Fire in the Sky

"He's rumored to be perfecting some new firework technique high in the unstable Kunlun Mountains of western China."

- Sly Cooper, from the episode's introduction

"Fire in the Sky" is the fourth episode of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. It was set in the Kunlun Mountains of China, and the main antagonist was the Panda King.

Background
As the Cooper Gang made the trip to the Kunlun Mountains, Sly learned that the Panda King was born a poor child but was always amazed at the fireworks rich noblemen set off every New Year. After spending ten years learning the art, he tried to offer his fireworks to the noblemen, but they chased him away because of his shabby clothes.

The humiliated Panda King decided to use his explosives to destroy several villages throughout China for revenge on those who shunned him. He was recruited by the Fiendish Five as their demolitions expert. From that point on, his explosive touch became feared worldwide. He created a giant panda statue of himself, which was in the Western mountains and where he would perfect his new firework technique: Flame-Fu.

Ending
After retrieving the Panda King's section of the Thievius Raccoonus, Sly was able to learn about his technically-minded ancestor, Otto van Cooper. While not known for his physical dexterity, Otto relied on vehicles to aid in his criminal endeavors. Armed with his designs, Sly was sure that Murray would be able to make some cool modifications to the Cooper Van.

Inspector Fox placed the Panda King behind bars after failing to capture Sly. This put an end to his avalanche protection services and ensured the safety of mountain villages throughout China. The gang then took a little time off and shopped around in Hong Kong. Thoroughly relaxed, the gang went home to plan their next move.

Cinematics
Fire in the Sky = The Panda King on Ice =

Behind the scenes
"Fire in the Sky" was intended to be the first episode of the game, instead of "Tide of Terror." Sucker Punch Productions developed "Fire in the Sky" after all of the other episodes because they assumed their experience in building the other episodes would help make the game's first episode "exceptionally good," but this plan backfired. In focus tests a few months before the game's release, players found "Fire in the Sky" to be too difficult and could not even make it past the first job "A Perilous Ascent." Sucker Punch decided to push "Fire in the Sky" to the fourth episode and created a new move to learn for the episode, namely Invisibility.