Clan of the Cave Raccoon is the third episode in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. It takes place in Gungathal Valley in the year 10,000 BC and features Bob Cooper as Sly's ancestor. The villain for the episode is a black bear named Grizz.
Plot[]
Clan of the Cave Raccoon (The Setup)[]
Things are not going so well for the Cooper Gang. The crash has damaged the van and the time machine is not working properly. What's worse is that they can't connect with Dimitri. A really scary thought is that they have no idea how Le Paradox manages to develop his own time machine. Still infuriated at Sly's deception in France, Carmelita storms off in a fit of rage. They need to figure out a way to solve these issues, or they will have to get used to permanently living in a cave.
After freeing a cave raccoon, Sly brings him back to the safe house, where he takes an immediate liking to Bentley's gadgets. He then explains how Grizz stole all of his eggs. Bob eventually became depressed and fell into a slump. He also got out of shape, allowing Grizz to capture him and also steal his cane. The gang needs to figure out what type of operation Grizz was running for Le Paradox and why does it involve stealing all of the eggs?
Stone Age Reconnaissance[]
In this mission, Sly must take some recon photos for Bentley, who has no clue where, or when, they are. He must take pictures of the missing time machine parts that broke off in the crash landing and snatched by the local animals.
Sly views Grizz as he paints
After that, Bentley has Sly head over to a "building that resembles an arena" and photograph a conveyor belt. After that, he stumbles upon the boss of the operation, someone calling himself "The Grizz". Sly must snap a picture of him and bring it back to Bentley so he can identify him in Interpol's criminal database.
Unexpected Ties[]
Sly ventures into the Grizz's lair to find that his men are holding a pre-historic raccoon in a net, which could be the first Cooper. Bentley opts to help out the raccoon, and he tasks Sly with getting a sabre-tooth tiger skin from the Grizz's bedroom. Sly must steal the key to the room while the Grizz is checking out the raccoon and painting it on a large canvas.
After entering the room and grabbing the skin, Sly learns a new move called the Cyclone Pounce, which allows him to jump vast distances and across long gaps by targeting either dummies or guards on the opposite side. Sly must then go to the area where they are holding the raccoon hostage and take out the sabre-tooth tiger guards while avoiding fire bubbles on the way across each pedestal. If those guards are taken out, that cave raccoon should be free. But Sly has to be careful not to be caught or he'll never free the raccoon. After eliminating the tigers, the raccoon breaks free and takes out all the guards. Sly jumps down to meet him. He asks the raccoon what his name is. While Sly seems to understand, it is only gibberish. Taking this into consideration, Sly decides to call him Bob.
Bob insists they leave before more guards show up, to which Bentley agrees with. Sly takes Bob to the hideout, but Bob shows another way Sly way out by pick him up and then pick his shirt on his mouth, so they escape together
Large and in Charge[]
Sly brings Bob back to the hideout where everyone takes an immediate liking, despite his antics. While Bob is playing with the equipment, Bentley provides the background on his former captor. The guy's name is Grizz, and he has made his fame in the art world. Once a common street thug, he'd been thrust into the limelight when a prominent pop artist plucked him from the gutter and made him famous. Grizz's primitive artwork was hailed as a brilliant new style titled "paleo-graffiti", and he enjoyed the celebrity status for a while. But unfortunately, his fame was short-lived because people realized he just had bad art. He resentfully returned to his criminal roots by quickly becoming the top art thief on INTERPOL's Most Wanted list. It is now clear how Grizz manages to evade Carmelita's capture for so long since he's her main target. While Bob plays with the equipment, the Gang finds out more about him, and his situation: The Grizz took his prehistoric cane, making him unable to snatch any petrodactyl eggs. Depressed, he got out of shape, which enabled the Grizz to capture him. Some parts for the time machine are up high, which requires climbing, and Bob is the only one to do it, but he first needs to get into shape. Bob just wolfed down a pie much to Murray's chagrin, and then belches loudly.
Getting Stronger[]
In this mission, the gang must get their new friend Bob back into climbing shape by having Murray put him through some "basic training exercises" that are Murray "approved". These workouts including balancing an egg on a log while penguins jump on opposite sides of a piece of ice, shooting penguins out of a makeshift slingshot into targets being held by moving pterodactyls, hitting penguins with the bone he carries in place of his stolen cane, whack-a-chump (whack-a-mole with penguins), sumo wrestling and dodging flying penguins. When you complete these at different times, you will be entered in the final challenge which tests you to do all of these in one long training workout, and when completed, Murray gives you the thumbs up and the mission is completed.
Going Up[]
In this job, Murray is enlisted to get a piece of the time machine back from a pterodactyl nest on top of a cliff. He must take out a couple of local guards to be able to climb the wall without interference. However, he struggles to make it up the ice wall and due to lack of time, Bentley calls in Bob to climb the wall instead, which disappoints Murray. Bentley tries to cheer him up by reminding him he's the one who trained him. Bentley tells him to return to the safe house and have a snack.
After making his way up the ice wall while avoiding falling eggs and frost beetles, Bob makes it to the nest where the piece is. However, as soon as Bob collects the piece, a mother pterodactyl swoops in and swipes the time machine piece, causing Bob to fall to a different part of the mountain. He now climbs some more walls while avoiding waking the baby pterodactyls, for fear of waking the mother pterodactyl. He makes his way to the massive nest and gets the time machine piece again, completing the job.
Starving Starving Hippo[]
Murray, who is still down about being benched by Bob Cooper due to his inability to climb the ice wall earlier, reluctantly takes on a job from Bentley. He must collect five pieces of a part from the time machine called the "gravity encabulator". The problem is they have all been eaten by five penguins indigenous to the area.
Murray chases the penguins down, catching and squeezing all five of them until all of the parts are in his possession. Bentley tries to cheer up the sad Murray by calling him the "best penguin barfer ever". Murray takes the compliment, then returns to the hideout.
Ice Ice Bentley[]
Bentley must enter local caverns belonging to Grizz and tag him with homing darts so the gang can get the code to his base.
At first, Bentley must use thermovision to track Grizz through the caves and comes to a large painting with Grizz viewing it. Instead of tagging him and leaving, Bentley decides to view the painting as well, and Grizz continues further into the cavern. Bentley realizes that certain spots on the painting are buttons which open the door Grizz closed behind him. Bentley shoots three buttons in the correct order to unlock the door.
After making his way through a few caverns and caves, he finds Grizz again and realizes he is running a pre-historic art scam where he paints paintings in the Gungathal Valley, and then digs them up in the present to sell them for a fortune. Realizing there is no time to waste, Bentley tags Grizz and leaves. With the bear tagged with the darts, the gang can attempt to steal the plans and get the code of his mountain base.
Duty Calls[]
In this mission, Sly follows the Grizz around the valley in order to obtain the codes to his mountain base. In the meantime, Grizz talks to Le Paradox on a high-tech phone, attempting to get more supplies for him so he can keep producing paintings for his pre-historic art con. After Sly tracks Grizz to his base and Bentley fails to get the code, Grizz goes into the base. The gang then thinks the mission is a failure until Carmelita shows up and tells Sly she has the security codes and full schematics for Grizz's mountain base. Sly thanks her and the two go back to the safe house to formulate a plan of attack for the Grizz.
You Choppy[]
Back at the hideout, Carmelita gives Bentley the security codes and full schematics for Grizz's mountain base just as she told Sly a minute ago. She still scowls at Sly when he comes around with some hot cocoa causing him to droop his ears. Half of her still wants to hit him for all that he has done, but another part of her wants to talk. Working solo for a few days has given her time to think of some things, Sly lied to her the whole time in Paris, but now she realizes she lied to herself as well, although she didn't want to admit it. For a while she thought Sly had changed, something she did, but realizes that Sly is who he is, and can't be something he isn't. The whole time travel scenario also made her think of some things, in the past she always arrived at every scene after the fact, but now that she's working with the Cooper Gang rather than against them, she now realizes a newfound respect for Sly and his gang, they both fight for justice, just on opposite sides of the law. While she still ponders if she can ever live with it, she now realizes that the she and the Cooper Gang now have a common enemy in Le Paradox, and with renewed spirits is determined to bring that skunk down.
Operation: Jurassic Thievery[]
Sly makes his way to Grizz's mountain base and opens up the entrance. Carmelita, Bob, and the Cooper Gang stow away in giant lifts to get inside. Once inside, Bentley has to make his way through the factory and disable the egg vats using his explosive darts, allowing the gang to stop production of the paint. Next, Bob has to climb the main generator tower and pry its pressure valves open; this will disrupt the factory's power. Murray, Bentley, and Carmelita came in their egg lift to pick Bob up from the side of the tower after the last valve pierced up. Bob has to jump in order to reach the lift, but fails the jump. Just as Bob is about to fall, Murray saves Bob by pulling him into the lift, but ends up falling into a separate lift. This forces Sly to cover Murray's role of getting to the master control panel and making sure none of Grizz's guards reset the system. If it is to reset, the mission will be a failure and the gang will be sitting ducks. Sly manages to reach the control panel and takes out a mammoth guard before he can reset the system. While still on the cart, Murray then spots Grizz in his personal hideout and jumps down to confront him.
The rest of the gang shows up behind a glass wall and sees Murray with the Grizz. Carmelita and Bob are concerned, but Bentley and Sly have complete confidence that Murray can handle him. Murray engages in an ice-skating battle with the Grizz inside a large ice rink, with the rest of the gang standing behind a glass wall watching the action and cheering him on. The Grizz may have been a pro at ice skating, but this did not stop "The Murray" from giving the bear an old fashioned beat down. Using his almighty strength, he grabs Grizz, twirls him around and tosses him into the glass wall the other members were standing behind, and receives compliments from his teammates for his outstanding performance. With that done, Murray regains his confidence and is once again his usual self.
New Found Respect (The Getaway)[]
After cooling down a bit, Carmelita returns to the hideout, but she hasn't fully forgiven Sly... yet. The last thing she wanted to do is join up with a bunch of thieves, which stands against everything she stands for. Coming in, she sees Sly preparing some hot cocoa with cream for Bob, which he cheerfully accepts, wolfing it down and then belching as usual. Taking a moment to contemplate the situation, she walks in, rolling her eyes in acceptance, a tough decision to make since it's her only shot at busting Le Paradox. She grasps the closest cup of hot cocoa begrudgingly and scowls at Sly, who smiles in return as she drinks her cup. Bentley is finally able to get Dimitri back online, who, in return, comments that the gang are "warping their faces off", which neither Murray nor Bentley understands. Dimitri points out the Cooper Gang's next location: Medieval England, and the perfect object to get there is Grizz's crown. The Cooper Gang, plus a reluctant Carmelita, leave in a confident mood, ready to tackle whatever fate has in store for them.
Clues[]
After collecting all 30 Clue bottles throughout the valley, crack the hidden safe, and you will receive Clockwerk's Eye.
Trivia[]
- The title of this episode is a play on the title of the first book, The Clan of the Cave Bear, from Jean M. Auel's historical fiction series, Earth's Children.
- This episode takes place farther back than any other episode in Thieves in Time, and is also the earliest known date for anything relating to Sly Cooper or his lineage.
- Despite being named "Clan of the Cave Raccoon," Bob's clan does not make an appearance in the episode. The only reference to them is a brief mention by Sly after rescuing Bob in "Unexpected Ties".