"silverdawn."

What? Someone there? Oh, hey Shadow...what are you doing out here?

"Are you going to add me to this story or not?"

Well...see, this little dealie's a romance story, Shadz. So if I did, I'd have to pair you with someone, and Amy, Blaze, Rouge, and Cream are already taken.

The black hedgehog frowned. "...I'm heading back to my capsule."

Aw, Shadz...it's okay. I'll pair you with someone later...maybe?

"Darn hopeless romantics..."

...xxx...

Chapter 5: Treasure Hunting

"Well, Knuckie, we're finally out on a date. Aren't you excited?" Rouge asked him.

The echidna smirked. "This is our kind of date, huh?"

Rouge smiled. Scouring Mobius, looking for Chaos Emeralds with Knuckles. There were certainly worse things to do. She just wasn't sure there were many better.

"Well, we better get going, tiger."

Knuckles pulled out his Emerald and smirked proudly. "When we get close to another emerald it will start reacting. As a guardian, I can sense their presence."

Rouge just looked at him, her eyes glazed over. "That's your plan? Just walking around and holding the Emerald out until it starts glowing? And you call yourself a treasure hunter…"

Knuckles bristled. "Well, what's your idea? That's actually the best way to find them, you know. The Chaos Emeralds attract each other."

Rouge tilted her head in thought. "I was always told they repelled each other. That's why they're always scattered after Sonic or Shadow use them."

This made sense. Knuckles would have to ask Tails later. In the meantime...

"Well, what I do know is that they glow when they get near each other. So this is how we're going to track them down," Knuckles affirmed and started walking.

Rouge smiled a little. Knuckles could be so stubborn.

"Well, I'm glad you value my opinion," Rouge said as she followed after him.

"I value it when it's right," he replied evenly, his eyes never leaving the Emerald.

"You should always listen to me, then."

Knuckles tried to think of a comeback, but couldn't. Well, he was dealing with a professional flirt here.

"Hey, are you looking for the Emeralds or not?" was all he could muster.

"No, I'm waiting for yours to start glowing."

Touche. No, he couldn't let her win! Knuckles scowled, but then the yellow Emerald in his hand started reacting.

"Ha! See, I told you!" he said triumphantly.

"That looks different, though," Rouge said, squinting at the shiny Emerald.

The smirk on Knuckles' face disappeared. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean the glow. Doesn't it look strange?"

Knuckles stared at it dumbly. It looked the same to him. "No."

Rouge rolled her eyes, but Knuckles kept walking in the direction of the eerie glow. Yeah, it was definitely different. How could he not see that? She kept following the echidna, but watched the Emerald. It seemed to be glowing brighter at every step, which meant they were getting closer to the source. Soon it'd be too painful-

"Ah!"

They covered their eyes as a blinding light was emitted from the Emerald. A pain ravaged Knuckles' hand from the energy.

"Cover it!" Rouge demanded.

Knuckles forced the Emerald into his glove to mask it from wherever the intense energy was from. The two caught their breath for a second, and when their eyes adjusted, they started looking for the source Chaos Emerald.

"There-" Knuckles started to say, but he paused. That wasn't it. It didn't have the familiar pyramidal shape. Instead it was more rectangular.

Rouge had spotted it too. "Well, what do we have here?" the bat said as she bent over to pick up the Emerald. When she righted herself, she noticed Knuckles had watched her very closely as she leaned over. Rouge cleared her throat, and he finally moved his eyes from her chest.

Pervert, she thought, though she really didn't mind the attention.

"That's not a Chaos Emerald," Knuckles said dumbly.

"No, but it sure is pretty," Rouge said and smiled, admiring the shine.

"The Emerald reacted to it, though. That's no ordinary gem."

"Hmmm," Rouge said, not really caring and not taking her eyes off the jewel.

Knuckles opened his wrist comm. "I'm gonna call the others."

Rouge looked at him. Why'd he have to do that? She had been hoping to keep this for herself. It wasn't often one came across a gem this large and this beautiful.

"Tails?" The guardian said over the wrist comm.

"Knuckles? You two find anything yet?"

"Not exactly. The Emerald started reacting, but it didn't lead us to another Chaos Emerald."

Tails frowned. "What? What did it react to, then?"

"Another emerald. This one's more squarish."

A squarish emerald? "You're saying it started glowing? Is that it?" Tails asked.

"And there was that huge burst of light and energy like always."

Tails mused for a bit on this. A Chaos Emerald reacting to some other jewel? This had never happened before. What could it mean? Whatever it was, it must have had a lot of energy to attract the Chaos Emerald. Was there another set of Emeralds they had never known about before?

"Knuckles, why don't you bring that back here so we can look at it?"

"Alright." He closed the wrist communicator and looked at Rouge, not missing her down turned lips.

Why did she look so upset?

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," she said, sighing.

Knuckles tilted his head. Then it suddenly dawned on him.

"Rouge, if you're gonna be on the team, then you can't be selfish. You can't be in it just for the jewels anymore."

Well, he sure was blunt. Rouge looked at the jewel, then back at Knuckles. He was right. She would have to make a decision here.

Rouge eyed the echidna. This was the guy that she had tried to seduce solely for his Master Emerald and ended up falling for. She had tried to keep her feeling under control for a long time, but well… it had started when he'd bought her the necklace. Knuckles showing her that ounce of kindness had broken the dam, in a way. But she was still fighting it, for Rouge had never been one to give her heart away senselessly. After all, she was Rouge the Bat, the stealer of hearts. She had always done whatever it took to get what she wanted, when she wanted it.

But working with him, instead of just for herself… it was better, wasn't it? It was right.

You're going to give into him, Rouge? He's just a dumb guardian. Okay, a cute dumb guardian, but still. What's in this for you, again?

She watched his tough expression slowly soften, and her heart followed suit.

"Rouge," he said, with about as much tenderness as she'd ever heard in Knuckles' voice. "C'mon. I'll make sure you get another jewel. A better one."

Yes. She was going to give into him. Because she...loved him.

Rouge looked at the jewel one last time, and then handed it to Knuckles, and with it, a tiny slice of her heart.