Whatever it was that stood before Shadow right now, it wasn't Sonic. Not in any normal sense. The red shoes were still there, but the hedgehog's fur had turned a darker blue, almost navy. His quills had grown longer, shaggier, sharper-looking, his build was stockier, and his posture had shifted slightly forward, as if he longed to walk on all fours. Something about his face had changed; it was narrower and longer, with something unmistakably cruel in the darkening of the eyes. Bloodshot veins lined the edges of his eyeballs, his ears were laid sharply back, his fangs bared, and on every fingertip sprouted a long, thin, dagger-like claw.

As Shadow stood and stared silently at this abomination, it began to look troubled, eyeing him up and down. Suddenly one of the clawed hands flashed through the air, and the sharp nails sank into the front of Shadow's shoulder. Reflexively he fired a Chaos Spear at him—it—whatever-it-was. The Chaos energy was enough to knock a normal Mobian out, but whatever-it-was merely stumbled back slightly, snarling.

Again the claws drove forward, this time stabbing for Shadow's face. He knocked them aside and kicked Sonic back, charging a Chaos Spear warningly in one hand.

Sonic's transformation seemed to have cost him some speed, but he could still dodge energy bolts plenty fast enough. He and Shadow circled around each other menacingly, lunging, attacking, parrying, dodging. Shadow hardly held back on the force of his Chaos Spears, but he didn't have to; they seemed to have little to no effect on this creature.

Meanwhile, he quickly realized that something was strange about Sonic's fighting method. Those claws could have ripped Shadow open in an instant if they were used properly, but instead of slashing and swiping, Sonic merely stabbed, over and over. It was not very effective, and he seemed to be growing more and more frustrated with time, bordering on desperate.

Grateful that he was still holding the green and cyan Chaos Emeralds for power, Shadow fired off another spear. It struck, but again did little more than toss Sonic back slightly. Again the claws came plunging towards Shadow's eyeline, this time from both hands. Gritting his teeth, he threw up his arms to block and let the sharp points catch the back of his forearm. He twisted free quickly, managed to seize Sonic's fingers for just the slightest moment, and forced them upwards so he could see them.

Sure enough, the tips of the claws were hollow, brimming with a clear yellowish liquid.

Several things fell into place at once. There was no time to waste. Shadow pushed a snarling Sonic back, drove a Chaos Spear into his chest for good measure, and shouted "Chaos Control!" Just as he winked out of existence, he heard a strangled roar of rage from the creature he had been fighting.

Silver gave a startled cry as Shadow suddenly materialized in the campsite, still bleeding from some of his puncture wounds. Luckily, none of them were severe enough to cause him to leave any body parts behind while Chaos Controlling; most of them were even starting to heal over, in the general Ultimate fashion.

"What the—Shadow, what happened?!" called Silver, jumping down from his guard perch.

Ignoring all inquiries, Shadow lunged over to the paralyzed Mobians and tumbled Knuckles over, ripping off the tent-canvas sling they had put around the echidna. Crouching, he began to rapidly examine the underside of Knuckles' chin and arms, the back of his head, the skin under the cuff of his glove.

"What are you doing?" demanded Silver, as Omega eyed this strange spectacle dubiously. Shadow merely gave a short sharp "Ah!" of satisfaction as he found what he was looking for, inside the cuff of Knuckles' sock. Swiftly he moved on to Rouge, and began examining the backs of her ears.

Silver and Omega looked at each other, wondering if the stress had actually caused Shadow to snap. Cautiously, Silver edged over to Knuckles and rolled back the top of the sock, wondering if he'd see anything. His eyes widened—there were four small, neat punctures, side-by-side in the skin that the sock used to cover.

"All of them," announced Shadow, plunking down and surveying the unconscious Mobians darkly. "They're all marked like that, all in places where you wouldn't notice the wound—Amy under her quills, Tails under the chest-ruff, Blaze by that fluffy cuff on her wrist. Only Espio has a visible wound—he must have tried to fight back, and it had to slash wherever it could."

"'It'? What?" asked Silver, tensing. "What's been attacking them?"

"Sonic."

Silver stared at him blankly.

"Something's happened to him," said Shadow, nodding back into the woods. "He can transform into some kind of horrific monster at will, and he's apparently been sneaking up and attacking everyone who's left alone. He even faked his own kidnapping."

"But why?"

"You tell me." Shadow's ears twitched up suddenly, and his head turned towards some distant sound that Silver could not yet hear.

"It's coming," he said tersely, clambering to his feet. "Probably trying to find me. Omega, don't shoot, we can't kill it. It still is Sonic, I think."

"But—" Silver choked off as Sonic, still in his monstrous transformation, came bursting from the woods. Despite the order not to fire, Omega's gatling guns clicked sharply into place, his arm snapping into a ready position.

For a moment all was silent. The breeze humming through the pine needles became suddenly loud, and the whistling of distant birds mixed strangely with Sonic's grating breath. Silver stood frozen in utter disbelief, his hands paused halfway to a defensive position, while Shadow narrowed his eyes in challenge, daring this fiendish version of Sonic to make a move.

It did. Straight for Silver. Crying out, Silver seized the creature with his psychokinesis and hurled it back against a tree. Groaning, it shook out its head and snarled, staggering to its feet. Silver was about to repeat the treatment when Shadow suddenly lunged in a blur of motion, grabbed Silver by the wrist, and took off.

"Wh-wha—hey! HEY!" protested Silver, stumbling as Shadow's much faster pace forced him into a blinding run.

"Omega, standby, guard them!" Shadow bellowed over his shoulder, as Sonic launched himself after the two fleeing hedgehogs.

"What's going on?! Why are we running away?" snapped Silver, trying to shake his arm free. "We have to fight that thing!"

"No, we have to lead it back to civilization before we knock it out!" Shadow growled, his eyes fixed ahead as he wove swiftly between the trees. "We need to run tests on that stuff coming from his claws, that's what causes the shock reaction."

Silver finally yanked free, tripped, and tumbled smoothly into the air, his psychokinesis activating with a sharp electronic-sounding wail.

"But what if—"

"Look out!" barked Shadow, shoving Silver off to one side just before a dagger-sharp handful of claws swiped millimeters away from his leg. "Don't let him stab you! I'm immune, but I doubt you'd be. Pick up the pace!"

Silver boosted ahead grimly as the tails of flame on Shadow's jet skates lengthened, hissing sparks and kicking up sprays of pine needles. Twigs slapped and scratched at both of them as they shot ahead, ever faster, dodging trees blindly, listening to the snarls and crashes of the monster plowing through the underbrush behind them.

"It's going to be rough," warned Shadow abruptly. "We're dealing with a deranged version of Sonic that's vicious, cunning, and immune to my Chaos attacks, we're dealing with what it's done to everyone else, and that's not even counting whatever it was that turned Sonic into that in the first place. It could do the same to us." His gaze flicked to Silver sharply. "Are you frightened?"

Silver winced, but found he couldn't lie under Shadow's blood-red scrutiny.

"Yes."

"Hmh." Shadow turned his attention back to the path before them. "Not nearly frightened enough."

Silver bit his lip and glanced back silently. Then he looked back to Shadow, uneasy.

". . . What if he changes his mind about chasing us? What if he goes back to the others?"

"Don't worry," muttered Shadow. "Now that we've seen his transformation and lived to talk about it, he'll follow us to Tartarus and back."