Hey fans!! I am so sorry for the delay of this chappy. But graduation was just a week ago and the week right after graduation I was in New York and Washington D.C. I swear I'll try to post this chappy before Monday. And if it comes out any day after Monday, you guys can feel free to throw rotten vegetables at me . Plus I had to get the names of my friend's other chaos in order to do this chappy. Yes, I know, everyday excuses but hey, it happens! So, enjoy the chappy!!!

Meganium Girl: Really? That's awesome! . And I'm sorry if I offended you or ANYBODY else about calling the chaos "it." But in the game chaos don't really have a gender until either you decide it or you can TELL it. So I don't call the chaos "him" or "her" until Knuckles, Rouge, or somebody else mentions it. I'll try not to do that in the future though.

rewindgonenuts: Argh! I KNEW something was missing! When I scrolled down and looked through the story I didn't see any fourth point. shakes head Thank you so much for pointing that out! Yes, I didn't know what it was called back then, so I just called it Chao Heaven. But now I know that its Hero Garden and that the "Chao Hell" is the Dark Garden. Thank you!!

Disclaimer: Knuckles is red, Sonic is blue, I no own, you no sue.

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It was a beautiful and warm day in Hero Garden. Then again, when was it not? The small stream of water trickled down the rocks, the cool breeze sang through the trees' branches, and butterflies flew around, stopping to rest on flowers every now and then. Knuckles made his way through the entrance with Pumpkin squirming around in his arms. Even with her energetic personality, she stopped for a second and gaped at the beautiful place in front of her. But it lasted only a second.

"Pumpkin, calm down!" Knuckles exclaimed as the chao wriggled this way and that to get out of his grasp

Suddenly he felt a sharp pang in his finger. He yelped and dropped the chao on the floor, sucking his injured knuckle. "She bit me!" he yelled as Pumpkin crawled happily in the new environment. Suddenly he heard a chuckle from behind him. Knuckles turned all directions, not being able to tell where the sound was coming from. He spotted a bit of blue behind a pillar.

"So, Knuckles. Not even able to handle your own kid, eh?" came the voice.

Knuckles gave off a low growl. "So what's it to you, Sonic? You're the one who always leaves me with yours."

Sonic stood up from behind the pillar with a chao in his arms and walked over to Knuckles with a sly grin. The adult chao, upon seeing Knuckles, gave off a delightful noise and jumped out from Sonic's arms. She crawled over to Knuckles' legs and motioned upwards with her arms. Knuckles laughed softly and picked the chao up. "Hey there, Roxy. How's it going?"

Roxy made a cooing noise and snuggled into Knuckles' fur. "It seems your chaos like me better than their father."

Sonic frowned and waved his hands. "That's only because you're here more than me. If Amy didn't drag me off to places, and I didn't have to save the world, then I would be happy to stay here with my kids." He walked away over to the pool, where two chaos other were swimming and playing with each other. He picked a white one up with two blue rings around each wrist up and set him on the ground near the tree. Sonic picked up a fruit and gave it to the chao. "Eat it, Ecko. I want you to become as strong as Shadow's kid." [1]

Realizing she was finally free, Pumpkin crawled over to the pool. She peered over the edge and stared into the clear water. To her surprise, an orange head was staring right back at her. Pumpkin cocked her head sideways, only to find the other head did the same exact thing! She reached out into the water, her main goal to figure out who this other chao was who kept copying her. Further and further she stretched her little arm, not realizing that she was slipping from the edge.

All of a sudden she felt a small force push onto her back, sending her sprawling through the air and SPLASH! into the water. The sudden rush of coldness enveloped her, and the pressure against her body caused her to flail her arms around, trying desperately to stay on top at the surface where there was air to breathe.

Knuckles heard the desperate yelp and his head snapped to the little pool. He dropped whatever was in his hands, which unfortunately was Roxy, like a sack of potatoes and rushed to the pool. He flung himself into the water and grabbed at the flailing orange arms, the only thing he could see with all the splashing.

After pulling Pumpkin onto the shore again, Knuckles hugged her close and realized his heart was pounding. How could this small chao do such a thing to me? Knuckles thought silently. How could she make me feel such...things? Am I that weak?!

With a start Knuckles pushed Pumpkin away from him. He patted her on the head and she crawled away, acting as if nothing had happened at all. He got up off of his knees and looked over to Sonic who was leaning against a tree and laughing into his arm, desperately trying to hide it. Knuckles glared at him and growled again. "Not a word..."

Another sound made them both turn around. A black chao was picking on Pumpkin and she was showing her disappointment by trying to whack him on the head. Unfortunately, the black chao dodged every attack. Both Knuckles and Sonic frowned. "Shadow, get your little monster away from my kid!" Knuckles scowled.

Out of the shadows of the small loft in the back of the garden came a dark figure. He chuckled. "Relax, Echidna. He's not doing her any harm." Shadow slowly walked over to where Knuckles and Sonic stood. "Besides, your kid is so weak it won't even tickle Demon." Shadow stopped and grinned at Knuckles. "So, you and that bat finally got together, eh?"

Knuckles opened his mouth to say something, but none of his words formed together so he clapped it shut again. Instead, he walked over to where Pumpkin and Demon were poking at each other and tried to break up the war. Sonic look over at Shadow and waited while Shadow answered the unasked question. "I decided to bring Demon over to see his parents for a while..." [2] was his excuse.

But Sonic saw behind Shadow's poor excuse and smirked. "You wanted me to baby-sit, didn't ya?"

Shadow was startled for a moment and then replied weakly. "No...why would I want to leave my kid with you?!"

"Don't try to hide it Shadow. I know you by now."

Shadow didn't do anything but grumble. When Knuckles had Pumpkin safe in his arms he walked back over to the group just in time to hear Sonic's last comment. "What are you guys talking about?" he inquired.

"Oh, Shadow wanted me to baby-sit tonight." He turned to Knuckles. "Unfortunately, Amy's dragging me off to some boring play thing tonight, then I have to go out and save the world. So that means..." Shadow was also looking at Knuckles now.

"Wait a minute...this isn't what I think it is, is it?" Knuckles looked frantically from Shadow and Sonic's pleading eyes, feeling like a trapped animal between the two hedgehogs. "No...I-I won't do it! Not again! Please, not again!"

Sonic looked at the pathetic and desperate fool. How sad, he thought to himself. He's willing to go as low as begging rather than baby-sit a few chaos. But then again...I'm a bit desperate myself. With that Sonic flipped out his cell phone and waved it in front of Knuckles. "Well, if you're not willing to baby-sit, why don't I call Rouge right now and tell her that you let Pumpkin into the cold water, and now she's terribly sick and is too weak to even eat?!"

Knuckles' mouth fell open. "You wouldn't dare..."

"Try me."

"Okay! Okay! I'll do it!" Knuckles put his head into his hands, remembering the last time he had to baby-sit both Shadow and Sonic's kids. He shook the images of flames and other total destruction out of his head.

Sonic grinned pleasingly and put away his cell phone. Shadow just 'hmphed' a supposed thank you and made his way to the exit, picking Demon up on the way. "Soul and Cash are asleep, and I'm just about finished feeding Demon. I take it that you'll take good care of them in my...absence." With that said, the black hedgehog disappeared in the dark shadows.

Sonic raced around the garden and gathered all his chaos. He then stopped in front of Knuckles and put them carefully down on the floor. He gave a quick pat to Chaz, Ecko, and Roxy. "Well, I'm outta here. Good luck, Knux. See ya in a week!" With a blur of blue Sonic was out of the garden just as fast as he had appeared.

Knuckles stared longingly at the place where both hedgehogs had exited. "Come back...please...come back," he found himself murmuring. He slowly turned his head to the four chaos sitting on the ground, staring up at him with those big curious eyes. It's going to be a long week...

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[1] Shadow's kid would be Demon who's like the strongest of them all...and the favorite glares at her friend

[2] I think Demon's parents were Roxy and Chaz...but I forgoteded...

Well, there's the third chappy! Hope you noticed my pathetic attempts of humor. Knuckles was reeeaaaallllly OOC in that one. But wouldn't YOU be a crybaby if you were supposed to baby-sit 7 kids? I tried very hard not to make Shadow OOC because I really like his character...but anyways. The fourth chappy will be the funny one...I hope. So feel free to complain and comment all you want! I can't make any promises when the next one will come out but trust me, it will eventually.

R&R PLEASE!!!!!!

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