Cairo, Egypt, 1298 B.C.
Right now the racoon that they are looking for is in a basement, lying on a makeshift bed made of straw and grass. Only a tiny hole through the top that goes to the ground is his only way of telling the time and getting any fresh air. In this mud-brick hut he thinks he is a prisoner with no escape. Sly sits up slightly and looks at his feet, one of them completely normal, the other covered in wet papyrus to stop it from moving. Sly hears footsteps coming from the room above, they descend down the stairs slowly. Even through whoever is keeping him her is trying to be quiet, he can still hear them. Years of experience has sharpened his hearing to detect the faintest of signals, from impending guards to far away sirens. But as this noise stops, Sly gets lies back down and faces the wall, wanting to go back to sleep.
"Ah good, you're awake." A voice says, pleased. Sly turns his head and sees nothing.
"Where am i?" He asks the mysterious voice, he has an air of familiarity with it.
"You are in the greatest city in the world, Cairo." The voice starts again "More specifically, the house that my father constructed."
"Who are you? Where are you?" Sly asks in the room, he hears something but sees nothing.
"Why I'm right here. Standing in front of your face, taking to you." The voice answers. Somehow out of the shadow a figure emerges, wearing a white robe and headdress, it's another raccoon. Sly doesn't recognise who it is though.
"But why take me?" Sly asks.
"I heard the commotion in the streets and looked to see what it is, I saw you hopping through the streets and I took pity on you. I took you away from the crowds and hid you in here. In my spare time I like to practice medicine, I am obsessed with how the body works, because this helps me with my other activities." The voice explains.
"What other…" Sly Begins, he is cut of by the voice.
"I'm sorry, it was just a slip of the tongue I'm afraid. What you need to do is to rest, your ankle is broken, usually it takes months to heal, but with me, it takes weeks." The voice tells Sly. Sly thinks this over, trying to make sense of it all. After about 10 seconds he realises who it is.
"You're Slytunkahmen! Founder of the Thievius Raccoonus!" Sly exclaims with glee, like he's just been given all the keys to the world's safes.
"No, Slytunkahmen was my father." He rebuts instantly. "I am the second." He goes over to a corner of the room unseen by Sly as it is hidden in darkness and opens what Sly thinks from the clacking sound is a chest.
"Your thefts we're legendary, your techniques, far ahead of you're time." Sly exclaims again with the same happiness like Murray in a chocolate pizza burrito-eating contest.
"How do you know all this?" Slytunkahmen II Asks, confused how his patient knows his secrets.
"I'm your descendant from the future." Sly explains happily.
"I wondered about you when I saw you," He says while grabbing out two objects from the chest. "I saw your cane, the top of it looks exactly like mine." The objects he takes out are his twin canes, the handles shortened to slightly longer than a handgrip.
"I need to see you in the field." Sly starts.
"No, you have to stay here and rest, movement will only make the process more painful and longer." Slytunkahmen II Explains.
"But."
"No, buts, you need to rest, once it's healed you can come, uh, what is your name?" Slytunkahmen II asks his patient.
"Sly Cooper." Sly says confidently.
"Is that short for Slytunkahmen?" He asks.
"No." Sly replies casually.
The tan coloured raccoon disappears into the shadows and on the ground, the thud of Sly's cane hitting the ground in front of his bed. Sly has no choice but to follow his orders, he is Slytunkahmen II after all. Sly never knew he was a doctor through, but he would need one if he was to get back into the field as soon as possible and get back into the present. That's one thing he still regrets slightly, not being able to escape that blimp in time, he rethinks over the events of that night over and over. But one memory trumps them all. The moment where he saved Le Paradox from certain death, haunts him like the shadow of Clockwerk that hung over his more recent ancestors. Constantly present, it makes him mad. Sly knows he must get past that moment because it is exactly that, the past. But the anger slowly bubbles underneath like a cauldron full of water above a fire.
The days and nights of being underground have taken a toll on this most infamous raccoon. The only time he got to go outside is when he would need to get some sunlight, even though his captor/doctor didn't understand the concept of vitamin D, and that was only for about half an hour a day. But Sly has no way to know exactly what time it is, apart from the position of the little patch of light that sneaks into the basement through the holes in the roof. Sly doesn't neglect his fitness though; he starts with simple exercises, push-ups and sit-ups, other more extravagant things like handstands and twirling his cane around while looking at the ceiling. It keeps him busy; being stuck underground for 98% of the day does make anyone bored. His routine manages to keep himself fit and ready for when the day comes, that day when he is released back into the wild, the urban landscape that he dominates so commandingly.
That day comes 3 weeks later, Sly has been fed all sorts of herbal drinks and remedies, whether they worked or not were a mystery to him. In this particular morning, Sly is fixated on the chest in the corner, being underground for so long has given him improved night vision. What does it contain? He asks himself constantly, he doesn't dare touch it, the effects of taking some treasure now could impact the present in untold ways. Slytunkahmen II comes down the stairs that lead into the basement, Sly expects this to be another foul tasting drink of some sort, but this time he carries nothing.
"It is time." Slytunkahmen II utters, This sends off sparks in Sly's head, signifying the end of his subterranean confinement.
"You should be able to walk on it straight away." He says. Sly is unsure about this, usually you work your way back from an injury, but just going straight on it? That's preposterous! However, Sly edges out of his bed and slowly adds weight to his right foot, no pain. He adds more and more until he is standing, still no pain. Sly is about as surprised he could possibly be.
"That's… amazing!" Sly remarks.
"There is no doubt about my medicine in this city." Slytunkahmen II affirms.
"Now can I see you in the field?" Sly asks him.
"About that, I need you to help me with something; if you are truly my ancestor then you should do it no problem." Slytunkahmen II says.
"Anything" Sly gratefully says, it is such an honour to even be with someone so revered in Cooper lore.
"There is this one new warlord that keeps stealing everything before I even have the chance to get to it. This wasn't a problem before but now I can't steal anything without this one warlord being there first. It causing me such pain."
"Not as much as I thought I would be experiencing now." Sly jokes.
Slytunkahmen gives a sarcastic "ha ha" at his joke, he is clearly a very serious thief or he is just not in the mood, Sly knows what it is like to have a rough patch where nothing goes your way, especially back in his schoolyard days when he was more naïve. He planned ambitious thefts with his friends but something would go wrong or something would happen that they didn't plan for. Sly gets serious as well.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it will be no problem for me." Sly replies.
"Ok then, the pharaoh here is very greedy, he goes to stores and demands they give him some of their jewellery or he would close it down. His gold deposit is hidden in his palace, but I've traced it to a room underneath his throne. If you can get that gold for me it will help me greatly, and if that warlord comes for the gold, bring him to me."
"I've got it." Sly answers.
Sly is itching to go, he turns to head for the biggest building besides the pyramids, the pharaohs palace. The feeling of running and jumping over things, movement in itself makes Sly happy. Happy that he is free again, that he is back doing what he does best. Stealing from the toughest of criminals. In this city, no one would be tougher to steal from than the pharaoh himself. Sly doesn't have any trouble in reaching the palace, the low flat rooftops are an easy route across the city. The palaces opulence is almost taunting the townsfolk below, saying "look how rich and powerful I am" towards the people that worship him. Maybe he will be slightly less wealthy when Sly is done. Sly enters through a small opening near the base of the palace, it leads directly into the network of tunnels that house the pharaohs items that the crowd is not allowed to see. Weirdly, no guards patrol the perimeter. He waits for one to show up but none come, he drops down in to the corridor, the air is quiet like no one is even there. That's because there isn't anyone there.
The next turn reveals why, an arm hangs out of the next room but it isn't moving, the rooms entrance is blocked by a sheet of cloth which block what Sly assumes to be the other guards. Slytunkahmen wasn't kidding when he meant that this warlord was first, but the devastation created in his wake is another. The footprints in the sand floor show the path taken, and the path that Sly takes. It leads to an empty room with a single gold coin situated on the ground with a tiny card on top, a calling card. Sly bends over to pick it up, it isn't anyone he knows, it shows a weird symbol all the same colour as the sandstone walls that surround him. Sly then thinks he's seen it before briefly, but nothing definite manifests itself in his head. He exits the palace and returns to the hut with nothing more than a card and coin to show for it.
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