Shining Friendship
“The peacemaker among monsters.”
We all know where we want her to go...
One path leads to an epic redemption quest.
The other... Well, the less we say about that, the better.
Have two main characters get into a heated argument that escalates.
Introduce a rival who challenges your protagonist’s goals.
Have a character betray the group, creating distrust and tension.
Make a natural disaster strike, forcing characters to work together despite differences.
Have your protagonist face a moral dilemma that splits their friends’ opinions.
Introduce a character with opposing beliefs or values.
Make resources scarce, leading to fights over necessities.
Have a long-buried secret come to light, causing conflict among characters.
Create a situation where characters must choose between loyalty and personal gain.
Have an authority figure issue an unjust order, causing characters to rebel.
Yes, Thieves In Time Redux is still in the works.
Yes, it is incredibly challenging to write.
No, I'm not looking forward to writing the villains' dialogue. Or the ancestors. The worst part is improvising their existing lines from the vanilla game. And giving them new lines.
so seeing how Sly doesn't get stuck in Egypt, how does it end?
Well, of course our four heroes end up staying together. Beyond that, I'm not sure where to take them.
Sly and Carmelita? Sly has given up on a future with her. Does Carmelita want to make up with him? Maybe.
Bentley and Penelope? They're engaged. A very well deserved reward after she took down Le Paradox and led everyone to victory on his blimp. She's been forgiven, though she is having trouble with forgiving herself.
Here's a super abridged recap of my rewrite of Thieves In Time...
Prologue: Penelope is revealed to still be behind the events of the game. She nearly gets kidnapped, foolishly tells Bentley about it in a panic, then gets roped into joining Sly, Bentley, and Murray for the whole game. She enters the game keeping a dark secret of betrayal.
Paris Tutorial: Joins Bentley in the sewers. They get separated, she gets her own segment. She saves his skin as they reunite.
Turning Japanese: Does her tasks to avoid looking sus. Tries to go rogue during Altitude Sickness. Runs into Sly and El Jefe's duel, then decides to help Sly. Also gets scolded for running off. Her secret is safe.
Go West, Young Raccoon: Manages to save Bentley's skin twice; once during Cooper For Hire, and again during Jail Break. Also gets to see Carmelita tearing Sly a new one, making her see a dark future for her and Bentley. Secret is still safe.
Clan Of The Cave Raccoon: Gets very sick, sees the error of her ways. Sees Sly and Carmelita not getting along, doesn't want the same thing for her and Bentley. Resolves to become a team player. Secret is still safe.
Of Frogs And Mechs: Sir Raleigh is revealed to be behind Penelope's botched kidnapping. She also has a robotic impostor. His men kidnap her. She mostly frees herself, and she gets to fight her impostor and Raleigh. She also gets closer to Bentley. Secret is still safe.
40 Thieves: Spends the whole episode pulling her weight and then some. Le Paradox reveals her secret of betrayal during All Rolled Up just when she's starting to feel like a true member of the team again. She refuses to rejoin the skunk. Her secret is out.
Paris Epilogue: Leads the raid on Le Paradox's blimp, then starts the final boss fight. Nearly loses before the rest of the playable cast comes in to help. Gives a speech on what she learned about friendship and takes Le Paradox down.
Aftermath: Tries to leave the Cooper Gang out of guilt, only to be forgiven. The game ends with her still on their roster. She and Bentley are also engaged.
Let's all just pretend this is what actually happened instead of the hot mess that was vanilla Thieves In Time.
Feel free to make as much fanart for this project as you want. I'm no artist; just a writer with big ideas.
Let me spell out the first act of this episode. This would consist of the first two missions.
Our three heroes tail a certain "mouse" to a place called Conquest Island. They find out she's found a new boss: Sir Raleigh, who escaped from prison a while ago. The boys don't know what their plan is, but they're going to stop it.
It's Bentley who tails this "mouse" into Raleigh's fortress, only to make a shocking discovery. He's been following a robot this entire time!
Raleigh, thinking he's already won, brings out the real Penelope to gloat to her. Turns out she's been kidnapped and impersonated.
And that impostor? Turns out it was her our heroes fought back in Medieval England. It was her who broke up with Bentley. And her who built that blimp for Le Paradox. The real Penelope is innocent.
It also turns out Raleigh has an entire Robo-Cooper Gang at the ready, and he's hoping to have everyone eventually kidnapped and turned against each other.
The villainous frog basically goes "Your name's been thoroughly ruined! Those friends of yours hate you! Why not work for me?"
Only to be told to stuff it. The real Penelope says she only wants to work for one person; that being Sly Cooper. She also hasn't forgiven her impostor for breaking Bentley's heart. She says these things knowing full well she might never be allowed back in the Cooper Gang.
Bentley, who witnessed this entire scene, orders an immediate rescue mission. When the boys find her, Penelope is terrified (thinking they're here to kill her), but she does agree to go with them after a tearful reunion.
After having Penelope reinstated, our heroes swear revenge against Raleigh for what he did to her. Bentley also takes her back.
Penelope has her life back, but... something is seriously wrong with her. And she's not talking about it.
Second act coming soon.
I want to believe Penelope was kidnapped and impersonated. She still designed the blimp. Her impostor (an evil robot) did everything else. Even her motive was fabricated.
Here's something that could happen in Sly 5.
When the boys (Sly, Bentley, and Murray) eventually find out and take her back, she's going to be a guilt-ridden mess hell-bent on destroying her impostor and her creator for breaking Bentley's heart and making everyone hate her, with several measures of self-loathing for nearly doing the same thing herself.
The reunion scene would need to happen early in the episode in which this story takes place, during the second mission, and no later. That way, the player can get used to her being fully playable for the first time ever before the boss fight.
All three boys, while elated to have Penelope back, will quickly notice that something is seriously wrong with her. They think her impostor did everything, including designing the blimp. When they ask her what's wrong, she refuses to elaborate.
Bentley is especially concerned, but incredibly proud of his reinstated girlfriend for her enduring loyalty.
Cue Penelope pulling her weight several times over during her return episode and defeating her impostor, only to be consumed by all the guilt and confess to none other than Bentley about her treachery by the end. The only thing she doesn't reveal is her motive, saying it doesn't matter because what she did was wrong.
And because I love a good, happy ending, she will be forgiven. She's already spent the entire episode proving herself in spades. As for Sly and Murray's reactions? I'll leave that for you to decide. Would Sly drive himself crazy over not knowing her motive? I think he might.
I realize she will need a very sympathetic motive for this idea to work.
Nobody touches that turtle… but me!
remember when you didn’t want to punch penelope in the face?
yeah, lets go back to that.
(please full view omg)
Wanted to draw one of my favorite characters, so I did. If your interested in seeing how this was drawing was made heres a link to video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4r5qzJs6Q
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