The couple slept peaceful on the soft grass, their chest rising up and down and sweet dreams filled their minds. The dark male began to move and his eyes slowly opened to the darkening sky. Carefully he unwrapped his arm from the pink female, gently to not awaken the young beauty.

His crimson eyes scanned the field; the scene before him was odd and out of place. The darkness added a sense of suspension in his mind and was sure to send a chill down someone's spine. His ears picked up a soft moan of the rose hedgehog as she sat up.

"Wow, we slept for quite awhile." she yawned.

Shadow nodded to her comment.

"It's getting late, I'd better get you home." he said as he walked over to her and lifted her up in his arms.

He held out his Chaos Emerald and his command echoed through the dark forest and with that they were gone.

"Goodnight, Rose." he whispered as he pulled me in for a kiss.

My eyes fluttered open from the alarm clock and slapped it to stop as I lazily sat up. I dragged myself into to washroom, cleaned myself up and rummaged through some clothes to get ready for my training. As I pulled on my jacket, I noticed the dark morning from autumn's cloudiness and shuttered at the thought of the ice cold air in the morning.

"Quite the beautiful day." I commented sarcastically.

I walked downstairs and turned on the television set as I quietly drinking my peppermint tea. There had been a robbery in the city and our hero was, of course, Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic had definitely changed, he was no as cocky as he was when he was younger. With Ella in his life, he spent more time with her instead of congratulatory meetings and ceremonies at the White House.

I switched off the program once I heard a knock at door and quickly pulled on my sneakers as I opened the door to reveal Shadow.

"Ready for some training?" he asked with a smirk.

Today was the last day of my training and I was positive was going to pound every bit of skill and strength back into me.

"Let's go." I said as I locked the door.

"Let's start with a brisk jog." Shadow said, as we walked out of my garden.

We jogged past the houses, the gardens and out of the neighbourhood; our speed beginning to pick up for a jog to a run. We ran until we were out of sight from the humans and our speed grew faster. Shadow's shoes activated and he shot ahead of me, just like last time. I focused on the speed, the strength and energy and soon enough, I was flying. Leaves were pulled off from the trees as we ran past them. As soon as we entered the forest, I saw myself getting closer to Shadow. We zigzagged past the trees, jumped over bushes and rocks and bounced off trees often as to increase speed. We finally made it out on to the field.

"Good job, Amy." Shadow huffed with a smile.

I held up a thumbs up and huffed out thank you with my other hand on my knee; he gave a soft chuckle.

"Now that you've finished the element of speed, it's time to work on your skill." said Shadow with some seriousness in his voice.

"Skill?" I asked.

"Wait here." he said and walked away in to the darkness on the forest.

My muscles were still sore from yesterday's training but I took it all as a good sign that I was being stronger. I heard something snap and crash in the forest and I hoped that Shadow was alright, the worst scenarios flooded my mind. Finally after a few minutes, Shadow's figure stepped out into the light; unharmed and in his hands, he held two branches. He threw one over to me and he took a defense stance.

"Skill is what you'll need in battle and with all elements, you become unstoppable." he said.

"So wait…I have to fight you?" I asked.

He nodded and I hesitated, I had never fought Shadow before, he was extremely strong and an excellent fighter, how could I possibly defeat? There was quite a distance between us, the sun was high above and the long grass moved and glistened with the morning dew around us. I got into a fighting stance and braced myself.

I ran with all speed towards Shadow but he dodged out of the way. I turned on my heel and swung my branch at him but he dodged it again. I kept swinging and jabbing my branch toward him but he continued to dodge as fast as possible. Suddenly he dropped to the ground and then swung his leg under my feet and I fell.

Funny I could say, he swept me off my feet.

"Be prepared for anything." Shadow exclaimed as he backed away.

I got back on my feet and charged at Shadow once again; he too charged at me, branch by his side. I brought my stick down on Shadow but held his stick up to block my attack. We were neck-and-neck, pushing each other back and forth with our branches, I grit my teeth to put on more force but since I saw that this strategy wasn't going anywhere, I quickly placed my foot on Shadow's chest and kicked him off. Shadow tried a roundhouse kick but I quickly ducked. I kicked off the ground and flew over Shadow, landing softly on the grass. I swept my branch under his feet and he plopped on the ground. I knelt down on him and pushed my branch to him neck; he gave a devious grin and he flipped me over and before I knew it, he was the one holding me down and swiftly gave me a small peck on my lips. I kicked him off me and we were both on our feet.

What a tease.

I threw my branch away and began to throw punches at him; he dodged them all. He grabbed my fist, spun me around and held my arm behind my back with his other arm over my neck.

I bent down and spun out of his reach, grabbed my worn out weapon and pointed the sharp edge of it at his neck; his branch was a few inches from my neck. We both stood panting with adrenaline and tension in our eyes and after a few minutes, we lowered out weapons. A smile slowly grew across Shadow's face ran his fingers through my quills.

"Welcome back, Amy Rose." he whispered.

The chapter was short but trust me, alot more is going to happen further on and he chapter kind of reminded of the Hunger Games, LOL. ENJOY!
I do not own any SEGA characters but Ella.