A/N:Holy cow, that's twenty-five :)! I want to say a super duper congrats and thank to TheRoastedChicken… who, if I'm not mistaken, sent me review numero… erm… 100 :D! That's cent, I believe… right -.-'? Thanks oodles, everyone -! Let's have some cupcakes.

--LA

P.S: Welcome back, sonicliveson :D! FF missed you :D!

Mmff… mmff… mffffff… justmmffwait… mmmfff… there XD I ate mah cupcakes ;). Like… holy cheese, I ate so much on valentine's day :o! It was gross XD. Anyways, I'm hoping this is going to be one of the last disclaimers… I don't own… Ahh forget it… I'm too lazy. Time for more cupcakes C:!

"You're joking…" muttered Knuckles, staring at the glowing emerald as if it was a person reporting a very grim story. Rouge pursed her lip, glancing between the entranced echidna and the girl, who had fallen unconscious at the feet of the great gem. She wanted to rush over and help, but, being handcuffed to the currently unaware Knuckles, was rendered useless.

"Oh… shit." The echidna whispered for the umpteenth time, blinking. He turned to Rouge, looking uncharacteristically pale and anxious. "It's Hina." He told her, jerking over towards the unconscious body and, catching Rouge off guard, knocking her to her feet. As a result, he was yanked down beside her. Both scrambled to get back up, but being joined at the wrists made it extremely inconvenient. Both fought until they collapsed beside each other, each growling at the other.

"Knuckles…" Groaned Rouge, "Stop moving, you fat…"

"Just stay still!" He exclaimed, crawling away and dragging her behind him. They wrestled for another few minutes, before they finally found themselves panting beside an unfamiliar Hina's limp form.

Rouge and her quick-reflexes reacted before the slow echidna got his bearings about him. The bat leapt instantly over to the base of the emerald, placing her free hand on Hina's shoulder.

"Hina?" She breathed, rolling the unconscious slump onto her back.

"She's fine." Knuckles said grimly, cutting in front of Rouge and slamming his fist down onto the chain of the handcuffs, freeing them both. Before Rouge could speak, he bent down and bundled Hina into his arms. Without a word, he turned and marched away. Rouge watched for a moment in irritation before springing to her feet to follow.

She caught up after a few moments, but Knuckles continued to hasten forward, ignoring her completely. He led her to Tails' house, but let Rouge knock at the door for him, as the echidna's hands were full of Hina. Tails came to the door, looking exhausted. He glanced slowly between the pair, brow furrowed slightly. He was smart, but lack of sleep had dulled his mind.

"Hina?" he said blankly, rubbing his eyes. Very suddenly, as if he had received an electric shock, he jumped and yelped. "Hina!"

Eyes wide, he leapt out of the doorway and motioned for his unexpected guests to enter. Knuckles gently placed her down on a soft couch. The fox rushed down to her side, looking terrified.

"Why did I let you go…" he breathed, his eyes glassy and frightened.

"Tails," Knuckles said with as much gentle caring in his voice as he could manage, "I need to talk to you…"

Tails waved his hand. "In a minute… we have to help Hina…"

"She's fine." The echidna said a second time. "The power of the Master Emerald overwhelmed her. She'll wake up in a few minutes." He grabbed Tails by his shoulder and pulled him to the kitchen. Rouge shadowed them, looking concerned but curious.

"What's the matter?" The fox asked weakly, his face pale. Knuckles felt a stab of pity; Tails was only a child himself.

"Uhh…" The echidna began dimly, uncertain where to begin.

"Keep your voice down, though." Rouge said, peering into the hallway, "Tails has guests."

Knuckles ignored her. "We found Hina by the Master Emerald." He explained. "I thought she was a thief so I was on my way to check it out. Until Rouge handcuffed us together, that is." He glared at the bat. "I figured there was something wrong when I felt the emerald's energy. It was stronger than usual. And it told me… well…" He paused, looking apprehensive. Tails was watching him with wide eyes, now completely awake.

"What?" The fox breathed. "What did the emerald say about Hina?"

"It…" Knuckles continued hesitantly, "well… It explained a lot."

He waited, looking rather desperate, for either of the other two to speak, but they continued to stare straight at him. He scratched his head.

"I guess I'll start with that rock of hers." He said. Rouge's ears perked up, and she raised her eyebrows slightly with interest. She had her own theory about the seedrian's gems, remembering the exhibit in the museum, and was intent on finding out the truth. "I'm not sure how, but it's the same as Cosmo's."

Tails nodded his head slowly, looked interested but anxious. "Okay…" he said quietly, "I'll accept that if you can explain how it's possible."

"Like I said," The echidna grumbled, sounding slightly annoyed, "I have no idea. But it's the same one."

"No, it's not." Rouge said, speaking for the first time, "Cosmo's was a ruby. I remember it."

"Zip it." Knuckles snapped, shooting her a venomous glare. "The Master Emerald recognized its energy."

"But-" Tails began, brow furrowed.

"Just listen." The echidna said, clearly making an effort to not get angry at the poor fox. "The jewel goes back hundreds of years. Somehow – The Emerald didn't get to that part – it ended up in the possession of some sort of stowaway colony living in the ceiling of the seedrian's ship. Then I guess they dropped it or something, because the seedrians found it, and decided that it was good luck. Obviously, it had real powers, but I don't think they knew that when they gave it to the last baby who would be born,-"

"Cosmo." finished Tails. Even saying the name sparked tears. Knuckles nodded.

"Yep." He continued. "And I think Cosmo had all of the same powers Hina does… but she tried to hide it."

"Why would she do that?" Tails asked with his brow furrowed, feeling slightly betrayed.

Knuckles shrugged. "And one of your guests is her brother. A little boy. I suspected it when I saw them in a flower shop a few months ago-"

"What were you doing in a flower shop?" Rouge interrupted in amusement. Knuckles flushed red and he crossed his arms, pretending he hadn't heard.

"I could have guessed." Tails admitted, though he was surprised anyways. "The eyes were a give-away."

"That's how I guessed." Knuckles agreed. "Anyways, I've got more to tell you." His voice became suddenly anxious. "The seedrians… well… being plants, their bodies are sort of more…" He bit his lip. "This is pretty hard to explain. Their bodies have sort of… instincts of their own. And their instincts are really strong."

The other two watched him uncertainly.

"So," he said, suddenly speaking extremely quickly, "she grew fast like that because all of the cells in her body are trying to cram her development into a small period of time."

Tails furrowed his brow in suspicion. "And whywould her cells be doing that?"

"Well, that rock is really powerful. I think it has a sense of what's going to happen in the future. And since it's sort of… fused to Hina, her body's instincts are kicking in."

"But why?" Repeated the fox, afraid of the answer he thought was coming.

"Well, plants don't shed their seed until they… well… die…" he continued, now sounding rather awkward, "and reproduction is sort of a more primitive body's… ultimate purpose. You know, complete the circle of life?" He tried to smile, but it ended up looking like a queasy grimace. Tails looked like he was about to be sick. He tried to speak, but his mouth was dry and pasty.

"Keep going." Rouge said quietly.

"So…" the echidna said, trying to keep his blow soft, "I think something might happen to Hina."

The fox was smart. He knew what that meant.

"How long?" Tails breathed as if Knuckles was a doctor informing him of the bad news. Knuckles shook his head as Rouge placed a hand gently on the fox's arm. Tails' face was blank and pale, but his lip was quivering.

"Why did she do it?" he breathed. The other two, unsure of what he was talking about, only continued to try and comfort him wordlessly. "I could have figured something out…" he continued, tears making his eyes glitter, "Why did she go?"

Suddenly, he flung his head into his arms on the table, sobbing. Rouge crouched down beside him and stroked his head motherly. Knuckles looked uncomfortable.

"First Cosmo..." Tails choked, clenching his fists, "now my Hina…"

A/N:XP. Yuck. But I'm hoping this caused a couple of "oh!"'s. Hey, I have another screwed up dream to report 0.o :D! Last night I dreamt that I was standing on a giant church organ with like a zillion keys or something… anyways, I was standing on it with Shadow, and Danny from Cats Don't Dance XD. There's like only one part I really remember, but it's really messed up :P. Okay, so all of a sudden, all these people show up with cameras, Paparazzi :o! And they're all asking Shadow:

"Shadow! Shadow! How were the Dole bananas?!"

Dole friggin' bananas XD! So then Shadow goes all dramatic and throws a yucky brown banana onto one of the piano keys, and says:

"Your bananas can suck my fucking dick!"

I was like XP! My dreams have such awful language! Yeah. It was pretty fleeped up.

Oooh and I'm super proud of us :)! We got eight reviews on the last chapter :D! HIGH FIVE! CAN YEH DO IT AGAIN?

--LA