"That's the last of them", said Ryu as the large orange rodent fell to the ground, its long black tail with the lightning-bolt tip lashing out at the wall before falling still.
Bun-bun watched, intruiged by the fighters who had bested his minions.
He had used the field created by the lockdown to his advantage,
spending weeks administering harsh training on the eleven (he hadn't tried anything with Time Eater; the eldritch monster was probably immune to this field anyway) beings to turn them into potent fighters, but seemingly it hadn't been enough. Granted, he had only expected them to slow down and weaken the intruders, or force them to divide allowing the minions to pick off the stragglers and make things easier for Xehanort and Vayne, but he hadn't expected them to leave behind only a few fighters and still come out victorious. Ryu, Batman, Taskmaster, Brom, Sirius and Heller had defeated all his "students", even the two Pokémon, which he had evolved beyond their weak baby forms.
"Your attempts to achieve the upper hand have failed", said Meta
Knight, appearing behind the rabbit. "Now fight me!"
In a flash, both fighters attacked, Bun-bun drawing his handgun as Meta Knight dashed past, slashing with his sword.
For a moment, it looked like neither had hit their mark. Then Meta Knight's mask shattered, and, simultaneously, the gun in Bun-bun's hands slid apart into two pieces.
"You don't look so scary without your mask", said Bun-bun. "You should keep it off. It would make you easier to underestimate".
Then Bun-bun noticed the slash wound on his chest.
"Every opponent underestimates me", said Meta Knight. "And a true warrior does not hide behind deception".

Meanwhile, Sora, Riku, Zero, Larten and Gaara had reached the second gate. However, they had found it guarded by another Keyblade wielder.

One who closely resembled Sora, for some reason.

The Sora look-alike had proved to be a powerful fighter, but in the end, he wasn't able to defeat Sora and Riku together. As the stranger collapsed, Sora looked somewhat worried.
"What's the matter, Sora?" asked Riku.
"Was that... another timeline's version of me?" asked Sora.
"I don't know", said Riku. "But I fought him before, and he either didn't know anyone by that name or pretended he didn't, so if he is, he's pretty far removed".
Gaara took the Key and inserted it into the lock, unlocking the door like the one outside. The five made their way into the audience chamber to find Kairi held by two guards, along with what lolled to be either Ansem or Xemnas, a man with long black hair dressed in extravagant armour of some kind (who Sora guessed must be Vayne Solidor himself) and another finely-dressed man.
"Sora! Riku! Get out of here, it's a trap!" shouted Kairi.
"Let Kairi go!" shouted Sora.
"Having to capture this poor girl was regrettable, but you left me with no choice", said Solidor. "These friends of yours broke into my palace and stole what is rightfully mine. I'm sure we can come to some kind of understanding if you would just return my Key".
Sora hesitated for a moment, but then Riku spoke. "Don't listen to him, Sora. After he has the key he'll kill us all. That man beside him is the original Xehanort!"
"I'll free her", said Larten, flitting forward only to find the well-dressed man blocking his path.
"Did you think you were the only one with such speed?" said the man. "Allow me to educate you to your mistake".
Larten slashed at him, but his claws seemed to stop on contact with the man, doing no damage. The stranger retaliated with a superhumanly strong punch to the vampire's stomach, sending him flying back against a wall".
"Too bad. You could have all made it out of here alive", said Solidor. "Kill the girl".
The two soldiers swung their swords not at Kairi, but at Solidor
himself.

Solidor was almost caught off guard, dodging the attack just in time. Xehanort retaliated, striking the two with a Keyblade he summoned in one hand and sending them crashing over the tables and chairs. As one of them got up, minus his helmet, Sora was surprised to see a familiar face.
"Lupin?"
"You've heard of me?" asked Lupin, the other guard standing up and removing his helmet to reveal himself to be Jigen.
"Of course I have!" said Sora. "We met at the... wait a second...". He suddenly remembered part of Jack's story...

"What should we do now?" asked Tigress as she, Buzz and Peter landednext to the others.
"Also, where are Lupin and Jigen?" asked Peter.
Woody looked around to see that they were nowhere to be seen.


"That hasn't happened yet for them", whispered Zero.
"Well, wherever you know me from, you're not the only ones who broke in here", said Lupin.
"We just use a little thing called stealth", said Jigen.
As Kairi ran over to Sora and Riku's side of the room and summoned her Keyblade, Xehanort moved between them and the door.
"You three take him on", said Larten. "Gaara and Zero can handle
Solidor. As for me, I'll do battle with him", he said, eyeing the finely-dressed man.
"I have a name, you know", he said. "Sebastian Shaw, at your service".

"Larten Crepsley", said the vampire, returning the gesture.
"A good plan", said Vayne. "But I think there's something you missed..."
Suddenly, what looked to be a huge mechanical eagle swooped down on Lupin and Jigen. They would have been torn to shreds, had a Corridor of Darkness not opened between them and the six beings Kairi had came accompanied by sprang out, leaping onto the monstrosity and sending it crashing to the ground.
"Guys!" cried Kairi. "How did you get here?"
"Some guys broke into the dungeon and freed us", said Sparkster. "A cowboy and a spaceman and two skeletons, a tiger, a boy in a red coat and another in green... And this guy with crazy red hair in a black coat who said you might remember him. I think his name was... Axel?"
"Who are these people?" asked Sora.
"These are some friends of mine. Sly, Kari, Gatomon, Omega, Rayman, Sparkster, this is Sora".
"Sora? You found him?" said Kari.
"As touching as this reunion is, we really have other things to focus on", said Sly, as he, Omega, Sparkster, Rayman and Gatomon tried to subdue Clockwerk. It didn't work though, and the great mechanical beast beat the five off and sent them flying off around the room - all except Omega and Sly, who seemed to have a fairly good grip on the beast.
So many things were going on at once that Solidor missed his chance to dodge and became trapped in Gaara's sand. The Dark Corridor had by no means closed, and out of it came more people. Woody, Buzz, Jack, Peter, Mickey, Tigress, Axel, Edward, Skulduggery and America flooded through the portal while Ryu, Heller, Meta Knight, Batman, Sirius, Taskmaster and Dave made their way in through the doors.

Shaw said nothing as he fought Crepsley, but it was clear to him that the tables had turned.
Also, where the devil has Doom gotten to? he thought.
Then suddenly, Vayne Solidor, Sebastian Shaw, Xehanort and Clockwerk vanished in a strange whirl of space itself, not a trace left behind.

"Yeah, you'd better run!" said Peter.
"So where's Holmes gotten to?" asked Dave.
"He hid himself somewhere. Said he had some matters to take care of, and he'll contact us again when he needs us. Probably on that TARDISchat thing. He also said there's a temple with twelve sarcophagi in it that he's rigged to use the energy of that time gun of Stitch's to freeze them until they're woken up. That way, they'll be able to meet those friends of theirs they haven't met yet and help them out of a tough spot".

"How are we supposed to tell them that?" asked Dave.

"Just tell them there's some friends who need their help in the future and that's the only way to get them there".

"We had best get out of here before Woody or any of the others we haven't met yet asks who we are", whispered Larten. "And take the key on the way".
As Sora, Riku, Kairi and their companions left the room, Gaara didn't say a word. But he knew who was responsible for their escape.

Though an even bigger shock came when they got to the gate and found no sign of the Key to the past or the mysterious Keyblade wielder.


Time Eater awoke to find the castle silent and a pair of computerised lenses in front of him.
It appeared the intruders had defeated the other henchmen and left, leaving no sign of either Solidor's inner circle or their own defeated-if there had been any. He also noticed that Raichu and Vileplume had reverted to their most basic state of evolution. He realised he must have subconsciously eaten the time they spent in the Time-locked castle.
He gathered up the unconscious bodies of Groove Guy, Pichu, Wheezy, Pumpkinmon and Doctor N. Brio. According to the data spectacles, there was another being requesting his assistance. Perhaps they would have more luck than Solidor just had.

This stranger calling themself "The Joker" certainly had put forth a good argument.


Solidor, Xehanort, Clockwerk and Shaw found themselves, along with Doom and an injured Bun-bun and an unconscious Vanitas, in a chamber in some kind of underground establishment. The only light came from a candle on the far side of the room, so the other side of the room was in pitch darkness.
"Greetings", said a stranger in the dark end of the room. All that could be seen of him was a single eye, its red iris containing a pattern of black. "My name is Madara Uchiha. King Galbatorix has requested to see you"
"Before we get into any of that, I have a question to ask you", said Solidor.

"Ask it", said Madara.
"Where is my Key?" demanded the governor.


"We have the Key to the Past within our possession", said Baldor as he Gollum returned to the cave where Gorilla Grodd and Biollante had made their headquarters.
"Good work", said Grodd. "Now that we have an Instrument of Time under our possession, we can begin".
He took the key and pushed it into an imaginary door in the air beside him.
"What are you doing?" asked Juri as the "door" seemed to open somehow. Behind it was nothing but the vast emptiness of space.
"Creating our own Earth", said Gorilla Grodd. "By seperating this instant from the rest of reality".
A moment later, a new, fragmented Earth appeared in the space. Gorilla Grodd closed the door slowly.
"It is time to make some changes to our new world".

I would have liked to expand the fights a little, but I never got round to that. After the battles of the chapter before last, I felt we needed a little break from the battling for a moment.

About the previous chapter, I'm taking it from the lack of reviews it either wasn't the most well-received chapter or people just didn't know what to make of it. Maybe even mistook it for a chapter of the wrong story misplaced. If so, sorry about that. It doesn't make much sense now, but it will in later chapters.

This arc highlights a little of what Woody and Lupin's teams were doing in Rabanastre before they turned up at the end of the second arc. The Deadpool and Stitch two chapters ago were them before they went forward. The time shenanigans may be a little confusing, so if anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

NEXT CHAPTER: We begin the Tale of Lupin and Tintin!