Sonic GeneX - 10th Anniversary
A Retrospective - Part 2

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.


In part 1, we looked back on the early stories in the Sonic GeneX series of fanfiction. Now let's pick it up by going in chronological order according to story canon, rather than the order in which they were written. That means the next 2 stories technically take place at the same time... But we'll start with the first to be posted online.

GENEX: THE SERIES

So far I have more deleted material for season 2 than season 1. GeneX--errr-- Sonic GeneX: The Series is essentially what I want the fanfics to be, free of lengthy overwrought plotlines and instead focused on short misadventures that allow me to make use of the full cast of characters. I still need to do one or two more overwrought plotlines, but this dream's still there...maybe.

In the first season, I thought to make it something of a free sandbox for me to write whatever I wanted, unchained from any timeline or serious continuity constraints. There's still a canon, I just don't expect the reader to strictly read each episode of season one, nor do they need to be read in order (entirely). This setup also allowed me to riff on insecurities surrounding the coming of Sonic Boom. It was certainly a unique year of writing.

Here's all the deleted content I have for season 1.

Episode 2
Sonic turned to Amy as she stood there, looking sad. "...Come on, Amy. I'll... walk you home." he said. Amy smiled at him slightly. "You... want to?" she asked. Sonic shrugged. "I'd rather run, but... Just this once, I'll make sure you can keep up..." he winked.
2BIT's musings: I decided to wait until season 2 to give SonAmy a happy ending.

Episode 5
Kosmo ducked into a nearby cave, which the GUN mechs wouldn't fit inside. Shadow glanced back and shrugged. "Oh, I'm sorry... Tell you what, I'll go bring him out." he 

Thanks to him, I could never live in peace... That's what you're saying?" he growled. Shadow raised an eyebrow. "You want to live in peace?" he asked. "Don't get me wrong. I don't want to live with anyone else. I'm better off alone. But I thought about what you said... Going around and trying to kill everyone in the planet... That isn't me. 
2BIT's musings: Not sure what the first one was about. The second one makes Kosmo seem too remorseful too soon, and I wanted his redemption to be more gradual; more logical.

The story choices I made that year were largely made to prepare for concluding the big Knuckles story. As such, I gave Kosmo some backstory, used Tikal to introduce griffins, established Spiny as anti-despair, and featured Dark Punchy in the finale.
And I used that 4th wall breaking Sonic Boom special to remove the canon status of a certain Olympic storyline... That was for the best...

GENEX - ENTERING DESPAIR

Going in chronological story order, this is next. I wrote this story before ever starting Knuckles the Echidna, intending it to be released later as a prequal. Knuckles took SO long to finish that I ended up releasing it as an interlude about 2\3rds of the way through the story it was supposed to be a prequal to. The timing was ok, I guess. It provided insight into the motivations of the Despair agents at a time when those characters were becoming increasingly important to the story.

This was the third and final 5 chapter story I did, and it has the most deleted content, but most is just partial lines. Let's take a look at some of the more coherent stuff...

ch2 - gargoyle stupidity
he stopped speaking when another gargoyle interrupted him. "Grrruh... I get it! The other guards are from the covenant! Grrrruh... Right?" Mitch crossed his arms. "The COVENANT you say... Oh, the covenant, that's swell. Any of the rest of youse guys takin' stupid pills? What are we doin' here? Who are we dealin' with? Whose guards would they be? Look, forget those guards, I got it solved." 
2BIT's musings: Kinda harsh, aren't ya, Infin? Errr, Mitch. Mitch is his real name, by the way. During this story I thought to use it in the narrative, but it didn't seem logical when introducing him from the hero's perspective later on, so he's better known as Infin.

ch4 - Gator's record
He then found several police officers aiming guns at him. "You're under arrest for 800 counts of petty theft!" an officer shouted. Gator turned around and saw his picture among several wanted posters hanging on the front window of the police station. "Wha? Hey, how'd that happen?
2BIT's musings: Maybe this was cut for time, maybe general pointlessness. All I know is Gator sure is a...busy character...

ch5 - military intelligence
Thade started by using guns mounted on the mech's arms to shoot out some of the lights, making the room darker, and thus making it harder to see the Shadow Striker! 
2BIT's musings: Yes! I'll blow up my own base's lighting systems!! I'm a genius! *scrapped* ok, moving on...

GENEX - KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA

This should be the finale here, it took up most of the 10 years I'm looking back on. Most of my mistakes are linked to this project. The cast ballooned to hundreds of characters (well, A hundred or so), I introduced a ridiculous amount of plot devices, I started this WHILE working on a fangame linked to it AT THE SAME TIME! (in parts the game came first, in parts the story came first) AND I have six+ main storylines running through this thing. Knuckles, Sonic, Kosmo, Punchy, Tikal, Bucky... Oh, not to mention a few villain plotlines. This is my most complex story. Did all this madness work? I don't know. All I know is my mantra for the future is SIMPLIFY... (or it should be)

Well, by this point, deleted scenes end up being either snippets or entire paragraphs more or less. With 50 chapters to go through... Well, I maybe have clips from half the chapters, honestly. I'll pick a few choice samples...

old ch4 - a voice of reason??
"Wait!" Amy said, "You don't really have to listen to him, you know! You've seen everything he's been up to... You could tell the Commander and get him fired!" 
2BIT's musings: Someone trying to get Gunner fired for his villainy? Blasphemy! If Sonic characters used intelligence, Eggman would either finally win, or finally be executed. Either way, series would end.

old ch5 alternate line - Kill Copter!
(Basker speaking) As I think on it, that fox has meddled with us before. If you will join us, would you kill him really quick, please?"
2BIT's musings: Uhhh... Wait, Basker wasn't even in Entering Despair (originally), let's just rewrite this so Copter can join, too and freak out Violet & Daisy!

alternate Darkseeker introduction
Basker and Patch led Copter and Kosmo out of the mansion and further into the outskirts of Troblusk City. Soon, they arrived at a helicopter. Once on board, Patch blindfolded Copter and Kosmo. "No peeking! Hee hee! You haven't joined us yet!" he told them. After a bit of a ride, Basker and Patch led them to their destination, still blindfolded the whole way. When they were finally permitted to remove the blindfolds, they found themselves in a gigantic hall, which was quite dark. The roof was quite high, and the many exits from the hall suggested that they were in quite a large building. At the end of the hall was a large door, decorated in black and red. Basker and Patch were heading for that door, so Copter and Kosmo followed them. Beside the door, familiar faces greeted them. "Copter and Kosmo! I didn't expect to see you two here! Especially not together!" It was a brown rat wearing a white lab coat, with yellow eyes and purple shoes. "Bucky! Of all places!" Copter groaned. Kosmo was even less pleased to see his creator. "Ugh, maybe I should leave..." he groaned. A black and red hornet wearing a black leather jacket and a black helmet jumped into the air and hovered beside Bucky. His helmet had a black visor that made his eyes impossible to see. "Good to see you too, Kosmo! Do me a favor and transform into a target! I want to shoot something!" he said. A grey, green-eyed rhinoceros wearing a yellow bowler hat stepped over and grabbed the hornet by the wings. "Don't be a jerk, Zipp. It's a pleasure to meet you, Kosmo. My name is Crash." he said, lifting his hat politely. Behind them, a black chameleon with two horns on his head was hissing quietly. He had orange eyes, a jagged tail, and two red spikes on his back. "Ssssave the pleassssantriessss, Crasssh. Kosssmo'sss a fiend." he muttered quietly. Basker opened the door and motioned for Copter and Kosmo to follow him. "You'll have time to catch up later. For now, there is someone you should meet." he said. Kosmo quietly followed Basker into the next room, glaring at Bucky as he went. "Uh, later, 'Dad'..." Copter muttered, following him. Little did any of them know, Conan the Raccoon was watching them from the shadows...

Kosmo and Copter found themselves in what appeared to be a throne room of sorts. A large, black chair dominated the back of the room. It had various fearsome images carved into it, and was emblazoned with the Covenant of Despair's symbol, the thirteen-pointed star. Seated at the throne was a truly fearsome entity. It was hooded, much like the Doomsayer and the Deathbringer, but this one's hood had three black stripes going along the sides and top. His cloak had a red collar, and his gloves were a dark red color. His shoes were red and grey, and he had a grey tail with a red furred tip. His hate-filled eyes glowed red as well, and were the only part of his face visible under his hood. As Basker led Copter and Kosmo into the throne room, this mysterious being was receiving an object from Infin. It was the tablet that was found near Emerald Coast! The hooded creature looked over the tablet. "You have done well, but there is no time to waste. Take this to Commander Fera, and tell her to begin the next operation." he said, with a demonic voice as fearsome as he was. "You got it, master. On my way." Infin said, taking back the tablet and running out of the room. The creature on the throne rose from his seat as Basker, Copter, and Kosmo approached. "Welcome, newcomers. I am the master of the covenant. They call me... the Darkseeker." the creature said. Copter looked at him with surprise. "Are you any relation to the Doomsayer?" he blurted out. The Darkseeker pointed to him. "You. Come closer." he bellowed. Copter took a few steps forward, and the Darkseeker pointed to his tails. "There! You possess one of the Chaos Tailbands!" he said. Copter glanced back at his tailband, then up at the Darkseeker. "Tailband of Chaos..." he corrected. Basker shook his head. "That's a mistranslation. The correct translation is 'Chaos Tailband.'" he informed him. The Darkseeker held out his hand. "Regardless of what you wish to call it, I have been searching for it. You will now turn it over to me." he commanded. Copter saw in his eyes that refusal would not be tolerated, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. "You want my tailband? Well, uh..." he muttered, stalling to look around the room. There was a window high over the door they entered, which apparently was above the roof of the hall they came from. "I'm rather attached to this! See ya!" Copter yelled, jumping into the air in an attempt the fly through the window! "Stop him!" the Darkseeker roared, at which point Conan burst into the room. "Gladly, sir! Chaos Spear!!" he shouted, firing spears up at Copter as he attempted to flee! Kosmo did not assist nor hinder anyone, he merely watched as Copter avoided Conan's attacks and crashed through the window, escaping into the outside! Conan quickly sped out of the throne room to pursue him. "You. What are you standing around for?" the Darkseeker said to Kosmo. He glanced over at him and shrugged. "You guys can handle this... Can't you?" he said unsurely. The Darkseeker glared at him. "Very well... Remain here a moment. Just who are you?" he asked suspiciously.
2BIT's musings: Now THAT's a deleted scene! Pretty cool, too, way better than the Darkseeker just introducing himself and then we fade to black. However, I needed Copter to stick with Kosmo, and it was more convenient to let him keep his tailband for now, so... I let the reader concoct their own meeting rather than figure it out myself. Still, this does seem more logical than what actually happened...except for the part where Conan gets to keep his sword. Why does he get to keep his sword but Copter can't have his taiband? Good thing I rewrote this...

old ch8 deleted lines - Lospecter's problems
With my neverending supply of magic cards that can summon things, you'd think I'd eventually find a good minion in this deck somewhere! I guess Lost Ones don't have that magic touch that's needed to really make use of these cards...
2BIT's musings: I'm playing the Chaos Cards pretty close to the chest for now, the full extent of their power not fully determined yet. However, this line implies that Lospecter can't even tap into their full potential. My actual theory is that everyone who uses them has access to different powers...

ch 50 deleted line - Fera's "real" name?
 No, in Felicia's memory...
2BIT's musings: Errr... Fera IS Fera's real name. I thought perhaps not, but it is. Check the backstory I gave her this year; no alternate name.

ch 50 deleted lines - Knuxiolet?
"Hey, you ever see Violet around?" he wondered. Knuckles looked at him funny. "Why would I see her around?" he asked. "No reason... She kinda dropped off the map again. Rainbow insists she's fine, but I worry
2BIT's musings: I've been wondering whether I should pair Violet with someone since introducing her. This would kind of tease Knuckles & Violet as a possible pair in the future. It also establishes that she's MIA after Generations, but I think we get that mainly from her general absence...

There's more, but most of it isn't particularly interesting. At any rate, finishing this story has been a huge weight off my shoulders, and I hope my readers enjoyed it while it lasted.

GENEX GENERATIONS

Finally, the swan song for adaptations of official Sonic games.(or is it??) GeneX Generations follows Knuckles the Echidna in plot order although it was written several years earlier. It brings most of the main games into GeneX canon and brought back Dimentime and Mephiles from Soleanna Struggle, giving us a ride for the ages... that no one appreciated. It was my least read main story, despite being the one with the most of my heart and soul poured into it. I included levels from both versions of Generations, plus several other levels from throughout Sonic history. Nearly every character in the canon made an appearence (including Nack and Mighty cameos). All the bosses from both versions of Generations were worked in, and then some. The conclusion was an insane super-level mashing up tons of levels from across Sonic history into a giant labyrinth.

No one cared. I have never been so crestfallen about one of my projects.

The main thing that went wrong (I guess) was that the primary focus was on Copter... and ONLY on Copter. I needed to give real focus to Sonic, but that wouldn't work in an adaptation of an existing game. You know what Sonic does; you played it. That's not to say I didn't take liberties with Sonic to make this storyline work. Heck, Sonic battles the final foe, becoming Hyper Sonic to win. Still, the failure of this story was a big part of my decision to stop doing full-on adaptations of games... that and Sonic Boom's release, anyway. (I gotta stop razzing on Sonic Boom; Sonic Mania & Project 2017 are things now)

There are a few deleted scenes here, too. You might not have read the story, but why not get a little taste of...what didn't make the cut?

Chapter2 - What Roger Craig Smith Did to Sonic
Copter scoffed. "Leave the world in Sonic's hands? He's taken too many blows to the head. You can tell when he talks to you. Total space case, these days." he said. Dimentime shrugged. "I'll have to take your word for it. I didn't care for him, but he sorta knew what he was doing in my time... Usually." 
2BIT's musings: Never liked the current voice of Sonic, ever since he talked about the B.B.B.E. The dialog in most recent Sonic games has been utterly cringeworthy, none more so than Colors. Good thing Classic Sonic was kept silent. Ah, but these cracks don't serve the story, so I delete them oftentimes.

Chapter7 - Lost in Lost World
Once there, they found a problem. "How do we cross THIS!? It's too far!" Razor grumbled. A trail of rings was the only way to the exit, and none of them owned Light Speed Shoes. 
2BIT's musings: Kinda get why so few characters got to go to Lost World now... Well, I had no idea how to cross this chasm, so I went for an alternate pathway, so to speak. (also, now I think about it, why isn't this level in the game Sonic Lost World!? FALSE ADVERTISING!!)

Chapter11 - Dark Copter
Copter's white chest fur had turned blue, his other white fur had gained blue streaks, and his ears had also turned blue. He was changing into Dark Copter! "Grrrrraaaa.... You smug little... Aaaagh, no!! I won't give in!! Urrrrgh... Yes, you know you want to... Kill Tails... Prove I'm stronger!!" Copter lunged at Tails, grabbing his throat as the Dream King laughed, but Copter shook his head and released him. "N-noooo!! Tails, stop me!!" he pleaded. A Wrongo flew out and slapped Copter across the cheek. "Does that help!?" Illusi yelled. Copter shook his head. "No... Grrrrr!!" he growled.
2BIT's musings: Was Dark Copter in the final version of this chapter? Well, at any rate, this sequence didn't work. Battle would run long on an already long chapter. Dark Copter did make a cameo in the 5th Anniversary Special, which I won't be talking about today.

Chapter15 - Too Easy
Dimentime sighed. "You wanna watch them go through several more rounds of this? 'Cuz I don't." he said, pointing his staff at Robotnik and blasting his Egg Mobile with a powerful beam of magic, which he blocked with the hammer, resulting in its destruction! "Oh, nuts..." he muttered, "Now that's cheating... Know what? I'm going to give Alpha a lecture about taking things that don't belong to him. Good bye!" With that, Robotnik flew off in the remains of his machine. "Why don't you do that every time?" Copter asked Dimentime. "It's not as strong as it looks. His machine was just primitive." Dimentime remarked. 
2BIT's musings: I reaaaally shouldn't point out how magic would make everything easier, even if I need to end things quickly.

Chapter17 - Agent Gemini
Why is it there isn't much on you other than the fact you were a dragon once?" he smirked. Gemini gasped. "Well, I uh, buh, guh..." she stammered. "Obviously, she's a secret agent." Silver winked.
2BIT's musings: I don't think I even know who knows Gemini is from the future and who doesn't anymore... Someone here didn't, I guess? No really, if anyone could make a master list with who knows and who doesn't, that'd really help me hehe.

Chapter19 - The End of the World
"Wait... I've seen another future. In the white world. It seemed better off than this future... and Silver knew about it. I think he's from a more distant future than this. Something's off here. How can this be the end of the world if Silver's still around?" he growled. "This timeline will overwrite the current future when it occurs. And it is soon to occur... It cannot be stopped." 
2BIT's musings: I try to find the least convoluted explanation, or just give up on explaining for the time being. Can't recall which I did here, but actually I think I cut this thinking "how is Crisis City better off than this??"

Chapter19 - Silver is willing to Murder Flickies
strapping the Flickies onto the sides of the machine to keep them from squirming! "Wait!! Will this hurt them?" Silver asked. Bucky shrugged. "I'm using their GeneX energy to stimulate time. This has never been attempted, there's no telling what could happen! It could influence their aging, it could turn them back into eggs... or worse..." he said. 
2BIT's musings: Pretty obvious why I cut this. Can't see Silver going along with this plan if it means possibly killing the unwilling Flickies. Boom Knuckles maybe, but not Silver.

Chapter20 - Bucky is willing to Murder Crash??
his eyes going wide as a thought occurred to him, "Was Crash still hooked up to the machine!?
2BIT's musings: I am just sick sometimes...

There was a bunch more, but I'll save it for another time.

10 YEARS OF GENEX

So, that brings us to the present. After 10 years of stories, I'm still showing no signs of stopping. There's still one more 50-chapter tale to tell, and honestly, I could potentially keep this up forever.

What began as a simple story to give Tails his own Shadow-esque rival has grown into a massive and intricate universe with enough of its own ideas to stand without the series it was spawned from... if only I could derive entertainment from writing without Sonic. Those of you who have been reading, for however long, I greatly appreciate it. Just to get noticed is pretty much the highest validation a fanfiction writer can hope for. I only hope to share my stories with more Sonic fans as time goes on.

I don't expect to be doing this again 10 years from now, so I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look at Sonic GeneX. Keep reading and who knows, maybe I will be doing this, or something grander in another 10 years' time. Until then...

To be continued...!