"So, how did the jobs go?" Ben asked as Murray stretched, having finished his job of feeding the miners to the crocodile in order for it to chase them off.
"I feel...vindicated! Yeah, that's the word!"
Bentley, Sly, and Neyla soon came in, having finished their job at the oil rig. Everyone grouped up around the lemonade bar, which was the final part to hit and where Ben had been scouting out.
"Alright boys and one girl, look tough and get angry, It's time to intimidate the locals."
Bentley seemed a little nervous. "I'm not sure I can do it... How do you guys get angry?"
Murray gave his friend a reassuring look. "Find the match deep inside yourself...light it, and let the fire BURN up your guts and BOIL your blood!
"What he said. It's pretty damn easy when you get into it." Neyla smirked as Ben spat on his palms, rubbed them together...and then kicked down the front door as the Cooper Gang stepped in.
(A/N: Play the Lemonade Drinking Contest music from the game for this part!)
"Listen up, dirtbags! Time to clear out, from now on this bar is Cooper Gang turf!" Sly said, getting the attention of the bar patrons, who glared at them.
"Tough talk, Wagga, but you ain't got no respect with us!" One of the miners said. "We here are known around these parts for our drinkin' skills...and this just happens to be a lemonade bar!"
"If a lemonade drinking challenge is what you had in mind, then the five of us will take on the best five lemonade drinkers you got!" Ben said with a smirk.
"Fair Dinkum! Losers have to clear out!" the miner said as everyone went to the bar and were all given mugs of lemonade. Sly was first, followed by Neyla then Murray then Ben, and finally Bentley.
"Ready, steady, go!" One of the miners declared as Sly and the first miner went first.
"Don't let it go up your nose!" Bentley advised as Sly surprisingly managed to guzzle down his mug with efficiency and slammed it down. Neyla then went next as Ben cheered her on.
"You can do it! Focus!"
"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" Laughed one of the miners to his compatriot, who just finished his mug as the next one followed after him. Neyla soon finished her mug and slammed it down as Murray went next.
"Remember to breathe!" Sly said as Murray chugged the whole mug down like it was nothing and slammed it down so hard, it actually broke! Ben went next as one of the dingos turned to his compatriot urgently.
"Stomach it, jumbuck!"
"Down that lemonade, you mighty jumbuck!" Another dingo cried.
"Don't puke or we lose!" Bentley warned as Ben soon finished his mug and slammed it down. Finally, it was Bentley's turn as he guzzled down his mug as best he could.
"Savor the flavor!" Murray advised.
"Swallow faster, man!" Ben exclaimed.
"Suck it down!" Neyla shouted.
"Don't slow down, buddy!" Sly chimed and soon, Bentley finished, placing his mug down and letting out a triumphant belch.
"We win."
However, the miners weren't too pleased with how Bentley drank. "That's cheatin'! Why the turtle spilled more than he drank. 'Round here there's only one thing we do with cheaters. Turn on the fence, Bruce, it's time we gave these cheaters a beatin'!"
"Alright! I'm feeling pretty violent either way!" Ben said as he and Murray used their combined strength to flip the table, one of the dingos flipping on the electric fence as the Cooper Gang duked it out with the miners.
Bentley knocked the dingos back with the weaponry built into his wheelchair, showing that just because he couldn't use his legs didn't mean he was helpless. He then threw out a bouncy platform that Ben bounced off of so he could slam down on one of the miners.
"This is tense! Sly, you okay?" Bentley asked as he hopped his wheelchair backward so he was back to back with Sly, who smiled as he spun his cane.
"Right as rain, pal!"
Neyla wrapped her whip around one of the miners' legs and pulled them to the ground before delivering a diving knee to their stomach. She then saw Ben running towards her and wrapped her whip around him so she could lift him into the air, allowing him to shoot several concussive rounds from his guns to knock the miners out.
"They just keep coming! You holding up, Murray?" Sly asked as he delivered an electrified spinning cane strike to another miner.
The Hippo Beastkin smiled, clapping his hands and lighting them on fire. "Feeling strong! Behold! My powers of destruction!"
"He's doing pretty dandy for it!" Neyla said as she wrapped the hook at the end of her whip around a miner's neck to pull him in and punch his lights out. Ben then turned to Bentley and revealed a glowing repulsor battery in his bionic palm. Realizing what he was planning on doing, Bentley summoned a mirror shield from his wheelchair as Ben fired a repulsor beam from his bionic arm, the beam reflecting off the mirror shield and hitting all the remaining miners frying them to a barely alive crisp!
"That wasn't very pleasant for my eyes, love. But it worked, I guess." Neyla said, wrapping her tail around Ben's waist and spinning him towards her as she planted a full-on kiss to his lips, which he gratefully returned as Murray cheered.
"Yes! The Cooper Gang rules the roost, we're the kings and queen of the hill, the totally maxed-out, heavyweight champions!"
Sly nodded with a smirk. "Those guys won't be coming back here anytime soon."
Unfortunately, Bentley noticed something behind the group and quickly got their attention. They all turned around to see one last miner wearing the Mask of Dark Earth, looking much larger and more intense.
"Um... guys, looks like they saved their big guy for last."
"He's wearing that freaky bad spirit mask...he must be so jacked!" Murray exclaimed.
"The Mask of Dark Earth, right? Looks like this is its power, huh?" Ben muttered as everyone got into fighting stances, the masked miner standing tall over them and speaking in some strange ancient dialect before growling savagely.
"Let's dance, boys," Neyla smiled as she cracked her whip directly at the face of the dingo, the mask blocking it. Ben rushed in and used Time-Slow to smack the dingo right in the balls. Murray grabbed a barrel and threw it at the dingo's back, stunning him and making him stumble into a bomb placed by Bentley.
The dingo tried to get back up, only for Sly to jump forward and finish him off with a smack to the face with his cane, also knocking the Mask of Dark Earth off. Seeing it couldn't beat the gang in its current state, the mask flew off as Ben fired some energy bolts from the fingers of his bionic arm but missed as the mask made its escape.
"Crap! It got away!"
"We might have cleared out this bar...but that mask is sure to keep making trouble for us...We need to destroy it." Bentley said as everyone agreed with his settiment.
Next Time: Operation Moon Crash!
It's time for the big operation in taking down the Mask of Dark Earth and liberating the outback of the miners' presence. However, an unexpected outcome forces a detour in the gang's plans!
I just wanted to make a solo chapter focusing on Lemon Rage, arguably one of the best missions in the entire Sly Cooper franchise. I hope I didn't disappoint.