Author's Note: I've really been into continuing with this story quite a lot, possibly due to the Great Mouse Detective. Anyway, let's continue on reading.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy.
CH46: Mouse-Trapped.
"Gotcha!" Fidget yelled victoriously, tying up the bag that trapped the helpless little girl he just caught.
"Oh no!" Dawson cried out, realising the fatal error they just made.
"Quick! We must pursue!" Basil told them, and everyone else nodded, hurrying over to try and rescue Olivia. But then the Heartless suddenly appeared and blocked the group who skid to a stop; there were the belly Heartless, the Rapid Dog Heartless, ect., and eyed on the group while Fidget was making his escape, still in his pink baby bonnet while he held the bag as Olivia futilelessly tried to get out.
"Get lost!" Sora shouted at the Heartless as he summoned his Keyblade, as the rest of the worldly travellers summoned their weapons, before he told Basil and Dawson, "Stop that bat! We'll handle these guys!"
"You heard him, Dawson! Quickly!" Basil responded, taking off with Dawson running after him after Sora took out three Heartless that made an opening for the two mice, leaving the rest of the group to handle the monsters.
Sora casted Thundaga at several other Heartless before he dodge-rolled out of the way to avoid being flattened by one of the belly-Heartless. He then leaped over it and attacked furiously at it's back since it was it's weak spot and finished it off before he hissed in pain when he was hit by the Rapid Dog Heartless that bit him on the arm. He responded by swiping at it's head and down-sliced it and then used Orbs of Blue Light to weaken more Heartless that came his way, looking to steal his heart. He then finished them off by tossing his Keyblade at them which destroyed the Heartless almost instantly.
Kairi jumped out of the way to avoid the Trumpet-Heartless before she used her Orbs of Pink Light to distract it which she then knocked the instrument from it's hand with her Keyblade and then slashed it at it's chest when she found an opening and finished it off before she chanted Blizzard at two more, freezing them solid which allowed her to destroy them as well. She then cart-wheeled away to avoid the Dark Ball Heartless who sent out orbs of Darkness, thanks to her training with Aqua in Radiant Garden and then spun and struck the Heartless in a couple of hits before jumping and then casted Fire at the Ice Element Heartless who melted due to being weak by fire.
Riku swiped down at the larger Heartless with the Way to Dawn Keyblade before he jumped back to avoid their large hammers that brought up and chanted Gravita to trap them in the air before he leaped up and attacked with full throttle and then used his MotionFlow to disappear into the floor. He then came right back up and skyward stabbed them in a single hit which caused them to disappear into nothing. He then focused on the other Heartless that came near Kairi and Sora who were both busy in fighting the heartless in front of them and he quickly took them out to save his best friends who noticed and nodded their thanks, before the trio continued the fight.
Mickey in the meantime leaped from one nearby toy to another to help him get a better advantage of the Bat-Heartless that were too high even for him to reach. He then jumped and struck hard at the Heartless while in mid-air and shot out Orbs of Light which followed and destroyed his targets before he jumped onto another and struck it on it's back with the Kingdom Key-D and finished it off. He leaped just before it disappeared and jumped onto another, repeating the process until he flipped in mid-air before landing safely on the ground. The King then preformed his mid-air somersault while hitting the Soldier Heartless several times until it was gone before he moved on to fight the rest of the monsters of darkness.
Donald casted several magic spells such as Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, his Fireworks spell, Stopza, everything he could think of while the Heartless came his way, but had to be really careful since if he used too much, he'd run out of his mana quicker than the Heartless would stopp attacking. Goofy on the other hand whacked and smacked at the Heartless with his shield before he spun around and around using his Goof-Nado skill, knocking away Heartless that tried to attack him even though both he and Donald were hit and they cried out in pain when they were caught off guard. So the two returned the favor and defeated the Heartless as quickly as they could.
Lea threw his Chakrams at the large Heartless which were hit by the weapons and when he caught them as they returned, he then created Fire Pillers which surrounded more Heartless and destroyed most of them, but some managed to escape and tossed lances at him. He quickly leaped to avoid most, but one scrapped him in the side of the waist and he hissed in pain before he rolled out of the way to avoid in being finished off. Quickly jugging down a Hi-Potion to heal most of his injuries, the pyro switched to his Keyblade and swiped at the Heartless that came running towards him before casting Orbs of Fire, which was a new power increase for him, and sent them towards the monsters, burning them into oblivion.
Isa used the power of the berserk mode even though he controlled it a bit better while using the moonlight in the sky which caused him to swipe and blast energy at as many Heartless before he returned to normal and then focused on swiping his Claymore while creating the Wind Spell that blasted even the Belly Heartless who were knocked back and fell off the edge of the desk and fell onto the main floor below to their demise. Myde created Water Clones of himself which took out Heartless that surrounded him and attacked each Heartless despite that the said clones were being destroyed as well. Myde in the meantime thrusted his Sitar while blasting water jets at the Rapid Dog Heartless who were getting soaked and weakened by the former No.9's attacks and eventually defeated.
Roxas and Xion both shared each other's Keyblades as they each preformed the double comb on many Heartless that came by them before they held each other's hand and thrusted at the Dog-Shield Heartless from behind, striking them down at every move while being slightly hit by the said Heartless beams from the shields. Xion then casted a Fire Spell behind it and caused it to stumble foward which allowed Roxas to strike a finishing move with his Oblivion Keyblade. Though a Neo-Heartless then attacked which nearly knocked the two over had Lea and Isa not rush to their rescue and grabbed their wrists while Mickey and Myde finsihed off the five said Heartless quickly. After the two men pulled the teenagers to safety, they all teamed up to finish off the rest of the Heartless they, Mickey and Myde were fighting.
Aqua used Eraqus's Keyblade to cast Chains of Light to capture seven Heartless into a ball before she leaped and struck them as quickly as possible before finishing them off with rainbow beams which destroyed them. She then cartwheeled out of the way when the Dog-Shield Heartless fired powerful beams towards her and used Reflect to block the rest of it. She then switched to her own Keyblade and used Sleepza to put the Heartless to sleep before she leaped over and defeated it with several combos.
Terra thrusted his Keyblade downward which created a shockwave that send the Neo Heartless back and then he used his D-Link, burrowing Ven's skill of tossing his Keyblade towards them and finished them off with a strong thrust. Then he launched himself forward and destroyed two Belly-Heartless from behind in a single hit at each time before moving to the rest of the enemies.
Ven tossed his Keyblade which spun around while taking out the Heartless before he retrieved it and then casted his Lightning Drive which allowed him to cast a stronger form of Thundaga which zapped the monsters. He then thrusted and slashed the Bat-Heartless before leaping up and tossed his Keyblade again, taking five out in a single hit and landed on the ground safely to continue the fight. Skuld held up her Keyblade before spinning around and around while holding it out as it set off waves of Light at many Heartless like a whirlwind which the monsters had no chance of getting past or even avoiding since they were from the Realm of Darkness.
But despite that the worldly travellers had defeated the Heartless while things were crazy for Basil and Dawson who tried to stop Fidget, all three of them were making a mess as Fidget fought back to setting off many toys to which Basil was hit by the Fireband toy when the two cymbols clanged onto his head which made him briefly dizzy. Fidget then attempted to flee through the entrance he used earlier, but was blocked off when Toby growled and barked dangerously at the bat who then retreated and instead moved towards the opening in the ceiling.
Basil chased after him up the building blocks and shelves and almost caught him when Fidget knocked down one of the blocks and knocked the detective towards the ground. The impact caused not only the blocks to fall but also all of the toys that came crashing down by the time Sora's group arrived and to their horror, saw the toy-slide heading towards them and Dawson who'd been knocked out earlier.
"Look out!" Mickey cried out, as he and everyone else dove out of the way and braced themselves for impact, while Fidget made his escape with Olivia captive through the window, while Olivia was crying out for Basil, Dawson and the worldly travellers, though her voice was muffled due to being in the bag.
Everything in the toy store was a complete mess. Most of the group were stuck underneath the pile of toys, but slowly and surely they managed to free each other and themselves, and panted and sighed, also exhausted from their fight against the Heartless.
"Is everyone okay?" Lea asked, as he helped Roxas up and was relieved that they all responded that they were fine, except for one.
"Where's Basil?" Kairi asked, worriedly.
"Basil? Basil!" Dawson called out, looking for the missing detective.
"Basil!" Sora shouted.
Mickey then heard something due to his good hearing and exclaimed, "I think I heard something! C'mon, fellas!"
The King led the group towards the sound, which grew louder until they realised it was an automatic child's voice repeatedly saying, "Mama! Mama!" and it came from the other side of two toys that blocked the way through.
Terra and Isa pushed the toys aside and they and the rest of the group saw that it was coming from a doll with a string, with Basil tangled up in it as he tried to free himself while bungee bouncing up and down, and he was frustrated and agitated.
"Are you okay, Basil?" Aqua asked, worriedly.
"I'm fine, but the girl's gone! She's been taken!" Basil yelled furiously, "Why didn't you all keep an eye on her like I told you to!? Confound it!"
He eventually freed himself but fell with a tumble flat on the ground. Still, he stood up and continued on ranting, "Now she's been spirited away by that monster, soon to be in the hands of the most depraved mind in all of London! I should have known better than to let you all..."
When he turned to look at all of them, Basil's anger quickly vanished as the worldly travellers and Dawson, having been hit hard by the words and knowing that he was right, looked very guilty for letting him down as they did.
"We're sorry." Sora muttered in guilt. "You're right; we really should've kept a closer eye on Olivia."
"It's my fault." Lea told everyone, looking the most guilty out of all of them, and punched the side of the wall angrily, blaming himself for the mess. "I'm the one who suggested to bring her along to keep her safe, but she still got caught! How could I've been so stupid!?"
Mickey shook his head, "Don't take all the blame, Lea. We all got distracted. I guess we're all to blame." and the rest of the worldly travellers nodded in agreement.
"Oh, that poor girl." Dawson sniffled in guilt.
Realising that his words hit them hard and now all of them were fully blaming themselves for the mess, Basil felt bad for yelling at them as he did. He then approached them and tried to lighten the atmosphere, saying comfortingly and gently, "Don't worry, it's not entirely hopeless."
The worldly travellers were surprised to see the comforting and genuining side of him, as Basil continued, "We'll get her back."
"You think so?" Xion asked.
"There's always a chance!" Basil declared, "As long as one can think."
That's when Goofy remembered the paper he found earlier and took it out of his pockets before reading it, realising that it was a list. "Hey, what 'bout this?" He asked, showing Basil and everyone else the list.
When they looked at it and Basil took it to get a closer look and looked it over, he smiled excitedly and praised, "Goofy, you've done it! This list is precisely what we need!"
"That means..." Ven muttered in realization.
"That bat dropped it. Bad move on his part." Myde finished with a relieved grin.
Basil nodded, before hurrying over to the exit while bouncing on a rubber ducky that squeaked upon contact, declaring, "Quickly, back to Baker Street!"
Sora and the others nodded before following Basil, with new hope in finding and rescuing both Olivia and her father.
Back at Ratigan's hideout, Hiram was still working on the machine in his dark workshop prison and was almost finished, having created eyes and teeth that looked terrifying with a haunting smile. He felt so guilty and depressed, knowing that he would be blaming himself for causing destruction starting tonight and for the safety of his daughter, he had no choice.
Just then, the door opened and when Hiram turned to look, Ratigan stood there in the doorway, grinning evilly while holding his cape up dramatically, "Ah, Flaversham...Allow me to present... your charming daughter!"
When he moved it out of the way, Fidget stood there holding Olivia captive in his arms, with Pete standing behind the three of them and immediately Hiram recongised her.
"Olivia!" Hiram exclaimed with wide eyes as he stood up at the sight of his little girl.
"Father!" Olivia cried in return, before she turned to Fidget angrily for holding her back and so to get away, she stomped onto his foot hard painfully.
"Ow!" Fidget cried out in pain, causing him to let go of Olivia who immediately ran towards her father, while the bat held his foot while hopping on his peg-leg, yelping, "My foot, my foot! My only foot!"
"Father!" Olivia cried as she leaped into Hiram's arms as the two were finally reunited and shared a hug and she cried in his chest despite the horrible situation they were in, but they didn't care as she had finally found him. "I thought I'd never find you!" She sobbed, tears falling.
Seeing his beloved daughter cry in happiness and having been frightened, Hiram hugged Olivia tightly while stroking her head comfortingly, relief surging through his heart, "Oh, there, there, there, my wren. I'm alright. Oh, I was so worried, my little girl." which made Olivia smile and the two held each other in the heart-warming reunion.
"T-That's...so lovely." Pete sniffled, admittedly emotional and touched by the scene as tears welled up in his eyes. He then pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose loudly.
Ratigan mocked an emotional face as he said, mockingly, "Oh, how sweet." and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief, wiping away fake tears. "Oh, I just love tearful reunions."
In reality, he felt like he was going to be sick and this couldn't go on longer. With that, he roughly snatched Olivia out of her father's arms. "Now, come along, my dear."
Ratigan pulled the horrified Olivia from her father's arms against her protests and handed her back to Fidget who held her tightly again before he and the slightly reluctanted Pete carried her away, while Hiram was held back by Ratigan, preventing him from reaching his daughter.
"Oh please, professor!" Hiram pleaded.
"Now, now. Fidget and Pete will take care of her..." Ratigan said, before adding darkly and dangerously, "Just as long as we have no further delays!"
Realising there was no further choice, Hiram was released and he quickly went back to work, saying, "Yes, yes! I-I'll finish it." before pleading, "Oh, just don't hurt my daughter!"
"Remember, it must be ready..." Ratigan warned as he held onto the doorknob, concluding, "Tonight!" and with that he slammed the door shut and making a strong point, before walking down the stairs.
Fidget and Pete in the meantime carried the struggling Olivia towards a giant green glass bottle where she would be imprisoned.
"Stop! Lemme go! You ugly old thing!" Olivia demanded, only to be jammed right into the bottle by Fidget, with Pete corking the opening and trapping her inside.
"That'll hold ya, you li'l brat." Pete said evilly, having quickly forgotten his emotional side.
"Help! Let me out! Let me out!" Olivia cried while placing her hands against the glass of her prison, only for Fidget and Pete to smile at her evilly.
"See how you'll like that!" Fidget said, before giving the girl a raspberry and then walked over to Ratigan, with Pete following him as the crime lord ramaged though the bag with everything else the bat had collected from the toy store.
"Ah, the uniforms! Oh, Fidget, I knew I could rely on you." Ratigan smiled in delight, before asking his lackey, "Now, you didn't forget anything?"
Fidget laughed and replied, "No problem! I took care of everything. Everything on the list." and gestured as his pockets to show the list, only to realise, to his dismay, it wasn't there. "Uh oh..."
This made Ratigan's smile instantly turn into an angry frown. "What's wrong?"
"The list, but I knew I had it!" Fidget cried out, frantically began to search his pockets for it, but then realized that he lost it at some point and immediately knew he was in trouble.
Ratigan quickly leaned over menacingly as he demanded, "Where is the list?"
This made Pete gulp as he muttered scaredly, "Uh oh..." terrified of what is yet to come to the bat as memories of Bartholomew's death came back.
Fidget didn't know what to say or how to answer the question. Instead he shuddered scaredly and tried to explain what happened, reenactingly, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you see. It was-It was like this. I was in the toy store getting uniforms when I heard a 'Aroo! Aroo!'"
"You're not coming through." Ratigan muttered while scratching his eyebrow, getting more and more irritated.
"I think he means he heard a dog." Pete tried to translate.
Fidget nodded, quickly continuing, "Yeah, a dog came! I ran! I had a baby bonnet, girl in the bag, and Basil and some kids with key-sword things chased me!"
Hearing the last part of the explaination, not only Pete's eyes widened as he realised that Sora's group were there, but Ratigan finally lost his composure when he heard the familiar name of his worst enemy.
"What!? BASIL ON THE CASE!?" Ratigan yelled, furiously shouting at Fidget who wrapped himself in his wings, cowering in fear. "WHY, YOU GIBBERING LITTLE-!"
Pete flinched in fright as he screamed before leaping and hiding behind a box nearby, quivering in fear. Ratigan was cut off when he suddenly clutched his heart as though about to have a heart attack, before it became apparent that he was about to seemingly explode in anger and his face turned bright and dark red and he quickly tried to hold it back.
After a moment, he somewhat calmed down and the redness vanished all together. He then smiled again and scooped up the still terrified Fidget in his arms, and said while walking around the corner, "Oh, my dear Fidget. You have been hanging upside down too long."
"You mean you're not mad?" Fidget asked, surprised and then became relieved. " I'm glad you're taking it so well."
Hearing this, Pete nervously peeked up from the box and then blinked, bewildered before standing up. "Hmm. He got out of that one lucky."
After a moment of silence, he heard a bell ringing, and heard Fidget screaming. Pete flinched before he peered around the corner to see Felicia clutching a struggling Fidget, trying to eat him, as Ratigan was leaning against a nearby bottle.
"Not me, you idiot! No, stop, you stupid furball!" Fidget cried out to the cat, managing to escape the grasp for a second, but Felicia caught him and promptly stuffed him into her mouth, while he muffled half a second later, "Open up! Open up! Ay, ay, ay! Ooh! You're hurting my wing!"
Pete gulped scaredly while watching in horror, "On second thought, he's not so lucky."
Ratigan in the meantime, was rubbing his temples as he snarled in irrtation, "How dare that idiot Basil poke his stupid nose into my wonderful scheme and foul up everything!"
"Let me out! Let me out!" Fidget screamed while he tried to escape Felicia's mouth which made her uncomfortable and, if the situation was different, it was comical. He somehow managed to push the mouth open and wriggle himself free, but could fly away since he had to hold it open with his leg and peg-leg, crying out, "Help!"
But Felicia pushed him back into her mouth with a clawed finger and closed her eyes, smiling. This terrified Pete even more as he began to quiver loudly.
"Oh, I can just see that insufferable grin on his smug face!" Ratigan continued, as he pounded his head against the bottle, wincing briefly. Just then, as soon as said this as he began to think, an evil idea dawned within him, and he smiled wickedly, "Yes. Yes, I can just see it."
He then turned to the cat and commanded, "Felicia, release him."
This surprised Felicia until Fidget's peg-leg was sticking out from her mouth, as the bat cried out again, "I'm too young to die!"
She sulked bitterly in annoyance, and then obeyed the command and spat Fidget out with a disgusted look since the bat hadn't tasted good. The bat in the meantime was all battered up and as he landed on the ground in a twisted and painful position, he had holes in his ears.
Ratigan then held him by the cheeks, saying, "Fidget, you delightful little maniac. You've presented me with a singular opportunity." before dropping him as Pete looked on in shock and somewhat relief.
"Maybe he was lucky after all." Pete muttered to himself, while wondering what Ratigan had in mind this time if he'd been willing to spare Fidget's life.
"Poor Basil and his poor little friends." Ratigan began with a fake concern, then continued in an evil and sinister smile, "Oh, they're in for a little surprise."
When the worldly travellers, Basil and Dawson returned to Baker Street, Basil lit a lamp and inspected the list Goofy had found with his magnifying glass as the others looked on.
"So, what we've got?" Lea asked.
Basil, hearing this, straightened up and said, "Well, chap, I can deduce very little. Yet there are some things I can make out. Only that the words are written with a broad pointed quill pen which has spattered, twice."
He then made the paper soflty flutter while testing it's weight, continuing, "That the paper is of native Mongolian manufacture, no water mark."
Basil then licked it three times, which disgusted the worldly travellers, and added, "And has been gummed, if I'm not very much in error."
"Gummed with what?" Sora asked, blinking.
The detective sniffed at the paper before recoiling in disgust, holding the paper within arm's length, and then answered, "By a bat that has been drinking Rodent's Delight! A cheap brandy sold only in the seediest pubs."
As Dawson gazed it with his glasses, he muttered in awe, "Amazing."
"Whoa...You can tell by that?" Roxas muttered.
"Not really." Basil shrugged. "We still don't know where it came from. Perhaps a closer inspection will tell us something." He then pulled out his microscope as he approached the table and examined it even more. "Hmm...Coal dust. Clearly of the type used in sewer lamps."
Before anyone else could get a closer look for themselves, Basil took the paper and to their shock, he held it over a Bunsen burner before he burned it and shushed them when they protested, letting the ashen remains of the list fall into the bowl, and patted it down with a small wooden masher. He proceeded to pour the contents into a small jar containing a yellow chemical, which turned blue upon the addition. The others stared at the liquid as Basil picked up a vial containing red liquid.
Basil then carefully let a single drop fall into the jar. A puff of smoke came out as the chemical turned purple. Basil proceeded to set the jar below a glass spout and reached around to the other side of the chemistry set, turning on a small flame below a beaker containing a green chemical which then bubbled up and slowly made its way through the tubes, eventually making its way to the spout above the purple chemical. The group watched intently as a single green drop fell upon the chemical violet chemical, turning it red.
"Aha!" Basil declared, "We've done it! This reaction could only have been triggered by the paper's extreme saturation with distillation of sodium chloride."
"Uh...what?" Roxas asked as he and Xion shared a confused glance.
"He means it turned into salt water." Isa explained as the red liquid turned into pale blue.
Lea nodded in agreement, "Given how that guy was probably near the ocean, that might be our clue in where he could've taken Olivia."
"It proves beyond a doubt, this list came from the riverfront area." Basil said as he rummaged through maps and scrolls and finally found what he was looking for and used his darts to hold it up onto the wall.
"So what do we do now?" Kairi asked.
"It's elementary, my dear. We merely look for a seedy pub at the only spot where the sewer connects to the waterfront." Basil explained while using another dart to pin-point the exact location.
After discovering where the entrance to the hideout was, the group of seventeen hurried over to the waterfront. It was dark and misty, with the sounds of creaking ships. The wooden platform also creaked as the group descended towards the Pub that said, "Rat's Trap", while Basil commanded in a whisper to Toby to stay.
The only light, which led them to their destination, was a little light in front of the entrance, all wearing disguises. Basil was dressed in a blue long coat, purple shirt, blue hat, and trousers and had a fake mustache. Sora wore a brown leather long coat, darker pirate hat, red and white shirt, brown knicker-bocker shorts and brown boots, making him look a bit like Jack, but with lots of differences. He still wore his crown-chained necklace.
Mickey was dressed in a white and red striped shirt with a dark brown vest, red bandana, dark grey trousers, and brown leather boots. Donald wore a light green shirt and blue bandana, while Goofy wore a green bandana, white dirty shirt, light blue pants and brown shoes. Roxas and Ven both wore white shirts and black bandanas, though Roxas wore black trousers and black boots, Ven wore blue trousers and brown boots. Terra, Lea, Isa, and Myde all wore white or black shirts with orange, red, blue and yellow vests, dark grey trousers and Lea was wearing an eyepatch.
Kairi, wore a red long coat with her hair tied up in a pony tail, black shirt, dark red pants and black boots, Skuld, Xion, and Aqua wore the same, except Skuld's coat and pants were dark purple, Xion's was dark green, and Aqua's was blue that matched her hair. Riku was wearing a light purple loose shirt, deep blue trousers, black boots and a light green bandana.
"This is exasperating." Donald grumbled, not liking this disguise.
"I think we all look cool." Sora said with a smile.
"Yeah, well, I'm gonna put my foot down and ditch this stupid eye-patch. I hate this thing." Lea grumbled as he yanked the said patch off and threw it away.
Basil, unfazed by this, simply shrugged, "The eye-patch wouldn't matter. I just thought you would like it."
"Uh, Basil?" Dawson's voice came from behind a corner, sounding annoyed. "I feel utterly ridiculous!"
"Don't be absurd. You look perfect." Basil replied as Dawson came out from behind the column. He too was disguised as a pirate, wearing a blue bandana, an earring, an eye patch over his right eye, dark blue trousers, and a striped red and white shirt that was a bit too small for him.
Dawson looked at Basil incredulously while the worldly travellers tried not to laugh at the poor doctor's failed attempts to pull the shirt down. "Perfect? Perfectly foolish!"
Basil shushed him as he opened the door to the pub, and Sora and the others crowded behind him to take a look, which was indeed a seedy place. The good place for bad guys like Fidget to go to anyway with many lowlife mice in London gathered within. All of the patrons were playing poker, and drinking at the bar, with some even passed out drunk. One mouse was playing the piano while an octopus juggled three balls and tap-danced at the same time. Off to the side, a barmaid was ticking a patron under the chin, but when he tried to kiss her, she punched him with enough force to send him flying from his chair.
"This is the kind of place Jack would come to if he was still with us." Myde whispered, shuddering as he imagined what the pirate would do if he still travelled with the worldly travellers.
The group followed Basil to the closest empty table as Basil whispered a reminder to the group, "Remember, we're low-life ruffians." as they all watched the Octopus's preformance come to an near end while the pianist looked nervous at the unhappy stares from everyone else in the bar.
Once the Octopus finished his preformance, the only ones giving him an applause were Goofy and Dawson who both clapped happily, but both immediately stopped when the real low-life ruffians all booed and jeered.
"Get off, you eight-legged bum!" One of the thugs yelled. The Octopus gulped before he immediately ran for his life as fruit, vegetables, knives, bottles and such were thrown at him and splattered or clanged onto the stage.
"It was pretty boring, anyway." Myde commented, not finding the preformance interesting at all. "If I were up there, I'd put on one heck of a show."
By then, the barmaid came over to the group and asked, "What's ya' pleasure, mates?"
Sora looked at his group who, deciding that there wasn't much they could have and would just pretend to have the achohol but will avoid it, nodded as they had learned a bit from Jack during their travels. Sora then turned back to the barmaid and, mentally clearing his throat, replied in a surprising pirate tone, "Fifteen pints for me and my crew. Savvy?"
Basil stopped himself from gazing at Sora, very impressed with the boy's preformance, and just before Dawson could say anything, he clamped a hand over the doctor's mouth and said to the barmaid in a gruff voice, "Two of those pints for me and my shipmate."
As the barmaid wrote down the seventeen orders on the notepad, Basil continued in the same gruff voice before she left, "Oh, by the way, we just got into port. We're lookin' for an old friend of mine. Maybe you know him. Goes by the name...of Ratigan!"
At the mention of Ratigan, the barmaid gasped, as well as several patrons and the pianist, all of them looking at Basil in shock. The maid though, quickly regaining her composure even though it was clear she was hiding something, replied, "I, uh, er...never heard of him." and walked off to fetch the orders.
"That was quite impressive, Sora." Basil whispered to the teenager who blushed sheepishly.
"He's right. That was amazing." Kairi praised.
Sora chuckled softly, returning to normal. "I guess I've been hanging out with Jack too much." He whispered in return.
As they whispered, the pianist started another song, and the curtains opened to reveal a salamander on a unicycle, struggling to balance a huge frog on his shoulders. The thugs immediately started booing again, once again throwing food and weapons at the stage as the salamander and frog quickly dashed off.
"Not even a minute and already that act is over." Lea commented softly, wincing as he felt sorry for the two.
The pianist flinched as knives and fruit were thrown at him too and he trumbled before playing again, this time in a gentle note for the third act. The ruffians stood ready to attack what other loser would preform. They and even the worldly travellers were surprised when the curtains revealed a white female mouse, wearing a dark blue dress and dark pink shawl as she began to sing. This made the thugs lower their things and were entranced by her singing and beauty as she began to dance on the stage.
"She sure can sing." Lea whispered to the others who nodded in agreement, though they weren't as nearly hypnotized as the thugs. Even Dawson began to enjoy the acting. Basil was the only one uninterested. Instead, his attention turned to the barmaid who was whispering something in the bartender's ear, with the bartender discreetly pouring the contents of a small green vial into the pints meant for Basil's table.
At that very moment, the lady mouse, still singing, moved behind the curtain as a band joined in on her song. The curtain pulled back, revealing the lady mouse had been joined by two others, these ones wearing pink dresses. As she continued singing, the first lady mouse put on black leather gloves, removed her shawl, and ripped her skirt off, revealing her garter. The ruffians all started whistling and howling.
Sora and his travelling companions on the other hand quickly covered their eyes, not wanting to see anymore. Thankfully no one else took notice as the song continued. Instead, the barmaid returned with seventeen mugs, saying, "There ya all go! It's, uh, on the house." which got the seventeen of them to look up before she walked off.
"I say...How very generous." Dawson said, picking up his own pint, while the worldly travellers just stared at their own, and cringed.
Good thing too, because Basil, having seen what the bartender had did, took a careful taste of the pint and it confirmed his suspicions as he warned the others, "Everyone...don't touch these. These drinks have been..." he turned to see that Dawson had already drained his mug, and Basil finished in panic, "Drugged!"
As soon as he finished, Dawson was already effected by the drug and said, drowsily and drunkily, "Has a rather nice tang to it, um?"
Alarmed, Sora and his companions pushed their mugs away, thanking their lucky stars in not even considering of drinking the pints anyway. They then groaned in dismay as Dawson was far too gone as he cheered on the ladies on stage.
"That's just great." Terra groaned.
Mickey was about to say something when a sound of something wooden clunked onto the floor and turned to see what was going on, eyes widening as the familiar figure of Fidget, who too was mesmerized by the lady mouse's singing, walking by. But the bat wasn't looking where he was going and he accidently stepped into a small hole with his peg leg which got stuck and caused him to clumsily fall onto the floor with a yelp.
"Basil...He's here." Mickey whispered urgently to Basil who, along with the rest of the worldly travellers who heard him, turned to see what the king was pointing at, and saw indeed it was Fidget who by then, in frustration, struggled to pull his peg-leg out. When the bat finally suceeded, the force caused him to stumble back and crash into the bar table and slumped onto the floor.
"Well done, Mickey! Ho, ho, ho! What luck!" Basil whispered, as he turned to the others, only to notice that someone was missing and was baffled. "Dawson?"
As everyone else looked as they realised that Dawson somehow disappeared, Goofy finally found him and pointed, "Gawrsh, he's really dazed to be up on stage."
The group looked up and were all alarmed too see the giddy-minded Dawson on stage, as Goofy had said, dancing with two of the lady mice who were smiling while the main lady mouse wrapped up the song. The worldly travellers and Basil all face-palmed themselves in dismay and irritation.
As the song finished, Dawson drunkenly stumbled off of the stage and landed right on the piano, crushing it. The angry pianist grabbed a wooden board and tried to hit Dawson with it, but Dawson slumped down, causing the pianist to miss and hit a large, muscle-bound thug who, in anger for being hit, grabbed the now terrified and apologetic pianist by the neck and tried to punch him, but the pianist managed to duck, resulting in the thug punching the piano with such force that it crashed into the band members, sending them and Dawson flying in separate directions. This resulted in an all out Bar fight.
"This is a repeat of the Brethren Court all over again." Isa groaned in dismay, and Lea, Riku and Terra nodded in agreement.
The group hurried over to Dawson as Basil tapped his cheeks to wake him up, calling out his name. It worked as the effects of the drug finally wore off and Dawson asked in confusion and panic, clearly not remembering what happened, "Wha-wha-what? What in heaven's name is going on!?"
"No time for that! We spotted the bat." Riku told him quickly, as he and everyone else turned to the bar, only to realise that Fidget had vanished.
"Now where did he go?" Donald asked, annoyed, as he and everyone else were dodging the fight that was happening all around them.
Basil looked around quickly until he found a trap door on the floor, which was he immediately knew where Fidget had gone to. So he gestured the worldly travellers and Dawson to follow him. They all quickly hurried over un-noticed and all slid into the trap door with Basil closing it shut, just in time as a chair flew over the bar and narrowly missing them.
Once inside an underground tunnel as the door blocked off the noise of the crisis happening above them, the group then heard humming and singing close by. They all looked down and saw Fidget walked up to a leaking pipe with a lantern in hand. He climbed into the pipe while singing the song the mice ladies had sang and disappeared, fully unaware that he was being followed.
Basil lead the way as everyone else followed him and told everyone to keep silent and to follow him. They did so and one by one climbed into the drainage pipe in hopes of locating where Fidget had gone to. But it was completely dark that they had a bit of trouble seeing.
Skuld then noticed something and whisperedly warned Basil who was about to walk into it, "Basil, look out!" and winced when the detective smacked face first into a dead end to his right.
"Ow!" Basil groaned, rubbing his head before continuing upward, grumbling to himself.
Before long, they emerged out of the grate, and quickly realized they had reached their destination.
"We've found it! Ratigan's secret lair." Basil whispered, as he climbed out while holding the grate for the others to climb out, adding as he looked around in disgust, "And it's filthier than I imagined."
Myde shuddered as he looked around too, "You're telling me. This place is disgusting."
The group looked around carefully, keeping an eye out for an ambush or Heartless attacks, until Roxas whispered when he saw the giant green bottle, with Olivia inside, apparently asleep. "Guys! There's Olivia."
Seeing that the former Nobody was right, the group hurried over as silently as they could, and while most of the worldly travellers made sure that there weren't any sudden attacks, Terra and Basil both pulled hard on the cork while Dawson, Kairi and Mickey tried to get Olivia's attention...only for their and everyone else's eyes to widen that it wasn't Olivia at all as the head turned. It was Fidget who was now wearing Olivia's hat and coat.
"It's a trap!" Isa hissed.
"SURPRISE!" Several unfamilair voices exclaimed which made all seventeen of them jump in fright as a banner that read, 'Welcome Basil' unfurled from the ceiling. Balloons were released and confetti flew as Ratigan's thugs, as well as Pete emerged from the shadows, applauding, and Ratigan himself emerged from the barrel, applauding himself.
"Still as dumb as ya look to fall for d'at, eh?" Pete said, smirking at the shocked worldly travellers who instantly recongised him.
"Pete! I should've known!" Mickey yelled angrily as he and his companions glared at the fat-cat who too was the size of a mouse. Or rather a rat.
"Ugh! Don't tell me Maleficent wants Ratigan to join her side and asked you to do it!" Sora grunted angrily.
Dawson glanced at the travellers and asked, uncertainly, "I say, do you know him?"
"Unfortunately, yes. He's our enemy and causes heaps of trouble." Aqua replied.
"Bravo! Bravo! A marvelous performance!" Ratigan cheered, ignoring the worldly travellers and cackled evilly as he approached Basil who glared at him angrily. "Though frankly, I expected you 15 minutes earlier. Trouble with the chemistry set, old boy?" Ratigan continued as he pulled out a pocket watch.
Basil stiffened, until he tried to keep his temper in check and said in fake friendiness at his arch enemy, "Ratigan, no one can have a higher opinion of you than I have." before he added with pure hatred, "And I think that you're a slimy, contemptible sewer rat!"
Ratigan ignored this despite his own temper flaring up in being called a rat again, calmly shut his pocket watch and put it away, chuckling. "By the way, I just love your disguise, Basil," he said, before angrily ripping his false mustache clean off and Basil winced.
"Really, one would hardly recognize you," Ratigan said mockingly. "The greatest detective in all mousedom!"
This made Sora's group turn their glares to the evil villian, while Basil couldn't take it anymore and shouted, enraged, "Ratigan, so help me...I'LL SEE YOU BEHIND BARS YET!"
"You fool! Isn't it clear to you?" Ratigan yelled, also enraged. He then declared evilly, "The superior mind has triumphed! I've won!" and began to laugh and soon all of his minions joined him.
Basil tried to steel himself against the jeering and pointing, but after a few moments, he slumped, defeated and broken-hearted, and hanged his head as the cruel laughter continued, while Sora's group glared at all of the villians, but knew that there wasn't a thing they could do and Dawson looked on at the detective worriedly.
A short time later, Sora's group were all tied up to the wooden pillar, as the rest of the thugs, having tied Basil and Dawson to a mousetrap, were setting up the deadly trap which was all over the place surrounding the two trapped mice. Ratigan in the meantime was smiling evilly at the worldly travellers.
"You and your friends were far too easy to capture. It's hard to believe that Maleficent was afraid of you." Ratigan said to Sora who glared back.
"The only reason you caught us was because of your trap!" Sora snapped. "We could easily beat you in a real fight!"
"You wouldn't even stand a chance, Ratigan!" Kairi added, also glaring at the evil rodent.
Ratigan was unfazed, "Oh, but I will, and once Basil and his tubby partner are dealt with, after I return, you will all be next." before turning and turned his attention back to the other two prisoners, while the worldly travellers struggled against the bind of the ropes.
"How're we gonna get outta this?" Goofy whispered, worriedly.
"We'll figure something out." Riku told him.
As Ratigan approached the other two, Dawson flinched when the trap vibrated and the depressed Basil just stared upright. The evil rat then said sinisterly, "You don't know what a delightful dilemma it was, trying to decide on the most appropriate method for your demise. Oh, I had so many ingenious ideas I didn't know which to choose. So I decided to use them all."
The worldly travellers, Dawson and even Pete looked up to see the human-sized revolver, crossbow, and axe all aimed directly at the mousetrap, and a massive anvil hanging directly above it, as Ratigan inquired evilly, "Marvelous, isn't it?"
"All for one guy?" Myde asked, shocked.
"Uh, I hate to agree with Mullet-head, but isn't that a bit too much?" Pete asked. Even he was shocked at the trap, which, in his and the worldly travellers' opinion, was an over-kill.
Ratigan glared at Pete and questioning dangerously, "Are you suddenly on their side now?" which made Pete gulp nervously and quickly shook his head in negative. "I thought not."
"Never seen Pete that terrified of another bad guy before." Lea muttered to his friends, a bit surprised and wondered if Ratigan really was that dangerous. Well, considering that there was a giant cat involved, he ventured a guess that should anyone really anger Ratigan and given the trap, he really was very dangerous.
"Oh, I have." Mickey admitted.
"Anyway, let me show you how it works. Picture this." Ratigan continued, and he gestured to a nearby record player, where Fidget stood, and where a cord was tied, leading to a cork that was propping up a wine glass with a metal ball inside, complete with a slide constructed of wood and pipes leading from below the ball to the mousetrap's trigger mechanism.
"First, a sprightly little tune I've recorded especially for you, Basil. As the song plays, the cord tightens, and when the song ends, the metal ball is released, rolling down its merry way until..." Ratigan explained, before he gesturing at each trap in order while demostrating, "Snap! Boom! Twang! Thunk!"
He then concluded as he spread his arms dramatically, "SPLAT!" which made Dawson and the worldly travellers flinch at that. Ratigan then tipped his had in mocking farewell, "And so ends the short, undistinguished career of Basil of Baker Street."
"You monster!" Kairi shouted, angrily.
"Watch your tongue, girl!" Ratigan growled dangerously, before clearly his throat and calmed down once again as Fidget, dressed in a guard's uniform, hopped over. "Is everything ready?"
"All set, boss." Fidget saluted.
Ratigan smiled, as several more of his minions who were all dressed in the guard uniforms, pushed over a large white box with a pink ribbon. Ratigan peeked inside and chuckled evilly before they moved the package as Ratigan went over to Hiram, bound and gagged, standing by Olivia's bottle which the said girl was back inside the bottle, safe and sound.
"Mr. Flaversham, let me congratulate you on a superb piece of craftsmanship. See what you can do with the proper motivation?" Ratigan said to Hiram, pinching his cheek while cackling, and then told the other disguised thugs who climbed onto Felicia's back, "You all know the plan."
"Right, Professor." The thugs saluted, before Felicia trottled off.
With that done, Ratigan turned his attention back to Basil and said, "It was my fond hope to stay and witness your final scene, but you were fifteen minutes late. And I do have an important engagement at...Buckingham Palace."
While Dawson and most of the worldly travellers didn't understand what Ratigan was talking about, colour drained from the faces of Mickey, Skuld and Isa who stared in horror as they somehow figured out what Ratigan's intentions were.
"Now, you will remember to smile for the camera, won't you?" Ratigan continued while pointing at the camera which was set up, ready to shoot.
"That's disgusting!" Lea yelled, furiously, and his companions and Dawson all glared angrily at Ratigan who smirked.
"Sorry, Fire-boy. You, your meddling companions and chubby should've chosen your friends more carefully." Ratigan shrugged as he went over to the record player.
Pete glanced at the worldly travellers and said, "Sayonaree, pipsqueaks! Can't say it's been nice knowin' ya's, 'cause it ain't had been."
"Don't underestimate us, Pete. We'll get ourselves out. Just you wait!" Terra grunted as he and his friends all glared back.
"Whatever youse say, chump." Pete shrugged, as Ratigan turned on the record player. Then Fidget came out, flying a dirigible, to which the mysterious package was attached by a rope. A rope ladder came down, and Ratigan, and Pete both climbed on.
While Pete gave the heroes a raspberry, Ratigan mockingly and evilly called down to Basil, "Adieu, Allvedarzane, Arebadeuchi, farewell!" before adding with his sickening humor, "Bye-bye, Basil."
With that, the dirigible flew into the chiminy before flying off into the night sky and towards Buckingham Palace.
After a few moments alone, Mickey struggled against the ropes while saying, "We gotta do somethin', or the entire world'll fall into darkness if Ratigan takes over!"
"Wait, what?" Ven asked, quickly alarmed.
"Think about it, guys. What does a Palalace usually hold?" Isa pointed out.
This made the rest of the travellers' eyes widened in sudden horror and realization and finally the final piece of the puzzle was put into place.
"You don't mean...!" Aqua cried out, horrified.
"Ratigan is going to kill this land's ruler." Skuld grimly confirmed.
Basil, having overheard, moaned in despair as he added, "Indeed. The Queen is in danger, and the empire is doomed."
"The Queen!?" Dawson exclaimed, horrified as he also realized what is going to happen.
Outside the walls of Buckingham Palace with colourful ribbons and banners, many excited mice people were gathering inside for the Queen's announcement through a rose archway.
The Queen herself in the meantime was in her royal bedroom preparing for the celebration, humming to herself as she fixed up her blonde hair with a pink veil underneath her crown. She wore her royal robes and pink dress and was sastified, unaware that her royal guards, who were standing guard outside of her doors, were knocked out by the thugs who took their place.
Once that was done, they knocked on the door which distracted the Queen who was slightly startled and caused her crown to slide in front of her eyes. After readjusting it back into it's original position, she turned to the door and said, "Come in."
"Uh, begging your Majesty's pardon?" One of the thugs, dressed up as a guard, opened the door as he greeted before opening the door fully as the other disguised thugs pushed in the box, while he added, "A present has just arrived in honor of your jubilee."
"A present?" The Queen asked, feeling honored and wondering who was generous enough to present her a gift. "Oh, how wonderful! Oh, I just adore jubilees." She said as she approached.
The disgusted Fidget, though the Queen was puzzled at his appearence, handed her the attached note, before she opened it and read it aloud, ""To our beloved Queen, this gift we send as her 60 year reign..." before becoming confused as she finished the last lines, "...Comes to an end"?"
Fidget and the thugs pulled the ribbons and sides of the box down to reveal what Ratigan had forced Hiram to make: an exact robotic replica of the Queen. She gasped, and studied it closely, muttering, "How interesting."
To her shock, the robot suddenly came to life and then began to chase the real Queen all over the room, as she cried out in alarm, "Goodness gracious!"
As she hid behind the thugs, the robot Queen then stopped as the door opened again, revealing Ratigan as he grinned evilly, with a guilt-ridden Hiram at controls.
"Amazing likeness, isn't it, Your Majesty?" Ratigan asked, and the Queen suddenly glared at him, knowing who he was as she heard many crimes this villian had made.
"Professor Ratigan!" The Queen snarled, before she commanded the 'guards', "Guards, sieze him!"
But Fidget and the thugs just stood there, smirking. Ratigan then took hold of a speaker and ordered, repeating the Queen's order and the robotic mimicked him, "Guards, sieze her!" and cackled evilly, while the thugs then took hold of the Queen and held her arms tightly.
"How dare you!" The Queen yelled.
Putting down the speaker, Ratigan ordered his thugs, "Take her away!" and ringed his bell to signal for Felicia to serve the real Queen as the cat's latest meal.
"Let go of me, you ruffians!" The Queen shouted as she was dragged away while Fidget followed. "Traitors!"
It seemed the empire was doomed.
Back at Ratigan's hide out, Sora's group and Olivia all continued to try and escape, but so far, they had no luck and to make things worse, the song was nearing it's end.
"Basil? Basil!" Dawson cried out.
"Oh, how could I have been so blind?" Basil moaned miserbly.
Mickey sighed, "Aw, c'mon, Basil. Everybody makes mistakes."
But the detective ignored the king, continuing, "Ratigan's proved he's more clever than I. He never would have walked into such an obvious trap."
"Get a grip, Basil! We can still stop him!" Sora told him encouragingly.
"Yeah! You can still stop Ratbeacon, um, Ratbargain, uh, Ratty..." Goofy failed in pronoucing a name, as usual. Much to Donald's annoyance.
Just then everyone noticed that the needle on the record got stuck in one place and stopped moving, repeating the same two words over and over again, much to everyone else's relief.
"The record's stuck." Xion said, feeling a bit of relief.
But that didn't lighten Basil's mood as he continued, "It's finally happened! I've been outwitted!" and ignored everyone else trying to get his attention, "Beaten! Duped! Made a fool of! So ridiculed and belittled!"
Finally, Dawson lost his temper and shouted, "THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Unfortunately, his outburst caused the needle to swing back into place and was even closer to the end than ever, causing Dawson and the worldly travellers to wince before the latter group groaned in dismay.
"Way to go, doctor." Lea praised sarcastically.
"Basil, come on!" Ven told the detective, "The Queen's in danger and Olivia's counting on us!"
Dawson nodded in agreement and continued, angrily, "He's right! We're about to be horribly splattered, and all you can do is lie there feeling sorry for yourself. I know you can save us, but if you've given up, then why don't we just set the trap off now and be done with it!?"
Basil looked at him pathetically before looking upward again and laughed weakly, "Set it off now." but then his eyes widened as something inside his head began setting the clockwork inside his head, repeating what he just said, "Set it... off... now?"
To everyone else's confusion and then worry, Basil's face turned manical and seemingly insane while he smiled mischievously, as he laughed, "Yes, ha-ha-ha, yes, we'll set the trap off NOW!"
"...He's lost it." Myde muttered, terrified.
"And I thought Jack was crazy when he comes up with ideas." Sora muttered, worriedly.
Then to almost everyone else's horror, the music stopped as the needle then pulled the string and releasing the marble from it's holding spot. Donald screamed in horror.
Basil, seemingly back to his original self, calculated as he looked around the devices while muttering to himself, "Angle of the trajectory, multiplied by the square root of an isosceles triangle...dividing Guttermeg's principle of opposing forces in motion...and adjusting for the difference in equilibrium..." while the ball got closer and closer.
"Dawson!" Basil turned to the panicking doctor firmly, "At the exact moment I tell you, we must release the triggering mechanism."
"What!? Are you crazy!?" Lea shouted, eyes widening. "You'll just get killed sooner!"
Basil didn't reply as he told the trembling Dawson who had his eyes shut tightly, "Get ready Dawson, steady..." while the former watched the ball carefully, while the hearts of Dawson and the worldly travellers raced and Olivia tried again to push the cork out from the bottle.
"I can't watch!" Skuld muttered in horror, squeezing her eyes shut. Neither could Kairi, Xion or Aqua as they did the same.
"Now!" Basil signaled.
"DAAAH!" Dawson screamed as he and Basil pulled the trigger. The lever was struck and just in time stopped the ball from hitting them, making it shake with force. The vibration of the trap loosened one of the pegs, which ricocheted towards the gun, knocking it upwards. The gun fired, hitting the crossbow, which, instead of hitting Basil and Dawson, fired at the axe, slicing off the top of the axe and then cutting through the mousetrap and sending Basil and Dawson out of harm's way and cutting through the worldly travellers' bind, though Myde shrieked as the axe nearly sliced him in half, and nearly passed out when it was an inch too close his taste, and freed him and everyone else who stepped away from the piller while the anvil fell, narrowly missing Basil and Dawson.
The force of the anvil hitting the ground rattled Olivia's bottle, popping the cork and sending Olivia flying out. Sora quickly caught the little girl in his arms while Basil removed his disguise and back into his detective clothes.
"Thank you, Dawson." Basil said to the panting and very shaken doctor while the worldly travellers and Olivia approached the two. The detective then pulled everyone together in front of the camera, saying with a big smile, "Smile, everyone!"
At that very moment, the camera went off and it took the picture of Basil's smile and everyone else's bewildered expressions.
"...That...was really disturbing." Vanitas admitted, and if Sora didn't know any better, he could just picture the dark embodiment having the exact same freaked out expression as the Keyblade wielder held, and despite attemping to ignore him, for once Sora had to agree.
"Well..." Isa began, blinking and not certain what to say. "I didn't see that coming."
"Neither did I." Aqua muttered.
"Thank you for catching me, Sora." Olivia said happily to the teen, hugging him.
Sora smiled, "Happy to help."
"Come along, everyone! Not a moment to lose!" Basil quickly told the group.
"Hold up." Lea spoke up, and when Basil sighed while gesturing him to speak. "Can we take off these costumes first?" The redhead asked while gesturing at the outfits.
Not long after the worldly travellers removed their disguises and returned to their travelling clothes, they, Basil, Dawson and Olivia hurried towards the Palace, hoping that they were not too late to stop Ratigan and save the Queen.
A/N: The next chapter will be the last of Mousedom, and possibly the beginning of the next world, which will be unlike the rest and I think it'll be the last Disney world of this story. Hard to say.
Until then, see you soon!