Chapter 14: Spirits

"This isn't what I was expecting." Vlad said. After he and Sonic had vanished, they had become spirits. Vlad looked over at Sonic, who was a spirit as well. "We'll need to find bodies to possess."

"Of course." Sonic looked over at him. "The question is, how do we know we're possessing the right one? Follow them around a while first?"

Vlad nodded. He scanned the area and saw some humans. "Let's try them." He pointed, and Sonic looked. He smiled and nodded. The spirits floated up to the humans and took over their bodies. Sonic and Vlad looked at each other, nodding in satisfaction. "I like it," Vlad said. "What do you think?"

"Interesting," Sonic said. The human looked at the other. "Are you still a vampire?"

"I don't think so."

"All right. What will happen to us now?" Sonic asked Vlad.

Vlad shrugged. "Who knows."

"We could stay here in the village to live."

Vlad nodded. "Do you think I can become a vampire again?" Vlad asked as they walked around the village.

"It's possible," Sonic said. "I don't want to. Why do you?"

"I like being a vampire." Vlad smiled at him.

Sonic nodded. "Go ahead. I'll stay mortal, though."

J"You missed it that much?"

"Yeah. I didn't like being a vampire."

Vlad looked at him in curiosity. "Why not?"

Sonic shrugged. "I just didn't."

"Fair enough." Vlad chuckled a little. The human smiled at the other and they walked into the forest. "What about the war?" Vlad said. "Don't you need to become Dracula in order to win?"

"I don't think I have to do it. So long as Dracula's back, it'll go fine."

"How can he come back? You are the same person."

Sonic looked at him and sighed. "I was hoping there'd be a way."

"We'll think of something."

Sonic smiled and they continued through the forest. Suddenly a vampire jumped out and attacked them. Sonic yelled out, moving back away from the vampire. It snarled and bared its fangs. Vlad moved away from it and the two attacked the vampire. It snarled and vanished.

"Who was that?" Vlad asked.

Sonic sighed. "One of Ivan's minions."

"Of course it was. What should we do?"

"We need to go back to the castle later. Not now, though. Ivan and his vampires will attack tomorrow night."

Vlad nodded. "Do you think we can help them?"

"Possibly. We do need to be vampires to help," Sonic said.

"I guess that rules you out."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't want to become a vampire."

"We don't need to."

Vlad nodded. "All right. Let's go see what we can do."

Sonic smiled and they left. They got back to the village and looked up at the castle. "Do you think we can talk Ivan and Lucina into coming back?" Sonic asked him.

Vlad thought about it for a few minutes before finally responding. "I don't know. I hope we can, but I have my doubts."

Sonic nodded. The two humans looked at the castle. "We shouldn't reveal ourselves to them. It would be too much of a shock."

Vlad nodded. "I know."

The other human sighed. They walked into their house and decided to live in the village. "What are we going to do if someone recognizes our bodies?" Vlad asked.

"We're human now," Sonic said. "How would they be able to do that?"

"I mean the humans in the village. Won't they recognize the bodies we possessed?"

"Fair enough. We should look for new ones."

"It's fine. I was just wondering what we should say." Sonic thought about it and shrugged. "I'm sure we'll think of something." Vlad smiled.

"We're still spirits inhabiting human bodies. Should we look for new ones?"

"I suppose."

Sonic nodded. They closed their eyes and became spirits once again. The humans looked at each other in confusion once the spirits were out of their bodies. The two floated around and flew into the forest.

"Possessing an animal would be fun," Sonic said. "We could use that as a host."

Vlad laughed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. What do you think?"

"It sounds like it could be fun."

Sonic smiled. They looked around the forest and saw some wolves, bears, eagles and other animals.

"What are you going to try?" Vlad asked Sonic.

"I'll become a bear. What about you?"

Vlad wanted to try an eagle. "An eagle. That would be cool."

"All right."

The spirits began to possess the animals but when they did, they began to change. "What's happening?" Vlad asked.

"We're becoming the animals," Sonic said. As soon as he moved to possess it, he felt his form start changing. It was solidifying as it morphed, leading to a feeling of extreme discomfort. Both ears shortened and rounded at the tips. His muzzle grew into a bear's. Sonic watched as his nose shrank and flattened onto his face. A large black nose was in its place in a matter of seconds. Pain filled his mouth and Sonic growled, forced to open his mouth as the pain increased. Pointed teeth were replacing the ones he had, hurting his gums as they formed. He could taste a bit of blood in his mouth, but there wasn't much of it. Sonic shuddered as his body was taking shape as well. It grew larger in mass, thick muscle taking shape and solidifying before anything else could happen. Why it couldn't just happen all at once, Sonic wasn't sure. His arms remained the same, only growing larger in terms of muscle mass. Paws took the place of his hands, with large claws extending from the tip of each toe. Sonic looked at them as he felt the same happen to his feet. His legs grew muscular as well, taking shape and forming. The small tail he had grew round and fatter, laying on his butt as he stood there. Sonic shook as the black fur grew over his body. Now that the transformation was done, he smiled.

Vlad was also transforming. His body became smaller as it started to change. Feathers grew out over his form. His arms spread out as feathers covered them also. Vlad looked at the wings forming at his sides. A smile came to his face before he winced. His feet were changing as well. Both of them looked at his feet as the changed into bird's feet. The talons grew out, curving into sharp points. The last thing to change was his face. The lower half of his face curved outward as it changed into a beak. Its eyes changed color to yellow and became slits. The eagle flapped its wings as it looked at the bear.

The bear smiled. "What should we do now?" It asked the eagle telepathically.

The eagle shrugged. "Anything we want."

Sonic nodded. The bear looked around and it saw a den. "I'm going to stay there. What about you?"

The eagle smiled. "I'll build a nest in the trees," it said.

"Maybe there's something we can do to help the others from here."

"We can try."

The bear nodded and moved to get comfortable in its new den. It yawned and fell asleep. The eagle made a nest as quickly as possible and settled down in it. It looked around, and fell asleep as well.