AN: this is my first time trying anything like this, so some feedback on what needs to be worked on is greatly appreciated here. I never really liked how the game ended like a lot of other people and saw a lot of untapped potential story wise. my goal is to do a novelized version of the main plot with my own twist. it won't be an exact one to one retelling if that's what you're thinking. I'll try to update as much as possible but my schedule is pretty hectic so it might take a while.

so without further ado, let's get started.

Paris, France

The city of lights. Paris is truly one of a kind. Rich in it's culture and history, and beautiful from its countryside to its architecture. And if you were to ask anybody with two working eyes, Paris is at it's most beautiful at night.

With the bustling nightlife of its nocturnal citizens, and the lovely soft glow of the street lights. Not to mention the giant tower that when lit up could be seen from miles. Yes, Paris is truly wondrous at night.

But not this night.

There are no people out and about. And sure the street lights are on but they're the only ones. It was as if this part of town decided to go to sleep.

No, there was something different about tonight.

You could sense it, there was trouble in the air. Like something big was going to go down tonight but you didn't know what.

It was a quiet night but that didn't last long.

If you listen to closely you could hear the sound of matted footsteps. A lone figure was running across the top of high rooftops. The figure stayed into the shadows hiding their face from view. the way they masterfully lept and landed from rooftop to rooftop, you can easily tell this isn't their first outing. The figure traveled a few more city blocks until they reached an open area, their eyes fell on their target.

A museum.

The figure carefully lept onto a building on the left side of the museum, climbs up a maintenance ladder to the roof. On the top of the ladder there holds a flat gravel floor, and industrial size AC units along with other vents. In the middle of the roof there is a door that leads down to the rest of the museum. Keeping an eye out for guards, the figure approaches the door.

They kneel in front of the door, they are about eye level with the door handle, they pull out two slender tools from their leg pouch and work on picking the lock. It takes them a while to jerry rig the lock, either turning their tool in the wrong direction or forgetting a step in the process. The figure knows what they're doing, they've done this before. But every once in awhile makes an amateur mistake. The figure hasn't done something like this in a long time and is out of practice. But after much patience the door finally opens and the figure slips inside, quietly closing the door behind them.

It's all coming together now, the masterful acrobatics, the genius point of entry, even the lock picking, and the ever watchfull eyes of the figure looking for potential dangers. It's clear as day that this mysterious figure can only be one thing.

A Thief.

The thief slowly makes their way through the museum. Before turning any corner, they look out for any kind of security measures that might alert anyone that they are here. Guards, spotlights, laser trip alarms anything and everything, it can never hurt to be too careful. As the saying goes, a reckless thief is a dead thief.

This continues down a few more hallways, when finally the thief finds what they came here to take. A 17th century Wakizashi, a Japanese short sword. The thief could see the artifact fetching a pretty price on thiefnet. One last look around for any guards and they approached the sword's exhibit case.

Up close you could really see the fine craftsmanship that was put into it. If it weren't for the fact that it had obvious signs of age the thief would have thought it was new. The thief unlatches the glass case and opens it with one hand, and they reach in and take the sword out with the other. It was so easy. The thief pondering to themself why they haven't done this earlier.

But then the thief realized that it was too easy.

The lax security, the little to no guards, hell even picking up the the sword should have triggered an alarm to go off. This all pointed to one thing, this was a trap. Unfortunately the thief realized this a little too late. Just as they were about to book it out of there someone from behind them yelled," FREEZE CRIMINAL!"

A shot of fear went down the thief's spine. They had been caught. The thief lifted both of their hands to either side of their head displaying that they were unarmed. They slowly turned around not expecting what they saw.

To put it plainly, she was a fox both literally and figuratively. She was a vixen, with orange fur and a big bushy tail in the back. But she was also very voluptuous, a perfect hourglass figure. Strange but beautiful blue wavy hair tied into a loose braid. Brown knee-high combat boots, a matching pair of a blue strapless top and mini skirt that left little to the imagination. But the thing that stood out the most was the golden Interpol badge she wore as a choker. And their standard issue shock pistol that she was currently pointing at the thief's face.

A moment of recollection hit the thief right then, they know her. Or at least they've seen her face before in the newspaper a couple of times in the past.

Inspector Carmelita Montanya Fox.

Needless to say that the thief was surprised that such an esteemed officer would be sent after them of people, if not a little flattered. The thief knew that he didn't have much time left before the whole museum was swamped with cops, if not already. So without much thought, and the sword still in hand, the thief made a mad dash to the nearest exit. Inspector Fox let out a short annoyed growl, and gave chase to the criminal even letting out a few shots for good measure. The thief narrowly missed a shot aimed at the back of their head taking a sharp turn around the corner.

Nothing gets the blood pumping more than nearly getting shot at.

Their little cat and mouse game lasted for what felt like hours. Until they ran into a dead end room with a large whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling and the thief got an idea. If by some miracle that this actually works it'll be a great story to tell. The thief looked around and saw the anchors holding the skeleton around the room. The Inspector stationed herself in the center of the room just under the skeleton.

Perfect.

They started running around the edge of the room making sure to pass by the anchors. Some of the shots were so close you could hear the crackle of electricity. When the final anchor finally snapped there was a heavy groaning and the skeleton started swaying back and forth. It was then Inspector Fox looked up only to see a giant whale rib cage coming directly towards her. She couldn't run away in time and instead braced herself.

There was a loud crash.

After the smoke and debris cleared up all that was found was Inspector Carmelita Fox caged inside of whale ribs. The thief gave out a dry chuckle, they couldn't believe that actually worked. They even noticed that in all the chaos her shock pistol was knocked onto the other side of the room. Now it's time to cool down the thief noticed that the police hadn't surrounded them yet, nor did they hear sirens in the distance coming closer. Which lend the thief to one conclusion, Inspector Fox came alone. A bold move on her part but not surprising considering her track record.

The thief sees their newly found captive struggling to move one of the ribs aside so she could slip through, but to no avail. For the first time all night The thief spoke. "I must say, I'm a bit flatter that Interpol would send a big shot like yourself just to come and get little old me." The thief's voice was deep and raspy, clearly masculine and a bit age as well. The police woman scoffed at his comment, "Please, it was such a slow day at the office I was willing to take any case. Including bagging some sleazy Grandpa thinking 'he's still got it'." She says the last part with air quotes. The thief won't admit it but he was insulted. He pulls the ski mask off his face to reveal an elderly rat with a comeback graying hair on his head. "Now I'm not may not be full of piss and vinegar as I used to be but I'm still pretty decent." The Inspector rolled her eyes. "Maybe once back in your heyday but now you're just predictable and sloppy. It was easy finding your pattern and knowing you were coming here. An amateur Junior detective could figure it out." Now the thief was mad and his face was starting to turn a little red. "Well if you're so smart why did you get captured. huh?! And it was pretty stupid of you to come here alone!" The Inspector looked right at him for a bit, then a smirk popped onto her face.

"Who said I came here alone."

The thief looked confused for a moment then the realization hit him, but it was too late. Before he even knew what was happening, he was tossed up into the air and slammed right on his back. The thief stayed on his back groaning for a bit. "Sorry about the rough landing there old timer, but you're in some deeper trouble and I can't go easy on you." The old rat opened his eyes and for the second time that night he was surprised at what he saw.

A male raccoon with gray fur flipped upward on top of his head, a masked face, and big bushy ringed tail behind him. He wore a dark blue turtleneck and black denim pants. And what stood out the most was the golden Interpol badge pinned to his chest and their standard issue shock pistol that he is currently pointing at the thief's face.

But what surprised the old rat the most was that he recognized the young man as well, and also from the papers. Though not in the same vein as Inspector Fox. He of course heard rumors of some big time thief turning coattail but he didn't believe he would encounter him until now. And it just had to be him.

Sly Cooper.