The Cooper X Gang
By Mutitoon90
Chapter 6: Operation: Repeat the Blunder
Australia, 10:00 a.m.
Sam was looking out at the Outback when Rad entered the room.
"Hi."
Sam returned to reality as she turned to the young raccoon.
"Hi, Rad. What brings you up here?"
Rad walked to the cat and joined her at the window still.
"Nothing. Just to look. What brings you here yourself?"
"Same reason." The feline replied.
A few moments of silence between the two young teammates. Rad broke the silence by asking, "Do you remember your parents?"
"A little." Sam answered.
"What did they look like?"
It took Sam some time until she answered.
"I remember that my father was a cat, like me."
"And your mother?"
"She was bigger than me."
"Aren't most mothers bigger than any eight-year-ago?"
Sam giggled.
"She was also bigger than my daddy."
"That might explain a bit." Rad said to himself out loud.
"What do you mean?" The cat asked the raccoon.
"Nothing, I was thinking out loud."
"Oh!"
The two were quiet for a few more seconds when Sam asked a question.
"Why did you become a thief?"
Rad kept quiet for a few minutes without answering.
Sam started to pester Rad.
"Well?"
"I rather not talk about it."
"All right." Sam said, shrugging her shoulders.
The cat started walking out of the room when Rad said, "Wait."
"Why?" The cat asked coyly.
"I need to talk to someone about that."
"Really?" The confused cat asked.
"Yeah, just close the door." The raccoon said, his head low.
Sam closed the door and walked towards Rad.
"What's wrong, Rad?"
Rad took a deep breath and started to tell his story.
"It started a few months ago. It was a normal day when a letter came to my parents."
The raccoon pulled out a white envelope and gave it to the cat.
"This is the note."
Sam grabbed the piece of paper.
"What is it?" The cat asked, worried.
"It's the letter." Rad said.
Sam opened the envelope and pulled out the folded letter.
Rad urged her to read it by unfolding the paper.
"I may need help." The cat said to the raccoon.
"I'm sorry." The raccoon said, realizing that Sam probably cannot read very well, "Just read as much as you can, and I'll help you out."
"Thanks." Sam said as she looked at the letter.
To the Cooper coppers,
I have a reason to sending you a letter. I have formed a powerful criminal organization, and there will be no possible way that you can defeat us. We are formal members of the CLAW Gang and children of the Fiendish Five. We will defeat you and restore the honor that was stripped from us so long ago. We will make you suffer the way we have. If you try to stop us, do not say that we did not warned you, and we will make an example out of you for all those who wish to oppose us.
From the leader of the Fiendish Claws.
"Did your parents read this?" The cat asked after reading the letter.
"Thankfully, no." Rad replied, "I normally come home earlier in the day than my parents do. One could imitate my reaction to the letter, but an imitation could ever match my horror of it."
"Am I the first one you told this to?" Sam asked her fellow thief.
The Cooper child nodded his head in silence.
"Wow, this is serious." The feline said in fright, "Why didn't you tell your parents?"
"I'm worried about my parents because they would be so busy protecting me that they could be killed, trying to save me." Rad replied sadly.
Sam looked at the heir of the Cooper thief clan, seeing his sadness.
"If this letter never came…"
"I would be worrying about college." Rad said.
The cat felt hurt by the words she just heard.
"But, I'm glad that I took this path." Rad spoke as he placed his hand on Sam's shoulder.
The feline looked up at the raccoon, only to be surprised by a kiss. It lasted for a few moments until Rad pulled back from Sam.
"Like it?" The thief asked his 'victim.'
The cat was shocked from the kiss and said, "Yeah."
"Excuse me?"
The two thieves looked at the door and saw Belle. She did not look too happy.
"Nothing too serious happened between us." Rad tried to defend himself and Sam.
"Don't worry." The mouse said, hurt dripping out of her voice. Then, she ran down the hall.
"Belle, wait!" The worried cat called out to Belle.
The mouse never heard Sam's cry. She ran until she tripped a piece of rope and almost fell down the stairs. Rad and Sam witnessed the accident.
"Belle!" The two co-workers yelled as they rushed the green haired mouse.
The mouse screamed until she felt something strange of a fall.
"What the-?"
Belle realized that she was rescued by Mar, who was halfway up the stairs when the mouse fell on him.
"Well…" Belle started, still sitting in the brown rat's arms, blushing.
"This is awkward." Mar finished, also blushing.
Back at upstairs, Rad and Sam watched the two blushed at each other.
"Looks like that love just sprouted." Rad said with a goofy grin on his face.
"Looks like it." Sam agreed with a smile.
"Come on, kiss!" Justin yelled at the two possible lovers.
"SHUT UP, JUSTIN!" The embarrassed yelled.
Rad and Sam laughed while Mar and Belle started to chased Justin all over the hideout.
8:00 p.m. Operation begins.
Mar was at the Guru's campsite, waiting for the operation to begin. It was signaled by a call from Belle.
"Mar, it's time."
"Belle, what's the job?"
"You're the lookout at the Guru's place. Rad will look out for at the other side of the valley." Belle said via commutacater.
"I need to an eye out for Mz. Sapphire?" The rat asked.
"Yeah; I'm going to check up with the others. You do your job."
"Okay."
Rad waited for the signal when Belle called him.
"Rad, how's things at your end?"
The raccoon answered, "It's all quiet here; I'll call when anything comes up."
"Okay."
Belle was at the very place her father shot Inspector Fox with tranquilizer darts, not knowing to him that it would cause her to become bigger, or his daughter would be repeating his mistake on purpose.
"Bet Dad never knew that his goof-up would be useful today." The mouse said to herself, remembering the stories he told her.
"Belle! Mz. Sapphire is on your way!" Mar yelled.
"Mask, coming to you, Belle!" Rad shouted.
The mouse started to panic. She did not know what do for a minute.
"Oh, yeah!"
She ran to the tower where the dummy was suspended and got the type recorder.
"Good thing Dad has a tendency to record events on type recorder." Belle said to herself as she pressed the play button.
Murry's voice came out as clear as crystal as it spoke the owner's words came out.
"Behold! The Moon Spirit rises!"
The green haired mouse cocked her crossbow, preparing to shoot the rope that held the dummy. What she had to was wait…
"Belle," Rad announced loudly, "Mask in position!"
"Okay!" She said, aiming at the rope, "Bombs away!"
Belle fires the arrow, which severed the rope, causing the dummy to drop on the guard wearing the Mask of Dark Earth.
The decoy landed on its mark, causing the Mask to find a new host.
"Yes!" The mouse said as she watched the Mask find Mz. Sapphire as it's new host.
Mar in mediation saw a vision of Mz. Sapphire being possessed by the Mask of Dark Earth.
"Now, we can destroy the Cooper X Gang." The alligator announced as she grew larger with power.
Mar's eyes opened in shock of the vision. He called Belle.
"Belle, we have some bad news!"
"The plan's going perfectly! What could be wrong?" The mouse responded.
"Mz. Sapphire knew that we were going to do something like this. That's what's wrong."
Belle was silent for a few moments, and then she said, "Continue with the plan."
"What!?"
"Continue with the plan. The job's not over yet."
The rat hesitated for a moment and said, "See ya in the truck."
"See ya."
Belle cocked her crossbow and armed it with tranquilizer dart and took aim at the alligator.
"Dart one."
The mouse fired, and the dart found its mark: Mz. Sapphire.
"Yes, a direct hit."
Although Belle was happy at herself as a 'markswoman,' Mz. Sapphire was not so happy, and to show her displeasure, she used her magic to attack whomever attacked her.
"Uh-o."
As the blast of magic came towards her, a bolt of eletricity assaulted the blast, destroying it. The mouse was relieved that she would see tomorrow.
"You better be careful; I don't want to explain to your dad how you became a toad or worse." Rad said via earpiece.
"Thanks, Rad."
"I'll help too." Sam announced to the mouse.
"How?"
Just then, a firework came up from the truck and flew towards Mz. Sapphire. It never hit the giant alligator, but it did grab her attention.
"I know how." Belle declared as she armed her crossbow with another dart.
The mouse shot four more times with Sam's distractions and Rad's protection before Mz. Sapphire grew larger.
"Time to go." Rad said as he ran to Belle.
"It's time to high-tail it." The mouse said as she ran towards the truck.
The raccoon caught up with Belle and carried her to the truck.
"You fools!" Mz. Sapphire boomed out, "I'll destroy you!"
"Boy, and she's not kidding!" Luna said, still in the truck.
Next to her was Justin, who agreed with her.
"Yeah."
The Guru, who was also in the giant truck, nodded in agreement.
"Justin!" Rad yelled as he entered the truck with Belle, "Start the engines!"
The husky did not need to be told twice, and he started the engine and drove off.
"Sam?" Luna asked loudly after opening the back window.
"Yea?" The feline answered, just as loud as the wolf.
"Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
Then, Belle started shouting at Sam.
"Remember, use the claw and the TNT!"
"Right!"
The cat, who sat in the claw's control panel, was ready to throw the barrels at the oversized alligator.
"Here comes round one!"
The claw grabbed a random barrel and threw it at the magically charged reptile. The bomb-like barrel hit it's mark, causing Mz. Sapphire to slow down a little.
"Little brats!" The alligator roared.
"Hope you like that!" Sam taunted the larger creature with a grin on her face.
The cat used the machine to throw more barrels of TNT at the reptile until the mask-wearer grew bigger.
"Okay, she's bigger!" Sam announced to her fellow thieves.
"All right!" Belle cheered.
Rad yelled at Justin, who seemed to be having fun.
"Time to stop!"
Justin slammed on the brakes, but he hit the E-brake, causing the truck to flip over and crash.
"Sound off if you're alive." Rad declared in the truck.
Groans from five different people came as a result.
"Okay. Let's check outside."
The seven people climbed out of the wreck that was the truck and saw that Mz. Sapphire was a few stories high.
"Whoa! She's too huge to outrun!" Exclaimed a shocked Justin.
"We're not going to outrun her." Belle said to the frightened husky, "We're going to climb her."
"WHAT!" Luna screamed at the top of her lungs.
"It's the only way!" The mouse protested.
"Besides, Sam and I are going up." Rad announced.
"Here." Mar said, holding two necklaces in his hand.
Sam grabbed a necklace and examined it.
"Crystallized tar?" The raccoon asked the rat.
"Dark earth?" The cat asked.
"That's right." Mar confirmed, "Tar is a great repellent of the Mask's power."
"Good." Rad said, tying the amulet around his neck.
"Guys, be careful." Belle asked as Sam placed the amulet around her neck.
"And, come back alive!" Luna nearly screamed at the duo.
"Don't worry." Rad said with the Cooper grin on his face, "We'll be back."
"Yeah, so stop mothering us!" Sam said.
"Why you…" The wolf started to say as Rad and Sam ran off to defeat Mz. Sapphire.
The run was short due to the size of Mz. Sapphire and her swinging tail.
"Here goes nothin'!" Sam said as she jumped onto the tail.
"Right behind ya!" Rad yelled as he followed the feline onto the tail.
Both thieves landed on the alligator. A dark aura surrounded the duo, but it did not consume them.
"What's going on?" Sam asked, relieved that the aura did not take them.
"Belle?" Rad asked via earpiece.
The mouse's was hard to hear due to the dark aura.
"It's the tar necklaces; they're protecting you from the aura of the Mask of Dark Earth and Mz. Sapphire."
"That's good news." The raccoon said with the cat nodded in agreement.
"We have to be careful though, who knows what might happen." Sam announced.
"Right; let's go." Rad declared, and the two started to climb to the giant.
Meanwhile, Sly and Carmelita Cooper were in pursuit of the Cooper X Gang when they saw the giant form of Mz. Sapphire.
"What's going on?" The vixen asked her husband.
"I don't know." The raccoon hubby said, "I'm going to find out." And grabbed the binoculars and looked through them.
"What the-?!"
"What is it, Sly?" Carmelita asked, surprised at the exclamation of her husband.
"Look at this!" Sly said, giving his wife the binoculars.
The fox grabbed the binoculars, looked through them, and saw what her husband saw.
"What?"
She saw the giant grew bigger to the size that the fox herself once had been.
"She grew!"
"What?!" The raccoon said, grabbing another pair of binoculars, and looking through them.
"You're right!" Sly confirmed, "She did grow! Let's get the gorillas there; we can catch up with them later."
"How about we go with them?" Carmelita suggested.
"It was just a joke." The raccoon said, trying to defend himself.
"Let's go!" The fox commanded. Sly complied and ran to the mercenaries.
Sam and Rad were on the alligator's shoulders when Belle called via earpiece.
"Look out! Troopers!"
"Troopers?" Sam asked Rad.
"My mom's mercenaries." The raccoon said.
"Let's stop the gator before the mercenaries stop us." Belle yelled at them.
"Right!" The cat said, and the two jumped to the Mask's rings.
As soon as Rad jumped, he heard Mz. Sapphire's voice.
"You might defeat me, but the other members of the Fiendish Claws will not be so simple to defeat."
The thief was so distracted by the telepathic message that he almost did not grab the ring with his family cane.
"Be careful!" Sam said; she was unaware that Rad had a mental message.
"Don't worry about me! Just stay still!" The raccoon yelled back.
The alligator's magic attacked the two thieves, whom managed to dodge the attack, and the rings. The rings were destroyed, causing the Mask of Dark Earth to leave Mz. Sapphire. The ex-wearer of the Mask shrink down to her normal size while the Mask tried to find a new host.
"It's getting away!" Luna yelled.
"No, it's not." Belle said, coolly, "Look!"
In the sky, four ape mercenaries came out of nowhere on jetpacks.
"That's good!" Justin said with a smile on his face.
"Well, that's not!" Luna said, pointing at the two new arrivals.
"My parents!" A shocked Rad shouted. Mar and Sam slapped their hands onto the raccoon's mouth to silence him.
"What are you trying to do? Get us arrested?" Mar asked rhetorically.
"Besides, if they catch us, we can't stop you-know-whom." Sam whispered low enough so that Rad could hear.
After a moment, Rad said, "You're right."
"Good." The feline said, and then to the others, announced the next part of the plan.
"Time to go!"
The others heard the cat. All but one followed Sam.
"Guru!" Mar exclaimed at his mentor. The old mystic responded in his language.
"I can't leave you!" The rat protested.
Luna came and picked him up.
"We can't stop him. It's his choice!"
"But…"
"There's no changing his mind, except his own will."
And without another word, the white wolf carried Mar to the truck.
Meanwhile, the apes have finished destroying the Mask of Dark Earth, and Coopers were examining Mz. Sapphire, who was drugged.
"Wow, it's like twenty years ago." Sly commented.
"Really?" His wife asked.
"Are you serious?" A shock raccoon asked.
"What do you mean?" The vixen asked.
"Inspector, Constable, look!" An ape announced.
The Coopers looked and saw the Guru.
"What's the Guru doing here?" Sly thought as he and his wife walked to the old mystic.
The Guru spoke to them in his language, which the cops understood.
"Really?" Carmelita asked, "Do you have any proof?"
The Guru pulled out a piece of paper, which Sly took and read.
"Looks real." The raccoon cop said.
"And is real." The fox added.
"Okay, so we can arrest Mz. Sapphire for trespassing and illegal digging." Sly admitted.
"That's good to hear; Sapphire's been causing trouble around here." Carmelita said, pulling out her handcuffs.
"Apes!" The raccoon yelled.
"Yes, sir!"
"Go out and find any miners and arrest them!"
"Yes, sir!" And without another word, they ran off to carry out their mission.
At the turnover truck, the group saw Mz. Sapphire get arrested and the miners carried out to a waiting police truck.
"Well, all's well that ends well." Mar said, at true peace since before the vision came to him.
"You can say that again." Rad agreed, placing his hands between his head and the truck.
"Oh, boy." Belle said as she looked at the law enforcers doing their job.
"So, we're staying here?" Luna asked rudely.
"Until the cops are gone." Sam answered just as rudely to the wolf.
Then, Sly Cooper started to walk over to the tipped-over truck.
"You were saying?" The white wolf asked sarcastically.
"Oops?"
"Time to go!" Belle said as the elder raccoon came closer.
Justin was happy to hear those words.
"ALL RIGHT!"
The husky started up the engine and hit the E-brake, causing the truck to flip back onto it's wheels, and drove away.
"What the?" Sly yelled as he dusted himself after being nearly ran over by the truck.
"Sly!" His wife shouted, "Are you all right?"
"I'm okay. It's not everyday that you almost got by a up-side down truck." The raccoon answered with a relived smile.
Carmelita breathed a sigh of relief herself, but she became curious.
"Could that have been…?"
"I don't know." Sly answered, "But if there's one thing I know about Conrad Cooper: That's he true to his word."
"Yeah, you're right." The vixen agreed, pulling out the note she found a month earlier in Little China Town.
"I know, Carm." Sly said, seeing the letter.
The fox looked at her husband as he finished his sentence.
"I miss him too."
Carmelita looked at the note, then back at Sly.
"Think he'll be back soon."
"Time will tell, that's all I know." The raccoon answered before looking at his wife's sad face.
"I don't know if he's okay or he's hurt, or…"
She stopped her verbal worries when Sly embraced her.
"I'm just as worried, but I know that he knows what he's doing." The raccoon said as he hugged his wife.
Carmelita sobbed into her husband's shirt as the moon shined on them.
In the now-mobile truck, the Cooper X Gang was relaxing, knowing that they were killed or arrested.
"This is great!" Luna said, putting her hands behind her head, "We're still free!"
"And, alive!" Belle added as she wiped her brow.
Justin was excited about driving the biggest truck he's ever driven.
"Wow!"
Mar rolled his eyes at the husky's excitement.
"Mar, chill." Sam said to the rat, "He's just excited."
The brown rat thought for a moment before speaking his mind.
"I know. It's just I felt something while you and Rad were on Mz. Sapphire."
"What do you mean?" The feline asked, unaware that Rad also heard what Mar said.
"I felt a telepathic link for a few seconds." The rat answered with real concern in his voice.
"Really?" Rad asked next.
"Yeah, it's part of the job of the mystic."
"I think we should tell them." Sam said to Rad.
"What?" Mar asked.
"Are you pregnant?" Luna and Belle asked in unison.
"NO!" The feline nearly screamed.
"Don't worry; we didn't do 'that.' Rad reinsured the other females.
"Right." The wolf said, unsure of Rad's honestly about Sam.
"I'll tell you, when we get to the van." The raccoon said, trying to avoid the feline's death glare.
As soon the gang reached the van via giant truck, Rad told the others what he told Sam earlier, and when he was finished, his friends, Justin and Belle, were very shocked.
"You mean that you were so willing to become a thief and inherent the Cooper heirlooms is to stop this Fiendish Claws Gang?" Belle asked her friend with a determined curiosity in her eyes.
The raccoon nodded his head as an answer.
Belle, seeing the answer, asked another question.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Rad lowered his head, guessing at what the small mouse would say next.
"We would've helped."
The young Cooper was expecting to yelled at, cursed, attacked, and/or harmed, but what she said really flew him for a loop.
"You would?"
"Duh." Belle said.
"Your dad was like a brother to our dads, so I think it would make us like cousins or close to that." Justin added.
"Besides that," Belle continued to speak, "Dad always told me that how the last Cooper Gang reminded so powerful was trust they had in each other."
"Trust?" Mar asked the green head mouse.
"Yeah, without that, the Cooper Gang would have died out."
"Really." Luna said, "If my dad didn't trust Sly to help him escape from jail, he would have been sent to prison."
"That makes a great example." Belle said.
"Uh, Belle?" Sam asked her friend.
"Yes?" The mouse asked back.
"Don't we have a plane to catch?"
A moment came and went before Belle yelled out, "You're right! We got to be at the airport and fast!"
The group got into the van and drove all the to the airport. When they got there…
"What?!" Belle exclaimed as she saw that the plane has left.
"Calm down." Rad said in a cool voice, "It's not the end of the world because we missed a plane."
"Why?" Asked an angry mouse.
On a beach in Sidney, Belle said, while laying on a beach towel, wearing a purple swimsuit, "This is why."
The whole gang was enjoying themselves. The boys were surfing, and the girls were laying in the sun.
"Ya know what?" Luna asked her friends.
"What?"
"This kinda life isn't as bad as my mother said."
"Perhaps." Sam said, unsure.
"Hey!" Belle said, "Let's get some shrimp."
"Good idea, I'm starved." Sam said.
"Me too." The wolf said.
As the girls went to get the food, Belle thought, "Boy, that was close."
The boys were near the towels by the time the girls come back.
"Come to go." Rad said.
"Why?" Luna asked.
"My parents are here."
"Let's go!" Sam said after looking behind her back.
The group looked and saw the two Coopers, whom were asking people about someone. The five followed Sam, not wanting to know of who they were looking for, even though they had a good idea who.
The Cooper X Gang finally caught a plane and returned to Little China Town, refreshed and ready for almost anything.
Next Chapter: Rumble in the Jungle