Fur and Claws and Fangs, AAAHHH!

Sonic was jogging to Tails' house on a brisk autumn day in October. His breath billowed from his mouth as the cold wind blew open his jacket and threw his scarf in his face. Sonic shivered as he rebuttoned his jacket and tucked the scarf in the top. He reached Tails' house and rang the doorbell.

"Just a minute!" came the shout.

"Hurry up I'm freezing out here!" shouted Sonic back as he began to jog in place to keep warm. After what seemed like an eternity, Tails answered the door with a cookie in his mouth and a cup of hot coco in his hands.

"Mm mph hmm pphm" the kitsune said through his cookie.

Sonic broke it off and waved it at him, "What did I tell you about talking with your mouth full?"

After chewing and swallowing the bit in his mouth, Tails replied, "I said, sorry to keep you waiting. Come in, you look like your about to become a Hedgesicle."

Sonic stepped inside, "Ha ha. Leave the jokes to me Tails."

The two went into the living room and sat down.

Tails said, "Want some coco to warm you up?" Sonic nodded as he took off his jacket and scarf. Tails returned with a steaming mug of coco and handed it to Sonic, "So how are you?"

Before answering, Sonic blew on the coco and took a sip but burned his lips and tongue, "AH! Son of gun! Arrgg!" Sonic squeezed his mug until it shattered and coco sprayed everywhere.

"Sonic!" shouted Tails.

Sonic whipped his head to look at him with a wild, angry look, "What?!"

Tails shrunk back a little, "I'm guessing you're not doing so good then?"

Coming back to his senses, Sonic looked at the mess he had made and said somberly, "I suppose not."

Tails helped him pick up the pieces of mug, "It's happening… isn't it?"

Sonic nodded, "But it's happening early this year. Halloween isn't until next week and I'm already showing symptoms. Usually it happens few days before."

Once the mess was cleaned up the two sat back down again.

Tails asked, "So what have you been experiencing?"

Sonic counted on his fingers, "I'm short tempered, I can't sleep at night, I can't stop eating and it's been hell trying to keep my nails at a reasonable length."

Tails replied, "Your nails have already started growing?! Oh boy this is serious."

Sonic munched on a cookie, "What are we going to do? It can't happen early, it just can't. I can barely handle it for one night, not two or three."

Tails sat back and sighed, "I don't know what we can do. Do you think Shadow is-" At that moment there was a knock on the door. Tails answered it, "Oh hi, come in." Tails reentered the living room with Shadow who was folding a large umbrella.

Sonic smirked, "Well speak of the devil! Is it raining Chao out there Shadow?"

The black hedgehog growled at Sonic, revealing his teeth, "Shut up Faker!"

Sonic said in a mocking voice, "My my Shadow, what big fangs you have!"

Shadow replied in a similar tone, "All the better to rip your throat out with!"

Tails rushed between the two, "Everyone just needs to take a chill pill ok?" Tails looked at Shadow, "Crap Shadow, Sonics right! You do have fangs!"

Shadow looked away, "Don't you think I know that?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "So it's happening to you too?"

Shadow nodded, "My teeth are getting longer and sharper and the sun is starting to burn my skin. That's why I had the umbrella. Not to mention, I'm not hungry at all… I'm thirsty. All the time. I don't understand it, it's too early. What about you? The usual first signs?"

Sonic ate another cookie, "Yep and then some."

Shadow raised an eyebrow himself, "I see. This is a problem."

Tails said, "You know, I think there might be an explanation. Follow me."

Tails led Sonic and Shadow to his lab. Tails sat down in front of a large super computer and said, "Computer. On."

The huge screen lit up as a female computer voice said, "Hello Tails. What can I do for you?"

Tails leaned back in the chair, "Computer can you do me favor and pull up an entire calendar for October with moon phases please?"

The computer replied, "Processing request….Displaying request on screen."

Tails hit a key on the keyboard, "Thank you." On the screen popped up a large calendar and on each day was a phase of the moon.

Sonic whistled, "Whoa, I see you've updated the old supercomputer."

Tails smiled, "Yep, anyways, it's just as I suspected. Take a look at the day of Halloween."

Shadow said, "There's a full moon that night."

Sonic slapped himself in the forehead, "Of course! That's why it's happening so fast!"

Tails nodded, "That's the only explanation. I can't think of any other reason why. The full moon must be amplifying what makes you turn into… you know."

All at once Knuckles burst into the lab with a camera, "Hey guys! What's up?"

Tails quickly hit a key and everything on the screen disappeared, "Oh hey Knuckles! We're just looking up stupid videos. What's the camera for?"

Knuckles replied, "I just got it! This Halloween I'm going to get a picture of the Werehog and the Vamprhog!"

Sonic and Shadow both gasped.

Sonic quickly stuttered, "B-but come on Knux! Everyone knows that those monsters are just urban legend!"

Knuckles shook his head, "I don't think so. Over the last five years at least one of them has been spotted on Halloween night."

Shadow scoffed, "There's no proof."

Knuckles produced several newspaper articles with pictures, "Here's your proof! See, in this one there's a picture of a figure with large wings soaring from one treetop to another! And in this one, there's a photo of the Werehog's tracks! Just look at the deep indentations in the ground! The thing must have two inch claws at least!"

Sonic muttered, "They only get to an inch and a half."

Not hearing, Knuckles continued, "I'm going to be the first person to get a clear photograph of them."

Shadow crossed his arms, "Why exactly are you chasing hoaxes and myths?"

Knuckles shrugged, "In my teenage years I did a lot of exploring and I uncovered a lot of things. Just thought it might be fun to relive the glory days. Up until Halloween, I'm going to go to all of the previous places of sightings and gather some clues. Any of you wanna come with?"

All three of them shook their heads. Knuckles shrugged once more and left.

Sonic threw his hands up in the air, "Great! Just great! As if we didn't have enough problems!"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Calm down Faker."

Sonic turned on him and growled, "Call me that again. See what happens."

Shadow narrowed his eyes, "What will happen? I'm not afraid of you when you're a monster and I'm certainly not afraid of you now."

Sonic roared his voice suddenly deep and rough, "I'm not a monster!"

Tails came between them again, "Stop it! Both of you! All of this fighting is useless and it won't help anything. So both of you need to sit down and compose yourselves."

After a final glare at each other, the two went and sat in opposite corners of the rooms.

After taking a deep breath Sonic asked, "So what do we do? It's bad enough we have to worry about maintaining control but now there's someone who actively seeking us out."

Shadow replied, "I'm not that worried. Knuckles isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box."

Tails sighed, "Shadow, while Knuckles is a bit on the gullible side, he's not an idiot. He's quite smart actually; he graduated with a master's degree in Archeology, ancient civilizations, and Mythology from Mobius University. Top of his class from what I've heard. He's uncovered lost tombs, treasures, ruins, you name it! If there's anyone who could get concrete evidence of the Werehog and Vamprhog's existence, its Knuckles."

Shadow rubbed his temples, "Well never mind then. We're effectively screwed."

Tails thought for a moment before saying, "Maybe not." He turned to his computer and hit a key. The calendar popped up once more. "Ok. Today is Wednesday. Halloween is exactly one week from now. In past years, your symptoms have appeared no earlier than two days before Halloween. This makes next Monday and Tuesday a sort of danger zone. I'm guessing that's where we'll see the most trouble but, I have a plan. You guys remember the containment units from last year?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah. But it failed. We still got out and wrecked some havoc."

Tails looked a little ashamed, "I know, I made the grave mistake of underestimating." He looked up determined, "But that won't happen again. I can take what happened last year and put it towards making the units inescapable. Then, both of you can remain inside until Halloween passes. And we can use them in case you turn early."

Shadow replied, "That sounds like it could work."

Sonic agreed, "Leave it to you Tails."

Tails smiled, "Thanks. Ok, I have to get to work on those units. Meanwhile, you two go home and stay there as much as possible. Here Shadow, this should make things easier for you." Tails tossed the green Chaos Emerald. Shadow caught it and Chaos Controlled away.

Sonic turned to Tails, "You see that? He didn't even offer me a ride."

Tails scratched his ear bashfully, "I would have given one to you too Sonic but you can't use Chaos Control spontaneously like Shadow."

Sonic corrected, "I can too. It's just harder. That's why I prefer running instead. See ya Tails."

Sonic reached his home within a matter of minutes. He remained home for most of the day and occupied himself with several things around the house. When night came, Sonic was sitting on the couch with a plate of chili-dogs watching T.V. The show wasn't terribly interesting, something about prehistoric Mobius and the kind of creatures that inhabited it. Sonic yawned as he downed the last chili-dog. Before he knew it, his eyelids were growing heavy and in no time, Sonic was asleep.

Darkness. Anger. Ripping, tearing. Red. Red gushing. Red splattering. Meat. Hunger. More. Red. Red. Red. Red. Shredding. Screams. Destruction. Red. Red. Red. Moonlight. Howling. Echoing…

Sonic awoke woke with a start and a small scream. He looked around wildly, unsure of where he was or what was happening. Slowly, Sonic's thought process recovered. He was on his couch, in his living room. He looked at the T.V. which was still on. All of the programming was done and it was looping infomercials. Sonic sought out his communicator and flipped it open. The time was 3 AM. Sonic clicked off his T.V. and laid back down with a sigh, "It's going to be a long week."

Over the following days, Tails spent the majority of his time in the lab. The first step of building the units was the frame. Last time it was built out of steel which ended up being shredded like tissue paper. So this time Tails went further by using titanium reinforced with steel rods. For see-through walls, he had made the horrifying mistake of using shatter-proof glass. True to its name, it didn't shatter; it crumbled like a soggy cookie. Instead, Tails decided to use a strong, plastic normally used in bomb shelter windows. Tails was starting to weld the plastic to the frame when the voice of his computer announced, "There is someone at the door. Should I let them in?"

Tails lifted his welding visor, "Depends. Who is it?"

A small screen descended from the ceiling, displaying Tails front porch where Knuckles was standing impatiently. Tails sighed and tapped a button and a little microphone showed up on the screen. Tails said, "Is there something I can do for you Knuckles?"

Knuckles called out, "I need to borrow your video camera!"

Tails rolled his eyes and pressed a different button that unlocked the door, "Fine, come in. I'm down in the lab. "A minute later, Knuckles appeared in the doorway. Tails pointed to his desk, "It's over there. I thought you already had a camera?"

Knuckles retrieved the device and looked it over, "The one I bought only takes pictures, I prefer video. You capture more and miss less."

Tails asked, "How did you not know the camera couldn't take video? Didn't you read the box?"

Knuckles stopped and thought for a moment, "You know, I don't think I did. Good thing I kept the receipt. Anyways, thanks Tails. What're you making?"

Tails replied, "Nothing. Just trying something new."

Knuckles went out saying, "Wish me luck!"

Tails exhaled sharply and continued welding. It was already Saturday. And Tails suspected to have the first containment unit and half of the second one done by night fall. This was good because the young kitsune had a feeling that the next few days were going to be rough.

Shadow opened his curtains and the light of a nearly full moon flooded his room. The sun made Shadow's skin start to smoke and if exposed long enough, catch fire but the moon, the moon had an entirely different effect. The moon cooled him, turning his skin icy cold, and it silenced all advanced thought in his mind leaving only a savage thirst. Shadow went to his kitchen and poured a glass of water. He raised it to his mouth and took a sip. He quickly spat it out, its taste was unbearable and it burned like acid going down. Shadow tried to set the glass on the counter but it fell and shattered on the floor. His hands shaking for reasons he couldn't understand, Shadow began to clean up the glass but cut his finger. A fat red, drop of blood formed from the cut. Shadow saw it and licked the sharp fangs that were now long enough to protrude from his mouth. Shadow than slowly brought his finger closer to his face and sniffed. The smell was positively intoxicating. He sucked the blood off his finger and shuddered. It tasted sweet as sugar and felt like honey as it went down. Instantly Shadow knew that this was the only thing that would quench his thirst. He stood and walked toward the front door. Shadow's hand was on the doorknob when he froze. All at once he pulled back, shaking his head as if to clear a frightening image or thought. He rushed to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. Shadow looked up at the mirror, fighting what was rising up inside him. His complexion was pale, almost pale as death himself. Behind his crimson eyes, Shadow could see something dark staring back at him. "Keep it together Shadow." ,mumbled the black hedgehog, "Don't lose it now."

Knuckles was gliding above the countryside, Tails' video camera around his neck and a bag on his shoulder. He swooped down and landed in front of the gate to a farm. He waved down the farmer who was driving to his fields in his tractor.

The farmer, a massive old grizzly bear, came to the gate looking severely annoyed, "Listen son, I'm very busy. There's corn to be harvested. What is it you need?"

Knuckles pulled an old newspaper from his bag, "Mr. Letcher is it? I believe 5 years ago you were interviewed by this newspaper, The Daily Chaos. In your interview you said that some of your cattle were attacked by an unseen creature."

Mr. Letcher scoffed, "Unseen! Oh no, I saw the thing alright! It was the height of a normal Mobian but is sure as hellfire wasn't one! It had glowing red eyes that hypnotized when you looked in 'em, big leathery wings like a bat and fangs as long and as sharp as the business end of my pitchfork!"

Knuckles took careful notes, "Ok, did you make contact with it?"

Mr. Letcher laughed, "Contact? I had to chase that thing off my farm! It was attacking my cattle. By the time I got out to the pasture, the devil had already gotten three of my best. I raised my double barreled shotgun and shouted, 'Hey! Get off my land before I blow you in half!' And then, it turned around. There was blood dripping from its mouth and it had eyes that were like the fiery depths of Hell. It made this hissing growling sound and stepped toward me. I fired my shotgun this son of a gun bent over in half and dodged it! Almost point blank range and he dodged it! The he flipped up and came at me but I fired again. It rolled off to the side and started to back away so I fired again. Of course the slick little demon dodged it and then it took off running. I chased it until it reached a tree. It jumped up into the tree, then leapt from the top and flew away!"

Knuckles scribbled away in his notebook, "Did the creature look like a specific species of Mobian?"

Mr. Letcher scratched his head, "Well, I suppose he looked little like a hedgehog. He had the hairdo for it. Quills, or whatever their called, black and red I should think."

Knuckles wrote down everything the old bear said, "Got it. Oh just one more question Mr. Letcher, do you believe that your cattle was attacked by a Vamprhog?"

Mr. Letcher was silent before answering, "Son, why are you so interested in this?"

Knuckles replied, "Well no one has gotten clear, undeniable evidence of the Vamprhog. It's been terrorizing the area on Halloween for 5 years and no one knows what it really is. I plan to change that."

Mr. Letcher put a hand on Knuckles' shoulder, "Listen and listen good. I don't know what attacked my cattle that night. A demon straight from Hell, someone pulling a prank, or even a Vamprhog. But let me tell you this, just drop it. Nothing good will come of it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have corn to harvest."

Knuckles turned to leave, "Thank you for your time Mr. Letcher. Good luck with your harvest."

As Knuckles walked away Mr. Letcher called out, "Just let it go son! Don't go chasing demons! They'll find you first!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes and left muttering, "Sorry old-timer, I'm on a mission."

Tails sat back in his lab chair and yawned. He had gotten in a groove and finished welding both containment units. Rubbing his eyes, Tails glanced at the clock on the wall; 2:15 AM, Sunday morning. Tails got up and stretched, "Well, I better get to sleep. I'll tell Sonic and Shadow the units are ready later today." Tails began to walk out of his lab mumbling equations to himself and going over numbers. Suddenly he stopped, "Wait a minute! I'm missing something."

Tails ran back to his computer, "Computer run a simulation for both containment units with data from last year. Don't bother with images just give me chance of success."

The machine responded, "Running simulation… processing results… results ready. Chance of success for both units, 80%."

Tails said, "Ok, now run it again but this time factor in the full moon."

"Running simulation… processing results… results ready. Chance of success for both units, 35%."

Tails exclaimed, "What?! Are your numbers right?"

The computer replied, "I was programmed by you, Tails. My numbers are never wrong."

Tails rubbed his temples, "Of course. Ugh, I can't believe I forgot to factor in the full moon! Idiot! This is not good. I have to come up with something else to counter the effect of the full moon but what counters the-Wait that's it! Computer open my blueprint software."

The computer said, "Opening program… Would you like me to start a pot of coffee as well?"

Tails drew a deep breath, "I'm sure as heck going to need it. If it's going to be done in time, I can't afford to be tired."

Sonic bolted upright screaming. He looked around his bedroom, drenched in sweat and breathing hard. He had another horribly vivid dream. Sonic gasped as he noticed that his nails were full length claws. He jumped up and dashed to the restroom. Sonic opened his mouth and looked in the mirror. It was just as he had suspected; his teeth were sharp and perfect for a vicious, carnivorous predator. Sonic jumped as his communicator started to ring on his bed stand.

"Hello?" asked Sonic.

"Sonic, it's Tails. I need you to come to the lab right now."

Sonic looked at his hands and the claws attached to them, "Um, Tails… I have claws… and my teeth are really sharp…"

Tails answered, "All the more reason to get over here! I think I have the solution."

Sonic dashed towards his front door, "Well why didn't you say so?!" Sonic opened his front door and winced at the brightness of the Tuesday evening sun. After his eyes adjusted Sonic did a double take as he noticed that his claws seemed a little shorter. With a hesitant hand, Sonic felt around his mouth, his teeth felt duller, not normal, but definitely duller. Sonic stepped further into the sun and inhaled deeply. As the rays warmed his quills, Sonic felt better than he had all week. After a quick stretch, Sonic dashed to Tails' house at full speed.

Upon Sonic's arrival, Tails took him down to the lab and over to his work table where a case was sitting open.

The fox looked a little tired but extremely excited, "OK, I think this will solve your problem." Tails held up one of many syringes with a glowing gold liquid inside it.

Sonic took the syringe and looked at it questioningly, "What is it?"

Tails said proudly, "That is pure, liquid sunshine harnessed by a little impromptu machine I had to whip up. Early Sunday morning I finished the containment units, but, afterwards I realized I had forgotten to factor in the full moon, which according to my calculations and research would increase you and Shadow's power tenfold. That meant the chance of successful containment was extremely low. So I started to search for a way to lessen if not eliminate your symptoms all together. That's when it hit me, sunlight. Sunlight would be the key to fighting back the power the moon has on you."

Sonic nodded, "When I was on my way here, the sun was out and when it shined on me, I felt like my old self again."

Tails replied, "For every force, there is an opposite, but equal, force to counter it. If you're injected with this serum, it will cancel out the bad stuff and leave the real you."

Sonic smiled, "Sweet! Do you think this stuff will work on Shadow?"

Tails' ears drooped, "I thought about that but after a bit of research and simulations, I found it wouldn't work. At this point Shadow's transformation is too far along, it would kill him. I was up all night searching for something else that would have the desired effect but there's nothing that would do the trick. I told him that he has to ride it out."

The computer voice broke in, "Excuse me for the interruption but someone is at the door. Shall I let them in?"

Tails looked at the computer screen to see a figure in a brown cloak leaning weakly against the doorframe. He went towards the door, "That must be Shadow, he doesn't look too good. Computer open the door."

Sonic and Tails reached the front door and sure enough, it was Shadow.

He raised his head slightly and said, "About freaking time."

Tails and Sonic helped him into the living room and onto the couch. Sonic asked, "What's with the cloak?"

Shadow replied, "The sun burns my skin. I would have Chaos Controlled here but I'm too weak."

Tails out a hand to Shadow's forehead, "I'll say, you're pale as a sheet and cold as ice! Have you been eating or drinking?"

Shadow shook his head, "I can't. Any food or drinks I consume make me vomit, I can't stomach them. There's only one thing that I can keep down…"

Sonic took a small step back, "It's that bad? How long has it been?"

Shadow thought before saying, "Saturday. I had a bird that landed on my windowsill but that was on Sunday."

Tails ran a hand through his bangs, "Well, we can't just do nothing… About how much do you think could keep you going until Halloween is over?"

Sonic whipped around to look at Tails, "What?! Are you serious?!"

Shadow was shocked as well, "Tails you know what happens when-"

"I know what happens you get blood. But I also know what's going to happen if you don't. I can give 2 pints before I pass out. 1 pint for today and 1 pint to get you through Halloween if need be. Would that be enough?" interrupted Tails.

Shadow nodded, "I think so. But Tails Are you sure you want to do this? It could make me lose it."

Tails replied, "Well the containment units are ready so if you're worried you won't be able to hold it together, you can get it in there."

Shadow agreed, "Yes, I think that would be best." He attempted to stand but swayed.

Sonic supported him, "It's not gonna try to escape if it doesn't need blood right?"

A distant, almost haunted look came to Shadow's face, "That's the thing. It always needs blood, it's always thirsty. I'll do my best to control it but once that full moon is in the sky, all bets are off."

About an hour later Shadow was in the containment unit drinking a pint of Tails' blood. The color slightly returned to Shadow's face but he remained mostly pale. When the blood was gone, he was strong enough to stand up.

Tails asked through a little intercom on the unit, "How do you feel?"

Shadow replied, "Better. Much better. Tails, I can't thank you enough for-ugh… AH!" Shadow suddenly dropped to his knees, "ARGH! NO!"

Alarmed, Tails said, "Shadow what's wrong?"

The black hedgehog slammed his fist on the floor of the unit, "NO! I AM IN CONTROL!"

Sonic ran up to the intercom, "Come on Shadow fight it! You're better and stronger than it is! You-" Sonic broke off mid-sentence and looked towards the window in the lab. The sun had set and the moon was rising. Its beams shone on Sonic who almost at once began to convulse.

Tails jumped back, "Sonic?!"

Sonic looked at Tails with wild eyes and a voice that was to deep and rough be his own said, "Tails, get back! Get back!" Sonic's nails began to grow into claws and his teeth sharpened.

Tails dashed to his worktable and grabbed one of the syringes and ran to back to Sonic who was clawing at the floor as he tried to push back the darkness inside him. Tails got behind him and jabbed the syringe into his arm. With a roar, Sonic whirled around and slashed at him. Tails fell backwards and avoided the main blow but not without receiving slight scratch on his face. As the serum took effect, Sonic began to convulse again as his nails and teeth reverted to normal. After a few seconds, he was still. Shadow had also appeared to triumph over his inner demon as he lay barely conscious on the floor of the unit.

Tails got up slowly and approached Sonic. He touched him on the shoulder, "Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog groaned as he sat up, "That was close, too close." He noticed Tails' face, "Tails, your face! Was that… me?"

Tails hugged Sonic, "Its ok. All that matters is that you're still you." They went to the intercom where Tails asked, "Shadow? Are you alright?"

Staying where he was, Shadow nodded slightly.

Tails breathed a sigh of relief; disaster had been narrowly avoided but the intelligent fox knew that it would take a miracle to make through tomorrow night.