Chapter 10
Tennessee clung tightly onto Clara's unconscious body being carried in his arms as he and Carmelita made their way back to the hideout. The outlaw was a bit curious that the female fox was the one that had took quick and precise action upon hearing the state the female raccoon was in. Glancing at Carmelita he could tell that she was in deep in thought about something which is probably why she wasn't speaking to him at the time. Upon reaching the hideout Tennessee noticed Strongheart carrying some medical herbs. At first he was confused until he saw Sly lying unconscious on a mat.
The female buffalo kneeled down next to the gray raccoon and placed her hand on his forehead to check his fever.
Tennessee watched as Carmelita walked over to Strongheart and kneeled down next to her.
"How is he?" the female fox asked without looking at the female buffalo next to her.
"His fever has gone down quite a bit and he has not shown signs of much pain like he was. With some rest he should awaken soon." Strongheart answered.
Carmelita silently nodded her head as her brown eyes studied the unconscious raccoon. Tennessee said nothing as he laid Clara down on his bed before walking over to Carmelita. He nodded at Strongheart, giving her a silent signal that he wanted to talk to Carmelita alone.
The female buffalo understood as she got up and left the two alone.
"So is this the reason you helped me so quickly?" Tennessee asked.
Carmelita let out a deep sigh before reply "Don't get me wrong Tennessee I'm still angry at him and want nothing to do with him, I just want to return to Paris. Though no matter how angry I am at him, I had to save him because Ring-tail does not deserve death."
"Heh you sound like someone else I know, he shot me once, but he hadn't meant to almost kill me." the outlaw smirked.
Carmelita smiled at this comment before turning her head back to Sly, not noticing Tennessee quietly leave so he could check up on Clara. The female fox looked around the room to make sure no one was watching before gently running her fingers through Sly's fur.
"Oh Sly, why did you have to go back to your old roots?" Carmelita thought.
Hours had passed till finally that night Sly finally had awaken from his unconsciousness. Bentley had scanned his body first to make sure there was no signs of the time alteration, sure enough Sly was back to normal. Since the gray raccoon can be back in action, the gang began preparing for the big train heist that would take place that next morning.
Bentley made a gadget that would get the gold off the train once the side doors are opened by Tennessee. Carmelita and Tennessee made sure their weapons had enough ammo for the big heist. Thanks to Strongheart she managed to get some snapshots of the train, revealing it was being supercharged by the van. With the plan set everyone quickly left early that morning except for Noir and Strongheart who had decided to watch over Clara while she heals. The gang made it over to the bridge and just in time too, they felt rumbling before the train burst through a wooden barrier.
Toothpick clung onto the railing of the train as he laughed crazily at his getaway.
Tennessee clenched his teeth in rage upon seeing the armadillo, he was still angry at the fact he had shot Clara. Thinking fast he and Sly jumped on one of the carts. Sly was going to make his way to Toothpick by going over on the top of the carts while Tennessee makes his way through the carts, getting the gold at the same time.
Carmelita helped Bentley off of the bridge before jumping down on the next set of carts. Murray jumped off the bridge last, his face hitting the top of the cart and landing next to his van. Unknown to anyone, flying near the train was none other than Le Paradox's blimp. Cyrille narrowed his eyes upon seeing the gang successfully get on the train. Next to him was a pink female mouse with blonde hair and brown eyes, wearing a yellow jumpsuit, black gloves and shoes, a red bandanna, and orange glasses. She was busy trying to work on machinery, but at times she would glance at the green turtle in the wheelchair with the look of a bit of regret.
The male skunk had taken quick notice of this.
"So, Penelope, how much power will be up to from seizing the cane?" he asked to make her stop glancing at Bentley.
The female mouse's body jumped a bit from being startled, but she turned toward him and replied "We'll be up to forty percent."
"Hmm if everyone keeps failing at this rate I might have to send you to the field to get the job done." Cyrille said.
Penelope flinched at these words. She feared for when the time her betrayal would be revealed; she only hoped her lies could cover the truth of her betrayal. Murray had already freed the van with the help of explosives and Carmelita protected Bentley so he could hack the train whistles to annoy Toothpick's hearing.
Tennessee grasped his gun firmly as he made his way through the carts, avoiding the spotlights and lasers. When he would reach the sidedoors he shot the locks off using his crackshot technique, allowing Bentley to use his gadget to pull the gold off the train and into the van. After doing all that he had finally reached Toothpick. The outlaw snarled at the sight of armadillo; he wanted to make him pay for hurting Clara.
"Why don't you bring your little runt self down here and take your whoppin' like a man sheriff!" Tennessee yelled.
Toothpick quickly turned around upon hearing these words, his eyes were filled with rage. He wished he had managed to shoot and kill him like Jeanette had asked of him.
"I'll blast you, Tennessee Kid Cooper! I'ma gonna lock you in the deepest, darkest hole I got and throw away the key!" Toothpick yelled.
"Give it up, Toothpick! The fat lady has sung and you are done!" the outlaw replied back with a yell.
Just then a smirk grew on the armadillo's face, confusing the outlaw.
"Oh am I?" Toothpick laughed as two rat guards dropped down next to Tennessee.
The grayish-brown raccoon clenched his teeth when the two rats seized him by the arms, preventing him from moving.
The armadillo seized this opportunity by rolling up into a ball and smashing into Tennessee's stomach, knocking not only the wind out of the raccoon, but also his gun out of his hand.
"My gun! No!" Tennessee yelled weakly as he fell on his hands and knees.
The rat guard grabbed a hold of the gun and quickly fled back to the blimp.
"Le Paradox sends his regards! Adios Idiot!" Toothpick laughed before walking away.
Sly finally managed to reach his ancestor; he clenched his fists when he saw that Tennessee's gun had been stolen. He turned toward the outlaw who was still weakened from the hit he received from Toothpick.
"Relax, Pal. I'll take care of this." Sly said before running after Toothpick.
Tennessee groaned as he heard the sounds of a struggle between Sly and Toothpick, it didn't take long till he heard the armadillo yell in pain. He stood up and saw Toothpick fall from the air; the armadillo's body burnt red from being knocked into the fire by Sly.
"Ah, my ear holes. Ee ouch." Toothpick groaned.
"Well well, lookee what the cat drug in." Tennessee smirked.
He grabbed the burnt armadillo roughly by the collar, ignoring his groans of pain.
"Looks like this here's our stop." the outlaw said before kicking Toothpick off the train with his boot and jumping off after him.
He landed on the ground, grinning about the fact he got revenge on the criminal that had framed him and shot his fiancé but he was still upset over the fact he had lost his gun. His expression quickly changed into confusion when he saw the van containing the gang was speeding toward the cliff and Bentley was quickly tossing the gold out of the van.
"What in tarnation are they doing?" he asked himself.
His brown eyes glanced down at the bag of gold that landed in front of him.
"An' I was just wonderin' where that gold had got to." Tennessee said as he walked toward the bag of gold.
He was about to pick it up until he heard screams; he turned his head just in time to see the van sail off of the cliff. He wasn't sure if they were okay, but he knew the important thing at that moment was putting Toothpick back in jail and taking the gold back to the hideout. He took out his rope and tied Toothpick up before dragging him off with the gold.
Wiley sighed as he took a look around his old office, still angry that it now belonged to Toothpick. He put on his hat and closed the door behind him but as soon as he stepped outside to his shock he saw Toothpick in front of his door tied up with a burn mark on one of the floor boards in the shape of a raccoon's head. The male fox grinned when he saw this.
"Nice job raccoon." he said to himself as he grabbed Toothpick, placing him under arrest.
With Toothpick's arrest Wiley Fox managed to regain his position as Sheriff. He wanted to arrest Jeanette too but once again the female skunk was never caught in her web of lies. She had pretended that Toothpick had fooled her as well and that she had no idea that the armadillo had stolen the gold. But on the inside Jeanette was feeling enraged at the fact that Tennessee had managed to steal the gold, marking his place as the greatest outlaw in the wild west.
Tennessee dropped the bags of gold in front of the hideout; he had no idea how he was going to tell his gang that he had lost his gun. He glanced down at his empty hand, clenching it a few times, wishing he could feel the cold iron in his hands once more. He let out a sigh and was about to enter the hideout until a bright flash appeared behind him. He turned around to see the van, without thinking he ran up to it.
Before he could speak Bentley said "No time to explain, Tennessee, we need your help. Get in the van and we'll help you get your cane back."
The outlaw didn't hesitate as he jumped into the van and to his shock he saw his ancestor Rioichi Cooper from Japan in there as well. Soon enough he was joined by his caveman ancestor, Sir Galleth from Medieval England, and Salim from Arabia. They all managed to make it back to the blimp and get their canes back along with Tennessee's gun. The male raccoon even managed to save Carmelita and Sly before he was transported back to his own time. Tennessee blinked his eyes a few times to find himself back in front of the hideout. He tossed his gun in the air and caught it in happiness before rushing in the hideout. Inside he saw Clara was sitting up on the bed, gently putting back on her blue shirt. Before Clara could say anything Tennessee rushed over to her, placing both of his black-gloved hands on the sides of her face and pulling her into a passionate kiss.
The female raccoon's eyes widen in shock before she closed them and kissed back. The two remained like that for a few seconds before pulling back for air.
"Clara, I'm so glad you're okay." the male raccoon said.
"Well ya have quite the way of showing it." Clara replied.
"So you still wanting me to marry you or are you still wanting to shoot me?" Tennessee asked.
Clara laughed as she wrapped her arms around Tennessee before replying "What do ya think?"
Tennessee laughed before pulling the female raccoon into another kiss.
Five Weeks Later
Tennessee scratched a bit at the black jacket he was having to wear, he never had worn anything really fancy in his life so the experience was new to him. He looked over at Clara standing next to him who was wearing a long white dress and a veil over her face.
The female raccoon smiled at her soon to be husband, causing him to return the smile. Tennessee couldn't help, but fill up with pride when he slipped the ring on Clara's finger and he said his vows.
Clara had felt the very same way when she did the same action.
As soon as they heard the words "You may kiss the bride." Tennessee flipped the veil over Clara's head and pulled her into a loving kiss, Clara was now Clara Cooper. When that was done Tennessee jumped up on his horse and pulled up Clara next.
"So what do you think of honeymooning in Mesa City with all the gold we got?" Tennessee asked with a smirk.
"The recent boom city? That'll sound great." Clara said as she wrapped her arms around her husband's waist.
Tennessee was about to take off until he saw he was being approached by none other than Sheriff Wiley Fox.
The male fox didn't reach for his gun instead he took off his hat as he approached the newly wedded couple.
"I just wanted to wish you well on your honey moon. Reminds me of when Danita and I got married. Though you two better watch when you get back because that's when things go back to normal and I intend to arrest you all." Wiley said.
"I don't expect any different of you Sheriff, besides where's the fun in stealing if no one's chasing you. Well actually it will just be me stealing from crooked lawmen now, I changed my view on life after the whole mess with Toothpick and decided to properly follow my family's footsteps." Tennessee replied.
"Well best luck to you, ring-tail." the male fox said with a grin.
With that side Tennessee made his horse take off.
Before they got too far away Clara threw back her bouquet of flowers. The bouquet flew through the air and landed in the arms of Strongheart.
The female buffalo stared at the bouquet with a confused expression, trying to figure out what catching the bouquet of flowers meant.
Clara rested her head against Tennessee's back, letting out a loving sigh. At first she hated Tennessee, now she can't imagine life without him.
Nine Months Later
Clara and Tennessee had already returned back to town and like Sheriff Wiley promised he had tried to arrest them whenever they were on a heist. But that day Tennessee wasn't planning to rob any crooked lawmen, for that day was the day he was finally waiting for. Sweat dripped down Clara's forehead as she breathed hard; she had gone into delivery. Her hand tightly squeezed her husband's who was standing next to her, trying to insure her that everything will be alright. Clara screamed loudly in pain as Noir kept giving her commands to help deliver the baby. She let out one last scream, using all her strength to deliver the baby. Just then the sounds of crying filled the room, Clara opened her eyes to see Noir holding a small brown furred male baby raccoon in his arms.
The male mouse handed the baby to Strongheart so she clean him up before handing him to his mother.
Clara nearly cried as she smiled down at their newborn child; she loved how the baby had the same colored eyes as Tennessee.
"What shall we name him?" the outlaw asked.
The female raccoon looked down at her child before replying "John. John Cooper."
Tennessee grinned at this name suggestion, he liked the idea of his son being named John. The small fear that his son would lose both him and Clara did tug at his mind, but he knew what was important at the time was being a good father to his son.
A few weeks later Jeanette had given birth to her son James and she planned to train him as hard as she could to become a successful thief to bring the Le Paradox Clan to light, but she didn't want to train him too hard. She didn't want to be like her father.
Five Years Later
Tennessee gathered up a few things in his bag; he decided it was time to head to the Kaine Islands to place his fortunes in the Cooper Vault. He wanted to bring his family with him to the Cooper vault but with how old the vault has gotten and the many traps that had been set up in the vault over the years, it had gotten too dangerous to take more than one person into the vault. Tennessee couldn't help but grin at his five year-old son begging and pleading to go to the vault with him. Tennessee told him when he's old enough he can go to the Cooper vault. It was a long journey to the Kaine Islands, most of it was spent on a ship. When he had reached the Kaine Islands he could tell he was in the right place due to the raccoon statues. He made his way up the mountain and reached a giant vault door that had the symbol of the Cooper Clan on it. Using his gun he placed it in the door and watched it slowly open up upon being unlocked. Inside he had to make his way through many traps that were made so only a Cooper could get through. Finally Tennessee managed to make it to the area that would be his section of the vault.
He placed up his wanted poster, his gold from both the bank that he had stopped Jeanette from robbing and the gold Toothpick had stolen. He grinned in satisfaction before placing his old guns on the pedestal in front of his wanted poster. He couldn't wait to write about it in the Theivius Raccoonus, the thought excited him of future Coopers reading about his tale. Though he knew his tales would only be one of the many tales of the Cooper Clan.
The End