Author's notes: Last day of June and here it is, just as I promised. It took longer than expected because of a number of factors, like me now having two jobs, having a lot of video games I want to finish, trying to have a social life and so on. Also I wish I had someone doing illustrations on some of the scenes here because constantly reminding who all are present here all the time by having them say or do something is more work than I realized.

Name of this chapter comes from a Batman manga written and drawn by Kia Asamiya.

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Chapter 11: Child of Dreams

Wayne Manor..?

''I can see you,'' old man sitting in an armchair said looking at the door to his study.

''Grandpa Bruce,'' little girl with pigtails said creeping out from the door said looking at the old man, ''you always ruin the surprise.''

''When you're 78 years old, let's see how much surprises you, my dear,'' old man said looking back at his granddaughter. ''Why don't you run along and play with your cousins?''

''I don't want to play with them, I want to hear a story,'' the little girl said walking into her grandfather's study. ''Not an imaginary story, Grandpa, a real one.''

''A real one, eh?'' the old man replied with a tired grin and pointed his thumb at the large wall wide bookshelf. ''Why don't you go to the shelf and pull your favorite Batman adventure, and I'll tell it to you.''

''There are so many of them,'' the little girl said looking at the books and other memoraphilia on the shelves.

''That's why I had to start writing them down or I would never be able to remember them all,'' the old mad said as his granddaughter ran her finger across the backs of all the books. ''Hell, half of them contradict the other, but they all happened. I promise you that.''

''Hmm,'' the little girl hummed as she picked a book from the shelf. ''I know.''

The little girl took the book and walked to her grandfather's armchair, where she climbed to his lap as he looked at the book she had brought.

''Child of Dreams,'' the old man read from the cover. ''Rise of Yuko Yagi, the first foreign reporter to ever get an interview from the Batman. This was one of my more obscure cases where your father and uncles were not involved. How about something a bit exciting? Maybe the case of Long Halloween or…''

''No, Grandpa. You have to read it,'' the little girl said with her arms around her grandfather's neck and resting her head against his shoulder, so she could see the book. ''Everyone has their favorite Batman story and this one's mine.''

''Oh, very well,'' the old man said opening the book and stopped for a second. ''… that's strange. I don't remember it opening like this.''

''Don't be silly, Grandpa,'' the little girl said. ''That's exactly how it started.''

''Yes, that's right. I'm sorry, what was I thinking? It all started with a window and a scream lost to the dark.''

Saffron City Gym

''NO! ASH!''

''PIKAPII!''

Red and white hat with a green logo floated in the air in the red rain of blood. Slender and long arm bursted through the red rain causing an air burst as it grabbed it's target. Another arm bursted out causing more blood to rain and the hat was pushed by it to the cold floor. Shadow of the large winged being risen from the red rain of blood was cast on the entire arena as the small yellow being moved to the hat and slowly picked it up.

''Pi… Pikapi…'' Pikachu held onto the blood-soaked hat that was all that was now left of his trainer as the large being presence was felt at the feet of it's foundation which was now a bloody wet stain on the floor.

''Ash…'' Serena said in denial looking down at Pikachu holding onto Ash's hat with Brock.

''Twerp…'' James said voicing the Team Rocket's disbelief on the absence of what they had put most of their careers' in during the passing decade.

Ash Ketchum, the Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town who had travelled through the total of seven regions battling Gyms and competing in their Pokémon Leagues, was now nothing more than a pool of blood on the floor at their feet. After having been ripped of his hometown, separated from his Pokémon living there, almost having his friends killed because they knew him and seeing the building his mother had been in crumble down, Ash had now drowned in his own blood caused by the summoning of Barbatos.

~Know this~ Voice echoed around the Saffron City battle arena as the demon placed the unmasked Batman on the bloody floor next to Pikachu, Serena and Brock. ~ALL ROADS LEAD TO DARKNESS!~

THUMB/SPLOOSH!

Batman's body fell to the blood-filled floor as soon as Barbatos let go him off him and his eyes were dead with a hole in his forehead. As Pikachu looked at the limp body and the motionless eyes of of the adult man laying in the pool of blood he had been let to fall in, the small Electric type Pokémon looked at him, feeling conflicted.

''He has a weak pulse,'' Brock said as he rushed at Batman's body and placed his hand on his throat and above his mouth. ''And I can feel draft coming, he is still breathing.''

''Pikapi?''

''Pikachu,'' Serena said trying to reach at the small Electric mouse as it placed the red hat on Batman's head to cover the hole on his head, ''that's not Ash-''

''We're you not listening before!?'' The Batman Who Laughs spoke from the higher ground looking down on them with the other Dark Knights and umasked Owlman at their mercy. ''Our big brother here just explained how Ash and the Batman were the same person.''

''Ash had my Bruce's soul in his body,'' Owlman said still bind to the golden lasso in the Merciless' grasp. ''That didn't make a version of you. And even if it did-''

''It did make him one of us, big brother,'' the Batman Who Laughs said glancing back at him. ''That is why we came here in the first place, to make him realize that and take his place among us. And like any good or bad version of the Batman, there needed to be the trauma pushing him forward. And what better trauma was there than destruction of home, death of the family and killing everyone he loved. Believe me, I have been at both sides of that, hah hah haa.''

''Ash was not-''

''Tell us, big brother, how old was your Bruce when he died?'' the Batman Who Laughs said as Merciless pulled the rope tighter around Owlman. ''Same age as we were when our parents died? He died along with your parents?''

Owlman answered by nodding his head down and saying ''He was seven.''

''And Ash was almost 20, meaning he had outlived your Bruce almost three times by now,'' Batman Who Laughs said explaining with his head up and playing with his hands. ''Did it ever occur to you that as he grew up, the souls inside him would also grow up together and merge as one?''

That question was met with silence that expressed everyone's shock to this revalation. From the members of Team Rocket along with May and Dawn to Serena and Brock who were by Pikachu, who was keeping Ash's hat on Batman's head to keep it covering the hole in his forehead. Trying to understand why Pikachu was doing this took a backseat soon however, as the resemblance between the two was suddenly made clearer when Serena and Brock, being the nearest to his motionless body, saw how much the unmasked Batman's face as Bruce Wayne looked like Ash's. Not much, as there were the obvious differences coming from the age gap between them and the lack of Z-shaped birthmarks on his cheeks.

''Pikapi,'' Pikachu said looking at Batman on the floor face to face.

''Even that thing can see the Batman the same it saw his trainer, because he was like us,'' the Batman Who Laughs said looking down on Pikachu and drawing attention to how the little Electric Type was looking after Batman's immobile body. ''He was a version of Bruce Wayne, who never experienced the trauma that turned him into Batman and had so gone wrong. And that also had a noticeable effect on the Batman as well. That Pikachu is treating him like he is Ash Ketchum and I have learned that everyone of your first impressions with the Batman were as positive as they could because of the very fact that he was version of Ash Ketchum on the, hah, flipside.''

''Why?'' Serena said, at first in a quiet but audible voice with her gaze down on Pikachu and Batman, before raising it at the Dark Knights and screamed outraged: ''IF ASH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF YOU AND YOU CAUSED EVERYTHING YOU DID HER BECAUSE OF THAT, WHY DID YOU JUST-''

''What? Killed him?'' The Batman Who Laughs said, almost surgically pressing his voice over Serena's as she suddenly lost her posture after running out of breath for having just screamed all the air she had from her lungs. ''Ash Ketchum was the back up Wagon we had come here to get, but now the original Wagon is right where we want it to be. Just like all of you, at our mercy.''

SMACK!

PUNCH!

Devastator, the large Dark Knight infected by the Doomsday Virus, punched both Dialga and Palkia as Merciless threw Owlman to be held by the Drowned and produced a large whip from out of his divine arsenal. Then the God of War begun to use this weapon to beat them into submission in front of his comrades, the humans and the Pokémon, showcasing how he did not give them the mercy of objecting why they were there and what they were needed for.

''And now that we have the Wagon back in our hands, in the way that he won't be fighting back as you can see,'' the Batman Who Laughs said looking at Merciless working on Dialga and Palkia, ''the Time and Space Pokémon can open us a way to the world above. Small, however, as we can only throw the Batman of that world in there, but no worries. The loyal servants of our lord Barbatos will be there to intercept him and finish his mantling.''

THRUMB!

''When that happens, we will ascend from the Darkness and through this neutral space up to the true multiverse above,'' the Batman Who Laughs continued as Dialga and Palkia begun to unite their powers to bend time and space for the previously mentioned opening. ''As for the Batman, he will be sent to take our place in Dark Multiverse and you won't need to worry about any of this anymore.''

''Pikapi,'' Pikachu spoke letting go of Ash's hat as he had now managed to get it fit onto Batman's head, before turning away to face the Batman Who Laughs, the Dark Knights and their master Barbatos. ''Pii-ka-''

Pikachu jumped up in the air as it's tail sparked with electricity and doing a flip charged it into an attack that he then sent at Batman's body laying below him.

''-CHUUUUUUUUU!''

Above Mount Silver and the mountains separating the regions of Kanto and Johto, a Legendary Pokemon floated in the air looking at the region on the eastern side while carrying two humans on it's back. The view from up there, at the approaching night time, would have been something that the two people would have stood there to admire for some time, but not under these circumstances.

''That's where he said they were going,'' Hilbert said looking down at the Kanto Region below Reshiram, focused on Saffron City. ''Those people caught up with them quickly.''

''Not just that,'' Hilda said looking at the dark green dome over Saffron, so large that it covered the entire city and could be seen all the way where they were. ''They were waiting for them and now they are trapped in there. What do we do?''

''Batman… Bruce told us to go back Unova, but…'' Hilbert said trying to think what to say. ''What can we do? Besides the robot and that kid with the ring, what other Batmen are there and-''

Hilbert looked at Hilda behind him on Reshiram's back. She was sitting there with her right arm around him and her left hand over the part of her body she had been shot at earlier back in Hoenn. Although Batman had managed to keep Hilda's wounds stable, he had been the reason why she had been shot in the first place by the mechanical version of him that had followed him and the t wo other trainers to Mauville. Those actions had eventually lead to Hilbert being released from inside the Light Stone along with Reshiram and ultimately the fact that he and Hilda were now there, on Reshiram above Kanto and Johto thanks to Batman, who had told them to go back to their lives in Unova after Hilda had been released from hospital in Goldenrod City.

But when they had done that, left the Goldenrod, and gotten onto Reshiram to fly to Unova, they had seen what was going on in Kanto, where Batman had told them he was going to go with Serena, Dawn and May and what was going on in there. The entire city of Saffron was isolated from the rest of the Kanto Region by a dark green dome with the Bat symbol on it. That meant everyone inside it were trapped by the Dark Knights.

~That symbol~ a voice speaking from inside both Hilbert's and Hilda's head spoke, ~what does it mean?~

''Pii-KA-CHUUUUUUUU!''

''Pikachu!?''

''Bruce!''

~The Wagon!~

As Pikachu landed back on the floor of the arena, placing himself to be between the Dark Knights and the people he condered friends, and Team Rocket, the electric attack landed to connect Batman's body and covered it with an electrified net.

''Electroweb?'' Brock said recognizing the attack Pikachu had used to protect Batman's body. ''I didn't know Ash's Pikachu knew that move.''

''Pikaa pi, Pii Pikachu-pi pikaa, pika pika pikkaa,'' Pikachu spoke defiantly standing on his backfeet and putting out a hostile demenour. ''Pika, Pikapi chu chuu, Pikachu pikaa, pika pikaa chuu, pikkaa pikkaa Pikachuu!''

''Pikachu is either a brave and noble or loyal fool,'' Meowth said to Jessie and James as well as May and Dawn as Pikachu stood defending Batman.

''What is Pikachu saying?'' May asked as Meowth smiled and kept his moved tears from leaking out.

''The little guy is telling the Nightmares that he doesn't see anything in the Batman that would make him like the Twerp, but is still willing to defend him,'' Meowth said with his eyes sparkling as Pikachu yelled his defiance at the evil Batmen. ''Pikachu is saying that they have been doing all kinds of bad and evil things because they saw the Twerp as one of them but knowing what all the Batman has done to keep you Twerpettes alive, Pikachu can't let them use him to do even more bad and evil things, because that's what the Twerp would want him to do.''

''Pika- PIKA PII-KA PII-PIKACHU PIKAPI, PIKKAPI PII PIKACHU PIKAPI!'' Pikachu continued, still defiant as he took his battle stance on all fours, ready to fight anyone trying to threaten Batman. ''Pika Piika, Pikapi pii Pikkapi pii Pikkapi pii Pikapi, Pii-Pikachuu!''

''And that part, Pikachu said that from everyone wearing capes and black clothes, the Batman is the closest thing to the Twerp he now has,'' Meowth said holding onto his neck as kept translating what Pikachu was saying. ''For Pikachu, Batman is the Twerp and the Twerp is Batman, and Pikachu is not going to lose the closest thing to it's trainer again.''

Batman Who Laughs looked down at Pikachu with his grin now upside down as a frown. The other Dark Knights, who weren't busy forcing Dialga and Palkia into doing their biding, had pretty much the same reaction while Barbatos stood behind them just passively reminding everyone of His presence with His shadow falling over the arena.

On Pikachu's and Batman's other side, all of Ash's friends and Team Rocket were still in the middle of processing and accepting the fact that Ash and Batman were supposed to be the same person and the fact that Pikachu had accepted Batman as Ash that quickly. Then the silence was broken by a sigh from the Batman Who Laughs.

''Okay,'' the frowning Dark Knight said removing his thorned headband and pulling back his cowl, exposing his face as a Bruce Wayne with pale white skin and green hair, just so he could rub his eyes. ''Crow.''

''CROW!'' hissing screams answered from the four corners, revealing the corrupted Robins to have been there surrounding them all the time. ''Crow, crow, crow!''

''Father,'' the oldest Robin spoke, surprising May, Dawn, Team Rocket, Brock and Serena by appearing to be standing among them as if he had just appeared there from out of nowhere, ''big sister Serena is here too.''

''Excuse mE WHAT!?'' Serena said in a delayed reaction to the shock of seeing the eldest Robin and hearing what he just called her.

''Oh, right, I did!'' the Batman Who Laughs said as if he had just had an epiheny and lifted his head up with his exposed eyes glowing with the madness. ''Yeah, extract the family members from there. What her mother think of me if I let-''

''MOM!?'' Serena screamed even more shocked.

At the same time a lot of things were happening in front of the Dark Knights and Barbatos. The Robins charged at the group that had only a handful of Pokémon out to protect them; Jessie's Yanmega, Dawn's Piplup and Togekiss, Meowth and Pikachu. And only them, because the signal keeping the Pokéballs from releasing the Pokémon inside them.

While those handful of Pokémon were advised by ordered moves to counter the Robins' mindless attacks, Serena's attention was drawn to the top of the glass box where the Dark Knights were standing and now joined by another woman besides the Drowned. Someone, who was wearing red and black skintight cat suit with a jester cap with a whip and goggles on her forehead. She walked casually to the Batman Who Laughs as he put his mask back on with his left hand and welcomed the woman to his side with his right. And while Serena was slowly recognizing the features of the woman from her walking posture and exposed face, the oldest Robin moved to grab her from the middle of the ensuing chaos, causing Brock and May, who didn't have any of their Pokémon out, to move and get between.

But the oldest Robin was fast and strong, managing to push them aside before grabbing Serena and grabbling them to the Dark Knights. At instinct, when Pikachu saw this happening, he tried to inteviene with a Quick Attack, while also leaving Batman unprotected, so Dawnbreaker was able to capture him from under the Electro Web.

''Okay now, Merciless,'' Batman Who Laughs said when the Oldest Robin had brought Serena to him and the woman next to him, ''get Dialga and Palkia to pen that portal. Dawnbreaker, throw the Wagon inside as soon as that happens.''

''Serena,'' the Woman said with grin on her face while standing next to the Batman Who Laughs, with his arm around her waist and the uncouncious Batman hanging upside down next to them, ''I would like you to meet your new fath-''

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASHHH!

The ceiling of the Gym broke down as something came crashing through it. This being sent a wave of wind causing blow back in it's landing that pushed the Robins away from Brock, May, Dawn and Team Rocket with the ceiling debrief. Owlman, who was still tied by the Merciless' lasso but had been thrown aside for the God of War to work on the Sinnoh Legendaries, moved his body to have his right had pointed at the being and his gauntlet registered it as a Pokémon. Pokémon, that his database could only know of thanks to the download do from the Team Rocket's files thanks to Grid.

''Mewtwo?''

~Your entity came to me and told me what you had unleashed, Thomas Wayne Jr~ echoed around in everyone's head as the anthrophomorphic, white and purple Pokémon moved it's hands to take an offencive stance against the Dark Knights and Barbatos, who had yet to react to the Pokémon. ~In the past, I had allowed myself to be trusting of humans. That was a lesson taught to me by a young human, whom I can see to be no more because of you. So-~

''Hah!'' Batman Who Laughs made a loud snort at Mewtwo and then begun to laugh hysterically. ''HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAHA HHAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAH HAHA HA HAHA HAH HAA! Oh, Big Brother, you're spoiling us.''

~What?!~ The voice of Mewtwo said as it was both interroupted and realized it had not intimidated any of the Dark Knights.

''That is a PSYCHIC TYPE POKÉMON!'' Batman Who Laughs said pointing at Mewtwo standing between him, the Dark Knights and Brock, May, Dawn and Team Rocket. ''And THIS is a PSYCHIC GYM that we took over as our base at ease. Wanna guess why?''

''Oh no,'' Brock said being the first to realize what the Batman Who Laughs was suggesting. ''They told us they are from a Dark Multiverse, which makes them all by default-''

''Brock old boy, you got it,'' Batman Who Laughs said spreading his arms around like a showman. ''We may not be Pokémon, but we are all Dark Types that have a full-on type advantage against Psychic Types. And so, MURDER MACHINE!''

The Cybernetic Batman Android reacted to the command from the Batman Who Laughs by releasing nanites from it's body, but instead of taking the form of the Alfred Protocol that Dawn, May and Serena were familiar with, but instead it turned into a swarm that move to attack and engulf itself around Mewtwo's body. Mewtwo reacted by raising it's hands against the swarm, but as the Batman Who Laughs had just pointed out to everyone, Psychic Type moves had no effect on the Dark Type.

''Aah, what day, what a lovely day for the family,'' Batman Who Laughs said with warmth in his voice as the nanite swarm swallowed Mewtwo. Then the woman next to him grabbed and pulled Serena closer to them and he did the same to the restrained Owlman. ''They say becoming a father is a proud achievement, but to know at the same day that you also have a brother. Ummm, this is a true day of joy and happiness.''

''KA-ROWWWWL!''

That howl came from the hole in the ceiling that Mewtwo had made in it's entrance. Then came fire, white flame, that in contact with Murder Machine's nanites made them disperce from Mewtwo.

''That's Fusion Flare!'' Dawn said, recognizing the attack from Hoenn. ''That means-''

''Reshiram!'' May yelled pointing at the white Dragon Type Pokémon's head breathing fire down on Murder Machine's nanites.

Before Murder Machine got a chance to reorganize them or formulate another attack, an Emboar fell on him using Flame Charge in it's landing. Then came a Serperior that slithered it's way quickly through the Dark Knights and used it's Razor Leafs to make Dawnbreaker drop Batman and Wine Whip to drag him and Serena away from them, also immobilizing the Drowned with Leach Seed.

ZOOM!

''NOT SO FAST!'' Red Death announced moving and grabbing the Serperior's tail, tearing it's whips from around Serena and Batman, then threw it against the wall.

The the speedster turned his attention off the Grass Type and to Batman's lifeless body next to it and Serena.

ZOOM! ZOOM!

Red Death ran around from one place to another in front of them as a scare tactic, like a predator before lunging at it's prey, but before attacking-

''MEWTWO!'' Owlman yelled suddenly like he had regained his will to live. ''Throw debris on the Speedster, we need to take him out first!''

Mewtwo, free of Murder Machine's nanites, obeyed with a reflective reaction, taking control of the debris with it's psychic powers and threw them at Red Death. Due to his connection to the Speed Force, the speedster Dark Knight was able to dodge them, either by vibrating his molecules to phase through them or simply by running away from their thrown path, before finally reaching to close in on Mewtwo and begin a beatdown on the Pokémon.

''Now, Big Brother-'' Batman Who Laughs was about to say as he turned to Owlman with a frown, when-

''ARCEUS!'' Owlman yelled, and the God Pokémon, that Merciless had dragged along with Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, rose up on it's feet and sent the Judgement attack against Red Death so powerful that the speedster was pushed against and through the walls outside of the Gym.

CRUNCH!

Devastator smashed his large hand on Arceus, not letting the Pokémon do anymore attacks as Merciless stopped whipping Dialga and Palkia at the same time. They had now opened a portal on the stage, with hooded people with ceremonial masks on the other side, waiting.

''THROW THE WAGON INTO THE PORTAL!'' Batman Who Laughs yelled at the Dawnbreaker, pointing at Batman's body with his hand and then waved it at the portal. ''Judas Tribe is waiting to finish the Mantling!''

''KA-ROWWWWL!''

Reshiram fired another burst of Fusion Flare, this time aiming it at Devastator and Barbatos, who were the largest targets the attack. Barbatos passively stepped aside from the line of fire while Devastator answered the fire by breathing green gas at it, causing a chemical reaction, that gave Owlman psychological intuition to get himself freed quickly.

Doomsday Virus mixed with Kryptonite gas, Owlman thought in his had as he took the Golden Lasso off him, while Merciless was still busy controlling Dialga and Palkia, to escape. Two deadly weapons to kill Superman, but together they can infect everyone here.

''Piiiii-ka-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!'' Pikachu yelled unleashing Thunder Shock attack against Dawnbreaker trying to grab Batman again from the ground. ''PIIIIIIIIIIIKACHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!''

''That hole!''

Serena raised her head from looking at the ground when Owlman appeared next to her to pick up Batman's body to carry.

''Your God itself gave us a way out and that is a deadly combination of two dangerous chemical weapons,'' Owlman said pulling Batman's arm behind his neck to carry and begun to drag his body to the hole Arceus had blown to the wall with Red Death. ''We need to get out of here while Reshiram is providing us with cover fire.''

''He's right!'' Brock said rushing to help Owlman in carrying Batman's body. ''May, Dawn, help Serena.''

~WRONG!~ Barbatos' disembidied voice echoed as He finally moved to do something after having just stood there.

With Barbatos' height as a gigantic being, His extended arm reached almost across the Gym's arena and the people trying to escape from His Dark Knights. At first, the slender arm sent some kind of dark energy pulse at Reshiram's head in the ceiling, forcing the Dragon Type to withdraw, before focusing it at the other side of the arena. ~The Wagon stays here!~

~NO!~ Mewtwo moved all the debris it could to block Barbatos' attack against. ~Thomas Jr, you called me to help you, now get that 'Wagon' out of here!~

''PIi-KA-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!'' Pikachu sent one last Thunder Shock attack at the attacking Dawnbreaker and at the oldest Robin also lunging at them when it was heard from the holes.

Thumb!

''Grid,'' Owlman said as silent portal similar to what he recognized as a Boom Tube opened between the holed walls.

''The-Airship-is-moved-far-away-from-Kanto,'' android on the otherside of the silent tube said as everyone ran through it. ''Your-allies-from-the-roof-are-also-here.''

Thumb!

Silent Tube closed in another location that was not at the Saffron City Gym anymore. As Owlman and Brock carried Batman's lifeless body to a mobile hospital bed provided by the android while Team Rocket let themselves fall off their feet to relax in relief and May, Dawn and Serena were greeted by the two Unovians they had met in Hoenn.

''Hilda, Hilbert,'' Dawn said as the Unovians came at them to help Serena who was still in a mild shock.

''What happened?''

Wayne Manor..?

''This is wrong,'' the grandfather said moving the pages of the book faster.

''Grandpa, you're changing the story.''

''The Hell I am, it's already changed,'' the grandfather said ignoring his grandaughter sitting on his lap. ''I need to finish the story and get to the ending.''

''I'll show you the FUCKING ENDING!~

The granddaughter grabbed the book from her grandfather's hands and jumped off from his lap, while seeming too agile for her age and her limbs also stretched to demonic, slender limbs. Then she jumped to the ceiling and crawled her way out of the study.

''This isn't real,'' the grandfather said getting up from his armchair. ''I'm not this old, I don't have grandchildren and I'm-''

~Bruce Wayne,~ echoing voice spoke around the study as it begun to turn from a warm and bright place to relax into a dark and cold room, ~the hero who'd taken my form and made it a symbol of hope.~

Bruce turned around back and forth in the study, looking for the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from everywhere around him, but there was another presence there with him in the study.

''Where are you!?'' Bruce growled with old man voice.

~Behind it all, Bruce,~ the voice echoed around him. ~Look behind it, and what do you see?~

''I see nothing.''

~I have always been right here with you, at the window,~ the voice said, now coming from the glass doors and windows leading to the gardens outside. ~The first truth of Batman; He never been alone. And that does not include the birds you surround yourself with.~

Birds…

Robins…

Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian and Barbara and Cassandra.

''You! …Barbatos,'' Bruce said facing his reflection on glass doors, which looked like his younger self while he himself was an old man. ''You trying to twist my story!''

~I made your story!~

''Maybe it was better being an only child,'' Batman Who Laughs said crushing the remains of Owlman's mask and goggles left at the arena under his foot. ''Sigh, going from Plan A to Plan B, then back to Plan A and-''

Batman Who Laughs took another deep sigh as Dawnbreaker moved the debris from the broken roof to release the Robins, who all crowed themselves to him.

''Crow, crow crow…''

''Bar, boys,'' Batman Who Laughs said as Merciless and Devastator put the Sinnoh Legendaries back into restraints and Murder Machine had managed to reorganize his nanites to create shacles for Mewtwo.

The Reshiram, Emboar and Serperior were the only Pokémon that had managed to escape along with their human hostages, their Pokémon and the Wagon. That still left the Dark Knights with at least 5 powerful Pokémon, which included the God Itself. Meaning that they could still go forward with the Plan C, but before that…

''My Lord,'' Batman Who Laughs said looking up at Barbatos, ''when I summoned you here with the Plan B, where did you discard him?''

~The Boy is among the other discarded survivors at bottom of the Abyss,~ Barbatos answered in his disembodied voice.

''Hah, along with the Black Sun,'' Batman Who Laughs said kneeling closer to the ground and looked down with a grin. ''They if anyone will recognize him for what he is and that treatment will surely make him do everything we say. Ash Ketchum, Bruce Wayne of Earth-3, the Batman Who Never Was. He can still be our plan B if we can't get the Wagon for Plan A, but we could still go forward with Plan C.''

Thinking about Plan C, Batman Who Laughs chuckled in his own amusement before getting back up and looked at the other Dark Knights. Red Death had just come back to join them after being sent away by Arceus' Judgement attack.

''Hey, now that you're back, you wouldn't mind running around the world to look for the Wagon before we need to go get the Boy back from down there?''

''I feel…'' Red Death said leaning against the wall with his hand on his head, like he had not heard what he had just been told, ''lighter.''

Team Rocket Airship

''What happens now?'' Brock asked Owlman once they had managed to get Batman's body on the hospital bed.

With Batman now in a safe position on a hospital bed, Owlman turned around to properly face Brock, May, Dawn, Serena, Pikachu, Hilda, Hilbert and Team Rocket on the airship's command bridge. With his mask and goggles broken earlier at the Saffron City Gym, he was really now just an unmasked Thomas Wayne Jr wearing a metal armor with a utility belt and multiple pieced cloak. He took off the taloned gloves and rubbed his eyes with his while taking a deep sigh, before he said anything.

''Now I tell you everything you deserve to know,'' Thomas Jr said with gravity in his voice as he spoke. ''Batman and I are from a multiverse of 52 parallel earths. He is from an Earth designated as Earth-0 and I am from an earth designated as Earth-3. We are not versions of each other or really siblings as we might appear. As far as I know I never existed on his world, but in my world he was my younger brother, who died during the events that set this Batman on the life leading to become who he is now. And that is not the only difference between us. He is a vigilante who fights to save his city from the corruption that took his parents, while I'm a supervillain and a crimelord who killed his own parents and lost his brother as collateral damage.''

Thomas Jr saved nothing from his explanation. He told everyone what kind of parents he and his Bruce had had and how they had planned to kill them. How his Bruce had died and how years later he had come across Bruce's soul and the means to place it into a new body, leading to the multiversal travelling and his first visit to this world on the day Ash Ketchum had been born.

''My Bruce was placed into Ash's new born body and as the Batman Who Laughs said, Ash has outlived my Bruce almost three times by now and their souls have merged as one,'' Thomas Jr continued uninterroupted without breaking his eye contact with everyone. ''That is what now makes Ash a reborn version of my Bruce and makes him one of the versions of Bruce Wayne in the same list of the other 52 versions. Because that Barbatos sent his Dark Knights here so they could use Ash as their Wagon after this Batman here was lost from their reach.''

''What is this 'wagon' you keep mentioning?'' Hilbert asked when Thomas Jr stopped talking for a few seconds. ''What makes Bruce a Wagon and how is it important?''

''Barbatos has followers in some earths of the multiverse, knowing and unknowing, and they have conductes Mantling ceremonies on this Batman during his life,'' Thomas Jr answered. ''It's a five-part process where they infuse 5 different metals in the Wagon's body and as far as I know, Batman has been Mantled four times by now. Once the fifth metal makes contact with is body, he will be turned in a counterweight that, as the Batman Who Laughs said, will take Barbatos' and his Dark Knights' place in the Dark Multiverse and they take his place in the Multiverse. What they have done here is small compared to what they would do if they made their way there.''

''They have killed more people and Pokémon then we can imagine,'' Dawn said in a disbelieving disgust. ''What could be worse than-''

''They will drag all 52 worlds in the Multiverse into Darkness and just like pulling the cork off a upside bottle in floating in the water, that Darkness would then spread to the space where the Multiverse used to be and then here into Hypertime,'' Thomas Jr said in a dead serious voice. ''Every that exists, will fall into Darkness and they just need Batman to do it.''

Thomas Jr let those words sink into them before turning to look at Batman laying on the mobile hospital bed.

''And that is why we are now in a dead-end situation,'' he continued. ''We lost Ash, but Batman's body still remains. If we let him be taken, they will infuse him with the fifth metal and finish turning him into their Wagon and they will gain access to the Multiverse. We should give him a Viking Funeral.''

''But Batman is not dead,'' Brock said in a questioning protest. ''I checked his pulse-''

''He has not reacted to anything that has happened after Barbatos touched him,'' Thomas Jr said waving his hand at monitors attached to the hospital bed and connected to Batman laying on it. ''For all we know, he is a vegetable. Brain-dead.''

''Or he is just sleeping,'' Hilbert said taking out a Pokéball and threw it at Batman's body. ''Musha, lunch time!''

The Pokéball released a rounded, bipedal Pokémon with a light purple body and a pale pink head. When released, it looked like it was sleeping before it moved floating in the air and moved to Batman's body, placing it's mouth on his head and begun to num on it. When doing so, the mark on the Pokémon's head begun to seep out some kind of mist that begun to form into a vision.

''Musharna, the Drowsing Pokémon and the evolved form of Munna,'' the first drawn out Pokédex spoke out when pointed at the Pokémon gently biting on Batman's head. ''The mist from its forehead takes the form of things present in the dreams it has eaten.''

''Dreams it has eaten?'' Thomas Jr said looking at the Musharna and the mist coming from it's head.

''Musha is one of my oldest Pokémon and he has eaten my dreams often to keep my thoughts straight,'' Hilbert said as the mist coming from Musharna begun to show what was happening inside Batman's head. ''If Bruce is just sleeping, eating the dream away should bring him back to us.''

''If that is what he is dreaming about, I never really knew him,'' Thomas Jr said commenting about the dream shown in Musharna's mist.

The dream shown in the mist showed Bruce as an elderly man with a moustache and gey hair, wearing a sweater and plain pants while sitting in an armchair, reading a book to a small girl in the light and warmth of the fireplace in the study of Wayne Manor. This sight, coming from a grown man wearing costume that made him look like a monster, was surprising when it showed that Bruce seemingly was expecting or at the very least wanted to grow into old age and become a grandfather instead of spending the rest of his life as a costumed vigilante and-

''AAAAAAAIIIICK!'' May, Dawn and James screamed in shock when the little girl in old Bruce's lap suddenly turned into a long-limbed monster that took the book from Bruce and jumped to crawl away in the ceiling.

''Baaaar-bat-thosssss…'' Batman suddenly blurted out in his sleep, ''you… twissssst… my sssstory…''

~I saw you when your image was shown to the time and space to see, my perfect wagon,~ Barbatos spoke through the young apparition of Bruce in the window. ~So I shaped you. My tribe, the Owls, my Dark Birds, they shaped your history, your family, your life, your city.~

''No, no!'' Bruce protested in denial. ''You're a demon, you're-''

~The Bat, Bruce,~ Barbatos spoke over Bruce and changed his appearance from a younger Bruce to a bat flapping it's wings on the other side of the window. ~I am the Bat!~

''Yes, Father,'' Bruce's own voice spoke behind him and turning around, Bruce saw another young version of himself, sitting in his armchair bloodied and beaten, facing the headbust of Thomas Wayne which had a Bat sitting on it.

Bruce recognized this younger version of himself being from that night when he had come home from his first recon mission gone bad at the East End district of Gotham, when he had been almost killed and lost a lot of blood. It had been just before he he had decided that-

''I shall become a Bat.''

''No, YOU'RE NOTHING!'' Bruce yelled as he begun to punch the window, where Barbatos had taken the form of his younger reflection. ''You're-''

''Nothing…'' Batman grunted out in his sleep.

''I take it back,'' Thomas Jr said looking at the monitors. ''He is not brain-dead.''

~I am the Bat and I am the Father, I made you believe you were a good detective,~ Barbatos answered back to Bruce's bloodied knuckes. ~I have helped you over and over, made you the hero you are, all so you could be my Great Wagon when I took you.~

''NO!'' Bruce yelled attacking the window with his body's weight and broke through it.

''NO!'' Batman yelled in his sleep as his body begun to shake violently and the Musharna's dream mist was now turning dark with changing visions with a disturbing audio. ''STOOOOOOP! PLEEASE! I DON'T WANT TO SEE!''

''What is happening to him?'' Serena asked, speaking now for the first time after they had escaped from Saffron City Gym.

''His dream is turning into a nightmare as he is fighting against it,'' Thomas Jr said reading the the monitors as Hilbert recalled his Musharna back to it's Pokéball. ''If he doesn't wake up from this, I don't know what will happen.''

~Yes, the truth is you are nothing without me. You are plain, less than plain. The Dark Multiverse, my realm. It is full of world created from fears and failings, and you… you have more than any other hero, my son. Whole galaxies built by the unspoken terrors in your heart,~ Barbatos spoke now appearing in his true form as a gigantic slender being in cloak and wings in front of Batman in a colorless void. ~People think you are a great hero of humanity, maybe the greatest. They strive to be like you, all because I willed it. So when your nature is revealed, they shriek back to the Dark. Now look! LOOK! Because THIS is what you are without my help!~

''I'm sorry, Barry, but now we can save the world… TOGETHER!'' a Batman driving through a lightining storm with the Flash tied to the hood of the Batmobile

''My-father-will-always-be-there-for-me-and-I-will-always-be-there-for-him, everyone-else-is-a-weakenss-I-am-prepared-to-shed.'' An Android Batman said ripping the head of from Cyborg and killing him.

''I have friends too, I made them in the Dark!'' Young Bruce dressed as a Green Lantern said trapping the Guardian of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps into the Darkness

''I have saved my world… by drowning it.'' Bryce Wayne's voice spoke as she looked at the sunken city of Gotham

''ARES! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!'' Batman wearing the Helmet of Ares yelled covered in blood and his beheaded enemies.

''NOW WHO'S WEAK!?'' Doomsday monster yelled breathing Kryptonite gas at Superman laying on the ground.

''HAH HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHAH HAHAH HAHAH HAHA HAHA HAH HAA!'' Jokerized Batman laughed as he gunned down and killed the entire Bat Family.

~They are the real you, Bruce. I picked the ones I needed… the darkest ones and I brought them through the window,~ Barbatos spoke as His Dark Knights appeared between him and Batman, killing their friends to gain their powers. ~Just like I came through got you, years ago. Look at them! They are you and they won.~

''Stop,'' Batman begged with his posture falling.

~No, look at me.~

''Please… I don't want to see!'' Batman begged trying to turn away.

~Look at me!~ Barbatos yelled turning into the Bat angain and attacked to bite the Bat symbol on Batman's chest. ~LOOK AT ME!~

''NO! PLEASE!'' Batman screamed from his sleep in agony and cold sweat as his body shook violently, forcing Thomas Jr, Brock and everyone close to his hospital bed to grab and try to restrain him from hurting himself. ''I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYMORE! I DON'T WANT TO KNOW! I-''

TSHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A red streak ran into the command bridge and attacked Batman's body by stabbing it hand through Batman's head and them pulling it out quickly along with something that glowed black. The red streak took it's distance from them when it was done, but the attention soon was taken away from it when-

''AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!'' Batman sat up screaming as he was awoken from the nightmare. ''AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!''

''Mr Wayne!'' Dawn yelled grabbing onto Bruce with May and Hilda to calm him down. ''Bruce, it's okay. That was just a bad dream.''

''Who is that?'' Brock and Hilbert yelled in a unison with Pokéballs ready to be thrown at the red streak vibrating in front of them in a blurry human form.

''Red Death?'' Serena said instantly recognizing the speedster's appearance from both Lilycove and Saffron, but then saw brighter contrast in the aura surrounding the red streak. ''Or is it-''

''No!'' The red streak spoke in a vibrating voice raising his hand to keep distance from the Pokémon Trainers and Thomas Jr. ''I'm not… him… not anymore… I'm not… Bruce… my name… is…''

''Barry?'' Batman said in a broken voice looking at the red streak. ''Is that you?''

''My name is…'' the red streak spoke as it's voice became more understandbale and the vibration begun to slow down so he could be seen better.

The red streak was a man wearing a red costume with yellow lightning bolts on his wrists, ankles, around his waist and on his chest over a white circle. His costume was torn and damaged, with his broken mask showing that the man wearing it was not another version of Bruce Wayne.

''My name is Barry Allen and I am the Flash,'' the red streak said now appearing better in front of everyone as who he was. ''I am the Flash, Fastest Man Alive, from the same world as the Red Death Bruce was from. Arceus separated us and I have been running to find you ever since. I need to warn you about Plan C.''

''Plan C?'' Thomas Jr repeated.

''The Batman Who Laughs is like all other versions of Batman,'' the Flash said trying to keep what he said as simple to understand as possible. ''He has planned for the situation where neither Bruce or Ash will be available to be their Wagon. They are going to use Dialga, Palkia, Arceus and Giratina to turn this world into energy that will blow a hole into the Source Wall and let them into the 52 Multiverse.''

''You mean…'' Dawn asked, knowing what the Sinnoh Legendaries could do by being from Sinnoh. ''They are going to destroy our world?''

''They are going to destroy this world and use the damage caused by the destruction to get into Batman's world,'' the Flash said nodding his head as he was already looking at the floor from trying to stay up standing from exhaustion. ''They saved it for plan C because it takes more effort to do than just having Batman infused with the last metal.''

Thomas Jr looked at the Flash, thinking about what the speedster had just said and then looked at Batman.

''Even if we burn his body, they will have away to drag everything down into Darkness.''

Dark Multiverse

''Hello, old friend,'' someone told Ash in the dark as he was beginning to regain his consciousness.

He didn't know who it was as the voice was foreigin, but not unfamiliar. Ash had heard it before recently.

''Easy there, Bruce,'' the voice said again, calling Ash by another name. ''We're here to save you.''

Ash opened his eyes slowly to see who was talking to him. Two people in a colorless void were carrying him as they flew. They both had the same face, but they were different in their appearances.

''I'm not Bruce,'' Ash said struggling to get rid off the tight grips held onto his arms by the men carrying him. ''And I can tell you people are not-''

''Superman? No, we are his nightmares,'' the Superman wearing a Batman like costume with a red cape. ''Like what if he finally killed you and took your mantle and it just felt… so good?''

''My name is Ash Ketchum!'' Ash yelled in protest. ''I'm not Batman!''

''Sure, you are… not,'' Superman wearing a green and purple armor smirked at Ash. ''The truth is that you're needed back upstairs, and you don't need to be down here for a while. You get to see the light one last time.''

Author's notes: Ash has died and come back more times than one in both the anime and the movies that him being trapped in the Dark Multiverse shouldn't come as a surprise. Next chapter will come either in late July or early August.