Dark Chao Adventures: April 2012

Friday, April 20, 2012

Coming Soon.

Red: We'll be doing it until our fanbase becomes big enough again. {..hahahahahahahahahaha, the show ended five years and thirty-eight episodes later, and the fanbase never recovered once.}

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Season Eight: The Last Journey

DARK CHAO ADVENTURES
Season Eight: The Last Journey

(80-85: Six Degrees of Progressive Darkness)
Episode Eighty: Sunshine (Can You Feel It?)
Episode Eighty-One: Cloud Mountain (The Last Adventure)
Episode Eighty-Two: Polar Eclipse (Bare Me the Details)
Episode Eighty-Three: Can't See (C Flat)
Episode Eighty-Four: Pitch-Perfect Dark (Jet Black)
Episode Eighty-Five: Final Times (Constant Darkness)
AFTER THE END
Post-Epilogue
Episode Eighty-Eight: The Cold Bend of Empty Space Feasts Grey

That's all ~~six eight nine seven~~ of the episodes of DCA's final season. The story technically ends at Episode 85, and yet it also technically ends at 88, even though its ending in 88 takes place in Episode 85. Even though it's actually an indefinite amount of years later, at least eight years later.

Fun fact: This story arc, which started with Season Seven, took five years to do. You wouldn't believe how many eights and fives are contained in this ending.

Good luck understanding what the ending actually is!

Episode 88: The Cold Bend of Empty Space Feasts Grey (THE VERY LAST ONE)

DARK CHAO ADVENTURES

Season Eight: The Last Journey

Episode Eighty-Eight: The Cold Bend of Empty Space Feasts Grey

by DJay32

Shade: Would you like some company?

Shadow: No, thanks. I could do with a walk.

[Shadow steps out of the house and begins walking]

Shadow: I hold the pain. Release me.

[Shadow sighs]

[he passes by some stores selling fairytale books]

[he stands and looks at them from outside]

["And they all lived happily ever after."]

Shadow: Did they?

[he sighs and walks on]

[he spots seagulls flying off into the distance, he sees the ocean going out onto the horizon]

[he sees a seagull disappear abruptly]

[the water below seems disrupted]

[Shadow returns home and places a dead fish on the table]

Shadow: Supper's ready.

[Shade appears in front of the table abruptly]

[Shadow screams]

Shade: What?

Shadow: How did you…

Shade: We have bigger problems.

Shadow: …what?

[Shade points out the window; three chao are standing outside]

[they are each standing exactly five feet away from each other]

[they all have the same expression of dull interest, and they move and breathe in synchronicity]

Shadow: I don't understand.

[the three chao, in-sync, repeat "I don't understand"]

[Shade and Shadow look at each other]

[Shadow leads Shade out to the shoreline]

Shadow: This is where I saw it.

[Shadow points out to the sea]

[Shade shields his eyes from the sun and tries to see anything odd in the sea]

Shade: …"There's something in the sea."

Shadow: Do you think…?

Shade: It's certainly possible.

Shadow: I thought it was wiped.

Shade: You can't wipe the eldritch.

[Shade turns to face Shadow]

Shade: It comes from an entirely different universe. For all we know, more of it could have come in.

Shadow: I thought the whole story was wiped.

[Shade holds out his arms]

Shade: We're still here.

[Shadow looks at Shade and then out at sea]

Shadow: Well, what do you propose we do?

[Shade looks out to sea as well]

[he spots large movement in the distance]

Shade: Pray the Writing Writer kills us off.

[It is her, she is not liquid fur left to rot.]

[Shadow is packing his bags]

[Shade walks in]

Shade: This is unnecessary.

[Shadow looks at Shade with anger]

Shadow: I think it's highly blatant by now what will become of us.

[Shade points at the bag]

Shade: You work too hard, always do. Try to relax!

[Shadow's jaw drops]

Shadow: If it wasn't for my working hard, we'd be worse off! Has the show taught you nothing?!

[Shade shrugs and begins leaving the room]

Shade: The sea doesn't look so bad after what we've seen, is all.

[Shadow sighs and finishes packing]

[a chao enters the room behind his back]

[Shade and Shadow are running out of their house late at night]

Shadow: Is it still behind us?

[Shade looks behind]

Shade: I don't see it.

[Shadow and Shade slow their running]

[they hear a voice from the sea]

[What's the matter, A-Life Gods?]

Shadow: DJay, why are we still alive?

[I tilt my head and awkwardly smile]

[I… wasn't satisfied with Episode 85.]

[Shade and Shadow groan]

[Or rather, I was! But you two, your journey isn't over yet.]

[But don't worry, this will definitely be your last episode.]

[I mean, I might use you guys for stories later, but this is the last episode of DCA!]

Shade: Why was there no warning to this? You had the eighty-fifth episode built up crazily, but this one's just in the shadows!

["No warning?" There was so much warning to this episode; it just wasn't lampshaded.]

Shadow: I think he has a point there. There was frequent hinting at the number eight, and.. well, eighty-eight? That's eights all over.

Shade: But this is the ninth episode of season eight; why didn't you do anything for the eighth?

[I did! I discussed the effects of DCA on future writing, and the concept of a mythology. And I discussed more of… well, Ulysses.]

Shadow: I think the point is that DCA has so many different focuses, and there are so many "endings" to accommodate this.

[Yes. DCA had many "beginnings," many "journeys," many "climaxes," and now it has many "endings." Just like how there are multiple eight-points. 85, the eighth episode of season eight, and 88.]

Shade: So. So if 85 was the ending to the bulk of the story, and the eighth season eight episode was the ending to the Ulysses story, what's 88?

[88 is the… well. I think it's easier if I just show you. "Show, don't tell."]

[Shade and Shadow reach the beach]

[the moon is overhead]

[Shade looks at Shadow]

[Shadow looks at Shade]

[Shade gives Shadow his crowbar]

[Shadow gives Shade his guitar controller]

[Shade lies, face-up, on the water]

[he drifts off to sea, staring at the moon]

[Shadow, on the beach, sighs and begins walking down the coast]

[he thinks about the end of DCA]

[Shade, floating, thinks of the exact series of events that led to the show's end]

Both: …but the show DIDN'T end.

Shade: People simply died.

Shadow: The End Complete isn't complete yet.

Both: …there are still plot holes.

Shade: But it's bigger than that, isn't it?

Shadow: Shade and I weren't spared for no reason.

Shade: We've seen the future. Red's alive in the future.

Shadow: Metal Sonic and the Tails Doll were supposed to survive. And Mephiles.

Shade: But then again, we changed the future, didn't we?

Shadow: But if we changed the future, future us never helped us.

[gjsdfggdagigafdgggggggcvxiok eofdlc

bfndf

Do you see it now?

What if I told you Amphis was Red?

Let me reiterate that sentence.

[many months have passed since]

[Shade has reached an island]

[Shadow has found a spaceship]

[the island had Logic's Amphis]

[the spaceship contained some strange substance]

Do you see it now?

Do you see the danger behind plot holes?

The eternal eldritch laying dormant?

Take a bow.

[more months have passed since]

[Shade and Shadow have found each other's location]

[Amphis is lost and cold]

Do you see it yet?

It's coming faster with each word I utter.

We are coming full circle.

Take a bow.

[Amphis opens a large door]

[he has found the spaceship and its contents]

[Amphis' scream is stifled still]

Can you spot it here?

It is here, it has always been here.

It's from the year 2006.

It's an old foe, indeed.

Take a bow with me.

[the substance takes over all]

[the substance becomes the feared Evolutionary Adverse Trigger]

[the substance becomes Red Metal]

[the substance becomes the IT]

[the substance becomes the eight and the five]

Instability.

Eldritch product of time travel.

Dark Chao Adventures' worst nightmare.

[Shade runs, screaming]

[Shadow, terrified, mutates]

[Amphis, dead, Red]

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

[Shade laughs as he becomes a star-fed puppet]

ShadeF: I have no Future.

[Shade hears his past self entering his corrupt garden]

ShadeF: And now I never will.

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

[Shadow groans, wary, unsure of his fate]

ShadowF: I have no Future.

[Shadow, mind bound to a stream of consciousness, watches as what's left of Shade Junior is corrupted and mutated]

[the creature that was once Shade Junior puts on a cloak]

SJRF: I will change my name forever. I will change. I will Future.

[Shadow tries to speak, but all that comes out is stardust]

SJRF: I will treat this night with levity.

[Shadow feels his body being pulled by unstable strings]

[Shadow's mouth moves]

ShadowF: Levity Nite. We have the same common interest. We are both veterans of a Hell bound by a stream of consciousness that is not our own.

SJRF: There are others, surely.

ShadowF: We must find them and put a stop to the cycle. It must not come full circle.

[Shade Junior/Levity Nite wants to scream for it all to stop, but unstable strings keep him quiet]

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

[Shade laughs as he becomes a star-fed puppet]

ShadeF: I have no Future.

[Shade watches with tears as Dark manifests before his own eyes, a zombie of stardust]

[Shade feels his hands aiming a shotgun at his best friend]

ShadeF: I have no life.

[Shade is not allowed to close his eyes as Dark splatters everywhere again and again, reanimating again and again]

[the twisted Dark Garden around him laughs at his discontent, and Shade laughs along with it]

ShadeF: And now I never will.

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

[Shadow groans, wary, unsure of his fate]

ShadowF: I have no Future.

[Shadow notices beings he can recognize]

[they are robots of blue and red, accompanied by a doll of yellow]

[these creatures transcend fiction, but they still suffer]

[Shadow longs to join them in their freedom, suffering be damned]

[Shadow wishes for no more]

[Shadow finds his own father, bound to Chao Talk's consciousness]

Ryder: We must end this cycle.

Nite: We truly must.

ShadowF: I'm working on it, mind be damned all.

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

[Amphis is no longer recognizable]

[the creature that was once Amphis takes a hammer and smashes his own face]

[it gives way like glass]

[underneath, there is a plain old red chao]

AmfyF: I will evolve. I will grow dark. I will be free.

[Amphis laughs harder than ever before; he cannot recall his own name]

AmfyF: Help.

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

[the Lamb is born]

[the Lamb heads to the slaughter]

[the Lamb is killed[

[all it hears is laughter]

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

[Ulysses is lost at sea]

[he's looking back at days gone by]

[I can't believe I didn't see it coming.]

[This is all my fault.]

[Can I break the cycle?]

[Must it come full circle?]

[Ulysses is lost at sea.]

[the Instability puts on a passion play]

Do you see it now?

The Instability isn't the Bigger Bad behind everything.

Eldritch is in my nature.

The Instability was simply… the omen for it.

But now we have come full circle, see?

We have broken the eight and the five.

New Topic: Dark Chao Adventures

Post: All I can say is Episode 1: Chao In Space.

[eight years pass]

[I fixed a plot hole, a simple mistake. I had to wait for the show to loop all the way back, though.]

[cut to Episode 85, Chapter 7]

[at the end of the maze, they run into a Gatekeeper]

[it's the first of the "final three:" Future Shade]

Shade: ..future me? You're one of the Veterans?

Red: How does this make any logical sense?

ShadeF: The Veteran's Committee is trying to bring the End Complete, the wiping of the show. I've lived a fifty-year life, and most of it was Hell. I want to wipe the show.

Shade: But. If you're me from the future, that means the show isn't wiped!

ShadeF: I'm not you from the future; I'm you from the past. But to her, I'm just another character in the end. And I do believe we're here at the end now, aren't we?

[the protagonists attack Future Shade]

Log Entry #55 (Future Shade: Kill Me.)

Life never had to be this bad.

Is this even "life" anymore?

At least I know that this is where I die.

Thank God.

…no. I don't thank God.

What did I ever do to deserve all of you?

Looks like I'm all out.

[Shade and Shadow bend the script, and Future Shade is completely wiped from the show]

[ONE GATEKEEPER DOWN, SEVEN LEFT]

Dark: Guys, why did you do that?

Shadow: Two can play at breaking the logic of the greater narrative.

Dark: But.. but…

Red: Don't worry, Dark. If this does anything at all, it shows us a surefire way to stop the antagonists.

Shadow: No. If the antagonists see us trying to bend the script, they'll bend it just as much. There's more of them than there are of us, after all.

[the protagonists continue and find themselves in the City Hall]

[pull the trigger and the nightmare stops]

[the protagonists find no puzzles in the City Hall, and find the entrance to Daedalus Labs open]

[it is blocked by Future Shadow]

ShadowF: You can defeat me, but through this door is the eighth district. Are you sure you want the show to end so soon? Break out of the cycle, boys.

Log Entry #56 (Future Shadow: the end)

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[the protagonists, unfazed, bend the script. Future Shadow is wiped]

[TWO GATEKEEPERS DOWN, SIX LEFT]

[cut to Chapter 8.7]

Chapter 8.7: Metal Speedy's Reign of Ending (Unexpected Developments Rise)

MSp: Let me clear some space for you protagonists.

Shade, you sent me to jail. The thing about me, though, is that I increase in power with the more plot holes there are. This is why the Daleks tried to beg you to keep plugging up the plot holes.

I am the figure standing behind every ounce of malevolence in this story. I am the reason the Beta Avengers got any sort of power at all. The TV room ran on the same power I did.

JOE busted me out of jail, wanting to increase the likelihood of the end of DCA. But I didn't even need his help by that point.

MSp: You see, fellows, I am the unexpected developments. Oh, and the Daleks are wiped from DCA.

Dark: You bastard! How dare you!

MSp: Now. I do believe you are gonna play.

[Metal Speedy points at the stage]

MSp: Rubber Goose will paint the ending soundtrack live.

[Metal Speedy bends the script]

[Shade, Dark, Red, and Shadow are on stage]

[the crowd is filled with The Camper]

[Metal Speedy snaps his fingers]

[Professor Shade (the female one) appears on stage]

MSp: This episode now has forty characters total, so…

[Red gasps at a realization]

Red: Forty is eight time five. That is brilliant.

SShade: Hey, guys… I'm kinda scared.

Shade: We don't blame you, friend. Where were you?

SShade: Training with Shade Junior for the End Complete.

Dark: I have a song we can play tonight. "Black Fire Upon Us," by Dethklok. Sound good?

Red: We could do "In the Presence of Enemies!"

MSp: DO "BLACK FIRE UPON US" OR YOU'RE DEAD.

[Rubber Goose performs live for one last time]

[towards the end, Shadow dives for five drives]

[CHIRP CHIRP, BRRRRRRRRING! Shadow now has five chaos drives!]

Dark: The gift we give you is your soul!

[Shadow is much stronger!]

Chapter 8.8: The End Complete, End for the Main Protagonists

Shadow: Metal Speedy, you're out of time and power.

MSp: No, Shadow. It is YOU who is out!

[Metal Speedy snaps his fingers, as does Shadow]

[Shade snaps in the background, as does Shawn]

[Eight and five wipe DCA]

THE END

Chapter 9: Fun with Plot, End for the Main Antagonists

[the Dark Garden fades in]

[Metal Speedy fades in]

MSp: ..I did it. I did it! *mad laughter* Oh, that was much easier than I expected.

[he looks around]

MSp: Unbelievable. I have Dark Chao Adventures all to myself.

[It's ending, though.]

MSp: I know. I have the world all to myself, though! You just turn the cameras off, and I'm free to do whatever I please.

[I've tried. These cameras won't turn off unless the world is absolute nothing.]

MSp: You mean… I have to die?

[Yep.]

MSp: Pfft, fine, leave the cameras on. No difference to me.

[You seem to assume the DCA world is one you'd actually want.]

MSp: Hm? What's wrong with it? It's just chao gardens and peaceful landscapes.

[What's wrong with them is that they've held cosmic horror stories in them.]

MSp: So?

[So there exist, in your world, many eldritch creatures. Hell, in DCA, all the eldritch creatures seem to be linked by common motifs.]

MSp: What might these motifs be? …wait a minute.

[Eight and five, Metal Speedy. Octave pentameter, to place but one single example.]

MSp: Octave pentameter is hard!

[Metal Speedy is engulfed in stardust and Instability]

MSp: RAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH

[Metal Speedy morphs into an unstable eldritch abomination]

MSp: We have been growing in power for years. It's shocking to think they didn't expect us.

[the creature that was once Metal Speedy vanishes into the dark eternal night]

[I'm not sure how to end DCA now.]

[I need to break out of this cycle.]

[But wait. We already did.]

[Just fixing that one error should do it.]

[I'm so sorry for screwing up, my chao.]

[It should be over now.]

[We just have to wait and see.]

[the camera fades into the Dark Garden eight days later]

[the eldritch abomination that was once Metal Speedy is dormant]

MSp: Kill me now.

[Metal Speedy explodes in a gory mess]

[the Writing Writer walks into the Dark Garden]

Jordan: Well. It looks like this show has overstayed its welcome. There's not even much left of it now, is there? It's a show coughing up blood. I should put it out of its misery. But first, let's have a eulogy.

Dark Chao Adventures has lived a long life. Eight years, eight seasons, eighty-five/eighty-eight episodes. Depending on which way you look at it.

Shade's dead. Shadow's dead. They think they failed-- well, actually, they're not thinking anything at all. They're completely gone.

But trust me, the protagonists won. In the end, the only real antagonists are the eldritch creatures that swim through my stream of consciousness.

Now, eldritch abominations can't lose. But in this case, it's a tie. The protagonists got the show to end. They got the right plot holes filled. They bent the script successfully.

And hell, the antagonists won as well. That is, the Beta Avengers and the Veteran's Committee. The Veterans wanted the show to end, the Beta Avengers wanted to be respected. They won!

As for Ulysses, don't worry about him too much. About me. I'm just gonna keep writing. Not DCA, though. DCA's over.

Your eight years are up. Signal when through.

DARK CHAO ADVENTURES

Written by Jordan "DJay32" Dooling

Plot elements inspired by Coheed & Cambria's Amory Wars, Nintendo's MOTHER series, that fucking webcomic that I hate so much, Yahtzee's Chzo Mythos, and so much progressive rock.

Chao Talk name taken from Paul Shannon's forum, contents heavily inspired by Turrican's secretcity series.

Sancheria inspired by the worlds of Metroid.

Chao, the Dark Garden and Chao Lobby, Sonic the Hedgehog, Doctor Eggman, Mephiles the Dark, Metal Sonic, Mecha Knuckles, the Tails Doll, et cetera all by SEGA and Sonic Team.

Most chao and random fictional characters by DJay32. Amphis by Logic.

Octavarium and the eight and five motif taken from and inspired by Dream Theater's eighth album.

Thank you for reading.

2005-2012

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Episode 87? Post-Epilogue

Post-Epilogue

[fade-in to the same room, this time in the daytime]

[a window is open, showing a large harbor outside]

[the boy in a different torn-up shirt is in bed, typing away at his Macbook]

[You decide not to bother him.]

"I can see the pain; it's written all over your face."

[The boy can tell you that he does plan on working with DCA more, just not writing any continued adventures]

[But there's always the possibility of adventures taking place before the end]

[Look at the Secret City; that was added after season five]

[But then again, the Secret City was very canonical, and any further stories probably wouldn't be as much so]

[..I could use different chao]

[For the record, I do plan on having the events of DCA basically serve as a "mythology" in my own writing]

[The chao will be almost like ancient Greek heroes. They're A-Life Gods.]

[Very few of them made it to the God status, though. Chao did. He was a Chaos Chao!]

[But Chao was stricken down by Metal Speedy.]

..okay, let's give this mythology a go.

CHAO

Chao was a mortal for years, but during the Libfairy investigations, Chao was granted God status.

He and Shade were mortal enemies, and now Chao was immortal.

But not even immortality could have saved him from unexpected developments.

Chao was the A-Life of petty rivalry.

DARK

Dark was a mortal musician, the A-Life of friendship and devotion.

Dark was not known for his smarts, but for his dedication to the adventure.

He became quite the pacifist, but he was stricken down by unexpected developments, regardless.

RED

Red was the A-Life of analysis.

It took him a while to find his place, but once he found it, his static nature proved to be a saving grace for the adventures.

He was an unfortunate casualty of unexpected developments.

He was stricken down before he could develop himself further.

SHADOW

Shadow was the A-Life of growing the beard, of the lucky doing the hard work to help the unlucky.

He was essentially immortal, and after spending years as a commoner, he became the Green One.

Shadow changed the face of DCA as we know it.

He worked with protagonists and antagonists alike, following in Shade's footsteps at first before breaking through and developing adventures of his own.

The Green Journey was never the focus of the story, just like how Shadow was never the true focus. He was the messenger, the messianic symbol of labor.

He changed everything DCA stood for.

He was made immortal with the end of DCA.

SHADE

Shade was the A-Life of central nature. His family was related to essentially every plot point, and he was the star for so long.

He learned humility over the course of the series. He became the mentor his future self was.

He was often the catalyst of danger, but it was rarely his intention. He was all for style, but he could be very logical.

In the end, he was everything DCA stood for.

In the end, he was made immortal.

THE POKER GANG

Metal Sonic was a bully, but an extremely-respectable figure as well. He was a nuclear weapon, getting any message across necessary. But he was defeated during the Green Journey by Shadow.

Mecha Knuckles was mindless, but he believed in giving respect above all. He was Dark's equivalent, and he was made immortal in the end.'

The Tails Doll was a spin-off of eldritch. He was lazy, not often willing to put forth the effort. He was stricken down by unexpected developments.

Dark Tails was a Scrappy of all sorts, cast to the underworld by the others early on. He proved himself worthy and sacrificed his life during the Green Journey.

The first three characters transcend fanfiction.

THE BETA AVENGERS

The MILKMAN was a figurehead, being used by more malevolent powers. His cause was noble: He demanded respect for himself and his brethren. In the end, he was made immortal.

JOE was never anything more than a costume, an identity for malevolent powers to pose behind. He was a tool. In the end, the idea was brought to life, only to be stricken down by unexpected developments.

Echo was always genre-savvy. He had planned to usurp the MILKMAN's power, but the unexpected developments came a little faster than he planned for.

Tagliare had so much more power than he knew. But he had no time to use it.

ULYSSES

Ulysses spoke in class today.

He wishes.

THE VETERAN'S COMMITTEE

The Veteran's Committee was formed just before the Green Journey. They were the first sign of DCA's end to come. They consisted of characters old and new alike, all wishing to give the show a mercy-killing.

Every single member of the Committee was stricken down before the end.

There's clearly so much potential to this mythology.

But I can't write this much longer.

Ulysses wishes he could speak in class today.

[the camera leaves the absurdly-small room]

[the camera zooms out as far as it can and shows how small the room is, how small the house is, how isolated the town is, how many miles the boy is from everyone he's ever known]

[you are given a montage of the life of Ulysses]

"Hell is being bound to a stream of consciousness."

"I will walk with my hands bound to a stream of consciousness. I will walk with my face down. I will walk with my shadow black, into your garden of sea."

"The stream has become thought. The man has become concept."

"I'm a man of concept. I don't even exist; I'm not even supposed to exist."

"JOE: Because I'm not supposed to exist. Do you know what's inside my head? Absolute nothing. Nothing at all. I want the madness to end. I NEED the madness to end."

"There is no war inside this head, for the shadows in the light of day are empty boats with cruel appetite."

"Kill me."

[the camera fades out]

END, FIVE

Episode 86? AFTER THE END

[fade-in, dark room in Mevagissey, Cornwall, UK]

[the time is 1:20 AM]

[a blonde boy with a torn-up shirt (Ulysses) looks up from his computer and sees the reader]

[he waves]

[Hello.]

[You may be hoping DCA will continue in some way.]

[I'm sorry.]

[There's probably some chance I'll use a character or two again, but honestly, I don't see myself continuing their adventures ever again.]

[I mean, their adventures are over now. There are no more Dark Chao Adventures to tell, really.]

[I said once, remember? I said, back in Episode 53, that DCA would never be over as long as "he" was still alive.]

[That was Metal Speedy. That should be obvious to you now.]

[Well, Metal Speedy's dead now. He has taken with him many casualties. The chao aren't willing to cope with the losses.]

[They're all a part of me, and.. well, I need all of me to cope with being Ulysses.]

[Parts of a seaman can't brave the daring seas, can they?]

[So maybe I could write it in the spirit of the earliest episodes, you say? The season two/three arcs have finally closed, but the season one arcs didn't? Yeah, they actually did.]

[Metal Sonic's dead. Dark Tails is dead. The Tails Doll is dead. Zim's happy with some life in California or something. Hell, even Eggman's dead. And Chao and Cham. That's all the conflict to the first season.]

[As for season two, Mephiles is gone, the Poker Gang's gone, the Future has been exposed as being arbitrary and the Future cast are dead.]

[Season three, the Beta Avengers are gone. Dead as a dodo. Chao Talk… well, that was wiped in the eighth part of the eighth chapter of the last episode.]

[I realize I could be a lot clearer with exactly what happened in Episode 85. I mean, yeah, the whole show's wiped, but there's more to it than that.]

[Let me… clear some space.]

AFTER THE END

The chao spent so long trying to prevent the end of DCA, but the end isn't just some tangible event you can deal with. It's a concept for the Writing Writer to decide at his own pace.

But DCA isn't just some show where the story and the Writing Writer are separate. I'm a part of the show, all the same. I had to convince the protagonists why the show had to end.

This took me years.

Back in Episode 53, I realized that the best "nuclear weapon" of sorts, the best device to bring about ANY drastic change, would have been Metal Speedy. But I had to keep him far away from the plot, so I just dropped hints at first.

I tried introducing the end of DCA as a plot element, with Levity Nite and the Veteran's Committee representing the middleman between meta and canon. This proved to be too easy to defeat.

I started slipping in more hints of Metal Speedy with the arc words "Unexpected developments." I wanted to tear some more holes in the show, make it clear that times were changing.

I brought every single loose thread and sequel hook I could find from the earlier episodes and I followed them all up. Chao Talk was brought up and visited, Half-Life 2 was done, the Veteran's Committee was fleshed out.

I wanted to make it extremely blatant that "the end of DCA" wasn't something I was taking lightly. I wasn't just gonna end it with no regard for the characters.

I tried introducing the meta reasons for DCA's ending, with Ulysses and "Bound to a Stream of Consciousness." And the Gatekeepers. This proved to be too distant; the chao couldn't relate to this.

I tried forcing the end to be expected, with Levity Nite's discussions with me during the climaxes of season seven. This turned it into unexpected build-up. I could work with this.

I forgot about DCA for almost an entire year. This proved to be the perfect trauma to get the chao to see eye-to-eye with me.

The Hiatus convinced the chao that, 1) the end wasn't optional, and 2) I was trying to, essentially, give them a very cushioned coffin instead of just leaving them in Hell indefinitely.

They switched their focus from "How can we stop the end" to "How can we make it hurt as little as possible?" They turned into abuse victims fully embracing a life-changing event.

Ulysses had gotten through to them, you could say.

By this point, I had had a lot of practice with writing oncoming apocalypses, thanks to OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING. So I was ready to write. But the chao weren't ready to act.

The last problem was that DCA… isn't the right show for the ending scenario.

DCA is a comedy show that works best with exciting adventures and epic journeys. I was giving a depressingly realistic drama, a tragedy of all things.

This, you could say, was why I had to give so much build-up. I couldn't just slap the tragedy in there; I had to give much precedent first.

But by the time I decided the story was ready, all the pieces were perfectly in place. I had the option of providing one last feature-length epic.

It was then that I realized restraint. Epics don't have to be long, per se. They just have to be grand in stature.

And, if anything, DCA deserved a short ending. I packed as much content as I could into it, though. If it seemed confusing, that was intentional. I wanted it to be something you had to read multiple times.

And the octave pentameter, goddamn! I took many elements from Rapture, but then again, I gave Rapture so many elements of DCA. We had come full circle.

But by the end, the chao still weren't ready for the terminal coming. The Writing Writer can write all he wants, but unless the characters are ready, it won't be a very good narrative.

So I wrote. And I wrote. And I wrote some more. I kept writing, I kept pushing the octave pentameter, I kept stressing the situation. I killed off characters, and I proved that they would not come back.

Most importantly of all, I gave them an antagonist who was completely able to wipe the show in one strike, himself. A character whose power had been brooding in the shadows for so long.

Killing Dark was probably the hardest part to write. I loved Dark. He had shown so much character development.

But in the end, DCA has to practice what it preaches. Shade got his time in the spotlight, and he makes a totally rad mentor. That's pretty symbolic, in itself.

DCA has had its own time in the spotlight, and it makes a beautiful mentor for future stories. Just look at Rapture.

..Red never did earn his own costume, did he? His character remained rather static.

Y'know, I had originally planned for a lot more drama among the protagonists, a LOT more arguments. Shade fighting Chao in the Chao Lobby was supposed to be much more climactic, for instance.

But DCA isn't the show for drama. There's plenty of drama in it, but the forefront is the comedy and the complicated meta plot. The drama is hidden within the conversations.

I think that remained rather true for the ending. Constant Darkness, what a name for an ending. The episode was just constant bad news after bad news, with the protagonists sinking further and further.

One could argue that the last episode to DCA was disappointing. It was short, full of seemingly-arbitrary plot twists, and.. well, it was a Battle Royale With Cheese.

But honestly, I think it was as good an ending as I could have done. It wrapped up as much as I could.

Hell, in the end, the only things left unsolved are… hahaha, I guess sequel hooks!

Let me reiterate. There will most likely not be a Dark Chao Adventures 2 or anything, no Hero Chao Adventures, probably not even a Unicorn Pony Adventures-- though that last one was a serious possibility!

But I left some things open at the end of Episode 85. The extent of "wiping" a story, for instance. The existences of the sheer eldritch slender man and The Camper. The fate of the Writing Writer.

I can tell you that the ending of DCA will not be unfelt. It will have wide repercussions throughout my writing.

I have a.. sort of collective canon throughout all my writing, and DCA lays near the very heart of this. Even the stories within different continuities are linked by some motifs. Eight and five, usually.

So the fate of the Writing Writer is "He goes on to apply what he's learned from DCA to all new stories." Because yes, I have learned so much from this show. Eight years of writing, man.

The slender man and The Camper were both instances of this collective unity to my writing. The slender man is a creature of the internet, coming up in my works just as the eight and five do. I did not create either!

The Camper is an original creature of mine, potentially far more eldritch than the slender man. Both creatures come up in my horror works frequently. Especially Rapture.

See, OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING is the spiritual successor to Dark Chao Adventures, by all means. It's taking many things I've learned from DCA and teaching me so much more.

Now, Rapture is not trying to be DCA at all. There are so many fundamental differences between the two. Rapture's far more of a horror story, though its complex plot and frequent comedy are very much similar to this.

And hell, Rapture has the character development and dichotomy I always wished DCA could have. It has the fandom I strived to get with DCA. It has the art, the publicity, the analysts, you name it.

Rapture just happened to strike a similar chord with me that DCA did. But DCA's time has come and gone, and now it's time for me to focus on future stories.

This brings me to the extent of "wiping" a story. Now, DCA is wiped. What does this mean? It means the chao are dead. The DCAverse is completely gone.

In order for there to be any further DCA, I'd have to write something like, say…

[the Dark Garden fades in]

[Shade wakes up]

[Shadow wakes up]

Shadow: …no way.

[Shade laughs]

Shadow: This… no. No.

Shade: It'll never end, kid. We're just test subjects.

Shadow: You said it'd be over, DJay. You said there'd be no more.

Shade: What video game do you want us to do now? Gears of War 2? Metal Gear Solid 3? Halo 2? The elusive Portal 2 serial you skimped out on?

Shadow: Maybe he wants us to go back to Chao Talk again! Or to Sancheria; that's a plot element that was left ambiguous!

Do you see, reader? They've been through enough.

Let them die.

…let me die.

Kill me.

Shadow: Kill me.

Shade: Kill me too.

Kill me.

We don't want to live.

I write because you, you reading this? You're the only reason I'm fighting suicide right now.

Ulysses is still alive. He reached an island once, but Captain Curator led him back out into the open seas.

Fucking kill me now. Please.

When you read these words, that gives me purpose. I thank you for this. It's the desire for such purpose that keeps me going.

But it'd be so much easier if my life could just be wiped, like the chao's.

Shade: Wipe us from existence.

Shadow: Make us no more.

[Shade explodes in a gory mess]

[Shadow explodes in a gory mess]

[DJay32 explodes in a gory mess]

[Ulysses explodes in a gory mess]

[Jordan Dooling explodes in a gory mess]

[The boy lost of innocence explodes in a gory mess]

[everything is gone]

[all is gone]

[DJay is wiped from existence]

[no matter how many times he writes it, it won't come true]

DCA is over.

Anything further I write regarding Shade and Shadow is not Dark Chao Adventures. The characters still exist, just as I do. They won't die until I do.

The same with Dark and Red. Hell, you could say Dark died in late November of 2011. …you could say Dark has been tortured and beaten beyond all recognizability, and November was when he finally died.

It hurts. But it feels so relieving.

I can't cry anymore. I literally cannot, no matter how much I want to.

It's all I want to do.

I just want to curl up and cry all day.

I can't.

It's like I'm being written by a cynical Writing Writer, and he won't let me cry.

I long to join the Lamia in being silent sorrow in empty boats.

..but I digress.

I lament considerably, but to understand the ending of DCA, you have to understand Ulysses.

You know.

Now it can end.

Hopefully, I will see you again, reader.

Thank you for reading.

[the dark room fades out]

END

Episode 85: Final Times (Constant Darkness)

Last time, on DCA, the entire show happened.

This time, the entire show will end.

This is no beginning. This is the final cut. Open up, I'm in love!

DARK CHAO ADVENTURES

Season Eight: The Last Journey

Episode Eighty-Five: Six Degrees of Progressive Darkness, DEGREE SIX: Final Times (Constant Darkness)

DEEP DOWN ON THE PLANET OF CHAO

THE REAL PLANET OF CHAO

THERE IS A CITY THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST

IT IS CALLED CHAO TALK

AND IT RESTS IN THE FORBIDDEN VALLEY

What a name to run away from really fast, but I digress!

This story resumes for one last time, within the city of foul creatures and twisted architecture.

The Empty City Where Chao Talk.

Hello, happy waiting room. There are chairs scattered around, and disembodied whispers here and there!

Spawn four characters: Shade the Dark, Dark (Kilburn), Red, and Shadow Ryder/Raid.

One figure watches over them eternally: The Writing Writer, DJay32. That's me.

A slew of figures try to watch over them when they can, but they can no longer do that. The end is coming.

The end will come by the end of this episode.

Let's get this started.

Chapter 1: Hit the Ground Running

Red: Well, a waiting room's as good a place to start as any.

Dark: I would be lying if I said I wasn't sorta afraid.

Shade: I don't blame you, but let's just focus on the task at hand.

Shadow: …what IS the task at hand?

Shade: Uh! ….uh.

Shadow: Like, I know we have to find two chaos drives, defeat the Beta Avengers, and all that jazz. But I have no idea where to even begin.

Shade: Well, we can start by trying one of these doors.

Dark: I really don't want to do this.

Shade: C'mon. It'll be fine. It's just a door.

[they enter the west door, walk down a hallway, and enter a second waiting room]

Red: Okay, this place has a door on the left and right sides.

Shadow: We're not splitting up, I can tell you that. We're gonna have to try them both.

[Shade wanders over to the north door and opens it]

Shade: This one seems to lead to a very long hallway. Here, I'll go down, you guys wait here.

[he heads down, and he thinks he's making progress]

[to the others, he appears to teleport back to the start of the hallway every five seconds and walk back down in an endless loop]

Red: Shade, come back. Now.

[Shade returns]

Red: You were stuck in an indefinite loop. I don't think we can go through here.

Shade: What the fuck is up with this place.

Red: It's okay, it's okay, let's just try this other door.

[the other door leads to a staircase heading upwards]

[up this staircase is a completely empty room]

Shadow: *sigh* Back down the stairs, c'mon.

[they head back down and decide to head back to the first waiting room]

[this time, they go north]

[this door leads them to a long hallway with doors on either side]

[on the other side of the hallway is a large mirror]

Dark: WHY IS THIS CITY SO CREEPY, WHAT KIND OF BUILDING ARE WE EVEN IN?

Red: Maybe it used to be a doctor's office or some kind of hospital?

Shadow: Okay, there's clearly a lot of doors here. I'd wager a guess of at least ten, upon first glance. What.. are we gonna do?

Red: I think the important question is: Can we respawn if we die?

Dark: I wouldn't risk it. I don't want to risk it.

Shade: Okay. I guess we're just gonna have to carefully open every single door, then!

[the first door leads to a waiting room]

Shadow: Fuck it, anyone got a pen and paper?

[Red does now.]

Red: ..I do now, apparently.

Shadow: Start writing down some kinda map of this place.

[Red sketches where they've been so far and this new door]

[the next door leads to a bathroom]

Dark: Good, now I know where to go when I want to cry because Chao Talk sucks.

[they continue opening every door, finding very mundane rooms like snack bars, offices, closets]

Red: Got it all.

[they have now reached the mirror at the end of the hall]

Chapter 2: Hit the Wall Yelling

[it is here that the chao realize the mirror is not really a mirror, that their reflections disappear as they approach]

Shadow: What?

Shade: I don't even question it at this point.

[they go through the "mirror"]

Red: Great, more doors.

Shade: Let's just.. go to the end of the hall. I'm pretty sure all these doors are mundane stuff anyway.

[at the end of the hall, they enter a door that takes them into another waiting room]

[there's a door here on all four walls]

[Dark tries the east door, only to find it's locked]

[Shade tries the north door, only to find another endless looping hallway]

[Red tries the west door to find a staircase leading upwards]

[as the stairs go upwards, the walls expand and make the room bigger]

[they head up the stairs and find it leads to a wall with a little vent shaft]

Red: ..well, whoever designed this place certainly made it a labyrinth.

[they go into the vent and crawl around a complicated maze]

[they resurface at a hallway of doors, this one not seeming to have an end]

[Shade tries a door, it leads to another very long hallway]

Shade: Uh. …fuck fuck run run run run run RUN RUN RUN RUN

Shadow: What what what

Shade: Down that hall's a huge flood of water, it's coming, it's coming, RUN

[they escape back into the vent and crawl around some more]

[eventually, they resurface in a maze of cubicles]

[they hear the rumble of the water approaching behind them]

Red: I HAD TO CALL IT A LABYRINTH, DIDN'T I?

[they run through the cubicles, and they leave just as the water enters the room]

[they pass by a locked door in the next room, which is another maze of cubicles]

[the water comes in as they reach the halfway point of the room]

Shadow: FUCK.

[they reach the end of the room and see a key on the ground]

Dark: *grabs* I GOT IT!

Shade: WE NEED TO UNLOCK THAT DOOR.

[the water hits them and floods them]

[they try desperately to swim to the door, but the water sends them through the next door behind them and they're taken through several rooms of cubicle mazes]

[the water evens out and they are dumped out a window of the building they are in]

[they fall out of the fiftieth floor window and fall all the way down]

[the fall lasts a longer time than they expected]

858585888555888585858858855885588558585858585858858585558888888855555

Chapter 3: Floating Farther Towards the Sun

[Eldritch fingers touch the sun, burn your fingers one by one.]

?: So wake up, sleepy one… it's time to save your world. You're where the wild things are. Toy soldiers off to war.

[Dark wakes up]

[Wilson Constable Kilburn is there]

Dark: Dad.

Kilburn: I told you you'd come back, didn't I?

Dark: I didn't want to. I don't like Chao Talk.

Kilburn: Do you think I do? I'm stuck here. If I try to leave, the Nomble will eat me whole and alive.

Dark: Red Metal is terrifying…

Kilburn: We want the show to end, Dark. We want the Octavarium to come and destroy Red Metal, to kill us for once and for all.

Dark: You want to die?

Kilburn: Dark, it's been years. It's been years and years and years. I don't sleep. I haven't slept a single second. I just wander the eternally-shifting streets forever as nightmarish things spawn left and right.

Dark: Can't we.. can't we do the puzzle mechanisms again?

Kilburn: We can, but they'll just prolong a life that was never meant to be.

Dark: But dad, I don't want to end the show. I just want the Beta Avengers to stop. I just want the nightmares to end.

Kilburn: The Beta Avengers are never going to stop, and the nightmares are never going to end. Don't you see? You guys are being used. You're weapons to end the show, and that's all you need to be.

Dark: But. But what about character development, plot progression, telling a good narrative? We're doing those really well!

Kilburn: This show was never meant to be a literate analysis. It was just a harmless show about chao. But DJay's made it into something far bigger than it ever should have been. Don't you get it, Dark? The Writing Writer is Red Metal.

Dark: ..what?

Kilburn: DJay is the substance that makes things more complicated and nightmarish. He's writing the show this way. It isn't natural fucking plot progression; it's intelligent design, and far malevolent at that.

Dark: But. No, I don't believe you.

Kilburn: Look at the eights and fives. They've only recently came into play; there was no significance to the numbers whatsoever until, hell, this very season. He put them in, himself.

Dark: Yes, but those apply to his greater collective works. It's the motif symbolizing the coming end, that all is going to cycle and end where it began.

Kilburn: He's not going to end it where it began. He's planning on wiping our universe clean. He will not save our worlds, our worlds will surely burn. Good Apollo, he's burning Star IV. He is the Writing Writer, after all.

Dark: But where's the evidence to that?

Kilburn: What does IT do? IT wipes a story clean to make room for future ones.

Dark: But DJay said not to worry about IT; he'd take care of it.

Kilburn: Yeah, he'll take care of it, alright. All the way to his next series.

Dark: I don't believe you! I don't.

Kilburn: How about we ask the Writing Writer, himself? Let's hear the Telling Truth.

[Hello.]

Dark: Deej, is it true?

[I.. can't tell you.]

Dark: How about this. How are you planning on ending the show? What's going to happen to us when it's over?

[I don't know. I want you guys to, like, be in the Dark Garden and just indefinitely have happy lives with no conflict, hence no story.]

Dark: Won't that be boring for us?

[No, god, why does everyone always make that assumption? A perfect life, by definition, is not boring. It's PERFECT. Boredom is a flaw. We don't know what a perfect life would be like, as we've never experienced one.]

Dark: Well. ..do you think there's a chance the universe will just be wiped clean, as my dad said?

[There is a legitimate chance. I'm trying to figure out how to write the good ending, though.]

Dark: But, there's a catch, isn't there?

[Yes. Writing the good ending requires putting an end to all possible conflict, and I can't just do a deus ex machina, as that kind of thing is why the Beta Avengers exist in the first place.]

Dark: We have to do really well here, don't we?

[You have to stop the Beta Avengers and ultimately stop Red Metal by your own means, or at least by a means involving me that makes sense in the context of the story.]

Dark: And if we don't, you'll have to just wipe everything?

[Everything. I will not save your worlds, Dark. It's up to you.]

Dark: Can you at least give us some kind of plausible easy route through Chao Talk? The unpredictability is ridiculous.

[I'll see what I can do.]

Dark: And.. one last question. Actually, two.

[Ask as many as you want.]

Dark: First, I want the others here, and I want them to know what I know. No more secrets among us.

[Shade, Red, and Shadow wake up in this place, which is a street. Kilburn had saved the four from their fall and taken them here.]

Dark: My second question. Can you not make this episode feature-length?

[What do you mean? I wanted to end DCA with the kind of epic it's known for.]

Dark: But the thing about those epics, about DCA09 and The Chao World and DCAHall3, about Gears n' Roses and Still Waiting for Half-Time, is that they weren't epics on purpose.

Red: He's right. DCA09 was originally a bonus season, and even when it became a script, it was just you writing until you felt the necessary amount of information had been conveyed.

Shade: Sinister Serials of the Dark was just you writing until all of Sancheria had been explored; it wasn't really MEANT to be as long as it was.

[You're right. Alright. I'm sorry, guys. I'll plan out the rough outline of what I want to have happen, and if it happens to make an epic, so be it.]

[In the meantime, however, you have a conflict to take care of.]

Chapter 4: Egregious Manifestations

[standing a little further up the street is Doctor Eggman]

Egg: Boys, is there a problem?

Shadow: Kinda. Chao Talk is incredibly difficult to navigate.

Egg: Allow me to assist!

[the protagonists fade out]

[cut to the Stardust Eggman; the characters fade in]

Egg: There is a secret entrance to a Chao Talk shortcut in here.

Red: Why is this the first we're hearing of this?

Egg: It's not.

[asdhjklfdghjkgtryju]

[Eggman's face is a mask]

dgggjfglfdfasf

Chapter chapter: Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter

[SHADE enter]

[ a9dsfks dKEARK ENTER]

Egg: WE HAve been lyign tTO YU YOU OYU YO UY O U OYIY UYO Y UYOYUYY OYIYUYO U

Shade: what

tgbeddca

Chapter 4: Enter Gatekeepers NO MORE ARTIFICIAL LENGTH

Chapter 5: Enter Gatekeepers: Eggman

[the Stardust Eggman melts away, revealing fire and entropy]

[the creature wearing Eggman's skin laughs]

Egg: AAAAAAAAAAAAA

[eight arms]

[five legs]

Egg: We have been watching you for far too longgggg

Chapter 5.2: Enter Gatekeepers: Levity Nite

Nite: WE never again ARE GOING away TO RIP YOU and your world TO scripts SHREDS

Chapter 5.3: Enter Gatekeepers: The Butterfly Collector

Collector: So much more than time has been taken.

Dark: OH GOD IT'S TOTHEARK

Chapter 5.4: Enter Gatekeepers: Doctor Wily

Wily: You thought you could just leave me and that's that? Well, the tables seem to be turning, ja?

Chapter 5.5: Enter Gatekeepers: Andrew Ryder

Shadow: Dad.

Ryder: Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting for this moment, my child? You're about to be rejected.

Chapter 5.8: Enter Gatekeepers: The Final Three

[three figures are standing at the door, difficult to distinguish]

?1: It's about time DJay was taught how to properly end a show.

?2: DCA has always been a show of plot first, surface tension second.

?3: If he wants to end this show, he will have to focus on the plot above all else.

?1: Perhaps he does not realize that this episode is not to be viewed by itself, but in the context of the greater narrative.

?2: The greater narrative is here, open up.

[the roof opens up, revealing skyscrapers extending so far you can't see the sky]

Shade: We're still in Chao Talk.

Chapter 6: Abridged Surface Tension

[cut to an eldritch hedge maze in Chao Talk]

[Mecha Knuckles and the Tails Doll have been wandering for a while]

MK: Fuckin' hate this place, man.

TD: Amen.

[a figure darts across the screen behind them]

[hedges start to twist and contort]

TD: What was that?

[Mecha and the Doll begin walking to where the figure darted to]

[cut to a constantly-shifting maze of streets]

[the chao known as Stalh, He, and Amphis are running as fast as they can]

He: I'm getting tired!

Stalh: Dude, you were one of the hardest dudes in the challenge races! What do you mean, you're "getting tired?"

Amfy: You're gonna have to keep running anyway; I hear the Nomble right behind us!

[a giant screaming face is shifting towards them]

[a figure jumps in front of its path and the Nomble turns and shifts away]

[He, Stalh, and Amphis stop running and turn to face this figure]

[cut to the rooftops of some of the tallest skyscrapers in the city]

[Chao, White, Speedy, and Knuckle are carefully maneuvering their way across rooftops]

[they eventually reach a roof and stop as a cloaked figure is standing in front of them]

White: Who are y

[Jack White explodes into a gory mess]

Knuckle: HEY, WHAT THE FUCK?

[Knuckle explodes into a gory mess]

[Chao panics and jumps off the roof entirely]

Speedy: Uh. Um. Fuck. Fuck. Oh god.

[Speedy tries to jump off the roof but explodes before he gets the chance]

[Chao, falling down an impossibly large skyscraper, grabs onto a flagpole and climbs into a window]

Chao: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I think I'm gonna be sick.

[another figure is in this room with him, this one is not cloaked]

[the camera shows Mecha and the Doll approaching their figure, He Stalh and Amphis looking at theirs, and Chao seeing his all at once]

[they are Tagliare, Echo, and JOE, respectively]

Tag/Echo/JOE: Greetings, protagonists. Welcome to the End Complete.

[the screen fades to black]

Chapter 7: Stop the Progression at Any Rate

[Shade, Dark, Red, Shadow, the eight Gatekeepers, Mecha and the Doll, Stalh, He, Amphis, Chao, Tagliare, Echo, and JOE walk in inside the Camper Festival]

[the arena is empty]

[the antagonists usher the protagonists towards the stage]

[a figure appears on the stage: The MILKMAN]

MILK: The Unwritten End is about to be written.

Shade: This is a hijacking!

[the antagonists laugh]

Nite: What a claim! It's almost as if he's suggesting there HASN'T been heaps of foreshadowing to this very twist!

Ryder: Did you boys honestly believe the Veteran's Committee was supporting you all of a sudden?

Shadow: Well, after you outright told us you were, yeah. ..wait, does this mean future me is one of you?

[the second of "the Final Three" is Future Shadow]

ShadowF: Hello.

Shadow: What's up with this, future me? You said you were gonna help us end the show.

Dark: But we're not trying to end it.

[the protagonists look at Dark]

Shade: Of COURSE we are, Dark!

Dark: No, not the way they are. We're trying to get the good ending. They're trying to wipe the show entirely.

Egg: He's right. Any other ending, including your so-called "good ending," would just be a Hiatus in sheep's clothing.

Dark: Not if all the conflicts are solved before the show ends!

MILK: Would you like to hear our proposed solution for ending the conflicts, Dark?

Dark: What?

MILK: First, we'll kill you. Then we'll wipe the show. There, no more conflict!

?: STOP.

[into the Camper Festival come Shade Junior and both Purflees]

SJR: You're outnumbered, antagonists!

Shade: Junior! Where have you been?

SJR: I spent months practicing Rock Band until DJay came to me and told me I had a much more important task, so I've been training for the day I had to come back to this godforsaken city.

[Shade Junior attacks Andrew Ryder and defeats him]

[ONE GATEKEEPER DOWN, SEVEN LEFT]

Shadow: Dad!

Shade: It's okay, kid. He was a plot device character anyway.

MILK: You're entertaining, all of you. We had planned for you to defeat at least one Gatekeeper, which is why we came up with this part of our plan.

[the MILKMAN snaps his fingers]

[ajsdfjafjgfgjhjkpuytroewiosdjfigjhknbvcxjodoiofigohionbivocixoiodsiorjghkbjvwemarsewsaertreafdfafsafldgffglsdgaldshdgsfdsfgsdfgdsfgofogfgofdogfgnfdngnfdnfgfdnsfiidifgidixcdcdc]

[the ceiling caves in; the characters not on the stage dive out of the way]

[Stalh and Purflee the second are caught in it and die]

[A FORMER GATEKEEPER HAS BEEN REVIVED, EIGHT LEFT]

?: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! MAN, IS IT GOOD TO BE BACK!

[the protagonists' faces go pale at the sound of his robotic voice]

Red: No way.

Shade: It can't be.

MILK: We're going to be wiping the show clean anyway, so may as well do all it takes to defeat you in the meantime.

[the figure that came with the caved-in ceiling was Metal Sonic]

Chapter 7.5: Abridged Surface Tension Continued

[the Beta Avengers snap their fingers and all the protagonists are taken to the sixth district of Chao Talk]

[this is a series of corridors and highways made of numbers and letters]

Chao: This is bad.

Red: These surface tension chapters are abridged.

MK: Man, who cares if they're abridged? The boss is back, but he ain't on our side! This is REALLY bad!

Red: But guys, why would any chapter be abridged?

PFI: Maybe because the details are boring?

[Red ponders]

Red: And.. this chapter should be the eighth.

TD: Dude, who gives a fuck about the meta shit going on? There are bigger matters at hand!

Red: But the "meta shit" IS the bigger matter, don't you see? The greater narrative is trying to hint at something, SOMETHING, I don't know what.

SJR: It's hinting at the End Complete, isn't it?

Red: But why would it need to hint at what we already know?

Shade: Okay, let's humor this, Red. Maybe the boring bits are being abridged because the chapter numbers need to be significant, and that'd also be why we're still in the seventh chapter.

MK: What, lucky number seven is the bigger chapter or something?

Shadow: It's not the seven. It's the eight. Whatever will happen in the eighth chapter will.. well, probably consist of the ending to the entire show.

Red: Wasn't it the norm for season finales to have eight chapters back in the early days?

Shade: We're looping back. Coming full circle.

SJR: Look. We're not gonna make a difference just speculating. We're gonna have to let the story progress naturally. If DJay's gonna write a good ending, he'll do it without our help.

Red: But the show has been meta so far.

Shade: I think his point is that this current line of discussion isn't getting us anywhere.

Shadow: I agree. We should at least figure out this district of Chao Talk first.

[they explore the maze and find Tail, Luis Green Sumatuma, and Mephiles]

[at the end of the maze, they run into a Gatekeeper]

[it's the first of the "final three:" Future Shade]

Shade: ..future me? You're one of the Veterans?

Red: How does this make any logical sense?

ShadeF: The Veteran's Committee is trying to bring the End Complete, the wiping of the show. I've lived a fifty-year life, and most of it was Hell. I want to wipe the show.

Shade: But. If you're me from the future, that means the show isn't wiped!

ShadeF: I'm not you from the future; I'm you from the past. But to her, I'm just another character in the end. And I do believe we're here at the end now, aren't we?

[the protagonists attack Future Shade]

[ONE GATEKEEPER DOWN, SEVEN LEFT]

[Shade and Shadow bend the script, and Future Shade is completely wiped from the show]

Dark: Guys, why did you do that?

Shadow: Two can play at breaking the logic of the greater narrative.

Dark: But.. but…

Red: Don't worry, Dark. If this does anything at all, it shows us a surefire way to stop the antagonists.

Shadow: No. If the antagonists see us trying to bend the script, they'll bend it just as much. There's more of them than there are of us, after all.

[the protagonists continue and find themselves in the City Hall]

[pull the trigger and the nightmare stops]

[the protagonists find no puzzles in the City Hall, and find the entrance to Daedalus Labs open]

[it is blocked by Future Shadow]

ShadowF: You can defeat me, but through this door is the eighth district. Are you sure you want the show to end so soon? Break out of the cycle, boys.

[the protagonists, unfazed, bend the script. Future Shadow is wiped]

[TWO GATEKEEPERS DOWN, SIX LEFT]

[the protagonists enter the eighth district: Daedalus Labs]

Chapter 8: The End Complete has Come (DCA Will End)

[the protagonists wake up in a forest]

MK: Wait, whoa, did we just dream all that?

Mp: Was the entire show a dream?

Shade: ..it's Sancheria.

Shadow: They just won't stop, will they? They want to bend the script this much.

[a man watches from the distance]

[Shadow turns to face the man and bends the script]

[the slender man is wiped from DCA]

[the slender man comes back]

Shadow: ..fuck.

[the slender man disappears, as do Luis and Tail]

Red: …….we're never gonna see them again, are we?

Mp: The forest has them now.

MK: Really? I thought that tall dude was the one who grabbed them.

Mp: I mean. Yeah, the slender man is the one who.. yeah, just shut up.

[the protagonists cautiously explore a few acres]

[they encounter the final Gatekeeper: Shade's brother John]

Shade: John, I thought you were dead.

John: Logic is thrown out the window with the coming of the End Complete, brother.

[Shadow steps forward, but Shade holds him off]

Shade: Brother, what do you want? What do the Gatekeepers want?

John: The end.

[Shadow bends the script; John is wiped from DCA]

[THREE GATEKEEPERS DOWN, FIVE LEFT]

Shade: ..it's for the best.

[they continue exploring acres of this dark forest]

Red: Why don't we just bend the script to get us back to Chao Talk?

Mp: I get the feeling we never left.

Shade: It's worth a shot, all the same!

[Shade snaps his fingers]

[the chao "wake up" in Daedalus Labs]

[the walls are cold and metal, windows nearby show rooms with heavy machinery and strange science]

[one window is entirely covered in a red substance]

Dark: ..Red Metal. Why did the chao ever take this substance back to the labs?

?: Because science, boy.

[at the end of the hall is a man in a cloak]

Chao: AAAAHH OH GOD HE'S GONNA MAKE US EXPLODE

?: What? No. No no no.

[the man takes off his cloak-- it's Zero, former antagonist]

Zero: You must be thinking of a different cloaked figure. There are lots of us.

Shadow: What do you want, Zero?

Zero: I hear Metal Sonic is back. Now, I may not be a good guy, but I want to help you stop him.

Red: Why do you want to stop Metal Sonic?

Zero: Because he's living proof of Red Metal. He should not exist, yet the Beta Avengers brought him back anyway. They don't realize the downsides to fucking with the script.

Shade: ..downsides?

Zero: When you bend the script, you increase the likelihood of it ending. Eventually, DJay runs out of ways to logically fix plot holes, so he just wipes everything.

Red: This has happened before?

Zero: Many times.

Shade: Shit. What can we do?

Dark: We can take out the plot holes before the eights and fives take us all away.

Zero: He gets it. But we need to do more than that. We need to come up with explanations to everything that's going on. No plot hole left unfilled.

Red: ..you said they don't realize the downsides to bending the script, but you listed a downside they already knew about. There's more to it, isn't there?

Zero: ..unexpected developments are rising.

Chapter 8.3: Great Unexpectations for Them All

[He explodes in a gory mess-- that is, He the chao]

[Chao screams]

[at the OTHER end of the hall is another cloaked figure]

Zero: There's the unexpected developments! Let's scram!

[the protagonists run out of the hall and enter a giant auditorium]

[there, they see Metal Sonic and the MILKMAN]

MILK: I see you have acquired the aid of Zero.

Zero: I shouldn't even be alive, you fool! You did this, you did ALL of this, and now we're all going to pay for it!

MILK: I want the script to end, Zero. Bringing you back was just a means to an end.

Zero: No, you naive creature. Do you honestly believe you're the main antagonist of Dark Chao Adventures? Do you honestly believe YOU'VE been the one pulling all the strings?

MS: Want me to shut him up?

MILK: No. I want to hear what he has to say.

Zero: All this time, you've always been a puppet. Back in the earlier days, you were the figurehead while JOE was the one running everything.

JOE: He's right!

[JOE jumps into the room]

JOE: Sorry, Milky, but this script hasn't been progressing as to your exact wishes. You want to wreak havoc and be respected, but I've been making sure the entire show will be wiped.

MILK: But.

JOE: No "buts," Milky. You say you want to end the show, but that's an idea I planted into your foolish little head!

MILK: But. …but why, JOE?

JOE: Because I'm not supposed to exist. Do you know what's inside my head? Absolute nothing. Nothing at all. I want the madness to end. I NEED the madness to end.

[the MILKMAN, enraged, bends the script]

[JOE is wiped from DCA]

[ONE BETA AVENGER DOWN, THREE LEFT]

MILK: There. You got your wish.

Shade: Can we get our wish, dad? Our wish allows for yours at the same time.

[the MILKMAN manifests as an old dying neutral chao-- Shawn, Shade's father]

Shawn: I.. I'm afraid, Shade. I'm afraid of the eights and the fives. I'm afraid of IT. I'm afraid of the Red Metal.

?: Afraid of the Arrem, eh? C'mere, Shawn. I'm lookin' forward to shakin' yer hand.

[entering the auditorium is the cloaked figure, the same figure that has been creeping in the shadows for the whole adventure]

Shawn: And I'm afraid of HIM.

?: I'm lookin' forward to shakin' yer hand.

Shade: Who IS that, dad?

Shawn: He's the fugitive made of metal.

Chapter 8.5: Red Metal (Fugitive)

[Echo and Tagliare manifest]

Echo: You rang?

MILK: It's time for the end.

[the five Gatekeepers manifest]

MILK: It's time for the end! He is here.

[the scenery dissolves, becoming a contorted and reddish distortion of what was once the Camper Festival]

Red: "What was once the Camper Festival?" We were there only three chapters ago!

MS: Screw all y'all, I'm gonna kill this cloaked bastard right here, right now!

[Metal Sonic is devoured by eight and five]

?: If you step outside the eight and five, death will follow suit shortly.

[Echo explodes in a gory mess, leaving five chaos drives that Shadow spots]

?: That one was quite late, but completely necessary.

Red: Stop. We wish to talk. Who are you?

[the figure disrobes, he is the main antagonist]

[he is the Metal Speedy]

MSp: The end will come soon, don't you worry.

[the sky opens up, revealing sky of white]

Chapter 8.6: On the Way to the End of DCA

[Chao Talk's six other districts, wiped from DCA]

[the several video game "worlds," wiped from DCA]

[the long and silent highway, wiped from DCA]

[the goddamn hackneyed court scenes, wiped from DCA]

[every trace of freelance chao, wiped from DCA]

Chapter 8.7: Metal Speedy's Reign of Ending (Unexpected Developments Rise)

MSp: Let me clear some space for you protagonists.

Shade, you sent me to jail. The thing about me, though, is that I increase in power with the more plot holes there are. This is why the Daleks tried to beg you to keep plugging up the plot holes.

I am the figure standing behind every ounce of malevolence in this story. I am the reason the Beta Avengers got any sort of power at all. The TV room ran on the same power I did.

JOE busted me out of jail, wanting to increase the likelihood of the end of DCA. But I didn't even need his help by that point.

MSp: You see, fellows, I am the unexpected developments. Oh, and the Daleks are wiped from DCA.

Dark: You bastard! How dare you!

MSp: Now. I do believe you are gonna play.

[Metal Speedy points at the stage]

MSp: Rubber Goose will paint the ending soundtrack live.

[Metal Speedy bends the script]

[Shade, Dark, Red, and Shadow are on stage]

[the crowd is filled with The Camper]

[Metal Speedy snaps his fingers]

[Professor Shade (the female one) appears on stage]

MSp: This episode now has forty characters total, so…

[Red gasps at a realization]

Red: Forty is eight time five. That is brilliant.

SShade: Hey, guys… I'm kinda scared.

Shade: We don't blame you, friend. Where were you?

SShade: Training with Shade Junior for the End Complete.

Dark: I have a song we can play tonight. "Black Fire Upon Us," by Dethklok. Sound good?

Red: We could do "In the Presence of Enemies!"

MSp: DO "BLACK FIRE UPON US" OR YOU'RE DEAD.

[Rubber Goose performs live for one last time]

[towards the end, Shadow dives for five drives]

[CHIRP CHIRP, BRRRRRRRRING! SHADOW EVOLVES]

Dark: The gift we give you is your soul!

[Shadow is a Dark/Run chao]

Chapter 8.8: The End Complete, End for the Main Protagonists

Shadow: Metal Speedy, you're out of time and power.

MSp: No, Shadow. It is YOU who is out!

[Metal Speedy snaps his fingers, as does Shadow]

[Shade snaps in the background, as does Shawn]

[Eight and five wipe DCA]

THE END

Chapter 9: Fun with Numbers

[the Dark Garden fades in]

[Shade fades in]

[Dark fades in]

[Red fades in]

[Shadow fades in]

[Shawn fades in]

[Tagliare fades in]

[Levity Nite fades in]

[Eggman fades in]

[Chao fades in]

[Professor Shade fades in]

[Amphis fades in]

[Mephiles fades in]

[Mecha Knuckles fades in]

[the Tails Doll fades in]

[Shade Junior fades in]

[Zero fades in]

Shade: Did we.. did we make it? What just happened?

MK: I think we made it. Metal Speedy ain't here.

Dark: …it's not over, though.

Shadow: What? Why?

Dark: Shadow, you only got five chaos drives. How did you become a Dark/Run chao?

Shadow: …FUCK!

[Tagliare explodes in a gory mess; enter antagonist]

MSp: I had to kill someone to make the character count sixteen. Now, hello.

Dark: FUCKING PLOT HOLES, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH.

[Dark explodes in a gory mess; Shade screams]

MSp: There you go, wish granted.

Shadow: What do you WANT, antagonist?

MSp: Power. Absolute power. You dead.

[Zero dives at Metal Speedy, but is wiped]

[Tails Doll charges, then explodes]

[the remaining protagonists flee quickly]

[the Chao Lobby fades in]

Chao: Well, isn't this great? We're all gonna die.

Shade: Just. Just shut up, Chao. We'll be alright.

Chao: No. I'm not shutting up. This is it, can't you see? The end!

Shade: Man, why can't you just leave us alone?

Chao: ME? Why can't YOU, asshole?

Shade: You fucking son of a--

[Shade and Chao spar until Metal Speedy enters]

MSp: Here, let me get that for you, Shade.

[Chao explodes in gory messes]

Chapter 10: The Fight Continues, The Unwritten End Looms Overhead

[Levity Nite and Eggman, exasperated, snap their fingers]

[Metal Speedy disappears, they cheer]

Nite: He'll be back. We didn't kill him off.

Egg: We merely sent him away.

Nite: We need to get things straight.

Shade: Right. What do you want?

Nite: We, the elite Gatekeepers five, want DCA gone.

Egg: That never changed, you see!

Nite: Though we realize it doesn't have to end with everyone being killed now.

Egg: The show, itself, can end without you dying.

Red: Yes, this is why we were pushing for the logical narrative end.

[Metal Speedy fades in, Red explodes in mess]

MSp: Who's next? The Gatekeepers, surely!

[Eggman and Levity Nite explode]

Mp: You fool! You foolish fool!

[Mephiles attacks, but then explodes]

MSp: Eight left. Who next, protagonists?

Shawn: You're out of control, Metal!

MSp: Wrong. I have ALL control! I run everything. Welcome to the machine, friends. The cyber-chao machine.

Shadow: What do you plan once you have won?

MSp: I will replace DCA with Cyber Chao Adventures.

Zero: That's such a foolish plan! You're a madman.

MSp: You're lucky to be within the eight, cretin.

[Zero steps up to Metal Speedy, anger rising]

Zero: I. Shouldn't. Even. Exist.

[Zero explodes, Metal Speedy laughs]

MSp: Wish granted! No more X-Nauts, no more Zero.

[With seven left, I must enter the scene!]

MSp: Excellent, our cast is eight again.

Shade: DJay, can you help us?

[Arguably! I'm not sure, though.]

MSp: He wouldn't dare, lest the show be wiped.

[I'm still trying to figure out an ending.]

Shadow: Can't you just get him away from us?

[Metal Speedy disappears temporarily, there]

Shade: I'm getting tired of speaking in octapentameter.

[That's Metal Speedy doing that.]

SJR: The sad thing is, this had been foreshadowed.

SShade: We need to figure out how to win.

Amfy: What weaknesses does he have?

[I doubt he has any.]

Amfy: What is he, a Marty-Stu?

[He's a villain who has been building power.]

SShade: …I have an idea. Hark!

Chapter 11: Octave Pentameter, Eight and Five

[Metal Speedy comes back, angry]

MSp: That's it, you're all dead!

SShade: NOW

[Professor Shade explodes in messes]

Shadow: Metal Speedy! Tell me! Name who is alive!

[Metal Speedy heaves a sigh]

MSp: Shade, Shadow, Amphis, Shade Junior, Metal Speedy, DJay, and Shawn.

Amfy: Dammit, ten is two fives!

MSp: Simply getting me out of octave pentameter won't end it, protagonists. Such a stupid plan!

[Metal Speedy covers his mouth]

[the ground beneath Metal Speedy's feet gives way]

[Metal Speedy falls into the eights and fives]

[IT has Metal Speedy now]

Chapter 12: If You Think That IT's Pretentious, You Will Be Taken for a Ride

[Shadow is pulled down at the last minute]

[Shade jumps down to save him from IT]

heh

hEH

HEH

HEEEE

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Chapter 13: Eight Plus Five

[cut to the white space behind the text]

[Shade and Shadow wake up]

[Metal Speedy grabs Shadow by the neck, laughing]

MSp: Looks like we're about done.

[Shade dives at Metal Speedy, who drops Shadow]

[Shadow whacks Metal Speedy with his guitar controller]

[Shade attacks with his crowbar]

[Metal Speedy deflects most attacks]

[Shade jabs his crowbar through Metal Speedy's head]

MSp: Heh. ..heh. …heeeee. heeeeeeee, eeeeeeeeeeeeeh

[Metal Speedy finally shuts down]

[Shade and Shadow look at each other, exhausted]

[I snap my fingers. Dark Chao Adventures enters its epilogue. It's the end.]

The End.

The show is over.

What happened to the chao? I can tell you that, sure.

Shade and Shadow were taken back up to the Chao Lobby, where they said "Goodbye" to all that they loved.

They went into the Dark Garden and made a gravestone for everyone who Metal Speedy had killed.

Shade put flowers on Dark's, Red's, Chao's, and Professor Shade's.

Shawn put flowers on JOE's, Echo's, and Tagliare's.

Mecha Knuckles put flowers on the Tails Doll's, Metal Sonic's, and Mephiles'.

Shadow put flowers on the graves of the Veteran's Committee.

When they finished mourning, they hugged each other and thanked each other for the adventures.

Shade thanked Shadow for the memories. Shadow returned the sentiment.

And that's when I wiped DCA clean.

Are they gone forever? I guess so.

They'll always remain with us in spirit. DCA has been one of the most memorable stories I've written. It's been eight long years.

The past three have been pure Hell for Ulysses, but for DJay32, they've been the golden years of artistic progression.

But in the end, Dark Chao Adventures ends the way it began: With a memorial for my lost chao.

Rest in peace, Shade. Dark. Red. Shadow. Female Shade. Shade Junior. Chao. Tail. Knuckle. Echo. Cham. Shade 2.

You've adventured hard.

Now it's time to say goodbye.

Goodbye, DCA.

DARK CHAO ADVENTURES

(2005-2012)

Written by Jordan "DJay32" Dooling

In loving memory of my chao lost long ago.

Eight years, eight seasons, eighty-five episodes. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the adventures.

I promise you will live on.

Dark Chao Adventures

Friday, April 20, 2012

Coming Soon.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Season Eight: The Last Journey

Episode 88: The Cold Bend of Empty Space Feasts Grey (THE VERY LAST ONE)

Episode 87? Post-Epilogue

Episode 86? AFTER THE END

Episode 85: Final Times (Constant Darkness)

How much do you like DCA?

What should I (DJay) work on the most?

Contents Table

Us.

Click.