//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A New World // Story: Batman Restarts // by TheClownPrinceofCrime //------------------------------// Batman slowly awoke from his unconsciousness. He had a slight headache from the rough motion of the portal that took him from Gotham. Groaning in pain, he tried to get up on his feet but he kept struggling to keep his balance. He held unto a nearby tree to help him remain standing. Then he opened his eyes to behold his surroundings. “Whe-where am I?” asked the Dark Knight. He turned around to see trees and flowers that appeared to be...fully animated somehow. Confused, he looked up to see the blue sky looking very cartoony along with its clouds. “Why does everything look so animated?” he asked again. But before he could investigate the environment, he remembered the task he was just occupied with not too long ago: fighting Scarecrow. He looked around to see if his determined adversary and his gang were with him on the ground. To his surprise, they weren’t with him. “Where did they go? They got to be here somewhere.” he mused. He turned on his tracker to mark the location of Scarecrow and his thugs. The device successfully detected their location; it beeped once it had done it. “They are quite far, but I’ll still catch them.” With that being said, he dashed off to find his enemies. Scarecrow and his men felt dizzy from being teleported through a portal. They all got up from the grass, though they too stumbled once they attempted to stand, and beheld their surroundings. “What is this place? Where are we?” he asked. “It looks like we are in a forest...a cartoony forest to be precise.” Zsasz replied, turning his head back and forth to comprehend the environment. “Ha! Are you kidding me?! Being dragged to a cartoon?! That’s stupid!” scoffed one of the thugs. “Seriously, Steiss, this is what it looks like!” Zsasz replies back. “That’s what that portal was operated to do, Crane? To summon cartoons to take over Gotham?” The other thugs laughed once he said those words. Scarecrow was unamused. “I am not a cartoon creator, my friend. I am what they call an intellectual psychologist. Now if you’re done questioning my portal, I would like us to investigate our surroundings.” Scarecrow commanded. They all picked up their weapons and walked toward a clear path within the forest. As they walked, they spotted several small animals that crawled on the ground. Startled to see strange bipedal creatures walking towards them, they scattered across the forest. Scarecrow chuckled at the sight. “You see that, gentlemen? This is the blessing of fear. Whenever a human or creature beholds something terrifying he doesn’t fully understand, he flees. Tyranny falls in comparison to fear itself.” he lectured. “Nice food for thought but where’s Batman? Wasn’t he just with us just a moment ago before that whole portal problem?” Steiss asked. The thugs looked around with their weapons drawn as soon as he mentioned him. “Apparently, the portal took him elsewhere. However, time is of the essence. The sooner we discover where we are, the better.” Scarecrow reminded. They continued to walk through the forest for the next half-hour. Batman still kept running in pursuit of his foes. The tracker kept getting louder and louder the more he drew closer to their position. Suddenly, he stopped once he spotted them ahead. He hid behind the bushes to avoid being seen by them. The more they kept moving, the more Batman slowly moved from one bush to another. While doing so, he instantly remembered one person in his mind: Alfred. Batman knew that his faithful butler would be worried sick now that he was no longer in Gotham and possibly would not return to the bat cave any time sooner. He tried to contact Alfred to inform him of the unexpected situation. “Alfred! Alfred! Can you hear me?” he called. To his disappointment, the call went static. He tried again with the hope that Alfred would actually answer that time. Unfortunately, it had the same result. “This environment is probably interfering with my signal to the bat cave. This is not good.” he concluded. He then turned his attention back to Scarecrow. They still had their submachine guns drawn as they try to find out where they all were. Batman kept his eyes on them to see what they were up to. ”If I manage to apprehend all of them, how will I be able to take them back to Gotham to face justice for their crimes?” he thought. “With no way out, we will all be stuck here...maybe...forever.” the very thought froze him completely. Never in his life of crime-fighting had he ever imagined being stuck in another dimension away from home, away from the people he had sworn to protect, and especially away from his closest allies...even Alfred, Gordon, and Rachel. He can’t imagine what Gotham City would become if the Batman were absent completely; he thought of Jim Gordon being burdened and bombarded with fighting criminals on a daily basis and being forced to rely on the corrupt officers who certainly did no better to keep Gotham safe and sound, especially Commissioner Loeb since he was antagonistic against vigilantes. He also thought of the love of his life, Rachel. He inwardly feared that Rachel would have no protector against the evils that endangered her life. He remembered how he saved her life from Carmine Falcone and his men. He remembered the words of wisdom she gave him a few months ago, ”It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.”. He also thought back on the moment they had together on the ruins of Wayne Manor after the death of Ra’s al Ghul. If the day would come that Gotham will no longer need Batman, how would Bruce Wayne return to her to be together if the Dark Knight is stuck in this strange world? This was very overwhelming for Batman to mentally handle. However, he was unwilling to give up despite how apparently dire the situation was. He kept his sight on the fugitives as they had no progress on their journey so far. Deciding to break the silence and apprehend them immediately, he grabbed two batarangs as he prepared himself for action. Suddenly, a loud scream threw him off guard. It also took Scarecrow and his thugs by surprise. “What the heck was that?” one thug asked, pointing his gun toward a tree. “I think we should check it out. Follow me, gentlemen.” ordered Scarecrow. He and his men ran toward the source of the scream. Not willing to risk the safety of the person by leaving him/her at the hands of the villains, he grabbed his grappling gun and shot its hook at a tall tree’s branches. The grapple lifted him high in the air until he stood on top of a branch and examined the view below him. He saw in a distance several creatures that appeared to be wolves. The scream was heard once again. Not wasting a moment, he jumped down below until his cape opened and extended itself as batwings to help him glide in the high air, causing him to fly way ahead of the criminals. He glided toward the running wolves to see whom they were chasing; Scarecrow and his men weren’t far behind. They ran as quickly as they could until a large pillar of black smoke surrounded them and engulfed them. Once the smoke dissipated, they were all gone. Batman safely landed on the ground. Once he looked back to see his foes, they were all gone. ”Strange...were they not far from me about ten seconds ago? Where did they go?” he wondered. “AHHHH!! SOMEPONY HELP US!!!” a young voice cried out. “Somepony?” Batman repeated, puzzled. He ran toward the source of the scream until he saw the same wolves he spotted earlier...wait...WOODEN wolves? He saw three fillies, one orange, the other yellow with a pink bow on her red hair, and the third white, shaking in terror at the sight of the Timberwolves. “Help!! Help!!” the orange filly screamed with tears on her eyes. The ferocious predators growled as they readied themselves to devour the terrified prey in front of them. Suddenly, Batman jumped right in front of the fillies and clenched his fists in front of the stunned wolves. “Stay back. Don’t move.” he said to the surprised fillies as he prepared himself to fight the Timberwolves.