Rouge and Knuckles actually decided to do something productive for once and decided to go on a treasure hunt. There was a nearby cave that was just filled with gems according to Knuckles, and of course Rouge had to check it out for herself. The walk to the cave wasn't that far, and when Rouge saw the inside of the cave, her jaw had dropped.

"My my Knuckie, you've been hiding all of these precious gems from me?" Rouge teased as she stared in awe.

"Well, if I told you, you would have come here way more often," Knuckles explained, earning a glare from Rouge. "But after all of that's happened, I think that's a good thing now." Knuckles said with a smile and a blush, making Rouge blush even harder.

"W-what?!" Rouge stuttered as she was flustered.

"What? Just being honest." Knuckles said with a smirk, making the white bat blush even more.

'When did he get this charm?!' Rouge asked herself as she screamed inside as she and Knuckle began to walk more into the cave.

Knuckles punched an ore deposit, Rouge staring at his sheer strength. After a couple more punches and a few more broken ore deposits, Knuckles turned to face Rouge.

"Alright Rouge, which one do you want?" Knuckles asked as Rouge came up to his mining area and her eyes widened.

In front of her was a plethora of gems; rubies, sapphires, opals, she was in Heaven! Knuckles had to be kidding if she was only allowed to pick one. "ONE?! You want me to pick just ONE?!" Rouge asked in a sort of loud tone, nearly startling the red echidna.

"Well just pick whatever you want! Just don't take so much, leave some for me too!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"I'll take one of the everything!" Rouge said with a smile, as she enveloped the gems into a hug. "...Alright, let's go in deeper," Knuckles said as he and Rouge walked into the darker depths of the cave. Turns out there was more ore deposits there and Knuckles had broken them, though as they ventured further into the cave it was starting to get a bit dark. "Grr... it's getting too dark in here!" Knuckles said with a groan.

"Well, good thing you're with the world's greatest treasure hunter, Knuckie," Rouge said with a wink, making the red echidna smile as he rolled his eyes, however this was in a more playful manner.

More ore deposits were broken, with Rouge's hands getting increasingly full. "Here Rouge, I'll help you with that." Knuckles said as he took a couple of them. Rouge blushed, 'He's such a gentleman,' She sighed dreamily. 'God I'm acting like such a dork.' She thought to herself with a smile.

"Say Rouge..." Knuckles' voice started out. "I uh, have something to give you." He finished, as Rouge nearly dropped all of the gems she had in her hands.

"Y-yes Knuckles?" She started out, a bit flustered.

"I found this pretty gem," Knuckles replied bluntly. He turned to face the white bat, and they were standing very close to each other, their noses touching almost. They both blushed.

"It's uh..." Knuckles stuttered, trying to get the words out. "I'm not sure what gem it is exactly but uh, I do like the color." He said. "I figured y-y-you'd like it." He said with a blush.

Rouge became even more flustered and dropped the gems in her hands. "Is that a... rose quartz?"

"I...guess," Knuckles said with his face still red. Rouge took it from his gloved hand, and she examined it further. It was shaped like a heart, and of course with her expertise in gems she knew that rose quartzes were a symbol of love. She was speechless, to say the least. 'Stupid Knucklehead... what does this all mean?!' Rouge was flustered as she folded her arms. She didn't know how to feel, and she was getting angry at the fact she was feeling more in love with Knuckles by the second it felt like. 'But he's so...charming... what a gentleman,' She thought to herself. She held the gem, and placed it in her pocket. "Well Knuckie, seems like you do know the way to a woman's heart after all~" She said with a slight tease, making Knuckles blush and smirk a bit.


"Stupid Fang and his gang..." Jet bitterly groaned, as he and the rest of the Babylon Rogues were getting ready for their showdown at Angel Island.

"Why did you even agree to battle them?!" Wave snarled, as she polished her Type W.

"Because Wave! The treasure we will get once we win will be grand!" Jet said with a cocky smile.

"Yeah!" Storm interjected, having his Type S in hand. Wave only rolled her eyes, internally wondering to herself why she was stuck with such idiots.

With the Hooligans however, Fang was scheming like he usually does.

"Hmmm... that stupid Green mook will never defeat me!" Fang said with a toothy grin. "We will reign the superior thieves! Or this case... I WILL REIGN THE SUPERIOR THIEF!" Fang said with a cackle.

Bean and Bark just silently watched their jerboa/wolf leader boast. "Will we blow stuff up Fang?" Bean asked, his bomb ready in hand.

"Yes yes of course we will Bomb-mook, we'll blow up that stupid Knuckles' face to the ground!" He chuckled menacingly, with a toothy grin. Bean also did the same. Bark just sighed to himself. This was going to be quite the heist.


Back on Angel Island, Knuckles and Rouge finished with their treasure hunt, Rouge having all of the gems in her hands. There was the gems from the cave, and of course there was the rose quartz Knuckles had given to her not too long ago.

"Here Rouge, you need a hand?" Knuckles asked, as he took some from her hands.

"Yes, thank you Knuckie," She said with a warm smile, "I... really enjoy spending time with you." She admitted, blushing as she held on the rose quartz. This also caused Knuckles to blush as well. "Heh... same." Knuckles replied.

Rouge couldn't deny the butterflies she had in her stomach. Everytime she was with him, she couldn't help but be flustered. Though admittedly, she was starting to feel the warmest feeling in her body.

"Knuckie... I'll be back!" Rouge declared as she flew off of Angel Island, leaving Knuckles all confused.

"Wait... Rouge!" He called out to her.


Shadow the Hedgehog went up to the cupboard to get coffee beans. However as he opened it up, he saw Rouge cradled in a fetal position. Shadow seemed unfazed by this. "Rouge, what are you doing?"

Rouge perked her head to the black and red hedgehog, her face close to her knees as she rocked.

"Nothing..." She said in a muffled voice.

Omega came into the kitchen through an Omega shaped doorway.

"ROUGE. MY SENSES DETECT A LIE." Omega spoke. "STATE THE TRUTH."

"NEVER!" She cried out. "I CAN'T ADMIT THAT I LOVE KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA!" She hollered out, earning a nonchalant response from Shadow.

"Uh huh... and I'm not horribly traumatized by Maria's death." Shadow said with a slight frown.

Rouge gawked a little, but she was still cradled in that cupboard. Shadow sighed. With all his might, he carefully took the slightly erratic Rouge out of the cupboard. "Where have you been?" Shadow spoke up.

Rouge was sweating. No, she was hyperventilating. Shadow merely rolled his eyes and got a paperbag from the cupboard and handed it to her, which Rouge screamed into.

"What do I should do?" She exclaimed.

"Well... there is the part where you confess your feelings for him..." Shadow stated.

"You don't understand Shadow! It's not easy being in love. Just look at what it's doing to me!" Rouge cried out. Shadow blinked in response.

"...Listen. You're more... romantically involved with people than me." Shadow started carefully. "...There is my suggestion of confessing your feelings to him." He finished.

"...HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA?" Rouge screamed.

"...Well, you do talk about him a lot..." Shadow stated, earning a glare from the jewel thief.

"And you know this how?" Rouge inquired, raising an eyebrow ridge.

"Amy's been giving me love advice ok?!" Shadow said a bit irritably. Rouge only giggled.

"Come on Shady, I'm sure you'll find someone to love!" She said with a slight tease, slapping him in the back.

Shadow frowned. "Hng. That's not important right now."

Rouge giggled.

"Anyways, I'm sure Knuckles loves you back." Shadow responded.

"Hmph. You're just saying that so you don't have to deal with my ramblings about him!" Rouge said, pouting a bit.

Shadow blinked. "Hm. There are times where that can get a bit annoying." He admitted, earning a glare from the Jewel Thief.

"I am not annoying! And I don't talk about him everyday!" Rouge pouted even more.

Shadow only blinked again with a nonchalant expression. He motioned for Omega to come into the fray. The killer robot then pushed a button on his chest, which played audio recordings of Rouge saying very... spicy things about Knuckles. Rouge's eyes dilated as Shadow continued to give her that same look.

Rouge turned pink. She had steam coming out of her ears as her cheeks puffed.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT OBSCENE AUDIO FROM OMEGA?!" She screamed.

Shadow blinked at her, having a very, very small chuckle come out. Of course she didn't hear that though.

"Go on. Confess to him." Shadow pushed on in his expressionless tone.

"I can't, he-" Rouge was cut off as she heard something drop from a bag that nearly made her heart sink. Luckily however, Omega caught it just in time before it had shattered. The rose quartz had nearly fallen from her.

"Omega..." Rouge started out. "Thank you," She said, snatching the rose quartz from the killer robot's mechanical hands.

Rouge stared into the multi-faceted gem, its luster was a soft pink, kind of reminding her of Amy in a way. She huffed and she turned her nose away from the gem. He probably had a crush on Amy or something, and so he was going to make her jealous by giving her that gem! Yeah! That was it! But then she caressed it gently and brought it closely to her face, softly squishing it against her cheek.

"...Do I need to leave you and the gem alone?" Shadow's voice inquired, snapping Rouge back into reality.

"Be quiet!" Rouge said with a huff.

"...Alright, you're wasting my time, Rouge." Shadow said, before she felt her shoulder getting touched and-


"...I wonder why Rouge had to leave so quick..." Knuckles pondered out loud. "Her company did feel nice, I guess..."

The red echidna looked to his side as he stared up the sky, seeing two birds flying in the air, one red and white. They looked happy and in love. Knuckles stifled a small smile as he saw the lovebirds.

"It's not like anything would happen between me and her though, right?" Knuckles asked himself out loud. "Being the guardian of the Master Emerald is my sole duty after all..." He mumbled to himself. He felt himself dozing off.

He woke up seeing Rouge, she had a different vibe to herself, for some reason, she was sparkling. Knuckles scratched his head in confusion. Nevertheless, he felt himself blushing at the sight of her. She was wearing a skin tight red dress which exposed her legs, and wore black stilettos. Knuckles blushed red, even more red than his fur. "Damn..." Knuckles gawked.

"Oh Knuckles, you're soooooooooo handsome~" Rouge said as she winked at him. The red echidna felt himself hot as he grabbed Rouge by the waist. He then-

His fantasy was cut short as he heard the sound of some leaves rustling. He perked up and saw Shadow carrying Rouge bridal style, the latter of which seemingly looked extremely out of it and paranoid. Knuckles couldn't understand why, but he felt angry looking at the two.

"...WHY ARE WE HERE?!" She cried.

"So you can stop wasting my time." Shadow replied as he gently set her down. "Now come on, I think the red buffoon is expecting you."

"DON"T CALL HIM THAT!" Rouge screamed in his face, the red and black hedgehog just staring at her.

"I-" Shadow was cut off before he heard the rustling of leaves and moved out of the way to avoid a certain red echidna's wrath.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Knuckles said with a growl and was squaring up, not before groaning from his injuries again. Rouge went up to him with a concerned look.

Shadow merely raised an eyebrow. "I'm not here for her, I'm giving you her to deal with."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"She was wasting my time." Shadow simply stated, before he chaos controlled out of there.

That left Rouge and Knuckles standing there with each other awkwardly.

"...Perhaps we should head back to the altar..." Rouge began,

"Yeah..." Knuckles replied.

And so, the pair went back to guarding the Master Emerald together.

"...Good to have you back up here, Rouge" Knuckles said.

"Thanks Knucklehead," Rouge said with a blush.

They looked at the sky together laying down as the stars twinkled and crickets were heard chirping.

Rouge then closed her eyes and began to hum, much to the confusion of Knuckles. However he didn't seem to mind, since it was rather pleasant sounding.

"...Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place, and have a drink or two..." Rouge sang, Knuckles turned to her silently with a little smile, she has a nice voice, he thought to himself. "And then I go and spoil it all, by saying somethin' stupid,"

"...Like 'I love you'" Knuckles and Rouge finished together.

Rouge was taken aback as she looked at him turning red in the process.

"STUPID KNUCKLEHEAD!" She exclaimed with a huff as she got up and her hands on her waist. "YOU RUINED MY SINGING!"

"I RUINED YOUR SINGING?!" Knuckles yelled back.

"YES!" She screamed, her head growing large as the nearby trees shook from the volume of her voice.

"WELL I JUST SO HAPPENED TO LIKE YOUR SINGING!" Knuckles screamed back, as the mountains somehow moved as he screamed.

Rouge froze a bit.

"...You... what?" Rouge blushed.

Knuckles turned pink as he realized what he said.

"I..." The red echidna's pupils dilated, at a loss for words.

However, he was cut off as they heard some shrieks nearby.