Possibly Love?
By AliceStar
(Sonic and Company belong to Sega! Not me!)
The sky was begging to redden as the last glint of the sun was slowly beginning to fade away. Rouge could already feel the present warmth of the jungle beginning to fade, and as the darkness rolled in, the freezing temperatures followed as well.
Rouge clamped her hands around her arms as she tried to keep warm. The huntress growled; just what is with this place? First its blaring hot in the daytime, and now at night it feels like Antarctica!
"Boy, it sure gets cold here," Rouge said to herself, puffs of steam escaping her mouth.
As she was trudging through the moist, jungle terrain, the treasure huntress's ears perked up.
A light scuffling from the bushes had sounded a mental red flag for her. It was probably that silly echidna again.
"Trying to scare me again, eh echidna? You're such a creep," Rouge said lowering her eyelids with a smile.
No response came from the shuffling in the bushes, and this annoyed Rouge. By now that darn echidna should be coming out of the bushes looking like a deer in the headlights!
"Fine, be stubborn! See if I care!" She hissed.
In a pout, Rouge crossed her arms and her sights fell upon the ground. An idea hit her once she spotted a nice round stone. A nice round potentially painful stone if thrown hard enough.
A small, devilish smile formed on her lips and she nimbly dropped all of her belongings and picked the stone up.
She juggled it in her hands momentarily then threw the rock at the shuffling in the shrubs.
Instead of a red, fuming echidna stepping out of the bushes, a dark, shiny, scaly creature with blood red eyes roared in response. It rose to its full height of at least four meters.
"!" Rouge found herself speechless.
Its sights fell upon the little lovely bat that stared back, mouth agape in horror. The beast roared once more at her and she took off running, tearing through the forest.
As she streaked through the forest, with her heart pounding against her torso, she heard the gigantic steps of the creature following her.
There was no way Rouge was planning on having that thing catch her. T
here were too many things she just didn't like about the creature: the sharp fangs that were only millimeters from being her exact height, the enraged crimson eyes, and ultimately, the fact that she had no idea what the thing chasing her was!
If there was such an animal, she'd believe it to be a mix between a raptor, and a wolf.
Running was getting her nowhere once she realized the creature was catching her trends. Just as she tried to take flight, she felt the beast strike her back.
She yelped in pain as she plowed face-forward into a heap of freshly made mud. Rouge spit out the mud hastily and she heard the gigantic footsteps come to a stop.
She raised her head to see the beast circling her like a predator, more appropriately like a vulture. Rouge felt her heart drop, " Oh…this is it, I'm done for…"
As the beast was about to lunge at her, Rouge closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable. Large approaching thumps sounded as the creature advanced.
Rouge gritted her teeth just as she felt the creature next to her…but then, she heard a painful, unearthly shriek.
She opened one eye to see a familiar red echidna standing before her. His gaze upon the hideous creature was valiant and fierce. Knuckles slowly approached the creature as it growled at him.
Rouge slowly rose off of her stomach, watching Knuckles slowly approach the creature with an almost bold stride.
The beast roared furiously and charged him, kicking up leaves, dirt, and bushes in its wake.
In response, Knuckles acquired a fighting pose, one that resembled a stance of Tai chi. Once the beast was within spitting distance of the echidna, it lowered its head to engulf the red warrior.
"Knuckles!" Rouge cried vainly, "Stop! You'll get killed!"
The last thing she saw was a dangerous gleam in the echidna's eyes and the beast plowing at him like a train. Dust billowed in the air, blocking her view.
"Knuckles!"
She heard a loud, sickening bone-cracking noise and looked towards the battle scene to see dust clouds bellowing up in the sky, once the smoke cleared, Rouge gasped; standing before her was the echidna with the ugly creature lying before his feet.
He slowly brushed off his shoulders, and turned to Rouge. His fierce, smoldering gaze softened as offered his hand to her, "Need a lift batgirl?"
Rouge stared at him in shock; just how bipolar was this guy? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Rouge finally attacked, " Uh…yeah…"
A smile grin formed on Rouge's face as she took his hand, "Nice work echidna, but don't think I owe you anything!"
"Are you okay?" Knuckles asked tenderly.
The loving gentleness in his tone surprised both of the treasure hunters and Rouge instantly looked at Knuckles.
Finding his falter, Knuckles shrugged off his mistake and buried it, " Are you hard of hearing? I thought I told you it's dangerous here at night!"
"I know…but…." Rouge paused.
"But?" Knuckles quirked raising both eyebrows.
"But, t-thank you," Rouge stammered slowly.
Like a natural impulse, she turned her back to the echidna, crossing her arms across her chest.
Her once tightly shut eyes popped open when she felt a soft, warm gloved hand touch her face.
Knuckles turned Rouge's face to his and now she was staring straight into his strong, lovely purple eyes, "Hey, you're more than welcome, batgirl."
The two treasure hunters stared into each other's eyes, both seeming mesmerized.
Knuckles slowly moved his free hand in direction towards Rouge's rosy cheeks, she gasped, 'Wh-what is he doing? Is he going to--!'
She closed her eyes in hopes of a soft caress, only to receive a slight shove to her shoulder. Rouge instantly opened her eyes, " Huh?"
" What were your really thinking? Running off into the middle of the jungle at night. You are crazy!" Knuckles said with half a smile.
"I'm crazy? You're the one who took on that…THAT THING!" Rouge exclaimed.
Knuckles stared at Rouge with a small smile on his face, one that looked almost dreamy.
"What?" Rouge piped.
She turned her back to him, just look how rude he was being, staring at her like that!
"You're--" he lifted a finger as if to say something then he paused.
"I'm what?"
Knuckles shook his head as an even bigger grin crossed his face. Now Rouge was dying to know just what he was going to say.
"Okay, what is it echidna?" Rouge said putting her hands on her hips.
Rouge's eyes fell upon her zillions of duffel bags beside Knuckles' left foot. However, she did notice that she was missing about a fourth of her bags.
"You got all those for me?" Rouge asked softly.
He smiled at her then lifted all of her duffel bags and started walking away. Rouge gasped and followed after him.
"Hey! I don't need your help! I can carry them on my own!" Rouge exclaimed.
"Follow me batgirl," Knuckles replied simply.
"Wait! Where are you gonna take me, and what about all my other duffel bags?" Rouge chirped.
"I'll come back for those later, but as for now, you need to get cleaned up. Mud isn't very becoming for you," He replied not looking back.
Rouge touched her face with a quick swipe of her hands then she silently followed Knuckles, her eyes pasted dead ahead on the tall echidna in front of her.
Before she made another sassy remark aimed at the echidna, her eyes fell upon his bloodstained gloves, and remembering his battle against that horrible creature…
...Perhaps now wouldn't be the best time to get on the echidna's bad side...
After journeying through the jungle with an awkward silence between the two warriors, Knuckles finally came to a stop and Rouge almost nearly bumped into him.
"Goodness!" Rouge muttered to herself.
"Behold, Angel Springs," Knuckles said gesturing to the lake.
Rouge's eyes lit up as she saw the glittering lake. Something as beautiful as the sight before her was like a haven! Before her were icy-hued cascading waterfalls which pooled into shallow lakes.
The lakes glinted beautifully as they reflected the sun's great eye, and thick waifs of steam rose from the sky-hued lakes and curled into the air.
She stepped passed a smirking Knuckles. She gently took a knee before staring into the water. She looked passed her beaming reflection and straight to the bottom of the lake's sandy floor.
She even saw little colorful fish that scuttled by!
She removed a white, silky glove to place a tan finger into the pool of water.
"It's warm, the water I mean," Rouge said with a small smile.
"Yeah, this is Angel Island's biggest hot spring, it's one of my favorite places to go after an intense day of training," Knuckles said.
They both quietly admired the moonlit hot spring together until Knuckles turned away and left.
"Wait, where are you going?" Rouge asked.
"I'm going to get the rest of your belongings, but do enjoy yourself while I'm away," Knuckles said disappearing into the bushes.
A cute little smirk appeared on Rouge's face as she watched him go away. Once she watched the last of his crimson figure disappear she slipped out of her muddy clothes and crept into the lake.
Once she felt the soothing heat of the lake touch her body, she cooed with pleasure. She bathed herself in the lake's warm cerulean waters until her fur returned to its shiny, ivory color.
"Oh, this feels so nice," Rouge whispered to herself.
She let out another content purr then slowly looked around the hot springs and to her dismal found no echidna. Then she blinked, wondering about her last thought.
"Wait a minute, am I unhappy that he's not here? What's a matter with me?" Rouge thought to herself.
Rouge sighed as she slowly slipped out of the Angel Springs and before she could take another step, her eyes darted to a white tank top and a pair of gray sweatpants folded neatly on the ground for her convenience.
A simple smile crossed Rouge's face.
"He's still a creep," Rouge thought with a smile, and then she grabbed the clothes. Once she was dressed, she slowly strolled through the forest searching for any signs of the red echidna.
As she journeyed near the center of the forest she stopped. In front of Rouge was her orchid tent set-up properly, a warm toasty fire blazing and all her duffel bags and luggage piled neatly by her tent.
Her ears heard a crinkle of a leaf and she instantly turned around in hopes to locate her prey.
However no one was in sight, she looked around at every angle she could, and soon she lowered her ears, feeling slightly scared.
She heard a hearty laugh, then she turned to look to her rear, but this time she saw the guardian behind her.
" Are you getting slower?" Knuckles asked.
"Are you….Are you….um...getting freakier?" Rouge burst out making a rather lame comeback.
Knuckles stared at her for a while in half confusion, and half amusement, "Not to mention you're getting stranger as well."
"What? How dare you! You….you creep!" Rouge exclaimed.
Rouge threw a spirited punch at Knuckles who caught her slender hand. In the middle of Rouge's second attempt at a punch, she winced in pain and fell to a knee. Knuckles' eyes widened and he stooped to a knee as well.
"Are you okay Rouge?" Knuckles asked.
"Eh, it's my back…." Rouge moaned, "I think I just threw it out….I'll go sleep now--"
"No! Let me help you!" Knuckles spewed guilty, "It's the least I could do."
A wicked smile played on Rouge's lips but she put on her best, sweet little innocent face for Knuckles, "Well, If you insist."
"Well, let's see if this works," Knuckles said more to himself than Rouge.
Knuckles got behind Rouge and started giving her a firm, but gentle back massage.
"How does this feel?" Knuckles asked with compassion.
"Just fine," Rouge said with a secretive sly smile.
While Knuckles was giving Rouge a massage both of them were thinking a series of different thoughts.
"I'm so sorry if I hurt her, I'm so sorry if I hurt her, I'm so sorry if I hurt her, I'm so sorry if I hurt her," -Knuckles
"He may be the stronger of us two….but I'm certainly the brains! Hmm, now I wonder if I can get him to give me a pedicure on Tuesday." -Rouge
To be continued!
Review and Alice shall renew!
-LuV, Allygurl 8D