Chapter 3: Training the Weak

Infinite woke up to a fist banging on his door. The jackal took a few seconds to get up, but once he did the black hedgehog already was one foot in the room.

Again, another 'warm welcome' to start off the day.

"I knocked." Shadow noted, scanning the room as if he was checking for some kind of bomb or who knows what else.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised with the damage my mantle and I did do to this world. Nut even still, kind of rude to even assume.

Wouldn't you agree?

"I can tell." Said the jackal. "I guess you're as impatient as that blue hedgehog."

"Hmph." Shadow folded his arms, resting his eyes as he did so.

Infinite rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock over the doorway. It read: 5:40 A.M.

"It's too early for training." Infinite complained.

"Maybe for you, but this is my training hours." Shadow looked back at the clock then to the jackal. "In fact, now we are late."

"Only by a minute." Infinite rolled his eyes. "One minute isn't going to ruin your day."

"That's one minute lost in our days' work. I expect you to be exactly on time every morning on the dime. Do we have an understanding?"

"Apparently we do." Infinite growled, sliding his shoes back on. "What kind of training should I expect from you, ultimate lifeform?"

"Basic routines. I want to test your skills."

"Then why not give me a fair chance using that ruby and giving me my mask back."

Shadow didn't seem the slightest amused at Infinite's suggestion. This guy must be someone who holds a record for the world's longest glare. It must have stayed on his face since yesterday.

"You are not going near that ruby." Shadow said, sharpening his glare. "Besides, you don't need to have that much power anyway."

"Oh, and you can?"

"I am not you, jackal." Shadow turned his back towards Infinite. "Now, come. We have work to do."

"Fine." Infinite rolled his eyes and followed Shadow out of his quarters.

The dark hedgehog didn't exchange any words as he led Infinite down G.U.N.'s halls. He wasn't sure if Shadow was just quiet or anti-social. Either way, he obviously was not in the mood to speak.

Once we past through a few double doors, and back out of the cafeteria, Shadow walked to what looked like a locker room.

Infinite could smell the sweat and body odor that came from this room. Shoes were shattered on all over the floor with towels that hung on the water pipes that hung above their heads. There were shorts and boxers laid on the benches, which Infinite hoped they were at least clean.

Even I will admit, this was a lot less clean than the rest of this building had to offer. The men's bathroom had to be cleaner than this, and that's stretching it.

"This is our locker rooms. We put things here while we train."

"Do I get a locker?" Infinite asked.

"This isn't middle school. No, these lockers are free to use for anyone. Just pick one when you need it and go from there."

"Alright then." Infinite smacked his lips.

"As for our training room," Shadow pushed an worn-out door open, letting the light beam out. "this is where we train."

Infinite let his eyes scan the four corners of the room. In one corner, there was a boxing ring, where two guys were already punching each other out. Another corner held a lot of equipment and weapons, assuming for practice use. And finally, the rest of the room was filled with a floor mat that must've been at least nine feet long. It was definitely impressive-

"Wait a minute. Is that blood on the mat?" Infinite suddenly asked pointing at the direction where the stain stood.

Shadow questioned him for a moment, but then nodded, most likely remembering the cause of the blood. "Yeah, we had a trainee bust his nose while he was fighting Rouge."

"Oh, well, that's comforting."

"Not suppose to be." Rouge came in behind the two, throwing a towel away from her neck. "This mat is more to prevent bones from breaking. A little blood never hurt anyone."

"Except that guy who busted his damn nose."

"You'll be fine." Rouge patted his back.

Infinite took notice of the bat girl's attire. He's always seen her wear a black jump suit, but she was wearing something he'd never thought he see a girl like herself wear. She wore a black crop top that showed off some of her stomach, long pants that were skinny from the top, but waved out at the feet. She also wore white sneakers instead of her signature boots.

Rouge stretched and let her wings out in the open to get a good stretch too. "So, who's going to start off today's training?"

"Well, considering you made someone bleed before, I'll take my chances with the hedgehog." Infinite walked to the mat.

"Grave mistake." Shadow had said, following the jackal. He stood a few distances across where Infinite stood.

"Just don't kill each other." Rouge begged. "This is just analyzing your strengths and weaknesses-'"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Infinite spat out at her, not really caring if this was practice or not. He wanted his revenge beating on this hedgehog and he wanted it now.

"Child, I know what you're thinking. Don't-'"

"Just shut up for a minute and let me do this!"

Fantastic. He was letting his emotions get the best of him. Again.

Fine, I suppose a little lesson wouldn't hurt the jackal to learn.

"Ready?" Shadow fixed his stance, holding one fist in front of him while the other was paralleled behind it. He held his feet apart, bending his knees slightly.

Infinite bent his legs and held his hands to his sides, nearly touching his own knees. He then let out his claws. This was about the only weapon he had to have at least a fair fight against the hedgehog.

"I'm ready." Infinite felt his confidence rise up and let that fuel his energy.

What a damn fool.

Infinite was the first to charge, letting his feet move as swift as he could possibly make them. He moved his fist as quick as his feet, trying to make contact with Shadow's face. But the dark one saw his movements and moved his body back, avoiding his fist.

Infinite grunted in frustration. "Okay, that was luck."

"Sure it was." Shadow simply said.

"Child, let me help you."

"No!"

"Infinite, his speed allows him to read your slower moves more easily! Just listen-'"

Infinite ignored me and charged at the hedgehog again, without even a single thought to what his execution will be. Thus, resulting in another miss.

Shadow didn't even put much, if any, energy into dodging his punches. He seemed to be more sliding his feet from one side of the mat to the other, while Infinite put so much force and energy into his fists.

It hadn't even been a minute and the jackal was already getting tired out. But he kept at it.

Infinite changed his tactics and used his tail to sweep Shadow off his feet to the floor. The jackal gritted his teeth out of pride, but it did little to the hedgehog. As soon as he fell, he pushed himself on his back and forced his feet back on the mat.

That didn't even faze him. Not even a little.

Who even is this guy?

"Come on!" Infinite yelled, frustrated at his own sluggish moves to break not even a single sweat on Shadow.

"My turn." Shadow used his speed and nearly looking like he was teleporting all around the jackal to confuse him. Infinite tried to stay calm and decide where to attack, but he was rash in his choice.

Infinite threw a punch into nothing and, without even knowing it, was punched and flung into the air. Next thing Infinite knew, Shadow teleported above him and used his feet to plummet him down into the mat.

Infinite made a hard landing, but not hard enough to break any bones. But it was enough to make his lip bust.

"I won't… I won't lose to you again!" Infinite tried to get up, but Shadow had him pinned down by his arms. This only made the jackal struggle.

"Give up?"

"Never! I will not lose to you!" Infinite used as much of his strength as he could, pushing himself off the floor and falling backwards on top of Shadow.

But a short victory here.

Not even a second after doing this, Shadow flung him off his back, letting the jackal's face skid across the mat.

Ouch.

"Gah!" Infinite groaned in pain, holding himself up by his elbows.

"I think that's enough for the moment." Shadow finally spoke, wiping any dust from him.

"N-No. I can still fight…"

"I said that's enough. I got enough data to assume some strengths and weaknesses here and there."

"W-Weakness…?"

Oh no.

"W-Weak…" Infinite let those words escape his lips. Letting the heaviness in them drag on. It echoes and rang in his head. Bouncing off the walls in his skull, slamming into his brain and ears.

Flashbacks started to play in his head. Everything. The events of the war against all the mobians, getting beat up by Sonic and his friends, but… most importantly: the flashback of Shadow's confrontation kept replaying itself over, and over, and over again.

"Y-You think I'm weak…" Infinite hissed, letting a snake out of his vocal chords.

"What?" Shadow raised a brow, but he moved closer to the jackal. "Infinite, are you-'"

At an instant, at such speeds even Shadow somehow didn't see, Infinite suddenly was on top of the hedgehog. The jackal had tackled Shadow, holding him down by his knee and foot. Then, Infinite grabbed his neck, choking him.

This caught Shadow completely by surprise.

"You think of me as weak?" Infinite laughed as he squeezed his grip on the hedgehog's neck tighter. "Let me show you just how weak you are!"


Annddd there's Chapter 3.

I gotta say, I keept posting these late XD. Granted I am having a hard time writing a story like this than my usual shipping stories. But I just gotta push through.

I'll try to get Chapter 4 posted on time this time. If not, it'll be posted eventually.

I also want to quickly thank the reviews on this so far! Thanks y'all ;)

ANYWAY ~ Please review and give me some feedback.