One night in 2019 before summer arrived, I had a dream that Ratigan was imitating Basil's voice, taking Basil's own hurtful words against him. I'll do one of Ratigan using Fidget's words against him next.

Ratigan's raven, Blackclaw went over to Basil's house and overheard how Basil was treating a little girl and the doctor. First, Basil claimed he had no time for lost fathers, although Olivia didn't lose him; he accused her of it. Second, Basil mispronounced her last name and he broke his violin, blaming Olivia for it and saying she wasn't allowed to come along to his investigation. This is pathetic. He's acting like a child, the raven thought to himself. Next, he heard Basil rudely instruct Olivia not to say a word until she shushed him when Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson came and she must've shushed him out of anger for hurting her feelings. Seeing Basil getting shushed at satisfied Blackclaw that he laughed. Later, the black bird listened to Basil rant and blamed Olivia's abduction on the doctor, Dawson, but then Basil apologized for his behavior. Blackclaw scoffed. "Basil needs to earn his trust and watch what he says to people," he said under his breath, "I'm going to tell Ratigan this." With that, the raven flew off in a huff.

The raven squawked, getting the rat's attention. "What is it, Blackclaw?" Ratigan asked the raven.

"Professor, I overheard Basil say such unsavory things to newcomers," Blackclaw reported.

"What unsavory things?"

Blackclaw whispered in his boss's ear and Ratigan had an idea. "Thank you for reporting this information. I have a plan."

"What is it?"

"Since the girl and her father are both imprisoned, you should separate Basil and his partner."

"How?"

"Here," Ratigan said, handing the raven a piece of paper. "This should help. Be anonymous."

The raven took the paper from Ratigan and started writing Basil an invitation.

Ratigan's bird disguised himself as a mouse and handed the invitation to a mouse paperboy. The boy gave him a look, but accepted it and started on his way to Baker Street to mail it.

The paperboy quickly slipped the invitation under Basil's entry doorway.

"Mr. Basil, here's an invitation," Mrs. Judson said, picking up the invitation.

Basil stopped his experiments in his chemistry set and rushed over to Mrs. Judson. "Thank you, Mrs. Judson," Basil said as he took the invitation from her hands and opened the invitation.

Dr. Dawson walked behind the detective. "What does it say, Basil?" he asked.

The letter read:

Dear Basil,

Would you like to play chess? If so, you must come alone.

"Hmm...no name," said Basil, "It must be anonymous."

"How odd," Dr. Dawson said, just as confused as Basil.

"Yes, but someone insists I go alone."

"Why?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Basil scratched his head.

"Maybe it's with a friend you haven't seen in a while." Dawson shrugged his shoulders.

"Good observation, my dear Dawson," Basil said with a wink.

"Well, I've been very observant, Basil. Have a good time." Dawson waved goodbye to Basil as the detective left.

The raven smiled, finding his plan was working and chuckled darkly as he dashed out of sight. He knew the detective would be following him. Basil came to an abandoned building, where a chess set had already been set. "That's strange," Basil said to himself as he started to sit down, "I thought many people would be here." Suddenly, someone knocked him out with a frying pan.

Blackclaw brought the knocked-out detective to Ratigan's lair. Basil woke up to find himself there.

"Thank you, my pet," Ratigan said to the raven and to Basil, he added, "Ah, Basil. As an intelligent detective, I couldn't believe you'd fail to realize this was a trick."

"I WHAT?!" Basil asked angrily.

"What's more I heard my raven told me you said a lot of unkind things to the girl and the doctor."

Basil gasped, not liking where this was going.

"See here! I simply have no time for lost fathers!" Ratigan mimicked the stunned detective's voice.

Basil scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. "You took my words against me! How could you?"

"Well, that's what you get for accusing the poor girl of losing her father," Ratigan said, gesturing towards Olivia, who was in the bottle.

"Why would you care?"

"I don't tolerate people accusing others of something they didn't do, so why do the same thing to you?"

"Ugh! This is an outrage!" Basil snapped.

"Not as outrageous as you mispronouncing the girl's last name, 'Miss Flamhammer!' or 'Miss Flanchester!'"

"FLAVERSHAM!" Basil and Olivia shouted.

"Whatever."

"How rude."

"RUDE, you say?" Ratigan demanded sarcastically, "I'll show you rude." He sat on his throne and pretended he sat on something sharp. "Why you, look what you-"

"You've brought this on yourself," Basil said, shaking his head and laughing, "There was nothing on your throne."

Ratigan smiled as if to intimidate him. "Young lady." The rat got up from his throne and towered over him, imitating his voice in anger,"You are most definitely NOT accompanying us and that is FINAL!" With that, the professor stomped his feet like a child.

"You're acting like a spoiled child," Basil said with a snarky tone. "That happened hours ago. I didn't do anything to you."

"Well, that was how YOU were acting, Basil," Ratigan said, incensed with how he acted before, "Blaming a child for something you did."

Basil thought about this. "Yes, I'll admit it, but now you're just being ridiculous." He crossed his arms.

"And not a word out of you," Ratigan said, leaning his face against Basil's, "Is that clear?"

Basil leaned his face against Ratigan's face back and shushed him, making the rat jump backwards.

"I'm not finished, Basil," Ratigan growled and continued to mimic Basil's voice, "YES! She's gone, Dawson! Confound it! Told you to watch over the girl! Now she's been spirited away by that maniacal little monster!" Basil cringed at this, his own hurtful words coming back to haunt him, but he knew Ratigan wasn't through. "Soon to be in the clutches of the most depraved mind in all of London! I should've known better than to-"

"Hey, I apologized," Basil told him off.

"True, but it can't be fixed with 'sorry'," Ratigan warned him, "You have to earn one's trust."

"Why would you care?"

"I suggest you be careful of what you say, otherwise, you'll lose anyone close to you. You put your friendship with everyone around you to the test. All you cared about was putting me behind bars."

"Basil, what is he talking about?" Olivia asked Basil.

"He's been lying to you all along, child," Ratigan told her, "He never cared about you; he was only using you to put me behind bars. He wasn't going to save your daddy."

Olivia gasped. "What?"

"No!" Basil shouted, "But, but, but-"

"But, but, but. GENIUS! You're no hero! You're a fraud!" Ratigan raged, fed up with Basil's excuses.

This hurt Basil to the core and he sighed as his enemy continued, "Oh, by the way. Since all you cared about was throwing me in jail, I thought I'd do anything to get you out of the way." Ratigan snickered evilly. "Now, I'm going to finish the game, MY way." This time, he laughed more sinisterly and left to find Fidget with Blackclaw flying behind the rat.

Now that Basil and Olivia were alone, this gave Olivia the opportunity to ask him questions. "Basil? Basil?"

"Yes, Olivia?" Basil said.

"I don't understand. Is it true? You lied to me?" asked Olivia.

"I did what I had to. I'm a detective."

"You said you'd help me get my daddy back!" Olivia said, her voice breaking.

"Don't you get it, child?" Basil demanded, "All these years I've been trying to capture Ratigan and I almost had him!"

Now Olivia was starting to get really angry. "YOU PROMISED!"

Basil was shocked by her outburst and realized he hurt her again. She turned away from him, her back toward him, sobbing. "Olivia, I just-"

"You lied," Olivia cut him off, still feeling betrayed by Basil.

"I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry for all the mean things I said to you."

"Ratigan's right! You need to earn other people's trust and be careful of what you say!" Olivia continued to cry.

Basil looked at her sorrowfully, feeling awful for how he treated her before and wished he could make things better, but nothing he could say was going to change her mind. She trusted him, but instead of being the Basil she knew, he was entirely different. He, too, turned away, feeling hopeless.

Ratigan finally found Fidget, who was glaring at him hatefully. "Hello, dear Fidget."

"I heard everything going on between you and Basil," Fidget said with resentment in his voice, "That was mean."

"Now, Fidget, listen to me," Ratigan said casually, booping him on the nose and the raven stroked Fidget's cheek.

However, Fidget wasn't having any of it, so he punched the rat and Blackclaw in the face. "Save it, sewer rat and stupid bird! I've had it with you and your abuse!" He stormed off to find Basil alone, but little did he know that a few of Ratigan's cronies were sick of Ratigan, as well, so they joined him.

"Basil sure is having a good time playing chess," Mrs. Judson mused.

"Either that or he could be in trouble," Dr. Dawson said, putting on his coat and hat, "That's why I'm going to look for him."

Mrs. Judson was cleaning when she broke a vase, shocked by the doctor's words. "Oh, my! He could be in grave danger! You could be right. By all means, you must go look for him."

"And that's what I'm doing," Dawson said with a wink, "I'll be right back. Take care while I'm gone." He closed the door behind him and Mrs. Judson locked the door in case someone invaded the house. Thus, she locked the windows and everything.

Red unlocked Hiram Flaversham's cell.

"What are you three doing here?" Hiram demanded of Red, Snakes, and Bill.

"We're here to bust you out of here," Red replied.

"Even though you work for Ratigan?" Hiram crossed his arms. "I still don't trust you."

"You have every right to feel this way, but you want to save your daughter and the queen, don't you?" Snakes asked.

"Of course, I do, but I think it's a trick."

"We're no longer Ratigan's allies," Bill told Olivia's father, "Your daughter and the queen will be saved if you let us help you. Think of it as a jailbreak."

The toymaker considered this until he finally said, "Alright, I accept. This is for my daughter and the queen."

Fidget walked over to the bottle where Olivia sat in. She turned around to see who it was, but at the sight of the bat, she never forgot how she treated her. "What do you want?" she demanded, "You've had quite a nerve coming back."

"You're right, but I'll help you out this time," Fidget assured her.

"She's right, Fidget," Basil scolded him, "After what you've done to aid Ratigan? That's just foolish! Even I'm just as guilty for breaking promises."

"I caught that, too and told Ratigan that I heard everything, so I punched him and his bird real hard," Fidget said, "I got sick of his abuse."

"He abused you?" Basil asked.

Fidget nodded and he pulled out the cork, nearly falling backwards, to Olivia's and Basil's concern.

"Fidget, don't hurt yourself!" Basil warned and caught him before the bat landed on his back. The detective took over and the cork fell.

Just as he and Fidget were about to pull out the little girl, Red, Snakes, Bill, and the toymaker were already at the scene of another rescue. The bat and the detective pulled Olivia out of the bottle.

At the sight of her father, Olivia squealed in delight. "Father!" She ran in her father's arms.

Suddenly, Dawson dashed into the lair, already seeing the Flavershams rescued and reunited. "What's all this?"

"A rescue team," Basil replied, "It appears Fidget and the others have suffered enough of Ratigan's abuse."

Out of the blue, Ratigan snarled, seeing his own men have turned against him and his arch nemesis had the upper hand. How could Ratigan's own men do this to him? "You will pay for this!" Ratigan said, shaking his dinner bell to call Felicia.

"Traitors!" Blackclaw sneered.

But before Felicia could come, Fidget, Red, Snakes, Bill, Hiram, and Basil knocked down the toy queen, breaking it into a million pieces. Ratigan, Blackclaw, and Felicia flinched.

Basil whistled for Toby, who came running in the sewer. "Toby!" he called, "Change in plans. We don't need to worry about Fidget anymore, it's Ratigan. So, in order for you to avoid Fidget and the others to be Felicia's snack, I want you to go after her."

Toby nodded and at the sight of the cat, he growled and chased her.

"You'll regret this, Basil!" Ratigan seethed.

"Looks like you have no pet to use as a threatening tool to get what you want and make your employees do things out of fear," Basil said confidently, "Now they can be safe."

Fidget, Red, Snakes, and Bill cheered, finally free from Felicia.

"Oh, no!" Ratigan said, feeling depressed, "It's not fair!"

"Barbarians!" Blackclaw whined.

Basil and Dawson handcuffed the rat and his raven. "You have the right to remain silent," Basil said, "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." The detective and the doctor brought them over to the police station.

"Guys, thanks for helping me," Fidget said to Bill, Snakes, and Red.

"Anything for our friend, Fidget," Snakes told him.

"And I'd like to thank you for saving me and my daughter," Hiram added.

"Basil helped, too," Fidget reminded him.

Felicia was chased out of Ratigan's palace by Toby. Just when she wasn't looking both ways, she was hit by a horse carriage. Toby covered his eyes, but was relieved that she wouldn't hurt any more citizens.

Toby returned to Ratigan's lair and by the time he did, Basil and Dawson were already back. "Ratigan is officially behind bars," Basil announced and everyone cheered. Ratigan was already arrested and Felicia was gone.

Olivia and her father thanked Basil for everything and bought him a new violin to replace his old one before heading back home to Scotland.

Fidget, Bill, Red, and Snakes started a new life in London and came to visit the Flavershams, Basil and Dawson from time to time.

Another version will be up soon, since I had Ratigan use words against Basil and Fidget separately.