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Chapter Text

Part One

            Elvira had regenerated. There was no doubt about it.

            But something felt different this time. She still felt like herself with her busty, hourglass frame and her bouffant, beehive hairstyle. However, at the first instance that she gazed on the nearest mirror in the console room of her Type-Z TARDIS, she discovered the real difference in this new incarnation: a familiar face.

            Specifically, the face of her past fourth incarnation – Cara.

            “What the…?!” she cried, even her voice sounded like Cara’s.

            There wasn’t much time to dwell on the mystery of this familiar regeneration; her TARDIS made an emergency landing, following the recent escapade that led to it. Emerging from her tall, black domino-shaped ship, she was welcomed with a fresh ocean scent and breeze to match. The sky was an endless blue that reflected off the sea below; beautiful white clouds scattered throughout. It was a stark contrast to her black, morbid attire, which was certain to frighten any locals – much like it once did in Fallwell, Massachusetts.

            The locals seemed to have been too excited over something else to worry about the macabre woman that had come to their pleasant island, somewhere in the Caribbean – judging from the atmosphere.

            Not very far from the cliffside where Elvira landed, she discovered a thriving kingdom with a majestic castle overlooking the vast sea. All the subjects were heading in the same direction: towards a specific shore. “Excuse me,” Elvira managed to nab the attention of one – a bearded, dark-skinned man in a straw hat. “Hi there. I’m new to this place. Can you tell me where everyone is goin’?”

            “You must be new,” the man said with a deep Jamaican accent. “Prince Eric has finally married! To a mermaid, no less!”

            Prince Eric? Mermaid?

            Suddenly, Elvira was getting an idea of which dimension she arrived in. “I see,” she told the man. “Would this mermaid’s name happen to be ‘Ariel’?”

            The man frowned. “I thought ya said ya were new ‘ere.”

            “I am,” Elvira fibbed.

            “Then how would ya know dah name of Prince Eric’s new bride?”

            Elvira shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

            The Jamaican didn’t seem too convinced; regardless, he kept on his way, with Elvira following him and the other townsfolk close behind. They were all gathered, along with the merpeople of Atlantica that floated chest-up from the waters, to witness the departure of Eric and Ariel. The prince and the mermaid (now human) rode in a small rowboat, destined for a grand, royal ship ported a couple of miles offshore.

            They were so far away that Elvira could hardly see them; so, she did the only intelligible thing and pulled out some binoculars that she tucked away in her cleavage. With it, she got a good look at the two classic Disney characters, who weren’t quite the same as she last remembered seeing them.

            While Eric pretty much looked a bit the same, the “Ariel” of this world was what appeared to have been a beautiful, redheaded girl with mocha-colored skin. “Neat,” Elvira muttered of the discovery.

            “Mind if I have a look?” requested a nearby individual whose voice she recognized. It was a kind of cultured cockney, flecked with hints of Scots.

            “Doctor?” She turned to see him – the tenth of his incarnations, albeit wearing a much different outfit. It consisted of a navy-blue trench coat over a white button-up shirt, with a grey knitted tie, a brown and turquoise checkered-tartan waistcoat with matching pants, and papyrus-colored Converse shoes. He also seemed slightly older, in spite of having the same tall, slim frame and thick brown hair with sideburns. “You look…different.”

            “I do?” He lightly touched his scraggily face, beleaguered by a five o’clock shadow of stubble. “Not sure how, considering the face is the same as before.”

            “Before?” Elvira scowled.

            Initially baffled by her confusion, the Doctor quickly realized, “Ah, yes! You don’t know! I regenerated with this face again, believe it or not.” He then looked up and down at her. “And, apparently, you have, too.” He circled around her, putting on a pair of tortoise shell glasses, analyzing her. He roughly tugged on her beehive hair, seeing if it was a wig, only for her to yelp in genuine pain. “You look like Elvira…but also Cara. You’re Elvara!”

            She cringed at the name he christened her with on the spot. “Ugh. Is that the best you could come up with?”

            The Doctor was insulted by her criticism. “You don’t like it? I rather think it suits you – this new you.”

            “Well, I don’t!” Elvara griped. “Something went wrong with my regeneration!”

            “Why would you assume that?”

            “Because I don’t just become someone I used to be and someone that I am! I’m supposed to become a completely different person!”

            “So…?”

            “So, why the hell have I regenerated into two different women in one body?!”

            The Doctor couldn’t help but to smile at the irony. “You know, it’s funny…I asked myself some similar questions when I regenerated with this face again. It took awhile for me to figure it out before something miraculous happened.”

            “And what’s that?” Elvara asked.

            Before the Doctor could say, a loud explosion resonated over the area. Their eyes turned away from each other and towards the sea, witnessing Prince Eric’s royal ship blown to smithereens. Thankfully, neither Eric nor Ariel was aboard, still sitting in the rowboat, a short distance away.

            The destruction of the vessel was caused by a pirate ship that advanced from a mysterious fog. Its occupants hurled a fishnet over the rails, landing right atop Ariel and Eric as if they were the catch-of-the-day. Immediately, they were hauled up and brought onto the deck.

            “ARIEL!!!” bellowed the mighty King Triton, who also was in attendance for what was supposed to be a happy sendoff for his daughter. The heavens quaked as he activated his powerful trident, targeting the pirate ship that had abducted his daughter and her new husband. It was not his intention to destroy the ship but to blow a hole on its starboard side that would cripple it into submission.

            Unfortunately, Triton’s blast made zero contact, due to the strange, translucent forcefield that protected the pirate ship.

            Elvara and the Doctor observed the bizarre turnaround with interest and alarm.

            “O.K., that definitely calls for an investigation,” the former proclaimed.

            “I couldn’t agree more,” said the latter.

            “Is your TARDIS near here?”

            The Doctor shook his head. “I-It’s with family, at the moment.”

            “When did you start havin’ a family?!” Elvara curiously inquired.

            “Long story, explain later,” the Doctor rushed. “Lead us to your ship! Allons-y!”

            On that note, Elvara and the Doctor ran back to the cliffside where the Type-Z TARDIS was parked. Elvara dematerialized the ship just as soon as she was at the controls, fixating their destination for the pirate ship. “I’m gonna materialize us somewhere in the cargo hold, so that we won’t be noticed,” she premeditated while frantically flipping switches, turning knobs, and pressing buttons.

            The Type-Z arrived at its destination in no less than a second.

            However, it wasn’t the cargo hold as Elvara intended but the main deck.

            The Time Lords were greeted with the deadly points of a dozen swords, wielded by a dozen bloodthirsty pirates. But it was the man who led the cutthroats that caught their immediate attention – a man with one of his hands replaced by a silvery hook.

            Captain Hook.

Chapter Text

Part Two

            The vile Captain Hook had Elvara and the Doctor locked up with Ariel and Eric in the brig. There, the Time Lords were surprised to see even more familiar faces in other cells. Whereas other Peter Pan characters like Wendy Darling and her brothers (John and Michael) were there with the Lost Boys, so was Timon and Pumbaa, Cinderella and Dumbo, Mowgli and Baloo, Winnie the Pooh, Mulan, and Pinocchio. Outside the cells, atop a wooden barrel, sat a golden lamp that looked a lot like the Genie’s lamp.

            One thing the Doctor noticed about them all: “They all look so…real. Is that the nuage energy making them look that way?”

            “Nope, they’re variants of their more animated counterparts,” Elvara said. “Awhile back, Pop and I dealt with a situation where the worlds of the Disneyverse – that’s the name a friend we made on the journey called them – were in flux. Some of the animated variants were swapped with their realistic equals, and vice versa.

            “Including me,” a haunting voice spoke within the shadows of the cell Elvara and the Doctor were put in. They turned to see a pale-skinned woman with yellow eyes and black horns. Her face was narrow, and her chin was prominent. She was as darkly beautiful as she was icily elegant.

            “Well, well, well…” Elvara smirked, hands on her hips. “Maleficent, Mistress of Evil.”

            “You’re appearing very ‘mistress-y’ yourself,” Maleficent observed. “Last our paths crossed, you dressed like a hooded vagrant and called yourself ‘Cici’. What do you call this form?”

            “Elvara, apparently,” she briefly side-eyed the Doctor. “Where’s Diaval?”

            “He got away before our ‘courteous’ host with the hook abducted me and the rest of these…people.”

            “Uh, some of us are animals, not people,” Timon indicated.

            “So, I’ve noticed,” Maleficent dismissively acknowledged.

            “But why has Hook captured all of you?” The Doctor wondered. “I mean, the Darlings and the Lost Boys, I can understand. But Dumbo?” He gestured to the floppy-eared and sad elephant in the same cell as Cinderella, who did her best to console him. “Why would anyone want to kidnap sweet, lovable little Dumbo?”

            “A better question is how Hook is able to traverse between realms,” Elvara posed. “Sure, he can go in-between London and Neverland with enough pixie dust on his ship, but anyplace further is beyond even his own control.”

            “He had help – powerful help,” Maleficent stated, seeming a bit perturbed. “From the moment I was brought aboard this vessel, I’ve sensed a power much stronger than mine…and it’s not of any world the characters in this room are part of.”

            “Definitely ain’t from mine,” Genie said from inside his lamp.

            “Is that why even you haven’t tried fighting back?” Elvara questioned Maleficent. “Hook’s a pushover when it comes to a sorceress like yourself.”

            Maleficent sneered. “I appreciate the admiration. But, alas, whatever has given Hook his power has robbed me of my own. It’s as if he’s sapped each of our auras and gathered it inside of himself.”

            “How is a simpleton like Hook harnessing all that energy?” Elvara pondered.

            “Wendy,” the Doctor centered his curiosity on the eldest Darling child. “What happened to Peter during all of this?”

            “He was trapped back in Neverland with Tinker Bell, sir,” Wendy replied. “All of what that terrifying woman said just now is the truth? Not even Peter Pan was a match for Captain Hook and his newfound abilities.”

            “And that means we won’t be rescued,” Michael sniffled, hugging his teddy bear.

            Seeing how hopeless Michael and all the other imprisoned characters looked in their cells, an inferno blazed inside of Elvara. In one mighty breath, she shouted through the bars of her cell, “MR. SMEE!!!!!”

            Right away, Captain Hook’s loyal first mate rushed downstairs to the brig, as if the captain himself were the one who summoned him. “D-Did I hear one of ye call for ‘Smee’?”

            “Yes, I did,” Elvara said. “You tell that skinflint Hook that I challenge him to a duel…with swords!”

            The Doctor gazed at her in shock. “What’re you doing?!”

            “Getting to the bottom of this nonsense,” Elvara told him.

            Moments later, everyone was congregated on the main deck – both pirates and prisoners alike – to witness the duel between Captain Hook and Elvara. Before they began, Hook made one thing clear: “First off, Mr. Smee…I’m the only one you come to when you hear your name shouted, is that understood?”

            “Y-Yes, Cap’n,” Smee stammered.

            “Secondly,” Hook faced Elvara, bolstering confidence, “I have bested Peter Pan in a swordfight. What makes you – a woman – think you’ll fare any better than a boy?”

            “Eons worth of experience, dude,” Elvara declared.

            Mr. Smee presented the duelists with their blades.

            “Have at thee!” Hook challenged.

            “I cut you, mang!” Elvara slashed her sword through the air.

            The steel of their blades clashed with sharp, rapid chimes. Captain Hook moved with superhuman speed and ferocity; however, Elvara moved with a thousand times more. To the spectators, their movements were like a blur. Sparks generated between the clashes, forcing a few to shield their faces.

            Struggling with an overwhelming sense of bewilderment, Hook saw how Elvara was barely breaking a sweat. She even taunted him with a fake yawn, as if the duel was actually boring her. “Let’s end this, shall we?”

            With a mighty swing, she knocked Hook’s sword out of his one good hand, sending it flying twenty feet straight up. She kicked the captain down on his backside just as the sword fell back down, its tip landing a few inches shy of Hook’s groin. “I don’t understand!” he cried. “I possess unbeatable power now! How’re you able to stop me?! What makes you so special?!”

            Elvara stood over him victoriously. “First off, you were using only a measly twenty-perfect of nuage energy – that’d be the magic you sapped from all those wonderful, precious people and animals you abducted. Secondly, I’m the Gladiator of Gallifrey, dude! I’ve crossed over a million worlds, soaking up more nuage energy than you can imagine – and I didn’t have to sacrifice anything or anyone to get it! So, take a bit of advice: don’t try to be a badass, if you can’t back it up!”

            The Doctor led in a rousing round of applause for Elvara, the victor of the duel.

            Embarrassed and infuriated, Captain Hook was none too pleased to see that even his own men – including Mr. Smee – were cheering for her.

            In his rage, he looked to the heavens and screamed out a name: “BILL!!!!”

            Elvara frowned. “Bill? Bill who?”

            All of the sudden, the ocean waves grew violent around the ship, madly rocking it. The clear blue skies darkened with vicious storm clouds materializing from nowhere. One cloud figure formed a triangular shape that solidified into one-eyed entity with a top hat, a bowtie, and stick arms and legs.

            Gawking at the mortified individuals aboard Hook’s ship, the entity said in menacing and obnoxious voice, “I knew ya couldn’t handle all that power, Jimmy-Boy! Good thing ya got ol’ Bill Cipher to save your booty – and I ain’t talkin’ treasure!”

Chapter Text

Part Three

            “Bill Cipher,” Elvara hissed as she glared on the one-eyed, triangle-shaped deity and resident flunky of the Hierarchy that floated above Captain Hook’s ship. Everything suddenly made sense the moment he made his presence known in the wake of Hook’s humiliating defeat: the abducted Disney counterparts, Hook’s otherworldly powers, and the reason why both Elvara’s and the Doctor’s TARDISes brought them to that realm.

            “Well, well,” Cipher mocked. “If it isn’t the Gladiator of Gallifrey herself! It is ‘herself,’ right? You Time Lords flip-flop between genders so much, I can never tell! Not that I could get behind the whole ‘gender’ thing, anyway.”

            “It’s her, you lil’ turd,” Elvara retorted. “And since we’re clearing things up, didn’t you get your butt kicked by the Disney Ghostbusters and the Men In Black of their world?”

            Her recollection of those events irked Cipher slightly, but the Nightmare Demon maintained composure. “They did, but what they failed to realize was that Bill Cipher can never be stopped. Sure, I was vanquished by those niggling Pines in that one dimension and later by the DGBs and the MIB. But, with every defeat, I just rematerialize in another world, stronger than before!”

            “Except you can’t go back to the one you were vanquished in,” Elvara smugly noted.

            “That’s right, unless…” With his one eye, he leered at Elvara’s Type-Z TARDIS, which still stood along the deck of Hook’s ship. “I had a ship capable of jumping between dimensions.” He then conceitedly added, “Oh, wait…”

            Seeing the way he eyed her TARDIS, Elvara flew into immediate alarm. “NO!”

            “Oh, yes!” Cipher cheered. “And all it took was using one of the more pathetic variants of good ol’ Captain Hook to bring it here!”

            Hearing this insult to his character, Hook took offense. “You used me!” he roared to the Nightmare Demon, threateningly waving his hook at him. “No one uses Captain Hook and lives!”

            “Oh, pipe down, Hooky!” Cipher dismissed with the snap of his fingers.

            That gesture wasn’t just for show. In correspondence, Hook’s entire body shifted into an entirely different form, one of an early 18th century man with white hair and black clothes. Needless to say, Hook (along with Mr. Smee and the rest of the crew) were mortified by the change.

            “Now that’s what I call a ‘bad form’!” Cipher teased at Hook’s expense.

            “Stop right now or else, Cipher!” Elvara warned, aiming her dueling sword.

            Cipher’s jovial demeanor swiftly changed to hostile, his yellow body changing flaming red. “I don’t like threats – especially from YOU!” He proceeded to make a slicing gesture with his left arm, generating a shockwave blast that struck Elvara. A thin glowing line ran from the top of her beehive hairdo to the bottom of her dress skirt.

            The Doctor looked on in deep concern, believing Cipher had actually killed Neas.

            However, as the line sunk into her skin and dress, Elvara stiffened and requested, “Could somebody pull my arms?”

            “What?” The Doctor frowned.

            “I just need someone to pull my arms…in opposite directions.”

            On that clarification, the Doctor knew exactly what she was requesting. It was very similar to a recent occurrence where he required the same instruction. He gestured for Wendy to stand at one side of Elvara while he stood at the other, both of them gripping an arm and pulling as if she were a wishbone.

            Before everyone’s very eyes, Elvara split into two.

            However, from out of her right side emerged a completely different woman – a young Japanese-American redhead with long hair and evenly cut bangs. She wore articles of Elvara’s dress and articles of clothing from the bizarre form of regeneration, such as a pair of black, elbow-length gloves. Elvara, on the other hand, was left standing in nothing but her bra and the skirt of her dress.

            Looking at each other with only a beam of regenerative energy between them, both women gasped, “What the hell?!”

            Even Bill Cipher was flabbergasted. “My sentiments exactly!”

            The Doctor smiled big and wide, recognizing this sudden phenomenon. “Keep pulling!” he instructed the confused Wendy, who did as the Doctor ordered.

            Both Elvara and the young redhead were successfully separated.

            Wendy was left clinging to the arm of the latter, while the Doctor had the former.

            “Someone tell me what is goin’ on!” the redhead demanded.

            “THAT’S WHAT I WANNA KNOW!!!” Cipher thundered.

            The Doctor looked up at the Nightmare Demon, playfully scratching the back of his left ear. “It’s quite simple, Mr. Cipher. It’s a fairly new process. I’ve become a bit of an expert of it recently. It’s called ‘bi-generation’.”

            “Bi-generation?!” Elvara and her redheaded successor bafflingly exclaimed.

            “Bi-generation?!” Cipher uttered in the same context. “That sounds stupid!”

            “Call it what you want, but here’s the evidence,” the Doctor gestured to the two Gladiators.

            “Whatever,” Cipher scoffed. “How ‘bout I just crush you like I should’ve done!”

            It was then that he increased his size and mass to gigantic proportions, dwarfing Hook’s ship and its occupants. At such a size, Cipher was certain to do more than just crush the two Gladiators – he would’ve completely obliterated the ship itself and everyone on it.

            The two Gladiators weren’t going to allow him that luxury.

            Immediately, brandishing the nuage-powered swords from Elvara and Hook’s duel, the two women slashed at Cipher’s gargantuan form. Each slash carried enough shockwave energy to turn Cipher into Swiss cheese. Every piece of him transmuted into solid stone, crumbling into the ocean with one massive splash after the other.

            The Gladiators’ victory was celebrated with roaring cheers, even from Hook and his crew.

            In spite of the win, Elvara’s successor knew better. “He’ll be back,” she warned.

            “But we’ll be ready,” Elvara told her.

            With two Gladiators at the controls of the Type-Z and twice the effort, all the captured Disney counterparts were returned to their home worlds in barely any time at all. The last ones left were Ariel, Eric, Wendy, Michael, John, the Lost Boys, and Captain Hook and his crew. Captain Hook, of course, was returned to his normal self, expunging all the nuage energy that he absorbed. As a result, he was left being a normal pirate again.

            “I’m powerless,” he lamented. “But I’m also grateful.”

            Elvara snickered. “I guess that’s the closest we’ll get to a ‘Thank You’ from Captain Hook.”

            In the rare moment of Hook’s humility, a young figure clad in green flew aboard the ship, accompanied by a tiny fairy. “Peter!” Wendy cheered. “You’re alright!”

            “Of course I am – I’m Peter Pan!” the boy boasted. “So…what did I miss?”

            As Wendy, her brothers, and the Lost Boys told Peter Pan all about the adventure that he was absent from, Elvara departed in her TARDIS with her yet-to-be-named successor, the Doctor, Ariel, and Eric. However, they made a slight detour into a dimension that bore many similarities to Lady and the Tramp, including the restaurant where the titular characters shared a spaghetti to the serenading of Tony and Joe’s “Bella Notte.” In fact, the scene itself took place while Ariel and Eric sat across from Lady and Tramp. From another booth over, the Doctor shared a pizza with Elvara and…

            “What do we even call you?” Elvara finally asked her successor.

            After gulping down the last bite of her pizza, the successor answered, “I thought about it, and I figured – from the Japanese half of my genetic structure – I’d go with ‘Nekomi’…or ‘Neko’ for short.”

            The Doctor nodded in approval. “That’s a fine name for a fine woman.” He caught himself by surprise with such a forward remark. “Ooh! Did I really just say that?”

            “Yes, you did,” Elvara and Neko chuckled.

            “I guess there’s still a bit to this version of myself that I’m learning,” the Doctor reflected.

            “I know the feelin’,” Elvara concurred. “This whole ‘bi-generation’ thing is just so…weird and complicated. How did it even happen?”

            “Well, with me, when I played the Toymaker’s game, reality was shifting all around us,” the Doctor explained. “And because it was, things that would be considered myths manifested into reality, such as the concept of bi-generation.” Looking between Elvara and Neko, he concluded, “I reckon that’s what happened with you two, when you confronted Cipher, who is a celestial being in his own right.”

            “Makes sense,” Elvara accepted. “But could we not have ‘bi-generated’ with the same clothes? I’ve been goin’ commando ever since then!” She squirmed uncomfortably in her chair to emphasize her point.

            Neko did the same. “Yeah, I’ve been in this body for just a couple of hours, and I think I can say with absolute certainty that I’m not a thong person.”

            Shaking his head, the Doctor changed the subject. “So, Elvara, what’s next for you? You’re your own woman now.”

            “I am,” Elvara muttered, shaken by the thought. “Honestly, I dunno what I’ll do next.” She glanced at the Type-Z that stood behind their booth, nothing more than a decoration that complimented Tony’s restaurant. “I mean, is this even my ship anymore?”

            “When the Toymaker’s game was over, my prize was for my TARDIS to bi-generate itself, splitting into two,” the Doctor said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that’ll be the case with yours.”

            Elvara sulked, feeling totally lost.

            That was until Neko suggested, “Why not travel with the Doctor again?”

            “What?!” Both Elvara and the Doctor reacted in question.

            “Think about it,” Neko told Elvara. “All of the things we dreamt of doing but never had the chance to do, because we’ve been so busy protecting the multiverse: watching Shyla grow up, having that honeymoon with Heather …”

            “I can finally move to Herkleton and be Craig’s neighbor – for real, this time,” Elvara beamed.

            The Doctor smiled. “You can finally have your happily ever after, just like I did.”

            The very idea thrilled Elvara, who remained with the Doctor as soon as they returned to Ariel and Eric’s world. Once inside of the Doctor’s TARDIS, she made a change to her look. No longer did she wish to carry the appearance of her predecessor; she wanted to be her own person. And with a haircut and change of clothes, she did just that.

            “I’m comin’ back, Craig…the long way around.”

            As for Neko, once she settled into a new set of clothes that suited this new incarnation of herself, she went right back to what she did best: exploring and protecting the Infinite DC.

            She was on her way to the next world when her takeoff was suddenly intercepted by a blue police box that materialized inside Type-Z’s console room. From it emerged another Doctor, one that she had yet to properly meet. This Doctor wore a burnt orange, double-breasted leather trenchcoat over a zip-up polo-cardigan, blue trousers, and long black socks under a pair of colorful trainers.

            But the most impressive thing about him in Neko’s eyes was that he was black.

            “Hello again,” he greeted her with a unique Scottish-Rwandan accent. “I hate to bother you on your first maiden voyage, but I need your help dealing with a bothersome yellow triangle who’s gotten his mitts on an Infinity Gauntlet and is terrorizing a galaxy far, far away…”

            Neko huffed. “Welp. Here we go again.”