Mossmask: Okay. Well, I think I'm ready to start a new story. Let's hope I'm right. It's an idea I've had in the works for about three years now, but only recently sat down and sorted out all my thoughts on it into a semi-functioning story. I'm excited to have it started, and I can't wait to see where I go with it. Hopefully, I'll see some people I already know from my last story, and hopefully I'll see some new readers as well. ^^

Let me know what you think, and as always, constructive criticism is always wanted. Can't improve if you don't tell me what's wrong.

A not on this story before I begin. It's set in an entirely AU universe. For the most part the characters are canon. There are a lot of people from various Sonic canons showing up in this.

Basically, the characters who'll be popping up throughout the story consist of:
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles Mighty, Ray, Sally, Bunnie, Jet, Wave, Storm, Amy, Sonia, Cream, Manic, Rouge, Shadow, Maria, and the glitch characters Ashura and Bluetails.

Honey, Mirror Honey, Silver and Blaze might also be showing up. If I can find a way to work them in. I'm hoping I can.

A note. Sonia and Manic are brother and sister in this, but neither is related to Sonic. Sorry, for anyone who was hoping otherwise. It wouldn't have worked out that way.

I think that's it for now... (As for the Ashura and Bluetails... strangeness in the first chapter, Just ignore it. It's part of their characters, but it's not relevant to the story. They have a teleporting closet and magic paper. If anyone can tell why, you get a virtual cookie for being awesome. And a hug. But like I said, it's not actually important to the plot, so if it confuses you just don't worry about it.)

~Cya on the other side

Prologue

The thin beam of white light coming from the flashlight in Maria's right hand was the only thing visible in the inky blackness surrounding them. The air was musty and stale, and hard to breathe in. At the same time, it was cold. Cold enough for Maria to be shivering through her thick black pullover. The cold and the dark didn't seem to bother her companion at all though, as he led her through the darkness as easily as if it was in broad daylight.

"Are you sure this is the right way, Shadow?" She asked, her quiet whisper sounding unreasonably loud as it broke though the still silence.

"Yes." Was the only reply she got. Followed, after a moment, by a quieter "trust me."

She gave a quick nod, not doubting he'd be able to see it somehow. "Hey," she spoke again, as the torchlight lit up a section of exposed wires hidden behind a rusted away panel in the concrete wall. "Think I can give us some decent lighting in here?" She asked.

There was a moment's hesitation before he agreed. "Alright, if you want to. But just for a minute."

Letting go of his arm, which she'd been holding on to up to this point as he guided her through the dark, Maria made her way across the cluttered concrete floor over to the panel and easily tore it off of the wall, its one remaining hinge nearly completely eaten away by rust. After a few minutes tinkering, Shadow standing close behind holding the light steady for her, a dull buzz started up.

A few seconds after that, a few lights slowly flickered into life.

Few of the lights actually worked still, and the ones that did were old and cast a pale yellow light over the room. It was still enough for Maria to relax for a moment. She had just wanted to get her bearings and be able to see where she was.

They were standing on an old subway platform. It was no longer in use, and closed off from the top. In fact, the entire section of subway they were in was sealed off from the outside. It was Shadow who had Chaos Controlled them both in in the first place. He insisted that there was something down here Maria needed to see.

So far, however, she had seen next to nothing in the utter darkness underground. Now, she was sitting with her back against the cold concrete wall underneath the panel she had previously been rummaging around in to turn the lights on. Her black and red hedgehog companion was standing further away on the platform, near the edge of the tracks. He had his arms crossed and was staring intently into the darkness down the tunnel.

Maria was about to say something when he turned around. "Turn the lights off."

"What, now?"

"Yes, now." He hissed. "Quickly. Kill the electricity."

She did so, standing up and disconnecting a few wires hanging loosely through the hole in the wall, then flicking off her own flashlight. She was thrown into complete darkness. By the time she had gotten to her feet Shadow was already standing next to her again, one arm in front of her to hold her back against the wall.

She tried to ask him what was going on, but no sooner had she opened her mouth then she found a gloved hand firmly on top of it. She took the hint, and gave a tiny nod. A few seconds later the hand was removed, but Maria stayed silent.

That was when she realized she could hear sounds coming from inside the tunnel, close to the platform - and getting closer. She leaned forward to try and hear more clearly, but Shadow's arm still held her back against firmly the wall. Straining, she could just barely make out quiet pops and clicks.

It was a few moments more before she dared to breath again. She hadn't even notcied that she was holding it. And she also, apparently, hadn't noticed that she was still standing in a dusty underground subway station because as soon as she took that first deep breath, she found herself choking on the stale air.

"Shit."

She thought she was about to collapse on her hands and knees, but was saved the trouble when she found herself shoved to the floor and bundled into a corner.

"Chaos Spear!"

Confused, she looked up, but she could hardly see through her streaming eyes. Fumbling around for her torch she instead found her hand grabbing something cold and scaly. She cried out, startled, and pulled her hand back. She felt a sharp pain down her leg before she was grabbed by the wrist and tugged backwards by Shadow.

She tried desperately to get some sense of what was going on, but it was hard to see anything between the intermittent flashes of green light flaring in the subway. Suddenly, the hand around her wrist let go and she was once more tossed to the side. She felt something brush against her quickly. She suspected it was whatever had knocked Shadow away.

The next flash of light gave her just enough time to see something about the size of a person get thrown against the far wall and fall to the tracks. There was quiet for a few seconds. She was breathing quickly, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating.

"...Shadow?"

She yelped as something touched her shoulder but calmed again when she realized it was just Shadow's hand, and blushed slightly. Hopefully even his eyes weren't good enough to notice that.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah... but Shadow! What was that?" She wondered.

"That was what I wanted to show you." He took his hand off of her and she heard the sound of scuffling as he moved back across the platform.

"Huh? That thing? You knew about it? But what is it?"

"I was hoping maybe you could help me find that out." He said, coming back to her side and flicking the flashlight he'd just retrieved back on. The circle of light fell directly on the body of the thing and Maria gave a sharp intake of breath as she saw it in the light for the first time.

It looked almost like a giant spider. It had eight legs, and a lot of eyes. She couldn't count exactly how many, but they seemed to glow red in the light. It would have been about chest height - to her - when standing on all eight legs, and the whole body of the thing was covered in what looked like black scales. It had fangs about a foot long. She made to move closer, but was pulled back by Shadow as a chorus of wailing and shrieking started up further down the opposite end of the tunnel, growing rapidly louder.

"And what are those?" She snapped, startled.

"I have no idea." He muttered. "This was all I saw last time I was down here." He looked agitated. Maria knew he was probably just nervous.

"We should see if we can get one of those, too!" She exclaimed hopefully.

"No!" The ebon hedgehog snapped, "it's time to leave." He glanced back into the tunnel, where the shrieking was getting unbearably loud.

Maria went to take a step closer to the dead spider-thing, regardless of what her grouchy resident hedgehog said, when she felt him grab her roughly by the arm. She turned around just in time to see a... flock, she supposed, of something shining, with sharp fangs and long wings, before her flashlight was knocked out of her hand. And then-

"Chaos-"

Mossmask: Because the prologue is so short (only a thousand and some words), I'll be uploading the first chapter tonight as well. Enjoy? ^^

Oh, and lemme know if you spot any spelling errors and such. I don't have any working spellchecker at the moment. I've reread the chapters myself two or three times each, but I can still miss stuff, so if you see anything wrong just point it out.

~Dash Out