Rouge the Bat

Rouge the Bat (ルージュ・ザ・バット) is a video game character who is a determined treasure hunter and part-time government agent who plans to make all the gems and treasures of the world hers. Her current jewel obsessions are the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds. She made her debut in Sonic Adventure 2 and has been featured in the Sonic the Hedgehog console games, along with two handheld games since. She is considered to be the sex symbol of the series.

In seven of the ten games she has appeared in to date, Rouge wears a skintight black body suit with a large pink heart-shaped breast plate, long white gloves, and white thigh-high boots with pink hearts on the toes. She also has long eyelashes and wears blue or pink make-up on her eyelids. Rouge is 18 years old, measures 110 cm (3ft 7in) tall and weighs 35 kg (77 lbs). In Sonic Heroes and the two Sonic Riders games, she wears different outfits, but often with similar color schemes and heart-shaped details.

Personality
Rouge is a strong-minded young woman, a fearless, ambitious, flirty, 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. In the final events of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, she helped to save the planet. In Sonic Heroes, she stopped Shadow the Hedgehog and E-123 Omega from killing each other, and is seen battling Chaotix and Sonic as liabilities to her quest to finding Dr. Eggman's supposed hidden treasure room. In Sonic Battle, when Shadow was injured and needed a place to stay, Rouge helped him. In Shadow the Hedgehog, she did other laudable things, such as rescuing a Chaos Emerald from the doomed mainframe, destroying the evil monster Black Bull, and assisting Shadow in defeating Black Doom as well as showing concern for Shadow's welfare at the end of the game. Recently, she has been becoming less selfish, as can be seen by her actions towards Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic Rivals and has developed a crush on Knuckles.

Knuckles the Echidna
It is confirmed that Rouge has a crush on Knuckles the Echidna. In Sonic Adventure 2 Knuckles saves her from falling into hot magma (and it should be noted that Knuckles cared when she didn't seem grateful). It appears after this Rouge develops the crush for him. Although Rouge likes to playfully tease him at times. She is said to not want to admit her crush she has on Knuckles. In Sonic Rivals 2 they are partners, as they search for the Emeralds. At the end of the game Rouge remarks that Knuckles was "pretty dashing and daring this time around". In Sonic Chronicles Rouge says that Knuckles is "Cute" but "Not cute enough" for her to put herself in danger.

In the Sonic X anime, Knuckles returns her affections. Knuckles cares for Rouge and her well-being, but also at times displays a small dislike for the girl, and he'd rather stay away from her. Like in the games, Rouge is fond of heckling Knuckles, on whom she has a crush. Their lover quarrels often turn to violence, but end up with Rouge tickling Knuckles. Knuckles is also concerned for her safety, though he himself wouldn't admit it.

In the Archie comic series, Rouge's interest in Knuckles is challenged by Julie-Su, Knuckles's Echidna girlfriend. This makes it unlikely that their relationship in the comic will go any further.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Rouge has a connection with Shadow the Hedgehog. They're teammates in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, and often work together. Whether the feelings between Shadow and Rouge are non-romantic or platonic is an opinionated conclusion as of now.

In Sonic Heroes Rouge seems concerned for Shadow saying his name in a worried tone when he see's the Shadow robot. Rouge also seemed upset when she told Omega Shadow was a robot but perked up when Omega revealed that their Shadow could be the real Shadow.

In Sonic Battle, Rouge calls Shadow "not bad-looking" and "a prince," and also lets him stay with her when he is injured and lacks a place to stay. Moreover, in Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow saved her life when she was trapped in Security Hall. He later claimed he was just saving the Chaos Emeralds she had with her, however he might have said this only because he felt embarrassed of her remark about how impressive and unexpected it was for him to come back and rescue her. She even says that she's thinking about something a lot more important than jewels while looking at Shadows ring after it was given to her by Sonic after Shadow apparently died.

In Sonic X, when she first established the business transactions for helping Eggman and Shadow find the Chaos Emeralds, she seemed oddly interested in Shadow. Even calling him handsome. However, she was interested in him mainly because of his close resemblance to Sonic and later finding out the he was the main part of her mission: to find out whether or not the claims of his being the "Ultimate Life Form" were true.

In Sonic The Hedgehog (2006), she tells Shadow that even should the entire world turn against him, she'd always stay by his side no matter what. She was also saved by the black hedgehog after getting hit by one of Eggman's robots while airborn when he could of easily saved the scepter of darkness instead.

In Sonic Rivals, the ending for Shadow's storyline also showed that he and Rouge have a close bond together. This implicated when Rouge asks, "Hey, why not take a peek into our own future?" She goes on to say that the two should "do some treasure hunting together", which Shadow declines. Earlier Shadow puts aside the truth to get the card "Rouge" back from Eggman Nega. Some people expect this relationship is somewhat similar to Shadow's relationship with Maria.

E-123 Omega
Rouge's second best friend, after Shadow, is Omega, who is very loyal to her. She prevented Shadow from killing Omega in Sonic Heroes, showing that she cares about Omega's well-being, although she may have done this just to protect Shadow, as she did not know Omega then. Nonetheless, the two are close allies, and she shows signs of caring for him, such as in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, where she says she is saddened by the thought of Omega rusting away in Metropolis, and not with her and Shadow "blowing things up". She has sometimes shown annoyance at Omega, saying that he is too serious and that she is tired of hearing him ramble on about revenge and hatred.

Knuckles the Echidna
When Rouge and Knuckles first met, they were rivals until she was saved by Knuckles. Although, Rouge sometimes playfully teases him and outsmarts him to steal the Master Emerald at the end of Sonic Rivals 2.

Amy Rose
Rouge and Amy Rose are generally portrayed as hostile towards each other. In Sonic Battle', the two fight several times over Emerl, and in Sonic X, they appear to hold some sort of rivalry, and compete with one another in the Battle Tournament.

Friends/Allies

 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * E-123 Omega
 * G.U.N.
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Amy Rose
 * Chaotix
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Big the Cat
 * Dr. Eggman

Enemies/Rivals

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Black Arms
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Ix the Echidna

Game appearances
Rouge first appears in Sonic Adventure 2 as the treasure-hunting character of the Dark Story, making her the equivalent of Knuckles, her goal being to seek out the pieces of the Master Emerald. She primarily attacks with kicks. She also drives a car in one level. She makes a deal with Eggman, that she would help him find the Chaos Emeralds to power his Canon if he gave her an Emerald tracker to find the Master Emerald pieces. Rouge does find many of emeralds during the game after breaking into "Secruity Hall" and stealing them, however she is revealed by Shadow the Hedgehog to be a Secret Agent and stops Rouge from taking the emeralds from the Eclipse Canon. Rouge cheers Sonic and Shadow on during the final battle to save the earth from the Biolizard and is given Shadow's braclet by Sonic after his supposed death.

In Sonic Heroes, Rouge is the flight member (and presumptive captain) of Team Dark, as the player can have the abilty to fly when they choose her to be playable. She releases Shadow from his stasis pod, and (accidentally) activates E-123 Omega, who attempts to destroy all of Eggman's robots, including Shadow, who Omega thinks is a robot clone. Rouge stops Shadow and E-123 Omega from fighting, suggesting that they work together as a team to find Eggman. She looks different than in Sonic Adventure 2, with the heart being on her belt.

In Sonic Battle, Rouge is one of the most prominently featured characters in the game, with her story being the third to be played through. She is the owner of Club Rouge in the Night Babylon area in the story mode. Most of her fighting techniques appear to be derived from kickboxing. Her special attacks include sending a round bat that blows up towards her enemies, doing a powerful kick and sending what appears to be a ball of glittering energy into her oppnents.

Rouge also appears in Shadow the Hedgehog, and helps on hero missions in the Digital Circuit, Death Ruins, and GUN Fortress levels. In Expert Mode, Caren Manuel lends her voice to Rouge at the beginning of Cryptic Castle, Lava Shelter (along with Omega's), and The Last Way (along with the voice of every other character that appears in Expert Mode). She is working for GUN in this game, in her levels she rescuses the Chaos Emerald, and fights the Black Arms army when they are pushed back into the forest and Defends the GUN base when it comes under attack by them.

Rouge appears in Sonic Riders as an unlockable racer. She is a Flight type, and is the strongest Flight type character in the game. Rouge plays no role in the story of the game. Rouge returns in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity as a secret character. The offical website states that Rouge has some kind of Rivalry with Wave the Swallow.

In Sonic the Hedgehog, Rouge appears as an "Amigo" character, playable in stages White Acropolis, Kingdom Valley, Flame Core, and Tropical Jungle. She first appears escaping Eggman's base with Shadow after stealing the Scepter of Darkness as part of a mission from GUN. After escaping, Rouge and Shadow go to Kingdom Valley to find the GUN rendevous point, however they are ambushed by Eggman and the Scepter is broken after a struggle. Mephilis the Dark emerges from the broken scepter and is re-born in Shadow's shadow and send the two into the future. Rouge then teams up with Sonic and his friends to find two Chaos Emeralds that enable them to return to their own time. Rouge returns to the future alone and realieses that Shadow has stayed in the future. Rouge then goes about finding E-123 Omega and programs him to wake up in the future and help Shadow. Rouge eventually finds Omega and Shadow have found a way back from the future and so teams up them once again to find Mephelis and after encounter with him, Omega confesses he betrays Shadow in the future and that one day the whole world will turn against. Rouge assures her friend that if the whole world does turn against him, she will always remain by his side. Rouge then helps Shadow defeat Mephelis. She later helps the rest of the cast Save Sonic.

Rouge appears as a playable character in Sonic Rivals 2. During the storyline she teams up with Knuckles the Echidna to find the "Master Emerald" and the "Chaos Emeralds". She steals Eggman's emerald tracker to find them. She and Knuckles find themselves having to battle with other rivals and Eggman Nega in order to find the Chaos Emeralds while Knuckles is unable to find the Master Emerald. Rouge finds six emeralds which are then taken by Eggman Nega who opens a portal to another dimension, Rouge is dragged into the portal by Knuckles, leading to her finding herself seperated from Knuckles in another dimension. When she finds Knuckles, she sees that his mind is being control by the Ifrit, a big fire monster that could destroyed the world. Rouge manages to defeat the Ifrit and saves Knuckles, she then finds the emerald detector destroyed and sees the Master Emerald inside it. The two return to their own dimension. Knuckles takes the Master Emerald but is then distracted when Rouge calls him dashing, giving her enough time to steal it and run from the scene.

Rouge has been confirmed to be a playable in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. A screenshot confirms she is seen climbing up an icy mountain and has been confirmed to have a heated argument with Amy Rose at the beginning of the game. She is assigned to Sonic's party early on in the game, being the fourth party member to join. She is placed on the party as a 'representative' of G.U.N. Her overworld abilities allow her to fly (better than Knuckles but worse than Tails and Cream) and the Stealth ability - one that she shares only with Shade. In battle, she has low attack power and low armour, but gets to attack twice per round. She can weaken, distract and even steal items from her foes.

Rouge also appears in Sonic Rivals as a "Card" and has dialogue during the Story mode.

Abilities
Rouge, as a treasure hunter, has similar skills to those of her rival Knuckles (with the exception that she has a strapping lower body as opposed to his muscular upper body). Rouge can fly and glide with her wings, and her flying speed is able keep up with characters like Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles as, in Sonic X she is able to keep up with Sonic and Knuckles as they are making a charge at Chaos.

Sonic Adventure 2
Rouge's special attacks in 2-player mode are "Hip Drop", which causes a small earthquake to trip opponents, "Black Wave", a black energy wave which confuses opponents, and "Charm Ray", which freezes her opponent for 10 seconds. Since Sonic Adventure 2 had upgrading for each character, Rouge also has some upgrades to make her and her skills stronger.


 * Mystic Melody: A flute made of light that causes something special to happen if used in front of an ancient shrine.
 * Pick Nails: Hard additions the the tips of her boots that allows her to dig through grounds and walls.
 * Treasure Scope: A GUN-made device that allows her to see invisible items.
 * Iron Boots: Stronger boots that allow her to break solid metallic items.

Sonic Battle
Rouge has many different abilities, all of which can be copied by Emerl. She has low gravity, affording her considerably more air-time than any other character, uses her voice to attack, can release "Bat Cracker" bombs and uses a large number of kick-boxing moves.

One of Rouge's most obvious distinguishing characteristics in Sonic Battle is her flight ability. While other characters have a double jump (achieved by pushing A twice, jumping higher with each push and then falling due to gravity), Rouge flies into the air and floats there slowly with the first jump, and quickly lands on the ground when A is pushed again.

Sonic Heroes
As the flight member of her team, Rouge can use "Thunder Shoot", where she charges her teammates with electrical energy and kicks them towards enemies. While Sonic Heroes gameplay differs from other Sonic titles, Rouge's ability in this game can be enhanced by just collecting a yellow colored Power Core. Rouge has up to 3 levels of powering up, just like the rest of the others. In a fight, when her other teammates are not available, she is able to throw out dummy rings, which shock opponents.
 * Level 1: Thunder Shoot stuns enemies for a longer period of time depending on the strength of the enemy.
 * Level 2: When she launches her team mates, Shadow and Omega, using Thunder Shoot, it is able to destroy a targeted enemy sometimes and also enhances her attack powers.
 * Level 3: When she launches Shadow and Omega with Thunder Shoot, they are able to attack and defeat many enemies at once. Also, when Thunder Shoot is used, it has the ability to pick up rings like a magnet.

Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
In the racing games Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Rouge can level up by collecting rings, and has three different attacks depending on the level she is.
 * Level 1: Blows a kiss at the opponent, stunning them.
 * Level 2: Delivers a powerful kick to the opponent.
 * Level 3: Releases a flying Bat Cracker bomb like that in Sonic Battle.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

 * Tornado Kick: Rouge delivers a rapid series of kicks that create a damaging wind attack.
 * Jewel Storm: Rouge throws a handful of counterfeit gems at the opposing team. These gems, while small, are armor piercing.
 * Rising Knuckle: Rouge and Knuckles team up for a double attack that may leave the target stunned.
 * Plunder: Rouge feints an attack while stealing an item from her target.
 * Distract: Rouge tempts an enemy with her feminine wiles to keep their mind off the fight.
 * Shriek: Rouge directs a shrill scream at her foe, leaving the target sluggish.

Sonic X
In Sonic X, Rouge is a jewel thief who gets caught by the government while looking for a Chaos Emerald. Despite previous jewel thefts, they sign her on as an agent, even allowing her to keep her stolen gems. Teamed with a human named Topaz, Rouge sets out to acquire the Chaos Emeralds and challenge Dr. Eggman. She has several near-misses, but never gives up. She often spies on Eggman from the rafters of his bases.

True to form, Rouge is constantly flirting with other characters. However, she often gets into heated disputes with Knuckles. Like several other characters, Rouge enters a fighting tournament with a Chaos Emerald as the prize. Managing to defeat Tails and Amy, she finds herself facing her match: Knuckles. She attempts to win by using her advantage in the dark, but in the end Knuckles is the victor.

Rouge teams up with both Eggman and Sonic several times, seeking the side that will let her grab the Chaos Emeralds. During the Metarex war, Rouge teams up with Dr. Eggman, seeking to get the Chaos Emeralds through him. She is often teamed with Shadow, who does not trust her until later in episode 68. Later on in the Metarex war, Dr. Eggman joins forces with the Metarex. At this, both Shadow and Rouge leave Dr. Eggman, and work together against the Metarex. Toward the end Rouge will move to Sonic’s team, and Shadow remain on native planet of Cosmo (later he temporarily joins the Chaotix).

Like in the games, Rouge is fond of heckling Knuckles, on whom she has a crush. Their friendly arguments often turn to violence, but end up with Rouge tickling Knuckles. Knuckles is also concerned for her safety, though he himself wouldn't admit it. In one episode he has even helped Rouge up, after she was attacked by a giant and powerful robot. In an attempt to tease Knuckles, she has called him names like "Knuckie", however Knuckles usually will respond to it with one of his outbursts. In fact, in one episode (in the dub version), she comments to Knuckles "You're cute when you're angry.", but she is cut off.

It has been confirmed, that Rouge's external side is a mask behind which her true person is hidden. In an episode 77 she has started up tears when it is found out, that Cosmo should die (in the American version this moment has been cut out).

Something added to the anime is that Rouge, being a bat, if found of the dark. This is more apparent when Eggman blocks out the sun, and Rouge isn't bothered by, and actually seems to enjoy it. A notable ability change is that Rouge is depicted as having very strong hearing, being a bat. She shows with when she tries to fight Knuckles in the dark, and earlier in the series when she fights one of Eggman's robots that uses a pair of loud speakers, as she is unable to stand the noise.

Although Rouge's role in the series in somewhat "minor", she does help Sonic and the gang defeat Dr. Eggman on several occasions and even stands up to the Metarex, although fighting with Shadow and Dr. Eggman.

In the very last episode, after Chris leaves Rouge states that she is going to join up with Sonic and his friends stating that the team needs more glamour (4kids dub).

Sonic the Hedgehog Comics
Rouge has appeared in the American Sonic the Hedgehog comics, but has only made a handful of appearances. For the most part, she seems to be exactly the same as her video game counterpart, even being shown working as a covert operative for the president of Station Square. In the comics, Knuckles already has a girlfriend, however this hasn't stopped Rouge flirting with him in front of Julie-Su. At the end of 165 she makes it clear to Julie-Su that Knuckles will soon belong to her, but may be as she wants him under her control. Mirroring the video games, instead of Knuckles, Rouge makes a pass at Knuckles' father, Locke, in an attempt to get near the Master Emerald; though there is no suggestion that she is romantically interested in the older echidna. Instead of Shadow, Rouge then teams up with Evil Sonic, not knowing the difference between Sonic and his evil doppelgänger, in another attempt to steal the Master Emerald; after Evil Sonic makes off with a smaller gem for Rouge, they fly away to "discuss things in private".

They reappear later, once again trying to steal the Master Emerald; although the plan fails, Evil Sonic is able to touch the Master Emerald, and absorbs some of its power. With a new look, Rouge follows him as he heads for Knothole to challenge Sonic. Despite their seeming defeat, they manage to escape through a mysterious wormhole to an unknown location where she unwillingly joined the villainous Echidna scientist Dr. Finitevus.

She later reappeared after she stole a warp ring to escape Finitevus, who discovered that she had destroyed missiles in his base. She joined the Chaotix, who had placed her under surveillance, and assisted in halting an android-manufacturing scheme Eggman had underway in Casinopolis.

Rouge also had an encounter with Bunnie Rabbot, whom had been sent to rescue her when she was captured by Robotnik. Rouge manages to escape on her own and soon after encounters Bunnie, attacking her when she mistakes her for one of her captor's cronies, resulting in an 8-page brawl between the two girls, which is only ended when Sonic steps in and breaks it up, the girls exchanging somewhat half-hearted apologies.

It is also made clear that she and Fiona Fox have a history together. The two are rivals in both fighting and robbery. They also competed in an illegal tournament, in which Rouge not only defeated Fiona but also her teammates Nic the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite.

Voice actresses

 * Video games, Sonic X - Rumi Ochiai (Japan)
 * Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle - Lani Minella (US)
 * Sonic X, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, Sonic the Hedgehog - Caren Manuel (US)

Theme songs
The Sonic the Hedgehog video games have featured several theme songs for the character.


 * Sonic Adventure 2: "Fly in the Freedom" - Tabitha Fair, Todd Cooper.
 * Sonic Heroes: "This Machine" - Julien-K. This was a team theme shared with Shadow and Omega.

The background music for the stage Security Hall (titled I'm a Spy) in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is generally attributed to Rouge, despite technically having no relation to her. Like most characters, Rouge is associated with a genre of music, specifically smooth jazz/bossa nova/fusion with some feminine sighs thrown in (similarly to how Knuckles is associated with the rap genre). It is interesting to note that the background music in her Club Rouge stage from Sonic Battle also has feminine sighing. No other BGM in the game has any form of vocal.

Also in the anime, Sonic X a BGM plays in the background of most of her events and appearances. The BGM is called "Mysterious & Sexy Thief Rouge" and was first heard in episode 11. In the American 4Kids dub, a saxophone jingle often plays in the same scenes.

Quotes

 * "How was that? Perfect? Like Me?"-Rouge after getting an A Rank.
 * "Im Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge"-Rouge introduces herself.
 * "You just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you?"-Rouge after being saved by Knuckles.
 * "All the world's gems will be mine"-Rouge after winning in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Even if you believe everybody in the world will be against you, know that I will always remain by your side. Remember that."-Rouge to Shadow after hearing the world will turn against him.
 * "Better behave yourself!"-Rouge in Sonic Riders.
 * "These boots are made for racing."-Rouge after winning a race in Sonic Rivals 2.

Trivia

 * Rouge has had a total of three different costumes, not including unlockables. While her costume in Shadow the Hedgehog features a purple body glove instead of a black one during gameplay, it is not considered one of her "official" costumes, as it is merely an effect of the bright lights of the level in which she appears.
 * Rouge may have been named after the Jewel, the rouge, relating to her "jewel stealing".
 * Her name could also come from a type of makeup applied to the cheeks (also called "blush").
 * In four episodes of the English version of Sonic X (all in the third season) Rouge's cleavage was erased or shortened, making her breast size appear smaller.
 * Rouge is is by far the most controversial character in the Sonic series, mainly among parents concerned about her general appearance and mannerism. Despite this, Rouge is one of the most popular characters in the series.
 * Rouge, in French, means "red".