DISCLAIMER: Although I wish I did, I DO NOT own the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog or any of its characters.

Sonic War

Chapter I

It was a peaceful afternoon on Angel Island. The sun was out, barely a cloud in the sky and a nice breeze. Knuckles the Echidna, the last survivor of the echidna tribe and guardian of the Master Emerald, was sitting by its altar snacking on some grapes. It was quiet and Knuckles was pretty bored.

"Wow, it sure has been quiet lately," he said to himself, chewing an especially juicy grape. "I almost wish Eggman or someone would come and try to steal the Master Emerald. Almost…"

Suddenly something caught Knuckle's attention. He could hear something approaching him. It was quiet yet also familiar. It was the sound of air whistling. He immediately stood up and looked around to see what the source of the sound was and to his surprise it was none other than Rouge the Bat, world's greatest thief, or so she claimed. She was gliding towards him and when she noticed he saw her she cracked a big grinned and waved. She landed on the emerald's altar a few feet from Knuckles.

"Rouge!? What are you doing here? Come to try to steal the emerald again?" Knuckles asked, putting up his fists.

"Relax Knuckle-head, I didn't come for your lousy emerald," said Rouge.

"Lousy! Why you no good, little…"

"Cool it Knuckles! It was just a little joke!" said Rouge as she lightly punched his shoulder. "I just came to talk. Is that alright?"

"Oh…" Knuckles said, slightly embarrassed. "I guess that's alright. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Exactly! I just wanted to catch up with an old friend!" said Rouge, laughing as she sat down at the steps of the altar.

Knuckles let out a hardy laugh as he sat down beside her. "Since when have you had the honor of being my friend? Don't flatter yourself you lousy thief!"

"Whatever, you know that deep down inside you and I share a special bond that transcends our mutual interest in the Master Emerald," said Rouge.

"Sure, you just keep telling yourself that…" Knuckles said as he rolled his eyes.

"Anyway Knuckle-head, how've you been? How's life for you?" Rouge said as she took one of his grapes and plopped it into her mouth.

"It's been pretty good I guess. No one's come for the Master Emerald in a while, so things have been pretty quite around here."

"Don't you ever get lonely sitting on this altar all by yourself? You must get bored."

"Sometimes I guess, but you know the story. There's always some wacko who pops up every once in a while trying to take over the world or something. I get my share of excitement when that stuff happens."

Rouge laughed, "Yeah, I guess that kind of stuff happens a lot around here."

"Yeah," Knuckles said, chuckling. There was an awkward silence for a moment until Knuckles finally asked, "So what about you Rouge? How's GUN going?"

"Oh it's going well I guess. I do a few missions here, get a few jewels there, you know. I'm on vacation right now, that's why I though I'd come and see you."

"Well, how very thoughtful of you Rouge."

"Why, you're welcome Knuckles," said Rouge, then something suddenly changed. Rouge seemed very happy and relaxed at first but now she seemed worried and tense. "Knuckles, there's another reason I came here today…"

Knuckles could see the change in Rouge's demeanor, "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"There's something I have to ask you."

Knuckles immediately became very nervous and tense himself. Was Rouge about to ask him out on a date? Knuckles had never had a girlfriend before and he didn't know anything about girls or how to treat them. He admitted he did find Rouge pretty attractive but they were just friends, or rivals, or something…

"Ummm…what is it?"

Rouge sighed and then finally asked the question. "Would you like to become an agent of GUN?"

Knuckles sighed with relief, "Oh, that's all you wanted!"

Rouge looked puzzled for a moment, "Yeah, so what's your answer?"

"No! I can't become a GUN agent! They'd have me traveling to god knows where doing god knows what! Who would watch over the Master Emerald?"

"They could find someone to take your place for a while. Come on Knuckle-head, they could really use you."

"That's another reason too! I'm nobody's tool! Besides, it's my duty to this island, my tribe and this emerald to stay here and watch over it and that is final!"

"I was afraid you'd say that," said Rouge, looking very disappointed. She stood up, stretched out her wings and began to float into the sky. "We've got rough times ahead of us Knuckles. You'd better choose what side you're on, and fast," then she few off into the distance leaving behind a very confused Knuckles.

"What the heck did she mean by that? Choose my side? That bat's as crazy as ever." Then he plopped a grape into his mouth and went back to watching the emerald.

To be continued…