Knuckles stoically stood guard before a massive emerald of impressive size, his arms crossed and face stony. The height of the emerald easily dwarfed him by a head and width by three Knuckles stacked side to side. It was a magnificent specimen, perfectly cut within the nanometer and refracting dazzling light throughout the jungle clearing, bathing everything in a warm green hue, like a color out of space.
There was an unbelievable power tied to its seemingly innocuous existence, its pulsing ethereal radiance and mind bogglingly perfect euclidean geometry exuded an oppressive aura so heavy it could crush lesser men to dust with its presence alone. Only the Ancients knew of what this artefact's purpose was in life and the true extent of its unknowable chaotic capabilities.
Time.
Space.
Matter.
Thought.
All were rendered irrelevant before the emerald's incomparable might.
...And to think, Knuckles had dug the stupid thing up by the beachside after tripping on it during his workout cooldown period.
Knuckles's curiosity got the better of him that day. Digging up the eldritch emerald half buried in the sand felt like a compulsion more than anything, almost like a voice inside his head was screaming at his soybean sized mammalian echidna brain to do it. It didn't take long to unearth it, even less so to bring it topside with his herculean strength. When he did, instinct took over immediately.
It needed to be hidden, he thought. To be guarded, kept away from prying eyes, scheming minds and thieving hands. He didn't know why, only that he had to. And so he dragged it deep into the heart of the jungle. Farther than anyone sane has ever gone.
And there he stood for hours now. Tall and proud, fulfilling an ancient and sacred duty completely alien to him. The power of innumerable suns mere inches away.
Night eventually fell, and the stars illuminated the darkened skies like twinkling diamonds in the heavens.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...This... Is... Amazing!" Knuckles cried in delight. Who knew standing guard over a glorified rock for over eight hours with no breaks made for such an exhilarating and intellectually stimulating time. "Well, it's getting late. Guess that means it's quitting time. Better clock out for the day. Man, Sonic and Tails don't know what they're missing out on." He rolled his shoulders and tilted his head side to side, relishing in the cathartic pops of his realigning vertebrae.
Walking over to a nearby time clock perched upon a nearby palm tree, Knuckles pulled out his time card neatly situated below it and clocked out for the day, yawning in weariness soon after.
"Welp, time to call it a night," murmured Knuckles.
Just as he was about to take off however, Knuckles noticed a large shadow dive across the moon. Its silhouette dancing in the silver moonlight as it descended into the jungle, frightening a flock of sleeping birds in the process.
The sultry sounds of salacious saxophones swinging smooth jazz seemed to sing from the starry skies as the bushes in front of Knuckles rustled to life before he was graced by the appearance of a drop dead gorgeous beauty.
A tall, lithe and curvaceous white bat dressed in a deep purple catsuit stood before Knuckles propped up on ankle torquing high heels, her pale round face accented by just the right amount of makeup. She had her spindly arms folded across her body where the webbing of her wide phantasmal wings draped over her body like a living cloak, granting her an imposing presence that was compounded by her long taut legs that seem to go on forever.
The mysterious bat sauntered towards Knuckles, hip swaying sensually side to side in a bid to charm the muscle bound brute, who towered over her by a few scant inches. As she approached him she freed her arms and unfurled her wings, revealing her voluptuously ample bosom barely contained behind the thin elastic material of the catsuit.
"Hey there, big boy," the temptress whispered hotly. "The name's Rouge. What's yours?"
"Name's Knuckles," he introduced himself. "You aren't from around here, are you?"
"Quite right, quite right," Rouge cooed, circling the echidna. "I'm something of a... collector. I travel all over the world looking for only the finest."
"Oh, yeah?" Knuckles raised his eyebrow. "What do you collect?"
"Oh, you know. A little bit of this, a little bit of that," Rouge sung hypnotically. "I particularly like things that shine and glisten. Reminds me of the ocean on a warm summer day."
"Hey! I got something that shines and glistens like the ocean," replied Knuckles, a goofy grin plaster on his face.
"I've noticed," She grinned deviously, tracing small circles across Knuckle's broad chest. "But alas, I can't take you," she joked. "However, that gem of yours sure is breathtaking specimen. I've never seen something so impressive, this big... hard... throbbing... rock."
"Yeah, I don't really know how to explain that this thing can throb. Something about power beyond measure, anathema of the Gods, heart of all reality. S'weird," Knuckles replied nonchalantly, causing Rouge to momentarily break character. "But it is big." he casually tapped the emerald with his knuckle. "And hard."
"I'll say. I think I'll need both hands to hold onto it," Rouge quipped, regaining her composure and sass. "What do you say about handing it off to little ol' me? I'm sure I can find space for it in my carefully curated collection."
"Sorry, babe. The emerald stays," denied Knuckles, bringing a hand up. "Something tells me not to trust you. S'like a gut instinct born from years of ancestral duty... Heh heh... ancestral. That's a made up word."
"Oh, poo," Rouge pouted, pressing a finger against her luscious plump lips. "You sure there isn't any way for me to take it off your big strong hands?" She casually brought her other hand up and grabbed at the catsuit's zipper and pulled it down, just enough to show a good amount of cleavage as she pressed herself against Knuckles. "Surely there's something I can give to make it worth your while?"
"...I don't know what pulling your zipper down does but like I said, the emerald ain't going nowhere. S'pecially to no bat lady in the middle of the night on a work day," Knuckles grunted defiantly, with a good helping of obliviousness to round out his usual level of idiocy.
Rouge pulled back from Knuckles, her pout shifting into a scowl. Her sensual expression melted away and she dropped all pretense of playing nice. "Well, then. If you're not going to give it to me, then I'm just going to have to take it! Hiiiiyah!" She let out a bellowing warcry as she reeled her leg back and unleashed a deadly roundhouse aimed straight at Knuckles gut.
"Hey, what's the big ide- Huack!"
"That kick sent me flying across the jungle and through a palm tree. Ended up cracking four of my ribs and caused a mild case of internal bleeding. Anyway, that's the story of how we met," replied Knuckles.
Sonic, Amy, Tails and Sticks all stared at Knuckles like he had grown a second head. But perhaps more importantly, they were shocked at the fact that Rouge, the thieving bat from his crazy story, was sitting atop his lap, hugging onto him with a dreamy expression on her face.
"S'not how I expected to get into a relationship, but life is mysterious like that," commented Rouge.
"Wait, Knuckles. What happened to the emerald?" asked Sonic as he snapped out of his stupor.
"Oh, that's an entirely different story. Apparently there was this thing called Chaos and an echidna named Tik-"
To Be Continued...?