Rouge the Bat

Rouge the Bat is a Mobian Bat who is both a part-time government agent and jewel thief. She occasionally works as a spy directly under the President of Station Square and is often involved in events concerning G.U.N.. She also tends to get involved in illegal activities, as she has an affinity for adventure and gems. Rouge has been known to work with the Chaotix and heroes as well as villains, as long as she gains something out of it.

Treasure Hunter
Rouge is fond of riches, especially rare, beautiful gems, and has often searched for or stolen jewels. She has had several run-ins in the past with Fiona Fox and Nic the Weasel, often beating them to rare treasures, and thus has something of a past rivalry with the pair. She also competed in an illegal fighting arena, in which she defeated Fiona and her partners Bean and Bark, worsening the feud. (StH: #165)

Agent of G.U.N.
When Sonic the Hedgehog was mistaken for Shadow in a plot that seemingly involved both Dr. Eggman and the events of a mysterious project from fifty years prior, Rouge was hired by the President to investigate. This involved stealing the six Chaos Emeralds from Prison Island, allying herself with Sonic to break into Dr. Eggman's pyramid base and steal a shuttle, and stop Shadow the Hedgehog from firing the Eclipse Cannon aboard the Space Colony ARK. As Eggman expanded his war, she became more active in events concerning the safety of Station Square and has occasionally acted as liaison with the Freedom Fighters. (StH: #98 SU: #2)

After Dr. Eggman's robotic body was destroyed along with Robotropolis from Station Square's nuclear strike, Station Square's satellites detected him constructing a new artificial body for himself within Old Megaopolis. The President dispatched Rouge to investigate, but after twelve hours without contact, the President called on Sonic and Bunnie Rabbot to have them search for Rouge and destroy Eggman's new body. While Sonic confronted Eggman and destroyed his robotic shell, Bunnie released Rouge from her prison cell. At first however, Rouge believed Bunnie to be an enemy due to her robotic parts, and the two ended up fighting for a brief period of time. Before the fight got out of hand, Sonic arrived and broke it up. (StH: #116)



Weeks later, Rouge saved the President of Station Square when Eggman remotely steered his limo off a bridge. Not long after this, she took part in the collaborative effort of Mobius to combat the Xorda. (StH: #124, #125)

Following Sonic's return from space, Rouge was personally hired by the President of Station Square to lead the G.U.N. soliders dispatched to assist the Chaotix and Mes Braves Battalion defending Fort Acorn from a horde of SWATbots. At this time Knuckles had lost his Chaos-based powers and was unable to glide, so during the defence of Fort Acorn, Rouge carried Knuckles and helped him during the fight against the SWATbots. (StH: #131, #132, #133)

Heroics and Schemes
When Evil Sonic came to Mobius Prime and replaced Sonic, he quickly fell for Rouge upon seeing her in Knothole. Rouge had been transported to Knothole after attempting to seduce Locke into telling her where the Master Emerald was. The two returned to Angel Island where Rouge acted as a decoy, again seducing Locke, until the latter sensed trouble by the Master Emerald. Evil Sonic was defeated by the combined might of Sonic Prime and Locke, and although Rouge was disappointed, she was won over when Evil Sonic presented a shiny gem. (StH: #150, #151)



Later she and Evil Sonic again attempted to seize the Master Emerald. This time Rouge helped Evil Sonic fight Locke until he was able to transform into Scourge. Scourge easily defeated Locke, but Rouge prevented him from killing the echidna. She followed Scourge to Knothole to watch Scourge fight and defeat both Sonic and Shadow and joined him in their escape through a Warp Ring provided by Dr. Finitevus. The two ended up joining Finitevus, but Rouge left his operation when she discovered he was planning to use nuclear weapons. After sabotaging them all, she fled to Knothole seeking refuge via a stolen Warp Ring. After revealing everything she knew to the Chaotix who were interrogating her, she was released from custody. (StH: #160, #161, #165)

In order to prove to Knuckles she'd "gone legit", Rouge accompanied the Chaotix in their investigation of Renfield Rodent's Casino set up in Station Square. Rouge, along with Vector the Crocodile and Espio the Chameleon, fell under the hypnotic spell of the slot machines. However, Renfield's schemes and plans to produce new Auto Automatons for Dr. Eggman were eventually put to an end by Knuckles, Julie-Su and Mighty the Armadillo. (StH: #166)

It seemed that she was up to her old tricks even after this when it was reported that she'd stolen the Master Emerald and planned to sell it off to the highest bidder. As it turned out, it was all a ploy she'd set up to lure in villains and allow the Freedom Fighters to capture them. She claimed to have done it in order to show Knuckles that she could be good as well, though not everyone was impressed by her manipulations and deceit. (StH: #173)

When Espio was seemingly late in returning from his solo mission into Eggman's territory, she offered to assist Knuckles in finding him, though it seemed that she was once again more concerned with getting close to the echidna than anything else. (StH: #174)

Rouge was captured by Eggman during his assault on Knothole and transported to the Egg Grape Chamber with roughly all but a handful of the city's inhabitants. Rouge was promptly freed along with the other prisoners in the ensuing rescue mission orchestrated by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and Sally's computer NICOLE. As a result, she was transported to the city of New Mobotropolis by Eggman's capture beam, which had been reprogrammed by NICOLE to teleport victims to the city. (StH: #175, #176)

Afterwards, she returned to working with G.U.N., and was reached by Sally through a badly garbled communication requesting aid against the new Enerjak, Knuckles's arch-foe reborn as Knuckles himself. Obliging, Rouge promised the aid of G.U.N.'s newest agent: none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. (StH: #181)

Hidden Agendas
After the Enerjak incident, Rouge found Knuckles watching the Chaotix from the concealment of some nearby vegetation, too ashamed of what he'd done as Enerjak to reveal himself to his friends. She then talked him out of his decision to dedicate himself solely to the Master Emerald and cut off contact with the outside world. Rouge then watched as Knuckles rejoined his friends, making comments that suggest she may have had ulterior motives for her talk with the echidna. (StH: #186)

Whatever her motives, she left Knuckles behind to team up with Geoffrey St. John, the two of them going to Mammoth Mogul's new casino to investigate the recently re-immortalized villain. Later, it was revealed that Mogul paid Rouge to relay a message to the Destructix. She told them of how Mogul was going to pay them for publicly humiliating Sonic which they proceeded to do. (StH: #187, #188)

Disarming the Doom Laser
Rouge was later assigned by G.U.N. on a mission with Shadow the Hedgehog. The mission was to head into New Megaopolis and deactivate Eggman's new weapon, a laser capable of destroying the Freedom Fighters' force field, their camp, and half of the Eggdome. Shadow recruited the help of Sonic, who was sleeping outside the Eggdome along with the others for the final battle. The trio attempted to disable the Doom Laser, which Rouge tried to reprogram while Sonic and Shadow occupied its laser defence weapons. Unable to reprogram it, Rouge suggested they take out its primary joins. Sonic and Shadow did this, but accidentally shifted it into firing position. Shadow then took off his inhibitor rings and used his Chaos powers to destroy the Doom Laser. After Shadow wishes Sonic good luck in his final battle and Sonic departed, Rouge marveled at how far the relationship between the two had come. (SU: #2)

Abilities
Being a bat, Rouge is able to fly and glide. She's a skilled fighter who specialises in kicks. Working as both a spy and a thief, she's also been shown to have a knack for espionage, manipulation, sneaking and computer hacking.

Personality
Rouge is a strong-minded young woman, a fearless, ambitious, independent, flirty, greedy, ruthless, calculating narcissist who most people see as only caring for herself and her gems. She has been known to seduce people with her strong sex appeal to get what she wants. However, she has, on occasion, shown that she can be heroic and a touch ethical.

Romance
Rouge is often flirtatious, but most of her advances seem to be in the interest of manipulation and personal gain. She displays a slight crush on Knuckles the Echidna, though she herself has admitted that she's mostly interested in getting close to the Master Emerald. (StH: #165, #186)

She also showed interest for Sonic the Hedgehog during their first meeting, and he appeared to reciprocate that interest, as evidenced by him complimenting Rouge and acting rather gentlemanly and charming. (SU: #2)

Background Information
Rouge is by far the most controversial character in the Sonic series, mainly among parents concerned about her general appearance and mannerisms. Despite this, Rouge is one of the most popular characters in the various Sonic medias.

Name controversy
There has been some debate as to the origins of Rouge's name. Here are some theories put forward by fans.


 * Her name could come from Rouge, (which in French means red), because she was brought into the games as a love interest for Knuckles the red Echidna.
 * She may have been named after the jewel, the rouge, relating to her jewel stealing.
 * Her name could come from a type of make-up applied to the cheeks, (also called "blush").
 * Her name could have come from the city, Baton Rouge, due to her first name being Rouge and the fact that she is a bat.