A giant creature of humanoid shape and crimson skin flew through space with a navy-blue and black striped cat. They both wore red bodysuits and wore a red ring. The creature wore his ring on his finger while the cat wore his on his tail. The creature growled as he and the cat landed on a barren world. “We must face facts, Dex-starr,” growled the creature, “there just aren’t enough people that are angry enough to join us.” The cat, Dex-starr, trilled questioningly. “No, no, we cannot do that. We tried it once and it led to Guy Gardner temporarily usurping me!” That was when an energy wave passed over them! “What in-?!” Dex-starr arched his back, yowling in a threatening posture. The creature raised his ring to his mouth. “Identify energy wave!”
“Energy wave has been identified as a chronal surge,” replied the ring’s AI. “Consequences unknown.”
“Analyze and figure out-!” the creature stopped himself as he felt something in his suit. It felt like…sand? “How in-?!” A pile of sand fell from his suit and started forming the upper torso of a strange creature. The creature’s legs hovered in the air above it! “…Ring, what IS that life-form?”
“Life-form is an Imagin,” replied the ring, “a being from an aborted timeline.” The creature’s eyes widened. He had heard of the Imagin before.
“Your wish,” said the Imagin. “Say your wish. I can grant any wish. You can pay me with one thing only.” The creature stroked his chin.
“…Any wish, you say?” he asked. “…I wish for more Red Lanterns to finally slay the Guardians!” The legs then floated to the ground as the Imagin’s torso floated above the legs and attached itself to them. The Imagin then adopted a gray color with a lantern motif.
“You want soldiers then, Atrocitus?” asked the new Lantern Imagin. “I shall provide!”
“Hold!” shouted the creature, Atrocitus. The Lantern Imagin stopped. “…You SHALL be fulfilling my wish, but you’re not ready yet.”
“Let me fulfill our contract and I shall be,” replied the Lantern Imagin.
“Not how this works, not when you’ve locked your full potential. Dex-starr would spill your guts and lap your blood in your current state…but I sense that you have a higher calling. A spark glowing within you! A spark…of RAGE!” Atrocitus then vomited his napalm blood all over the Imagin’s face. The Lantern Imagin howled in pain as he collapsed to his knees, the blood burning him!
“WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” he screamed. “WHAT IS THIS…THIS ANGER?!”
“You fought to restore your timeline,” replied Atrocitus, “but Den-O killed your leader, Kai! He prevented Hana from being killed! He restored her timeline over yours! …How can you ever forgive him?”
“I…I CAN’T!” admitted the Lantern Imagin.
“Then BURN!” A red ring then flew towards the Lantern Imagin, hovering just in front of his face.
“Lantern Imagin. You have great rage in your heart.” The voice came from the ring. The Lantern Imagin looked up at the ring…then held his hand out! The ring then fastened onto his finger! “You belong to Atrocitus!”
“Become vengeance!” urged Atrocitus. “Recite the oath! Join the Red Lantern Corps!” The Lantern Imagin panted, then steeled himself.
“…With blood…and rage…of crimson red, ripped from a corpse…so freshly dead, together with our hellish hate,” a suit then formed over the Lantern Imagin! “WE’LL BURN YOU ALL! THAT IS YOUR FATE!” The rage, amplified by his ring, overcame his sanity and he charged at Atrocitus. Atrocitus opened a portal and stepped aside so the new Red Lantern would fly through. Once it was confirmed the Lantern Imagin went through with a splash on the other end, Atrocitus grinned.
“Come, Dex-starr!” he ordered. “We have an army to build!” Dex-starr trilled in agreement.
The Doctor hummed to herself as she checked the console. “Dada da da, da DA da…Climax Jump!” she sang. “…That’s odd. How did that song get into my head? …Ah well, I’ll figure it out later. Let’s see…”
“Doctor, shouldn’t we have found evidence of a chronal surge by now?” asked Amy as she walked into the console room.
“Tracking them takes a while, Amy,” replied the Doctor. “It’s not like waiting for a train on the platform.”
“But we’ve gotten ahead of one before,” reminded Amy.
“That took intense calculations,” answered the Doctor. As Amy was about to protest, the console beeped.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Proximity alert,” replied the Doctor. “But that doesn’t make sense, we’re drifting in the vortex. Let me see…” As the Doctor checked her readings, Lurra Rus entered the console room.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We found something in the Time Vortex,” replied Amy. “Maybe it’s another time machine?”
“That’s exactly what it is,” interjected the Doctor. “But the shape of it doesn’t make sense.”
“Why?” asked Amy.
“Because bullet trains shouldn’t be time travel capable,” answered the Doctor. She then worked the controls. “I’m going to come alongside it, see if I can talk to them.” The scanner flicked on to show that she successfully went alongside the train as it summoned rails for itself. The locomotive itself had angled red windows, almost like insect eyes. The Doctor then switched on the comms. “Attention! Attention! This is the Doctor aboard the TARDIS! You seem to be lost in the Time Vortex! We are capable and willing to render any assistance-!” A person on a motorcycle hooked up to a machine then appeared. The person looked like a red-skinned oni with two horns and black orbs for eyes.
“What do you want?!” he complained. The Doctor goggled.
“An Imagin?” she said. “I thought you all went extinct.”
“Some of us survived! Now beat it!” insisted the oni Imagin.
“Sir, your train appears to be travelling in something it’s not meant to,” said the Doctor.
“Come on, the Den Liner’s fine!” the oni Imagin dismissed.
“Den Liner? I thought that was fiction.”
“It’s real, all right!”
“What IS the Den Liner?” asked Lurra Rus.
“A train that travels through time,” explained the Doctor. “But it usually travels through a subdimension referred to as the Sands of Time, a byproduct of the Time Vortex.” The console then beeped and the Doctor checked the readings. Her eyes widened in horror. “Oh no!” She returned her attention to the call. “Listen, Oni Imagin or whatever kind of Imagin you are-.”
“My name is Momotaros!” barked the Imagin.
“…Imagins have-? Never mind. Momotaros, my sensors have detected a chronal surge appearing just ahead of us! I must urge you to divert your course!”
“I don’t take orders from anyone!” retorted Momotaros. “And the Den Liner’s sensors don’t detect any ‘chronal surge’ or whatever the heck you call it!”
“Well, my sensors DO! So will you please divert your course-?!” Momotaros ended the call. “…And now I have to save him!” grumbled the Doctor as she worked the console.
“Doctor, what will that chronal surge-?!” asked Lurra Rus.
“We’ll be caught up in it, there’s no two ways around this,” replied the Doctor. “For now, we can only cushion the blow against the Den Liner. Extending TARDIS shields as far as I can dare…brace yourselves!” The TARDIS shook as it was hit by the chronal surge! Both it and the Den Liner were taken out of the Time Vortex and into normal space.
Aboard a space station, a man with a green jumpsuit, eye mask, and ring was sitting at the monitors. A man in a red suit with yellow lightning decorations then appeared in a red blur. “Anything interesting?” asked the man in the red suit, the Flash.
“Nah, it’s been…well, I don’t really wanna say it now,” replied the man in the green suit, the Green Lantern. The monitors then flashed. “Oh, come on! I didn’t even say it!” complained Green Lantern.
“Is that a…bullet train?” muttered the Flash. Green Lantern then zoomed in.
“…It is! And look at the side!”
“The TARDIS! They’re gonna crash into the Watchtower!”
“You monitor the situation! I’m gonna stop them!” Green Lantern flew out of his seat and summoned a green lantern. He then pressed his ring against it. “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil’s might beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!”
“Ring fully charged,” reported his ring. Green Lantern then stashed his battery away and made it outside. The train and the TARDIS were racing towards the Watchtower out of control! Green Lantern created a catcher’s glove from his ring and jet boots around his feet. He caught the two vehicles in the glove and fired his jet boots, hoping to at least slow the two vehicles down!
“Hal, you’re not slowing down!” warned the Flash over the comms.
“Come on! Just a little more!” strained Green Lantern as he added more power to his rocket boots.
“Warning! Ring at 54% charge! Reserves depleting rapidly!” alerted his ring.