Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry for the late update once again. I got back from my vacation on the 8th and I had orientation all the week after I got back. I'm starting my new job this upcoming Wednesday so I have been very busy preparing for that. I'm very happy to see so many of you enjoyed my last chapter. Hopefully, you'll continue to enjoy the story from this point onward now that Shadow and Amy have finally made that next big step.

I need to thank some of my loyal reviewers who always drop me a review on my chapters. I know I sound like a broken record, but I truly appreciate reading your thoughts, predictions, and comments on the chapters I post. So thank you, Tessa the Hedgehog, Firegirl19, IvyRonin, RisingZero1984, Pirilaxa, AliciatheWolf45, Grey-Chan-Fallen, and Soni Rose Amelia the Hedgehog. Enjoy the chapter!

•~•

The next morning, Amy woke up still in party clothes from the night. She glanced over to the clock on her wall that read 9:32 AM. Tiredly, she sat up and walked over to her desk, and sat down. She glanced at her face in the mirror and gasped. She had fallen asleep in her makeup and hadn't taken it off the night prior. Quickly, she rummaged through her drawers and found some makeup removal wipes. Gently, Amy wiped away all her old makeup off her face and discarded the wipes in a bin in her room. She got dressed in a pair of simple navy nurse scrubs and headed downstairs to see what the day held. However, as she walked downstairs, she was a little startled to see a few remainders of party goers from last night's party still lingering around the house quite hungover.

In the living room, there were a couple of nearly nude females sprawled out on the couch and floor passed out along with some of the guys. Not to mention the living room looked a mess. There were beer bottles, cigarette ashtrays, and food crumbs all over the couch and floor. Amy stared at the hung-over bunch for a moment before maneuvering around the bodies and entering the kitchen. Once in there, she spotted Rouge sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal and some fruit. "Morning," the bat smiled politely.

"Oh, morning, Rouge," Amy replied before heading over to the coffee pot. She reached into the cabinet and pulled out a clean mug before pouring herself a cup of coffee. "I didn't see you much last night at the party. Was everything okay?"

Rouge scooped up some milk and cereal on her spoon and dropped it back into the bowl in a repeated nature. "Oh, yeah, we just had a little fight."

Amy finished pouring in a splash of milk into her coffee before turning around to face the bat. She took a sip of her coffee and smiled. "That's good to hear. I was worried because I saw you rush out of the party last night."

"Yeah, it was just me being overdramatic as usual," she chuckled. "I caught Knuckles talking to his ex and it just ticked me off, you know?"

"Is everything good now or…"

Rouge nodded. "Oh, yeah, yeah. Knuckles and I cleared the air last night among other things," she tagged on suggestively with a coy smile. "But, enough about me. What about your night. Did you meet anyone?"

Amy cupped her coffee mug in both hands as she contemplated spilling the real tea of what happened between her and Shadow. "I uh, talked to a few guys last night but nothing much happened," she shrugged casually.

"That's a shame," Rouge leaned back in her chair and smirked when she caught sight of something. "But from the looks of that love bite, it looks like you had some fun."

Amy looked at the bat in confusion by her comment. "Huh?"

Rouge used her right hand to point at her own neck while she kept her eyes locked on the pink hedgehog. "Your neck," she gestured. "It looks like you got a little hickie there," she chuckled.

Amy's face grew grave. "What?" she gasped turning around and looking for something reflective to analyze the "hickie" in question.

Rouge seemed amused by her flustered nature. "Calm down, Amy. There's no judgment here. I'm just curious to know who it came from," she said with a sly eyebrow raise.

Amy managed to find a shiny enough pan and used it as a makeshift mirror. She held it up and turned her neck to the side to look at it. Her fingers grazed at the medium-sized red-purplish bruise. "Oh, no, no—that's not a hickie," she laughed uncomfortably. "It's just a burn I got when I used my straighter yesterday," she justified.

Rouge crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head to the side slightly—not in the least buying the claim. "Right…"

Amy placed the pan down back on the stove and grabbed her coffee cup. "Look, I'm going to start cleaning up. It's a mess in there." With that said, the frantic female hedgehog rushed out of the kitchen barely able to hold eye contact with Rouge for a second longer.

•~•

Before cleaning, Amy figured she'd do one pit stop before starting. She wandered out of the house and made her way over to the mechanic shop where she could hear drills and other loud tools being used. She needed to talk to Shadow about what had occurred between them last night anyway. Once she entered the garage part of the shop, she spotted Mephiles busy in the accountant's office typing away at the computer. Gadget and Locke were rotating a pair of tires on a white vehicle, while Knuckles was working on an oil change on another car.

Manic and Mighty were in the further corner near the tool station having a break. Mighty chugged some water as he recounted last night's events to Manic. "She was incredible man. I've never been with a female that had a sex drive matched to my own."

Manic leaned on a countertop with some tools hung on the wall behind it. "Trust me, bro, I know. You know, I actually offered her up to Shadow first—he looked like he could use it, but he bounced."

Mighty smirked triumphantly. "His loss my win," he sang.

Just then, Mighty caught Amy walking past them a little distance away. He smiled spotting her. "Hey, Ames!" he waved, trying to greet her.

Amy heard Mighty's call and pretended like she didn't hear him over the loud tool's sounds. Instead, she approached Shadow who was currently busy with his hands working on the engine of a red truck. She stopped just on the other side of the truck and he glanced up at her when he heard her footsteps. "Morning," he stated naturally.

Amy tucked her arms behind her back. "Morning," she replied calmly.

Shadow pulled his arms out from the engine, covered in filth-like oil residue. "Sorry, I'm a mess right now." He reached for a rag laying on the side view mirror and used it to clean up his hands.

At that same time, Mighty and Manic stared at Amy as she held a conversation with Shadow. "I don't think she heard you, man," Manic noted quietly.

"Nah," he dismissed. "Ames!" He called once again, but this time louder.

Back with the two hedgehogs, Shadow glanced behind Amy before his eyes settled back on her. "I think your attention is wanted."

She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to acknowledge the person in the background trying to call for her. She huffed, "How convenient for him to want my attention now," she mumbled bitterly.

Shadow sensed some annoyance on her part and his eye shifted back and forth uncomfortably. "Uh, do you need something, doctor?"

"Yes, I was hoping to have a word alone with you. Do you have a minute?"

Shadow nodded. "Yes, of course." Shadow gestured for her to follow and the two entered the empty waiting room of the repair shop.

Mighty and Manic continued to watch even more confused with the apparent silent treatment Amy was giving him. "Bro, she's totally ignoring you. You piss her off or something?" Manic asked.

"I don't know man. I can't really think of anything I might have done." Mighty rubbed the back of his head as he tried to recollect on last night's events. Did he say something to her last night that ticked her off? He couldn't really remember much. He had drunk quite a bit and had plenty of fun with Shade. He remembered most of what had transpired between the two last night when they had gotten freaky, however, he was struggling to remember things prior to sleeping with the echidna.

Back inside the waiting room, Shadow stood before Amy, eager to hear what she wanted to discuss. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, first of all," she started sweetly before using her hand to gesture to the bruise on the right side of her neck. "Was this really necessary?!"

Shadow moved in closer to get a look at what she was speaking about before chuckling uncomfortably. "Shit, sorry about that. I must've gotten a little carried away last night."

"Well, that's not the only reason I came to talk to you. I wanted to talk about what happened last night."

He nodded. "Sure, shoot."

"I didn't drink much, but I will admit I was a little buzzed," she began. "Anyway, all we did was make out, right?"

"Correct," he answered.

"So…" Amy shifted on her feet. "Um, I don't know if this was just entirely me here, but I was surprisingly really into you last night and I felt like you were, too. So, I'm just wondering why it didn't go any further?" Shadow chuckled in amusement only making Amy grow more confused. "Huh, what's so funny?"

Shadow grinned. "Call me old-fashioned, but I usually tend to want to at least take a girl out on a date first before moving that fast. Especially, one I happen to really like."

Amy felt her cheeks heat up and smiled. He truly respected her. She wasn't just a one-night stand to him. "Oh, wow, well, I wasn't expecting that."

He nodded with a coy smirk. "Yeah, well, despite my appearance and personality, I do try to treat the girls I like with respect."

"Yeah, last night…was a surprise."

Shadow's eyes diverted to the right, feeling awkward with how the circumstances played out. His signs of interest were not as obvious and natural as most other couples trying to signal each other. "Yeah, it's been brewing a bit…"

She stepped closer to him. "How long have you felt this way towards me? It just seemed like it came out of nowhere."

"Since you had your panic attack—I started to feel things. I saw how vulnerable you were in that moment and I could relate to what you were going through. I've also learned we have a surprising number of things in common."

She cocked a brow seemingly surprised. "…And yet, you continued being an asshole to me?"

He sighed in frustration. "Look—that was my own fucked up way of trying to repress the feelings I had for you, okay? At first, I didn't want to like you, but I couldn't force myself to stop as much as I tried."

She placed a hand to her forehead trying to process everything. "I just don't understand why you were so hostile towards me from the very start. It's all very confusing..."

"You want the truth?" he said before walking around her. "Because the moment I laid eyes on you, you reminded me of Maria. She was beautiful, sweet, compassionate, honest, and when she was involved in our world, it did no good for her. This place, my job, and our club is the reason she was taken away from me," he explained exasperatedly. Amy watched as he circled around her during his explanation. "Then you showed up and you're beautiful, intelligent, stubborn, and way too good of a person to be involved with us lowlifes," he pointed. "I didn't want and STILL don't want to see the same thing happen to you that happened to the love of my life. I figured if I could bug you enough, you'd come to your senses and leave the club for your own good," he admitted feeling a huge relief lift off his shoulders.

"Wow..." Amy looked rather touched by the admittance. "So, this, right now, is the real Shadow the Hedgehog, then..?"

He sighed in defeat. "…Yes."

"I've always thought you were quite attractive, Shadow," Amy admitted shyly. "However, how you treated me initially was a huge turn-off. Yet, in the past couple of weeks, I've noticed you started to be a little nicer towards me. Not to mention, you've done countless things you didn't have to go out of your way to do for me—and for that, it all makes sense now."

Shadow smiled weakly. "Well, I don't really know what you want to do at this point. I don't want it to get awkward between us, but I'd like to get to know you more."

"We can date for now and see where it goes," Amy suggested.

"Sure, that's fine by me," he concurred.

She began to turn towards the door. "Great, well, I'll uh, see you around then."

Amy exited the waiting room and made her way out of the garage. Shadow stepped outside the waiting room and watched her depart. As he kept his eyes fixated on her, he wasn't aware that another individual was watching him like a hawk. "Well, well, well," a sickeningly delighted voice chimed in nearby. "It looks like someone finally decided to try out the vanilla after all."

Shadow grimaced recognizing the voice belonging to his older brother. He turned his head as he spotted his brother leaning his back against the doorframe of his own office looking smug in expression. Shadow tried to play it off cooly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mephiles."

Mephiles pushed himself away from his door and sauntered over. "Oh, don't be coy, dear brother. You don't recall your infamous comment about the girl early on. She's so boring—so vanilla," he reminded with air quotes.

Shadow huffed, trying to play off the accusation. "What makes you think I was involved with her in any way?" he challenged.

Mephiles placed a hand on his brother's left shoulder, tapping his fingers. "Oh, perhaps the fact that I watched as you could barely take your eyes off of her at last night's party." Shadow's eyes widened in alarm. He had been observing him that closely? Mephiles smirked knowingly as he continued. "Or how about how you could barely avoid stalking her every move as well," he listed triumphantly. "Trust me, I saw everything."

Shadow eyed his brother in annoyance. "You were watching me?"

Mephiles' eyes brightened seeing his confirmation. "Ah, so it is true. How was she in bed then? Do tell," he rubbed his hands together eagerly.

Shadow shook his head and walked off. "First of all, we didn't sleep together."

Mephiles watched as he marched back over to the truck he had been working on prior. "Oh, so you received a blow job, then? Or did you go down on her? What about a hand job?" he tried to guess.

Shadow leaned down and reached into his toolbox, and grabbed for a socket wrench. "You know I never kiss and tell, Mephiles."

Mephiles rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You're so prude and boring when it comes to this type of locker talk."

Shadow shrugged. "Yeah, well, that's what makes us different."

Mephiles crossed his arms over his chest. "Does anybody else know?"

Shadow began working on the engine again. "No, so keep it under your hat, you pervert. We're not a couple or anything."

Mephiles nodded before turning and heading back into his office. "…Sure," he mumbled.

•~•

Moments after Amy had left the repair shop, she once again heard that familiar voice calling after again. "Amy, hey, Ames!"

Amy exhaled an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes while she kept walking as the running footsteps approached her from behind. Soon enough Mighty was panting as kept up her pace walking by her side. He had his typical charming smile spread across his face. "Ames, didn't you hear me calling your name earlier?"

Amy didn't bother to look at him as she kept her focus on the house in her path. "Uh, no I didn't actually," she lied calmly.

"Well, I was trying to get your attention back there. I wanted to see how you enjoyed the party last night."

Amy stopped just in front of the steps to the front porch of the house and finally turned to look at him. "You know what? It's a pretty long story." She glanced at her wristwatch quickly. "I'll tell you about it later. Right now, I'm pretty busy. I have a lot of schoolwork to get to," she explained.

Mighty sensed she seemed a little distant with him but brushed it off. "Oh...right. I understand. I'm pretty busy with work too, so um, I'll get back to that," he gestured with a thumb wave. "Oh, before I forget. You're coming to the gym with the rest of us later this afternoon, right? I'm trying to get in some last-minute training before the big match tonight."

Amy walked up the front porch steps and reached for the door handle. "Uh, yeah probably," she stated dully.

Mighty watched as opened the door, not even bothering to look at him again. "Alright, well, see you later…"

•~•

That afternoon at the gym in town, everyone was doing their own intense workouts. Rouge and Locke were jogging on the treadmill, Manic was using the leg press machine, Gadget was working on the chest press machine, Shadow was doing upside-down crunches on one of the pull-up bars, Mephiles was on one of the arm machines, and Amy was doing her own high-intensity workout on one of the mats in the corners by the mirrors.

In the boxing cage, Knuckles had on some punching mitts while he did some last-minute training with Mighty before the big boxing match later that night. Mighty did short sharp jabs and walked in a circle as Knuckles moved in the opposite direction holding out his covered mitted hands. With every strike, Knuckles would move his hands higher, lower, and to the sides to keep up his agility. "Yeah, that's right. Keep it up!" Knuckles encouraged.

Mighty dropped his arms to the side. "I think we're good on the warmup, man. How about a little spar between you and me?"

Knuckles dropped his own arms to the side and nodded. "Alright, good idea."

Mighty watched as Knuckles walked over to the far corner of the rink and put on some boxing mitts. "Alright, I'm not going easy on you. I'm going hard as if I was your opponent for tonight."

Mighty reached down and took a quick sip of water. "That's what I want."

Back in the far corner with Amy, she finished doing some dolphin planks on her mat before sitting up on her knees and panting. She wiped some sweat off her forehead with the back of her arm and tried to catch her breath. Amy reached up and adjusted the scrunchie for her ponytail and checked herself out in the mirror when she caught a glance of Shadow working out in the reflection behind her. She turned around and watched as Shadow, now shirtless, easily remained in his upside-down position on a pull-up bar moving upright into a tight crunch before lowering himself upside down again.

Amy was quite impressed to watch him maintain a solid position while doing a basic crunch. Suddenly, Shadow caught her staring at him from across the room and locked eyes with her. Realizing he was staring back at her, she smiled as a faint blush crossed her muzzle. Shadow smirked at her reaction before reaching up, grabbing the bars he was suspended from, and flipping down back into an upright position onto the ground.

On her mat, Amy got up from her knees and dusted herself off as she watched him approach her from the other side of the room.

Meanwhile, in the boxing rink, Knuckles and Mighty danced together. Mighty remained quick on his feet as he dodged and ducked oncoming blows from the red echidna. Knuckles was pretty impressed. He had only managed to slug him a few times so far, but Mighty's stamina remained strong. However, that was all about to change when Mighty caught sight of Amy talking to Shadow in the far corner of the gym. He only watched for a few seconds as Amy laughed at something Shadow said to her. He didn't realize that Amy was close enough to Shadow to have him make her laugh.

BAM!

Mighty flung to the left, landing on his left side with a loud thud. Knuckles stood over the armadillo looking disappointed. "Don't do this to me, Might. We can't be getting distracted now."

Mighty sat up and Knuckles helped lift him to his feet. "Sorry, man. I got shit on my mind."

"The only thing you should have on your mind right now is winning—winning!" he emphasized passionately. "After all, I've got $100 bucks on you winning this thing tonight. Don't let me down, man," he chuckled.

Mighty smiled weakly. "Yeah, well, it's just—I think Amy's mad at me or something."

Knuckles turned around for a moment and glanced at Amy who was now back on the mat doing Russian twists. Shadow was back at his station doing pull-ups. He turned to look back to Mighty. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, ever since the party last night, she hasn't really spoken to me. She seems so distant," he explained.

Knuckles facepalmed and sighed in frustration as he feared the worse. "Oh chaos, did you sleep with her?"

"Nooo!" he exclaimed in a hushed voice, hoping others wouldn't hear.

"Phew." Knuckles shrugged. "I don't know, have you tried to speak to her?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't seem like she's in the mood to talk."

"Look man, girls are weird and moody. Sometimes you gotta give them their space till they blow off their steam. Trust me, I know with my own personal experience," he explained glancing at Rouge now by the water station filling up her water bottle.

"…I guess," Mighty shrugged, still feeling upset. "I just don't like having drama—especially with close friends."

"Don't focus on that right now. Keep your eyes on the target. Once the match is done, then you can focus on what the heck is up between you two," he stated. Once Knuckles had finished training Mighty one last time, the group of motorcyclists began heading out of the gym. Mighty watched as Amy walked out of the locker room with her gym bag in hand and headed towards the others waiting near the exit.

Taking this as his opportunity, Mighty sauntered over to Amy who was busy zipping up her bag. "Hey," he waved.

Amy glanced over to him. "Hey," she replied, keeping it short and brief.

"So, uh, I was wondering if you're going to be there for the big match tonight. You know—be my lucky charm," he tried to emphasize smoothly.

Amy shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Well, I'm only going to be there for medical purposes. Mephiles informed me they'd need a medical professional on location. You know I don't like fighting as a form of entertainment, I only employ it for self-defense."

Mighty looked deflated by her response, especially with the fact that she wasn't going for the typical fun, social purpose, but merely as a job. "Oh…"

"And as for lucky charm, I'm not sure where you'd get the idea that I am one. It's not like I've been present for any of the other fights you've won," she shrugged.

He shook his head. "Nah, I realize that Ames, but I can just feel you give off lucky energy. That's why I want you there in the crowd watching me fight and cheering me on," he explained with a smile.

She shrugged indifferently making his smile fade. "Yeah, well, I'll be there I guess."

Shadow walked over breaking up the already forced and awkward conversation. "We're rolling out," he announced to the two lingering in the background. With that said, the two walked out following the ebony-striped hedgehog.

Amy and Shadow walked ahead of the armadillo and Shadow glanced over his shoulder at Mighty, noticing he seemed a little more down than usual. He turned to look at Amy as they continued to walk. "Are you still upset with Mighty from last night?" he whispered.

"Yes," she replied sharply.

"Does the poor guy even know why you're mad at him?" he questioned.

She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "Hmph, he'll figure it out eventually."

•~•

Later that evening, both the original Brothers of Chaos and the Southside charter joined for the big boxing match hosted at a rented warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Inside the warehouse were some bleachers set up on the right and left sides of the rink. There were two refreshment tables set up where people could get a drink or snack to eat before the match started and two private tents for the contenders to get ready.

Down on the main floor around the boxing rink, Misty-Re and Rouge both walked around collecting bets before the big event went down. Misty-Re grabbed wads of cash from raised hands in the crowds and jotted down names from individuals. Rouge did the same thing on her side of the rink, collecting as much cash as she possibly could.

In the meantime, Knuckles stood inside one of the tents set up in the back of the warehouse with Mighty as he prepared him for his fight. Mighty did some simple triceps and shoulder stretches while he listening to some music to pump him up. Knuckles came up to him and pulled out one of his earbuds. Groaning in annoyance from his loss of music, Mighty turned to glare at the echidna. "What man?"

"I want you to give me fifty push-ups right now," he demanded.

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Mighty dropped on all fours and proceeded to do the pushups as requested.

While Knuckles watched him perform his last-minute warm-up, he crouched down to his level. "Now, I'm not trying to scare you or anything," he began in a low voice. "But I got a glance at the new guy they're putting up against ya."

Mighty continued pumping himself up and down off the floor. "Yeah, so?" he panted.

"Well, he's this really big water buffalo and he looks pretty intimidating, but I'm going to guess your one strength in this is going to be your speed. So be quick on your feet and do not get distracted out there," he forewarned.

Mighty got back up to his feet and dusted off his hands. "Nothing scares me, you got that? We've gotta be positive here to get positive results," he countered.

Knuckles rose to his feet too. "I get it but I'm just trying to be realistic. This guy looks more like someone I could take on if you know what I mean."

Mighty took off his shirt, remaining only in his black boxing shorts and sneakers. "It sounds like you have doubts about me winning this, so I'm going to prove you wrong." Knuckles watched as he left the tent and headed straight for the rink.

On the bleachers, Shadow, Amy, Manic, Gadget, Locke, and Mephiles sat together as they waited for the fight to begin. Amy looked over to Manic who was currently chowing down on a bucket of popcorn. "Why do people like this anyway?"

The green hedgehog turned his head to look at her. "What boxing?"

"Yeah," Amy clarified. "It's just watching two guys throw punches at each other. What's so exciting about that?"

"It's brain-numbing entertainment, lass," Locke chimed in. "Don't overthink it too much."

Amy shrugged. "Okay, I guess…"

Overhearing the conversation, Gadget popped his head forward on the other side of Manic to interject. "I think perhaps it's because people are fascinated by the body and want to understand and explore its dimensions, capabilities, and limits by any means possible through sheer violence."

Amy stared at Gadget with a deadpan expression from his intense explanation before Manic tossed in some more popcorn-munching down and shrugging nonchalantly. "I just like watching people get bodied, so what? It's a guilty pleasure."

Before Amy could challenge any further argument, Finitevus took the center stage of the rink with a microphone in hand. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the annual Brothers of Chaos Knock Out Championship!" he announced excitedly. The crowd erupted into cheers and applause of excitement and enthusiasm before settling down. "Tonight, both charters have selected their member of choice to fight in tonight's big event. So, let's get started on the introductions.

Finitevus gestured to the back-left corner of the rink. "Standing at 3 feet tall and weighing in at 85 pounds is Mighty Armadillo!" Mighty lifted up one of the ropes to the rink and came running in with his arms lifted in the air and a charming smile plastering his face. His charter roared into cheers, applause, and chants, showing their praise. Amy couldn't help but notice several girls from the other charter. Among them were Julie-Su, Shade, Misty-Re, and Honey. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Manic stood up holding his popcorn bucket in one hand and used the other to cup around his mouth. "Go MIGHTY!" he shouted. "Love you, bro!"

Mighty merely smiled and waved to his adoring fans before locking eyes with Amy momentarily. Clapping her hands slowly, she quickly averted her gaze to her lap causing Mighty's smile to drop slightly on stage.

Once the crowd settled down, Finitevus gestured to the back-right corner with his outstretched hand. "And now, representing our charter and standing at 6 feet tall and weighing in at 230 pounds is our very own Axel Buffalo!"

Mighty looked down to the mat as he felt the floor slightly rumbling. When he turned to look at his opponent, he was stunned when he spotted the large buffalo throw himself over the rink rope before landing on the mat with a powerful thud. Mighty wobbled slightly from the impact of his landing and stared up at the large brown and intimidating water buffalo towering over him in height and width.

The southside charter all rose to their feet, pumping their hands into the air and hooting and hollering as their representative came out onto the stage. Axel pounded his two gloved fists together and snorted out a big cloud of water vapor. He grinned impishly at his smaller opponent behind him in the corner.

"Boy, Knuckles wasn't kiddin' about you huh?" Mighty cracked lightly.

Standing by her husband near the rink, Rouge seemed to have her doubts about Mighty's win tonight, too. She turned to look at Knuckles. "Does Mighty really have a chance against this guy?" she questioned.

Knuckles remained behind the rink where Mighty stood. He watched as the buffalo continued to soak up the admiration from the cheering crowd. "I mean, he can, but he's going to have to be quick on his feet and be real strategic here," he answered. "Either way, he's not going to come out of this thing untouched."

Back on the bleachers, Amy and some of the others were astounded at the size and monstrosity of Mighty's opponent. "This can't be fair, can it?" Amy asked, looking to Shadow on the other side of her.

"It's perfectly fair I'm afraid," Shadow confirmed.

"This guy is going to crush Mighty tonight," Amy exclaimed. "You really expect me to sit here and watch this."

"Hey, hey," Manic butted in sharply, overhearing her conversation with Shadow. "Don't put my boy down and out already. I've seen Mighty fight guys as big as this fella here and he always comes out strong. You might be surprised tonight."

"I must agree with Manic on this one," Locked added as he leaned forward to look at Amy down the bench. "Mighty may be small, but he packs a mighty punch," he said clenching his fist.

"I hope you guys are right, otherwise I may be heading to the emergency room with him tonight," Amy mumbled putting her focus back on the rink.

"Don't worry too much." Shadow placed a hand on top of hers. She glanced down at it before looking up at him. "Mighty is one of our best fighters, especially in hand-to-hand combat. He's got this," he stated confidently.

Back on stage, Finitevus proceeded to explain the rules. "As always, there will be twelve three-minute rounds with one-minute breaks. The first opponent to knock out their opponent will win the game."

Mighty got into his corner and Axel did the same. Mighty placed his mouthguard in his mouth and Axel mimicked his actions on the other side of the rink. Nack, a purple weasel wearing a referee shirt and whistle around his neck, stood center mat. "Remember boys, no hits under the belt. If you get knocked down, you have ten seconds to get back up before you've lost."

Suddenly, Misty-Re came sauntering across the stage wearing a white bikini and a pair of white heels. A bunch of the male crowd-goers hooted, cat-called, and whistled at her attire of choice showing off her body. She was holding up a big white sign that read: "ROUND ONE" in big capitalized letters. The moment she finished crossing the stage, Nack grabbed his whistle and placed it in his mouth blowing it. "Begin!" he shouted.

Once that signal was given, the two came bounding towards the center of the rink. Nack stepped back to observe from the sidelines for any disqualifications. The crowd watched intently as the two males did boxer shuffles on stage and kept their hands up and in front of their chest or face. Sizing up his competition, Mighty agreed with Knuckles, that size was going to come into account with this opponent. He'd have to try to tire him out in the earlier rounds before going in for the knockout.

Axel made a few attempts at some quick right and left jabs, but Mighty was hyper-aware of his moves and made sure to jump back, dip or dodge the oncoming attacks. The crowd continued to yell and cheer as they watched the battle unfold. Mighty was doing a good job at evading, but it was getting tiring even with remaining on the defensive. With the seventh attempt to strike him, Axel finally made contact and did a right hook, and successfully made contact with Mighty's left cheek, snapping it to the side. The crowd gasped, hearing the powerful smack.

Mighty staggered slightly as he tried to recover quickly from the blow, but it wasn't enough as Axel managed to now inflict a left hook, hitting him on his right cheek, making his body lurch in the opposite direction. Mighty groaned from the impact but managed to duck down just as Axel went in for another jab, and managed to do a swift uppercut onto Axel, hitting him just beneath the chin.

Just then, the whistle blew announcing the end of round one. Heading back to their corners. Mighty took out his mouthpiece quickly to get some water. Coach Knuckles remained on the floor beneath the lifted rink. "I see what you're doing there, Might. Keep it up and I think you can manage a win. Just don't get distracted," he emphasized strongly.

Mighty quickly placed his mouthguard back in his mouth and turned around knowing his minute break was reaching its end. Across the rink, he watched as Axel nodded as he looked down at his own coach, a red chameleon who looked a bit more serious on his coaching management. The buffalo took a big squirt of water in his mouth, swished it around and spit it out before placing his mouthpiece back in.

Once again, Misty-Re walked across the stage in a sexy stride while holding up another white poster that read: "ROUND TWO" in thick black text. Nack blew his whistle again, indicating the start of the next round. "Begin!" Pounding his fists together, Axel came hustling in towards the center stage. Mighty did the same and the two boxer-shuffled in a circle keeping their fists held high up in front of their face.

This time, Axel did not hesitate to make the first move. He did rapid jabs at Mighty's chest, shoulders, or face. Mighty had to be even higher on the defensive as he blocked his shots. Feeling inclined to take a few shots back, Mighty threw a few short jabs at Axel as well. He managed to get in one upper cut and a right hook. The large buffalo staggered and stumbled slightly from impact, but it wasn't enough to take him down. Glancing over to the audience, Mighty spotted Amy watching, practically on the edge of her seat. She actually looked quite tense as she kept her hands clasped together.

POW!

Mighty felt his world begin to spin as his body twisted in the air before violently slamming down onto the mat. He remained on his stomach, stunned temporarily. Nack rushed over to Mighty's side and crouched down and began doing the countdown for his elimination. "Ten…nine…eight," he counted.

Knuckles hopped up and down on the floor below, feeling the tension and anxiety build. "Come on, get up, Mighty!"

On the bleachers, Amy's hand cupped Shadow's hand instinctively as she feared for Mighty's wellbeing from above. She may have been ticked off with him from the night before, but she still cared about his welfare. "Shadow, is he going to be okay?" she asked quietly.

"He'll pull through," Shadow assured, trying to remain optimistic.

Back on the mat, Mighty tried to push himself up as his vision adjusted and the world stopped spinning. He grunted, still reeling from that last hit. He had to admit, Axel had some strength in him, and he knew he'd be feeling that hit in the morning. His ears perked as he heard a familiar voice calling his name from the crowd. He glanced up and spotted Amy now standing and keeping her hands cupped around her mouth. "Mighty, you gotta get up! Come on, Mighty!"

Feeling a sense of hope, Mighty turned to look at Nack by his side who was counting down the last seconds. "Three, Two…"

Mighty hopped up to his feet and the crowd went wild, seeing his tremendous rebound.

Nack remained between the two and blew his whistle, signaling that round two had ended. The two opponents went back to their respective corners where Knuckles eagerly waited. Mighty took out his mouthpiece and began chugging water.

"What did I tell you about getting distracted!? Stop looking at Amy and focus on the big buffalo in front of you, ya dummy!" he beseeched.

He rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. I got it; I won't make that mistake again. Alright, coach?"

Mighty cracked his neck on each side and placed his mouthpiece back in his mouth and turned around. For the third time, Misty-Re walked across the stage and held up the white poster board that read, "ROUND THREE."

Nack whistled, signaling for the third round to start. "Begin!" he shouted.

This time, Mighty was going to change up his strategy. He was going to go on the offensive. Mighty went hard with his jabs at Axel and realized that the buffalo was having a harder time evading his hits. He got several jabs in on his shoulders, chest, and jaw. Mighty was able to evade hits a lot faster due to his small build. Spotting an opening, Mighty crouched down and pushed himself upward. He successfully did a solid uppercut right under Axel's jaw. Everyone heard the impact of the hit and watched as the large water buffalo tilted backward before completely landing flat on his back with a loud thud.

The floor resounded in a SMACK and Mighty remained back as he watched Nack fly over and kneel down to Axel's level to begin the countdown. "Ten…nine...eight," he counted. Practically winded from his fall, Axel panted as he tried to get up, but struggled badly. "Seven…six…five," Nack continued counting down. "Four…three...two…one."

With Axel unable to get up in time, Mighty was officially declared the winner. Nack walked over and grabbed Mighty's right wrist and raised it up in the air. "The winner of this match is Mighty Armadillo!" The crowd erupted into applause for the winner. Mighty's mouth slowly turned into a smile as he stared out at the crowd. His eyes wandered over to his friends where he spotted all of them standing and clapping for him.

•~•

After the match, Mighty was back inside his private tent to cool down. He sat on a crated box as he took off his gloves and dropped them into a gym bag. He began to unwrap the bandages around his hands just when the curtains parted, and Amy wandered in. Mighty glanced over his shoulder at her arrival, surprised to see her approaching. "Hey there," he smiled with a sense of uncertainty with their current standing with her.

She gave him a small smile. "Congrats on the big win tonight."

Mighty watched as she walked over with a medical bag in hand. She set it down on the floor before crouching down and fishing inside its contents. "So, uh, you here to check out my vitals?"

"Pretty much," she responded while snapping on some gloves. "I just finished working on your opponent in the tent next door and he's all clear."

Mighty watched as she pulled out a pen with a flashlight on the butt end. She stood up and flashed the light in his right eye watching his pupil carefully before going over and doing the same to the other eye. "So, I wanted to talk to you now that you seem like you're in a better mood…"

Amy reached for his wrist and placed her index and middle finger on a point on his wrist to read his pulse. "Go on," she stated, trying to remain professional. Her eyes glanced at her wristwatch while she counted.

"What was up with you earlier today? You seemed kind of pissed off at me. I just want to know what I did so I can apologize and move past this," he explained. "I don't like seeing you so mad at me."

After counting his pulse, she removed her fingers from his wrist and her eyes met his. Maybe he was completely clueless to his faults. "…You truly have no clue?"

He shook his head honestly. "Not at all. Please, tell me."

"Last night at the party," she started. "I thought you and I were going to hang out. I don't know if you realized this—but thinking about it now, you must've not. Anyway, I-I liked you Mighty. I thought you may have reciprocated those feelings, but once you bailed on me at the party for that other girl, I got the message."

Mighty frowned in the realization of her explanation. "Oh geez, Ames…I'm so sorry," he apologized. "I-I had no idea you had feelings for me," he admitted placing a hand to his chest.

"I don't know how," she countered. "You flirted me with countless times, what kind of messages were you sending?"

"Chaos…" Mighty groaned to himself and dragged a hand over his face. "This is all my fault, so let me explain."

Amy crossed her arms over her chest, intrigued to hear his explanation. "…I'm listening."

"Amy, I do like you," he began. "I mean, you're a cute girl and I'll admit I did flirt with you a lot, but that just happens to be in my nature. I'm just not a relationship type of guy," he continued. "I'm a free spirit. I could never go any further with you because I respect you way too much. I'm your friend and co-worker, and I wouldn't want things to get awkward or weird between us if we just hooked up once."

Amy's ears fell slightly. "I see…"

"Hey." Mighty placed a hand on her shoulder, seeing her mood shift. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he needed to set things straight. "Look, I'm really sorry if I led you on. That's completely on me and I'll admit it," he assessed. "But you're gorgeous and I'm sure there's some other guy out there who will sweep you off your feet and treat you the way you deserve to be treated," he encouraged sweetly. "I'll try to cut down on the flirty stuff, okay?"

Amy nodded. "Thank you for clearing that up for me, Mighty. I appreciate it."

He grinned at her warmly. "So, friends?"

"Friends," she repeated with a smile.

Mighty hopped up from his seat and hugged her and she returned the embrace. "I'm happy to be back on your good side, Ames."

"Likewise," she concurred.

The two began to walk out together. Mighty parted the curtains and allowed Amy to step out first and the pair walked towards the exit together. "…So," Mighty sang. "What did you end up getting up to during the party?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, um, just mingled with a couple of people," she replied. "Nothing exciting."

"Any guys you have your eye on?" he asked, raising a brow curiously.

Amy laughed nervously and glanced at him while they walked together. "You're starting to sound a lot like, Rouge right now."

"Hey, I could totally be your wingman," he chuckled, draping an arm over her shoulder. "Any guy you got your eye on I can totally hook you up with, but only the serious ones obviously, not the fuck boys."

She laughed at his comment. "It's okay, I think I've got that handled myself," she assured. Amy glanced over to the front doors of the warehouse where she spotted Shadow talking to Finitevus. She unintentionally smiled as she stared at the dark hedgehog.

Mighty watched her as she stared over at Shadow noticing her uncharacteristic softer expression towards the vice president. His eyes went back and forth between the two hedgehogs before picking up on the discretion. "Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec, you and Shadow?" he whispered. Amy's cheeks went red slightly only confirming his theory. She and Shadow had promised to keep their fling a secret until they could establish exactly what they were. However, Amy had a terrible poker face. He tapped his chin and smirked. "Huh, it totally makes sense now."

"Huh?" Amy scratched the side of her face and averted her gaze. "What does?"

"I noticed you guys starting to get friendly in the past couple of weeks. I thought you two hated each other, but I guess it's true what they say with opposites—they do attract."

"Please don't spread this around," she pleaded. "Shadow and I are just getting to know each other like that. We're not at the point where it's official. We're just dating."

Mighty smirked and lowered his eyelids when he saw how embarrassed she was. It was like watching two middle-schoolers trying to secretly date. "It's alright, I've got you. Your secret is safe with me," he avowed with a hand over his heart.

Just then, Shadow wandered over to them, unaware of their current conversation. "It's getting late," he announced. "We're heading home in two minutes."

Mighty stretched his arms out in front of him. "Yeah, I want to get home and shower anyway."

"I'm sure," Shadow nodded. "You did our charter proud," he said giving a curt nod.

"Thanks, man," Mighty smiled. "Remember, it's your turn next year."

"Don't remind me," Shadow droned before he turned to look at Amy. "You want to ride back with me?" he offered.

"Sure," Amy replied trying to respond neutrally.

Shadow gestured for her to follow after him. "C'mon then," he gestured with a head nod before walking off.

Mighty refrained from laughing and placed a hand over his mouth to conceal his smile. With that, the three-headed out.