Bloodyninja88- Yeah, when Sly offered to let Carmelita come, he was mostly trying to defuse a fight and not freak Duncan out even more. Also unlike with Gravity Falls, where I head to wait a little while for Gwen to grow up and for Dipper and Mabel to even be born, it's confirmed Sly was 18 during the events of the first game, so it would have only been a two year gap.
So as promised, one last chapter and then it's off to the first game! Not much else to say other then let's begin!
Despite the fact he knew his mom was going to be really mad at him and his father later, Duncan couldn't help but smile as his mom led him inside a large carnival. Almost instantly, the smell of junk food that he would probably have gotten himself sick on filled his nostrils.
"I hope you know you can't steal anything here," Carmelita joked with her son as she ruffled his hair.
"I know mom," Duncan said, playfully rolling his eyes. "Is the ring toss an exception? Dad told me it's rigged," Carmelita rolled her eyes back.
"No, it's still stealing," Carmelita chastised him.
"Fine," Duncan mopped, only to start laughing as he ran over to a water shooting game. It was clear he wanted to try and match his mother's shooting skills. A few other families came over and Carmelita sat down next to Duncan. She paid the fees for them and the game began. Naturally Carmelita won easily, but what impressed her was that Duncan also did very well, seeing as he was able to not only keep the gun on the target, but nearly win himself.
"How did you do so well?" Carmelita asked in a whisper.
"I…...don't know," Duncan was forced to admit before pointing at a large stuffed snake, "Since you won, can I have that?"
"Sure," Carmelita said as she pointed to the snake. The man behind the counter nodded before handing Duncan the snake. Clearly, he knew who it was for.
"Thank you!" Duncan said to the man. Carmelita sighed with relief. At least Sly was teaching Duncan something of manners. Then again, Sly had always been something of a gentleman. Key word was something.
"I think I see a booth with dragons in it," Carmelita said as she pointed to a basketball game. Sure enough, there were stuffed dragons hanging overhead along with a bunch of basketballs. Duncan raced over to it.
"Ugh, I don't know which one I want!" Duncan complained as he looked over two of the prizes. One with a black dragon with green eyes(spot the reference?) and the other was a black basketball with a flame pattern on it(again, spot the reference?).
"Well, then it's your lucky day, kiddo!" The man working the booth said as he held up three normal basketballs. "Today only, if you can shoot the ball through the hoop and still land it in the basket, you can pick two prizes!" After hearing that, Duncan looked at his mom and gave her the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes he could muster. Despite trying to resist, Carmelita quickly gave in and paid for two balls. She got it through the hoop and into the basket on her first try. The man was shocked, before handing Duncan the dragon and ball he wanted. Carmelita already knew that the game was most likely rigged to be near unbeatable.
"You are the best, mom!" Duncan cheered as he hugged his mother's legs. Carmelita just smiled.
About five hours later, Duncan hadn't seen anything else he wanted to try. As such, he had mostly just gone on rides(with Carmelita having gone with him on most of them). However, Carmelita noticed something. It was a laser hallway type game. Admittedly, she was a little curious to see how Duncan's thief training had been coming along.
"Hey, Duncan, look at that," She said, pointing to the laser maze.
"That looks awesome!" Duncan cheered. He handed his three prizes to his mother and jumped into line for the lasers. Thankfully, he was in the group about to go in. As Duncan walked in, Carmelita turned to face some TV screens set up. Each kid had been taken to a separate hallway.
"Listen up!" The instructor told the kids via a loudspeaker. "There are 5 rounds, each round, the lasers become harder to move around. If you make it to the end, you move on. Winner gets unlimited plays on all games in the arcade for life," The was when Carmelita realized it. The game was rigged. That's why the prize was so high. She then grinned, if Duncan had been trying with Sly, maybe he could be the first winner?
"Come on, Duncan, you got this," Carmelita mumbled under her breath. The game then began. Just like the man said, the first room was really easy. Most of the lasers could be just stepped over or ducked under. Sure enough, no kid was cut. They turned back around and the lasers changed position. Now some had to have more complex movements to get around. Still only three kids failed and Duncan was the first one done. Round three introduced lasers that moved up and down, requiring fast movement. Nearly half of the remaining kids were cut from this. Duncan, however, was able to clear it effortlessly. Carmelita couldn't help but grin as she saw the instructor panic. It was clear he had never seen anyone do as well as Duncan had been doing. Round four brought in lasers that moved left and right that moved faster, along with the speed on the up and down being increased as well. This took out nearly everyone other then Duncan, who once again, was the first to clear, and two other boys. The final hallway had a giant wall of lasers in the middle, at the bottom and at the top. One of the boys, a hyena, tried to make the jump in the middle gap, only for his foot to trip one of the lasers. The second boy, a hawk, tried to fly in between the top gap, only for his wings to trip them. This left Duncan, who crawled under the gap at the bottom and, from a combination of his Cooper training and his small size, was able to make it out of the wall of the lasers. The instructor couldn't believe his eyes as Duncan walked back out.
"How….how did you do that?" The instructor asked.
"I'm small and I…..take gymnastics," Duncan half-lied. Behind him Carmelita breathed a sigh of relief. She did not need her son admitting he was training to be a thief.
"Anyways, you win," The instructor said as he handed Duncan a card. After getting it, Duncan raced to his mother.
"Hey, did you see how awesome I did?" Duncan asked him to hold up his card.
"Yes, you did very good," Carmelita said.
"Can I go play in the arcade?" Duncan asked. Not only did he actually want to use them, but he also wanted to stall Carmelita out.
"Sorry, but I need to go back to the office," Carmelita said as she lead Duncan back to her car. Duncan silently cursed his luck. He had hoped his mom would give in. That way, dad could steal the files without Carmelita catching him.
And without them fighting.
"I'll get you Cooper!" Duncan heard Carmelita yell as Sly jumped into the van. Murray then drove off.
"Hey, dad? Why do you and mom have to fight so much?" Duncan asked Sly. This caught Sly off guard.
"Well, she's a police officer and I'm a thief. We have too. It's how the world works," Sly explained in the best way he could. Duncan just sighed.
"Okay," Duncan said sadly. Sly realized that the next time he saw Carmelita, they were going to have to talk.
I swear on my copy of the Sly Cooper HD collection, the next chapter will have a happy ending. If you guys think Duncan is suffering now, wait until you see some later events in the series. Anyways, FireFlamerx9z, out