Chapter 6 Recon and Reconnection
A young raccoon bounced eagerly in his father's lap. "Come on, Dad. You said you'd tell me a story about Rioichi! You promised!"
His father chuckled. "I did promise that, didn't I?"
"Yes!" said the child exasperatedly. "You said you'd tell me one of his ninja adventures!"
"Did I say that?" asked the father in a teasing tone. "I could have sworn it was one of his cooking adventures. Rioichi is the person who invented sushi after all. Yum."
The child made a face at the thought of raw fish. "Daaaad!" he whined.
His father chuckled. "All right, a ninja adventure it is. Here's one I'm sure you'll find exciting…"
Sly slowly opened his eyes.
He had no idea how he managed to fall asleep while the van was careening through the time vortex, but it seemed somehow he'd managed it.
Then again, after that last attack he'd gone through, he was honestly surprised he hadn't passed out sooner.
Still, from the looks of things, it seems like they made it. He was still inside the van, but its doors were open to reveal the inside of an old abandoned Japanese house filled with cobweb-covered furniture and leaves growing over the entrance. Both Bentley and Murray were out of the van, shifting the furniture around to make the place more inhabitable.
Despite some lingering soreness, Sly slowly moved to get up and help them.
But at the sight of him getting out of the van, Murray immediately shoved the ancient dresser he'd been carrying aside and rushed over to pick him up and set him back in the van.
"No way, Sly," he said. "That was a nasty attack you had. You should rest."
Sly looked up at him in confusion. "Wait, how do you know about that?" They hadn't busted in until after the attack had ended.
"I saw it on the security cameras," Bentley called over to him from where he was setting up his computer equipment on a table. He grimaced, "That was… that was bad."
Sly could believe it from the way the turtle was gripping his laptop like a vice and the shudder Murray gave at the mention of it.
"Besides," Bentley said in a forced cheerful tone. "We're just about set up here. All that's left is for me to get my tech situated, and no offense, but I don't want you or Murray touching it."
Seeing how complicated everything Bentley was holding looked, Sly nodded in understanding. "Got it. I'll stay far away from the beeping things."
Bentley shot him a smile before turning back to his work.
Seeing there was nothing to do yet, and not really wanting to move again, Sly leaned back against one of the seats in the van.
After a moment's hesitation, Murray climbed into the van to join him. "You okay?" he asked.
Sly glanced up at him and gave a smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I told you, the attacks hurt when they happen, but it fades soon enough."
"No, I know that," said Murray with a nod. "I mean, I'm still worried about you, but no, I was asking about, uh, well, when we saw you having your attack we also saw what happened with Carmelita too."
All Sly could say to that was, "Ah," and try very hard to avoid Murray's gaze.
Murray carefully scooted a little closer to Sly like he was approaching a wounded animal. "I know how much she means to you."
Sly just nodded. He and Bentley had often gotten into good-natured arguments in their group chat about which of them had the better girlfriend where the two would gush openly about how amazing they thought they were with Murray as their somewhat impartial judge. Or, rather, their very partial judge, given he liked both of them.
"And, you know, if you want to talk about it, I'm here for you Sly," Murray said, settling himself next to Sly, making it clear he was ready and willing to back up that offer.
Sly's gaze turned down towards his feet as he thought it over.
What the heck, it's not like he had anything more to lose. And it wouldn't be the first time PinkTornado had been there to let him rant.
"I… It's just…" Sly said as he tried to find out where to start. "Was anything between us ever even real?"
"Well, you really like her. I know that much," said Murray.
"I do," Sly admitted, knowing that was true even now. "But does she…? Was I ever really a partner to her? Or just her pet thief she could keep on a short leash."
Murray hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know Carmelita as well as you do, but she's been chasing us for a long time so I do know some things. And one thing I do know for sure is she's always had a soft spot for you, Sly, even as a thief."
Sly looked up at him in surprise. "She did?"
"Yeah, you two kept kissing when on heists, and she would actually save us when we were in trouble with the bad guys. Also, any time she was involved you'd stop following the plan to go talk to her. Bentley hates that."
"I still do!" Bentley chimed in from where he was hunched over his computer. "Nice to know some things never change."
Sly chuckled at that, realizing that is what just happened in their recent heist.
"Bentley also checked your hospital records after what happened at Kaine Island,' Murray continued in a more subdued tone. "You were in bad shape."
Sly winced remembering that hospital stay. There hadn't been a single part of him that wasn't battered, broken, or bruised. Not a great thing to have as one of your first memories.
"Carmelita may have lied when you lost your memory," Murray said. "But she also saved your life. If you tried to run from her that day you probably wouldn't have made it. There's no way we would have gotten you to a hospital in time in the van."
Sly conceded that point. "Still, I wish she hadn't kept up the lie after I recovered. No wonder I never fit in at Interpol."
"Yeah," said Murray, scratching his head. "It was so weird thinking of you being a constable. What was that like?"
Sly considered his thoughts before answering. Like with Carmelita, he was pretty sure his career in law enforcement was over too. "It wasn't that bad. I liked working with Carmelita. I liked stopping bad people before they could hurt anyone else." He let out a frustrated sigh. "Though it hasn't been as much fun lately. Don't even get me started on all the paperwork." He shuddered. "So much paperwork."
Murray nodded. "Yeah, I can see why you'd hate that," he said understandingly. "It's why you were a thief before instead of a cop. That way you could give Carmelita an excuse to arrest those guys."
Sly blinked in surprise at him. "I did?" he asked.
Murray seemed to realize something. "Didn't we tell you? Sly, we didn't steal from just anybody. You, me, and Bentley always made sure to only steal from bad guys. Then, with Carmelita chasing us, she could see what they were doing and catch them."
Sly stared at him, stunned. "So, wait, we weren't just thieves, we were more like vigilantes?"
Murray frowned at the word. "That's like what superheroes are, right?" he asked, looking a little confused.
Sly chuckled. "Yeah, big guy. Most superheroes are vigilantes."
"Then that's exactly what we were like," said Murray proudly, flexing a muscle as he did so. "Just we also stole the bad guy's stuff while we were at it."
Well, at least made Sly feel better about his own past. Good to know he wasn't a terrible person even if he was operating outside the law.
Besides, who didn't want to be a superhero?
"Thanks, Murray," Sly said sincerely.
Murray just reached over and pulled Sly into another hug. He'd been giving Sly a lot of those since they'd met.
Guess it was a pretty sure sign that he'd been missed.
Unfortunately, the warm fuzzy feelings didn't last as Bentley came wheeling up to them with a grim expression.
"We have a problem," he said, holding up a sheet of paper he'd found outside.
On the paper was a drawing of a raccoon with a topknot alongside a slew of Japanese writing.
Even in Feudal Japan, Sly knew a wanted poster when he saw one.
It seemed his ancestor was in more trouble than they thought.
It turns out, Sly was wrong. What Bentley found wasn't a wanted poster.
It was an arrest announcement aimed at ruining a reputation.
According to it, Cooper Rioichi was now imprisoned in a new high-security jail for serving bad sushi to the shogun. Something Bentley insisted had never happened according to the writing of the Thievius Raccoonus. Apparently, Rioichi was famous among the Cooper Clan not just for never getting caught, but for never even being suspected in the first place. Whatever was messing with time, Rioichi getting captured was probably caused by it.
At least the way to start fixing it was clear. Busting Rioichi out of prison.
Easier said than done. The entire village was crawling with guards, and the security at the prison was no joke. It would take some serious doing to get Sly's ancestor out.
Thankfully, Bentley was on the job and talked Sly through what he would need to do to help plan their jailbreak.
To start, he gave Sly a high-tech pair of binoculars (called a binocucom apparently, Bentley's own invention) and asked him to sneak around to take some pictures. It gave him a great chance to explore and take in the amazing fact he really was in a Japanese village in the 1600s.
Even with him being distracted by sightseeing, the job was easy enough, though it did lead to Sly catching sight of someone who clearly didn't belong in this village.
A tiger with a Spanish accent smoking Cuban cigars didn't really fit in the ancient Japanese era, and given he was apparently in charge of things around here it only added to his suspicious nature.
More than that, Sly recognized him.
"What the heck? What is El Jefe doing here?" he wondered aloud as he took a picture of the tiger for Bentley from a rooftop near the geisha's house.
"He does look familiar. El Jefe, where have I heard that name before?" Bentley asked.
"Let's just say the folks back at Interpol would give their eyeteeth to be here right now with a pair of handcuffs," said Sly. "The guy's bad news. If I remember right, he's a mercenary general with quite a few conquests to his name. The guy specializes in hostile takeovers of small countries for the highest bidder. Great strategist, but a coward in combat. Anytime Interpol began closing in, he'd run for the hills."
"Wow, Sly, how do you know all that?" asked Bentley, impressed.
"I have been working at Interpol all this time, you know," said Sly with a shrug. "His file was in the paperwork I had to process when stuck on desk duty."
"Well, some good came of that, at least," said Bentley, now sounding less enthusiastic. "Now we know who we're dealing with, and we know we're definitely not the only ones with a time machine."
Sly nodded in agreement. If crooks started escaping arrest by traveling to the past, then the future would be in a lot of trouble.
But that was a problem for another time. Freeing Rioichi took priority for now.
Bentley murmured to himself thoughtfully as he poured over his notes and pictures to try to work out the best way to get Rioichi out of the prison.
Finally, he sighed and pushed himself away from the table. "Welp looks like this place is locked down tighter than… well, tighter than something."
"Carmelita's grip on her pistol? Barkley's 'secret' stash of imported coffee?" Sly offered up possibilities.
"If it's secret, how do you know about it?" asked Murray curiously.
"Everybody knew about it," said Sly. "The guy threatened to fire anyone who even dared ask to try some."
Murray gave him a knowing look. "You stole some, didn't you?"
"Just a sip. He left his freshly brewed mug unattended, what was I supposed to do?" said Sly with a 'what can you do' kind of shrug.
"Can we focus, please," said Bentley, getting them back on track. "I've checked everything, and there really is no way in except for the front door. I think there's only one option."
"The doorbell?" Sly couldn't help but quip, earning a laugh from Murray and an eye roll from Bentley.
"Nice to know memory loss didn't affect your humor," Bentley muttered.
"Good to know I've always been hilarious," replied Sly with a grin.
Even Bentley snorted at that. "Okay, funny guy. To get into the prison you're going to need a disguise. If you can get a suit of armor from the guards, that's our way in."
"So, what? Do I rob the armory or something?" asked Sly.
"Unfortunately, that's guarded even tighter than the prison, and the armor going missing would be noticed. Instead, you're going to have to pick their pockets."
Sly stared at the turtle in disbelief.
How many guards could possibly carry suits of armor around in their pockets?
Three of them, as it turns out.
Soon enough, Sly was standing outside the prison in armor he was swimming in and demanding to be let in.
The boar guard at the prison door gave him an unimpressed look. "Hmmph. A little short to be a commander, aren't you?" he said, taking in the armor Sly was wearing. "Who are you?"
Sly scrambled to say the first name to come to mind. "Why, I am… Major Muggshot."
"Huh?" asked the guard, looking confused at the very non-Japanese name. "Muggshot? I've never heard of you."
Channeling his inner Carmelita, Sly snarled up at the guard. "How dare you question me, you overstuffed, airheaded moron! Don't blame me for your poor memory and lack of attention span! I'll be sure to tell the general about your incompetence! I heard he loves pork chops!"
Sly turned like he was about to leave, and the boar paled at his words.
"WAIT!" the guard said desperately. "I'm very sorry, Sir! I didn't recognize you! Please, go right in."
With that, the guard stepped aside with a quick respectful bow, and Sly strode on in through the front door.
"Yeesh, you have definitely have been spending too much time with Carmelita," said Bentley in his ear. He was then quiet for a long moment before asking, "So, does that mean you remember Muggshot? If so, should I be insulted you remember that two-bit gangster but not Murray and me?"
Sly stopped dead in the middle of one of the prison's hallways. Fortunately, there weren't any guards around to see it. "Wait? There's actually someone out there named Muggshot? I thought that was something I made up on the fly."
"No, he's an old enemy of ours," Bentley explained. "We've faced him a few times now, and each time we do Carmelita ends up putting him away." He then paused before adding in a softer tone. "He's… also one of the crime bosses who killed your parents when you were a kid. Needless to say, you've hated his guts for a long time."
Sly let that sink in for a moment, before forcing himself onwards through the prison. Rescue Rioichi first, freak-out over the fact his parents were murdered later.
Still, why did no one tell him that sooner?
It took some sneaking both in and out of the armor, but eventually, Sly made it to where Rioichi was being held in a cage hung high up over a massive pit.
After checking to make sure no guards were in earshot, Sly called out to his apparent ancestor. "Hey! Cooper Rioichi! Are you okay?"
The raccoon in the cage spared him a glance just long enough to take in the samurai helmet Sly was wearing before rolling his eyes and looking away. "You guards all seem to make very poor jokes," he said bitterly.
"What?" Sly asked, before realizing he'd somehow forgotten he was wearing his disguise, and quickly reached up to pull off his helmet. "Oh, no, I'm not with them! I came here to bust you out!"
Now Rioichi turned to him with more interest hearing that. "Oh, have you now?" he asked, looking Sly over with a more critical eye. "You will have to make your way to the Dragon Bridge to reach this cage. Go, quickly."
"Okay, I'll be there soon," Sly called back. "Just stay put."
Rioichi let out a dry laugh at hearing that. "Are you sure you are not a guard? What did I just say about the poor jokes."
"Got you to laugh, didn't I," Sly replied as he put his helmet back on and began making his way towards the bridge.
Only to stop and hunch over in pain.
Another attack? Now?
That's not fair. He was trying to fix history. Why was he still feeling these?
What was surprising was that Rioichi seemed to be affected by it too. He didn't visibly react to the pain, but a sudden sharp intake of breath and the way his form tensed in his cage gave it away.
Thankfully, it was only a minor attack and passed quickly.
"Daijoubu desu ka?" Rioichi called to Sly once he'd straightened up.
Sly took a deep breath as he tried to get his bearings. "I'll… I'll be fine," he called back as he forced himself to keep moving towards the bridge though the armor now felt like lead. "The sooner we get you out of here the better."
Rioichi only frowned at that response but didn't call out again for fear of alerting the guards.
Sly very quickly found out just why it was called a 'dragon' bridge. Apparently, the whole thing was boobytrapped so that if someone stepped on the large mosaic at the entrance of the room, most of the bridge would collapse into the pit, and the dragon statues decorating it would start spewing fire.
So guess what Sly stepped on the second he walked in. He could see Rioichi facepalming from his cage.
Thankfully, among the tricks Sly didn't fully remember learning was the ability to jump from the tips of stalagmites to the remaining chunks of the bridge, though he nearly slipped off a few and barely managed to dig his claws into them before he fell into the abyss. It was also a very good thing the armor he stole happened to be fireproof. Though given the other traps he'd seen in this prison, it probably was for a good reason.
When Sly finally reached the cage, Rioichi was looking at him with a knowing expression as he studied Sly's appearance more closely. "Hmm, I do not know you, but only a true Cooper could have reached this cage." He then smirked and added, "Even if that Cooper appears to be out of practice."
Sly flushed beneath his fur. "Uh, yeah, that's a big part of why I'm here. Apparently, we're related. It's a long story."
Rioichi nodded. "One I would be happy to hear. But first, perhaps you could open the cage so that we may escape certain death?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," said Sly as he used his cane to bash in the lock on Rioichi's cage.
None of the guards could get past the booby traps Sly had set off and it was causing the entire prison to crumble around them, making their escape a clean getaway.
In all, the entire prison break was nerve-wracking, death-defying, and hazardous in every possible way.
Sly couldn't wait for the next one.
A/N So not too much deviation from the game, but there are different dialogue options, and we get to see Sly start bonding again with Murray and Bentley. And since Sly's been working with Interpol he's got some insight on their most wanted. Also, Sly's not the only one getting Back-to-the-Future-ed. That time manipulation is affecting Rioichi too.