Chapter Text
‘Green Hills, Earth. G.U.N Agency. Present Day.’
Agent Walters had been in the room and stared in horror as Sonic transformed from his normal state of light blue to an indigo, demon-like appearance swirling in deathly fog. He was shaking in his shoes! He knew he had a job to do but wasn’t sure he could complete it until he saw Sonic fall on all fours, gasping. Now was his chance. Walters ran forward, grabbed the baby hedgehog from the bed and scampered out the door. His mission was nearly complete.
*
Sonic, though drained from energy and wanting to collapse himself, quickly tried to get up but was thrown off guard by a sudden groan from Shadow.
“Shadow?” Sonic paused, grabbing his hand. Shadow was more than panting, he was coiled over, fists clenched, black blood seeping from him. He was struggling to stay alive. “Shadow, hold on baby, you’ll make it! Everything is gonna be ok.” Sonic tightened his grip and brought himself closer in. Tears began forming in his eyes, Sonic couldn’t help it. He just saw Walters run off with their kid but he couldn’t leave Shadow, he couldn’t just leave him to die. Sonic was torn.
Suddenly he felt Shadow’s hand grab his neck. Sonic looked up. Shadow gripped tightly as his body cringed in pain and he pulled Sonic closer. Determination flooded his blood red eyes. “I’ll live. Get our kid back!” He coughed before collapsing again. The heart monitor was irregular and Shadow’s breathing was faint. Sonic bit his lip then took a deep breath.
“Do not let him die!” Sonic demanded, pointing to all the nurses in the hall as he ran from the room. They nodded vigorously, no one had ever seen Sonic look so emotional.
Taking a deep breath Sonic darted after Agent Walters. It was cold, silent, and dark. He had waited too long and didn’t know his way around GUN headquarters like Shadow did. Jumping from room to room he desperately tried to find where they went but there was no sign of Agent Walters or the baby, until…Sonic suddenly heard a crying. He screeched to a halt, flexing his ears in every direction to try and find the location. It was coming from below him.
Normally he’d just do a spin roll and smash his way down but he didn’t want to risk hurting their baby. The crying was fading. Desperately he slammed his ears to the floor and followed the sound like a cat tracking rat. They were headed towards the East Wing. The crying faded. Panic stricken he looked around him. Ahead was a stair case. Running on instinct He smashed into it and tried to catch any noises or clues that could lead him closer to his goal. It presented himself in plain sight when he got to the East Wing’s second floor, “Testing Station, Stay Out.”
Angrily Sonic broke down the door and dramatically entered, only to stop dead in his tracks. He gasped, nearly choking at what he saw. The room was one giant computer. A machine, covered in large bunches of colorful metal tubes and buttons all connected to a large, metal ring in the center of the room. And in the center of that ring, surrounded by purple lightning and enclosed in a transparent orange star-shaped cocoon, was a baby hedgehog.
“What the fuck?” Sonic yelled, ready to attack. This was horrific! What were they doing to their kid?
“Wh-wait now, Sonic.” Agent Walters stuttered. “It’s not what it looks like!”
“I see you electrocuting my kid!” Sonic yelled, “and that is not gonna happen on my watch!” Sonic tried to rush in and sabotage the machinery, in hopes of getting the baby out but he was punched in the stomach before even getting close.
He flew back through the broken door and slammed into the staircase wall. Sliding back into position of attack he hesitated as he realized that in front of him was the silhouette of a very familiar friend.
“He’s not lying.” Tails said, stepping out into the staircase hall.
“Tails?” Sonic mumbled, feeling betrayed. How could he do this to his kid?
“He’s not lying.” Tails beckoned for Sonic to come back in. “He’s not lying.”
“What are you doing here? And what are you talking about? And how do you know that?” Sonic demanded, rubbing his stomach. Tails must have hit him hard; he’d be the only one fast enough to counter him who wasn’t dying two floors above. Tails took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry, Sonic.” He replied. “But I suspected something like this would happen. I mean, your abilities are inconceivable! And if your DNA was paired with his, Shadow’s, which it has been,” He pointed out, “-then the results are…” He trailed off. “I was unable to come up with the results, until now.” He gestured to Sonic’s baby.
“What is going on?” Sonic yelled, “He’s being electrocuted!”
“Actually,” Tails replied, “That’s his own chaos energy that he seems to be projecting without control or from any known source except within him.” Tails began playing with the machinery. “That orange cocoon surrounding him is in the shape of Doom’s Eye, meaning he clearly inherited some of Black Doom’s genetics, leading to unknown possible abilities since Shadow was partially created from him.” Sonic was getting the creeps. “If you’ll note,” Tails pointed to a monitor above him. It was going haywire like a heart-attack. “-his energies also seem to be very unstable, like a bomb. He needs to stay on some sort of life support, similar to the bio-lizard that Shadow’s DNA comes from. Otherwise, the results could be anything from he just looses his powers to he blows up the universe.”
“I want him back, Tails.” Sonic demanded, getting in position to attack. He didn’t care how close a friend Tails was, his child was more important and he wasn’t going to let him be locked away like Shadow was for eternity in an experiment facility.
“Well, it looks like he has a little of your blue chaos in him too, Sonic.” Tails noted, pointing to a different monitor. It wasn’t even a monitor, it was a small glass ball containing two streaks of lightning, one blue and one green. Sonic felt his heart sink to his stomach. “Yes…” Tails continued. “So since you didn’t mention this little detail, or think about it before having a kid,” Tails glared at Sonic. “-I have to figure out a way to save the multiverse from utter-destruction.”
“It’s not like that!” Sonic growled, fists clenched. No one ever believed him and Sonic couldn’t understand why no one would listen to the truth.
“Look, all I ask is you give me 24-hours or so to see if I can figure out how to stop this, this energy from destroying not only your kid, but the Multiverse. Then I swear to return him to you.” Sonic felt like there was not much choice in the matter. He could break him out now, but Tails doesn’t lie, and that…the energy surrounding his kid looked like a mix of Super Sonic EXE with Super Black Doom.
“Ok, but I’m not leaving this room.” Sonic argued. Tails nodded and began to study the charts while Sonic leaned up against the wall in the corner, hoping Shadow was ok.
*****
‘Zone Jail, No-Zone Dimension. 12 years ago.’
The Head Cop office was large with a sleek floor and the place smelled like cleaning fluids. Books lined the walls and huge windows opened up to see all of the beautiful parts of the No-Zone. In the center was a shiny, metal desk. Seated behind was a large man who looked very similar to-
“Doctor!” Dark Sonic gasped. His mustache, his bald head, it was him! His glasses had changed as well as his attire, but it was him alright! Anger flared through Dark Sonic and despite having the collar, he felt power in his limbs.
“You bastard!” He yelled. The guard behind him grabbed his cuffs but Dark Sonic kicked him away, bouncing off the guard like a trampoline and spin-diving strait into the desk. Not enough power to break it and with his hands behind him he slid on his knees along the metal surface, smashing into the man and pinning him down between his legs.
“You bastard!” He repeated, the flare in his stomach causing his strength to rise but he still couldn’t break the cuffs. The Cops were running but his speed was close to that of a Sonic without a collar, Dark Sonic had the man trapped before they took 3 steps. “You destroyed it! Everything!”
“I’m not any doctor, Sonic!” The man yelled, trying to throw Dark Sonic off him but Dark Sonic had attached himself tightly to the man’s upper body, pinning his arms down between his thighs. “My name is Warden Robotnik, I run the Zone Jail.”
The cops had finally managed to catch up to the Dark Blue Blur and they pulled him off the Warden. Dark Sonic went limp. He felt foolish and once again, defeated. This man must be like one of those Sonic’s in the jail cell, a duplicate. He should have realized that. He did look different.
“How did you do that?” A Cop asked, clearly amazed.
“Let me go!” Dark Sonic cried. The Cop hesitated. Dark Sonic felt weak and the weight of the artificial gravity was hurting his arms as he hung with his hands cuffed behind his back. “What do you want me to do, scream Uncle?” The Cops laughed but still didn’t release him. “Uncle! Uncle!” Dark Sonic yelled, childishly. His energy felt like it depleted almost entirely. The Warden nodded and they dropped him.
“Well, that was quite a show!” The Warden said, dusting himself off. Dark Sonic didn’t get up. He felt so humiliated that he just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. “All we want is to know what happened to the Master Sapphire.” The Warden stated. Dark Sonic rolled over and stared at the ceiling. He felt numb. There was nothing he could do now. He failed.
“It was destroyed.” Dark Sonic mumbled. A noise near the door made Dark Sonic sit up. A small blue hedgehog, another Sonic, wearing modern armor with high tech gadgets similar, but more authoritative appearing, rushed into the office.
“Sorry to be late, Sir, I was-“
“All is well, Officer Zonic.” The Warden said, calmly.
“How many of me are there?” Dark Sonic asked, surprised in seeing yet another Sonic-like being.
“Infinite.” Zonic replied, simply.
“You missed a good show!” The Cop above Dark Sonic laughed. Dark Sonic stood up, he already felt weak, he didn’t need to feel lame too. Officer Zonic circled Dark Sonic, examining him. “So it’s said you are the last survivor of the Sapphire Zone. Am I correct?”
“Well…” Dark Sonic wasn’t sure how to put it. “I mean it’s still there, from what I saw last. It’s just, a purge planet now.” His heart sank to his stomach as he realized he was the only one not suffering the virus of the broken crystal.
“Is there anyway to help those still down there?”
“NO!” Dark Sonic shouted, not meaning to. “I mean, everyone is infected with the Sapphire Chaos! It will risk the destruction of the entire multiverse!”
“Hmmm…” Zonic looked suspiciously at Dark Sonic. “Why are you able to pass through the rift?” Dark Sonic was still trying to figure that out himself but he knew it had something to do with the collar and not being on Mobius when the Sapphire broke.
“I wasn’t infected.” Dark Sonic replied, thinking it through. “I mean, I was born in the Sapphire Zone, but wasn’t infected by the virus. I only have the Sapphire Zone gene. This collar had something to do with it. Not sure what. But keep the rift closed and the Multiverse is safe from the virus infecting anyone.” Officer Zonic was not convinced.
“Go give it a check. If Agent Zerculine could get in and out safely, there’s no reason that he can’t again and I want to make sure that what he says is true.”
“NO, you don’t understand! The chaos of that Zone won’t clash with this one and it will cause havoc on us all. The entire multiverse will be torn apart.” Dark Sonic’s panic meter began to rise. “It’s a virus! It will infect you, destroy you!” The Cops began to drag him away.
“We have gear to protect us from any bacterial or non-bacterial diseases and allergies.”
“You don’t get it.”Dark Sonic argued. “If you go there, everything you loved and enjoyed will be lost and you’ll find yourself left with nothing but misery and hate to brew on.” Silence was in the room for a moment.
“Where is the Sapphire?” Zonic asked.
“It’s nothing but shards now.” Dark Sonic felt himself going limp again as he realized his failure. “The Doctor crushed it, releasing its’ chaos to Sapphire Mobius.”
“And you don’t have any of the shards with you?” Zonic hinted.
“What? No!” Dark Sonic felt his muscles tensing again. “I am head of the Royal Family of Hedgehogs! I would never do anything to hurt the people!” Sonic raged. “That is why I’m trying to get you to stay out!”
“Why are you dark indigo blue, and where are your pupils? How can you see?” Zonic asked, circling Dark Sonic, examining him again. “You look like Sonic Prime when he’s been around too many fake emeralds.”
“It’s just how the Darkness works!” Sonic explained, getting annoyed. “The Master Sapphire was filled with dark properties, known as the Darkness. It’s what our chaos was made of and to use it to its’ full power you need full control over your emotions and it turns your fur dark. Only us Royals could use its' Master Powers.”
“Search him!” Warden Robotnik called from the behind the desk. The guard holding Dark Sonic’s shackles began to ruffle his quill pockets, sending goosebumps up Dark Sonic’s spine. It was uncomfortable, but he bit his lip and stuck it out. He’d prove he had nothing to hide.
“What’s this?” The guard asked, pulling out the journal The Sage gave him.
“A gift from a dying, now dead, friend.” Dark Sonic replied, heart sinking as he stared at the little book. He recalled the small, orange, two tailed fox known as “Sage.” He remembered it was only hours ago his closest friend, lay on the grass, with blood soaking his robes. He handed him the little book, their one key to the world beyond the Sapphire Zone.
“You got this.” Were Sage’s last words to him before-
Horrible memories from the last 24 hours began to form and Dark Sonic’s mind and he felt his misery causing his anger to rise as The Warden sifted through the little journal.
“Give it back!” Dark Sonic screamed.
“This shows a basic map of the Cosmic Interstate!” The Warden stated, gently flipping through it. “And lists some of our most important and known dimensions, how’d you get this?”
“It was a gift! Now give it back!”
“You said you’re from the line of Royals?”
“Scourge called him Dark Prince I think.” The Cop behind him stated.
“Well, Dark Prince of Sapphire Mobius,” The Warden laughed, "you aren’t going anywhere for a while as you are a convicted, inter-dimensional felon now.” Dark Sonic felt unhinged and the Darkness inside him was growing again.
“What?”
“Well, from the information we’ve gathered and what Officer Zerculine saw, I can only assume you blew up the Sapphire yourself and since the Sapphire Chaos energy is in you, you’re a danger to the Multiverse.” Dark Sonic felt betrayed. Had they not heard a word he said? It wasn’t his fault! “Tootaloo for now!”
“No! You don’t understand!” Dark Sonic cried as they pulled him away. “It’s not like that! It’s not like that!”
*****
‘Green Hills, Earth. G.U.N. Agency. Present Day.’
Not even a minute had passed before Sonic was already tapping his foot. Tails, irritated at his impatience, suggested he sit down. Sonic did so for about 3 minutes while watching the clock, then he got up and began pacing, unable to stay still.
“Look, I know you’re worried about more than one hedgehog in this building.” Tails implied. “Why don’t you go check on Shadow? You can come back at any time.”
“Oh, no-” Sonic argued, “I said I’d stay and so I will.” He sat down again.
“What do you think I’m going to do, Sonic?” Tails asked. “We’ve been friends most of our lives, I think.” He noted, darkly. “You’re a big bro to me. I’m not going to hurt your kid. I’m here to save him.”
“How’d you even know Shadow was giving birth today?” Sonic asked, realizing that he hadn’t actually called Tails, or anyone for that matter in all the excitement.
“I’ve been down here since Shadow’s last ultra-sound test.” Sonic blinked.
“What?”
“Well, I did it for you guys and when I saw the results it made me realize that, oh chaos, you are going to be combining the two most powerful beings in the universe in one body. So I needed to do research on how to cope with that if something went wrong.”
“I know I’m great and all, but we’re not the most powerful things out there.” Sonic jested, letting his face coil into a weak smile for the first time in 29 hours.
“I may argue that after what I’ve discovered.” Tails replied, mysteriously. Sonic’s smile quickly faded.
“What research did you do? I thought that’s what you’re doing now!” Sonic was frustrated again. He wanted to get his baby to Shadow.
“I had to do research on your backgrounds.” Tails stated, pulling out a file. “I needed to find what genetics this kid could have, starting with ancestry.” Tails eyed Sonic. “And as for you, oh great Dark Prince of Sapphire Mobius,” Sonic snarled at him. That was a part of Sonic’s life he hadn’t told anyone since he came here. Especially since…Sonic clenched his fists. Angrily Tails slammed the paperwork on the floor. “Were you ever going to admit the truth of your existence to me?”
“I’m not a prince!” Sonic crossed his arms and tried to act cool but his stomach was turning. “You’ve got me mixed up with some other Sonic.”
“Really? You think I’d make a mistake like this?” Tails swooped up the files and slammed them in Sonics face. Sonic couldn’t get himself to look at them. He turned away, chills ran through his quills as memories he’d blocked from his mind tried to worm their way into his brain. Rubbing his neck he turned away, his face turning red from shame. Tails lowered the files. “The point is-“ he continued, taking a breath. “It is that this child has royalty from not only Shadow’s side, since Black Doom was ruler of the Black Comet, but also from you.” He fished through his files further. “The chaos power that comes from your original dimension, Sonic, does not connect to the chaos energy in ours, or any other, dimension.” Tails looked up. “You’re adaptation to the Master Emerald is something to study-“ Tails stopped as Sonic looked ready to smash him into the wall. Tails cleared his throat, “-to study another time.”
“I’m not a Dark Prince.” Sonic repeated, fire burning in his stomach. “What does it matter anyway? How will any history on that help get my kid get out of there? Especially since all you vermin believe are rumors.” Sonic could tell immediately he had gone too far on that one. The atmosphere was bringing out the dark blue in him. It was the Darkness; the seal was broken. He’d never say something like that. Tails looked very hurt. Sonic gulped, unsure how to apologize in a situation like this. Tails took a deep breath, clearly putting the insult aside. Sonic was grateful.
“Well,” Tails jumped over to the computer and showed an x-ray like photo of purple lightning running through the child’s body. “See how the energy is flowing and clashing randomly throughout the body but is largest in the chest?”
Sonic felt queasy. He looked like he was being electrocuted. Tails rolled his eyes.
“This is a scan of how the chaos energy in his body is flowing. Since he has unlimited amounts of it, and not natural to the Multiverse at that, the question is how to help him control it or keep him under control.”
“H-how are you concealing it now?” Sonic asked, staring at his baby, not sure what to think of the situation.
“I have him on an energy radiation inhibitor machine.” Tails boasted. “It allows the energy he produces to flow at a consistent pace and then redirects it back into the body like an infinite circle. Without it his body will just constantly produce more and more energy eventually destroying everything as it causes chaos without control. But since my radiation machine prevents it from continuously producing more energy, we’re currently safe.”
“This sounds like a job for those inhibitor ring things, don’t you think?” Sonic commented.
“You’d think, but they won’t be powerful enough to contain what’s in him. My machine is similar to an inhibitor collar only with about 10-times more power.” Sonic rubbed his neck. Tails walked over to a digital sketch book and held it up for Sonic to see. “I’m looking for a cure so he can go skipping around with you. Just give me a little time.” Sonic looked longingly up at his baby trapped in the jumble of electricity. If he didn’t feel horrible before, he did now. He was a wanted fugitive across the Multiverse and never told anyone, even though they trusted him, he was excited to start a family with Shadow not even giving it a second thought to how his past may effect their life, and now, now this baby may be stuck in here forever?
“It’s not all your fault.” Tails said, reading his mind. Sonic looked over at him. “Black Doom is also its own form of energy that is unknown except what Dr. Robotnik wrote down and what Shadow experienced. So there really is very little to go on. Shadow’s ability of chaos control varies deeply and is ever changing unless he keeps his rings on. That’s also another problem I will have to deal with here.” Sonic’s stomach turned. Shadow…his mind had completely forgotten that shadow was dying last time he saw him.
“There’s nothing you can do here to help, Sonic.” Tails said, examining the charts. He looked up at Sonic. “Unless you want to give me more about this Dark History of yours.”
“I’m not a Dark Prince.” Sonic repeated. “I-I was king.” He stuttered. “And I’m not a Dark being or anything, it’s just how the Sapphire…” Sonic paused. “The Master Sapphire’s chaos power was known as the Darkness. It consumed you, it would possess you, so you had to know how to handle it. The Master Sapphire was a beacon of hope for our kingdom. It sucked all the negativity in the atmosphere keeping our world positive. The negative energy was converted to chaos energy inside the crystal and held there. Only Royals could use that power, the dark chaos. It made your fur turn dark indigo or grey instead of gold.” Chills ran through Sonic’s spine and he cringed. The sweaty room felt like it was filled with frozen fog as the cold began to stir inside him. Tails watched the glass ball in awe as the blue lightning began to swirl around the green instead of clash with it. “The Hedgehog Family were the sacred guardians of it and we were considered Royalty. My father, the king, was consumed by the Darkness when I was just a kid and they all shoved the crown on my head. I was just a child and I failed the crown, ok? I failed my purpose!” Sonic’s stomach turned, shame taking over. His muscles tensed, and he felt his air passage closing as anxiety rose. He gripped his arms and saw his fur darkening. He managed to hold back tears but he felt the pain of the energies clashing. He broke the seal when helping Shadow. Could he close it again? A warm hand touched his shoulder.
“Despite what I learned about you, I still respect you and all we’ve gone through together.” Sonic still couldn’t look at Tails. “I wouldn’t do anything to harm either of you.” Sonic gripped his arms tightly, anxiety slowly fading. His fur lightened.
“I have always tried to help.” Sonic knew he could never live with himself if he ever failed again. No matter how small or large the task, he would do anything to help. Tails squeezed his shoulder.
“Go check on Shadow. Come back whenever you want.” Sonic took a deep breath and nodded. Then, taking one last look at his baby floating in clouds of lightning chaos, he shot back upstairs to see how Shadow was.
****
‘Zone Jail, No-Zone Dimension. 12 years ago.’
Dark Sonic lay on the lumpy, sheet-less mattress that was to be his home for the rest of his life. His body ached. They’d pruned his quills and put strange cuffs around his wrists, claiming they were just a precaution to the strange incident in the Warden’s office earlier where he seemed to be almost immune to the inhibitor collar. Dark Sonic rubbed the itchy collar on his neck; confused.
He was unsure why he could even be in this universe. Why had he not been torn to pieces yet? Anyone born within the Sapphire Zone cannot make contact with the Multiverse past the Barrier Rift. It is known to all that The Sapphire Chaos cannot combine with the energy from the Emerald Chaos, which is the base energy to all chaos in the Multiverse besides the Sapphire Zone. He went over everything that had happened. When he first was pulled from the Sapphire Zone onto the Cosmic Interstate, he felt like he was being electrocuted, torn to shreds. Then the collar came on and he felt fine. Just tired. Dark Sonic began to pace.
“Will you lay down already?” Scourge growled from the top bunk.
“How do these collars work?” Dark Sonic asked.
“How the hell should I know?” Scourge stated, angrily. “If I knew that, I’d find a way out of here, don’t you think?”
“The other Sonic,” Dark Sonic implied. “He said something about them stopping powers from being used.”
“They tune into your chaos energy, I think, I guess, suck it out of you or something, maybe.” Scourge jumped down. “But it doesn’t matter, because if you’ve noted-“ He grabbed Dark Sonic’s collar and tugged, causing him to choke. “They aren’t coming off” Scourge eyed the cuffs. “Looks like you have some Chaos Cuffs on you.” He dropped Dark Sonic.
“What are they?” Dark Sonic asked. “They added them when they pruned my quills.” Scourge scoffed.
“Hurts doesn’t it?” Dark Sonic nodded. “You get used to it, at least, you better. Cause they do it about once a week.” Fear gripped Dark Sonic and anxiety kicked in. He truly was trapped and hundreds of creatures, Mobians, people, surrounded him. He felt his body start to shake. He was the last of the Sapphire Zone and if the collar ever came off, well, then maybe the emerald chaos energy could be contaminated! Scourge watched as the color drained from his face and his fur began to darken.
“Hey, it’s not that bad,” Scourge laughed, darkly, getting nervous himself at Dark Sonic’s reaction. “The pain goes away quickly.”
“I gotta get out of here.” Dark Sonic mumbled. He felt pathetic. The guards humiliated him, his royal quills were pruned, and his armor was locked away making him feel naked, even with the jail uniform. He’d failed his purpose, his journal, the last treasure from his dearest friend, was in the hands of a duplicate Doctor! Dark Sonic’s body tensed up, he felt the Darkness coursing though him, it was rushing in his veins like a violent river after a storm.
“What the-?” Scourge stated, backing away as he watched Dark Sonic begin to glow. Instantly the cuffs turned red, lighting up like an alarm. Scourge clapped his hands at Dark Sonic. “Snap out of it!” He yelled. Dark Sonic quickly felt himself shaken out of his state of panic and he got a hold of himself, shaking the dizziness out of his head.
“What the hell was that?” Scourge demanded. Dark Sonic tried to think of an answer, but a guard suddenly came around the corner.
“There any energies being used? Conflict or something?” The guard stated, looking at the two. Dark Sonic looked pleadingly at Scourge, desperate he not tell the guards. If he did who knows what they’d do to him next.
“Nothing, this jerk stole my pillow, that’s all.” Scourge mumbled, snatching Dark Sonic’s pillow.
“Awe, did the Snot King loose his pillow?” The guard chuckled. Scourge clenched his fists but said no more. The guard left. Scourge smacked Dark Sonic hard with the pillow making him fall on his knees.
“You owe me.” Scourge growled, advancing on him. He stood over Dark Sonic like an evil king, pillow as his weapon. “Now what the fuck just happened?”
*****
‘Green Hills, Earth. G.U.N. Agency. Present Day.’
The nurses stood around the black and red hedgehog as he twisted and turned. Though unconscious his body still writhed like a snake.
“What do we do?” Nurse John cried from the corner, staring at the heart monitor. “His heart rate is faltering.”
“Do I look like a vet to you?” Nurse Linda asked frustrated as she examined Shadow as best she could.
The Doctor searched vigorously through his files. “I don’t know how to handle this situation.” He admitted. “I mean, he’s part hedgehog, part lizard, part alien and grown in a lab!”
“Sonic!” Shadow called out, still appearing to be semi-unconscious. Shadow began reaching for nothing, grasping tightly to his stomach with the other. He repeated Sonic’s name several times. Not knowing quite what to do, the Doctor took his hand and Shadow calmed down.
“His cells are supposed to regenerate themselves. Maybe give him some morphine while they’re doing that?” The Doctor suggested as Shadow gripped his hand so tightly it began to go numb. The nurses nodded and soon Shadow had relaxed, releasing the Doctor. He shook the feeling back into his hand and checked the charts.
“Well, let’s hope there’s no side effects from that!” He smiled.