Genesis: The Animal Within

Chapter Ten

Hi everyone, I'm back. It's been forever since I've last worked on this. Before we continue, a few things:

1. I'm also writing a song book, so that's happening.
2. If you have the app, then read the other chapters before going to Chapter Eight, because for some reason or another, it has moved to fifth spot.
3. Thank you all so much for supporting me during this super long hiatus. I really appreciate it!

Anyways, back to the story...

The next day:
There lie the unconscious bodies of Sonic and Zarya on the couch. Everyone else was standing around them, hoping that the two were gonna make it. In a tremendous effort, Zarya managed to slowly open her eyes. Next was Sonic as he slowly opened his eyes. The two painfully propped themselves up to a sitting position as relief showed up on everyone's faces.
"Ugh, what happened," Sonic groaned, placing a hand on his forehead, "where are we?" "And what the heck happened to our clothes," Zarya asked, looking at her disheveled clothes, then looking at Sonic's hands.  "Oh, thank the stars you're okay," Arkayna sighed, "I thought that you two were...were..." A tear swelled from the princess's eye. Even though he was in pain, Sonic reached over to wipe the tear away before it escaped. "Okay, can someone please explain what happened last night," Zarya asked. "Long story short," Em replied, "we were trying to find in the forest, failed, found you near HQ in the morning and dragged your unconscious butts inside." "Right," said Sonic, "and how do the disheveled clothes, gloveless hands and multiple bruises and scratches relate?" "We found you like this," Tails replied. "You two really scared us," Silver said, "but I'm glad that you are..." "What were you two thinking," Arkayna angrily interrupted, "going into the forest, doing Gygax knows what, and almost getting yourselves killed?!" "Hey, what matters is that they're still alive," Knuckles said. "Okay, Knux," Arkayna sighed hopelessly, "let's get these two cleaned up." Arkayna went to the bathroom to fetch a first aid kit. She always saw the bathroom cabinet as a cliche place to put it, either inside or on top. As soon as she came back, she found everyone else staring at Sonic and Zarya. Their wounds have automatically been healed up, and that made Arkayna drop the first aid kit on the ground! "What in the name of Gygax just happened," Arkayna exclaimed, "your wounds... they've healed up! But how?" "We actually don't know, sis," Zarya replied, "one minute we're in severe pain, the next everyone is staring at us!" "We witnessed the healing ourselves," said Em, "the scratches closed themselves up and the bruises faded away. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Tails?" "Oh, I'm totally thinking what you're thinking, Em," Tails replied. "We run some tests and get some answers," the two geniuses said in unison. "Can this testing wait until after breakfast," Zarya asked, "I'm so hungry that I eat an entire week's worth of raw beef and still hold on to my dignity." "Me too, Z," said Sonic, "I might as well regret scarfing down nine chilli dogs last night." "You had how many," Piper exclaimed, "didn't you get a stomach ache afterwards?" "No," Sonic replied, "why do you ask?" "No reason," Piper fibbed, trying way too hard to hide it. "And I thought we were acting strange," Zarya thought.

(After breakfast)
In the workshop, Sonic, Tails, Zarya and Em were starting the tests. "Okay, guys, so...um... we'll start of with symptoms," Em explained, "we'll go into detail of what's happening to you and do some experiments." "Think of this as harmless data handling," Tails added, "and once we have enough, we can draw up a hypothesis." "When you say 'harmless data handling', you mean like crazy experiments that could possibly go wrong," Zarya assumed. "Oh, come on," Em protested, "since when did our experiments ever go wrong?!" "The first time we tried the Chaos Bracer Spin Dash, the first time you tried to use Shadow's teleportation powers as a fuel source, the first time you tried to recreate that portal device from the Portal game," Sonic explained, "the list goes on forever!" "Hehe, my favourite blooper," Zarya chuckled, "is when you were trying to swop your powers, but instead swoped bodies!" "Well, w-what if we're meant to...uh...swop bodies in the first place, ha," Tails awfully protested, "I bet you feel very stupid right now." "You're overdoing it, Tails," Em silently groaned through gritted teeth. "Whatever, dude," Sonic said, "let's get on with this experiment."  (Cue testing montage; reactions test, miniature hunting test, resistance test, physical capabilities test, and writing up the results.) Straight after, Em and Tails were talking amongst themselves. With no memory of what had happened last night, Sonic and Zarya waited in anticipation as the results were about to come in. "Alright, guys," Em announced, "wanna know what's up?" "Though the anticipation of the end is worse than the end itself," Zarya replied, "I think it's best if everyone must know what's up." "Such wisdom," Sonic said in awe, "alright. Like I said, we're going to get through what will happen next together." With that in mind, the four went to the TV room to tell everyone else the big news. In the TV room, Knuckles, Shadow and Silver were playing Team Sonic Racing whilst Arkayna and Piper cheered them on. "Everyone, we have an announcement to make," Tails announced. Knuckles paused the game as everyone's attention was on the twin-tailed genius. "Remember the time when Sonic and Zarya encountered that wolf," Tails asked. "Yeah, we do," Arkayna replied on everyone's behalf. "And remember all the weird stuff that happened to them since," Em asked. "Just get to the point," Shadow snapped. Piper got really mad at that response, so she slapped Shadow in the face. "Ouch," Shadow mumbled, clenching on to his cheek. "Calm down, sweetie," Silver softly said as he held his elfen girlfriend's hand in both of his. "So what's happening to Sonic and Zarya," Knuckles asked amongst the commotion. "Sonic and Zarya are going through genetic lycanthropy," Tails replied. "Come again," Arkayna asked. "Genetic lycanthropy is not the same as normal lycanthropy," Em explained, "sure you turn into a werewolf at night, but genetic lycanthropy is way more harder to control."  "It does have it's advantages, such as enhanced speed, strength and reflexes, extended sensory ability, and the ability to touch the metal silver without it causing any harm," Tails added, " but it cannot be cured by traditional methods, such as taking the Alpha's fur." "So, we're stuck like this forever," Zarya exclaimed. "Not really," Tails replied, "I didn't say that we can't use science to cure you. But for now, you'll have to be detained till further notice. Did everyone get that?" Everyone else except for Shadow nodded in agreement, though they didn't understand some of what they said. "All I heard was scientific mumbo jumbo that doesn't even concern me," Shadow said. That made Piper really angry so she slapped Shadow in the face again. "That oughta shut you up," she scolded, storming out of the scene afterwards. "And I thought I was the moody one," Arkayna joked, with everyone else laughing.