A/N: So, took long enough, eh? Keep on reading! it gets good!

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Chapter 6

Neon was home in mere seconds. He'd made up his mind that he would leave before 10:00 AM. For whatever reason, the green hedgehog had felt it necessary to leave early, and now he was picking out a few things to take with him at 9:02 AM. He must have been inspired by the old dog's words. No one would blame him if they'd known- that old dog (called "Rusty" by his friends) was one of the kindest and wisest people in the city, let alone the whole kingdom.

No time was wasted, and Neon had finished deciding on what to bring by 9:30 AM. He chose to bring with him his wallet, containing an ID card about $340 in cash; a canteen of water that actually held more water than it appeared to hold; and the necklace that held Blaze's picture inside of it. Neon sat back on his bed and looked around. A large wave of emotion flowed over him, a grim feeling that he may never see his house ever again.

He walked over to his shiny, red guitar and picked it up. The custom instrument was his favorite, and the thought of not having it any longer gave Neon a slight pinching feeling in his chest. Well, if I've lost Blaze, then my guitar is certainly nothing…he thought, and began to strum a few notes on the guitar. He heaved a great sigh and laid it back against its stand and, almost rethinking if he should really leave or not, looked back at it for a few long seconds before turning away.

The house was a mess; Neon had never been good at cleaning. There really was no time to start then at the moment anyway, but the same grim feeling had made him wonder whether he should clean up the place. Shaking his head as if turning down an invisible person, Neon reached for the doorknob and stepped out of his house.

He walked slowly now, observing the city as it was- active with many people, cheerful (Well, maybe not today) and kind. The city was rather clean, nearly nothing distracting from the view, save for the remains of the castle. Neon sighed at it, the center of the whole place. He'd miss the city, and not just because it was his home- because that's where Blaze's body was laid to rest.

The green hedgehog almost considered leaving silently, but finally could not find it in himself to leave and not let anyone know. In one of his loudest voices (and using the wind to carry it), Neon shouted, "EVERYONE! I HAVE TO MAKE MY FINAL GOODBYE! MY PROMISE STILL NEEDS TO BE FULLFILLED!"

Of course, everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered near the city limits where Neon stood.

"Guys, you don't know how much I don't want to leave this city." He started, looking around at all of the people he'd become accustomed to. "I really don't want to leave my one and only home. But I made a promise to stop the evil still going on in the world. I promised that to Princess Blaze, and now I'm going to make sure it happens. Whether I come back or not, you all still need to be strong and keep things going. Don't let anything tear down the city. You all are the only things keeping the city together. Stay strong and don't let your guard down. If I ever DO come back one day, I want to see you all happy and living fine, you understand?"

There was a long silence. Thinking no one had anything to say, Neon began to turn and leave, saying, "Goodbye, everyone." To his surprise, everyone responded back, with lots of enthusiasm and encouragement. A smile crossed Neon's lips, and a tear rolled down his cheek as he turned his back on his home town.

So it all begins…And behind me I leave my one and only home… I hope I'll see it again one day…

Neon had walked along the road for an hour or two already, his feet beginning to hurt. He was heading for the city of Settstown, a large city nearby Glint City (if you owned a car, that is.) However, Neon had chosen not to fly, under the feeling that he may run into the Cross-Diamond Raiders or a Sol Emerald along the way.

He wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead as he took a drink from the canteen. Surveying the area, he noticed that few to no cars at all were traveling the road to the larger town. Perhaps yesterday's event had somehow compelled everyone to stay in Glint City? Neon shrugged and continued on. A tumbleweed brushed by his leg as he did so, and this reminded him that he needed to keep going. After all, that little weed was still moving along, so why shouldn't he?

Neon's paced picked up and a cooling breeze of wind blew against his face. He passed a sign that read, "SETTSTOWN, 2 MILES" and his focus laid on the city ahead.

He entered the gates to the city under an arch that displayed a welcome sign above it. The city looked a little old, as not much shined clean and it appeared that they hadn't for quite some time. The darkly-colored buildings (usually blacks, grays, or darker blues and the like) stood in many different sizes, some being shortest at 22 feet tall, with others somewhere past 80 feet. Cars drove by on the lighted roads at moderate paces, but it appeared that not too many people lived in the city.

"Looks like everyone is on vacation…" Neon mumbled, looking around. He saw a few people sitting on benches on the sidewalks or in the patches of grass that were supposedly parks. A few of them flashed strange glances at Neon, while others gave the hedgehog full-on stares. He didn't let it get to himself, though, and continued on. As he made his way into the center of the area, he realized that the edge of the city was much duller than the center. The center of the city was alive with people, both sitting quietly and loudly having friendly conversations with one another. Cars were more frequently rushing by, and the lighter buildings were welcoming. Neon smiled as he walked along and began to make his way to a clock tower nearby. He figured it would be the best vantage point for looking out for the Cross-Diamond Raiders.

The thought of that group made Neon's expression change quite a bit, and he frowned at even the thought of their name, let alone what they had done. But Neon wouldn't forget, not by a long shot.

"HELP MEEEEE!" The scream pierced Neon's thoughts and he looked around, almost as if a gunshot had gone off.

No one else had reacted. Neon looked around at them all. Was something wrong with them? Hadn't they heard that scr-

"SOMEBODY, HELP!!!" There it was again! And, once more, no one had reacted. Neon didn't know what to think of these ignorant people, but began to frantically look for the source. He accidentally bumped into a few people, who gave him a confused glance, and then went back to their own business.

Then the scream came again. "HE--" But it had been cut off. What exactly was this?

The girl struggled against her captor's grasp, trying to tug her wrist free from his strong hands. As she went to scream for aid again, he slapped a hand over her mouth and cut her short. Not yet ready to give in, she bit into the dog's hand and it sprung away at once as he cursed. Then, a hard hit came to the back of the girl's head.

"Shut up and do as you're told!" He scowled, and he continued to struggle with her, his other three friends standing nearby with their arms crossed. His lips curled into a wicked smile as he touched her, and she struggled more. He hand slid down to her waist, and the girl cried, "STOP!"

"I don't think I will..." replied his sly voice, and his friends laughed viciously. "You're going to be coming with me, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

The girl gave the dog a sharp glance, her sharp teeth clenched and her cat-like eyes full of hatred, and at the same time, fear. "No." The cat tried to pull free once more, her other arm still pinned to her back by her enemy.

"Oh, fighting back, eh?" The dog sneered. "I think I like that…" as he began to slide the cat's pants, another cloth falling down her legs that was tied around her hips.

"STOP! PLEASE! LET ME GO!" the cat pleaded, struggling some more.

"I won't… until we're done, first." The dog and his friends had been in an alley with this cat, and now he began to open his door, an evil grin spread across his long, pointed, dark crimson-furred muzzle.

A small breeze began to blow into the alley and all five of the creatures looked towards the source. Standing there, with his right side showing, angled eyebrows, closed eyes, and hands in his black-with-a-flame-design pants pockets, stood a green hedgehog with a red vest and black highlights underneath his spines, tail, and front spines. In any other words, it was Neon.

"You heard her. Let the girl go." He commanded, still not facing the group.

"Why should I?" The dog mused back angrily, his red eyes pointed at Neon.

Neon's right eye opened and he looked over at the dog. Then, he slowly removed his hands from his pockets and turned towards him, his scarred eye drawing the dog's attention. "Because then you won't have to deal with me."

Laugher echoed though the alley. When the dogs had caught their breath, the leader said, "That's funny, really hilarious. I don't think you could handle me or my pals here. Now, just run along right now and we won't hurt you." A hand reached into the inside of the dog's leather trench-coat. He drew out a shiny, silver hand gun. His cohorts did the same.

This time, it was Neon who was laughing.

"He'll do it! Just run now! I don't want anyone else hurt!" the cat pleaded to him. Neon settled down and looked into the cat's eyes. It felt a little weird, since her right eye was red and her left eye was green, but he able to understand her anyway.

"I don't back down. Bring your best." Neon challenged, staring sternly into the dog's face. His stance changed and he began to slowly shift back and forth, his hands up, ready to fight.

"Get him." The dog said simply, and his friends charged Neon, guns pointed out.

The green hedgehog barely made any effort, and thrust his hands to opposite sides. Two gusts of wind followed the pattern and knocked into the sides of two of the three dogs and smashed them against the sides of the alley. The third one, startled, made no hesitation to fire, and a few gunshots rang out. The cat closed her eyes in horror, but when she reopened them, saw that Neon had jumped over the line of fire and had now proceeded to slam his foot into the dog's face, sending him flying into a trash can.

"How-?" the leader exclaimed and, thrusting the cat down to the ground, started towards Neon, firing off several rounds.

These shots were dodged easily and Neon then sent an upward gust underneath the dog, throwing him into the air. A blast of wind came off from underneath the hedgehog as he darted upward, too, above the dog. He slammed his fist into his back, and then a knee into the stomach, and finally smashed the creature to the ground with a gust of wind. The dog crashed into the ground and skidded against a wall, his cuts bleeding quite a bit. He was unconscious; Neon nonchalantly landed and grouped all four together outside on the sidewalk with a handwritten note saying, "Arrest for sexual assault." A cleverly-taken snapshot of the scene was attached carefully, then Neon walked back to the cat.

His gloved hand reached down. The cat eyed it for a moment of hesitation, and then accepted his help as Neon pulled her off of the ground.

There was a moment of silence between the two before the cat flung her arms around Neon and hugged him. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you so very much for helping me! I never thought I'd be able to escape those guys until you showed up!" Neon sighed and she released him. "Sorry… I haven't introduced myself yet…"

Standing up straight, she held out her hand. "I'm Stacy. Stacy the Cat."

Neon's hand met her half-fingerless gloved ones and they shook. "My name is Neon the Hedgehog."

He looked her over. "Might want to pull up your pants."

Stacy looked down and her face flushed red as she bent over to correct the problem.

The cat had unusual fur. Near the front of her face, it was a light, dark blue, but as it went away the color faded into black. The sides of her head were long and had spiked parts. The top parts of either side had a purple, swirl-like pattern in the fur, and in the middle of both sides was a black, curve-like shape. Her eyelashes were long and pointy at the ends, and as she closed her eyes, a pattern could be seen on her eyelids that was two black stripes. Her ears were long and had tuft-like strands of fur coming off of the tips. As already noticed, her right eye was red, her left one green, but there really seemed to be no problem with them. They still had kind looks to them.

When Stacy stood back up, Neon was also able to see what the rest of her looked like. Her body was rather curvy, and Neon's stomach felt a little strange when he noticed her breasts were rather…developed. (He realized that those guys hadn't attempted to rape her for nothing.) Stacy wore short top with 1-inch straps. The top went only halfway down her torso, and Neon could see the white fur in the middle of the blue-black fur with the same fading effect. The purple top had a keyhole-like shape on the lower side of it, and was slightly covered up by a jade green vest. Neon recognized the vest as one from the same manufacturer that had made the same vest he was wearing The top edge of her vest was white and frilled, with a buttoned pocket on their side of the bottom edges, and two identical rectangular zipper-covers that supposedly led to a pocket on the inside. Her furry arms were slightly longer than average, with her half-fingerless gloves at the bottom exposing her fingers partway. The cuffs of the gray gloves were buttoned tight so they didn't slip off, and had a decorative, curved yellow edge that stuck out from the side of the cuff and turned upward.

Stacy was fastening something around her waist above her jade green pants. The orange and yellow cloth had a buckle almost like a seatbelt fastener that held two sides of it together. Neon could no longer hold in his curiosity and asked, "What's that?"

"This?" Stacy responded, pointing at the cloth. "It's just a portable rain jacket. I don't like getting wet unless I'm in the shower or want to get wet."

It appeared that the hood of the jacket was the triangle-like part hanging out from the rest of the folded-up material and was hanging over her left pant leg, but there was really nothing wrong with it.

Her legs had, yet again, the same blue-to-black fade to them, only the outside sides had a wavy pattern that set apart a purple section of fur. Her shoes had two shades of green- one dark, in the back, and one light, in the front- that were separated by a zigzagging orange strap that ran across both sides of the sneakers. A long, forked tail flicked back and forth behind her.

When Neon finished looking the cat over, he said, "Does this happen to you quite a bit?"

Stacy grew silent and shamefully bowed her head down a bit. After a moment, she quietly replied, "Sadly, it does happen from time to time… I guess I'm just drawn to this kind of thing more than most other girls…"

Neon walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll be fine." She looked up into his brown eyes and a small smile crossed her furry, white muzzle.

"Now, how about I walk you home?" Neon asked. Stacy nodded, and the two left the alley, a light flickering behind them.

As they crossed the center of Settstown, Stacy asked, "So, what brings you here?"

Neon drew a deep breath before starting, "I came here because I need to find some people who killed--"

The green hedgehog was cut off by a loud clap of thunder as a lightning bolt struck across the sky as it became dark and cloudy. The people in the center of the city stopped their activity and looked up towards the top of a clock tower where a creature stood on top, slightly hidden by shadows like the person behind him. The silver insignia with a crossed-out diamond stood prominent to everyone, especially Neon, as he started to laugh loudly and evilly.

"Ah, time to test out our new power on this useless town…"

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A/N; See? Now, Neon's got another challenge to face after rescuing poor Stacy! Just keep reading to see what happens!