Chapter Four

Welcome back party people! Thanks a bunch to xadamjackson13, AMNShadow, sUbSoNiCSoundwave, xoSonicXAmyxo, TatlTails, and rehannon314 for favoriting, reviewing, and all that good jazz. This chapter is dedicated to you guys and my best friend, the inspiration for Rush, who I call Ven. Ven you rock and I miss you lots! Have fun in Florida this school year! Don't worry TatlTails, I'll fill your request. And to answer your question, wolves are cousins of foxes. Just like dogs and wolves are related. It's all about speicies. Now then onto the chapter! Shadow gets hyper then has a bad dream after an encounter with some chocolate ice cream...

We finally caught up with Rush outside of an ice cream parlor. He was bouncing up and down like a child and pointing at the window. I heard Kira sigh and mumble something before wheeling me inside. Rush immediately ran up to the counter and pressed his face against the glass.

"THEY HAVE SHERBET!" he squealed, making my ears hurt.

"Will you calm down?" Kira hissed a little. She approached the counter as well and I looked into the case at the different flavors. I didn't really like ice cream. It was much too sweet and cold and processed for my tastes. I continued to look at all the flavors and colors as the man running the shop scooped out three flavors of sherbet for Rush, two scoops of peanut butter chocolate for Kira and what I assumed was a single scoop of chocolate into a cup cone for me. "Here you go Shadow-kun." She said as she handed me the cone and paid for the treats. I took an experimental lick of the ice cream before taking another and another and another. Chaos what have I been missing?! It was soo good and sweet and creamy and dreamy and I just wanted more and more and more! I had sticky sticky chocolate all over my hands and face and I licked greedily at my sticky digits before devouring the soggy cone. Rush had finished his sherbet and Kira was about done with hers. I reached my sticky hands out, wanting more ice cream. She was chatting with Rush and not paying any attention to me. I growled a little. How I wished I had the ability to talk. What a genius idea. I tested my underdeveloped vocal cords, willing them to co-operate with me. I made a small sound and tried harder.

"Muuur..morrr...MORE!" The stroller came to a stop and Kira and Rush both came around to the front. They both looked at me and then at each other.

"Did he just?" Kira asked.

"I don't know, did he?" Rush asked back. I grinned and spoke my one word again.

"MORE!"

"HOLY CRAP! He is talking!" I facepalmed, accidentally sticking my hand to my forehead. Really? What part of this wasn't he getting?

"MOOOORE!" I whined. I'll be damned if I would be deprived of sugary sweetness. I reached for Kira's melting ice cream. "MOOOOORE!" She handed it to me and I ate it all, slurping melted chocolate and peanut butter ribbons off my palms and chewing on the soggy cone. Kira wiped away the rest of the mess, much to my displeasure, before we continued to Tails' workshop. I still wanted more ice cream. "MOOOOOORE!" I whined, beginning to throw a tantrum. "MORE, MORE, MORE!" the stroller stopped again and Kira kneeled in front of me.

"No more ice cream Shadow-kun, you've had enough for one day." I glared at her. Who was she to tell me, The Ultimate Lifeform, when I had had enough?

"MORE!" I shouted at her. She sighed.

"No more Shadow. It's all gone." My lip trembled and I let out a wail. I wanted more ice cream! I wanted, I wanted, I wanted!

"MORE!" I cried. "MORE!" She tried to comfort me with promises of more later but to no avail. I wanted ice cream now not later! She eventually, once I started to cry myself out, stuck my pacifier in my mouth and pushed the stroller. I was hiccupping and sniffling around my binky, my eyes getting heavy as the sugar wore off. I whimpered a little more before closing my eyes.

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I whined a little as I was jostled around. 'Who the hell is steering this thing?' I thought as I opened one of my eyes. Stupid faker. Why was he carrying me in the first place? I lifted my head and my eyes widened in pure shock. It wasn't the faker or even Kira. It was Maria. She was holding me and running. But from what? And where were me anyway? She ducked into a room and it registered that we were on the ARK. But this was all wrong. She panted and gently rocked me in her arms.

"It's okay Shadow-kun, we'll be safe soon." Safe? From what? What in the world was going on? She typed in a code on a keypad, her face lighting up as an escape pod appeared. She took a step forward and the door exploded inwards. Several solders surounded us, their guns cocked, warning her not to take another step. She made a break for the pod and all I heard were several gunshots before...

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I jolted awake with a loud scream, squirming around in Tails' grasp. I then screamed out my second word of the day.

"NO!" Tails stopped in his tracks and Kira rushed over trying to calm me down. She took me from the kit and I clung desperately to her, shaking and crying. "No more, no more, no more!" I cried. She rocked me up and down whispering soothingly to me. I had to check to make sure she was real...Chaos please let this girl be real. She wiped my tears away and snuggled me.

"Shh now...I'm here Shadow, I'm here." She whispered. "Sorry Tails. I think we'll have to put the tests on hold." She said.

"That's okay Kira. This particular test can wait a few more days." He clipped a little fur from my quills. "I'll just see what I can figure out from studying his DNA." He said. Kira put me back in the stroller and I clutched my Maria doll as we left. Rush accompanied us home and Kira started fixing dinner. I sat in the playpen, still shooken up from my nightmare. It wasn't Maria that had been shot...it had been Kira in her place. I squeezed the doll tighter. I didn't want anything to happen to her. I felt bad about screaming at her for more ice cream earlier. I didn't even like ice cream. And yet I screamed at her like a spoiled brat. She lifted me up and snuggled me in her arms, bottle in hand. I drank it all and she fed me another half before gently burping me and filling the sink with warm water. I splashed a little, pushing a blue rubber ducky around in the water. When she was done bathing me, she carried me into her room, plugged in the blowdryer and dried me off. She blew raspberries on my stomach, which tickled, and I played with her hair. She kissed my hand before dressing me in a diaper and a pair of red sleepers with a fire truck on the front. She put on more Pocoyo and I watched intently as she fixed dinner for herself and Rush. Suddenly, the front door opened. It was the faker. Which conicidentally, was my third word of the day. He tiptoed into the house, trying not to arouse Kira's attention.

"FAKER!" he tried to shush me as Kira raced out of the kitchen followed by Rush. "FAKER!" He then tried to take off but Kira grabbed him by his quills.

"Heh, hey there little sis...Rush." They both glared at him and Rush took over holding on to his quills.

"Come on Shadow-kun. Rush he's all yours." She said as she walked away. I caught a glimpse of Rush's deadly grin before they disappeared behind the wall of the hallway. I heard the sound of breaking bones and screaming as Kira closed the bedroom door. "Lets get you ready for bed." She said gently and mother-like. Mother...it definantly suited her personality. I shook my head a bit. She wasn't my mother. I don't even know if I have a mother. I know Black Doom is my 'father' since I have half of his DNA. But the other half is a complete mystery. I hadn't even thought about looking for her since I didn't even know if she existed. The more I rolled the thought around, the more I liked the sound of Kira being my mother. Even if it was only until I was returned to normal. I wasn't even sure I wanted to be returned to normal. Not when I could stay this way and have Kira take care of me. I mentally slapped myself. What was I thinking? I needed to be returned to normal. The rational and surprisingly still adult part of me was finding all sorts of problems with this, but my now overpowering childlike side was finding all the right things. She loved me, she cared for me. If it was anyone else I doubt they would have put up with me for more than a few hours. She defended me and she was kind. All the things a mother was. I started to slip further, my inner child winning over my inner adult. Kira loved me. Kira took care of me. Kira is mommy. Mommy laid me in the crib and kissed my forehead, winding the pretty mobile above my head. She hummed the lullaby and tucked me in.

"Good night Shadow-kun." She whispered.

'Good night Mommy.' I thought as I sucked my thumb and went to sleep.

(Third person POV; Tails' lab)

Tails sat in front of his microscope, examining the sample of Shadow's fur he had taken earlier. All seemed normal except for the rapidly deteriorating cells. He checked another sample against it. The same thing happened. It was like the cells themselves were regressing along with Shadow.

"Oh no." he check another sample, same result. All the cells regressed until they stayed the same way. Underdeveloped and infantile. "I have to find a cure or else he could be stuck like this. Forever."

Dun, dun, dun! Here we are, chapter four's a little on the short side. sorry. My original version of this sucks so I had to splice scenes from other chapters and yeah. Shadow's first three words! Squee! He's finally starting to lose it. O_o; Lets just hope he sticks to calling Sonic faker...anyways, more regression in the next chapter, and Shadow has fun with some Chao. It's gonna be cute so stick around. Till then, keep on reading and sending in requests for random things. ~Kira