thanks you guys for the reviews once again
you seriously dont know how much this means to me

Sonic froze. That sound... did not come from his red sneakers. Even as the young hedgehog stood in total silence, the noise continued, slowly dragging on. Whipping around, emerald eyes searched for the possible origin of the new sound. It had to come from somewhere, right?

A small movement caught Sonic's attention. It was so small that the Blue Blur nearly missed it - but it was what was making the sound. Shadow's bloody, damaged hand had ever so slowly clenched, grasping pebbles and grinding against stones as it went.

To say Sonic's jaw dropped was an understatement. Sonic's jaw might as well have been punted into the sun at the current storm of emotions that immediately rushed into his body. Anxiety, amazement, fear, joy - all of it appeared in a single second of realization.

Shadow...was still alive.

How that happened, or how it occurred was lost on the young hedgehog. But it was undeniably true. Dead hedgehogs don't grab rocks.

"Shadow...?" Sonic squeaked, voice barely higher than a whisper. Was the impossible true? Or was he just dreaming? Had he finally lost it?

"Shadow?" Sonic hoarsely choked out, gingerly stepping his way over to the adult. Dread filled his heart as the young mobian drew closer, wondering with dangerous curiosity if he was actually alive or not.

"Shadow?"

"Hnnngh…"

Sonic's heart leapt. He was alive! Joy and relief overwhelmed the blue hedgehog; tears creeping to his eyes as he flung himself on top of the adult in a powerful embrace.

"Shadow!" The young hero sobbed, taking the dirty black fur in handfuls. "You're alive!"

"..."

"I was so sad…" Sonic cried. "You were dead and I thought you were gone forever…"

Blood rolled down Shadow's cheeks, reminding Sonic that the adult was likely in a great deal of pain. Immediately, upon realization, Sonic pushed himself off - feeling horrible for his selfish behavior. Panic overcame the young hedgehog as he realized he didn't have anything to help Shadow. All the bandages were in the Tornado, and all the supplies were back at the workshop.

What could he do? The jungle was too dense for him to drag Shadow, and the trek back to the plane would be at least two hours. Why did the region have to be so hard to navigate? Sonic paced, crunching back and forth as he worried about what to do. Shadow needed help, but there was nothing to be done. Tails was easily stranded at the workshop, Knuckles was hours away, and Rouge was nowhere to be found.

"Shadow…." Sonic sniffed, running over to his friend to see what he could do at the moment. "Wake up…"

A gentile shake brought a distressed groan from the adult's throat. The muscles on Shadow's face contorted, leaving a look of suffering on his features.

"Hang in there, Shadow." Sonic reassured. "I'll figure something out."

Sonic walked over to the softly flowing stream. Dipping his paws in, he lifted the refreshing liquid to his mouth, letting the coolness flow down his throat in bliss. Shadow must be parched. Gloved hands returned to the stream, scooping up the water and carrying it over to the adult.

Gently, Sonic dripped it onto Shadow's head, watching it run through his fur and soothe the burning wounds that decorated the black hedgehog. After his hand was drained, the young hedgehog pushed Shadow onto his back, revealing more burns and injuries than the other side. Sonic winced. That had to hurt - sting even - in the open air. Gloved fingers gently pried open the elder's mouth, revealing the shiney row of teeth he was accustomed to.

After collecting more water, Sonic poured it down Shadow's throat, hoping that it would soothe the irritation that he saw. For a while, there was nothing. Just the stillness of the adult's body and the trembling of Sonic's fur.

Startlingly, Shadow twisted, coughing and hacking as the liquid drained back out of his mouth, mixed with blood and ash. The scarlet eyes snapped open, revealing dazed and frightened eyes that recognized nothing around him. Sonic jumped back, surprised by the sudden action. Shadow writhed around, eyes blinded by agony and suffering as he fought for oxygen. He continued to fight and gasp, lungs barely moving until Sonic stepped in, grabbing the adult's shoulder and shouting for him to focus.

Nothing happened for the first few moments. But the longer Sonic held onto the ebony fur, the more Shadow seemed to breathe; unfocused eyes drooping in exhaustion as he slumped back onto the ground, still panting while he winced in pain. Sonic sat down, releasing his firm hold onto the elder.

"Are… are you okay?" Sonic blurted, not caring about the obvious. He wanted to hear it from Shadow's mouth. Was he hurting? Or was it just damage?

Shadow didn't respond, he didn't even look at Sonic. The ebony head just rested against the rubble, features contorting and mouth agape. Breathing heavily, he laid as still as possible - trying to avoid brushing against the many wounds one his broken body.

"Shadow, we have to get you out of here!" Sonic urged, walking over to his friend once again. It broke his heart to see Shadow in this much suffering, but that could only be fixed after they left the jungle.

Again, no response came from Shadow's mouth. All he did was gasp and wince; half-lidded eyes staring ahead at nothing in particular as he endured the unimaginable pain. Sonic cringed. This was difficult to watch.

"Sonic… Do you read me?" Tails crackled over his communicator. "You've been out an awful long time, are you okay?"

"No Tails…" Sonic sniffed. "I'm not."

"Oh no!" The fox cried. "What happened?"

"I found Shadow… alive..." Sonic sobbed. "And I don't know how to help him…"

"Shadow's alive?" Tails coughed, choking on his own spit and tongue. "Wha- how?"

"I don't know… but he's stuck...in the jungle with me… he's really hurt!" Sonic cried, watching Shadow with a close eye. "I don't know what to do…"

"I'm coming, hold on!" Tails cried, shuffling around and grabbing things. "We'll figure this out together!"

"I have the Tornado!" Sonic interjected. "How are you gunna to get here?"

"I can fly, Sonic." Miles sighed. "It may not be as fast, but it's better than walking."

"Please hurry." Sonic begged. He turned back to the wounded hedgehog and sat down, making sure no wild animal came crashing in to take the adult away.

"It's gunna be okay Shadow… you'll see…"

Tails only took two hours to arrive. He dropped in from the canopy, and set a few bags of supplies on the ground. Upon laying his eyes on Shadow. The young fox immediately turned and gagged into the stream, horrified and sickened by the deathly state the adult was in.

"He should be dead!" Miles croaked. "There's no way someone could survive that long like this."

"Let's think about this later." Sonic whined, anxiety growing thicker the longer Tails just stood there. "He needs help!"

"I… don't have a medical degree, Sonic." Tails sniffed. "I don't know if I can…"

But Miles tried. He had given Sonic a few stitches in the past, so how was this different? Tails found out very quickly that Shadow wasn't coherent. The second his little paws touched the adult's wounded arm, Shadow lashed out. He wasn't harmful, just extending his quills with a startling and aggressive hiss, but it was enough to scare Tails. Puffing up, the fox jumped away. He tried again, only to receive a bigger reaction, including a full on snarl.

"Sonic-"

"Lemme try something."

Sonic approached the adult, extending his hand out slowly with caution. Shadow growled low in a warning, but when the Blue Blur did not back down, he struck. Claws swooped down, missing Sonic by a long shot as the adult deliriously defended himself.

"Shadow.." Sonic called, holding out his paw again. "It's me - Sonic."

The elder only listened, eyes darting around, trying to focus on one point. Sonic noticed the gash on his head was deep. So deep the young hedgehog could have sworn he saw some white. That was some serious head trauma.

"I'm not going to hurt you…" Sonic sniffed. "I just want to help you…"

Shadow groaned, trying to reach his arms up to hold his head, but only to fall short in weakness. He fell back against the rubble, breathing heavily, and whining with pain.

"We have to get him to a hospital Sonic." Tails whispered.

"We can't!" Sonic hissed back. "Do you really think they'd know what to do with him?"

"We have to at least get him back to my workshop!" Tails urged.

"Well, we gotta get him back to the Tornado first."

"Ugh, you're right."

With a bit of digging, and a lot of paranoia, the two finally unearthed all of Shadow. It was sad. Impressive, but sad. Shadow had survived a fall from the upper atmosphere, and that was what made Sonic feel the pangs of sorrow and pity. What kind of long lasting effects would this have on Shadow? Would he be okay? Would he always walk with a limp or be in constant pain?

It took a lot of wrestling, and quite a bit of dodging, to pick up an uncooperative Shadow. He was unsurprisingly heavy, and it took both of their strength to carry the fully grown hedgehog through the jungle. Gosh they wished they had called Knuckles.

The two kids breathed an exhausted sigh of relief when the red paint of the Tornado came into view. They set Shadow on the ground and panted, thoroughly wiped from the long trek through the woods. The adult had long passed back out, so there were no problems loading him onto the plane. Hopefully this would be over soon. They just had to hope he wouldn't wake up in the air.