At the military hospital Dr. Adrian Osaka looked over the charts for his three newest patients. Remembering what had happened last time he had taken the necessary precautions to ensure his staff's safety. But it was the scans they had taken of Sonic that both baffled and worried him. All of the young hedgehog's previous scars from the Highwind were gone as though the tissue had just regenerated all on its own.

Then there were Eric's wounds. When Sagittarius had shattered several of the armor shards had lodged in his body. Normally his abilities would have just healed the wounds but the shards persisted, burning from the inside out. No scan would explain it and he doubted that his friend knew either.

As for Mina... He double-checked his chart. No, Mina was fine. A few bumps and scratches but those would heal quickly. Her worst injuries were the burns on her hands but they were healing quickly; an impressive feat for third degree burns.

"You three have no idea how fortunate you..." he said as he walked into their shared room, stopping when he saw quite the spectacle. Both Sonic and Eric were working their way through a tray of chili dogs and both had one sticking out of their mouth mid-scarf. Sonic was double-fisting them while his father was going one-at-a-time no thanks to the bandages on his left hand. Mina was also staring but with half of a steak hanging from her mouth. "There are so many things wrong here but I don't know where to begin." Sonic tilted his head back and the chili dog slid into his stomach with ease.

"Shouldn't this be a normal sight for you by now, doc?" he asked, licking his fingers clean. "At this point it's just combining my two most common activities: you looking after my injuries and eating chili dogs."

"Yeah, this does seem like something we've been through before," Eric reminded him. "Although I have to say that I'm more impressed with Mina right now than I ever have been." Mina replied with something unintelligible through the steak before biting off a smaller portion. "Actually never mind that thought."

"What? I'm hungry and all you two are eating are...are..." she said, struggling to find the right words for the chili dogs.

"The single most delicious thing on the planet?" Sonic offered before scarfing down two simultaneously. "'Cuz I gotta say these are far from it but better than nothing."

"I meant more for the way she handled herself out there today," Eric continued, rolling his eyes at his son. "Like a real Guardian."

"I had just a little bit of help from Volcarras," she admitted blushing. "He's more used to fighting than I ever will be." They all turned to Sonic who was once again downing chili dogs. "How are you holding up?"

"You mean after I transformed," he said quietly as he set one of the dogs down. "I remember refusing to let that thing hurt you when..." Kuroc had offered him power and he'd taken it, not knowing that the hoshoku-sha would try and take control again. It had taken all of his mental strength to fend him off but had finally won out over his hoshoku-sha and claimed a large chunk of his power for himself. "Regardless, it's dead now and that's the end of it."

"The President is going to want to know what happened," Eric pointed out.

"I bought you a little time to gather your thoughts before that," Dr. Osaka said with a smirk. "Told him the three of you were still out. He still wants a debriefing on not only this but what really happened on the Highwind. He thinks that the two are related."

"Knowing what happened there would answer a lot of my questions too," Eric said glancing at Sonic. "That thing seemed terrified of your hoshoku-sha form but it's not like I can blame it. It was like it had seen it before."

"I don't know the extent but I transformed on the Highwind," Sonic explained as he remembered what he'd wanted to ask his father. "I've had a lot of time to think about everything that's happened ever since I got to Xenodome and there was one thing Cidana said that helped me put the pieces together. She mentioned that all she'd had to work with were one-tailed Mobians but that Mina and I were something new." He glared at his father. "She wasn't the first to bring it up. Mogul did too. Add to it that I should've gone ochita by now and I'm still normal." Mina rolled her eyes causing Eric and Dr. Osaka to snicker. "You know what I mean. The way everything adds up it would mean that I'm a Magan but I was only born with one tail. Tell me the truth." Eric looked at Dr. Osaka, the mirth gone from both their faces.

"I guess it's about time you knew," the elder hedgehog admitted. "You weren't born as a Mobian, son. You were born as a Magan." Sonic's eyes only widened slightly. "As for the one tail, well..."

"You never knew King Max when he was younger," Dr. Osaka continued. "Most Mobians have an inborn hatred and fear of Magans. Max was no different. If he hadn't been there at your birth then you would have remained a Magan."

"What do you mean 'remained a Magan'?" Sonic asked, his temper starting to rise. "What happened?"

"You were born with three tails and I asked that two of them be removed," Eric said. "At a young age a Magan can become a Mobian if all but one tail is removed. You have to understand, Sonic. If I hadn't then Max would have had you put to death. When you were resurrected your body must have reverted back to its original form."

"Meaning Magan, right?" Sonic asked and his father nodded. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"There's no way to reverse the process," Eric answered. "And I was hoping that you might get the chance to live a normal life. If I had known what it would lead to..."

"I probably would've been some kinda freak to the Freedom Fighters," Sonic said much to everyone's surprise. "All I really had back then was my speed. I'll be the first to admit that I can think on my feet but I'm far from the sharpest crayon in the box. If I'd know what I was capable of I might've let the power go to my head rather than having to hold it back."

"Sounds to me like your father did you a favor," Mina commented as she continued to work on her steak. "Of course that also means that he's indirectly responsible for you dying."

"Nah, that was all me," Sonic said as his mood lifted. "You know me: reckless and crazy to a fault."

"Speaking of reckless I guess I can tell you now," Eric said as he checked the messages on his phone. "President McElroy just sent me the heads up that your appointment went through. From here out you'll be my second-in-command, Lt. Commander Sonic."

"They still want me?" Sonic asked incredulously. "Even after everything that's happened?"

"The President thinks that you'll be an asset and I'm inclined to agree," Eric answered. "Once we're patched up we'll get the paperwork and get you settled in." He turned to Mina next. "How about you? What's your plan from here on out?"

"Ash and I haven't been seeing eye-to-eye ever since I got out of St. Claire's," she admitted. "Just before the Festival we decided that now would be a good time for the band to take a break." She downed the last of the steak before saying, "It also means that I don't have a place to stay. I was staying with a friend in the city but she's moving to Station Square this week."

"You can crash with me," Sonic offered as Eric and Dr. Osaka stared at him. "What? I've got two guest rooms in the house and Mina's free to take the free one as long as she wants or until something better comes up."

"And Fiona?" Eric asked coyly.

"What about her?"

"Isn't she going to have something to say about your new roommate?" Dr. Osaka asked smirking.

"Fiona just signed a lease on her own place now, just so you know," Sonic told them. "She's still in the process of moving out right now."

"Thanks, Sonic," Mina said before either of the men could comment. "And while I'm living there you can help me learn to use my abilities a bit better."

Dr. Osaka's board lit up, alerting him to a new patient. He excused himself and went to the surgical wing where a rather large human was lying a gurney, bloody gashes across his corpse. The only important detail he could see on the chart was that the man had been living up north. A closer look at the wounds revealed something that made the doctor shiver: sorceric runes. They were inscribed on his skin like tattoos and to anyone else would have simply remained as such. Naugus had told him of someone that was capable of this kind of sorcery but he had just chalked it up to legend. Now it seemed that the legend was true:

Ixis Nepta had begun to feed once more.