Green Hill Zone

I ran up the stairs to the clock tower in the city I lived in. Above the building, the moon grew ominously nearer. I reached the top, and realized the gravity of my situation, even as my resolve simply grew greater. I thought back to how this all began, and how I got involved in all of it. As I recalled the thoughts of the past week, I played the sacred song... The Oath to Order.

(Three days ago)

This past week was the festival of the moon, a traditional celebration that involved everyone wearing masks that were said to have great powers. I didn't believe that, or the rumour of the world ending on 12/21/12 at first, until I first saw the moon in an odd position in the sky. At that point, three days earlier, a mysterious fellow told me that an important, special, and very dangerous mask had been taken from him, and that it needed to be retrieved in three days; the exact time when the fireworks celebration would take place for the festival of the moon... And the exact time when the world was said to end. I never made the connection at first, but that soon changed, when I ran into a masked child, who taunted me about the green-clad hero's destiny to save the world, or let it burn.

I found it odd, but I quickly asked around, and found out that it was said that a person wearing green clothing was to appear and save three four protector giant with a magic sword and instrument. I shook it off; however, when I got back to my apartment, I realized that the clothes I was wearing that day were indeed green, and noticed that my keyboard synthesizer somehow was still working, despite not having had batteries in it for months, and being unplugged. Starting to get creeped out, I showed one of my friends what was happening after I noticed it, and they gasped, and informed me, that I was apparently the hero of legend. Not fully understanding, I was directed to the nearby swamp, where I had to go into the ruins that had long been there, and fight through many monsters. Eventually, I freed a spirit that had been trapped there recently, and learned a new song from it, that was simply called the 'Oath to Order'.

Traveling back, I realized I had about 2 and a half days left to get this task done, so I ventured toward the mountains in the distance. I didn't realize it would be as time consuming as it was, but I journeyed on, and eventually reached a temple at the top of a snow-covered mountain, and once again fought through it, facing off against creatures I could previously only dream about. I wondered why things were suddenly appearing, but brushed it off for the moment, having freed a second spirit. I also found it strange how familiar this situation seemed, but moved forward, headed toward the nearby ocean next. At that point, I only had 1 and a half days left, so I quickly hurried, discovering a hidden shrine on my way, which contained a sword that even I could sense had strong magic powers in it. Disregarding that for the moment, I made my way through a segment cut off from the rest of the ocean, and eventually reached an enigmatic place in the middle of the ocean. I battled my way through that too, and found a third spirit, who filled me in on the rest of the legend.

Apparently I had been destined since ancient times; the so called 'end date' being a call to the hero of fate to step up and save the world, or watch it be destroyed. The mayans created a magic mask that eventually grew a personality of it's own. Fearing the great power of it, they sealed the mask away. They knew it wouldn't hold forever, so they 'predicted' the end of the world, which was in reality three days after the seal broke. Due to the child-like nature of the evil sentient mask, they figured that it would 'play' with the inhabitants of the world, by giving it a warning, which is why they placed the 'end of the world' after the breaking of the seal. To combat the power, however, they crafted special tools to repel or seal the evil once more; the Blade and Keyboard of Fate. In order to stop this moon, however, I must free the last spirit of the giants, they told me, and then play the Oath to Order.

Finding myself back in the city with only a day left, I quickly headed to the last place that there could be evil nearby; the graveyard. On the way, it all started to make sense to me: Why everything seemed so familiar, what the deal was with the legend of the Mayans, and why the masks were said to be magic. There was a game that was created to 'test' for potential Heroes of Fate, and to imprint in their memory the song that was necessary to either reset the chain of events, or the song to stop the events from ever occurring again. The Mayans weren't just predicting the end of the world; they were rather predicting when the evil they sealed would be able to wreak havok once more. And then destroy the world. Because obviously that would happen anyway. The masks were magic, especially the ones handed down through the generations. Not all masks in the world are magic, but I found out the ones crafted during the festival do get imbued with special power. I tracked down a good number of them in the previous days during the festival, however, I hadn't initially thought them to be useful.

Further questions, however, had to wait, as I arrived at the graveyard, and made my way into an ancient spiraling hole descending into the ground. After making my way through the depths, I defeated a large monster, and freed the last giant, who instructed me to find and retrieve the last masks I was missing, and then call them when the time was right. I didn't know when that was at first, however, as I went around the city, tracking down the last few masks and helping people out in the process, I realized the 'right time' was at midnight of the final day of the festival, when powers were said to be the strongest. At that point, I knew where to go, and after I found the last two masks, I took my collection, and headed to wait for the clock tower to open. As I headed there, I noticed people being told to evacuate; I guess they realized the grave nature of the situation. I can't let them down.

(Now)

The clock struck midnight a few minutes ago, and now I am running up the stairs, finally caught up in my tale. I'm at the top now, and I'm looking around, but I don't see any... Wait; what's that? The child from three days ago? How is he hovering in the air? What the!? He's causing the moon to speed up it's course! The Keyboard... It's my only chance. I have to play it. I have to play the Oath to Order... Here goes nothing! I play the song... And nothing seems to happen at first; though the kid is freaking out. I then head rumbling sounds off in the distance, that aren't caused by the moon... But; is it really enough?! Wait... What's that sound? It's like the song is echoing... I listen closely, and then look over the side of the Clock Tower, and realize that people have not evacuated after all. They put that much faith in me, and are now echoing it in the melody that spread throughout the city and surrounding countryside... They are echoing the Oath to Order! Just as it seems all hope is lost, a glimmer of light shines through, and the four giants appear, just in time.

The giants push out against the falling moon quickly, barely managing to stop it in it's tracks. I stare in shock, not entirely able to believe that it's all over, however, the child seems to be going even crazier, mumbling stuff about how things don't end there, and then lowers to the ground, and collapses, as the mask levitates into air, and beams into the moon. I frown at that, not noticing a way up, however, the giants channel the energy that is not being used to stop the moon, into sending me into the heart of the moon itself... Here goes nothing.

What.. Is this place? It's not what I'd expect at all... A sprawling field, with a lone tree in the middle. I go to investigate, and find five red haired children, looking like the mysterious fellow from earlier. I talk to the children, and they request the masks I collected. I complied, and handed over all the masks, and then they disappear, forcing me to talk to the last child, who is wearing the evil mask. He hands me one final mask, saying he wants to play, and I accept the mask, and don it, even as the scenery warps, and the mask floats in the air, tentacles suddenly appearing from it's back.

I draw my sword, only to find it's become a dual helix styled sword. I gasp in shock, and look at my reflection. I... have become the legendary 'Fierce Deity', resembling his look right down to the last detail. I finally understand my role in all this, and I turn to the mask with a cold look. I dash forward, slashing out at the sentient mask, sending out beams of light in the process. The mask recoils, however, the remains; which the spirits of the giants were trapped in earlier; suddenly appear from seemingly within me, and take on semi-physical forms. I quickly destroy them, and continue to attack the mask, however, it quickly knocks me back, causing me to wince at the force of the attack, and then grows arms and legs.

The first thing it proceeds to do... Is moonwalk away from me. I just stare at it, and shake my head, and then go on the offensive, slashing out at it quickly, even as it whipped it's 'arm' out at me, slamming me into a nearby mirror. The mirror shatters, and I lay there face-down for a moment, however, the thought of all the people counting on me; believing in me... It gives me a reason to stand up. I slash out once more at the mask, and it seems to yell in pain, before transforming once more, into an even more humanoid form. It seems to be wanting me to give it my all... So that's exactly what I will do. This is for everyone in the world; I will not lose! I slash out at the monster with all my might, and every attack seems to fuel the next, dealing more and more damage. The last attack seems to fatally damage the mutated mask, and it roars in pain, slamming me back once more, this time, however... I can't hold on...

What happened next was told to me only by by-standers afterward... But, apparently the moon's 'face' disappeared, and went back into orbit. I appeared on the grass outside of town, still unconscious, with both the Fierce Deity Mask and the evil mask near me. The evil mask seemed relatively intact, aside from a slight discolouration where I had fatally wounded it. When I came to, I saw the child who caused all this trouble, trying to explain that he had just been lonely, and that the mask took over his thoughts after he first found it. The odd fellow that started this whole journey was also there, and thanked me for retrieving the mask, and then walked off. I made no effort to stop him, since the evil seemed to be stopped, and I was in no condition to even really move. I just wonder if that was enough, or if that was really all that happened... I seem to recall the mask saying something like 'thank you' as it was dying.

 

For the record, this is to be read as if the person has only three hearts. Makes the big fight much more suspenseful. =P

(Also, the ending sequence takes place at about 3-4 AM-ish. Earlier than when it would take place in Majora's Mask, simply because it's too early to do anything more without going over the time IRL. =P)[/hr]

[Whee, Scratches]
 
This is to anyone who rents games from libraries and other rental services. Please do yourself, and everyone else who rents the game after you a favour, and stop using the disks as frisbees! >_< I'm starting to get tired of getting games or music, and having to hope that it works, instead of, you know, not every getting to the logo screens for the company that produced the game.
 
I could be playing Persona 4 right now, but instead, I can't even get past the 'PlayStation 2' logo screen, because it keeps just displaying a black screen after that. And since the movie I rented worked all the way through, and I can load up Mega Man X7, I know it's not the system, even if it was doing similar stuff before I even got to put the disk in. But even then, unplugging it helped there, and the main menu screen for the PS2 wouldn't even appear. Here, it loads everything, recognizes the disk, and even gets past the PS2 logo after checking the disk, but yet, it won't go any FURTHER than that. And of course, I checked the disk first... It's pretty badly scratched.
 
Basically, the entire surface has scratches that alternate rows, but go around in a circle eventually. They don't seem that deep, but when you have almost the entire surface covered because of those scratches, and the various other scratches that inevitably appear in these types of situations, it's pretty easy to know why the game won't load. Which brings up an interesting question: How did the last person who had the disk even manage to play it!? 0_o
 
Basically, take better care of your games, movies, and CDs(Even if it's not 'yours' full-time), because the next people to get it may become rather annoyed at you if the thing's unplayable. -_-'

[Why Can't I Sleep?! ;_;]
 
So, I'm currently running on MAYBE an hour of sleep from last night, if I'm lucky. I stayed awake most of the night because I got spooked by stuff I read(Think Slenderman or Ben; except it was neither of them. =P). Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't let it affect me, but that's part of the problem with me reading it a while before I went to bed. >_> Luckily, I learned from that, and that's never happening again. That was just not fun. >_>
 
So, the second reason for the title? The new song stuck in my head. Why haven't I tried to get it out? IT'S NO USE! ... Because it's Silver the Hedgehog's theme song, Dreams of an Absolution. Say what you want about Sonic '06, but it had good music. =P Heard a new remix of it last night, and it quickly because my favourite track from Sonic '06. =P If you pay attention, or hear an instrumental remix of Dreams, however... The artist used part of the Green Hill Zone theme for it. =D I think something else was sampled, in addition. I could be wrong, though.
 
I still haven't played Sonic '06, though, and I don't really want to. =P

[You're Too Slow!]

I'm gonna try a new format for my alternate titles, just to mention. Hopefully nothing eventually corresponds to an actual tag. ^^'

Anyway... So, one reason I've been off more than normal the last few days, is because of Sonic, specifically Sonic Generations, since I got that a few days ago.

Second reason, but more so why I haven't been on at night sometimes, would be Megaman 2. I CAN in fact defeat Airman, so take that as you will. It was on Difficult, and without the Leaf Shield. Put Item 2 to use, as well. =P

Third reason? I finally got Super Smash Bros. Brawl working again! Which means I can once again spend time to try to get 50-100 hours in multiplayer only, with no-one to crush fight against except the Bots. =P They really didn't make that easy to do, since Classic Mode, All Star Mode, Boss Battles, Subspace, and even WI-FI of all things doesn't work for that goal. ._.; Ah well; nearly to 20 hours as it is, then I'll just need 10 more.

That said, I'm nearly to the end of the unlocks, which saddens me. =( I want to eventually play through again, but I'm not sure how... Might be with the Wii U, but there's no way I'll be getting that any time soon, and without the Gamecube Controllers, I can't play Brawl as it should be played(No Classic Controllers unfortunately. I really need to get one, yes, but...), and I can't play my Virtual Console games, period, except for the handful of NES games I have, so I won't be transferring my data likely.

If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get a Classic Controller Pro soon enough, but since I just got two new Gamecube Controllers, there's no rush, except for Monster Hunter Tri. So yeah. =P

Back to Sonic, though, playing Generations has really gotten me back into a Sonic mood. I'm wanting to find a Sonic avatar now, and finish the games I have once again. Yes, I may have forgotten to mention it in the past, but I'm a Sonic fan. =P Just not once of those crazy ones that seem to be everywhere nowadays. xD

Alternative Titles: I Finally Got To Combine The Creativity Category With The Music Category!

-=Entry=-

So, what have I been up to, other than disappearing for my birthday and using Blender? Well, getting a slight cold. But aside from that? Playing Cave Story and Megaman. But that's not what this is about, oh no. What this is about, is me playing my keyboard. And no, not the thing I'm using to type this; I mean what's essentially a piano. And what overplayed song from Megaman 2 have I been playing more often than not recently? No, not the title theme, I'm still learning that. No, the song that's probably only second to the X vs. Zero fight from Megaman X5 in terms of remixes. The Dr. Wily Stage 1 theme.

I've been trying it for a couple days now, but today and last night was the first time I actually got further than an off-key redition of the first part. I actually figured out the notes, for when you're only playing one note at a time(Since I still fail at playing the Keyboard with 'chords', and it's closer to the 8-bit version this way), in part thanks to different videos on the net. I still mess up some of the notes when I try to speed through it at the normal speed, but when I concentrate, the only times I mess up, are me hitting the wrong notes because I can't reach far enough; or me just missing the right key by accident.

My next try, will likely be the Protoman Whistle Theme used for MM3's ending, but we'll see.

Alternative Titles: 882 Notifications What.

-=Entry=-

So, yeah, haven't been active here for the past week or so, yeah... I apologize heavily for anyone waiting on me. But as the alternative title says, I have an abundance of notifications, and a case of 'too many things to do, so little time to do them'. =/ Minecraft didn't help any. =P

Also, also! I have a wireless set of headphones! The manual for it is partially in engrish, though. =P Doesn't matter, though, as it was rather easy to figure out. =P I also have a wireless mouse for my laptop that works fairly well. It was five dollars, and the headphones were about 9-ish, so it was a fairly good deal. =D

Also, Metric is an awesome band.

Alternative Titles: What Is This No Doctor Who Category Must Fix This Problem.

-=Entry=-

"Who killed all the Daleks...?"
"Who do you think?"

Well, that was certainly an awesome episode. Since that line was in the trailer, I feel comfortable actually posting it, but otherwise, I'm going to stick to non-spoilers for the entry; however, that was certainly an epic way to start off the series. =D

Alternative Titles: Everyone Else Is Doing This

-=Entry==-

Step 1: Find a sword, LEGO or otherwise, though preferably LEGO.
Step 2: Take it to the very centre of the building.
Step 3: Say 'I SUMMON BLADE!' as loud as you can.
Step 4: Pull off the hilt and handle of the sword, or just cover it if a real sword for some reason.
Step 5: Look proudly at the Blade that you just made appear, while thinking regretfully that the member could not make it once again.

... What? I never said anything about spotting me. =P

Alternative Titles: What Point? There's No Point Here.

-=Entry=-

So, yeah, 1 in the morning, and I'm still on here. Random late night blogging for the win? Let's see how long I ca- hzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ahem. So, yeah. Got a few more good matches before I just decided to listen to music, but I'm just going to get off. Lost more matches than I won, anyway. xD

Alternative Titles: Agh Why Won't You Stop?

-=Entry=-

So, I have an odd problem... So, I have an external hard drive, been using it to store stuff in archives, so I can transfer between computers.

Well... Uh... It won't stop the hard drive so I can remove it. And I don't want to unplug it from the computer until it's safely ejected, otherwise, things might go horribly wrong. But it won't let me; it keeps claiming something's using it, but the other possible thing that could use it, was already turned to a copy of the file which is actually on the desktop, so nothing is using it; at all!

The only thing I could do, seemingly, is just shut the computer down, and then unplug the hard drive from the computer afterward, but that isn't something that is really best, since I want to be able to just stop and remove it, without having to halt browsing just because something decided to keep the External Drive in use...

Also; a question to readers; is there anything in the blog theme or entry layout you'd want to see updated? I know my content blogs need changing, but I'll work on that when that's possible, for sure.