UA Multiverse Peek

Chapter 30

A Heroic Thief

I'm sticking with this since it's still fresh in my mind. But when this is done, I'll bring the night the UA group is watching this to a close. So two more chapters before stepping into the next day for them. And into the next set of ideas for multiverses. So on with the show.

(No POV)

"Any idea who this Tomie person is?" Momo asked as the screen was counting down the last minute or so. None of the teens had a clue and most were assuming it was some odd female villain they may have come across.

Nezu though had an idea deep in his memories. 'I always suspected their might be more to him. But to think his mother may have been a villain at one point. I wonder if this could be trouble down the line.' Before he could act on any of those thoughts, the screen lit up with the next stage.

As the Cooper van sped through the streets, Izuku Cooper was looking over and thinking about the alligator villain he was going up against next. "The third member of the Fiendish Five was the infamous voodoo priestess, Mz. Tomie Ruby."

A few choked upon hearing the term voodoo. "How could something fictional or abstract like voodoo be used for crimes?" Momo asked with incredulity. Though Aizawa brings up a decent point. "What makes you assume that magic doesn't exist in that world? After everything else we've seen, I'd believe that it does exist."

"Born into a family of mystics, other children found her… scary. Teaching herself to summon the undead provided what few friends she had." This was illustrated by showing the young gator girl meeting with a pair of young possums. And then terrifying them while holding up a roadkill rat. Then shifting over to see the sad little gator having a tea party with a skeleton.

While the idea of magic proved Aizawa's point, more were uneasy seeing the sad face of the little girl gator. Especially as Sly noted that she needed to summon zombies or skeletons just to have any kind of friends.

"It's not too different from our world. Look at what we've seen some of the quirkless versions of Midoriya have had to go through. Let alone those of use who have strange appearances." Shoji noted before suspecting the likely reaction of said villain. While rubbing his mask and remembering his own past.

As the screen zoomed in on her and then showed an adult Mz Ruby led to Sly's next thought. "A career in crime allowed an adult Mz Ruby to punish the world for fearing her as a child. Chief mystic for the Fiendish Five, her powers allowed them to break the laws of man and nature at the same time." Before the mad mystic was a crystal ball and showing a bank to rob within.

Shoji shook his head before saying, "that fixes nothing. If anything, it just made things much worse for her. Taking revenge won't change things. It just sets people back." His words made a few others question what some who may have extreme heteromorphic changes might do in the future.

"Yet despite the whirlwind success of her youth, she managed to slip into obscurity. Last known sightings claim she headed out of civilization. Deep into the Haitian jungle." The image mirrors this by showing the gator disappearing into the shadows of the jungle background.

And the screen cuts to an uneasy title, with a little raccoon voodoo doll full of pins. "Sly Cooper in: Vicious Voodoo!" The music selling the unsettling tone as the candles flicker and a dagger sits next to the doll.

Half of the audience shivers upon seeing and hearing the title card. Especially with the dagger next to Izuku's voodoo doll. Ochaco gently grabbing his hand in worry. Izuku doesn't notice this though, as he was also shivering and unsettled about who his counterpart would be going up against next.

Riki drives through the swamp to the rough outskirts of Mz. Ruby's compound. Upon reaching a rough path for the raccoon to follow, the hippo swings around and Sly leaps out. He jumps a few more times before getting a call from Tenya.

"Sorry Sly, but this is one mission you'll have to accomplish without me!" the turtle says with unease etched across his face. Izuku snorts before saying, "you don't believe in ghosts, do you?"

Tenya snorts before noting, "while my counterpart seems to believe in the supernatural, yours seems less inclined." Izuku shrugs before noting that it could just be due to his determination. "Nah, he's just not worried about the weird stuff he could come up against. Like he figures it will all go his way. I know that feeling." Bakugo notes with a sigh.

"Sure I do. My scanners have picked up verifiable paranormal activity. But that's not the problem! This swamp is oozing with disgusting mold and bacteria!" Tenya says with unapologetic shiver of disgust.

The groups snorts with some laughter at turtle Tenya's germaphobia. But their version agrees with his counterpart. Especially when he takes a closer look at the surroundings. "Again, I don't disagree with my counterpart. Because I personally would not want to get anywhere near all of that disgusting muck!"

Most of the teens agree, as do a few of the teachers. But Aizawa notes that they wouldn't have those liberties when they were pro heroes. "There'll be times when you have to go somewhere or do something you may not be absolutely comfortable with."

Sly rolls his eyes before saying, "suck it up Tenya. We've got work to do." The turtle groans before reminding Izuku to use the skill he picked up from the Thievius Raccoonus. "You mean the raccoon rail walk?" said raccoon asked before Tenya noted that the roots and vines would make for great traversal.

"Especially where you see the bark has been worn away. And where it's super slick from icky slime and moss. You'll rail slide like a skater grinding pipe." Sly acknowledges with a bit of excitement. Remembering that the rail walk was an extension of the spire jump. Spinning during his jump while calming his mind. And easily landing atop a worn down root. And then sliding down a stiff, yet slick, vine.

The audience "oohs" at seeing the raccoon thief landing atop and along roots like it was no problem. Especially while sliding down and along the vines throughout the swamp. "Huh. How….. how is that thing holding his weight? It's just a vine right?" Itsuka questions before looking to Ibarra.

Who shrugs and notes that while her vines might be fairly strong, "I doubt those would be able to hold that much weight." Sen then notes that it was something they shouldn't think too hard about.

After making his way around a large hollowed out tree (and dealing with the variety of creatures within and around it) Sly made his way to a gate with a voodoo weasel guard watching it. Timing his movement to slip by. Unfortunately that wasn't the only weasel guard.

The group shivers again while looking at the guards and monsters. Some of whome appeared to possibly be undead themselves. Only for the shivers to grow upon seeing the group of zombie guards in the camp nearby.

"That's Mz Ruby's lair. To get in, you'll need that key on top of the tiki pedestal in the guard compound. There's a bad mojo forcefield protecting it, so you'll have to destroy all five of the purple candles surrounding it." Tenya exposits.

Sly sees no problem with this even as Tenya warns about the voodoo guards. "Don't get cocky or you'll end up with your head shrunk to the size of a pea. You've gotta get past those guards and I'm warning you. They're mean and they work like a team." Izuku response: "So do we buddy."

Izuku and Tenya smile at the pair of thieves interacting. Doing a silent fist bump as the field man makes his way into the compound. "A team of thieves or band of brothers? I think these guys fit the latter much better. Wonder if Tenya will get his own chance to step into the field?" the students ponder as the mission goes on.

The raccoon slips behind and around each of the guards to destroy the candles. Even making noise to lure a few to a different section before breaking the last candle. With the outflux of bad mojo taking out the guards after, as the young Cooper steals the key.

A few wince seeing the blow back from the bad mojo disruption. With Bakugo saying, "well that was convenient. Now Deku doesn't have to worry about stealing the key and running from the guards." Mic and a few of the teachers give chuckling agreements while Nezu hums at what could be next for the raccoon.

Looking over the center of the swamp, Tenya called in to give Sly an update. "My paranormal scanner is maxing out on that structure." Sly nods before saying, "a reading like that could only be coming off Mz Ruby herself." Tenya concurs and notes that he'd have to steal a few more keys around the compound.

"And of course, it's just like the rest." Juzo says with a slight face palm. Sen again notes that he shouldn't think too hard about it, while others wonder if this was just a thing the Fiendish Five did. "Maybe the things are more like skeleton keys?" Sato wonders before munching on some popcorn.

As Izuku arrives, Mz Ruby calls out over the loudspeakers. "Wake up you lazy bag of swamp gas! The voodoo vibe is thick tonight. Let's take advantage of this powerful mojo, and step up production! Keep piling those shiny bones into the soup. We'll have an army of ghosts by morning, and take over Mexico by the end of the week! Hear that voodoo children? Our family is about to grow, Grow, GROW!"

Everyone winces a bit while hearing the gator calling out and her mad plans for her army. "So she's planning to make an army of zombies and ghosts to take over a country!?" Tenya says with a shiver at the idea of more undead bodies and the like being used. Let alone the ungodly stench that would be coming from said army.

Sly narrows his eyes before bouncing up to another slick vine. Sliding towards a section of the compound with a heavy-duty gate. "What's with this industrial strength voodoo gate? Mz Ruby must really be trying to keep people out." Tenya says while looking at the structure. Izuku though, suspects she might be trying to keep something in.

All Might's eyes widen a bit as he thinks about who or what could be behind that gate. 'I'm getting another Nomu vibe from this scenario. Or maybe something worse,' he thinks as the young raccoon looks over the wall.

He scales the walls to look around the area for the key Tenya picked up. No guards are around, but there are a number of creatures. "These walls are making me claustrophobic…. Whoa! Did you see those reeds move?!" the turtle exclaimed. "Yeah, I did. There's something else in here." Izuku said with unease.

Some of the teens gulp or tighten their grips on their armrests upon seeing the reeds move. "Maybe the fact that there is almost no landmass should have been a clue!" Monoma notes while tapping his foot a bit. Tokoyami meanwhile comments on the lack of any real guards. "There may be those animals, but that seems minor in comparison."

Upon reaching the center island Sly looks around before feeling a tremble beneath his feet. And then feeling a warm breeze on his back. He slowly turns and see what Mz Ruby was trying to keep in. The Beast, a massive voodoo empowered snake. It roars at Sly, who leaps away as it chomps down.

"HOLY SHIT!" most of the audience screams upon seeing the creature. With Eri and Koda taking to hiding after seeing the huge serpent almost eat Sly. "That's almost worse than a Nomu!" All Might says in a panic. Nezu though hums before saying, "I'd agree with you. Especially because this Mz Ruby seems to need to keep it locked up. Showing that she has no control over it."

Izuku has to time and perfectly execute his jumps to keep out of the jaws of the monster. With one last swing, slide, and jump, the raccoon is safe atop the complex's walls. With the key sitting next to him. "Well, that was lucky. Then again, I did have to run from a terrifying snake," he notes before making his way back to the center.

With each leap, swing, and jump all of the audience is leaning and tipping themselves to in time to avoid the attacks. Or like they wished they could control the raccoon as he was getting away. Breathing sighs of relief at them finally getting away.

It takes a bit of sidling along a fence, but Sly gets to a graveyard to find the next key. Unfortunately, the locals are less than enthusiastic about his arrival. Something Tenya points out with, "Sly, you'd better be on your guard here. My paranormal scanners show this place is really haunted!"

"No kidding!" Izuku comments while smacking swarming ghosts from a gravestone. Making his way toward the relic to destroy it and stop the swarm. "Now that was very interesting. When you smashed that gravestone, the ghosts stopped coming out. It must be some sort of ghost generator. Maybe if you smashed them all, you'd be safe!"

Ibarra does a quick prayer before watching Cooper dodge or defeat swarms of ghosts. Before finally destroying what was generating them. "May all those souls rest in peace. And may this wicked woman's schemes come to naught but failure."

Sly follows this up by doing just that while exploring around the entire graveyard. As well as taking out multitudes of ghost, dangerous animals, and monsters on his way to the key. Finally getting it at a high point overlooking the area.

"Man. Talk about dangerous terrain." Sen notes with a raised eyebrow. Especially while the thief was leaping from gas filled torch to torch. Spire jumping to avoid the possibility of getting burned. Others note the swarms of monsters and other creatures that could kill Sly at any time. "Hopefully he puts an end to that mad witch's schemes." Nezu says with a narrowed eye.

Upon returning to the central area, Tenya updated Sly on a new objective. This time it was a challenge using a flamethrower mounted on a swamp skiff to light torches. "Are you serious?" Izuku asked with an incredulous tone.

"Yep. And you'll need fuel for it. The only source are those piranha swimming around. So you'll have to run them down. One fish fuels one shot." And Sly completes the task before his two-minute limit is up.

Faces were flat hearing turtle Tenya's description of how to go about the next stage of the mission. And while none liked piranhas per se, they all could agree it was a bit morbid to run them over to set things on fire. "Please tell me that's the dumbest mission he'll have to do." Aizawa says with his face in his hand.

Izuku makes his way to a side gate to The Beast's holding area. He smiles as he pulls out three of the keys he's collected and uses them to unlock the side gate. Unleashing the Beast to break some of the structures and open the path to the next zone.

"What were you thinking Midoriya!?" Tenya says while looking at the monster being unleashed. Izuku shrugs before reminding his friend that it wasn't him. "But I agree that is really, REALLY, reckless!" Midnight though acknowledges that the creature returned to it's holding area. "Maybe…. That would be the last of it?"

Once past the smashed gate, Sly pulls out his binocucom to talk to Tenya. "Looks like some kind of giant voodoo eggbeater to stir up that unsanitary mess." Tenya says with a slight shiver.

Sly though stays in the moment and notes, "if I can unlock the cauldron's lid, I might be able to thrash their production, and build up enough steam pressure to get launched up to Ruby's skull temple."

Ida shivers again upon seeing body parts and bones that were being mixed up by the voodoo villains. And despite his wish to point out that there wouldn't be enough steam pressure to launch Izuku to the temple, he remembered an important point. 'Don't think about it too hard. Just because it doesn't make sense here, doesn't mean it wouldn't make sense there,' he thinks before drinking some orange juice.

Tenya agrees with thought and notes, "to get around that thing, try moving in the shadows made by the masks. So the guards won't see you." Izuku does just that and rail walks around the guards and cauldron while keeping to the shadows.

"Revelry in the dark," the dark duo of Kurioro and Tokoyami said as Cooper made his way through the shadows and down into the tunnel. Which led to something that unsettled even more of the audience.

The raccoon follows a tunnel deep into the heart of Mz Ruby's facility. Something that disgusts Tenya as he spies a portion of it. "OH MY GAWD! A green waterfall overflowing with bones and body parts! I'm telling you the health department is going to come down bigtime on this dump!"

Upon seeing said waterfall and the body parts within, quite a few of the students felt a bit sick to their stomachs once more. Izuku himself feeling shivers down his spine at how close his counter part was to the green goop and body part filled water.

Izuku makes his way under and near some guards before having to dodge flaming skulls from a skeleton creature. Defeating it after disrupting the voodoo forcefield protecting it. He climbs his way over and around Mz Ruby's statue while trying to avoid all of the spikes and other dangers.

"What the heck is that thing?" Koda asks while peeking out with Eri. No one really has an answer but Reiko compares it to Wanyūdō. "Perhaps it is something comparable to that creature. And the Mz Ruby is using it for her own ends."

After making his way up to the top of the waterfall, the ghoulish gator calls out to Izuku over the intercom. "Hey there Sly Izuku Cooper! That's right, I know you're here. I've seen it in the stars, it's all over my tea leaves. I'm in your mind raccoon! I know your game. You better run for it, or me and my voodoo children are gonna sign you up for an eternity of zombie servitude!"

"Nope! Not happening!" Izuku said with a shiver once more. And mirroring Ibarra by praying to any entity that his counterpart would be safe from the crazed priestess.

This doesn't dissuade Sly as he sidles along past the barrier at the top of the waterfall and gets further into the facility. Something Tenya notices with, "look at all the security. This must be the source of all the disgusting green soup!"

Sly hums while dodging the spotlights and attacks from another skull beast. Disabling both before moving on to jump from flame torch to torch. And finishing with a rail slide under the waterfall to get to the key.

Ida again feels disgusted by the area that Sly was in but hopes the young raccoon could shut the operation down soon and stop the villain. While others were jumpy at seeing Izuku having to hop from burning torch to torch in time. So, he didn't get set on fire.

Izuku curled his toes a bit at seeing his other self slide along the water a bit to get to key. 'And I really hope I didn't get blasted or hit with anything while going under that waterfall!' he thought with a disgusted shiver.

After returning to the center, and hiding in the shadow of the masks again, Sly makes his way to a strange blasting vehicle to complete the next mission. An unsettling voyage and trek through the dangerous sections of the swamp. With ghosts swarming him and skeletons bombing him. Finally reaching the key after destroying three very large gravestones.

The audience was uneasy again as the young thief was going through a section of swamp that seemed to have the largest number of those ghost generators and other zombie creatures to fight through.

"Lucky for him that vehicle was there." Tsuyu says while hoping she'd never have to swim through anything like that. Aizawa and All Might though note it and wonder if she got it from somewhere or someone else. 'She's a magic user after all. A high tech blasting vehicle wouldn't be something she'd use.' All Might thinks with a scratch of his chin.

The next mission though, is one that has Izuku facepalming again as Tenya explains. "With all the hay and feathers in here, just looking at this place has got me breaking out in hives. But we've got no choice. That ghost up there contacted me via specter wave frequency and we've cut a deal. He's promised us a key if you can whack 50 chickens. I guess he needs them for a big pot of gumbo, but he's scared of the bomb toting roosters. Be careful or they'll blow you to bits!"

Aizawa facepalms again and says, "I was wrong. That fish thing wasn't the dumbest mission Cooper would have to do." His thoughts are mirrored by most of the audience while Koda is a bit scandalized by Sly killing chickens. "He's been taking out a lot of other animals though. How is that any different?" Mineta asks with a shrug.

Sly manages to get the amount of chickens the ghost asked for. Though not without getting his tail singed. The ghost hands over the key while chuckling at the large amount of chicken he now had. "Well at least that's the last one." Izuku says with a groan.

Izuku snorts at his raccoon self's annoyance at the last mission. While also wondering what kind of challenge he'd face when dealing with the voodoo sorceress. 'Please no waves of zombies!' he thinks with a shiver again.

Izuku takes his position and unlocks the top of the cauldron. Which drops it on top of the guards, knocking them out. He leaps on top of the cauldron to hold it down more and build up steam pressure. "I'm coming for you Ruby." Sly says with a narrowed eye as the pressure builds up enough to launch him to the skull temple.

Ida facepalms again upon seeing how Cooper would be launched up to face the villain. Quietly repeating, "don't think about it. Don't think about it!" as the raccoon was shown in the mouth of the temple.

Upon landing at the end of the jaws, Sly is face to face (roughly) with Mz Ruby. "Hmmm. I could feel that Cooper vibe a-coming! Most distastefully bad juju!" Sly scowls and states, "yeah well you give me the creeps too lady! Cooking up ghosts isn't exactly a neighborly pastime."

The gator just laughs before saying, "oh Sly. I see your mouth a moving, but all I hear is blah, blah, BLAH! Well if jaws need to flap, then let them flap! See you in the next world, Sly Izuku Cooper."

Izuku feels the ground tremble as the top of the skull temple opens up and then comes back down to chomp on him. Or it would if some of the other teeth weren't in the way. But the thief sees his way across and times his jumps between the opening and closing of the massive skull. Reaching Ruby and smacking her upside the head before she teleports away.

"Wait how is the whole huge temple mouth moving?!" Toru asks with a tilt of her head (presumably). Jiro just gives her a looks before saying, "uh magic. Duh." A few snort in laughter at that. The heroes narrow their eyes at seeing the gator villain teleport away. "That could be problematic." Mic says while thinking about Kurogiri.

Sly challenges that she couldn't keep running, and Mz Ruby agrees. Offering to let a servant of her's bring him over. "What's the catch?" Sly asks with a skeptical glance.

"Oh not much. Just a little game I like to play with all my annoying guests. I wanna see how well you pay attention. I'll unleash my mighty mojo upon you. If you repeat what I do, you'll dodge it just fine. If not, you'll get zapped! Ha!"

Aizawa facepalms a bit before remembering that some villains enjoy toying with their enemies. "Guess that would make sense for her. Especially with her wanting to take out her anger on the rest of the world." All Might though just remembers his old foe and how he would often do the exact same thing. 'More often than not though, it was to make an opening to steal a quirk or similar.'

Izuku rolls his eyes before saying, "a little voodoo Simon Says huh? Alright." He says before spire jumping atop the turtle in question. Mz Ruby starts firing shots of magic in rhythm and patterns. With the raccoon dodging just in time. Even as she throws a curve ball and blasts her turtle servant. Whacking the gator upside the head once more.

Some quiet or subtle cheers are let out seeing Izuku's counterpart dodging the villain's attacks. With Jiro subtly moving along to the music and then complimenting the raccoon for his rhythm. Koda though screams at seeing the turtle Chumley get blasted.

He follows the lady up toward another platform. Dodging her blasts of magic as she would light the torches he was standing on alight. Whacking her again before she teleported away. Sly then jumps atop a massive mosquito and has to dodge increasingly rapid blasts of magic and waiting for the moment she blasts the bug to jump off. And knock the villain flat with one last strike.

A common chorus of "yeah!" is said as Sly keeps making his way through the temple to knock the gator flat. With a few laughs had as he flips over the large villainess and whacks her upside the head.

"You've certainly got some rhythm raccoon. But it won't help you none if you're fixing to go after the Panda King. He's tough, with a capital T. You go poking around his stronghold in China, you're likely to get poked back." Mz Ruby says with a groan.

Izuku smacks her once more before saying, "yeah well if he's anything like the rest of you, I think I'll manage." He then checks around the area before finding the safe that contained the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. Before starting his monologue.

Nezu hums before saying, "I wonder who this Panda King is. And who his counterpart might be in our world." All Might wonders the same but is slightly proud of the other Izuku's confidence and courage in facing these foes. The students though were excited to learn what the new power Cooper would learn. "Think it'll be another way to climb or sneak? Maybe he'll do some other ninja thing! Or mayhaps he could blend into the shadows," they say as the monologue starts.

"Mz Ruby's section of the Thievius Raccoonus, held notes from my pioneering ancestor, Slytenkamen. His invisibility technique allowed him to steal from greedy pharaohs and corrupt noblemen." This is illustrated by showing the raccoon in question disappearing in the image.

Kuroiro and Toru are both interested in this power while the rest were shocked or surprised that there was an actual invisibility power. "Guess you were right my friend. And it seems perfect for a heroic thief." Tokoyami says with a smile.

And as much as Aizawa wants to bash his head on a wall at seeing another irrational thing, he stops himself by remembering the magic of that world. "So it shouldn't be that strange," he thinks aloud. Mic chuckles before saying, "yeah but it kinda makes you think that these folks had quirks before they were even imagined."

The scene then cut to Melissa Fox. Who was looking at one of Sly's calling cards with some annoyance. While in the background, Mz Ruby was being carted off with her minions.

"Right on schedule, Inspector Fox's arrival cued my exit. The production of zombies, made illegal in world peace accord of 1971, earned Mz Ruby a life sentence behind bars." With the newspaper reading, "Latin Hottie busts Big Bad Voodoo Mama!"

While the girls were again annoyed by the newspaper headline, more were curious about this minor mention of a world peace accord. "Perhaps it was akin to the Rhode Island New State Statute. And how that was used to set some kinds of standards." All Might surmises as he quietly applauds his niece for arresting the villain.

The Cooper gang is then shown on the beach and in sun as Sly states, "while me and the gang enjoyed a few weeks in the tropical sunshine. Working on our tans in preparation for our next caper."

"Which we will hopefully see soon enough." Sato says while hoping his counterpart would get a chance to shine again. Others felt like they needed baths or showers after that caper. "I don't even want to think about all the diseases and the like Cooper was exposed to!" Ida noted before going to wash his hands. For about 10 minutes.

Nezu meanwhile hummed before going to call Hawks. All Might though had an unsettling thought about who the Panda King could be. And hoping he was wrong.

Done. Like I said, I'm going to finish out the story of Sly 1 before ending this night so to speak. After all, the game itself isn't that long. Especially compared to the later ones. And when that's done, I'll move onto the next few ideas and stories. Please review!