Possibly Love?
By: AliceStar
(Sonic and Company belong to Sega! Not me!)
The dreamy, slumbering sky was curled in blankets of deep fuchsias and indigos. The early morning chill still blanketed the entire island. By normal standards, it was much too early to be up.
…However a certain echidna felt otherwise…
He had crept into the white bat's tent by tip-toeing almost in a comical manner. Now he waited silently behind one of her mauve traveling suitcases. He slowly rose to peer at the still form before him. Excitedly, a large smile ignited upon his face; oh how he was going to get that girl back for dangling him from a tree!
'Like a freakin' piñata,' he thought disgruntled.
Buried happily in the dream world was the huntress herself. A small, light smile danced upon her lips as she snuggled deeper into her warm, fluffy blanket quilts. Knuckled stared down at the figure he loomed over; his plan was perfect and…
… She was absolutely defenseless.
Slowly, Knuckles rose a quivering, ice-cold bucket of water. Just as he heaved a stream in Rouge's direction, she rolled over, avoiding the water. Knuckles tried again as Rouge sighed happily and turned over.
"…"
The crimson echidna blinked stupidly as he looked from the bucket in his hands to the bat lying at his feet. He dropped the last of its contents directly above her head, and somehow, she maneuvered to avoid the icy blow as well. Knuckles knotted his brow and clenched his fists tightly. A silent fury overtook the echidna as he cursed silently.
He tromped out of the tent furiously and turned to look back at Rouge, "…You will NOT defeat me!" Then he left, hastily closing the flap behind him. Yawning lightly, Rouge rolled over yet again, still smiling. She even had the nerve to have giggled gleefully in her sleep.
Although Rouge didn't quite understand the occasion, all she knew was that she was finally getting the treatment that she deserved. She found herself in a large, ivory room well-lavished with beautiful flowers and scents. Mounds, if not mountains of gold and precious jewels were stacked on either side of the throne she was on.
…Yes, she was mounted on a throne at an almost ridiculous altitude where her guests had to crane their necks to gaze upon her splendor; and Rouge loved it.
Also, she found herself in a bedazzling, sparkling lavender dress with long, pale white gloves and matching sparkling lavender glass stilettos. But the coupe de grace was the silver, jewel-crested tiara that rested upon her head like a glittering wreath.
At first Rouge was dismayed to find that her circlet was made of silver in place of gold, but after speaking to one of her servants, who was dressed in a purple gown, she found out that her tiara was actually made of white gold!
Dreamily she gazed at her audience below her, there were at least one million people dabbling in her beautiful hall! And all dressed to impress their Empress.
…Or at least Rouge assumed that she was an Empress…
She shrugged, either way they were giving her gift after gift! And what she saw, she liked!
"Gift, after gift, after gift, …and Rouge likes it!" Rouge laughed happily.
She gazed at her matching white-gold scepter, smiling, then pointed it in the nearest passersby's face, "You there, fetch me more presents!"
The servant bowed, "At once your ladyship."
" Good," Rouge smiled, " And you, fetch me a mocha cream frappicuno, on the rocks!"
In a matter of seconds Rouge was slipping her delicious drink and a group of people appeared before her, " My Ladyship, your gift--er, friends are here."
"Hmm?" Rouge ducked her head lower to gaze at the guests before her. To her delight, it was her friends!
…And Sonic was there too…
" Hello Empress Rouge!" Amy bellowed, waving at her, " We brought gifts."
"Ah, my royal…er…people!" Rouge piped, " Hello!"
"Good day your grace," Amy addressed with a curtsey, "We bring you your fair gifts!"
"I brought perfume and mahogany!" Tails exclaimed.
"And I brought ribbons and silk!" Cream smiled.
"And I brought diamonds and pearls!" Amy squealed.
"And I brought my companionship and loyalty!" Sonic replied.
" Thank you Tails, Amy, and Cream," Rouge smiled, "And as for you Sonic…you can get the hell outta my court!"
Everyone in the court laughed. Rouge herself laughed at that one until one servant appeared before her, " My ladyship! My lady! But there is one more gift! For there is a stranger who claims to have come from faraway."
"A stranger huh," Rouge rubbed her chin in thought, "….But they got a gift? Well, send em' on in!"
The door opened and all the once bumbling guests fell silent as they turned to gaze upon the new arrival. They created a single path to allow the stranger to appear before the Empress. Rouge herself sat up and squinted her eyes to gaze upon the stranger. From where she sat she could only tell that he was wearing a deep maroon cape with a matching hat.
The room fell so silent that the glittering Empress was able to hear the light footsteps of the approaching stranger. Curiously she peered from her stoop and saw that he was matching in leather boots.
Finally, when the stranger was at the foot of her stool he bowed gracefully, allowing her to see the top of his hat, and the dark feather that stuck out from its side. He raised his head and the Empress gasped, "Knuckles?"
The red echidna took off his hat and bowed smoothly, " I'm glad to see that the beautiful Empress remembers me."
The Empress's cheeks burned nearly the same color as the stranger's suit, "Well, you certainly know what to say to a fair lady, Knuckles!"
"If you want my gift," Knuckles began smiling, " then you'll have to come down he--"
Before he could finish, Rouge had performed a masterful midair-flip and landed before him nonchalantly, "…Yes?"
Knuckles sweat-dropped momentarily before he spoke, "…Er, follow me your grace."
Vaguely, Rouge noticed that the tall stranger took her by the hand and led her through a vigilant crowd. After being his shadow momentarily, Rouge realized that he was taking her to the balcony. Once they were upon the ivory balcony, which had an excellent view over the kingdom, Knuckles released the bat's hand. Blinking, Rouge watched him earnestly as he turned to face her.
The gaze upon his face was so wonderful that if caused the young Empress to flush a soft shade of rose, "…My gift you promised?"
Knuckles smiled, "… Now you have to close your eyes."
The Empress obliged and the stranger did likewise. He slowly approached the Empress who's face was burning. Just when she felt his warm breath upon her face…
…He splashed her with a bucket of water...
"Aaaaaah!" Rouge exclaimed.
Knuckles laughed, slowly walking to leave the tent, "…Good morning batgirl. If we're going to find the Master Emerald as fat as we can…we gotta go now!"
The guardian left the tent with a wicked smile as Rouge sat up looking somber. She gazed around the room looking for her mountain-high stack of jewels and riches. She even groped the air for her crown, and looked around, but to no avail she saw no presents or gold, only the fuchsia flaps of her tent.
Rouge sniffled, "…My scepter.."
The treasure huntress curled her hands into tight fists as she slowly rose from her bed. She had a few words that she really wanted to say to a certain echidna…
...Really dirty, not so-nice words too.
She stuck her head outside of the tent and scanned the area, but to her disliking there was no echidna. She leapt out of the tent furiously, searching for the vermilion guardian. Rouge ceased her mad search when her eyes finally fell upon the retreating form of the red echidna. Rouge smiled roguishly, and took to following him.
With a merry swagger, Knuckles strolled through leafy green bushes, making use of a short-cut he had discovered one day.He looked to his left and gazed at an odd shaped redwood. In Knuckles' opinion, the tree looked like a kicking boot.
'Yep, there's the gnarled kicking-tree,' Knuckles thought to himself, ' I'm going the right way.'
The claret echidna continued on his way, whistling happily while dragging a tin pale after himself. After cutting through a couple of thick flowering-bushes, Knuckles found himself at his destination. Before him was a fairly shallow, icy-blue river. This was the place Knuckles had dubbed, ' Angel River.'
Yep, this was definitely one of the best places to catch the freshest, most delicious fish.
Then Knuckles blinked as a stray thought crossed his mind, 'Wait a minute, I called this place Angel River when there's Angel Island, Angel falls, Angel Springs…Boy, maybe a little creativity wouldn't kill me…'
The guardian shrugged the thought off as he sat at the grassy riverbank and proceeded to plop himself on a comfy patch o' land and gaze at the river. Just as he spotted a fish wiggling around in the shallowest area of the water, the sound of heavy, pounding foot steps lured him out of his train of thought.
Knuckles gazed over his shoulder at the person that stood behind him; it was Rouge. The smiling guardian regarded her curiously as she gasped deep, furious breaths. In no way was Knuckles a fool, he knew perfectly well what was bothering her; it was his antic he had pulled on her earlier, "…Can I help you Rouge, why you seem….distressed?"
Rouge stared at him with furious, flaming blue eyes. Mildly, Knuckles had noticed that she had the mind to first change out of her sleeping clothes before she tracked him. The huntress snarled, "…You've done it this time dreadie-locks! I'm going to royally kick…your…ass!"
Knuckles laughed, "Oh batgirl, it was time for you to wake up anyways, I was just doing my job as--"
Before Knuckles could even finish, Rouge rushed him, screaming hellishly, "I'll kill you, red!"
Screaming, Rouge managed to take the crimson warrior by surprise and tackle him into the nearby river.Knuckles plummeted into the water back-first with a yelp. Quickly Knuckles surfaced, hastily removing water from his mouth. He allowed himself to be carried by the river's current, he searched around swiftly for Rouge, "Batgirl? Where are you? Ba--"
Knuckles was cut off mid-sentence as he felt a pair of ice-cold hands cover his mouth. Moments later, he was dunked underwater, courtesy of Rouge. Knuckles flailed his arms and screamed as Rouge repeatedly dunked him underwater.
The huntress snarled like a rabid wolverine the entire time, "YOU (Dunk) THOUGHT (Dunk) YOU'D (Dunk) GET AWAY WITH THAT (Dunk) SCOTT-FREE?"
Coughing, and spluttering water, Knuckles slipped out of Rouge's grasp. He tried to distance himself as she barked at him, " COME BACK HERE!"
"Have you lost your mind, batgirl?" Knuckles hissed, "Here, let me help you…CLEAR YOUR THOUGHTS!"
Knuckles sent a wave of water straight into Rouge's face, she coughed then returned a splash of water. Furiously, Knuckles returned the blow turning the battle into an all-out water warfare. After back and forth splashing for what seemed like hours, Knuckles brought down a furious fist upon the water and sprung the water over Rouge's head.
Rouge resurfaced looking not furious, but terrified. Knuckles clenched a victorious fist as he laughed, "Ah-HA! Serves you right batgirl. Think again when it comes to battling me!"
The ivory bat merely squeaked. Knuckles laughed and gazed at her slyly, "Oh-ho, so now you've been humbled for good, huh?"
Rouge pointed behind the red hunter and squeaked again, only this time louder, but Knuckles didn't even bother to turn around, "Now that's getting just plain annoying batgirl…Although it beats having to listen to you rant."
"I'M POINTING TO THE WATERFALL YOU IDIOT!" Rouge yelled as clear as day.
"…Eh?"
"THE WATERFALL! THE WATERFALL!"
Knuckles turned around and looked where the huntress was pointing. Sure enough, a waterfall was no more than a few meters from where they waded, "…Oh…"
With a startled yelp, Knuckles about-faced and started paddling as hard as he could. He managed to make it over to Rouge who was screaming her head off. Just as he was about to pass the bat, Rouge grabbed onto him, paddling frantically as well.
But after minutes of paddling, they were slowly being sucked towards the waterfall. It looked as if taking a ride on the waterfall would be inevitable.Rouge glanced over her shoulder as she glimpsed at the approaching waterfall, "Ah! Knuckles! We're gonna fall!"
Still refusing to give up, Knuckles clenched his eyes closed and padded faster as Rouge's grip upon him tightened. Knuckles felt himself at the edge of the waterfall, and even began to totter, "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"
Dramatically, Rouge shot her arm forward as they plunged backwards, falling through the air, "NOOOOOOO!"
"Ha!"
Knuckles instantly sat up, a deadly scowl upon his face. He surveyed the scene around him and found that he was…
"…At the top of the Master Emerald shrine?"
Knuckles slowly rose to his feet as he took at better look around. Indeed, he was on the top of the infamous shrine. But the entire appearance of the shrine itself was different. The once dead, crumbling structure was restored to its beautiful stoic stature.
The marble crafting of the building was clean and well-polished, and the intricate insignias and hieroglyphics appeared to have been freshly carved into the marvelous structure. The pedestal for the Master Emerald, and the seven chaos emeralds alike, was a sight to behold.
Knuckles slowly walked down the well-furnished stone steps and gazed at the green grass and the translucent rivers that winded around the shrine. There were even adorable little blue chao playing in the water! It was only when Knuckles glimpsed down at the splashing Chao in the water that he noticed his reflection and his apparel. The red guardian was cloaked in a long, deep green robe that brushed the ground.
He also noted the matching emerald headband tied around his head. Carefully, he gently rubbed the tiny emerald shard tied around his neck. Knuckles blinked at his reflection; …were his eyes green?
The complete, honorary emerald robes, the warrior's circlet of courage, the token shard of the Master Emerald, and the Emerald-infused eyes…these were all badges of the great deeds that he had accomplished.
The emerald robes came from the fulfillment of Emerald guardianship. The warrior's circlet of courage honored the great status of a powerful warrior. The token shard of the Master Emerald was given to one of the most trustworthy echidna's to protect and revere for a lifetime.
And the Emerald eyes were a gift from the Master Emerald itself; this meant that it had granted its chosen user a channel to its power. Knuckles was shocked; was this a dream? He held such a prestigious status that many echidna could only dream of obtaining. He sighed deflatedly; it had to be a dream, there was no way that he could restore such dignity to the Master Emerald…
…Could he?
Just as Knuckles made his way from the shrine, he suddenly felt a pair of hands encircle his waist. The red echidna blinked; yes, this couldn't be a dream, he felt those warm hands!
If this wasn't a dream, then…
"There you are Knuckles! We were getting so worried about you!"
Knuckles turned to face the owner of the voice and saw that it was, "…ROUGE?"
Rouge slowly removed her hands from Knuckles and took a step away from the gaping echidna, "Yes silly, who did you think?"
Knuckles almost choked at the sight of the white bat before him. She was adorned in beautiful echidna silk garments. She wore a shiny, silky pink midriff top that showed off her toned stomach. And hanging loosely from her waist was a matching rose-colored sarong.
The sides of her sarong had high slits in them which showed off shapely, tan legs. A small, silver tiara crowned her with a single, shinning emerald gem. Rouge stood akimbo as she glared at him playfully, "All right, spill it, where have you been all day? I missed you, you know."
Knuckles blinked, appearing absolutely shocked, "…You did?"
Rouge laughed; not cruelly as she usually did, but fancifully, as if amused, "Of course I did. Why would I not miss my husband?"
Knuckles face seemed to almost glow red, "I'm your husband!?"
"Okay, now I agree with Courage; yes even you, the hero of the echidna race need a vacation."
"Courage?" Knuckles asked confused.
Rouge rolled her eyes, "You know, the little red, blue-eyed echidna that looks kind of like his father?"
A small red echidna entered the scene. Just as his beautiful wife had said, the little Knuckles look-alike had his mother's stunning blue eyes, "Hi dad! Wanna play football now?"
Knuckles glanced back and forth between Rouge and…this so called Courage character. Undeniably the kid, despite the lighter eyes, looked like a little knock-off of his father.
"Son...?" Knucles' voice nearly squeaked.
The little echidna laughed, "Dad's so funny, huh mommy?"
Rouge arched an eyebrow, "Yes, your father does have problems, but we love him anyways, don't we?"
Knuckles turned his gaze to Rouge who looked, well…like a woman begging to be loved in a heap of wild passion. The great guardian allowed his eyes to travel to her trim midriff then to fall and catch a glimspe of her golden, sun-kissed thighs. She was just beautiful and the emotions she provoked in him were great.
"If this isn't a dream," Knuckles said almost in a growl; he began inching his way ominously towards the white bat who stared at him curiously, "…Then I want…the biggest…most passionate kiss that you can muster…Because if this isn't a dream, then you won't let me have it."
The tiara-crested Rouge looked away thoughtfully, then she shrugged apathetically, "Okay…I guess…"
"Ugh….my head…my lovely, perfect head…"
Rouge slowly opened her eyes and found herself lying in a swallow pool of water.She quickly rose and squeezed the water from her hair. Just how in the heck had she survived that fall? Rouge gazed skyward in thought; oh yeah! That's right, she had clung tightly to Knuckles, who had managed to glide and take some of the air out of their fall. Then the huntress narrowed her eyes, just where was that sonovagun?
The huntress turned about forty-five degrees to see an approaching Knuckles. Rouge arched an eyebrow; was it her or did he look really, really miffed? Well, not mad…but he looked intense. He was slowly stomping towards her with an odd sparkle in his eyes.
Rouge placed a single hand on her hip as she glared at the advancing echidna, "So, you're back for more, huh? Ready for round two?"
Her smile disappeared as Knuckles suddenly sliced a tree in halves with his knuckles, "…" Rouge's attitude suddenly flipped as he began to storm towards her with that ever-creepy dead-gaze, "Er…Kn-nuckles?"
The echidna continued to approach her as she started to back away from him. Then it eventually turned into a dead full-out sprint, "Ke-KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!"
Just as Knuckles seemed to be approaching the tiara-crowned Rouge, she giggled and took off, starting to run through forest terrain, "You have to catch me first!"
"Wait!" Knuckles took off after the running bat who was laughing, and throwing seductive glances back at him. Knuckles tore after her, following her like a tracker.
"This should be easy for you to catch me husband," Rouge purred, "Especially as great as a hunter as you are…"
Sure enough, Knuckles started picking up her trek until he was hot on her trail. Then with a not too entirely rough push, Knuckles grabbed Rouge from behind and they both went down laughing. Smiling, though panting slightly, Knuckles stared down at the smiling, but huffing Rouge, who laid underneath his gentle grasp, " Gotcha…"
Shivering, Rouge stared at Knuckles wide-eyed, he muttered one clear word as he stared at her with those odd, almost possessed eyes. The huntress squirmed under his grasp as Knuckles' smiled sharpened, " Knuckles! You're overreacting! …Yeah the waterfall fall was scary…but COME ON!"
She stopped talking as she felt the echidna gently grasp her chin. Now she was confused; was he going to kill her or wasn't he? Not that anyone in their right mind would want to be. She got an idea of his true intentions when he slowly closed his eyes and began to slowly descend closer to the bat's flushing face.
Blushing wildly, Rouge stared at him as she watched helplessly, 'He's really gonna do it! He really is!'
Just as Knuckles was mere inches from Rouge, a brilliant, white light flared from the stone of her creamy, pearly necklace. Almost immediately, the dead gaze within his eyes broke and he blinked. He yelped slightly as he realized just what exactly he was about to do, and dropped the unconscious bat; it appears that she had fainted from so much stress.
"Rouge?"
"Bleh…" Rouge was out like a snuffed candle.
Knuckle quickly hopped off of the bat and looked at her, 'Good Chaos, what is wrong with me?'
The red warrior lowered his gaze, then noticed that glowing gem upon Rouge's neck. It looked like a miniature version of a glowing moon. He arched an eyebrow as he slowly gripped it within his fingers. The jewel was icy to his touch, like a block of ice.
Slowly, the moon-colored gem's light died away as it returned to its normal state. Knuckles' furrowed his brow as he started at the gem, "…Where you responsible for all of that?"
Knuckles looked at the fainted Rouge, "…Whatever this means…I better get you to the Master Emerald…and quick..."
To be continued!
-Sorry about the lack of updates, but here you are, O faithful fans! Expect much quicker updates!
-LuV, Allygurl 8D