Disclaimer: I do NOT own SEGA or related characters/ items.

Chapter One: The New Adventure Awaits

Rouge's eyes lit up at the sight of the emerald piece, about three metres in front of her. She lowered her wings, which caused her to safely land on the ground. "After this I'll only have one more left," she whispered excitedly to herself before reaching for the emerald piece. She concentrated on where the emerald was, and her fingers stretched to grasp it. She then gasped; noticing the emerald was no longer there. "What...where did it go?" she panicked in a whisper.

"You have to be quicker than that, bat girl," a deep voice said. Rouge looked up to see who the voice belonged to. It was none other than Knuckles the Echidna.

"Knuckles," Rouge said through clenched teeth, her eyes narrow, "that piece was mine, and we both know it!"

Knuckles grinned. "Really? Because it looks like it's mine. I got here first, bat girl."

Rouge scowled at him before getting up off the ground and dusting herself off. "The next piece is mine," she spat angrily at him before flying off.

"Oh?" Knuckles teased. "What makes you think it's over there?"

With that, Knuckles glided downward before coming across a small ledge. "Beep.......beep...." his emerald detector wasn't exactly going crazy. He continued North, on the ledge. "Beep...beep," the beeps increased, indicating he was getting closer to the emerald. He inched forward. "Beep, beep, beep," the beeps were starting to react more, and his light was flashing dark yellow/red.

Rouge, from somewhere in the air, caught sight of the flashing light on his detector and flew down to where he was, a little bit ahead of him. "Beep! Beep! Beep!" her emerald detector reacted, and it flashed red.

"What?" Knuckles frowned at her, just realizing she would get the last piece.

Rouge grinned, showing her teeth, before diving into the dirty ledge and then popping out, with the second emerald piece. She was covered in dirt so she dusted herself off before grinning at him again, with her eyes half open. She flew a little higher into the air, so she was floating above him. She twirled around happily before throwing the emerald in the air and then catching it.

"Rouge," Knuckles said angrily, "that piece was mine! Give it back!"

"Pfft, you think I'll just hand it over to you?" Rouge said before chuckling a little. "...And you call yourself a hunter," she grinned, showing her teeth, "it's every hunter for themselves."

She placed the emerald piece somewhere safely behind her before flying away. Knuckles glared at her.

"That last piece is mine, bat girl!" Knuckles said before flying ahead of her. Rouge glared at him before collecting some rings on a nearby ledge.

"Black Wave!" she commanded with a twirl. A black circle surrounded Knuckles in the air, causing him to crash down on the ground. He winced. He had fallen at least four stories. He clutched his shoulder in pain before flying upwards.

He landed on a ledge safely. "Get down," he said before punching the ground. Rouge felt the punch, and fell to a ledge near him.

"You want to play rough? I'll show you rough," Rouge said with an evil smirk before flying to where he was and grinning at him.

Knuckles didn't like her grin at all. She was going to do something, but he couldn't figure out what.

"Charm Ray," she said with a grin, and Knuckles opened his mouth to say something, but time froze.

Rouge giggled happily to herself before waving at Knuckles' frozen form happily, and then flying up to where to emerald probably was.

Time unfroze, and Knuckles clenched his teeth angrily. He glided up to where Rouge was, and grinned evilly.

Rouge smiled. "Did you like my Charm Ray?" she teased.

Knuckles kept his grin on. "Yeah, but will you like this? Power Flash!"

Time froze, and Rouge was frowning angrily in her frozen pose. Knuckles stuck out his tongue at her before flying toward the emerald.

"Just a little more..." he inched toward it, before seeing Rouge come into view. Time had unfroze.

"Don't make this hard for me, Knuckles. You don't know who you're messing with," Rouge warned, inches in front of the emerald. Knuckles was in front of the emerald on the other side of her.

Knuckles frowned. "You don't know who you're messing with, either. Thunder Arrow!"

A pain struck Rouge, causing her to collapse onto the ledge. She weakly reached for the emerald.

"Ah, ah, ah, bat girl," Knuckles waved his index finger at her before picking up the emerald and examining it.

"Hey..." a frown formed. "This isn't a real emerald! I have a connection with the emeralds...I'm feeling no power from this. It's a fake!" he then glared down at Rouge.

She grinned evilly before getting up off the ground, and revealing the last emerald from behind her.

"But...how did you..." Knuckles was at a loss for words, and Rouge simply smiled before closing her eyes.

"I took advantage of when I made time stop. I'm not as stupid as you think," Rouge said haughtily.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Knuckles angrily charged at her, and grabbed the emerald.

Rouge frowned. "This emerald's mine!" she tugged the emerald toward her, and Knuckles tugged it toward him.

Rouge frowned at him, before commanding, "Hip drop!"

Knuckles strained, and still weakly held onto the emerald. Rouge however yanked the emerald toward herself, and got it out of his grasp.

She smiled. "Ha! I guess I'm just better than you are," she said haughtily before tucking the emerald shard away safely.

Knuckles glared at her before unexpectedly jumping from where he was, onto her. This caused them both to tumble down, a huge distance, before crashing into the ground.

They both landed harshly, with Knuckles on top of Rouge. Rouge pushed him to the side, so she rolled on top of him. She glared down at him.

"What was that for?" she demanded angrily, flashing her sharp teeth.

Knuckles frowned before kicking her off of her, so she went flying. Luckily she used her wings, and ended up landing safe.

"I'll give you a fight if that's what you're looking for," Rouge narrowed her eyes at him.

Knuckles looked away. "Fighting won't solve anything," he said angrily.

Rouge's expression stayed the same, as she approached him.

Knuckles turned to face her, his expression was serious. "I'm afraid I won't have time to play these little games with you anymore - I'm going on a new adventure," he said before walking off.

Rouge's expression softened to a look of jealously and confusion. "What? Why do you get to go on a new adventure?" she whined. "I should be going too! I mean, we both know who the better hunter is here," she said haughtily.

Knuckles turned to her. "If you're implying that you're the better hunter, you're not."

Rouge scoffed. "Why do you get to have all the fun? They treat you like your sooo experienced, and like I'm a pathetic rookie! Well let me tell you, I'm far from being a rookie!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "I am experienced!" he retorted. "And...they just picked me, okay? It's nothing personal," he said, trying to get past her, but she still blocked him.

"Well that's not fair," she turned away angrily. She looked back at him, with her body slightly turned to side. "That's it. I'm going too," she placed her hand on her hip.

"What?" Knuckles gaped. "But..."

"End of story," Rouge said before closing her eyes and walking away.

"No!" Knuckles got in front of her and blocked her. "You can't come! They picked me, and it would be too dangerous for someone like you!"

"Too dangerous? Are you saying I get scared easily?" Rouge was insulted.

"Rouge," Knuckles grabbed her shoulders so she couldn't escape. "Nobody wants to see you get hurt."

Rouge smiled a little. "Aww, I never knew you cared..." she teased, batting her eyelashes.

Knuckles frowned angrily. "Think whatever you want, bat girl, but you can't come."

Rouge smiled calmly. "We'll see about that."

He released his grip on her, and she walked away. Knuckles stared after her, and shook his head before gliding away.

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- Satokasu Suki