Gamelover41592- You are the first person to say you wouldn't have minded the plot twist.
Guest- I am not killing off Scruffy! After what happened in the show, I couldn't hurt Duncan like that.
Matt- He still is human. Memories don't come back until the TD character in question is one year old then the last confirmed age on the show(So for Duncan, it's 20)
Bloodyninja88- Trust me, Penelope is still gonna go missing. Just not of her own free will.
Shadow Joestar- Time for the vault job and something will change about the ending.
Time for the final chapter!
When Duncan first saw the Cooper Vault up close, he had been blown away. Sure he had seen it from a distance, but it was amazing! It was clear that even without Dr. M's upgrades to the place, it was still a challenge to make it through. With the way the outside of the island looked, Duncan couldn't wait to see the inside of the vault.
Then everything went wrong.
"Dad!" Duncan cried out. Dr. M had spotted him, Sly and Bentley and after chasing after them for a bit, sicked a giant mutant on them. It managed to grab Bentley, but Sly had freed him only to get caught himself.
"HA!" Dr. M laughed as he pulled out what looked like a dart gun, but with a syringe inside of it. "So this the supposed son I've heard about?! He barely looks like a Cooper, but I think I can fix that. He'll make a great guard once you're out of the way!" With that, he fired. Duncan tried to jump out of the way, only for the syringe to hit him in the foot. Suddenly, Duncan was in pain almost all over his body. He passed out with the last thing he saw was Bentley rushing over to him and Carmelita trying to free Sly.
"Ugh, what happened?" Duncan asked as he woke up. He was in a bed. Sly was next to him, still knocked out. Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, Penelope and Scruffy were watching over him. The pain had mostly gone away, but his lower back felt weird.
"Dr. M injected you with some type of raccoon mutagen," Bentley explained. "All the pain you felt was from your body reshaping itself,"
"Why was my body reshaping itself?" Duncan asked. Then he realized it. Once he had sure he was wearing something, Duncan yanked back the covers.
Sticking out of his boxers was a raccoon tail.
"What the hell?!" Duncan screamed. Then he realized that wasn't the only new change. Scars now covered his body. They were most likely from his body trying to reshape itself. They weren't even cool looking ones like Neyla's claw marks. They just looked...wrong.
"That's not all," Carmelita said nervously. Penelope held up a mirror, letting Duncan see two last changes to his body.
A raccoon mask permanently on his face and one of his eyes was now green.
"Is there any way to change me back?" Duncan asked hopefully.
"Sorry, Duncan. There's really no way to change you back," Bentley apologized. Duncan just flopped back onto the bed, with an expression that screamed he was done with his life.
"Can you just disown me now so that dad can't see me like this?" Duncan asked.
"Why in the world would you think we would disown you?" Carmelita asked, a little shocked her son would say that.
"Because I'm a freak and no one is going to want to be within twenty feet of me?" Duncan replied completely honestly. Carmelita put a hand on Duncan's shoulder and Scruffy crawled off Penelope's shoulder and onto Duncan's other shoulder.
"Duncan, listen to me. You are not a freak. Sure you look a little different, but if anything you look unique and I think you look more like a Cooper now," Carmelita explained to him. Duncan looked at Penelope, Bentley, Murray. All of them were smiling at him. Carmelita gave him another smile. Scruffy smiled and nuzzled up to him. Finally, Duncan smiled back.
"Huh, I guess I didn't think about it that way. Thanks guys," Duncan said as he gave his mother a hug.
"Can we come in now?" A voice said from outside the room. Duncan instantly recognized the voice and still couldn't believe his eyes when three people walked into the room.
"Buck! Hunter! Maverick!" Duncan cried as he jumped out of bed and nearly knocked his friends to the ground with a hug, which they happily(reluctantly in Hunter's case, but he enjoyed it) returned. "How the heck did you guys get here?"
"Muggshot flew us in when he came. Your mom said you'd need us and I can see why," Hunter explained. Instantly, Duncan became self-conscious again.
"It d-d-oesn't l-look too bad," Maverick said. "It's j-j-just l-like w-w-what you told me, it m-makes y-y-you c-c-cool,"
"Yeah, you're really awesome! The scars could be covered with tattoos, so even those really aren't' a problem," Buck said as he inspected every inch of Duncan's new appearance, getting very touchy in the process.
"Do not want!" Duncan said as he shoved Buck off of him. "I like the tattoo idea though,"
"Not until you are much older!" Carmelita protested.
"Fine!" Duncan whined. "Just wondering, where are the rest of my clothes and cane?"
"Why?" Murray asked.
"I want to go practice before we head into the vault. No way I am missing that!" Duncan revealed.
"This is even easier then I thought," Duncan marveled as he climbed to the top of the ship's mast. After getting dressed(Carmelita has made a hole in his pants for the tail), Duncan had started to practice all of his old moves. Surprisingly, despite landing or stepping on his tail a few times and falling(thankfully, Maverick could fly), everything came back pretty easy and Duncan was quickly back into his normal groove. He knew that he was changing his outfit around when he got back home. Some of the scars were exposed.
"Not what I was expecting, but you look pretty good," Sly said as he came out on deck. Duncan jumped down to meet him.
"I figured you wouldn't care," Duncan said with a grin as he hugged his father.
"Not for a second," Sly said. Everyone then turned their attention the aerial battle that was going on. Muggshot was blasting Dr. M's goons out of the sky. Despite their best efforts, the Guru and Mz. Ruby failed to get the cane. Now it was Muggshot's turn. Thankfully, he quickly flew back, cane in hand.
"And that's what happens when someone messes with Muggshot's family and friends!" He yelled back at Dr. M. He handed Sly back his cane, then walked over to Mz. Ruby, who quickly gave him a kiss.
"So how do we get up there?" Duncan asked.
"I think I could give ya a lift up," Muggshot offered.
"Alright, let's go," Sly said.
"Are you sure about this, Sly? One more strong hit to the head and your brain will snap!" Bentley warned.
"I don't care! This my legacy we are fighting for! I need to see this!" Sly protested.
"Alright then! Let's go!" Bentley said.
Muggshot could only fit so many people in his plane. As such, Sly, Duncan, Bentley, Murray and Carmelita went up first.
"Whoa!" Duncan marvaled once they got inside.
"This place is amazing!" Bentley agreed.
"Yeah, it's got to be like at least a hundred years old!" Murray noted.
"I think it's older then that, big guy," Carmelita said.
"Glad you boys are impressed 'cause it looks like Duncan and I'll have to go on from here alone," Sly said sadly.
"Do it, Sly. This place was built for you. We'll hold down the fort here," Bentley said. Duncan and Sly started to jump across
"Not so fast," Carmelita said as she started across the broken bridge, using Cooper techniques.
"How did you-?" Sly started to ask, only for Carmelita to interrupt with a smile.
"When I came over, I would study the Thievius Raccoonus. The skills have come in handy before," Carmelita admitted.
"Nice mom!" Duncan said. They all jumped onto the first platform on the Cooper Vault.
"Whoa….." Duncan trailed off as he looked around. There was gold and treasure everywhere.
"My ancestors sure knew how to decorate. Nothin' but big piles of gold!" Sly marvaled.
"We're keeping some of this, right?" Duncan asked.
"If we are lucky, we are keeping all of it," Sly assured his son.
"Awesome!" Duncan cheered. "Let's move!" The family moved through the vault, dodging the many obstacles. Sly and Duncan would tell Carmelita some facts about the ancestors as they passed their pictures.
"This place was started by Slytunkhamen II. He built his fortune in the employ of the great pharaohs. That must have been around 1300 BC,"
"Sir Galleth of the Knights of the Cooper Order. Honorable knight and cunning thief,"
"Salim al-Kupar of Arabia. It was said that he had the stealth of 40 thieves,"
"The strongest of the Cooper Clan, Slaigh MacCooper, could break any lock with a single blow,"
"The ninja spire landing was perfected in Feudal Japan by Rioichi Cooper,"
"Henriette "One Eye" Cooper sailed the seas and stole from pirates. Guess we really take after her,"
""Tennessee Kid" Cooper learned to slide along railroad tracks in the old west,"
"Victorian-era London was the stomping grounds for the most gentlemanly thief, Thaddeus Winslow Cooper,"
"Besides being a thief, Otto van Cooper was a great fighter ace and mechanic,"
"Your family has been all over the world!" Carmelita marvaled.
"Every Cooper moves around in order to keep the line fresh," Sly explained. "And keeps assassins off our backs," Carmelita laughed at that. Finally the group reached a giant hallway of lasers.
"What is this?" Duncan asked. Sly saw the picture. The head was ripped off, but Sly knew who it was.
"This must be my father's work. How am I supposed to get through this thing? He made this challenge for a move I've never learned... there's nothing like this in the Thievius Raccoonus. Come on, dad, help me out here," Sly said.
"Are we supposed to slide across the laser?" Duncan asked as he pointed his cane at a laser running through the corridor. Suddenly, Duncan and Sly both felt something change inside them. Sly leapt onto the laser and slid down it, much like he would any normal rail. Duncan was easily about to replicate the feat. Carmelita on the other hand, was forced to use her jetpack.
"Nice work, dad," Sly said.
"Hey, dad? Do you think your dad-er grandad would be proud of me?" Duncan asked.
"I'm sure he would be proud of both of us," Sly assured his son.
"Thanks dad," Duncan said. Suddenly, they saw something ahead of them.
"This must be the inner sanctum! Wish Bentley and Murray were here for this…" Sly mused.
"Whoa! How'd Thaddeus make a flying machine in the 1800s? Bet this thing still works," Duncan said as he started walking towards it.
"Oh, I'm sure it's operational," Dr. M said as he jumped into the inner sanctum.
"Dr. M, glad you could see all this. I know you've been looking forward to it," Sly said as he and Duncan whipped out their canes.
"Looking forward to all of this... and your death!" Dr. M roared.
"Aren't we supposed to banter a little?" Duncan asked.
"I only talk with my equals, and Bentley said no," Dr. M replied. Despite having his machinery, it was still two Coopers fighting one guy and Dr. M fell quickly.
"I don't know what went down between you and my father, but I'm telling you it's not the same with me and Bentley," Sly said. Dr. M kept trying to sway Bentley to his side, claiming they were equals, but Bentley's friendships proveiled.
"You might be right. He risked his life to defend you," Dr. M admitted.
"I'd do the same for him," Sly admitted.
"In a heartbeat," Duncan added in, vouching for his father.
"Funny... your father was never such a good friend," Dr. M said, almost sadly.
"We're all individuals. I might be a part of all this, a member of the Cooper line, but in the end, I'm just me. Not Henriette, Thaddeus, Slytunkhamen, Rioichi or my father. Just Sly," Sly explained.
"Please! Keep your touchy-feely rhetoric to yourself, I can't stomach it! You Coopers are a bunch of dirty, attention-grubbing thieves! All of you, thieves! But you also happen to be thieves with weaknesses!" Dr. M said as he aimed a blast at the newly arriving Carmelita.
"No!" Sly yelled as he took the blast, getting knocked into a wall near some higher platforms.
"SLY/DAD!" Duncan and Carmelita cried. Duncan felt his bloodlust again. Carmelita quickly began shooting Dr. M, knocking him back and an electrically charged cane smack from Duncan sent him falling into the abyss below. With that taken care of, Duncan and Carmelita raced over to Sly.
"Dad, wake up," Duncan begged. Slowly, Sly opened his eyes.
"Sly, are you okay?" Carmelita asked as she helped him to his feet.
"Is that my name? Sly?" Sly asked.
"Nice joke, dad," Duncan laughed nervously.
"Did we adopt him?" Sly asked again. This clued Duncan and Carmelita in. It wasn't a joke.
Sly Cooper remembered nothing about himself or his life.
"No," Duncan said quietly. He and Carmelita were both teary eyed.
"Duncan, Carmelita, Sly! Are you guys okay?" Bentley asked as everyone jumped inside.
"Who are you guys?" Sly asked. Everyone looked confused or worried.
"Duncan, what's going on?" Bentley asked.
"Dad has amnesia!" Duncan blurted out. "Dr. M hit him with a blast and he hit his head on the wall!" The tears were flowing from almost everyone, with only the Panda King and Guru staying stone faced and even they looked sad.
"Is that all of it?" Duncan asked as the gang finished loading everything onto the pirate ship. Funny, Sly was asleep, but all Duncan wanted was to wake up from what he hoped was a very bad dream.
"That's all of it," Hunter replied. Despite his nasty appearance and actions, even Hunter couldn't throw out a snarky comment at his best friend's predicament. "You got any idea how long his amnesia thing will last?"
"No. The only good thing is that Bentley said it won't last forever and he'll get his memory back," Duncan groaned. The turtle had gone back into the vault and they were planning to destroy Dr. M's base in hope of making the island disappear, or at least look less interesting.
"So he will get it back, but you don't know how long it will take?" Hunter asked.
"Yep," Duncan replied, his tone of voice making it clear he just wanted to be left alone.
"Would you knock it off?!" Hunter snapped. "You know your pop will get his memories back, yet you act like he will never get them back!" Duncan was about to reply back, but he realized Hunter was right. Sly would get his memories back at some point and would he want to see his son just moping around about him?
"Thanks man," Duncan said as he offered Hunter a fist bump, which the wolf gladly took. Despite feeling a bit better about everything, Duncan still spent the return trip home watching over Sly with Carmelita.
This is the bleakest ending to a chapter I think I have ever written. Duncan is now half raccoon(plus a few other animals that will be revealed later) and Sly's amnesia is real. However, they were able to save the Cooper Vault loot. So the Cooper Vault level was easily one of my favorite levels in the series and the boss fight with Dr. M was pretty awesome(second favorite final boss in the series, behind Clockwerk), but everything else was either just okay, or outright sucked. Dr. M himself was a pretty cool villain and I would have loved to explore more of his past with Sly's dad and McSweeny. Anyways, the next few chapters will show what happens in the time gap in between games 3 and 4.