Next stop, Mesa City. We were heading down to U.S. to pay a little visit of a mob boss by the name of Muggshot. It was nice to come back to the good old U-S of A after being teleported into the game. Jack and I were in the back of the van with Bentley, who was already setting up plans from his computer. Sly was in the front while reading Muggshot's file and Murray was driving to reach Utah.
I was going through all the stuff in my backpack I have prepared for this mission, "Okay. Binocucom? Check. Smoke bombs? Check. Swiss army knife? Check. Dog biscuits incase of dogs? Check."
"You really came prepared, huh?" Bentley commented.
"Yep. Just for any possible outcome like you said." I answered as I closed up my bag.
"That reminds me..." Bentley grabbed a big case that was rectangular. Bentley then said, "This is a gift for you from the three of us. Sly thought you should have something that to defend yourself. Think of it as a present for helping Sly back in Wales."
I opened the case and I couldn't believe it. It was a cane like Sly's. The design is very similar but the hook part of the cane is made out of silver instead of gold and the handle is made of wood painted in black. I held my new cane and started twirling it around to test it. It was awesome to have a weapon of my own to defend myself.
"This is so cool. Thank you guys." I thanked them as I looked as Sly and gave him a grin.
"Now you can fight off goons and it would come in handy for some obstacles up ahead." Sly mentioned.
While Sly was reading Muggshot's file, I was reading through the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus to see if I can learn a few moves like the Ninja Spire Jump from Rioichi's section or Henriette's vanish technique. Sly let read the pages time to time so that I can use them to help me with troubling obstacles.
After three days of traveling by van, we made it to Mesa City. I put on my thief mask and grabbed my new cane to get ready to head out. Sly and I hopped out the back of van and I looked at my brother.
"You sure you don't want to come with?" I asked Jack.
"Nah. I don't think I'm the kind of guy who want to go on dangerous missions. I'm just gonna stay in the van. I'll probably call through the communicator to see how your doing. Just be careful bro." Jack was worried for me at the end.
I nodded to him, "I will. See you in a few hours."
Sly and I headed out to find Muggshot. In front of us was a giant that was boarded up with poker cards on the side. Luckily there was pipeline that we can climb up. We got on top of the gate and to get across were lanterns lined up in string. This was the perfect time to try out the Ninja Spire Jump.
"After you." I offered Sly.
"Why thank you." Sly smiled as he jumped the pointed top of the lanterns one by one.
It was my turn try this new move for myself. I jumped and manage to land safely on on the pointed top and started doing it repeatedly. I started talking with excitement to myself, "That was awesome. It's like I'm a ninja."
"That's why it's call the 'Ninja' Spire Jump. Come on, let's keep moving." said Sly.
After testing out new move from the Thievius Raccoonus, we jumped down and see a guard dog. This wasn't like a dog that could walk and talk, this dog was like a regular dog that I was use to know back home. The dog spotted us while it was chewing on a bone and started barking at us.
"Arf! Arf! Arf!"
I went through my bag and grabbed a dog biscuit that I came prepared for, "Here boy. You want a biscuit? You want the biscuit? Go get it boy." I was talking all cutesy to the dog as I threw the biscuit at him.
The dog was all excited when he saw the biscuit in my hand. Luckily this dog was on a leash, so I threw the biscuit at the other direction where the dog chased it but was held back from the leash. This gave us enough time to pass through the dog and hop over the little shed.
"Man, that was close." Sly said, "How'd you know that would work?"
"Back home, I would walk my neighbors dogs as a summer job a while back. Every time a dog gets fussy, I toss them a biscuit. No dog can't resist a biscuit." I answered as I used my can to hook on to a hanging tire and swing across a big gap.
"Y'know, I've always wondered. How come there are animals that act like... well... animals? And how come there are animals that can talk?" I questioned from the entire time that I've been in this world.
Bentley answered out of no where, "Well that's because the animals that don't talk are 'non-sentient' animals. For those that can talk like me and Sly have higher intelligence and different body structures than those who are non-sentient."
"Really? So it's like two classes of species basically." I replied as I scratched my head.
"That's a simplified answer, but accurate." Bentley imposed.
As I was talking to Bentley, Sly pulled his binocucom and noticed something inside of the empty subway cart, "Hey you guys see this?"
I pulled out my binocucom and started looking at what Sly was seeing, "Looks like some kind of floor sensors. By the looks of it, the lasers flash to switch on the other side of the floor. It'll probably be safe to walk on when they flash and gives us an idea that it'll switch over. Right Bentley?"
"Well... yes. But how did you know?" Bentley started to detect suspicion on me.
I panicked a bit. I got to try to act like I don't know anything. I started fibbing, "Um... Since last mission, I started to learn about security technology. Y'know to be prepared for any outcome."
"Well let's get a move on. The quicker we get to Muggshot, the quicker we steal back his section of the Thievius Raccoonus." Sly started to look serious as usually when it comes to his family's book.
"Okay guys. Just let me know if you need anything. Good luck you two." Bentley cut communications.
On the way over to find the first treasure key, the both of us had to fight off a number of Muggshot's goons one by one. With the help of my new cane it was much more easy to fight with instead of using my fists. The two of made a good team together. We found a clue on the way over and found a vault that was on a cliff with a wire connected to a telephone pole across.
"I got this." I volunteered.
"Go ahead." Sly let me through as I climbed up the wire and got across to the vault.
I climbed onto the wire and started to pull my forward. I try not to look down because the ground was like a hundred and fifty feet below me so I just kept looking up to not think about it.
"Okay. I made it. Hey Bentley, what's the code?" I contacted Bentley through my ear piece.
"With a little higher mathematics, and voila! Dial in 3-1-4." Bentley gave me the code as I put it in the vault. Inside the vault was a page of the Thievius Raccoonus of Rob McCooper.
"Rob McCooper. Says here he used the explosive hat technique to knockout guards to detonate his cap to explode. This can come in handy. If only I had a hat to use this on." I talked to myself as I put the page in my bag and headed back to Sly.
"Come on, let's keep going. We're almost there." Sly pointed out as we go through all the laser securities and all of guard dogs on the way to the key.
Once got the key, I noticed it was different than the ones from Raleigh's base. I assumed they would all be the same design like in the game. Raleigh's keys were blue and were shaped as Raleigh's hat for the design. Muggshot's key was made of pure gold and were shaped as a club from a playing card.
"Okay got the key. Let's go find Muggshot and beat the crap out of him." I sounded so confident while knowing we're probably gonna get shot at from the jacked bulldog. I opened the gate and we headed to the mob boss' base.
We made it outside of Muggshot's casino. Before we crossed the bridge to get in front of the casino, Bentley was buzzing through our binocucoms. We pulled them out to see what the turtle has to say.
"This Muggshot certainly isn't shy. Okay, so we know he's here somewhere, but how are we suppose to find him? Mesa City is a big place." Bentley questioned on where to start to find the bulldog.
I zoomed around with my binocucom and see on top of the casino is a giant fire hydrant with the word Muggshot in front of it, "Given that his ego is as big of what his file says he is, then I'm pretty sure that he lives in the giant fire hydrant with his name in big neon letters in front of it."
"That's some sound logic, pal. You two just need to find a way to break into the buildings base." Bentley explained.
"We'll do what we always do. Split up, find the keys and break in. It's a piece of cake." I said as I twirled my can around.
Sly and I looked at each other while smiling and we both know what we were thinking. "Meet back here in twenty minutes?" I asked.
"You bet." Sly replied.
I went up the bridge while Sly went down to the Boneyard Casino. Once I crossed the bridge and ran up to a hill, I see a hotdog stand and tracks that looks to be use for racing. I pulled out my binocucom and see the Cooper van and Murray getting circled by a bunch of gangster dogs. I pulled up my communicator on my ear to get in contact with Murray.
"Murray, what's going on?" I was worried if he was going get hurt.
"Nolan! I'm glad to hear you. I was gonna get myself a quick snack from the hotdog stand and next thing I know, a bunch of dogs are bugging me to race." Murray was nervous from getting harassed by a bunch of dogs.
I decided to help out Murray, "Hang in there buddy. I'm coming down. Be right there."
"Please hurry." Murray was scared at this point.
I went down the hill to get Murray. Once I got close to the hot dog stand, I yelled out, "Órale!"
The dogs turned around and saw me. Murray didn't know it was me at first, so I gave him a quick wink to signal him that it's me. He was happy to know it was me. "What you sons of bitches harassing my friend for?" I questioned them with anger.
"The hell you suppose to be?" a German Shepard growled at me.
"I asked you a question. Why are you harassing my hippo friend?" I was already on edge to smash some skulls with these fools.
One of the chihuahuas answered, "This gordo has a nice ride. So we want to put a bet on it to see if his ride can beat ours."
"We'll even put this key in the pot if the hippo wins." the Rottweiler held the treasure key in his hand as my eyes grew with realization that this is the racing mission.
I then said, "How about we set things a little more interesting."
"What you got in mind?" the German Shepard got close to my face when he questioned.
I went through my bag and I grabbed a diamond that I "found" in the treasure room from Raleigh's base. "How about this? Let's put some money where your mouth is and put that key in the mix."
"Fine by me." all the dogs put a pile of cash money in the mix. Along with my diamond and the treasure key.
"If we win, we take the prize and the key." I gave a serious look with my eyes looked angry.
"What happens if you loose?" the German Shepard asked.
"You can take the van." I made an offer that they couldn't refuse, but Murray's face went pale when I said that.
"What? Nolan you can't be serious?!" Murray was in panic that I could possibly lose the van.
"Deal!" all the dogs agree as they ran up to their cars.
Murray and I got in the van with me on the driver's seat. Murray was trying to talk me out of this, "Nolan, you can't lose this race. This van is important to us. We can't lose!"
"Relax my hippo friend. I got this." I try to calm down Murray with my confidence.
The race started and shift into gear. It was three laps around the track and we were placed last. It was time for me to put in all those years of Mario Kart put into good use. I punched the gas and started to take control of the van and started hauling ass with the van. On the first lap I passed the police car and the purple low rider. The second lap I passed the convertible with the chihuahuas.
"We're gonna win!" Murray got excited but we weren't through yet.
"Hold on, pal. We ain't done yet." I said while speeding up.
We were head to head with the four-wheeler of the bulldog. I looked at the dog and he looked at me back and I gave guy the finger and I regretted it. "You bastard!" the dog yelled at me as he swerved at us. I lost control and it caused the van to face the opposite direction of the track. I decided to go Fast and the Furious and shifted in reverse. I looked at the dog who try to knock me off of the track and gave him smirk while driving in reverse.
"WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!" me and Murray cheered once we crossed the finish line and won the race in style. I drifted the van to the hot dog stand and we got off and started celebrating.
"We did it! That was awesome!" Murray cheered with joy.
"Hell yeah that was." I replied back as Murray and I fist bump.
The dogs all came back after they lost to us. They parked their rides surrounding us and got off looking disappointed and pissed. The top dog who was the German Shepard and came up to me. He started to growl at me like, well like a dog. But he started to calm down an said, "I'll admit, you got the speed."
He handed me the betting money and the key along with the prize and said, "I'd like to do a rematch one day."
"I'm down to see you lose." I joked.
"Hmph. We'll se about that." the top dog of the group took out his hand and I shook his hand as a sign of respect.
I then say, "Well it's been fun, umm..."
"Rex. The name's Rex."
"It's been fun, Rex. You know, you're alright." I grinned at the German Shepard.
"Not too bad yourself. For a funny looking creature that is." Rex teased me as he and the other dogs left the area.
I looked at Murray who was more relieved than excited that we didn't lose the van, "Stash the prize money for me, will you pal? I've gotta find more treasure keys."
"Got it bud. See you once you get back to the van." Murray nodded as I headed back. With the prize money I won from the race, I handed it to Murray and took the key with me.
The next mission I went to was a protection mission. I found a latter that took me down to a firing torrent. I pulled out my binocucom to see if Murray was in position, but Murray wasn't there.
"Jack?!" I was surprised to see my brother out on the field.
Jack spotted me and waved. He then communicated with me through my earpiece, "Nolan. Bentley said that I should help you get the key but he mentioned that you should cover me from any guard dogs on the way."
"This is crazy. There's no way I'm putting you in danger like this." I was being protective towards my little brother.
"Bro, we need to get through this. The more we go through, the closer we can get to find a way back home. I decided to help you any way possible, so please just protect me from these dogs so I can reach to the key." Jack was serious when he said that.
I gave in, "Okay. I'll watch your back, but please be careful."
I got on the truant and started shooting the lock on the door in front of Jack. Once Jack got through the gate, one of Muggshot's goons came from a garage and was going to attack Jack. I shouted to myself, "Oh no you don't." and shot down the goon.
"Thanks bro. I think I can handle them. Just shoot if I need you to cover." Jack asked.
"You got it, little bro." I knew Jack could defend himself but I just want to keep him from getting hurt. Jack knew how to defend himself because back home we took judo together from his senior in high school. We actually took a couple self defense classes when we got older because we want to fight back for those who can't. Jack took down a number of of dog goons and I only used the torrent to shoot down locks, but once Jack got closer to the roof tops, more of Muggshot's goons came. Only this time they were packing heat.
"Jack! Get to cover!." I told my brother to get behind a brick wall to cover. The flashlight guards were shooting at my brother and he was pinned down. I used the torrent to shoot down these dogs and to Jack through them. Once I shot down the guards, Jack got through and got to the key.
"Got it!" he shouted with pride.
"Great. I'll get down and you pass me the key." I got off the torrent and started heading towards Jack to pick up the key. I made sure Jack was okay in one piece from his first mission.
"Nolan, I'm fine. I'm okay." he try to calm me down.
"I know. It's just the thought of putting you that dangerous situation. I just found you and I don't want you hurt." I was scared for my brother.
"Look. You've been doing these kind of things before. I just want help you out." Jack put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a smirk.
"Okay. I understand. You should head back to the van and I'll catch up with you once we're done." I said.
"Kay. Meet you at the van." Jack ran off and handed me the key.
It's time for me to meet up with Sly to break into Muggshot's casino and steal back his section of the Thievius Raccoonus. Let's just hope we could find a way home once all of this is over.
