Shadow warped directly to Amy's apartment door. He could have just warped directly into the place, but he didn't want to catch Amy in another embarrassing position. Once was enough. So, he knocked on the door.

No response. He tried again.

Still no response. He knocked once more.

More silence.

Deducing something was wrong, he warped inside Amy's apartment and was shocked at what he saw. The entire place was ransacked! Appliances were strewn about in disrepair, the majority of Amy's wardrobe – old and new - was ripped to shreds and all the food that still remained was ruined. In the middle of the living room sat Amy, wearing something fresh like she intended, gripping the remains of her now broken Long Hammer. Shadow immediately marched over to her and shook her shoulder. "Amy! Amy, what happened?!" Wordlessly, she pointed to the wall that was once her photo gallery. All the pictures were destroyed and what was there instead was a message, violently scratched upon the wall itself.

DO NOT CHALLENGE ME

OR YOU ARE NEXT

                    SONIC

Next to the signature was a crude portrait of Sonic. If one looked closely, however, one could tell that it was actually Metal Sonic's visage. "Damn it," Shadow muttered angrily, "The Doctor isn't being subtle at all, is he?" Kneeling down, he expected to see his girlfriend in tears. While she was, what he saw also was an expression of fury, the kind that could only come from a woman. "Shadow," she said emotionlessly, "Go to the YU2-Mart and get some supplies. I need to straighten up around here and inform the landlord what's been going on. After all that, take us to our new training grounds." Shadow frowned at that. Even in this present situation, he wasn't accustomed to being given outright orders. "Amy, I think we should-"

He was silenced immediately by a teal-green, pupil-less glare. "GO." Shadow shook off the millisecond of fear he felt and nodded. 'The Doctor will pay for this inconvenience.' He then left.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, Amy and Shadow, dressed and packed, found themselves on a train headed to Nizhoni, an enormous landmass south of the border of the United Federation, notable for being the only untouched land on that continent. When the natives were unfairly pushed from their land as a whole, a long, bloody war ensued for control. In the end, it took two warriors, the Tecumseh chief, Hinmatoom, and the Federation general, Bass Hamilton, to form a truce, one that, against all odds, has remained to this day.

As they stepped off the train and headed for the border, the two hedgehogs were unsure of the welcome they would get if they ran into the natives here. As such, they planned to remain separate from civilization, as usual. Upon approach, they found two human G.U.N. soldiers waiting. "Agent Shadow, Miss Rose, greetings," they saluted. "At ease," Shadow responded boredly, while Amy simply waved. "Commander Tower has briefed all operatives of the situation. When you are ready to return, just say the word." Shadow nodded and asked, "Where's my bike?" The soldier on the left smirked and gestured behind him. "Right over there."

Shadow's customized motorcycle, the Dark Rider, was right at the gate, looking as sleek, stable and cool as ever. "I hope you don't mind," the soldier continued, "but aside from the tune-up and upgrade you asked for, I made a few modifications of my own." Shadow shot him what he thought was a "soft" glare. "Is that right?" The soldier nodded, unfazed by the hedgehog's subtle hostility. "Yep. She now runs on three fuel sources of your choosing: air, electric and Chaos Energy. As long as you maintain one, the other two can always be stored to be used as backup when you need them. I also adjusted the machine guns to be hidden within the bike, just below the fuel tank. That way, you won't be seen as hostile by the natives."

The Ultimate Lifeform grunted as the soldier went over the mods. He had to admit, it was impressive. "And, of course, I gave it the armor enhancement you asked for, as well as the increased ammunition storage that was requested." Amy half-listened, still shaken from earlier. Something about the bike got her attention, though. "Excuse me," she said, "but is that a sidecar?" The soldier smirked and patted a sidecar that was attached to the right of the bike. It was black, of course, but it also had a couple of pink roses painted on the side of it. "That's right, miss. It has a storage unit beneath the seat, an onboard GPS, satellite radio, air conditioning, and a retractable dome of bulletproof glass. Oh, it also has two heat-seeking missiles which can be activated with that red button, but they can only be used when Shadow's machine guns are out of bullets."

Amy was surprised by how many features it had. Turning to Shadow, she then asked, "Shadow, did…did you request all this…for me?" Blushing, the black hedgehog answered brusquely, "Of course. If you're going to be traveling with me, it's wise to be able to go where I go with minimal fuss. Besides, your running speed has yet to improve and I can't carry you everywhere." The G.U.N. mechanic rolled his eyes at Shadow's behavior and said, "Dude, seriously, you could just say that you wanted her to be safe and sound because you looooooooove her." Shadow's face reddened. "You shut up!" Amy giggled to herself. Seeing him embarrassed was a rare sight, and she was indeed touched by the gesture, especially since it told her one thing: Shadow wanted her by his side no matter what, even if he didn't go out of his way to say it.

Still…

'That's not gonna save him.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the two hedgehogs rode along the beaten path, Shadow found Amy to be unusually quiet. At first he assumed she was merely enjoying the ride or still shaken by Metal Sonic's ransacking, but after two hours he began to get concerned. 'All right, Amy,' he thought, 'Talk to me. I know something's wrong.' She continued to stare at the road ahead, as if she didn't hear him. 'Come on, Rosy, I know damn well you can hear me.' All she did was glare at him. "Just get us to our destination, Shadow." He frowned at her surly behavior. "Very well, but I expect an answer when we get there."

'Oh, you'll get an answer, alright...'