Chapter 7 Training Montage
After rescuing Rioichi we returned to the hideout and explained everything.
Surprisingly the guy was totally not surprised to hear I was his descendant from the distant future. Apparently with all the other crazy things that were happening around town, the idea of his time-traveling, many-times, great, great grandson coming to help out had become totally believable.
We were all alarmed to hear that Rioichi had also been suffering from the same attacks I've been feeling recently. Not as many, and not as badly as mine were back in modern day Paris, but he had been getting them too. Bentley speculated it was because he lived further in the past than me, so there was less of the timeline to be affected. However, for that to happen, it meant we likely had other ancestors even further back in time who were in trouble too.
It was a scary thought.
But before we could go even further back in time, we had to get Rioichi's life back on track, starting with taking back Rioichi's sushi restaurant and ending with us taking down El Jefe.
Sly wasn't surprised that he fell asleep the moment his head hit a futon when they got back to their hideout. After all that, he was exhausted, and definitely needed the shut-eye.
What wasn't he hadn't expected was for Rioichi to drag him out of bed at the crack of dawn. Murray and Bentley got to sleep in, thanks to them having a mission to replenish Rioichi's fish supply later.
"Any particular reason we're out here so early?" Sly asked as he fought off a yawn.
"Yes," said Rioichi as he led Sly across rooftops towards and into the forest outside the village. "While your skills when retrieving me from my cage were admirable, you still made many mistakes. You are out of practice." He said once they reached a clearing by the river where they wouldn't be disturbed.
Sly flushed at the reminder. "Yeah, and the reason for that is another long story," he said. "Short version, I apparently used to be a thief who was up to snuff, but then I lost my memory and didn't even know I could do half these things until Bentley and Murray drafted me to save your life, and by extension mine."
Rioichi's eyebrows climbed higher and higher at that story until they couldn't be seen under his hood. "Interesting," he said. "Then the tanuki has forgotten he is a trickster, yet still transforms on instinct."
"Uh, yeah, something like that," Sly confirmed, not really getting the comparison.
Rioichi nodded. "I see. Then this training is all the more imperative. To not know fully what you are capable of can be just as deadly as any guard's crossbow."
Sly got the feeling this entire morning would be packed with a whole lot of metaphors and proverbs. Then again, with where they were it already looked like he'd stepped onto the set of a samurai movie. Might as well roll with it.
What followed was a long arduous day of relearning all the things vital to being a thief. Even with Sly's muscle memory aiding him instinctively, he still had to practice every move over and over again until they reached Rioichi's satisfaction.
Although, on the flip side, Sly also was able to stumble across a few moves to teach Rioichi that he didn't know, as they were developed by Coopers in the generations between them in the family line. Rioichi made sure to learn all he could but swore not to write about them in his Thievius Raccoonus so as to preserve history and allow the proper Cooper to get due credit for their hard work.
It was exhausting, but the good kind of exhausting. The kind where you start something new and find you're a natural at it, and then can't stop.
As the sun began to set, the two tired raccoons sat beside the river to relax before heading back to the hideout.
"Thanks for this, Rioichi," said Sly after a moment of meditative silence. "There's so much I can't remember. To know at least this much, I appreciate it."
Rioichi nodded sagely. "No thanks is necessary. It is your birthright as a Cooper to know these things." He then frowned contemplatively at the waterfall. "Although, I must ask, is our family creed among the things you have forgotten?"
Sly looked over at him in surprise. "We have a creed?" he asked, answering that question well enough.
Rioichi bowed his head, as if sorry to hear that, before standing to look at Sly with a stern expression. "You are a Cooper thief, Sly-kun. And as such, there is one rule you must always abide by, as it is our code of honor that sets us apart from the common rabble who plague this world."
Feeling this was important, Sly stood as well so he could look Rioichi in the eye.
"There is no honor, no challenge," Rioichi said, before smirking and adding, "no fun in stealing from ordinary people. To be a true Master Thief, you must only steal from other thieves."
Sly's eyes widened, certain he'd heard those words before. And not just from Murray saying they only stole from 'bad guys', he could swear he'd heard that exact wording somewhere in his past. Then, for a split second, he didn't see Rioichi standing there, but instead, another raccoon that Sly recognized from the few dreams he'd been having about his past.
His father. No doubt the first time Sly had heard those words before, it had come from him.
Sly blinked the vision away and smiled at Rioichi. "I promise," he said sincerely.
Rioichi nodded approvingly. "Good. Now we had best reunite with your friends and reclaim my restaurant. After all, a bird who waits too long will find no worms." And with that, he darted into the forest back towards the village.
Sly grinned and raced after him. "Hey, I actually recognize that saying. Though in the modern day, we've really trimmed it down."
Rioichi shot him a deadpan look. "This is 'the modern day', future grandson," he said.
Sly laughed at that. From Rioichi's perspective, he was right.
Meanwhile, in a nearby secret fishing hole, Bentley sat with his wheelchair at the edge of a lake, holding out a fishing rod with a high-tech magnet instead of a hook, but was catching fish all the same.
Behind him, Murray was diligently practicing a dance routine with a fan and humming to his own rhythm. One of Bentley's proposed plans had him disguising himself as the local beauty, Madam Geisha, and he wanted to play his part well. And to do that, he needed to be able to dance everyone's socks off. He couldn't wait.
The atmosphere was calm and quiet, but despite that Bentley couldn't find it in him to relax.
Murray eventually noticed how tense he was, and stopped dancing. "What's wrong, Bentley?" he asked. "You miss Penelope?"
Bentley jumped at the question. "Of course I do, I'm worried sick," he said. "But we've searched this time period from top to bottom, and I'm certain wherever she is, she's not here. We'll have to keep looking."
"We'll find her, Bentley. Don't you worry," said Murray with a flourish of his fan.
Seeing his dance moves failed to cheer the turtle up, his face fell again. "There's something else, isn't there?"
Bentley was quiet for a moment as he reeled in another fish before answering. "Doesn't it bother you?" he finally asked.
"Does what bother me?" asked Murray.
"That Sly doesn't remember us?" Bentley replied as he cast his line again. "That he looks at us like we're crazy whenever we tell him a plan? That he doesn't trust us like he used to?"
Murray frowned thoughtfully. Clearly, this was something that had really been bothering Bentley.
"Of course it does," the hippo replied honestly. "It's not the same, but at least we've got him back, right?"
"Do we really have him back if he doesn't trust us?" asked Bentley.
"He does trust us," Murray assured him. "Maybe not like he used to, but he does trust us. He wouldn't have come with us if he didn't."
"He came with us because his other option was vanishing into oblivion," said Bentley bluntly.
"He came with us because we told him we had a time machine that he didn't believe in, but he gave us a chance anyway," said Murray. "Heck, he might have given us a chance sooner if Carmelita hadn't shown up."
Bentley sighed sadly. "I just want my brother back," he admitted morosely.
"So does The Murray. But we do have him back," Murray insisted. "He may not remember, but he's still Sly."
Bentley cracked a small smile at that. "He is still Sly," he agreed.
Murray moved over to sit at the water's edge next to the turtle. "Just give it some time," he said encouragingly. "All this has been a lot for him to take in, but he'll bounce back. He always does."
"I hope so," Bentley said quietly.
At that moment, a big fish decided to get caught on Bentley's magnet hook, and the turtle yelped as his wheelchair suddenly jerked towards the lake. It was only Murray's quick reflexes grabbing the back of his chair that kept him from being dragged in.
"Whoa, you caught a whopper!" Murray said excitedly.
"I think the real question is, have I caught him or has he caught me?" Bentley replied as he held onto both his fishing rod and his chair for dear life.
It took the strength of both Bentley and Murray to reel that fish in, but once they did, they were pretty sure they had all the fish Rioichi would need.
Now he just needed a restaurant to serve it in.
A/N I couldn't resist giving Sly an opportunity to bond with his ancestor. I also couldn't resist putting in a training montage. Just imagine Rioichi drilling him as high-energy 80s music plays in the background. Meanwhile, Bentley and Murray are still grappling with the fact Sly doesn't remember them, and that he's different than how they remember him.