When we arrived in the prehistoric era, we quickly discovered that we were in a vast, snowy landscape. T-Bone brought us in for landing as quickly as possible, since he knew from experience that icy environments did a number on the Turbokat's engines, and if he stayed in the air for too long we'd be coming in much harder and without control.
Unfortunately, the van wasn't in much better shape. The brakes failing before had caused the engine to drastically overheat, and plunging into deep cold immediately after had caused some serious damage to the metal. It would need a complete retrofit if we were to get it running again...and it had to be running to get the time machine spinning. This left us pushing van and jet through the snow while trying not to draw the attention of passing pterodactyl...and hoping nothing worse showed up.
That wasn't the worst of it, unfortunately. Passing so rapidly between 1800s, modern era, and prehistoria had overloaded the communication spell linking us to Felicia, so we couldn't even get any advice from the present. This was going to be rough...especially with Le Paradox able to move freely through time with his own time machine.
As we laid out our problems, we all got a surprise...
"Solution!" Deik-Beck suddenly piped up as Bentley and Razor laid out the problems facing the Turbokat and the van.
"Oh?" Murray asked excitedly. "You have an answer?"
"Van and jet need metal!" Deik-Beck declared. "Deik-Beck metal! Use Deik-Beck!"
"What?" Coco demanded in shock. "But...but if we did that, you'd die!"
"But you live," Deik-Beck pointed out helpfully. "Deik-Beck...grateful for everything. Ready to...sacrifice."
"No Deik-Beck," Sly stated flatly before anyone else could speak. "We aren't going to sacrifice a friend to save ourselves. That's not how we do things."
Deik-Beck stared at Sly for a time, clicking oddly. "Sly...see Deik-Beck...friend? But Deik-Beck...Clockwerk-"
"You may have been made by Clockwerk," Sly interrupted, "and your purpose may have been evil originally...but you've proven yourself a loyal friend...to Coco and all of us. And you've proven yourself good."
The tiny metal crab shook violently. "Deik-Beck...no tear ducts..."
Coco pulled her little friend into a comforting hug.
After we got our emotions under control, Dad decided to scout out the area, to try and figure out where and when we were, and what resources were available. This included tracking down a couple of pieces of the Time Drive that went flying when the overheat-supercool of the engine fed back into it. Despite Uncle T-Bone's eagerness to rumble, the goal of this part of the mission was reconnaissance only. He was just to take photos of their locations...and a structure higher up the mountain that definitely did not belong in this time period.
After getting those photos, Dad also managed to get a picture of yet another criminal from modern times, a gaudily dressed black bear artist known as The Grizz. Mom was able to give us the full low down on him from her memory of his Interpol file. An art thief who had been chewed up and spat out by the art world's fads, he was one of Mom's biggest targets...but much like the other 'generals' we'd encountered on this mission, he'd vanished mysteriously before he could be arrested.
We still didn't know what his plan was...so Deik-Beck and I slipped into his 'fortress tower' through a crack in the ice to investigate.
Coco smiled as she crawled through the narrow ice tunnels that were the start of the passage Sly had found for her to investigate from. They were the perfect size for her, as she naturally walked on all fours anyway and barely had to duck. Deik-Beck followed readily along behind her, snapping pictures of anything he was able to see through cracks in the wall and recording conversations...including one from one of the Wooly Mammoths working for The Grizz regarding one of their number being 'turned into a coat for that Le Paradox guy' for messing up. Coco did her best to push that idea from her mind, not even wanting to think about it.
Seeing several guards at the other end of the tunnel, Coco reached for her needles to knock them out, only to feel Deik-Beck's claw grip her hoof. "Older metabolism," Deik-Beck whispered. "Different glands. Need different toxins for needles."
Coco blinked in surprise. She hadn't thought about that part of time travel. "Thanks for the reminder," she whispered as she left the needles where they were. "Guess we have to go around instead of through."
Thankfully the path around was relatively easy for her to reach, as it involved a great deal of rock and ice climbing...a skill she still had mastered from the Lumberjack Games with Jean Bison. While the memories of the Games themselves were fun, those that led up to and surrounded them were far less so. She quickly pushed the recollections from her mind as she found her way to a large volcanic area, with several platforms in and over the lava...with some creature strapped down to the central platform with mammoths surrounding him.
"Who's that?" Coco asked curiously, trying to get a clearer look.
Deik-Beck zoomed in with his optics. "Large body. Dark fur. Raccoon tail. Spear with...hook blade?"
"Holy missing link, Deik-Beck!" Coco gasped out. "That sounds like a prehistoric Cooper cane...which means that's a Prehistoric Cooper! We need to rescue him!"
Deik-Beck quickly scanned their surroundings to come up with a plan. "Tiger skin!" he indicated, pointing towards a distant bedroom. "Lava! Dread Pirate Roberts!"
Coco grinned, quickly catching the idea. "Hope we don't spook the Cooper too much."
A quick race over frozen walls revealed that The Grizz had the key to the bedroom, which Coco easily filched with him none the wiser. Unfortunately, by the time they made it back to the lava pool, The Grizz had already taken the cave-raccoon's spear and left with it. "We'll just have to get it back," she murmured thoughtfully. "For now..." She tossed the tiger skin over Deik-Beck. "Get to it."
Deik-Beck extended his claws into the skin to animate the arms as he turned his legs into propellers to levitate himself into the air. As he floated over towards the central panel - his optics glowing red under the tiger skin like the eyes of a hungry ghost - Coco used her magic to make the lava rise in unnatural plumes around the central platform. The guards took one look at the 'angry spirit' and bolted as fast as they could.
Much to Coco's surprise, once the net was no longer anchored, the ancient Cooper leapt to his feet and...began to applaud? He then proceeded to grunt guturally in a rhythmic manner, definitely speaking some form of dialect.
"Uh...translation?" Coco asked Deik-Beck hopefully.
Deik-Beck beeped a few times, then spoke. "Thanks! Good Show! Nice Flare! Good Scare! Again?"
Coco chuckled ruefully. "Yeah, he's a Cooper alright..."