//------------------------------//
// Thievius: A Deadly Dance 
// Story: Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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With the way open to the other part of Mz. Ruby's base of operations Sly, Gilda, and Derpy headed through the ruined gate and carefully approached the area that was right in front of them, which happened to look like a massive cauldron, the majority sunk into the depths of the swamp with part of the top sticking out. The siblings took a few moments to take in what they were seeing, since there were voodoo guards standing on the walkway that had been built on the top of the cauldron and they were either looking for intruders or were tossing in more bones into the mix. This reflected what they had heard Mz. Ruby tell her guards earlier, about stepping up production and the like, but even as they stared at the sight in front of them the trio noticed that there were large voodoo masks that helped stir the mixture around the cauldron, which also cast large shadows.

The siblings looked at each other for a few seconds, not really knowing what to make of what was in front of them, before they sighed and pulled out their binocucoms, as Bentley would have something to tell them before they determined what to do next.

"This looks like some sort of giant voodoo egg beater," Bentley commented, though at the same time the binocucoms zeroed in on the Treasure Key locks that were attached to the lid above where the guards were standing, revealing what they needed to do next, "and, at best guess, it looks like the entire thing runs on steam."

"If we can get the other Treasure Keys, we can unlock that lid," Derpy said, her gaze locked on the locks that were above the guards, indicating that she was thinking of something that might help them all our, "besides thrashing their production, we might be able to build enough pressure to launch Sly up to Mz. Ruby's Skull Temple."

"That sounds like an excellent plan." Sly stated, though he was surprised that it was Derpy that came up with the plan this time around, as that was usually Bentley's job when he had enough information, but he said nothing as he focused on what was in front of them, "Well then, we should move in the shadows of those voodoo masks and search the other parts of Mz. Ruby's base for the remaining Treasure Keys."

Gilda and Derpy nodded as all three of them put their binocucoms away and jumped onto the vine that was in front of them, one at a time anyway, and carefully moved in the shadows of the large masks as they approached the first area they could pick from. That appeared to be the entrance of a smaller temple or something, designed to mimic a turtle based on what they were seeing, before they jumped back onto the vine and headed towards the other marker that Bentley had set up for them. That marker happened to have some sort of blasting device, that floated just off the ground by the looks of things, and had a jump pad near it, which brought them up to an entrance where some chickens could be heard clucking from where they were standing. The siblings immediately decided what to do, as Sly determined that the smaller temple was his to claim this time around, since his sisters had picked their areas before he did in the other half of the base, and Derpy stated that she wanted to see what the floating device was, leaving Gilda with the building in front of them... who sighed and simply nodded her head, indicating that she was fine with this happening, especially after what they did to Sly earlier.

With that determined Sly was grabbed by Derpy and was dropped off at the entrance of his marker before she headed towards the device, though he noticed Gilda smashing a voodoo force field before turning around and headed into the depths of his area.

A few moments later, when he arrived in his chosen area, he immediately moved through the root wall that was in front of him and collected three clues that were off to his right, before using the short vine in front of him to jump onto the platform that was floating on the water in front of him. At the same time Bentley seemed to notice the waterfall on his left, the green waterfall that appeared to be overflowing with bone and body parts, though instead of gagging he turned away from it and put the waterfall out of his mind. From there he latched onto the bone pole that was in front of him and moved under the platform one of the voodoo guards was walking on, though he had to wait for a few seconds before jumping to the second bone pole and continuing onward. When he reached the end of the second pole he jumped onto the small patch of land in front of him and then jumped onto the walkway that he had been crawling under, where he knocked out the guard and claimed the clue that was behind him.

With that clue in hand he turned around and returned to the small patch of land and grabbed the clues inside the safe that he discovered, before he started jumping over the floating platforms that were in front of him, which required that he avoid the flaming skulls that the large skeletal creature in the distance was throwing at him. As it turned out there was a candle he had to smash so the walkway to the large skeletal turtle could open, though once that was done he headed towards his opponent and noticed that it cowered when he neared it. Since it was basically a reanimated corpse, the mere thought of that freaking him out more than he was willing to admit, Sly struck the skeletal creature with all his might and let it fall apart, allowing him to grab two more clues before using the bone poles to get around the statue in front of him and climbed up to the level above him.

The bone poles brought him to the outstretched arm of the statue, where he had to remove a spider that was blocking his path, before using the hook points to descend towards the stone pathway in front of him, which also had planks between each section. He walked over the planks on his immediate right and found a clue waiting for him, along with the fact that the wooden walkway fell into the water below him, meaning that he had to be careful and would have to jump over the gaps that existed between the stone sections. As such Sly headed over to the left side of the area that he had landed on and smashed three more clues before heading forward, where he found two more clues near the very end of the pathway he was navigating. After that he carefully made his way over to the alarm and turned it off, removing the searchlights he had avoided the entire time, before he noticed that the area in front of him had two voodoo guards patrolling the area in front of him... and there just happened to be a rope that allowed him to climb up to a chandelier and bypass the first guard for a moment.

He jumped down into the area below him and knocked out the voodoo guard that was pointing the direction he had come from, before jumping up to the area next to him and took out the guard that had ignored his friend being knocked out, though once that was done he collected the five clues from the two safes next to him, along with the one clue besides the safes, and backtracked for the two clues that the first guard had been staring at. Instead of moving forward he noticed the first guard he had spotted in this area happened to be guarding four clues, two hanging outside and two inside a safe, so he jumped down onto the platform the guard was patrolling and knocked him out, before sending Bentley the new clues he had collected. After that he sighed for a moment, because he realized that he would have to backtrack through the area he had cleared, and carefully made his way back up to the area that he had just jumped off of. When Sly reached the upper area again he jumped onto the rope that was in front of him and climbed up to the chandelier that was above him, though at the same time he heard an intercom come on in his area.

Hey there, Sly Cooper! Mz. Ruby said, stopping Sly in his tracks for a moment, as this was the first time someone he and his sisters were targeting had actually called them out in such a manner, once more revealing that they might be underestimating Mz. Ruby's powers, That's right, I know you're here. I've seen you in the stars, and you're all over my tea leaves. There's a power that dances around you, one that is not your own, that comes from a place I've never felt before. I know those sisters of your's have a power all their own, and I intend to find out what that power is!

"Great. So she thinks Gilda and Derpy have powers like she does," Sly commented, to which he shook his head for a moment, because not only was Mz. Ruby evil, she was also going insane at the same time, though that only meant he and his sisters had to be careful when they encountered their foe.

As Sly jumped down into the middle section of the waterfall, where some serpent statues were resting, he couldn't help but ponder some of Mz. Ruby's words as he collected the four bottles in the area and made his way back to the area he had jumped down from, for the second time so far. The reason he was thinking about what their foe had said was because the legends of pegasi and griffins usually went hand in hand with them possessing powers, but even after seeing what Mz. Ruby was capable of, indirectly speaking, there was no real reason for him to believe that his sisters had magical powers. Sure, some of the Cooper Clan techniques they had acquired seemed to be that way, but they were master thieves and had developed a technique for every occasion, and yet the thought of either Gilda or Derpy doing magic like Mz. Ruby unnerved him a little.

He shook that thought from his mind as he returned to the area he had been in moments ago, though he carefully sneaked his way around the laser defenses and gathered the three bottles that were off on the side once he was past the barrier, before he headed into the large chamber in front of him. He found seven floating platforms in front of him, four having candles that clearly powered something and another having an alarm, to which he rushed over the vine and turned off the alarm, before avoiding the flaming skull that was coming his way. After that he started smashing the candles that were around him, though once the path was open he continued forward and knocked out the cowardly skeletal turtle that was blocking he way before using the Ninja Spire Jump to carefully move over the spires in front of him. Sly then found two more clues on his left before jumping over the next set of spires, where he arrived at a walkway where a guard was protecting another voodoo candle, so which he took out the guard and smashed the candle, revealing a vine the should take him to the Treasure Key, before recovering the four clues behind him, two in the open and two in a safe.

Once that was done he jumped onto the vine and started sliding down it, only to stop when he found the last two clues and the safe, where he input the code, 5-7-1, and found the page that detailed Matthew de la Coopeur's Perpetual Slow Motion technique, the upgrade to the original Slow Motion Jump technique... to which he placed the calling card, rode the vine to the end of it's path, and collected the Treasure Key from it's container. As he made his way back to the entrance of this area he had to wonder what sort of obstacles his sisters had to overcome for their keys, and knew that he'd find out soon enough.





Derpy stared at the floating device for a few seconds, seeing that she could apparently move and fire at the same time if she so desired, along with a slot for her to put her cane in, where she carefully jumped onto the device and headed into the tunnel that was in front of her. A few moments later she appeared near some sort of boat, one that started moving the moment she was floating above it, though as she headed down the river she spotted large headstone generators further down the river. Since her vehicle, as Bentley called it, came equipped with a high energy cannon she started firing at the headstone, finding that Mz. Ruby was smart enough to put up some fortifications in front of her target, meaning she had to smash through the stone, and the ghosts, before the headstone was destroyed. As she moved down the river she spotted a large skeletal turtle that threw it's flaming skull at her, so while she crushed the next headstone she dodged the skulls until she could finish off the poor skeleton. A few moments later she reached the end of the river, or at least the part she could travel on, and smashed through the two headstones that were sending ghosts at her, before moving the vehicle forward and blasted the fortifications apart so she could move forward.

Once she entered the next area and fired at the fortifications that were blocking her way, though she was mindful of the skeleton that was in front of her before she smashed through the barrier that was in front of her, where she spotted two headstones this time around. She maneuvered around the area and blasted her way through the defenses that were arrayed against her, though as the headstones crumbled she rushed forward and continued blasting at the next area that was blocking the ramp she needed to head up. It took her a few moments to blast apart the fortifications and let the dead return to their slumber, before she rode up the ramp and followed the path that would take her right to the Treasure Key that was contained in this area. That, of course, involved her blasting down the fortifications that had been placed in her way and destroyed the headstone generator that had been set up, while also knocking out another skeletal turtle as she moved through the area.

The next part of the area had two more skeletal turtles, working like a team, throwing their flaming skulls at her, but she was able to outmaneuver them easily and blasted them down, allowing her to ride down into what appeared to be the final part of this area. She found three more headstone generators in this area, along with the Treasure Key that was her main target, and opened fire on the constructs that the ghosts were coming from, while at the same time carefully avoiding the ghosts that wanted to hurt her. When the first headstone fell apart the ghosts started increasing from the other two, as was common she noticed, but that didn't stop her from firing the cannon at her targets and caused the second headstone to crumble before her eyes... before she finished off the last of the ghosts and destroyed the final headstone generator, freeing the spirits that Mz. Ruby had called upon.

With her task complete Derpy moved over to where the Treasure Key was located and picked it up, though once she realized that this area didn't have a vault she opened her wings and took to the skies, where she headed back to the area that the cauldron was resting in. She briefly wondered how her siblings were doing with their respective tasks, and the areas that they had picked, and knew that she'd know the answer soon enough, once she got out of the area she happened to be in anyway.





Gilda looked at the inside of the building that the seventh, and final, Treasure Key was supposed to housed in, though she wasn't sure if Bentley was serious about this or if he was trying to pull her leg, but then she sighed as she realized that he would never joke about something like this. The inside of the building looked like a granary of some kind, complete with chickens walking around the area in front of her, along with hay and feathers everywhere, though what held her interest was the panther ghost that was floating in the middle of the ceiling with the Treasure Key.

"Bentley, what am I looking at here?" Gilda asked, because the interesting part about this area was that she was sure that she could fly around it if she needed to, it was that open, but she wanted to see what Bentley's plan was before she started using her own.

"That ghost over there contacted me on specter-wave radio and we've cut a deal." Bentley replied, revealing why the ghost was being oddly passive at the moment, if what Derpy had told her was anything to go by anyway, but Gilda kept silent as she studied the area, "He's promised us a key if you can whack fifty chickens. I guess he needs them to make a big pot of gumbo but he's scared of the bomb-toting roosters."

"A ghost that's scared of some roosters," Gilda said, to which she simply shook her head and stepped forward, while at the same time preparing to put away her binocucom so she could get her task started, "Oh well, might as well help him out and get some chickens for him."

Gilda opened her wings and floated into the air, where she hovered over the chickens and grabbed onto them with her cane, though when she had a few of them she took them over to the pot that the ghost wanted them stored in before she continued gathering chickens. The bomb-toting roosters, when they finally emerged, came in pairs and stared at her as she flew over their heads, indicating that they had never encountered a flying opponent like her and had no idea what to do in this situation. Since the roosters were ignoring her, since they couldn't hit her and it appeared that their explosion was small and didn't reach her if she moved higher in the air, Gilda was able to effectively gather the necessary number of chickens that the ghost required for his exchange and stored all of them inside the pot. A few moments later, when she was sure that she had fifty chickens, Gilda moved out of the way and let the ghost study the pot for a few seconds, to which the Treasure Key floated over to her as the panther ghost focused on his gumbo.

Gilda said nothing as she headed outside the building and landed in front of the platform they could use to unlock the lid of the cauldron, though it was some time before Derpy joined her and revealed that she had claimed her Treasure Key as well. A few minutes later Sly, the only one of them without wings, jumped up to the area they were standing in and revealed the Treasure Key that he had claimed before collecting the rest of them, while also revealing the page of the Thievius Raccoonus he had picked up earlier. Once the three of them were ready Sly unlocked the lid of the cauldron and let it fall into position, knocking the guards into the mixture that they had been working on, before Sly jumped down onto the lid and forced it to be still for a few seconds... before it launched him into the air and sent him flying towards the Skull Temple, while at the same time Gilda and Derpy flew after him before they all entered Mz. Ruby's temple.

When the siblings landed inside the Skull Temple they found that the only way over to the interior of the temple was along a pathway that was made from what appeared to be incisors and molars, where the incisors appeared to be spires and the molars were flat places they could jump on. At the very end of the path, staring at the three of them, was none other than Mz. Ruby herself, which meant that they had to be careful for this point forward, especially since she was focused more on Gilda and Derpy.

"So, they possess the power that is not of this world." Mz. Ruby stated, causing Derpy and Gilda to look at each other in confusion for a moment, as they had no idea what was going on, before turning their focus back to their main target and readied their canes, "I don't know how you two went this long without awakening your inner powers, but I look forward to seeing what you can do."

"Okay, what is she talking about?" Gilda asked, as none of this was making sense to her, where Derpy nodded her head in agreement, indicating that the two of them were lost at the moment.

"She thinks you two have some sort of power that's not of this world," Sly replied, to which he sighed as he stared at the member of the Fiendish Five they had come here to defeat, while at the same time wondering what was going to happen next, "she made a comment about it in the area I tackled to get the Treasure Key. I wouldn't worry about it, since she's likely lying to keep you distracted from defeating her."

"Oh Sly, I would never lie about this," Mz. Ruby said, where the siblings looked back in her direction, to which they noticed that she had a light smile on her face at the moment, though that didn't fill Sly with any good feelings, "Tell you what; if you beat me I'll tell you what I know about your sisters."

Sly had no idea what game Mz. Ruby was playing, or if he wanted to play it, but at the moment he was more interested in beating her and claiming the section of the Thievius Raccoonus that she had taken, to which he started jumping over the path that was in front of him. Gilda and Derpy, however, flew after him and avoided the fact that the ceiling was moving down and then back up, as Sly had to worry about the same thing, though the three of them were able to reach the area Mz. Ruby was in without delay. As they arrived the three of them had to avoid the shockwave that Mz. Rubby created by slamming her tail on the ground, where they jumped over the shockwave and struck their target in the chest, causing her to vanish and reappear further in the back of the chamber they were in.

"You can't run away forever!" Sly shouted, knowing that was the only way for their opponent to hear them at the moment, even though he knew that his sisters could traverse the swamp area between them and Mz. Ruby.

"Oh, I don't intend to." Mz. Ruby replied, to which she beckoned to something that was in front of where the three of them were standing, where the siblings looked down and noticed a turtle, large enough for one of them to stand on it's back, resting in front of them, "My servant Chumley will escort one of you over here. While that's happening, well, we're going to play a memory game and I'll see if you can handle a little bit of my magic... if not, you'll get zapped!"

Sly didn't like the sound of that, and Gilda seemed to dislike the thought of being shocked by something that they didn't understand, but before they could come to an opinion on what to do Derpy smiled and jumped onto the turtle's back, where she started moving forward before her siblings could stop her. Mz. Ruby smiled, as if she had been hoping for either of the sisters to come at her, before she started gathering her magic and started throwing spheres of energy, in four different locations and possessing four different colors, through the air. Derpy knew that these were designed so that whoever Mz. Ruby was facing would be able to see them, and maybe even avoid them entirely, but as the magical spheres came towards her something clicked inside her mind and she let her instincts take over for a moment... where Sly, Gilda, and even Mz. Ruby stared at her in shock for a few seconds. Derpy moved her hands as the spheres came at her, where she brushed them off like they were nothing and sent them flying into the walls and the water, allowing them to disperse without harming anything or anyone.

Before she even reached the halfway point Derpy reached forward and grabbed one of the spheres that were coming her way, with her bare hand no less, and jumped over the rest of the spheres that were coming her way... where she landed in front of Mz. Ruby and swung her cane, striking her in the chest and causing her to teleport to the next platform.

"What in the..." Mz. Ruby started to say, as she had never seen anyone knock her magical spheres out of the air in such a manner, much less with the accuracy that Derpy had showed, but as she thought about that she failed to account for the fact that she was still in the middle of a fight... as Derpy had flown towards her and struck her with the sphere she had grabbed, blasting her into the wall behind her.

Mz. Ruby coughed as she fell back to the platform that she was currently on, the fact that her own attack being used against her confused her teleport spell and prevented it from going off when she needed it, but she was thankful that she hadn't coughed up blood or anything. The reasoning behind that was because the sphere that Derpy had hit her with had been empowered by a very small fragment of her her latent magical power, and if that was enough to knock her into the wall, and cancel out her own spell, she could only wonder what sort of true power the pegasus possessed. Even that thought made her glance over at Gilda, the first griffin anyone had seen in who knew how long, and formed the same type of thought... though even as her mind considered the possibilities she knew one conclusion that they could eventually come to, one that made her chuckle for a few seconds.

Gilda and Sly, who landed nearby after Gilda flew them to where Derpy and Mz. Ruby had stopped, wondered what was going on at the moment, but at the same time Derpy seemed to calm down and looked confused, which was understandable since none of them had any idea what had happened to her.

"I was right, you're magic is strong... and that means hers is as well," Mz. Ruby commented, her eyes locked on both Derpy and Gilda, who were staring at her with some interest in their eyes, while at the same time she knew exactly what Sly was looking for, "but at the moment you haven't felt the catalyst that will awaken your powers... and part of me is actually praying that you never experience such an event. You know, I wish I had found you two when we were all younger, maybe then I wouldn't have turned my own powers towards evil, but that's a thought for another time. All I know is that the power you two possess is much stronger than my own, so much so that we could have had a proper magic duel if you had been trained before coming here... and that you will need some guidance in the future, to ensure you don't do anything you'll regret. In my vault rests some of the first spellbooks I acquired when I started learning about my gift..."

"And you want us to take them?" Gilda asked, because she wasn't sure if they could trust a member of the Fiendish Five, even if most of them, based on what they had read and what they had seen, had done some horrible things since they stole the Thievius Raccoonus.

"Yes. They'll provide the basics, should you decide to read them," Mz. Ruby replied, to which she leaned back and stayed there for a moment, where she simply looked at them with a strange light in her eye that Sly didn't know whether to trust or not, "Though you should get going in the next few minutes, because that cop friend of yours is closing in and she would love to lock us all away... and you'll have to avoid letting that happen, if you want to reach the true monster of our little group."

Sly immediately knew that Mz. Ruby meant Carmelita, as she was the only 'cop friend' that was female that he knew about, to which Gilda grabbed onto him as she and Derpy headed towards the location of the vault that Mz. Ruby had pointed out to them. Inside they found the promised spellbooks that the priestess had told them about, in almost pristine condition by the looks of things, and carefully stored them away in their own packs, so they could decide what to do with them when they were out of Haiti. After that Sly collected what they had really came for, the page of the Thievius Raccoonus that was from Slytunkhamen Cooper, the creator of the family tome, and detailing his Invisibility technique, though instead of focusing on it he stashed it away and left the calling card behind... before Gilda and Derpy carried him off into the distance, leaving Mz. Ruby behind so she could face Carmelita and the consequences for her actions.

Unbeknownst to them Mz. Ruby coughed and pulled herself from where she had been resting, to which she walked over to a nearby crystal ball and waved a hand, revealing a scene she had seen many times in the last few days, but never found out what the conclusion was; three figures, being Sly, Derpy, and Gilda Cooper, flying through the air as they faced off against a shadowy owl like figure, one she recognized all too well.

"They're strong, that's no lie." Mz. Ruby told herself, still rubbing the bruised area that Derpy had struck, as that was going to hurt for the next few days at the very least, while she focused on the crystal ball, "Hopefully they're strong enough to get rid of a true menace."

Soon the Coopers would find out who the true monster of the Fiendish Five was and face off against him, though she silently prayed that they had the power to overcome what he threw at them... though she remained standing there until the police finally came to arrest her, where she simply gave in and followed them outside, knowing she had bought some time for the siblings to escape and silently sent them her best wishes for their success against their true foe.