Chapter 2
Survival
Eight hours from after Sonic went to sleep, he woke up and scratched his back before the pupils in his eyes enlarged as he saw that the sun was in front of him. "It is the afternoon already!?", Sonic said loudly in shock. He thought back and remembered experiencing similar instances in the Sol Dimension. "That's it! This must be the Sol Dimension! There is no other explanation!", Sonic said as if he were a genius with a revolutionary idea. He got up and looked around for any signs of passing boats or flying vehicles, but there was nothing but seagulls and crabs.
Sonic realized his situation now, he had to survive no matter what. He knew that if he could hold out long enough, help would eventually come, but there would be no telling when. Sonic put his hand on his stomach as it ached, "Oh. This change in time is really messing me up.", he said as he walked towards some bushes. The sudden shift in time had messed up Sonic's biological clock, which has now forced his body to quickly adjust, but while trying to do so, it has also caused him to have some functional issues. He would experience nausea, fatigue, body aches and cramps, stomach "issues", potential fever, and even vomiting. Sonic sat near the fire that he had restarted and warmed himself up after using the bushes to do his "business". "Man. This will be a long wait, but I have to survive!", Sonic said with determination.
Sonic had fallen ill an hour later, he laid down on the bed he had made and looked up as the sun was near to setting. "Ughh.", Sonic groaned as he turned to his side and felt his forehead sweating. 'If Tails were here, he would know what to do.', he thought as he closed his eyes. He fell asleep and found himself back in the cell of the fortress of Eggman's Empire. He was beaten by Metal Sonic, Shadow, Chaos, and Zavok; starved by Eggman, and he was bombarded with insults and threats as he could do nothing. Sonic turned and shook violently in his sleep as he dreamed that he was being strangled, shocked, drowned, spun around violently, thrown around like a rag doll, and beaten senselessly! The blood-stained walls, the violent puking and gasps for air, the depressing moments, and the feeling of helplessness and uncertainty for his friends, all ran through Sonic's head. He saw images of Tails, Knuckles, Amy, the Chaotix, Shadow, and the others flash before him before he finally woke up.
Sonic sat up and gasped for air as he looked around at the sand mixed with a red, orange, and yellow mixture of vomit. His bed was saturated with sweat, and it was raining hard. He caught his breath and realized that the rain was drowning him. "I need help.", Sonic said panicked. He started to calm down; the rain pounded against his face and body. The fire was completely out and the tide was coming in. "I need shelter.", Sonic said to himself, but he knew that there were not enough resources around to build a shelter. In his hopeless situation, he only moved to another area and laid in the wet sand, in a ball. "I can't give up.", Sonic said shakily as he shivered in the cold rain.
An hour passed before the rain finally stopped. Covered in sand, Sonic stood up and shook off the sand. His pale skin and sickly expression were dim in the Sun's light which peered through the broken clouds. The Sun would finally be blistering hot after the clouds disappeared, leaving Sonic burning in the heat. He had made another fire and caught more seagulls and crabs to eat, but his sickly condition made the food taste rotten. He ate it anyway because he needed the energy, only to hurl it back up later. 'Survive.', Sonic constantly repeated in his head, "I must survive.", he said. Sonic got up and started to think; it didn't matter how sick he was, he needed to continue to survive.
'What can I do to better my odds of being found?', Sonic thought as he looked out at the ocean. He remembered that the last time he was here, he had the help of Tails, Blaze, and Marine; though, Marine was more of a nuisance. "Material! That's what I need!", he said then coughed. 'If I can get more material, I could maybe build more things than what I have already. Maybe a small raft or something.', he thought as he looked around him for anything that might be useful. "I could use trees, but there are not that many, and they have coconuts, which are a food source, so that won't do.", he reasoned. He thought of what materials he did have at his disposal: sand, rocks, and ocean water. 'That's no good. What can those things help me do?', he thought and wondered; then it hit him!
'Run on the water!', Sonic thought. 'But I don't see any other islands around, and I can't just stop.', he continued in thought. "What should I do?", Sonic said confused as he crouched down. 'I guess I could just take a quick run around and look, then come right back if I don't see anything.', he reasoned in his head. "Okay! I'm outta' here!", he shouted as he took off passed the fire, putting it out as he headed towards the ocean. He ran atop the ocean but soon found himself confronted by waves; he increased his speed and split the waves in half with his sheer speed and then started to circle around the island at a distance away. He could not spot anything though; so after making a circle, he would go even farther out and make another circle, keeping his eyes peeled for any kind of structures or land he could see.
"Nothing!", Sonic shouted as he was several hundred feet away from the island he had been on. His speed was decreasing due to his terrible condition. 'Oh no! I am slowing down!', he thought as he continued. "I need to find something though! I won't give up just ye-", he said but didn't finish, as he coughed and his breathing became short. He couldn't continue, the speed at which he was going was too much for his body to handle while in his condition. He slowed down rapidly and began to fall as a huge wave blindsided him, sending him spinning and tumbling around, bouncing against the water until he finally started to sink. Sonic frantically wiggled his arms and screamed for help, "HELP! I can't swim! Help! Help me!", he shouted as loud as he could. He started taking in water and coughed and gagged on the salty liquid as he started to sink. 'No! No! No! No!', he thought as his heart was beating out of his chest! He had closed his mouth to hold his breath as he sunk. He looked around and felt something pass him from behind; he turned around to see nothing, then he looked back around and saw something heading right towards him! 'Oh no!', his mind shouted as Sonic kicked and tried to swim away, but he couldn't move! He could tell that the approaching danger was some kind of sea creature; it opened up its mouth and seconds later there was darkness.