Green

Chp 1 – Green

A pleasant breeze carried the scent of the forest as Shadow wandered with his growing armful of kindling. He was walking slowly, enjoying the solitude and using it to steel himself against the event for which he was gathering firewood. Over the years he’d slowly, arduously, and (at times) painfully grown accustomed to the social engagements that he’d been drug to, first by Rouge and now by Sonic, but he still found the interactions draining on his ‘social battery’ as Amy called it.

Sonic knew well Shadow’s limits and had volunteered them to collect fodder for the bonfire that would light the evening’s festivities. The blue blur had suggested they split to cover more territory, and the hybrid hadn’t argued. That Sonic didn’t insist on some sort of race or competition to see who could gather the most appropriately sized sticks and branches denoted how worn out he was. Shadow wasn’t surprised, given the battle they’d just won.

Dr. Robotnik had a bad habit of messing with powers beyond mortal comprehension, and the past week had seen his latest attempt blow up in face. Ivo had so utterly screwed the pooch this time that both Sonic and Shadow had needed to go super to force back the unholy abomination into the deep dark hole in the earth from which it had emerged. What it was exactly had been explained by the echidna and the fox, but Shadow had been too distracted watching Sonic’s ass vibrate with the frenetic excitement for a good battle to pay much attention.

Going super for the first time in years had been nothing short of amazing. Not only was his soul interlaced with Sonic’s on an ethereal level, but Shadow finally felt at peace with his body, a tranquility that had eluded him since his adventures in white space. Even as the power left him and the Emerald dispersed, the relaxed sensation of rightness remained for some time after his fur had returned to a shiny onyx.

Amy Rose had been quick to organize a celebratory gathering for the triumphant heroes. Shadow found the pinkette’s organizational skills impressive. Even though she had taken part in the fight equally with Rouge, the echidna, and the fox, she somehow still had the energy to supply refreshments and direct the rest of them to appointed tasks. Whoever she chose to be her forever person better cherish and support Amy to the shattered moon and back or they’d answer to Shadow.

The fur along the back of his neck prickled and Shadow turned to see a very promising fallen branch. Lifting up the thick limb, still heavy with verdant leaves, Shadow caught a flash of light underneath. He threw the branch away and prodded at fallen foliage on the forest floor with the toe of his air shoe. The metal sole tapped against something hard and Shadow saw a bright copper arsenite glint.

Leaning down, he pushed away a thin layer of coverage to find the green Chaos Emerald. Shadow’s eyes went wide. What were the odds? The Emeralds had only scattered earlier that day. Finding them again normally took the fox’s delicate technology. And it was Shadow’s favorite one, too, its green such a close match to Sonic’s eyes that Shadow had often taken to looking at it for comfort when he and Sonic were parted.

Shadow grasped the Emerald and a not unpleasant shiver ran through him. He blinked and frowned slightly. Yes, holding an Emerald tended to come with some tingling, the energy held within impossible to fully ignore, but a reaction like that…had never…n-never…?

He straightened. The feeling was back again, slowly working its way up his arm. Rightness. Completion. Alignment. A relaxing sensation that everything was finally in its right place. It was so nice to finally have a chance to stop and just be. No present danger, no ongoing invasion. He and Sonic could spend some quiet time together. They’d earned it. They deserved to be together. Alone.

Sonic was simply amazing. The blinding light of the sun and the free, ever shifting freedom of the wind rolled into a singular brilliant body and soul. An expertly crafted creature whose everything stole Shadow’s breath. Their fingers intertwined, lithe bodies pressed against one another in a frantic tangle, interwoven so tightly it would be difficult to determine where one ended and the other began if not for their colorations. Connected and writhing together rhythmically, a building, impossible heat pulling taunt until-!

Shadow’s head twitched and he blinked rapidly, the strange, lascivious thoughts evaporating like a half-formed dream. Was that a hypnic jerk? His brow knitted. Strange. Sure, he was a bit sore from the fight, but he didn’t feel tired…and he was standing. Shadow realized his other arm was empty. He frowned down at the disheveled pile of sticks and kindling lying scattered on the ground next to him. When had they fallen?

A wave of concern was building in the back of his mind, but it was dispelled when he felt a pulse from the Emerald. He returned his gaze to its sparkling, shining depths. He felt relaxed, holding it, like everything was right with the world for once. His shoulders sagged and he blinked slowly. Reaching up, he touched his temple. Shadow’s mind felt…fluffy, like it was full of warm cotton. That’s not…

His mind wandered again, to a pleasant daydream of Sonic. They rolled around a field of lavender, their arms wrapped around one another. Chaste kisses and playful nips turned into deep passionate exchanges of saliva. Sonic’s hands explored Shadow’s body, bare hands gently dragging claws against heated flesh down, down, down to Shadow’s lower reaches. Shadow bit his lip and became vaguely aware of sudden gaping void inside him.

And all the while, the green Chaos Emerald pulsed softly in his hand.

---

When Sonic realized all the wood for the blazing bonfire had thus far been exclusively provided by the blue blur, he quirked a brow. Sonic was well aware of Shadow’s need for a bit of space, especially after a tense battle, but normally that wouldn’t lead him to ditch an errand assigned by Amy (From Sonic, though? Yeah, sure, Shadow would drop kick that request into the sun, but we’re talking about Amy here.) A-anyway, Sonic made up some excuse to not be where his friends expected him to be and went looking for Shadow.

It took maaaaaaaybe five seconds for Sonic to find the errant hybrid (4.83 seconds, but no one is counting. {But if they were-} NO ONE IS COUNTING, SONIC). Shadow was…just standing there. Next to a pile of sticks. Huh. Okay, this was more than likely totally fine. The broodhog occasionally had to brood. It was in his nature. There wasn’t anything wrong with that. Oh, he was holding som- Oh, hey is the green Chaos Emerald. What are the odds?

“Heya Shads! You know you were to collect wood and bring it back, right?” Sonic approached, but Shadow didn’t seem to notice him. Huh. Shadow seemed really concentrating on the Emerald. Sonic’s brow knitted and his nose twitched. “Shadow?” Sonic lightly placed his hand on Shadow’s shoulder and the hybrid flinched so violently Sonic stepped back.

Shadow turned to Sonic, the usual nasty snarl besmirching his handsome muzzle but, upon spotting the speedster, a wide smile replaced it. Oh. Creepy. Okay. T-that’s okay. “You okay, Shads?” Sonic found himself taking another step back. Shadow advanced on Sonic, slipping the Emerald into his quills as he did. “Shadow?” Sonic continued to back away. “You’re creeping me out, dude. Say something.”

Sonic’s foot hit a root and he stumbled, his back hitting the truck of a tree. Shadow was in his personal space immediately, hands planted on either side of Sonic’s head, pinning him in. Sonic got a fun little reminder of their (slight) height difference as Shadow loomed over him.

The concern bloomed into something adjacent to unease when Sonic got a good look at Shadow’s glassy, lidded fuckme (try again) bedroom (one more time) beautiful (I’ll allow it) eyes: pupils blown wide and a strange green glow interlacing the ciliary zone of his irises. Next, Shadow’s scent hit Sonic full in the face and the blue blur’s body reacted. He slammed a hand over his nose and pressed against Shadow’s chest with the other. His lover resisted being pushed back. “Fuck, Shads, is this-?” Shit, what was today? (Ugh, brain going to goo too fast to math.) “Your heat’s not for like a month, right?”

Shadow did not respond. Instead, he opened his mouth, releasing a glistening appendage, and ducked down going for a long lap over Sonic’s pouch. Oh, fuck. Sonic gasped. Then he felt it. Oh, fuck! Shadow what dishing out the special sauce. Fuck unease, time to ramp up to panic.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Sonic gently, but firmly, grasped each side of Shadow’s head, lifting and pushing him back. The hybrid looked at him with disappointed eyes starting to brim with tears (heat related confirmed {don’t’ get ahead of yourself, Sonic}), the tip of his cute little tongue poking out from between his lips and his ears flopped over. Shadow released a piteous whine that just made Sonic want to go aww! Oh, dear Gaia below, he’s adorable- (Fuck, {shit, [focus!]})

“Babe,” Sonic tried to speak clearly, given most of his blood was between his legs, “You know I’m ready to go to pound town with you twenty-four seven three sixty-five, here, there, anywhere except underwater, but I’m gonna need some indication that the lights are all on in that head of yours or else-“ Sonic swallowed. He’d built somewhat of a tolerance for Shadow’s aphrodisiac over the years, so he could get the following words out, but, fucking hell, it was hard. “My answer is no.”

Shadow did not take the denial well. His ears pinned and he growled, deep and guttural, his lips curling to reveal Shadow’s fangs in their elongated state. The strange green light in his eyes seemed to glow brighter. Sonic tried to find the reaction concerning (the word you’re looking for is terrifying), but all he could think was how fucking hot Shadow was right now. Oh…Oh this isn’t good.

With a sudden movement, Shadow twisted, pulling Sonic off the tree and slamming him down to the ground. Sonic’s reaction times were getting alarmingly slow and Shadow was able to get on top of him before Sonic could roll away. Shadow leaned down and Sonic jerked his head to the side. If Shadow got into Sonic’s mouth with the hybrid’s doped up saliva, that would be the end of this. Sonic would be Shadow’s pliant and eager little fuck toy until the dark hedgehog had had his fill while Sonic had the time of his life the whole way.

But Shadow still wasn’t talking and there was that whole weird green glow going on, so Sonic needed to keep a clear head and figure out what was wrong with Shadow. Denied Sonic’s lips, Shadow ran his long, wet tongue from Sonic’s jawline, up his face, and along the shell of ear. Sonic shuddered and his pouch swelled painfully. Shadow capped the motion with a small nip of the soft fleshy tip of Sonic’s ear and Sonic gasped. (Maybe just a quick one?)

({No!}) Sonic coiled like a spring, rolling his hips to get his legs between him and his overeager lover, then launched his boyfriend off him with incredible force. Shadow sailed through the air, flipping a few times, and landing on his feet, a hand dragging along the ground to slow the backwards slide. (Hot. {No.} Cool. {Sonic!}) Wait, no, I mean, show off!

Sonic jumped to his feet, crouching into a fighting stance. “Last chance, Shadow!” Sonic focused his power, rapidly cycling his chaos energy to metabolize the aphrodisiac in his system. “I need a verbal confirmation of enthusiastic consent or I’m going to have to consider this another mind control situation or something and take you down by force.”

Shadow growled in response. Welp, he tried.

Frowning, Sonic pivoted on his heel and dashed away deeper into the forest. He stole a glance behind to confirm that, yes, his sexy half alien lover was in hot pursuit. Good. Sonic needed to lead him far away from their friends for this, just in case Shadow started pulling out chaos spears. The gorgeous hybrid was going to be embarrassed as hell when he finally came to, but Sonic really didn’t want that paired with guilt over hurting anyone. Anyone other than Sonic, of course.

Sonic reached what felt like an appropriate distance from the party and turned, squaring up for a beat down. Unfortunately, no horny black hedgehog presented himself for punishment. Sonic’s eyes swept over the forest in a wide arc. Did Shadow get behind him somehow? Sonic hadn’t felt any of the telltale signs of a chaos snap and Shadow hadn’t seem to be running full tilt. Fuck, real panic spiked through Sonic. Maybe Shadow went for their friends after all.

Right before he sped off to try to check on the unsuspecting party, Sonic caught sight of a bit of movement up in the trees. He froze and raised his eyes to the canopy. It was getting late in the afternoon, so there were some gathering shadows (we can hope right?). Something was moving up in the branches. Something dark, large, and fast. Sonic grit his teeth and bolted. Whatever-it-was followed, leaping from tree to tree with ease.

Sonic tried to get a read on it. It didn’t look like Shadow. It was bigger than him and pretty weird shaped, like it was made of clay or goo. It had a lot of long, agile black limbs that ended in Shadow’s angry red color. Sonic frowned. This was starting to get serious.

His eyes upwards, Sonic tripped over a rock and took a spill. Rubbing his head, he regained his footing and looked around for the creature. Then everything dimmed suddenly and Sonic looked straight up.

The black creature plummeted towards Sonic, its numerous limbs spreading out like a net, the bulbous core tenting over him. Sonic felt onto his back, frazzled brain still trying to come to grips with what he was seeing. Based on the color scheme alone, this was clearly some Black Arms bullshit. Which means this whatever-it-was was probably Shadow.

Okay. Sonic could work with that. It’d been a time and half since the invasion, but Sonic a few more tools in his talk-no-jutsu arsenal now. He could handle this. He had to handle this.

“Shadow,” Sonic started, desperately trying to not think about what a jackpot it was that his boyfriend could turn into a tentacle monster, “I don’t really know what’s going on,” Way too many red eyes loomed down at him. “But I promise we can figure it out.” Crap, was he about to get eaten? Shadow would be glum about that for soooo long.

Shadow had Sonic pretty caged in but he wasn’t making any immediate moves. There were a few tentacles poised, so making a break for it wasn’t without its risks. Sonic bit the inside of his cheek. Shadow wasn’t responding at all to anything Sonic said…but that wasn’t a reason to stop trying.

Sonic opened his mouth to try again but froze. Shadow was starting to…change color? Starting at the head(?) and radiating out over the body and down the tentacles, the dark flesh was lightening. The pattern flowed outwards in bands of starkly contrasting colors, hues, and brightnesses. Sonic furrowed his brow at the strobing effect.

He’d never seen Shadow do anything like this before (nor the tentacle monster thing, Sonic was sleeping on the tentacle monster {[focus!] oh fuck} huh?). Was kinda pretty. Real pretty light show. Shadow was so amazing. All the cool stuff he could do. Well, if Shadow wasn’t gonna attack, Sonic might as well get comfortable. Relaxed. So relaxed he couldn’t feel his…Sonic’s eyelids dipped, but he didn’t want to miss a second of…whatever this was…

His sight started lacking continuity. The colors no longer moved rapidly over Shadow so much as appeared as frozen snap shots, like Sonic was just lazy shuffling through a series of photographs. Chunks were going missing…or maybe they were never there to begin with…whatever, didn’t matter. What did it even mean to matter? His thoughts were going now, only little flashes like metallic confetti fluttering in the air.

Absently, Sonic’s last coherent thought, as his vision blurred, was uh-oh…

---

Though the events earlier in the day hadn’t been that trying, exhaustion had infested Shadow’s mate so thoroughly that the magnificent creature had gotten terribly confused. He’d pushed Shadow away even though the hybrid could clearly see the growing heat in his loins and sense the simmering energy underneath his skin. His precious sapphire had run, perhaps as a means of teasing foreplay? Oh, silly mate! There was nowhere on this planet where Shadow could not find you!

Shadow briefly considered allowing the chase to extend, to see how long until his mate fully tired, to see the game of predator and prey to its logical conclusion, but there was a pressing need lodged inside him, and he desperately desired his mate’s assistance to address the matter.

Slipping into his doom morph form came much more easily to him than it had in the blank space outside of time. There didn’t seem to be as much internal resistance this time, as if a deep-seated revulsion was simply repressed missing. Strange. Auspicious.

For as aquatically analogous as Shadow was in this form, he was able to navigate the forest treetops rather well. If his mate was being playful, wanting a bit of friendly chase as preamble, Shadow’s heart swelled to provide. Watching the blue form zip through the underbrush below was exhilarating and stoked the fire in Shadow further. A dance of life to defeat death. Shadow longed to devour his mate, but not with his mouth.

Eventually his mate slowed and Shadow allowed himself to be spotted. He smelled…fear? Oh, dear. This was just a game for fun! His mate was getting far too worked up. He couldn’t properly enjoy the next part all frazzled like that. Shadow descended and helped his mate relax by dazzling all those unnecessary thoughts away. When that had been accomplished, his patterns returned to normal and he scooped up the body with two of his arms.

His mate was so utterly limp that Shadow had to support his head like a newborn. He was so gorgeous like this, chest rising and falling slowly, the languid pulse of his heart underneath, his eyes like placid, green pools into which no light entered. He was nearly perfect, the product of long years of effort just like Shadow.

Shadow quickly found a patch of forest floor without any sharp rocks or hard roots and began covering the spot with fallen leaves and bits of moss torn off rocks and tree trunks. Soft and perfect and smelling thickly of nature. A perfect place for the perfect mate. Shadow clicked satisfactorily and laid his mate carefully down. “Sha-…” He whispered, his head lolling to the side. Shadow had no mouth within which to respond, but he ran the tip of one of his tentacles along his mate’s face and felt the slight pressing of him leaning into the touch. Shadow’s clicking intensified.

Shadow couldn’t make his mate feel good in the way he wished in this form, so it was now time to revert. Tentacles detached and fell to the ground, bursting into splashes of dark inky fluid that quickly evaporated in whisps of black chaos energy. The body shrank in on itself, vaguely ovoid shape developing convex cavities that sharpened into five points. Soon arms, legs, and a head developed.

In short order, Shadow was once again hedgehog-shaped.

His mate’s flight had seemingly flatten his desire, leaving the relevant parts small and at rest. This was of little consequence to Shadow. He expressed the special chemical his body produced into the saliva pooling under his tongue. He leaned down and nuzzled his snout into his mate’s, receiving a quiet sound that might have been a word.

With slow, short licks, Shadow began to groom his mate’s face. Pressing fur against the grain once to get deep to the skin and laying it back down again under several laps in the correct direction, Shadow imparted a fine, uniform coating of his stimulant that soaking into his mate cutaneously. This mate’s heart rate picked up and his cheeks and ears grew flush.

Shadow’s aphrodisiac was powerful. It created almost instantaneous arousal, forced the host’s brain to flood with the perfect combination of dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin, whilst also dulling pain receptors all over the body. He could secrete it into any fluid he produced at will. Saliva, slick, semen, tears, sweat, even his blood.

His mate didn’t stand a chance. Against Shadow’s posterior, an object of great importance inflated. By the time Shadow was done with his oral ministrations, his mate was whining and mewling mindlessly whilst his hips gently bucked upwards, desperately chasing friction.

The excitement encouraged the appearance of Shadow’s own penetrative implement. The hybrid was unique in many, many ways from naturally born mobians, a prime example of which was his ability to fulfill the role of either sex as needed, with features that expanded on either set of organs. His prehensile penis was particularly popular with his mate.

Shadow lifted and his mate’s length freely expressed itself. “Shad…need…” His mate whimpered. Shadow longed to reassure him, but his voice was…not important right now. There was only one thing that would satisfy them both. Shadow positioned himself, using his own flexible length to grip his mate’s solid one and guided the key to its hole.

With a contented sigh, Shadow slid down onto the throne upon which he’d preside over the curve of history. As his mate’s instrument rubbed against the furrows of Shadow’s insides, ripples of pleasurable tingles reverberated through his body like a symphony tuning for a performance.

Shadow clenched, preparing to conduct the orchestra accompanying their duet. His mate released a small sound, the muscles of his face twitching. Shadow felt movement inside. His mate was as impatient as he was, but Shadow couldn’t help but pause and admire the deep blush coloring his mate’s cheeks. He was immaculately beautiful, long lashes fluttering over vacant eyes and tiny furrows pinched between his brows.

With a contented sigh, Shadow began to move. The first slow rise drew a loud keen from his throat as pleasure tore through him. His own length curled back and forth, rubbing swirls on his mate’s stomach. After only a few languid slides up and down, his mate was huffing and moaning so sweetly, his lips pursed and quivering.

Shadow couldn’t resist. He leaned down a pecked at his mate’s lip. A small gap already existed, and Shadow’s tongue easily entered. His mate’s lay inactive, but that was perfectly acceptable. Shadow was the Ultimate Lifeform and he was more than willing and able to do all the work.

The first release came quickly, denoted only by a slight increase in his mate’s respiration rate and a pleasant internal gush. Shadow withdrew from his mate’s oral cavity because asphyxiation this was undesirable. Shadow’s needy darkness milked his mate of his genetic material with rolling undulations of Shadow’s walls. The precious whiteness was then secreted away to even darker areas for processing.

Spent, his mate trembled. Shadow nuzzled his face and ran gloved fingers through azure quills. His mate had done so well. A wonderful first expulsion. His mate’s body attempted to lay down its instrument, but Shadow’s excretions would not allow such rest. After a few minutes, the intermission was over and the encore was ready to begin.

Shadow lifted and stretched his back. Red eyes considered foggy, green lidded ones. He could make this even better for his mate. Pivoting on his beloved spit, Shadow about faced. Leaning forward and spreading his mate’s legs, Shadow’s flexible length slithered through the fine fur paving the way to his mate’s puckered rear entrance.

The eager phallus circled its tip around the sealed passage, dribbling fresh enchanted slick. The tight ring twitched, relaxing just a tad, and Shadow’s member thinned to a minute point and wiggled in. There was a special place, deep in the cavern, that Shadow was seeking, a sensitive spot that always lit up his mate with ecstasy.

He began rising and falling his hips again, now paired with a reciprocation of his tentacled length. In and out, in and out, the head and shaft slowly expanding as his mate’s guarding muscles relaxed and retreated.

As Shadow leaned forward to pull off his mate’s font of life, he pushed further into the cave of forbidden pleasures. In and out, up and down, back and forth. He picked up the pace, driven by the whines, mutters, and twitches of his mate below him and the intolerable drive to consume him on an existential level. Shadow could feel the pressure building in both of them, the abdominal muscles going taunt, the growing electricity climbing up his spine.

Shadow reached and slammed into the sweet spot within his mate, his flexible tip balling and bracing within for extra leverage, and was rewarded with a second hot and glorious expend. The euphoria was so great that Shadow came as well, fluids filling a barren space, but the uselessness of the expenditure made the act feel all the more hallow, as if it were a sacrifice, an act of worship. He stilled, basking in the afterglow, head tilted back and ears canted, listening to the filthy, gasping noises of his mate.

This was what Shadow was made for. Designed to perfection, the ultimate pairing of chaos and biology, a blinding beacon of life everlasting-!

Everything got unpleasant for Shadow suddenly. His chest tightened painfully and a terrible shudder ran through him. He gasped, sobbing as large tears formed in his eyes and broke free, running down his cheeks and falling onto Sonic’s stomach. He gripped his quills, pulling sharply. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Before he could start to puzzle out what was making him so upset, the Emerald in his quills drew his attention with a forceful gentle pulse. A numbing wave flowed through him, dissolving all sensations. His thoughts about Sonic, about the future, about himself fuzzed and faded.

Shadow’s appendage exited, sopping and leaking, and shrank until it was back safely inside him. It wasn’t needed and its use was not just a waste of resources but was becoming an unnecessary risk. He twisted back to his original position, the soft whines of his mate not registering in deaf dark ears. Knees planted into the foliage covered earth and hands slightly pressing into his mate’s chest, Shadow began to rock back and forth. Steady. Metered. Efficient.

Perfection could only be constructed via the highest quality ingredients. The mind wasn’t required for today’s task, that of maximizing the chances of collecting the sufficient amount of acceptable genetic material, so it was forced to rest, sent away deeper into the graciously allowed dream. The body could handle this on its own, with proper direction. The body did not tire, required no sustenance outside of chaos energy, and would fulfill its purpose without complaint. Obedience to The Imperative was mandatory.

The heart, though?

The heart wept.

---

After Sonic made up some lame excuse to ditch the party to look for Shadow, everybody fucking knew what those two were up to. So Knuckles was a little disappointed in himself for agreeing to go looking for them. Something about how about the only thing in the world that Sonic wouldn’t flake on was Amy’s chilidogs and maybe something had happened to them?

Knuckles grumbled as he walked through the forest. The sun had gotten really low. Much longer and he’d not be able to see anything and could turn around with a lower chance of getting chewed out by Rouge. That woman. She smirked and winked at him when he finally relented to Amy’s request. He’d make her pay once they got back to Angel Island.

His irritation became tempered when Knuckles felt the telltale presence of a Chaos Emerald nearby. Already? He wondered. The Emeralds were enigmatic. Sometimes, when they separated after the fulfilment of a wish, they’d find their way to the most random, remote locations. Other times, they just appeared like a plot contrivance. Amy found one in her cupboard once, for instance.

Knuckles followed the energy signature. He quickened his pace when he found a discarded pile of wood. Chaos, was Eggman already causing trouble again? Maybe the hedgehogs had caught him with the Emerald and gone in pursuit. If that was the case, they really might need his help. The forest was strangely quiet, and he didn’t see any evidence of a fight, though the feeling of the Chaos Emerald was nearly overpowering, like it was being used on overdrive, and that drove him faster.

Just when he was starting to sweat, a small sound drew Knuckles’ attention. He rounded a large tree and froze. You have got to be fucking kidding me. Here he was getting worried and they were just fucking in the woods, so into it that neither seemed to have noticed him. He quickly averted his gaze. Gritting his teeth with embarrassment and anger, Knuckles started to turn but stopped.

Something was wrong.

Knuckles’ attention snapped back to the occupied hedgehogs. “N-no…” Sonic whined meekly, eyes glassy. His voice was so weak and Shadow just flat out ignored him, continuing to ride in a strangely robotic manner. “Shads…please stop…”

Knuckles saw red.

He grabbed Shadow around the neck and ripped him off Sonic, causing the hero to cry out as they were decoupled. The hybrid hissed and snarled like an animal. Knuckles pitched him as far as he could, then he leaned down and pulled Sonic to his feet. “Sonic!” He shook the hedgehog roughly.

“Wah, K-Kunx?” Sonic blinked, his eyes regaining a little cognizance. “Knuckles!” Sonic gripped him. “There’s something wrong with Shadow.”

“Yeah, no shit!” Knuckles snarled. “He was-!”

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” Sonic’s pupils were so small, Knuckles was surprised the blue blur could see at all. “You don’t understand. You have to get out of here before-!” Sonic couldn’t finish his sentence before Knuckles drug him aside to dodge Shadow pouncing at them like a fucking cat.

The alien twisted in the air and launched himself at them again in an instant. Sonic was nearly dead weight and making it difficult to avoid the attack. Knuckles backed away, trying to gain some distance between the black hedgehog and his victim.

“Is this some weird heat shit?” Knuckles shifted the blue blur into a football hold.

“I don’t know man, but I don’t think so. He’s, like, hella out of it. I think something is controlling him.” Sonic wriggled weakly, but Knuckles would be damned before he let Shadow get a hold on Sonic again. “Ugh, I’m gonna be sick.”

“Don’t you dare puke on me.” Knuckles could not outrun Shadow. That was a fact. He’d have to put Sonic down to put up a proper fight. Shit, there weren’t a lot of options here. Should he call for back up? Rouge would probably consider this an ‘edgehog emergency’ and the only answer for that was Sonic or Omega. Where even was Omega? The homicidal robot had gotten bored and left the moment Eggman had retreated, leaving the mobians to fight off the literal corporeal embodiment of Despair.

While Knuckles was deliberating, Shadow teleported. The echidna tensed feeling the movement of chaos energy around him, but Sonic’s weight through off Knuckles’ reaction time and metal-rimmed shoes slammed into his lower spine, sending him and Sonic separately sprawling to the ground. Knuckles groaned and rolled over, trying to get back on his feet.

A black and red body mounted him before Knuckles got a chance. Shadow caught both his wrists and pinned them to the ground, his leverage and strength out pacing Knuckles’. The Guardian snarled but caught glimpse of a strange green light in Shadow’s eyes and hesitated.

Shadow took advantage of Knuckles’ brief pause and slammed his mouth into Knuckles’, his tongue forcing its way between Knuckles’ teeth. The echidna gagged and then bit down hard. A truly revolt taste spread over his tongue as Shadow’s weird alien blood spilled into his mouth. Shadow did not pull back, seemingly fine with Knuckles attempting to bite his tongue off.

Knuckles got an arm free and slammed his fist against Shadow’s skull, which didn’t unseat the possessed hedgehog, but at least got him the fuck out of Knuckles’ mouth. He wound up for another blow, but then he shivered. “Oh, fuck.”

Sonic was on his hands and knees, attempting to gain his feet. “Yeah, I was gonna say don’t let him get in your mouth. Shadow’s got this-“

“I know what Shadow’s fluids do, Sonic.” Knuckles’ body flopped back, already heating intolerably and going limp. “Shit.”

Sonic had called on Knuckles a few times when Shadow’s heats had worn the speedster out (which was a feat in and of itself) and he’d third wheeled a few of Rouge’s adventures with the hybrid since they’d started dating (which wasn’t cuckolding because Shadow checked all of the above in the organs department), though he refused anything having to do with Shadow’s ruts (Knuckles pitched exclusively except when he lost bets with Rouge - Though no one needed to know that).

Fucking Shadow was a lot more fun than Knuckles would ever admit out loud. Whatever Black Arms bullshit was going on inside that cunt could accommodate Knuckles’ echidnan equipment in ways that otherwise were unavailable, given the extinct nature of his people. Rouge was amazing and he was going to spend the rest of his life trying to please her, but there were certain things she simply could not give him that Shadow could.

But this…this was decidedly not fun.

Knuckles knew what Shadow’s aphrodisiac felt like, but the effect seemed super charged in the hybrid’s blood. His multiheaded phallus emerged without preamble, long, girthy, and ready for things that Knuckles’ quickly clouding mind was starting to warm up to.

Before Knuckles could muster the force of will to mount a defense, Shadow positioned himself above Knuckles and the artificial hedgehog’s sopping tight hole took the echidna warrior to the hilt. The echidna gave a choking gasp and blacked out for a moment as a catastrophic wave of pleasure ripped him free from reality. When he returned to the corporeal plane, Shadow was riding him like Shadow’s life depended on it and Knuckles was so close to exploding into that disgustingly intoxicating cavern that he was embarrassed for not lasting longer.

But Knuckles was not Sonic. His discipline was absolute. As a Guardian, he’d trained his body to the point that he had an almost supernatural level of control. He didn’t know what was going on or why, but he’d be damned if he was going to let Shadow have his semen right now. His hands clenched into tight fists as Knuckles warred against his body’s fervent desire to give in and release.

Turning his head away, Knuckles watched Sonic fumbling to his feet, swaying like he was incredibly drunk. He raised his hands and slapped his cheeks, seemingly clearing his head some. More concerning was Sonic’s crotch area. His thin pink prick was still present and pert but covered in blood. In fact, Sonic’s entire groin, lower stomach, and thighs were dark with blood.

Sonic noticed him staring and gave a weak variant on his usual cocky grin, “Don’t worry, Knux. It’s all my blood.”

Dear Chaos, smite me please. He grit his teeth trying to channel his anger into clarity. “That doesn’t make it any better, you asshole!”

Sonic scratched his cheek. Thankfully his pupils were nearly back to normal. “Well, I feel better about it. If anyone has to get hurt, I always prefer it be me.”

Knuckles’ retort came out as a breathy grunt. He made the mistake of looking at Shadow. He was wide eyed, pupils massive, but completely unfocused. A band of green glowed from what remained of his iris, nearly blotting out the crimson. Knuckles could see how Sonic thought Shadow was being mind controlled again. “Well, get your fucking boyfriend off me, you masochist!”

“Jeeze, Knux, I’m trying.” Sonic shook his head. “When I found him, he was already zonked out. He was holding a Chaos Emerald.” Okay, that was a lead. Knuckles didn’t have the mental facilities to speculate on how a Chaos Emerald could cause this.

“The green one?” Knuckles closed his eyes. Think about uh…garbage, pollution – fuck – his mother’s funeral. Anything but how immaculate perfect the inside of Shadow felt and how amazing it would be to fill to full up the fucker would have cum coming out his ears.

“Yeah.” Sonic actually sounded impressed. Idiot. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess.” Knuckles grunted. “Where is it now?”

“Shadow’s got it in his quills.”

Knuckles bit back a moan as Shadow picked up the pace, probably getting impatient with Knuckles resistance. “Well, get it out!”

Shadow paused and twisted in place, soliciting a filthy noise from Knuckles. Fuck he was losing it. Shadow locked eyes with Sonic, freezing the speedster who’d be trying to sneak up on the rutting alien. The hybrid lifted nearly off Knuckles and wagged his tail back and forth, presenting his ass to Sonic. “Oh, fuck that’s hot.” The speedster’s face flushed.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Knuckles growled as he struggled to push himself up.

Shadow settled back onto Knuckles as Sonic crouched behind him. “I just…just like one more quick one.” Shadow keened and arched his back as Sonic entered. “You’re so fucking tight, Shadow.”

“Gods damn it!” Knuckles gasped as Shadow squeezed him. The hybrid began pistoning between them, faced blank and tongue lolling out of his mouth. After a particularly strong trust onto Knuckles, Shadow’s length emerged and began curling back and forth on Knuckles’ stomach, the deep red color nearly camouflaging it in his fur.

“I cannot fucking believe you right now, Sonic!” Knuckles gasped. The twin pleasures of Shadow’s adaptable cavity and the aphrodisiac poisoning him were barbarians at the gates of the warrior’s resolve. He knew he should be a lot more worried about how little he could move his own body, but he was holding on by his fingertips as it was.

“W-well, you know, Knux?” Sonic was breathless. “I think we’re all j-just trying our best right now, o-okay, buddy. I’m pretty sure I’ve been coming b-blood for a while and I still c-can’t stay away.”

The island of Knuckles sanity was sinking into the frothing ocean with every lift and fall of Shadow’s hips. “You are the most shameless cretin I’ve ever met!” All he had was his anger at that fucking blue bastard and if that was what was keeping his head above water, then he’d scream his voice raw.

Sonic huffed a dry laugh. “Y-yeah, I don’t r-really got anything in my d-defense for that. Shadow secret sauce is s-strong.”

“Get the Emerald!”

“Right. Emerald. Get it.” Sonic removed one of his arms from around Shadow’s waist and dug it into the mass of quills. Suddenly, Shadow clenched down with crushing force, causing both the red and blue mobian to cry out in unison.

Knuckles managed to throw an arm over his eyes. Oh fuck, oh chaos! Sonic was hanging onto Shadow for dear life and sputtering out a bout of obscene word vomit. Biting his own tongue and focusing on the pain, Knuckles was able to lift up and make a swipe at Shadow’s quills. The hybrid did not break stride, but tensed his quills, making Knuckles hiss as deep cuts were slashed into his mitts.

The hybrid had them both pinned. Nothing either of them managed to do came close to getting the Emerald out of Shadow’s quills. It seemed they were in for the duration, trapped until whatever was controlling Shadow had gotten tired making him fuck himself on them.

“Oh Gaia, I’m close again.” Sonic whined. “Shit, oh, it hurts.”

Fuck, this is hot. Knuckles lost his grip on his resolve and tears pricked at the edges of eyes as he cried out. This set both hedgehogs off and Shadow little tentacle dick sprayed watery white ropes over Knuckles’ chest. For a moment all three were still, chests billowing as the collective orgasm settled.

Sonic jammed his hand into Shadow’s quills and tore out the Emerald. “Got it!” He cried triumphantly.

Shadow blinked and groaned. He placed a hand to his forehead. “Wah?” His eyes focused on Knuckles who blinked at him blearily, trying to force himself out of the afterglow. “What the fuck?!” Shadow snarled.

Then Knuckles and Sonic cried out in unison as the body their sensitive bits were lodged in abruptly bent the fabric of spacetime and chaos snapped away.

“I always wondered what that would feel like.” Sonic fell back on his tail. He tossed the Emerald towards Knuckles, who laid a mitt over it. The power inside was excited but fading quickly.

“What the fuck, Sonic?!” Shadow roared, his quills fully erect and crackles of chaos energy arcing around his clenched fists. “I can’t fucking remember anything. Did you drug me?” He advanced menacingly towards the prone blue hedgehog. Great. Now they were going to get murdered. Knuckles rolled over, trying to hide his dick from view.

“Shads, shads, shads!” Sonic pushed himself backwards along the ground, “You gotta- you gotta let me explain-!”

The black hedgehog reached down and snatched Sonic up by the meat of his chest, raising his fist. “What could you possibly say to explain-!” Shadow froze, his nose twitching.

“Shadow?” Sonic’s brow knit.

The hybrid deflated, his anger evaporating. He dropped Sonic, who yelped on impact with the ground. Shadow stumbled back several paces, his quills falling limp, eyes wide and trembling. “You smell like my aphrodisiac. I can taste it on my tongue…I drugged you.”

Knuckles slowly pushed himself to a seated position, sliding the gem into his own quills. “Fuck, my head is pounding.”

Shadow hugged himself, his pained eyes frantically looking back and forth between Knuckles and Sonic.

His gaze settled on Knuckles. “My blood is on your lips.”

Knuckles wiped his mouth and examined the smear of green. “Yeah, well, I tried to bite your tongue off and it turned out to be a bad idea.”

“Bite my tongue off…” Shadow absently reached his hand to his mouth

“Your blood tastes terribly, by the way.”

“Hey, I think we’re focusing on the wrong stuff here, guys. Shadow how are you feeling?” Sonic tried to draw Shadow’s attention.

The black hedgehog turned to Sonic. “You’re bloody. I-I did that to you.”

Sonic rubbed the back of his neck. “Its fine, Shadow, I promise. I’m okay.”

Shadow’s horror morphed back to anger. “It’s not fucking fine, Sonic!”

Sonic grimaced. “I mean, I’m not holding it against you. You weren’t in your right mind, man.”

“You always fucking do this!” Shadow advanced on Sonic, jabbing him in the chest with an accusatory finger. “You’re so infuriatingly nonchalant about everything! You should hold it against me!”

Sonic shoved Shadow back. “Well, I don’t, okay! And, like you’re always saying, don’t tell me how to feel.” While the lovers bickered, Knuckles pushed himself to his feet. His chaos energy was working overtime to filter and expel Shadow’s intoxicant. He could at least get his length back inside.

Shadow stepped back again, his eyes growing damp. “You’re still high on me.”

Sonic sighed and his shoulders sagged. “Babe, I’m going to be high on you for the rest of my life and there’s nothing either of us can do about that.” He slowly approached Shadow. “So, please, just take a breath. Okay?”

Shadow continued to retreat as he shook his head. “It’s happening again. I-It’s happening again!” Shadow’s voice grew shrill. His hands lifted and fisted his quills. “I’m never going to free.” He pulled, his impressive strength easily tearing fur and quills free. “I-I-I’m just a tool to be used. A means to an end!”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Sonic shot forward. “Stop it, Shadow. I don’t care that your quills grow back quick, you promised you’d stop tearing them out.” Sonic grasped his forearms and tried to prevent Shadow’s hands from going back for a second harvest. “Shadow!” He shouted full in the other’s face.

Shadow stilled, but a deep misery was apparent on his face. Tears began to escape from red eyes. “You have to get away from me. I’m-“

“Yeah, no dice, flight risk.” Sonic cut him off. He released one of Shadow’s arms and cupped his cheek. “Look. I have no idea what just happened or why. But I do know that we’re going to figure it out together and I know we’re going to fix it together.” He pulled Shadow into a hug. “I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, Shads. I know that you feel so bad that you’re convincing yourself that you’ll always feel this way and that you deserve to feel this way, but that’s not true.”

“You can’t know that.” Shadow tried to pull away, but Sonic was a stubborn bastard and only allowed him to arm’s length. “I-I-I’m dangerous. I’ll hurt you again. How can you trust that next time won’t be worse? I-I don’t trust myself.”

“That’s fine.” Sonic’s eyes burned with the magic determination that made miracles possible. “Trust me then.” Trembling, Shadow nodded and Sonic wrapped his arms around him again. Knuckles looked away as he heard Shadow wail into Sonic’s fur.

They stood for a bit. Knuckles sighed and crossed his arms across his chest, the last of Shadow’s toxin burning off from his system. Night had nearly fallen. He was feeling so many emotions that Knuckles just shoved them all into a bag for later. There was a problem to be solved and he needed a clear head for that.

Eventually, Sonic scooped up Shadow into a bridal carry. The black hedgehog wrapped his arms around Sonic’s neck and sobbed into the nape of his neck. Sonic stumbled under the weight, clearly exhausted, but regained his balance quickly. He turned to Knuckles and gave him a lopsided smile. “I’m real sorry, Knuckles. For all this I guess. Could you let everyone know we’re not gonna make the party?”

Knuckles snorted. “Chaos your priorities are fucked up.” He felt like he needed to boil his own pelt and really wanted to not be near Shadow, maybe ever again, as unfair as that was. Someone else was at fault here and he chose to focus on that. “I’ll do some research. Maybe there’s something in the archives on Angel Island about whatever the fuck just happened.”

He knew there were some records on Echidnan mating rituals utilizing the Emeralds, but he’d not paid them much mind. Being the last echidna made such knowledge little more than a curiosity. Unlike most mobians, echidna hatched from eggs and he was incapable of fertilizing placental mobians. There would be no rust-colored bats running around the house he was building for Rouge on Angel Island.

“Cool. Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not fucking okay.” Knuckles growled. Shadow shifted in Sonic’s hold, but the speedster just tightened his hold.

“I-“ Sonic’s ears wilted.

“But I will be.” He’d make sure he wasn’t a liar. “So go to what you got to do.”

Sonic produced a small smile. “Thank you for coming to find us. I mean it. We’ll figure this out, but I think Shadow needs some rest right now.” Sonic said, sincerely. Knuckles stared at the hero, blood staining his loins, broken lover in his arms, and exhaustion nearly buckling his knees. “Catch you later, Knux.” The blue blur sped off, leaving Knuckles alone.

Knuckles pulled out the Emerald and stared at it. It didn’t feel any different than normal. He frowned and turned back towards where their friends were gathered. How the fuck was he going to explain this? Sorry guys, Shadow found a Chaos Emerald and got possessed by a sex crazed demon and… Knuckles sighed. He needed to clean his chest before anything else. What a mess.