Disclaimer:
This fic uses characters, places, themes from franchises that are the property of others. I do not own these franchises. Beginning with this chapter, this story will feature characters and themes from Love Hina and Negima from Ken Akamatsu, Cardcaptors from Clamp, Suikoden from Konami, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit from Disney.
Special Thanks to:
Charles Xavier, 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: War of the Runes
By: RB3
Introduction: The Alpha and the Omega
-- --
In 1947, Eddie had hit hard times. Some time earlier, his brother had been killed by an unknown Toon murderer during a routine investigation in Toontown. His brother's death deeply affected him, causing him to become an alcoholic and harbour ill will towards Toons. However, that all changed when he took on a case for one Roger Rabbit. Roger had been framed for the murder of Marvin Acme, the CEO of a cartoon prop corporation, and wanted Eddie's help to clear his name. Despite initial doubts and grievances, Eddie took the case.
Little did Eddie know that following this case would also lead him to the identity of his brother's murderer. Acme's murderer was the same person who had murdered Eddie's brother, Judge Doom, the man who presided over Toontown. During their confrontation, Eddie discovered that Doom was actually a Toon, which made him difficult to beat. Nevertheless, Eddie was able to turn Doom's concoction, "the Dip," against the judge to kill him permanently. He located Acme's will and cleared Roger's name. After the case, Eddie continued his private investigation business, becoming a celebrated hero mourned by the Toons with his passing.
A year after Eddie's death, a new breed of cartoon started to appear in the United States, anime. These unique Toons came from Japan, bringing with them the culture of the Japanese to the West. However, a terrible event also happened later that year, eclipsing even Doom's crimes. It was the incident known as the LA massacre. For reasons unknown, various anime Toons suddenly began pillaging the city. Nobody knew why they did it. Some thought it was mass hysteria, while others blamed unknown actors working behind the scenes. It was so bad that the Toons had to deploy superheroes in order to stop this catastrophe.
The massacre would forever change the fate of one man, a descendant of Marvin Acme, Adam Acme. Upon returning home during the massacre, Acme watched in horror as his family was killed in cold blood by an anime Toon looter. This traumatizing event led him down the path of vengeance. He sought others like him and formed the Omnipotence terrorist group. Their goal was to ensure another LA massacre would never happen. To accomplish this goal, Acme needed money and power, and thus began corrupting anime governments and stealing valuable artefacts.
His ultimate goal was to use his newfound power to become a god and seal off the anime worlds from his home world. However, his methods were so brutal, that anime Toons started to resist as the 108 Stars of Destiny, individuals who had the power to shape the fate of the worlds. Gathered from the greatest heroes of the anime worlds, they opposed Omnipotence as the Valiance organization, led by the resurrected Eddie Valiant. The two sides fought on countless worlds until Valiance finally cornered Acme on Cephiro and defeated him.
After Valiance disbanded, the Stars of Destiny returned home and a year of peace prevailed. On the planet where Valiance was once stationed, a group of archaeologists rummaged through ruins long forgotten. At the head of this group was the mighty magician known as Clow Reed, one of the greatest of the anime worlds. A scholarly man in his early forties, Reed's profession imparted a love of knowledge upon him. He began researching other magical practices as a hobby, which led him to his current archaeological dig. The dark, long-haired man opened a musty, ancient tome and glossed through it with his spectacles.
A second bespectacled, middle-aged man entered Reed's room. He was carrying several dusty books in his hands. "Hello Master Reed, I have more for you."
The man dumped a pile of books on top of a large stack already present on Clow Reed's desk. "Well, better get cracking," said Reed. "These books aren't going to translate themselves."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," remarked Aiden, the second man. "Noriyasu is digging out more books from the Harmonian Royal Library. If you thought this stack was big, you ain't seen nothing yet..."
"Oh brother!" remarked Reed. "I love to read, but even I have limits!" Reed shook his head.
"Yeah, after we dig out the rest of those books, we'll give you some help," assured Aiden. "It's getting late. You should turn in for the night. You're probably very tired from all that translating."
Aiden left Reed's room and moved to another building next door. Inside, a pair of Japanese preteen girls was watching a newscast on a portable television. One of them had a small, yellow, teddy bear-like creature hovering near her shoulder. "The representatives of the Digital Nations and the Tsubasa Alliance have formally signed a treaty ratifying the creation of the Digital Bloc," announced the newscaster.
An orange dinosaur-like creature, a Greymon, made a long-winded speech about the benefits the Digital Bloc will grant its members. Aiden knocked on the door. "Sakura, Madison, it's time for bed."
"Okay dad," said Sakura. After Aiden left, the two shut off the TV set and all of the lights to go to sleep.
Even after its dissolution by Valiance's hand, Omnipotence's mark had remained in the history and politics of the anime worlds. Never before has one group of people threatened the anime worlds as a whole so gravely. Omnipotence was able to prey on the weaknesses of the worlds, fighting the scientific with the supernatural, and vice versa. The anime worlds feared the advent of a second "Omnipotence." To protect themselves, the anime worlds began moving towards the formation of defensive blocs and alliances.
The Digital Bloc was among the first of these new alliances. Being among the first, it served as an example for how other anime worlds could do the same. High technology worlds were often unprepared to deal with the supernatural and vice versa. Thus, the obvious solution was to form alliances which shored up weaknesses. These alliances were often led by nations with high technology or methods of inter-dimensional travel. The members of the Digital Bloc had developed their relations with each other during the Omnipotence War. They were also the group which took stewardship of Valiance's home planet after the war.
The next day, the girls woke up to the bright rays of the morning sun. After breakfast, everyone went to do their jobs for the day. Sakura prepared a tray full of food and brought it out of the kitchen. As Sakura came out, she was greeted by the sight of a once lost city. For such an old city, it was remarkably intact, likely through the use of unknown magic. Some of the white paint was still on the buildings, even after so much time had passed.
Sakura looked over the buildings of the city. At one time, all of them were buried underneath layers of dirt. With the Earthy Card, Clow Reed removed the dirt. In doing so, he had revealed the buildings of Crystal Valley, the capital of the Harmonian civilization. After some digging, the buildings were ready to be used as homes while the archaeologists worked in the field.
Sakura approached the royal palace, which had a distinctly Russian style. At one time, it was Harmonia's seat of government, but now it was vacant. She approached the main dig site, which was within the palace itself. Sakura travelled to the palace roof which was now at ground level due to the rest of the palace being buried. After descending stairs, she entered the second floor hallway.
At one time, this place had been blocked off by dirt, but the archaeologists had removed that dirt through meticulous effort. Eventually, they dug their way to the noble's bedroom above the Royal Library. Even with the magic preserving the palace, that bedroom's floor had suffered damaged over the years. When an archaeologist set foot inside, the floor gave out underneath him. However, he didn't fall very far, and landed on some dirt a few inches underneath.
After removing anything pertinent, the archaeologists started digging in the bed room, all the way down to the Royal Library. They found the books and shelves surprisingly intact, and had moved them elsewhere to continue digging without interference. Once they cleaned out the library, they found a set of stairs down to the basement nearby. At this moment, the archaeologists were digging out these stairs to open the basement.
Noriyasu took a rest from arduous and meticulous digging. "Mr. Seta, how old do think these ruins are?" asked Sakura out of curiosity as she approached.
"Hmm... Our tests showed these ruins to be at least a thousand years old," replied the archaeologist. "Did you need anything else?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot! I made all of you a snack. Here!" said Sakura, who showed Noriyasu a tray with cheese and crackers and a glasses of milk.
Noriyasu took his snack from Sakura. "Thanks!"
Sakura placed the tray on in empty space on a nearby table. "I'll leave the tray here." She went back to the living area and encountered a blonde girl who was slightly younger than her. The cute blonde was dressed in slightly beige set of wizard robes. She carried a leather-bound tome in her left hand and a small wand in the other. "Sara!" said Sakura.
"Hey, long time no see!" said Kero, the cute, teddy bear-like creature floating by Sakura's shoulder.
"Hi Sakura, hi Kero!" replied the girl, Sara McDougal. "How have ya been?"
"Fine," replied Sakura. "How was your training with Negi?"
"Good," replied Sara. "Negi taught me a lot of things. I still have a lot to learn, but I already know a few neat spells! He even gave me a book and a wand so I can practice on my own."
"That's good. I'm proud of you!" said Sakura. "Let's go to the practice area. I want to see what you've learned."
The two girls walked over to a city park a safe distance from the archaeologist camp. Sara chanted a spell in Latin, "Sagitta Magica," the magic arrows spells. Three arrows of lightning burst out and homed onto a target tree. "How was that?" asked Sara.
"Nice," remarked Sakura. "You're a fast learner. You haven't been studying long and you can already shoot three lightning arrows.
"If we ever go on an adventure, remind me to take you along," remarked Kero.
Sara chuckled. "Yeah!"
"Let's go back. I'm sure you want to see your dad," said Sakura
After seeing his daughter return from successfully completing magical training, Noriyasu was elated. The next day, he was brimming with energy and high morale. It showed in his work, and his team was able to dig out the entire basement in record time. Most of the rooms were storerooms used by the staff of the palace. However, one room was different from the others. It was in an out of the way area and was actually a vault with a large metallic door.
Despite the magic which preserved the palace, the vault exterior had sustained damage. The door had burst open from the inside, as though something had exploded from within the vault. Whatever it was, it had caused dents the size of a human's torso. There were also a few random scorch marks nearby, which charred the walls black. This damage appeared to be a recent phenomenon, created no more than two or three months ago, before the archaeologists came to the site.
When Noriyasu and Aiden entered the vault, they found a medium-sized room. It was lined by stone with strange writing on it. The writing was in a special language used specifically for casting magic during the peak of Harmonian civilization. At the centre of this room was a single altar with 26 grooves. Each groove held a single capsule made of what seemed to be clear plastic. They had writing similar to the walls around their surface. At the side of the altar were holes which opened into small holding cups. One of the archaeologists pressed a nearby button which caused a new capsule fall into the cup.
"Dispensers," the man commented.
On the wall behind the altar was a symbol much like a black, flaming sword striking a golden shield. The black sword was piercing into the golden shield, splitting the shield in half. Both items fragmented from the impact. Although the entire room had a supernatural, tingling sensation about it, this sensation was most concentrated around the symbol on the wall. The archaeologists could feel a great, eons-old power contained within that emblem on the wall.
Aiden fetched Clow Reed to examine this room in greater detail. "The magic in this room is strong. This magic is part of a ward, a barrier meant to keep something inside this vault from getting out. Whatever it was, it has long escaped by now," remarked Reed.
At that moment, a mysterious voice resonated within the vault. "Welcome explorers," said a disembodied voice.
"Who are you?" asked Aiden.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega; the First, and the Last. I am the Rune of Beginnings and of Ends. I alone remain fixed on the wall of this vault, bound to keep my brothers under guard."
Reed turned to the sword and shield emblem, which called itself the Rune of the Beginning. "It's coming from that emblem," observed Reed. "Rune, tell me more."
"I am the first of the True Runes, and I will be the last. In the beginning, there was the Sword and the Shield. The Sword and the Shield fought until the Sword collided with the Shield, shattering fragments onto the world. I, the Rune of the Beginning, was born from that collision, while my brothers were born of those scattered fragments. We are known as the 27 True Runes."
"Your brothers?"
"Yes," replied the Rune of Beginning. "We are the great forces of the cosmos. Many have fought wars to gain the power we possess. To save this world and others, the mortal known as Hikusaak sealed us here, behind these walls. As the centuries passed, the seal weakened and my brothers broke free. They are resting, biding their time, but will soon awaken, and begin a cycle of war and destruction which will ravage your world, just like it did to this one."
The Rune's revelation was terrifying. After dealing with Omnipotence, the anime worlds was tired of war. Yet, the Rune of Beginning's counterparts would start another war, as people squabbled over their power. The archaeologists gossiped about this until Reed decided to speak. "What can we do to prevent this?" asked Reed.
"You must find my brothers and reseal them within these walls," replied the Rune of Beginning. "Beware, for each is immensely powerful. Many are those who would desire their power. Not only must you fight these greedy fools, but also my brothers, who do not wish to be imprisoned again. They will take on hosts to enact their will and elude capture. If you truly desire peace, use the capsules on the altar to reseal my brothers and return them to these walls. Gather your companions and impart my wisdom upon them. When you have done so, return to me."
Having received the wisdom of the Rune of Beginning, Clow Reed left to carry out its requests. When he returned to the camp, he gathered everybody at a meeting to discuss these revelations. "So these Rune-thingies were in the vault?" asked Keitaro.
"That's right. They escaped some time before we came and went into hiding all over the anime worlds," said Reed.
"Where do we begin looking?" asked Meilin. "I doubt all of the Runes will just show up and announce they're going to wreck the world."
"Can we even trust the Rune of Beginning?" asked Shaoran. "How do we know that it doesn't have some agenda of its own?"
"Even if it does, we can't ignore the fact that those things are out there," said Reed. "If we can prevent a second Omnipotence from arising, we should do so before it is too late."
"Okay, I'm in," said Meilin.
Other people chimed in to agree with Meilin. "What about you Sara?" asked Sakura.
"Sure, it seems like an adventure!" remarked Sara.
"It's very dangerous. This is not a game!" said Noriyasu.
"I know, dad. Don't worry," assured Sara. "Negi taught me everything. I can handle it."
"Very well," replied Reed. "I'm going to ask the Rune of Beginning for more information."
Reed returned to the vault, where he asked the Rune of Beginning how to track and capture the other True Runes. "When active, you will be able to detect my brothers from the unique signature they emanate. Beware, for my brothers will do their utmost to resist capture. When you weaken them sufficiently, have someone with magical powers concentrate on the capsule and it will do the rest."
"Can you tell me anything more about the other Runes?" asked Reed.
"In this palace is a library filled with books on all varieties of subjects. You will find all the information you need on these pages."
Clow Reed returned to the camp and informed his team about what he had learned. "So you're saying that the information is in those books we found?" asked Noriyasu.
"Yes," replied Reed. "We'll have to rush out a translation as soon as possible."
"Let's go," said Aiden. "We can't afford to waste time."
The three men went to the storage building and rummaged through the books collected from the Harmonian Royal Library. They dusted off dozens and dozens of books and read the titles. Aiden sorted through several books, finding pieces on cooking, science, astronomy, and other useful, but non-pertinent subjects. Reed searched through several historical texts, but found nothing pertinent. It was Noriyasu who found the first book with any useful information.
This book's subject matter was supernatural phenomenon, in particular the magical practices of ancient Harmonia. Back then, people used magic through slivers of the True Runes. Special men and woman called "Runemasters" would graft these slivers into the human body on the forehead or the back of the hands. Once there, the recipient could use the magic whenever they wished. Although interesting, this wasn't what Noriyasu was looking for.
Nevertheless, he knew he was on the right track. He continued flipping pages and soon found exactly what he wanted a few pages in; descriptions of the runes used. The Runes were all unique in their own way. There were elemental Runes for Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Lightning. Others represented heavenly bodies, like the Sun and Moon Runes. Still others represented more abstract ideas such as the Pendulum, or Time Rune, and the Gate, or Space Rune.
Surprisingly, there were Runes which represented the four types of special powers used in the anime and Toon worlds. The first was science, the use of fundamental, natural laws to develop devices for assistance. Psionics derived from the mind, using its power to affect other minds and the world. Ki is rooted in Eastern mysticism and taps into the body and its energy, developing them through things like martial arts. Finally, magic taps into supernatural and extra-dimensional forces to produce useful effects.
There was even another which represented contradictions, which included Paradox itself. Paradox was a phenomenon which accompanied the use of special powers. Through normal use of a world's innate powers, no one had to worry about it. However, once someone strayed and tried to use non-innate foreign powers, especially of a different power type, the contrary metaphysics behind them caused a backlash which punished the user. Although a burden, it was necessary since it kept the metaphysics in different worlds consistent and regulated.
"Master Reed, I've found something here," said Noriyasu.
"Nice," replied Reed. "There are pictures and descriptions of the Runes too. This has everything we need."
"I'll rush out a translation," said Noriyasu, who left to begin work.
Noriyasu worked on the translation for the rest of the night. Everyone went to sleep for the night. The next day, Sakura and Madison were awakened by the sound of an explosion. "Whoa, what was that?" asked Sakura's orangey teddy bear familiar, Kero.
They tossed on some shoes and went out to check. They found Sara outside, still in her pyjamas. She raised a magical barrier to ward off a blast of lightning. In retaliation, she fired off several lightning arrows. Sara noticed Sakura leaving the home. "Sakura, the Magic Rune is attacking the camp! Tory went to get a capsule to catch it. Help me fight it off!"
Sara blocked a second blast of lightning. It came from a book, likely one of the ones which the adults were translating. On this book was the emblem of another book in violet light. Sakura hurled a gust of wind at the book, which pushed it away from them. Madison lobbed a dark blob at it, knocking it away further. Rather than continue, the book fled elsewhere. "Are you okay?" asked Sakura.
"I'm fine," replied Sara. "We have to stop that thing before it does anymore damage!"
"After it!" cried Kero.
The three girls pursued the Rune down the vacant streets of the capital. Woken up by the commotion, Shaoran, a Chinese boy, came down to investigate. "Shaoran, go back in!" cried Sakura.
Shaoran reacted just in time to take cover from the Rune's fireball. After fleeing to a park, the Rune continue some ways before a wall of sand arose, blocking its path. The Rune turned around, seeing the three girls and now Shaoran chasing it. The Rune hurled fireballs which Shaoran blocked with a wall of sand. The Rune arced lightning from its body, forcing Sakura, Madison, and Sara to take cover behind magic barriers.
A Japanese teenager descended into the scene, holding aloft one of the capsules from the Rune vault. The capsule worked its magic, dragging the Rune from its place on the book like a vacuum cleaner. The Rune, seemingly in a hopeless situation, suddenly vanished into thin air! The boy, Tory, descended to check on Sakura's group.
"Is everyone okay?" asked Tory.
"Yeah, we're alright," replied Shaoran.
"Well, at least that's over with," remarked Sara.
"Yeah, let's visit Master Reed. He'll want to know what happened," said Tory.
Tory and the girls reported this incident to Reed. "So, it has come to this already. Not only has the Tome Rune showed up right in our camp and fled, but two more Runes have appeared in other worlds," began Reed.
"So, it looks like it's up to us to go get them," observed Tory.
"Yeah, we'll need to do so before they regain too much of their full strength," said Reed. "Also, I have a feeling that we'll need more allies to tackle this problem. If you can, try to recruit people to help us against the Rune."
Clow Reed proceeded to divide up his students and companions into groups. Sakura and Madison were to go to Digital Highworld of the Digital Nations and capture the Rune there. Like the other Digital Worlds, the Highworld was home to the Digimon race, magical creatures formed from the dreams of humans and computer data. Since the people from the Digital Nations were allied with the Cardcaptors against Omnipotence, they would be very receptive.
Shaoran and Meilin would go to technological world of Cyberia, where they filmed the anime "Ghost in the Shell." In this world, everything was connected through the computer networks. People made extensive use of cybernetics, including artificial limbs and bodies. This world was somewhat backwater, with nothing of much value to the other anime worlds at large.
Lastly, Tory, Sara, and Rita were to remain in the camp on standby. Should another Rune appear, especially the Tome Rune, they would go after it. "You all know what needs to be done. Go to the vault and grab some capsules," said Reed. "Let's get this job done quickly. Move out!"
END OF CHAPTER
-- --
Politics/Demographics:
Tarota is a world with several magical traditions. In the past, they practiced in secret to avoid persecution. In recent years, they have become accepted and more people are joining them, giving them new blood. Tarota is actually a part of a larger alliance of worlds known as the Tsubasa Alliance. Currently, they have allied with the Digital Nations to form the Digital Bloc.
Characters/VIPs:
Those who are out to reseal the True Runes are from Clow Reed's magical tradition. They include Sakura, Madison, Shaoran, Meilin, Rita, and Clow Reed himself. Clow Reed is a particularly famous magician and even had a part of Tokyo named after him, Reedington.
Powers:
Though scientifically equivalent to our world, Tarota also has magic, which is practiced based on different systems or traditions. Clow Reed is the founder of his own tradition, the "Cardcaptors," which uses magic through cards named after him. Each card represents a concept or natural force, such as fire. Individual Cardcaptors eventually develop affinities for certain cards, becoming especially proficient with them. In addition to the Clow Cards, Cardcaptors also have secondary supernatural abilities like precognition.
-- --
Domain: Harmonian world, 27 True Runes, Beginnings, Endings
Duality: Beginnings vs. endings
Appearance: A fiery black sword, breaking apart as it splits a golden shield in half
Powers: Created Harmonia world, ensures Harmonia's existence, destroys Harmonia
Description:
This Rune represents both beginnings and endings. Endings often are the beginning of something else and vice versa. As the first Rune, it spawned the other 26 and thus created the no-man's-land, or Harmonian world. It guards the Harmonian vault, where the 27 True Runes were once sealed by Hikusaak. It has the power to destroy the other 26 Runes and itself, thus annihilating the Harmonian universe.