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Knuckles lay resting near the Master Emerald, boredom beginning to set in. This usually happened: he'd sit and wait for something to come to mind, or a certain white bat would come and make her 'unwelcome' appearance.

Usually, Rouge would come once every two weeks, but she hadn't shown up in,

"Almost one month." Knuckles sighed, sitting up and leaning his back against the one of the cool stone pillars of the shrine. Thought he would never admit it, Knuckles was really hoping Rouge would show up to try and steal the Master Emerald. He would never allow her to actually take it of course, but when she came by it at least gave him something to do. Not a soul had been to the island in a month.

"Yep…Knuckles…your life is dull." The echidna said to himself. Then he lay back down, placing his hands behind his head.

A light breeze blew gently across the island. Tranquility is what you could say to describe the giant, floating Angel Island. But, tranquility isn't exactly exciting. Knuckles sighed, almost groaned, and rolled over onto his stomach, resting his chin on top of his hands.

"Yep…duller then dull…"

Suddenly, Knuckles picked up a very faint rustling from one of the trees near by. Something, or someone, had landed in the tree. With a great deal of interest sparkling in his indigo eyes, Knuckles jumped up and dropped down into a low fighting stance, ready for the intruder. Soon…a few moments went by and nothing happened. A few more moments and still nothing happened. Finally, an hour past and Knuckles was losing his patients. He picked up a small, smooth stone and hurled it into the tree with a snarl.

"SMACK!"

Knuckles pumped his fist into the air in triumph for hitting the targeted victim. The familiar beating of wings was heard, causing him to smirk as he saw Rouge arise from her hiding spot. However, that smirk was quickly flipped upside down as Rouge's wings seemed to give way and she began to descend rather rapidly towards the forest floor.

"Shit!" Without hesitation, Knuckles jetted forward and managed to catch the fallen batgirl before she met the ground. His eyes, filled with confusion, scanned over her apparently beaten body. Bruises and cuts were everywhere and it looked like her left arm was broken. Even her wings had small cuts and were very limp. The black suit she wore had also been torn in a few places.

"What happened to you, Rouge?" asked the bewildered Knuckles. All he did was throw a rock, so he wasn't expecting to get a sliced up body.

Rouge's ears drooped back in attempts to pin them back in annoyance. "You…you just had to throw that rock…didn't you…Knucklehead?" she asked in a very tired and strained voice.

"Well if you hadn't been hiding in - THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" he shouted. "You're injured and I want to know what happened to you…you…" Knuckles voice trailed off as Rouge had turned her head and nuzzled his chest. A very light blush began to appear on his face as he tried desperately to complete his request. "Wh…what…h-happened to you?" Was all he managed to say clearly.

Looking up at the fluster echidna, Rouge smirked as best she could and said, "My…aren't we the shy one…to…day…" her voice faded as she slipped out of consciousness.

"Rouge…Rouge?" He shook her lightly, only proving to himself that she was unconscious. Looking around frantically, Knuckles began to wonder what to do with her. 'I can't keep her here. She needs help, and fast…'

So…Knuckles did the only thing that he could do.

"Knuckles…what the heck did you do to Rouge?" Sonic asked as Knuckles barged in and placed the battered batgirl on the couch. He had taken Rouge to Sonic's current apartment. (A/N: I say current because he's apparently always moving around and never in one place for very long) Knuckles growled and whirled around to land a punch on his hedgehog friend. But, as usual, Sonic wasn't even in the same place anymore.

"Jeez, she's really banged up." Sonic said, looking at Rouge from where he now stood. " I know you two fight a lot, but don't you think you went a little far?"

"I didn't do this to her!" Knuckles shouted in defense. "She came to Angel Island like this and passed out before I could even ask her about it." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away to pout.

"Well…what do you think happened? I mean, you know her better than anyone, so do you should at least have some sort of guess." Sonic said.

Deciding not to say anything about knowing her, Knuckles replied, "I haven't got the slightest clue. I know she gets into a lot of trouble here and there, but she usually can handle it. It's not like her to do something that could actually risk her life. Or risk a fight even. She's not one to do a lot of extra work."

Both of them now stood in silence, pondering over what might have happened. They both know her capability to defend herself. So…what could've gotten Rouge to this condition was beyond them.

Soon the door opened and in came Tails, Cream, and Amy. Amy carried with her a first aid kit.

"We came as fast as we could, Sonic." Amy said.

"And we brought the first aid kit like you asked!" Cream added happily.

"You don't have a first aid kit?" Knuckles asked, his irritation with the blue hedgehog growing by the minute.

Sonic laughed nervously and said very carefully, "I rarely hurt myself and I'm always on the move so…it would be pointless."

Knuckles gave off an exasperated sigh and took the kit from Amy.

'Oh…my head…where am I? The last thing I remember is…Knuckles? But…why…Oh! That's right! The stupid Knucklehead threw a rock at me! No wonder my head hurts!'

Forcing her eyes to open, Rouge noticed she wasn't at Angel Island anymore. It wasn't even daytime anymore. Now it was nighttime and she was in some weird apartment. She turned her head slightly and was met with the sight of the slumbering Knuckles. He had fallen asleep after treating her wounds and was now resting his head on the same arm of the couch that her head was resting on.

When Rouge went to sit up, a sharp pain shot through her head, causing her to lye back down and growl in frustration. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was being weak.

"Oh good, you're awake." Came a sleepy voice. She turned to realize it was the red echidna. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Where am I?" Rouge asked her voice still very strained. She began to cough, causing the echidna to become fully awake and alert.

"We're at Sonic's apartment. Amazingly. I didn't think he still lived here, judging by how often he moves." Knuckles replied after she was done coughing.

Rouge brought her arm that wasn't in a splint up to her head and said, "GOD, my head is killing me!"

Sheepishly, Knuckles said, "Umm…about that. I didn't mean for the rock to hit you."

"Well then your aim is too good for your own good. You landed it squarely on my forehead." Rouge said.

Knuckles looked to the floor. "Sorry…" Rouge's eyes opened wide and she looked at him with her mouth a gape. Knuckles sensed that she was staring at him and turned away.

Taking his actions as very obvious signs of embarrassment Rouge decided to take the opportunity to fluster him up a bit. "What did you just say…? Did you, the high and mighty Knuckles, just apologize to little ol' me? Oh, be still my heart." She joked and pretended to swoon as best she could from her place on the couch.

Knuckles clenched his fists at his sides and was very close to yelling something in return, but the lights turned on. Sonic then entered, rubbing his eyes.

"Well…it's nice to see you two getting along." He said, sarcastically. "But if you must…could you do it a little bit quieter, please?" Sonic then looked at Rouge. Sudden realization hit him and he exclaimed, "ROUGE! You're awake!"

"What? Rouge woke up?" Came three voices from the spare bedroom of the apartment. Tails, Cream, and Amy ran out of the room and into the living room to see.

"We were really worried about you, Ms. Rouge." Cream said.

"Chi!" the little blue Chao said in agreement.

"Yeah. For awhile we weren't sure you were gonna wake up at all." Tails said.

"But now that you have…we're just glad to see that you're okay." Amy added.

"Yep. But none of us were anywhere near the amount of worry that Knucklehead over here was giving off." Sonic said, elbowing the now very flustered echidna that was making a move to strangle Sonic.

Rouge was sort of overwhelmed with all the sudden kindness she was being offered here. "Well, thanks for your concern, I think…" Everyone now just stared at Rouge expectantly. "What?"

Amy quickly said, "So…what happened to you?"

Rouge sighed and closed her eyes to calm the now arising headache. "Well…I guess there's no avoiding it now. Take a seat kids, this is a long story."

Authors Note:

Right…I suppose some of you maybe wondering why I suddenly am making this Sonic story. Well…I've almost lost all interest and/or desire to continue my other stories. I will, don't worry, but it may take a long while.

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