Hiya! Stuff and Things. Umm. I totally had something planned for this. I am projecting a date of completion being September 5-7, 2016. I want it to be done before I go to school. Theoretically I would write and post during school. Although that would probably be extremely infrequent. At the same time I don't want to just disappear till next summer to write again. Time will tell what happens and I will definitely update. Enjoy~
-Milo
The doors of the van opened up and Sly quickly bound out into the snow breathing in the air. I didn't know where exactly in China we were, but I had been here once before. I had put those days far behind me, and I never intended to come back to China unless completely necessary. Unfortunately, Sly convinced me it was necessary and I couldn't say no just because of the past.
I couldn't help but think of the similarities, though, there were plenty of things that had seemed familiar. Although it had been about six years ago at this point.
I jumped out of the van following Naiya. Sly sent a salute towards us and started running up the mountain path and past the guards. Naiya and I were trying to keep up with him. There was very little moves from the Thievius Raccoonus that we had to perform. There was a point where we had to use the ninja spire jump, but I didn't need it since I had a grapple cord which Naiya was glad to use along with me. I couldn't blame her since she was new to the whole thieving thing. As for me, I felt little need to risk death at the moment and I preferred the grapple when possible.
I looked out over the mountains noticing some fireworks exploding into the air. I just stared at them for a few seconds. I never really enjoyed fireworks. They were loud, beautiful, but loud. They were just something that I couldn't really become fond of. I noticed some fireworks begin spinning around in the air before exploding into a mountain. I stared straight ahead not moving and barely catching a breath as the snow began to rush down from the mountain and flooded over a tiny town. I didn't even blink at the sight.
There was nothing I could do. I could go back and attempt to stop it, but there was no place in time when I had been remotely close to the area to stop it. After thinking over a few theories in my head I continued forwards. I'd lost sight of Sly and Naiya in the now blizzard. I trudged forwards through the snow trying to make out any figures that were not the monkey guards that seemed to be everywhere.
I looked through the haze of snow for a couple minutes before finally finding a building which seemed to have had guards posted on it, but was now broken open. I pulled my rifle off my back and slipped through the door. I still wasn't sure if anyone was still there. I looked around the tiny room only to notice a raccoon and a lynx sitting in the corner attempting to start a fire.
I wasn't too sure about starting a fire in a building, but it seemed to have little combustible objects around it. I walked over to them. I could see Sly shivering. I suppose he kind of deserved it for going out without any winter gear or at least a jacket.
"H-h-hi Mi-i-lo-o" He said through chattering teeth.
I shook my head at him and took off the jacket I was wearing and put it around him.
"You should really wear a jacket when you walk willingly into a blizzard ya know?"
"W-w-where's the f-f-fun in that?"
"Milo is right, you need to actually have some sort of self-preservation." Naiya quickly noted seeming irritated that they couldn't start the fire with just friction.
I walked up to a fairly large pile of paper and wooden objects and lit it with a lighter. I usually kept one handy especially for situations like this. I took a seat next to them as Sly stared at the fire with amazement. I wasn't sure what it was, but things seemed to fascinate him.
"Have you never seen a fire before?" I asked.
"I almost forgot what it was like to be warm," Sly replied smirking
"Remember Haiti, I'd give almost anything to be back in that weather right now," Naiya grunted.
"And with all of the giant mosquitos and humidity that came with it? No thanks." I countered.
"I guess that's true, but it beats literally everything freezing around us." Naiya sighed.
I shrugged and looked out the door. The weather seemed to be clearing up, but Sly was still seemingly incapacitated.
"I'm gonna go and see if I can get the key," I grinned at them and started to head out the door.
"Wait, Milo, we already have the key." Sly had stood up began walking towards me.
"Oh okay, are you feeling better? I mean I don't know what your exact deadline is for this task."
He just smirked at me and motioned Naiya to get up.
"Well with us three working to get all of the keys, this won't take too long. Let's go!"
He had put my jacket back on me and ran out of the building with Naiya following and quickly unlocked the door to the stronghold of the Panda King.
"Don't you two get into too much trouble, I'll be watching your backs." I spoke and I pulled my rifle off my back and ran out.
"Sly, I swear if I have to drag you out of another snowstorm I will kill you myself!" Naiya shouted and followed giggling slightly.
I didn't quite know what the feeling was, but I really felt as if this was familiar. I kept chasing after Sly and I managed to get myself to higher ground and looked over the stronghold. It was a sort of unsettling feeling that I was getting from watching the two run over to the different sections of the mountain. My earpiece crackled to life again with Bentley speaking.
"You don't have to be worried for them Milo, they are pretty capable of handling themselves."
"I know, this just feels like total deja vu."
I switched the earpiece off and followed Sly towards a broken bridge, I noticed Murray heading towards Naiya, so I could only assume she would be fine.
-Sly
It always nice having someone else trying to keep you safe while in the field. I slid down a rope towards a dojo type area. I snuck around the side of the building avoiding the spotlights and entered the building. I looked back up towards the mountainside to faintly see Milo in the distance examining the area. I grinned a bit and turned back and walked inside.
There was a lot of monkey's training up on the wooden pillars. They didn't even seem to notice I was in the building. I still made sure to remain careful and alert of all them as I picked up a few clues that were lying around. I made my way above them, and eventually slid out of the building on a rope.
I noticed Milo was a bit ahead of me casually sitting in some snow on a roof. There was a guard ahead of him that was seemingly incapacitated.
"How did you get here so fast?"
"I have my ways," He responded looking up at the sky. "Anyways, let's go" he smirked.
We walked towards a railing where a guard was posted looking at a pinwheel. I snuck around on the railing and Milo followed suit. I got behind the guard and raised my cane up in the air. The guard quickly turned around, but he wasn't fast enough. I hit him hard with the cane knocking him out. Milo walked over holding some clues.
"So how are we supposed to get up there?"
"Just follow me," I grabbed his arm and swiped the fireworks on the pinwheel. They accelerated and started to lift up into the air. He clung to my arm as we lifted up. I chuckled to myself at the action, but I didn't bring up. I jumped off to the side basically dragging Milo with me.
"I could've just grappled us up there!" He shouted panicked.
"Where's the fun in that?"
"You mean self-preservation?"
"Exactly"
"You need help."
"Maybe after I get back the pages to the Thievius Raccoonus."
I swung along some hooks over to a platform while Milo used his grapple again. I felt a bit annoyed that he had such an easy way to get around, but then again he had told me that he developed most of the tech in tech glove, so I shook away the thought.
I just decided to break open the key from its cage and begin with my way back to start. Milo just waved to me and said he would catch up in a bit.
I left the area only to see Naiya was keeping low around a guard before she shot him with a shock pistol. He fell to the ground and convulsed for a moment before passing out. She looked up at me with a bit of a smirk.
"Here's your key." She was grinning now.
"Thanks. Only one more now." I put the key in my backpack where landed on the other one.
I turned and looked towards the last zone only to see Milo walking slowly towards us with his rifle over his shoulder. He was twirling a key around on his finger before stopping before me with a smirk.
"Here's the key courtesy of Murray and me." He handed me the third key.
"Didn't Murray go with Naiya? Nevermind. How did he do?" I asked concerned. Murray was still a bit too shy on the field.
"Just fine. He seemed more confident in himself. Also, He called me in because he needed someone to watch his back while he got a key."
"Good, well, it's time to continue."
I unlocked the door that led down into the stronghold and lifted it up. I glanced back at them noticing Naiya and Milo were really focused. Naiya was holding her pistol up with both hands ready. Milo put his hands behind his head and walked forwards.
"Shall we?" He dropped down. I heard a thud of something that was fairly large. I followed quickly and landed at the bottom recognizing the guard that was now passed out and against the wall. These two had come a long way since Paris.
-Naiya
This was exciting. I was really feeling the adrenaline course through my body as I ran around with them. I was a bit tired, though. I had to climb a lot more than I was used to. I didn't really climb too much back in Paris or anywhere really. I ran a bit recreationally and such, but this was a bit extreme for me. The other two seemed to have noticed me slowing down a bit.
"Why don't you rest for a moment, you seem tired," Milo said without looking back at me.
"I'm not slowing down. Not while you two are doing dangerous tasks. I want to help," I pouted
"No use in pushing yourself over the edge," Milo explained.
I just grunted and looked away and kept walking. I wasn't about to let them leave me here without a job to do.
"How about this," Milo began, "There is a snow cone shop through that little cave over there," He pointed towards a cave with a guard posted in front of it, "You go and get a snow cone and Murray can come pick you up if you are still tired. If not, You can easily come back up and help."
I didn't have an exact response to this. There wasn't much to say. It was annoying that I was getting benched, but he also said I could come back if I was okay. I just sighed and walked towards the guard shooting him before he could even react to me walking towards him.
I got to the other side of the cave and noticed the snow cone shop. I didn't even know why a snow cone shop would even be in a location like this. It was a poor business choice if you ask me. I walked down the mountain. It was a bit steep and the ice was annoying, but I managed. I looked around noticing some monkeys making a bit of commotion, so I slipped around to the other side of the stand and looked up at the worker. He was an arctic fox and seemed trustworthy enough.
His ear perked and up and he whipped around and looked at me.
"Hello there," He smiled, "What can I get for you?"
I looked at the menu. There were quite a few flavors, but I chose to stay fairly basic.
"Can I get a blue raspberry snow cone?"
"Sure things."
I came to a swift realization as he began to turn around.
"Oh wait! Nevermind."
He cocked an eyebrow at me.
"I just remembered, I didn't bring any money with me."
"It's fine, this one will be on me." He grinned again and turned back to make it.
I was surprised by the gesture especially since business wasn't exactly booming here. Then again, he might just be happy to have a customer that isn't causing him a lot of problems. After sitting down, I realized how much my legs hurt. My feet felt as if they were burning and I could hardly feel them.
The fox came back with my snow cone and I nodded gratefully. I then realized midway through the snow cone that was I was really pushing myself and perhaps I had pushed myself too far. I called Bentley via an earpiece he had given me.
"Hey, Bentley?"
"Yes? Naiya, what is it?"
"Can you ask Murray if he can get me from this snow cone stand, I might've pushed myself too much."
"Sure, just give him a few minutes and he'll be there."
The communicator switched off and I just sighed. I knew that Sly and Milo were both going to be alright, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was slowing them down. I chewed on the ice for a bit longer until I heard a familiar vehicle speeding towards me down a path. I smiled at the thought of the van. A lot of things had happened there.
Murray braked hard next to me knocking some snow onto me. I brushed it off and the door swung open for me. I jumped into the passenger seat and closed the door. I also secured my seat belt as fast as possible. It was a bit frayed at the top, but it seemed safe… enough. I was feeling like I was about to fall asleep, but I ignored the feeling so I could listen to Murray having a conversation with the monkeys. He also had managed to get a snow cone at some point. I guess I was starting to black out I was so tired.
"Alright so if I win the race around the track 3 times, I get a key? You're on!" Murray finished.
The van roared to life and I was fully awake when I saw Murray pull up to a starting line and begin revving the engine and preparing himself for the impending race. I was fully alert at this point. I knew this van could go at breakneck speeds, and I was not looking forwards to this.
-Sly
I walked towards the middle of the stronghold noticing Milo sitting down and staring at the water. There was a key next to him, although he seemed to be upset about something.
"You alright?" I asked.
The only response I received from him was a simple headshake.
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No," He said before standing up and putting the key into my backpack. "I'll meet you back at the van with the others."
"Okay, but Bentley told me Murray took the van to get Naiya, so you could come with me for now or head over to Naiya and meet the van there."
He just stopped in his tracks and kept looking forwards. Rotating slowly, he began to speak.
"I've been here before. A long time ago. I'd rather not spend too much time here."
"Why? What even happened here?"
"So naive and foolish!" He quickly burst out. "You've gotta be more careful! I can't always bail you out!" His voice was breaking at the last words.
I blinked a few times at him. He didn't usually have outbursts of anger. I couldn't make out his emotions either. He almost seemed to be scared. I couldn't shake the anger of his insults.
"What do you mean bail me out?" I could feel the anger seeping into my words.
"This place is the immortal reminder of my mistakes. You are too reckless and I don't want you to get hurt okay?!"
"Who said I even needed you to help me!" I didn't know where the words came from, they just sort of came.
Milo looked up at me and started to walk towards me. There was something about what he said that had ticked me off. I knew I was a bit careless at times, but the way I save my family's legacy was my business. He kept his advance at a steady pace. He was limping towards me slowly. His eyes were hidden under his hood. I took a step back. As he quickly spun the knob on his glove. Although, the strange thing was that he quickly blinked past me and continued to limp towards the cave. I wasn't aware that he could speed up himself without altering things around him. Although, it would explain how he survived in Wales.
"Au revoir," He said softly before disappearing into the cave.
I was walking around the stronghold after retrieving another key off of a strange rocket bike type thing, wondering where the last key might be when my Binocucom buzzed. I lifted it up and saw a nervous and hysterical Bentley.
"SLY! You have to go help Naiya and Murray! They are just northwest of you. Hurry up!" He hung up.
I just grunted. I got annoyed at times when things delayed this, I didn't really want to put off retrieving the rest of the Thievius Raccoonus for too long since there was no guarantee the Fiendish Five would stay in one place for too long. I ran towards the cave that Naiya and Milo had gone through in order to catch up with them. The commotion of people howling and yelling was a pretty clear indicator. Sure enough, there was the Hippo and Lynx in question preparing to race.
"Murray! What are you doing down there!" I growled a bit in the back of my throat.
"Well. I was coming to pick up Naiya when I noticed the Snow cone menu and I think to myself, 'Hey Murray, you've got to keep your energy up.' So I order a snow cone and then all of the sudden, monkeys are everywhere, bugging me to race them 3 times around this track for a key." Murray explained.
"We could use that key - think you can take 'em?" I had cooled off a bit.
"Come one Sly - They're a pack of monkeys! How could I lose?" Murray said cockily
"Alright, remember to run over some nitro cans if you see any. The van should automatically use them for a boost… keep clear of those icy patches." I was a bit worried for Murray, but I knew he would come through.
"Thanks for the advice, Sly - but trust me, I've got this under control." Murray shut off his binocucom.
I sat down in the snow and stared at the track as they were about to begin. The ice definitely going to be a challenge, but I knew Murray could get through it. My ears perked up as a familiar raccoon sat down next to me swinging his legs over the side and handed me a snow cone which I took happily.
"This is gonna be fun, eh?" Milo said staring intently at the track.
"Eh? Are you Canadian or something?" I chuckled.
Milo grinned at me and nodded his head, "Yep I was born there, but my family moved over to France when I was four. Old habits, and stereotypes, stay I guess."
"Apparently… What happened earlier. You seemed kind of frightened… and sorry about what I said. I let my temper get the best of me occasionally." I looked away feeling a little bit ashamed of how I reacted.
"I'll tell you some other time. It's not important right now anyways." Milo seemed happier now. It felt as if it was rare as of late, but it was nice when he was happy. Not much could be going wrong if he was.
-Milo
Murray won the race by a pretty substantial margin. He almost lapped one of the monkeys which reminded me that he knew how to floor it if he needed to. I slid down the mountain side and waltzed up to the van casually. Murray seemed to be excited as he picked up the key and jumped up and down as Naiya praised him.
"I did it! I told Sly that it would be easy and I did it!" Murray was booming. I hadn't heard this loud yet, it really fit his personality
"I'm gonna bring the key to Sly, Murray," I said as I retrieved the key from the hippo.
I ran up towards Sly who was stretching as he stood up. I wouldn't be surprised if he was going to go looking for the last key.
"Here you go," I handed the key to him.
"Thanks. Well, I'm off to go stop the Panda King. Wanna come along?"
I thought about the offer for a moment. It would be interesting to assist Sly in stopping one of the Fiendish Five, but I was pretty exhausted. I knew I couldn't push myself too far or I would probably just pass out.
"I think I'll have to pass. I mean I want to help, but I'm pretty tired and I don't want to overdo it again. But hey, I'll be watching over you." I winked and turned back towards the van. I knew he would be okay, he's been through worse than this and come out unharmed.
We drove towards the area where we would pick up Sly after he completed his mission as the fight between him and Panda King occurred. Sly didn't seem to be having too much trouble with the fight at first. There wasn't too much to Panda King's "Flame Fu". Panda King as a person seemed pretty two-dimensional since he was a poor person who was fed up by the upper class. Nothing uncommon.
I thought all of this, until he started talking…
"You aren't operating with your usual group Cooper. Who are those other two my guards have been reporting?" Panda King boomed.
"None of your business," Sly replied. He was really focused on the fight.
"Ah but I recognize one of them. That raccoon that is with you. I got reports of a similar raccoon years ago."
~Wait. What… Years ago… I remember this place, but why was he informed of our presence then.
"He had two others with him, two girls, they were trying to shut down a local crime lord. I also had received information about this prior to their arrival," I gripped my hands and closed my eyes tightly remembering the day.
"I happened to relay that information to Clockwerk, he seemed intrigued by this turn of events and decided to set up a trap using the crime lord as bait."
~What…
"Of course, he was in on it too. The objective was to wipe out the remainder of the Hunter clan. We nearly succeeded too, but that raccoon is a slippery one. When it came to it, he was able to be quite merciless. We settled on the fact that we killed his sisters and let him get away for the time being." He eventually finished. I flipped my hood back on and hugged in my knees.
~It was all a setup! We were so stupid to think that it would be so simple.
"You'll pay for what you've done Panda King!" Sly yelled out.
After a couple more minutes of fighting, Sly had inevitably won the battle. He retrieved the page from the Panda King's clutches and began his escape route. I felt limp against the wall of the van as everything seemed to fade away. It didn't matter since, at the core, I knew… I couldn't save them…
Hmm. K. Well this chapter is long (It actually the longest chapter). And umm. It took forever. Because I am a busy person, but hey! I finished all of the homework, and I have no more meetings, and no more plans till I go to school in 3 days (2? It's 1 a.m 9/4/16). Also, I got sick on the last day of writing so I couldn't edit the same night. I don't know if the ending will be two short chapter and an epilogue. Or one long chapter and an epilogue. Also, I changed my username because pesky friends are trying to find my page, but we have a deal and such so it has little concern. Also also, WE HIT 100 PAGES! Yeah! Review! Anyways, Cya~
