Chapter 12: The Power of Greed

One thing was for certain. She could never show her face to them again. Not any of them. At least her cave was secret and secluded. She had her jewels, and that's all she would ever need. …Right?

She paced as she waited for Catnap. She had promised to come at sunset. It was dark now, and there wasn't a sign of her. Rouge turned back to her jewels, where she had the emerald. She gasped. It was gone. In its place, however, was a large lump of coal. "She did come." She stepped back outside.

"You forget…" she gasped at the familiar voice. "I'm a treasure hunter, too." She turned to see the angry red echidna standing at the cliff's edge. He must have just climbed up to her cliff-side cave. "Give it back, Rouge."

"I don't have it," Rouge was still shocked to see him, so she didn't have a quick reply.

"Well then, get it back!"

"I can't!"

"That cat friend of yours has it, doesn't she?" He was stepping menacingly toward her, almost bringing her to the cave wall. "You set me up!"

"How do you know about Catnap?"

"Sonic saw you talking with her. She has one of the chaos emeralds and now she has the Master Emerald!" Rouge was now against the cave wall.

"You won't get it back."

"If you aren't going to help me, I have no use for you…" He tightened his fist and got ready to punch.

Self-defense, she told herself, and she kicked him off her and ran outside to fly. He grabbed her boot before she could take off, though. "Get off!" She fell to the ground. "Give it up!"

"You've been a pain in my side for too long!"

Suddenly, there was a crash, and Knuckles lost his grip on Rouge. "What in the world was that?"

"Radiation." Knuckles stood.

"The emeralds…" Rouge stood as well. But… isn't Catnap the one that has radiation? All that power… to Catnap… Does she know how to use it? Better yet… does she know how to use it for good? Rouge didn't pay attention as the land beneath her started to crack and shatter from the radiating force. Suddenly, she fell, dropping with more speed due to the pressure. She barely had time to let out a yelp, but she stopped falling suddenly.

"Hang on…" Knuckles was struggling under the weight of radiation, but he had grabbed her arm.

She looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

"Saving you… What does it look like I'm doing?" With great strength, he pulled her back up inside her cave. "Looks like your friend is letting the power go to her head."

"You…"

"It's about time I stop this nonsense…" he started to leave.

"But…" Rouge blinked. Did he just threaten me then save me? Suddenly, her ears perked. "Knuckles!"

But it was too late. Catnap appeared, floating with the power of the purple chaos emerald. "Well, well… if it isn't my old friend. And look here! She has a guest."

"Give up the emerald if you know what's good for you!" Knuckles shouted.

"Ha! As if! Do you know how powerful I am with these?" She lifted up the Master Emerald beside her. "I'll take every emerald and add it to my collection. Pretty soon, I will take the gem that is earth!"

"You're insane!" Rouge tried. "I'm not even interested in the whole globe!"

"That's because you were never able to aim high enough, Rouge. Strange, since you can fly."

Knuckles, meanwhile, was running at the Master Emerald. "Master Emerald—!"

"Not so fast! Master Emerald! Show him my power!" The emerald pulsed. It actually listened to her?

"How?" Rouge gasped.

"I'm its master now!" And with a great force, Knuckles was blown back. Not just that, but he became discolored.

Rouge gasped. "Knuckles!" He became black as… coal. "What did you do to him?" He was stiff, still with his hard face.

"Taught him a lesson."

"Catnap! You're more trouble than you're worth!" Rouge stood. "You have no idea what sort of power you have right now!"

"Au contrare! I know exactly the power I have… and I love it!"

"You'll destroy everything! You're misusing it!"

"You just want it for yourself!"

"No, I don't! Look at what you've already done, Catnap!" Rouge gestured to Knuckles. "You are not an evil creature… you're just a thief."

But the power had overwhelmed her, and it was getting to her head. More than that, her greed seemed to be bringing more power to the jewels. Rouge was outmatched.

Just then, she suddenly realized something. I'm a treasure hunter… all I need is to do is outmatch her… Leaving Knuckles hardened, she flew off, hiding herself in the dark of night, avoiding Catnap's pursuit.

.

"It's all my fault… I shouldn't have left her there!" Tails groaned for the thousandth time.

"Come on, buddy, relax!" Sonic put a hand on his shoulder. "Who would have ever thought that the paranoid stick-in-the-mud was right?"

"Yeah… I guess so…"

"I still don't get it…" Cream mumbled. "Why did she take it? What good is it to her?"

"She just likes jewels, Cream," Amy explained. "There's no stopping that."

"Hm…" Sonic looked around. "Knucklehead has been gone awhile now…"

"You're right," Tails agreed. "Do you think he's alright?"

"He probably got distracted by her." Sonic laughed.

Cream giggled. "Could you imagine…? They can't even get along without fighting for a second!"

"Well, it doesn't help that Knuckles doesn't trust her."

"Yeah," Amy moved closer to Sonic. "It's not like our relationship!"

"We don't have a relationship!" Sonic pushed her off him.

Just then, a piercing tone hit their ears.

"What's that?!"

"My alarm!" Tails jumped up. "I set it in case Robotnik or his robots tried to get into my workshop!"

"Why?"

"Well, I thought it was a good idea to protect it since the emerald's down there."

"Oh, no!"

They ran outside, just in time to see a whitish silhouette flying off with deep black wings.

"Rouge?"

"She's at it again!" Tails ran after her.

"Wait, buddy!"

But Tails flew off after her.

"Rouge…" Tails mumbled. "What's going on with you?"