Sorry about the delay, I guess I got a case of writer's block. I may get sloppy at times, but I promise a good climax in my story.

January 20th

Christmas break was over and it was almost time for semester one exams. Isn't that great how schools do that: you get a break and you come back only to have to do a HUGE test?

Knuckles had an archeologist class so, instead of writing an exam, they had to find a piece of history and write an essay on it and hand both the artifact and paper in. He enjoyed this class the most because it was all about digging and looking for treasure, which were his two favourite things to do. They were given the assignment at the beginning of the semester and Knuckles looked for five months for the perfect item to write about. He found mostly rocks and more rocks, and what seemed like a hopeless project, he felt he was going to fail the class.

Knuckles went to his personal digging area and put on his shovel claws and new miner hat, which he got a Christmas, and started digging. He burrowed through the tough boulder mumbling to himself, "Six days! Six days 'till I have to hand in this stupid project. At least an exam I'd have to read... Did I just say that? Ohh... What a way to waist my Saturday trying to find the one thing that will pass me through this course!"

He kept digging and burrowing and all he was getting were sore hands and dusty rocks going up his nose. It also didn't help that it was the dead of winter and it was snowing, not super heavy, but it was still very cold sat down to rest, taking his claws off, and thought about quitting. The snow fell on his nose which made him sneeze, he shivered and felt like his core temperature would drop below zero when he felt something warm inside him. He looked through the tunnel he had made and saw something red shining at the end. Before he could get up, it disappeared. He looked around the cave but didn't see the red light, but he did get the urge to start looking again. He put his claws back on and started to burrow again. Madly pushing his hands through the rock he hit something hard. He carefully pulled out his hand and hit carefully at the rock. With one last swipe, a piece of pillar came falling out. Knuckles picked it up carefully and examined it; bringing it to the light he realized that it was a pillar from Angel Island's ancient days. He then knew what to write about. He put the pillar under his arm and crawled out of the self-made cave and ran fast and carefully home. He got home and found Rouge sipping a cup of coffee in the living room, reading her monthly fashion magazine.

"Knuckles," she said looking up from the pages. "You're home early. Did you not find something?"

"I... did..." He said out of breath. "Right... here." He went to the kitchen table and placed the pillar on the table. Rouge followed him in; she saw the pillar and gasped.

"That's huge! How'd you find it?"

"That's the strange bit. I was digging for a long time and found nothing. I felt like quitting when I felt something warm here," he put his hand on his chest. "Then I saw something red in the cave, then it disappeared. But then I had a strong urge to continue and I found this!"

"Congratulations hon," Rouge said giving him a kiss on his cheek. She tasted dirt when she kissed him and said, "before we do any celebrating, you gotta wash up. You taste like you had a mud bath, now please have a water one!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Knuckles said as he went to the bathroom to take a shower; Rouge went back to the living room to finish her coldish coffee and magazine article. Knuckles hopped in the shower and turned the water on full blast as cold water hit his red body. Trying to block the water until it warmed up, he started to scrub the dirt and mud off his body. Scrubbing himself with soap, he wondered what that red light was and why it was reacting. Not thinking of any good answers, he finished his shower and dried himself off. After showering, he went back into the kitchen and grabbed paper and a pencil from his school bag and started writing. He knew everything about his kind and didn't need any history books to help him. He eagerly wrote word after word on the page, almost exciting himself that he knew what he was talking about, like he was an expert in something, like Tails and his mechanics. Rouge came in and saw Knuckles' hand going so fast she thought that it would fall off.

"Careful there hon," she said to him. "Or your arm might fall off."

"I just can't believe that I found something that I know everything about!" He straightened his back to see that he was writing so hard, part of the page where the writing was had ripped. "Oops."

"That's alright," Rouge laughed. "That's why they invented 'drafts'."

"Ow, I think I have a writer's cramp. One page and I'm already becoming a writer!"

"Here," Rouge sat down in the chair next to Knuckles and started massaging his hands. "Ooh this IS tense." She kneaded his hand more in silence, then she spoke. "You know, I'm really glad I'm engaged to you. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Me neither Rouge. Even with all our quirks you're quite a gal."

"I have an idea," Rouge said once she stopped massaging Knuckles' hand. "Why don't we go into the room and you can read to me what you have written so far. They always say it's good to have a second opinion on papers." She said that last sentence flirtatious.

Knuckles smiled as he grabbed the paper in one hand and Rouge's hand in the other and they walked into his bedroom.

To clear things up, 1. Knuckles and Rouge do NOT live with each other; 2. What they are doing in his bedroom now... Just use your imagination...

So we're halfway through the school year (I'm doing these semesters based on how I went to highschool). I will have those cameos I just need to think of where they'll come up. With summer here, it's been HOT HOT HOT! So I guess my writer's block is a giant humidex block of 40°C! Thank goodness for basements!