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 15
The Big Apple
Everyone's legs were shaking as they stepped of the Sky Serpent. Destiny looked around the train festival, and smiled as she saw a female Coyote running toward the group. She was dressed in a pair of tight blue jeans, a black tank top, and had her red hair back in a pony tail. Destiny ran up and gave her a big huge as she said, "Hey Jessica, it's been to long."
Jessica nodded her head and said, "You surprised me a few days ago when you called me about this train. Now, I admit, I was skeptical, but after seeing that thing come flying in here, I can say I am a believer. So, who is the owner of the train?"
Eclipse was about to point to Sly who was stand beside him, but Sly piped up first and said, "It is the sole property of this man here, Eclipse."
Jessica looked Eclipse over and then smiled as she said, "Well, I am truly impressed sir. If there is anything I can get for you, you just name it."
Eclipse rubbed his neck as he said, "Actually, can you tell me where I might find some spare parts. We burnt out the drive engine when we had to gun it here."
Jessica nodded her head and said, "I have a great mechanic and part dealer here at the festival. I'll have them come over and talk to you. You can order your parts through the part dealer and he can have them shipped form their local warehouse. They would be here in less then an hour. Now," Jessica turned to Destiny and asked, "Are you going to introduce me to the rest of this group who gets to travel in such a marvelous vehicle?"
Destiny turned around and said, "Sure, if you promise not to tell anyone."
Jessica shrugged and said, "If it keeps this flying train here, my lips are sealed."
Destiny nodded her head and then turned to the group. She pointed toward Sly and said, "This is Sly Cooper, master thief and leader of the Cooper gang." Destiny moved down the line and said, "Here is the soon to be Mrs. Cooper. Carmelita Montoya Fox. Here we have Bentley, a computer wiz. Next to him, his girlfriend and intellectual equal Penelope. Next to her is Murray, the teams muscle and getaway driver. Finally, we have the Panda King, firework artist and team demolitions expert."
Coyote nodded her head and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you all. I am Jessica Trickster."
After the introduction the rest of the team explored the train festival while Eclipse worked on fixing the Sky Serpent's drive engines. The group saw the whole festival in about two hours. They headed back to the Sky Serpent and saw Eclipse digging through a large metal bin. Sly called to him and asked, "What are you doing, going dumpster diving."
Eclipse looked up and shook his head as he said, "This is a bin of spare parts the festival has on hand. I was hoping to find all the parts I need in here, but I can't that last piece I need."
Sly and the others walked up and Bentley looked into the bin and said, "What part are you looking for?"
Eclipse brought his head out of the bin and said, "I need a compression seal. Here, let me show you." Eclipse walked over to the train and opened a door on the side of its engine compartment. The other peered into the door to where Eclipse was pointing. There was a small gap between the internal jet engine and an air intake valve. Eclipse turned to them as he said, "The compression seal is a hard to find size, but it was either use that part or redesign the whole train. With out that part, the jet engine will begin to overheat because it can't get any fresh air from outside the train's engine block."
Penelope looked back to the big metal bin and said, "Couldn't you just rig one up with some of the small compression seals that are in the bin."
Eclipse rubbed his neck as he said, "I could do that, but it would take a while, and Bentley told me you all were going to Dimitri's night club tonight to try and convince him to rejoin the gang."
Sly shrugged as he said, "Can't you work on it later."
Eclipse shook his head as he said, "If I do we won't full fill our promise to Jessica and the train festival. This thing needs to make a few laps around the festival's perimeter tomorrow, and even that short of flight could cause it to overheat and damage something else."
Sly nodded his head and said, "Alright, Since Bentley got us reservations for tonight we have to go, but here is the deal Eclipse. This is also supposed to be a team night on the town, so try and get done as much as you can before we leave."
Eclipse nodded his head and grabbed some of the spare parts he had set aside from the metal bin and grabbed a wrench. He was soon underneath the engine and was tinkering with the hover fan drive box. The others decided to split up for a while and meet back at the train at around 7:00.
It was 7:00 when everyone met back at the train, and began to get ready for their trip to Dimitri's night club. Around 8:00 Sly walked out of the train dressed in some black jeans and blue long sleeve shirt. Next was the Panda King, dressed in a full business suit, and making Sly think he was a bouncer. Next out was Carmelita and Destiny. Carmelita was dressed in her usual get up of tight blue jeans, a holster top, and her yellow jacket. Destiny was in a similar pair of tight pants and a dark blue tank top. Penelope and Bentley were next off the train, and the only ones who hadn't dressed up for the occasion. They were in their normal operation clothes except Bentley had decided to go with out his blue helmet. The last one off the train was Murray, who had put on a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Everyone was waiting for Eclipse until Sly noticed something moving beneath the train. He bent down and saw Eclipse was still toiling away on the train. He gotten a lot of work done, and even used his magic to form the several smaller compression seals into the one he needed.
Sly shook his head and said, "You coming or what?"
Eclipse continued to work as he said, "I am almost done with this last part. Go on ahead; I'll try to catch up with you."
Sly shrugged his shoulders and stood up. He motioned toward the rest of the group and they all headed out to Dimitri's night club. They had walked for a while and were finally on the right block. That is when they noticed the line that stretched all around the block. Destiny gawked at the huge line and said, "Will all be old and grey before we get in."
Bentley chuckled and said, "Don't worry. I contacted Dimitri a while ago, and he is expecting us. We should be able to get in right away." Bentley led the way to the front of the line where a polar bear was standing by the door. As Bentley and the others went up to him he said, "The line starts back their folks."
Bentley shook his head and said, "Sorry, but we have an appointment with Dimitri."
The polar bear eyed them and said, "So, if you are who you say you are then the password Dimitri gave you is?"
Bentley just smiled in victory as he said, "The password is greasy sweat."
The polar bear grunted a bit before he opened the door and said, "You can go on in. Dimitri will be upstairs in his private office. Trust me, you can't miss it."
The gang moved into the night club, and was instantly assaulted by the blaring music and large amount of people in the club. Panda King soon saw the stairs that led up to Dimitri's office and, acting like a human snow plow, made a path for the others to get to the stairs. They climbed the stairs and knocked on the door at the top of them. The door opened and they saw the lounge lizard Dimitri looking over them. It took him a minute to register who everyone was due to their strange clothing, but once he noticed Sly, Bentley, Murray, Penelope, and Panda King, he didn't care about the others.
He motioned for them to come in and once everyone was inside he shut the door. The room was almost sound proof, only letting in a very quite version of the music blaring right outside the door. Dimitri smiled as he said, "How is it hang bros, it has been so long since I have seen all you cool cats, and there is even some new blood in the old crew. So, who are these two fine senoritas?"
Sly motioned toward the girls and said, "That is Destiny, are new gang account, and I believe you know Carmelita."
Dimitri's eyes got wide as he screamed, "Ahhh. It is the law woman, coming here to put me away, but I tell you this. You ain't getting Dimitri with out a fight."
Dimitri was about to run for the door, but Panda King caught him and said, "Calm yourself Dimitri. Carmelita is not here to arrest you, it is quite the opposite. She is Sly Cooper's fiancée."
Dimitri waited for Panda King to set him down before he spun around and said, "You two are going to be like two cool cats in a tree. Well, I guess I have blown might top for no reason. Well, what is with this reunion about?"
Sly smiled as he said, "Well, we were hoping you would be willing to come back to the gang, be our frog man again."
Dimitri sighed as he went to his desk and said, "Now, that is what I thought you were here for. Sly, you have put this smooth lounge lizard in quite the predicament. It would be extreme if I would go back with you and rejoin your crew, but what about my hot hot Hot night club. I can't leave her to the likes of these Yankee's. They would ruin her before I stepped out the door, you hear me."
Bentley rolled up to Dimitri's desk and said, "Isn't there a way we could persuade you to rejoin. We may be in need of your abilities as a frog man to steal a very important artifact."
Dimitri scratched his chin as he said, "I might consider leaving my night club, but you would have to do one thing."
Murray scratched his head and said, "What could we do. Steal a very expensive painting or something."
Dimitri eyed Murray before he said, "Get with the times bro, I'm not on the forging scene anymore dude. I am completely legit, but if one of your crew members could be beat me in a dancing competition. Then, I might be willing to rejoin."
Sly shrugged his shoulder as he said, "Sure, we beat you in a dancing competition, and you rejoin the gang. If not, we will leave you to operate your night club, complete undisturbed."
Dimitri stood up and said, "The deal, she is struck. Now, let's get to the dance floor. So I can prove to you my sweat dancing moves can beat anything you cracker boxes can dish out."
While Sly and the other made their way toward the center of the dance floor Dimitri made his way to the DJ table. A greyhound was working the turn tables when Dimitri whispered something into his ear. The greyhound nodded and stopped the song currently playing. He then picked up a microphone and said, "Yo all you out there. We have a dance off challenge. So, everybody clear the dance floor so we can see what these guys got. On one team, we have the big cheese himself Dimitri. On the other team we have the infamous Cooper gang. Don't worry guys, even if there are cops in here, they in here to chill. Now, the rules are the crowd judges who will win the dance off. If one member of the Cooper gang can win, their whole team wins. If Dimitri can lay the smack down on all of them, which he probably will, he will be proclaimed victor. Now, let's get this thing started."
Dimitri walked out to the middle of the dance floor. Sly looked around and said, "So, who wants to go first."
Bentley shook his head and said, "Don't look at me; I can't dance in my wheel chair."
Murray said, "I have two left feet."
Penelope said, "Don't look at me. I am a Radio Control specialist. I don't know the first thing about dancing."
Panda King said, "All I know is some Chinese slow dances, and they will not win this competition."
Carmelita said, "I know some Spanish and French dances, but I would need a dance partner and the right music."
Sly looked over to Destiny and asked, "What about you?"
She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I can dance pretty well, but I need a dance partner. I don't know any solo dances."
Sly sighed, and heard Dimitri tapping his foot as he said, "Come on now. Show me your bling and let me shine you."
Sly was about to sigh and try doing a Spanish dance with Carmelita when he heard someone say, "I am glad I got here then."
Sly turned and saw Eclipse dressed in a pair of black jeans and a white button down shirt. He looked over to Destiny and said, "Can I have this dance." Eclipse offered his hand to Destiny, and she took it before they both walked out on to the dance floor.
Dimitri eyed Eclipse before he said, "It is about time, but who is this cracker box."
Eclipse eyed Dimitri as he said, "I am Eclipse, and this is my dance partner Destiny. Do you feel like having a two on two?"
Dimitri nodded his head and said, "Sure, I can swing like that. Get ready to be showed up in front of your pretty dance partner, but this changes the rules a bit. Here are the rules. Me and my partner will lay down some funky moves to my favorite song. Then, you have to break out your funky fresh moves, you dig." Eclipse and Destiny nodded as Dimitri motioned toward a girl in the crowd and she quickly walked over and took his hand. Dimitri snapped his fingers and the DJ started playing a fast beat. Dimitri and his dance partner were soon pulling off every disco move in the book, and in perfect sequence. The only flaw was at the end Dimitri went to catch his dance partner, and when he did he fell down because of the sudden change in his center of gravity. The crowed had a little bit of a laugh before cheering for the resident champion.
Eclipse looked toward Destiny and said, "So, do you want to do something like that, or something a bit different."
Destiny smiled at Eclipse for a second before she said, "How about we try and create are own style. We have to dance to the same music they just dance to, but did you notice that it had a lot of fast drum tapping. It was like a tap dance."
Eclipse thought about the song and said, "Actually, I think was originally written to be a tap dance number, what are you suggesting."
Destiny whispered something into his ear and Eclipse smiled as he and Destiny took the dance floor. Eclipse nodded his head toward the DJ and he stepped back behind Destiny, waiting for the music to start. When it did they both began to tap dance in unison. About a third of the way through the song the audience was clapping along in encouragement as the beat began to get faster. Eclipse then jumped back away from Destiny and disappeared into a puff of smoke. Everyone watched Destiny dance alone for a second and then heard to loud pops from two sides of the roof. Suddenly, two wolves, a white furred one, Solar, and a black furred one, Lunar, came down from the rafters and began to dance with Destiny.
The crowd exploded as the trio finished the song in unison and held similar posses. Dimitri came storming on to the dance floor saying, "You cats cheated. You said this would be a two on two dance, but I count three of you."
The black wolf, lunar, smiled as he said, "Then again, you are counting one of us twice." With that, Lunar and Solar melted back together in a slightly bright light and Eclipse was standing beside Destiny, smiling a mocking smile as Dimitri tried to find a reason to disqualify him and Destiny.
Finally, Dimitri gave up and shouted, "All right, I know when I am licked. These two fine, fine dancers are the champions of this little dance competition."
Everyone in the club exploded with cheering at the announcement. Sly, Carmelita, and the others were cheering and running up to Destiny and Eclipse. Destiny was jumping with glee. As the others began to enclose them in a circle of congratulation Destiny's excitement ran away with her. Before she realized what she was doing she had swung her arms around Eclipse's neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She quickly let go and started talking excitedly with Carmelita while Eclipse stood as stiff as a board. That one quick kiss on his cheek had sent shivers through out his body, but before he could fully register the event in his mind Panda King had picked him up and set him on his shoulder.
The gang, which now included Dimitri, spent about 2 more hours at the club celebrating Eclipse and Destiny's victory and that Dimitri was back with the gang. The only one who didn't stay for long was Eclipse, who had to go back to the train to finish the repairs and upgrades. Destiny sighed slightly as she watched Eclipse leave, but then was pulled into dancing with Murray. Destiny watched as Sly, Carmelita, Bentley, Penelope, Dimitri, Murray, and even Panda King loosened up and began to dance to the music. As she watched the others dance she sighed. She wished she could have one more dance with Eclipse, but then she remembered that after New York, they were going to sunny Spain for Sly and Carmelita's wedding. She decided right then and there that she would share another dance with Eclipse.
Eclipse walked down the city streets, alone in the busy crowd. His mind was caught up as he remembered his dance with Destiny. He then fast forward to the part he knew he would never forget. Though it may have been done in the excitement of the moment. Destiny had kissed him, and he liked it and hoped it would not be the last time. With that Eclipse got into the park and headed straight for the Sky Serpent.
The others got back to the train about 11:30. They were all laughing as they talked about how Panda King had gotten the whole clubs attention when he started to combine his Flame Fu with his dancing. To say the least it got him a roaring applause and the attention of some very cute girls, but when they wouldn't leave him alone he scared them with a bit more of the Flame Fu, and by doing it got himself thrown out of the night club. They had left Dimitri at the night club. He had promised them he would come to the Sky Serpent the day they were planning to leave for Spain, and that he would bring his diving equipment.
The week went by relatively quickly after that. Eclipse had gotten the Sky Serpent repaired and upgraded by about noon the next day, and the gang spent the rest of their time in New York touring the city and seeing a few Broadway shows. The biggest part of the trip was the gang had walked on to the filming of an episode of Apprentice. A reality TV show where several contestants were in teams trying to get the dream job of being Donald Trump's apprentice.
That was when Sly got the sneaky idea. He had Bentley do some hacking and find out the challenge. After some looking Bentley found out that the two teams were supposed to try and make the most money off their individual businesses. Each business had to be run out of a trailer that Donald Trump had given to work with. One team was doing a restaurant of sorts while the other had transformed their trailer into a mobile game tournament and had parked outside a local Best Buy store. Bentley also found out that all their money had to be put in a safe secured in each trailer to be counted. Sly checked his watch and saw it was about 4:30. Sly got an evil smile as he quickly broke the group into Bentley, Murray, Panda King, and himself as 1 team, and Eclipse, Carmelita, Penelope, and Destiny.
Sly then told everyone to follow their assigned trailer to where they will be stored, and then to steal the money. He had an evil idea on how to make the Cooper gang infamous again, after being out of the papers for so long. Sly took his group to the trailer that was the mobile gaming tournament while Carmelita led her group to the mobile restaurant. Sly and Carmelita had both been given an electronic tracking device, and were going to plant it somewhere in the trailer.
At the mobile game tournament Sly planted his tracker under the lip of the registration desk which seemed permanently attached to the trailer. At the mobile restaurant Carmelita put her on the side of the window. The gang soon regrouped and headed back to the Sky Serpent. Bentley found out the money would be collected at 6:30 and that the trailers were due back at their secret warehouse at 6:00. When it got to be 5:45 Murray rolled out the getaway van and Sly, Carmelita, Murray, and Eclipse hopped in. Panda King stayed to work on his fire works, Bentley and Penelope wanted to work on their special project, and Destiny stayed to act as the operation coordinator.
The Cooper van pulled up in front of the warehouse at around 6:10. They had twenty minutes before the people hired to collect the money was supposed to get there. Sly, Carmelita, and Eclipse left the van while Murray stayed to keep the engine running and watch out for the collection people. Sly and Carmelita tried all the doors, and after finding them all locked by high tech electric locks they wished they had brought Bentley along. Eclipse just shrugged as he placed his hand on the metal garage door that was on the front of the warehouse. The door shook a second before a normal door sized hole appeared in the middle of it. Eclipse motioned to Sly and Carmelita and the trio went into the garage. It took Sly ten minutes to crack locks on the two safes and they were out and gone 5 minutes before the people came to collect the money, arriving at a warehouse that showed no signs of being entered.
That night the whole gang gathered round the living cars TV to watch. They watched the whole show, catching themselves on the screen once or twice. Then, came the big moment. It was the boardroom scene, and Donald had turned to the two teams and said, "Well, the people I sent to collect the money you earned should be arriving any minute now. Team Pinnacle how do you think you did."
One of the ladies said, "I think we did exceptional Mr. Trump."
Trump nodded his head and turned to the other team as he said, "And team Pyramid, how well did you do?"
A guy smiled as he said, "We think we did fantastic."
Trump nodded his head as two guards with the small safes placed them beside Donald Trump. Trump nodded to the two guys in suits and as they undid the locks on the safes Trump said, "I guess we will soon see?"
Both the teams and Trump jaws dropped as the safes were opened in unison and instead the large pile of money that should have been each their sat a very delicately placed Cooper gang calling card.
Sly nodded at Bentley who returned the nod and pushed a button on his chair. With in a few minutes the secretary who usually sat behind the desk in the board room's lobby came walking in as she said, "Mr. Trump. You have a fax."
Trump took the fax and read it. He then began to chuckle as he said, "Well, though the money is lost we still know who one the challenge."
The teams gave Donald Trump questioning looks as he cleared his voice and read,
To Donald Trump,
As you no doubt know, my gang paid your mobile businesses a visit. We were also happy to make both trailers a bit lighter by empting the safes, but since you need the money to determine which team won I have decided to tell you the amount of money we found in each safe. In Pinnacles safe there was $1,546, 35. In team Pyramids safe we found a cash amount of $1,547. I hope this enough for you to make your final decision.
Sincerely, Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang.
On the bottom of the fax was a picture of Sly and Eclipse standing in front of the mobile business trailers and each holding a bag full of money. Donald Trump turned to the two teams and said, "I guess we will have to trust that the master thief Sly Cooper is telling us the truth. I declare team Pyramid the winner, and Team Pinnacle, I will see you in the board room."
The whole gang was laughing as the teams left the board room and Donald just picked up one of Sly's calling cards and examined it for a second. The show was over, and already they were advertising that Donald Trump would be the Morning Show to talk about the shocking development of having the teams' money stolen during the challenge.