Chapter three: Stranded Island Blues

"Sonic! Sonic! Wake up Sonic!" Sonic heard Tails' voice in his head. But that can't be right. They were dead. There is no way Tails can be talking to him.

Just then, Sonic felt himself being lifted up off the warm, sandy beach. He opened his eyes.

Tails' body was all scratched up. His fur was all messed up.

"I'm glad to see you're okay." he said. Tails reached over and picked up a dome-shaped broken piece of metal filled with water. Sonic looked into the water and saw his appearance wasn't so good either. His face was all cut up, and his lip was bleeding. His body was bruised and cut. Sonic took a drink of the water.

"Where's everyone else?" Sonic asked, surveying the island beach.

There were pieces of metal scattered all over. Wooden planks were also laying this way and that along the beach.

"They're over there." Tails said, pointing to a log lying on the beach. Seated upon it were Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge.

Sonic walked over to them. They were just as bad off as he was. They were all cut and bruised. Amy and Rouge's clothes were ripped and torn.

"Hey, guys." Sonic said weakly.

Amy, who would have normally jumped up and hugged Sonic, still remained on the log.

"Hey." Shadow said, lifting his hand. Sonic noticed that there was a stick tied around his leg by leaves. Blood was slowly coming out from underneath the leaves.

Sonic sat between Knuckles and Shadow.

"Do you guys know what happened?" Sonic asked.

"We crashed on the island, remember?" Knuckles answered.

"Oh yeah."

Tails walked up to the rest of them.

"How are you guys doing?" he asked.

"Well, my leg's not getting any more unbroken." Shadow said.

"There's nothing I could do about it except put it in that makeshift brace." Tails responded. "I'm going to start building a house for us to take refuge in until we are rescued."

"I'll help." Knuckles weakly got to his feet and walked along the beach to retrieve some of the biggest pieces of metal to make a makeshift home.

"So, how are we all doing today?" Amy asked, trying to get everyone's spirits up.

"If you're asking how bad the damage done to us is, then the answer's a 'Good'." Shadow said, wincing in pain.

"I'm not doing to well either." Rouge said.

"I agree." Sonic said.

Meanwhile, Tails and Knuckles were putting together the refuge homes. Tails had made a handy paste of tree sap and was using it to hold together the pieces of metal.

"Why do you think we survived the crash, Knuckles?" Tails asked as he spread some of the sap on top of a piece of metal. "We were going one hundred miles per hour! The engine exploded and we should have been killed by the pieces of metal!"

Knuckles stopped for a moment to think. "Hey wait…" His vacantly used mind had come up with an idea.

"It was me!"

Tails dropped a wooden plank on his foot. "What?" He clutched his foot.

"I… I said it, and it just happened!"

"Said what?"

"I powered up the Master Emerald!"

"…The Master Emerald saved us?"

"Yes!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"I'll give it some more thought." Tails said. "Let's get back to building these shelters."

Knuckles jumped up and placed a big square piece of metal on top to complete a first "house".

"So, how are you guys feeling about Tails and Knuckles finding you kissing?" Sonic inquired, wanting to know if his friends were okay.

"Well, there's been worse." Rouge replied. "But we've decided not to let it get us down. So we're in love, big deal!"

"Well, I can understand you loving Shadow, but Shadow loving you back?"

Shadow seemed a little put down at this remark. "Just because I used to be dark and evil doesn't mean I can't love!"

"Yeah, well, at least you both love each other." Sonic said. He had checked to see that Amy had gone before he said this. "Amy loves me, but can't she see that I can't marry her? I move all around, and unless it's someone that can run as fast as me, and has a passion for saving the day, then, I can't marry anyone."

Sonic sighed. "But that's impossible."

"Come on, Sonic!" Rouge said encouragingly. "You'll find someone! Honest!"

Sonic cheered up a while later, when Knuckles tripped and got the basket of tree sap glued to his head.

"Don't worry, Knuckles, we've already finished putting together our shelters!" Tails said.

"Yeah, but what about my head!" Knuckles screamed. Amy came over with the dome-shaped piece of metal filled with water and splashed it over Knuckles' head. He pulled the wooden bucket off of his head.

"Thanks." he grunted.

"Hey Tails," Amy asked.

"Yes?" responded Tails.

"Why can't you just build a raft and get us out of here?"

"Well, it's because of the weather. There seems to be a kind of 'weather wall' surrounding the island. It might have been left from a huge hurricane. It might be that this is why this island is uncharted. I actually think this is the result of an extraordinary event in history that has continued on and on since it started. But this weather ring theory is impossible. How could it not be seen from satellite images? It's just so mysterious…" By then, Tails had realized that everyone had left. "Hey, wait up!"

Tails rushed up to Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow and Rouge.

"Where are you going?" he inquired.

"Well, we're going to get some food and supplies." Amy answered. "You can stay with Knuckles. You guys can make camp a little more accommodating. You know how good you guys are at building!"

Amy left Tails at the camp, and he waved good-bye.