Above a forest, the sky was colored orange and ever darkening as the sun went down.
In the forest, Sonic and Chip were walking, searching for the next gaia temple, with Sonic occasionally glancing at the sky nervously.
"Still no luck at finding the next temple." Chip said sadly as they walked.
"Well we kind of knew these things weren't exactly local." Sonic replied. "Figured we might have to sink some time into doing this."
Chip noticed Sonic glancing nervously at the sky. "You alright Sonic."
Sonic turned to Chip in surprise. "Oh uh, it's nothing."
"You're still worried about transformations aren't you?" Chip asked.
Sonic looked away from him for a moment.
"Yeah, I am." He replied. "I've accepted that they're going to happen to me every night, but I'm still not used to them."
"Well, maybe you'll get used to them as time goes on." Chip said.
"Maybe." Sonic replied looking away from him.
The two continued walking.
An hour later, the last rays of the sun were on the horizon and were fading quickly.
Sonic was leaving against a tree while Chip sitting on a small rock. Both waiting for the inevitable.
"Well," Sonic said. "Here it goes."
'At least no one but me and Chip are around.' Sonic thought to himself. 'I'd really hate someone seeing me transform.'
The last bit of sun finally vanished and almost immediately, Sonic began to feel a wave of pain over him and collapsed to the ground.
Chip, knowing Sonic's transformation was starting, looked away, covered his ears, and closed his eyes. Even though he knew Sonic would turn out alright in the end, he didn't like watching Sonic transform into his nightly form.
Sonic gritted his teeth so he couldn't cry out in pain his the transformation began. His blue fur became a darker blue and grew out, even on his arms. While his muzzle and peach spot on his chest turned a grayish light blue, with the fur there growing out a bit.
Sonic's body trembled as his quills grew out, becoming tipped in white. Sonic did his best not to cry in pain as he felt his bones snapping and changing to accommodate their new form, growing larger as a result of this. His ear's changed shape, becoming a bit curved, causing his hearing to be improved. Which means the sounds of his bones popping and breaking were amplified for him.
At times, Chip would occasionally take a peek at the transformation, but would quickly look away because of how painful it looked. Even despite covering his ears, he could still hear the grunts and groans that was coming from Sonic.
Sonic's muscles began to bulk out, starting from the chest and making their way down the arms. The gloves on his hands started to tighten as they grew larger. Eventually they tore apart, leaving them exposed, revealing white fur markings on his wrists and that his hands were now the same color as his muzzle. His fingernails then lengthened and sharped into long sharp white claws.
Sonic could no longer hold his cries of pain and screamed as he covered his muzzle with his now large hands. Doing his best to conceal the fact that it was growing longer.
His shoes meanwhile were undergoing their own transformation. The white stripe with a gold buckle merged into a silver stripe and three spikes emerged from them. The bottom of the shoes gaining smaller spikes, which made the shoes more like cleats.
The final part of Sonic's transformation was his teeth, which began to lengthen and sharpen into fangs. A few of them became longer then the rest, causing them to poke out the sides of his mouth.
With the transformation completed, Sonic let out a long, eerie howl before collapsing on the ground. He let out some heavy breaths of exhaustion from the change.
Looking at his hands, Sonic sighed sadly and slowly got up, using a tree to support himself and began walking.
Chip, who no longer could hear the sounds of Sonic transforming, took a peek and noticed him walking away.
"Hey Sonic, wait up." Chip said as he flew after him.
For a while, Chip followed behind Sonic until they were out of the forest and Sonic sat down on a large rock.
Chip caught up with him and saw that Sonic had a sad look on his face, his head low.
"Sonic, are you okay?" Chip asked.
Sonic looked at his friend. "Not really." he said, his voice deeper and rougher in this form.
"What's wrong?" Chip asked hopping on the rock to sit next to Sonic.
"It's just, how can I live like this?" Sonic asked looking at his now monstrous hands.
"Don't worry Sonic, when the sun comes up, you'll be back to normal." Chip said trying to reassure him.
"That's not what I meant." Sonic replied. "What if I have to spend the rest of my life looking like this every night?"
Chip thought about that, there were times that he had seen Sonic's occasional hatred of his werehog form. That's what he had decided to call his nocturnal transformation. He never talked about it though, but rather he took his anger out by fighting Eggman's robot's and Dark Gaia's minions. This was possibly the first time he's ever talked about it with someone.
"Don't worry Sonic." Chip said trying to reassure his friend. "You might look different, but you're still the same person on the inside."
"That's not what some people think." Sonic said. "You saw how some reacted when they saw me like this. They were afraid of me"
Chip thought about the various interactions of the people they've seen so far. Some had at first expressed surprise at Sonic's appearance at night, but once they realized that he meant them no harm, they were perfectly willing to talk to him.
However there were others that reacted with terror and told him to stay away. Some were parents that would keep their children close to them until what they though was a dangerous animal or monster left. Those things seamed to hurt Sonic, mainly because they seamed to think he was something that was not.
He also remembered when Amy Rose encountered Sonic in his werehog form shortly after restoring the first continent. While she was correct that it was Sonic, he didn't recognize him as his werehog form. While Sonic didn't love her, he did consider her a friend and her not recognizing him did hurt him. Chip didn't exactly help Sonic feel better when he pointed out how he looked.
He looked at Sonic again, he looked like he was about to cry. Chip hated to see his friend like this. He wanted to reassure him, let him know that Sonic wasn't a monster. At the same time though, he didn't want to make the same mistake as he did in Spagonia and make Sonic feel worse.
"Well, I was afraid of you at first Sonic." Chip finally said.
Sonic turned his head towards him in surprise. "What?"
"Remember when we first met? I ran away when I saw you." Chip explained.
Sonic let out a small chuckle. "Yeah I remember, you thought I was going to eat you."
Chip nodded. "But then I realized you weren't so bad and that you just wanted to help."
Sonic sighed. "But that was just with you. There are still people who don't know it's me when I'm like this."
"Some did realize you weren't so bad. Remember that little girl you rescued in Mazuri?"
Sonic thought back to it. Back when they arrived at Mazuri to find the professor, Sonic asked around a local village and one of them was a mother with a little girl. While the mother was willing to talk to him after getting over the shock over what he looked like, the girl hid from him.
Later, when he arrived back at the village after the first continent was restored, the girl had run away and the mother had asked Sonic to find her. He found her hiding in an abandoned house that was surrounded by Dark Gaia minions. Sonic managed to defeat them and get inside the house. The girl was terrified of him thanks to his appearance, she even threw a small rock at him. Sonic eventually managed to calm her down and convince her that he was okay. Once that was done he took her back to the village and reunited her with her mother.
Sonic gave a small smile. "Yeah, the people in the village started trusting me when I'm like this a lot more after that."
"My point is, no matter what people might think of you like this, they'll eventually realize you're still the same on the inside." Chip said.
Sonic was feeling a little better after that talk. He smiled and turned to Chip. "You know, I'm kind of glad you're here Chip." He said.
"Why's that?" Chip asked.
"Because there's always someone who likes to talk to me, no matter what I look like."
Chip smiled. His friend was feeling much better now.
"Thanks Sonic." He said.
"Come on." Sonic said getting up from off the rock. "Let's hope the temple we're searching for isn't far from here."
Chip got up and the two continued their on their way to find the temple.
Happy 10th Anniversary
Sonic Unleashed.
