Prime Material Time: January 2nd, 11:50 PM

	Shadow didn't sleep much.

	He didn't need to, really; he was the ultimate life form. Instead, Shadow had taken to meditation, refocusing his connection to his internal Chaos Energy after a day's worth of training. He remained in that state for a few hours at a time, though he only needed a few minutes to recover most of his energy; this was a time to dwell on his practice and the flaws in his combat style.

	He didn't have many, but he wanted to keep himself in top shape.

	Thus, despite his trancelike state, Shadow was not caught by surprise. He floated from a sitting position to his feet, his crimson eyes not opening until he was standing firmly on the broken ground of one of the ruins in Robotropolis. The blasted landscape was perfect for his training - plenty of robots and ruined buildings to blast into oblivion without any trouble from heroes. This time, however, Shadow could see the movement of creatures, perhaps Mobian, walking toward him, black armor gleaming in the few slivers of moonlight that pierced the cloud cover.

	"Do you people have any idea as to whom you're dealing with?" Shadow said. "This is not your place. Turn around and get out of my territory."

	The black-armored Mobians continued to advance. Some of them drew short, shining daggers; others, long black wands, each with a glowing blue crystal in the tip. They seemed to realize Shadow was not about to go along with them quietly.

	Of course, they didn't seem to have any intention to leave.

	"At least insult me," Shadow sneered, channeling his energy. "Give me a better reason to strike out at you."

	Shadow turned slowly around as he spoke, taking the measure of his enemies. All of them were armored in the same uniform, armed the same way. There were eight, total; half had drawn the knives, while the other half prepared the wands. His smirk never changed, neither growing nor shrinking, feeling confident with his abilities - confident enough to strike them all down.

	"Very well," Shadow said. "I don't need a reason, anyway. Prepare to perish."

	As the four knife-wielders stepped forward, Shadow hopped up into the air, flipping and vanishing, dodging two of the four slashes and using his arms to parry the others as he reappeared on the ground in a spin. He dropped with one palm pressed to the earth, giving a shout as his body released a burst of raw Chaos power; the energy blasted the four knife-wielders back while deflecting or absorbing the blasts of blue light from the wands. Shadow surged up following the explosion, fists glowing with the same violet power as his energy blast.

	He jumped onto the head of one enemy, flaring the jets in his sneakers as he kicked off of his target's head. The energy in his fists formed into javelins, and with a snarl he launched the Chaos Spears at two different targets, knocking them back as he landed on another armored being's chest and kicked off again. The energy formed in his hands once more at his mental command, and he clasped both hands together, a beam of red-violet power rushing at a knife-wielder and exploding to overwhelm two of the wand-wielders.

	"Red Phoenix and Blue Dragon are in custody," one of the armored Mobians said.

	"White Tiger has been dealt with," another replied, never taking his eyes from Shadow.

	"Agents have surrounded Yellow Serpent and are waiting for proper temporal signal," added a third.

	"Black Turtle is snapping," a fourth said, taking another measured attack at Shadow. This time, he had both weapons drawn, firing point blank while his dagger danced in patterns at Shadow's chest. "Attempting to subdue."

	"So I'm 'Black Turtle' to you?" Shadow growled, grabbing the wand in one hand as the energy returned to his fists. "I will show you my speed."

	Shadow twisted the armored creature's arm, disarming him of the wand as he grabbed the creature's other wrist and did the same thing, tearing the knife from his hand. Over the course of the next few seconds, Shadow landed blow after blow on the armored being's chest, punches and kicks in a blur of black and red slamming into his target.

	The creature fell back - and Shadow stared down the length of a glowing wand.

	The flash of blue turned to a flash of white...

Experiment Time: January 3rd, 12:06 AM
Prime Material Time: January 3rd, 12:06 AM

	Shadow woke up.

	He sat up slowly, one hand to his head. Was this what happened after sleep? He felt dizzy, unaware; his eyes itched and his body felt drained and stiff. He stretched slowly, and felt the blood circulating through his muscles again. He reached up to his neck to rub the back of his collar.

	He growled at the collar, trying to channel his Chaos Energy... and failing. He pulled at the collar as he began to... not panic, but worry. He wasn't certain why his powers were gone, though he had a feeling it had to do with the pulsing collar on his neck. Why someone would take away his powers was easier to discern; whomever captured him didn't want him blasting his way out.

	Shadow began to examine the room he was in. The room was sparsely furnished, but included a hemisphere set into a loose-fitting joint in one corner of the room, with a visor of some sort nearby. One doorway led to a restroom, very basic; the other, Shadow assumed, led out. He had a bed, and a smaller 'door' led to, or from, somewhere else in the building. A small chair and desk with writing materials rested off to one side, and on one wall was a mirror.

	Shadow stood slowly, still feeling strange from actually waking up. Did lesser beings actually have to go unconscious in order to rest? It was like he had been knocked out.

	He blinked once, and the memories returned - just a few minutes ago, he had been hit point blank with a blast of blue light. It had to have been some sort of stunning weapon. Thus, he had to be somewhere in Robotropolis... but he had scoured every inch of that place. Shadow knew he wasn't on the ARK, either.

	Where could he be...?

	"Subject Ultimate Life Form Shadow the Hedgehog, code name NBT-STP, numeral 1."

	Shadow growled softly. He never liked disembodied voices. This one was coming from closer to the strange door that hadn't opened until now. A tray of food rested on the door, all of it basic in nature and blue in color; however, where he could identify the foods - a sandwich, a piece of watermelon, some water - he had no idea why it was all blue.

	Still, as long as he was being fed, he decided that he might as well eat. He wasn't sure why he was so hungry; he had only been knocked out for a few minutes. He took the tray from the door - hopping back when it snapped closed; there would be no escape through there - and sat on his bed with it, muttering under his breath when he realized his shoes were gone.

	He should have noticed it before. Unconsciousness... how did Sonic or Knuckles say it? ...sucked.

	Grumbling to himself, Shadow started to eat. The food and water had a bitter aftertaste to them, all of it the same, but Shadow was too hungry to object to it, and the taste faded after a short while. More curious, as Shadow came to find out, was that his penis was swelling. That had never happened before, nor did the accompanying feelings of tingling or sensitivity. There was a need of some sort, too, all steadily growing with his penis.

	He reached down to touch it, and electricity fired between his wrists and something around his genitals.

	Shadow pulled back, glaring at his wrists, then down to his crotch. The electricity felt... interesting, maybe even pleasurable, but he wasn't sure what was going on, why he was getting these strange sensations. The electricity he could understand - that was a proximity electroshock device, or a series thereof in this case - but his own physiological... 'tingling,' for lack of a better word... it was beyond his ability to comprehend.

	There was a knock at the door, and Shadow instinctively tried to channel a Chaos Spear as he stared at the entry. The hedgehog growled when he couldn't call up the energy, more upset at himself than at the situation. He should have remembered that his energy wasn't accessible. Instead, he took a balanced combative stance as the door opened, and the sight before him only made him flinch slightly, solely out of surprise.

	It was Tails... but it wasn't Tails. It was a yellow and white, two-tailed fox with blue eyes, but he was too tall and too heavyset to be the technician friend of Sonic, his rival. Kit also had a leather satchel at one side, rather than a toolbelt - something Shadow would expect from Tails. Shadow backpedaled as the large fox walked into the room, the door closing behind him so fast as to nearly catch his tails in the door.

	"Who are you?" Shadow asked, skipping the niceties.

	"You get right to the point, don't you?" the giant fox asked, grinning as he leaned against the door. "My name is Kit, Shadow."

	"Why am I here?"

	"You're part of my master's Experiment," Kit said. "You might enjoy yourself; get the snarl off your face, you don't scare me."

	Shadow stepped forward, masking his movement as best he could; he wanted to get the jump on this 'Kit' creature as much as possible. "Explain why I'm needed for this Experiment."

	Kit chuckled. "I can only hope the others are this quick to ask me questions." He walked toward Shadow's bed, keeping the black hedgehog in his peripheral vision. "You, Sonic, Knuckles, and Fang are all going to be used to fuck Tails. We want to find out what the best pairing is."

	Shadow backed out of his slowly-building combat stance. One of those words confused him. He'd known Fang more than he'd heard of the others, mostly through Rouge; the bat had made passing mention of the strange word in various contexts, usually pertaining to Fang.

	"What do you mean by the word, 'fuck'?" Shadow asked, keeping his gaze focused on Kit.

	Kit froze. "Are you serious?" he wondered aloud, turning to face the black hedgehog. He couldn't help but smirk as Shadow blushed. "You really don't know what I mean?"

	Shadow's gaze didn't break, though his muzzle turned a brighter pink. He remained silent as he waited for a response from Kit, even as he envisioned his attack on the oversized Tails clone.

	"So, you really don't know what sex is," Kit said, flopping back on the bed; it creaked just slightly in protest. "Okay... I presume you've never heard of how babies are made."

	"You idiot, of course I know what procreation is!" Shadow yelled, sick of Kit's condescention. "I have no need for it, and there is no one that has been made for me to initiate procreation with!"

	"You have a need for it now," Kit remarked, flicking the tip of one tail along the underside of Shadow's member.

	Shadow mentally shoved his shuddering aside, pushing Kit's tail away as he leaped at the oversized fox, spinning around with a heel kick. Kit rolled aside, more agile than his size should have allowed, raising one hand to catch and redirect the attack. Shadow found himself impressed, maybe even a little shocked, as he realized that he'd been thrown to the floor without effort. He caught himself on his feet, maintaining his balance as he stood back up.

	"Did I hit a sensitive spot?" Kit asked dryly.

	"You will perish," Shadow promised, advancing more slowly toward the massive fox. "Do not think you can underestimate me because I cannot skate or call upon my energy - you will perish all the same."

	Kit chuckled, standing back up and stepping aside as Shadow rushed in quickly, narrowly missing with a kick; the large fox yelped as Shadow's heel spun around and struck him in the backside. He went with it, rolling forward and reaching out with a tail to brush against Shadow's cock again, disrupting Shadow's stance long enough for Kit to stand again.

	"Stop that!" Shadow demanded, blushing as he recovered his wits and launched a second attack.

	"I don't think so," Kit replied, stopping the knife hand thrust with one hand and Shadow's left cross with the other. "Watching you squirm, and teaching you why you're going to enjoy this, is so much more fun."

	Shadow moaned softly as Kit's tails tickled at his member and sack, and he pulled away, his stance no longer so solid. This was a level of pleasure he wasn't used to feeling. A powerful jolt of electricity shot through his hands and groin as he tried to stroke himself without realizing it, and Shadow jumped back, snarling and glaring at Kit - who hadn't moved. Surely he'd left plenty of openings; why wasn't Kit taking advantage of him?

	"If you haven't yet guessed, I'm not here to fight you," Kit remarked. "I'm here to teach you."

	The black hedgehog shook his head, making his stance more solid once more - only to shiver himself back into defenselessness as Kit's tails began tickling and caressing his genitals. Shadow wasn't sure how such pleasure was possible for him - he was made to be a weapon, the Ultimate Life Form, but... such wonderful feeling...!

	Then it was gone. Shadow panted softly, yelping as his hand reached down involuntarily once more. He jerked his hand back, still panting, his member quivering; Shadow was caught by surprise when Kit picked him up. He tried to kick, but Kit's tails held his ankles still as he was laid on the bed, face up.

	"Like I said," Kit said with a grin, "I'm here to teach you."

	"What... what could you hope to teach me?" Shadow asked, willing himself to focus away from his crotch, even as Kit's tail moved to caress his sack.

	"I was just going to teach you about your purpose in this Experiment." Kit smirked, his hand brushing over Shadow's cockhead, forcing a moan from the black hedgehog. "However, I'm also going to teach you about pleasure itself, starting with the basics - all you'll need to know until Tails arrives."

	Shadow found himself shoved against the bed before he could react. He wanted to blame it all on sleep, but what Kit did next made his mind spin. He wasn't expecting the massive fox to start licking his member, nor was he expecting it to feel as good as it did. He leaned back against the bed and relaxed - what choice did he have? - and he reached tentatively for Kit's head, gently petting the oversized fox.

	Kit grinned inwardly, holding Shadow's hips as he started sucking on the black hedgehog's cock; the moan from Shadow was nothing short of musical to the fox as he worked. His muzzle and tongue worked the sensitive, untouched head of Shadow's member, making Shadow quiver all over with the sudden feelings of intense pleasure.

	Shadow felt something building in his groin - the pleasure was mounting to an end that promised a release to that pressure, a release he started to feel like he needed...

	...and the pleasure suddenly stopped as Kit stood, pulling Shadow onto the bed completely by his wrists. The black hedgehog squirmed and tried to bring himself to struggle, but instead of a snarl and a glare, all that Shadow could manage was a pleading gaze and a pitiful whimper. Kit smiled down at him - not a mocking smirk, but a genuine smile - as he pulled a small vial from his satchel.

	"What... what're you planning to do...?" Shadow asked softly, yelping as he tried to touch himself again; the ring and bracelets gave him a painfully shocking rebuke. "Why are you lifting my legs?"

	Kit poured the contents of the vial over his member, spreading the clear fluid around with one finger. "Relax, Shadow. You need to be relaxed, or this is going to hurt a lot more than it should." His tails held Shadow's ankles up and to either side, exposing the black hedgehog's tailhole. "And this can be very enjoyable for both of us."

	Before Shadow could protest, Kit's finger was pressing against, and into, Shadow's backside. Shadow cried out and thrashed, trying to sit up to move Kit away from him; however, Kit only leaned forward and held the hedgehog down with one hand. Shadow squirmed and moaned as the fox's finger pushed into him deeply; it felt weird and unwanted and violating until Kit managed to start thrusting in and out of his tailhole. Shadow's thrashing turned to occasional twitching as he felt that finger press against a sensitive area deep in his rear he hadn't known of before.

	"That is your target when you're doing this to Tails," Kit said, pushing against Shadow's prostate and making his body jerk and shudder. "How does that feel?"

	Shadow didn't answer - he couldn't answer with anything other than an incomprehensible moan.

	"That's what I thought," Kit said cheerfully, pulling his finger out slowly. He lined his cock up with Shadow's backside, giving the hedgehog no time to squirm away before he pushed in. "Stay relaxed... tight as you are, this is going to hurt at first..."

	Hurt? With Shadow's regenerative powers hard at work, it didn't hurt at all, it was... indescribable. Shadow's struggling halted, and he even began working with Kit, trying to pull the fox into him by pushing back against his thrusts. He clenched his fists and held them behind his head to keep from reaching down to stroke himself.

	Kit reached down for Shadow, stroking him slowly as he sped up his thrusts. He could feel Shadow's ass clenching around him tightly as he thrusted, trying instinctively and futilely to shove him out, though Shadow shoved himself against the massive fox's member. Kit wasn't about to release, but it felt good to have his cock in something again, especially given what he was about to do once Shadow calmed down after he finished this part of his lesson.

	He pulled slowly from Shadow, leaving the black hedgehog shaking and panting heavily. Shadow didn't try to move; he was trying with the last of his will to keep from giving into the pleasure. Shadow had never dealt with something like that before, and he tried to sort it out logically - he knew, for example, that certain physical sensations could cause him to laugh or feel good. Being violated like this, however, was...

	Why was Kit standing over him?

	Shadow froze. How could Kit be standing over him without his realization? Was he starting to give in, or was he simply too distracted?

	"I'm about to show you what I was feeling," Kit said, grinning down at the black hedgehog.

	A cool drop of thick fluid fell onto the head of Shadow's standing member, warming up quickly as it slid down the length. Kit knelt down slowly, his hand starting to slide along the throbbing meat, making Shadow moan and squirm beneath the massive fox. The music from Shadow's throat increased as Kit worked the slick organ between his cheeks, grinding gently before rising up, pressing the head to his tailhole.

	Shadow tried to pull away as he felt himself sliding into Kit's warm, tight entrance - he didn't want to know how good it felt! - but Kit's hands pinned the hedgehog's wrists to the bed, his weight keeping Shadow immobile. The fox moaned softly, mirroring Shadow's voice as he enveloped the black hedgehog's cock with his tailhole. He was careful not to lower his full weight onto Shadow's body, but he took the whole of the hedgehog's member with little effort, clenching hard around the male as he started to bounce slowly.

	"You could do this to Tails, if you want," Kit said. "He isn't allowed to release without your permission... just like you're not allowed to without mine... unless, of course, you're playing with Tails." He spoke between pants, riding Shadow faster and grinning as the black hedgehog moaned louder. "You just might have Tails do this to you... only have him keep going... until you're satisified..."

	Shadow felt the world spinning rapidly around him, darkness dancing in his eyes as he lost blood flow to his brain. The pleasure began to fade slowly, and it took Shadow about five minutes to realize that Kit had pulled off of him. The fox stood by the door, stroking himself idly, grinning at the hedgehog.

	"Back with us, Shadow?" Kit asked. "You almost came - I couldn't let that happen yet."

	"What is that supposed to mean?" Shadow growled, shaking himself free of the dizziness. "Of course I came; I'm here - "

	He was cut off by Kit's continued laughter. "Never mind. You'll find out what I meant in a few months. And I'll be back every so often to remind you that you'll want to learn."

	Shadow blushed deeply, yelping again and jerking his hand back from his crotch. "This is... this is a form of torture..."

	Kit shrugged, the door opening behind him. "Yeah, well, Dextral gets his kicks watching people squirm. Who am I to judge?"

	The black hedgehog growled at Kit, snarling through the pain of the shock as he started to stroke himself to spite the oversized fox. He could ignore the pain and regenerate the damage; stroking himself felt too good for him to stop just because of a growing pain-shock. He was getting close to bursting with pleasure, despite the vicious, nerve-wracking pain in his sensitive genitals; he was so close to that needed release...

	A sudden crackling explosion of agony flared through Shadow's arms and legs. He curled up into a ball, his wrists against his collar as the pain overwhelmed him. Tears streamed from his eyes - he'd never felt something as horrible as that painful shock, as though every nerve that wasn't attached to a life-support organ were set on fire and buried in razors.

	Kit shook his head, walking out of Shadow's cell. "I tried to warn you," he said, "you won't be able to cum without my permission or Tails' help."

	Shadow could barely hear the door slam shut. He had felt such pleasure, and now he felt pain to equal it. He wanted that feeling of pleasure again, but the pain was so terrible, even as it finally began to fade - was it worth it?

	His member went limp again, and Shadow reached down slowly, ignoring the stabbing pains in his wrists and crotch as he started to try to stroke himself slowly, vision still blurred from the tears of agony he'd cried earlier. Shadow cursed himself for his weakness, but as he began to feel himself grow hard again, he couldn't deny his growing addiction.

	Shadow would make Tails his toy. He needed the pleasure of release so badly...

	...and this was only the first day.