Chapter 5-A Rose in Darkness

It didn't take the Twins long to get to the edge of the Twilight Cloud. For one thing, it was only a few metres outside the hotel that borders Emerald Beach and train station where they got off the train from Tails' Workshop. They were just about to enter it when they heard what sounded like a panicked chirping in the air. They looked up to see Lily, a small, light blue Flicky bird with a large locket around her neck that had a space where a Chaos Emerald once was, fly down to them holding an all-too-familiar red headband in her feet.

"Th-this is Amy's!" Sonic shouted as Lily dropped the headband into his hands then landed in Dusk's hands to calm down. "Is she in there?"

She nodded sadly, then attempted to take off and fly inside, until Dusk gently petted her head feathers. "I think it would be unwise for you to go inside, little one. Who knows what dark beasts would be within."

Lily chirped in argument and he understood that she was worried about Amy. "I understand you are afraid for Amy but we will go in and lead her out. You stay out here where it's safe and wait for her, alright?"

She was about to argue again, but then saw the look of experience and gentle understanding in his dark emerald eyes and nodded before flying into a tree near the hotel to wait patiently.

"I had no idea you were good with animals," Sonic commented after the initial shock had passed.

"Sometimes a warrior needs to be as gentle as he is strong, Sonic. For now let us get Amy out safely before worrying about the Light Spirit. That headband of hers will be useful to us."

"Really? How?"

"You'll see," Dusk replied as he transformed into a wolf again and took the headband into his mouth.

They also was aware of a strange humming sound and noticed one of the Egg Portals. Unlike the one in the Jungle, this one was active with a swirl of light and colour within its frame. Sonic remembered that Eggman built it to help them get anyone trapped within out so he dashed into the hotel, then came back out with a note in his hand.

"I had to write this quickly. Since Amy won't see us at least we can still see her and leave this behind so she could find the Egg Portal."

Dusk nodded in agreement, proud of his brother's quick thinking as they both stepped into the darkness of the Twilight.

(Within the Twilight now since FF doesn't allow certain symbols.)

When Sonic was a Werehog again they looked around at the devastation at what was once a bustling city in the sunlight. There were mostly broken shop windows, most likely caused by the Shadow Beasts, the odd upturned vehicle, and not a single soul in sight. In fact, calling it a ghost town wouldn't be an understatement at this point.

Dusk put down the headband and started to sniff it. "Uhh, bro? What are you doing?"

He paused and looked towards Sonic as soon as he heard the question. "As a wolf, one of my strongest senses is smell. I'm smelling for Amy's scent on her headband, then use my senses to follow the trail she left. Here, you try it."

As much as he didn't want to, he went on all fours and sniffed in Amy's scent since it was the only way to find her. He suddenly gained an image of her in his mind as her sweet scent was committed to memory. He soon looked up while his senses were still active and saw a rosy pink, wavy smoke-like trail along the road that was clearly her scent trail.

"Very good Sonic," Dusk said with satisfaction as Sonic picked up the headband to return it later. "Now let's follow it!"

They soon did, ignoring the dark bats, or Keese as Dusk called them, as they swooped down in attack. They did find themselves within a barrier as well as a small pack of Shadow Beasts, but they destroyed them with ease as they continued through the streets towards another beach as well as the small building where the Chaotix Detective Agency had their headquarters and the scent trail led inside. There were another pack of Shadow Beasts near the entrance so the Twins destroyed the monsters and created another portal easily. They looked through a window that was open and saw Amy with three others; Espio the Chameleon, who was armed with a kunai and watching the door ever so intensely as if they were expecting an attack, Vector the Crocodile, who kept back near his desk as he guarded Amy and Charmy the Bee, who were hugging each other in fear.

"Hear anything Espio?" Vector asked in concern and the purple one shook his head.

"They're suddenly quiet, as if someone had taken care of them. I'm going out to check."

"Don't go Espio!" Charmy squeaked in fear and the chameleon back looked at him in understanding as he said gently, "I'll only be a minute."

With that he soon stepped out for a minute, like he promised, then came back in with a look of confusion. "Somebody did take care of them because they are gone and there seemed to be a pair of different prints scattered around the sand amongst the beasts' prints. I can tell one set were wolf prints but the other…" He soon trailed off to gather his thoughts.

"Well out with it!" the larger croc snapped impatiently.

"The other prints seemed to belong to a larger Mobian with large feet and clawed hands."

Amy gasped at this, remembering the time Eggman woke up Dark Gaia and Sonic first became a Werehog from the effects. "That sounds like Sonic's Werehog form! He was here!"

"Well then who's the wolf?" Charmy asked in excitement but he shook her head in confusion. "I don't know but if he's with Sonic then he's a friend!"

Sonic and Dusk looked at each other with relief to see she still kept up her hope. Sonic soon tossed in the note, which landed on Vector's desk. He noticed and handed it to Amy who read what Sonic wrote inside, despite the messiness:

"Amy,

Head back through town towards the hotel and you'll see a strange looking portal. That's your ticket out of the Twilight. Lily showed me and my brother Dusk your headband and we came in to show you out though somehow you can't see us yet. Not until the Twilight is gone at least. Once you're out, head straight to Tails' place and he'll fill you in on what happened.

Oh and if there's others with you, take them with you since it's dangerous for you guys to stay longer!

I'll see you as soon as I can!

You're friend,

Sonic

P.S. Though this might sound crazy, you can thank Eggman for the portal out."

"Sonic! He is here! And he found us a way out!" She screamed in delight.

"Really?" Espio asked in sudden excitement, but she soon shook her head. "We can't see him yet but he did say to go back through town to a portal Eggman made which is our way out!"

"Eggman?" Vector shouted in surprise but she was soon out the door with the other three following to make sure she made it alive.

Dusk laughed at the sight. "I must say Sonic! You certainly have quite the excitable girl to love you this much!"

Sonic only blushed in embarrassment as he said, "Yeah, yeah can we get to the Light Spirit now?"

"Alright Sonic. But why the sudden mood change?"

"Well have you had a girl always chase you around, get herself into trouble, try to get you to marry her, and is always so clingy that it's embarrassing?"

"Oh I see what you mean."

"Yeah so I don't want to talk about it. EVER."

At that note, they said noting else as they went into a seaside cave where they heard the faint, dying sounds of the Spirit. They soon found the spring and the remains were fainter than the last one, causing Dusk to worry.

"Oh great Light Spirit, my brother and I have arrived."

"I'm…glad you…did…I still…have time left. Please…gather my Tears…in this…"

Another Vessel of Light appeared and wrapped itself around Sonic's neck in preparation for the hunt. "We'll get the Tears back so hang in there!"

It said nothing else but a sigh of hope as they ran off to start bug hunting. Most of the bugs tried to bury themselves in the sand but due to Sonic's Werehog Quake where he slammed his hands against the ground to cause a small shockwave, they were stunned when they were popped out making for 6 easy kills and less digging on Dusk's part. They ran into the main town and managed to kill 4 other bugs hiding under the cars that Sonic lifted with his newfound strength. Unfortunately, they soon found themselves penned in again and four Shadow Beasts fell from the sky this time.

But the strange thing was, they never began to attack, only stare at the Twins.

"Hey Dusk, what's up with them? Don't they usually attack us at first sight?"

"They do but," Dusk replied with a growl, "something is not right. Keep your guard up!"

He did just that as another figure managed to materialize in front of them both. Standing there with ghost-white skin and hair, dark crimson eyes filled with hatred, and cloaked from head to toe in black, was Vaati! Dusk growled even louder at the look of his foe, and Sonic suddenly felt his hair stand on end at the dark aura the sorcerer exhumed.

"My, my, my," he suddenly spoke with a voice colder than ice but still making him only slightly older than the twins, "what do we have here? The new Chosen One of Power and his lowly brother, who has no idea on his role despite saving that delicate rose of his."

Soon Sonic found himself growling at the insult. That was worst than the Erazor Djinn calling him a rat! And what plans does he have with Amy?

"Of course," Vaati continued, "I have no quarrel with her so she can run free for all I care. What I need to know is…have you found the fourth piece yet, Dusk?"

Now both of them looked confused, which only caused Vaati laugh in disbelief, his laughs echoing coldly against the buildings. "You don't know? Oh that's a good one! You, a Mobian chosen by the Goddesses, don't know about the silver piece?"

Dusk suddenly gasped in realization! He heard rumours of such a piece, but it was all proven false! Did such an item actually exist after all? "W-what do you know about it? I demand you to tell me!"

Sonic flinched at the dangerous tone Dusk suddenly had in his voice. What caused his brother to get so angry? What exactly is this "fourth piece" this creep mentioned? Is he just trying to just psyche them out or is he hiding something?

Vaati only shrugged casually. "Only as far as the rumours go. I guess I have to find it myself as you play with my pets. Farewell Twilit Mobian and Hero of Mobius."

He soon disappeared through the portal with another evil laugh and the Shadow beasts attacked. They dispelled them with ease, but not without Dusk giving an angry growl of disgust.

"What did Vaati mean by a fourth piece?" Sonic asked out of curiosity.

His brother gave a defeated sigh. "I mentioned to you that there are three golden pieces to the Triforce, one for Power, one for Wisdom, and one for Courage. But there had been faint rumours that there is a fourth piece of silver to represent the Spirit of everything. There had been many searches to find such a piece, but each one ended in vain so the Hylians only cast it away as merely a myth. But now I feel that Vaati is after it for some dark plan so after we finish freeing this world from the Twilight, we much search for clues to the fourth piece and its chosen one. And the clues must be here if he is mentioning it!"

There was clear worry in his brother's eyes, as well as fear. Sonic understood completely what his brother is trying to say; whatever Vaati was up to, it would be 1000 times worse than the schemes that Eggman can come up within a week! He soon walked up and placed his hands on Dusk's shoulders to reassure him of the hope still ahead.

"Don't worry Dusk! I know a certain group that's always looking for treasure and if we can get a hold of them, I'm sure we can get to the piece first! I've never given up when things got tough and I won't now and neither should you!"

Dusk saw in his brother's eyes he was serious but optimistic in his words. And seeing Sonic knew some people that would help in the search for the clues they might need, only made him wag his tail in delight. He nodded in agreement as they heard a dark buzzing sound come from the rooftops and Sonic gave him a lift up with his stretching abilities.

"I must say Sonic! Those arms of yours are useful!"

"Hey they were just as useful when Dark Gaia was given an early wake-up call by Eggman!" he replied after he gave himself a lift. "I'll tell you the story later, right now let's kick some buggy butt!"

And that they did, to the three that was on the rooftops before landing in Casino Square where the last three were hiding.

"Man those beasts know how a trash a place!" Sonic commented as they saw the broken glass of what was once the entrance lights to the main casino in Station Square. His comment was highly reasonable as there was damage to even some nearby shops. It was like the beasts were having a hay day while looking for unsuspecting victims, but had failed to find anyone.

Just as they were about to start their search, a loud beeping made them jump, Dusk especially. "What in the name of the Goddesses was that?"

Sonic searched his fur and pulled out a communicator out of his quills, which activated and Rouge's voice was heard. "Hey boys! How's it going?"

"Rouge? What the heck?"

She giggled on the other end. "I slipped this in your quills before you left! Figured we could at least keep in touch."

"Well we're searching for these bugs that took the light of the Spirit in this area," Dusk explained as he got closer, "which we only had three left to find until you scared us out of our fur."

"Whoops! Sorry about that handsome! Next time I'll let you boys know about the communicator. Anyways I need to go but before I do, is there anything you need?"

"Yeah there is," Sonic answered as Dusk tried to get over her handsome comment, "Can you get Tails to contact Wave? We're gonna need the Babylon Rogues' help with something big."

"Sure thing! Anything in particular?"

Dusk answered this time. "Just ask them if they have anything with an unfamiliar language that not even any computer can decipher. I'm sure that might help."

"No problem! Good luck boys! Oh, and Sonic, Amy says 'hi' and 'thanks!' Chow boys!"

With that the communicator beeped off and Sonic saw the smirk on Dusk's face. "Not. A. Word."

"I haven't the slightest idea on what you mean," he replied with an impish gleam in his eyes as his brother blushed in embarrassment.

They finally finished their search and found all the bugs were hiding in the broken shops. The Vessel of Light absorbed and transported them back to the spring where it returned into the water, lifting the Twilight once and for all.

The Spirit soon rose up, which looked like an ancient male fox, and sat comfortably on the sphere of light, looking stronger and more majestic than he did before. "I thank you both, child of the wind and child of the darkness, for saving me. I am Yumi."

"Yumi we were wondering if you can provide us info on something called the 'fourth piece' so we can find it before Vaati does," Sonic mentioned as Dusk suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his hand that held the Triforce of Power.

"I'm afraid my knowledge is limited but I can share it with you," Yumi replied with concern. "The fourth piece was a gift of the Goddesses of Hyrule to a group of nomadic Mobians after they were discovered and yet were peaceful despite the suspicions of the ancient Hylians of the time. One of them you both share a connection with who accepted the gift and swear not to reveal any secrets to his fellow Mobians after he lost his brother to dark creatures."

"And that would be?"

Yumi smiled at this. "Artemis Hedgehog, the first to run with the wind and who's blood as well as his speed is inside of you, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"My ancestor?"

Author's Notes:

SWEET MERCIFUL CHAOS wasn't this a pain to write before the end!

And no I'm not kidding. I just HAD to get a Writer's Thwomp before I finished this and then there's my Point Zero entries on DA that were also a pain in the three tails and lastly life in general got in the way!

BUT. I. GOT. THIS. D-O-N-E!

*Whew* O.K I'm better now.

As you can see I got another bug hunt written in the downtown section of Station Square (Glad I played SA1 for the Gamecube!) as well as in front of the Chaotix Detecive Agency (You see a beach for a brief second when Charmy crashed in the front door.) As well as Dusk gets one of his impish moments when he first sees Amy and learns of her HUGE crush on poor Sonic! (Yeah he's gonna hate me for this later.)

As well Vaati is revealed in front of them at last! He's looking for something called the "fourth piece" out of some rumors and even Dusk has no clue but the Light Spirit does have an idea!

So next chapter the Babylon Rogues will be lending a hand, whether Jet, let alone Storm, likes it or not.

Oh and Lily is 4Kids' concept of Birdie from SA1, so they are the same bird and I like Lily's name better

Enjoy and leave comments!

Sonic and related are © SEGA and Sonic Team
Vaati and Twilight Princess concepts are © Nintendo
Everything else is © me so DON'T STEAL OR ELSE!