Meetings
WRITTEN BY: Jamie Jeans
EDITED BY: Alicia Ashbly.

The Lynx-cat like girl walked in through the doors of the Anipike and
blinked. Before her, seated at the bar and at several tables were the
many Anime characters and Author Avatars, drinking and chatting. Several

were also up and about, talking to others about past jobs in fanfics as
well as what was currently happening in the AAA.

At the bar, Jotarou was developing a particularly nasty eye twitch,
which was barely hidden by his cap, as he poured a glass of liquor. The
glass was for David Kintobar and right now, the Virtual Champion, was
grinning and chatting away. Jotarou was about to haul off and hit the
champion when Misato stopped him, shaking her head.

Further down the bar, Rei was shaking off the advances of the Great Red
Serpent. However, the gentle persuasions stopped and the violence began
when the GRS took out a frozen cucumber and waved it in front of her
face. Even when the man was unconscious on the floor, it took the
combined strength of Ryoko and Shampoo to keep the Senshi from killing
him.

Bane and Nav sat at one table. The Destroyer was carefully polishing his

M-16 and throwing nasty glances at Oscar, who was currently fighting
with Mina for Artemis. The poor young woman was in-between the two in a
tug of war when Felicia, followed by several other famous Anime
catgirls, entered the bar. Spotting the bane of her existence, she
shouted a
battle cry and she, along with Nuku-Nuku and the Puma sisters, rushed
him. The fight was carefully guided outside by several characters from
Dragon Ball Z.

A roar of approval came up from the table where several MiSTiers, along
with Mike, Joel, Tom, and Crow, were seated. The two bots looked none
the worst for wear from their recent fight and had bottles of motor oil
strapped to their arms. They turned from the brawl to resume talking
whatever they had been talking about earlier.

Many furries from Mobius, both those who had fought and who had yet to
fight, were arguing about their fights. At one table Ankoku was seated
alongside Debbie and Lord Thinker, talking about their last fight.
Debbie was leaning into Ankoku and giggling at something that he had
said.

Lynxara smiled. Despite all that had happened in the AAA thus far, at
least two had found love. Looking more closely, she searched for one
table in particular. Her search ended when a familiar voice called out.

"Over here Lynx!"

Turning to one table at the far end of the club, Lynxara saw Samantha,
seated alongside several others, wave her over. Coming over to the table

she saw that the others gathered there was Wolf, Kodachi, Piccolo,
Washu, and a young man. She recognized the young man immediately by his
silver hair and eyes. Alexander Misamoto looked up with barely contained

concern in his eyes.

Lynxara was shocked at this. Did Samantha finally learn the truth about
the young man?

"Is it true? Does Oni have him?" Alexander asked.

Lynxara sighed and took a seat that Piccolo pulled out for her. Fumbling

with her tail a bit, she managed to sit down by slipping it through the
back. She saw him cast a glance over to where Debbie sat with Ankoku. At

Jamie's request, she had looked out over the young man from time to time

and had seen how much that Alex and Deb liked each other. A second
glance at his face told her that it might even be a bit more then like.

"I finally got the report from AAA security.  When they checked out his
room, it looked as if
there had been a massive fight and..." She stopped.

"And what?" Samantha asked.

Lynxara hesitated to speak but, at the intense look from the vigilante,
she went on. "They found blood on the floor."

"Oh dear god," Kodachi said.

Piccolo tried to remain his usual stoic self, but Lynx saw the small eye

twitch. Wolf growled and reflexively extended and sheathed his claws
while Samantha cursed and inadvertently crushed the glass in her hands.
Alexander went white and fought hard to keep back tears. Samantha
noticed this and became suspicious.

"What are you so worried about?" she asked.

Lynxara sighed, almost happy that the vigilante didn't know about her
brother.

"He's a good friend of Jamie's," Lynxara replied. An uncomfortable pause

paused through the group until the Author broke it. "Thanks for keeping
me company until my *friend* gets here."

Samantha and Wolf both arched an eyebrow at this but otherwise remained
silent, only nodding. Kodachi remained silent and sipped on her Jolt
cola, knuckles white from gripping the can so hard.

"It's no problem," Piccolo said, his usually gravely voice even more
deep then usual. "A friend of Jamie's is a friend to us."

"But what are we gonna do to get Jamie back?" Alex asked.

"If Oni's taken him to where I think he has, then there's probably no
way we could get him back," Lynxara replied.

"That may be your opinion, Alicia," Wolf growled. "But it sure as hell
ain't mine." He got up to leave (and no doubt do something heroically
stupid), but Samantha put
a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back in his seat.

"Don't. We can't afford to lose you," Samantha said. "As much as it
pains me to say it, we have
to wait and think of a plan. With luck, maybe Dark Sonic and his minions

will trip up somewhere and give us the opportunity we need."

Piccolo went to object to this when he sensed a powerful presence at the

door. He and several other Martial Artists turned to see a young man who

stood at about six feet tall. He had a thin build, black hair, and was
currently decked out in a purple Wile E Coyote sweat shirt, jeans and
white sneakers. His smile was kind but his face, and the bags under his
eyes, spoke of too many late nights of hard work.

"Oh good, here he is," Lynxara said as she waved him over. "Look guys, I

hate to say this but could you leave the both of us alone? We have some
important... issues to talk about."

The group (rather unrealistically, thus proving that her partner wasn't
suffering *too* much)
nodded as one and left. Alex stayed behind a moment.

"Is Jamie going to be all right, Aunt Alicia?" he asked.

She winced a little at the 'Aunt' crack, a reference to the small role
she had played in helping
Jamie create him.  But without hesitating, Lynxara nodded and flashed
him a smile. "Don't
you worry, Alex. Jamie'll be fine. We got... er, he survived the last
tournament.
He'll survive this one!"

This seemed to reassure the young man and he quickly walked over and
joined Piccolo, Samantha, and Kodachi at the bar.

"It might not be Jamie that you'll have to worry about," the newcomer
(not Ryan, however)
said.

Lynxara nodded at the chair across from her and the young man sat down.
"So what brings you here, Shinji?  It's not too often you grace the
mortals with your presence."
She honestly tried to add some sarcasm to it, but failed miserably.
Despite her weakened
condition, she still knew exactly what the disguised Power was doing
here.

"Adjusting to your new form?" Shinji asked.

"Hardly! This damn tail trips me up nearly every time I move about and
it's weird to hold *anything* with just three fingers and a thumb,"
Lynxara complained good heartedly.  "But you must've heard about that at
that the show.  Let's
just cut to the chase, huh?  What's the problem?"

Shinji's expression was very serious. "I'm having trouble keeping the
AAA dimension in line."

Lynxara nearly face-faulted at this. "You're kidding me..." Shinji shook

his head. "You're not... it's gotten that bad?"

"Dark Sonic is beginning to disrupt my hold over it. That damned
Emerald... it makes him
impossible to control."  Shinji stopped and sighed.  "And with you cut
off from your full
powers... if he isn't banished soon..." he didn't bother to go on.
Lynxara already knew the answer,
and she really hoped it didn't come to that.

"Well, could you change me back?" she asked.

"No. Even here I can see combination of Dark Sonic's and
Tuxedo Chris's powers over your body. I can't come up with a plot
contrivance powerful enough
to break it," Shinji replied. "It's taking all of my power to keep the
AAA dimension stable as it is.
I can't spare any power to help you. It's a miracle in itself that your
mind stayed free when your
body submitted."

"You know us PTB's! As invincible as the Author Avatars are in their own

little worlds... hell, more so.  Our worlds exist just because we want
them to," Lynxara
commented bitterly.  It was rather irritating to have your own dimension
and then have constant
maintenance problems with it.

Silence reigned between the two and both looked about the club, hoping
to find inspiration of some kind from anything! But all they got was
pitied looks for Lynxara and suspicious glares at Shinji. The suspicious

glares came more from the Dragon Ball Z characters as they sensed the
barely hidden power emanating from his body. Fortunately, Goku was there
to calm them down.
 He recognized his part-time employer, and understood the need for
secrecy.  Even
psychokinetics such as Shion, Tetsuo, Akira, and Sonnet could feel the
power of the PTB
through his disguise.

"Oh," Shinji said, breaking the silence. "There is one thing which I
neglected to mention..."

"No problem, considering all that's been going on."

"NotReallyHere tried his chance at rescuing Jamie."

Lynxara smiled. She had seen the strange Author Avatar once or twice
before the second set of rounds had started. The smile faded when she
realized where her partner had sent the Avatar to. "Dear god! Wasn't
that
dangerous?"

"I admit that there was a degree of risk, but once NRH had heard that
Jamie had been kidnapped, he immediately volunteered for the job.
Actually, he insisted.
Anyhow, he got back a few minutes before I came here and I have some bad

news..."

Lynxara groaned. Everything seemed like bad news.

"The rescue attempt failed. In fact, it took a lot of NRH's power just
to save Jamie from getting killed."

"Is there *any* way for us to get him back?  I really, *really* don't
like just leaving him there.  I
mean, he wasn't supposed to get involved this time!"

"No, we can't risk it. We just have to let Dark Sonic and his team bring
him back. They all have
egos that demand they show off their hostage to prove how big they are."

"And that's when we'll attack!" Lynxara said, punching one fist into the

other. "We'll show those nWo wannabe's a thing or two!"

Shinji smiled, and thought back to the original incarnation of the nWo.
"We are being invaded,
aren't we?"  Then he paused, and his expression became very dark, almost
disgusted.  "Speaking
of which..."

The doors exploded and Vegita, Krillin, and a couple members of
the Tank Police flew in and landed on the floor, thankfully unconscious.

In walked Dark Sonic, flanked by the massive Kefkain and Oni, who was in

human form. Behind them strode Tuxedo Chris, who twirled his cane in his

hands and immediately latched his gaze hatefully onto Ankoku. Soulstone
glared darkly back at
him.

Dark Sonic's eyes smoldered and red energy crackled between his hands.
He was growing extremely annoyed with what was happening in the
fights and looked ready to take it all out on the many Author Avatars
and Anime characters before him. His gaze fell hungrily on several anime

women before stopping on Lynxara.

"Hello, kitten. I think it's time for you to come with me," he sneered,
licking his lips in
anticipation.

Lynxara, like any sane creature, was frightened out her wits at the
moment. But she wouldn't
show fear in front of the disgusting little pervert, and glared back at
him.  But she did suddenly
wish that Wolf wasn't halfway across the bar...

"If you do not, then I shall take several of your friends in your
place," Dark Sonic smirked.

Lynxara never had time to respond.  "Washu! Turn it on!" Misato suddenly
shouted.

Nodding, the redheaded scientist quickly tapped on her smoky black
laptop. All throughout the Anipike, the electronic devices which made up

the Author Avatar Power Suppression Field turned on. Immediately, the
powers of all Author Avatars were dampened to a level where their
effects would be nullified. However, where Kefkain, Oni, and
Tuxedo Chris were affected, Dark Sonic was not.

With an annoyed sigh, he snapped his fingers and all the units exploded
simultaneously, damaging the interior of the Club and spraying everyone
with pieces of wood and metal.

"You have made the mistake of making me angry," Dark Sonic said,
staring at Washu and Misato. "You should not make the Lord of Darkness
angry." And with that, he began chanting.

Lynxara stared in horror as she recognized the chanting that signified
the preparation for the Ultima spell.  It wasn't his true supreme
attack, the apocalyptic Black
Ultima, but it would still do a *lot* of damage and hurt a *lot* of
people.

"ENOUGH!"

A soft golden glow filled the room as Shinji dropped his disguise.  With
a snap of his fingers, the
chanting stopped even though Sonic's mouth was still moving. It took the
Dark One a moment to
realize he had been hit with a Mute spell.

"You're not the only one who knows Final Fantasy spells," Shinji said
coldly.

"The Powers That Be!" Misato gasped.

"Actually, I'm only one of them. The other is back home, holding the
fort down,"
Shinji lied as he calmly made his way towards Dark Sonic and his allies.

Kefkain roared and raised a hand to slash him. Shinji never flinched as
the clawed hand passed through him, but he did glow blood red when
Kefkain's hand passed through his body. The massive vampiric Wolf
screamed in unholy pain as his hand came out, all the flesh burned away
from the bone. His healing factor was already taking effect to repair
the damage, but the fact that
it had happened so easily shocked the wolf into submission.

Oni tried his luck next as he shifted into Demon form and moved in front

of Sonic, shoving Kefkain aside. Learning from Kefkain's mistake, he
charged up his massively destructive Thousand Hells Blast and fired it
at Shinji. With a
look that bordered between annoyance and anger, the PTB stopped the wave

of hellfire and tossed it back at Oni.

The demon barely managed to dodge aside but felt pain as the fire
scorched him. He reverted
back into human form and stayed out of Shinji's path. Sonic could fight
this one himself.

Completely ignoring Sonic, which enraged the arrogant Hedgehog to no
end, the PTB
walked up to Tuxedo Chris. He immediately charged up a
reality warping blast but was knocked unconscious when Debbie, screaming

in rage, stood and threw Eternity at him. The sword flew hilt first and
slammed into Chris' temple, throwing him to the ground. Shinji smiled at
the young
woman as she called her sword back and caught it in one hand before
sheathing it.

Dark Sonic finally managed to summon up enough willpower to break
through the mute spell
and come back into contact with his Emerald. Immediately, he released a
powerful blast of
magic at the PTB's back. Everyone gasped as Shinji actually stumbled off
his feet from
the blast.

"You see?" Sonic screeched. "Even your great and mighty Power is
nothing before me! I... ACK!!!"

His speech was cut short before he could even get fully started when
Shinji, with a flex of psychokenetic power, started to choke Sonic.

"Now you listen to me," Shinji said, his eyes glowing white and his
voice level
and cold, which only served to make him scarier. "I have
stood back and watched idly as you twisted the AAA into your own little
playing field. You have gathered the your minions and hurt innocent
people.  You even went so
far as to have Oni kidnap an author and Tux-boy transform another..."
Shinji trailed off and
looked particularly angry at that.

Sonic tried to curse, but with Shinji choking him, all he could do was
glare hatefully at the
Power.

"I can no longer stand by and watch you gain more power in *my*
dimension
and hurt those in it. This is ending at the pay-per-view, Sonic. And if
anything
happens to Jamie, so help me I will kill you... and hiding in your sick
little version of Mobius
will not save your worthless hide."

Everyone gasped in shock, Lynxara the most.  One of the first rules she
and Shinji had
written and enforced in the AAA stated exclusively that there would be
absolutely no killing. For
her partner to make a threat like that in front of everyone showed just
how badly Sonic had pushed him.

With a thought, Shinji picked up Dark Sonic's Horde and sent them
flying out the door and into the air, where they landed three kilometers

from the Anipike.

Sonic, however, remained unmoved.  In fact, he took advantage of the
moment to break free of
Shinji's power.  Once the dark hedgehog landed on the floor, he stared
intently at the human
who had managed to overpower him.

With a heavy sigh, Shinji relaxed his power and wobbled on his feet.
Right away, Lynxara and
Samantha were by his side, supporting him. Alex was right behind his
sister, the look on his
face more concerned then ever.

Everyone was shocked even more by this. Lynxara, however, was the only
one who could really
appreciate the situation.  The fact that he had gotten involved at all
was *bad*.  But if a Power
was weakened by this display, then things were truly desperate.

And then something happened that would have to qualify as one of the
most frightening things
she had ever seen.  Sonic drew dangerously close to the weakened
power... and smiled.  "Finally,
a worthy opponent," Sonic said, sounding genuinely pleased.  The
Hedgehog flashed a final grin
at the Anipike, and then teleported off.

And if that statement was true... Sonic was a lot more than even *she*
thought he was.

"I'll need you back now more then ever," Shinji whispered, knowing that
Lynxara's new form would pick up what he said. "I can't go on like this.
Get
someone, anyone, even Sonic to change you back. Once the reality warp is
broken, you can have
full access to your powers again and we can get things back under
control."

Lynxara grew worried at this. How was she supposed to pull that off?

"Don't worry," Shinji whispered. "You'll think of something."