Author's Note: Not much to say, so let's continue on.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy.
CH45: Troubling Case.
Not even a minute or even half of one passed when the door to the kitchen opened up and the maid came rushing out, crying out in alarm, "What in heaven's name!? Oh! Oh!" before coughing out feathers that got into her mouth and cried out in dismay while collecting the floating feathers that slowly dropped down, "My good pillows!"
It didn't take her long to realise what happened and turned angrily towards Basil who was busy cleaning up and swipping off the feathers that gathered on the red armchair, swishing them to the sides, until he heard the maid exclaim in anger, "Mr. Basil!" and when he looked up, he knew he was in trouble.
"How many times have I told you not to-" The maid began as she stormed over towards him, only to be cut off by Basil.
"Yes, yes, there, there, Mrs. Judson. It's quite all right." Basil said ensuringly as he waved his arms calmly before he placed his hands onto her shoulders and then sniffed the air and caught the scent of something delicious, "Mmmmm, I believe I smell some more of those delightful cheese crumpets of yours. Why don't you fetch our guests some?"
By then he guided her back towards the kitchen and ignored her protests as he placed her inside and after a bit of struggle against her, he managed to close it shut. At that time, the worldly travellers all slowly emerged from their safe hiding spots and stared at him while looking at the mess he just made.
"Sora's right. He is weird." Ven whispered to the group.
"Not to mention terrifying." Terra nodded in agreement.
By then, Basil returned to his own mission and, possibly oblivion to what the worldly travellers were saying, crawled on all fours while looking for the bullet which would be difficult given the mess all over the place, "Now! Now I know that bullet's here somewhere."
He paused when he saw that Olivia, looking pleased with herself in finding it with Kairi and Mickey by her side, stood there holding it out with a smile on her face to Basil. He Begrudgingly took it from her, saying, "Thank you, miss-"
"Flaversham. Olivia Flaversham." Olivia replied.
"Yeah, whatever." Basil replied rudely as he stood up and approached the desk with a microscope.
Annoyed again, the worldly travellers, Olivia and Dawson approached him while Goofy tried to say to Basil, "Gawrsh, Mr. Basil. Olivia needs your help-"
"Shh!" Basil shushed as he opened a small box and pulled out another bullet, gazing at them carefully while everyone else watched on. They looked identical, but he had to make sure. So he placed both bullets under the microscope to compare them, placing their ends together, then rolled them.
Basil saw that the lines lined up perfectly twice and his excitement and grew. Unfortunately, when he turned them the third time, one of the lines did not meet together. This made him cry out in agonized dismay, "Ooooooooooh! Drat!"
Deflating in defeat, Basil gazed at the bullet that wasn't what he had hoped for and muttered disappointment, "Another dead end." before tossing it aside and slumped over to his red armchair, grunting in sheer annoyance and despair, "He was within me grasp!"
He flopped into the chair and in depression, picked up a violin that sat next to it, before he began playing a sorrow, mourning music.
"Wow...never met anyone to take disappointment that hard." Roxas muttered, blinking in confusion.
"I think now's a good time to talk to him." Isa suggested to Olivia who, seeing that he was right, and at Kairi, Mickey, Aqua, Sora, Goofy and Dawson's encouragement, nodded and she approached the still dismayed Basil.
"Now, will you please listen to me? My Daddy's gone and I'm all alone." Olivia requested. That alone made the worldly travellers's hearts ache even more, and it made Lea even more guilty for having asked about her parents when they and Dawson first met her.
'Poor kid.' The redhead thought. He knew what it was like to lose parents. Though with Olivia, being so young, it was even worse.
Basil stopped playing for a moment and looked at Olivia. "Young lady, this is a most inopportune time," he said sadly before resuming his playing. After a moment, he looked at Olivia again and said in slight annoyance, "Surely your mother knows where he is."
Olivia's shoulders sank as she sadly told him, more saddening memories entering her mind, "I...I don't have a mother."
Screech!
This made everyone flinch in shock and horror at this revelation that it made Basil screech his violin which made an awful shriek while he sat up, just as shocked as the worldly travellers. Not only Olivia's father was missing, but at some point her mother had died somewhat years before. No wonder she was by herself and that made Lea feel twice as bad now. It made Kairi think of how she hardly knew her own parents and the only blood family was her grandmother and she was gone too.
"You poor thing." Aqua muttered, her heart squeezing in sorrow.
"Well...um...well then, perhaps..." Basil began uncertainly, before quickly getting agitated by all this and told her, "Now, see here, I have no time for lost fathers!"
"Hey! You're a detective! You do have time looking for him, you big palooka!" Donald snapped at Basil.
"I didn't lose my father!" Olivia snapped as well, getting very annoyance as she placed her hands on her hips. "He was taken by a bat!"
This somehow got Basil's attention by this information, so he turned to Olivia and asked, making sure he heard right, "Did you say...bat?"
"Yes..." Olivia nodded, surprised that Basil was clearly interested. Sora and his companions all glanced at each other once more, wondering if there was a connection with all of this.
"Did he have a crippled wing?" Basil questioned.
"I don't know..." Olivia replied, uncertain, then brightened up as she remembered another piece of the detail, and said, "But he had a peg-leg!"
"Ha!" Basil cried joyfully as he leaped up and stood on his air with his arms spread.
"So, you know this guy?" Lea asked as he and everyone else gathered around Olivia while staring up at Basil.
"Know him?" Basil replied as he stood on the top of his chair, explaining, "That bat, one Fidget by name, is in the employ of the fiend who was the very target of my experiment! The horror of my every waking moment! The nefarious Professor Ratigan!"
He pointed the bow of his violin to his fireplace, where the photo of a well-dressed black coloured rat with a sinister grin on his face sat on the mantle frame. He was dressed in aristocratic clothing with a top hat, his hair seemingly groomed. Yet this Ratigan held this sinister sharp teeth in a dark smile and evil yellow eyes. At that point, the fire suddenly flared up and thunder boomed and lightning flashed brightly outside, almost as though even the world itself was terrified of this apparent new villian. As Basil had told everyone this, even they felt the chills and darkness by this Ratigan.
"Ratigan?" Dawson asked, uncertainly.
Basil nodded, leaning over the top of his chair. "He's a genius, Dawson. A genius twisted for evil...The Napoleon of Crime!" He said while moving from one location to another in the room.
"Gosh. He is really that bad?" Mickey asked, only for him and everyone else to jump when Basil suddenly appeared behind them as soon as the king asked this and they turned to face him.
"Worse! For years, I've tried to capture him and I've come close... so very close. But each time, he's narrowly evaded my grasp." Basil explained, before he glared up at Ratigan's picture again, continuing, "Not a corner of London is safe while Ratigan is at large. There's no evil scheme he wouldn't concoct, no depravity he wouldn't commit! Who knows what dastardly scheme that villain may be plotting even as we speak..."
'That explains the Heartless. No wonder things are dark and gloomy here. Ratigan sounds very dangerous.' Sora thought to himself as he folded his arms in thought with a deep frown.
Deep within the sewers of London sat a large barrel on its side, an iron barred door sitting on its side. Within the barrel was a tall brown mouse with a darker brown mustache, controlling a robot at a podium as the robot poured tea into a cup. He wore glasses, a green apron, white shirt, brown trousers and shoes. He seemed to be an inventor and he held a worried expression, controlling the robot he created.
His troubled thoughts were interrupted when an evil chuckle was heard next to him, and there stood, Ratigan himself, monitoring his every movement.
"Quite an ingenious scheme, eh, Flaversham? And aren't you proud to be a part of it?" Ratigan chuckled, in a gentlemen like voice.
Hiram Flaversham, Olivia's father, gulped nervously as he refocused on the invention he'd been forced to create given that he was a Toy Maker, "This whole thing, i-i-i-it's monstrous!"
Ratigan smiled evilly while he spoke as he watched the robot pour the tea into the tea cup, inquiring, "We will have our little device ready by tomorrow evening, won't we?" before he took out a small golden bell with a brown handle from his pockets, and gently and rang it gently, continuing, "You know what happens if you, uh... fail."
Hiram stared at his captor after hearing the horrible fate that would await him, but then he glared angrily as he boldly declared while yanking hard on the controls, "I-I-I don't care!"
The reaction of this caused the machine to go all haywire as it poured the tea from the cup onto it's head before jerking and threw the said cup onto the ground and then grabbed the teapot and dumped its contents on itself before throwing it at Ratigan who ducked just in time as it shattered onto the wall behind him. The machine in the meantime bounced and stretched like crazy as though it might explode at any moment. However, after a minute, it finally stopped and simply slumped over. Though it did squirt oil from it's red robotic torso and it spluttered onto Ratigan's suit, much to his disgust.
"You can do what you want with me!" Hiram snapped defiantly at Ratigan who simply wiped the stain off with a handkerchief. "I won't be a part of this-this, this evil any longer!"
A terrifying pause, until Ratigan, hardly controlling his anger, gave Hiram a fake smile as he had another way of making the Toy Maker stay part of this scheme in case threatening the inventor's life wasn't enough.
"Oh, very well. If that is your decision. Oh, by the way, I'm taking the liberty of having your daughter brought here." Ratigan told him as he took hold of a toy rose that sat nearby and started winding the key on it.
Hiram's eyes widened as he gazed at the toy, the birthday present he made for his daughter. "O-Olivia?"
"Yes." Ratigan chuckled, he finished winding the toy and set it on the counter, the bud opening up to reveal a mouse ballerina that started to dance, playing a small tune. He then added in fake sympathy, "I would spend many a sleepless night if anything unfortunate were to befall her."
"Y-you wouldn't!" Hiram gasped, horrified as he understood what Ratigan meant.
Ratigan didn't reply as he grabbed the dancing doll, and with a maniacal expression, he squeezed the doll in his grasp until its head popped off with a loud boing.
Another tensed pause.
"FINISH IT, FLAVERSHAM!" Ratigan screamed angrily.
Realising he had no other choice as his daughter was much, much more important to him than his own life, Hiram, with guilt hanging heavily in his heart, went back to work on the robot as Ratigan exited the cell, closing and locking it behind him, humming to himself as he held a list in his hands.
"Oh, I love it when I'm nasty." He said to himself gleefully.
"I like your style." Another voice spoke next to him, and Ratigan smirked when he turned and saw Pete approach him, as the villian continued with an evil grin, "How you'd threaten that guy is the mother of all baddies!"
Ratigan smirked, "I'll take that as a compliment, Pete. Now, you said something about asking me about this...Book of Prophecies and this Black Box, under this Maleficent?"
"And seeking your aid to conjor all the worlds. That's why the Heartless will help ya takin' over d'is one!" Pete added.
"Well, I've never heard of this Book of Prophecies or the Black Box, unless you want to count a shoebox. But I am curious about the book itself; does it predict the future?" The evil Rat replied.
"Well, it ain't called that for nothin'." Pete shrugged. He then grumbled and added, "The main problem is them brats with the Keyblade keep gettin' in the way, and thanks to them, the last bad guys who were so close in gettin' rid of them are now gone and one of 'em was immortal!" while refering to how both Davy Jones and Beckett died.
Ratigan rolled his eyes, "Now, how could ordinary children kill someone who can 'live forever'? If a detective couldn't defeat me, the world's greatest mastermind, how can they do so?"
"Well, um, guess they're just good at it. I mean, I know a little pipsqueak who's my worst arch enemy who made friends with a giant and beated a witch even before he learned how to use magic and got 'imself a Keyblade." Pete admitted, sheepishly. "So you'd better watch out."
While he still didn't believe the nonsense of a group of children beating many villians, Ratigan just simply shrugged, "Very well. In the meantime, we have other matters to attention to."
He turned his attention to a lone grey bat who was hanging upside down with only one leg as he had a peg-leg. He wore a black cap, a blue scarf, and his arms were folded around him as he slept, giggling in his sleep. Ratigan called out to him, "Fidget?" but got no response.
"FIDGET!" Ratigan yelled louder, and that startled the bat, named Fidget, awake as he clumsily fell from his post and landed on the ground near Ratigan, feeling disorientated.
"Bright and alert as always," Ratigan said sarcastically, handing him the list. "Here's the list. You know what to do, and no mistakes!" He then turned and headed into another doorway with Pete quickly following behind.
Fidget, quickly awake, read through the list that was part of his next job, "No, no. No mistakes! Tools, gear, girl, uniforms-"
"NOW, FIDGET!" Ratigan yelled impatiently, which startled Pete who flinched at the tone of the rat's voice.
Flinching in fright and not wanting to anger his boss or else he'd suffer the punishment, Fidget hurriedly scampered over to the drain grate as he cried out, "I'm goin'! I'm goin'! I'm goin'!" and vanished into the tunnel while closing the lid as he went.
Pete blinked as he watched Fidget leave, before slowly gazing back at Ratigan who by now went to his makeshift throne where the rest of the villian's minions who were thugs appluded to him. "I'm not so sure if he's scarier than Davy Jones or not." The fat villian whispered to himself, nervously.
He then quickly zoomed over and flanked over to the side of Ratigan who began to his henchmen, "My friends, we are about to embark on the most odious, the most evil, the most diabolical scheme of my illustrious career! A crime to top all crimes! A crime that will live in infamy!"
The henchmen, except for one who was disappointed as he was out of beer from his beer-mug, all clapped and cheered once more. Pete blinked with a quirked eye-brow.
"This will be my worst crime yet," Ratigan said as he withdrew a newspaper from his pocket. The headline said, "Queen's Jubilee Tomorrow," and below that was a picture of a regal-looking female mouse with a crown. "Tomorrow evening, our beloved monarch celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, and, with the enthusiastic help of our good friend, Mr. Flaversham, it promises to be a night she will never forget!"
He then crushed and shredded the newspaper into pieces as he concluded in excitement, "Her last night, and my first, as supreme ruler of all Mousedom!" and the henchment cheered on again, louder this time.
"All hail Ratigan! The greatest criminal ever!" The henchmen cheered on, while the crime lord danced over to a nearby fountain and pulled on a rope, causing wine to pour down from a mounted wine bottle and fill the fountain. Seeing this, the drunk minion, Bartholomew, eagerly dashed over to the fountain and started greedily slurping it up from the spouts, soon losing his balance and tumbling right into the fountain.
"That's one happy costumer." Pete muttered under his breath when he saw this.
Ratigan smirked as he took a seat at the harp and began to play a small tune. "Thank you. Thank you," he said, before his voice took on a more somber tone. "But it hasn't all been champagne and caviar. I've had my share of adversity, thanks to that miserable second-rate detective, Basil of Baker Street."
As he said this, he glared at the small mouse doll dressed like a detective and had needles sticking into it, while the henchmen all said in unison with the same feeling as their boss, "Boooooo!" at the mention of Basil's name.
"For years, that insufferable pipsqueak has interfered with my plans. I haven't had a moment's peace of mind." Ratigan slumped, in dismay and apparent dispair.
"Awwwwww." The henchmen said in sympathy, while Bartholomew began to sob while he was really drunk now.
"I know d'at feelin'." Pete nodded with his arms folded, thinking of how many times Sora, Mickey and their group had stopped him and Maleficent in each and every corner.
Then Ratigan's mood shifted immediately into evil excitement, as he continued, "But all that's about to change! This time, nothing, not even Basil, can stand in my way! All will bow before me!"
The Thugs all cheered and raised mugs of wine to toast Ratigan, calling him the greatest mastermind, a king, ect. Unfortunately, Bartholomew, being very drunk, said drunkingly while hiccupng, "To Ratigan, the world's greatest rat!"
Ratigan was just taking a sip of wine, but spit it out in shock when he heard that. The other thugs gasped in terror, while he turned furiously at the drunk thug, "What...was...THAT!? What did you call me!?" and stormed up to him.
"Uh, oh..." Pete muttered, worriedly, remembering the threat Ratigan displayed to Hiram a little while ago. "That guy is a goner now...!"
"Oh, he didn't mean it, Professor!" One of the Henchmen said, scaredly.
The Lizard Henchmen nodded, scaredly adding, "It was just a slip of the tongue!"
But he didn't pay attention as Ratigan grabbed the drunk thug by the shirt, yelling in pure anger, "I AM NOT A RAT!" while the said thug was too drunk to react or be terrified of this.
"'Course you're not. You're a mouse!" One of the Henchmen said, terrified.
"Yeah, that's right. A mouse!" Another added.
"Yeah! A-a big mouse!" The Lizard Thug concluded.
"SILENCE!" Ratigan bellowed as he bodily threw Bartholomew out the door. Bartholomew rolled as he hit the ground, shaking his head as he sat up. He then said to the thug in fake pity, "Oh, my dear Bartholomew. I'm afraid you've gone and upset me."
He then grinned evilly as he pulled out the small bell from his pockets, "You know what happens when someone upsets me..."
Pete and three of the Thugs lingered from the doorway with terrified expressions, and gasped after Ratigan rang it twice. Out of the shadows close by, a large, fat, very furry peach-coloured cat with a purple bow approached and stood over the still extremely drunk Bartholomew with excited and hungry look, while the doomed thug was completely oblivious. Pete and the Thugs watched on in horror as the cat picked up the now singing Bartholomew and plonked him into her mouth.
While Ratigan casually and calmly stood by, Pete and the Thugs shut their eyes, unable to bear seeing this anymore and as soon as the cat gobbled Bartholomew up...
GULP!
The cat swallowed him up loudly and gave a soft 'mow', while Pete and the three Thugs looked, upon realising that Bartholomew was gone. Pete held a shocked expression as his jaw dropped with wide eyes of disbelief, while the three Thugs silently shed tears and took off their hats, mourning for the loss of their friend, Bartholomew.
Ratigan in the meantime, approached the cat, patting her mouth with a napkin before hugging her as he cooed, "Oh, Felicia. My precious, my baby. Did Daddy's little honey-bun enjoy her tasty treat?"
The cat, Felicia, just belched unexpectedly. That made Ratigan's smile slowly collapses into a look of slight dismay. He soon regains his smile and turns back to his henchmen after dismissing the cat, "I trust that there will be no further interruptions."
As Ratigan walked past, Pete gulped nervously as he gazed at the, uh, erm, large evil mouse's retreating form. He then broke the fourth wall and said in horror to the readers/viewers, "Maybe I should'a gone with that Peg-Legged Bat."
Back in Basil's home, Olivia had told him everything that happened as today is her birthday and as soon as her father, Hiram, had showed her the present he made for her which she absolutely loved, Fidget had come and attacked him after he placed her into the closest for her safety. By the time it was over, Fidget had kidnapped him while leaving Olivia by herself which made her seek for Basil's help.
As soon as she finished, the worldly travellers were horrified and disgusted.
"That's terrible!" Mickey exclaimed, angered by this evil bat.
"Who could do such a thing?" Kairi asked, just as angry.
Sora growled softly in anger, "That low-life!" and the rest of the group agreed with him.
"This case is most intriguing, with its multiplicity of elements, its many twists and turns," Basil said as he was in deep thought. He then asked Olivia and asked, "Now, are you certain you've told me everything? The slightest detail may be important."
Olivia nodded, "It's just as I said, and then my father was gone."
"What do you make of this, Basil?" Skuld inquired with seriousness.
Basil thought deeply as he paced back and forth, "Hmmm...Ratigan's up to something. A crime of the most sinister nature, no doubt. The question is, what would he want with a toy maker?"
That made Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion and Riku share serious expressions, remembering how Vexen created the replica of Riku as well as having created Xion, and given how Olivia's father was an inventor and that Ratigan was an evil mastermind, a thought came up which concerned them but made sense.
"Combining the two together, maybe Ratigan wants Olivia's father to make somethin' evil for his scheme. Not sure why, but as the five of us met a crazy inventor who created unusual things before, that isn't really far-fetched." Lea carefully explained, which made everyone else in the room widen their eyes in realization.
"...You're right. Very clever thinking, my good fellow." Basil replied, then frowned again and inquired, "But what kind of invention would Ratigan want the girl's father make, though?"
"Evil little robots of himself?" Myde guessed sarcastically. This made everyone else glance at him in annoyance by this suggestion. He shrugged cluelessly, "What? It was a guess."
Olivia blinked on confusion, but as she suddenly felt her neck tickle, she realised that something was behind her. When she looked at the window, the lightning flashed and showed a terrifying face of Fidget who hanged upside down and he held a toothy grin.
"AAAH!" She screamed in fear, causing everyone else to turn and Kairi gasped in fright, Goofy and Donald both jumped in terror as the latter screamed as well.
"Whoa!" Lea jumped with wide eyes.
This made Fidget jump in fright himself at the sudden reaction of so many faces gazing back at him, realising that he'd been spotted. This also made him lose his grip and he fell clumsily down from the windowpane before he quickly made his getaway.
"Quickly! There's not a moment to lose!" Basil called out as he hurried to the door.
"Right behind you!" Sora called as he, the worldly travellers and even Dawson, who grabbed his coat along the way, all raced after Basil outside as the rain seemed to have finally stopped. But as they made it outside, Fidget was already long gone.
"Where'd he go?" Terra asked, looking around.
"Whoa, for a bat with a peg-leg, he moves fast." Myde commented, as everyone searched around, but had no such luck in locating the lackey.
It wasn't until Roxas spotted something and called out, "Guys! I found a trail!" and knelt down at the said trail, while everyone else hurried over and realised that he was right. They looked like muddy footprints, but it was unusual because there was only one foot, being followed by small dots.
"He left some rather unusual footprints. They obviously belong to the same fiend that abducted the girl's father - Ratigan's peg-legged lackey." Basil said as he examined the trail.
Dawson then noticed something and the ground and picked it up, realising that it was a battered black hat. He called up to Basil who, along with everyone else, approached and saw what the Doctor had found. This made Basil grin as he knew what it meant, and praised, "Excellent work, old man!"
He then swiped the hat from Dawson and darted off back to his house. The rest of the group hurried after him while Olivia and Mrs. Judson lingered in the doorway, and moved out of the way when Basil came rushing past. The rest of the group panted when they stood with the little girl and the maid.
"The scoundrel's quite gone.." Dawson told Olivia.
"Ah, but not for long, Miss Flamhammer!" Basil said enthusiastically, while getting Olivia's last name wrong, as he removed his robe, replacing it with a brown jacket he removed from a nearby grandfather clock.
"Flaversham!" Olivia corrected in annoyance.
"Whatever." Basil waved off, then continued as he retrieved his brown inverness cape from a suit of armor and putting that on, "Now, we simply pursue our peg-legged friend until he leads us to the girl's father."
This brightened Olivia as she asked happily, "And then you'll get my daddy back?!" running over and grabbing Basil in a bear hug which surprised him.
The worldly travellers smiled at this display, finding it adorable.
Basil visibly tensed, and then pushed Olivia away, and said, "Yes, and quite soon, if I'm not mistaken." before he gestured Dawson and the worldly travellers, "Come along, everyone. We must be off to Toby's!"
"Toby?" Xion asked, curiously.
"Oh, you must meet him, he's just the chap for this." Basil answered as he placed a deerstalker cap on his head.
Dawson was surprised as he asked, "You- You want me to come?"
"Hah! I should think a stout-hearted army mouse like you would surely leap at the chance for adventure!" Basil replied, then turned to the worldly travellers, "The rest of you look capable of handling many types of adventures!"
"Well, I am rather curious." Dawson admitted with a chuckle.
Lea smirked, "You got that right about us."
"Wait for me! I'm coming too!" Olivia cried out as she dashed over to Basil's chair and snatching her hat and scarf. In the process, she knocked Basil's violin over. Seeing this, Basil quickly dived and catch it just in time.
"What!?" He exclaimed as he placed the violin back into the chair. "Certainly not! This is no business for children."
"He's right, Olivia. It's too dangerous." Aqua agreed.
"Are we going to take a cab?" Olivia asked while she placed several of the cheese crumpets into her pocket, ignoring Aqua's statement.
Basil, annoyed as he placed a hand to his forehead, sighed while pointing out, "My dear, I don't think you understand. As Aqua had stated, it's too dangerous." but as he said 'dangerous', he took a sit and remembered too late that his violin was on it, because there was a dreaded crunch that made everyone freeze. He pulled it from behind him and it was now in two pieces, still attatched by the strings.
"Oh! Why you! Look what-!" Basil spent several seconds furiously gagging on his words before composing himself, and a large false smile on his face spread for a moment. "Young lady, you are most definitely not accompanying us, and THAT IS FINAL!"
"Uuuuuuhhhh, hate to make a suggestion, but I think it'll be a good idea that she should come with us." Lea hesitatedly said. "It is dangerous, but it's even more dangerous if she's left here by herself, especially since more of the bad guys probably have a better idea where she is now."
"He's right, Basil." Mickey agreed, "She'll be a lot safer if she sticks with us. She's in more danger when she's alone."
Aqua had to admit, Mickey and Lea had a point, and she reluctantedly nodded in agreement.
Basil groaned while facepalming himself, then replied, "Alright, fine." before adding to the group, "But you're keeping an eye on her!"
In the richly room filled with expensive ornaments, in the actual apartment of Baker Street, a small wall design opened up, and from it peaked Basil, accompanied by Sora and Olivia, the latter of whom opened it further. Basil glared at her.
"And not a word out of you. Is that clear?" Basil whispered sternly.
Sora glared at him, sick and tired of the mouse's attitude. "Someone got up the wrong side of the bed." He said sarcastically, only for him and Basil to be shushed by Olivia. When two shadows began to approach, Basil quickly closed the doorway, keeping it open a crack to see who was approaching. Sora and Olivia took a peak as well as two men, apparently also detectives, were having a conversation.
"I observe that there's a good deal of German music on the program. It is introspective, and I want to introspect." The main detective told his companion.
"But Holmes, that music is so frightfully dull." The other man pointed out.
The two men continued their conversation as they began to walk away and departed as soon as the lights were turned off. Once he was certain that they were alone, Basil opened the door wider and allowed himself, Sora and Olivia, along with Dawson to walk out into the main room. Soon everyone else followed and glanced around the huge room of many ornaments, with shelves, a table with a cloth, a fireplace, a giant armchair. Despite the lights being out, the room had a warm atmosphere.
"Toby? Toby?" Basil called out while looking around the room.
Olivia tugged Mickey's sleeve to get his attention and asked, "Who's Toby?"
"Hmmm, good question." Mickey replied, not sure how to answer that either.
"So, who's this Toby you're talking about?" Riku asked Basil, only for the the ground to shake slightly as everyone heard thundering footsteps and a shadow loomed over them. Basil was the only one who wasn't fazed.
"Ah! Here he is now!" Basil said happily as he turned. When everyone else did the same, there stood a giant bloodhound dog with a blue collar, apparently really happy to see Basil. If Sora's group were normal height, the dog would've been calf-high. At the moment, he towered over them.
Seeing this made both Myde and Donald pale(though it was hard to tell with Donald since he was already white, though his bill did take a shade of white like milk) before their eyes rolled behind their eyes and they fell backwards, fainting.
Basil then decided introductions was needed, so he pushed Dawson towards Toby, saying, "Dawson, meet Toby."
Toby leaned forward as a nervous Dawson patted his nose, saying, "Charmed, I'm sure." but without warning, Toby bared his teeth and growled at Dawson, who quickly hid behind a chair. This made the rest of the worldly travellers alarmed as they backed up a bit.
"Now, Toby, stop!" Basil called out while pushing the dog's nose, "Toby, cease! Desist!" while still in his proud state. Dawson hid beind the leg of the chair and took a peak, horribly nervous and not wanting to try his luck.
Seeing the expressions of the worldly travellers and Dawson, Basil quickly apologise and explained, "Terribly sorry, everyone. Toby has the most splendid sense of smell of any hound I've ever encountered. But he can be...intrusively frisky."
Toby, having calmed down, then turned his attention to the worldly travellers as Donald and Myde both woke up, only to scream and hid behind both Lea and Isa who rolled their eyes in annoyance. To their relief, after Toby took in their scent, he smiled and happily nuzzled them, which made them laugh.
"W-whoa! Hey, easy, there!" Sora laughed.
"Aw, aren't you a swell fella? Good dog." Mickey said, patting Toby on the nose. It gave him memories of his own dog, Pluto.
Even Olivia smiled as she greeted as Toby was gentle with her as well, instantly liking her and the worldly travellers already. "Hello, Toby! Silly doggy!" Olivia giggled, then asked as she pulled out a crumpet, "Would you like a crumpet?"
Toby nodded, and Olivia pulled one of the crumpets she had taken out of her pocket, which Toby promptly ate. This made the group smile, though Myde and Donald were still nervous due to the size of the dog.
"Toby's so sweet and cute!" Xion squeeled happily, her eyes going all googily with stars, as memores of the time she first met Pluto came into mind.
"I like him already." Lea smiled, placing a hand on his hip.
"Now, see here, Toby." Basil began as he dug into his pockets, "To the matter at hand, I want to-" only to cut himself off when he saw, to his annoyance, that Toby had rolled on his back and both Olivia and Xion were giving him a belly rub which Toby was enjoying so much.
But the fun experience had to end as Basil whistled loudly which got Toby's attention, and as the dog looked at him while upside down, the detective was coughing impatiently, while having folded his arms and was tapping his foot on the floor. Seeing the fun over, Xion and Olivia slid off Toby while the latter landed safely in Dawson's arms and the former landed safely on the ground.
Toby in the meantime rolled back to his feet, facing Basil who grinned as he began to reach into the right pocket of his coat, "Now then, Toby, I want you to find... this fiend!" he pulled out Fidget's hat and held it out to the dog who sniffed it and then growled.
"Yes, you know the type," Basil continued. "A villain. A scoundrel! Low brow. Close set eyes. Broken wing."
This description only made Toby confused, which Basil realised as he quickly explained, "Oh, he's a peg-legged bat with a broken wing," which Toby quickly understood and growled. "Yes! That's the spirit!" Basil said excitedly. "Got his scent?"
Toby nodded his understanding, getting the information he needed, much to Basil's delight.
"Good boy, good boy!" Basil cheered, but as he turned to get the leash, when he turned back, Toby once again faced the others happily, much to his annoyance. Basil quickly moved up to them and began to Olivia, "Miss Flamchester!"
"Flaversham!" Olivia, Dawson and the worldly travellers corrected, annoyed.
"Whatever." Basil waved off, before enthusiatically continued while hooking the leash to the dog's collar, "Your father is as good as found."
He then turned to Toby, beginning, "Toby?" and hearing the command, the dog struck a pointer pose, ready to follow the trail. "Sic 'em!"
Toby took off, accidentally stepping on Basil in the process. Managing to keep hold of the leash, Basil regained his wind as he was dragged off, whooping as he went. The others quickly hurried to catch up to the two, not wanting to be left behind.
Meanwhile, in a darkened alley lit only by a street lamp and inside a closed toy store, it had an uninvited guest despite the windows and door being tightly closed for the night. Fidget was busy acquiring the parts Ratigan needed for his plan. At this moment, he was removing the uniforms from toy soldiers. Stuffing them into his bag, he removed the list Ratigan gave him and a pencil, reading it and checking it as he went.
"Get the following. Tools? Check." Fidget muttered to himself as he ticked off things that he got, "I got tools. Gears, double check. I got gears. Girl...No, I don't got girl. Uniforms? Plenty of uniforms!"
Suddenly, there was a howling sound of a dog which, as Fidget turned to look, his eyes widened as not only a blood hound was standing in front of the window, but on it's back were eighteen figures.
"Oh, no! Oh, no! Gotta hide! Gotta hide!" Fidget exclaimed. Grabbing the hats off of the toy soldiers, he quickly stuffed them into his bag and jumped on top of a clown toy and up to a higher shelf out of sight, unaware that he accidently dropped the list as he went, which would prove a mistake and yet a help as well.
After an exhilarating ride while handling Heartless that tried to attack them, the worldly travellers and three of their new friends...all, Basil was more of an ally, really, were now disembarking from Toby's back and landed safely on the window sill.
"Splendid job, Toby!" Basil said to the dog, sastified. Olivia made her way to the tip of his muzzle and held her arms out to Basil, who gave her a look of annoyance, but nonetheless began to hold his arms out to her. With a jump, Olivia was caught neatly in his arms and after a brief moment of holding her, he set her down carefully and ushered her forward.
"Thanks for the ride, Toby!" Sora said to the dog who smiled happily, as the Keyblade wielder and the others got off. Sora then got a bit of surprise when Kairi accidently bumped and landed into his arms. The two of them blinked, then smiled warmly.
"You guys look really cute like that." Lea's snickering voice brought Sora and Kairi back to reality and the two teenagers turned to see that the redhead was smirking, along with Donald and Myde. Realising this, Sora and Kairi quickly broke apart and blushed heavily, before hurrying to catch up to the others.
Just as Dawson landed onto the window sill, he flinched as Toby growled while glaring at him. The doctor tried to take a step to leave while saluting, the dog snorted which caused a puff come out of his nose and the force of it caused Dawson to roll backwards and accidently bump into Donald's back while Donald accidently bumped into Goofy who accidently landed flat on his face.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" Donald complained, glaring at Dawson who mumbled his apologises.
Seeing this, Basil approached the dog and commanded, "Now, Toby...sit."
Toby just stood there, happily.
"Toby...sit!" Basil tried again, firmly this time. Still he didn't get any result.
"Sit, Toby." Olivia tried, and at her first go, she was successful as Toby sat down, still with a happy expression. This made Basil give the girl a brief glare, before turning back to the dog.
"Good boy. Now, if you'll excuse me." Basil replied before he walked past the group.
Olivia smiled before turning to Toby and said to him, "You be good now. We're going to find my father." and Toby gave a small bark in response before she hurried to catch up to the others.
"I think Toby really likes Olivia." Skuld said with a small smile.
"I think he likes all of us." Ven said.
"The only one he doesn't like is Dr. Dawson, for some reason." Myde shrugged, puzzled. As soon as they all approached Basil, the detective was scouting the area as he looked at the edge, until he found a small hole in one of the round windows.
"Aha! This is our peg-legged friend's entrance!" Basil said victorously, pointing at the small hole, which confused the worldly travellers and Dawson.
"You got to be kidding me." Isa deadpanned.
Mickey blinked, before asking uncertainly, "How could he fit through there?"
"I agree, Basil. How could he fit through such a tiny..." Dawson began.
Basil cut him off, taking Dawson's hand. "Observe, doctor."
With that, he stuck Dawson's finger in the hole, and watched confidently as Dawson pulled his hand back, and the window swung open as though it was a door, which surprised and amazed everyone else.
"Wow!" Donald said in awe.
"...Well, that's one way to do it." Riku admitted, impressed.
Even Dawson was amazed as he removed his finger from the hole and said to Basil while looking through the glass which made his face large and weird, "Basil, you astound me!"
Basil quickly shushed him and proceeded through the newly created doorway, with everyone else following him until Myde was in last and he closed the window behind him. Once inside, everyone carefully stepped in and looked around for any signs of either Fidget or lingering Heartless that made come and attack. So far, it was all quiet.
Though Roxas wasn't looking where he was going and accidently bumped into something. "Oh! I'm sorry! It was an acci...dent..." He trailed off as he realised that he bumped into a large doll which, given how it looked, held a creepy face.
This made him, the rest of the worldly travellers, Dawson and Olivia gaze around in awe at so many toys and such all around them in the toy store. Even this was more amazing than Al's Toy Burn back in Toy Mania.
"Gawrsh, look at all these toys." Goofy whispered in awe.
"Wow...! This is more amazin' than the last toy store we were in." Mickey said, amazed.
"I say...I've never seen so many toys." Dawson whispered in agreement.
Lea, while amazed, frowned in concern as he pointed out, "Gotta be careful. With the store this large, being dark and so many of these items, it's a good of a place for Heartless and the guy we're lookin' for to hide and sneak up on us."
"Our fire-haired friend is right." Basil said as he appeared from behind the doll, startling them. "Behind any of which could lurk a bloodthirsty assassin! So please... be very careful."
Everyone nodded silently and then moved on forward again and despite all of the toys being meant for light, the shadows coming from them made the atmosphere creepy and ominous. Soon they began climbing up the ladder, all feeling nervous and anxious except for Basil who was silently excited. Once they reached the top, they continued to silently creep on, when...
Ching! Ching! Ching! Crash! Crash! Crash!
The sudden loud noise made everyone jump a couple of inches in the air in fright and shock, causing Donald and Goofy to cling onto each other while Dawson leaped into Basil's arms in terror and Myde let out a girly shriek. But when everyone turned to see where the noise was coming from which turned into a band music, they saw that it was only Olivia who had switched on a clockwork fire engine band toy playing their instruments of trumpets, a drum, cymobels, and tambourines.
While the worldly travellers sighed in panicked relief, Basil was bitterly frustrated as he put Dawson down before he jumped and switched the device off, causing the band to drop limp while the music died down to a pathetic fanfare.
"Please! Quiet." Basil hissed at Olivia who didn't understand what she did wrong and just looked at him. He then turned to the worldly travellers and Dawson, whispering bitterly and harshly, "All of you! Don't let this girl out of your sight!"
While most of them nodded, Sora, Donald, Goofy, even Mickey and especially Dawson, out of habit for the doctor, all saluted while standing in attention as Basil walked off. The group then noticed that Olivia was playfully saluting too, which the women of the group found really adorable.
"Stay close, okay?" Aqua gently said to Olivia who nodded, and held hands with Kairi before they and everyone else followed Basil once more. However, they were unaware that Fidget was spying on them from his high hiding place.
As they crossed the giant chessboard when Basil came across the Chess pieces and with a playful smirk, pushed one to the group, whispering, "Checkmate!"
The group just rolled their eyes and continued on, and before long, Basil spotted something and pulled out his magnifying glass and grinned as he muttered, "Aha! Evidence of our peg-legged adversary," which got the others's attention before he began to follow the trail, which led to the now-naked toy soldiers Fidget had been near earlier.
"How very odd." Basil muttered.
"What happened to them?" Myde asked, noticing that the toy soldiers didn't have any clothes.
Basil rolled his eyes at the mullet-haired young man's cluelessness. "Isn't it painfully obvious, Myde? These dolls have been stripped of their uniforms. And not by any child, either."
"But who would do such a thing and why would they steal the toy uniforms of these dolls?" Mickey asked as he took a closer look at the toy soldiers,
"They're not the only ones having things stolen from them." Ven pointed out as he noticed something else, which got everyone else's attention. What he was looking at were several mechanical toys that were missing gears.
"Hello?" Basil muttered as he got a closer look at the other toys as well. "Someone has taken the liberty of removing the clockwork mechanisms from these toys."
"But, why would Fidget want the uniforms and gears for?" Aqua muttered, confused.
As everyone tried to figure out and piece together this puzzling case, Goofy then noticed something on the ground and picked it up, realising that it was piece of paper. He then called to the detective, "Hey, Basil-"
"Please, I'm trying to concentrate." Basil told him irritatedly as he tried to think.
Before Goofy could try again, to his and everyone else's utter confusion, music boxes began playing, and winding toys moved up and down the shelves. They all jumped, and turned to see that nearly every toy in the shop was operating on its own.
"What's going on?" Sora asked, bewildered.
As everyone looked around try and figure out what was going on, Roxas turned to see where Olivia went to, only to gasp in shock as she went over to a wind-up baby cradle.
"Olivia, wait!" Roxas cried out, but it was too late as Fidget sprang up out of the carriage, and Olivia had just enough time to scream in terror before Fidget grabbed her and stuffed her in his bag which made everyone else turn and saw what just happened.
This was all part of Fidget's new trap to capture Olivia.
A/N: Sorry for the lack of fights in this chapter and sorry that this chapter was shorter. Hopefully the next one will make up for it. See you soon!