YAY KATESTORY@@@@@@@@@@@
i LOVE kate story
it is so cool
like nachos
- Teachy O'Houlihan

---

The classic Sonic 'XX reply-to story, contributed to by dozens of authors over a quarter. fucking. century.

Book XX: Silver Anniversary

The current KateStory, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary on October 22, 2019. Feel free to join in!

Character Guide

A by-no-means exhaustive analysis of a few of the more major, and a few of the less minor, characters to appear in KateStory over the years.

Books I-VIII: Prodigy Classic

From the classic Prodigy Bulletin Boards. In 1997, I combined all of these, edited them, added a foreword and my own comments, and posted them in a crappy MS-Word-based HTML document. Now, I've finally gone through and fixed them all, reformatting them in good HTML and putting each on its own separate page. I've still kept the (sometimes-silly -- grr-bah, magenta text!) formatting largely the same as in that original version, though I've dropped some of the more illegible conventions (mainly the use of cyan text).

Note, of course, that all comments and introductions are from 1997.

1997 Foreword

Original foreword from 1997. Includes silly ratings section that I used to put on my stories.

Trivia:

• I edited and added my own comments to these first eight parts in '97. I haven't done that to any subsequent version, largely due to laziness and a lack of masochism.
• This was the first time anybody had actually sat down and divided KateStory up into numbered sections. I split it up logically and my numbering scheme here became official, but text within the stories themselves is sometimes at variance with the number scheme I decided on here.
• I refer to Marvin the Paranoid Android as being not paranoid but actually "manically depressed". What I meant to say was clinically depressed; there's nothing manic about Marvin. Adams himself was not immune to this mistake -- "What do you do if you are a manically depressed robot?"

Book I: The Adventure Begins

The very beginning. Kelly goes on an adventure; a series of random references to fantasy novels and cartoons ensues. Hedgehog X and the Ego Trip Team appear to try and stop Kate's madness.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, Video Games BB, Sonic '94 Club
First Post: 94.10.22, by Stefanie "Kate" [...]. Duh. Kate. As in KateStory.
Last Post: 94.11.06, by Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts
Other Significant Contributors: Thad "X" Boyd, Anthony "ANT 100" Testa

First Appearances: Kelly, Hedgehog X, Brent
Referenced but Not Seen: Kate
Major References: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, Ren and Stimpy

Trivia:

• The story starts out as a series of one-liners. I post the first multi-paragraph response, which is just an extended Alice's Adventures In Wonderland riff, and Brent follows suit, writing more extended chapters.
• Brent is also the first person to introduce his own character-avatars, and refer to Kate, thus turning this into that most nefarious of all things, the self-insertion fanfic. In those days we were big on making our fanfics reflect actual events going on in Sonic '94 itself; Brent simply represented Stef's schizophrenic story as Kate's attempts to muck with the fabric of reality, and introduced his own avatar, Kate's little brother, Hedgehog X, to try to stop her.
• Surprisingly enough, the phrase "And then the world ended" (usually "exploded" in later books, but clearly the same idea) is used for the first time in this book, by none other than Sonic '94 pariah Anthony "ANT 100" Testa.
• This is the only book that does not contain Mega Man X.
• This is one of only three books (along with VI and VIII) that do not contain Billy.

Book II: The Rescue

After Hedgehog X and Kelly attack Kate (somewhere between parts), she turns Hedgehog X into a singing candy machine named Maleophonix, and imprisons Kelly in Castle Chaos, where she is forced to work on a TV shopping network. A plucky lad named Billy sets out with Maleophonix and a rent-a-hero named Anticlimax to save Kelly and restore sanity to Kate.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, Video Games BB, Sonic '94/'95 Club
First Post: 94.11.27, by Stefanie "Kate" [...]
Last Post: 95.01.01, by Thad "X" Boyd
Other Significant Contributors: Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts, Justin "Raptor" Barber

First Appearances: Billy, Anticlimax, Maleophonix, X, Kate
Returning Characters: Kelly, Hedgehog X
Major References: Sonic the Hedgehog, The Lion King, The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Book III: Searching for a Plot

Kelly and Billy fade into the background as Kate, X, and Hedgehog X become the principal characters. Video game references abound.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, Video Games BB, Sonic '95 Club
First Post: 95.01.07, by Thad "X" Boyd
Last Post: 95.04.08, by Thad "X" Boyd
Other Significant Contributors: Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts, Stefanie "Kate" [...]

First Appearances: LOGIC
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Anticlimax
Referenced but Not Seen: Maleophonix
Major References: The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings, King's Quest, Final Fantasy 6, Sonic the Hedgehog, Legend of the Red Dragon, Dragonlance, Mega Man X2

Trivia:

• This is the part where I coined the term KateStory.
• This book was begun only six days after the previous book ended, but I decided to count it as a separate book because it was posted under a new subject heading (and because I had to continue my own chapter myself). This was really only because of the Sonic '9X naming scheme: Sonic '94 had become Sonic '95, and so I began the new book under the subject line "Sonic '95: KateStory".
• I note that "Square's working on a cool-looking new RPG with SGI-rendered graphics." This is, of course, Secret of Evermore, which in fact turns out to be something of a letdown.
• I refer to the "vast world of LORD". I think I must have meant that facetiously, as the world of LORD in fact consists of a town and a forest.
• This includes our (Brent's) first references to Final Fantasy 6 (released as 3 back in those days, but of course you already knew that), which would later become a KateStory standby.

Book IV: The Final Rise of the Dark Fantasy

Things get even less coherent. Large focus on Final Fantasy 6 (3) and The Dark Is Rising Sequence.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, Video Games BB, Sonic '95 Club
First Post: 95.05.07, Thad "X" Boyd
Last Post: 95.06.11, Thad "X" Boyd
Other Significant Contributors: Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts, Stefanie "Kate" [...]

Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Kate, X, Hedgehog X
Referenced but Not Seen: LOGIC, Maleophonix, Anticlimax
Major References: Final Fantasy 6, The Dark Is Rising Sequence, Lord of the Rings, Heretic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Trivia:

• This is the first time anybody (me, in this case) intentionally ends a book in the KateStory rather than just let it trail off when everyone loses interest.
• In the ending, X says, "Don't worry, there's bound to be a Book 3...someday." Clearly this is at odds with the official numbering scheme I devised later. I assume I must have considered Books 2, 3, and 4 as all part of the same book.

Book V: Rebirth

KateStory comes to a new Sonic club, this one on the Comics BB and led by Lindsay Cibos. Kate, X, and Hedgehog X come to get Kelly and Billy to help them fight Kate's Median Spell, which is still causing havoc. X nobly sacrifices himself for no reason and HX introduces his replacement, Marvin the Paranoid Android.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, Comics BB, Sonic Club
First Post: 95.06.20, by Stefanie "Kate" [...]
Last Post: 95.07.09, by Thad "X" Boyd (with visiting cousin-once-removed Chris "Kumba" Morehead)
Other Significant Contributors: Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts, Roger "Dr. Robotnik" Remer, Jill "Amy Rose" Quindiagan

First Appearance: Marvin
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Kate, X, Hedgehog X
Referenced but Not Seen: Brent, Maleophonix, LOGIC
Major References: Sonic the Hedgehog, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Dark Is Rising Sequence, Final Fantasy 6

Trivia:

• The founder of this particular Sonic Club was Lindsay Cibos, who now co-maintains hentai site cutepet.org.
• This was actually before I read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- I know, I can barely believe that such a time ever existed myself. As such, I write Marvin poorly: I write him as actually being paranoid instead of clinically depressed.
• This book marks the first use (by Brent) of the phrase "Median Effect" to describe the havoc that ensues when two authors simultaneously post conflicting chapters. Previously, the Median Spell simply referred to the characters' haphazard maneuvering through various different media.

Book VI: On Mobius, for Once

This isn't so much a KateStory as a reply-to Sonic fanfic. Without Sonic. However, it does have Kate, X, and Hedgehog X, and it is a reply-to story from Sonic '95, so I decided to include it in this collection anyway.

Amaroq Kapugen, the Great Black Wolf, king of Pride Lake, leader of its band of Freedom Fighters, and Guardian of the Moon Gems, gets a distress call. In fact, everybody gets it.

Hedgehog X has some idea of what's going on, but he's not telling. In fact, he's so infuriatingly tight-lipped about it that we never figure out just what the hell it is he's hiding -- we just know it has something to do with somebody called The Lord of the Mountain, AKA the Kiffi. When Kate and X finally confront the Kiffi, the story abruptly ends.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, Video Games BB, Sonic '95 Club
First Post: 95.11.17, by Jess "Amaroq" Rhodes
Last Post: 95.12.31, by Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts
Other Significant Contributors: Thad "X" Boyd, Chris "Havoc" Carpenter, "Speed" Sutton, Ryan "Kapu" Rhodes

First Appearance: Frog
Returning Characters: Kate, X, Hedgehog X
Referenced but Not Seen: Thad
Major References: Sonic the Hedgehog, Dragonlance, Chrono Trigger

Trivia:

• This is, of course, Sonic fanfic. Pre-adolescent Sonic fanfic riddled with self-insertion. In fact, Sonic himself never appears, nor does any of the rest of the core cast but Knuckles and fanfic stable Bookshire Draftwood, but instead we've got X, Hedgehog X, and Kate (of course), plus other fan characters like Amaroq, Mantal, and Havoc.
• Another fanfic thing: in this particular version of the story, the original Knothole was obliterated and the Knothole Freedom Fighters have since moved into the Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic and Knuckles.
• X refers to being third-in-command after Kate and Sonic. This is another example of weaving the club politics into the fanfic; Stef "Kate" [...] and Kevin "Sonic" Faulk were the club founders and presidents and I was a VP. In fact, this is the reason Sonic and Kate are absent from the story; Kevin and Stef were off the boards at that time. When Kate finally does show up, it's because I'd just received a letter from Stef.
• Amaroq refers to "the ever-aggravating holograms from the brawl in TGRL a few months back". TGRL was The Great River Lounge, a bar owned by Hedgehog X which essentially entailed largely OOC role-played brawls by all the various club members. I had X bust out some holograms as a deus ex machina to resolve a brawl with colorful characters Beavis and Butt-hog.
• First reference to Hedgehog X by his proper name, Xavier.
• AQ's little brother Ryan refers to his character, Kapu, being suspended from the Freedom Fighters. More club politics expressed in story form; Ryan was suspended from the club for awhile.
• First reference to X having "a hand that works like a futuristic toaster" -- a euphemism for the X-Buster we wound up using repeatedly throughout the series.
• I thoroughly embarrass myself by expressing a 13-year-old geek's infatuation with certain fictitious characters.
• One of only two books that does not contain Kelly. The other, of course, is Book VIII, another Sonic fanfic.
• Ditto for Billy, except he's not in Book I either.

Book VII: The Search for the Watch, and the Ensuing Events

KateStory comes into its own. The cast of Brent's unfinished epic Redd Wokko is joined by Chrono Trigger's Frog, whose sword, the Masamune, won't do that thing where it lights up all blue when he gives his inspiring speech. This is because Thad's watch battery is dead, and there is a weird connection between Thad's glowing watch and Frog's glowing sword. The team sets out to find the Watch Battery of the Gods. And then the world exploded.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, Video Games BB, Sonic '96 Club
First Post: 96.08.15, by Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts
Last Post: 96.09.11, by Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts
Other Significant Contributors: Stefanie "Kate" [...], Thad "X" Boyd, Jess "Amaroq" Rhodes, Brady "Ashura" Hartel

First Appearances: Stef, Thad, Crazy Willy, The Flyin' Dork
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Brent, X, Hedgehog X, Maleophonix, Frog
Major References: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chrono Trigger, Earthworm Jim (the cartoon series), Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Trivia:

• Brent's first major appearance; he had a brief cameo in Book I and an even briefer one in Book V as part of the Ego Trip Team.
• I state that my temporary replacement watch "doesn't even have Indiglo, let alone Electro-Luminescence". Of course these are actually exactly the same thing; the former is Timex's trademark and the latter is a generic term.
• Brent refers to this as KateStory IV. Again, this counts my II-IV as a single book and omits my VI.
• A rather embarrassing little mini-flamewar between me and Brent due to the train wreck that was our unified fanfic project, Dreams Distorted. Which he lost interest in and bailed on and I took it way too seriously. Honestly I'd've cut this foolishness, but it actually affects the story's development.
• First use of Brent's nickname "Brentai", which I gave him.
• First reference to what become the official numbering system: "its third incarnation (subtitled 'Searching for a Plot')".
• First use of the "X was annoyed. He was very annoyed." device, which later became a staple.
• Speaking of staples, this is also, of course, where "And then the world exploded." became a staple (though, as previously mentioned, it originated way back in Book I).

Book VIII: Midnight Falls. And Can't Get Up.

After Sonic '9X receded into obscurity and only Brent and I were left behind, we joined another Prodigy Classic Sonic club. Another member started a reply-to story to explain her character's origin, which started out as a fairly in-continuity Sonic story, but after the third Median Effect, we jacked it and made it into a KateStory.

A winged cheetah named Midnight appears inexplicably for some purpose never adequately explained. Meanwhile, Hedgehog X is acting suspiciously again.

Forum: Prodigy Classic, TV BB, Sonic Club
First Post: 97.01.28, by Mandi "Midnight" Gordon
Last Post: 97.02.23, by Brent "Hedgehog X" Roberts
Other Significant Contributor (in fact, only other contributor): Thad "X" Boyd

Returning Characters: Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Maleophonix, LOGIC
Major References: Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy 4, Final Fantasy 6, Highlander, Mega Man X, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Trivia:

• Oddly enough, while this is more of a KateStory than Book VI, it's more of a Sonic fanfic at the same time. We actually see principal characters Sonic and Sally.
• I get chattier in my Editor's Notes here. The quality of Midnight's narrative is a driving force; it's almost like I'm compelled to MiST her.
• First reference to lightning bolts representing the Median Effect.
• One of only two books without Kelly; the other is VI.
• One of only three books without Billy; the others are I and VI.

Books IX & X: Thad's Mailing Lists

I decided to revive KateStory for its third anniversary in '97. By then, of course, Prodigy Classic was a desolate wasteland, and I had moved Sonic '97 to a pair of mailing lists -- one on-topic, one off-.

In '99, I had dispensed with those mailing lists and had a mailing list consisting of close friends, mostly from high school, so that was the forum when we decided to revive it yet again.

Book IX: Third Anniversary Extravaganza

Kelly and Billy -- now a low-ranking member of SOLDIER -- are plunged into a world of intrigue, fighting not one but two versions of the nefarious Girard, who have acquired the Ultimate Destructive Materia: The Pink Balloon.

The DriveSpace-compressed hard drive containing Book IX was corrupted when I upgraded to Windows 98, and I did not recover the data until some 10 years later, with the help of Dean Trower's DriveSpace 3 Disaster Recovery Kit. (Dean, if we ever cross paths, I owe you a beer.) For those 10 years, Book IX was only available in incomplete form from a partial archive saved by Steve. As such, Books X-XV make references to Book IX being partially lost.

Forum: E-Mail, Thad's Sonic '97 Off-Topic Mailing List
First Post: 97.10.22, by Thad Boyd
Last Post: 97.11.09, by Thad Boyd
Other Significant Contributors: Brent "Mr. 'Bob'" Roberts, Stephen "Beef 999" Tramer, Jupiter S Lament, Alex Kimbel, Mike Nonsense

First Appearances: Steve, Girard, Dr. Wily, Jojo the Flipping Elf
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Stef, Thad, Brent, X, Hedgehog X, LOGIC, Crazy Willy, The Flyin' Dork
Referenced but Not Seen: Kate, Frog, Anticlimax
Major References: Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Suikoden, Mega Man, Quantum and Woody, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, Voltron, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Trivia:

• Several chapters contain references to Post-Apocalyptic Circus Midgets, a comic Steve and I discussed but never got around to creating. It would have included Girard as a major villain.
• Prior to this story, Girard appeared in a random and pointless cameo at the end of the first part of Steve's 72 Hours Trilogy, a quasi-Sonic fanfic. He then appeared as the surprise post-Robotnik last boss in Sonic the Hedgehog: Not Battle Royale, a text-based DOS RPG made by Brent and possibly the only game he has ever completed. (It was originally going to be titled Battle Royale, but Archie Comics released a Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Royal special that same year. It was awful.) In the second chapter of this book, Steve is sitting in Dr. Wily's Pascal class working on a sequel titled Not-Not Battle Royale.
• The Pink Balloon Materia is a reference to Viktor's line in the original Suikoden, "Black Rune, Pink Balloon, what's the difference?"
• Rather a lot of IX consisted of Brent and me sniping each other in a pointless and embarrassing flamewar; the gist is that he wanted me to shut up about Final Fantasy VII (which he had not yet played) and I thought it was perfectly reasonable to yammer incessantly about the hot new game (and also was way, way too into Final Fantasy VII, and also also we were both about 15 years old and prone to acting like jerks). I've cut most of the bickering but left in the story bits. (Some of the story bits may reference bickering bits. There is, for example, a reference to "the aforementioned compost heap", despite there being no prior mention of any compost heaps.)
• Brent, in retaliation for the aforementioned relentless FF7 references, wrote a chapter where I sleep with a transvestite lion by the name of Skatter. It's a long story but boils down to an inter-club flamewar with a quasi-Disney club.
• The bit with the onions is inside-jokey even by KateStory standards; the explanation goes something like this: when we were in high school, Brad used to tell stories of how he had served in World War I. They frequently focused on the limited technology at the soldiers' disposal -- he stated that hand grenades had not been invented yet and they instead soaked onions in hot sauce and threw them at people, and that the Sopwith Camel was lightweight enough to lift over your head and hit people with. He also regaled us with a story of fighting a dragon with his CO, Surfmoff, who had long white hair and "this tight sword".
• Sven-Sven was a character of Steve's who had the power to turn people into mint jelly, who appeared in the aforementioned 72 Hours Trilogy and led the aforementioned Post-Acopalyptic Circus Midgets. The book ends with me grinding the joke into the ground by using Sven from Voltron and then similarly double-naming the rest of the Force.

Book X: The Middle of Nowhere

Biggest KateStory ever. Steve invalidates the totality of Book IX and a bunch of new and returning characters have to fix it.

Forum: E-Mail, Thad's Infinite Spam List/Mailing List of Love
First Post: 99.01.16, by Thad Boyd
Last Post: 99.02.19, by Thad Boyd
Other Significant Contributors: Stef [...], Brent Roberts, Steve Tramer, Erin McDonald

First Appearances: McDohl, Plot
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Stef, Thad, Brent, Steve, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Maleophonix, Frog, LOGIC, Girard, Dr. Wily, Anticlimax
Major References: Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 7, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Beast Wars, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Xena: Warrior Princess, Xenogears, Rent, The X-Files, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, square.net, Suikoden, South Park, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Chrono Trigger, The Princess Bride, Dragonlance, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Trivia:

• I flame Steve for spelling and grammatical errors quite a lot more than even is characteristic for me. This is because he mocked some newbies for having poor spelling and grammar.
• I'm not even sure where to begin unraveling the layers on layers of inside jokes in Erin's post. All right -- we had a history teacher by the name of Mr. D. We had a bit of fun with him, and one of our classmates wrote a song titled "Mr. D/He's the Man". Also, Mr. D was once giving a history lecture where he wrote the letters "BS" next to a quote, and then went on to explain that "BS" stands for "Brother Smith", a priest who was prone to exaggerations. He made jokes like that that he thought were clever.
• Similarly inside-jokey: the looking at the watch and saying "Stalked/stocked by Alex". This originated when I went to the state fair with a few friends (Jess, Erin, and Kira, as the story notes); I assume there was a Xena reference and I commented about being stalked by Alex, who was a very big Xena fan. And then somebody -- possibly Kira -- asked if that was stalked or stocked. I'm not sure how looking at my watch got worked into it, but I used to do that quite a lot (my watch is, after all, a major player in Book VII). And then I worked Maxl, Tracker, and Jade into it, because they are characters from Steve's and my fanfic who all had watches. Whew.
• I act as if my usage of the name "McDohl" in reference to the hero from Suikoden is a bit odd. This was, of course, before the sequel came out and they referred to him by exactly that name. (Glitches aside.)
• "I hope MY gag Christmas present turns out like that" -- my gag Christmas present was a condom. From Steve.
• The version of The Princess Bride that Steve and I bandy references to is not the movie, but a live stage version we'd recently seen a friend of mine perform in.
• I was performing in a Twelfth Night adaptation/quasi-parody titled What You Will at the time I wrote some of the later chapters; hence the not-quite-Twelfth Night references.

Book XI: Sonic '01 BBS

Book XI: The Fortress of Crap(t)itude

When I named my BBS in honor of the old Sonic '9X club, I felt it only fitting to revive KateStory. Brent, Steve, and I were the only participants in this one, except for four posts by James, three off-topic.

GI Joe attacks Dr. Billy, and there's a really unreasonable amount of gay sex.

Forum: Thad's BBS, Sonic '01
First Post: 01.01.25, by Steve "Maxl" Tramer
Last Post: 01.09.21, by Brentai Roberts
Other Significant Contributor: Thad "HoJu" Boyd

First Appearances: Dr. Billy, Vincent Price, Mr. Shithead the Shithead
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Thad, Brent, Steve, X, Frog, LOGIC, Girard, Dr. Wily, Anticlimax, Crazy Willy
Referenced but Not Seen: Maleophonix
Major References: Mega Man, Sharkey, Castlevania, GI Joe, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Final Fantasy 6, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Strider, Skies of Arcadia, The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Simpsons

Trivia:

• There's a gap of nearly five months in the middle of this story. This was, of course, between my going home for summer and coming back to school and setting Sonic '01 back up.
• This is the only book that does not contain Hedgehog X.
• The Guru was a primitive bot included in the SBBS chatroom software. "Cover in goopy slime" was a built-in emote. There are references to a few custom emotes in there, too, like "grab mad crotch" and "rape -- with sexy results!" ...Yeah, this one has the dubious distinction of being the most tasteless of all KateStories. (Though XII gives it a run for its money!)

Books XII-XVI: boards.pyoko.org

After the relative failure of KateStory XI, Brent revived KateStory on the Pyoko boards. Back to its roots, with a random pool of potential contributors, KateStory throve once again.

Book XII: The Amazing Mr. H

Kelly is turned into a giant cockroach. Meanwhile, The Amazing Mr. H rules the beaches.

Forum: Pyoko
First Post: 02.08.28, by Brentai
Last Post: 02.09.15, by Random-Guy
Other Significant Contributors: Stef, Thad, Stiv, Orthae, Matchbox Killer, Detonator, Gunslinger

First Appearance: The Amazing Mr. H
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Stef, Thad, Brent, Steve, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Dr. Wily, Jojo the Flipping Elf, Vincent Price's Rotting Corpse, Mr. Shithead the Shithead
Referenced but Not Seen: LOGIC
Major References: The Metamorphosis, Bad Dudes, They Saved Hitler's Brain, Tromaville, Surf Nazis Must Die, Mega Man, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Trivia:

• First use of images in a KateStory.
• First reference to Kelly's job at the spam factory. And the fact that she has an older brother.

Book XIII: Janey vs. The Illuminati

Ninth Anniversary Special! Janey, a seemingly nondescript college student, is plunged into the middle of a war against the Illuminati, controlled by The Amazing Mr. H and bent on world domination. But there's something special about Janey...and only demon-displaced detective Gok Tinnik, demon-displaced enigma Billy von Garda, and super-spy extraordinaire Kelly London know what it is.

Forum: Pyoko
First Post: 03.10.22, by Stef
Last Post: 03.11.20, by Random-Guy
Other Significant Contributors: Thad, Brentai, Lee-Ham, Match, Detonator, Kazz, Friday

First Appearances: Janey, Gok
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Stef, Thad, Brent, Steve, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, LOGIC, Plot, The Amazing Mr. H, Anticlimax, Vincent Price's Rotting Corpse
Major References: Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Matrix Trilogy, Terminator 3, The Once and Future King, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Trivia:

• Quite possibly the most coherent KateStory ever.

Book XIV: How Continuity Killed the KateStory

April Fool's Edition '04. Somewhere in there is a story about Evil Wokko framing Gok's uncle for the murder of Crazy Willy. But that's mostly hidden among the foolish and self-satisfied ramblings of me, Brent, and Kazz.

Forum: Pyoko
First Post: 04.04.01, by Thad
Last Post: 04.05.24, by Brentai
Other Significant Contributors: Kazz, McDohl, Random-Guy

First Appearances: Adam, Uncle Larry
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Janey, Stef, Thad, Brentai, Steve, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Maleophonix, Gok, McDohl, LOGIC, Plot, Girard, The Amazing Mr. H, Anticlimax, Marvin, Crazy Willy, The Flyin' Dork, Jojo the Flipping Elf, Vincent Price, Mr. Shithead the Shithead. In other words, every single character listed on the characters page at the time except Dr. Wily.
Referenced but Not Seen: Dr. Wily
Major References: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Final Fantasy 6, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (we really should just take those three as given), various Mega Man games (esp. X7), Final Fantasy 8, Doctor Who, The Matrix: Revolutions, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Clerks: The Animated Series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Trivia:

• Brent makes a rookie mistake regarding Daleks: as any anal-retentive Doctor Who fan will tell you, Daleks aren't robots, they're squidlike alien monsters who pilot robotic armor.

Book XV: KateStory Fusion

An all-star cast of KateStory alums celebrates the tenth anniversary...and then takes off to leave Thad, Brent, Cannon (the artist formerly known as Random-Guy), and McDohl to make a massive circle-jerk of it.

It starts, simply enough, with an insult and a battle of men with afros. Then, upon Bush's election to a second term, LOGIC is destroyed and the KateStory merges with the real world. Book XV comes full circle in a post-apocalyptic future, and the KateStory itself comes full circle in a shocking yet strangely familiar twist ending.

Forum: Pyoko
First Post: 04.10.21, by Brentai
Last Post: 05.05.17, by McDohl
Other Significant Contributors: Thad, Cannon, Kazz, Stef

Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Janey, Stef, Thad, Brent, Steve, Adam, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Maleophonix, Gok, McDohl, LOGIC, Plot, Girard, Dr. Billy, The Amazing Mr. H, Anticlimax, Crazy Willy, The Flyin' Dork, Jojo the Flipping Elf, Vincent Price, Mr. Shithead the Shithead, Uncle Larry. Once again, everybody but Dr. Wily and Frog.
Major References: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (but, curiously enough, only minor references to FF6 and Rocky Horror), Katamari Damacy, Transformers: The Movie, Shazam!, Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Lord of the Rings, Sonic the Hedgehog (3 and the SatAM cartoon), Justice League Unlimited, Mega Man Zero

Trivia:

• The sequence I wrote with Kelly in the ending was Brent's idea for ending the Tenth Anniversary story before we even started it.
• Yes, Brent and I actually did talk about throwing out the continuity for this one to make it more accessible to new readers and writers. Of course, Brent decided that, this being the tenth anniversary, this idea was madness.
• There are a few references to a flamewar I had with a LiveJournal user named Bleedingwillow and her friends on a My Little Pony EZBoard. ...Yeah, that sounds like I was picking on children, or at least very emotionally stunted adults, and in fact I was. But she started it.

Book XVI: KateStory Gaiden

McDohl jumped the gun on this one -- he started it up just two weeks after Book XV ended, having gradually petered out over a six-month period due to an overall sense of KateStory fatigue. And enthusiasm didn't pick back up -- Brent wrote a couple one- and two-sentence posts, and McDohl and I picked at it periodically over seven months, but nobody else participated. That said, it has some good bits in it that I'm pretty proud of.

Given the ending of Book XV, which showed Kelly and Billy first restored to their childhood and then grown up and married with children, this story jumps around in the timeline, from 2005 to 1994 to a 2030 where Flagstaff is covered in a geodesic dome and President Boyd has been kidnapped by ninjas.

Forum: Pyoko
First Post: 05.05.31, by McDohl
Last Post: 06.02.08, by McDohl
Other Significant Contributor: Thad

Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Janey, Teachy O'Houlihan, Thad, Brent, Adam, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Maleophonix, Gok, McDohl, Girard, Dr. Wily, Marvin, Larry
Referenced but Not Seen: LOGIC, Anticlimax
Major References: Suikoden, Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Secret of Mana, Bad Dudes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10

Trivia:

• Brent's single-line post consisting entirely of "Hedgehog X died" is a reference to another Pyoko reply-to story thread. That thread was limited to a single word per post; one person writes one word, the next writes the next. Someone (McDohl?) noticed the similarity to KateStory and wrote a post consisting of "Hedgehog X"; Brent immediately followed with "died."
• A friend and KateStory staple, who has become a teacher, contacted me and requested that I remove her name from this book on the grounds that it contains an easily-Google-able story of the two of us getting drunk together. In deference to my friend and her noble profession, I have replaced all instances of her name with Teachy O'Houlihan.
• While this was written between 2005 and 2006, I saved it in 2008. While I believe our avatars and the board layout should be more or less the same as when it was written, postcount, karma ("apples"), and money are right about where they were when we all left the Pyoko forums.
• This is the only book I didn't title. (KateStory Gaiden is McDohl's title, and was the subject for the original thread.)

Books XVII-XIX: Worst Forums Ever/Brontoforumus

Following a mass departure from Pyoko to Worst Forums Ever, and in anticipation of the KateStory's fourteenth anniversary, McDohl began the cycle anew with Book XVII.

Book XVII: Loose Ends

Forum: Worst Forums Ever
First Post: 08.09.17, by McDohl
Last Post: 09.01.20, by Guildenstern
Other Significant Contributors: Brentai, Thad, Kazz

There are a few arcs in this story, all actually resolved quite nicely: a hypnotized Frog burns down a forest, Anticlimax seeks the Magic Pencil, Girard plays City of Heroes, and Janey goes to college.

First Appearances: Drago Morgan (not named), Fig Minton
Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Janey, Thad, Brent, Adam, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Gok, Frog, Girard, Dr. Billy, Anticlimax, Jojo the Flipping Elf
Referenced but Not Seen: LOGIC, Plot, Crazy Willy, Mr. Shithead the Shithead, Uncle Larry
Major References: Final Fantasy (6, of course, and a good bit of the later, Nomura-era stuff as well), Chrono Trigger, Sonic the Hedgehog (mostly the SatAM cartoon with a bit of the Archie comic and the Genesis games), Lord of the Rings, Wall-E, City of Heroes, Swamp Thing (in a roundabout way -- Frog speaks in iambic pentameter, like Alan Moore's version of the Demon), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #21, Oficial y Caballero

Trivia:

• KateStory IX is recovered and unveiled during this story.
• Janey gets a last name.
• Janey's incompetent stalker is a reference to a forumgoer who kept posting addresses and phone numbers he'd found doing Google searches for my name -- all of which were years out-of-date.
• Thad's crack to Bill Gates about the Zune is topical: while making fun of the Zune is always a joke in and of itself, there had just been a massive failure of the devices at the time that chapter was written.

Book XVIII: KateStory Forever

Janey's doctoral studies run afoul of a xenophobic librarian, her brother the velociraptor, an occult organization, a superhero team, and a Blight.

Forum: Brontoforumus
First Post: Thad, 2009-10-22
Last Post: McDohl, 2010-10-23
Other Significant Contributors: Friday, Brentai, Cyan Prime, Guildenstern

Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Janey, Stef, Thad, Brent, Steve Adam, Kate, X, Hedgehog X, Maleophonix, Gok Tinnik, LOGIC, Plot, Girard, Drago Morgan (named for the first time), Anticlimax, Marvin, The Flyin' Dork, Larry, Fig Minton
Referenced but Not Seen: Dr. Billy
Seen Only in Flashbacks: McDohl (not mentioned by name), Frog, Crazy Willy, Vincent Price
Major References: The Cthulhu Mythos, Jurassic Park, Transformers, FF6, Dragon Age, Guarding the Globe ads (Invincible/Spawn/Walking Dead/Harry Potter)

Trivia:

• I didn't consciously name this one after Turtles Forever (and it started before that special aired), but I'm sure that was my subconscious inspiration.
• The Walk the Dinosaur bit was a combination of things: the Worst Forums Ever had recently been renamed "Brontoforumus" and were emblazoned with the song lyrics, and I read a Thundercats/Beavis and Butt-Head crossover fanfic at some point during the 1990's that featured the song playing at a karaoke bar.
• Lanny Lungfungus is inspired by a true story.
• I don't think Guild remembered we already had a character named Elayne, but I think it made for a neat opportunity.
• I swear I came up with the Don't Stop Believin' bit before Glee ran the song into the ground. But after Family Guy used it.
• Sonic '9X alum Brady "Ashura" Hartel shows up to write a chapter. Unlike in the Tenth Anniversary story, this was totally unprompted; he just coincidentally looked us up, found a KateStory, and wrote a bit.
• The Guarding the Globe ads were spoofs of Marvel's then-current ad campaign for Avengers. I realized that, as nonsensical crossover-wank, they were perfect KateStory material.
• Invincible fans can probably tell I hadn't gotten as far as the bit where he gets an ear implant when I wrote his scene. And I never read Spawn, but I saw the cartoons. Still, I knew Spawn was a CIA agent, and it was easy to work Rick Grimes into his story, and a then-current Walking Dead plot about government conspiracies.
• The "man beats peacock to death" bit is a little odd; it was an actual news story that somebody posted in another thread, I pedantically noted that the phrase "male peacock" is a tautology (females are peahens), and Brent turned it into a Simo Belmo story which I counted as a KS chapter.
• The last six months of this wasn't so much a collaborative story as me just scratching my own itch. Still, I'm pretty proud of how I put it all together, and I got some very good wordplay in too.

Book XIX: Ernie's Story

For the twentieth-anniversary KateStory, I decided to do something different: instead of plumbing the depths of two decades of past stories, I decided to start fresh, with a new lead character, Ernie.

I like the way it turned out -- pretty short, but good participation. Some of the old crew shows up, but it does a pretty good job telling its own story with its own small cast of characters.

Forum: Brontoforumus
First Post: Thad, 2014-10-22
Last Post: Brentai, 2015-03-03
Other Significant Contributors: Büge, Friday, Caithness

Returning Characters: Kelly, Billy, Thad, Brent, Hedgehog X

Trivia:

• That bit at the end with the Russian maybe requires some explanation. In December 2014, Brontoforumus had some trouble with Russian spambots. I had an idea to combine that with the then-current story of the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, apparently sponsored by the North Korean government. The story sort of petered out before I could get to the North Korean part, but I decided to wrap it up a few months later, after my grandpa, a Korean War vet, passed away.

Harry Potter and the Portrait That Looked Too Much Like Katestory

Esperath kicks off a KateStory powered by feeding the text of all the previous KateStories into a predictive text keyboard.

It only ran for a few days, but maybe we should give it another shot one of these days.

Forum: Brontoforumus
First Post: Esperath, 2017-12-15
Last Post: Esperath, 2017-12-17
Other Contributors: Brentai, Friday, Thad, Mongrel

Trivia:

• The title is a reference to Harry Potter and the Portrait of what Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash, which used the same technique on the Harry Potter series.

Book XX: Silver Anniversary

The current KateStory, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary on October 22, 2019. Feel free to join in!