War Between Worlds
By: Lily Vivian

Chapter 1~"The Very First Shot"

	"One...two...three!"
	The bell rang out three times, and Kane stood up and kicked
Hardcore Holly out of the ring, onto his cousin Crash.  He then turned
slightly to see what had happened to his partner.
	Sean Waltman, better know around the world as X-Pac,
brushed off his shirt and smiled at Kane, who then stared after their
retreating opposition, the two Hollies.  He and X-Pac had demolished
them, and now the two stuck-up cousins were beating a hasty retreat.
	X-Pac had very much enjoyed the battle, and now went
running to his partner and friend to celebrate with him.  "That was
terrific, Kane!  Your drop-kick is getting better with every match!  Man,
those stupid Hollies will think twice before they come after us
again!"
	Kane tilted his head at his companion, and would have replied
if his muffled voice could be heard over the crowd and through his
mask.  He merely looked up towards where the moniter was, then
jumped down out of the ring, starting for the backstage area with his
young friend right behind him, still dancing about and cheering madly.

	"Is it time for me now?"
	"Yes...I will go and call them out to meet you.  It's time for
this plan to be on it's way..."

	X-Pac yawned, stretching out on top of the lockers in the
dressing room he, Kane, and the New Age Outlaws were sharing.  It
was the largest of all the locker rooms in the stadium, and they were
the only four who probably weren't going to end up trying to damage
each other, which is how they had gotten it.  X-Pac was the only one
of them who was small enough to balance on top of the lockers, and
took advantage of this fact to get Kane to put him up there while the
others set about getting ready to leave.  Their matches were done
for the night, and they couldn't think of any reason to hang around,
so they were about to head out...maybe to a bar for some drinks before
they went to their hotel...or...who knew?
	"I don't know about you guys, but I'm totally bushed!" X-Pac
lamented, rolling carefully onto his back and yawning again.  "I'm ready
to just go and nail the hay!"
	"Not after the night we're planning to have!" the Road Dogg
said, grinning.  "Ol' Billy here," he gestured behind him at his tag-
team partner, Badd A$$ Billy Gunn, "-knows a great bar down the
road a bit.  I personally could use a beer!"
	"Just go see if Steve has some," X-Pac groaned, covering
his eyes with one hand.  "He's always gotten plenty to spare..."
	"Nuh-uh!  The last time I innocently wandered into his dressing
room, I nearly got my ass blown off!!" Road Dogg said.  "Besides, he
thinks it's really funny to hide in there with the lights out and shoot
his crossbow at anyone who dares to open the door!"
	Kane smiled a little behind his mask.  He was sitting on the
floor, still wearing his outfit, and didn't plan to change just yet.  He
would rather wait until the others weren't standing around to do so...
but at the rate they were going, he wasn't going to be able to change
for quite a while.  X-Pac hadn't really changed his clothes either...he
had just pulled on some sweat pants and a jacket and left it at that.  Of
course, he didn't figure that X-Pac was really as tired as he claimed
to be.  He figured it was just an excuse to stay at the hotel and keep
his friend company...Kane knew that he probably wasn't welcome
to come along with the Outlaws on their bar-hopping expedition, and
X-Pac would feel guilty about leaving him alone while going out to
party.
	Why does he have to pity me so much? Kane thought,
suddenly feeling depressed.  He hated it that X-Pac would pity him,
but he knew there was no other reason why the youngster would be so
nice to him.  It certainly wasn't because he actually liked him...
	There was a sudden hard pounding on the door, and an all-
too-familiar voice called out, "Kane, X-Pac!  You guys had better get
out here!!"
	"Is that Mankind...?" X-Pac asked, as he sat up and let
his legs hang over the edge of the lockers.  Kane stood, nodding slowly.
"Aww, man..."
	Road Dogg opened the door, and Mankind entered the
room, looking a little jumpy.  "Hey, you two...I think that you need to
get out to the ring...the Undertaker and Big Show are out there with
somebody in a black robe, and they're calling you out, saying it's really
important and all kinds of stuff like that!"
	"Huh?!"  X-Pac blinked in surprise, looking down at Kane
from his vantage point.  "Taker's back?  I thought for a while there
that he was gone for good!"
	Kane nodded at Mankind, then turned and reached up,
plucking X-Pac off the top of the lockers and setting him on the floor.
He motioned at his friend, then looked at the other two.
	"Hey, you guys be ready in case things get really ugly, would
you?" X-Pac asked the Outlaws, chewing on his lower lip nervously.
His two friends nodded, and he and Kane walked out, hurrying towards
the ring to see what trouble was about to befall them now.

	Undertaker looked up from the middle of the ring as the
lights dimmed, and an explosion of red fire went flying up from the floor,
from which emerged his brother Kane and the "toothpick" X-Pac.  He
smiled, then looked at the two people behind him-the Big Show, and
a curiously small figure in a long black robe, who had his...or perhaps
her...head down and staring at the floor, apparently uninterested in
what was was going on.
	As he watched, Kane and X-Pac walked out onto the ramp,
but then Kane held up one arm and stopped X-Pac, who had apparently
planned to go on to the ring.  He looked breifly up at his friend, then
nodded a little and looked towards the ring, raising the microphone
he had gotten and saying, "All right, Taker, now what the hell do you
want from us?!"
	"This is not about both of you, toothpick...although you're
both going to be quite unhappy with what I've got for you...
X-Pac!"
	X-Pac looked more suspiciously at the figure in black, and
pointed at it.  "And who the hell is that?!"
	Undertaker smiled again, then looked at the figure and said,
"Why don't you go introduce yourself?  I'm sure that you'll be very
happy to see this person, toothpick!"
	The small figure moved forward, going under the second
rope and starting slowly up the ramp.  As it moved, Kane pulled at
his glove, but X-Pac suddenly grabbed his arm, stopping him.  His
eyes were wide, and he pushed past Kane and moved down the ramp,
towards the small person.  Kane followed him unsurely, as X-Pac and
the mysterious figure stopped half-way on the ramp, facing each other
from about three feet away.  X-Pac's eyes were almost bulging out
of his head, and Kane wondered who the mysterious newcomer was.
	"You never expected this one, did you, toothpick?" the
Undertaker was blaring, his glee at X-Pac's distress quite obvious.  "Go
on, show everyone who you are!"
	The figure raised one hand and gripped the hood of the
robe, then slowly pulled it back.  Everyone saw brown-and-blonde
hair pulled up in curly pigtails, a red-and-black bandanna tied around
her forehead, gray eyes, and a small mole on her right cheek.
	X-Pac stared at her, and, though no one else heard anything,
Kane heard him repeating the same thing over and over-"Amber...Amber...
oh my God...Amber..."
	"That's right, X-Pac!"  Undertaker smiled fiercely, and the
whites of his eyes began to appear just a little.  "It took some doing,
but I managed to round her up for you!  That's right, kid!  Everybody
say hello to Amber Waltman...who will answer to me, her lord and master,
as Asdamia!"
	X-Pac looked down at the girl, shaking his head slowly back
and forth, as his sister looked up at him calmly, her head tilted a little
bit to the side.  He reached out and gripped her shoulders, looking
down at her in shock, still shaking his head.  She stood there for a
minute, then pulled away from him and snatched the microphone out
of his hand, glaring at him.
	"I've come for you, big brother..." she said, her voice deadly
serious.  "You left me behind all my myself to pursue this wrestling career!
You wouldn't let me come with you and train with you, because you
said that I was too little!  But the Undertaker-," she pointed backwards
at the ring as she talked, "-saw my potental, and he allowed me to
do what you said I couldn't!  And he's shown me that you aren't worth
all the tears I shed back at home...I've come to show you how tough
I am, brother!"  With that, she dropped the mike and jumped into X-Pac,
punching wildly at him and knocking him to the floor.  Kane instantly
grabbed the back of her dark robe and hauled her up off of him, tossing
her down the ramp a little ways.
	"K-Kane..." X-Pac muttered, as he got to his feet.  "You
just tossed my little sister, man, I don't want her to get hurt-,"
	She rolled onto her front and got to her feet right away, laughing.
She smirked at X-Pac and Kane, then turned and walked back to
the ring, climbing in, as the Undertaker continued talking to them.  "You
don't actually think that just one little throw is going to put Asdamia
down, do you?" he asked, laughing.  "She's had a far better trainer
than you ever thought about hiring, toothpick!  She's learned from
the forces of darkness, and she's a lot tougher than you!"
	X-Pac was still staring as his sister climbed into the ring and
went to the Undertaker's side, and the Big Show stood next to her
as well.  She was completely dwarfed by the other two, but she seemed
to be every bit as dangerous as them to Kane.  He grabbed X-Pac's
arm and pulled him backwards, towards the exit, and wasn't surprised
when no resistance was offered-his friend was still too shocked to
even walk, and Kane thought that he might have to carry X-Pac out.
However, X-Pac finally started moving his legs, and Kane was able
to get him out as the Undertaker's music began to play, and his eyes
began to roll backwards in his head.

=================

	Road Dogg wrung his hands together uncertainly, looking
down at his friend.  X-Pac was sitting on the bench, with Kane on
his left side and Mankind on his right, and more than just the four of
them were in the room.  Along with his buddy Billy Gunn, Edge and
Christian, the Rock, Stephanie McMahon, Test, and Stone Cold Steve
Austin were in the room, all of them silent as X-Pac slowly shook his
head.
	"I just can't believe it..." he said quietly, staring at the floor
as Kane put an arm around his shoulders.  "I can't believe that she
would agree to train with him...that she would attack me..."
	"The Undertaker's screwed all of us at one point or another,
sonny," Steve said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.
"This is just one more thing on his resume."
	"A far more heinous thing than most of the rest he's done,"
Christian said, from the spot on the floor where he and his brother were
sitting cross-legged, looking up at all the others.
	"But what purpose would she have?" Stephanie asked,
hugging on the arm of her fiance, Test.  "Why would your sister join
the Undertaker?"
	"She was really jealous of me when I got to be a professional
wrestler and I said she couldn't be one 'cause she was so little," X-Pac
mumbled, staring at the floor even more.  "I guess that she wanted
to be a wrestler so much that she would agree to work with the Under-
taker...even against me."
	Kane said nothing, but he understood exactly what X-Pac
was going through.  Being betrayed by a family member...especially a
sibling...was a very familiar ache.  Though he wasn't going
to say as much, he thought the Undertaker was aiming at him as much
as he was aiming at X-Pac...he wanted Kane to relive being betrayed,
knowing he would understand what X-Pac was going through as well.
A double blow...and a very nasty one at that, for this time, Kane wasn't
suffering alone.
	"The Rock says that the best thing to do about the walking
dead man is to get the runt out of his hands," Rocky spoke up, standing
from the folding chair where he had been sitting.  "If he's using her
to get at you, then he'll eventually use her to get at all the rest of us,
too!"
	"What an assessment, dumbass!!" Steve replied, smacking
himself in the forehead.  "Why the hell do you think we're in here talking
about this?!  I'm sure not here to worry about any of you!"
	Rocky gave Steve the patented People's eyebrow.  "Look,
Stony, the Rock don't want to have to-,"
	"Ahem!!"
	The two of them looked at Stephanie, who had her hands
on her hips and a stern look on her face.  "We've all agreed to settle
our differences until we've dealt with the Undertaker and this Asdamia,
remember?  It's in our commen good to work together, and we've all
signed this!"  She held up a piece of paper with a handful of signatures
on it.  "And I'm hoping that once Stevie gets back, we'll have more
allies against the Undertaker and his fiends, all right?  Now Steve,
Rocky, you two settle down!"
	The two men turned away from each other, sighing, and
nodded.  "Fine, fearless leader," Steve said, looking at her.  "So what
are we gonna do?"
	"I don't know yet..."  Stephanie suddenly turned her head
at the sound of a knock on the door.  She motioned, and Test opened
the door.  Stevie Richards was standing there, dressed up like Mankind's
old persona of Dude Love, flanked by Al Snow, Debra, and the rest
of the McMahon family: Shane, Vince, and Linda.
	"These were the only others I could find," Stevie said apolo-
getically.  "None of the others cared to help, or wouldn't agree to a truce..."
	"That's all right, Stevie," Stephanie said soothingly.  "Every
little bit helps.  This gives us-," she counted heads around the room,
"-17 people in our truce.  The Undertaker only has four allies: the Big
Show, Mideon, Viscera, and Asdamia."
	"But he could get more..." Road Dogg spoke up loudly,
startling everyone else in the room.  "There's the Acolytes, and Gangrel
and the Hardy boys..."
	"And the Hollies are none too happy with Kane and me..."
X-Pac said sullenly.
	"And Big Boss Man won't like me here..." Al Snow said,
biting his lip and hugging Head in one arm.
	"There are quite a few people that could get involved here,"
Edge, who had been scribbling on a piece of paper for a while, said.
He held up the paper, smiling a little and looking at Vince over his
sunglasses.  "Take a look-see, Vince...this is just part of the way I
see things possibly turning out, given how the local relationships work
out."
	Vince took the paper and looked at it.  There were three
columns, with 38 names listed at the top and those names seperated
and split into the columns.

1.  Al Snow
2.  Asdamia
3.  Badd Ass Billy Gunn
4.  Big Boss Man
5.  Big Show
6.  Bradshaw
7.  Chris Jericho
8.  Christian
9.  Chyna
10.  Crash Holly
11.  Debra
12.  Edge
13.  Faarooq
14.  Gangrel
15.  Hardcore Holly
16.  Jeff Hardy
17.  Jeff Jarret
18.  Kane
19.  Ms. Kitty
20.  Linda McMahon
21.  Mankind
22.  Matt Hardy
23.  Mean Street Posse (Rodney, Pete Gas, Joey Abs)
24.  Mideon
25.  Road Dogg
26.  Rock
27.  Shane McMahon
28.  Shawn Michaels
29.  Shawn Staziac
30.  Stephanie McMahon
31.  Stevie Richards
32.  Stone Cold Steve Austin
33.  Test
34.  Triple-H
35.  Undertaker
36.  Vince McMahon
37.  Viscera
38.  X-Pac

Our Army			Taker's Army			"Neutrals"
1. Al Snow			Asdamia		                	Chris Jericho
2. Billy Gunn			Boss Man			         Chyna
3. Christian			Big Show		                	Jeff Jarret
4. Debra		                   Bradshaw		                	Ms. Kitty
5. Edge				Crash Holly			Mean Street Posse
6. Kane				Faarooq				Shawn Michaels
7. Linda				Gangrel				Shawn Staziac
8. Mankind			Hardcore Holly			Triple-H
9. Road Dogg			Jeff Hardy
10. Rock		                	Matt Hardy
11. Shane			          Mideon
12. Stephanie			Undertaker
13. Stevie			Viscera
14. S.C. Steve
15. Test
16. Vince
17. X-Pac


	Everything was in perfect handwriting, with no mistakes
at all, no mispellings, and...he saw this with unusual feelings...the names
were all in alphabetical order.  Vince was sure that Edge hadn't possibly
been working on it long enough to have sorted it out that neatly.
He looked at Edge, who was still grinning.  "Boy," he said finally.  "You
really worry me sometimes."
	Steve looked over Vince's shoulder at the list.  "That looks
about right, too...although that's not all the wrestlers in the WWF, Edgie."
	Edge shrugged.  "Those are the only ones I actually see
getting involved...although of course there could be others.  The Under-
taker has started a war, here...and I'm willing to bet that's he's really
going to be gunning for the neutral parties, too.  If he can get all of
them on his side, then he'll have 21 to our 17."
	"But we can't let him get hold of them!  We have to convert
some of them to our side!"  Al Snow grabbed the list, cradling Head
in one elbow, and stabbed at a name on the list.  "See, here!" he said,
pointing a finger at one of the names.  "Shawn Michaels!  He won't
work for the Undertaker!  Neither will Staziac!"
	Mankind got up and looked at the list.  "And Triple-H and
Chyna won't help anyone...they're too far in both directions!"
	"They won't help us," Linda said, motioning with one hand,
"-but we don't have to look for them on the Undertaker's team.  But
there will be a bunch of others dragged into this mess..."
	Vince nodded and took the list back.  "Good set of graphics,
Edge...this gives us something to work with, anyway.  But we need
to try and figure out the Undertaker's strategy, what he's most likely
to do next.  That way, maybe we can plan out how to be prepared
for him."  He turned and looked towards the bench where Kane and
X-Pac were sitting.  "And that's where we need you, Kane."
	Kane tilted his head and glared distrustfully at Vince.
	"No trick, big guy," Vince said, raising his hands as though
to ward off an attack.  "I'm not going to make you do anything you
don't want to do, but you can get into your brother's head better than
any of the rest of us.  You can use your powers to see what he plans
to do next."
	Kane looked down at his fists, clenched in his lap.  He could
feel everyone's eyes boring holes into him, and wished that he wasn't
being the center of attention.  He nver had told anyone except for
Vince and, recently, X-Pac, about his weird abilities, and now, the
others were looking at him with new fear and mistrust in their eyes.
And he certainly didn't trust Vince to give him anything but trouble,
which this revalation was doing...and now he was having to help him?
It was the most revolting thing he thought that he might ever have
to do.
	"Kane?"
	He looked down at X-Pac, who had finally come out of his
depressed stupor long enough to raise his head and look at his friend.
Kane's blood nearly froze when he saw the look in X-Pac's eyes...
they were completely flat and emotionless...as though X-Pac would
never be able to feel anything but the acute misery that was wafting
through his soul now.  My lord...he's taking this even harder than
I thought he would! Kane thought.  I can't just sit here and let
him stew in this sadness...if I can help to defeat Undertaker and get
his sister back, then he won't have to know the sort of anguish that
I do...
	"All right..." Kane said gruffly, lowering his head again.  "Give
me a second."  He closed his eyes and reached down inside himself,
trying to spark the connection between his mind and his brother's.  He
dimly heard X-Pac exclaiming to him about the risk he was taking,
but it was too late now...he was in contact with his brother.
	"Vince, what are you making him do?!" Test asked, as Kane
slumped a little, seeming to go into a trance, and X-Pac and Mankind
braced him to keep him from falling into the floor.
	"Something that very few people knew about before this...he
was really secretive about these powers he has," X-Pac said, slowly
shaking off his mood.  "He and Taker have a direct link in their minds...
both of them can tap into the other's minds, but only if both are willing."
	"It's dangerous," Vince said.  "When he tried it for me back
in the Corporation to see if he could discover his brother's purpose,
the Undertaker took control of his mind and sent him on a complete
mean streak.  Opening the channel lets him see his brother's thoughts,
but it also puts him at risk of being misled."  He looked at X-Pac, who
was looking at him in surprise.  "He must truly wish to help you to will-
ingly do this...I know that he didn't do it for me."
	X-Pac and the rest all looked at Kane, most of them finding
that they were having to rewrite their opinions of the Big Red Machine.
Most had thought of him as an animal who was only loyal to who-
ever happened to be holding his leash at the moment, but the idea
that he would actually choose to help another person boggled
some of their minds.  They all watched as Kane put himself on the
line to try and discover a way to put an end to his older brother's new
reign of terror-and doing it for the sake of his friend.
	"This is the weirdest thing the Rock has ever seen," Rocky
said quietly, and the others, even Stone Cold, found themselves instantly
agreeing with him.