Tails took a sip out of his coffee mug as he typed in another code sequence with his free hand. He had slept for about four hours before deciding to get back to work. Sonic was probably going to kill him in the morning...well later morning..., but he just couldn't help it. When his mind was set on something, nothing could stop him. He yawned as he scanned over the information scrolling down his screen. He was trying to single out and analyze the black "dots" in Shadow's DNA, but for some reason it didn't want to separate from the samples he had been given.

"Must be a permanent bonding," he muttered to himself, "Will probably have to splice it later..."

His eyelids drooped, and he took another sip from his drink to fight off sleep. He was going to figure this out if it killed him. A friend needed him, so a little thing like sleep could wait. He suddenly jolted when the results from his last test finally appeared on the screen, and he had to keep himself from spitting out the lukewarm coffee he just drank.

"Oh man...Shadow's gonna hate this." Or kill me, his sleep-deprived and slightly morbid mind suggested. Yeah that too, he agreed and rubbed a hand over his face. This was definitely not good news. Not. At. All.


The next morning, Sonic woke up early and tiptoed downstairs. Normally, he could sleep in till lunch, but the invasion had definitely messed up his sleeping schedule. A light from the garage suddenly caught his attention, and the blue hedgehog sighed knowingly.

"Tails?" he called as he wandered into the lab, "Hey, little buddy, you in here?"

Sonic crossed his arms with a small smirk at the sight of his younger brother asleep at his desk with an empty coffee mug in one hand. He trotted up to the dozing fox and gently shook him. Tails started and jumped up.

"I'm awake!" he yelled. When everything slowly began to register for him, he glanced up at Sonic sheepishly, "Hehe..Good morning, Sonic."

"Morning, Tails," the azure hero grinned, "What have you been up to all night?"

"Well, I-Oh! I need to get to Shadow!" he exclaimed and ran out of the workshop with a worried Sonic close behind.

The two brothers entered the living room to find Shadow curled up on the couch, his elongated tail wrapped around his shivering form. He appeared to be freezing, even though he had an extremely thick blanket covering him, and the room itself was warm.

"What's wrong with him?" Sonic asked while Tails check his temperature.

"He's ice cold. Shadow! Shadow wake up!" he called and shook the ebony hedge-arm roughly. The fox suddenly cried out in surprise and pain as thick black claws scraped his ear.

"Tails!" Sonic shouted and pulled the kit out of the striped hedgehog's reach.

Shadow groaned and tightened his eyelids before opening them slowly. He sat up and rubbed his head as he tried to piece together why he was awake. But he suddenly felt very anxious when he looked up to find Sonic holding Tails close to him protectively. The kit himself was holding his ear, and Shadow could almost smell the blood trickling from it. The black and crimson hybrid glanced down at his hand to find sturdy, sharp ebony claws protruding from his fingertips, and it all clicked instantly. What have I done?

"Tails," he began slowly and in the carefullest voice he could muster, "Did I?"

The blond fox nodded, but he was handling the situation surprisingly well, "Don't worry, Shadow. It was just a scratch. Nothing major."

"But it could have been," he sighed to himself and slid the heavy blankets off of him, "I should go. I am danger as long as I am here."

"Shadow, wait!" Tails called and wrenched himself out of his older brother's defensive grip, "We brought you here to help you. If I didn't think I could handle it, I wouldn't have agreed to it."

"He's right," Sonic affirmed reluctantly, "But from now on, I think it's best if I wake ya up in the morning, Shads."

The dark hedgehog mulled it over slowly before nodding his head, still surprised that his rival had enough faith in his young charge, "Only with your permission. If something close to this happens again, I will leave."

"Fair enough," Sonic agreed, mentally thinking of all the different ways to keep his little brother and his closest rival safe without any slip-ups, "You can put the claws up now that you're awake, Shads, unless you plan on spearing your breakfast."

After a few seconds and nothing happening, Shadow glanced down at his left hand in worry, "I...can't. They won't retract."

"I thought something like this would happen eventually," Tails stated, keeping one hand on his ear as he scratched his chin with the other, "I need to talk to you about your condition, but first I wanna show you something."

"Shouldn't you bandage that up first?"

The fox easily waved him off, "Nah, I'll do it later. It was just a scratch."

"Still, it looks pretty bad for it to be just that."

"It can wait. I've handled worse," he replied more firmly this time, and neither hedgehog wanted to push it as they entered the fox's cluttered workshop. Tails sat down and booted up his computer while the two hedgehogs crowded around him.

"Shadow," Tails began carefully, "you might wanna brace yourself. I don't have a lot of good news."

Shadow nodded and withheld a sigh. He knew it wouldn't be good. His life had been a living testament of bad news.

"Last night I was up working on something to counteract the effects you've been experiencing lately, and I've been trying to research and expirement on the DNA samples you gave me when I hit a road block. You see, nothing was pumped into your system."

"WHAT!?" Shadow exclaimed, "But that's impossible! I felt it!"

"I'm not doubting you," Tails continued, "But I'm saying that whatever is causing you to change was already in your system, only lying dormant. Doom didn't inject you with anything, except maybe a part of his essence, if that's the right word. In other words, him coming in direct contact with your DNA caused a reaction that woke up the dormant genes that prevented the change from happening."

Shadow lowered his head, eyes glazing over in deep thought. This was natural? What he was becoming had been a part of him from the beginning, all it needed was something to get it started. He clenched his clawed fist, drawing blood from the force. Why did no one tell him this was what he could turn into!?

"But," Tails interjected as he pulled aside a small metal case, "That's not all I have to say. I managed to create a serum that will hold off the effects for several hours, if my calculations are correct."

He opened the case to reveal a set of Epipens filled with a light blue substance. The case only held twelve, but the sheets of paper scattering the kit's defined clearly that he planned to make more.

"These will help slow down the process for eight hours max, so keep them close. I'll make more as soon as I can. Just pop the cap and inject the serum into your thigh or the inside of your elbow. It might hurt, but it's all I have until I can make it into a more easily injested form. Everything is covered, so you won't even see the needle at any time."

Shadow stared at the capsules in wonder. Tails had stayed up all night to make this for him? He didn't know people could be that kind anymore, "Thank you, Tails. I don't know how to repay you."

The orange fox smiled, "No problem, Shadow! Just let me know if you run into any issues. I would advise you to still stay here though, incase there are any side effects I don't know about."

The dark hybrid nodded and cautiously took one of the pens out of the case, inspecting its contents with a sharp, critical eye. Sonic casually glanced over his shoulder to get a better look, only to be pushed away by Shadow's muscular tail.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Test one of those babies out!" the blue blur pushed.

Shadow hesitated for several long seconds, debating whether or not he should go through with it. He slowly used his right hand to open the seal and stiffly lowered it to face his thigh, heart rate skyrocketing to a new level. He closed his eyelids tightly, and in one swift motion he jabbed the pen into his leg.

There was a brief moment of pain before warmth encased his entire body, and for a second he felt almost weightless. His strong legs shook as he crumpled to the floor, his eyes never opening until the sensation stopped. When he finally dared to peak, he checked himself for any changes and released the most genuine smile he had in a long time. His darkling tail had vanished, along with his claws and ravenous appetite. He felt like himself again at last. Sonic and Tails shared happy grins, and the blue blur offered his rival a hand up, which was taken without comment. With both brothers' help, Shadow was able to regain his balance and the feeling in legs.

"How ya feeling, Shads?"

"Normal," he replied breathlessly, "I feel completely as if nothing had ever happened. Fox your a miracle worker."

Tails rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, "Ah, it was nothing. Just remember that it wears off approximately after eight hours, and I'm not sure how the symptoms will come back, so keep these close," he advised as he gave the case with the remaining pins to the black hedgehog, who hmphed in acknowledgement as he secured it within his quills. But before anymore words could be said, there was a loud knock from the front door of the house.

"Well," Sonic huffed, "that would be the team. Ready to go kick some alien butt, Shads?"

"As ready as I'll ever be..."