Shadow stared down the canyon that shared his name. The summer sun beat down, relentless; a craggy stone overhang was the only thing protecting the hedgehog from it. Without it, his dark fur near guaranteed overheating. The air was hot and dry, his every breath silently seeking respite and finding none. Even the cave he secluded himself in as home, far from noise and Eggman's pollution, wasn't deep enough to ward off the heat.
Despite that, he welcomed it, if with grumbling. No one would go through handling the heat to bother him. It allowed him to practice his skills as he pleased without interruption. Become stronger than he already was.
The black hedgehog leapt into the ravine. He landed on the other side and pumped his legs to jump again, faster. He cursed when he stumbled and demanded more. The smoothest of landings hardly satisfied him.
His progress neared the end of the canyon's windings. Here the walls separated so far, even he couldn't jump across them. They expanded into a flat clearing of sorts, land that had cracked and dried eons ago. This clearing ended at a towering ivory gate to an ancient city familiar to him.
The hedgehog paused on an exposed shelf. Hot as hell. Shadow panted and wiped at his brow. He could usually get here and back without exerting himself too hard. The heat shouldn't stop him from-
The wall rumbled overhead. Rocks tumbled down the cliff side, bearing down on him.
The hedgehog darted back to a lower outcrop in the rock wall. The boulders thudded into the shelf he had just left, stones tumbling past to the ravine floor.
Harsh grinding emitted from the wall behind him. He hopped farther, higher this time, and whipped back his head to see. An enormous red drill whirred its way back through the hole it had made in his canyon. It retracted too early for him to react by demolishing it.
Shadow glanced again at the factory at the top and growled. That pathetic old Egg, going out of the way to be his problem today.
The rock shuddered under his feet, making him stumble before regaining his footing. The vibrations came from-
He leapt forwards and the drill burst through where he had just been. It could aim. The drill retreated, causing more tremors in its wake.
It kept coming from behind him…Head back so it'll overshoot. He jumped up to an outcrop the way he came.
The vibrations-
Shadow dropped to a ball and the drill punched through the rock above his head. Stones pelted his head and back. He snapped his eyes shut at the dust and clapped at his ears. The roaring was so loud above his head his bones reverberated. The whirling spikes left no room to move out of the way.
The shelf shifted and cracked away below his feet. The roaring of the drill faded as Shadow fell. He spun to drag at the air whistling around him and stinging the scratches on his back. Nothing is out far enough to catch him. Have to settle for the bottom.
Shadow twisted around to maneuver his feet back underneath him. He hit the ground and pain ripped through his left leg.
He fell gasping. Shadow pushed his torso up and turned back his head to examine it. In the back of his mind, he knew it was pointless to see how his shin bent at a strange angle. The pain was enough to tell him it had fractured.
Great. Wonderful. Broken leg. Bottom of a ravine. Had no food or water. Nobody was fool enough to pass through here, not now. Not that he needed- he was-…
He shook his head to clear it. It didn't help much. Pain and heat blurred his thoughts.
Terrible odds. He groaned beneath their weight but did not let himself lie down. Giving up was not allowed. Deal with this as he had everything else. He could crawl the distance to the ancient city gate and find shade.
First thing, he had to set the leg. Have to remember how to do it. Last time was years ago, a mere child with a broken arm from some accident. Somebody else had set it- old friend. Maria.
Shadow shook his head to clear the aching memory. No revisiting that now. She was long gone. He had been self-sufficient too long to want to stop it now.
Enough. This was going to hurt. He rolled over to a sitting position, gritting his teeth at every screaming protest of his leg. Shadow dragged himself backwards with his hands and leaned against the canyon's mouth. There. Passing out wouldn't crack his head on top of everything else.
He wiped his brow and gripped his shin. Just pushing it into place was not enough-... The hedgehog braced himself, tense in every muscle, and yanked.
A snap into place and an anguished cry shot out and faded off, short-lived. Shadow fell back into the wall and slid unconscious to the rocky ground.