We were setting out a plan on the way to Haiti to face off the voodoo caster, Mz. Ruby. The five of us were in the van to make the trip. Murray was driving, Bentley was on his computer to set out plans as usual, Jack was keeping himself occupied by watching VanossGaming videos on his phone, Sly was reading up the file on Mz. Ruby and I was reading on the sections we stole back on the Thievius Raccoonus. I was starting to read Tennesse "Kid" Cooper's section after we stole it back from Muggshot back in Mesa City.
I was reading on how to do the rail walk and rail slide from the page. After leaning on the skill, I decided to read more about the Cooper family history. I was reading on three of Sly's ancestors that caught my interest to learn more about. I was reading Henriette "One Eye" Cooper, Sir Galleth Cooper, and Thaddeus Winslow Cooper III. I've always enjoyed playing Sir Galleth from Thieves in Time, but I have always been curious about Henriette and Thaddeus every since, so it was my chance to know more about the two.
After reading Sly's book, I went up to Sly who was on the front seat beside Murray and asked, "Anything on Mz. Ruby that we could use as an advantage? Any possible weaknesses?"
Sly shook his head, "Not really. Just history of how she was self isolated as a kid because everyone feared her for he voodoo ways. In a way, I kinda feel sorry for her."
I actually felt a little sympathy for the alligator for being feared by people as a child. I could actually relate to her when I was a kid when I was in elementary school. As a kid, I didn't really had many friends till I was in high school because I was kind of an outcast for being antisocial at the time, but I felt lonely.
"Yeah me too. She just had a rough childhood that pushed her to a life of crime." I felt a heavy heart for the voodoo caster, but we have to face her.
Murray called out, "Kay guys, we're almost there."
Sly got out his seat and sat in the back of the van and said, "Let's get ready to head out."
We started to sneak pass the fence and went around. Sly went in first to wall walk through the fence without the guard flashing his light at us.
I nodded as I packed a couple things in my backpack and grabbed my cane. We made it to the swamp and once we got off the van, oh my god. The smell was foul.
"Fuck! This place smells like shit! Wuahh... wuahh..." I was gagging from the smell of the swamp.
"I know it smells bad, but bare with it." Sly held his nose and try to encourage me to keep it together.
"Okay. Okay. Let's just get this over with. The sooner we face off Ruby, the sooner we get out of here." I put on my eye mask and we started heading out to find Mz. Ruby's lair. There was branches and vines around the swamp and some on the swamp water. Bentley then called us through our binocucoms.
"Sorry guys, but this is one mission you two would have to accomplish with out me." Bentley sounded scared when said that.
"Let me guess, you believe in ghosts?" I questioned.
"Yep. My scanners have picked up verifiable paranormal activity. But that's not a problem. This swamp is oozing with disgusting mold and bacteria." Bentley whined.
"Suck it up, Bentley. We got work to do." said Sly.
"Well, alright then. Don't forget to use the new move you learned from Muggshot's section of the Thievius Raccoonus." Bentley reminded us of the rail walk and slide move.
"The Raccoon Rail walk, you mean?" I said.
"The roots and vines around here are perfect for that." Bentley pointed through the binocucom.
I then joked, "Alright. All we do is jump and hit the circle button, right?"
Both Sly and Bentley looked complete confused of what I said. Sly commented, "What's that suppose to me?" I guess in this world, the characters of the games are not aware of the Playstation controls like in the video games. I probably shouldn't say stuff like that.
"Uhh... Never mind. Let's get going." I said as we hung up Bentley through communications.
Sly went first to walk on the vine as I went in next. It was actually easy if you have good balance like I do. Once we got across, there was a clue bottle right beside this creepy voodoo statue that was made of wood. I swiped the clue with my cane and put it away in my bag. It's time to go.
We've been through a number of obstacles on this mission. We fought off giant mosquitos, giant spiders, swamp monsters, and voodoo rat guards with staffs. We have been walking and sliding through vines and fallen tree branches on the swamp. We slid through vines most of the time and came across the front gate of Mz. Ruby's base of operations. I was gonna step in but Sly grabbed my shoulder, "Wait."
"What?" I questioned as he pointed out a flashlight guard guarding the fence. I widened my eyes from realization and Sly signaled my with a chop hand signal to point out to get pass the guard. We started to wall walk across the fence without getting spotted. Sly went in first as I followed him. As we passed through the guard, I knocked him out with a whack of my cane to keep him quiet. As we got on top of the fence, we see a number of guards patrolling around the gate with purple candles around the area.
"There's a lot of them." I pointed out as there were more guards than it was in the game. There were like around fifteen flashlight guards.
"What should we do?" Sly questioned.
I noticed there was a safe on our right side. I thought up of something but I didn't think Sly would like it. I pulled out the clue bottle and give it to Sly and told him, "Here. Open the safe over there while I think of something."
"Uh... Okay..." Sly gave me a confused look as he took the bottle and went to the safe.
As Sly was opening up the safe, I started walking towards the area filled with guards and purposely got caught by one of them. One of the guards pointed his flashlight on me, "Intruder!"
I placed my hands my hands behind my head and said, "I'm here to speak with Mz. Ruby. I have a proposition."
Sly saw what I did and looked pale, scared and shocked at the same time for what I was about to do. Luckily, he wasn't noticed by the guards and I gave him a quick wink to signal him to trust me for what I'm about to do.
One of the rat guards questioned, "What business do you want from our leader?"
"I wish to speak with her. I bring a gift of prosperity." I pulled out snacks such as chocolate bars, bags of chips, and cookies. I handed them to the guards and they seem to be amazed as if they've never seen these snacks before. Well we were in the middle of a swamp, so I can understand why they acted that way.
"Hmmm... Very well. You come with us." one of the guards told me with a firm voice.
Another guard went behind me and started to tie up my wrists with a rope. I complained, "Is this really necessary?"
"We still don't trust outsiders." another guard quoted.
I looked back at Sly and we both caught eye contact with each other for a second and Sly started to realize what I was doing, so he went along with my plan. I thought to myself, 'I hope this will work or otherwise this will go wrong horribly.'
It took us a few minutes to get up to Mz. Ruby's lair. The entrance to the alligator's lair was a drawn in voodoo circle on the floor that teleported me inside the giant alligator shaped lair. The feeling of teleportation was really weird. It felt like being shocked all over my body and felt a little light headed. Once the guards took me to the lair, there I see the back of Mz. Ruby herself.
"Madam Ruby, we've brought an outsider." one of the rat guards announced my presence.
Mz. Ruby turned around and saw me with my hands behind my back and gave me a sinister grin, "Well, well, well... A visitor?" The alligator came towards me to take a better look at me and went around in a circle to see all of me. She looked to be around my height at about over six feet tall. She looked at me and noticed that I wan't not around here. Just by human appearance that is.
"You ain't from around here, are you?" Mz. Ruby kept examining me with here deathly gaze.
I replied with out hesitation with out expressing any fear of facing the alligator first hand, "Nope."
"You know what I meant. You ain't from this world." Mz. Ruby smirked at me as my eyes widen from how she knows that about me.
I was really surprised, "How did you-"
She interrupted me to finish my sentence, "Your vibe gives off an unfamiliar presence and you're appearance gave it a way." Mz. Ruby was taking about my human appearance of how I don't have a tail, fur, or any animal like features. The alligator went back from her original spot earlier and told her guards, "Untie him and leave. I like to have a discussion with our visitor."
One of the rats pulled out a knife and cut the ropes tied on my wrists and left the lair. She dragged her finger to let me know to follow her in another room. I followed Mz. Ruby and was in a room that had a very spooky vibe. The place was covered with moss and dying tree bark. On the center of the room were two chairs, both of them were very large chairs, enough to hold the alligators weight.
Mz. Ruby sat down and said, "Come and sit, Lupin."
Another surprise came at me, "How did you-"
"Know? I'm a voodoo caster. I can read the energy and feelings around you that would aide me to know what ya thinkin. Come and sit." Mz. Ruby then grabbed a bottle of red wine and started pouring into two chalices that shaped like skulls. She moved one chalice forward to intend of that one was mine to drink.
"Sit." Ruby commanded as I do so.
I grabbed the skull chalice and sniffed the wine to see if it wasn't poisoned or anything. I didn't drink it anyways because I didn't trust the alligator at all. I still was holding my cane in my hand, just to be ready for any tricks Ruby will try to pull on me. I started talking, "Since you already know who I am, I can already tell that you know why I am here."
Mz. Ruby pulled out something out a voodoo chest that was next to her chair and it was her section of the Thievius Raccoonus, the Slytunkhamen Cooper's page. Ruby gave me a menacing grin at me and said, "I figured you were a friend of Cooper. And I'm sure you want this, but first I need to know what you are."
"What are you getting at?" I turned my face slightly and gave her the stink eye.
"Like I said before, you're clearly not from this world." Mz. Ruby stood up from her chair and started to circle around me, "I would like to know who you truly are and where you're from Lupin, or should I say... Nolan."
I was shocked even more to the point this was getting kinda scary for me. I couldn't believe she knew my real name. I had to do something quick or things could get real ugly for me. I collected my thoughts and started talking again, "Now I have another reason to talk to you now. May I ask?"
"Do tell." Ruby allowed me to speak.
"Since you know about me and where I am from, do you have the ability to send me and my brother back to our world?" I was hoping that the answer would be yes but I had a feeling should wouldn't help me, even if she wanted too.
"I'm afraid that is not possible." Mz. Ruby sat down on her chair and took a sip of her wine.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because I don't have the power to send people to other worlds. I may be a voodoo caster, but not a miracle worker." The alligator smirked at me and I felt a sense of defeat of not finding a way back home. I took a sip of the wine and noticed a familiar taste from it.
"Hmm... Wow. Is this KahlĂșa?" I recognized the taste of the Mexican wine.
"Why yes it is." Ruby smiled at me.
"You know that reminds me." I got up from the chair and started circle around Ruby with my hands behind my back, "If I recall, you are planning to take over Mexico next week, correct?"
Mz. Ruby spat up her wine, "H-How do you know about that?"
"It's funny. First you know so much about me. I knowing so much about you. Like how you grew up in isolation because all the other kids feared you as a child. I actually feel bad about you." I mentioned about her life and her plans to take over the world.
Mz. Ruby looked at me and looked curious, "How do you know all this?"
I came up to her and said, "I know you have the ability to look into people's minds." I came to Mz. Ruby closer and said with confidence, "Go on. Look into my mind."
Mz. Ruby was hesitant at first and started to place her hands on the sides of my head and closed her eyes. I concentrated to remember the times I had playing the Sly Cooper games and how I was transported to this world. I started to remember when I was ten years old when I played Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus to the part of Mz. Ruby of how I already know about her plan and her backstory. Ruby saw all of it and she panicked and jumped back from me and looked confused and scared.
"W-What in Iwa did I just witnessed?!" Mz. Ruby had fear in her eyes as I saw her jumped back from me.
"You looked into my memories. And what you saw was me playing a video game that is based from this world. That's how I know much about you." I walked up to her more but she kept backing away from me. She got really scared of because of what she saw.
"N-No no no no no. This can not be true. Our world is not based on a game. It can't be. This has to be a trick. I-It can't be true-" she was in shock after finding out the truth and started hyperventilating.
Mz. Ruby was like a ticking time bomb that was about to explode with a major panic attack. I actually started to feel bad for her as she looked worse. I decided to help her by doing something that I would do whenever I had panic attacks. I looked into my bag and pulled out a paper bag. I've always carried stuff that helped me with anxieties just in case.
I gave Ruby the bag, "Here. Breathe into this."
The alligator snatched the paper bag and started taking deep breathes in the bag to help her calm down. I watched her breathe into the paper bag and I started patting on her back to keep her calm. After about a minute of deep breathes, Mz. Ruby finally calmed down from the trauma that I caused her and was back to normal.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I-I'm very much obliged of you helping me, but what I saw was terrifying." Mz. Ruby still looked modified after what she saw through my memories. I actually felt bad for showing her that.
"Listen. Just because in my world, this world is based on a video game, but that doesn't mean it can't be real. I mean, look at me. I'm here and everything I touch is real and no matter how many times I pinched myself thinking this is a dream, it's still real." I explained as I pinched myself to show Ruby my point.
Mz. Ruby still looked depressed and I still felt bad for what I did. I was starting to think she just gave up. I came up to her and started telling her of how I feel, "Okay look. I am just as scared as you are, Ruby. I've been trying to find a way back home for me and my brother. I don't know why my brother and I were transported here in the first place and I am afraid of being stuck here for the rest of my life. We are the only humans in this world. Do you know what that's like? Being the only two humans in this world and not knowing what to do. Just the thought of it scares me to death. So please Ruby..." I stood up and told her off, "Help me and I'll help you." I reached out my hand towards Mz. Ruby.
She looked up at me and looked to have a sense of remorse for what she did as a crime boss and being involved with the Fiendish Five and being a part of Sly's parents' murder. Ruby stopped sulking and told me, "Thank you."
I smiled at her to let her know it is going to be alright and said, "You're welcome, Ruby."
"No one has ever called me just by my first name in a very long time." Mz. Ruby smiled and stared at for a moment.
"Well, um, that's what people call their friends, I guess." I said.
"Friends? You think of me as a friend." Ruby questioned.
I didn't realize it at first when I considered her as a friend after what I said. "Y-Yeah. I guess we are. Let's start over. I'm Nolan." I reintroduced myself.
"Ruby." she smiled at me as she put her hand to give her a hand shake.
After we shook hands, Ruby changed from being a villain to a nice person. I guess from all the years of being self isolate and having no one for a friend caused her to lead a life a crime. I was starting to think that I became her first friend ever. Since we became friends, I wanted to see if Ruby would give me the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus back to Sly.
"So... since we're friends, I was wondering if..."
Ruby interrupted me, "Oh this?" she still had the page of the book and said, "Well I could, but I thought of something you can do to prove your friendship."
"Which is...?"
"Collect the other pages and treasure keys I hid. Show me you will put up all the trouble I put and the pages are yours." Ruby explained.
"Okay. I'm fine with that." I answered as I picked up my cane.
"Oh and one more thing." Ruby stopped me from walking out and came up to me again and she placed her hands on the sides of my head and started to cast a spell on me or something.
"What are you-"
"Vacu reito sado tomo voo!" Ruby casted a spell on me, but it didn't felt like it affect me at all. I felt normal until I started to heared something.
"Arg... Who be yellin' at the crack o' dawn?" it was a woman's voice who was talking like a pirate. Her voice sounded very similar to Jodie Whittaker, just talking like a pirate that is.
"I say, this seems to be troublesome for a gentlemen like myself." another voice came but sounded like a man from the Victorian era. This voice reminded me of James Arnold Talyor in a British accent, kinda like Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Then another voice came, "Who is't did wake me up from my slumber?" This voice I recognized. Judging by the Shakespearean speech and that the voice sounded like Yuri Lowenthal, I started to realize something that Ruby did to me.
"Uhh... Ruby?" I questioned.
"I've given you a gift that would help you on your challenge. I summoned three spirits that would guide you on your journey. When I looked into your memories, I saw you reading that book on the Cooper family and I summoned these three to help you." Ruby explained everything to me.
"Okay then. Umm... Hello?" I spoke to myself to see if the spirits responded.
"Oh how rude of me. Hello there, I am Thaddeus Winslow Cooper III." the Victorian voice introduced himself.
"Cooper? You be a Cooper?" the female pirate said.
"Pray tell, both of you are Coopers?" the other voiced questioned.
"Wait wait wait... Hold on. Did you say Thaddeus Winslow Cooper?" I asked the Victorian voice in my head.
"Correct." Thaddeus stated.
"Then judging by the accents, the one talking like a pirate is..."
"Henriette Cooper at yee service." Henriette introduced herself.
"Then that means the other voice is..."
"I am Sir Galleth Cooper. Knight of the Cooper family." Galleth sounded kinda dramatic when he introduced himself.
"Holy shit."
Well that is it for this chapter. Sorry it took so long for this one. I was having writers block for a couple of weeks with work and recently went to Disneyland with some family. It was fun though. Well I hope you enjoyed reading and I'll see you all next time.
