An Author Avatar Tournament Special: "Jolted"
Written by Lynxara

MEGATOKYO COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
1:42 AM

     Dr. Tofu looked down at his patient, sad and confused.  He had never, 
in all his years of practicing, seen anything like it.  
     Jamie Jeans had come into the hospital as quite possibly the most 
injured person he had ever seen.  After a few hours of operations to help 
set some of his broken bones and check some of the internal bleeding, Tofu 
and his surgeons had been thankful that they had gotten Jamie's life out 
of danger. 
     And that's when things got weird.  
     Within a few hours of his operations, Jamie had been completely 
healed.  The only explanation that Tofu could come up with was that 
Authors were even *more* resilient than Avatars or animated characters.  
Yet Jamie hadn't gained consciousness.  He hadn't moved, spoken, or even 
opened his eyes since he went under for surgery.  It was almost like he was 
in a coma, except that Jamie was still breathing under his own power.  
     Still, the entire situation was completely unnatural.  Tofu sighed, 
and then tried to compose himself to give his report.  A horde of people 
were waiting outside for an update, including members of the AAA press.
     As Tofu shut the door behind him, two bright points suddenly appeared 
in the hospital room.  Their intense glow lit the entire room, but Tofu 
didn't notice.  That's because the two entities who formed out of the 
light portals didn't want him to.  And they had that kind of power.
     They were the Powers That Be.
     For this visit, they took human forms, one male and the other female.  
The male walked slowly to Jolt's hospital bed and looked down.  
     "I *knew* something like this was going to happen," he said sadly.  
"I just knew it.  We never should have let him come."
     "Well, this definitely wasn't what I had in mind," The female replied.
     "Maybe we should have told him more.  Maybe we should have told him 
that we don't really control the story... we just put all the pieces in 
place."
     "Somehow, I don't think that would have stopped him.  Jamie *really* 
wanted to see Adam Chris Leigh go down." 
     "Still... I feel responsible.  No author should have to go through 
seeing one of his characters turn on him."
     The female bowed her head in thought.  "Well, we can't interfere 
directly.   But we can nudge things into place, right?"
     "Sure."
     "Well," she said with a slight grin, "I think I have an idea..."
     "You don't mean..."
     "Well, why not?"
     The male PTB smiled.  "That's good.  That's *really* good.  Do you 
think the characters can come up with it on their own?" 
     "I think so, especially if they had Jolt to guide them."
     "So we need to focus on getting Jamie to come back," the male said 
thoughtfully.  "I think know how to get that to happen..."
     "Then let's get to it, S-man.  We've got a *big* finale to set up!"
     With that, the TPB's teleported away in another flash of light.

     "... so, even though he's *technically* fine, we just can't get him 
to wake up," Dr. Tofu finished somberly.  
     "That's horrible," Michael Cole said involuntarily as the cameraman he 
was with finished taping.  "Ugh.  Pippkin is ruining this tournament," Mike 
continued muttering as he left the hospital's waiting room. 
     The room's other inhabitants stayed, and began talking quietly amongst 
themselves. Present were E-fed wrestler Anne 'Arky' Brandies, Mexican 
wrestler/superhero Del Juicio Final, commando rodent Wolf, the WCW 
contingent (Eric Bischoff, Steve Borden, Bret Hart, and Page Faulkenberg), 
and FORMER AAA heads of security Mihoshi and Kiyone.  Kiyone could
understand why they had been removed.  The GP had been called in to keep 
Pippkin from pulling another one of her stunts, and they had failed. Not 
only that, but Marissa Picard had gotten in! Kiyone just hoped  that they 
didn't put that incompetent idiot Dillenger back in charge.  Heartening 
rumors of a certain spiky-haired Saiya-jin taking over at the finals were
circulating, but she wouldn't believe it until she saw it. 
     As he listened to their low-voiced comments, an idea suddenly popped, 
unbidden, into Dr. Tofu's mind.  He spoke it immediately.  "Why don't you 
visit him?  I mean all of you. Maybe having some company would be good for 
him."
     Mihoshi smiled brightly.  "That's a great idea!" she said enthusiastically.
     Eric simply shrugged his shoulders.  "I don't see how it could hurt."
     
     The group entered the darkened hospital room as quietly as they could, 
and crowded around the hospital bed.  There lay Jamie, completely oblivious 
to the world around him.  
     "This is a most sad sight," DJF said.
     Bret sighed heavily.  "Again.  It happened again, and it's STILL my 
fault.  I should just crawl into a hole and die."
     "Well, the gun was a really stupid idea," Steve replied.
     "Shut up."
     Wolf crackled his knuckles as he spoke.  "Wonder what Pippkin did to 
him to leave him like this?"
     "I don't think it was what Pippkin did, I think it's what Jamie's 
doing to himself," Kiyone responded thoughtfully.  
     Page picked up her train of thought immediately.  "Oh, I gotcha.  
Since that bastard Pippkin turned Samantha against him, Jolt doesn't even 
wanna wake up."
     "Samantha *was* Jamie's creation," Kiyone said.  "It must really hurt 
to know that she hates him now."
     As Bret heard those words, an idea popped into his mind, completely 
unbidden.  "Yeah...yeah, I bet that's exactly what Pippkin wanted..."  He 
remembered the words Pippkin spoke before she tried to kill Jolt at the 
show.  'She's mine now!  She's mine, and you can never have her back.'  
     'She'... 'she'...    
     "That wasn't Samantha at all!" Bret exclaimed.  "That was just 
Pippkin!  He's in control of Samantha's mind, so he knew which buttons 
to press... but it was still just Pippkin!"
     "But why would Pippkin do something like that in this first place?  
He's got nothing against Jamie," Eric pointed out.
     "Remember what happened to Pat Lee when Pearson Mui disowned him?" 
Wolf asked with a grim smile.
     "That's right!" Kiyone exclaimed in a sudden flash of insight.  "A 
character without an Author is just a shell, and that's exactly what a 
mind-controlling symbiont like Pippkin would want!"  
     "A super-powerful body that can't fight him!" Mihoshi finished, 
utterly horrified at the thought. 
     Throughout the conversation, Anne had been watching Jamie's face.  
At first she thought it was her imagination, but with further observation 
she realized that it was real.  With every mention of Pippkin using 
Samantha, Jamie's face flickered with anger.  Maybe if she could push
him just a little bit more...
     "So what you're saying," Anne suddenly spoke up, "is that Pippkin 
is trying to destroy Samantha.  He's trying to rip her soul out so he 
can replace it with his own.  In a way, he's trying to slowly, painfully 
kill her..."
     That did it.  Jolt immediately sat bolt upright in his bed, his face 
twisted with rage and his electrified battle aura glowing brightly.  
	"Damn... you... PIPPKIIIIIIN!!" Jamie screamed.  At that, Jamie's 
aura suddenly exploded around him in a blinding flash of light, sending 
his visitors scrambling behind Del Juicio Final for cover.  
     When the dust cleared, Jolt was standing in the middle of a blasted-
out crater.  He was wearing the exact same gear he had on at the show, 
only this time his wrists and arms were taped and his eyes were quite 
literally glowing with power.  Jamie Jeans, a.k.a. Jolt, was ready for 
war.
     "Cool," Steve said.
     "This is going to end," Jolt said resolutely. "This is going to 
end at finals.  I don't care how powerful Pippkin is, he *can* be beaten.  
No one, but no one, messes with Samantha Jones."
     "You're not gonna do it alone.  I want in," Bret said.  "I owe 
you, kid.  And I've still got to settle things with Pippkin myself."
     "If you're in, then so are we," Eric added.  "We've got the honor 
of the company to think about."
     "And God only knows what'll happen if we let The Last Canadian 
Hero out there alone again," Steve finished.
     "Pippkin is a dangerous criminal.  You can't just 'go after 
him'," Kiyone warned.  Then she smiled.  "You need the help of the 
Galaxy Police."
     "Yeah!  We deserve a piece of Pippkin too!" Mihoshi added.
     "I will assist as well, to preserve the security of Mexico," Del 
Juicio Final spoke.
     "I need to get Aron back before he gets hurt.  Count me in," Anne 
said resolutely.
     Everyone looked at Wolf, the only one who hadn't spoken yet.  
"Like you have to ask?" Wolf growled.  "I'm not through with Agent Q yet."
     "Excellent," noted DJF proudly.  "Now all we need is to choose a 
leader."
     "That's easy," Page replied.  "We're all used to fightin' solo or 
with a partner.  There's only one guy here who's commanded a group in 
battle: Wolf-a-rine."
     Everyone nodded in agreement.  Wolf smiled.  "Fine, I'll take the 
job if ya want me to.  But I'm warnin' you, you'll have to be ready to 
follow orders when the time comes."
     "Now all we need is a name!" Steve exclaimed.
     "A name?" Jolt asked.
     "Sure.  All cool hero groups have to have a name.  And I've got 
just the one picked out!" He paused dramatically as everyone looked at 
him, then proudly announced...
      "We're the Wolfpack!"
     "A group of good guys... called the Wolfpack... that's not a bad 
idea!" Eric marveled.
     No one seemed to object, so Jolt grinned and announced, "Fine, 
we're the Wolfpack." 
     "We've got a week to prepare for the next show, and I'm gonna make 
damn sure we use it," Wolf announced in a firm, military voice.  "By the 
time we're done with Pippkin, he'll wish he had never been born."
     "Or sewn, or... well, however zoots are created," Jolt added.
__________________________________________________________
BORING STUFF: Just like last time, I don't own any of these characters.  
Kiyone and Mihoshi are property of Pioneer, Anne 'Arky' Brandies and DJF 
are the property of Karmacide, Pippkin is the property of David Gonterman, 
and Wolf and Agent Q are the property of whoever wrote 'The Shadow Warrior'.  
Anything I forgot to mention doesn't belong to me either.  Please,
please don't sue me.   
                   
C & C can be e-mailed to lynxara@hotmail.com