Cream greeted Shadow cheerfully upon his return to the Chao Garden. Her smile froze and dissolved upon seeing the sober expression Shadow wore and the lethargic cadence with which he walked.

Cream's whole body tensed and her heart began to beat faster as she mentally registered the sudden change in the atmosphere between them. Gone was the shared exuberance of friends.

The way Shadow had ignored her after she had greeted him. The way the Chao all stopped playing and watched from afar, both curious and nervous as to what could possibly have brought such an abrupt end to the cheerful festivities. Only Tarious had the courage to walk up to the Table Cream sit at the table as Shadow drew closer, despite the tense atmosphere. It was obvious to Cream that Dr Nagato had said something to Shadow that put him in a state of unease.

Upon returning to the tea party table, Shadow took his seat and was silent.

Cream swallowed nervously before she broke the silence. "S-so what did you and Dr. Nagato talk about?"

"You know already."

"R-really? You don't say? Heh heh." Cream rubbed the back of her head in an effort to diffuse the tension she felt. It did not help.

"The Doctor said you are in danger…"

Cream twiddled her fingers. "I'm… I'm not afraid."

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Cream looked down at the ground and did not answer. She crossed her arms, hugging herself as the tension grew.

"I have a question for you Cream, and I want an honest answer." Shadow said.

"Of course Mr. Shadow. I could never lie to you."

"Then tell me. What are you hiding that is worth endangering your life over? I have a guess, but I want to hear it from you."

Cream froze. She looked at Shadow in shock, blinked, then looked down again. She exhaled and reached for her purse and retrieved a box then placed it in her lap where Shadow could not see it.

"Mr. Shadow…" Cream said, her voice filled with trepidation.

"What is it Cream?"

"Could you close your eyes for a moment."

Shadow closed his eyes. "Alright. They are closed."

Shadow heard the sound of a box opening as well as Cream's subtle movements as she leaned forward on the table for a brief moment.

"Okay. You can open them now."

Shadow opened his eyes, and there, floating in the middle of the table, was a Chaos Emerald.

Shadow's expression was stone. His voice however was like that of a parent who had just learned that their child had received a terminal illness.

"That damn Doctor..."

"Mr. Shadow I… I…"

"Dammit Cream… What have you done? What have you agreed to?"

"I just wanted to do good and protect people. I thought I could keep it hidden. That I could be like everyone else and help protect the world. I didn't think-"

Cream's eyes began to fill with tears and she struggled to compose herself. As if Cream's tears were not enough, Cream's next words wounded Shadow further.

"-I thought you'd be proud of me. I didn't think you'd be so… so disappointed."

"Cream. If anyone were to find out. They'd kill you."

"I know… I'm… I'm not afraid."

"That's what I'm worried about. You should be."

"I mean, I am afraid. I'm downright terrified. But I'm not afraid… of dying… if I am doing what's right."

Shadow scoffed, "What a stupid thing to say. It doesn't matter how brave you are or how noble a cause you have. You can't change the world if you are dead."

"I know that. I don't want to die. I don't plan on dying either. I just…" Cream opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She closed her mouth and ruminated in her intense emotions, her hopes and dreams, and her fears.

"What of your Mother? Should the worst happen?"

"She's strong. She'd still have Gemerl."

"Do you think she could live long, having lost both a Husband and her only Daughter?"

"..."

"Well?"

"I already made my decision. When Eggman first kidnapped my Mother." Cream said.

Shadow inhaled and exhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring for a fearful moment. "What exactly did you decide?"

Cream choked back tears as she recalled her terrifying first adventure. All alone, her Mother abducted, as she chased after Eggman across the world. Wearing a fake smile to hide her fears.

"That I would save my Mother or die trying. Then I met Mr. Sonic and the rest is history. So, I'm not afraid, Mr. Shadow. I… I want to do this. It's who I am. Who I chose to be."

Shadow leaned forward and gripped the plastic table tightly. His breathing picked up. His eyes dilated. He could not say it, but he felt anger, fear, and agony at Cream's decision.

"You're not ready."

"I know."

"If you go down this path… if you keep this hidden. Eventually, they'll come for you. For your Mother. Not just Eggman either. Any mercenary, crook, or power hungry tyrant will stop at nothing to get a hold of that Emerald."

"I know. Maybe I'm just a stupid bunny but…"

"But what?"

"Someone has to stand up to evil or else it wins. I'm not anywhere as strong as I should be. I hate violence and would rather give someone a flower than to lash out in anger or try to harm them. I'm weak and small. I'm nothing compared to you, Amy, and Mr. Sonic, but I have to start somewhere, right?"

Shadow slowly nodded his head.

"I know it's selfish but… could you help me?"

"You still choose the path of a Hero despite the violence and danger?"

Cream looked Shadow dead in the eyes.

"I do."

Shadow stood up and petted Tarious gently to the Chao's delight.

"Then quit wasting time and grab the damn Chaos Emerald. We're leaving right now to go and train. To really train."

"Thank you Mr. Shadow. I promise I'll make you proud. I'll be strong. I won't break." Cream said as she pumped her fists after having put the Chaos Emerald back in the container then inside her purse.

Shadow stopped petting Tarious and turned to look at Cream.

"You won't break, but your bones might."

A bead of sweat rolled down Cream's face. "Mr. Shadow, I don't know if my Mother would be okay with that-"

Shadow stopped in front of the automated doors and looked straight at Cream. What he said next made Cream's blood run cold.

"-Bones heal."

…

Shadow's fist connected with Cream's stomach. She retched, fortunately nothing came out of her, unfortunately nothing came in either, literally breathless and momentarily stunned, Shadow immediately grabbed Cream by the arm and threw her head over heels onto her back. Her body slammed onto the floor so hard she bounced several inches off the padded dojo matt.

"If this was a real fight you'd be dead. Again."

Cream struggled to catch her breath. She slowly rolled herself forward into a seated position, her whole body ached, as she slowly got to her feet.

"You're too slow."

As Cream stood up Shadow swiped her feet out from under her, sending her falling onto her butt. She leaned back and used her arms to catch the ground as well as her large ears to help cushion her fall.

"Good, using parts of your body as a counterweight to better control and cushion your fall. Soon you'll be able to roll with the opponent's strikes and shift your momentum to continue fighting seamlessly, even if a blow lands. Very good."

Cream ignored the pain she felt and got to her feet quickly. She took a fighting stance, her fists and feet covered in pink sports tape.

"Let's make this interesting and give you a little more motivation." Shadow said.

Cream stared at Shadow. "I'm listening."

Shadow smiled, "If you land one hit on me, I'll promise to kiss Sonic next time I see him."

Cream giggled, "You? Kiss Mr. Sonic. No way. You wouldn't. Would you?"

"I never tell a lie. If you land a hit. I'll kiss Sonic right in front of you and anyone else who is present when we are next gathered together."

"But… you'd hate that." Cream said as she could not help but snicker devilishly.

Shadow grinned. "Confident, are we? You're forgetting something very important."

"What is that?"

"You are not going to land a single hit on me." Shadow smirked.

Cream's face turned serious. She furrowed her brow in concentration.

"One hit. One blow. That's all you need. Give it everything you have. Don't hold anything back. Fight to kill. In life or death fights, that is the only way to win. Pretend that failure means death for everyone you love and cherish. Because someday it just might."

Shadow and Cream stood in the center of the G.U.N. dojo. Both in their respective fighting stances.

A light flickered and with that, Cream launched herself toward Shadow.

Cream was weak, but by the average civilian, military trooper, and criminal's standards, she still possessed impressive supernatural abilities of speed, reflexes, and strength. Cream was not as fast as Sonic, nor was she as strong as knuckles, she also was not as intelligent as Tails. What she did have though, was heart and a jack of all trades skill set. She possessed a mind that adapted quickly and like a sponge absorbed new knowledge and deciphered how best to utilize that new information. She was, in fact, the best protege Shadow could ever hope for.

Perhaps he was biased, maybe he was, regardless, Shadow felt Cream was going to grow up to be an unstoppable force of focus, determination, and grit.

As Cream launched herself forward, she was faster than Shadow had expected, she swung her left leg at the last moment in an attempt to strike his side. Shadow caught the leg, twisted it, causing Cream to either spin her body several rotations or risk dislocating her leg. As Cream spun, she took a well timed kick toward Shadow's face.

Shadow blocked the kick.

Cream used her momentum from the blocked kick to launch herself backwards to create space, then used her large ears to lift her into the air. She rolled into a ball, propelling herself forward at a blinding fast speed, then used her arms and ears to launch herself at Shadow once more, delivering three kicks to his chest. Each strike was blocked with seemingly no effort by Shadow."

Before Cream could recover, Shadow went on the offensive. He grabbed her feet from in front of him and spun her around then hurled her at the wall. Cream spun her body at the last second, allowing her to flip upside down so as to land on the wall. She used her feet to cushion her impact and bent her knees and like a spring, propelled herself back at Shadow.

Shadow grinned. He delivered a spin kick to Cream's face, sending her rolling across the ground. Cream lay frozen a few feet away, motionless.

"Good… but not good enough."

Shadow didn't buy it. Then again he was slightly not holding back. Maybe he had been too rough with her. Shadow took a step forward-

"Cream-" Shadow began to say.

-Shadow fell backwards toward the ground, his back toward Cream, after he had felt something wrap around his leg and swipe his single foot out from under him. He saw Cream had pulled herself up and toward him as she used Shadow as a counterweight to recover her footing and improve her combat position.

Shadow caught himself with his arms as he went into an awkward hand stand, his vision becoming limited, still, he was a close quarters combat expert and was able to block a flurry of strikes using his feet as he slowly walked on his hands backwards to try to create space between them, each strike forced Shadow further backwards making his handstand more vertical and thus more vulnerable.

Shadow pushed himself upwards from below, and backwards, into a flip, then landed on his feet-

Cream was gone.

In her place was an afterimage of fluid motions his unnatural and bioengineered eyes could detect.

Time nearly froze as he followed Creams afterimage…

Then Cream's foot appeared seemingly out of nowhere kicking him, hard, into the back of the head, as Cream's entire bodyweight, and force of the kick, transferred from her foot into the back of Shadow's skull.

Shadow was sent flying, tumbling over himself across the room.

As Shadow lay flat on his back. He contemplated what had happened. He replayed the final moments of the fight in his head and using his combat experience and intellect pieced together how Cream… beat him.

First, she feigned weakness causing him to foolishly and momentarily lower his guard. Enough that he did not notice the trap she had laid. He was then thrown off balance and backwards as Cream's massive bunny ear had pulled his only planted foot upwards and forward, throwing his bodyweight diagonally backwards. Shadow had to catch himself with his hands and go into a handstand, then deflect and block several strikes that pushed Shadow backwards and further into a disadvantaged position. Cream had waited till his vision was impared enough and for when he began to attempt to recover his footing. Then she enacted her plan.

For the second or two Cream was out of view, she must have curled herself into a ball and launched herself at the wall to Shadow's right. She then exited her spin and forward flipped herself so her feet landed on the wall, and pushed herself upward using her legs and thrust from her ears, likely doing a partial flip at the height of her jump, so her body and legs curled up like a spring on the ceiling, as Shadow landed and wondered where she was, and looked to his left, Cream had launched herself upon Shadow from above, and connected with what he could only imagine was a perfect spinning kick to the back of his head.

Shadow was so proud.

"Beginner's luck."

"So… did… did I win?"

Shadow sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "You did good kid."

Cream cheered and jumped for joy, then hug-tackled Shadow. "Thank you Mr. Shadow. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Now get off me."

"Wow, that was awful. I hope I never have to fight anyone."

"Me too Cream. Me too."

Cream stood back and allowed Shadow to stand up.

"That was a good first day of training. Take it easy the rest of today. We'll train again tomorrow. I'll contact your Mother later with the details and the meeting place."

"Okay. Thank you so much Mr. Shadow." She gave Shadow another hug that he reluctantly accepted as he patted her head awkwardly.

"Hmph. Don't mention it. Keep training hard and someday you'll be a natural."

Cream was still giddy and beaming with happiness. "I'm so sweaty and gross. Mom is going to be so disgusted with me." Cream giggled.

"Yeah, you might want to take a bath when you get home. You stink."

"You too Mr. Shadow." Cream smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, well, that's what a good workout does. Now let's get you home."

"Okay!"

As they left the training facility, Cream turned and asked, "What are you going to do the rest of the day Mr. Shadow? Did you want to have lunch with my Mother and I?"

"Thanks but I have one more errand to run. I need to check up on a certain two tailed fox. I heard from Rouge, who heard from Knuckles, who heard from Amy, who heard from Sonic, that Tails is having some trouble as of late. Tails needs a man to talk to, and that blue pinball Sonic isn't going to cut it."

"Oh no. That's terrible. What kind of trouble is it?"

"The worst kind Cream. Girl trouble."