The lightning hadn't struck dead on, but a few meters to the side. The tortoise's life was spared but not without cost. Electricity ran throughout its body, burning its insides and resetting its heart. If the lightning had only struck once instead of twice, the tortoise would've passed away then and there.

A crater was left behind where it hit and caused an explosion. The tortoise was carried away a few meters by the explosion and landed on its back. There, it rested, forced into unconsciousness. The rest of the clouds passed by without even a speck of water. The storm was not natural in any sense.

It was still nighttime and the stars watched over these events but the moon was strangely absent from the heavens. It was a new moon, with the sun hidden behind the earth and lending none of its might to the moon. If one looked closely, they could still see the outline of the moon.

In the time it took for the tortoise to finally awaken, the night had set and the sun was partially up. Groggy was the only way to describe its state of mind. Its entire body was in pain and it had been upside down for hours. Scrambling to flip itself over for a few seconds until it recoiled from pain. This began to repeat itself.

The tortoise did not want to be upside down. However, its shell was bulky and made it hard to get back over. Even then, every time it strained itself, the pain would flare up with a vengeance. For good reason as moving too much would make them worse. Nothing good would come out of being upside down either. Nonetheless, the tortoise was forced to choose between flipping itself or staying still.

Its brain commanded the body to bring it back to being rightsideup as blood started to pool in its head. The body simply stated that it couldn't comply with intense bouts of pain. After going back and forth, neither side held an advantage. Yet, the body was winning overall as nothing was done and that was exactly what it wanted to be done.

The tortoise kept its head crooked and occasionally moved its limbs to keep its blood flow going. To make matters worse was that the pain never away. It went from a state of horrible pain to unbearable but never left. Even when the brain acknowledge something was wrong, it would not stop.

A few passing clouds, straying after the storm would occasionally cover up the sun. Combined with the damp ground, the afternoon wasn't so bad. The tortoise couldn't move so it just waited for an opportunity. One that seemed to never come.

The last vulture flew across the sky, leaning to the side and spiraling aimlessly. Its wing was injured from the storm. Even worse was that it was the last of them. What was a flock became an individual. It landed on the ground and lost all motivation to do anything. It roosted on the ground, staring at the upside down tortoise.

The fox was still alive as well. Unharmed but covered in grime, ruining its coat of fur. It walked towards the oasis, letting out occasional yelps. These served to unnerve the tortoise. The thing about living creatures is that some things take priority over others.

The presence of the fox struck a chord within the tortoise's biological responses. Fearful of the fox coming to it for an easy meal, it desperately tried to right itself, pain or no pain. With some effort and proper foot placement, it managed levy itself up and slammed onto the ground with the world back in the proper perspective.

The fall, however, incited a new wave of pain as its internal injuries were rocked about. Fortunately, there was no bleeding. Just trauma from being pushed around way too much and some burns. Everything was fully functional, just rough around the edges. The tortoise took a glance at where it heard the fox and only saw it long in the distance, going further away. It was never the fox's target and overreacted. A good overreaction as it finally allowed the tortoise to flip over.

Not that it made much of a difference as the tortoise laid down and did nothing. If it moved it would feel pain; if it didn't move it would still feel pain. After the sun fell, a cold air seized the night. It numbed the pain somewhat. For once, it could think clearly and all it wanted to do was get to its burrow. Not for its protection from the cold, the cold was a good thing for it, lowering inflammation and such, but for its comforts. Unfortunately, the burrow no longer existed. It was different from the other two that got covered in sand, it was still visible. Yet, it wasn't accessible because of something left behind by the storm. Water.

The burrow was replaced by a small pond. Other than being a bit murky, it was completely fresh. The first thing the tortoise did upon seeing this was start gulping down the water to quench a thirst it didn't even know it had until now. It drank until it got a stomachache and then lied by the edge, feeling strangely sleepy. Without a home to return to, the tortoise slept under the stars. Its body was shut down for repairs.

After what felt like only a few seconds, the tortoise got up and saw some green. A tuft of weeds sprouted up around its old home. These plants, despite being so small and weak, somehow survived the storm and even spread out to new sources of water. Except, these weeds were doomed as these ponds would not last for long. Even now, the pond had dropped a few centimeters in water level. The tortoise gratefully munched on these free snacks and took another sip of water before passing out again. High above the tortoise was the sun already starting to set. The tortoise had slept well over a day straight. In such a bad condition, the tortoise's greatest asset came to shine, not its shell but survivability.