Disclaimer: Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, and just about anything else you recognise belongs to Sega. This story is created for Entertainment purposes only and no commercial profit is being made through the use of these characters.
A/N: What exists of this story was actually written quite some time ago, so the setting is based six months after the events of Sonic Adventure 2, and do not take into account anything that happens in Sonic Heroes. Please let me know what you think, so that I may decide whether or not to continue this work!
Thanks, and happy reading.
Chapter 1
Icy night air caressed Rouge's bare arms, sending violent shivers rippling through her body. Her fur stood on end, making her look unflatteringly like a cotton ball. She hadn't wanted to do this assignment so late, and certainly not on a night like this, but she felt she had no other choice. Time was swiftly running out. Once discovering she had made it to the island, her superiors had instructed her to bring the Master Emerald to them within a week, and she only had two days left. Besides, he was getting suspicious. The sooner she got the emerald and got out of there, the better.
Angel Island was nothing like Rouge had expected. From what she had heard it was supposed to be a beautiful, sun-drenched paradise. Hail, ice and snow did not fit into her idea of sun-drenched, yet she'd encountered plenty of each so far. This unusual weather was all the more strange for the fact that it was in mid-summer back on the surface.
Finding and reaching the island had been no easy task. It had taken months of work- questioning people, keeping Knuckles under constant surveillance whenever she could, devising ways to gain passage to the seemingly inaccessible place. But she had persevered. After all, you didn't become one of the world's greatest treasure hunters without learning a thing or two.
Still, even with all her planning, this assignment worried her. The government had never taken special interest in the jewels she treasured so much; other than being her form of pay, of course. But she had mentioned the Master Emerald to them in passing, which she now realised had been a mistake. They had taken interest. Too much interest. And now they wanted it as their own. Her emerald, she thought angrily. The one she had been working for so long to retrieve. She should have turned down the mission then and there. But the government did not look too kindly upon agents who put their own interests above theirs. People disappear. She'd seen it happen.
The slight crackle of a leaf as Knuckles shifted his weight brought her mind back to the current situation. She had to get the emerald, no matter what. What she would do with it later could be figured out afterwards. Rouge studied the red echidna dutifully standing guard over the enormous jewel, still looking alert despite the ungodly hour. Why had she given him her shards, all those months ago? If she had kept them to herself, she wouldn't be here now suffering this frigid cold in the dark. She guessed she had thought at the time it would have been easier to steal it back from him later as a full emerald, rather than trying to assemble all the shards alone. And as much as she hated to admit it, he had saved her life. Why he had done so was beyond her. After all, they had been deadly rivals. If the situation had been reversed, she doubted she would have done the same. It was probably as he said, he was merely saving the Master Emerald. Still, it did make her wonder.
Watching Knuckles for the next fifteen minutes showed he was just as alert as ever, forcing her to come to a decision. Obviously the sleeping gas she had pumped into the clearing had not, for whatever reason, worked. Which meant she would have to take a less passive approach. She sighed as she removed her gas mask and equipped her Pick Nails. Secured tight, she checked her iron boots were still firmly laced. She was ready, but still she hesitated. She was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this. Hurting him would complicate things. And all creatures need to sleep, right? She had figured that she could quite easily take the jewel while Knuckles was unconscious. But seeing as he had so stubbornly refused to fall asleep, she would have to do something about it herself.
Letting go of the tree branch silently, she glided gently to the ground, landing a short distance behind the echidna. Hearing the clank of her iron boots, Knuckles spun around to find himself trapped in a pair of vivid blue eyes. His surprised expression melted into angry recognition.
"Wha-"
He was interrupted by an iron boot smashing the left side of his skull. Stunned, his mouth gaped like a fish, but no words came out. Slightly cross-eyed, he dropped to the ground with a dull thud. Rouge grabbed the emerald and fled, hoping she had done no permanent damage. As much as she resented him, she had no wish to hurt him. At least not severely. She told herself that in a way it was his own fault- Knuckles should have given her the emerald in the first place. It should have been hers all along, after all. All jewels belonged to her. Somehow, she wasn't convinced.
Back on the surface of the planet, in what really was a sun-drenched paradise, Sonic was relaxing on a beach, relishing the fact that he could relax at all. All of this Ark business had taken a lot out of him, even though that was months past now. When the world didn't demand of him to be a hero, he was carefree (or lazy, as Tails would have put it) at heart, and the beach was his ideal environment. As long as he didn't have to go in the water, of course. Well, it would have been an ideal environment if not for the fact that Amy Rose, as always, had somehow found him and rushed to his side, the thought never crossing her bubbly mind that he might actually like to have some time alone. He swore, sometimes she was annoying him deliberately; trying to get under his skin. But no, she wouldn't be clever enough for that. Sure, she was kind and despite being annoying was nice as far as personality went, but when it came to intelligence... well, metaphorically speaking she wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box.
"Do you like my bikini Sonic? I bought it earlier today! All these holiday sales are just wonderful, you know. And so I thought, well, I'd better try them out at the beach, just to make sure that it was waterproof and all, nasty things those bathers that aren't waterproof, and there you were! What a coincidence that we went to the same beach on the same day at the same time, isn't it Sonic? Do you think that a red one would have suited me better, though? As you would have surely noticed, I usually wear red, but the red that the store had was like a totally ugly shade! Besides, I need to have some more variety in my closet so that's why I got these dark blue ones. Do you think blue suits me, Sonic? I wasn't sure at all but the shop assistant told me how wonderful I looked in it and as you know shop assistants never lie, it's against their code of ethics y'know, so I just had to get it. Come to think of it, a shop assistant has never told that I looked bad in anything. And I've been shopping for years! I guess I'm just lucky, aren't I Sonic? ...Sonic? you're being really quiet you know. That's not like you at all. Hello?" She poked him in the belly with a nearby stick.
"Oww!" Sonic exclaimed. "What on earth did you do that for?" She shrugged.
"Just to see if you were listening. Anyway, it was at about that time that I saw the school bus full of blind people go past except they didn't see me because, y'know, they're blind? And I thought..." Sonic once again tuned out Amy's senseless rambling, trying to focus all his thoughts entirely on the endless blue expanse before him. Not for the first time, he wished that he had learnt how to swim. Oh sure, with a good mouthful of air he could wander around the bottom for a short time, but it just wasn't the same as Tails' ability. He would have to ask him to give him a few lessons someday.
As though she had been reading his thoughts, Amy remarked "...and so that's why I ate the really expensive gelati containing all ten flavours, even lemon. Hey, why don't we go for a swim?"
Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Don't you seem to be forgetting something?"
"Oh, just a little paddle won't harm you. Don't worry, I wouldn't let a great hero like you drown!"
"I don't really-"
"Oh, come on Sonic!" Amy exclaimed, dragging him by the arm. "It will be fun! It's way too hot to stay out of the water anyway!"
Sonic had to admit, the water was nice once you got in there, all cool and refreshing. He'd taken a few more tentative steps out when Amy impatiently grabbed his arm and dragged him out much further. He started to feel uneasy. His feet could only just touch the bottom and he was afraid of losing contact with it at any second. Amy didn't appear to have any such qualms. She paddled around happily, playfully (annoyingly) splashing water in his face now and then.
He was facing towards the shore when he was pulled under. Caught by surprise, he had no time to draw a breath. Salt water enveloped him, claustrophobic and terrifying. It stung his eyes, swirled around his ears, tried to creep down his throat. He panicked, thrashing violently, trying desperately to reach that shining barrier only a short distance above. He was trapped! Something had caught him in a vice grip around his ankle, and he couldn't dislodge it. Frantically, he aimed wild kicks at it, hammered it with his fists, limbs flying in all directions. Just before his lungs were about to burst, with one well-aimed kick it released him and he dashed toward the surface.
That first ragged breath he drew as he broke through the barrier was pure bliss. His eyes and nose were running, his ears were still clogged with water and he had somehow swallowed a mouthful of sand, but he was alive.
Amy popped up from beneath the surface behind him, looking pale. She splashed her way to his side.
"Oh Sonic! Are you okay? You just disappeared! I was so worried! I tried diving down and looking for you, but I couldn't see you anywhere! Are you sure you're okay?"
"Never been better," Sonic asserted shakily, his sentence punctuated with a watery cough. "It takes more than just some plain old sea water to hurt me." He attempted weakly to smile.
"Come on, let's get you back to shore." Amy said, taking most his weight onto her shoulder. Sonic was in shock. What had just happened? He was sure seaweed wouldn't've had such a vice-like grip on his leg. Who or what would want him hurt? Or even dead? He hoped for his own sake that he was just being paranoid.
'Too close Amy, way too close," Amy chided herself silently with a frown. Aware that Sonic was looking at her, she plastered a sickly-sweet smile on her face and resumed her senseless rambling.
The moment Knuckles woke up he regretted it. Pain seared though his skull like a bushfire, setting his mind aflame, burning the nerve endings with gut-wrenching ferocity. Trying to sit up was torture. He groaned and slumped back on the ground, vertigo overwhelming him. With carefully probing fingers, he felt his head where it stung the most. His hand came back dripping red. What on earth had happened to him? More cautiously this time, he slowly drew himself upright, pain fighting him every part of the way. He immediately leaned on a nearby tree-trunk as the world spun around crazily. Trying to quell his dizziness, he thought back to last night. He had been guarding the emerald as usual, when he had been attacked from behind by... by... that bat girl! She must have the emerald! He realised in a rush. He had to get it back. Who knew, if not Eggman, what vile creep she was working for this time.
Casting his gaze skyward, he could see that dawn was not far off. He mustn't have been knocked out for too long. With some luck, she would still be on the island. Yes, he could feel it now. The pulse from the emerald that was as familiar to him as his own heartbeat. It wasn't far away.
Gathering his strength, he staggered off into the forest. He would have time to collapse later on. For now, the Master Emerald was his number one priority.
A/N: What exists of this story was actually written quite some time ago, so the setting is based six months after the events of Sonic Adventure 2, and do not take into account anything that happens in Sonic Heroes. Please let me know what you think, so that I may decide whether or not to continue this work!
Thanks, and happy reading.
Chapter 1
Icy night air caressed Rouge's bare arms, sending violent shivers rippling through her body. Her fur stood on end, making her look unflatteringly like a cotton ball. She hadn't wanted to do this assignment so late, and certainly not on a night like this, but she felt she had no other choice. Time was swiftly running out. Once discovering she had made it to the island, her superiors had instructed her to bring the Master Emerald to them within a week, and she only had two days left. Besides, he was getting suspicious. The sooner she got the emerald and got out of there, the better.
Angel Island was nothing like Rouge had expected. From what she had heard it was supposed to be a beautiful, sun-drenched paradise. Hail, ice and snow did not fit into her idea of sun-drenched, yet she'd encountered plenty of each so far. This unusual weather was all the more strange for the fact that it was in mid-summer back on the surface.
Finding and reaching the island had been no easy task. It had taken months of work- questioning people, keeping Knuckles under constant surveillance whenever she could, devising ways to gain passage to the seemingly inaccessible place. But she had persevered. After all, you didn't become one of the world's greatest treasure hunters without learning a thing or two.
Still, even with all her planning, this assignment worried her. The government had never taken special interest in the jewels she treasured so much; other than being her form of pay, of course. But she had mentioned the Master Emerald to them in passing, which she now realised had been a mistake. They had taken interest. Too much interest. And now they wanted it as their own. Her emerald, she thought angrily. The one she had been working for so long to retrieve. She should have turned down the mission then and there. But the government did not look too kindly upon agents who put their own interests above theirs. People disappear. She'd seen it happen.
The slight crackle of a leaf as Knuckles shifted his weight brought her mind back to the current situation. She had to get the emerald, no matter what. What she would do with it later could be figured out afterwards. Rouge studied the red echidna dutifully standing guard over the enormous jewel, still looking alert despite the ungodly hour. Why had she given him her shards, all those months ago? If she had kept them to herself, she wouldn't be here now suffering this frigid cold in the dark. She guessed she had thought at the time it would have been easier to steal it back from him later as a full emerald, rather than trying to assemble all the shards alone. And as much as she hated to admit it, he had saved her life. Why he had done so was beyond her. After all, they had been deadly rivals. If the situation had been reversed, she doubted she would have done the same. It was probably as he said, he was merely saving the Master Emerald. Still, it did make her wonder.
Watching Knuckles for the next fifteen minutes showed he was just as alert as ever, forcing her to come to a decision. Obviously the sleeping gas she had pumped into the clearing had not, for whatever reason, worked. Which meant she would have to take a less passive approach. She sighed as she removed her gas mask and equipped her Pick Nails. Secured tight, she checked her iron boots were still firmly laced. She was ready, but still she hesitated. She was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this. Hurting him would complicate things. And all creatures need to sleep, right? She had figured that she could quite easily take the jewel while Knuckles was unconscious. But seeing as he had so stubbornly refused to fall asleep, she would have to do something about it herself.
Letting go of the tree branch silently, she glided gently to the ground, landing a short distance behind the echidna. Hearing the clank of her iron boots, Knuckles spun around to find himself trapped in a pair of vivid blue eyes. His surprised expression melted into angry recognition.
"Wha-"
He was interrupted by an iron boot smashing the left side of his skull. Stunned, his mouth gaped like a fish, but no words came out. Slightly cross-eyed, he dropped to the ground with a dull thud. Rouge grabbed the emerald and fled, hoping she had done no permanent damage. As much as she resented him, she had no wish to hurt him. At least not severely. She told herself that in a way it was his own fault- Knuckles should have given her the emerald in the first place. It should have been hers all along, after all. All jewels belonged to her. Somehow, she wasn't convinced.
Back on the surface of the planet, in what really was a sun-drenched paradise, Sonic was relaxing on a beach, relishing the fact that he could relax at all. All of this Ark business had taken a lot out of him, even though that was months past now. When the world didn't demand of him to be a hero, he was carefree (or lazy, as Tails would have put it) at heart, and the beach was his ideal environment. As long as he didn't have to go in the water, of course. Well, it would have been an ideal environment if not for the fact that Amy Rose, as always, had somehow found him and rushed to his side, the thought never crossing her bubbly mind that he might actually like to have some time alone. He swore, sometimes she was annoying him deliberately; trying to get under his skin. But no, she wouldn't be clever enough for that. Sure, she was kind and despite being annoying was nice as far as personality went, but when it came to intelligence... well, metaphorically speaking she wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box.
"Do you like my bikini Sonic? I bought it earlier today! All these holiday sales are just wonderful, you know. And so I thought, well, I'd better try them out at the beach, just to make sure that it was waterproof and all, nasty things those bathers that aren't waterproof, and there you were! What a coincidence that we went to the same beach on the same day at the same time, isn't it Sonic? Do you think that a red one would have suited me better, though? As you would have surely noticed, I usually wear red, but the red that the store had was like a totally ugly shade! Besides, I need to have some more variety in my closet so that's why I got these dark blue ones. Do you think blue suits me, Sonic? I wasn't sure at all but the shop assistant told me how wonderful I looked in it and as you know shop assistants never lie, it's against their code of ethics y'know, so I just had to get it. Come to think of it, a shop assistant has never told that I looked bad in anything. And I've been shopping for years! I guess I'm just lucky, aren't I Sonic? ...Sonic? you're being really quiet you know. That's not like you at all. Hello?" She poked him in the belly with a nearby stick.
"Oww!" Sonic exclaimed. "What on earth did you do that for?" She shrugged.
"Just to see if you were listening. Anyway, it was at about that time that I saw the school bus full of blind people go past except they didn't see me because, y'know, they're blind? And I thought..." Sonic once again tuned out Amy's senseless rambling, trying to focus all his thoughts entirely on the endless blue expanse before him. Not for the first time, he wished that he had learnt how to swim. Oh sure, with a good mouthful of air he could wander around the bottom for a short time, but it just wasn't the same as Tails' ability. He would have to ask him to give him a few lessons someday.
As though she had been reading his thoughts, Amy remarked "...and so that's why I ate the really expensive gelati containing all ten flavours, even lemon. Hey, why don't we go for a swim?"
Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Don't you seem to be forgetting something?"
"Oh, just a little paddle won't harm you. Don't worry, I wouldn't let a great hero like you drown!"
"I don't really-"
"Oh, come on Sonic!" Amy exclaimed, dragging him by the arm. "It will be fun! It's way too hot to stay out of the water anyway!"
Sonic had to admit, the water was nice once you got in there, all cool and refreshing. He'd taken a few more tentative steps out when Amy impatiently grabbed his arm and dragged him out much further. He started to feel uneasy. His feet could only just touch the bottom and he was afraid of losing contact with it at any second. Amy didn't appear to have any such qualms. She paddled around happily, playfully (annoyingly) splashing water in his face now and then.
He was facing towards the shore when he was pulled under. Caught by surprise, he had no time to draw a breath. Salt water enveloped him, claustrophobic and terrifying. It stung his eyes, swirled around his ears, tried to creep down his throat. He panicked, thrashing violently, trying desperately to reach that shining barrier only a short distance above. He was trapped! Something had caught him in a vice grip around his ankle, and he couldn't dislodge it. Frantically, he aimed wild kicks at it, hammered it with his fists, limbs flying in all directions. Just before his lungs were about to burst, with one well-aimed kick it released him and he dashed toward the surface.
That first ragged breath he drew as he broke through the barrier was pure bliss. His eyes and nose were running, his ears were still clogged with water and he had somehow swallowed a mouthful of sand, but he was alive.
Amy popped up from beneath the surface behind him, looking pale. She splashed her way to his side.
"Oh Sonic! Are you okay? You just disappeared! I was so worried! I tried diving down and looking for you, but I couldn't see you anywhere! Are you sure you're okay?"
"Never been better," Sonic asserted shakily, his sentence punctuated with a watery cough. "It takes more than just some plain old sea water to hurt me." He attempted weakly to smile.
"Come on, let's get you back to shore." Amy said, taking most his weight onto her shoulder. Sonic was in shock. What had just happened? He was sure seaweed wouldn't've had such a vice-like grip on his leg. Who or what would want him hurt? Or even dead? He hoped for his own sake that he was just being paranoid.
'Too close Amy, way too close," Amy chided herself silently with a frown. Aware that Sonic was looking at her, she plastered a sickly-sweet smile on her face and resumed her senseless rambling.
The moment Knuckles woke up he regretted it. Pain seared though his skull like a bushfire, setting his mind aflame, burning the nerve endings with gut-wrenching ferocity. Trying to sit up was torture. He groaned and slumped back on the ground, vertigo overwhelming him. With carefully probing fingers, he felt his head where it stung the most. His hand came back dripping red. What on earth had happened to him? More cautiously this time, he slowly drew himself upright, pain fighting him every part of the way. He immediately leaned on a nearby tree-trunk as the world spun around crazily. Trying to quell his dizziness, he thought back to last night. He had been guarding the emerald as usual, when he had been attacked from behind by... by... that bat girl! She must have the emerald! He realised in a rush. He had to get it back. Who knew, if not Eggman, what vile creep she was working for this time.
Casting his gaze skyward, he could see that dawn was not far off. He mustn't have been knocked out for too long. With some luck, she would still be on the island. Yes, he could feel it now. The pulse from the emerald that was as familiar to him as his own heartbeat. It wasn't far away.
Gathering his strength, he staggered off into the forest. He would have time to collapse later on. For now, the Master Emerald was his number one priority.