Sonic and Tails arrived at the scene where he and Knuckles rescued the trapped citizens. His two tailed companion winded his tails together until he was able to spin them superfast. In doing thus, he was able to observe the frozen problem from above. Using a bird's eye view, he saw the entire frigid road.
Up above, the wreckage of vehicles was clearly visible as well as that of something he could not ascertain. Pieces of strange parts were scattered behind three tall maples. With as much breath as he could hold, the little fox cub cried, "Hey Sonic!"
The blue hero gazed skywards and waved at his little buddy. Cupping his hands to the sides of his mouth, Sonic called out his answer, "What is it, bro? Did you find something?"
In maple tree direction Tails' index directed his reliable friend to the metallic remains. Speed permitting him to quickly catch onto what caused Tails' excitement, the speedster sprinted to the scene. Amongst the ruins, Sonic recalled standing close to the vicinity. The sound of blasting resounded through his memory lane, as well as the dark figure lurking in the shadows. What reason this person had for aiding them was beyond him. For all he knew, this strange helper could turn out to be a rival of Eggman.
Eyebrows burrowed together in an attempt to unravel the confusion. No matter what he thought, he would never figure out who this person was until he met him in person. Until then, it was going to be a full out hunt.
Tails landed next to find him, both tails waging, "This machine looks like Eggman's. Sonic, did you know about this?" Picking up a broken twig, Sonic sniffed it. The stranger's scent was all over it.
He handed it to his friend, "You had better believe it. It was right around here when I heard someone take apart, Eggman's machine." The twin tailed genius took a glance back. Despite that there was an end to the machine, the road never thawed. Not to mention that it was growing colder by the minute. Something else was keeping everything in a Christmas ice land.
He then took to his Tornado parked on a cliff and dug through his gizmos. One of them was bound to do the trick. An occasional pause was given to examine certain objects, but so far none matched what came to mind. While his search commenced, Sonic zipped beside the modified aircraft and impatiently tapped his toes to the ground.
Just like old times, the hedgehog glanced at the timepiece around his wrist, "I'm waiting…" Tails was well adapted to his annoying attitude and paid no heed to the pressure. Sonic was naturally gifted in swiftness and was fast at everything not involved with homework. It would be difficult for him to understand how anything could be slower. Someday he might learn what it meant to be patient, but right now there was not much that could be done to get that kind of information through his head.
At long last Tails found what he had long searched for, a temperature reader. It worked like a specialized thermometer and could tell him where it was coldest or hottest. With that help enlisted on their side, they could easily track the heart of the problem.