Rouge landed the helicopter on the island. As before, Knuckles was there, watching as she landed. Naturally, she thought. Of course he was waiting for me. See? He DOES want to see me again!
This time when she got out, she favored him with politeness. "My dear Knuckles, forgive my lack of manners earlier."
She bowed deeply. She was intensely aware, of course, that this combination of bow and the cut of her top produced great discomfiture amongst males of many species. When she rose again, unfortunately, Knuckles didn't look uncomfortable or grateful for the gesture; if anything, he looked pissed off.
"Why are you here?" he asked again, his voice harsh.
'Yep, he's pissed,' Rouge thought
"I told you already," she said, irritated that her gesture had backfired. "I want to hunt for treasure on this island."
He shook his head. "As long as you're here, you're a threat. You don't have a sterling record for honesty. You've lied to… to everyone far too often. I don't like it."
That was curious, Rouge thought. Knuckles didn't hesitate often.
She turned her head disdainfully. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I can't believe you can say that. You're a spy and a thief, Rouge."
"I am a Hunter. Those are side jobs."
"I'm not talking about occupation, I'm talking about your character."
She gave him a toothy grin. "Well, since I'm here on business, you could accept my Hunter persona, right?"
He shook his head. "NOW what are you talking about?"
"I follow certain rules depending upon what role I'm playing. My character depends upon my occupation. Sometimes I'm a thief. Sometimes I'm a spy. Sometimes I'm a Hunter. As a Hunter, I'm incapable of stealing. I can get things before other people, but I can't steal."
"Rouge, you're just making this up as you go along."
"You're insane! And wrong, to boot!"
"You're a thief. So long as you remain here, you're a threat." He sighed. "I'm gonna have to babysit you while you're here."
He surprised her with those words; her retort fell from her mouth, unused. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. So long as you're here, I'll have to keep watch over you. I can't trust you, so I need to make sure you don't steal the Master Emerald. I'll have to babysit you."
She gave him another toothy grin. "And what if I strangle you in your sleep, then take the jewel?"
He grunted. "Maybe I should just follow my first instinct and toss you off the island."
There was a line in his emotions, and she'd crossed it. Any more pressure would definitely be a bad thing, so she decided to back off. For now.
"I think I'll take your offer," she said. "You won't slow me down too much, hopefully."
He sneered. "Sure, like there's anything you can do that I can't!"
That feistiness was something she liked in him. It made dealing with him more fun. It was certainly better than his disdain.
"In that case," she said, "I'll unload my things. Come and help me."
"Oh, please! Anything you can't handle yourself you shouldn't have brought."
She whirled on him. "What?"
"I'm not gonna help you. This is your little adventure, I have nothing to do with it."
"You are so intolerably rude," she huffed.
"You have such unreasonable expectations."
"Obviously. I thought you liked me."
Rouge waited for his response, planning her next retort.
But he said nothing.
His response never came, and Rouge's train of thought was derailed. How could he not have a comeback to that? Either Rouge seriously overestimated him—not likely, since historically she'd underestimated him—or something was affecting him.
Was it her last shot?
To hide her confusion, she began unpacking her things from the helicopter.
Rouge panted heavily. She tried to wipe the sweat off her brow, but her hands were occupied carrying things.
Knuckles, meanwhile, was practicing his balance mostly be leaping everywhere and ricocheting off of trees.
Needless to say, because she was so weighed down, this behavior aggravated Rouge.
"Take a tranquilizer," she barked at him. He only smiled back at her and kept moving.
As he bounced, he asked her, "Do you always take this much gear when you go treasure hunting?"
"No," she said, "but usually I either go with someone, or within distance of civilization."
"I'm someone."
"You said you wouldn't help, so you don't count."
He landed in front of her and grinned.
"Go away," she said.
"No."
She kept walking until she ran into him. Despite the considerable load she was bearing, she didn't run him over as she'd wanted to.
He politely stepped out of her way, and she grumbled past him. This was not being fun.
"You are such a pain!" she said. "All you do is mock me while I can't do anything about it. You're the epitome of barbarism."
"You're the one who said we're not near civilization."
"And you're making me right!"
Knuckles just laughed.
"How is that funny?!"
"Because you're right, and you hate it! You work so hard to be right, but when you ARE right it's about something you wish was the other way!"
"That's not funny."
He laughed a little more and resumed his balance exercises with a smile on his face.
Rouge hated him.
Rouge busied herself putting down and organizing all her equipment.
"You think this is a good place to start hunting?" Knuckles asked.
She smiled. He was such a newbie at this! It really was a pity. Amazing how he could get as many Master Emerald shards as she could. Well, she'd teach him a few tricks of the trade.
Her best ones she'd save, just in case she needed to crush him later. It wouldn't do to have the novice beat the master.
"No," she said, "but there are two reasons to stop now. First, it's almost night, and second, the places I need to go are mostly in those mountains," she said, pointing. "It would be more trouble than worth to lug all of this up there." The third reason, that she was tired, she dared not mention.
"Out of curiosity," he said while flipping into a handstand, "why didn't you just bring the helicopter?"
Rouge froze, her mouth hanging open and her cheeks flush with color.
In another moment she was moving again, skillfully covering her embarrassment. "It wasn't the right thing."
"It would have saved you a lot of time and trouble."
"Yes, but it would have thrown the metal detectors out of whack," she said, the lie flowing effortlessly to her lips.
"I thought you didn't use one."
"Sometimes I do." Skillful as she was, she doubted he was fully buying it.
"I guess you should use every tool available for best results, right?"
Was he… helping her escape?
That couldn't be!
She smiled. Well, he had—and now she'd turn it to her advantage. "Of course. You expose your newness with your limited thinking."
He tumbled from his handstand, sitting with his back facing her.
"Graceful," she quipped. He didn't turn to her, simply rose and walked away.
Something was wrong. She felt a tinge of remorse, which was bizarre itself, but there was something—else. Something alien.
What was this feeling inside of her? He deserved exactly what he got! Her entire life—her survival—she recognized that it depended upon seizing weakness and exploiting it. Certainly he knew this—hmph, certainly he played by the same rules! He was a guardian, after all; he should know better than to show a weak spot to anyone.
And yet…
He'd done it deliberately, of that she was sure. And he'd done it to help her.
Stupid! As if she needed help!
Her thoughts drifted back again, to one of her first meetings with him. They'd been fighting, of course; but in the end, she'd given him the Master Emerald shards she'd collected.
Then he'd apologized to her.
In that moment, she'd felt… what? Nothing useful, certainly. It wasn't tactile, it had no value; you couldn't buy it, sell it, or barter with it. You couldn't reproduce it on your own and she only felt bad thinking about it.
But she wanted it.
Yes, she wanted it.
She didn't know quite what it was, but in that moment, she'd felt… content.
When Knuckles had spoken just now, she'd felt a hint of that again. It had vanished in a flash, but there was no denying that it was there. There was just enough of a taste of it to stir in her the ravenous hunger that drove her to her biggest escapades.
Rouge didn't like waiting; she didn't like being denied. She always got what she wanted, and she wasn't about to change that.
She'd get that feeling back!
The feeling was a result of Knuckles' weakness. That, then, was her mission—to bring out his weakness, and claim it.
As soon as she was reasonably set up and sure he wasn't nearby, she reached for her computer. She contacted one of her usual suppliers and placed an order for a set of metal detectors.
TO BE CONTINUED…