Sly Cooper awoke with a start. He was coughing violently, attempting to rid any sand from his mouth and throat. Sly felt a movement in his stomach, then was doubled over, vomiting on the hot sand. After the sudden rush was over, Sly looked beside him, and noticed his cane half buried in the sand. Reaching for it, he reminisced on what events led him to this point.

"I need to start moving." Sly thought, looking upon the ablaze blimp that surrounded him. Sly decided to try to head downward, and jumped through a large hole to the platform below him. Looking around at the chaos that had developed, he noticed that he wasn't far from where the time machine that Le Paradox had built. Sly leapt from his platform to a crate that was being pulled through the air toward the machine. The crate was gaining speed, heading directly for the time machine. Right before it would disappear into the machine, Sly pushed off the crate toward another platform that was nearly fifty feet below him. Sly reached for his paraglider, but was alarmed when his hand found nothing. Cooper let out a small sigh, then embraced himself for the impact. Sly slammed hard onto the metal, and his world began to fade. "I can't stop now, I have to get out of here." Sly shook his head side from side to side, struggling to regain his focus, and rose to one knee. Sly noticed a that his hook had something pierced upon the end of it, a ruined piece of papyrus with hieroglyphs painted delicately upon it. Ignoring the papyrus, Sly looked for another path of escape. He rose to his feet, but was quickly thrown back to the metal as the platform began to levitate, being drawn by the time machine. Moving quickly, Sly began to hop from each floating object, attempting to escape the fiery blimp. Bentley's voice filled Sly's head, exclaiming the probabilities of survival. Sly, as usual, ignored this voice and jumped high into the air, where there was no longer any objects for Sly to balance upon.

Sly was free falling, finally crashing hard upon another floating platform. Sly's body was bruised, but the raccoon knew he must push forward. Eyes forward, Sly stopped in his tracks when he realized that a gas tank was extremely close to the fire. "That tank is about to explode, I have nowhere to go." Sly began to frantically look around him, and could not find any other platform to jump toward. Something caught the raccoon's eye: the papyrus that was still lingering at the end of the Cooper Cane. "This might not work, but it certainly beats not trying." Sly grabbed the papyrus and firmly held onto it as he leapt from the platform and toward the machine. "I have to see my gang again, I have to." As his feet left the metal, the gas canister exploded, flames pushed out in all directions. Sly felt an immense heat from behind him as he entered the machine, but only one thought filled his mind:

"I must see her again."

The raccoon, remembering the explosion, reached for his tail. As he grabbed the end of it, Sly felt an immense pain. Pulling his hand away, Sly noticed that the hair at the end of his tail had been scorched, leaving a small bald spot. Looking around him, he noticed that he had indeed ended up in Egypt, particularly Giza, as the ever looming Sphinx was gazing upon the horizon. Old habits kicked in for the raccoon, and Sly began to move toward the sounds of the city.

After passing over a hill, he finally gazed upon Giza, but was slightly taken aback. The city he had visited in the past was no longer there, rather replaced by a much smaller city, with zero roads or any sort of modern technology. Sly gazed upon the people below him, noting the differences in their clothing versus his uniform. Proceeding quietly, Sly hurriedly walked to the nearest building, and decided to await an unfortunate bystander. Checking his smoke bombs, there were three remaining, Sly decided he would use one to temporarily blind his victim. Cooper got his chance when a stout gorilla walked past where Sly was hiding.

As Sly raised his arm to throw the smoke, something very peculiar caught his eye. A small jewel was slightly exposed within the gorilla's pocket. Suddenly, the jewel was miraculously raised from the pocket, then disappeared. Sly was dumbfounded, attempting to comprehend what had just taken place. The gorilla, unaware of his missing treasure, continued to walk to the corner of the building, then turned toward the main street, disappearing from sight. Sly immediately ran to where the jewel had been stolen. Sly tripped over an invisible object, and face planted into the sand.

"What the-?" Sly turned his head and noticed another raccoon, surprised by suddenly being kicked by Sly. Sly studied the raccoon, then gasped. Sly had just kicked one of his earliest ancestors, Slytunkhamen Cooper II.

Slytunkhamen was the first to rise, he grabbed his dual wielding canes and advanced upon Sly. "How did you see me, traveler?"

"Whoa! Whoa! Hey, now, just- hold on, I- I can explain things here." Sly was feeling extremely desperate. He had dealt with his ancestors before, but none of them were as hostile as Slytunkhamen.

"I do not wish to hear your excuses, I want to hear your answers. How did you see me?" Slytunkhamen looked slightly different than what Sly had grown up reading in the Thievius Raccoonus, Slytunkhamen did not have his headdress that was always shown in the pages. Sly dismissed this, and had to act quickly.

"I didn't see you! It was only by coincidence, trust me, okay? I am a distant relative of yours, I am looking for some help here, can you help me?"

Slytunkhamen looked cautiously at his Cooper counterpart, after a nod of approval, he said "My father can assist you, I will take you to him."

"Your father is here? He's still alive right now? I can't believe it, my day keeps getting better and better." Sly exclaimed. After dusting himself off, Sly began to follow Slytunkhamen, careful not to be seen by any bystanders.