Yeah, I'm back with another Cartoon X-Over parody. We all love those, don't we, kiddies? Anyway, this is a parody of Batman, no real incarnation in particular, with characters from Kenny the Shark, Superjail and Open Season. Enjoy!

The streets are no place for a child.

Of course, that statement goes without saying. In a city like Gotton especially. Any toddler would know not to brave the labyrinthine roads or to walk under the leering skyscrapers, yet here was this little dog girl, all by herself. No mommy to hold her hand, no daddy to reassure her everything was okay.

She shouldn't be out here alone. That's what the other dog lady said. There was another dog lady and though she wore revealing clothes and smeared makeup, she looked enough like mommy that the dog-child listened to her. The other dog lady didn't bring her home though. Just as well, mommy always said never drive home with strangers.

But who could she turn to? Mommy was gone – as if taken by whatever lurked under the bed – and she stood between two rows of distorted buildings- her light green raincoat the sole source of colour in this monochrome city.

She did know the way home though. Yes, she had to. She had told her teacher that when she grew up she wanted to be a world-famous explorer, and if she wanted that career, she had to know where to find things. If she couldn't find her way home, what good was she at finding hidden treasures or secret temples?

She had to be smart. She had to be brave.

Zipping up her raincoat so it became as much a shield as her bedcovers, she racked her mind for clues. That's what Sherlock Holmes did; he collected clues to solve a mystery. Now what did her flat look like? What did she see there when she looked out of the window? There was always a white car parked outside the corner. It didn't belong to mommy or daddy, yet it was always parked there. And there was usually a human in a black coat walking around.

Find the white car. Find the human. Find the flat. Problem solved.

Undeterred by the screeching of police sirens filling the air, the dog child licked her lips and wagged her tail, and then darted down the pavement. Though she ran fast, she made sure to keep her eyes peeled. White car, black coat. White car, black coat. The finale played in her head; after many trials and tribulations, she would find her way home, her mother would hug her while talking about how proud she was to have such a smart daughter...

And look! The man in the black coat! All she had to do was follow him and find the white car! Then...

'Hey, what's this?'

It wasn't the man in the black coat. A different man in a different black coat. The man she saw outside her window was plump; he didn't have a face as elongated as this man, and he certainly didn't walk about with anyone else.

'It's a little kid,' said the other figure, a bear wearing a similar coat. 'Cute little critter.'

The child wanted to speak. She wanted to be brave. All she could manage to do was make squeaking sounds.

'Oh, look here, Stu,' the man said to the bear. 'From how she was darting about earlier, I thought she was a runner. Turns out she's just a gibberer.' He shook his head as he kneeled down. 'Much less fun.'

She continued to gibber, as much as her brain demanded her legs to move. As much as she wished to be overcome with some heroic fury that would defeat these two once and for all. But nothing. She had become hollow. Her insides had been hacked out of her, leaving her empty. A doll. A toy.

'Still...' The bear flexed his claws. 'Maybe we should let her go home. Us animals get enough crap as is.'

'Oh shut up.' The man slapped the bear right in the stomach, and the bear skulked back in the shadows like...like a dog. The child finally gained the strength to move her muscles, and began to look around the city for any more shadows. Friendly shadows.

'Oh, finally decided to move, eh?'

There was a shadow. Right there, between the bins. A moving shadow. A large shadow.

'So, you gonna run away or what?'

The child looked up to the man again, seeing him hold a knife that burned in the harsh yellow of the streetlamps. She froze again.

'You know, it's no use running away.' He brought the knife closer to her snout, even running a finger down her lips. 'In fact, I bet I even know your mother.'

A quick look askance, and the shadow had reappeared. It skulked down another street before disappearing into the ground.

'Hey, what are you looking at?'

'Oh!' Stu came forward again. 'It's not that...'

'Of course it's bloody well not!' the man barked, making Stu retreat once more. 'I bet even this little bitch doesn't believe that.'

The child almost spoke up, but then a third figure joined the group. The shadow.

A figure seemingly made up of darkness itself. The child had once drawn a picture of how she imagined the very night would look as if it were a person; this third figure was like a distorted version of that drawing. It rose behind the man, opening up its wings to ensnare him.

At last, the child ran.

She zoomed away to where she first saw the shadow – bins to hide behind. Indeed, she dove for cover behind the rusted metal cans, and peeked at the chaos that had begun.

The shadow had rows and rows of fangs.

The man lay at the shadow's feet – or whatever it walked on. Was he...no, he was twitching. The shadow then turned to Stu, who became just as still as the child had been. The shadow grew, its wings stretching and its fangs multiplying.

All she could do was run away again.

That thing...it wasn't like those two other men. It was the thing in the closet. It was the thing under the bed. It was the very thing defeated in all the fables and fairy tales...but there were no handsome princes. No shining knights on gleaming white steeds.

The shadow had come towards her.

It had stepped into the lamplight, so the child not only stopped out of gear, but because of her own arbitrary curiosity. A black cloak was draped over its shoulders, but it was mostly naked; a big grey fish. A shark.

Sharks live in the water and gobble you up.

Backing away slowly, the child's throat went completely dry, and her body quivered as she moved. That man and that bear...they belonged in this world. And while the child had seen sharks, and had even heard of them walking on land, this thing seemed to have exited a dream into the physical world.

It moved slowly, and though it walked on its tail, it still stood proud and tall, but it managed to reach her.

It bent down and placed a fin on her shoulder.