The Thief in the Night

Chapter one

The year 2010, marked a day for me. I was eight when it happened. Early summer, July 10th, 2010, scientists, technical analysts, and all sorts of systems of the government, gathered every videogame, console, and gaming systems known to man. They decided to take the future of gaming to the next level, initially they wanted to create a wearable device that would allow the wearer to be transported from the real world into the gaming world. No VR headsets, no controllers, and no more gamer sweats. You are your own controller. As the testing commenced, a gateway opened up but a malfunction occurred. The wearer couldn't go to the gaming world. Instead of us coming to their world, their world was coming to us. There was an explosion, leaving four dead and many injured. Weeks after the accident there have been sightings of mysterious creatures. Days later, people figured out that the characters themselves had entered our world, with their worlds following in tow. The designated island, where the experiment first began, grew in size. Thus creating, Videogame Island. Over the years as new games developed, more characters entered and new worlds are formed. The island itself has different worlds for different games, these worlds were formed into counties. From the large Call of Duty County to the west, to the small 80's County where games like Pac-Man and Tetris reside. The island was truly a gamer's dream, a sight to behold. One that the government, could never reach. So the question emerges, why am I telling you this? The answer, it's where this story takes place.

There are some videogame characters that everyone is familiar with and some characters that people never knew they existed. Familiar characters such as the Super Mario Bros, Sonic the hedgehog, and Pikachu from Pokemon. When characters like these are vastly known, others slowly fade out of one's memory or become a faint mention. Unknown characters such as Solid Snake from Metal Gear, Ratchet and Clank, or the earliest Marvel and DC games before the Injustice games on the PlayStation 4. For me, there is only one, the most unnoticed character of them all. So unnoticed that when you say his name it brings a confused look that makes a person say "Who?" or "Never heard of him". His name is Sly Cooper. Sly Cooper, for those confused souls out there, is a thieving raccoon. He steals from master criminals, breaks into high security places, and constantly out runs the police over and over and over again. He came from a long line of thieves, it's in his family. From the stone age to modern times, generations of his family have been thieves. He lives in Paris, France. Not your typical Paris like we know today. Everything is the same there except for one key difference. It's all animals. Picture talking animals wearing clothes, they act the same way we do. Just living their normal lives and trying to get through the day. But when humans come into the picture, no one is safe. Their world is surrounded by a big metal chain-linked fence with razor wire on the top. Paris County is a small county in the top middle part of the island. Below Emerald County (where Sonic lives), to the right of App County (where gaming apps on your phone reside), to the left of Galaxy County (which include games taking place in space), and above another county that I have yet to mark down. Nobody has gotten remotely close to exploring Paris County, or most of Videogame for that matter. The only people who saw inside Paris County were two college frat boys on their spring break. News sources say that they were on a boat ride with some of their classmates. They were dared to explore Videogame just to see how far they could go, they passed through Emerald County from the shore and ventured deeper until they saw the fence. They peered inside when, they were blown away, they saw a cat girl wearing ear buds and going out for a jog. When she saw them she ran away and then minutes later they heard police sirens. Naturally they didn't stick around long enough to explore more of Videogame and booked it back to their boat. Ever since then no one believed them, everyone except for comic con nerds and conspiracy theorists, thought they were drunk. I believed them. I've explored Videogame for as long as I can remember. I believe these characters are just like you and me, whenever I meet one I treat them like a regular person. I know they are just digital programs created by human beings, I'm not a psycho, but imagine if you were the character that was created and everyone saw you as just a program. You wouldn't feel so good. This story happened last year on February 10th, 2020 BP (before pandemic). I was seventeen years old and still just a normal girl looking for adventure. I've decided to explore Paris County. My obvious reason for going was Sly. I wanted to add him to my files. I have files on every superhero, villain, and character on this island that I've met. I do interviews, learn secret identities, and get their side of the story. It's better to see things from both sides of the spectrum than it is to be stuck with seeing one side. So far my favorite interviews came from the Marvel and DC characters, the Overwatch characters, some of the super smash bros, and the heroes of Mortal Combat. At this point, I'm surprised that I'm not dead. This is all I know about Sly Cooper. The cops have been after him and his gang for years, he's never been caught and when he does he just escapes. There is almost little to no evidence on him and when there is evidence, he steals it, forcing them to start from scratch. I'm gonna be the first one to get a full case file on Sly, without him stealing it. I arrived in Paris County, I was amazed, looking through the fence at the city of lights. It was a combination of realistic and animated, with angular designs and mixture of light and dark colors. It made the city feel like you we're stepping straight into a comic, only it was real. I looked around and the streets were empty, not a single animal in sight. I climbed carefully and slowly over the razor wire and down onto the other side. I put my hood up, and the search begins.