Disclaimer: I don't own Tom and Jerry.

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Insanity Chapter 21: London Blues

It was the perfect day for an airplane trip. The weather was clear all over, the sun was shining, and there were only a few fluffy white clouds that floated in the bright blue sky. Many travelers were in a bright mood as they flew across the country and the airplane rides today tended to be quite peaceful. Of course, whoever had come up with that statement had obviously never met the Tom and Jerry Crew.

"WEEEE! WE'RE IN A PLANE! I LOVE PLANES! PLANES ARE FUN! OOH, IS THAT A UNICORN? I LOVE PLANES!" came Tyke's young voice.

Inside one particular plane heading towards London sat the main stars of Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, who of course are Tom and Jerry, as well as their roommates, plus Nibbles.

Jerry was actually pretty excited. It wasn't often that he got the chance to go to another country and he couldn't wait to meet his lifelong idol, Sherlock Holmes! Tom, on the other hand, had different thoughts in mind.

"This is idiotic." Tom grumbled, "Why are we actually going to London when we can just recreate London on the set? We're wasting precious time."

"C'mon Tom," said Tom's oh-so-beloved brother Butch, "Even you know that it's better to go to the actual London. The smart viewers can tell the difference between a real London and a fake London."

"Which wouldn't be a problem since most of our audience are blithering idiots. I was dragged out of my comfortable couch for this?"

"Where's your sense of adventure, bro?" Butch asked.

"Yeah, Tom. Think of this as an adventure." Jerry agreed, "Besides, aren't you interested in meeting Sherlock Holmes?"

Tom snorted.

"We won't actually be meeting the real Sherlock Holmes, dipstick. That senile geezer is a billion years old by now."

"As much as I disagree with Tom's choice of words, he's right. They're probably just going to build an animatronic or hire another actor to play Sherlock." Butch said.

"Oh," Jerry said, his ears deflating, but then he perked up, "But he still lives in London, right? Maybe we'll cross paths."

"If Sherlock has even half the brains everyone claims he has, he'll stay the heck away from us." Tom retorted.

"Not listening to you anymore." Jerry said as he covered his ears.

Spike groaned nearby as he was trying to take a nap, but the bitter debate between Tom, Jerry, and Butch kept waking him up. He turned to Nibbles, who was reading a book.

"Hey, Tuffy, where are those earmuffs I loaned you?" Spike asked.

"Gave them to Tyke." Nibbles said without looking up from his book.

Spike looked to the seat where Tyke was sitting, but the boy was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, where is Tyke?" Spike asked.

"I think I saw him climb out the window." Nibbles said, turning the page.

"WHAT?!" Spike turned to the open window. He unbuckled himself, hopped out the seat, and ran to Tyke's seat, looking out the window.

"TYYYYKKKKE! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Spike asked.

It was then that he heard the sound of chewing coming from the top of the plane. Climbing out the window, using his sharp claws to keep himself attached to the plane, Spike climbed to the top and saw Tyke wrestling with his earmuffs. How he was even able to stay on top of the plane without being blown away by the wind pressure is a mystery.

"Tyke! Get down from there!" Spike yelled.

Tyke showed no indication that he heard his father. He started chewing on the pair of earmuffs, shaking his head back and forth. Spike sighed as he crawled over to his son, grabbed him, and crawled back to the window while also fighting the wind pressure that threatened to blow him off. Good thing Cartoon dogs had strong claws that could hold on to anything.

He got to the window, only to find it bolted shut.

"What in...?!" Spike exclaimed.

He suddenly saw Tom, smirking sadistically as he waved and got back in his seat. Spike steamed.

"OH... that... that... that CAT! OPEN THIS STUPID WINDOW!" Spike said.

Tom blew raspberry at him before turning forward. Jerry sighed.

"Tom. locking people out of a flying plane is no way to treat your friends." he lectured.

"Who said Spike and I were friends?" Tom said.

"Well, it's no way to treat anyone! Now let him back in." Jerry said.

"Not a chance. If I let him in, that means I'll be letting the brat in as well. And my eardrums have had enough of the kid's screams." Tom said.

"Okay, so Tyke is a little annoying but the moral thing to do would be to let them in regardless." Jerry said.

"They'll be fine. Even if they fall, they'll live. They're cartoon characters, remember?"

"But still-!"

Meanwhile, Spike groaned as he watched Tom and Jerry argue with each other. At some point, Butch got into the argument as well. Nibbles was too busy reading his book to notice. But NO ONE was opening the window. Making sure Tyke was secure on his neck, Spike punched the window several times to get their attention. But apparently, the others were too engrossed in their argument to notice.

"How are we going to get inside?" Spike wondered.

In response, Tyke dropped a bomb with a lit fuse into Spike's hand. Spike screamed and punched the window hard enough to shatter it. Spike and Tyke fell into the plane, where the bomb rolled out of Spike's hands.

"Tell me that was not a bomb." Butch said, eyeing the rolling explosive.

"And tell me the bomb's not about to roll into the engine room." Jerry said.

True enough, the bomb rolled into the engine room. Few seconds passed, then...

BOOM!

The plane started to fall rapidly. Everyone screamed for different reasons. Tom was screaming in anger. Jerry and Spike were screaming in terror. Tyke was screaming because he was actually enjoying this, like he was riding a roller coaster, and Nibbles was screaming in response to a particularly moving revelation in his book (like any sane person would read a book at a time like this. Good thing this fanfic is called Insanity).

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Meanwhile, the other actors were already assembled on a street in London, and the Director was performing a brief check.

"Okay, settle down people! We've got a tight schedule! No time for chit-chat! Now for a roll call! Droopy?"

"Here." Droopy raised his hand with a smile on his face. A smile which looked like a frown. They call him Droopy for a reason.

"Butch?"

No response.

"The dog Butch!"

"Oh. Here!" the dog raised his hand.

"Good. The three stooges?"

Three similar looking cats raised their hands.

"We're not called the three stooges, you know." one of them said.

"Shut it! Miss Red?"

Red, a relatively new actress who had signed a contract for several Tom and Jerry films, raised her hand quietly.

"Good. You're here. Now where are those animatronic robots of Sherlock, Watson, and Moriarty?!" The Director's voice boomed.

"Right here, sir." the Director's assistants wheeled in the robots and set them down on their feet.

The Sherlock-bot was smiling.

"Elementary, my dear... Elementary, my dear... Elementary, my... my... my... my..."

Suddenly, the robot short circuited and the head fell off. The Director face palmed.

"We'll have to get those bots fixed. But at least they're here. Now, and I'm only going to ask this once, WHERE THE BLAZES ARE THE TOM AND JERRY CREW?!"

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a plane falling rapidly.

"I take it that's them now." Droopy said.

"Run for your lives!" Butch the dog screamed.

Everyone ran for it as the plane crashed through the streets, tearing up everything in it's path, before finally colliding with a building, which toppled over and slammed into another building, which set off a chain reaction of buildings falling down, causing debris to fall everywhere, destroying what few cars were in the area.

Everyone poked their heads out of the wreckage.

"Yup. That was them all right. Only they know how to make such an entrance." Droopy said.

Just then, the plane door was kicked open, and the Tom and Jerry Crew walked out, followed by the pilot of the plane, who was internally promising himself to never fly a plane with the Tom and Jerry Crew ever again.

"This is the last, and I mean the LAST, time I take you dogs anywhere!" Tom snarled.

"Oh, shut up, sibling. It's your fault! You just HAD to lock them out!" Butch said.

"Well, how was I supposed to know Tyke had one of my bombs! The brat shouldn't have been messing with my arsenal!" Tom fired back.

"Explain to me again why you even HAVE an arsenal!" Jerry said.

The Tom and Jerry Crew continued to bicker with each other, until the Director cleared his throat. The crew turned towards the Director, who was pretty irate.

"Terrific!" He yelled, "Not only are you six late, but now we're going to have to pay for all of these damages! And do you know how much all of this will cost?!"

"Relax, Director-man. Tom's gonna pay for everything." Butch said.

"Like heck I am!" Tom snarled.

"Well, I don't know, since it was YOU who crashed the plane and all..." Butch said.

"I'm beginning to wish I had thrown you out the window while I was at it!" Tom said.

"Shut it! All of you are going to pitch in to help pay for this! Now, since the plane conviently destroyed all of our props, gear, and even the animatronics, that means we're going to have to replace those parts pronto. And by we, I mean I, since I can't trust any of you with anything!" The Director yelled, his face practically red as a tomato. He grumbled as he walked off, "Actors these days..."

Once he left, the actors took a look at each other.

"So, what now?" Nibbles said.

"Now, I guess we check in to our hotel." Butch said.

"Sounds good." Spike said.

"You guys go ahead. We're going to see if we can track down Sherlock Holmes. The real one." Jerry said. "C'mon, Nibbles."

Tom watched them go, and then looked at Butch, Spike, and Tyke.

"I have no desire to be left alone with these three." he turned in Jerry and Nibbles direction, "Wait for me, rats."

"We're mice." Jerry said.

"Whatever."

The three of them went on their way. Butch watched them before leaving with Spike. Tyke was about to follow them when he suddenly caught the most beautiful scent in the world. The smell of chilidogs!

Tyke followed the direction of the smell, and ran off, unbeknownst to Spike and Butch.

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Tom, Jerry, and Nibbles took in the sights as they walked through the city of London. Or at least, Tom and Jerry did. Nibbles was still wrapped up in his book.

"Wow. A pretty swell place, huh Tom?" Jerry asked.

Tom grunted.

"Wish I was back in America. This place is trash." he said.

"You call America trash all the time." Jerry pointed out.

"True, but at least America is familiar trash." Tom said.

Nibbles, still wrapped up in his book, contributed nothing to the conversation.

Jerry stopped at a crossroads and took out a map.

"Now let's see. We're looking for 221B Baker Street." he said as he examined the map.

Tom snorted.

"Brilliant deduction. Did you figure that out all by yourself?"

"Don't get snarky with me, Tom." Jerry said, "Now then, I suppose we could keep going on through Main Street"

"Or maybe we can ask someone for directions." Tom said.

"Or maybe we can take a left turn at Alberquerque Road."

"Or maybe we can ask someone for directions."

Jerry turned to him with a frown.

"We can't ask someone for directions. We'll look like tourists."

"We ARE tourists, you..." Tom paused as he tried to think of an effective insult, "cheese-for-brains."

"Wow. That was actually one of the weakest insults I've heard from you. You're slipping, Tom." Jerry said.

"Shut up! Just standing near you is making my I.Q. points drop down the toilet, you twitty dirtbag." Tom said.

"Now there's the Tom I know and love." Jerry replied.

Tom huffed, unsure if he should feel insulted or flattered. Meanwhile, Nibbles had made an important discovery.

"Wow! Captain Cheese's arch-enemy was really his mother all along! What a plot twist!" Nibbles said.

Neither Tom nor Jerry responded to that.

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Butch and Spike took a good long look at the Director's so-called five-star hotel. In front of them lay the dull, grey expanse of a hotel that could probably be better described as a shack. The front door was missing. Half the windows were cracked, while the other half were boarded up. It was a mystery if this place even had electricity, let alone air conditioning. The walls were rusty and covered with bugs.

Their jaws dropped at the sight of it.

"This... is... atrocious" Spike said slowly and quietly, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Butch looked at the hotel.

"Well, it'll take some getting used to, but we'll have to make the most of it, won't we?" he said, not releasing his gaze on the hotel.

"What do you mean? What do you think we should do?" Spike asked.

"We should go on strike and wage war on Warner Brothers for treating us with such indignity and disrespect. We should take them to court and sue them for every penny they've got. We should quit working for Warner Bros and go work for Disney, who actually treats their actors right!" Butch said.

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Spike said, fired up now after hearing that. Butch stopped him.

"Hold on. I said that's what we SHOULD do. I never said that's what we're GONNA do. We're just going to go inside and bear it despite the terrible living conditions." Butch said.

"Oh." Spike said.

At that point, the other actors arrived. Most of them looked just as horrified as Spike and Butch. All except Droopy that is.

"Well, it's not much of a place but at least we'll have a roof over our heads." Droopy said.

Suddenly, part of the roof chipped off and fell.

"For the most part." Droopy added.

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The citizens of London were starting to gather around. They were here to witness a truly astonishing event. Really, it was like nothing they had ever seen before. In the center of the circle of witnesses was Tyke, surrounded by plates of chilidogs, and Tyke was gobbling them all up faster than anyone had ever seen before. Even more astonishing was that the pup was almost at his 50th chilidog and he showed no signs of slowing down.

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Tom, Jerry, and Nibbles had back-tracked to where they had started, and had continued to walk in a different direction. Nibbles followed behind the other two quietly, turning the page in his book. Jerry looked at the map.

"For such a historic landmark, you'd think that 221B Baker Street wouldn't be so hard to find."

"Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to find if someone would just, oh I don't know, ASK FOR DIRECTIONS!" Tom yelled.

"I am! I'm asking the map for directions!" Jerry said.

"And how's that been working out for you?" Tom asked. Then he pointed at Nibbles, "And you! Maybe if you would put down that blasted book for a moment, you could help us find the place."

Nibbles shrugged.

"Why don't you just ask for directions?" Nibbles suggested.

Tom screamed.

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"Okay. It's official. I've seen prisons that look more welcoming than this place." Butch Cat muttered as he and the others looked around the inside of the hotel.

It somehow managed to look worse on the inside than it did on the outside. Butch the Dog looked frightened.

"This place looks just like every creepy hotel from every scary movie I've ever seen. Let's get out of here." he said.

"Relax, other Butch, this place is not so bad." Droopy said, still optimistic.

"Besides, we're perfectly safe." Butch said.

"How can you be so sure?" Spike asked.

Butch smirked.

"You think my sibling is the only one who packs an arsenal with him?" he opened part of his suitcase to reveal the deadliest collection of guns and bombs Spike had ever seen, "Pays to be prepared is the Cat motto. Now let's see if we can get some service."

Butch rang the bell several times.

"Alright, I'm coming, I'm coming." came a voice.

After a few minutes of waiting, the voice spoke again.

"Alright, what do you fellas want?"

They looked around and saw no one.

"Um, who said that?" Spike asked.

"Sigh. Down here, you idiots."

They look down to see a familiar figure. A small brown puppy with an annoyed look on his face. Butch's eyes widened.

"Scrappy-Doo? I don't believe it. You own this hotel?" he said.

"Yeah. Needed to do something to sustain myself after they banned me from ever appearing in a Scooby-Doo cartoon ever again. Now, I repeat, what do you fellas want?"

"We have reservations here, unfortunately." Butch said.

Scrappy-Doo opened a book and flipped through it, putting on a pair of reading glasses. He thumbed the page.

"Ah, yes. The cast of Tom and Jerry Meets Sherlock Holmes. Sounds like a good mystery cartoon movie. The kind of movies I used to star in. Say, do you suppose there's an opening for a part?" Scrappy-Doo asked.

"No." they all said simultaneously.

Scrappy sighed.

"Oh, well. Can't blame a guy for trying. Here are your room keys. Enjoy your stay."

The actors, taking their keys, walked off. Scrappy watched them go. His eyes narrowed.

"I WILL get into that movie. I'll find a way and no one's gonna stop me!"

Scrappy laughed evilly.

- end of chapter -

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SKC: So, that was an ugly hiatus.

Jerry: Yes, yes it was. Seriously, what kept you?

SKC: I just needed to take a break from Fanfiction for a while. That's all.

Butch: But you're back for good, right?

SKC: Oh, I don't really know. I guess we'll see. But since I left this chapter on a cliffhanger, that means I'll have to finish the second part. And don't worry. This story arc only has two parts. We're not looking at another four part story arc like the Family Reunion arc. Speaking of past story arcs, I think I'm going to go back and revise some of my earlier chapters.

Spike: After the London arc, then what happens?

SKC: I think I have a few other ideas. A few reviewers and PMers were also kind enough to supply me with a few ideas too. But updates may be a little sparse. Hopefully, not year long.

Jerry: Okay, then. I guess I'll say the closing statement then?

Tyke: Oh, I want to do it! Can I? Please?! Please?! Please? Please? Please? Please? Please?

Tom: Please. It's the only way to get the brat to shut his noisy mouth.

Jerry: Okay, okay, fine. You can do it, Tyke.

Tyke: YAY! Don't forget to review! And stay tuned for next chapter where we see Scrappy's big plan! And will the real Sherlock make an appearance? We'll just have to wait and see!