Sly Cooper

And

The Shadow Thief

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I wouldn'd be here.

Chapter Two: Merah Ringo

Last Time:

She gave him an outraged look, and muttered, "Typical Cooper."

"Sorry?" Sly asked.

"Read the first few pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. That'll tell you." She said, and she started to walk away, flipping her cane like he usually did.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sly said quickly, causing her to stop and give him a look-back stare. "How do you know about the—"

"Like I said," She interrupted. "Read the first few pages."

Because he carried it with him everywhere, Sly was now sitting on top of another building reading the thieving book. The police cars were still roaming around the city, but there were fewer now.

He read through the section that described how the book came to be. How his ancestor, Socrates Cooper, who founded the book had been in a partnership with another raccoon thief by the name of Lucian Ringo.

Socrates and Lucian were best friends. They grew up together in ancient Greece. As they got older, and their families steadily poorer, the two decided to steal to feed their families. So, this was why the Cooper clan stole only for good – most of the time. Once they started stealing, their reputation as thieves quickly grew. Then both of them, at the same time in fact, lost their families, and they vowed to stay together as a team until the death. They decided together that they would record their thieving secrets in a great book, and they, together, chose the name that is the Thievius Raccoonus.

Then, after the two had made their reputation grow in many other places, Socrates had stolen something, or at least had done something to upset a giant bird, which Sly knew only as Clockwerk. His name had changed when he replaced his body with machinery, and the name he had been called by before was unreadable, for the ink was smudged. But it didn't matter to Sly. He knew now that Socrates was the reasoning for Clockwerk coming after his family for generations. And then, Lucien turned against Socrates after they got in a fight, and they split up. The fight was, primarily, about whose family the book should go to after they had passed on. It went to Socrates, though Lucien did try to steal it from him many times.

Socrates wrote in the book that Lucien Ringo was, indeed, an enemy of the Cooper Clan, now. But though Lucien was an enemy, Socrates still thought of him as an honorable thief.

'So… that girl is a Ringo, then.' Sly thought after he had stored the book back in his bag. 'She must've grown up thinking us Coopers were scum. When I go back I'll have to… change her mind. After all, I don't want to be framed for more thefts.'

He made his way back to that same building where he had helped her, and he saw she was there already. She was leaning on her cane, and Sly said to her after a moment, "You're a Ringo."

She gave a single nod, and then said, "You know, I'm actually really surprised you didn't figure that out earlier."

"This is the first time I've ever heard of the Ringo Clan," Sly said, crossing her arms. "So I couldn't have figured it out earlier."

"Seriously?" She asked, raising a brow. "No one told you?"

"Nope," Sly said. "Actually, I don't think my father did, either. Most of my ancestors didn't read the beginning of the Thievius Raccoonus. Much too long and boring. My history-nut uncle might have read it, but I can't be sure…"

She looked at the ground, and then stood up strait, taking her cane in her hand. Sly watched her for a minute.

"But y'know," He started again. "That still doesn't explain why you framed me."

"Our families are against each other," She said, as if it were obvious.

"But by framing me, you're just making my reputation stronger," Sly said, tipping his hat, now leaning on his own cane. She opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out so she closed it again. He grinned at her. "Now you're wondering why you framed me, too."

She didn't answer. Sly just gave a small laugh.

"Okay, so the framing concept is dealt with," Sly continued, standing up strait and walking over to her. He began to circle her. "But that still doesn't explain why you're dressed like me. Are you a… crazed fan-girl, or something?"

"Definitely not," She said, sounding outraged. "And stop circling me, you vulture. It's creeping me out."

"Why are you dressed like me, then?"

"I consider myself a shadow," She said seriously. "Your shadow. I dress like you so if I ever get caught stealing something and framing you for it, they'll think it's you."

"But if you get arrested and they find out it's not me, what happens then?" Sly asked, moving his face closer to hers.

"I can out-run anyone," She said threateningly, looking him strait in the eye. "Even you. Shadows move quicker than the real thing, didn't you know that?"

"What was all this supposed to gain?" Sly asked after a minute, crossing his arms again.

"Reputation. To be known." She replied. "No, a better reputation that yours. But I guess I still have some kinks to work out."

"I can understand your reasoning for all of this," Sly said. "Lucien Ringo probably drilled it into the head of his son or daughter that they should pass down the story of Socrates Cooper to keep the hate for my family alive. That all Coopers are benefit-reaping scum."

"That's exactly it." She whispered fiercely.

"Not all family members are the same, just to let you." He said with a smile. "Which leaves me with my final question; what could the name of my shadow possibly be?"

"Merah," She said simply. "But you know, now that I've told you all of this, I'm going to have to kill you. I was supposed to kill you, anyway."

"Ouch," Sly said in mock hurt, putting a hand to his heart. "And I thought we were going to the best of friends."

Suddenly there was an explosion two streets down, and instead of looking alarmed, Merah looked…. Incredibly annoyed.

"Maxwell, you moron!" She yelled, and she did an awkward rail-walk across a telephone wire. Sly, curious again, followed after her.

They were on the street now, running in the direction from the explosion. Sly spoke as they ran.

"Aren't we supposed to be running away from the explosion?" He asked.

"You can turn back any time," Merah answered.

"Okay, then…" He said. "Who's Maxwell, then? Your boyfriend?"

"Heck, no!" Merah replied, sounding disgusted. "He's my brother."

"Oh," Sly said. "He sounds like a really intelligent guy."

They reached Merah's house, and her look of anger quickly changed to a look of alarm when she saw the place was on fire. She ran to the house, but before she could run it, Sly caught her arm.

"What are you doing?" He asked, yelling over the noise of the house crumbling.

"He's the only family I have left," She said quickly, and ran into the house anyway. Sly waited anxiously for her to come out.

Wait a sec… he was anxious? Oh. He probably just wanted to make it up to her for his family treating hers so horribly.

Then he head the sound of police sirens in the far distance, and he muttered miserably, "Oh, no…"

Inside the house, Merah maneuvered her way carefully around the burning house.

"Max?" She called. "Max, where are you? Max!"

There was no answer. She went to where the computer was, where he usually sat, and saw he wasn't there. But the back door was ajar. Merah had to smile. He managed to get out…

She was about to head for that door when a burning pillar fell in front of it.

"No!" She yelled, and started to turn back the other way, dodging a pillar that fell right t her feet. She hopped over it, and made a run for the door. She was barely outside when the roof started to cave in, and it missed her just by an inch. She coughed out the smoke as she got to her feet. Sly was still there.

"Why are you still here?" She asked as Sly grabbed her hand.

"We have to go!" He shouted. She wrenched her hand out of his grasp.

"No way, I'm not going anywhere!" She snapped.

"Do you want to get arrested, then?" Sly asked. "The police are coming."

Merah looked behind her, and saw the flashing blue and red lights coming around the corner. She moved towards Sly, muttering, "I'll follow you…" and then they both ran as fast as they could.

"Wait a minute!" Sly said as they ran. "I thought you said you could outrun anyone?"

"Anyone on foot!" She yelled. "In a car? I'm normally in a car myself if that's the case!"

"This way!" Sly said suddenly, and he grabbed her hand and pulled her in between two buildings, big enough only for the two of them to stand sideways. Sly had his arm up on the wall Merah had her back against, to balance himself. They were really cramped. They were pressed up right against each other. They were hidden in shadow now, and the police cars drove right past them. Merah sighed with relief after the cars passed them, and she looked up at Sly.

"Thanks," She said. "I definitely owe you."

Then she realized how close they were to each other, and she put a hand on his chest to push him back a bit, biting her lip.

"Uh…" Sly clicked his tongue. "Yeah, sorry about the tight space."

"That's okay," She said. "I'll forgive you once I know we can get out."

She tried to push past him, but Sly was trying to get out at the same time, so when they did manage to get out, they fell in a heap on the ground. Merah quickly got to her feet, for she had landed on top of Sly.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," He said, getting up. "I've had worse. Besides, it's not every day a beautiful girl lands on top of you, is it?"

Merah looked daggers at him. "I'm not even going to say anything."

She scooped up her hat, which had fallen off when Sly's arm hit her head, and her cane.

"You may as well come to my place," Sly said, picking up his own cane. "Your house won't be very livable. It's still burning."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Merah asked suddenly. Sly was slightly taken aback.

"Well… I kind of owe it to you, right?" He said. "I mean… my family did kind of mess up your family's reputation. So it's only fair."

Merah surveyed Sly for a minute, and then she said slowly. "Well… I guess I could… No funny business, though!"

"I wouldn't dream of it Miss Ringo," He said.

"Just call me Merah," She said. He nodded, and then she followed him to his place.

Once at the small train-car, Sly help open the door for her.

"Sorry it's not much," He said. "It's pretty cozy, though, for how small it is. I just haven't gotten around to buying a mansion, yet."

"You're rich?" Merah asked.

"Sort of," He said. "It's loot that had been collected for a long time."

"Ah," Merah said. "The vault."

"You know everything, don't you?" Sly asked with a smile as he close the door behind them.

"I'm your shadow, remember?" She said simply.

"What else do you know?" He asked.

"I know you are five feet, twelve inches, and that you weigh a hundred and twenty-five pounds. You were born on the 12th of August."

"Impressive," Sly said. "Your brother must be a computer wiz."

"Oh, yeah," She said, sitting down at the small, round table. "One of the best."

"You obviously haven't met Bentley," Sly said. "He can hack… anything. And really quick, too. He's also one heck of a demolitions expert, and a master at flying an RC chopper."

"He's a member of your team?" She asked, pointing to a picture frame. It was a photo of Sly, a turtle and a hippopotamus.

"Yeah," Sly said. "And the big guy is Murray. He's the brawn of the team. And the getaway driver. You should see him handle the van he has."

"It sounds like your really good friends," She said, smiling. Sly smiled back.

"Yeah… we grew up together." Sly said. Then he asked slowly, "How… and Why… did you become a thief?"

"My dad," She said softly. "He was a good thief. Really good. He trained himself in everything. Our family learned all the moves by watching your family, because we didn't have the book. Dad didn't believe we needed it, though. He preferred to take time and learn things, to perfect it, and master it, than to just read about it, and suddenly obtain the ability to do it."

"Your father was a smart man," Sly said.

Merah nodded. "He was. About that, anyway. He wasn't smart about Max and I, though. For some reason, he didn't want both of us to become thieves. No, he didn't want me to become a thief. I guess it was because I look so much like my Mom, and… she died when I was eight. In a shooting."

"I'm sorry," Sly said.

"It's okay," She said. "We got along just fine. Of course, it was a bit harder for my dad to explain stuff me when I got older." She gave a small chuckle. "Then… My Dad died… in a heist. So now it's just Max and I. I'm the thief now because I was more interested in the thieving part of the family's 'business', if you will. Max wasn't really good at it anyway, he was too… bulky, I guess."

"I never became master thief until I defeated Clockwerk," Sly said. "A group called the Fiendish Five stole the book, killed my parents, and took off. I had to steal back every page of that book. And it was worth it."

"Sorry about your parents," Merah said. But then she smiled. "You know, you're not like the Coopers I've been told about. You're honest."

"You mean honest for a thief?" Sly answered with a charming smile.

"I mean as just a person," She said. "I'm actually kind of amazed how wrong my family was about yours."

"I'm thinking it was only Socrates who was dishonest," Sly said. "He did tick off Clockwerk for no reason, after all, and—"

"Ah… no, that's not it," Merah said awkwardly. "Lucien actually told Clockwerk to go after Socrates… so… technically; it's kind of the Ringo family's fault for Clockwerk plaguing you for generations."

"Ah," Sly said. "You know, generally I'd be mad, but Clockwerk is long, long gone. So it's okay."

Merah smiled, and gave a small laugh. "Good."

She looked over at the Thievius Raccoonus, which was sitting on a shelf Sly had placed it on, and just gazed at it for a bit. Sly watched her for a minute, and then he got to his feet, picked up the book, and set it front of her. She gave him a look.

"You can read it," He said. "It's only fair. It sort of belongs to you, too."

"No," Merah said, pushing it away. "No, it doesn't. Its secrets your family passed down. I couldn't possibly--"

"Are you having second thoughts about surpassing my reputation?" Sly asked jokingly. To his surprise, Merah nodded.

"Now that I've got to know you a bit," She said. "Maybe I should just give up what the Ringo family has been trying to accomplish."

"You know, it's really alright if you do," Sly said. Then he whispered in her ear, "Trust me, it'll help with your rail-walk."

Merah bit her lip, and the looked up at him. "It was bad, then?"

"It could use a little work," He confessed. Then he started to laugh when Merah practically dove for the book that she had pushed into the middle of the table. "Alright, then, it's settled."

So, Merah Ringo, who was quickly becoming a new, good friend, sat in a comfortable chair, and read through the thieving secrets of the Cooper Clan…

A/N: Iffy chapter, I think. Not my best. A bit choppy, I'd say. But whatever. No one's perfect.

See you all next update! D