Welcome one and all, to part two of Operation Moon Crash! Now, just a fair warning, I had a ton of trouble writing this part. So if it seems a little, all over the place, that might be why. But I'm also trying something interesting here. This part is going to be a battle of two fronts. One battle will be the gang trying to get the mask off, and one is an internal battle between Neyla and Clockwerk. But enough of my rambling! Onto the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper. That honor, unfortunately, goes to Sanzaru Games.

OP: Moon Crash Part 2

Bentley was freaking out. Not long ago he had just received audio confirmation from Neyla that she had been taken by the Mask. There were several thoughts going through the turtles mind at the moment. How could the operation have gone so wrong? How did Inspector Fox find them? How did-

"Bentley! " he heard Sly say over their comlink. Shaken out of his stupor he readied his binocucom and got a bead on the now fifteen foot tigress that was their friend, running around aimlessly, twirling her whip around at everything in sight, be they friend or foe.

"I'm here Sly." He said watching Neyla go on her blind rampage.

"Please, tell me you have a plan for getting that thing off her." Sly spoke nothing but concern in his voice.

"I might. If I can just sedate her long enough, we should be able to approach her and pry it off." He said as he primed his launcher.

"Alright. Whatever you do, be careful." Sly said as the comlink cut off.

"Don't worry. I'll be just fine." he said to himself as he followed Neylas movements. Once he got a good lock on her, he hit the launch button, sending the high speed dart in her direction, and into her shoulder.

"RRRRAGGHH!" Neyla called out her voice booming from the feeling of the dart. In response she picked up a barrel, and tossed it at Bentley.

"Woah!" Bentley reacted quickly by using his chairs boosters to avoid the barrel and move to another mound. As he readied another shot the one thought on his mind at the moment, was whether or not he and the gang would survive this ordeal in one piece.

"Ah!" Neyla said as she had dodged a dive attack from Clockwerk. While the gang worked to subdue her from the outside, Neyla was doing all she could to prevent Clockwerk from taking over her mind.

"Why do you resist me? With the collective hate from the mask, it's only a matter of time before I overtake you by force." he said firing a plasma ring at her, followed up with two missiles. Neyla jumped through the ring, but was hit and knocked back by one of the missiles.

"Because unlike you, there are people I must protect!" She said standing up, her body damaged from the blast. "And if you want to come back to life… you have to go through me!" She said charging at the bird, with a flying kick. However with aerial superiority, the owl dodged it with ease as he took to the sky.

"Then you're a fool. Tell me Neyla. How long do you actually think you can last against me?" He said staring at the tigress with a murderous glare. From there he swooped down talons drawn attempting to grab Neyla. She dodged him the bladed claws grazing her shoulder.

"As long as it…" Neyla started but her vision began to blur. 'W-What's going on with me?' She thought as she narrowly dodged one of clockwerks attacks. 'I was just fine a second ago… why do I feel so… so…' her vision blurred further and the feeling of fatigue now creeping within her. Clockwerk let out a dark chuckle.

"Tiring out already? I'm just barely getting started." He said as he performed a spinning nose dive on Neyla. In her current condition, the attack struck her throwing her into a wall. From there Clockwerk pinned her. "I'll admit your determination is strong, but I'm much stronger. For my intellect is superior, my experience greater. And now… you're mine." he said as Neyla's eyes closed from exhaustion.

Outside of Neyla's mind, after five doses worth of Bentley's sleep darts, the large Neyla fell down on her knees as her eyes closed.

"Finally… the darts are taking effect." an exhausted Bentley along with Sly, Guru, and Murray. "Alright… here's the plan… Sly, you walk up to Neyla and just, take off the mask and hopefully she'll…" His sentence was cut off as a haunting laughter filled the air. They turned to see Neylas body standing up, her eye's a fiery red,and worst of all… she was growing even further.

"...Or not! The chemicals in my darts must be interacting with the mask… to make her even bigger!" Bentley exclaimed in fear.

"You're not kidding Bentley… she's getting… gigantic!" Sly said as he watched her as she went from fifteen to fifty feet tall. "Everyone! Head to the Big Truck! We need to get some distance between her and us, maybe she'll shrink back down with time." Sly said as he and the gang made a break for the truck, while the newly enlarged Neyla pursued them. After everyone was settled, Murray took the controls.

"Hang on guys!" he said as he floored the gas pedal causing the truck to move forward at an alarming rate knocking throwing the gang into their seats. Thundering sounds could be heard as Neyla pursued them.

"We must remove that mask as soon as possible."Guru spoke up as they rode.

"We know Guru, that's what we plan on-" Sly started, but was cut off.

"You don't fully understand the magnitude of this situation. I can sense the dark force inside Neyla getting stronger, and stronger with each second."he continued grimly. "If we do not get it off soon… Neyla will be lost for all time, and a terrible evil shall arise from her ashes."He finished which caused the gang, especially Sly, to pale. "Now do you see why time is of the essence?"he asked earning a nod from the gang. As they did, they heard an explosion from outside of the truck.

"Guys, we have problems!" Murray said as he looked at the truck's rear view mirror to see Neyla toting a truck full of explosive barrels. "She's got explosives!" he said as he did his best to dodge the barrels being tossed at them.

"Just keep dodging Murray, I'll...I'll think of something." Bentley said as he tried to think.

"Wake up Neyla." Clockwerk spoke stirring the tigress from her slumber. Upon awakening, she tried to attack him, but found she couldn't move. Looking up, she found her arms bound by thick shackles.

"Wha? How? Let me go!" she demanded as she tried to free her hands.

"I'm afraid I simply cannot allow that. It won't be much longer till I'm strong enough to break free." he said as he looked down at his captive. "And do you know what the best part is? You get to have a front row seat, as I tear your precious friends apart." he said as he turned his attention back to what looked like a regular television screen, which showed a large truck throwing barrels back at them via a hydraulic claw device.

"It's rather amusing how they try to help you, even when it's pointless." he said as he watched it. Unknown to him, Neyla was working on picking the locks to her shackles. It may have been Clockwerks territory, but a part of it was still her Dreamscape, and she'd be damned if she let him get away with his plans. "Tell me Neyla, can you satisfy the curiosity of an old owl?" he spoke.

"You? Curious? Is that you trying to be funny?" She quipped as she kept on with her escape attempt.

"Oh I'm quite serious. You got to question me, now it's my turn to question you." Seeing this as an opportunity to keep him busy, Neyla decided to play along for now.

"Fine. What's bothering you?" She spoke bluntly.

"You, and Cooper. I don't understand. You've betrayed his trust, stole the body of his nemesis, and even crippled one of his closest friends… and yet, he fell for you." He spoke his back never turning. As he spoke, Neyla heard a click on her right wrist, indicating it was unlocked. "Why is this so?" he asked.

"I've been trying to figure that out since I got my memories could be anything really." She said working on her left wrist now. "Before I betrayed him, I could tell he had developed a crush on me, if that's what it was… I don't know." She said as she heard another satisfying click as her left wrist was freed. "But here's what I do know. I'm not letting you return without a fight." She said as she used what thought power she had to don her thief outfit.

"Heh… took you long enough." Clockwerk said as he turned around to face her. "I gave you too little credit. Now, are you ready to give me a proper fight?" he asked as Neyla drew her cane sword.

"Like I said. I'll defend my friends, to my last breath." she said getting into an offensive stance. A dark chuckle could be heard from the owl.

"Let's put that to the test shall we?" he said as his body started to morph. His wings collapsed and his feet grew into legs. A pair of powerful looking arms sprouted from his chasis, his newly formed right hand carrying a vicious looking katana. "This time, we'll keep it on the ground. Now, en garde Neyla." he said readying his blade.

"Bring it!" Neyla said as she and Clockwerk ran towards each other to begin their battle.

"Grrraahhhhhh!" Mega Neyla roared out as she grew even bigger from fifty to a staggering one hundred feet. With Neyla and Clockwerk otherwise engaged, her body wandered aimlessly around. The gang finally came to a stop after the truck had taken countless abuse from Neylas assault.

"She's too huge! There's no way we'll be able to outrun her in the truck!" Murray said noticing how the truck could barely stand.

"And we're running out of time!" Guru added on.

"Guru's right. We need a new strategy, and fast. Force, just isn't working." Bentley said as he racked his brain for a plan.

"Guys, we need to stop running and deal with the real problem… pry off that mask and maybe we'll get back the Neyla we all know and love." Sly said, trying to get his friends back on track.

"Don't you mean the Neyla, you love?" Murray asked somewhat confused.

"Not the point. It's all about taking off that mask. We gotta find a way up there." Sly said though he was a bit amused by Murray's confusion.

"Well, there might be one way, though Sly's going to have to do some serious climbing to pull it off." Bentley said stating his plan. "Given her size, it might be possible to climb up her boots laces to the hooks holding the mask in place. If you do that, she might swat you away and break it loose." Bentley said to the awe of his friends.

"That's…. Not a crazy idea." Sly said impressed.

"Oh, it's crazy alright." Murray replied.

"You've got a better idea?" Sly said.

"Yeah, but we'd need a giant fighting robot!" Murray answered. Sly sighed.

"Sorry buddy, gonna have to go with the boot lace plan." Sly said as he twirled his cane. "Wish me luck!" he said breaking into a run towards Mega Neyla.

"Uh...Bentley, we may have another problem." Guru said handing his spy glass over to the turtle and showing him what was troubling him. Inspector Fox and her men were currently flying towards Neyla, weapons at the ready.

"Oh boy… Sly be careful out there! Carmelita and her troops are en route! And she doesn't look happy!" Bentley warned.

"Don't worry, I'll manage!" he reassured as now had to dodge incoming flak from the grunts missile launchers. Once he was close enough, and with careful timing, Sly jumped up and latched onto the laces of Neylas left boot. 'Hang on Neyla. I'm coming for you.' he thought to himself as he hastily climbed up her pants, along her vest, before reaching the top.

"Alright. Now to just time this RIGHT!" he muttered to himself as he bounded towards the hook and successfully latched on, catching the attention of the giantess, who as predicted swatted him away, taking the hook with him. On the down trip Sly used his para-glider to help soften the landing. "Alright… one down, one to go." he thought as he prepared for the second trip.

In Neylas mind, metal clashed against metal as she and the bipedal Clockwerk fought for dominance over her mind. Neyla was holding her own, but with sheer hate fueling him. as well as ages worth of experience, Clockwerk was beginning to get an upper hand.

"Are you starting to understand how futile your resistance is?" He spoke while parrying a downward slash. "Any moment now the mask will hit critical mass, and I'll be reborn anew." With that said, he dodged Neyla's latest attack and using the back of his blade, he knocked Neyla's weapon out of her hand with an uppercut.

From there, he kicked Neyla down holding the tip of his blade close to her throat ready for a killing strike. "You've proven quite the formidable foe, but it was pointless in the end. I've won Neyla, now accept your fate." he spoke, but then he heard something he wasn't expecting. Neyla was laughing. "Why are you laughing?!" he demanded.

"I knew I couldn't beat you. I just needed to stall you long enough for my friends to pull through." She said as she watched Clockwerks weapon vanish.

"What?! NO! What have you done?!" he screamed as he attempted to strangle Neyla, but was forced back by an unseen force.

"Not so tough without your hate are you? And you know something else? You've tortured me long enough!" she said as her subconscious body began to glow and clockwerks realm began to crumble. "It's high time, I kicked you out of my head!" she cried out as Clockwerk himself began to dissipate.

"You really are a fool. Mark my words Neyla, you may have won this battle… but the war is far from over. Hahahahaha...HAHAHAHA!" He cackled as his body shattered along with his nightmare realm.

"And...stay out…" She said as she closed her eyes from exhaustion and let her subconscious body fall into the void of her mind.

"Open fire!" The mercenaries called out as they fired everything they had at the now detached and vulnerable Mask of Dark Earth. It squirmed and twisted unable to move, and all the hate it had collected began glow around it. Moments later after a great barrage of rockets, the mask exploded in a great flash, taking the Apes with it.

Some distance away, a tired and roughed up Sly held an unconscious, and equally beaten and battered Neyla in his arms, breathing heavily. He was soon joined by the rest of his gang each of them with worried looks in their eyes.

"We did it guys. She's safe now." he said holding her close. Guru approached them and raised his Staff closing his eyes. After a moment he reopened them.

"She's clean. I don't sense any residual hate, or the parasitic evil." Guru said in a relieved tone. With that said, they all sat down but before they could relax, they heard an all too familiar click.

"Hands up Cooper."

And once again, I leave you guys on yet another cliffhanger. I'm really digging myself a grave aren't I? Jokes aside, I hope I did a good job. And it just so happens I'm posting this chapter on the eve of my 21st birthday. Good grief I'm old. That said, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. After this I'll get cracking on part three and the conclusion of the operation. Till next time my readers, this is Sephiroth 200, signing off!