- Chapter 24 -

On the Trail of a Crook

Baker Street

In the actual apartment of 221 Baker Street, a small wall design opened up, and from it peaked Basil, accompanied by Sora and Olivia, the latter of whom opened it further. Basil glared at Olivia.

"Not a word out of you. Is that clear?" he said sternly. Sora glared at him, getting tired of Basil's attitude.

"Well, someone needs a hug," he said flatly. Basil turned towards him and opened his mouth to say something, but Olivia suddenly shushed them both. Sora saw two shadows approaching, and promptly closed the doorway, keeping it open a crack to see who was approaching.

His jaw dropped at the sight of the two men. It was none other than Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson; he remembered them from some of his book reports back at school.

"No way," he said in awe. "Sherlock Holmes is real?!"

Basil rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. He's just as real as you and I. Now keep it down!"

"I observe that there's a good deal of German music on the program," came the voice of Holmes. "It is introspective, and I want to introspect."

Watson sighed. "But Holmes, that music is so frightfully dull."

Holmes shrugged. "Come along, Watson."

The two men left the room, and Sora turned back down the opening.

"The coast is clear, guys," he called. "C'mon!"

Sora came out of the opening with Basil and Olivia, and they heard the sounds of strained grunting as the others struggled to get out of the tight passageway.

"Will you quit shoving?!" snapped Donald.

"Get your butt out of my face!" Lea shouted to someone else.

"Ouch!" West yelped. "That was my toe!"

After a few minutes, Dawson squeezed out of the opening, and the others came out as well. Riku let out a groan and rubbed his neck, a cracking sound emitting from it.

"Now I know what a canned sardine feels like," he said.

Meanwhile, Basil was looking around the room. "Toby?" he called. "Toby?"

Olivia tugged on Dawson's coat to get his attention. "Who's Toby?" she asked.

Dawson shrugged, and then turned to Basil. "I say, Basil, who is this Toby chap?" he asked.

At that very moment, thundering footsteps sounded, and a shadow fell over the group.

"Here he is now," Basil said simply, and the group turned to see a basset hound with a blue collar, the dog obviously happy to see Basil. While he would have been at best calf-high if Sora and his group were normal-sized, at their current size, he towered over them.

Sï'Lea raised an eyebrow. "Wait, Toby's a dog?"

"What else would he be?" Basil said rhetorically before pushing Dawson forward. "Dawson, meet Toby."

Toby leaned down to Dawson, who patted his nose and tipped his hat.

"Charmed, I'm sure," he said. Without warning, Toby bared his teeth and growled at Dawson, who quickly hid behind a chair.

"Toby, no! Down!" Basil shouted, waving his arms. Toby obeyed, and Dawson peaked out from behind the chair as the dog sniffed around the room.

"Terribly sorry, old man," Basil said to Dawson. "Toby has the most splendid sense of smell of any hound I've ever encountered. But he can be quite frisky."

"I can see that." Dawson said as Toby stopped before a footrest, from under which came Olivia. Toby sniffed her for a minute, then smiled.

"Hello, Toby!" Olivia giggled, patting his nose. "Would you like a crumpet?"

Toby nodded, and Olivia pulled one of the crumpets she had taken out of her pocket, which Toby promptly ate. Meanwhile, Basil was digging around in his pocket.

"Toby?" he said as he did so. "I want you to-" He cut himself off to see that Toby wasn't listening, instead enjoying a belly rub from Olivia. The others all let out an "aww" at the sight.

"If only I had a camera..." Kairi said.

Basil didn't share the others' sentiments; in fact, he was quite annoyed, and let out an impatient whistle. At that, Olivia slid off of Toby and landed next to Kairi and Dawson, while Toby rolled back to his feet, facing Basil.

"Good, you're paying attention," Basil said, pulling out Fidget's hat. "Now then, Toby, I want you to find... this fiend!"

Toby sniffed the hat, and then growled. "Yes, you know the type," Basil continued. "A villain. A scoundrel! Low brow. Close set eyes. Broken wing."

Toby stopped at that and looked at Basil, confused at that part of the description. "Oh, he's a peg-legged bat with a broken wing," Basil said simply.

Toby simply nodded, then growled. "Yes! That's the spirit!" Basil said excitedly. "Got his scent?"

Toby nodded happily, and Basil grabbed his leash. "Good boy!" He turned to face Toby again, only to find him staring at Olivia, Dawson, and Sora's group. He moved over to them. "Miss Flamchester-"

"Flaversham!" Olivia and the others replied, exasperated.

"Whatever," Basil replied. "Your father is as good as found. Toby?"

Toby struck a pointer pose, ready to follow the trail. "Sic 'em!"

Toby took off, accidentally stepping on Basil in the process. Managing to keep hold of the leash, Basil regained his wind as he was dragged off, whooping as he went.

"C'mon!" Sora shouted, and the others quickly took off after them.

-x-

A few minutes later, Sora and the others had caught up with Toby and Basil in the street, where Toby was sniffing the ground. He suddenly let out a howl and broke out into a run, with Sora and co. jumping up and clinging on to him as he took off again.

"The thrill of the hunt, eh, my friends?" Basil declared.

"Q-quite!" Dawson replied as he clung to Toby's tail.

"It can't be too much farther now!" Hikari said, clinging to Toby's fur.

-x-

Meanwhile, inside a toy store not too far away, Fidget was busy acquiring the parts Ratigan needed for his plan. At this moment, he was removing the uniforms from toy soldiers. Stuffing them into his bag, he removed the list Ratigan gave him and a pencil, reading it and checking it as he went.

"Get the following," he said as he did so. "Tools, check. I got tools. Gears, double check. I got gears. Girl..." He made a check under "girl," but quickly remembered he didn't have Olivia yet and erased it. "Uniforms..." he chuckled as he looked at the toy soldiers, "I got plenty of uniforms!"

Suddenly, the howl of a dog reached his ears. Fidget jumped.

"Oh, no! Gotta hide!" he exclaimed. Grabbing the hats off of the toy soldiers, he quickly stuffed them into his bag and jumped on top of a clown toy and up to a higher shelf out of sight; unbeknownst to him, he had dropped the list.

Just outside the window, Toby had stopped, and Basil jumped onto the window sill. Olivia made her way to the tip of his muzzle and held her arms out to Basil, who gave her a look of annoyance, but nonetheless began to hold his arms out to her before Riku picked her up himself; Basil simply shrugged.

"I've got you, Olivia," Riku said.

Olivia smiled. "Thank you, mister..."

"Riku. Just call me Riku," He jumped across the gap and gently set her down. "You wanna ride piggyback?"

"Sure!" With that, Riku gently knelt down and let Olivia climb up on his back. The others looked on as they climbed off of Toby themselves.

"Huh," said Sï'Lea. "I never really pegged Riku as a kid person."

Sora shrugged. "Well, out of the three of us, he's the only one who has a younger sibling."

Mickey nodded. "Back in Castle Oblivion, he did mention having a little sister."

"What's her name?" asked Aqua.

"Kikyo," Kairi replied. "Most people just call her Kiki."

At that moment, they heard a loud ahem, and turned to see Basil, his arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked.

"Oh, right," Sora said sheepishly. "Let's get going."

Basil nodded before turning to Toby. "Now, Toby... sit!"

Toby just stood there, looking at him. Basil marched back over to him.

"Toby, sit!" he said, this time more firmly. Toby still did nothing.

"Sit, Toby." said Olivia. Toby immediately sat down. Basil stole a brief glare at Olivia before turning back to Toby.

"Good boy," he said, before marching past the group. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"You be good now," Olivia said to Toby. "We're going to find my father."

Toby let out a small bark in response, and the others went to where Basil was inspecting the window. Soon, he found a small hole in one part of the window, and pointed at it triumphantly.

"Aha!" he said. "Here is our friend's entrance."

Nixe raised an eyebrow at that. "You're kidding, right?"

"I agree," said Dawson. "Basil, how could he fit through such a tiny..."

Basil cut him off, taking Dawson's hand. "Observe, doctor."

With that, he stuck Dawson's finger in the hole, and watched confidently as Dawson pulled his hand back, and the window swung open as if on a hinge.

"Oh." Nixe said simply. "So that's how."

"Basil, you astound me!" Dawson said in awe.

Basil hastily shushed him before climbing in, followed by the others; Ven, the last one in, closed the window behind him.

From there, they made their way through the store; Donald, not looking where he was going, soon bumped into something.

"Hey!" he squawked. "Why don't you look where... you're..."

He trailed off as he looked and saw that he had bumped into a large doll. The others looked around the toy store in awe.

"Gawrsh," said Goofy. "I've never seen so many toys." Basil promptly darted out from behind the doll, startling them.

"Behind any of which could lurk a bloodthirsty assassin!" he said warningly. "So please... be very careful."

Olivia squirmed from her position on Riku's shoulders. "All these toys!" she said excitedly. "Riku, put me down, please. I wanna go look at them."

Riku obliged. "Okay," he said. "Just don't go too far."

He smiled as she went off, while the others looked at him.

"Reminds you of Kiki, doesn't she?" said Kairi. Riku chuckled.

"It's that obvious, huh?" he asked.

"To us, yes." Sora said matter-of-factly.

Riku sighed. "I miss her..."

"Could you tell us more about her?" Aqua asked. "I'm curious."

Riku looked over to where Basil was stealthily making his way down the shelf, darting between the toys and through the shadows. "Later," he said. "We've got work to do."

Aqua nodded at that, and the others followed Basil. Before long, a sudden crashing noise caused them to jump in shock, and Dawson to leap into Basil's arms. They all turned to see that Olivia had turned on a music box, and was watching the toy fireman band play.

Basil let out an exasperated sigh and put Dawson down before stomping over to Olivia, turning off the box.

"Please! Quiet!" he hissed at Olivia, before turning to Riku and Dawson. "You two, don't let this girl out of your sight!"

Riku nodded, while Dawson stood at attention and saluted as Basil walked away. They looked at Olivia, who was playfully saluting herself, and took her hand.

"Stay close, all right?" Riku said as they continued on, unaware that Fidget was spying on them from above.

Soon, they reached a chessboard, and Basil paused by the rook. Intrigued by something, he pushed the rook over by one space before inspecting it with his magnifying glass.

"Aha!" he declared, getting the others' attention. They rushed over, and Basil pointed to what he found.

"More footprints!" Ven exclaimed.

"Evidence of our peg-legged adversary," Basil said as he began to follow the trail, which led to the now-naked toy soldiers Fidget had been near earlier.

"Hmm, how odd," he said.

Dawson came up behind him. "What is it?" Basil gestured to the soldiers.

"Isn't it painfully obvious, Doctor?" he said. "These dolls have been stripped of their uniforms. And not by any child, either."

Hikari looked at the dolls. "Gosh, he's right," she said. "But why?"

Basil looked over his shoulder to see something else. "Hmmm..." he said as we went over to several mechanical toys, noticing that all of the gears were missing.

"Someone has taken the liberty of removing the clockwork mechanisms from these toys." he pointed out.

Sora folded his arms in thought. "None of this seems to add up," he said. "What kinda evil scheme involves toy gears and uniforms?"

At that moment, Kairi had found the list Fidget had dropped in his haste to hide.

"Hey, Basil-" she began, but Basil waved her away.

"Please, I'm trying to concentrate." he said.

"But-"

Suddenly, music boxes began playing, and winding toys moved up and down the shelves. They all jumped, and turned to see that nearly every toy in the shop was operating on its own.

"What's going on here?!" West demanded.

"I don't know!" Dawson replied. Riku looked over his shoulder to see Olivia approaching a wind-up baby carriage, which was slowly rocking back and forth.

"Olivia, don't!" he shouted, but he was too late; Fidget sprang up out of the carriage, and Olivia had just enough time to scream in terror before Fidget grabbed her and stuffed her in his bag.

"Gotcha!" he shouted, and the others turned to see it as well.

"It's him!" Basil shouted, breaking into a run. "Quickly!"

The others charged after him, when suddenly, Heartless appeared before them.

"Oh, not now!" Sora shouted as they drew their weapons, Basil and Dawson pulling out small revolvers (1). Riku simply jumped over the Heartless and continued chasing Fidget, the pursuit leading him up a pile of toys.

"You're not getting away, you stupid bat!" he shouted, but as he looked up, he saw Pete and Mortimer waiting outside the skylight.

"He's on your tail, batty!" Mortimer shouted. "Toss the kid!" Fidget obediently threw the bag up to Mortimer, who caught it, and then Fidget jumped up and was caught by Pete.

"You two!" Riku snarled. "I knew Maleficent was backing up Ratigan!" He drew his Keyblade. "You better let Olivia go right now, or else!"

"Or else what?" Pete said smugly. "You can't stop us, kid. See ya!"

As if on cue, a mass of Shadows appeared and knocked over the pile of toys, sending Riku careening to the floor.

"Don't worry, Olivia!" he shouted as he fell. "We'll save you!"

As the others finished off the Heartless, they saw Riku hit the ground.

"Riku!" West shouted, and the others quickly rushed over to him. West helped him up.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Riku nodded, a forlorn expression on his face. "I'm fine, but... Fidget got away. And Pete and Mortimer were with him." They gasped.

"So we were right," said Hikari. "Maleficent is in league with Ratigan."

Riku nodded. "And they got Olivia..." At that moment, Basil furiously stomped over to him.

"Confound it, boy!" he snapped. "I told you to watch over the girl! Now she's been spirited away by that monster, soon to be in the hands of the most depraved mind in all of London!"

Riku looked over to him. "Don't you think I know that?" he said sadly. "I tried to save her, okay? I tried..."

Basil simply scoffed and walked away. West gave him a dirty look before patting Riku on the back.

"Don't listen to him," she said comfortingly. "You did all you could."

Riku shook his head. "No, I didn't," he said. "I could've done more..." Hearing that, Basil turned back to them, a look of remorse on his face.

"We all should have watched her more closely." Dawson said sadly.

Basil walked back over to him. "Cheer up, it's not entirely hopeless," he said, smiling. "We'll get her back."

Dawson looked over to him. "Do you think there's a chance?"

"There's always a chance!" Basil declared, lighting his pipe before pacing around and smoking. "As long as one can think."

As Basil paced, Kairi pulled the list she found earlier out of her belt pouch. She looked it over.

"Huh," she said. "Tools, uniforms, gears, girl..."

Basil stopped at that. "What?" he said. "Let me see that." Kairi nodded and handed it over to him, and Basil looked it over.

"You've done it!" he said excitedly. "This list is exactly what we need!"

Dawson gasped. "You mean..."

"Of course!" Aqua declared. "Fidget must've dropped that list!"

"Hurry!" said Basil. "Back to Baker Street! There's not a moment to lose!"

The World That Never Was

Xehanort sat patiently in his throne, Xemnas and Braig with him. They had sent Ansem to the Destiny Islands to gather intel, and were waiting for him to return.

Soon enough, a corridor of darkness opened up, and Ansem appeared in his chair.

"What have you found?" Xehanort asked. Ansem smirked.

"Exactly what we need, Master," he said. "A child... one very close to him."

Xehanort smirked. "Excellent work."

Braig chuckled. "I bet they're just sittin' at home, with no idea of what's to come. So, when are we gonna strike?"

"Very soon," Xehanort replied.

"Should we capture all of them, instead of just the one?" asked Xemnas. "We could make good use of them."

Xehanort waved a hand, dismissing it. "Unnecessary. The girl will suffice," He turned to Ansem. "Make sure the cells are equipped to hold a prisoner, then go and fetch her. But make sure no one else sees you."

Ansem nodded. "As you command."

Braig let out another chuckle. "With this plan, Sï'Lea's little apprentice is gonna walk right into our arms. This should be a piece of cake."

Author's Note:

(1): Couldn't think of any other weapon for Basil and Dawson to use, to be honest. Basil used a gun in the beginning of the movie, and Dawson was in the military, so it seemed a perfect fit.

My sincerest apologies for the ungodly wait. I've had to put up with a lot of stuff in my personal life... mainly my mom passing away (f&$% breast cancer). Anyway, here it is.

The character of Kikyo, mentioned in this chapter, is the property of Kristen Verne, used with her permission. In fact, it's thanks to her and doing RPs with her that I finally found the ideas and motivation to get this out.

Please R&R. Until next time, everybody!