Still on the Highway...
"Okay, I spy with my little eye something...blue!" Rouge said happily.
Maria sighed and rolled her eyes. "Is it the sky?" she asked.
Rouge gasped. "Who told you?" she asked.
Shadow eyed Rouge. "Honey, you've said that about forty-six times now..." he reminded her.
"Really?' Rouge asked as she placed a hand on her chin.
"Yes Mom, you have..." Maria said.
"Hmm...oh well..." Rouge said.
Maria looked out the window and then back at Shadow and Rouge.
"Tell me another story! Those ones you were telling earlier were kinda funny!" Maria said happily.
Shadow smiled. "Well, raising you as a baby definitely wasn't a walk in the park..." he said.
"Huh?" Maria said.
FLASHBACK
Shadow slept soundly beside Rouge. Maria had finally went to sleep after crying for what seemed like hours upon hours.
"I don't believe she's finally asleep..." Rouge muttered.
"Me neither, who could've guessed a two week old could be so loud..." Shadow muttered.
Rouge yawned. "Well, at least we can finally get some sleep." she said.
"Yeah..." Shadow yawned as he placed an arm around Rouge.
Just when the both of them were about to fall asleep, there was a loud, angry, cry.
Shadow and Rouge's eyes immediately opened.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Shadow said.
Rouge sat up. "I'll go...you just...stay here and try to sleep..." Rouge said.
Shadow sat up. "No, I'll go. If anyone needs rest it's you." Shadow said.
Rouge looked over at him. "How about we both go?" she asked.
Shadow sighed. "You sure?" he asked.
"Positive." Rouge said.
"Well, alright..." he said as he stood up.
"Please Maria go to sleep..." Rouge whined.
By now they had been in Maria's room for an hour.
"Agh! What's wrong sweetie?" Shadow asked.
Maria continued to cry.
"She doesn't smell..." Rouge said.
"She's not hungry..." Shadow added.
"Could she be sick?" Rouge asked.
Shadow put a hand on Maria's forehead.
"No fever..." he said.
"Maybe she just likes to cry..." Rouge said.
"That's probably it..." Shadow said sarcastically.
"Should we call Sonic?" Rouge asked.
Shadow's ears perked up. "Why him?" he asked.
"Because, him and Amy have a baby too." Rouge said as she rocked Maria in her arms.
Shadow sighed. "It's worth a shot..." he said.
Shadow picked up the phone and dialed Sonic's number.
After two rings, Sonic picked up.
"Hello?" Sonic asked in a tired, raspy voice.
"Sonic? You sound horrible!" Shadow said.
In the background Shadow heard a baby crying and Amy humming, probably trying to get him to go to sleep.
"Well, of course I sound horrible! Amy and I have been trying to get Dash to go to sleep for the past 14 fricken' hours!" Sonic yelled.
"...and I thought Maria was bad..." Shadow said.
"So, what do you need?" Sonic asked.
"I was wondering if you had any advice on how to get a baby to sleep, but it sounds as though you're just as stuck in the mud as I am..." Shadow said.
"You bet..." Sonic mumbled.
Shadow sighed. "Well, if you figure out anything...give us a call okay?" Shadow asked.
"Whatever pal...see ya." Sonic said as he hung up the phone.
"Well?" Rouge asked.
Shadow sighed. "He's just as stuck currently as we are." he said.
Rouge looked down at Maria.
"Honey what do want?" Rouge asked.
"Anything!" Shadow said. "Anything to make you stop crying..." he pleaded.
Maria continued to cry.
"You need to sleep eventually." Rouge said.
"Maybe she nocturnal..." Shadow said.
"I doubt that..." Rouge added.
Shadow then put a very dull look on his face.
"I'm getting Cheerios..." Shadow said as he left the room. "I'm lowering my cholesterol... by eating Cheerios..." he said from down the hallway.
Rouge arched an eyebrow. "He must be going insane...we don't even have Cheerios..." Rouge said to the still crying Maria.
"WE HAVE NO CHEERIOS!" Shadow yelled from the kitchen.
Maria continued to cry, harder than before.
"IF I KNEW YOU HAD LIKED CHEERIOS I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT SOME AT THE STORE THE OTHER DAY." Rouge yelled.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT SOME WHEN MY DOCTOR SAID THAT MY CHOLESTEROL WAS DANGEROUSLY HIGH A FEW MONTHS AGO!"
"YOUR DOCTOR NEVER SAID THAT! YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A DOCTOR!"
'OH YEAH?" Shadow yelled as he walked into the room.
"YEAH!" Rouge yelled.
"WELL YOU KNOW WHAT I HAVE TO SAY-"
It was just then when Rouge realized something.
"Shadow! Shhh!" Rouge said.
"Huh?" Shadow said as he stepped towards Rouge.
"Look! She's sleeping!" Rouge said.
Shadow looked down, and surely enough, his baby daughter was asleep.
"She really is asleep. Isn't she?" Shadow whispered.
"Thankfully!" Rouge whispered.
Shadow couldn't help but smile when Maria yawned and cuddled her self closer to Rouge.
"She is really beautiful ya know?" he said.
Rouge looked at him and then back at Maria who was still sleeping soundly.
"Yeah...she is..." Rouge agreed as she leaned on Shadow's chest.
Shadow gently stroked his daughter's forehead with his hand.
Maria moved a little closer to Shadow.
Shadow lightly kissed Rouge's forehead.
"I love you Rouge...and I'm sorry that I yelled...about...Cheerios..." Shadow said.
Rouge smiled at him. "It's alright, you were tired, I understand what that's like..." Rouge said.
Shadow smiled. "Maybe we should put this little lady to bed before she starts crying again." Shadow said quietly.
"Alright..." Rouge said.
Rouge kissed the top of Maria's head before putting her in her crib.
"Good night Maria..." Shadow said
"We love you..." Rouge said before leaving the room with Shadow, to finally get some sleep.
Maria's ears drooped. "I didn't know I was such a nuisance to you guys." she said.
Shadow and Rouge looked back at her.
"We never said you were a nuisance honey..." Rouge said.
"Didn't ya here the end of the story?" Shadow asked.
Maria looked up at Shadow and smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right Dad." she said.
Shadow and Rouge turned around.
"Do ya want to hear anything else?" Rouge asked.
Maria smiled. "I think it's my turn to tell a story..." she said.
"Like?" Shadow asked.
"How I learned to fly." Maria answered.
Both Shadow and Rouge tried to bite back a laugh.
"I still can't believe you didn't come to me to teach you..." Rouge said.
"I can't believe who she went to teach her..." Shadow said.
Maria sighed. "I didn't asked him. He just sortta came up to me one day and tried to teach me...but that didn't work out..." Maria said.
FLASHBACK
A slightly younger Maria was sitting in her front yard looking up at the sky.
She saw her mother take off into the air, probably headed off to work or something like that.
"I wish I knew how to fly..." Maria said as she watched her mom disappear.
She knew that her parents had been talking about it for quiet some time now, but they never got the chance to teach her sense they were always so busy working for the government.
Maria knew that it was abnormal for a third grader to be unable to fly, but she knew that she would learn someday...but when?
"Hi Maria!" chirped an annoying, familiar voice.
"Dash..." Maria growled.
"What's up?" Dash asked as he took a seat beside Maria.
She turned to face the light blue hedgehog.
"Don't you have any better person to waste your life on?" Maria asked.
"What life?" Dash asked.
Maria sighed. "My point exactly..."
Dash laid down on his back, but he quickly sat up again when he spotted a large, red apple in the tree above him.
"I'm gunna eat it!" Dash said as he charged towards the tree and jumped, but it was useless, he wasn't able to jump high enough.
"Gugh." Dash said as he hit the floor.
"Loser..." Maria mumbled.
Dash turned and faced Maria. "Hey, do you think you could grab it for me?" he asked
Maria shook her head no. "If you can't jump that high, then I doubt I can..." she said.
Dash crossed his arms. "Yeah, but you can fly can't you? You're a bat!" he said.
"Yeah...I'm a bat...but I don't know how to fly." Maria said.
Dash burst out into laughter. "Nice joke Maria." he said.
"Dash, this is no joke, I'm serious..." she said.
Dash laughed harder. "WHAT KIND OF A BAT DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO FLY!" he laughed.
Maria's ears drooped. "It's not funny Dash... my parents never taught me how..." she said.
Dash rubbed his eye and looked up at her. "Well, maybe cause your dad's a hedgehog and your mom's a bat, you took the body of the bat, but the physical abilities of a hedgehog!" he said.
Maria gasped. "You think?" she asked.
"Yeah, why do you think your parents haven't taught you how to fly yet? It's because they know you can't!" Dash said.
Maria frowned. "If I can't fly, then I'll be made fun of. What I wouldn't give to be a hedgehog right now..." she said sadly.
Dash smirked. "Well, be glad that you weren't born some mutated freak. Like a hedgehog with wings, or a bat with no wings, or a hedgehog with big bat ears." he said.
Maria frowned. "It's not my fault my parents are different..." she said.
Dash sighed. "Yeah... my parents are pretty much the same...I guess that's a good thing! I wasn't born a freak like you, with half of my genes being hedgehog and the other half being bat." he said.
Maria glared at him. "You're more of a freak then I'll ever be." she said.
Dash frowned.
"Listen, I'm leaving, I'll see you later..." Maria said as she began to walk away.
Dash then looked up at the apple. How badly he wanted it. Then a thought struck him.
"MARIA WAIT! WHAT IF I TAUGHT YOU HOW TO FLY?" Dash asked.
Maria stopped. "But, you said I couldn't fly..." she said.
"Yeah well, you've really never tried to fly. Have you?" Dash asked.
Maria thought about it for a moment. Come to think of it, she never really had tried flying before...
"Alright Dash, I'll give you once chance..." Maria said.
"YES!" Dash said.
"Okay, this will be like learning how to ride a bike!" Dash said.
"You know how to ride a bike?" Maria asked.
Dash said nothing.
Once again, it was just as abnormal for a third grader to be unable to ride a bike as it was for a third grader to be unable to fly.
"Okay anyways, let's get down to business." Dash said as he slammed his fist into his palm.
"Okay, try these on for size!" Dash said as he brought some paper wings over to Maria.
"Um...Dash? I already have wings, couldn't I just use those?" Maria asked as she stared at the pathetically cut out wings.
"Nonsense! I know what I'm doing! These paper wings have worked before and I'm nearly 100 sure that they'll work again!" Dash said.
"You used these to teach someone how to fly?" Maria asked.
"Yes." Dash said.
"Who?" Maria asked.
"Me, myself and I." Dash answered.
There was a pause.
"Dash...you can't fly..." Maria said.
"Sure I can, watch me!" Dash said as he climbed up onto a rock and jumped off, but landed flat on his face.
"Um...yeah...real experience there..." Maria said.
Dash sat up and smiled. "Ya think so?" he asked.
Maria rolled her eyes. "You bettcha..." she said.
"Now you try!" Dash said.
Maria backed up a little. "No thanks Dash, I think I'd rather ask my mom to teach me how to fly, seeing she can actually fly..." she said.
Dash smiled. "Awww, come on Maria, give it one shot! I know, you probably need to be up higher. Try climbing that tree and jumping off!" he said as he pointed to the tree with the apple in it.
Maria looked up at the tree.
"I dunno Dash, what if I get hurt or something?" Maria asked.
"Pish posh! Don't give me that rubbish my student if I can do it, you sure as hell can!" Dash said.
Maria looked up at the tree. If she fell, it was going to be a very long fall. But she needed to learn how to fly eventually.
"Alright..." Maria said as she began to climb the tree.
Eventually she was really high up.
"Okay! Now jump off!" Dash demanded.
"Dash, I can't do this!" Maria said as she clung onto the tree.
"Awww come on! If you fall, I'll catch you!" Dash said.
Maria sighed. "Well, alright." she said as she made her way to the edge of a branch.
'Maybe I can do this, then I wont be an embarrassment anymore!' Maria though to herself.
She eventually reached the branch, but it broke.
'Or maybe not...'
"AAAHHHH!" Maria yelled as she fell, an apple falling beside her.
Dash was memorized by the shining redness of the apple to care that Maria was falling.
"BAM!" was the sound that was made when Maria hit the ground. And not to mention a loud "CRACK!" and something told Maria, it wasn't the tree branch.
"Oww..." Maria winced as she looked down at her leg, it was clearly broken.
"OH MY GOD!" Dash yelled as he ran in Maria's direction, but he only walked right past her.
"AN APPLE!" Dash yelled as he raced to the apple and began to eat it.
"DASH YOU MORON! YOU BROKE MY LEG!" Maria yelled as she burst out into tears at the pain in her leg.
"Yeah whatever..." Dash said as he quickly gulped down the apple.
Shadow who was sitting inside the house, heard Maria's cries of pain and quickly ran out side.
"What's going on?" Shadow said as he walked to his daughters side.
But he knew automatically what wrong, Dash had tried to teach Maria how to fly, and failed miserably, causing her to break her leg.
"DAAAAAAASH!" Shadow roared angrily.
"Yes sir?" Dash asked.
"GET OUUUUUUT!" Shadow roared even louder.
Dash shrugged as he walked away, tossing the apple up and down in the air as he left.
Shadow then quickly ran to his daughter's side.
"Don't worry honey, I'll take you to the hospital..." Shadow said as he picked up Maria who was still crying.
"And, I should probably call your mother too..." Shadow said as he walked inside so he could grab his cell phone.
Shadow also quickly pulled out his Chaos Emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL!" he yelled.
Shadow dialed Rouge's cell number as him and Maria sat in the waiting room.
Maria had stopped crying, for she had fallen asleep as Shadow had told her to.
After a few rings Rouge picked up.
"Hello? Rouge the Bat speaking." said Rouge's voice.
"Rouge, it's Shadow..." Shadow said.
"Um...hi Shadow. Where are you?" Rouge asked.
"...the hospital..."
There was a pause.
"Why?" Rouge asked.
"Let's just put it this way, Dash tried to teach Maria how to fly and there were well...some problems..." Shadow said.
There was instantly a click on the other end of the phone line, followed by a long beep.
Shadow sighed before looking down at Maria.
"Something tells me your mother's on her way..." Shadow said with a smirk.
Maria sighed. "That's why I went to mom to teach me in the end..." she said.
"And you didn't break your leg when I thought you." Rouge pointed out.
"Yup." Maria said as she looked out the window again.
"Dash can be such a pain sometimes..." Shadow said.
"That he can..." Rouge added.
"Being a pain is the only thing he's good at..." Maria muttered.
Shadow rolled his eyes. "You know what they say, like father like son..." he said.
"Very true in Dash and Sonic's case." Rouge said.
"You think that Dash is a pain now? You should have seen him on the first day of Kindergarten!" Maria said.
"Was he really that bad?" Rouge asked.
Maria thought about for a moment. "No, that whole day was actually pretty odd..." Maria said as she placed a hand on her chin.
FLASHBACK
A much younger Maria walked on the newly paved roads of Station Square Elementary School.
"Are you excited for your first day of school Maria?" Shadow asked his very small daughter.
Maria sighed and rolled her eyes. "Negative..." she said.
Both Shadow and Rouge looked at each other but shook it off and looked back at their daughter.
"Why so glum about school honey? Don't you want to make new friends?" Rouge asked.
Maria crossed her arms. "I do Mommy, but, Dash is in my class, you do realize what that means, right?" Maria asked.
Both Shadow and Rouge looked at each other and then back at Maria again.
"Just try to ignore him okay sport?" Shadow asked his daughter.
Maria sighed. "Alright." she said.
Just then the bell rang.
Shadow rubbed Maria's head.
"Have fun at school and don't burn the school down, that's a bad thing!" Shadow said.
"Yes Daddy!" Maria said.
Rouge kissed Maria on the head. "We'll see you later on, okay sweetie?" Rouge assured her daughter.
"Alright, bye!" Maria said as she walked near a group of kids.
She saw a class of students who were a little older than her.
There was a pale green fox girl applying make-up. A dark yellow fox boy was running, but tripped and fell and cut his knee open.
"Not again!" The fox boy cried.
There was also a red hawk watching the fox boy and standing next to him, also watching the fox boy, was a red echidna with red tips she looked a little bit older than the rest of the children.
There was also a red bat who was standing next to a blue fox as they wrote something down on a piece of paper. Only the fox looked younger than the bat. There was also a dark blue hawk boy who looked as though he was Maria's age.
It was just then when Maria heard wales of sadness that sounded like Dash's wales of sadness.
"NO! MOMMY, DADDY! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Dash waled as he held on tightly to his mother's leg.
"Dash, you need to go to school, make new friends! Have some fun!" Amy said as she lifter her son off of her leg.
"But...but momma..." Dash winced.
Amy frowned as she looked at her son's glassy eyes.
"Oh Sonic, do we have to send him to school? I mean, couldn't we wait another 20, 30 years?" Amy asked.
Sonic looked at Amy. "Are you serious?" Sonic asked.
"Yes." Amy said.
"No, Amy, he needs to go to school." Sonic said as he pushed his son into the group of kids.
"GOOD BYE SON! BE GOOD WE LOVE YOU!" Amy called.
Dash cried as he made his way into his class line.
Maria tried to avoid Dash for as long as possible, but she knew that she couldn't hide forever.
Everyone stood in a line as the class teacher, Mr. Natale, a dark brown fox, assigned seats.
"Okay, Maria, Constantinous, Dash and Zach sit at that table or I'll beat you with a yard stick." Mr. Natale said.
Dash began to cry. "Are you serious? Is my life going to end this soon?" Dash waled.
Mr. Natale put a hand on Dash's shoulder. "I was only kidding." he said.
Dash smiled. "Oh, okay then." he said as he sat down along with the other children.
Once everyone was seat Mr. Natale gave the class the assignment to share something about themselves to each other, or he'd beat them all with a yard stick.
"Okay I'll go first..." said a blue fox.
"My name is Constantinous, I am going to take over the world someday and have an army of men, all of those men will breed for me..." Constantinous said with an accent as he rubbed his hands evilly together.
"Um...alrighty then..." Maria said. "I guess I'll go next." she started. "My name is Maria and I'm-" But Maria was cut off by Dash.
"A freak of nature..." Dash said quickly.
"DASH!" Maria yelled.
Dash shrugged. "Wha? You know it's true? Your dad's a hedgehog, and your mom's bat. How much weirder does it get?" he said.
Maria drooped her ears. "Be quiet Dash..." she mumbled.
"My parents are different too! My mother's a fox and my father's a bat..." Constantinous said.
Maria's ears perked up. "Really?" she said.
"Yes... but they are on my must kill list... They make me...no wait that's incorrect...my mother makes me eat sandwiches, salad dressing and salad all the time, and I don't think I've ever seen my father before..." he added.
"Um...okay..."Maria said.
Dash then jumped up on the table. "Hi, I'm Dash the hedgehog! Perhaps you've heard of me! My name was in the news paper when I was born." he said.
Zach, the blue hawk, arched an eyebrow. "Everyone's names are in the new paper when they're born..." Zach said.
Dash frowned. "Wha?" he said.
Zach nodded. "It's true!" he said.
Dash sobbed as he got off the table.
Zach looked at Dash but then back at the group of kids. "Alright, I'm Zach and I like to build stuff!" he said.
Maria smiled. "That's really cool Zach!" she said.
Zach blushed. "Um...thank you..." he said.
Maria looked around the whole class had gone silent, until one young hedgehog boy named Dash jumped up.
"MARIA'S GOT A CRUSH ON ZACH!" he yelled.
The whole class burst out laughing.
"Dash..." Maria mumbled as she began to blush and looked down.
"ZACH AND MARIA SITTING IN A TREE J-U-Y-R-I-H-P!" Dash yelled.
"DASH STOP!" Maria yelled as she pushed Dash off of the chair he was standing on.
"Whoops..." Maria said.
Constantinous looked down at Dash. "What is that red liquid leaking from his skull?" he asked.
"It's um...um..." Maria said.
"I bet I caused this red liquid! Oh Constantinous you are such a genius, wait until I tell brother!" he squealed excitedly.
Mr. Natale came rushing to Dash.
"Who did this?" he said as he helped Dash up.
"I DID!" Constantinous said happily.
Mr. Natale glared at the young fox.
"Constantinous, Principals office, now!" he said.
Constantinous smiled brightly. "Why? So I can win an award?" he asked.
"No..." Mr. Natale said.
Maria sighed. "Oh brother, I'm in a class of freaks, this'll be a year to remember..." she whispered.
"You pushed Dash off his chair causing him to bleed?" Shadow asked.
"...yes..." Maria said.
Shadow smiled. "That's my girl!" he said.
There was a pause
"Hey Shadow?" Rouge asked.
"Yeah?" Shadow asked.
"Where are we?" Rouge asked.
Shadow looked around. "I know where we are..." he said even though he didn't know where they were.
"Oh really?" Maria asked.
"...yes..." Shadow said.
AN HOUR LATER
"Shadow you don't know where we are!" Rouge said.
"I know where I'm going!" Shadow said.
"No you don't! We could have stopped and asked for directions at that gas station we past 30 minuets ago, but no! You knew where we were going!" Rouge said.
"I know where we are!" Shadow said.
"No you don't! Where are we then?" Rouge asked as she crossed her arms.
"..."
"See! I knew it! What is it with men and asking for directions!?" Rouge said
"I know where we are!" Shadow said.
"We could have stopped at that gas station, but NO Mr. Ultimate Life Form knows where he's going! Mr. Ultimate Life Form know's where everything is!" Rouge said
Maria then noticed a gas station coming into view.
"Hey, maybe we could stop there!" Maria said as she pointed to the gas station.
"Yes, Shadow, please stop there!" Rouge begged.
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Fine!" he said as he drove towards the gas station.
A/N: Yay! Next Charpter Coming Soon! R&R