Red Impulse

by Tyrant Overlord Killidia

(I do not own any of the songs that appear in this nor do I own the franchises that this is inspired from. Also, Professors Evander and Carlen belong to Nerokin4.) About 1000 years have passed since Professor Evander died fighting the X-Rangers. Now their descendants must battle a terrorist group that wants to resurrect him and a new Eggman, culminating in the return of Apocalypse.

Babylon Rogues: Red Impulse

Atmospheric Entry

Death Valley, California, 3036, 11:56 PM local time.

A mysterious comet was shooting in the skies above Death Valley. Then suddenly, it split into four smaller comets, three of them different colors than the fourth larger, still burning a bright blue fireball. One comet was green and carried inside it a hawk of medium stature. A silvery comet carried a massive, bulky albatross. The final comet, encased in a soothing purple flame, carried a small but intelligent female swallow. These comets crashed in different locations within Death Valley, except for the large comet which careened towards the sea.

Southern Death Valley, 02:27 AM local time.

The hawk awoke, still warm from the crash landing. He got awareness of his surroundings and opened a nearby box, containing a board that looks like it should belong in a wall of metal. This hawk, who now calls himself Jet, sets off to find the albatross and swallow on his new board, which he finds out can accommodate his moderate weight. Jet decides to call this mysterious board an "Extreme Gear" and in threes minutes reaches where the albatross crashed.

"Hey, get up, ya great lug," said Jet as he was shaking the unconscious albatross.

"Ugh, where am I?" said the albatross, finally aware of what's going on.

"We need to move now, oh yeah, and what's your name?" bellowed Jet.

"Name's Storm, Storm the Albatross. Ready to move out!" said the albatross.

"There's a box over there, can you see it, Storm?" said Jet.

"Aye, boss, and inside is another board like the one you have; yet it looks like it was built for me."

"Good, Storm. Now let's get moving," said Jet, taking off on his Extreme Gear.

"All right!" bellowed Storm as also took off on his Extreme Gear to search for the swallow.

And now for something completely different

Los Angeles, California, 16:23 local time, 3036, the skateboard park.

Richard Freeman was practicing his skating with the one Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue hedgehog watched and commented, none of them negative. Richard had known that his best friends Kazuo Yoshimoto and Romeo Trodonis would approve, as would Xavier, Richard's twin. Xavier was named after his greater uncle Xavier, who died in an accident involving a malfunctioning X-morpher. Kazuo was Japanese and liked to tinker with machinery. Romeo was African and really loved working out at the local gym. Richard and Xavier lived in L.A. with their mother since Gordon Freeman, their dad, worked at the Black Mesa Research Facility in the middle of nowhere. Recently, as in 2 weeks ago recently in may 14, Doctor Eggman IV began sudden attacks on the city in order to build the Eggman Empire. Yet that was nothing compared to the threat that Iblis, the raw power of Solaris, posed to the entire planet. 300 Years before today, Iblis suddenly reappeared on our world, his return heralded by simultaneous volcanic eruptions from Mount Vesuvius, the main island in Hawaii, and the Ring of Fire in the pacific ocean. Iblis himself surfaced in the geysers of Yellowstone National Park and set out to destroy everything in his path. Sonic and his friends tried to stop Iblis, but except for Silver, were swatted away like gnats annoying a twelve-year-old on a summer day. Silver was able to seal Iblis inside Mount Saint Helens before the raw power of Solaris could kill anyone. During one of Eggman's attacks, a sudden report came in from Doctor Griffith. Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy the Bee suddenly reappeared in a spectacular explosion of orange, green, and purple. It was revealed that 20 years prior to the warehouse explosion in New York City that killed Sonic and his friends, the Chaotix were caught in an explosion inside a sealed warehouse in Albany that contained Time Distortion Bombs, explosives that will blast living things several years into the future and destroy anything that is not living. It was around 17:30 when the Chaotix found out about what had happened in the last 536 years. It also turned out that Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form, was incomplete, explaining why he was killed in the warehouse explosion in NYC back in 2015. The Black Arms scientists' data that was retrieved from an old Arms station beneath Mount Everest proved that by saying that "The so-called final version of the Ultimate Life Form was scheduled to be tested on in here around 125 years ago, but that G.U.N. raid screwed everything up! However, if the final version gets to this station, he is to release us from our long, lonely, and isolated slumber in the cryo-chambers." The data was created close to 1100 years ago, as it turned out in the encrypted date inscribed in the package. While Eggman's attack was being dealt with, no one noticed a small, female swallow break into a museum and steal a lightweight metal board found at a crash site in northern Death Valley. Taking off on the board, which gathered air as she ran; the swallow eventually threw it and jumped on, heading through battle sites to escape from police. The swallow was only caught on camera as she stole the board and declared her name: Wave the Swallow. From that point on, only audio clues could point out that she got away from the L.A.P.D., whose corruption is now virtually non-existent.

At the same time, nobody noticed a Hawk and an Albatross riding in the air on two boards similar to the one stolen. The Hawk and the Albatross, known as Jet and Storm, were searching for her, eventually realizing that she fled the cops and took off for the hills. They boosted off for the Klamath Mountains, being the only ones who could find Wave, who is now in hiding.

At the end of the attack at 17:40, Romeo asked, "Hey Richard, you know what's gonna happen in three weeks?"

"No, what's gonna happen?"

"Recently, there's been some really dark nights with no stars out. And it's not because of the streetlights either, cause they got shifted to a soothing orange color."

Now onto what X-Rangers Richard, Kazuo, and Romeo are: Richard is the Sonic X-Ranger, Kazuo is the Tails X-Ranger, and Romeo is the Knuckles X-Ranger. School-wise, Richard is an average Joe, Kazuo is the President of the I.T. club, and Romeo is a defensive lineman on the Los Altos High Junior Varsity Football Team, also doubling as the captain of the Wrestling Team during the winter. Los Altos High's current P.E. department head had hired the real Knuckles as a P.E. Teacher during the summer of 3035. The head of the P.E. department is none other than head coach Drier. Kazuo has recently been looking forward to exams, which always seem to get cancelled when one of Eggman's attacks begin around 10:00, unfortunately for him. Not only is that occurring, but a girl from the I.T. club, Isabella Webster, has started to display attraction to Kazuo. What Kazuo doesn't know is that Isabella is a long, long descendant of Michael Webster, especially jarring that she is adopted by a Japanese couple living in L.A., as her real parents were killed by Iblis's Flame Monsters while she was in the hospital for malaria. Said Flame Monsters were also responsible for the outbreak of a new disease: D.I.S., a.k.a. Detrimental Iblis Syndrome. Richard knows who he has been dating for 2 months: a Chinese girl known as Katie Xiaoping, a very long descendant of Deng Xiaoping. Romeo is for some reason a chick magnet, but only has affection for a Swedish gal by the name of Alexandrine, who also only has affection for Romeo. The good news for Richard is that Katie Xiaoping is the Amy X-Ranger, allowing her to become stronger with him. At 18: 05, everyone returns home to their families, having earned their rest for today.

Meanwhile at the Black Arms station under Mount Everest, the scientists have been working around the clock for three days; trying to develop a cure for DIS. 798 years ago they were awakened when Shadow the Hedgehog explored the abandoned station and found the cryo-chambers. After awakening the scientists, Shadow was subjected to various experiments that granted him new powers and extremely improved endurance. Shadow is also now capable of, if his body is completely shredded up or disintegrated in an explosion, regenerating from a single molecule that contains his DNA, allowing him to survive what would normally be fatal attacks. These experiments now prove that Shadow is now the Complete Ultimate Life From.

The Fresh Wizard of Bel-Oz.

Klamath Mountains, California, 3036, 03:00 local time, May 29, near The Peak.

"Alright, what's been going on for the past 6 hours?" asked Wave as Jet and Storm got to her position near the rock face.

"Police have been searching for ya high and low," bellowed Storm. "And that's not all! They got orders to capture us dead or alive. I think them cops be headin' up right now!"

"Three large robots detected on my wrist radar, these ain't cops," said Jet. "It's that egg-headed mad scientist! We're heading out now!"

And so the Rogues moved to evade the robots, but the robots were closing in, so Jet decided to do something odd: he spun around in a circle, creating a tornado that quickly tore up their chromatic pursuers. It was 07:00 when Jet, Wave, and Storm reached a crash site on the Arabian Peninsula, The Ruins of Babylon sitting in the center of the impact crater. As Jet and Wave investigated the area, Storm kept watch by flying above and monitoring for any police or robots. Eventually Jet and Wave emerged from the ruins, Jet holding a clear blue cube in his hand.

"This cube is the key to unlocking the Babylon Ruins. However, it needs to be charged up before it can be used."

"Boss, I just found out something important," bellowed Storm. "I had been intercepting all sorts of communications earlier and one of them has really neat info!"

"All right, Storm, let's hear it!"

"Apparently there are these seven gems called chaos emeralds that can solve our little energy charge-up problem. These emeralds have an unlimited amount of that power. So the long story short is that our problems will be solved if we get our hands on these legendary gems!"

"HOLY COW, STORM, YOU POSSIBLY COULD NOT MAKE THAT UP AT ALL!" shouted Wave, amazed at what she had just heard.

"Alright, we just need these seven emeralds, and the power of the ancient Babylon Rogues will be ours. Storm, Wave, we will search the planet for these emeralds. Let's go!" bellowed Jet as he took off.

Storm and Wave also took off on their extreme gear, encoding the crash site as Oz, the fictional land in "The Wizard of Oz."

For the Rogues, by the Rogues.

Los Angeles, California, 07:15 local time, at Los Altos High School.

Kazuo was very busy today, so he left home early so that he could get to his office inside the I.T. wing of the school to talk to Principal Drummond about Eggman IV's attacks and the detrimental effect it's had on the exam scheduling. He managed to get to his office and found out that the exams, because of the attacks, have been cancelled. Meanwhile, Iblis's Flame Monsters have started to attack very suddenly and in a clearly unprovoked manner. It was because of Iblis's return that the X-Rangers had to be called to arms again. Further information links to rise in aggression from the Flame Monsters with Iblis's seal starting to unravel. Silver the Hedgehog was watching over Saint Helens so that if Iblis broke out again, the raw power of Solaris could still be contained. The fiend had broken out of its mountain prison only three times in the last 40 years, but his power meant that if Iblis got away from Mount Saint Helens, it would mean the end of humanity. Eggman's attack came at 09:47, leaving Kazuo no room for error as he transformed into Tails-X. As he ran outside of the I.T. wing that had been built 275 years ago, he witnessed a Fire Golem throw a punch at an Impaler. The robot tried to defend with its spear, but the Golem's punch broke it in half like a stick of bamboo and destroyed the Impaler and the Puncher behind it.

Golems are the strongest of Iblis's Monsters, being capable of bench-pressing an entire mountain range. Next in line are the Worms, capable of burrowing underground and surprising victims from below. Firewings and Blazards are the weakest of the Flame Monsters, often moving in large groups.

Kazuo moved quickly, destroying both robots and Flame Monsters as he fought his way to Richard and Romeo, who were holding off a horde of 1000 Fire Golems which were completely ignoring the X-Rangers as they marched towards a damaged police vehicle where Alexandrine was taking cover in. It looked like the Golems were about to rip the mangled door off the vehicle when they got smashed by a massive hammer. Amy-X had arrived to protect Alexandrine and get her out of the combat zone, while Kazuo, Richard, and Romeo focused on the Flame Monsters, who have now destroyed every robot in a 100 yard radius around the battle site. As Golems fell, the sky was starting to get dark, signaling an approaching storm. Eventually, the X-Rangers were exhausted and battered from attacks, even though it was only 11:37. As Golems surrounded them and prepared to finish them off, they got blasted away from an unknown unit.

Kazuo noticed the blasts were coming from a nearby rooftop and saw Cream-X holding a missile launcher in one hand and a 600mm cannon in the other. Whoever Cream-X was, Kazuo was sure that who it was knew what they were doing. As the battle dragged on, a Golem managed to get behind Cream-X and take her down with a punch- punch- kick combination that forced her off the rooftop and onto the streets below. Once the dust settled, Kazuo found out who Cream-X was. To his unease, Cream-X was Isabella Webster, having been knocked out from the impact of landing on the streets. Today she was wearing a pink dress that reached her knees and black tights underneath. Kazuo carried her away from the battle that raged on behind him as the last Flame Monsters were destroyed by Rouge-X, who disappeared before revealing herself. As Kazuo noticed Rouge-X vanish, he transformed back into his normal attire, a black suit and white tie.

Meanwhile, Richard and Romeo were inside a storm shelter, Romeo wearing a football uniform and Richard Freeman was also in a black suit and white tie like Kazuo. As the storm raged, dark creatures were starting to emerge from the clouds. They looked like Firewings, but had a purple hue instead of a red one. This signaled that Mephiles the Dark was going to return. It was set that the intelligent mind of Solaris would surface again three weeks after his creatures of darkness came. The Shadowwings, as they were called, did resemble darkened Firewings. Deciding to observe them, Sonic the Hedgehog trailed the Shadowwings as they searched for something, but seeing humans cowering from their presence didn't bother them as they continued their search. Sensing that this was a bust, the Shadowwings went into the dark clouds and disappeared as suddenly as they had come the same way. At 12:15, the sky cleared up and saw most of the eastern city ruined while everything else, schools included, were relatively untouched by the destruction. Wrecked robots were everywhere both inside and outside the city, making it clear that Iblis was not ever ready to side with Eggman IV. As the situation became clearer in L.A., things on the other side of the planet were about to get worse.

Meanwhile in Neo St. Petersburg, Lithuania, Wave had set up her sniping position in such a way that she could cover both her teammates and the Zodiac that would be their getaway vehicle in the event that things didn't go as planned. She was perched on a rooftop that overlooked the harbor and the convoy that they, the Babylon Rogues, were planning to ambush. The convoy was composed of six armored cars, one of which had a Chaos Emerald inside, but it could not be determined which vehicle had the emerald as the convoy guards constantly rotated which car would have it for security. The plan was simple: Wave would get to a rooftop and set up a sniping position to cover the Zodiac since their Extreme Gear were, for the time being, buried in a 60 foot hole in the Romanian countryside. Jet and Storm would set up in different spots for the designated roles in the plan. Storm would get in the way of the first vehicle to cause some confusion while Jet moved to steal the Chaos Emerald.

As Wave watched as the convoy moved towards their intended destination, an oil tanker that was completely empty, Storm made his move. He fired a Rocket Propelled Grenade at an approaching truck that had a very large metal container being carried behind it. It hit its target perfectly, the truck crashing in such a way that the convoy could not advance to the tanker for about five hours. The tow squad was off duty and asleep at the moment. Next, Storm threw a smoke grenade to mask his movement to a position that could allow him to see the first two vehicles in the convoy, and then fired another R.P.G. The explosive managed to scratch the first vehicle and caused the guards to start panicking and run in random directions. That second Rocket Propelled Grenade (R.P.G.) was containing a chemical agent that would cause those who breathed it in to panic and flee. The wind was favorable and carried the fear gas to the other guards, causing them to panic and run away while Jet, wearing a gas mask to nullify the chemical's effects on his mind, searched every vehicle for the Chaos Emerald, finding it in the fourth car. As Jet made his way to the Zodiac, Storm and Wave did the same thing, with Wave also detecting an enemy sniper get to her old position when she got near the boat. Smirking, she pulled out a detonator and pushed it, detonating four piles of C4 that she set up in a stealthy unobtrusive way that the hostile didn't notice. The resulting blast killed the sniper and brought down the high-riser, while the Rogues got away with the Red Chaos Emerald. It later became known that the red Emerald had been taken by the armed terrorist group Deadbeat Evander, who want to use the Chaos Emeralds to resurrect Professor Evander, mortal enemy of the X-Rangers nearly 1000 years ago. The Neo St. Petersburg police were already planning to seize the emerald back from the terrorists by boarding the tanker when it left the harbor. The Babylon Rogues just got to the terrorists faster than the cops did, and this incident temporarily closed the harbor.

Chaos in Warsaw

Warsaw, Poland, June 4, 08:27 local time, outside on the streets.

Richard, Romeo, and Kazuo were visiting Warsaw to find the location of the Aqua Chaos Emerald. So far, nothing has come from Eggman for the time being, but Kazuo was still suspicious. Isabella Webster was also tagging along since her adoptive parents were busy in Japan at the moment. Today she wore a green blouse and orange ankle-length skirt. None of Iblis's monsters were causing trouble since they were consolidating at Saint Helens. Romeo managed to meet up with Vector the Crocodile in the southern part of the city and found out that the Chaos Emerald was sealed up inside an abandoned church in the northwestern sector of Warsaw. It was 08:35 when a Shadowwing accompanied by four of its own started to prowl the entire city for something. When Romeo and Vector got to the church, they found it sealed by heavy duty military crates. As they thought up plans to get past this barricade, they heard a crash as a hole was blasted into the church wall from somewhere.

It turned out that the Babylon Rogues used an R.P.G. to blast their way through to get around the crate barricade. Jet went inside with Wave, while Storm kept watch for police. Romeo and Vector snuck in when Storm heard a bird call and turned towards the left of him to see only a small pigeon. Once inside, Romeo and Vector made sure to stay quiet and keep a low profile as Jet checked every square inch inside the church for the Aqua Chaos Emerald. He completes his search of the first floor and only finds the Purple Sol Emerald instead, finding it hidden inside an organ. Wave checked the higher floors and found a locked chest that she could not open, so she pulled out a scanner to analyze the contents of the chest. It turned out that the Aqua Chaos Emerald was inside the locked chest, so Wave reported this to Jet and he said, "That Emerald is in a locked chest, eh? No matter, we will come back for it later when we have the rest of the Emeralds." With that, Jet and Wave exited the church and took off on their Extreme Gear with Storm, who did the same. Vector and Romeo were finally alone so they searched for a key to the locked chest, finding it inside the church bell. With the key, they opened the chest and found it, the Aqua Chaos Emerald. As Vector and Romeo exited, they saw the Shadowwings watching them, waiting for someone to make a move. When Vector showed out the chaos emerald, the Shadowwings immediately attacked with spheres of darkness. Romeo transformed into Knuckles-X and punched them back. The Shadowwings simply absorbed their own projectiles, so Romeo jumped high into the air and punched them individually, destroying the dark creatures with one punch each. As Romeo and Vector reunited with Kazuo, Richard, and Isabella, they found themselves under attack not from more Shadowwings, but from gunfire. Kazuo had already been armed, having a concealed XM8 on himself in the unlikely event that this happened. Richard and Isabella were unarmed on the other hand, and Kazuo was wounded from several gunshot wounds to the chest, having shielded Isabella from hostile fire. She was taking cover inside a small alcove. Romeo managed to get ahold of two FAMAS assault rifles when he and Vector searched for the Chaos Emerald. He gave one to Richard and used the other one to hold off the attackers. With the exception of Kazuo, the X-Rangers' hands trembled as they fired at the attackers, who were soldiers of Deadbeat Evander. It was known that Richard and Kazuo could not transform into Sonic-X and Tails-X due to an active morph-jammer inside of the city.

Romeo was tasked with finding and destroying the jammer so that the X-Rangers could transform. He found it, a massive and bulky device latched onto a rooftop to maximize its jamming capabilities. Without thinking twice, Romeo punched the jammer, destroying it in one strike. As the jammer was destroyed, Kazuo and Richard slammed their X-Morphers and transformed, with Isabella doing the same. The X-Rangers moved quickly, taking down the soldiers as they showed no fear. Eventually, the soldiers started to get attacked from somewhere on the ground, and Kazuo realized what was happening.

A single Golem stood before the soldiers in front of it. They were not showing any fear; instead, they were feeling brave. The Golem was a dark purple color and decided that the soldiers needed to learn their place. It stomped, creating a shockwave of darkness that killed the soldiers in front of it and wounded agents of Deadbeat Evander elsewhere in Warsaw. This was a Shadow Golem, one of Mephiles's monsters. As the dead soldiers dropped on the ground, Shadowzards emerged from alcoves to eat the corpses.

As the X-Rangers battled through Shadowzards and Shadow Golems, they saw Rouge-X throw a kunai at a Shadow Worm, also called a Parasite. The Parasite was wounded by the kunai, but not killed. It retaliated with a projectile of its own, knocking her out. As she transformed back to normal, Isabella was shocked to find out who Rouge-X was. It was nothing anyone recognized. The figure was encased in combat armor that completely covered its features. It slowly pulled of its helmet, revealing the head of a Black Arms Soldier. However, this one was different, having a pink bow on its head. Isabella fired the cannon at the Parasite, killing it in one shot, while Richard and Romeo helped the Black Arms Soldier get on its feet. It then revealed its name: Portia. Portia was selected to be an X-Ranger so that the Black Arms could feel included in the defense of Earth against its enemies. It also turned out that Black Doom and his followers were exiles, cast out from the Black Arms Home World of Chaoxius. To ensure that Portia's identity was kept secret to all who weren't X-Ranger or Black Arms, she wore a suit of combat armor to make her look human on the outside. Meanwhile, the Monsters of Mephiles the Dark were pushed out of Warsaw, with numerous Evander casualties and Monster losses.

Flashback: Carlen's Sentencing.

The Courtroom of Limbo, 2960.

"Today we are here for the trial of one of the nastiest human souls from Earth, Professor Carlen." Spoke an undead Judge. The Courtroom was very large, with the defendant sitting in front of the Judge. Professor Carlen was very afraid of what was going on. To the left of him, a Prosecutor known as Manfred Von Karma was preparing evidence for presenting to the Judge. Behind Von Karma, A jury of historical figures sat behind the Prosecutor, watching the madman squirm.

The jury was composed of, from left to right, these twelve people: George Washington, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, King Louis XIV, Pope Urban II, Czar Alexander II, Sitting Bull, Christopher Columbus, Chinese Emperor Ningzong, Genghis Khan, Hammurabi of Babylon, and Frederick the Great. So far, none of them had decided on a verdict. This was expected since the evidence has not yet been presented. To Carlen's right, a half-human, half-snake creature called a Yuan-ti named Bultano was looking nervous. This was natural since this was Bultano's first case as an attorney.

The Judge then said, "Professor Balaroza Carlen, you stand trial for 70 counts of vandalism, 40 counts of attempted murder, 2700 counts of arson, and the unpardonable 1 count of teaming up with Ebenezer Evander, whom will stand trial at a later date. Does The Prosecution have anything to say?"

At that point Manfred Von Karma said, "Yes, your honor. I say that this man is a complete abomination who should pay for his crimes!"

"What in Chaos' name was that?! Why are you calling me Balaroza?" yelled out Carlen.

The Judge said, "Your birth records were copied by one our agents here in Limbo, Balaroza. That was the name your parents gave to you."

Manfred then spoke, "These research documents I have in my possession show exactly what devilry this DEMON has cooked up! Then he presented it to the Judge, who looked at it. Then he said, "Carlen, this evidence is proof that you have done horrible deeds back in the physical realm. Does the defense have anything to say?"

It was then that Bultano said, "It is my unfortunate client's situation that I am here in the defense's chair, but I will do my best. I say that Carlen may have done some things, but I say that the charges against him are groundless. My Client is totally 400% not guilty. And I say that it was Evander who committed these horrible crimes. That is all I have to say."

The Judge finally said, "Both sides have made their arguments, the jury can now proceed to deliberate in the deliberation room."

The jury then moved into the deliberation room. Around 4 hours passed before they came out. The Judge then said, "What does the jury decide?" Sitting Bull then said, "Your honor, we find the defendant, on the charges of teaming up with Evander, arson, and vandalism, GUILTY! On the attempted murder charges, NOT GUILTY! We have said it all." The Judge then said, "Understood. Carlen, because of the charges you have been found guilty with, your sentence will be for your soul to BE IMPRISONED IN LIMBO FOR ALL ETERNITY! You will be escorted to prison by Bailiff Anubis and Bailiff Hades. This court is now adjourned." Professor Carlen was handcuffed by Bailiff Hades as he rose from his seat and exited the Courtroom.

Clones of the Chaotix

June 18th, 3036, Brasilia, 08:25 local time.

Vector, Charmy, and Espio were busy inside a laboratory inside the capital of Brazil. They were discussing the deteriorating condition of their clones: Vectoc, Charcy, and Cespio. It was these clones who died in a forest fire 500 years ago when the real Chaotix were blasted forward in time 20 years prior. The spirits and essences of the real Chaotix went to the clones and were indistinguishable from the actual agents. So the real Chaotix did die in that forest fire, spiritually. The clones were starting to fall to illness because of the problems with cloning creatures. The clones had all come down with both smallpox and Werner's syndrome. Meanwhile, Kazuo, Romeo, Richard, Xavier, and Isabella were taking shelter from the severe heat in the square, where they fought off a small squadron of soldiers from Deadbeat Evander. Kazuo was dressed in camouflage shorts and a yellow tactical vest, with Richard, Xavier, and Romeo all wearing T-shirts and shorts. Isabella was wearing a bright blue sundress due to the insane heat, as was Katie Xiaoping, who was used to this heat, having moved to Los Angeles after living in the Apartments of Rio de Janeiro for 6 years and the rest of her childhood in Shanghai, China. So far, none of Eggman's robots have been spotted in the area while agents of Deadbeat Evander were absolutely everywhere, many just observing. Shadow the Hedgehog met up with them while they were searching in the favelas for a chaos emerald. While the drug gangs were very nasty, they seemed to be calm today since a shootout hadn't occurred.

The X-Rangers find the Yellow Chaos Emerald in a pawn shop inside one of the favelas, one of the least likely locations to find something valuable. Shadow ends up buying it for the U.S. equivalent of $70,000 dollars from the pawn shop owner, an odd individual wearing a black cloak and a matching face mask that covered his entire head. He also had a very high-pitched voice, a dislike for cats, and he had a scythe that wasn't for sale propped behind the counter. As the X-Rangers and Shadow the Hedgehog exited the pawn shop, some of Eggman's robots showed up to attack. Xavier slammed the sphere of his X-Morpher and transformed into Shadow-X, while the others transformed the same way. These robots were rather odd as they had jetpacks and they individually held Dragunovs and an M9 sidearm. Shadow quickly identified them as scoutshots: sniper rifle wielding robots meant for reconnaissance. Xavier destroyed them before they had a chance to move, impaling the bots on chaos spears that he threw, the spears made of pure energy and generating from Shadow-X's back. As they moved, punchers and a new enemy showed up: a blue robot twice the size of a human that had some sort of drum on its back and had a single large cannon that was connected to the drum where its right arm should be. As Romeo destroyed the punchers, the blue bot aimed at Shadow and a high-pressure stream of water sprayed out of its cannon. Shadow jumped out of the way and unleashed a Full-Power Chaos Spear at the robot, destroying it. Eventually, the X-Rangers reach the square and find an entire legion of Impalers and Water Sprayers waiting for them. As they prepared for a massive battle, the Impalers suddenly went up in flames as did half of the Water Sprayers.

As the flames and smoke died down, Blaze-X stood against three remaining Water Sprayers. Suddenly she moved; dancing as she dodged the streams fired from the Water Sprayer's cannons. Isabella fires two shot from the 600mm cannon, one shot destroying two Water sprayers at the same time and blowing the cannon arm off of the last Water Sprayer, which Blaze-X finishes off with a flying kick to its head. Then suddenly, a scoutshot fires a single round at Blaze-X, knocking her visor off as she is tranquilized by a grayish robot holding a Mosin-Nagant specifically modified to fire tranquilizer rounds. Romeo moves quickly and attacks the Tranq-bot, destroying it with a punch-punch-kick combination and going after the scoutshot, destroying it in one blow. Blaze-X transforms back into her civilian form and Romeo finds out that Alexandrine is Blaze-X, having been accepted into the X-Rangers a week ago while they had recovered from the wounds they received in Warsaw. As the X-Rangers transform back into their civilian forms, Doctor Griffith notifies them that something dark and horrible will strike San Francisco tomorrow. With that, a gust of wind blows by as a trio of Shadowwings show up, riding on the current of air as they completely ignore the city below as they head north. As the Shadowwings ride the northward wind current, flags and loose materials start flapping around, while Isabella Webster and Katie Xiaoping held their dresses down. Time is 12:25 local time.

Meanwhile in Thebes, Greece, 18:25 local time, the Babylon Rogues are inside a research facility trying to find information that would help them locate the Chaos Emeralds. So far, nothing has come up on the computers that Wave hacked into. While Storm is once again on lookout duty, Jet and Wave are busy looking through files of random junk and crud that they don't care for, searching for a file that would be relevant. Wave finally finds the file they were looking for in the file category marked, "The Heroes of Today: The X-Rangers." Jet initially dismissed the category as junk, but Wave thought otherwise and persuaded him to at least go through all the files. They actually find the information that they need and Wave finds out that 1 portable radar being developed inside the facility is an experimental one that can detect the radar waves that Chaos Emeralds emit. Storm is tasked with stealing the experimental radar while Jet and Wave handle distractions. The bulky albatross is able to steal the experimental emerald radar, and the Rogues get out of the research facility and take off on their Extreme Gear as police make a futile attempt to stop them.

Gregg, the $#%*ing Grim Reaper, at your % $!ing Services!

San Francisco, California, June 19th, 07:30 local time, near an odd tunnel.

A dark storm was approaching the city as expected. Even then, an attack from Iblis's Flame Monsters meant that the X-Rangers could not ignore it. So far, the only attackers are two Fire Golems and ten Blazards. They were easily destroyed by Shadow the Hedgehog and Kazuo Yoshimoto's attacks while everyone else were dealing with wounded. No casualties at all, but twenty people were injured during the short-lived attack. At 07:45, the storm hits the city, just as the X-Rangers were about to get back into position. As it rages, Shadow Golems, Shadowwings, and Shadowzards start dropping in from the sky. Moving quickly, they start repelling the waves of Monsters, even as Parasites start bursting out of the ground.

Eventually in the city center, a symbol of power starts to form. It bears a Chaos Emerald being enveloped in darkness and flame, the darkness represented by solid black arrows. This symbol of power began glowing as thunder struck several high points within San Francisco. Then, a massive dark purple flash of lightning strikes the power symbol, causing a wave of darkness to be unleashed as Mephiles the Dark utters an evil laugh as he forms. Seeing Mephiles glow a very dark yellow, the X-Rangers know that they have to retreat now and do so, leaving Shadow alone to face the intelligent mind of Solaris. Suddenly, Mephiles unleashes a massive sphere of darkness and throws it to the ground, causing it to explode and engulf everything inside the city. Shadow retreats out of range of the explosion of darkness as it consumes San Francisco itself, Mephiles laughing uncontrollably as it does its vile work.

The dust settles at 09:34. As the darkness recedes, the X-Rangers are horrified at what happened. The entire city was leveled by the dark explosion, its inhabitants wiped out. In its place, a massive tower rises from the ruins of San Francisco, dominating the landscape and tainting the land so it could not sustain life with its darkness. Except for a tunnel located near the tower itself, the fortress that Mephiles was constructing would be impossible to approach from any direction as it was surrounded by a moat of pure darkness that would corrupt anything that tried to cross. To ward off air attacks, it was protected by countless anti-air turrets forming from darkness. Shadowwings also patrolled in the air, ensuring that stealth would not succeed in fooling the air defenses. It looked like Sauron's Barad Dur from Lord of the Rings, except it would be larger, insanely taller and more ominous.

As the X-Rangers contemplated their next course of action, a figure clad in a black cloak approached them.

"GOOD THING YOU GUYS ARE STILL ALIVE, YOU INSANE TWATS!" the figure said. "AND I KNOW WHAT THE **** JUST HAPPENED: AN ENTIRE ****ING CITY, COMPLETELY ANNIHILATED BY SOME DARK PURPLE HEDGEHOG!"

"Okay, but who are you? The name's Kazuo Yoshimoto." Kazuo had said to the cloaked figure.

"SORRY FOR THE FOUL LANGUAGE, THE NAME'S GREGG: GREGG THE GRIM REAPER. I DO HAVE A TENDENCY TO CURSE, BUT THANKFULLY, IT IS MOSTLY CENSORED. ONLY TWAT, BUGGER, WANKER, AND BLOODY DON'T GET BLEEPED OUT. IN ANY CASE, I HAVE AN INSANE NUMBER OF SOULS TO COLLECT RIGHT NOW. MY JOB IS TO USHER DEAD SOULS INTO THE NEXT WORLD."

Gregg took off before anyone could say something.

Doctor Griffith came into the National Sonic Council Headquarters at the Colorado Ghost Town of Carpenter with a report of casualties. The report was made by Kazuo and the tone was depressing and absolute: every last living being in San Francisco had been wiped out in an explosion of darkness. Upon hearing of this, the Sonic Council gives the green light to Vice Principal Humphrey to call the Z-Rangers back into action. This would allow for more personnel to defend Earth against Eggman as well. As Doctor Griffith left, a strong resonating signal came in from several pieces of the Master Emerald across the planet. He also received a text from Mr. Bristow notifying him that the experimental Emerald Radar was recently stolen from the Ranger Laboratory in Greece by a group known as the Babylon Rogues. They left a note saying that if the X-Rangers want to keep their Chaos Emeralds, they have to attend the Concert of Rogues in Egypt. Another text came in, this time from Mr. Mcgaharn, saying that the Z-Ranger candidates have been assembled at Denver.

Meanwhile at Mephiles's Tower of Evil, Mephiles is staring into one of his scrying spheres. It revealed the location of two Chaos Emeralds in the Eastern Hemisphere. Mephiles is pleased and notifies his client that the Eggs are ready to be transported to the Tower. The client then says that you better be right, otherwise some stupid imbecile could disturb the sleeping creatures inside the Eggs. Mephiles is amused and tells his client that those idiots won't be here because they are on another network; instead those no-good simpletons from Mobius are going to be the problem. "After all, my client, you have probably been reading too much of the Inheritance Cycle. No need to be worried when a Ra'zac doesn't exist, let alone a Lethrblaka. It requires 3 spellcasters to- hold on, I'm getting a signal from another scrying sphere, We'll talk later." The scrying sphere was picking up an insane amount of movement in the 250 mile radius that was the distance that stealth of any kind would fail at.

The Return of the Z-Rangers.

Denver, Colorado, 11:37 local time, in front of the Capitol Building.

Yuri the Black Arms soldier was feeling nervous today, assembled in front of so many human eyes and thankful for the combat armor that completely covered him. He was standing right next to the descendant of Xavier Freeman I, Donatello Freeman. Donatello was a tough-looking young man who had a thick, French accent and a tendency to find trouble no matter where it was. It was by no surprise that he eventually said that when he grew up he would become a detective for the Denver Police Department. Yuri replied to Donatello's job idea with a good luck statement in Italian. Yuri also got to know that Donatello was the bassist in a band he was in with his friends, Leonardo Adams, Raphael Carrey, and Michelangelo Partridge. Leonardo was the lead singer and a very intelligent Venezuelan. Raphael was on guitar and happened to be able to remotely fly an F-16 into the eye of a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean in one of his I.T. classes with nobody noticing. His family history also revealed that his great-grandmother was from Indonesia. Then there was Michelangelo, the drummer and high school senior who happened to be exceptionally gifted in art and had immense physical strength. His family is devoutly Sunni Islam since his grandfather hailed from Jordan. Finally the last of the Z-Ranger candidates was Bianca Sovadici, a young woman whose family originated from the Balkans. As Yuri got to know his teammates from Donatello, he also watched for Vice Principal Humphrey, since it was he would give the speech to the Z-Ranger Candidates. He came, gave his speech, and handed them their Z-Morphers. As they listened to Humphrey's instructions, they transformed into their respective Z-Ranger forms.

Bianca was Tikal-Z, whose power came from Tikal the Echidna, who is alive but comatose due to the Master Emerald shattering into pieces in the forest fire that killed her and the other Z-Ranger entities 500 years ago. Leonardo became Silver-Z, as his ancestor Jay was the same. Raphael transformed into Espio-Z, while Michelangelo was Vector-Z and Donatello was Charmy-Z. When Yuri transformed, he became some sort of large armadillo-like thing. It took Donatello to notify him that his Z-Ranger form was a nearly-forgotten guy known as Mighty the Armadillo. As the newly-recreated Z-Rangers waited, they received the news that San Francisco had been destroyed in a single attack by Mephiles the Dark. Upon hearing this, the ground shook and trembled. Chip awakened and then told the Z-Rangers to link up with the X-Rangers in Los Angeles. As they moved in, they also fought off some of Mephiles's Monsters. Then the Z-Rangers were introduced to the X-Rangers, and the two groups got to know each other. Once introductions were finished, the ground trembled again. Then Kazuo found out from Tails that the Temples of Gaia have been corrupted by Mephiles's actions. They also revealed that a letter came in from a group called the Babylon Rogues saying that if they (the X-Rangers) want to keep the Chaos Emeralds that they collected, they have to attend the Concert of Rogues which will be held in Egypt in 10 days. In the meantime, you (the X-Rangers) just need to worry about surviving the attacks from Mephiles the Dark.

Meanwhile at the Evil Tower, Mephiles was talking to his client, notifying him that the Eggs were not disturbed. His client is pleased and tells the mind of Solaris that the Eggs are actually extremely rare Beholder Eggs, and that Beholders are the new mascots and symbols of darkness across the Universe. Mephiles and his client laugh as they talk about random topics.

The Concert of Rogues.

June 29th, Cairo, Egypt, 08:26 local time, inside the Cairo Opera House.

The ZX-Rangers as they were now known were in one of the lines forming in front of the concession stands inside the Cairo Opera House, deciding on getting a couple snacks and drinks since the Babylon Rogues would not start the concert until 09:00 local time. The ZX-Rangers got to the Cairo Opera House at 07:57, three minutes earlier than the time deadline the Rogues set for concert tickets to begin being sold. Michelangelo paid for the tickets in the equivalent of 2000 U.S. dollars since everyone agreed that he would pay the expenses. Isabella Webster was the first to receive tickets, securing five tickets, one for herself, and four for Kazuo and his friends Richard, Xavier, and Romeo. The only other two people who received tickets were Leonardo Adams and Yuri, who got six and two respectively. Leonardo got tickets for himself, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, Bianca, and Alexandrine, while Yuri ended up with a ticket for himself and Portia, the other Black Arms soldier in the ZX-Rangers. She was a very influential poet on Chaoxius, had an I.Q. of 3060, and mastered 14 languages, including Spanish, Latin, English, Italian, Russian (that took her four months to learn as opposed to the usual two months), Chinese (specifically mandarin), Greek, Arabic, Urdu, Japanese, Korean, German, Turkish, and Chaoxian, the Black Arms language which was similar to English. Chaoxius had only two languages in the planet's long history, the currently accepted Chaoxian, and Egyptian. Egyptian was replaced by Chaoxian back in 1985 near the end of Earth's Cold War between the United States and Russia. Today Isabella was wearing robes she bought for 330 Egyptian Pounds from an Arabian merchant 72 hours ago since the ZX-Rangers had to make reservations at the Cairo Marriot Hotel on the 26th at 15:30. In Egypt's climate, it would be a better alternative to the green blouse and orange ankle-length skirt, since the colors would trap heat in.

As the ZX-Rangers went into the Opera House's main hall, people were chatting and commenting on the concert, unaware that it would begin at 09:30 with Jet's theme song from the Sonic Rider spinoff series, Catch Me If You Can, and end with Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce at 11:30. As the time rang 09:30, the lights darkened in the hall as the stage lit up, revealing the band equipment that Wave had set up 24 hours prior. As Storm took up drums, a very human-like robot taking guitar, and Wave on bass, Jet was standing in front of a microphone, ready to begin the concert.

No turning back

We are born to dream

In a world full of seeing

What we never could reach

Air time makes on the wind, I'd be

Like life, right by

Just a blur you see

One mind, too wild

Stuck in divinity

Hawk tail, wing, claw

Heaven sent a jessy

A speed rush tweak

To a melancholic victory

Your chance, don't stand

Not one near

My class of heat

The rule of the wind

Is to never get beat

Don't hedge, don't hog

You're put to test

Like Jet, as hawk

I'll rattle your nest

I never come down

I'm high alone

Bred from a genie

With wings and throne

Jet fire hawk

The sky is me

All for the Speed

I was born to be

Born to be

Born to be

Catch me if you can

There's no turning back

Reach but never catch

Catch me if you can

You can't fathom that

Wonders you can't have

Catch me if you can

Catch me if you can

No turning back

We are born to dream

In a world full of seeing

What we never could reach

Air time makes on the wind, I'd be

Like life, right by

Just a blur you see

One mind, too wild

Stuck in divinity

Hawk tail, wing, claw

Heaven sent a jessy

A speed rush tweak

To a melancholic victory

Your chance, don't stand

Chaos in the emeralds

Life is ephemeral

What'cha gonna do?

Nothing's perpetual

World domination

Advanced technology

Haven't got the interest

In that form of glory

Put me in the air

And my speed will leave

All in a shine

Like a miracle weave

I just won't stop

The treasure's with me

I said it before

I was born to be

Catch me if you can

There's no turning back

Reach but never catch

Catch me if you can

You can't fathom that

Wonders you can't have

Catch me if you can

We are born to dream

Nothing can't be done

Catch me if you can

There's no turning back

Reach but never catch

You can't fathom that

Wonders you can't have

Catch me…

Some time passes as various songs are played until Through the Fire and Flames is reached.

On a cold winter morning

In the time before the light

In flames of death's eternal reign

We ride towards the fight

When the darkness has fallen down

And the times are tough alright

The sounds of evil laughter falls

Around the world tonight

Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel

Through the wastelands evermore

The scattered souls will feel the hell

Bodies wasted on the shore

On the blackest plains in hell's domain

We watch them as we go

Through the fire and pain and once again we know!

So now we're flying we're free

We're free before the thunderstorm

On towards the wilderness

Our quest carries on

Far beyond the sundown

Far beyond the moonlight

Deep inside our hearts and all our souls!

So far away, we wait for the day

For the lives all so wasted and gone

And we feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days

Through the Fire and Flames we carry on!

As the red day is dawning

And the lightning cracks the sky

They'll raise their hands to the heavens above

With resentment in their eyes

Running back through the midmorning light

There's a burning in my heart

We're banished from a time in a fallen land

To a life beyond the stars

In your darkest dreams see to believe

Our destiny is time

And endlessly we'll all be free tonight!

And on the wings of a dream

So far beyond reality

All alone in desperation

Now the time is gone

Lost inside you'll never find

Lost inside my own mind

Day after day this misery must go on!

So far away we wait for the day

For the lives all so wasted and gone

We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days

Through the Fire and Flames we carry on!

(REALLY, REALLY LONG GUITAR SOLO)

Now we stand here with their blood on our hands

We fought so hard, now can we understand

I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can

For freedom of every man!

So far away we wait for the day

For the lives all so wasted and gone

We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days

Through the Fire and Flames we carry on!

The Main Hall of the Opera House erupted into cheers and applause as the Rogues bow and exit the stage. As the crowds get up and leave the Cairo Opera House; Yuri, Kazuo, and the other ZX-Rangers are pleased to see that the Chaos Emeralds are safe and sound, as the Babylon Rogues promised if they all attended the Concert.

Master Emerald Energy Waves

July 1st, 3036, South Africa wilderness, 11:45 local time.

Yuri and the other Z-Rangers were busy in South Africa, searching for the pieces of the Master Emerald, since the Emerald pieces were jamming the X-Morphers and preventing the X-Rangers from transforming. Yesterday they found three of the pieces in remote locations across the United States, giving them some idea on what locations would be likely spots for Master Emerald pieces to be found. So far, within four hours they managed to gather several of the emerald pieces, leaving only three pieces in Africa for them to find. Yuri and Donatello were searching here for a Master Emerald piece, while the other two pieces were in Kenya and Sierra Leone respectively. Michelangelo and Leonardo were searching in Kenya while Raphael and Bianca were in the forests of Sierra Leone, since the area that the Emerald piece there was in the middle of Militia territory. Yuri's Z-Ranger form actually fit in with the wildlife in this area since Mighty the Armadillo liked to hide in greenery before he was killed by a car bomb that started the forest fire that killed the other Z-Ranger entities excluding Espio, Charmy, and Vector since they were caught in a time distortion explosion in Albany that sent them forward in time to this day and age (this was in 2500, in 2015 they tried to help Mighty defuse the bomb and died when Mephiles shot them, dropped them into a ditch, poured gasoline on them, and then allowed the flames to ignite the gasoline.)

The search for the Master Emerald piece takes Yuri and Donatello into one of the country's diamond mines. Yuri finds it near a vein of unmined diamond and moves carefully to retrieve it without making contact with the diamonds. He manages to get it out and reunites with Donatello when Leonardo radios in to tell them that he and Michelangelo found the Emerald piece in Kenya inside a garbage dump because someone got to it first and decided that it was a worthless jewel to hold on to. As Yuri and Donatello move to get back to the extraction point near the entrance to a nearby town, Soldiers from Deadbeat Evander tried to ambush them, only to find themselves ambushed instead. They head to an International Airport and board a plane headed for the U.S. While on the plane, they link up with Leonardo and Michelangelo, with Michelangelo notifying them that it will take a bit longer for Bianca and Raphael to get back to HQ because of the very heavy Militia presence in the area where the last Master Emerald piece is.

Meanwhile in….. Somewhere in the Middle East, Jet, Wave, and Storm have been tracking the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, finding one Chaos Emerald in an unspecified part of desert, and finding four Sol Emeralds as well. The Rogues now have the Red and Purple Chaos Emeralds, and the Red, Blue, Yellow, White, and Purple Sol Emeralds, planning to give them to Silver the Hedgehog when they got all of the Sol Emeralds.

Back in Limbo, Gregg is standing in front of the Judge. "Gregg, your orders are simple: Bring Kazuo Yoshimoto and his ZX-Ranger friends with you so that they can see the sentencing of the enemy of their ancestors, Professor Evander. Do this, and you yourself will be promoted to Bailiff." Gregg then says, "Yes, Your Honor. It will be done."

Meanwhile in Mephiles's Tower, Mephiles is once again talking to his client, having found the White Emerald in a temple in Mongolia. His client is pleased and tells Mephiles that the other unclaimed chaos emeralds are in the Western Hemisphere, since the only other emeralds are in the grasp of the Babylon Rogues. Mephiles is amused and has two Shadow Golems do the Tango for his own chaotic sense of humor.

Flashback: The Time Distortion Explosion & the Forest Fire

Albany, New York, 2500, inside of an Internet cafe near a warehouse.

Vector had just finished cracking into an Iranian database for the U.S. government. Once inside the database, Vector was at work uploading three Trojans containing an adware, two infostealers, and an experimental worm designed to corrupt the hard drives on ANY Iranian computers attached to their 150-year old Islamnet. As he reported the mission success to his client in the Capitol Building, police robots were starting to act oddly. When the Crocodile stepped outside, it became clear as to what was going on. Somebody had hijacked the master computer that controlled the robotic cops in Albany, and that somebody wanted to capture Vector and his buddies Espio and Charmy.

The robotic cops were a new idea that was adopted in Mexico in response to the rising power, membership, weaponry, and tactics of the drug cartels. After Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Chile, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Canada followed in the adoption of the robot cops. They were designed to be a cheap, effective method of clearing out the cartels without a massive loss of human life. Even the U.S. is starting to adopt their usage, although they are currently restricted to being in State Capitals, D.C., and individual cities that have sky-high crime rates. The robots and the weapons that they use are put together in Venezuela while individual parts are produced in Mexico, the U.S., Colombia, and Chile. Currently they are also seeing use in Afghanistan, France, the U.K., Russia, Poland, and Serbia.

China, declined to use the "cops of the future" as these robots were called, as did Germany, Georgia, Turkmenistan, India, Australia, and Indonesia. Spain's geography prevented them from working effectively, while Africa's environments would reduce them to scrap metal in a matter of days. Switzerland flat-out refused to utilize robotic police because of a combination of geographical problems, religious issues, and lack of funding. Even then, improvements in the next 500 years would eventually allow robot cops to be used in Spain, Portugal, Vietnam, Africa, and Israel.

Vector immediately sidestepped to avoid a punch from one of the robots and took off. The robots pursued him relentlessly through back alleys, losing him when he sought cover in a tavern where he reunited with Espio and Charmy, also laying low from the hijacked robots. Then they planned their next course of action: they would awaken the clones Vectoc, Cespio, and Charcy to distract the robots while the real Chaotix escaped elsewhere. The clones were created after the Chaotix were hospitalized in a shootout in New York's Manhattan area, now a nasty residence spot used by the Italian Mafia as a base of operations. They had been created using blood samples collected from the area after the shootout died down, and succeeded in creating one clone of each member, excluding Mighty since he was, at the time of the shootout, guarding important members of the government of the United Kingdom and thus had no blood sample collected. As the clones moved out and managed to distract the robots, the real Chaotix made their way northward, stopping once the robotic cops realized what was going on.

They moved through streets and back alleys, but the bots were not to be deterred this time. Chasing them through several high-risers, they managed to corner the Chaotix on the roof of one such high-riser that happened to be next to a warehouse. Noticing the robots were still advancing, Vector and Espio jumped off and crashed through the roof of the warehouse, their fall softened by the roof and stopped by a metal floor. Charmy flew in and helped the others get up. As they moved to find a way out of the warehouse, the robot cops crashed right in through several windows. They manage to wound the Chaotix before the three are cornered near a bunch of odd-looking bombs. Realizing that history was about to repeat itself, Vector kicked one of the odd-looking bombs, causing it to explode and detonate the other bombs. The robots and warehouse were destroyed while the Chaotix were blasted into the future.

Meanwhile at a forest near NYC in 2015, Mighty the Armadillo and the Chaotix were attempting to defuse a car bomb that was attached to a truck carrying three large containers of napalm. The truck was not moving, so things weren't complicated yet. It did get complicated once Mighty opened the bomb case and found nothing but red wires everywhere inside. He decided to cut the nearest wire, but when he did that the car bomb exploded, killing Mighty; injuring Vector, Charmy, and Espio; and starting the forest fire. As it spread, Mephiles the Dark was laughing manically, but stopped when he saw Silver and the Master Emerald come by and see what was happening. Noticing that 3 groups of ten people were going to be caught in the blaze, the Master Emerald shined an intense blue light and released Tikal from inside of it. Then the Master Emerald disappeared in a glow of red light. Mephiles then saw that his car bomb didn't kill Vector, Charmy, and Espio; while Silver and Tikal were trying to help the people, he made his move. He first pulled out a silenced USP.45 and shot Charmy in the arm, then shot Espio in the chest, and finally shot Vector in the stomach. Mephiles then saw a nearby ditch and threw the Chaotix into it, which he followed up with pouring gasoline on them. He left and it took 5 seconds for the already-large fire to ignite the gasoline. Meanwhile, Silver and Tikal died from the flames as they saw Mephiles show up holding an RPD light machine gun equipped with a red dot sight and grip, and trying to mow down the civilians they had saved, only for every shot to miss.

Militia Unleashed & Final Master Emerald piece.

July 2nd, Sierra Leone, Africa, local time is 09:40, 3036, near a settlement.

Espio, Raphael, and Bianca were hidden in thick foliage as they saw four convoys of Militiamen move on the road. "The Master Emerald Piece must have been found and taken to the nearby village, there's no other explanation for the sudden increase in militia activity," Espio said quietly to the other two. Silently they moved to another thick patch of foliage as a fifth convoy of militia came by, searching for intruders. They don't find the Z-Rangers and decide to move on to their destination, the nearby village. While the convoy moves ahead, Raphael and Bianca head down a fairly stealthy pathway to avoid being detected while Espio uses his Leaf Swirl ability to render himself invisible and trail the convoy. It heads down the road and joins with the other four convoys. They are alert and so far unaware of any hostiles in the area.

Meanwhile the other two got to the village undetected, and after silently terminating a Militia sniper, Raphael set up position inside a sniper tower and used the dead sniper's WA2000 to snipe out road patrols while Bianca moved up, reunited with Espio in one of the small houses overlooked by the northward-facing sniper tower, and then the two of them breached and cleared a factory that was within sniping distance from the tower. Finding the Master Emerald Piece inside was the good news that Raphael heard over Espio's radio when he broke radio silence and said there was good news and bad news. The bad news was that these Militiamen had recently taken hostages and they were being held near a tower close to the road west of the factory. Upon hearing that, more gunfire was heard over the radio as Espio shouted, "We're compromised!" With that, nine Militia shooters emerged and headed for the factory, unaware that Raphael was still in his tower, picking off shooters before they could even hit the path with a combination of WA2000 fire and precision-aimed kunai. He leaped down and threw three shuriken at the last shooter, the throwing stars slicing the hostile's neck artery and dropping him like a bag of cement. After that was done, Raphael linked up with Espio and Bianca and headed westward towards the militia tower. It was then that they found out that the hostages were U.S. Embassy staff and that militia had stormed the U.S. embassy three days ago and took the staff hostage in order to demand 30 trillion dollars. Naturally the Pentagon didn't respond and had dispatched a team of Navy SEALS to secure the embassy staff and take out the militia. So far, nothing was going on, but Raphael stayed hidden while Espio scouted out the area. His intelligence showed that the hostages were being held in shipping crates nearby while the tower itself has recently been outfitted with a mortar. While the Militia were searching for the three intruders who took out several patrols, the SEAL team moved silently past the militia shooters guarding the hostages and secured them, half of the 8-man team moving them to safety while the other 4 took control of the mortar and used it against the Militia, culling their large numbers and allowing Espio, Raphael, and Bianca to head towards their intended target: an extraction point where Shadow had just landed a helicopter, waiting for them. They got on, and Shadow the Hedgehog set off for the ZX-Ranger's submarine, the Crimson Eel.

Meanwhile at Mephiles's tower, the mind of Solaris had just finished drawing up ideas for the final phase of the first of three evil plans: becoming Apocalypse, the entity of evil that tried to destroy the world 1005 years ago, but was thwarted by the X-Rangers. His other two plans were to combine with Iblis to form Solaris once again, and reactivating an old Evander weapon called Red Impulse. It was created by the madman secretly, intending it to be a weapon of last resort. After all, Red Impulse was only set to be used if the X-Rangers ever went onto the offensive and attacked his Headquarters on the Russia-Kazakhstan border.

Flashback: The Malfunctioned X-Morpher Accident.

The Hudson River, New York State, 2756, local time is 13:46.

Xavier Freeman VII was being briefed on his training mission by Rouge the Bat. "Recently several malfunctioning police robots that had been decommissioned in Albany reactivated themselves and took control of a small barge that was near the Canadian border. They had also captured Shadow the Hedgehog and are holding him onboard that same barge. Your objectives are simple: neutralize the robots, and assist Shadow. Commence training mission." Xavier had been remembering that 08:46 conversation when he got on to the barge and took down three robots with the Shadow Spear. Five hours later he was now standing in front of a large number of robots that were trying to hit him with their weapons, but missed every time. He tried to use the Shadow spear, but it would not come out now. Next Shadow-X tried to create Chaos spears, but they would not generate from his back. Xavier finally decided to utilize the Chaos Blast, an extremely powerful ability that would obliterate the robots. However, as he prepared to use it, a robot got a lucky shot on him and knocked him out of his transformation. Xavier took cover and tried to transform, but his X-Morpher would not work. He did it a second time and it failed. Frustrated, Xavier tried to transform a third time, but the X-Morpher was glowing red. Realizing what was going on, he tried to discard it, but the X-Morpher would not leave his hand. The last thing Xavier Freeman VII did alive was to let loose a bloodcurling scream as the X-Morpher exploded and completely disintegrated him, the barge, and everything onboard. Five minutes after the explosion, Shadow the Hedgehog regenerated from an oxygen molecule that had his DNA and sped off for the other X-Rangers to tell them the bad news.

Evander's Sentencing.

Los Angeles, California, July 7th, 3036, Local time is 07:30, Kazuo's home.

Kazuo was monitoring the nearby area for any signs of Flame Monsters, robots, or soldiers of Deadbeat Evander. Isabella had been invited over to spend the day with him and his friends Richard Freeman and his brother Xavier XI, Romeo Trodonis, Katie Xiaoping, Portia the Black Arms soldier, and the Z-Rangers. Isabella decided that she should look impressive and was wearing a traditional kimono, ready to greet people with a warm cup of tea. A knock on the door came by, and she greeted Richard and the other ZX-Rangers. As they told some stories that took up some time, a knock came by at 08:05. Kazuo answered it and was met with none other than Gregg the Grim Reaper. He just stated that everyone should follow him and they did so, following Gregg to a small yet ornate gate near the Skateboard Park which they entered.

After passing through the gate, Gregg told everyone that they are now in the spiritual realm known as Limbo. Once again they followed Gregg, taking them into a courtroom, specifically where an audience would sit to witness trials. From the vantage point, they saw a frail-looking man being dragged to the Defendant's Chair and restrained into it by a humanoid figure that had the head of a dog. An undead Judge sat in the highest chair of the courtroom, with the infamous Prosecutor Manfred Von Karma standing to the left of the defendant. The Judge then spoke, "Professor Ebenezer Evander, you have been brought here for your crimes against humanity. You currently have the following charges laid against you: 1040 counts of Attempted Murder, 900 counts of Property Destruction, 100,000 unrelated charges, and 1 unpardonable count of teaming up with Balaroza Carlen, whom we sentenced back in 2960. Does the Prosecution have anything to say?"

Manfred then said, "You are just like Carlen, Evander! YOU TOO WILL BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR ACTIONS AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE!"

"Jagshemash, my name is Anubis. Back in my homeland of Egypt we no longer use slaves to build the Pyramids. Now we make women do it instead. Please be ready for what the Judge has to say next," the figure with the dog head uttered.

"Alright, three days ago the Jury decided to convict you of all charges in advance, Professor Evander. It seems you will also be Locked up in Limbo for all eternity! Gregg, please step forward."

"Yes, your Honor," the shaking Reaper said as he stood in front of the Judge.

"Right. Gregg, you are hereby promoted to Bailiff of Limbo."

With that, Evander was cuffed by Gregg as he rose from his chair and escorted out of the courtroom by the Reaper and Anubis. Meanwhile, Bailiff Hades, an odd guy wearing a black robe and had blue flames for hair escorted the ZX-Rangers back to the gate that transported them to Limbo from Los Angeles. As they left, everyone realized what was going on: Mephiles the Dark is readying his forces to attack. Shadow the Hedgehog shows up and tells them that a tunnel found underneath Vatican City leads straight to Mephiles's tower and bypasses the moat of darkness. So begins the endgame of this story.

Assault on Evil Mephiles Tower.

Mephiles's Tower of Evil, local time is 13:45, the tunnel.

The ZX-Rangers were leading an assault on Mephiles's earthly seat of power, coordinating with the U.S. Air force to disable the anti-air in order for the planes to begin strafing the area with deadly firepower. So far, the team managed to get inside and fought off several Monsters that were guarding the Tower Interior. Kazuo, Isabella, and Shadow the Hedgehog himself went ahead on Doctor Griffith's orders to find the anti-air switch and shut it off. They find it close to the scrying sphere launch bay and disable it, shutting down the AA guns and allowing the Air force to start bombing the area within the dark moat. A SEAL team was then sent in from above via helicopter. The team gets into Mephiles's Sanctum, disable the door lock separating them from the ZX-Rangers, and find out that he has already left for the Russia-Kazakhstan border. With that, the ZX-Rangers are able to get in and claim the Chaos Emeralds that Mephiles grabbed. As the SEAL team leaves, Anubis suddenly leaps out from the shadows screaming in a dark menacing tone and attacks the ZX-Rangers. Reacting quickly, Xavier pulls out the Shadow Spear and blocks Anubis's attack, and the battle begins. After five minutes, Anubis is barely standing, only supported by his staff, and starts explaining why he attacked for no reason: Anubis heard of Mephiles's plan to become Apocalypse and decided to try and beat him to it by attacking and hopefully killing someone. As he laughs, Mephiles forms behind him and impales the Egyptian God with the Dark Chaos Lance. Then the mind of Solaris smirks as he leaves.

Red Impulse Activates: the Finale Approaches!

Evander's HQ, Russia-Kazakhstan border, July 9th, 3036, local time is 15:15.

Mephiles the Dark was rebooting the systems in order to reactivate the power generators so he can absorb the 2,000,000 volts of electricity required to transform into Apocalypse. Meanwhile the ZX-Rangers were getting past aged defenses that acted too slowly to be effective at all. Eventually they enter an abandoned room that housed a metallic-looking figure that looked like Sonic.

Sonic recognized it and said, "Watch out, that's Metal Sonic, a robotic copy of me."

Metal Sonic activated himself and then said, "…..SSSS…..SSSSooonnic…., I hhhhavvee… waiitteddd ffforr yyyooouu. I…I..I ha..ve bbbeee…..eeenn.. inn….act…ive for 400 ye….arsss…."

Richard Freeman was now confused. "Who is this aged nut? Some sort of Evanderbot that escaped being scrapped?"

"No, Metal Sonic is a robotic copy of me, created only to destroy my life completely." Sonic had just said to Richard. "It appears that Metal Sonic reactivated himself when my friends and I got sent here to Earth via a massive chaos control 1,000 years ago. Now I have realized it! He sent those robots that captured my friends and personally designed the explosives that killed everyone back in 2015!

"Yes and No, Sonic the Hedgehog. It….was I who made the…..bombs, but it was… some other freak…. who sent the robots." Metal Sonic just said. Suddenly a process ran through the metallic hedgehog and he said, "REESTABLISHING PRIMARY CPU ALGORITHMS. PRIMARY ALGORITHMS RESTORED TO NORMAL STATUS. ALL SYSTEMS ARE ONLINE. PRIMARY ENEMY TERMINATION DIRECTIVE RECOGNIZED. EXECUTING. You, Sonic the Hedgehog, are not so invincible as I originally thought. That 2015 warehouse explosion killed you outright, when numerous other attempts failed, and for once I had demonstrated that I am superior to you.

"I actually got better, and now that I know the truth, It's time for payback for what my friends and I along with the people of Earth had to go through because of you, Metal Sonic!"

"Prepare to be terminated forever, Sonic!" said Metal Sonic, and the two combatants started fighting. The ZX-Rangers decided that it was time to get moving and managed to intercept Mephiles the Dark inside the inner sanctum of the fortress.

"It seems that I won't be harnessing Apocalypse's powers now that you are here, Kazuo Yoshimoto and the other ZX-Rangers. However, it is still too early for you to celebrate. With the press of a button, I will now reactivate Evander's old weapon Red Impulse!," shouted the evil mind of Solaris. He pushed a red switch and inside a capsule inside of the generator room, Red Impulse, a red android that looked like SCR-HD was activated. It moved towards the generators and absorbed insane amounts of electrical power for ten seconds. When the ten seconds were over, Red Impulse was now merged with the red-scaled abomination that was Apocalypse, which now floated dangerously close to the Earth, seeking to destroy the blue planet once and for all. Meanwhile, Metal Sonic knew what was happening and said, "We stop this battle now!"

the Last Apocalypse

Earth Orbit, July 9th, above Asia.

The ZX-Rangers were busy holding off Apocalypse, determined to destroy Earth after having fused with Red Impulse, a robotic weapon built by Professor Evander. The two enemies of the blue planet bickered with each other occasionally during the battle, but mostly worked together, deflecting attacks as they came one after another. Three minutes later, Sonic transformed into his super form and joined the battle, as did Metal Sonic. As they joined the battle siding with the ZX-Rangers, they began to force Apocalypse away from Earth. Once it was forced into the asteroid field, Iblis, the raw power of the sun god Solaris, broke out of Mount Saint Helens and also fused with Apocalypse. Now it was on the offensive, advancing towards Earth as it deflected attacks from the ZX-Rangers and Sonic the Hedgehog. Noticing the abomination's presence, Silver also joined the battle as did the Babylon Rogues and managed to stop Apocalypse's approach to the blue planet. With no time to spare, the ZX-Rangers used the power of their respective Emerald Control Units to gain the power to defeat the abomination. As Leonardo Adams dealt the finishing blow; Apocalypse, Red Impulse, and Iblis used their combined power to create a large black hole, intending to destroy Earth and take their enemies with them through death's door. Prepared for it, Sonic and Silver used both the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds to counter the black hole and ended up causing a massive Chaos Control that teleported the ZX-Rangers, Sonic and his friends, Metal Sonic, Mephiles the Dark, Iblis, the Chaos Emeralds, the Sol Emeralds, the Master Emerald, the Babylon Rogues and their Extreme Gear, and Babylon Garden to Mobius, and sending both Apocalypse and Red Impulse, now separated, along with its own black hole into the darkest reaches of space, subjecting both enemies of Earth to be shredded by their own last ditch creation.

Epilogue: After the darkest moments.

The ZX-Rangers lost their powers when they were teleported to Mobius in order to prevent any chance of being turned against Sonic and his friends. Everyone was okay with this though, as the battles had taken their toll on them. Yuri and Portia left for Chaoxius, their homeworld, having accomplished their missions.

Mephiles and Iblis started terrorizing Prison Island when they returned. In fact, their takeover of the prison was completely ignored by G.U.N. along with Sonic and his friends. Laughing as he and Iblis could unleash all the evil they could use on the island, the two halves of Solaris were for once happy to share mercy and death at their leisure.

Sonic and his friends resumed their normal lives. Yet Eggman IV was also dragged along and resumed his attempts to take over to build the Eggman Empire. He would never succeed and continued these schemes until the original Dr. Eggman came and usurped power from him. Yet just like the fool he toke out of the picture, Eggman would not succeed.

The Chaotix, before they died, transferred their minds and consciousnesses to powerful supercomputers. These computers were set up in secret bunkers based in the old location of the Aquatic Ruins and were not found by anyone. As they resigned themselves to this choice, they kept samples of their DNA ready for cloning in case their descendants would die out.