Disclaimer: I own no one. And ChibiJaime's world belongs to, well, ChibiJaime.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The setting was the East Side of London, a "hive of scum and villainy", as Ben Kenobi would have termed it. At the various pubs and bars, card games were being won or lost, pickpockets were practicing their art and, as was usual, Professor James Ratigan (Author's note: The past one.) was plotting an evil scheme for revenge on Basil of Baker Street, though he couldn't do this himself, due to his landing in the trash barge, which damaged his leg, leaving him with a limp. However, this tranquil existence was about to change soon, in a very drastic way.
Suddenly, the sky silently split apart, revealing a light blue aurora, the same as the time portal. There was a flash, and Veeken fell from the portal, landing gracefully on the docks. Dusting her hands off, she smiled. "Another perfect landing, eh, Rufus?"
Rufus stuck his head out of Veeken's pocket and nodded.
"Hey, where's Ratigan?", Veeken asked the air, before the aurora flashed again, and Ratigan plummeted less gracefully into the water. Of course, then he leapt out of the water almost as quickly as he fell in with a scream of "COLD!!!"
Rufus laughed uncontrollably. This was the funniest thing that had happened so far, unless you counted the trip to Drakken's Arctic lair, which would have been funny, had it not been for the threat of capture.
"Very funny, Rufus", Ratigan retorted. "You can laugh. You didn't just take a plunge into freezing-cold waters."
Veeken merely smiled, then looked around. "Where's Basil?"
"I don't know", Ratigan replied. "He went in before me, so he should be here, unless he's lost somewhere in the dimension stream."
Suddenly, the Aurora flashed again, and Basil fell into the water, but instead of leaping back out screaming, he climbed out of the water, soaked to the bone, but still trying to put up as much dignity as possible. Ratigan, meanwhile, was actually looking at the surroundings, inhaling deeply. "Look at this place, Rufus", he said. "Trash, exhaust fumes, criminal element everywhere." There was a pause, and Ratigan grinned. "We are home!" Rufus inhaled deeply, then coughed heavily.
"You're home, Ratigan", Basil retorted. "Me? I'm about to cough up something very vital." There was nothing but silence. "Ratigan?"
"Where'd he go?", Veeken wondered.
Meanwhile, Rufus was on the ground, frantically pointing in the direction of the area around the docks. There was a brief glimpse of Ratigan's cape before it, and his owner, disappeared around the corner.
"Here we go again", Basil moaned.
To Be Continued… Sorry for the short chapter. It'll get better later on.