Ready for the next chapter? Good.

Last time, Tobias, Thomas, and Accel faced off against Black Doom and the Black Arms. The fight ended with Tobias striking Doom in the head, causing him amnesia.

In this chapter, Accel and Mech face off against the Rogue Riders to avenge Thunder.

Chapter 5: First Battle with the Rogue Riders.

The heroes/racers had just learned that Black Doom had been here before the main incident involving the Black Arms. Now they were waiting for the next part in the story.

"Before you continue, I want to know more about the Rogue Riders." Jet told Armand.

"The Rogue Riders? I see. You want to know how they died. Well, Accel and Mech didn't kill them until a couple of years after Axel, Basil, and I defeated Eggman Nega with the help of Team Legendary. Their first battle went well, but the Rogue Riders escaped before they were killed. Well, at least three of them. Two of them were killed." Armand explained. "I'll be glad to tell you about it."

"I can't wait to hear this." Emily commented.

"Well, the first battle happened about…8 months after Black Doom was beaten. That would make it 13 years and 4 months from today. How I'm about to tell it is identical to how my father told me."

13 years, 4 months from present day…

Accel and Mech had recently discovered the location of the Rogue Riders' current hideout. It was located somewhere in the desert. Now they were heading that way on their gears, determined to kill them for what they had done to Thunder, Storm's father.

"I still can't believe they killed Thunder. He was one of our best friends." Accel muttered.

"And we didn't even know him well." Mech added.

Accel and Mech didn't know Thunder that well, and they were still good friends. It was the same way with Thunder. Now Accel and Mech were getting ready to take revenge. It wasn't long before they saw a black Babylonian treasure jar outside a door. They had found the place.

"Let's bust in there!" Accel called out as he and Mech charged at the door. They busted it down, and saw that the room they had entered had golden walls, a red carpeted floor, and a silver ceiling, with gold, silver, bronze, and blue coins nearly everywhere, and there were some valuable gems such as emeralds (not the Chaos Emeralds) and diamonds.

Cyrax the Falcon was sleeping on one of the piles of gold and silver coins. He woke up as soon as he heard the crash.

"WHAAAA! What the hell…YOU!" Cyrax said. Accel grabbed him by the neck.

"Where's Redd?" Accel demanded.

"Like I'd tell you. But for now…GET THEM!"

At that point, Cyrax broke free of Accel's grip, and three other birds dropped from the ceiling. Donald the Vulture, Flash the Buzzard, and Tyson the Heron had just arrived.

"What's going on?" Donald asked.

"It's those guys. They're Thunder's buddies." Cyrax told them.

"Well, I don't suppose you want to fight, do you?" Tyson asked.

"We don't want to fight you. We want to KILL YOU!" Mech said as he attacked first, throwing a flash bomb at their feet. Accel covered his eyes as it went off, blinding Donald and Tyson. Flash, however, was immune to blindness, so he wasn't affected. He quickly flew at Mech, kicking him in the stomach. Mech recovered and delivered an uppercut right at Flash's jaw. The resulting impact caused Flash to shoot right up to the ceiling. He hit his head, and he was dazed from the impact as he fell back down.

"Wow. The stars tonight sure are nice." Flash said stupidly.

With Flash dazed, Mech turned his attention to Donald, who was coming in for a punch. But just as Mech was about to dodge, Donald stopped running, and halted right in front of him. Mech wondered why he would do that, when someone kicked him in the back. Donald had been a distraction. Tyson was the one who attacked. Mech couldn't believe it.

"That was a dirty trick, cowards!" Mech taunted.

"Who are you calling a coward?" Tyson asked. He got his answer when he looked behind him to see Accel staring right at him, up close.

"Boo!" Accel said.

"AHHHH!" Tyson screamed as he ran around the room.

Accel and Mech laughed at Tyson's stupidity. They couldn't believe that had worked.

"That was classic!" Mech told Accel as they high-fived each other.

Cyrax punched Tyson, snapping him out of it. Cyrax then backed away as Donald and Tyson continued the battle. Donald went after Mech, and Tyson battled Accel.

Mech tossed a few flash bombs, then covered his eyes as they exploded, thus blinding Donald. Mech then ran in and grabbed him, then threw him right at Tyson, who was being thrown by Accel. They hit each other and fell down. Tyson, the weakest of the Rogue Riders, was knocked out, but Donald got back up and continued to battle Mech. By this time, Flash had recovered, and seeing that Donald was battling Mech and Cyrax was watching them, he decided to attack Accel before Donald was double-teamed. Flash jumped in front of Accel as he was going to help Mech, and punched him to get his attention.

"Sorry, hawk, but your battle is with me." Flash taunted.

"Fine. I'll just get rid of you first." Accel retaliated.

Accel then kicked Flash, knocking him into the nearby wall. Flash did a wall-kick, however, and rebounded to punch Accel in the stomach. He then kicked Accel in the head, sending him flying towards Mech. Accel crashed into his friend and they both slammed into the wall.

"Now finish them!" Cyrax demanded. Donald and Flash moved in for the kill when something exploded in front of them, causing a cloud to form, which restricted their vision. Mech had tossed out a smoke bomb as they crashed into the wall. Then, Accel came out with his fans ready for attack. Flash had already made his way out of the cloud, but Donald was still trying to get out when he felt something crack his spine. His eyes went wide as he fell to the ground. Accel had bashed Donald in the back with one of his fans. The impact broke Donald's spinal cord, killing him. One of the Rogue Riders had been killed.

"What!? Donald's dead!" Flash panicked as the smoke cloud cleared up. The news shocked Cyrax and woke up Tyson. Hearing the news that one of their comrades had been killed silenced the whole room.

"And you guys are next if you don't get the hell out of here!" Accel said.

Flash, Cyrax, and Tyson were about to hightail it out of there when…

"NOBODY LEAVES UNLESS THEY WANT TO DIE!" Someone yelled from the next room.

Accel, Mech, Cyrax, Flash, and Tyson all stopped where they were and turned toward the door to see a cardinal appear from it.

"So you finally decided to show yourself, Redd?" Accel asked.

"That's right. Since my lackeys couldn't finish you off, I thought I'd do it myself." Redd explained.

"But we almost had them, Boss!" Flash protested, but Redd shut him up.

"Silence, you idiot. You were nowhere close to finishing them off. Donald got killed because of your incompetence. Now I have to come out here and get my feathers dirty because you couldn't kill these two fools." Redd told the others.

"You…you killed Thunder. Now you're going to pay for it. WITH YOUR LIFE!" Mech bellowed as he charged towards Redd. But he didn't see what Redd had behind his back. Just as Mech was about to kick Redd in the face, the cardinal pulled out a .45 and shot the swallow. Mech fell down just short of Redd, blood coming from his chest. Accel was shocked. His best friend had just been shot.

"MECH!" Accel yelled as he rushed over to his friend, still lying on the ground. Mech could barely speak.

"Accel…it was good…to fight alongside you. I…was proud…to have been your friend." Mech said weakly.

"No. I won't let you die. Just stay out of the battle. I'll deal with them." Accel promised. He got Mech to one of the sides of the room and laid him down. He then turned his attention to Redd.

"You…you shot him. I'LL KILL YOU!" Accel yelled as he charged towards Redd, knocking the gun out of his hands, and then punched Redd in the gut. Redd knelt down to the ground, clutching his stomach. Accel's punch had done a lot of damage. Accel didn't stop there. He kicked Redd into his comrades, knocking them all over. He then took a blast bomb from Mech, and tossed it at the Rogue Riders. The bomb detonated, and the resulting explosion shot them all out of the hideout. He didn't stop there. He tossed one of his fans right at the birds, and it hit Tyson in the chest. The force of the blow came too close to his heart, and the resulting impact caused his heart to stop. Tyson was dead. Redd now knew that they couldn't win.

"Now we run!" Redd yelled as he, Cyrax, and Flash got out of there. Accel let them go. His concern was with Mech, and he had already killed two of the Rogue Riders, which was enough for him. He went over to where Mech was lying.

"Hey, buddy. Are you okay?" Accel asked. But Mech didn't respond. He felt for a pulse, and there was a faint one. He knew he could save him, but he didn't have much time. Fortunately, he didn't have to go anywhere, as he saw a green rabbit flying toward them. It was Mintra.

"Are you guys okay?" Mintra asked as he landed right where they were.

"I am, but Mech is almost dead." Accel explained. "Redd shot him in the chest."

"I can help. Watch this."

Mintra started to charge up light-green energy in his hands.

"CHAO REGEN!"

Mintra channeled the energy from himself to Mech, which quickly healed the wound. Mech stood up, fully healed.

"Thanks, Mintra." Mech said.

"No problem. Come on. Let's get back to Station Square." Mintra replied.

"What about Donald and Tyson?" Mech asked.

"Redd and the others took their bodies along with them. We won't be seeing them anytime." Accel told them.

They started heading back to the city.

End of Chapter 5.

Two of the Rogue Riders have been killed, and only three are left. What will happen to those that are still alive? You'll have to find out in a later chapter.

In the next chapter, a new villain (one I've created) will appear.

Read and Review.