A/N: Just one more chapter and an epilogue after this. YAY!

Chapter 18: The Other Heroes

Elsewhere in the Shadow Realm, Kenshin laid inactive in trophy state…until a bright light covered his body. When the light dimed out, Kenshin was reawakened.

"I see," the red-haired swordsman said as he rose to his feet. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the Uchiha Brooch that he found earlier. "This fell off of Miss Chi-Chi after Frieza gave us the slip. I don't know what Itachi was planning, but regardless of his intentions, it would seem that circumstances have allowed us a second chance to fight, that it has." Kenshin looked around for signs of life, but all was quiet and lifeless around him. "I just need to find and revive everyone else."

And with that, the former manslayer pocketed the brooch and wandered into the abyss of the Shadow Realm in search for his comrades.

As Kenshin trekked through the realm, he ran into plenty of opposition, of which he made short work of. Through his efforts, it wasn't long before Chi-Chi, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Luffy, SD Gundam, Negi, Asuna, and Huey were all recovered and revived.

As the group spread out a little to find the remaining fighters, Huey found himself looking over Marik's trophy.

"I'm probably going to regret this, but…" Huey said to himself before tapping Marik's trophy.

"AH, HA, HA, HA, HA! You were a fool to revive me, boy! And now if you excuse me, there are a couple of people I need to torment!" Marik taunted before running off.

"Yep, definitely regretting it," Huey reaffirmed his own belief.

Sasuke, meanwhile, had just stumbled upon Light's trophy.

"Wonder who this guy is?" Sasuke pondered aloud.

But before the ninja could do anything else, a VERY angry Frieza stormed right in front of him and kicked the trophy, sending it flying through the air. Not ending it there, Frieza flew past Light as he was still soaring and intercepted him, knocking him back in the other direction. Frieza repeated this process a few times, essentially playing a game of tennis ball with himself, before finally tail whipping Light into the ground with enough force to make a small crater. Having his frustrations vented out, the alien tyrant walked away while muttering "Shoot me in the back, eh? NO ONE shoots Lord Frieza in the back!"

Sasuke simply shrugged at the sight. "I guess some people just can't control their hatred."

And then Sasuke turned around and laid his eyes on none other than Itachi.

"Itachi!" Sasuke growled. The younger Uchiha reached for his sword, but Itachi closed the distance between them in an instant and grabbed his hand.

"Foolish little brother. We're going to have to play some other time," Itachi said simply as he drug his brother by the hand, with Sasuke sporting a massively confused look on his face.

Not long after Sasuke and Itachi left, Naruto and Sakura came across Light's trophy.

"Who's this guy?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know, but we better help him out." Sakura tapped Light's stand, reviving the Death Note owner.

"Ugh, my head!" Light groaned as he rubbed his forehead. His eyes then widened as he remembered what happened to him. He turned to the two ninjas and yelled, "Quick! Do either of you have a pen?"

Confused as to why Light asked that question, Naruto nevertheless pulled out his back pouch and dug through its contents. "I don't think I have a pen. All I have in here are my kunais."

With a swift hand motion, Light snatched a kunai from Naruto's hand and pricked his own finger on it. As blood drew from the digit, Light took out a black notebook labeled "Death Note", turned to an empty page, and wrote "Z0001332536893" with his own blood.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Uh, what're you doing?"

Light turned to face the cluster of orbs atop the stairs. "I take it that's where Z is right now?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, but I don't see…"

"Don't worry. It'll all be over in 40 seconds," Light assured them while sporting his trademark evil grin.

40 seconds later…

"DAMMIT! He didn't die!"

Naruto and Sakura just looked at each other, unsure of what the man they just saved was trying to do. They then turned back to Light. "Just what were you trying to do, anyway?" Sakura asked.

"I'll tell you what he was trying to do!"

The two ninjas about faced and saw SD Gundam and Sasuke behind them, with the former clutching on to his beam rifle, his hand shaking from barely repressed rage, and the latter standing with his arms folded.

"He was trying to write Z's name in his Death Note so he could kill him from afar, just like he does to every convicted criminal he hears about!" SD Gundam continued.

"Killing convicted criminals?" Naruto asked as he and Sakura both looked back at Light. "Hey, wait a minute! Are you saying that this guy is Kira?"

Everyone remained silent, waiting for Light to respond. At first, all they hear is snickering. The snickering soon evolved seamlessly into laughter, and not long after that, Light tilted his head up into the air, performing the most EPIC evil laugh EVER! Everyone else was suitably freaked out.

With his body still turned to the side, Light faced his current company, his iris' inexplicitly glowing red. "That's right. I am Kira."

"You're also the one who killed all of my people!" SD Gundam pointed his beam rifle at Light threateningly.

"And I suppose you want to kill me for what I did to those 'precious little friends' of yours?" Light asked mockingly.

SD Gundam thought about it. "…No. As much as I hate you for what you've done, revenge isn't the answer." SD Gundam immediately glances over to Sasuke.

"What?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.

"And aside from that, whether any of us like it or not, the only way any of us are going to defeat Z is if we all work together, so come on!" SD Gundam gestured Light to follow.

SD Gundam led the way to the stairs, with Naruto and Sasuke following suit. "Wait up, guys. We'll be right there," Sakura called out to the others.

Light wondered what she meant by that statement until, right when the two of them were alone, she faced him, not looking too happy.

"We all know that you've deluded yourself into thinking that you're 'the new God of this world,' and you think that gives you the right to kill whoever you want to, but let me tell you something. You better not be hatching some kind of scheme in that mind of yours, because if I notice even the slightest suspicious action out of you, any reason at all to suspect you may be planning on betraying us, and you won't have to worry about justice anymore, because I will make sure your brand of justice will end right then and there. Permanently!" And with that, Sakura left a visibly shaken Light to catch up with the others.

"Whoa! She's scary!" Light heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"So, where've you been?" Light asked Ryuk.

"As much as I'm embarrassed to admit this, I was trophified by that Z guy along with everyone else. I was just revived by that other shinigami with the big sword about a minute ago. So, what're you gonna do now, Light?"

"What can I do now? The Death Note doesn't work on Z, and some of those fools know that I'm Kira now, so they'll be watching me closely now. It looks like I have no choice but to work with them for the time being." Light clenched his fist in anger. "Damn that Z! He ruined everything!"

"I know what you mean; I thought your plan would've been quite fun to watch. You know, I think I might just help you this one time. We shinigami have our pride too, and we don't take too kindly to others making us look like jokes."

"Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to say that."

Just up ahead of them, Sakura was kneeling down over Haruhi's body, examining her while Naruto, Sasuke, and SD Gundam were already walking up the staircase.

"Hey, guys! Haruhi, she's alive!" Sakura announced.

The others stopped in their tracks to look down at Sakura. "That's great, Sakura!" Naruto yelled. "You can just stay here and heal her while we…"

"No, Naruto! This time, I'm fighting alongside of you!" Sakura insisted.

"But, Sakura…"

"Don't worry, Naruto. I know someone who can help."

And with that, Sakura removed the glove on her right hand. She then bit into her thumb with just enough force to draw blood. Afterwards, the kunoichi performed several hands signs before slamming her hand on the ground. "SUMMONING JUTSU!" A slug appeared in a puff of smoke where Sakura laid her hand.

Naruto and Sasuke both blinked in surprise by this. "I didn't know you could use the Summoning Jutsu, Sakura," Naruto confessed.

"Well, since you two both use the same summons as your Sannin sensei, I figured I should too," Sakura explained. She then turned to the slug. "I need you to heal this girl while the rest of us go on and fight."

The slug nodded and wrapped itself around Haruhi's body. As the slug began sending chakra to the injured teenager, Sakura chakra-jumped onto the stairs, rejoining her comrades.

A few minutes later, Itachi stood at the base of the stairs, looking onward.

"So, we have finally arrived," Itachi thought aloud. But it was only then when he realized that he was all by himself. "Now where did Sasuke go?"

THUMP!

Itachi hit the ground in a loud thud, with a shoe imprint on his right temple where Marik had kicked him.

"Bet you didn't see THAT coming, fool! Now it's time you paid for taking what was mine!"

"Itachi! Are you okay?" Amuro yelled out to him in concern.

"Here, let us help you," Krillin offered.

Amuro and Krillin ran to Itachi's aid, and they both helped him get back on his feet. Marik's jaw literally dropped at the sight. "And since when did all of you kiss and make up?" Marik asked in shock.

"Ever since THAT!" the three answered in unison as they each pointed to the flight of stairs.

"Look, Marik, we really don't have time to deal with you right now," Krillin added. "We have a common enemy to fight and a world to save."

"So you can either help us, or stay the hell out of our way!" Amuro spat.

"A common enemy, huh?" Marik asked himself as he turned around and stroked his chin. "It must be a powerful one if these goody goodies are willing to team up with a wanted criminal like Itachi." Marik thought about it for a moment before coming to his decision. "That's the type of power I need to see for myself!"

By this much time, Itachi, Krillin, and Amuro were already well on their way up the stairs, but Marik quickly overpassed them by riding on his motorcycle.

"So long, fools!" Marik gloated as he left the others in his dust.

Eventually, all of the revived fighters had gathered on top of the flight of stairs.

"Well, it looks like the gang's all here," Goku declared cherringly.

"So now all that's left is to knock that Z guy off his high-and-mighty ass!" Edward stated as he balled a fist into his hand in anticipation.

"But we still have one more challenge to face," Yami informed the rest as he pointed to the giant orbs floating in front of them.

"So, Z created a maze from the pieces of our world, eh?" Light analyzed. He then smirked smugly. "It doesn't matter, we'll reach the other side in no time."

"Hold it!" Yusuke warned everyone. The spirit detective then faced Goku. "Hey Goku, can you sense that? From within the maze?"

Goku concentrated hard. "Yeah, I do. It feels like a Red-Eyes Black Dragon. No, it's both a Red-Eyes Black Dragon AND a Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon.

"Confound it, we already defeated it twice!" the Dark Magician cursed.

"And that's not the only thing we have to worry about," Krillin informed him. "I can also sense a centipede demon, a Hollow, and a couple of ninjas in there."

"Wait a minute! You're telling me that Z actually resurrected everyone that we beat before?" Faye shouted in disbelief.

"Damn, that means Epyon is surely in there somewhere too!" Inuyasha growled.

"Hey, I can even sense Emperor Pilaf and his goons in there!" Goku added. "I can recognize those low Power Levels anywhere! I'm also sensing something else. It feels like…us, except that they don't seem to have the same energy signature as the Masses. They feel more like…Shadow Clones."

"WHAT?" Naruto blurted out.

"Sheesh, this is pretty much the equivalent of playing through an entire video game all the way up to the final boss, only for the game to force you to play the entire game again!" Asuna complained.

"Well, if you guys want to get to Z right away, I know how we can do just that. Everyone, hold hands," Goku instructed.

"Whoa, whoa WHOA! I don't play on both sides of the field!" Yusuke exclaimed

"C'mon, Yusuke! I need everyone to touch each other so that I can teleport everyone past the maze," Goku explained.

"OH! THAT'S why you suggested that," Yusuke realized.

"Well, at least Riley isn't here to call all of us gay," said Huey.

And with that, the group gathered into a circle, with each person locking hands with whoever was next to them (and with Ryo-Ohki perched on Chi-Chi's shoulder).

"Alright, everyone, here we go!" Goku announced once he saw that everyone was ready.

In a flash, the fighters all vanished. They reappeared at the same location where Z had trophified the group before. The united band of anime characters looked up and saw Z floating in front of them as if he were waiting for them.

"After all the trouble I went through to set up The Great Maze, and you all just bypass it. That's kind of rude!" Z greeted them affably.

A/N: Finally! The next chapter is the long awaited final battle! Oh, and you'll find out who's playing Sonic in this fic.