The next morning Shadow woke long before the others. Well, he hadn't actually slept much at all, not with his elongated tail continuously trying to curl around him on its own. He lowered his feet to the floor but instantly jerked them back up as they touched the cold surface. After a few more seconds, he set them back on the ground and stood carefully. His tail added a lot of extra weight, which made finding his balance a difficult task at first. However, he found that he could curl it inward just a small bit, so that it didn't drag on the floor. It felt strange, being able to control and use a part of him he typically ignored.

Once he had regained his footing and was able to walk easily, he headed downstairs to the living room/ kitchen. Though he didn't normally have to eat, he felt voraciously hungry, and he settled himself on the new task of finding breakfast. He went over and dug through the fridge, trying to find anything he considered edible. His black and red tail swished back and forth absently, but it would send a shiver up his spine whenever it grazed the floor. This fact startled him at first, since it was a very new sensation, but he soon grew used to it and continued hunting for food. His ruby eyes landed on an unopened package of raw steak, and a strange, overwhelming desire for fresh meat triggered his system. His tongue slid past his lips as he slowly reached for the meat.

"Hey, Shads! You're up early," Shadow's head collided with the roof of the fridge as Sonic's chipper voice snapped him out of the trance. He growled and rubbed his head as he glared at the blue hedgehog, who was grinning at him like an idiot.

"What do you want, faker?"

"Hey, chill out, faker. I came here lookin' for breakfast, same as you," he answered with his hands raised in a gesture of peace. The dark hedgehog grumbled and rolled his eyes, the hunger momentarily abated by the shock. He stalked away from the kitchen and decided to find the fox who hopefully had some answers. Why was this happening to him? Why now? Will he ever get back to normal? What if he was stuck like this permanently?

He followed the sound of loud machinery into a wide, spacious workshop. There he found Tails busily melding something together with his blowtorch. From what he could tell, it looked like some kind of capsule. The kid genius looked up to see him and set his tools down.

"Hi, Shadow. Get any sleep?"

He narrowed his eyes in reply, making the kitsune shrink back sheepishly. The answer was obvious.

"I guess that's a 'no.' So what can I do for you?"

"I need answers," he answered bluntly, "something you said you might have."

Tails rubbed the back of his head out of habit, as he replied, "Well, I'm not totally sure, but I think if we put our heads together we can figure it out. Oh! That reminds me! Come here. I do have something to show you."

He waved the hybrid over to his work station, where a large computer was broadcasting readings of some kind along with a swirling DNA strand.

"Yesterday, before your..uh..transformation happened, I took a blood sample to see if everything was all right. And well, I found something you might want to look at."

Tails typed something on to his computer, and the screen zoomed in on the DNA strand. It was mostly green, but tiny black spots could be seen floating around with some even becoming attached to the stem. Shadow's elongated tail swished absently as he watched.

"What are those dots?"

"That's a good question, but first, can I take another sample? I can use it to compare to this one."

He nodded, and Tails scuffled around his lab looking for something. A few seconds later, he came back with a standard-size needle, and Shadow paled. His muscles flexed involuntarily, and his tail flicked apprehensively, the arrow tip glistening in the light. The fox stopped at his friend's strange reaction.

"Are you okay, Shadow?"

"Yea-ahem-Yeah, I'm fine," he coughed. His mouth had gone inexplicably dry. Tails had seen similar looks on Sonic whenever he was close to water, and it suddenly clicked.

"Are you afraid of needles?"

"No!" he shot back defensively, "Of course not! The Ultimate Lifeform isn't afraid of anything!"

The fox sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue, but he didn't feel right to follow through with taking the blood sample. Shadow might be denying it, but he could see that the hedgehog was genuinely terrified of the instrument in his hands. So instead, he set it down out of the wary hybrid's sight.

"I just remembered that there's an easier way to get a DNA sample," he explained calmly and walked up to him. Shadow's quizzical glare unnerved the poor kit, but he focused on his task. Without a second thought he plucked a spine from one of his ornate quills.

"Ow! Some warning would have been nice," Shadow growled.

"It was either this or the needle," Tails countered before he proceeded to run the black and red spine through a scanner. A second double helix appeared beside the first with a stark difference. The once green strand was now half-black with many more dark spots floating around it.

"How is that possible!? That was in less than 24 hours!" Tails exclaimed, "Shadow, I'm going to need to walk me through exactly what happened after Black Doom was killed."

"Well...," the dark hero replied, "I don't think I killed him exactly."

"What?"

"I injured him, yes, perhaps even fatally, but he is far from dead yet."

Shadow then went into detail about his fight against the Black Arms and how he got his injury and when the alien warlord "died."

"He must have been to a point where he so close to death, that it registered with his offspring's senses, which in turn killed them," he mused in a tone of pure disgust, "How I'm still alive is another good question."

Before the fox could offer his theory, he continued. He told him how he recalled the vivid flashback and waking up. The most difficult part to tell was when they were leaving the Ark, when he had to pass the corpses of his attackers.

"I felt extremely sick just looking at them. But then..I heard him. I heard Doom's voice in my head! He claimed that he owned me...that I was his...like I was just another piece of property. I don't know how but he used some type of invisible force to pin me to the wall. He said that being with all of you and the humans had caused me to forget my real purpose...but he said I would remember," he choked, "he released me for a split second. I should have ran with everything I had! But I didn't; I was in shock. The next thing I knew, I was pinned down again, and I felt this sharp pain in my leg, like he was stabbing something into me. I tried to break away, but he wouldn't let me..not till he was finished. When I was able to move again, I tried to find you all, but I blacked out before I could..."

The once proud hedgehog just stood there, his form shaking slightly and his tail curled inward instinctively. He was afraid, genuinely scared of what Black Doom may have done to him.

Tails, like any concerned eight year old, didn't know what else to do. He had seen Sonic break before, and now Shadow was experiencing the same thing. He knew what to do whenever Sonic felt down, so he decided to try it with his darker counterpart. He quickly glomped him in a tight hug around the waist.

Shadow grunted stiffly, as his wound was still fresh, and he looked down at the child in muted, and slightly pained, surprise. He was unfamiliar with any attempts of brotherly affection and didn't know what to say or do. So he settled with rubbing the top of the kit' s head, if not a little awkwardly. Tails quickly let go and smiled up at him.

"We're here for you, Shadow, all of us. Now I think I know what's causing your...sudden transformation," he stated, switching back from gentle child to mechanical genius, "I think that whatever Black Doom pumped into your bloodstream is what's causing you to change. If you give me a few hours, I think I can make you something to counteract its effects."

Shadow agreed and retreated back into the kitchen before the child protege could reply. His hunger had returned with a stronger force than before, and he decide to scavenge through the fridge for that steak he saw earlier.

"Wait a minute," he said to himself, "I don't usually eat meat," he rubbed a gloved hand over eyes, "What is wrong with me? I need a run."

He dodged the kitchen and the blue faker still eating breakfast and slipped outside. The morning sunlight shone on his fur, and he soaked in the warmth. He hadn't realized how cold he had been until that moment. He stretched and walked into the woods surrounding the house, and he clicked on his skates. But his takeoff wasn't like it normally was. His thick tail added too much weight, making skating impossible, and he ended up faceplanting into the dirt. With a disgruntled grunt, he pushed himself up and stared at the offending appendage. He then smirked as an idea formed. He curled his red and ebony tail around his waist, creating an odd sort of belt, and tried to skate once again. This time he was successful.

He continued skating for several hours without stopping, and it was nearly sunset before he decided to turn back to the shack.

Shadow...

He suddenly gripped his head as it filled with an overwhelming pain that forced him to his knees. His tail unwound, twitching violently as a response to his sudden distress. He snapped his eyes shut right, not daring to open them.

"What do you want?" he coughed weakly. How could one word possibly drain him of his strength?

Your growth is coming along smoothly and much quicker than expected. Excellent.

"Growth? What...do you mean? Why are you doing this?"

His question was met with a sharp ringing in his ears. The pained mobian groaned and gripped his head with his hands, praying it would go away.

Pathetic little hedgehog, the voice in his mind spat, and Shadow subconsciously winced, I am surprised you have even lasted this long. As to your questions, you are becoming what you were originally meant to be. You were never meant to be this ungrateful planet's protector. You were to be the very force that would drive it to its knees!

"NO! You're wrong! This is just another one of your mind games. I was made to be a cure! A guardian! That is my purpose!"

He could almost physically hear the darker being's amused laughter echoing in his ears. His entire slender form shook uncontrollably. But why? Why did he feel so uncertain? He knew his purpose for living, but why was he having these doubts?

Hahaha. Even you, Oh Ultimate Lifeform, doubt what you were made for. Those little words about being a hero, is that what that idiot professor told you? Did he fill your head with those stupid fantasies, or was it that wretched little girl you became so attached to?

"Don't you dare speak about Maria like that!" Shadow snarled, his eyelids opening to reveal murderous crimson irises, "Show yourself, Doom, and face me! Or will you continue to hide like the coward you are?!"

Such bravado for such a small hedhehog, his enemy quoted, It is amusing that you believe you can actually defeat me. That little match up in space was just a battle. You have yet to taste the war. Prepare yourself, pet. You may just return to my side.

Before Shadow could snap back, he felf an enormous weight push him to the forest floor. He gasped and panted for air, but his lungs were crushed between the ground and the force over him. He scrambled to break free but it was to none effect.

I think it is time for your second treatment..

No! Please! he begged mentally, but his pleads went unheard. Another sharp pain stabbed his thigh, close to the first incision point, and he howled in pain. His cry didn't travel though, because of the lack of oxygen. Please! Stop this!

Now why would I do that? I enjoy watching you beg and squirm like a bug on the tip of a knife before it is squashed.

Shadow's vision became spotty, and he tried again to claw his way out of the painful "treatment" as Black Doom had called it. But unlike last time, the pain didn't relent, but it followed him to the point of unconsciousness. But just before he completely collapsed, two voices called out in the distance.

"Shadow?! Faker where are ya?"

"Shadow!?"

"Over..here," he panted in a low whisper, and as fell asleep, two blurry images filled his vision. One blue and the other yellow.

"Shadow!"

Sonic and Tails had been searching for their missing companion since earlier that afternoon, and they both grew increasingly worried the longer they had to look.

"He really shouldn't be out on his own. Who knows what would happen if someone saw him in the state he's in!" Tails stated.

"Yeah. I'd be worried for him and the person who saw him," Sonic replied forbodingly.

"What do you mean?"

"This morning, when I went down to get breakfast, I saw Shadow eyeing that steak we were saving up in the fridge. I couldn't get a full view, but you should've seen his face! He looked...almost wild, like if I hadn't of said anything he would have torn into that meat like an animal."

"I think it may be one of the side effects of his transformation," Tails explained, "Think about it. The Black Arms are carnivorous race. It would be only natural for Shadow to act the same way if he started becoming one of them, as much as I hate to admit it," he sighed sadly. Sonic rose an eyebrow at this.

"What's going on in that big brain of yours, little buddy?" he asked and waited for a response.

"Earlier this morning, I managed to ger another DNA sample from him, and the results were unlike anything I've ever seen! He told about what happened after the fight, and he suspects that Black Doom is still alive and that he is the one causing this to happen to him. Sonic...I don't think I've ever seen him so scared in my whole life!"

"All the more reason to find him before that alien dirtbag does," his older brother resolved and started calling out his name again. Tails quickly followed his example. A low, barely audible moan reached their eaes, and they followed it to a small clearing.

"Shadow!" they exclaimed and knelt beside him, and Sonic quickly checked his pulse.

"He's alive, just out cold," he answered with a sigh of relief. But then his eyes landed on the bandages that were wrapped around his rival's middle. Green blood was starting to seep through the wraps.

"Tails, his wound has opened back up. We need to get him back home. Now," he ordered and attempted to hoist the unconscious hybrid up and stumbled back in the process, "Woah! Dude, remind me to tell Shads that he's put on some weight since the other day," he grunted playfully, and Tails laughed.

"Knowing Shadow, he might just use that 'extra weight' to pin you to the wall."

"Hey! Don't give him any ideas!" he teased before they ran back to their shared house at a slower pace.

When they arrived, Sonic set his sleeping ally on the couch, while Tails ran to retrieve some fresh bandages. The blue hedgehog momentarily left Shadow to fill a bowl with water. After all of the battles he had been in, he knew that the gash would have to be cleaned before it could be wrapped again. He also grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol, although he was a little scared to try it for fear of Shadow's reaction to it.

Tails came back seconds later with fresh bandages, and the two proceeded to take off the old ones. They both nearly gagged at the sight. The wound didn't look like it had healed much at all, and Sonic guessed it would have to be sewed back.

"Tails, go grab my needle and thread. We're gonna need it," he ordered. While his little brother was out of the room, he took the wet towel and tried to wash away as much of the dried blood as he could. But he couldn't do much else until it was sewed up.

The kit returned and handed the required items to him, and Sonic carefully began to stitch up the jagged gash. It was difficult and slow work. The mark extended from over half his stomach to his right side. Any further left and deeper, and it would have literally sliced the Ultimate Lifeform in half.

When he was finished, the blue hedgehog poured some of the alcohol on to a rag and pressed it to the wound. Shadow jerked and hissed. His claws extended, he swiped at his blue counterpart, dodging his face and eye by a miracle.

"Easy! Easy, Shads! It's okay. I was just disinfecting your cut," he explained. The savage look in his ruby eyes vanished, and he sheethed his claws. It was considered extremely rude and wild to show ones claws or talons in mobian culture, and though he knew little about such things, Shadow understood that rule very well. This, in turn, made him feel extremely embarrassed.

"Yes. Well, thank you..and sorry for, uh...y'know."

The two brothers smiled, and Sonic nodded, "No problem. Trust me, I did the same thing to poor Tails here when he brought me home after a tough fight with Egghead."

Shadow acknowledged his forgiveness before his eyes traveled down to his stitched up side. His burgundy orbs widened in shock. He normally healed in minutes or hours. He had never once required such an operation.

"I think your transformation is interfering with your healing powers," Tails explained. Both brothers looked confused as the obsidian male shook his head.

"Not just transformation. Growth, as he put it. We need to act fast; he's planning something. And I can feel that it's going to be bigger than the invasion," he stated and tried to get up, but he suddenly gripped his core and groaned.

"We will, but first, you need to rest up. If what you say is true, then we'll need everyone at their top performance level, including you," Sonic replied, "I'm going to call the others tomorrow, and talk, if you feel up to it. Only the ones who were with us when we found you."

"Yeah, we don't want your...uh, condition circulating near sensitive ears," Tails finished.

"What about what you said about making something to counteract this?"

The kit looked away for a split second, "I'm almost done. It should be ready by tomorrow. In the mean time, I don't want you leaving the house."

Shadow nodded reluctantly before dozing off on the couch a few seconds later. With last looks of concern, the other two heroes trudged upstairs to catch some much needed sleep.

You will come to me, Shadow the Hedgehog. In time, you will return to your rightful place...