//------------------------------//
// Time: Going West 
// Story: Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Thanks to the time machine it wasn't long before the gang arrived in the Old West, where they immediately started their search for Tennessee Kid Cooper, a legendary outlaw whose bank robberies were some of the most daring and well recorded entries in the Thievius Raccoonus. Fortunately for them Bentley was able to determine that one of the buildings, a clock tower as it turned out, was the ideal spot for them to hide out in while they conducted their search, so they hid the van where no one would find it and started looking around town for anything that might point them to where the Cooper Ancestor was located. It didn't take them long to find out what happened to Tennessee, as each of them found that all of his wanted posters had either been ripped down and discarded or covered up by another poster, ones that bared the likeness of a new sheriff that had celebrated the capture of Tennessee by putting his picture up around town, informing them that history had been altered since Tennessee had never been captured. Since the local sheriff had such an ego, one that none of the gang liked, they knew that the first order of business was to figure out how they were going to break Tennessee out of prison, figure out who the sheriff was and if he was from the future, and where Tennessee's cane was located, since that might be the reason behind his history being altered.

"So, what's the plan Bentley?" Sly asked, because from what he and the others had seen, in the short amount of time that they had been in the town, he knew that things weren't looking good for his ancestor, and by 'weren't looking good' he meant that they were planning on executing him soon enough.

"Since they're already rigging a noose for Tennessee, we don't have time for a complicated plan." Bentley told them, which just confirmed what all of them had found out as they searched the town for signs of the ancestor, before he revealed to them what he was thinking about, "All my data points to one thing... the quickest route inside that prison is to get one of you arrested!"

"Are you sure about this?" Carmelita inquired, as she knew from her own training that Coopers hated being caught by the law, unless the law enforcement agent in question was someone that they were eying for a long time, sort of like how Sly had been so focused on her while she tailed him and his gang, "Isn't there anything else we can do?"

"Sorry, but it's the only way that we'll be able to reach Tennessee in time." Bentley replied, knowing that he was asking a lot of one of his friends, as all of them were seasoned thieves and not one of them liked the idea of being thrown behind bars, not even Carmelita, who had been a cop before joining the gang, "There's just one problem: They're holding him in the Maximum security wing. To get yourself thrown in there, one of you are going to have to gain 'Outlaw' status, which means that you'll need to make sure you build a rep before they catch you! Otherwise, they'll throw you in with the common criminals."

"I'll do it." Diz said, causing the gang to turn towards him for a moment, where he pulled out a silver ring and slipped it onto his left pointer finger, to which his appearance was covered for a few seconds before they were allowed to see him once more, only this time he looked like a raccoon that was native to this part of the world while also making sure that he didn't steal any of Tennessee's looks, even though he was now a she, "I'm the only thief here that even has some experience in being captured by the law, since Secretary Sen was the one that caught me all those years ago, and I've been wanting to try and bust someone out of prison... besides, with my chaotic powers it should be easy to get Tennessee out of there. So, what do I need to do first to get noticed around here?"

"Well, since you're so eager, I'd start with defacing Sheriff Toothpick's posters." Bentley stated, though at the same time he opened his computer and started making a list of what objects he knew that would bother the sheriff, thus giving Diz the status he, or rather she, needed once the entire list had been crossed off, "Once that's done I'll have another target for you to hit."

Diz nodded and headed outside, feeling a little odd about her new form since it didn't have any wings, but managed to walk and run like Sly and Carmelita did, where she jumped over the train tracks and approached the side of the building that was across from where their safe house was located. Once she was there she smiled and summoned some modern paint cans and some brushes, where she went to town on the poster and made sure that it made Toothpick look like he was a weakling and not the strong man that he was proclaiming that he was. The second poster she found showed the sheriff thinking about something, where she used her brushes and paint to make it look like an arrow was going through his head and that his eyes were messed up, as well as changing the description to match the new look. From there she made her way towards the next poster, in one of the outer parts of the town, and made sure that it looked like the sheriff was sticking his tongue out while holding a fish, where she heard some chuckles from the gang, since they could see what she saw with the binocucom, as she headed out for the next target. While she headed out for the fourth poster she spotted Clockwerk landing on one of the taller areas of the town, where no one would think to look, and knew that the owl was keeping taps on their new enemy... while anyone that was familiar with the Cooper Clan's history might assume that he was the Clockwerk from this time period, searching for Tennessee.

It wasn't long after she spotted Clockwerk that she found the next poster, where she made Toothpick seem weaker than what his poster was trying to show, the fifth one she made him seem older than what he actually was, and the sixth and final poster she changed including covering the bull the sheriff was riding and made it seem like he was in a cast and knocked out of action... though once that was done she moved behind some barrels after the owl contacted her, as he found an irritated Toothpick staring at one of the posters that two of the guards were laughing at.

"Now this really chaps my hide!" Toothpick, who was a short armadillo that was dressed up in the attire of a sheriff, stated, while at the same time held one of his guns out as he stared at the defaced poster, before growling as he turned his gaze towards his guards, "I'm gonna find this 'artiste' and bust his thumbs! And maybe his pinkie."

"You've definitely got under his skin, Diz. I don't think he realizes that you're a girl either." Bentley commented, as Toothpick was likely acting like the other people of this age, where ladies didn't seem to do much and it was generally men that were the outlaws, "You ready for phase two?"

"Absolutely!" Diz replied, as it had been some time since she had pulled off any sort of prank, because the last time she tried Secretary Sen had caught her and she didn't dare to do anything to her family after everything that they had been through, "I'm going to enjoy this more than I should."

"Apparently, the sheriff also loves lollipops," Bentley said, where at the same time Diz raised an eyebrow, as she had the feeling that she knew what he was going to suggest, because she had some ideas forming in her mind already, "but his favorite is a particular Cuban variety which has to be shipped in specially. Supposedly they taste like rice and beans."

"Really?" Diz asked, though that was because out of all the members of the Cooper Gang she and Murray were the only ones that ate the oddest combinations of food, but at the same time she couldn't recall ever having tasted something that was a combination of rice and beans, "Go on." 

"Right... I forgot who I was talking to." Bentley stated, as he was reminded of what Diz and Murray did, especially since Diz had a habit of turning her drinks into chocolate milk whenever she wanted, something that he could never figure out and pushed the thought back into it's hole, as they needed to move quickly, "Anyway, if we clean out his stash, he'll have to wait weeks for the next shipment, and that should really tick him off!"

Diz made her way through the town, carefully stealing the various items that were in the guards' pockets and storing them inside her own personal dimension, one that wasn't connected to the Cooper Vault, before even approaching the open case that Toothpick's entire lollipop stash was in, where she grabbed all of them and dropped the bag into the dimension as well, while keeping one for herself while she worked. After a few moments she felt that the flavor of the lollipop wasn't as bad as some of the gang thought it was, as she heard noises of disgust when Bentley revealed what the combination was, and she kept it in her mouth as she made her way over to a banner that had Toothpick's name on it, where she stood on some nearby rocks and stared at it as she connected back up with Bentley. To her it looked like the sheriff was going to throw himself a party of some kind, to celebrate Tennessee's capture, and here she was, ruining his mood on his big day, which brought a smile to her face as she pulled the lollipop out for a moment while she went over the next stage of their plan.

"Alright, this is going perfectly!" Bentley said, his tone indicating that Toothpick must have already checked on his stash of candy and found it emptied, meaning that she must have shot up a rank or two in the process, which was the whole reason she was doing this, "You'll be locked up in no time!"

"Normally, I'd be trying to avoid that, but for family I'll do anything." Diz replied, and she meant it, as she had done some interesting things with her powers since she joined the Cooper Gang and found her true family, before she focused on the task at hand, "So, what's next on our agenda?"

"I'm sure that you noticed it by now, but this Sheriff Toothpick is his own biggest fan!" Bentley informed her, which she had seen earlier, as the posters promoting himself were hard to miss since she was the one that defaced them, but she let him talk without interrupting him, "In fact, it looks like he's throwing himself a festival and it's in full swing! If you take that banner down, I'm sure it'll be the final straw!"

"Then I'm going to rain on this guy's parade." Diz said, though at the same time she wished that she could just manipulate some of the clouds and pour chocolate milk over the guards and Toothpick, just to really piss him off, but since that couldn't be traced to her she decided to shelve the thought for later.

Fortunately it wasn't hard for her to get over to the banner, which was hanging from some wire that was near a bridge, and it was painfully easy to whack the clothespins that were keeping it connected to the high wire, though not a few seconds later she stood on the wire and watched as the banner floated off in the breeze... and she could see Toothpick and two of his guards staring at her, with the sheriff looking really pissed off.

"Hold your fire, boys! That there's the scribblin', lolly-thievin', outlaw I been looking for!" Toothpick stated, knowing that his guards might be a little trigger happy, though at the same time Diz slipped her cane into her storage area and finished off the lollipop that she had been eating, before jumping down into the area behind the sheriff, "Ah. Well, amigo, you just booked yourself a permanent room in the stony lonesome!"

Diz purposely let the two guards fit her with her own 'jailbird' attire, which was a little loose considering that it was made for a man and not a lady and came complete with a large stone sphere that she had to lug around, but she could deal with it, especially since her thief attire was safely hidden in her storage area for later and she let herself be escorted to the prison, where she planned on getting Tennessee out of there before anything else happened... and while she was heading to the prison she noticed Gilda taking pictures of the area, no doubt to help them during the escape.





It took Toothpick and his guards, or mostly the guards since Toothpick went back to salvage his festival that Diz had partly ruined, to bring Diz to the prison that she'd be spending a few minutes in, because once she figured out where they were keeping Tennessee she was going to break him out and put a stop to Toothpick's plans. Eventually they reached the cell that she would be spending some time in, where Diz smiled as she found a brown raccoon that was dressed in the same clothing that she was currently dressed in, and he was wearing two of his signature items, the brown bowler hat on his head and the yellow bandana he wore around his neck. For a moment it appeared that Tennessee was sitting near the window and was ignoring everyone at the moment, not that she could blame him since the heist he was known for hadn't happened, but at the same time the guards let her enter the cell and closed the door behind her, where she waited for them to walk away before approaching the Cooper Ancestor.

"Howdy there." Diz said, though at the same time she walked over to part of the wall that was near Tennessee and set the ball on the ground, before leaning against the wall itself as she glanced at the ancestor that she had come to save from his unfair punishment.

"Howdy yourself, you beautiful lady." Tennessee said, to which he tipped his hat up for a moment as he looked over Diz's body, apparently surprised for a moment that someone like her had been committing crimes and had been caught, but then he remembered his own troubles as he focused on her, "Looks like you must have ticked ol' Toothpick off pretty good. I like that. You got a name?"

"Yeah, it's Diz... Diz S. Cooper." Diz replied, and she took great pride in announcing that she was a member of the Cooper Clan, even if she wasn't actually related to them by blood, but as she said that she knew what was going to happen next and prepared herself for what Tennessee was going to do.

"Just because you're beautiful doesn't mean that you can make fun of my family name." Tennessee stated, as that was one thing that he hated about people, making fun of his name, and the interesting thing was that the stranger didn't seem upset over his reaction.

"You know, if this was a completely different situation, I'd gladly claim this was a joke." Diz said, as she could have easily pulled a joke on Tennessee and ruined his day even more than it already was, but she was here for a reason and that meant making sure he trusted her, "But it isn't a joke... and, since you seem to be a raccoon of action, I'll do something that will prove I'm a Cooper: I'm going to bust us out of here. Besides, maybe this will help you realize that I'm who I say I am."

Tennessee watched as the lady, Diz, slipped a hand into her shirt sleeve and withdrew an interesting looking cane, the type that belonged to a member of the Cooper Clan, and waved it through the air for a few moments, to which his annoyance faded and a smile graced his face.

"So, it seems that I may have a relative or two that I wasn't aware of... not really a big surprise there." Tennessee said, as this was an interesting turn of events that he wasn't expecting, and it was a better turn of events than what happened when he tried to rob the back earlier, before Diz hid her cane once more, "Okay, show me what your branch of the family is capable of."

Diz smiled and motioned for Tennessee to move out of the way for a moment, where he gladly moved out of the way as she picked up the ball that she had been chained to, only for her to throw it at one of the walls and broke a hole in the tower that they were in. Any ordinary thief, even one of the Cooper Clan, would jump down and make their way through the prison, but instead of wasting time her magic flared and she switched back to her thief attire as her jailbird attire moved into her storage area, where she intended to keep it until handing it over to Sly. It was in that moment that Diz gave Tennessee a look at the true her, as her body reverted back to it's hyena form, her dragon tail returned, and both of her wings emerged from the slots in her shirt, before she looked back at Tennessee, who was surprised by what he was seeing at the moment. She chuckled for a moment before throwing herself out of the opening and took off, though she circled back as Tennessee raced to the entrance she had created and grabbed onto the surprised Cooper Ancestor, before heading off to the safe house so they could figure out what sort of plan Bentley had come up with.

When she returned to the safe house a few moments later, and Tennessee was dressed in his normal attire after discarding his jail clothing, where the Cooper Ancestor was surprised to find that there were five members of the family standing in front of him, four of them not being raccoons like him and Sly, before discovering that there were two little ones in the future, safe from harm. Once the initial shock over meeting the rest of the gang, and getting over the fact that Diz was a chimera at this point instead of a normal hyena, he took center stage and revealed what happened to him, as he had been planning his infamous bank robbery, only for him to be busted before he even reached the bank. The annoying thing, to Tennessee anyway, was that he was essentially framed for a crime that he hadn't even committed, as the gold that was in the bank was still stolen after he was imprisoned, though he was sure that Toothpick, who had arrested him, was the true culprit. Bentley's research revealed that, in addition to some of the weapons that didn't belong in this time period, Toothpick was two bit gangster from Eastern Europe, in the future, and that he had a love for gold and cowboy related things, so much so that he was behind some of the largest gold robberies in the future, and, just like El Jefe, he had mysteriously disappeared when the authorities closed in on him.

The gang looked at each other for a moment and nodded their heads, as it sounded like their mission was to find out where the gold went and restore Tennessee's reputation as the greatest outlaw in the Old West, and Tennessee was ready to recover his revolver before taking Toothpick out.