I like the concept of time travel in these type of games but Thieves in Time handled this plot device very poorly with such an interesting trope they presented about Sly's family (not to mention that terrible cliffhanger ending everybody hated) I decided to find a way to improve and even re-write the whole Thieves in Time plotline (as a sci-fi nerd and Sly fan) to make it more coherent, significant and most importantly appealable to the fanbase and regular players. This is a personal opinion on my behalf therefore you are free to express your criticism
Everything starts in the year 2017 after the events of Sly 3. We all know Sly is with Carmelita but pretending to have amnesia and so on. The first change will be that LeParadox and his gang won't be the villains here and the reason Bentley wants to travel throught time it's for mere scientifical purposes (You will see why I made this change later).
-Prologue (Paris, France. 2017): Sly is convinced by his gang to infiltrate a museum in Paris during the night and steal a 19th Century object from the Wild West, because Bentley needs at least 3 objects to make the time machine works (instead of just one like in the actual Thieves in Time).
Like in the game, Carmelita busts Sly and she gets totally angry making her to break her relationship with Sly. But in this case, Carmelita chases Sly in a more fierceful way and manages to jump to the roof of Bentley's van right in the middle of the time-travel mechanic in action, making her to travel in time along with Sly, Bentley, Murray and Dimitri
-Go West, young raccoon! (Arizona, United States. 1890): The time travel works and Sly + company are in the middle of the Wild West and they get to meet both of Sly's great great grandparents when they were young and before they fell in love: The famous robber Tennessee Cooper and a female raccoon waitress called Katherine Stewart. But in this case, they never told them that they come from the future or that Sly is their great great granchild, since it could create a paradox that could possibly destroy the timeline.
In a level, Beck's gang goes to the saloon and Bentley needs Carmelita to distract them so Sly can steal a map indicating the location of Beck's fortress and a way to get in. Bentley gives Carmelita a belly dancer outfit and instructs her to perform at the saloon's stage to mesmerize Beck's henchmen with her beauty (like how she did in the actual game in 40 thieves). Carmelita did so and Sly was able to steal the map but during the performance, Tennessee was present as well and also got attracted to Carmelita's dancing. Carmelita went over the top and finished the show by getting close to Tennessee and kissing him in the mouth. This action made both Sly and Katherine to drop their jaws. History changed there, Tennessee was not supposed to fall in love with another woman but with Katherine who was supposed to be his future wife and Sly's great great grandmother.
Back in the town, Sly now started to get worry about Carmelita hooking up with his literal great great grandfather, even Bentley noticed that and urged Sly to leave, drag Carmelita with them and never travel in time again or else history would change drastically. But Carmelita was secretly listening to their conversation and made a plot to get rid of Sly and gang. She managed to steal Sly's cane, lure and trap the gang in the time machine and set them back to 2017 using their 21st Century objects like watches, cellphones and IDs. Carmelita stayed with Tennessee and flirted with him all the day, while Katherine watched from far, completely sad for seeing Tennessee loving another woman.
-Brand New Present (Washington D.C, United States: 2017): Sly and gang are back in the present but not in their hideout in France. They were still in the United States, now this time in the present and in the capital. Everything feels off to them, they see the streets of the city being patrolled by drones and tons of armored military cars go around each corner. Sooner than later, a robotic voice announces an incoming message of the president of the United States. A giant screen appears and Sly gets shocked when he sees that the president is a 30 year old fox-raccoon hybrid named Marcus Fox.
In this chapter, Sly and gang must fight and evade the New American Armed Forces which pledged loyalty to president Marcus Fox and will enforce his will with iron fist. In a safe hideout, Sly and the gang just realized what just happened when Sly grab his stuff and realizes the picture of his great-great grandparents he previously used to travel in time was altered, instead of Tennessee and Katherine, it was Tennessee and Carmelita getting married in said picture. The Thievius Raccoonus was altered as well, it looked dusty and in a worse shape, Sly opened the book and all the entries written by Tennessee Cooper and Conner Cooper just dissapeared.
This meant that Carmelita reformed the whole Cooper family since his marriage with Tennessee starting with her husband (which made Tennessee abandon the Thievius Raccoonus). She had children with Tennessee and raised them to be as lawful, disciplined and authoritarian as her and they carried the Fox legacy across the time to the present, turning the whole world into a war-torn tyranny led by the current head of the Fox's family: Marcus Fox, the great great grandson of Carmelita Fox
The worst part is that Marcus is suppose to be the alternate counterpart of Sly in that new present of that altered timeline. When Tennessee married Carmelita over Katherine, that made all of his descendants of the original timeline to become inexistant including Sly's father and soon Sly himself who was gonna dissapear if he didn't fix the timeline. Sly manages to fight the American Armed Forces and steals three items from Marcus to go back in time, also he is able to retrieve his cane which was stolen by Carmelita in 1890, kept secured during time and was found along Marcus personal items. Although this time he can only continue alone because the memories of Bentley, Murray and Dimitri were slowly fading away since in that timeline, they never met Sly and never became thiefs as a result, making them unable to continue the journey. However, they could still resist the effects and communicate and help Sly with the radio. Instead of going back to the Wild West, Sly was just able to steal personal objects of Marcus father: Edward Fox, the great grandson of Carmelita, and travel to his times.
Set right after the events of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves,[1] Thieves in Time continues the adventures of the Cooper Gang. Bentley, the current keeper of the Thievius Raccoonus, notices that the pages of the book are disappearing. He must get the gang back together in order to travel through time and stop whoever is threatening the existence of the Cooper legacy.
Sly Cooper was enjoying his relationship with Inspector Carmelita Fox, a relationship they were able to begin by Sly feigning amnesia, when Bentley showed up. Bentley explained to Sly that the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus were disappearing and that Penelope had also suddenly vanished at the same time. Bentley was looking to re-form the Cooper Gang so that they could stop whomever was altering history.
Sly soon met up with Bentley and Murray at their old hideout, where Bentley introduced both of them to the Time Machine. With this device integrated into the Cooper Van, the gang would be able to travel back in time and fix the past. Their first stop was Feudal Japan, but because the Time Machine required an item from that era, they would need to pull a heist to get the item in question. Their target was a nearby museum owned by a seemingly respectable art mogul, a museum that Sly had been keeping tabs on already.
Tennessee told them that he was planning a world-class bank robbery, but was arrested by Toothpick, who had taken the gold for himself. The Cooper Gang helped Tennessee get his cane back and soon found out that Carmelita was captured by Toothpick, though how she got there was unknown. Tennessee rescued Carmelita and as the rest of the gang arrived at the scene in the van, they were put under arrest by Toothpick. Tennessee and Carmelita broke Sly, Bentley and Murray out, but were unable to free the van, which left them stranded in that time period until they could get it back.
Bentley learned that Toothpick planned on moving his stolen gold from the mines onto his special train, which was being supercharged by the Cooper Van. To retrieve both the gold and the van, the gang would need to catch the train while it was in motion. By diverting the train's path, Sly and Tennessee were able to raid the train, where Murray got his van back and Toothpick managed to steal Tennessee's cane. Sly confronted Toothpick and defeated him, but again the cane was taken away. Sly was forced to make his escape off the train as it was headed for a ravine. Unfortunately, the van's breaks were out and they soon plummeted off the cliff. As they did, Bentley grabbed Murray's Australian fossil necklace and inserted it into the time machine.
The Cooper Gang and Carmelita landed in an unknown location in an unknown time period that was, by the looks of it, prehistoric. The crash landing had damaged the time machine, with the core components scattered throughout the area. After pinpointing the location of the parts, Sly encountered an out-of-place grizzly bear painting a picture. Sly sneaked into his lair and to his surprise, came across his prehistoric ancestor: a caveman Cooper who Sly dubbed as "Bob".
Sly, Carmelita, Murray, and Galleth were forced to come up with a plan of attack as Bentley was in no condition to plan anything at the moment. After breaking into the castle, Galleth rushed forth to fight the Black Knight, only to get tossed aside and his cane taken away. Penelope separated Sly from the rest of the Gang, as she transformed into her giant Black Knight mech. Sly managed to disarm the mech using his bow and arrows, but then got trapped under the wreckage. Before Penelope was able to finish him off, he was saved by Bentley. After Bentley defeated Penelope in his own mech-suit, they traveled to Ancient Arabia using an ancient coin Carmelita had taken from the museum. While on the trip, Sly contemplated that Bentley had finally matured into his own self. He thought about Clockwerk and his crippled legs, and about Penelope and his broken heart, but each and every time he came out on top. His trust and pride in Bentley reached an all-time high at this point.
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