The Island: Chapter 2
Sonic's POV
- Present -
I groaned as I slowly woke back up. My senses slowly returned and I could feel the warmth of the sun on my body.
I figured I must've slept through the whole night and morning. I brought a hand up to my head and rubbed it as I had a very bad headache, my hand coming in contant with fabric. Something had been laid underneath my head.
"Sonic?" I heard a familiar voice carefully call out to me. I immediatly recognized it as Shadow's.
Hesitantly I opened my eyes, expecting the bright rays of the sun to shine in my eyes, but it didn't. Instead of the sun, I caught Shadow's face in my sight. He wore an expression of concern as he looked down on me, kneeling on hands and knees, his face and torso hovering over mine.
"Shadow?" I acknowledged him and the hedgehog released a sigh of relief before helping me to sit up straight.
When it took me so long to wake up, Shadow feared that I suffered from possible internal damage or something close to that.
I groaned as my headache continued to throb against my skull.
"Headache?" Shadow asked and I nodded, confirming his suspicions.
Suddenly I felt his hand resting against my forehead. I closed my eyes along with his as I enjoyed the comfortable cold that came along with his touch. Slowly I could feel my headache fading away.
When I opened my eyes again, it was completely gone.
"How did you do that?" I asked in surprise and shock, shooting up into a sitting position.
I had no idea Shadow was capable of doing that!
"It's something that I discovered I could do a couple of months ago. My Chaos Energy allows me to heal minor injuries and ailments. It takes a lot out of me, but I'm learning to control it." He explained, also telling me why our bruises and fleshwounds had suddenly disappeared out of nowhere. Including the large cut on his temple where he must've hit his head on rubbish from the plane that could've also knocked him out cold.
"Really? Awesome!" I responded enthousiaticly, amazed that Shadow could do something like this. Looks like I can still learn something new, even right after a plane crash.
Shadow pushed himself upright and up on his feet before walking closer to the ocean. My eyes followed him. It wasn't until I noticed dark shapes in the water that I knew what had caught the hedgehog's attention.
'What is that?' I asked myself mentally and stood up to follow him, but soon stopped once I had reached the shore line to instead watch Shadow retrieve something from the knee-deep water. It looked like a bag.
"Is this yours?" Shadow asked, holding the sportsbag up in the air. I recognised it as one of the two bags I had used to pack my stuff in.
"Yeah, that's mine." I said and joined him in the water. I took the bag after it was handed to me and hung it over my shoulder, ignoring the fact that it was quickly getting my fur and clothes wet again, before helping Shadow look for more stuff that might be drifting in the water.
"How long has this been going on?" I asked, referring to the debris that drifted all around us.
"Quite a while. A lot of it stayed on the plane, but it seems like you have more luck with your stuff because I have not seen anything of my own." Shadow said, clearly a bit displeased that he had lost all of the belongings he had brought along for what was supposed to be a nice and relaxing vacation.
I placed a hand on his shoulder as a reassuring gesture.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we can find a store in a nearby town to buy some new stuff for you. That is, if my money dries up." I reassured him with a chuckle, certain that there had to be some sort of civilisation nearby. Shadow, however, didn't seem to sure and just kept searching.
For our sake he hoped I was right.
Later on I would discover that my companion's fear of being completely alone on this island wasn't for nothing. I had been wondering through the jungle for at least an hour in a straight line and I had yet to find any sign of mobian or human life. Apparently Shadow was right in assuming we were the only ones stranded on this island.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and released a sigh. It was really hot out here. I was glad I had at least some shade provided to me by all the trees and other plant life.
After walking and searching for another hour and a half, all I came across were more plants and animals. I decided that it was time to head back to the beach, wondering how things were going on Shadow's end.
To say I was surprised once I had returned, was an understatement.
A nice smell reached my nose as I finally returned that evening, having wasted the whole morning and part of the afternoon on sleeping and the remainder of the day on searching for a town or something. I was right in thinking that Shadow was luckier in getting things down on his end.
He had a campfire set up on the sand with some wood that he had found in the forest near the beach and it seemed like the smell came from something Shadow had caught in the ocean.
I dropped my sportsbag on the soft ground, catching my companion's attention.
"Sonic, I caught us something to eat!" The hedgehog stated, holding a pretty big fish on a branch. I wanted to question just how Shadow had managed to catch it, but soon noticed the large burn wound on one of the fish's sides. Looks like Shads uses his powers for other things besides fighting and healing.
I walked closer and dropped down on the sand opposite to him.
I could tell that Shadow didn't have this fish for all that long. His pants were still damp all the way to his thighs, showing how deep he had been in the water to catch our dinner.
"Did you find anything?" Shadow asked, referring to my 'nice' walk through the jungle. I shook my head with a sigh.
"I found no one, absolutely no one. And I even took a little sprint! Looks like we're the only ones here, Shadz." I answered and from the corners of my eyes I could see the darker hedgehog next to me shifting uncomfortably with the thought of being alone with me, as if just realising it was me he would be stuck with. I kept myself from chuckling lightly, knowing that it wouldn't do his self-esteem any good.
Once our dinner was ready, Shadow retrieved it from the fire and pulled out a knife attached to his thigh in its own little holster, briefly explaining that he had found his luggage in the ocean while 'fishing' after all.
I had considered asking what an army knife was doing in his luggage and just how it got past security, but knew that it would be useless. I figured he had a way and a reason.
He then proceeded to cut it in half, the intenstines, bones and head all already removed before roasting it, and handed half of it to me.
"Looks like you've done this before." I couldn't help but notice as Shadow seemed quite handy when it came to surviving.
"Once during a failed G.U.N mission, Rouge and I got stuck in the mountains in the middle of Winter." He started and I knew where this tale was going.
"She was hurt and we were in enemy territory. I wasn't doing so good myself, so my Chaos Energy was used only for healing. I had to go pretty far to take care of us so I could survive until I could take us back home. Rouge just barely made it and I had lost a couple of fingers and toes due to frostbite." He explained, eyes concentrating on the fire gleefully burning on the heap of twigs.
I cringed at the thought. I've heard of Shadow and Rouge being flown over to the closest hospital after successfully escaping from enemy territory through a Chaos Control before collapsing before some strangers' feet. The G.U.N Commander himself had gone over there to check up on his best agents and I, naturally, hitched a ride to see my two missing friends myself.
I hadn't heard the story from Shadow and Rouge could barely remember a thing because of a serious infection plaguing her body most of the time there, but his bandaged hands with a missing pinky and ring finger on his left hand and a missing pinky and index finger on his right had already told me quite the tale. The others and his remaining toes had been salvageable and the missing ones simply regrew because of Shadow's alien DNA. Or that was the hypothesis.
"Afterwards I studied up on survival methods in all sorts of different environments and climates in case I'd ever need them again. I suppose I was right in learning more." Shadow told me, seemingly proud of his knowledge. As he should be.
He began to dig around in his soaked bag and pulled a pocket-sized book out of if that was encased in this plastic bag to protect it from the weather along with his phone. He opened it and gave the book to me. The front read 'The Great Survival Book' despites its small size.
"Rouge told me it was ridiculous to take it along nearly everywhere I go, but it felt safer to take it with me. It might not seem much, but it has served me well. You can take a look if you want." He continued, offering me the book.
It took it and started scrolling through it, trying my best not to get it dirty whilst I ate my half of the fish.
"It's pretty interesting." I stated after my last bite and I wasn't lying.
This book contained all sorts of ways to survive in extreme conditions. It had tips and even pictures to explain as clearly as possibly how to do certain things. It was a pretty nifty book. The scribbles Shadow rode down along the sides of many of the pages helped awell, but I found myself more intrigued by the written words more than the actual meaning as I had never seen the hedgehog's handwriting before.
It was so elegant.
Shadow threw his stick into the fire and stretched his arms and back.
"Well then, I suppose this ends our first day on an uninhabited island." Shadow stated and yawned. It was clear that he was tired and I shared that state of mind. Especially after spending those few hours in the hot jungle.
"Yeah, I guess I'll turn in for the night aswell." I said and yawned afterwards. I grabbed my sportsbag and pulled it closer before I lied down to rest my head on top of it. I looked over at Shadow as he pushed his bag aside and folded up the jacket he wore yesterday when boarding the plane to use it as a pillow.
As both of us got comfortable on the sand, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
"Night, Shad!" I told him and turned over on my side to sleep.
"Good night." Shadow responded as he laid on his side aswell, gaze still focussed on the fire.
I dozed off soon after.
The next morning I woke up early in the morning for a change. The sun was already high in the sky, but I was lying in the shade. So it wasn't exactly affecting me in any way when I woke up.
As I looked at my right, I didn't just notice that the last remaining embers of the campfire were still dying out, but also that Shadow was nowhere to be seen.
"Shadow?" I muttered with my ears flattening a little in concern as I sat upright.
The hedgehog's absence worried me and made me fear something bad could have happened to him, but, thankfully, Shadow quickly made his presence known to me.
"Get back here!" I could hear a voice shout in anger.
I looked over to the shore line and noticed Shadow attempting to 'fish' again through the use of his Chaos powers and it didn't exactly look like it was going as smoothly as it did yesterday.
I stood up and walked over to the ocean, watching as Shadow tried to keep hold of a fish, but instead ended up losing his balance and falling into the water. A chuckle I couldn't suppress escaped and made Shadow look up to me.
"Sonic, you're awake." He noticed and stood up. He looked annoyed as the fresh t-shirt he wore was now clinging to his figure.
It showed quite a slender, if not slightly feminine, figure, though trained. It was something neither me nor our friends found odd anymore. After knowing Shadow for so long, we weren't surprised to see his curves anymore.
Shads had very a special gender. He used to be an hermaphrodite at birth until the Commander at the time expressed concerns regarding Shadow's ability to keep his ultimate bloodline secret by laying and knocking up more than one woman. With only female reproductive organs, his offspring couldn't possibly be spread all around the world if it was just one individual and so could be easily kept track of.
So Gerald, supposedly reluctantly, got rid of the masculine organ, though Shadow still considered himself very much a herm with the preference of being called a 'he'.
It was a fact Rouge told us and Shadow had to confirm, much to his dislike as he found it embarrassing. We quickly accepted it and got used to it.
Didn't mean I liked seeing it any less then the first time, to be honest.
"Yeah, I am. I see that you're busy trying to catch our next meal." I responded, briefly taking my eyes off the shirt that clung to his torso.
Shadow turned back to face the ocean for a few brief moments before looking back at me with a defeated sigh.
"Yes, I was, but it isn't working out as it should." The hedgehog stated with a sigh.
"Say, Sonic, I actually wanted to discuss something with you." He said as he watched me join him in the water, deciding to help him get us some more food.
I might not like water all that much, I didn't mind staying in the shallow part. Aslong as I can still see the bottom and my feet as clear as day, I'd be okay.
"Go ahead. What did you want to talk about?" I asked as I started to search for something to eat along with him. With my kind of speed, I have to be able to catch something.
"I have been thinking about the plane crash..." Shadow started and I immediatly knew where this was going.
"Those people poisoned, the pilots gone aswell as the parachutes, not even bothering to warn us... Do you think it could've been them who did it?" He asked, taking a little break from fish hunting to face me instead.
"Now that you mention it, I think you might be onto something. Unless they were just cowards who decided to abandon ship instead of doing their jobs." I replied as I stood back up straight again, my hands settling on my hips.
Shadow sighed.
"Well, it's not like any of that matters now. What we should be concerned about is how we will survive until we're found. We have a lot of preparations to make." He said, clearly not looking forward to what had to come next.
"Hey, I got you, don't I? I think I'll be just fine." I complimented him, to which the hedgehog couldn't help but shoot me a small smile, a rare sign to show me how much he appreciated it.
Deciding that he had been in the water for far too long, Shadow left for the shore and dropped down on the warm sand. His knees were bend and his eyes closed as his body rested on the sandy surface.
His smile made way for a frown. His expression looked gloomy.
"I think we'll be here for a while, though. It will take some time before they know that our plane crashed and it will take even longer before they'll find us here in the middle of nowhere. To make matters worse, after a certain time, let's say a year, they will pronounce us dead and stop searching for us." Shadow said, sitting back up with each arm wrapped around a knee.
I was about to open my mouth, but Shad beat me to it.
"I don't mean to be so pessimistic, I know you hate that, but I've seen it happen to plenty of my colleagues." He finished, obviously concerned.
I ceased my search for potential food and joined my companion on the beach, taking a seat right next to him. I lifted a hand and let it settle on his shoulder.
"You always see the bad in everything. Yeah, yeah, being missing sucks, but just stay positive! Have some fun surviving while you can and you'll see that they'll have found us in no time flat!" I said and gave him one of my typical grins.
His slight smile couldn't resist returning with the kind of affect I had on him.
