Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny ❯ Rise of the 108 Story, part 1: The Shrine of the Stars ( Chapter 10 )

[ 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

Rise of the 108 Story, part 1: The Shrine of the Stars


To their horror, Sakura Avalon and her friends watched as her vision came true before their very eyes. The once wacky, whimsical city of Toontown burned in the aftermath of Omnipotence terrorism. The robots, faceless war machines of white metal with red highlights, destroyed everything and anything that crossed their path. One of them let lose a beam of deadly coherent light which burned its way through a skyscraper like it was a construct of butter. Another smashed its fist into an apartment building, grabbing a Toon dog and throwing him into the ground before disintegrating him with a blast of beam gun fire.

Horrific creatures from worlds best left unknown roamed freely through those areas. One such monster, a massive oni, reached into an apartment building being evacuated by Toons. He smashed his way through a glass window and plucked a Toon rabbit from within, licking his lips and salivating at his new meal. The monster popped the terrified rabbit into his toothy maw without a second thought. As he began to chew, the rabbit screamed in terror as the teeth crushed and mangled him to pieces before the oni swallowed him with a great big gulp. The inhuman beast let out a loud and rude burp before continuing on his rampage of destruction.

Roger noticed that one of the robots was advancing towards his neighbourhood. "Oh no! Jessica! We have to save Jessica!" He stuck his thumb out which attracted the attention of a Toon taxicab. The big-eyed cab stopped with a skidding screech. "Benny! Thank God you're here!" greeted the rabbit.

"You'd better be thankful, I nearly got chewed to pieces just trying to get here!" replied Benny the surly cab.

"Listen, I need to get home to save my wife and kids," begged Roger. "Please hurry!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said Benny. "Hop in and fasten your seatbelts."

The magic team got into Benny, who drove them back to the mansion. "Honey, it's me. Grab the kids and whatever you can find and wait in the car. I'll meet you there," commanded Roger over his cell phone. Within minutes, the magic team had gathered at the mansion.

"Jessica! Omnipotence is attacking Toontown. We have to get you to safety!" cried Koichi from Benny.

"We're going to Blue Water Lake. Honey, lead the way," cried Roger.

The group started their engines and sped off eastward to Blue Water Lake. Blue Water Lake was a vacation destination for many people from Toontown. It was a colony of cottages where people both rich and not could go to enjoy the great outdoors. In essence, it was a tourist resort and vacationing area. The vehicles sped down the road as the chaos continued all around them in Toontown. The magic team could see that the military entered the scene to repel Omnipotence's attack on the city. Their helicopters and jets soared across the sky in preparation for their attack.

As the group travelled eastward, they came across an overhead highway. There was a pair of cars at the top whose occupants had fled and were being attacked by several bird-like creatures. Koichi and Yolei recognized them as the same ones that had stolen the Destiny Stone. They could recognize those gruesome toothy maws and those vaguely humanoid torsos anywhere. In the midst of the birds' screeching, they could hear a gunshot going off ever so often. Roger watched as one of the vehicles' occupants retreated into view before turning around and firing at the birds.

"Hey that's Ross!" cried Roger.

"You mean the detective who saved you?" asked Yolei. "Then we'd better help him! Stop here Benny!"

Roger's kids noticed that Benny had stopped. "Mom, stop! Dad is getting out of Benny," they warned.

Jessica promptly jammed on the brakes. "Roger, what are you doing?"

"We need to save Ross. He's in trouble!" replied Yolei. She turned to her team mates. "Let's go team!"

The magic team flew up to the highway with their various powers and prepared for battle. In a cloud of darkness, Koichi vanished, leaving Duskmon in his place. The Warrior of Darkness charged at the birds. In a single pass, he had sliced through several of the demonic birds that accosted Ross and his sci/psi team. Hawkmon transformed into Shurimon and hurled shuriken at the birds which were attacking the two trench-coat wearing, female members of his group. Shaoran summoned the Freeze card, which manifested as a dolphin of icy crystals which leapt into the fray, freezing all enemies in blocks of ice. After this massive attack, the birds fled to save themselves.

"Ross, are you okay?" asked Roger, approaching his friend once the area was secure.

"I'm fine," replied the detective as he dusted himself off.

"Listen, I have a cottage at Blue Water Lake. We can hide out there until this whole thing blows over," offered Roger. "Do your cars still work?"

The elder of the trench-coated women, Miho, checked her vehicle and confirmed its proper functioning. Koichi transformed into Velgamon and carried Ross' team and their cars to the road below. The now merged group continued on their way eastward. The trip was going smoothly until trouble reared its head. One of the robots landed in the street behind them. It spotted the magic team's cars and immediately gave pursuit. The robot fired at the team but their drivers dodged every one of its beams and missiles. The attacks kept coming until one punched a massive crater into the road ahead.

The vehicles came to a stop. "Oh no!" cried Jessica.

"We can't go any further. We have to fight that thing!" warned Koichi.

"Be careful, that thing is an M1 Astray! It's immensely powerful!" warned Athrun.

In a nimbus of wispy darkness, Koichi had merged the power of the Spirits of Darkness together. The release of such great negative energy transformed him into a being that was Duskmon and Velgamon merged into one. This being had an armoured, humanoid body like Duskmon with eyes at every joint in his body. He had claws like that of the vulture-like Velgamon for hands and feet. A great pair of Velgamon's feathery wings framed the new creature as its three inhuman eyes locked onto the robot from its vulture-like head. Koichi had become Pazuzumon of Darkness and was ready for battle.

Yolei drew upon her power, allowing Hawkmon to ascend to heights of power greater than that of Aquilamon. Unlike his other forms, this new form was far more humanoid, but had the traits of Aquilamon and a white cat spliced together. His legs were like that of Aquilamon, a pair of bird talons and feathery legs. From the waist up, this creature had a cat's white fur and purple-tipped ears. His face was like that of a human, but his eyes were covered with a visor. Now as Silphymon, he took to the air to confront the M1 Astray.

The Astray mobile suit fired a beam of energy at the group. "I've got it," announced Amelia.

With a quick chant, she raised a barrier of magic which stopped the energy beam cold. Under the cover of Amelia's protective magic, the teams began their counter attack. Robin bathed the Astray in pyrokinetic flames which engulfed its torso completely. Though a powerful attack, it wasn't nearly enough to stop something as powerful as a mobile suit. Miho, Naomi, Ross, and Athrun fired handguns at the monstrous machine, but their shots merely deflected off of its armour. A beam of negative energy struck the mobile suit's chest, drawing its ire to Pazuzumon.

No matter how hard the Astray tried, it was unable to hit such a small, manoeuvrable target with its beam rifle. The dark warrior turned around and opened his wings wide. It caused his each and every one of his eyes to glow in crimson light. All of a sudden, explosions of unholy energy wracked the robot's body, forcing it to stagger backwards. Following up on the team's advantage, Silphymon made an attack run, launching an after image of himself created from pink, magical energy. After slamming into the robot, a great explosion ensued, tearing off the machine's left arm and knocking it onto its back.

However, it got right back up just seconds afterwards. "Watch out! It's still moving!" cried Yolei.

At that moment, beam of golden energy raced at the M1 Astray from above and behind. It made a direct hit onto the robot's chest, which had already been damaged from the team's flurry of attacks. The Astray's armour ruptured under the strain of the beam, causing it to fall backwards and explode. A shuttle craft landed behind the team. Trunks Briefs, the one who had fired the beam, descended near the magic and sci/psi teams. "Quick, get into the shuttle, we're here to rescue you!" he cried.

"You're here?" asked Yolei.

"Yeah, but no time to explain now. Get into the shuttle quick," he commanded.

Without saying a word, the teams took Trunks up on his offer. The shuttle lifted into the sky with a brief hiss and sped away. Beams zinged by it with the other mobile suits taking notice and opening fire. Due to this provocation, the shuttle's gunner returned fire. The shuttle shook as anti-air missiles zoomed after it and burst mid-air outside. Jessica tried her best to calm her children, who were terrified to be exposed to such a dangerous situation. Within moments, the shuttle had escaped the robot's effective range and was safely returning to its mother ship, the Blue Typhoon.




The teams disembarked the shuttle and were met with the sight of the interior of a technologically advanced hangar in what seemed to be a space capable battleship. It was technology unknown to the magic and sci/psi teams as its origin was foreign. The hangar was cavernous and lined with ships, shuttle craft, as well as what appeared to be steam-powered robots. They resembled gigantic knights armed with swords as well as arm-mounted cannons and flamethrowers. Mechanics milled about the area, tending to the machines which had been damaged in a battle with unknown forces.

There were guards posted at key positions around the ship, men who were dressed in black uniforms with golden, almost eye-like designs. One by one, Amy helped several passengers disembark from a nearby shuttle. These Toons, no longer the happy go-lucky entertainers, looked quite miserable, having been forced out of their homes by the attack. Most escaped with only the clothes on their backs, having no time to pack their belongings like the Rabbit family did. The people were dirty and filthy from the dirt and soot scattered around by their escape. A few also had suffered some minor scrapes and bruises.

"Trunks, what's going on? Why are you here?" asked Yolei as he led them into the ship.

"To make a long story short, some thieves stole the Dragonballs back at Zeta Earth. My friends and I followed them all the way here where they sent monsters and robots to attack Toontown. We decided to help the Toons out and found you guys there."

"They wouldn't happen to be called 'Omnipotence' wouldn't they?" asked Yolei.

"Yeah! How did you know they were called 'Omnipotence?'" asked Trunks surprised by Yolei's foresight.

"We were following them too," replied Koichi. "They stole one of Azulongmon's Destiny Stones."

"Now this is interesting," commented Naomi. "We were looking for Omnipotence too."

Trunks batted an incredulous gaze at Naomi. "You too?"

"That's right, I'm Naomi Armitage of the Martian Police Department," replied Naomi, shaking Trunks' hand. "This man is my partner and husband, Ross Syllabus." Ross gave a knowing nod as an introduction. "We were on the trail of Omnipotence arms runners before they made their attack on Toontown."

At this moment, Tails entered the room on a catwalk above the hangar's bottom floor. His team mates gathered the refuges around to hear his announcement. "Hello everybody, I'm Miles Prower, the captain of this ship, the Blue Typhoon," announced Tails through a microphone. "We have prepared rooms on decks five to eight. We will do a head count and then assign rooms to you. If you have any questions please give them to the people with nametags."

Trunks took a moment to talk with Tails, who nodded. "Okay, we would like you to meet at the strategy room in an hour. Until then, I will show you to your quarters where you can relax."

Trunks led the members of the teams to their rooms. An hour later, the teams made their way to the meeting a room, a sophisticated room filled with instruments displaying maps and charts. Seated clockwise around the rectangular table were the members of the three teams with Tails at the head of the table. Next to him were Sonic, Trunks, Koichi, and Yolei, followed by Naomi, Ross, and Folken. The other members, without available seats for them, stood around the table anxiously waiting for the meeting to begin. At that moment, Lan burst into the room. "Sorry I'm late!" remarked Lan. "I kinda got lost on the way here."

Tails sighed. "Settle down, everyone, please settle down. I know we're all tired and confused right now, but I call this meeting so that we can sort through this mess and find out what's going on. To start, why don't we all introduce ourselves and tell everyone our story?"

Each of the team leaders, Trunks, Koichi, and Ross, introduced their members and how they ran afoul of Omnipotence in turn. The ki team's story began with the theft of Dragonballs from Namek by Omnipotence agents. It was a daring raid on a Namekian shrine, which resulted in many deaths and much damage. Having other obligations, the Z fighters set Trunks on the trail of the thieves. His pursuit led him to Shamania, where his team mates Yoh, Morty, and Faust hailed from. The thieves proceeded to steal the Asakura prayer beads as well as injuring several of their friends during the exchange.

The trail went cold until they acquired the data mined from the head of an android assassin Trunks had felled. It led them to Moebius, the home of Sonic the Hedgehog and the crew of the Blue Typhoon. The thieves were already causing trouble there as well, having attacked a shrine containing powerful and dangerous artefacts known as the Chaos Emeralds. The raid resulted in the injury of Sonic's friend, Knuckles who fought as hard he could to stop the thieves. For this reason, Sonic and crew joined up with Trunks and the Shaman to capture the thieves.

The last leg of their adventure took them to Zaibach, already a victim of Omnipotence. They had bombed the capital and stolen highly classified documents during the confusion. The documents were plans for a device known as a Fate Alteration Device, which was a dangerous machine capable of altering probability. The trail of the bombers linked to espionage and state-sponsored terrorism from Zaibach's neighbour, Ironia. Following a lead from a foreigner named Izzy Izumi, Zaibach invaded Ironia as retaliation. This lead led in turn to Omnipotence cells in Toontown, where the ki team battled Omnipotence agent Korn in mortal combat and won. It was at that moment Toontown was attacked and the ki team went to help.

"So you got Izzy's message after all," said Yolei.

"You know Izzy?" asked Folken.

"Yes, he's a friend of ours. He's very into computers," replied Yolei.

"How did Izzy find out about Omnipotence?" asked Folken.

"Folken, I'm Koichi Kimura, the leader of Yolei's team. Let me tell you our story and then it will become clear to you."

Koichi narrated the story about how his magic team came to pursuing Omnipotence. In the beginning, Koichi was helping to film the English version of the second season of Digimon. During a break, Koichi had met with Yolei to eat when Omnipotence made their move. They attacked the scene with unknown monsters who stole the Destiny Stone, despite their attempts to prevent its theft. They had tracked the thieves to a portal in some mountains which led to Reedington in Tarota where the trail went cold. In Tarota, they chanced upon Sakura and Kero, who came under attack by demonic bees suspected to have been sent by Omnipotence to steal the Clow Cards. The magic team stayed for the night and visited Sakura's teacher, Clow Reed, the next day.

Clow Reed warned them of a growing evil that would threaten all worlds. He also lectured them about the 108 Stars of Destiny. According to Clow Reed, the Stars of Destiny were 108 very special individuals who would be the greatest opponents against this rising evil. They were essentially the greatest heroes in the struggle against this evil. Reed directed them to a dragon priest temple in the Red World which was under siege by the enemy and sent their team mate Shaoran to help them. There, the magic team allied with the temple's defenders, capturing an Omnipotence base in the counter attack. They also gained the assistance of Amelia, one of the temple's defenders. She was a princess of the Red World kingdom Saillune and a powerful practitioner of the healing and defensive arts of white magic.

In the base, they called Izzy Izumi to help decrypt files about Omnipotence's operations and learned of the existence of other bases in other worlds, one of which was in Ironia and raided by Zaibach. The magic team attempted to scout out a different one of these bases in the Great Blue, but botched the mission horribly and were forced to retreat. At about this time, the Clow magicians saw visions of Toontown's destruction in their dreams. This destruction turned out to be caused by a terrorist attack by Omnipotence. Though they tried to prevent it, they ultimately failed and all they could do was save the Rabbit family from becoming victims of the attack. During their escape, they rescued the sci/psi team and joined them. In the end, everyone ended up being rescued by Trunks.

"I see now," observed Folken. "On behalf of the Zaibach nation, I would like to thank all of you. You've done us a great service."

"Um, yeah, thank you," replied Koichi.

"If you can arrange it. I would like to visit this base and see these files for myself," requested Folken.

"Of course," said Yolei. "Maybe you can make more sense of it than we can."

"Ross, you said you and Naomi were chasing arms runners who were smuggling that robot I destroyed earlier," began Trunks.

"That's right, they're called mobile suits," replied Ross.

"I know those things. They're from the Cosmic Era, where I'm from," interjected Athrun. "They're called M1 Astrays. They're the standard issue mobile suits of the Orb Union. Ross, I know we had a deal, but I think it would be best if they knew who I was." Ross nodded in understanding. "I am Athrun Zala, a special forces member of the Orb Union. These things were stolen from my country by Blue Cosmos and sold to the enemy. Ross, why don't you tell everyone our story."

"Sure Athrun," agreed Ross.

Ross narrated his story about how he came to encounter Omnipotence. He and Naomi were officers of the MPD assigned to bust an arms smuggling ring operating in their city, Saint Lowell. The Blue Cosmos terrorist group was selling the stolen mobile suits to a group which would later be identified as Omnipotence, through this ring. Athrun had infiltrated the Blue Cosmos side under the pseudonym of "Andy Zimmerman." Though the MPD had caught most of those involved, they didn't catch Athrun. Before they could get any answers from the Omnipotence men, a poisoning device implanted in their hearts triggered and killed them.

However, the Omnipotence side didn't just commit crimes in Saint Lowell. A pair of Witch Hunters, Robin Sena and Miho Karasuma, showed up at the MPD for assistance in catching one Jeremy Dean, a man responsible for a string of murders back home. He was the man in charge of the Omnipotence end of the weapons sales. He was also a Witch, a person with dangerous supernatural powers, thus requiring specialized individuals to apprehend. The chase brought the officers to Dentech City, Digitopia, where Omnipotence had attacked a lab to steal government and corporate source code in the care of Dr. Yuchiro Hikari. Unsuccessful, they attempted to kidnap Hikari's son, Lan, and his friend Mayl to ransom them off for the secrets.

In a fortunate twist of fate, Athrun was there, and when the cops came, they caught everyone in one fell swoop. Like the other Omnipotence agents, the poisoning device killed Dean and his thugs as well. Their only remaining lead was Zimmerman and the head of a female android bodyguard named Gillian. In a surprising turn of events, Zimmerman agreed to talk, revealing himself as Athrun Zala. In a closed doors meeting, they mined the bodyguard's brain and learned where Omnipotence was moving the mobile suits, Toontown. Once again, Omnipotence fled capture, only to assemble the suits elsewhere and use them to attack Toontown. As the sci/psi team escaped for dear life, they were rescued by the magic team and then the ki team.

"You killed Gillian?" asked Trunks.

"Yes," replied Robin. "It was me who did it, actually. She was attacking us so I had no choice but to melt her."

"Thank you," said Trunks. "She was one of the thieves who robbed the Dragonball shrine on Namek. I wanted to find her, but you've saved me the trouble. With her dead, the guards and monks she murdered have been avenged."

"Yes, and now that we each know of the others' stories, I would like to mention that it would be in all of our best interests if we joined forces against the enemy," urged Folken. "If we do so, we can confront Omnipotence with a united front. Think of the resources we would have at our disposal! Ross and Naomi can give us information from the law enforcement community. We can gain the strength of powerful warriors like Trunks and access to star faring ships like the Blue Typhoon. From the children we can get the benefits of magic."

The members of the magic team huddled together and whispered amongst each other. "There's no need to talk us into twice. Consider us in," was their reply, delivered by Koichi.

The sci/psi team did the same and came up with a similar response. "We're in too," replied Ross.

"Great!" remarked Folken. "Now, we can now move on to the next step. From our adventures, we know that Omnipotence has subverted entire countries like Ironia to their agenda. We don't know how many more nations they have corrupted in this way. We can not defeat such an enemy unless we form an army of own, one that is mobile, yet powerful. We will also need a base to house this great army, a location where they can train and coordinate their members movements. We will also need someone to lead it, a person who can be a focal point where all Toons can rally."

At that moment, a brilliant light flashed in the room. Clow Reed, the creator of the Clow cards, appeared in the briefing room. "Master Reed!" exclaimed Sakura and Shaoron in unison.

"Hi Sakura, I hope you're well," greeted the great magician.

"We're fine," replied Shaoran. "We're in the middle of discussing how we should go about fighting Omnipotence."

"Excuse me for asking, but who's that guy?" asked Naomi.

"I'm Clow Reed, a very skilled magician if I do say so myself. Sakura and Shaoran are my two best students," replied Reed.

"So you're Clow Reed," muttered Naomi. "You're pretty good looking." That comment was met by a hostile glare from Ross which put her on the defensive.

"Welcome to the Blue Typhoon, Mr. Reed. Now that you are here, could you tell us more about the Stars of Destiny?" asked Tails.

"Of course," replied Reed. In fact, that's the reason why I came here in the first place. You may not realize it yet, but all of you are Stars of Destiny, and as one of the 108, you will play a very important role in times to come," lectured Reed.

Clow Reed snapped his fingers causing the image of a pair of stone slabs to materialize. Each of the slabs had a set of names carved into it in an unknown, ancient language. As the members of the three teams and Roger's friends and family stared at the slabs, the writing seemed to shift with a mind of its own. The writing smeared like spilled ink until it began to coalesce into a readable language. The writing turned out to be the titles of each of the 108 Stars of Destiny, as well as the person who held that title. The readers were surprised to see that the names of the Stars were themselves as well as other people they knew who had helped them in the struggle against Omnipotence. There were still many Stars who still haven't revealed themselves yet.

"Where did you acquire these tablets?" asked Tails.

"I recovered these tablets from a set of ruins in the no-man's-lands," informed Reed. "These ruins intrigued me so I began to study them."

"What did you find?" asked Folken.

"I learned about the 108 Stars of course as well as a little history about them. It is a recurring phenomenon which occurs whenever vast numbers of people are at a crossroads in fate. Often, such a crossroads results from a great crisis, usually of the nature of a great struggle or conflict, like a war. It is during these times that 108 special individuals will appear to reshape the future. These individuals, of course, are the 108 Stars of Destiny. We are not actually the first appearance of such a group. There have been several over the course of history. From my studies, I suspect that the formation of the Justice League is one such appearance, even though they are probably unaware of it."

"What else can you tell me about the tablets?" asked Folken.

"They are special artefacts that serve as a record of the 108 Stars of Destiny," replied Reed.

"You said you found them in a no-man's-land... Come to think of it, a remote area would be an ideal place to base our army. Can you tell me where it is?"

"I found them in the ruins of shrine which I dubbed the 'Shrine of Stars.' Instead of telling you where it is, why don't I show you," offered Reed.

Reed began to channel such great amounts of magical energy that he seemed to glow with an aura of blueness. A pair of cards formed around the master of the Clow and circled him. Being a Clow magician herself, Sakura recognized the two cards circling her master. They were the Return and Through cards, two cards which held power over space and time. The spirits of the cards passed through the walls of the Blue Typhoon and swirled into a circle before its bow. A great disk of light formed inside of which the crew on the bridge could see an unknown world.

Following Clow Reed's instructions, Tails ordered the bridge to fly the Blue Typhoon into this massive vortex of energy. When they reached the other side, the Blue Typhoon's bridge crew checked their instruments. Their vessel was hovering over a set of time-worn ruins made from marble. At the centre of these ruins was a great dais made of marble as well. This dais had three slots which once held the Tablets of the Stars until Clow Reed claimed them. The team disembarked from the ship and explored the ruins. They had a plain, utilitarian design of unknown origin.

As the others explored the ruins, Folken scanned the area, his razor sharp mind evaluating the strategic advantages of this location. "This place will do. There is a lot of space for our headquarters and many resources for our army and the refugees. All that we need now is to build our army and find someone to lead it."

"Indeed, but who will be the one?" asked Reed, almost to the point of doing so simply for effect.

"Not me," replied Folken. "I may be a Zaibach leader, but getting Toons to support me is another matter. We need someone who Toons and anime Toons can respect. We need someone who can get all Toons behind him and motivate them into action."

"Eddie could do it," said Roger.

"Eddie?" asked Reed.

"My old friend, Eddie Valiant," Roger clarified. "The Toons love Eddie. He found Marvin Acme's will for us and saved Toontown from Judge Doom. If anyone could get the Toons behind him, it would be him."

"...But didn't Eddie pass away about ten years ago? Even if he was alive today, he would be very old, too old to be of any use," observed Folken. "At his age, he wouldn't be in any condition to lead an army unless..."

"What?" asked Roger.

"I have an idea, but it's a very morbid one. I'm thinking of asking Faust to bring Eddie back to life. He's a necromancer so he should be able to do it."

"Neck-romancer?" asked Roger. "You're saying he's a vampire?"

"No, he's saying that Faust has the power to raise the dead," replied Clow Reed. "The problem is that anything Faust would raise would be nothing more than a mindless zombie. He can't bring spirits back from beyond the otherworld completely."

"Then our plan won't work," lamented Folken.

"Not quite," said Reed. "I was in Faust's presence on the Blue Typhoon during the meeting. I could clearly sense the presence of the guardian spirits of the Shaman. I'm positive that Faust had received some sort of outside help in order to get his spirit. The question now is who helped him get his spirit back? Once we recruit this person, I think we have a good chance of carrying out your plan."




The massacre in Toontown continued even as authorities desperately mounted resistance. Toon war planes swooshed across the sky blazing a trail of smoke behind them. They passed above the M1 Astrays, which opened fire on them with their beam rifles. Being simple unguided beams, the energy streaked by like trails of light. The Astrays were simply not capable hitting such mobile and rapidly moving targets like the jets with any degree of accuracy. Some distance away, the jets wheeled around in preparation for an attack run. The jets raced forward in tight formation, launching dozens of missiles nearly simultaneously.

The missiles swooshed through the air like the jets, leaving a billow trail of smoke behind them. The Astrays turned around just in time to spot the missiles approaching. The mobile suits fired their beam rifles in unison, successfully hitting two of the planes, resulting in them going down. Though the Astrays also managed to sweep several missiles with their attack, they weren't fast enough to hit all of them. Those that slipped through their defences reached their targets and exploded in a violent burst of flame. The attack felled one of the three titanic war machines which crashed onto the ground with a loud thud. The other two tracked the jets as they flew by, returning fire all the while to eventually shoot them down.

Suddenly, a man in a red cape and blue spandex uniform sped at breakneck speeds towards the exposed backside of one of the Astrays. On his muscular chest was the symbol of a downward pointing red pentagon with the mighty red "S" emblazoned on a yellow background. This man was the greatest hero ever known to human and Toon alike. At breakneck speed, he drove a fist into the back of the Astray's head, causing the great war machine to stumble forward. With a second brutal haymaker, the Superhero toppled the giant weapon of destruction. The Astray's brother fired on the Superhero, who dodged with preternatural speed.

The Superhero zipped up to the Astray's face and delivered a bone crushing punch to the face. The immense force of this hit put a massive dent into the machine, but the Superhero was not content until the machine had felt the entirety of his wrath. The Superhero threw a second and then a third punch, pummelling the M1 Astray back with each hit causing a resounding boom to rip through the air. With a massive uppercut, the machine toppled over on its backside, hitting the ground with a thud loud enough to deafen people miles away. Since this was the last of the Astrays, Toontown had no more to fear from them.

"J'onn, I've dealt with the situation," said the Superhero.

"Good work, Superman. There are still monsters attacking Toons in the west side. Wonder Woman could use your assistance immediately," replied J'onn.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few seconds."

Superman and his Superhero allies quickly defeated the monsters that had swarmed Toontown devouring whatever had crossed their path. From the ashes of ravaged Toontown came sorrow and resentment. From sorrow and resentment came anger and vengeance. The Toons who once lived in the formerly peaceful city, the city of laughter and joy that was Toontown, demanded answers. Those that survived the horror wanted to know who could have done something so cruel to their friends and family. They wanted to know who and why, but once they found out, those who committed this crime would face bitter retribution.

Only a few days later would they learn just who exactly was responsible. Police helicopters, following a tip from intelligence sources descended upon a camp somewhere in the outskirts of Toontown. The camp was largely abandoned; its original occupants having fled it long ago. There was a great but empty cage that reeked of spoiled food and feces. It once held some kind of creature or creatures in it which had long since escaped, likely released onto an unsuspecting Toontown. The tents were painted in mottled green camouflage of the military style. One was a tent filled with military grade weapons and ammunition in the form of assault rifles and rocket launchers.

The police searched a second tent and found similarly styled uniforms within. For their insignias, the uniforms had the symbol of the sun superimposed over a semi-circle with upward pointing wings. The word "ORB" was written prominently on the centre. The police scoured the camp from top to bottom until they found the last piece of evidence that indicated the responsible party. In a far corner of a third tent, detectives found a lost wallet containing some pocket money and the driver's license of a man named Montgomery O'Haire. The issuing nation of the license was the Orb Union.

These bits and pieces of evidence pointed the finger of blame squarely at the Orb Union. This revelation triggered an angry outcry throughout the Tooniverse. All over the world, papers came out with headlines like "Orb invades Toontown" and "Nation of peace sponsors terrorists." The outcry was so great that Toons began demanding retribution against the hated nation of Orb. One man stepped forward to answer these cries for vengeance and his name was Adam Acme. Standing before his nation on television, Acme addressed his party and the world at large. His face showed a seriousness and gravity not normally seen on the face of someone of his family.

"My fellow Toons, a week ago, we, the people of Toontown, fell victim to one of the most heinous crimes to ever befall Toon or human," began Acme. "It was not since the Los Angeles massacre that we've ever had to witness such a terrible atrocity. Seeing such a terrible crime happen before our very eyes show us that we can not be complacent anymore. Our complacency has caused us to turn a blind eye to anime barbarism and violence. As a result, their killers came to our homes with impunity, burned them to the ground, and slaughtered those we loved the most without pity or remorse. If we continue to look the other way, they will come again and again until none of us are left. It is time we shook off the shackles of complacency. It is time for us to strike back against these murderers once and for all!"

The crowd broke out into a standing ovation that lasted for several minutes. Toons from all over the Tooniverse joined in the jubilation. Anger and vengeance was the order of the day, having overridden the better judgement of the people of the Tooniverse. Those who wisely chose to be calm and keep a cool head were in the minority and scorned derisively. In a week's time came the election for the new president of the Tooniverse. Millions of Toons flooded voting stations across their nation as though a hot, popular concert was playing in the voting areas. It was remembered as a world record of more than 90% in voter turn out.

That night, the votes were tallied. People across the Tooniverse tuned in eagerly to see who would be their next leader. The news ran images of bar graphs showing the percentage of votes for each candidate. The tallest one, belonging to Adam Acme, was displayed in bright orange. "The winner of the 2005 presidential election is Adam Acme by a landslide," announced the female newscaster. "Acme took over 60% of the vote, about 12 million Toons. He will be inaugurated at the Fun House tomorrow, making him the first human president of the Tooniverse."

The next day, the Tooniverse underwent a historical milestone in its history. Being the first human to ever become Tooniverse president was an achievement no one else could ever hope to accomplish. As the descendent of a man, Marvin Acme, who had worked very closely with Toons, Adam Acme was perfectly placed to get such an accolade. As an official held out a copy of the Tooniverse's constitution, Adam Acme read out the world's highest laws as written on the parchment. With his left arm raised, he swore to uphold these laws and the beliefs of the Toon people as their president.

Over the course of a month, Adam Acme set out to do what he promised to do; bring those who attacked Toontown to justice. At military barracks around the Tooniverse, saucer-like spacecraft hovered above marked landing zones. Below, a man in an orange worker's vest waved bright, neon orange sticks to guide the craft to the ground safely. When the UFO landed, a side door opened to allow passengers inside. In three by three groups soldiers marched inside in lock step. Their loved ones; wives, husbands, and children, waved them on as they marched off to war.




Back in the Shrine of the Stars, the Stars of Destiny worked diligently to build up their headquarters and their forces. Every minute they spent on building was another minute Omnipotence was allowed to carry out further attacks against the anime worlds. However, it was a necessary evil as such an army of disparate parts absolutely required a location to train and coordinate. Already, their efforts had borne fruit with dome-like buildings rising up rapidly to house and provide services for the new born army. These buildings were donated to the fledgling army by the Capsule Corp., the company owned by Trunks' family.

As Trunks walked through the new base, beside him was a woman in her late thirties. The beautiful, blue-haired woman looked around the base in awe of her surroundings. "Wow, you sure built this place quickly!" she remarked.

"It was a lot of work, mom," said Trunks. "We need to be prepared. We're going to be fighting a war soon, a very important war."

"Yeah, that's why I'm decided to help you in anyway I can. I'm off to meet your scientists. See you later."

"Yeah, I'll go check up on Piccolo. See you later," replied Trunks.

The woman, Bulma Briefs, walked down the road to an immaculate, sterile white dome. This dome was the research and development building, where the scientific members designed and built new technology for the army. Inside, the receptionist showed her the way to a meeting room. Already, several individuals were in the room, discussing about the security of their computer networks. It was imperative to defend against electronic attacks from hackers. The scientists were Tails, Izzy, Dr. Eggman, Dr. Yuchiro Hikari, and a new person. This new scientist was a wizened, elderly man with an unkempt moustache and grey hair that was divided into two tufts near his ears. He was Dr. Albert W. Wily, the mentor of Dr. Hikari and a good friend.

"It is very important that we improve the security of our computer networks, " urged Dr. Wily. "Right now, our security is still too weak. At last count, I found over two hundred vulnerabilities which a hacker could exploit. That is far too much! Our systems are at far too much risk against a determined intruder."

"Every time we close a hole, two more pop up in its place," said Tails, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Why don't we put something in the network to garrison our systems?" asked Izzy as a suggestion.

"You mean put viruses into our own network? Like guards?" asked Dr. Hikari.

"I see," commented Dr. Wily. "So if anyone wants illegal access to our systems, they will have to fight for it."

"Exactly," said Izzy succinctly. "There is no way we can close all the vulnerabilities in our systems. The only way is have guards posted inside our computers, just like we post guards outside of the headquarters."

"That sounds like an interesting idea, but we'd need someone on the ships to keep things running smoothly," observed Dr. Hikari. "The problem is, there aren't that many people that can do that. The only people that could do it us, my son, and Mayl."

Tails suddenly noticed Bulma standing in the doorway. "Oh, you're Bulma aren't you?" he asked.

"Yep, I'm here to join you," she replied.

"Okay, here's what's happening..." began Tails.

Meanwhile, Yoh and Morty were hanging out in a mess hall constructed to feed the Zaibach detachment. "Mmmm, this stuff's great," commented Yoh.

"Yeah, you said it. You get to eat whatever you want without having Anna nagging you all day about it," agreed Morty.

"So I'm a nag am I?" asked a young blonde girl as she spoke up behind the boys. She was accompanied by Faust and their friend Ryo, who seemed to have recovered from Korn's vicious attack.

Morty turned around. "Gah! Anna!"

"If you're done fooling around I'm just here to say 'hello,'" said Anna.

"Oh sure, hello Anna," said Yoh. "Ryo's with you?"

"I couldn't keep him away... When he recovered, he insisted on coming with me to help you," replied the young priestess.

"Yep, I want of piece of Korn. Where is he?" asked Ryo, a man who spoke with a strong Hispanic accent.

"Dead," replied Morty succinctly.

"At least tell me you got the prayer beads," said Anna.

"No, he didn't have them," replied Yoh.

"Wait minute, how could he be dead? I'm ready to give him some payback and you tell me he's already dead?" asked Ryo irately. "How did this happen?"

"We fought him and he kinda took himself out," said Morty, who proceeded to narrated Korn's last moments. Korn had used the ninja techniques of some of their companions to gain an edge over them. Since he was not a ninja, this act carried stiff penalties in the form of the phenomenon known as Paradox. He ended up losing control of a cloning technique, multiplying himself involuntarily and uncontrollably until he exhausted his energy reserves. "You had to have been there. There were like a million copies of him and they poofed just like that once he ran out of energy."

"Man, what a way to go." Ryo sighed, as now, he would never get a chance for payback. "Well, at least you guys took care of him for me. Thank you."

"Hey, no problem," said Yoh. "Always happy to help a friend. Are the other Dead Enders okay?"

"Sure, they recovered just like I did. They saw how you were out there working your butt off and came here with me to help you."

"I'll catch you later. Faust and I have to meet the top brass," said Anna. "See you two later."

Anna and Faust made their way past rows of dome buildings to one that was constructed near the dais. This one seemed much more prominent than the others, due to its size as well as its location. The entrance was guarded by a pair of men in black uniforms adorned by unknown golden symbols. They were Zaibach soldiers. Anna showed the men an ID card before they allowed her to enter the building. Inside, other men escorted her and Faust to the room of Folken Fanel, who had assumed the role of the strategist and advisor of the new anti-Omnipotence army. Folken looked up from some reports scattered on his desk.

"Ah, just the people I've been waiting for..." greeted Folken. "You're Anna Kyoyama, I presume."

"That's right. Why did you call me?" asked Anna.

"That's a long story. As you can see, we're building an army to resist Omnipotence. We're making good progress at the moment, but we need someone to act as our leader."

"You're not the leader?" asked Anna incredulously.

"Sort of," replied Folken. "The position I want filled is more of a figurehead, really. He would be someone we'd like as our public face; a person who can get others behind him. I may be a skilled tactician, but I'm clearly not cut out for such a role. However, I do have someone in mind, but that person is dead."

"Who is it?" asked Faust.

"Eddie Valiant," replied Folken succinctly. "He is, or was, a private investigator who worked very closely with Toons. One of the greatest cases he had ever solved was the murder of the late Marvin Acme. As a result of solving this case, he found Marvin Acme's lost will, which promised Toontown to the Toons, thus ensuring its safety from rogue developers. It's because of this case that the man's so respected by the Toons."

"So you called us here because you want us to bring him back to life?" asked Faust.

"Exactly," replied Faust. "We definitely need someone like him on our side. Considering the current political climate, we really need his help now more than ever. Omnipotence's attack and falsified evidence have increased tensions between Toons and anime Toons. Other than the Toon refugees and Roger Rabbit's family, the majority of our forces are anime Toons. It is best that we get the Toons to help us to maximize the odds in our favour. Is it possible to resurrect Eddie Valiant?"

"Sort of," said Anna. "We can't bring him back to life completely, but I can bring his spirit back to the mortal plane."

"Once she does that, it is possible for me to put him back into his body, but then he'd just be a reanimated skeleton. He would be useless as a figurehead like you're proposing," warned Faust.

"Hmm," muttered Folken, deep in thought until he came up with a way to work around that problem. "Suppose that we made a humanoid shell, a kind of android in his likeness from his remains. Would it be possible to put his spirit into it to control the body?"

"I suppose it's possible," replied Faust. "...But we'd need someone who is skilled in robotics to make the body like you're suggesting."

"Don't worry, I know several people with such talents," assured Folken. "So, is it still possible?"

"I think so," replied Anna.

Folken smiled satisfactorily. "Well, consider those your new orders; bring Eddie Valiant back to life." Faust quickly wrote down a set of orders for Dr. Eggman and his peers. "Take this to Dr. Eggman at the R&D dome. He and the other researchers will help you."

END OF CHAPTER

New Stars of Heaven/Heavenly Leaders:
None

New Stars of Earth/Earthly Warriors:
#38 Chisatsu, The Violent Star: Ryo/Tokagero (Shaman King)
#41 Chiyu, The Heroic Star: Anna Kyoyama (Shaman King)
#54 Chisa, The Aiding Star: Dr. Yuchiro Hikari (Megaman NT Warrior)
#55 Chiyu, The Helpful Star: Dr. Albert W. Wily (Megaman NT Warrior)
#64 Chihi, The Flying Star: Bulma Briefs (Dragonball Z)
#65 Chisou, The Walking Star: Benny the Cab (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
#86 Chihi, The Orphan Star: Piccolo (Dragonball Z)

Spotlight: Dragonball Z (Dragonball, Dragonball GT)

The Dragonball series Z follows the life of a man named Goku Son. Goku spent the majority of his life perfecting his martial arts technique and training to become the best martial artist in the world. In his world of Zeta Earth, there exist seven golden spheres with red stars embedded in them known as the Dragonballs. When brought together, the gatherer can summon a mighty dragon to grant them a wish. Much of Dragonball revolved around these artefacts, either to prevent their misuse or to use them to help stop a great menace to the Earth.

Origins:
The martial artists of Dragonball Z had to train very hard to acquire the power they possessed. Often this required the supervision of a skilled master. While the human members of Goku's sphere of friends are very powerful, it is the full Saiyans and part Saiyans that exhibit the greatest power. The Saiyans are a race of people who are naturally very powerful with their world's ki powers and simply love a good fight. In fact, Goku is not actually human, but of a member of this Saiyan race. Goku has made many friends and rivals in his life. In particular, Piccolo was a former enemy who became friendly, while Trunks is the son of Saiyan rival Vegita and human childhood friend Bulma.

Powers:
The major power type of Zeta Earth is ki. Through ki, its users gain great physical power such as super human speed, strength, and resistance to harm. They can even use ki to fly, manifest energy-based attacks, and even heal others to a limited extent. The Saiyans and part Saiyans, in particular, can ascend to a higher state of power known as "Super Saiyan," which increases their power immensely. Due to their great power, few people can match the warriors of Zeta Earth in a direct, one-on-one confrontation.