We arrived safely in Medieval England, and began searching for Sir Galleth Cooper, the contemporary ancestor. He was supposed to be one of the King's most trusted knights - one of the few Coopers to use their skills under the direction of the legal authority, by breaking into enemy castles and the like to steal important artifacts and information for his King - but we found him performing in a local circus of all things! And as a jester! Between that and what looked like robotic werewolves patrolling the streets, we knew Le Paradox was behind this somehow.
As such, the first mission was getting Sir Galleth out of the circus and finding out what was going on from him. We thought that would be easy enough...until Razor came back from a quick scouting report with something very unexpected...
As soon as Razor returned from a quick scouting mission, he turned to Carmelita. "Have you ever time traveled before?" he asked quickly.
Carmelita blinked in surprise. "No. Why?"
Razor laid out a Wanted poster. "I found this pinned to a tree. Take a close look."
The poster was as expected for things like this. It showed the subject, a name, a reward, and what they were wanted for. What caught eyes immediately, however, was the fact that the vixen in the picture could have passed for Carmelita's twin, as far as they could tell in the greyscale of the poster. Same hairstyle, same build, same musculature, same expression between angry and determined...dressed in a tight fitting outfit of tunic and tights and holding a longbow.
Wanted
Robyn Hood and her Merry Menace
For Treason, Theft, Theft, Theft, Humiliation of Officers of the Law, Theft, and Impersonating a Deceased Noble
Reward: Half what's left in the local treasury when she's brought to justice!
Scrawled under it in rather fancy cursive was, "Nice try, fellows! I emptied that last week! RH."
After a time of everyone staring at the picture, Coco spoke up. "$50 says that's Sir Galleth's girlfriend."
"No bet," everyone responded immediately, setting a round of giggles.
"Well, either way, it looks like I'm sitting this mission out for a while," Carmelita allowed. "At least until we get Sir Galleth here and can get answers out of him about her. Maybe he knows where she and her 'Merry Menace' hang out."
"In that case, let's get him out," Sly concluded firmly.
Of course, getting Galleth out meant getting Dad in, and that meant a disguise. While I could make a great disguise with Bentley's help, I was running low on materials. As a result, I sent Dad and Uncle Razor out to gather a few materials. Dad came back with a report of an underground giant robot foundry - complete with lasers and modern equipment - under the cobbler's shop. Definitely something we'd need to keep in mind.
The outfit we made Dad was based off the outfit worn by 'Robyn Hood' in the picture, turning his cane into a bow he could use to launch arrow ropes to grind across. He then went alone to get Galleth out of the circus, and returned successfully.
One Galleth was back at the hideout, we got more answers than we bargained for...
As Sir Galleth entered the hideout - still in jester's cap atop his armor - he took one look at Carmelita and rushed to her side. "Maid Marian!" he declared in shock. "What brings you into this iniquitous den at the edge of town? Know you not how dangerous it is to be so close to the Black Knight? Your arrows have yet to pierce his armor, and his rain destruction unknowable! And...where did you get such unseemly attire for one of your line?" He eyed Carmelita up and down in concern. "Not that your forest garb has much more in the ways of modesty, but still!"
Carmelita blinked in shock. "You have me confused with someone else," she stated flatly. "I should be used to that by now."
Sir Galleth blinked as he heard her voice. "Verily, you are not Maid Marian...though you are so close in appearance as to pass for her twin. Pray, might you stand in for her? Her double life has become harder and harder to maintain, and it would allay much suspicion should Maid Marian and Robyn Hood be witnessed together."
"...wait, what?" T-Bone managed to voice. "Robin Hood...and Maid Marian...the same person? How did that happen?"
"Ah, a tragic tale," Sir Galleth allowed. "Sir Robin of Loxley was as noble a knight as any might imagine, and a good friend of mine. Maid Marian was ward of the King, and thus an equal to most nobles in terms of marriage prospects. She and Robin were betrothed, and while there was not love between them, they were quite fond of each other. However, Rottingham - a low born knave with high station but who could not be a knight - used the Crusades to conceal cold-blooded murder so he might claim Marian's hand. It could not be proven, but I told her of what I saw...and she fled into the Woods. She gathered the dissatisfied and the oppressed from the lands Rottingham held sway over and makes war against him and his. Originally, she used Sir Robin's name to fight for his memory...but she was unable to conceal her gender as she wished for her raids as it was..." Here Sir Galleth seemed to lose his words, making obscure, arcane hand gestures to try and find a delicate way to phrase things.
"She's got a body that's impossible to hide or mistake for a man's?" T-Bone suggested delicately.
"Oh very much so," Sir Galleth confirmed. "That's when she was given the name Robyn Hood."
"And how are you involved now?" Coco asked curiously.
Sir Galleth cleared his throat awkwardly. "That is a...delicate matter..."
"You're one of the knights who was supposed to arrest her before this 'Black Knight' showed up, but you both have strong feelings for each other but won't act on them because you feel that would be betraying Robin's memory, despite the fact that if he were here he'd probably be pushing you both together and telling you to be happy with each other and is to a certain extent happy he died as the only honorable way he could get out of his engagement to Marian to make way for you?" Razor deduced calmly.
Sir Galleth blinked in shock, then awkwardly tugged at the flesh of his arm. "Have I eaten so poorly this past fortnight, that I am so transparent?" Several of the gathered group chuckled.
"And this Black Knight we have to fight?" Sly asked. "You said arrows didn't penetrate his armor?"
"Verily!" Galleth continued. "We know not from whence he came, but he brings destruction in his wake. All who work under him are constructs of metal and fur, with minds that mimic living beings but with no soul behind them. I attempted to deal with him and his myself, but while I was a match for the troops, the Black Knight seemed to know my every move before I'd even attempted it! He even named each of the maneuvers from the family tome as I prepared to use them! Gratefully he seems incapable of performing them himself, but I fear it means he has great mental prowess, capable of plucking the thoughts from our minds!"
"Or they managed to get a long, uninterrupted look at the complete Thievius Raccoonus," Coco pointed out worriedly. "The Black Knight, whoever he is, is obviously from our time-"
"Oh, time travel!" Sir Galleth declared in relief. "That does explain everything. I shall follow your lead in writing the wrongs upon the fabric of events in this day, that I not unwittingly cast the river of time into a new course while seeking the old one."
"You seem...surprisingly accepting of this," Bentley observed thoughtfully.
"Maid Marian is truly a one of a kind beauty," Sir Galleth explained. He gestured to Carmelita. "A violation of the inherent nature of causality is the only explanation why there could be another so like her."
...we all decided to just let that one go. As long as he was cooperative...
Methinks Sir Gareth may perhaps be a bit biased....
ok whos calling it giant robot fight with two hot vixens blasting and smashing to bit
Oh I just figured out why Carmelita had such ease to learn the Cooper techniques. All the techniques were developed by and intended for a bloodline that already contain a lot of fox genes. It makes sense that a fox would be suited to learn them.
And now I have the song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail in my head.
And Maid Marian as a fox makes me think the Disney film. Now I've got this scene in my head as well.
there is only one way to describe this chapter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWh9JbBZC_Q
It's spelled Galeth, not Gareth.
I hope you can convince You-Know-Who to return to the right side.
Was the gender switch becous all the hagling about this you've goten or was it planed from the start?
LOL... this line broke me...
Everyone they meet seems to accept time travel far to easily. I know that having it any other way would needlessly prolong each plot line, but it still tweaks the sci-fi geek in me. I'm looking forward to the confrontation with Penelope here. The cannon one never made much sense. Here, it seems that she may be trying to erase Bentley's orphan status. In and of itself, not vile at all, but the repercussions on the timeline, she's smart enough to know better. Also:
I think you missed a k there. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
Who here fears that Le Paradox has Bentley's unhatched egg and is using it to blackmail Penelope? Because that sounds better than her doing it because she thinks Sly is holding him back.
8424118
Looks like "Galleth" to me. http://slycooper.wikia.com/wiki/Sir_Galleth_Cooper
One Gareth was back at the hideout
1. Once.
Surely Sir Gareth doth jest concerning our fair maiden Carmelita's existence. We shall assume it's time to gaggeth him. Or have Sly hit him upside the head for that. Or maybe it could be taken as a compliment saying Carmelita is too beautiful to possibly exist. At the same time anyways.
Is this the medieval logic on the law of reality?
I shouldn't watch Robot Chicken clips before reading fanfics. I'm afraid I will never not imagine Sir Galeth/Gareth in that art style now.
Also: bring on the Monty Python jokes!
I'm not sure how old Coco is now, so I'm not sure just how inappropriate it would be to have her run across Castle Anthrax, only it's full of hunky unicorns. But the scene running through my head is making it hard to type this because of how much I'm giggling.
"No, no peril for you."
"But mooooooom!"
"Nope, far too perilous. And dammit Sly, stop laughing."
8424150
Still no r in that name.
8418475
Thieves in Time was made by Sanzaru Games, not Sucker Punch.
There's some time mumbo jumbo that's happening.
3 things have already happened
I just came up whit something...
Might this be when Clockwork is borne? Becous it would cinda fitt, create your worst enamy and all that.
8424176
Money's on yes
Tatsurou, I know you must be tired of reading this. But it's spelled Galleth, not Gareth.
CURSE YOU TATSU- WE'RE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE! *This continues on for the whole musical sequence.*
Oh my God, he referenced Robin Hood: Men in Tights! Now I'm wondering if we'll see Friar Tuck or Rabbi Tuckman.
8424081
Just a bit, yeah. Gotta admire that logic, though.
8424207
*shamelessly joins in*
You better have a Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference here and there or else I'll be miffed. I thought the chapter title was a reference ton that and I started getting giddy.
Great chapter by the way
too...many...jokes...
... I can't tell if the mistakes I see in Sir Galleth's text is a quirk of the way he speaks, or actual mistakes I should point out...
Also, very nice bit of world/history/plot building.
Huh... I reiterate. Time travel is hard on terminology.
YO Tat. Its Galleth Cooper, not Gareth.
Ya gotta admire how open-minded the Coopers are. Given what they've seen concerning Clockwerk, not much can catch them off guard.
With how fast the ancestors are catching on to the time travel stuff, when we get to Salim, he's going to figure it out just by looking at them for a bit.
8424817
I'd like to think there's another copy of the family book that never leaves the family vault with sections dedicated to time traveling Coopers. And maybe some skills that can only be learned by the Cooper Elite... a.k.a. Those skilled enough to find and hold the book.
Maybe there are details pertaining to which page on the Thievious prime holds secrets like Coco's temperature control ability.
Wheeeeeeeeeew, what a chapter, hehehe. This is going quite well
8424980
I dunno, sounds a little far-fetched even for the Sly Cooper universe.
History in general may or may not repeat, but the Cooper family history sure as hell does.
8424441
I hope Carmelita and Marian get a chance to talk. Or have a shooting contest. I can see the two of them providing cover fire for the team if they need it. I like the backstory for Marian being Robyn Hood, very nice! I can't wait to see the big reveal of the Black Knight's identity and how things change from the original game!
Oh boy.
I know it's futile to ask, but will you stick to the big reveal, or will you use a twist of the original?
Why am I thinking of the Ivara Warframe? One of her power sets is to launch 'Dashwire' Arrows, which allow the user to dash across. Then again, Ivara was based off Robin Hood...
This brought me to mind of Jeftoon's Twisted Princess, that is, Maid Marian taking up Robin Hood's legacy after he died.
The line in 'Fancy Cursive' made me think of the TF2 Sniper saying that line... Complete with Aussie accent.
Looks like our running theme has gone too far....If they look so close (RH and Carmalita) , who's to say Carmalita isnt a Cooper in blood? Even moreso when I think about Bob...
8425529
Uncle Scrooge. He has an easy time tracking bloodlines, and had the records back when he went on an adventure with each of their great-great-great-great-grandfathers.
8425534
So he knows about bob? X3
8425765
Could very well.
8425768
Huh.... ok. Onto another thing. Time travel should not be THAT easy for the Cooper Ancestors to understand,an explanation in the way they understand maybe? Magic for the Knight (wizards XD) and Ninja (Chi) as well as the Beast(I got nofin). but CowCooper is the only one I can see getting it (old west and alien stores ?)
8425774
I will explain why each Cooper understood.
Bob: He didn't. He just didn't care.
Rioichi: Ancient Japanese myth is rife with Time Travel and causality paradoxes.
Tennessee Kid: He didn't. He just let it slide because he knew he never would.
Sir Galleth: He's met Merlin.
8425776
1 Fair
2 I dont know enough history so ok
3 awwww.... I get it and I did laugh
4 kek, thats what I ment by Wiserds (speling iz stupd )
I like the idea of Robyn and Maid Marian the same person; it explains so much of the Disney canon...
8425188
...Is it weird that that sounds totally legit to me?
8425011
I figured that somebody got paranoid either past, present, or future and made a Diet Thievious Raccoonus. Just in case an unfriendly got their hands on family secrets. Make a secret book and have Cooper after Cooper hide it in a new spot. The enemy may have their skills but they can't build a time machine or know the counter measures for each move.
Maybe you're right...
8425776
Which Merlin the wrong end of time one or the immortal old man version?