Shadow and Maria arrived at the zoo, holding hands, with their two children in tow. Terios was the eldest of the two. He was five years old. The youngest was Umbra, a little baby girl. While Terios held his mother’s hand, Umbra was in a baby strap, resting against the patch of white fur on Shadow’s chest. She sucked on a pacifier as she looked around wide eyed at the new surroundings.

Sonic and Amy approached the family, their own child in tow. Echo was younger than Terios, being three and a half years old. He was holding Amy’s hand as they walked.

“Ready for another day of adventure?” Sonic asked with a smile.

“Yeah!” Echo cried, looking up at his father.

“I’m glad you guys could make it,” Amy said, turning to Maria, “How do you feel?”

While Maria had been cured of her disease, thanks to Shadow, the damage from two decades of fighting it left permanent marks. There were days she still had trouble walking or standing. Recovering lost muscle wasn’t part of curing a disease. Maria looked tired but she managed to still smile, “I’m ok. Thanks for asking.”

Amy wasn’t sure if they could do something like this but at the same time, Maria needed to leave the house. She turned to Sonic, “Remember, take it easy.”

Sonic raised his hand, “No problem!”

“Just let me know if you get tired,” Shadow told his mate. In response, she leaned sideways into his arm, “Thank you.”

She had truly gotten lucky. Not many people can say they had a supportive partner and friends who were willing to accommodate and help.

They paid for their ticket entries and Sonic scanned the QR code on a sign to download a map of the zoo. When the download was done, he loaded up the map and did a quick look around, “What’s everyone wanna do first?”

“Animals! Animals!” cried Echo.

“I heard they have new serval kittens,” Maria started, “I wonder if we’ll get to see them?”

“Probably not,” Amy replied, “They’re too young. But we are supposed to be able to see the new kangaroo roos. They should be in the pen hopping around.”

“I wanna pet kangaroos,” Terios finally broke his silence.

“Kangaroos it is,” Sonic said and scrolled on the map to locate where the pen was, “Ok, I got a path. It’s a bit of a walk though.”

Keeping his phone out so he could access the map, Sonic led the way. The path towards the kangaroo pen twisted and winded around other exhibits and gift shops. Looking through the window of one of the shops, Terios pointed to the building while looking up at his mother, “Mom, there’s toys!”

“I see,” Maria nodded her head, “We will come back later though.”

Terios frowned, “But I wanna get a new toy.”

“Listen to your mother,” Shadow interjected, exercising a firm tone, “We’re not carrying a bunch of stuff all day. Wait until we’re getting ready to leave.”

The path to the kangaroo pit had a simple suspended rope bridge. Watching a family ahead cross it, Sonic noted how the bridge was bouncing and shaking as folks crossed it. With Maria’s health state, that bridge was a potential problem. He frowned and turned to the group, “We can go around instead. There’s another path we can take.”

“It’s ok,” Maria said, “We can still cross.”

“Are you sure?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah, it’s not a problem.”

But it was. If she crossed that bridge while people were on it, she would get knocked over and likely fall off. Her balance was difficult to maintain already and the wobbling bridge would make it impossible.

“I should teleport you across.”

Maria frowned, “But that’s no fun…”

“I have an idea,” Amy said, “We’ll go first.”

“I’ll stand back and keep others from getting on the bridge until you cross,” Shadow offered.

“Sounds like we got a plan!” Sonic smiled and darted across the bridge in under a second. The bridge only moved slightly and it was due to the wind created from Sonic’s speed.

Holding Echo’s hand, Amy crossed the bridge next, keeping one hand on the rope for balance. “Hold onto the bridge,” she instructed her son. He did as told, with his free hand gripping the bridge. His eyes looked down at the boards as he walked.

Maria looked down to Terios, “Go on ahead. Stay with Aunt Amy and Uncle Sonic once you get across.”

“Ok!” Terios took off after his mother released his hand. He ran across the bridge and it bounced and jiggled under his feet. The child stumbled once but was able to prevent himself from falling by grabbing the rope. Maria put a hand over her mouth as she saw her son stumble while Shadow watched on silently. Terios regained his balance and resumed his running, reaching the end. He jumped in victory, “Made it!”

“Wow! You went fast,” Echo remarked, owl eyed.

“Yeah, I’m fast,” Terios crossed his arms, trying to mimic the motion in the same manner as his father. He even lifted his chin in attempt to display pride.

Next was Maria. She grabbed the rope on both sides of the bridge and moved slowly, taking care to not rush. The bridge had minimum movement as the yellow hedgehog took her time. Shadow remained behind her, standing at the entrance of the bridge with his arms crossed. A crowd was forming behind him with people wanting to cross. “Hey, move it! We’re trying to cross the bridge!”

“Just wait,” he told them without even glancing in their direction.

“Come on, mom, hurry!” Terios tried to urge his mother.

“Take it easy!” Shadow called from the other side to his son. The child had to be reminded often that his mother had limitations.

She didn’t change her pace. Moving too fast would do her harm. Maria continued to take her time to get across the shaky bridge, “I’m doing my best.”

Terios huffed impatiently and rolled his head as boredom began to settle in. He wanted to hurry on and see the animals!

Finally, Maria made it across and stepped off the bridge. She exhaled with relief, “Ah, I made it.”

With Maria safely across, Shadow zipped across just as fast as Sonic had. Like Sonic, the bridge only moved a little from the wind created from the speed. Umbra wriggled a little and giggled through her pacifier. Amy smiled, “Awwww, does someone like it when daddy goes fast?”

“Well, if it’s speed she likes,” Sonic held out his hands, “she should come ride with Uncle Sonic. I’m way faster.”

Shadow glared at the younger, blue hedgehog, “As if.”

Amy waved her finger, “Guys, don’t start. We’re supposed to be having fun.”

Shrugging, Sonic turned around and pulled up the zoo map on his phone once more, “All right, we gotta continue this way and we’ll get to the kangaroos.”

“Kangaroo! Kangaroo!” Echo shouted as he began to hop, trying to imitate the hopping action of kangaroos.

Holding Shadow’s hand with her left, Maria took Terios’ hand with her right. The two families followed behind Sonic to the kangaroo pen.

The pen had two doors which were on opposite ends. Anyone could just enter but there was a sign instructing people to close the door behind them. Inside, there was a winding concrete path. Attendees were to remain on this path and wait for a kangaroo to come to them if they wanted to pet the animal. There were two staff members present to supervise. The kangaroos themselves were laid out in various places, relaxing in the sun. One kangaroo made its way to the pile of hay and sniffed around.

Echo reached his little hand out to the kangaroos, “I wanna pet the kangaroo!”

“We have to wait for one of them to come to us,” Amy instructed, “That’s the rule.”

“Make one come over,” the young child pouted.

“I can’t. We just have to wait for one of them to decide on its own to come to us.”

Then Umbra started to cry, her little hands grabbing Shadow’s fur. The sound startled the kangaroos and their ears lifted, turning their heads to the source of the sound. “She’s hungry,” Shadow said as he turned to Maria.

“I have a bottle ready,” Maria let go of Terios’ hand and started to dig through the baby bag that Shadow was carrying. When she found it, Maria pulled the bottle out and zipped the bag. Just as she offered the bottle for Shadow to take, the black hedgehog snapped his head to the head, “Terios!”

The young hedgehog boy had left the concrete path and was heading for one of the kangaroos. One of the staff members saw the child off the path and held out his hand, “You have to stay on the path!”

The kangaroo rose from its reclined position as the child charged for it. Terios raised his hand with a smile, wanting to touch the creature. However, the kangaroo wasn’t keen on being approached. It stood up and stiffened its tail against the ground for balance as it prepared to kick. Maria came to the edge of the path but didn’t step off, “Terios!”

From behind, Terios was snatched by his father who positioned himself between the child and the kangaroo. Shadow turned sideways with his arm raised and the animal kicked his bicep. After delivering the kick, the kangaroo turned and hopped away. The arm shielded the crying Umbra from being hurt but did nothing to settle her woes. Shadow marched back to the path while keeping a firm grip on Terios.

Maria dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around her son, relieved that he was all right. Shadow turned to Amy and Sonic, “Take your time. We’ll meet you outside,” then he looked down at Terios, “Come on, we’re leaving the pen.”

The child’s face fell, “What? Why?”

Maria released her hug and rose to her feet while holding onto Shadow’s hand for support. “Because you misbehaved,” Shadow answered simply. Then he walked the child past the patrons ahead to go to the exit. Maria walked with them, carrying the baby bag over her shoulder. But Terios wasn’t pleased with this turn of events, “That’s not fair!”

Shadow pushed open the exit door, allowing Maria to walk through first, “Rules exist for a reason and you broke them. If you don’t follow the rules then you lose your privileges.”

He felt bad for Maria and Umbra having to miss out on the kangaroos but he couldn’t allow Terios to not have consequences for his actions. The child needed to learn to follow instructions.

Outside the kangaroo pen, Maria outfitted Terios with a child’s leash and harness. The device was to help parents prevent their child from running off. Once he was situated, Shadow took the end of the leash. Maria felt bad having Shadow to manage both kids but Shadow insisted on doing the leash. If Terios ran off again, it was too easy for him to cause Maria to fall.

“Are you sure it’s not too much?” Maria asked as she handed the bottle to Shadow. “You already have your hands full…”

“It’s fine,” Shadow accepted the bottle, “Don’t worry about it.”

Maria removed the pacifier from the crying baby and Shadow put the bottle in its place. This was precisely what Umbra wanted. Her cries ceased and she sucked on the bottle, laying her little head back against the white fur patch.

It wasn’t until Umbra finished her bottle that Amy, Sonic and Echo left the kangaroo pen. There was a large smile on Echo’s face, “So cool! I got to pet a kangaroo!”

This made Terios frown. He missed out.

The two families spent the next couple of hours wandering the zoo together and checking out all the animals. There were some indoor exhibits displaying fish, reptiles and insects that they also visited. A couple of times they had to stop and allow for Maria to sit down and rest. Walking was difficult and this trip required a lot of it. By the third time Maria needed to sit down, the two boys were getting antsy from the frequent stops.

“I wanna see the giraffe!” cried Echo as he sat next to his mother on a bench.

Amy tried to get her son to be patient, “I know but we need to let Aunt Maria rest. She is tired.”

“She’s always tired!” Echo continued to display the naivety typical of children.

“Hey now,” Sonic tapped the top Echo’s head with the back of knuckles, “Lots of people have trouble with their health. You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with that. Be nice.”

On the other hand, Terios was more accustomed to his mother’s health problems. Though that didn’t mean he didn’t get frustrated with it. He just knew better than to say anything. His father ensured that. He opted to keep quiet.

Usually, Maria wasn’t bothered by how her health was. It was the only way she knew. But hearing the young child express his frustrations over the frequent stops, Maria began to feel bad that she was preventing others from enjoying themselves. She frowned.

Seeing Maria upset was something Shadow hated. It was like a punch to the gut. So he devised a solution. Before anyone knew it, Shadow not only had Umbra in a pouch and Terios on the child leash, but he also carried Maria on his back. This seemed like quite a load he was carrying. “Isn’t this too much?” Maria asked the black hedgehog.

“No,” Shadow replied. He could easily carry her and their daughter. Terios could walk himself at least and the leash helped to manage him from running off.

Sonic had Echo sitting on his shoulders as they walked. Amy glanced at Shadow, mentally noting how he had his hands quite full in managing his family. Between the kids and the ailing Maria, there was a lot he had to do. How does he do it? Amy felt wore out just dealing with Echo.

It was getting close to closing time for the zoo. The sun was still out but it was starting to dip down in the horizon. As promised, the adults took the children to the gift shop. Shadow unclipped the leash for Terios once they were inside the shop. Terios, Echo and Sonic all took off in different directions in the store, excited to see everything. With a raised brow, Shadow turned to Amy, “Are you sure you have just one child?”

“You wonder that, too, huh?” Amy asked in a flat tone.

Then a certain smell hit Shadow’s nose and he turned to Maria, “She needs a diaper change.”

“There’s a bathroom across the way,” Maria slid from Shadow’s back after he knelt down, “I can take her.”

Shadow stood and slipped the baby pouch off, passing Umbra to Maria. But then Umbra started to cry, reaching for her father. A smirk drew on Amy’s face, “Daddy’s little girl, huh?”

“Indeed. Although… I can’t really blame her,” Maria smiled to Shadow then kissed him on the cheek.

“We’ll wrangle the rest of the kids,” Amy said before walking off to locate her son and husband.

“I’ll sort Terios,” Shadow slipped the baby bag on Maria’s shoulder so that she had access to all the materials she would need.

With that, Maria left the store with a crying baby girl to change her diaper in the bathroom.

Shadow wandered the store, looking through the aisles until he found his son in the plush toy section. He was with Echo and they seemed to be playing a game with the toys. Terios had a lion while Echo had a shark. They were having the two toys “fight” each other. Both boys made sound effects as they clashed and twisted the toys against each other.

Shadow made his way down the aisle to approach the boys. The elder child noticed his father and turned away from his friend, “Dad! I want this lion! And there’s this cool shark puzzle! And I found this cool snake,” he held up a rubber snake toy that he had found in another aisle.

Hearing his son rattle off all these things he wanted, Shadow frowned. This was just a zoo trip, not a Christmas present outing. He held up his index finger, “One toy.”

“Just one?” Terios pouted.

“Yo, Shadow!” Sonic popped up over the top of the shelf from the other side. A cap was on his head sideways. The zoo logo was on the front. He hiked a thumb over his shoulder, “You should check out the shirts. I bet Maria would like one of these tunics.”

Shadow glanced at the blue hedgehog but then he returned his gaze to the children as Echo spoke. “Dad? How many can I have?”

“Just one,” Sonic answered, holding up his index finger and wiggling it side to side, “So make it a good one.”

Echo looked at the shark toy in his toy and frowned. How can he choose just one toy? This store had all kinds of neat stuff! He tilted his head back up to his father gophering over the display shelf, “Can I have two?”

“Do as your father says,” Amy said as she entered the aisle from the other side, “Just one toy.”

Terios showed the rubber snake toy to Echo as he pondered aloud, “Think I can scare mom with this?”

Not approving of the child’s plot, Shadow narrowed his eyes, “You will do no such thing.”

Then he confiscated the toy from his son and plopped it on an upper shelf level to keep it out of the child’s reach. “Awww,” Terios groaned but quickly forgot about the toy and turned to the shelf of plushes. There were all kinds of different animals. But he could only have one. This was such a hard decision! Terios frowned and his hands, which still clutched the lion, dropped down, “How am I supposed to pick just one?”

“That’s part of being an adult,” Shadow explained, “Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions. This is practice for when you’re older.”

The sound of familiar crying entered the store and grew in volume. Turning around, Shadow found Maria has returned their upset daughter. Bearing a knowing smile, Maria carried the crying infant in her arms, “I think someone wants her father back.”

Shadow reached out and took hold of Umbra, taking her from her mother. As soon as she realized Shadow had her, Umbra ceased her crying and shifted to happy coos, especially once she was placed against his chest. Maria assisted Shadow in securing the baby pouch in place and he took the baby bag back, slipping the strap over his shoulder.

“Figured out what you want yet?” Amy asked Echo as she patted his little head. He pondered over the shark toy in his hand then held it up to Amy, “I want this!”

Maria plucked a hippo plush from the shelf and showed it to Umbra, wiggling it side to side, “Would you like a hippo, Umbra?”

Umbra’s eyes widened at the toy and opened her mouth in wonder. She reached out, trying to grab the toy. Maria brought it closer and Umbra grabbed the nose, pulling on it until she could shove the ear in her mouth to gnaw. “Well, I guess that settles that,” Maria mused with a smile.

“At least she’s easy to shop for,” Shadow added.

Later, the group made their way to the cashier to pay for everything. Terios plopped his lion plush on the counter, having a rudimentary understanding of how stores work. Looking at Umbra, Shadow and Maria came to the same conclusion: taking the hippo toy away for the clerk to scan was going to cause her to cry. So, Shadow snapped the tag off the toy and handed that to the clerk to scan the barcode. After the lion as scanned in, the clerk handed the toy to Terios. He snatched it then scurried to Maria’s side. Shadow paid for the purchase then they moved aside for Sonic’s family to have a turn.

Sonic slapped the cap down on the counter with a smile and grabbed his wallet in preparation for payment. But Echo wasn’t putting his toy on the counter. He clutched the toy tightly and looked up at the clerk with a frown, stepping back into the space between his parents. Amy put her hand on the back of the child’s head, “Put your toy on the counter, Echo. The clerk needs to scan it so we can pay for it.”

Echo hugged the shark tighter. Amy tried again, “You’ll get it right back. It’ll only take a few seconds.”

Finally, the little hedgehog boy obeyed and hesitantly came forward and put the toy on the counter. As the clerk picked up the toy to scan it, Echo’s face contorted as he started to cry, thinking the toy was being taken away from him. But his parents said he could have it? He started to whimper.

The clerk scanned the barcode on the toy then held it out to the child, “Here you go, buddy.”

Echo wiped one of his eyes with the back of his hand as he accepted the toy. Then he turned around and buried his face in Amy’s dress, trying to calm down. His mother wrapped her arms around him, “Awww, it’s all right. See? You got it back. Now daddy can pay for it so you can have it.”

Sonic gave the clerk the required amount of rings and put the cap back on his head after removing the tag.

The two families exited the zoo and stood on the sidewalk to the side of the arch. Maria sighed, getting tired again and her feet were aching. Shadow frowned. He could tell she has hit her limit. Best to get her home as soon as possible so she could lay down and rest.

“This was a fun day,” Amy chimed with a smile, “I look forward to doing this again.”

“Me, too,” Maria smiled, “I had a good time.”

Sonic patted Echo’s head, “Looks like some of the kids are getting sleepy. I think it’s nap time.”

Just then, Umbra yawned and laid her head against Shadow and her eyes started to close. Shadow rubbed her back but it was Maria who said, “I think you’re right. I could use one myself.”

“Have a good evening,” Amy said as she picked up Echo. Then Sonic scooped her up in his arms. No point in using a car when the fastest thing alive could easily outrun any vehicle. He took off, running his family home.

In contrast, Shadow wrapped an arm around Maria’s waist and his other hand took a hold of Terios’. Then the four hedgehogs disappeared as Shadow teleported the bunch home.

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