Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny ❯ Ki Story, part 2: Mobius Stripped ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer:
This fic uses characters, places, themes from franchises that are the property of others. I do not own these franchises.

Special Thanks to:
Charles Xavier, Fanfiction.net author: For writing an awesome crossover with anime and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Suikosource website: for providing great information that made this fic possible.

The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny
By: RB3

Ki Story, part 2: Mobius Stripped

It was a beautiful day on the planet of Mobius, the home of many anthropomorphic, anime creatures. The sun was shining brightly on a verdant, grassy plains. High in the sky, above Mobius' crystal blue oceans, floated a great island large enough to blot out the sun. This strange island hovered in the air as though suspended by an unknown but powerful mystical force. At the centre of this island was an outdoor, marble shrine. At the heart of this shrine was a pedestal built to honour what may be the largest emerald to ever exist. In front of the emerald laid seven pedestals, each with an indentation for a jewel the emerald. Six of the gems had one of the colours of the rainbow, with the seventh being white.

Near this shrine was a small stone shelter that housed the sole guardian of these precious gems, the Chaos Emeralds. He was a small anthropomorphic echidna with red fur and quills like the dreadlocks of Rastafarians. He wore a pair of white gloves which did little to conceal the pair of spikes jutting from his knuckles. This echidna, Knuckles, was the guardian of these Chaos Emeralds. The emeralds contained vast power that could easily be abused should they fall into the wrong hands. His duty was to ensure that that never happened.

Knuckles had a clipboard out and cast a glance upon his shrine. The shrine had been damaged from the effects of weather over the years. He wanted to renovate the area and clean it up a bit. As looked over his shrine, he made some mental calculations and jotted down notes onto a clipboard. He pulled out some measuring tape and proceeded to measure the distance from the Master Chaos Emerald's pedestal to the other seven. He jotted down more notes and looked over his shrine. His continued his measurements until he heard the sound of blades slicing through the air rapidly.

A helicopter emerged just above the shrine. Its machinegun fired on the echidna, forcing him to dive for refuge behind some stones. That attack was a direct indication of hostile intent. Knuckles' mind fell back to his training as he pondered how to respond. Several men in black combat gear descended onto the shrine via ropes. He grabbed a stone and hurled it at the machinegun with such force as to total it. Some of the soldiers opened fire to cover their comrades while they claimed the snatched the seven smaller emeralds. With great speed, Knuckles evaded the fire and closed on the men.

He socked one thief hard in the face, another in the stomach, and a third on the chin. A sucker punch caught him from behind, sending him hurtling through trees into the nearby forest. His attacker, an amazonian woman, came at him with incredible speed that surprised the echidna. Knuckles dodged a punch and threw one himself, which the woman caught in her hand. He attempted to kick her in the face, but only had his foot caught in her other hand. He broke free and threw another punch which ended up striking empty space instead. He took a hard blow to the gut which put him on his knees.

The woman's kick drilled him in the head, sprawling him on the ground. "Leguma, we wasted too much time here. Let's go!" cried one of the men.

Despite severe injuries, Knuckles willed himself to move. However, he was too badly injured and his body gave out. The helicopter lifted off into the sky and sped towards the horizon. At that moment, one of Knuckles' friend entered the scene with blinding speed. Like Knuckles, he too was an anthropomorphic animal, but he was a hedgehog rather than an echidna. This cocky creature had blue quills and wore a pair of red sneakers. This creature, Sonic, was shocked to see the devastation and his friend flat on the ground.

"Whoa! What happened here? Are you okay Knuckles?" asked Sonic with deep concern. Sonic looked up and saw the helicopter flying away in the distance.

Hours later, Knuckles awoke to see fluorescent lights shining down on his face. He was in a sterile room with pale blue curtains dividing the room into three sections. He recognized the faces of his friends and co-workers from the Sonic X anime. Sonic, the one who brought him to the hospital, was happy to see his buddy had awakened. The others had similar feelings of joy and relief to see that their friend Knuckles had survived such a brutal assault. His other friends included Chris Thorndyke, a human boy; Tails, the two-tailed fox; Amy the hedgehog, Cream the rabbit, Cheese the Chao, Rouge the bat, and Dr. Eggman, the robotics mastermind and antagonist of the anime.

"Oh Knuckles, you're awake!" exclaimed Amy.

"Yeah, you sure gave us a big scare!" said Cream.

Suddenly, Knuckles remembered the emeralds. "The Chaos Emeralds! What happened to them?"

"Sorry honey, they've all been taken away," replied Rouge in her typical sultry voice.

"I have to get them back!" cried Knuckles, who tried to leave his bed only to have Sonic pin him down.

"You're not going anywhere," said Sonic bluntly. "You're in no condition to be running around after the beating you took. I'm taking over from here. You just get some rest."

"Knuckles, who were the people who attacked you?" asked Tails.

"I don't know who they were, but I do know they were humans," replied Knuckles. "They were dressed all in black and were packing some heavy duty weaponry."

"They had heavy weaponry?" asked Chris.

"Yeah, that's the stuff that people from the army would use, like assault rifles and machineguns. They came at me in this black helicopter and shot at me while they stole the emeralds. I fought back, but then this woman got me from behind. I tried to fight back but she like nothing I've ever faced before. I never stood a chance."

"Can you describe this woman?" asked Dr. Eggman.

Knuckles proceeded to describe his attacker, who was a woman who went by the name of Leguma. She was slightly above average height for a human woman and had a head full of spiky black hair. She had a muscular build, as though she had been exercising and building her body extensively. This woman wore a suit of white armour made from unknown, padded plastic. This armour had brown shoulder pads and seemed to take on the contours of her body. She was inhumanly strong and fast, possibly to the point of giving Sonic a run for his money.

"I don't know who she was," continued Knuckles. "All I know is that they stole the Chaos Emeralds and I have to get them back!"

"You're not going anywhere sweetie. I'm keeping you company while you're staying here," said Rouge.

"Hey don't worry about the emeralds," assured Sonic. "I'm on the job, so don't you fear."

"Sonic," interjected Tails just as the hedgehog was about to leave.

"What is it?" asked Sonic.

Tails handed Sonic a small handheld radio. "Take this. You can use it to stay in touch. Now, go get'em!"

Sonic smiled at Tails' foresight. "Thanks, those guys won't know what hit'em!"

The blue blur sped out of the room faster than the eye could see. The others remained behind to entertain Knuckles as he recovered from Leguma's brutal attack. Several minutes later, long after Sonic had left, the gang overheard a nurse speaking with an unknown person. "Is this the echidna's room?" asked the unknown person.

"Yeah, he's in there," replied the nurse outside.

"Thanks."

The unknown person entered the room, revealing himself as Trunks Briefs. "Who are you?" asked Knuckles.

"A friend," replied Trunks. "I came to ask about the theft of the Chaos Emeralds. You're Knuckles the echidna, I presume."

"That's right," replied Knuckles. "Who wants to know?"

"I'm Trunks Briefs. I'm here because I suspect that those who stole your emeralds are also the same people who stole valuable items from my friends. Have you by chance heard of the Dragonballs or the Asakura prayer beads?"

"Dragonballs?" asked Rouge. "You mean those things that grant wishes?"

Trunks turned to Rouge. "So you have heard of them."

"Yeah, why do you ask?" asked Rouge.

"They were stolen about a week ago, along with the Asakura prayer beads," replied Trunks.

"Well, well, Rouge, looks like you've got some stiff competition..." remarked Dr. Eggman, stroking his chin.

Knuckles laughed. "Yeah, who would've thought?" The Sonic X gang had a laugh at Rouge's expense, causing the jewel-stealing bat to sulk. "Okay, I think we've made fun of Rouge enough for one day." Knuckles turned back to Trunks. "I know you came here for other reasons so what are they?"

"An alliance," stated Trunks bluntly.

"An alliance?" repeated Knuckles in surprise.

"Yeah," replied Trunks. "These people have stolen things that each of us want to get back. I'm leading a group of like-minded people to retrieve them. We'd like you to join us. If we help each other, we can retrieve the stolen objects sooner. So, do we have a deal?"

"With more people looking, we can get the emeralds back in no time," commented Amy.

"Well... Alright, you've got a deal." Knuckles shook Trunks' hand to seal their agreement.

"Come with me, I'll introduce you to the others," offered Trunks.

The hospital lobby was a quiet, dimly lit room where Mobius' people, whether animal or not, could relax while waiting to see loved ones. At the centre of the room was a decorative fountain made of white plastic. Every few seconds, water would shoot up into the air until it became a fine mist and rained into the basin. At the western side of the building was a reception desk staffed by a pair of blue-shirted, anthropomorphic guard dogs. A ding would break the silence every few moments as the elevators delivered people to the lobby.

On the other side was the cafeteria, which people entered and exited like a revolving door. The inside was filled with eaters seated haphazardly at various tables munching away at platefuls of food. Seated at the rear of this restaurant were Trunks' team mates. "Don't worry guys, Trunks will get them to join us," said Yoh.

"Yeah, but what's taking him so long?" asked Morty.

At that moment, Trunks, who was followed by Amy and the rest of Sonic's friends minus Rouge and Knuckles came into the cafeteria. "Sorry I was late, guys," said the half-Saiyan as he approached.

"See, what did I tell you? Trunks came through, just like he said he would!" gloated Yoh.

"Hey, they're cute little animals!" remarked Morty.

"You think I'm cute, hmm?" asked Amy as she posed for him vainly. "Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I already have a boyfriend. Sonic is my one true love!"

"Did she say boyfriend?" asked Morty.

"Wow Morty, you're pretty popular with the ladies," mocked Yoh.

"Oh very funny Yoh..." retorted Morty.

Trunks smiled at Morty's misfortune. "Well, you've all met Amy already. Why don't you guys introduce yourselves to each other?"

After a brief introduction, the group turned their attention to their next move. "Let's see what Sonic has found," said Tails as he pulled an electronic device out of his fur and fiddled with its buttons.

---

Meanwhile, Sonic continued his search for the thieves of the Chaos Emeralds. He sped over lush green countryside and towering mountainous peaks but so far, he could find nothing. His search took him into a forest which he zipped into at near supersonic speeds. "Hmm, where could they be?" he asked. He heard what seemed to be blades slicing through the air and traced the swishing sound to a helicopter coming through the sky. "Aha!"

Sonic followed the helicopter making sure to remain behind cover so as not to be seen. With his immense, superhuman speed, the blue hedgehog tailed the helicopter eastward. He exited the forest and blazed down a grassy meadow into a second forest nearly fifty miles from the first. The chopper landed in a remote clearing and its passengers disembarked to make camp. From behind the cover of bushes, Sonic watched as the black-clad men unloaded equipment from their vehicle. They began to erect a strange electronic device like that of a circle.

"What are they doing?" Sonic wondered in his mind.

After scanning the camp, he found the emeralds in possession of a black-haired, muscular woman. This amazon opened a briefcase and did a brief, last-minute count before resealing it. Since she matched the description given by Knuckles, Sonic concluded that she was Leguma, the head thief. After looking around, Sonic determined that she was alone. She turned her head away for a brief moment, giving him the perfect chance to strike. The blue hedgehog left his cover and made a beeline for the briefcase.

To him, the world moved at a snail's pace as he dashed at the prize. Just as he reached the emerald case, Leguma turned her head around and identified him. Since her hand was already in position, she was able to grab the briefcase first. In a smooth segue, she launched a powerful kick which forced him to leap away to safety. Having been thwarted by Leguma's quick reaction, Sonic was unable to get the emeralds. He was now in the sights of his enemy.

"Damn, I was so close!" he grunted.

"Nice try, but no cigar!" taunted Leguma to rub salt into the wound.

She threw a ki blast at the blue hedgehog, who dodged it with a burst of preternatural speed. Though Sonic was incredibly fast himself, Leguma was no slouch either. While he was clearly the faster of the two, Sonic was still surprised by this woman's incredible speed. "You're pretty fast!" he remarked.

"I'll take that as a compliment, but even with your speed, you're still no match for me. You don't stand a chance against a mighty Saiyan warrior like me!"

"We'll see about that!" Sonic shot back at Leguma.

Sonic wheeled around the Saiyan before launching himself like a cannonball. Leguma blocked this attack with her forearm and threw a punch with her free hand which ended up missing. Sonic had leapt away from the blow and landed some distance back. "I'm not letting you go until you hand those Chaos Emeralds back to me."

"Over my dead body, or rather, your dead body!" shot Leguma as she charged forward.

The Saiyan amazon threw a powerful punch which Sonic evaded at the last moment. Her fist slammed into a tree and levelled it in a single blow. Sonic came from her right and rammed himself into her as a rolling ball. Despite scoring such an excellent hit, Leguma was far from being defeated. After he landed, she shot a ki blast at his legs. Even though he leapt over the explosion, the force knocked him out of the air and caused him to land on his back. Leguma followed and descended on Sonic with only to punch the ground instead.

Sonic zipped around and came to a stop some distance to Leguma's right. "Grrr.... You're an annoying runt!" growled Leguma.

"I'm just too fast for you," boasted the blue hedgehog.

"Why don't you try this on for size!"

Leguma moved her hands near her face and emitted a brilliant golden light. This light of this technique, the Solar Flare, was so intense that Sonic was momentarily blinded. As Sonic tried to get his bearings, Leguma kicked him in the chest so hard that he crashed through a tree. As soon as he got up, Leguma was already upon him, throwing punch after punch into his gut. After a devastating haymaker, Sonic went crashing into a second tree. She fetched the briefcase and went up to him to gloat. Leguma's men entered the scene, surrounding Sonic and training guns onto him.

"Sorry, looks like the emeralds are mine," said Leguma. "Put the jewels in the chopper."

"Yes ma'am," replied the nearby soldier.

With Sonic surrounded by Leguma and her men, it seemed that he was done for. A strange rattling approached the men. It sounded like bones grinding against each other. They turned around only to have several animated skeletons descend on them. These glowed with the translucent, violet aura of Furyoku and attacked tirelessly. There must have been about a dozen skeletons descending upon the men. They frantically fought back, butting their guns into the skulls of their enemy. Since the skeletons were merely lifeless bones, they were unfazed by the men's attacks.

"Sonic!" cried Amy as she ran into the fray carrying a hammer in her hands. She bopped one of the men on the head and made a beeline for Sonic. "Oh Sonic!" She planted a deep kiss on her boyfriend's cheek.

"Oh Amy, now's not the time for that!" muttered the blue hedgehog as squirmed in Amy's embrace.

As Amy pulled Sonic out of the fray, her friends took out the soldiers that had captured him. With Amidamaru empowering his sword through Spirit Control, Yoh cut a devastating swath through the men. Morty, with his hammer empowered by Mosuke's spirit and fiery Furyoku, bopped a second thug in the head. Morty thumped the ground once again, bowling over a third thug with a wave of flaming Furyoku. The skeletons mobbed a hapless terrorist, punching him into the ground under Faust's direction. The necromantic Shaman continued his channelling to direct the actions of his undead troops.

"Well now, this is a treat. I get to fight someone decent for a change. What luck! He's a Saiyan too," remarked Leguma as she and Trunks circled around, each watching for an opening in the other's defence. "That hedgehog was hardly a challenge."

Leguma threw a kick for Trunks' ribs which he blocked. Trunks attempted to sweep her legs, only to have Leguma leap over the blow. "I'll say! It only took you about ten guys to beat him," remarked Trunks. "It's so easy when the odds are ten to one in your favour."

"My men may have given me some help, but I don't need to them to crush the likes of you!" retorted Leguma, throwing kick straight to Trunks' chest.

The half-Saiyan blocked the kick and scored a punch himself. As the amazon staggered backwards, clutching her stomach, Trunks' flew in with a flying kick. Leguma caught his foot and hurled him into a tree. She fired a ki blast after him, smashing him through three more trees in the distance. With Trunks momentarily out of commission, she turned her attention to Faust, who was preoccupied with directing his undead army. She fired a beam of ki at him which Faust finally noticed at the last moment. He raised a shield of solid bone held together by his Furyoku. Though this barrier protected him, the beam was strong enough to lift him off his feet and topple him over.

"Faust!" cried Yoh as he watched how Leguma made the cheap shot on his friend.

"Worry about yourself first!" taunted Leguma as she hurled herself at Yoh.

Yoh blocked the flurry of kicks and punches with the spectral arm guard produced by his Spirit Control. The blows came in fast and furious and it was difficult to maintain his defence. Yoh was pinned down. Leguma piled on the hits forcing Yoh to give ground. Despite his disadvantageous position, Yoh was still able to maintain his defences. He waited for an opening before he made his move. Leguma threw several blows until one of her kicks broke through Yoh's guard.

Yoh stumbled backwards, but was still able to maintain Spirit Control over his blade. Seeing him in a daze, Leguma charged up a blast of ki to finish the job. Yoh now saw his opportunity. Once Leguma released the beam, Yoh leapt over the attack. With sword overhead, he descended and slashed downwards with all of his might. Leguma sidestepped the strike and kicked Yoh in the exposed ribs. Yoh went rolling on the ground before getting up some distance away.

"Damn! We almost got her too!" remarked Yoh.

"Not quite, look!" directed Amidamaru.

Yoh turned his gaze to Leguma. The blade had hit Leguma's shoulder pad and sliced it in two. A splotch of crimson liquid leaked out of her shoulder from the point of contact. As the seconds passed, the splotch grew bigger. "Ah!" he remarked.

"That's right Yoh. We got her!"

Leguma felt the stinging pain of the cut and covered it with her other hand. "Grr... This is not good!" she remarked, realizing she was wounded and watching her own men getting demolished in battle by Yoh's allies. "Company retreat! Into the portal!"

She blasted Yoh with a beam of ki, which the young Shaman blocked with his arm guard. Leguma made a dash for the briefcase, snatching the precious jewels while Yoh was distracted with the smoke screen. As her men covered her, she punched in some commands to the ring-like device, a portable dimensional portal. The device starting up with a deep hum and a swirling nexus of energy formed in its centre. Leguma fled into it with her men following close behind. Yoh and friends closed in on the portal with Morty taking the lead. The last man entering the gate pulled the pin from a small object and dropped it at the base of the portal.

"Morty, watch out! He dropped a..." cried Yoh.

It was too late. Morty was too dangerously close once the grenade went off. For that brief moment, time slowed to crawl. The grenade burst into a billowing plume of flame that widened and threatened to envelope Morty and everything else the gate. His friends braced themselves while an expression of horror filled the little Shaman's face. He tried to back-pedal out of harm but was unable to react fast enough. From out of nowhere, Trunks burst onto the scene. He snatched Morty out of harm's way and sped to safety. When time resumed its normal course, the flames consumed the portal, leaving nothing but wreckage and charcoal behind.

"Morty, are you okay?" asked Trunks.

Morty was surprised to find that he was still alive and was beginning to realize what happened. "Uh yeah, I'm fine. I owe you one Trunks," said the little Shaman.

"No problem at all," replied the half-Saiyan.

The ki team regrouped themselves to discuss their course of action. "They got away," remarked Amy.

"We'll get them next time," assured Yoh.

"I'm sure we will. I never realized you guys were so strong," remarked Amy with respect to the Shaman and Trunks.

"Hey guys!" called Tails as he entered the camp grounds.

"Hey Tails," said Sonic. "I'm sorry. I tried, but I couldn't get the emeralds. They got away."

Tails was saddened. "That stinks. I hope we have better luck next time. How did they get away?"

"They ran into this strange circular thingamajig I watched them set up," replied Sonic.

"What Sonic is saying is they fled into a portal," clarified Trunks. "Those guys have been doing that every time we got too close to them. It's starting to get very annoying now."

"What do we do now?" asked Morty.

Tails looked around the wreckage, drawing conclusions as to how to find the silver lining in a bad situation. "Hmm..." he muttered as picked through the pieces of the destroyed gate.

"Did you find something, Tails?" asked Amy.

"I'm not sure, but I think I can salvage some of the portal. I'm not sure how successful I will be, but I might be able to retrieve the coordinates and reconstruct it," said Tails.

"If you can do that, it would help us out so much," remarked Amy. "Maybe Chris or Dr. Eggman can help you out?"

"Yeah, maybe..." muttered Tails looking over the wreckage. "I can't promise you that it'll work. The portal took extensive damage from the explosion, but I'll see what I can do with it. Gather up everything and load it into the Blue Typhoon."

As per Tails instructions, the heroes gathered every piece of the portal and loaded it onto his ship. Tails' ship, the Blue Typhoon, was a massive vehicle capable of travelling the stars. It was like a combination of an aircraft carrier and a stellar battleship. The Blue Typhoon had a long deck large enough for planes to land on like a runway. It had two rows of palm trees lined along the sides neatly. It had dozens of emitters for energy weaponry and tubes for missiles. The Blue Typhoon was a ship perfectly equipped for facing the rigours of space travel.

After a quick flight, the Blue Typhoon pulled into a dock within a great metallic spire with a rounded top. As his guests pulled in, Dr. Eggman and his robotic assistants waited beside the massive star ship to greet his "Sonic X" co-stars, who have joined the ki team. "Welcome back, did you get the emeralds?" asked the doctor to the disembarking ki team.

"I'm sorry, they got away," replied Tails in disappointment. "They ran into a portal when we were beating them."

"That's not good..." said Dr. Eggman. "If they figure out how to use them, we're in big trouble." Dr. Eggman suddenly noticed that the Sonic team had gained some new members when the Shaman and Trunks disembarked. "Hey, it seems like you made some new friends."

"Yeah, they're some people who are helping us to get the Chaos Emeralds. Those thieves who took the emeralds took some things that belonged to them too. We're helping each other find the stolen stuff," said Chris Thorndyke. "Meet Trunks, Yoh, Faust, and Morty."

Each of the members of the old ki team introduced themselves to Dr. Eggman. "Nice to meet you all."

"Doctor," addressed Tails. "When the thieves ran away, they blew up the portal they were using. I salvaged the wreckage and brought it back in the Blue Typhoon. I was thinking of incorporating the technology onto the Blue Typhoon. Could you give me a hand?"

"Hmm... That sounds interesting," said Dr. Eggman, stroking his chin in contemplation. "I'm curious to see what their technology is like. Sure Tails, why don't we take a look? In the meantime, Bocoe, Docoe, why don't you keep our guests company?"

"Yes sir, Dr. Eggman," replied the first robot, Bocoe. Of the two robots, Bocoe was the shorter, squat one. He was a grey metallic construct whose head was much like that of a screw.

"Right away, Dr. Eggman. This way please," directed the second robot, Docoe. This robot was the taller one, with a yellow coat of paint. In particular, his head was shaped like a pill.

Bocoe and Docoe led Dr. Eggman's guests, the ki team, away to keep them preoccupied while Tails and the doctor worked on the portal. The two mechanical geniuses examined the portal wreckage intently. It wasn't long before they succeeded in extracting the logs of the device. Eventually, they came to understand the scientific principles behind the portal, culminating with the drawing of blueprints for a modified, ship-mounted version of the portal. When completed, such a device would look like a metal box the size of a computer monitor. Such a device would allow a ship, the Blue Typhoon specifically, to traverse the anime universes and pursue the thieves no matter where they choose to run.

The two got down to work with Tails and Dr. Eggman working on the new device's computers and wiring respectively. Within two days of continuous work, the device had been completed and was ready for testing. For this stage, Trunks, who had some scientific experience being the son of a great scientist, offered to help the two. Their test was to sent objects of increasing size, like piles of rock, to his world, the world of Dragonball Z. He mounted a camera onto the rocks and used the device to send it to his world. At first, the rock pile went to the wrong worlds, but after some calibration, the rock pile went to the Dragonball Z world consistently.

With the device perfected and mounted on the Blue Typhoon, Dr. Eggman called a briefing to get the rest of the team up to speed. "I'm glad you're all here. I have an announcement to make."

"What is it?" asked Sonic.

"We've just finished testing of our dimensional transport module," announced Eggman. "Chris is mounting it onto the Blue Typhoon and he'll be done in about three hours. With this device, you can follow the thieves wherever they choose to run. I'm sure you'll catch them this time."

"Whoa, cool!" remarked Yoh.

"Yeah, I was getting sick and tired of those guys constantly giving us the slip," remarked Trunks. "It's really frustrating."

"So, where did the thieves go when they ran?" asked Morty.

"They went a place known as Gaea," replied Dr. Eggman. "It's the world of the Escaflowne anime. It's a scientific world, but a very different one at that. They use steam-powered technology rather than the nuclear-powered technology we use. The people of that world generally don't have special powers like you do."

"The thieves escaped to somewhere near Zaibach City, the capital of the Zaibach nation, but they're long gone by now," continued Tails. "Zaibach is a superpower of Gaea. It has a strong industrial base and military presence in the world of Gaea. We should look for clues there."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hit the city," urged Yoh. "We won't get anything done waiting here."

"Yep, you're right Yoh," agreed Tails. "Let's head out to the Blue Typhoon."

---

Meanwhile, a month before the ki team came, a peaceful day was upon Zaibach City, the capital of the industrial nation of Zaibach. After the great war, the people were glad to turn to more peaceful, commercial pursuits. Their nation was like that of England after it had experienced the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the day, hammers could be heard clanging against solid steel. Steam engines rattled as they generated power for vehicles such as old-fashioned cars and tractors. Stacks of metal piped smoky exhaust into the air. The diligent people of the capital were hard at work to produce the wealth and innovations that their nation enjoyed.

A great floating citadel docked at the Zaibach imperial palace. Rows of soldiers stood at attention as an entourage of VIPs marched down a hallway. At the head of the VIPs was a young man with hair that was light blue in colour with a slight tinge of grey. He was cloaked in black, which gave him an aura of both mystery and nobility. This man had seen his share of battle in his life time. He had lost his right hand and had it replaced by an obviously mechanical prosthetic. This man was Folken Fanel, the right-hand man of the emperor of Zaibach himself, Dornkirk.

With the emperor's right-hand man were his own right-hand women, a pair of bodyguards clothed in similar black cloaks. Underneath, they wore sleek, silvery white jumpsuits which allowed excellent mobility in a fight. The twin women were half-leopard with the spots and the tawny, furry skin of that African wild cat. They were young, attractive, and had agile, lithe bodies. They also only answered to the authority of a single man, Folken Fanel. One of the twins was silver-haired and she went by the name of Nariya. Her sister, on the other hand, had golden hair and was known as Eriya.

A man wheeled a holographic projector alongside the entourage. After punching in some commands, the machine activated and displayed the ghostly image of a man. This person was a wizened old man with a long head and flowing grey hair. He was clothed in black robes far more regal than those of his underlings. This man was the leader of Zaibach, emperor Dornkirk.

"Greetings Folken, it is great to see you return to the capital," began the emperor.

"Thank you my emperor. It is great to return. I trust you are well," replied Folken as he continued down the hall.

"I'm as well as can be, but events in other realms concern me," said Dornkirk. "I have heard many rumours of subversive activities in these other worlds. There have been thefts of technology and dangerous artefacts of power. There have been kidnappings and mysterious disappearances as of late. I fear that our glorious nation may one day become involved in such crimes. As the guardians of Zaibach, we must be..."

Before Dornkirk could even finish his sentence, a massive explosion burst forth from the docked citadel. The sheer force of the blast shattered the rear of the hallway and threw the entourage to the front. Folken crashed through the door with the leopard twins and other VIPs following right behind him. The blast shattered suits of ornamental armour and charred them as black as charcoal. Dornkirk's projector smashed into a wall, damaging it to such an extent that only static buzzed from the device. Though great in devastation, that first explosion was merely the beginning.

Five minutes later, a second explosion rocked the castle, blasting everything within the kitchen to smithereens. Dozens of terrified maids and cooks fled the dining room in a blind panic. An alarm klaxon blared deafeningly through the castle hallways. Within moments, guards and emergency personnel flooded the corridors to provide order and aid wherever it was needed. The newspapers followed the story, even a month after the attack had taken place. This story reached the eyes of the ki team, still on the trail of the very same artefact and technology thieves mentioned by Dornkirk.

"These guys sure get around," remarked Yoh as he read the paper over Morty's shoulder.

END OF CHAPTER

New Stars of Heaven/Heavenly Leaders:
#19 Tenku, The Empty Star: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic X)

New Stars of Earth/Earthly Warriors:
#79 Chisoku, The Star of Haste: Amy Rose (Sonic X)
#92 Chisyu, The Prisoned Star: Dr. Eggman (Sonic X)
#100 Chisu, The Mathematic Star: Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic X)
#105 Chiken, The Mighty Star: Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic X)

Spotlight: Shaman King

Shaman King is anime that follows the exploits of a young boy named Yoh Asakura as he matures into a powerful Shaman. Every once in a while, these individuals compete in a great tournament to determine who will be the Shaman King. The winner is the only person who can contact the Great Spirit, either to bring salvation or ruin to the world. The last tournament had been won by Yoh Asakura, who defeated his greatest rival, Hao Asakura, his brother. Though Hao had died in the anime, he didn't in "real life" and reformed after seeing the Great Spirit's power turn against him.

Shaman King's greatest heroes are the Shaman, the mediums between the human and spirit worlds. Their powers are ki-based, drawing upon Furyoku, a mystical energy created within their bodies. It allows them to bond with spirits and grants them superhuman traits and abilities. The Shaman King world is equivalent to our own technology-wise and thus has some degree of scientific power in it.

Origins:
Yoh, Morty, and Faust met and became friends during the course of the Shaman tournament. Like all Shaman, they can interact with the spirit world, an ability they trained diligently to hone. Yoh came from a clan with a long history of being Shaman. It was natural for him to train to be a Shaman and he even became the Shaman King of the current generation. Morty, enamoured with the Shaman lifestyle, became one himself during the tournament by bonding with Mosuke. In Faust's case, it was personal tragedy that drove him into becoming a Shaman.

Amidamaru and Mosuke were friends and once served the same Japanese noble as a samurai and blacksmith respectively. After seeing Mosuke's impressive work, the noble ordered Amidamaru to kill the blacksmith so as to not allow anyone else to get a better sword. Amidamaru simply couldn't do this and warned his friend, who promised to create a better sword and deliver it to him once it was ready. However, Amidamaru was attacked by the noble's men and gained a reputation by killing hundreds of them before falling. The men eventually got Mosuke as well. It would be years later, after his death, that Mosuke would finally fulfill his promise with Yoh and Morty's help. As an ironic twist, Amidamaru and Mosuke would become the spirits of another pair of best friends, Yoh and Morty.

Johannes Faust VIII is a descendant of the first Faust, the one who made a deal with the demon Mephistopheles. At first, Faust wanted nothing to do with his family's necromantic legacy. He was happily married to a woman named Eliza and owned a private medical practice with her. Tragedy struck when a burglar broke into his home and shot Eliza, who was there at the time, in the head. Faust went mad with grief and embraced his heritage in order to find a way to revive her. It wasn't until later, through Anna's intervention, that he was truly reunited with his love, taking her spirit as his guardian ghost.

Powers:
Yoh, Morty, and Faust are all Shaman and their spirits are Amidamaru, Mosuke, and Eliza respectively. As such, they can use Furyoku and place their spirit in objects for combat. Though having fundamentally similar powers, it is their style that differentiates them. Every Shaman has a "theme" and fighting style related to his or her spirit. Yoh has a samurai theme and fights with swords. Morty has a blacksmith/fire theme and fights with a smithy's hammer. Faust has a demonic/undead style and summons bone structures animated by Furyoku.