Rouge the Bat

"I'm Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge."

- Rouge the Bat

"I despise anyone who takes jewels from me... All the world's gems are mine to keep!"

- Rouge the Bat, Sonic Adventure 2 "What'd ya think of my beautiful technique?"

- Rouge after getting an S Rank in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Rouge the Bat is an anthropomorphic bat, a treasure hunter and an anti-hero from Sonic the Hedgehog series. She can find the pieces of the Master Emerald just like Knuckles the Echidna. Her rivals are Tails, Amy and Knuckles. Apparently, Rouge is a jewel thief, part-time government agent (working for G.U.N.), and self-proclaimed treasure hunter who plans to make all the gems and treasures of the world hers. Her current jewel obsessions are the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds. Despite her rivalry with Knuckles, they have a secret crush on each other.

Appearances
In nine of the thirteen 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 high-heeled boots with pink hearts on the toes. Her boots have metallic heels and soles. Whatever she stomps on would have some serious impact. She also has long eyelashes and wears blue (or pink in Sonic Heroes) eyeshadow.

History
Rouge the Bat is a world-famous treasure hunter. Her voluptuous and daring attitude turns any man's head. Her policy though is that duty comes first, but she has a big interest in jewels. Her figure, speech and behavior masks her true identity. Rouge actually has a crush on Knuckles the Echidna, but refuses to admit it. Rouge the Bat is very secretive about everything and very little has actually ever been disclosed about her. She would often switch sides with either the good or bad to confuse them. Rouge the Bat does have allies, such as Shadow the Hedgehog and Topaz from G.U.N. It wasn't until after a few episodes that Rouge and Topaz actually became close friends. At the end of the season in which Topaz and Rouge met, Rouge and the others were transported home. While Rouge said goodbye to Topaz, Topaz had a tear in her eye, remembering all the good times they had. In Season 2, she is one of G.U.N.'s top agents.

She battled against the Metarex in Season 3 with Doctor Eggman and released Shadow. She joins the good side and declared war on Eggman after Christopher Thorndyke was sent to Earth.

Rouge seemingly possess a locket belonging to Bokkun, Eggman's messenger robot. She usually pulls it out when Bokkun refuses to run errands for her, which convinces him to attend to her errands. (In the Japanese version, the inside of the locket shows a picture of Cream the Rabbit, which indicates that Bokkun has a crush on her.)

Personality
Rouge is a strong-minded young woman, a fearless, treasure-hunting, ambitious, independent, flirty, ruthless, calculating narcissist who most people see as only caring for herself and her gems. It is shown in Sonic Generations that Rouge can be referred to a temptress, due to her flirtatious and selfish ways. Rouge is sassy, cheeky and somewhat playful which can be fun or even annoying for the other characters of the series, especially Knuckles. She has a lot of pride and starts to fight dirty when facing a superior opponent, such as Knuckles (when it comes to power) or Tails (when it comes to flight). She can also show a bashful side, such as the time Knuckles saved her life from falling into her doom and became very embarrassed before disguising it with disgust and outrage.

Rouge is also at times a government spy who works for her own good. Rouge has a great obsession for jewels or even anything else that shines or glitters. She has been known to seduce people with her attractiveness to get what she wants (such as kissing Tails in Sonic Battle). 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. However, as shown in her portrayal in Sonic Free Riders, which depicts her as a very cold and only caring about her and the cash prize suggest that she has not changed much, regarding her interest in jewels and riches. This is proved as she couldn't care less that her robot team member broke down and even went on to insult it as well.

Rouge is often known to switch between the sides of good and evil whether to succeed to get her jewelry or to save the world from danger.

Physical Abilities
As both a part-government spy for G.U.N. and expert thief, Rouge is one of the strongest female characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Swift and powerful, Rouge has proved herself to be a force to be reckoned with in terms of physical abilities, both by her allies and her enemies.

In terms of raw power, Rouge's physical strength rivals that of Knuckles the Echidna. However, unlike Knuckles, whose strength lies in his upper body, Rouge's strength lies in her lower body, particularly in her legs and feet. Her high strength enables her to shatter boulders, slice through pieces of metal or even leave dents in thick steel walls with her kicks. She can even potentially split her opponents in half with precise kicks and create small earthquakes to trip opponents by striking the ground.

With the wings on her back, Rouge possesses the natural ability to achieve flight and is also able to glide by using her wings to manipulate her descend. When flying, Rouge can move as fast as Knuckles' gliding, but not as fast as Sonic or Shadow can run. Nevertheless, Rouge possesses an innate quickness, making her fast on her feet and can reach super speeds when running, though she is still not as fast as Sonic, Tails or Shadow.

Rouge has also proven herself to be quite acrobatic, precise and agile, on both the ground and in midair due to her government training. She is able to perform all kinds of actions and movements while in midair effortlessly, grind on rails and as well perform several types of nimble movements in combat with incredible precision.

Much like Knuckles, Rouge is an expert climber and can climb on any kind of surface, no matter the material. She is also excellent at digging and tunneling through subterranean regions.

Rouge has also proven herself to be a very experienced swimmer, possibly due to her being a treasure hunter, enabling her to swim with both great speed and skill, and can reach amazing depths.

Stealth and Infiltration Expertise
As both a government spy and self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Thief", Rouge has been trained in infiltration and is skilled in the art of stealth as well. As most times, however, she uses these skills to pull different kinds of successful heists, and has proven herself as a master thief.

As a result of her training, Rouge can surreptitiously enter enemy-held territory, either through stealth or by manipulating others into believing that she is on their side, such as when she tricked Shadow and Dr. Eggman into believing that she was willing to help them in Sonic Adventure 2 when she was send to investigate the doctor, and can hack computers and break codes in record time with successful results nearly every time. She is also stealthy enough to move nearly undetected through even the most fortified of locations, such as Prison Island, Dr. Eggman's various bases or Space Colony ARK and sneak up on people without bringing attention to herself.

Combat Skills
Despite her pretty looks and flirtatious attitude, Rouge is well-versed in all kinds of combat and knows how to fight, making her a dangerous foe in battle. As a spy for the United Federation, Rouge has gone through several forms of special training in self-defense and knows a variety of martial arts. Her skills in combat are so great that she was able to fight the combat-versed Knuckles the Echidna to a standstill when confronting him on Space Colony ARK.

Fighting Style
Rouge's fighting style focuses on a form of kickboxing, a style she has derived from her special combat training, and is rarely seen using her arms or fists when fighting, unlike Knuckles. When in battle, Rouge primarily fights her opponents by using a large number of skillful and specialized kicks to strike blows. Using her agility in line with her training, Rouge can perform moves such as high kicks, side kicks, spinning kicks etc. striking her opponents with deadly precision and efficiency, and can even send her whole body spinning through the air with her feet first, turning herself into an all-piercing spear.

Rouge can also complement her fighting style with her flight abilities, allowing her to take her fighting techniques to airborne opponents and allowing her to launch aerial kicks and strikes at her opponents.

Techniques and Moves
Most of Rouge's standard moves and techniques revolves around her Kick Attack move where she attacks her opponents with combos composed of kicks. Her special attack Screw Kick enables her to form a "screw" shape into midair while kicking, while her Drill Drive lets her send herself downward, with her feet first, as a spinning drill that pierces through her opponents. Also, her Hip Drop lets her drop onto the ground to form wide tremors that effects everything within its range.

When not attacking her opponents directly, Rouge has also been known to use techniques that involves some form of weapon. In Sonic Heroes she is shown to use Dummy Rings in her "Dummy Ring Bomb" move to paralyze opponents, and in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), she used her "Bomb" and "Bomb Snipe" techniques with her Heart Bombs to damage her opponents.

Miscellaneous Skills
Like real-life bats, Rouge has an excellent and sensitive sense of hearing, allowing her to hear even hear Espio, who is known as an expert ninja and a master of stealth, when he is in her proximity. Also, as hinted by her move Shriek and some of her moves in Sonic Battle, Rouge can make ultrasonic shrieks, just like real bats, to both attack her opponents or leave them disorientated.

Rouge is one of the world's most foremost tresure hunters, as seen during her hunts for the Emerald Shards and the Chaos Emeralds, and her skills on the subject rivals even that of Knuckles'.

Rouge has proven herself as being very talented at riding with Extreme Gear, as seen in Sonic Free Riders, where she is able to go toe-to-toe with some of the best Extreme Gear riders in the world. While in midair, she is capable of doing several acrobatic tricks with her Extreme Gear and can as well dash through midair with her Extreme Gear with her wings to pass through shortcuts through the tracks.

Shadow the Hedgehog
The two are teammates and current best friends in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes and often work together during mission stages, but are not seen together outside of duty alliance and do not spend time in one another's presence unless it is business. Nonetheless, Shadow is one of the few people Rouge cares about, other than herself.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow saw a comparison to Maria in Rouge and saved her life when she was trapped in Security Hall. Despite how he later dismissed his actions saying he only returned for the Chaos Emeralds that she had acquired, she suspected that there was more to his reason for saving Rouge than he let on.

In Sonic Heroes, Rouge forms Team Dark with Shadow and Omega. During this time, Rouge and Shadow are much closer than they were in Sonic Adventure 2; interacting more within Team Dark as partners alongside Omega. Rouge is willing to help Shadow get answers about his past and is shown to have some sympathy for him when they discover the existence of Shadow Androids.

In Sonic Battle, Rouge calls Shadow "not bad-looking" and "a prince". She also lets him stay with her at Club Rouge when he is injured during a fight after carrying him inside when he passes out in front of the club. Also, while Shadow is dreaming, an image of Rouge appears and he whispers, "Ally." Rouge seems offended when Shadow doesn't thank her for saving him, but later he thanked her when she told him that she actually rescued him.

In Sonic Rivals, after Shadow saves Rouge from Eggman Nega, Rouge tries to persuade him into going treasure hunting with her and suggests the two "take a peek" into their own future using Eggman Nega's device. Shadow declines and the story ends with Rouge still trying to convince Shadow to join her in hunting for the remaining cards.

In Sonic The Hedgehog (2006), Rouge makes an attempt to draw Shadow into a conversation that doesn't involve Mephiles' plan to destroy the world, and at one point she says, "It's always business with you." when Shadow ignores her and rejects the off-topic sessions. Although, Shadow also shows he is protective of Rouge's wellbeing. Once, when catching her from a fall after she was momentarily knocked out by one of Dr. Eggman's robots. And again, when he jumps in front of her defensively, after a fake Chaos Emerald explodes. After E-123 Omega reveals to Shadow that he is the one who traps him in the future. Rouge tells Shadow, "Even if you believe everyone in the world will be against you, know that I will always remain by your side... Remember that..." Shadow pauses, then replies strongly, "I will." Though, in the original Japanese version of the video game, Rouge simply says, "You always have friends to whom you can rely on."

In Sonic Free Riders, both Shadow and Rouge appear as Team Dark along with E-10000B. Their main focus during the game is winning the treasure and prize money. Unlike in previous games, Shadow seems perfectly content with helping Rouge obtain the treasure she covets. (Note: This is the only time Shadow has appeared in a game with the intent on making money, rather than his usual ulterior motives, although the manual implies that Shadow also joined for the sake of competing against Sonic of who had the better skills.)

Knuckles the Echidna
Knuckles the Echidna is Rouge's rival and on-and-off love interest. The two have been fighting over the Master Emerald ever since the two met. In Sonic Adventure 2 when Knuckles purposely shatters the Master Emerald to save it from Dr. Eggman, Knuckles and Rouge both go looking for its pieces. Eventually, Knuckles has to hunt Rouge down for the remaining pieces, and the two have their final confrontation at the level Meteor Herd. But during their fight, he saves her life instead because she slipped on a narrow beam and was going to fall into a burning pit of lava. After the rescue, Rouge and Knuckles share a short moment gazing at each other, before Rouge snatches her hand away and retorts with ungratefulness by teasing that he just wanted to hold her hand. In the end, Rouge gives him the remaining pieces of the Master Emerald and complains that, "They stink like echidnas do", to imply her stubbornness rather than to give him a direct, "Thank you". Knuckles gathers the shards to complete the Emerald and glances over to her, muttering, "I'm sorry if I hurt you...", and runs off. Before the scene fades out, Rouge gives a thoughtful smile over her shoulder before also heading out.

In Sonic Heroes they don't have much interaction with each other. At the end of Team Dark's story, Rouge commented that she would go looking for the Master Emerald, "since that irritating Echidna is here." However, in the last scene, she went to Knuckles and coquettishly hinted about going to look for someone else's treasure, then he ran after her saying, "She never gives up, does she?".

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, codex states that, "there's a sort of unstated connection between Rouge and Knuckles that neither are overly willing to explore." Rouge even admits that Knuckles is cute but just not her type during the game. During the game, when Shade the Echidna mentions that she is 4,000 years old, Rouge responds to this by saying that Knuckles was 'always into older women'.

In Sonic Rivals 2, the two are teamed up. Rouge's reason for this is because she had a mysterious client who told her that if she found all the Emeralds, she would be rewarded, so she believed with Knuckles she might find her client to know exactly who he was. When Sonic first saw Knuckles and Rouge together, he teased them, asking them if they are on a date. Rouge is hostile towards Knuckles and doesn't trust him. She however, supported Knuckles throughout the game but later on deceived him by stealing the Master Emerald by calling him "dashing and daring" in order to distract him.

In the DS version of Sonic Colors, Rouge tricks Knuckles into making him think the invitation to Starlight Carnival she sent him was written by Dr. Eggman.

Most recently, in both the first and final cutscenes of Sonic Generations, Knuckles and Rouge are seen having a conversation at Sonic's birthday party. They appear to be communicating in a friendly, lighthearted way.

E-123 Omega
Rouge's second best friend is Omega, who is very loyal to her. She prevented Shadow and Omega from killing each other in Sonic Heroes, and soon after they formed Team Dark to help her find Eggman's "secret treasure room". Instead of finding treasure, of course, they end up saving the world, and Team Dark has been a tightly-knit bunch ever since. The two are close allies, and she shows signs of caring for him, such as in Sonic Chronicles, 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 are generally portrayed as arch-rivals towards each other. Their relationship is similar to Rouge's relationship with Knuckles. In Sonic Battle, the two fight several times over Emerl. When Amy called Rouge's house a "dump", Rouge was furious about Amy's comment and the two started to fight over the Emerald Shard.

Their dislike for one another is also apparent in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood; they aren't always bickering, however, as shown in Shadow the Hedgehog. When Shadow had saved the world in the last story, Rouge wonders, "I hope Shadow's okay." Amy comforts her by saying, " I'm sure he's fine, Rouge. After all, he is Shadow." Rouge then looks back at her and nods in agreement.

Sonic the Hedgehog
As seen so far, Rouge and Sonic don't really show a dislike for each other, despite him being Shadow's rival and she being Tails, Knuckles, Amy's rival. Also, despite having some conflicting encounters and standpoints, they appear to be on good terms. In Sonic Battle, Rouge challenges him to a battle, if she wins, Sonic will have to get her gems and work for her. Sonic manages to win however, but he did not hold any grudge against her as seen later on. Later, Sonic let Emerl say hello to Rouge, which suggest Sonic somehow trusts her. In Sonic Chronicles, Rouge flirts with Sonic and gave him the nickname, "Big Blue", she uses the nickname again in Sonic Generations when rescued.

It is worth noting that in Sonic Generations, Rouge is one of the voluntary attendees at Sonic's birthday party and that Sonic treated her as all of his other friends, which shows a friendly relation between them. If Classic Sonic rescues her, she tells him to watch out for the Time Eater, then adds that he's not the Sonic she knows.

Although they do get along they sometimes get into fights, like in Sonic Heroes when Team Sonic and Team Dark fought in a jungle and in Sonic Battle when she kidnapped Emerl to train him to be a thief. He also said her if she did something to Emerl, he wouldn't let her off easily. When Rouge was introduced to Emerl, she gave them a idea to help Emerl, but Sonic said "You're a thief.

Miles "Tails" Prower
Tails and Rouge have a friendly relationship but Rouge sometimes adds complications to it. They will usually get along but Rouge will sometimes playfully tease Tails to just get a reaction from him.

In Sonic Adventure 2 Tails was basically unaware of Rouge's presence, but this was because Rouge was sent by Eggman to spy on Tails when he was trying to find the President. After that their interaction stopped until the Ark was set to on its course for collision with Earth. In Sonic Battle, Rouge would use her charm to tease Tails because she thought it was cute and funny how he reacted. She was however very helpful in Tails' story as she gave him the access card for the Central Computer Room, distracted Shadow, and told Tails how to escape the Guard Robos. Later on in Rouge's story Tails had to stop Rouge from stealing a Chaos Emerald. In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, while in Metropolis Rouge would sometimes be snarky with the plans Tails and Eggman would come up with but still show a playful affection for Tails.

Vector the Crocodile
Rouge and Vector have interacted a couple of times in games, usually in an uncomfortable manner. She seems to dislike him and marks him foolish. In Sonic Heroe in Team Dark's Story, when Rouge was representative for Team Dark, the Chaotix budged in her way, both started trash talking to each other until Rouge found him foolish and asked for a fight. In Team Chaotix's side, Vector claims Rouge's team as the enemies and their client adversary which lead to a fight.

In Sonic Free Riders, in the finals, both seem to have a common interest in winning the prize money when Rouge gets angry that their robot partner breaks down just one race before the cash prize. Cream complains about her behavior but Vector says that he can relate with her in wanting the money of the Grand Prix though it is not worth sacrificing a teamate.

In Sonic Generations, they don't really interact with each other but they attend the same party and face the same conditions as everyone else. However, when the player gets all Red Star Rings in the Classic version of Spagonia, Vector says, "Aw man, you got all five Red Star Rings. Rouge is gonna have my hide for this one."

Friends/Allies

 * Shadow the Hedgehog (best friend)
 * E-123 Omega (close friend)
 * Knuckles the Echidna (friendly, rival)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower (rival)
 * Doctor Eggman (depending on her goals)

Rivals

 * Knuckles the Echidna (at times)
 * Wave the Swallow
 * Amy Rose
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Vector the Crocodile (at times)

Voice portrayal

 * Japanese - Rumi Ochiai
 * English
 * Lani Minella - 2001-2004
 * Caren Manuel - 2005-2010
 * Karen Strassman - current
 * Rosane Correa (Brazilian)
 * Marie Lenoir (French)

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.

Trivia

 * In Sonic X, Rouge regularly uses the move, "Screw Kick", which allows her to spin like a top while kicking, like that from Sonic Adventure 2. In the 4Kids dub, she says "Screw Kick" in Episode 44, like in the Japanese version, but in other episodes she merely just yells or grunts.
 * Rouge's theme song, "Mysterious and Sexy Thief Rouge" was first heard in Episode 11 which is basically a saxophone solo that usually plays when Rouge appears.
 * Prima's Game Guide for Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) states that there are rumors that Rouge has feelings for both Shadow and Knuckles. It also erroneously says above that in Omega's back history that it was his rampage that unleashed Rouge from Eggman's base.
 * In Sonic Riders, Rouge has blue eye shadow on the character select screen and in gameplay but when you see her icon on the race results screen she has pink eye shadow on, very similar to the eye shadow in Sonic Heroes.
 * Although she told Knuckles at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 that she was done with jewelry, she is still hopelessly obsessed with jewels in later games.
 * Not counting team members in the support class, Rouge has the least team POW moves in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, with only one.
 * Also, Rouge is the only character with an Armor-Piercing move that hits all onscreen enemies instead of targeting one enemy. She is the second member of the Shifter class, and the only Shifter class member in Team Dark (Shadow and Omega are both in the Power class).
 * In Sonic Heroes, while selecting Shadow or Omega to be Team Dark's leader, if you use the first-person camera to look at Rouge, she will occasionally turn her head in the player's direction and wink.
 * In Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Rouge doesn't have her lipstick on.
 * Rouge and some other characters have a few locations named after them in Empire City, as seen on the street signs of the level's day time stages in Sonic Unleashed.
 * At one point in Sonic Battle while Rouge was around, Sonic says, "I smell perfume. Maybe Rouge is around.". This might mean that Rouge wears perfume, or Sonic was only making a joke.
 * Sonic Riders and its sequels are the only times Rouge appear without a heart design on her clothing.
 * After Sonic Battle, Rouge's design changed a bit her wings become less detailed and only one color and her blue eye shadow got darker after Sonic Adventure 2
 * Sonic Heroes is the only game where Rouge has pink eye lids.
 * However, when Chaos Inferno is done, her eyelids are violet.
 * In Sonic X, scenes with Rouge often were accompanied by a saxophone solo.
 * In Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge's outfit appears to be a purple/lavender color in game, but the concept art from the game has the outfit in its regular black color.
 * In the Sonic Riders trilogy, Rouge's breasts are shrunken down.
 * In Sonic Generations when spoken to Rouge after receiving a few Red Star Rings, Rouge will tell the player that she's looking for "Teal Star Rings".
 * In her alternate outfit model in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle her mid-driff shows her navel. However, in Sonic Riders onwards it isn't present. It is also true that Sonic characters do not have a navel (such as Wave and Tikal).
 * In Sonic Adventure 2 Rouge had fangs, but afterwards, they have been absent. This is also the case with Sonic (who seemed to have fangs in Sonic Adventure) and Knuckles (unlike the other two, Knuckles' fangs still appear every few games).
 * Despite being referred to as a "white" bat, Rouge only has fur on her head, while being completely hairless everywhere else.
 * One of Rouge's unused lines ("Pleasure before business!") of Sonic Adventure 2 is used in one episode of Sonic X.