"Me?" Miles tilted an ear in confusion. "Have we met?"
He wanted to say… no? He tried to keep track of the people who hated him, and "pretty flower girl thing" sounded pretty memorable.
Cosmo turned away from him, slender hands clenched.
"I want you out, Miles Prower." Her voice, formerly sweet, if sad, was now positively frigid with anger and loathing.
"I… uh... I'm sorry for whatever I did?" Miles rubbed the back of his head. Had he shot her mother or something? Seemed like something he'd do.
"Whatever you did?!" The dryad rounded on him, green tipped finger prodding his furry chest. "You've ruined everything so many times!"
"Ah." Miles sighed, his downturned blue eyes reflected in hers. This was more familiar. "Sorry in advance. I probably won't be able to not do it, though. I'm mostly deterministic when it comes to time travel."
"Time travel?" Cosmo blinked through tears of anger. "Time travel?!"
A storm of leaves raged up behind her. Miles tensed, ready to strike, but the leaves vanished back into her as quickly as they came.
"What's even the point?" She turned away from him, blinking rapidly. "You may stay in the stairway tonight if you must. It is safe. Enough."
Miles nodded, stepping back across the threshold into the dark once more. The door snapped shut behind him, sealing him in the dark. Somewhere above came the slow, rhythmic pounding of metal on wood as the automaton tried to batter the door down.
Miles slumped down, shivering from system shock as he dangled his legs over an unseen ledge that stretched down into the unknown depths of the tree's root system.
"Well, guess I really did it this time." Miles muttered to himself, staring into nothing. "... Do it this time."
From what the dryad had said, this world was about to end, his world was next, and there was a good chance he was going to be the one responsible for it. He had no leads, and the only two hints of civilisation were a plant girl that hated him and a headless robot that hated him almost as much. Zeena was nowhere to be found, and he had the worst splinter ever somewhere around his left kidney, and possibly right kidney too since the robot had kicked him.
If only he'd held onto the thing's head. It wasn't like he couldn't go back up, but the stairs had a slight turn partway down and he wasn't sure where, exactly. Without Cosmo guiding him he'd probably drop into the depths, compounding his current problems. Hopefully it would leave its head behind and wander off at some point. He could build some kind of communicator, contact Sonic and warn everyone. Maybe getting a hero in here would stop him from ruining things in the first place.
Unless it was deterministic. Unless he killed everyone.
Again.
If only Reason was here. And alive. As the mental copy of Robotnik's clone, Doodle, imprinted onto his own biological makeup - or, more precisely, his twinned X-chromosome - she'd had at least decades of experience in chronophysics he could be tapping into, with all the genius to extrapolate from that knowledge while they tried to work out an answer.
Also... sort of could have used a hug right now.
Miles sighed in the dark. While he didn't quite understand the tangled relationship they shared, for someone like him, the one and only mobian fox, the presence of someone so much like himself into his life had been… comforting. While it lasted.
Not that he'd turn down a hug from a few other people at this point. Heck, he might settle for a Zeti, and not necessarily Zeena. Even ancient and terrible horrors like himself needed a hug now and then after all. Particularly when they'd doomed the world again without knowing how.
Miles settled for a tail, squeezing his fur tight in his arms as he tried to get his shaking body under control.
The door opened once more, the dim light of the candle within doing nothing to illuminate the gloom below. Bare feet tapped lightly behind him. Mile clenched himself into stillness.
"Stand up." Cosmo snapped.
Miles obeyed, releasing his tail as he weaved upright once more. Compliance was usually easier. Better to follow someone else than make his own decisions with all the grim consequences they entailed.
The plant girl glared at him, a glass container between her sharp pointed fingers.
"Hold still." She raised her hand.
Miles let out an involuntary scream as wood ripped itself free of his body, over a dozen bloody splinters dripping on the floor before Cosmo cast them over the edge with a flick of the wrist. She snared Miles' wrist as he lost balance, pulling him towards her before he could tumble down after them.
"Drink this." Cosmo plucked a glass bottle from the bundle, frowning as she popped off the stopper and pressed it to his lips. "It will make you sick."
Miles could barely make out a crimson liquid as it sloshed into his unresisting mouth. It tasted like blood. Fresh vigour flowed down through his arms and legs, the agony in his stomach diminishing as the flesh - at very least externally - knitted back together, leaving a small circular patch of furless pink skin where the wound had been. A quick touch confirmed even his torn ear was now intact once more.
"What-" Miles stopped talking as a wave of overpowering nausea replaced the pain that had been taken from him and he clutched a bloodstained hand over his mouth.
"Don't come looking for more. That's the only one they left here." Cosmo dropped the bottle unceremoniously on the floor and turned on her heel.
"Thank you- urp - very much, miss Cosmo." Miles almost lowered his hand to flash her a smile before thinking better of it.
The dryad paused a moment, partially turning towards him before sweeping back into the room, door slamming behind her once more without a word.
Well... That was… nice? Miles retched again, breathing quickly through his nose as he settled down on the wooden floor, coiling his tails around himself as he listened to the rhythmic banging on the door above and waited for morning to come.
It had been a long time.
Sonic glanced out of the open cockpit, unbothered by the wind rushing into his face. He usually ran much faster than this, after all.
And usually wasn't the one flying. Tails had a gift in the air. Ever since he was four years old, he'd handled the flying for the both of them through the most hostile of conditions, and, usually, making it through in one piece. Or... at least making sure they made it through in one piece, which was an achievement as impressive as it was easy to take for granted, given the amount of fire they'd taken from Eggman's forces over the years.
It felt like he'd been taking a lot of things for granted lately.
Sonic grimaced, spying the Lost Hex far in the distance.
"You okay up there?" He called up to the passenger sprawled across the wing over his head.
There was no reply. He just scratched the white fur on his chest with a grunt, staring out at the floating continent ahead.
"Thanks again for coming out with me, by the way. You're the only person I know who's good enough to fly the Tornado apart from him. And if something's happened…" Sonic trailed off with a frown.
"Tails helped me before." The terse response, as though that said everything that needed to be said.
If he hadn't been preoccupied with Amy's harassment, maybe he'd have paid more attention to Tails' message. Maybe he'd have remembered which lab they were staying at this week and thought about what zones it was nearest.
Of course Tails had flown out here himself. The gentle-natured fox might be timid, but he had always been so keen to help, always thoughtlessly putting himself into danger until Sonic had finally insisted that he stay on the back lines, away from the fighting. What kind of hero had he been all those years to put his best friend into harm's way for so long? Tails had only just turned nine after all. Two years younger than when Sonic himself had started doing hero work. He should be in school, teaching classes or something. Safe. But the best Sonic could offer was to handle the fighting himself, he needed the little fox too much to let him go.
But now for the third time in recent memory the little fox had got into trouble because he'd dropped the ball. The last time had been just last month, getting abducted by Eggman's up to the Death Egg along with Cream. That had almost been game over thanks to that dang robot Eggman had made. Sonic was supposed to be the one protecting him, but, just like the last time here on Lost Hex, Tails had dug deep and saved the day with that big ol' brain of his.
Hopefully the same had happened this time.
No. Hopefully nothing had happened. Tails was fine, just... out of comms range, geeking out over some science thing. Or sat in the cockpit of the plane he could now see parked down below. Nowhere near any Zeti. Just because there had been no contact...
"Okay, I'm going to take us in." He yelled up. "Brace yourself!"
"Alright."
Ugh. Sonic had needed to run to Mystic Ruins to grab another plane anyway, but man did he have trouble dealing with this guy. He shook his head in exasperation, swooping in to land beside the first plane, zipping out of one and into the other in moments in his search.
No sign of Tails. Sonic pulled a small handheld scanner from his hammerspace, holding it aloft and pushing the big red button at its centre. Rapid beeping sounded from its speaker. He swivelled it until he found the beepiest direction then slipped it away again.
"Okay! I'm going to run on ahead, see if he's further down the island. You going to be okay here, Big guy?"
Slipping off the wings with a thud, the enough purple cat raised a thumb.
"I'll be okay." Big nodded slowly, producing a fishing rod and starting to amble towards the nearest body of water.
"Alright, cool, if you see anything with horns, just get in Tails' plane and leave before they get too close. I'll be back soon."
Before the cat had a chance to respond, Sonic was already running. For once he paid careful attention to his surroundings as he ran.
Yeah, really hard to talk to that guy. Hard to believe that he was the only person to ever successfully pilot one of Tails' custom planes except for the little fox himself. How did he even fit? He was well over twice Tails' height. Easily six times his girth.
A cliff loomed ahead. Sonic didn't slow, leaping just before impact then thrusting in midair into a spring at its base. He soared upwards, feet pattering along the side of the cliff until he soared over the top, landing neatly at the-
"Yeowch!"
Right into a thorn bush. Tiny needles dug into his furless arms, even the fur on his legs offered little defence. Sonic spun in place a moment, centrifugal force sending the prickers flying off him in ashes before peering around with a frown.
"Huh. Since when did this place have purple grass? Really gloomies up the place."
Only a small patch of green could be seen on the clifftop, and the thorns were everywhere, choking even that small patch that remained.
Well, this was one competition he was confident in coming out on top. Dropping to a sprinting start, Sonic spun his legs in place, faster and faster before letting himself roll forward. The momentum turned his body into a living buzzsaw, spinning through the hostile foliage at a blur. Thorns deflected off his spines while entire plants crumbled around him.
A hard bump disrupted Sonic's gardening. He bumping up into the air to drop a few feet away. He twisted around to see a spiked metal ball, partially buried in the earth. Its spikes were covered in dried blood.
"Tails…"
A moment later, Sonic spotted the familiar yellow of his buddy's Miles Electric portable computer, discarded beneath another bush. He buzzed through, snatching it from the floor on his way through.
It wouldn't turn on. Smelled kind of burnt, too. Zeti must have got to it. That would explain why Tails hadn't been responding.
But… where was he? Tails was at a huge disadvantage when it came to Zeti.
Another clue. Sonic grabbed Tails' cannon from the dirt, the same smoky aroma as the Miles Electric.
That settled it. Tails had come into contact with the Zeti. But did he get captured? Kil- Sonic shook his head, peering down at the white clouds below. Had Tails jumped over the edge? That would have been exactly the kind of quick strategic thinking that the little guy did so well, and he had none of the worries Sonic would have had about doing so - namely hitting the water.
Sonic turned away, stashing Tails' gear in his hammerspace. He'd head back to Big and tell him to take the Tornado 2 down, then-
"Whoa!" He ducked as two long pincers snapped down where his head had been, snapping out and to the side in a blur of blue. "Huh. You are one ugly dude."
The creature's bloated body - slightly longer than he was tall - bumped into the ground where he'd been standing. Its greying flesh quivered from the impact. A dozen wiggling green tentacles - or... something starting with an F? Tails would probably know - flowed through the air as it reoriented its pincers towards him, snapping them together. One giant green eye blinked at Sonic, flanked by four smaller eyes that swivelled freely around, never focusing on one thing very long, never blinking.
Had… this thing hurt Tails? It looked vaguely like something from the Black Arm invasion last year, if the wrong colour. But they were supposed to be extinct.
There was too much going on here.
The "floating cell monster thing" charged again, its last mistake as it met with an angry blue buzzsaw. The two halves fell to the ground, hissing and fizzling until only a small scrap of foul smelling flesh remained. Sonic clutched his nose as three more drifted towards him from the direction he'd arrived from.
Oh no.
The direction Big was waiting for him.
