Ziggy's Corner: Okay this is chapter 23. For those of you who enjoyed Morgan's and Nyoko's rumble in the earlier chapters, because these two women are going to clash yet again. Also I have decided that the twins will earn themselves at least two sequels, if not more, Nyoko and Morgan Skye each will get their own story on the site too, Nyoko's Gambit, and Legend (For Morgan Skye's story), so keep an eye out for them. I also have a Sly Cooper zombie story I've outlined, called Sly Cooper: Burial Grounds (which by the way will be the first that takes place in the video game universe, not the Ziggy Sly Universe, the cast and characters of Sly3 will be in it), so please keep an eye out for all of these stories, and more. That being said, let's get on with the chapter! I'll have to turn this into an HTML document to submit what I have written. will not let me submit normally with Microsoft Works Word Processor. If its kind of weird, my sincerest apologies.
It was later in the day, after she had been attacked by the crocodile when Morgan finished packing her bags, and headed for the nearest airport. She had tried to find the priest again, but no one knew where he could be found, no if the man even existed at all. The thought that she had been set up ran through her mind a good while, and the female master thief found herself chastising the stupid, reckless acts that led up to the loss of one of the chips.
Her base of operations was shattered, as the thug had decimated it when he threw it off in the distance, and then had apparently come back to see if he could find the other chip. He was right to assume that she would have kept it here, but apparently his mind was not as big as his body. The thought of a hidden compartment obviously had never crossed his mind. Morgan pushed a button in her bathroom, near the bathroom, and a secret door opened, revealing the other chip. She smiled as she picked it up, and then placed it quickly in her backpack.
Time had been against her. Shortly after the attack, almost right after regaining consciousness, she was asked so many questions by the local police about what happened, her brain hurt. A small handful of the officers knew about her, or at least her business rep, and she found herself signing more autographs than anything. It was as if Donald Trump had come down to this little peasant village to mingle with the commoners.
As soon as she could break away, the woman did. Too many questions meant too many noses poking around not just in her resume or a chance to get hooked up with a better job with a kind word from her, but also finding out just who she was before entering the business world so successfully. Morgan's body ached as she got out of the cab, and she forced herself not to all the pain to show. Quickly she made her way to the counter, bought a ticket, and waited for her plane to take off.
An hour later a shadow overwhelmed her, and she looked up to stare into the eyes of Nyoko. Her body, already stiff, grew tighter still. They were foes just two months ago, but maybe it didn't have to stay that way. "You look well," she said, cautious of the other's movements. "Nice haircut."
"You look worn out, I can't imagine that a woman of your standing would have such a tough time in a small town like this," she said, her lips curling tightly. Her tail twirled and swirled as she stood, almost itching for a fight, with a mind of its own. "Of course being a person that has gotten into a fight with you, it wouldn't surprise me your athletic ability."
"Sorry, not in the mood for a rematch I'm afraid," Morgan sighed, walking up to go the ladies bathroom. To her agitation, Nyoko turned and followed her.
It was a small room, slender on both sides, and didn't look like it could fit one, let alone three people, as the booths clearly indicated. There was a little bit of graffiti on the walls, but she was sure not as bad as there would have been in a man's bathroom.
"Sly is here, you know?" the scorpion ninja said, her grin still appearing on her face.
"How nice, is that why you've come?" Morgan asked, washing her hands, and turning to face the other woman. "I hear you gave him quite a kiss."
"Not as good as that fox gives him I imagine, or perhaps not a sweet as those that you used to give," she was chuckling now, testing the waters, and both of them knew it.
"Jealous?" the numbat asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Perhaps, though I saw interest in his eyes in our first encounter in the field," the scorpion said, washing her own hands, her tail being restrained from trying to strangle the other woman by complete will. She was dressed nearly all in black, save for red at her collar, and dark blue earrings.
"Dressed so fancy, tell me, you planning on wooing the raccoon?"
"I could ask you the same thing. People in Barstow have no interest in new business, so I can only assume your interest in in matters of the heart."
Morgan stared at Nyoko, and squinted. "Sorry, dear, I have no time for things so trivial." She pushed by and hurried to get to her plane, which was bound to ready for take off by now. Morgan handed over her ticket, and was at first puzzled, and then angered as the woman handed it back to her.
"There a problem?"
"I'm sorry, but that plane left two hours ago," the woman said with a shake of her head.
"Two hours ago?" Morgan roared and stomped her foot. "The schedule said it was to leave at six o'clock in the evening!"
"Ma'am, it's eight o'clock," the younger woman squeaked, standing away, and cringing under Morgan's stare.
"Eight?" The numbat wasn't very big, a slightly taller woman than Carmelita, but not big nevertheless. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Now see here, according to my watch, it's…," she stopped and looked at the little device, frowning to see that it had agreed with the girl. But how could that be?
She was aware that security was acting edgy around her, their eyes hard and beady as they glared. Morgan felt her body itch, but she decided to let the matter drop. "My apologies, I must have fallen asleep." You could have woken me up though. She turned away and went to order another ticket, only to learn there would be no flights to New York City for at least twenty hours. Her fingers were itchy now, ready to pull her blades out and sink them into the bodies of everyone around.
"Fine, I'll just wait for a while then," she groaned. Morgan turned and slumped into her chair, trying to figure out how she lost two in a half hours. She knew it was possible that she fell asleep, her body was still probably in shock after being attacked by the thug, but that didn't account for nobody to cheek up on her. The police, the cab driver, everyone who looked at her looked as if they saw the walking dead. A few had asked if she was okay, if she needed to go to the hospital, or required some other kind of aide, but she had denied them all pleasantly. So if she had fallen asleep, someone should have tried to awaken her, or got her some help. When was it that she had lost the time? It was nearly four o'clock when she had walked into the bathroom, and …
Morgan leapt up to her feet, her eyes wider than as if she had been high on drugs. She blinked and looked around, feeling flushed. Her hand reached into her backpack, and she discovered the chip still there, but it had been gone through. Nyoko had pulled some kind of martial art mind trick while they were in there, to look for the chip, but why hadn't she found it? It was a second search of the bag to discover that she had indeed found it, and what Morgan had been feeling was just another ninja trick.
With speed that no one, save for perhaps a cheetah possessed, Morgan quickly hurried out of the airport, and tracked down her opponent, who had made no attempt to hide her tracks. Twenty minutes passed before she found the ninja, whose back was to her. "Tricky, how long did you know I had the chips?" she growled.
Nyoko turned, looking awfully surprised. "Chips? I thought you had both, but I could only find the one," her hand reached into a sack, and she pulled it out, before putting it back in just as quickly. "When I heard that Sly had lost them, there was no doubt who had them. Goren and Charlie were both in jail, so it was only reasonable that it was you who took them." Her hand reached out and she waved her fingers impatiently. "I'd like very much to have the other one now."
"I'm sure you would, unfortunately I've been very popular recently. I don't have it anymore," Morgan said, her voice gruff. "I'll take that one back though."
"After all I did to get it?" Nyoko smirked.
"It takes a lot of work to brainwash people into losing themselves in an exact period, doesn't it?" Morgan growled.
"For those who have strong minds, yes," Nyoko growled, her eyes narrowing. "You happen to have a very powerful mind." She turned from Morgan and sighed. "You have no idea how powerful these things are, what they're worth."
"So it all boils down to money," Morgan growled, pulling her Katana blades from they're hidden compartments. She made the compartments, so that no one in the airports would discover them from the metal detectors. Her agents constantly asked her why she just didn't take her own planes rather than go to the lengths, but of course she answered that it was the interest of fun, adventure, seeing if she would get caught. Not yet, and she was determined not get to.
"Money? Money, interesting choice of words," the ninja said. "Just let me get out of here, I have another chip to find."
"Sorry, but that's something I have to do, and I'm afraid I can't let you walk off with it."
"This is a woman's job, girl," the ninja snapped.
"That's why a man like Sly decided to be with me, while you had to force him to kiss you," Morgan chuckled.
Nyoko tightened and glared, pulling her whip out. "Don't make this more difficult than it has to be, businesswoman."
"If memory serves me, this businesswoman kicked your ass the last time we met," Morgan snapped, twirling her blades.
"Elisa Fox isn't going to be here to back you up," the scorpion muttered.
"I won't need her to take that chip from you," the numbat quipped.
The scorpion's tail smacked the ground. "You can still back out."
Morgan twirled her blades and rushed forward, dodging an attack with both whip and tail, and spun with a back flip to land to the side of the other woman. The scorpion turned and slashed with her hands, knocking out one of the blades from her fingers.
"Pretty good," Morgan said with a gasp.
"I was the one who cut you with your own blade, remember?" Nyoko said, rising her eyebrow.
"You're not that good," the numbat said, grabbing something from her belt and pulled out a quarterstaff, twirling it in her hands.
"So you're talented with more than one kind of weapon, I have to give you some credit… I suppose." Nyoko pulled back her whip and pulled out another weapon, a scythe. She turned it a little, to let the rising moon light glow on it.
"For a ninja, you don't seem to like to use the normal weapons of your trade," Morgan said, glaring at the other woman.
"On the contrary, as a ninja I know that I have to prepared for anything." She charged the other woman, swinging her sword, and connected it with the quarterstaff. Metal struck metal, the sound of combat filling through the night as they swung their weapons in a display of majestic beauty and deadly skill.
"You are not keeping that chip," Morgan snarled. Using her heel, she flipped up her Katana blade and stabbed the knee of the scorpion. It got her the opening she wanted. Morgan dropped the blades and charged inward, landing a fist against the base of her jaw. The scorpion stumbled, dazed a little, and came forward, to be tripped by a swinging leg kick.
They battled down the hill, farther down toward the desert, until the sand rise knee high. Moisture drenched their bodies and their breathe was slow and wheezing. Their arms were aching their visions were blurring and the cold desert air was chilling every inch of their body that did not until then had a problem. Yet their wills had never been stronger. They studied each other, each willing the other to move, each ready with both an attack, and a counter attack. Yet they stood there, just staring at each other.
"So how much money do you plan on gaining from that chip?" Morgan asked.
"Something's on this planet are worth more than the almighty dollar," the scorpion said.
"Alright so it's not about the money," Morgan said, flinching a little as Nyoko edged toward her. "So information?"
Nyoko smiled and stroked her chin, "You don't get to be a ninja by jus telling your opponents everything that's in your hand."
"Interesting, the same can be said for being a businesswoman," Morgan said with a nod. She threw a smoke bomb to the ground and lurched forward, snatching the chip from the scorpion, and dashing further into the darkness, hoping to gain enough space between the two that Nyoko would not be a problem.
She only managed to get ten minutes of running time before the clever ninja quickly caught up. "I'm a scorpion, I'm used to the heat and cold of the desert," the ninja chuckled. She threw her whip forward, and caught the chip, bringing it back into her possession. "Look, I'm not that bad a person, why not team up with me?"
"Yes, because I've always dreamed of being a sadistic criminal," Morgan scowled, kicking dirt into the scorpion's face and retrieving the chip. Nyoko's tail caught her by the ankle, and dropped her to the ground, the chip flying right out her hands and somewhere in the darkness.
Morgan quickly shot forward and pulled out her quarterstaff, using it like a vaulting pole to get a respectable distance, praying that she had not just shattered the chip. Her free hand yanked down a night vision goggle from her backpack, and onto her head. Her head snapped left and right as she looked for any small heat signature shaped like a rectangle, but so far there was nothing. Small insects, hibernating snakes, and lizards, but no chip. How far could it had flew?
Nyoko was back on the ball, her legs pushing her forward, ignoring the sinking feeling as tired limbs began to slowly inch deeper into the soft sand. Whip, tail, and blade twirled, and she launched a renewed attack. "You have no idea what that chip can do, neither than one nor the other, or even both of them combined!"
"Hence why I was looking for information," the numbat growled, twirling in cartwheels to avoid the hyper attack, her eyes still glaring for the chip.
"And hence why I suggested teaming up! I've done a lot of my own information seeking too, and you would be surprised what I've dug up." The two fight with renewed strength and energy. "You could get so much closer to the truth if you just agreed to be my partner, and forget Cooper-san."
"Right now I really don't care much for Sly, I want to know what those chips do!" Morgan said.
"And I could tell you what I know," the scorpion said. "If you would be happy enough to just hand over that chip right now!"
She doesn't even know that I lost it! Morgan frowned. Maybe she didn't have the heat sensors that she had. Maybe she was playing up for time until she found it, just as Morgan was. If that was the case, and Morgan retreated, Nyoko would probably let her go, but if it wasn't. She shook her head, sleep was making her lose sight of what was important here. "Not going to happen Nyoko," she grumbled. The numbat turned and swerved down a path and kept looking. Where the hell was that chip! Morgan fought her way to the river, and turned back, trying to arch her way back to where it was that she lost the chip. Her heart was sinking, they had been fighting over four hours, not stop, and the ninja was no where near backing down. Fatigue started to sink in, and Morgan was on the edge of giving up.
"You've surprised me," Nyoko said, narrowing her eyes. "Of course scorpions can see at night, so I knew where you were, ever step of the way, yet you haven't quite." Her tail flipped. "Still the fight is obviously over. I want that chip now."
"Nyoko, if you could see in the dark, you'd know that I lost in in the early stages of the combat," Morgan gasped, her hand slipping into her back pack.
"You're a liar," the scorpion growled, her tail striking the ground.
"And you're about to be as blind as a bat," Morgan said. She pulled her night vision goggles off, and tossed a light grenade, slamming harming illumination straight into the scorpion's night eyes. The numbat turned and ran off, listening to the ninja howl with pain. She might have caught up, her ninja senses sharp, but the numbat was now running on what little bit of adrenaline she had left remaining.
Morgan looked for at least another hour for the remaining chip, but there was nothing to be found. The chip seemed to have vanished into the shifting sands. The numbat sighed and went back the airport, a victor of sorts, but also very much a loser.
After the two women had disappeared, the thug collected the dropped chip, and vanished into the darkness. It had taken him just a few hours to go where he had to, before getting on a jet, and heading for Cairo. The jackal slinked into the crowd once he was in Egypt and eventually managed to make it to the largest pyramid. "I have it," he said to a black crow.
"A good thing too … for you." He nodded his head, and the jackal entered, delivering the package to his master, a clocked figure, whose eyes glowed in the night.
"Very good, our master is one step closer to realizing his dream," the figure said.
"I thought you were the one in charge boss," the jackal said, his eyes blank. A second later, he was dead from a gun shot.
"We needed blood, it was so nice of him to volunteer," the dark figure said. The jackal's blood was collected, and poured into a small golden bowl, which was then brought to a medium sized alter. "The time is come for his next agent to be freed … so that chaos may reign." Slowly, urgently the figure chanted in ancient Egyptian and brought the two chips together, placing them inside a computer.
More hooded figures approached the alter, and chanted, their eyes filled with dark flames.
"This is foolishness," a woman's voice pleaded. "You should stop this at once!"
"Claire, do be quite," the hooded figure said.
"But what does this have to do with Sly Cooper? He's just a boy!"
"I said quite!" the figure howled with rage. The blood in the bowl seemed to bumble with life and flowed downward into a basin that already was seeping blood from other areas of the pyramid, following howls of pain and agony. Lights seemed to dim as the basin filled to the brim, and the computer flashed with life itself, electric currents from the machine striking the blood.
"Emmanuel, please stop this madness," the woman cried.
Emmanuel turned and pointed a gun at the woman in the cage. "Would you like to have your blood join the others?" The woman blinked and slinked into the darkness.
As she did so, a figure emerged from the blood, created from flesh and machine. Neyla flexed her muscles and looked at her small cult of followers, and then to Emmanuel. "You look so familiar," she said with a snide smile. Her voice was cold, and echoing as her hard metal feet clamped forward.
"Except for the color, I might be," the villain added with his own. "How does it feel to be back among the living?"
"Not as good as it will be to squeeze the last breath of air," the cyber woman said.
"Well, do remember to wait for a while, there's certain things our employer needs before Sly can face the final curtain."
"Oh don't worry, I intend. I do indeed intend too." Darkness enveloped them all, leaving nothing but Neyla's hateful eyes glowing in the shadows.
Well another chapter down, and it just keeps getting creepier. I hope to have six chapters for you all by the time I submit, but this is a brand new computer, so I really have to rewrite and focus my attentions on my other stories. I hope you guys don't mind. I should be house sitting twice in May so if I don't get six chapters, I should make up for it then. Okay, on to chapter 24! My character is going to debut.