His main objective right now was to make sure the pink hedgehog could focus on the task at hand, something he couldn't help doubt. It wasn't really his fault that he doubted Amy's focus however, he didn't see her when she was helping to lead the resistance and a lot of the time before that most of their interactions started with her looking for Sonic. He wouldn't dismiss her ability however, she did good today and that's what's important.

"We do need to work on your fighting style however, you are slow and sloppy." He added matter of factly.

Amy retracted her hammer to keep her hands free and she started to follow the black hedgehog. Chaos knows if Eggman had a secondary trap set as a backup. She wouldn’t put it past him. One couldn’t drop their guard for a minute when it came to Eggman.

Shadow had very high standards of others, even himself. But knowing that didn’t stop Amy feeling annoyed with his criticism. “Slow and sloppy?” she quipped with offense in her tone. Then she crossed her arms and turned her head away as she often did to display displeasure, “Well I’m sorry that I wasn’t gifted with high speed like you and Sonic. And I’ll have you know I took classes and learned from professionals.”

Shadow turned back to her as she made the excuse that she wasn't as fast as Shadow and Sonic, that was true, but she was also missing the point. "There is a difference between an unattainable gift and a skill that can be mastered and while you may not be as fast as I am that doesn't mean you aren't faster than most."

Shadow then approached her and grabbing her by her chin he turned the pink hedgehogs head back to face him, wanting to have her full attention. "I've seen you chase Sonic time and time again and every time you keep up with him, how fast you are isn't the issue, Rose, the issue is instead of focusing on actually hitting your opponent you simply swing your hammer as hard as you can and hoping it makes contact. That is a foolish way to fight, it can work against stationary enemies such as the badniks, but once you face an opponent who knows how to get out of the way, that won't work." His tone was steady and calculating, more like a stern coach then a friend giving advice.

Shadow grabbing her chin caught Amy by surprise. Her arms remained folded as he turned her head to face him. The intention may have been to get her full attention but it was inadvertently accomplishing the opposite. The touch brought a small blush to her face. Being this close to Shadow wasn’t the norm. Neither was him touching her like this. Did he ever touch anyone like this? Heck, Sonic never did.

The black hedgehog’s words faded in the background as Amy was forced to look him in the eyes. Red eyes were rare and usually were depicted as evil in media and ancient texts. But Amy felt no evil from Shadow. Instead her mind wandered… Yanno… I never realized what Shadow’s eyes were actually like. Like yeah, they’re red. I knew that. But… They’re actually pretty.

It didn't take Shadow too long to realise that... Amy wasn't paying attention, he could see the far away look in her eye, the same one he'd see in her sometimes while she was looking at Sonic. Yet.. Sonic wasn't here by now, if he had shown up no doubt he would make his appearance known by now.

The ultimate life form didn't think much of it however, they needed to focus, this was important after all. With his other hand Shadow began snapping his fingers, his hand held up to the side of her ear so it would hopefully be loud enough for her to focus.

"Rose, pay attention." He ordered in a stern, yet calm voice.

“Ah!” Amy quickly shook her head once and snapped back to the present. A nervous smile drew on her face, “S-sorry. I spaced out there… Battles! We were talking about battles, right?”

Shadow let out a long sigh before letting go of Amy's chin and running a hand along his quills, he was going to need patience here, he had already accepted that, but now he was questioning if Amy could focus at all.

"I was making the point that when you want to be you are incredibly fast, otherwise Sonic would have no problem running away from you, yet I've seen you keep up time and time again. The reason your fighting style is slow and sloppy is because you merely focus on swinging as hard as you can, it makes you easier to dodge." He explained to her again, the look on his face making it clear there was no way he'd say it for a third time.

Amy didn’t know what it was but seeing a male hedgehog touch his quills in such a manner was always attractive. She often snuck peeks at Sonic doing it. Wonder what the biology was behind that?

Amy sighed, defeated. There was no denying that Shadow knew his stuff for combat. Hell, he was created for it. No use trying to argue him. In any case, it couldn’t hurt to get tips for improving. It would help Amy kick Eggman’s tail easier. “All right… So what do you suggest?”

Shadow thought for a moment, he placed a hand on his chin as he looked her up and down a few times, everything about Amy screamed casual, not combat ready, more like she was going to take a trip down the mall.

Once he made his mind up he changed his posture, crossing his arms over his chest. "Alright, as of now I will be the one training you, I do not care if you have previous training, as far as I'm concerned you know nothing, is that clear?" He stated, his tone remaining serious and firm.

He was nothing like Sonic in this regard, Sonic was playful and comedic, Shadow meanwhile was all business, that's just the way he operated.

You know nothing. The expression on Amy’s face gave away that the statement offended her. As much as she respected him and knew that he had vast knowledge in things, and despite his desire to help others, his delivery was definitely tone deaf. Sonic was better in that regard; he was more sensitive to the feelings of others.

Amy was, too, but funnily enough she got tougher about defending people’s feelings. Her own delivery was quite different from Maria. Maria would’ve used a gentle hand to guide but Amy was kindda defensive, “Let’s make this fair. While you’re training me for battle, I train you for adjusting that callous attitude of yours,” she remarked with a frown. “You have some great qualities but holy cow! You’re like a cactus. You make it hard for people to get close to you and hurt those who try.”

Amy only had a vague understanding of Shadow’s past. She knew about the raid, she knew Professor Gerald mentioning his granddaughter being killed in the raid, she knew Shadow was a victim in all that, and she knew what damage trauma does to a person. But she thought that being around Sonic and everyone else would have softened him up. Surely he would’ve no longer felt the need to keep his walls up anymore. That harsh delivery earlier said otherwise.

Then Amy raised a brow and tilted her head to the side as if she were trying to examine Shadow, “I can’t tell if you want friends or not. Sometimes you act like you do but then you do a one-eighty.”

Shadow was truly a mystery.

Shadow knew Amy well enough and he already figured that a lot of the things and the way he said them would upset the pink hedgehog. However he wasn't going to use that as a reason to go easy on her or soften his words, he said the facts, that was the best way to get to the point.

To his surprise however Amy had offered to teach him something, something he believed to be a waste of time, he would probably immediately dismiss her suggestion under most circumstances, but if going along with this would help her focus during training then he supposed it was important for the mission.

"Hmph, fine, however do not assume that I will go easy on you and brutally honest when I need to, this training isn't a bonding exercise, it's stopping a mad scientist who would happily enslave the world." He reminded her, he of course knew Amy was aware of that, but after so long many seemed to no longer perceive Eggman as a threat. Shadow of course did however.

“Are you saying you have no interest in making friends?” Amy quipped.

Back in the days of the Ark, Maria had interest in making friends with the people of this planet. She was encouraging Shadow to do the same. In fact, he did once have a genuine interest. Then the raid happened and everything changed.

“Everyone’s gotta have friends. It’s how you have a happy social life and not get lonely. You don’t feel lonely sometimes?”

The question of friendship was needless to say a tricky one for the ultimate life form, after all he did keep to himself and work alone practically all the time.

"It isn't about what I want." Shadow stated simply, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's about what is important for protecting the planet, if that involves me being alone then so be it." He continued, his voice stern, he wasn't like Sonic, he couldn't be, he had seen far too much destruction in his life.

Shadow was very “businessy.” He was dependable and if given a task, it got done. By any means necessary. It was an admirable quality. Not many people could be labelled as dependable and dedicated. But at what cost was that dedication?

“You can protect the planet while still having friends. It’s good to fight against evil but that doesn’t mean you have to compromise your own needs. Everyone deserves to be happy, including you.”

Shadow turned away from her now, he didn't want to be vulnerable, especially around someone who was so open and innocent in comparison to him. He let out a long sigh, gripping his arms as he thought about what to say.

"Yes it is possible for me to have friends, however the important thing is to be able to do the work, not letting such connections get in the way." He stated bluntly, yes he worked with Rouge and Omega, however Omega was a killer robot and Rouge was a skilled agent, he didn't need to look out for them most of the time.

Amy frowned. She’s known Shadow well enough and long enough to understand some of Shadowese. Him turning away like that could either mean he’s being dismissive or is hiding something. It made her feel sad for him. Was it her he was convincing, or himself? It’s gotta be hard. He’s missing out on so much!

Her arms dropped to her sides, taking on a softer posture. “It feels like you’re just…doing things. I never found out why you decided to at least kind of side with us and fight against evil rather than be a part of it. But imagine how much better you’d be if you had people you cared about to fight for. Those connections can actually increase your motivation and better the outcome. It would give you a reason to fight as you do.”

Shadow didn't look back at Amy for a few moments, her words swirling in his mind as he contemplated them, as if trying to decide what he was supposed to think. "Rose." He began, clutching his fist slightly before letting out a long sigh. He needed to relax, there was no point talking out his anger on someone trying to help him.

"If I make connections with others and I mean real genuine connections, I would be terrified about losing them, I work alone so that I can focus on the mission, it's easier that way." He stated bluntly before turning back to face her.

"However like I said, if you insist on teaching me then so be it, however for now we must focus on your training, otherwise if you ever encounter Metal Sonic while I'm not around you won't stand a chance." He explained, mainly just wanting to get back on track and away from this topic.

Shadow never spoke in detail about “the incident,” so Amy’s knowledge was limited. However, she had been able to piece some things together despite missing some information. He came from the Ark and there was the raid. Professor Gerald talked about mourninging his granddaughter during the raid so it would stand to reason others died, too. There must have been people Shadow cared about that was lost. Amy understood that when Shadow awakened, he was lashing out when he pursued destroying the planet. Putting two and two together, yeah, losing people he cared about tore him apart. Or rather, losing one person he cared about, but Amy didn’t know that detail.

Hearing Shadow explain why he puts up walls, it conjured a couple different emotions. One being sympathy. Connections lost was detrimental to him and he was afraid of being hurt again. The other emotion? Hard to describe. But Amy was learning something about Shadow. A layer was peeled away. Despite his stoic and aggressive nature, Shadow actually had a lot of heart within him. If he cared about people so much that losing them hurt him that bad… That was a show of someone having really strong feelings for others.

Shadow had to be one of the most complex people Amy ever met.

It was intriguing her further. She wanted to know this mysterious hedgehog more.

Then Shadow switched the conversation back to her combat training. Back to the Shadow everyone was familiar with: blunt and straight to business. He was right though. Metal Sonic was a true terror when you were his target. Amy never stood a chance. She always had to rely on Sonic as he was one of the few that could handle the nightmarish machine.

“All right,” she replied, figuring it was best to not spend too much time on the subject of Shadow’s lacking social skills or feelings. Something told her that prodding too much at once was going to make him clam right back up against and even get aggressive towards her.

“It’s getting late though. And I don’t want to make the others worry about me. So I should get back before they send a search party. When and where should we meet up?” she asked with a shrug.

Shadow was glad that he managed to move the conversation over, he never enjoyed talking about the conversation, the only one he did talk about it with was Rouge. That was mainly due to Rouge finding out about a decent amount of his past from her own research as a G.U.N agent, however that wasn't the only reason, another reason was she was mature and had a good understanding of the dark realities of the world.

Amy, while not completely naive had a rather hopeful view on the world, he didn't want to be the one to take that away from her, it didn't feel right. Yet then she brought up a point he had failed to consider, Amy did have others who would worry about her, after all it wasn't normal for her to be gone late, he meanwhile would sometimes be gone for months.

"I don't have a house, so I will pick you up early tomorrow, do you need me to walk you home?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow slightly, he seemed a bit more casual now, since they weren't discussing anything of great importance.

The question caught Amy by surprise. That was yet another thing Shadow didn’t normally do. Offering her escort home? How gentlemanly~

Amy swayed between wanting to be independent and relying on her hero. Sonic wasn’t here but the offer made her smile anyway despite coming from someone else, “How sweet of you to offer. Yes, I would like that,” she put her hands behind her back and drew her knees together.

Shadow gave a simple nod to her response before he gestured for her to walk in front of him. "Good, in that case lead the way and I'll keep an eye out." He explained, as if he was genuinely concerned about the possibility of Amy being attacked, which, with the people Shadow usually associated with, especially a well known thief like Rouge, it wouldn't be much of a surprise that he was used to fights on the streets or danger on the street.

Amy nodded and turned around, heading west of the destroyed site.

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