Hey-o! And welcome to another chapter of 30 DAYS! Also, have you guys noticed? I have STORY COVERS! Made by yours truly. That's what I've been doing for the past week and more. And updating Where the Wind Blows, because that story has been neglected for far too long!

Review responses!

Leodragon678: Thank you! Honestly, you saying that this and From the Wilderness are great ideas makes me smile, because would you ever think that the original idea for From the Wilderness came from a Barbie movie? I kid you not; I got a spark of inspiration and ran away with it. And I don't plan on stopping; this train is on a roll!

GuardianDragon98: I'm glad to hear that, and I'll be sure to keep up the work! Oh, and your prompt will be one of the main fillers in From the Wilderness, so just wait for that! I'm on my way on typing the chap-, I mean filler! Also, there's a continuation for your response at the end, so please check it out as well.

SharpDragonKlaw: Oh, you'll find out in this chapter~!

SHELTER IN THE STORM

"Hedgehog! Where are you?"

Shadow growled, starting to feel a niggling sense of worry in his heart. Just where was the darn blue hedgehog?! He headed up the path again, searching for a sign of the familiar blue pelt. But there was no such sign and Shadow was starting to fear for the worse. 'Where could he be? He couldn't have headed down ahead of me; I would have seen him. He could only be further up...but he couldn't be that far.'

The black hedgehog growled again as he headed back down the path. "Hedgehog!" he called out again, ears straining for a reply that wouldn't be drowned out by the pouring rain and the raging waterfall next to... His eyes widened in shock when his mind wandered to a thought. 'What if...don't tell me he fell into the waterfall!'

But Sonic wasn't anywhere on the path, and it was impossible to wander off it since there was a barrier on one side and the other side was where the waterfall was. The scenario was looking to be a strong possibility, and that sent Shadow hurrying closer to the waterfall. He made sure to keep an eye on the flowing water as he quickened his pace. If Sonic did fall into the waterfall, it would have carried him further down swiftly. "Hedgehog!" he shouted, hoping that perhaps Sonic would hear him and call back...

"Shadow!"

The black hedgehog immediately honed in on that faint shout. It was just a little more than a choked gasp and Shadow's suspicions were confirmed when he saw a blue head struggling to stay above water, coughing and spluttering as more water just kept rushing in. "Hedgehog! Over here!" he roared over the howling winds and drumming rain. Thunder and lightning sought to keep his shout hidden with their own cacophony, but Shadow wasn't about to have it. "To your left!" he hollered again.

"Shadow, I *cough* can't swim!"

The black hedgehog just about snarled in frustrated worry at that. 'This isn't good... And with how fast he's going, he'll be hurled right over the ledge sooner than I can get to him... I can't jump in; I won't be able to swim against the current and that won't help him... I'll have to think of another plan.' His mind started running through possibilities, garnet eyes flickering frantically for something, anything that could help rescue Sonic.

Meanwhile, the blue hedgehog in question was struggling to hold himself together and not dissolve into complete terror and panic. Water was his greatest enemy. He couldn't swim and he was extremely wary (he would never admit that he was scared, even though it was obvious to anyone who knew him well) of any water that wasn't in a small container, coming out of the shower head or pouring from the sky.

So right now, being tossed, pushed and pulled in by the water, having it rushed into his nose and mouth whenever he tried to take a breath, it was taking a toll on the hedgehog's heart and mind. His lungs were starting to ache from holding his breath too long and he didn't want to know what would happen when the waterfall eventually went over a cliff...

Just as that thought came to his mind, he saw the edge of the waterfall disappearing. His heart leapt to his throat. He could barely let out a scream as he was sent tumbling right over. Was this it?

There was a blur of black and Sonic felt something colliding against him. Wet fur pressed against his own while a strong arm held a fierce grip on his waist. There was the sensation of being swung to the side before landing to a stop. The blue hedgehog trembled, from the cold, the water, the fear and rush of relief, everything really. "Hedgehog..." Shadow's voice rumbled in his ears, nearly breathless with relief. "Come on, snap out of it."

"Sh-Sha-Shadow?" Sonic gasped out in return, his emerald eyes darting around before meeting a garnet gaze. There was Shadow, holding him by his waist with one arm while the other was wrapped around the vine the black hedgehog used to swing across the waterfall and catch him before he hit the bottom.

"You're alright now..." Shadow growled, though the tone lacked aggression. It was more of a rough purr than anything and Sonic found himself being pressed closer against the black hedgehog's chest. "Hold on; we're going down." With that said, Shadow adjusted his grip and jumped off the ledge again, using the vine to swing back to the other side of the waterfall, right back onto the path. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Shadow took off in a brisk jog, careful to pause and stop himself from going too fast and potentially slipping.

The journey was done mostly in silence, Shadow entirely focused on getting down to solid flat ground while Sonic was occupied by the shivers that racked his form. Not only was it cold and wet, the scare he had from nearly falling to his death right off the water had shaken him. Put him against Eggman and his robots any day; at least in that situation, he could take care of himself and put up a fight. But when you pit him against water, the sensation of being entirely helpless, unable to swim or do anything about his situation...it was nerve-wrecking to the hedgehog.

Soon, Shadow reached the end of the path. His shoes crunched against the leaf-litter of the ground as he ran faster, heading to a small cave he knew was somewhere nearby. He would prefer it if they were back at the den, but the tunnels that ran through the mountain range and led to the large cave that was the den were still further away and he didn't want to be out in the storm any longer, not with Sonic like this. Any kind of shelter would do at this rate.

Thankfully, he managed to find that small cave. Squeezing inside, he carefully set Sonic down, taking a moment to shake himself dry. Then, he sat down next to the shaking blue hedgehog, who was starting to recover. Sonic let out a few more coughs and shook his head, sending water in a spray. "Thanks..." he then breathed out. "For the save..."

"Don't mention it," Shadow returned gruffly, though his eyes didn't stray far from Sonic in (he would never admit it) concern. The blue hedgehog was shaking badly, scared and cold. He looked entirely miserable as well, and Shadow wondered if the waterfall had actually terrified Sonic more than he first thought. "...You feeling better?"

"Eventually, I will..." Sonic answered truthfully, attempting to give Shadow a grin. It ended up more of a twitchy smile than anything, judging by Shadow's unimpressed frown. "I'll be alright...sometime tomorrow..."

Shadow sighed, exasperated at the answer, but due to their circumstances, he accepted it. "It doesn't matter. We'll be stuck here for a while. I'm not risking running out in the middle of the storm." Sonic jolted in surprise when Shadow shifted, the black hedgehog moving closer so that his arm brushed against Sonic's. "Might as well wait the storm out here then."

"Y-Yeah," Sonic replied with a shiver, the wind's chill getting to him. Without a word, the blue hedgehog pulled his legs up and tucked his arms inwards, almost literally curling into a ball of blue fur and quills in an attempt to keep himself warm. "When do you think the storm's going to be over?" he asked in a quiet tone, feeling fatigue from the scare starting to affect him, weighing down his eyelids and dragging him to unconsciousness.

"Storms here usually last a day or two outside of their season. It'll be sometime tomorrow before we see a break in all the rain and wind," Shadow replied, ears twitching when they heard a tired yawn from Sonic. "Get some sleep," he told the blue hedgehog.

Sonic raised an eyebrow at that. He opened his mouth to protest, but Shadow's hand lifted up and rested on his head. Clawed fingers ran through deadly quills, the intuition of a fellow hedgehog the only thing keeping those fingers from being sliced and diced. The gesture brought a flustered expression on the blue hedgehog's face as he was torn between staring in disbelief at Shadow or hiding his face. 'Is he…petting me?' he thought faintly as he struggled to keep his eyes open, unwilling to be lulled into sleep by the methodic and soothing movements.

But it was a losing battle and not five minutes later, he succumbed to slumber.

When Shadow heard Sonic's breaths become slow and deep, he smirked and stopped stroking his blue quills. Now, he would have some time to get back to his brooding thoughts, something he had been content to do before Sonic and Red-Tail showed up to interrupt.

The symphony of the storm soon faded away into a dull roar as Shadow immersed himself in his thoughts, only half-heartedly keeping watch. He feared nothing but the storm during such times, since any other forms of danger were usually kept at bay due to said storm. And in a shelter such as a cave, he felt safer, more comfortable with the familiar feeling of stone surrounding him. So there really was no need to keep watch, at least too seriously.

It seemed like hours passed before Shadow's ears twitched, catching onto a faint beeping noise, one that was coming from Sonic's bag. Curious and wary to what the sound was, he tugged it free from Sonic's shoulder. A few seconds were wasted trying to figure out how to open the bag before Shadow got impatient and just tore through the fabric with his claws. Pushing his hand through the new opening, he soon pulled it out with one of the blue hedgehog's strange devices in his grasp.

It was a small rectangular block, a dark grey color with a glowing blue…thing on the top half. There were lighter grey things in different shapes on the bottom half, one that felt soft to touch. Pressing one of those buttons, Shadow nearly drop the device when sound started coming out from the device. "Sonic, it's Tails! Sonic, can you hear me?"

"…Fox?" Shadow asked, a bit hesitant because while that voice was familiar, it also sounded slightly distorted.

"Shadow? Yeah, it's me! Is Sonic there?"

"Hedgehog's asleep," Shadow replied, deciding to push away the strangeness of the device (he should start assuming that every other device these mobians had would be strange, period).

"Are you guys alright? Where are you?"

"We have taken suitable temporary shelter, so yes, we're fine. And we're in a cave on the other side of the mountain range. When the storm's over, we'll head back to the den."

"Don't worry about that; Knuckles will come and get you guys! It'll be faster than waiting out for the storm. It doesn't seem like it's going to stop anytime soon," Tails offered, and in the background, Shadow could hear something rumbling and moving. "Shadow, can you activate the GPS on Sonic's communicator? It's the small white button on the left side. Not the ones under the screen though."

Shadow stared incomprehensibly at the device. Just what the heck was a screen? 'Well, he did say a small white button, so…' Taking a look at the left side, he found several buttons, some of which were white, but they didn't seem 'small' as Tails seemed to imply. Then, turning the device, his eyes caught the sight of a small speck of white, set on the left face of the device. He took a chance and pressed it, hand jolting in a knee-jerk reaction when the device buzzed.

"Great! That should do it," Tails' voice informed the black hedgehog. "Just hang tight you guys."

With that, the blue glow of the thing faded away and the device fell silent. Shadow stared at it for a few more seconds, thinking that another voice was going to pop out again, but when it remained quiet, he decided to put it back inside Sonic's bag and follow the fox's advice, leaning back against the stone wall.

Shadow did not know exactly how long it had passed, but he supposed it had been some hours into the night by the time Sonic woke up. Blue eyelids blinked gradually before revealing sleep-dazed emerald orbs, not much different from the eyes Sonic was sporting when he came to the den earlier (much, much earlier) today. They took in their surroundings blearily before awareness returned and Sonic nearly yelped when his head shot up from Shadow's chest fur.

"Calm down," the black hedgehog growled, nearly getting clipped by Sonic if he hadn't moved his muzzle away in time. He returned the favor with a pinch to Sonic's ear, and that earned another distressed and pained yelp. "Down."

"Uh, right! Sorry about that...wait, no, what was that for?!" Sonic yelped, remembering just how he fell asleep in the first place.

"That was for nearly hitting my face," Shadow growled lowly, thinking that Sonic was referring to the pinch he gave the blue hedgehog's ear. "Now settle down. The fox called while you were sleeping."

"Tails?" It was as if a switch was suddenly flipped as Sonic's hands darted for his bag. "Is he alright? Is he safe? He's not out in this storm, is he? And what the heck?" The last question was directed to the brand new hole his bag was sporting.

Shadow huffed and glanced away. "I...was having a hard time getting the...the voice-giving device," he explained awkwardly.

"Dude, do you have something against bags?" Sonic asked, inspecting the tear more carefully. "I'm not mad, but you might wanna tell me before I leave any bags around you. Also, you don't have to tear it like this. Here, just pull open from here and it'll open." Sonic demonstrated the movement, opening the drawstring bag and reaching in for his communicator. "Also, the *pft* 'voice-giving device' is called a communicator. It allows me to talk to Tails and anyone else who has one even if we're far away."

"I see..." Shadow nodded, giving the communicator a wary glance as it came into view.

"So, what did Tails say? Is he alright?" Sonic asked as he checked the device, in case his...ahem, his experience had got it wet. Tails wouldn't like that, not when Sonic had a rather impressive record for destroying machinery (unfortunately, this ability didn't discriminate between allies' or foe's machines) and would need to get his communicator fixed, again.

"He just said that someone called 'Knuckles' would be getting us," Shadow replied with a frown, trying to put a face to the name. "Perhaps he is the red echidna you are with?"

"Ah, yeah, that's him," Sonic nodded, finished with his check. He opened the communicator and looked through its history. The last call that came through was around two hours ago, and from Tails. "Since Knux is getting us, that means Tails won't be. That's good..." he muttered under his breath, his finger quickly seeking out Knuckles' communicator number and calling the echidna.

While Sonic was busy calling Knuckles, Shadow's ears were twitching. Despite the roar of the rain pouring outside, he could hear something else. It sounded like...like a huge creature or object crashing through the forest, and it was steadily growing louder...

"Who's this?!" a roar suddenly came from the communicator, causing Shadow to hiss and glare at the device, his concentration disrupted. "If this is Tails, I'm working on it, alright?! I'm nearly there!"

"Sorry Knux, but it's Sonic!" Sonic chirped, feeling better when he heard that Knuckles was nearly with them. "Glad to know you're nearly there though."

"Sonic?" There was a distant sound of a tree crashing that was mirrored by the sound coming right outside of their shelter. "Right, I can see your cave. Just hang on, let me get this thing to-."

The two hedgehogs moved towards the entrance and Sonic's eyes widened in shock. There was Knuckles, piloting the X-Tornado! 'Tails isn't going to be happy if Knux destroys that thing with how he's waving it around.' "Don't worry, just stay put! We're coming over to you!" Sonic yelled, both towards the vehicle and into the communicator, before hanging up and turning to Shadow. "Come on Shads, let's go!"

"Don't call me that," Shadow huffed even as the two ran out and darted for the strange metallic contraption that Sonic was easily climbing into. Soon, the two hedgehogs were inside one of the two cockpits, safe and dry.

"Alright Knux!" Sonic called out, using a device inside their cockpit to reach Knuckles'. "Just press the yellow button on your right, yeah, that one. That's auto-pilot mode. Much safer."

"And my piloting isn't safe?" Knuckles yelled, offended despite acknowledging that yes, he had no idea how to operate the X-Tornado (he just went through some instructions Tails gave him and figured out the rest for himself. It wasn't as successful as he would be comfortable with) and it would be definitely safer this way.

"No," both Shadow and Sonic deadpanned at the same time, surprisingly. Shadow continued, "I could hear you coming. With how loud and disruptive you are, you would have alerted the entire jungle, and I do not need other animals, or my pack, out and about while in this storm to find out what is causing all of this ruckus."

There was a brief pause before Sonic cleared his throat. "Anyway, let's get going."

"Back to the den," Shadow murmured. Sonic took note of that and had Knuckles change the destination accordingly. Besides, it would be for the best; they didn't want to camp out in the X-Tornado the entire storm, even if it was pretty comfy and safe and away from the elements outside.

The trek took a while since the X-Tornado, stuck in its ground mode, was unable to simply fly over the mountain range. It was very, very late into the night (or very, very early in the day) when they arrived at the den. By then, all three were pretty hungry, grumpy and tired.

"Finally!" Sonic breathed out loudly in relief as they boarded off the X-Tornado and scurried quickly into the den. They got dripping wet for their efforts (the rain had not been merciful), but that was nothing. What mattered was that they could finally rest!

Shadow only had a few seconds to agree with a huff before Red-Tail suddenly charged out from the sleeping (or not-quite-sleeping, seeing as some of the Black Arms were quick to get away from Red-Tail) Black Arms. "Shadow! What a relief that you're back! Are you alright? Are you hurt? You didn't stay out in the storm the entire time, did you?!" Red-Tail launched one question after another.

"I'm fine, Red-Tail," Shadow grumbled, pushing the Black Arm's head away from him. "And no, I'm not hurt, and I didn't stay outside. I took shelter in a cave. What do you think I am, suicidal?"

Red-Tail sagged in relief. And before Shadow knew it, he found himself being manhandled (or hedgehog-handled) into the midst of the pack. "Red-Tail! Enough!" Shadow barked, but the Black Arm staunchly ignored his friend and leader. Shadow was pushed onto the bedding on the stone floor and Red-Tail curled tightly around him, until you could only see the tips of Shadow's spines sticking out of the mass of black and red. "This isn't necessary!"

Sonic muffled his chuckles at the sight of Shadow being bundled away. "Ah, he's just worried about you," he stated quietly. "We were gone for a long time after all. Speaking of which, I should probably call Tails..."

"In the morning," Knuckles grumbled, already finding a spot in the cave to lie down in. "For now, sleep."

Bit of a sudden ending, but it seems like a good place to stop, so there's that...

Anyway, I'm sorry for the long wait. I wanted to get Where the Wind Blows at the same number of chapters as From the Wilderness; seemed unfair that one of my main stories was being neglected like that. And no, 30 DAYS doesn't count. Not only is it for fluffy things that aren't really plot-driven (if that's the right description), but I kind of need a list of all the prompts so that I can arrange them in a chronological order. Yes, not exactly plot-driven, but it doesn't mean I'm about to give half-assed chapters that doesn't make sense.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!