Chaos Hearts
Chapter 8 - Timeless
World - Timeless Journeys

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
Kingdom Hearts is (c) Disney & Square Enix. Related elements belong to their respective companies.
Pokemon is (c) Nintendo & Game Freak


"A whole new world!
A new fantastic point of view!
No one to tell us no, or where to go,
or say we're only dreaming!" - A Whole New World; Aladdin

Thinking of you, wherever you are...
Lucky, Tails and Whisk reunited after a period of training, and set out with the Keyblade as their guide. They arrived at a world of Pokemon, where they were transformed and Whisk lost her memories along with her wings. In a race to prevent Zeke from reaching his latest target, the group came across Scourge the hedgehog. Despite Whisk seeing Tails talk to him, her fragile memory means that their secret alliance remains secret...
Failing yet again, Zeke and Zim now resume their search for a source of light and a source of chaos to complete Garland's scheme...
Now, let us journey to a new world...


Tails awkwardly watched Whisk as the Galestrom flew through the space between worlds. Was it possible she could remember Scourge? Would it ruin his plans if she did? It made him anxious. "Hey, Tails..." Lucky said, startling him out of his thoughts. "Whaa, what??" he babbled. Lucky glanced at him curiously but shrugged off his strange reaction. "Any idea where we should go next?" he asked. "I thought we were following the Keyblade now, not me." Tails huffed. Lucky nodded. "Yeah...but the Keyblade's not looking for your Sonic...I think." he chuckled softly. Tails scratched his head. "Err... Don't worry about it. I'm err... Sure he'll turn up." he mumbled. Whisk patted him on the back. "That's the spirit! Don't give up!" she smiled. Tails looked at his shield glumly. "Why are they so kind to me? I've been in this journey for myself the whole time. They should be annoyed by now..." he thought. "Err, uhm... Kupo-po? What do we make of this?" Winston asked, the Galestrom slowing to a stop as they neared something floating in space. Lucky, Whisk and Tails took a look, and saw a large, white door. It was floating before them, as though calling out to them. There were images of clocks emblazoned on the front of the door. "Well, there's something you don't see every day..." Lucky murmured. It looked big enough for the Galestrom to fly through, if they could open it. The Keyblade suddenly yanked Lucky's arm, acting with a mind of its own! A beam shot from it to the door, and it creaked open, bright light spilling out and obscuring their view of what was beyond! "Whoaaa..." Whisk murmured, "What do you think is in there?" she asked. Tails rubbed his head nervously. This felt like some kind of trap. "Well, we ARE following the Keyblade, right?" Lucky smiled. Tails gulped. "Wait, we're gonna fly in without thinking??" he babbled. "Yes, sir, captain!" Winston saluted, taking the ship forward. "Gaaah!! Wait, that wasn't an order!!" Tails gasped. The ship soard into the doorway, and ticking clocks could be heard around them. They were passing into a new world... 


Lucky awoke in a deep forest. He wasn't sure how he got there, but he saw no sign of Tails or Whisk near him. He rubbed his head. "That landing must not have gone so well..." he mumbled, "Tails? Whisk? Where are ya?!" he shouted. "Shhh! We're sleeping..." Lucky heard voices call back to him. "Oh, uh... sorry..." he mumbled, looking around but seeing no one...only some rather massive flowers growing over his head. "...Gosh, it must rain here a lot..." he mumbled. "Shh!" the voice repeated angrier. Moving on, Lucky heard voices singing up ahead. "Sounds friendly... Maybe they've seen the others..." he thought. Coming to a clearing in the forest, he found a long table set up in front of a small house. None of the chairs around the table matched, and an eclectic set of dishes were messily set around the table as a wild haired man in a large green top hat was singing with a brown hare in a red coat. "A veeeery merry unbirthday to me! ... A verrrry merry unbirthday to you! ... Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea! A very merry unbirthday to you!" the pair were singing. Lucky approached the table with a curious tilt of the head. A tasty looking cake was at the middle of the table with "Unbirthday" written in frosting. The two singing friends were happily sipping tea between verses of their song. "Uh... Excuse me?" he asked. "What? What? How rude! Can't you see we're in the middle of a celebration?!" the man in the hat babbled with a glare. "Would YOU like someone to burst in during the middle of YOUR unbirthday song?" the hare said, waving his teacup at Lucky. "Ahh... I suppose...not? Uhm... Happy birthday?" he babbled. "No, not birthday, unbirthday! There's just one birthday every year..." the hare stated. "But you have three sixty four unbirthdays to celebrate!" the hatted man giggled. Lucky scratched his head. That didn't sound so special. "Well, gee... Guess it's my unbirthday, too..." he shrugged. "It IS?!" the duo gasped. Before Lucky knew it, they had him seated at the table and were dancing around him singing and spilling tea. It was an embarrassing scene for Tails and Whisk to walk in on. "There you are!" Whisk sighed. "...Help me...they're mad..." Lucky whimpered. "Oh, we're all mad here!" came a new voice. A striped, pink Cheshire Cat appeared on the awning of the small house nearby. He was...standing on top of his own head! He then picked his head up and placed it casually onto his neck. "Not as mad as you three, though... Diving into mysterious doors. Not know which way or when you might arrive... On the other paw, perhaps it's best that you're here. Who else will chase the shadows?" the cat said with a grin before disappearing. Tails blinked a couple times. "This place is very...odd." he muttered.

Peering out from behind a tree at them was Zim. "They don't see me... Now to spring my trap... FALL TO THE POWER OF ZIM!!" he shouted, causing the nearby flowers to open up and reveal angry faces in their blooms. "Be... quiet!!" they yelled. Lucky leapt out of his chair and joined Tails and Whisk in checking out the commotion. "Oh, wait!! We were boiling another pot of tea!" the Mad Hatter cried, unhappy to see Lucky go. Lucky gripped his keyblade as Zim summoned creeper plant heartless to attack them before dashing through a nearby door very similar to the one they'd arrived through. "Another door? I guess Zeke and Zim were behind this!" Lucky reasoned, blocking with his keyblade as the heartless spat some kind of seeds at him. Tails tossed his shield and sliced through one of the plant's stems with it. "I get the feeling if we don't follow them, these worlds will be in trouble!" Tails reasoned. "Fira!" Whisk cast, burning up the next creeper plant while Lucky moved in to strike at the attacking roots the other was sending out. "Guess we'd better hope Winston sticks by the ship here!" she said. "And that these doors will take us back the way we came..." Tails added with concern. As the heartless were defeated, the Cheshire Cat reappeared. "The shadows have left, left this place, left this time... Off to stalk other wheres and whens. If you follow down the rabbit hole, where oh where will you go? Only the march of time will tell..." he said with a giggle. Lucky crossed his arms. "C'mon, can't you be more clear? We're all cats here..." he said before glancing at Tails, "...mostly." The Cheshire Cat grinned widely. "I can be most very clear indeed..." he said, slowly fading away before their eyes. "Poor choice of words, Lucky!" Tails sighed. "Hey, wait! Come back!" Lucky stammered, but it was no use. The cat was chuckling and singing to himself as he faded away into the darkness. Whisk sighed. "I think he was just teasing us anyway. How would he know what Zeke and Zim are planning?" she asked. Lucky scratched his head. "I dunno... Something about him... Seems like he's got ways of knowing things... Well, let's go before Zim gets away!" he suggested. The trio rushed through the door, where they soon heard waves crashing against a beach... They were out of the woods, and arriving on an island!

Stepping a distance away from the door, the trio found themselves on a beautiful beach. They weren't the only ones there, either. Lots of people were around, enjoying the sun and surf. Lucky glanced back towards the door, nestled under the shade of a palm tree. "Is it... safe to leave the door unguarded?" he wondered, "We are going between worlds." he stated. "Not our problem." Tails shrugged. "But... Master Yen Sid taught me to maintain the world order." Lucky murmured. "Merlin mentioned that, too." Whisk added. "Within reason." Tails said, "We can't take care of everything." he sighed. They each shrugged and headed for the beach, looking for Zim or Zeke. Instead, they saw an odd creature building up a sandcastle, only to tear it down. He was furry and blue...but he sure wasn't Sonic. There was a little girl in a flower print dress near him. "Ah, ah! Stitch! We build sandcastles as works of art for others to enjoy! Don't tear it down!" the girl sighed. The creature, Stitch, grumbled something inaudible. "There, there. You're being very well behaved on this trip..." the girl said, patting him on the head. She then turned away to set up a towel and a picnic basket for snack time. Lucky had raised his keyblade while observing the creature, but decided now that he wasn't a heartless. "That critter doesn't look like he belongs in this world either..." he murmured. "Don't judge, Lucky. You never know." Whisk pointed out. Stitch looked over, and saw Lucky holding the keyblade. "Ni? ...Hmm... Ter-ra? Ven? Aa-koo-wah?" he babbled, shaking his head as though struggling with an old memory. He then growled and leapt at Lucky, grabbing the keyblade in his jaws! "Mee-yow!! Hey! Leggo!" Lucky shouted. The little girl looked up and gasped. "Stich! Stop it! That doesn't belong to you!" she cried, rushing over. His ears twitched, and Stitch released the keyblade, standing back with a sheepish expression. The girl took him into her arms, an awkward task as he was about as big as she was. "I'm sorry... I'm Lilo. I'm trying to train my dog into a model citizen like Mr. Bubbles said, but he backslides now and then..." she explained, carrying him back to the towel and setting him by the wrecked sandcastle. "...Mr. Bubbles?" Lucky snickered. "He doesn't look like a dog. Honestly... He looks more experimental than you two..." Tails observed. Whisk nodded. "Yeahhh... He is a bit funny-lookin..." she stated. "You guys!? Argh, Zim didn't get you off our trail good enough!" Looking up, the trio saw Zeke growling at them, flapping his wings. "Well... your beach vacation's over! These heartless will be much nastier!" he sneered.

Aquatic-looking heartless emerged behind Lucky and company, but they started rushing towards the tasty hearts scattered throughout the shoreline. No one had noticed them yet, except Lucky's group. "Oh no! Those monsters are gonna get the people!" Lucky gasped, summoning his keyblade and chasing a jellyfish-like Sea Neon heartless! Some green-finned Screwdivers sped out of range of Whisk's magic, taunting her. "Slow down, you pests!" However, Stitch had seen them, and growled, memories of dangers in his past coming to his mind. He glanced back to ensure Lilo wasn't watching, and then let an extra pair of arms pop out of his sides, each one clutching a laser pistol! "Yaaaahh!" he shouted before spouting something in an alien language and zapping the Screwdivers! Whisk looked at him in surprise. "More than funny lookin'... Uhhh, thanks!" she waved. Stich nodded, leaping into action and grabbing on as another Screwdiver tried to whizz past him! Tails was busy bashing a Sea Neon with his shield. "Anyone see where Zeke went?! This is just a distraction, you know!" he said, deducing that from what Zeke had said before. Lucky clobbered another Sea Neon with his keyblade and looked around. "Uhhh... Uhmm... Shoot, he's gone." he sighed. Soon enough, the only heartless left was the one Stitch was clinging to. He clawed and beat at it until it vanished, but then he tumbled down, crashing right into the picnic Lilo was setting up, finding himself trapped under the towel! "Ahh! What?! Stiiiitch!!" Lilo cried. Stitch was babbling incoherently as he popped out from under the towel, shadow-boxing with his fists. Fortunately, he had the foresight to hide his extra arms again. He saw Lilo looking at him sternly, and he stopped and looked at the ground sheepishly. "What am I gonna do with you?" she sighed. Stitch trailed his finger in the sand with a dejected look. Watching him, Lilo smiled sympathetically. "Hey, it's okay. I won't give up on you!" she said, leaning down to hug him. "You're my Ohana now, Stitch. Ohana means family! And family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten. We'll show Mr. Bubbles that you're a good dog, you'll see!" she said. Whisk watched them with a smile. "That's sweet... Makes it a shame he's hiding what he really is from her..." she said, to which Tails looked at the ground awkwardly. Lucky slung his keyblade over his shoulder and smiled. "No worries. They're family. When she finds out, it'll be okay!" he said. "You really think so?" Tails mumbled. Lucky nodded. "Sure! Look how she cares about him..." he pointed out. Tails shrugged. "Well... Let's go. Zeke must have slipped through another door..." he suggested.


Sure enough, they found yet another door, which Zeke had likely escaped through. Passing through it, the trio quickly found themselves underwater! Whisk's wand reacted, and quickly they were transformed from the waist-down...into mer-folk! Fortunately, the transformation maintained Whisk's wings, so there was no repeat of the last time. "MEE-YOW!! My legs! I can't feel my legs!!" Lucky panicked. "My Tails have turned into fancy fins...huh..." Tails murmured. "How can we talk underwater?!" Whisk stammered. While they were babbling in confusion, a red-haired mermaid in a seashell bikini top was watching them from behind some rocks. A lobster and a yellow fish floated beside her. "Where did they come from?" the fish wondered nervously. "I don't know, Flounder. They seem lost, don't you think, Sebastian?" she asked her lobster friend. "Ariel, don't even think about it! You don't know if you can trust them!" Sebastian warned. Ariel frowned at the lobster. "...If it were up to you, I'd just stay in my room and never come out." she huffed. "...That does sound safe... Ariel! Where are you going!?" Sebastian gasped as he saw Ariel approach Lucky and his friends. "Hello! What kinds of fish are you?" she asked. Lucky looked himself over. "Ahh... A catfish, I think..." he chuckled awkwardly. Tails decided to get straight to the point. "We're looking for a troublemaker. He came through this door." he said, pointing to the door they'd arrived through. Ariel glanced at it curiously. "Hmm... I've never noticed that door before..." she murmured. "Don't touch it!" Sebastian warned, "I'm afraid we haven't seen this troublemaker you're talking about, so swim on back where ye came from!" Flounder looked scared at the very idea of a troublemaker on the loose, and Ariel thought it over. "You know, since Daddy is the king, I'm sure he'd want to do everything in his power to stop any troublemakers in our kingdom." she stated. "Your dad's a king?! You're a princess!?" Whisk gasped. Sebastian held his head in frustration. "You're not supposed to just tell strangers that outta the blue! What if they were dangerous!?" he groaned. Lucky chuckled awkwardly. "W-well, this might be asking a lot, but can we see the king? Maybe he'd have some advice about these doors and our uh, troublemakers..." he asked. Ariel nodded. "Certainly! Swim this way! You can tell me all about where you came from along the way!" she chuckled. "Uhhh... Really there's not much to tell..." Whisk muttered, concerned about the world order. "Why me?" Sebastian groaned, hating this idea.

As they followed Ariel, Lucky glanced at Tails and Whisk uncertainly. "What do you think Zeke's game is here? Lure us so far from the ship that we end up stranded?" he asked. Tails shrugged. "I don't think he's smart enough for that." he mumbled. "I kinda get the feeling those heartless he sent to Stitch's world came from here." Whisk mumbled. That might be true, but it wasn't helpful. Soon, they'd arrived in a sort of undersea throne room, and Sebastion swam up to the throne's side. "You swim before the ruler of the seas! His majesty, King Triton!" he announced. A large merman with a great beard and a pointy crown sat upon the throne, looking down upon them. "Who are these? Ariel, where have you been swimming?" he asked in an aggrieved tone. "Nowhere, Daddy..." Ariel grumbled. Lucky looked around nervously. "Uhh, well, you see, sire... We came through this door, and we're wondering if maybe you might..." he was interrupted before he finished. "A door?? A white door, was it?!" he said, raising his voice. "What's wrong, Daddy?" Ariel asked. "Out, Ariel! You've done enough... I'll take this from here!" he insisted. Ariel crossed her arms. "You'll never stop treating me like a child, will you?" she pouted, swimming off with Sebastian nervously following her. Triton sighed. "She'll understand one day... Now, you three... I know what those doors are, and I know what you are. And I'll have none of your meddling in my kingdom! So I suggest you go back to that door and return whence you came!" he shouted. "S-someone else might have come through the door, though!" Whisk stammered. "It's my issue to deal with! Go back to your world!" Triton said sternly. Lucky gave a whimper and nodded, swimming out of the throne room with the others following. "That was a bust..." Tails sighed. "He knows about other worlds... But I suppose he is a king. Maybe that's natural." Lucky murmured. "We're not turning back, are we?" Whisk asked. Tails shook his head. "Zeke's around somewhere. Maybe there's another door, maybe he's here. But let's catch him and end this nonsense..." he suggested. Lucky nodded with a sigh. "Where do we look?" he asked. "You're looking for another of those doors?" They looked to see Flounder eavesdropping on them. "Uhh, yeah?" Lucky nodded. "I saw one earlier... Just, let's not tell Ariel. I don't want to get her in trouble for helping you. I kinda heard the king yelling..." he murmured. "Why are you helping us, then?" Tails asked. "...To stop the troublemaker..." Flounder murmured. That was all they needed to know. Flounder would lead the way...


Swimming through yet another door, Whisk's magic turned them back, or so they thought. This time, Lucky, Tails and Whisk found their bodies in squat black and white forms. A bit silly, almost cartoonish looking...but then, the world they'd stepped into looked the same. The whistle of a steamboat as it drifted across a river could be heard as the trio stepped onto a grassy hill. A large glass ball containing light was positioned at the top of the hill, and Zeke and Zim were standing before it, looking like they intended to steal it! "Well, finally found 'em!" Lucky grunted, holding his throat briefly as he noticed he sounded oddly muffled. "This is one strange world..." Tails said, his voice also muffled. "Look! Someone's standing up to Zeke and Zim!" Whisk pointed. Between Zeke, Zim and the ball of light was a large-eared fellow. A mouse in shorts, it appeared. He wasn't speaking, but he had a serious look as though he had every intent of keeping the dragon and zeti from their goal. "Guy of few words, huh? Well, the heartless will silence you forever!" Zeke smirked. Some strange hammer-shaped heartless appeared around the mouse, and he held his head in defense! "That's enough of that! Aerora!!" Whisk shouted, casting wind magic that hurled the heartless as well as Zeke and Zim into the air! Zeke started flying, but Zim fell flat on his face. "Ughhh!! Zim will have vengeance!!" he groaned. "Stop talking about yourself in the third person. It's annoying." Zeke growled. Tails tossed his shield out to knock the winded heartless around a bit more before Lucky ran in to finish them with his keyblade! "We'll take it from here, little guy!" he said to the round-eared mouse, who was hiding behind the ball of light and looking a bit nervously at him, now. "Huh? ...What, are you nervous around me because I'm a cat? Dude, my dad's a rat..." Lucky mumbled, rubbing his head sheepishly. Zim stood up and sneered at the trio. "You may have tracked us through the doors, but you won't stop us from taking this Cornerstone of Light! It is the perfect source of light to aid Mr. Garland's brilliant plan that I am surely not planning to steal and use to impress Zavok!" he shouted. Zeke palmed his own face slowly and with a great sense of irritation. "You talk way too much you little dolt..." he growled. "Wait, we wanna hear more! Tell us all about this brilliant plan!" Lucky grinned. "Well, it's..." Zeke grabbed up Zim and held his mouth. "Better idea. Let's summon a great big heartless to CRUSH them! RAWR!!" he roared.

Out of a corridor of darkness, a monstrous construction vehicle emerged, emblazoned with the heartless emblem! It that three cranes, ending in a claw, a shovel, and a small platform where a heartless in a hard hat was carrying dangerous-looking tools. "We need something to lift that dumb Cornerstone, so say hello to the Construct-O-Matic!" Zeke grinned. Tails gulped. "H-hullo..." he waved. The trio then scrambled out of the way as the shovel crashed down on the spot they'd been standing! "Meeeee-yow!! Where's Stitch when we need him, huh?" Lucky yelped. Whisk flew up to the heartless on the platform, weaving to dodge as it fired nails from a nail gun at her! "Yaaah!! This is nuts! Uhhh... Thundara!!" she cast, zapping the hard hat and shocking the heartless! Tails took cover with the mouse and revealed a compartment on the back of his shield, where sensors were taking readings. "This thing's gotta have a weakness... The driver's seat!" he murmured. The mouse jumped as he saw that the Construct-O-Matic had grabbed the Cornerstone with its claw! Steeling his courage, the mouse leapt up and started pulling at the pincers of the claw, trying to loosen them as the Cornerstone was slowly lifted up! "Lucky! Attack the driver's seat!" Tails shouted, blocking with his shield as the shovel crashed atop him! "T-tails!! Hold on!" Lucky gasped, running for the driver's seat while Whisk was getting swatted by the very platform the hard-hatted heartless was sitting on! Lucky found more of those hard hat heartless guarding the driver's seat of the Construct-O-Matic, pointing nail guns at him! "Guys, pointing those things around is dangerous! Someone could lose an eye!" Lucky gulped, using his keyblade to shield his eyes. A thud was heard on the roof of the vehicle, and glancing up, Lucky saw the mouse, who leapt down and kicked two of the hard hatted heartless! "Alright! Chaaaarge!!" Lucky cried, rushing forward and dodging nails as he thrusted his keyblade into one heartless, then slashed another. Finally, he leapt inside the driver's seat! "What do you think you're doing!? You're not liscensed to drive that!!" Zeke snarled. Lucky looked around at the levers and switches moving on their own. "Drop...the...ball!!" he grunted, pulling at the switches until the claw opened and dropped the Cornerstone! Then, Lucky lifted his keyblade and plunged it into the control panel! The machine tilted and convulsed before evaporating into fading darkness, a heart floating away from it. Zeke growled, still holding Zim's mouth. "You twerps will pay for this! C'mon, Zim! I miss color!" he shouted, rushing for the door to escape!

Lucky, Tails and Whisk helped the mouse steady the Cornerstone of Light back into its proper place. Then, the mouse gratefully shook Lucky's hand. "Hehe, sure. Anytime!" he smiled. The mouse waved and started to run off as Merlin stepped through the door. "This had better be the last of the doors. Confound whoever summoned these!" he grumbled. Whisk turned at the familiar voice. "Merlin?? What are you doing here?!" she gasped. Lucky and Tails joined her in greeting the wizard. "I sensed a disturbance in the time-space continuum. These doors you've traveled through appear to be responsible. Special time travel doors, they are." he explained. Tails' eyes widened. "Ahh, now I get what the Cheshire Cat was driving at..." he said. "At least someone does..." Lucky mumbled. Merlin sighed. "This was a real pain in the neck, but it's fortunate you're here. Lucky, you can use your keyblade to seal these doors and prevent their further use. Be sure to seal each one on your way back to your ship." he stated. Lucky nodded. "Guess we'd better... Can't believe we've been time-traveling..." he sighed. Whisk nodded. "Hey, Merlin, the enchantment you placed on my wand took my wings away in a world we visited recently. Sorry about the world order and all, but I need my wings or my magic and memory are done for..." she told the wizard. Merlin looked at her with concern. "Oh my, that sounds dreadful, I wish you'd mentioned that. Let me have a look at your wand and I'll take care of it for the future..." he said, accepting her wand. He made small talk as his magic altered the enchantment. "So, I wonder if you saw the king while you were here? Small mousy fellow? Hehe..." he chuckled. The trio each looked surprised. "No way... He's nothing like King Triton." Lucky chuckled. Merlin nodded. "I'm concerned, though. Usually in order to time travel, a version of oneself must exist at the destination. That's true to create these doors, too. But you've been chasing around Garland and his followers...and they were never detected traveling the worlds before... How could they summon these doors?" he wondered as he handed the wand back to Whisk. The trio glanced at one another with concern. "I don't know..." Tails murmured. Merlin shrugged and headed back to the door. "Well, best not to linger on it. Or linger here. Fooling around with time is never the best idea." he stated. "I'm pretty sure you don't have to be at the destination to time travel..." Lucky said, remembering Gemini back in his own world. "Your world may have its own rules." Tails pointed out. The purpose of the doors was solved, but the mystery still lingered. Perhaps Lucky and his friends would uncover the answers later. For now, it was time to seal these doors, return to the Gummi ship, and set off for the next adventure...

To be continued...