Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and story elements of the Sly Cooper franchise. All credit goes to Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games. This is purely for entertainment purposes only.
Sly Cooper Remake: Hearts of the Raccoon and Tigress
By NEBSparky86 and Awareness Bringer
Sunset Snake Eyes
From the Notes of Sly Cooper: "It had been a while since I'd been back in the U.S. Next up, the notorious Muggshot, ruthless muscle of the Fiendish Five. What he lacked in brains, he definitely made up for in brawn.
Turns out he wasn't always that way. He grew up as the runt of the litter, the neighborhood weakling. The only friends he could turn to were usually found on the big screen. It was there that he spotted his first gangster, and he knew instantly that's what he wanted to be. He spent the rest of his youth working real hard to get there, fueled on his dreams of great power and respect.
With enough perspiration, he realized that dream. He'd become a hard-boiled, street brawling, tough-as-nails gangster, ensuring that he'd never be picked on or pushed around again. So he's holed up in Mesa City, huh? I've always wanted to go to that thriving American boomtown."
oooooooooooooo
Just like in England, Neyla was the first to arrive in Mesa City. But this time, she wasn't alone as Inspector Carmelita Fox had come along with her. Neyla didn't like this unexpected monkey wrench to be thrown at her as she had hoped that Carmelita would give her scouting duties again like she did in England. Unfortunately, Neyla had underestimated her new partner's obsession with Sly.
'Damn you, Carmelita,' Neyla thought to herself as she gritted her teeth when Carmelita wasn't looking. 'I need to get rid of her so I can do my scouting work.'
"Alright, Constable," said Carmelita with professional authority in her tone of voice. "Let's start searching. Cooper is here. I can feel it."
"Wouldn't it be more logical for us to split up?" the violet-furred tigress inquired the vixen. "You know, to cover more ground?"
The female red fox eyed Neyla as the question was brought to her. While Carmelita couldn't deny that Neyla was instrumental in the arrest of Sir Raleigh, the she-tiger's circumstances of joining Interpol still left a bad taste in her mouth when it came to the idea of trusting her. In addition, the way the Cooper Gang had bailed the scene back in England just when Carmelita was arriving to back up Neyla had felt too coincidental to ignore.
'Still, I guess Neyla does have a point,' Carmelita then thought to herself. 'Two police officers roaming around Mesa City would be bring trouble, especially with a stereotypical gangster like Muggshot involved.'
Shaking her head with an exhale, she finally relented. "This is a bad idea, but fine. We'll split up to get both Cooper and Muggshot. However, I expect you to contact me every two hours." Seeing Neyla stare at her unconvinced, Carmelita forced a small grin on her face as she added, "Or answer when I contact you. I'd honestly would do the same, even if I was your rookie instead of the other way around."
Genuinely chuckling at the idea, Neyla replied, "The rookie with the criminal record, you mean?"
"Well, I would do my time first before getting a law-abiding job, if that's what you're wondering," Carmelita retorted with her eyes narrowed yet still smirking.
Neyla then raised her hands in mock surrender as she responded, "Fair enough all the same," she then made a bow for show while saying, "'Boss Lady'."
Making her quick exit from the inspector and her scrutinizing gaze, the Bengal tigress knew she needed to find the blueprints for Muggshot's stronghold and get them in the safe that was on Sly's approach to Mesa City per Arpeggio's instructions, while also throwing Carmelita under the bus to accomplish said mission. Seeing a Doberman guard wielding a Thomson machine gun and wearing a zoot suit, the tigress approached him and caught him by surprise.
"Slow down there, Al Capone," Neyla said to the Doberman guard as he pointed his gun at her.
"Whaddya want, 'Your Majesty'?" the machine gun-toting Doberman asked Neyla in a snarling tone as he mocked her Cockney accent.
Showing a flirtatious grin, Neyla smoothly answered, "You can call me a 'friend'," as she began her subtle manipulation of the flustered guard. "A friend who has vital information for your boss."
"The boss is too busy to deal with 'friends' like yourself," retorted the Doberman guard. "So you better scram, 'Your Majesty', while I'm in a," his look turned bloodthirsty as he finished with, "'charity-giving' mood."
"Alright then," Neyla coyly replied and shrugged her shoulders as she turned her back, "I guess you won't be living any longer, or sooner. Once your boss, Muggshot, finds out you had vital information about an annoying, notorious, and unrelenting cop invading his turf and you didn't give it to him. Oh boy, you're going to go bye-bye somewhere in the desert with no kneecaps. All because," she then showed a wicked smirk at the Doberman as she finished with, "a cat had your tongue."
Hearing those words from Neyla prompted the zoot suit-wearing canine to charge in front of the Indian tigress. For the guard, any bit of information about cops coming to invade his boss's turf was vital to his survival and the survival of his boss. The Doberman instantly figured that having a snitch tell him about such a cop coming to Mesa City might increase his standing and position within the organization. With a smirk on his face, the low-ranking crook then said to Neyla, "Alright then, 'Your Majesty.' What's this 'vital' information that I need pass on to the boss?"
Seeing that she had successfully manipulated the guard, Neyla then composed herself as she answered, "Tell your boss that Inspector Carmelita Fox from Interpol is invading Mesa City. She's already slipped in and is looking for a way to get to Muggshot."
"What's in it for you, 'Princess,'" the thug asked sharply.
"All I'm wanting is to look for something valuable I left when I last came to Mesa City," Neyla lied with a false look. "Once I find it, I'm out of here and out of everyone's hair and crosshairs, including yours."
Mulling it over, the Doberman finally shrugged and said, "Not sure you're gonna find what you're looking for, 'Your Majesty', but you're welcome to look around."
"Thank you," Neyla replied with a slight nod.
Once the Doberman guard left, the violet-furred tigress let out a sigh of relief. With Muggshot and his goons focusing their efforts to hunt down Carmelita, she could get to work looking for the blueprints for Muggshot's stronghold with little to no interference from them.
Neyla began her search for the blueprints at the Boneyard Casino since Neyla thought it was logical for them to be found there, she surveyed the building and found that there was only a few guards and the security system was down for maintenance. This overheard chatter bewildered her as she couldn't believe how lax the security was in Mesa City. For all of Raleigh's prior boasting to her beloved raccoon, it certainly didn't appear that the casino was well guarded and a snake could slither in without setting off alarms. Then again, for all his brawn-backed bravado, Muggshot lacked the business sense to get gamblers, so Neyla probably shouldn't have been surprised.
Once she had made it through the mostly flooded maze in the casino, and found the vault, Neyla begun cracking it. As soon as she inputted the correct code of 3-3-8, the vault opened and revealed, not the blueprints to Muggshot's operation, but another set of pages from the Thieivus Raccoonus.
"Struck out here," Neyla said to herself as she closed up the vault and left the page in the vault. "Guess I need to go further in. I just hope that the security is just as horrible around the whole city as it is in this flop of a casino."
Taking an hour looking through another two areas of Mesa City, Neyla struck out with the vaults as she found more pages from the Thieivus Raccoonus and not the blueprints she was looking for. With one more area to look through, Neyla began her search and avoided collecting any of the clue bottles on the rooftops as she eyed a massive balloon that looked like Muggshot.
"Ugh, someone has a massively huge ego," Neyla snorted to herself as she had rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust. "I can't wait until my raccoon defeats him so he can be tossed in jail."
Much to Neyla's surprise, there was no security present as she made her way to the final safe. Wondering why there was no security present in the gutted out apartment building, Neyla forced those thoughts to the side as she was on the clock. The she-tiger then wondered how long it would take her recent pawn to alert Muggshot about Carmelita's presence in Mesa City. Regardless, she had to move quickly and do it fast before the overly aggressive bulldog would go into paranoia and go overboard with security.
"'Ello Darling," said Neyla after she cracked the safe and found the blueprints to Muggshot's stronghold. "Time to get you to your proper place."
Neyla slapped her signature mark on the inside of the vault door and then placed the blueprints in her backpack. Armed with the blueprints to place in the vault on Sly's approach to Mesa City, Neyla made her way to the entrance of Mesa City and then out to the outskirts. The tigress made her way there in twenty-five minutes as she went over the defenses that were already in place and active. After climbing across the chasm, Neyla cracked the vault code within ninety seconds, and opened it to discover a page from the Thievius Raccoonus. Finally giving in to her temptation, Neyla skimmed over the page she found.
'Now that's quite handy,' the Bengal tiger thought to herself as the page detailed how to make standup copies of the user. 'Better get these blueprints in this vault and this page in the other vault.'
Neyla checked her watch to see how much more time she had before she needed to check in with Carmelita, and saw that she had at least twenty minutes before the exact time. Rolling her eyes, Neyla shook her head and figured she wasn't going to check in with Carmelita after all, even if she wanted to. Still, she had to make a believable excuse that would get her off the hook. The tigress then swiftly made her way back to the gutted out apartment building and the temporarily empty vault. Placing the page inside, she closed it up right as another Doberman guard appeared and spotted her.
"Hey!" shouted the machine gun-toting guard as he trained his weapon on Neyla. "What are youse doing at that vault? Youse not supposed to be here."
"I was, well, looking for something," lied Neyla as she held her hands up in a mix between acting and genuine self-worry. "Thought maybe retracing my steps would help."
"Well, whatever youse looking for ISN'T here," replied the Doberman guard as he added in a threatening snarl.
'Please, chum,' Neyla thought to herself as she then showed a defiant glance at the guard, 'you couldn't scare a kitten… even on your best day.'
"I'm letting youse off with a warning, Doll Face," added the Doberman guard. "Beat it while I'm feeling good."
"Thank you," replied Neyla as she had to grit her teeth to contain her anger at being called "Doll Face" by the brute.
Once she had cleared the hotel complex, she then pulled out her cellphone just as she heard machine gun fire as a guard in an orange jumpsuit had gotten shot by another Doberman guard. The blue-furred basset hound was trying to escape and had a cellphone in his hand as if he was going to call someone. The Doberman guard looked to the dead basset hound and then to Neyla as he said, "Sorry 'bout the mess, Doll Face. This dead dog was a snitch. Nothin' worse than a tough and gruff dog turnin' into a snitching canary."
Neyla had a vein pop on her forehead as another guard had called her "Doll Face." As much as she wanted to wail on the guard, she had to maintain her composure and her cover. The tigress turned around and replied, "Yes. Snitches never prosper if they snitch to the police." With her cover story established, Neyla called Carmelita to "check in."
"Inspector Fox, it's Constable Neyla calling," Neyla said as she exited Mesa City for the outskirts. "Yes, I know that I'm late checking in with you. I was caught in the crossfire between two guards. No, Inspector, I haven't located Sly Cooper or his pals.
"I'm moving towards the outskirts of Mesa City," Neyla answered Carmelita as she was asked what she was doing. "If the Cooper Gang are on approach, then the outskirts would be the logical choice to approach from. No, you don't need to come, I'll alert you when they arrive. Alright, Inspector. You can lie in wait for them further in the city at a gutted out apartment building.
The she-tiger hung up her phone and let a sigh of relief as she moaned to herself, "Why did I have to infiltrate Interpol when I could have been Sly's leading lady? I'd rather be with him right now instead of feigning being Carmelita's littl' lap dog."
oooooooooooooo
As Neyla was making her way towards rendezvousing with her beloved raccoon, the Cooper Gang were on their way to Mesa City. Murray had to drive along a treacherous path that hugged along the sides of canyon walls, but thanks to his driving skills, he successfully made it to the back entrance of Mesa City.
Once in position, the back doors flung open and Sly made his exit from the team's vehicle. Armed with his cane in hand and a golden lucky charm that emitted a golden energy field, the raccoon thief was ready to start his approach towards his next target. After completely smashing the 'Keep Out' sign and collecting clue bottles, Sly then climbed up before pulling out his binocucom and receiving Bentley's contact.
"Hey, Sly!" Bentley exclaimed as Sly surveyed his surroundings. "I thought you said Mesa City was going to be loud and busy. This looks more like a ghost town!"
"Something's happened," replied Sly as he was watching for movement. "Where is everyone?"
"I don't know, but it's starting to give me the creeps," answered Bentley as he nervously shivered. "What do you say we take off? At least for now?"
Sly just smirked as he countered with, "And miss all the fun? Besides, I want to try out that new move I got from Raleigh's section of the Thievius Raccoonus."
"You mean the Ninja Spire Jump?" inquired Bentley.
"Yeah," answered Sly. "Do me a favor and read me the instructions again..."
"To landeth safely upon diminutive points," began Bentley, "leapeth lively with blue auras emblazoned upon them."
Sly then cracked a mischievous smile as he summarized, "So 'jump and hit the circle button' to land on narrow spots."
Bentley raised a brow as he sharply retorted with, "Really Sly? This is no times for jokes. We're not in a video game."
Sly could hear Murray laughing in the background before responding back with a slight chuckle, "Okay, okay. So I just need to jump and land on narrow spots with blue auras?"
Bentley gave a nod as he answered, "That's a rough translation."
With the brief instruction given on how to perform the Ninja Spire Jump, Sly managed to make it across the pointed bridge, before turning and noticing there was a safe and a few clue bottles. After disposing of the guard, Sly collected the five clue bottles and then climbed back up to proceed forward and dealt with a tethered dog before collecting two more clues.
As Sly was about to move forward, someone had silently dropped down behind him and tapped his left shoulder. The male raccoon instantaneously turned and was pleased to see his beloved tigress in the flesh. The pair smiled at each other and then Neyla tapped her left ear. Sly gave her a slight nod and turned off his earpiece. Once it was off, the pair then lovingly brushed their heads against one another before they kissed.
"Hey, beautiful," Sly said to Neyla in his flirting tone.
"Hey there, handsome," replied Neyla with a slight nod.
"What brings you to Mesa City?" Sly asked his lover.
"You do," Neyla answered before exhaling. "Though, I do have some bad news."
"Uh oh, that can't be good," replied Sly as he looked to Neyla worried.
Neyla said in a reassuring tone. "I'm not breaking up with you. We made a promise and I'm making sure you keep your end of it. I just came to warn you about Carmelita. She's not too far away."
"What made her decide to come to Mesa City?" asked Sly as he was a little surprised, if internally concerned.
"It's her obsession of trying to catch you," answered Neyla. "I was hoping that she'd have me come and scout ahead of her. But this time, she was insistent on coming along."
"This should be fun," Sly replied with a smirk on his face.
"I'm sure it will," Neyla said to her lover before playfully switching to a serious tone. "Just don't forget, you're mine. That overzealous deviant of a vixen cannot have you." Changing topics, she then said, "One last thing," as she dropped four clue bottles at her boyfriend's feet. "So you don't have to go searching all over the place."
"Thanks Neyla," said Sly before he kissed her. "I owe you big."
"Indeed, you do owe me big," replied Neyla with a smug look on her face. "And I intend to collect… once Clockwerk is defeated."
Once they were done talking, Neyla tapped her left ear again. Sly gave his lover a slight nod and turned on his earpiece. As he turned it on, Neyla threw down a smoke bomb and made her getaway. With Neyla gone, he collected the four clue bottles and then proceeded further until he noticed a train car.
Upon reaching the train car itself, Sly contacted Bentley and asked, "What's with those flashing lights?"
Bentley saw the flashing lights and then explained, "The latest in high-tech security — electronic floor sensors. Step on them and you're a goner."
Sly then replied without a care, "Nice touch."
"They're safe to walk on while flashing," added Bentley, "but it also means they're about to switch to a different sector."
As Sly was making progress towards Mesa City, Neyla pulled out her phone for Klaww Gang business and called Arpeggio. She had to report in on Sly's progress to their boss. Every report she made to the British parrot gave him vital information he needed to assess the worth of his protégés. And Arpeggio was heavily invested in the development of Sly Cooper's skills.
Neyla began her call, "Arpeggio… it's Neyla. Ringtail is here approaching Mesa City to go after Muggshot. Yes, Muggshot has another section of the Cooper family's thieving manual that he's after."
The tigress sighed and rolled her eyes as she said, "I told you not to worry. Sly will deal with Muggshot as he collects the pages of his family's book. Plus, I met with Sly and gave him some of the clue bottles that he needs to find the blueprints to Muggshot's stronghold. Why? You want him to complete his task of defeating Muggshot, don't you?"
Neyla let out a sigh of annoyance as she added, "Having him get the blueprints to Muggshot's stronghold for Bentley will speed up the process of defeating the steroid-pumping bulldog."
Neyla then scanned her surroundings before lying, "Uh oh, my lawful partner's nearby. I gotta make myself scarce before she spots me."
As Neyla was ending her phone call, Sly made his way through the outskirts of Mesa City. The raccoon thief collected clue bottles and made short work of guards that stood in his way.
However, Sly was not invincible as he had lost one of his lucky charms to a fight with a card throwing Dalmatian guard. Thankfully, this loss was short lived as after having collected another hundred coins, they would transform into another lucky charm and both lucky charms transformed into a golden lucky charm.
Once the last clue bottle was collected, Sly backtracked towards the vault as he had found the location of the vault. Unfortunately, having to backtrack to the vault cost Sly valuable time that couldn't be spent.
Once Sly made it to the vault, Bentley came on the binocucom and then said, "A little bit of higher mathematics, and voila! Dial in 3-1-4."
Upon receiving the contents, Bentley then said, "You found the blueprints for Muggshot's additions to Mesa City. With these files, I'll be able to help you find all his clues and breakables. Just look through your binocucom to get the information."
"That's my girl," Sly said to himself with a slight smile, before removing the tigress symbol from the vault door.
"You do realize that we're now behind schedule, right, Sly?" Bentley inquired his best friend.
"I know," replied Sly with a small frown. "That means we're really gonna have to pick up the pace and make up for lost time."
"Then you better get moving before another guard sees what happened to the guy near Muggshot's treasure key," said Bentley.
Sly made a b-line back towards the treasure key that he left behind to go back for the vault and claim the blueprints of Muggshot's stronghold. With time not on his side, Sly decided to utilize the Roll technique he acquired from Raleigh's stronghold, managing to pick up an additional few minutes of lost time thanks to the technique itself. Despite gaining some ground, though, Sly and his crew had a long way to go to pick up the pace. Once he picked up the treasure key and unlocked the gate, Sly proceeded through to Mesa City itself.
oooooooooooooo
Getting through the City's entrance, Sly then contacted Bentley through his binocucom. The turtle genius came on as he said, "This Muggshot certainly isn't shy. Okay, so we know he's here somewhere, but how are we supposed to find him? Mesa City is a big place."
Sly analyzed the sky line of Mesa City and saw a building that caught his eye, as it stuck out to him. Sly then replied, "Given that he's a bulldog... it seems only reasonable to assume that he'd choose to live in a giant fire hydrant."
Bentley gave a slight nod as he replied with, "That's some sound logic, Sly. Now you just need to find a way to break into the building's base."
'Oh if Neyla could hear Bentley say that I said something logical,' Sly thought to himself with a smirk on his face.
Sly Cooper scanned his surroundings and noticed a car that was hiked up and had the engine still running. The raccoon thief then also noticed the blocked barricade that was recently put up.
Sly then smirked as he replied, "Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something!"
Upon approaching the casino area Muggshot was then heard on the intercom, exclaiming in his tuff and gruff manner, "Yo! Hey, yo, yo! It's the boss! You know, I am the first to admit that maybe driving everyone out of town, while necessary to set up shop, might have taken a hit out of the business. So, now I hope you mugs would be obliged to any visitors that come here to lose their money in my casino. But, I got a reliable tip that a cop might be snooping around the operation. So from now on, greet any visitors you see with a hail of lead! Capiche?"
"'A reliable tip about a cop'?" Sly asked himself in confusion. "Neyla must've put in a word to get Carmelita off her back."
"I'm sorry, Sly," Bentley said as he came on the binocucom, "Did you say that Neyla provided a cop's whereabouts to Muggshot?"
"More than likely, she manipulated someone into telling Muggshot for her," Sly figured as he answered before adding to Bentley's question. "Yeah, she's here in Mesa City."
"I kinda figured that out when you said she must've 'tipped Muggshot off about a cop'," replied Bentley. "And I'm guessing that the cop she tipped Muggshot off about is Inspector Fox… right?"
Sly ignored the question and proceeded to survey the area and find where the next holographic markers were located. The first marker was easy to find at the Boneyard Casino, but before going for the treasure key there, the raccoon thief needed to find the other two glowing green markers that Bentley had projected. After temporarily clearing the front section of the hotel grounds of the machine gun toting Doberman guards, he headed towards a raised section that was blocked by blue furred basset hound hefting a ball and chain. With the guard dealt with, Sly then had the view of the other two glowing green holographic markers. One marker was accessible via a tilted subway car and the other one was straight behind him, just a couple spire jumps away.
oooooooooooooo
Once Sly had made the spire jumps, he went towards the area Bentley Had dubbed "At the Dog Track." Once he entered the area, Sly noticed the team van sitting on a racing track waiting for a race start. The raccoon thief then contacted Murray to find out what exactly was happening.
"Murray, what's going on down there?" asked Sly.
"Well," began Murray, "I drove to this hotdog stand for a quick snack and the next thing you know I'm getting challenged to a race by these gangster dogs!"
This piqued the grey-furred raccoon's interest as he then asked, "Is there a key in it for the winner?"
"Yeah," Murray answered with a nod, "three times around the track for a key."
"It's all you man," cheered Sly. "Don't forget to collect and use any nitro power ups you get. Go get 'em!"
"I'm on it!" Murray acknowledged with resolution.
As the race started, Murray had gotten a bad start as he had to play catch up in the first lap. Deciding that he would channel his inner Dale Eaglehardt, the male pink hippo got down to business, managing to bump aside an ambulance that a basset hound racer was using to get the first two nitro power ups. The battle to advance in the pole position was fierce for Murray as he made it to the second lap of the race in third place.
For the next circuit, however, Murray had to chase down a motorized trike and a car carrying three sombrero wearing racers. Using a nitro power up here and there, the pink hippo managed to bang the motorized trike and was bearing down on the Sombrero Brothers coming into for the final lap. With the final lap in hand, Murray managed to pass the Sombrero Brothers and ensured his lead by picking up every nitro power up that he could pick up and using them immediately to add to his growing monstrous lead over the other racers. The race ended with Murray as the victor.
Upon winning the race, Sly said, "Way to go, Murray!"
Murray exited the van to collect the treasure key… and some hot dogs for his own appetite. With his prizes in hand, he returned to the van and then exited the area for his next assignment.
oooooooooooooo
Sly had made his way towards the tilted subway car and then dealt with another basset hound ball and chain wielding guard before moving on to the next area Bentley would come to call… "Murray's Big Gamble." Sly then climbed down the ladder and found Murray in a holding position as he was contacted by Bentley.
"Murray is in position to make a run for this key," Bentley informed Sly.
The raccoon thief was confused as he inquired with Bentley, "Okay, so what do I do?"
Bentley answered with, "Provide some covering fire for him with that blasting station."
"Sweet," replied Sly, as he looked at the blasting station.
"Murray has a lucky charm to protect himself," Bentley informed Sly, as the raccoon noticed Murray had his golden lucky charm. "But he'll be relying on you to cover him."
Sly replied with, "I'll do my best!"
The raccoon thief manned the blasting station and began providing covering fire for Murray. The male pink hippo had a lot of Muggshot's goons coming for him. Thankful that the guards failed to land any hits on Murray, Sly really had to keep his finger on the trigger and stay alert as his friend reached the halfway mark. Once past the mark, the level of intensity coming from Muggshot's guards got fiercer and they came from all sides.
As Sly covered him, Murray would resume his run for the key. After the last machine gun toting guard was defeated, Murray claimed the third treasure key that Sly would need to break into Muggshot's compound.
oooooooooooooo
With getting the third key and his now blue lucky charm back from Murray, Sly headed to the Boneyard Casino to claim the fourth treasure key hidden at the casino. As he entered the gambling establishment, the raccoon found the switch that would grant him entrance into the casino. Once turned on, the lights at the entrance turned off and the gate opened. Upon entering the area, Bentley came on the binocucom and piped in, "Nice job getting in, but look out for those guards. Muggshot's got those machine-gun toting dogs hunting like a pack."
"No worries there, Bent," Sly said to his turtle friend. "It's a good thing that I picked up that Mine technique back at Raleigh's fortress. I know how to pick them off."
Sly crept around the first machine gun toting guard jumping up on a side of slot machines and then latched the hook end of his cane to the Doberman guard's neck. The raccoon then slammed the guard along the slot machine repeatedly until he fell unconscious. The other three Doberman guards didn't hear a noise or the brief yelping cry from their partner as they were too busy with their rounds.
As two of the Doberman guards were walking in a file line, Sly was quick to lay his trap by setting a mine made from his hat. Once the mine had been set, Sly set himself back a bit as the two Doberman guards were making another pass to form a single file line. Sly waited patiently for the first guard to pass and the second one to get closer. When the time was right, Sly set off the mine, getting lucky at taking out both guards. With three of the four entrance guards dealt with, Sly went for the fourth one and got rid of him with little trouble.
For Sly, there wasn't much in the way of security guards as he encountered only three card throwing Dalmatian guards and maybe a few more machine gun toting Doberman guards. Nonetheless, seeing the state of the casino was appalling to Sly as he was also making sure that he collected every clue bottle. The raccoon thief could only shake his head in disappointment at the state of the Boneyard Casino.
"I've seen appalling conditions in Mumbai," Sly said to Bentley over COMs, "but this place definitely takes the cake."
"Oh, I'm sure there are other places that'll make this gambling establishment seem more like a Ritz Carlton," replied Bentley.
Sly managed to collect all of the clue bottles in the casino. Many of the bottles were held in groups of three and four while some were hung above the floor laser security system. Despite the location of the clue bottles, Sly managed to collect them all. It was thanks in part to his tigress lover finding then swapping the blueprints for a page of the Thievius Raccoonus. Before opening the vault, Bentley came on the binocucom and promptly informed Sly, "Man, I'm getting swift with deciphering these codes. Dial 3-3-8."
Near the end of the level, Sly came across the treasure key that was locked on a roulette wheel. Bentley came on the binocucom and informed, "Sly, this giant roulette wheel is spinning too fast to jump counter-clockwise around it. You'll have to jump in the other direction to try to land on the green section." Sly did as Bentley instructed and managed to break the lock and grab the treasure key.
oooooooooooooo
Once Sly had exited the casino, he went straight for the hiked up car. Using three of the four treasure keys, he unlocked the switch and then set the running car free as it crashed and destroyed the barrier blocking access to the hotel lobby. After snapping up the coins and accessing the second area, Sly broke into the hotel lobby. He also dealt with the two peach furred pit bulls before coming upon a huge face of the bull dog boss of Mesa City.
"Would you look at that ugly mug?" Sly asked Bentley as he contacted his pal through the binocucom.
"I am," answered Bentley as he gave a slight nod, "and I find it infinitely fascinating."
Sly Cooper was confused as he asked, "Huh?"
"My x-ray detection devices reveal that a secret elevator to Muggshot's penthouse is contained within that giant head," explained Bentley.
Sly then inquired as he asked, while facing the open lobby, "So how do we get in?"
"Behind this locked wall, there's a lever that summons the elevator," Bentley answered as Sly then looked to bellhop desk on his right and noticed seven padlocks, "but you need all seven keys to open it up."
Sly then gave a slight nod as he replied with, "I'm on it!"
The raccoon thief then went about to ascertain the location of the three remaining green holographic markers that Bentley projected for him. Looking to his left, he noticed one such marker that was guarded by a machine gun toting Doberman guard. The other two remaining markers were to his right and easily accessible away from the guards.
"Looks like all I gotta do for the two on my right is just spire jump over one stupid guard," Sly said to himself, "and then just climb up to the other one. First thing's first," he added as he turned to go into the area that was blocked by the Doberman guard.
oooooooooooooo
After dealing with the guard that blocked his way into the area Bentley had dubbed "Two to Tango," Sly would begin making his way towards the treasure key. The raccoon thief then proceeded to collect the first three clue bottles as Bentley said over the binocucom, "Yuck! These rooftops are filthy! Well, they are the only way to get to the key since my locator tells me it's in a jewel case somewhere near Muggshot's penthouse."
After collecting the next set of three clue bottles, Sly climbed up to the next rooftop. Upon climbing onto the next rooftop, Sly then scanned his surroundings. The rising thief remembered Neyla's waring of Carmelita's presence in Mesa City. Sure enough, the hot tempered and fiery vixen showed up. Sly smirked as he saw the hot blooded Interpol officer.
'Thanks for warning, Neyla,' Sly thought to himself.
"Well, well, well…," began Carmelita, "look who just walked into my crosshairs... Sly Cooper!"
Sly gave a mischievous grin as he coolly replied with, "About time you showed up, Ms. Fox. Was getting worried about you. Thought you took a wrong turn somewhere back in Paris."
Carmelita Fox eyed the grey furred raccoon as she was in no mood for games. The red fox vixen had dealt with a whole host of Muggshot's goons trying to collect her head as a bounty. The last thing that Carmelita needed was Sly to be playing games with her. Carmelita narrowed her eyes at Sly and sharply retorted with, "The only one making wrong turns is you, Sly. I'd suggest you surrender before I paralyze you with my good friend, the shock pistol."
Sly was bewildered by Carmelita's comment about her firearm being her best friend. The grey-furred raccoon thought she needed friends, a hobby, maybe an opportunity to get laid even. Still, while he did find Carmelita charming, he doubted Neyla would ever become the type to share, even if Sly was bold enough.
"Now see, a girl whose best friend's a firearm's got issues," said Sly, as he eyed Carmelita in a somewhat joking manner. "A little dinner, a little dancing, I think I can help you out."
Carmelita pondered the idea for a moment as if it actually sounded appealing to her. Her job was sure to have gotten rather stressful and she needed to relax. As she smirked, though, her professional stance returned as she replied, "Mmm. Sounds romantic. As long as you don't mind dining... in jail!"
Sly shook his head as he replied, "Nah, I hear the service is lousy."
'Pity', Carmelita thought to herself. Whatever Sly's problems were, she couldn't deny that he could've been a fine Interpol asset, and probably could if he did time. Pushing those thoughts aside, she then retorted with, "Once I catch you, you'll know for yourself!"
Carmelita was quick to open fire on Sly with her shock pistol. As for Sly, he began dodging the shots from the electrified weapon. As he was being pursued, Sly managed to stay on track with collecting clue bottles for Bentley to decipher back in the van.
Keeping her distance, Neyla watched the chase from afar, making sure that Carmelita didn't catch sight of her. The violet-furred she-tiger wished that it was her giving her boyfriend a delightful and artful chase instead of Carmelita. Having to observe and report certainly had its downsides and this was one of them. It was then that Neyla noticed that Carmelita had to break off her chase as she had to locate Sly within the gutted out apartment building. It was then that Neyla heard Bentley instruct Sly to head to the vault so he could give her lover the code to crack the vault.
"Good thing I know Navajo code talk," Neyla heard Bentley tell Sly. "Try 5-3-2."
With the vault cracked and Sly recovering the page for the decoy technique that Neyla took a peak at, the raccoon thief resumed his trek to the fifth treasure key. As he resumed his search, Carmelita came out of nowhere and caught him by surprise as she fired her shock pistol at him. Much to his as well as Neyla's relief, the energy field emitted from the Golden lucky charm had stopped the shot, but this protection downgraded his protection to a single blue lucky charm. Sly gritted his teeth as he wasn't anywhere near having a sum total of 100 coins for another lucky charm to materialize.
'Gonna have to make this lucky charm count,' Sly thought to himself as he continued moving forward and evading the trail of destruction that Carmelita was leaving behind in her wake.
"You better hope whoever owns this building legally won't sue you," Sly called out to Carmelita just as she was standing on the large blimp of Muggshot himself.
"What do you mean by that, Cooper?" challenged Carmelita.
"Take a look at all the damage you've caused," answered Sly as he gestured to the wake of destruction she left in her path.
With momentary distraction, Sly proceeded to break the hydrant shaped jewel case that contained the treasure key that he was after. After collecting his prize, and incidentally causing the blimp to be disconnected, Carmelita then snarled at Sly as the Muggshot blimp she was on made its way to the sky, "I'm going to hunt you down, Cooper, you can't run forever!"
Neyla watched the scene play out from a distance. With Carmelita floating away on the oversized balloon of Muggshot's, the violet-furred tigress then growled in anger. She wasn't going to let the overzealous vixen have HER raccoon thief. Sly Cooper belonged to only her and Carmelita would learn that someday.
"You're not taking my boyfriend," Neyla snarled to herself as she let off a slight tiger growl. "He belongs to me and me alone!"
oooooooooooooo
The next area Bentley called Straight to the Top was next on Sly's list. It was then that Sly saw the sixth treasure key that he needed to acquire, which left with him with a question.
"There's no way that Muggshot's THAT stupid to leave a treasure key in such a manner, right?" Sly asked himself.
The raccoon thief attempted to smash the thick glass with his cane, but a few whacks did nothing, and Bentley came on the binocucom to say, "Forget it. Your cane will never smash that thick glass. You'll need something super-heavy... like that big wrecking ball up there."
After seeing said wrecking ball and following Bentley's instructions on how to use it, Sly looked through his binocucom to locate all the clue bottles in the area. Time was still a luxury for him after losing those precious minutes backtracking to the vault in the Mesa City outskirts and collecting the blueprints for Muggshot's stronghold. Using his Roll technique, Sly made it to all the clue bottles that were on destroyed cars that sat perilously over the rooftop of the building he was on, and after defeating a Dalmatian card throwing guard, Sly managed to collect enough coins to form a new lucky charm that he needed, going into the upcoming fight against Muggshot.
Once the raccoon had grabbed all the clue bottles in his general vicinity, he then approached a neon sign. Bentley then came on the binocucom and reported, "See those neon tubes? I know they look like you can't climb on them, but with your thieving skills, I bet you could pull it off!"
At some point during Sly's trek through the area, Muggshot came on the intercom and made a public service announcement, "I got a personal message for the two-bit thief who's making off with all my treasure keys: you're dead, pally! If I get my hands on you, I'm going to fit you with your own pair of cement bunny slippers. You hear me? You're lunchmeat, jerk!"
"Guess that means that I'm doing my job right if Muggshot thinks he can fit me with cement shoes," Sly said to Bentley, jokingly.
"Oh yes, Sly," replied Bentley, sardonically. "You're definitely getting under his skin by stealing his treasure keys.Also,your girlfriend is going after the seventh treasure key and the last page from the Thievius Raccoonus that Muggshot's got down here."
"Did she say why she's helping out?" asked a confused Sly Cooper.
"She did point out that Arpeggio's estimated time limit was fast approaching us," answered Bentley. "Plus, with Inspector Fox temporarily disposed of at the moment… she thought that she could lend us a hand."
Once Sly had gotten both the last clue bottle and a satisfactory explanation on why the love of his life was helping out, he quickly backtracked to the vault using his Roll technique. Before he opened the vault, Bentley came through the binocucom and said, "You'd need an I.Q. of at least 140 to figure this one out. Dial in 4-6-8." Once he acquired the page from his family's thieving book, Sly made his way to the large wrecking ball that he needed to use to get the sixth treasure key. After causing a bit of destruction with the wrecking ball, Sly managed to collect the treasure key and exited the area before guards would show up and examine the carnage done.
oooooooooooooo
As Sly was acquiring the sixth treasure key, Neyla decided to take it upon herself to grab the last key and help speed things up. With Carmelita temporarily indisposed right then, the violet-furred tigress contacted Bentley as she entered the area he called "Back Alley Heist." The genius turtle was taken aback by Neyla coming in to aid them, but seeing how time was winding down, Bentley accepted her help. As much as she wanted to crack the same safe she tracked previously again, Neyla decided to humor Bentley and collected the clue bottles herself.
The security in the area was decent enough, but not enough to deter Neyla from helping her lover in completing his job. Neyla made swift work of any guards in her path of getting to the treasure key and the vault holding the next page of the Thievius Raccoonus.
"These guards must not be as well motivated to earn their keep," Neyla said to Bentley. "A lot of these buffoons are simply lazy."
"Maybe that's because they don't expect any intruders to come through here," replied Bentley, as Neyla made it to the vault. "I could have broken this code in my sleep. The combination is 5-6-5."
Neyla inputted the code and opened the vault to grab the page from the Thievius Raccoonus that she bypassed at the start during her search. The she-tiger was thankful that she still had one of her boyfriend's calling cards to leave in the vault. With the vault otherwsie empty and Bentley telling Sly the combination for the vault at the last area, Neyla then smashed the pedestal containing the seventh and final key.
oooooooooooooo
With the sixth treasure key taken courtesy of the wrecking ball, Sly then went back to the hotel lobby and then saw the final treasure key and last page of the Thievius Raccoonus that he needed to acquire. Both items came with a note from Neyla that informed him of how much he owed her for stepping in and speeding things up further. With all seven treasure keys in hand, Sly went to the hotel desk on the right side and unlocked the switch to summon the elevator that lead to the lair of the beast named Muggshot.
The Last Call came as Sly exited the elevator and charged forward to face the bulldog boss of Mesa City. The raccoon thief eyed the hulking brute as he remembered his mother and father having to double team him in order to keep him off. Still, for Sly, it was a unpleasant memory that came from the Fiendish Five breaking in to their home. Nonetheless, watching his parents fight off the muscle-bound enforcer with little difficulty put a smirk on his face, assuring him that he could have no trouble with Muggshot himself. As for the bulldog himself sitting in his chair, he studied the young raccoon that had just entered his penthouse unannounced.
"What?" Muggshot asked in confusion and bewilderment. "My boys have been yapping about some big, mysterious dude running around cracking skulls and, and this is it?! Yer the monkey wrench in my operation? Some scrawny rat with a stick...," Muggshot was summarizing before he then took notice of Sly's cane and added, "wait a second... I've seen that stick before."
"Maybe when my father knocked your block off with it," shot back Sly, resenting the canine for the role he played in his parents' deaths.
"Yer father?" inquired Muggshot. "Wow, yer a Cooper? You know, that Thingus Raccamagoocus had a lot of nice pictures, but way too many big words."
"So you don't mind just handing it over?" Sly asked Muggshot, curious if a fight was really necessary with the big steroid-pumping brute. After all, he was a thug rather than the nobody kid he started out as, but Sly noted his lack of book smarts, and to a degree, sympathized with his rough childhood, even if it was no excuse for an adult crime lord.
Muggshot, though, brusquely retorted with, "What are you kidding? You break into my place, steal my stuff, trash the joint. I feel transgressed and violated. Let's rock!"
Getting out of his chair, Muggshot produced two machine guns and crystals sprouted from the ground as a cage with mirrors descended down to trap Sly. The raccoon thief didn't have much time to study his surroundings as he had to worry about the purple-furred bulldog barreling down on him. The bulldog mob boss leveled his guns at Sly and fired, but thankfully for Sly, he was able to evade the bullets thanks in part to strong crystal bases that shielded him as Muggshot fired his weapons. Taking a moment, Sly then hit one of the mirrors and saw that a crystal base was collecting sunlight.
With this development, the young thief knew what he had to do to inflict any sort of pain on the steroid-pumping canine, and turned his focus on turning the remaining eight mirrors over to allow more sunlight in. As he was turning over the mirrors, however, Muggshot managed to hit Sly's barrier and shrink his protection down to a single lucky charm. Before Muggshot could get in another shot at Sly, the raccoon quickly turned the last mirror over and inflicted a massive burn on the gangster.
Muggshot screamed in pain and exclaimed in dismay at the sight of his own charred firearms. "My beautiful gun is destroyed!" Using his oversized arms to get away to the nearby elevator in the style of a gorilla, the bulldog added, "Good thing I got a spare upstairs."
Sly then followed after Muggshot up to the next level and had to repeat the process all over. Once again, Sly was going to have to turn mirrors all over again so he could inflict damage on the big brute. But like on the ground level, Sly had to hide behind the bases of crystals when Muggshot opened fire on him. Fortunately, Sly managed to get all the mirrors turned over and inflicted another scorching sunburn on the brute. But as he got the last mirror turned over, Muggshot managed to completely remove Sly's lucky charm protection.
"Better watch out, Cooper!" Muggshot shouted to Sly as he got on the next elevator. "I'm gonna get ya! And you ain't got nothing to protect yourself!"
Sly said nothing as he knew that he was going have to be extra careful. Now that his protection was completely gone, the raccoon thief was going to have to work fast to spin the remaining mirrors on the ceiling to defeat Muggshot. But with good fortune on his side, once Sly readjusted the mirrors that the bulldog tried to shoot at, Muggshot was afflicted with another burn and two more destroyed machine guns.
After defeating the steroid-pumping bulldog, Muggshot was in disbelief and the floor as he exclaimed, "This is impossible! A little pipsqueak like you beating a big, strong bruiser like me? It ain't right! You want all of that stupid picture book, you're gonna to have to go down to Haiti and cross paths with Mz. Ruby. And then believe you me, you don't want to be you!"
Neyla was watching the fight between her boyfriend and Muggshot and recording the fight for Arpeggio to analyze later. Once concluded, Neyla called their boss.
"Arpeggio… Cooper's job here in Mesa City is done with Muggshot's defeat," Neyla reported to the head of the Klaww Gang. "Yes, he collected the pages that were in Muggshot's possession.
"His next target is Mz. Ruby," continued Neyla in response to Arpeggio's question. "Of course, I'll make sure and verify the location of that reptile's stronghold, even if I have to do it myself. I understand."
oooooooooooooo
From the notes of Sly Cooper: "Muggshot's section of the Thievius Raccoonus contained an entry from my gun-slinging ancestor "Tennessee Kid" Cooper. His specialty was the Rail Walk and Rail Slide, moves perfected through a lifetime of theft in the Old West.
"Getting out of town proved to be a little more challenging than getting in. Having just missed us, Inspector Fox went for the next best thing and dragged that canine steroid case off to jail. That was the end of Muggshot's gambling empire, and Mesa City citizens soon returned home, while me and the boys, well, we enjoyed the rest of our stay in America, with some souvenirs for Neyla later… and then returned to Paris, ready for our next mission."
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Author's note: Another chapter is in the books. Please read and review this chapter. We hope you enjoy the fic, and Favorite and subscribe.