"I know we're looking for shooting stars," Starla said as she looked intently through a telescope (using an unknown form of vision to see through the bangs of her leaf-hair). "But this one is too close, right?"

Cosmo and Galaxina turned their own telescopes to see what Starla was talking about. For most people, this would be a little difficult; but then, most people aren't Seedrians. By this point, their species has invented telescopes the size of monocles and as functional as digital cameras (zoom, recording and image-correction included).

"What're you talking about this time?" Galaxina was regarded as a big sister to all her friends, but even big sisters can get sick of Starla's inane comments and borderline stupidity. This was the third time Starla blurted something out and, chances are, it was still that satellite from before. "Oh wait. There it is." Admittedly, even a broken clock is right four times a day…Seedrian clocks are weird.

"I…I don't think-" Would be a funny statement taken out of context, but Cosmo was actually stammering. Galaxina was her sister for realsies and her confidence and leadership always awed Cosmo, but they also intimidated her. She's never felt comfortable speaking out when she had always felt like an ensign compared to her captain of a sister. When Cosmo was assigned her standard-issue Seedrian dress, her jacket was too loose and the sleeves too long, but Cosmo couldn't work up the nerve to ask for another. Oh wait…She never finished her sentence. "I…I don't think that's a star…And it's falling!"

"Oh yeah. Guess you're right." Starla said nonchalantly. Apparently, crashing biplanes don't phase her, but those Mina Mongoose boots she saw on Tuesday made her faint (literally; they had to call a doctor and everything).

Whereas most kids with a cell phone would have watched the plane crash and made a "Poop" video out of it, Galaxina gathered her sisters onto the hover platform that took them out to this grassy field and sped off in the direction the plane was hurtling. It was only a minute before they reached the surprisingly clean crash site.

"Huh…You'd think there'd be…fire or something." Starla mused as she poked around the tidy debris.

"For once, we're on the same page." Galaxina replied as she noticed how there were only four broken parts of plane and they all had flat breaking points. "It's like giant model ship and you can still see where the pieces glue together."

"Yeah…Bummer." Starla was disappointed by the lack of fire.

"And we're off the page again." Galaxina was disappointed by Starla's lack of sense.

A gasp. The last piece of debris, the cockpit. Cosmo, wide-eyed. Stunned. Silence.

"What is it!?" Galaxina rushed to her sister's side.

"It's a-" Cosmo started.

"Fire!?" Starla was a little too eager to see a crash fire…Which would be eager at all.

"Boy…" Cosmo kneeled down closer to the plane's pilot. An unconscious fox. Her age?

"Careful…" Galaxina cautioned Cosmo as she pulled the pilot from his craft. "Remember Survivor Rescue Class."

"I know." Cosmo replied, but quietly and distantly. She heard her sister's words, but her mind was fixed on something else. "He's not bruised. He shows no signs of bone damage. He's breathing normally. He's…beautiful."

Of course, she didn't say that last part out loud, but she did think it. Before anything gets too intense, it should probably be noted that the Seedrian culture is more artistic and emotional than most other cultures in the galaxy. They don't view beauty as a strictly feminine trait so much as a physical/emotional/spiritual/whatever-ual quality that can be measured regardless of gender. Anyway, back to the story.

The normally-bashful and reserved Cosmo was overcome with instinct as she pulled the fox out of his cock pit and laid him on her kneeling lap. The world around her ceased to exist as she watched him sleep. Goggles over his delicately-closed eyes, his mouth slightly agape as his breath whispered in and out, a chest harness and belt wrapped snuggly around his fuzzy body; he was like a work of art. Quiet, soft and vulnerable; it was like he needed her. Cosmo didn't know much about what this planet calls "angels," but she was sure this must be one.

"I don't think she's listening." Was that…Starla? She sounded so muddled and far away.

"I know she's not listening!" That…sounded like Galaxina. "We're trying to make her listen!"

"Hey, Cosmo!" GAH! That was definitely Starla.

Cosmo jolted out of her trance and looked at her real and really-just-a-friend sisters. Galaxina was offering her hands to help Cosmo to her feet and Starla was standing on their hover disc. Galaxina was either confused or worried; hard to tell which considering Cosmo forgot the world existed a few seconds ago.

"Cosmo, if he's fine enough to move, I wanna take him back home until he wakes up."

"R-right." Cosmo shook off the last of her daze and started getting to her feet. Her knees trembled as she tried to lift herself and the fox off the ground.

"Uh…You want me to take him? Your'e kinda failing PE Class for a reason."

"We should get Chrysanthemum to carry him." Starla blurted out by request of nobody. "She's big, so he likes carrying stuff."

"Why do you keep saying that!?" Call it a hunch, but Galaxina might have heard that one before. "Just because she's big doesn't mean she's a pack-mule! When's the last time you've seen her carry stuff?"

"I-it's okay." Cosmo grunted. She was up on her feet, carrying the fox in her arms. "I can hold him."

It took a second for her legs to stop shaking. It took two seconds to start walking. By the third second, she was on the hover platform and solid as a rock. No force on Mobius could take that boy from her arms!

"Okay, put him down." Said Galaxina, who is technically a force from off Mobius. "He's already hurt. No sense throwing your back out too."

"But-but I can do it! I'm regulating my breathing. I lifted with my knees and not my back. Plus, he's lighter than he looks!" It was a bit subtle, but Cosmo kinda-sorta wanted to hold the fox. Thankfully, Galaxina noticed. She spread a little grin as she let her sister have her way.

Now, it's a difficult to gauge what an audience would be more interested in hearing about. Would they want to hear overly-technical reports on how a hover platform that comes from another planet, neither of which exist in, nor loan any kind of useful insight to the real world? Or would they want to hear about how the fox's bangs and twin tails blowing in the wind took Cosmo's breath away and how finding the strength to care for another person who needed her help started stirring feelings and courage in her she never knew she had? Well, hopefully the right choice was made…

The hover platform originated from the Seedrians' Golden Renaissance historical era, back when the Seedrians were a little more focused on physical appearances and their culture took a much more rigid and uniform philosophy than Mobius' Renaissance did. This period in Seedrian culture strived to make idealistic architecture and technology that was both advanced and aesthetically-pleasing; pretty much, white buildings, moving sidewalks and other things you'd see in a 1950's movie about the future. The hover platform was invented as a means of quick and easy transportation for small groups going short distances; popular for family picnics, school chums heading to the beach and lonely kids trying to bribe their way into having friends.

Early versions of the hover platform only came in one size and were difficult to make, but advancements in technology made it easy and practical to make smaller platforms for single riders and eventually even platforms that could expand and contract by command, making them as big or small as their riders' wished. The platform is propelled by its planet's magnetic field. This made it impossible to install computers into the earliest hover platforms even though practically all other forms of Seedrian technology were computers first and appliances second (an exaggeration, but they did have a lot of computers). After a few years of propelling their hover platforms like skateboards and by shifting their weight, Seedrians learned to coat their computers in natural fibers that insulated both dust a magnetic waves. Once computers were installed, automatic piloting and size-changing were possible.

A fun fact about the Seedrian Golden Renaissance is that it produced an uncharacteristically lavish and materialistic age for the species. This attracted the ire and envy of several neighboring races, including the nomadic Black Arms. When the invading army ransacked Seedria, its denizens were confronted by the brutality of war for the first time in centuries. Many of the peace-loving and timid Seedrians decided to leave their homeworld behind in search of greener pastures (that was actually used as a philosophical argument and not just a pun). The nobility and leading scientists of Seedria, however, were utterly confused by this attack on their proud culture and felt a compulsive need to defend their homes and prove their superiority. This led to genetic experimentation and development of unspeakable weapons that did manage to turn the Black Arms back…but only after Seedria itself was rendered so barren that not even the invaders could find use for it. The surviving Seedrians, devastated by the loss of their planet and enraged by those who abandoned it, probably went on to do something or other, but that sounds awfully boring. The important thing is you know how hover platforms work.

So, where were we? Oh, right. By now, Team Galaxina was getting off their hover platform. While Starla was (foolishly) entrusted with collapsing the platform and bringing it back home, Galaxina guided Cosmo and their guest to a massive, smooth, white semicircle sticking out of the ground. On either side of the semicircle was an equally smooth and white, but slightly more massive wall. When Galaxina reached the semicircle, a holographic frame appeared in front of her. The frame contained the image a male Seedrian wearing a featureless, gray helmet and a gray visor over his eyes.

"Name plea-" the guard started, his voice calm and reasonable, not gruff and demanding liked you'd expect a security guard to be. "Oh, Galaxina. Back so soon? I thought the meteor shower wouldn't be for-"

"Change of plans, Tarantino." Galaxina butted in. "We have a plane crash survivor who needs medical help."

Without a second's delay, the semicircle parted in half, revealing a shining city of white towers and tropical and colorful plantlife dotting the roads. With lights beaming out to the sky and the smooth, white buildings gleaming like diamonds, most people would call the Seed Embassy paradise, but Galaxina and Cosmo just call it home.

Cosmo scurried past the entrance gate and headed down a short path at the entrance with a hologram floating over it that read "Medical Emergencies." Galaxina started to follow, but stopped herself and turned back to the hologram of Tarantino.

"And…can you keep an eye on Starla? 'Kay, thanks, bye!" She darted off before Tarrantino could groan in annoyance. Well, 'annoyance' wasn't a strong enough word, but that's not important right now.

The Seed Embassy is a large city, but comprises the entirety of Seedrian society on Mobius, so it's a small civilization and thusly only has one entrance. The entrance to the Embassy immediately leads to three roads; one that goes straight to the main city, another for visiting dignitaries and business leaders (complete with a currency exchange for those who don't use the currency of their host nation, Acorn Kingdom) and finally, one that leads to an emergency hospital. All Seedrian hospitals are equal in quality, but the one by the entrance is the size of a small town's local physician and only comes equipped with enough to stop bleeding and make casts. What it lacks in size and facilities, however, it makes up for in a dozen, high-velocity air shuttles that can speed patients to the nearest fully-equipped hospital after they're patched up. It was a short but frantic run before Cosmo reached the small, white dome hospital. A circular door faded to transparency as it slid open, allowing Cosmo and her damsel inside. Treatment was simple; no need to shuttle to a full hospital.

"Unh…" Blackness gave way to blurred light. "W-where am I?" The sleeping beauty had finally awakened.

The fox sat up in his bed and found himself in a smooth, frosted white room. He noticed the blanket covering his lower body. He rubbed his eyes to shake off the last bit of grogginess. He saw a plant girl about his age…quite handsome if he had to say so. She seemed happy to see him. Greeted him with a big smile and waving her long-sleeved hand.

"Hello!" Cosmo felt her voice crack on that one. She took a second to collect herself. "My name is Cosmo…But you asked where you were, didn't you? Heh heh heh." What the stars was that!?

"Hello, Cosmo." The fox's voice was calm and pleasant. "If I'm not mistaken, you're a Seedrian, right? Am I in the Seed Embassy?"

"Oh! Uh…Yes! I mean, yes. You are." Cosmo was pleasantly surprised by how knowledgeable and, uh, pleasant the fox was…Oh yeah. His name's probably not Fox. "So, um…your-plane-crashed-and-we-brought-you-here. By the way, what's your name?" Smooth.

"Oh. Um…My name is Mi…Tails. My name is Tails." The fox, apparently Tails, didn't seem to want to finish his first thought. "I crashed again? Darn it, how do I keep doing that?"

Before Cosmo could assure Tails that it probably wasn't his fault and that he was fluffy like a cloud (maybe not out loud on that second one), the room's door slid open. Galaxina came in, dragging Starla behind her. Starla's hands were clasped by a single white cuff and Galaxina's free hand was pressing random buttons on a smooth, ovular remote.

"Why would you bite the guard!?" She seemed annoyed as one button seemingly deactivated the handcuff. "You're luck my mom's the Prime Minister, or they'd have thrown you in jail!...In fact, I might give you back just to teach you a lesson."

"Oh yeah? Well, you're lucky he wanted to go on that date with you, or you wouldn't have gotten that remote! So, nyah!"

"Shut up!" Galaxina muffled Starla's mouth. Fortunately for her, Cosmo was more interested in Tails than their gossip and Tails was too confused to follow what they were talking about.

"Sister, our friend woke up." Cosmo called out to calm Galaxina down. "His name is Tails."

After a brief exchange of words and an incident best left undisclosed, Starla was forced to stand in the corner (or what constituted a corner in the round room) and the Galaxina sisters caught up with Tails.

"So, you design your plane to break apart?" Galaxina was a little weirded out by something Tails said.

"Oh, yeah. Heh heh heh." Tails rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as he laughed at his own statement. "I actually crash a lot, so I started building my planes to break apart at specific joints. It sounds crazy, but it actually minimizes the amount of debris and reduces the impact on my cockpit. Makes it easier to put the plane back together and survive. Y'know, if you're into that sort of thing."

Cosmo laughed a little too hard at that joke, but Galaxina didn't have time to tease her about it. "So, why did you crash this time? If you don't mind my asking…"

"Well, I was actually testing out a new function on my goggles. I do a lot of flying at night, but it's not always easy using just my plane's computers to see what's in front of me, so I installed a night vision function into the goggles. Tonight was their maiden voyage, but something flashed just as I turned them on. I lost control and crashed."

"Oh my! That's terrible!" Cosmo touched Tails' arm to comfort him even though the crash was clearly not that terrible.

"And it was our fault, I'm afraid." Galaxina rubbed her own arm as she looked down to the floor. "Given that the Seedrians are plants, we need sunlight more than most Mobians. When the Sun goes down, the Seed Embassy's solar reserves automatically turn on. With those goggles of yours, it must have been blinding. I'm so sorry about that."

"Oh, it's no problem!" Tails assured her. "My friend Amy keeps telling me I have to schedule my flights and check with the authorities of the places I travel, but I just keep going my own speed. I really should have checked before I headed out here."

"So…" Cosmo tilted her head curiously. "What setting are your goggles on now?"

"What?" Tails felt around his face and noticed the goggles still over his eyes. "Oh wow! I'm still wearing them!"

What followed could only be described as incessant giggling from Tails and Cosmo. Two goofballs laughing their pretty little heads off at a mistake only they could have made. Galaxina snuck her telescope out to catch a few seconds of it. Fuel for much teasing in the future.

"Heh heh heh…Um." As the laughter died down, something caught Tails off-guard. He looked worriedly at Cosmo. "Cosmo, are you sick?"

As the two had been laughing, Cosmo's cheeks broke out in a light green. Not having a good view of her own face, she became confused a little more green.

"…" Galaxina was confused too. "…Oh! Oh no, she's not sick. She's blushing!"

Her eyes widened in surprise, Cosmo quickly covered her face with her sleeved hands. A little more green poked out to cover more of her face though.

"Yeah, they teach us in Biology Class that Mobians have blood and that's why their faces turn red when they blush. Well, Seedrians have chloroplast to give our leaves color. When I blush, my face turns blue. And when Cosmo blushes…"

By this point, Cosmo's entire face was as green as grass and her eyes were begging her sister to stop talking. Tails and Galaxina shared a chuckle at Cosmo's bashfulness and she was certain she was going to die of a terminal case of Embarrassment. Suddenly, a miracle happened. A gloved hand on her shoulder. A hand leading to…Tails!?

"Heh heh. It's okay." Tails' eyes were closed as he shook off the last of his giggles. "I'm the nerd in my group, so I get laughed at too. I guess we nerds just haffta stick together."

Yes.

Cosmo took Tails' hand in her own and stared into his eyes intently. Tails responded by being a little weirded out. Of course, she was easy on the eyes and her hands were actually comforting once he got over his initial surprise. This was for the best because it would have taken a legion of robots to take his hand from her now…Or a snarky remark from Galaxina. Thankfully, neither came.

"T-Tails…" Cosmo started formulating a thought to justify grabbing his hand. "My s-sisters and I were, um, watching for shooting stars wh-when we found you. Um…would you like to join us?"

Tails' ears perked up perked up and a smile broke out on his face. "That's tonight!? I totally forgot! I'd love to join you guys!"

"Wonderful!" Cosmo jumped up in joy, almost yanking Tails out of the bed on her way up. She turned to Galaxina to get her approval, but Galaxina seemed to have other plans.

"You know…I should probably take Starla home before she breaks something-" the big, blue sister started with a cheeky grin.

"Too late!" Starla called out from her time-out zone, a broken syringe lay scattered at her feet. Where that syringe came from as mysterious as where black holes lead to.

Galaxina took a second to try to kill Starla with a stare. When that didn't work, she turned back to Cosmo. "Well, I've got my hands full with her. Why don't you two go on without us? If you ask one of the emergency shuttle operators, I'm sure they'll take you to a hospital roof. Remember, you're the Prime Minister's daughter."

No sooner than Galaxina finished her suggestion did Cosmo take Tails by the hand and led him out the room. The bed's blanket fell to the floor, Tails yelped in surprise and Cosmo left the room in an incoherent rambling of thanks and praises to her sister that faded as she sped away.

"Hmm hmm." Galaxina laughed softly to herself. She picked the blanket up and smoothed out the bed. "She couldn't speak in public just an hour ago. One boy later, she's all grown up."

The Seed Embassy does not receive many visitors needing medical attention, so there were plenty of shuttles willing to escort Cosmo and Tails. They went with Chrysanthemum, a childhood friend of Cosmo's mother and something of an aunt to Cosmo. Years of friendship meant that Chrysanthemum knew what was on Cosmo's mind. A smooth ride and spacious patient area meant they could walk around. A divider window between passengers and driver meant privacy.

…You might remember Chrysanthemum from Starla's proclamation of 'She's big, so she likes carrying stuff.' Just thought you'd like to get that out of the way.

Tails pressed his hands up against the shuttle's back window and stared in amazement at the city below them. Lights shot up from the dark ground like pillars of…well, light. The white spires all around them glistened and a few even sported electronic billboards broadcasting rainbows of messages. Flying vehicles zipped all around and reflected the lights all around them like prisms. For regular people, it would be a dazzling dream come to life. For a nerd like Tails, it was if somebody liquefied happiness and injected it straight into his amygdala.

"This view is amazing!" Tails exclaimed with what breath the breath-taking sites left him with.

"It sure is…" Cosmo replied as she looked Tails up and down. Clearly, she had the better view.

As her eyes made their third trip down, she finally noticed the bandages on Tails' shoes. She tried out her newfound courage and asked about them,

"Excuse me, Tails? Why do you have bandages on your shoes?"

"Bandages? Oh!" Tails took a second to catch her meaning. "That's sports tape. My friends and I are exploring the continent that recently opened up. A lot of the terrain is desert or jungle, so it's hard to get traction when we're running or climbing. I'm not any good at sports, but some friends said that it helps your shoes and hands get a grip…I guess I got so used to it that I forgot it looks weird back in civilization. Heh heh…"

Cosmo couldn't hear Tails get embarrassed over her own fascination with his lifestyle. She was born on a spaceship during the last years of the Seedrian society's Star Pilgrimage age, just before they settled down on the remote planet of Mobius. She spent roughly half her life rigidly following schedules and dresscodes in her narrow birthplace, surrounded by nothing but space and distant stars. When the Seedrians anchored their starships into the buildings comprising the Embassy today, she spent the second half of her life being unsure of the new world around her. In a sense, she was living without moving, without seeing, without experiencing. In a sense, she was no more alive than the plants the Mobians took for granted (which is an awful stereotype about flora, but still poetically accurate to Cosmo…perhaps saying she was like a rock would be more politically correct).

Cosmo had done nothing with her life but Tails, possibly a year younger than herself, had so many friends, built things, explored the world. His species couldn't travel to space and yet he had already seen far more than she ever had. What would a beautiful globe-trotter like him ever see in an unbloomed bud like her?

No. It was thinking like that which kept her mousy all these years. She overcame that thinking to rescue Tails. She could feel a strength in her that she didn't have before, a strength coming from Tails. It may be hard to break out of her shell, but she knew she could do it; knew she could do it for him. A brilliant light like Tails needed to be protected and she was the best one, the only one, for the job.

It only took ten minutes for the shuttle to speed through the air and bring the new friends to a hospital roof. Although the buildings in the Seed Embassy are repurposed starships, the roofs of their hospitals were all refurbished to resemble and function like the hospitals in the rest of Mobius. The rectangular, flat surfaces that sported raised helipads made it easier for emergency helicopters to land and board Seedrian hospitals should the need ever arise; this was a suggestion from the Acorn Kingdom's supercomputer that the Seedrians were only too happy to comply with.

Tails was going to take a second to admire the sights before exiting the shuttle, but Cosmo had other plans. She rushed up from behind and took him by the hand. Before he knew it, he was being led to the helipad and could scarcely keep his feet on the ground. He was used to running with a fast crowd, but he wasn't expecting Cosmo to be so bold and he certainly wasn't expecting to get swept off his feet. He may have been able to catch up if he wasn't so impressed. No…'Impressed' wasn't quite the right word.

The shuttle sped away just as Cosmo and Tails reached the center of the helipad. The girl smoothed her dress out before sitting down and the boy made sure not to sit on his tails. The boy searched around the night sky, trying to find the shooting stars.

"My sisters and I don't like to stargaze in the Embassy." Cosmo said as she pulled out her telescope. "As lovely as the Embassy is, it creates a lot of light pollution at night. It's normally too bright here to appreciate the skies, so we like to go out to the fields where things are a little more natural."

"Yeah, I can see what you mean." Tails replied before he was surprised to feel something placed into his hand. He looked at the lens in his hand and then to Cosmo. "What's this?"

"It's my telescope!" Cosmo answered cheerfully. She helped Tails bring it to his eye. "It's very easy to use! There are little switches to zoom in and out and a button to record what you see. I think my telescope can hold three hours of footage."

Tails' ears perked up and let out an excited laugh as he got the hang of the device. He took a second to think and then took off his goggles and handed them to Cosmo.

"Wanna trade?" He asked as Cosmo looked at the goggles. "They don't zoom as far or record as long as your telescope, but they're a little easier to wear. I just wouldn't try the night vision option right now. You might go blind."

Cosmo looked at Tails through the lenses and took a second to play with the functions. "Well, at least my last sight would be a beautiful one."

Tails blushed. He didn't see that coming and it took him a second to quickly turn his head down to his hands. His blush grew as he fumbled around with the telescope, but he was happy. He'd never been called "beautiful" by a girl before.

Cosmo smiled and her heart loosened a great weight from itself; she could finally see her affections weren't unrequited. If she knew this was the first time anyone praised Tails like this before, she'd have done it again.

When they finally got over each other, Cosmo and Tails looked up to the sky to search for the shooting stars. No more words were needed.

…Well, except when they needed a ride home.