Sly awoke with a start, hearing someone typing madly at the keyboard in the other room. Knowing exactly who it was, he stood up and walked into the room next to him.
"Bentley, what do you think you're doing? It's two in the morning!" he groaned, seeing that his turtle friend was, indeed, the culprit of the typing.
"I can't help it, Sly! Now that Clockwerk's defeated, the only thing I have left to do right now is look for things to steal! And so far, NOTHING has looked interesting or expensive enough!" complained his turtle friend, still staring at the computer screen.
"But do you really have to stay up THIS LATE working? I mean, can't you just try sleeping for once?" Sly begged, rubbing his eyes. "Murray's lucky. He's a heavy sleeper, so he doesn't have to listen to all your damn typing. Couldn't you just continue in the mor-"
He was suddenly cut off by Bentley whooping for joy. "I FOUND SOMETHING!!! Get Murray and tell him to come here. This is a job too sweet to miss out on!"
After a lot of struggling and bruising, Murray was finally brought to his feet and was forced to make his way to Bentley's room. "Alright, guys. I know we haven't had a job for weeks, but this particular artifact was brought to my attention on , and it's WAY too good to pass up." He pressed a button, and a hologram appeared in middair. It showed a gem, no smaller then a labrador, with several different colored mists inside of it, floating about it. "Behold: the mystical emerald of Rah Khetalli!"
"Rah Khetalli?" asked Murray.
"Yes, the emerald of Rah Khetalli. A mystical gem that belonged to Rah Khetalli."
"You woke me up for jewelry. Great. Be sure to wake me up when you actually find something WORTHWHILE," Murray said, his words slurring. He stood up and began to leave the room.
"Wait! You didn't let me finish! See, Rah Khetalli was an enchantress who knew all sorts of spells and enchantments that could make even the strongest magician tremble. The only sidenote? She didn't use her powers for the good of mankind. She was, indeed, a master thief, much like Sly here. Until, one day, she was struck down by another sorcerer who was stronger than her. The day before she died, however, she split the emerald into eight different pieces and gave them to her most trusted followers, who fled to different parts of the world so that nobody would ever find the emerald shards and use them for whatever they wish to."
"But how would they use them? I mean, if they were just emeralds, why would they matter?" asked Sly.
"Well, apparently, each shard contains a different type of her power. When combined, they all create an enormous power that only the holder of the gem can control. The whole emerald is powerful enough, they say, to destroy entire cities with one blow. This is why she split the emerald. It says here, however, that only a few years ago, some of the shards got into the wrong hands, and are now being held by some newly appointed leaders of the Klaww Gang...including their new leader, Rajan," explained Bentley.
"RAJAN!?" exclaimed Sly and Murray.
"It gets worse. Apparently, when we "destroyed" Clockla, the Clock part was the only part destroyed. Neyla lived. She and Rajan were engaged a few days ago."
The other two were devastated. "So...this means that we have to get the pieces of the gem back and harness their powers. Then what?" Sly questioned.
"I'm not sure. I can't really think right now. How about we figure this out in the morning?" asked Bentley.
"FINALLY!!! Something makes sense. Well, let's go! No use just sitting here talking when we could be sleeping!" Murray announced, smiling as he ran out of the room.
"There's Murray for you..." Sly said, rolling his eyes. He walked out of Bentley's room, grinning. "Night, buddy."
"Good night, Sly. Wait!"
"Yeah?"
"You remember where all your gear is, correct?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, just making sure. See you in the morning."
"See ya, Bentley."