Episode 28 – Bad Moon Rising

September 3rd, 2019

"Leave me alone!"

The female wolf backed away into the alley as the shady-looking caribou in shabby clothing stomped towards her, knife in hoof.

"Oh, I'll leave ya alone," He started with a laugh. "If you give me your purse."

"I don't have any money, please!" She yelled.

"Liar."

She hit the back of the alley, the caribou and his knife only inches away from her. He raised the knife, and prepared to bring it down. Then, there was a sudden noise behind him, a thump.

The caribou turned around, and glanced at a figure that had appeared behind him. It was small, but not incredibly small. Maybe around a few feet in height. It was covered in a black cloak, any parts the cloak hadn't covered up shrouded in darkness.

"Who the hell are you?" The caribou asked, a bit surprised by the sudden appearance of the mammal.

"Your worst nightmare." It said, in a surprisingly low, threatening voice.

The caribou stared at it for a moment, confused.

"I am the one who cleans up the scum like you from the streets." It continued, stepping forward. "Prepare to be snuffed out."

The caribou started to laugh. "Oh, I'm so scared." He said. "Whatcha gonna do to me, small fry?"

Without a word, the cloaked mammal leaped up, and knocked the knife out of the caribou's hoof. The force of the kick caused the knife to fly into the side of a building, embedding itself in the brick.

The mugger let out a scream, and clutched at his hoof. The kick had also caused it break, all of his digits shattering.

"What the hell are you!?" He shouted.

"Like I said, your worst nightmare." It approached the crouching caribou, silver eyes suddenly shining from under its hood. "Goodnight."

Before the caribou could respond, the cloaked mammal leaped up, and slammed itself down on the mugger's head, knocking him out.

The wolf was out of breath, absolutely stunned by what she had seen. "You can go now ma'am." The figure said. "I need to take this criminal to the ZPD."

She started to walk off, but turned around before she could exit the alley. Before the figure disappeared, she asked it a question.

"Who are you?"

"My name…" The mammal paused for a moment. "Is Shadow Moon."

"Well… thank you, Shadow Moon." She said. "You saved my life."

"That's what being a hero is about."


September 9th, 2019

"Ugggh, I'm sooooo boooored…"

The Org leaned back in his chair, before leaning forward and bringing it back to the ground. Everyone was angry at the creation of those SPD losers, and the fact that Long had helped create them. Yabaiba didn't really care either way, its not like he couldn't take them.

Well, he probably couldn't but whatever.

There just wasn't any fun going around, it was all in-fighting and yelling at each other. There wasn't really anything to do.

He planted the side of his face onto the table, and glanced over to the massive cylinder in the room. It was a Monday, so, maybe he could…

He sat back up, and shuffled over to the cylinder, slowly. "Hey, boss?" He asked, quietly. No response. "Think I can go out and do something today?" Still no response. "Well, I'll take your incredible apathy towards me as a yes."

The Org clapped his hands and skipped off towards the exit. He paused for a moment. "Wait, I don't actually know what to do…" He glanced over at the hanging cage. "Oh, I know!"

He walked over to the cage, and clapped his hands again, startling the sheep inside. She let out a yelp, and hopped into the air. "Why are you the only one here who talks to me!?" She yelled at the jester.

"Because I'm not as smart as the others, duh." Yabaiba explained. He quickly gripped onto the cage's bars, shaking it a bit. "So, give me an idea for some trouble I can cause."

"Uh, well…" Bellwether thought for a moment. "Why don't you, I dunno, rob some mammals?"

"Rob people?" Yabaiba said, confused. "We don't need money."

"Well, you asked how to cause trouble." She replied.

Yabaiba thought for a second. He didn't have any other ideas. "Alright then, where should I steal from?"

"Well, it's almost the end of summer, which means that a lot of mammals from out of the city are in their summer homes." She explained. "Tundra Town's the main place, that's its main source of income. See, if you steal from them before they go, then they won't be able to recover any of their money!"

"Oh, that's devious!" Yabaiba complimented. "Didn't think you could come up with a scheme like that."

"I was a politician, of course I think dirty." She said. The sheep then quickly clutched at the bars. "Now, you have to get me some food."

"I'll get you some grass after I get back, ciao!" He gave a quick wave, and dashed off through the exit.

Bellwether let out a yell of frustration, and slammed her head into the bars.


It was early morning for the framed heroes, each of them had gotten their basic Buggaburger takeout that had been thrown down to them every day. Max was eating his burger it at a small desk, while a rather bleary eyed Judy was eating it as she went through some notes on her notepad.

Nick, however, was eating it on his cushion. He scrolled through the news on his phone as he scarfed down a bugburger. "You hear about this vigilante running around?" He asked, turning to Max and Judy.

"Yeah that something moon guy, right?" Max responded, putting down his burger. "I read about him… yesterday, I think. Apparently, he's been fighting crime for the last week, just became notable recently."

"Who do you think it is?" Nick asked. "Maybe its Bruce Wyng."

"He's a comic book character, Nick." Max said.

"Joke, man. It's a joke." Nick said, a bit disappointed. He looked back at his phone. "What about you, Carrots? Got any ideas?"

There was no response from her, but instead a low hum. They both glanced over at Judy. She was asleep, burger and notepad still in her paws. "Not again." The fox sighed. Nick slid his phone into his pocket as he got up and walked over to the rabbit.

He shook her, but she was still asleep. The fox backed up, and cleared his throat.

"WAKE UP!"

The rabbit leaped up into the air, startled by the fox's yell. The burger and notepad fell to the ground, while Judy fell back into her chair.

She groaned, and clutched at her head. "What's going on, Fluff?" Nick asked, placing a paw on her shoulder.

"I dunno, I've just…" She nudged the fox's paw off of her. "Been really tired recently."

"That's not really normal." Nick said. "Me and Max being tired max sense, we're both nocturnal."

"I also have an awful sleeping pattern." Max added.

"That too. But you're… well… you." Nick said. "You're the most straight laced, routine focused mammal I know."

"I know!" She yelled, frustrated. "I've been going to bed at the same time every night, but I keep waking up tired!"

"Are you sure you've been getting enough sleep?" Max asked.

"Yes! I go to bed at ten, and I wake up at six." She explained. "That's eight hours of sleep, it's what I've been running off of for years!" She pulled her ears over her face and groaned.

Nick started to message her neck. "Relax, relax." He said, trying to get the rabbit to calm down.

She took a deep breath, and sighed. "Thanks, Nick."

"Might be stress." He suggested as he removed his paws. "We've been through a lot recently, it could be affecting your sleep."

"Possible."

"You guys see how many people this vigilante guy got arrested?" Max asked, scrolling through his phone.

"Vigilante?" Judy said, a bit confused.

"We were just talking about him." Nick said. "We wanted to know if you had any idea who it might be."

"I didn't even know about this guy." Judy said, shrugging. "I'd say we should arrest him, but…" She quickly changed her thought. "How many crooks has he put away."

"About…" Max paused for a moment. "Fifty?"

"Fifty? In a week?" Nick said, shocked. "Guy must really be into the crime fighting schtick."

"I don't even think we saw that kind of activity in a week." Judy said.

"Guess people are using the monster panic stuff to their advantage." Max suggested. "Terrible mammals love to take advantages of crisis. At least, that's what comic books tell me."

"Comic books are nothing like real life." Judy said with a huff.

"You gotta admit, with all the weird things going on," Nick started with a shrug. "They aren't the worst reference point."

The room fell silent for a moment, as Max scrolled through his phone some more. "Uh oh…" He eventually let out.

"That's not a good sign." Nick said.

"So, you know those psychos that tried to kill us last week?" Max asked, turning to them. They both nodded. "Well, they just announced that they're officially partnering up with the ZPD."

"There's no way Bogo would allow that!" Judy said. "He'd know they're criminals, he wouldn't let them anywhere in the station!"

"He's probably being forced to." Nick said. "They were endorsed by the mayor after all." She cringed at the situation.

"Apparently, they're just going to help in monster related cases." Max continued, reading from an article. "Which, you know, makes it perfect for them to try and kill us."

"And that means we're going to be running into them in a matter of hours." Nick said.

Suddenly, a loud buzz came from their Zoolizers.

"Or, minutes." Nick continued. "Not that big a difference."

Judy sighed, and smacked at her face a few times. "Alright, let's get going."

The three headed up the stairs, the rabbit trailing behind a bit. This was the first time Nick had seen her so tired and slow, so he decided to keep pace with her as they headed down the hall.

"So, got any idea of who this vigilante is?" He asked, trying to spark a conversation.

"I dunno, Bruce Wyng?"


"Why are we up here?" Red asked.

They were standing on top of a large house, looking down on a house of equal size. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about it, and there was very clearly not an evil monster causing any trouble.

"We're surveying the area." Blue said. "We're wanted we can't just run around in broad daylight, we're doing this so we don't get seen."

"Oh yeah, no one's going to see the guys dressed in neon red, blue, and silver."

"Shut it."

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Silver asked. "I mean, I know its telepathic, but there's not really anything happening."

"Yeah, that's weird." Blue said. "The Zoolizers haven't been wrong, so something must have happened here, right?"

The Zooranger's ears started to twitch as sirens began to sound through the air. They scrambled over the roof, hiding behind one of its slants. They peeked around as a police cruiser drove up to the building. Two officer stepped out of the car, Grizzoli and Delgato.

"Oh no, Rich?" Silver started, a bit upset. His ears drooped. "They already assigned him to a new partner…"

They watched as the officers knocked on the door. It opened, but the angle meant that they couldn't see who it was. As the owner spoke, they could tell it was female, at least.

"You called and said there was a robbery here?" Grizzoli asked. "Do you have any details?"

"I didn't see who it was." The owner said. "All I saw was a… a tentacle or something, stretch out from under my door! It moved around the room, and started knocking things over, and it… it stole my wallet, and a lot of other valuables!"

"You hear that?" Blue whispered.

"Yeah, tentacles." Red responded. "Definitely not a normal robbery."

"We'll look around and see if we can find anything." Delgato said. "Can we come in?"

The three waited until they heard a door close. "Think we should do some investigating?" Red asked. "Probably has something to do with the monster, after all."

"But there's officers, what if-"

"We can take them!"

"That's… that's not what I meant, Nick." Blue finished. "The ZPD are working with Clawbick's gang, remember?"

"Right, they could just dial them up." Red said, crossing his arms. "We'll play it safe. You go, Carrots?"

"Seriously?"

"You're the smallest, and you have the best hearing." Red explained. "If anyone's bound to get any info, it's you."

"Fine." She groaned. She quickly hopped down from the building, landing in the snow with a thud.

Red looked over at Silver, who was being rather quiet. He was huddled up a bit, seeming to be lost in thought. "Hey, Wolfsbane," Red started. "You alright?" No response. Red quickly snapped his claws.

The wolf was shocked out of his thought. "What? Oh, yeah, I'm… I'm fine." He said, though his tone and body language did not suggest that.

Blue ducked down, and snuck over to the side of the building. She hopped up and grabbed onto one of the windowsills, bending her ears down to make herself less conspicuous. She looked into the living room, the officers and the house's occupant looking around as well.

The owner of the building was a lioness, and she seemed to be somewhat wealthy judging by her fancy dress. The house looked like it was also fairly ornate, but that was before the attack. Furniture was smashed to pieces, after it looked like they had been ransacked. The drawers of a shelf on the other side of the living room had been ripped out, while the shelf itself had been snapped at its midsection.

There were massive, thin dents in the carpet, like something metal had been dragged across it. The two officers looked around, before Grizzoli started to turn towards the window. Blue dropped down, before he could see her.

She heard the window open, and remained absolutely quiet. "Huh, thought I heard…" He paused for a moment. "Miss, who are your neighbours?"

"They left a while ago." The lioness said. "Why do you ask?"

"There's a trail of footprints heading to your house."

Blue smacked her face as she looked over at the footprints. In a few seconds, they would be out there and see her. She took a deep breath, before rearing up. She leaped out on all fours, and used the momentum to leap all the way back to the top of the house next door.

"Alright, we have a problem." She said.

"You got spotted, huh?" Red said. "No wonder you're a police officer, you'd never be a good criminal."

"Now isn't the time, Red." Blue said.

"Relax, we can stay hidden back here, watch." The fox said, before motioning for the three to shuffle farther along the side of the roof.

They could still see the side of the house, but only barely. Grizzoli and Delgato came running out, and began to inspect the footprint.

"What mammal do you think it is?" Grizzoli asked.

"Obviously it's a rhino." Delgato responded, a bit sarcastically. There was no response from the bear. "It's… it's pretty clearly a rabbit's." He followed, nervously.

"See, can't see us." Red said. "So, you get any info?"

"Yeah, it's basically what they said." Blue answered. "It's a robbery, but its definitely being caused by a monster. A strong one at that."

"Why would a monster be robbing people?" Silver asked. "It's like, I dunno, a robot stealing food, they just don't need it!"

"There's probably something else going on, then." Blue guessed. "Maybe it's-"

Their Zoolizers started to beep and buzz, causing confusion from the officers on the ground. They quickly ran to the back of the house, and spotted the three on the roof. Delgato looked up, disappointment coming across him.

"I knew you three had something to do with this!" Grizzoli yelled.

"We didn't do anything, Bearclaw!" Red shouted down. "We're trying to figure out what's going on just as much as you are!"

"You expect me to buy that!?"

"We have more important things to deal with!" Blue shouted. "Monster alert, we need to get their before anything happens!"

"Right." Red said with a nod. "See you two at work!" He gave a quick wave to the officers, and the two dashed off.

Silver followed behind them, and quickly glanced back, looking at his former partner. The tiger shook his head, upset, before he and the bear headed off. Silver turned back, and kept following his teammates.


This was the one hundredth time Bogo had gone over the notes for the Zoo Ranger case, and he still couldn't believe it. It seemed like madness that three of his officers had gone rogue, but all evidence pointed towards it.

Wolford was always a rather nice mammal, even when he had messed up. Wilde could be a bit arrogant and hotheaded most of the time, but he still followed orders usually, and worked well with Hopps. Hopps herself was a model officer, that's why he was going to-

Bogo's train of thought had been interrupted by the door slamming open. Clawhauser ran in as fast as he could. "Chief, we've got a major, serious problem!"

"That's what you said when Fangmeyer forgot to bring in donuts." Bogo said.

"This is almost as bad as that!" The cheetah continued. Bogo rolled his eyes and snorted. "We've gotten a ton of reports in the last few hours of robberies at the summer district of Tundra Town."

"How many is 'a ton', Clawhauser?" Bogo asked. He was assuming that it was a bit of an overexaggeration, something Benjamin did every now and again.

"Let's see…" He started to count on his paws. "Probably about fifteen in the last two hours."

Bogo's eyes widened. That was a remarkable amount of robberies in such a short amount of time. "What are the details?" He asked.

"Every report's the same, tentacles coming into the house, stealing objects, and then breaking everything!" Clawhauser explained.

"Any suspects?" Bogo asked. He glanced down at a device on his desk. He was given it a while ago. A simple remote with a large, red button on it. It had a small speaker, and was marked with the SPD logo. His hoof started to hover over it.

"Well, we don't have any real proof so far, but…" The cheetah paused, visibly becoming upset. "Grizzoli said he saw the Zoo Rangers just after the attacks."

The buffalo let out a snort. "Alright, I'll get someone on it." He said. Clawhauser quickly left.

Bogo sighed, and pressed the button. "Hello?" Said a nervous voice from the speaker.

"Is this Doctor Leopold?" Bogo asked.

"O-oh, Chief Bogo!" Leopold said. "Yes, it is. You have a monster case for the team?"

"That or a case relating to the Zoo Rangers." He said. "I'm hoping it's one of those monsters. It's around the summer house district of Tundra Town."

"Right, I'll send them out right away." Leopold said. "Oh, before you go, Chief."

"What?"

"I was really surprised that Herder got you to do this." Leopold said. "It's a big help, anyway."

"I'm only doing this for the protection of the city." Bogo said, sternly. "Not to help those criminals you call officers."

"Oh. Uh…"

"Good bye."

Bogo lifted his digit from the button, and quickly slammed his fist on his desk. He wasn't just doing this to protect the city. He was doing this because he had no choice.


"Ugh, this is the what, twentieth time!?"

Red paced back and forth on the roof. They had been running across the summer district for hours, chasing a signal that, invariably, led to nothing. One ruined house after the other, the ZPD always behind them. After the first case, more cruisers had shown up.

After they had arrived, a similar scene would play out, ending with them getting spotted. It was like some kind of time loop, no one was getting any new info. It was nightmarish.

"I'm sure we'll hit something soon enough." Silver said. He turned to the rabbit, who was sitting on one of the roof panels. "Right, Blue?" No response. "…Blue?"

"Oh come, right now!?" Red shouted. He slid down a bit from the top of the roof, and tapped her on her head, waking her.

"Oh no, did I fall asleep again?" She groaned. "I'm really sorry, guys."

Red sighed. "It's fine, we've been running around a lot, we're all tired."

Silver perked up for a moment. He ran up the roof, and looked around. "Hey get down!" Blue whisper yelled. "The cops are going to see you!"

"There aren't any!" He said.

Blue and Red looked at each other, and then ran up to Silver's side, looking down at the streets. For the past few houses, a number of cruisers had been trailing them, but now, there was nothing.

"Think they gave up?" Red asked.

"Maybe?" Blue said, shrugging. "They were at as much of a dead end as we were."

"Hey, I have an idea!" Silver started. "If the ZPD aren't here, maybe we can check the house ourselves!"

"Don't think whatever rich mammal lives there will be happy if a bunch of criminals broke into her house." Red said.

"Well, them not being here at least gives us some room to move around." Blue followed. "We can at least look through the windows, maybe we'll get something better this time."

The three hopped down into the front yard of the house. As soon as they hit the ground, something came driving down the street.

"Oh, come on."

The ZPD's massive armored vehicle drove down the icy street, coming to a screeching halt directly in front of them. The doors and cockpit swung open, the three officers hopping out as well.

"Hey hey, looks like the chief nit was right." Clawbick said, stepping towards them. "Didn't realize you got into the robbery biz, Nicky."

"We aren't, Clawbick." Red said, trying to restrain himself. "We're trying to figure out who's doing this."

"We're on the same side." Silver started. "Why don't we work together again?"

"Sorry, hombre, chief doesn't want us collaborate with you anymore." Pink said, drawing her pistols. "Nothing against you guys though, just business."

"Oh, I have something against one of them…" Clawbick growled, stepping towards Red. The fox backed through the snow as the lion closed in. "Ready to finish this for real, Nicky?"

Before Red could say anything, Blue spoke up. "You're a coward."

Clawbick laughed, and turned to the rabbit. "'Scuse me?"

"You're only after him because you know he's scared of you." Blue said, stepping forward. "Why don't you take on someone who isn't afraid of you?"

"Rabbit, you just made a huge mistake." The lion said. He swung his sword down, into the snow, it seemingly instantly melting under the blade. "You two, take care of that wolf and Nicky. His girlfriend wants to take me on."

"Got it, 'boss'." Officer Green said, Clawbick not catching the sarcasm.

The lion let out a growl, and rushed at the rabbit, bringing his blade down on her, Blue quickly brought out her daggers, blocking the strike. She struggled for a bit as Clawbick pushed down on her, but she pushed back, knocking the blade back.

Blue leaped up into the air, and kicked him in the face. Clawbick flew through the air, and rolled through the snow as he passed between two of the buildings. Blue quickly ran after him, the two starting to fight in the crossroads of four of the houses.

Red and Silver locked eyes with the two other SPD officers.

"Think you can take the bull?" Silver asked Red.

"What? Why?"

"Because he keeps kicking my ass and I'd like that to not happen."

Red shook his head. "Fine."

The fox quickly pulled out the Vickscannon, and fired it at the bull. The surprising speed of the attack shocked him, and knocked Green onto his back. Silver quickly dashed at the hyena, and slashed at her with his sword, which she blocked with one of her pistols.

Red quickly pulled out his sword as well, and waited for Green to rise. He leaped into the air, and brought the blade down, only for the officer to block it with his cannon. He pushed back, sending the fox flying back into the snow.

The bull stomped over, leaving deep imprints in the white ground. "You know you can't take me, Nick." He said.

"Yeah, but I can try." Red followed.

"You'd have more luck with Clawbick." Officer Green continued. "Trust me."

"Well, the rabbit over there is our leader, what she says goes." Red replied. "Besides, she's probably the best of us."

"You think pretty highly of your girlfriend." Henry said with an almost kindhearted chuckle. He aimed his cannon at the fox. He fired, but Red dodged out of the way. The blast hit the snow, instantly vaporizing a large chunk of it and revealing the grass underneath.

Red dashed forward, and struck at the bull with his blade. Green stumbled back as the fox landed back on the ground. "She means more to me that you think."

Silver continued to try and attack Pink, but it was turning up rather fruitless. She would either effortlessly block or just dodge out of the way of each strike, usually retaliating with a quick smack from one of her pistols. It was starting to hurt.

"You know you're using that thing completely wrong, right?" She said as he missed another swipe.

"What?" Silver said, surprised. "It's a sword, how can you use a sword wrong?"

"That's a rapier, bud." She said. "You don't swing those things around wildly."

He glanced at his sword. The hyena was right, rapiers are meant to be precise. He was just waving it around like an idiot. He learned how to use it in his training, how had he just forgotten about all of this?

No, the wolf knew exactly why.

Silver quickly turned back to Pink, and jabbed his rapier forward. She had barely managed to dodge the blow, but the wolf pulled it back in an instant and delivered a second jab to her stomach. She stumbled back, and started to laugh.

"There you go!" She said. "That's how you do it! Come on, hit me as hard as you can!"

The rabbit and the lion locked their eyes. They began to circle around, Blue with her daggers drawn, and Clawbick with his eerily glowing blade. They dashed at each other, Blue leaping into the air. Their blades clashed, the force knocking them both back.

As Blue hit the ground, she pulled out her blasters, and started to fire at the criminal. Clawbick spun his sword around, knocking the blasts away and into the nearby buildings. "Hey, that's property damage!" Blue yelled.

"Why do you keep thinking I care about shit like that!?" Clawbick yelled. He swung his blade forward, shooting off a beam of green energy. She leaped over it as it carved into the ground, and hit the ground running. She hopped into a slide, slashing at the sides of the lion's legs as she went under them.

"God damn stupid rabbit!" He yelled. The lion quickly spun around, shooting another beam of energy at her. Blue braced herself as she slid directly into it, launching her into the air.

She twisted around in the air, and used her momentum to deliver another kick to Clawbick. The lion caught her foot in his armored paw, and slammed her back into the ground, leaving a rabbit shaped mark in the snow. "You know how stupid you are?" He growled, kicking her away. "You think you can beat me!?"

She was starting to feel fatigue. Lack of sleep and running around, when combined with physical fighting, weren't good for her. But she had to keep going. She crawled to her feet, and stood strong.

"It's my job to make the world a better place!" She yelled. "And I'm going to beat you, no matter what!"

"Big words for a little animal."

Red leaped into the air, and slashed at Green with his claws. He rapidly slashed at the bull, but he couldn't seem to pierce his armor. The officer smacked him down with his free hoof, and then kneed the fox in the stomach, before swatting him away again.

"Yep, definitely as tough as you were last time we sparred." Red laughed as he got up, obviously in a lot of pain. "Guess you've been working out?"

"Elkatraz has good gyms, what can I say?" The bull quickly fired his cannon at the fox. Red had no time to react, and was launched back into the side of a house, leaving a large dent.

"You know, even if you get me," Red weakly let out. "You're definitely going to need to help out your partner."

"What?"

He quickly turned to look at Silver and Pink, fighting in the middle of the street. Silver was rapidly jabbing his rapier forward in a very angry, but precise, manner. Pink was managing to block and dodge most of them, but the wolf's speed didn't leave many openings. In the few seconds that Henry had watched, and both had managed to strike several blows at each other.

"Em, watch out!" The bull yelled, before he fired his cannon.

The hyena caught notice, and quickly stepped back as the blast hit Silver, knocking him across the street. Without hesitation, he got back to his feet, and glanced at the hyena.

"Alright, lobo, playtime's over." She said, firing her pistols at him. The shots hit the wolf, causing sparks to shoot off as he was knocked back.

Silver attempting to shrug it off, though still obviously in a lot of pain. He started to run forward, placing his paw on the guard of his rapier, and spinning it around.

"HOT SHINE ECLIPSE"

Time froze for a moment, and the wolf began to rapidly jab his blade into the hyena. He did this as many times as he possibly could, though none of the strikes seemed to actually break through her armor. Time started back up.

"The heck was-" Before Emily could finish speaking, a series of small explosions erupted from her body. Smoke started to cloud around her as she yelled in pain. The smoke cleared, and she fell to the ground, out of breath. "Looks like you do know how to use that thing."

Back with Blue, her and Clawbick were still fighting, though the rabbit's fatigue was starting to become more and more obvious. "I thought rabbits had a lot of stamina." Clawbick said, stepping towards the her. "Looks like you've spent it all."

Blue stumbled back a bit, out of breath. She felt like she was about to pass out again. Clawbick quickly kicked her, knocking her to the ground. He raised his blade up, preparing to strike.

"STOP!" Red yelled, trying to rush over to help Blue. Silver spotted the commotion as well, and started to run over too.

"Prepare to watch your girlfriend be killed, Nicky!" Clawbick shouted at him. He swung the blade down, directly between the rabbit's ears.

"NO!"

There was a dull clunk as the blade anticlimactically smacked her on the top of her head. "What!?" Clawbick yelled. "But it should've…"

Clawbick, distracted by what had happened, couldn't react as both Red and Silver attacked him at the same time. Red delivered a scratching slash to his face, while Silver sliced at his side. The lion was flung back into the wall of a house.

"Alright, we're getting out of here!" Red shouted. "See you guys later!"

"I'll handle the sleepy bunny." Silver said, before picking Blue up and hoisting her over his shoulder. The two then leaped off into the horizon, leaving the three officers behind.

"Clawbick, get up." Green said sternly. The lion slowly got to his feet, and stumbled off towards the vehicle.

"I don't get it. It should have worked." He mumbled to himself.

"What's wrong with him?" Pink asked.

"What isn't?"


"I thought I was the tired one." Judy chuckled. Her and Nick looked at Max, who was curled up on his cushion.

"I think I got too worked up back there." He mumbled. "I'm just going to rest for a bit…" With that, the wolf had passed out.

There was silence for a moment, as Judy began to pace back and forth. "You trying to figure something out, Fluff?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, why the monster is robbing rich people." Judy said.

"Because they deserve it?"

The rabbit glared at him. "Well, they do." He responded. She shook her head at the fox.

"Like Silver said, the monsters don't really have a reason for getting any money." Judy continued. "Usually they just destroy things and make trouble. There's got to be something more to this."

"Or, they could just be robbing mammals for fun." Nick suggested. "Robbery is still causing trouble, after all."

"Maybe I am just overthinking it." She sighed. "My brain tends to get more active when I'm tired."

"Well, if you want to not be tired, you need to keep to your routine." Nick said. "Got anything you want to do for the next ten hours?"

"Ooh, we can reorganize the room!" She said, cheerfully.

Nick groaned. "We've done that, what, six times by now?"

"Eight times." She corrected.

"That makes it so much better." He said, sarcastically.

"Hey, look on the bright side!" She said, walking over and punching him in the side. "By the end of this, you'll probably be as tired as me!"

"Oh, wonderful."


The antelope walked into his bedroom, dressed in his pajamas. He had been at his summer home for a few months, with this being his last night. He had also heard of the odd robberies recently, of which his house was one of the few that hadn't been hit.

Hopefully it wouldn't happen tonight, he had places to be after all.

He went over to the window by his bed, and opened it up. He always enjoyed a nice, cold breeze while he slept. He climbed into his bed, wrapped in blankets.

There was a quick thump in his room, snapping his eyes open. Footsteps followed. The antelope threw his blankets off, and practically jumped out of bed.

"Who the hell are you!?" He shouted, looking down at a small, robed figure.

"Shadow Moon." It said, in a surprisingly deep voice. "I'm here to protect you."

"I wouldn't call breaking into my house protecting me!" The antelope yelled.

"You're the one who left your window open."

Before the antelope could respond, the small vigilante raised an arm, clad entirely in black cloth. "Did you hear that?" Shadow Moon asked.

"What?"

"Of course you don't."

The figure dashed through the bedroom door, and down the stairs. The antelope quickly followed him down into the living room. Writhing on the ground was some kind of tentacle, silver in color and covered in sharp barbs. It unnaturally bent upwards, and moved towards the couch in the room.

"What is that!?" The antelope yelled.

"A robber." Shadow Moon answered. "One I intend to stop."

He leaped forwards, pulling out a knife, jabbing it into the top of the tentacle. The vigilante held on tight as the tentacle started to writhe around in pain. The tentacle quickly pulled back, smashing through the door and dragging Shadow Moon along with him.

The antelope could only stand and watch. After letting out a long sigh, he went back upstairs to bed.


A loud noise buzzed through the dark room, causing the mammals within to wake up abruptly.

Nick leaped off of the cushion in surprise, while Max scrambled onto the floor on all fours before getting up. "Really, this late at night?" The fox said, a bit angry.

"Well, robberies usually do happen at night." Max said.

"Well, yeah, but…" He let out a grunt. "I don't have a retort to that." He quickly turned to Judy's cushion. "Alright, Carrots, I know you've been tired but it's time to-"

She wasn't there.

"Fluff?" He said, looking around the room. "JUDY!?"

"Relax, relax!" Max said. "She seemed pretty frustrated by all of this, so she might have gone ahead to scope things out."

"She could have at least told us…" The fox mumbled. He let out a sigh. "Alright, let's go… fight that monster."

Max nodded, and the two quickly ran up the stairs.


"Ha ha, look at all the loot we've gotten!" Yabaiba shouted, holding up a very fancy glass cup. "Bet this will go for a lot on the black market!"

The Duke Org had set up a base in an empty warehouse in Tundra Town. Over the past day, they had robbed tons of items from the rich fannies in the summer district. He let out another laugh, and placed the cup back down.

"EEEYOUCH!"

The yell rang through the empty warehouse, the Duke Org was distracted from his massive pile of valuable objects for a moment.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Yabaiba asked his latest monster.

Wire Org, a large grey humanoid covered in barbed wire. The Org's head was a large lump with a glowing red eye planted in it, though it was shrouded by the barbed wire. Two horns, also covered in barbed wire, also protruded from the lump. A length of barbed wire extended from its wrist, and out of a nearby door.

"Somethin' stabbed me!" Wire Org said. "I'm abortin' the attack!"

"What!? It can't be that bad!" Yabaiba said, attempting to hit Wire Org on the shoulder. He recoiled in pain as his hand hit one of the barbs.

The wire continued to pull back into Wire Org's wrist. In a few seconds, the wire's end appeared through the door, along with a creature.

The creature pulled a knife out of the wire, and flew through the air. It zipped past the wire monster, slashing through it. Wire Org yelled out, and stumbled back.

"What the heck!?" Yabaiba yelled, looking back at the thing. "Who the hell are you!?"

"I am the light in the darkness that paves the way for justice." It said. "I am Shadow Moon."

The barbed wire monster stumbled back around. "What are you, a super hero?" Wire Org asked.

"What do you think?"

"Great, we have ANOTHER problem to deal with!" Yabaiba said, crossing his arms. "How did you even find us?"

"I traced the area you have been attacking, measured out what houses you hadn't robbed, and then figured out which weren't occupied. Then, I narrowed it down to the house with the richest owner. Then I skulked on the roof until an opportunity to go inside came up, and considering how calm the owner was, I guessed that you hadn't attacked."

The two stood there for a moment, baffled at the vigilante's… dedication.

"So, what are you gonna do, turn us in to the cops?" Wire Org mockingly asked.

"No, I'm going to destroy both of you." Shadow Moon replied.

They both started to laugh. "The only people in this world that can do that are the Zoorangers," Yabaiba started. "How do you expect to do that?"

"Like this."

Shadow Moon leaped forward, brandishing two plain, but sharp looking knives. He flew between the two, causing sparks to fire off as he slashed the monsters. They both stumbled back, Yabaiba tumbling into the pile of loot.

Wire Org growled as it steadied itself. "You're gonna pay for that!" It yelled. The monster thrust its arms forward, several tentacles of barbed wire emerging from its back. "Prepare for the barbed wire match of your life!"

The tentacles thrust forward, rapidly jabbing towards the cloaked vigilante. Shadow Moon quickly ducked and weaved through each strike, closing in on the monster. He leaped up as soon as he got up close, and swiped upwards across the Org's body with his knives.

The force of the attack launched the monster off, crashing into a nearby wall. The vigilante stepped towards the Org, until a coin hit her in the head. He glanced over at the pile of stolen goods, Yabaiba standing amongst them.

"Ooh, bet you think you're really strong, huh?" The jester asked, pulling out one of his knives and tossing it up into the air. "You mammals are gonna learn the hard way how not a joke I am!" He caught the knife, and rushed at Shadow Moon.

The vigilante leaped up, and clashed blades with the clown monster, but Yabaiba seemed to have underestimated Shadow Moon's strength. He quickly knocked back both of the Duke Org's arms after a few strikes, and delivered a quick, powerful kick to Yabaiba's face, knocking him back down.

"Augh, I didn't realize normal animals could be that strong!" He cried, before rolling over and getting up. "You're not gonna get your hands on this treasure, though!" The jester said, pointing his knife at the vigilante.

Wire Org quickly got up as well, and plodded over. "It's still two to one, buddy!" He said.

"Hold it!"

The three turned to the entrance. ZooRed and ZooSilver ran in, brandishing their weapons. "Now its three to two!" Red shouted. He glanced around, spotting the cloaked figure. "Or maybe its four to two! If Judy ever decides to show up…"

"She'll be here soon enough." Silver assured. "Let's just focus on getting rid of these monsters."

"I was wondering when you would show up." The vigilante said. "Shame your third couldn't make it."

"Oh, are you that vigilante guy?" Silver asked. The figure didn't respond.

"A lot shorter than I expected." Red said. "Need some help fighting off these monsters?"

"I don't need help from criminals." The vigilante said. He quickly jumped at them, kicking Silver in the face, and then slashing down at Red with his knives.

The two stumbled back, as the monsters looked on, confused. "Wait, is he on our side?" Wire Org asked. Yabaiba shrugged in response.

"You follow those monster attacks everywhere." Shadow Moon started. "So, I thought I could take out four birds with one stone and trap you all here so I can finish you off."

"Great, even the criminals think we're criminals!" Red said in disbelief. He quickly pulled out a ZooTag and plugged it in.

"ICH NI
SAN SHI
GO GO GO!
RACING CLAWS!"

The weapons appeared on his paws, and he quickly bared them. "You can take this, right?" The fox asked the vigilante. "Because I really don't want to kill you."

"I can take anything you throw at me."

"Silver, try to handle that monster!" Red ordered. The wolf nodded, drew his blade, and the dashed at the wire monster. The fox turned back to the cloaked vigilante.

They dashed at each other, Red slashing the claws down. Shadow Moon deftly stepped out of the way of the swipes and let him pass by. He then kicked the fox in the back, knocking him away. As Red readjusted himself, he noticed something.

It felt like a rabbit's foot.

He quickly turned back, and started to examine the vigilante.

Silver dashed at the monster, striking it with his blade. The monster quickly grabbed it with one of its hands, preventing the strike. Wires started to creep from the monster's hand, and began moving down the sword's blade.

Silver quickly spun the guard of the blade, setting it to Sun Mode. Before the monster could do anything, a fireball shot directly into its face, causing it to let go and stumble back in pain. The wires from its hands still hung in the air aimlessly, letting Silver cut them down with a quick chop

"OUCH!" The monster yelled. "You know those are part of my body, don't you!?"

"Why… why would I care?"

Red quickly slashed at the vigilante with his claws, shooting out several energy blasts towards him. Shadow Moon leaped out of the way of each of them, before performing another leap towards Red and slashing him with the knives.

"Yikes, you really are like The Bat." Red said to himself. "Probably just as crazy, too."

"Crime is a disease that needs to be purged." Shadow Moon retorted in his deep voice.

Red leaped forward again, this time attempting to grab at the vigilante with his claws. He stepped back as the fox whiffed, before being greeted by another kick from a rabbit-like foot. Clearly this approach wasn't working out that well.

Red pulled the ZooTag out (Very carefully, considering his glove's massive blade claws), causing the weapons to disappear. "Alright, let's handle this mammal-a-mammal." He said, pulling out his own sword.

He flung it forward, causing the blade to extend on its wire. The vigilante was surprised, and even more surprised when the wire quickly wrapped around him. Shadow Moon struggled a bit as Red moved in. He reached for the vigilante's hood, but the cloaked mammal kicked him once again, right in his stomach.

The kick made the fox let go of the sword's hilt, causing the blade to retract in an instant. "Oof, that didn't go well." He groaned.

Silver struck at the monster once again, but was quickly knocked back. As he steadied himself, the Duke Org rushed forward with his own daggers, and struck the wolf. He stumbled back, watching as the org approached.

"Hah, you really think you can take on two bad guys at the same time?" Yabaiba mocked. "You're not good enough for that!"

Silver grunted, and prepared to strike.

Unfortunately, someone else showed up.

"This is the police!" Yelled an officer from outside the building. "Whoever is causing that commotion, come out with your paws up!"

"Uh oh." Red let out.

"Looks like I'll have to deal with you crooks later." Shadow Moon said, swooshing his cloak. He leaped up onto a walkway, and then out a window, glass showering down on the fox.

"We're skedaddling too!" Yabaiba let out. "C'mon, Wires!"

The Org thrust its arms forward, causing a mass of wire tentacles to burst from its back. They surrounded the stolen goods, collecting them into a sphere of the wires. Yabaiba gave a quick wave, before hopping into Wire Org's arms. Two more tentacles burst from the monsters back, lifting them through the roof.

"Huh." Red let out, the two Zoorangers now left completely alone in the building.

There was a loud slam, and the two quickly raised their paws up. The police officer, recognizable as Fangmeyer, stepped into the room, taser ready to fire. His ears perked up as he saw the two. "What the heck…?"

"Hey, Fangs!" Red said to the husky, not lowering his paws. "Think you might, uh, be willing to let us go?"

"Yeah, we have monsters to fight." Silver followed. "Kind of, y'know, urgent?"

"Why would I let you two go?" Fangmeyer said, still aiming his taser at them. "You guys are criminals too!"

"Well, guess we'll just have to RUN!" The two instantly burst into a sprint, dashing around the husky.

Fangmeyer quickly followed them out of the building, but they had vanished. "HEY!" He shouted to nobody. "GET BACK HERE!"


The two quickly clambered down the stairs to the dark and dusty room they had been reluctantly calling home. The fox finished panting, and fell back onto his cushion.

"That was a close one." He said, out of breath.

"I hate to think about what would happen if we actually did end up getting arrested." Max said. "I doubt that Shadow Moon vigilante guy could handle them on his own."

"I'm not sure about that." Nick said.

"What do you mean?"

He glanced over at the fox, who pointed towards the still empty cushion next to him. "Wait, do you think…?" Max asked, getting at what Nick was saying.

"I'm just guessing at this point, but…" He shrugged and sighed. "There's enough evidence pointing towards it. I mean, come on, 'Shadow Moon'? How more obvious could she be?"

"Why's she doing it, though?" Max asked. "I mean, she's already a superhero, why be a second one? Why did she attack us?"

"We'll ask her when she gets back." Nick said, rolling over. "You know, if she gets back."

"Hopefully she will."


The fox's eyes burst open. He had a good sleep, but could not wait to wake up. It felt like it was the earliest he had gotten up in his life. Probably because he was incredibly nervous. He took a deep breath, and rolled over towards Judy's bed.

Thankfully, she was there, fast asleep. She was snoring, which mostly came out as cute little hums. He sighed in relief, and sat up. Nick quickly glanced over to Max's cushion, he was still asleep as well. What time was it, even?

He picked up his phone, five AM. The fox let out a sigh, way too early for any of them to be up. He was just incredibly worried about what was going on with Judy. Should he just wake her up now and ask, or should he let her sleep for a bit longer? She usually got up in around an hour, anyway.

He quickly gave the rabbit a quick pat on her side, causing her to groan and roll over again. He held up one of her ears, and snapped his claws. The sound of it shocked her awake.

"NICK, I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP!" She yelled, rubbing her eyes. "Why do you keep waking me up like that!?"

"This is important, Judy." He said, sternly, as he got up. "What's going on with you?"

"What?"

"Why are you running around playing vigilante?" He asked, turning to her. "Why did you attack us last night?"

"What are you talking about?"

He ran his paw against his muzzle. "Did you even realize there was a monster alert last night?" He asked.

"There was?" She sounded genuinely confused. "Why didn't either of you wake me up?"

"Because you weren't here!" He yelled.

"You aren't making any sense, Nick!" She retorted. "I was here all night, I can tell you that! You probably just had a bad dream."

The fox let out a very angry groan. "Forget I said anything!" He yelled, before falling back onto his cushion. He glanced over as the rabbit rolled over to face away from him. In a few seconds, he could tell she was asleep.

Now Nick couldn't go to sleep. Either she wasn't the vigilante, or something weird was going on. All things considered, he was pointing towards the latter. He'd keep an eye on her over the rest of the day, but most importantly, when she was sleeping.


Nothing came up for the rest of the day, but Nick and Max managed to fill Judy in on what was going on… minus the stuff involving Shadow Moon. That would have to wait until later.

Nick had been wondering all day what the deal was with this vigilante alter ego. Everything was pointed towards Judy being Shadow Moon, but… something was off. It wasn't like her, and she seemed to have no idea about what happened. Not even a slight amount of nervousness when questioned. She wasn't good at lying, so something had to be up. It was starting to get late, and time to get his plan started.

"So, figured anything out yet, Fluff?" Nick asked. Judy had spent the whole day trying to figure out where the monsters could have gone, but it didn't seem like she was coming up with anything. She had been looking at a map of the city, trying to pinpoint possible locations, for easily twelve hours. Max was already asleep.

"There's two possibilities." She started. "The first is that they took it back to the mountain… or they have a second hideout somewhere else."

"Very specific."

"Well, I don't think there's any use to stealing fancy cups and not doing anything with them." She responded, leaning back in her seat and thumping her foot. "Even Yabaiba doesn't seem stupid enough to just steal things 'because'."

"So, what do you think the plan is?" The fox asked, leaning over to look at the map.

"Probably just going to sell them." She said, shrugging. "I don't know why, but that's what everything's pointing too."

"That's a disappointing plan." Nick said, a bit disappointed. "But it makes you feel a bit like a normal officer again, huh?"

"Kinda does." Judy said, melancholic, before going into a chuckle. "When we were officers, we could have done this in our house."

"True." He said. "I think it's getting a bit late. I know you're invested in your investigation, but maybe you should get some rest."

"What, why?"

"Because you've been sleeping terribly." He said. "If something happens tomorrow, then you'll need to be rested."

"Right, right." She said. The rabbit turned to look at him. "Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?"

"I'm nocturnal, I'll be fine for a bit." He excused. "I'll try to piece anything you've found together."

He was lying, of course. Not something he liked to do, but definitely a necessity. He sat down at her seat, and waited for her to fall asleep. As soon as she did, he turned in his chair and watched her. He would take his eyes off the rabbit until something happened.

He could feel his eyes getting a bit heavy. Maybe he should have gotten some coffee.

In a few minutes, his eyes were shut. He shocked himself awake, and smacked himself in the face. Had to stay awake, had to watch her…

She was gone.

He hopped to his feet, and looked around. His ears picked up steps from outside the room. Maybe he wasn't late to catch the rabbit after all. He rushed up the stairs, and slammed open the door. He looked down the hall, briefly catching a glimpse of a black cloak heading around a corner.

"Gotcha."

He rushed down the hall, and into the rather ornate lobby of the mansion. Standing near the door was Shadow Moon, who stopped to look at him.

"What are you doing here?" It asked.

"We live here, remember?" Nick said. "You don't have to hide this from us Judy!"

"Who?"

"Seriously, I know it's you!" He said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shadow Moon said. He couldn't have been wrong, how else did this vigilante get into Mr. Big's place? It made no sense.

If talking didn't work, then the only thing left to do was unmasking the vigilante himself.

He rushed forward, but the cloaked figure stepped out of the way. As he rushed past, the presumed rabbit let out a kick, knocking him away from him. Nick was flung to the ground in extreme pain. He knew that Judy had strong legs, but they never really hurt like that did.

"If you're going to attack me, then I have no choice but to retaliate." Shadow Moon said.

"Well, I'm not gonna hold back either!" The fox said, putting up his dukes. He dashed forward again, attempting to land a punch, but the vigilante returned it with his own punch, right to Nick's gut. He stumbled back from the blow. It felt like a rib was broken.

"You're really not worth fighting like that." Shadow Moon said, stepping back towards the door. "Now if you excuse me, I have some criminals to catch."

The cloaked mammal rushed out the door, leaving the fox behind, and a cold wind to drift into the lobby. Nick pounded at his chest, coughing up a bit of blood. He quickly ran back down the hall, and down into the spare room.

"MAX, GET UP!"

The wolf quickly got up. "What, what, is there a fire!?"

"We have a crazed rabbit to catch!" Nick explained. "We don't have a lot of time!"

"Alright, got it!"

The two quickly sprinted out of the room, and out of the building. "Look." Nick said, bending down. There were large tracks on the ground, fitting rabbit's feet. "Tracks, we can follow her."

Max sniffed at the air. "I think I can get her scent, too." He said. "Better get going before she manages to get into trouble."

The two transformed. Red summoned up the Kitsunider, and hopped on it. He looked back at the wolf, who stood there for a moment, before shrugging. "Alright, get on."


After a few near crashes, the two had managed to catch up to the vigilante. He was standing in the middle of an alley, almost like he was waiting for them. Red stopped the motorcycle, which wobbled a bit due to the unbalance of the drivers. They quickly hopped off, and confronted the cloaked rabbit.

"Why are you two following me?" Shadow Moon asked. "I's almost like you want to go to jail."

"We want to figure out what's going on with you." Red said.

"Yeah, you're acting crazy, Judy." Silver continued. "We're worried."

Shadow Moon shook his head. "I still have no idea who this 'Judy' is." He said. "But I won't let you criminals stop me from doing my job."

The vigilante quickly dashed forwards with his daggers, leaping up into the air and attempting to slash at the two with the knives as he hit the ground. The movement was fast enough for neither of them to react in time, causing them to stumble back.

"Listen, we don't want to hurt you!" Red yelled as the vigilante approached him. "We're a team, you-" Shadow Moon quickly tossed one of his knives at the fox, embedding it in a wall. "Ohhh, yikes."

As the vigilante was distracted, however, Silver quickly ran up and locked him into a chokehold. Shadow Moon started to struggle, delivering several quick kicks to the wolf's stomach. After a few hits, Silver dropped him, but he was still dazed. This opened Shadow Moon up into a punch, which Red quickly delivered.

The punch hit his stomach, and knocked the vigilante back. Red drew out his blade, and pointed it at the cloaked mammal, who was still steadying himself. "You'll pay for that attack." Shadow Moon growled. He then rushed forward, Red preparing to strike with his sword. Unprecedently, the rabbit leaped over him, grabbing his knife from the wall, and then running up the side of it for a moment.

He pushed himself off the wall, launching towards the unprepared wolf. He quickly drew his own sword, and managed to block the attempted knife slash, but the force knocked both of them to the ground.

"You idiots don't know what's going on, do you?" Shadow Moon said, getting up from the ground. "I was going to go stop that monster!"

"What?" Red said, confused. "We have monster detectors, on our wrists!" He yelled, shoving the Zoolizer in Shadow Moon's covered face. "A monster only attacks when one of these goes off-"

There was a sudden loud buzzing coming from both of their Zoolizers.

"Huh, well whaddya know."

"Where do you think it is?" Silver asked. There was sudden screaming from outside the alley. The three ran out of the alley, watching as a stampede of arctic mammals ran past, obviously scared of something.

Red looked down the street, the direction the animals were running from. There were more mammals running away from a building. "I'd guess somewhere down there." He said.

Without a word, Shadow Moon rushed off down the street. The two Zoorangers quickly followed him to a bank. The vigilante ran into the bank without a second thought, but Red and Silver paused for a short breather.

"Guess that this is a logical step forward." Silver said.

The two ran into the bank, watching as Shadow Moon was already locked in combat with the Org.

"Augh, how do you keep finding me!?" The barbed wire monster yelled as it smacked Shadow Moon into a bank machine.

"You're not exactly good at hiding yourself!" Red said.

The vigilante quickly ran out of the way as the bank machine sparked, and then exploded, dollar bills of all varieties filling the room. "OH! THOSE ARE MINE!" The monster yelled, tentacles shooting from his back. They quickly scooped the money up, and pulled them into his body. "If you wanna get this money back…" It started, turning to the Zoorangers and smacking its stomach. "You'll have to break through my impenetrable defenses!"

Without a word, Red pulled out the Vickscannon, and fired it. The monster was knocked across the room by the blast, money flying from it as it crashed into a receptionist's desk.

"Don't worry, we're very capable of penetrating you." Red said, pulling the cannon back.

The monster got up, and shot the wire tentacles from its back. They bent unnaturally through the air, and directly towards the fox. He attempted to shoot the tentacles out of the air, but they seemed to bend around the fireballs as they approached.

A few of the tentacles branched off, heading towards Silver. He switched his blade to Moon Mode, and lashed the laser whip forward, attempting to strike at the tentacles. Instead of whacking them away. One of the tentacles wrapped itself around the whip, and pulled the blade out of the wolf's paws.

"Oh, that's not good."

The tentacles whipped towards him, and wrapped around, squeezing him tight. Silver screamed in pain as the barbs pierced into him.

"MAX!" Red had lost his concentration, and turned to the wolf.

Red looked back, one of the tentacles knocking the Vickscannon out of his paws. The wires prepared to wrap around him as well, but the fox was quickly saved as Shadow Moon jumped in and slashed a few of them.

Wire Org let out a scream as the tentacles retracted, letting go of Silver in the process. "Come back to you senses, Fluff?" Red asked.

"I was protecting you so I can turn you in to the police." Shadow Moon said. "And if you call me 'Fluff' again, I'll turn you in to the hospital."

"Alright, got it broody." Red said, shaking his head.

Shadow Moon dashed towards the still reeling monster, leaping up and slashing at him. A few of the wires covering his body were cut, causing the Org even more pain. Roaring in anger, the monster quickly smacked the rabbit back, knocking him into another wall. This time it was hard enough to crack the concrete.

The vigilante had been knocked unconscious.

"JUDY!" Red yelled. "We need to beat this guy, quick!"

"I think I know how to get the money out of him, at least." Silver said, picking up his rapier. "Ready to see some supreme sword skills?"

"Just do your best, Wolfsbane."

He ran towards the monster, pulling the sword back as he did. "Ready to get the POINT!?" He yelled, as he thrust the rapier at the Org. The tip of the blade went in between two of the wires on its chest, piercing the monster's grey flesh.

"WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENIN'!?" The monster yelled in pain. Silver pulled the rapier out of the monster, leaving a small hole. "No, my insides!" The monster yelled, trying to clutch at its chest.

Air started to rush out of the hole, much like how a ball deflates. Only, instead of the monster deflating, the money that was inside it started to spurt out. "Ahh, the money!" It said, trying to grab at the flying dollar bills. "Boss is gonna be upset at me!"

It tried to step forward, presumably to attack Silver, who bared his own sword in defense, but the Org quickly stumbled back. "Ooooh, this hurts real bad!" It whined. "I'm outta here, see ya!" Tentacles burst from his back, and pushed the monster through the roof.

This was, however, a multi-story building, and as such a lot of crashing and yells of pain were heard before the monster had fully escaped.

The two stared at the hole in the ceiling for a moment, before Red dashed to Shadow Moon's unconscious body. It was still covered in the hood, but he pulled it back. Judy's ears popped up as he moved it back, revealing the rabbit in her ZooBlue armor.

"No wonder she was so strong." Red said. He quickly hoisted her over his back. "Let's get you back home, Carrots."

The two quickly ran out of the bank before any other trouble could show up.


Nick threw the unconscious rabbit onto her cushion bed. He knelt down, and started to check for vital signs. Still a pulse, still breathing. He sighed in relief, at least she was alive.

"You know, she had me going for a bit there." Max said.

"What?"

"I honestly thought that she might not have been Shadow Moon." Max explained, sitting down. "Wouldn't have made sense, but…"

"I still don't get what's happening." Nick said, sitting down next to the rabbit. "Why is she acting like this? It's not like her…"

Max shrugged. "Maybe we can ask when she gets up."

The rabbit instantly jolted up, and looked around. "Judy!" Nick said. "Are you al-"

The fox was dealt a swift kick, knocking him across the room. The cloaked rabbit hopped to its feet, and started to back away. "Where am I!?" It shouted, stepping back. "Where have you taken me!?"

Nick groaned as he sat up. "Was really hoping she'd go back to normal." He grunted, rubbing his head. "Max! Make sure she doesn't escape!"

"Got it!" He responded, giving a thumbs-up. He quickly leaped into the air, and pinned the rabbit underneath him. "Got you, Judy!"

The vigilante kicked the wolf, sending him crashing into the roof. He fell back to the ground with a very dull thud, as the rabbit got up.

"What are you criminals planning on doing!?" Shadow Moon yelled. "Are you going to kill me!?"

"What? No!" Nick shouted. "Judy, we're your friends, why are you acting like this!?"

"I don't have friends!" Shadow Moon yelled. He started for the stairs, Nick trailing behind him. The fox quickly grabbed onto one of his feet. The vigilante rabbit growled, shaking his foot and knocking the fox loose. He tumbled to the bottom of the stairs.

"No, don't go!" Nick yelled, desperate. "JUDY!"

The rabbit paused for a moment, going dead still. She untransformed, the cloak going along with her suit. Had his cry managed to snap her out of it? Was she back to normal?

Judy started to tip backwards. Nick scrambled to his feet, and leaped up the stairs as she fell, catching her on his back. She slid down his back a bit, but he caught the rabbit's head on his tail.

She was snoring.

He sighed in relief, climbing back down the steps carefully, and then crawling over to the cushion. He shook her off onto it, and he could see her getting comfortable.

He sighed as he sat up, and grabbed onto her paw.


Her eyes opened up to see the fox. "Nick?" She asked. "What are you doing?"

He didn't respond, his eyes were closed and he was letting out a small snore. She noticed he was grabbing onto her paw, and quickly shook it off. The rabbit sat up, Nick quickly falling down onto the cushion as she did.

"Max, what's going on?" She asked. The wolf was seated, and had an ice pack up to his head.

"Oh, hey, you're awake!" He said, removing the ice. "Nick was really worried about you."

"What? Why?"

"Because you were trying to kill us?" He answered, a bit confused. "Do you remember that?"

"Why would I be trying to kill you?" She asked, befuddled. "I would never do something like that!"

Max thought for a moment. "Well, you kind of did." He replied. "We'll explain it when Nick gets up."

She glanced back at the fox, and then reached for her phone. She turned it on, it said the time was nine AM, really late for her to be getting up, and for Nick to still be sleeping.

"He was sitting next to you for a few hours." Max said. "He seemed really worried. Didn't fall asleep until about an hour ago."

She wanted to ask why, but the answer would probably be something confusing. "What happened to you?" She decided to ask instead.

"You kicked me into the ceiling." Not exactly a helpful answer, but she glanced at the roof, seeing a crack.

A few hours passed. Max had explained about the bank robbery, which was something she got at the very least. But another monster attack she wasn't aware of, that was something that was bothering her.

They heard some sputtering, and then some incoherent mumbling. They looked back at Nick, who was clutching at the cushion in what seemed like a nightmare.

Judy got up, and rushed over to him, grabbing his paws and helping him calm down. "Nick, wake up!" She said. "It's alright, everything's alright!"

The fox's eyes burst open. As soon as he saw her, he broke into a hug. "Oh god, I had a terrible dream…" He muttered. "I'm so glad you're alright…"

"It was just a dream, Nick, everything's fine." She said, patting him on the back. They embraced for a few more moments, before Nick broke it off.

"Okay, alright." He said. He turned to Judy. "You probably want to know what happened, right?"

"Definitely, I have been nothing but confused for the last two days."

"Well, from what I can gather, you somehow developed a split personality that manifested as a vigilante named Shadow Moon, which tried to kill Max and I because we're criminals." Nick explained. "It sounds ridiculous, but I have a witness!"

He pointed over at the wolf, who gave a quick wave.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." She said, backing off a bit. "None of that makes sense. I've never had a split personality before, and you can't just… develop one in two weeks!"

"Yeah, that's why we're trying to figure out what the hell's going on." Nick said.

"I've had a few hours to think about it." Max said. "I think I might have come up with a theory."

"Lay it on us, Wolfsbane."

"So, you guys have that Qi stuff in you, right?" He started. "I was thinking that maybe the split personality might have developed from that."

"That doesn't make any sense." Nick said, bluntly.

"Hear me out!" Max said. "Qi seems to be emotion based, so what if it reacted to something Judy was thinking subconsciously?"

Nick glanced at the rabbit, who had her paw to her chin. "Well, there is this thing…" She said with a sigh. "I have been feeling really upset about not being able to help anyone recently…"

"Boom." Max said, pointing his paw like a gun. "There it is, our smoking gun. This Shadow Moon persona must have come from you just wanting to help the city, but not being able to."

"'Shadow Moon'?" Judy said with a chuckle. "Seriously? That sounds like a bad guy's name. Thought I had a better imagination than that."

"Yeah, same." Nick followed. "So, if the Shadow Moon personality thought the Zoorangers were criminals," He turned to Judy. "Then does that mean that you think that?"

"Well, I…" She sighed. "If we aren't criminals, then what are we?"

They feel silent for a moment. "Well," Nick said speaking up. "I guess we are all vigilantes at this point." He continued. "We might be breaking the law, but it doesn't mean we aren't helping others. Even if not in a direct way."

"I guess that's true." Judy said. "At least we aren't like the SPD…"

"Yeah, I doubt anyone on that team would be as selfless as you, Judy." Max said.

Nick's ears popped up. "I think I just figured something else out!" He shouted.

"What? What did you figure out?" Judy asked, confused and a bit worried by the fox's sudden enthusiasm.

"I know why the SPD's weapons can't hurt you!" He said. "It's really simple, I can't believe we didn't figure it out sooner!" He glanced around. "Where's the medal?"

"The what?" Judy said, confused. Her ears perked up. "Oh, the medal!" She sprinted over to the desk Max was sitting at, and jumped on top of it. She opened the drawer, pulling out the Cell Medal she had found last week. She tossed it over the fox, who caught it.

"This is what we've been overlooking!" He said, holding the medal up between two of his digits. "These things are supposed to run on greed and selfishness, right? Well,w hat happens when they interact with someone who is completely selfless?" He glanced at Judy.

"What!?" She said, crossing her arms. "I'm selfish sometimes!"

"Name the last time you did something entirely for yourself."

"Well, there was the time I got a slice of carrot cake for myself." She said. "But that was like a month ago."

"That's not really a selfish desire, Carrots." Nick explained. "Max, you have something selfish you think about, right?"

"What? No, of course I don't!" He said, nervously. The fox glared at him, raising an eyebrow. "Alright, alright." The wolf finally spat out. "I've been trying to better myself more recently, because I kind of think I'm… uh, useless."

"You're not useless!" Judy told him. "You told me that you saved the day during the monster attack, how is that useless!?"

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Max asked. "I don't think I'm up to it."

"Yeah, this isn't what's important right now." Nick said. "Though it is definitely important, and we'll need to talk about it at some point, alright?"

The wolf nodded.

"Anyway, Max was able to be hurt by the SPD's weapons because he has that kind of want entirely for himself." Nick explained. "There isn't anything wrong with want ting to improve yourself, by the way, it is just kind of selfish."

"You know you're not making this better, right?"

"If Max gets hurt because of that, then why do you get hurt?" Judy asked the fox.

"I'm not saying." Nick said, crossing his arms.

"If I have to tell, then you have to tell too." Max responded.

Nick sighed. "Uh, well, you see…" He paused, nervously. "My… selfish desire is… you, Judy."

Her ears popped up. Max started to laugh. "Oh my god, I can't believe that's what got you to admit it!"

"Not like that!" He retorted. "I need you emotionally, Judy." He continued. "Without you, I'm nothing."

"Nick, that's not true-"

"YES, it IS!" He yelled, starting to get angry. "What was I before you showed up? I was a conmammal who lived under a bridge, how many years, days do you think I had before I met you?"

"I-"

"You have no idea how close it came a few times." He admitted, melancholic. "I worry about you a lot, because if something happened to you, I wouldn't have any reasons left. Even though I worry about you, it all comes back to myself in the end. It's selfish."

The two were stunned into silence.

"But you, Judy." Nick started. "You only worry about others. You are the most selfless mammal I've met in my life."

"Just to note, that's probably not healthy either." Max said.

"Well, it's nice to know we're all a bit screwed up." Judy said, shrugging.

"Carrots, everyone's a bit screwed up."


"Whaddya MEAN you lost all the money!?"

"I couldn't help it, boss!" Wire Org said as Yabaiba started to pace angrily around their new abandoned warehouse base. "One of those Zoorangers poked a hole in me!"

"You know what?" Yabaiba started, abruptly turning to the Org. "It's fine! I got enough money pawning off all that junk we stole!"

"What? How'd that happen?" Wire Org asked.

"It was thanks to my 'charming personality'." Yabaiba said, placing his thumb and index finger to his chin.

"You're amazing, boss!"

The Duke Org started to rub his hands together. "Alright, since we have enough money, that means we can get to destroying the city!"

"Wait, why didn't we do that in the first place?"

"Because it wouldn't have killed two days of my time."

Yabaiba quickly pulled out a Chaos Badge, and tossed it directly into Wire Org's eye. "AUGH, WHY DOES THE PAIN FOLLOW ME!?" It screeched as it stumbled back.

Wires began to form around the monster's entire body, until none of its grey skin, or its eye, could be seen. The monster started to grow much larger as the wires expanded and continued to wrap around it. Wire Org had easily grown to many times his normal size, nearly touching the ceiling, and gained a much more hunched over gait, as well as much thicker arms and claws.

Its horns curved a bit more than usual as well, and sudden angled slits appeared where its eye once was. The slits opened like a fanged mouth, revealing the glowing, red eye. The eye now had what looked like a pupil now, only it was in the shape of the Chaos Emblem.

Chaos Wire Org let out a massive roar, and slammed its massive hands onto the ground. Yabaiba wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye, and gave a fake sniffle. "They grow up so fast!"

The Duke Org quickly clapped his hands. "Alright, Chaos Wire Org, get to wrecking this city!" He commanded.

The monster roared, and jabbed its fingers into the ground. There were brief tremors, nearly knocking Yabaiba off of his feet. "The heck was that?" He asked himself. He looked up to the monster. "What are you doing!?"

"I'm sending my tentacles throughout the city!" The monster explained. "It'll be easier to destroy it like that!"

"Oh, that's a really good idea!" Yabaiba said. "Glad I thought of it."


"So what, are you saying I'm some kind of 'secret weapon' against the SPD?" Judy asked.

"I mean, kind of!" Nick replied. "You can't be hurt by them, meanwhile, we'll probably both die if we get hit by two shots in a row."

"I don't like being compared to a tool."

"Just think of it as a super power." Nick said. "Something only you have."

She grunted in response.

Before anyone could say anything else, a loud buzzing went off. "Oh, really, already?" Nick groaned. "Wonder what he's trying to rob this time."

"Says he's on Drift Street." Max started. A look of concern and confusion grew. "Wait, no, Frosty Road? I think he's at both places at the same time."

"Well, that's new." Nick said.

"It's probably doing something like the robberies from earlier." Judy guessed. "Sending out tentacles to steal things."

Nick nodded. "So we need to figure out a way to deal with all of them at the same time, right?"

"Splitting up is probably the best way to do that." Judy said.

"Uh uh, no way." Max said, arms crossed. "You know how bad splitting up the team can be? Answer, we're all going to be killed."

"We won't be killed." She assured. "At least, probably not. You two head for the different attack locations, I'll try to find the source."

"And where would that be, exactly?" Nick asked.

She walked over to the map she had laid out. "Drift Street and Frosty Road, hmm? There has to be a meeting point between the two, so that's where I'll go."

"Sounds like a plan, I guess." Max said with a shrug. "Let's head out before anything really terrible happens."

The three quickly rushed out of the room.


The Kitsunider zipped through the snowy roads of Tundra Town. He had been heading directly towards Drift Street, for the last few minutes, and what came into view as he finally made it shook the fox pretty bad.

Dozens of wire tentacles, bursting from the ground, and from buildings, like a horrible weed infestation. Only the weeds made out of metal, spikes, and really wanted to destroy thing. They whipped around through the air, smacking at anything nearby.

Cars had been upturned, a traffic light horrible wreck and mangled, and glass littered the ground from the wrecked buildings.

"Guess it's time to do some gardening." Red said to himself, pulling out his sword and tossing it into the air. He caught it, and rushed towards the forest of barbed wire.

A laser blast fired at his feet before he could make it.

He turned around, the SPD and their large vehicle had suddenly appeared behind him. They must have gotten there a few seconds ago.

"Do we really have to do this right now?" Red asked, stepping forward. "There are innocents in danger right now, isn't it your job to protect them?"

Clawbick stepped forward. "Our job is to beat monsters." He said. "I couldn't give a damn over what happens to the mindless masses."

Red shook his head. "Guess I just have to fight you."

"Fight us." Officer Green said, stepping forward.

"That's right, zorro." Officer Pink followed, twirling one of her pistols. "You gotta deal with all three of us."

Oh man did he wish the others were here right now.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Silver stood on top of a building shadowing Frosty Road. He saw a similar disaster that Red did, wires bursting from the ground and buildings, and wrapping around things.

He leaped down from the roof, and started to the bushes of barbed wire, preparing to chop it down.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there!"

The wolf sighed, and turned around. Yabaiba and an army of Orgettes were standing there. "Great, what do you want?" Silver asked, dismissively.

"Uh, to prevent you from foiling my plan?" He said. "Seems pretty obvious."

"I mean, yeah, I assumed that." Silver followed, rubbing the back of his head. "Did you just assume there would be more than one guy here, or…?"

The Duke Org looked back at his army. "Uh, yeah, I kinda did." He admitted. "But that just means it'll be easier to take you out!"

Oh, wonderful. He really wished the other were here right now.

Meanwhile, again, with Blue. She had pinpointed an area on here phone where the two streets had met. Low and behold, she was standing outside of an abandoned warehouse. Seemed like bad guys loved to use these places as bases.

She could here something inside. Obviously a bad idea to take a more direct approach in, so she sneaked around the back of the warehouse. She found a small backdoor, and opened it. She tried not to gasp at the massive monster that was inside.

It seemed to be asleep. At least, that's what its breathing pattern suggested. She crept in quietly, trying not to wake the gigantic barbed wire Org. She noticed its hands, jabbed into the ground. That's probably how it was attacking the other two locations. It did seem to be asleep, judging by what looked like its eye being closed shut.

She readied her blasters, and took aim. Maybe she could at least weaken the thing before it decided to attack her. The rabbit fired at the monster's face, the shots simply bouncing off. The barbed wire monstrosity seemed to shudder a bit from the hit, but didn't wake up.

She sighed in relief for a moment. Then, the monster shuddered some more, its eye bursting open. "WHAT!?" It yelled. "How'd this rabbit get in here!?"

Aw cheese and crackers.

Dozens of wire tentacles burst from the monster's back, bending unnaturally in the air. They started to creak towards the rabbit at surprising speeds.

Boy, was she glad the others weren't here.


Red was between a rock and a hard place at this point, trapped between three deadly foes, and a brush of painful metal wires. Wasn't exactly the best way this mission could be going, but it was one he was going to have to put up with.

He had an idea, though. To deal with both these problems. Or, well, at least one problem. He pulled out a ZooTag, and plugged it in.

"JAN JA NIN!
ROCK N ROLL
DROP N ROLL!
SOLAR FLARE SABER!"

The massive blade appeared, the fox quickly grabbing its handle. "Overcompensating for something, Nicky?" Clawbick laughed.

"Oh, shut the fuck up."

He swung the blade around in a circle, shooting a slash at the SPD officers and cutting through a handful of wires behind him. The wires seemed to react to some being cut, writhing in pain for a moment.

The slash flew towards the three officers, Clawbick holding his blade in front of it to block it, but it managed to break through and send the three flying. They crashed into their vehicle, nearly causing it to tip over.

"Seriously guys," Red started. "I don't need this kind of shit right now."

Clawbick quickly got up, and let out a quick growl. He ran at the fox, blade prepped. He swung it down, Red not being able to maneuver the Solar Flare Saber to block with it. He was knocked to the ground by the strike.

It seemed to hurt more than the blaster fire did. Like a pain on top of what it was normally. Green and Pink quickly ran over as Red reoriented himself. They pointed their weapons at him.

Red firmly gripped onto his blade, and swung it upwards, knocking Officer Green's cannon out of his hooves. It smacked the ground, firing off a blast towards some of the wires, vaporizing them. It then proceeded to spark. "Oh great, doc's gonna be pissed about that." He mumbled.

Red started to step back, the Solar Flare Saber disappearing. He then pulled out the Vickscannon, and aimed it at them. "Listen, I'd love to play with you guys some more, but I have some much more important things to deal with now."

He quickly spun around, firing at the wires rapidly, completely ignoring the SPD officers. In a few seconds, most of the wires had been completely destroyed, minus a few. He sighed in relief, and then glanced back at the three officers.

He opened his mouth to say something, but there was a sudden voice in his helmet. "Hey, Nick!" Judy said, sounding faux-cheerful. "I need you to come to the warehouse in Snowy Hills!"

"Having some trouble, Carrots?" He replied. There was a crashing sound.

"YES!"

"I'll be there in a moment." He looked up at the three officers again. "So, it's been fun, but I have some things to go do, ciao!"

He leaped over the three, and summoned up the Kitsunider, driving off. Pink attempted to run after him, but Clawbick placed a paw on her shoulder. "Hold it." He said. "I have a plan."

"A plan?" Emily scoffed. "That's a new one."

"Trust me, this one is wonderful." He paused for a moment. "Yeah, is this Chief Bogo? We managed to find out where the Zoorangers are, and are requesting back-up ASAP."


Silver prepped his blade, watching as the group of Orgettes bounded towards him, patting their slimy heads and mumbling as they did. He quickly jabbed into one of them, goo spurting out onto his suit. He wiped it off, and then slashed at another.

The wolf quickly put up a block as one of the Orgetes jumped him, attempting to slam its club on his head. He pushed it back, and then jabbed right through the slimy monster.

Yabaiba was standing idly by, watching as he soldiers got carved up one by one.

"You're just trying to waste my time, right?" Silver said to the Duke Org as he slashed through another Orgette. "You know you can't take me by yourself!"

"I mean I am just wasting your time, but…" Yabaiba mumbled to himself. He jolted his head towards the wolf. "Hey, I can totally take you on myself!" He stomped towards the Orgettes, pushing some of them out of the way to make it to Silver.

He drew his knives, and attempted to slash at Silver. The wolf stepped out of the way, causing the Org to stumble forward instead. "Hey, stay still!" He whined.

Silver leaned over on his rapier. "I didn't move, your aim's just really bad."

"But… I saw you move."

"No you didn't."

"Guys, did you see him move!?" Yabaiba shouted at the Orgettes. They continued to mumble, seemingly oblivious to the situation. "Oh, never mind you guy-"

As Yabaiba turned around, Silver delivered a series of slashes to him, knocking the jester to the ground. "Hey, you tricked me!"

"Yeah, I did." He said. "Helps that you're kind of an idiot."

Yabaiba got up, mumbling to himself. "Oh yeah!? Well try this on for size!" He quickly flicked his knives, summoning a handful more of them in his hands. He quickly tossed them at the wolf, who leaped out of the way. They jabbed into the Orgettes behind him, causing them to explode into slime. "Oops."

Silver quickly slashed through some more of the Orgettes, opening a path towards the brush of wires. "Hey, wanna try that again?" He shouted over to Yabaiba. "I'll stand perfectly still this time, promise!"

"Alright, but you better keep your promise!" Silver rolled his eyes at how stupid this supposed main villain was acting.

Yabaiba threw the knives, and Silver leaped out of the way. Except, he didn't. The jester had feinted, and then tossed the knives at the area the wolf landed. The knives exploded, launching the wolf into the wires.

"Hah, had you going there, didn't I?" The Duke Org taunted. "Did you really think I'm that much of an idiot?"

"Kinda, yeah." Silver grunted in pain. The barbed wires started to wrap around him. Before they could completely incapacitate him, the wolf swung his blade around like crazy, trying to slice them up. The wires fell, and so did Silver, who was still covered in, now lifeless, wires.

"Hey, don't do that!" Yabaiba shouted. "Those are connected to Wire Org's body, it hurts!"

"Oh, really?" Silver responded, gritting his teeth through the pain. "So, he wouldn't like it if I did…"

Yabaiba watched as the wolf spun his blade's guard around. "HOT SHINE ECLIPSE" It shouted. The Org blinked, and in that moment, most of the wires had been cut, and the wolf was standing next to him.

"…Something like that?" Silver finished, out of breath.

"What the heck!?" Yabaiba pushed him away. "Ah, screw it, I'll let Wire Org finish you off for good, I have some business to deal with!" With a wave, the Org melted into green goo, which soon evaporated.

"Hey, Silver!" Blue shouted through his commlink. "Think you can come and help me not die? Snowy Hills, warehouse with lots of noise coming from it."

"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec." He said, a bit weakly. He started to pull off the barbed wire, which clawed through his skin. He tossed some of it to the ground, and headed off.


The Kitsunider pulled up to the warehouse. There was a lot of noise coming from it, smashing, yelling, that kind of stuff. Probably the one.

He hopped off the bike, and looked over. Silver was trudging through the snowy road. He looked a bit weak. "Hey, Silver, what's wrong?" The fox asked.

"Oh, you know." The wolf replied. "Got stabbed by a lot of barbed wire again."

"Oh. Yikes." Red said, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine."

The two quickly ran towards the warehouse, Silver kicking open the door. Inside, they saw the massive wire monster, tentacles whipping about the room. It turned towards them, and roared. The two were stunned for a second, before Red caught a glimpse of Blue on the other side of the room.

"HEY, CARROTS!" He shouted, waving his paws in the air. "WE'RE OVER HERE!"

"I CAN SEE YOU!" She shouted back. "JUST COME OVER HERE AND HELP ME!"

Red and Silver quickly rushed over, dodging out of the way as wires attempted to strike down on them. They made it over quickly, and the three drew their weapons.

"Hey, brace face!" Red shouted up, pointing his sword at the monster. "We already foiled your plan, we cut down all your wires!"

"You did?" The monster said. "That explains the sudden excruciating pain I experienced a few minutes! But I gotta thank you for that anyway, 'cuz…"

The monster ripped its massive claws from the ground, wires visibly zipping back into its body as it raised them. "Now I'm a helluva lot nimbler!"

"Oh, great going." Blue said, smacking the fox in the arm.

"How was I supposed to know!?"

The monster raised its barbed fist, and then started to slam it down. The three quickly dodged out of the way. Red pulled out the Vickscannon, and started firing rapidly at it. Blue and Silver proceeded to try a similar strategy, Blue firing her blasters at him, while Silver switched to Sun Mode and began to fling fire balls.

None of the attacks seemed to be effective, however. Tentacles burst from the beast's back, and started jabbing towards the heroes, causing them to scatter. Blue scampered over to an empty crate behind the monster. She motioned for the other two, and they quickly ran over, ducking behind the boxes before the monster could notice.

"So, anyone got a plan?" Red whispered as they huddled against the crates.

"Nope."

"Nuh uh."

"Well, that's just great, isn't it?" He sarcastically groaned. "You gotta have something, Carrots, just think for a moment!"

"I couldn't really get a read on anything!" She said. "I was starting to figure something out, but then you told him he could start walking around!"

"I hate to bring it up, but that Shadow Moon guy was pretty good at dealing with these wires." Silver said. "Maybe we should try and bring him out?"

"Sorry if I don't want to force my crazy alter ego to come out." Blue said.

"How do you even know if that lunatic would know anything?" Red asked.

"I dunno, I'm just trying to come up with ideas!" Silver retorted. "It's not like we've got anything better!"

"That's a good point." Blue said with a sigh. "How does Shadow Moon show up?"

"From what I can tell, he only came out when you were sleeping." Red said.

"Right, then I have the perfect plan." She said, before rushing out.

"Wait, what?"

The rabbit stood in front of the monster. "HEY, BARBY!" She yelled up at it, catching its attention. "HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU GOT!"

The Org shrugged, and raised its arm up, readying a punch. Blue braced herself as the monster's massive fist swung into her, knocking her back into the wall.

"That was a terrible plan!" Red shouted as he rushed over to her. He lifted her up, and brought her back behind the crates. He felt at her pulse, still alive, but definitely knocked out. "Really hope this works, Fluff."

White eyes flashed on her visor, as she kicked the fox out of the way. The rabbit sat up, and spoke in a deep voice. "Don't call me 'Fluff' ever again."

"Well hey, if it isn't the brooding bunny." Red joked. "Think you can help us with this massive monster problem?"

The rabbit quickly glanced at the monster from the corner of the crates, and then turned back to them. "It's obvious." He stated.

"Not to us it isn't." Silver said.

"First, we need to blind it, and then wrap it up in its own wires." Shadow Moon explained. "That will make it vulnerable to your finisher."

"So, how do you expect us to do that?" Red asked.

"You have swords, it has a giant glowing eye. Seems obvious to me."

"True enough." Red followed. "Alright, I'll go handle the eye bit."

Red quickly ran out from the crates, and yelled at the monster. "Hey, one eyed freak!" The monster glared down at him with its eye. It seemed to assume that Red was looking for the same thing Blue had tried to do. As the monster raised its fist, Red quickly pulled out his sword, and tossed it at the monster's eye.

The blade jabbed in, causing the Org to let out a scream of pain "OWIE OW OWWW!" Not a very threatening scream of pain, anyway.

The fox gave a quick thumbs-up to the others, signalling for them to enact the second part of their vague plan. Shadow Moon and Silver ran out, watching as tentacles burst from the monster's back. The rabbit made a few quick motions, which Silver seemed to understand.

"How come he knows paw signals?" Red mumbled to himself.

The wolf, standing on the right of the monster, shot a fireball at the tentacles that were coming from the left. Shadow Moon, however, did the opposite, shooting at the tentacles on the right. The quickly circled the monster, the tentacles chasing after them.

After a few circles around the monster, the wires had wrapped completely around his legs. "Enough of this!" The monster shouted, clawing at its eye. It pulled the sword out, and tossed it to the ground. "I'll squish all of you!" It roared.

It tried to step forward, but quickly tripped over its own feet, crashing to the ground and right through the front of the warehouse. It seemed like it had gone completely unconscious.

"Alright, let's end this nightmare for good." Red said, pulling out his weapons. He glanced over at the rabbit, who seemd to be unresponsive. "Hey, Moony?" He dropped his weapons, and snapped his claws a few times.

"Ah, what, did the plan work?" Blue said, back to her normal voice. She glanced over at the fallen monster. "Guess that answers that."

"Where'd Shadow Moon go?" Silver asked.

She shrugged. "Maybe he just doesn't want to do anything right now."

The three threw their weapons into the air, which combined into the Zookaiser. They aimed it at the monster, and fired off a blast of energy, tearing through the monster's body. There was a massive explosion, destroying even more of the warehouse, and letting the midday sun fully shine in.

Out of the explosion flew a strip of barbed wire, as well as a red object. It hovered above the ground, and then flew off into the distance. There was a flash, and Chaos Wire Org had reappeared on the horizon.

"TIME TO WRAP THIS UP!" It roared.

The Zoorangers quickly formed into their mechs. ZooRobo and ZooKami stomped towards the monster, which created massive tendrils of barbed wire from its arms. It whipped them forward, causing the mechs to stumble back.

"Looks like we need some wire clippers!" Silver said. The two mechs pulled out their blades, and slashed at the tendrils as the monster whipped them forward again. The blades bounced off, with no clear effect on the wires.

"They're too thick." Blue said. "We need something heavier to cut through them."

"Hey, we have a thicker blade!" Red said. Blue nodded as she pulled out a white ZooTag.

"DAI SAI!
GRAND SAI!
BREAKING THE FIST
ZOOSAI!"

The robotic rhino appeared, and then fused with ZooRobo. The mech stomped forward as Chaos Wire Org attempted to whip at it with the thick tendrils. ZooRobo swung its axes through the two tendrils, cutting them in half. The Org screeched in pain, ZooKami marching forward and jabbing his own sword directly through the monster's chest.

"Alright, let's finish this guy off." Red said.

"Hold on."

He glanced over, Blue had gained the white eyes on her visor again. Shadow Moon was back in control. "I feel I am no longer needed." He said. "I will use all of my energy to finish the monster off."

"What?" Red said, baffled. "Why would you do that?"

"Because Judy doesn't need me any more." He admitted. "You managed to have her realize that she is a hero, Nick. I was created to enact what she thought was a fantasy. My presences from this point on would just be a detriment, and it admittedly already has. So, farewell."

The rabbit placed both of his paws on the command console, blue energy flowing down them and into the console. The console started to glow, and Blue regained consciousness. "What the, what's-"

"Hit the button!" Red yelled.

In a bit of a panic, she did, slamming her paw down on the rabbit nose shaped button. ZooRobo suddenly started to move on its own, walking towards the monster. It quickly performed a cross-slash on the Org, causing it to stumble back.

The mech then jabbed its sword into the ground, and leaped into the air. Its feet started to glow blue, and kicked the monster in the face with both of its feet. Wire Org tumbled back to the ground, ad exploded.

"The hell was that?" Silver asked, not having caught any of it.

"Blue was just getting some frustration off her chest." Red answered.

The three reappeared back in the destroyed warehouse, only now they weren't the only ones there. Standing outside of the hole was what looked like the entire ZPD, alongside the three members of the SPD.

"How's it going, Nicky?" Clawbick said with a laugh.

"Great, did you guys follow me here?" Red asked. "Because that's something you guys would do."

"We might have." The lion responded. "And we brought an old friend of yours."

Chief Bogo walked through the crowd of officers, and stepped up to the three. Almost instinctively, the three went to attention.

"Don't do that." Bogo said, and the three relaxed.

"So, chief," Blue started, nervous. "Are you going to arrest us?"

"Why should I?" The buffalo said. "From what I can tell, you three haven't done anything illegal at all today."

"Wait, seriously!?" Both Red and Clawbick shouted at the same time.

"About the worst offense you did was running into an abandoned warehouse that nobody owns." Bogo continued. "And even then, you had a perfectly good reason to. So, get out of here."

There was chatter from the officers behind him, the Zoorangers, and SPD members were stunned into silence, however.

Blue shook her head, snapping her out of the stupor. "Um, thank you, sir." She said. "Come on, let's go before anything happens."

The other two nodded, and they quickly leaped away from the scene. Bogo turned back to the officers. "The hell was that!?" Clawbick yelled. "They're criminals, you should have-"

"Right now, I am your chief." Bogo said sternly, shutting the lion up instantly. "What I say goes. If any of you go against my word, I will report you to Herder and the mayor."

He quickly stormed away. "That asshole just wanted to make a point, didn't he?" Clawbick said, dumbfounded, armor folding back.

"I think he did." Emily said. "That old guy's pretty rad."

"If he thinks he can show up ME, then he's got another thing coming." Calwbick growled. A smirk grew on his snout. "We'll see who goes against who's orders, 'chief'."

The Zoorangers stood on top of a building, looking at the sun. "So, do you think that Shadow Moon guy will ever be back?" Silver asked.

"I don't think so." Red said. "He said he didn't need to be around anymore."

"Hm. Maybe that's why I feel like a weight's been lifted." Blue said.

The three hopped off, back to their home.


"Okay, so the plan could have gone a lot better," Yabaiba said. "As in, I could have actually had more of a plan, but check this out!" He threw a massive sack over his shoulder, which hit the ground and opened up, revealing tons of dollar bills and coins.

"Holy shit!" Sambash said, leaning down and rummaging through the money. "How'd you even get this much cash?"

"You know, pawning things I stole off, threatening people with physical violence, standard stuff."

Kyuemon stepped towards the Org as Sambash started to count the money. "I have to give it to you, we were having a bit of a supply issue." He said. "This is definitely going to make up for that."

"Wait, so did I do a good?"

"A good?" Sambash started, standing up. "Yabaiba, you just netted us five thousand bucks! That's master criminal levels of thievery!"

"Really?" Yabaiba said, genuinely surprised. "I just thought it was fun."

"I have to admit, maybe you aren't AS much of a screw-up as we thought." Kyuemon said. "Don't let that go to your head, you're still a screw-up."

"Thanks anyway!" The Org said, giving a thumbs-up to the yokai. He skipped off towards the hanging cage. "Hey, so, thanks for the idea."

"Uh, your welcome?" Bellwether said. "Are you going to give me some food now?"

Yabaiba reached for something, and pulled out an open box of gummy candy. "Here's some candy I bought." He said, placing it in the cage.

She shook the box around, it was half open. The sheep gave a sigh, and popped one of the gummy candies into her hoof, and ate it. It was better than grass.


The door to Bogo's office slammed open. He glanced up, the unannounced visitor was the mayor. "Mayor Lionheart, what brings you-"

Lionheart slammed both of his paws on the table. "What do you think you're doing, Bogo!?" He shouted, loud enough for the desk to shudder. "We set the SPD up with you so you could CATCH those criminals!"

"What criminals?"

The Zoo Rangers!" He continued. "You had them cornered, and you LET THEM GET AWAY!"

"Didn't seem like criminals to me." Bogo said, staring directly at the lion. "In fact, they haven't done anything illegal since the day of the attack."

"That doesn't mean they aren't criminals!" Lionheart said. He started to glare at the buffalo. "You're protecting them, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?"

"Then you're protecting wanted mammals! You're an assistant to their criminal activity!"

Bogo sighed. "They aren't criminals, I know those three."

There was a deafening silence for a moment. "You knew, didn't you? You knew who they were the whole time."

There was more silence as the two locked eyes.

"Chief Bogo, you're fired."

"You can't fire me!" Bogo shouted back. "There's no good replacements!"

"I can think of one." The lion said. "Pack up your things, and get out of this office."

Bogo really wanted to punch Lionheart right now, but that would just get him into worse trouble. He sighed, and got up from his seat.

The former chief slowly walked out of the ZPD station.


This episode isn't my proudest work, but I got it out on time so hah!

I'm really tired right now, so I'm not going to talk about much here. See you next time, where we explore that cliffhanger more.