After some relaxation, the group went after the next member.
"So who’s next on the list?" Rarity asked.
"It looks like the Fiendish Five's Demolition Expert: The Panda King." Sly answered.
"A bit on the nail, don’t you think?" Karai noted.
"According to these files, he's actually close friends with Mz. Ruby." Adagio informed.
"That does make sense." Rarity agreed.
"Nice to know she does have someone who cares about her." Murray said in relief.
"And I heard that she was considered an aunt to his only daughter." Bentley added.
"So how did he become a criminal?" Rarity asked.
"Well, the road trip gave me the time I needed to study up on the Panda King." Sly said.
"So what did you find out?" Karai asked.
"Here’s what I found out about him; Born penniless, Panda King was fascinated by the fireworks rich noblemen set off every New Years." Sly informed.
"Wow! That sounds fantastic!" Rarity awed in amazement, before she grew concerned.
"He spent a decade learning the art, but when he tried to offer his fireworks to the noblemen, they couldn't see past his shabby clothes and chased him away." Sly answered. much to the girls' shock.
"Man... They really judged the book by its cover." Adagio groaned.
"Yeah, and that only made things worse. Humiliated, the Panda King took revenge on those who shunned him by using the very tools of his art for crime. The Fiendish Five recruited him as their demolitions expert, and from then on, his explosive touch became feared worldwide." Sly explained.
"Oh dear! I just hope we can reason with him." Rarity said as Karai and Adagio agreed with her.
"Well, he's rumored to be perfecting some new firework technique high in the unstable Kunlun Mountains of western China." Sly informed.
"Unstable?" Adagio asked.
"Yeah, lots of potential avalanches there." Sly confirmed.
"Well let's try to keep this one at low volume." Karai advised as the Cooper Van closed in on their destination.
Unfortunately, Karai's lack of Warm Blood started catching up "Brrr! You got any warm jackets?"
"Yeah, but you can stay with the van if you want, Karai." Sly offered.
"I’ll take the j-j-j-j-jacket." Karai shivered before she yawned.
"Why don't I help out on this mission?" Murray asked.
"Okay. Karai, go with Murray and scout ahead." Sly ordered.
"If you say so." Karai responded as she wrapped her tail around Murray and hopped onto him before Sly and the duo continued through a different path.
Soon enough, they saw a statue that looked like the Panda King, before they saw a firework fly from it.
"Would you look at that? A fireworks show!" Bentley awed before the firework exploded on a nearby mountaintop, causing an avalanche on the village below it. "Oh my gosh, that’s awful! That poor village just got buried in freezing snow!"
"Any survivors, Bentley?" Rarity asked.
"For some reason, no one was there. So all of them survived." Bentley answered
"That's a relief. Still, call emergency services as a precaution." Sly added.
"Already on it." Bentley responded.
"Let's get going, ladies." Sly said.
"That firework came from that statue, so I bet that’s where we’ll find the Panda King." Adagio noted.
"Murray and I spotted guards there, so expect trouble." Karai informed on the Binoc-u-com.
"Unfortunately, the only treasure key to the gate is heavily guarded." Bentley added as the trio saw a lot of guards, knowing that their sneak and strike might not work this time.
"Guess we'll have to do this the hard way." Sly noted.
"Wait… Remember Mz. Ruby’s segment of the Thievius Raccoonus?" Rarity remembered.
"I like where you're going, Rarity." Sly said with a smile.
"Guess it’s time to make like a ghost and disappear." Adagio quipped as Sly tried the technique out first, becoming invisible.
"Well, ladies?" Sly asked as Rarity and Adagio tried out the technique as well, pulling the trick off.
"I should warn you guys, the invisibility only lasts if you stay still." Bentley advised.
"Alright Bentley, thanks for the warning." Adagio said in gratitude as everyone deactivated the technique but then notice they still can't see Rarity too well. "Guess all that whiteness will come in handy for Rarity."
"Oh! But I still like to keep my decency!" Rarity pointed out.
"Okay, here's the plan..." Sly started to inform.
Later, the guards did their usual routes, unaware they were walking into an ambush as a pair of eyes came out of the snow, but no one noticed.
One of the seven guards walked by when a pair of arms grabbed him. "Huh?! What the?!" The guard gasped but he wasn't able to sound the alarm when he got pulled in and beaten up.
Sly waited for the guard to pass by to swipe the vault code. "Yoink!" Sly quietly quipped as he pickpocketed the vault code.
"Huh?" The second guard wondered as he turned around, but didn't see anyone. "Must’ve been just me." He shrugged before Adagio sprung out of the bushes and knocked him out.
"Nah, it wasn’t." Adagio corrected.
Two guards were standing together, unaware Rarity was lining up her gauntlets. "Perfect." Rarity said as she nailed their heads with her grappling hooks and slammed them into each other, knocking them out.
Sly jumped above the remaining three and pulled out his sais. "Alright." Sly noted as he jumped down and the guards received a one-way ticket to Knock Out City. "A shame ninjas are Japanese and not Chinese. I could've used a workout."
"Speak for yourself, Sly." Adagio responded.
"Heehee! What about those chili dogs you ate? You look like you could use some exercise as well." Rarity teased, poking Adagio's belly.
"Don't we have a vault to open?" Adagio asked, feeling agitated as Rarity giggled before the tiger smirked. "And what about all that ice cream you’ve been depress-eating, Rarity?" Adagio retorted, poking Rarity's belly back.
"Oh you did not just go there!" Rarity angrily growled.
"Yeah I did. So?" Adagio mocked as the two female felines butted heads against each other while Sly went to the fault, with Murray and Karai snickering as they overheard the duo.
"Ladies, let's open the vault before I'm tempted to let this cat fight happen." Sly pointed out as Rarity and Adagio hissed before they decided to let it go for now.
"We’ll settle this later." Rarity said.
"Yeah, definitely later." Adagio agreed.
"Okay, a few of us should move these unconscious bodies to shelter so they don't freeze to death. I'm going to open the vault." Sly informed as Rarity and Adagio got the Treasure Key.
"We’ll take care of them." Rarity responded.
"Got the code, Bentley?" Sly asked.
"I got a real headache figuring this one out. Input 5-7-8." Bentley informed as Sly put the code in and the vault opened, before he grabbed the page in it. "This just gets better and better. I’d always heard that one of your Southern ancestors, Huckleberry Cooper developed a technique to move while staying invisible!"
"Ladies, we scored big time!" Sly said excitement as the duo came back from sheltering the unconscious guards.
High up the mountain, the Panda King sat in a meditative state. "Mz. Ruby, my dear friend. You have been defeated, haven't you?" The Panda King realized as he then sensed a spiritual presence. "I am still grateful the police showed you mercy. And I know a departed spirit is here."
"I am impressed you have sensed me." A familiar spirit noticed.
"What business does the dead have with the living?" The Panda King asked.
"I have come to offer you one chance: Turn over the book pages and submit to the police." The spirit responded.
"You speak on behalf of your approaching disciples, do you not?" The Panda King assumed.
"So you know." The spirit said in confirmation.
"I cannot comply with your order. But I will not hold back on them. Such an act would be dishonorable." The Panda King answered.
"I understand." The spirit sympathized as the Panda King found himself alone before he prepared for his guests.