It just occured to me that half of you don't know how to play war. I'm sorry- I guess this story is a little confusing if you don't. Ask someone how to play sometime; it's a great pastime if the power is out or something.

Oops. I almost forgot. I DON'T OWN KNUCKLES OR ROUGE. Or anybody else. There. Don't sue me.

We both flipped our cards. Ten of clubs- that's good! I grinned. Then he flipped his. King of diamonds. Sonic and Tails both stared at each other for a minute as he pushed the cards to his right to start a pile.

We flipped again. Mine: four of spades. His: five of hearts.

Flip. Mine: five of diamonds. His: nine of spades.

Flip. Mine: eight of hearts. His: ace of clubs. I groaned.

Flip. Mine: nine of diamonds! Maybe a win for me!

His? Ten of diamonds, of course.

As the minutes passed and we began to get into our little decks, his pile grew and grew. Mine remained merely reserved space on the table. Tails was watching intently, and Sonic was staring with his jaw dropping further and further with every one of Knux's little victories. I was starting to think it was rigged or something.

Flip. Knux had drawn a seven of hearts. I leered.

"War!" I had drawn a seven of clubs.

We both set a card face down and hastily flipped our two cards on top of them.

He had drawn a three of diamonds. And me? The six of spades!

"Yeah!" Tails cheered.

Sonic blinked. "A six?! She won!"

Knuckles pushed the cards toward me, nervously meeting my eyes for a moment and returning his hand to his deck. I self - consciously did the same.

Flip. Mine: four of diamonds. His: two of spades.

Flip. Mine: three of hearts. His: two of clubs.

Slowly, things started to change. The odds were in my favor! Flip after flip, my pile of cards began to grow and his chances seemed to be diminishing. He was becoming more and more nervous, I could tell. I, on the other hand, was relaxing.

Flip. Mine: nine of clubs. His: eight of spades.

Flip. Mine: ten of spades. His: jack of diamonds. I was getting a bit anxious now. The minutes had turned into hours, but I hadn't noticed. Our game was nearing its end. Our decks had shrunken from hulking towers into stacks of seven each. Tails was still watching excitedly, but Sonic was now yawning from time to time.

Flip. Mine: nine of hearts. His: queen of spades.

Flip. Mine: king of clubs. His: jack of hearts.

Flip. Mine: ten of hearts. His: queen of hearts.

I was startled by Tails's snapping to wake Sonic up. He turned back to us and half jumped when we were both staring at him. "You guys know that this is it, right? Sonic here is about done for the night."

We both glanced at each other apprehensively. I took a shaky deep breath and drew a card. He followed suit. (Pardon the pun.)

Shaky flip. Mine: the ace of spades. I had done it!

His: ace of diamonds. My mouth dropped open.

"War," he murmured shakily, setting a card face- down and drawing another.

This is it, Rouge! You can do it! I flipped my card. It was actually the Queen of Diamonds! We'd been through all of the high cards now, I was sure of it; Tails and Sonic gasped in awe. I smirked. "Beat that, Knucklehead."

His purple eyes were wide with surprise as he held his card facing away from me. "O-Oh…" he stuttered before narrowing his eyes. "With pleasure."

I gasped in disbelief. It wasn't possible! My Queen! Of Diamonds!!

Flip. I couldn't believe it.

The King of Hearts.

"No way," Sonic murmured.

I looked up at Knuckles, stunned. "You- I-"

He smiled at me weakly. "Sorry, Rouge." He rubbed his arm sheepishly. "I had to prove to these two that I could win a card game."

I blinked in disbelief. He shrugged self-consciously. "It was just luck."

I could do nothing but stare, my mouth agape.

Sonic was the first to break the stunned silence by standing up.

"Okay, Night night everybody. I'm goin' home. 'Scuse me, Rouge."

I got up silently. Tails followed his best friend. "Good card game, you two."

"Thanks," I found myself saying.

Knux got up on the other side of the table and looked at me, obviously embarrassed. "Um, see you next week, I guess. …Good game."

I finally began to regain my composure. "Thanks. You too." He smiled at me for a second before racing after his pals. I felt myself blushing and smiling as they vanished from view.

"Rouge, come in. This is the president."

I grabbed my communicator. "Reporting for duty, sir."

"We have the problem under control. Why don't you take a couple days off? You sound fatigued."

I nodded. Now that the excitement was over, I was becoming extremely worn out. "You know," I murmured woozily, "I think I will."

"That will be all. Thank you, Rouge."

My radio chhk'd with static.

Turning back to the table, I realized that the group had left their deck there. I sat back down, the old sofa hissing out air with my weight. I began to scoop the cards into a pile. Then I saw the final card played. I picked it up. The king of hearts…

Then a thought struck me. Next week? Same time, same place? You better get practicing! a little voice in my head called. With a weary smile, I collected thee pile of cards and hurried out the door towards home.

Yeay I'm done :) R&R Please! I'm sorry it took me so long to post Ch. 3 - my surge protector wasn't hooked up right and my computer got hit by lightening. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find the right backup CD when you somehow LEFT IT AT YOUR GRANDMA'S HOUSE?