And now...it is my pleasure to present...the beginning to the sequel of my super-hit "Dusk Sets"! Before you read any further, I must warn you, being a sequel this will contain references and what-not to "Dusk Sets" so please read that story before this one.
To sum up what has happened between the start of this story and the end of "Dusk Sets," with Eggman behind bars, the world has finally become peaceful, apart from the occasional petty crook, and Sonic and Co were able to move on with their lives and start relationships. Of course, Amy and Sonic began to date, and Shadow and Dusk began to date as well. Silver and Blaze also began to go out, and Silver even began to help out around the palace. Rouge and Knuckles were able to spend a couple nights together, and Rouge learned that Knuckles really wasn't that bad of a guy...providing she didn't mention or go near the Master Emerald. They probably had the most bumps in their love though, what with Rouge being a jewel thief and Knuckles being the guardian of a giant jewel, but it was also difficult for her to schedule some GUN troops to guard the emerald so they could actually go out in the first place.
Of course, this peaceful life did have a couple drawbacks...namely boredom. Sure the dates between the couples kept things interesting, but for the most part...it was too quiet. The more active members of the group, namely Sonic, Shadow, and Dusk, grew bored really fast with this quiet life, but they were able to find things to entertain themselves. Sonic began entering Ex-Gear tournaments as did Dusk and Amy, but Dusk found another past-time to entertain herself...sparring with Shadow was always interesting and since they were constantly thinking up new ways to try and outperform one another...although, in the end, Shadow usually conceded defeat to Dusk and she took her victory spoils usually in the form of kisses.
This story begins roughly two months after Dusk Sets ends, and...well...I've already yakked enough. Go ahead and enjoy. I just need to say one more thing: I do not own Sonic, Amy, or any other official characters, all of them are owned by SEGA/Sonic Team. I only own Dusk.
Chapter 1 The Beginning of a New Adventure
In a somewhat small bedroom, the sunlight filtered through the closed blinds and managed to peg a sleeping hedgehog in the eyes. The hedgehog groaned as she was roused and shifted around a little on her mattress. Finally giving up the futile chase of sleep, the hedgehog cast the blankets off of her body and sat upright before rubbing the sleep out of her dull-blue eyes and patting down a section of her midnight-purple fur that was standing on end. Her long hair-quills that gently curled away from her neck swayed as she stood up and to help see, she gently pushed the one quill that drooped in front of and blocked about half of her left eye out of the way.
The hedgehog girl shuffled over to her dresser and started to dress herself. Over the undergarments went a black T-shirt that had a dark-silver stripe up both sides that went from the base of the shirt straight up to the collar, and a pair of long pants that had an identical color scheme. Lastly she slipped on a pair of white socks and gloves before walking back to the nightstand beside her bed.
She was Dusk Rose, a 16-year-old hedge-girl who was born in a machine out of Amy Rose's DNA. She had the special gift of umbrakinesis, which allowed her to create physical matter out of shadows, and was originally created by Dr. Eggman as a way from him to conquer the world. After meeting with her original, Dusk left Eggman and aided Amy and her friends in taking down Eggman, and she was responsible for throwing Eggman behind bars and finally bringing peace.
Dusk clasped a pair of silver bracelets, a gift from Amy, onto her wrists and slipped a pendent around her neck that was composed of a single, pure black jewel...a shadow-diamond that was a gift from Shadow.
After smiling at the rest of Shadow's gifts, three roses and a glowing green jewel, she left her room and walked down the hallway of her shared apartment and into the dining room, where she found another hedge-girl sitting at the table, sipping at her coffee.
This one had bright-pink fur and emerald green irises that shown with innocence and kindness. Her hair-quills curled inward toward the neck and she lacked the eye-blocking quill the Dusk had. Instead of wearing a T-shirt and pants, this hedgehog was wearing a red dress with a white trim that hugged her form all the way down to the waist, whereupon it suddenly bloomed outward before ending maybe a fourth of the way down her thighs. Her hands were in a pair of white gloves and her feet in white socks, there was a pair of bracelets clasped to her wrists, only those were gold instead of silver, and hanging around her neck was a necklace of soft-pink pearls.
She was Amy Rose, the 16-year-old sister and roommate of Dusk. Amy and Dusk were alike in many ways, but they were still distinctly different. For example, Amy had a short temper and wouldn't hesitate to club anyone who ticked her off with one of her hammers, which Amy could form at will, but Dusk was a bit harder to irritate. However, being a very capable fighter and being able to take control of and use shadows as weaponry brought up the question, why would you want to irritate her?
"Morning Dusk!" Amy cheerfully called when she noticed her sister was up.
"Morn' Amy." Dusk replies, a little sleepiness still in her voice.
The purple hedgehog walked out of the hallway, into the kitchen, fixed herself some toast and orange juice, then sat down at the table with Amy.
"Sleep well?"Amy asks before taking another sip of her coffee.
"Yea." Dusk replies before crunching down onto one of the toast slices. "You?" she asks after swallowing.
Amy shrugs, "I had a little trouble falling asleep at first, but once I did doze off, I slept great." After finishing her sentence, Amy started fiddling with her pearl necklace. Sonic had given it to her as a surprise gift about a week ago and she's worn it every day since then.
"You anxious about today's race?" Dusk asks before starting to drink her orange juice.
"Nah. I doubt I'll win, but I hope I don't come in last."
"You should do fine Amy, but don't even think about passing me. The best view of me you'll get during the race is of my back."
Amy laughs a little before finishing off her coffee, then gets up to place the mug in the sink. After Dusk finished up her breakfast, both sisters strap on their Extreme Gear skates and take off for Tails' workshop. Amy at first had an Ex-Gear board, but after finding how much nicer the skates were during the attack on Eggman, she had Tails rebuild the board into a pair of pink and white skates, which she called the "Diamond Rose." Dusk never had normal shoes or an Ex-Gear board, the only footwear she ever had is a pair of purple, blue, and black skates that she nicknamed the "Midnight Breeze."
The purple and pink blurs race one another to Tails' house, the starting point of today's actual race between all of Sonic's gang. The finish line was the plaza at Aquanos, roughly two, two-and-a-half hundred miles away. Now that Eggman was behind bars, they could have fun like that without worrying about an attack somewhere while they were gone.
Both sisters managed to reach the workshop at the same time, and Amy slid to a halt. However Dusk, being more talented with Ex-Gear skates, gracefully curved around and did a twirl before posing as her skates set her down, no different than a figure skater on ice would've.
"Show off." Amy muttered.
Dusk merely laughed, "Its alright Amy, you'll learn how to pull off flashy moves like that someday."
Amy playfully punches her sis in the arm then turns to see a fox with golden-yellow fur and two tails descending the stairway up to his workshop. He has sky-blue eyes that always observed machines with the most curious of interests, and his golden-yellow fur was only interrupted by a large patch of cloud-white fur on his chest, around his muzzle, and at the tip of both of his large, fluffy tails. Tucked under one arm was an Ex-Gear board as yellow as its owner, and modified to be superior to anything found in a store, the "Yellow Comet." This was the 12-year-old, kid-genius, Tails.
Tails tosses his board over to the side, where it began to float several inches above the ground, and walks up to Amy and Dusk while exclaiming, "Morning girls!"
Both Roses giggle at the fox's high-spirits and give him a hug each while replying with "Good morning Tails."
"You two going to use your skates?" Tails asks after backing away a little.
"Did you think I was going to use anything else?" Dusk asks while raising an eyebrow, using a voice that carried over a little attitude.
Amy gives the purple hedgehog another little punch while mumbling, "Dusk..." She then turns to Tails and asks, "Yea, I actually find skates a lot more fun than boards. So how have you been?" before reaching out and ruffling Tails' hair a little, "Ready to turn thirteen?"
Tails chuckles a little before pushing her hand away, "Come on Amy, my birthday isn't for another week."
"I'm sorry that Shadow and I will have to miss it." Dusk says, her voice carrying a tone of disappointment, "We're leaving in a couple days and won't be back until after your birthday passes. I promise though, I'll be sure to get ya a nice little something."
Tails chuckles a little more before hearing the distinct hum of running Ex-Gear. The three turn to see three other forms approaching. One was driving a red Ex-Gear bike, named the "Red Mountain", and had red fur, purple eyes, spiked gloves, and his hair down in dreadlocks. Even though it wasn't visible, he had a white patch of fur on his chest in the shape of a crescent moon, and his tail also had something of a kink in it. This was Knuckles, the 16-year-old echidna who guarded the Master Emerald on Angel Island.
The next was on an Air-Ride model of Ex-Gear, which required the rider to lean forward while grasping a pair of controls, with the name of this particular machine being "Flower Sail", and was several years younger than Knuckles. She had soft, cream-colored fur and darker, more orange patches were around her eyes, at the end of her long ears, and on the crown of her head. She had orange eyes and a face that none could say wasn't cute. Cream was her name, an 11-year-old rabbit and was best friends with Amy. Normally she'd be wearing a orange dress, but today she was in orange shorts and had a soft-white T-shirt on and clinging to it was a small, blue and yellow creature...her chao friend, Cheese.
The last one was on a board named "Winged Heart" and she had a very attractive body. Her slender legs were in a pair of pants similar in shape to Dusk's, but were pure black apart from a faint pink heart over her right ankle. Her ample chest was contained in a tank-top of equal blackness, and both kept her decent while showing a teasing glimpse of what was underneath. Her soft-gray fur was only visible on her head, and normally her face would have plenty of make-up on, but due to the race she only put on a little ruby-shaded lipstick. Rouge, the lovely, 17-year-old top spy for GUN, flexed her bat wings as she and the others approached.
The three slow their gear down to a stop, park them beside Tails', and walk up to their waiting friends, with the six bidding one another a good morning.
"So Knuckles, not to sound upset or anything but...shouldn't you be back on Angel Island?" Dusk asks.
"Well...I...uhhh..." The echidna begins to stutter, but Rouge answers Dusk's question with, "Actually, Knuckles spent the night in my guest room."
Amy's eyes grow wide as she releases an 'Ooo', "Knuckles, you got to sleepover at your girlfriend's house?"
"What?!" Knuckles shouts, his cheeks starting to glow red, "N-No...I-I...it wasn't like you're thinking!"
Rouge begins to laugh, "Knuckles is telling the truth Amy. He got so tired after our date at the carnival last night that he practically collapsed after walking me home. I took him inside and set him up in the guest room. It wasn't that big of a deal, and it was actually easier for us to get here." She then tosses her arms around Knuckles and gives the echidna a tender hug, pressing her cheek against his, "When I saw him collapse on my doorstep, I couldn't just drop him back at the shrine. And it was fine, the GUN troops are going to guard that jewel until midnight tonight, so its still safe and sound."
Knuckles' cheeks quickly turn a bright shade of red as Rouge holds onto him, getting the other four to begin snickering, only holding back their laughter because of Knuckles' tendency to hold grudges and hatred of being laughed at.
"So Cream," Amy says after several snickers, "How have you been?"
Cream shrugs, "I've been doing okay Amy. Cheese is doing okay too, but Chocola wasn't feeling well so he had stay with my mom."
"Aww...poor little guy." Dusk says, "You be sure to give him an extra hug for me when you get home, alright? I'll swing by when I get a chance to say hi."
Cream smiles at the purple hedgehog and replies, "Thanks Ms. Dusk. You're so sweet."
"I'd have to agree with that." came a dark voice from the roof of Tails' workshop. The group of six looked upwards to see a figure suddenly leap off the roof and fall towards them. After falling a ways, it pulled off several front-flips before gracefully landing on its feet, revealing that it was actually a male hedgehog.
He had six quills coming off the back of his head that had bent tips, and his fur was a shade of ebony-black, but he also had several crimson red markings on his quills and extending up from his wrists and ankles. His muzzle was deeply tanned, there was a large, fuzzy patch of white fur on his chest, and clasped over his wrists and ankles were golden bands that kept his Chaos Energies in check. This was Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form created over fifty years ago, although he wasn't that old biologically. When created, he was at the biological age of roughly 18, and after spending fifty years in cryogenic suspension, he's still 18.
"Shadow!" Dusk exclaims before jumping forward and grabbing her boyfriend in her arms.
"Its nice to see you too Dusk." Shadow replies as she nuzzles her cheek against his shoulder. Upon realizing that she wasn't going to let go soon, he cleared his throat to get the message across...he wasn't fond of getting affection when others were around.
Suddenly remembering her boyfriend's little...affection perk...Dusk quickly drew away and blushed a little, but a laugh draws everyone's attention. They all turn to see another male hedgehog leaning coolly against a nearby tree. He looked very similar to Shadow, but his quills weren't bent, and his fur was the purest shade of blue that could be found. On his chest was an oval of fur that was the same color as his muzzle, a shade of pale tan. This was the famous, 17-year-old hero, Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Shadow, when are you gonna let the lady love you while we're around?" he asks before zooming up to the crowd, "Seriously, its nothing to be ashamed of."
A squeal is heard as Amy jumps forward and catches Sonic in a large hug. The pink hedgehog nuzzles just underneath Sonic's chin and gets the blue hedgehog to laugh as he strokes her quills, "See? I don't mind when Amy cuddles up to me."
"Yes, but you're you." Shadow replies in an irritated tone. Sonic still got on his nerves despite the two spending more time in each other's presence...they had to since their girlfriends were sisters...but kept that time to as much of a minimum as possible.
"Come on guys, don't start." Rouge says. She had let go of Knuckles when Shadow arrived, but kept his hand in hers.
Shadow grunts and crosses his arms in wordless acknowledgement, but after glancing at Dusk, and seeing a slight pout on her face, sighs and says, "Alright..."
Dusk smiles and quickly catches Shadow in another hug, sighing as her cheek falls into his chest tuft.
"Its nice to see a little love in the air," stated a new voice, getting the crowd to turn and see the last two of their friends standing there.
One of them was a third male hedgehog, but this one was fairly different from Sonic and Shadow. This one had silver fur and a large, V-shaped mane of fluffy white fur around his neck. His hands were in gloves that had a large, futuristic looking cuff on them and instead of sneakers, this hedgehog wore a pair of blue and black boots with a large, golden clamp at the top. He only had two quills growing out from the back of his head, and those were very large, but also had five shorter quills the grew upwards like a crown. He was Silver, a psychokinetic 16-year-old hedgehog, and hovering quietly at his side was his Air Ride Ex-Gear, "Psychic Wave".
The other was a cat who had soft lavender fur. She normally wore elegant purple robes and slimming white pants, since she was a princess after all, but for today's race she opted for a less constricting royal-purple T-shirt and looser soft-gray pants. Still present though was her fuzzy cuffed gloves and socks and her pair of light red high-heels (although they were a bit shorter). In the middle of her forehead was a bright-red ruby and her hair was drawn upwards and clasped in a shiny red hairband. She was Blaze, the 17-year-old princess and guardian of the Sol Emeralds, and by her side was a sleek purple Ex-Gear named the "Flame Spear."
Blaze was the one who had spoken, and she continued by saying, "Well, now that we're all here, shall we begin the race?"
The rest of the group nod and all line up, with those needing to use Ex-Gear boarding theirs. "Alright guys, you remember the finish line?" Sonic asks, using a voice that was loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Yup!" Silver replies, "The fountain at Aquanos' plaza."
"Alright then...three...Two...ONE...GO!" Sonic yells. In that instant, everyone shoots forward at high speeds all heading for the faraway city of Aquanos.
They all stay in (more or less) a tight group for the first fifty miles, but then, Dusk slowly begins to pull ahead. She's not the only one though...Rouge, Shadow, and Silver also start to gain a lead. Then...Dusk decides to pull off one of most ambitious stunts yet.
She gets a quick burst of speed to get enough room, then spins around and begins skating backwards, looking at her friends with a confident smirk, one eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.
"What now guys?" She asks, "I'm matching you're speed while skating back-WHA!" Dusk suddenly begins to fall over backwards (or is that forwards?), but it was just a ruse. She jutted her hand out above her head, planted it onto the ground, then catapulted herself forward while twisting in the air to re-orient herself.
As she came down feet-first from this jump, the force pressed her skates down closer to the ground, and she used the burst of her skates jutting back up to shoot far ahead of her friends, laughing and yelling "I dare you to try and catch me!" back to them.
While most of them broke off into groups to begin drafting behind one another, Shadow kept by himself and forced his air-skates to speed up. Slowly he began to catch up with his purple-furred girlfriend, eventually reaching her around the 125 mile mark.
"Ha!" He proclaims just before reaching her, "Almost got ya!"
Dusk glances over her shoulder and gives her boyfriend a challenging smirk. "Almost isn't good enough Shadow!" She yells before doing another boost and pulling away from him. Determined to not be outdone, Shadow also forces himself to speed up and almost catches Dusk again, roughly fifty miles from the outskirts of Aquanos.
Aquanos is a very, very beautiful city on the coast with nearly everything relying on water, hence the name. The city was completely powered by several oceanic power plants which caused no pollution, and alongside beautifully paved sidewalks flowed shallow streams that the city's futuristic gondolas used to get around. Criss-crossing around the sleek buildings were water tubes that funneled the water around, but since they were created out of clear plastic, it looked as though the water was twisting around the buildings on its own. The city's most beautiful feature though was its huge fountain in the main plaza. It stood fifty feet high, had water cascading beautifully down its sleek column-like shape and resting at the very top was a flawless glass sphere that had water flowing inside of it which eventually reached up to the top and down the sides, clinging to the sphere until it reached the column.
Dusk quickly sped through the streets of Aquanos, swerving around the people and occasionally skating by the gondolas, determined to get to the fountain before Shadow got there or caught her. Once the central plaza came into view she used the lifting power of her skates to slow down enough to avoid going for a dunk in the fountain.
She does stop before going into the fountain, and Shadow does too...well, almost. Dusk stopped right at the edge of the fountain and Shadow manages to stop just behind her...but accidentally nudges the currently unbalanced girl in the back. This nudge tipped Dusk forward just enough for her to go toppling into the fountain with a shriek, but in a desperate attempt to stop that she shot a hand behind her and grabbed Shadow by the shoulder, thus pulling him in as well.
Both hedgehogs land in the fountain with a loud splash, just as the rest of their friends arrive. Upon seeing the two in the fountain, now soaking wet from the flowing water, all of the dry Mobians burst out laughing.
Dusk glares at her friends with a completely unamused face before spitting out a little water that got into her mouth. "This isn't funny." she said seriously, glaring at her friends.
"Oh, but it is." Amy replies clutching her stomach from laughter.
"Stop laughing and help me out." Dusk states, extending a hand. Amy sighs and grabs her sister's hand, but in an instant, Dusk gets a devilish smirk and yanks Amy into the fountain with her.
Amy's scream is only audible for a second before a loud splash, leaving the pink hedgehog just as soaked as her sister. "Dusk!" Amy yells before glaring at her sister, who was know laughing as hard as Amy was.
"Now that is funny." Dusk says between her laughs. Amy was glaring at Dusk, but after a couple seconds, her face softened and soon, Amy was laughing right alongside Dusk.
"Alright you two." Blaze says holding out her two hands, "Lets get you two out of there and into some dry clothes."
"How?" Dusk asks while grabbing one of Blaze's hands and getting up, "Home is really far away and our skates won't work until they're dry."
"There's a clothing store not too far from here." Amy says while also accepting Blaze's help, "We can get some new clothes there."
Dusk, now on dry land, shrugs. "Sure, why not? We'll meet up with you guys here in a few hours." she says before departing with Amy, Cream, Cheese, Rouge, and Blaze for the clothing store, leaving Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, and Silver with a couple hours to burn. Their first of many stops was The Brawler, a large arcade that mainly featured fighting games, hence the name.
Two hours pass before the guys return to the plaza, curious as to whether the girls were done or not. The girls showed up roughly a minute after the guys, with a very different looking Amy and Dusk with them.
Amy's normal wide-bottomed, dress was now replaced with one that still begin to go outward at waist level, but went down at an angle that kept it closer to her legs and it ended at knee level, and clasped around her waist was loose white belt that was tilted at an angle. The upper part had also changed, since instead of closing around her neck, it ended at roughly chest level and tightly held on just below the arms. As a result, her shoulders were now bare as was the upper-most area of her chest which allowed for a glimpse at her pretty good size. She was still wearing the same color scheme though, deep red with a white border at the bottom, and her skates were replaced with a pair of red and white sneakers. She looked amazing, espically with the ring of pearls around her neck.
Dusk had gone through a similar change. Her long pants were still there but were now stripe-less. Falling over her pants was a skirt that matched her fur color, gently staying close to her legs until it stopped, roughly halfway to the knee. Her T-shirt was gone, replaced with a top similar to Amy's although hers stopped just a little bit lower than Amy's in the front, dropped down to the middle of her back as it went behind her, and was pitch-black in color. It was also cut a bit closer to her body than Amy's and flattered her form better without revealing too much more...although her shadow-diamond teasingly hung above the cleavage she decided to reveal. Her skates, being not that comformtable when wet had been switched for a pair of crimson red tennis shoes with black and midnight blue highlights on them.
The group of females stopped a short ways from the guys, but Amy and Dusk walked up to their respective boyfriends, a slightly curious look on both of their faces. "Well?" they ask, "What do you guys think?"
"Wow Amy..." Sonic mumbles in a stunned voice, "You look...absolutely beautiful." Amy giggles and catches Sonic in a hug, to which he returns.
Meanwhile, Shadow hadn't said a word...which was starting to upset Dusk. "What's the matter Shadow? Don't you like this outfit?"
Shadow finally gave his answer, although it wasn't verbal. Instead, Shadow quickly hooked an arm around Dusk's now well-defined waist and drew her close. His crimson-red irises looked deeply into hers and silently told her his answer a second before their lips connected, locking both hedgehogs into a deep kiss.
After a good five seconds, the kiss ended and Shadow released his grip around Dusk's waist. Dusk gives Shadow a pleased smile while some blush shows up on her checks. "Thanks Shadow. You're really sweet."
Shadow responds by giving her a quick wink before being distracted by a whistle from his rival. "About time Shadow decided to come out of his shell." Sonic says.
Shadow grunts at his rival, crosses his arms, and turns his back on the blue hedgehog...which only prompts Sonic to continue. "Come on Shads, we all saw you kiss Dusk. Just YEEOWCH!" Sonic suddenly yells while leaping ten feet in the air with both hands clenched onto his rear.
There actually was a reason Shadow turned his back on Sonic, so the blue hedgehog couldn't see him silently snap his fingers...and cause a Chaos Spear to appear and stab Sonic right in the butt.
Sonic landed and, knowing full well what Shadow did, quickly leered at the black hedgehog and asked, "You trying to say something?"
"Yea, if you want to get back at me...you'll have to catch me first!" Shadow yells before taking off. Sonic growls for a second before following his rival.
Amy walks up beside Dusk and sighs. "Do you think those two will ever stop irritating the other?" she asks while resting her hands onto her hips.
Dusk sighs as well before replying with, "I doubt it. At least they like our new outfits."
The remaining Mobians decide to leave the plaza to have fun elsewhere in Aquanos, knowing that once they calmed down, Shadow and Sonic would find them.
Meanwhile, well over three thousand miles away in the secluded Darkspine Mountains, a mountain range of jagged, jet-black peaks that most avoided...a mysterious, evil form stomps across the peak of the tallest one, Mt. Slash; so called because its imposing black form seemed to viciously slash the sky in two. It walks up to a boulder, looks at the huge rock for a second, then aims its left palm at it and firing a powerful laser that destroys the boulder immediately.
Why blow up the giant rock? The answer was the glittering yellow jewel underneath the rock...the yellow Chaos Emerald.
The form reaches down and grabs the emerald with a clawed hand, then wrenches it out of the black rocks before examining it. Then the figure lets out an evil laugh before proclaiming, "Finally...my fourth emerald. Now my newest plan can begin..." it pauses while clenching a fist, "...and I will finally destroy Sonic." it adds before taking off for parts unknown.
Oh my god...it feels awesome to bring Dusk back! I've really missed hearing from all of my fans of "Dusk Sets" so I'm eagerly awaiting your reviews, and you know what? If you're a new fan, go ahead and leave your review as well. I accept both positive and negative reviews, as long as the negative comments ARE NOT flames. Also, if you are a new fan, I highly urge you to read "Dusk Sets" or else this chapter (and the rest of the story once it comes along) will make no sense.
Alright, just a couple more announcements. One, Aquanos is only partially mine. I picked the name and designed some aspects of it myself, but I borrowed heavily from the Aquatic Capitol level of Sonic Riders Zero Gravity to complete it. Also, I've incorporated the names of three of the top reviewers of Dusk Sets into this chapter. They are The Brawler (The Brawler arcade), DarkspineSilver92 (Darkspine Mountains), and SlashBandicoot43 (Mt. Slash). Thanks for being so frequent with the last story and I hope you enjoy this one just as much as the other!
Finally, I'm going to have a little contest...correctly guess who the figure is that took the yellow Chaos Emerald from the mountains, and I'll answer two of your questions about this story. The only hint I'm giving is that it IS an official character. Go ahead and guess! There is no penalty for a wrong answer, but please, only pick one character...don't just randomly list them.
Hope you enjoyed the start, and believe me, there are going to be plenty of surprises later.