Secluded

Chapter1: trapped

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters mentioned

Tails Miles Prower picked himself off the ground and dusted his mildly burnt body. He instinctively lowered himself down to the pebble-covered ground and absorbed his surroundings. An island; not were they had intended to go. He removed his gloves to allow his hands some air. He was sure he had broken his index finger in the accident and left his right glove on the damaged appendage. The smoldering wreckage had left a decently large scar on the vast tropical island. He was met with a blast of heat as he stepped away from the remains of the X-tornado, dazed and confused.

"Hey tails, wait a minute!" came a voice from behind him.

Sonic the hedgehog jogged over to his confused and disoriented friend, wheezing in an unhealthy fashion.

"We can't just wander off, now come on and help me tend to Shadow's wound."

"I'm sorry Sonic, I must've hit my head on the dashboard upon impact…where's Knuckles?"

Sonic looked around, observing a brilliant crimson bird that flashed upwards into the sky, soon to be followed by a flock of similar avians.

"I think he went to look for some sort of herbal remedy to stop the bleeding; he's good with that stuff."

"I see, where are Shadow and Rouge?" asked the small fox, caressing his injured hand.

"They're at the wreckage. Where are we anyway?"

"An island. Or at least, I think it's an island. That's a coral reef out there and dense jungle brush over there. I doubt there's anyone on this island."

"So, are you saying we're stuck on an uninhabited island in the middle of nowhere until you can fix the tornado?"

"Initially yes, but that's assuming I can fix it, especially because we plowed into very rugged terrain."

With a distraught face, Sonic casually made his way over to the beach and near the incoming tide. Back and forth, back and forth it went. How dull. He tried to be uninterested and not panicked, even though he was, but he would never let Tails know that, even more Shadow and Knuckles, the two he shared deep enmity with. He did his best to hide the pale contours on his face and wiped away the beads of sweat rushing down his brow.

He then heard a Rustling in the bushes and quickly turned to face the undergrowth, expecting some horrid monstrosity to pop out and viciously assault the troupe. But the only thing that popped out was Knuckles with herbs and fruits clenched in both hands, sweat slithering its way down his sculpted torso. He disentangled himself cautiously and slumped towards the wreckage, climbing over a fallen mahogany and by a lagoon near which the tornado had crashed.

"There you are Knux, listen I-"

That was all Sonic got out before the echidna had passed him without so much as a glance. He was no doubt more irritated and solemn than normal and quickly started to attend to Shadow.

As Sonic approached, he realized the severity of the ebon hedgehog's wound. His left calf had been ripped open, most likely by some inconveniently placed shrapnel. His tendons, bone, meat, wires and mechanical parts were seeping out the hybrid hedgehog and becoming a part of the sandy beach.

"Took you long enough" he said through clenched teeth, obviously just as irritated as his savior.

Knuckles ignored the comment and began to rub the healing leaves on his leg. Sonic took notice that Rouge the Bat, the last member of their current group was eyeing the echidna, obviously pleased with his impressive figure, as she was blushing deeply. Sonic now took the time to take in his surroundings. The shore was fledged with fallen palm trees. Some appeared to be windswept although, there was not a hint of a refreshing breeze, which did not help him cope with the blazing inferno people called "Sunlight". The ground beneath him was coarse, covered with scattered pebble and rotting tree longs, and also the occasional shell. Not his idea of home.

"Shadow what are you doing?" came the voice of the already shaken little fox, Tails.

Shadow was limping about the wreckage; searching for something (no doubt this was bad for his crippled leg).

"I'm looking for my chaos emerald, so we can get of the hell." He mumbled in a tone audible enough so that Sonic could just make out the words.

"You didn't bring it."

"Huh?"

"You didn't bring it, you left it at my house, remember?" repeated Rouge.

Shadows face contorted into a ghastly expression and he started to kick a bent piece of metal.

"Argh! Fuck! Shit! And other such explicative's!" he yelled to no one in particular.

Knuckles appeared a little dazed from his hike and was faintly interested in what Shadow had goofed up about. He seemed to have predicted that they would have to live like tribesmen and live in bamboo houses and grass skirts.

Shadow calmed down after a good minute of swearing and started at the terrace ridden jungle.

"So we're trapped."

"You could say that."

"Crap" said Knuckles, hurling a stone into the blue ocean. It impacted the water and sun to the bottom with a loud and obnoxious "Ploomp". He then gazed up at the sun and wiped the sweat from his brow, glaring at it. The heat was too much for the furry echidna, and he began to strip down, removing his gloves, shoes, socks, and T-shirt he had been wearing during the flight.

"Good idea Knuckles, we best strip down to the bear minimal, unless you want to die of heatstroke" said Tails, removing his shoes.

"Not a good idea. I'm a lady, and I would not-"

Rouge was interrupted by Shadow's whisper-like voice.

"Just tear off parts of your jumpsuit; I really don't want to have to put up with your nonsense while I'm stranded on this island."

Rouge mumbled something about perverts and began to tear parts of her tight jumpsuit with a piece of metal that was twisted out of shape. She sheared off the section of the part of the jumpsuit that covered her stomach, and the part that covered her legs so that only her butt was covered. She then as well removed her gloves and boots, tossing them aside like a rag doll.

The others did the same, leaving on only their pants, as they had lost an amount of fur there over the years to make them awkward. Tails suggested that they find a sufficient supply of food, seeing as they would be stuck there for a good while and the lagoon would only provide them with water, not substance.

"I think we should separate into groups, in order to expand our search" suggested the fox.

Shadow narrowed his eyes in contemplation.

"Now hold on, I think that we should also look for shelter supplies, I don't want to be left out in the rain, should it ever come" said Shadow, wiping his forehead and starring up at the inferno above them.

"Groups are…?"

"Sonic and I should go with Shadow, as the two of us can help support him, on account of his broken leg. We'll be the ones looking for food. Knuckles and Rouge, you two look for shelter supplies."

"Why do I have to go with-?"

Knuckles was interrupted by Shadow.

"Oh don't start."

Much later, the two groups had separated from each other, instructed by Tails to issue a call, should they not return.

Knuckles and Rouge trudged together through the dense undergrowth and the thick tree trunks, most likely filled with unspeakable horrors that neither of them dared to consider. Despite the shade provided by the jungle canopy, the two continued to sweat profusely from every sweat duct on their bodies. As they walked along side each other, Knuckles couldn't help but eye the sweating body of his bat counterpart. Sweat trickled from her neck and down in-between her partially exposed breasts and down to her exposed stomach. Rouge was as well eyeing the sculpted echidnas' sweaty body, occasionally meeting the gaze of his eyes with hers.

Knuckles passed the time by mentally swearing to himself, refusing to believe that over the time he had knew the bat, he had started to develop feelings for her. Rouge however, had long ago accepted that she liked Knuckles, and was having a mental conversation with herself about how she would gain his trust and his love. Of course, the two were still very concerned about their survival and how they would be rescued from this hell on earth.

Knuckles eyes eventually met the tempting view of a pile of large sticks, so much that the may be large tree sapling continently placed in a pile, as if they had been made to be taken a long distance.

"Hey Rouge, we can use these" exclaimed Knuckles, motioning towards the pile of jungle brush.

"Are you sure? We could only make one shelter then, a very small, one at that. Are you that stupid Knucklehead?"
"Look here batgirl, I don't like this, I don't want to be here, and I don't want to be with you. But I would like a shelter, so help me carry these; we're going to make a few trips."

"Why don't you carry them, you muscle-bound idiot" she recoiled in a slightly hurt tone.

"What is with you and your attitude?! Normally I have trouble tolerating you, but now-"

He picked up a little less than half of the pile and thrust it at Rouge.

"You insensitive jerk!"

"Just take your portion and head back to the beach, I'll be able to carry a little more" he grunted, storming off in another direction.

When he was out of sight, Rouge angrily thrust the branches on the ground and slumped against a large beach tree, ears flopped limply to the side of her head.

"Damn it."

Authors note: my third story. This one is based of William Golding's Lord of the Flies.

I beg you, nay, beseech you to review!

Please….

f0al