A/N: This takes place after the third game, but the amnesia stuff only lasted a few months and Sly actually had amnesia until Bentley found him and took him back to the gang. Sly was not happy about Carmelita lying to him, so now he has become the hard ass, while she tries to win him over. Yeah dumb I know, but hey…It works. If you're wondering who Gizmo is…He is the only son of Clockwork. He, unlike his dad, is a mystic who likes the Cooper Clan and who used time travel to aid Sly on his….err…well you'll find out soon enough. I don't own any of the Cooper gang members. I do own Andre Fox, Same Raccoon Dog and Gizmo.

Dragon hatching ceremony. Chapter 1 (The Heist.)

Sly crept quietly through the halls of the large museum and headed to the large room where the most recent exhibit, a small display of artwork depicting mythical creatures.

"Puh…..who honestly believes in dragons and that kind of stuff….it's a bunch of fairy tales…" he thought. Still, he had to pull the job. His friend, Gizmo, a smaller friendlier version of his father Clockwork, had told them about the dire situation of the job. Sly rolled his eyes at the thought of Gizmos speech.

"The Nine Cooper Dragon Egg Jewels must be together, or awful things will follow. They must be reunited. I, Bentley, Penelope, Murray, Panda King, Dimitri, Sam and the guru have already gathered eight of them. We need the last one. The ruby Egg. Sly you must be the one to retrieve it. No arguments."

Whatever Sly's ancestors wanted with the eggs was beyond his comprehension. Sly just followed his order and was now about to retrieve the last egg. There it was on a pedestal in the center of the room, surrounded by glass. Sly smirked. He crept up and carefully lifted the glass case. He picked up the red egg and slipped it gently into his red leg pouch. Suddenly he heard the cocking of a shock pistol. He never even bothers to turn. He spoke in a tone that made the weapons owner's blood run cold.

"Bout time you showed up Fox…Come to try and trick me to work at Interpol again?" he growled.

Carmelita stood rigid, her heart torn. She wanted to be angry at his behavior, but she couldn't know he had all the right to be mad. She had taken advantage of him, and he had been none the wiser. At first things had been better than she could have imagined, and she had even grown to like Cooper as more than just a partner. Much to her brothers great joy….André had a kind of respect for Sly. She sighed and lowered her weapon.

"Sly…I'm sorry….I was just…"

"WHAT! TRYING TO KEEP ME FROM MY FAMILY? DON'T YOU GET IT? THEY ARE THE ONLY THING I HAVE TO MY REAL FAMILY…..YOU TRIED TO KEEP ME FROM THEM…." Sly shouted. He whirled and glared at her. His eyes were cold and there was no sign of his usual affection. Carmelita had seen killers with kinder eyes. Then before she could stop him, Sly ran to the back window, broke it with his cane and vanished. Carmelita tried to fight back her tears. Then she heard puffing from behind her. It was her partner, and brother Andre.

"Did we miss him?" he asked as he gasped for breath. She shook her head.

"Damn."

Sly snorted as he got into the team van. His temper had not improved the slightest after he had gotten away from the vixen. Bentley, sensing his friend's anger, spoke.

"Uh…Look Sly I know your mad at her but isn't giving her the cold shoulder….I don't know…a bit…harsh." He gulped. Sly gave him a cold glare and Bentley dropped the subject. He was beginning to regret having Sly rejoin the team, seeing as Sly's temper had become more like Inspector Foxes, while her temper had changed to mimic his. Murray drove them back to Dimitri's former night club, which was now there new permemant headquarters. Sly got out of the van and stalked inside, not really in the mood to celebrate. He knew Gizmo was watching from his perch atop the roof. He could hear the soft beating of his wings as he descended.

"Well, my friend…."

"Yeah…I got it…What's so important about it anyways?" Sly asked. He felt a whole lot calmer around Gizmo. Giz, as he preferred to be called was now the chief mystic of the gang. The guru had become the wiser shaman who would explain smaller things, while Giz would tell about the magic he had used back in his own time. Giz smiled, and then patted Sly's shoulder with his wing.

"Well my friend….theses are no jewels….come I shall show you." He said directing everyone to the officer he used to meditate and practice his powerful magic. They all gathered around the small desk and leaned in. Sly removed the red egg from his pouch and placed it into the small basket on the table that already contained the other eight eggs. The eggs were all different colors, green, pink, maroon, purple, violet, orange, silver, and gold. The red one was the most beautiful and stood out among the others.

After a few moments of silence Gizmo spoke.

"Long ago….back when I was a child, my mother told me of the great dragons of the sky. It was said that they we're just and noble beings, only coming to the ones they saw pure of heart. The Cooper clan was well known for their talent of controlling the beasts. After my…father became that mechanical monster, the dragons all but vanished, leaving their young eggs behind as a reminder of what had been. There were two special clutches of eggs. The one of the Foxes Clan and the Cooper clan. The Foxes clan's clutch contained only two eggs. One male, one female. The Cooper Clan's clutch has six female males and two males. Tonight they will hatch and choose their lifelong master. That was why they needed to be together, for without the red leader's egg, the others will be lost. Now look…" Gizmo pointed to the eggs. Every one gasped as they all began to glow. Then in a flash of light, the eggs burst open. Bentley was leapt upon my a small green female, Penelope a small pink male, Murray a maroon female, Panda King a silver female, Sam an orange male, the guru a small golden female, and Dimitri a violet female, while gizmo got the purple female. Then everybody turned to the last egg which still had not hatched. Sly sighed. So he wasn't fit. He was about to turn away when her heard a crack. The red egg began to glow, and within a second a beautiful red female made her presence known. She wailed and hissed at the others sending them wriggling into their masters arms. The little red female stood on her four small, but strong legs and strutted around the table, eyeing all of the gang members as if letting the other new dragons know just who was in charge. Then she spotted Sly. She screeched and leapt on him licking his face. For the first time in a while Sly broke into a smile. He chuckled as the little dragon cooed as she snuggled into his neck.

"I think I'll call her…….Bella …....." He said smiling. Firestorm cooed and gave a yawn as she wrapped her slender but strong body around her master's neck.

Carmelita sat in her office depressed. Her boss, Chief Barkly had noticed her downward turn in her emotions after Cooper had left. He knew she had become…attached to him. He wished he could help her. Andre stood in her office and sighed. Then he remembered his father had sent a package to them the other day. He went over to his desk and retrieved it. He set it in front of her and then opened it as she stared at her only proper photograph of her beloved ringtail.

"Come on sis, .look these are those rare diamond dragon eggs granddad promised to send. Here you take the blue and I'll take the white. Whoa!!!!" Andre shouted. Carmelita looked at her blue egg. The shell had cracked to reveal a small blue dragon male with a black mask over its eyes. The minute it saw Carmelita it cooed. It wobbled (Quite ungracefully) over to her. Then it snuggled into her bosom and whistled its content,

"I think I'll call him……Bandit."