A Soul Shattered Chapter 11: Dancing with the Devil, a sly cooper fanfic

Author Note: All right people, the character contest is nearing its end. I am about to start writing the next part of the story, and that is when I will begin incorperating some of the characters submited to me. I appreciate all entrants, but there is still some time left. I won't start writing the next chapter for a few days. Then, on June 1st, 2006, at 9:00 Mountain Time, this contest will be closed. Now, onto the long overdue 10th chapter.

Chapter 10

Dancing with the devil

The next morning dawned, and the gang spent the day resting up for the evening. They had found out that their band, along with Two Ton Tom's, made it to the music competition finals. That night, they would have to play the preselected music in front of a panel of judges. Even though they already knew what the song would be, the entire competition rode Sadie's fiddle skills.

Also, among the morning news, the ten finalists for the rodeo competition were announced. Blain and Sly smiled, they were tied for the first place position with Two Ton Tom right below them. All morning Blain and Sly waited for Two Ton Tom to come in and try to scare them off, but he never did. Blain began to worry, and left around noon to go check on something.

It was several hours later, the band competition looming, and Blain had still yet to return. Sly, Bentley, Murray, and Sadie were beginning to get worried, but they could not spend too much time on the subject. They had to get to the stadium. They were going on in an hour. As the gang rode out for the stadium, Sly began to let his mind wander. Blain wouldn't do something like this. Something had to have happened, but what?

The gang reached the stadium, and was quickly directed to the stage that had been set up. Two Ton Tom and his band were already standing on the stage. Tom turned to watch Sly and the others climb up onto the stage, a strange smile on his face. Sly looked at the smile. It was a cocky smile, to cocky. Sly got a bad feeling, his worries about Blain escalating to new heights.

Sadie began to tune up her fiddle as Two Ton Tom's fiddle player, the coyote woman from the trading post, began to tune up hers. Sadie and the coyote looked at each other, each nodding their heads in respect. Bentley got back on his drums, and played a few notes. He then turned toward Sly and said, "It seems that the spell Blain put on our instruments is still working, but we don't have anyone to sing the lead for this song."

Sly leaned in towards Bentley, "We are out of time. I'll cover Blain's part as best I can." Bentley nodded his head, and then began to practice a few rhythms. Sly picked up his guitar, and practiced a few notes.

The judges came up to their seats, a total of five, and sat down as the one in the center said, "Well, lets get this show on the road. Two Ton Tom, your band is first. You will be playing the song the Devil went Down to Georgia."

Two Ton Tom nodded his head, tapping his boots a few times before the band started up. As Tom and his band played, Sly began to hear something. It was a moaning. He looked down, through the boards on the stage, but saw nothing. Sly then shrugged it off, and listened as Tom's band finished their song. The judges sat quietly for a few minutes, scribbling notes. Tom's band had done a good job, but the fiddle player had tripped over an important part of the song. Sadie took a deep breath as the judges finished marking their score sheets. She would have to play this song perfectly for them to win.

The judges finished marking their score sheets. The head judge looked over at Sly and said, "Cooper Band, you now have the floor." Sly looked at the others one last time, and then nodded their heads. This was going to be interesting. Blain was supposed to sing the lead for the song, but he was no where to be found. Sly shook his head, where could he be.

Sly did not realize just how close Blain was. He had gone to the stadium to make sure Two Ton Tom hadn't tried to cheat when he was jumped. Only now, with the music thumping above his head, did Blain wake up. He cringed. His head felt like it had been at the wrong end of a sledge hammer. He tried to get up, but found his hands and feet were tied. He struggled for a few minutes as he listened to Two Ton Tom's band. Then, he heard one of the judges tell Sly, Sadie, Bentley, and Murray to play. Blain closed his eyes, groaning a bit. They needed him to sing the lead, but how could he do it from down below. His eyes then flew open, the mystical symbols from last night. He could use them. It would take all the magic he had, and it would knock him out till the next morning. Still, it was the only way.

Back on top of the stage, Sly and the others began to play the songs intro. Sadie was doing marvelously, the fiddle's bow going quickly back and forth across the strings. Sadie began to smile. It had been a while since she had played something so fast in front of a judge. It felt good to be on the stage again. Then, just when the lyrics were beginning to draw close Sly took in a deep breath. This song went fast, and he barely knew the words. If anything, this is what would kill them.

Then, Sly saw a mist rise out of the stage floor, up in front of the band. He let the deep breath escape his lungs as he watched the mist begin to swirl. Then, out of thin air, a voice began to sing

Been ten long years since the devil laid his fiddle at Johnny's feet,
and it burned inside his mind the way he suffered that defeat,
in the darkest pits of hell the devil hatched an evil plan
To tempt the fiddle player for he's just a mortal man
The sin of pride the devil cried is what will do you in,
"I thought we had this settled I'm the best that's ever been"

Sly, Bentley, and Murray joined in for the next lines.

Johnny did you ever know that time keeps marching on
The coldest hour is the one comes just before the dawn.
The devil's back in Georgia will you stand up to the test,
Or will you let the devil be the best.

Sadie began to play the fiddle with amazing skill, going faster then most people would thing possible. Then, when Sadie finished the voice in the air sang.

Truth is I haven't played much since the baby came in June,
But give me half a minute and I'll get this fiddle back in tune,
The devil grabbed the golden fiddle out of Johnny's hand and said
Boy I'm a fiddle player underground but now I walk upon the land.

Now, more sounds started coming out of thin air. It began to sound like hard rock, and another fiddle came in that was screeching across the notes, like nails on a chalk board.

Y'all better just be turning back if y'all want this boy to win

cause practice is the only cure for the predicament he's in
Now devil it would be a sin for you to get my bow
so you go on back to hell and to the woodshed I will go

Sadie began to play simpler, repeating notes. As the song progressed, she slowly got faster and faster.

Johnny are you practicing or will your hands grow cold
the devil wants the land and plays a fiddle made of gold.
Can you hear the babe a cryin'

Will he ever know
the devil wants his daddy's very soul.

Sadie began to play at amazing pace. She actually closed her eyes at one point, and just let her hands go to work. Sly glanced up at the judges who were smiling a bit, watching as Sadie got into the hardest part of the song.

Before I play I want to thank you for letting god's own word ring true
he said you can't be trusted "yeah so what you going to do"
Well you get your fiddle devil if you think you can win
Cause I beat you once you old dog and I can whip your butt again

Sadie took a deep breath, her moment had come. The next part, between each line of the song, she would have to play a very hard rhythm, and perfectly. This was the hardest part of the song because it involved both skill and timing.

John Brown's green the devil's red
My little baby loves shortening bread
The devil's dream's that he can win
But Johnny's the best that's ever been

Sadie then began to go into the finally, going up and down a set scale with amazing skill. Sly, Bentley, and Murray all stopped and Sadie took center stage. The sound of her violin filled the stadium, and as the song finished she looked up at the judges and smiled. Not a single mistake. It was perfect.

Down below the stage, Blain smiled as his vision began to blur. With a last bit of strength he smiled and said, "Good job Sadie." Then, Blain's fatigue caught up with him. He slumped over, in a deep sleep. As the others left the stadium, none of them thought to look for Blain under the stage. All of them knew it had been Blain's magic that had filled in the song's lyrics, but they just guessed he was running late and cast the spell from outside the stadium or back at the motel. None of them realized just how close they were to spell casting panther.

Blain would spend the night under the stage, and in the morning Two Ton Tom's thugs came back. The tied him up with special rope directly from Mz. Ruby, and hauled him off to another part of the stadium. Tom watched with a smile on his face. He could stand loosing the music competition, but no one was going to beat him in the rodeo competition. Using Blain to make that Tennessee Kid Cooper to give up would get rid of his only real competition.

Sadie, Bentley, Sly, and Murray began to worry when they didn't find Blain back at the hotel. When the morning light came, they all knew something had happened to him. Still, they could not rest on that fact for very long. They had to get to the stadium. Even if Blain was missing, Sly had to compete in the last part of the True Texas Cowboy competition. His fight with Two Ton Tom was coming up quickly, but Sly still couldn't help but worry about Blain.

When the time for the fight came around, the stadium was filled to capacity. People from all over the United States were there to watch the finals. Standing in the center of the stadium were the nine competitors left in the competition. Sly looked around, surely Blain wouldn't miss this. Sly then looked over at Two Ton Tom. Tom just looked over at Sly, and smiled menacingly. Sly frowned, Tom was just too confident. He must have done something with Blain, but what Sly could not tell.

Finally, the competition began. It took ten minutes for Two Ton Tom to clear out all the other competitors except for Sly. In essence, Tom had just charged everybody else down, hooking them on his horns before he threw them into the crowd. Now, Tom and Sly stared each other down. Tom lowered his head, and charged at Sly. Sly jumped out of the way. Two Ton Tom turned to charge Sly again, but couldn't see the raccoon anywhere. The crowd began to laugh, and Tom looked up at one of his horns to see Sly. He had performed a ninja spire landing on the tip of Tom's left horn. Tom snorted, throwing his head. Sly leapt off, landing gently on the ground as he waited for Two Ton's next move.

Strangely, Tom just seemed to know one style of fighting. Charge his enemies down with his horns. Sly quickly learned to dodge the attacks, but that wasn't going to win the fight. He would have to get Tom to hit a wall or something.

Sly then smiled, a plan hatching in his head. He waited for Two Ton Tom to charge at him again, and then leapt up. At the right moment, Sly wrapped his hands around Two Ton Tom's horns and threw his feet around Tom's neck. Sly then hooked his legs together, and held on as Tom began to buck like a bronco. Sly managed to direct Tom while he was thrashing about, and with a final push Sly made Tom crash into the stadium wall.

After a few silent moments, the crowd burst into cheers. Two Ton Tom struggled to pry his horns out of the stadium wall, and finally managed to pull them free. Two Ton Tom then stood up, and growled as he noticed that his horns were still lodged in a large piece of wood. He had just pulled an old board out of the stadium wall, not his horns. Two Ton Tom growled, glaring over at Sly as he pulled out a small black rectangle.

Two Ton Tom walked up to Sly, his nose flaring, "Now you listen here raccoon boy. You better take a fall. That is, if you want to see your panther friend ever again."

Sly raised an eyebrow a bit, turning to face Tom, "What have you done with Blain?"

Tom just smiled, holding up the strange black rectangle. Sly realized that Tom was holding a remote control. Then, Sly began to hear a strange sound come from the far side of the stadium. A portion of the dirt began to shit, and two large doors in the stadium floor began to slowly open. The doors took several seconds to open, and then the sound of machines began to fill the stadium. Something began to rise out of the stadium floor. Sly's eyes narrowed, it was Blain

Blain looked like he had been in a nasty fight, his fur filled with dirt and his left eye swollen shut. He was tied up to a large metal wheel, his arms spread out. Below the wheel were several strange devices, some pure technology while the others were a mixture of science and voodoo magic. Even from the stands, Bentley could recognize that magic. It was Mz. Ruby's style, her form of magic.

Blain slowly raised his head, looking up at Sly. Sly looked at Blain for a few minutes, and then shifted his gaze over to Two Ton Tom. Tom just stood their smiling, tapping the remote control gently on his shoulder, "Now, do you give up."

Sly looked back at Blain. The two stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Blain shook his head. Sly nodded his head in return. Then, in one quick motion he turned to face Two Ton Tom, and lunged out to punch the Texas Longhorn.

Tom was caught off guard, and Sly's punch struck home. Two Ton Tom went sprawling onto the ground. He slowly stood up, whipping his mouth, "So, you want to play rough, fine. It's time I used the present Mz. Ruby sent me." With that, Two Ton Tom pushed a button on his remote. From the wall opposite the stand, a section of the wall fell down to reveal a complex voodoo symbol. The symbol then began to glow as the sand on the stadium floor began to swirl. At the center of the vortex was Tom, who was just smiling as the mixture of sand and wind lifted him up. Eventually, when the storm died down, Two Ton Tom was encased in a giant sand statue of himself. The statue was at least three stories tall, and Tom had full control of it.

Tom looked down, his head replacing the statues, and began to smile. He then raised his hand up, and tried to swat Sly like a bug. Sly dodged out of the way at the last second, and then began running away from Two Ton Tom until he could figure out a way to stop Mz. Ruby's magic. At the sight of the sand statue of Tom, most of the crowd ran out of the stadium screaming. The only ones that remained were Sadie, Bentley, and Murray. They ran down to the stadium floor, and over to Blain. Sadie and Bentley began searching the many complicated machines for some sort of release switch while Murray tried to pull the shackles around Blain's ankle apart.

Blain looked up at them and said, "The only way to open this shackles is with the remote control, and it is currently buried in a statue made of ten tons of sand."

Bentley looked over at Blain, "Then what do you suggest we do?"

Blain paused, closing his eyes as he began to think. He then looked up at Bentley, a small smile forming on his face, "Orchestra Magic."

Bentley raised an eyebrow, "Pardon."

Blain pulled himself up a bit, looking up at Sly and Two Ton Tom, "It's simple. Orchestra magic is usually used to make music visible. A few sorcerers perform with orchestras so it's not just a presentation of sound. The audience can see the music, and watch it intertwine to make a lightshow. Orchestra magic, however, can also be used in battle. We the magic to weaken Two Ton Tom, make him stop long enough for Sly to go and tear that mystical symbol on the wall to pieces."

Bentley looked at Sadie and Murray. Then, all three nodded their heads. Blain smiled, nodding his head in return, "All right, here is the plan. From here, Sadie's hotel is about a ten minute ride at a full gallop. Also, the check in point where we got all of our clothes and horses is about the same distance away. Murray, you go with Bentley back to the van and get Bentley's laptop. You then need to get back here and hook it up to the Stadiums speaker systems. Sadie, I want you to go get your violin."

Murray turned, "What about Sly?"

Blain grunted, "I will do what I can until he returns. Now go." Bentley, Murray, and Sadie quickly turned and began running towards the stadium's exit. Blain turned his head quickly, and called, "Wait a second Murray."

Murray turned, running back to Blain, "What can the Murray do for you citizen."

Blain turned his head over to a few devices that were very close to where he was shackled, "Smash those machines. They are restricting my magic."

Murray smiled, cracking his knuckles. Ten seconds later, Murray was running to catch up with Bentley. The machines were in a thousand pieces, smoke billowing from their remains. Blain smiled, up at the sky. Sand and water don't mix very well. Blain's eyes then began to glow, the sky above starting to turn dark. Black clouds began to appear, but not a single drop of rain fell.

Blain glanced down at Sly, checking where he was. Getting Two Ton Tom wet would be easy, but he would have to make sure the stadium floor and Sly remained dry. If he just let it rain, the entire stadium would become a big mud puddle. Sly would have to hard of time running from Tom if that happened. Blain sighed, looking back up at the clouds. He began to focus his magic, pulling all the water in those clouds into one point. Then, he released it.

Like a bolt of lighting, a stream of water shot down from the sky and blasted away the sand statue's right arm. The muddied sand fell to the ground, and Blain quickly pulled the water back up into the clouds. Tom turned to face Blain, knowing that the water was his work. At that time, Sly managed to get up onto the sand statue's left arm. He railed walk up the side, using the vertical rail walk Tennessee taught him to reach Tom's head. Then, he gave Tom a swift knock in the head, causing the whole sand statue to tumble to the ground.

The statue began to fall back, and it crashed down with a loud thud. Sly began to wonder if they had beat Tom, but the sand began to swirl again. The statue came back, and it looked as if it had never been injured. Blain frowned as he watched Sly continue dodging the sand statue's heavy footsteps. Mz. Ruby had written a regeneration spell into this. That meant there was no way around it. They would have to destroy the mystical symbol that maintained that titan of sand.

Sly was breathing very hard when the others finally returned. Bentley headed up to the announcer's booth while Sadie and Murray ran over to Blain. Blain looked up at them, and then turned his head to the ongoing battle, "Murray, go help Sly. I don't know how much longer he is going to last."

Murray nodded his head, and began to sprint towards Sly. Sadie walked up, fiddle in hand, and asked, "What about me?"

"You stay here Sadie. For my magic to work, there must be at least one source of music that isn't a speaker, and it has to be nearby. You are going to be the link so I can use the music from the stadium speakers to attack the statue." Sadie nodded her head once, preparing her violin as she waited for Bentley to get his laptop set up. A few minutes later, the strumming of music began to fill the stadium. Blain smiled, that song would do. It was patriotic, and had Sadie would be able to figure out some violin part to go along with the music. He was also happy, it was from Toby Keith. That guy's voice always seemed to hold a good punch when he used his Orchestra Magic.

As the music began to play, and the lyrics came up, Sadie began to play her violin.

American Girls
And American Guys
We'll always stand up and salute
Will always recognize
When we see old glory flying
That there are a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in piece at night when we lay down our heads

Blain's eyes began to glow brighter, and musical notes began to flow from Sadie's fiddle. Those notes floated into the air, and over to the speakers

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard until the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free

The notes from Sadie's violin floated up to the stadiums speakers, and seemed to disappear. Then, magical notes began to pour out of the speakers as the song continued. The notes began to fly towards the sand statue, striking it. Tom began to flail about, trying to knock the notes away. During this time, Tom completely forgot about Sly. Sly smiled, turning with Murray as they rushed towards the mystical symbol. It would take a lot of work, but they would tear that thing apart.

Now this nation has come under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flying in from somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world like the forth of July.

Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist
And the eagle will
And it's going to be hell
When you start hearing Mother Freedom start ringing her bell
And it will feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Oh, Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue

Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage
You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A
Because we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way

As the song began to reach it's climax, the musical notes began to intermix to produce images. They were off Uncle Sam, The Statue of Liberty, and the Liberty Bell. They were about as big as the sand statue. In each part of the final chorus, when they were mention, the three images took a large shot at Tom.

As the song ended, the sand statue toppled over. At the same time, Murray and Sly managed to destroy the mystical symbol. The sand statue melted away, and the only one left was Two Ton Tom. Well, after tying Tom up and leaving his calling card, Sly lead the others as they searched for the two pieces of Carmelita's soul Two Ton Tom had been offering as the contests prizes.

An hour later, police officers were roaring into the stadium. They had been given an anonymous tip, and the evidence to back it up. Soon, Two Ton Tom was riding in the back of a police car. He was convicted of working with a known felon and the kidnapping of one of the competitions participants. When the local officers found Sly's calling card, the Cooper Gang was already back at the airport. With some quick work, Blain had already pinpointed the next piece of Carmelita's soul. It was in Africa, Egypt to be exact.

Before the day was out, the gang was on a plane heading for New York, Baltimore International Airport. They were planning to stop back in Paris for a night, enough time to get some clean clothes, and leave for Egypt. The gang used there same disguises as they flew to New York, but this time they had one more person along. Sadie had decided to tag alone with the gang until Carmelita's soul was back in one piece. She considered it pay back for knocking Two Ton Tom off his high horse, and into a Texas jail.