After regaining the academy's trust, Ame could resume training with the others. Aside from helping with the common defense unit with her brothers and the aforementioned girl scouts, Ame pursued her own personal training to improve herself, just like Eibon had suggested.

"Let's not try to bother the gods just yet," Kid said. "I need to know if you have the motivation to do this. Let's try basic combat."

Ame's skills were fair, as she'd been taught; her rosaries were like whips, her reflectors were a combination of shields and frying pans, her swords being, well, swords. As long as the rosaries were, they could only go so far. There was a length that she couldn't hit anything. She did try cutting one of her rosary's beads off and shooting it like a bullet, but even then she could only shoot one at a time and her accuracy was off.

"I see what you're trying to do," Kid said. "But it isn't quite working. Why don't you try using something like a gun or a bow to help with your accuracy? You know, so you don't strain your godly power."

"Alright," Ame nodded. "I can try that."

"I can help with that," Liz said, transforming and landing gently in Ame's hand. Ame flinched, and it looked like she power-slashed Liz away from her. It wasn't until Kid saw the burn marks on Ame's hand that it occurred to him that Ame couldn't wield human weapons.

"Sorry, Ame," Liz apologized. "I wasn't thinking about it."

"We have to use normal weapons," Kid said. "Come on, we can go to the shooting range, and you can try archery."

One at the shooting range, since Kid knew nothing about archery, he paid for Ame to have private lessons with a professional instructor before leaving, saying he'd be back at five. The archery instructor was a fair woman with red hair and blue eyes. She was in her early thirties, and looked very athletic.

"Hi, Ame," she smiled. "I'm Mara; I'm the professional instructor person. So, just come back here and we'll go over a few things."

Ame followed Mara to a nice glade behind the building where the staff had cut the grass and set up targets some feet away. Mara went over some safety regulations with Ame beforehand, which took a while, before giving Ame a bow and walking her through shooting.

"Now pull the string back and tether it at the corner of your mouth. Good, good. Now relax, aim, and release!"

Ame did exactly as she was told, but the arrow flicked off her string and landed horizontally two inches away. Ame was confused. Was that supposed to happen? Meanwhile, Mara was cracking up. Flustered, Ame tried again, and managed to get the arrow a little farther.

"You're not pulling back far enough," Mara said. "Draw it back like you mean it."

Ame nocked another arrow and lifted the bow to her eye level. She coiled her right arm, pulling the cord back to the corner of her mouth. Her eyes shifted slightly as she focused on the target. She released the arrow with determination.

And sent it flying into the forest.

"I missed," she said.

"I can see that," Mara said. "Now go get it."

Soul Eater

"I don't know how Kid can fuss about using both hands like this," Ame complained after about two hours of not hitting the target.

"You're not focusing enough," Mara said for the hundredth time, pacing the length of the range. She said it was to examine Ame's form, but she was honestly just getting bored. She'd never had a student do so poorly.

"I'm trying my hardest!" Ame snapped back, her tail twitching in frustration.

"Well, you have to try harder!"

"Hmph," Ame sniffed and flicked another arrow forward. The cord slapped against her arm and she winced. Her arms were sore and she was tired; she'd much rather be indoors, where it was cool. She mentally reprimanded herself for such thoughts; living in a human environment has weakened her.

She lowered the bow, her shoulders sagging.

"Why am I doing this?" she asked. Mara stopped pacing.

"You can't be quitting now," Mara said.

"I am," Ame said solemnly. "This isn't what I returned for. I didn't come to kill and destroy. I didn't come to be human. I am a wolf, and if I can't fight like it, I'd rather not waste your time."

"Wait just a minute!" Mara snapped. "You've been doing so well. You can't just give up on something just because you aren't perfect. You need to be patient and—"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Ame snapped, her lips curling back to reveal her fangs for a split second. "It's not where I shoot the arrow, it's how I know how to shoot it. You only aim for the red center of the entire object, but you have to think past that! You say you have a specific form which helps you hit the target when you aim, but that can't be all there is to it. You need to know why you're hitting the target. I'm not here to learn a long-range art, I'm here to one-up the Demon Lord that stole everything from me, and I'm here to do it as a wolf goddess. If your weapons can't accept me, I can't accept your weapons."

"You're so useless."

Ame jumped slightly; she hadn't seen Kid standing a few feet away from them. It was probably late enough that he'd come to pick her up. He didn't look angry, but looks can be deceiving. He closed the distance between them and stared at her trembling arms.

"You can't lose your drive to learn new things, Ame," he said. "If we can't teach you as a wolf, then you're just going to have to learn as a human. I know you can; I know it's in you."

Ame avoided his gaze.

"It would be inconvenient," he continued. "You're slower in your human form; that's just something we can't do anything about. But if you can learn this as a human."

He lifted her head and forced her to look at him. He smirked slightly when he saw her hideously beautiful, asymmetrical eyes.

"We can't be stopped by the demon lord. Now try again."

He backed away from her, folding his hands behind his back as he watched her flimsy form. She pulled another arrow back and hesitated. She bent her arm at the last minute, to avoid the cord hitting her arm again. The arrow flew sideways and hit a tree.

"Oh, that poor tree," Ame said.

"No good," Kid said, rearranging her arms unhappily. "Your form's all over the place; that's why you keep hitting yourself. And I don't think you have enough upper body strength to keep your arm bent and have enough time to aim before you get tired." He sighed and took her bow for a moment. "These new bows. I never liked them that much. Just try with your left arm bent; I don't think you'll hit yourself again."

Ame still hesitated slightly. Her body trembled in the heat. She inhaled, her ears flicking slightly. The target was just a few meters away; this should be easy. She could hit it. She released the arrow, and it hit the target's second inner ring.

"Perfect!" Mara said. "That's very good, Ame."

"You suck," Kid alleged. "But we'll make do. Thank you for your time, Mara, but Ame and I will be going now."

"Come again if you have any troubles."

Ame smiled graciously, but as soon as she left, she was scowling at the ground. Kid was right; she was utterly horrible. But why hadn't Mara said anything about it?

"She's afraid of you," Kid said. "They're all afraid of you. I'd hoped this wouldn't have happened, but I just can't find a teacher that will be honest with you."

"That's too bad."

"You're damn right, it's too bad!" Kid yelled. "You're so lazy!"

"Then what do you want me to do about it?!" Ame snapped back.

"Stop… being so lazy," Kid said. "And I'll teach you what I can until I can find you a better teacher."