Friends and Heroes Alike
After having spent enough time in the Secret Garden resting and letting their lunch digest, the heroes returned to London. Of course, they were turned back into mice. Kaiba, however, changed his mind, saying he wanted to stop at Flaversham's Toys for a while to see if his brother really was there.
Once they arrived, the heroes walked through the front door of the shop. "Welcome to Flaversham's Toys," Leon's voice welcomed. "Anything we can-?" he stopped as he saw the heroes. "Yugi? Guys?" he asked, surprised. "Is it really you?"
"Leon?" Emily asked. She laughed and said, "It is you." And they laughed and approached each other. "How did you-?"
"How did you-?" the redhead overlapped. "This is cool. It's great to see you."
"It's great to see you too, Leon," Emily returned. "But what are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing here?" the redhead asked. "What are you doing here?"
Kaiba placed his fingers close to his teeth and whistled sharply to get their attention. "What's going on here?"
Leon chuckled and said, "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag." He cleared his throat. "I guess you guys must've found out about me and my friends coming to this world."
"We sure did," said Joey. "And we didn't expect you to be friends with Olivia and her dad."
"Mr. Flaversham left a little while ago to pick Olivia up from school," the redhead explained. "He left me and Moki and Becky in charge of the shop until he gets back."
"Mokuba and Rebecca are here too?" Yugi asked.
That was when the both of them entered the shop from the parlor. "I thought I heard you guys," the raven-haired lad said.
"We came to make sure you guys were safe," said Yugi. "And we decided to explore this world too." He didn't want to mention the main reason why he and his friends were here in this world. He didn't want to say anything that would get the children excited and want to participate in any danger.
"Well, why don't you guys stay awhile?" Rebecca suggested. "I'm sure Olivia and her father will be happy to meet you."
"We actually can't," said Kaiba. "You see, we're also here on confidential hero business."
This made Mokuba assume that his brother was also here because of Ratigan. He also wondered if the heroes had met Basil yet. "Well, thanks for stopping by anyway," he said. "I guess we'll see you later." And the heroes left the shop.
Leon looked at his friends. "Too bad. I was hoping Olivia would get a chance to meet them."
"Me too," Mokuba said. "But don't forget, we still have to tell her about the stories of the Children of Millennia."
"And also teach her about the elements," Rebecca added. "Maybe once she comes home from school, we can ask Mr. Flaversham if Olivia can come back with us to the clubhouse. Then we can tell her everything we know."
It sounded like a good idea. For now, the three of them would keep managing the shop.
It was good to know that the children were safe and well. The heroes were also glad that the Flavershams were nice enough to let the children stay with them. Now they could backtrack to Baker Street and hopefully get a chance to see Basil.
As they turned the corner, they saw a carriage stop in front of the human residence. Keeping their distance, they saw Sherlock Holmes disembark with his associate Dr. Watson. They walked up the steps to their residence and closed the door.
"I'm guessing Mr. Holmes returned home from a case," Emily figured.
"And it looks like Basil is doing the same," Joey said, seeing a mouse climb down from the carriage steps. Joey could tell that it was Basil because of his attire.
Yugi wasted no time and ran in the detective's direction with his friends following him. "Mr. Basil," he called out. "Mr. Basil, please wait!"
The detective's ears perked up as he heard his name being called. He looked in the direction of the sound of the voice and saw Yugi and the others coming his way. The detective couldn't believe his eyes. The Heroes of Millennia were here. He ran towards the front door of his home, urging the heroes to follow him.
Little did any of them know that Fidget was watching from the shadows. He watched as they entered the residence. "It's really them," he said quietly. He placed his back against the wall and began to listen in on them.
Inside, Basil removed his Inverness coat and slipped into his robe. "I apologize for the state of my humble abode," he said to his guests. "I wasn't expecting guests right away." He also certainly wasn't expecting these particular guests to arrive, though he knew it would be a matter of time before he would meet them.
The heroes looked around and saw how messy the place was with the clutter of experiments and clothes lying around everywhere and other objects stored in various areas. Emily spoke up. "Mr. Basil, we don't want to take up too much of your time."
"Could you please draw the drapes, Your Highness?" Basil asked her. He didn't want to take his chances with the heroes in his house. He knew to be on the alert for any potential spies or snoops.
Emily understood and closed the curtains, concealing the front window. Then she looked back at the detective. "Hang on, how did you know I was royalty?"
"A princess, to be exact," he stated. "One of Egyptian descent. Am I right?"
"Well, yes," she replied, "but how-?"
"Quite simple, really," Basil began. "While you may not look like an Egyptian, your eyes are a unique shade of blue; a distinctive trait in the Millennial family – who, of course, are from Egypt." He paused, then continued, "The only other person to have those eyes was Mystery – queen of Egypt and wife of King Atem – two of the eight Children of Millennia. She was also the guardian of the Millennium Star and the heiress of the Great Goddess herself until her first daughter was born." He turned back at Emily and finished, "Namely, you, which means you are Princess Emily – the current heiress of Millennia and guardian of the Millennium Star."
The blonde managed to smile, amazed with his deductions. "Impressive," she complimented.
"Actually, it's elementary, young princess," Basil told her. He bowed and said, "And it is an honor and a privilege." He gave the same gesture to the others. "The same for you, gentlemen. Much like the princess, you are also Heroes of Millennia." And he identified them. "Yugi Muto – hero of courage. Seto Kaiba – hero of wisdom. Joey Wheeler – hero of friendship. You resemble your ancestors and you represent the same elements they did."
"Elementary, as you would say," Yugi replied.
"Indeed, my friend," Basil told him. "Now, to the matter at hand, I presume you are all here because of the Dark Masters?"
"Um, yes, actually," Yugi replied. "You see, we wanted to ask you a few question about those villains."
"I have questions for you too," the detective returned. Though he already heard from the children about their own adventures, he wanted to hear about what happened with the heroes. He heard about how they battled Frollo back in Paris, but he wanted to make sure he didn't miss any details.
Basil took out his pipe, but looked at the heroes before lighting it. "Do either of you mind if-?"
"By all means," Emily insisted. The others didn't mind either. After all, it was Basil's home and he was allowed to smoke if he wanted to. In her younger years, Emily knew to avoid anyone who smoked so it wouldn't affect her asthma. It didn't bother her so much anymore since she bonded with the Millennium Star and discovered that she would be protected from any foul toxins that she would breathe in. Emily also remembered that her mother, Rachel, had a smoking habit. While it wasn't pleasant to remember, it was part of what made Rachel who she was. As such, while Emily was bothered by it, at the same time, she wasn't, because it made her think of her mother. But she couldn't let herself reminisce in sadness, not while she and her friends were here on important matters.
The heroes explained their story first, saying they followed their friends to Paris by finding a hidden door in the Secret Garden. Basil already knew that part, but he asked them to continue. They explained that they were minding their own business one day while out on the city and then suddenly, Frollo came out of nowhere and attacked. Once the minister captured them, he brought them to the Palace of Justice. None of the heroes had any idea what he wanted with any of them – except for fulfilling his lustful intentions for Emily. Thankfully, he wasn't able to carry out his intentions because she was sick and he would have found no pleasure in doing who knows what.
Once the boys were able to escape the dungeon and reunite with Emily, that was when Frollo attacked again and started fighting with the heroes. At that moment, they learned that he was a Dark Master and he was after them because he knew they were the Heroes of Millennia.
As Basil listened, it was enough to confirm that Frollo did, in fact, know that Yugi and his friends were the Heroes of Millennia. The detective was also beginning to think that his own opinion might be true. But before he could voice his thoughts, he decided to ask questions that were a little less elaborate. No matter how irrelevant they would sound, they would be necessary. He looked at Yugi directly. "Yugi, do you think there was a reason you were sent to that particular world?"
He didn't need to ask what he meant by that. "We've often thought about it," he replied. "And we've also spoken to the Great Goddess herself."
"And what did she say?" Basil wondered.
"She said that it was to inform us of the Dark Masters," Joey chimed in. "And what better way to inform us than by sending us to one of their worlds?"
"She also said she heard the cries of help from many people who were threatened by the Dark Masters," Emily added. "As such, she used her powers to open doors to these worlds, granting us access to enter them through the Secret Garden."
That was enough to justify Basil's suspicions. He was right that the Great Goddess wouldn't send her warriors to these worlds unless they really were in danger. And knowing what the Dark Masters are capable of and what they've done, it's exactly so.
"Detective," Kaiba was asking, "have you met the Dark Masters?"
He looked directly at the heroes as he blew a puff of smoke from his mouth. "I have," he answered without hesitation. He explained his story, saying a long time ago, when he was pursuing Ratigan, he followed the rat – or so he thought – to a secret passage that led to the castle of the Dark Masters. It turned out Ratigan was luring Basil to the castle. The detective found himself at the feet of the four most dangerous and most depraved villains. He barely made it out alive as they tried to stop him from escaping. Basil was able to escape by maneuvering his way through small spaces in walls and floors.
"It didn't take long for me to realize that Ratigan was working for the Dark Masters," continued Basil. "And all of the rodents he kidnapped – mice and rats alike – were being taken to their castle. There had been times when I returned to the castle to try and rescue the prisoners and bring them back to London. Some of them, I was able to reunite with their families. But others, I wasn't. Many of them had died from being experimented on."
He looked directly at the heroes. "I have a feeling you four may be our only hope in stopping the Dark Masters," he said with conviction. "You were brought to these worlds for a reason. I believe that reason is to help us."
The heroes looked at each other. "We've thought the same thing," Yugi admitted. "After everything we've talked about, it does make sense."
Kaiba agreed. "The Great Goddess wouldn't send us to these worlds unless these worlds really were in danger. And after all we've learned and shared regarding those villains, it seems they are."
"And we already promised that we would do what we could to help," Emily added. Joey nodded.
"Your friends have also agreed to help out in their own way," Basil informed them.
Kaiba knew he was talking about Mokuba and the others. "Yes, my brother and his friends mentioned meeting you."
The detective grinned. "You might say I've agreed to let them be my irregulars, if you will. I've allowed them to come to me if they have any new information regarding the Dark Masters."
That made sense to the heroes. But there was another matter to consider. "There's also the matter of Professor Ratigan," the brunette added. "My brother also mentioned having encountered the rat."
Basil remembered that. "As an employee of the Dark Masters, Ratigan is also aware of what happened in Paris and he also knows of your brother and his friends being affiliated with you. I'm sure that somehow he knows you're also here in London." And he placed his pipe back in his mouth.
"That's another thing we wanted to talk to you about." Joey showed the detective the newspaper he bought this morning featuring the article about the abduction of the rodents who shared the same physical qualities as the heroes.
"It's plain to see that the rodents are victims of mistaken identity," said Kaiba. "But Ratigan does in fact know we're here and he's sending his lackeys to hunt us down."
The detective agreed. "No doubt to take you to the Dark Masters."
"Is there any place you know in London that's safe for anyone to hide?" Joey asked.
"Master Joey, I'm afraid no part of London is safe while Ratigan is at large," Basil said sorrowfully. "But I can't let him capture you."
"Maybe we could help you capture him," Emily suggested.
"Out of the question, Princess," Basil told her. "For all of my efforts, he's always slipped away. I haven't even been able to find his lair."
"So what should we do?" she asked.
"For the time being, I will allow you to stay here as my guests," the detective offered. "Given the extent of these attacks, it's too dangerous for you to be out in public at the moment."
The heroes looked at each other. They were in need of a place to spend the night and they couldn't risk going back to the same inn they stayed in last night. "For the time being," Kaiba replied.
Basil was pleased to hear that. He put his pipe on the mantle of his fireplace. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the guest rooms." And he led them upstairs. The first room he showed them was the same room he offered to Mokuba, Rebecca, and Leon when he rescued them.
Emily was the first to step inside. "Wow, this looks very nice."
The detective was a little ashamed of himself for his house not being too accommodating. "It's not much," he admitted. "Not even fit for a princess."
"No, it's fine," she insisted. "Thank you, Basil."
He cleared his throat and looked away. "If you gentlemen will follow me." He led them to another room with a bed that was also large with a sofa close to the window.
Joey positioned himself on the sofa. "This is nice."
Kaiba felt the bed. It wasn't too hard or too soft. "Yes, it'll do."
"I'll be downstairs if you need anything," Basil informed them. "Also, my room is right next door."
"Thanks again, Basil," Yugi said politely. The detective left and returned to the parlor to continue his work. He had to keep the heroes safe, but he knew that only so much could be done on his part.
Outside, Fidget was only able to get a little bit of the details. But at least he'd be able to report back to Ratigan. He left Baker Street and began making his way back to the lair.
