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The Mobius Series

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:58:18 +0000

Today, a new incarnation of my ambitious alternate reality project Cy-Fox will begin. But don't expect to see Tails suited up just yet, because the scene has to be set. How? With the introduction of a prequel story series, the Mobius series. Three stories chronicling major eras of planet Mobius in the twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second centuries:

Mobius: 1985 - The chronological beginning of the series at this point. While we are ten years away from the World Wide Web, it isn't even a pipedream on Mobius as secessionists seek to end their misery from the 73 year rule of the Kingdom of Acorn in a conflict that harkens back to World War I technology and doctrines.
Mobius: 2069 - With their independence and the Western Hemisphere of Mobius secured in 1992, the new Republic of Mobius finds itself in a virtual arms race with the Kingdom of Acorn reminiscent of the Cold War. When both sides acquire nuclear missile technology, their cold war threatens to get very hot and it will take intervention from an advanced race lightyears away to prevent this nuclear holocaust: ours.
* Mobius: 2109 - Human contact has brought the Republic of Mobius to a golden age of prosperity and security as the humans' technological and military supremacy keeps the Kingdom of Acorn in check. When its new sovereign Maximilian Acorn ascends to the throne in 2085, the threat of war seems to be over. The sixteen year technology embargo on the Kingdom is lifted. In 2109, a massive effort to revitalize and upgrade the Kingdom's infrastructure will be undertaken by its recently appointed Lord Scientist, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. But all is not what it seems and the planet Mobius may very well be flung into another war.

I'm planning to start with Mobius: 2109 and then move on from there to Cy-Fox, and then Mobius:1985 and Mobius:2069 in whichever order that appeals to me. Feel free to leave feedback.

-Cy-Fox

Cy-Fox

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:13:56 +0000

Central High School
Dormitory Block 16
Mobotropolis, Republic of Mobius
Thursday, May 30th, 2109

“Where in the Hell did Sonic run off to?” a red Mobian echinda snapped. He leaned against one of the many doors that lined the corridor that comprised of Block 16. He looked to his right and glared at another Mobian, a pink female hedgehog who was standing by the other side of the door.

“How should I know?!” she asked in a low voice. “It's not like I follow him everywhere he goes!” The hedgehog frowned as the echinda impatiently fidgeted and tapped his foot against the floor. His leather jacket made little creaking sounds as he moved. The hedgehog then kicked the echinda in the side of his right foot with a red boot.

“Ow!” The echinda whirled around and raised two fists up to waist level. “What was that for, Amy?!”

“Shut up, Knuckles!” Amy blurted.

Another hedgehog's voice could be heard from Knuckle's left. A very annoyed blue male wearing a black T-shirt and gray cargo pants was approaching. “You two are making way too much noise. I'm surprised he isn't awake yet.”

“Don't look at me Sonic, it was Knuckles that started it!”

“I'm not the one who was yelling, Amy.”

“Do me a favor, Knuckles,” Sonic said, getting closer. He was mainly obstructed by a large metal trash can.

“What?”

Suddenly, Sonic pulled the lid off and gently set it on the floor. The next few seconds were a blur as he flipped the can upside down, ran up to Knuckles, held it over his head and brought it down over him. Sonic then lightly punched the can. “Can it!”

“Hey! What is this?!” Knuckles bellowed.

“Don't make such a big deal about it Knuckles,” Sonic cocked his head towards Amy with a straight face. “It's just a trash can.”

“I swear by the Master Emerald, when I get this thing off I'm going to kick your as-”

The echinda's tirade was broken as the door violently opened, knocking Knuckles to the ground with a loud metallic crash. Standing at the door was not who they were expecting. A young human girl, roughly 16 or 17 years old with long blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing the standard school outfit, a white blouse with a blue ribbon hanging from her collar.

Sonic stared, perplexed and also in awe. That earned him a wrathful look from Amy. With a gulp, he spoke up. “Uh..does Miles Prower live here with you?”

“Perhaps,” the girl replied sharply. She had one of those funny accented versions of English. Not straight 'American' English as he was used to. The girl then stepped out and noticed Knuckles, who was crawling out from the can. She knelt beside the echinda and helped him up to his feet. The echinda gave Sonic one of his patented 'You're going to die' glares.

Sonic shrugged it off. “At least it was a clean, empty one.” He then waved towards the door. “Let's go give Tails a proper Graduation Day wake-up call.”

Amy and Knuckles looked at each other, then at the human, unsure.

“Fine, as usual, I'll do all the hard work.” Sonic rolled his eyes and before the human could object, he walked into the dorm.

“What do you think you're doing?” the human called out, and went in after him. The 21 year old hedgehog dismissed her with a wave and looked around. He was in the living room. These student dorms (built in 2085, retrofitted in 2107) all virtually had the same layout. The hedgehog scanned the room. It was in complete darkness except for the ambient light coming from the blinds on the other side. Under the blinds, right up against the wall was a couch, occupied by someone covered with a single blanket, several pillows under their head.

Sonic walked over to the couch. The sleeper was a Mobian fox, close to six feet in height. His head, with the exception of his nose and mouth was covered by a pillow. Sonic smiled mischievously, snatching the pillow, then throwing it aside. He then yanked the blanket off the fox and pulled the blinds up all the way.

"AAAHH!" The fox threw his arms up over his face, flailing. He sat up and jerked his head to the left, staring wild-eyed at the smiling hedgehog.

“I'm sorry, I forgot to ask,” Sonic then half closed his eyes. He adopted a mangled version of the girl's accent. “Permission to enter the armory?”

The light orange fox rubbed his forehead with his left hand. “Granted,” he muttered. He then suddenly lashed out at the hedgehog with a right hook, using up what little reserve energy he had. Sonic fell onto the floor and winced, massaging his cheek.

The fox sank back against the pillows and pawed at the blinds but kept missing the cord. He groaned, rolled on his back and dug his face into the pillows. “Maria, would you please?”

The girl nodded. “Certainly, dear.” She stepped over Sonic and leaned forward, pulling the cord. The blinds fell back down, shrouding the room in darkness.

“You're an angel,” the fox murmured lazily.

“I try,” Maria said, lightly massaging the fox's back with a hand. She glared down at Sonic. “He's had a long night.”

“Has he?” Sonic half smiled and winked at the fox.

“Don't make me punch you again. I was working.”

Maria folded her arms across her chest. “Which brings me back to what I was going to ask. Who are you?”

“That arrogant ass sitting there on the floor is my friend. Or at least sometimes he is. He's an ass right now.” Tails opened his eyes slowly. “At least until eleven.”

“This ass was actually sent here by your dad.” Sonic slowly got up to his feet. “He wanted to know if you could come to Excalibur to have breakfast with him. Said to bring friends if you wanted.”

Tails closed his eyes. “Maria? Do you want to go with me?”

Maria smiled. “I'd love to meet the general, dear.”

“Hey!” Sonic feigned a hurt tone. “What about me?”

“Mmmm,” the fox acted as if he was really thinking about it. A smile slowly broke out on his face. “All right. Just give us a few minutes to get around. Fifteen minutes or so.”

Maria lightly poked the fox's nose. “I'll get your clothes out,”

“Could you put some coffee on too, please?”

“No. But you can have orange juice instead.”

The fox sighed. “All right.” Maria then walked away from the couch.

“Where'd you find her?” Sonic asked quietly.

“You mean 'Where did she find me?'. It's a long story.” Tails replied with a yawn. “I'll see you out at the door in fifteen minutes. Need a shower.”

“All right, all right.” Sonic sighed. “Everyone seems to be cranky today. Amy, Knuckles. Maria. What's her last name anyways?”

Tails sat up and pulled up the blinds a quarter of the way. “Robotnik.”

“Heh,” Sonic then slapped the fox on the left shoulder lightly. “I'll be outside then.” He turned away and walked towards the open door that led into the corridor. Amy and Knuckles were peeking in. Sonic closed the door behind himself. He looked over at the discarded trash can and sighed. So much for Reveille with the trash can. Oh well, I forgot the stick.

Undocumented Features

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:29:26 +0000

(This is a continuity reboot of something I wrote a few years back, and is a sequel to a story called Skyfox that can be found on The Pit. All you really need to know is that it's set about ten years after the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, and a few months after Tails scores with Sonic's semi-estranged sister.)

The old man had been tending these graves for as long as anyone could remember, and if anyone thought about it all they would have taken him for a distant relative. This was the excuse he would have given if anybody had troubled to ask, but he was extremely glad that nobody ever had. It would have been... awkward.
But nobody ever asked. So far as he knew, everyone who had ever cared about the people named on the headstones had died a long time ago.

And yet, as he approached the two plots, he saw a bouquet arranged neatly in front of one of them. "What the-?" The man looked around sharply, then crouched down to examine the flowers.
White lilies. Her favourite... Gerald Robotnik straightened abruptly. "Who else could have-? No. No, it couldn't be... could it?"

"Hey, they never found my body. What's your story?"
The small bag of gardening tools in Gerald's hand clattered to the earth unheeded. "Shadow... Oh, my God, you're-!"
They embraced desperately, unashamedly weeping. "I'm so sorry..." Gerald mumbled. "Told me you died... heard rumours when the Black Arms came, but I never found any proof before..."
"It's alright," Shadow sniffed. "I'm glad you didn't see what I nearly became... Professor, I've done some bad things... things I promised you, promised Maria I'd never do. If I hadn't started to remember..." He buried his face in his mentor's shoulder and sobbed like a child.
"Shhh, shhh, it's alright," Gerald soothed. "You were tricked into it, and you stopped yourself before you could hurt anybody. And you saved us all."
"That's what I keep telling myself," Shadow said miserably. "Doesn't help much. Almost wish I'd never remembered any of who I am; that way I wouldn't hate myself for what I almost turned into."
"The operative word here is almost," Gerald pointed out. "And you wouldn't be the first honest man Ivo tricked into wrongdoing. He's had years of practice."
"More than you think," Shadow replied bitterly. "The GUN came out of the Black Arms thing looking pretty bad compared to yours truly, so I did a little arm-twisting and got them to take a second look at the intel that got us shut down. Turns out it came in as an anonymous tip-off in the mail, it got logged and scanned in... and then someone went in afterwards and attached a couple of faked photos that a trained intelligence officer would have spotted in a second, but since they were flagged as the real deal nobody noticed."
Gerald's eyes narrowed. "Ivo."
"Who else? Oh, they can't prove anything; the computer-forensics people don't think anyone got through the firewall from the outside, so it looks like someone in Intelligence was paid off or coerced. The chances of finding out the full story are someplace between slim and zero, but as soon as they get done following up a few leads you're officially off the hook. Which reminds me..."
"Those greatly exaggerated rumours of my death?" Gerald managed a wan smile. "Advanced technology, fast thinking and sheer dumb luck, my boy. Remember that bio-mechanical replicant program we worked on for the Secret Service?"
"They fell for that thing?" Shadow exclaimed. "You've gotta be kidding me! It crawled right out of the Uncanny Valley!"
"They didn't send the sharpest bayonets in the GUN armoury on that operation, apparently," Gerald agreed. "Nobody caught on until after they pulled out, at least. My escape pod came down a few miles off the coast of Singapore, and I've managed to stay off the radar ever since. I... heard about Maria when they announced my own apparent death, and yours. They claimed Maria's death was accidental, a stray bullet, but..."
"They lied," Shadow replied, in a tone devoid of all emotion. "We ran for the nearest escape pod, but there'd been a shootout in the corridor and the internal release controls got smashed to hell. I was still trying to jury-rig them to work when we hear the GUN coming back. Maria jumped out to work the external release, said she'd surrender to them." His eyes darkened. "They shot her when she jettisoned the pod. I watched the whole thing. The way she was hit shouldn't even have killed her; bust her collarbone but missed the major blood vessels. Ten seconds and some basic first aid and she would have lived, but they were in a hurry or something. And there was nothing whatsoever I could do, not even kill the son of a bitch who fired the shot; they had almost a full brigade waiting when I made landfall, stuffed me in a cryopod the minute I put my hands up, and when I finally break out the man responsible's two years dead.
"Really sucks to be me sometimes, huh?" Shadow concluded with forced levity.
"All you could do for her was live," Gerald said quietly. "Live and make sure justice was served."
"I'll settle for vengeance," Shadow replied darkly.
"Get me aboard the Ark and you don't have to. I'd begun to suspect Ivo was up to something untoward in the last few months before the GUN raid, and I used my security clearance to do some checking up on his activities. I was still trying to pin down something conclusive enough to take to the authorities when he got his retaliation in first, but what what I have on file up there ought to go some way towards corroborating his role in staging the raid."
"Then let's go."

* * *

"You live here?" Gerald enquired dubiously.
Club Rouge was somewhat unprepossessing in outward appearance, a four-storey edifice of spectacularly ugly design and cheap materials. Much of the front of the building was obscured by scaffolding, and the mournful wail of a disc-sander could be heard from an upper floor.
"It's nicer on the inside," Shadow agreed. "The owner's a friend of mine. She got this place for next to nothing as a fixer-upper; the club part used to be a basement car-park, and we lease the apartments to the university to use as a dorm starting next semester. She offered me a rent-free apartment 'cause she couldn't afford to pay that well, and I needed a place to crash with no questions asked, so here I am; club manager and live-in building superintendent." Shadow smiled wanly. "Not quite what you had in mind for your finest creation, huh?"
"Don't worry, lad, Superman needed a day-job too," Gerald replied with a chuckle. "So where's this ship you... acquired?"

It was less than impressive, a roughly cylindrical craft some six metres long with a rounded nose and an almost cartoonish rocket exhaust at the rear. It was painted in a mottled grey/black/white intended to be difficult to spot from above. "Snagged two of these the last time I hit one of Ivo's supply caches," Shadow remarked. "They used to be cargo UAVs, but a friend of mine retrofitted this one with life-support and a cockpit in return for getting his hands on an intact countergrav drive to back-engineer. And I'd appreciate it if you'd not mention any of this to the FAA, because I have no idea if this is exactly legal."
"It probably isn't, so I won't."
"Thank you." Shadow unlocked the door to a totally conventional garden shed in a corner of the car-park and emerged with a ballistic vest and two army-surplus equipment belts bearing an assortment of pouches. "Respirator, flashlight, radio and medical kit; everything we should need," he explained. "You want a sidearm?"
"I've got my own," Gerald replied, shrugging off his coat to reveal an old GUN service automatic in a shoulder holster.
"Good. I figure Ivo's going to notice when we bring the Ark back online." Shadow reached behind his back and tugged a clip-in holster out of his belt. Gerald noticed without surprise that he was already wearing body armour. "You know, I'm actually kind of hoping he does. The look on his face when he sees you oughta be quite something."
"Indeed. Um... one question. How are we going to get this thing off the ground without anyone noticing?"
"Smart-paint and active stealth gear. There's not much we can do about infrared, but nobody's shot at us yet."

The transport wasn't much more prepossessing on the inside. Whoever modified this thing appeared to have salvaged the seats from a twenty year-old people carrier, and the flight controls looked like they'd from a spaceflight simulator game Gerald had seen at a theme park several years ago. "Your comment about the FAA begins to make sense," he remarked in doom-laden tones.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure their jurisdiction only applies to craft that use physics principles we currently understand, but I'm erring on the side of caution... and that wasn't what you meant, was it?"
"No. No, it really wasn't."
"It's safer than it looks," Shadow replied reassuringly.
"That would not be hard."
"You think you could do better on our budget?"
"I doubt I could have shot an episode of Blake's Seven on your budget!"
"You don't have to come with me."
"Yes I do, lad," Gerald replied with a sad smile. "I have some ghosts I need to lay to rest."
"You and me both," Shadow said quietly. "Let's go."

Gerald's reservations aside, the nameless little craft left the ground as smoothly and soundlessly as an ascending elevator. Shadow tapped a control on the multi-function display to engage the stealth systems, then lifted the nose and headed for orbit. "We're probably going to have to bring the reactor back up," he pointed out. "The solar panels are probably fried by now, and the air quality's not going to be great."
"We may not need to stay long," Gerald replied. "If the server boots I'll be able to grab what I need in ten minutes."
"Big 'if'. I might have to pull the file servers and hand the drives over to the forensics people. We'll be lucky if we have a full set of... There it is."

The Space Colony Ark was spinning gently in its geosynchronous orbit over the South Atlantic, surrounded by a tiny constellation of dust and junk. The blackened scar from an internal explosion was clearly visible at the central hub. "The Eclipse Cannon," Shadow explained. "I put a bullet into the aperture lens and it... suffered a blowback, I s'pose. How the Ark didn't get knocked out of its orbit I have no idea."
"We did build the place as a weapons research facility," Gerald pointed out. "Design allowances were made for things exploding from time to time."
"A fact you neglected to mention when you told me I couldn't have a chemistry set," Shadow pointed out.
"I said we made allowances for things exploding. I didn't say we didn't mind."
With a deft touch of attitude thrusters, the transport came alongside the main passenger airlock and locked in place with a faint hum of electromagnets. Shadow opened the transport's hatch and worked the manual release on the outer airlock door. It swung open with a ghastly screech of metal on metal.
The airlock beyond was in semi-darkness, lit only by the transport's interior lights and the reflected light of Earth through the Ark's windows. Shadow drew his pistol as he approached the inner hatch, lightly resting his thumb on the safety as he pulled the lever to release the hydraulics.
"Expecting xenomorphs?" Gerald asked dryly.
"Expecting the unexpected," Shadow replied, switching on his torch and reversing his grip on it, then laying his gun-hand on top of his other wrist. Gerald conceded the point and drew his own gun, switching on the miniature torch mounted under its barrel. Shadow pushed the airlock door open with the tip of his shoe, waited a moment and then stepped out with his gun upraised.
The corridor beyond was empty and silent. The air was stale and musty but seemed beathable, so they stepped out of the airlock without donning their respirators. There was a muffled clink as something skittered along the deck and bounced off a bulkhead; Shadow shone the torch on it, and discovered it was a cartridge case. He winced.
"Are you sure we ought to split up?" Gerald said quietly.
"We can work faster that way, and the sooner we get this done the sooner we can get out of here."
"Alright. Keep the channel open." Gerald donned the radio headset and headed for the interior of the Ark. Shadow glanced up at a sign to get his bearings, then went back into the transport to retrieve the portable generator.

The corridors were pockmarked with ricochet marks and littered with spent brass, with occasional pools or spatters of dried blood. That wasn't the hard part for Shadow, oddly enough; he'd been in so many firefights that he'd become somewhat inured to it, he supposed. No, what forced him to avert his eyes and screw them tight-shut to keep the tears back were the sights that reminded him of what the Ark had been to him once.
The storeroom where he'd strung up a cargo net and played badminton with Maria. The little alcove he'd claimed as a reading spot. The mess-hall where he and Maria had once had a picnic, and she'd actually kissed him on the cheek afterwards...
"Maria..." he whispered sadly.
"She died saving the person she cared about most in the world," Gerald's voice informed him over the radio link. "If it's any comfort, I don't think she would have had it any other way."
"It's not," Shadow said miserably. "Damn it, why her instead of me? I'm the one who was supposed to be the hero-"
"What could your death have given her?" Gerald replied. "Maria was dying, Shadow. She had less than a year, and the last few months would have been a living hell. If nothing else, we can be thankful she was spared that."
"Yeah, I guess," Shadow agreed half-heartedly. "I'm at the server room."

The servers powered up instantly, and Shadow was mildly surprised to see that the backup batteries were still showing a full charge. He kept a wary eye on the gauges as the boot-up sequence carried out. "Huh," Shadow said to himself. "Did you carry out the security lockdown? I didn't get time."
"I didn't even know it had been carried out. The only other person who could have was..." Gerald trailed off. "She must have used the datalink prototype. You remember her needing some minor surgery a few weeks before it all went to hell? The new project we were working on?"
"You mean you actually got that thing to work?" Shadow exclaimed.
"First round of beta tests were a complete success. Nobody's come close to replicating them since; those commercial ones that came out a few years ago had problems we never even ran into."
Shadow input the password known only to the three of them, and waited. "Guess she must have logged in and performed the lockdown... before..." Shadow screwed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, refusing to let the tears come. Don't. Think. About. It.
"Network's online. I'm logging in down here so I can access the reactor diagnostics."
"Okay. Looks like we won't need the generator; the UPS is as good as... Hey, that's weird." Shadow peered at the waterfall display of network activity levels that formed his user account's desktop wallpaper. "Are you doing anything else down there? There's a lot of extra traffic..."
"It might be connected to the datalink. The server probably thinks Maria never logged off."
"No, someone's sending and receiving data. Too many packets for just you and me. There's someone else up here with us!" Shadow tapped a short command into the workstation's keyboard and brought up the user account list. If someone was logged in besides himself and the Professor, he could narrow down their location by the ID number of their workstation...
"What the-? It's Maria's user account! I don't know what the hell it's doing, but it's doing something alright; did we have some kind of malware issue or holy shit!" Shadow yelled, stumbling backwards and nearly falling over.
"Shadow! Shadow, what's going on?" Gerald demanded.
"I'm getting a voice-conference request," Shadow whispered. "From Maria. Professor, I think we need to get the hell out of here, because this does not make any fucking sense! Don't do this to me," he said softly. "Please, don't do this to me. I saw you die. I had to watch, and I wanted to help you so badly, but I couldn't. I'm sorry. I didn't want you to die, damn it! I love you! Please, I... I can't have you looking over my shoulder all the time. I can't live with you here but not here like this. I'll miss you, but you have to go on, go... wherever it is you're supposed to go. I'll follow you soon, I promise..." He shook his head. "No. No, this is ridiculous. I am a grown man, I know better than that. There has to be a perfectly rational, scientific explanation for all this because there is no such thing as ghosts and I am not being haunted! Rational, scientific explanation. Rational, scientific explanation..." Shadow's eyes narrowed. "This is somebody's idea of a fucking joke, isn't it?"

An instant messenger window appeared on the desktop.
MagicKnightMaria: Shadow? Are you there?
Shadow: Yeah, I'm here. Who is this? I need to know what to put on the headstone when I get done explaining why this is not remotely funny.
MagicKnightMaria: The Ghost of Christmas Past. Who do you *think?* Okay, okay, fine. Ask me something only Maria Robotnik could possibly know.
"Got you now," Shadow muttered.
Shadow: What was the last thing Maria said to me before being gunned down?
MagicKnightMaria: I made you promise to be the hero you were born to be, the hero I believed you could be, and to promise not to let anger and bitterness turn you into the monster you've always been afraid is inside you. Then I said "sayonara, Shadow" and told a GUN assault trooper to kiss my ass. Satisfied?

Shadow blinked. "What...? How...? It's not possible. It's not possible..."

Shadow: Okay, so if this isn't some kind of malicious practical joke, when did someone write an app for communicating with the dead and why didn't anyone tell me it had been installed?
MagicKnightMaria: Wait, what? How long has the server been offline?
Shadow: A while. What's the last thing you remember?
MagicKnightMaria: I logged into the datalink, locked down the file servers and used the external cameras to make sure your escape pod was okay. I got a weird error message, something about a ping timeout from the implant and how it was saving my login data, then nothing 'til a few minutes ago. I thought I'd passed out or something.
MagicKnightMaria: Shadow, *what is going on?* How long have I been unconscious?

Shadow swallowed.

Shadow: Maria... the GUN troops left you to bleed out, and then stuffed me in a cryopod until a few years ago. You, or at least your body, died over half a century ago.

There was a long pause.

MagicKnightMaria: Cover your ears. I need the PA system.

Wincing inwardly, Shadow complied. It was going to hurt more than his ears hearing how she took this...

"Yeeehaaawwww! It worked! It worked, Grandpa!"
"‽" Shadow said, eloquently.
A sweet, musical laugh he'd thought he'd never hear again echoed through the server room. "Grandpa never told you about this, huh?"
"‽" he repeated.
Maria sighed heavily. "I think his brain's kernel-panicking... Oh, for- Grandpa! Can you do your happy dance somewhere with no security cameras before I join him, please? It might be unpleasantly literal right now."
Shadow regained some of his composure, and took a deep breath. "What. The. Fuck‽" he demanded.
"Okay, back when the datalink was in alpha testing, one of the volunteers had a heart attack while he was logged in. He was clinically dead for a couple of minutes, needed complete life-support for two days afterwards. And throughout all that, he stayed logged in and never noticed a thing 'til someone told him. So Grandpa and I set to thinking, what if I... well, wasn't there when I died? And it worked!"
Shadow screwed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know, that information would have been real useful when Ivo was using your apparent death to headfuck me into helping him try and take over the world." Then the ridiculousness of the entire situation finally got to him, and he burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, I'm convinced. Nobody else could possibly make my life this weird."

Cy-Fox's ASR Gameplay Videos

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:05:46 +0000

Sonic

Tails

Shadow

Amy

Dr.Robotnik

To be uploaded:

Knuckles
Tails (time trial)

To be completed:N/A

SonicRap

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:10:09 +0000

Arkives

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:03:51 +0000

Arkives is Moddex's role-playing forum, dedicated to his main project Zenith Project as well as other side-universes of his making.

Link: http://arkives.forumotion.net
Current Status: Temporal Zone Affiliate

Mobipedia Online

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:00:23 +0000

February 27th marked the refitting of Temporal Zone's wiki system, which was previously known as the awfully generic "TZ-Wiki". After consulting with Moddex, Beloved Doll, The Grey Wyvern and Thrawny, the name "Mobipedia" was decided. Mobipedia will feature material not only related to established Sonic "canon" but also will be able to feature material for fully-fleshed out fan-made alternate universes such as my own Cy-Fox project.

Tails0600, Moddex and Beloved Doll were appointed as Wiki administrators. If you're well versed in the creation of things like infoboxes and other MediaWiki entities, contact me on the forum and we'll see what can be arranged.

With that said, the Wiki is open to the public and can be accessed at the main site through the "Mobipedia" menu item or at the address http://temporal-zone.org/wiki

The Steam Sonic Screwover = Delay via DRM

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:58:39 +0000

According to a tip given to TSSZNews, the delay is most likely being caused by a switch in DRM-schemes, from the heavy-handed SecuROM DRM system to Steam's own DRM system, with a possibility of the integration of Steam achievements. But the March 2nd date may very well get pushed back again by another week. However I've caught wind that the retail PC version offered in the United Kingdom is actually very stable. Add in some multiplayer as a patch and offer a sale on release day and SEGA may very well recoup some of their losses.

The Steam Sonic Screwover Continues

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:05:57 +0000

Today, Sonic & SEGA All-Star Racers was supposed to be released on Steam, two days after the release date that SEGA had mandated as covered earlier on The Temporal Zone. Now users are in an uproar as the game's release date has been changed again to March 2nd, 2010 making the release a total of seven days late. As stated earlier, the lack of online multiplayer and the possibility of an exorbitant price hanging over the heads of Sonic's long neglected PC players could very well kill all interest in the PC port. The only saving grace for it seems to be that the delay might mean that Sumo Digital is hastily assembling an online multiplayer system. However, it could very well be argued that a delay to release would not be necessary as any online capabilities could just be patched in with a later Steam client update.

For the second time, news on the Steam Sonic Screwover comes first on TZ.

UPDATE - Sumo Digital's website carries no mention of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing whether as a current or completed project. The SEGA site dedicated to the game has no reference to a PC version either.

Steam Screws Over Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Release

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:44:43 +0000

According to SEGA's own website and also Wikipedia, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing was released in North American on February 23rd, 2010:

Quote:Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a racing game produced for Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Microsoft Windows, featuring characters from many Sega franchises, as well as guest characters. It is being published by Sega and developed by Sumo Digital. It was announced on May 28, 2009 and was released in North America on February 23, 2010 and in Europe on February 26, 2010, with the PC version available both from retail and via Steam.

Yesterday

However, Steam's site for the game says it will not be unlocked until February 25th. As Steam's the only source of the PC downloadable version, this means that this is legally false advertisement, and in the UK this would be considered "loss of enjoyment". This very same problem plagued another SEGA release on Steam: Napoleon Total War with some users inside and outside of North America who just finished loading NTW up had it locked again until the 26th until SEGA and Steam got together and fixed the issue.

I myself have personally contacted Steam over this issue, but you shouldn't get your hopes up even if it is released late today on the 24th. Apparently the PC version had multiplayer cut out of it, and it does not look like it'll be a future offering as a patch or DLC. The final nail in its coffin would be if Steam charges full price for the cut-down PC version as with the console versions.

And to think I was all giddy and anticipating it the last couple of weeks :/

RoboCop 3D (1991)

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:52:33 +0000

There you have it guys, every arcade mode sequence from RoboCop 3D. For 1991, this wasn't too bad with the exception of the flightpack sequence and the fact that the shooters in the FPS sequences were all silhouettes. It surely beats the crap out of the 2003 RoboCop "game" (more like abomination) from Titus (which also made the infamous Superman 64, among other things).

This Generation Sucks

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:36:25 +0000

I'm not a religious person. I teeter between atheism and agnosticism but I still believe in morals and ethics but not because some deity commands it. I don't drink, nor do I smoke or shoot up drugs. Lust does not appeal to me. I do however have a mouth worthy of a Navy admiral or a master chief and I can be pretty cantankerous. The late 1980s and some of the guys 'n gals from the early 1990s have still "got it".

But in regards to some of you guys in Generation Y and Z, you guys need to get the hell off my generational lawn. Seriously. We have teenagers who have nothing better to do but stroke their egos, troll and do all other sorts of sick things. We have little kids as young as 5 being dressed like hookers and pimps (and the language that goes with it), having material things showered on them. When I was a kid, we didn't have the Internet. We didn't even have a sound card in our computer until about 1997 (and even so, this computer was a 486!), my family didn't even trade up to a Pentium until 2001! I got my first Game Boy (a GBA) in 2007, and only recently equalized my tech trends in 2009 (when I got my first PS2, my first modern laptop and a Wii). No iPods, no iPhones, no regular cellphones, none of that.

These days, kids have just "got" to have a new computer, an MP3 player and a cellphone. Why? As we all know, with kids, shit breaks. The younger the kid, generally the more serious the break. And we all know how expensive these things are. Some of them have subscriptions attached to them, which of course the kid expects their parents to pay for (especially when it breaks), even when they're of working age.

And media! TV used to have some substance! Music used to have some substance. Now it's all rap and emo-rock. Kids are watching Dora the Explorer, Yo Gabba Gabba, iCarly and Hannah Montana. There's a reason we older folk are making YouTube poops about it: Because it all SUCKS more than a White House intern on Bill Clinton. We need intelligent media back. We need Beavis and Butt-head, RoboCop: The Series and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. We need our garage rock bands, AC/DC, Van Halen and Ozzy. Screw this collective degeneration!

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Episode One)

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:19:22 +0000

So the Needlemouse has finally curled out of his ball, walked into the sun and became Sonic the Hedgehog 4. That's good to hear. It's 2.5D and harkens back to the old days. That's also good. It's supposed to pick up after Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles. Good.

Sonic's the only character and it's going to be released as a PS3, Wii and XBOX 360 download application only.

WAIT! HOLD THE PHONE!

I like the classic Sonic games above all (Sonic 2 being my favorite of the stone age), but I'd like some continuity here! Sonic 3/S&K featured Tails and Knuckles as well! Yeah so we can dispense with Shadow, Amy and the rest but come on! This is basically going to be like Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and the Secret Rings, etc. You just don't break up the classic team.

And releasing it as a downloadable app only for those three consoles? Did SEGA's chief financial officer get dropped on his head? Release it as retail and a download and I guarantee you that people would buy it. Release it on PC, (which by the way, is getting Sonic and the SEGA All-Star Racers. SEGA you're a bunch of bipolar shits sometimes!) for retail and as a download (Steam I could see). You'd be rolling in money.

Well, there's my Sonic 4 rant and the beginning of its discussion. Who's on base?

Byrner's Cops & Robbers RPG (CRRPG) Server for San Andreas Multiplayer

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:04:30 +0000

Website: http://crrpg.com
Forums: http://crrpgforums.com
SA-MP IP address: 193.238.85.24:7777

Byrner's CRRPG is a staple of my sanity these days (next to Modern Warfare 2 and other games of course ) It's a Cops and Robbers mode server for the San Andreas Multiplayer modification and is very fun as long as you follow the rules and comply with the directions of its administrators.

I myself go by the name "RoboCop" and "T-1000" there, and I generally play as a cop. I'm a part of their elite police organization Task Force 141 and am also the head of the "Counter Terrorist Unit" sub-organization within CRRPG's transport group, Boxxy Airlines. There's also a bot called "Eggman" there (but it's not who you think it is )

So what do you need to get on? Well first you need a legitimate copy of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas for Windows. Then you need to downgrade it to version 1.0 by finding the relevant software on Google (as the 'fixed' 2.0 version basically removes modification abilities), and grab the San Andreas Multiplayer client here: http://www.sa-mp.com/ Make sure you get the server browser too as this is vital

When all's installed and locked together, add this server IP to your favorites for easy reference: 193.238.85.24:7777

Make sure you don't pull the boner that a friend did when he first got on it. That prompt that you'll first see wants a password, not a name. You set your name in the server browser. Next thing you need to do before you even choose a job and a skin is to press T (the chat key) and key in the following commands, one at a time:

/rules
/pc

These'll keep you out of trouble. And make sure you tell them that RoboCop sent you!

February '10 Changes

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:56:08 +0000

Okay, first as you can plainly see after taking Jake's advice about the banner into consideration, a new banner is up. I've also performed another prune and recruited a new administrator. He runs Master Emerald, Nintendalgia and maintains the blog: "The Aspie Geek". He's the one and only Kazuto!

Now then, I know activity's been at an all time low. I've started my second semester of college a few weeks ago, and it's been a bit of a grind. Moddex's computer has exploded and general interest in the forum itself has declined as a whole.

So, we need to have two things. A recruiting drive and incentives for both new members and their recruiters. The question is, what should these incentives be? For obvious reasons we can't just pass out moderator and administrator positions like cookies. So tell me what sounds reasonable and I'll mull it over for a couple days.

I'm hoping interest in the Sonic section will pick up soon with the conversion of Project Needlemouse into Sonic the Hedgehog 4, and there's also Sonic & Sega All Star Racers.

Leave a message guys.

hi

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:31:06 +0000

hello serenity from SB here thought I say hi i just got back yesterday from my friends house whoot had fun and stuff but too much drama going on this time.

Version 1.4.11 Upgrade: Complete : D

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:29:49 +0000

Board software upgrade's in complete in time for the New Year. I also uploaded a new banner. Some other changes to ring in the new year are to come. Enjoy!

Great Balls of Fire!

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:01:51 +0000

Airline Passenger Sets Own Crotch On Fire: World Panics

Do I really need to bother linking to this? Seriously, this has to be the funniest thing I've read all month. The hysterical whining about the terrorist threat and the immediate imposition of still more ludicrous security restrictions that probably won't help... Not so much.

Christ, never thought I'd be nostalgic for the Troubles, but at least back then this sort of nonsense was in response to a credible threat.

The Dark Gods Workshop

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:03:24 +0000

AKA my Art Topic.
So I got bored, went digging around my dA, and went "...Meh, sure, I'll throw some of this stuff up on TZF, why not."
Sooooo that's exactly what I'm doing.

Oh and btw I never color(Don't ask =P) so if you hate monochromes you'll probably just wanna skip it.

Stuff

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/3...verity.jpg
Angels, robotic beings from a distant planet that I use in the mythos surrounding my character Phistozar.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs51/f/2009/3...verity.jpg
A Black Technomancer technodaemon(The 'military class' demons, which are half cybernetic half demonic), which utilizes both Technomancy and Black Magic.
And yes that is a Pentagram. Don't bite me, religious people.

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs51/f/2009/3...verity.jpg
A pair of Technodaemon soldiers, a Hellfire Legionnaire and a Skirmisher.

Characters

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/2...verity.jpg
My most used 'Sonic' character, Phistozar and his Imp slave, DeSoto.

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/3...verity.jpg
My Angel character, Strik, an 'Angel Sentinel' who wields a pistol-sized flamethrower.

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/2...verity.jpg
My Technodaemon character, Aza, a 'Daemon Vanguard'.

Moar stuff at http://blackverity.deviantart.com/
Flames will be used for roasting marshmallows.

Brackenpetals

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:48:19 +0000

It was a new drug. You burn brackenpetals, a black flower, during a night that you could see the moon and the smoke produced a smell that one could intoxicate themselves in. However, for the first few months, whoever smoked too much in a single day would die. No exceptions. The entire world banned brackenpetals. Those who still smoked brackenpetals daily slowly realized something. The drug was increasing their physical abilities. Soon, there was a riot. Some had smoked for so long that they could not be stopped. For three days, there was utter chaos planetwide. Then, bracken vines stopped producing flowers. When one stopped smoking brackenpetels, they gradually weaken. All who had smoked brackenpetals were sentanced to death. Before the first person was killed, the governments of the world tried to uncover the origions of brackenpetals. Little did they know that the origion would soon be uncovered by itself. As the first person was strapped to the electric chair, the wall behind it exploded. Standing in the hole in the wall was an iguana. In his right hand was a brackenpetal. It began to burn even as he held it. It produced enough smoke to hook everyone in the prison. An hour after the smoke dispersed, everyone in the prison came to the iguana, demanding more. One convict grabbed him by the throat and lifted him in the air. The stared into each others eyes for what seemed ike ages. Eventually, the convict screamed until he died by his own voice. The crowd soon ran from him fleeing in terror. The next day, he appeared on tv. His image was broadcast to the entire world. "I am Bracken. Those who wish to smoke my brackenpetals must come to Central City. As fo all of those who wonder where my flowers came from, I will show you." He held out his hand and a stem grew out of it It bloomed into a red flower. In seconds, it darkened and became a brackenpetal. "On the name of the Dark Clew, this world shall be mine." He said as the petals began to fall from the flower. They turned grey and shrivalled up before the broadcast ended. All this was three months ago.....

Curent day......
"Please, forgive me, my lord. It was the hedgehog, he jumped in front of the bullet and gave the fox time to run. Please, I beg of you, forgive me, lord. Have mercy!" A brown hedgehog kneeled before Bracken. They were outside, in front of Bracken's entire army. When the hedgehog paused for breath, Bracken said, "I have no mercy. Get up." The hedgehog slowly stood up, certain he was going to die. "You have done me a great service." The island went silent. The hedgehog standing before Bracken had failed the most important mission of all that he had been given, yet he was being praised for it? What madness could have taken Bracken? "You let Miles Prower escape, and for that you have disappointed me. But by killing his friends, you have removed a great obstical from his path. And for that, I shall make you my second in command." The army began arguing at this news. The hedgehog was one of three Bracken had been considering for the position. He was also the one with the least supporters. "I have another reward for you." Bracken held out his hand and a brackenpetal grew from his palm. But unlike the others, this one remained red. It also only had one petal. "Eat it." The hedgehog plucked the petal and swallowed it. For a minute, there was silence. Then, the hedgehog gasped and fell forward to his knees. His face was hidden from veiw by his arms. His body began to change as he gasped for breath. The quills on his head and body lengthened untill they reached his ankles. Spikes grew on the outside of his arms. His feet and hands became claws. His tail extended and grew a sickle-like blade. He raised his head and screamed to the heavens. Red and black tendrils speard across his body, starting from his feet and tails, until they were the only colors of his body. As the endrils reached his eyes, they stopped, along with his screaming. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The expression of horror and agony changed, first to relief, then to a dark grin. He opened his eyes. The whites were black and the irises were red. As she stood up, the final changes finished. He now had fangs that stuck out over his bottom lip. "You are now Horgroth, General of the Bracked Army." The army cheered, but stopped as Bracken waved his hand at them. He then turned and said, "Bring him out." A guard walked out from behind a rock, dragging along a blue hedgehog. He was put in front of Bracken and Horgroth. "How does it feel to know that you failed. Well, Sonic the Hedgehog?" Bracken asked. Sonic looked defiently up. "Even if I die, there will be others to take up my mantel." He began to rant about hope and persevierance. Bracken yawned then turned to leave. He put his hand on Horgroth's shoulder and said, "When you get bored, kill him." As Bracken took his hand away, Horgroth struck at Sonic with his fangs. The blow didn't seem to have any effect, but he turned and followed Bracken anyway. In seconds, however, Sonic began to spasm in agony as Horgroth's venom took effect. Images from his past filled Sonic's vision. He saw Amy and Cream slaughtered, Knuckles devoured, and Shadow and Rouge decapitated. Sonic died the worst death he could ever have imagined. "And then there was none." Horgroth said. Bracken smiled. "This world is dead. Even with the Master Emerald and two Chaos Emeralds, I can do nothing to revive it." He said. "So once Miles is in our hands we'll have him create a gateway to another dimension." Horgroth continued. "And once that dimension us ours, we continue traveling. We won't stop untill the multiverse is in our hands." Braken finished. With their plan already set in motion, there wasn't anything that could stop them. At least, not untill the Ancient Reader appears.............

To join your character must be a Mobian-style animal. You can join as either a Bracked Army soldier, a regular person living on the surface, bracked or not is up to you, and I will allow three characters as part of Bracken's elites.