//------------------------------// // A Hazardous Path // Story: Equestria Ninja Girls: The Thievius Raccoonus // by RainbowRaptorDash1 //------------------------------// In the Cooper Van, Karai showed Bentley the shadow in the pictures. "That is definitely odd." Bentley noted. "Are there any records of the Foot Clan in this dimension?" Karai asked. "There definitely is, but the appearances of the leader of the Foot look very similar to the shadow in the pictures." Bentley answered. "We’ll definitely need to talk to Sly about this." Rarity said. "Agreed." Adagio replied in agreement. "Sly, while we're on our way to the Hrack-Harov Volcano in Russia, there's something the girls and I have to tell you." Karai said, catching the master thief's attention. "What is it?" Sly asked. "We all know that there's very little information on the final member of the Fiendish Five." Adagio pointed out. "Yeah. You saying you found something about that member?" Sly assumed. "Indeed, in fact, Karai was the one who noticed it in the first place." Rarity answered as Karai showed Sly the picture of his ancestors in the pages they recovered. "In these four specific pages, we found a shadowy owl-like figure." Karai informed "Not to mention they look very similar to the police images of Clockwerk." Rarity added. "Which means that something is definitely not right here." Adagio finished. "But then that only leaves one question..." Sly noted. "What?" The Beauty Trio asked. "Is this a strange coincidence, or is there something we're missing?" Sly responded as the Cooper Van closed in on the final destination of the journey. "Be cautious, everyone." A familiar voice warned as everyone saw Master Splinter. "Father." Karai noticed. "Master Splinter." Rarity said as Sly fell to his hands and knees. "Master Hamato Yoshi, leader of your Hamato Clan, I beg for forgiveness. For the disrespect and spite I showed your daughter and her Lieutenant." Sly apologized. "You have been a good and loyal friend to my daughter throughout your adventure. I accept your apology." Splinter responded. "Thank you, Master." Sly said in gratitude. "Father, why are you here?" Karai asked. "Because I have come to warn you." Splinter answered. "About the leader?" Adagio assumed. "Yes." Splinter confirmed. "I don't like where this is going." Murray worried. "The leader you seek has a hatred I haven't felt since Shredder himself." Splinter informed. "I’m seriously agreeing with that." Rarity said in complete agreement. "Be careful, everyone." Splinter advised as he left, while everyone grew cautious. "Anyone wanna back out now, it's okay. You've all earned my respect. So if anyone wants to leave, I won't think less of you." Sly offered. "No can do, Sly. We’ve always been together, and that’s not gonna stop now." Bentley responded. "Bentley’s right, Sly. You can’t fight that thing alone." Murray agreed. "Thanks, guys. Girls, your call." Sly said. "We’re staying as well." Rarity replied. "No way we're bailing on you." Adagio agreed. "We’re putting an end to the Foot Clan’s leader." Karai added. "Thank you everyone." Sly responded in gratitude. "Hey, guys, the road to Clockwerk's fortress is blocked. Do me a favor and shoot out that lock for us with the new turret upgrade, would ya?" Murray asked. "Sure." Sly answered as the satellite of the Cooper Van went down, with Sly gunning a turret re-emerging from that spot, before shooting the locks on the gate, opening it. "We got company!" Karai informed. "Whoa! That’s not the only problem! Check out all those mines! Think you four can beat those guys and blow those bombs away to clear a safe path for us?" Murray added. "Not a problem." Adagio responded as fin-like wings appeared on Adagio’s back before she took flight. "Guess some good came from Uka Uka after all." Adagio noted as Rarity used her magic to conjure diamond platforms for Karai and Visamo to stand on. "Come on, boys. We're right here!" Karai taunted. "Come on, you rust buckets! I’ve seen vending machines faster than that!" Visamo mocked as from high above, bat creatures swarmed at the group with small metallic birds joining the fray. "I got these guys." Sly said as he shot the metallic birds down and aimed at the land mines, making them explode as he fired at them. "Come on, boys! Is that all you got?" Adagio taunted as she attacked the bats, knocking them out as she sliced up the mechanical birds. "I regret nothing!" Rarity shouted as she threw more diamond disks, splitting the robot birds in half. "Yee-haw!" Karai whooped as she jumped onto one of the robot birds and made destroy some other robot birds before she destroyed the one she was riding on as she landed back on the diamond platform. "These girls are nut. I love it!" Bentley cheered. "Yeah! They sure know how to make a party like this fun!" Visamo agreed as he ducked as two bats crashed into each other. "It's more my youngest sister's influence." Adagio remembered. "Besides, parties are Pinkie and Mikey’s expertise." Rarity agreed.. "But we know how to get creative." Karai added as the van kept moving forward. "Bingo! My scanners indicate that Clockwerk is holed up in that owl-shaped tower!" Bentley informed. "First things first! We’ve got hostile robo-falcons at twelve o’clock, guys!" Murray added. "Leave it to us!" Rarity said as she threw shield after shield. "Everyone hang on!" Murray said as he drove the van, ramming through the stone gate hard, destroying it. "Way to make an entrance, Murray!" Sly complimented. "Yeah, but we lost the turret." Bentley added before he paled after scanning the tower. "Wait! That’s no tower, it’s a giant Death Ray!" "Well, we’re in the clear!" Murray said. "No turning back now." Sly added. "Indeed! We’re going to see through this until the end!" Rarity agreed as she and everyone else went back into the van as it went into a tunnel.