Rouge fluttered her eyes open as she looked around and saw it was night, before she let out a small yelp.

"Oh no... I fell asleep!" Rouge said.

"Yeah... some trustworthy bat you are..." She heard Knuckles mutter out loud.

Rouge motioned her head to face the red echidna. She huffed, how dare he?

"Well it's not my fault you asked a nocturnal creature to help you watch over your precious gem..." Rouge replied, crossing her arms.

Knuckles groaned. "Please... I've seen you roam around during the day before," He huffed out. "Besides... it does get a little lonely up here, I'll admit.." He confessed.

Rouge did a double take and nearly fell from where she was sitting up at, blushing while doing so.

"What on earth are you doing?!" Knuckles asked, raising an eyebrow of the jewel thief's antics.

Rouge covered her face with her gloved hands, "Uh... nothing!" She declared.

"Hmmm... not sure if I should believe you..." Knuckles said, eyeing her suspiciously. "Here, let me help you up," He said, extending out his hand. Rouge grabbed it, trying to regain her composure.

"I'm just surprised you admit to be lonely here, especially since you all have here is a rock..." Rouge started.

"Well it's not all that bad... I've got this horses shaped rock over there named Rocky, and uh, I've made friends with a few bugs... and..." Knuckles' voice trailed off, knowing that Rouge was right.

Rouge only giggled as she listened to him. Knuckles turned to her and furrowed his eyes together.

"Hmph. Well I guess you're right." Knuckles groaned as he sat up. Rouge doing the same.

Knuckles laid down, and soon followed Rouge. Rouge smiled as she did so and decided to mess with him a little.

Knuckles turned his head to face her, and soon followed Rouge. Knuckles raised an eyebrow, and so did Rouge. Knuckles was starting to get a little annoyed, and decided to get up. Rouge followed suit.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!" Knuckles exclaimed, a red tick mark appearing on to his face.

"Hmm... Well, I do enjoy some mindless entertainment, Knucklehead!" Rouge replied, smirking as she gave the red echidna a small wink.

"Well, stop! It's getting on my nerves!" Knuckles exclaimed back, earning a giggle from Rouge. "What's so funny?"

"You!" Rouge said, pointing at Knuckles.

"Me?!" Knuckles repeated. "What?!"

"It's so funny messing with you, Knuckles," Rouge replied with a small smile.

Knuckles didn't reply, and only crossed his arms, a small, unnoticeable smile crept up on his face.

"Heh. I don't normally have this much fun up here on the island," Knuckles confessed. "This is a surprising change,"

Rouge blushed a bit. When was the last time she had this much fun? Although she loved Team Dark, the day of Shadow being fun and silly would be the end of the world, and Omega was well, Omega. There was Amy, but the pink hedgehog was far too enamored with Sonic, so she just decided to leave her be. The only time she ever had fun was when she was admittedly with Knuckles. Who else would also treasure hunt with her? She smiled fondly at Knuckles, who did not see her smile at him.

Little did Rouge or Knuckles know, is that there was going to be mischief afoot. Fang the Sniper was plotting something. He was currently in a dark alleyway with Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear.

"Well boys, we scored another steal!" Fang smirked as he saw the stuff him, Bean and Bark stole.

"I think we did great boss!" Bean said a little excitedly.

Bark just silently nodded.

"Now... our next target will be..." Fang started. "The Master Emerald!"

"The Master Emerald?!" Bean gawked. "You want us to steal the Master Emerald?!"

"Yep. Think of all of the money we'll get from stealing that treasure!" Fang said, dollar sign symbols in his eyes.

"Hmmm... I'm not so sure about that, Fang."

"Why do you think that, Bomb-Mook?" Fang inquired. "Everyone knows I'm the greatest thief around!"

"You think you're the greatest thief alive?!" A shrill voice exclaimed out.

"Who said that?!" Fang cried out, looking around with his cork gun in hand.

Down came Jet the Hawk on his Type-J Board, looking quite angry. "I'm the greatest thief around! Not you!"

"Oh yeah? How many times have you been successful?! Plus, I'm wanted! Don't you see those posters of me?" Fang said, pulling out his 'Wanted' poster.

"I uh, don't think that's something to be proud of, Fang..." Bean stated.

"Shut up Bomb-mook!" Fang snarled. "Anyways you green rat! What makes you think you're the greatest thief around!?" Fang asked, who was now butting heads with Jet.

"I feel as though my team thinks so, right, Wave and Storm?!" Jet called out to them.

"No Jet, we suck!" Wave cried out as she and Storm arrived at the scene with their boards.

"SHUT UP WAVE!" Jet screamed back.
"Anyways, you stupid wolf. I'M THE BEST THIEF THERE IS!"

"NO, THAT TITLE BELONGS TO ME!"

"No you idiots, that title belongs to that sleazy bat, Rouge." Wave interjected.

"Rouge the Bat? The world's greatest hunter?" Jet and Fang both said at the same time.

"ACHOO!" Rouge let out a sneeze.

"Rouge? You ok?" Knuckles asked, turning towards her as he heard her. They were quietly sitting next to each other seemingly doing nothing.

"Yeah... must be some allergies," Rouge stated. "Though, I can't help but feel as though someone is talking about me..."

"Huh," Knuckles responded, "Well whatever it was, I hope it won't affect us."

"Yeah..." Rouge nodded.

"I have an idea that'll settle this once and for all!" Jet exclaimed.

"And that is, green bird mook?" Fang inquired.

"We'll get up there ourselves and see who will get the Emerald!" Jet declared, a smile creeping up on his face.

"You'll get up there?! With what flight?" Bean gawked.

"It's simple my green duck friend, we'll use our Extreme Gear!" Jet declared.

"Are you sure that's a good idea boss?" Storm spoke up.

"I'm sure of it Storm!" Jet exclaimed. "What could possibly go wrong?!"

Nightfall soon arrived, and Knuckles and Rouge were sitting there.

"Mmmm... I'm getting kind of hungry." Knuckles spoke up.

"Yeah... no kidding." Rouge responded.

"I'm going to get food, I'll be right back," Knuckles said as he got up, or was in the middle of getting up until his injuries got to him. Knuckles let out a groan.

"Knuckie? What's the matter?" Rouge said as she approached him, gently grabbing his arm and comforting him.

"It's just the wounds on my back..." Knuckles muttered. "You know... I don't normally say this often but, thank you Rouge, for being here with me." He thanked with a small blush.

Rouge blushed a bright tomato red. "Y...you're welcome." She said.

"I'll get you food, what do you want?" Rouge asked.

"Grapes," Knuckles replied.

"Grapes?" Rouge inquired.

"Yeah, they're my favorite, there's nothing wrong with that, right?" Knuckles replied.

"Not at all, Knuckie," Rouge gave him a smile. "Where are they?"

"Somewhere on the island, they're not that hard to find," Knuckles replied.

"Got it!" Rouge said before she walked away to find the grapes.

Knuckles turned out to be right, for the grapes were an easy find, Rouge thought to herself. She was about to grab it until she got... distracted in a sense. She was lost in her own thoughts, particularly thoughts about Knuckles.

There were memories of her and him arguing about the silliest things, yet regardless at the end of the day, they still had fun. She smiled warmly, thinking about it all.

'No... I shouldn't be thinking like this, I'm just using that Knucklehead to get the Master Emerald, right?' Rouge said with a frown. 'And yet, I just can't do it!'

Nevertheless, Rouge took the grapes from the tree and went back to Knuckles.

Knuckles, on the other hand, was facing the sky, looking up at the stars above. "She really is something special." He said with a smile.

here's chapter 3!

please let me know what you think :)