Chapter 14: Step By Step

Day 15 Part 3

Later that afternoon, Sonic and Shadow were walking through the jungle. They had come up with a plan together at the river to completely abandon the river and travel straight forward, deeper into the jungle in hopes of finding a way out. They had no idea how far they had to travel to leave the rainforest, but Shadow had estimated that they would have to walk at least a hundred miles, if they kept going straight.

"Shadow," Sonic suddenly spoke. "How are we supposed to know that we're going straight? We don't have a compass to guide us."

"Don't worry, nature will be our compass."

"How?"

"Well, you know how the sun always sets in the west?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, there's a type of moss in the jungle that always grows on the north side of trees and rocks." Shadow explained. "I've seen it before we started walking. That's why I chose this path. As long as we keep following the trail of the moss, we'll be going straight."

"Alright then, that's all I needed to know."

Shadow stopped suddenly and turned to look at his blue companion, an eyeridge raised at him.

"You seem to be putting a lot of trust on me." He frowned. "Why?"

"Because I trust you, Shads. You promised me that you would protect me, and I know that you're not gonna break it."

"But… the rapids… I lost you, Sonic." Shadow sighed in melancholy, hanging his head with his eyes closed. "We were apart for five days. You were attacked by jaguars, ants, and mosquitos. You probably already have Malaria, and not to mention, the food was lost too. I broke my promise, Sonic. I broke it… again."

"Shadow…" Sonic reached to grab the ebony hedgehog's shoulders, turning him to face him. "That was not your fault. You couldn't predict what was gonna happen at the rapids, that was all nature taking its course. You didn't break your promise to me. And this whole 'again' thing. If that's about your promise to Maria, you didn't break that either."

"But…"

"Yes, you tried to destroy the world before, twice, but both times you lost your memories and were manipulated by others who wanted to use you for evil. That's not your fault. If anything, it's their fault for trying to use someone as caring and compassionate as you for their evil deeds."

"Caring and compassionate?" Shadow smirked slyly, making Sonic blush.

"Yes Shadow. Caring and compassionate. That's who you are, deep down inside. It just… takes time for one to get to it. Your promise to Maria was to keep the people happy, and they are happy. Afterall, I'm happy."

"Are you really though?" Shadow raised an eyeridge. "Are you really happy being stuck with me?"

Sonic let go of Shadow's shoulders and smiled bashfully, his hands clasped behind his back, with his head down as he traced the dirt with his foot.

"You'd be surprised, Shads."

To be honest, Sonic was happy to be stuck, alone with Shadow. Before, he had thought it was because it would help them create the bonded friendship Shadow was aiming for. But as they shared those butterfly kisses just hours before, that warm feeling came back, and this time, Sonic knew what it was.

He had a crush on Shadow.

At Sonic's words, it was Shadow's turn to blush, causing Sonic to laugh.

"The Ultimate Lifeform blushing?!" Sonic laughed.

"What do you mean 'You'd be surprised'?" Shadow demanded to know, but the young hedgehog only shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, it's not really important." Sonic sighed before looking back up at him. "Now come on. We got 100 miles of jungle to travel through, and we're burning daylight."

…

As the two hedgehogs continue to walk through the jungle, they noticed something off about their surroundings. The jungle was much more thick than what they remembered, it was very difficult to get through. They also were aware that the Devil Dragon was more than likely still following them, just waiting for one of them to drop, and they had no idea how far they had been traveling.

"Hey Shads?" Sonic questioned.

"What?"

"How are we supposed to keep track of how far we have to go?"

At this, Shadow paused for a moment. That was honestly a very good question, and Shadow had no idea on how to answer. Then suddenly, he had an idea.

"Well, if we follow basic math, we know that 2,000 paces go into a mile. We have to travel 100 miles to get out, so that means 200,000 paces. How about this? After each 100 paces, we make a little notch on the walking stick with the machete. By the time we're out, the stick should have 2,000 notches in it. Each notch is just a quarter of a mile closer to help."

"Sounds good to me, Shads." Sonic smiled, already putting the first notch into his walking stick. "That's one down. We'll be outta here in no time."

Afterwards, the two hedgehogs continued forward, traveling deeper and deeper into the forest, unaware of how far they would really need to go.

As they continue walking, hours pass by and night begins to fall. They can go no further, and must camp for the night. Together, they work to make a small shelter, just big enough for the two of them. As they stand proudly over their creation, they suddenly begin to notice something else.

With the September summer slowly coming to a close, when the sun goes down, the temperature drops too. Sonic shivers, rubbing his hands against his arms.

"Guess summer is finally starting to come to a close." He said to Shadow.

"Seems like it." The ebony nodded in agreement. "You should let me see the lighter. I'll try and find some dry materials to make a small fire with. You go ahead and get in the shelter. Get yourself warmed up as much as you can."

Sonic nodded and handed Shadow the lighter before quickly crawling into the makeshift tent, laying down on the uncomfortable ground with his hands in his armpits in a attempt to keep himself warm. He shivered a bit as the dampness from the ground seeped up through the not so well made floor.

Shadow looked at Sonic's shivering form, feeling a bit bad that the blue was cold and he wasn't. As the Ultimate Lifeform, he was pretty much a walking inferno, so he didn't get cold easily.

"I'll be right back." He promised as he turned to find some dry twigs and leaves for a fire. However, before the ebony hedgehog could even take a single step, lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a fierce boom of thunder that shook the ground. At that moment, it started pouring down on them.

Sonic cried out in surprise and anguish, the cold rain only making him colder. Shadow's eyes widened as Sonic started trembling even more than before, his body slowly rocking back and forth, his teeth chattering as he tried to warm himself. Shadow felt awful! If he didn't do something quick, Sonic would freeze to death.

Throwing the idea of a fire out, for obvious reasons, Shadow did the only thing he could think of. Approaching the blue hedgehog, he knelt down to the makeshift shelter and crawled in.

"Scoot over a bit," He told him. "Let me get in here."

"W-w-what do w-w-we do n-n-now?" Sonic whimpered, scooting over to make room for the ebony.

"Don't worry, I got it under control."

With Shadow in the shelter now, his back turned to the storm, Sonic wasn't getting pelted as much as he was before, but he was still freezing cold. This proved true when he continued to shiver. Frowning in worry, Shadow scooted a little closer to Sonic, wrapping his arms around the blue hedgehog and pulling him close into a nice warm hug.

Almost instantly, Sonic stopped shivering and melted into the hug, feeling much warmer now.

"Wow Shads," He whispered, his eyes half lidded. "You're so warm."

"I don't get cold easily, Sonic." Shadow explained, pulling the hedgehog a little closer to the warmth, unconsciously nuzzling his muzzle into his head. "Try and get some sleep, Sonic. I'll keep you warm throughout the night."

Sonic didn't need to be told twice, as his eyes started to droop before falling into a peaceful sleep, warmly cuddled up against the one he had fallen in love with.