a Interpol rifle, who are you really?"
"Like I said, Cooper, my name is out of the question as a chicken, I didn't even dare give my name willingly to anyone without reason." The chicken answered as he continued. "Besides, anyone can work a rifle like I can, it takes time and patience, that is all." Sly knew that he wasn't going to get anymore out of the chicken as they headed back with treasure key in tow, but Sly did speak again.
"Is it weird that all of the treasure keys are of Raleigh's design that I even find them here, to be fair?"
"Not really, they are connected after all." Sly stopped mid-step at that and the Chicken looked panicked before resuming a neutral face. "Saw it in a cannon when Inspector Fox took the frog in, wanted to get the jump on the next and took a guess on Mz. Ruby." Sly paused before nodding and continued on as he checked the Binoc-u-com to see Bentley's message.
'That was not a slip of the tongue, the chicken knows about the connection between Raleigh, Muggshot, and Mz. Ruby, I highly doubt that he is even a novice to start with.' Sly hummed as they kept on the trail as they headed deeper into the swamp, though unlocking the way featured releasing the monster serpent from its pen to smash the gate before going back into its prison to the pair arrive to the large mixer of skull and voodoo to Bentley's added part. "Looks like some kind of giant voodoo egg beater to stir up that unsanitary mess."
"If I can unlock the cauldron's lid, I might be able to thrash their production and build up enough steam pressure to get launched up to Ruby's skull temple."
"Okay, sounds like we've got a plan. To get around that thing, try moving in the shadows made by the masks so that the guards won't see you." Both nodded as they took off and hid behind the masks to prevent the rats from seeing them as they pressed on...
"Oh my gawd! A green waterfall overflowing with bones and body parts. I'm telling you, the health department's going to come down bigtime on this dump." Those were the first words out of Bentley's mouth on the pair coming to an underground reserve for the voodoo priestess as the Chicken covered its beak as he gagged.
"No question, this is very disturbing, and it is using the local water source to pull these things in, just our luck." Sly nodded as they kept going, avoiding the small patrols and even a flaming voodoo spirit hurling skulls as Mz. Ruby taunted them.
"Hey there, Sly Cooper! That's right, I know you're here. I've seen it in the stars. It's all over my tea leaves. I'm in your mind, raccoon. I know your game. You better run for it, or me and my voodoo children are going to sign you up for an eternity in zombie servitude!" That was very taunting, but Sly was not deterred from his task in finding the pages and treasure keys hidden throughout the place as the two ascended up the place to a rushing sound and another flaming skull as Bentley spoke.
"Look at all the security. This must be the source of all the disgusting green soup!" They took care of it with dimming the candles and smacking it before rail grinding to the next vault as Bentley, having seen all of the clues together made to speak. "These codes are nothing before my righteous analytical ability!" The Chicken blinked before he spoke.
"Are you just building it up because the numbers are five-seven-one?" Silence as Sly was positive that Bentley figured it out just fine, but a chicken, taking a look and piecing it out in seconds, that was weird as Bentley moaned.
"You just stole my thunder, not cool..." Sly dialed it in before popping the vault open to a new page as Bentley exclaimed. "Mind-bending! It's Matthew de la Coopeur's Perpetual Slow Motion Technique. With this more, you can slow down time whenever you want, not just while jumping." The technique was quite the find to use as they kept going, Cooper having done little in stopping the chicken from seeing it.
While it was possible that someone reading it could figure it out and do the crazy things the Coopers could, it took time, training, and practice, but if the chicken was actually the operative, then he was quick in learning and had the ability to do all of it just fine before they got on another skiff, except, this one was different with a high-energy cannon, something not fitting into the swamp as the chicken perched and spoke.
"Get on, I'll handle the firing for now." Sly nodded as they bolted into the next section containing a key...
They took to a shooting gallery as it was unique in firing and moving, that sort of tech was really out there as it could deal with the spirits and skulls that barred their way before Bentley came up with an update on the green soup. "According to my paranormal scanner, that flowing soup is really highly-charged ectoplasm! It's just got to be the source of power for those headstone generators!" That explained the ghosts and how Mz. Ruby was getting her forces for conflicts, but even for a world-class voodoo priestess, Mz. Ruby couldn't possibly have enough of a control to dominate all the ghosts as they grabbed the key and headed to a chicken house.
There, their chicken laid down the law on the bomb-trotting roosters while collecting some lively chickens for a jumbo... for a ghost, which is weird still, but it was all for the good of dealing with Mz. Ruby as they popped open the mixer and got ready to contend with Mz. Ruby in her Skull Temple...
They were launched and ended on the lip of the skeletal croc as they spotted their target as she spoke. "Mmm, I could feel that Cooper vibe coming. Most distastefully bad juju. Not only that, you brought a little friend that shold have jsut sat around for his poaching."
"Yeah, well you give me the creeps too, lady. Cooking up an army of ghosts isn't a very neighborly pastime."
Mz. Ruby chuckled as she spoke. "Oh, Sly, I see your mouth moving, but all I hear is blah, blah, blah. Well, if jaws need to flap, then let them flap." She casted a mighty powerful spell and the bones started to move before chomping like a croc as Ruby spoke. "See you in the next world, Sly Cooper."
"You only managed briefly to catch me, Lavena Ruby." The chicken spoke as he snatched the rifle and gripped it in his talons. "Twice is not happening this time." He went bouncing among the teeth with Sly behidn him before they arrived and the rifle extended out to Ruby's swipe before he rolled and slammed hard, causing Ruby to disappeared further in as Cooper called out.
"Come back here! You can't run away forever!"
"Quite true, quite true. Why don't I have my servant, Chumley, escort you and the chicken over here?" The chicken rested back on Cooper's shoulder as he spoke.
"Alright, what's the catch?"
"Oh, not much. Just a little game I like to play with all my annoying guests. I want to see how well you pay attention." Sly cocked a brow as he spoke.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'll unleash my mighty mojo magic upon you. If you repeat what I do, you'll dodge it just fine. If not, you'll get zapped." She laughed as Sly got the gist of it and agreed.
"A little voodoo Simon Says, eh? Sounds easy enough." She didn't make it easy on them in dodging, but they prevailed in repeating and dodging her mojo attacks before giving her a good smack before she fell to being bested three times as she panted.
"You've certainly got some rhythm, raccoon, but it won't help none if you're fixing to go after the Panda King. He's tough with a capital T. If you go poking around his stronghold in China, you're likely to get poked back."
"Yeah, well if he's anything like the rest of you, I think I'll manage." Sly mused as the Chicken jumped off and started to changed before Sly before standing back up after a lightshow of green, into a bat with a scarf around his jaw and neck, his rifle on the back, and a more normal attire, but nothing could hide the armband that detailed a jaguar of snow white, baring its teeth over a cover of a tree coated in winter as Bentley exclaimed.
"Sly! Get out of there, fast, that mark is OF the Winter Watch, he must have been assigned to stop you, and not in a good way!" Sly kept his guard up as the figure turned and spoke.
"Thanks for telling, Ruby. Now, I got a mark to hit." With a flap of the wings, the bat took off, leaving Ruby and Sly alone in the temple, but Sly wasted no time in heading out with grabbing the page of Slytunkhamen and making a break before Carmelita, acting on evidence given by Muggshot, headed down to Haiti to arrest both criminals, but was slow as Cooper escaped...
Xander landed and cleaned off the motorcycle before running it through its paces, having also evaded Inspector Fox before contacting Barkley. "Scratch another off the docket, Ruby is going to prison for life, making zombies and the like."
"Fangmeen, where in blazes have you been!?"
"I was caught off-guard by Ruby, got turned into a chicken, Sir." He rode off as he continued the chat. "In any case, the next target in the Fiendish Five is the Panda King, any leads on him?"
"Not so fast, Fangmeen, I am glad that you are okay, but you did miss the routine call, so don't be picking fights right now, we managed to get Mina back on her feet, but she is still a long way from recovering."
"Understood, Sir." Xander huffed as he rode on, missing routine calls left Winter Watch Members to do recon, but no field work, but that worked for him, it annoyed the crap out of the bloody guys and gve him enough room to investigate the Panda King, also have sent a fragment of the blasting machine in the swamp to the techs in America to give a rough draft of where the metal had come from...