Dressed to Steal

by Tatsurou

In the Jungle

Mz. Ruby was apparently some sort of voodoo priestess, according to the paperwork. I didn't know what that meant, and no one in my family seemed comfortable explaining what it meant at the time. I was able to put together that it involved some sort of magic, and thus might have something to do with my abilities, since I had magic according to Seft. This added another concern, as she might decide to try and capture me for her own uses, and that made me nervous. After all, who can enjoy exploring a Haitian Jungle with the knowledge that a crocodile might spring out of any corner to snatch you up?

I did manage to sneak a peek at her file while we were driving, though. Oddly enough, she was much in the same boat as Muggshot had been, but coming from the opposite direction. Where Muggshot was a victim of bullying until he grew strong enough to be the bully, Ruby was feared for her abilities until she mastered them and embraced the fear. From the sound of it, they were both just...lonely.

If it turns out I'm right, I'm going to ask Mom if she can put them in the same prison. I think they'd be good friends once they stopped trying to be evil.

(Doodled beneath this entry in Coco's journal is a picture of a bulldog with crocodile teeth and tail, scales under the fur, and big red eyes shining under a little bow in its hair, a voodoo doll of Raleigh clutched in its teeth like a chew toy.)

---

The Cooper van pulled to a halt at the edge of the swamp, leaving Sly and Coco to make their way towards Mz. Ruby's base of operations. "We need to be careful here," Sly spoke up softly. "If Mz. Ruby really will try to snatch you up, you can't risk anything over the pools of water. She - or her goons - might be waiting in every pool and puddle."

"I know, Daddy," Coco responded as she clung tightly to his back. "I'll stick real close."

Nodding, Sly made his way inward, leaping from lily pad to lily pad. As he approached a large root, however, Bentley sent them an urgent message. "Sly, Coco, I don't think we'll have to worry too much about living minions of Mz. Ruby. I'm picking up verifiable paranormal activity, including but not limited to focused concentrations of ectoplasmic energy and non-living bio signatures. Ghosts and zombies to the layman...or mare, as the case may be, Coco."

"Ghosts...and zombies?" Coco asked breathlessly, shivering against Sly's back.

Sly frowned in concern. "Maybe you should-"

"That's so cool!" Coco gasped out quietly, eyes alight with eagerness. "Bentley, do you think you could build ghost tech?"

"Some sort of...ectoplasmic detonation device to interfere with Mz. Ruby's ability to control the dead she's raised?" Bentley clarified carefully. "Well...maybe. Energy is energy after all. With enough samples..."

"Let's put a pin - or needle - in that for now," Sly mused, hopping onto a long root to rail walk across to the next floating platform. "We'll figure out what we need to do specifically. For now, we need to get out of the open."

Sly continued to walk, jump, and slide his way through the swamp with Coco on his back, fighting off gigantic black spiders and purple mosquitoes that patrolled that section of the swamp. "Is this normal?" Coco asked as Sly squashed another with a swat of his cane. "Spiders and mosquitoes this size, I mean? I read that they're bigger in swamps and deep jungles like this, but..."

"Pretty sure these have been enhanced by Mz. Ruby's magic," Sly explained firmly. "This could prove dangerous..."

"We can handle it!" Coco offered confidently. "We can handle anything together, Daddy."

Sly smiled warmly. "That's the spirit, sweetie."

As Sly and Coco looped around the tunnels and vines, it seemed like that would be the limit of what they encountered. At first, it seemed the faces on some of the trees were natural formations that only added to the atmosphere. However, this assumption proved mistaken when a creature that seemed to be made of wood separated itself from the roof of the wooden tunnel they were running through, revealing four legs and a glowing, angry face. As shocking as it was, it proved to be no sturdier than any other dead wood, falling apart after enough strikes.

For some reason, Coco had a vision of such a creature in the shape of a wolf, and found that image much more terrifying. She privately hoped Mz. Ruby hadn't made any of those.

Finally, the pair reached a large gate guarded by a genuine sapient, a skinny rat in a voodoo mask as best Coco could tell. She was grateful to finally be useful again as she put him under with a knock-out needle, allowing Sly to climb the gate with ease. As they made their way further forward, they received another alert from Bentley.

"It seems Mz. Ruby's a bit more clever with her Treasure Keys than Raleigh or Muggshot were," he explained. "The one you need to open the gate into her fortress ahead is protected by a bad mojo force field. Thankfully, those aren't easy to make at range, so the purple candles that provide the magical energy will be close by. From the strength of that field, you'll need to destroy five. But you need to be extra careful. From the looks of things, Mz. Ruby's guards are also voodoo practitioners, and likely won't hesitate to turn their powers against you-"

"We'll take them out from range then," Coco suggested. "I see a way Dad can hop around the tops of the tents, and I can take out both guards and candles from above. That should be safe enough, right?"

"And once we have a clear path, we can swoop in, snatch the Key, and be out of here before anyone's the wiser," Sly confirmed.

"Just as soon as we find the vault," Coco corrected.

Coco's suggested strategy proved effective, and it wasn't long before Sly was snatching up the Treasure Key. While Sly was grabbing the Key, Coco hopped across a narrow gap to the Vault, popping it open easily to get the Thievius Raccoonus page inside. It contained Kelle Cooper's notes on the Getaway Roll technique developed by Sally Cooper. The notes contained a technique to focus a powerful electromagnetic field into the roll, surrounding the roller with the field and zapping anyone rolled into with enough volts to render them out cold.

With page and Key in hand, the pair made their way into Mz. Ruby's fortress.

Comments

[Emtu]

sneak a peak

peek

'peak' is the top of something, 'peek' is to look quickly at something

[Jlargent]

"Bentley, do you think you could build ghost tech?"

Now we know what Coco wants to be for Halloween: A ghostbuster.

[Tristar]

honestly the only member of Fiendish Five that was outright evil was that damn Owl, the rest of them to me seemed to be in an alliance of convenience. Hell only the frog was outright jerk, the rest of them

[Devildogg20]

7702697 this must happen!

[Arcane Howitzer]

(Doodled beneath this entry in Coco's journal is a picture of a bulldog with crocodile teeth and tail, scales under the fur, and big red eyes shining under a little bow in its hair, a voodoo doll of Raleigh clutched in its teeth like a chew toy.)

The Crocadog, like the mysterious Snadger of central Oregon, is an unusual hybrid formed from the union of crocodile and canine parents. Due to the highly disparate temperaments of the base species, their attitudes vary wildly between individuals. Their most common feature seems to be an almost preternaturally strong bite force.

[Umbra Animo]

7702712 i would say frog is second evil
he is more of the sadistic brat while clockwork literally runs of his hate for coppers

[Skye787]

7702712
Huh. Ya know I think your right. That's an interesting way of looking at it.

[XYZDreadnought]

I think the voodoo practitioners are rats, not bears, could be wrong though

[XYZDreadnought]

7702794 Clockwerk is the best villain, we didn't have him for long, but damn was he awesome.

[ArchAngelGundam]

That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.

[Umbra Animo]

7702817 http://slycooper.wikia.com/wiki/Vicious_Voodoo link the the chapter has info on the guards only rats and bugs

[RanmaChaos]

Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.

[shinigamisparda]

(Doodled beneath this entry in Coco's journal is a picture of a bulldog with crocodile teeth and tail, scales under the fur, and big red eyes shining under a little bow in its hair, a voodoo doll of Raleigh clutched in its teeth like a chew toy.)

Shipping?

[shinigamisparda]

7702822 Amen. A certain traitorous someone in the next game doesn't do him justice.

[the other sans]

Rats, Mz. Ruby's minions didn't get a chance to be a threat yet.

Must've been easy to snuff out that bad mojo force field.

Those tree minions were all bark and no bite.

[SvenFoxx]

Hmm... I'm wondering how Nyela's - I think I spelled that right - betrayal will affect Coco. Not only will the Gang, bar Bentley, be jailed, but Carmelita will be unavailable as well. If her and Bentley were for some reason separated at this time, she'd be alone. I think this would be an ample opportunity for pieces of Coco's past in Equestria, specifically the time she spent under Suri, to come to her. Or, at least, the feelings of hopelessness from that time combining with her current panic and loneliness.

This is all assuming, of course, that Tatsurou doesn't change things up in that special little way of his. Who knows, maybe Bentley also gets captured, or maybe Coco get's captured in Murray's place. Or maybe Carmelita escapes but temporarily joins the remaining Gang to save Sly and/or Coco.

One thing's for sure. I can't wait to find out.

[goldfencer]

7702978 They grow up so fast, don't they?

[Mr-Astounding]

nicely done; also:

I did manage to sneak a peek at her file while we were driving, though. Oddly enough, she was much in the same boat as Muggshot had been, but coming from the opposite direction. Where Muggshot was a victim of bullying until he grew strong enough to be the bully, Ruby was feared for her abilities until she mastered them and embraced the fear. From the sound of it, they were both just...lonely.
If it turns out I'm right, I'm going to ask Mom if she can put them in the same prison. I think they'd be good friends once they stopped trying to be evil.
(Doodled beneath this entry in Coco's journal is a picture of a bulldog with crocodile teeth and tail, scales under the fur, and big red eyes shining under a little bow in its hair, a voodoo doll of Raleigh clutched in its teeth like a chew toy.)

Coco ships it...

As Sly and Coco looped around the tunnels and vines, it seemed like that would be the limit of what they encountered. At first, it seemed the faces on some of the trees were natural formations that only added to the atmosphere. However, this assumption proved mistaken when a creature that seemed to be made of wood separated itself from the roof of the wooden tunnel they were running through, revealing four legs and a glowing, angry face. As shocking as it was, it proved to be no sturdier than any other dead wood, falling apart after enough strikes.
For some reason, Coco had a vision of such a creature in the shape of a wolf, and found that image much more terrifying. She privately hoped Mz. Ruby hadn't made any of those.

*edited 8/30/2017*
Timber Wolf
http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Timberwolves
seriously: how much of Equestria does Coco remember?

[Dirty Bit]

(Doodled beneath this entry in Coco's journal is a picture of a bulldog with crocodile teeth and tail, scales under the fur, and big red eyes shining under a little bow in its hair, a voodoo doll of Raleigh clutched in its teeth like a chew toy.)

Cuuuuuuute~

[cyberlord4444]

7702712 Based on Tats' takes on them, definitly. Can't wait to see what he does with Panda.

[Dustchu]

Cute as hell, nice job!
Hahaha

[ShogunWriter106]

This story got me more into 'hook, line, and sinker,' it has got me into 'harpoon, titanium cable, and anchor!!"

[Jake Witt]

7702697 ...or pony Dani Phantom.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/f6/fc/a5/f6fca55d199d086d2536eba1a6fc5d2d.jpg

[proto20]

Did Coco ship Muggshot and Mz Ruby?

7702780
I thought of Jak's Crocadog from Jak II. Never knew (or remembered) what happened to it after that game.

[The_Laundry]

exploring a Haitian Jungle

Haitian Jungle

Hahahaha!! No. There are no jungles in Haiti.
(Left is Haiti, Right is The Dominican Republic.)
blog.kulikulifoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/haiti-dominican-republic-border.jpg

[Tatsurou]

8159170
Complain to the game for inaccuracies, not me.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

For some reason, Coco had a vision of such a creature in the shape of a wolf, and found that image much more terrifying. She privately hoped Mz. Ruby hadn't made any of those.

I doubt those are controllable by anyone/anypony and they regen.

[AtTheCrimsonFckr]

7702712
I wonder how many lives were lost because of those crashed ships?

[BlurtheHedgehog]

(Doodled beneath this entry in Coco's journal is a picture of a bulldog with crocodile teeth and tail, scales under the fur, and big red eyes shining under a little bow in its hair, a voodoo doll of Raleigh clutched in its teeth like a chew toy.)

FAN ART THIS!!!

[Spellflame]

What is this? Sonic!