Search on Red Mountain

Red Mountain was a location in the mainland that was a distance from Station Square. It was known for its color due to the high amount of iron in the content of the rocks. The Tornado was landing nearby; Knuckles and Bunny got out of the Tornado.

"Now remember, Sally picked up some signals in this area." Rotor stated while in the plane's cockpit. "She wants the two of you to investigate to see what the signals are. Use the device that you have to find the source of the signals. There should be three sources in here."

"Will do." Bunny replied.

"I'll be back in a few hours." Rotor stated. "Call if you have found the three or if anything comes up."

"Got it." Knuckles answered waving. The Tornado took off leaving the two of them on the rocky surface. Bunny picked up her pack. "This is a pretty big mountain; we're probably going to need that few hours.

"So where do we start searching?" She asked.

"How about…?" Knuckles replied. Bunny got hit with a flashbang and she fell backwards.

"Knuckle honey." A familiar voice stated; when Bunny's sight recovered. She saw that Rouge had glomped Knuckles. And the echidna was blushing.

"Oh, it's you again." Bunny stated in annoyance. "You never quit do you."

"What's the matter?" Rouge answered. "Can't keep your man?"

"THAT'S PERSONAL!" Bunny yelled at her blushing.

"Wait, what are you doing here anyway?" Knuckles asked as he was able to get Rouge off of her.

"I can here to claim the master emerald shards here." The bat proclaimed.

"So there are shards here." Knuckles replied.

"You're looking for them as well, Knuckle hun?" Rouge asked.

"Stop calling him that." Bunny stated.

"Still angry? Why's that?" Rouge asked her and thought for a moment. "Oh, I get it. You two haven't kissed yet."

"That's not what it is." Bunny rebuked her; her face an even brighter shade of red.

"You want the emerald shards and I want the emerald shards." Rouge stated. "And I see Knuky's lips hasn't kissed a girl's yet. Which one of us finds more shards is the first girl who gets to kiss Knuckles." The echidna's eyes went wide.

"WHAT!?" Knuckles stated uneasily, raising his two gloved hands. "Now now, wait a minute… Let's not get hasty here."

"I'll take your bet, you hussy." Bunny replied.

"Well then, I wish you luck." Rouge said. "Because Team Dark are now members of GUN, you really don't have much of a chance." She tossed out another flashbang and fled. This time Bunny was prepared for it by shielding her eyes.

"Why did you have to take the bet?" Knuckles asked her.

"I… uh… It's not that important." Bunny said as she grabbed his hand. "Let's go."

"Hey, wait. Whoa." He said as he was being pulled along by the rabbit. "Don't I get a say in this?"

They approached the mountain side and discover that there was an active mining facility in the location. The duo entered the facility over the fence and ducked for cover.

"This place is crawling with badniks." Knuckles said.

"Yeah, poorly built badniks." Bunny noted. As the badniks in question looked like men in cardboard boxes and aluminum foil. "Must be prototypes to the swatbots."

"It looks like they are just gathering resources." Knuckles replied. He saw some of the bots carrying raw iron ore in carts to the inner part of the facility. He saw the last cart have a shard of the emerald sticking out of the pile. "There's the shard." The two mobians followed the bots inside. Knuckles looked around because he got the feeling he was being watched and followed.

Meanwhile, Rouge was inside the facility. She was looking around the control room and looked at the cameras and found the two other mobians getting in. Then, she looked at the control panel.

"Hmm, I wonder what this button does?" she thought as she pushed the button. She saw some of the robots move differently. "Aha." She saw that they were following a caravan.

Knuckles and Bunny approached the clearing into a larger room. Before they could enter the area, a set of robots blocked the mobians' path. They started to dance in front of them.

"What in the…" Bunny stated. "Out of our way."

"Don't worry, Knukie." Rouge said over the microphone. "I'll make sure I have my strawberry lipstick on." Bunny growled.

"Rouge you cheater." Bunny stated.

"There was no rule about trying to stop your opponent." The bat replied.

"You just made that situation up." She rebuked.

"You really want to get that kiss that cute echidna, don't you." The bat answered.

"CUTE!?" Knuckles answered blushing.

"But I have some shards to find, I'll leave you for now." Rouge stated. Bunny was had punched her way through the robots and Knuckles followed her. They saw the shard fall into a large pile of iron ore.

"Oh great." Bunny stated. "It'll be hard to find the shard at this point."

"Well, let's start digging." Knuckles said jumping into the pile of ore. He was tossing ore pieces to the side trying to find it. Bunny went into the pile as well. "I found it." He pulled it out.

"Ha, take that, batgirl." Bunny stated as the two got out of the pile. The pile lifted up from behind them and was placed in a big cauldron; the ore that was in the pile was melted down to get the iron.

"And good timing to have found it." Knuckle stated. "Or we would have been well done."

All the while, Rouge was around the outside equipment. She leapt over the robots that were digging into the rock for the raw material. She brought out a scouter and placed it on her.

"Now, I can check the power levels because the shards give out a large amount of energy." Rouge said to herself. She looked around and saw one of the construction bots with a high readinge. "Holy cow, that robot's power level is over 9000. That one must have a master emerald shard." She looked and saw that the shard was stuck in the robot's joints. She reached for it and had trouble moving it because the bot was still in motion as she was tugging on it. "Ugh, stop that moving." She stated and she whacked him. He stopped and Rouge pulled the shard out of him. The robots turned to her; she ran away with angry robots giving chase. "AHH!"

In the control room, Bunny was at the controls with a joystick controlling the robots. She snickered.

"Well, two can play at this game." She said.

"Shouldn't you be focused on getting the shard?" Knuckles asked. "We have one and she has one. There's one more left in the place."

"Where would that be?" She asked.

"From what the device to check for signals, it states there is one near the top of the mountain." He explained.

"Alright, let's go. She's a flyer and we're not." Bunny answered leaving the controls. Rouge was able to lose the robots and those bots just simply returned to what they were doing earlier.

"At least, I got the shard." Rouge said. She looked up and saw the duo climbing up the mountainside. "So, the two have a lead to a shard? Looks like I'll have to follow them up."

She pursued them.

Knuckles and Bunny jumped from platform to platform getting higher and higher. The echidna stopped for a moment. Bunny turned around.

"Knuckles, why are you stopping?" She asked. "We have to hurry."

"I thought I saw…" he said.

"Saw what?"

"Nevermind, must be my imagination." He answered.

"If that was Rouge, we need to head up there pronto." Bunny exclaimed. When they almost were at that top, they looked down and noticed that Rouge was catching up quickly. "It's the batgirl, she's coming fast."

"I'll help you up, Knuckle hun." Rouge stated to the echidna.

"STOP CALLING HIM THAT!" Bunny barked at her. All three of them made it to the top at the same time. There was a large rock in the center of the three large sets of stone and on this rock was the last shard in the area. Knuckles just put his hands to his knees to catch his breath. While Bunny and Rouge made a final dash to the shard.

"I'm going to get that kiss from Knukie." Rouge said.

"No, I am." Bunny rebuked.

"So, you finally admitted it. You want to kiss him." The bat said.

"JUST BE QUIET!" Bunny yelled. As the two argued and raced towards the shard, they didn't notice that the shard was on a string. Then, it was pulled away. They were shocked when they looked towards the shard seeing it was gone.

"WHAT THE…!?" Both of them said simultaneously. The two girls crashed into the wall. "Ooph." They both dropped the shards they have picked up. Knuckles went to help them but a figure in black armor stopped him. The armor also had purple markings on it.

"Huh?" Knuckles stated. The figure turned and picked up the two dropped shards. And held up the shard that was on a string. The two mobians faced her.

"You two thought you were going to win." The figure said. "You are wrong." The figure took of the helmet. It was a female periwinkle colored echidna that was wearing the armor. All three of them were shocked at what they saw. "No, I have won." She turned to face Knuckles.

"HEY, WHO ARE YOU and mmph…" Knuckles shouted but the girl went up to him and kissed him on the lips. He blushed quickly.

"The batgirl was right. You're quite attractive." She said looking right into his eyes. His face got even redder than his coat.

"YOU LITTLE THIEF!" Rouge screeched.

"THAT WAS OUR KISS!" Bunny roared. Both were furious at the girl. She turned to face them.

"If you wanted to be the first ones to kiss him, you should have done it right then and there." The girl explained. There was no response from those two.

"Who are you anyway?" Knuckles asked.

"My name is Percy Shade." The girl said. "But I wish I can stay but I need to take these shards to the Imperator."

"Don't you mean emperor?" Bunny asked.

"Uh, no." Percy answered as she used a smoke bomb. Knuckles coughed and the girl got away. The other two ran to the echidna.

"Are you alright?" Bunny asked.

"Did she hurt you, Knuckle hun?" Rouge asked.

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" The rabbit yelled at the bat. Knuckles shook his head and flinched.

"Wait, she was wearing Nocturnus armor." Knuckles replied. "She's one of the enemy. We have to prevent her from escaping."

"She already did." Rouge answered.

"Damn." He sighed. "Nothing left to do but report to Princess Sally."

"Knuckles, did you know her?" Bunny asked.

"No, I didn't." He answered. "But I do know, from her armor, that she is a member of the Nocturnus Clan."

"And they are?" Rouge asked.

"From what my grandfather told me before he died, the Nocturnus Clan is the bitter enemy of the Knuckles Clan which I am native to." The echidna explained. "Both echidna clans have been fighting each other since antiquity, always on opposing sides. He told me during the Great War, the Nocturnus Clan allied themselves with the Battle Bird Armada. Thus naturally, my clan joined the Coalition."

"Are there any more, Knukie?" Bunny asked.

"Hey, that's my nickname for Knuckle hun." Rouge stated.

"You already have a cheesy one. So, suck it." Bunny rebuked, giving her a cold glare.

"My clan was wiped out." Knuckles said. "As far as I know, I am the sole survivor of my clan. As for the Nocturnus, I am uncertain of their fate."

"I'll contact GUN and see what they think of this." Rouge stated pulling out her communicator. "Hello, Agent Topaz. Can you look up some information?" She paused. "I'm looking for stuff on the Nocturnus Clan." There was a brief silence. "Oh, really?" She paused. "Okay, thanks." The bat turned off the device and turned to the duo. "I appears that the Nocturnus clan was sealed away in the Void after the destruction of the Knuckles clan."

"Then, how'd they get out?" Bunny asked.

"It doesn't matter now. They're out and about." Knuckles said. "We have to stop them."

"I've got some matters to attend to back at GUN." Rouge stated. "I bet we'll run into each other again. See you later, cutie." Rouge stroked her fingers under Knuckles' chin in a flirting manner.

"STOP MESSING WITH KNUCKLES!" Bunny yelled as the bat flew off.