Disclaimer: I do not own characters and story elements of the Sly Cooper franchise. All credit goes to Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games. This story is for purely entertainment purposes.
Author's note: This fic is M-Rated for strong sexual content and profanity.
Sly Cooper Remake: Hearts of the Raccoon and the Tigress
By: NEBSparky86 and Awareness Bringer
Episode 1: Tide of Terror
oooooooooooooo
From the Notes of Sly Cooper: "The road trip gave me the time I needed to study up on Sir Raleigh the frog. As a young man, this hot-tempered frog grew bored of his life of luxury and privilege. On a whim, he tried his hand at a bit of piracy and found it to his liking.
"Raleigh, who quickly became addicted to crime, was brought into the Fiendish Five as chief machinist, where his evil tinkering genius rose to new heights. The last reported sighting of this mad machinist was off the southern coast of the Isle of Wrath, a small island uncomfortably situated in the middle of the perilous Welsh Triangle."
oooooooooooooo
After getting a report from his mole inside Interpol, the head of the Klaww Gang let out a sigh as he approved of the latest report. Three of his protégés were on their way to England to deal with a rival inventor, one whose technical skills were close to his. With Raleigh out of the way, the Fiendish Five as a group would be without one of their technological sources. Plus, the Contessa would get her claws on the first member of the Fiendish Five and force him to give up the location of his assets that would end up in the pockets of the Klaww Gang.
"Now we shall see how well Cooper and his friends handle the Fiendish Five," the Contessa said to her compatriot.
"Agreed," replied Arpeggio with a slight nod. "Slowly taking out lieutenants of the Fiendish Five was child's play compared to this mission we've prepared them for."
"True," agreed the Contessa, with a slight nod. "But Neyla said that Cooper is also going to be working on reclaiming his birthright. The pages of his family's thieving instruction manual, according to Neyla, are very important to him and he won't stop until he gets all of the pages restored."
Arpeggio sighed and shook his head. The British parrot wanted his raccoon protégé to be swift in taking out the Fiendish Five. But reclaiming his birthright might make his mission take longer.
The Contessa had earlier agreed with Arpeggio, but added that Neyla reassured them that she would personally make sure that her raccoon lover would make sure not to forget about his overall mission to defeat the Fiendish Five. And with the violet-furred tigress already infiltrating Raleigh's fortress, Neyla would make sure that the collection process would proceed at a rapid pace.
According to a source close to each member of the Fiendish Five, at least one of the safes hidden throughout the strongholds also contained blueprints of each stronghold. With the blueprints of each stronghold in Bentley's possession, he could help Sly locate everything he needed to obtain the other pages of the Thievius Raccoonus.
"Let us hope that Neyla will prove successful in ensuring that Cooper succeeds in his mission," said the Contessa as she offered Arpeggio a glass of 124 year old Bordeaux red wine from her late husband's wine collection.
Arpeggio accepted the glass and started to sip it as he replied, "I believe you mean in his 'missions,' my dear."
"Yes, that's what I meant," Contessa said as she corrected herself. 'That Sly Cooper. Such a complex mind. I have to examine it.'
oooooooooooooo
Three hours before her lover was supposed to arrive, Neyla had already infiltrated the fortress of Sir Raleigh the Frog. Arpeggio had given her clear instructions to ensure that Sly was on task with taking care of the mad machinist, but Neyla also wanted to help him collect all of the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus.
Finding the least guarded approach to Raleigh's fortress, Neyla felt fortunate to see that the security systems were down and the guards were busy with maintenance to notice her slip past them. However, just because the guards were too busy didn't mean that Neyla would be at ease enough to drop her guard. Keeping her whip at the ready, Neyla found her course of action in the right when she saw a lone walrus guard who had stopped wielding and was about to take his thirty minute break for tea and biscuits upon seeing the violet-furred tigress approach. Before he could raise the alarm, Neyla whipped him into the waterfall that sent him plummeting to his death.
"I'm on the clock before Sly and his pals get here," Neyla said to herself. "Guess I should be glad that I got that leash removed by Chief Barkley. I really hate having to deceive him, but it's necessary if the old bird wants to get the chance to study Clockwerk."
Neyla gracefully leapt over the gate that had just been raised to prevent any intruders getting into the fortress. With some well-timed maneuvering, Neyla cleared the obstacles in her path and saw the spotlights were activated. Fortunately for her, no guards were present and that was somewhat of a blessing in disguise.
As for getting around the recently activated spotlight security system, Neyla used her whip as she saw a wall mounted hook on one of the towers and an opening that she could get up on. Once up on the farthest tower away from the cave that lead to the entrance of Raleigh's fortress, the tigress scanned her surroundings with her excellent binocular-like eyes and then noticed a vault.
"Bingo!" Neyla silently exclaimed to herself once she locked on to the sight of the vault. "That's gotta be where I can stash the blueprints of Frog Legs's fortress. I'm betting I'll find a page from Ringtail's thieving instruction manual, too."
Neyla paused for a moment in contemplation if she could take the opportunity to read the contents herself, but then shook her head as she made her decision. "I'll wait until Sly gives me his permission. If he lets me read from it, then I'll know that he loves me enough to help him carry on his family's legacy." She then chuckled in amusement while rubbing her torso and adding, "In more ways than one, anyway."
With her conviction set, Neyla climbed on the rope across the thorn-riddled area to the next spotlight tower and had to sneak around the other side to avoid tripping the alarms, which would have brought bad attention on her. Once she cleared the security spotlights and dropped down behind the recently stationed walrus guard that hefted throwing stars, Neyla silently made her way to the vault and began inputting random codes to crack the safe.
"Really wish I had Bentley's help with this," Neyla said to herself softly before getting the first number cracked, as she had her right ear on the vault door. "I'll have to move the dials slowly to get the correct numbers."
Taking at least four minutes to crack the safe, Neyla learned that the vault combo 7-9-2. With the vault cracked open for her, she discovered one of the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. The she-tiger was still tempted to read the pages, but put the thought aside as she was on the clock herself to find the blueprints to Raleigh's stronghold, place them in the vault where she found the page from Sly's book and then set herself up to observe and report back to Arpeggio on Sly's progress. With the way to Raleigh's fortress open for the time being, Neyla took advantage and proceeded through the cave to her destination.
Once Neyla had managed to slip on board the fortress, she noticed that weren't any guards on duty and this confused the tigress. 'There should be at least a few guards on duty patrolling the grounds,' Neyla thought to herself.
Before Neyla could begin her search, her phone went off and Arpeggio was on the line. "Of all the bad timing," Neyla groaned out, knowing the British parrot was expecting a report from her, never mind that she was still infiltrating Raleigh's stronghold, and that it would only be a matter of time before the guards returned to duty. However, Neyla's obedience to her mentor kicked in, and she answered the call.
"Yes, Arpeggio," she said while heading towards one of the areas that held machinery. "I've already begun my infiltration of Frog Legs's stronghold. That's correct, I'm looking for the blueprints of his operations."
Hearing her employer pose a question, Neyla responded in disbelief, "Why? Because I plan to ensure that my boyfriend's other priority of restoring his family's legacy is run smoothly and ensures your overall plan remains on schedule. All of us know you don't like diversions added if they detract from your overall scheme."
In response to Arpeggio's mounting frustration, Neyla stammered, "J-Just trust me on this one. I plan on doing this at each of the strongholds of the Fiendish Five. You're starting to break up. I can't hear you over loud sounds of machinery. Bye."
Hanging up the phone, Neyla made her way through the area in search of another safe. She was looking for those blueprints that Bentley was going to need to speed up the process of acquiring the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. After finding such a safe within the machinery, she proceeded to crack it.
Unlike the first vault earlier, cracking the second vault didn't take her long as it did on her previous approach to the stronghold. Unfortunately for Neyla, the blueprints for Raleigh's fortress were not to be found and she closed the vault door and reset combination for when Sly would break in later. Her task unsuccessful, the tigress retreated from the area as guards were returning from their break.
Using at least an hour and twenty minutes of her time in locating the blueprints of Raleigh's fortress, the she-tiger finally located them in a section containing a huge library of books and had globes with high powered dart guns hidden inside of them. Neyla, though, was able to gracefully take advantage of her parkour experience and the athletic abilities that matched it to leap over them and bypass the lone flashlight squid guard that was napping on the job.
"Had you been working for the Contessa, she would've had a field day on you," Neyla said to herself silently as she shivered at the thought of a guard being tortured or experimented on.
Once the Bengal tigress cracked the vault and found the blueprints she was looking for as she said to herself, "Jackpot. Bentley will appreciate this in speeding things up. It'll be simple as lock, stock, and two smoking barrels."
With her primary target acquired, Neyla quickly applied her calling card and placed a separate page of the Thievius Raccoonus in the safe before locking it up. Once everything was in place, as she designed it for her beloved, Neyla then took the blueprints and exited the library section of Raleigh's fortress. Unfortunately, as Neyla exited the library, multiple guards were starting to return to their posts.
"Bullocks!" Neyla snarled to herself. "Got to get back to that vault before someone takes a look at the empty vault."
Neyla was at least thankful that she had recently purchased herself a paraglider and used it to soar off the floating fortress, undetected. None of the guards ever noticed as the lone intruder had quietly slipped off their fortress, as they went back to their posts. Within another ten minutes, Neyla had made it back to where she found the first page of the Thievius Raccoonus and placed the blueprints to Raleigh's fortress in the vault and locked it up before the star throwing walrus guard turned around to check on his assignment.
The star throwing walrus guard turned to take a look at the vault and saw that it was still locked and no one had broken into it. As far as he believed while listening to some classical rock music at any rate.
"I swear I need to find a new gig," the walrus guard said to himself as he sighed. "Mum was right, this job is the pits and pays only peanuts."
oooooooooooooo
The Cooper Gang had arrived in the Welsh Triangle, at the doorstep of Raleigh's fortress. The small crew of three would begin their mission by gaining access to the main area of Raleigh's fortress stealthily approaching it from a less guarded section. Once the team van had backed into position, the doors flew open and Sly exited as he began his approach. After passing through the cave and destroying a sign that read 'Keep out,' Sly saw a gate and then was contacted by Bentley.
"Hey, Sly!" exclaimed a concerned Bentley. "I just spotted something that's going to complicate the mission. See that nasty looking gate? It blocks the only road leading into Raleigh's hideout."
"No problem," Sly replied coolly. "I'll just use my climb move."
"Okay, but remember," Bentley reminded Sly, "you can only climb on certain objects. Like pipes and ropes..."
"Yeah sure, and like that ladder there?" asked Sly.
"That is correct," answered Bentley, "but do not forget, Sly. You have to get close..."
"...then grab it," finished Sly as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Relax, Bentley, I live for this stuff!"
"Yeah," said Bentley, "and that's what worries me."
Before he proceeded to climb over the gate, the raccoon thief spotted a green bottle with something stuffed inside. Upon collecting the bottle's contents, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "Now this is very interesting. The message you just found appears to be some sort of clue! I'll decipher it here in the van. In the meantime, see if you can find any more clues. The more I have, the easier it'll be to crack the code."
Sly then proceeded to search for more clue bottles in the immediate area, finding two bottles along a makeshift jetty and three more clue bottles hung up in mast of a wrecked ship, having to defeat a couple of walrus guards before knocking the mast of the ship and collecting the clue bottles. Once they and the coins from the defeated guards were collected, Sly noticed through the binocucom that he had to climb over the gate using a dangling rope to get to the other clue bottles. Once all of the clue bottles were obtained in that area, Sly then proceeded to climb over the gate.
After climbing past Raleigh's gate, Bentley once again came on the binocucom and chimed in a worried tone, "Hold on, Sly. See those searchlights? One careless step, and you'll be subjected to acute combustion."
Sly sighed as he rolled his eyes and replied in an exasperated tone, "Are you done whining? Let's go!"
Bentley shot back with, "I'm just trying to keep you alive, partner. Especially so I'm not the one explaining to your girlfriend why you got careless and died from stupidity and acute combustion. Fortunately for you, I've launched these signal repeaters throughout Raleigh's fortress. Get close to one, and I can checkpoint your progress."
"Nice," replied Sly with a smirk on his face, and then added, "But you do know, she'd turn you into turtle soup for saying stuff like that."
Bentley gulped as he said nervously, "Why'd ya have to say that?"
The raccoon thief was swift in defeating the next walrus guard that threw stars at him. Once the guard was defeated, Sly then picked up the next set of clue bottles. After passing the first signal repeater, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "According to my Amphibio-Positioning System, that big blimp is where Raleigh is hiding out."
"You know, that blimp looks more like a machine than a hideout," observed Sly.
Bentley agreed as he replied, "You're right, Sly. That is a storm machine! It's the reason why it never stops raining around here."
Sly then surveyed the area as he then said, "That explains all the wrecked ships."
"But why would Raleigh want bad weather at his own hideout, 24/7?" Bentley inquired in confusion.
The raccoon thief replied nonchalantly, "Beats me, but rain or shine, I'm going to steal my family's book back. And if Raleigh gets in my way," he clenched his fists in memory of what happened to his parents before finishing, "it's on."
Upon reaching a gate, defeating another walrus guard, and collecting more clue bottles, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "Nice job so far, Sly. To get over the next gate, you'll need to grab onto this hook using your cane."
"Got it," replied Sly before he performed said move.
After defeating more guards, stealthily dodging the security system and collecting all the clue bottles, Bentley came on the binocucom and said in amazement, "You found it, Sly! That's the final clue to crack the code! Now find that vault, and I'll give you the instructions to open it."
Sly made his way to the vault and Bentley said, "The clues have led me to believe that the code for this vault is 7-9-2."
Bentley came on the binocucom and said in astonishment, "These are the blueprints of Raleigh's entire operation! I wonder... Yes! I can wire this info directly into your binocucom! It'll show you the position of nearby clues and breakable objects."
'Neyla,' thought Sly in appreciation as he suspected that his girlfriend might've broken into the vaults and swapped pages to ensure that acquiring the pages from the Thievius Raccoonus could be sped up.
Sly pushed those thoughts aside and smashed the pedestal containing the first treasure key, after noticing the shadow of a tiger head on the inside of the vault door. With the first key in his possession, Sly then unlocked the door leading to the stronghold of his first target.
oooooooooooooo
As Sly cracked the safe and obtained the blueprints to Raleigh's stronghold, a certain violet-furred tigress watched her lover proceed through the cave with a green holographic marker that then disappeared. With the green holographic marker gone, Neyla then dialed a number and spoke to Arpeggio. The tigress made sure to stay back and watch from afar in a safe distance.
"Arpeggio," began Neyla, after she went through the same cave, "it's Neyla reporting. I'm in England on Carmelita Fox's orders to scout out the stronghold. Yes, Cooper and his crew have begun their assault on Frog Legs. I expect they'll be through with Raleigh before the night is done.
"I know that time is a luxury for them," continued Neyla as she spoke to the leader of the Klaww Gang. "I told Cooper that when I gave him the files on the Fiendish Five that Carmelita had on them. Yes, but the members of the Fiendish Five also have pages of the Cooper Family's thieving manual. You know as well as I do that Cooper is going to make it a priority to obtain all those pages while he runs amok in the Fiendish Five's strongholds. Besides, I broke into Raleigh's vaults and searched for the blueprints to his hideout. Bentley will be able to help speed up the process with those blueprints. I can do that at each stronghold of the Fiendish Five, break into their vaults swap pages from the Cooper family's thieving instruction manual for blueprints in the vaults on the way to the main stronghold.
"Sly will get the job done. I have absolute faith in him and his crew," Neyla informed Arpeggio with a smile on her face before fading into anger and having a vein popping on her forehead. "Well, of course I'm saying that because I love him!"
The tigress hung up her phone as she finished with, "Seriously! What's wrong with 'aving a littl' faith in your beloved?"
oooooooooooooo
The raccoon thief was oblivious to hearing his girlfriend's conversation with their boss as he pulled up his binocucom and said, "That blimp looks like the most secured location on this boat. If Raleigh's really as smart as his police file suggests, then that's where I'll find him."
"Wonderful idea," replied Bentley, "but your plan is flawed."
"Why?" inquired the raccoon thief.
"Because it's impossible to get near him," answered Bentley. "To access Raleigh's blimp, you would have to sneak through that high-voltage power tube. To do that without getting electrocuted, you'd have to destroy that power generator, and to do that, you need two more of Raleigh's treasure keys, which are heavily guarded."
"Interesting," replied Sly. "So when are you going to get to the impossible part?"
"Fine, but I warned you!" Bentley exclaimed to Sly. "I've marked the areas you need to hit with holographic markers. Follow them to your objectives. Every time you collect a page from the Thieveus Raccoonus, I'll disengage the holographic markers. I'm sure you remember that Arpeggio isn't exactly someone who likes having a schedule delayed for any sort of reason."
"Yeah, I know, but thanks!" Sly exclaimed to Bentley.
"Don't mention it — it's your funeral," shot back Bentley.
"Heh, my Neyla would definitely have something to say to you, Bentley," Sly replied to himself as he descended down to the water and began making his way to the stronghold.
As the raccoon thief made his way to the stronghold, he collected the first encountered lucky charm that was on one of the floating objects of jetsam. Bentley came on the binocucom as he said, "Wow! You found a lucky charm. That'll protect you when you take any damage."
'You'd need a lucky charm just to protect you from Neyla,' Sly thought to himself with a smirk as he picked up the lucky charm and set on his backpack and saw a blue barrier surrounding him.
It didn't take long for Sly to climb up on to the ship. Upon climbing onto the ship, Raleigh came on the intercom and said, "I say chaps, my heartiest congratulations to you all! The storm machine has sunk its fiftieth ship last night, and the loot has already been unloaded. Our operation is moving along splendidly, with the possible exception being the grounds negligence displayed below decks. And, I demand the boilers stay at full pressure at all times! If you lazy, low-brow, technically incompetent pack of guttersnipes did your jobs right, we'd have sunk 100 ships by now! But of course, fifty boats is a fine, fine achievement. Carry on, my boys, carry on."
The raccoon thief surveyed his surroundings and saw that another lucky charm was present behind a glass case. Sly made for the lucky charm and added it to the first lucky charm he found and saw that his lucky charm became a golden lucky charm. Seeing his lucky charm become golden put a smile on his face as he dealt with a flashlight carrying squid guard. Once the guard was dealt with, he decided to head to the first area that looked pleasing to him.
oooooooooooooo
As Sly entered the ritzy area, Bentley dubbed "High Class Heist," that contained one of Raleigh's treasure keys, Bentley came on the binocucom as he said, "Jackpot, Sly! Look at all this stuff! Must be worth millions! And you know what that means... tighter security. You're going to have to be extra sneaky to get the treasure key here."
Before Sly proceeded into the area, he brought up his binocucom and then noticed the locations of clue bottles that were highlighted in green. Seeing this had Sly send a silent thanks to his tigress lover for breaking into the vaults and switching the pages for blueprints on his approach to Raleigh's fortress. Armed with the blueprints, he and Bentley would be able to speed up the restoration of the Thievius Raccoonus and keep to Arpeggio's schedule. Thanks to the blueprints, Sly was able to collect the clue bottles in the area and then headed to the vault as he destroyed the security and ransacked the area for as many coins as he could collect.
Before opening the vault, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "Whoever thought this code up knew what they were doing. Dial in 4-3-6."
Sly inputted the code and the vault opened to reveal pages from the Thievius Raccoonus that were in the vault. Bentley came on and said, "Sly, you've found a page from theThievius Raccoonus! This page teaches old Drake Cooper's Fast Attack Dive Move."
With the vault emptied, Sly placed his calling card in the empty vault and proceeded ahead to acquire the next treasure key that he needed to shut down the generator, generating the high volts of electricity and blocking Sly's way to get to Raleigh. The raccoon thief was swift in dealing with the only two walrus guards that were present and collected the coins that were on them. The step in getting to the treasure key was to proceed with quite a bit of hopping over lily pads while dodging yellow security beams. Sly then took a deep breath and then began hopping on the lily pads while dodging the lasers. After he skillfully made it past the lasers and tripping the security alarm with his tail just for spite, Sly destroyed the alarm that kept the security beams running.
"I think you did that to show off," Bentley said over Sly's earpiece.
"It wouldn't be fun if everything was this easy," replied Sly as he snuck along columns, dodging the security spotlights.
After clearing the security spotlights, Sly destroyed the security system and then proceeded to grab the treasure key. With the treasure key in hand, Bentley wrapped Sly back to the starting point and Sly exited the area. As he exited the ritzy area of the stronghold, the green holographic marker that marked the entrance had disappeared and that meant that Sly had to move on to the next area to grab the next key. The next area that Sly went into was to his right and he went through the door.
oooooooooooooo
The doors to the next area, dubbed "Into the Machine by Bentley, flung open and Bentley came on the binocucom as Sly advanced forward and chimed in "Eureka! We're in the engine room! My analysis tells me that if you trace the spinning crankshaft all the way back to its source, you'll find Raleigh's treasure key, and sabotage his machine while you're at it."
As the raccoon thief made his way through the engine room, he made sure to look through his binocucom to find the location of clue bottles in the area. Despite having the blueprints of Raleigh's stronghold, Sly didn't receive an exact location of the clue bottles. All he could do was move in the general direction of the clue bottles and hope the clanking sounds of the clue bottles would guide him to their location.
Within another ten minutes, Sly had acquired all the clue bottles and his way to the vault to open it. But first, Sly thought he would try to get through the furnace's fires until Bentley chimed in with, "You can't jump up on this furnace, Sly. You better go back and find an alternate route."
Sly complied and then made his way back towards the vault where he could swipe the next page of the Thievius Racconus.
"I can't believe I pieced this one together," said Bentley. "Try 2-2-7."
Sly entered the combination and the vault opened to reveal another page from the Thievius Raccoonus and was informed of another ancestor's raccoon technique. Once a calling card was placed in the empty vault, Sly then proceeded to go collect the third key as he sabotaged Raleigh's storm machine. As Sly collected the key, he was wrapped back outside by Bentley.
oooooooooooooo
Outside, Sly looked for the next green holographic marker for the next key. Seeing the next green holographic was on top of a tower, the raccoon thief made his way up to the tower and after making a wrong turn, he entered the tower and descended down below.
Bentley came on the binocucom and informed Sly, "Temperature's reading way off the charts in here. This must be the power source for the storm machine!"
The descent into the storm machine's power source was a bit of a challenge. The raccoon thief made sure he collected clue bottles, thanks to having the blueprints as he approached Raleigh's fortress. After collecting the last clue bottle, Sly looked for the vault and couldn't find it until he remembered seeing the vault back at the starting point. The thought of being wrapped back tempted Sly, but getting the treasure key was important as well.
Once Sly had busted down the locked down door and collected another one hundred coins to replace the lucky charm he lost at the hands of one of Raleigh's wielding walrus guards, the raccoon thief dodged the spotlights and smashed the pedestal holding the treasure key. Once Sly collected the treasure key, he was wrapped out of the area and back out to the main deck of Raleigh's stronghold. Sly noticed the green marker was still brightly lit and that meant he had to return back to the area for the vault.
"Hey Bentley, could you do me a favor and wrap me into the area I just came out of?" Sly requested his turtle best friend. "I think the vault was located at the entrance of the area."
"I remember seeing the vault there too," replied Bentley, as he nodded in agreement with Sly. "I'll wrap you there. Just remember, we can't keep Arpeggio waiting with your mission to recover the Thievius Raccoonus."
"I won't need to go through the area again, will I?" Sly inquired to Bentley.
"Thankfully, since the vault is there near the holographic marker I projected," Bentley began as his answer, "you won't need to go through the area again. Just exit from the starting point and I'll shut off the holographic marker so you know not to go through the area again."
The raccoon thief was then wrapped back into the area that he had just proceeded through and made a direct b-line to the vault. Bentley then came on the binocucom "I'm unbeatable! No code can stand before me! It's got to be 5-7-9!"
Sly inputted the code to the vault and retrieved another page from the Thievius Raccoonus. Sly had specifically obtained knowledge on retrieving fallen coins from broken objects and defeated thugs. The raccoon thief, in a sense, would become a magnet for said coins and would line his gang's pockets with much needed cash to maintain their lifestyles. After obtaining said page, Sly was quick to exit from boiler area as Raleigh's guards were busy and at work trying to repair the damage done to the storm machine's power source. Seeing that he didn't need to cause any more damage or ruckus, Sly was quick to exit the area and let Bentley shut down the green holographic marker.
"Bentley's right about one thing," Sly said to himself in a rare moment of serious thinking. "Arpeggio doesn't like being kept waiting."
oooooooooooooo
Sly made his way to the next area, called "A Cunning Disguise" by Bentley, after climbing up another structure. In Sly's way was a flashlight carrying squid guard. The raccoon thief had to hide to avoid detection and advance only when the guard had his back turned. After using the decoy technique that Sly had acquired from the last safe he robbed, the raccoon dealt with the guard and entered the next area that held a treasure key. When Sly approaches the first booby-trapped rug and watched as several rats get turned into miniature dart boards.
"Those rats got pegged," Sly observed as he watched the rats getting killed.
"Raleigh appears to have booby-trapped this entire place," replied Bentley.
Sly smirked as he replied, "I'm going to enjoy this."
Bentley became worried as he shot back, "Don't you get it, Sly? If you step on that rug... forget about becoming a master thief. You'll be a master dartboard."
Sly then noticed an empty barrel, as he then inquired, "Wait a second. What if I jumped into that barrel for protection?"
Bentley looked at the barrel via the binocucom's camera as he nervously answered, "I don't know. It looks pretty risky. And very unsanitary."
Sly smirked as he coolly replied with, "Only one way to find out!"
The raccoon thief jumped in the barrel and walked across the booby trapped rug. As he walked across the pressure sensitive rug, the seemingly harmless globes activated and fired their darts at him. Thankfully for Sly, the darts weren't able to penetrate the barrel and strike him or the shield that his blue lucky charm emanated in front of him. After crossing the pressure sensitive rug, the guns fell silent and reverted back to hiding in their globes. Sly made it a point to destroy the decoy globes and continued to ransack the area.
Once the raccoon was finished collecting all the fallen coins, he jumped back into the barrel and proceeded further, collecting clue bottles as he went along. Sly noticed that there weren't as many of Raleigh's security guards along his path to the fifth treasure key belonging to Raleigh much of the security that protected the treasure key were spotlights and the decoy globes.
Bentley advised Sly that if he stayed still inside the barrel, the guard wouldn't be able to see him, even if he shined his flashlight on him. Sly took the advice to heart and used it to the fullest. Once all of the clues were obtained, Sly backtracked to the vault, where Bentley chimed in with, "With the help of a straightedge and compass, the answer was simple. Dial in 2-4-2."
Once Sly input the code, the vault opened, and another page from the Thievius Raccoonus was in the vault. As Sly was informed of the page from his family's book, Sly noticed the violet tiger head that was set on the inside of the vault door.
"Ah, Neyla," Sly said softly as he smiled and saw his girlfriend's own calling card.
After placing his calling card in the empty vault and wiping away the trace of his lover's symbol, in case Interpol did a bit of investigating work, Sly then proceeded to obtain the next treasure key by evading and eliminating the remaining security left to defend the key.
oooooooooooooo
Once Sly was warped outside, he made for the generator and unlocked it with three of the five treasure keys he acquired. With the gate unlocked and the generator unprotected, the raccoon thief brought his cane down and smashed the generator into pieces. Upon doing so, Sly collected enough coins to replace a lucky charm that he lost when he was clearing books in the library that were blocking his path to the treasure key, and had inadvertently alerted the last squid flashlight guard.
With the generator destroyed and the path to the second area clear, Bentley contacted Sly through the binocucom and said, "Astonishing! All my calculations led me to believe you would fail to knock out that generator!"
"Never was good at math," replied Sly in a snarky tone of voice.
Bentley looked to Sly as he responded, "Well, here's a real test for you," and then gravely added, "I've found a way up to Raleigh's hideout, but unfortunately, it is doomed to failure."
Sly then looked to the locked up cannon and asked Bentley, "You're not going to tell me I have to shoot myself out of that cannon?"
"I'm afraid that's the only way," Bentley answered nervously.
The grey raccoon smirked as he replied, "Now you're talking!"
Bentley could only sigh on the other end, internally worrying about Sly and the implied pressure that Neyla had placed on him and Murray specifically before the trio left for their mission to simultaneously recover the Thievius Raccoonus and defeat the Fiendish Five. The turtle knew that the she-tiger never made idle threats; especially, when it involved her "handsome raccoon." Bentley just had to keep Sly alive, ensure he was successful in retrieving his family's legacy while defeating the Fiendish Five, and make sure he returned to her in one piece for the vacation that she planned for the two of them. Once all of that was done, he would be relieved from having to keep a watchful eye on his best friend.
"You're really scaring me, man," said a nervous Bentley. "Anyway, to get inside that thing, you have to steal all seven of Raleigh's treasure keys."
"So what are we waiting for?" asked an eager Sly. "You show me those "holo-whats-its..."
"You mean my holographic markers?" Bentley interjected the eager and impatient Sly's sentence.
"Yeah, yeah," answered Sly. "And I'll swipe whatever it takes to get shot out of that cannon and steal back my family's Thievius Raccoonus." He then shrugged nonchalantly as he added, "Besides, we are on a tight schedule with Arpeggio."
"You don't need to remind me of that, Sly," retorted Bentley.
Sly put his binocucom away and searched for the last two holographic markers before deciding which area he would strike next. The raccoon thief was tempted to see if he could unlock the locks on the cannon. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to without the remaining two keys, seeing how the locks were reinforced to ensure that no thief could pick them without the keys.
Sly then headed up the spiral walkway and spotted the last two holographic markers that he was looking for. One marker was located in cockpit of a submarine that Raleigh had and was blocked by a walrus guard, hefting throwing stars. The last holographic marker was situated across from him and blocked by a squid flashlight guard. Looking at the two glowing green markers, the raccoon thief decided to go for the treasure key that required the use of a submarine as he thought it would be more challenging to obtain.
Before he went towards the submarine, though, Sly scanned the area and caught sight of Neyla, giving her a slight nod for her to go ahead and signal Carmelita for the bust and blowing a kiss to her. Despite knowing that the guard was going to see him coming, Sly crept as close as he could before the star throwing guard caught sight of him. Once the walrus guard caught sight of Sly, he began throwing his stars at the raccoon thief. The guard, however, was swiftly defeated and Sly boarded the submarine. Firing up the submersible, he then descended down into the water below.
oooooooooooooo
Neyla returned the nod she got from Sly with a nod of her own. Before she made the call to Carmelita, she made sure to put enough distance between herself and Raleigh's stronghold. Once she had put enough distance between herself and Raleigh's stronghold with "confirmation" of Cooper's whereabouts, the violet-furred tigress pulled out the cellphone she used for Interpol to dial Carmelita's number.
"Inspector Fox, it's Constable Neyla calling," Neyla said to Carmelita on the other line. "I found Cooper and his gang. Yes, he's tearing through Raleigh's fortress and the defenses are down. You might want to bring down the hammer."
oooooooooooooo
Once Sly descended down into the waters below, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "You found it, Sly! This is where Raleigh's gang of crabs stashes his sunken treasure. Use your sub to blast 'em! The left stick controls the sub. Give it a try."
Bentley proceeded to give Sly a quick tutorial on how to operate the sub and what he needed to do in order to obtain the treasure key. In short, a total of forty treasure chests had to be obtained while thwarting Raleigh's gang of crabs. The raccoon thief had a fierce fight ahead of him as the gang of crabs were relentlessly trying to snag treasure chests and haul them away before Sly could obtain them.
The number of crabs was overwhelming, but Sly was able to repulse them as he collected the chests needed to obtain the key. Sly did have quite a number of close calls with some crabs coming dangerously close to making off with even a single chest of treasure, but upon collecting his fortieth chest of treasure, the crabs had finally relented and withdrew as Sly obtained his sixth treasure key and headed back to the surface.
Bentley then came on the binocucom and exclaimed, "Congratulations! You did it!"
oooooooooooooo
With one remaining treasure key left, Sly headed towards the last holographic marker still burning brightly. This area was christened "The Gunboat Graveyard" by Bentley once Sly entered the ship graveyard. And the area was indeed a graveyard, from Sly's observation before making his way towards the final treasure key and the last vault that needed to be broken into and have its contents recovered.
As Sly began his trek, Raleigh came on the intercom with and announced, "Ahoy, dock hands! Capital job unloading that cargo last night. You're the crown jewel of my operation. Do me the service of proving your worth yet again by protecting the treasure key that I have stored down there. It appears there's a prowler on the premises. And if any of you let him get his hands on that key, I'll personally flog the lot of you for an entire fortnight!"
"Yikes," chimed in Murray with a wince. "I'd hate to have to work for Raleigh if he flogs his guards just for failing him."
"You and me both, big guy," replied Sly as he collected the tenth clue bottle and then proceeded further through the eerie silent graveyard of ships.
Stealth was definitely on Sly's side as he disposed the guards that were in his path. Of course, Sly made sure to look through his binocucom to find the clue bottles he needed to help Bentley crack the safe code. As he went through the area, Sly was even able to pick up enough coins for another lucky charm to appear and replace the one he lost earlier when a walrus guard managed to land a body slam on him while he collected the seventh and eighth clue bottles.
Once the final clue bottle had been collected, Sly went to the vault and contacted Bentley for the code.
Bentley then said, "This one was cake. Input 7-1-9."
Once Sly inputted the code, and the vault opened, Bentley explained to Sly that he had obtained notes on water safety and that he wouldn't have to worry about losing a lucky charm if he fell into the water. With the notes on Water Safety, both Sly and a very nervous Bentley were pleased as the former had no interest in drowning any more than the latter wanted to see his best friend dead and have to suffer the Neyla-shaped consequences. After collecting the treasure key, Sly was warped back to the grounds and he was then ready.
oooooooooooooo
The violet-furred tigress was also listening in on what Thievius Raccoonus pages Sly had recently retrieved from Raleigh. Even Neyla was relieved to hear that her lover had obtained the means to avoid drowning, despite her insistence to Sly on learning how to swim when they were kids.
As Neyla was making her call to Inspector Carmelita, Sly made it to the cannon and unlocked it. Once the cannon was unlocked, a hatch opened at the loading end. Sly then jumped into the cannon as it automatically readjusted itself and targeted the storm machine, where the nefarious frog was hiding. Once the cannon was in position, it fired and sent the raccoon thief towards his first opponent of the Fiendish Five.
Once he broke into the storm machine, the raccoon thief found Raleigh in an area consisting of floating platforms surrounding a central raised platform and throne where the mad frog oversaw his small criminal empire that encompassed the British Isles, the Low Countries of Europe, and Northern France. The bullfrog saw Sly entering his sanctuary and became silently furious that his guards weren't able to repel the young raccoon. Putting aside his thoughts of wanting to flog his guards for failing to thwart Sly's efforts, at least for the moment, Raleigh then put on a fake smile as he eyed the male raccoon.
"How delightful," Raleigh said in a mocking tone. "We have a guest. The only thing is," he then shouted in anger, "I HATE UNEXPECTED GUESTS!"
Sly eyed the frog who broke into his father's safe and swiped the Thievius Raccoonus for his cohorts, and shot back in an acid-like tone, "Listen, Raleigh. Wipe out my family and steal what's mine, you better expect company."
Raleigh looked to the eighteen year-old raccoon and slightly chuckled as he figured that Sly was still wet behind the ears and didn't understand how things worked in the criminal underworld. The grey-furred hoodlum might've thrown out low level thugs from some neighborhoods and systemically wiped out his lieutenants, but Raleigh wasn't going anywhere.
The bullfrog then shot back in exaggeration, "Oh, I'm ever so sorry," then mockingly added, "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 then showed his temperamental nature again as he added, "BLOATING TO GARGANTUAN SIZE, AND SQUASHING YOU LIKE THE INSIGNIFICANT BUG THAT YOU ARE!"
Sly Cooper narrowed his eyes at Raleigh as he said, "Bring it on."
Raleigh approached the center of fighting arena and managed to swallow an insect, instantaneously becoming much bigger as he bloated to the size that he previously described. The mad frog then hopped down to the platform where Sly was and started to try to and flatten the thieving young adult. The much older bullfrog noticed the golden barrier that emanated from the golden lucky charm that Sly had attached to his backpack.
"Just because you have a golden lucky charm," snarled Raleigh, "doesn't mean that you're safe from me. I'll squash your protection and then make sure you meet your dead parents. Very soon I might add."
After the fourth attempt to squish Sly, Raleigh had reverted back to his vulnerable state and Sly was quick to make a 180 turn and bring down his cane on the green bullfrog. Once the bullfrog had been hit by the cane, he was knocked into the water and then began swimming back to the raised platform. Once there, he gobbled up another insect to return him to his giant form.
Raleigh tried two more times to squash Sly, but was unsuccessful. On the second attempt, Raleigh sank the platforms that weren't occupied by Sly. For Raleigh's third attempt, he tried to chase down the raccoon thief and have platforms sink in order to prevent Sly from trying to outsmart him. For his final attempt to defeat Sly, Raleigh changed tactics and sent out his long his tongue to use it as a weapon to knock down his protection and eventually drown him in the water. Alas, his final attempt failed and he was defeated by Sly for good.
Knocking the vile bullfrog into the water, Raleigh was in disbelief as he exclaimed, "Blast it all! You've beaten me!" His humiliation then gave way to a wicked smirk as he added, "Well, gloat all you want, Sly Cooper. 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."
With his final words of warning spoken to the young raccoon thief, Raleigh began to drown. Sly callously ignored the drowning pirate as he went for the safe and cracked it with Bentley's help.
oooooooooooooo
Watching the fight from a safe distance, Neyla recorded the fight between Sly and Raleigh for her to have as future study material. Part of being Arpeggio's eyes and ears with his any of his protégés meant that the violet-furred tigress had to make sure and document their progress for the head of the Klaww Gang to personally assess himself. Plus, being able to finally watch her lover in action was, as Neyla silently put it to herself, a "delicious sight to see."
With the fight over and Sly leaving Raleigh to drown as he went for the bullfrog's safe, Neyla pulled out her personal phone she used for Klaww Gang business and dialed Arpeggio.
"Arpeggio, it's Neyla," the she-tiger said on the phone. "Yes, Raleigh has been defeated and Cooper got what he was there for. Of course, I'm certain that Clockwerk will notice. It looks like the ol' bird had taken notice earlier and the other members of the Fiendish Five wrote our boy off as a small nuisance. However, I think losing Raleigh will get all their attention soon enough."
Neyla then noticed that Carmelita was approaching Raleigh's stronghold as she then said to Arpeggio, "Understood. I better get back before Old Ironsides begins to suspect something's up."
Before rejoining Carmelita, she sent a text to Sly warning him that Carmelita was approaching him and that he needed to clear out as soon as possible.
oooooooooooooo
From the Notes of Sly Cooper: "Raleigh's section of the Thievius Raccoonus held detailed instructions on how to perform my ancestor Rioichi Cooper's Ninja Spire Jump, a technique he developed while sneaking into the thickly fortified castles of Feudal Japan.
"Finding a way off Raleigh's boat got a little tricky with the untimely arrival of Inspector Fox, who, failing to find me, busted Raleigh and his crew. Thankfully, my gorgeous tigress warned me about the good Inspector's arrival and I was able to get away without detection.
"With the storm machine out of commission, boats found their way back onto the ocean, and the mystery of the Welsh Triangle faded from memory. My gang and I loped around England for a while, enjoying the pleasant weather, and then headed back home, excited for our next heist."
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Author's note: I'd like to thank Awareness Bringer for their help in collaborating on this fic. If you like, love it or you some more of it (See what I did there?) hit the favorite and subscribe to it. All the reviews make a difference too. I even hope some of you Sly/Carmelita fans might enjoy this take on the Sly Cooper games and give it a shot.