Adenture Department

[Knuckles]

[tag: Knuckles, Rouge, Sonic, Shadow]
Knuckles the Echidna had been the rightful guardian of the Master Emerald for as long as he could remember. Not even he was sure of what the true powers were that could be found inside the shining green gem… and aside from this, he wasn’t exactly sure why he was protecting it… or what he was keeping it from. That area of his history was such a foggy haze, and while Knuckles had searched for answers only a few times, he always would leave the subject alone. He figured that he just wasn’t meant to know why yet… and when the right time came, everything would fall into place.

The red creature stood in a linear formation just next to his most valuable possession that was planted at the top of the altar. It radiated emerald-green waves, reflecting sunlight that danced in an array of invisible patterns right into the ocean below. His eyes examined all of his surroundings, obviously attempting to scan for any potential threats. Without any trace of disturbance, Knuckles moved over toward the stone ledge and plumped down, feet dangling off into the atmosphere.

“I wonder where Sonic is – actually, I wonder where everybody is. Haven’t seen ‘em around lately… haven’t seen batgirl around either. Huh… but she said she’d given up her jewel-hunting days. I owe it to her to believe her; well, whatever new lifestyle she’s taken up, I hope she’s having more fun than I am right now,” the gullible Knuckles said to himself. He had actually thought that Rouge had given up her days as a treasure hunter… the odds of her actually dropping that was very slim, but hey, she could always surprise the entire world, couldn’t she? Maybe, or maybe not, the echidna was going to have to just wait and see.

It was about noon, so the hot sun was just reaching its climax. Knuckles had to wipe a few drops of sweat off his forehead, as he crawled in a backwards motion until he was leaning against the temple-like altar. There… at least he had a method of shading himself from the blazing weather. Come to think of it, all of the heat had been amplified lately. Of course, it was summer, and Knuckles was one to be able to stand the warmth. It was just that he didn’t want to sit out there all day, especially when the temperature was at its hottest at this lovely hour… even those centered around fire wouldn’t like that. The guardian of the Master Emerald let a sigh escape him, as his eyes shut themselves. He pulled his jet black sunglasses over them, leaned back, and drifted off into a state that was both a mixture of alertness, and sleep at the same time. Something unexpected would always come up when he did this… maybe the streak would be broken?

Knuckles found that in his drowsiness, he was having thoughts of Rouge. Now that was a surprise. No matter how much he refused to admit to his allies and friends that he didn’t like her, he couldn’t help feeling the natural attraction. The two treasure hunters are a good match, aren’t they? Well, the echidna thought so, but nobody could ever know of this – at least not now. The particular scene that was raging inside the intellectual system he held was one that happened quite a while ago. He and the bat were both attempting to locate the shattered pieces of his emerald, and had a little confrontation in the middle of space. They had gotten into an intense battle, only to tire them both out, neither being the official victor. But it was then that the bat slipped, and Knuckles saved her. After a bit of ‘teasing,’ Rouge had a change of heart and purposely handed over what fairly belonged to this echidna, and the two had parted.

And then the next time they had an encounter was when they were battling the Metal Overlord. Not to mention, they did have a few run-ins aside from that… particularly about gems and a “love-rival” type of thing starting to sprout out. Most never lasted too long though; besides, there wasn’t a reason for them to be around each other, and Knuckles wasn’t about to ask her to simply drop by and visit him. He’d rather avoid the joking from Sonic, and probably Rouge herself.

Knuckles sat up straight, and shook his head left and right. He’d gotten a little carried away, and he wanted to get these notions out of his brain. He really needed something to entertain him. As much as he’d love to go off and explore, he could never leave the Master Emerald unprotected. That was his first priority.

“This is fun.”

[Rouge]

" Could it possibly be any hotter?"

Knuckles wasn't the only one on Angel Island, at least not at the moment. A few hours ago he might have been, and certainly days before that, but at this second in time, he had at least one fellow soul. And, unfortunately for him, it wasn't the most pleasurable sort of company, though Rouge would protest otherwise.

Her appearance here on the mysterious island was not meant to convey a change in attitude, where she simply popped in and out of places to say 'hello' to old friends. No, it meant that she couldn't keep to her own word. Though, whether that would disappoint Knuckles or give him some form of entertainment on this otherwise mundane summer day, had yet to be seen.

She came in for a graceful landing, letting out a great sigh as she gently folded her aching wings behind her back. Though usually a strong flyer, today was just one of those afternoons where the sun completely drained your energy. The bodysuit wasn't helping either, and the mixture of sweat and itching was starting to drive her mad. And, as usual, she needed an outlet.

" Wonder if that furball's still hiding out here?"

Of course that loving nickname was reserved for Knuckles, her rival when it came to the nature of treasure hunting. She wanted the master emerald, and he wanted to keep it from her and everyone else. She supposed he was a goody-two-shoes, while she was a bad girl at heart. He could be rather annoying at times.

...Still, she couldn't say she didn't enjoy all the times they'd met. He was a very good fighter, and even if he'd beaten her numerous times, she still loved the challenge. What fun was trying to steal something that didn't belong to you, if it was easy each and every time? Part of the thrill of her addiction was an adrenaline rush, and Knuckles could certainly provide that.

Sure, she flirted with everyone else. Sure she hated him at times. But Knuckles would always have at least a small space in her heart, whether he liked it or not.

She wiped a few beads of sweat off her forehead as she started her hike around the island, now intending to walk until she could do so no more. And, why?

..Well, she wanted that gorgeous gem. That was the only reason she was here, after all.

Or was it?

[Knuckles]

[ ooc : my post is horrible. I apologize in advanced for its horridness. ]

And that’s when the curved figure caught a glimpse in his eye. The bat and treasure hunter known as Rouge could be seen from the top of the altar, rambling about Angel Island. Knuckles squinted, as if making sure it was really her, and it was… he gave a sigh and a grown, not too pleased to see that his rival was up to no good here.

Or perhaps he was just acting to fool even himself? He’s gullible enough to believe it.

“Better check this out,” Knuckles mumbled before he extended his arms, bent down and stretched, yawned, and stretched again. He leaped into the atmosphere, curling into a ball of red that started pivoting toward the Earth, the precise location of where Rouge happened to be at. As he reached the halfway mark, his hands and legs expanded, as if he were a bird, and his figure slowly glided down. The objects below him grew bigger and bigger, and more determinable, until they eventually were touchable from where he was. Landing on his feet with a murmur, a gaze was set upon the attractive hunter.

The echidna aimlessly put out a few jabs in front of him before he began to pace around Rouge, looking her up and down. The creature half-smirked, and half-frowned; he was deniably happy to have something to do, and someone he ‘liked’ in his presence. But he was undeniably discontented that it was a thief, who was probably after the Master Emerald once again. Without twisting any of this around, he now had something to do… something other than sitting at the top of the shrine, staring out at practically nothing.

“So, what are you up to this time, Rouge? Tryin’ ta steal the Master Emerald? Or are you just coming for a friendly visit? Well if you’re after my gem, than you’re not getting it so easily,” Knuckles said as he came to a stop, directly in front of the young woman. He had a teasing tone in his voice, yet something about it seemed to send out the message that he wasn’t playing around. But he was only playing at Rouge’s own level. This was probably going to get interesting, and Knuckles would be happy with that, just so long as the gem wasn’t taken from him. If that happened, someone would be dealing with a seriously ticked off echidna.

Knuckles gave a few more jabs into the nothingness in front of him just before he allowed his arms to fall to his side. Raising an eyebrow, he pulled himself into a fighting stance; for once he was going to try and be prepared for a sudden assault from the diva.

[Rouge]

( Your post is not horrible, mine will be. =P )


Rouge had been startled at first by the young echidna's appearance, and had held an aggressive stance for a few minutes while her rival had circled around, looking her over with a smirk. At seeing this action, she seemed almost smug, and relaxed her posture like she didn't find him much of a threat at all.

She listened to what Knuckles was saying, though her posture indicated otherwise. She seemed more interested in inspecting the back of her long, white gloves than in what he had to say. But still, she heard it. Every, single word he had to say, noting his mixed tone as well. She had to admit, she thought it was cute he was trying to play her game with her. Usually, he just got mad at first. She hadn't seen him happy and upset at the same time this early in an encounter of theirs for..Well, a long time she supposed.

" Mhmm."

She even gave a response that made it seem like everything had gone in one ear and out the other, but then she gave a wicked smirk of her own, assuming a sultry pose to tease her rival with.

" Aw, what, you aren't happy to see me, Knucky?"

She winked, blowing him a quick kiss. Usually the sign that she was up to no good, though she assumed that even he must have figured that sordid little bit of information out by now.

" Of course I'm here for your precious gem," she continued, closing the distance between them. " There are plenty of other gems on this island, and I've worked hard enough to earn this one. Besides, it goes so nicely with my eyes."

She gave another grin, and shifted her weight from one hip to the other, tapping the ground impatiently as he jabbed the air.

" So be a dear and step out of the way. You can play with your air over there, sweetie. I've got work to do."

She seemed completely relaxed, but she was bracing herself for any attack by her rival, whether that meant an insult that would launch her into making the first physical blow or not.

[Knuckles]

“Happy to see you, huh? ‘Happy’ doesn’t explain it,” Knuckles grunted after he had watched Rouge move in closer, and give the appearance that his words went in one ear and out the other. That is, until she began to explain further about how there were plenty of other gems on the island, but she deserved his.

“There’s not a chance you deserve that gem, Rouge,” the red echidna protested, remaining in his battle stance. “And I’m not stepping out of the way. You can’t put one finger on my Master Emerald, or else you’re gonna have to go through me. Besides, I thought you gave up your treasure hunting days, isn’t that right, bat? So keep away from my emerald.”

Knuckles’ mixed emotions simplified, now becoming just annoyed. First, the bat lied to him, and told him that she had given up treasure hunting… when in fact, she was still at large, and was attempting to get the Master Emerald in her curved clutches. Second, shouldn’t she understand it by now? Shouldn’t she have enough common sense to realize that Knuckles’ main goal in his entire life was to be protecting the gem, and she should understand that? This really was getting on the echidna’s nerves… he despised nothing more than grubby villains shattering or thieving his possession.

In one particular incident, Fang the Sniper had tried capturing the gem, and than was going to sell them for money in return. When the Master Emerald was split into multiple pieces, he was determined to beat out Knuckles. Honestly, what was it with others and the emerald of his? He didn’t blame them for wanting it, but to actually go as far to do what they had done was just ridiculous. Didn’t anybody care about his mission? Well, apparently not, or they would find one of the other million jewels located on the entire planet.

As for what Rouge’s plan and their current scene, Knuckles didn’t want to throw the first punch. Though when he looked at the situation in various points of view, which he doesn’t do too often, he figured that if his duty was to protect the Master Emerald, he had to annihilate any threats… or at least be absolutely positive the ‘threat’ was unable to cause harm to that. And he was familiar with this bat, and knew she wasn’t going to stop easily… unless, of course, she had a random change of heart… he never could get all the details straight about Rouge, seeing as how her alliance twisted and turned, and she was unpredictable… than again, he couldn’t get the details straight about any woman for that matter.

“Listen, Rouge, I don’t want to fight you, but if you wanna get the Master Emerald, I’m gonna have to,” Knuckles explained. He gave a threatening jab into the air, this time much closer to the dark creature in hopes of scaring her off. But knowing her, she was probably just going to recoil with a deadly assault, completely outraged by this. These two were such an… interesting pair of treasure hunters.

[Rouge]

Rouge's smirk had quickly faded at Knuckle's words, mainly the ones about her not deserving the gem. That, and the fact he'd brought up what she had 'promised' after the last time the whole gang had been together. Honestly, what did the Echidna expect? Did he really think she would change her habits so easily? Maybe she had actually considered it at one point or another, but that moment in time had long-since been lost, and the desire to keep a promise had been dead for quite some time. She just couldn't help herself, and she needed that gem.

Sure, there were other gems like she had said. And yes, she knew to a degree that Knuckles protected the master emerald for a reason. Maybe at one, brief point in time she'd considered how he, how someone else must have thought. But not now. No, right now she was looking out for number one, and she didn't care anything about whomever got in her way.

She could just as easily satisfy her greed with a different gem, or at least that's what everyone else might have thought. But it wasn't true. No gem she had ever encountered, save perhaps for the chaos emeralds, was as fantastic and rewarding as the master emerald promised to be.

It wasn't just about being selfish anymore, though that was a definite contribution to her motivation in chasing after it. Now, it was more like she yearned for the challenge, to prove that she could get it. That she could make it past and defeat her rival knuckles, and therefore prove she was more fit to hold onto the emerald than he was.

Of course she would misuse the emerald, or maybe she would just gaze upon it endlessly. Who could really be certain what Rouge would do with a treasure of such value? All that was known was she shouldn't be allowed to gain the emerald, she knew how Knuckles felt.

..And she didn't seem to respect his request at all. But who would she be if she backed off so easily? Certainly not the gal whose reputation preceded her often!

And then, he'd struck. She could see that he hadn't actually intended to hit her with it, but the gesture and the words that he had delivered before it made it clear he was going to stand in her way. But then again, she couldn't say she had expected him to do otherwise. It -was- his job, after all. And, she supposed it WAS nice to have some form of competition.

She looked down at the ground for a moment, gave an inward sigh, and aimed a powerful corkscrew kick at his torso. She knew he was quick and skilled enough to avoid it, and well aware of her tricks by now. She was a bit disappointed that she had struck out first, but it was usually the way things happened between them.

[Knuckles]

[ ooc : I have writer’s block. D: ]

This wasn’t surprising. Rouge had made the first real assault; with an enraged expression plastered across her face she had slipped onto the ground, lower-body twirling in the form of her infamous corkscrew kick. As purple energy flowed around it, Knuckles didn’t have the time to assess the attack, nor counter it, so the blow wailed into his chest, sending him sprawling backward in the air. He slammed into one of the larger, more structured trees, immediately sending out a cry of pain. The echidna fell onto the hard, grass-covered floor, before pulling himself to his knees… and than to his feet.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, batgirl,” Knuckles spat toward his rival. For once he had used a nickname that he hadn’t before. The one he had just uttered was one that Dr. Eggman would usually call her… but given the circumstances, he truthfully didn’t care much. This was, after all, motivation for his determination to prevail from this battle, and protect the Master Emerald.

Leaping forward, Knuckles allowed himself to let out a powerful punch, aiming straight toward the insane lady’s chest. As he did so, he let out a type of ‘battle cry.’ His fist gathered momentum, and tiny flames began to dance around in an unorganized manner, the few blazes revolving around his limb. Toward the tiny spikes planted throughout his white glove, the fire expanded, with a thin layer now encircling his hand.

Knuckles didn’t actually have the ability to control fire, or ‘fire powers’ for that matter. It was just a strange gift that would happen on certain occasions when he threw one of his strongest punches at an enemy… perhaps it is that all of the power locked inside that jab would cause the few particles in the air to combust around him? Or perhaps… it is something that runs through his ancestry, deriving from the ancient civilization of echidnas. There is more to those ruins than meets the eye… could it be the source of the flames that would appear around Knuckles’ fists?

“Just leave me and my emerald alone!” Knuckles roared as the assault veered throughout the atmosphere, raging toward Rouge. He just hoped that he would be able to hit her down… maybe it’d give him a bit of time to recover from that strong kick he’d just received.

[Rouge]

Rouge had been smirking at first, upon seeing her rival caught completely off-guard by her oh-so-infamous corkscrew kick. She had let her guard down in those few moments, and had made the mistake of gloating over a victory she had yet to achieve.

As the word 'batgirl' was spat out, she had been about to deliver what she thought was a witty and devastating retort, that is, until Knuckles launched an assault of his own. She was completely unprepared for it, and through every fault of her own. As his flame-surrounded punch closed in, she only managed to flinch and attempt to protect her face from the impact of the blow. In the few seconds she had, even she seemed to realize that she could not avoid it. After all, Knuckles wasn't a slow creature. Perhaps not as fast as Sonic was, but still devastatingly fast with his powerful punches.

His fists crushed into her chest, winding her momentarily as soon as they hit. She had been punched by Knuckles before, but his jabs had never before held such passionate power. She literally flew several feet, unaided by her wings, and came crashing down into the ground.

It was obvious that, for a few moments, the haughty bat was stunned. She lay in a crumpled mess, twitching her fingers as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, from the pain drawing breath caused. She remained that way until she gained her second wind, and then slowly pushed herself off the ground, not bothering to wipe away the dirt that now clung to her form-fitting outfit. She would take care of that later, as it was useless to even worry about it at this time.

She wiped at the corners of her mouth, though she did this facing away from Knuckles. Whether she had removed blood or dirt from the corner of the mouth, she would not allow him to know.

" So..."

She turned to face him, her eyes shining with a mixture of extreme rage, and a glimmer of what appeared to be...pain? Though, the pain was soon completely overcome by her obvious fury. She never did finish her sentence, but Knuckles should have been smart enough to catch her drift.

She shifted her weight again, pulling down on both gloves tightly, as if to signify that she would no longer hold back on him, assuming that she even had been in the first place.

[Knuckles]

Watching his opponent flash back several feet upon impact of his punch had boosted Knuckles’ confidence phenomenally. Knowing that he was able to cause such devastation to Rouge allowed him to be more certain that he could actually win this fight. But he wasn’t that ignorant to believe this would become a routine – the look dancing in Rouge’s eyes told him something. And that something was that she was ready to unleash her fury… she was going to put up even more of a fight than usual… determination rising…

“I told you already, Rouge, that the master emerald is mine, and you can’t have it. But I should’a known that you wouldn’t care, and you’d try and fight me anyway.”

Knuckles slightly tapped his two fists together, making a tiny clicking noise. His eyes narrowed, watching every move that his enemy was making. She had just turned around, brushing something off of her mouth and muzzle… whether it was blood or dirt, it was obvious Rouge wasn’t about to clue the echidna in on it. The tension between the two was so thick now, raging, and burning. This was now more than just a battle over the gem now. To Knuckles, it symbolized achievement, accomplishment, victory, and the assurance he could perform his goals to a higher extent… and to Rouge, it was probably now a combination of vengeance, and proving she was the better hunter.

The protector of the master emerald shifted his weight to once side of his body before then shifting it back to the other, and repeating the process a few more times. He was getting pumped, letting the energy flow internally and externally. Before he knew it, Knuckles was hopping and running in place, still jabbing his fists into the blank atmosphere in front of him.

He waited for Rouge’s next move. Knuckles formed that severe expression, nodding in her direction, sending messages via movement. He was telling her silently, that whatever she was going to try on him, it wasn’t going to work… and he was going to counteract it. Like he had thought and said before, he was far too determined to let anything step in the way of his job, and that he would give everything he had to guard his possession. This was a large accumulative of power. Seeing as how he already provided a deadly blow to the bat, this meant under greater circumstances, he could do much more than that.

And supremacy knows he wouldn’t be afraid to show it.

[Rouge]

" We'll see," she hissed, eying him warily as he danced about in place. Her ears tilted a little to the side, as if listening for a specific series of movements. It was an odd display, something she had never really done before, but then again..It had been a little while since they had seen each other. Understandably, both of them had probably improved their skills drastically. Rouge had already been shown that fact, rather painfully.

" You'd better hope you're right," she continued on, drawing a line in the dirt with her already-weathered boots. It wasn't clear what the significance of the action was, but the way she clenched her gloved fists and opened her wings at the same time, it seemed as if she were building energy..Or simply tensing her muscles.

After a few minutes of tense silence which the bat spent studying the echidna's actions, she started running at him as fast as she could. Naturally, she wasn't as fast a runner as Knuckles or Sonic, but she was no slouch either, even after being hit. Though her muscles still twinged with pain when she moved the injured areas, her rage and pride were far too elevated to allow her to pay much attention to them.

Once she had gotten as close as she wanted, whether Knuckles had moved at this point or not, she made a move that seemed like a punch was about to be aimed at his face. But, at the very last second, she pumped herself upwards into the sky with her wings, and lashed out with a particularly nasty corkscrew kick, aimed for whatever portion of his body it would hit. At the moment, Rouge wasn't above playing dirty.

..But then again, when was she?

[Knuckles]

[ ooc : I’m only using Knuckles to finish this thread. After that, I’m only playing Tails and Dr. Eggman!! ]

There comes a part in every action scene, where the first few attacks are rather slow-paced, and not much is thought of the actions; but then, something happens. Something is thrown apart, which creates uniqueness to the battle, and everything in the world appears to have been thrown into overdrive, moving quicker than any being has ever seen before.

That section has just come.

“Oh, Rouge, you’re one for action, aren’t ya,” Knuckles spat at the vixen of a bat, although it was much more of a statement than it was a question. “An’ so am I.” The echidna watched her every move, as she first drew the line of dirt, and then began to charge. She wasn’t moving slow, but she was no Sonic, and Knuckles had plenty of experience with battles that included unbelievably speedy (like the speed of light) through his blue hedgehog pal. He knew just how to avoid this, and at a perfect rate.

She made for a punch. The punch was as fast as lightning, but Knuckles was faster. Everything stopped around him; his eyes narrowed; he was ready. At just the right moment, the hero twirled out of the way, easily escaping Rouge’s attack. See, everything that Knuckles had told her before was correct – he was much more skilled than before. But he forgot that Rouge also has improved her ability at hand-to-hand (or in this case, hand-to-foot) combat.

“Hah!” proclaimed Knuckles triumphantly. “There’s no way you can hit – ”

There was no possible way that the echidna could have completed his sentence. For it was at that moment that he realized her assault was not a punch, but one of her infamous kicks powered by her abnormal lower-body strength, fueled, and raging with purple energy, because that’s how strong Rouge truly is. Her boots struck like freezing fire; the metal was so cold, but the force that had just stung him burned to such a far extent. His chest felt like it would fall off from this perfectly placed, and well-thought out trick attack.

For seconds, the world that Knuckles lived in completely froze, and broke into shards of destruction. Color drained from his vision, and he saw two replicas of his foe. He thought he was dying. He remembered how tough she was in earlier events; more specifically when he battled her for the master emerald somewhere off in outer space. He remembered how he might not come out on top.

In an instant, the black and white faded, the animation whizzed back into Knuckles, and he saw everything clearly. He was now leaning on a large boulder that apparently Rouge had knocked him into. The echidna’s fur was burning, for he had skid across his back with no control over his movement.

Shaking his head, Knuckles decided that he wouldn’t wait around for anything else to happen. Now he was really into business.

“Uh,” muttered the hero, slowly and steadily moving onto his feet. He rubbed his head, shook it, cracked his knuckles, and dashed. He was slower than before, because he was still in pain, but more determined than before, also. Knuckles concentrated like he’d never concentrated before. Fire spun around his fists, before he planted them toward the bat: the first punch was toward her face, the second, aimed for her chest, the third, aimed for her feet.

Knuckles didn’t have time to see if he hit the correct destination, because he knew how Rouge would react, if she was anything like she was before. She would attempt to fly away, and he had to beat her to that. With no thought, the guardian of the emerald leaped onto the ground, wrapped his fists around her feet, and gripped on tightly.

He was going for a ride.

[Rouge]

Rouge had not seemed too discouraged when Knuckles had avoided her punch; in fact, she had counted on it. As her legs muscles contained much more power than her arms, she had honestly not even started to plot out a course of action, in case the Echidna should have gotten hit by her initial, 'fake' attack. But, she always knew she could count on him to try and get the upper-hand, and then spend a nice amount of time relaying a victory speech. She couldn't mock him for it though, without being a hypocrite. She would have done the same exact thing, if he had been the aggressor of an attack she avoided.

" I'm sorry, what was that?"

Her lips parted in a wicked grin as she saw how effective her sneak-attack had been. She was quite proud of herself for that little move, and only a tad disappointed in Knuckles.

" I always thought you were better than that. Guess you've been hanging around that annoying hedgehog too long."

She gave a cruel laugh as he lay seemingly motionless, getting his wind back and recuperating from her unexpected move. Just like he had, she had now slipped into a state of monologuing, and thus, her guard had been dropped extensively. It was almost as if she didn't find him much of a threat, but then again, he had clearly felt the same way about her during that punch.

Her 'victory', however, was cut short as she decided to pay attention again, only to find Knuckles had pulled himself back together and aimed several more punches at her. The one to her face failed as she pulled back in instinctual surprise, but the punches to the chest and feet hit dead-on, causing her to give a slight shriek of pain. It would have been louder, especially since he had hit the area on her chest he had already injured, but the haughty bat wanted to give the echidna no such satisfaction.

Enraged, and once again in throbbing pain, she did exactly as anticipated and rose into the air.

..Only this time, she had a passenger.

He weighed her down a little, since she was in pain, but her wings were more than strong enough to carry the two of them a short distance. Still, it was obvious she had no intention on giving him a free ride.

" This isn't a ride!" she snapped, glaring down at him. " Let go!"

She was audacious, certainly, to make such demands after she had been the one who had started this whole thing simply by showing up. It wasn't anything unexpected, but it must have been annoying to the emerald's guardian.

As she saw he had no intention of letting go on his own, at least not without dragging her down with him, she started to go higher and higher, making all sorts of erratic aerial maneuvers in a desperate attempt to shake him loose.

[Knuckles]

Our heroic echidna wasn’t one for flying through the atmosphere while attached to a bat’s legs; if he would like to be airborne, he could glide himself, and perhaps this would come in handy in this battle through the sky. Knuckles violently shook as Rouge elevated herself far higher than he had been anticipating, and she turned, darted, dashed, spun and flipped in every direction possible that merely hanging on was becoming strenuous! With a growl and a grunt here and there, the determined echidna would not – emphasis on the ‘would not’ – lose his gripping and plunder into the warm soil.

“Huh, how can she lift me up so high when I gave such a strong blow to the stomach and legs?” Knuckles thought to himself as his body twisted even more in the ride. So far, his plan was not working perfectly, unlike he expected. There were a few things he didn’t think about before taking action, but he was confident that he could still turn this around. “I should have aimed for those pestering wings of hers…”

At one of the steeper bounces, in particular, the one where Rouge flew straight up and then let herself drop, only to bring herself back up again in her series of strange movements in attempts to break Knuckles apart from her, the echidna thought his foot was going to graze along her face. Luckily for her, this was not the case, and his feet missed her pampered cheeks and fur. After this ride, Knuckles most likely would end up being dizzier than he’d ever been before in his life. He had gone through so many loops and turns than he could count! And in his defense, he can count pretty high, actually. This wasn’t just his imagination; his enemy just happened to be a crazy airborne bat!

“This is it,” thought Knuckles. “I’ve got to do something different, or she’s gonna throw me right off the face o’ the earth!”

What skill did Knuckles possess that would serve useful in this scenario? There is one answer, and a rather great answer it is: the ability to glide. He knew just what to do, with little thinking. He counted to three in his mind, before allowing himself to be jerked up above Rouge, where he then spread out his entire body, legs and arms the furthest apart from each other than he could get. He could feel the nice breeze, now, so far up in the air; the breeze that forever this day he thought hardly existed. Up in the atmosphere, near the clouds, wasn’t so bad… it was just being on the ground that he felt such scorched heat.

As Knuckles glided further away from Rouge, he grinned and made a quick turnaround. Now, hopefully the bat would not be expecting an aerial dash assault from the creature, and he would be able to pull her back onto the ground. Depending on how hard she would hit if this were the case, the battle could possible cease, and the Master Emerald would be safe at home, with no burglars attempting to steal it from him… at least, for the rest of the day. What a treasure it is; there is no mystery as to why it attracts the thieves.

“If this isn’t a ride, then it must be annihilation!” Knuckles called out as his body continued to race toward Rouge. He didn’t think it was a cheesy line to say; even if the rest of the world does know the bitter truth. Out of all interesting things he could have said, he chose one of the ultimate worst.

As soon as he was close enough to her, he attempted to grab her legs, in hopes that it would bring her crashing to the ground. He could only hope, now; the echidna knew that the fate of his attack would lay in Rouge’s boots and wings. Anything could happen next. The only question is what actually will.

[Rouge]

((I apologize in advance for how awful this post will be. ))

" He has to let go soon."
Rouge gritted her teeth, hardly having fun with this anymore. The sentence was uttered to herself, only to herself. She wanted to keep up the ruse that she could bounce back from any of the Echidna's attacks, wanted to keep him wondering and make him believe that she really was as strong as her ego seemed to suggest.

Truth was, she was getting tired. Her muscles twinged and ached from his previous attacks. Knuckles had been right to question her, as his assault had been rather powerful. She knew her kick had been rather devastating as well, though she'd anticipated him bouncing back with a steadfast determination, however much it pained her to admit he was probably more physically competent than she.

Still, he couldn't fly like she could. He could glide, but she had a hunch he couldn't keep it up as long as she could. Normally, that was. At the moment, pangs of fatigue were starting to make her question how long she could stay aloft. It was rather irritating to the thief to have to go to so much trouble to get the emerald. Good thing it was worth all this aggravation.

She was surprised when he let go, though thought for a moment perhaps the pesky Echidna had decided to use the rest of his brain. Smirking, she slowed herself down, preparing to glide a little back to solid ground and take a breather before resuming her hunt. Obviously, she thought too highly of herself and didn't give Knuckles the credit he deserved.

That was why, when he spun around with the aerial dash, she hadn't anticipated it coming. She merely rolled her eyes at the corny line he shot out, not even bothering to dignify it with a response. At the very least, she should have seen something of that nature coming!

She braced herself as best she could in her weakened state, but he met her full force and started to drag her down as anticipated.

But, she wasn't going down without some sort of fight.

She was frustrated with this entire thing, and beyond trying to keep appearances at this point. Knuckles needed to know just what he was dealing with, and then maybe she'd try flirting or guilt-tripping him, if more violence didn't come in handy.

Without warning, she started squirming around, while lashing out at his face with her hands at the same time. It may have been a little catty, but hey, she was desperate.

[Citrine]

(And so the baton passes to me. Fear me and my smallish posts of awkward doom. )

Careful.

Aim.

HA! He got her!

The echidna felt strobes of elation course through him from his partial success. He'd managed to get a tight grip around Rouge's legs, and his momentum had been enough to drag them earthward at a rather high speed. Now it was time for phase two.

He didn't really have much time to think though. The ground was approching fast, and he had to find a way to make sure it was the batgirl that hit first. She was going to be feeling this for awhile... But maybe it would teach her a well-needed lesson. Don't touch the Master Emerald.

Well, things had been moving well up until now. Suddenly, the weakened Rouge began squirming, and several well placed slaps struck Knuckles on his head. He winced, and jerked a bit in mid-air. It wasn't very painful, but it was distracting. Distracting enough to have him swerving.

Another slap hit him square in the nose seconds later, and the pain made his eyes water excessively. That was it. There would be no more trying to glide his way down fast. He'd have to throw her, and hope she wouldn't be able to recover in time.

This was what he was good at. Physical strength. He began to slow and start spinning. Woah. He twirled the batgirl around with him, desperately holding onto her. And then, at the fastest moment of his spin, he hurled her violently downwards. He could only hope she wouldn't suddenly do an acrobatic U turn. He seemed close enough to the ground.

But it was really hard to tell. The horizon began to tilt vertical as he pulled out of the spin and the sky spun. He hadn't thought about being dizzy, yet he was. Badly so. He had to land. Slowly, slowly, he made his way down to the ground, trying to get a glimpse of what had happened to Rouge. But everything was a bit upside down, so he instead focused on his landing. A few moments later, his feet hit the ground, and he began to recover. Now where had batgirl gone?

(BEAR WITH ME PEOPLE. I haven't RP'd in many months. And I haven't RP'd Knuckles in years.)