Sonic stayed at the edge looking down for quite a while. Sure, it probably wouldn't help him emotionally, as it pretty much was a constant reminder of 'oh yeah, that planet that you're supposed to protect currently resembles a giant broken vase'.
Well, in his defense, it isn't everyday that one could peer down into the very core of Mobius itself.
He stood up and took a deep breath. 'Welp, as much as I'd like to stay where I am, me moping around isn't going to help anyone.' He thought sardonically. Although Sonic very much still didn't know how to fix the planet, nor how it got broken in the first place, he headed back towards Apotos. With luck, he could ask the locals and start piecing together what the heck was going on.
He did not notice that he completely forgot he was supposed to wait for Tails on Windmill Isle.
(Meanwhile)
Tails marveled at the intactness of Apotos, as well as the unfairness of the universe. As it turned out, those who were closest to the fault line were affected the most, and lo and behold, his workshop was so close to a fault line that it could be sued for a restraining order.
Why was he in the city of Apotos? Because genius of hindsight that he was, he forgot to tell Sonic when he would arrive, and Sonic, being the paragon of patience that he was, was very much not present.
Tails knew that he was being rather unreasonably impatient himself, but let's see how patient anyone else would be if thousands of dollars worth of important tech had been crushed under half of their house.
But more importantly, in fact most importantly, he had found a lead. Professor Pickle, from Spagonia University. His research on the Gaia manuscripts were eerily relevant to what was currently going on, and if what happened to Station Square and Soleanna had taught Tails anything, it was this: you should absolutely check if the Armageddon you're going through involves a god.
So here he was, asking locals if they had seen a blue hedgehog (some of them said yes) and if they knew where he went (all of them said no). As the sun set, he walked deeper into the city, wondering whether he should pull another all nighter to try to find his brother or find a motel and call it a day.
The monsters that suddenly appeared everywhere ended up making that decision for him.
(Meanwhile)
The laws of physics state that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Even if said object loses consciousness while in motion.
Which is why a certain werehog woke up to find itself tumbling rather spectacularly across the street in a way only achievable from tripping while running a few hundred miles per hour.
Unsurprisingly, the first word it ever said was "Ow."
It slowly got onto its feet, wobbling dangerously as it's body tried to figure out which way gravity was going before hesitantly settling on the direction of down. It gingerly rubbed its head as it looked up to see multiple expressions of fear and mild sympathy.
Oblivious to the awkward silence, it glanced around with open curiosity and confusion.
It then proceeded to walk up to the nearest person, which happened to be a man sobbing at an ice cream stand.
"Excu-"
"It's hopeless!" The man cried, effectively cutting the pseudo-Dark Gaian off.
"Uh, what?"
"The whole planet has split apart! We're doomed!" The man continued, waving his arms before slumping down into silent sobs. The former hedgehog patted the man's back in an attempt to comfort him, then hesitantly stepped away when it didn't do anything to help his mood. It looked around for guidance and was only given a helpless shrug from one of the locals.
"Hope you feel better soon…?" It said to the ice cream vendor, before slowly turning away and walking into the city.
It hummed along to the background music as it strolled through the plaza. It didn't get far as an old couple suddenly started chatting with it.
"Did you see a two-tailed fox? He was right here just a minute ago." The pseudo-dark Gaian blinked as it's brain tried to figure out what a fox is.
"No, why?" It asked.
"Mnzts… Sssgrt!" The old woman replied.
"Uh, sorry, could you repeat that?"
"She said that he was looking for you." The old man translated.
"Oh. Do you know where he went?"
"Yep, he headed into the city. He had big, bushy tails swingin' all around. You can't miss him."
"Okay. Thanks."
It continued onwards with an easy going stride, then stiffened when it passed through the arch. The once cheerful atmosphere started feeling a little ominous. It hurried up its pace, hair raising on the back of its neck. For a moment it paused, considering heading back into the plaza, but a part of it knew it couldn't turn back now.
With a wary grimace, it pressed on.
It shuddered as its footsteps rang out in the empty streets, the silence deafening-
It jolted as music suddenly suddenly blasted around it, before frowning in confusion.
"Who'd be playing jazz at this hour?"
It didn't get much further than that as it proceeded to suddenly get jumped by a group of what were apparently glowing shadow demons. It frantically squirmed out of the dog pile it was under, scrambling for the nearest exit only to slam into a smoky purple barrier. It dazedly turned around, whimpering as it found itself completely surrounded.
Pressing itself flat against the barrier, it desperately searched for a way to escape this madness. It's breath hitched in its throat as it felt itself falling through the barrier.
"Whu-" it wheezed as the air was knocked out it's lungs, propping itself onto its elbows and dumbly stared at the monsters clawing at it from the other side of the barrier. It quickly snapped out of its shock and booked it, not slowing down until the jazz had completely faded away to blessed silence. It looked around as it struggled to catch its breath, before heaving a sigh of relief. With those nightmare creatures finally behind it, it can focus on finding whoever was looking for it.
*crack*
It jumped, then relaxed when it realized that it had only stepped on a twig.
It then nearly broke down into tears as jazz music started blasting out around it again.
(Meanwhile)
Tails had thought that he had gotten over his fear of the dark when he was four. But as he cowered behind the wall with literal shadow demons on the other side, he was 99.9% sure that said fear would come back in full swing and stay for at least the next few months or so. Peeking over his current hiding place, he confirmed that yes, the nightmare creatures are still there and oh chaos is there another one?!
Tails mentally tallied the monsters, confirming that there was indeed a newcomer and crap crap crap its heading straight to where he was hiding why'd there have to be an invisible wall preventing him from flying-
He squeaked as the new monster hopped the wall effortlessly and landed right next to him and a mildly hysterical part of his mind noted that hey would you look at that even the nightmare creatures will end up staring at your tails-
A loud roar then derailed the rest of his train of thought, causing both the nightmare creature and him to jolt in unison, wearing twin expressions of terror. Tails yelped as he was suddenly yanked out of the air and tucked under the nightmare creature's arm, his jaw dropping as said creature then proceeded to push the barrier apart as if it were stage curtain.
Quickly figuring out what Tails' unexpected savior wanted to do, he latched onto its arm sped off with it in tow, only slowing down after the two of them were five miles or so away from the hostile monsters. He gently landed, before wincing as the monster beside him collapsed onto the ground.
"Sorry, I forget most people aren't used to this speed."
"It-guh-it's fine." Tails' eyebrows shot up as he hadn't expected a response. And on closer inspection of the creature, it looked more mobian than the other monsters he'd seen. Sure, most mobians didn't have fangs or claws that big or sharp, but other than that it could probably pass as a normal person.
"So, um," the mobian? started, snapping Tails out of his thoughts. "were you looking for me?"
"Er, no. Actually, now that you mention it, have you seen a blue hedgehog by any chance?"
"I don't think so, no. I'll let you know if I do." Tails sighed. 'Two days, two nights, and barely any progress.'
"Thanks." Tails closed his eyes, and after three sleepless nights and two very long days, he fell asleep right on the spot. Had he stayed up just a few minutes more, he would've been able to watch the sun rise.
(The werehog of course instantly passed out the moment the sun rose.)
ajdndjsj Thank you WhatIsThisDefiance for teaching me how to make horizontal lines. i owe you my mchecking life.
(and of course thank you everyone for coming to read this absolute house fire of a story)