Knuckles arrived at Tails lab at dusk. The night was begining to fall and cast shadows upon the trees. He charged to the door and kicked it with his foot, making a knocking sound.
"Hello?" asked a young fox opening the door. "Knuckles! Rouge! What happened?" He asked.
"Eggman that's what, Tails, you're good with medical emergencies and stuff right? You think you can help her?" Knuckles asked.
"Hmmm... yeah, I think I can help, come in, everyone is here." Tails said welcoming the two into his lab. As soon as they did they saw Amy, Sonic, Cream, and Shadow sitting in the living room.
"Holy crap, Knuckles, did you attack Rouge?" Sonic asked in shock.
"No, he did not attack me, Sonic. He saved me." Rouge said simply.
"You mean, he saved you from himself, right?" Sonic asked with a snicker.
"No." Rouge replied angrily.
"Come on, Knuckles, lay her in this bed here." Tails said pointing to a room at the end of a hall. Tails started to walk to the room with Knuckles not far behind. He opened the door to find simply a bed in a small, white room. Knuckles walked over to the bed and gently placed Rouge down.
"Okay, you guys can wait outside, I need to disinfect all these cuts..." Tails said taking some disinfectant. Everyone nodded and left.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, she's strong.." Knuckles replied.
"So, what happened?" Shadow asked calmly.
"Well, I was fighting Eggman, and she came out of the woods and refused to leave. So two of Eggmans robots came after her..." Knuckles said. The room fell silent.
20 minutes later, Tails came out of the room.
"Hey you guys, she's fine, a little injured, but she'll heal. She will need to stay here in the lab until she is well enough to leave." Tails said.
"Okay, I'm staying to, I got her into all of this, I'll stay until she's out." Knuckles said.
"That's funny. Rouge asked me if I thought you would stay with her just a minute ago." Tails said.
"Well, of course he would stay, look how stubborn he is." Sonic said with a laugh.
"Okay, can we stay to Tails? Is Eggman comes looking for them, Knuckles cant defend two people along with himself, and no offence but you are not the best fighter Tails." Amy said.
"Your right, you can all stay, I have an extra room, but it only has 4 beds, I'll sleep in my room, but someone will not get a bed." Tails said.
"That's okay Tails, im staying in Rouge's room anyway." Knuckles said.
"Huh? How?" Tails asked.
"Do you have a couch?" Knuckles asked Tails.
"Yeah, but it will take a while to bring it-" Tails was cut off when Knuckles ran threw the hallway. They waited for 5 seconds and before they knew it Knuckles was back with a couch in one hand, and he was opening doors with the other. He stood in front of Rouge's door, then opened it and saw her sitting on the bed.
"Knuckles? What are you doing with a couch?" Rouge asked.
"I'm staying with you." He said putting the couch at the foot of the bed.
"Thanks, Knuckles." Rouge said with a smile.
"No problem, lets just see anyone try and get to you with me here!" Knuckles said punching the air. "Well, anyone other that any of you guys, that is." Knuckles said looking at the rest of them.
In the night...
Night had fallen. Everyone had fallen with it, to sleep I mean. Rouge already felt much better. She was sleeping, with Knuckles at her feet when she heard something with her powerful ears, waking her up. Voices? Loud ones. Deep ones. Robot ones. Not her friends. She got out of her bed, with slight pain, and walked to the door and opened it.
"Eggman." She said angrily, yes it was Eggman, did he follow them?
"Ah, the bat is awake, so sad that wont happen again." He said as a robot grabbed her arm.
"Let go of me, junk pile!" She said trying to pull away. Eggman took something out of a sack. A bomb? No. Gas.
"This gas is powerful enough to kill you, if you breath it in for to long, and since your so close, it wont take long." Eggman said as his robots beat all her energy out so she couldn't run. She fell to the floor. "Ta ta, Bat." he said dropping the gas container and running as the gas sprayed out. She was knocked out by the fumes.
Inside the room, Knuckles smelt something and spring off the couch.
"What is that?" he asked himself, looking at the dark toxin seeping threw the door. Sadly, the gas already got into the other room, knocking everyone out. Knuckles held his breath and opened the door. Black gas rushed in. He saw Rouge on the floor.
"Rouge!" he yelled running to her and lifting her up. He saw the gas seeping into the other room and smashed the door down. To his misfortune, Tails had fallen asleep in there also. He had no time to waste, he knew the gas would kill them if he didn't do something fast. Her ran to where Tails was and flung him over his shoulder, then Cream over his other shoulder. He lifted Shadow in one arm and Sonic in the other, resting Amy on top of Sonic, and held Rouge close to his chest, using Shadow to hold her against him, he wrapped her arms over his neck and ran for the window, smashed it, and charged outside.