Hey, I'm FuzzyLearner and this is my first story on FanFiction.
For a bit of backstory on why I'm doing this, there are interactive stories on ' ' called Rouge the Lab Rat (1 and 2) and I have contributed some chapters to the second. Since FanFiction allows for lengthier entries but prohibits CYOA, I'll update a linear spin of it here and continue the shorter ones over there. Credits to Airship-King for hosting both interactives and all the contributing authors, even the ones that make endless lists of characters.
This is the part where I must state that I do not claim the rights to any characters held by SEGA.
-Broadcast-
"Hello and welcome to the evening news.
Well looks like it's that time again folks. Seemed not so long ago since the last Chaos Control and the Emeralds are already up for grabs. This could be fortunate for anyone who might find one, but that also rings painfully true for Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik, who lead a small army of robotic minions earlier today to secure the purple Emerald. Thankfully, due to the heroic efforts of Sonic the Hedgehog and his pilot and teammate Miles 'Tails' Prower, Eggman's offensive was foiled and kept the gem out of his possession. Now the race is on and mark one up for Team Sonic."
The television screen faded to pitch black. Standing up for her couch was the infamous jewel and treasure thief Rouge the Bat. Hearing the news has brought a smirk to her face. She's been waiting patiently for this moment to arrive. Her place was already brimming with fine jewelry, precious metals, even some important paperwork which she can use as blackmail, which can be even more valuable if used correctly. The allure of the Chaos Emeralds+ were an entirely different story though. Even if they don't look that far off of other cut gems, many were drawn to their unimaginable power. Personally, she didn't care about that. Just the rarity of them and the demand was enough the make them her highest priority targets. While she can go out and hunt for it and get her hands dirty, she did not build her reputation as a great thief for nothing.
"Usually I'd wait this out, but they made it too easy for me. Mmph...Now while Sonic can use the power of Chaos Control, he's so cocky that he probably thinks he can make do without it. So the next one to hold it would be the fox boy. Mmph, mmph...This is going to be easy."
-Tails' Workshop and Runway-
Working away at an unidentified contraption, the dual tailed fox spoke to himself to sort out his thoughts.
"I've always seen Sonic use Chaos Energy to do impressive things; it just seems to come naturally to him. I mean, I created a fake Emerald, but I've only been able to use them as a pure power source. If Eggman can even restrain Super Sonic, then I need to be able to harness the other properties of it as well."
He rhythmically switched from drilling in bolts to welding the casting together. All the components were in place to Tails' specifications, leaving him only the task to sterilize it before he could to run his test.
"It's small but this could leave me with a better understanding of how to use it." He looked off in the corner of his eyes to a small clay pot in the other room.
After finishing the last steps of containment, Tails inspects his newest creation. A chrome surfaced chamber with reinforced doors and walls with various computers, gauges, and dials attached standing out of the way of anything else important. It seemed like it contain a spontaneous explosion, or protect someone from one.
"Now...", Tails looks at the potted seedling he grabbed from the other room, "If I do this right, I might be able to grasp the concept of its manipulation of time." He gently places the pot in the chamber and the door closed. He keys in commands into the console and stepped back. A countdown initiated. On the last count, the inside of the capsule shined a bright light that nearly slipped though the cracks of the double doors. In a matter of seconds, it stopped and rang a tone signaling the end of the test.
A little hesitant, Tails pushed the button to open the doors. A light fog had spread across the floor. Peering inside, the seedling had grown into a healthy looking shrub. It had aged months or even a year.
"It worked! Success!"
-Outside Tails' Workshop - Night-
The darkness of the night had swept across the landscape. The runway was far enough from the lights of the city to blanket the sky in an unlimited amount of stars. But while the sky was clear, the cove under the cliffs hid an imminent threat. Rouge was just underneath Tails' place and plotting her next course of action. She had the option to sneak in earlier, but she would have to run the risk of needless conflict. Instead she managed to place a small wireless microphone on the building to fed into an receiver clipped to her left ear. Throughout the time the bat waited, she heard the fox going on and on about his experiments. Most of Tails' ramblings weren't exactly beyond her comprehension, practically painting a clear image of the location of her target.
"He must be in his nerdy little heaven, huh?" Rouge mumbled to herself, "Sorry I have to do this, but I'm going to spoil your fun."
As a few more moments pass, the mic went quiet. There was no talking, no sounds from the machine, no footsteps, just quiet. If the microphone was touched or being jammed, there would have been some kind of interference or feedback. It seemed to Rouge that Tails might have turned in for the night. If not, she had spent all day staking out for probably the easiest Emerald to get just to lose her patience and blow it.
Fifteen minutes later, it was clear that whatever was going on was there to stay. "Well this wasn't an exciting day." Rouge spread her wings and flew up, approaching the workshop. "In fact, I might be a little jealous of Foxboy. Playing away at that machine...To each their own, I guess, and now it's my turn."
Despite being a place where a genius does his work, the framework of his workshop was basic and there were practically no defensive measures. It was too easy for everyone to get in, especially a thief. Once inside, her eyes navigated through the dark to find a real item of interest. The machine illuminated its keyboard and gauges giving her a near perfect view of the outside. What she couldn't see though was a compartment to place a power source. Seeing that the machine was in some kind of standby phase meant that it must still be running, so it to be somewhere. That left one other place, inside.
After the string of fortunate events for the bat, there was a hiccup in that the doors were closed. She could have tried to force her way into it, but the thing was built like a tank. If she could have managed anyway, she would have definitely made too much noise. Thinking she had no easier option, she took a crack at the keyboard to see if there was an 'open doors' key. There wasn't. It must have been on the screen then. Bringing the machine back from standby, Rouge saw many windows clouded with an overwhelming amount of notes. Sorting through them to try to find how to make the doors open, she found one interest window. The experiments Tails performed on the potted plant were extensive as it showed a spreadsheet as the different stages of its development. According to the results, the plant shriveled up at the ten year mark, but was brought back to life when it went backwards to eight years. Interesting, but she was getting sidetracked. Leaving that window, she found the command and grinned as the doors became ajar.
She doesn't have to inspect the inside for long to find the Emerald. It was encased in the ceiling of the chamber with no visible way to take it out. An inconvenience to say the least. Resulting to her arsenal, the glass cutter yielded nothing as it was coated with something that stopped it in its tracks. She also had a plasma laser that could cut through it like a warm knife through butter, but the compartment containing the gem was reflective which could make the laser move unpredictably. Analyzing the situation, she came to a conclusion. She found the Emerald and needed to get away; nothing else mattered. She would use brute force to break the glass and make her escape while Tails would be in a state of confusion. Rouge focused on the heel of her kicking foot, jumped, and hit it with everything she got. Adrenaline coursed through her body as time seemed to slow down. From the point her boot met the glass came a small crack that grew slowly...slowly...until the glass completely shattered. The force also caused the Emerald to come loose and fall. With her quick reflexes, the jewel thief caught the gem in mid-air.
What she didn't suspected was what the machine did next. The chamber door slammed shut as soon the purple Emerald fell. The clever bat was trapped inside with no way out. Lights flickered on and off and it felt like the walls were rocking in place. In her hands, the Emerald flashed as the machine was drawing on its power. Rouge could only stand there as the intensity of the light was becoming too much to bear. She got blinded as the machine malfunctioned.
-Morning-
The light from the sun snaked its way through the blinds, reaching the sleeping fox Mobian's eyes. The boy genius wakes up from his bed, complete unaware to what happen last night. Recalling what he was doing the previous day, Tails snapped right back into it and resume work on his machine. Neglecting to eat breakfast, he went to the plant are was relieved it didn't dry out or reverted back to a seedling. Then swifting his attention to the screen, he nearly jumped out of his fur after seeing all the errors. No matter how much he tried, the same windows he closed would pop back up again. Left with no other option, he hit the emergency override command to open the doors. While he didn't know what to expect, he was not in any way prepared for what he witnessed.
The chamber housed a sleeping inhabitant. A young bat girl lying on her side, grasping the purple power source in one of her hands. The striking part was her familiar face and the outfit she wore. Everything around her just scream 'Rogue the Bat'. Tails wasn't absolutely sure about her face since it wasn't bathe in make-up, but the black fabric, breastplate, gloves, and boots were a dead giveaway.
"How did this even happen?" The boy questioned. He scanned the inside of the chamber and saw the structural damage and focused on the Emerald she was gripping in her sleep. "I guess that explains the warnings. She must have broke the ceiling, sending it into a critical condition. But that doesn't explain why it made her younger..." Pacing back and forth on the ground seeking for a solution, he returns to the plant. "Mmm...Was it because the last thing I did was shifted it back to eight years old? Did it just copy the last action from...What am I doing?! That doesn't matter right now! I need to change her back...but with that kind of damage, it won't be working anytime soon."
Unfortunately for him, his outburst got the girl stirring in her sleep. She slowly opened her eyes and flinched as they needed to adjust to the light. Moving herself into a sitting position, the girl found out she was holding something that practically forced her eyes open. The dazing jewel reflected the light in a truly magnificent way that really captivated her.
Tails stood frozen like a deer in headlights. He panicked and though that if he stayed still he would not attract any attention. From his perspective, it seemed like it was working as Rouge's eyes were glued to the Emerald. That was until his stomach growled from skipping breakfast and startled her. The bat girl rose to her feet and locked eyes with the yellow fox before screaming. To make things slightly worse for the both of them was that while the bat shrink, her attire had not. With the weighted breastplate threatening to undo everything, Kid Rouge screamed again as she grabbed it with her free hand to stop it from happening.
Tails turned his head away trying not to look, "Sorry, Rouge! I swear I didn't see anything." He was getting ready for direct kick or at the very least some verbal insults, but they never came. What he heard instead was her screaming...
"Who are you and why do you know my name?!"
"Huh?"
This conclude the first chapter of Rouge the Kid.
Like I have said in the beginning, this is loosely based on the story I am making in 'Rouge the Lab Rat 2', I even used the same title. I will make the stories as clearly separate as I can, but if you want a sneak peek to explain the cliffhanger, heed this shadowly figure's advice...
Transition to dark room lit by a single candle
(*Deep breath*)
Two...Two...Two...One...Two. Stray from the path at your own risk...
Because, well...It's set up as a 13+, but other paths get to 18+ pretty quickly.
Transition back
...Yeah. Okay so please send comments about why you like, tolerate, or dislike this story. This is my first entry on this site and every little bit of constructive criticism helps. Thank you.
