An AAA special: Epilogues and Preludes
by Alicia Ashby, a.k.a. Lynxara.

BIRD STUDIO BAR AND GRILL
     As one of the premier bars of the multiverse, Bird had been flocked to by AAA
personalities after the event's conclusion.  Virtually everyone who had played a role in the
tourney's finale was there.
     The most boisterous table in the house was, of course, Team Foxfire's.  Jonathan Brisby,
slightly roughed up after a nasty encounter with one Stone Cold Steve Austin, had even offered
to pay for the house's drinks.  So, for the most part, Foxfire had been forgiven their enormous
egos for the rest of the night.  
     Nav and Bane, surprisingly, were the next loudest.  Nav didn't have the belt, but they had
done damn well in the tournament.  Actually, Nav's ego had been puffed up quite a bit, as he
considered *himself* to be the reason why Oscar lost.  That, and there had been so many takers
on Brisby's free drink offer that no one had bothered to check Nav's ID.  
     A surprisingly quiet table was that shared by Stone Cold, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim
Ross, and Ric Flair.  Those four had fallen into doing a lot of reminiscing about 'old times' in
WCW, when Austin and Page were jobbers and Flair had been the main attraction.  
     The bar was dotted with others.  Tuxedo Chris had caused something of a scene by
having a drunken confrontation with Sailor Soulstone while she was with her Author, David
Marts.  Fortunately, Taruchi had been there to break the whole thing up and get Chris home.
 Oscar was seated at the bar, clutching Artemis and weeping.  Anne Brandies and her friend
Aron Scythe were apparently having some emotional moments in the back.  Del Juicio Final had
been spotting the arena with a delusional grin on his face, a contract in his hand, and a T-shirt
that read, "I jobbed to Bill Goldberg and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." Ankoku had been
spotted in the restaurant side with Molly.  Combatants for the next wave of shows were also
present, many of them having come at their own expense to see who became the champion.  Dr.
Thinker and Lord Thinker were conversing happily off in a corner by themselves, as no one else
could understand what the hell they were saying.  Nightman had entered and exited quite huffily
after a brief encounter with Lord Thinker over the merits of one Seth Triggs.  Security had
already been called in several times to get rid of kooks, including a Native American man who
had been seen wandering through the restaurant with a frozen cucumber, asking complete
strangers about Rei Hino.
     But the table where the conversation was the most interesting was probably the Wolfpack
table.  There, an incredible assortment of people were present: Son Goku, Piccolo, Wolf, Eric
Bischoff, Steve Borden, Bret Hart, Washu, Mihoshi, Kiyone, Jamie Jeans, and a nicely
recovering Samantha Jones.  Actually, her mind hadn't been really damaged by Pippkin's
posession... it had been more the shock of the bond being broken.  Still, Jamie and Piccolo had
taken to staying with her all the time, which had gotten on Samantha's nerves very quickly.  The
'party' atmosphere of the Bird Studio bar was the only thing that made it tolerable for her.
     "So they've offered you a permanent job?" Eric asked the massive Saiyan seated across
from him.  
     "Uh-huh," Goku replied.  "I'm still not sure whether I'll take it or not.  They certainly
*need* me."
     "Babysitting a bunch of egomaniacal fanboys is *below* you," Piccolo growled.  
     "Oh, it's not babysitting.  It's making sure the Avatars are getting a fair chance to
compete, and that monsters like Pippkin don't try to abuse the tournament."  Goku still felt a
little sick when he remembered Pippkin's 'offer' to him after the final match had ended. 
     "That alone should be reason enough to make you take it," Bret said a bit seriously. 
"Pippkin did a lot of damage before you got here, and nobody could stop him." He *still* felt
dirty after being briefly controlled by Pippkin, and that had been two weeks ago!  He couldn't
fathom how Samantha had managed to show up after all she'd been through.  
     "Well, *if* you decide not to take it..." Eric grinned a little bit, and instantly slid into his
friendliest tone of voice.  "I run a little show down in Atlanta, and we've been having some
*problems* of late..." 
     Steve and Tenay simply rolled their eyes at Eric's pitching.  "So what are you going to
do, Wolf?"  Tenay asked.
     "Well, I do have some fanfic appearances comin' up, but after that..." Wolf grinned.  "I'll
be back.  I'm not sure what I'll be doin', but you can be damn sure that I'll be back."
     "No offense, but I know I, for one, won't miss this," Kiyone replied. Mihoshi looked
ready to whine a little at that; she had clearly enjoyed herself.  
     "Yeah, you wouldn't *believe* the fanfic appearances we're signed for," a more than
somewhat tipsy Wahsu added.         
     "I do have a lot of work piling up at home..." Jamie trailed off thoughtfully.  Then he
smiled.  "But I wouldn't *dream* of missing this!  It was a great show... I'll just try not to be a
part of it next time."  
     "Well, don't think you're coming alone," Samantha said pointedly to him.
     Bret shook his head to himself again.  That was an *incredibly* tough lady.  Steve
grinned, and announced, "Well, I know *we'll* be back, if his royal hine-ass lets us off the
Satellite again."  
     "Speak of the devil..." Bret said softly as he quietly directed everyone's attention to the
doorway.  
     "Rocky Maivia?!" Tenay exclaimed.
     The Rock swaggered into the bar, grinning and carrying his Intercontinental title.  Three
other members of the Nation (D-Lo, Kama, and Marc Henry) were with him.  Rocky had actually
brought a megaphone, and proceeded to drown out all conversation in the bar with it.  "Stay
calm!  I repeat, everyone just stay calm!  Yes, this is The Rock... the people's champion, *your*
Intercontinental champion here.  Sorry to disappoint y'all, but The Rock don't have time for
autographs.  I'm just here to pick up some*trash* the Boss Man left here earlier."  At that, Rock
began motioning his followers to the Wolfpack table.  
     "God Dammit!" Eric swore.  "Of all the times..."
     "Well, we knew it was going to happen sooner or later," Bret said very nonchalantly as
he poured himself another beer.
     "Well, you girls ready to go?" Rock smiled at the wrestlers as he reached the table.  
     The other former Wolfpack members turned to stare a bit as Bret relaxed in his chair. 
"Oh, I think my good buddy Steve has a little something to say about that," he said dryly.
     "Oh, yeah!" Steve grinned, suddenly remembering.  He pulled his bat out from under his
chair (Steve was never without it for long), and stood up.  The Rock's eyes opened wide in
surprise as it began glowing with a concentrated ki field.  Steve literally leaped over the table
and drove the ki-drenched bat into the floor.
     "SCORPION DEATH WAVE!!" 
     A jet-black energy blast ripped through the floor.  The Rock and his minions barely
managed to dodge the thing, which blew a hole in the wall as it impacted.   Steve stood back up,
a dangerous glint in his eyes.  Bret picked the same moment to get out of his chair and very
calmly walk around the table to face down Rocky.  Bret cued up his own hot-pink battle aura to
add to the effect.
     "You see, Rocky, my friends and I have learned some great new... *techniques* while
we've been here.  So I don't think we'll be going back to the Satellite."  Bret added emphasis to
his point by charging up one of his Sharp Shot orbs.
     Eric bolted out of his chair, grinning wickedly.  "Damn skippy!" he added.  
     "I wondered why Vince was havin' me bring out the big guns," Rocky muttered to
himself.  "COME ON!" he yelled in the general direction of the doorway.  Seconds later, a fifth
person came bolting into the bar, immediately dashing to Rocky's side and helping him up. 
Rocky smiled as he saw Bret's shocked reaction.
     "OWEN?!" Bret exclaimed.  "What the hell are you doing with the Nation?  You're
*white*!  You're *Canadian* and white!"  
     "Vince said to bring you back, so you're going back!" The younger Hart growled at
his big brother coldly.  
     "NO!  You're coming back to Atlanta with us!" Bret shouted emotionally.
     Eric flinched a little.  "Um... Bret..." 
     "You can hire Ed friggin' Leslie, so you can hire my little brother!" Bret shot back.  
     Owen's response to the entire situation was simply to punch Bret in the face as hard as he
possibly could.  Bret was totally unprepared for the blow, and fell awkwardly backwards, his
head slamming painfully into the edge of the table.  
     "That's IT!  I don't care who you are, I'm gonna kick your ungrateful ass!" Samantha
swore as she abruptly stood up.  She began scrabbling for her katana, just in time to remember
that Jamie hadn't let her bring it.  Jolt sighed as Piccolo picked her up to restrain her.  "You
know you're not ready for a fight yet, Samantha..." her creator began.  
     "No!  No!" she shouted as she saw Bret pull himself up, gingerly feeling a cut on the
back of his head that was already beginning to bleed profusely. "He deserves better than this!"
     Wolf also began to rise out of his seat, growling and brandishing his claws.  Goku stood
to gently push Wolf back down.  "I don't like this either, but they have a right to be here. 
Technically, Bret and his friends *are* on loan from their Satellite."  
     Steve and Eric looked at Bret expectantly, clearly ready to follow his lead.  "So what's it
gonna be?" Rocky smirked at him.  
     Bret's battle aura had died out after Owen had hit him, and showed no signs of charging
back up.  "You know I'm not gonna fight him... not for real, anyway," Bret muttered miserably. 
Steve swore, and threw his ball bat bitterly to the ground as Eric just slumped weakly against the
table.  Rocky directed Owen to collect Page, while having his other minions drag the WCW
contingent away from the table.  
        Rocky immediately regretted his decision to send Owen after he heard the distinct
sound of a chair cracking over a Canadian head.  The Rock turned just in time to see an
infuriated Steve Austin giving Owen the Stunner.  
     Rock dashed over Stone Cold's table, briefly forgetting exactly who he was talking to. 
"This is insubordination!  You know..." 
     Rock's authoritative shout became a frightened squeak as Austin grabbed Rocky by his
shirt collar.  "SHUT THE HELL UP!" Austin screamed at him.  "I'm gonna *whoop ass*
WHENEVER and WHEREVER I feel like, and you're *damn* sure not gonna stop me!!"
     "Christ," Page swore softly as he put out his cigar.  "Looks like it's time for me to go,
guys." Austin glanced over at him, obviously not agreeing with his old friend's decision.  But he
didn't say anything about it, instead tightening his grip on the Rock's throat.
     "You lay a *damn hand* on Page, and I swear I'll shove that little second-rate Nancy-boy
belt of yours straight up your ass!" Austin threatened.  Rocky nodded, his face locked in his
classic wide-eyed gawk.
     The Rock reassembled the Nation around his WCW hostages, forcing his captives to put
their hands behind their heads like the prisoners they were.  "God, this sucks," Steve muttered
under his breath.  They had been so close... 
     Back at the table, Samantha had finally quit struggling.   "This isn't *fair*," she said with
a sad, frustrated look on her face.  "Am I ever gonna see you guys again?" she shouted over to
them.
     Bret shrugged his shoulders and smiled weakly as he shouted back.  "Hey, there's always
crossovers!"
     "NO TALKING!!  Now march!" The Rock howled at them through the megaphone.  The
wrestlers finally exited the bar, leaving a much more muted atmosphere behind.

SONOTROPOLIS
     "A rabbit," the white wolf said to himself as he chuckled.  "All it took to nearly destroy
them was *one* rabbit..."  
     "A rabbit *SUIT*!!" his shorter companion said as he broke down into helpless laughter. 
The young one's amusement pleased the Wolf greatly. He was pale, huge by furry standards, and
had muscles that rippled with unnatural strength.  His eyes were disturbing; they had a curiously
dead look.  As they should, for the Wolf was a vampire.  He had lived for thousands of years,
practicing and learning ways of evil that most beings could not conceive of.  His name was
Kefkain, and he felt he had done a good job in training his protege for his position as the sole
ruler and tyrant of Dark Mobius.  
     His protege was a hedgehog.  But not just *any* hedgehog; the creature that sat beside
Kefkain had once been Mobius' greatest hero, light-hearted and wisecracking.  But Kefkain and
his master the Dark One had soon put an end to all that.  They had corrupted him with the
awesome power of the Chaos Emerald of Evil, and actually managed to turn him into something
even more sinister than Kefkain himself.  The night-dark hedgehog beside Kefkain had once
been Sonic, hero of the Freedom Fighters.  
     The Hedgehog stood up, his dark cape swirling around him.  Once Sonic had carefully
styled his quills; now they shot out wildly from his head, resembling nothing so much as a
cascade of daggers.  His blood-red pupils gave his sinister grin an especially disturbing
appearance.  "These Author Avatars are *pathetic*!" he said as he stopped their recording of the
tournament.  "The only ones with any power are idiots, and the only ones with brains are
*weaklings*!" Sonic cackled.
     "And to think they've just *invited* us in," Kefkain added with a dark smile.
     Sonic walked to the window of his high tower and gazed out of the blackened, twisted
corpse of the land that had once been Mobius.  "That insipid dimension... it reminds of this
world, as it was before *I* graced it with my presence."
     "I think the Author Avatar Arena would be a most fitting addition to the Dark One's
realms," Kefkain agreed.
     "Addition?  More like a sacrifice," Sonic grinned.  "The Dark One's presence there
would destroy it... just as it did Mobius."  
     "Kefkain," Sonic said with authority to his mentor and aide, "gather the others.  We've
got plans to make..."       
     
TITAN 13 
     Vince McMahon was very rarely in a good mood, but he was in an especially foul one
today. His Deus Ex Machina (TM) Doomsday Device kit had not been anywhere near as easy to
assemble as advertised.  The only thing that was keeping him from destroying the stupid thing all
together was the knowledge that he was finally winning in the ratings, and that Rocky would be
back soon to assist him.  Even though the Rock had proved far more useful than X-Pac as an
assistant, Vince was finding that maintaining the SON, Titan 13, AND the WWF was becoming
too much work for him.  His coterie of yes-men were utterly useless as real assistants, especially
since no one but himself could be trusted to enforce the WWF's booking.  Stone Cold's
ascension to the position of WWF champion wasn't helping, either.  Austin was even *more*
uncooperative than Bret had been shortly before his termination. And, unlike Hart, Vince had no
excuse to get rid of the supremely popular Austin.  
     As Vince fiddled with assembling the Device's Interocitor components, it occurred to
him that he *needed* a real assistant... someone intelligent enough to make minor decisions and
capable of helping him exert control over his various ventures.  But he despaired of finding
someone who shared his unique worldview *and* the special personality it took to make such a
vision into reality.      
     Until...
     Vince dropped the parts he was fiddling with as he felt a disturbance behind him.  He
turned around just in time to see a blinding golden light issuing out of a massive energy vortex
that had erupted in T 13's space.  Vince squinted and threw up his arms to block out the
overly-intense light.  With a roaring, whooshing sound, he thought he picked up a trace of a
shadowy something being ejected forcefully out of the portal.  When the vortex finally closed,
Vince went warily to investigate, holding his silvery magic crystal ready.  
     What Vince found was the last thing he was expecting... a rabbit.  To be more precise, it
was a roughly child-sized anthropomorphic rabbit wearing the tatters of what had no doubt been
a fine dress suit once.  As it pulled itself wearily up, he could tell that the creature had been
through absolute hell, and not too long ago.  
     There are many who would be willing to argue that evil is not an absolute force or
philosophy, but instead an objective judgement placed upon actions by humans.  Such persons
would be hard pressed to explain how Vince and the rabbit were able to simply look into each
other's eyes... and instantly know that each had finally found a kindred spirit.
     Vince graciously helped the dazed rabbit up.  "And who might you be, my friend?" Vince
asked, grinning.  
     "I am called... Pippkin," the rabbit replied darkly.  Pippkin could already tell that he
would like this human far better than most.
     "Well then, Pippkin... do you know anything about the wrestling business?"
     "Oh, I think I could try my hand at it..."

THE SHADOWY NETHERWORLD
     The Powers That Be had only a brief rest after Otakumania, and were already hard at
work looking over the new batch of contenders. 
     "Well, I don't see any problems here," the female said as she glanced over the list one
last time.  "We still need one more competitor for each of the intermediate tournaments,
though."  
     "Oh, I've gotten a couple," her male counterpart replied.
     "Really?  Who?"
     When he told her his choice to round out the Moon Kingdom tournament, she nearly fell
out of her judgement seat laughing.  "Oh my God... what are we gonna do if he wins?"
     He simply shrugged.  "Then we'll have a lot of PO'ed moonies," he replied with only a
slight smile on his face. "And I've already signed the guy who'll finish out the Mobius
tournament.  You're familiar with his work, so you should love this."
     However, the look on the female's face was far from amused.  She put the paper down
and tried to stay calm.  "S-Man... the guy you picked to fight, I have no problems with.  But his
*manager*... WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"
     He was taken aback by her reaction.  "Well, I... he requested him for a manager, and we
didn't have any reason to refuse.  I mean, we let Brisby in..."
     "Brisby is a *harmless* egomaniac.  This guy is *Satan* with spikes!  Didn't you read
ASADAE?"
     "He's no worse than the Great Red Serpent, and you were fine with *him*..."
     "That's because the Great Red Serpent doesn't have a Chaos Emerald!" she exclaimed, and
then sighed wearily.  "Shinji, we just got *rid* of one ridiculously powerful and evil
funny-animal.  Why the hell did you go and let another in?"
     "Lynx, I think you're overestimating him..."
     "I *read* that story.  He'll be Pippkin all over again once he's in the AAA dimension...
hell, probably worse.  Pippkin just showed up to cause chaos; God only knows what Sonic's
gonna do."  
     "Well, I've already signed him as Kefkain's manager.  There's nothing we can do now."
     "No, there's something, I was just hoping it wouldn't come to this."  She sighed uneasily
and stood up, teleporting herself down onto the Shadowy Netherworld's floor.  "I'll just have to
go in and watch him myself," she said firmly.
     Shinji stared at her in shock.  "WHAT?!  You can't go there!  That's direct interference,
and you know we're not allowed to do that!"
     "Not with our full powers," Lynxara replied.  "I'll just make myself into an Avatar. 
Jamie did it, right?"
     "Jamie nearly got KILLED!" Shinji shouted back at her.  "Do you have any *idea* what
would happen if something happened to you?  You may be one of the Powers That Be, but in
Avatar form you're still vulnerable!"
     "Hey, I count as an Author, too," she replied.  "That means I'll have fast healing.  And
trust me, I don't plan on letting some egomaniacal fanboy blow me away." 
     "I'm not just talking about *physical* assaults," Shinji replied.  "What if there was mind
control or magic involved?  What if *Pippkin* came back?  Do have any idea what he could do
with you as a host?"
     "We're gonna *wish* Pippkin was back if we let Dark Sonic in the AAA unopposed. 
Somebody's gotta be there to check him, and I'm the only one qualified to do it.  Look, I
promise I won't get any more involved than I have to.  Hell, I'll even stick by Jamie and
Samantha during the show to make sure I don't get sneak-attacked by something.  Happy?"
     "No," Shinji replied rather flatly.  "But I don't think I can talk you out of this, and Dark
Sonic does need watching... just be careful, *please*, and don't do anything stupid." 
     "I'll try," she smiled sardonically back at him.  "Now, what kind of Avatar do we want
Lynxie to be? Hmm... I definitely don't want to be a fangirl goddess like Oscar or Tuxedo
Chris... I don't even want to be Sailor Soulstone.  I think I'll go the Nav route... I'll just take
wrestling moves, and the strength and speed to use 'em right."
     "Are you *sure* that's all the power you want?" Shinji asked nervously.  "Don't you
want an energy blast or a power move or something?"
     "Positive. I'm just doing this because I have to... I certainly don't want to be obnoxious
about it.  Just strong enough to defend myself." With that, she activated the
transformation that would reduce her from Power to Avatar.  A more distinct human form
appeared, that of a young woman.  Her build was kind of short and somewhat petite, with long
black hair that extended down to the small of her back and porcelain-pale skin.  She was wearing
a t-shirt and jean shorts.
     "Yeah, this'll do.  Don't worry, Shinji, this body is a lot tougher than it looks."  Lynxara
lashed out with an experimental superkick to prove her point.  
     "Well, fine... but *only* if you swear to come back between shows to help me keep
things together.  And once again, Lynx... *please* be careful!"  He then stood to open the portal
that granted admittance to the Author Avatar Arena.    
     "Sayonara!" Lynxara called out to him with a smile as she stepped through, and
completely out of Shinji's sphere of control.
     He still had a very bad feeling about this...
_________________________________________________________

BORING STUFF: As usual, I don't own anything used in here.  Well, I guess I technically own
me, but that's about it.

Send C & C to: lynxara@hotmail.com--====================987654321_0==_
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