//------------------------------//
// Band: Lumberjack Games 
// Story: Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Since they had some time before the start of the Lumberjack Games, as they weren't supposed to start for an hour or two, Bentley insisted on making sure that Sly's ascension skills were ready to go, that Murray was ready to split a log like his life defended on it, and that Diz was ready to tackle the log rolling challenge. The reasoning behind that decision was that Jean Bison would likely get annoyed with someone entering the competition with wings, something that Diz could easily hide with his magic, since he had faked it many times before he joined them, though while Gilda and Derpy were experienced without using their wings, on Sly's insistence, if they opened them their opponent was likely to get mad. Bentley was sure that he could have done the third challenge himself, and would have done it as well, but something told him that he might be needed for when they walked with Jean Bison, so he refrained from entering the competition and decided to stay on the sidelines with Derpy, Gilda, and Carmelita. None of them were exactly pleased with that suggestion, but when Carmelita asked Bentley why they didn't sign up two teams, to keep someone by Jean Bison when he wasn't taking his turn at each of the challenges, Bentley stared at her for a moment and brought his palm to his face.

It appeared that the thought had never crossed his mind to do something like that, where he ensured that Gilda took up the axe swinging challenge, made sure Derpy was ready for the ascension challenge, and he was taking the log rolling challenge... leaving Carmelita as the odd one out, which slightly annoyed her, but in the end she guessed that, since it was her idea to talk things over with Jean Bison, that she'd be the one to stand on the sidelines.

As everyone got ready for the Lumberjack Games, however, Carmelita remained sitting at the table in the safe house for some time, though while she did that she pulled her pack over and sighed as she reached up and removed her collar, where she kept her Inspector badge, before putting both it and her pistol inside the pack. For the most part Jean Bison wouldn't be able to recognize her, not when he had barely given her a passing glance at Rajan's party and neither of them had spoken to each other during that same party, but at the same time she didn't want him to see that she was a cop, even one that was on the run. It would ruin the whole operation and destroy their chances of getting the Talons from the man, so she decided to go without them and hoped that the others could stall Jean Bison long enough for her to talk some sense into him, as well as those who weren't taking their turns on the challenge that they had been signed up for. The only other thing she did was check her own email, as Bentley's computer was designed to make sure no one could track any activity on it and he even assured her that she could do this without someone, like Neyla for instance, finding out where they were hiding... only when she opened her email she noticed that many of her recent incoming messages were from Barkley, who was just telling her that he would eventually find her and the gang she was running with.

It hurt to see that the Inspector that she had worked under, who had trained her to eventually be the one to take over for him when he decided to retire, was now so firmly against her and the people she was running with, especially since his choice of words were rather hurtful as well... and yet, at the same time, she logged out of her email and prepared herself for what she and the others were about to do, especially since Jean Bison was hoping for people to come and participate in the Lumberjack Games.

When the gang was ready to leave, as the games would be starting soon, they walked outside the safe house and headed down the walkway that was nearby, which gave them a good view of the area that Jean Bison had prepared for the Lumberjack Games. There was a judges table, where three duck guards were sitting and shuffling their score cards around, apparently discussing something that had to deal with the games, as well as a number of decent sized wooden logs that would be split apart in the first challenge, a large wall that had to be reserved for the second challenge, and three equal sized logs that were the final challenge. It was clear that Jean Bison was ready for the games to begin, though when the group looked around the area they knew that they were the only ones to show up, as it appeared that, since Jean Bison was competing once again, the other lumberjacks happened to have enough of him and weren't showing up, meaning that they would have considered coming if he was a judge or just a spectator. Fortunately that meant it was them against Jean Bison, but at the same time fewer competitors meant that they wouldn't have a lot of time to convince the man that his real enemy was Arpeggio... which told Carmelita that she was going to have to work her magic to see if she could get some results before the games were over and a winner was decided.

Eventually Bentley approached Jean Bison and told him that his group and a second group where there to enter his games, where the man told them to pay the entry fee so they could get started, as it appeared that no one else was going to bother to show up today... and yet, while all that was happening, Jean Bison walked over to where Carmelita was standing, as she had a front row seat to the Lumberjack Games.

"Miss Fox," Jean Bison said, immediately raising alarms in Carmelita's head, as this wasn't supposed to happen and she had removed the only identifiable items on her, ones that a man like Jean Bison would recognize, "I'm surprised to find someone like you all the way out here. Are you participating, or just watching?"

"I'm just here to watch," Carmelita replied, hoping that the man didn't put it together that the group she arrived with was the Cooper Gang, otherwise the operation was blown before they could even start, "I figured that, since I was already in the area, I might as well swing by and see what was so special about the Lumberjack Games."

"You should have signed up then!" Jean Bison stated, as if the idea of an additional opponent was something he would have humored, since he was literally taking whatever he could get since no one else showed up, "Or did you come running cause I posted the Clockwerk Talons as the prize?"

"The Talons were a good reason for me to come here as well," Carmelita said, not believing that she was having a small conversation with the man that had helped the Klaww Gang steal all the Clockwerk parts, though at the same time he seemed to be glancing at the games every now and then, observing the others as they tackled the challenges that Bentley had signed them up for, "though Interpol would lock me up the moment they laid eyes on me, so it wouldn't have done me any good to try and take them from you. Besides, you said they were the prize, and I doubt that you would go back on your word..."

"I would rather have my father beat some sense into me than to go back on my word," Jean Bison said, to which he nodded his head, as Murray had stepped up to the platform and had delivered some powerful attacks that split the wood in half, telling Carmelita that he was a tab bit excited about what was going on.

"And I also came because I was worried about the Northern Lights," Carmeltia started to say, though at the same time she found that Jean Bison had launched himself into a story about his past, when he did something wrong when he was a little kid and his father 'punished' him, which sounded like a more severe version of parents spanking their children, before he realized that it was his turn.

As such Jean Bison stepped up to the platform and attacked the log as well, though his attacks were so precise that he was able to split the log without damaging it at all, shocking everyone that was watching him and earning him the same perfect score as everyone else... before he returned to where Carmelita was standing, who was beginning to see how difficult this operation was going to be if the man was as skilled as he was.

"Now then, you said something about being worried about the Northern Lights?" Jean Bison asked, to which Carmelita nodded her head, knowing that it was better if the man continued to talk on his own and spilled the beans, as he seemed to be in a good mood at the moment, even though there was a frown on his face when he looked at the sky, "Yeah, right now they're flickering and fading, not like the usual show that they put on, though that's mostly because of my Northern Light Collector. I know you might not care, Miss Fox, but I've always loved the Northern Lights and the shows they put on, so when I found a way to combine my knowledge of Injun magic, my old settlers know-how, and some of the fancy machines you have, creating a way to safely harness their power. If I were to use the lowest draw setting the Lights would only dim and continue to put on their show, but when Arpeggio asked for that extra battery the only way to get it ready in time was the full draw, which results in what we're seeing at the moment."

"Wait, so your technique doesn't actually damage the Northern Lights?" Carmelita asked, as that was one of the reasons they had come here, despite the fact that getting the Talons and finding a way aboard Arpeggio's blimp were the real reason the gang had come all the way here.

"Nope." Jean Bison said, to which he raised a hand to his chin for a moment, as if he was trying to figure something out, before he noticed that he was being waved over for his turn at the wall, and noticed that he had missed the others in their attempts, to which he pulled a set of papers out and handed them to Carmelita, "I can't remember what I was going to say, but that explains it... and now it's my turn to climb the wall."

Carmelita stood there for a moment as Jean Bison walked away once more, as she was still surprised that he was so different when someone talked about something that he was passionate about, before she beckoned Bentley over and showed him what she had been given. Bentley, seeing the various math equations on the piece of paper, pulled out a calculator that he kept on hand and started to do the math, though at the same time Carmelita noticed that his eyebrows raised a bit while he was working, meaning that this meant something to him. In the end, as Jean Bison scored a perfect score in the second challenge, Bentley was able to figure out that the power of the Norther Lights, collected by the Collector that Jean Bison had set up, could easily power an entire continent if he was inclined to do so. Carmelita was surprised by what Bentley was able to figure out, though when Jean Bison came back he was surprised to see Bentley standing there, since he was supposed to be getting ready for the third challenge, but, at the same time, there was something that Bentley needed to ask before they went any further with this operation.

"Jean Bison, are these numbers correct?" Bentley asked, showing him the notes that he had handed Carmelita, though that only caused the man to raise an eyebrow at them while he stood there and looked at the page that was in front of him, while the others prepared themselves.

"Those are the numbers that Arpeggio came up with," Jean Bison replied, to which he shrugged his shoulders for a moment, once more showing that he had next to no information on the technology that was in this time period and the terms that people used, "He assured me that they were correct... not that I understand what they mean."

"You have a renewable source of energy, something that the world has been trying to find for some time now," Bentley stated, taking a look at the notes once more, finding that his math was definitely correct and that he would be correct in what he was going to say next, "Billions of dollars are being used to try and find renewable sources like this, and failing I might add, so if you made your Northern Light Collector public, and patented it, you'd be able to make more money than you could possibly dream of."

"I don't care about money," Jean Bison stated in return, though at the same time he was interested in what Bentley was saying, despite the fact that the judges were getting eager for them to step up and perform the final challenge of the Lumberjack Games, "all I care about is running my Iron Horses, which had their Clockwerk parts stolen recently."

"Well, if you switch the trains to electricity, you should be able to run them off the Northern Light energy." Bentley said, to which he caught Jean Bison's attention, because now that they knew what button to press he could see what he could do to persuade the man to turn against Arpeggio, "You know, if you showed Arpeggio some of these notes, I can see why he wasn't willing to help you achieve your dreams, because it would let you break away from him and stop doing his shipments for him."

Suffice to say that Jean Bison took a few moments to think about what was going on before his fury ignited, showing that he wasn't happy that Arpeggio had lied to him, tricked him into doing all his shipments for free, which confirmed what Bentley had been thinking, and immediately began thinking about ways to have his revenge on the little bird that had done all this to him since they first encountered each other. The moment that happened he called a close to the Lumberjack Games and huffed over to the judges, as he wanted to have a word with them, though at the same time Sly approached him and told him that, if he wanted to get back at Arpeggio for tricking him, he might as well help them out by handing over the Talons. That was further backed when Bentley said that, given some time, he could figure out a base form of what Jean Bison wanted to use the Northern Light Collector for, which seemed to be in their best interest, since a few moments later he set a bag down on the judges stand and let the Cooper Gang take the Talons... knowing that, by giving them to the gang, they would damage Arpeggio's plans further.

When Sly moved to collect the bag, however, it disappeared as Neyla, using a jetpack to fly through the air, snatched it and appeared in the air in front of them, though at the same time she stared down at them with a look of anger on her face, to which the entire Cooper Gang prepared themselves as they focused on her.

"It's like I said earlier, you Coopers can't stay away from these Clockwerk parts." Neyla said, though she smiled as she stashed the bag containing the Talons in the bag she was carrying, before she focused on the people below her, "Thanks for doing all the legwork for me, because these are the last pieces of the puzzle."

"You've failed Neyla," Carmelita declared, as she knew that it was impossible for the corrupt cop to have the other parts of Clockwerk that they had painstakingly collected, not when Secretary Sen had them safe and sound in a new hiding place that she won't be able to find, "Stand down and let us capture you... the worst that can happen is that you'll spend the rest of your life behind bars for disobeying Secretary Sen."

"It seems that you don't understand the situation that you're in." Neyla said, though the look on her face revealed that she knew something that the gang didn't, while at the same time she paid Jean Bison no attention at all, "I was hoping you would leave the Clockwerk parts with Secretary Sen, at a safe house some distance away from where the Contessa's castle was located, and when you left them there I waited for the transport to arrive. It was rather easy to knock out the officers that were sent to collect the parts you stole, allowing me and my companions to make off with all the parts that were inside the safe house... and now that I have the Lungs, Stomach, and the Talons, thanks to your efforts, Arpeggio has everything he needs for the final stage of his plan."

Derpy, Gilda, and Diz, hearing Neyla's words, opened their wings and flew over to where the van was located, though when they arrived they found that it had been ransacked while everyone was distracted by the Lumberjack Games, which pissed all three of them at the same time. While that happened Neyla smiled and took off, carrying the parts that they had taken from jean Bison, though she was out of range before any of the magical family members could have struck her down where she was floating, to which Sly and the others started talking things over with Jean Bison, as in what they needed to do to get his revenge on Arpeggio and what he could do to assist them. As it turned out their former target had an idea for them, they could drain the Northern Light Battery of all it's energy and transfer it into another silo that was nearby, so it wasn't wasted, and then use the empty shell to get aboard the blimp that was coming to collect the battery that Arpeggio was coming for.

During all that preparation, however, Bentley found an email from Secretary Sen, one that detailed that the security team he had chosen to transport the Clockwerk parts they had left at the safe house had been attacked and the parts had been stolen, verifying Neyla's claims. With that information confirmed Bentley told their ally what Neyla had done, that Jean Bison was actually the only innocent member of the Klaww Gang, and that they were going to try and stop the very real resurrection of Clockwerk, which had been one of the reasons they had sought the parts in the first place. Thankfully it didn't take Jean Bison long to transfer the energy to the spare silo, though Murray insisted that someone needed to take care of his van before they came back for it, though before any promises could be made one of the guards made the announcement that all of them were waiting for... Arpeggio's blimp was vastly approaching the lumber camp, meaning that they were coming for the battery that Jean Bison had prepared for the person that had played him.

The gang quickly climbed into the now void silo and let Jean Bison seal them in, though they patiently waited for the battery to move and made no noises as they were hauled into the air, heading towards the base of operations for the man responsible for everything the Klaww Gang had done... and who, as an unexpected side effect to their heists, was in possession of all the Clockwerk parts. They needed to stop him and fast, otherwise the monster that had hunted Sly's family was going to be reborn and complete whatever plan Arpeggio had in mind.