Sonic GeneX - 15th Anniversary
A Retrospective - Part 5

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.


The last part of the Retrospective focused on Sonic GeneX: the Series. This part, we'll take a look at some specials, side stories, and the final entry in the series, Doomsday. I'm not sure how this will work out, but let's just start out with the adaptation of Sonic Forces; Infinite Crisis.


SONIC GENEX - INFINITE CRISIS

I already covered my Dimensional Clash special in the old Retrospectives, but I want to touch on one thing relating to that here. I was building to a major storyline starting from Dimensional Clash, as this story was where the GeneX version of Eggman learned about Robotisization. At the time, I was planning a storyline loosely based on the Archie comics, in which Eggman would conquer...not the whole world, but our heroes' area of it. Theeeen I saw the early trailers for Sonic Forces... and so naturally I decided to combine the stories since it seemed to me like Forces would be a similar plot anyway.

It seemed like it'd work out well. Seemed like a serious tone was returning to the games. And there was a custom avatar I could place one of my OCs in the role of! An avatar who was appearing as a wolf in promotional material. My wolf, Fera, had a case of amnesia going on. It all seemed perfect...  If only the game wasn't a disaster.

I came to a point where I was OVER the idea of making my fictional universe fit into the narrative Sega had created. Instead, I made adjustments to THEIR story this time, in order for it to make sense in the GeneX universe. More of the time period between Sonic's capture and rescue was covered, particularly the formation of the Resistance and Tails' downward spiral. Classic Sonic was suggested to possibly not even be Generations Sonic at all, but a genuinely alternate dimension Sonic (since Dimensional Clash actually did happen in GeneX). Tails was also given more of a redemption arc while Infinite was given a more proper ending. And I still found time to jam my OCs in everywhere, too. In just 5 chapters...these were longer chapters than usual, to make it work. Still, very busy chapters.

I do have a bit of deleted content for this story. So, let's have a looksee!

Ch 1 - Stop Mistreating Heather
"Can you be target practice!?" Zipp asked. "Just because she's immortal doesn't mean you get to do that." Bucky growled.
2BIT's musings: Yeah, Zipp may be a little psycho, but enough with torturing Heather just because she won't die.

Ch 1 - Sega Won't Explain Where he got those Scars, Right?
"Howler made me give you that scar to prove my worth in remaining with MY Covenant. It's not my fault you were weak." he growled.
2BIT's musings: I was about to say Anubis scarred Infinite's face, but then I thought "Let's not go TOO far giving Infinite extra backstory."

Ch 2 - Seaside Hill Mission
Espio came up to Sonic suddenly. "Hey, Sonic. We've got a mission to Seaside Hill coming up. We could sure use you!" he stated. Sonic shrugged. "Actually, I'm late for a briefing. They sure wasted no time finding me work!" Sonic chuckled, racing off to see what he could do for the Resistance next.
2BIT's musings: I expect I cancelled the idea of using Seaside Hill. I don't remember.

Ch 4 - Shadow Chaos and the Zodiac Council
At this point, Dr. Nammad, Rotor and Spy arrived on the outskirts of the battle. They were wheeling over the gadgets needed to complete the full-sized de-robotisizer, including the Master Emerald. Once the emerald neared the battle, though, it glowed, and Shadow Chaos leapt out of it, startling Spy! "Gyaaaah!! D-did you guys know that was in there!?" he stammered. "What was where?" Rotor asked, having been too busy to notice. Shadow Chaos splashed through the battlefield, tearing past Terra and Firma as it went, stunning the bots long enough for Guard and Mia to break away from the battle. "What's that doing here?" Freeze questioned. Shadow Chaos slithered past Kosmo as well, and turned to attack Carrie, angering him. "Get away from her, you big drip!" he snarled, leaping in front of Shadow Chaos. More Robians were approaching, and Guard stopped short as he noticed Mia among them. "Grrr!! How can we fight our friends!?" he grunted. Kosmo was kicked in the back by Robian Carrie, and fell over. "I don't know, but this is ticking me off!" he said. Gemini and Timothy were watching this from not far away. "Hold on! Maybe I can restrain them with magic!" she offered. However, Ares suddenly landed in front of her, blocking her way. "Don't go, Gem... You'll miss the show." he told her. Cancer and Eddie, who was now wearing a scorpion-based helmet for his role as Scorpio, also landed beside him. "Eeee hee hee! That sun is an impressive uber-illusion! Guess if we're all gonna die, best go out in a blaze of glorious violence! Hey, Anubis!!" Scorpio waved, though Anubis was busy with Zeke in a bit of a firefight. "Friends of yours, Gemini?" Timothy asked. Gemini sighed. "Still complicated." she stated. Cancer grinned. "We don't want to watch the world burn, but we'll cut it close to draw out my adversaries. They'd hate to see the world end...here. Hypocrites, the lot of them." he sneered.
2BIT's musings: Honestly? I don't know the context here. This sure is a busy scene. Obviously I was trying to juggle a lot of characters and I suppose at the end of this, I was dissatisfied with how the juggling act was going.

As we know, this led into the Zodiac in Time arc. It was the last story based on a Sega game. This was the point where GeneX split off and became its own universe entirely, I would also say. Next, I'd like to take a look at the two GeneX Anniversary specials. There won't be one this year, Doomsday is too big a job, but maybe if I'm still doing this 5 years from now I'll do a 20th Anniversary Special.


TAILS THE FOX: THE LOST PROLOGUE

It was the 5th Anniversary. Not really a huge deal. But I chose to take a story told only through dialogue in Tails the Fox and tell it properly; the origin of Copter. This was basically a prequel, and was fairly easy to write. All I have for it, in fact, is the outline. Nothing deleted. So, I'll share the outline.

GeneX - Tails the Fox - The Lost Prologue

Scene 1 - Tails awakons in Shadow Arc. He asks Bucky where he is and why he was kidnapped. Bucky tells him about his "son" and how Tails can help him. It could kill him, but Tails agrees anyway.

Scene 2 - Bucky attempts the experiment. It seems to be going awry as Experiment 2 grows a second tail, and the fur on this tails become permanently spiky, and white hairs emerge on his head.

Scene 3 - Copter has a strange dream. Dark Copter, the Chaos Tailbands, and the Lost Ones feature in it. As he awakons, he uses Chaos Blast to destroy the capsule he is in.

Scene 4 - Bucky gives him his shoes and gloves and attaches the bomb to his wrist, telling him of his mission. He is curious about Tails, and Bucky simply tells him that he was cloned from "that fox."

Scene 5 - Sonic arrives to rescue Tails. He attacks Bucky, but Copter defends him. They begin fighting.

Scene 6 - Copter gets a few decent hits with Chaos Whirlwind and Chaos Blast while Bucky encourages him to kill Sonic. Tails rises and defends Sonic with "Tails Wind", an imitation of Sonic Wind which Copter developed as Chaos Whirlwind. Copter is knocked out, and Bucky tries to kill Tails.

Scene 7 - Sonic fights Bucky, desperate to save his friend. Soon, he gets the upper hand, and an alarm goes off, indicating GUN has arrived. Sonic escapes with Tails while Bucky prepares for his impending capture.

Scene 8 - Sgt. Gunner has Bucky taken away, and looks at Copter. Seeing the resemblance to Tails, Gunner determines that Sonic must be in cahoots with Bucky. Copter is taken away as well.

Scene 9 - Tails awakons in the Mystic Ruins and asks Sonic what happened. Sonic simply says that Tails had an "accident" and that everything is OK now. When he remarks how hard it was to find him, Tails decides to introduce Sonic to SPOT.

Scene 10 - At Death Row, Gunner tells Copter what's become of Bucky, and introduces him to the Guard. Copter promises he will escape. Outside, the Doomsayer watches Gunner walk across the balcony and makes a few remarks about Copter and "the beginning."

I wonder when I finally learned to spell "awaken." Yeesh. Well, anyway, there's not much to say here. I took this opportunity to introduce Dark Copter, but otherwise this story wasn't necessary in any way.


SONIC GENEX: THE LOST CHRONICLE

I was less certain of what to write for the 10th Anniversary. I settled on a conclusion to the story of Chronicles, which I had adapted as a 5 chapter story years before. This ended up being a time travel story centered around Silver and a handful of other characters, including members of the Zodiac Council and a resurrected Pachacamac serving as a new Darkseeker. The story wasn't all that special, but it allowed Shade to join the canon (and my OC Nova as well). I was more happy with the anniversary thumbnail, a collage of as many sprites and sprite-edits I could gather together.

I have outlines of alternate story ideas for this special, though. I wanted to come up with something special, but I guess concluding an old story felt like a better idea in a lot of ways. I'll start by sharing the outline more similar to the final product, then the more outlandish idea...

Sonic GeneX - Return of the Darkseeker

Scene 1 - Dr. Eggman is attempting to capture Sonic one last time, holding Station Square hostage while waiting for him to arrive. Tails, Knuckles, Amy?, Copter, Punchy, Rainbow and Gemini are all there to face him, but he's managing them well until Sonic arrives.

Scene 2 - An epic battle between Sonic and Eggman is about to commence, when suddenly the Darkseeker emerges and attacks Tails and Copter, desiring their tailbands! 

Scene 3 - Eggman is annoyed at being upstaged, when the Deathbringer appears as well, wiping out his robots and interrogating the Darkseeker. Unfortunately, in the next moment the pair decide to team up, and Copter's tailband is taken.
{rewrite bracketed section
Scene 4 - With the Chaos Relics in danger, the next logical step is to warn Illusi. The groups split up to do this and investigate the mysterious new Dark Ones.

Scene 5 - Copter's group tries to find Illusi, but he will not appear when they call him. Following a Wrongo, they arrive at a quaint section of town where a surprise awaits them: Illusi has found Fera alive. They suspect her of being the new Darkseeker, but Illusi states that she has lost her memory.

Scene 6 - Sonic's group meets both Shadow and Team Chaotix, hoping to gain clues as to who might take up the mantle of the Darkseeker or the Deathbringer. Shadow reveals that GUN has been watching Bucky closely, and would know if he were donning a hood. Team Chaotix suspects former Despair agents, and have set up a meeting with a contact to determine if they are right.

Scene 7 - Eggman is still watching Sonic, not ready to give up. He preps Metal Sonic with an upgrade: the data recorded from the Darkseeker and Deathbringer's latest appearence.

Scene 8 - Illusi takes the Chaos Crystal and promises to keep the relics out-of-dimension until it is safe. With this taken care of, it is time to meet up with Sonic again. Their group arrives with Violet in tow, revealing that their leads turned up dead ends.

Scene 9 - The Deathbringer calls to Gemini, warning her to stay out of the upcoming conflict. Before she can ask why, Illusi is hurled out of a portal!
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Scene 10 - The Darkseeker returns the tailband, instead taking the Chaos Wing, Boots and Gauntlets. Now, he is prepared for his goal: to kill Dr. Eggman!

Scene 11 - The group battles the Darkseeker and the Deathbringer, noting that the Deathbringer seems weaker than her previous incarnation. Shadow arrives along with Kosmo, and together they knock the Darkseeker for a loop, revealing Shade the echidna!

Scene 12 - Shade reveals that she is from a world where Eggman was triumphant, where Sonic, Copter; all heroes except herself were slaughtered. Her desire is to destroy all Eggmen across each dimension in vengeance, and when she heard of the Chaos Relics, she felt she'd found the way to do it. The Deathbringer initially came to stop the new Darkseeker, but joined her upon hearing this plan.

Scene 13 - Suddenly, Eggman appears with Metal Sonic, who snatches the Chaos Sword and the Chaos Gauntlets! The robot glows yellow with the power, and Eggman tries to have him capture Sonic, but the robot goes berserk!

Scene 14 - Everyone must join forces to fight Metal Sonic, but he seems unstoppable! The robot murders Shade, but she gives the Chaos Relics to Sonic as a final act. Sonic and Copter team up, fighting relic power with relic power to defeat Metal Sonic!

Scene 15 - Deathbringer considers killing Eggman, but Gemini stops her. With the battle over, the relics are returned to Illusi, who decides to leave Fera in her new happy life. Knuckles wonders if there's a Shade in their world somewhere, and Sonic and Copter express an awkward gratitude to one another.

Post-ending - Deathbringer is revealed to be Libra, and is working for the Divine Council, specifically ?

......That story sure would have changed the stories that would have followed, I think.
The other idea was a Mario Vs. Sonic concept... It may have been more an alternate Rio Olympic special but it was saved with the Anniversary outlines.

Mario vs. Sonic
i. Mario learns that Sonic's Olympic invite cannot be RSVP'd due to his current outlaw status. Gunner suddenly contacts Peach as a diplomat, stating that their cooperation in capturing Sonic is expected. He convinces Toadsworth of Sonic's criminal deeds, worrying Mario & Peach.

i. Sonic wants to go to Rio for the Olympics, but Gunner presents a problem. He discusses the situation with Tails, but he admits it's a touchy problem. If the government down there is pursuaded by Gunner, he likely cannot go.

i. Bowser and Eggman meet up, ready to go, when Gunner calls Eggman and asks him to set up an incident to get Sonic bumped to international criminal status. Bowser wants to catch Mario in that trap, too, and the pair scheme.

i. After wracking his brains for a bit, Sonic meets Dogson, who is getting set to head for Rio. He says he could smuggle Sonic into the country in exchange for a few rings. Gemini points out that Dogson should be completely forgotten.

i. Bowser and Eggman disguise some minions as Mario and Sonic, and start them wreaking havok in Brazil. As each hero arrives, they hear rumors of the other creating meyhem. Mario is convinced by Toadsworth to put Sonic in his place.

i. Mario finds Sonic and initiates a fight without much talk. Sonic believes GUN has gotten to him, and respectfully tries to avoid fighting, but Luigi and Donkey Kong rush him! Tails and Knuckles join the fray!

i. Bowser & Eggman cheer for their respective rivals during the bout, leading them to brawl as well. Shadow and Blaze try to intervene, only for Wario and Rosalina to stop them!

i. Each fight commences, while Amy and Peach watch with concern. Rosalina overwhelms Blaze with help from Lumas, while Shadow overwhelms Wario with his power. Bowser gets Eggman on the run, while Metal Sonic does the same to Bowser Jr. Tails & Knuckles arrive at a draw with DK & Luigi. Mario & Sonic must break the tie.

i. Mario & Sonic fight fiercely, and the onlookers worry that one may kill the other. Sonic defeats Mario, but helps him up, showing true sportsmanship.

i. Bowser & Eggman see Sonic & Mario standing together along with the others and realize it's time to flee. Rio welcomes the pair as heroes, and the Olympics commence...

Dogson must be there as a reference to the 2BIT & GeneX Olympic story. Overall, this seems to take place during season 2 of Sonic GeneX: the Series.


OTHER MISC STUFF BEFORE DOOMSDAY

Just taking a moment to ramble. I was going to go into the Quest to the North Pole Christmas special, but I don't really have anything worth sharing on that. It was just simply me wanting to do a more traditional "Santa Claus" special like what might appear on an animated series. I also introduced the underutilized holiday OC, Booster the Reindeer... Part of the problem was I didn't feel I could draw him, so that limited his appearances... Also he's only been around for about 5 years, in which time I think he's made 3 appearances. Seems reasonable for a holiday character.

The other random story I'd like to touch on would be GeneX Legacy, which was written about 4 years ago at a time when I was fearing I'd never be able to give this series a proper ending. So I challenged myself to answer: How would I end it if I had to end it right that moment? The solution was a flash-forward to the future centered on Gunner as the dystopian main antagonist. If you're wondering why Doomsday more or less sweeps Gunner under the rug at lightning speed, this is why; I'd already done the "Gunner takes over" story.

Legacy's plot also came with the introduction of children for many of the characters. I knew even then who most of the parents would be...except for Starr, hence her concept art came in a myriad of color variants. Of course, Legacy was the bad timeline, so all the parents were already dead except Sonic, who'd lost his legs and much of his hope. I felt the dark tone was needed since I couldn't do a lengthy plot to build up to all this... ORRR maybe I just thought it was edgy cool, who can remember?

So, who are all the parents? Well, Juice's mom actually is Amy (surprise, surprise). Skye & Melody's GeneX mom was revealed in Doomsday, along with Casey's dad, no shocks there. Lara's mom is Shade in this universe, I don't know how clear I've made that. I tag her as Lara-Su but we don't call her that in the story because she really isn't the same character...but she is the equivalent for this universe. Starr's mom is...probably Carrie. And of course, Lucky Jr, Pepper and Minnie are Lucky & Whisk's kids. Oh, yeah, and we all should know where Aurora came from. Do any other characters have kids, like say, Shadow? That's a mystery for if I continue writing past Doomsday or not. And speaking of, time to wrap this Retrospective up...


SONIC GENEX: DOOMSDAY

The final story... I had almost no plan for it, but I knew I wanted to end the series by the end of 2021. So, I had to gather up every character, every lingering plot point, every McGuffin, and figure out a conclusion to it all. Naturally, I had considered ideas of what the endgame would look like all throughout the series, but now it was time to lock in what that actually was.

Let's get the deleted lines out of the way before going further. There isn't much, and I tended to stop writing the line when I realized I wasn't going to use it, but here we go...

Ch. 5 - King Acorn DIES??
Her father was being lifted by his neck, held up by Losipher the Lost. "Sorry... Daddy is tied up..." sneered the vampirical Lost One, glaring in her direction. 
2BIT's musings: During Sally's introduction, I considered having Losipher kill her father briefly. Wait, he's not a king in this canon, ignore I said that!

Ch. 38 - Gandalf?
"Fly, you fools!" he shouted. "Hey!" Punchy snapped at being called a fool. "Sorry, just been waiting to 
2BIT's musings: I forget who I had saying it, probably Illusi? Well, I didn't want to get too meme-y so I cut this.

Ch. 42 - Why Is It Not This Way, 2BIT?
"Could he have really taken your immunity away, Gem??" Copter shouted. "Nobody wants to find out!" Gemini replied. It did seem odd to think he "stole" it from her rather than duplicating said immunity for himself
2BIT's musings: The immunity is stolen just because I wanted to be DONE with this plot point! Okay? And... Ophiuchus is a villain, he totally would screw Gemini over.

Ch. 51 - Trump Card
Well met, boy! Having survived this long, I can see you are indeed worthy of the tailbands!" the raccoon smiled. "I'm not using the tailbands. Best to hold the trump card close until its needed." he said
2BIT's musings: Yeah, he isn't using the tailbands is he? So why even mention them?

Deleted stage ideas
Lost Jungle (Forest of Dreams from the first story was originally called Lost Jungle, so I thought it'd be a fun inside joke to go to the actual Sonic Heroes stage)
Desert/Sky levels from Lost World (I did end up using Lost Hex, but not in the way I expected)
Hell, more or less (That became an interdimensional trip to Flame Core)
The Kingdom of Loss and Despair (Pretentious alternate name for this story's version of Demon Island)


Despite having no solid plan at the start, I quickly made one that worked to get this written as quickly as humanly possible. I like to say I took the "Kingdom Hearts 3" approach to this story...but that's only true in that I brought back every past villain. The actual plot has more in common with Sonic Adventure 1 in structure, which had been the plan for years... Choose 7 Chosen Ones and focus the story around them.

I couldn't bring myself to choose 7, though. I picked 13. With Lucky as a bonus. Actually, at the very end it is 9, and if we cheat, we could say those nine count as the seven. Math, heh.

So, as we know, I picked Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Copter, Punchy, Gemini, Kosmo, Fera, Violet and Heather as the 13 main heroes. I even struggled to get it down to them, as there were a handful of characters I also considered... I recall wanting Guard, Amy or even Rouge to be included among the 13. Each of them do get decent-sized roles as the story progresses...in fact one could argue some of them will be more memorable than Heather or Violet... I guess when you're working with a literal cast of hundreds, not all of their arcs will be winners.

(Actually I did a count, and while there were a lot of questionable factors in the count, I arrived at around 226 characters. I'm sure there are more in total.)


Speaking of arcs, I guess I'll end this out with what you're probably most curious about.
The complete Doomsayer timeline! (Pre-Doomsday)

But yes, stop reading if you didn't get to the part in Doomsday where both Doomsayers have been unmasked.

I'll begin by saying... No, the two Doomsayers thing was NOT planned from the beginning. I don't know when I conceived it. Parts of their arc were planned along the way, but it wasn't until just before starting Doomsday that I collected all their appearances and declared what the actual canon was.


So, sometime in a timeline we'll never see, Apocalos and a version of our Sonic have a clash. Something happens there, and they both ultimately become a version of the Doomsayer. (I won't go into detail on THAT because I don't think it's come up in the story yet.)

Now, in order of my own story's chapters... Which Doomsayer was which??


First, it is actually Apocalos who approached Illusi in the very beginning about moving the Master Emerald for Gemini. He wasn't too keen on touching Chaos energy himself...but he also needed both the Master Emerald and Gemini intact for the sake of the timeline.
He then goes to deliver his prophecy to...Copter, putting him into conflict with Tails. (hint, his laugh to Copter is more inhuman)

Sonic-Doomsayer gives Tails the opposing prophecy, aiming to keep his guard up against Copter. Sonic later saves Tails' life from Zipp, not wanting his little buddy to die even though he prophesized he would.

Apocalos is there when Gemini nearly becomes a Lost One, and chides Knuckles for trying to save her. Later, Apocalos revives Copter after Bucky blows him up, and in doing so gains power over Dark Copter/Aries.

For the rest of "Tails the Fox", the Doomsayer is Sonic. He interacts with Shadow and talks Copter into teaming up with the heroes to save the day. My notes say it is even Sonic speaking to Tikal at the end, but I clearly forgot that because I seem to have written Apocalos with that history...

It is once again Sonic in A New Beginning, but honestly, Apocalos would also want Copter to help prevent the timeline's destruction.

In the Nightmare Zone specials, I never decided. I leave you to draw your own conclusion. I think perhaps both visit at points.

At the start of "Knuckles the Echidna," Apocalos is the one speaking to Knuckles, stalling him until Despair shows up.
In chapter 7, it is Sonic preventing the Deathbringer from killing Punchy.
Apocalos is the active Doomsayer through most of the rest of the story, changing the Deathbringer's target to Knuckles, warning that Despair's scheme threatens all life (for without souls, how will his army grow?), and relating the story of the Deathbringer's creation, meaning that of course, like how he revived Copter, he also revived Hope...to kill for him. He also admits to giving the Chaos Crown to Howler, having wanted him to wreak havok...just not an apocalypse. (That's HIS schtick!)
My notes once again say that Sonic speaks to Tikal at the end.

In chapter 15 of GeneX Generations, the Doomsayer appears on Shadow Arcangel. SPOT recognizes him as Sonic, but he zaps the robot before he can tell anybody, including you in the audience. But the notion that he is recognized was meant as a clue.
In chapter 19, Copter unknowingly battles Apocalos himself at a version of the end of the world. In the next chapter, Apocalos consumes what soul Mephiles has, giving him the power over time that he's been using all along. Technically, this marks Apocalos' first event in his own timeline after his creation in the past.

In Season 2 of Sonic GeneX: the Series, the Sonic-Doomsayer gives Shadow a test as he is working to transport the Ultimate Life Form blood samples. Sonic had also encouraged the Deathbringer to protect those samples previously. He made good use of the Doomsayer disguise to get Hope to listen to him.

At the beginning of Infinite Crisis, Sonic-Doomsayer once again protects Tails against death, this time at the hands of Infinite as Eggman captures our main Sonic. He has actually come to value Tails' life above his own, apparently. Well, he is getting quite exhausted. We never even see all his failed attempts to stop the apocalypse!

Apocalos reappears at the end of the final season of Sonic GeneX: the Series. He restates the original doomsday prophecy, this time with an emphasis on ANY Prower fox dying. He also refers to the Lost Ones as the "children of doom" again, which he previously did when addressing Knuckles as he tried to save Gemini so long ago. This specifically refers to the Doomlings, and should have been a massive clue since Apocalos had been properly introduced in season 4 (oddly enough, the Doomsayer persona does not appear in season 4, however)

With all this information, you can probably determine which Doomsayer was which throughout Doomsday...but I guess I'll be thorough. (Though my notes aren't very comprehensive)

When they appear at the same time early on, Sonic is appearing before himself, while Apocalos appears before Tails.
Sonic then watches himself leave Central City, ready for his pain to end.
Naturally any Doomsayer at Deathbringer Row is Apocalos.
And then, Apocalos is properly revealed at the top of the Clock Tower. The other Doomsayer there is naturally Sonic, and in general the disguised Doomsayer from there is Sonic until he is revealed as well.


Allllll right! That was long! If I put my mind to it I could probably think of loads more to talk about but I think that's quite enough! ...I promised to explain the stages of grief thing from chapter 33, didn't I? No, I don't think I will... Not in depth anyway. Just a simple, quick thing...

Punchy's floor - Denial
Blaze's floor - Guilt
Knuckles' floor - Anger
Copter's floor - Bargaining (It was a stretch, yeah)
Shadow's segment - "Testing" (When I looked up stages of grief, this popped up among them. Made writing easier. I don't even care what it means, to me it means "generic action portion")
Tails' segment - Despair
Amy's appearance - Acceptance


There, that was a little bonus bit. Now we really are done! Whew!
I should be finished writing the whole story by now, I should know the ending.

Happy 15th Anniversary to this fan-made fiction! I hope you've all enjoyed the series. Who knows what's next for me? A 20th Anniversary Retrospective?

...maybe if I figure out what a Retrospective actually even is, haha...ha.