Story: Tainted Cube Introduction

Now for something a bit more ambitious. By a bit, I clearly mean a lot. By a lot, I clearly mean god help me.

I've not tried anything this ambitious since "Altered History". But this, I feel, should go a hell of a lot smoother. Particularly if I use this blog to help keep things organised. A new page will be joining the others at the top of the blog titled "Tainted Cube" at some point later on. It will be used to help keep track of various things.

In particular! I intend to introduce a new voting game to the blog surrounding this particular concept. I have not yet determined the exact mechanics, and would like to encourage discussion in the comments regarding this topic. You see, from the episode below I intend to take option 2, and I intend to update this thread each week. Which means it won't go on the regular vote, but that's a whole other issue.

What will the vote be for? The setting for the next update. See, this is a crossover thread spanning multiple anime/manga series. Each remains seperate, but each will have an influence upon the next. Thus, the ending of one episode will have an effect on whatever the next piece of continuity is. For example: If  Kyon expressed a desire for wealth at the end of a given episode, and then Code Geass won the following week then Lelouch would wake up the next morning with a room covered with gold coins. That sort of thing would happen each week.

Obviously one concern is the possibility that the same series wins multiple weeks in a row. There are two ways I can think of to prevent this from occuring: The first is that once a series wins, it cannot appear again in the votes until all series have won. The other is that a series cannot participate the week after it has won. If anyone else can think of anything, I am all ears.

Here is the story's introduction. I hope you enjoy it.


A clear cube spun through a gap between dimensions, dancing around the borders between various realities. In one universe, this artefact may have been known as a “Cosmic Cube”; in another it would resemble the “Key to Time”, but its name did not matter. It was powerful enough to distort the very fabric of whatever reality it happened to remain within.

There are many other well known items of similar power. The Master PC condenses the ability to alter reality into a user interface. A few clicks of the mouse, a clattering at the keyboard and the entire nature of reality can be turned upside down in an instant. The Wishing Rock gleefully grants careless and deliberate wishes, always keeping to the letter of the wish if not to the spirit in which it was uttered. Both have their strengths. Both have their limitations. In the case of this transparent structure that brimmed with power unimaginable, well, its limitations were rather more difficult to locate. The wording did not matter, and there was no interface to impose limitations upon the user. So what was the trick? How does one prevent any stray utterance or thought from becoming reality?

The answer is that this is not a concern at all. Its limitations are that the cube is controlled by sheer willpower. Concentrate on what you want, and you shall have it. Reality, matter and energy shall bend to meet your desire, regardless of whether it is truly what you wanted or not. Then again, a stray touch may cause the cube to make an unstated deeper desire come to fruition. It was powerful. It and cubes like it were dangerous beyond compare. Unlike those other cubes, however, this one stood apart for one simple reason.

This cube was tainted. All of its kind were sentient to a degree, make no mistake of that. Prior to its banishment into a place where it could do less damage, this particular cube had become corrupted by powerful lustful desires, to the point that anyone trying to make use of it would find that it would merely serve to impose their most erotic hidden fantasies upon reality. For those that tried to use force of will to get what they wanted, they would find that their alterations were similarly corrupted by the sting of lust.

The banishment was rather foolishly decided upon. Send it somewhere nobody could ever find it! Send it somewhere it could do no harm! Send it somewhere with energies powerful enough to destroy it lest it do any further damage!

Thus the cube now spun alone through nowhere and nowhen. It bounced off the very surface of numerous realities, strange and wonderful places that it could feel were so full of wants and needs…

And then it was struck by that very same energy that it was hoped would destroy it. For our purposes it might be best to describe it (inaccurately) as a bolt of lightning. It struck the cube at the very middle of one of its six sides and rippled out with four smaller bolts along that same surface, each perpendicular to the others. The cube stopped spinning, and in that one dreadful moment something impossible and terrible happened.

Where once there was a single cube now there were eight. They were smaller, certainly. Each was constructed of a single corner, each was equal in size, and each scattered off in a different direction with but a fragment of the power that lay within… Then each landed in an entirely different universe from the others, where the consequences would surely be terrible!

<hr>
“All normal lines are out of order due to the state of special emergency.”

With a heavy and slightly weary sigh, the public phone’s headset was placed back onto its cradle, bringing the call to an end. No luck here. This was the right place, right? He hadn’t messed up somehow, gone to the wrong street at the wrong time? Completely missed her? He checked once again, though he knew he had already done so three times. The weight dragged on. And on. And on.

‘What am I doing here?’

The thought was not a new one. It had passed through his idle mind several times already, and each time it did he had no alternative but to give it the same tired answer.

‘I do not know.’

“I shouldn’t have come,” he decided. “I may not be able to meet her. Can't be helped. I'll head to the shelter.”

But at that very moment his attention was seized upon by the realisation he was not alone in this street. Just off in the distance he caught sight of someone. A girl that he had never seen before, yet felt an instantaneous intimate connection with. She was standing just a little too far away for him to properly make out her features beyond the mop of blue hair and the unavoidable fact that she was staring at him just as he was at her. He wanted to walk over to her. Ask her who she was. Talk to her a little bit as they made their way to the nearest shelter.

He was shaken from this enraptured attention only at the very instant that something small but hard landed on his head and bounced onto the ground beneath his feet. He very nearly jumped at the interruption and cast his eyes first upwards to try and determine where it had landed from and - finding nothing - cast his gaze to the ground to see precisely what it was that had so intruded upon his idle thoughts. He soon found it. An odd little object. Not glass, not plastic, not anything he recognised. A small cube that fit so easily in the palm of his hand.

A strange trinket that was very soon forgotten and stuffed away unheeded into a pocket when a loud noise, far louder than he thought possible, rang out over the city’s sky. It was at this moment that Shinji Ikari realised exactly why it is that he would have been much better off waiting in a shelter.
<hr>
’Twas a quiet morning on this particular street. Birds chirped. The sun shone down upon the ground as it is wont to do. The air was still, neither too warm nor too cold. Aside from a group of brats a little further down the way “playing” with a rather unfortunate feline, this was the very essence of calmness, tranquility and peace.

<b>“I’m so late!”</b>

Right up until about then, as a schoolgirl bolted down that very same street ranting and raving about how she would never make it on time. Even as sure as she might have been of this fact, and as certain as she was that she would dearly pay for trying to eat and run at the same time - well, that was the future her. The present her was late for class! No time to dilly, no time to dally, barely any time to run run run! She could ill afford to let anything distract her on this particular journey. Nothing at all!

“Hey, hold it still, I can feel its tongue!”

… Except wanton animal cruelty. She screeched to a halt and chased the brats away easily enough. Yeah, they better run! How’d they like it if someone bigger than them tried to feel their tongue? “Poor thing,” she cooed, scooping the cute little black kitty up in her arms. “Did the mean rotten kids hurt you? Hey! Is that a bandage? Of all the mean-spirited… Here, let me get that for you!”

The cat struggled in her arms as she tugged and pulled at it. To no avail. Sure, it would lose a little fur from this but much better to get rid of it now before it fell off naturally and the cat choked on it later on. Right?

Except… “Is that a crescent moon?” she wondered. It looked a lot like one. What was a crescent moon shape doing on a cat’s forehead? She didn’t get the chance to examine it properly. Not when the cat performed an admirable piece of gymnastics out of her arms, and - Didn’t she have something else to be doing right now? Something to do with school…

The train of thought was interrupted when something clattered on the street ahead of her, landing at her feet as if someone had just tossed it over. She picked it up, fascinated by the odd reflections and refractions of colour shining within. “Huh… What is this?” she wondered, but only for a moment as her memory decided that now was an ideal time to remind her of exactly what it was she had forgotten.

“Wah! I’m so late!” Usagi Tsukino yelped, not noticing how she clutched at the small cube in her hand while she ran towards school at full pelt….

<hr>
There is little that will clear a street than the sight of a damp bearlike shape charging down it at breakneck speed. Even when it is a panda in pursuit of a cute girl, there is little that any given onlooker may do than stare with slackened jaws at the bizarre events unfolding before their very eyes. The two figures splashed through puddles with a determination that would set the world ablaze. One with the intent to escape. The other with the intent to capture. Given the present circumstance, it was anyone’s race.

In a blinding show of surprising agility, the panda leaped forward, prompting the pigtailed cutie to leap aside and adopt an effortless defensive posture that left those surrounding them even more baffled. Did she truly intend to engage in combat with a wild animal? What madness was this?

None of them could hope to keep up with it. They moved so quickly and so fluidly that this was simply impossible. However, they did see that a thunderous kick sent the panda reeling and the girl - shockingly - was left standing there triumphant.

“Screw you, old man! Engaging me against my will! I’m heading back to China to find a cure!”

The girl turned around, hefting her bag over her shoulder… and then patted at the top of her head for reasons that made no sense to any of the onlookers. After a moment she stopped to pick something up, something gleaming and square - and then she was struck about the back of the head by the panda wielding a street sign.

“Did- did you see that? Amazing…”

“Shouldn’t we help her?”

The panda growled, and they all backed away. The poor girl. Whatever this panda wanted to do with her, it was out of their hands.

Unnoticed by all was the small cube still clutched tightly within Ranma Saotome’s unconscious grip….


<hr>
Stupid old freak! Ugly little pest! He called that a warning? Hah! Could’ve maybe done with it an hour ago, when his girlfriend broke up with him. But no, no, not so easy for him, was it? He stormed off towards home in spite of the old man’s warnings. Hah! What would the pest have him do? Never go home again? That was a laugh!

Alright. So, he’d been dumped. Big deal! Plenty of fish in the sea! He’d just have to be a bit more careful next time. Not stare at other women. Show a little self control, not let his lust rule him and - Yeah. Sure. He’ll get right on that.

His musings were rather rudely interrupted by the most peculiar flash of light not two minutes from his front door. It left him seeing little more than spots dancing, carefree and happy no matter where he cast his vision. After a moment he was able to shake it off, and lying innocuously in the middle of the pavement was a single innocent-looking item.

Ataru Moroboshi leaned down and picked it up, quite certain it had not been there before the flash of light. What was this thing? How did it get there? For now he was content to put it in his pocket and go home. He was famished!

Cherry’s warning popped up once again and he laughed it off. What was he supposed to find when he got home? An ogre? Hah!

<hr>
He was a seventeen-year-old boy surrounded by dead soldiers in the middle of a warzone. He opened his mouth, then closed it again after a moment of thinking and took another sweeping glance around the room at all of the corpses surrounding him. The boy silently nodded his head as thoughts swirled around in what was in point of fact a very, very clever mind.

For unlike others that might have been in his position, seeing these soldiers die before his very eyes had not in the slightest bit traumatised him. In point of fact, he had killed them himself.

“I can do it,” he said. “With this ability, I can win! I will overthrow -”

A small object struck the back of his head and for a terrible moment he thought he had been struck by a bullet or shrapnel. Not when he had just found his means of fighting back! Not now! Later, he would not mind. Once he had his revenge. Once he had finished his great task, but not before that! Not now of all times!

Except - it was no bullet. It wasn’t even metal. He laughed as the mild fear of death that all mortal beings possess vanished, and picked up the offending object. Just a cube of some sort and nothing more! Likely a child’s toy.

The wall before him suddenly ceased to exist when a rather large mechanical weapon strolled through it as easily as it might amble down a gentle park path.

“How could all these Royal Guards be dead?” the pilot asked. “What happened here, boy? And why is a Britannian student in a place like this?! Are you deaf? Answer me or I’ll-”

Lelouch vi Britannia smiled and unconsciously pocketed his find. Time to put his new talent to the test….

<hr>
How long had it been since he had last stood in this place? How long had it been since those carefree days? Too long by far. He stared up at the steps and took a deep breath. This was his only chance for a place to stay. His parents had kicked him out after his second failure, and now he had little chance for anything else but to stay in this place.

The memories were fond, if not entirely clear. He remembered playing with a girl, the two of them mucking about in the sandbox… But her face and her name had been eroded away by the cruel sands of time. He had simply been too young to form the memory properly and keep the most important points in mind.

Save one: The promise. If he kept his half of the promise, then he was sure he would meet her again. Someday. Somehow. He would meet her, and -

And something was falling down the steps, making tiny little noises as it went. Light bounced off it as though fleeing a mortal foe, and for some reason the “tink, tink, tink” it made sounded as loud as a brass band.

Keitaro Urashima stopped in his tracks out of pure and simple curiosity, and as if in response the item did much the same. He stared at it and could swear it stared back… And so, he picked it up and wondered idly to himself to whom it belonged and when he would have the best opportunity to return it.

And up the stairs he went into the Hinata House to meet his grandmother. The many, many steps.

<hr>
There were long walks, and then there were long uphill walks. Just another day of his boring life, attending a boring school where boring people went to learn boring things so that they could lead much more productive boring lives.

And that was all fine as far as he saw it. After all, he had given up on wonder quite some time ago. He never believed in Santa Claus. He did believe in the supernatural - everyone did when they were that young. But eventually everyone works out that all that stuff is bunk. The supernatural does not exist. There are no such things as time travelers or aliens or psychic powers or anything like that. It just doesn’t happen.

The reason those ideas exist is simply because people think of their own lives as boring and try to spice it up a bit with a little escapism. Nothing wrong with that. Not by itself. Not unless you indulge just a little too much. There’s a clue in the description: You can have too much of anything eventually. There are always limits, and why would you want to push to find them?

That’s the trick, of course. We all want something odd to happen. Something that the laws of physics can’t quite explain. It’s part of why magic shows are so popular! So that we can all pretend just for a little while that the rabbit isn’t hiding in a bag attached to the side of the table. That he really did just reach into another dimension and pull it out. That he really did saw a woman in half and put her back together. We want that to be real! We need it to be real!

But this particular boy? He’d gotten used to that. As he might put it, he had grown up. Matured. Come of age. Realised that this was an ordinary, boring world… and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Then he met… her.

“Nice to meet everyone,” he said at the conclusion of his class greeting. “I hope we all have a good year together.”

With nothing else to say he sat down and let the girl behind him rise to her feet. But before anyone could say anything, a rather loud gasp caught the attention of the class. As one, all eyes fell upon a girl towards the front of the classroom, who was staring directly ahead of herself with wide unblinking eyes. What was her name again? Asakura, wasn’t it? For whatever reason she looked like she had seen a ghost… But then she seemed to notice the attention and in an instant her face melted back into a cheery smile. “I’m sorry, don’t mind me! I must not have gotten enough sleep last night.”

Okay. Whatever. He turned his attention back towards the girl sitting behind him, who was giving Asakura a suspicious glare.

“I’m Haruhi Suzumiya, from East Junior High! First off, I’m not interested in ordinary people. But if any of you are aliens, time travelers or espers, please come see me. That is all.”

What kind of introduction was that? Nobody in the class seemed to know what to make of it either, and - Ah! He had left his pencils in his bag. How thoroughly careless of him! While Tanaguchi made his introduction, that was the perfect opportunity to correct this mistake. He reached into his bag -

And found a weird cube sitting amongst his belongings. How very curious. He’d never seen anything quite like it before, and - Ah! Best to put that away before anyone notices! Especially that strange (but stunningly beautiful) girl behind him! It was bad enough that it already seemed as though his lousy nickname was going to stick here as well without that sort of attention to worry about as well!

Kyon would have to worry about this weird cube later….

<hr>
So here he was, having failed his high school exams. On his way to a school in the middle of nowhere that his parents somehow happened upon. It was kind of weird that he was the only one on the bus, and the name of the school was a bit odd as well…  But hey, just because the location was a bit creepy and there was something peculiar about the driver -

“Are you the student enrolling at Youkai Academy?” the driver asked, with a voice that sounded like it had died a thousand years ago, been sealed up inside a tomb and only yesterday seen the light of day for the first time since.

He nodded nervously in response. Being a rather average, mediocre boy, well, he didn’t see how it would be possible for him to make friends easily at this place. Who knew what the students were like? For all he knew, the bullies here were real monsters!

“You had best prepare yourself,” the driver cackled. “When we come out of this looooong tunnel we’ll be at the school!”

A shiver shot through the boy when he noticed the peculiar gleam in the driver’s eye. Not an entirely unreasonable fear given the man’s behaviour and his smile that would send the most drunken brawler screaming for the hills. There was little opportunity to consider this, however, as to his increasing terror the bus had arrived in a mockery of the Transylvanian cliche.

The worst Hollywood sets were not so brazen. Perpetually dead trees that looked as though they were allergic to leaves, instead preferring the company of crows who in turn perched menacingly upon the branches. There was a cliff overlooking a boundless ocean. An English Victorian house looming on the horizon with an ominous thunderbollot reaching down from the sky at the very first glance. Animal skulls lining the road. Scarecrows with pumpkin heads. A creepy aura oozed from every square inch of this place, and now he was wondering exactly what he had brought himself into. It was as though the tunnel had been a gateway to another world!

“It looks like a haunted mansion from top to bottom,” he sighed, staring at the only building anywhere in sight. “I don’t like this place. I should - ow!”

He’d stepped on something. Something very hard, with a sharp corner that stuck right into the sole of his foot. Tsukune Aono checked his foot and barely had time to pick up the strange cube out of the ground before a cute girl in a bicycle barrelled into him, leaving them both lying in the dirt….

<hr>
Eight seemingly disconnected people each finding an eighth of one of the most powerful artefacts ever to exist. Strewn across eight dimensions, it is easy to see how one might come to the erroneous conclusion that these eight remain separated from one another…

Except that this is no longer true. It was no longer true from the very moment that they first touched that seemingly innocent if slightly curious container of cosmic power. Though it be separated by issue of dimensions, space and the dimensions within space, those eight cubes were once part of the same whole, and to this instant remain so.

These eight people and their eight strange lives were thus irrevocably intertwined. These eight were about to become a tremendous inadvertent influence upon one another’s life. For better or for worse.

1. They randomly start swapping places with one another.
2. The desires of one are granted unto another.
3. Their minds begin to become a single gestalt entity that controls the actions of all the others.
4. Their minds are telepathically connected, but they retain their individuality.
5. Something else