Rouge had to make another trip back to her helicopter to get more food. This time, oddly enough, Knuckles had decided to help her.
"It's less work for me in the long run," he said, "since we won't have to go back and forth every few days."
In the past Rouge might have argued the point with him, but the fact remained that he was helping her. No longer did she think of that as a bad thing. No, since he'd helped save her from destroying her future, she was more apt to accept his help on more minor issues.
Besides, he was stronger than she was, and everything he carried she wouldn't have to.
They walked back towards her camp as the sun set. "That day just went by so quickly," she said.
"No, trust me, it took forever," said Knuckles.
Rouge sniffed again and once more recoiled from his stench. "That 'guardian business' you were talking about?"
"Oh yes," he confirmed. "It took quite a long time."
"What were you doing out there?"
"A small fire broke out, and I had to contain it before it became a full-fledged forest fire."
Rouge stumbled to a halt. "A forest fire?!" she said incredulously.
Knuckles nodded. "That's what I said."
"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" she screeched. "I would have helped you with something like that!"
"Really? I thought you didn't do community service," he said, throwing her words back in her face.
She searched for a comeback, for an excuse, for anything to say to fill the void. She came up empty. She had no way to respond. The vacuum in the air was poisonous.
Without saying anything, she started walking again and quickly moved ahead of him. She was glad he couldn't see her face.
'One, two, three.'
Sweat flew from Rouge's body.
'And-two, three, and-four.'
Her feet were a blur of motion, almost requiring an uncertainty principle all their own: an observer could tell only where they had been, never their actual location.
'One-and-two, three, four-and-five.'
Her hands were active, too, but stayed close to her body; she was only too aware that her real strength was her legs, and her arms, while useful, had another purpose.
'One, two-and-three.'
She kept the beat in her mind as she danced, her eyes and ears alert, closely watching her partner in this dance. The beat was not that of a song; it was too changeable, reacting to the dancers rather than the other way around.
'One, two, CRAP!'
Knuckles did something unexpected, breaking out of the rhythm and lunging at her. Rouge had been in the process of changing direction, and she couldn't get her legs up to defend herself.
She whipped her arms at his eyes, but he swatted them away contemptuously. He body-checked her, knocking her to the ground and rolling over her.
The air was crushed out of Rouge by his weight; she spat at him futilely at point blank range. Then he was off of her, but she was slow to recover. She rolled to her belly and got her feet under her, facing Knuckles from an all-fours position as the echidna turned back to her.
She could see his desire to press her now, but he hesitated, unsure of what she might do from this posture. Her mind was working furiously to solve the same problem. He decided to attack from above, giving a little jump and swinging down at her.
He hung in the air too long. Rouge fired her legs and skittered out to where he'd been, turning and reassuming a standing position. By the time she'd done this, Knuckles reoriented and was facing her again.
The two stood there, panting in exertion, unwilling to make the next move. Then Rouge smiled and gave a polite bow; Knuckles responded by dropping his fists to his sides.
"We have to do that again sometime," she said. "That was fun."
He smiled in return, making Rouge's insides flutter. "Yeah, it was a great workout. It was more even than I thought."
"I could say the same," she said, tossing her head imperiously.
Knuckles just laughed. Her arrogance was almost a joke to them by now.
She walked back towards her tent and began analyzing their combat. "You are stronger than I am, there's no doubt about that, but you're also slower. And my kicks have more reach than your punches."
"You know what your problem is?" Knuckles said.
"You mean you've actually found one?" she said.
"You're too cute."
She laughed—not her usual condescending laughter, but out of genuine surprise and amusement. "First time I've heard that, Hunter!"
As soon as she said it, she did a mental double-take. Calling him a Hunter placed him on her level. Well, hadn't he just now earned that status? Yes, but she didn't want to admit it.
Then again, she was giving him more and more credit these days.
"You hold too much back, and you're too formal," explained Knuckles, unaware of the division in Rouge's mind. "You're still holding to the mindset that you should fight with the least energy possible. You can't be arrogant with me. And your style is limited; you never saw that body-check coming."
That, at least, was true. "I thought we were sparring, I didn't know it would be a street-fight," Rouge said over her shoulder.
"Like I said, you held too much back. You weren't willing to do whatever it took to win."
"But that's not true," said Rouge defensively. "I mean, you know that from experience. When I was spying on Eggman, I went as far as to steal three Chaos Emeralds just to keep my cover! My whole life I've been like that, totally devoted to my goals."
Knuckles snorted and shrugged. "Not since you came here."
Rouge turned her attention back to her task, but her mind was racing. Methodically she replaced the metal toes to her boots that changed them from footwear to weaponry, and that she'd removed for this sparring match. In the same way, she knew he was removing the extra padding from his knuckle-barbs that had made them 'safe'. Now that they had had their fun, they went back to being "armed and dangerous".
It gave her something to do while she pondered.
Why should she hold back?
It would help if she knew what her goals were.
She glanced over at Knuckles. He'd finished and was sitting, waiting for her. Suddenly self-conscious, Rouge turned away from him.
'Can it be…'
No. That couldn't be right.
Was she afraid of him?
Okay, not really him; if she was scared of his capabilities, she would never let him spar with her. She was afraid of what opening up to him would be like. After all, if she let him past her defenses, he had the potential to really hurt her. She'd felt that once before, when she'd tried to break him, and was in no mood to reprise that.
Yet that contradicted her newfound principle to not be alone. Aloneness was her defense mechanism, yet it hurt her too; befriending Knuckles stopped that hurt, but breached her defenses.
Paradox.
'How does anyone live in this world?' Rouge thought despairingly.
She turned back to him. He just went right on staring at her, waiting patiently for her to do or say something. 'The only way I know how to live,' she thought, 'is to decide what's important and work it out as best I can. Eventually I have to stop worrying about what's best and DO something. And I'm tired of hesitating.'
"Knuckles," she said haltingly, "what do you usually eat?"
"Just the stuff on the island," he said. "Termites and ants, mostly, and fruit."
"Well, I worked up an appetite just now. The food I brought isn't the best, but it's stuff you've never had before and might want to try."
Knuckles shook his head. "We shouldn't eat right after exercising, we'll cramp up."
Rouge's temper flared. "Fine," she bit, "eat on your own!" She turned away and attempted to storm off.
Knuckles leapt over her and landed facing her. "That's not what I meant," he said before she could rage at him. "I meant we shouldn't eat right away. I'll eat with you, that part sounds fine."
Rouge felt a blush tint her cheeks. She and Knuckles stood in awkward silence, each shifting uncomfortably.
"Okay," she said at last—it was all she could, and all she needed.
Knuckles began to laugh. "What's so funny?" asked Rouge, beginning to chuckle herself. The effect grew as each laughed more until the proud warrior and treasure hunter had dissolved into fits.
It was meaningless and purposeless, and it felt very good.
And Rouge tingled.
TO BE CONTINUED…