The cat jumped from building to building, Sugarcoat following it on the roofs as the heroes followed from the ground.
"I can't believe she's making us chase after some cat." Rarity said.
"Well, you heard her. She won't talk until she gets her 'precious Claudia' back." Hope said.
On close inspection of Sugarcoat's armor, it closely resembled that of shadow man, hence the name. "Come on, you mangy feline." Sugarcoat said as the cat jumped down between two buildings, landing on its feet as it ran down an alley.
The heroes didnt get far before seeing another Robot Master of Nebula. He had drills covering all over his body.
"I am DrillMan! And you guys aren't gonna get in my…" he said before the cat started scratching his face up. "Ah! Get this stupid thing off of me!" he shouted.
The cat quickly jumped off before running away from both groups.
"No way is come cat getting off easy! Drill Bomb!" he shouted firing a drill at the cat. It then jumped up and landed on the bomb, moving it towards Drill Man before jumping off and running away.
"Oh, shi-" the bomb exploded taking Drill Man with it.
"Wow. That is one smart feline." Natsu said.
"Firewall eliminated. Drill Bomb acquired." Megaman said.
The two quickly followed the cat to a building where it was cornered.
"I'll try and calm it down." Luke said slowly approaching it.
"Here kitty." Luke said before the cat scratched up his face and ran off.
"Goodness." Fluttershy said.
"She seems a little more feistier than I thought." Luke said.
"No!" shouted a voice as they saw Franco running across the village. "Its terrible! Unspeakable!"
"What? What happened?" Layton asked.
"Well, it happened during my break. Someone came and raised the drawbridge and stole the only crank that can lower it." Franco said.
"So, what you're saying is…" Kirito began.
"Until it's found, no one is getting in or out of the village." Franco said.
"So we're stuck here?" Nami said.
"We can worry about the crank later. Let's just get the cat and get back to the manor." Hope said.
"Well, we could bring her to us using some fish." Happy said.
"That's...actually not a bad idea." Jexi said.
Placing some fish on the ground, the heroes saw the cat carefully approaching it before eating it. Fluttershy then came out and slowly approached it.
"Please, dont be scared. That explosion really was something only you could hear." Fluttershy said as the cat meowed happily as it leapt into her arms.
"Okay, we got the cat. Let's head on back." Hope said.
Once they arrived, they saw a panicked Matthew. "Oh, thank goodness you all have returned!" he said.
"Yeah. And we got the cat." Sunset said.
"Oh yes, Claudia. But this isn't about that. We need to go upstairs. Something terrible has happened." Matthew said.
The heroes hurried up the stairs to see a new yet familiar face.
"Good day. My name is Inspector Chelmey, sent from Scotland Yard itself." Chelmey said.
"Chelmey! Nice to see you again!" Tails said.
"Yes nice to see you too….Tails! Your name is Tails." he said. "Forgive me. Been having some memory troubles as of late due to work stress." Chelmey said.
"He's never forgotten my name that easily. I'll have to keep an eye on him." Tails thought.
"So, why are you here now?" Jexi asked.
"I'm gonna go straight to the point: there's been a murder in this house." Chelmey said.
Everyone gasped. "One of the Reinholds relatives, Simon Reinhold, was done in by a blunt object." Chelmey explained.
Indigo then came down from upstairs. "I think I know what it was…"
TAKE THAT!
"This!" Indigo said holding some broken vase shards. "But I didn't see the body or any blood."
"I've taken the body in order to fully examine it." Chelmey said. "As for those shards, I'll take those and put them back together as soon as possible so I can check for prints." Chelmey added taking the shards.
"Indigo, was there any reason why you shouted 'TAKE THAT' ?" Twilight asked.
"It just seemed like a fun thing to say. I also remember hearing this attorney on TV shouting that." Indigo said.
"You must be talking about Phoenix Wright. He's never lost a case defending someone." Sunset said.
"He's also known for pointing his finger directly, sort of like what you do, Professor." Dan said.
"Well, hopefully we cross paths someday. Now, did you find anything else up there?" Layton asked Indigo.
"Well, all I found was this." Indigo said pulling out a small cog with a inscription of a hammer and wrench on it.
"Strange. I don't recognize this model." Tails said looking at it. "It's homemade."
Mathew then came up to them. "Beg pardon, but have any of you seen Ramon?" Matthew asked. "No one's seen him for the last few hours."
"No. Now that you mention it, we didn't see him when we crossed the river." Usopp said.
"Uh, you dont think he's been…" Applejack began.
"He could also be the one whodunnit." Chelmey said.
"Look! Someone's running off with a big bag!" Luffy shouted as the heroes rushed over only to see nothing. "What are you talking about? There's no one out there." Hope said.
"But I saw him. He looked like a gray Santa." Luffy said.
"Let's focus on finding Ramon for now." Jexi said.
As the heroes talked, Fluttershy was in Dahlia's room putting the cat on the bed. "There you go." she said petting it. She then noticed a small picture of the Reinhold family with Dahlia holding baby Flora. "Aw." she said.
"Miss Fluttershy, can I help you with something?" Matthew asked arriving.
"Yes. This painting looks weird. The people except Flora and Dahlia all seem…. mechanical in facial features." Fluttershy said.
"Sorry to disappoint, but the woman holding Miss Flora is not Lady Dahlia, but the Baron's previous wife, Lady Violet." Matthew corrected her.
"Still, this painting could be used for something later to prove." Fluttershy thought
Painting features added to suitcase.
After that, Fluttershy rejoined the group as they headed back into the village to look for Ramon. They asked around the village for a while, looking for Ramon only to come up empty handed, except for Luffy who was talking to a kid. "What do you know about Gray Santa?"
"Oh! You blokes just described the Night Thief!" the kid shouted. "He goes around, stealing people off the streets who seem… odd. But when you see the person the next day, they seem perfectly fine with no memory of ever being kidnapped."
"I see. So this guy only makes his rounds at night huh? Guess we could have a stakeout and wait him out." Natsu said.
Later in the night, the heroes waited in the darkness, looking out for the night thief. It was then they saw a guy walking about the streets with a large bag.
"Look! It's Gray Santa!" Luffy said in excitement.
"Well, he does sort of fit the description." Hope said.
The thief then tripped, accidentally opening the bag, revealing an unconscious Ramon inside. He scooped him back up and dashed off.
"We can't let him get away! After him!" Jexi said.
The old man saw them chasing after him and the hightailed it down the streets. He soon was out of reach, but then something was found at his last location.
"It's another one of those gears." Indigo said.
"Strange. What was he doing with Ramon?" Sci-Twi asked before they all saw the lights in the tower light up one after the other.
"Guess we know where we're headed next." Jexi said.
"But first, we better tell Dahlia what happened to Ramon." Hope said.