As a fan of both paleontology and astronomy (and a lot of other things), sometimes I find myself pondering the fact that quite a few astronomical events happened during the history of life on Earth. Such as the lunar impact that caused the Tycho crater, estimated to be about 100 million years old, which would place it in the middle of the Cretaceous. So dinosaurs could have seen the impact happen if they had been paying attention. I wonder if they would have noticed?

Given the dating, I couldn't help but plug the mid-Cretaceous Wayan Formation yet again, so here's an Oryctodromeus having a snack and totally ignoring what's happening to the Moon.

I based the color scheme and time of day on a lovely photo I took a while back of the Moon rising above the mountains near my neighborhood one late afternoon.

 Professor Elm hasn't left his lab in so long, he's just completely lost touch with reality.

 In the games, after you defeat Lance and get your Pokemon recorded in the Hall of Fame and the credits roll, you find yourself back in your bedroom. My thought is that after becoming Pokemon Champion, Kris went back home, zonked out in bed--and was then rudely awakened by Professor Elm because it's time for the postgame.

 More fake clickbait news!

This one is poking fun at how the Internet seems to think that everyone likes dinosaurs for the same reason and that we are all 5-year-old boys who just want to watch dinosaurs eat each other, eat people, and just be vicious monsters of unchecked mayhem. I don't know about you, but I like dinosaurs just because they're fascinating creatures and a wonderful part of the 3.8-billion-year-long pageant of life on our amazing planet, regardless of their ability to eat people.

(I'm very certain that if dinosaurs were around today, they would not run around trying to eat everybody. They would probably be really afraid of humans, like most animals today. I have a big soapbox about the psychologically skewed perception of dinosaurs in popular culture, and how it's been unfortunately fed into by the Jurassic Park/World franchise that likes to depict prehistoric animals as nothing more than bloodthirsty killing machines, but let's not open that can of worms today.)

 And so another Pokémon journey concludes... or does it?

(Of course, if you've played the Johto games you know that it doesn't.)

 I'm a big fan of those weird and mysterious ice giants that totally need more space missions dedicated to them, and I just had to make a Redbubble design for my boi Uranus! With an axis tilted nearly 90 degrees to everybody else, a seriously weird magnetic field, and a really beautiful polar hood that forms as it nears the summer and winter solstices, Uranus is one of the strangest and most fascinating places in the Solar System. Besides everything else in the Solar System, of course. Space is neat.

Shadow Play, Chapter 9

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

The Catacombs were a sad husk of their former selves. Terra remembered that, in her adolescence, the main cavern was full of people perusing shops, submitting their art and writing to the galleries, and chatting about the latest issue of the Neopian Times. Now, only the Coin Shop remained open close to the entrance—the other establishments were boarded up and abandoned. A sole, small newsstand near the Coin Shop sold the Neopian Times and a few other periodicals, but the Chia proprietor was napping. And only a handful of people mulled about the cavern besides Terra, her family, and Zoltan. Past what had once been the main hub of activity, the cavern branched off into many tunnels, all shrouded in darkness.

“This is kinda depressing,” Blynn said. “It’s always sad when a place dies like this.”

“Right?” Terra said. “As much as I like Roo Island, the Catacombs were a special part of Neopia Central. I have a lot of great memories of this place.” She sighed. “It’s tough when you have a lot of nostalgia for something, and when you revisit it, too much has changed.”

“All part of growing up, I guess,” Hyren said. “At least you’ll always have those great memories.”

 

 More fake clickbait! This one is making fun of how news outlets seem to gravitate toward rather gruesome space discoveries like things getting eaten by black holes or blasted by radiation. Peace is boring, apparently.

 Honestly, in the games, when Lance takes you back into the Pokemon Champion recording room thingie, it's pretty tidy for someplace that hasn't been entered in probably three years.

Shadow Play, Chapter 8

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

Terra and her family ate breakfast in their suite the next morning. They’d stocked the kitchen with groceries, for days when they didn’t feel like mingling in the cafeteria, and today was one of those days. Terra liked the extra bit of downtime to lounge in her pajamas, and after the emotional whirlwind of yesterday, she wanted to give herself some extra TLC.

She’d just taken a bite of her rainbow toast when someone knocked softly at the door. “I’ll get it,” Isengrim said as he moved to the door and opened it. “Ah—good morning, Zoltan.” Terra tensed a bit and concentrated hard on her toast, hoping Zoltan would not notice her, or at least would not have anything critical to say about her.

“Good morning,” the Kyrii replied, clearly more out of politeness than because he truly found anything good about the morning. The harsh edge seemed to have gone out of his tone—Terra wondered if he’d overheard her conversation with Isengrim in the hall last night. She couldn’t decide whether that would be beneficial or embarrassing. Probably both, but if it was beneficial she was okay with it.

 

 This of course is a reference to how Professor Oak next appears in the Sinnoh games. :)

 Yesterday I was sitting in on a cosmology lecture by my buddy Chris Lintott, and (in true Chris Lintott fashion) he included a mysterious wedge of cheese on the title slide of the lecture, and proceeded to not say anything about it until the end of the lecture when he tied the holes in the cheese into inflationary theory.

When I commented on it afterward, he told me it was Chekhov's cheese. So then I just had to draw that.

One of the many reasons I enjoy hanging out with scientists is because they give me the best ideas.

 It's definitely one of my science journalism pet peeves when something about aliens gets shoehorned into as many article titles as possible. Psychological manipulation at its finest.

 A couple of weeks ago on Virtual Fossil Friday, my friend Maggie Jo gave a great presentation on the thylacine (colloquially called the Tasmanian tiger), and I mentioned the presentation made me want to make an amigurumi plush thylacine, and Maggie Jo said "if you make one, I want it", so I made one for her. :)

This was a very involved project as I designed the pattern myself, but it was a lot of fun. It didn't turn out 100% perfect, but I think it's not bad for a first go. Those toebeans came out absolutely precious, IMO.

I've got a long list of other cool critters I'd like to design amigurumi for, and I'll keep posting them here!

Also, if anyone wants this pattern, I can sell you the PDF for it! Just get in touch with me via email.

 I loved how Lance's actual line in the game "This is all getting a bit too noisy" worked so well in this situation.

Also, in retrospect it probably would have been more satisfying to have Chikorita (now a Meganium) deliver the blast-off to Oak, but Jynx's Ice Punch made more sense from a choreographic perspective.

 I just had to make a Redbubble design featuring the ever-adorable Vampyroteuthis! Always looking for excuses to sneak vampire squid into things. <3

Shadow Play, Chapter 7

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

“How’s this for a study space?” Blackwing asked as he opened the door to a lounge with plush chairs and round tables. Bookshelves lined the walls, and large windows let in plenty of light. “There are other, smaller private rooms down these halls,” the Wocky said, pointing to the corridors in question. “Make yourself at home. Can I get you anything else? Sheesh, I sound like a waiter,” he muttered to himself.

“No,” Zoltan said, marching toward one of the hallways. “I’ll glean zhe information I need and zhen I’ll be on my vay.”

“Sounds good,” Blackwing said with a nod. “Judge Hog will be happy about this. I’m sure whatever you do will help those other mages we hired—“

Zoltan jerked to a stop and whipped around. “You hired ozher mages?” he asked, his magic streaks flaring with light and his mane bristling.

Blackwing cringed. “Is… that bad?”

 

 Having Oak terrorize Red and Kris through two chapters was amusing, but I kind of felt by the end of Book 2, the joke had run its course and I was ready to put it to rest. Plus, I wanted to end the comic on a hopeful note--trying to convey that no matter what challenges you face, no matter how scary they seem, if you turn and fight them, you'll find they're not as intimidating as you feared.

Also, y'know, it's just satisfying to see Oak get his comeuppance.

Video game thoughts: Pokémon Legends: Z-A and the Ocarina of Time Switch 2 remake

First off, the Copperajah in the room—yes, I know I’m reviewing a game that was released nearly a year ago. It’s taken me this long to play through it all, including the DLC. Part of that is because Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a hefty game content-wise – which I am not complaining about at all – but part of it is because I’ve been very busy and dealing with some health issues which have prevented me from enjoying video games as much as I’d like (which hasn’t been fun, but things are on the upswing at least).

And my verdict? To put it simply, I find I have a love-hate relationship with this game, and I’ll break down why. (This post is full of spoilers, so best to read after you’ve finished the game unless you don’t mind spoilers.)

 The fact that Oak shows up after you defeat Lance in the Johto games was just begging to be turned into some follow-up to Oak's shenanigans in this comic. Will the legend of the Pokémon-eating professor who used too many Repels and handed out Pokédexes to unsuspecting Trainers finally come to a close?

 Another spoof news article! Yes, I totally phoned this one in with the "image", but that's part of the joke. Black holes are very, very, pretty much impossible to detect if they aren't interacting with anything else. So really you could imagine a black hole wherever you want! Like maybe everybody's dryer has a black hole that routinely steals their socks.

 This joke worked great back in 2017, I promise.

Shadow Play, Chapter 6

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

The wind swirled again, and this time it did not stop. Deep purple magic sliced through the air in front of them, the shadows seemed to shimmer, and from out of nowhere stepped a Halloween Kyrii.

This, however, was no ordinary Halloween-painted Neopet. He was a hulking beast who stood almost two and a half metres tall, shorter and a bit leaner than Isengrim because Kyrii were naturally smaller than Lupes to begin with, but that did not keep him from being imposing. He looked rather like the Kyrii equivalent of a Werelupe, and Terra wondered if that was exactly what he was.

But that was not the strangest thing about him. His fur and mane were laced with veins of glowing violet magic that surged with energy and seemed to be a manifestation of the power running through him. Even his bright green eyes contained purple streaks. Unlike Isengrim’s breeches made of skins, this Kyrii wore an old-fashioned shirt and trousers, an equipment harness, and a heavy cloak lined with thick fur. The topside of the cloak was curiously decorated with elaborate embroidery in floral designs, and Terra wondered about the strangely ornate apparel.

“King Isengrim,” the Kyrii said with a nod before surveying the others. “Is zhis the family you wrote of?” His voice was deep, but quiet, as though he knew he did not have to be loud to be heard, and he had a rolling accent very reminiscent of Count Von Roo’s.

Isengrim put a paw on Terra’s shoulder. “It is,” the Werelupe said. “It is good to see you well, Zoltan.” He extended his other paw to the mage. “This is my old ally, Zoltan Arnyek.”

 

 Having your mom save some of your prize money seemed like a good idea on paper, but...

 I was listening to an episode of a paleontology podcast where they were discussing the possibility of dinosaurs having eyebrows, and this was where my mind went and then I just had to draw it.

The discussion was an offshoot of the (more plausible) possibility that dinosaurs had "whiskers" (actually feathers that function similarly to whiskers as seen in quite a few modern birds and eyelashes (as the ostrich famously does). I have drawn both, actually. I love a good fluffy dino.

 Someone once asked game director Junichi Masuda what would happen if a human ate a Rare Candy, and he said Rare Candies were probably edible for humans but wouldn't taste very good to us.

I suspect if humans tried eating supplements meant for Pokémon, there would be... side effects.

 After drawing that first clickbait cartoon, I just got hit with a flood of ideas for more questionable science news articles. First off, another one making fun of how news outlets feel the need to shoehorn T. rex into absolutely every paleo news story. And making fun of how undeservedly overlooked invertebrate paleontology is. Squishy things and things with exoskeletons need love too! <3

Another level of joke here is that this creature appears to be the first known bilaterian, which is a huge deal if you know what bilaterians are and how invertebrate paleontologists are trying to trace the origins of animals. But savvy news websites know the lay public only cares about T. rex. ;)

 One last cat scientist (for now)! Given Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment (which, contrary to popular belief, he conducted as safely as possible), I just knew his cat equivalent would use the opportunity to do something incredibly dangerous, as cats are wont to do.

Cats need to just stay inside and let me spoil them.

Shadow Play, Chapter 5

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

Terra woke up rather later than she would have liked, but given what had happened last night, she would allow herself all the sleep she needed. Blynn was not in her bed, but the girls’ luggage had been brought into their room. Terra wandered groggily out of the bedroom to see her Neopets sitting at the table in the flat’s dining nook.

“Gooooood morning!” Blynn chirped. “I brought you your stuff!”

“Thanks,” Terra said with a tired grin. “I’m guessing that means the Defenders made it back okay.”

Isengrim nodded. “It took them an hour to return,” he said. “There was an… altercation at the hotel. Vile had sent more henchpets, as Tally predicted.”

Terra’s smile dropped. “Fantastic. Is everybody okay?”

“Thankfully, yes,” Hyren said. “The henchpets escaped, but the Defenders were able to protect all the civilians—and get our belongings back to us unscathed. I guess these guys really are more than just colourful costumes and corny catchphrases.”

“Of course they are!” Blynn said, pounding the table with a paw. “Don’t you read the comics?!”

 

 I drew this to call out clickbaity science news headlines; paleontology news articles in particular seem to try to shoehorn "Tyrannosaurus" or "T. rex" into every headline regardless of how irrelevant it is, because they know those key words will drive up the page views. (For astronomy articles it's usually "aliens" or "black hole".)

Can we just stop? Paleontology is cool no matter how much it does or does not have to do with T. rex.

(The dino featured here was based off Lesothosaurus, in case you were wondering. Nothing at all to do with T. rex. Just very adorable.)

 I think I actually kinda predicted Dynamaxing with this one.

 He might be overdoing things a bit.

Shadow Play, Chapter 4

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

Neopia Central at two-thirty in the morning had a bit of a different vibe. It had stopped raining, and there was still plenty of vehicle traffic, but almost no pedestrians on the sidewalks. Most of the lights in the buildings were out, save for the odd Neopet working a night shift. It was rather eerie—or peaceful, Terra supposed, depending on how one wanted to look at it. Right now, though, she was a bit on edge from a kidnapping attempt, so her mind leaned more toward seeing things as eerie.

She looked up at Isengrim as they traversed the city blocks between the hotel and the Defenders’ headquarters, and he smiled down at her, although it seemed to her to be halfhearted. Her worries grew. Had she offended him in some way? They’d had excellent rapport ever since she adopted him – well, to be exact, since about a day after she adopted him – but perhaps she was naïve for thinking nothing could ever cause tension between them. What concerned her was that he was usually so open with her about anything bothering him, and now it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

“Are you okay?” she finally asked him as Blynn made them stop for more gumballs at the restaurant. The Zafara gave a few to Tally this time, before putting another in her mouth and sticking the rest in her belt pouch.

“I’ll be just fine,” Isengrim said with another smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

 

 Couldn't leave out the Grand Duke of astrophysics himself!  I know seal point cats are native to Thailand, but as far as I'm aware there are no established cat breeds that originated in India, so I just went with a geographically close area. I also just really wanted to draw somebody as a seal point cat. <3

It's so wonderful how so many people all over the world contribute to advancing humanity's understanding of the universe around us! 

My own diabolical genius of a cat figured out the whole laser pointer thing pretty quickly. He derived much more entertainment from watching his brother Mallow fail to figure it out. I'm absolutely certain cats can experience Schadenfreude.

A running gag in this comic is how DJ Mary's face is very... unique, but I didn't want to just leave it at that. I wanted to show that just as you should never judge anybody by how they sound on the radio, you should also never judge anybody by their looks. And also just don't judge anybody.

 When a villainous organization takes control of a radio station, the nefarious possibilities are endless.

 Still going with the science cats. James Clawrk Maxwell is, naturally, playing the acting force in the "Maxwell's demon" thought experiment.

Let's face it, cats are little demons. But they're cute so it's okay. <3

James Clawrk Maxwell is a Scottish wildcat because they're adorable. I was considering making him a Scottish Fold, but that's a controversial cat breed riddled with genetic issues. I decided to instead encourage love for Scottish wildcats, which are critically endangered. Save Britain's wild kitties!

 I drew this illustration for Trainer Wants to Fight! to celebrate Kris's Togetic learning Fly. 

Sometimes the HM moves some Pokémon are able to learn seem a bit... implausible.

Shadow Play, Chapter 3

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7

Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

Terra woke up from dreaming that she had a stomachache, to discover that she really did have a stomachache. With a grimace, she carefully rolled over onto her back and tried to relax, listening to her own breathing.

“You okay?” Blynn asked, and Terra knew her moving around had woken up the Zafara. Blynn had always had a keen sense for when something was off—intuition, she called it.

“I’m trying to be,” Terra grunted. “That dinner was pretty rich. It’s taking a while to digest.”

“I’m sorry,” Blynn said. “Need the Selket Elixir?”

“Yes, please,” Terra said. The nice thing about Neopia was that apothecaries had concocted all sorts of helpful remedies. Selket Elixir was a potent digestive aid, so Te made sure to always carry a bottle when her family travelled.

The Museum of Idaho has been hosting a travelling exhibit all about the Permian Era, and I managed to make it before they moved on! I love the Permian--I think it's so overlooked and underrated in culture because a lot of people just kinda gravitate toward what happened next: dinosaurs. But Permian critters weren't just the warm-up act for the main event--they were fascinating and successful animals in their own right. And, like the dinosaurs, their demise came about because of an unfortunate mass extinction. Gorgonops and Ulemosaurus and Lystrosaurus may not be household names, but in my opinion they should be. <3

I brought my drawing supplies, and although I was a bit tired that day, I managed to do a pretty nice marker sketch based on the lovely Dimetrodon mount in the exhibit. My sister says he looks like he wants treats from you. That's probably accurate.

They also had some fun animatronics scattered around the exhibit--it was awesome to see animatronics of lesser-known critters and not just big-name dinos. I really wanted to pat their tummies and bring them home and give them treats, but my cat would not approve.

 Still working through my extensive list of scientists to turn into cats. George Washington Clawver is a handsome breed of cat called the Havana Brown. 

It's a common myth that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter--it was around before he began his agricultural studies, but he did do a lot to invent and promote peanut products to encourage crop rotation in the South. Also cats playing in piles of things is just cute, so.

 This is an odd and question-provoking line from one of the Rocket Grunts in the Radio Tower. Do Team Rocket members actually self-identify as evil? Most criminals claim their actions are justified, but are Rocket members perfectly ordinary people who just decided "today I'm going to be evil"? What does that say about the place of ethics in the society of the Pokémon world?

... And so she proceeded to write an entire criminal psychology paper based on a throwaway line in a video game.

I designed another amigurumi--Scotoplanes globosa (the "sea pig" sea cucumber) with a hitchhiking juvenile king crab! This was a more involved design than the previous one, and I learned a lot working on it. To ensure that the sea pig was capable of supporting itself on its adorable little tube feet (and that its back tentacles would stay upright instead of drooping), I made an armature out of pipe cleaners and then crocheted tubes that I slipped over the ends of the pipe cleaners that were sticking out of the body.

I was going to do the same for the legs of the king crab so that it could actually hold on to the sea pig, but I didn't have enough red yarn. Ultimately, I think it looks better and more accurate with the thinner legs anyway, even if I couldn't incorporate the holding ability.

... Man, I'm so much of a nature nerd that I crochet holothurians. Not sure what that says about me.

And here are some WIP photos!

 

 Let's face it, what the Team Rocket members really need is some good life counseling.

Shadow Play, Chapter 2

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

The lobby of the headquarters was nicely decorated in marble and metal, with displays of old superhero gear lining the walls, and the crest of the Defenders hanging above the receptionist’s desk. The receptionist, a white Nimmo, did a double-take as they came in. “Er—can I help you?” she asked.

Isengrim bowed. “Isengrim, the Werelupe King, seeks audience with Judge Hog,” he said. He paused, then added, “I believe I have an appointment.”

The Nimmo’s eyes widened even further as she leafed through her schedule. “Oh—yes, there you are,” she said. “Please wait a moment.” She turned to the Beepallite that sat patiently on the desk. “Judge Hog, King Isengrim is here to see you.”

The robot Petpet whirred as the light on the feedhorn of its antenna dish flickered, and it blinked and shifted its weight from one foot to the other before settling back down again. “There’s a good boy,” the receptionist said, patting its head, and it let out a few mechanical clacks in delight.

 

 Pokémon battles can only stave off boredom for so long. But with the PokéGear's video app*, the entertainment never ends!

*The PokéGear's video app is totally something I invented solely for this comic. Please don't go looking for it in the game.

 I'm kind of amazed at how the Radio Tower receptionist can keep her composure and keep doing her job at a time like this. Now that's dedication to your work. (But seriously lady, now's a great time to go on vacation.)

 Still going with this series, but nobody's told me to stop yet, so...

This one should more accurately be titled "Infamous Cats in Science", but that just doesn't have quite the same ring to it and I wanted to keep things consistent. At any rate, Cope and Marsh played a pivotal role in popularizing paleontology in the late 19th century and especially bringing to global notice the wealth of dinosaur fossils to be found in the American West--before the Bone Wars, most substantial paleontological finds had occurred in Europe.

I thought it would be fun to make them both black cats to show that, despite their bitter feuding, the two of them really weren't all that different, and could have - indeed, one might argue should have - been friends, if their stubborn pride and refusal to forgive each other hadn't gotten in the way. I'm not sure one can say whether or not they would have ultimately found more fossils if they had been cooperating, but they certainly both would have led much happier lives, which is more important.

Easter eggs:

- The bone they are fighting over is very specifically a Brontosaurus humerus. Marsh was the one who described Brontosaurus in 1879. Although I'm sure Cope wishes he'd gotten there first.

- Pawthniel Marsh is based off my own very fluffy black cat. Cope kinda resembles my sister's short-haired black cat. Neither of them have Victorian facial hair, I hasten to add.

 Honestly, Silver didn't turn up until this point in the comic because none of his dialogue before this had given me anything to riff on. He's not an obnoxious braggart with delusions of grandeur like Blue--he's just angsty and dark and obsessed with power. I mean, I'm sure you could make that kind of character funny if you tried, but nothing was coming to me as I was playing the game, and forced humor is never funny.

... But also I just really wanted Kris to bean this guy with a Poke Ball.

Shadow Play, Chapter 1

This was one of the last things I ever submitted to the Neopian Times before I quit playing the website (for various reasons which I have ranted about on this blog elsewhere). But I'm of the opinion that I at least went out with a bang, because this is one of my favorite things I ever wrote for the Times, and I've enjoyed all the Neopets stories I've written, so that's saying something.

The nucleus for this story was the fact that in Dances With Werelupes, Terra and Isengrim visit Neopia Central, and Isengrim takes the opportunity to pay Malkus Vile a visit for some business matters. With Isengrim's character progression through subsequent stories, I began to realize that he had reached a point where he no longer felt comfortable associating with (and identifying as one of) Neopia's villains, and would much rather be helping bring them to justice. Barring rare in-universe mentions of the Chia Police, the main law enforcement agency in Neopia appears to be the Defenders of Neopia, and bringing superheroes into the mix would be way more fun than a real-world-ish police force anyway. :)

As I fleshed out the plot and decided to introduce elements of magic and urban fantasy as well, I decided to incorporate Malum from the Wraith Resurgence plot. That plot was happening at the time I was brainstorming for this story, and I thought Malum was a really interesting character who definitely looked like he could also have ties to Isengrim.

... But then the finale of Wraith Resurgence came out and revealed that Malum actually did not look like a glowy beast-warlock all the time--he was a regular Lupe who'd just been cursed. And his backstory did not square at all with the history between him and Isengrim I'd been developing. So, I decided to replace Malum with a completely new original character, and I'm glad I did, because I ended up having a lot of fun writing Zoltan and he's kind of become part of the main cast now.

Besides all the fun superhero fantasy action, this story is sort of my love letter to big cities. I based my idea of Neopia Central heavily off New York City, specifically around the mid-20th-century, and I really enjoyed trying to immerse the reader in that busy atmosphere where there's always something interesting going on. 

Edits from the version that got into the Times are pretty minimal; mostly just some prose cleanup and some slight alterations to make sure everybody's in-character and consistent. One big edit I made was giving Zoltan a Transylvanian accent; in the original version, I pictured him having more of a British accent, but as I continued to tighten his character design and flesh him out through subsequent stories, I realized how much he was inspired by Hungarian and Romanian culture, so I had to give him the accent to match. Besides, more good guys in the media need Transylvanian accents. :)

Also, I wrote this for a summer NaNoWriMo challenge I was doing, which ended up being my last NaNo because the next one I tried, when I was writing Earthkeepers, I ended up quitting after a few days because the stress was starting to give me panic attacks. At least I had a lot of fun with Shadow Play, but I am not ever putting myself through that kind of self-imposed pressure again. Not worth it. (I also wasn't housesitting and trying to take care of an insane dog while writing Shadow Play, so that may have had something to do with it, but still. Not doing that to myself again.)

(I guess it goes without saying, but this story may contradict canon regarding Malkus Vile's role in the Void Within site plot. Not only did I write this years before Void Within, but I no longer try to keep my Neopets fics current with new canon developments; I don't follow the franchise anymore anyway, and I'd much rather be able to develop my cast without worrying about needing to drastically alter something if a new piece of lore comes out, which would also necessitate me having to pay more attention to the franchise than I currently care to. At any rate, I'm no longer submitting anything to the Neopian Times anyway, so I don't strictly need to pay attention to canon anymore. I guess you can think of these fics as sort of an alternate timeline diverging from canon around the time I quit the site.)

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

Terra loved Neopia Central at night. The bustling metropolis was already fascinating enough during the day, but at night it turned into a symphony of light and motion. Faerie-dust lamps set down a rhythm of soft light on endless sidewalks, magic signs blinked a syncopated beat above shops and restaurants, and a choir of Eyrie cabs and Uni-drawn lorries streamed along city blocks like a grid-shaped river.

A chilly spring wind picked up and the pale-skinned, blue-eyed human woman zipped her jacket closed. Her long copper hair was tied back in a braid, and she carefully wadded it against the back of her neck before throwing the hood of her jacket over her head, pushing her glasses up her nose, and putting her hands in her pockets. Low clouds hung overhead, illuminated by the collective glow of uncountable city lights. It had rained earlier that day, and it looked poised to do so again tonight. Not that Terra would mind—she loved rain, too. Visits to Neopia Central were always a wonderful experience.