Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self.

Chapter 12

Semi-Finals

Now that Team Cooper was officially in the semi-finals they decided to take a day off. Though Eclipse was a little reluctant to go, the entire gang went to one of the beaches on the island and enjoyed a day of fun in the sun. Panda King spent the day relaxing in a tube on the water. Penelope and Bentley raced each other with their RC Boats and relaxed on the sand. Eclipse and Carmelita spent part of the day teaching Sly the basics of swimming. Then, Sly and Carmelita spent some time relaxing on the beach while Eclipse disappeared for a while. When he came back he had the Sky Serpent with him, and he also had a few pairs of water skis and a knee board. Everyone soon got the idea, and with Eclipse driving the Sky Serpent the team enjoyed a few runs at water skiing and knee boarding.

The day went by to quick for anyone's tastes and it was already the next day, and Sly and Eclipse had a race to enter. They were not looking forward to the race because they would be racing against Murray. They knew that if they couldn't get to the finals they need to make sure he did. In the race there were eight vehicles. The racing line up consisted of the Sky Serpent, Murray in the old Cooper gang van, 2 stock cars, 2 stock trucks, 1 other from the stock van class, and a motorcycle from one of the other Uncommon Vehicle class races.

Sly poked his head out the Sky Serpent's window and yelled, "Hey Murray."

Murray looked over to Sly and said, "Hey Sly, good to see yeah, but what are you doing in the Sky Serpent."

Sly smiled as he said, "We entered the races to help you win. We need you back with the gang buddy. I need you and Bentley to help me remember our lives at the orphanage."

Murray nodded his head and said, "So, you want to double team these suckus."

Sly nodded his head and said, "You take first will take second and will call it even."

Murray gave Sly a thumb's up and they got ready as the start lights began to flash. With the green light the race began. It was on the 4 mile track and there were, once again, twenty laps. They had twice the amount of time to get Murray into first and themselves into second, but they were also racing better vehicles and drivers. The Sky Serpent had worked its way into a third place position and Murray was right behind them using their slip stream to keep up.

Eclipse got as close as he could to the second place driver, a black pick-up truck with a jet engine positioned in its truck bed. Eclipse was having a hard time passing the black truck because when ever the truck driver pulled in front of the Sky Serpent, the force of the jet engine made the Sky Serpent have to fall back. Eclipse played cat and mouse with the truck for 5 laps when he finally caught a break and was able to get beside the truck. The truck driver then started to play dirty because he began trying to force the Sky Serpent into the side rails.

Luckily for Eclipse and Sly, Murray came up on their other side, and with both the Sky Serpent and the Cooper team van pushing against the black truck they were able to make him back off and they took the 2nd and 3rd place positions. The only one in front of them now was the other vehicle from the stock van class. It was a white van with no apparent additions. This surprised Eclipse because even if they came from the stock van class, in these races they were allowed to make a few modifications to make the vehicles faster.

Eclipse didn't wonder this for long because as they got closer to the white van its roof opened up and the 2nd driver came rising out of the van behind a machine gun. Eclipse quickly activated the Sky Serpents energy shields before the guy could unload his rounds, but now the Sky Serpent was stuck behind him because the energy shield only guarded the front of the train when it was in its race mode. Eclipse passed a message to Sly and Sly motioned for Murray to pull up beside the train. He shouted to Murray, "Mind if I get a ride. The guy in front of use has a machine gun turret, and the Sky Serpent can't pass him now. If you can get me on to that van I can take out the turret and then Eclipse can get along side of it with the Sky Serpent and make him back off."

Murray nodded his head and pressed a button on the van's dash board. A small hook raised out of the vans roof, perfect for Sly to hook his cane to. Sly quickly latched his cane to the hook and Murray began to pass the Sky Serpent. Eclipse began to pressure the white van to distract the guy on the gun turret.

The diversion worked, and Murray was able to get up right beside the white van. Sly jumped off of the Murray's van and into the white. There were sounds of struggle and then Sly jumped back out and landed on the front of the Sky Serpent. In a few second smoke could be seen coming out of the white van, and it began to slow down. Murray and Eclipse quickly got out of the van's way and went to finish the race, Murray in first and the Sky Serpent in second.

Sly and Eclipse still went to the winners circle, but this time to cheer for Murray, and watch as he was presented his trophy for winning the Semi-Final race. Eclipse was cheering when he noticed the long black hair of Destiny walking behind the temporary stands the track had set up. While Sly was wrapped up in what he was doing Eclipse slipped off and quickly went to where he had send Destiny. He widened his senses and found her walking beside the garages. He ran on the other side of the garages, planning to get ahead of her. He reached the end of the row of garages and ran to the front of them. He almost ran straight in to Destiny, but she heard foot steps and stopped a few feet short of where Eclipse ran to.

Eclipse waited to see her reaction, but he could already see the fear building up in her eyes. He raised a hand, trying to reach out for her, but she backed up as the fear took hold of her. Eclipse stopped and brought his hand down as he said, "Please Destiny, why are you so afraid of me? I have done nothing to make you fear me. All I want now is to understand why."

Destiny was about to scream and run away when she saw the pain in Eclipse's eyes, and she got the feeling he was really torn up about the whole thing. Now that she thought about it, what kind of guy would he be if he wasn't concerned about why he scared her? All he knew was something about him scared her to death, but he didn't know what or for what reason. Destiny swallowed her fear enough to say, "Ask your friend, Carmelita. She knows why I am so terrified of you."

Eclipse's eyes began to tear as he said, "Please, won't you tell me. I don't want to be the thing you fear Destiny. If anything, I want to be friend, or something closer then that."

Destiny's fear weakened as her heart began to scream at her to just tell the guy the truth. Finally, Destiny's heart won out, and she told Eclipse about the whole bank incident. When she was done Eclipse sank down to his knees as he said, "So, the reason I scare you is you are terrified of mystics, those who cast spells in any way."

Destiny nodded her head. Telling Eclipse about the incident had made it easier for her to stand there near him, but she still had the over whelming fear he would suddenly cast some spell. Eclipse then slowly stood up, and with tears in his eyes he said, "Thank you Destiny. I will leave you alone now. I hope you have a good life." With that Eclipse walked away from her. Destiny ran around the corner Eclipse went behind, but he had already disappeared. Destiny went back to her office, and just sat down on her desk when she looked over to the mirror hanging on her door. She frowned at her own reflection as she thought, "What have I done. Eclipse only wants to get close to me, but because of my fears I pushed him away and ran away from him. Now, he is making it so I have no reason to fear, because he will never come to bother me again. I should be happy, but my heart is aching." Destiny then looked out her window and said to her self, "I think I have made a huge mistake."

On the other side of the track, in the team dorms Eclipse had entered into his room. He shut and locked the door before he flopped down on his bed. Eclipse's father had always said that their magic was a great gift, but at times could be a great curse. He now knew what it meant. His heart was in pieces, and all he could do was lie in his bed, and try to remember the one good memory he had of Destiny. There dinner date before Muggshot came in a ruined everything. As Eclipse eyes grew heavy, and sleep overtook him he thought, "Muggshot, you will pay. It is because of your evil that Destiny now looks at me with such terror in her eyes."