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]

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[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]

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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.

Oh god, it's coming

Yeah, today I got bored at my dad's office, so I opened up a notepad and got to writing. And pretty soon, I got hooked. Before I knew it, I was on Episode 84. Yeah, the semi-final one. I'm impressed too.

So go on, read the new episodes. I tried to offer a taste of how exciting the finale will get, but honestly? I have no idea how exciting it'll get. xD I have vague ideas of what'll happen in Episode 85, but I'm really uncertain.

People who read the new episodes may notice I made the story both a lot simpler and a lot more complex at the same time. Yeah, I'm.. starting to figure shit out. Also, swear words. No more censors and playing it safe. If DCA's gonna end, DCA's gonna end on my terms. Any objections? I didn't think so. Don't worry; I'm not going to be having pornographic scenes left and right or anything. I stick to what works in the established narrative, and DCA is, at heart, an innocent tale of the coming of age of a writer.

If I can pull Episode 85 off, this is going to be one of the greatest things I'll have ever written. It will be unbelievably hard to top. But I will. :D

I sincerely hope people will come along for the ride. Archive Binge if you have to. The last episode's gonna be one hell of an adventure.

Episode 84: Pitch-Perfect Dark (Jet Black)

LAST TIME, ON DCA…

The protagonists are almost ready for the last adventure.

The antagonists are almost ready for the last adventure.

A third side has made itself known: Chao Talk.

We may very well have a cosmic horror story to end the show.

DARK CHAO ADVENTURES

Season Eight: The Last Journey

Episode Eighty-Four: Six Degrees of Progressive Darkness, DEGREE FIVE: Pitch-Perfect Dark (Jet Black)

[the story resumes in the void as the crowd of the Camper Festival is approaching]

Chapter 1: The Truth Unwinding, the End Unwritten

Shade: We need to clear a lot of things up. Now.

Shadow: But we can't while we're in the void; those.. people can easily get to us. Aren't there safer places to go?

Nite: Unlikely. Nowhere's safe anymore.

Shadow: What about the rip in spacetime beyond the planet of pure dooky?

Egg: ……y'know, why didn't we think of that?

[the characters appear in the STR]

Egg: Okay. Okay, we're safe now.

Shadow: Good. Let's.. let's fucking straighten all this out. Let me clear some space.

The chaos drive was said to be in the Station Square Prison, but we found everyone there dead except for a Dalek. It was the peppy one, the one Dark liked. We then found a strange corridor which took us to the Camper Festival,

where Dream Theater sacrificed themselves to save our lives.

MK: Right. The Doll and I just took a walk in the void, man, and it led us to the Festival. Next thing we knew, the crowd was grabbing us.

Egg: This is where we're going to have to explain some things. Allow me the clearing of space!

It turns out creatures have been stealing the chaos drives and leading them to Chao Talk. I'm sure you remember what happened the last time there was a chaos drive there-- it made the city all-powerful. That city is inhuman.

The creatures, in question.. well. I said they were Fears, which are the public domain eldritch abominations DJay has been writing with, but.. they're not! I was mistaken.

They're the Beta Avengers. But unexpected developments have turned the Beta Avengers into.. well, into the closest things to Fears. What more, there are extra figures with them, figures we can't even recognize.

It would actually seem that the MILKMAN is using his obfuscating powers to render many of the antagonists impossible to detect. Even by the naked eye.

We're not dealing with plain old antagonists, people. These are foes ascended to God status. They are taking everything of DJay's writing and combining them to make meta-super-antagonists.

Red: So.. so what the FUCK do we do? What the fuck CAN we do?

Shade: Calm down.

TD: It's a legitimate question, ahahahaaaa. This is kind of deep.

Dark: I'm gonna completely side with them, Shade.

Shade: Dark.

Dark: Yeah. Yeah, Dark. Fucking DARK. Dark, the guy who.. the guy who's always the comedic relief! Me! I'm freaking out, Shade. I can't keep it up. I CAN'T.

Shadow: Dark, please calm down.

Dark: BUT I CAN'T, I FUCKING CAN'T. DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE'VE HAD TO GO THROUGH? OF COURSE YOU DO. We dealt with the fucking. HIATUS. The. Fucking. HIATUS.

Red: Please don't remind me of that!

Dark: And NOW it turns out we have to go to the place of my worst nightmares, except it's EVEN WORSE!

Shade: NO ONE SAID WE'RE GOING TO CHAO TALK, CALM DOWN.

[they stop]

Shade: Now look. Yes, we're going up against something a little on the ridiculously-powerful side of things. Yes, they're beings hard for us to comprehend, let alone consider tangible.

Shadow: And there may be enemies we don't even know about.

Shade: Yes. Yes. It's an INCREDIBLY daunting task. But LOOK, okay? Really LOOK at the gravity of the situation. If we do nothing, it'll be another hiatus.

[everyone gets goosebumps]

Shade: YEAH. Exactly. It's do or die, boys. Do or die.

[Shade takes a deep breath]

Shade: Let me put it another way.

Chapter 2: "It's Time People Took Dark Chao Seriously."

Shade: Nice touch, Deej.

[I give a thumbs-up.]

Egg: I agree with the boy's points. This show isn't taken too seriously, but that's because it hasn't been written to be taken seriously. I mean, I was sick of not being taken seriously, so you know what I did? I took over the world!

Shade: Exactly. And look at Shadow, he was just a minor character, but he went and became one of the main protagonists!

Shadow: I mean. Both Eggman and I had DJay on our sides, the unexpected developments. It wasn't like hard work, alone, was all it took. We needed luck.

Shade: Well, yes. If you want to put it like a political metaphor, the poor need far more than just hard work to get rich. They need fucking luck beyond compare. But we HAVE that luck, guys. We're the main protagonists.

Shadow: Yeah. The sixth and seven seasons were just trying to, if you will, level us up. We needed to grow some beards of our own so that DJay could write us as believably strong characters.

Shade: Yeah, exactly! It's cooperation of the characters and the author. We have to do some hard work, but it all pays off in the end. It makes us well-rounded.

[Red raises his head]

Red: I see what you're getting. I.. yeah, that helps. But Dark and I never really got the character development you two did.

Shadow: You guys got INDIRECT character development, which if you'll ask me is the best damn kind. I'm rather envious, actually.

Shade: I hate to sound patronizing, but you two are sorta the foils of the group. You're there as support for strengthening characters. You're VITAL.

Shadow: We're ALL foils of each other. Shade is the bold and cocky one who plays off Red's and my humble side. Red's the smart guy to play off Dark's and Shade's more naive selves.

Red: And.. and Dark's the funny pop culture guy to play off of mine and Shadow's rather "plain guy" personas. And Shadow's… I dunno. What IS Shadow?

Shadow: I'm, uh… I'm… hm.

[You're the Lamb. You're the sacrificial messiah who's here to inspire proactive behavior in a show that's otherwise lazy and half-assed. You represent growing up, coming of age.]

[You are the direct counter to the show's own motto: "Living life one step at a time." You live life one giant fucking leap at a time.]

[You, Shadow, are a foil to all. And you will be the one to foil the antagonists' malevolent intentions.]

Shadow: Wow. Uh.. yeah, that! So yeah, who's with me?

Shade: Who's with US?

[the protagonists cheer]

Dark: We're gonna fucking blow some milk all over the place.

Shade: I wouldn't go around saying that!

Shadow: Wait. What about all the other guys? Future me and all that?

Egg: That's, uh. Wow, that's a good question. What do you say we go find out?

[cut to the Dark Garden; the protagonists walk in]

Shade: They're not here. Where else could th--

[SCREAAAAM from nearby]

[they run towards it!]

[cut to the Neutral Garden; Future Shadow, Future Shade, White, Chao, and Amphis are fighting off more shadow people]

[Shade nods at Dark, who throws Final Fantasy 7]

[KA-BOOOOOOM]

[the shadow people are all dead]

ShadowF: Hello! Thank you!

Shade: Okay, we gotta give you the pep talk Shadow and I just gave these guys 'cause it was really cool and you gotta hear it.

[Shadow laughs]

Shadow: Yeah, it was.. pretty cool.

[THEY GIVE THE PEP TALK]

Chapter 3: Tangled up in Grey

Shade: Okay. So. What's the news on the Shade Junior front?

Amfy: We found all the Freelancer chao dead behind the waterfall. Covered in eights and fives.

Shade: …SHIT. What even is going on! So what about Shade Junior?

ShadeF: Kid, we.. thought we found him. And he led us to the dead bodies. But when we turned to face him, he was gone.

Shade: ..huh. Okay.

Chao: You're taking this awfully well.

Shade: Well, I mean. He wasn't really that much a part of the show, was he? Besides, we're gonna find him eventually. It's closure, and there's only.. how many episodes left?

ShadowF: The next one will be the last.

[they look at him a bit]

MK: That's kinda scary, isn't it? To think that this is seriously almost over. Eight years, wasn't it?

Red: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. ..yeah. Eight years. Eight seasons. Eighty-five episodes.

Shade: Is this.. the longest-running fanfiction ever? Can't be.

Dark: I'm sure there's, like.. Sherlock Holmes stuff or something. Or the Bible, I guess.

Red: Yeah, look at Revelations. That's technically fanfiction. Hell, you could say the New Testament is fanfiction to the Old one.

Dark: THE BIBLE 2: JESUS STRIKES BACK. Or is that Revelations? THE BIBLE 3: THE REVENGE.

Shade: God, and DJay thought the 9/11 jokes were offensive thirty episodes ago.

Shadow: I'm pretty sure we'll be, at the very least, one of the longer Sonic fanfiction stories out there, right?

Shade: I wanna say we'll be the best-written, possibly most complex.

Shadow: What if we put Sonic Team back on the map? Wouldn't that be hilarious?

Dark: "DARK CHAO ADVENTURES: THE VIDEO GAME. STARRING YUJI NAKA'S DISLOCATED HEAD AS SHADE."

Shade: Where the hell did THAT come from?

Dark: I dunno.

Shade: What if, like.. Sonic Team offered DJay a job as a writer?

[they all laugh]

Shadow: No, they won't do that.

Red: Would he even accept if they did?

Shade: Probably! Money's money.

Amfy: One thing's for sure: We'd see a lot more dominant women in Sonic games.

Red: And Dream Theater would be hired to provide the soundtrack to the next game.

Dark: No, I got it. Between the Buried and Me.

[…oh god. xD Going through some bright flowery Green Hill Zone and all you hear in the background is GROWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLL]

MK: What were we talking about, again?

Nite: Shadow-- that is, Future Shadow. We need to have a little talk.

ShadowF: Sure.

[Levity, Eggman, and Future Shadow fade out]

[in the meantime, the protagonists go to check out the dead bodies]

Dark: Wow. Even Quartz is here. I never suspected anybody'd actually go and kill the guy.

Red: They even killed Shadow Bonic. That dude was a crazy-good Chaos Chao.

Shade: Whoever did this is just gonna wind up like these guys. I hope they know that. They're causing conflict, therefore they are an antagonist. And in the end, the antagonists will be bested.

Red: I really hope so.

[the Veterans return]

ShadowF: Fellows, I believe it's time we got down to business.

Chapter 4: It's Business Time

ShadowF: Let me clear some space.

We're not gonna beat around the bush any longer. Boys, your best bet for chaos drives is clearly Chao Talk. All other alternatives just get blocked by some antagonistic move and/or unexpected development.

I know you don't want to go to Chao Talk again. But you're going to have to. It won't be easy. It won't leave you unscarred. We will help all that we can, but we still cannot help you that much.

Of course, Chao Talk will not be the only area you'll have to visit on your last adventure.

You'll find yourselves exploring the farthest reaches of time and space. ..again, come to think of it. You have many video games to visit, many tactics to learn and many cronies to defeat.

You're going to have to go back to the Camper Festival at some point, for instance. I'm not sure what for, but you will have to.

You'll fight each other. You'll fight everyone around you. You'll fight DJay, and ultimately, you'll fight the show's biggest threats.

But you know what? I know you'll succeed. You have one long adventure ahead of you, but you've been through eight long seasons building up to this.

I can't promise all of you will come out of this alive. That's right. Some of you are going to die. You're martyrs, of course, for the freedom that this will provide.

This isn't just some cheesy "Good versus Evil" plot. This is a foe that strives for revenge for all its tragic flaws. You all have your own flaws and negative aspects. It's blue and orange, not black and white.

But you have to do this. For the good of the show. Okay? If you don't do this, we will all be stuck on another indefinite hiatus.

This is for the good of everyone present. The good of the readers, the good of DJay, the good of yourselves, the good of ourselves, the good of the public, the good of the antagonists, the good of the show.

Any questions?

Dark: I have a few. WHY CHAO TALK?

Egg: Chao Talk is the place you fear most. That's why.

Red: Why us?

Nite: Because you're the Dark Chao who go on Adventures.

Shadow: Why these particular antagonists?

ShadowF: Because they are the real victims around here, and the way they were treated as characters means they don't know how to cope with being victims.

Shade: Why was the show threatened in the first place, is my question. Couldn't DJay have just treated this like some other story back in the seventh season?

ShadeF: Sure, he could have. But he didn't, so why question it? We should consider ourselves lucky he didn't just end it with a big deus ex machina. Hell, be glad he didn't end it with Episode 50. He had to grow the beard some day.

Red: Something's been bugging me, Future Shade, ever since Gears n' Roses.

ShadeF: Heh, other than the fact that that thing ended on a cliffhanger and both attempts at continuing it were scrapped?

Red: Yeah. You always seemed to know a little bit more about the meta show than.. well, than any character would.

ShadeF: You want the truth, Red? I can give you the truth. After all, the show's ending. Why not?

[Future Shade walks up to Red]

ShadeF: I AM DJay.

[the chao look at him]

ShadeF: It may seem to you like every chao over a certain age seems to be really in-touch with DJay's thoughts. Look at Shawn or Cham, for instance. They have the paper. I don't. I don't need it.

Red: But how does that make any sense?

ShadeF: Hah. Simple. I'm Shade from the future, aren't I? Shade was DJay as a young dweeb, in chao format. Shadow was DJay as a teenager, trilby and all. I'm him as he envisions himself older.

Shadow: Does that mean I'm somehow related to you guys?

ShadeF: Now, I dunno about that, and I don't intend to go all Maury "YOU ARE THE FATHER" on you. Form whatever Wild Mass-Guesses you want. All I know is that I share every one of DJay's opinions and thoughts.

[he chuckles]

ShadeF: Why, you could even call me the token Marty Stu. It wouldn't be incorrect. I am an unkillable, unbeatable, unoutsmartable genius. With a cowboy hat, stubble, and shotgun. And I'm from the future.

ShadowF: I guess the truth of the matter is that the future ain't what it used to be. We're simply labelled as you guys from the future, but character-wise, we're quite different.

ShadeF: DJay never did like writing time travel. We were just different characters to him.

ShadowF: The best advice we can give is "Just don't think about it too much." Not right now, anyway. You have an adventure to go on.

ShadeF: Yeah. I'll sit this one out, if that's alright. Don't wanna cramp your style. But hey, good luck anyway.

Chapter 5: It's Time.

[Shadow takes a deep breath]

Shadow: Looks like it's time, guys.

Shade: Hey. Good luck, man. Good luck to us all.

Dark: Yeah, good luck. I feel like we're about to fight Giygas or something.

Red: It's more like we're about to travel back in time to take on all those annoying enemies and then eventually fight Giygas.

Shadow: Either way. We're gonna need a lot of luck for this. But if we can pull it off? Well, it may very well be the most exciting thing anyone's ever seen.

Amfy: We're all going in, though. We're all gonna try to help how we can.

Chao: Yeah, even I will. I can't just sit here and watch you guys wander around a reality-bending city with no help whatsoever.

ShadowF: Yes, rest assured, protagonists. You'll be getting a lot of help. But I fear even all this help won't be enough. The enemies are that tough.

Dark: Oh, I know. I fucking know. It's Chao Talk.

Shadow: We're ready, though. Send us off. Bring on the last adventure.

All: BRING ON THE LAST ADVENTURE!

[Future Shadow snaps his fingers, and all the protagonists disappear, leaving the Veteran's Committee and Future Shade in the void]

Nite: Didn't have the heart to tell 'em about Sancheria, did you?

ShadowF: No.

TO BE CONCLUDED.

FOR GOOD.

Episode 83: Can't See (C Flat)

LAST TIME, ON DCA…

The concepts of the end of the show were discussed.

The main protagonists and the main antagonists met.

DARK CHAO ADVENTURES

Season Eight: The Last Journey

Episode Eighty-Three: Six Degrees of Progressive Darkness, DEGREE FOUR: Can't See (C Flat)

[the story resumes in the river of sand that is the bright white light]

[the protagonists are doing stuff, you read the last episode]

Chapter 1: Abstract Continuation Theory

Amfy: So you know what I propose we do?

Shade: What's that?

Amfy: Recruit more backup. We're gonna need all the help we can get, aren't we?

Shadow: Amphis has the right idea, but we can't have too many people with us or else it'll be hard to keep track of everyone.

ShadowF: Don't worry about that. We have the void on our side. We'll keep them there as a sort of.. character storage.

Red: That's a frightening idea, but I say we go for it. Who first?

Shade: You know who I really wish we could get help from? Metal Sonic. That dude rocked.

Dark: That.. that dude did rock.

Shadow: But I killed him, didn't I?

Shade: You did! And that also rocked. Seriously, well done.

Chao: Who do we currently have? Other than the people present, of course.

White: We have, uh. Mecha Knuckles, the Tails Doll, and Mephiles in the void. And Eggman and Levity Nite.

Dark: We could get Zim and GIR. Maybe not GIR, but I mean.. we could get Zim. He has helped us a lot before.

Shadow: We could also get, like.. the rest of our future selves. Future Red was really cool.

Dark: Future me's dead, isn't he?

ShadeF: Yeah…

Shade: There's also Purflee, Luis, the other Purflee, that He guy, and.. Stalh or whatever the fuck his name was.

ShadowF: I'm on it.

[Future Shadow disappears for a few minutes]

Chao: What about the Heroes? Tail, Speedy, Knuckle? And Shade Junior?

Shade: Shit, there are a lot of people we can get. We'll get on that once Future Shadow gets back.

Dark: Mister Prower?

Red: Why would we want our teacher with us?

Dark: He's good at math…

Shadow: I think we'll be fine in the arithmetics department, Dark.

[Future Shadow returns]

ShadowF: Both Purflees, Luis Green Sumatuma, He, and Stalh are now safely stored in the void.

Chao: We also thought of, uh.. Tail, Speedy, Knuckle, and Shade Junior.

ShadowF: On it.

[he disappears again]

Chao: What are we gonna do when we have everyone? How can we defeat a group of characters who are as powerful as our entire group?

Shade: It'll be one hell of a brawl, alright. But I think, if we can get Future Shadow to Echo, he can get us five chaos drives.

Shadow: …so we should be focusing our present efforts on gathering the remaining three.

Shade: Two.

Shadow: Two, right.

Dark: See, we're gonna need Mister Prower, after all! Math!

[Future Shadow returns]

ShadowF: Tail, Speedy, and Knuckle are now safely stored in the void.

Shade: What about my son?

ShadowF: I couldn't find him.

[the chao stare]

Shade: You couldn't.. find him?

ShadowF: I'm afraid not.

Shadow: Okay, so we have two focuses. One: I need to find two chaos drives. Two: We need to find Shade Junior. I have the feeling he'll be important.

Red: What gives you that idea?

Shadow: He was a Beta Avenger once. And a Tour Guide. Both are significantly formidable forces.

Shade: Right, we're gonna need to figure this out. Who'll do what?

Dark: We could have the usual four go for the chaos drives while everyone else looks for Shade Junior.

[majority votes yes]

ShadowF: I'll make sure you get the support you need from Eggman and Levity Nite.

Red: Thank you.

Chapter 2: Friday Investigation/Verification Evaluation

[cut to the void in space and time or wherever it was]

[Shade, Dark, Red, and Shadow walk in]

[Eggman and Levity Nite walk in]

Shadow: Do you guys know--

Egg: Nice outfit.

Shadow: ..thanks. Do you guys know where we can find a chaos drive? We need two.

Nite: There are several in Chao Talk.

Dark: Anywhere else?

Nite: We have detected one in the Camper Festival.

Shadow: …the where?

Egg: I don't think they want that one.

Nite: Good point. …hang on, I think I know who can help us.

[Levity walks out]

Red: What was that Camper Festival thing?

Egg: It was.. it was nothing. Don't worry about it. Just a music festival from Hell.

[Levity walks back in along with a strange presence]

Nite: Protagonists, I have with me a being who knows where you can find a chaos drive.

?: Greetings. You know me by now; I am called the Butterfly Collector.

Shadow: Of course; you're the Veteran behind the prog challenges and the Gatekeepers.

Butterfly: Yes, I'm glad you remember me! You see, I did, at one point, possess the chaos drive you seek. But…

Shade: I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here. Unexpected developments caused you to lose it.

Butterfly: Yes, actually! Exactly that.

Shadow: Veteran's Committee, I'm gonna pose a question to you, and I want you to disclose as much information as possible, okay?

Egg: Ask away, dear boy!

Shadow: What are these developments you have been referring to throughout the last season?

[Levity and Eggman look at each other]

Egg: It's. Hard to explain.

Nite: The developments have been the.. the…

Egg: The eights and the fives, mostly. The IT substance. It's been growing impatient.

Nite: It's been infecting characters, bringing the end closer and closer.

Egg: It turned Shawn into this new MILKMAN, Cham into this new JOE, and Echo into this.. creature.

Nite: In Chao Talk, the developments have done all kinds of new things.

Egg: To put it in simple terms, um.. the unexpected developments are. DJay.

Nite: He has been setting up the.. chess pieces, so to speak. Preparing everything for the last adventure.

Shadow: Okay. That sums up a lot. So Butterfly Collector.

Butterfly: Hello!

Shadow: Yes, hi. Where is this chaos drive you no longer have?

Butterfly: At the end of "Lost Perfection."

[Dark's eyes widen]

Dark: We're entering Between the Buried and Me territory? Oh boy, this isn't gonna be easy.

Shadow: I take it Between the Buried and Me is some kind of band and that "Lost Perfection" is a prog piece.

Dark: BtBaM are a crazy band, man. Their lyrics are pretty much undecipherable most of the time, even with the lyric book right in front of you. But "Lost Perfection" was clear: Clowns, fire, and the apocalypse.

Chapter 3: End Now, Drink Sprite

[cut to Mecha Knuckles and the Tails Doll, waiting in the void]

MK: Man, this void's boring as hell.

TD: You said it.

MK: Whaddya say we blow this popsicle joint?

TD: What if the protagonists need us?

MK: Eh, they'll figure it out.

[they begin wandering]

[cut to the Dark Garden]

[Chao, White, Amphis, Future Shade, and Future Shadow walk in]

ShadowF: This is, from what I understand, the last place Shade Junior was seen.

ShadeF: What was the last thing said about him? What was his last episode?

ShadowF: Hoo, that was a way back. Episode 53, a good thirty episodes ago. He tried to overthrow Shade for title of Dark Lord, and was bested in a guitar duel on Rock Band.

ShadeF: Didn't DJay say Shade Junior, like.. stayed cooped up in his corner, playing the game?

Chao: I've been the ruler of the Dark Garden for a very long time, and I don't recall ever seeing Shade Junior here.

ShadowF: There are actually a number of peculiar things about Episode 53. Like the ominous phrasing of the ending.

Amfy: Read it to us.

ShadowF: "And so it seems we've come to the end of our episode. Finally, I can rest knowing that DCA is finished. For good."

Chao: …o___o

ShadowF: There's more. "I mean… not finished. It'll never be finished. Not while….. HE… is still alive."

ShadeF: ..damn. What was he alluding to? His dad? Himself?

Chao: Shade? The MILKMAN?

ShadowF: It's a mystery that has been left unsolved to this very day.

[as they wonder on this, a figure enters the garden]

?: What are you guys doing here?

[cut to the Station Square Prison]

[much panic is going around; a dangerous prisoner had escaped a while back but recently returned]

[no one is sure why an escaped convict would return to prison, but there have been a string of murders of guards, so that kinda answers it]

[one guard is walking through Cell Block 5, watching every move around him]

[his gun and his flashlight are both always at the ready]

[for dramatic suspense, the reader is shown, behind him, Echo quietly land and begin moving towards him]

[the guard does not see the murder coming]

[cut to a dark corridor, an impossibly long dark corridor]

[at the end of the corridor is a well-lit door]

[the door opens, and out walks a cloaked figure]

[its movement is more akin to gliding along the floor]

[its height fluctuates, seeming to become impossibly tall and shorter than the cloak allows all at the same time]

[the corridor fluctuates along with it]

[the figure is both halfway down the corridor and just barely beginning its walk towards the camera]

[at times, the figure appears to disappear entirely]

[…abruptly cut to an absurdly large indoor concert venue]

[the crowd are all seated, staring blankly at the stage, almost comatose]

[on the stage are the members of Dream Theater, performing some complex progressive piece]

[they look exhausted and afraid]

[the camera focuses on a poster saying "THE CAMPER FESTIVAL, ALL NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT! Coming soon to the Camper Festival: Up-and-coming act RUBBER GOOSE!"]

[Dream Theater finishes their piece, and then singer James LaBrie begins to introduce the next piece]

LaBrie: Thank you, you're a lovely….. um. This next.. this next piece, our finale for the night, is off of our eighth album.

[the camera returns to Mecha Knuckles and the Tails Doll exploring the void as LaBrie's voice provides a voice-over]

LaBrie: It's the.. it's the eighth track, the eighth song. It has five movements, and I'm sure you'll all enjoy it.

[Mecha and the Doll stop in their tracks and stare off in the distance at something very odd]

LaBrie: This song is called…

[the camera shows that Mecha and the Doll have found the Camper Festival]

LaBrie: "Octavarium."

Chapter 4: New Octavarium Weapon

[cut to the protagonists in the void]

[no sound is audible other than Dream Theater's tired performance of "Octavarium" over a dead silent crowd]

[Levity Nite snaps his fingers]

[the chao fade into their newest destination: the Station Square Prison]

[Shade grips his crowbar close, Shadow grips his guitar controller close]

[Red points at a dead prison guard nearby]

[most of the cells are empty]

[as the main "Octavarium" motif enters, the chao discover writing on a cell wall]

["EIGHT AND FIVE, TONIGHT CATCH RUBBER GOOSE LIVE"]

[the first movement plays as the chao check out more of this twisted empty prison and see more 8s and 5s etched on walls and dead prison guards]

[spliced among this are clips of the cloaked figure obfuscating down the hallway]

[the movement ends as the chao find someone]

[cut to the other protagonists for the second movement]

[the figure who had entered the garden was Shade Junior]

[Shade Junior is leading these protagonists to a strange sight: all the Freelancer chao dead behind the Neutral Garden waterfall]

[etched on their bodies are thousands of 8s and 5s, as well as on the cave walls]

[cut back to the Camper Festival; Dream Theater is still performing, but they're glancing more at the two new crowd members]

[Mecha and the Dolls are slowly walking down the aisles, looking both at the band and at this strange, almost-comatose audience]

[as the second movement ends, one crowd member grabs Mecha's leg]

[KEYBOARD SOLO]

[the nearby crowd members all stand up as one and begin attacking Mecha and the Doll, who fight back]

[FIGHT SCENE TO THE KEYBOARD SOLO, WHOO]

[as the third movement begins, we're back in the prison]

[Dark mouths "Isn't this where we came in?"]

[the characters are looking at a dying Dalek]

[they pull the Dalek out of the prison, or at least attempt to before they spy a new hallway appear literally out of nowhere-- the door just manifests abruptly, all nearby shadows seeming to flee from it]

[the Dalek gestures for them to go without it, so they enter the hallway and the door behind them disappears]

[as they head down the hallway, Dream Theater hits a progressive instrumental section]

[the camera keeps cutting between dead bodies covered in 8s and 5s, the protagonists heading down the hallway where the figure was, Mecha and the Doll fighting off the crowd, and Dream Theater performing]

[EXCITING SCENES TO THE EXCITING PROGGASM]

[eventually, it all comes to a climactic build-up for the fourth movement as the chao reach the end of the hallway, manifesting in the Camper Festival]

[the chao help Mecha and the Doll fight off the crowd]

[every crowd member mouths "Root," "Second," "Third," "Fourth," "Fifth," "Sixth," "Seventh," and "Octave" as they come up in the music]

[finally, everything climaxes as the crowd members are accompanied by string-like tentacles and James LaBrie shouts "Trapped inside this Octavarium"]

[the protagonists are surrounded by an exponentially large amount of crowd members and odd strings, even some coming out of the crowd's mouths]

[the fifth movement slowly plays as the protagonists realize the futility of fighting]

["This story ends where it begins."]

[the band abruptly stops performing the song, causing the crowd's heads to snap towards the stage]

Crowd: KEEP PLAYING.

[keyboardist Jordan Rudess speaks up]

Rudess: No. We've been playing for months now. We can't keep going.

Crowd: KEEP. PLAYING.

[drummer Mike Mangini speaks up]

Mangini: You need to expand your horizons. There's more to life than just music.

Crowd: KEEP PLAYING, OR ELSE.

LaBrie: We're done. No more music.

Crowd: KEEP PLAYING. OR. ELSE.

[bassist John Myung speaks up]

Myung: If this is what it takes to save their lives, we're stopping.

Crowd: THEY ARE EXPENDABLE. KEEP PLAYING.

[guitarist John Petrucci speaks up]

Petrucci: That is ENOUGH. We will not play for you anymore, Camper Festival. Dream Theater has left the building.

Chapter 5

[the crowd is enraged and begins heading to the stage]

[Dream Theater looks at each other and nods]

[they play one last time, this time improvising a heavy jam in 5/8, fighting off the crowd with their instruments]

[the protagonists watch in awe and terror; they've never seen nor heard anything like it]

[the band is literally torn apart]

[the last thing heard is Jordan Rudess performing the "Octavarium" motif]

[the protagonists look at each other in fear]

[..and then Eggman and Levity Nite run in and usher the protagonists back into the void]

Shadow: They'll be after us; we need to get the hell out of here.

Egg: We're on it, don't worry.

Nite: For now, we have even bigger matters to worry about.

Shadow: Even bigger matters?!

Egg+Nite: Chao Talk has been introduced to Fears.

TO BE CONTINUED!