Ever since she was a young bat-girl, Rouge was addicted to the thrill of putting herself in dangerous situations. Getting into trouble was what she did for fun. Doing what she was told and being a "good girl" (or, bat-girl, rather) was never her style.
She started out when she was around 13 with petty theft. For example, she would go to the Circle K and get a refill of her favorite fountain drink (purple Fanta) and not pay for it. Even when there was a big sign that said "NO FREE REFILLS." The manager even made a second sign that read "THAT MEANS YOU, ROUGE."
Which, of course, she disregarded. But even though they caught her on film, she was too young and it was not serious enough of a crime for her to face any real consequences for her actions. With time, she even went as far as not paying for the fountain drink in the first place!
As she got older, she started hanging around the wrong crowd. She dropped out of school when she was 16 to pursue life as a delinquent. Stealing was practically her 9-5 for several years. Gas stations, convenience stores, pawn shops, she had robbed them all. She always kept a low profile in the eye of the general public and never got caught, but she was always on the run. Until she met Dr. Robotnik.
Dr. Robotnik was at first hesitant to put Rouge on his payroll on her condition that she refused to steal anymore. This was the reason he wanted to hire in the first place. Her reputation preceded her. But he figured he could have her around for other dirty deeds he needed to have done. She basically worked as his personal assistant these past three years. And what a miserable three years it had been.
So this is the reason Dr. Robotnik convinced Shadow and not Rouge to steal the money he desperately needed. Plus, Shadow was more naive and easier to manipulate than Rouge, who had been around the block a few times. Needless to say, it ended up being the right decision.
Although she would hate to admit it, Rouge was jealous of the robbery Shadow had so effortlessly accomplished. The closest she had come to a robbery anywhere near that big was a few years back when she stole a Picasso from Drake. Or so she thought.
She got a tip about it from one of her friends in the underground. After having successfully broken into Drake's residence and stealing the painting, when she went to try and sell it on the black market, it turned out to be a replica. And a rather poor one at that. She figured he probably had the real one hidden somewhere where no one would find it. Either that or he legitimately bought a replica believing it was the real thing (and paid the full price tag for it), in which case that'd be kind of funny. Regardless, the whole incident left her feeling like an idiot.
As Rouge finished reflecting on her past and continued flying south with the emerald tucked between her arm and her chest, she started thinking about her future. She had saved up about 50k in the bank. She resisted the temptation to steal any of the money (or gold) Shadow had stolen from the Federal Reserve. As easy as that would have been.
She was now leading a life of principle. Even if she had stolen a Chaos Emerald. Not that she felt bad having stolen it from Dr. Robotnik. She had her reasons. She would now look for a place to settle down while she came up with a game plan to look for the rest of them.
She pulled out her phone with her available hand and opened up Google Maps, looking at her location as indicated by the arrow icon. She scrolled over the different city names across the southern United States with the goal of finding somewhere at least relatively warm to land and make her new home.
"Where would Dr. Robotnik least expect to find me?" she asked herself, "Hmm..."
And then it hit her.
Baton Rouge.