Part I
As spring came, Luke knew that events were slowly beginning to set themselves into motion. He knew that the episode would bring back Sarah Jane Smith to the forefront of the Whoniverse and even set into motion her own point of view as a true protagonist. That meant that he'd need to keep an eye on her too along with the Torchwood team, yet that thought didn't faze him as much as he thought it would.
Despite how the shows are painted to be more family-friendly on television, Luke knew that reality was not as clear as portrayed. People lived their own lives outside of what is seen on screens or read in books, but even with all of his power, that fact cannot be changed easily.
Sarah Jane, outside of being with the Doctor to help guide her away from more dangerous events, will inevitably be put on the spot to decide what is dangerous and not. Even after reuniting with Ten and his new companions, she will encounter her own adopted son with an extremely high IQ and have to help him just like how the Doctor helped her. While Luke held his own hesitations about how the future will go in this wonderfully chaotic universe of his, he is broken out of his thoughts by a sudden ringing.
Before he could figure out where the ringing is coming from, his father (JJ) answers the phone.
"Hello, Stryker residence?" JJ greeted on the phone.
Luke couldn't tell what was being said on the phone completely, but the voices on the line seemed strangely familiar to him somehow.
"I'm sorry, but there seems to be some kind of strange glitch on this line," JJ remarked to the recipient on the phone apologetically. "What did you say again?"
"Strange glitch?" Luke thought to himself and to Michael. "Do you know what that means?"
"It's either someone from the future calling the current time," Michael responded cautiously, "or someone is attempting to call here from beyond the universe."
Luke took a moment to consider that. "Knowing this universe, I'm suspecting the former more than the latter. Wait, what do you mean about someone calling here from beyond the universe?"
"There are other universes besides this one in the grander cosmic board," Michael replied with a certain serious tone. "Much like how this universe iteration closely follows the events of the TV show and its spin-offs, there are other universes that your future self will inevitably interact in. This is evident by how the System gave you access to the Warhammer universe and a pre-generated modded Minecraft world."
Luke couldn't argue with that logic as it was true. He knew that the System would eventually give him a plethora of universes to adventure in and the [White Void] announcement had cemented the possibility of encountering other transmigrators. It was also this same logic that bred confusion in Luke's mind as he didn't know what this call his father answered meant yet.
"Could it be someone from my own future like River Song or someone else who was attempting to reach me across the universes like the Emperor?" Luke thought to himself. He looked at his father, whose eyes turned to look at his son for a moment, as his mind was attempting to put together the potential pieces of what's happening.
JJ told the other person on the line to wait a moment then lowered the phone to his chest before returning to look at Luke. "Hey bud, apparently the call is for you. Do you know this kid? Said his name was... Sora, I think?"
"What?" Luke looked shocked as the name struck a ton of bells in his memory. Without thinking too hard, he decided to walk over and talk to the person on the other line.
JJ told Sora on the other end that he's handing it over to him now and hands Luke the phone. Putting the phone up to his ear, Luke asked "Sora?"
"H-hey!" Sora's child-like voice, which to Luke sounded a mix of Japanese and English, said over the phone. Luke also noted that the line was, indeed, rather glitchy just like how his dad said earlier. "How are ya?"
"First of all," Luke began, but turned to look behind him first. He noticed that his father was no longer in earshot and his mother was at work, so he was safe for now. "Tell me, Sora. When are you calling me from?"
On the other side of the phone, it was Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Yen Sid that seemed confused about the question. While Sora didn't know how to answer the question, it was Yen Sid that seemed to figure it out somewhat.
"Time travel?" Yen Sid inquired.
"Time travel?" Sora then asked Yen Sid, more confused, but it was Luke that answered.
"Put me on speakerphone, Jiminy."
Jiminy Cricket, while overhearing the call, was shocked to realize Luke somehow knew he was there. He motioned for Sora to place the Gummi phone down on the desk and, when it was, he turned on speakerphone.
"You're on speaker, Luke," Jiminy motioned like a mini-gentleman.
"Thank you, Jiminy," Luke replied with a slightly happy tone. "Now then, to my question. I'm asking because you're clearly calling me with a phone and my current self on the phone hasn't yet met you. This tells me that my future self, at some point, gave you this number at a yet indeterminate time in your adventures and that, I presume, to call this number in case of a huge emergency that you cannot deal with alone."
Yen Sid nodded at that. "You're correct, Luke."
"Master Yen Sid, I presume?" Luke inquired as the voice seemed to be somewhat familiar to him too just like Sora.
"Yes," Yen Sid replied to Luke.
"So, the current time for you should be past dealing with Xemnas in Radiant Garden then," Luke pondered as he figured out that much thus far. "Sora and you wouldn't have met during that time as the only wizard they met in that point was Merlin in Traverse Town."
"Indeed," Yen Sid kindly replied as he also realized that this Luke was quickly figuring out when they are talking.
"Then I only have one question for you, Master Yen Sid," Luke said with a small shivering breath. "Mark of Mastery?"
"It is as you think, Luke," Yen Sid replied.
On their side, they hear a sharp intake of breath. "I see."
Back on Luke's side, he quickly realized that he is being called because Sora has lost his strength due to Xehanort's manipulations. This meant that his future self has already expected that outcome and they were trying to call his future self, but called his past self instead.
"So," Luke began after a moment of silence passed, "I'll give you this much advice. You have another friend who has lost and regained his strength before. No matter what strength you have now, there is nothing that prevents you from regaining what you lost."
"Oh! Herc!" Sora says out loud joyously as he remembers that with Luke's reminder. "Thanks, Luke!"
"No problem, Sora," Luke replied with a soft smile. "However, if I know my future self enough, if you need more help, I'll find you."
Luke quickly hangs up the phone before they all attempt to ask him for more information, but after a moment of processing what just happened, he realized what happened. Michael did too as he noticed what was happening alongside Luke and understood that the future is far more full of adventure than just what is connected to the Doctor.
Then, a System notification appeared.
==={+}===
[Qualifications acquired!]
[New Quest added: The Key to the Heart]
Due to a version of the Bootstrap Paradox, you have acquired the qualifications to traverse into the crisis points of the Kingdom Hearts universe. While direct travel is currently unavailable due to spatial-temporal distortions, the rewards for the canon event {School Reunion} has been altered.
You will now need to complete the canon event {School Reunion} in order to gain access to the Kingdom Hearts universe.
==={+}===
Part II
It took a bit for Luke and Michael to read the notification the first time, but a bit longer to re-read the notification a couple more times. Neither of them could have expected that the future version of Luke was also plotting to send his own past self into other universes too, but the System itself was quick to realize that before either of them could.
"So, what's next?" Luke mentally sighed after re-reading the notification for the third time. "Will I get a call from the Galactic Republic by a Jedi Master or will there be some other place that needs my help far before I'm ready?"
"Let's hope that you didn't just raise another flag," Michael replied back, similarly sighing in contempt for his younger brother slash host. "It's bad enough that your own future self has let us gain the qualifications to go into another universe, unprompted by the System, but if you tempt fate like that, who knows what'llhappen?"
"You're right," Luke whispered to himself in exasperation. "We already have our hands full trying to deal with a regretful Time Lord over the fact of the Time War happening. We shouldn't try tempting fate like that."
Luke understood that, with events happening the way they were going, he would able to stop the Krillitanes from using the kids' souls to crack the Skasis Paradigm and probably also prevent the school from being too destroyed due to the aliens getting blown up by K9. He also knew that this would allow him to meet with Sarah Jane and potentially be able to have some semblance of trust already built up with another companion of the Doctor's when the Daleks attempt to destroy the whole of creation using the Reality Bomb.
Avoiding talking to his father about what happened with Sora's call, Luke went back to his bedroom. When he returned to his bedroom, exhaling in some small relief due to the familiar safe space, he let himself process everything. This meant that he wanted to go over his game plan for the canon event before he had to get involved.
While he went over the game plan to deal with the Krillitanes, Luke discovered that the plan carried enormous risk of exposing his existence to UNIT and Torchwood. This is mainly because there are aliens (and the Doctor) duking it out in a small school campus and both government agencies tend to investigate anything alien. Despite not being worried about UNIT knowing that someone else was there, Luke's primary concerns lay with Torchwood.
By the time of the canon episode School Reunion, both the Doctor and Rose would have already encountered the werewolf and Queen Elizabeth would have already begun establishing the Torchwood Institute in response to knowing that aliens are everywhere. The regime that would be in charge of Torchwood currently are people who adhere strongly to the original founding charter penned by Queen Elizabeth and, to Luke's knowledge, are the worst sort of humans that he refused to allow knowing of his existence. While most are scientists and more interested in studying the alien, he disliked those who were xenophobic to such an extent.
Well, he can at least understand the humans from the Warhammer Universe and the reason for being paranoid xenophobes. He never liked the Ruinous Powers and their schemes anyway.
"So," Luke muttered to himself as he reviewed what he knew would happen from the show, "the Krillitanes will use the childrens' souls to break a god-maker theory in order to turn reality into their own plaything. Their leader, Brother Lassar, will attempt to convert the Doctor to their plan by saying how he could stop the Time War using the power granted by the Paradigm, but Sarah Jane will stop him from doing so as the old order is worth keeping. This will inevitably lead into K9 blowing up the school and killing all of the Krillitanes as a result."
"That's how it is supposed to go, yes," Michael replied to Luke in his mind as he understood what Luke was doing. "But, in canon, you didn't exist. Nothing major got changed because of your presence here, but this will inevitably change a few things. We already know that Fifteen knows who you are and what you are, but we are still at the point where the Doctor only knows you from how you helped with the Sycorax. He doesn't know your true identity yet."
"In a way, I'm like River Song but a male," Luke responded with a soft smirk. "Except that River is a badass archaeologist from the future and is constantly meeting the Doctor in the wrong order."
"True," Michael replied calmly. "While we are an anomaly in this iteration of the Whoniverse. We know the important people, the crisis points, and how things are supposed to go, but not everything inbetween. It isn't even new news to point out that both the TARDIS and, eventually, River Song herself already know about us due to our future selves interacting with them."
"That reminds me," Luke said as his attention focused on a specific episode of canon. "Do you think we will be able to visit the Library with the Vashta Nerada?"
"I'm sure we will be able to," Michael replied again, but pensive this time. "It is in the quest list and is a notable point in time to visit. Perhaps you'll have something to do there with both River and Charlotte?"
"I'm sure I can give her access to Gielinor through a type of virtual reality node," Luke smiled as he remembered the poor girl hidden away at the core of the planet. "Doctor Moon too, but that's only if they both will allow me to install software that will enable a type of virtual reality node. I'd probably need the TARDIS to make such a technological node for me since I doubt I'll have anyone from Gielinor make one for me. The technological advancement of that planet is stuck in the medieval ages with the advent of runes."
"Why not use pure rune essence and inscribe the matrix into the hardware like Rune Script?" Michael inquired.
"Possibly, but that will have to wait until we get to that point," Luke replied as he stopped trying to review and went into the Voidship. "For now, I want to prepare for the worst of this. The Doctor will be able to outwit the Krillitanes and stop them from destroying this universe, but I refuse to leave things to pure chance when I can prepare to bring those that the Krillitanes kill to safety. In a way."
"What do you mean 'In a way,' Luke?" Michael inquired as they walked into the command deck of the Voidship.
"I mean," Luke began as he set coordinates to the mainland of Gielinor into the console, "that I'm going to introduce him much earlier than I originally planned to."
When he hit the "Enter" key, the engines softly whirred to life and the ship dematerialized.
===[DW:NG]===
Part III
The him that Luke mentioned was someone that he knew.
While it is unavoidable that, when the Doctor is involved, innocent people die, Luke never wanted to save everyone. He knew that the Krillitanes would devour those poor teachers for lunch while using the kids' souls to crack the Skasas Paradigm, but Luke knew that this person he was going to speak to will be able to provide a significant amount of help in the future.
From the RuneScape game, Luke knew he was insanely clever. He created a machine capable of converting normal Anima Mundi into the toxic Shadow Anima and, while this inevitably angered Jas and her sisters, he never stopped trying to make life better for his people. Despite his anti-hero character, Luke knew that the mind of Kerapac was on par with most geniuses from Earth.
It might even be possible that Kerapac's genius would be on par with a Time Lord, but that would have to wait until either Eleven or Twelve showed up.
"Are you sure that Kerapac will help you in this?" Michael asked from his holographic projection above the console, his tone full of concern. "From his lore, he hated Jas and her sisters from how they bound his whole species to the Elder Artefacts. He might attempt to reverse engineer technology from the main Whoniverse to destroy the Elder Goddesses again or attempt to disrupt the careful balance of the universe beyond the Veil."
Even as Luke looked at the console detailing the time until arrival to Gielinor, he was running through all of the potential issues he will face in trying to convince Kerapac from at least not using technology found on Earth to break the tense balance. He wanted Gielinor to have little influence from advanced technology found in the Whoniverse, hence why he constructed the Anima Veil, and needed to carefully curate a vetted list of people from both sides to communicate.
He already knew that he'd need to heavily monitor the Doctor when he decided to arrive on Gielinor and with their companions, but on the human side, Luke wanted Kate Stewart and Captain Jack Harkness to get involved with communications with Gielinor. Sarah Jane Smith would also be nice too after dealing with the Krillitane.
The only problem he had for this future dialogue was the representatives for Gielinor. Guthix would have to be one as he is the God of Balance, but that job could be taken up by any of the future Guardians of Guthix. He wouldn't mind having Doric and Vannaka on that particular council, but they wouldn't be born quite yet. Then, there are the Mahjarrat.
He already knew that he would refuse Zamorak on being among the selected representatives. Zamorak, being the one who initiated the God Wars by stabbing Zaros in the back, was clearly a person he wanted kept on a short leash and semi-ignorant of what lay beyond the Anima Veil. Azzanadra was one he could consider as a potential candidate for the representatives as he was fiercely loyal to Zaros even after the fall of the Empire.
Luke knew that the representative council for Gielinor would have to consist of representatives that can share knowledge and cultures between Earth's own representatives, yet all of that is in the future. The only thing he knew he needed to really focus on was whether or not the risk was worth taking.
"No, I'm not sure," Luke replied honestly as the ship already flew past the Anima Veil. "Kerapac is a genius compared to the people in the future of Gielinor. Clever enough to create a device capable to convert Anima into Shadow Anima, but the risk is there. I'll need his help with the Reality Bomb in the future, however."
As Luke watched the console, telling him all of the data of his time to arrive, he felt her. Her presence within the universe he created was as obvious to him as seeing white streaks of light floating amidst a dark void and Luke knew she could sense his very presence too.
He turned around, facing away from the console. Luke saw a sun-kissed female with sandy hair, long and flowing like sandy dunes in the desert, form from faint sand beneath her feet. She wore the bare minimum clothing, that being somewhat reminiscent of the Time Mage Outfit from RuneScape 3, as she manifested directly into the command deck, but Luke knew she was only here due to curiosity.
"Jas," Luke greeted her with a soft smile. "I see you have acclimated well to this new universe."
When he first created the world seed of Gielinor, he naturally had to re-create Jas and her sisters as they were from the game canon. This did, sadly, mean he couldn't grant Mah a healthy body so left her stillborn. He did, as compensation, grant her the ability to inhabit a human vessel to live as a mortal would while retaining her natural form.
While re-creating the Elder Goddesses, Luke allowed them to remember the events of the game. To retain the balance of this universe he created, he made so that their memories of the game's canon would only surface either after the events have occurred or in his direct presence. This was to prevent them from altering everything he had built here or waking up in the Heart of Gielinor too early.
"Indeed," Jas said with a light bow of respect towards Luke. "I thank you on behalf of my sisters for giving us new life in this strange new universe."
"You're welcome," Luke replied back to her as he looked at her. "So, what brings the Elder Goddess of Time to my ship? I can feel your curiosity."
Jas cut to the chase as her eyes squinted towards Luke directly. "Why do you seek the destroyer?"
Luke looked back at her as if expecting this question. With a sigh, he responded.
"Kerapac is a genius beyond most of the people on Gielinor in the far future. I need him to fight against some of the threats to Earth in the future, but I am not adverse to having to deploy him far sooner than I intended to."
"So, you seek the destroyer for aid for your foes beyond the Veil?" Jas inquired with a soft hum.
Luke nodded. "While I do have plans for you and your sisters in the future to get involved with some of my foes beyond the Veil, that will have to be approached in stages. I'm sure you and your sisters have felt a certain wonderlust for what lay beyond the Veil."
Jas nodded lightly for expressing curiosity of what lay beyond it. Luke smiled a tad wider upon receiving that response.
"Good. While I know you, in particular, do not like Kerapac, you at least understand that Kerapac is useful to me alive. I do not care if he is bound to the Catalyst, but as long as he is alive and able to help me in the future, you are allowed to do as you wish."
Before Jas could express her reply to Luke's words, the console beeped excitedly.
"We'vearrived," Michael stated mentally. "Gielinor in the time before Guthix arrived. The city of Orthen within Kerapac's labratory."
===[DW:NG]===
Part IV
[Kerapac's Laboratory, Orthen, Time of the Dragonkin]
"Well, it seems we have arrived," Luke said to Jas as he turned back to look at the console. He smiled as he realized when he arrived was exactly when he wanted.
"The destroyer's lair?" Jas inquired curiously.
Luke turned back to face her and nodded. "Kerapac will have mostly completed his machine for Anima, but not yet have tested it. This means that you and your sisters have not yet been awakened to curse him and his race for his transgressions, so that prevents him from being angered by my arrival."
He stepped away from the console and towards the exit. Luke knew that, while things were slowly proceeding towards the canon event, he needs to weigh the risk of introducing Kerapac to Earth this early. While he had plans for some of the people from the game's canon, including Harold and Kerapac, to help out with some of the crisis points, the risks were not inconsequential.
The risks of involving Kerapac were obvious, but the others needed to be considered too. He knew that, along with Kerapac, he wanted to have Jas and her sisters get involved with the Reality Bomb too. The power of the Elder Goddesses would serve as a suitable bulwark against the Daleks and, while the metacrisis Doctor would still happen, it would give him a good reason to slaughter the Daleks.
However, he needed Jas to interact with Donna in her parallel world first and give Rose Tyler a message from him at the right time.
As for Harold, Luke knew that he'd need to get him involved with the Doctor's timeline when it comes time for Eleven to meet Amy and Rory. He wanted to change a tiny detail right at the end of their established timeline, but he wanted to make sure they do what they are meant to do before he changed that event.
With each step towards the exit, Luke ran through all of the possible ways things could go. He knew that Jas, in his presence, remembered everything from the game and that included what Kerapac had done by summoning the Shadow Leviathan. He understood that, while Kerapac had not yet done that, Jas would attempt to erase Kerapac from history at this point to change the future.
Hence Luke needed to make sure Jas couldn't erase him. That was why he told her that, for his future plans, Kerapac had to stay alive.
"Sorry, Kerapac," Luke thought to himself as he slowly opened the door right as he arrived to the exit. "While I can do anything I desire with my powers, I won't stop your fate of being bound to the Stone. I'll try to make it up to you in the future when the Sixth Age comes to be and the events of the Elder God Wars happen."
The doors creaked open. The first thing that Luke saw as the doors opened was a scene equivalent to a medieval dungeon. Gemstones embedded within the walls that gave off a faint purple light, but the rest of the laboratory was lit with the magma rivers.
In the main chamber of the laboratory, in front of Luke's eyes, floated the very machine that Kerapac designed to convert normal Anima into its more toxic counterpart. He wasn't concerned about the machine, which was dubbed as the Crucible, affecting him since the Shadow Anima held no effect on him, but the significance of this invention and its role to play in the future of both Kerapac's species and the world was massive.
While he knew that Ful would end up destroying the lab in the Sixth Age, Luke knew that this point in time would be important. He wouldn't have fired up the machine yet and the Crucible wouldn't attract the attention of Jas and her sisters for some time. He also knew, from the game lore, that when Kerapac used The Needle to rewind time to bring back his laboratory, it would be at a midpoint between the Crucible's destruction and his race's enslavement to the Catalyst.
Luke had intentionally arrived at a point before Kerapac informed the Kindra Council about using his device to elevate themselves to a similar level as the Elder Goddesses. This would give him enough time to construct a deal with Kerapac and potentially alter a tiny detail in his timeline.
"So, that is the Crucible, huh?" Luke said inquisitively as he stepped out of his Voidship with Jas, in her humanoid vessel, behind him. "Scale theory did not do it much justice."
The Crucible itself was a tad bigger than what was shown in the game. While the size of the machine wouldn't detract from its main function of converting Anima into Shadow Anima, it did leave Luke wondering why it was bigger than it was in the game.
Then, as if she sensed something approaching from a distant place, Jas looked away from the Crucible.
"I can feel it," Jas murmured in warning as she looked off to the side. "An intruder with a familiar signature to my own..."
When Luke heard her words, he immediately looked away from the Crucible too. He quickly channeled Time Anima into his eyes to perceive the myriad timelines and peer into the vortex itself. This was the first time he did this since reincarnation, but Luke knew that he was in his own domain. The rules for peering into the Time Vortex worked differently for him than it did for the Doctor and the other Time Lords.
As he gazed into the vortex directly, he immediately knew what Jas had sensed. A small cube was quietly approaching from the distant future, but it wasn't the cube itself that surprised him. It was that small bit of confirmation that one of his future plans had worked without a hitch.
"I'm willing to bet that is the TARDIS. Does it feel like a living box?" Luke inquired as he kept his gaze locked onto the cube.
Jas nodded.
"Then it is the Doctor," Luke informed her. "A Time Lord from beyond the Veil."
Luke then waved his hand towards where Jas was looking. Jas had just witnessed Luke using time itself to bounce back the TARDIS and return it back to the future, which she nodded to inform him that the intruder retreated back.
"Take no offense to the Time Lord. I'm guessing that they were attempting to come back in time to scan the Crucible before it even fired," Luke informed Jas kindly. "I only bounced them back a bit, but if I know the Doctor, they'll try again."
Jas understood what Luke was telling her and did not bother to do anything to the Doctor. She did inquire what a Time Lord was to Luke and he told her that they were once a race that were the most technologically superior in the universe beyond the Anima Veil, but due to a big war, there were scant few left in existence. Even with their ability to cheat death a set amount of times, they were still able to die.
She understood what Luke told her, but chose not to deal with these so-called "Time Lords" unless they posed a significant threat to her sisters and her creation.
"Now," Luke began as he looked over the laboratory, "I see the Crucible, but where is the inventor? Kerapac, where are you?"
That was when the door to the laboratory opened.
===[+]===
"I think that's enough of that, Michael," Luke said out loud with an exasperated sigh. "This simulation seems to be taking too long."
[SIMULATION ENDED]