Chapter Text
Shadow hadn’t intended to ever reveal his Doom powers to the others. After his time in the White Space, he thought they would disappear upon his return to the proper timeline. To his extreme displeasure, they hadn’t. It seemed the Doom abilities were a part of him now, whether he liked it or not. And he did not like it. In fact, he hated the powers. The abilities were wrong; a skill set no mobian should possess. Him possessing those powers further ostracized him, pushed him even farther away from the norm of mobians. As if being a lab experiment created to be a cure and weapon wasn’t bad enough. He also had to have alien DNA, and not just any alien DNA. The alien DNA of a race that had wanted and tried to destroy the world. A plan that had failed, but certainly hadn’t made people more accepting of Shadow.
All because of Black Doom, and the Black Arms race as a whole. Shadow was glad he had defeated them, permanently this time. The cursed race could rot, for all he cared. He wanted nothing to do with that side of his DNA.
Unfortunately, circumstances had other plans.
Sonic didn’t quite know why G.U.N. had sent him and his team on a mission with Shadow, but he wasn’t complaining. He relished any opportunity to annoy his rival. Childish? Perhaps. But it was so much fun.
And it was so simple, too. Shadow made it all too easy to get under his skin. All Sonic had to do was breathe, and Shadow would be irritated.
Though, the last time he had seen Shadow so crabby was Sonic’s birthday party a month or so ago. Granted, it was annoying that the Time Eater had interrupted, but Sonic would have bet that Shadow had just been annoyed about having to attend the party, even before the monster had shown up. Sonic knew Rouge had to have coerced Shadow into coming somehow.
Sonic grinned mischievously. The hybrid’s mood had calmed quite a bit since his commander had informed him that Team Sonic would be working with him for this mission. Guess it was time to try to rile him again.
“Heya Shads, what exactly are we looking for here?” Sonic asked the dark hedgehog with a winning smile.
Shadow sighed at the often-used nickname, but ignored it for the time being. “This is one of Robotnik’s old bases, and we are here in order to document and take into custody anything dangerous or hazardous.” He shot Sonic a displeased frown. “Do you ever pay attention?”
“Eh, the agent lady talked a lot, and I got bored.” Sonic shrugged, winking because it would annoy Shadow.
“You are insufferable.” Shadow told him coldly.
“Aw, you’re so sweet.” Sonic laughed, ignoring the callous words. Even if Shadow would never admit it, the two of them had a stable rivalry/friendship. They bickered and fought at every turn, but Sonic knew Shadow would have his back in a heartbeat if needed.
Knuckles sighed. “Can we focus on what needs done?” His voice echoed off the grimy, stone walls of the crumbling base.
“What was the purpose of this base, Shadow?” Tails interrupted before the three of them could start bickering over Knuckles’ words. A bright curiosity flickered in his sky-blue eyes when Sonic glanced at him, the kid's face lit up by the flashlight he held.
“Biological experimentation.” Shadow said in a flat tone that invited no more questions.
Sonic winced, realizing just why Shadow was particularly snappy today. This was a base dedicated to a torture Shadow had grown up experiencing. He couldn’t blame Shadow for being more irritable than usual in this case.
He picked up his pace to match Shadow’s, bumping the broody hedgehog with his shoulder. Shadow said nothing, but briefly bumped him back as they walked.
Tails’ voice shook a little as he asked, “Were any of his experiments successful?”
Shadow glanced back briefly. “That is unclear, and is why we are here. To see if he was successful.”
Tails swallowed hard, and Sonic shot him an encouraging look. He knew the little fox didn’t like enclosed, dark spaces like this. Frankly he didn’t like them much himself, but sometimes you had to do things you didn’t like. That fact didn’t stop his fur from prickling uncomfortably as they made their way even deeper underground.
Their footsteps echoed on the tile and stone, the silence eerie, broken only by their voices as they conversed every so often. The hallway they were walking down felt more like a tunnel, and Sonic repressed the urge to shudder.
The flashlight illuminated cobwebs hung in the corners of the ceilings, and Tails moved his light back down. Ahead of them, in the beam, glowing yellow eyes watched from the dark. The group froze, staring at the creature in front of them as it stepped into the light.
Putting it plainly, it was a monster. Its huge yellow eyes took up half of its twisted face, long fangs peeking out of its muzzle. It was vaguely reptilian but also mammal-like at the same time. It was built similarly to a horse, with a large body. But it was thin and scraggly, and bloody drool dripped from its mouth. Claws clicked on the tile as it stepped forward, an unsettling mix of fur and skin covering its body. A long tail brushed against the floor as it stalked them, and it bared its teeth in a snarl. Its sharp looking fangs glimmered with bloody drool.
Moving infinitely slowly, Sonic pulled Tails behind him, putting himself between the creature and his little brother. Knuckles shot Sonic a look, bracing himself for battle.
Shadow stepped forward, every muscle in his body tense. A low snarl emitted from him as he tried to intimidate the monster. The creature stared him down with watery yellow eyes, and growled viciously.
“Shadow.” Sonic said in a even tone, keeping his voice low. “We don’t have room to maneuver in here.” They didn't have room to truly fight, and the ceiling was too low for Tails to fly- he would be a sitting duck for this nightmare of a creature.
“I know that.” Shadow replied, and Sonic could hear the frustration the hybrid fought to hide.
Behind him, Tails shook from fear. His teeth made a soft chattering sound, the light bobbing since his hands were shaking. Knuckles took the flashlight, steadily training it on the monster facing them.
“Knuckles, take Tails back to the main room.” Sonic said, keeping his eyes on the creature as it slowly approached. “Guard him until Shadow and I come back.”
Knuckles frowned, shooting him a look. “I can help fight this thing-”
“Tails is grounded and has no weapons.” Sonic snapped in a low tone, cutting the echidna off. “And we’re limited by the space in here. If this comes to a fight, we may not be able to protect him.” He shot Knuckles a desperate look. “Please, Knuckles. Don’t fight me on this.”
Knuckles searched his expression, then gave in with a sigh. “Fine. But if that thing kills you, I’ll resurrect you just so I can kill you again.”
Sonic forced a cocky laugh. “Oh please, that thing is facing me and Shadow. It stands no chance.”
As if to prove him wrong, the monster let out a roar, an uncanny noise similar to the screech of a hawk and the hiss of an alligator, and sparks of what looked suspiciously like chaos energy flickered around its form.
As one, all of the mobian’s jaws dropped.
“Was-was that chaos energy?” Tails squeaked.
“Shads?” Sonic asked, throwing him a startled look. “You’re the expert.” Sure, Sonic could use chaos energy when he wielded a chaos emerald, but because of his experiment and hybrid status, Shadow basically was chaos energy concentrated into a being.
Shadow looked over the creature with narrowed eyes, frowning. “It both is and isn’t.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to explain. The energy is similar to the fake chaos emeralds Tails has made.”
Not long ago, Tails had attempted to make several copies of chaos emeralds that could be stored for emergencies. It had started with a yellow emerald, used to attempt to trick Eggman. later Tails had developed a few other colors, in hope that they would be useful in the future. It hadn’t quite worked. They were very close to the real thing, almost identical in appearance. But power wise? Not the same. They were much less powerful, and couldn’t be used for a super transformation. Not to mention they were rigged to explode if used to power a machine.
Tails gasped. “Maybe Eggman tried to create his own after seeing mine!”
“And infused his biological experiments with one.” Sonic rubbed his chin. “It’s a ridiculous idea, why would he even do that?”
“I don’t know, but I think the fox’s theory is correct.” Shadow said grimly. “The energy is unstable. It wasn’t meant to be used this way.” His hands curled into fists. “I suggest we deal with this quickly, then report back.”
Sonic nodded, stepping forward until he was aligned with Shadow. “Knuckles, Tails. Go.”
The abomination roared again, and rushed forward, its yellow eyes glowing demonically. Its claws clattered on the stone as it lunged at them. Sonic curled into a ball, spin-dashing at it and knocking it back a few steps.
He was trying to buy time for Knuckles and Tails to retreat, but the fox kit was frozen in fear. Knuckles was talking to him, trying to shake the kid out of his panic. He had propped the flashlight up against the wall nearby, illuminating a good chunk of the tunnel.
In Sonic’s distraction, a tendril of the mock chaos energy shot out of the creature, blasting him in the chest and throwing him against the wall. He hit the stone with a pained yelped, before slamming into the floor.
Shadow let out a snarl to match the creature’s noises, and lunged into the fight. He teleported in quick bursts, a few feet at a time. Likely trying to confuse the monster, disorient it. He slammed a fist into the creature’s face, knocking it back again. The creature snapped at Shadow with its sharp teeth, hissing. Shadow yanked his arm away just in time to avoid being bitten, but didn’t avoid the energy attack that immediately followed. He hit the wall across from Sonic with a curse and snarl of pain.
Sonic scrambled back to his feet when the creature fixed its empty eyes on Tails, a menacing growl emitted from its withered chest. As the thing attacked, Sonic threw himself in front of his little brother, kicking the thing in the head to regain its attention.
“Over here, ugly.” He taunted, throwing a punch at its side. “Fight me!”
Shadow must have hit the wall pretty hard, because he was shaking his head as if he were disoriented, eyes spacing out.
So Sonic was on his own for a moment, that was fine.
“For the love-” He snapped when electric energy began crackling off the beast’s hide, shocking him when he hit it again.
In his irritation and stress, he had forgotten the thing had a tail. It now used this tail to bat Sonic away, slamming him up into the ceiling. As he dropped, the tail hit him again, smashing him into a wall. Sonic groaned. He was definitely going to feel this fight in the morning.
He saw stars when he tried to sit up, and rubbed his skull where it had cracked against concrete.
“Sonic.” Tails whimpered as the creature closed in on him again, Knuckles defensively shielding the fox kit, fists raised threateningly.
“Stay back, freak.” Knuckles warned, smacking his fists together.
This only seemed to aggravate the beast, as it roared again, lunging forward. Sonic tried to stand, but a pulse of pain from his head sent his crashing to his knees. When he felt along the back of his head, his fingers came away wet with blood.
That probably wasn’t good. He thought, dazed. Tails wouldn’t like blood in the house.
Knuckles knocked the beast away after its first attack, daring it to challenge him again.
Shadow finally stood, but fell against the wall, shaking.
What was wrong with him? Sonic didn’t think Shadow had gotten hit that hard. Chaos, he had hit Shadow harder than that in the past! So what was going on right now? Shadow’s face was twisted with pain, limbs shaking as he leaned on the wall. An inky sort of darkness flickered around his hands.
A scream from Tails pulled his attention away, and he tried to get up, taking a few shaky steps forward before he collapsed again, head spinning. Knuckles had gotten swiped by the creature’s claws, his arm bleeding a decent amount. The echidna stumbled back a bit, and the creature struck again. It batted him away, slamming him into a wall.
These Gaia-forsaken walls! If this wasn’t such an enclosed area, they would have no problem defeating this thing!
The monster closed in on the shaking fox, and a strangled “No!” escaped Sonic as he watched helplessly, his head pounding. Black spots encroached on his vision, but he pushed it away with every bit of willpower he had.
“Sonic!” Tails cried, backing away slowly. His twin tails twitched like he was aching to fly away. His voice shook, eyes shining in the dim lighting.
Shadow let out an agonized shout, Sonic’s attention snapped to him. Shadow’s body was shaking violently, that weird darkness flowing up his body like a liquid, consuming him. Orange chaos energy sparked inside the darkness, and Sonic stared, a little horrified.
Tails screamed as the creature toyed with him, and Shadow’s shouts rang in Sonic’s ears.
He was useless. Useless as the monster attacked Tails, and something happened to Shadow.
He locked eyes with Tails desperately, trying to force his uncooperative limbs into submission.
Suddenly a boom echoed through the tunnels, and Tails’ eyes widened with a mixture of fear and horror, attention fixed on something past Sonic.
Please don’t let there be another one. Sonic closed his eyes briefly, bracing himself. Before he could turn, a dark black tentacle shot forward, wrapping around the creature’s leg just as it lunged at Tails. The slimy appendage yanked the monster back, pulling its feet out from under it and sending it toppling over with a roar.
W-what? Sonic gaped at the sight, fur bristling. He didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to witness the absolute monstrosity that had to be behind him. He knew he must though, so without dragging it out any longer, he turned around.
His eyes landed on what looked like…. a giant squid? Not any squid he had ever seen though. It was massive, bigger than the first monster, and was a deep black color with multiple blood-red eyes on the sides of its head. It had at least nine tentacles that Sonic could see, each the same dark black color, although the undersides were the same red as its eyes. Some of the tentacles were tipped red on the ends.
The color scheme was familiar, although in his frazzled mindset he couldn’t understand why.
The squid let out a ferocious growl, another tentacle latching onto the first creature. The squid dragged the monster down the hall, away from the mobians, back where the thing had first come from.
Was it… helping them? No way. It must just want to eat them itself, so it was removing the competition.
While both the monsters attention’s were diverted, Sonic half-walked, half-crawled over to Tails and Knuckles. His head spun with dizziness from the movement.
Tails crouched next to where Sonic sat by him, hugging the hedgehog tightly. Knuckles stood, shaking the hit from the chaos energy monster off, then stepped in front of the two protectively. Sonic wrapped his arms around his little brother, trying to shield him the best he could.
The squid continued to yank the first monster away, ignoring the electrical shocks as the first monster tried to fight back. A smaller tentacle wound its way around the beast’s muzzle when it tried to bite the squid, pinning its mouth closed.
A terrifying, echoing snarl came from the squid as it glared at the captive monster it held. Sonic held a shaking Tails tightly, his own hands shaking.
The squid threw the monster down the hall with a crack, down where it had first come from. The monster whimpered, slinking away with its tail tucked tightly between its legs.
Sonic let out an incredulous laugh, shocked. The creature that had seemed so fearsome was afraid of this new thing.
The squid let out a threatening rumble, and the other creature picked up the pace, running away. Satisfied at its disappearance, the squid turned back to the mobians.
It was then that Sonic remembered Shadow. He had gotten so caught up in his worry for Tails, and then the shock of this new creature, that he hadn’t realized that Shadow had gone quiet a good while ago. Sonic peered around Knuckles, looking around for the edgelord.
Shadow was nowhere to be found.
Did the squid get him before we noticed? Sonic thought, panicked.
The squid moved towards them a little awkwardly. It left a trail of slime as it moved, and Sonic fought the urge to gag.
Knuckles stepped forward bravely, raising his fists in challenge. “Cease, or be destroyed!” It was a brave sentiment, seeing as this creature was even bigger than the last, and could restrain someone in the blink of an eye.
“Oh relax, Echidna. You couldn’t take me if you were fighting for your life.” A crabby voice Sonic knew well answered. He didn’t hear the voice, at least not aloud. It felt more like the words were in his head, like he heard it with his mind.
Tails gasped, and Knuckles faltered, stumbling back. Sonic froze, staring wide-eyed at the looming squid.
“S-Shadow?” Sonic asked, shock infusing his voice. “You-you-”
“I know, it’s disgusting. Close your mouth, faker, you look dumb enough as it is.” The voice, Shadow’s voice, snapped back.
“Not disgusting.” Sonic stood, with Tails’ help. Thankfully it seemed like the bleeding had stopped, but now he was dizzy from blood loss and had a raging headache. “Actually, now knowing that this is you, I think it’s pretty cool.”
Somehow, Shadow managed to snort as a squid. His tentacles curled inward, away from the mildly freaked out mobians.
“Nah, screw that, that is freaky as all chaos.” Knuckles protested, gesturing at… Shadow.
Sonic was having a hard time registering that yes, the giant squid thing was, in fact, Shadow. The red and black probably should have given that away, but who in their right mind would think that Shadow had turned into a giant squid thing?
“Why- how-?” Tails shook his head, voice shrill.
“How is Black Doom, during the Time Eater incident.” Shadow’s voice was hard and derogatory. “He infused me with a few new powers, this morph being one of them.” The squid seemed… embarrassed, if that was possible. “Why I morphed now… I lost control. I’m still getting used to these powers, and they can overwhelm me at times.” The weird, echo-like quality to his voice continued. “I didn’t intend to show anyone these powers.”
Sonic crept forward, past a still-shocked Knuckles. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you showed us. I do actually think it’s cool.” He smirked a little. “Not to mention you using the morph to save us from whatever that thing was.”
Shadow snorted again, tentacles flicking. Knuckles flinched a every movement, eyes wary. Tails seemed unbothered by the form now that he knew it was Shadow.
Sonic couldn’t suppress his curiosity, and reached out, palm up. “Can I…”
A sigh sounded in Sonic’s mind, which was an incredibly odd sensation. “You’re ridiculous, faker.” But he still raised a tentacle, carefully resting the end in Sonic’s palm. An odd sort of slime coated Sonic’s glove immediately, and Sonic smirked.
“Not a word.” Shadow snapped, correctly reading Sonic’s mind. “It’s much easier for me to strangle you in this form.”
Sonic laughed. “Alright, alright!”
The tentacle was an odd texture, somehow rubbery but firm. It was incredibly strong, but Shadow was careful to mind his strength as he curled the tentacle around the blue blur’s fingers.
“This is very cool, Shads.” Sonic muttered in awe.
Shadow didn’t answer, just watched Sonic in silence with those odd, pupilless eyes.
“Are you going to change back before we leave?” Tails asked. “I assume you don’t want G.U.N. knowing about this ability.”
Shadow yanked his tentacle away from Sonic, moving backwards, away from the mobians. That same sticky-looking blackness crawled up Shadow’s form, and when it receded, Shadow stood before them again, looking normal.
Shadow stumbled for a moment, before Sonic caught him, steadying him. “Whoa, Shads.”
“Sorry.” Shadow mumbled, leaning on Sonic. “Takes a lot out of you.” The words were quiet, exhausted. He gave Tails a nod. “G.U.N. doesn’t know, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.”
Tails nodded back, a small smile on his face. “I had assumed.” He came up to help brace them both, standing on Sonic’s other side to help prop Sonic up.
“Lead the way, Knux.” Sonic called cheerfully, snapping Knuckles out of whatever stupor he was in. “And you’re our last line of defense.”
Knuckles frowned, uncrossing his arms. “On it.”
With Tails supporting Sonic, and Sonic supporting Shadow, the group started winding their way back through the labyrinth of hallways.
Thankfully a G.U.N. support group was waiting outside the base, and they had a medic with them who easily tended to Sonic's head and Knuckles' arm. Sonic didn't have the presence of mind to lie about what had happened, so he sent all questions to Shadow, much to the emo hedgehog's displeasure.
The medic gave him enough painkillers to knock him out while he healed, and he gladly took them and collapsed into bed as soon as he and Tails got home.
Sonic didn’t think too much over the doom morph in the days that followed. He was just glad they had been able to exit that base without much trouble. The form intrigued him in away, but it didn't scare him. It would’ve surprised him, however, to find that Shadow thought of it often.
Shadow didn’t understand why Sonic and Tails hadn’t been more terrified and horrified. Knuckles had been, you could see it clear as day.
The fact that they weren’t though spoke of their high fear tolerance, or ability to hide said fear, and Shadow had to respect that. Or maybe Sonic wasn’t hiding his fear. Maybe he did genuinely think the doom morph was cool. Regardless, it got him thinking… if he showed it to Rouge and Omega, what would they think?