//------------------------------// // The Gunboat Graveyard // Story: Equestria Ninja Girls: The Thievius Raccoonus // by RainbowRaptorDash1 //------------------------------// After a minute, Sly and the Beauty Trio exited the pipe. "Okay, good news is you guys are closing on Raleigh." Bentley informed. "That's wonderful!" Rarity cheered. "And I found a way up to Raleigh's hide-out, but the bad news is that it's doomed to failure." Bentley added. "You're not gonna tell us that we'll have to shoot ourselves out of that cannon?" Sly assumed. "I'm afraid that's the only way." Bentley confirmed. "Bentley, we're ninjas, not circus performers. You sure there's no other way?" Karai asked. "I'm dead serious, guys." Bentley answered. "Now you're talking." Sly said in excitement. "Are there any Treasure Keys we need to find?" Rarity asked. "You guys are really scaring me. Anyway, to get inside that thing, you'll have to steal Raleigh's last three treasure keys ." Bentley responded. "Any in a creepy ship graveyard?" Adagio added. "I think so." Bentley answered. "I was hoping you'd say no." Adagio said in worry. "What? You got a thing against shipwrecks?" Sly asked. "It's just creepy." Adagio simply answered. "Well, the sooner we get through, the sooner we're out." Karai said. "Alright, but be careful." Bentley responded as Sly and the Beauty Trio snuck into the ship graveyard. "How many guards you smell, Adagio?" Sly asked as Adagio sniffed the air. "Fifteen." Adagio answered. "Now that’ll be a challenge." Sly said. "Actually, let's take out only 12." Karai suggested. "You have an idea?" Rarity assumed. "Adagio, can you get your headpiece to give you a ghost voice?" Karai asked. "I see where you’re going with this." Adagio answered, saying yes. "Rarity, see if you can create a spooky ghost outfit. You two catch up with Sly and me when you're done." Karai said as she and Sly left as Rarity and Adagio got to work. “Karai, you got any more blinding venom in you?” Sly asked. “Yeah.” Karai responded. “Blind the middle one after I take out the other two.” Sly ordered “Okay, you got it.” Karai responded as Sly got into postion. "Ready?" Sly asked with a hand gesture as Karai got into position as well. "Whenever you are." Karai answered with a nod as Sly pounced on one guard and used his cane to throw him at another. "Hey Ugly, Snake Attack!" Sly said as the guard turned around and Karai spat her venom into his eyes. "GAH! My eyes!" The guard yelled. "Hey, there goes the intruders!" Sly called out as the guard fell for Sly's trick and rushed at his fellow guards, attacking them. "I haven't had this much fun on a job since Murray was hopped up on coffee." "Not too late to join up with my Foot Clan." Karai offered. "Thanks, but my family has dedicated themselves to the Hamato Clan. It's not right to abandon them after generations of loyalty." Sly politely refused. "And I'm perfectly okay with that. You choose your own destiny." Karai responded, accepting Sly's decision as they checked the damage. "Six down, nine to go." Sly counted. "Up for a little battleship?" Karai asked, pointing at a cannon. "Like you needed to ask?" Sly responded with his own question. "Geez, what happened to this guy?" A guard asked. "No clue." Another guard shrugged as Karai loaded the cannon. "Locked and loaded, Sly." Karai informed. "You wanna do the honors?" Sly asked, aiming the cannon before Karai lit the fuse as he aimed at the ground at the guards. The cannon fired and the ball blasted the ground, knocking out the guards. "Strike!" "No vault code?" Karai asked in confusion. "Right here." Sly answered as he showed Karai a piece of paper that he pickpocketed from one of the guards. "What the heck was that?" A guard asked as he looked at Sly and Karai, but the lightning flash made them look like demons. "AAH!!! You're demons!" The guard screamed as he ran to warn the others. "That was unexpected." Sly noted. "Let's go see if Rarity and Adagio got the ghost ready." Karai suggested. "Okay." Sly agreed as he and Karai turned around, only to be met with spooky ghost carrying a scythe, causing them to scream in terror, before hearing laughter. "Looks our ghost actually works." Adagio said with a spooky voice. "Although it does seem a little too realistic." Rarity noted. "It doesn't matter since it works." Sly said as he and the Beauty Trio snuck up on the guards. "I'm telling you, I saw two demons." A guard panicked. "Hahahaha! Come on, you were seeing things." Another guard shrugged off. "Who dares defile my resting place?!" A ghostly voice roared as the guards looked up and saw the heroes' ghost. "GHOST!!!" The guards screamed. "I will swallow your souls!" The ghost declared, making the guards run for their lives. After the guards left the area, the heroes started laughing. "Jack would be so proud." Adagio said. "Who?" Karai, Rarity and Sly asked in confusion. "He's an old friend of me and my little sisters." Adagio answered. "Maybe you could go into details after this mission or after we get home." Rarity suggested. "Sure." Adagio responded as the others went down, before she brought out a Skeleton Key. "I miss you Jack, so much." "Hey Adagio, why don't you go on back? We'll meet up with you." Rarity said. "Are you sure?" Adagio asked. "Yeah, you need some time alone. We can get the vault and the key." Sly answered. "It’s okay, Adagio." Karai assured her friend. "Thanks, guys." Adagio said in gratitude, leaving the area as the others came to the vault. "So what’s the code?" Sly asked. "With that paper you took from that guard Sly, figuring it out was cake. Input 7-1-9." Bentley answered as Sly imputed the code and opened the vault safe, grabbing another page. "Oh you’re lucky! This page features Harin Coopergiwa’s Coin Magnet Technique. All she had to do was stand near money and it would magically jump into her purse. From now on, you guys will automatically collect any coins that you come near." "That'll be very handy." Karai noted as Sly put a calling card in the page's place inside the safe. "The key is over here." Rarity noticed. "Easy, now. It could be booby trapped." Karai warned. "Doesn’t look like it." Sly noted. "All the same, let's grab it carefully now that Raleigh knows we're here." Rarity advised as Sly removed the glass case and used his cane to grab the key. "Sometimes, things just need a delicate touch." Sly said. Adagio was still looking at the key she had in her hands when her friends came back. "We’re back!" Rarity called out as Adagio hid her key. "Great, let's get going." Adagio urged. "Hey, you don't have to tell us about your friend if you don't want to." Karai said. "It's just... A sensitive subject." Adagio explained. "It's okay." Sly responded. "Thanks." Adagio said in gratitude. "So, onto the next area?" Rarity assumed. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." Adagio sadly said as everyone left, while she inserted the key into a door lock. "Please, work this time. I'm begging you." Adagio deeply pleaded as she turned the knob and opened the door, but nothing happened. "Why…?" Adagio sobbed with her voice breaking before she fell to her knees, starting to cry, not even noticing her Binco-u-com was sending the scene to Bentley. "A Skeleton Key?" Bentley wondered as he felt sorry for Adagio, but couldn't but feel curious of where that key led to.