Time is a mysterious thing. Like a spider's web, the strands twist and tangle, sometimes leading to the same conclusion, other times leading to something entirely different. Sometimes you live happily ever after, with a big beautiful house, a job you love, and a wife with two beautiful children. Other times, you're reduced to cracking a bottle and letting your body waddle in a drunken stupor to the cardboard box you call home. Or, perhaps you're dead. Or you've suffered a fate worse than death, and become a monster of pure, murderous instinct.

Such was one of the fates for the great hero known as Sonic the Hedgehog. He lost himself forever to the forces of darkness, and became a true monster who would kill you as soon as he saw you. It wasn't a matter of if he killed you, but of when and how painful and gruesome it was.

But, this creature has now slipped passed the control of one Shade Rabbit, daughter of the once-innocent Cream the Rabbit... now, it is up to I, Kronos Sonic, to find those capable of helping Shade put the creature Sonic EXE down once and for all. I believe I have found those capable of doing just that. But, I believe there are two others who can help with this endeavor.

Shadow the Hedgehog and his younger sister, Luna.

But first I have to get through to one particularly stubborn hedgehog. He proclaims himself a guardian of this universe's timeline, and while I could circumvent his efforts he is powerful enough to be a real hinderance to my efforts.

He calls himself Wrath, and the resemblance to the two hedgehogs I'm off to find is blatant. Inhibitor Rings, Hover Skates,black fur, red eyes, and Shadow's tuff of chest fur left exposed through his open duster coat that reaches to his ankles. His quills are twice as long as the average hedgehog's, and styled into a single blade coming out of the back of his head resembling a scythe blade. He also has a wild mess of smaller quills on his forehead like Manic from the Sonic Underground part of the multiverse, which I assume is a biological father in some fashion when paired with the Emerald green highlights in his larger quills.

Wrath eyes me as I explain the situation to him, his expression skeptical. Then again we are in the space between universes, brightly colored threads of light criscrossing in the space around us in an impossibly complex, and constantly changing spectrum as the space we're in tries to heal itself. The pocket of space we stand in is now bigger than a few meters on each side, and shaped like a cube, yet the fact that Wrath is even here is proof of his power to me. After all I had long ago learned how to hold the fine threads of the multiverse at bay long enough to pass through them, yet this hedgehog doesn't seem to notice the quantum tension much. He had been able to block me from entering too, for the moment.

He hangs on my every word, and rubs his chin, "...If what you're telling me is true than let me explain a few things of my own. The Ultimate Lifeforms that call this universe you're trying to trespass into home have a few special talents, such as being able to spot a lie just by listening to the heartbeat of the speaker, which we can do easily from several meters away... However with a machine like yourself that isn't possible. However I cannot allow anything to threaten my world... I will accompany you during your time here, until such time as you can produce evidence of your story that I can be sure isn't some fabrication."

He waves a hand, and a swirling opening appears behind him, overlooking a sky, and Wrath pokes me in the chest, "But if your words prove false, then I will not hesitate to tear you to shreds like so much newspaper, and that's a promise. If you've really traveled the multiverse like you claim then you know how my kind is with keeping promises."

"Indeed I do, Mr. Wrath... or is that your father?" I joke, earning myself a scowl from the hedgehog. "Lead on."

I follow Wrath into his universe, where we soon arrive at a dense forest.

"Shadow and Luna ought to be up this way," said Wrath, gesturing me to follow.

After a short trek, I soon come across the two hedgehogs I seek... or, judging by the way they're fighting off what I recognize to be practice drones, perhaps these are the droids I'm looking for. They fight like no pair I've ever seen, and I've seen some pretty tough pairs.

Yes, these two might just be able to hold their own against the creature.

Wrath clears his throat, and Shadow and Luna turn towards us, guns cocked and ready to fire, before realizing who was there.

"Will you ever stop doing that, Wrath?" asked Luna, activating a code that powered down the drones.

"Most likely not... I've brought someone who wants to speak with you both," said Wrath.

LUNA POV

I turn my attention to the newcomer, and tilt my head. I put my Moon Shot back into the sheath on my back, and decide to make first contact.

"Alright," I say, putting my hands on my hips as I shift my weight to one foot. "You look like one of Ivo's machines... But he would have told me if he wanted me to field test any of them. I'm Luna, and the Emohog back there is Shadow." I j*** a thumb at my big brother with a smirk.

"I can assure you he's not one of Ivo Robotnik's creations," Wrath says. "Or at least... Not the Robotnik you know."

I blink, "Say what now?"

"Nemesis told me where to expect a certain someone to punch a hole in our reality," Wrath replies. "What I found was him. He hasn't made any violent threats, or actions so I agreed to bring him to you."

Ai, the little computer Artificial Intelligence program who lives in my watch, appears in the air next to me in the form of a green hologram about three inches high. He looks like he's wearing futuristic armor, like something out of the Halo games almost.

"An interdimensional traveler? Interesting," Ai says.

"You can swap beers later," I deadpan. "Now why bother coming out here to meet us? I'm guessing it's not exactly a hop, skip, and a jump to move between worlds so you're probably not here for next week's no-clothes camping trip."

"Far from it, my dear girl. Actually, I need your help to save the multiverse from utter destruction," the black robot said.

"From what?" asked Shadow, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't want to go into details here. Just know that there's something terrible gathering the power to travel the multiverse If it is not stopped, this will happen to everywhere, everywhen," said the black robot, activating holoprojectors.

What I saw there... made me want to throw up. And let me tell all those who care, that as a Grandmaster of the Dark Legion I've seen a lot, not much can make me wanna toss my cookies. I step back into Shadow, and squeeze his hand gently.

"Okay," I say quickly. "We get it... I trust Wrath so if he's willing to give you the benefit of the doubt..."

"Good. Now, then, there are a few others we'll be picking up before we head out to stop this monster," said the black robot.

"Wait, others?" I asked. This day couldn't get any more freaky if it tried. First reality-jumping robots, then learning that there was an unknown entity bent on turning all universes into what looked like the closest thing t I'd ever seen. What's next, a Sonic with the power of an Ultimate Life Form?

The black robot nodded. "Yes. No matter how powerful you guys think you are, this threat is something more than three ULFs and two highly sophisticated androids can handle. It wil take a team of indviduals with nerves of titainium and more power than maybe even God himself to put this thing down," the machine explained.

I looked at Shadow, hoping for some reaction. My brother simply nodded.

"Now, before we go, there's something I should mention: the inhabitants of this Mobius may not take well to your appearance. Especially yours, Shadow," the robot warned.

"Why?" asked Shadow.

"You'll find out soon enough," the machine said before chuckling. "I just realized, I never introduced myself. I am Kronos Sonic."

Ai speaks up, "Kronos, the Greek Titan of Time, father to Zeus."

I glance at him, "Cool story, maybe you can tell me about it sometime when the known multiverse isn't in danger."

"Agreed. Now activating IDMET," said Kronos.
"'IDMET?'" I asked.

"It most likely stands for 'Inter-Dimensional Mass-Energy Transporter.' But, that's just a guess," said Ai.

"Transport in 3... 2... 1!"

Almost instantly, I felt a mixture of what felt like Chaos Control and being sucked down a giant whirlpool. Next thing I knew, I saw a whirl of color and heard a garble of sounds.

And then, abruptly, everything went black as I slammed into something solid.

...

AMY'S POV-SONIC'S HOUSE- 12:46 AM

I hum to myself as I get breakfast ready, nothing too special, just some eggs, sausages, toast, and bacon. If anything can get Sonic to stop for a good meal besides chilidogs, it's bacon.

I can't help giggling as I set out two plates of food, and a glass in front of each. I decide to wait for Sonic before I pour the drinks, that way they stay cold. Ever since... Dark... Oh the memories still send shivers up my spine. Anyhow, ever since that I've been dropping in to make sure Sonic is still okay. Tails is out on an excavation of the Mystic Ruins so that leaves me here with Sonic for a whole week.

I sigh to myself, feeling a blush rise on my cheeks as I think of how much of a dream come true this is. Lately Sonic has been having some trouble sleeping though. Sometimes when I go to wake him I find him lying on the bedsheets with the blanket cross the room. Sometimes the sheets are even wet with sweat. He always gives me that awkward grin, and complains about a lumpy mattress when I ask about it though... But why do I find that so hard to believe?

I sigh, and shrug to myself, jerked out of my thoughts as I hear the toaster pop. I glance at the clock, and smile as I wonder where Sonic went on his morning run today. He should be back any minute now...

Sure enough, as I turn around, there he is. Sonic, the fastest thing alive, who I love and care about more than anything in the world.

"Hi, Sonic!" I say brightly, smiling.

Sonic gives me that trademark smile he's oh-so-famous for. "Hey, Ames. What's on the menu?" he asks me.

"Eggs, sausages, toast, and bacon," I reply. Sonic chuckles.

"All right! The hedgehog is hun-"

All of a sudden, we hear a resound boom, as though something had just crashed on the front lawn.

"What was that?" I asked Sonic.

Sonic shook his head. " I don't know, but we're gonna find out," he tells me.

And with that, we go to investigate the lawn, only to find that someone, not something, had just crashed landed on the front lawn... a black hedgehog...

I gasped as I recognized the hedgehog... if his quills had red highlights instead of green... then, the crashed hedgehog would be...

Sonic and I look at each other, both of us coming to the same conclusion. The new hedgehog shakes his head as he gets to his feet, and dusts himself off. "That was a new experience."

"Yeah..." I look down to see a red hedgehog with black highlights in her quills sitting up with a headache, "Interdimensional travel is SO not becomin my new hobby."

"Um... Huh?!" I blink a few ones as both the new hedgehogs look at us with crimson red eyes.

"Amy!"

I jump a bit as the girl shouts my name, and the next thing I know I'm scooped off my feet... And she's kissing me!

Then she giggles as she puts me back on my feet, hugging me from behind. "Good to see you Amy! We still good for Tuesday?" My face turns the same color as her yes when her hands wands into some VERY private places!

"SONIC!" I squirm free of the lecherous female, and cling to my hero with my ears folded flat against my head.

The new girl blinks with a confused look, "...Teusday not so good then?"

"What in the world are you talking about? Tuesday?" asked Sonic, clearly just as confused as I am.

"Uh, Luna... I think we're missing someone... THREE someones to be exact," the green and black hedgehog said.

Luna, the crimson and black hedgehog, looked around. "Where's Shadow and Ai? And that black robot?" she asked.

I glanced at Sonic, nervous about his reaction to the black hedgehog's name being mentioned. Luckily, he seemed deadpan.

"Have you by any chance been living at the bottom of a garden well or someplace similar?" my hero asks the two strangers.

"What are you talking about?" asked 'Luna' clearly confused.

Sonic said three words that clearly turned the newcomers worlds upside down.

"Shadow is dead."