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 105 cm (3ft 5in) 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.

History
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 ring 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.

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.

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. 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.

Heroics and Schemes
While Rouge more often than not works in a self-serving manner and will do almost anything it takes to get what she wants, she does tend to do the right thing on occasion. She saved the President of Station Square when Eggman remotely steered his limo toward a dock. Later on, she took part in the battle against the Xorda, aiding Knuckles when he couldn't glide.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

Knuckles the Echidna
Several official websites (including Sonic Central) have confirmed that Rouge have a crush on Knuckles. The Sonic Chronicles Codex states "There's a sort of unstated connection between Rouge and Knuckles that neither is overly willing to explore"'. Despite their mutually antagonistic professions (jewel thief vs. protector of the Master Emerald), the games imply there to be some sort of mutual attraction between the echidna and the bat, though both are too stubborn to act on their feelings.

In Sonic X, Knuckles and Rouge's relationship is more advanced. Knuckles cares for Rouge, but not in the same way as he does for the rest of his friends as he is loyal and would rather they stay safe. Knuckles also at times has a small dislike for Rouge, and he'd rather stay away from her. Both have regular encounters and conversations with one another along lines that makes them seem as if they were flirting, though is mostly to make it seem is if they had the other whipped. Episodes 73 to 78 drop several hints that they could take things further.

In the Archie comic series, Rouge's interest in Knuckles is challenged by Julie-Su.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Rouge has a close friendship with Shadow the Hedgehog. They're teammates in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, and often work together.

In Sonic Heroes Rouge seems concerned for Shadow saying his name in a worried tone when he sees the Shadow robot. Rouge also seemed upset when she told Omega that 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.

However, during a real article giving information about the Sonic the Hedgehog 06 game, it was said under the description of Rouge that she has feelings for both Shadow and Knuckles. Thus, creating a love triangle. This is great proof that Rouge truly cares about Shadow.

E-123 Omega
Rouge's second best friend, after Shadow, is Omega, who is very loyal to her. She prevented Shadow and Omega from killing each other 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.

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.

Tails
Rouge and Tails have only really interacted in Sonic Battle and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, but in both these games, Rouge displays a certain affection towards the the two-tailed kit. Although she enjoys teasing him, Rouge helped Tails and Emerl by lending them her pass to the Central City laboratory in Battle, even if the fox doesn't win against her, and speaks endearingly of the fox in Chronicles.

Friends/Allies

 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * E-123 Omega
 * G.U.N.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Knuckles the Echidna

Enemies/Rivals

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Black Arms
 * Knuckles the Echidna (has a crush on him)
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Julie-Su (Archie comics)
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Ix the Echidna
 * Bunnie Rabbot (Archie comics)
 * Fiona Fox (Archie comics)
 * Wave the Swallow


 * Shade the Echidna

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.

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.
 * "Aw yeah baby, this makes us a team!"-After assembling Team Dark for the first time in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Long time no see boys! Too bad you came out all this way for nothing, we'll take it from here!"-Taunting Team Sonic on their way to Eggman, before fighting each other.
 * "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.
 * "You're cute when you're angry . . ." Rouge flirting with an irritated Knuckles, Sonic X

Trivia

 * If you look at Rouge in first person view as anyone from Team Dark in Sonic Heroes, Rouge will stare back and wink.
 * 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").
 * Her name is also a pun on the City, Baton Rouge, due to her first name being Rouge and she is a bat also her name means "red" in French.
 * 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 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 is also the only character who uses make-up.
 * Rouge`s only playable Wii appearance was Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity she was going to be in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games as a playable character but was taken out for reasons unknown
 * It is likely she was cut from Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games because she is the sex symbol of the sonic series & usually her outfits show a lot of her cleavage.
 * Rouge (along with Omega and Shadow) is one of the few "regular" Sonic characters to not have a labeled favorite food. (Omega does not have one because he is a robot and as such does not need to eat, while Shadow has generally not been seen eating- he may not need to eat as it is.)