Chapter five: Healing, Anyone?

(Part one)

Rouge heard a rustling sound. The bushes in front of her shook. Then, Knuckles came out.

"Do you need some help?" he asked.

"Yes." answered Rouge. "I need you to help me carry Shadow back to the camp. He's badly wounded!"

"Uh, okay then." Knuckles lifted Shadow into his arms and he and Rouge went off to the camp.

By the time they got back, Shadow had lost quite a bit of blood. Knuckles hurried over to Tails.

"Tails, we need your help." he said.

"What's happened to Shadow?" Tails asked.

"He fell out of the tallest tree in the forest." Rouge said. "He's lost a lot of blood!"

"I see," said Tails. By then, Sonic and Amy had come over.

Tails got out a large leaf. He wrapped it around Shadow's chest and put some more smaller leaves on his smaller wounds. Tails held them in place with some vines.

"Come on, let's go put him in your house, Rouge." Tails said. Knuckles lifted Shadow up and carried him to the "house" that Shadow and Rouge were sharing.

"Is he going to be okay, little buddy?" Sonic asked Tails.

"I think so." Tails replied.

The rest of the day continued rather normally, though Shadow hadn't revived yet. Sonic couldn't stand not running for a day and decided to run around the island.

He ran through the forest. Hearing a rustling noise, he paused, and looked around. Nothing seemed to be there. Maybe it is just the wind, Sonic thought. Suddenly, a lion jumped out from the bushes!

"That's not the wind!" Sonic shouted as he sped off, though forgetting that there were many trees in the area. He instantly smacked into one, and then turned and smacked into another. The lion had caught up by then, and it cried out a loud roar.

The lion pounced onto Sonic. It slashed at his face and scratched his chest.

Sonic screamed, "Help…" and his voice died away.

Suddenly, there was a loud, "Aaaahhh!" It was Knuckles, who jumped onto the lion, and pounded into its body with his rock hard fists. The lion swung him off, and he collapsed on the ground.

Tails and Rouge appeared also, followed by Amy. When they saw what was going on, Amy gasped.

"Stay away from my darling Sonic!" Amy shouted, pulling out her Piko Piko hammer. She swung it fiercely at the lion, finally hitting it in the head. It was out cold. Knuckles got up off the ground.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. He looked over his body, examining all the cuts. "He's been injured badly! We have to get him to the camp!"

Knuckles picked up Sonic and he, Tails, Rouge and Amy raced back to the camp as fast as they could.

At the camp, Tails hurried around, trying to heal Sonic. He covered him in many leaves and they were all pressed down firmly by vines.

"I hope he's going to be okay." Rouge said.

"Tails, his arm is broken." came a dark voice.

"What?" Rouge turned around. Standing there, in front of them, was Shadow.

"…Thanks, Shadow." Tails said, astonished that Shadow had the strength to walk.

"Shadow! What are you doing?" Rouge inquired. "You should be in bed, healing!"

Shadow sat down on the ground. "I'm not going to lay around while the rest of you are up and about. It doesn't seem right…"

"Since when do you care about fairness?" Knuckles asked.

Rouge glared at him with great anger. "Just because he doesn't care about fairness all the time doesn't mean he can't!"

"Knuckles, I need your help!" Tails called, and he went over to help him take Sonic to his bed.

While everyone was gone, Rouge asked, "Tell me Shadow. Tell me the real reason you aren't resting."

Shadow shook his head. "I had some urge to get up. I don't know where it came from, I just needed to get out of bed." Shadow's eyelids drooped.

"You look tired." Rouge noticed. "You should get back to bed. We all should."

She helped Shadow to his feet and they walked off to the "house."

The sky was turning a dark purple by the time Shadow got to sleep. He knew he had to stay up, like he was getting some telepathic message, but nothing came.

The next day was normal. Shadow and Sonic lay in bed, resting and healing, though Shadow kept getting up and exploring the beach. Everyone was calm, and trying their best to get along with Tails, who had somehow gotten the sugar from the fruits and became hyper. Knuckles was constantly being driven crazy because Tails kept running over and asking, "Whatcha doing?"

Amy had gone off to look for fish, since the fish in the river where Shadow and Rouge had gotten them had moved. She explored the ocean and every once in a while smacked one onto land with her hammer. After an hour or so, she returned with ten big juicy fish.

"Hi, Amy!" Tails greeted, running around on his hands.

"Tails, why did you eat all that sugar from those fruits?" Amy asked as she took the fish to the campfire.

"I ain't telling you! It's my sugar, MINE!" Tails shouted, running out to the ocean.

"Whatever." Amy said. She cooked the fish nice and easy, and finished by the time Sonic had awoken from his 24-hour-long unconsciousness.

"Hey, Amy?" Sonic asked, sitting down on a log nearby.

Amy whirled around. "Glad to see you're awake, my darling Sonic!" Amy replied.

"Don't call me that!" Sonic whispered. "You know, you sure can cook fish!"

"Why thank you!" Amy said, holding up a plate with a fish on it. "Want one?"

"Thanks!" Sonic said, biting down on a piece of fish.

Author's note: Part two coming up shortly!