Writer's Note:
February 2nd is Groundhog's day, but it is also an important day in regards to gaming as that is when Knuckles the Echidna made his debut in the Sonic the Hedgehog series with the SEGA Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Since then, the rad red had become a fan favorite.
Now, with his birthday upon us, we shall take a look at Knuckles' birthday. SEGA owns the Sonic series and so does Sonic Team, have fun, Knuckles fans.
He sat by the Master Emerald, deep in thought and looking up at the blue sky. Today was no ordinary day, it was his birthday. Birthdays were usually a great time, but for one like Knuckles the Echidna, his birthday was a letdown.
For his entire life, ever since his younger years, Knuckles had been guarding the Master Emerald. It was his curse, his fate, his destiny to do so... forever. Nobody else lived on the Floating Island, there weren't many echidnas out there, Knuckles was the last guardian.
The only thing he ever did on his birthday was guard the Master Emerald and interact with the animals on the island, it had been a long time since he last saw Sonic and the others, ages since the last fight with Doctor Eggman and other villains for the fate of the universe.
As he thought about his isolation, his burden and how his birthdays weren't as enjoyable as they were supposed to be, a tear trickled down Knuckles' cheek. He rarely shed a tear whenever he thought of friends, his life and almost anything that made him feel emotional.
Knuckles dreamed of the day everything would change, get better for him. He yearned for a brighter day, a happy birthday. The red echidna felt so alone, he wished that someone else could live on the island with him and help him guard the giant green gemstone.
He thought of many who'd been his friends for so long, he thought of Sonic and then of Tails before thinking of Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Cream and Big. Then, Knuckles thought of... her, Rouge the Bat, the jewel-loving and treasure hunting secret agent.
Every time they hung out, Knuckles felt connected to her. They'd come along way from when they first encountered and traded blows on the ARK, even though the two hadn't interacted in a while, Knuckles and Rouge were on good terms. But, he had to admit, she was gorgeous.
As the red echidna sat near the artifact keeping his island afloat in the sky, someone was observing from a distance, someone coming to his island to visit. Knuckles felt a breeze and heard a faint flapping in the wind, spotting a shape in the sky that was nearing the island.
Pulling out a pair of black binoculars, he looked up and held back a gasp when he saw the very person he was just thinking about. Rouge the Bat flew over, flapping her wings with her arms spread out like a bird. Slowly, she hovered over the altar and began her descent.
Knuckles rose to his feet, he couldn't believe it, someone had come to see him on his birthday. Rouge landed, wearing a red tank top, her trademark boots and blue shorts. "Hey, Knuckles." She said, her voice was sweet-sounding as ever, "Long time no see."
"Rouge..." The red echidna replied, almost happy to see her, "Y-You came by to see me... and on my birthday." He pulled her into a hug, a small stream of tears pouring down his cheeks. Rouge looked surprised, but she warmly returned the hug.
"I didn't know today was your birthday, Knucklehead." The white bat commented sarcastically, "I was just coming here to see you, do your friends a favor in checking on you and give you this cake that I made with Cream."
Rouge reached into hammer space and pulled out a red-brown cake with candles on a plate, which she set down in front of Knuckles for him to see. The icing on the cake near the candles formed the words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KNUCKLES' on top of it, Knuckles kneeled down, amazed.
"So, you all knew that it was today..." The red echidna wiped away his tears and smiled, grasping Rouge's hand just as the bat slapped a party hat on her head and placed another on Knuckles' head. "We sure did." Rouge nodded, "Everyone all knew."
She pulled out a phone and turned it on before showing Knuckles a recorded video which showed Sonic with Tails, Cream, Cheese, Vector, Charmy, Espio, Silver, Blaze, Big and Froggy, Sally Acorn and Shadow in Green Hill together.
"Hey, Knuckles!" Sonic said in the video, "Me and my friends here, we figured its your birthday today so we put this together and had Rouge give it to you. We care about you so much and know that it must be very lonely on the island, here's to brighter and less-lonely days, buddy."
The blue hedgehog and the others all said "Happy Birthday" to Knuckles in unison and then raised glasses to him as Sonic gave a wink. Knuckles was amazed, after all this time of not having a really great birthday, his day was finally being remembered.
"Rouge..." The heroic guardian said as he looked into Rouge's eyes and held her hand, "Th-Thank you so much for this, you're making my birthday special." The bat winked, "Anything for our favorite echidna, now, lets blow out the cake already."
Knuckles looked at his birthday cake, the candles were already lit. He closed his eyes and quietly made his wish for happier days, then he took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Rouge squealed happily and hugged him just as a flock of Flickies flew over.
Afterwards, the two sat down together and had some cake with Rouge giving the echidna a knife to cut the cake in pieces with. Knuckles ate half his cake and made sure to let the bat have a couple pieces of cake, especially since she was the one who delivered it to him.
Once the cake had been eaten, the duo let their little meal snack digest before engaging in a few fun activities such as chasing one another around the nearby forest with Knuckles catching Rouge at one point before she caught Knuckles as well.
A little while later, they were sitting near the Master Emerald shrine and looking up at the sky, observing the clouds and doing their best not to look into the sun. Knuckles held Rouge's hand and looked at the bat in her green eyes, his romantic feelings for her slowly surfacing.
"R-Rouge?" The red echidna said.
"Yes, Knuxie." The bat asked half-flirtatiously.
"Thank you... for making my birthday special for me. You've been... a very nice person and a great companion for me here. And, Rouge? I-I love you."
Rouge gasped, she'd always had some attraction towards the red echidna so much to a point where she had been waiting for something like this for a long time. But she never expected Knuckles to confess his feelings for her on his birthday, she must've made him very happy.
"D-Do you mean it, Knuckles?" The bat's eyes seemed to be welling up with tears of shock and joy. When Knuckles nodded, Rouge moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you too, birthday echidna." The bat said and kissed him warmly on the cheek.
Knuckles placed his arms around Rouge's torso and held her close, looking into her green eyes as she looked into his purple eyes. Everything that had happened, all those times they'd been together, it had all led to this day. They were at this point now, it was too late to turn back.
Rouge leaned in and she kissed Knuckles on the lips, he returned the kiss and they started to kiss harder as the red echidna grasped her slender hips and fiddled with Rouge's tail while she put a hand on his muscular chest and started fiddling his dreadlocks with her other hand.
Before long, the two were engaged in a make out and started to involve French kissing. Knuckles rose to his feet, holding Rouge as she swung her legs around his waist and pressed her voluptuous body against Knuckles' body. This was the heat of love, the flame of romance alight.
The red echidna's tongue invaded Rouge's mouth and tickled her teeth as she licked his cheek before inserting her tongue into Knuckles' mouth. Their tongues wrestled away, forming strands of saliva, before their mouths closed and it was regular kissing again.
Knuckles and Rouge kissed long and hard as the bat grasped the sides of his head and he ran his hands up and down her hips, the echidna carried the bat over to his shack near the shrine and brought her into the bedroom where the romance continued on.
Rouge lay on the bed with Knuckles atop her all while they continued to kiss away, the bat removed her shoes and so did the heroic echidna. They almost wanted to go further with this, go beyond the kissing. But it was too soon, they couldn't risk any accidents.
Hardly able to breath, the duo broke the kiss and Knuckles lay down on the bed, Rouge lay on her side next to Knuckles, wrapping her arms around him as he put an arm around her. She kissed the echidna on the cheek and whispered, "Happy birthday, Knuckles the Echidna."
Knuckles smiled and held the bat closer to him, knowing today was the day he would no longer have any lonely birthdays and that someone was here to stay. He asked Rouge to live with him on the island, helping him guard the Master Emerald, she was happy to oblige...
The End
(Happy 27th birthday, Knuckles. 1994-2021)
