Sorry for the wait. Some things kept me from getting this up. Anyway, it's nearly party-time for the goal I had ever since I joined this place. Which goal? You'll see in about four chapters or less, and no it's not anything really related to this story. If some things seem familiar and have been seen earlier that's because they are. Now that we can continue I am very, very happy. (Gives creepy grin)

Faye: You're going to scare Natasha.

SQ: She's still here?

Natasha: Yeppers! Thank you all for reviewing! Wheeee! I'm Mini-Faye! (Runs off)

Faye: (looks at SQ) I am not going after her again.

SQ: I'll do it then. (turns back) Until now I haven't been sure what to call the pack on Sly's thigh. However, MarineManiac got a book that called it a leg pack. Whatever it is, I prefer my version. I know it's ridiculous mentioning such a trivial thing but I just wanted that out of the way. Also, I made two different intros for this chapter (further explained at the end), but I liked them both so I combined them into one with flashbacks here and there. There's going to be a lot of switching from flashbacks, to reality, to another one of Faye's dreams that made me rewrite the first chapter.

Faye: Hey-

SQ: Now, go on and read the next chapter while I search for our little guest.

Disclaimer: If I owned Sly Cooper, why would I be writing a fanfiction? No, I don't own Sly if you didn't get the answer.

Chapter 13: Faye's New Gadget

"In here," Faye quietly called to Sly and the others, as she entered the giant skull that was now the safe house. It was raining cats and dogs outside as a drenched Natasha came in soon after, holding Faye's old crowbar and shivering.

"I hate water," she complained. Water dripped off her and onto the floor as she rubbed her arms for warmth. Faye glanced over at the orphan. It had not been long since Natasha showed up and went all fangirl on Sly and Faye. In fact, soon after the slide show, Bentley had announced that he had pinpointed Rajan's exact location thanks to their combined efforts. Now Faye stood shivering in the corner with her cat costume on while Sly, Bentley, and Murray came in after the panther.

"Meow?" Josie poked her head out of Natasha's sweatshirt, jumped out, and shook off some rainwater.

'Oh, how I envy that cat.'

"At least she's dry," Faye muttered through chattering teeth.

"Well you better get used to it," Bentley spoke up as he set up his laptop on the stone table, "Because we'll have to withstand the weather to get to the Clockwerk Heart."

"Y-y-yeah, yeah. I know." Faye set her cane against the wall and wrung out her hair, making another puddle of water on the ground. "The only thing that could make this perfect, would be if-" Lightning flashed outside and the heavens rumbled. Faye walked up to the opening in the safe house and looked out into night sky. "…lightning struck. Great." She sighed and turned away from the worsening storm outside. She sat at the makeshift table as Josie hissed at the lightning, as though challenging it.

'Sitting in the van was better than this.'

-Flashback-

Faye huddled in the back left of the Cooper team van. Between the Clockwerk tail feathers, wings, Bentley, Natasha, Josie, and various odds and ends, it wasn't easy to find room. Faye kept looking at the Clockwerk parts as if trying to figure something out.

"I can't believe she suckered you into coming, Sly," Bentley said to the Master Thief riding shotgun. Sly and Murray were the only ones not cramped up in the vehicle, although the wings were causing Sly to duck a little in his seat.

"Aw, come on Bentley! I couldn't say 'no' to that face," Sly said as he grinned. Faye chuckled to herself as she watched Natasha grin widely and gaze at Sly.

"Natasha sit down!" commanded Bentley as she leaned over him and his laptop, inching closer to Sly.

"Oops. Sorry," she replied and sat back down between the turtle and Faye. Bentley resumed typing on his laptop as Natasha fiddled with her fingers. Faye focused on the collected Clockwerk parts in front of her, concentrating again on a question that eluded an answer.

"Meow!" Josie curled up in her lap and quickly went to sleep. Natasha yawned and laid down on a white pillow with a dark blue case that Faye had brought. Faye smiled and let out a yawn as well but shook it off.

"You should get some sleep, Faye. It's going to take a while before we get to Rajan's temple," said Sly, turning back to Faye. She leaned against a pillow like Natasha's and adjusted her shoulder blades to get comfortable.

"Can't wait to get there," she murmured to herself. Faye yawned and soon fell asleep.

-End Flashback-

"'The Murray' is not afraid of a little water and lightning," Murray said in his 'heroic voice,' abruptly stirring Faye from her thoughts.

"Easy there big guy," Sly chuckled, wringing out his hat.

"Let's just get this thing over with," Faye said, "After the spiders, the quicksand, and the snakes-"

"Definitely the snakes," Natasha interjected, petting Josie.

-Flashback-

Natasha whimpered as multiple snakes of different sizes were nearing her feet. She backed up slowly as one hissed at her, flickering its forked-tongue. But before the snakes could get any closer, Faye was quickly by her side with a fiery stick. Josie hissed at the snakes as Faye swung the burning branch at them. They hissed at Faye as they retreated back to their nest. Sly put his arms on Natasha's shoulder and swiftly led her away from the nest, followed by Murray, Bentley, and Faye.

-End Flashback-

"I just want to get out of here as soon as possible," she finished.

'And try to save Sly and Murray. I have to do something before it gets out of hand.'

"Well," Bentley started as he sat down, "it's going to be a while before I get a fair grasp of our surroundings. So you might want to get comfortable." Faye sighed as Sly and Murray sat at the table with her. Natasha pretended to fight an enemy with Crow and swung the pry bar in the air. Faye was impressed with her; usually kids around her age would have blabbed off on recently collected information but Natasha hadn't said a single word about the Dimension Disrupter schematics since she had shown them to her. Faye watched as Natasha took a fighting stance and continued whacking the invisible foe and dodging its attacks.

-Flashback-

Faye unlocked the back doors of the team van and pushed them open. She hopped out in the fading twilight sky with her cane and cat suit in hand, leaving her laptop behind, and met up with Sly and Murray putting huge leaves on the van under some trees to camouflage it. Murray looked to be holding a machete to cut down the foliage that would be in their path. Soon, Natasha, Josie, and Bentley with his crossbow came out of the vehicle. Faye eyed Natasha and Josie, knowing that with the upcoming events, it would not be safe for either of them to come. But before she could get anything out, Natasha bounced on her toes as she eagerly asked,

"So when do we get to beat up some guards!" She flashed her claws as a few rays of light shined on them through the heavy storm clouds over head. Bentley closed the van doors and helped the guys cover the vehicle with the giant leaves.

"Natasha," started Faye.

"What?" she asked her curiously, tilting her head to the side.

"No claws," said Faye.

"But…"

"No." Sly held in a chuckle at the reoccurring events as if they were back at Dimitri's nightclub.

"Then what's my weapon going to be?" Faye put her right hand on her chin and held her right elbow in her left hand as she thought. She snapped her fingers,

"Got it!" Faye reopened the van doors for a moment, reached inside, and pulled out ol' Crow. She closed the doors and held it out to Natasha, "Here." Natasha took it with her free hand and retracted her claws.

"A crowbar?" she peered at Faye with a puzzled face, giving her serious déjà vu.

"It was my first weapon before I got this," Faye twirled her cane around and stuck it in the ground. Natasha's mouth opened agape and she gasped,

"Really? Wow… Okay then!" She looked over 'Crow' and tried twirling it like Faye did but only succeeded in dropping it.

"Don't worry; you'll get it," Faye assured while smiling broadly. Natasha grinned from ear to ear and Josie meowed happily. By now Sly, Bentley, and Murray had camouflaged the van really good. If you didn't know better, you'd say there never was a van ambiguously hidden within the pile of leaves and close trees. Faye peered down the hill they were on. Below was a sea of trees and hours of walking to the temple where Rajan was hiding. Off in the distance was an Indian home much like Rajan's. It was big, fancy, and many exotic smells reached Faye's nose. Flame broiled fish, freshly picked fruits and vegetables, and a complex variety of smells that would make your mouth water, like Natasha's. She had drifted over past the gang and had her nose in the air. Even Josie had caught the scent. Faye licked her lips as she imagined what kind of food was being served. Roast beef, steak, salads with many fruit; and that was just the appetizer. Sly approached Faye.

"Talk about déjà vu, huh Faye?" he said teasingly. Faye held up her right index finger to Sly's face,

"Don't you dare get me started." Faye looked like she wanted to say more but kept it to herself. Sly grinned and chuckled as Faye turned her attention back to the tempting aromas.

"Alright fellas, let's head through the jungle," stated Bentley as Murray took the lead. It only made sense for him to be in front if they came across any danger. Natasha and Faye groaned to themselves as they followed "The Murray's" lead.

-End Flashback-

"So how much time will it take?" Faye asked wearily as she crossed her arms on the table and set her head on them.

"A while. You might want to get some rest," Bentley said with his eyes on his laptop. Faye suppressed a yawn,

"I already took one before we got here."

"It was a long walk," Sly said, putting his cane down on the table. "Go on and get some sleep, Faye. It'll do us no good if you fall asleep during a job."

"Yeah…well…" she yawned. "Well… Just…for…a while…"And just like that, she was out like a light.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Two teenage girls stood on a rooftop under the cloudless sky as a full moon hung overhead. One had long blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. She wore a solid green sweatshirt and blue denim jeans. The other had shoulder-length black hair and mysterious bright blue eyes and wore a purple long-sleeved shirt and black pants.

"Trinity, do you think it's possible to go to other worlds like Sly Cooper's?" asked the blonde as she stared intently at the moon.

"Traveling to other worlds?" Trinity glanced over at her pal. "Do you really want to get away from your parents that badly, Faye?" Faye searched the ground and shook her head.

"Ugh! They fight over the most trivial things! It's so stupid!" She brought her hands down as fists to her sides, "I hate it! Today when I stopped by to see if they had calmed down, they were talking about Halloween and it turned into a yell fest about something that happened three years ago!" Trinity gazed at the moon as Faye slowly peered up.

"You ask if it's probable for humanity to travel to other realms outside our own."

"You sound like a Mystic when you do that," Faye said with a slight smile and laugh.

"It's how I am. You know that," Trinity smirked. The two gazed at the moon for a moment, lost in their thoughts. Faye broke the silence first,

"…Has anyone ever made a wish on the moon?" Trinity tilted her head as she thought,

"I suppose…But who would break away from the traditional stars; those planets that float in the eternal abyss that is space?"

"You're doing it again," Faye said with a chuckle. Trinity gave a quiet laugh as well and asked,

"So, are you going to make a wish on the moon above us or you going to make me wait for a millennia?" Faye put her hands together and entwined her fingers as she kept her eyes on the moon,

"The moon is a thief's worst enemy. It's light can determine whether the thief stays hidden or is revealed. But tonight I make a wish on a thief's enemy. I wish to one day travel to Sly Cooper's world." Trinity raised an eyebrow,

"Now who sounds like a Mystic?" Faye smirked as she followed Trinity down a ladder off the roof.

"Faye… Faye…!" echoed a voice, "Faye!" Faye's eyes shot open to a face full of black fur.

"Gah!" Faye exclaimed. She shot her head back in surprise and almost fell off her seat. She steadied herself and let out a sigh of relief. Murray was sitting at the table still, apparently waiting for some action, Sly was doing some exercises to ready himself, and Natasha was sitting in the raccoon's seat with Josie in her lap.

"Yeah? What is it?" Faye asked.

"I've finished analyzing our surroundings," Bentley said, pressing a few more buttons on his laptop. "Now, I need you and Sly to get some reconnaissance photos." Faye wore a puzzled expression,

"But I don't have a binocucom. How am I supposed to get some photos?" Bentley rummaged through his backpack on the floor and took out a navy blue binocucom with an orange underside.

"Here you go Faye," he said giving it to her. Faye's mouth opened slightly at the sight of her own gadget. She took the device and held it gingerly in her hands, looking it over in awe.

'Oh my gosh! I got a binocucom! This is the single most important day in my life!'

"Wow… My own binocucom…" she murmured to herself, trying to suppress her urge to jump for joy.

"Aw, cool!" Natasha said excitedly, leaning towards Faye. The panther looked like she was going to go through the roof. It was only imaginable what Natasha would do if she actually had one.

"To activate it, press the red button on the side. I've equipped it with a spycam, much like Sly's," Bentley explained as Faye and Natasha examined every nook and cranny of the new binocucom, "It's waterproof and I have included a new beta feature that I've been meaning to test." They looked up. "It can record up to thirty seconds of intonation. Highly useful when overhearing a Klaww Gang member's plans."

"Kind of what police use when recording messages after a crime? They use the gathered info later for whatever they need," Natasha said, keeping her eyes on the shiny new binocucom.

"Correct. Now you better go. The weather has lightened up a bit but I doubt it's going to stay like that," Bentley said as Faye carefully put the binocucom in her pack. She grabbed her cane and walked with Sly out the door.

Outside, the rain had turned into a drizzle but the dark clouds overhead threatened to turn violent again. Ahead of the duo was the main entrance to the temple, easily noticeable by the colossal elephant statue sticking out of the cliffs. Towering trees surrounded the temple and mosquitoes were swarming in various places. Sly took out his own binocucom and searched the grounds, most likely for the holographic marker.

'I was able to avoid the snakes at Rajan's palace only because I stayed as far away as possible. Shoot, I probably disturbed some while running here and there but passed them up. I wonder if Sly took care of any? …Darn darkness.'

"I can hardly see anything," Faye said mostly to herself. Bentley came over her ear communicator, or earcom for short,

"Try out you're new binocucom. I'll be projecting a holographic marker for you. Try to find it." Knowing that hardly anything could be seen from her current location, Faye walked to the left side of the "mouth" and hopped down to the mushroom with Sly right behind her. She bounced safely on the ground near it and pulled out her binocucom just as Sly landed by her. She pressed a red button on one side and held it up. When she looked through, she noticed that it was just like Sly's with a few exceptions. Most of the color was navy blue and at the top where the Cooper logo should have been was an orange image of a cat's head. The lower left view screen turned to static for a moment before Bentley's face appeared,

"If you want me to change anything, just tell me."

"Oh no, no, no! I love it!" Faye quickly said, "I have to admit, this is very cool. Cooler than I had imagined." Faye scanned the temple until an orange marker caught her attention. "I see the marker! It's about north by north-east near the truck and waterfall."

"Good, now can-"

"Aw, cool!" Natasha's voice suddenly cut in and her face appeared in the left view screen, very close up. "Can you see me, Faye?"

"Meow." Josie inched in next to Natasha. Faye chuckled,

"Yes, I can see you very well." There was mumbling behind Natasha as she looked away for a second.

"Okay," she turned back. "I've got to get off. Get a good picture of Rajan for me! I'm making a collection."

"A collection of what?"

"Pictures and stuff of bad guys or places we go to. Bye!" Natasha disappeared off to the side as Bentley came back on.

"As I was saying," he began, "Can you find this next marker?" Faye did not have to look far. The next icon was in plain view of where she and Sly were heading.

"Spice Room Recon? The icons have labels?"

"That's right. Now if you want to record something, press the orange button on top for as long as you want to archive. Press the green button to take a picture." Faye messed around a bit and kept zooming in and out on the cat icon. "I see you already know how to zoom. If you have any questions, just ask."

"Gotcha, Blizzard," Faye joked and turned off the binocucom.

"I believe that's my line," Sly chuckled, "Let's go." He jumped off the structure with Faye right behind him. As they avoided a monkey guard and an approaching rhino guard, Yami's voice murmured in Faye's ear,

"I forgot what kindness felt like." Faye and Sly crept around the right side of a tethered elephant. "For so long I was surrounded by hatred, anger, and deceit… But the Cooper Gang is different…" The two reached a semicircular ring of columned archways. They jumped onto the first one and continued to make their way across the top of them. "They have compassion; compassion I never recognized with the Klaww Gang. They gave me false hope and led me with lies." Sly and Faye began running across a vine leading to the last archway. Halfway across, Faye gasped as she lost her footing on the slippery vine and fell to the ground on her side.

Thud!

"Are you okay?" Yami gasped. Faye rubbed her head as heavy footsteps caught her attention. She looked behind her and saw a rhino guard coming. Her eyes bulged as she tried to get up as soon as possible, but she slipped and fell again. Her heart thumped in her ears and the guard got closer. In an instant, Sly was by her. He helped Faye to her feet and took off for the Sly icon just before they would have been caught in the guard's flashlight. Upon getting to the symbol, Sly and Faye took out their binocucoms as Bentley contacted them,

"Sneak into the temple and take some recon photos so I can assess the situation. Just be careful, if either of you gets hurt the nearest hospital is a hundred and six miles from here." Faye winced.

'Forgot about that. I've got to remember what happened during the jobs in this level.' Bentley interrupted her thoughts,

"According to my map of the area there should be a hidden passage into the temple behind that waterfall." Sly and Faye turned towards the nearest waterfall as the master thief smirked,

"Nice work Bentley, I'll take a hidden passage over the front door any day." As they put away their binocucoms and headed around the left side of the river, Yami spoke again,

"You will have to be more careful, just as Bentley said. I remember that Rajan's men sometimes took some spice for themselves. Chances are, the guards around here are almost as aggressive as the Contessa's." Faye nodded in awareness as she and Sly came to a roadblock. A monkey guard patrolled the area they needed to get to and there was no way of going around him safely. They hid behind a carved stone and when the guard turned its back, Sly jumped out, lifted him into the air, and slammed the primate to the ground, knocking it out cold.

"At least there were no atomic wedgies this time," Faye commented to herself. Yami snickered a little as Faye and Sly headed past two more stone structures, although the raccoon never heard her.

"It was an accident," he said as he leaped over a gap in the road and landed on the other side.

"Uh huh. Yeah, sure." Faye got a running start and cleared the split earth in a single bound and ambled over to an iron grate. Sly pulled down a lever on it and raised the bottom bars just enough for them to squeeze through. He extended his hand towards the opening,

"Ladies first." Faye got down on her hands and knees and crawled through. Once on the other side, she got up and waited for Sly. When he joined her, they strolled into a rather large room with water being churned by machines at the bottom and monkey guards on their left. Sly brought out his binocucom as Faye studied the area they were in. Even though her binocucom wasn't out, she could still hear Bentley through her earcom,

"Bingo, you found the spice growing facility. Now, from what I know of photosynthesis all the expensive equipment should be found at the top of this room… That access tube should get you up there."

"Alright, I'm heading for the top," Sly put away his binocucom. As he approached Faye, a cobra emerged from a nearby basket. She whacked the serpent over the head with her cane, slaying the beast.

"Hate those things," Faye whispered.

"Come on, I see a way up," Sly whispered back. He walked past Faye to a broken column and hopped to it. As a curved part of the machine agitating the water came around, Sly jumped onto it in a way only a Cooper could. Faye followed after on a similar part and jumped to the other machine when she got the chance, catching her balance. She saw Sly clinging to a vine and a monkey guard just above him. The monkey guard edged near another guard and started talking to him,

"I think Rajan's too paranoid, Jim. He should have had some rhinos over here." Sly got to solid ground just as Faye grabbed the vine.

"At least we're dry, Ed." Faye got to the stone floor as well and crept along the adjacent wooden bridge. "Have you heard what Rajan's been talking about lately?" Faye tilted her head to hear more.

"No, what?"

"Well…" the monkey started whispering something into Ed's ear. Faye frowned a bit and turned back to the matter at hand. A rhino guard was patrolling around a pulley that carried up water from below. As she and Sly neared, she noticed something that seemed unbelievable. It was dim, but there were dark blue sparkles on the buckets of water.

'It's…the aura! I thought I would never see it! This is astonishing!' Faye smiled broadly and nearly ran behind Sly, but stopped short because of the rhino. Sly hopped on the first bucket that went up and over her head. Faye followed the rhino guard carefully and when another bucket came up she leaped on. She rose up, past a flashlight guard who curiously did not notice someone riding on the pulley, and over to what seemed to be a small garden of spice. She jumped off next to Sly and made both made their way across the bridge. Another cobra came out but Sly thwacked it over the head with his cane and into the water. When they got to another vine, Sly pulled out his binocucom as Bentley came over their earcoms,

"Some of the vines around here are really slippery, use the Rail Slide to go for a ride."

"You could have told us this before Bentley," Faye said to him. "Cause I kind of found out the hard way." A snake popped out of no where but Sly took care of it with a swing of his cane.

"Whew. Thanks Sly," Faye said.

"No problem." Sly was about to get on the vine when Faye grabbed his arm and stopped him,

"Um…I don't know how to Rail Slide." Sly put his cane in his mouth, picked Faye up, and jumped onto the vine. He spun around once, made Faye dizzy once again, and landed on the vine as he began to slide. They went past the entrance and stopped at a column when the vine went no further. Sly put Faye down but still held her left hand.

"The key is to keep your balance. Come on," he said as he jumped on the rope, without spinning this time, and helped Faye keep her balance. They halted at the access tube and went inside. They ascended the ladder inside to a small room looking out to their objective. Sly and Faye brought out their binocucoms as Bentley came over,

"Here we go. Time for a few recon photos."

"Don't forget my picture!" Natasha cut in. Sly aimed at Clockwerk's Heart as Faye clicked the Crane Controls. She got a few extra pictures of the room itself as Sly got the entrance. Faye got a picture of Rajan but he was holding something else besides a part of the heart. It looked like he was holding a photo of some kind and he kept stopping to stare at it.

'What is that? He never had anything else in the game.' Faye tried to zoom in but couldn't get a good view. Bentley came over as Sly was putting up his binocucom,

"Hmm, bring those photos back to the safehouse…we'll really need to think about this one."

"Alright. Come on Faye," Sly whispered.

"Huh? Oh," Faye put up her gadget and left with Sly down the ladder, wondering what Rajan had been holding.

Yes, I know this chapter was shorter than the last one (by about two thousand words). I just wanted to get something up since you've all been waiting for a while and I needed to move the story forward. Now about the flashbacks, I had two openings to this but one was too big and one was too short yet I liked them both. My final decision was to combine them both and use the longer one in the flashbacks, although this caused the longer opening to be cut and altered. I might put up the longer, uncut version or something if I get around to it. I'll probably announce it later. No Sly/Faye! None of that. I've already got plans and that would ruin it. Anyway, if anything is confusing, like the difference between Faye thinking and Yami talking, tell me and if you can think of something that can clear it up, also tell me. If not, I'll try to think of something. In any case, I'll see you all in the next chapter.