Time Eater (WI01)

## Time Eater

The **Time Eater** was a primordial monster that appeared in *What If Sonic Never Lost The Werehog Form?*, where it was an overarching antagonist of Parts 4 and 5. It was under the control of Doctor Eggman and his classic counterpart, but ended up being infested by Erazor Djinn to create Alf Wamaritan.

## Personality

The Time Eater displays little to no intelligence beyond that of a mindless monster, and only communicates by roaring. Unlike Chaos or Dark Gaia before it, Doctor Eggman was capable of fully taming the Time Eater, and it made no attempts at rebelling against its masters.

## History

### Past

After being banished to the edge of the universe by the Mother Wisp in Part 3, Doctor Eggman discovered the Time Eater floating through space and took command of it.

### Sonic Generations Arc

The Time Eater was first alluded to in Part 4 shortly before it's initial appearance, having been kidnapping Sonic's friends one by one in the days following his birthday celebration. It appeared in the night to capture Tails while Sonic was struggling with a nightmare and successfully managed to snatch him away before Sonic could intervene, easily repelling his Werehog form's attack after fully emerging from the portal it had sucked Tails into. With Sonic dispatched, it proceeded to banish him into White Space with the others.

Following this, and Sonic's early adventures in White Space, the Time Eater made another momentary appearance following Classic Sonic's battle with the Death Egg Robot, whereupon it captured Classic Eggman.

In Part 5, the Time Eater appeared again in a 'fully motorized' form, having been upgraded by the two Eggmen and used its time travel abilities to follow Sonic, Tails and their Classic counterparts into the world of the Arabian Nights, and into the distorted space created by Alf Layla Wa-Layla. Upon it's arrival, said space began to morph into an indigo and violet expanse filled with gear-shaped platforms; It came under attack from Erazor Djinn, but was able to effortlessly halt his advance by slowing the passage of time before binding and squeezing him with two of its multiple sets of arms.

The Time Eater continued binding Erazor as Doctor Eggman explained the beast's origins to all present, including the genie, which inspired him to escape his confinement by transforming his body into smoke. The Time Eater lashed wildly at the air to try and strike at its lost captive, but was left victim to Erazor seeping into it's mechanical parts and melding with its incorporeal essence, reforming its entire body into a new vessel controlled by Erazor's consciousness, dubbed Alf Wamaritan.

During the climax of the proceeding battle, the Time Eater, as Alf Wamaritan, perished at the hands of the two Super Werehogs when its heart (provided by Alf Layla wa-Layla) was destroyed. Its body collapsed into a wormhole through which only Sonic and Erazor Djinn emerged, the latter surviving Alf Wamaritan's death via his immortality.

## Powers and abilities

The Time Eater possessed incredible physical strength and reaction speed, capable of effortlessly swatting aside an attack from Sonic's Werehog form in it's initial state prior to any upgrades. Its primary ability was the manipulation and erasure of time and space, which it used to travel freely through time via purple rifts and banish individuals or locations into White Space - a realm beyond time and dimensions.

During its battle against Alf Layla Wa-Layla, it showcased the ability to slow down time, and the mere presence of the Time Eater was enough to distort Erazor's pocket dimension into an indigo and violet-colored world filled with bronze gear-shaped constructs akin to its domain in *Sonic Generations*.

The Time Eater also possessed a hidden ultimate attack: The Sun Burst. This attack was never used by the Time Eater by itself, but was used as Alf Wamaritan in conjunction with Alf Layla wa-Layla's Spirit Blast.

## Transformations

### Roboticized

Some time between appearances, Doctor Eggman and Classic Eggman provided the Time Eater with a host of cybernetic upgrades in preparation for the inevitable battle against Sonic and his allies. This form was covered in golden armour, granted the Time Eater an additional set of arms and was powerful enough to restrain Alf Layla Wa-Layla with its great physical strength.

It was directly piloted by Doctor Eggman and Classic Eggman, but it is uncertain if the Time Eater wildly thrashing in an attempt to strike at Erazor Djinn was due to their influence or its own animalistic urges, thus the amount of autonomy still possessed by this form is unknown.

### Alf Wamartian

> *Main article: Alf Wamaritan*
>
>

The Time Eater's body was corrupted into Alf Wamaritan by Alf Layla wa-Layla, reshaping the mechanical armour of its roboticized form and imbuing it with his magical power. Time Eater had no control over this new form, however, on account of Alf Layla's heart puppeteering it as its vessel.
During the process of its corruption, the Time Eater took on a red colour and the 'vague likeness of a djinn', represented by it's multiple arms and Erazor's distinct curl of hair.

Time Eater in the process of becoming Alf Wamaritan
## Weaknesses

The cloud-like essence composing most of the Time Eater's body covered a core, which was its weak point, only visible when said essence was constrained within the mechanical components of its roboticized form. Said essence was also susceptible to being melded into by other sufficiently powerful incorporeal entities such as Alf Layla Wa-Layla after he turned into smoke, which allowed the Time Eater to be infested and transformed to Erazor Djinn's whims.

## Trivia

* The term 'roboticization' used to describe the Time Eater's mechanically-upgraded state likely refers to the video game continuity term, which describes the process in which living beings are sealed inside of Badnik shells to act as life batteries, not to be confused with the alternative meaning present in the *Sonic the Hedgehog* animated series.
* The Time Eater has several narrative parallels to its timeline's Sonic:
	+ Both were modified by Eggman, Sonic into a Werehog and the Time Eater into a cyborg.
	+ Both were transformed into vessels for entities empowered by the World Rings, Sonic into Darkspine Werehog and Time Eater into Alf Wamaritan.
	+ Their transformed bodies were then puppeteered by said entities, Dark Gaia and Alf Layla wa-Layla respectively.

## References

1. ↑ *"[...] leading to his recruitment of Classic Eggman to roboticize the creature into a tool for their time-erasing scheme." ~ What If Sonic Never Lost The Werehog Form? Part 4*