Sorry my updates have been getting slower, guys. To be honest, my interest in this story has been waning lately. But I WILL finish it. Don't you worry about that.

Chapter 7: Teamwork

After several hours into their journey, Le Paradox had mostly settled down. Though he was still royally pissed off, his anger seemed to be at least partially directed towards the Sisterhood of the Sand rather than Sly, which he was very thankful for. Now maybe he could count on the skunk to at least help get the time machine back before trying to kill him again.

What he wasn't aware of, was that despite his earlier doubts, Le Paradox had learned from his past mistakes. He was certain now that a direct attack would never succeed. Loathe as he was to admit it, Cooper's skill in battle exceeded his own, and now he was left powerless again. No, if he wanted to achieve his vengeance, he would need to be more cunning. He would let Cooper think he was out of danger for a while, then strike when he least expected it.

As the raccoon rode on in front of him, he glared icily into his backside. Mark my words Cooper, I won't rest until I've left you buried in these sands.

The journey continued much like this for the rest of the day. Sly and Neema casually chatted to each other about themselves (with Sly being very careful not to reveal anything that would cause a temporal meltdown), while Le Paradox stayed mostly silent and plotted his rival's demise. They had seen no sign of their enemies up to this point, but finally Sly spotted something on his binocucom. "Wait, hold up! There's something over that dune."

Sly's camel made a slight detour to the right to investigate. Le Paradox complained, but he had no choice but to follow as his camel went automatically to join its partner. It was fitting that it did, as what Sly had discovered was the half-buried corpse of another camel.

Sly jumped down off of his own camel and knelt down for a closer look. The animal hadn't been dead for very long as its body was only slightly decayed, but there was definitely something familiar about it. "You see this riding cloth it's wearing?" Sly asked, pointing to the red garment draped over the body. "It's the same kind of design that we have on ours."

Neema peered over the side of the camel. "You're right. Do you think...?"

He nodded. "Yeah, this has to be another one of the Sisterhood's mounts. They've gotta be sharing a few of them by now," he said with a slight smirk.

"So what killed it?"

"I'm not sure," Sly leaned in even closer to try to discern the cause of death. He found his answer, but not in the way he expected.

"Look out!" Neema shouted. Le Paradox noticed the danger as well, but remained silent.

"What the-YIKES!" Sly jumped back just in time to keep a large red stinger from stabbing into his big toe. That stinger was soon joined by a body, that was then joined by several other bodies.

"Scorpions!" But these weren't just any scorpions. They were red and yellow in color and each was roughly the size of a breadbox. Certainly not the kind of scorpion you could just step on.

Sly scrambled back onto his camel, which backed away fearfully from the advancing arachnids. "I've heard about scorpions like these," Neema said. "They hide themselves underground, then spring up to ambush travelers."

"That's ridiculous!" Le Paradox shouted from behind. "Scorpions don't hunt in packs!"

"Try telling them that," Sly said dryly.

"What do we do?!" Neema screamed.

Sly eyed the approaching horde and called back. "You and Le Paradox get to safety. I'll handle them." Without another word, Sly left his camel again and brandished his cane.

"You can't possibly-!" Neema tried to protest, but the camels were already scampering away from the scorpions, either following Sly's orders or just too frightened to approach.

As soon as they were a good distance away, Sly put all of his focus on the enemy and attacked. These scorpions were definitely smarter than average, as they almost immediately attempted to split up and surround him. Sly thwarted their efforts by maneuvering away and striking back when he was out of their range.

It quickly became clear that he had bitten off more than he could chew. Scorpions scattered with every swing of his cane, but more continued to spring up, and this constant zipping back and forth was seriously starting to wear him out. The scorpions noticed this and started to attack even more viciously. He was holding his own for now, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he slipped up and received a fatal sting.

Neema, watching helplessly from a distance, came to the came conclusion. "This is hopeless! He'll never beat all those things by himself!"

Le Paradox smirked. The girl was making this all too easy. "You're right. He needs my help," he said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. "Please, you have to untie me."

She hesitated. "I don't know...Slytunkhamen said you couldn't be trusted."

"Oh, he would say that," Le Paradox gave a dramatic sigh. "He was always jealous of my greatness."

Seeing Neema looking more confused than anything, he grunted and cut straight to the point. "If you don't untie me soon, Cooper is going to die no matter what. But if you want to waste time pondering over how trustworthy I am, then so be it. " He put on an air of casual indifference, which he didn't even need to fake. "C'est la vie."

"Oh...alright," Neema decided, working at the ropes on the skunk's wrists.

Sly just barely dodged out of the way of another scorpion's stinger and scooped the creature up in his cane, flinging it into its comrades. This did almost nothing to slow the horde as they continued to advance on him. Sly panted from exertion and raised his cane again, ready to keep fighting as long as it took.

He was so focused on them that he didn't notice Le Paradox until he felt the familiar rapier snatched from his waist. "Thank you kindly."

Sly gaped. "What?! How did you-" He glanced back and saw Neema giving him an apologetic smile. He growled in frustration, but his frustration remained on Le Paradox. He suspected (correctly) that he had manipulated the fennec fox to his own ends and now he was back to being his problem again.

But there was no time to worry about that now as the scorpions were still on the attack. The two thieves struck back, both determined to eliminate this enemy so they could go back to dealing with each other. Sly was no longer being pushed back by the opposing force. He and Le Paradox were now the ones doing the pushing, cutting their way through the horde. Though neither of them would acknowledge it, they were subconsciously working together, Sly taking out the brunt of the attackers and Le Paradox getting the stragglers that attempted to surround them.

Seeing that their prey was quickly becoming a lot more trouble than they were worth, the remaining scorpions retreated back underground and didn't emerge again. The battle was won, but there were no celebrations to be had, only accusations. "What's going on, Le Paradox? You could have easily let me die here. Why did you help me?"

The skunk smiled. "What, can't you believe that maybe I've learned my lesson and am trying to make amends?"

"Nope," he answered bluntly and walked away, leaving Le Paradox fuming behind him. He spotted the carcass of a scorpion on the ground and growled as he kicked it away.

The scorpion attack left everyone drained. By the time the sun started to set, they were more than ready to make camp for the night. Lacking actual tents (their gold had dried up too much for that option), the trio made do with a small rock formation, branching out over the ground just enough to provide shelter. It was a far cry from the temple two of them had stayed in that first night, but at least the rocks served as a shield against the wind. They even pulled the riding cloths off of the camels to use as blankets. Sly and Neema shared one, while Le Paradox stayed at a safe distance with his own.

The fact that the skunk could move freely now was not lost on him. "Don't even think of trying anything Le Paradox," he said warningly. "I'm a very light sleeper."

Le Paradox put a paw to his chest, as if deeply hurt by the implied threat. "Now Cooper, I would never do something so despicable," said the guy who had attempted to run off with the time machine just last night.

Neema looked between the two and sighed. "Why can't you two just get along? What is with you?"

"He tried to erase my family name!" Sly protested.

"He ruined my fortune and my future!" Le Paradox yelled simultaneously.

"I understand," Neema said patiently, though she really didn't understand at all. They had both refused to go into detail about their little grudge. "But don't you think you can at least put that aside for a bit while you're trying to get your stuff back? Didn't you see the way you took out those scorpions today? If you can just work together, nothing will stop you!"

This time it was Sly who sighed. "I know what you're trying to do Neema, but it's not going to happen. We've been enemies for too long, and that's not going to magically change just because we happen to be in this together. So drop it, okay?"

"But-"

"What do you know, there is something we can agree on," Le Paradox said, sneering at her. "Stay out of our business, girl!"

The two rivals, having said their piece, both turned away from her and went to sleep. Neema stayed awake for a few minutes longer, just staring into the night sky. At this rate, these two were going to get themselves killed. She could only wonder what would get them first: the Sisterhood, or each other.