"Damnit!!" yelled Amy. A stray branch had just scratched her left leg. She watched as the blood slowly trickled down her leg and unto her boot. Her visions of Shadow had led her to this mystical island that appeared to be completely inhabited by botanical life. "Of all the places that hedgehog had to fall, he picks this!" Her eyes scanned the branch that had scrapped her. A sweat drop started to appear on her rose temple when she realized that it was a poison ivy branch that had "attacked" her. "Oh no!!" she screamed. Her wound started to itch and ache like there was no tomorrow. "Don't touch!! Don't touch!!" she scram as she ran through the jungle of leaves and branches. With all her running and screaming she ran straight into a clearance upon which was a cottage. "Maybe the people inside can help me!"

She ran up to the door and gave it a firm knock. "Hello? Is anyone there? I need some help!" She was doing the best she could not to touch the wound, but her basic instinct gave in. She started scratching at it frantically when the door was opened. Sara stepped out to see Amy scratching at full speed. "Don't do that! You're only going to make it worse!" yelled Sara. "I CAN'T HELP IT!" Amy yelled back. Sara became quite annoyed by this and angrily pulled Amy inside by the ear. "If you insist on doing this the hard way…" She brought Amy into a room full of ancient manuscripts and relics. "You'll stay here until I can find some bandaging and the antidote for that." she said gruffly.

Amy could sense Shadow's presence was strong. "He must be here", she thought. She tiptoed out of the room and slowly walked down the hall. "I think he's in here." She smiled as she opened the room door to find him in bed, sound asleep. "SHADOW!" she said cheerfully. Her hands covered her mouth because she didn't want to disturb him. But it was too late. The black hedgehog began to stir where he lay. Amy inched closer and closer to him until she finally knelt at his bedside. Sara walked in with the stuff she needed for Amy's wound. "I thought I told you to stay in one place!" she yelled at Amy. "Amy…" said Shadow softly. Shadow opened his eyes to see the rose colored hedgehog that knelt before him. She smiled back at him but was taken back by the worried look on his face. "What are you looking at Shadow" she asked in her normal tone of voice. He simply pointed towards her wound, which looked worse than it did because of the escaping blood. Amy looked down, gasped, and then preceded in fainting right at Shadow's bedside. Sara stepped forward to fix Amy's wound. "That's exactly why I told her not to move. Blood leaves the wound more quickly."

Hours later…

Amy woke to find herself in bed in a different room. She tried to get up, but her left leg ached terribly. Removing the sheets carefully, she discovered that her leg had swollen up quite a bit. But the cut and the dried up blood had been cleaned away, anointed, and bandaged. Taking her time, she tried to get herself out of the bed. But the first step that she took made her cry out in agony. "OWW!!!", she screamed at the top of her lungs. Just then Shadow ran in, ready to fight. He lowered his defenses when he noticed that it was only Amy. "SHADOW!", she exclaimed. She tried to take another step towards him, but it sent another surge of pure pain down her spine. Shadow leapt over to help her back into bed. "You know," he started to say, "you shouldn't have ran around like that with your wound. Sara told me that poison ivy spreads very quickly in an open cut."

Amy struggled to sit up in bed. "I was just really excited to see you", she stated sadly. She had forgotten about her wound the moment she laid eyes on Shadow…just seeing him alive was enough to make her heart jump out of her body. Shadow turned away from her with his signature coldness. "You should have listened. Now you're going to be in bed for at least a day." Amy looked at Shadow with a puzzled look. "It's not that bad", she started finally. "After the trip that I made just to find you, a day in bed doesn't sound so bad." Her facial expression showed more bewilderment after seeing Shadow turn around, blush and look away towards the window. She tried to get up again, but Shadow yelled back at her to stay where she was. She finally looked down at herself and realized that she was completely naked. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CLOTHES!", she screamed.

Sara, along with Rai, walked in with more ointment and a pair of clothing. The cheerful little chao proceeded to make a seat for itself on Amy's lap. "Oh good, you're awake", she said cheerfully. She lifted up the bed sheeting to reveal only the bandage leg and began to work on it. "I apologize for my rudeness earlier. I should have been more polite, but the majority of uninvited visitors don't tend to be friendly."  Amy looked at the tan hedgehog curiously. "If you're wondering what I did with your garments, I had to burn them."

"Burn them?!? Why'd you go and do that! I didn't bring an extra pair!!"

Sara rolled her eyes back in reply. "I had to burn them. Because of how you were scratching at that wound of yours, the oil of the poison ivy might have spread to your clothing. And even after you washed it off, the oil would still be there to irritate your skin. But not to worry, I've made a new pair of clothes for you to wear tomorrow. That's provided that your wound swells down." Amy gave her a blank stare. She wasn't ungrateful for the kindness and gratitude that was being bestowed upon her, but she was very fashion sensitive. She could imagine herself wearing a bunch of leaves in return for not listening to her caretaker in the first place.

"All done", Sara said finally. She replaced the bed sheet softly, set the clothes in a corner of the room, and walked out to her business. She whistled for the little chao to follow behind her. Amy watched as they left. She pulled up the bed sheets to her neck level before trying to speak again.  "Shadow", she started out slowly, "it's my fault you fell from the ARK."

He turned around with one eyebrow cocked up. "Your fault? If anything, it was my own fault. All those years in suspended animation nearly made me forget what I promised to Maria…if it weren't for you, I might not have been able to remember until it was too late to undo what was done." The smoke black hedgehog glided over to her bedside and knelt down before her. "I don't know how I can ever begin to thank you for aiding me so much."

Amy instantly began to blush as he uttered those words of flattery. "Sonic and the others never really said anything so nice to me before." She thought. Thinking back to other adventures, she finally realized that Sonic and the others never really wanted much help from her. She had managed to get kidnapped by Metalla instead of aiding Sonic with his quest on the Little Planet. And after that, Zero had captured her when she was helping her friend Birdy find its family. She had aided them by befriending and reasoning with most of the enemies, and only fought back as a last resort. But now a fellow hero knelt beside her, openly showing the gratitude and respect that she had so longed to hear from her love Sonic...

She jumped up and gave Shadow a tremendously powerful hug. Shadow jumped back a bit, but he couldn't escape the pink hedgehog's grip. He started blushing again when he realized that she wasn't the least bit covered up. "Umm, Amy", he said meekly. He covered his eyes and pointed down at her. She took a white cloth lying around near by and rapped it around herself as a cloak. "I'll never understand why you and Sonic feel the need to stay naked", she said playfully.

Sara, once more accompanied by Rai, walked back in carrying the bag that Amy had brought on her trip. "I didn't want to burn this because something of importance might be inside", she said softly. She tossed it over to her, and she immediately dumped all the contents onto the bed. A gold bracelet, her Piko Piko Hammer, and a wallet-size picture of her love fell out. She smiled as she slid over closer towards Shadow. "I believe you were missing this", she said while pointing to his bare arm. It was the only thing that Sonic had been able to hold onto before Shadow plummeted down to the earth below. When he had dashed off after she had revealed that Shadow was alive and well, she decided to take it to him. Shadow smiled as he placed the sparkling bracelet back onto his hand. It glistened in the fading, yet somewhat bright sunset. "I see you cleaned it up as well", he said smiling. "I couldn't have done a better job myself."

Amy was about to say, "You're really welcome" but stumbled back after another surge of pain came from her bandaged leg. This time, Sara caught her in the nick of time. "The sooner you rest, the sooner you can help us.", she said insistently. The two hedgehogs both looked at her in bewilderment, but that expression soon slide off of Shadow's face when he realized that she must have had the same vision that he had since he woke up that morning.  "I can sense that you need to protect this being as well…Aozora Knife…", he stated. Sara nodded back. "You have my help on all levels." he began. "I owe you as much for your gratitude, but I also must do this…I still have to keep Maria's promise."

Amy stared at the both of them confused. Shadow turned towards her with a look of pure sincerity. He looking into her eyes, as he asked, "Amy, it would be an honor if you could fight by my side in the journey that we will soon undertake." Amy blushed a darker shade of red after that. She couldn't remember the last time when someone had actually asked for her assistance in something. "Oh yeah," she remembered. "Sonic asked only because he was desperate. If I was the key to something, he'd take every other solution before trying me."

Shadow waved a hand in front of her face. "Amy? Is anyone inside?" She jumped out of her thoughts back into reality. She looked up at him and smiled as she agreed to help him and Sara in whatever way possible on their journey.