Chapter 12: The City of Lights

Set after Sly 1

Vent sat twirling her long bo staff called the Still Wind. She was in France of the world called City of Lights. Below her was the get-away van of the infamous raccoon thief, Sly Cooper. They have just gotten back from a big heist, robbing the Spanish king blind. Vent, curious of what the ring-tailed thief actually looked like, sent one of her Krazy Kaze Heartless down to listen in. The wind manipulator lowered her large goggles, using the Heartless as her eyes.

The Heartless perched itself by the windshield of the van, cleverly hidden under the night's shadowy veil. Inside, three voices could be heard.

"Great job Sly. With this much loot, this could hold us over for quite some time," came a nasally voice. The beady yellow eyes spotted a turtle in glasses speaking to the raccoon thief. Sly himself was dressed in a blue long sleeve shirt with a yellow collar and a yellow belt with a blue and white raccoon head as the belt buckle. A red pouch on his right leg, containing possibly lock picks and other little handy thieving tools of the trade, with blue knee high boots. He sat, playing with his blue barret, playing a game of one-sided catch, his blue and yellow cuffed gloved hands easily catching and throwing the hat. His brown eyes had a playful look to them under his black mask.

"Sure, but it's not the money, Bently. It's about how well I can use these techniques I learned from the Thievus Raccoonus. As well as creating new stuff for future generations," Sly let out a breath, catching his hat, placing it back on his head. "It's just no fun anymore. Carmalita seems to be avoiding us, a guy can only have so much fun thieving without that vixen of a cop on my tail."

"Sly, you are a hopeless romantic," this statement came from a purple hippo, munching on an unhealthy snack from a grease-soaked paper bag. "You're trying to steal the one thing you can't get to; Miss Fox's heart."

"I'm a Cooper, Murry, I can, and will, steal anything. Including that priceless jewel that is Carmilta." Sly pointed out, with a dreamy-romantic look in his brown eyes.

"Sly let's focus on the next heist, ok? Not your unrequited love," Bently sighed, typing furiously at his computer.

Vent felt like she saw enough through the eyes of her Krazy Kaze Heartless. The black creature floated up silently, returning to its shadow brothers and their mistress. "Ok, like, now we just gotta break in. You three, 'k," pointing the the obedient Heartless, Vent continued, "Take that van over, I'll be in lead. The rest of you, find that blasted keyhole! M'kay?" She looked down at the van, painted with purple bottom, a blue top, flames erupting from the front to the two front doors, topping it off with the blue and white racoon head on the back doors. "I mean, that van is absolutely hi-de-ous!" Vent stressed the last word in the preppy teenage voice of her's. If the Heartless cared to listen, their ears would be bleeding. "Ok, well, let's go!" Vent leapt from the roof she was perched on, the three Krazy Kazes following, the remaining twenty left to find the keyhole.

Vent, floated gracefully down upon the ground next to the get-away van. The three Heartless hovered just above the vehicle. "Like, so on my count, we jump'em," Vent said in a hoarse whisper. Inside, she heard muffled voices, and before she knew it, the van was speeding away; leaving her and the Heartless in a dust cloud. "Ok, like what heck was that all about?!"

Inside the speeding van, Sly looked out the back window, "Great job getting us out of there, Murry. Who knows who they were." Sly slumped against a soft, but old, chair within the large cargo hold of the van.

"No prob, Sly. That's why I''m here!" Murry laughed in the driver's seat of the van.

"So where do we go now?" Bently questioned his driving friend, still typing at the computer.

"Don't we have a safe spot in the French Reviera?" Sly mentioned.

"Yeah but that's too far. Anywhere closer?" Murry whined, driving all night to the southern France is a no-no in the purple hippo's mind.

"We can head underground to the catacombs," Bently typed away, mapping out all the routes and hidden alley ways that littered France.

"Let's do that. Who ever they were before, no doubt they're following us," Sly deduced. "Hey! Maybe they were after the Thievius Raccoonus?" Sly said in a worried tone. The Thievius Raccoonus was his family's pride and joy. It was the manual to the Cooper's Art of Thieving. If that was taken, the person whose hands that fell in would be able to learn its secrets and become the most infamous thief ever. However, though, the Cooper clan steals, they do it for honor. It took Sly's family many generations to make the book it is today. "Ok, you two head to the catacombs with the real book, I'll take an fake, and head to the roofs." Sly grabbed a cook book, much to Murry's dismay, and leapt out the back of the van.

High in the inky black, star-filled sky, Vent with her three Heartless minions glided on the wind currents, just a few feet above the roofs of slumbering citizens. Out of the corner of her green eye, Vent noticed a certain raccoon making his way up an apartment building. "Like, totally killer! Let's go boys, we, like, have a vermin to take out!" Vent sped up, the Krazy Kazes close behind. Sly noticing the small group smirked, his plan falling into motion. He leapt and bound from one roof to another with unparalleled agility, speed, and grace; all the while the fake Thievius Raccoonus safely tucked in his back-pack. "What are you three, like, waiting for?! Catch'im!" Vent barked, the three Heartless picked up their speed drastically.

When over the thieving raccoon, Sly glanced up," Not today boys!" Sly leaped and fell quickly between two buildings, so close together that Sly was able to keep his place by putting his legs and his one arm out to hold himself in the between the walls, his other arm holding the strap of his backpack. The gargoyle-looking Heartless passed harmlessly over, not noticing their prey's escape. "Heh, losers." Sly climbed his way back up the buildings' sides, heaving his small frame over the edge; only to be face-to-face with a Krazy Kaze Heartless. "Holy smokes!" Sly jumped away just a claw swiped at him.

"So, looks like we totally meet, right? Hehe," Vent giggled in a high-school, all-too-popular cheerleader captain, 'I'm-so-much-better-than-you' kind of laugh. "Now, like, you are so going to hand over that book."

"Sorry, toots, but you're not getting this book," Sly pulled another family heirloom from behind him, his Cooper Cane. A simple wooden short staff and a golden 'C' for the top part. He twirled the staff in an intimidating fashion, but having no luck with intimidating the wind user. "If you wan' it, come and get it!"

The Heartless charged after a simple flick of the wrist from Vent. Sly defended himself well enough against the quick, wind-element heartless. He was able to keep the fake Thievius Raccoonus away from the razor sharp claws of the Heartless. Vent stood back, letting the heartless do what they were ordered to do. With in moments, a sudden swipe of the Krazy Kaze claw and the backpack split open with the wrenching sound of quickly torn fabric. The book fell with a dull thud, and was quickly scooped up by a second Heartless. Crud! Sly's mind roared.

"Looks like I totally win, 'coon," Vent gave the book a once over after the heartless handed it to her. Her green eyes flashed with annoyed fury. After reading the cover, and flipping through the book just to make sure it was not a joke, the wind wielder realized that the book that she held was a cook book. "Oh, I am so pissed, you damn thief!"

"I must be a pretty good thief to trick you into thinking that was the Thievius Raccoonus. Heh, looks like I stole your time away from finding the real one, non?" Sly said in a fake French accent at the end. "Too bad, you kept up pretty well."

"Like, shut your mouth. This is so not over!" She charged the raccoon to only miss, and the ring-tailed thief dash away, disappearing once again into the shadow of the buildings. "Hiding in the alley ways will so not save you this time, raccoon!" Vent jumped in after him. Below her was a oddly shaped shadow, a raccoon shaped shadow. Vent smirked in triumph as she brought her Still Wind onto the head of the sly raccoon. But instead of the sound of a cracked skull, the sound of crushed cardboard filled Vents ears and echoed through the silent deserted alley way, "Like, what?"

Over head, Sly sat smirking, "Sorry toots, but you won't catch me that easily!" With that Sly sped off.

Vent said some vivid swears and leaped high into the night sky. Landing on the building's ledge occupied just moments ago by Sly, Vent looked all around; no sign of that damned raccoon. "So. Not. Cool."

Meanwhile, the gummi ship broke through the atmosphere of the world Cooper. The team caught sight of the Luminre de Ville just below them. "Wow! This city is beautiful!" Riza exclaimed, never quite seeing a sight like this one.

"Yeah, not too shabby. But I bet it doesn't compare to the City of Lights back home, eh, Josh?" Charlie chuckled.

"Yeah, but we can gawk at the scenery later, we gotta find that keyhole before it's too late," Josh made a hard right turn, sending Charlie into Riza with an oof. "Well, that's what you two get for being out of your seats!"

"Jerk," Riza mumbled. Charlie opted for more colorful words to describe her cousin at the moment.

"Just sit down. I'll try to find a safe place to land the gummi." Riza and Charlie strapped themselves in for landing. It took Josh ten more minutes to find a secluded and dark place in this City of Lights to land the ship with no one being the wiser. The three walked out of the gummi ship looking through the large alley way. Riza went up ahead to look out the mouth of monstrous alley way, while Charlie left her cloak in the ship then followed the fascinated ninja. Josh locked up the ship and put in stealth mode so no one saw the abnormal ship.

"So, what's the plan of action?" Charlie questioned as the three walked down the semi-barren streets, only the homeless and beggars were still out at this time of night. Without missing a beat, Riza's stomach roared in its need of food. Josh dragged his hand over his face, Riza laughed a bit, and Charlie shrugged, "I guess we go find some food." The trio made their way to a small diner a few blocks away from their landing site. Taking their seat at the dining counter, the small group made their order.

Half way through their meal, another presence made its appearance. "Ah! Monsieur Cooper! You've come back!" The bi-pedaled cat waitress cried in joy to see the raccoon thief in the native language of the world.

"Oui, I've come back, I would like my usual order," the thief replied back in the same tongue, a suave smile gracing his furry lips.

"Of course!" The little waitress retreated back to the kitchen to tell the cook, her cat tail swishing with happiness.

The raccoon thief sat down, sighing to the recent memories he just had to endure. "Man.." he mumbled.

Riza, finishing up her meal, went over to the humanoid raccoon, "You ok buddy?" She asked, sitting on the stool next to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a long night," Sly replied, slipping out of the native tongue.

"Care to talk about it? Maybe we can help?" Riza smiled, but Josh and Charlie did not mimic the expression.

Charlie leaned over to her cousin's ear, "We have to teach her to not be so helpful."

"It's the keybearer's nature," Josh answered back in a whisper as well.

"I don't know if you can help me. Merci," Sly thanked the waitress, and started on his food.

"We can try," Riza tried.

"Well, if know a way to get a crazy chick and her couple of yellow eyed gargoyles off my ringed-tail, then let's hear it," what Sly said made three pairs of ears perk up.

"I think we can do something about that," Charlie chimed in, a daring smirk layed on her face.

Sly looked at them in disbelief, "Seriously?!" The trio nodded. "Great!" with finished meals and dues payed the four left; only to run into a small band of Heartless, consisting of a Krazy Kaze, three neo-shadows, and a Magik Kaster. "What the heck?!" the raccoon thief recognized the flying Heartless but the four others didn't ring a bell.

"Stay back!" Riza charged the three neo-shadows, them being the quickest of the bunch. Soul Calibur Keyblade drawn, Riza could feel the slight power-ups her modified weapon provided. Her speed increased, defense raised, and her magic got a slight boost. The neo-shadows were cut down to size. Josh easily disposed of the Magik Kaster, he figured out how their weakness, they're vulnerable tot he opposite element and Charlie was left to fend off the Krazy Kaze. She jumped into the air and swung at the quick Heartless. Her blade sliced it's wing open, the dark creature retaliated with the swiping of its sharp claws. Charlie blocked with her blade, and powering up this electricity power, countered with her Lightning Strike. Charlie landed as graceful as a cat, the flying Heartless disappearing in a haze before it hit the ground.

"Who are you guys?!" Sly gasped after watching the minute rumble unfold.

"You can say heroes," Josh smiled.

"I see, well, we never introduced ourselves. I'm Sly Cooper," said thief held out a blue gloved hand.

"Ukiazr Riza," the keybearer shook hands with the thief.

"Kuzumakii Charlie," as did the warroir.

"Itoh Josh," finally the sage. "So where are we off to?"

"Well head to the catacombs under France's streets. My friends are awaiting my arrival," Sly lead the way to the entry way of the dark catacombs.

Unbeknownest to the four, many pairs of eyes were watching their trek to the under ways of France, "So the thief met up with the Keyblade Mistress and her posse. How totally sweet!" Vent cheered! "Like, I'll totally kill two birds with one stone!" Vent giggled that cheerleader laugh.

In the catacombs waited Murry and Bently for their furry companion to return. "You think he's ok?" Murry nervously munched on more unhealthy snacks.

"Of course, he's a Cooper," Bently replied putting on a brave face, but in reality he was just as scared as Murry. A half an hour later, there was movement deep with in the underground labyrinth.

"What was that!" Murry jumped in fright, his greasy paper bag flying upwards, losing all it's contents.

"Murry, be still!" Bently scolded, typing away as his computer. He brought up a virtural map of the catacombs. A small blue dot blinked on screen, putting the turtle's mind at ease. "It's just Sly, he made it back, safe and sound." Minutes later, the said raccoon made his physical appearance in front of his friends.

Murry charged and bear hugged the startled Cooper, "Murry! I'm...glad to...see you...too...but...please...let..go...can't...breathe!" Sly's grey fur got a slight blue tint to it as Murry lovingly squeezed the air out of his thieving friend.

"Sorry, Sly," Murry's purple complexion darkened as a blush creeped across his face. "I'm just glad you're back."

"Yeah, and I brought along some new friends, Murry, Bently this is Riza, Charlie, and Josh. They gonna help us out."

"Hi-o!" Riza waved, her friends doing the same.

"Well this is a surprise. Nice to meet you three," Bently stopped typing, nodding a hello to the group.

Murry shook hands with the three, "Thanks fer helping out our buddy here," Murry noggied Sly getting chuckles out of everyone.

"So why was the Heartless after you?" Josh asked.

"Heartless?" Sly looked at them with a confused face.

"Yeah, the creatures we got rid of. With the yellow eyes," Charlie explained.

"Oh them! They're after the Thievus Raccoonus."

"The what?" Riza stared at the thief, mirroring his confuse expression.

"The book that has all the Cooper clans secrets. Like a manual to our 'art'."

"Art? Like paintings and literature?"

"Hahah, something like that. We do like art and literature. But, actually, our 'art' is the art of stealing."

"Oh..." Riza said quietly. "So you're thieves?"

"Yeah. Does it bother you?" Sly said in a questioning tone.

"Not really. It's just I thought thieves were suppose to be burly men dressed in dark colors and be really mean and vulgar. But, you Sly, and like the opposite. You seem more sophisticated and proper then what my imagination believed."

"I'm glad that you don't think of me like that now. My family is a very prideful clan, and being associated with the same image of an amateur burglar is degrading," Sly laughed.

Josh spoke up, "Sly, could you describe the girl that attacked you?"

"Sure. Short, wild red hair, green eyes. A blue shirt, showing off a midriff, and white khakis. She also word a black trench coat which was unbuttoned and had light blue inside the jacket. She also had a staff. And goggles on her head."

"That shouldn't be too hard to find. Shall we be off?" Charlie said, pushing herself off the wall she was leaning on.

"First, let's think of a plan. We should set a trap for the girl and her Heartless," Sly smirked. "Bently, you think you could handle that?"

"No problem!" Bently was already typing away. Within seconds a plan was made, "Ok, so here's the plan..."

"Like, damn! That was the seventh decoy I so totally fell for! So not cool!" Vent growled, the Still Wind gripped tightly in her grasp. "And, like, where the hell is that damn keyhole?!"

"Hey! Creepy staff chick!" It was Sly, on the sidewalk next to the building where Vent stood. "You still can't catch me? Well, c'mon!" Sly ran down the street and scurried up a gutter pipe, coming into view four buildings away from Vent.

"You wanna play hard to get, like, I'm game," Vent gave chase, her Krazy Kazes close behind. After five minutes, Vent was just a building behind. Sly was giving the agile wind warrior a run for her money, bobbing and weaving between buildings and popping in and out of alley ways. Vent spotted her query from a tall building, Sly taking a breather on a lower building. Like, so gotcha! Her mind cheered. She leaped high in to the very early morning sky, aided by her wind powers. Her staff came down in a powerful slam attack, only to connect with a staff that did not resemble the Cooper Cane. "Like, huh?!"

"Sorry, but you won't be dealing with the raccoon. Instead," Josh pushed her away, "You got me," Josh took his fighting stance.

"Me too," Charlie said, coming out behind a ventilation shaft.

"Aw man, the royal subjects? But how? Where's the raccoon?" Vent snarled.

"You don't worry your red head about. You have us to worry about!" Charlie charged the bo staff wielder, her blade colliding with the staff. Charlie, being five feet and seven inches, towered over her wind wielding opponent, but the petite girl had some strength behind her. She was able to catch Charlie off-guard by attempting a low swipe kick with a bo staff strike follow-up. Charlie saw the kick but couldn't dodge the bo staff and was knocked away. Josh went in for and attack, using his water attack Drowning Torrent, but it was deflected by Vent's spinning staff wind whipping around the staff. The water didn't even touch the bo staff.

"Like, elemental attack will so not work on me!" Vent went after the sage and forced him into close-range combat. As those two grappled, Charlie got up. She shook herself off and went to help her magically advanced cousin. Before Charlie could get close to the dueling duo, she stopped in her tracks; Heartless blocking her way.

"What the hell, man? What the hell?" she charged headlong into the Heartless brigade. Her blade a-blaze, the Heartless burned up into dark puffs of smoke from attacks from her blade.

"Damn, kid!" Josh muttered to himself. Her wind attacks pushing him back, back toward the edge of the building.

"Looks like your magic can't save you now," Vent laughed in that take-that-loser laugh; slightly different from her I'm-better-than-you laugh. Only slightly.

"That's where you are wrong, brat!" Josh smirked, the jewel on his staff began glow, bubbles appearing all by the sage. Lifting the staff over head and twirling it, Josh created a water cyclone from the staff. Vent was confused and was not about the let the sage get the upper-hand in this fight; but it was too late. Just as she was about to strike the sage down, a large, shark like fish appeared.

"Let's go, Mr. Bubbles!" Josh mounted the awaiting summon quickly and charged after the startled and frightened Vent. She tried her best to dodged the fish's massive jaws and the sage's magical offense, then Mr. Bubbles let loose his Shark Cyclone. She had little luck with both. Soon, though, Mr. Bubbles time has ran out and Josh was left by himself. Vent was glad that the shark was gone and only a few stray bubbles remained.

"Ok, now I'm so mad! Like, totally die!" Vent charged, soppy wet from the shark's attack, the wind was whipping around her and her weapon, "Wind's Razor Kiss!" The wind around her weapon travel at such a velocity that it could cleanly rip flesh from bone.

Not good! Josh's mind screamed.

Charlie saw her cousin's predicament, Not good! her thoughts mirroring her cousin's.

"Riza, are you sure about this?" Sly said trailing a step behind the keybearer.

"Yeah, they got it under control," Riza smiled.

"Ok. But what about us?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, how are we gonna find that keyhole?"

"Simple, we'll follow this," for emphasis, she held up her Keyblade.

"That can show you the way to the keyhole?"

"Yup. Watch," Riza stopped and held the Keyblade out in front of her. Sly watched it visibly tug at its mistress's hand, jerking her forwards.

"I see."

"Yeah, so let's go." The duo made their toward a large mansion, just seven blocks away from Josh and Charlie's confrontation with Vent. "This must be where the keyhole is."

"But why here? It's just a mansion."

"Yeah, but the keyhole was here when this world was created. So, the mansion was built on or around the keyhole. All we gotta do is get in; not too hard for you right?" Riza said with a challenging tone.

"No prob! Just follow me and don't screw up," the Cooper answered back with the same tone. He sped forward, silent as a shadow; Riza the same.

Finally, her mind thought, I can use those stealthy ninja skills. Hopefully they aren't too dull. To Riza's delight, her skills were as sharp as ever; even Sly was impressed. He put all his skills to the test here, from his spire jump that he learned from his ninja ancestor to his rail slide and rail walk he learned from his old western ancestor; and Riza was able to copy mostly all of them. The only thing Riza couldn't copy was the invisibility trick that Sly acquired from reading the passage about his Egyptian clan member. Dodging security cameras, passing soundlessly by the guard dogs, and snaking through infrared laser gaps effortlessly. Minutes later, they were by the age-worn door. Paint chips falling off, wood splintering.

"It looks like this door hasn't been touch in ages. Anyway, this is where the keyhole is. C'mon, let's let ourselves in," Riza went for the door and pushed it open. The door swung open, hitting the wall behind it, the hinges squeaking painfully. Inside, instead of being greeted with the soft blueish-white hue of the keyhole, the sight that they saw was the the ominous dull glow of the yellow eyes. A sea of Heartless was waiting for the keybearer. "Aw, crud..." Riza said in a low tone. "Well, c'mon, you Heartless bastards!" Riza rushed the large group leaving Sly amazed at the girl's bravery. The duo face the odds of fifty Heartless to one of them. He drew out his cane and followed the ninja.

The two fought off the hundred Hheartless, the numbers slowly decreasing, Riza taking on the bulk of the Heartless army. Within ten minutes the mini-army was defeated. "What a work-out!" the Cooper took off his hat and whiped the sweat from his furry brow. On the flip side, Riza didn't even break a sweat. She leaned on her Keyblade looking at the raccoon, smiling.

"Fun, right?" Riza joked. Sly rolled his brown eyes. "Now, where is that keyhole?" Riza lifted her Keyblade and it pointed right to where the keyhole lied. "There. Now let's close this world off."

Charlie was smacked away with the same force of an hurricane; maybe it was a hurricane, her brain couldn't tell. She met the same ventilation shaft from before with the same amount of force as the blow that put her there, her blade sliding away from her, sparks flying. She looked up to see Vent stalk toward her limp frame. Josh lied cut up and gashed to the side from the wind mistress's Wind's Razor Kiss technique, the crimson life force oozing from his wounds.

"Josh..." Charlie muttered. Riza, where are you? We need help. She looked up to see the face of her younger opponent. "You little-" Charlie's insult was cut painfully off by the end of the Still Wind being jabbed into her gut, choking and spitting out the small amount of the copper tasting fluid, Blood?.

"So, you think you're better than I now? Like, so not!" Charlie went to grab the staff to ease the force applied to her midsection. The staff shot up from the stomach and made a slightly less forceful impact against the pinned teen's neck. Charlie's body couldn't lift her toned arms high enough to remove the staff. "Too weak to even, like, prevent my awesome attempts to suffocate you? Hah!" Vent held the staff with one hand, her other one on her hip as she cackled evilly; like an egotistical cheerleader captain. She pushed a little, Charlie squirmed under the staff, her eyes tightly shut. Then no force at all, just a surprised scream and loud thud. Charlie coughed, grasping her neck, trying not to think how close to death she was. Charlie weakly opened her eyes, but the darkness of the early morn and the fuzziness of her vision couldn't make out her savior, then total blackness.

Riza looked down at Charlie, then looked to Josh who had Sly hovering over his body. Sly was wrapping up the sage's body to prevent further bleeding and infection. Sly leaned down when he noticed Josh's lips were moving. Riza looked back to Vent who she double kicked away from her friend. She drew her Keyblade and prepared herself for the fight against the preppy teen.

"Look what the cat dragged in. Like, you're so getting you ass kicked for that stunt, Missy!" Vent charged, staff in hand. Riza charged as well not to injure Charlie more so. Sparks flew as the weapons grinded against each other. Riza used the momentum from the weapons' grind to land a powerful kick against the Still Wind, launching Vent from her spot. Before Vent could hit the ground, she disappeared in a gust of wind. Riza panicked for a second, never quite seeing such speed since her late father. The preppy teen appeared behind the startled keybearer, her staff coming in fast from Riza's right. The swift ninja ducked just as the staffed pasted over head. Using their positions to her advantage, Riza went in for a two kick combo; turning to her right, kicking the wind user in the gut then finishing it up with her left leg sending Vent tumbling against the cool tar of the roof.

"Now, who's ass is getting kicked? Hmm, not mine!" Riza bent down slightly, ready to rush the wind-blown teen once the latter got up. The kicked teen got up, coughed, spit, and sneered at the Keyblade Mistress. "C'mon? Is that all you got? That wasn't even my best shot!" Riza swiftly made her way to the wind user and the two continued to grapple; their weapons slamming into each other with ear piercing blows. Vent went in for a sweeping kick followed-up by a slash with her staff, but Riza back flipped out of reach of the leg and staff.

Vent lunged at Riza, thrusting her weapon at the agile ninja. Riza brought her her blade up vertically acrossed her body, the Still Wind sliding against the keyblade. "Like, Wind's Razor Kiss!" The speeding winds erupted from the bo staff and reached out toward the near-by Keyblade Mistress. Startled by the sudden wind, Riza couldn't dodge in time to completely miss the attack. Her arms and hands were cut, the razor sharp wind gusts slicing through the steel plates on her gloves and through her arm bands. Riza jumped back and way from the grasping razor wind. The sickening feeling of feeling one's blood rushing down your arms gave Riza goosebumps.

She had barley enough time to register the fact that Vent switched her thrust to a slash, whipping winds still apparent. The quick swipes continued until Riza was back against an opening to an alley way. "Looks like you're stuck. Just, like, give up and I might consider sparing your worthless life, 'k?" She finished the statement off with an over-cheery high-pitched voice.

Riza turned around, a small glint briefly shined, "Hell no," Riza jumped into the alley way, and out of sight. Vent ran toward the end of the building, looking down in the pitch black alley way. She tried to call upon her winged minons, but none came forth. Behind her was the mocking voice of the keybearer, "I locked this world off from the heartless, so it's no use trying to call them when the door has been shut and sealed."

"But how?" Vent cried in anger as she turned to see Riza behind her.

"Family secret, but since I'm about to defeat you, it's called the Fox's Trickery," with that Riza disappeared and was in front of the bo staff wielder, her knee now jammed into the preppy teen's gut, knocking the wind out of her. The Still Wind fell form her grasp and disappeared with a gust of wind. Vent fell limp, her small frame not able to withstand such and strong attack. Her body fell to the tar of the roof, so retreating in a dark haze. Riza sighed a breath of victory, turning to look at Sly and her companions.

The raccoon thief was just finishing up bandaging the unconscious sage. "Hey Sly!" Riza called, jogging over to the bent down thief. "What did Josh say before?"

Sly looked at her puzzled for a moment then recalled the sage's barely audible words, "He said look out for Wind's Razor Kiss, but you were too busy for me to tell you," he chuckled.

"What? I was not too busy to get helpful advice like that!" Riza huffed in a loud manner, showing her cut and bloodied hands and arms. A civilan shout in the background, yelling to keep it down.

"Let's get out of here. I can have Murry here in five minutes, c'mon," Sly said, hoisting Josh around his shoulders.

"Yeah," Riza went to retrieve the knocked out Charlie when something in the corner of her eye shined. Before picking up her friend, the curious ninja went to see the glittering object. It lied in the same place that Vent fell unconscious. The keybearer picked it up to examine it closely, but still couldn't tell what it was. She pocketed the odd item and went to help her comrade. Murry arrived in five minutes just like Sly had said, but now the trouble was how the two were going to get their friends down without hurting them.

Murry pulled the van as close as he could to the curb. Bently called Sly via the binoculars, "Sly, I upgraded the van so the roof elevates. Just put anybody that needs to make it down safely on there."

"Thanks Bently. Ok, Riza, I'll put Josh on first, then you can get Charlie situated. Ok Bently, bring'er up," Sly replied into the binoculars. The roof of the van made its way up the three-story building, as silent as a sleeping kitten; not a sound was heard except for a soft purr. Josh was carefully lied on the top, and the roof made its slow decent, not to drop its precious, unconscious cargo. Josh made it safely downward, Murry gently putting him in a chair. The roof raised up, awaiting its next important cargo. Riza place Charlie on the roof, the warrior stirring, "Hey," she weakly whispered.

"Hey, yourself. Now, got back to sleep," Riza ordered quietly, the swordswoman gladly complying. The roof, its occupant secured made it's returning trip once more. With Charlie safely in a chair, thanks again to Murry, Riza and Sly made their way down. The swift ninja was at the back doors to the van when a shot rang out through the still very early morn. Riza turned to look, Sly sliding down a gutter drain stopped halfway. The two pairs of eyes now rested on the shooter; the vixen of a cop, Miss Carmalita Fox.

"Cooper!" Her accent heavy, one not similar to the cat-waitress. "You stop right there. I've been getting complaints of loud noises. I'm charging you with 'Disturbing The Peace'," both Riza and Sly caught the slight smile dancing on Fox's lips.

"Go on ahead, Riza. I got to have a word with the good cop," the thief's voice laced with joy.

"'Kay, good luck with her. She seems like a fire cracker," Riza hoped into the back of the van, said vehicle speeding off.

"I was afraid that you got bored with me, Carmalita," Sly slid the rest of the way down the gutter drain, walking casually toward the vixen.

"Nobody could get bored with you Sly," she smiled, using his first name instead of his last or a negative adjective.

"True," he was close now, very close, "then why were you absent for soo long?" His face was inches away from her's, arms slowly snaking themselves around the vulpin's waist.

"For one, Cooper," Carmalita's arms making their way around the racoon's neck, "You kiss me, then handcuff me to a railing, leave me there, take the key and--" She was abruptly cut off by the thief stealing a kiss. They broke away, quite reluctantly, "And then that..." Carmalita smiled, snuggling closer to the raccoon's chest.

Riza just layed Charlie down in the soft feather bed. The keybearer sat in the chair in the corner of the room. Murry was able to find one of their many safe houses intact and not raided by the homeless or police; a log cabin near Versailes. She looked at Charlie's sleeping form, thinking back to a distant memory when her father was around for more than a week...

Young Riza, about three feet tall, no more than six years old, her silver locks in a high pony tail, a light grey tank top on with a baby fox on it, grey shorts coming to just below her knees, and dirty white sneakers, slightly caked in dry mud. She was running in an open field, afternoon sun shining brightly, but the best part of that day was that Riza's father, Maikeru, was right there chasing her in their little game of tag. She made it to the edge of the neighboring forest, before Maikeru grabbed her at her sides and hoisted up the surprised toddler. The small Ukaizr giggled happily as she was lifted above her father's head.

He brought her down to hug her tightly, showing love for his daughter. Barely muffled by the distance, Riza and her father heard a voice. They turned to look to see her 'adopted' brother, Ren. He watch over her and took care of her while her parents couldn't. He was like a real brother. He was tall, about as tall as her father, light silver, almost white hair with black tips. A handsome clean face, smiling hazel eyes. He was dressed in a red shirt and black, baggy pants, with simple slip on sandles. Maikeru put Riza down and watched the six year old run to Ren, happily calling his name.

"Hey there, squirt!" Ren kneeled down so little Riza could latch on to him. "How's my favorite runt?"

"I'm no runt, you meanie!" Riza giggled and Ren stood up, her tiny hand in his casllused one. "Ren, where Tai-Tai?" Riza looked up.

"Tai-Tai is busy at home. Wanna go see him?" Ren smiled. Riza nodded her head energetically. "Is that ok, Maikeru?"

"Sure, just have her home by dinner."

"Of course, sir. C'mon Riza," the two walked toward the village...

That was one of the last times I saw him or Tairon. I wonder what ever happened to them? Riza was staring off into space when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Momentarily forgetting where she was, she actually thought it was Ren, only for a second though. Instead she looked into the eyes of Charlie.

"What are you doing up? You should be resting," Riza said.

"I was, but I wanted something to drink. I was calling your name, Princess, but you weren't answering. So I got up instead," Charlie went to sit back down on the bed.

"Sorry, I was just...thinking. That's all. Memories, you know," Riza looked down at the floor like it was the most fansciating thing in this room.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," both teens had a distant look in their eyes, as if falling back onto memory lane.

Riza snapped out of her daze, "C'mon, you want some food?" Charlie nodded and walked out of the small room.

"How long have I been out?" Charlie asked sitting down at wooden table. The room itself was pretty big, decorated with painting and tapestries.

"A few hours. Hey Murry," Riza called. The purple hippo was in the kitchen, near a microwave just about to put a cup in the machine.

"What can I do for you ladies?"

"Food, please?"

"Sure," he put the top back on the cup and placed it in the fridge.

"What was that?" Charlie asked, nodding toward the cup.

"Cup o' Noodles. So what will you two like? I'm genius of the culinary arts!" Murry boasted, lifting his large muzzle in the air, puffing out his chest.

"Hmm...I can got for some-" Before Charlie could finish, a light grumble came from the doorway.

"I feel left out. No one wants to offer me anything to eat?" Josh said, the exposed part of his arms and torso covered in bandage wrap, his cloak missing.

"Hey Josh. You feeling ok to be up?" the keybearer mentioned, concern laced in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just hungry," Josh sat down across the table of his comrades, silence enveloped the room with the exception of a food order and the hippo moving within the kitchen. Josh spoke up, "Has anyone seen Sly?"

"Actually, no, I haven't. After that fox cop showed up, that was the last time I saw that thief," Riza pointed out, mouth slightly watering with the delicious aroma of the cooking food.

"No worries about Sly then. He's just catching up with Miss Fox," The hippo chuckled. "Breakfast will be ready in a few."

"It's still only morning? Wow, we were able to stop a Troup Grim member and her heartless and seal the Keyhole in one night! That's gotta be a new record!" Riza shouted happily, thrusting her fist in the air. Ten minutes later, breakfast was served.

It was late afternoon before Riza realized something. She reached into her pocket. She pulled out the object that she couldn't identify eariler this morning. The ninja looked at it; it looked like a disk of some kind. "Whatcha got there, kiddo?" It was Josh.

"Something I found last night. Where Vent disappeared, I guess it fell of her body."

"When we get back to the gummi, we'll check it out. Anyway, c'mon. We're gonna head out, Sly's back." Josh walked out the door, he called back to announce the raccoon's appearance. Riza pocketed the disk and Charlie followed behind the bandaged sage to help with his bandages.

Riza was conversing with Murry and Bently, Sly was sitting on the comfy chair listening to them, eyes closed. Josh and Charlie made their way into the room, Josh coughing slightly to get their attention. "Sorry to interrupt, but we should be going," Josh politely smiled.

After their farewells and good-byes, Sly pulled Riza over, "Hey, you got pretty cool moves, kid. And you were able to keep you with me, a feat in itself. I wanted you to have this." Sly pulled out a piece of paper. "A gyptian ancestor. Here," the raccoon placed the page in Riza's hand.

"Thanks Sly," the ninja pulled the thief into a friendly hug, then letting go. She waved good-bye and hurried after her companions.

The trio trecked through the forsest till they were a good distance away from the log cabin until Josh pushed that blue button, bringing the gummi ship to them. Minutes later they were plowing through the atmosphere.

TBC