Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny ❯ Ki Story, part 3: Copy Saiyan Korn ( Chapter 9 )

[ 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 3: Copy Saiyan Korn

The ki team put away the newspapers and huddled to determine their next course of action. "What should we do now?" asked Morty.

"Our only lead right now is Leguma. We don't know where they ran to once they came into this world. We'll need some help I was thinking of inquiring at the police station," suggested Trunks.

As Trunks suggested, the team went to the police and reported everything they had encountered in pursuit of the thieves. Trunks began with his story with the theft of the Dragonballs from Namek to the theft of the prayer beads and the thieves’ flight to Gaea. The team suspected that the thieves may be involved with the bombing of one of Zaibach's floating fortresses as well as the subsequent theft of classified documents, in particular, blueprints for Dornkirk's Fate Alteration device. The police referred the team to one Folken Fanel, the right-hand man of Emperor Dornkirk of Zaibach. The team waited in the castle's posh waiting room for nearly twenty minutes before he came to meet them.

"Sorry I'm late, I had a very important meeting with the Emperor," apologized Folken. "I'm Folken Fanel, Emperor Dornkirk's Strategos, what you would call an imperial advisor. I'm glad to meet you."

Folken shook hands with each member of the ki team in turn. "Great to meet you too, Mr. Fanel," said Yoh.

Folken eventually reached Trunks. "I presume you're the leader?"

"Yes, I'm Trunks Briefs of Zeta Earth. A group of thieves stole the Dragon Balls from their shrine on Namek. I followed the thieves all the way your world and gained several companions in the process. So far the thieves have escaped us at every opportunity."

The others narrated their stories of similar crimes committed in their worlds and their reasons for uniting with Trunks to retrieve the stolen items. "Hmm, I'm not too surprised to hear this. We know that there have been many items and people disappearing under mysterious circumstances," informed Folken.

"We suspect that these thieves may be involved in the attack on your country," suggested Trunks.

Trunks proceeded to describe Gillian, who his team suspected of being an android due to her unusual capabilities. Yoh proceeded to describe Korn, the man who had taken the stolen Dragon Balls and his family's prayer beads. Last but not least, Sonic proceeded to describe Leguma, the head of the band of thieves who stole the Chaos Emeralds from Knuckles' shrine. Folken absorbed the information intently as each team member described the rogue's gallery involved in the ring. He spread the information to all of Zaibach's authorities, including their spies and informants in other nations.

Within a day, Zaibach's information network had struck gold. One of Zaibach's spies in the neighbouring country of Ironia had spotted Leguma dining with one of Ironia's top officials. The man in question was the head of the Ironian Intelligence Institute, the organization in charge of Ironia's intelligence gathering. When the photos of the meeting came into Folken's hands, he showed them to the ki team so they could identify her. "That is her," confirmed Sonic as he looked over the photos.

"Good, at first I wasn't too sure if the thieves you wanted were involved, but now, after discovering their links to foreign intelligence agencies, I'm becoming more and more convinced," said Folken. "Their modus operandi is exactly like what had happened to my fortress a month ago."

In turn, Folken relayed the confirmation to his emperor, who addressed the nation on live television. "...Foreign partisans have provided new information on the groups responsible. Though their invaluable information, our patriots across the world have located a suspected member of this group. This individual, who goes by the name of Leguma, is also wanted in Zeta Earth, Shamania, and Moebius for a combination of trespassing, destruction of property, burglary, and assault." A picture of Leguma appeared to inform the viewers. "In Zeta Earth and Shamania, she is also wanted for manslaughter."

Dornkirk continued his speech, eventually revealing Leguma's location had been traced to Ironia's capital. As a result, Dornkirk demanded that the Ironians extradite Leguma for questioning. The Ironian government's reply was quite surprising to the nation of Zaibach and the ki team. Ironia told them that Leguma was no longer in their country. She had secretly fled the country during the night and the authorities were unable to locate her. The Ironians apologized for this event and assured the Zaibach that they would do everything in their power to capture Leguma.

The next day, the ki team ate a delicious banquet held on the Blue Typhoon in their honour. With their help, Zaibach was one step closer bringing the ones responsible for the attack to justice. On the dinner table was a great turkey baked in an oven to golden brown perfection. The gravy was rich and smooth to the taste. The baskets were filled with bread and fruit as sweet as candy. There was a pot full of smooth mashed potatoes and small plates filled with blocks of sliced cheese. The team gorged themselves on this banquet to the fullest.

After the banquet Trunks sat down on the bed in his quarters. A flash of insight filled his mind as he sensed a great release of ki somewhere else on Gaea. It was so fast that Trunks almost didn't notice it. From the flash of insight, he got an extremely rough estimate of where the blast of ki originated from. He also knew who had caused the burst of ki. It was Leguma. Trunks scrambled out of his room to reach the thief before she escaped, bumping into Sonic on the way out. "Whoa, where are you going to in such a hurry?"

"It's Leguma! I know where she is!" announced Trunks as he raced for an airlock.

Trunks popped the door open and flew out of the Blue Typhoon. The half-Saiyan raced through the air to reach Leguma as quickly as possible. Within moments, the Blue Typhoon fired its engines and followed his trail. Trunks stopped somewhere above the ocean in a location where a large forested landmass could be seen several miles to the north. Trunks scanned around trying to pinpoint the location of the ki emission. Since the emission happened so quickly, he was unable to pinpoint the exact location. A second flash of insight filled his mind. However, since Trunks was prepared and closer to the source this time, he was able to pinpoint exactly where Leguma was hiding.

In the distance, a faint plume of smoke billowed into the air. The half-Saiyan sped towards the smoke, which was coming from somewhere deep in the forest. It was caused by the impact of a ki blast into the ground. As Trunks soared on ahead, he was able to see several blasts of flame and lightning zinged back and forth from behind trees. These blasts were being fired by several men in camouflage towards a group of soldiers taking refuge behind rocks. Leguma quickly darted towards a portal that had been set-up just a few metres behind her troops. Before Trunks could reach her, one Leguma's men noticed him and fired a blast of lightning. Just a split second before Trunks entered the portal; he sensed the lightning coming dangerously close and veered away.

Though the lightning missed Trunks, it hit the portal, causing it to short circuit and to explode. The force sent Trunks hurtling several feet backwards through the air before he was able to recover. "Trunks, are you okay?" asked Tails over the Blue Typhoon's speaker.

"I'm fine," he replied. "Leguma's men are attacking some people below. There are a lot of them so I'll need some help to clean them out."

"Okay, we're coming," said Yoh.

Trunks sped towards one of the distracted soldiers and chopped him in the back of the head. The victim's comrade noticed Trunks, but before he could react, he was promptly taken out by a blast of ki. More of the men in camouflage noticed the ki team descending upon the battlefield. One of the men fired a stream of flame at Yoh, who blocked it with his Amidamaru-enhanced sword. Yoh countered with a Celestial Slash, cutting down his attacker with a shockwave of crimson ki. He charged at a nearby electrokineticist, cutting him down with a mighty stroke of his blade.

Morty dodged an incoming energy beam, which struck a tree behind him harmlessly. He slammed his Mosuke-empowered mallet into the ground which made a wave of fiery ki erupt forwards. The flames consumed the energy thrower, burning him into nothing but ash. Morty spotted a hulking brute assailing Faust, who was sending waves of skeletons to subdue the man. The skeletons could not contain the brute, who tossed his attackers with ease and was moving dangerously in range of attacking Faust. Morty threw his hammer, which slammed into the back of the man's skull and returned back to his hand. As the brute stumbled forward, Faust fled and the skeletons piled onto him until he was sprawled on the ground.

One by one, each enemy soldier went down until no one was left standing. The victims of the attack, hidden behind several rocks, were free to come out. From the insignias on their armour and clothing, Folken recognized the victims as members of Fanelia's court. The leader, a black-haired young boy with a noble bearing, was a person Folken knew all too well. That boy was Van Fanel, the king of Fanelia and Folken's younger brother. When Folken and Van encountered each other, it was clear on their faces that there was great tension.

"Folken, what are you doing here?" asked Van as he reach for a sword.

"Calm down, there is no need to resort to violence. I'm merely here to arrest some criminals who have attacked my country," replied Folken.

"He's telling the truth," said Yoh, seconding Folken's testimony. "They ran this way so we chased them here. You guys looked like you were in trouble so we came down to help."

Meanwhile, Faust checked on the condition of the men he had subdued for questioning. "That's impossible. How can he be growing cold?"

Amy checked the men, whose bodies had grown cold like they had just died. "You didn't beat'em up too hard, did you?" asked Amy.

"No, I'm sure I didn't," replied Faust firmly. "I only told my skeletons to subdue the men. They would not have killed them unless I specifically ordered it. I'll have to do an autopsy to investigate."

After explaining the situation to Van, Folken came over and Faust reported what he had discovered. "Damn," cursed Folken. As he looked over the bodies, one of the faces was familiar to him. "Wait a minute. This man was helping Leguma, was he not?"

"Yeah," replied Faust. "He looked like a leader so I had my skeletons subdue him for questioning. I don't why he and his men suddenly died. I'm baffled like you are."

"No, what I mean is... This man is Markle Forger," declared Folken, recalling images of him from briefings in the past. "He's an Ironian intelligence agent. I'd recognize his face anywhere."

"Does this mean that Ironia is helping the thieves?" asked Amy.

"It certainly looks that way," admitted Folken. "Forger was probably escorting Leguma to this portal so she could escape. They were probably expecting to get away scot-free until they bumped into Van's hunting party and then us. Okay everyone, we need the bodies as evidence. Pack them and up and load them into the Blue Typhoon."

"Hold on, you won't be removing anything from here. We're in Fanelia and as king, this is under my jurisdiction!" decreed Van. "These men had intruded on my land. My men will take their remains into custody."

"This is a problem," muttered Sonic.

"We need the bodies as evidence of Ironia's complicity," informed Folken. "Van, can you at least humour your brother just this once?"

"Ugh, I don't want to keep dead bodies on the ship," said Amy.

"If we can't take the remains, we'd need another way to prove that we saw what we saw today," informed Folken.

"Hmm," muttered Amy. "I know! Tails, do you still have that camera you used at Sonic's last birthday party?"

"Oh, I get it! Good idea, Amy," said Tails, who returned to the Blue Typhoon and fetched a small Polaroid camera.

The Fanelian men gathered the bodies of the Ironian agents together. The two-tailed fox snapped pictures of their faces as evidence of their involvement in the incident. Tails proceeded to gather memory dumps of the data from the portal and the agents' PDAs, which he recorded into a PDA of his own. After collecting the only evidence that Van would allow them to acquire, the ki team returned to Zaibach. Once again, Zaibach specialists toiled meticulously, piecing together the data and drawing conclusions from it.

Their conclusions were unanimous; Ironia was responsible for the attack. This conclusion was made even more certain by last minute confirmation coming from one Koushiro Izumi, who had E-mailed information to the Zaibach information. Izzy had hacked the computers of an occupied Red World base belonging to a terrorist group known as "Omnipotence." This E-mail contained orders for the cell to carry out missions and attacks on various targets. There was such a cell in Ironia, which had planned to carry out an attack against Zaibach, resulting in the incident that occurred a month ago. This damning piece of evidence provided all the justification needed for Zaibach retaliation against Ironia.

---

On one peaceful evening, no one saw the hundreds of Guymelefs secretly crossing the Ironian border. The first of Zaibach's mechanical war machines became visible as though it had magically appeared out of nowhere. It was a gigantic mechanical black knight sporting a flowing cape. It and its brethren were known as the Alseides, the standard, mass produced model. Unlike Guymelef's from other nations in Gaea, Zaibach's were much more technologically advanced. The Alseides were equipped with stealth cloaks, which rendered the machine invisible to the naked eye.

It was also equipped with Chlima, a mercury-like liquid that was dangerously flammable. It could be hardened into bolts and fired from an arm-mounted launcher. The Ironians learned this the hard way, when an Alseides fired such a claw into one of their watchtowers. The supports ruptured under the force of this massive metal spike, causing the whole tower to come crashing to the ground with the watchman still inside. The Ironians soon learned of Chlima's second function, its role as flamethrower fuel. A second Alseides uncloaked just metres from a hangar filled with unoccupied Guymelefs. Upon raising its arm, roaring flames spewed out of the nozzle and into the hangar. The terrified soldiers ran for dear life as the flames incinerated everything within their path.

Right behind the first attack wave was the Blue Typhoon, confidently hovering straight into Ironian airspace. With each metre it travelled, it shelled every enemy with blasts of energy and missiles. A metal door opened in its chassis, letting dozens of Alseides Guymelefs descended onto the ground. In retaliation, an Ironian Guymelef, much like the Zaibach Alseides, fired its own Chlima claws at the Blue Typhoon. However, the bolts merely bounced off of the ship's energy shields, revealing the defensive bubble momentarily. A cannon surely swivelled to the enemy, blasting it into pieces. The Blue Typhoon blasted it encountered as it advanced, leaving only a path of destruction in its wake. Like the destroyed Guymelef, the Ironians had no chance against such firepower.

Within a day, the Zaibach had overwhelmed Ironia and established control. During their attack, the Zaibach had captured an underground Ironian military base. This base was used as a laboratory for research and development of new technologies for the military. This facility was constructed with technology that was foreign to Gaea. It had electronic technology, not the steam-based technology normally found on Gaea. It was powered by a small power generator located in its heart that Tails had identified as being thermonuclear in nature. All these pieces of evidence pointed to an enemy that foreign in nature or backing.

The Zaibach soldiers found a series of pod-like devices filled with an unknown green liquid and human specimens. Folken and Tails looked over the strange devices, which seemed to be preserved the person inside. Folken looked over some gauges and metres, which displayed the vital signs of the people trapped within. The two scientists decided to free the people for questioning. After entering a series of commands into a panel, the liquid drained from the pods and a door popped open with a hiss. The people in the pods began to awaken from their artificially induced slumber.

After being clothed, the Zaibach began to question the people imprisoned in the pods. All of the people were individuals who came from foreign worlds. They had been captured by the enemy as specimens for experiments. In particular, one of the prisoners was a young blond boy. He was an outgoing person who was confidant in himself to the fullest extent. His cheeks had a set of three markings that almost seemed to be whiskers like that of a cat. This boy Naruto Uzumaki, was a ninja who was on a mission before being captured and brought into the lab.

"I'm from the Ninja Nations," replied Naruto. "I was on a mission before I found myself here. It was my big chance to show up Sasuke too, believe it!"

"...But you were attacked on the road."

"That's right. I don't know who they are. They came at us with guns, bombs, and magical powers. We tried to fight back but there were too many of them. They got Sakura, then me, and I don't know what happened to Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei after that. Next thing I know, I wake up naked in a pod."

"We do have a Sakura under our custody and a second ninja kid who we haven't identified yet," informed the interrogator. "We need to keep you here longer until we can sort this out. You're done for now."

As Naruto left the room, a pair of guards escorted a man down the hall to the darkened interrogation room for questioning. He had a head full of mussed violet-grey hair that dangled in front of his face. The man was clad in a green camouflage military uniform like the other soldiers. He had an eye patch covering a left eye that had been lost from an injury and a mask covering his mouth. However, Naruto took a single glance at the man's face and knew who he was. He was his sensei, Kakashi Hatake.

"Kakashi-sensei!" called Naruto. "Are you okay? I was worried about you but I'm glad to see you're alright."

"I'm sorry, but I think you're mistaken. You must have me confused with someone else," replied "Kakashi."

"Alright kid, that's enough. He says he doesn't know you, so buzz off," said one of the guards.

Naruto fumed as the guards took Kakashi into the room. The Zaibach rudely shoved "Kakashi" into the chair and grilled him extensively for over an hour. According to "Kakashi," he was merely a grunt who was not privy to any information of importance. Despite "Kakashi" continuing to stick to his story, the interrogator continued the browbeating, refusing to believe the prisoner's story. The guards even gave the recalcitrant soldier a clean shot to the gut to make him talk, but he still wouldn't divulge any new information. Near the end of the questioning, the interrogator slammed the table in frustration.

The next day, the guards brought him in for further questioning, but still couldn't get anything from him until Folken entered the room with a scroll in hand. He opened the scroll in front of "Kakashi," who read the scroll in front of him. "Read!" was Folken's only command.

The scroll was a set of decrees coming from the Hokage of Leaf Village himself. Leaf Village was a community of ninjas from the Ninja Nations. The Hokage was the greatest ninja of the village and functioned as its leader. Folken had contacted the Hokage between interrogations and had apparently arranged a meeting with the Hokage. In fact, he had purchased services from the Leaf Village during that meeting, in effect creating an alliance between his nation of Zaibach and the Leaf Village. Kakashi's orders were to cooperate with the Zaibach and reveal information on his mission to infiltrate the enemy who had captured his students. The orders were stamped with the Hokage's seal, a prominent Japanese character, which made the document official and authentic.

"Well, looks like you are my new bosses," remarked Kakashi.

"Glad to have you on the team, Kakashi," said Folken with a smile. "Tell us what you found out while you were here."

"These people call themselves 'Omnipotence.' They've been kidnapping people from other worlds to use as samples for some experiment. My students were among some of the people they kidnapped."

"What kind of experiment were they performing?"

"I do not the specifics, but they seem to be trying to create new and improved soldiers for their army. They had no success since all of their subjects died horribly within hours of birth. I don't know what it is, but they cited 'Paradox' as the problem. Recently, they made a raid on your country and found technology that would solve that problem."

"I see," remarked Folken. "How many soldiers were they able to create using our technology?"

"I only know of one so far," replied Kakashi. "The person who volunteered for the experiment was named Korn."

"Korn?" asked Folken, surprised by this revelation. "Now, this is certainly interesting."

Folken called the members of the ki team together and informed them that Kakashi will be joining them. Tails, who had been probing Omnipotence's computer logs for information, found an entry for the portal indicating that Korn had used the device just three hours before the invasion. With Kakashi's corroborating testimony, the ki team had returned the trail of the thieves who stole their artefacts. After using the portal, Korn had moved to a camp in the wilderness just outside of Toontown. The ki team and their Zaibach allies accelerated preparations to raid the camp and capture Korn.

Before they left, Kakashi met with students, three young ninja of the lowest rank of Genin. The first was Naruto, the outgoing boy who had nearly comprised his cover with his outburst. The second was Sasuke Uchiha, a prodigy from the respected and feared Uchiha clan of ninja. He was cool, calm, black-haired boy in shorts and a navy blue hooded athletic shirt adorned with the fan-like emblem of his clan. The last was the sole female member of the team, Sakura Haruno. The pink-haired girl was in a Chinese-style red dress and was ogling Sasuke relentlessly.

"Sensei!" cried Sakura and Naruto in unison.

"That's me," said Kakashi with a smile. "I'm sorry about having to lie to you. I couldn't risk blowing my cover just yet."

"So it really was you, Sensei! I knew it!" cried Naruto, feeling vindicated.

"Yep, but Naruto, don't blurt out the name of an undercover team mate like that again," reprimanded Kakashi. "You could have jeopardized my mission and cost me my life, as well as those of others like your team mates."

"Sorry Sensei," said Naruto.

"That's okay. Everything worked out better than I'd hope. We just received new orders from the Hokage," informed Kakashi, who showed the Hokage's scroll to his pupils.

"So we're joining these people?" asked Sasuke.

"That's right," replied Kakashi. "The Hokage is concerned about the kidnappings of ninja. Many ninja have disappeared without a trace, not just from Leaf Village. He is concerned that the enemy, Omnipotence, is kidnapping the ninja to acquire secrets and techniques. Our allies have hired our services as part of their alliance with Leaf Village."

"Yep, they wanted us because they know we're that good," boasted Naruto.

"For once, I'm not going to disagree with Naruto," said Sasuke. Sakura and Kakashi simply chuckled.

---

In the wilderness outside of the animated city of Toontown was a series of tents and heavily armoured vehicles. Armed guerrilla fighters in camouflage milled about the area, vigilantly watching for anyone who would threaten their camp. Mechanics worked intently on the chassis of a prone robot that was as tall as a tree should it be put upright. Their blowtorches blew sparks into the air like glowing jumping jacks. Nearby, the most monstrous, gruesome creatures from worlds best left unspoken growled and clawed within their cages. They threatened to unleash a bloodbath within the camp should they ever break free.

Hidden in the nearby brush, several sets of eyes watched the men patrol about. Their owners scanned the area, making mental notes about the numbers and strength of the forces. Satisfied with what they have learned, these watchers fled to inform their masters. The spies, Kakashi and his ninja squad, sped through the forest as fast as their feet could carry to deliver this information. They raced up the side of a mountain and leapt onto the deck of the Blue Typhoon, where Folken awaited their arrival. The ninja reported everything they had seen at the Omnipotence camp.

Along the camp's perimeter were a dozen guards on the lookout for infiltrators. These guards circled the camp in an overlapping fashion such that whenever one left an area, another would be entering from the same direction. This pattern made it difficult for anyone to sneak by without entering a guard's field of vision. Nevertheless, the ninja were skilled enough to successfully breach the perimeter and spy on the camp. This camp had about a hundred soldiers in total, all of whom were heavily armed and well trained. Some of the men were mechanics and were assembling what appeared to be gigantic robots for an operation in the near future. Others were animal keepers who were feeding several vicious creatures locked in cages.

Folken found the reports interesting. "Hmm, what could they be up to?"

"It seems like they're planning to attack someone or something from the looks of it," suggested Naruto.

"Indeed, but what's their target?" asked Folken. "In any event, we must strike now, while they're still vulnerable. We can determine their target later."

Within an hour, dozens of Zaibach Guymelefs flooded out of the hangar of the Blue Typhoon. The war machines were like flying torsos as they descended onto the ground below. Behind them were two very special Guymelefs known as the Teirings, piloted by Folken's cat-women bodyguards. Unlike the knightly Alseides, the Teirings were like gigantic, alabaster versions of their pilots. One had long silver hair and the other gold, which identified just which one of the twins was the pilot. Unlike the Alseides, the Teirings had superior armour and lacked the arm-mounted flamethrowers. These models were more oriented towards close-quarters combat compared to the Alseides.

The Guymelef's cloaked upon landing and advanced through the forest undetected. Within moments, they had the camp surrounded and made themselves known through the firing of a Chlima bolt. The mercurial bolt pierced its way through the cockpit of an inactive robot, rendering it useless in a single blow. The golden Teiring fired a Chlima claw into a tent, collapsing it and causing the men to flee in a panic. A torrent of flames gushed out of an Alseides' arm, heating several humvees until their fuel tanks melted. These vehicles violently exploded into flaming wreckage.

In the chaos of the battle, a single man went ignored by the raiders. This man was a man with long, spiky black hair that reached his shoulder. He was clothed in brown Saiyan combat armour, the same kind worn by the Saiyan actors during the filming of Dragonball Z episodes. In a great burst of speed, the man zipped out of the camp and into the air above it. He channelled great amounts of ki before sending it downwards like lightning from the heavens. The Zaibach forces had little time to escape before the beam struck the ground and triggered a massive explosion which wiped out the camp and everything near it.

Back at the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, both the Blue Typhoon crew and Trunks detected this great emission of ki. "Lord Folken, we request assistance! The camp is totally destroyed and several of our men are wounded. Send back up immediately!" demanded Nariya on the air waves.

Amy glanced at Trunks, who seemed somewhat disturbed at the moment. "Trunks, is something the matter?"

"Someone very powerful had fired a blast of energy into the camp. I believe that was Korn," replied Trunks.

"We can't go off to chase him," said Faust. "If Korn did indeed fire at the camp, many of the Zaibach soldiers would need medical attention."

"Then don't go, I'll go by myself," offered Trunks. "I'll stall Korn until you are ready to come. Until then, take care of the wounded."

Before Trunks left the bridge, Cream called out to him. "Trunks... Please be careful."

"Yeah, don't overdo it okay buddy?" asked Sonic rhetorically .

"Don't worry, just make sure our men are taken care of," replied Trunks. The half-Saiyan left the bridge and exited the ship's airlock. In a burst of speed, Trunks soared towards the powerful ki signature that took flight away from the camp. Within minutes, he spotted a second person soaring through the air at immense speeds. The man sensed Trunks' approach and turned around to confront him.

"Stop!" cried Trunks, as he came to a stop before the man path. After taking a good look at his face, Trunks knew it was indeed the person he was looking for, Korn. "Where did you take the Dragonballs?"

"They're long gone by now. After I gave them to a contact, she took them somewhere else. I have no idea," replied Korn.

"You may not know, but you were still involved in their theft," observed Trunks. "I know several people who want you just as badly as my friends. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice."

"If that's the way you want it..."

Korn suddenly charged at the half-Saiyan, who was nearly caught off guard. Trunks blocked the attack and suddenly vanished into thin air, only to reappear above. He nailed Korn in the skull with an overhead hammer fist to the skull, sending the Saiyan thief into the ground like a cannonball. Trunks sped off after him and reached Korn just as he was recovering from the landing. Trunks threw a pair of punches, both of which Korn blocked. Korn threw a kick which Trunks dodged by going higher into the air. Trunks shot in with a flying kick aimed at the head only to have Korn catch his foot and toss him away. Trunks recovered mid-air, landing safely on his feet.

"Seems we're evenly matched," remarked Trunks.

"So we are, but that is only the tip of the iceberg," said Korn

"Trunks, we've got your back!" cried Yoh as he came in with reinforcements.

"Yeah, save some for us. I'd like a piece of him too, you know," said Sonic.

"Looks like you're outnumbered, Korn," said Trunks. "This would be a good time to give up."

"Bah, who needs friends," decried Korn. "My bosses gave me something much better than that; power. Oh yes, the power! Power that only a Saiyan can dream about."

Korn rooted himself firmly in the ground and channelled ki throughout his body. His muscles tensed as they grew to massive proportions. Veins seemed pop out from under his skin. The purest rage fell over his face and seemed to twist and contort it almost beyond recognition. His eyes took on a new form, becoming as crimson as blood itself. A set of two commas appeared on his irises and began to rotate like a camera focusing on a scene. Kakashi and Sasuke analyzed Korn's new technique with grave concern, as it was one that was all too familiar to them.

"So you have the Sharingan," remarked Kakashi.

"Sasuke, isn't that one of your techniques?" asked Naruto.

"It is," replied the ninja. "...But there's no way he could be from the Uchiha clan, so how can he have the Sharingan?"

"I know, they cloned your eyes and surgically implanted them into him," said Trunks.

"That's right, I have the strength and speed of a Saiyan warrior and the techniques of you ninja chumps," mocked Korn. "How about a little demonstration?"

Suddenly, Korn dashed at Trunks, punching him hard in the gut. As Trunks stumbled backwards, he struck Trunks in the gut once again with a hard kick. The half-Saiyan went crashing through five trees in a row before crashing into the ground and digging a groove into the dirt. In the meantime, Sasuke and Kakashi had activated their own Sharingan. Korn came at them like a speeding freight train, punching Naruto hard in the gut and delivering a roundhouse kick to Sakura in the head. The two hit the ground in a daze, totally flattened by the onslaught of their nemesis.

Korn zipped over to Sasuke who spotted the Saiyan coming with Sharingan. However, while the Sharingan allowed a person to see past speed blurring, it didn't enable them to match the speed. Being significantly slower, it was impossible for Sasuke to react in time to stop or dodge Korn's fist as it slammed into his chin. Sasuke went flying backwards, crashing through a tree before crashing into the ground. Korn dashed to Kakashi, who couldn't do anything but watch as Korn sent a kick to his head. As the force sent the Jounin hurtling backwards, he vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a log in his place.

That trick had surprised Korn, causing him to have a momentary lapse of attention. A wave of Furyoku-enhanced flame made its way along the ground and hit the Saiyan thief. The flames raged around the thief and snapped him out of his momentarily daze of surprise and shock. While Korn was preoccupied, Faust pressed the advantage, throwing basketball-sized spheres of clumped bones. Upon striking Korn, they splintered apart only to reform as animated skeletons. These undead pile onto Korn, keeping him pinned in place while Morty's flames continued to burn him.

However, this was also the moment Kakashi was waiting for. After having used his replacement jutsu, Kakashi had snuck behind Korn and prepared a powerful, killing jutsu. Holding onto his downward pointing right arm, the Jounin channelled all of the Chakra he could muster into his hand. Bolts of lightning arced around with a rapid buzzing as the Chakra gathered into a single point. When the power reached its peak, Kakashi charged into Korn at top speed. The Jounin plunged his Lighting Blade into the small of the Saiyan's back, scoring a clean hit.

"Urrrgggh," groaned Korn as Kakashi dug his hand into the back.

"Yeah! Nice hit Kakashi!" commented Morty

The wear and tear caused Korn to crumple onto one knee. Within a moment, Korn willed himself upright with a vengeful glare. "You think those tricks will stop me?" decried Korn.

In a burst of power, Korn kicked Kakashi with such tremendous force as to send him flying backwards for over two dozen metres. The Saiyan released a burst of ki, throwing all of the skeletons into the sky and snuffing out Morty's flames instantly. The Saiyan went on the offensive, blasting Faust in the chest, who raised a shield of bone at the last moment to blunt the attack. Nevertheless, the sheer force of the ki beam so great that it toppled the doctor. Yoh threw a slash at Korn, who back-pedalled to avoid the blow. Korn suddenly lunged forward in a powerful roundhouse kick to Yoh's chin.

Nearby, Trunks channelled his rage into pure ki, increasing his personal power tenfold as he ascended to Super Saiyan form. His eyes turned a brilliant green while his hair turned a bright golden hue. Sonic spun rapidly until he became like a living cannonball and bounced into the half-Saiyan's hands. As Sonic rotated, Trunks charged him with as much ki as he could muster. Once the energy had reached critical mass, Trunks punted the ball in Korn's direction. Sonic the cannonball ripped through the air like a blue comet burning with golden flame. At the last moment, Korn spotted the ball coming, but not soon enough to react to it. As the ball smashed into his chest, it took him off of his feet and propelled him into a mountain with enough force to punch an indentation into it.

The ki team converged on the mountain side just as Korn was exiting the indentation. The immense force of Sonic the cannonball had ruptured Korn's armour in the chest. "Damn you!" cursed the Saiyan thief. "Damn you all! No more 'Mr. Nice Guy!'"

Korn made a series of gestures as prepared a jutsu. "Watch out!" cried Sasuke, who recognized the technique for what it was.

As the last gesture, Korn placed his fingers over his mouth as though urging someone to be quiet. With a deep breath, he exhaled a roaring ball of flame which the others had dodged thanks to Sasuke's early warning. After the fireball hit the ground, it burned a crater deep enough to submerge a grown man up to his waist. The Korn had performed was one that Sasuke frequently used; a fireball throwing jutsu taught by his clan. However, Korn performed the technique with far greater power than Sasuke could ever hope to achieve.

The Saiyan thief fired a barrage of ki blasts as his foes were preparing their counter attacks. His first volleys took out Sonic, Trunks, and Morty. Naruto and Sakura threw a hail of kunai at him only to have the Saiyan dodge or catch the projectiles. Hundreds of hidden Naruto clones pounced on Korn, only to be tossed away like mere dolls. Sasuke blew a fireball at Korn, who merely blunted the attack with a mere exertion of ki. The Saiyan fired ki blasts at each of the Genin, flattening each of them in a single hit. He detected Kakashi sneaking up and blasted him out of his attack with another ki blast.

Yoh threw a Celestial Slash whose shockwave successfully penetrated Korn's defence thanks to the distractions by the ninja. Faust followed up by tossing a scythe made of pure bone into the exposed chest. Korn stumbled backwards as the attacks pushed him backwards, but he eventually recovered. He charged into Yoh at blinding speed and grabbed his sword arm as he came in with a slash. Korn tossed the Shaman King into Trunks, Sonic, and Faust, taking all of them out of the fight in a single move. After such brutal beatings, it was becoming more and more difficult for the ki team to continue.

"You guys aren't even worth the effort. You can't put up a good fight for my level of power," mocked Korn.

"Yes, so it would seem that way," remarked Kakashi, now slumping over one knee from the wounds he had suffered. "I'll admit that you are truly a powerful adversary. You are stronger than even Trunks, yet you can use the techniques of my people while he can't. Yet, with all of this power, I have to wonder what price you paid for it."

A trace of crimson fell over Korn's eyes, painting the world before him a bright red. He brushed his hand over his eyes to rub away the crimson obstruction. When he rubbed his fingers together, the liquid obstruction stained his fingers a bright, but familiar red. Korn immediately realized that it was blood on his hands, but not the blood from his enemies. It was his own blood and it dripped from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks like tears of crimson. It was a gruesome sight that made fear well up within the Saiyan thief. He was absolutely certain that his foes had never scored a hit to his face during their confrontation. Yet, here he was, bleeding from his eyes for reasons he did not comprehend.

"His eyes are bleeding!" remarked Morty, a sense of dread filling him.

"...But that's impossible!" remarked Faust. "None of us ever hit him in the face!"

"I see now, so Paradox has finally caught up to you, Korn," replied Trunks succinctly.

"Ah, so that's what you call it," remarked Kakashi in realization.

"What's 'paradox?'" asked Sonic.

"Yeah, what is it? How come I've never heard of it?" asked Sakura.

"Paradox, it's short for the Law of Exponential Paradox," informed Trunks. "It's a law that deals with the usage of special powers. Each world has different rules on how their special powers work. If a person tries to use powers not native to their world, they get into trouble."

"Trouble? What do you mean?" asked Naruto, beginning to feel apprehensive about this revelation.

"Think of it this way. When you use your jutsus, you follow a certain set of rules to do it, right?" asked Trunks. "Well, using two different sets of powers forces you to follow two sets of rules. Now, what would happen when those two sets have rules that contradict each other?"

"Contradict?" asked Naruto, not knowing what the word meant.

"What Trunks is saying is that if you try to follow certain rules, you end up breaking other ones," said Sakura.

"Exactly," said Trunks.

"So, what happens then?" asked Naruto.

"Bad things," replied Trunks. "Very bad things..."

"What kind of things?" asked Naruto.

"Anything bad that you can imagine could happen. You could explode violently; you could lose control of your powers; you could turn into a girl, or a frog, or anything else for that matter. That's just the tip of the iceberg," replied Trunks. Naruto gulped in timidity.

"Oh don't worry, you haven't been doing those things so you have nothing to fear," assured Sakura. "Nothing will happen to you."

Kakashi chuckled. "Korn on the other hand, isn't so lucky..."

Korn was not amused by Kakashi's mockery. In fact, it only enraged him further. "Grrr... I'm not going to die like this. I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!"

The Saiyan thug rapidly performed a series of hand gestures. He immediately began to multiply until about twenty copies of himself surrounded the ki team. "Watch out! He's using the Shadow Clone Jutsu!" cried Naruto.

"Are you crazy?" asked Trunks. "You should quit while you're ahead. If you use more jutsus you're only to going to make the situation worse!"

"Shut up, fool! I'm through playing with you guys," screamed Korn.

At once, the Korn crew pounced on the ki team, beginning a chaotic melee in which both sides exchanged blows. Super Saiyan Trunks blocked a punch, grabbing the clone's arm and throwing him into a second. A third threw a punch which Trunks dodged at the last moment. A fourth attempted a kick, but Trunks caught his leg and swept the other from under him. With a sharp kick, Trunks sent the clone sliding along the ground, toppling the third as he approached and flattening the first and second before they had gotten fully upright.

Sonic sidestepped a punch from his first attacker, leaping into the air to kick the clone in the face. Morty dodged a kick and bopped the attacker's other leg with his Mosuke-empowered hammer. Kakashi stabbed an attacker with a kunai before throwing the same blade into the head of a second attacker. Yoh blocked a clone's kick and countered with a slash diagonally through the attacker's torso. A second clone scored a cheap shot from behind, sending Yoh face first into the ground. The clones continued to pile onto the heroes. There seemed to be an endless stream of them assaulting the ki team, but fortunately, each individual clone was not nearly as powerful as the original Korn.

Nevertheless, for what they lacked in raw power, the clones made up with sheer numbers. That numerical advantage soon asserted itself when Faust came crashing into the ground next to Yoh, with Sasuke, Trunks, and Sonic not far behind him. "These guys just keep coming!" cried Faust.

Kakashi hit the ground just moments after being pummelled by a clone. He got off the ground and backed himself into the ki team. With their backs to each other, the ki team watched apprehensively as the Korn clones continued to multiply. "Where is the real one?" asked Kakashi mentally, scanning for Korn's true body.

"I don't see anyone making any hand movements. It looks like they're multiplying all by themselves!" cried Yoh.

"Is this normal?" asked Morty.

"No," replied Kakashi succinctly.

"What will happen to him if he keeps multiplying like this?" asked Morty.

"He'll be dead," replied the Jounin. "That jutsu is called the Shadow Clone jutsu. It makes copies of the user, but divides his Chakra equally among each of the clones. If he makes too many, he'll exhaust his Chakra reserves and die."

"I don't think he has much of a choice. He can't seem to stop himself!" said Faust.

The Korn clones continued to multiply over and over. Each clone split itself into two only to have each copy divide into two once again. Two clones became four, which then became eight, and then sixteen; on and onward to infinity. The ki team watched the endless multiplication anxiously as Korn duplicated again and again. The only thing they could see around them was a sea of Korn clones. Yet, still they continued to multiply with no end in sight. It was blatantly obvious that the Shadow Clone Jutsu was spiralling out of control and Korn could not do a thing to stop it.

"NOOOOOO!" screamed Korn, now in his death throes as the clone count reached over a million and continued to climb. Each replication exhausted more and more of his energy until that critical moment arrived. One by one, the clones vanished in abrupt puffs of smoke. With his Chakra reserves finally exhausted, Korn vanished into nothingness.

"Yeah, we won!" cheered Yoh.

With Korn having multiplied himself to death from Paradox, the ki team relished their victory. However, that joy was very short lived. In the distance, explosions lit up the horizon where Toontown laid. Hundreds of shadows belonging to unknown beings descended on the city from the sky. Billowing plumes of smoke rose into the air, blotting out the light of the sun. "Look! Something’s going down at Toontown!" cried Morty.

END OF CHAPTER

New Stars of Heaven/Heavenly Leaders:
#3 Tenki, The Star of Wisdom: Folken Fanel (Escaflowne)
#20 Tensoku, The Speedy Star: Kakashi Hatake (Naruto)

New Stars of Earth/Earthly Warriors:
#59 Chikyu, The Intelligent Star: Sakura Haruno (Naruto)
#62 Chikou, The Wild Star: Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
#63 Chikyou, The Star of Ambition: Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)
#90 Chitan, The Short Star: Nariya (Escaflowne)
#91 Chikaku, The Corner Star: Eriya (Escaflowne)

Spotlight: Naruto

This anime follows the life of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who dreams of becoming the Hokage, the top ninja in his village. During Naruto's birth, his home, Leaf Village, came under attack by a demonic being known as the Nine-Tailed Fox. They succeeded in sealing the monster inside Naruto's body after suffering many losses. The stigma of the fox and the deaths caused Naruto to become shunned by his village. He became a worthless prankster but got a chance to prove himself one day, when he used the Shadow Clone Jutsu for the first time to save his sensei's life.

Origins:
All ninja of the Naruto anime undergo rigorous training to learn and hone their skills and techniques. However, some ninja, like Sasuke Uchiha, also receive certain techniques, or jutsus, from their lineage. After graduating the academy, new ninjas receive the Genin rank, the lowest rank, and are assigned under a Jounin ranked instructor. Naruto's team consists of himself, Sasuke, and Sakura with Kakashi as their Jounin instructor.

Powers:
Naruto does have some modern level technology, but it takes a backseat to the Chakra powers. Chakra is a ki-type energy that flows through channels in the human body. Most jutsu are done by performing hand gestures, or seals, to mould Chakra into a usable form. In general, jutsus are divided into three main branches. The first is Genjutsu, which manipulates an opponent's Chakra to make them experience illusions. The second is Taijutsu, which largely consists of hand-to-hand combat skills. The last is Ninjutsu, or techniques that use things outside the body such as elemental manipulation. Each ninja has a unique fighting style that uses these types of jutsus in varying degrees.