Disclaimer: I own nothing but this very story; pretty much everything in it belongs to one or more of the following: SEGA, DIC, or Archie Comics.

Hunter's Honor

            'There it is!

            'It sure took long enough to find it again. What a chore!'

            Rouge the bat stretched her wings out a few times and nervously adjusted her gloves. No, not nervously; there wasn't anything to be nervous about, right? It was simple force of habit.

            She turned the controls of her helicopter and aimed for Angel Island.

            Well, perhaps there was something to be nervous about…

            Involuntarily she thought back. It had been three months ago today that last she'd seen Knuckles, last of the echidnas. The party for saving the world from the long-dead Gerald Robotnik and the funeral of Shadow Hedgehog had occurred the same day, which made both feel very odd. Eggman hadn't attended either—partly to avoid arrest, and partly, as he pointed out, because there was no body to bury.

            "It's pointless to have a funeral for someone whose body was incinerated, with the ashes scattered throughout the stratosphere!"

            Everyone else ignored that argument, and the funeral was held with Shadow "en absentia".

            Rouge began to think past the funeral, to the victory party afterwards—and abruptly shut those thoughts down. Nothing good could come from thinking about that.

            On the other hand, certainly knowing how to talk to Knuckles might be beneficial—but she didn't want to remember how they'd parted. No. Better to not think of it at all.

            She moved in to land near the edge of Angel Island. Not too close to the edge, of course; it was a long way down from the edge to the surface of the water.

            As she expected, he was waiting for her. After all, he rarely got visitors here, and a helicopter was a fairly conspicuous way of getting to the island.

            She took her time exiting the copter, carefully removing the heavy headgear she used to protect her vulnerable ears. She breathed deeply, unnerved by the patient way he stood there, staring at her, waiting for her.

            "Time to go," she whispered to herself. "It's not right to hesitate. Move, or leave now."

            She chose to move.

            She opened the copter door and got out. Knuckles watched her the whole time.

            "Hello Knuckles," she said.

            "What do you want?"

            He was brusque. Rouge recognized the tone—it was the one he'd used the first time they'd met.

            She'd been after the Master Emerald, and almost had it, before he came along. In the ensuing fight, he'd surprised her with his abilities and come close to killing her. The fight had stalemated, and that stalemate had ended through a little of Robotnik's intervention.

            In that moment, they'd hated each other—she saw him as an annoying obstacle, he saw her as a worthless thief. Still, that fight seemed so long ago. Certainly Knuckles had come to know her better since then!

            She was offended by the notion. "Why are you using that disgusting tone on me? I thought…"

            "What do you want?" he repeated, raising his fists. He crossed his arms, but his threatening posture couldn't be mistaken. "Why are you here? I don't like it when people come here. You'd better either tell me why you're here or vamoose."

            She was at a loss to respond. Why had she come here, anyway? She reached back into the copter and retrieved her backpack, pulling a document from it. "Well, this is a big island. I came here to treasure-hunt."

            "I thought you got out of that line of work. 'Too much work for too little reward', that's what you said."

            "Too little pay," she corrected. "And I meant spying. Spying doesn't pay well," she said. She felt a hollowness in her words. No doubt they were convincing to Knuckles, but she felt the void in her words that she always felt when telling a well-rehearsed lie.

            Knuckles gave a hmph. "Yeah, treasure hunting on my island. I'm sure. There's only one piece of treasure worth hunting for, and there's no way you're gonna hunt for that!"

            "And what would you know about it?" she said, her temper flaring. "You may be a Hunter, but you only do that when you aren't guarding your precious Emerald. I gave it back to you once already, I'm not after it again now. I honestly think there may be some precious jewels in the mountains of this island."

            "I have a hard time believing that's your only motive."

            "Don't flatter yourself!"

            "NOW what are you saying?"

            "You're still angry at me, but you want me to admit I wanted to see you! Well, I will say no such thing!"

            "Do you have any idea how conceited you are?"

            The remark stopped her for just a moment. "How can I be conceited if I speak the truth?!"

            He shook his head again. "In that whole tirade, you were only right about one thing."

            "What's that?" she said, wondering what he was thinking.

            He caught her off-guard.

            She saw him beginning to move, but as usual he was faster than she anticipated; he tackled her, pinned her down, and drove his knuckle-barbs into the ground on either side of her neck.

            "I'm still angry at you," he said.

            In another second he was off of her and away; just as quickly she was back on her feet and mirroring his fighting posture.

            Her face was contorted in indignation of the highest sort. "You… you… I don't know where you get the nerve!"

            He laughed at her, infuriating her more. "You provide all the nerve I need."

            "Now you're talking nonsense!" Rouge exploded. She promptly turned around, returned to her copter, and took off.

            As she left, she saw Knuckles still staring at her, watching as she went. But something was different about him, now—his expression was almost one of pain.

            'Good! He deserves to be in pain, treating me so rudely!'

            She regretted the thought, but not too much.

            She flew around in circles, her anger simmering inside of her. What kind of greeting was that, anyway? She knew they'd parted harshly, but certainly she expected him to welcome her more.

            Heck, she'd expected more than that. She wanted him to be glad to see her.

            Well, why wasn't he? She was taking a lot of time and energy to come here!

            Then again… why WAS she here?

            To hunt for jewels, yes, that was a reason. But when she examined it, she felt the same hollowness that she'd felt when lying to Knuckles. It was a reason, but not a good one; she had other motivations.

            Slowly, she eased the stick back in the other direction.

            Why? No doubt Knuckles wanted to see her again. Might as well oblige him.

            But he'd been so hostile when she'd arrived, it certainly didn't seem like he wanted to see her again. Then again, there was that last moment as she left, when she thought she saw pain… but that could just as easily have been her eyes playing tricks on her.

            Ooh, I hate this ambivalence!    What is wrong with me?

            But she was headed back towards the island, so SOME part of her wasn't ambivalent.

            For the first time in her life, Rouge began to doubt herself.

TO BE CONTINUED…