Disclaimer: I do not own Knuckles, Rouge or any of the other official SEGA characters. Aki is property of me.

Yikes! The reviews for this story nearly doubled overnight! I'm so happy:) Please keep those reviews coming! And to address a few of them…

Disney Villain- Hang in there, Round 2's coming up soon…

Kal0-and-Summer – Yeah, I'm new. I joined about a week ago. I've been writing stories for a couple of years, but I never posted them until now.

InfinitiveEvil101- Knuckles does a pretty good job of hiding his feelings, doesn't he?

Also, people's thoughts are in italics, just to let you know. And now, by popular request, Chapter 4!

Protector-Chapter 4

"What's taking Aki so long with those sodas…?" Knuckles grumbled impatiently. He looked down the hall where Aki had run off to, then back to Rouge's room, where the bat was sleeping peacefully.

"You really do like Rouge, don't you?"

Aki's words kept running through Knuckles' mind. He frowned, trying to sort out the feelings he had. "It's like that time on the ARK…" he thought to himself. He had felt the same way when he saved her from falling into the pit. At that moment, Rouge's life was more important than the Master Emerald, even though he said he was saving the emerald shards.

"That's why you're still here, isn't it? You're waiting for her to wake up so you can tell her how you feel!"

"…not a bad idea…." Knuckles muttered as he slumped back in his chair, allowing himself a few minutes of rest.

But the moment Knuckles let his guard down was just the moment "he" was waiting for…

"Damn echidna's made a fool outta me for the last time…" the man in the long coat growled as he made his way down the hall, gun cocked and loaded. He stopped right in front of the sleeping echidna and aimed the gun point blank at his head. "Like I said before…" he snarled, his finger tight around the trigger. "No one stops me from getting what I want…"

"CHAOS BOLT!" From out of nowhere, a blue blot of light shot across the hall and struck the man, knocking him to the ground.

"Zzz…huh! What! Who's there?" Knuckles instantly jumped out of his seat, fists clenched.

"Knuckles! Are you OK?" Knuckles turned to Aki, standing at the end of the hall, her hand still glowing blue from Chaos Bolt.

Knuckles glared down at his attacker, whose coat was in shreds and his hat halfway down the hall, revealing his identity.

"Fang!"

"Missed me?" Fang smirked, getting back on his feet. "Oh…I took a beating all right…but it'll take more than that to keep me down…"

"You're the one who hurt Rouge, aren't you?" Aki demanded, joining Knuckles' side.

"Thanks to that dumb bat, I missed my chance at the Master Emerald." Fang explained. "I'm gonna make sure she's not gonna get in my way again…"

"Like hell you will!" Knuckles shouted, ready to clobber him, until Aki jumped in front of him. "Wha…Aki? What are you doing!"

"I'll take care of Fang! You go and protect Rouge!" Aki ordered.

"But…"

"Don't worry about me! You're the only one who can protect her!" Aki grinned. "She saved your tail, now it's your turn!"

"…Watch yourself, kid." Knuckles hurried into Rouge's room.

"Ha! You're gonna stop me?" Fang laughed. "Get out of my way, you little brat!"

Aki said nothing as her whole body began to glow blue, surrounding her with Chaos Energy. She smiled sweetly and replied, "Who's a brat? "

Suddenly, Aki let loose a large wave of Chaos Energy. Fang quickly ducked under the blast and fired three shots from his gun.

"Chaos Barrier!" Aki shielded herself, casting a green circle of Chaos Energy around herself. The bullets bounced off the shield and fell to the ground.

"Uh…er…" Fang was speechless as he stared down at the now useless bullets. He looked up at the mouse girl wide-eyed. "Wh…who the hell are you?"

"A girl who doesn't like to see her friends get hurt!" Aki exclaimed, sending another bolt of energy his way. Fang quickly dived out of the way as the bolt hit a nearby gurney, blowing it to pieces.

When the dust cleared, Fang was nowhere to be seen. Aki looked around, confused. "Wha…where'd he go?"

"Right behind you…"

With a quick strike to her neck, Aki was down on the floor, unconscious. Fang dusted his hands off and smirked, "Nighty-night, brat."

Meanwhile, Knuckles was in Rouge's hospital room, watching the battle from the window. "Damn!" he cursed when Aki fell. "…You did your best kid…guess it's up to me now…" He turned to the sleeping batgirl, completely oblivious to what was going on around her. Knuckles stood next to her and placed a gloved hand on her cheek, "Rouge…I'll protect you this time…I promise…"

He turned to the door, fists clenched, teeth barred, ready to clock Fang in the face just as soon as the door opened…

A/N: And…cliffhanger:P Sorry guys, I seriously didn't want to end it here, but I gotta figure out how to write the next scene…;

By the way, if you're confused about Aki, she can use the powers of the Chaos Emeralds as a weapon. There's more info about Aki on my author's page.

You can probably guess what's gonna happen next; yep, the big fight scene! But until next time, R&R!

Oh yeah, if you guys have any suggestions for fight scenes, let me know. It'll really help!