Rouge and the Rogue (Knuxouge)

Thievery

Rouge wore the bandana that Shadow had given her to hide half her face as she flew close to the open roads. She had been a member of the gang for a month now, so she had been put in charge of looking out for any carriages coming toward the forest. There were supposed to be some lower-ranking officials riding through that day. Hopefully they would have some nice fat purses. Rouge snickered to herself. She was really thinking like a bandit.

As she swooped over some edgewise trees, she spotted a bright blue carriage cresting the distant hills. Whether it was boldness or stupidity that made those officials paint their carriage such a bright color was yet to be seen. Rouge flew back into the forest, dodging the trees and their errant branches as if she'd been doing it her whole life. She found her fellow members in the trees on the path, perched readily.

"They just came into sight," she reported, hovering just in front of Sonic, "their carriage is neon blue, you can't miss it."

"Nice work, Rouge," Sonic replied, then called out to the rest of the bandits "They'll be here in a bit! Take a few minute's break!" A muffled cheer came from the surrounding area. They knew they had some time to spare before the officials were close enough to hear them. Rouge took the opportunity to sit on a high-up branch and rest her wings. She was excited; it was actually pretty rare for them to be stealing things. Most days they just had to stay alive in the forest. It wasn't her first mission with the gang, but the adrenaline rush was the same. Once they took the extra money off their unsuspecting victim, they would distribute it to the poor in the city.

Tails got in his position crouching by the side of the road, big stick in hand to disrupt the carriage's wheels with. A hush fell over the bandits again as they waited with bated breath. Soon they could hear the droning of wood wheels on the dirt path. The carriage was plain as day, and a pompous-looking driver in a black suit steered the horses forward. Tails threw his stick in the spokes of the carriage's wheel, it made a horrible cracking noise, and he ran to appear injured in the time it took the driver to react and look around. The driver, seeing the fox on the road, became flustered and stopped the vehicle.

Two nobles stepped out of the carriage to see what was going on; they both had ridiculously flamboyant outfits on. Since it was only three people in all, only Sonic and Silver leapt down from the trees to fight them.

The hedgehogs made quick work of the carriage driver and the nobles, and once they were knocked out, the rest of the bandits swooped in to search for any money they were carrying.

Tails and Cream rifled through the noble's pockets and found thick stacks of coins. Cream even took a ribbon off the noblewoman's hat. Espio, Charmy, and Knuckles checked out the inside of the carriage, taking anything of value. They looted three bags of coins, many pillows, some fine silk, and several books.

"Nice. Those books can go to the school in the next town over," Tails said, taking inventory of all their prizes. "Pillows can be given to street orphans, the silk we can sell, and we'll distribute the money as soon as possible. We'll donate some to the graveyard."

"Man, then we'll have to GO to the graveyard. That place bums me out. Why can't we donate to the petting zoo for once?" Charmy complained.

"There are no petting zoos," Espio reminded him.

Charmy sighed dramatically. "Just another problem with this kingdom."

This all took very little time, just under a minute. The bandits were professionals, after all. Silver used his mind powers to stack the nobles back into their carriage, a little poorer than they had been before. The driver was set in the carriage as well. He might have fallen off if they!re put him anywhere else unconscious.