Author's Notes: Again, the chapter's title says it all. Charmy VS Rouge, a fight that I was very interested in portraying. Hopefully you'll be just as interested! A quick note before we get into the chapter proper: This chapter takes place during the Espio VS Shadow fight. There are several references to the events of that fight in this chapter, so it should be easy to follow, timeline-wise.
Finally, here's a list of songs I was thinking of/listening to when creating this chapter, feel free to listen as you read for maximum emersion:
Estrelar (Baht Remix Slowed) - Marcos Valle
Mirage Saloon Act 2 - Sonic Mania
Mad Space - Sonic Adventure 2
Without further ado, enjoy! C;
It was too late to salvage this.
That fact was clear to Rouge, but not to the child crumpled below her, struggling to come to grips with their situation. Not just the deterioration of Team Dark and The Chaotix's long lasting friendship, but the bitter truth that Rouge had only one horrible course of action left to her. And no one, not Charmy, not Vector, not even she herself, could change that.
Ever since she got the call from The Upper Echelon—her boss's boss's bosses—Rouge knew that whatever was waiting for her would be horrible. Her gut twisted into anxious knots the entire way there, and her attempts to compose herself as she strutted down the familiar halls of GUN Headquarters didn't alleviate the sinking feeling weighing her down. But her commitment to her duty as a special agent was stronger, so of course she went to the debriefing.
But what awaited her wasn't a debriefing at all, it was a frantic unloading of information she was in no way prepared for. How could she be prepared for that? Espio, a loyal friend and unassuming voice of reason, was apparently an assassin in a former life. And a novel's worth of evidence documenting that former life was dropped on her like a proverbial ton of bricks. It was gift wrapped and delivered to the Upper Echelon's home addresses, as casually as the morning paper.
It was sheer insanity from the word "go" and though she expected that, her intuition was not enough to prepare her for the subsequent orders. Bring in the chameleon for questioning, immediately, interrogate answers out of him even sooner. No room to argue, no time for questions, no escape in sight. Rouge was surprised she could still breathe with how tight her chest had become.
How would they even begin to do this? To their friends? Ones that have stood by them in the darkest of times and had their backs unquestionably. A quality she was all too aware was in short supply, especially for people in her line of work.
After Team Dark was sent to fetch Espio, Rouge immediately formulated the plan for their approach. Keep things light and pleasant, make it seem like they needed his help on a case, slowly introduce the fabricated problem that would be their avenue to confirming Espio's whereabouts and affiliations before he came to the West. He'd be none the wiser, no one would feel like they were being interrogated, everything would be cleared up as a terrible misunderstanding. In a few months, they'd all laugh about it over drinks, or at least she and Vector would. Preferably at her club, after hours, like they did from time to time.
But of course, her good intentions were all but spat on by The Chaotix, the boys were too astute for their own good. Well, the 2 reptiles were, the kid currently blocking her path was not sharp at all. Every time she tried to diffuse the situation they just amped it up even more, agitating her rattled nerves even further. She can't remember when she stopped trying to be reasonable and just went into a frustrated haze in response to Vector's accusations.
Rouge didn't want to bring Espio in, she didn't want to believe he was what his alleged crimes painted him as. But she couldn't dismiss the questions surrounding the chameleon, she never could, and this story she was being told was providing answers she couldn't ignore. After all, ninja were, traditionally speaking, spies and assassins who engaged in guerrilla warfare and terrorism to overthrow governments and organizations that they disagreed with. Deadly deception was their entire M.O.
Espio's past was a complete mystery to her, unlike the bits and pieces she gleaned about Vector and Charmy over the years, Espio was a blank slate. But Espio had shown over the years very sparse but notable hints of killer instincts.
The way he disposed of the Black Arms troops when he assumed no one was looking, the methods he used when pursuing Eggman Nega in the Ifrit's dimension, even the first time they met in Grand Metropolis he had this edge to him. Like he was struggling to play a part as he fought against them, not that her teammates could notice. Rouge herself only caught on because of the insight her years of grueling training and combat experience granted her.
But in light of the accusations against him, Rouge couldn't help but think the act wasn't for Team Dark at all. Again, not obvious or frequent at all, but buried beneath his disarming sage-like demeanor there was something hiding. Something cold and dark.
She hadn't paid it any mind before because, quite honestly, it was useful. Every instance he allowed that part of himself to surface, Espio was turning the tide back in their favor. He was saving the world or saving their friends. Rouge was sure she'd tapped into a similar darkness within her, when the situation demanded it, so who was she to judge?
She used to just wave it off as part of his mysterious charms... now she could only look back in shame of her naiveté. Now it seemed that mask had finally been ripped off and the darkness he'd been concealing was on full display. So was it really that farfetched that he could have been an assassin in a former life? Rouge hated herself for even thinking the answer.
Everything after Espio dropped the glass—on purpose, she quickly realized—was by design. Now they were all dancing to Espio's tune. Or rather, the all-new Espio's tune... or was the "all-new" Espio the mask he wore all these years while the person responsible for this insanity was, in fact, the original Espio? The Espio that no one knew a thing about, the Espio that had an entire life before he came here and met them. The Espio that the cryptic letters warned them about. She shuddered at the notion.
Perhaps if she'd investigate him before, like she had the nasty habit of doing to the significant people in her life, then she could have stopped this. Before she got attached and it became a moral dilemma. As much as she hated to admit it, this was absolutely wreaking havoc on her nerves. That drink really would have taken the edge off and made this a bit more bearable.
But there was no amount of liquor that could drown out her intuition or her conviction to do what needed to be done. If Espio somehow was who the letters accused him of being... then no matter how tightly her stomach tied those knots, she had no choice but to bring him in. She was a special agent of the Guardian Unit of Nations, she couldn't afford to have her judgement clouded by sentiment. So she shut down her feelings, let ice run through her veins, and prepared to deal with the infantile obstacle in her way.
Inky black wings lifted her skyward, looming over the child. The Sun's bright warm contrasting the cold shadows masking her face. The poor kid nursed the cheek she slapped, confusion plain on his chubby face. He's lucky that's all he got off with. Not that she enjoyed hurting children, especially a kid this confused and desperate to stop this tragedy, but his constant blocking of her attempts at neutralizing the situation was beyond irritating. He meant well, but goddamn it, he was making everything worse. Everybody was making everything worse.
Espio tried to run in the first place, but Shadow couldn't keep his emotions in check and played right into the chameleon's hands. Vector constantly inserted himself and his opinions in the most arrogant way possible, and Omega is Omega. He's never any help. The whole thing was just so frustrating and for Charmy to add on top of that, by continuously getting in her way and spewing ignorant childish platitudes... it just sent her over the edge. This was too grown up for him—hell, it was almost too grown up for her.
But regardless, she had a job to do, and no one was going to keep her from doing it.
The priority was backing up Shadow against Espio. Lizard boy was clearly baiting Shadow into a one on one, meaning he had a plan to deal with Shadow. One that he was extremely confident in because it meant facing Shadow one on one, and relied on Shadow being separated from her and Omega.
Most likely the chameleon would continue rattling his cage with psychological warfare, whittle him down emotionally and mentally bit by bit until he can wear Shadow out and escape. That'd be how she would do it if she were in his position. Shadow couldn't handle slander nor defilement of himself or his family, he would be a sloppy raging mess. Putty in Espio's scaly hands.
Shadow and Espio were currently trying to tear each other apart, and judging by how long the fight was lasting, her partner was having significant trouble with Espio. Makes sense considering how sly and devious the ninja could be, but Shadow was no doubt caught by surprise and remained off kilter.
Omega and Vector were busy slamming each other through the Chaotix's quaint abode, Omega could handle him just fine but how much of their house, nay, the landscape would survive their clash? There was no telling with those two gargantuan neanderthals. And she couldn't stop thinking about the inevitable fallout from this whole thing, none of their friends would take this lying down. Then there was the Upper Echelon and the Commander who would make her life a living hell if this wore on any longer than they deemed acceptable. Something beyond her control, but since when did that matter to them, huh?
It was total chaos and she was the only one who could end it before it spiraled even further out of control. She had no time for the teary eyed boy looking up at her like she was the criminal. Rouge refused to let this go on any longer, she was bringing this farce to a swift, unceremonious end. She could worry about the fallout and self-loathing after they caught Espio.
But as soon as she prepared to take off towards Shadow's frenetic tussle with Espio, a vice grip yanked her backwards, causing her to yelp out in pain.
"Waitwaitwait—time out!" Charmy frantically shouted while doing his best to keep his grip on Rouge's tail. She went to slap him again, but he was expecting it this time and backed away quickly. "Time out, time out!" he pleaded, throwing his hands up.
Rouge shoved a finger in his face, causing him to reel back. "Look kid, I didn't come here to fight you! Espio has gone off the rails and I ain't gonna sit around and watch him assault Shadow! So get outta my way before I catch a charge!" she demanded, swiping her hand to the side.
"Espio's not a bad guy, Rouge! Honest!" he began, undeterred by her threat. "I don't exactly know why he's fighting Shadow, but—"
"It doesn't matter!" she shouted. "All I know is my partner needs backup and I'm gonna do my job! So move!" Rouge shoved past Charmy, in the distance she could see the aftereffects of Chaos Blast. Yeah, he was struggling, she would be there soo—
"Nonono, wait! Stop for just a second!" Charmy begged, iron grip on her leg as he forced them away from Shadow and Espio.
"Get offa me!" Rouge struggled to get her leg free, which she couldn't believe. She was struggling against his grip, he was that strong. She had forgotten the kid was that strong.
"Not until you chill out!" Charmy called back.
"Arrgh!" Rouge growled, her frustration mounting. This stupid kid had the grip of a damn steel press. Fortunately, she was used to kicking through steel.
With a mighty push, Rouge brought her other foot to Charmy's hands and forced herself free. She flapped her wings and soared past the boy, Shadow and Espio still going at it yards away. But a blur came into view and blocked her way, stopping her in her tracks.
"Nuh-uh!" Charmy denied, shaking his head. Rouge smacked her lips before flying higher to circumvent the stubborn bee. But he once again popped in front of her, almost like he was using Chaos Control.
"Hey, no!" he said, placing strong hands on her shoulders.
Rouge slapped his hands back. "How are you so fast?!"
Charmy shrugged casually. "I dunno, lots of sugar?"
Now!
Rouge dove to the ground and arced her path toward her goal, rocketing across the landscape as fast as she could. But a familiar grip jolted her to a stop and nearly wrenched her tail off.
"Wait, come back!" Charmy pleaded, ignorant to the damage he just caused her.
Rouge whipped her head behind her and glared at the pest. "That's it!"
She brought both hands to her lips and focused her energy, summoning her Bat Crackers from her "pocket". They had gone through several modifications over the years, what were once adorable but deadly homing bombs were now adorable but harmless snares to deal with annoyances she needn't be bothered with personally. If ever there was a perfect moment for them, this was it.
As soon as the AI recognized someone other than herself, Shadow, or Omega, they would immediately latch onto them and hold them in the air until she commanded otherwise. Rather effective, even with fellow fliers, as Charmy would soon find out. She flung her hand towards him and the Bat Crackers followed suit, rushing to the bee at alarming speeds. His eyes shot open and he flew backwards as the Crackers gave chase. She wasn't surprised, he had proven he was faster than her, but eventually they would catch him.
Either way, the boy was no longer a factor and finally she could get back to Shadow, who was currently facing down several Espios as far as she could tell. How that was possible, she assumed they were illusions conjured up using his Light aura mastery. But it still threw her off, seeing clones of someone just pop up like that. Freaky.
Rouge hadn't gotten far before Charmy dropped down in front of her, she had no time to redirect her flight so she slammed into him full speed. The Bat Crackers were soon to follow, they rocketed into them both. The proximity of Rouge to Charmy confused the AI and interrupted the snare feature, they were little more than clumsy drones. They tumbled to the ground, Rouge quickly regained her footing as Charmy went into Spin Ball form and destroyed the Bat Crackers before they could recalibrate.
That was his play. Use himself as bait, sic her own weapon back on her, then in the confusion destroy them so that option is off the table. A dangerous, clumsy, crazy play. But effective all the same.
"You little—! Do you have any idea how much those cost?!" Rouge screamed, mentally doing the calculations at a frantic rate. 5000 rings, goddamn it!
"Hey, you sent them after me in the first place, that's on you" Charmy held his hands up as he backed away from her.
"I have had it up to here with you, brat!" Rouge shot her hand high above her head as she took flight again.
"If you would stop trying to beat up Espio for one minute, maybe—"
"He's beating up Shadow!" Rouge shouted, motioning towards the battle raging behind him. Charmy peered over his shoulder and noticed the climactic scuffle and deflated.
"Well, yeah, that's messed up—but he was just... just..." he looked around him for the words. "I dunno what he was doin', but he ain't a bad guy!" Charmy declared.
"You can't even explain why he's doing this, how can you stand here and defend him!?" Rouge huffed out.
Charmy stared down at his feet as he floated in front of her. "... I mean, we're flyin', so—"
"Enough!" she shouted, a vein bulging from her forehead. "Get outta my way kid, or I'm gonna stop going easy on you!" Rouge warned, jabbing her finger into the boy's tiny chest.
Charmy moved back, hands placating as he shrunk away. "Hold on, just—just hold on!"
"Final warning, boy. Stand down or I'll make you regret going against me" Rouge stared him down, her voice deepened as she rolled her shoulders back. Charmy looked up at her as he gulped loudly. He took a deep breath and opened his arms gently, brows furrowed.
"Things don't have to go that way. Please, we can talk this out, Rouge" Charmy offered, his voice calm and sincere. "We don't have to fight, we can get the truth and everybody can still be friends". A small smile lit up his face a bit as he reached out to her.
An olive branch, how sweet. But... too little, too late.
"I wish that was true, Charmy" she said softly. "But it just isn't an option anymore. Now please, let me do my job" she began flying past Charmy, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Not if you're gonna arrest Espio" Charmy said, his face tightened, his small smile flattened into a determined line. Rouge looked down at him from the corner of her eye, a deep sigh left her mouth before she resupplied ice to her veins.
"Then you leave me no choice..." Rouge said, tone deep and sharp.
She twisted the arm in Charmy's hand, forcing him off balance before leading him to her side. A quick pull and reach into her "pocket" ended with Charmy's wrist cuffed to his ankle behind his back. She made sure one of his wings were pinned down, rendering his flying speed useless. He was done, she could move on. Back up Shadow, bring down Espio, get the answers she desperately needed to make all of this worth it.
But as she once again made her way to her partner's side, something threw her off course. This time a substantial weight plopped down on her back, dropping her down a bit as she looked back.
"You have GOT to be kiddin' me!" she immediately yelled. Of course it was Charmy again, but how did he catch up to her this time? He only had the use of one wing, what in the world—?
"How did you—?!" Rouge started then her eyes widened.
Charmy sheepishly waved at her from his perch, his wrist sporting a new accessory: the broken cuff of her handcuffs, the chain dangling like a feckless stray thread on a garment. How strong is this kid?
The boy forced her wings up, as if to answer her mental query, causing her to swing back around and once again remain several yards away from Shadow. She growled in frustration as she reached up and flung Charmy off of her back and underneath her, stomping down on him as he hurtled towards the ground. A bit more brutal than she intended, but he refused to give up and he kept benefitting from her underestimating his strength.
So she decided to fully rid herself of this interference as she followed him towards the ground. Rouge caught Charmy on his way down and got him into a submission hold. His legs and arms were completely locked in place as both of them plummeted to the unforgiving ground below.
When this altercation first began, Rouge would have assumed this type of technique would scramble the kid's brains. But after witnessing how much power he possessed, she figured he could take this and be alright. Hopefully it would knock him out so she could finally be free to back Shadow—
A sharp pain pricked her causing her to howl in pain and lose her grip on the boy. She looked down, searching for what stabbed her—his stinger. The kid stung her! She forgot about that little appendage of his, that and his arthropod body.
Instead of a normal torso, Charmy had a thorax. An exclusive anatomical advantage for bees, working in conjunction with a stinger made Charmy effectively immune to nearly all submission techniques. Lucky little bug, because now Rouge was in the mood to twist him into knots to keep him from getting in the way. Yet another option off the table.
"Too close too close too close..." Charmy breathed as he struggled to get his bearings. "I didn't wanna bring out the big guns, but you didn't gimme a choice" he reasoned, his thorax curling back into place.
A bitter smirk curled up her cheeks as a dark chuckle escaped her lips. "Took the words right outta my mouth, kid".
Rouge hadn't intended to laugh, but she just couldn't help it. Maybe the stress of it all had finally broken her down. She just wanted this to be over, for things to go back to normal. But there would be no normal after this. And there was nothing she could do to change that.
It was too late to salvage this.
"Now can we please calm—" a lighting fast kick to the stomach made the boy choke on his words. He gasped for breath as he clutched his aching belly, Rouge merely looked down at him as he struggled.
"Hey...! That... hurt!" Charmy sputtered out, one eye open gazing up at her.
"I told you, I'm not holding back anymore" Rouge repeated in a cold tone as she summoned more Bat Crackers.
They clamped down on Charmy's limbs and wings, 2 on each arm and leg, locking him in place. But just to be sure, she commanded the Bat Crackers to fly him in the opposite direction of Shadow and Espio's fight. The jets on the Bat Crackers obeyed and rocketed Charmy backwards, his squeals of protest trailed off as she blasted towards the dust clouds blanketing Shadow and Espio's battle.
She'd underestimated Charmy far too many times, let him slip past her, keep her from doing what she had to do. She had no clue why that was so hard, how Charmy, a mere child, could continuously stop her progress and push her back to square one. But it was over.
Rouge could finally put an end to this. All she had to do was make it to Shadow's side and... wait.
Why was she slowing down? And what was that billowing sound? It almost sounded like—
Rouge felt a vacuum-like force drawing her backwards, the wind whistling in her ears got louder and louder. Suddenly, the distance between her and Shadow stopped shrinking. Frantic eyes shot behind her only to see a massive tornado headed straight for her, pulling her into its vortex.
"What in the—?!" Rouge caught herself. No time to be shocked.
She spun around several times as the tornado loomed closer, threatening to rip her asunder. But Rouge was unfazed, finally ending her spins with a blindingly fast kick. "Silent Scythe!" she called out as a long ribbon of energy trailed behind her foot, soaring forward into the tornado.
A crescent of energy sliced through the wind funnel like butter, causing the tornado to split apart and fizzle out into harmless breezes. Rouge swiveled back and forth, looking for the annoying bee that was responsible for the tornado, but saw nothing but grassy plains and a blue sky littered with clouds.
Clouds, of course.
Hiding behind them so he can send more tornados to slow her down or draw her back without getting caught again. Rouge snorted as she pricked her ears up. Perhaps he wasn't such a dumb kid after all.
A single flap of her wings launched her skyward at an alarming rate, piercing through a mass of clouds. Rouge emerged from the blanket of white high into the sky, then resumed her pursuit without care. Charmy might be physically stronger and faster than she realized, but he was no Wind aura master. Wind aura techniques get more difficult the thinner the air gets, so high altitudes were trouble for anyone who lacked mastery in that elemental affinity. Try as he might, the boy wouldn't be creating anymore tornados strong enough to slow her down.
And as soon as he showed his face again, Rouge would use Black Wave to rattle him long enough to keep him away. It'd hurt more than anything else she'd thrown at him, but the kid was seriously asking for it. She didn't have any better options, considering she still didn't know how he beat the Bat Crackers. Another 5000 rings down the drain, excellent. Rouge shook her head as she heard Charmy panicking to catch up with her.
Didn't matter, it was over. For real, this time.
Predictably, the bee went to grab her tail for the 4th time, but Rouge flipped upside down and lifted her hand above her head, gathering her energy around her. As she twirled around, purple light emanating from her body, the boy watched her with furrowed brows, waiting for her to finish her motions. Never mind, the kid was dumb.
"Black Wave!" she called out, sending the aura out to surround Charmy, his confusion replaced with fear. Purple faded to inky black, amorphous cloud condensed into black rings, rippling concentrically into the defenseless child.
His painful cry tightened a fresh knot in Rouge's stomach, a wince graced her features without permission as she tore her gaze away from the sight. It wasn't her choice. There was no other option. She needed to get to Shadow and he just kept coming. There was nothing else she could do to... Rouge bit down on her lip as she blasted off towards Shadow, a burning sensation seeped into her chest.
Shadow.
Help Shadow with Espio. Stop this now before it drags on any longer. Focus on nothing else. Rouge channeled her training to maintain her composure. This had gone on too long. Time to end it.
"Okay, I don't know what that was" called out a familiar voice, filling Rouge with dread as her foot was grabbed and swung her until she was behind him. "But please don't do that again, it was really scary" Charmy admitted, cradling his abdomen, the main target of Black Wave.
"Gaia, what are you made of, kid? Steel?!" Rouge flailed her arms in frustration.
"Just, ugh... stop. Stop goin' after Espio" he huffed a pained breath as one eye squeezed close. "Please, Rouge..."
She took in the sight of him, the wounds Charmy sustained, the desperation in his voice, and her frozen blood began to thaw. The kid wanted to give talking one more try, fine. She wasn't too keen on continuing their physical encounter either. Maybe, just maybe, she could get through to him.
"Or you could stop trying to keep me from ending this" she offered, face softening just a bit. "You don't have to do this. We're on the same side here"
Charmy shook his head. "No. You're tryin' to arrest Espio. Cuz ya think he's a bad guy" he grunted in pain and clutched his abdomen a little harder. "But he's not. Those letters are a buncha lies".
"I want to believe that. I really do" Rouge said, placing a hand on her chest, before pointing behind Charmy. "But Espio is the only one that can prove they're lies. And he's more concerned about gettin' away than clearin' his name. Isn't that strange?" she asked, hoping to clue him in on the revelation she'd already grappled with.
Charmy huffed a breath, before replying. "He just wants to be left alone. So leave 'im alone".
"But he's not alone, not in this. He's part of something, something big and dangerous. And instead of trying to help us get to the bottom of it, he tried to run away, he insulted Shadow, and then he started attacking him". Rouge watched Charmy's eyes shift around as she listed Espio's dubious choices. It wasn't pleasant to watch someone actively grapple with the idea of a dear friend lying about who he was, but it gave her some hope that he could see reason.
"And now he's swept you and Vector up into this mess. Turned you into accomplices and forced you to fight us, your friends, without any warning or consideration of your feelings. Why would he do that if he's innocent? If he just wants to be left alone?" she reasoned, Charmy squeezing his eyes shut as he shook his head slowly.
"No, he... that's—that's not..." he muttered, looking between Rouge and the direction Espio was in.
"I'll admit, you're tougher than most adults. You may actually be an asset in 5 or so years" Rouge placed a hand on his small shoulder. "But you're out of your league. This whole thing is too big for you, Charmy. And that's not your fault, it was unfair of Espio to thrust this on you" Charmy looked up at her, eyes wide and uncertain.
"But you don't have to play his game. You can call it quits. We'll take care of Espio, get to the truth of this whole thing, find the real bad guys and arrest 'em. Just leave it to the grown ups, okay?" she offered with a small smile, scanning his face for that final crack in his composure.
She was getting through, he was almost there, willing to help stop the fight—
"If you were the only thing standin' between somethin' outta your league and your friends... would you call it quits?" Charmy dropped, shaking Rouge to her core. She backed away immediately, the weight of his words shocking her into silence.
"Didn't think so" he chuckled to himself. Rouge closed her eyes and summoned all her mental training to get herself back on task. This was a waste of time. She was stupid to indulge in it, Shadow needed her and here she was trying to convince a child to help her fix this. She was right the first time.
It's too late to salvage this.
Rouge squared her shoulders and turned her face to stone. "Even so, we have our orders. I don't have a choice"
"Yeah, you do" Charmy replied through a tired breath. "Same as me".
"And this is what you choose?" Rouge warned more than asked.
"Yup" was his immediate answer, a drowsy smirk on his face.
"... So be it" Rouge growled through gritted teeth.
Once more she gathered her energy together and let it build inside, crackles of electricity surrounding her in sporadic stints. The clouds beneath them began to peel away as her power grew and grew, an aura of bright yellow condensed around her hands. She placed her hands together, only her fingertips touching as sparks connected the space between the digits, quickly forming a ball of electricity.
"Thunder..." she said low. Charmy steeled himself and got into a fighting position, as the electric ball grew from baseball size to basketball, to exercise ball, to boulder size.
This was it, the massive electric ball she raised above her head was absolutely going to end it. She'd already wasted enough time and energy on the poor kid and like he said, he's made his choice. Now he had to deal with the consequences, just like the rest of them.
"Shoot!" she shouted as she flipped upside down and kicked the mass of sparkling energy at Charmy, rocketing towards him at a disarming speed. But ever the speedy little annoyance, he managed to dodge the attack just in time. A clean getaway.
Just as planned.
Rouge smirked at him, waiting for the truth to dawn on Charmy, which admittedly didn't take long at all. The bee whipped his head between Rouge and the still roaming Thunder Shoot, before his face fell. As if all the life in him had been horrifically drained out.
"ESPIOOOO!" Charmy screamed as he flew after the daunting Thunder Shoot.
Her preparation of the attack had 2 purposes, the first of which was to make it large enough to intimidate and draw in Charmy's focus. The second purpose was removing the clouds that hid the ground below, where Shadow still struggled with Espio, who was currently doing some kinda Tai Chi movements as Shadow stood still. Probably healing himself to deal with Espio proper, another indication of the battle going horribly for him.
With visibility restored, she could aim carefully to ensure her attack wouldn't hit Shadow accidentally. It would take everything in the boy to head it off in time, he'd have nothing left to actually hold it back.
It was a win-win situation for Rouge, one she loathed having to orchestrate. Either Charmy would be fast enough to catch up to the electric ball, but he'd lack the strength to stop it and wind up knocked out. Or he wouldn't be fast enough, the attack would hit its intended target and she would have assisted Shadow in taking down Espio. Neither outcome filled her with joy, but it was the best she could hope for with the current situation.
Sure enough, Charmy managed to get in front of the Thunder Shoot and held his hands up. Option 1 it is, then.
He immediately howled in pain as electricity covered him, jolting him around in uncomfortable spasms. But through the agony, she could hear him say something under his breath.
"No way am I letting this touch Espio!" he grunted to himself, masking his pain with determination.
Stubborn. Stupid. Ignorant little brat...
Brave. Selfless. Innocent little boy...
He didn't deserve this. He wasn't at fault. Why was this happening to him? And why was she the one doing it to him? No, this isn't right. This wasn't what she wanted!
"STOP!" left her lips before she could think to say it. "LET GO! IT'S OVER!" she screamed, swooping down to knock the mass of regret away from Charmy.
"NO!" he shouted back. "I'LL NEVER LET YOU TAKE HIM! NOT EVEN IF YOU KILL ME!"
"You stubborn little—!" Rouge roared before kicking Thunder Shoot to the side, where it fizzled out as it trailed into the distance. Charmy's arms dropped to his sides before Rouge grabbed his bicep.
"Are you TRYING to get knocked into a coma?!" Rouge shook his arm gruffly. "What is with you?!"
"I'm sorry about this" he whimpered, glowing a faint yellow. He let out a mighty shout, sending electricity erupting across his body, including the arm Rouge still clutched in her grip.
Sparks flew off Charmy and into her gloved hand. Rouge reeled back as she shrieked in pain, smoke steaming off of her palm as her fingers jolted. She shot a menacing glare back at him, as he charged more Electric aura, this time condensing it to his fingers. So that's how he escaped the Bat Crackers. She forgot he had an Electric elemental affinity as well as Wind.
"Sorry, but... I can't let you take him. I just can't..." Charmy said, as calm and serious as Rouge had ever heard him. "I still don't wanna fight you, so please don't make me". His energy formed into a tennis ball size of electricity nesting on the tips of his index and middle fingers.
"How many times do I gotta say it?" she said low before closing her smoking hand into a fist. "It's too late for that".
Charmy brought his fingers forward, shouted "Thunder Shoot!", and out shot the sparkling ball of static. In comparison to Rouge's massive hot air balloon sized variant, it was... cute, she supposed?
With minimal effort, Rouge swatted the small electric ball away as it unravelled harmlessly to her side. She kept her eyes on him, unimpressed.
"And what was that supposed to be?" she said casually as he stammered wordlessly.
"How—how did you... do that?!" he questioned, visibly at his wits end.
"I told you. You're out of your league, kid" she said low as she rushed forward without warning, knee aimed at his stomach.
Charmy instinctively blocked just in time, but the contact never came. Rouge twirled just before impact and swung her elbow into the base of Charmy's neck. A quick grunt left him as he went limp and dropped. Rouge reached out and grabbed his wrist as she lowered them both to the ground.
She would have used that pressure point trick earlier if she'd gotten the chance to. But Charmy had proven just how fast and physically strong he was, thus she had to wear him down enough to enable it to work. She had no idea wearing him down would wear her down just as much. She hadn't paid much attention before, but Charmy really was quite impressive. He may actually be an asset in 5 or so years.
Gentle hands carried him to the grass below, his face in stark contrast to her own. Dirt littered his round face, drool leaked from his parted lips, his reddened cheeks were clearly swollen. Suddenly she found her gloved fingers delicately caressing the cheeks she callously struck, which started the regrettable battle between them.
No, not a battle. A cruel display of how much stronger she was than a kid. She did this to him. Just a boy trying to keep everything from falling apart, beaten unconscious due to the power he wielded enabling his stubbornness. And she was the one to do this to him. How would she be able to sleep tonight with Charmy's unconscious face seared into her mind?
She knew it was too late to salvage this... but why did it have to hurt this badly...?
A thunderous explosion jolted her attention back to her original goal, a great flash of light shining near the treeline in the distance.
Espio.
He was the one at fault, he brought them all to this point. He threw a child to the wolves to save his own skin, she can't be blamed for... He'll pay for this.
Rouge pulled out handcuffs, ones for stronger species, and gently fastened them on Charmy's wrists and ankles, lacing the reinforced chains together. She summoned more Bat Crackers to hover over him, any sudden moves from him and they'd knock him back down. She had underestimated him one too many times, she wasn't about to make that mistake again.
Rouge took flight at top speed towards the massive flash of light. She heard Shadow screaming her name, between coughing up a lung. He sounded hurt, a fact that not only shocked her, but terrified her.
Shadow, hurt? After a one-on-one with Espio? How was that possible? She knew he was crafty and skilled but... Shadow was Shadow. There was a very short list of people that could damage him this much in a one-on-one fight and Espio was not supposed to be on that list. Either Shadow couldn't go all out against him, which she understood completely... or Espio was much craftier and skilled than she realized. Which meant—
"ESPIO! FIND ESPIO!" Shadow ordered, grabbing his head. "HURRY! HE'S ON THE MOVE!" He was seriously hurt. So bad that he was entirely counting on her to pick up his slack.
Rouge fought the urge to reach out to him, reassure him somehow, but the best way to do that would be finding the dangerous ninja benefitting from his friends' suffering. He cannot get away, she could NOT let him get away. Not after everything that she was forced to do. He needed to answer for this, all of this.
She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply as she raised her hands to her large ears, leaning from one direction to the other.
Slowly, but surely, she filtered through the ambient noises all around and focused in on the subtlest of vibrations. Soon she could only hear heartbeats as her extensive training kicked in. She pinpointed what was familiar, Shadow's heartbeat, erratic and loud, the aching pain of his raspy breaths also filtered in.
Then, in the distance, the clanging of metal against something equally as durable. Omega still keeping Vector at bay, though the crumbling of wood and stone made it all the more uncomfortable as she winced. She hoped the Chaotix had insurance for that house, but she knew better.
Yet try as she might, and she tried for well over 5 minutes, she couldn't pick up on anyone else. There was no trace of Espio. She felt her brow furrow as a vein threatened to pop in her forehead.
There was no trace of him!
"ROUGE, DO YOU HEAR HIM?!" Shadow suddenly called out, his vision must have recovered from the flash grenade.
"NO! I CAN'T GET A LINE ON HIM!" Rouge shouted back, descending to Shadow's location. "Did he say anything, anything at all, about where he could be going?!" she questioned as soon as she touched down.
Shadow turned away, hand still resting on his head. "No".
"What his plan was?!" she offered, taking a step towards him.
His fist tightened. "No".
"Why he was running in the first place, at least?!" Another step forward, encroaching on his personal space.
He shook his head lightly, his eyes focused on the empty space beside him. "No".
Rouge grabbed his shoulders, tightly. "Shadow, he must have said something! Did something! Think!" she demanded, tapping her temple gruffly.
Shadow wrenched his shoulder out of her grip. "He didn't. Trust me" he turned his back to her fully. Rouge huffed out enraged breaths until she caught her rising blood pressure and bit her lip to calm her nerves.
She opened her mouth to speak but found the anger kept her thoughts buffering. "Are you seriously telling me," her jaw shifted uncomfortably as she blinked aggressively. "that whole time you and he were fighting, he didn't let slip a single thing that could clue us in as to where he was running off to?!" she finished louder than intended.
"I am" Shadow replied, direct and even. It just pissed her off even more.
"So, what, he's just gonna get away scot-free!?" she motioned to the open air forcefully. "JUST LIKE THAT?!" her hands, clenched into tight fists, slammed down to her sides. She stomped into the ground, cracking the stone beneath like an eggshell.
"AFTER EVERYTHING WE JUST WENT THROUGH—!"
"I KNOW!" he yelled, whipping his head to stare at Rouge. He immediately pulled back his ire and relaxed his expression to normal. "I know..." he exhaled softer, his exhaustion weighing down his entire body. Rouge placed her hand against her arm as she drifted her eyes to the side.
"But if I can't see him... and you can't hear him..." Shadow trailed off, brows slightly furrowed as he reached out to her. His way of showing he didn't blame her, no matter how frustrated he felt. It was far more than she deserved.
"Then we lost him" Rouge finally admitted, her voice raspy and low as she swallowed back the urge to unleash a shriek into the heavens. "I lost him", she clarified.
She came up with the approach, she let the situation escalate to volcanic proportions, she lost her grip on Espio in the house, enabling him to bait Shadow into fighting alone and playing right into his hands. And she's the one who couldn't shake Charmy to help Shadow, which would have prevented him from taking so much damage. Espio wouldn't have gotten away and she never would have had to hurt the boy—
No. She wasn't... it was Espio's fault. Espio was the one who served up his friends as meat shields, it wasn't her fault they got caught in the crossfire. That... would be so easy to believe, if she didn't feel her stomach trying to murder her with even more knots.
No, it wasn't that simple, was it? She had a choice, all of them did. Charmy chose to stand by his friend and display a stupid but admirable amount of loyalty that bordered on denial. Espio chose to betray that deep trust and use it as a smokescreen to slip away and kill another day. Shadow chose to fight Espio, not only because his job demanded it, but because Espio had convinced him he deserved a beatdown for daring to talk about his dearly departed family.
And Rouge? Rouge chose... to slap a child trying to keep his friends from tearing each other apart. She chose to continuously attack him when he refused to back down. She chose to use his affection for Espio against him and caused him significant pain because of it. And she chose to push aside his desire for peace before knocking him unconscious. When she stopped and thought about it... she and Espio weren't so different. And it made her want to scream her lungs out.
Shadow took a step closer to her and reached for her shoulder, but Rouge turned away. Her eyes fell to Charmy's unconscious body, surrounded by Bat Crackers. She sighed deeply as she shut her eyes tightly and wrapped her other arm around herself. With a quivering jaw, she whispered an exhausted lament.
"It's too late for me to salvage this..."
Author's Notes: Ending it on a sour note, I know. But you can see why, this fight was more of a tragic event rather than an epic confrontation. Again, there are a lot of notes to mention to help the Rouge fans understand why her victory over Charmy took as long as it did. I'll just go over a few details that I intentionally didn't elaborate on in the chapter.
First things first, this "fight" was not a straight up battle, both combatants had some clear goals that didn't involve beating the other to a pulp. Rouge's goal was of course to get Charmy away from her so she could back up Shadow against Espio. Charmy's goal was to talk down Rouge and prevent her from ganging up on Espio. Both combatants attempted various methods to achieve their goals, methods that purposefully avoids outright destroying their opponent. If this was a straight up battle, then Charmy would have been defeated far quicker. Because Rouge is absolutely a force to be reckoned with.
Next, we need to understand the relationship between these two characters to understand how the various twists and turns of the fight could happen logically. Rouge is not familiar with Charmy and mostly disregards him as just a regular kid. Charmy is not a regular kid, as we know having read 29+ chapters of his exploits before this chapter. So his impressive strength and various techniques and skills take her by surprise due to this misconception of Charmy. Granted, this only prolongs the fight, it does not turn the tide in Charmy's favor because again, Rouge is just that much stronger and more experienced than Charmy.
Also, in terms of techniques, Rouge has a slew of moves she could have used in this fight, but again, because she wanted to refrain from seriously hurting Charmy, she held off on using those techniques. But Charmy as well didn't want to really hurt Rouge, so his more powerful techniques weren't used either. Both of them are consistently holding back against each other because neither of them want to fight, they simply want the other person to stand down. This tightrope ends when Rouge bites the bullet and uses Black Wave and a massive Thunder Shoot, much to her discomfort.
Bat Crackers, for those of you who don't know, are from Sonic Battle and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle. I decided to give Rouge handcuffs because as a GUN Agent it only makes sense that she would have them, just like she would have communicators, a GUN badge, etc. The idea of having stronger handcuffs is just the nature of the world, there are species that are simply much stronger than other species. Therefore, she would have two types of handcuffs, one for weaker species and one for the stronger species. Bees are normally on the weaker end, Charmy is an anomaly in that regard, so of course he can break the normal cuffs and needed the stronger species cuffs.
And finally, we've got some stuff to keep in mind as we go forward with Espio's Serious story. The difference between Charmy's Thunder Shoot and Rouge's Thunder Shoot is an obvious one, but also the detail about Wind elemental affinity. Rouge's relaxed deflection of Charmy's Thunder Shoot is a big one. We should definitely keep these in mind for later C;
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed that fight, I tried to be extra careful with Rouge's character! Let's get ready for our last battle, next time! Vector VS Omega! See ya then)