Raleigh's fortress was somewhat impressive. The fact that it was a wooden ship made Sly wonder how the frog had acquired it. It was probably stolen, seized from a fellow pirate captain. Sly wondered what had happened to the crew, and then suddenly wished he hadn't: he didn't want to think about it. He shuddered as he shook the vile thought from his head. For now, he had to focus on the task at hand; getting on board.
The raccoon looked over to the left, and saw a wooden beam with a yellow hook suspended from it. He ran to the wooden walkway surrounding it and peered down. It was quite a drop, but there was a small platform at the bottom. Sly didn't fancy breaking his legs, so he reached out for the hook with his left hand, grabbed it, and pulled it towards him. A cord followed after it.
Perfect, the raccoon thought, attaching his cane to the hook. Securely holding onto his cane, Sly stepped off the wooden walkway, allowing himself to steadily descend. As his feet brushed a rock, he unhooked his cane and dropped down silently. He looked ahead, and luckily for him, there was a makeshift path all ready for him, consisting of boat and plane parts, floating in the still sea. This was ideal, considering the raccoon couldn't even keep himself afloat, let alone swim. The orphanage he grew up at was never able to provide swimming lessons for the children, so Sly knew that if he fell in, he would sink like a rock.
So don't fall in, he thought, before leaping onto the first plane part, outstretching his arms to steady himself. It wobbled slightly, threatening to sink under the raccoon's weight, before going still. Sly let out a sigh of relief before throwing his weight into the second plane part. The sea water had made its surface slick, causing Sly's left leg to give beneath him, the sole of his boot making a loud squeak. Luckily, the plucky raccoon was able to regain his balance, stumbling back to his feet, before launching to the final two floating pieces, leaping between them like stepping stones, not giving them a chance to give beneath him.
He finally leapt onto a wooden boat, and collapsed within it, laying sprawled out on his back. "That was too close," he panted, feeling the rain water tumble onto him from above. Once he had caught his breath, he sat up and used his cane to help himself up. Sly wiped the sweat that was forming on his brow, adjusted his hat, and jumped onto a broken rope dangling from the ship to the little rowing boat, which was used to lower the rowing boat into the water, and started climbing.
He reached a wooden platform, let go of the rope, and collapsed on top of it, exhausted, but grateful for the rain lashing onto him, cooling off slightly. As he picked himself up, he looked around Raleigh's fortress, trying to regain his breath. This lair seemed... odd. Sly was certain he had just climbed onto a wooden ship, yet he was seeing various windows and rooftops as far as his eye could see. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand, unsure of what to make of this. There was even a water fountain a few metres away!
"What kind of pirate ship has a water fountain?" questioned Dougie through Sly's earpiece.
"I see Bentley hooked you up," Sly returned.
"That's right," Bentley said, "and now to find Raleigh. You see that high-voltage power tube to your right, a little distance away?"
Sly looked to his right, and saw a small tunnel-like opening, with sparks of electricity dancing across it. "I see it."
"You'll need to go through there," Bentley instructed.
"Woah, hold up!" Sly protested, not believing what his friend was trying to get him to do. "If I go through that, I'll get fried!"
"I don't mean while it's still live!" Bentley said, slightly irritated. Sly could hear Dougie laughing over the comm link. "Next to it is a power generator, you have to take that out first!"
Sly hopped over the large pipe and ran over to the power tube. "Oh," he said sheepishly, "now I see it. Thanks for the help, Bentley." And with that, the connection was cut. He looked at the power generator, which was violently rattling and vibrating. It looked like it was struggling to run, and Sly was going to put it out of its misery. He lifted his cane, and swung as hard as he could at the power generator. The cane connected to the hunk of metal with a clang, and with that, it ceased to move, falling silent. The crackling of electricty from the power tube halted too, allowing Sly to pass through unscathed.
As he emerged, he felt a grin creep on his face as his eyes fell onto a cannon. A real cannon!
"Now that's cool," Dougie said over the earpiece.
"I bet you could use that cannon to get up to Raleigh's storm machine," Bentley said warily.
"I get to shoot myself out of a cannon?" Sly asked. "Nice!"
"You're really scaring me man."
Dougie, although patched into the comm link between Murray, Bentley and Sly, and was using a tiny monitor to view Sly's binocucom feed, was nowhere near any of them. She took shelter from the pouring rain at the end of the tunnel Sly used to get to the front gates, which looked even more sinister as it grew darker. The wind howled, blowing her hair in all directions, while sending the spray of the rain straight into her face. She sat there, concentrating on recalling a memory, any memory, that could give her a better idea of who she is. Nothing came to mind, much to her dismay. She sighed sadly, before zipping up her leather jacket to try and ward off the chill.
Dougie... that was all she knew. A nickname was all she had to go on, and it was depressing.
She suddenly heard a symphony of car doors slamming from the distance, which caused her to raise her normally low-laying ears. That wasn't a naturally-occurring sound in Wales...
And then she saw it; a swarm of police officers surrounded Raleigh's gate. In charge was a fox with an athletic physique, with long blue hair, a yellow jacket and jeans. She ordered her men to begin breaking down the gate. Dougie quickly retreated further back into the tunnel, praying she hadn't been spotted.
"Uh... guys?" Dougie mumbled, her eyes glued to the action below.
"Yes?" Bentley and Sly chorused in unison.
"We have a situation here," she answered, her eyes darting from police officer to police officer. "Police are trying to storm the gate to Raleigh's fortress, and this fox is in charge, a woman."
"That's Inspector Carmelita Fox," Bentley informed the rabbit. "She works for Interpol, and she's been trying to chase us for years."
"Well, Sly had better wrap up what he's doing now, or she'll finally catch up with you guys," Dougie noted, the panic rising in her voice.
"She's right, Sly," Bentley said nervously, "you'd better get moving!"
Sly had finally managed to push the cannon so it was pointing at Raleigh's storm machine. The cannon was unbelievably heavy, and Sly began twisting it around as soon as Dougie said police were on the way. Now he needed something to light the fuse with before hopping inside. He swung his backpack off and opened it. He sifted through his collection of calling cards and his binocucom before finding a box of matches. He sighed briefly, unsure whether these would work or not. He closed his backpack and swung it back onto his shoulder, before retrieving a match from the box. He struck it on the strip on the box, and, to his delight, a small flame burst to life on the end of the small stick. He held it against the cannon's fuse, hoping it would ignite.
It did, and without hesistation, Sly dived into the cannon and closed the lid, and waited for the explosion. He wasn't sure what to expect from being fired from a cannon, but the young raccoon was not disappointed. The cannon fired Sly with a loud boom, sending the thief flying through the air. Violently, the wind whistled in his ears, and he had to hold down his hat, which was threatening to blow off his head and vanish into the dark sea below.
As he neared the storm machine, he closed his eyes, bracing himself for impact. He crashed through the glass of Raleigh's blimp with relative ease, and landed on a small platform floating on the water. The room Sly found himself in was dimly lit, with a light bulb, the only light source in the room, surrounded by bees. Across the room, sat on a large, red throne, wearing a top hat made of metal, was the frog himself, Raleigh. The frog who cracked the safe to the Thievius Raccoonus, the frog who was the reason the Cooper family treasure was stolen ten years ago. Sly felt a small pang of rage creep inside of him upon recognising his foe, but maintained his calm demeanour.
"How delightful," the frog said, with a crisp, clear English accent. The accent startled Sly, especially as Dougie's speech, an accent he was more familiar with, wasn't as carefully pronounced as Raleigh's. "The only thing is..." Raleigh continued as he tapped his fingers together. Sly watched every movement the frog made with unease, not letting his guard down for a moment. "I hate unexpected guests!" the frog suddenly shrieked, making Sly jump out of his skin.
"Listen Raleigh," the young raccoon said threateningly, pointing his cane at his advesary, "wipe out my family and steal what's mine, you better expect company."
"Oh, I'm ever so sorry," Raleigh groaned sarcastically, wiping his forehead with his arm. "How sloppy of me not to finish the job. Obviously we should have snuffed you out as well. So without further ado, let me make amends, by, what..." He continued tapping his fingers together. "Bloating to gargantuan size, and squashing you like the insignificant bug that you are!" he yelled again.
"Bring it on," Sly said bravely.
Without hesitation, Raleigh flicked his long, slimy tongue towards a bee, catching it with ease. Once the frog registered he had caught the bee, he whipped his tongue back into his mouth at lightning speed. Suddenly, his small, frail body inflated, and poised before the young raccoon was a large, round and bloated frog. Sly's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"What the crap?" Dougie exclaimed over the comm link. "How is that possible?" Sly mentally agreed with her, while watching the grotesque form bounce between the many platforms floating in the room, rapidly catching up to the raccoon. He knew he needed to move. He quickly took a couple of steps and leaped to a platform to his right, trying to put some distance between him and the frog. He landed on the floating platform with ease, but Raleigh was hot on his heels. The frog landed on the platform with such a powerful force that tilted slightly, causing Sly to almost lose his balance and fall into the water. The determined raccoon steadied himself and kept running, diving onto another platform, rolling into a forward somersault as he landed. He quickly leaped back up onto his feet and started running. He was prepared to leap onto the next platform, when he registered that Raleigh's landing on the platform Sly was standing on seemed much, much lighter.
The raccoon stopped and turned around. He saw the frog had returned to his normal, deflated, frail state. Sly knew what he had to do. Without hesitation, Sly ran back towards the frog, and swung his cane at him as hard as he could. He felt the blow connect at Raleigh cried out in pain, and tumbled backwards off the platform and into the water.
"Blast it all!" the frog yelled as he bobbed on the water's surface. "You've beaten me!" Sly folded his arms triumphantly. "Well, gloat all you want, Sly Cooper," Raleigh continued, "you're no match for Muggshot, my villainous cohort in Utah. You will see. Mesa City is so well-guarded a snake couldn't slither in without setting off alarms." Raleigh then slumped forward in the water, and gurgled as he passed out.
Sly hopped from platform to platform, to reach Raleigh's throne. He had spotted earlier that there was a safe tumbler under the seat, and had a strong feeling that was where Raleigh was keeping his section of the Thievius Raccoonus. With a few quick twists of his wrist, Sly opened the safe, and pulled out a series of old, aged and yellowing pages. He felt a smile play on his lips, and a sense of pride fill his chest. He had done it! He began to read, but was interrupted by Bentley.
"Sly, Dougie's been following the police, and she says they're within sight of Raleigh's lair and the storm machine. You need to get out of there!"
Sly sprinted back to the van, with Dougie following close behind. The pair hopped inside, and collapsed on the seat beside Bentley.
"Let's go big guy!" Sly wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. Murray put the van into gear and began driving off. He swung the backpack off his shoulder, and produced the pages he had just stolen. He handed them to Bentley, who quickly scanned them.
"Rioichi Cooper," Bentley read aloud, "your ancestor from Fuedal Japan."
"Now that's really cool," Dougie chirped as she read over Bentley's shoulder. "You alright there Sly?" she asked, noting how worn out the raccoon looked. Sly looked up and nodded. He had removed his cap, which was now laying beside him, and was running a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. "You cut that really fine Cooper," she laughed. Sly smiled in response.
"That's my style," he joked, wiping sweat from his brow.
"You did good though," she continued, leaning forward to gently pat his knee.
"Thanks," he replied bashfully, running his hand through his hair again.
"So where did Raleigh say his mate was?" Dougie asked as she fiddled with her lip ring.
"Mesa City," Bentley said. "We're going to the States."
"After we take some time off," Sly corrected. "What do you guys say to taking a trip to London?"
"London?" Dougie repeated, raising an eyebrow in confusion. She had the feeling she had said that name a lot during the unknown portion of her life. Suddenly a series of streets and shops sprung to mind, places she was awfully familiar with, yet somehow had been unable to remember them until this very moment.
"Something wrong?" Sly queried with a concerned expression.
Dougie looked blankly at Sly, before deciding to reveal what was on her mind. "I think I'm from there."
