"Thank God that Lazar's little computer was capable of teleporting us here."

Shadow nodded to Knuckles and exited The Hunter. They were in a hidden part of The Nightmare Realm and Lazar's palace was in front of them, "We need a plan! So far Robotnik and Luxor have been pulling all the surprises. We need to start going on the offensive."

"No kidding! I may be the guardian, but I would like nothing more than cracking heads." His well-developed sense of smell picked up smoke, "Hurry!" Both of them ran toward the palace and found the palace in ruins. The black metal walls were covered in holes and burns. The door had been smashed down. Knuckles and Shadow ran in and sprinted toward the main lab. The place was a mess. Multi-colored liquids had been splattered all over the place and desks had been smashed. Lazar was lying on the metal floor in a pool of blood.

Shadow ran over to him as Knuckles went to check the rest of the place. He found a weak pulse, "Can you talk?"

The old man coughed, "It came without warning. My guardian was out on an errand. My magic was useless against it."

Shadow clenched his fist, "Are we fighting a losing battle? The gems were suppose to be our secret weapon, but I found out they helped very little. Sonic, Speed, and so many others are lost to us."

"He took them!"

"Sally and Tails!"

The old man nodded, "Yes!" He clenched his teeth in pain, "There is still a chance for you to win." He reached into his robe and pulled out a small black ball, "Give this to my guardian! He will serve you now." Lazar laid his head back, "I was so close. So close to helping you." He closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

Shadow stood up and stepped back, "Rest in peace. What you have done for us is more than enough to redeem you for your past evils."

Knuckles walk up, "Everything of value was either stolen of destroyed." He sighed, "What now?"

Shadow walked toward the exit, "We pick up Rouge and try to find Lazar's guardian. I have a feeling he holds something we need." As they walked out of the palace, a black vortex opened in front of them. A red female echidna dropped out of it. The vortex closed and the girl slowly stood up. Shadow looked to Knuckles and the echidna shrugged. He looked back to the girl, "Who are you?"

"My name is Lara-su! I was sent back twenty years to help you. I am Knuckles's daughter."

Knuckles's jaw dropped and he fainted. Shadow shrugged, "Amazingly enough, this doesn't surprise me."

Knuckles looked over the girl very carefully as Shadow piloted the ship back to Angel Island. Dressed in purple boots and a black body suit. She sported a red gun belt with a large blaster pistol on her right side. A pair of purple tinted sunglasses rested on her forehead. The girl drummed her fingers on the hand rest of the chair, "What can I do to convince you?"

"A blood test on the island would help. But while we wait to get there, why don't you tell us why and how you got here?"

Lara shrugged, "Well I came through a portal that The Freedom Fighters created. My time is a living nightmare. Robotnik and Luxor's forces are fighting all over the planet and it almost imposable to find peace. We stole an experimental time portal from Robotnik with the hopes to save the future."

"So I guess that means we lost." Lara nodded. Knuckles sighed, "Figures!"

"I should warn you about a monster that was sent back before me."

"Monster?"

"Robotnik created it and sent it back in time in order to kill Luxor. And to kill you."

Shadow yelled to the back, "The Island is under attack."

Knuckles slammed his fist onto a metal desk, "This day just keeps getting better and better."

Rouge fell back as several of Robotnik's hedgebots lined up in front of her. The bots had descended onto the island just as she managed to get everyone to safety to recover from their entrapments. Rhinox laughed as he walked up behind the line of bots, "I got you this time."

"I won't go down easy." She held her Chakrams, "I won't let you attack the city."

Rhinox chuckled, "My master isn't after the city. He is after you." He bent his head down and his large metal horn sparked with energy. Blue bolts of energy blasted from the horn and impacted Rouge. The bat was blasted to the ground and her armor smoked, "Did I forget to mention I had upgrades? Sorry!" He held his hand out, "Capture her!" As the hedgebots moved forward, silver bolts of lightning shot out from behind her and blasted the bots down. Rhinox stepped back as he stared at smoking robots, "What happened?" A rust colored hedgehog in brown robe leapt from some trees and landed in front of Rhinox. Rhinox snarled, "Who in the hell are you? And why do you dare interfere with Master Robotnik?"

"Because it suits me." He yawned and stretched his arms, "Are we going to fight, or should I just take a nap?"

Steam shot from Rhinox'a nose vents, "I am going to crush you." His jets activated and he shot forward at high speed. The hedgehog rolled to the side as the robot shot pass. Rhinox dug his feet into the ground and spun around. He proceeded to charge at the hedgehog again. The hedgehog jumped high into the air and over Rhinox's horn. Rhinox stopped and turned to face him, "Are you going to fight me, or just jump around like a chicken?"

The hedgehog shrugged, "Just giving you a chance to show your stuff. But if you want me to go ahead and kill you." He tossed his robe off. He was in his lower twenties and his quills were arranged close to Shadow's. He was dressed in red boots, black jeans, black shirt, and a crimson cape that whipped against his ankles. A red mask covered the lower part of his face. He cracked the bones in his neck, "Rhinox! You are pathetic in the future and you're pathetic now." His body erupted in silver light. And he transformed to a silver version of himself. His quills had straitened out to look like Super Sonic's and his eyes glowed with crimson light. Small bolts of energy sparked from him, "Time to take out the trash." He held his hand high and lighting shot from the sky and formed a Halberd in his hand. He spun it around and held it confident in one hand, "Your move!" Rhinox's horn sparked with energy and it blasted out a huge bolt of energy. The hedgehog smiled and slammed the pole end of the halberd into the ground, "Thunder Shield!" Rhinox's bolt impacted a wall of lighting and reflected into the ground.

"What? Who are you?"

The hedgehog pulled his weapon free of the ground, "I grow tired of you." Bolts of lighting arched around his body as his aura flared up, "Be gone!" The hedgehog shot forward at lighting speed and swung his halberd. In several flashes of light, the hedgehog sliced into Rhinox several times. He stood several feet behind the bot as it fell to its knees. Sparks shot from the multiple slices in his armor. The hedgehog turned around and held his halberd high, "It is finished!"

Rhinox held his hand up, "Please have mercy!"

"No!" He yelled out as energy blasted around him lighting shot from the sky and arched around the halberd. The hedgehog swung the weapon down and the blade hit the ground. Lightning blasted from the sky and ripped into the ground. The energy blasted through the ground and exploded under Rhinox. As it exploded, a large bolt shot from the sky and impacted the robot. Rhinox screamed out as he exploded in a huge fireball. The hedgehog chuckled, "One less annoyance."

Rouge pulled herself to her feet, "Who are you?"

"A monster!" Lara, Knuckles, and Shadow ran up. The female echidna pointed at the hedgehog, "That is Robotnik's weapon."

Shadow and Knuckles stood ready to attack, but the hedgehog laughed, "You believe this girl. The you are bigger fools than I thought." He dismissed his weapon and returned to his normal form, "There is only one traitor here and that is you."

"Liar!"

Shadow looked at the both of them then back to the hedgehog, "Identify yourself!"

The hedgehog pulled off his mask, "I am Sperk, Son of Speed! I have come back to stop this wench from killing you."

Lara lunged to attack him, but Knuckles grabbed a hold of her, "What now Shadow?"

Shadow sighed, "Lock them both up!"