Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny ❯ Return of Valiance Story, part 2: Ymir, Controller of the Worlds ( Chapter 24 )

[ 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

Return of Valiance Story, part 2: Ymir, Controller of the Worlds

When Ross and his team returned to the Valiance home world, Eddie greeted them in his office. "Hello Ross, so what do you have to report?"

"Quite a lot," said Ross. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stop Omnipotence. They set loose monsters to cover their tracks while they got away with two Millennium Items and Kaiba Corp secrets."

"Damn," said Eddie. "Anything else?"

"Yes, I believe I've found something that can help us even more than protecting the Millennium Items. The Domino Police has uncovered part of a money laundering scheme which finances Omnipotence. Their goons were being paid from accounts at Interworld Bank. We're going to follow the trail and see where it leads us. I have a gut feeling that we're going to make a big bust if we do. We can hit Omnipotence right where it hurts, in the pocketbook."

"I see, good work!" remarked Eddie.

"Oh, don't thank me... Thank my contact in the Domino Police, Smithson. He did most of the work," Ross corrected humbly. "We've also acquired new recruits from Aegypt. Kaiba and his friends decided to support us after what happened back in Aegypt."

Ross called Kaiba and the others from Aegypt into Eddie's office. One by one, Kaiba and the others entered the room and shook Eddie's hand. Eddie called Trunks in to show them around the base and help them get familiar with the area. At the port, Koichi's team boarded the Outlaw Star bound for the world of Asgard. "So, where are going to now, Koichi?" asked Sakura.

"We're going to a place called Asgard," replied Koichi as he sat on a seat.

Sakura took the seat next to him. "Cool, what's that place?" she asked.

"It's a world of gods and goddesses. They're not magical like we are. Their world is basically a creation of a pair of supercomputers. The gods and goddesses get their powers from these computers."

"Why do I get the feeling that that place is like a video game?" asked Kero.

"Yeah, after hearing this, you'd think that, but I heard that world is as real as the one we live in," replied Koichi.

"What could Omnipotence want there?" asked Madison.

"They want parts to make their own supercomputer. They're going to call it 'Ymir,'" replied Yolei.

"Yeah, don't you remember the briefing?" asked Filia. "They want to build their own computer thingy to do the same thing."

The two divine computers Koichi referred to were known as Yggdrasil and Nidhogg. Yggdrasil was the computer of the gods while Nidhogg was the counterpart for the demons. These two maintained the world and were the source of their powers. Together, these two computers ensured the continued existence of the world, but bent it towards the agenda of their masters. Omnipotence had sent agents to acquire the parts and schematics to build a similar computer of their own, which would be called "Ymir" as Yolei mentioned.

Despite having powers similar to magic, the gods' and demons' powers were nothing more than extraordinarily advanced science. With such a level of science, the gods and demons had made themselves virtually impervious to most mundane forms of attack. However, attacks based on outside powers were a problem for them. This was because they were outside of the rules of the system. In particular, foreign supernatural powers like ki and magic were extremely dangerous to them and disruptive to their world. Thus, they were very suspicious of outsiders.

"So while we're investigating there, we should be careful about how we use our powers," warned Koichi. "It's just common courtesy. The gods and demons will have to fix any damage we do, so let's keep things clean okay?"

"Yeah, okay," replied Sakura.

The Outlaw Star took off from its hangar and summoned a gateway to Asgard. It flew into the shimmering disk of white light and appeared in the space above one of many versions of Earth. The Outlaw Star landed in a secluded area in a park within Tokyo, a city particularly abundant in divine and demonic activity. The group emerged within the city to find several small bunny rabbits swarming the place. These cute, but bizarre creatures had eight legs rather than the typical four of regular rabbits.

They were causing chaos everywhere they were present in the city. Their mere presence caused bizarre incongruities within the city. Sakura pointed to an upside-down Egyptian pyramid which was occupying a space large enough for a shopping mall. Madison pointed out a gingerbread house the size of a real one. Jellybeans and other forms of candy constantly rained on that building. A rabbit landed on a bus and turned it into a street post made out of cardboard and paper mache.

"Those rabbits are turning the city into a mess. Shouldn't we stop them?" asked Madison.

"I don't know," said Koichi. "I guess."

"Hey! How can you think about picking on such cute little bunnies?" asked Yolei.

"At this rate they're going, there won't BE a city left to save," said Ryo. "Hey look, someone's going around killing the bunnies!"

Ryo pointed to a group of people in white uniforms and green tinted goggles. They were next to a convenience store, bludgeoning rabbits with mallets. One of their prey touched the convenience store, turning it into a smaller copy of the Eiffel Tower. With a single stroke, an exterminator eliminated the pest. He noticed Koichi's team and reported their presence to the others. The silver-haired, female leader pointed at the group in a way that did not seem too friendly. She promptly materialized a halberd and fired a beam of energy from it. The team scattered for safety.

"Oh great," remarked Koichi, as he transformed into Duskmon. "I hoped that it wouldn't have to come to this!"

Duskmon sent a ray of negative energy the soldiers' female leader. She rolled out of the way and charged at Duskmon. The two crossed blades with metal screeching on metal. Duskmon forced the halberd's blade away and countered with a sideways slash. His blade's tip ripped her uniform, but she had backed away far enough that it only nicked her skin. He sidestepped her retaliatory chop and pushed her into air. As she landed, he fired a beam which she blocked with her halberd's shaft. Duskmon fired more beams but she twirled her halberd to widen her defence.

"Outsiders, you will pay for what you have done!" said the leader.

"We didn't do anything!" said Duskmon.

Madison raised the Shield Card to block a god soldier's attack. The enemy's flames harmlessly washed over the bubble of ghostly azure light. Madison summoned the Voice Card, whose spirit endowed her with its power. She let out a shrill cry powerful enough to shudder the earth. The soldier raised his halberd in defence but the sonic wave was too much for him and bowled him over. The soldier was left sprawled on the ground unconscious.

Ryo made a powerful blow towards his opponent's chest, cutting him down to the ground. Nearby, Sakura summoned the Windy Card. The airy spirit scooped up several soldiers into a giant tornado and dumped them into a pile. "Rind, we have to escape!" cried a soldier. "They're too strong!"

Rind lunged at Duskmon, who sidestepped. The eyes on his demon-like hands glowed red before gushing out a foul black sludge from their mouths. Rind was caught in this torrent of dark miasma. Despite her attempts to clean it off, it stuck to her body and impeding her movements greatly. She was barely able to block a second negative energy ray. Suddenly, all of Duskmon's eyes lit up with crimson light. An aura of dark energy surrounded her body, wracking Rind with agonizing pain.

"Valkyries and Aesirs, retreat!" cried Rind.

All of Rind's Valkyrie and Aesir force vanished in flickers of light. When he returned to his human form, Koichi sighed. "They really are hostile," remarked Filia. "We have to be more careful around here."

Koichi's team continued through the city, exterminating the occasional rabbit that moved too close. From the behaviour of the people on the street, they didn't seem aware of the existence of these rabbits. However, they could still see the bizarre effects these rabbits were causing to their world. They spotted a particularly large rabbit concentration surrounding the grounds of a Buddhist temple. They were attempting to climb over the walls and reach something at the top of the stairs.

"There's might be some people trapped up there," remarked Yoh. "We should check the place out."

The group drew their weapons and advanced on the rabbits. Sakura and Madison jointly conjured the Windy Card. The airy spirit swirled into a massive whirlwind which scooped up and spun several rabbits in a dizzying circle. Yoh slashed at the horde of rabbits, attempting to force more into the tornado. His sword tore through the rabbits which vanished upon being slain. His onslaught proved too much that the rabbits had no choice but to back into the suction of the tornado. Filia batted rabbits with her mace toward the tornado, which hungrily swallowed them whole.

From above the stairs, a young man noticed the group fighting the rabbits. "Skuld, someone's exterminating the bugs below!" cried the man, Keichi.

"This is our chance!" said a little girl near a strange mechanical contraption pieced together from common household parts.

Upon hitting the button, the machine shuddered and began to draw in all of the rabbits. The hungry machine swallowed each and every bug like a vacuum cleaner. Down below, the team paused once they noticed the rabbits being pulled up to temple grounds. Even rabbits from other parts of the city were being dragged to the top of the temple hill. Sakura and Madison dismissed the tornado and watched the event unfold. The team followed the trail of rabbits to the temple courtyard.

When every bug in the city had been swallowed up, Skuld deactivated the contraption. "Well, that's that!" she said cheerfully.

"Oh, we have guests," remarked a beautiful brunette. "I'm Belldandy. Nice to meet you all!"

"Yeah, I'm Koichi Kimura and these are my partners and friends," introduced Koichi, who did the same for each of his team mates. "We're here to stop some bad people from causing harm to the people. It looks like we're too late now. From the marks on your face, you must be goddesses? I guess you already know about them if you had trouble with these rabbits."

"Excuse me for a moment," said Skuld, who huddled with Keichi, Belldandy, and a third woman.

This third woman had bronzed skin and silvery hair. She was very comely and unashamed of showing off her body in a flattering low cut dress. "It looks like these guys are after the hackers who broke into Yggdrasil," mentioned the woman.

"Even though they're outsiders, they don't seem like bad people at all," remarked Belldandy.

"Are you kidding sis? That Koichi kid really creeps me out!" said Skuld.

"Yeah, me too," said the woman. "Something about him just doesn't feel right."

"That doesn't mean he's a bad person, Urd," objected Belldandy.

"We can't let them stay here. You know the rules, sis. Outsiders aren't allowed. They'll only cause trouble," said Skuld.

"I don't about your rules, but we couldn't have gotten rid of the bugs without their help," said Keichi. "If they hadn't come along and distracted the bugs, we might not have been able to use the bug sucker. If they're offering to help, we shouldn't refuse."

"Well, since you put that way... I guess it’ll be okay," admitted Urd, finally caving in to Belldandy and Keichi. "...But I'm telling you now that if they get out of line, I'm blasting them to kingdom come!"

"What about you, little sister?" asked Belldandy.

"Okay, but someone should always keep an eye on them," said Skuld. "I don't want them to get us in trouble."

Keichi broke from the huddle to address the team. "Okay, we decided to team up. Agreed?"

"Good," said Koichi.

"What more can you tell us about these people?" asked Belldandy.

"They are called 'Omnipotence.' They are a terrorist group that has been causing problems for many other worlds like yours. We believe they want to steal parts and schematics of the supercomputers called 'Yggdrasil' and 'Nidhogg.' They want to reverse engineer them to create a computer like yours."

"Why would they want to do that? Are they going to compete with us and the demons?" asked Urd.

"Somehow, I don't think so," said Skuld. "What are they going to do with their new computer?" Yolei told them about the Pillar System of Cephiro and Acme's intent to force the Cephiro's Pillar system onto all other worlds. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope," replied Yoh. "That's really what he wants to do."

"Why's that so bad?" asked Keichi.

"If Acme does that, he'll be bringing outside supernatural energies into our world," said Belldandy. "It will cause a lot of damage."

"Why would he want to do something like that?"

"We don't know," admitted Ryo. "All we know is that what he's doing is bad for everybody. That's why we're trying to stop him."

"Well, if that's what he wants to do, he probably wants his new computer to be the control system," implied Urd.

"Makes sense," replied Koichi.

"Well, now that I've heard this, it's time I pay a little visit to an old friend of mine. It might be a while so don't wait up!"

---

While Urd went away to visit her friend, Belldandy served the Valiance team some snacks. She brought a plate full of sweet treats and drinks. While the children got milk, Filia enjoyed tea instead. During the snack, the team began to talk about themselves with Belldandy. "I'm Koichi Kimura, I'm kind of the leader of this group," said Koichi.

"I'm Sakura Avalon and this is Madison. The little guy by my hand is Kero."

"Mmm… Cake!" chirped Kero, too obsessed with his strawberry shortcake.

Madison chuckled. "Kero really loves his cake."

"Well, now I know what to serve to him the next time he comes to visit!" said Belldandy with a smile.

"So tell me, how did you guys get involved with Valiance?" asked Keichi.

"Sakura, Yoh, Yolei, and I are founding members," said Koichi.

"Are you saying that you created Valiance?" asked Skuld.

"Yep, that's right," said Yolei.

"We're the big fish. Don't get her mad or she'll punish you," said Hawkmon.

"Hi guys, I'm back!" said Urd as she entered the dining room.

"Where were you?" asked Skuld.

"I was having a little chat with Mara," replied Urd.

"Mara? Why her?" asked Keichi.

"She has the dirt from the demon's side," replied Urd. "There was a security breach in Nidhogg's systems recently. Someone accessed several files and tampered with the system. That's why those bugs were attacking the city awhile back. They haven't caught the hackers yet. They also couldn't account for several missing Nidhogg parts. They think that they were stolen and have increased security."

"They could be going after Yggdrasil next..." said Skuld.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. I had the ladies upstairs to beef up security. I don't know what's going to happen next," said Urd.

"Well, that would explain all of the bugs," said Skuld.

At that moment, the doorbell rang and Belldandy got up to answer the door. The team continued their meal until Belldandy led the guest into her dining room. "Ah! You guys!" cried the guest, Rind.

Koichi nearly squirted his milk out of his nose upon seeing Ring. "You! What are you doing here?"

"How nice, you two have already met," remarked Belldandy innocently.

"Well duh!" said Yolei. "She attacked us before we got here."

"You don't belong here. Get out now, outsiders, or I'll throw you out myself!" retorted Rind.

"Calm down everybody, let's not fight. We're all on the same side," said Keichi, trying to diffuse the situation before it worsened.

"Please, let it go," said Skuld, supporting Keichi. "We should be searching for who did this, not fighting each other."

Yolei sighed. "Okay, clean slate?"

"Yeah, clean slate," agreed Rind. "I'm Rind, one of the Valkyries, the elite, all-female fighting force of Heaven."

Koichi's Valiance team introduced themselves to Rind and told her about Omnipotence and the Nidhogg security breach. "Rind, did you find anything that could tell us where the enemy might be hiding?" asked Koichi.

"I've received reports about a certain area in town that has been shielded against detection. I suspect that this might be where the enemy is hiding. My troops are going to investigate the area and..." Before Rind could finish, her radio buzzed. "Excuse me... Rind here." She listened as mysterious caller reported an incident impassionedly. "Okay, I'll tell them. Everyone, I just got off the radio with Thor. There's a big problem going on upstairs."

"What is it?" asked Koichi.

"There are several elementals rampaging through Heaven. Word is that Yggdrasil had been hacked. They are having trouble tracing the hacker due to interference in the lines. If my hunch is right, I think we'll find our hacker somewhere in the shielded area of town."

"Let's go," said Yolei.

The Valiance team and the goddesses made haste to the shielded area. It was north of the temple in a commercial district of the city. There were several small businesses from convenience stores to restaurants along the street. Several terrified civilians fled down the street being pursued by creatures made from the four classical elements. The elementals wrecked everything that crossed their paths without regard for what it was they were attacking. An earth elemental noticed Urd and advanced.

Urd lashed out with lightning, stopping the creature dead in its tracks. The megavolts of power electrocuted the monster until it collapsed into a pile of smouldering soil. Belldandy summoned a gust of hurricane-force wind upon a water elemental. The living mass of water crumpled and was carried away to the ends of the Earth. Not content to stay in the sidelines, Rind charged into the battle. She plunged her halberd into head of a fire elemental. The creature screeched in agony as its fires abated instantly.

The team encountered Rind's Valkyries and Aesir, already engaged in battle. "Rind!" cried one of the Valkyries after cutting down a fire elemental. "We'll take care of things here. Go get the hacker!"

"Okay, don't get yourself killed," warned Rind.

"Skuld, did you find anything?" asked Belldandy.

Skuld checked the readings on a handheld instrument. "The interference is strongest straight ahead."

The combined group followed Skuld's directions to a hotel just down the street. Several elementals emerged from hiding to confront the team. "Skuld, take Keichi and your sister and go on ahead. We'll deal with these guys," said Rind.

Skuld led her partners the rest of the way to the hotel. Rind's halberd descended onto an earth elemental, slicing it in half. Its body crumble into dirt and blew away in the wind. Aquilamon raked his claws through an air elemental and followed with a thrust of his horns. The air elemental vanished in a faint cool breeze. With Amidamaru enhancing his sword, Yoh sent it through a water and an earth elemental. The two elementals instantly splattered into the ground as their constituent elements.

Skuld and her team burst into the hotel and took the elevator up to the 20th floor. She led the team into a two person bedroom. The team couldn't see the jammer and so searched to find it. Keichi noticed something jutting from underneath one of the beds. It turned out to be a metal suitcase, which he handed to Skuld. She put the case on a table and double checked for any unpleasant surprises before opening it. The case's interior consisted of a series of circuitry and wires. After a thorough examination, Skuld didn't find anything unusual and cut power to the jammer.

Meanwhile down below, the heroes continued their battle against the remaining elementals. Summoning the Windy Card, Sakura brought forth an airy spirit to do her bidding. It wrapped around a gigantic water elemental with bands of air and scooped it into the sky. The Windy spirit tightened the bands of air until it crushed its victim. The water elemental's remains, small droplets of water, rained down on the group.

Rind received a call from an Yggdrasil operator in Heaven. "Oh good! That just made my day." Rind terminated the radio channel. "Listen everybody, they've just traced the hacker to an Internet cafe three blocks east of here. Let's go get him!"

The group converged on the Internet cafe, but found it empty. Duskmon looked over the computers and found one which seemed to be operating on its own. "He's operating this computer remotely," remarked Duskmon.

Rind reported this back to the Yggdrasil operator. The Yggdrasil operator attempted to trace the remote controller of the Internet cafe's computer. Before she could find the hacker's location, he had terminated his connection. Rind was frustrated. "The guy terminated his connection. Now we'll never be able to find him."

"Oh great, we did all that for nothing," lamented Yolei.

"I don't think that's the end of our problems. I think this move looked like a diversion," said Koichi, after having returned to human form.

After mopping up any stragglers, the group returned to the Buddhist temple were Keichi and the Norns lived. Several of Rind's troops had been wounded in the fighting. Yolei and Filia tended to their wounds with rejuvenating magic. Yolei sealed up a Valkyrie's cut and covered the scab with a bandage. In the kitchen, Belldandy worked on a small meal to replenish the troops' energy. She spread mayonnaise on several slices of bread and placed cold cuts and vegetables on top. She covered the last of the sandwiches with the second slice of bread and served them to her guests.

"So what happened?" asked Rind over the radio.

She listened to her contact's report about the breach of Yggdrasil's security. "We checked the parts as you said and we found some parts missing," reported the operator. "We lost about three motherboards, five RAM chips, four hard drives, and four CPUs. We've also found traces of a hacking on our archives," reported the operator. "We're questioning everyone we can, but it's likely that whoever was responsible is long gone by now."

Rind sighed. "Okay, I'll tell the others. Bad news guys, the crooks had hacked into the archives. They also stole several computer parts during the elemental attack. They don't think they'll be able to get the guys who did it."

"Oh great, so this was a bust," remarked Yolei.

In the den, Yoh watched TV with Urd. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the ground in the middle of the front yard. Since it was a clear day, the lightning bolt seemed to have come from nowhere. When they went out to check on the front yard, they found a single stone tablet sitting in the middle of a patch of scorched earth. Next to it was a plain old box of cardboard common in any warehouse. It was a message from the Almighty, the chief god of Heaven and the rest of the world.

Urd picked up the stone tablet and cleaned up the soot. There were several words written on it in a language Yoh couldn't fathom. "What is that?" asked Yoh.

Urd read the writing on the tablet. It was the Almighty's new orders for the Norns. "Our new orders. I'll read them out for you," assured Urd. "If recent events in Asgard have proved anything, it’s that we've isolated ourselves for far too long. As a result, we were unprepared for the enemy. We let ourselves be blinded to events happening in far off worlds. It is time for us to be open-minded and accepting of those from other worlds. That is why I want you, the Norns, to be our ambassadors to the other worlds. Go with those who helped us, open relations with them, and bring those who attacked our world to justice. Take the contents of the package to help you on your mission."

"Well, I guess this means you're joining us. Welcome to the team," said Yoh.

"Nice to have you on board," said Amidamaru.

Urd brought the tablet and cardboard box back in and showed it to the others. Like Yoh and Amidamaru, they were all too glad to see this message from the Almighty. They opened the package, which contained a note from the Almighty and three earrings. According to the note, the Norns would lose all of their powers once they left Asgard. This was because leaving Asgard effectively severed their connection to Yggdrasil.

With these earrings, that wasn't a problem anymore. They allowed the Norns to use their powers outside of Asgard and affect those things out of the influence of the twin computers, which was everything. However, even though these items allowed the use of their powers, they would still be weaker than if they had drawn them from Yggdrasil itself. The Almighty urged caution while on their mission.

"Please be careful, this goes doubly for you, Urd!" she read out loud. Upon reading that line, Urd became defensive. "Hey!"

"Gee, I wonder why?" asked Skuld sarcastically.

"Rind, we're going to be away from home to for awhile," announced Belldandy. "If you'd like, you can stay here while you're working in the human world."

"Sure, that would be nice," said Rind. "Good luck with Valiance and get those Omnipotence guys for me!"

---

Ross travelled down the streets of Panama City from the Panama of Tarota, the world of the Cardcaptors. The sun was blistering hot and the air was humid. It was an uncomfortably warm place compared to the cold streets of Saint Lowell. Ross' pursuit of the money launderers had led him to this South American city. Bakura's kidnappers had received money from a specially prepared account at Interworld Bank. Domino police had traced money entering this account to a branch of a company known as McCarthy Holdings Incorporated, owned by Alan McCarthy.

Ross checked his map, while Naomi drove them to McCarthy Holdings' branch office. The cars pulled up beside a lot that was largely empty save for a condemned building. "Well, according to the directions, this is the place," reported Ross as the team disembarked to explore.

"This is just an empty field. There's nothing here but a condemned building," said Amon.

Indeed, Amon saw nothing of importance here. The only thing of any importance was the lone condemned building in the middle of the lot. It was once a warehouse for a furniture company, but had long since abandoned. Even after going inside to investigate, he found nothing that indicated that the location had ever been used in several years. The money launderers were proving to be a tricky group. Miho photographed the area and pocketed the pictures for future reference. Seeing nothing there, the group went back to the police station.

On the way, Ross activated his cell phone. "Hello Juan, yes, it's me, Ross Syllabus. Yeah, listen, we checked the address and all we found was a condemned warehouse. McCarthy Holdings seems to be just a shell corporation. Did you dig up anything on McCarthy himself?"

"That's the problem. We couldn't reach him. When we went to get him, he had already fled his home," said Juan.

"Is that so? Have you frozen his assets and confiscated his financial records yet?"

"Yeah, we're analyzing the files right now," replied Juan. Ross heard what appeared to be another officer yelling in the background. "Hold on a minute, something big just came up." A few minutes later, after listening to the other officer, Juan returned to the phone. "Great news, a witness had just spotted McCarthy heading to the Panama National Airport. Our boys are heading out to nab him right now!"

"Really? That's great! Tell me how it went later," replied Ross, turning off his cell phone. "Juan said they just found out where McCarthy is. They're going out to the airport to get him."

"Nice!" replied Naomi. "He'll blow this case wide open."

A few days later, Ross and his team looked over some financial documents confiscated from McCarthy and his company. From the transactions listing on these documents, Ross and team found several entries relating to the Tooniverse Bank in particular. A lot of money had passed from accounts in the Tooniverse Bank to McCarthy who then transferred these funds to his shell company. In turn, McCarthy transferred these funds under the guise of salaries into Interworld Bank accounts which would be handed to Omnipotence field agents.

Following this new lead, Ross and team made haste to Toontown to speak with the executives of the Tooniverse Bank. The Bebop descended onto an empty field where it released the cars of the investigators. Within minutes, the group pulled into Toontown, which was already showing signs of recovering from Acme's rule and the damage done by terrorist attack and the rebellion. Cranes hauled steel beams onto the near completed skeleton of a new office building. At another building, cement mixers churned their grey glue in their barrels while workers smeared it onto bricks.

Ross' car came upon a mass demonstration of several Toons. Rather, they were from the Tooniverse, but resembled him and his anime brethren more closely than the more anthropomorphic animal Toons of Toontown. On a stage, a brunette addressed the crowd through a microphone. "Hello Toons, I'm Diana Lombard, co-star of the Martin Mystery cartoon. I'd like to say a few words about why we're here. Before, cartoons were thought as something only for kids. It was like that for awhile until the Western world in the human world became exposed to anime..."

"What's going on?" asked Robin.

"It looks like a political rally," observed Miho.

Amon looked over several signs carried by the protestors. "It's a secession rally."

"Secession? Why would Toons want to leave the Tooniverse?" asked Robin.

"It seems what Acme was doing while in power had a lot to do with it. I read that it was kind of like a 'last straw' thing rather a knee-jerk reaction," remarked Amon.

"Are you suggesting that something like this was always on the minds of these Toons?" asked Miho.

"Perhaps... I only know a little about Toon politics so I can't say for sure one way or another," replied Amon. "Right now, this shouldn't be our concern. We should be worried about following the trail while it's still hot."

The detectives sped away, leaving the protest behind. Meanwhile, in the Presidential Mansion of the Tooniverse, President Mickey Mouse held a meeting with his Vice President, Pete, a burly black cat. With them were the Green Arrow and Batman. "What should I do?" asked Mickey. "I never thought it would come to this."

"Aye, secession is a tricky business," remarked Green Arrow. "This didn't come out of the blue. It's been festering for quite some time."

"Yeah, the anime-like Toons are fed up about treated as second-class citizens. The Tooniverse hadn't treated them as equals ever since they came into being. When Acme started the war, he imposed heavy restrictions on their freedom. He began to crack down on dissent, which made the matter worse," said Batman. "These Toons had finally had enough."

"I don't want these Toons to leave the Tooniverse. They may be like anime Toons, but they're still Tooniverse Toons no matter what they look like," stated Pete.

"Yeah, but after what happened with Acme, I can't say I blame them," said Green Arrow. "As anime came to the West in the Human World, it was inevitable that Western anime Toons like them would follow. Even before Acme, everyone saw these Toons as different. You're right Batman, Acme only vindicated the secessionists. When he sent the Eye of God to blow up Ba Sing Se, nobody bought his excuses. It really was the last straw."

"Still, deep down, aren't we all Toons?" asked Mickey.

"Yeah, you're right, but try telling that to the crowd outside," said Batman. "I have nothing against them, but personally, I think this would be for the best for everyone."

"You can't be serious!" remarked Pete.

"I am," affirmed Batman. "Although you might be able to treat them with respect, what will happen when your term ends? What if someone else like Acme were to get into power again?"

"Yeah, I can't imagine how bad the riots and violence would be. Our revolution was the work of amateurs compared what could happen," said Green Arrow.

Mickey sighed as he mulled over what to do. He had no idea what was the right thing to do, to keep the Tooniverse united or let the Western anime Toons go. When he finally came up with the answer, he was unhappy about it. "I guess we have no choice. We'll have to let the Toons go."

"Mickey! You can't be serious?" asked Pete.

"I am, unfortunately," replied Mickey. "I don't think there's any other way around it. It's obvious they don't want anything to do with the Tooniverse. If we force them, it will only make things worse. They hate us as enough already as it is. The only thing we can do now is wish the Western anime Toons luck with their new independence."

END OF CHAPTER

New Stars of Heaven/Heavenly Leaders:
None

New Stars of Earth/Earthly Warriors:
#51 Chian, The Strong Star: Urd (Oh My Goddess)
#76 Chisyun, The Elegant Star: Skuld (Oh my Goddess)
#95 Chison, The Wounded Star: Keichi Morisato (Oh my Goddess)
#101 Chiin, The Shadowy Star: Belldandy (Oh my Goddess)

Spotlight: Oh my Goddess

This anime follows the budding relationship between Keichi Morisato, a Nekomi Technical Institute student, and Belldandy, a goddess of Heaven. The two met one day when Keichi accidentally phoned Belldandy's office. She appeared and granted his wish, to have her stay with him. Since Keichi's dorm didn't permit women, they took up residence in a Buddhist temple. Later on, Belldandy's sisters came to live with her. Together, the Norns and Keichi had various adventures dealing with gods, demons, and problems with Yggdrasil.

Origin:
In Asgard, being a god or a demon is more like a job in a corporation. Their conflict is more of a professional nature rather than a traditional good versus evil conflict. Each side desires to increase its 'market share' over the world at the expense of the other. The Norns were trained to work as goddesses and as technicians for Yggdrasil in Urd and Skuld's case. Keichi is a regular human, but has great skill in mechanics with a hobby in motorcycles.

Powers:
Although they look magical, Asgard's powers are purely scientific. Although the human world is much like our own, the worlds of the gods and demons are another matter. Heaven and Hell have advanced science to such a degree that it is virtually integrated into the beings of the gods and demons. Though the supercomputers, Yggdrasil and Nidhogg, they can do almost anything anyone could think of. In fact, they are what sustain the world of Asgard. However, this system does have its limits, losing much of its power in and against the outside world.