Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper or any other character from the Sly Cooper games. The only characters I own are Cedric, Hugo, Grace and any other OCs I throw into the mix.

Author's note: Hey guys (and girls), thanks for sending in the characters, but it's about time the contest ended. Next weekend the next chapter is going to be written so you should please send in your characters by then. I need to know who wins to decide what's coming next. Until then, enjoy this new chapter and if I screwed up anywhere, please tell me. Thank you and please send in the characters. Tell your friends, your familly, your mortal enemies, and any magic-users in your hometown. Thank you.

A New Adventure

"You're descended from royalty? Wouldn't Interpol have records of this? Until you met us in Paris, I had never heard your name before," asked Carmelita incredulously.

"That's not surprising. There are three main ways to avoid being arrested these days. You can use a fake name or identity, like ours: The Headhunters. Or, if you're in quieter business, you can simply not let most people know what you do and make sure the police have no info on you. That one's the hardest. Finally, like Sly, you can just be very good at avoiding cops, which takes a lot of skill. And about the royalty thing, it's not that uncommon. Sly is descended from the Egyptian pharaohs. His ancestor Slytencamun II was the pharaoh's cousin and eventually ended up stealing from him in order to help out the poor in Egypt," answered Cedric.

Sly was surprised. Not many people knew about his family history besides the gang. Cedric apparently noticed Sly's confusion and almost laughed.

"Not many people know this, even among criminals, but there is a kind of family tree which lists all of the old royal families and their descendants. Sly's on it, along with Hugo and myself," Cedric explained.

"I'm from the Brazilian royalty," chipped in Hugo.

"The main reason for this tree is that it is used by many magic-users to find who is in the same 'league' as themselves. It's pretty foolish, but many of the old families insist on 'maintaining the family line' and that kind of crap," said Cedric disgusted.

Cedric looked around and saw that someone wasn't there.

"Where's Grace?" he asked. She should have still been there. He had healed her, but she might still have wounds from when Kajiyama had thrown her.

"She volunteered to lead the cops to Kajiyama's hideout," answered Bentley.

"All right," said Cedric disappointed. "Anyway, I think introductions are in order," he said as he held his out to Penelope "I'm Cedric and my friend is Hugo. We're the Headhunters."

Penelope took his hand and shook it. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Penelope."

"Well if all of you are quite finished, I'm going to bed," yawned Hugo, "I've been up all night and if anyone wakes me before 8:00, they're gonna be really sorry." Hugo walked out of the room.

"Sorry about that," Cedric apologized, "Hugo can be a bit rude, but he has a point. It is quite late." He got up stiffly and walked across the hall to his room.

That night, Bentley and Sly reminisced while Penelope and Carmelita made their peace with each other. It helped that Carmelita had never shot at Penelope while on a caper and, unlike Bentley, she had never had to deal with Carmelita's twitchy trigger finger.

The next morning, Sly and Carmelita found Cedric sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room they had used for a command center. An aura of red light surrounded him and pulsed as he breathed slowly. In front of him was a large bowl of water. Suddenly, he inhaled, and then exhaled a huge ball of flame into the bowl, turning the water to steam. Opening his eyes, he noticed the two watching him.

"Good morning," he said cheerily.

"Morning," grumbled Carmelita. She had always had a hard time getting up in the morning and had only woken up because Sly had told her he'd show her another trick from the Thievius Raccoonus. "What were you doing?"

"Practicing. It's been a while since I worked with my magic so I'm pretty out of shape," he answered.

"How does magic work?" asked Sly. He'd met many magic users, fought some and helped some, but had never understood how they did what they did.

"You know how most people only use about a third or less of their brain?"

"Yeah. Bentley once said that if someone could use then other two thirds, it would be amazing what they would be able to do."

"He's not far off. Magic comes by using part of the brain most people don't use. It's mainly a trait you're born with. I know a few people who managed to unlock it through harsh training, but there aren't many of them. By concentrating on what you want to happen, you use the part of your brain which releases magic. The more you use it, the easier it gets. Despite most biologists' classifications, the brain's like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. Have either of you seen Grace yet?"

"No, I haven't seen her since last night," said Sly.

"Maybe she's still blessedly asleep, lucky girl," growled Carmelita.

"I'm going to go get you some coffee from the dining room," volunteered Sly, "You want a double mint cappuccino right?"

"You know very well that a hate mint you obnoxiously cheery raccoon," Carmelita almost yelled.

"So you want it with triple mint?" asked Sly, as he ducked out the door.

"Sly! Get back here!" Carmelita almost yelled.

"Who was murdered?" asked Penelope as she staggered in from the room she and Bentley shared.

"Sly's just threatening to get Carmelita a mint cappuccino," Cedric stammered, trying hard not to laugh.

A few minutes later, Sly came back with a latte with cream and no mint for Carmelita, and his own favorite, a decaf espresso. Carmelita thanked him grudgingly and began drinking the coffee. Feeling much better, she asked Cedric where they were going next.

"I feel we've all deserved a vacation. Sly can teach you a few more tricks and everyone can relax. Turns out, Murray is in a snowboarding competition up at Whistler. Anyone up for a few weeks of R&R at one of the most famous ski resorts in the world?"