Author's Note: God, I'm going to run myself ragged focusing on so many stories at once. I have the last chapter of Fantastic Mutants still unfinished AND I have more Steven Universe stories in the works too! But enough complaining about how overworked and procrastinating I am, this is a story I've been thinking of ever since reading the Sly Cooper stories by EikaPrime combined with watching Season 2A of The Owl House around the same time. One thing led to another, and suddenly this came about.
Now before we begin, a few ground rules first. Each chapter will be structured similarly to an average episode in a Sly game with multiple jobs in one chapter. In addition, there will be multiple characters to play as across four classes, that being Stealth, Smarts, Strength and Style, along with non-playable assist characters. Which characters will fill up those classes? It's a secret to everyone! Except me, of course, since I came up with the story. This shall take place before Season 2B of TOH, so that should give me enough breathing room to work on this before that comes out, if ever. Now, I've done enough talking, let the games begin!
Sly Cooper: Boiling Blood
Episode 1: Owls and Raccoons Don't Mix Very Well
Paris, Present Day
"You won't get away with this! I'll find you!"
"Au contraire Sly Cooper, I do not think we will meet again!"
As Cyrille Le Paradox leaped off his destroyed blimp with Sly Cooper's parasail, laughing all the way until he had a close encounter with a passing airplane, the blue time vortex that would've swallowed the blimp and taken it to a distant point in time suddenly turned an ominous blood red.
"What the?" Sly muttered to himself before he found himself getting sucked in with the rest of the blimp. In an attempt to escape, Sly grabbed onto a piece of debris with the hooked end of his signature cane and clung on for dear life. "What is even going on?!"
'Yep, that's me.' Sly monologued in his head. 'You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. Man, I always wanted to say that. But first, some introductions.'
'Call me Cooper, Sly Cooper. And I'm a thief, but not just any thief. I'm from a long, long line of thieves dating back ages, a line that I came out of retirement to save. But everything just started going wrong the moment we discovered that my friend's girlfriend sold us out to a long-time rival of my family I'm only now learning about, and he used time travel to become a better thief than my ancestors before me.' Sly began imagining the adventure he had just gone on across time to preserve his family legacy, from feudal Japan to the wild west, the ice age, medieval England, and ancient Arabia, before finally returning to the present. 'Now it seems like I'm on a one-way trip to….who knows where?! Ancient Egypt, medieval Scotland, the age of piracy, World War I, Victorian England, my dad?! There's no telling what could be on the other side of this portal, but it seems like I'm about to find out what.'
Unfortunately for this cunning, devious, Thievius Raccoonus, his attempts at saving himself from the portal were all for naught. Losing grip on his cane, Sly found himself falling back first into the hellish wormhole, with the cane joining him on this unwanted journey after whacking him in the head.
"Done in by my own cane. Can this day get any worse?" Sly groaned as he, his family's cane, and Le Paradox's blimp were completely swallowed. As Sly began losing consciousness from getting hit by his cane, a familiar voice began crying out.
"Sly, can you still hear me?!" Bentley yelled from way down below via a communicator in Sly's ear. "That vortex looks like trouble, you gotta get outta there! Sly? Sly?! SLY!" The connection was cut as the mystery wormhole closed, leaving no evidence that it was ever there.
Hours Later, ?
"Five more minutes guys." Sly groaned as he began regaining consciousness and instinctively grabbed onto his cane. "My back still hurts from getting that Master Emerald to the van, let me rest." But when Sly opened his eyes, he realized that he was on a beach, surrounded by debris from that skunk's blimp. Some parts were embedded in the sand, while others were submerged in the water nearby and seemed to be melting.
"I don't think I'm in Paris anymore." The Cooper muttered to himself before deciding to get up and propping himself on his cane.
SLY COOPER. THE WAYWARD THIEF.
"Hello, anyone?" Sly cried out for anyone that could tell him where he was. "Man, how hard did I land?" he wondered while gazing up at the sky, which was a weird mix of orange and pink, a far cry from the night skies he often blended into. He also could spot a massive bone or two far away from the shore. Suddenly, there was a low bellowing sound, and Sly turned to discover a massive creature that looked like a mix of a slug and a beached whale.
"Hey big guy, can you understand me?" Sly asked the big slug creature, who just turned its head before opening its mouth. "You saying you need something to eat?" Sly asked again. The creature gave no response. "Hm, sorry big guy. Fresh out of snacks."
"I saw the wormhole eject scrap from over there!" a voice cried out from beyond the shore. "Quickly men, gather up what we can find before the trash slug does!"
"Trash slug?" Sly scratched his chin in contemplation before turning to the beast before him. "Is that what you are?"
Before Sly could receive an answer, a small group of soldiers with grey, birdlike masks covered with white cloaks began marching onto the scene with spears in hand. Sensing that they could mean trouble, Sly took it as his cue to hide behind the trash slug while the soldiers began collecting the remnants of Le Paradox's blimp.
"Hoo, talk about a haul. Look at this junk!" one of the men said as he picked up a mechanical arm. "That mouse the Emperor took in is gonna love what we find here!"
"Mouse?" Sly whispered before he realized just who they were talking about. "Of course."
"Wait, look!" another one of the soldiers exclaimed as he pointed at the footprints Sly left in the sand. "Someone else was here."
"Gotta act fast! Now, what would Bentley say in this situation?" Sly said to himself before doing his best imitation of his paraplegic partner. "Sly, you gotta jump and press the circle button!" After letting out a quick laugh, Sly crept away into the shadows, far from those soldiers' prying eyes, and nimbly made his way over to the forest nearby.
"Phew, close one." The raccoon sighed in relief before he began to take in more of his surroundings. The trees before him seemed almost like the trees he would see back home, except the leaves were red. And it didn't seem like fall had arrived as far as Sly could tell. "Man, I wonder how everyone back home is doing. Bentley and Murray must be worried sick."
As far as Sly knew, his two oldest friends were probably back in Paris hoping for his safe return. The three of them had been together through thick and thin since they first met at the Happy Camper Orphanage. Clockwerk, Neyla, Dr. M, Le Paradox, it seemed like to Sly that they had grown from three friends into their own little family. A family that the skunk had taken him away from with seemingly no way of bringing them back together. But aside from Bentley and Murray, there was a certain fox that continued haunting his thoughts.
"Carmelita, I'm sorry for everything." Sly exhaled sadly and laid down on the grass, pondering on how faking amnesia just to live happily with his favorite Interpol officer had led to this. "I hope there's some way I can make it up to you."
"Hello, anyone there?" another voice called from within the forest, making Sly bolt from his resting place and arm himself with his cane in self-defense.
"I'm here, come out and give me all you got!" Sly challenged the voice. However, when Sly expected a beast to come out and try to eat him, instead came a girl who seemed a couple of years younger than he was with a purplish-brown pixie cut, a white & indigo hoodie, hiked-up jean shorts, a pair of dark leggings and white loafers. But the most curious feature that Sly discovered was that the girl only had hair on her head. The rest of her body was smooth, tan skin.
"Uh, hello there strange creature." Sly greeted the new creature as politely as he can. "My name is Sly Cooper. I apologize for my slow manner of speaking, I wish for you to understand what I'm saying."
"Hehehe, of course, I understand you." The girl giggled while holding a staff not unlike the Cooper cane, though it had a carving of an owl at the end. "You're a funny guy Mr. Cooper."
"Please, just call me Sly," Sly replied. "What's your name kid?"
"My name's Luz Noceda, nice to meet you." Luz introduced herself to Sly in kind.
LUZ NOCEDA. THE CREATURE.
"Your body is so smooth." Sly stated as he gently stroked Luz's arm, creeping the girl out a little. "What are you, some kind of simian?"
"I'm not sure if I should feel offended by that, but no." Luz responded. "I'm a human. You never heard of humans before?"
"I don't think so." Sly answered. "Can you tell me where I am?"
"Oh, this place?" Luz said. "Welcome to the Boiling Isles."
"The Boiling Isles. Catchy name." Sly nodded with a grin. "Look kid, Luz, was it? I seem to have lost my way home after fighting a skunk with a vendetta against my family on his burning blimp. Can you help me out?"
"You're away from home too?" Luz answered. "Small world. I got stuck here after chasing a little owl who stole my book from the trash. The only difference is, I chose to stay here so I can become a witch."
"A witch?" Sly gasped in amazement. "You mean, like, flying around on a broomstick, mixing stuff in a cauldron with an evil cackle, green-skinned kind of witch?"
"No way!" Luz laughed. "Well, at least, none of the witches I know have green skin. But I do know one who might know what you're talking about."
"You're not leading me to get eaten, are you?" Sly asked plainly.
"That depends." Luz pursed her lips in contemplation before the trees around the human and the raccoon began to rustle. "Uh oh, hide!"
"Don't worry, just take my hand and a deep breath." Sly pridefully offered his hand to Luz, but the girl instead grabbed him by the arm, pulled a slip of paper with a strange symbol drawn on it, and the two began holding their breath. Just like that, the pair had suddenly become invisible.
Sly couldn't believe his mask-covered eyes. He already recognized such a technique from one of his earliest ancestors, Slytunkhamen I, but seeing it accomplished with only a piece of paper blew his mind. However, his sense of wonder quickly turned into nausea as he struggled to keep holding his breath and not pass out. But ultimately, his lungs won the battle and Sly fell down in a heap. "Sorry kid."
"It's the human, surround her!" the leader of the guards commanded. "And get that raccoon too!"
"Probably should work on that invisibility spell a bit more." Luz commented while her new companion got back up.
"Fighting the authorities, just like on my world." Sly added and readied his cane. "Can you keep up with me?"
"Surely." Luz smirked as she whipped out more paper slips with strange symbols on them and slapped one of them on a guard's face, causing his uniform to burst into flames.
"Oh my Titan, Bill's on fire!" the captain yelled and angrily glared at Luz. "You'll pay for this, brat!"
"Hang on!" Sly yelled, charging towards the captain and slamming him into a nearby tree before dodging some spells from the captain's comrades, which he observed to be cast from circles drawn in the air. Hooking another guard by the ankle with his cane, Sly did an upside-down dive into the air before falling while spinning his cane like a propeller, knocking the squad out cold.
Luz on the other hand kept another group of guards at bay by summoning a wall of ice to trap them in, followed by another fire spell to melt the ice and a third to tangle them in vines.
"I think that should be all of them!" Luz called to Sly, and she planted her staff in the ground before making the owl on top come to life. "Hop on!"
As the staff took off, Sly spire-jumped onboard behind Luz and it flew away, leaving the guards in the dust.
"You won't get away with this! The Emperor and the Syndicate will have your heads!" the captain cursed the duo, powerless to catch up to them.
"Not bad kid, where did you learn all that magic?" Sly sighed in relief as Luz flew the staff through the forest.
"Oh it's simple, I'm a witch's apprentice." Luz proudly stated.
LUZ NOCEDA. THE WITCH'S APPRENTICE.
"An apprentice, eh?" Sly wondered. "And who, pray tell, could your master be? Is he a mystical warlock whose power is feared and respected all over this place?"
"Close, she's Eda the Owl Lady." Luz explained. Despite the human's confidence, she could tell something made Sly a little uncomfortable. "Hey, did I say something wrong?"
"You're fine sport, it's just, owls?" Sly answered. "Saying this from experience, but owls and raccoons don't mix very well."
"How so?" Luz asked her new friend.
"I'll explain when we find somewhere to land." Sly responded. "Where are we going?"
"Eda wanted me to check out that creepy portal that appeared near the beach to see if anything good came out of it." The girl explained. "And well, I sure found something great."
"Please, you're making me blush." Sly chuckled sheepishly as the staff began to slow down towards a house that had a massive window in the shape of an eye in front. "So, this must be Eda's place, eh?"
"Yep, welcome to the Owl House." Luz welcomed the thief as she walked towards the front door. To Sly's surprise, there was a little owl face hanging up on the front, and it seemed alive.
"Password ple-" the creature said before it noticed Sly. "Luz, did you bring back a new friend?! I LOVE NEW FRIENDS!"
"You never told me about that thing!" Sly jumped back at the little oddball that seemed a little too happy to meet him.
"Oh don't mind Hooty, he's pretty harmless." Luz said before she opened the door and let Sly in.
The Owl House, 6:40 pm.
"Eda, King, I'm home!" Luz called out while she and Sly stepped inside. To Sly's surprise, the house seemed to look far bigger on the inside than he expected, and also looked just as witchy as he expected it to be. "I didn't find any cool trash from that wormhole, but I did find something even better!"
"No trash?" a woman who seemed on the cusp of seniority groaned as she stepped into the room. The older woman had wild gray hair with a white streak, pale white skin, one golden eye opposite a black eye, a strange black stone on her chest, a three-toned red dress, and a golden fang sticking out of her mouth. "Dangit, that was my one chance to try and get the human stuff stand running again!"
"Well, hello silver fox." Sly purred seductively, clearly enamored with the witch. "Luz, you didn't tell me your friend was a real looker for someone so old."
"My, what a charmer." The woman chuckled playfully. "And by the way, I ain't some old codger, I'm in the prime of my life!"
"Really? But your hair." Sly pointed out the woman's unkempt locks. "You dye it or something?"
"Curse, actually." The alleged senior citizen replied before she took Sly's hand and shook it. "Eda Clawthorne, nice to meet you."
EDA CLAWTHORNE. THE OWL LADY.
"So, you must be Eda the Owl Lady." Sly realized. "Call me Sly Cooper."
"I think he may have come from another world, just like me." Luz said to her witchy teacher. "Though, I'm not sure just where he came from. I only see guys like him in cartoons, comics, and video games."
"Speaking of talking animals, what's keeping King?" Eda wondered. "Little guy's gotta do his business like everyone else does, but he's taking forever!"
Just then, a strange dog-like creature scuttled into the room. He had dark gray fur, a skull over his head, a dog collar that had some kind of symbol on the gold tag, pink & yellow eyes, and didn't seem to open his mouth despite Sly clearly hearing the little guy pant.
"Sorry everyone, that lunch really took forever to get out, if you catch my drift!" the critter chuckled at his gross joke before looking up at Sly. "Hey, who's the big guy here? Is he gonna replace me as the cute and fluffy sidekick?"
"And what are you supposed to be, squirt?" Sly asked as he picked up the animal and held him up by his sides like a cat. "Some kind of dog?"
"I am no mere dog, stranger!" the creature proudly shouted. "I AM KING, THE KING OF DEMONS!"
KING. WHAT HE SAID.
"Really, you, a king of demons?" Sly chuckled while looking at the self-proclaimed king. "You look more like a king of the dog pound."
"King, I'd like you to meet Sly Cooper." Luz introduced King to Sly. "I found him out in the woods earlier, and we fought some Coven Scouts together."
"Of course, Belos would want whatever came out of there too." Eda scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Rumor has it he's got some help, and she's looking to get control of the wormholes to find what she wants to help him."
"Who's Belos?" Sly wondered.
"We'll explain over dinner, you hungry?" Luz offered the raccoon. "I mean, we can offer you some of Eda's trash if that's okay with you."
"What, no?!" Sly nervously rejected. "I don't need any garbage, just something I can stomach. I haven't eaten since I left ancient Arabia."
"Arabia?" Eda said inquisitively. "What even are you?"
"I'm glad you asked." Sly grinned.
'Thanks to Luz here, I now had a place to stay till I can find a way home.' Sly narrated while sitting down to dinner with Luz, Eda, and King. 'She and Eda seem like nice people, but I can sense King has some issues. Well, not as many issues as I had, once I got a taste of the food on the Boiling Isles and realized just how different it is from Earth food.'
A few minutes later, Sly was in the bathroom barfing the odd dinner he just ate into the toilet while Luz gently stroked his back and Eda stood outside.
"Everyone's a critic." Eda scoffed. "I swear, the bathroom's gonna smell tomorrow morning."
'Thankfully, there was also some regular food Eda had lying around they could make into something less disgusting.' Sly continued. 'During dinner, we exchanged stories about our lives and how I could possibly find my way home.'
'Just like me, Luz is stuck here by accident and is working with Eda and the friends she made here to build a way back to the human world, as she calls it. As for Eda, she was once the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles and a wanted criminal too. A woman after my own heart.' Luz then pulled out her smartphone and began showing Sly pictures of the adventures she went on in the Demon Realm. 'Until recently, Eda nearly drained her magic dry trying to protect Luz from harm and is trying to compensate for her lost power by learning about glyphs, which were those little papers Luz used against those Coven Scout guys.'
'King believes himself to be of royal blood and is looking for his lost father to prove himself so. Prior to this, Eda found him as a baby on some strange island where he first hatched from an egg, and the two have been living together in the Owl House ever since.' Suddenly, Hooty burst into the kitchen, eager to join in on the conversation, much to Sly's reluctance. 'Which reminds me, apparently the house itself is the body of that weird little Hooty thing. Don't wanna wrap my head around that.'
'Once we finished dinner, Eda said she knew of an artifact that this world's ruler, Emperor Belos, wants to be kept safe from prying hands.' As Eda explained the importance of that artifact, Sly put on a cheeky grin as he looked over at his cane, resting against the wall. 'Of course, by prying hands, he means a thief like yours truly.'
SLY COOPER AND LUZ NOCEDA IN:
OWLS AND RACCOONS DON'T MIX VERY WELL
Dragging Sly out of the kitchen and towards a cauldron in the living room, Eda began stirring in the pot for a bit before an image of a necklace appeared in the liquid within. "Been a while since we last used this scrying potion, eh Luz?"
"I almost forgot we didn't throw this out." Luz replied. "So anyways Sly, this necklace can allow the wearer to contact anyone they so desire via telepathy, even if it means whoever they're calling isn't even of this universe."
"Sounds a little overpowered, don't you think?" Sly commented.
"Yeah, that's why Belos wants it in his grubby little mitts." Eda replied. "Wild witches often used this old relic to prank call people across the Isles, and some legends even said the pranks reached beyond the Demon Realm. He'll no doubt want it destroyed for its connection to wild magic."
"It's like he's asking for it to get stolen." Sly declared. "Well, what do you say ladies? Care for me to show you how I get things done?"
"From one crook to another, gladly." Eda replied.
Job: Necklace Theft
Forest Outside The Owl House, 7:05 pm.
Under the cover of night, Sly and his trio of new partners began tailing a convoy that no doubt carried the exact necklace they were looking for, heavily guarded by members of the Emperor's Coven as it trudged through the woods.
"Okay gang, that's gotta be the one we're looking for, right Eda?" Luz asked her mentor while the four hid in the bushes.
"Looks like it." Eda replied, now wearing a bandolier equipped with potions. "And it seems security is tight, so we gotta stay on our toes and not attract too much attention."
"Here's the deal everyone." Sly began making plans by drawing figures in the dirt with the end of his cane. "King, you're a little guy, try using your size and natural cuteness to distract the guards. Meanwhile, Luz, Eda, and I will turn ourselves invisible and sneak onboard. Eda, the necklace should be close to the front, right?"
"You bet Cooper." Eda declared.
"Once we get that necklace, we should be home free." Sly concluded. "Are we clear?" The witches and the demon nodded in compliance. "Good, move out."
King emerged from the bushes first, scuttling his little paws straight into the convoy's path and smashed his head against one of the wheels.
"What was that?" one of the drivers wondered as he and a few other scouts went to investigate. Behind their backs, Sly snuck aboard the convoy with Luz and Eda right behind him.
"Please, help me! I'm dying!" King dramatically yelled. "Oh, what a cruel, cruel world I live in! So long Boiling Isles, and thanks for all the snacks!"
"Oh my goodness, someone get this little guy healed up pronto!" the lead driver yelled while cradling the little demon in his arms.
"Wait, he seems a little familiar." One of the scouts said, unaware that King's near-death experience was all part of an act.
Hiding from the guards distracted by King's cry for help, Sly and the girls began creeping through the convoy in search of the necklace.
"Should be getting closer now." Luz whispered as they neared where the necklace should be. "Eda, got a way to pick the lock?"
"I thought you'd never ask." Eda beamed sneakily before sticking a hand in her hair and pulling out a bobby pin to pick the lock with. In a matter of seconds, the lock was opened and so was the door. "Jackpot!"
Before the trio stood a mystical necklace that looked like a dial on a rotary phone, studded with many radiant jewels and held together by a gold chain. Sly stared ecstatically at the trinket while he grabbed it from its resting place and left behind his signature calling card. With this, he can finally see his friends back home again. But that still leaves the question of how.
"The Pendant of Comunico is all ours." Eda said proudly while Sly returned outside with the treasure in hand. "Now let's get out of here, I'm pretty sure someone stopped buying King's act by now."
"Hey, the Owl Lady and the human are making off with the Pendant!" a Coven Scout yelled while his comrades held King hostage. "We got your little pet, either hand the necklace over or he gets it."
Unfortunately for the scout, King retaliated by biting the hand of one of the scouts holding him and scurrying away while that scout yelled in pain.
"Okay, you're asking for it!" the scout King just bit shouted and pulled out his spear, only to be met with an exploding potion to the face.
"Wow, they go down pretty easily." Sly grinned at Eda, who was ready to throw another potion.
"You'd think they'd train their forces to be more competent." Eda replied as she pulled out an ice glyph and shoved it in another guard's face, trapping his head in a block of ice before Sly broke it with his cane, sending the guard falling.
"We're on a tight schedule, so let's make this quick!" Luz replied while she wrestled with another guard with her staff. "Owlbert, grab the necklace and try to keep it away from the scouts!"
Suddenly, the owl on the end of Luz's staff turned from wood to feathers, giving Sly a shock as it glided towards him and took the necklace out of his hands. "Wait," Sly gasped. "your staff is alive!?"
"Well, A, it's my staff," Eda replied. "And B, yes it kind of is. That's my Palisman, Owlbert."
Owlbert hooted to Sly while nimbly dodging the guards that would try and take the pendant out of his talons before dropping it in Eda's hands.
"Thanks, Owlbert, now let's jet!" Eda thanked her Palisman as she stuck the pendant in her hair and Owlbert returned to Luz, who tossed the staff over to Eda. "All aboard!"
"Sorry to cut and run guys, but I got some unfinished business!" Sly called to the scouts as he and his new band of thieves flew off. "Later!"
JOB COMPLETE
The scouts were left silent at what just happened, at Luz & Eda making off with their treasure and that raccoon who was accompanying them. Then, one of them spoke.
"Okay, who wants to bite the bullet and call HQ?" one of the scouts asked. "Not it!"
"Not it!" another scout exclaimed.
"Not it!"
"Not it!" the lead driver raised his hand last, realizing too late he had to take up the burden. "Great." Pulling a compact mirror out of his uniform, he flipped it open to reveal an image of a red-skinned demon who looked like she had a hand for hair. "Hey, Kikimora. So, bad news."
"The pendant was stolen?" Kikimora grumbled.
"How did you know?" the driver exclaimed.
"That apologetic tone of voice gave it away." Kikimora declared. "What happened?"
'Well, it was the human and the Owl Lady!" the driver answered. "Plus, they had this giant furry thing with a big cane with them! I'm not even sure if it's a demon or not."
"Just as foretold, the thief is here." Kikimora proclaimed as she took the call in a dark room. "Return to the castle at once. We shall conduct a better strategy for him."
"Yes ma'am!" the driver saluted the Emperor's second in command as the call ended, leaving Kikimora alone in the room for a few moments before someone else entered.
"Well Penelope, it seems we have another guest." Kikimora said, turning to a pink-furred mouse in a yellow jumpsuit, red bandana, goggles, and a similar cloak to the Coven Scouts. "Sly Cooper, I believe his name was?"
"Exactly." Penelope clenched a glove-clad fist. "Sly will pay dearly for holding me back. I want a bounty on his head post-haste! Same for his companions."
The Owl House, 7:30 pm.
"We did it, you're so amazing Sly!" Luz cheered as soon as the team returned to Eda's house and flopped down on the couch.
"No prob Luz." Sly sighed while fishing through Eda's hair for the amulet. "You guys ain't so half bad yourselves."
"Chalk it up to years of experience on the run." Eda proclaimed. "And teaching Luz all she needs to know to survive here."
Sly then finally retrieved the Pendant of Comunico and gazed longingly at the trinket in his hands. At long last, with this, he could finally see his gang back home again. And all he had to do was just put it on.
"So, how does this thing work, exactly?" Sly wondered as he slid the necklace down his neck. "Do I just think of someone to call and they'll just take it?"
"It's a bit more complex than that, but in Layman's terms, yes." Eda answered. "So, who are you planning on calling?"
"And can I get a shot when you're done?" King asked. "I wanna see if my dad is still out there."
"I think I know just the guy." Sly declared as he crossed his legs in a meditative stance. "Or rather, turtle." As soon as the thief finished that sentence, the amulet began reacting to his thoughts and caused his eyes to glow a brilliant white. This was it, the way home at last. And all he had to do was think of Bentley.
Bentley's Lab, 3:00 am.
Far far away from the Boiling Isles, Bentley worked tirelessly in his laboratory long into the night, desperately searching for a clue on his dear friend's whereabouts. He had lost track of how many times he had reviewed the Thievius Raccoonus for any temporal alterations to its pages, but unfortunately for the disabled turtle, no dice.
"Come on Sly, give us an answer already." Bentley groaned, trying his hardest not to doze off.
BENTLEY. THE SLEEP-DEPRIVED BRAINS.
In addition to trying to search for Sly, Bentley had also been looking through the postcards sent to him by his ex-girlfriend Penelope since she had broken out of prison. However, a few months ago the cards just stopped coming. What could they have meant? Were they clues to Sly's whereabouts, or was it just her way of taunting him? Bentley gave up on that as soon as the postcards stopped coming.
Just then, the door to his lab opened, and in came the Cooper Gang's favorite rival Inspector Carmelita Fox. "Anything yet Bentley?"
CARMELITA FOX. THE COP IN LOVE.
"Zilch." Bentley answered morosely. "It's been months since we last saw Sly, but I keep thinking it's been like, years or something! Maybe I'm just so sleep-deprived, my sense of time is slipping." One cup of coffee later, Bentley kept on working until a thought crossed his mind. "Hey, here's a thought I just came up with. What if Sly, maybe, died or something?"
"You can't be serious." Carmelita said crossly with a facepalm. "Ringtail may really love getting on my nerves, but I seriously don't think he'd be the type to sacrifice himself without telling us that's what he'll do."
"Aw, so nice to hear you miss me too, Ol' Iron Sides." Sly's voice echoed through the lab, making Carmelita jump where she stood and Bentley fall off his wheelchair in shock.
"Did you just hear that, or am I hallucinating from a crippling lack of sleep?" Bentley asked while being helped back into his chair.
"No, I believe I heard it too." Carmelita answered, just as alarmed at what just happened. "Dios mío, could it be?"
"You betcha, Carms." What seemed to be Sly Cooper declared as a projection of him appeared before his sidekick and his girlfriend. "Hey guys, long time no see."
"Sly, can it really be you?" Bentley stretched a mechanical arm out from his chair to try and touch Sly, but unfortunately, the arm seemed to go right through the master thief. "So I am hallucinating!"
"Well, not really, but it's a bit more complex than that." Sly declared with a shrug. "I can see you've been searching for me for a while, but as it turns out, I'm not in another time. I think I'm in another dimension!"
"Wait, dimension?!" Bentley exclaimed. "You mean you just discovered a multiverse or something?!"
"Well, I think, though ball's in the park on whether I'm actually stuck in Hell," Sly responded. "Given how many demons there are here. I'm in this place full of monsters and magic called the Boiling Isles, and some of the locals helped me find this talisman that allowed me to contact you back on my world. They're pretty stand-up people, and one of them even got lost here just like me."
"Can you give us an idea on how we can reach you Sly?" Carmelita asked.
"To be real, I'm not sure." Sly explained to his law-abiding crush. "Maybe, I don't know, build a portal or something? There are parts of Le Paradox's blimp that went with me to the Isles, and thankfully there's some still leftover that either didn't get melted by the literally scorching hot seas or taken by the local authorities."
"We'll see what we can do Sly." Bentley stated with his hope renewed. "Try not to get yourself in trouble by the time we get there."
"You underestimate him for an old friend, Bentley." Carmelita smirked at the turtle before she gave the projection of Sly a loving gaze. "We'll be there soon Sly, and when we're all together again," Her hopeful tone was quickly dropped in favor of the officer's aggressiveness. "I'LL HAVE SOME CHOICE WORDS FOR YOU AFTER YOU HAD US ALL WORRIED SICK!"
"Easy, Inspector!" Bentley tried to calm the Interpol cop down while Sly recoiled in fright.
"Y'all haven't changed a bit." Sly grinned softly before he suddenly disappeared, leaving the pair alone in the lab once again.
"Well, guess it's time for me to make a few calls." Bentley cracked his knuckles and picked up a nearby phone, hoping to give a certain third member of the Cooper Gang the good news.
"You reached The Murray! Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but I won't mind if you left a message!" Murray's voicemail stated.
"Hello, Murray? It's me, Bentley." Bentley spoke into the phone. "We finally found him."
And so ends the first chapter of Boiling Blood. In case I haven't made it obvious, this could be considered my spin on what could've been Sly Cooper 5. Instead of traveling through time however, we're instead going multiverse-hopping! What adventures await the rest of the Cooper Gang on the Boiling Isles, and what exactly is this Syndicate that the Coven Scout spoke of?
Well, to give you an idea, the Syndicate will be a band of wild witches that Belos has recruited to assist with his plans in exchange for being granted amnesty from the Day of Unity. Each of them will be themed around one of the nine covens and will be split into groups of three, one group for each of the magic schools. For example, the first three will be alumni of Hexside and were classmates of Eda and Lilith.
And as for the character classes I mentioned earlier, let's see where our major players so far fall in.
Stealth (exactly what it sounds like): Sly, Luz, Eda, King
Smarts (uses gadgets & spells to solve problems): Bentley, ?, ?, ?
Strength (prefers using strength to fight enemies): Murray, ?, ?
Style (serve as decoys or charge into battle first to buy allies time): Carmelita, ?, ?
Who will our mystery characters be? Well, I'll give you a hint. The first character we unlock joined the Cooper Gang in Honor Among Thieves and is particularly greasy sweet. Too obvious? Well, tune in for the next exciting chapter, whenever that is, to find out!